#like fucking hell if i can come up with a billion stories to combat your arguments your arguments are hot trash.

[iamthepulta]

Watching the worst takes I've ever seen on why Medieval Stasis in the fantasy genre is still a thing. Apparently it's because 1) Old Race Boomers, 2) Medieval period is the right setting for dragons and those sick House Dynasties, 3) Big Empire wants to suppress technology and science, bro.

Cool. So all I heard is, 1) Lack of character diversity, 2) Are You Fucking Stupid and Adults want YA sorting caps too, 3) Have you never considered Magic Research as a career opportunity and how Magical Art might be emboldened as a result?

[halfbakedspuds]

Thanks to @illarian-rambling for the tag

OC Quotes

Rules: write quotes based on the prompt for some OCs, then come up with a new prompt for the next people

My prompt is: a quote about a time you got hurt.

I think I can do this for the protagonists across all my WIP's (plus the two characters from a little side project I've started writing that I'll have some info up for as soon as I finish writing up the introduction post for it)

TW: mentions of disfigurement, allusions to chronic pain, broken bones, amputation, pain, torture, long term psychological and physical abuse, psychological torment, burns, and impalement.

Echoes of Shadows

Johan: Other than that crazy Rostovan motherfucker Maxim dropping the sun on me, I've actually lived a pretty injury free life. Of course, I still need to go in for healing almost every week, but that's just the perks of knowing you will bleed out from a paper cut long before your body manages to close the wound. I don't even think a paper cut can bleed faster than your body produces more blood, but you get my point.

Hans: *Silently shrugs off his coat and pulls off his shirt, revealing scars all over his chest and upper arms, and what look like marks from a whip on his back* This is all you're getting from me.

Anastasia: Gemeendaal, about... three months ago? Around that? Anyway, Johan ask I watch target, learn routine so he can figure out if she is suspect. I pray that Bozhe leave... particulularly toasty spot in hells for whoever installed roof tiles like shit. I step wrong, I fell three stories: break leg. Then there was chase, shootout. Long story, but story for other time.

Maire: Wha', this old thin'? *Hits her mechanical leg for emphasis* Tha' was wae back in th'war, dearie. One o' our guys (Wha' was 'is name...? Jako, A' think) took a bullet while coverin' our retreat. Bein' th'medic, A ran out tae get 'im. Had 'im on mah shoulders an' everythin', runnin' back tae safety with gunfire, explosions, fire,- utter bedlam 'round me. Fifteen measures from our perimeter, A fell. A didnae e'en know wha' had happened at first, hell, A thought A'd tripped and was actually just annoyed. Well imagine mah shock when A looked down only tae see mah left leg about three meters back, cleanly severed by some Bioworker who'd probably been watchin' me through a rifle scope and wanted tae lure our people with me as bait.

Sasha: People always think it must be so nice to be a high order mage, to have that kind of power at your finger tips. "Must be nice to not need fire to boil a kettle", "I wish I could constantly keep myself cool in the summer", "Wow, it must be so fun to sculpt images out of fire," - well guess what else I can do, Svetlana- *points to the burn over her eye*-I can also burn my own bloody face off with just a stray thought, it's fucking terrifying to have this much power.

Children of the Stars

Adrian: When you're in combat, on the defending side of a full scale planetary invasion, sacrifices must be made. No matter how small the payoff, they are cumulative victories. The ship I was on was commandeered by Tyrus drop forces, so I rigged one of their ammo packs to explode and take down the ship. Unfortunately for those Xenos fucks: I survived having more than half my body vaporised. It's funny, really, they called me a hero for saving maybe two, three million lives with my actions. Meanwhile human casualties in that battle were counted in the billions. People are strange creatures.

Lyanni: Adrian had to shoot my arm off after calling an orbital strike on top of us. To be fair, it was stuck, probably crushed well beyond the capability of anything to even mend it, but it still hurt like a bitch. I don't hold it against him though, it was my arm or my life, and given the pressure he was under, I think he made the best choice.

Wilhelm: The Crimson Dawn- for all their talk of being pro-human and believing us to be the rightful masters of the stars- seem to have a very specific and exclusionist policy of what constitutes as human. Clones? Well, we're just faulty hardware and they hated us for being created by them, as if our minor imperfections from their tampering with our progenitor's genetic makeup were some grave offense on our part. We were beaten, hacked at, burnt, spit on, and oftentimes killed over the most minor grievances or demented pleasures, and we were expected to take it all with a smile because our creators had deigned to even give us the time of day. Being the only one who showed enough competency to become a commander, to be put in the limelight and earn Overseer Yalena's favour meant that I often got the worst of it. God knows how much I sometimes wished I'd been one of the rejects, the ones fit for nothing better than immediate recycling. Though, having met Lyanni and Adrian... I think it may actually be worth it to have my life after all.

The Tempest Prince

Jason: I mean, I've been struck by lightning... multiple times. it never hurts any less but my god, the rush of power that follows might actually be addictive.

Helga: Demihumans, like the beasts, are functionally immortal as long as our head remains on our shoulders and our heart is undamaged. And as a hunter, that has been put to the test time and time again in several very interesting ways, but the one that stands out the most was getting run through with a lamp post of all things. Of course it hurt like hell, but you get used to tuning out pain after a while. If anything, I was moreso flabbergasted by the fucking audacity of this bitch.

Alex: Varus, that swamp-nethered moerkont son of a motherfucking who- ...calm yourself, Alex... if you've ever wondered why I'm covered in so many rune shaped burn scars: the Rogues tried to turn me into their aberrants a long time. Turns out, the blood of a Great One and their corruption runes do not mix. Varus- may even the void torture his thrice damned soul- found the pain it caused me... amusing. You can piece together the rest by yourself.

11 Past Midnight

Kat: Where do I start? I've burnt my hands on a running engine, had my ribs broken by a Pulse-spear, damn near lost my arm to Kamchatka's front door of all things... What else? Oh yeah, and Artur broke my nose one time. I guess there was also that knockoff thunderdome back in Magadan where I got stabbed with a barbed wire spear of all things, and the countless times I've been shot or thrown out of a window. Really, take your pick moi druz'ya, my scars are my trophies.

Artur: Turns out, these people see their 'mutants' the way their ancestors saw Unicorns and the like. I was captured one time, and I don't think it even took an hour before two of my four arms had been cut off and sewn into some warlord's armor as a good luck charm, and lemme tell ya, seeing a part of your own body warn as a godsdamned trinket fucks with your head very badly.

Open tag for whomever wants it, and your prompt is: a quote about your favourite person

[orithyia-eriphyle]

Blue Steel

Bucky Barnes x Fem!Reader

Summary: Bucky is head over heels for his best friend, (Y/n), and wants to know about her unspoken past.

Pre-relationship

Warnings: I mean, basically fluff and anxious Bucky also speak of the Bible but it has to do with the being that he Reader is, I'm not asking you to believe it. (Reader is inspired by the TV show Supernatural)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Where does he start? Bucky grew up with his best friends Steve Rogers and (Y/n) (L/n), constantly flirting with the woman he had feelings for. She would always flirt back with a teasing smile, making his heart flutter. Everything seemed okay until he fell off of that dreaded train.

Bucky didn't think he would remember everything nearly 70 years later, finding out Steve was still alive and the girl he loved was Death. Yes, that's right, Death. One of the Four Horsemen of the Apocolypse. Hidden away for years as a normal girl growing up in the early 1900s. When he was finally him again, he was shocked to find out. Was she lying to him and Steve all those years ago? Did his friendship even mean anything to her? Bucky had to know. And know he did.

It was late at night in the Avengers Compound. Bucky was up late as per usual. 70 years' worth of nightmares was kind of hard to shake off. He noticed her sitting in the kitchen, still in her odd attire. A black leather coat that reached to her ankles. A large outline of a cross embroidered on the back. Her knee-high black combat boots that clicked when she walked. The dark-wash leather pants that reached her hips and her barely there black top. No matter the type of body she had he still found her astoundingly beautiful.

Her scythe was out of sight, clearly done with the day's duties. As he approached her from behind her head turned and they made eye contact. Every time he met her steely gaze he would feel his heart skip a beat, almost forgetting to breathe. She smirked at him and spoke leisurely, "Hey Buck, another nightmare?" He grabbed a cold bottle of water from the fridge before standing on the other side of the counter, directly across from her. "Yeah." His short reply wasn't out of the ordinary, he talked little in general but after a nightmare, he would talk even less.

"Can I ask you something?" Now that was new. (Y/n) hadn't expected him to say anything. They would usually sit in comfortable silence with one another when it was late into the night. "Fire away Barnes." She leaned back in the cushioned barstool, anticipating his question. "Did you really care about Steve and me back then?" Now (Y/n) was never shocked, and if she was she hid it well but Bucky's question stumped her. Of course, she cared, and now she needed to find the right way to tell him that.

"Yes Buck, I cared a lot." Bucky crossed his arms, anxiousness shooting up his spine. He didn't want to upset her but he also wanted, no, needed answers. "Then why'd you never tell us about who you really were?" (Y/n) let out a dry chuckle, kind of anticipating his next question. "Well, the fact I couldn't remember that I was Death was definitely a contributing factor." She smiled coyly at Bucky, he better than anyone knew where she was coming from. He gave her a look as if saying to continue. "I've been around for billions of years, way before God created humans. Reaping souls of monsters that have been on this Earth nearly as long as I have." She locked her fingers together on the dark countertop.

"God put me to sleep in the year 1916, telling me I wouldn't reawaken for nearly a hundred years. I was a normal human for a while, that's when I met you and Steve." Bucky was leaning on the counter, listening attentively to your story. "Like I said, I didn't know who I was. You and Steve were the closest things to a family I had, and when I thought you died..." She paused, Bucky had never seen her so emotional. She was always cocky and had nerves of steel, something he had always admired about her. "I lost it, I went out into a field and screamed and yelled for what felt like hours, but was really only minutes."

She smirked down at the counter, kind of proud of what comes next. "I guess it was the pure rage and pain I felt, I'm not really sure, but I broke God's spell. All I remember was the surge of power and strength in my body and when I awoke, I opened the gates of Hell and went back to work." Bucky's hand was interlocked with yours now, his thumb rubbing small circles on your hand. "You don't have to say anything else Doll." You stood and walked around the counter to Bucky. Bucky followed your movements, becoming nervous at your next move.

The next thing he knew your arms were around his neck and he was locked in your tight embrace. His arms wrapped around your waist, becoming lost in the feeling of your touch. You enjoyed that this was something only you could do. The only person besides Steve allowed to touch and be close to him like this. You smiled into his shoulder and Bucky closed his eyes in pure contentment. "Out of my billions of years of living, you're the best thing that's ever happened to me, James."

Bucky's breath caught in his throat at your words. And hell, if you couldn't feel his rapidly beating heartbeat before, you could now. His mind ran rampant at your words. Could his feelings for you be reciprocated? He had to know. "Fuck it." Bucky thought as he pulled away from your warm embrace. He placed his now shaky hands on your arms. He looked at you with seriousness but also noticeable nervousness in his eyes. "Doll, I... I've got to tell you something." You looked at Bucky with a smile that calmed his nerves just a bit. "What is it, Buck?"

Bucky took a shaky breath before speaking. "I have no idea how you're going to take this but I can't keep this to myself anymore Doll." He could barely meet your burning gaze but he managed. "Even back in the day, I've had feelings for you (Y/n). When you'd laugh at my stupid jokes or when we'd wrestle by the docks at the lake and nearly every time you kicked my ass. When you fought next to Steve and me in the war even as a woman. When you'd never fail to fluster me with your constant flirting and teasing." He looked into your shocked eyes and continued, a little more confident. "Hell, nothing has changed even 80 years later. You still manage to make my heartbeat at speeds I didn't think were humanly possible."

He stepped closer to you, both your hands in his. One of his rare smiled made its way to his lips. "I'm in love with you Doll, and I always will be."

Your mouth was agape in utter shock, never thinking Bucky would admit his feelings for you. Yes, you knew, you always knew. From his nervous fidgeting around you to his ears that would turn red when you complimented or flirt with him.

Bucky stared at you, the anxiety creeping back up. His eyes searching desperately for an answer. He was about to pull his hands from yours when a blinding smile broke onto your face. "You have no idea how long I've waited to hear that Buck." You grabbed a handful of his collar, taking him forward. Bucky's heart seemed to stop beating when his lips met yours. The kiss was sweet and tranquil. Both of you getting what you wanted after years of waiting.

You had to pull away when Bucky needed to breathe. His unsteady breathing made you smirk in triumph as you placed your left hand on his stubbly cheek. "I love you to James, and I always will."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[starlight-ascension]

The girls as Power Quotes

Nagisa: “You could sooner divert a river from its course than deny my nature” 

Honoka: “You will be reduced down to a single atom once I am done with you”

Hikari: “I see now that the circumstances of one’s birth are irrelevant: it’s what you do with the gift of life that determines who you are.” 

Nozomi: “Impudent of you to assume I will meet a mortal end” 

Rin: “I survived because the fire inside me burned brighter than the fire around me” 

Urara: “Each comment is a prayer, bringing me closer to emerging from my cursed plane. Thank you for heralding the apocalypse this old god brings.” 

Komachi: “Every man’s heart one day beats its final beat. His lungs breathe their final breath. And if what that man did in his life makes the blood pulse in the body of others and makes them bleed deeper in something that’s larger than life, than his essence, his spirit, will be immortalized by the storytellers.” 

Karen: “The words of prophets are written on the subway walls” 

Kurumi: “In a world of blood and chaos, rabbits must hunt as wolves” 

Love: “Tonight you spoke with the devil. The devil looked a lot like you.” 

Miki: “Your boos mean nothing. I’ve seen what makes you cheer.” 

Inori: “No pet is perfect, it becomes perfect when you accept it for what it is.” 

Setsuna: “Can you feel your heart burning? Can you feel the struggle within? The fear within me is beyond anything your soul can make. You cannot kill me in a way that matters” 

Tsubomi: “No one will know the violence it took to become this gentle” 

Erika: “Do you think God stays in heaven because he, too, lives in fear of what he’s created?” 

Itsuki: “I will seize destiny by the throat and force it into the shape of my choosing” 

Yuri: “God gave me depression because if my ambitions went unchecked I would have bested him in hand-to-hand combat by age 16” 

Hibiki: “Bury me shallow, I’ll be back” 

Kanade: “I hope your gods forgive you because we surely won’t”

Ellen: “I am a monument to all your sins” 

Ako: “The world should have protected you, but you have been asked to protect it. What an honor. What an injustice.”

Miyuki: “There’s no light at the end of this tunnel, so it’s a good thing we brought matches” 

Akane: “If the world chooses to become my enemy, I will fight just like I always have”

Yayoi: “There is not enough time to make all the things one’s imagination can conjure” 

Nao: “All these moments will be lost in time, like tears in the rain” 

Reika: “Kill me and live with the memory. Then tell the stars that you won.” 

Ayumi: “Our paths may have crossed briefly but you still had the misfortune of knowing me” 

Mana: “Whenever you look at another creator or an artist that you respect, you’re only seeing what took them a long time of work and doubt to push through. You never see the struggle behind it. So you think you’re the only one struggling, when in fact, everyone goes through it.” 

Rikka: “Take this gift, for the gods surely won’t” 

Alice: “The anger in your heart warms you now, but will leave you cold in your grave.” 

Makoto: “I’ve been through hell and I’ll come out singing” 

Aguri: “You kneel before my throne unaware that it was born on lies” 

Regina: “What is better: to be born good, or to overcome your evil nature through great effort” 

Megumi: “This is hell’s territory and I am beholden to no gods” 

Hime: “I thought there were no heroes left in the world” 

Yuko: “To feel sorrow is to deserve peace” 

Iona: “God may judge you but his sins outnumber your own” 

Haruka: “All knowledge is ultimately based on that which we cannot prove. Will you fight? Or will you perish like a dog?” 

Minami: “What the fuck is that, ‘act my age’? The ocean is old as fuck, it will still drown your ass with vigor.”

Kirara: “If you don’t like what I’m doing you can try to stop me, but given that not even God has succeeded yet I don’t fancy your odds” 

Twilight: “You are alone, child. There is only darkness for you, and only death for your people. These ancients are just the beginning. I will command a great and terrible army, and we will sail to a billion worlds. We will sail until every light has been extinguished. You are strong, child, but I am beyond strength. I am the end, and I have come for you.” 

(yeah i did twilight instead of towa because this quote is incredibly badass and only fits a villain) 

Mirai: “Do I look like the kind of woman who dies?” 

Liko: “God is dead and soon we will follow” 

Kotoha: “To become god is the loneliest achievement of them all” 

Ichika: “Dude, sucking at something is the first step towards being sort of good at something” 

Himari: “What are you gonna do with that big bat? Gonna hit me? Better make it count. Better make it hurt. Better kill me in one shot.” 

Aoi: “I will face god and walk backwards into hell” 

Yukari: “I’ve heard it said that we only gain wisdom through suffering, and tonight I intend to make you very wise.” 

Akira: “Too many people have opinions on things they know nothing about. And the more ignorant they are, the more opinions they have.”

Ciel: “My body may be a temple but I am the God to whom it is devoted. Do not presume to tell me how I may decorate my altar.” 

Hana: “Violence for violence is the rule of beasts” 

Saaya: “People say ‘phase’ as if impermanence means insignificance. Show me a permanent state of the self.”

Homare: “Do not let my origin story become yours” 

Emiru: “You can’t shake the devil’s hand and say you’re only kidding.” 

Ruru: “One day you’ll decompose and I’ll be there to watch it happen” 

Hikaru: “No curse of mine shall befall you from my dying breath” 

Lala: “Pick a god and pray” 

Elena: “One day you will be face to face with whatever saw fit to let you exist in the universe, and you will have to justify the space you’ve filled” 

Madoka: “My father taught me as a child that if you shoot for the moon and miss, the cold vaccuum of space will suck out your eyeballs. Failure is not an option. Go kill them.” 

Yuni: “What are you going to buy in your lifetime that’s worth more to you than your own humanity” 

Nodoka: “I’ll do whatever you want” “Then perish” 

Chiyu: “You know what they say about healers and poisoners: similar skill set, very different philosophies”. 

Hinata: “The version of me you created in your mind is not my responsibility” 

Asumi: “There is no point being grown up if you can’t be childish sometimes” 

[retphienix]

I Have A Lot To Say So I'll Read More This.

The short of it?

I'm glad I played Joker- I played it because I wanted to know how DQM evolved when it reached the DS and I got my answer.

It's mediocre. Not bad exactly, I enjoyed playing it, it adds some REALLY appreciated features to the DQM series and if you were playing it at release it had online play which plays well with the post game content which I haven't touched by the time I wrote this:

-but there are some engine/console specific things that made it a drag and there are some parts of the game that are just weaker than the previous games which is amusing since the previous games were simple GBC titles.

And finally, I don't really recommend playing through Joker 1. Can't speak on the sequels, but Joker 1 was a pretty middling experience for me so I'm the wrong person to get a positive recommendation from.

And since the opportunity presents itself: If you like monster RPGs and haven't tried it- go emulate Dragon Warrior Monsters 2 for the GBC, it's really good and also if you emulate you can fast forward the GBC era grind if that's your taste- really a win all around.

On to my rambling:

I debated on writing, rewriting, rewriting, and better presenting my thoughts on this game and the series as a whole but nah, Joker ain't getting that, I'm ramblin'- lol

I will split it slightly between "The ending" and "The game as a whole" though.

Ending:

1:07 - This is slightly a 'game a a whole' thing but honestly it's funny to me that you unlock a permanent repel in this game by doing the main quest. I entered this dungeon feeling strong enough to beat the game, so I just avoided 90% of encounters entirely.

5:00 - I genuinely got a laugh out of Sparkpug's whole deal in this finale. Not story wise, that's fine, no complaints- I mean that Sparkpug is clearly built to be a monster that can carry an ineffective team. He's clearly meant to be bred a few times and a god tier member of a potentially inexperienced player's team- but I literally never used him after the intro.

So during this scene it's supposed to be like "I'm a demi-god monster, you can't possibly beat me" and I'm thinking "Dude, you're like level 10 and shit tier, you can't win, this is hilarious."

Obviously it's a real boss fight and not 'face the monster you once had' but I was having fun roasting him behind the scenes of this recording.

45:00 - What an entirely unexpected change of pace.

Like, I had it spoiled for me by a screenshot that Dr. Snap becomes a monster or something- but I thought maybe he was always a monster or something, and also I got a bad look at him.

HE TURNS INTO A BODY HORROR BEAST, THAT'S NUTS.

Genuinely a highlight of the game.

52:00 - I fucking laughed what a meaningless exchange where the payoff is saying "He was stupid!", it's honestly just silly and dumb but not necessarily bad just dumb lol

55:00 - Not a great 'you won' victory lap. Like at all. Kinda feels like they should have just made this all a cutscene where I appear back at town and see that Solitaire is the leader now etc etc.

I kinda don't understand why it's a victory lap at all? Because all anyone says is "They picked a weird successor to Snap >:(" or "Snap went to the island? I bet he was stopping the calamity :)"

If you have 2 lines of dialogue prepared, maybe don't make a victory lap???

1:00:00 - What a fucking stupid payoff lol

Like sincerely, Solitaire does NOTHING the entire game! She's meaningless from start to finish! And the 'surprise' is that she's the new commish??? And she got the position because she's a rich spoiled brat??? Like LITERALLY that's why????????

What a stupid fucking ending lol

Now her proposed evolution of the contest is fair enough, I mean it's childish as hell, but to be fair- more contests is a fine idea especially since prior games and this game demonstrated the public's interest in watching monster fights. And the goal being to fight her as the final fight is fucking egotistical and stupid- BUT- it does play into the fact that the player didn't get to fight her the whole game so it's whatever?

1:03:00 - This is both the best and worst lol.

This game has no story, like at all, it's fucking empty front to back, and only explodes with like- 1 event at the very end.

This moment is a montage of memorable moments with your 'best friend' Sparkpug. It's cinematically very nice to be honest! Even includes a moment I don't remember at the arena which probably didn't happen lol.

So visually it's cool- I dig seeing the camera zoom out as we run across the beach, and the flashback moments intersplice over us making our way to the scout memorial- that's very well done.

The content is empty lol

As I said there's no story, these moments are nothing lol

And that's that.

All said the ending was a very nice challenge to face with my team- I had to abuse items like mad but I MADE IT! It was a GOOD fight.

The rest I've already said.

On to the game as a whole:

I have issues with this game, but there's good too. It's really like 4 steps forward 6-7 steps back it's weird, it's really weird.

Positives are neat!

> First and foremost- TRAITS!

Monsters in Dragon Quest Monsters have always had a problem with keeping their identity for long. The way I'd explain it to an outsider to the series is that Monsters DO have special stat variance and intended movesets and all that jazz- but the breeding system completely and entirely destroys that relatively early into the game.

While a monster might normally have really high defense and low other stats while knowing buffing magic- breeding, EVEN UNINTENTIONALLY, will have that same monster come out with 9 billion attack and all ice magic.

Monsters in DQM have a habit of becoming canvases for the breeding effects rather than their own mons- and this is undeniably a downside. It makes the game feel unique, it doesn't 'hurt' it, but when by mid-game monsters are more easily identified as sprites rather than strengths and weaknesses or even types (family) it's a slight downer on the series.

Traits fix this a lot by making every specific monster have unchangeable traits which offer things like "immunity to x type of damage" or "higher crit chance"- it's small, but it gives each monster more identity.

> Second and secondmost- SKILLS!

The older games didn't use trees, it used each individual spell as a potential pass on during breeding.

Each monster could have 8 spells, and when you breed two monsters you pass on all 16 spells to the offspring (they don't learn them all at once, they learn them as they level up) as well as the natural spells the monster would learn by level up.

So in the older games it is really easy to end up with a refined and overpowered list of 8 spells on each of your monsters.

Now spells are tied to Skill trees and your monsters can have 3 skill trees total (which are passed on as OPTIONS when breeding).

All to say skills do a lot for removing the "Master of all, weakness of none" spell lists that the older games made trivial to make, now you have to limit your builds and be more specialized- also they added skills like "Attack up" to add more variance to a build- instead of having spells you might just have high stat buffs as skill trees.

Overall I think Skills are an improvement because coupled with Traits it makes each monster feel much more specialized and unique and less like a sprite with no identity.

> Breeding is improved.

This is very much because of skills and traits- again- but also the system is just improved in general. Instead of being told "That's a monster you haven't had before!" and judging your decisions based on the name of the offspring breed, now you get to see a small sprite of the resulting monster to help you decide- ALSO instead of getting 1 result for every combo (to the point where you have to back out and choose Monster A + Monster B and Monster B + Monster A as separate options), you now get up to 3 results to pick between for every breeding opportunity.

It's just better.

> The engine is impressive.

At least to me. This is a DS title using (from what I read) a rework of the DQ8 PS2 game's engine- it certainly looks like it.

Combat models are nice, using moves looks nice, overworld exploration looks nice- it looks nice.

Now for some negative and general nonsense- all of which is more often than not 'weird'.

> I gotta be unfair and say "The Story" first and foremost.

DQM 1 and 2 are not intense story games. They aren't.

But they both knew how to handle their story well for what they wanted to tell, I can and will praise both for their narratives because they know what they are and do it well.

DQM:J does not. It's fucking bad.

Basically: The overall story doesn't exist- you're told to be a spy, but that comes up 1 time towards the end of the game and LITERALLY doesn't matter at any other moment INCLUDING the one time it comes up.

You have NO meaningful objective from the start up until near the end of the game. You show up and have no goal- so you get told to get some crystals with no meaning behind it (not even a lie because they are clearly evil- not even a lie to motivate you! NO MEANING IS PRESENTED! JUST DO IT! TO DO THE CONTEST I GUESS! WHY? SHUT UP!)

So 90% of the game time you're not doing anything meaningful. So what about the islands? Any small narratives to keep things moving?

NO!

NOT AT ALL!

So you go 90% of the game having no real objective, just kinda wandering forward mindlessly- and then the game suddenly goes "Oh! Guy who seemed sus! He's evil! He's gonna unleash the calamity that you were 'kinda but not directly' working towards with your dog! You know, that plot point that's kept vague and paid 0% attention to the entire game? Yeah it's happening! Aaaaand you're done! GG!"

Basically there's just nothing going on in this game, it's all background noise until the last 10% of the game. And that's lame.

DQM1 had a light story- but from the very intro cutscene you have a clear objective which makes every action you do seem relevant as you are working towards that goal.

From the start of the game you know "My sister is gone! The king says a magic wish can get her back! I'll go do that!" and then you do!

DQM2 has a much better story!

You have a goal from the start (The kingdom is physically dying and you have to save it by getting a new plug!) AND it has stories for each world you visit!

THAT'S MILES BETTER! THIS GAME COULD HAVE DONE THAT FOR THE ISLANDS!

Anywho. Story is lacking and empty and lame especially when DQM2 has a similar format but does every part better- you have a clear objective you're working towards AND side stories to keep the light narrative moving!

WTH!

The spy plotline doesn't matter! It could have been used to build suspicion on who's the good guy!

The islands are so empty of story!

DQM2 has a fun mix on how a rival character works which makes every world interesting to see how they get involved!

This game has a rival that does NOTHING!!!!!!!!!

It's just such a step back from the previous games, it's weird to see DQM 1 land a solid simple story and DQM 2 build a great format to expand the story going forward- and then DQM:J just slams its head into the dirt and wipes out.

> Game's slow.

The engine switch is a good thing overall, but it makes combat slower (a lot), adds loading screens to combat (primarily), and they didn't bother speeding up the grind from previous games.

Because of the grind still existing which isn't a problem in and of itself- the game becomes SLOW AS HELL because the engine makes that grind take longer.

Also world exploration is slow which is to be expected when moving from 2d to 3d, but this is countered by adding things to the world to find or do- and Joker tries but it's still noticeable. The world exploration isn't a problem, it just stands out alongside the combat being slow as hell.

The engine change was a great thing- but it feels like they should have put more work into speeding up combat to counter the slowdown of load times and flashy animations.

A GOOD WAY TO FIX THAT MIGHT BE XP!

> Music ain't great in my opinion.

DQ has amazing music. This game has some weak renditions in my opinion. The CELL HQ theme song is a pretty good poster child for the worst there is, but just in general even the better music is lacking compared to the chiptunes of the GBC or the better mixes of the main series.

Maybe it's unfair, it's a DS game, I don't know, I just know I ended up just muting most of the game because it didn't sound great. I played the GBC games OSTs instead for a large portion of my playthrough. I listened to videos instead for the bulk of the game.

It's just not pleasant to me, sorry to say.

> XP!!!!!!!

I'm being a spoiled ass on this but yeah!

XP SUCKS IN THIS!

There aren't good placed to grind until you beat the game! (apparently)

The first level blatantly has too low xp which makes you grind before you can tackle the boss of the island- and the late game has you mindlessly grinding low xp rewards in order to be ready to face the final boss.

It's WEIRD!

Why is it so low!

> Tech is weird!

I could ramble on this alone but here's the short version:

DQ has a unique fantasy world aesthetic that each game has explored in its own way. It's basically "swords, magic, monsters, and charm- things feel light but aren't afraid to get scary sometimes :)"

This game... doesn't.

This game has fuckin' tech watches, jet skis, TOWER PCS????

This ISN'T dragon quest on a world building level.

It's like, contemporary modern world but with slimes.

And that could be good I guess, but it feels so fucking weird to see PCs right alongside swords and axes and a dracky.

Like... why?

It's a poor aesthetic according to my tastes. Maybe I'm an ass for that. The tech is weird.

All to say, in a poor rambling "I gotta get this out of me" kinda way, is Joker was fine.

I enjoyed breeding. I enjoyed seeing the engine. I enjoyed the unique additions like a 'hero monster'.

But I also had to grind mindlessly on a slower game.

I had to endure a story that forgot to show up until the very end.

I sat there thinking about replaying the older ones the whole time.

It was fine.

It's mediocre.

I'm glad I played it.

I'm done now :)

[bitsinakaleidoscope]

So I’ve been playing around with this idea for around half a day by now [because it literally came to me right as I was trying to fucking go to sleep]. Basically it’s me shifting the CotBG sects further towards Transhumanist Machine Cult than Doomsday Machine Cult. There’s also gonna be some stuff about the Foundation at the end, and I SWEAR it’s not because I’m completely used to O5verthinking’s O5-1 “Founder” [/lh you’re great, Rosencrantz].

Putting this under a read more because I have chronic Write An Entire Academic Paper syndrome.

To kick this off, I need to explain what’s going to change with the Mekhanites before I say why. Each sect basically gets their own brand of transhumanism from each other. The Broken Church is metaphorical and boring, at least in the sense of what they do with their bodies. I can imagine that exploring the thoughts of a follower of the Broken Church would be really interesting. The Cogwork Orthodoxy, of course, is going full on transhumanism. They’re trying to build themselves in the likeness of MEKHANE, to an incredibly literal extent. The Maxwellists overall seem to be a more “mind over matter” sect. I don’t think they’re trying to revoke every single organic material there is on themselves. They’re more focused on augmentations, improvements, making it easier for their minds to make a machine out of their bodies, without actually making it all metal. If Orthodoxy people would replace their entire limbs with new metal ones, Maxwellists would be more likely to wear an exoskeleton. Of course, this is ignoring prosthesis, in which case I’d assume every sect has something for that. Overall, instead of going we have to reassemble MEKHANE Themself, they’re more like we need to build our likenesses to resemble MEKHANE Themself.

Now, the reason why I made this change is the potential conflict there could be with the concept of substitutionary atonement. A quick explanation of what substitutionary atonement is, for those who might not know, is basically the whole “Jesus died for your sins” thing. MEKHANE broke Herself in order to cage Yaldabaoth, and now everyone needs to work to evoke Her image the best they can themself. Of course, there are going to be people who object to this ideology, but still believe/follow MEKHANE. These people are the classic “Let’s find all the parts of the Broken God and put Him back together!” followers that I’m assuming the CotBG was created for in the first place. Their work towards transhumanism is meant so that they can aid in combating and defeating Yaldabaoth once and for all, after reassembling MEKHANE. If MEKHANE wants us to be whole, then MEKHANE should be whole as well.

Adjacent to them, there are the Nalkans who are basically just like “Imagine following a god who hands you your transhumanism on a silver platter” [then again, I could easily shorten that to “Imagine following a god”]. This also falls in line with Nalkan beliefs [at least the newer interpretations of them], where they work to elevate themselves. Or only themself, if they’re one of the goddamn filthy capitalists [/lh]. They don’t believe in the sacrifice of one to benefit all. They either believe in the cooperation of all to benefit all, or capitalism [goddamn it, Neo Nalkans]. They would scoff at the idea of following any entity and making themselves in that entity’s likeness. They’re gonna take their flesh and make it however they want it to be like, fuck any entity who tries to tell them otherwise.

And now, for the part you’ve all been waiting for, how does the Foundation fit in here. Well, I’d say they’re practically high on substitutionary atonement. Look no further than the phrase “We die in the dark, so you can live in the light.” Though this is on the level of an entire group, they’re willing to put themselves through constant suffering in order to keep the world from ending. They stretch themselves thin in order to keep the Construct afloat. Hell, D-Class are promised atonement if they aid in the containment of different SCPs, and survive. But this will never come, as they aren’t the ones who will be atoned. The Foundation is trying their hardest to keep humanity from being damned. And, surprisingly enough, so is the GOC.

In the Operative’s Handbook, there are two main headers: “You are expendable” and “You are not disposable.” The section labeled “You are expendable” explains how, out of the billions of people alive, you must be willing to sacrifice yourself in order to protect them. For “You are not disposable,” they clarify that the person can’t just throw themself around, because they have limited resources. Overall, this is a similar attitude to what the Foundation feels, though for the Foundation, it’s less given through order in a handbook and more inherited from the culture surrounding the group. Both the Foundation and the GOC, though in opposition over what to do with dangerous anomalies, still follow the idea of substitutionary atonement. They’re both standing on the front lines of a threat that could destroy humanity, and they’re allowing themselves to bear that brunt.

And there really isn’t much opposition to those two doing that shit on site. Like, yeah, you’ll have the Foundation undermine the GOC, GOC undermine the Foundation, UIU might get something in against either one of them, but overall, nobody’s really complaining about the whole substitutionary atonement thing. I’m not counting the Serpent’s Hand or Chaos Insurgency in this, they’re both too disorganized to count. Though, having a cell of either one of those groups being opposed to the Foundation and/or GOC because of the reason that no group should have to condemn themselves to suffering would be an interesting thing to see.

Treading into the land of Personal Canon, the conflict within the Normalcy Org. gang arises when the Foundation expects other groups/people to throw themselves to the front lines “for the sake of the Veil/Construct.” The choice is simple to them, one or a few people’s lives or the Veil/Construct. And the answer is simple as well, a handful of people is nothing compared to reality as a whole, therefore they should be down to sacrifice themselves. The UNGOC, being the distant oversight group that they are, are totally down with this. Groups nearer to Normalcy, however, don’t agree with this. For them, a life, human or otherwise, is still just as precious as anything else. For them, even if it might risk the collapse of the Veil or destruction of the Construct, they want to find a way for everyone to get out alive.

Drawing from An Unconventional Tail, the UIU- and, in extent, JOVE- is better at minimizing injuries and casualties than the Foundation is, most likely because their first thought is “How can I solve this without harming anyone” instead of “How can I solve this with the least casualties.” They go in with the idea of no man left behind, the Foundation wouldn’t feel as bad if a handful died. In theory, the UNGOC would be closer towards the UIU but even site canon says they’re willing to discard “Protection” for the sake of “Survival.”

Now, I’m not saying any group is in the wrong here. Each group’s goals call for different mentalities and beliefs. However, that must be kept in mind when each of them are interacting with each other, and that’s when the problems arise. When there’s a failure to understand the, well, culture surrounding the other group, you’ll get conflict.

Moral of the story aside, that’s all I have for this so far. Expect to see this pop up in whatever stuff I write, if I ever end up posting that shit on here.

[theseerasures]

Conspicuous Media Consumption, 2020

it’s that time of year again! *saddest toot from the party horn*

for those of you just joining us: it’s a “consume a different content every week for 48 weeks of the year” challenge. for a longer explanation, check out last year’s write-up here, and as always, feel free to pop in and ask questions about any and all of this content.

(same disclaimer as last year too: content for this project ONLY here, and not certain...*looks at my billion Sad Cop Lady posts*...hyperfixations.)

(man remember when i was big into X-Men comics earlier this year? better times than these, if only because no one's discoursing about Emma Frost’s woobie/war criminal ratio anymore--her w/w, if you will)

(...i swear at one point i didn’t exclusively like platinum blondes but alas)

Bitter Root (comic, 1 issue finished 1/1/2020): still very cool on a basic concept level, but runs into the Image Comics problem of just not having enough content to keep my interest beyond that. part of that is on me, for picking it up again BEFORE the second arc rolled out, but the first five issues didn’t really follow (or resolve) any cohesive story either, so...meh.

Immortal Hulk (comic, 3 trades finished 1/17/2020): still not gonna be something i care deeply about (maybe one of Bruce’s Hulksonas dyed his hair???), but i do want to give kudos to Al Ewing for sheer consistency in terms of sustaining this level of quality storytelling month by month for more than two years now. working with the dense archive of the Hulk mythos and managing to make it interesting and thoughtful is impressive even if i personally would not expend the same effort.

Disco Elysium (game, finished 1/18/2020): honestly i should have twigged onto what this year was gonna be like when the third thing i drew from the barrel was pure uncut Eastern European flavored depression. i faintly recall people ragging on it for being pretentiously cynical, but i actually thought its core slid more towards idealism than people give it credit for. also gratified that i haven’t heard anything about Robert Kurvitz using slave labor to finish it, which is a thing we have to say about our video games now!!! fun.

Watchmen (TV, 7 episodes finished 1/27/2020): i am a fool who wants to believe in Damon Lindelof and I WAS RIGHT!!! honestly still cannot believe that he pulled off this highwire act with such deft aplomb. might be my favorite TV this year, which is a pretty high bar given how much TV i ended up watching.

On a Sunbeam (comic, finished 2/1/2020): Tillie Walden rightly deserves all the praise for inventive queer storytelling, but i will say that on reread--since i first read this as a webcomic--there ARE some issues with pacing here that clearly come from the foibles of its original intended medium. still just excellent, even if after some plot significant haircuts i was having trouble telling a few folks apart.

Lazarus (comic, 1 trade finished 2/8/2020): it’s so good and i want moooooorrrreee--though obviously Rucka and Lark have the right to take all the time they need. the newer longer issues work really well with the epic prestige drama vibes of the story! i’m into it.

The Good Place (TV, 4 seasons finished 2/18/2020): i’m gonna be super honest: i actually wasn’t a big fan of the finale, nor the last season as a whole. it felt like all of Eleanor’s flaws vanished for a majority of the season, and the Chidi-centric episode where they tried to give a legible justification for why he’s Like This was...i didn’t care for it. still, it’s so good and unique on the WHOLE that we’ll literally never get anything like this ever again, and that counts for a lot.

The Old Republic (game, finished 2/21/2020): it’s an MMO so it will never actually Be Finished so long as the servers aren’t shut down, but i caught up on the content i’d missed in the intervening months. Onslaught thus far has mostly been...kinda bland tbh; going back to Imps vs. Rebs after all the shakeups in the previous expansions feels like a waste.

High Road (album, finished 2/22/2020): someone should tell Kesha not to say that word!! otherwise i was very happy with this album, and happy FOR her even though we don’t know each other. being able to find joy again in the same genre of music you made while you were being horrifically exploited is very cool.

Young Justice (TV, 13 episodes finished 2/28/2020): given how much the middle stuff dragged--STOP KILLING YOUR HIJABI CHARACTER IN HORRIFIC WAYS--i was...actually kinda mad by how the end managed to stick the landing anyway. the day being saved by Vic’s self-acceptance and Violet’s sublime compassion was A+, and even the Brion/Tara switchup was a pleasant surprise, though it relied on me caring about Brion MUCH MORE than i actually did.

Manic (album, finished 2/29/2020): do people still care for/about Halsey? i feel like even That One Song that was on every tumblr gifset ever has kinda faded into obscurity at this point. this album was...okay. i feel like people give Halsey a pass for extremely obvious lyrical turns that they wouldn’t for other folks because of her subject material--which is fine. not really my cup of tea, but i also listened to lots of Relient K this year, so that’s probably a good thing.

Jade Empire (game, 3/10/2020): the only 3D-era Bioware game that didn’t franchise out, and for good fucking reason!!! the Orientalism and appropriation really haven’t aged well, and even beyond that the story was...standard Bioware faire. even my usual “my wife’s a bitch i love her” Bioware type didn’t do it for me, and i just ended up romancing no one. it did make me think a lot about what level of cultural borrowing is accepted nowadays, and why: people still look fondly at Avatar and talk about how ~accurate and respectful it was, for example, despite it being staffed almost entirely by white folks, and the Orientalism ALL OVER the monk class in DND is still fine for some reason.

Alif the Unseen (book, finished 3/31/2020): interesting to have read this AFTER reading The Bird King last year, because it highlights how the intervening years have shifted G. Willow Wilson’s thematic interest and improved her craft. i’m actually quite fond of how her characterization work is rougher here--Alif is extremely flawed to the point of being insufferable, but it makes his development by the end more satisfying. Dina is also just good and i love her

Baldur’s Gate (2 games, finished 5/31/2020): well, having finally finished the series i’m happy to say that it...still doesn’t really do it for me, sorry. any awesome story moments were overshadowed by the EXCRUCIATING inventory management system and the combat (i still don’t know what a THAC0 is and at this point i’m afraid to find out). these games crucially lack the Home Base that later Bioware games were so good about, and that (coupled with the huge cast of characters you can drop off and never see again) really hurts the intimacy for me. by the time we finally did get one it was the Hell Dimension in Throne of Bhaal, and i was just...trying to get through it. (yes, i did just say that about one of the most beloved expansions ever to one of the most beloved games ever.) THIS particular iteration of “my wife’s a bitch i love her” was very good, but the game wouldn’t let me romance her :(

The Underground Railroad (book, finished 6/19/2020): honestly what is there even left to say at this point! it was exactly as good as every critic on the planet said it was, even with my usual aversion to hype. draining and horrifying in turns but still insistent upon a future for Black folks.

Steven Universe (6 seasons and a mooooooviiieeee, finished 7/11/2020): yes, i DID finish the show and almost immediately begin a rewatch. this series is now one of my top five most formative things, and the amount of love and respect i have for it is incalculable. that said: i once again did not love how the central conflict of Future was resolved (just the resolution--i loved the finale just fine). for all of Steven’s breakdown was built up, resolving it with “EVERYONE HUG HIM UNTIL HE CRIES” felt...cheap, especially since up until this point the show had been so good about treating trauma and mental illness with the respect and nuance it deserves. it made me wish some of the earlier, less substantial episodes had been cut so we could spend more time at the end.

What It Is (comic, finished 8/19/2020): y’all i love Lynda Barry SO MUCH. for the longest time i was worried that One Hundred Demons was more a lightning in a bottle situation but every book of hers i pick up makes me feel obscure emotions i didn’t even realize existed. the compassionate way she’s able to describe her child self and how weird and fucked up she was (and still is) is honestly aspirational.

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (TV, 5 seasons finished 9/26/2020): so here’s a reversal of what i’ve been complaining about with other shows: i was mostly lukewarm-to-warm about She-Ra, but the later seasons and the finale made me much more into it as a whole. more shows should improve in stakes and overall quality as they age tbh!! i still don’t actively love Catradora (my sole quibble with season 5 actually has to do with the way Adora kept backsliding as a character to make certain Plot/Relationship things happen), but i’m very happy for them nonetheless. i can certainly appreciate a show that will go for High Feeling over tight plot. dark horse standout moments: trees growing everywhere proving that Perfuma Was Right, and Hordak and Adora seeing each other--that weirdly intimate moment of recognition.

Fetch the Bolt Cutters (album, finished 10/7/2020): again i find myself not having much to say that no one else has said. it’s good! once again love it when an artist reclaims something they’d attached with negative affect (anxiety, depression, disordered eating) for better and brighter things.

Solutions and Other Problems (comic, finished 10/25/2020): i was very into Allie Brosh’s ambition with this book, which feels weird to say but i stand by it. it’s cool to see an artist try to make a new medium work for them instead of just sticking to what already works. not all the experimentation was 100% effective, but it was still delightful and occasionally devastating to read, so.

Legend of Zelda (3 games: Ocarina of Time, Majora’s Mask, Link Between Worlds, finished 11/1/2020): this was the third time i’d played Ocarina of Time, which made it the nice, comforting groove i settled into before Majora’s Mask blatted me in the face. i’m not usually a completionist Zelda person because...the gameplay in Zelda is bad, do not at me it just is, but i really felt like i HAD to be one for Majora’s Mask since the whole point is to get attached to the banalities of the town. i’m sure nobody’s surprised that i loved it, even if it gave me an existential crisis about how life goes on in the game for NPCs when you’re not there to save them from it, and there’s not enough time to save them all all the time (also not a surprise to anyone: Romani and Cremia gave Personal Feelings). Link Between Worlds...bad. not like in a “this is a bad story by every measurable gauge” way, but i was already struggling with the 2D playstyle shift enough that for the whole story to end with some “yes it’s v sad that Lorule is Like This but trying to steal Hyrule’s privilege is Even Worse Actually” noblesse oblige bullshit left a VERY poor taste in my mouth, this year of all years. i did audibly gasp when Ravio took off his mask, though. i’m currently playing Breath of the Wild in cautious increments; it’s the first time i’ve enjoyed early Zelda gameplay, but if they wanted fully voiced cutscenes i wish they got voice actors who...knew what words sound like.

folklore (album, finished 11/6/2020): my belief that Taylor Swift is Just Fine continues, i’m afraid. i LIKED this album, don’t get me wrong, and respect her constant drive to innovate, but i didn’t love it substantially more or less than any other Taylor Swift album. mostly i’m just tickled by how she thinks leaning into the indie aesthetic means borrowing Vita Sackville-West’s entire wardrobe, though i will admit to feeling Something when she swore in a song. i think it was like. savage vindication?? you go ahead and swear, Taylor Swift. you deserve it.

Shore (album, finished 11/19/2020): do people still care about the Fleet Foxes? i think there was some Drama with Josh Tillman a while back but i don’t remember where the discourse landed with who was being more problematic. it was nostalgic for me to listen to their new album--made me remember being an undergrad who exclusively listened to men who mumbled and played acoustic guitar all over again.

Star Wars (3 movies: original trilogy, finished 11/27/2020): there is So Much bad Star Wars these days that every time i rewatch the original trilogy i’m afraid that they will suddenly be bad, but guess what! they’re not. i love these children and their hot mess stories, i love that Lando doesn’t know how to say his best friend’s name. what stood out to me this time was the way Obi-Wan described the Force in A New Hope, which strongly implied that ANYONE can be Force Sensitive; that obviously faded with each subsequent movie, but part of me does wish they’d kept it.

X of Swords (comics, 22 issues finished 12/5/2020): i am enjoying Hickman’s X-lines!!! not so much here for the Grand Conspiracy or whatever, but the character work and highkey weirdness is fabulous--they FEEL like X-Men, despite all the shakeups in-universe. this crossover is a nice microcosm of all that: grandiloquently all over the place, but still full of cool standout moments and genuine hilarity. ILLYANA DOESN’T KNOW HOW TO SPELL MAGIC.

Fire Emblem (4 games: Sacred Stones, Path of Radiance, Radiant Dawn, Awakening, finished 12/14/2020): this was the thing that i was closest to giving up early on, but i ended up hyperfixating on it instead. that’s a credit to what the gameplay does to my lizard brain more than anything else, because the story and character writing is...insipid. it was very bizarre to witness this franchise blunder around with its animal-people racism allegory around the same time i was getting back into RWBY, and ITS animal-people racism allegory blunders. Awakening was the first time i felt anything for the franchise beyond “teehee red units disappear make exp bar go up and brain go ding,” so i’m excited for more mature storytelling in subsequent games (they MUST get better. they MUST). the child husbandry thing is...very bad tho, and Apotheosis being “challenging” entirely through the game changing all the rules is also bad.

once again no vidya games that came out this year--i’ll probably pick up Spiritfarer or Hades after the New Year, though (or maybe TLOU II! but probably not. sry Laura and Ashley). more TV and franchises this year, which made me feel In Touch with the Children but was also kinda exhausting. nothing was so egregiously terrible i dropped it without finishing! in a year like this that feels almost like an accomplishment

[viking-raider]

A Year Late - Chapter One

Summary: The world has over. Months later, 9 people are traveling the U.S, Canada and Mexico just trying to survive the eaters...zombies, the people effected by the disease that ended the world. But, the important question is: Can they survive?

Pairing: Henry Cavill/OFC

Word Count: 5,087

Rating: PG-13 - Apocalypse AU, Zombies, Language, Violence, Blood, Gore, Survival, Weapons, Death, Angst, Pain and more 

Inspiration: I don’t know. I’ve never watched anything like the Walking Dead or anything, I have seen I am Legend, though. But, it just sorta came to me, once upon a time, and here it is. This is also a third revision of the story, so if you find it elsewhere, that’s me, being weird and recycling some of my stories for new muses. lmao

Author’s Note: Tell me what you think!

Tag List: @jennylovelyheart​, @peakygroupie​, @jessevans​, @rosie-loves-things​, @ohjules​, @mary-ann84​, @omgkatinka​, @the-freak-cassie-131​, @heelsamizayn​, @agniavateira​, @cap-barnes​, @romyr4​, @michelehansel​, @katiebriggs004-blog​, @badassbaker​, @mrsaugustwalker​, @authentic-bish-face, @rizeandvibe​, @severuined​, @supernaturalvikingwhore​, @bellastellaluna​, @wondersofdreaming​, @thisisntmyrightera​, @laurenmw815​, @winchwm​, @royallylazy​, @sofiebstar​, @worldicreate​, @agniavateira​, @fantasygirlsuniverse​, @witches-of-discovery-a​, @xuxszx​, @ayamenimthiriel​, @keiva1000​, @klaine-92​, @itsreigns​, @constip8merm8​, @scorpionchild81​​, @seb-owns-these-tatas​, @mylifefallingupthestairs​, @onlyhenrys​, @luclittlepond​

'The world as you know it is over.' There was a long deafening pause. 'A catastrophic catastrophe as swept over the nation, no ladies and gentlemen, the world. The end of the world is here and it has claimed the human race. This is Ron Sidwald signing off for the last time...ever, for Channel 12 news, November 5, 2019. God be with you all.'

Static and hissing is all that's left from the 6 month old news cast that still ran in random intervals all over the now nothing but dust, rust and abandoned desert that was once the flourishing United States of America. The world population of 7 billion as been reduced drastically to an unknown number ranging in the possible 3,000s. But, that was just a wishful thought of the ones that were still alive and unaffected by the disease that claimed their people and perfect life they had, though, they didn't know how perfect it was.

Until it was gone.

A rock sailed through the air, disappeared in the glare of the unforgiving sun and clinked into a rusty old Folgers coffee can that tipped and rolled around on its round rim bottom, then righted itself and settled back onto the dusty ground. "Woo!" A shout was hollered from the top of a modified, faded yellow, school bus. "Rock in one. Beat that, Tank!" "Oh, fuck you, Toombs. That was just a lucky shot." Tank grumbled, jumping off the top of the bus and picking up the rocks he and Toombs had been tossing into the coffee can to pass the time. "Hey yo, Link! When does Sy, Zero and Trix get back from wherever the hell they're going too?"

The beefy, over tanned Hispanic shrugged his shoulders as he cleaned his AK-47; his two Glock 18C extended clip, automatics were already cleaned and reloaded in his shoulder holsters. Link never said much, but he was good shit when it came to using his guns and getting the job done. Those qualities were the reason Sy and Zero valued him so much in these times. "Where'd they go?" Toombs asked, sitting back in the fold up lawn chair on the top of the bus, pulling on his sun goggles. "To that city we saw on the map on the way here." Link answered, pushing bullets into a new clip for the AK. "Are you fucking serious?" Tank boomed. "That shit was like seven miles from here and its almost sun down!"

Link shrugged again, putting the clip into the gun. Throwing the rocks down to the ground, Tank shoved his way into the bus, took the radio off the dashboard and held down the button on it so hard the hot, black plastic around it, cracked. "Sexy 'n' Sleek to Fuck You, over." he called and released the button to wait for Trix's response. There was a bit of static, before it came in. "This is Fuck You, come in, Sexy 'n' Sleek." static. "Over." "What the hell are you guys doing, going to a city seven miles out of zone!" Tank chewed Trix out. "We need to get supplies and we can't.." static. "..so Sy and Zero decided to come. We'll be back in no time. We just got here, over." Trix answered. "Let me talk to Sy." Tank growled. There was no answer. "Fucking over!" he barked. "Sy, isn't in range at the moment, here's Zero. Over." Trix replied. Tank leaned over, rested his hand against the hot dashboard and hung his head. "I don't want to talk to Zero." he sighed to himself, wiping the sweat off his forehead with the side of his arm. "Zero here, over." Zero's annoyed voice came in. "What's up, Tanker?" "Why the hell didn't you and Sy tell us you were going into the city for supplies, this fucking close to sun down?" Tank asked, his anger controlled. Pissing Zero off wouldn't get anyone, anywhere. "We told Link and that's what matters." Zero answered. "He has his orders, now stay off the fucking line. Over and out." Throwing the radio receiver, Tank rattled back off the bus and climbed back up into the roof. "What's up, T?" Toombs asked as Tank dropped down into a plastic deck chair next to him. "Nothing." Tank growled. "They'll be back in a bit. Link's left in charge till then." "Okay." Toombs shrugged, indifferent by it all.

Sy thumbed the smooth wood of her English longbow, other than the five guys she rode with, it was her best friend, just like the 50 thin bobtail arrows in the quiver she made and had strapped to her back. In case she ran out of arrows, she had two EAA Witness Match Semi Automatic Pistols, one in a left shoulder holster and one in her back waistband, along with a 5'' Gerber paraframe II knife in her right combat boot. She looked over at Zero, who was walking on the other side of the street from her, she looked him over. Dirty and torn cameos. Military FAMAS strapped in front of him, index finger at the ready above it, his two extended clip and automatic Tarurus PT92s in their holsters and bumping against his thighs in the rhythm of his walk, and his long knife in its holder across his back. Zero was Sy's brother, he was 2 years older than her and the only one she hadn't lost at the end of the world. Sighing heavily, she shifted her gaze from Zero to Trix, or the little twerp as she called him. Wasn't more than 18, about 6 foot and a buck forty. Skittish as hell, slow in the head and annoying like a horse fly. But, he was good with technical things like the engine to the bus, the radios and other things like that. He didn't look right, right now with a S2 sub-machine gun in a shoulder strap around his neck, hand gripping the handle like life and love needed it, 12in hunting knife poking out of his timberland and the 2 LD Jungle knives she let him use held to his scrawny right thigh. The only thing that looked right on him was the military radio backpack slung over his shoulders, so they could stay in contact with Link, Toombs and Tank at the bus, in base camp. Made Sy sad to see someone Trix's age having to do shit like this just to fucking survive. "I don't think we're going to make it back by dark." Zero's voice called, bringing Sy out of her daze, just to sigh heavy again and pull off her Tan colored Military goggles from around her head. "Should find shelter then." She said, popping out the black lenses of the goggles and replace them with clear ones, then put them back around her head and over her eyes. She looked up at the sun, "Only got about 2 hours til we're in the dark." Zero nodded agreeing with her, rubbing his dirty, sweaty and gritty face. He kicked a rock in front of him down the street and looked at Sy with a raised eyebrow. "Trix." Sy called to the kid. "Take a seat, watch the street, and remember what your mother did, and didn't, teach you." she told him, pulling the bow between her back and quiver, then pulled out the pistol from her shoulder holster. "Look all ways when near a street, yell when someone comes, and shoot when you need too." Trix recited it to her like a bible verse, in a sense it had become one for them all. "Good boy." Zero smiled, patting Trix on the head as he sat down on curb. Zero quickly made his way over to Sy, they stood close to each other and talked about their possible options for a safe shelter to use for the night. "Could go back two blocks and use the store." Sy suggested. "We already cleared it." "Yeah, the first two levels. Not the basement, cellar and attic." Zero shook his head. Sy nodded, exhaling a stressed breath. "Okay, down a half block around the corner and see what pops up." she held her fist out to him. Zero touched his fist to hers in agreement with the plan and they headed down. "Behave, twerp." Sy threw over her shoulder as she and Zero went down the street.

Trix waved her away and popped a stick of gum in his mouth, looking down the street the way they came, then around the corner of the wall on the other side of him and down at Sy and Zero as they disappeared. "Hate being alone." he mumbled to himself, fingering his gun.

In nervousness, Trix started to whistle low and rock back and forth, side to side. Timing his movement and whistling with how he looked down the three sections of road. The streets were dimming and gray, it was getting cold and Trix was starting to loose his nerve. Zero and Sy hadn't returned yet, but he didn't hear any gunfire either. So, they were probably still scoping out wherever they were scoping out and not getting eaten by anything that lurked in the abandoned buildings. He hoped anyway. Whipping his head to the the left, Trix saw three figures moving down the road where he, Sy and Zero had come from. It couldn't have been the others because Link had orders that if they didn't return by morning, he was to take Toombs and Tank to the next planned area and if any of them survived would make their way there to meet them. Getting up and hiding behind the corner of the building, his gun pointed at the moving figures, his heart pounding. "It's too early yet for Eaters." he whispered to himself, trying to calm himself. He looked up the road where Sy and Zero went. He knew that he couldn't run up that way without them seeing him and he couldn't yell for them either because he was sure they'd hear him before Zero and Sy would, and get to him before the three tore him apart. Trix looked back to the three figures, they were closer now. So, backing up down the wall a good length, he turned and ran to an ally, ran down that ally and as he passed through the other side, he collided with Zero. "Trix, get the fuck off me." Zero growled, shoving the teen off him and getting up. "What are you runnin' from, twerp?" Sy asked, helping him up. "There's three figures coming up the road. It's not the T's or Link and it's too early for the Eaters." Trix panted. "It's never to early for the Eaters." Sy said, pulling night vision goggles out of Zero's pack and replacing her goggles with them and switching them on. "Come on." she whispered going up to the edge of the street and peeking around the corner at the three figures. "It's okay, Trix. You're right. It's not dark enough for the eaters to come out yet. Not unless you woke them up." Zero assured him. "I was whistling." Trix shook. Zero shook his head, coming up behind Sy and pressed his finger to his lips. Trix nodded and zipped his lips. Sy scoped out the three figures coming up the street towards them. They're movements were unsure, like they were lost. One tall, one close to that and one an inch or two shorter. "Wish I had Tank's sniper scope." she whispered to Zero. "At least then I could see their faces...wait. They've stopped, there's activity behind them." "What is it?" Zero demanded quietly. "Those three aren't Eaters, Z." she said, pulling the Night Vision up away from her eyes and looking back at her brother. "How do you know?" "Because the 6 things behind them are." she told him, pulling out her bow. "We have to help them."

Zero nodded, pulling his FAMAS against his shoulder and looked back at Trix and nodded at him. Trix nodded at Zero and readied himself. "Go, Sy." Zero whispered, patting Sy on the back. Sy ran out from the corner to the middle of the street and down a few step, where she stopped. Pulling a thin bobtail arrow out of her quiver, placing it in the bow and pulling the sting on the bow back, aiming carefully between the two tallest figures, who she could now see were three guys. A smirk pulled on her lips seeing their scared faces, then let go of the arrow. The arrow whizzed through the air, creating a breeze in the longish hair of the second tallest as it went between them and struck one of the Eaters through the right eye, shattering the back of its skull and dropping it completely dead to the ground. When that Eater dropped, Zero and Trix came out as Sy ran to the three guys being tracked by the Eaters. "You need to move, now!" she snapped at them, pulling back another arrow as a second Eater got closer. "Go!" she yelled at them, taking out the Eater. The three guys ran to where Zero and Trix were and hid behind them. "Sy, get back here!" Zero yelled at his sister, shooting down two Eaters. Sy shot another Eater, than turned and ran back to the group. As she slid to a stop next to them, Trix let loose with his sub-machine gun. "Take them back to the building." he yelled over the gunfire. "Come on." Sy said, pushing the three guys back to the building that she and Zero cleared. She pushed them inside. Putting her bow away and pulling out her shoulder gun again, she held the door with one hand and the gun with the other, watching the door for Trix, Zero and anything else that wanted in. "It's fucking dark in here." one of the guys complained. "Here." Sy shrugged her pack off, never looking away from the door. "There's heavy duty glow sticks in there. Only break open two, that's all you need to see." she instructed them. The sound of them rummaging through her pack, then ripping open the foil packaging of the glow sticks and the creaks and pops of the sticks filled the sheet rock walled room. A neon green glow came to life in the room, then the shuffling sounds of the men sitting down with heavy and uneasy sighs. Zero and Trix came charging in, slamming the door shut and pushing everything they could in front of it. When they felt it was safe, Sy, Zero and Trix pointed their guns at the three men sitting on the floor in front of them. The three struggled up, their hands up and palms out and backing up. "Whoa, chill." The tallest spoke. "Yeah." A second tallest of the men added in.

The third stayed quiet, but frightened looking. "Who are you? Where are you from? What are you doing out here? and are you infected?" Zero interrogated them. "I'm-I'm.." The second tallest stuttered. "Henry, from London. We got trapped here, when all the shit hit and as far as any of us know, we're not infected." "And you two are?" Zero asked, pointing his AK at them. "I'm Joey, I'm also from England." The quiet one answered. "And I'm Armie, I'm from here in the U.S." The other answered. "He's bleeding." Trix said, pointing to Henry. "On his side." Sy walked up to him, pulled open his tattered black plaid button down and looked over the gash on his side. She looked back at Zero and shook her head. "It's not anything to worry about Eater wise. Just a wound." she said, stepping away from him. "What the fuck is an 'Eater'?" Joey frowned. "Those things that were going to attack you, before we came in." Zero told them, putting the safety on his AK and sitting back against the pile in front the door. He checked the clip and a bunch of other stuff, Trix did the same as Henry, Joey and Armie sat back down. Sy dug in her pack and pulled out some items. She stood up and went over to Henry and motioned for him to follow her. "You want him to follow you?" Joey protested. "Yeah, unless he wants that wound on his side to get anymore infected, if it isn't already, and if the blood isn't covered up and controlled the Eaters will sniff it out." Sy snapped at him. “No doubt, why they found you.” "I don't trust you." Joey snapped back. Sy growled, dropping her head back. She set the medical supplies aside and unloaded all her weapons, her bow, quiver, clips and guns. "There." she showed him, arms out and turning. "Knife, in you boot." Trix added. "I might need it." she glared at him. "I'm not Cat Woman." Joey, Armie and Henry exchanged looks with each other. "Fine, bleed and/or get sick and die, for all I care. What's one more to add to the loss." Sy rolled her eyes going past him. Henry stopped her, grabbing her by the arm. "I trust you." he whispered. Sy sighed softly, grabbed the medical supplies again and led him to a little kitchen, away from all the others in the place. She laid the supplies down on a counter island and pointed to a chair for Henry to sit in. "Take your shirt off too, please." she told him, pulling a chair up in front of him. Henry nodded and hung the shirt up on the back of the chair. He watched Sy lean close to him and look over his wound, touching it carefully. "So, how long you guys been out here?" he asked, trying to break the silence. "Me, my brother Zero and Trix, the kid, along with our other three guys Toombs, Tank and Link have been here since before it happened. All of us, but Link were born in the US. Link was born in Mexico." she told him, leaning back and grabbing a closed bottle of water and a pad of gauze. Popping open the water and wetting the pad, she wiped and pressed it to his wound making him hiss and bite his bottom lip.

"Sorry." "It's okay." Henry groaned. "This wound is sorta old. Its hardened over some and its got puss inside of it." She told him, dropping the wet pad to the floor. "I have to open and drain it." Henry's eyes went wide as she told him she'd have to cut his wound. "If there was another way, I'd do it. But there's not. If the puss sits there any longer, the more it'll enter your blood stream and make you really sick." She tried to explain it to him as lightly as possible. Henry gulped and nodded his head slowly, "Okay." he whispered. "What do I do?" "I need you to lay down." she told him, getting up, pushing the chair back as she did. Henry rubbed his face, looking at the floor. "Here, wait." Sy stopped him as he started to lay down. She left the kitchen and came back with a brown blanket. She laid it out, took off her black and red hoodie, folded it up and laid it down on the blanket too as a pillow. "There, make it a little more comfy." she smiled at him. Henry smiled at her and laid down on his back, his head supported by her rolled up hoodie. Sy brought the medical supplies down to floor level as she sat cross legged beside him, she pulled her knife from her boot and flipped it open, she poured iodine on the black blade and laid it on fresh gauze. "Go you have any painkillers?" Henry asked, meeting her eyes. Sy pressed her lips together and shook her head at him. "No, sorry." she apologized, pouring more iodine on another piece of gauze and wiping around the wound, but she paused. "But, you know what." she said, her eyes far off. "Trix! Come here and bring your bag." she called out to the kid. Trix came rushing in, gripping his bag by a strap. "Yeah, Sy. Got it right here." He tripped over himself to give it to her and watched like a caught sheep as she dug through it and pulled out a 12oz bottle of Tennessee whiskey. "Here, down some of this." she opened the bottle and held it to Henry's lips, letting him gulp down a fourth of it. "Okay. I'll let you have the rest when I'm done." she told him, putting the cap back on the bottle and setting it aside. "Thanks you, Trix. You can get lost now." Trix nodded, taking his bag back to the front room. "Thanks." Henry replied, when Trix was gone. "Anytime." Sy answered, picking up her knife. "You want something to bite or you good?" she asked him. "Is it gunna hurt?" Henry asked looking her in the eyes. His blue orbs looked worried and scared beyond belief. "I was just throwing it out there." Sy answered, trying to be encouraging and soothing. Henry squeezed his eyes shut and dropped his head back to her hoodie. "Just go." he told her. "Okay." she nodded, then pressed the tip of the knife to the wound.

Henry growled deep in his throat, his hand shooting out and gripping Sy's knee and squeezing his eyes shut tighter as she cut open the length of his wound. Sy dropped the knife as thick white puss oozed out of the cut, she picked up a package of iodine and ripped it open with her teeth. "Big pain." she warned him and squeezed the stinging brown liquid out of the package to his oozing wound. Henry howled in agony as the iodine soaked into the cut. Joey, Trix, Armie and Zero leaned in the doorway of the kitchen to see what all the commotion was about. Sy ignored them, wiping away the puss and pressing it out as much as she could and letting Henry squeeze her leg as much as he need too. "Is he gunna be okay?" Armie asked, concerned. "Yeah, I'm sure of it." Sy answered, still pushing puss out of the wound and pouring more iodine on it. "I need to keep an eye on it to make sure it heals right." "That means they have to stay with us." Trix whined. "Yeah, just like you had too, when we found your dumb ass." Sy mocked back. "Go radio Link and tell them the situation." she barked out the order. "And the rest of you, beat it or your next." she threatened. Not needing farther threats the group at the door was gone to find something else to do. "I don't want to be a burden." Henry panted. "Shut up and breathe." Sy ordered, opening the wound a bit deeper. Henry groaned as the knife cut deeper into his side and gripping her knee even tighter, but Sy never registered it. "There. I'm gunna let it ooze a bit longer, then I'll bandage it up. I don't want you moving. So just lay there, you need something let me know, got it?" "Got it." Henry answered, still panting. "But, tell me something." "Anything." "Okay then, two somethings." Sy smiled at him, cleaning off her knife. "What is it?" "One, what's your name and two, how do you know what you're doing?" "One, My name is Sy and two, I'm a medic." A frown washed over her face. "Well, I was before the whole end of the world thing. I was 3 months shy of becoming a doctor." "Sy. What's that short for?" he asked, looking at her. "Nothing. It's my full name. My parents weren't very clear minded, when they had me." she laughed. Henry chuckled and Sy patted Henry on the shoulder, packed away the medical supplies, then sat back against the counter island facing Henry and closed her eyes. It was going to be another long night, the Eaters or the people that had been affected by the disease that swept over the world, turning many into flesh eating, night walking maniacs, where coming out in stronger and bigger numbers every night. But luckily they seemed to be spread out from each other, though God only knows how long that'll last. It only took three days, three days, for the world to end and tip upside down. The brown, cloudless and sunny sky was utterly unforgiving in the day time. It was so hot in the day you could fry an egg the sidewalk and so cold at night, you couldn't wet your lips without running the chance of them freezing together. Chapstick, sun block and sun glasses were your best amigo in the day and a thick blanket, more Chapstick and another human body were your partner at night. Yeah, Sy, Zero, Trix, Link, Toombs and Tank had it all down to a pretty good and fine science. They had their faults, nothing out of the usual though. Only being some of the last surviving people on the planet over run with Zombies, supplies were few and in between, like toilet paper, a bar of soap or even a washer machine. But things could be improvised for that. They always sold out the ammo stores and aisles when they could, got what good food they could use, water was a hard thing to get right, but thanks to Trix, they had a system of making damn sure it was clean enough to drink and cook with. They raided hospitals for medical supplies when needed, clothing stores for new shoes and whatever else they needed to cover themselves. It was by no means a simple life, or an easy one. But, they all knew that it could be worse, and as long as they had each other, they'd be able to get through it virtually unhurt. Sy jerked awake, hearing a startled gasp from in front of her. Sitting up, putting a hand on her shoulder gun and reaching into the side pouch of her cameo pants, she pulled out a glow stick and broke it, illuminating the kitchen in a blue glow as she shook it for extra strength. It was Henry, sitting up on his elbows, sweating heavily and staring, frightened, at the small kitchen window behind her. Glancing at her watch, it was 3.03am. She set the glow stick between them and rested her hand on his tense shoulder. She could hear the Eaters now, running and screeching passed the window and around the building. It was a sound that kept her awake many of the first nights, haunted her dreams for weeks after, and finally, just recently, she got use to it. But, obviously Henry hadn't gotten to that point yet. "It's okay." she whispered to him, wiping sweat from his temple. "They can't get in." "You sure?" Henry asked, never tearing his eyes from the window. "Yeah, the window is too small, the door is blocked and Zero's watching it. The windows on the third floor are too high for them to reach." Sy assured him. She ran her fingers through his short curly brown hair, smiling as it spiked slightly from him sweating. "Just lay back down, I won't let anything happen to you. I promise." Henry laid back, breathing slowly in and out through his mouth. He stared at the ceiling, his stomach rumbled angrily. Sy frowned hearing it and watching him press his hand to his stomach, closing his eyes. She shifted to get up and he grabbed her by the wrist, looking at her from the corners of his eyes. "I'm just going to get my bag, okay. I won't be more than like twelve feet from you." she told him, tenderly. Henry's hand slowly let go of her waist and Sy stood up, edged around him and went into the other room where the others where at. "Everything okay?" Zero asked. He was sitting on turned over paint bucket in front of the door, his FAMAS loaded and ready to go if anything happened, across his lap. "Yeah, just need my bag. Got a growling tummy in there and by the sound of how pissed it is, he hasn't eaten in a bit." Sy replied, picking up her bag, where she dropped it last. "Yeah, Trix gave those two some food and water, he was gunna give some to you two, but you were already asleep and I told him to leave you." Zero answered, watching the shadows outside zoom by. Sy sighed, standing next to Zero, facing away from the shadows. There was an uneasy pause and silence between them, words for their thoughts didn't have to be said out loud anymore, because they'd been said so many times before. "Go and get some food in that boy's belly, Sy." Zero said softly, looking down at his safety. "We'll talk about it later." Nodding and patting him on the shoulder, she took her pack back into the kitchen and sat back down in her spot beside Henry, who looked at her with a gulp. Sy smiled at him, digging in her bag and pulling out a medium sized brown package and a dark green spoon and handed it to him. "What is this?" Henry frowned taking the items. "Um, I think, that's chili and beans. I got...uh, meatloaf with gravy and Pork Chow Mein, if ya wanna switch." she told him, holding up two other medium sized packages. "Okay, but, what the hell is this?" he asked, shaking the package at her. "Oh! They're MREs." Sy answered, grabbing another spoon for herself. "Meals Ready to Eat. It's U.S military food. They have a shelf life of 25 years, so they're good stuff for us." Henry grimaced at the MRE and spoon in his hand, but his stomach was telling him to rip that shit open and devour it. Setting the spoon down and ripping open the package, he looked in at the gooey mess in it and looked up at Sy still a bit grossed out. Sy offered him a smile, as she ate the Chow Mein with her fingers. Shrugging, Henry picked his spoon back up and dug into the food. It wasn't as bad as he thought it would be, he was actually sorta impressed by it.

[goofmemes]

More NSP Sentence Starters

Mansion Party:

“You wanna come to a party at my house tonight?”

“Don't slip on all my money.”

“Seduction is like a game of chess. And I'm the queen.”

“Can't stop, won't stop!”

“Yo that tiger's super tight.”

“If you're feeling naughty we'll snort champagne by candlelight.”

“Later on's a panda fight.”

“You've really gotta agitate the pandas to get them engaged in combat.”

“Just walk right past the garden, go through the Spanish French doors.”

“You can ride my purebred stallion.”

“If you hit my moat you've gone too far.”

“Take an upside down left at the M.C. Escher stairs.”

“Okay, you're almost halfway there!”

“I bought a yacht just for tonight!”

“Ugh, it's last week all over again.”

“Let’s get the hell out of here!”

First Date:

“Hey pretty lady, you're looking real fine.”

“I’m not like other guys.”

“I can tell that you have played it safe your whole life.”

“So let's get naughty and break a couple rules tonight!“

“No one will ever know.”

“Let’s steal a car tonight!”

“Commit a felony with me and drive until the sunrise!”

“We're young and in love—so let's commit some crimes.”

“Hey. I like you.”

“I got you flowers, let's get some coffee.”

“Look deep in my eyes and tell me ‘bout your family?”

“Let's steal some art tonight!“

“Or, you know, we could go a little more traditional: go for a walk, watch a movie.“

“Actually, there's a really nice flower exhibit at the botanical gardens!”

“Wait, you know what? Fuck it!”

“Let's kill some guy tonight!“

“You know what? First date: let's pump the brakes on the murders.”

“I'll take you back to your place and we'll craft the perfect alibi.”

“Man, we had fun tonight!”

“Good first date! Wanna do it again next wee—no? Oh, alright...”

Why I cry:

“I Have been told that you only date nice guys.”

“Your ass just hit paydirt.”

“I’m the most sensitive person on God’s green Earth!”

“Here's a rose bouquet.”

“Now, mount this stallion and we shall ride.”

“It's like you're a fossil sample. And I'm an impatient paleontologist. 'Cause I wanna date you badly.”

“I love boring romantic comedies.”

“Any movie we see can be a drive-in movie if we build up enough speed.”

“Now it's almost dawn.”

“I can communicate with newborn fawns.”

“And during sex I'll cry.”

“Sorry, was that too sensitive for you?”

“Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. I’ll just be over here, thinking about a duckling riding on the back of a puppy.”

Rhinoceratops Vs. Superpuma:

“Did I ever tell you about the time I saved the world from super monsters? Yeah, that's a thing that happened.”

“It's the middle of the day but darkness falls on the city.”

“We're just collateral damage in their giant-ass war.”

“Not a single human being can survive in the vicinity.”

“You're the only hope to save billions of lives.”

“We can be there in an hour if we really, really try.”

“Sorry if you died.”

“I would be lucky if I live to see dawn.”

“That's gonna be like twenty-five dollars, at least. Damn it.”

“You know we could have been there sooner but we stopped for ice cream.”

“Where have you been!? We're all under attack!"

“I had a craving for pistachio, get off my fucking back.”

“Some guy said ‘What are you doing?’ so we punched him in the face.”

“All we had to do was get them in the booty mood.”

“We rocked so hard it put the monsters in a trance.”

“I was immediately sorry that they weren't wearing pants.”

“So we finished off the night with an amazing rock show.”

“Then (___) stabbed a random guy.”

“You suck but that's a story for another day.”

“Son of a bitch! I'm gonna have to lightly buff that out.”

[brothermouzongaming]

Borderlands 3 review

Level 50 Zane, 15 Amara. Minor spoilers ahead World/Maps -The worlds you travel to are impressively large even though they're broken up into smaller sections; the term "smaller" is used very loosely. I may be wrong but these are by far the most areas and largest in the franchise and its kind of impressive. My favorite level is the Lectra City section of Promethea. It's both organized and maze-like where a gunfight can break out literally around every corner. All the sections are noticeably big and feel unique to the planet or area they represent with that "if it's on the map there's probably something there" design that not enough games take advantage of. -The color pallet is miles better than any previous game in the series. This game can be pretty but its even prettier when everything is blowing up and shit catching fire, particle effects are trying to fuck your eyeballs. The previous games were kind of bland color-wise, the pre-sequel did try and venture out more but this is way above that in my eyes. Gameplay/Guns/L00t

-The combat is sublime. I have heard people complain that doesn't feel much different but I think they are wrong and need to go back and play the less enthralling, less involved combat of the previous games. You didn't have many options in the first games when firefights broke out and it was dated but distinctly Borderlands. Now that the slide and mantle have been implemented (it's about time really), combat is faster and players can take advantage of high points and hit cover faster. The slide even has combat implications once you get to the later parts of the story. It's all very well worked and thought out as opposed to being just thrown in because it's what shooters do now. -The guns and gunplay are on par with Destiny, they may even be a little better when you consider how deep the loot is and how the stats visibly and tactically affect the guns they’re applied to. You get one Duke in D2 and you've pretty much got them all. Here you can get the same gun to drop and actually see and feel the difference between the stats it rolled with. The distinct differences in the manufacturers have really been leaned into as well. They reworked some of the distinct hallmarks of the makers and improved them to help ramp up the combat. This is minor but I really like how manufacturers will mail you guns the more you use theirs. -Vehicle controls are muddy as hell and will take a second to get used to. It’s definitely not the best possible setting even after messing with controls for a few minutes. The default kind of forces you to shoot where you’re looking unless you’re standing still, you may want a little more flexibility in your controls which is available. That said, the models and their functionality are varied and cool but I’m honestly surprised they haven’t perfected controls yet. Story/Writing

-The story is decent, wildly better than the actual writing and dialogue itself (which doesn't say that much) but once you get to the end there are some connection's made that are interesting and well thought out. Now that I've gotten the "good" out of the way. What the fuck is up with all the cutscenes not having our character in them. All events in cutscenes play out like our guy or girl isn't in the room and can't affect the events that play out in them. There will be so many times where you yell at the screen as to why your character is never seen/not doing anything in pivotal situations that could use a Vault Hunter. LIKE THE ONE THAT SHOULD BE STANDING RIGHT THERE. -Troy (male villain) literally says "You were like, 'My powers boo hoo'!!" which is a Handsome Jack reference. It would be nice and nostalgic if it wasn't the very first thing that comes out of his mouth when the Twins intercept you at the Dry Dock. Instead, it just seems beyond lazy and proves just how lacking in identity they both are. Tyrene is arguably worse, she just says things and then follows it with "I don't believe that," or " That's just something people say". That could show how little she cares and that would be fine if it wasn't the only thing about her that stood out. They almost do something interesting later in the story where Troy takes center stage but that lasts literally a boss fight. Both of them are just, underwhelming in almost every single way. All seldom the connection they have and how Troy is capable of being a Siren and Tyrene's seemingly completely unique and powerful abilities. Co-op, Optimization, and Performance

- Co-op will go from fluid and fantastic to laggy and rubber banding at the drop of a mag and it's as frustrating as it is thrilling as hell. It's strange what situations will slow things down and what runs smooth as hell. We had four people on one internet connection and everything ran really well. One day my friend and I tried with just us on Promethea and the session was so fucked I actually couldn't see or fire my guns at one point and I had to back out and come back to get them functioning again. There are definitely more patches coming but for a game boasting online co-op, it should be better. I will say though, level balancing is amazing and can even be quite useful if you want guns to drop at level no matter where you are in the game. People have been complaining about the UI and I totally understand, I don't mind the design, what I do mind is how obnoxious the input lag is. Oh and the weird glitch where as you scroll your inventory, the pictures of the items toward the bottom copy to rows above them. It's easy to fix in-game but...why is it even a thing? How have they not fixed that glitch where your FFYL timer just drops off despite still having time on the meter. It's happened since borderlands 1 maybe there's a certain amount of damage you can take before the timer doesn't matter anymore? I genuinely don't understand it and on boss fights, it's infuriating to lose money when you could've gotten a kill for your second wind. Misc. -Of course, the first patch they put out isn't to fix the performance issues but to kill the Loot Tink farm on at the Jakob estates. A farm you can still do offline fyi ;) A billion guns and you mad people getting a slightly higher chance at getting the guns they’re just gonna get anyway. WHY -The trinkets are cute but useless, why not put a minor stat buff on them to actually give them reason? They're so small they almost don't exist to me. -Also, that end credits song is absolutely terribly chosen. The end sequence, in general, is just strange and seemed a little forced. Not how they presented it but what exactly they showed because as perplexing as it was to see what I did, I was just more upset I didn't get the development of those scenarios to see how we reached the outcome. I'm trying not to spoil things but it's difficult so I'll just be quiet. I'm not even sure of what I saw but I do know what it looked like. I just wish there was more background given since our character gets literally none. -REALLY weird cameos. Like, really strange. tl;dr BL3 is an 8.5 for me which flys in the face of my many criticisms but I can't deny how fantastic the gameplay is on top of the absolute wealth of content delivered, all without the modern monetization bullshit. The story is meh, writing meh, but god damn if it isn't rewarding in its gameplay. IF you like BL as a whole there's no reason not to play unless you're waiting for the Steam release. An Endgame post is in the works.

[malunedyne]

aesthetic themed ask list: you know the drill fam, all of them now!

BRUUHHH IS THIS BLACKMAIL

fairy lights: if a crystal ball could tell you the truth about anything, what would you want to know?

will i ever be a successful writer/artist of any kind? how can i achieve that?

daisies: what is the greatest accomplishment of your life?

being able to be grateful and enjoy small things in life even if i feel like i’m at the peak of my dysthymia (lol)

1975: what is the first happy memory that comes to mind, recent or otherwise?

a very random day i’m not sure why it got stuck on my head some +5 years ago when it was raining and i was outside my house, throwing lemons of my lemon tree towards the neighbors’ houses lmao

matte: if you knew that in one year you would die suddenly, would you change anything about the way you are now living?

totally, i would start writing full time and maybe planning on doing some small trips before it

black nail polish: do you have a bucket list? if so, what are the top three things?

-visiting a foreign country (japan would be my dream)-publishing a work (either a book or a photograph in a prestigious place)-be truly in love and loved back

pantone: describe a person close to your life in detail.

-she’s the only one who knows in EXPLICIT detail how my sublimation mechanism works, the biggest of my weakness, what makes me feel shame the most….. a college friend of mine, intellectually clever, emotionally not so much, shares big passion for the same EROS subject

moodboard: do you feel you had a happy childhood?

-i can’t complain about it, i remember good things mostly, i still went outside and played but also enjoyed video games and cartoons; i was a loner but never felt lonely, my imagination compensated alla that

stars: when did you last cry in front of another person?

-in the first days of the year in front of my parents lol i was so done with everything

plants: pick a person to stargaze with you and explain why you picked them.

-i’d choose my father cause he surely would tell me some good stories or about the myths….. 

converse: would you ever have a deep conversation with a stranger and open up to them?

-that’s literally what going to therapy almost is lmao jks that’s not therapy well i think if i could feel reciprocated, i would

lace: when was your last 3am conversation with someone, and who were they to you?

-3 am???? i guess it was my last best friend, but we barely think of each other now

handwriting: if you were about to die, and you could only say one more sentence to one person, what would you say and to whom?

-it would depend on a lot of things, honestly

cactus: what is your opinion on brown eyes?

-cute and it doesn’t give me the creeps to stare at directly, lmao (eyes too light give me anxiety to hold visual contact with)

sunrise: pick a quote and describe what it means to you personally.

“A Hero must struggle!” how can you know a Hero is a Hero without trouble though? isn’t life made out of trials? A Hero must not be just a muscular, strong figure who makes physical tasks, it also speaks of mental and intern fights too..... I wrote a whole paper on this and would surely write more about it

oil paints: what would you title the autobiography of your life so far?

-1000 reasons why thinking everything will solve by itself later is a lie and a bad idea

overalls: what would you do with one billion dollars?

-find another place to live with my family; travel. a fucking lot. but first, give my parents what they need to solve some financial and health issues. donate to environment protection orgs, buy shittons of gaming and anime merch like the hopeless half-arsed grown adult i am

combat boots: are you a very forgiving person? do you like being this way?

-I can forgive anyone but it takes some time. I like being like that, everything that hurts me i sublimate later through my writings, so even that displeasure, has a /creative/ function in my life

winged eyeliner: write a hundred word letter to your twelve year old self.-bitchyou’re dumb as hell, but wise as fuck. you don’t give three fucks about time,enjoy it while you can. you may have encountered yourself with people who tryto hurt you, mess with you and you feel bad about yourself, but it’s not yourfault in the slightest, nor they are right. never allow them to be in controlof YOUR emotions. you need to stand for yourself and yourself only, you don’tneed to prove shit to no one. Write. Write. Write. and never stop. use everythingand turn it into words: good, bad, fears and dreams. 

pastel: would you describe yourself as more punk or pastel?

both depending on the #mood

tattoos: how do you feel about tattoos and piercings? explain

piercings aren’t really my thing but I like tattoos (not hardcore-like tho), I’ve think of getting one but I get overwhelmed and my mom would kill me lol (if my siblings agreed on getting a small Triforce tattoo and each of us pick one part /i’d pick wisdom tho/, i’d be more than happy to get it done) 

piercings: do you wear a lot of makeup? why/why not?

I used to wear mascara (but i caught an eye infection, lol), now i just do the basics: powder and lipstick.

bands: talk about a song/band/lyric that has affected your life in some way.

uhm….. i owe led zeppelin a lot because it supported me thru the worst of my first major depressive episode, and i have a thing with Pink Floyd The Wall….. I used to listen it on repeat thru the last straw of it, so it naturally makes me feel depressive and somewhat suicidal ???? but just in thought….. I can’t listen to Dark Side of the Moon because I feel useless as well lol

messy bun: the world is listening. pick one sentence you would tell them.

we need to stop being arrogant, selfish and stupid enough to think everything is here to serve us; we can’t dissociate ourselves from nature and the environment as if we were self-sufficient.

cry baby: list the concerts you have been to and talk about how they make you feel.

oh now this is sad lol

grunge: who in the world would you most like to receive a letter from and what would you want it to say?

the person who will spend their life with me, and where to find them

space: do you have a desk/workspace and how is it organised/not organised?

uhmm….. hehe

white bed sheets: what is your night time routine?

i set /most of times/ my stuff for the next day, uniform; i eat/drink something and put a glass of water beside my bed, wear my pajamas, pray a little for the people i love, or render thanks for stuff, and think of my stories or some gay shit before till i fall asleep (if i’m lucky enough, i get to dream of it as well)

old books: what’s one thing you don’t want your parents to know?

-same as u fam @electroma89, I want my parents to know my interest in writing and such, just like my father does buuuuuuuuuuut the topics of my interest i doubt they’ll understand and it’s a total wild card trying to guess how they would react like

beaches: if you had to dye your hair how would you dye/style it and why?

have u seen MCU’s Gamora? that’s how I’d wear my hair

eyes: pick five people to go on an excursion with you. who would you pick and where would you go/what would you do?

-uh….. lol idk, i’ve always have wanted to go to somewhere quiet and watch the stars

11:11: name three wishes and why you wish for them.

-Peace and Love on Planet Earth….. is there anything that’s worth more?-having self discipline….. i swear to Hylia lots of my problems could be avoided that way-meet someone who loves me and i can love back….. my life has placed me in the worst places to know people, i swear…..

painting: what is the best halloween costume you have ever put together? if none, make one up.

-i’ve never dressed for halloween, but i’d like to; though i can’t think of any rn lol

lightning: what’s the worst thing you’ve ever done while drunk or high?

-opening up to people more than i should had

thunder: what’s one thing you would never do for one million dollars?

-hurt someone from my loved ones; steal from the poor

storms: you on only listen to one song for the rest of your life, or only see one person for the rest of your life. which and why?

-only one song??? FUCK i couldn’t say a person, but i’m sooooo special with songs i’m not sure….. maybe Le Cygne by Camil Saint-Saens, maybe that one

love: have you ever fallen in love? describe what it feels like to realise you’re in love.

-i’ve never been, i’ve been infatuated, but in love? as in love for real? i don’t think so

clouds: if you’re a boy, would you ever rock black nail polish? if you’re a girl, would you ever rock really really short hair?

-i was thinking in cutting my hair real short…. i might do it next year

coffee: what’s your starbucks order, and who would you trust to order for you, if anyone?

-i’d trust anyone who acknowledges i love italian sodas instead of coffee lmao

marble: what is the most important thing to you in your life right now?

-getting some writings done and figuring out what to do once my internship trial is over

BRUH this is some deep shit for real omfg

[ciircumserpent]

:o Does the Mun have any video game recommendations? I played Metal gear solid and liked it.

i’m glad you liked mgs !! it’s a really great series and a lot of fun to play. i’ll warn you that my taste in video games is kind of eclectic, and there aren’t a lot on this list that resemble mgs at all, but i’ll try to explain why i like what i like because i definitely think they’re games worth playing. i’m gonna put this under a cut though because it’s not rp- or headcanon-related and it will also probably get… long… ( i’m skipping over games like mario / loz / sonic / pokémon / etc. because there are so many of those that it’s a free-for-all in terms of which you think is the ‘best’ and because they’re so similar at the end of the day that it doesn’t even matter you’re gonna get about the same experience. )

a little background. my exposure to video games started in a school setting. when i was really little, i wasn’t allowed to own any games myself, and i didn’t get my first console until i was pretty old ( i tend to be slow on the console market in general; i bought my first console for myself this year and it was a ps4, my ps3 was a gift that i received last year, and before that, it had been the ps2 which was released seventeen years ago, so make of that what you will ). all of my gaming then took place in preschool and kindergarten, which meant that i was mostly playing nintendo party games. so imagine what a life-changing event it must have been when i picked up–

kingdom hearts / ii: i’ve been playing the kingdom hearts games for… most of my life, and they matter a lot to me. i actually think kingdom hearts ( the original ) was the first game that i could remember playing enough for it to have an emotional impact. i’d played games before that, but they were sort of mindless entertainment. by the time i got kingdom hearts, i was old enough to actually think about what was going on and to remember it in some detail when i stopped playing. it was also my first game with an engaging story worth remembering. the gameplay in the original might seem a little jerky now, but looking at some of the other shit stuff that came out at about the same time, kingdom hearts had incredible animation, environments, and controls. kingdom hearts ii, which also came out on the ps2, was even better. i was stunned by how great the cinematics looked ( i also use this and squenix’s other games to push the point that if your game goes for style instead of realism it doesn’t age as badly ), and how good combat felt. now, kingdom hearts is an rpg in that it has a lot of grinding and you level up your character and switch out abilities and weapons and all that, so if that’s not for you, you may not like that, but honestly i find the gameplay so engaging that i straight up don’t care if i’m spending some time filling up item slots and balancing my action points. i’m also not partial to the other games in the series, not because they aren’t ‘good’, but because square fucked up how it released these games honestly. they’re spread across so many consoles that until the ps3 compilation you had to either be made of money or have lots of friends with different consoles to get all of the story. there’s been a highly dedicated fanbase since the early 2000s that has been consistently updating all available information on the series, so if you were smart, you waited and watched the cinematics and walkthroughs, then picked up the remixes when they came out. the only complaint i have is that, when they ported the mobile games to console ( all with updated graphics, don’t worry, they’re very attentive when it comes to that ), you can… tell that they weren’t designed for a playstation controller. but i have straight up played kingdom hearts ii for twelve years now and haven’t gotten bored. i only recommend that you start with the original kingdom hearts. it’s not the first game chronologically, but it’s 1) the simplest and 2) the most genuine in what it was trying to do, and it lays the emotional foundation for the rest of the series. you’re not going to feel the same impact playing these games if you start with the prequels, because they use the more complex storytelling of kingdom hearts ii, which only ever made sense if you played i. clearly i care a lot about this game. it’s such a good game. the story’s gotten ridiculous but please play kingdom hearts.

bioshock infinite: this is another game where you should play the original ( bioshock ) first, but the plot twist is that i like bioshock so much less than infinite that i straight up don’t care. i played infinite first and it didn’t kill me so i think you’ll be fine. if you liked metal gear for the shooting / action element, then the bioshock series is probably the closest thing i can offer you on this list to mgs. it’s an fps game, and if you’ve seen any of the visuals then you’ll know that it’s gorgeous. it leaves a lot to be desired in terms of character animation ( nobody at irrational games has ever seen another human being and every npc is an eldritch abomination ), but the rest is solid. i can’t talk about it too much without spoiling it, so i’ll just say that the character you play is is his own character; he is not a direct player surrogate and he’s going to talk a lot. there are plenty of add-ons and changing the difficulty level actually changes how you play the game, so that ( in addition to having an… interesting story ) dramatically raises the replay value. i have 100 hours on this game on steam alone. i also own this game for console. i have also sat through a billion let’s plays of this game because i wanted to hear what other people had to say. i have also played it in french. twice. but i find gunslinging very satisfying so if you don’t like shooters then you probably won’t replay it as often as i do, but the story is worth at least one or two plays.

borderlands 2: the last fps on this list. also, again, this is specifically borderlands 2, and you’re not missing out on the story from the original because there wasn’t much of one. granted, 2 is still a game for people who like collecting guns and… collecting guns… but at least it gives you more plot to work with ( though that plot mostly consists of go here and do this thing and is a means of funneling you through all the different areas where you can shoot new things ). i also found the learning curve to be a damn struggle; this game punishes you early on until you learn to play smart, but since death is a slap on the wrist and you can revisit any area on the world map without the enemies leveling up too much, once you do understand how to play the game, going back and blowing through boss fights that took hours originally feels fantastic. since this game can be bought in packs of four, it’s clear that it’s supposed to be played with friends; it is also an rpg with classes that are supposed to balance each other out, and going through it alone as one class is probably what made it so difficult for me at first. i actually had to have a friend carry me through the second level before i could stand on my own. but the good thing is that this game has an enormous amount of dlc, and the main game itself is already bursting with content. i still haven’t gotten 100% completion. also the writing is hilarious. ( it can’t stand on its own tho so bye telltale borderlands. )

night in the woods: play this instead of life is strange if you only have so much money to spend. i’ll admit that i’m biased here because the main character hit so close to home, but it does what life is strange does and it does it better imo. don’t get me wrong, i also loved life is strange and it made me sob like a baby, but it also does a lot to manipulate your emotions without putting in the work to earn the reaction, and night in the woods doesn’t have that luxury. it’s a pretty leisurely game – a lot of platforming, a lot of mini-games – but the story is out of this world. if you like the sort of small-town-but-also-impending-supernatural-disaster feel that life is strange was going for with less cop outs and more understandable ambiguity, pick it up. it has two free to play dlc that were released before the game, so they’re spoiler-free and also fun as hell.

alice: madness returns: i like horror and i like alice in wonderland and i was too young to place the pc alice when it came out, but you only need the briefest overview of that game to play this one. the gameplay is… so much better ( though it has its fair share of graphical oddities ), and the plot is pretty damn good. granted, it’s not as plot-heavy as the other games on this list ( it’s alice in wonderland, most of the draw is the environments ), but the art direction is phenomenal, so much so that it raised funds via kickstarter and released two animated shorts because the visuals were that compelling. it’s sort of experimental, sort of cliche, but still worth your time. warning: there’s some graphic sexual imagery, including csa and rape. it’s also a horror game, so there’s gore galore. be careful if you pick it up. i found it cathartic, but not all coping is created equal.

subnautica: minecraft but underwater and with much better graphics and some actual art direction. there’s a plot, but i bought it in beta and the plot hadn’t been implemented yet. still, i had a good enough time without a plot to play for over thirty hours. it’s incredibly atmospheric – i’m afraid of the ocean and i felt real terror being down there. half-spoilers, there is land in the game, but you will spend 99.99% of your time in the water, finding ways to dive deeper. there’s probably more to read now in terms of backstory, so you might like that, but i played just for exploring the environments and feeling engaged in the world.

what remains of edith finch: one of those stories that, again, you need to play multiple times to feel the full impact of. it sinks in slowly, but once it clicks, it’s actually a really effective horror experience – which is surprising, because it’s not a horror game. it’s actually barely a game at all. somebody compared it to a pop-up book and i agree. you walk and you read. it’s a walking simulator. there’s a little bit of gameplay here and there, but for the most part, you are there to take in the story. a majority of it is narrated to you, but the things you find that the character misses are extremely telling and important to the plot. again, warning, this is a game heavy on death and existentialism. you witness the death of a baby ( though it’s not explicitly graphic ). you are in first person for all of the deaths. if you have anxiety or you’re superstitious, this could trigger you pretty badly, so be careful, please.

misc. recommendations that i won’t get into in detail: life is strange, undertale, castlevania: symphony of the night, castlevania: aria / dawn of sorrow, castlevania: lords of shadow 2, assassin’s creed iii / black flag, resident evil 7, the uncharted series, until dawn, beyond: two souls, the last of us, the metro series, the path, the park.

[bigboybigblog-blog]

Skyrim fucking sucks + bonus news

I’ll say it clearly, Skyrim is, and always was, a really shit game.

This list is by no means complete as the faults of this game are practically endless when you put the game under a critical lens. Most of these faults can be fixed with mods, but the fact the game needs mods to be even close to a good game clearly showcases how lazy and untalented Bethesda are on both design and technical levels.

• The combat is weightless and floaty as hell. The only feedback for hitting an enemy is stock sound effects and unconvincing ragdoll effects. • Vast majority of quests just involve going from A - B - A to fetch some dumb shit for someone you don’t care about. • The loot system is unintuitive, overused and has been for years before release. • The main story was shallow, generic and predictable right from the get-go, climaxing with one of the most underwhelming boss fights in video game history. • Some enemies arbitrarily ask for mercy when almost dead, but you cannot actually spare them unless YOU run away (so why fucking record the dialogue and leave it in game?). • The dungeons all follow the same pattern of funneling you through a linear path of enemies and all areas have a nice convenient exit, usually right where you started. • Shoving killcams into a fucking RPG to try and cover up how flat and boring the combat actually is. • Bloody screen! So real... • Arbitrary/artificial difficulty. Only ramping up the damage and HP (made so much more frustrating by tactless combat), so many games are guilty of this, and they all suck. For good difficulty settings look at games like Halo/MGS (AI becomes more intelligent), Killing Floor (enemies gain new attacks). • Not even one interesting or fleshed out character, the entire game is made up solely of generic fantasy archetypes. • A world smaller and LESS detailed than previous games in the serious. • Dragon fights quickly become boring as they’re all the exact same fight, with the same moves (except THIS one breathes ice, COOL), that get thrust on you with no choice and no real reward. • Poorly scaling enemies and loot, until level 50 where it stops scaling completely and you easily become a god. • Dumbass AI like every other Bethesda game. • Can’t make your own spells anymore. • Unkillable characters so morons don’t have to suffer any consequences for their moronic actions. • Killable characters simply replaced so morons don’t have to suffer any consequences for their moronic actions. • A billion useless little fucking urns/pots to waste more time and fill your inventory with more useless shit to sell so you can get even more money, despite the fact money becomes obsolete so fast because you gain it far quicker than finding anything actually worth buying. • Another billion little fucking forks/spoons/plates/other miscellanea that will never need to be in your inventory. • All choices are meaningless and only provide very slight cosmetic changes (like changing which uninteresting tool sends you on more superfluous fetch quests). • Healing is done instantly in a pause menu, so you can shovel down 30 wheels of cheese in the middle of a dragon fight and not have to actually die for being shit at the game. • Bugs, bugs, bugs, because Bethesda have literally no idea how to make a game that even works properly and don’t care to learn how. • Jack-of-all-trades and master-of-all levelling system. Just encourages endless grinding when every decision you ever make has no impact or consequence. • The graphics were always terrible. The views are appealing, but look closely at anything and the game looks 6 years older than it actually is. • Utterly pointless remake that nobody asked for, that only serves to make the original release obsolete so they can sell the game again AND, drumroll please....

SELL MICROTRANSACTIONS FOR MODS. Coming soon to Fallout 4 (an even worse game than Skyrim for all the same reasons AND MORE!) and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Needs Edition.

I always said the evil overlords at Bethesda/Zenimax would try again and here it is. Make as much money for as little effort at possible is the philosophy. Why make a good game when modders will do it for you? Why stop there? Lets make people pay MORE money, on top of the asking price for the game (that was a half-assed re-release anyway), to actually fix the shitty game we couldn’t be bothered to finish either time we released it!

Anyone who ever buys these credits should be ashamed, and know that they are contributing to the insidious cancer that is rapidly swallowing the game industry whole.

[noicon]

Pharaoh- BLACK PANTHER MOVIE: SCIENCE & HIDDDEN MEANINGS

Brother Young Pharaoh is brilliant as usual but I think he  needs to make allowance for the fact that this is an Hollywood movie [ and even if it was written by an African, not that it matters because, I don’t care hollywood will never deviate from it’s agenda duh]  there are many of us who might look black but in thought and mentality are poor replicas of whyte people.

I’M OF THE OPINION THAT BEYOND COSMETICS, WE SHOULD SHUT THE FUCK UP AND MAKE OUR MOVIES OURSELVES, WE ARE RICHER THAT SOME OF THESE MOVIE MAKERS, WE NOW NEED TO TAKE ALL THAT CASH WE ARE SCARED TO TAKE TO THE BANKS FOR FEAR OF BEING REPORTED AND GIVE THE MONEY TO OUR PEOPLE WHO ARE ARTISTS ETC -- FOR REAL, I’M NOT FAULTING NO WHYPIPO OR CREDITING THEM FOR DOING WHAT THEY DO ----- HOWEVER I HAVE A RIGHT TO AN OPINION / PERIOD

The  thought / questions are,

RE: WEAPONS

putting into consideration that when Brother Gaddafi [ Muammar Gaddafi, the African Who Cleansed the Continent from the Humiliation of Apartheid ] gave us weapons to fight in SOuth Africa, he was very careful, many organizations had approached him previously, he denied them but accepted to help us, African National Congress, so the premise that Killmonger would have been irresponsible with weapon sharing is mute considering the reality that we know and have records to prove.  I now ask, could this shortcoming and  Hollywoods implication that we are dumb, stupid, not thoughtful and not responsible with weapons distribution be something inspired by the minds of extremely misleading whyte supremacist ghost writers in hollywood which some of our teachers cannot even spot ?

Re Matriachy

Yes regarding Matriarchs, young Pharaoh is 100% right but the women in the film are not exactly perfect, Killmonger neutralizing the  Priestess who had doubts about following her orders  [a command given by the commander in chief ‘’KING’’?]  is infact not exactly a wrong move, dreamers, romantic’s, spoilt brats in color,  wake up----------under normal circumstances such is beheaded or publicly executed, simple martial law,  this is political, it cuts a long story short and tells others what time of day it is, burning the ceremonial plant’s is indicative of the END OF BULLSHIT, you have 2 billion black people outside your empire and all you can do is hocus pocus and some B.S.  superstitious nonsense by writers whose minds are already polluted with chosen people, royal bloodline, master race WITHOUT FUCKING QUALIFICATION mentality? Why are they chosen, what do they have that is so unique, qualify it they never will without lies upon lies which you better be careful how you disagree or challenge or they’ll try murder you like a rat

My question at this point, where in Africa do we have this type of ascension process where only a certain type of man, from a specific family can lead us after anointment with a special type of plant which can only be found in @ a unique location near the ass of kilimanjaro ? WHERE, who has time for that? This is only something a whyte man could have come up with, typical western fairy tale .

THE PLANT IN QUESTION REMINDS ONE OF AYAHUASCA THE FAVORITE HALLUCINOGENIC DRUG SO CALLED SPIRITUAL / NEW-AGE ‘?’ WHYPIPO LOVE GOING TO SOUTH AMERICA TO DRINK , DOES IT NOT, SHOULD IT NOT? Only something a poor black? writer or a non black writer would write, why? Any black writer worth his or her weight in gold will know that we are not synthetics we are the GENE OF ISIS, we don’t need herbs, medicine, drugs, magic potions etc to interface with our Ancestors or non terrestrials for that matter,, we do this naturally, some of us even insist that smoking ganga stops or hinders the connection................if we have to be romantic ceremony loving beings we need not even use more than water, if we must............but I keep warning our people, we are all that is needed, every core , every cell, every strand of our curly hair is an interface node. FFSK

And being Loyal to a throne that disowns 2 billion black people is not exactly  the visualized image of a real Matriarch IMHO,  we aren’t told the population of this fictitious Wakanda but we are given a figure of 2 billion black folks, struggling, dying, being violently oppressed outside the meteoric gates of hell called waka waka wakanda which realistically might be close to our size on Earth, considering this data is from whypipo ill say we are probably more, add another 1 billion give or take people who carry our genetics / mentality but aren't as dark as us.

UPDATED/ ADDED👉Having said that, it’s ( Loyalty of the female warrior to the throne)  also probably a reference to the activation of a weapon, be it within us or outside of us, it might mean that this weapon (throne) can only be activated by those who can interface or activate it with their Genetics, / it will work, it's loyal as long as you’re DNA relative, which doesn’t sound far fetched if we are to consider the school of thought that implies or suggest that some so called👉 Epics from sumer / ancient babylon etc are nothing but inventories / list of captured weapons / arsenals used in a yet unknown pre-human warfare, which clearly states that some can be activated by bloodline (DNA), some are indestructible thus have to be hidden under earth (other dimensions,  nearby planets ? ), some were carted off to be broken into other smaller units for altruistic uses etc etc very similar to the Versailles treaty imposed on Germany after WW1, signed on 28 June 1919 exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. I refer to👉 Dr Joseph Farrell and similar highly intelligent / admirably respected intellectuals, so the female guard loyalty might also be a metaphor for something deeper. This DNA interface mode is also in synch with my very own suspicions and experiences for lack of a better hint, but I don’t know, this is just a thought .

Re: blinded by hate:

Killmonger naturally and understandably is driven by hate but he has enough blind love for his people collectively to be bothered and concerned about their fate and he is the true son of his father, his entire life was focused on rectifying the wrong done to his father, even when offered the chance to betray his values and his ancestors for a comfortable life as a captured caged beast, he was like -- eeerr fuck yall, no compromise with motherfvckers, death hurry up - why the fvck you taking so long for ‘?’  let me join my Ancestors,   so, must i say BLACK PEOPLE, he did care, 

The question is  Black people have been motivated by LOVE LOVE LOVE, ever since the first day we made contact with this beast of a so called man, where has that love gotten us, what has that loved earned us?  In 2018,  the beneficiaries of our stolen legacy now turn around and call our sacred place  #Shithole?

They say an eye for an eye makes everyone blind and this is wrong,

ME I SAY, WHEN YOU HAVE A PARADIGM  WHICH CLEARLY STATES AN EYE FOR AN EYE, MY LIFE FOR YOUR LIFE, OR WHEN AN ENEMY REALIZES THAT ONE IS TRULY MAD ENOUGH, SICK IN THE HEAD AND THE ONLY THING THAT KEEPS ONE ALIVE IS THE DREAM OF NEUTRALISING THE ENEMY OR VISITING THE ANCESTRAL REALM WITH THEM, THEN THE ENEMY WILL COME OUT AND FIGHT YOU PROPERLY, OR IT WILL LEAVE YOUR LUNATIC SELF ALONE ---  NO matter what your situation will be upgraded and your quality of adversaries will improve, no longer will you have the whyte thrash commoner eye poking nobodies in your life, their creme de la creme will be yours for combat.

Conclusion: Young P is 100% when he implies that the fiction was meant to show you/ us  balance [ Hollywood can rarely show me something new IMHO] , killmonger and panther are the same, they are two aspects of some of us in need of balance, we must know when we need to be absolutely crazy and we need to clarify what motivates that craziness otherwise the fuel will only be poisonous, cancerous if  our objectives aren’t clear.

[junker-town]

Mayweather vs. McGregor: Timeline on getting to the August 26 fight date

How the two famous fighters got to “yes.”

Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor are finally going to do it.

After years of a will-they, won’t-they dance and public posturing on both sides, the world’s most famous mixed martial artist and most famous boxer will go head-to-head. It’ll be a boxing match, and it’ll happen in Las Vegas, on August 26.

It’ll be one of the most anticipated boxing matches in the modern history of the sport, and tons of money will be made. Mayweather will enter the bout as a heavy favorite to win, though not as heavy as it once seemed.

What follows here is a timeline of Mayweather and McGregor’s dealings leading up to to the announcement they’d actually fight.

July 2015

McGregor told late-night host Conan O’Brien he’d be down to box Mayweather.

"If you’re asking would I like to fight Floyd Mayweather — I mean, who would not like to dance around the ring for $180 million?" McGregor said.

"I certainly know he would not want to step into my world. The world of pure unarmed combat where there’s no limitations, but I most certainly would step into his world. I would certainly box him if the opportunity arose. Most certainly."

McGregor has never lacked confidence in himself.

“If we were to get it on, I would most certainly dismantle him, also,” he said.

January 2016

Mayweather said McGregor was treated better than him because he’s white.

“They say he talk a lot of trash and people praise him for it, but when I did it, they say I'm cocky and arrogant,” Mayweather told Fight Hype in an interview. “So biased! Like I said before, all I'm saying is this, I ain't racist at all, but I'm telling you racism still exists.”

McGregor shot back the next day in the caption of an Instagram post:

don't ever bring race into my success again. I am an Irishman. My people have been oppressed our entire existence. And still very much are. I understand the feeling of prejudice. It is a feeling that is deep in my blood. In my family's long history of warfare there was a time where just having the name 'McGregor' was punishable by death. Do not ever put me in a bracket like this again. If you want we can organise a fight no problem. I will give you a fair 80/20 split purse in my favour seen as your last fight bombed at every area of revenue.

Mayweather’s “Fight of the Century” against Manny Pacquiao in 2015 was not exciting for lots of viewers, but it was a commercial success. But his fight with Andre Berto in 2015 — to which McGregor was referring — was a financial dud. Mayweather made millions, but everything in this sport is relative.

May 2016

This is when things started to ratchet up.

The Sun in the United Kingdom reported Mayweather and McGregor were “on the verge” of agreeing to a fight that would be the richest in boxing history.

Both sides just have to agree on the purse and sign the paperwork — which sources say is imminent — and an announcement is likely to be made in the coming weeks.

A source told The Sun: “Floyd went mad after Conor said he would crush him and knock him out in 30 seconds, he’s obsessed with making Conor eat his words.

“Floyd is calling the shots. It’s strictly boxing and Conor will have to lose roughly 25lbs.

“It was agreed in principle on May 2, but Floyd wouldn’t reveal the identity of his opponent until last night when he told friends he’ll be fighting Conor.”

UFC president Dana White, who’d have to permit McGregor to fight anywhere outside the UFC, denied the story. Mayweather then said he started the rumors himself and that a fight with McGregor was, at some point, “possible.”

"Keep y’all fingers crossed,” Mayweather said. “It may be a boxer versus an MMA fighter."

The back-and-forth in the press continued for days. White told Mayweather to call him if he wanted to fight McGregor. Mayweather said he was retired and would only return to the ring to fight McGregor. The champion said he offered McGregor $50 million for the fight, which would be preposterously low for an alleged billion-dollar bout.

McGregor was as amused as you’d expect.

“He’s getting old now,” McGregor said. “I have the size, I have the reach, I have the height, I have the youth. He needs me. I don’t need him.”

The posturing moved to social media at that point. McGregor hashtagged this post with #MoneyMcGregorWhatsFloydGonnaDo?

I smell like a brand new car, wearing brand new clothes. Why would I ever give a fuck, about you gossiping hoes. #TheFaceOfRollsRoyce #50Rolls #MoneyMcGregorWhatsFloydGonnaDo? #TakeAllTheirNames #DoNothing @rollsroycecarsna #ThanksForTheCheese

A post shared by Conor McGregor Official (@thenotoriousmma) on May 24, 2016 at 10:40pm PDT

For his part, Mayweather posted a faux fight poster:

.@badmedina https://t.co/648Qb26FTL http://pic.twitter.com/67agluPAGt

— Floyd Mayweather (@FloydMayweather) May 30, 2016

July 2016

“If I only had to focus on boxing, hell, I'd be neck and neck with Floyd right now,” McGregor said.

November 2016

McGregor said Mayweather was “running around the Showtime offices begging for those executives to come up with $100 million cash for me, to fight me.” (McGregor would later name that figure as his demand for the fight.)

He got his boxing license in California a few weeks later. He’d been unable to get such a license in Nevada because of his previous bottle-throwing incident with Nate Diaz, which occurred during a promotional event for a fight last fall.

December 2016

Mayweather’s promotions head, Leonard Ellerbe, let McGregor have it:

"It's all a game. It's all a calculated effort to gain more fans," Ellerbe said. "He got a boxing license. Congratulations to him. Conor McGregor can say anything he wants to but he has a boss and his name is [UFC president] Dana White. He is under contract to the UFC and if he wanted to fight Floyd Mayweather in a boxing match he can't because his bosses wouldn't allow that to happen. The brass [from WME-IMG] who recently purchased the UFC [for $4 billion earlier this year] are very smart people and they would never -- and put this in bold caps -- let him step into a boxing ring with Floyd Mayweather because everyone knows what the outcome would be. He would get his ass beat from pillar to post."

Also, remember when Nate Diaz beat up McGregor at UFC 196 and got MMA’s biggest star to tap out? Mayweather told Diaz he’d put the “finishing touches” on McGregor.

January 2017

In December, Mayweather had said he’d give McGregor $15 million on the fight’s front end. (That doesn’t account for revenue shares later on, which would be massive.)

McGregor tweeted this:

Call me C.J Watson! https://t.co/9m2Omw4Wca http://pic.twitter.com/GZMzxxTsbb

— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) January 11, 2017

Mayweather did prison time for a 2010 assault of his then-girlfriend. He was reportedly angry about text messages she had received from Watson, an NBA guard.

White, the UFC boss, made a counter offer to Mayweather: $25 million for each fighter, with pay-per-view splits to be worked on later. Mayweather responded that White was a “fucking comedian” and audibly laughed when approached by a reporter.

Mayweather then went after McGregor’s wealth:

Before you ask for $25M, be worth more than $25M. You have the "2" and the "5" right but you meant to say $2.5M not $25M. http://pic.twitter.com/07vaWF0hen

— Floyd Mayweather (@FloydMayweather) January 19, 2017

McGregor told MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani Mayweather was “scared shitless” of him, and he made a lot of people believe for the first time that he wasn’t just trolling about fighting Mayweather.

“One-hundred percent,” McGregor said. “I believe the next time I step into a combat arena will be through the ropes wearing 10-ounce or eight-ounce gloves. I believe so.

February 2017

McGregor was in Las Vegas, and Mayweather tweeted:

http://pic.twitter.com/r0QhGkg76b

— Floyd Mayweather (@FloydMayweather) February 14, 2017

This prompted a taunt from McGregor:

I am in Las Vegas. Floyd has retired on my arrival. http://pic.twitter.com/z9EcxBJaDr

— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) February 15, 2017

Let’s throw it back to Mayweather:

http://pic.twitter.com/NPBMeem6HT

— Floyd Mayweather (@FloydMayweather) February 15, 2017

March 2017

The tide turned around this point.

Mayweather called McGregor a “little punk” and said he should “stop blowing smoke up people’s ass.” Mayweather then said he was out of retirement to face McGregor.

On Conan, White expressed the most confidence yet that the fight would go on.

“I do think it’s gonna happen,” White told the host. “I think it’s going to be a tough deal, because obviously [there are] a lot of egos involved in this deal and a lot of people, so that always makes it tougher. On the flip side, there’s so much money involved. I just don’t see how it doesn’t happen.”

McGregor appeared in front of a bunch of boxing media members a few days later and said all kinds of mean things about Mayweather.

"You're the boxing guy? I'm the boxing guy. Watch me take over boxing,” McGregor said. “Trust me on that. No one in this boxing game knows what’s coming. Trust me on that. When I step in there, I’m going to shock the whole goddamn world. Trust me on that. Look me in the eyes. Twenty-eight years of age, confident as a motherfucker, long, rangy, dangerous with every hand. Trust me, I’m going to stop, Floyd, and you’re all going to eat your words. The whole world is going to eat their words.”

A few days after that , McGregor said a deal to fight Mayweather was “close to done,” with September 2017 in mind as the timeframe for the fight.

He also got his penalty for the Diaz bottle-throwing kerfuffle reduced, freeing him up to apply for a boxing license in Nevada.

May 2017

McGregor announced he’d signed his half of a contract to make the fight happen.

“We now await Al Haymon and his boxer’s signature in the coming days.” Haymon is a top Mayweather aide.

McGregor applied for a Nevada boxing license — a key step in setting up a Las Vegas bout with Mayweather.

Mayweather sounded an optimistic tone about the fight, too.

“They said Conor McGregor signed his end of the deal. I look forward to signing my end of the deal. I haven’t signed my end of the deal yet so once I get home, I’ll communicate with my team, I’ll talk with Al Haymon, I’ll talk with Leonard, and we’ll see what we come up with. We’ll put all our great minds together and we’re gonna have another superfight.”

It was becoming clearer that this fight would happen. Now, it will.

[sirencecelius]

Aesthetic themed ask list response

Flower crown: when did you last sing to yourself? Like 10 minutes ago when i was brushing my hair. Fairy lights: if a crystal ball could tell you the truth about anything, what would you want to know? Anything ‘biggest unsolved mysteries ever’ related, Zodiac Killer? Tell me, The Dan Cooper plane jacking? Please enlighten me. Daisies: what is the greatest accomplishment of your life? Im getting my panic attacks under control. 1975: what is the first happy memory that comes to mind, recent or otherwise? I broke my leg, so my friend helped cheer me up by letting me teach him to play the ukelele. Matte: if you knew that in one year you would die suddenly, would you change anything about the way you are now living? Yeah, id probably kill myself, trying to live normally would just be post-poning the inevitable. Black nail polish: do you have a bucket lost? If so, what are the top 3 things? 1.Scuba dive/ look for sunken U boats. 2. Get a picture in front of the Jesus statue in Brazil. 3. Find love. Pantone: describe a person close to your life in detail. My great grandma was the greatest, kind, gentle and all around amazing, yes she was grey and old but arent all of the good ones? Moodboard: do you feel you had a happy childhood? Yes and no. My mom was abusive, my dad left, but my grandparents tried to make up that with happy memories. Stars: when did you last cry in front of another person? Since age 14 i was able to hold it in, so i guess i havent cried in front of another living soul since then. Plants: pick a person to stargaze with you and explain why you picked them. I’d probably choose by close friend Makayla, she understands me more than anyone who sees me from the outside, shes the only person to see past the outer shell. Converse: would you ever have a deep conversation with a stranger and open up to them? Yeah probably, i mean my system is to bottle shit up until it explodes, i never tell anyone in my life about my emotions so that’d probably be a refreshing change of pace. Lace: when was your last 3am conversation with someone, and who were they to you? It was about 6 months ago and she was my best friend, but like everyone else in my life she decided she didnt want to be a part of it. Handwriting: if you were about to die, and you could only say one more sentence to one person, what would you say and to whom? I would say “thank for everything” to my friend Makayla. Cactus: whats your opinion on brown eyes? I love them, Makayla has them. Sunrise: pick a quote and describe what it means to you personally. “Not all stories have happy endings; but that doesnt mean theyre not worth the read” to me it reminds me of my life: nothing goes right but its tragically interesting. Oil paints: what would you title the autobiography of your life so far? 'Dear everyone, im sorry’ Overalls: what would you do with one billion dollars? Probably donate half of it to St. Judes, and use the other half in case i get seriously hurt and have a large medical bill. Combat boots: are you a very forgiving person? Do you like being this way? Im too forgiving for my taste, i wish i could just push the people away but when they ask for my forgiveness i get weak. Winged eyeliner: write a hundred word letter to your twelve year old self. (I will do that seperately later). Pastel:would you describe yourself as more punk or pastel? A little of both, a black loose flowing leather skirt, a pastel blue t shirt and a black leather jacket are all i need. Tattoos: how do you feel about tattoos and piercings? Explain. I love tattoos and piercings, i have several tattoos and my septum is pierced. Do you wear a lot of make up? Why/why not? I wear a little bit of make up, like eye shadow and eyeliner because foundation clogs my pours. Bands: talk about a song/band/lyric that has affected your life in some way. I know this sounds cliché but i think Tweny One Pilots have influenced my life a lot, they have relatable lyrics, and they deal with the same emotional troubles most of us have. Messy bun: the world is listening. Pick one sentence you would tell them. Live and love, dont hate. Cry baby: list the concerts youve been to and talk about how they make you feel. Melanie Martinez, Twenty One Pilots, Panic At Thr Disco, My Chemical Romance, Theory of a Deadman, and Five Finger Death Punch. (They mean too much to explain in one post). Grunge: who in the world would you like to receive a letter from and what wod you want it to say? I would want to get a letter from my new ex best friend Noelle, and id want it to say “i still care”. Space: do you have a desk/workspace and how is it organised/not organised? No i dont, i have a lap desk. White bed sheets: what is your nightime routine? Eat, take off make up, flop onto bed, roll around for 20 minutes trying to get confortable, sleep . Old books: whats the one thing you dont want your parents to know? That im severly depressed. Beaches: if you had to dye your hair how would you dye/style it and why? I would dye it purple or pink, purple to match the night sky a pink to match the sunset. Eyes: SKIPPING IT 11:11 : name three wishes and why you wish for them. 1. For my life to be better. 2.no cancer, period. 3. A college degree in any practice so i could get a job. Painting: what is the best halloween costume you have ever put together? If none, make one up. I am torn between 3 costumes. When i was 16 i was Sub Zero from Mortal Kombat (im a girl), when i was 17 i was Laura Croft, and when i was 18 i was X Mens Quicksilver. Lightning: whats the worst thing youve ever done while drunk or high? Fell down 2 flights of stairs. Thunder: whats one thing you would never do for one million dollars? A three way. Storms: you can only listen to one song for the rest of your life, or only see one person for the rest of your life, which and why? I would probably listen to Shinning Bright by Echosmith, because it talks about stars and i love stars. Love: have you ever fallen in love? Describe what it feels like to realise youre in love. Its like getting hit in the face with a fucking truck, it hurts like hell. Clouds: would you ever rock really short hair? I have and i would do it again. Coffee: whats your starbucks order, and who would you trust to for you, if anyone? I dont drink starbucks. Marble: what is the most important thing to you in your life right now? The stars, theyre the one constant thing in my life sadly, but theyre beautiful so i dont mind 😏.