#take your marks e3

[every-rgsa-moment-ever]

they r literally best friends

[mikiemcsmitty]

Fictober Day 3

prompt: "I know you better"

Fandom: Supernatural

Character: Sam Winchester, Dean Winchester

Warnings: Alcohol/substance abuse, Mild self-harm implication

Summary:

Dean's POV: In between S10 E3 and S10 E4 Dean slips away from Sam's careful watch to try to deal with his problems independently.

It was windy and cold outside. Not to mention raining. This was the third bar in Smith County that Sam had walked to and with his car still broken down and the only working car being the one Dean took Sam had no other choice but to trudge through the weather in his pursuit to find his brother. This time he got lucky, the familiar 1967 Chevy Impala was parked outside. He went inside to find Dean completely hammered, sitting at the bar. 

“Dean?”

“Sammy!”

“Common Dean, I'm here to take you home,” Sam said, clearly annoyed.

“Nooo. Come sit, have a drink,” Dean said while slurring his words. 

Sam sighed in exhaustion. “Dean, what are you doing? This self-destructive behavior… it’s getting old.” Sam reached into Dean's pocket to grab his keys and Dean was clearly too drunk to stop him. “Let's go,” he said rattling the keys in front of him.

Dean grabbed his jacket off of the back of the barstool and followed Sam back to the car. “You're such a buzz kill,” he said under his breath.

“Seriously, Dean! Look I know you're dealing with a lot right now but this isn't you.”

“Sam.”

“Don’t start with me. I already told you I forgive you for the Mark of Cain business–”

“Sam!” Dean interrupted him.

“What?”

“Pull over. Now.”

Sam sighed again before obliging knowing that Dean would have a fit if he let him throw up in his own car.

The two of them were on the side of the road for about 20 minutes while Dean threw up everything he ate, drank, and took that night. Sam was getting more and more impatient by the minute. “Talk to me, Dean. What's going on?”

Dean groaned. “It's nothing. Can't a guy just get a drink every now and then?”

“Come on Dean… I know you better than that. What's really going on?”

Dean sighed and leaned back on the side of the car. “It's just… you keep saying you've forgiven me… but that doesn't mean I've forgiven myself.” 

“So you thought disappearing, leaving a cryptic note, and drinking so much your liver will never recover was the right way to go about it.” 

“I'm not in the mood for a lecture right now.”

“Well too bad.” Sam paused before pulling the note out of his pocket. “Going out to get fucked up. Don't come looking for me in the morning. Signed Dean,” he read off. “You can't just keep drowning your sorrows in alcohol and whatever else you're on right now.”

“It's just alcohol.”

“Really? Because you have a track record you know…” 

“What are you talking about?”

“You think I don't notice how the ashtray in the Impala is always full or how whenever you get a headache you just take pills from an unmarked bag and keep it pushing. You’re reckless and self-destructive and probably borderline suicidal at this point and these problems run way deeper than the Mark and you know it.”

“You're one to talk, you know.”

“What's that supposed to mean?”

“I believe I remember you trying to buy sleeping pills off the black market a few years ago not to mention your method to keep the hallucinations away.”

“That was different,” Sam said with a scoff.

“Look. You know it. I know it. Our lives are screwed up enough as it is that we've earned our fair share of illicit assistance.” 

Sam rolled his eyes. “That's a twisted way to think… You know maybe Cas was right. We should take a break– a real break.” Sam folded his arms over his chest. “We could drive out to the lake and just spend some time just you, me, and a reasonable amount of beer. How's that sound?”

“Sounds like a load of crap,” Dean says flatly. After letting the silence drag out he finally gives a real answer. “We can leave in the morning after I sleep this off.”

[dashiellqvverty]

okay wait which ~unpopular~ doctor who episode would you fight to the death defending

based on the lowest imdb ratings (using this list), but i made the call to exclude whittaker episodes bc they've taken up so many of the lowest spots which i think is bullshit and also kind of boring (and i dont want to bog down the options with every chapter of flux lmao). if one of hers is your pick though please explain in the tags!

[666prophet]

Fallout S1:E3 - The Head

I think this one was solid. Moved the plot along some, but mainly a character development episode. This again I feel is geared to not fans of the games (no offense). It does a good job of showing you how things are and why certain characters react the way they do. Also a good juxtaposition of the differences between the Wasteland and Vaults. Did raise a lot of nit picky things though.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Spoilers and Deep Dive ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ok so The Ghoul was an actor before the bombs, got it cool I can dig it. What is interesting to see is if the go further into how he became so cold. Granted yes being alive for 200 years and becoming and irradiated time bomb will do that to you. I'm interested to see what chem he keeps using, it doesn't look like anything that has been in any game yet. Also just as a thought, maybe wrap up the severed head. Walking around with a head is just gonna make you seem like a Fiend or a Raider. Just food for thought. Its amazing the upgrades that Vault dwellers made to the Pip-Boy seeing as neither the 3000 or Mark IV had any kind of tracker feature.

Sir....in your boot....that would be the most uncomfortable way to carry around caps ever. Its pretty lucky this random person is skilled and knowledgeable enough to fix a component off a suit of power armor. Ok, at this point its safe to say that Maximus can't fight for shit. He also seems to have an odd obsession with toilet seats. They sent over a new squire amazingly quick, but also how are you surprised he is there? You just talked on the radio and they said they would send a new Squire. Oh its the asshole bully, how convenient. So how far are we gonna take the bully my bully trope.

Its funny that they have a prominent Sunset Sarsaparilla logo on the truck. Considering that Todd Howard has had this weird relationship with Fallout: New Vegas. He doesn't dislike it or speak badly about it, just more tries to avoid talking about it. I would say New Vegas is probably my number one in the series. It feels like a good successor to Fallouts 1 and 2, seeing as Fallout 3, 4, & 76 ditched the west in favor of the east. If any of the older games deserve a redo/remaster it's New Vegas. I see Lucy took my advice. So wait the first sign(not actually the first but still) of wildlife we see in an UNMUTATED FAWN?!?!?! Where is the mother? Did deer on the West Coast just not suffer from mutations due to the fallout? Also weird choice to have a Fallow fawn and not go with something a but more common and widespread in California like Blacktail or Mule. Alright a gulper, I mean you could have also gone with a mirelurk or lakelurk but sure I'll take it.

I think this gives a good incite into how some Vault dwellers are. They are very we are better and nicer. Very naive and very cheery, which gives a good contrast to Norm. The fact that they keep hammering the ghoul hate feels like ham fisted foreshadowing.

Leaches were never in the games. Its interesting to see The Ghoul panic when the winch locks up. Almost like he cares about Lucy for some reason, or he isn't as sadistic as we are lead to believe. Ummmm why does that gulper look like an axolotl? Yes they are also salamanders but not a common species in the US. Ok...gross....it has mouth fingers. I feel like there is some shenanigans going on with this gulper. The white lab coat kind of shenanigans. So either The Ghoul is SUPER addicted to chems or there is something special about these vials. Also that line about getting sidetracked might as well be the new tagline for all the games.

Well here is the "he was just misunderstood, not a bully" trope. More showing the difference between Vault 33 vs Norm as character. I like it. Also showing the cracks with the Overseer comment. The classic waterchip is broken mechanic, a Fallout staple.

Oh were being spoiled in this episode, a whole five seconds of a what looks like a bloatfly. So wouldn't the geiger counter just spike because of the fact that most all water is irradiated? It dies by puking its guts out? That's it? That's underwhelming. Oh look the head, that's plot armor if I've ever seen it.

So is The Ghoul trying to do a tough love mentor thing? I'm confused. Ok so he sold out because of his wife and she is tied to Vault-Tec somehow. Its interesting to see that she seems to know what kind of company Vault-Tec is.

||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

Its good. Lots of little things but we can chalk it up to me being fussy about detail. Shows more behind the curtain on the characters. We are starting to see more of the world, but I feel like I'm being breadcrumbed on that front. Hope we can start to more widen the scope because part of the story of Fallout is the world. Not just the "main quest".

Final Score - 8/10

[saltedslugspine]

south park single episode gags - season three

e1: kelly mispronouncing kenny’s name and kyle having no rhythm

e2: “nerection”

e3: chef’s parents and the lochness monster demanding “tree fiddy”

e4: “fine just fine”

e5: cringey dead wife montage that gets progressively more disturbing

e6: “we don’t take kindly to your types here…”/“now skeeter he ain’t hurtin anyone”

e7: cartman quoting the alien movie “mostly” quote

e8: charlie’s angels and their missions 

e9: trying to kill the bear but instead the squirts keep getting kidnapped by the bear

e10: watchmen talking in detail about sex with grandma broflovski’s corpse/necrophilia in general 

e11: japanese men satiating american men by assuring them they [americans] have way bigger penises than them [japanese]

e12: rebecca being completely oblivious to kyle’s romantic initations/tying both mark and his dad to a bench by the kids and dads respectively 

e13: christian broadcasting company trying to raise money for space equipment  in order to spread the word of jesus across the universe

e14: s’more flavored schnapps

e15: fighting with the frizzies at 11

e16: are you there god, it’s me judy blume parody with stan and jesus

e17: mr. garrison traumatized because his father *didn’t* molest him

[44gamez]

Dying Light 2 Getting a Game-Changing Update - Firearms Arrive in Villedor

This month marks the second anniversary of the launch of Dying Light 2 Stay Human. As this can be a large milestone, we’re celebrating all month lengthy. Kicking all of it off was the Yr of the Dragon exercise, however that was simply the beginning. Now, we’re able to convey out the large weapons in additional methods than one with our first main replace of 2024: the Firearms Replace. We’re sure this’ll please followers because it brings with it one thing they’ve been asking for, for some time now: weapons! Nevertheless, earlier than we get into the nitty-gritty of what to anticipate from the brand new replace, we’ve obtained some large information: we’re making the ‘Bloody Ties’ DLC free for anybody who already owns the sport! To get it, go to the Xbox Retailer and declare it. However newcomers received’t be unnoticed both: we’re launching a brand new model of the sport, Reloaded Edition, which is able to enable new gamers full entry to the DLC as soon as claimed, too! Now, let’s get into the replace!

Firearms Replace: Absolutely Loaded

Because the identify suggests, the most important half – and arguably an important to our gamers – of the replace is the addition of firearms. Till now, Villedor had been a gun-free zone, with the closest you’d get to a gun being the Boomstick or an auto-firing crossbow, however neither packed the punch of an actual one. Now, gamers will be capable of get their arms on 4 various kinds of firearm: pistols, shotguns, rifles and SMGs. And gamers received’t have to attend lengthy to get their arms on them, as all Pilgrims who’ve accomplished the prologue will discover the ‘Harran Pistol’ of their stash till March 7. However there’s much more to the replace than simply firearms. We’re additionally introducing Survivor Missions, which is able to provide a brand new sort of problem to gamers. Whereas playable solo, these missions are supposed for co-op as they may check your whole abilities, particularly the Elite ones. The preliminary set of Survivor Missions has dropped alongside the replace, with extra being added on February 29 and March 7. On the subject of missions, there are some new postings on the bulletin boards of Villedor. Take them on to assist out the residents and get rewarded! And, in fact, there are extra in-game gadgets for gamers to earn, this time with the addition of fifty extra Legend Ranges and a brand-new reward: the Doppelganger Legend outfit. Moreover, the radio waves are saying a few acquainted faces from the unique Dying Mild are making their method to The Metropolis. Tolga and Fatin will likely be arriving on February 29, and from what we’ve heard they’ll be needing your help. We guess, even sooner or later, it’s cool to be fashionably late. Outdoors the sport, gamers can discover extra bounties to tackle at Pilgrim Outpost which can be particularly designed for Neighborhood Maps. And carrying on from that, a few of our greatest creators have already been onerous at work on a group of latest maps which take advantage of the newly-added firearms.

Hold the Celebrations Going

As we talked about earlier, this month marks our 2nd anniversary and there’s lots extra purpose to have fun with Anniversary Bounties. For the following few weeks, there will likely be three units of 4 missions (every week unlocks a brand new set) for gamers to finish to earn some superior throwback gadgets from the unique Dying Mild and the 2019 E3 trailer: the Scorpio, the Nocturnal Tribal Machete and the Acolyte outfit. Nevertheless, there’s no purpose to panic as in the event you aren’t in a position to begin immediately, you’ll be capable of full Week 1’s bounties in Week 2 or 3 (and Week 2’s bounties in Week 3), so there’s loads of time so that you can nab your rewards! Moreover, the vast majority of the bounties will deal with the replace’s new additions, so you possibly can absolutely expertise them! These particular bounties are activated on Pilgrim Outpost, the place you may as well discover out extra about your complete exercise.

Right here’s to Many Extra

Pilgrims, as we're celebrating this milestone, we’d additionally wish to thanks on your continued assist for a sport we put blood, sweat, tears and UV Shroomz into. With out you, we wouldn’t be right here, so from all of us right here at Techland, a large thanks! We hope you benefit from the first replace of 2024. Sufficient discuss; get on the market and fill the contaminated with lead. Social gathering hats elective. Dying Light 2 Stay Human: Reloaded Editionis now obtainable for buy on Xbox Collection X|S and Xbox One.

Dying Light 2: Stay Human – Reloaded Version

Techland ☆☆☆☆☆ 1040 ★★★★★ $59.99 $29.99 Improve your expertise with Sensible Supply. Purchase the sport as soon as to each play it on Xbox One and get its optimized model for Xbox Collection X | S Get the complete Dying Light 2 Stay Human expertise with Reloaded Version and the free ‘Bloody Ties’ DLC. Please observe: DLC have to be downloaded individually. It’s been 20 years because the occasions of the unique sport. The virus received, and humanity is slowly dying. You play as Aiden Caldwell, a wandering Pilgrim who delivers items, brings information, and connects the few remaining survivor settlements in barren lands devastated by the zombie virus. Nevertheless, your true aim is to seek out your little sister Mia, who you left behind as a child to flee Dr. Waltz's torturous experiments. Haunted by the previous, you ultimately make the choice to confront it if you be taught that Mia should still be alive in Villedor — the final metropolis standing on Earth. You shortly end up in a settlement torn by battle. You’ll want to have interaction in artistic and gory fight, so hone your abilities to defeat hordes of zombies and make allies. Roam town, free run throughout Villedor’s buildings and rooftops in the hunt for loot in distant areas, and be cautious of the evening. With each sundown, monsters take management of the streets. A WORLD AFTER THE APOCALYPSE Fifteen years in the past, humanity was devastated by the Fall — a catastrophic occasion that might change the world eternally. With the Harran virus spreading across the globe, folks shortly came upon that every one hope for tomorrow is misplaced. By 2036, only some settlements stay, and humanity is slowly dying, making manner for the brand new species on the market — a horde of relentless zombies. DAY’S FOR THE LIVING, NIGHT’S FOR THE INFECTED Welcome to Villedor, one of many final bastions of humanity. Through the day, survivors nonetheless attempt to have a life right here and discover a false sense of normalcy. Relationships are fashioned, desires are dreamed, and life carries on. On the floor, every thing appears… high quality. Till sundown, that's. With the final ray of sunshine dying out, different, extra dreadful, dwellers of The Metropolis crawl out of their gloomy interiors, taking on the streets. In case you are not vigilant and keep out too lengthy at nighttime, it's possible you'll by no means return. YOU HAVE TO MOVE TO SURVIVE Not all fights could be received. Generally it’s finest to run and, fortunately, you have got the abilities for it. Parkour allows you to escape when odds aren't in your favor. Soar from rooftop to rooftop, swing throughout the cityscape, trip ziplines, and way more. No matter you do, expertise a novel sense of freedom as you freerun throughout Villedor’s buildings and rooftops in the hunt for loot or whereas working away from the risks of the evening. GET BRUTAL AND BE CREATIVE ABOUT IT In a world as harmful as this one, solely the strongest survive. Whether or not you favor to smash, slice or dismember those that stand in your manner, you must be artistic about it to make it by means of. And who says you want weapons? Make the most of the whole thing of your parkour moveset to get the soar in your enemies. Be taught the methods of fight and parkour to really feel the crunch of skulls and slices of flesh as you swing weapons or use your strikes to fend off any types of hazard. And let’s not neglect that Villedor has weapons that put probably the most superior post-apocalyptic armories to disgrace. FOUR PILGRIMS ARE BETTER THAN ONE Surviving in Villedor is less complicated with buddies. Workforce up with as much as 3 different gamers and improve your probabilities on the market. Unravel the story collectively, tackle Pilgrim Outpost challenges, or just wreak havoc on town streets. Source link Read the full article

[felassan]

Snippets/speculation etc of interest from Mark Darrah part 2 (in parts due to Tumblr character limits. Part 1 link), from his co-stream of The Game Awards, under a cut due to length:

"[BioWare] did have a trailer just 4 days ago [the new cinematic], it was a trailer that wouldn't have gotten, Geoff would not have put that on TGA, so it was too small for TGA and too big to be [inaudible]". He said it would have been a lot at one time to show the new cinematic on DA Day, Absolution releasing and to be at TGA. On why that video was chosen, he said probably because it was done, or close to done

When another game was announced and gave a date in its announcement during the world premieres, he said "Yeah, see, they're literally dating and announcing at the same time, Dragon Age might be thinking of doing the same thing"

When asked in chat "​does this mean we're getting DA:D in 2024 tops? Not even late 2023?" he said "no, it doesn't mean that, it means they're keeping their options open and they're just planning to spend their money over their summer, like they're just compressing their marketing so they can have a louder campaign, it doesn't mean anything. It means you're not gonna see it [it's not going to release] in the summer [of 2023], but you were never gonna see it in the summer. 'Cause they have one more big beat. They could drop a big trailer at E3, that's June, if they come out in November that's still tons of time. We'll see something from them in the summer, unless something goes horribly wrong they would have to do something in the summer. I still think they're targeting November 2023, like, eleven months from now. They would do it [push to 2024 if they had to], their financial year ends at the end of March, but the reason they would delay it is for quality reasons, EA wouldn't push it for any other reason"

He said "I don't know, but I doubt DA:D will have a multiplayer at all". Chat asked "the mandate from EA to make DA4 MP when you were running it, did you think it would eventually shape up and work, or was it a bad idea from the start?" and he said "it could have worked, but it was the right choice to move away from it. [...] It could have been made to work, there was work yet to be done there and definitely there wasn't perfect alignment on it. [...] The team wasn't really on-board with multiplayer so it would've been uphill. If the team doesn't wanna do it, it's basically a virtual impossibility to get them to do it effectively and make it good"

He doesn't think the temporal gap between DA:I and DA:D matters really, if the game is good, though "you're definitely not building on momentum. It's a standing start, for sure". "2016 was the best time to release another Dragon Age, but after 2016 you largely lost that moment". Mass Effect is going to have the same situation obviously - "there's enough time between them. [though] it can actually work in your favor because you don't have any drag either"

When asked in chat "wonder if BioWare could have afforded to release DA spin offs in between DA:I and DA:D. Heck why not have some other studio make something? Lack of resources?" he said "EA doesn't like spending money"

"RPGs are expensive and they take a long time". "Probably we need to get used to long development times, but I do think the industry knows, we haven't figured out a way out the other side yet. I think the answer is more true sequels and more [asset] reuse, but there is an active [gaming] community backlash against that sort of thing, so". Not reusing assets much between DA games has happened "for stupider reasons than concern about fan backlash" though

"You just have to treat Frostbite with respect. BioWare has not built upon itself [re: Frostbite] as effectively as it could have unfortunately"

When asked in chat "what did the Dragon Age 'finalling team' do in Mass Effect: Andromeda?" he said "lots of things. The DA team helped shipped ME:A, they came up pretty late, helped with triage, helped with bug-fixing, some level, I think one level was made by that team"

The Alpha phase is much later than two years out from release

"I don't know what it's gonna be like playing DA:D [himself], because there will definitely be stuff in there that was there when I was working on it, so it'll be really weird, I think"

He's not covered by any NDA from BioWare about any upcoming news, but he doesn't ask them for things that he wouldn't want to talk about, because otherwise they would stop telling him things

One of his pitches for Joplin was "no DLC and to make another game in 18 months"

Expansions and DLCs are things you can have devs working on while you're waiting for the next franchise to pick them up. When asked in chat "​why were DAI DLCs so short compared to games like The Witcher 3 DLC? Any reason in particular?" he said that the DA DLCs were trying to be more focused, while The Witcher 3 DLCs were stretching up towards expansion packs and CDPR had/has different terminology for things like patch vs DLC vs expansion pack

When asked in chat "has the origin of the Blight plot been modified since DA:O or did the team stick with the original vision?" he said "the idea is always to leave those threads as open as possible so that they can be tied into a lot of different places, so. Broad strokes are still the same, yeah"

"If we don't see DA:D today we won't see it til EA Play or E3, because that would be as late as you could go in date for pre-orders. I doubt we would see anything between now and then, anything like a trailer at least"

Mark and Matthew Goldman were working together on the DA:D teaser trailer from 2018. "More Matt than me, because I was already taking over Anthem at that point". Mark's talked a few times to Matt since he left BioWare. Matt was only on Twitter because of his role in BioWare and is still in game development

For voice acting in DA, Kate Mulgrew became expensive after Orange is the New Black (which released in 2013)

When chat said "I think it would be a bit late to change DA4 based on Absolution's reception" he said "they wouldn't change it based on its reception but they could change their positioning"

When chat said "maybe they want to give some time between showing Absolution and the trailer for DA:D just in case, since new fans may judge DA:D by Absolution" he said "yeah, that's the thing, they might be holding, they might be keeping some powder dry in case, if Absolution stinks they have something to, a palate cleanser. I think that's reasonable thinking"

[source, part 1]

[every-rgsa-moment-ever]

they have to compliment each other at every opportunity

[haikyuucute]

Masterlist

Karasuno

Sawamura Daichi

First Time vs. Tenth Time (NSFW)

Sugawara Koushi

Just Like Candy(NSFW)

S/O who hates playing volleyball

FIrst Kisses

180 (Omegaverse AU)

Childhood Friends (Omegaverse AU)

First Time vs. Tenth Time (NSFW)

Prompt: “Come here” // “I could just pull your bikini bottoms to the side, no one will notice” (NSFW)

“Sorry, She’s Busy” (NSFW)

Asahi Azumane

Libero S/O

Alpha!Asahi (Omegaverse AU)

Claim (Omegaverse AU)

Jealousy

First Time vs. Tenth Time (NSFW)

“Sorry, She’s Busy” (NSFW)

Nishinoya Yuu

Alpha!Noya (Omegaverse AU)

Too Much (Omegaverse AU)

Kageyama Tobio

Stumbling In (NSFW)

Communication (Omegaverse AU)

Yamaguchi Tadashi

Kinks (NSFW)

Aobajohsai

Oikawa Tooru

Needy (NSFW)

Violent

Giggles

First “I love you’s”

Marking (Omegaverse AU)

Her Too? (Omegaverse AU)

Not-So-Popular (Omegaverse AU)

Iwaizumi Hajime

Truth or Dare

Irritable (NSFW)

“Sorry, She’s Busy” (NSFW)

Matsukawa Issei

Prompt 92: “I’m not going to touch you unless you beg” (NSFW)

Kyoutani Kentarou

Prompts: “You’re not taking me to bed. Ever.” “Who said it had to be on a bed?”

Prompt E13 +E14: Safe Word + Aftercare (NSFW)

Soothe (Omegaverse AU)

A Favor (Omegaverse AU)

Nekoma

Nekoma

Nekoma’s Omega Manager (Omegaverse AU)

Kuroo Tetsurou

GF with nipple piercings 

Little Black Dress

Sensitive 

Piss Me Off (NSFW)

Distractions

Idiot

Protective Kuroo

First “I love you’s”

Kuroo x Reader x Bokuto (NSFW)

A Mistake // Part 2 (Omegaverse AU)

Alpha!Kuroo (Omegaverse AU)

Road Trip (feat. Bokuto)

Prompt: “Are you sure? Once we start, I might not be able to stop.” (Omegaverse AU)

Prompt: “We’re not just friends and you fucking know it” (NSFW)

Jealous/Possessive (Omegaverse AU)

Prompt 11: “I didn’t know you were so sensitive”Prompt 46: “I haven’t even touched you and you’re already this wet” (NSFW)

Prompt E13 + E14: Safe Word + Aftercare (NSFW)

“Sorry, She’s Busy” (NSFW)

Prompt E3: Exhibitionism (NSFW)

“Yo lemme dom you” (SMAU)

Kenma Kozume

S/O who hates playing volleyball

You’re Dating Him?

Alpha!Kenma (Omegaverse AU)

Prompt: “Just let me finish this level and I swear I’ll go down on you until you cum at least three times” (NSFW)

Attention (Omegaverse AU)

Kinks (NSFW)

Do It Again (NSFW)

Lev Haiba

Silly Girl

Fukurodani

Bokuto Koutarou

S/O who hates playing volleyball

Feelings

Kuroo x Reader x Bokuto (NSFW)

Someone Else // Part 2 (NSFW) 

Road Trip (feat. Kuroo)

Alpha!Bokuto (Omegaverse AU)

Prompt D6: Jackhammering (NSFW)

Kinks (NSFW)

Akaashi Keiji

Good Girl

Feelings

Alpha!Akaashi (Omegaverse AU)

Intimidating (Omegaverse AU)

Prompt D9: Spanking (NSFW)

Shiratorizawa

Ushijima Wakatoshi

Love Letters

Pretending

Don’t Call It A Crush (NSFW): Part 1 / Part 2

Untamable Masterlist (Omegaverse AU)

Libero S/O

Personal Performer (Mob AU)

“Sorry, She’s Busy” (NSFW)

Tendou Satori 

Perfect Masterlist (Omegaverse AU)

Alpha!Tendou (Omegaverse AU)

Prompt: “Want some help?” (NSFW)

D12: Vagina Worship (NSFW)

“Sorry, She’s Busy” (NSFW)

Shirabu Kenjirou

Alpha!Shirabu (Omegaverse AU)

Prompt 62: “If you don’t like my teasing then why are you moaning?” (NSFW)

Johzenji High

Terushima Yuuji

“Sorry, She’s Busy” (NSFW)

Inarizaki

Miya Atsumu

Buckling Knees

Prompt: “You’re so fucking hot when you’re mad”

“Sorry, She’s Busy” (NSFW)

Selfish (Omegaverse AU)

Date Tech

Futakuchi Kenji

Hate-Fuck (NSFW)

Nohebi Academy

Daishou Suguru

“Sorry, He’s Busy” (NSFW)

Itachiyama Academy

Sakusa Kiyoomi

“Sorry, She’s Busy” (NSFW)

[silvercompassjournal]

Silver Compass Journal’s Favorite Travel Gear

“Keep a notebook. Travel with it, eat with it, sleep with it. Slap into it every stray thought that flutters up into your brain. Cheap paper is less perishable than gray matter, and lead pencil markings endure longer than memory.” - Jack London.

You need the right gear when you travel. The things that can make your trip more enjoyable. Gear to help you enjoy books and music on the go and gear to capture the people and places that you discover. This list contains the items I take no matter where I'm going. Whether it's a trip to New Orleans, Key West, New York, or somewhere off the beaten path, this is what I'm taking with me. The essentials. What go to gear do you take on a trip? Let me know what you think. - G.S. Fujifilm X-E3 and 23mm f2 lens I love travel photography. yes, I could take pictures with my phone, but it's not as fun and you get great pictures with this little Fujifilm Camera. Eventually I will upgrade this to the Fujifilm X100v. It's more compact and 23mm is the focal length I use ninety percent of the time anyway. Kindle Paperwhite I love physical books, but when traveling there's nothing better than having a few books on this small, light device. It's also great for reading news, articles, and even magazines on the go. Field Notes notebooks For me, these are the perfect travel notebooks. great for keeping a log of where you stayed, what you ate, what good bars & shops you found as well as any other general notes about the place your exploring. Pocket Knife Swiss Army or Benchmade. Comes in handy for lots of things but probably used most to open cold bottles of beer. Guide Book Lonely Planet or Wildsam. I've been using Lonely Planet guidebooks for as long as I can remember and still pick them up if I'm going to a new destination. Recently however, I've also been enjoying what Wildsam is doing with their guidebooks to cities, regions, and national parks. Also, if you're planning a trip to New Orleans or Key West, check out my own Field Guides to French Quarter and Key West Bars (or Both). Airpods Pro Music is an important part of any trip. Whether in the car, on a plane, or by the pool. Apple's Airpods Pro might be the perfect travel headphones. I know some people swear by over ear noise cancelling headphones like the Bose QC45s, and there's definitely a place for those, but for small, compact, take anywhere ear buds these are a must have. Rayban aviator sunglasses My go to sunglasses. They're classic and scream adventure. I wear them until they break and buy another pair. They go with anything and blend into any location. Timeless design. Gold frames are a must. M1 Macbook Air My everyday computer at home and on the road. The Macbook Air is the main hub for my photography and writing. It's light, powerful and the battery lasts forever. Mine has 16g of ram and 1TB of storage. Yeti Water bottle Yeti products are great. I use the 26oz Rambler. It's nice to have a refillable water bottle with you that can keep drinks cold all day.

[ded-7]

The History of Grand Theft Auto

Grand Theft Auto has left a great mark on the pop culture landscape that a few franchises have done before or since. To mark the 20th anniversary of GTA 3 and the announcement of the GTA trilogy the definitive addition let's take a look at the history of Grand Theft Auto.

GTA

In the early 90s DMA designs a Scottish developer was experimenting with a top-down game of cops and robbers known then as Race'n'Chase the four and a half year development wasn't exactly easy only one person on the team had ever actually shipped a game before and the team butted heads constantly over direction and scale as most games in development do it evolved, they realized it wasn't fun playing as the police so that was dropped. the team wished to create a living and breathing city that caused headaches and constantly needed to be tweaked and scaled back. Despite DMA designs feeling like they were onto something publisher BMG interactive wanted to cancel the game even up to 3 months out to the completion.

Sam & Dan Houser brothers who worked at bmg and championed the game early on helped to get it outdoor. the game named grand theft auto was finally released in 1997 on PC with a PlayStation version released a few months later. even then game contained the core DNA of GTA would be known for you play as a rookie criminal looking to improve your reputation by taking on various jobs in 3 different fictional cities San Andreas, Vice City, and Liberty City. the jobs are straightforward ferry passengers take out gang rivals be getaway drivers. you are free to choose how and when to do them but you'd only complete each level by reaching a set target amount of chaos caused too much bother though and your wanted level increased and the cops will try and catch you.

Controversy

The original GTA certainly had a big one in the UK its pr was handled by the now-disgraced publicist max Clifford who deliberately courted controversy for attention by stirring up a public outcry with carefully placed newspaper articles that all but guaranteed that politicians would get involved this led to discussions in the UK parliament about banning the game before it even launched some countries such as brazil did ban GTA for its violent content reviews of the game were mixed most critics weren't impressed by the graphics but admitted that it was a huge amount of fun and gave enormous praise for its sound work, in particular, the radio stations that would play whenever you got in and out of vehicles it sold a million copies in its first year and DMA knew they were onto something.

in 1998 GTA's original publisher BMG interactive was shut down by its parent company and take two interactive swooped in to buy up its assets including the rights to grand theft auto and some key personnel such as the Hauser brothers. Rockstar games were formed that year more grand theft auto was on the way.

Grand theft auto London

Grand theft auto London 1961 was released a few months later it was free and only available on pc it was set eight years before the previous expansion and featured the same characters but new vehicles missions and a new multiplayer map based on the northern city of Manchester 1999 was a packed year for GTA with developer DMA design and publisher rockstar releasing grand theft auto 2 in October of that year set in anywhere city USA GTA 2 had a sort of retro-futuristic vibe to it and the game experimented and built on what the developers had created with the original GTA, for example, you could now spend points to save your game and undertake jobs from different syndicates doing so would build your rep with one group allowing you to take on different jobs with them.

GTA 3

Grand theft auto 3 was the first game in the series to be 3d and despite a lukewarm reception at that year's e3 it was a huge success going on to change open-world games as we know them for rockstar and DMA it was a whole new challenge not only were they working to populate and bring a 3d world to life but they had to balance non-linear and story-driven gameplay so that players felt like they had stuff to do but also the freedom to do whatever they wanted with so many plates to spin a decision was made during development to keep the protagonist silent, in fact, we didn't actually even know his name until san Andreas came out.

[gunblade-revolusio]

Region Mags

Region Mags are regular installations across the world map that grant various boosts to players when fed.

Each Region Mag grants its own unique ship-wide boost, in addition to a rare drop rate boost to individual players that feed it enough.

These boosts are only active per region, so if the Aelio Region Mags are starved, it will not affect Retem. Similarly, feeding Retem Region Mags will not affect Aelio.

R Mag Boost [All]

Also referred to as the “Full Stomach Bonus” in the overview, this is a bonus granted to all players for 24 hours upon being fed enough.

If a certain Region Mag’s Full Stomach Bonus isn’t active, it will be marked on the map as asleep.

In order to make it easier to re-activate the Full Stomach Bonus, a sleeping Region Mag will gain more points from wish list items.

It currently takes a combined total of 1,350,000 points across all players to activate the Full Stomach Bonus.

Each Region Mag has its own Full Stomach Bonus, and point totals are not shared, so feeding an awake Region Mag will not contribute to waking up another one.

R Mag Boost [Personal]

A boost to your drop rate, based on how many points you've contributed to Region Mags. It has three levels.

Level 1 - 100 points - 3% Drop Rate Up

Level 2 - 200 points - 9% Drop Rate Up

Level 3 - 400 points - 20% Drop Rate Up

Upon activation, the personal boost will last for two hours and the duration cannot be refreshed until it is activated again.

Activating a higher level of the boost will not refresh the timer.

Even if you insert thousands of points worth of items into a Region Mag, the boost will only go up to a max of level 3 with a two hour duration, so be careful.

Wish List

Each Region Mag has a Wish List of items that rotates daily - a specific item (+200%) and a general category (+50%).

These boosts are multiplied further if the Region Mag's Full Stomach Boost isn't active, meaning a specific item can have triple or quadruple its normal value.

Sourcing for claims is from both in-game testing and references from the JP strategy wiki’s Region Mag page: https://pso2ngs.swiki.jp/index.php?%E3%83%AA%E3%83%BC%E3%82%B8%E3%83%A7%E3%83%B3%E3%83%9E%E3%82%B0

[jackdawyt]

Your bird is back with another Dragon Age 4 News Update!  🐦

For the first time this year, I’m doing a massive monthly news recap of everything we learned about Dragon Age 4 going forward (JUST) in the month of March, because slap my arse and call me Andraste, this month was huge for Dragon Age 4 updates, we’ve got a lot of exciting info to get into!

(Romance Tweets)

Calling all romance fans, you can bank on Dragon Age 4 to fulfil all of your intimate desires, perhaps even more so than the previous games. Jon Renish, Foundation Programming Area Director working on the next Dragon Age had a few things to say whilst watching a romance scene script read through:  

“Don't want to alarm anyone, but I'm starting to think 'Dragon Age' games might be a bit randy.” (March 3rd)

‘Randy’, according to the Oxford Dictionary, means ‘sexually arousing’ and ‘exciting.’ So, we can prepare for that, whatever that is! Jon continues his tweet thread with:

“Well now it's all sad and sweet and emotional. I was not prepared for this rollercoaster.”

In true BioWare fashion, we’re going to have a lot of sexy times, however, brought together with moving and character developing moments – y’know, the ups and downs of the romance as the relationship builds and grows throughout the entire game experience.  

“Oh, nothing like that.  Just watching a script read through.”

Jon confirms that this was indeed a script read through, as we can tell reviewing a potential romance scene. As a romance advocate myself, I am very interested in the direction romances will be going in for Dragon Age 4. That is something that I will especially be keeping my eyes on. 

(E3/EA Play 2020 Update)

EA Play and E3 2020 are generally the most expected places to see a new Dragon Age 4 reveal trailer.

E3 2020 has been cancelled due to the current outbreak, however, we’ve yet to be updated on the status of EA Play 2020. Of course, it is most certainly cancelled since the tickets for the show were supposed to drop this March. But, we still don’t know what will replace the show.  

The teams behind E3 2020 are supposedly working on a digital showcase to display new announcements that would’ve been revealed on stage. We can only assume that EA will follow suite and do the same for EA Play, making it a digital show, like Nintendo’s Direct conferences.  

Regardless, this is something that we’re going to have to wait and see until EA speak out, and when they do, I’ll be sure to cover that in a news update. I feel we could have a Dragon Age 4 reveal, with an expected release of 2022/2023, but with everyone hectic right now, I’m unsure.  

(C Virus Update)

Speaking of hectic... with the current outbreak, EA have spoken and shared a statement about health and safety during these times:  

(March 13th) “These are challenging times for everyone.  We’re working to look after our employees and their families, and make sure we’re doing the right and responsible things to fight this pandemic illness.”

Thankfully, everyone working at BioWare have been asked to work from home. Justin Masse, Experience Designer working on the next Dragon Age tweeted he’s “working from home until April 1st", confirming the length of this situation.

According to Crystal McCord, Associate Producer of Performance Capture and VO, working at home has been very productive for the team at BioWare as they have “exceeded all expectations.” 

So, it’s great knowing that despite the crazy situation in the world right now, BioWare developers are staying safe, working from home and progressing hugely on the next Dragon Age title!  

(Slack Server)

(March 13th) While Mark Darrah was working from home, he tweeted a picture regarding his tiling progression, as he’s currently redesigning aspects of his home. However, in the very corner of Darrah’s picture lies a laptop screen with a Slack Server revealing many Dragon Age development secrets!  

The server shows plenty of channels for the BioWare developers regarding specific work notes on all aspects of progression. A large amount of the channels are abbreviated to “MOR_” - which is most certainly shortened from ‘Morrison’, Dragon Age 4’s current project title as we know.

This list of the channels are endless, and I could spend forever looking into what exactly they all refer to regarding the production of the next Dragon Age game. We have one channel called ‘mor_announcement’ - does this hint at a new trailer to soon be showed off, or is it an old channel since The Dread Wolf Rises teaser? Are they planning an upcoming announcement? Surely, they would be right? Is that anytime soon?  

Another channel is called ‘mor_da_week’ which from what I can assume stands for Dragon Age week? We have a Dragon Age Day created by the fans and made offical by BioWare, but a Dragon Age week, that’s something I’ve never heard of...  

And there’s just plenty of channels referring to Dragon Age 4’s current development, there’s even a bad design ideas thread, an ask Mark anything chat, approvals on key aspects of the game, marketing assets, and so on!  

It’s a gold mine of tidbits, orchestrated by none other than Mark Darrah, the Executive Producer on Dragon Age. He has once more tweeted a cheeky little tease that may appear mundane, passing a blind eye to it, however, when you take some time and actually look at what he’s posted, it reveals a nug-ton of info we can speculate on.

(New Associate Producer / Jobs)

Illustrator and Creative Professional “Mad Bee” has returned to work at BioWare, they previously worked on Anthem as an Art Quality Analyst. However, this time around, they are an Associate Producer, most likely working on Dragon Age 4. 

And, following that, BioWare are currently hiring! I’ve seen this news piece get quite the few news articles, but I figured I could break this one down better, rest in peace PC Gamer.

So, indeed BioWare are hiring for many roles at the company, the most prominent role is a ‘Technical Director’ for ‘the next major title in one of BioWare’s most prestigious franchises.’  

Considering Mike Gamble, the new project lead for the next Mass Effect game tweeted this hiring out, I’d assume this position is needed for the Mass Effect team who are also in Edmonton, opposite the Dragon Age team.  

What’s most concerning about this job listing relating to the future of Mass Effect is that, according to the job requirements, the applicant needs to have experience ‘developing, debugging and optimizing AAA multiplayer games on PC or console.’  

To throw away my suspicion that Mass Effect or Dragon Age are going to have a heavy multiplayer experience, I looked at the other job listings located at Edmonton’s studio and I discovered other job listings, like an Engine Programmer which require the same experience of developing and debugging games, however, without the multiplayer element.  

So, perhaps BioWare have two teams, one working on the main single player element and the other working on the much smaller multiplayer aspect? I’d be naive to not reiterate the fact that future BioWare games are going to be live service, however, we still don’t know to what extent that will look like.  

(Tevinter Nights)

Patrick Weekes teased that Dragon Age 4 is most certainly in Tevinter following there Tevinter Nights Book plug, however, Patrick still calls the next Dragon Age game an unannounced project? Which I don’t understand because The Dread Wolf Rises teaser trailer at The Game Awards 2018 most certainly confirmed that a new Dragon Age game is currently in production and has been announced.

Unless Patrick is calling it ‘still-unannounced' because they’re planning an announcement soon...

I feel like Patrick is just joking at the fact that the next game is most certainly set in Tevinter, considering PC Gamer made an article a while back stating that Dragon Age 4 is set in Tevinter based on the Tevinter Nights book reveal, it made plenty of the BioWare staff and community laugh at their credulous Journalism. So, it could just be that.  

Anyhow, March has actually been an amazing month to be a Dragon Age fan! We had the final issue of Blue Wraith and the release of the anthological Tevinter Nights!

Tevinter Nights dropped plenty of story hints for the future of Dragon Age. I was lucky enough to receive an early copy, as of which, I’ve created plenty of content regarding all of the story threads uncovered in the novel that you should check out once you’ve read the book for yourself, I’ve still got more to content to come from Tevinter Nights too!  

However, if you have not read it and very much care about the future of Dragon Age, which if you’re watching this video, you most likely do. So, you should go and read this book because we learn A LOT going forward for the future narrative of Dragon Age. The book is a huge spring board for the next game, so go and read it!  

(Blue Wraith)

The final issue of Blue Wraith launched and as much as I enjoyed it, the comic ended on a cliff-hanger!

The lead writers Nunzio DeFilippis and Christina Weir are hopeful for another comic to come, stating:

The two also spoke in a comic-centred interview by Deconstructing Comics about the direction of their entire Dragon Age comics. That since Knight Errant, their comics are created to prepare for a hypothetical Dragon Age 4, but not as a prologue or a plot for the next game. Nunzio suggested that fans should instead look at Tevinter Nights.

Nunzio shared on BSN Forums that hopefully the wait for the next comic won’t be as long as last time. Dragon Age: Deception came out through October – December of 2018, whereas Blue Wraith came out through January – March of 2020. So, perhaps the next comic run could come mid-2021.

(Future Books/Comics)

Speaking of future books and comics, just after I finished Blue Wraith and Tevinter Nights, I was asking myself what’s next to look forward to regarding Dragon Age content. However, on March 23rd we got not one, but two book announcements coming later this year.

Dropping on the 13th of October, BioWare are revealing a new development book, charting the legendary game studio's first 25 years in a massive retrospective hardcover book at $39.99. Perhaps we’ll learn more about Dragon Age 4’s previous iteration, project Joplin?  

Following that, on October 27th, the five Dragon Age graphic novels are being put into a massive collection for $29.99.

This book collects Dragon Age: The Silent Grove #1-6, Dragon Age: Those Who Speak #1-3, Dragon Age: Until We Sleep #1-3, Dragon Age: Magekiller #1-5, and Dragon Age: Knight Errant #1-5.

But not Deception & Blue Wraith? Potentially they’ve left these two out because Dark Horse wish to progress with these comics, foreshadowing more comics in the future to come?  

(Reddit Leak)

Moving on to a slightly weird, and most certainly fake-but-take-it-as-you-will-update... we have a reddit leak showing many upcoming games release dates, with some actually being accurate. Dragon Age 4 is listed here, and according to this leak, it’s releasing the 15th of November, 2020. Again, most certainly fake, but take it as you will.  

Speaking of fake leaks, a 2018 leak for Dragon Age 4’s contents has resurfaced, and oh boy is this thing fake. I feel like dissecting this thing as a separate video just for a laugh, but tell me down below if that’s a good idea or not.  

With that, that’s all the updates we had in March! We’re three, almost four months into 2020, as crazy as this year has been so far. I’ve already created plenty previous news updates, so if you need to be caught up to date, or you’ve missed an update, or you’re just stuck inside and need something to put your mind at ease - I have a news playlist with every single major update regarding Dragon Age 4’s development, so be sure to check that out. 

I hope you all are holding up okay and staying safe, distract yourself by telling me some of your own hopes for the next Dragon Age game, it can be anything you'd like to see! Personally, I'd love to see Vaea make any appearance in DA4!

[my-sherlock221b]

Supernatural Rewatch Ramblings: Dead in the Water

This episode is the first one to be directed by Kim Manners. It was written by Raelle Tucker and Sera Gamble. It is still the MoTW format and once again the ‘monster’ is something that was created by human action. Ordinary seeming stories—of bullying, lies, cover up—with deadly consequences.

Read below the cut for more and also watch out for the add-ons by my partner in crime @soulmates-for-real​ who does the most amazing gifsets and image galleries 😎

It reminded me of this quote:

“If only it were all so simple! If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?” Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago 1918–1956

It is a chilling experience—both the actual monster when we do finally see it and the backstory of what really happened. These monsters are all created by the flawed human beings. Here is another quote from the same source which could well be the underlying bedrock of the two very different approaches we see Sam and Dean take in later episodes to the whole saving people hunting things.

“Since then I have come to understand the truth of all the religions of the world: They struggle with the evil inside a human being (inside every human being). It is impossible to expel evil from the world in its entirety, but it is possible to constrict it within each person.” .

Philosophical overtones aside, we are also getting more glimpses into the heads and hearts of the two leads.

It is already obvious that Dean has put the whole ‘Dad- is- missing- and- hasn’t- been-home-in -a -few-days stuff’ on the back burner till …ummm  forever ? cos he has Sammy in front of his eyes who is sitting shotgun and being completely brotherly and sniping and bitching while also being boyfriend- level possessive.

As I said in the earlier review- I was just so swept away by the swashbuckling swagger of Dean that so obviously was an armour for his vulnerability that I almost didn’t notice Sam much. This is the episode where he became something more for me. Someone who was also finding out what Dean was all about at the same time as we were.

Someone who could pull him down to earth with a sharp: ‘People don’t just disappear, Dean. Other people just stop looking for them.’

But also reach out to him and remind him that they ‘can’t save everyone’.

In an early scene in the episode Sam scolds Dean for even starting to flirt with the waitress. 

He smirks when Andrea shoots Dean down. He mocks Dean’s pick- up line about kids are the best. He seems pleased in a very petty way that Dean’s attempt has failed and that he has no choice now but to hang out with Sam and to give him his full attention.

The episode does have plot holes –that house Lucas draws and the history of the friendship of the two men and the missing boy surely must be well known to everyone in that small town, including Lucas’s mother and how come no one joins the dots etc. etc.

But small quibbles aside, we get to see that the past casts long shadows—whether sins of the past or just events of the past. ( again a parallel to the lives of the Winchesters themselves. And in later seasons we find out just how far back into the past those shadows reach!)

We see that Dean connects with the mute boy, Lucas, but then we learn that he can do this because he had also shut down after he saw his mother die and he knows how scary the world can seem and how he needed to make himself brave to carry on.

Sam watches from the sidelines and we can see him have an ‘oh ok’ moment as he stores away this information because it has clearly never been discussed in the family earlier. Kudos to Jared for being amazing with the ‘active listening’ that Sheila O’Malley references so often.

So despite Sam challenging him to name 3 kids he even knows, we see that Dean actually focusses on the kid throughout. The shared sense of loss aside, maybe Dean also sees himself as the protector of all little kids especially after the Shtriga incident. (which we don’t know anything about yet) (and we do see him bond with kids in every episode that involves kids. It is adorable !!)

In this episode Dean is almost drowning in his dad’s leather jacket and the way the silver ring looks on his hand is just ridiculously sexy…sigh….and that amulet right where it belongs…..deeper sigh. Then the cocky grin, the unsubtle flirting, all macho/manly/me- so- hetero/me- see- me- conquer on the outside but the soft squidgy child- whispering caramel centre, the trauma of being a motherless kid—having become motherless in a brutal way, a missing and probably almost cruel dad, a brother he raised as his own who walked out on him to go seek his own dreams….all these layers are being put together slowly for us.

Dean is not what he seemed to be and that brash swashbuckling exterior hides a very complex and interesting person. The script and direction were excellent of course but Jensen brought to it just the perfect balance of bad-boy + I wuv hugs.

Sam is still finding his way into the story and we are still watching things from Dean’s perspective as narrator which is fascinating to realize during the re-watch. As I have mentioned earlier, I was so swept away by Dean that it took me a very long time to focus on Sam as a separate person.

Ok, now, all together shout--- --WHY do people DO the following things??!!!

Put hands elbow deep into a sink, give lifts to obvious deranged malevolent spirits in human form, ‘let’s split up so we can cover more ground’, go into a shower/bath in a scary scene—can’t they HEAR the dun-dun-dun music score in the background?!! Sheesh.

Anyway.     *eyeroll*

In a not- at- all- very- surprising turn of events Sam and Dean’s fake identity is called out and they are asked to leave town, which they do. But ….of course Dean does a very dramatic turn on the highway and takes them back to make sure the kid is ok!

Then Sam rescues the mother from the lethal bath- tub while Dean makes sure the kid is safe. Then they start to connect even more dots and eventually we see an incredible heroic rescue scene in the scary lake with Dean and the boy.

Jensen had described this shot in some interview as the most terrifying scene he had ever done apparently because he was responsible not only for doing the scene right but also for the young boy’s safety underwater.

What a fabulous visual we do get finally, with the boy in his embrace as they shoot out of the water!

That lake with its dark water is one super creepy place. That very first scene where we see the girl swimming from an underwater perspective had me yelling at the screen for her to GET OUT NOW.

So, finally, all is sorted and revenge has been had and bad folks die, good folks live and as they leave the town of course Lucas chats with Dean and they high five and just like the sister in the Wendigo episode, the young mother in this one also gives Dean a kiss on his cheek. Dean of course blushes and goes all gruff and drives off with Sam smirking in the shotgun seat.

The pattern is beginning to be established.

I am loving it!😍

.

The gag reel of this episode shows Jensen leaping into Jared’s arms.

This is the third episode only. So they have known each other only for a couple of months at this point?! Hmm…my J2 tinhat is also shining. And also wow. I mean Jensen is NOT a tiny guy.

  Here are some other possibly more erudite and informed reviews if you would like to go down that rabbit hole like I did.

This one is cool https://the-orbit.net/entequilaesverdad/2016/05/10/supernatural-s1-e3-dead-water-summary/ and gives a fun and interesting score at the end which goes like this

Episode 3 counts:

Woman in the Fridge: 1

For Sophie Carlton being the first to get murdered by the vengeful spirit. It’s obviously meant to hook us harder: I mean, nobody would care as much about obnoxious brother Will, right?

Revenge from Beyond the Grave: 4

Sophie Carlton, Will Carlton, Bill Carlton, and Jake Devins.

Brotherly Love: 2

I had to give one to Sam for cock-blocking his brother right at the start. Another point goes to Dean’s sick-of-your-attitude lecture to his little brother, throwing Sam’s decision to go to college while Dean stayed behind with their dad in his face.

Toxic Masculinity: 1

For Dean downplaying his grief when Sam draws him out about the aftermath of their mother’s death.

Swimming in Sexism: 2

For Will Carlton’s comment to his sister that “guys don’t like buff girls.” I added a point for all the times they had Dean hitting on any available woman. They do want us to be extra-very sure he’s hetero, don’t they?

Cumulative Counts: Dean’s Man Tears: 3

One point awarded for all Dean’s choking up about Mom. We’re now three for three, folks.

.

This review totally calls out Dean LOL. I love the reviews that were written as first watch because they are without the benefit of hindsight we have on a re-watch.

.

http://markwatches.net/reviews/2013/11/mark-watches-supernatural-s01e03-dead-in-the-water/

“It was fascinating to me, then, that through this, Sam was able to learn about Dean’s own emotional reasoning behind his hunting. Of course, Dean, being the most stereotypical dude of all dudes who ever duded, has to immediately act like feelings aren’t cool because BLEH. Okay, that is one aspect of Dean that I’m not terribly interested in, especially since he expresses feelings like every five seconds. The whole “I am a straight man and I’m very straight and look at that butt straight I’m straight” thing is already exhausting because I get it. You don’t need to tell me this every five seconds.” 

The comments to this review are also super entertaining with gems like this:

“So, if you knew that someone had drowned in the lake recently and their body was never found, WHY WOULD YOU STILL GO SWIMMING IN THE LAKE? Especially if two people had. It wouldn't make you think, "Hey, maybe there's something dangerous in that lake?" This show has some of the least genre savvy people EVER. Like, for example, once this mysterious death thing shows up in a sink, why would anyone want to take a bath or really ever fill any basin with water again? Seriously, is this the Bad Decision Olympics?”

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Here is an awesome review from Fangasm also

https://fangasmthebook.com/2021/01/13/looking-back-on-dead-in-the-water-classic-supernatural/

[theirrationalzone]

Yakkin ‘bout Games: Wolfenstein: The New Order

Yakking ‘bout Games is a series where I talk about games that I’m currently playing or have just finished. It can be new or old, console or PC, good or bad, it really doesn’t matter. If it’s a game worth talking about, you’ll see it covered here.

I think it’s fair to say that the FPS genre has enjoyed a bit of a renaissance over the last decade and a bit. The modern military shooters that dominated the late 2000s and early 2010s have become less common. We have seen the return of classic franchises like Doom and Half-Life, and we have also witnessed the influx of “boomer shooters” like Dusk and Amid Evil. A lot of cool stuff indeed.

With that being said, let’s take a trip back a few years. 2014 to be exact.

This was the first year of the (then) brand spanking new PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The two consoles were not off to the best of starts though. Their early exclusives like Killzone Shadow Fall, InFamous Second Son, Forza Motorsport 5 and Dead Rising 3 had failed to impress. The only games picking up the slack were multi-platform releases like Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag. The only FPS games available at the time (other than Killzone on PS4) were Call of Duty Ghosts (dull as dishwater) and Battlefield 4 (I enjoyed it but it was completely broken on release.)

Not exactly the most exciting of times for an FPS fan on console.

Wolfenstein: The New Order finally came along that May. It had been announced the year prior but it didn’t have much fanfare behind it. The initial E3 showing didn’t really impress anyone and there wasn’t really a great excitement for the game’s release. Perhaps it was because the previous Wolfenstein game was largely ignored by people or maybe because people were skeptical due to the game being MachineGames’ (the developer) first effort. People needn’t have worried though. The game turned out to be a massive surprise. It ended up being one of the best of that year.

Why am I covering this now? It’s because I recently got the urge to play it again after all these years. Plus I wanted to see how it would function in a post modern Doom world. So with that in mind, let’s get psyched and see how the game holds up.

Never has a smile brought terror to my heart so fast. Well this and my last dental appointment...

The New Order is set in an alternate universe where the Nazis won World War II due to their advanced technology being too much for the Allied forces. After an operation to try and assassinate the spearhead behind this growing technological evolution goes horribly wrong, Captain William “B.J.” Blazkowicz ends up taking a piece of shrapnel to the back of the head which puts him into a vegetative state. He ends up spending fourteen years in a Polish mental asylum before finally being awoken again due to witnessing a horrible atrocity committed by the Nazis. B.J. is now in the alien world of 1960 where the Nazis rule over the world with an iron fist. It’s up to B.J. to link up with the remnants of the Resistance and take the fight back to the Nazis once and for all.

The story was and still is one of the most surprising elements of The New Order. It paints a brutal picture of a world controlled by an evil and ruthless force who will stop at nothing to assert their dominance. The cast as well are very memorable. You have the plucky and likable Resistance fighters who you get to spend quite a bit of time with. You then have some memorable encounters with the evil figureheads of the Nazi regime at certain parts of the story. Anyone who has seen the train sequence in this game knows exactly what I’m taking about. I have to give MachineGames credit as well for the characterisation of B.J. himself. They managed to turn a character who was known for being a badass Nazi killer to a very sympathetic and likable Nazi killer. B.J. in this game is weary and tired after years of fighting evil and tyranny at every corner. The man wants nothing more than for the war to be over so he can hang up his guns and finally settle down. How could you hate the man after hearing something like that?

B.J. is such an upstanding guy that he would infiltrate a Nazi controlled train just to get you some coffee. Liberation and a Cappuccino, you can’t beat it. 

The real bread and butter of The New Order though is the gameplay. It has held up fantastically for the most part. Combat is a blast thanks to the very meaty arsenal at your disposal including assault rifles, shotguns, marksman rifle and a Laserkraftwerk which allows you to blast enemies to smithereens. You’ll have plenty of enemy types to cut through including rank and file soldiers, big mech suit soldiers with heavy weaponry and robots that have massive lasers. B.J. has a few abilities though to help turn the tide of battle. Leaning is one such ability and it’s implemented very well. How it works is that if you hold the L1 button, it locks B.J. in place and you can then use the left stick to lean at different angles. It’s super useful. Earning a well placed few shots at a Nazi from a very awkward angle never gets old. B.J. also has the ability to dual-wield certain weapons to deal even more hefty damage to his foes. Press up on the d-pad and prepare to bring the carnage. While this is a pretty fun feature, it does limit your movement speed and it can result in you burning through ammo quite quickly. It also is restricted to two types of the same weapon. You can also find upgrades for weapons which give them different ammo types and fire modes. The Laserkraftwerk, for example, can be used to cut through certain boxes and materials which is pretty nifty.

In terms of how health works, it’s a hybrid between classic pick-ups and regeneration. You can recover health by picking up health packs and food throughout the game. Armor can be found as well to allow you to take some extra damage. If you take health damage and managed to find cover, you’ll eventually get 10 health points back. You also have the ability to overcharge your health. How this works is that if you end up picking up a health item that takes you over your max health, you get higher health points for a brief period which is quite useful. You can increase your max health by finding hidden health upgrades throughout some of the levels.

AI is decent for the most part. They will attempt to find cover in the heat of a firefight and they do try to flank you. Some of the heavy soldiers will also attempt to rush your position. I certainly didn’t notice any unusual behaviour from them. Boss fights are a bit unremarkable for the most part. The game pretty much spells out how to take them out and they don’t really put up much of a fight. The main exception being the final boss but even then, it really isn’t that hard.

The secret painting boss fight was an interesting idea though. Definitely a canvas for them to work on in the future. (Apologies for the bad pun and joke.)

The game does have a basic stealth system and it works fine. When you enter most of the areas in the game, you will be informed that there are two commanders in the area. Take them out without being spotted and you can sneak through the area without having to worry about reinforcements if you get spotted by an enemy. You can take down enemies stealthily by using a silenced pistol, throwing knives or by sneaking up to them and performing a takedown. Stealth can feel a little overpowered during some of the early sections because the pistol is super accurate and it only takes one headshot to take some of these enemies down. The game does balance this a bit better later on as areas are populated with more elite enemies that harder to kill without being spotted.

Being a Wolfenstein game, you would expect exploration to be a big part of the gameplay and it does play a part for sure. There are hidden areas to be found with collectibles such as the Enigma codes which can unlock new difficulties and cheat codes. You can also find hidden max HP upgrades and other stuff as well. Maps can be found in each level which will indicate possible hidden secrets with a question mark. Levels are definitely more linear than some of the prior Wolfenstein games so don’t expect huge hidden areas or levels.

Key and item hunting still exists of course. You will find doors that require a key or a tool needed to progress which requires a bit of skulking around to find that key or item. You see this especially in the Resistance HQ sections which occur after most of the levels. In these sections, you will be tasked with finding a certain item for a character to progress to the next level. There are also side missions where you can do the same thing for other characters in the HQ and completing these unlocks extras such as artwork. I’m mixed on the Resistance HQ sections overall. On the one hand, they’re good from a lore perspective because you can overhear conversations from some of the characters and there are newspaper clippings and notes to find which do a good job of building up the world. On the other hand, they do feel a little bit like filler. Swings and roundabouts, I suppose...

I don’t really have many issues with the gameplay as a whole. My only real gripe is how the weapon wheel works. Weapon wheels are commonplace on console because a controller doesn’t have many buttons when compared to a keyboard. Makes perfect sense. The New Order’s one however can be such a temperamental thing to use. How it’s supposed to work is that you hit the R1 button to bring up the wheel and then you use the right stick to pick the weapon you want. Sounds simple enough. In reality what happens is that the game ends up giving you the wrong weapon time after time. I can’t even begin to count the amount of times that I tried to switch to the assault rifle and the game switched me to the dual-wield pistols instead. It can be a bloody nuisance. Part of this is down to how sensitive the stick is when using the wheel. It’s way too fast. Also why do the dual-wield options even need to be there? You can already hit up on the d-pad to dual-wield a particular weapon plus I didn’t really need to dual-wield all that much so it’s just clutter. They could have cleaned this up a lot better. I also had issues with swapping back to the previous weapon. It would sometimes default back to the Laserkraftwerk even though it wasn’t my previous weapon. Thankfully these issues didn’t get me killed but they certainly got on my nerves a little bit.

Textbook schadenfreude here from one of the villains. Shouldn’t be that shocked really...

From a graphics point of view, Wolfenstein: The New Order still holds up remarkably well. It runs on the same idTech engine that powered Rage before it and it certainly looks great. Character models are well detailed and they animate well. Cutscenes are well framed and the angles are perfectly done. Environments are beautifully crafted with amazing detail so whether you are in rainy soaked London or even the friggin’ Moon, you feel immersed in the world of the game.

I wasn’t kidding about the Moon. Look Ma, I’m in space! (In a video game...)

The game is quite aliased on the consoles. You definitely see sharp and jagged edges at times. Plus the textures look a bit low-res when viewed up close, but the game still looks great, and I imagine the PC version cleans up most of this stuff anyway so there’s that.

Tumblr’s image compression doesn’t do this environment justice. Oh well. C’est la vie, I suppose...

I can’t fault the game’s sound though. All voice performances are pitch-perfect with Brian Bloom (the voice of B.J.) being the standout. The music is incredible too with a great balance between atmospheric tracks and hard edged ones when the action really kicks off. It’s composed by a guy named Mick Gordon. Don’t think he’s done anything of note since though.

In terms of length, you’re looking at about roughly 8-10 hours for a first time playthrough. There is replay value with the collectibles and the Timeline system. To briefly explain, the Timeline system is related to a choice you make at the start of the game which changes some of the characters you encounter during the game. It doesn’t drastically change much. The events remain the same. You just get some unique dialog and a scene or two. Not much else.

So as you can see, I think that Wolfenstein: The New Order is still a bloody good time. The shooting still feels great with some really meaty weapons, the story and characters are super engaging, and the presentation and sound still kicks some ass. It has some minor issues here and there, but this game is well worth experiencing. You can pick it up pretty cheap nowadays on most of the platforms and it does go on sale quite often.

It’s nice to go back sometimes and revisit a classic, isn’t it? 

Check back here soon for Part 2 of this where I take a look at The Old Blood. Until then, stay safe, folks!

[avengerscompound]

Above the Crowd

Above the Crowd:  A Black Widow Fanfic

Buy me a ☕

Character Pairing:  Natasha Romanoff x F!Reader Square: @ladiesofmarvelbingo​ - E3 Balcony Sex

Word Count:  1360

Rating: E

Warnings:  Smut (F|F vaginal fingering, semi-public sex)

Synopsis:  You and Natasha go away on vacation together and when the crowd outside your hotel room is making too much noise for you to sleep, Natasha helps take your mind off it.

Above the Crowd

It was hot and you couldn’t sleep.  Something that seemed to be the norm around here.  It didn’t seem to matter what day it was or how late it got, there was always something going on outside your window.  Parades or street parties.  Fireworks.  Or sometimes just groups of drunken idiots causing trouble.  The street was always busy and noisy and there were always colored lights flashing through your thin curtains to wake you up.

You’d thought it would be a fun place to take a break from the whole ‘Avenging’ thing.  Where Nat could just be Nat.  Where the two of you could get drunk and dance, and ride roller coasters or Ferris Wheels and eat food that had been deep-fried but definitely shouldn’t have been like butter and avocados and slices of pizza.

It had been fun, to begin with, but you were starting to think maybe this should have been a stop on the way to somewhere more relaxing, rather than the entirety of the vacation.  A serious lack of sleep didn’t lend itself well to a romantic getaway.

You stepped out onto the balcony.  There was music coming up from the street and sounds of people enjoying the hotel’s water park despite the fact it was already past midnight and it was supposed to close at ten.

The air was humid and had the strong scent of jasmine and that carnival scent that was a mixture of sugar, hot oil, sawdust, chlorine, and manure.  You breathed it in and watched the people below enjoying themselves.  For a brief moment, you considered going down to the water park too.  Maybe it would cool you down and wear you out enough to help you sleep.

But you didn’t want to go down alone and as far as you knew, Natasha was asleep.

When her arms circled around you from behind you nearly jumped out of your skin.  “Holy shit,” you gasped, putting your hand on your heart.  “I swear one day you’re gonna give me a heart attack.”

“Shall I get a bell and ring it anytime I go through a door?”  She teased.

You turned in her arms, laughing softly.  “Yes, please,” you said. “A big one.”

Natasha started laughing quietly.  “I’ll get right on that.”  She brought her lips to yours.  They were soft and they caressed yours gently as she kissed you.  You ran your hands up her back and into her hair.  She hummed softly and when you went to pull back, she chased your lips.

“I was thinking of going down to the water park,” you said.  “They haven’t closed it and I can’t sleep because I’m so hot.  Do you want to go too?”

Natasha ghosted her lips along your jaw and down your neck.  “No,” she breathed and sucked softly on your skin.  “I think I’d rather do something else.”

You pulled back and looked at her.  “Should we be going inside?”

Her green eyes glittered and she smiled her cute little half-smile as she returned your gaze.  “No, I think it’s nice out here.”

“Tasha!” You squeaked and rubbed your nose against hers.

“You don’t want to?”  She said with a playful tease in her voice.  “You don’t like the idea of all those people down there having a fun time being so close and yet so far to catching you?”

You shivered a little and looked back over the crowd below.  “No, I do.”

Natasha spun you around and ran her hands down your arms, guiding your hands to the railing.  She kissed your neck and ground into your ass as her hands moved again, this time to your breasts and she squeezed and kneaded them.  “You need to be quiet, zolotse,” she whispered.  “Think you can be a good girl for me?”

“Yes, Tasha,” you whispered.

She continued to massage your tits with one hand and the other ran down your stomach and slipped into your pajama pants.  She slowly ran her fingers up and down your pussy through your panties.  Slowly teasing you.  You hummed softly and flexed your fingers on the railing.  You kept your eyes on the water park below.  It was lit up, the blue of the water glittering under the artificial lights.  There was a large bucket that would slowly fill and when it tipped its contents on the people below they all screamed in delight and ran from it.

Natasha’s touch became firmer.  She palmed your cunt, making your whole body buzz in anticipation for more.  Your breath started to catch and you focused on keeping it steady.  Each breath in came in jagged and then shuddered out of you again.

As you started to adjust to the pressure of her hand, she slipped it into your panties.  She ran her fingers down to your entrance and collected up the moisture that had begun to seep from you and she used to to help her fingers move smoothly up and down your folds.

You moaned and shifted, spreading your legs wider and pushing back against her.  She sucked hard on your throat, and you knew tomorrow there would be a mark where her lips had been.

She kept slowly grinding her hips against your ass but her fingers became more and more focussed.  Your whole body buzzed at the mixture of sensations, and your moans started to get a little louder.

“Shh…” Natasha soothed.  “You want those people to hear you?”

You clenched your teeth and shook your head, trying to smother the sounds you made.  You logically knew there was no way they’d hear you down there anyway.  Not over the water and the screams.  It is fun to play the game though and struggling to keep quiet intensified everything, making your skin prickle and your cunt tingle.

Her fingers ran quickly over your clit, sending tendrils of pleasure creeping out through you.  You closed your eyes and just gave yourself to it.  It was like she was playing your body like an instrument.  Her lips on your neck and her hips grinding into your ass.  One hand squeezing and massaging your tits and the other working your clit.  When two of her fingers pushed inside of you, it felt like you were going to fall apart around them.  She fucked you quickly with them, moving them in and out as her thumb rubbed back and forth over your clit.  The pads of her fingers kept pushing down on your g-spot again and again, and each time it did it made your knees buckle and your toes curl.  The only thing holding you up was her and the balcony railing.

A fireworks show began across the road. The colorful light danced on your skin and the sounds of the explosions began to drown out the sound of the crowd below. 

You relaxed.  Letting the sound of the fireworks drown out the sounds of your moans.  You tilted your head back and Natasha captured your lips.  You grew light-headed as you moved your lips with hers and your legs began to tremble.  Everything was both soft and fuzzy and immediate and intense.  Your core seized up and you broke the kiss and came on Natasha’s hand, letting the sound of the fireworks drown out the sound of your cry.

She kept moving her hand, slowing down but curling her fingers so they pressed and dragged over your g-spot, again and again.  You weren’t sure if your orgasm ended and another one hit you, or the first one just became dragged out and more intense.  Your knees buckled and you bit down into your hand as you screamed and squirted for Natasha.

Natasha hummed and her hand slowed and she pulled it away.  You nearly collapsed right there and then but she caught you and kissed you gently.  “There you go, my darling,” she teased.  “Let’s have a cool shower to clean you up and then you should sleep.”

“Mm…” you hummed, feeling quite high and far off thanks to the endorphins coursing through your system.  “You’re so smart, Natasha.”

She chuckled and led you back inside.  “I know, zolotse.  I know.”