#the way that her arm BULGES in this cutscene

[kassandras-one-braincell]

you know, when you scroll past that one misogynistic dude in every Abby tiktok comment section bitching about her character, you find an array of unhinged, unabashed gay declarations. and i'm absolutely living for them lmao

[felassan]

New today on DA:TV from Game Informer:

"A Deep Dive Into Dragon Age: The Veilguard’s Expansive Character Creator by Wesley LeBlanc on Jun 27, 2024 at 02:00 PM As BioWare prepared to show me the character creator for Dragon Age: The Veilguard in its Edmonton, Canada, offices, I expected something robust – it's 2024, character creators have come a long way, and Bioware has a rich history of good customization. Despite my expectations, I was not prepared for how robust it actually is in Veilguard. Robust enough, even, that BioWare used it to create most of the NPCs in the game, save for mainline characters like companions. Setting hyperbole aside, it is a staggeringly rich creation system, and I look forward to seeing player-created near-replicas of celebrities and monstrous creations that'd be more at home in a horror game.  But I'm also looking forward to the community's reaction to the Dragon Age series' best character creator yet. At the heart of it is inclusivity, Veilguard game director Corinne Busche tells me before letting me guide her through creating my own character."

"As is usual, there are four races to choose from: Elves, Qunari, Humans, and Dwarves. After selecting Qunari, Busche pages through various presets, explaining the game allows for more detailed looks at each and the ability to choose pronouns with she/her, he/him, and they/them separately from gender, select different body types, and more. You can view your character, referred to as Rook in-game, in four different lighting scenes at any time, including The Veilguard's keynote purple hue, a bright and sunny tropical day, and a gothic night.  I joke with the team that after spending upwards of an hour creating my Dragon Age: Inquisition character in 2014, I immediately restarted the game after seeing him in the first cutscene; the in-game lighting made my hair color look terrible amongst other issues I had with my Inquisitor. Veilguard creative director John Epler says the team is aware of countless stories like that with Inquisition and its green-hued character creator, adding BioWare worked hard to squash that concern in Veilguard.  Head and body presets can be selected individually and customized to your liking with 40 different complexions that include smooth, rugged, youthful, and freckled skin tones, skin hues ranging from cool to neutral to warm, undertones to those skin tones, and even a melanin slider. Busche tells me BioWare relied on consultation to represent all people authentically. There's a Vitiligo slider (where you can adjust the intensity and amount of it) and sliders for your forehead, brow, cheeks, jaw, chin, larynx, and scalp. You can select your undergarments, with nudity as well because "this is a mature RPG," Busche adds, and use the "Body Morpher" to select three presets for each corner of a triangle and then move a cursor within it to morph your body or head into a mix of these presets. It's an impressive technology I'd like to see adopted in other games. [link to embedded DA:TV gameplay reveal video]"

"I can keep going: You can adjust height, shoulder width, chest size, glute and bulge size, hip width, how bloodshot your eyes are, how visible cataracts are, the sclera color, how crooked your nose is, how big its bridge is, the size of nostrils and the nose tip, and there are as many sliders, if not more, for things like Rook's mouth and ears. On ears alone, I see you can adjust asymmetry, depth, rotation, earlobe size, and even add cauliflower ear to your Rook. Busche says makeup blends modern stylings with the fantasy of Dragon Age with more than 30 options, including eyeliner intensity, color, glitter, eye shadow, lips, and blush. Tattoos are just as customizable alongside options for scars and paint. Tattoos, scars, and paint are very culturally relevant to some lineages, BioWare tells me, with unique tattoos for elves, for example. You can add tattoos to Rook's face, body, arms, and legs, and you can adjust things like intensity, too.  Im most impressed, however, by the hair options on display; there are a ton, and as someone with long hair, I'm especially excited about the fun selections I can make. You can finally dye your hair with non-traditional colors, and it's gorgeous. EA's Frostbite engine uses the Strand system to render each style fully with physics. "The technology has finally caught up to our ambition," Dragon Age series art director Matt Rhodes says. After customizing all of that and selecting our Qunari's horn type and material (of which there are more than 40 options to choose from), it's time to pick a class out of the Rogue, Mage, and Warrior – read more about Veilguard's classes here. Since we built a Qunari, we went with Warrior. For the penultimate step of the character creator, at least during the demo BioWare shows me, we select a faction. Out of the six options, we select the pirate-themed Lords of Fortune."

"Rook ascends because of competency, not because of a magical McGuffin," BioWare core lead and Mass Effect executive producer Michael Gamble tells me in contrast to Inquisition's destiny-has-chosen-you-characterization. "Rook is here because they choose to be and that speaks to the kind of character that we've built," Busche adds. "Someone needs to stop this, and Rook says, 'I guess that’s me.'" Ready to begin our Rook's journey, we select a first and last name and one of four voices out of English masculine, English feminine, American masculine, or American feminine options. There's a pitch shifter for each voice, too, allowing you to tweak it to your liking further. Don't stress too much about locking in your character creations before beginning the game – the Mirror of Transformation, which is found in Veilguard's main hub, The Lighthouse, allows you to change your physical appearance at any time. However, class, lineage, and identity are locked in and cannot be changed after you select them in the game's character creator.  From here, we're off to Minrathous, and you can read more about that famed city in our cover story, which is available here. For more about the game, including exclusive details, interviews, video features, and more, click the Dragon Age: The Veilguard hub button below."

[source]

[genshinlover101]

Hello, can I make a headcanon request in a fluff mannee, and I hope this isn’t too specific? How would Kujou Sara, Raiden, and Ayaka react to, while visiting their Hydro Alchemist S/O, their S/O was working on a special potion. However, something goes wrong, and the S/O ends up tripping and the potion lands on them. In a puff of smoke, they end up trapped in a giant floating bubble (that’s breathable by the way), that they can’t pop. Their S/O starts to panic, as they didn’t mean for this to happen, however they calm them down from inside their floating bubble. So their S/O calms down, and tries figure out a way to pop their bubble, while they remain inside the bubble. Eventually, their S/O finds a way to pop their bubble, and frees them.

Hydro Alchemist x Sara, Raiden Shogun, Ayaka (Separate) 

Characters: Sara, Raiden Shogun, Ayaka

Warnings: none

A/n: I got you 😉 I literally haven’t encountered Sara or Raiden in game yet cause um... I’m still trying to mentally prepare myself for Ayaka’s dancing cutscene. I know all the spoilers though, but I’m sorry if my grasp on their personalities aren’t the best. 

Link to prt. 2

Even though her loyalties lied with the Shogun for saving her life, her love solely lies with you. She gets lonely easily so she visits you in your lab when she’s not on duty. 

You hear the confident clack of her sandals against the wooden floor, alerting you of your girlfriends arrival. You’re working on your newest potion, you wanted to mimic the bubbles made from those pesky hydro abyss mages. Your prototype was formulated around the basis of your own elemental powers from your vision.

“Come closer Sara, get a good look,” you mutter, focused on adding the final touch, hydro slime secretion to the vessel. Grabbing hold of the potion, with a swift turn, Sara was closer than you had anticipated. This caused the potion to fling out of your control and spilling all over her.

shit shit shit, you witness your girlfriend beautifully displayed in a bubble that you had made. She struggles to rip through it, almost like the bubble was on steroids. You were too panicked to do anything, so you just stood there in a daze.

“Hey, what’s in this potion...” Sara was agitated and her face stoic, you knew she was infuriated. She stopped struggling and floated peacefully. God, even though this situation was unwanted she was still absolutely stunning. “Are you listening to me?”

“Oh- um... Just some of my vision?” You say bashfully with a nervous smile. Her eyes bulged from her head as to say excuse me. “Don’t worry though, I’ll find a way to pop it.” You analyze the bubble, wanting to get a good feel of it before popping it. Sara observed you with pure calamity, her arms folded.

You went to a specific drawer across your lab and rambled through a bunch of junk. Here it is, you remember purchasing a wind catcher from a vendor in Mondstadt. making your way back to Sara, you unleash the ameno current. The pressure broke the bubble making Sara fall. You catch her vertically, squeezing her with her arms pinned by her waist so she couldn’t retaliate.

“Aha, Sara aren’t I a genius! Did you see that? The bubble worked perfectly. Hey deliver the prototypes to the Shogun for me yeah? We’ll catch visions faster this way.” All your exciting rambling made her calm down a little. She thought when you geeked out about your inventions it was adorable.

“Hey now, I’m not your little test subject,” She mocks. “I’m your girlfriend, don’t you dare do that again unless you want to die.” You place her back on her feet and give her a quick kiss, looking at each other with content. 

The Raiden Shogun didn’t like how far away your lab was, especially when she was busy 24/7 with her own operations. So she provided you with a whole lab for your alchemy for your birthday. She didn’t see how it opposed to her plans for eternity so what was the harm, besides most of your studies were beneficial to Inazuma's plans.

You were crushing up some dead ley line branch leaves in your mortar and pestle. You were so concentrated you didn’t realize your girlfriend, Ei, was right behind you trying to figure out what you were doing. She occasionally stepped out of her Plane of Euthymia to greet you even after not leaving after centuries. You made her feel confident and loved enough not to fade into the erosion she feared so much.

After dumping the fine dust into the flask, you turn around and splash. oh my-.

Ei opens her eyes after bracing herself and finds herself engulfed in a bubble, she analyzes her situation and attempts to break her self out. “I’m so sorry Ei, I didn’t see you, and-,” her silence scared you more, “This bubble is built to be stronger than abyss mage’s shields by ten fold. I’m not sure how to break you out yet, it’s just meant to be a prototype. Try using your Musou no Hit-.”

“I’m not using my Musou no Hitachi on a ridiculous bubble,” She interrupts.  “And don’t think about fetching Sara,” And she read you like a book. “I don’t want anyone else but you seeing me in this state.” You shuffle around her analyzing the bubble. besides the situation, the bubble was perfect and went according to your plans. Additionally, there was no way you could pop this bubble with your own hydro vision.

That’s right! you reached into your pocket to fetch a thick chunk of electro crystal. Placing it right up to the shield like bubble, you used your own vision to cause an elemental reaction activating a surge of electrical shocks. Confident that because an Abyss Mage shield meant to protect the inside contents, wouldn’t harm your girlfriend with the same electric currents made to break it.

After around five quick charges she gracefully fell on her feet. “Impressive right?” You smile cheekily, giving her a kiss on the cheek after wrapping your arms around her thin neck. You’d hope she wouldn’t punish you immediately, “We could use it to capture rogue vision holders??” You offer. She gives you a menacing glare and a tired sigh, debating if she should let you off the hook or end your life right now.

"Okay you’ve convinced me I guess... Only cause you’re cute.” She averts her gaze, clearly embarrassed by your antics.

“Pardon my intrusion,” Ayaka announces as she opens the dusty wooden door with the spare key you gave her. She looks around for a moment and finds you concentrated on smashing a varunada lazurite chunk into small dust particles to add to your concoction.

“Ah- just in time my love!” You smile. “Look I’m almost finished working on this new potion. It’s made to reflect the bubbles form Hydro Abyss Mages. Brilliant right?~”

Ayaka nods, pleased that you’re enjoying yourself. you enthusiastically rip the bottle off the stand containing the potion, and rush over to Ayaka. Suddenly, your foot get caught on a janky floor board and you fall dramatically. Oh my god your potion flies and hits Ayaka, shattering into pieces above her, as the liquid flows down it formulates giant water bubble encasing her. Luckily the shattered glass bounced right off the bubble, causing no harm to her.

Ayaka struggles against the walls of the bubble, she tries wiggling like how she normally does but it’s almost as if the bubble was more resilient than normal.

“Ohmygod ohmygod, Love I’m so sorry. Can you breathe?” You ask in a frenzy.

“Fortunately yes. It’s alright, no need to panic.” she reassured you. “At least the potion works hehe-“ she giggles awkwardly.

“That’s not the point, I don’t know what to do Ayaka- I’ve made the potion but no way to combat it…” you thought carefully while feeling the bubble from the outside. it felt liquid but solid at the same time, like a shield! You’ve got it. She floats to the edge of the bubble that you’re at, placing her hands on top of yours from the inside. She had to admit she was just a tiny bit worried.

You ran to the opposite side of the lab, from a closet you pull out an old sword that’s blade was snapped in half. “This is your former sword Ayaka. I’ve used some Fatui technology to make delusions and applied it to this, so it can make fraudulent Cryo elemental damage.” You figured you didn’t make an Abyss bubble, but a shield. You hope with your heart and soul that this works.

With the sword in hand, you strike the bubble and Ayaka cutely pops out. Acting quickly you the throw the sword to the floorboards and catch your girlfriend in your arms princess style. giving her a couple of twirls before letting her back on her feet.

You kept your hands on her slim waist, giggling together in celebration. She was such a cutie. “See I knew you could do it my little genius,” she wraps her arms around your neck and gives you smooch on the forehead.

“Maybe I should make more catastrophes happen if this is my reward,” You add.

[colorfulwombatstarfish]

Weird Ass Wordgirl Dream I had.

I just woke up, so sorry if it sounds like I'm rambling all over the place. I'll just list all the bullet points of the dream after a short explanation of the beginning of the dream, since I'm not even sure how to list this in a coherent format. In my dream, I had found a wordgirl videogame somewhere. I don't know how I got it, but I just remembe looking at the box and putting it into a ps2. The game cover had no indication of what was going to happen next, it was something generic like "Wordgirl saves the day" with Wordgirl flying in front of a star. The start was oddly somber, it was about Mr.Huggyface being sick with something, and Wordgirl (as Becky) went to a drug store with Dr. Twobrains to get him some medicine. (Yes, Dr. Twobrains was just there, I don't know why. You played as him during this section for some reason, you just followed Becky as she went to the drugstore.) The entire section of going to the Drugstore was oddly dark? The entire walk there was very muted, and it was very clear that this situation was affecting Becky horribly. Her playermodel never looked up while walking, and she was walking really slowly the entire time. (By the way, this was all in low poly 3D models remincent of the ps2 era, these models made everything a lot funnier in context.) You get the drugs for Mr. Huggyface and go back to the house, and give him a dosage of the drug assumedly. (The drug was in the shape of a large syringe with green stuff inside, very remincent of what a healing item in a silent hill game would be.) This is where it gets insane, so I'll just go over bullet points from now on. -Instead of giving the drug to Mr. Huggyface, Becky takes it herself while getting reprimanded by her parents for something. (It's not clear why, they were mad at her and she just sorta stuck it into her arm) -She goes absolutely balls to the walls insanely high on psychedelics, and this is orchestrated by zooming in on her polygonal 3D face as her eyes go from sad half lidded eyes to open wide with bulging veins in a cutscene. -Something happens? I honestly don't know what, we cut to a scene of Dr. TB walking in on a absolutely destroyed room that Becky presumably caused. The parents aren't around anymore. -Becky sees Dr. TB, changes into Wordgirl and flies off. Except that her costume is oddly cat themed? It looked really nice honestly, and I'm not sure why my psyche designed such a neat costume for her. I don't know what happens exactly from here on out, it kept switching perspectives in the dream game thing. -Wordgirl's levels are psychedelic, and look like what you'd expect a kids game would be. Everything colorful, and moving constantly to a beat. Everything has smiles on them. -Dr. TB's levels are filled with carnage as he traverses the absolute mess that Wordgirl is leaving in her wake, destroyed buildings everywhere and lots of bodies. He's clearly trying to get to Wordgirl, and trying to get her help with something he made. -A bunch of weird stuff happens, Wordgirl frequently turns people into snakes and throws them at other people. Dr. TB accidentally left the cure at his house, and Violet (Who shows up out of nowhere) needs to get it and bring it back to him before more damage is caused - Final showdown happened in a radio tower, and ended rather anticlimatically. Violet just threw the cure at Wordgirl, and it just sorta worked. It ends on a rather anticlimatic don't do drugs message, completely ignoring the massive amounts of damage she caused. (This part is totally unrelated, but during the fight it's revealed the costume we saw on Wordgirl wasn't actually the Wordgirl costume, it was just a random assortment of clothing that she thinks is her costume) -Final scene was oddly creepy, it was becky walking to school normally and the scene around her sort of gltiching out slowly. To the point where by the time she gets to her class nothing is right, everything is floating and models are glitching out. Final scene beforeI woke up was a zoom in on her face with the same wide open bloodshot eyes that she

had at the beginning. Some parts of this are somewhat embellished to make a clearer story, but overall everything that I said did happen in some sort in the dream. Keep in mind, I was on some sleeping medication last night so that's possibly what led to this weird dream

[sad-sweet-cowboah]

Envy

To the nonny who wanted modern!reader to be jealous of Mary!

Warnings: Cursing, smut mention

It was a Saturday afternoon, stuck inside as an unexpected thunderstorm had ruined your plans of a picnic in the park. Sandwiches in hand, you walked from the kitchen and into the living room. Arthur had made himself comfortable on the couch, the PS4 controller in his hands. Since the storm’s eruption an hour ago, he decided to play some more, killing the time in hopes the sky would clear up so you two could enjoy some of the day.

Right now, he was in Shady Belle, wandering around the camp.

“Sandwich?” You offered, taking your spot next to him and holding out the plate with the turkey and mayo on a hard roll.

His attention flicked to you, taking the plate. “Thanks, darlin’.” He responded, taking a bite.

You leaned back on the couch, eyeing the screen. “So, what are you gonna do today?”

His shoulders rolled in a small shrug. “Not sure, whatever pops up I guess.”

“Then that’ll probably be a hundred things.” You chuckled.

He didn’t respond, taking another bite from his sandwich as he continued to play. He wandered into his room inside the plantation house, and a piece of paper caught your eye. You knew what it was before he even picked it up. You swallowed your disdain as a female voice read through the letter. Mary.

You weren’t too fond of her admittedly, as it was so obvious that she practically manipulated Arthur into doing a favor for her. And the way his face softened upon hearing her voice caused your stomach to twist uncomfortably.

“You gonna go see her?” You inquired quietly, a little more acidity in your tone than you meant.

He must’ve realized this, turning to give you a look of confusion. “You don’t sound too happy about it.”

You bit back a sigh, shaking your head. “It’s cool. Go talk to her if you want.” Your gaze traveled to the patio doors, staring out into the rain.

“Y/N…”

You said nothing. You don’t know how he didn’t see it; but then again men could be dense. Arthur was smart though, and you knew from their initial reunion that he’d been unsure of how to react.

“Y/N.”

His tone was firm, assertive despite how softly he spoke. You looked at him.

“Somethin’s botherin’ you.” He said as a statement rather than a question.

You merely shrugged. “Don’t mind me, just keep playing.”

He stared at you for a moment, clearly not believing you. Finally he turned forward and continued to play, heading into Saint Denis to find her. It didn’t take long; the cutscene beginning as you watched the game Arthur gussy himself up in preparation to meet Mary. You couldn’t help but to smile at this action; it was like watching a lovestruck school boy.

As Mary appeared on screen, you looked at him again. The soft expression still on his face, his eyes reflecting a sadness within them, and…longing.

Your smile quickly disappeared. Grabbing the sandwich you left half eaten, you stood up and headed to the kitchen, swallowing a lump in your throat as you went. You waited until you passed through the threshold to spit out a swear as low as you could to not alert him. Nearly slamming the plate on the counter, you leaned on it to stare out the window.

It was stupid to feel jealous of her, you knew that. She was just pixels, but so was Arthur at one point. Who’s to say she wouldn’t end up in this world too, along with everyone else he cared about?

Stupid. You took a deep breath. Stupid, stupid. You kept repeating it to yourself. Arthur was very real now. But you knew their story; Mary and Arthur had once been lovers, although never married due to Mary’s disagreement with his lifestyle. You knew from playing that first mission that he still had feelings, conflicted after learning about her husband’s passing. Nothing had happened past that reminiscence, and your curiosity of what her second meeting with him was staunched by your envy.

But Arthur couldn’t act on any lingering love, even if he had control over himself in the game. How could he anyway? For all you knew, she was probably using him to her advantage again.

You huffed and turned around, preparing to march back out into the living room, only to jump in surprise to see Arthur standing the doorway. “Fuck!” You gasped, clutching your chest. “Arthur, I swear you’re a cat from the way you sneak around sometimes.”

“Sorry,” he murmured, a look of genuine apology. “Y/N, are you alright?”

“Just fine,” you lied, leaning back on the counter. “What happened to the game?”

“I, uh, took a break,” he answered rather sheepishly. “Wanted to see how you were doin’.”

You eyed him, noting the change in his tone. “What happened?”

“Eh…” he turned his head away for a moment, fixated on the floor for a long moment. “Mary…she asked me to find her father for her.”

So you were right. “Arthur,” you began as your folded your arms. “You do realize she’s manipulating you, right?”

His head snapped back up to look at you. “I-”

“She is,” you interjected. “I saw that the first time you met up with her. Hell, I almost had you say no to her. She used your feelings for her to make you find her brother, and it’s even more apparent now. She knew you were gonna say yes, and I didn’t even stick around to see you talking to her.”

Arthur opened his mouth to reply, yet nothing came out. He instead sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. “Yeah… I know, I just-I just hoped that she would change her mind about me.”

Your heart dropped to your stomach. “E-even now? When she’s still in the game and you’re not?” You asked, keeping your voice from wavering.

His eyes met yours directly. “Of course not, Y/N-”

“I could understand why, she was your first love and all,” you began to ramble, your emotion barely tethered to the control you had over it. “I couldn’t compete with that. You have history and all-”

You were interrupted when he closed the space between you within seconds, his lips on yours fast, but soft. You nearly leaned back in surprise, yet you melted from his touch, his hands cupping your cheeks with a gentle grip.

He pulled back to look at you, his blue eyes loving. “Y/N, I have you now. That ain’t gonna change.”

You stared at him, the genuine emotion in his voice sent your heart racing. “Really?” you squeaked.

He nodded once. “’Course.” His voice was low. You didn’t have a chance to speak after as he kissed you again, deeper and more passionate than before. His hands moved to your hips as your arms wrapped around his neck, pulling him close.

You were trapped between him and the counter, not that you minded. His body was pressed hard against yours, his grip on you tight but soft at once. Your lips moved against his in an easy motion, your hot breaths mixing. At some point he’d lifted you with such ease that you almost didn’t feel it, setting you upon the counter, now almost at his height so he didn’t have to lean forward. Your legs spread to allow him to be closer, wrapping them around his waist to have him closer.

An hour could have passed and you’d be ignorant to it from the bliss that Arthur had captured you in. The world was quiet around you, the only sounds were your lips smacking against his. His steady low breathing hitched when you accidentally ground against his hips, the bulge in his jeans almost went unnoticed until now.

He pulled back, a small smirk forming on his lips. “Want me to prove it further to ya, darlin’?” he whispered.

You only nodded eagerly, your smirk matching his. “Not that you need to, but the extra convincing could help.”

He chuckled, wrapping his arms around you to pick you up as you clung to him, carrying you to the bedroom.

[heartofhryule]

Breath of the Wild: Captured Memories - Chapter 6

First and foremost; SPOILER WARNINGS. If you have not played The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, or completed the Captured Memories Quest and want to stay unspoilered for it, DO NOT READ. Keep Reading link provided for that reason. So I am writing these as I play through BotW for the first time - which means they probably won’t be ‘one-a-day’ consistent - I have finally gotten all of the memories, but not yet gone for the final fight at Hyrule Castle. #Soon. I will post them as I can though! Promise! I also plan to include links to the cutscene for you to watch at the bottom, if so desired - at least for the ones I can find. Any other warnings that become necessary, I will add for content as I go. For now, enjoy!

Hot hot hot! lol

I really like Daruk in all the cinematics. Optimistic, forthright, stalwart, devoted to his land and kingdom, and ever in support of the Hero - he's a solid dude, no pun intended. While EVERYTHING TO DO WITH THIS GAME is hard to write, this one was less hard just because Daruk is such a cool character. I predict Urbosa will be similar. I. Love. Her. #UrbosaIsBestChampion #SaltyBirdRivaliTakeNotes

One thing I try to do with the cinematics from the games, is not add too much if any dialog for Link - since of course in game he doesn't speak. If I continue with a scene after the cinematic ends in the game, that's one thing. When we get to the Silent Princess memory with the frog, trust me, there will be more. But there are times where at least when writing, its a little awkward that Link says literally nothing - so, while I don't want to add TOO much, so that you basically can watch the cinematic (links provided at the ends of chapters) and then read this for "a little bit more", I did add a line or two in a few chapters now, and I foresee this trend continuing. Nothing extreme, but I felt it needed acknowledgement.

Speaking of Rivali the Salty Bird... his chapter will be next. I swear to Hylia, I wanted to strangle that stupid parakeet. He's a badass... but so, so obnoxious. So, here we go! I'll try and have Salty Bird up as soon as I can, and thank you for staying tuned!

Chapter 6 - Daruk’s Mettle Hot. Hot hot hot. Volcanos were hot. Sure, his Flameproof armor bought in town, and his elixirs helped. But it was still hooooot. Things were looking more familiar nowadays. He didn’t remember faces or names, but things were feeling… familiar. Like he knew he’d been to Goron City before in more than just his memory of Zelda saying they would be heading there. He’d had a feeling he knew where the shop was, and had been right. 

He felt as though it had already been a lifetime since he’d awakened in the Shrine of Resurrection feeling lost, drifting outside of time, detached, frustrated and alone.

But then, he’d never truly been alone.

Zelda’s voice had awakened him. Zelda’s voice spoke to him, to warn him of the Blood Moon each time it rose, or when he needed to know something very important. Her voice called his name in his dreams, and he had begun dreaming of her - from before. Snippets here and there. A white dress, a spring, her tears. Things that when he woke slipped through his fingers if her tried to grasp too hard, but it was enough to fuel him forward. Landmarks were familiar now - perhaps not why, but sometimes, it came to him.

Like looking at the carving of Daruk in the side of Death Mountain, he’d known it, and the memory had come rushing back.

***

They had been standing atop Vah Rudania, traversing the side of Death Mountain in the great, hot wind of the mostly quiet volcano.

“Yeah! I think I’m finally getting the hang of controlling this Divine Beast!” Daruk exclaimed proudly. It wasn’t a boast of vanity, but rather an honest statement of pride and hope from a Goron of integrity. Link knew that, he could feel it. He remembered Daruk, and that he liked him a great deal.

“I’ll tell you what… it sure is a blast piloting a toy like this around!” Link smirked incredulously at his friend and shook his head. A lumbering, enormous piece of ancient technology that they barely understood… and Daruk called it a toy. That was the Goron Champion in a nutshell.

“Let those other champions know,” the rock eater continued, “They’ll have to eat their gravel if they want to keep up with Daruk!” The Goron looked around them, drawing Link’s eye and smile to the scenery. “Speaking of which, can you believe this view?” Just look at all those delectable rocks sprinkled on those mountains… Mighty tasty.”

Link chuckled and cut his eyes to Daruk, knowing the Goron sometimes forgot other races didn’t eat rocks. He would have to take the Champion’s word for it. “It really is a great view, my friend.”

Sharing a few moments of companionable silence, Daruk was the next to speak. “I may not know a whole lot about the Calamity Ganon thing… but mark my words: I will protect this land of ours to the death.” Fist clenched with the vigor of his oath, Daruk grinned and raised his other hand saying, “Right, little guy?”

It happened too fast for Link to dodge or mitigate, and when Daruk slapped him on the back in friendship, it knocked the wind right out of the Hylian Knight. Link gasped and leaned forward, eyes bulging a little as he reached up to what would no doubt be a great bruise on his back by evening.

“Hey, by the way…. Congrats on becoming the princess’s appointed knight. That’s a really big deal! Protecting the King's daughter,” Daruk chuckled, “No pressure.” Still trying to catch his breath and recover from the Goron’s platonic affection, Link winced and nodded but looked to the sky.

“Seriously, though. The Princess is a strong personality - so strong she can’t quite see the range for the peaks,” the Goron Champion added with a scratch of his head. “Remember that, and you’ll be fine.”

No sooner had Daruk finished than a great rumbling started around them. “Huh?” Daruk said and turned his eyes to the mountain. Link thought at first in might have been Vah Rudania beneath them. But when the ancient, mechanical salamander had stopped and seemed to be as it ever was, he too looked to Death Mountain.

Daruk was frowning now. “What the-?”

As they watched, boulders came flying from over the peak of which they stood in the shadow. One, flew directly at them, like a meteor plummeting to the earth. With a great cry, Daruk spread his large arms, balled his hands into fists, and smashed his knuckles together. Just as the boulder would have struck him and also Link, a great angular barrier of red-orange light - like the fires of Death Mountain itself - appeared around them, deflecting the wayward and deadly debris.

“Alright, so what was I saying?” For a moment, Daruk seemed nervously dismissive until he saw the serious and concerned look on Link’s face. That had not been normal, and if Link understood that, Daruk had to know as well.

Turning back to the mountain, Daruk’s voice was a touch softer as he said, “That was a little strange…” They both observed their surroundings and the volcano about for a collection of heartbeats. When it seemed no other boulders were to become airborne, Daruk looked down to Link. “As far as I know, Death Mountain has been quiet for decades. But if the mountain is shivering enough to send down boulders that size, then--”

The Goron paused, and Link turned to raise an eyebrow at him. Daruk just kept his eyes on the volcano. “Nevermind. Forget I said anything.”

With a look of incredulity, Link crossed his arms. “Then what, Daruk? Do we need to leave the mountain, is there fiery death coming for us all and I need to get the princess out of here yesterday… what?”

Daruk was silent as the stones for a long, breathless moment as his blue eyes beheld his beloved mountain. “I don’t know, little buddy, I don’t know. And that, is what worries me.” The sense of foreboding Link felt at those words should have told him then, things were going to go wrong…

***

As the memory faded, Link scrubbed both hands over his face. Daruk; strong, honest, proud, brave Daruk. His friend. They couldn’t have known, not really. It was not as though a few wayward boulders screamed, “Run from the hills! Ganon is coming!”

But a part of him still felt like he should have known.

There was nothing for it now. Like Mipha, Daruk’s spirit was trapped inside the corrupted Vah Rudania. Yes, Link needed the Divine Beasts to aid in his assault on Hyrule Castle and Ganon. More to his immediate point, he wanted to free Daruk. It was the least he could do for his old friend. But, he was going to need help. All he had to do was find this Yunobo and get up the mountain.

Somehow, he had a feeling that was going to be much harder than it sounded.

---

Once again, Link found himself standing over the main control panel of a Divine Beast, knowing that once activated, he would not be coming back. The Fireblight Ganon had been trying, and he was hot, tired and covered in ash. But one thought had bounced around his mind the entire time he fought - he was fighting for a friend he had failed 100 years ago. The knight hoped that, like Mipha, perhaps he would get to see Daruk one last time.

As the Main Control came alight under his Shiekah Slate, the plant like structure of the ancient controls turned blue, Link heard a cheer from a familiar deep voice. “Great work, little guy!”

Turning, Link smiled to see Daruk, mostly intangible, but no less a present force than he had ever been in life. Arms out in victory and gratitude, he took a step forward. Link squared up to greet him, swallowing against the rise of emotion in his chest. “I owe you big for this. Because of you, my spirit is finally free. Can’t thank you enough!”

The Goron Champion scratched his head in the gesture Link had come to remember meant Daruk was nervous, confused, or apologetic. “I feel like I should apologize. I was doing all I could to protect Hyrule when that thing got the best of me. Sorry that me resting with the rubble caused such a mess.”

The knight nodded, and took a breath to assure his old friend that it wasn’t his fault, but Daruk continued. “The good news is, is that Rudania is now back under our control! That means that our century old Ganon beat-down plan can finally go into effect!” As the embers flickered in their ever ascending dance around them, Link had to drop his eyes at Daruk’s optimism. He felt responsible somehow, if not for the cause then at the very least for the resolution. He owed that to Daruk, and Mipha… and Zelda.

“I’m gonna take this thing down the mountain. I’ll have a better shot from there. And then, once you’ve made your way into Hyrule Castle,” Daruk clenched his fists in front of him, “We’re gonna light that thing up!” Slamming one fist in to the palm of the opposite hand, Link nodded, not trusting his voice.

“I wanna give you something. It’s a special power of mine called Daruk’s Protection. It’s no good to me now that I’m a spirit… but it might be useful for you.” Slapping his hands together, even in spirit Link felt the tremor in Vah Rudania from the great Goron’s strength. “Here it comes!”

Pooling energy grew between the Champion’s hands as he drew them apart, and when the red orb entered link this time, it was warm, and fire licked throughout his aura. He instantly knew how to summon the power. Planting his feet and punching his fists together in front of him, the angular-sphere encompassed him as he had seen it around Daruk over a century ago.

Looking up to Daruk with deep gratitude and sadness, knowing their time was drawing to a close, Link worked his hands as the tingle of magic faded. Daruk just smiled. “From this moment forward, the power of protection, from the depths of my soul, now lives in you.”

Link wanted to, felt he should say something, but the glow of golden energy around him heralded that Daruk was sending him to safety. Looking back to his friend, Daruk nodded. “Good luck, little guy. And… give my regards to the princess!” With one last flash of light, Link was gone.

Daruk’s Mettle - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzrJlTjHjag  Freeing Vah Rudania - https://youtu.be/IFvkz_oA-m8?t=335 

[meepdrawartgood]

Glitch AU

So we came up with an AU in the Discord chat that @gutsywuts drew Beppi for a while ago, so I thought I’d expand on it! WARNING FOR SOME DISTURBING STUFF BELOW THE READ MORE

So in the Glitch AU, something happened to the game’s file. Whether it was a simple glitch, got possessed by some sort of spirit or demon, or something else, it doesn’t matter. But whatever happened, it horribly corrupted the game, turning the Inkwell Isles into a wasteland and its residents, including the bosses, into terrifying monsters. The goal of the game is not to get the soul contracts to the Devil, but to put the suffering, mutated remnants of what the characters used to be out of their misery.

The game starts like normal, with the MDHR screen, but from there, it’s fully corrupted. The game pulls up to this title screen, playing “Don’t Deal with the Devil” backwards, similarly to how it does in the normal game when you get the bad ending and start up the game again.

There are no savestates or introduction sequence, but when you start the game, it goes to black, then cuts to inside Elder Kettle’s house. He looks weak and sickly, the only sound being his shaky breaths. He holds out the potion to Cuphead, then slowly falls forward onto the floor, revealing the huge, gaping hole in his back. All you can do is leave the house.

You go through the game killing the different bosses, with no cutscenes at all, and once you defeat King Dice, you go to the throne room.

But the Devil isn’t there.

His throne is empty and theres no sound other than the faint crackle of TV static. Nothing happens for about 3 minutes. Then, suddenly, it cuts to the final storybook, violently and rapidly flipping through pages too soaked in blood to read as a cacophony of noise assaults your eardrums, then slams shut to a blank cover.

The game crashes and is deleted from the computer, only leaving behind an image file that contains only the words “thank you”.

Anyways, I can’t think of a good way to transition so on to the boss designs! I don’t have visual refs for a lot of them and a few of them are just sketches, sorry!

Psy, Weepy, and Moe are all zombielike and decomposing, covered in mold and rot. Psy’s third eye is dripping blood, Weepy’s eyes are sewn shut to prevent his acid tears from flooding the world, and Moe can no longer speak, only doing what Psy tells him to.

Goopy is nothing but a blue puddle, but if something gets too close, he’ll start groaning and the liquid will rise up, forming an arm that tries to grab and digest anything it can reach.

Hilda is an eldritch abomination in the shape of a mood, with her Taurus head, Gemini head, and Sagittarius head sticking out in random places. Her own face is covered in deep craters.

Ribby and Croaks have fused together into a barely recognizable ball of flesh, various limbs and other body parts sticking out at random.

Cagney is a mass of tangled vines with an Audrey 2 style head at the top. He has a large hunk of pure flesh embedded in his chest, sometimes with eyes, sometimes not.

(art by @gutsywuts)

Beppi is torn in half down the middle, all the way down to his waist, and where he’s torn, sharp teeth line the inside and several long tongues flail around, flecking saliva. He has two legs and four arms, all twisted up like long balloons, and won’t stop laughing.

(see here)

Djimmi is bound by chains to his Sarcophagus and is covered in circular scars. If he gets too upset and wakes it up, the Sarcophagus opens like an iron maiden, its insides lined with flesh and teeth, and drags him in. It chews him to a pulp to feed on his blood, spits him back out, and covers him in a healing powder so he’ll reform, ready to be fed off of again later.

(art by @gutsywuts)

Bon Bon, instead of having no head, is covered in heads, always screaming.

Wally is a wooden bird puppeted by Junior, whose brain has grown so big that his head has split open in places.

Grim’s entire body is lined with burns so deep that in some places, you can see the bone, and he can’t stop crying.

Rumor is covered in her subjects, forever suffering as they try to smother her like bees do when they don’t accept a new queen.

Werner seems normal at first, until his can breaks apart, revealing that he’s only a lure on the tongue of a cat with a centipede-like body that goes on forever.

Brineybeard is gone. The boat ate him along with his marine friends, and still has bits and pieces of them in its teeth. Briney’s mutilated ghost haunts the ship.

Cala Maria is half eaten by the fish that were once her friends, stuck in her gorgon form with huge chunks bitten out of her body and a few fish and eels still clinging to her, feeding off of her flesh.

Dr. Kahl has permanently attatched himself to his robot, which has been upgraded into a terrifying death machine.

Sally resembles Amnion from Silent Hill, held up by spiderlike limbs with her bulging belly hanging below her. She has two pairs of angel wings on her back and two masks for faces, one happy and one sad like the traditional comedy and tragedy symbol.

Blind Specter is so covered in eyes that some are hanging out of their sockets and others have popped, dripping clear eye jelly.

And King Dice is exactly the same. Except he’s missing one thing.

(art by @rbot-jive)

[pinkparadiseblonde-blog]

The Update

New Fair, early October, suburbs.

Mike hopped into his office chair, shutting the door to his room a bit faster than what his parents would’ve liked. The 19-year-old smiled, seeing the update for his favorite game - Warrior Quest - was, at last, finalizing. Those hours must’ve been worth it - this update was huge!

Mike was a rather ordinary boy, currently wearing a light grey hoodie, a white, arguably baggy t-shirt, and a pair of black tight-fit jeans. He liked those - they were quite comfy, after all.  He was a brunette, with his hair cut short, like most guys his age. While he did live up to certain parts of the ‘gamer’ stereotype, he didn’t meet all the standards. For instance, he did make some effort to keep in shape, telling himself most girls don’t want a guy as buff as a bull.

Doing a short spin on his chair, he snagged the open bag of Dorito’s that was lying open on his bed, and got comfy as he watched the last megabytes of data get downloaded and integrated into his system. A faint grin claimed the lower half of his face, as he booted up the game, and grabbed his XBOX-controller, which he was shamelessly using instead of the keyboard.

The screen was quickly covered in a few dazzling colors, as the main menu popped up. Hovering over the button that read ‘Load game’, he frowned a little, debating to himself whether or not he should start yet another new game, seeing as a new (rather large) update had been provided, surely resulting in a good portion more content. “Fuck it.”, he thought to himself, slamming the A-button when hovering above the ‘New Game’. The cutscene he’d watched surely 7-8 times started playing, and he leaned back a little, adjusting his headphones. The soundtrack in this game was insane.

Then something happened.

The screen started to flash a little, without pattern. This was new. And by the sounds coming from his computer, it wasn’t supposed to happen, either. Thinking quickly, he leaned forth and planted his finger against the power button, however, upon doing so, he felt a sharp sting. A sharp yelp escaped out of his mouth, and he quickly withdrew his finger. “What the hell?”, he asked, glancing at his finger for a moment before deciding to-

Wait. That wasn’t right. He glanced at his finger again. His nails had never been that long. Nor had his fingers - no, hands - ever been this..dainty! A tingle much similar to the one he experienced just mere moments ago crawled up his arm. His eyes tracked the sensation - which was seemingly accompanied by a spontaneous ejection of his arm hair! Not only that, but what he could only mentally describe as a ‘wave’ of fat moved up his arm with it, slimming down said arm. Tracking the fat and hair loss - far too scared to even occupy himself with the computer issues at hand - his lips part quietly, as a bulge of fat settles on his chest, on one side. “What the fuck?!”, he calls out, finally staggering into motion, ripping his headphones out of the jack as he moved away from his computer, and further back. The sensation spreads further, however now seemingly not limited by the single direction allowed by his arm. His chest hair, and short stubble was quickly gone, with his body morphing along with it, slimming down, shrinking - except for on his chest, where another bulge of fat formed underneath his other nipple, once his other arm had went under the same involuntary procedure as the first.

His waist narrows, slimming down drastically, the fat seemingly moving both up and down now, settling on the blooming breasts and his soon-to-be sizable rear. His legs grew to compensate somewhat for the loss in height he’d experienced, just as the very defining feature of manhood - what had made him a ‘he’ - begun to tingle. “No..fuck no! Mom! Help!”, he calls out, making his way towards the door, yet stumbling after a single step, his center of gravity seemingly having been violated. “HELP!”, he calls out yet again, louder. His perfectly manicured hand quickly places itself in front of his open mouth, in shock. That was not his voice. He could faintly sense his lips puff out underneath his hands, however, undoing his pants with some difficulty did take priority - he was more concerned with his genitalia, by instinct. Where was it? The new blonde stared in shock, her eyelashes growing as she stared at the void of matter she possessed mere seconds ago..and the new flesh that was now..her. She grasped both sides of her head, closing her eyes and telling herself that this, this was all some bad, wicked dream. While her eyes were closed, a heavy amount of black eye makeup materialized on her face - eyeliner, eye shadow, mascara even. Even her brows had thinned out!

Feeling her hair tickling the upper middle of her back, she stumbled upwards, and glanced at the computer, which had now stopped blinking. Instead, the monitor was shining a bright white. A..blinding white light. She went a little closer, and suddenly begun to feel some sort of..suction. As if the air in the room was being drained - into the monitor! She took a deep breath, and begun to make it towards the door again - however, the intensity of said ‘suction’ increased exponentially, and soon, she was struggling with taking even one step closer to the door. In a moment of weakness, her knees buckled..and she fell into the computer monitor.

(Some time later...)

Madeline sighed, adjusting her skirt as she turned the corner. The barkeep could’ve given her a -little- more loot than that for competing that pain-in-the-ass quest. She wasn’t too happy with the current direction her life was taking - seeing her most developed skill-tree focused on charisma. Then again, a night in the local ‘Girl’s house’ did pay rather well, especially with her being the beauty that she’d spent her whole life leveling up to become..