#like the movements are so satisfying and aesthetic

[birdy-babe]

When his tail whips around like that >>>

Gifs from @tealvenetianmask !

[chiropteracupola]

no, they'll never catch me! no, they cannot catch me now!

[collaboration with @dxppercxdxver again again again]

[danibeanie]

astronotes❤️‍🔥

underdeveloped virgo moons are HIGHLY critical when it has anything to do with themselves, others and environments. It can be exhausting having to work with these people cause they’re never satisfied.

cancer placements always have endearing nick names for their friends or their loved ones. especially if cancer resides in the 3rd house.

many people like to associate mysteriousness with pluto and while I do agree SOOOO many people ignore cancer placements/prominent moon aspects when it comes to that topic.there’s a reason why many iconic women have cancer placements and it’s because of that allure🌙 ALSO the moon card in tarot literally represents secrets/hidden.

-Angelina joline

-Margot Robbie

-Pamela Anderson

libra venus men will give you the world and are such romantics. my dad has this placement and he’s one of the reasons why I have such high standards in men😭

taurus placements are very much in tune with their 5 senses and THEY WILL make you feel as comfortable as possible when your with them. can’t tell you how many times people come to my house and say how cozy it is. I think that’s the biggest compliment when you make someone feel safe❤️‍🔥

I feel like earth placements are the most intimidating when it comes to 1st impression wether it be sun,moon, or rising. there’s always a no bs energy to them and are always searching for goals/stability. which can make people think that your not here to waste time.

scorpio risings are always studying people and if they’re comfortable with you they’ll tell you!! small details they notice about you ,changes in your movements when your uncomfortable, certain shirts you like to wear or body parts you like to show off. which I think is super attractive coming from a mercury dominant that’s always looking at details.

mars dominant/mars 1st house people always look good in active wear. it doesn’t even matter the occasion they will wear it and it will always look good.

working with someone that has the opposite mars from you is literally hell. your gonna have to find a common ground with them if not these people are gonna irk the living shi outta you. *cough* *cough* cancerxcap *cough*

chiron synastry is so funny because you end up finding their chart and your like “oh that’s why they triggered me so much” my ex manger had her chiron in my 1st house and yeah no. it also conjuncted my venus and she would say some things that weren’t too nice to say the least😭 it was a double whammy though because my chiron conjuncted her mars which triggered me the most because you use your mars placement a lot in the work field.

virgo risings are the easiest for me to spot. There’s this simplicity to their beauty but so detailed. very much clean girl aesthetic.

most leo risings I know have blonde highlights or just always CHANGING their hair. Its true what they say their hair is very prominent in their appearance.

anya taylor joy being a taurus rising is not surprising literally just look at her cupids bow😭 and her facial structure. she is so gorgeous

[apocalypse-shuffle]

JASON TODD & CASSANDRA CAIN (generalized fanon | maybe wfa)

────────────────────

────────────────────

“Blind Spot” (Jason Todd x Fem!Reader) and (Cassandra Cain & Platonic!Reader)

| Reader is introduced (this time “formally”) to the second of their new boyfriend’s extended family.

| SFW, stalking(?), batfam shenanigans, worried!Jason

| The pictures used are just for aesthetics and have no contextual meaning to the story. (pic sources: beg.=batman:under the red hood, middle=dceaced, and end=batgirl#1 • all comics)

| part of the meet the bats series

| 3k+ words

Jason’s roof is bumpy. Not like asbestos bumpy or anything, though in Gotham you could never be too sure, but it certainly wasn’t smooth.

“Hey, baby, was your apartment built before or after 1989?”

Jason answers immediately.

“After. I needed a place without a sprinkler system though, so I wouldn’t bet anything special on this building being too up to code.”

“Mm,” you hum, letting your head drop to the side. That still didn’t rule out asbestos.

The new view that greets you is of the back of Jason’s head and the broad scarred expanse of his back.

You’ve decided you’re not going to worry about the possible poison in the walls yet. Hopefully Jason’s paranoia extends to that type of stuff and he’s checked it out already.

“Hey baby?”

In the beat it takes for Jason to let out an acknowledging grunt your eyes catch the black glint of yet another weapon being picked up. You snort.

“You got all those guns, any of ‘em actually do anything interesting?”

His shoulders shake as he laughs.

“Like what?”

You shrug. “I don’t know, just...” your brown fingers snap and you sit up, legs crisscrossed over the cushions, “…there was a rumor going around the other day ‘bout Harley and a beanbag shotgun. Got anything like that?”

Jason scoffs, “You have got to stop listening to whoever is spreading these rumors and giving you your theories.”

“Shut up.” You wait until he’s taken the last piece of the pistol in his hand apart to knock him in the head with one of his throw pillows. “Answer the question, Todd.”

For a good minute he can’t, keeled over laughing as he is, but you have no problem waiting him out, laughter of your own occupying you.

“Alright,” he gasps in air, talking through his giggles. His voice is a little higher than usual. “Short answer is no.”

When he’s done he lets his head fall back into the couch so he can look at you with raised brows.

“Satisfied?” He grins, voice back to normal.

“Believe it or not,” you wiggle around so you can bend over and smack a wet kiss onto his lips, feeling his smile widen, before sitting back up, “no. What’s the long answer?”

He shakes his head at you, muttering something that sounds a lot like ‘insatiable’ under his breath, before going back to his assigned task for the night. You shrug, but a shiver down your spine cuts off whatever response you might’ve given.

Brows furrowing, you lean back on the couch as an uneasy feeling settles in your gut, gaze moving to slide around the apartment until you settle on a familiar item on the small table near the window.

The aloe plant you’d gifted Jason a few weeks ago sits atop it. Surprisingly, it still looked healthy, which was nice. You’d gotten it for him because they were low maintenance, but you could never be too sure with the vigilante schedule he operated on. There’s a small bit of movement behind the plant though and - without your say so - your eye focuses on it instantly. Or at least tries to. For some reason what you’d thought was a bug ends up disappearing on you though.

The longer you look out at what amounts to nothing the more severe your frown gets, face morphing into a grimace.

The darkness feels like it’s watching you back and the prospect makes you queasy. The possibility of a potentially deadly game of hide and seek runs through your mind; somebody popping up from the darkness and smashing the window—

A particularly harsh clink from in front of you snaps your mind back to reality. Jason’s reaching for his briefly disregarded rag and gun oil, parts of a good sized rifle laid out before him, shoulders rising and falling in easy, tempered motions. Instantly you begin matching your breaths with his own, doing your best to shake the feeling of unease off.

Jason starts talking again with a low contemplative tone and you let his voice settle over you like a blanket, slumping back into the couch as you watch the back of his head.

“The barrel of a shotgun isn’t even big enough for a regular sized bean sack—”

“—Bean sack,” you parrot quietly and Jason flips you off without looking. You snicker.

“A bean sack gun,” he continues like you hadn’t interrupted, “just isn’t practical as a primary weapon. It’ll probably lock up and misfire then - look at that - you're dead.”

You huff, “Jason this is supposed to be a fun conversation.”

“This is fun,” he grunts, picking up a tiny brush to clean with.

Your eyes roll.

“Alright, whatever, what about glitter?”

“Please stop.”

You buss out laughing.

“I don’t think I want to. But- just hear me out,” you cut in when you see the furrow that takes over his face, “If Sam and Dean can shoot salt guns then I don’t see how much different glitter would be if you factor in the weight difference.”

The new expression that takes over his face is even worse than beforehand and he gives you this narrow look like he can’t believe you’re being serious.

“Don’t be ridiculous. Those guns aren’t designed for impact, just range, and,” he scoffs, “to look cool probably.”

“Ohhh—” you stop as the confusing patch of night outside the window catches your attention again before scooting farther away from the window. Why it’s even throwing you off you can’t tell, but you don’t want to stress over nothing. You clear your throat and go back to joking with him. “—You don’t think the salt shotgun is cool, Jay? Is the Red Hood too good for the Winchesters?”

“Absolutely.”

He grins at you over his shoulder and you scoff, kicking out to shove him with your foot. He barely rocks from the force of it.

After that an easy silence fills the space once more and you rest your head onto the back of the couch, breathing in deep in an attempt to quell the clench in your stomach.

When you look over again the image through the window is clearer. On the apartment across from Jay’s there’s a fire escape just slightly above his own and — you squint, crawling to the end of the couch to get a better look — and there! Right there! A short burst of breeze causes a heavy piece of fabric to flutter and what’s wrong finally becomes obvious.

You lean even further.

What should be the rest of the metal railing is blocked by a large patch of darkness that you do your best to follow with your eyes, only going a little cross-eyed and blurry in your efforts.

Passively, it occurs to you that maybe this was something you should bring to Jason’s attention. The night coming to life and inching closer wasn’t normal after all, but—

There! The fabric shifts again, another larger piece this time, and with your gaze now having something concrete to focus on more and more of the misplaced darkness starts to come into place.

Glinting stitches, a brief flash of yellow as another gust of wind displaces fabric. Then a light in the house across from you flicks on. Barely any of it leaks through their curtains, but it’s just enough to make the outline of a person perched on the railing, what you can now tell is the smear of a cape draped over the outside of the fire escape and catching the breeze every few seconds, come into staunch focus.

Your eyes go wide.

“Jason?”

His head whips around and he’s looking up at you from his disassembled cache of guns on the floor, gaze sharp. You don’t know what the hell he detected from your voice, but you can see the way his face crests once he gets a look at your expression and your stomach twists.

You didn’t think you looked that alarmed.

Jason’s gaze follows yours when you turn your head back for confirmation, and it’s brief but for a second still the same blotch of black is there before you take your next breath and it’s - the person’s - disappeared.

“Crap,” he curses and you go rigid, falling back as the sounds of him quickly reassembling a gun fill the room.

Next thing you know he’s up and walking over to open the window.

You scramble up from the couch, “Jay! Hold on, are you sure—?”

The window slides open with a small click and a few beats pass before - baffled - you watch Jason sigh and set his firearm down on the side table beside the aloe.

He sticks his head out the window.

“Cass,” he whisper-yells.

From behind Jason you watch nothing happen. It’s quiet except for the city’s usual ambiance and there's a cursory creak of old metal before—

“No, not you too, get out of here. Don’t you have a city to patrol?”

—a face appears in the window, right in front of Jason, and you take in such a harsh breath you stumble back a few steps.

So close to the window with the light from the living room as an aid you can make out the long pointed ears at the top of what you can now tell is the person’s — Batgirl’s, that was Batgirl’s — mask.

Right. Okay. You suppose if Robin popped in to visit and your boyfriend rocked a red helmet and killed people in his spare time then Batgirl also popping in wasn’t too far a stretch of the imagination. You suck in a breath until your lungs fill with enough air to make your chest twinge.

Batgirl’s low scratchy voice fills the quiet.

“The city.” Batgirl seems to fix Jason with a look but the mask makes it hard to tell, before finishing, “Will survive…five minutes.”

Then she pats the hand he still has on the window sill. “Kind of you,” you hear her say before she’s slipping in past the width of his bulk. Jason makes an exasperated noise and moves to let her in - not that she wasn’t already doing that perfectly fine on her own.

After the incident not even a full week ago Jason can’t seem to not throw you a panicked look from behind the woman. You only shrug, heartbeat steadily settling back down. At least you were awake this time. You look over the faceless vigilante, not an inch of skin - of the person underneath - showing. Though you were no less perturbed.

The only huge difference is that it was the blank mask of the Black Bat that’s staring at you from the darkness and you’re not at imminent risk of being beheaded. That was…something. You purse your lips, rocking back onto your heels with your heart in your throat.

The Bat doesn’t say a thing, just looking at you with indents that probably indicate eyes behind them and a face full of more of those glinting stitches.

Jason clears his throat, moving around so he can stand beside you.

“Is this some kind of trend now?”

His irritated grumble brings Batgirl’s attention back to him and you relax, leaning into the arm he presses into the dip of your back.

“Oh,” she breathes. You’d be pressed to think she was being sarcastic if it wasn’t for: “Heard about Robin. Seemed like…fun,” she proclaims.

You briefly wonder at the fact that you’re apparently an interesting enough deviation for Jason that you’re piquing the interest of vigilantes.

Then Batgirl’s attention shifts squarely back to you and you can’t remember how to breathe again, let alone what you were just thinking about.

“Um,” you choke out, “Hi.”

Jason’s tan hand snakes under your shirt to rub at the dark brown skin there. You focus on the warmth from the point of contact, breathing out slowly.

Batgirl’s head shifts, indicating the window behind her. “You noticed me.”

It’s not a question.

“I mean - barely,” you say. A half aborted chuckle falls past your plush lips. “I pretty much just thought I was losing it.”

“That’s good,” she says and you pause confused. She turns to Jason, tone brightening. “Robin was right. She’s impressive. For a civilian,” she concedes at the end.

When she walks up to you next she holds a hand out. After a moment of hesitation you reach out to take it, her grip is strong and when she shakes your hand you have to steady your arm or else risk her jerking you around.

“You have a good eye. Good instincts. Useful starting point…for learning.”

“She won’t be,” Jason grunts. You roll your eyes at him, you didn’t even want to be a vigilante but he didn’t have to shoot the idea down so hard.

Batgirl shrugs, “I know,” she dismisses. She squeezes softly at your hand. “Y/n. It was nice meeting you. Had to see. Who’d…put up with him,” she ends snidely.

Jason huffs and you laugh despite yourself, squeezing her hand back in turn. That seems to have been enough for her because you can just make out the smile underneath her cowl before she lets go.

She sends a parting nod Jason’s way and he scoffs quietly.

“Yeah, I know,” he says to Batgirl’s retreating form. "See you later, yeah?” he adds, voice dropping.

She stops part way through slipping out the window, half her body already lost to the darkness, before giving a curt nod. A jaunty wave is sent your way next and then…nothing.

You don’t even hear the fire escape creak before she’s melted into the shadows and disappeared back into the night.

Jason doesn’t know how to conceptualize this, but he has to know. He needs that confirmation before he can truly rest easy.

There’s no one else who reads people as well as Cassandra. Maybe she’ll be able to finally get rid of the way he can’t help but jerk away from your closeness sometimes, from the natural pull you have over him. How much he can’t stay away even as reluctance and fear pulls at him.

Jason sighs.

Or help him figure out how comfortable you really were with the whole Red Hood thing. It’s not that he didn’t trust you to keep the secret, just that he wasn’t sure if you were saving face with him or not. The last thing he wants is for you to feel obligated to stay with him. Or intimidated.

Cass waits until he’s just settled beside her on the roof before speaking.

He’s silently grateful for it. For some reason verbally asking for her assessment seemed like more a betrayal than needing the read at all.

This way he can delude himself into thinking she offered the information up unprompted. Something tells him it won’t change anything; he ignores that voice.

“She’s good,” Cass nods. She pointedly doesn’t leave it at that though so Jason stays still, let’s the wind lap at his hoodie and whisp at his hair.

Cass sighs, so still her shoulders barely move, and then turns to him. There’s a low tuft in her voice like she knows exactly what he’s doing here, knows he’s looking to her for salvation.

“Good,” she stresses. Breathes in once. Exhales. “But hiding.”

Jason’s heart doesn’t skip a beat but his gut does twist, caving in on itself in a bid to hide. He starts shaking his head.

The thing about Jason, he stopped trusting his heart a long time ago. Too late to save him from some other grievances in his life but good enough to keep him alive for this long. To protect this second chance, trusting his gut has been crucial. So why did it feel like he was being gutted?

“…hiding what?” When she takes too long to answer Jason finally turns. “Cass—”

She intercepts him easily, barely a rustle of fabric before her closed fist is pressed against his breastbone. It holds him in place more firmly than it has any right to.

“She’s hiding.” She manages somehow to make him feel the weight of her eyes meeting his own before tutting at him. “So are you.”

The plea Jason’s about to let out gets stuck in the base of his throat and he clears it.

“What do you mean?”

Even in the cowl the disbelieving look Cass throws his way is clear, fabric over her brow creasing.

“You are…leading her.” Her head canters barely a centimeter to the side. “She won’t…move. Not without…looking to you…first.”

All he can do for a moment is breathe deep and swallow back the argument bubbling up his throat. They both know Cass didn’t talk if she wasn’t sure, and Cass didn’t make mistakes about these things.

This wasn’t emotions; it was pure science, and body language for someone like Cass was near impossible to skew at the base intention level. And well…Jason can’t even lie to himself enough to believe he hadn’t expected her assessment to be anything other than confirmation for what he already knew.

He shakes his head, hands shoving into his pockets, “How am I supposed to fix that Cass?”

Cass gives a blithe little shrug, turning away from him again. Her cape billows out wide behind her, wingspan almost large enough to wrap the whole of Gotham in her protective embrace.

She snipes, unrepentant, “Why do I? Have to…know?”

Her voice carries on the wind with more leniency than the question suggests.

Jason sighs, rolling his shoulders back and shifting to look out over the stretch of rooftops laid out before them also.

“You don’t,” he grunts. “Sorry— thanks for this Cass. I owe you.”

She nods, shrugging.

“Cool,” she says. “I’ll call. If I…feel like it.”

He can almost hear the smile in her voice. He imagines it’s the little barely tolerate one she tends to give him. It’s not the smirk he knows she’s prone towards sporting with the others, but the fact he gets anything more than the blank look she gives when she’s mad but doesn’t have the energy or the words to say anything more to him is miraculous enough. He’s lucky to have any of her good will at all considering how heated some of their past conversations have gotten.

Cass never treats him like he’s a ghost, more so like she’s doing him a favor; looking past all the skeletons peeking over his shoulder to see Jason. Just Jason.

It’s not great. Even if he does know why.

It’s not the way you look at him; like he’s whole. Like the him that you want is exactly what’s in front of you, not some specter from the past or poor imitation you have to put up with.

One of Cass’s hands moves to rest against the holster on her belt and she raises one foot to prop up on the border surrounding the roof before leaning into his space.

She punches his shoulder, softly for her, and he takes it.

“You. Should keep her…a civilian. Jason,” she stresses. “An alive one.”

Jason hasn’t even begun to react before Cass is tilting forward, firing off her grappling gun and dropping off the roof in a second.

‘I’m trying,’ Jason thinks at the charcoal of her cape.

He takes another few minutes to look out over the city, let the sounds of a broken metropolis and its people wash over him - for his gut to settle back into stone - and then he climbs down the fire escape.

NOTES: Hope you enjoyed!!!

Alright, so, this is my first time really writing Cass so don’t hate me. I didn’t want to shove her into a ‘woman who soothes a man’s woes’ role, but I did still want to give her and Jason a more tolerant and supportive relationship than they’d ever have canonically (and this is a Jason-centric story so some centering is inevitable). Also, I tried to match her speech patterns from the 2000’s comics so don’t come for me, she usually only speaks in four word sentences at the longest and breaks her sentences up so she can presumably search for the word she needs, otherwise her grammar is totally fine so yeah, hopefully my portrayal of her wasn’t too too bad. I will be advancing her sentence structure and speech patterns when she shows up again in a later part in order to depict how her speech advances in the comics too, just because I want to practice with her some more. Also just believe that once Cass realized the Reader-Insert had sensed her she stayed in a more compromising position (in front of a potential light source) just to really test how well she’d be at actually finding her after sensing something was off.

Keep in mind that this is “wholesome” bat family fanon, but that I lean towards post-crisis when it comes to characterization and comics I read for reference (except for Duke obviously) because I largely like post-crisis canon more. Though, how I write Damian is definitely more based on the DCAMU version of him because that was my introduction to his character, but I am working on getting closer to his canon character voice for my own sake since he will be showing back up later in this series (& just in general I’ve slightly shifted how I write Jason as well since part one).

btw: if you’d like to leave a comment I’d very much appreciate it!

Slightly Rewritten - 6/30/24 (bc the way I reread this and was like “well, tell the woman thank you, goddamn” immediately told me I needed to rewrite some dialogue; like, even though I was trying not to I still ended up prioritizing Jason too much at the end)

Alt. Banner (scrapped) —

(source - Batman: Wayne Family Adventures)

Tagged: @bandshirts-andbooks

[canmom]

so hades 2 huh

it's fun! i am more convinced after actually playing it than i was in the runup to it. the green colour palette looked a little drab in the videos but it works better for me fullscreen in game, and I really like the second zone's design. the major aesthetic change does go a little way towards making this feel like 'new Supergiant game' instead of just a rehash of the first game.

the difficulty floor is higher than the first game. i think it's well-tuned to go into if you've beaten that one. so far i've played 6 runs, seen the first boss in 5, and and beaten her in 2 of them; yet to get more than about halfway through the second zone after that tho!

the new mana mechanic is kinda interesting, lots of tradeoffs to make. it's a bit more granular than the cast in the first game; you use it to do powered up versions of your attacks, and spending it also charges up the Call-equivalent.

i'm increasingly intrigued by the setting, and i really like some of the side characters like arachne. i think the time skip was a good decision - the story of Zagreus et al. was definitely done. the epilogue ending of the first game was way too neat.

still, starting a revenge plot in media res is curious. especially when Nemesis lampshades the lack of personal motivation. compared to Zagreus's very pressing and relatable motivation (run away from my abusive dad), Melinoë's motivation is a little more abstract - this seems to be deliberate. but it does a fair bit to sell the sort of 'desperate resistance base' setting. it definitely seems rather like they're setting up a twist down the line. but it lacks the immediate emotional hook of the overbearing patriarch in the first game. curious to see how it will work once I've seen more of the story.

as far as the new gods, I'm fascinated by the decision to make Hephaestus and Hestia both be Northern - probably Yorkshire. it's always fun hearing regional UK accents in games. they do also both feel like responses to the criticism that Jen Z never designs fat characters lmao. still, they are good designs. both have satisfying mechanics. Selene also has a really good design I think.

the other gods' mechanics have naturally been redesigned to fit the new game. still broadly the same themes, e.g. Zeus will still be lightning based, but different interpretations of what that means, so for example you have 'hitting an enemy produces a lightning blast behind them' as the primary Zeus mechanic instead of chain lightning. which definitely keeps things fresh. Melinoë's kit has a lot of directional attacks and, with the Cast now being an AOE which slows/freezes enemies, there's a lot more emphasis now on positioning enemies to set up AOE attacks which is interesting.

the witch stuff is quite fun in an admittedly slightly cheesy way. it's definitely pull on aesthetic currents which aren't at all Ancient Greek, like the pointed hats. but hey! I can get into it, it's not like the game's aesthetic has ever been all that strictly historical. even if I am still scratching my head at 'so mote it be'. apparently it's an archaic word meaning 'may', i.e. 'may it be so'.

of course the main thing is, the actual moment to moment gameplay is fun. it flows just as the first game did, and it's just as addictive with the way it spreads out story breadcrumbs. the vfx and such look great, the movement is already super tightly tuned (tbf it's basically the same as the first game with the addition of a new 'hold dash to sprint'), and there's a already good variety of enemy mechanics.

there's some obvious placeholders for some of the UI art and character portraits (notably none of the keepsakes have been drawn yet), but overall it's surprisingly polished for an early-access build. all the voice acting is already there - it's fun seeing the Supergiant voice cast return in new roles.

the meta progression element... there's some neat ideas, like an upgrade system with a limited set of slots that very much calls to mind NieR Automata's chip system. so there are some stronger tradeoffs to make; it's not as simple as 'spend resource, get better' as it was in the first game. and it's clearly possible to advance quite far even without a lot of meta resource investment. so far it definitely feels like my main limit is skill, and I'll progress further once I learn more of the enemy patterns and figure out what builds I like to play.

(though I guess the idea with this kind of game is that the power ups quietly boost you and make it feel like you're getting better a lot faster than you are just learning the game lmao)

overall, it's just really fun to have another Supergiant game to sink my teeth into haha. I still wish they'd continued their streak of coming up with new IPs each time, because they'd come up with fantastic settings, but there's plenty of interest here still.

also the more I work in game dev the more I can appreciate just what a ludicrous amount of polish there is in Supergiant's games. I can only imagine the amount of work it must have taken to tune the feel of everything this tight.

[meifel1]

𝐑𝐎𝐁𝐈𝐍 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐁𝐎𝐎𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐋𝐋

꒰ྀི ⸝⸝⸝꒱ 🌟   ₊ О1   ┊ 🌟  zZ

Note: peering !Robinhill; possible deviations from the canon; possible spelling and punctuation errors; The storyline is not the canon of the game, but the appearance does not change (that is, Robin - with wings and a halo, and Boothill - with a metal body, and others).

author's comment: I saw art with Robinhill (cover) on the expanses of Pinterest, and inspiration came flooding in.

Have fun reading!!

૮꒰っ´༥'ς꒱ 👡 。 --- 🏷 ( ! ! )

Evening, France, 1894. The streets are packed with beautiful buildings of the nobility, in places you can see the beautiful castles of high society, and the most important among them is the castle of the king himself.

Of course, we can say that France in these years is one of the best times for this and the future era of this humanity. The carefree life of the nobles, the most beautiful outfits of people, the aesthetics that hovers in the air between the houses and on the narrow roads between them (houses). And much more.

[ . . . ]

Today, a ball is being held in the Royal Castle in honor of the princess's nineteenth birthday - a well-known girl with elegant appearance and smooth beautiful movements. Her eyes sparkle in the sun, and the princess herself is kind not only to the high society of that time, but also to ordinary nobles. Today is her birthday, so she turns nineteen, and it's quite grandiose for everyone.

Boothill is a male cyborg with a metal body, and looking like a cowboy, personally acquainted with the princess, although her brother is against communicating with some kind of cheat. The man is always unhappy after such words from her brother, because there is a strained relationship between them. However, the most important thing is that her parents do not know about their meetings outside the walls of this castle. And he wouldn't be himself if he didn't get that damn invitation to the ball to congratulate Robin personally, even if it was illegal.

And so, the evening, the ball is in the midst of fun. Buthill was late, but he came anyway, having made his way through the guards in the backyard of the castle, where there was a beautiful garden. Robin felt stuffy, so she went out of the hall onto the balcony, which overlooked just that garden. The cybor raised his head and smiled, revealing his sharp teeth. He whispered her name a couple of times so that she would see him. Robin lowered her head, a smile playing on her face when she saw a face she already knew. She gently waved her hand at him, looking around to see if there was anyone nearby, but unfortunately no one.

The cowboy deftly climbed the castle walls to the third floor, where the ballroom was located. As soon as his feet touched the balcony floor, his metal arms immediately wrapped around her waist, hugging her with a sly smile. After that, he hands her a bouquet, with which he climbed onto the balcony.

— Happy birthday, angel. – Boothill says, and stroked the top of her head as she picks up a small bouquet of roses. Robin laughed, wrapping her arms around his neck and burying her face in his metal collarbone. The man himself is dressed elegantly enough for the ball, which is very unlike him, but it's even for the best. He really tried to make everything so perfect that a satisfied and sweet smile shone on the face of his beloved angel, and fortunately, today he sees her..

For a while they stood on the balconies and chatted about everything. Boothill's eyes betrayed his adoration for the princess, from which she often noticed this and how he tried that he even dressed in classic clothes, which he endures her spirit. And the cowboy, in turn, blushed, frowned, turned away and grumbled.

At the end of their conversation, ballroom music for slow dancing in pairs began playing in the background, to which Boothill, at his own risk, invited Robin to dance while her parents were distracted by the important guests of this celebration.

[efangamez]

Hey y'all! Here is Efan's quick rundown and review of almost all the cool games I played this year, as well as my Steam in Review!

1. Darkest Dungeon

I've been playing this game for nearly ten years, and I finally beat it this year. Not a 2023 release, but a huge milestone for myself. After a terrible year before it, I made it a goal to face my fears and beat this game. Lo' and behold, I did, and it's one of my own personal gaming accomplishments. It's solidified as the best turn based game I've ever played, but it does have its late-game issues, specifically with the Crimson Court maps and the final dungeon maps. It's just absurd tbh. However, this is one of my favorite games of all time, if not my favorite, and it's a must have for horror fans, HP Lovecrft fans, and turn based game fans. 9.7/10

2. Sun Haven

A wonderful and cute farming sim that scratched an itch no other could scratch. Its characters are fun, the music is solid, the graphics are very bright and fantastical, and the combat was simple yet kinda fun. I really loved the progression in this game too. It still has its issues, such as the late game (it may have been fixed because this game was in early access) and some of the utility of the workbenches you can use. All in all, a very solid farming sim (and just life sim in general tbh) if you like a little bit of fantasy mixed in. 9/10

3. Halls of Torment

My favorite Survivor game. The music, aesthetics, progression, characters, and maps are all different enough to keep you coming back for more. As I am disabled, these games are actually super fun to play because I only have to play with one hand. It was in early access when I played it heavily, so it had some issues like the handling of inventory, some balance issues, and feature creep issues, but they may have been fixed now. 9.3/10

4. Cassette Beasts

A must-play monster battler with an amazing plot, an incredible soundtrack, interesting monsters, and great characters for the most part. If you've been really wanting a game that is reminiscent of Pokemon colleseum but also want that 2d love of the Black and White games, this is a must have. It does have some balance issues (again, early access game when I played), but other than that and maybe some performance issues that are probably fixed by now, it was an incredible game that made me want a 2d Pokemon game more than ever. 9/10

5. Roboquest

A fantastic FPS roguelike game with great gunplay, movement, art direction, and music too. Each weapon feels pretty unique, it has melee weapons (wish there were more though) and a progression system that's really cool. It plays like if Doom Eternal had a kid with Borderlands, and I think plays a bit better than any other RANGED FPS roguelike/lite that I've played. I will say the difficulty settings are really cool, but I think they are a little too enticing due to game balance as of 1.0 due to progression being a bit of a grind. I think that having different endings for each difficulty might be a cool idea, each as satisfying as the other, but I know that can be a pain to develop. 9/10

6. Mortal Sin

A beautifully dark and trippy mostly melee FPS roguelike that takes the intensity of DOOM and the melee weapons of Elderborn and drenches it in a slow-mo filled, heavy swinging fun time. It's definitely the most FUN game this year as I've been craving an FPS melee roguelike for a while. It accomplishes this and then some with pretty cool progression that adds some variety to each game. The art direction reminds me of a more purple and red MORK BORG (fellow TTRPGers rejoice) and I LOVE it. The only issues to me are that the story and lore are a bit boring and lacking, but again it's in early access, so it has time to cook. 9.5/10

7. And last, my game of the year, LUNACID by @stylishkira

What a gorgeous game all around. The music has probably the most atmosphere out of any indie game I've played outside of Darkest Dungeon. Its levelling system is accessible but fun, you can create your own character with their own name and profile picture which I think is SO cool (Mortal Sin should totally do this if it's not too much of a copy). The combat is really fun and the sound design is probably second, once again, to Darkest Dungeon. It was an absolutely magical experience playing this game, and an experience I don't think I'll ever forget. I do think, however, that the ending feels really really rushed, and that sullied my experience a little bit, and the bosses are pretty unbalanced because you can just spam all of your health potions and tank the bosses, but the experience leading up to the ending is amazing. Also, I know the true ending is purposely a little complex, but tbh, if the goal was to have the "true" endings similar to the Souls games, having the final climactic boss (which I won't spoil, but is really cool) be the core of the normal ending, paired with alternate endings WITH that really cool final boss I think, might make the experience a bit more satisfying. It's already kinda implemented, but I loved this game so much that the standard ending just kinda felt....empty. Don't let these critiques stop you from playing this game, however. It's one of my favorites of all time, and I only give these critiques because I love this game so much. This is a MUST PLAY, and for the price, it's an absolute steal and should be priced up, imo. I cannot wait to see where the direction of possible King's Field style games come, because I am THIRSTY for more! 9.6/10

Annnddddddd that's it! Some great other games I played this year were the Demon Souls remake (9.2/10) Shadow of the Colossus (9.3/10), and Bloodborne (for probably the 30th time, and that's no joke, 9.8/10), and Quake (9.8/10).

[y2kgr4ph1cs]

posting this here because i've been searching for this game for YEARS to no avail and multiple posts in various reddit threads haven't turned up any answers:

i'm looking for a flash game, and i'm pretty much positive that i used to play it on Andkon, although it might have been on other flash game sites like Miniclip or Kongregate as well

it was this really cool puzzle game where you move a ball around these different levels trying to get it into a specific spot in order to advance to the next level. it had a very 90's/2000's-esque "futuristic" / abstract aesthetic, i think the ball was shiny looking, and the backgrounds / obstacles were really cool visually. i think the backdrop was usually black or otherwise very dark, with the obstacles being fairly colorful but not super vibrant/neon (so the color scheme was fairly dark and easy on the eyes / very nice to look at from what i remember). it also had a really cool ambient soundtrack

the controls to move the ball probably would have been arrow keys. there was no "camera" movement, so in other words with every level the entire map was visible on the screen

i know this isn't much to go off of considering how many puzzle-style flash games there were that followed the "moving a ball around a level" format, but if this rings a bell for anyone please let me know!!!! what i loved about this game is that unlike a lot of those other ones, this one was actually really visually cool and satisfying to look at with an awesome ambient/electronic soundtrack. if i could find out what it was i'd love to search for it on flashpoint or something like that and possibly play it again or at the very least find some old screencaps of the game

[limwt1]

my takes on what could have made ouat a world class show

genuinely forever thinking about how GOOD once upon a time could have been drives me insane so i thought i'd compile a list just for shits cause it's been on mind ever since tiktok started giving me ouat edits again.

the gloomy yet dreamy aesthetic they NAILED in season 1 but that disappears from the rest of the show? that shit would have slapped if they'd had the artistic vision to maintain it, especially for the modern day stuff.

the way they created this super interesting cast of characters in season 1, and abandoned most of them in favor of stacking more characters on top of them that were less unique instead of fleshing out compelling storylines for the people they already had.

a world-building thing that would have been so interesting was when they were all transported back to the enchanted forest in season 3, were there major changes in the political and social make up of the enchanted forest? i mean, they had a democracy in storybrooke, and suddenly they're supposed to go back to being ruled by a series of mostly greedy and evil monarchs? I WANNA SEE A FAIRYTALE WORLD REVOLUTION. not to mention all the different technologies they know about now, medical advancements, inventions, etc. they know about enough to try and reverse engineer at least SOME things. do women start wearing pants instead of dresses? do they dress modern now instead of wearing old timey outfits? is it a mix? is there a feminist movement in the enchanted forest now?

i also can't help but feel like snow and charming stagnate so much as characters past season 2, maybe season 3. like the snow 'evil-ish' arc that they did with killing cora was so interesting and i wish that had actually had more consequences.

they didn't explore the charming family dynamic ENOUGH. cause I just feel like the way snow treated emma versus how charming treated her were so disparate and it was never addressed in a way that felt satisfying to me. like after the curse was broken it felt like there was this huge distance between Emma dn Snow that was never bridged whereas i felt like Emma and Charming actually had a relationship that developed over teh course of the show.

either they need to remove the weird male SA stuff or embrace it fully and talk about how horrible it was, because the way graham and robin were treated in the show like their SA wasn't that important was genuinely fucked

[andy-wm]

My thoughts on SEVEN, both the song and the MV, and what it says about Jungkook.

About the song:

My biggest take away from the song is that Jungkook has total confidence in his ability to keep his partner satisfied and entertained. Daily. He also has a good reason to do heaps of laundry.

Also, he gets to say Fu@k a lot (always fun) and his pronunciation has really improved since he collabed with that disrespectful a$$hole who's name i won't bother to mention.

Seriously though, i hope his adulthood will finally sink in for the people who still try to keep him in babyville.

From a musical point of view, he does get to use those magnificent pipes he has, and use them well. The song flexes his vocal range and has lots of dynamic movement. And he gets to rap. I can see why he would have wanted to sing it.

About the MV:

I have a few observations about the mv and the relationship represented. I know it's meant to be lighthearted but that doesn't mean it shows us a healthy relationship so i'm gonna say my piece. Sorry if it's a downer, feel free to skip.

The power dynamic between JK's character and Sohee's character is what i find interesting.

She's totally in control of their narrative the whole way through.

At the start, she's angry and berating him and he's just listening, his head down. Very submissive. Most of the time his hands are in his lap or on the table while she's gesturing to herself and even throwing her hands up. The only time his energy is up. Is when he pulls her away from the falling debris.

She's getting up to leave halfway through his response, too. She doesnt really give him a chance to respond.

Even though he tries and tries to talk to her, she's dismissive, rolling her eyes, ignoring him, constantly walking away before he can finish what he's trying to tell her. At one point she pushes him so hard he falls backwards. He's repeatedly risking his personal well-being to get her to hear his side, but even then, he's still completely submissive. He brings her flowers, he walks three steps behind her, he tries to make her laugh to break the tension so she will listen.

Theres only one point at which he is assertive and that's at 2.55 when he gets around in front of her.

When he does eventually get her to stop and hear him out, he takes the role of a supplicant. She is very much in control of the outcome. She eventually offers her hand, and then basically hauls him along behind her. He is trotting along behind her like a scolded child.

I found it a little hard to watch because JK isn't an actor. Not because his acting is bad but becuase it's really him.

I could be way off, i admit that, but i honestly feel that his character is responding exactly as he himself would respond. He's soft and sweet and gentle, but dammit he believes in them! He's trying his best to placate her even though she is giving him NOTHING back.

I hate that it reminds me of that damn hamburger incident (he's is a sponge cake. Pls dont hurt him, world.)

Anywayyyyy....

My take away is 2 things.

First one is, throughout the MV his character is "fighting *for* the relationship", which is different from fighting within the relationship. He wants this problem they have to be solved, and he's prepared to do the work. Go, you Jungkook’s alter ego.

Second one is, despite a lot of people seeing this as a,stalker situation, the power balance is very heavily weighted towards her. Also, she treats him pretty disrespectfully. If these gender roles were reversed, the comments would be very interesting...

Other than that i loved the aesthetic, the humour, and the energy.

But what does this overtly hereronormative MV tell us about Jungkook's sexual orientation?

I'll say it does not tell us anything about who he likes to do the horizontal boogie with.

He liked the song, and wanted to record it. I have no idea if he had any hand in the MV storyline. If he did, awesome. It's fun.

But let's be real about the likelihood of him coming out to the world through a MV. I'd say it's ZERO. Reality dictates that whatever his own orientation, the MV needed to represent the Jungkook (most of) the world WANTS to see. Dont forget, this song is more of a business decision than a creative decision for Hybe. We know SB had a big part in the processs, and that man is all about the dollar bills.

It's certainly not a personal statement from JK. Its a fun, summer song and he gets to say F◇CK a lot and flex his vocal chops. That's it.

Do i personally think JK is gay? Hell yeah. With bells on.

Do i think he would risk it all?? ('it' being a huge entertainment empire, his own and his friends' careers, social damnation, personal freedom, and the loss of his contact with ARMY)

No, absolutely not. Not for a song that he didn't even write. Not in his solo debut. Not in today's America (sorry American readers, the USA isn't a safe place to be queer right now).

An unrelated question:

Do i think he will show us something more substantial with his album?

I think he will. I truly hope so. I dont think he's going to sing about his orientation but i do think the songs will be meaningful and personal and I'll be quite suprised if there isn't a fair bit of queer subtext.

If he includes a hidden track and Jimin features on it, I will throw a party and sprinkle glitter EVERYWHERE.

Just for fun, here's some JK looking gorgeously gay...

Living his best life in the Butter MV

His gestures... so pretty

No words for this one (cr to photographer)

I mean he's not wrong...

[seraphcelene]

IWTV 2.8: And that's the End of it. There's Nothing Else.

Well. Damn.

"Arson is a crime of passion."

We always knew how this was going to end and it was both satisfying and anti-climatic. The fire? I wanted more of it. I wanted to watch the Theatre des Vampires WRITHE while it burned. The tragedy of Claudia's death, the snuffed potential of her immortality, in episode seven demanded it. The way she fought for herself and Madeleine, the way she fought SO HARD to be heard demanded a reckoning reflected from the eyes of her tormentors. I wanted the coven, and especially Santiago to SUFFER.

The ending was peculiarly cold in comparison to Alderman Fenwick back in season 1. His death was so personal in a way that the fire, despite its passion, was not. Maybe its because most of the coven were locked in their caskets so we only got their screams when I wanted them to SEE their executioner and look him in the eyes while he tore them to pieces. Claudia DESERVED that level of retribution.

pirateshelly wrote about Claudia's storyline here:

https://www.tumblr.com/pirateshelly/758254364119990272?source=share

GO Read it.

I include my comment there because I think the post perfectly encapsulates what was wrong with Claudia's story arc. To note, despite the insistence of The Great Laws, there was nothing wrong with Claudia, and that break has everything to do with the change in her circumstances from book to show and the failure of the show runners to account for that change as explicitly as they did for Louis.

In the books, Claudia is turned at 5 years old. In the Neil Jordan movie, she's 11. In the show, she's meant to be 14. 14 isn't so young that she can't age into and move through society. I looked 16 when I was 20, it's not a far fetch. The writer's needed something else to convince us that Claudia was truly going to break from having an immortal life. There were really small suggestions, but mostly we were just TOLD this would happen. That old show don't tell rule would have fixed alot here. But then we got Madeleine and it was a beautiful future that unfolded. Better than Claudia needing a mommy, Claudia had a friend, maybe a future lover, someone who FINALLY put her FUCKING FIRST!

Claudia in season 2 was otherwise woefully underutilized.

Shifting Louis' backstory, the era he lived in, his race, his sexuality, and then making explicit the nature of his relationship with Lestat blew the story wide open. There was so much room for this story to be made relevant and truthful. Rolin Jones said that changing Louis's story was a choice to place it in a "time period that was as exciting aesthetically as the 18th century was without digging into a plantation story that nobody really wanted to hear now". I'd like to get an amen right now because as a Black person in America I am REAL tired of every historical story of the black experience being located during slavery, the Civil Rights movement, or the modern, urban ghetto. There is a place for those stories, they are important and necessary and we HAVE to continue to have those conversations and remember those histories. But I also want new things shown new ways and nuanced to reflect the millions of different experiences that make up the lived experience.

Louis was made active and full of agency and anger. Making him a businessman with a certain amount of power and authority and then having him deal with TPTB in the skin he was born in was exquisite. He lived in multiple worlds and we really got to see and understand that, but it wasn't all misery. The circumstances of his mortal birth were allowed to live and breath on the surface of his skin in a way that Claudia was not gifted. Season 1 told the story of what it meant to be a queer, black man in America. It glanced very briefly on what it meant for Claudia as young and black and female. Three different states of being that impacted her different ways and then coalesced into what could have been greater than her sense of disconnect from Louis or her rage at Lestat. Arguably, Season 2 did more to interrogate her status. A second class citizen as a mortal and made doubly so by the condition of her re-birth.

Episodes 3 and 4 make the most of her, I think. The potential for her immortal life is suggested in episode 6, but perhaps in a meta reading of the stoey at large, there is no room for Claudia. She haunts the interview in the same way that she haunts Louis and as we later learn, Lestat. In the books, Claudia's ghost is imprinted upon her makers, but she is seldom truly centered.

That she is an underused and voiceless character being marched towards an end established from S1E1, it's like the nuance of her life isn't as compelling a thing to explore. I don't know. I think there's a lot to ruminate on and dig out about Claudia in the series, but too much of it is sublimated to the men's stories. I wanted more of it to be explicit. She is an excuse for Louis rage in the last episode, a powder keg for Louis to strike himself against. The last straw.

I loved that Louis was a little mad when he got out of the crypt. The voices and the visions could have lasted longer.

"All the madness and rage exited my body and nothing replaced it." What must that be like? To love someone so much and to know that they didn't love you as much? For Armand to know that Louis only picked him to spite Lestat. In reality not even second best because that place belongs to Claudia.

Fuck.

And then Armand and the truth. I wasn't surprised. Last episode, I was surprised that it was apparently Armand who turned the tide in Louis's sentencing. I initially thought it was Lestat because I didn't think Armand had that much power considering the size of the group. Maybe that's my novel bias kicking in. So when the reveal was that it was Lestat after all … again, not surprised.

And then it takes us all the way back to Omikase. Chef's choice because Louis leaves believing what Lestat wants him to believe. How he ultimately tells Louis that he "gave" him to Armand. A toxic ass phrase especially charged by the race bending, but even on its own … who the fuck gets to say or do that? Lestat for all that he loves, has no clue how to take care of people or treat.

In the end, Louis doesn't kill Armand, although he has every right. I LOVED those closing scenes. The MS and Armand's hand written notes. Daniel's triumphant reveal of Armand's duplicity. I NEVER liked Armand because -- MIND CONTROL -- although there were times were I felt sorry for the dude. He legitimately seemed to love Louis. But, hey, then you don't make a sacrifice of your lover to your old friends. The fact that he really was going to sit there and let them kill Louis? Yeah, nah, I'm good on him.

Lestat is still just as terrible. Once again, he chooses Louis over Claudia. Always someone else over Claudia and it's not until it's way too late does he understand that he was her father, too. Fucking asshole.

I'm excited for season 3. Someone posted how Louis's story is wide open and how anything is possible for him given the reimagining in the show. I 100% agree. The Vampire Chronicles were written as the Lestat Show. It's exciting to see them bring Louis to the forefront. I'm betting that they're not going to leave him tucked away in a crumbling plantation or even sitting at the top of a tower in Dubai. He issued a challenge at the end of episode 8 worthy of book Lestat at his most rebellious.

The potential is infinite for how this all can go. I can't wait to see it.

[suguwu]

But could they also have a hold over her by discovering something that she shouldn't have done?

Like secretly sponsoring the suffrage movement, maintaining an amicable relationship with circles of painters and other creatives, writing heretical philosophical tracts in her personal notebooks, keeping and drawing a collection of erotic drawings drawn by herself and other artists, and other similar things, and then... once they discover, she realises that, in a way, she is compromised, and so she partially maintains this arrangement with them not only because she is indeed extremely attracted to them both but also because it's convenient for her. They turn a blind eye to those sorts of things if it's convenient for them. Perhaps it even amuses them—seeing this pretty thing sit at her desk, pouring down her thoughts regarding the nature of existence, subjectivity, aesthetics, and the like.

they could! they're more than clever enough to find out these things, especially with the resources they have at their disposal! i don't think they'd turn a completely blind eye to it—after all, if they were able to catch you, someone else might be able to as well. but they wouldn't be opposed to you continuing the less public/social things.

i do think they would find it amusing—even cute—that you had such hobbies and inclinations.

i also think it would make suguru prod you a little bit, trying to test the limits of your thoughts. he'd be interested in what makes you tick and he'd take you apart to find out.

i don't think this would be what happens in this au, but in another iteration of it, it absolutely could and would! a more mutual agreement where satoru and suguru still have the upper hand, but you gain something from it as well. they'd still be satisfied to have you and you would have some security that you didn't have before.

[skxrbrand]

FINALLY. I've gone through more Tzeentch designs than the other gods-- this is I believe the 6th one? Settling on a concept was hard, but I think I'm satisfied with what I came up with. Marrying everything together was tricky, because it doesn't seem like GW themselves tried to connect Tzeentch and his daemons. That said, I largely ignored his canon design. He's a combination of fish and bird aesthetically. Tzeentch is said to be the most weirdly formed of the gods, so unlike the other four who are humanoid in shape, Tzeentch isn't.

The "tentacles" on near the top of his body are, in truth, all horns. The longest ones can spit apart into a toothy maw that can belch wyrdflame.

Tzeentch's beak is a combination of the Avian Beak and the Cephalopod beak. When covered in flesh, it appears as the latter and when fully extended from it's nest of tenta-horns, it appears more bird-like. Think a Heron or a Seal. His beak is also broken, from a previous battle with Khorne, Nurgle, and Slaanesh at the beginning of Lore.

Tzeentch's head is in the center of his torso. That double-mouth with eyes? That's Tzeentch; the mouth and tentacles at the top of body are just extremities.

Tzeentch moves in a fashion similar to the Monstrous Nightmare or Smaug from the Hobbit. Caraxes is also good; the best reference for his movements actually.

The circular runes on his belly each correspond to a wind of magic, as Tzeentch is the God of all magic. Each rune can manifest a semi-corporeal arm and Tzeentch can use any magic he pleases. He also uses these arms and the hooks on his wing to mess with the strings of fate.

His feathers are blue, but the white of his torso and tail are smooth and scaled, like a fish.

The LARGEST and oldest of the Chaos Gods, the very first born of not only the ruinous Four but every God in the Warp. Tzeentch is so strange that even his daemons don't resemble him overmuch.

[wjbs-bonkle-au]

Lynn’s Bionicle Media Looking-At Thing Part 4.5: I Take Back Everything I Said About How City Of Legends Would Probably Have Been The Best Bionicle Game

Ok so this will be. An interesting one. Also my previous City of Legends post is here, go check it out, I reference it a couple of times.

Right so before I begin, I just want to say that I replayed the 2003 version of City of Legends, and it is still fun. I also, for professionalism(?) purposes, played the first 2004 version (there's two), and it's basically the same as the one I'll be playing in this post, which makes my life a lot easier. Anyway, on with the video and also the rant about how much I dislike this version.

Alright so first off; the movement feels. More awkward? I guess? Like you can't turn instantly; you have to go through an awkward turning animation every time. Also the little score popups are gone, which sucks.

There is proper combat this time; while you could throw kanoka in the 2003 build, this one also has melee, and it is. Kinda bad? Like you have an awkward, clumsily-animated punch, but also a fairly satisfying ground-pound that defeats enemies in an AoE radius but has weird timing, and a roll that also does damage. Also the Kanoka is really satisfying.

There's only one map this time around, which appears to be an expanded version of the "Ta-Wahi" map from the 2003 build (the aesthetic, theme and one of the floor textures are the same). It has a bunch of neat details (a big cargo lift thing going up and down and circling bird-like creatures that I didn't see moving until I recorded this, so when I noclipped up on my first run-through I assumed they flew backwards relative to how they actually fly, like I thought their tails were like manta ray flaps or antennae or something)

Unlike the 2003 build, enemies spawn constantly without the player having to spawn them manually from a menu.

Instead of jerboas, this time they're presumably meant to be Morbuzakh (this won't be the last time the Morbuzakh will come up in this series), and their designs and animations are simple but effective! They die in one hit and deal. "Damage". But not really, like you flash red when you get hit, but there's no health metre and you can't die. However, they swarm and stun you when you hit, so if this did have a proper health system, it would probably be painful.

Left stick moves the character (more on him later) and right stick moves the camera. Clicking in the left stick does nothing, and clicking in the right stick switches to a weird first-person view that doesn't aim where you're moving, but instead it has to be manually angled. Pain. In terms of actual controls, triangle throws a disk, circle is melee, X is jump and square is roll.

The D-pad does nothing. Start pauses the game, as you'd expect, but select does something interesting; it pauses the game and puts you into noclip. You can fly around with the left stick and aim the camera with the right stick, as you'd expect; the left shoulder button allows you to speed up. Triangle unpauses the game, allowing you to both control the character and move the camera, and right trigger teleports you to the camera's current position.

Finally, let's talk about the character you play as, because. It's Matau, but with an interesting design.

The whole design is very. Chunky in a way I like, and I love the Metru armour motif being stylised into thick X-shapes, and the Aero Slicers being reduced down to a pair of beetle-like elytra so they can be part of his design without being too big. However, I don't like how small his brainstalk is.

And then there's this game's interpretation of the Mahiki, which. I genuinely love (except for the weird beak-mouth).

Like, the "jaw" with "teeth" would make this work really well as, like, a shapeshifted Makuta version of the Mahiki, or maybe an earlier version of the Olisi before Karzahni started modifying it. Also it kinda gives me Miru vibes, and the roundel "headphones" being adapted into proper earpieces is really cool. My only point against it is that it loses the actual Mahiki's retrofuturistic (maybe even slightly Art Deco?) aesthetic in favour of 2000s neoretrofuturistic sleekness, but I can't really complain because I love that era of sci-fi aesthetics. I wish I could see what the other five masks would have looked like, but alas.

Anyway uhhhh yeah. This wasn't worth it, and might end up invalidating my upcoming post about the Xbox demo (depending on how different that might be, and also if I can even find an Xbox emulator). Oh well!

[spoczkotszcz]

Writing resource - how I envision different emotional states

Cognitive processes are often regarded as separate from emotional processes, marking a sharp distinction between "thinking" and "feeling". Do keep in mind that not all theories of emotion regard this separation as valid. In effect a lack or dampening of a physiological response to a stimulus does not mean the person in question is incapable of understanding what the response should be in cognitive or even creative aesthetic terms, begging the question of whether this distinction is a fair or useful one to make.

Shame - Dripping. Viscous. Downward movements. Suffocating. Overwhelming. Paralysing thought and action like heavy mud.

Anger- a fiery storm of electrical impulses. As fire does, it requires fuel to propagate. It can be immediate and violent, or slow and building.

Envy- an emptiness. A lack of something the self has, the individuals ego stretching out as if to pluck that very thing out of the world. Has a tendency to be social focused. A wall of mirrors reflecting the self as others. The self expressing anger at these mirrors.

Glee- electrifying pleasure. It energises from within with an optimistic lens colouring the persons subsequent thoughts. Childlike whimsy as the person relaxes and loses inhibition

Confusion- electrical impulses misfiring as the mind searches for answers to external stimuli it cannot find. Lost in a deep forest, where every tree and thought looks the same.

Curiosity - a hunger of the mind. Sensory organs seeking out input so as to satisfy an ache deep inside. Eyes roaming, nostrils twitching, hands searching for touch.

Shock- similar to confusion, but more immediate. A paralysing instinctive reaction with an undercurrent of fear.

Fear- a cold dread, the swift acceleration of breathing, heart rate and muscle contractions. The body readying itself to confront a threat.

Anxiety- similar to fear in terms of physiological response, but more forward thinking and longer lasting. Less acute than fear, but causes more inner turmoil and mental anguish as the effects of diluted fear permeating the mind over long periods of time take their toll.

Worry- repeated rumination on a problem stemming from irrational inner turmoil, such as due to fear or envy. It is anxiety's more practical cousin, effectively. A ruminating feeling, pulling the mind inwards onto itself.

[canmom]

got to play splatoon 3 recently on my friend's switch, first time playing any splatoon game. damn is this game polished to fuck?? like it's crazy how they cooked up this whole aesthetic of like, post-apoc graffiti cephalopds almost fully formed when splatoon 1 came out. i love their little floppy hands gesture.

so i have only played a bit - first couple islands of single player and enough multi to get to level 4. but already it's a really fun shooter, easy to understand but with a good amount of depth. the way the map painting mechanic interacts with mobility and stealth is great.

tech art-wise, i am pretty sure I can see how they're doing the map painting mechanic visually, it's got a signed distance field kinda smell, weapons blit a mask texture onto that dynamic paint map - simple and it works so well, and then they add a bit of extra style by having the ink drip down vertical surfaces. it's very seamless across objects so i wonder how the texture is mapped? maybe it's voxels! or maybe they create a special inkable surface mesh for the whole level with its own UVs?

the motion controls took a little getting used to but they are quite effective for solving the controller aiming problem. the device I'm on has a very drifty left stick, which made some precision movement a bit hard, but mostly not an issue. the way you move between kid and squid to go up vertical surfaces is very intuitive to pick up, you get a great rhythm of ink and swim.

also! the way the ink substitutes for blood so you can have a really messy splattery battle without it being 'gory'. like. it's simply satisfying when things are wet. ingenious.