#theres a few others as well i couldn’t get pics of but pay attention to the background theyre all so cheery

[untimelyambition]

very fond of these little interactions between the cast at the very end of the show as the finale starts

[ca1e70]

daverose indie rock house show au chapter........ 1.5?

"so like i didn't write this song or anything, but i mean technically i should be on the credits because i DID come up with one of the drum fills and i totally deserve credit. don't let them tell you any differently" the first few words came out echoey through the shitty speakers stacked around the living room and kitchen. at least until the blond guy with the shades fiddles with with the microphone while still giving his little spiel. he also manages to kick the "pedalboard" by his feet and nearly sends the cracked skateboard housing questionable equipment clear into the kitchen. he doesn't, though, but the mic picks up his worried curses anyway. back to the situation at hand. "our regularly scheduled lead is on vocal rest because of... what was it?" 

hes turning back from the only slightly attentive crowd to look at the bassist. she has rubber bands youd expect to see on a set of extensive braces adorning her fingers while she mines a line and makes a face at him. she doesn't know. shes not even the regularly scheduled bassist. 

"actually fuck it who gives a shit but i'm not changing the lyrics so just bear with me while i butcher some sapphic undertones" and their fill-in for the fill-in drummer is coming in early. 

this is the second time rose lalonde has come across the man currently fumbling his way through a guitar riff like he'd never picked one up before. she would be none the wiser if it wasn't for the fact she knew the stand-in bassist, and she had heard plenty of talk about the stand-in drummer turned lead guitar and singer. this place did a lot of stand-ins. you'd think by now they would have created at least ONE set band, and maybe they did, but rose couldn't care less about the semantics of indie bands and their makeup of artists. she knows she heard one girl on her way to the bathroom talk about a different guitarist sending an unsolicited dick pic, and decided she didn't really want to be involved in the politics of 'local musicians'. 

she was here, once again, at the request of her dear friend blowing everyone away with her ability to jump around the small dining room area and still hit every note. every time it looked like her hair had obscured her vision enough to send her tumbling into the guy not only wearing shades inside, but at night, jade managed to keep her balance up right. it's the only reason she stayed firmly planted on the kitchen counter in the background. it's also the only reason rose came again, because jade promised to "make it up to her by actually showing up and performing". 

no one said anything about dave strider being front and center, though. she had half the mind to turn around and walk out the second she saw him tinkering with a power outlet. jade had already spotted her, though, and the escape plan went out the window. which is why she is once again stuck watching performances from what seems like a messier counter than last time, but i digress. 

dont get her wrong. dave isnt half bad! if he had some training, maybe a better grasp on guitar work in general he would be good. if he had some more practice with the song he is, as he said, butchering. it isnt until he picks up in on the lyrics that she takes a second to really pay attention. 

he isnt anything special. the southern accent he tries desperately to cover up makes its way out on certain words, he manages to keep in pitch and tone well enough she doesnt have to cover her ears, and theres a couple girls in the living room that yell when he starts singing. they scream, is more like it, and one of them is giggling at the other and theres a slight twinge in rose’s stomach that makes her want to run out of this house and never stop running until she makes it to antarctica. 

she wants the girl to leave. she wants the guy in the shades to shut the fuck up and stop singing in front of everyone here. she wants jade to leave her bassist post and come over here right this very second so she can slap rose and tell her shes going insane. instead of any of that happening, rose hops off the counter again and starts to fill up a red solo cup with sink water. the physical act helps her keep her mind off of dave and how she feels her heart rate picking up at the idea that another girl could think he was cute. or that his voice was nice. or want to do something like go on a date with him when rose has already done that, ruined that, and ghosted him. 

well, she didnt ghost him. itd only been a week and she just hadnt replied to his messages because she was busy with school. just because he and jade had school together and talked every day, and jade said that dave asked about her and was worried, and she never replied back, does not mean shes ghosting him. 

if she was ghosting him the nickels wouldnt be still sitting on her bedside table, like a memento of something that happened with a weird boy in a bathroom. 

rose manages to overfill the cup and continue overfilling it until the song is over. when silence hits the room (just before scattered applause) she turns the faucet off and stares at the ripple of the water in her cup. she would never drink something like this, but it had given her something to do, so she dumps it back into the sink and crushes the cup to let loose a little bit of self contained anger. 

she should have waited because theres a rather jazzy little guitar fill – not bass, guitar – and she has to walk around the wall in the kitchen just to make sure she isnt hallucinating. it must be a cover, one he’s worked on before, because the audience goes a little crazy and when he starts singing again they sing along. its one shes never heard, but it isnt as if shes all that up to date on the scene shes currently swathed in. dave had sent her a playlist of music to listen to, ones that would help her out if she ever came back, and she wondered if this one was on it. she wondered if she could have been singing along with him like the girls stationed right in front of his microphone. she wonders if she could have been cheering him on like he deserved. 

no, he didnt deserve it. hes just a boy. hes just a boy with a kind of good voice that can apparently play the guitar well enough and supposedly plays the drums like a god. something rose has only heard rumors of and yet to see, and theres the smallest part of her that hopes she does one day, but she shoves that down quickly in favor of staring into the back of those girls heads like shes going to make them explode.

this is jealousy and she doesnt like it. she didnt even know she was capable of jealousy. she wants to never feel jealous again, and jade is gearing up for a bass solo and sees rose in the actual ‘audience’. her name is yelled into the microphone and rose can feel her face turning red when dave’s face appears between the two witches he has as fans.  the witches turn around as well. the entire house turns around to look at rose right as jade starts playing and rose just… stands there. still as a caught mouse. a truly dead possum. caught in the fact dave smiled when he caught sight of her and went back to messing with the pedalboard. she wants to run away and disappear right then and there.

she does, to be fair, once jade has finished her solo and looks back at rose for approval shes back to trying to find an escape route for the time being. somewhere that she doesnt have to look at a stupid little blond boy or feel emotions she hasnt felt since her mother smiled wider at a wine shipment than the carefully crafted scarf she had made her for christmas one year as a kid. she wanted to break every bottle in that crate just like she wanted to break every bone in those girls bodies, so she takes her rage up the stairs and into a bedroom she can find unlocked. theres shockingly no one in there, but it doesnt take her long to realize why. 

above the bed is an entire shelf of preserved animals. there are cords across the floor like nobodys business, the entire room is a tripping hazard, and the sheets on the bed look rumpled and unchanged and the entire room smells of formalin and teenage boy. 

no one is going to come in here, though, so its safe. its safe enough she shuts the door behind her and carefully crosses the room to open a window for airflow. the fan in the corner doesnt really do the room much help, so this should make it less stuffy. her head is sticking out and her hands are on the ledge of the window and she can still hear dave singing underneath her but its muffled. far away. just like her house, and yet, last friday he walked her all the way there. it had to have been forty minutes. she took a cab here again, no idea how she would get home. she fully hoped jade would give her a ride back so she didnt have to walk or be walked by a man who probably went way out of his way for that. 

she doesn't even know where he lives, after all.

[mithranqueersmusings]

Before This Dance Is Through V

Chapter: 5/16

Rating: M (Smut Warning)

Summary: Ringo's being going through a dry spell for the last year or so and when he regretfully tells his best friend John, he insists on taking them to an all-male strip club for some "fun". Ringo isn't sure whether it's the alcohol, his desperation or a mixture of the two but he thinks he might be falling in love with a stripper.

Tags: AU - Strippers, Modern Setting, Smut, Slow Burn

Pairings: George Harrison/Ringo Starr, John Lennon/Paul McCartney

AO3 link here / Fic masterlist here

Despite what John had suggested, Ringo didn't go back to The Helter Skelter the following week; he'd considered it when John sent him yet another late night text but ultimately decided it wasn't the best idea. Spike had been playing on his mind daily and Ringo wasn't sure he was prepared to face him again. Instead he focused on his drumming and searched for a few more students to teach, which were fairly easy to find. Usually Ringo enjoyed his time off, he understood he was lucky that he didn't have to work a 9-5 job just to get by, but recently he wanted his fill his time up as much as possible, to distract himself.

One of his new students seemed incredibly interested in him, they'd spent an hour just chatting in his living room before they'd even moved over to the drum kit. Ringo wasn't too fussed, he was getting paid by the hour so wasting time was beneficial to him but he didn't want to give the guy the wrong impression. He was a little bit older and attractive enough but Ringo simply wasn't interested.

"Why didn't you just go for it?" John had asked him when they next met up.

"I dunno..." Ringo mumbled, but a part of him knew very well.

He'd given the guy another lesson since then and it became clear that the guy's interest in him wasn't going away any time soon. Ringo felt bad about the whole thing, wasn't he just doing exactly what Spike was doing to him? He tried to act as professional as possible the second time around in attempt to get the guy to back off, considering he hadn't heard from him since he was hoping it had worked. What was wrong with him? Was he really going to make himself suffer like this all because of one guy? And not just any guy, a stripper who had shown absolutely no interest in him at all. It was ridiculous, he kept telling himself, but no matter how much he tried to convince himself that he had to get over Spike, he would still think about him every day without fail. Trying to distract himself with clients had been working somewhat, but it had been difficult, especially when his best friend was John Lennon.

       youre gonna love me

The text came through when Ringo was sat in a café getting some lunch. He'd finished with one of his younger students, a sweet girl who's parents had tried to convince her to try a more 'ladylike' instrument but she had promised only to give up the drums if she was awful; much to her delight, and Ringo's for being able to prove the stereotypical parents wrong, she was pretty good. Seeing her always put Ringo in a good mood, the parents mostly stayed away partly due to the noise but mostly due to disappointment, which meant they could joke around together. Ringo could tell she admired him and he welcomed it gladly, one of the best things about teaching was inspiring others, at least for him it was.

        do i not already?

        well yes         but youre gonna love me EVEN more

        what have you done

        well i happened to stop by the club last night

        oh god what did you do

        wow is that how little you trust me

        can you blame me

        suppose not         ANYWAY i got talking to paulie

        surprise surprise

        do you want the good news or not???

        fine fine sorry

        AS I WAS SAYING i was talking to paulie         and he told me that your special little someone has an onlyfans account

        first of all fuck you for calling him that         second of all wtf is onlyfans

        oh sorry i didnt realise you werent living in the 21st century

        ......         care to grace me with your knowledge?

        basically its a website where you can post exclusive stuff for ONLY FANS to see         its not a porn site or anything but its basically where people sell their nudes         MEANING spike has an account so you can totally see loads of raunchy filthy perverted pics of him

        but i have to pay?

        well weve all gotta make a living

        i can basically see him naked for free

        but this way you wont get all freaked out and embarrassed         well you will but nobody will know at least         so do you want the link or not???

Ringo paused for a few moments, he was gripping his phone tightly in both of his hands as he unblinkingly looked at John's words. If his mind was going to decide to make him suffer by enabling his intense interest in Spike, he may as well get something out of it.

        fine

        where are your manners richard??

        can i please have the link to the strippers nude photos please john please

        alright calm down         let me know if its worth while i might have a look

        idk if im even gonna look at it         paying for porn is a little dated

        treat yourself ringo         id offer to pay but im broke

        if youre broke why were you at the strip club last night?

        well SOMEONE had to go

        they really didnt

        im supporting my local economy

        i dont think thats how that works

        sure it is         anyway here you go

Ringo stared at the link for a while, his eyes even began to blur, he didn't want to risk opening it in public even though he knew there was little chance of anyone seeing. He finished his lunch in a hurry and headed home quickly, only when he was in the privacy of his bedroom did he dare open it. First he had to make an account, when he saw the screen loading up asking for an email address and password he just turned his screen off and put the phone down. This was far too much effort for something he shouldn't really have been doing in the first place. But it only took a few minutes for him to pick the phone back up and begin signing up, he used an old email as it felt less seedy that way and he didn't want to risk his name cropping up anywhere for Spike to see. Now he could load up the link properly and take a proper look at Spike's profile.

Just looking at the small profile picture was enough to startle Ringo a little, the dark eyes looking into the camera with that unreadable glimmer behind them. He was shirtless in the picture, Ringo wondered why that didn't catch his attention first, with the frame cutting off just before it showed anything too explicit. The header was a photo taken from the club, showing him in tight, leather pants and tassels on his nipples which matched the whip he held in his hand. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea. He'd spent so much time and effort trying not to think about this man, attempting to keep him out of his mind as much as possible. Ringo knew that if he went through with this all that progress would be lost, he'd be giving in to whatever strange obsession he'd developed for Spike, one that no doubt wasn't going to lead to anything good.

Ringo kept staring at the screen as though it was going to tell him what he should do. Spike's profile had no description, which wasn't very surprising, and it dashed any hope Ringo had of discovering something new about him. Right before he was about to put his phone down again, it vibrated.

        howd the wank go??

        john i dont care how long weve been friends asking how my wank was will always be weird

        youre right sorry         so how did it go???

        if you must know         i havent had a wank         i havent even paid for entry

        now whos the one being inappropriate??

        ha ha

        why havent you???

        feels weird

        oh i see         youll consume a bunch of unethical porn for free but god forbid you actually give sex workers any actual money

        you are the last person who can lecture me about unethical porn

        hey now watch yourself         ringo if you dont get a subscription I WILL

        go ahead

        and ill tell you every day what sexy sexy pictures hes posting         ill tell you EVERY SINGLE TIME i have a wank over them

        every time? i dont think youve got enough data for that

        im not joking

        neither am i         you wank A LOT

        ringooooo just buy it i swear to god         if its not worth it or you regret it or whatever ill give you the money back

        on top of the money you already owe me?

        have you always been such a capitalist

        youre not doing a very good job of convincing me

        fine         spikes cock         now are you convinced???

        maybe

        naked pictures of spike whenever and wherever you want them all for the low low price of 10 quid a month         convinced??

        fine fine         if itll shut you up

        im starting to think thats code for 'i really wanna do this but im too embarrassed to admit it'

        i hate you

        now that DEFINITELY code for 'john youre right'         anyway theres no time to be telling me how right i am all the time youve got dick pics to look at         even i wont stand in the way of a good wank         so dont bother replying to me until youve paid for that subscription young man

        im older than you

        DONT BOTHER REPLYING

Ringo let out a sigh and rested his head against the bedroom wall from where he was laying on the bed. He opened up the link again and his thumb hovered over the subscription button, why couldn't he just do it? The money wasn't an issue, it could've cost half as much or be double the price and he'd still be debating it all the same. Somehow it felt like an invasion of privacy, after all Spike hadn't told Ringo about it himself, but then again that didn't necessarily mean he didn't want Ringo to see it. After all it was like John said: everyone has to make a living somehow. Sometimes Ringo wished he could turn off that part of his brain that was so empathetic, so concerned about how everyone felt and what they were thinking. He knew that he wanted this, so why wasn't he allowing himself to have it? Ringo could see that he was being ridiculous, as he was with almost anything involving Spike, and after lying there for a while pondering and debating he decided to flip a coin. Heads would mean he got the subscription, tails that he didn't. He watched the coin spinning through the air after he flicked it upwards, then snatched it and slammed it down onto his forearm before slowly moving his hand away: it was tails. What a relief. Ringo chuckled to himself for being so foolish, settling down into his bed; it was still only around midday but he didn't have anywhere he needed to be.

So why didn't he feel relieved in the slightest?

This whole thing was getting tiring, the constant debate between what he believed he should do and what he wanted to do, and it seemed like it wasn't going to be ending anytime soon. Apparently he was in this for the long run, whatever that meant, but if he was going to turn down relatively attractive guys practically throwing themselves at him, he may as well go all the way. While he was putting in his credit card information, he stopped to think around three of four times, but once he'd finished and the images became accessible to him, his brain was barely able to conjure up a coherent sentence.

"Jesus..." Ringo breathed out as his eyes flicked across the plethora of pictures loading up on his screen.

There was a lot of them, and a lot of Spike was on display. Most of them were pictures taken at the club, either from a professional photographer in the audience or photos he'd taken himself in the mirrors backstage - Ringo could even see glimpses of Paul in the background of some of them. The ones that caught Ringo's eyes the most were those that seemed to be taken in his house, these also happened to be the ones in which Spike tended to be fully naked. It was very different experience to see him like this: a static image that he'd intentionally taken of himself and posted for so many people to see, an image that couldn't look back at Ringo and make him feel that strange mixture of excitement and shame. He began scrolling down the feed which only revealed more and more enticing photos. Ringo began to feel himself hardening, he suspected it had been happening for a while now but he'd been far too distracted to notice. He felt like a teenager discovering porn for the first time, it was difficult to remind himself that this wasn't anything new. Seeing Spike naked shouldn't have excited him so much, and yet it did.

One picture in particular drew Ringo's attention: Spike was stood in front of a bathroom mirror with a loose black tie lying against his bare chest, one hand was holding a phone and the other gripping his cock. He had dark eye make up on and his hair was messy. Ringo wasn't sure exactly what it was about this photo that was so enticing but he couldn't take his eyes off it. The prominence of his collarbones, the faint curls of his dark hair, how his slim fingers wrapped around himself. Slowly Ringo slid his own hand under the waistband of his boxers as he stared at the picture. At first he hesitated, his fingers stopped right above the base. It's not like this would've been the first time he'd touched himself while thinking about Spike, it would've been far from the last he imagined, but this was different. It was more concrete, more of an admission. Nothing felt quite as real when it's only being imagined, the haziness of lust fuzzing up the mind as it so often did, but now with a very real photo of Spike in front of him - which he'd paid to see - the feeling was far more tangible, far harder to ignore.

He'd come this far, he told himself as his hand sunk lower until his fingers were running along the length of his semi-hard cock, he may as well go all the way. To begin with Ringo stayed looking at this single picture as he slowly pumped himself, but as his lust began to grow he perused through more and more pictures: Spike kneeling naked in front of a mirror with a loose cigarette hanging from his lips, lying in the bath with bubbles only just about covering his nakedness, spread out on the bed with a gag in his mouth, handcuffs forcing his slim arms behind his back with his cock throbbing. None of this was anything Ringo hadn't seen before, like most people in this day and age he'd searched through the darker corners of the internet - sometimes willingly, sometimes John was to blame - but to see Spike in such a way was like an entirely new rush. Each picture drove Ringo further and further on, at times he almost dropped his phone with how sloppy his movements were becoming. Who took these photos? Ringo figured it was best not to think about it, the possibility that Spike had a boyfriend who took all these pictures of him would've been the quickest way to kill his erection.

Ringo began moaning and cursing wantonly as he got closer and closer to his orgasm, he had to stop flicking through the pictures because he could hardly concentrate on what his other hand was doing, so he settled on a final one to help him finish; it wasn't particularly strategic but he was definitely grateful that he selected the one that he did. In it Spike was looking directly into the camera, allowing Ringo to gaze longingly into the rich brown of his eyes and how his dark lashes curled beautifully around them. He was shirtless with nothing but a necklace on, the same necklace that Ringo had seen him wearing in the record store and Ringo couldn't help feeling a sense of satisfaction that he'd seen it with his own eyes, as though it meant something. Deep down he knew that it didn't but his inebriated mind was latching onto it. The nudity in the photo was hardly interesting Ringo by this point, although it would be wrong to say that he completely ignored the flatness of his stomach or the faint shadows of his ribs beneath his pale skin, it was the personal aspect which truly affected him.

This wasn't just lust. Lust Ringo could understand, he could compartmentalise it and give into it without much shame or a second thought. If this was just lust, he would've bought the subscription without a care and touched himself looking at the nakedness of Spike's body as though it meant nothing more than a way to get off. Yet here he was on the brink of orgasm looking into another man's eyes, eyes that felt like they were looking straight back at him as though they were sharing this moment together. It wasn't hard to imagine Spike's hand in place of his own, those deep eyes watching Ringo come undone piece by piece. Ringo's hip began to stutter, his leg twitching a little as he had to drop the phone down onto his lap as his head fell back against his pillow as his orgasm approached. It wasn't the image of Spike's naked body that filled Ringo's mind as he came, it wasn't his arse or his cock or even his chest, it was his face, his voice, it was him.

Ringo lay breathless on his bed for a while, the clarity that arrived as his orgasm subsided wasn't welcome in the slightest and he was reluctant to pick his phone back up to see Spike's eyes looking at him once again. There was no use in feeling ashamed about it, no point in trying to deny it any longer: his feelings for Spike were more than a mere passing fancy, that was clear. Exactly what he was meant to do about these feelings was far from clear but that wasn't something Ringo could figure out right now with cum on his stomach and the daylight seeping through his bedroom curtains.

When he'd picked up his phone he'd closed all the apps immediately, doing his best not to catch a glimpse of what he'd been so eagerly looking at before. Just as he was about to step into the shower to clean himself off, his phone buzzed; he almost couldn't hear it over the music he was blasting out. It alerted him for a moment as though it was going to be a message from Spike stating he knew exactly what Ringo had just done - it wouldn't have really surprised him had that been the case, Spike's face almost always looked like he knew something that nobody else did - but fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, it was John.

        sooo how did the wank go

         who knows          but on a totally unrelated note im about to get into the shower

         well before you do that i have even more good news 

         can it not wait?

         NO because you might cum just at the thought of it and then youd be wasting a good shower

         well arent you considerate          and unnecessarily graphic

         thats me          anyway im taking you to the club next tuesday whether you like it or not

         im still waiting for the good news

         well if youd let me FINISH          next week theyre doing a special event and we just have to go          youll never guess what it is

         what is it?

         guess

         you just said ill never guess

         youre no fun

         WHAT IS IT

         alright alright keep your hair on          its a crossdressing event          high heels make up probably a few wigs all that good stuff

         im still waiting for the good news

         OH COME ON youre telling me you dont want to see spike in heels and fishnets with some lovely lipstick on

Ringo gulped. It wasn't a difficult image to conjure up his mind, considering he'd been staring at photos of Spike for the past twenty minutes and it excited him to say the least. He did want to see that, very much indeed.

[scummy-writes]

Con Adventures!

--- Day One ---

The first day of con was pretty neat, and the very first thing we did was make our way to the dealers room so we could get to Cheritz's merch booth asap! The line to the room was kind of crazy, and I had never really been made to wait in such a long line for the dealers room before, but it was worth it finally getting to the booth!

(One side of it, I never managed to get a picture of the other side ;×; )

Thankfully the line wasn't too big, and everyone was very kind! I ended up spending....a lot.... but a fun thing the booth did was give you these bags if you bought something! The front and back looked like this:

While in line, I got to meet Mantamints, Mod Zen from Doodlemessenger, and Saeranuu! They were all such sweethearts and so nice, and Saeranuu even gave me a postcard!

So cute!! I was with Crystalsoul16 and Byebi during the con, and so Byebi was where I got the adorable Seven sticker from!

Pretty soon after saying hi and so on, we wondered around the dealers room until it was about time for the autographs to start, and we sat in the pre-line for a while and messed around on our phones while fawning over our bags.

I ran into the V and Yoosung cosplayer then, and got a picture, but right before then the Yoosung had asked if we wanted them to punch V before the picture and I ended up going "nOOOOO!" while laughing a lot. They were funny and kind!

For the autographs line it was really nerve inducing! I've only managed autographs from bands I've enjoyed before, but this had me so nervous, aaa orz Everyone has fun stories, but all I ended up doing was saying "Thank you" 2937947 times like a broken record, because I was too scared to say much else and didn't want to bother them.

They weren't mean, of course, and were incredibly sweet, but....ya know....anxiety. I ended up wearing my RFA badge to get the paper, and I'm so happy I was able the paper! I didn't......really.....bring....anything to sign....outside of that KSHSKDK i was a dumbass.

V's voice actor ended up asking for clarification on how to say my name, but since it's a little difficult he ended up pronouncing it wrong, and....without thinking...i corrected him, and I really regret doing that because he apologized a bit and I had to sit there feeling like a jerk o|-< People get my name wrong all the time at work so I'm used to rolling with it, so I have no idea what possessed me to correct him.

The autograph paper was great because they ended up having the VAs that couldn't come presign it! I'm so happy to be able to get all of them, but I'm also incredibly happy Sujin Ri was able to sign it was well! She looked so happy being asked to sign it!

After that, it was more wandering around the con, and I managed to run into Crystalstellar!! She gave me skeleton washi tape rolls ;v; She remembered I love skellies....

I closed my first day with this beauty:

I know its not MM related, but a quick note- People who can play this machine on extreme and get over 90% completion are insane and terrifying, but amazing to watch! Me and another guy were in line for the machines watching two dudes absolutely ROCK and we ended up talking about how awesome they were at it!

--- Day Two ---

I know everyone wants me to get to the panel stuff asap, probably, but for a little while I didn't even think we were going to make it to the panel! Crystal, Bibi, and I left the hotel early enough to try and get a good spot in line for the panel, but ended up getting stuck in a line for bag checks that wrapped around to the back of the first building.

I'm very, very, very, v e r y, thankful they did bag checks- incredibly thankful, but we waited in line for a while in super hot weather, with folks in full body costumes and such around us, only for them to...barely even check my bag????? The first day I had a small purse, and the woman checked the pockets fast and efficiently, and sent me on my way, but the second day I had a backpack on and the dude completely ignored two pockets?

I even pointed it out to them because they were big enough to like, put dangerous shit in if someone wanted to, and he told me to go ahead anyway? Like....if you're going to have a bag check line so big and make a big deal out of it, why the fuck aren't you actually checking the bags???

Jesus christ. I'm thankful no one wanted to do anything dangerous at the con.

Anyway, we ended up making it to the panel line in good enough time to get good seats, and eventually got in!

Before talking about the panel, I do want to link This Post where Mod Zen from Doodlemessenger recorded the panel from their spot! As of right now the official panel video isn't out, so this is nice for those of you who couldn't come! (Be sure to thank Mod Zen!!)

I don’t know what all to say about the panel, to be honest, especially after linking a video about it, but the person who set up the sound/video and was introducing the game was so funny and sweet. He seemed very nervous, but I felt like he helped give a calm air to the room, you know? He wasn’t afraid to joke around a little and he explained how surprised they were that so many people showed up.

I wasn’t really expecting them to play the opening video, but hearing everyone sing along made me happy ahhh ;;;; I get stupidly emotional over stuff like that ;w; And people actually cheered for Jaehee and Yoosung!!! I was so happy at that too!! I hope Cheritz can see that lots of people love them as well aaaaaa

I did like how they had the VA’s come out to reinact a few key VNS, and I was pretty surprised they had Ray’s VA do That VN, but it was so nice seeing and hearing all of them live, aaa.....aaaaa

I think my favorite parts of the panels were Sujin Ri explaining her thought process with the characters, and then the Va’s talking about how they felt towards their character/others. It was interesting hearing it all, and honestly Sujin Ri talking about how Seven came to be killed me o|-< I just really wanted to give her a hug after that. 

However, when she was talking about Jumin, and confirming he went through something traumatic with his mother, I felt aaah...sad and worried. Of course I’m not sure if she meant his birth mother, or a step mother, but I’m hoping that one theory I had isn’t actually true. It’s one thing to have it as a theory, but it possibly being true really....really....hurts. Not trying to say I hate that being written in, but I just don’t want these characters to have such hardships weeps

Hearing that Rika purposely made Yoosung weaker as well hurt.  aaah o|-< I dont know why I had hoped otherwise, though, when its apparent that she hardly had any sincere relationships of any kind. 

And speaking of, I was very thankful that Sujin Ri said that she had aimed for folks to see V and Rika's relationship as abusive- because it is. That's not me pointing to shippers and trying to mock them, I just mean I'm thankful that she was blunt about that, and that there's a good of how some relationships seem perfect at a glance, but once you pay more attention you can see how abusive some really are.

In my opinion, theres a lot of relationships portrayed as healthy or ideal in most medias, so I'm thankful when some abusive ones arent always shown as the same carbon-copy cutout tropes people often try and show them as- so that people can see abuse takes many shapes and aren't always covered in warning flags.

Ahh, serious topics aside, I also think V's va was....a huge highlight of the panel. He was hilarious, sweet, and, well...the Rika thing killed me akahjwhkwbqjshdkg

A lot of people are probably very upset the panel didn't get to Rika, and also didn't get to a Q&A session, but I hope you all realize that they were trying very hard to cover all the bases. Apparently, the con ended up cutting their time short, but I don't have any links to prove that, it was just what I've heard.

I'm assuming they're probably going to upload the video and maybe have an addition of Rika with talk of her VA (I hooope T_T) and try to answer the online Q&A's in some sort of format.

There's parts of the panel I didn't mention directly, and I want you guys to know that doesn't mean I hated those parts- I loved the whole panel. All of it. Every bit- I just don't see a reason to go over every little bit when I've linked a post with a recording of the panel, aaa... But if you guys wanna ask questions about my thoughts on things, please feel free! I love asks like that.

After the panel we ended up wandering around the artist alley a lot! I felt bad I couldn't snap some pics of another Rika cosplayer (and there was someone dressed as V's mom too!!!!!!!), but I had loads of fun! There were so many more MM cosplayers out on Sat, and it was so cool seeing all of them! I even ran into someone that looked so much like Saeran!! (But my friend took pictures of them, haha, I ended up getting too shy to ask if I could take one).

At the end of the night, I got to play Sushi Go with friends! I talked a little about that in a previous post, but it was so fun!

And...then I snuck to the Miku machines before the game room closed aaaaaaaaa

--- Day Three ---

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

Went home.

Dhskjdkd I know some of you are probably like "Whaaaat!" Because there was another autograph signing, and as much as I love Cheritz and the Va's, there was an 8 hr drive ahead of me, and parking in Washington is fucking insane. Me and Crystal decided to head home as early as we could, and I'm glad for that because it was pretty late when we got back orz

I still have a lot to do, like find a proper pillow for my ray emoji case, and to hang up everything I bought, so I'm sorry for this post taking so long orz I'm still exhausted

Thank you for reading!!

[ikkydikky]

Here it comes! Time for an end of the year “Here’s what I drew this year” list. Mainly just to archive my art now for future’s sake and tell myself my thought process and how I felt about it now.

I’m skipping over sketches and going straight to stuff that was finished and polished and I’ll explain each image as we go. Buckle up boys its going to be a long one. 

We’re going to go to the first image I did this year and explain how things went from there!

Drawing #1, Scrubbed off Katia Managan 

March 3rd 2017

Art is actually kind of hard when you don’t know what form, line consistency, anatomy, or any of those things are! In fact I only know about two of them right now! And how to put into practice one of them! This image shows what its really like to start out with base-nothing. The idea is cute! And I’ll probably redo it later on when I am probably a years worth better. It marks however the first thing I really posted online. To me, that makes it special.

Drawing #2, Sigrid, but smug.

September 9th, 2017

BIG gap between the two! And not a lot of improvement, or maybe a lot of improvement? Who knows. I think this image was the first thing I did digitally that I put up for other people to see, and it was exciting! There’s absolutely no construction to this. Prior to this image being done I was basically drawing people’s heads and circles. Like, pages upon pages of circle grinding to actually know how to draw a circle digitally.

The main reason why there was such a gap between March and September was due to me graduating high school. I basically didn’t feel like drawing at all when I already had the work load of school ontop of me. But the art starts coming a lot faster now. Yes you can see there was a huge prequel influence. 

Drawing #3, Blushin Bob

September 29th, 2017

Art is something that you can really do a lot of, but you can easily get burnt out on. Animal crossing is actually one of my favorite games out there, and to try to pay tribute I drew this. Not uh, not exactly my favorite. 

This image has me trying basically 3 new things I’ve never done before. Shading, clothes, fur tufts, and bodies. Yeah. Not exactly my best job at any of those. The shadows are, very inconsistent and its clear I didn’t really know how to do it properly. The fur is atrocious with it looking like spiked tumors, and the shirt rides up way too high like hes wearing a shirt thats way too short! Also he might be a bit too skinny. 

This is kind of an image that broke me. At the time I was trying to fix every error when I just couldn’t, from the arm in the first attempt being god awful, to how the shading and shirt looks. I genuinely think this is the worst image in my library, and I knew it at the time since I drew nothing for all of October. You know. The month that’s meant to be the most inspiring artistically?

Drawing #4, Gondola The Peaceful Giant

November 12th, 2017

This was actually just a shitty paint up I did of a sketch practicing perspective. It was mainly for a draw thread on 8chan’s /v/ and probably my only work I’ve posted to an image board. I think generally doing art for anonymous people is a bit thankless. Its great for practicing but it really gives back no validation.

Keep in your memory these clouds, I’ll be talking about those later. 

Drawing #5, Bunny, The space mechanic.

November 12th, 2017

This character was a mistake, not the drawing but the character! This is my first actual tabletop character and boy I flubbed it. But this is art retrospective. Not roleplay retrospective. Anyway. A portrait done with a new pen style that I don’t think worked out too well. It comes off a bit too rough and gritty. But it makes for unique coloring when it comes to painting. I’ll actually have some more to say about that in a bit too! This also marks the point where I really got into drawing again. See. The table top group I’m in rewards you for drawing pictures of your characters, no matter how shitty it is, as long as you do your best, you get a reward in game. Its actually a really, really neat system!

Drawing #6, Oh dear god why.

November 16th, 2017

This is going to be a reoccurring character, so. Lets get to talking about it here. This character was as far as I know, a joke character made by a friend that got turned into a full blown character for a campaign, she is nonsensical, random, actually crazy, and worst of all, vibrantly colored. She is the Deviant Art Sparkledog as a character. Which funny enough, is her character name. This was my first attempt at really going ‘sexy’ and ‘nude’. And actually I think Sparkledog is a perfect candidate for it because its already cringy and god awful to look at! So it hides my bad attempts at a sexy lady behind an already cringy character. Thanks friend.

Anyway to talk about the art its self. It was done with no ref or pose. And I think it kind of shows. Everything’s proportionate to a degree but something about the perspective of the whole thing feels... off. Of course the background is just slapped together with glue but I mean on the character. She’s laying on the ground but not in a way that I think is possible or comfortable.

This also goes as my second attempt at fur, it’s, better. But definitely not good. Ontop of that this is probably my first attempt at an actual muzzle! Pic below related.

Muzzles are really hard to do. For some reason. If you ever read Loomis’ Fun with a Pencil it becomes slightly easier, but it also kind of isn’t. A month later and I still struggle with them, A lot of my joke sketches I often forgo any sort of attempt at drawing a muzzle and go for round head shapes, this works out if the character’s species is a prey type, as the eyes for herbivores are often on the side of the head, while for predators, its facing dead ahead. On another note, apparently I can just *do legs* with almost ease. I’ll touch on this more in a bit.

Drawing #7, A background for the end.

December 2nd, 2017

Tabletop is a wonderful thing, art groups are also an amazing experience to ever be apart of. The group I’ve been with has been an amazing experience for me artistically as I’ve learned to grow so much more. This is an image I did as soon as I woke up on my birthday. Friend A. did the character sketch. Friend b. did the coloring of the characters, and I got to practice something that I’ve wanted to do for ages.

Environmental art.

Ontop of character art and such, one thing that always draws my attention is environment art. Its something you can always get lost in. Your eyes can search to every corner imagining what it would be like to be there. Genuinely amazing works of art is often environment art. 

Its also time we talk about the clouds. I hope you remembered them from the gondola picture. See. Clouds are all about layers, and layers, and layers. Especially when done in a thunder storm. They’re something I might recommend painting if you ever want to start out! I do however think the clouds in the gondola image work a lot better. But I think that might be from the several things I did to trick myself to think they look better.

 And that’s all there really is to say on this image. Which is a problem. I learned a bit more about perspective and how floors work when under character’s feet... and how to do lightning kind of. But there isn’t much else. If I were to do this more I’d probably add another cliff to the background. A mountain, a landscape just beyond the fog, because it seems unfinished as it stands. 

Drawing #8, Oh dear god why, Revengeance.

December 5th? 2017

Probably the only unfinished image that gets posted! So lets talk about it. I think fur is my least favorite detail to make ever.Yet it also is my favorite when its done. The tail also might not be the best but its league’s better than my first attempt! But lets talk about the main thing about this image.

PAWS.

I don’t have a thing for paws, or feet, that’s not my kink. I think footjobs are sort of appealing sure but I don’t care much for it. so this was my first attempt at paws, and I think I did damn well. However, digitigrade legs are something I still have an issue with, and I am working towards fixing that. I don’t think furry characters look great when their legs are humans, but with paws. As well I think legs are the easiest part of the body to draw in some ways, that might just be me.

The face also is a bit of a mistake? Its better than its.. original incarnation...

[NOT EVEN THE DEAD KNOW PEACE FROM THIS EVIL]

Animal faces with human features is the proper way to do things, but human faces with animal features is... Hell incarnate.

Also that ass took me like 30 tries to get right god damn. 

Drawing #9, The last hoot for today.

December 18th, 2017

The last one for today. Some point after Christmas I’ll post probably another three drawings. But this is the final one. Lets talk about a few things about myself.

Art style is all about inspiration. You pick up inspiration from everywhere. Specifically from art styles you really, genuinely enjoy. You might have noticed the art style at first was I Wanna Be The Kazerad and then to something completely different from Kazerad but not distinct from anyone else. This is the process I think to finding your own art style. Emulation.

You might also noticed I ditched aliased (pixely) lines in favor of smooth lines, this was because I was having a tiny issue with drawing at large scale. For some reason I always liked zooming in real close on my 2000x2000 canvas and drawing tiny little things. The bunny picture is a really good example of this. He only took up the tiny corner of my much, much larger canvas. Speaking of his part of this post, lets get into color.

There’s been 3 ways I colored things, the first was plain flats, second was with a sort of homemade crayon brush (Ala Bunny and Gondola), and third was a unique way in how I did the eyes of this image. Looking at them closer you can see theres, actually a lot of rich detail in them!

This was a pretty easy thing to do and it has such amazing results that, I want to do a full image using it just to try it. For how I did it, I use krita, and how it handles gigantic brushes is like most art programs, by automatically raising the spacing between each ‘use’ (for a lack of a better term.)

Here’s what the blue part looks like with a white background behind it and the layer count to make this beside it. (Only one of them visible.)

It also kind of hits close to to another artist I’ve been following pretty closely as of lately. (And more recently on tumblr.)

You might not have heard of @jamdrawers , and you should definitely check them out if you haven’t. They are someone who, in my eyes, has such a wonderful art style. Other artists that do a style with pixelly, aliased lines don’t even come close in my opinion. I bring jam up here because of a few things, the art style he presents has thoroughly inspired me to pick back up trying to draw in aliased lines again, and because going forward I’ll continue looking to him for inspiration. Also if you read this jam tell winrarphile I said thanks for getting me into your art. 

Now, when it comes to the owl its self. I regret not adding a thicker outline to all of her character, and instead kept it to just the head shape, as well I do think she comes out a bit bland. Of course color wise its to keep in theme with the rest of the table top groups color theme. But outline wise? Definitely needs work. I tried a ‘hair style’ for her but that didn’t really work out either. So I kept it to the three feathers at the top of the head. I also think I spent more time on this image than I did any other, to quote myself “I’ll finish this owl up in about an hour or two”, which quickly lead to 8 days instead, just through procrastination.

Don’t do something in art if you really don’t want to do it. You can easily, easily get fatigued and burnt out with out delay, but among this procrastination came other sketches that, I don’t think I’ll post here, but helped me learn hands somewhat. So there is that.

Thus ends this posts governing topic. If you read this whole thing, good job. If you didn’t and skimmed to the end. That’s fine too! I understand I got a bit wordy but, I genuinely wanted to lay out my thoughts about all this.

In conclusion, I think the rate at which I’m getting better is decent, Mistakes are being ironed out each new drawing I take on. Each study and figure drawing adds onto the many experiences I’ll use for later in my artistic career, and I think the rate at which I’m drawing is far too slow for my own tastes, as such its a goal for the upcoming year to get a lot faster with finishing each drawing so I can quickly move onto the next. Thank you for reading this.

Have a noid chewin’ some pizza as a reward for coming down to the end.

[xturtletrashx]

Devil’s Dance Floor - Chapter 14

Disclaimer: I don’t own Uncharted, blah blah blah, you know how it goes.  I do own my OCs though and the plot.  This fic in its entirety can be read on AO3 here or you can find the other chapters here.   

Sorry again for the huge delay between this chapter and the last.  Life got crazy af.  

TW for non-graphic abuse mentions

Graphic and title pic was made by me, all other pics aren’t mine.  If one belongs to you, please let me know and I’ll either credit or remove.

Chapter 14 - She Was a Fiery One

Absence makes the heart grow fonder.

It was a sentiment that Sam had always had always thought was bullshit.  For most people the pain of being away from someone faded enough to only surface once in awhile, like a joint that only ached when it rained, but for Sam it lingered.  It wasn't an infection, festering and growing worse, but rather a cancer that had slowly eaten away at him a bite at a time.  In his experience, absence hurt, but then over time that hurt scabbed over and the pain became bearable.  

It was different this time.  Maybe it was because he was free or because he knew that Simone was coming back to him, but over those few months, Sam found his heart growing fonder indeed.

Theres a dog tied to the street light outside.

I want to pet it

But I can't leave my post

By the time i'm off duty it'll be gone

Doggone it

LOL :p

Simone texted the way she spoke, random little bursts of nonsense or stream of consciousness that often had Sam grinning down at his phone.  It annoyed the hell out of Rafe, who took every opportunity to huff and sigh and roll his eyes whenever Sam's attention was diverted to the vibration of his phone.  He ignored it because no matter what Rafe thought, Sam looked forward to every moment he got to share with Simone - even from countries away.

You should steal it, he typed back.

Is that your solution for everything Sam Drake?

He chuckled.  I am a thief

"Are you done?" Rafe asked, deadpan.

Sam glanced up, amusement still sparkling in his eyes, and he wrapped his hand around the phone, screen to palm so he wouldn't be tempted to look at it again.  "Yeah, I'm done," he answered, reaching for pint sitting on the pockmarked table in front of him.

Rafe gave him a long look, his annoyance made all the clearer by the subdued sigh that expanded his chest.  "So what do you think?" he asked, making a vague gesture with his nearly empty glass.

Shit.  What had Rafe been saying?  Something about estates . . . ?  "About what?" Sam asked after a beat of expectant silence.

"Christ Samuel," Rafe snapped, his pint landing back on the table with a dull thud.  "Could you maybe focus a bit?  You've spent half of dinner staring at your goddamn phone."

Sam couldn't stop his eyes from rolling but he did manage to stop himself from looking at his phone as it vibrated in his hand.  "I'm here," he fired right back.  "I'm listening."

"Bullshit!"  The word was punctuated by an open-handed slap to the table, their forks rattling against empty plates and drawing the curious eyes of every patron at Allanach's.

Rafe and Sam were hardly unknown faces at the hole-in-the-wall pub but aside from some polite back and forth with the regulars - or sitting through the occasional long-winded tale from the barkeep - they tended to keep to themselves.  They'd come down every other week or so, have dinner and a few pints, talk quietly at their corner table and then be on their way and while Sam's conversations with Rafe often got a bit heated, this was the first time his partner had exploded under this roof.  Oddly enough, it wasn't something Sam wanted the regulars to have to witness, but he wasn't sure if it was for their sake or Rafe's.

"Rafe," Sam started, warning in his tone.  "I'm listening."

"She's becoming a distraction, Sam," Rafe continued, leaning aggressively over the table and ignoring the attention they were drawing.  "You need to end it and get your head back in the game."

Was he fucking serious?  Sam wasn't going to end things with Simone just because Rafe wanted him to!  His eyebrows drew downward, offense tightening his posture, but he pulled in a steadying breath and rose to his feet.  He lifted the pint to his lips and drained the last of it, then set the glass back down and announced, "I'm leaving."   

"Samuel!"

He didn't stop walking though, weaving his way through the tables and heading straight out the door.  The night was cool but the humidity had mist hovering just above the cracked cement, swirling around Sam's booted feet as he crossed the street and ducked into the nearest alleyway.  

Rafe was a fucking asshole, Sam silently fumed, trading the phone in his hand for his lighter and cigs instead.  His head was just as much in the game as it ever was - even more so now!  Now he had a plan for his cut of the treasure, which mostly involved buying something nice for Simone, like a ring or something.  They could live in her little beach house in Durban and use the money to travel all around the world.  Maybe he could get Nathan and the wifey to go with them sometimes too . . .

But . . . he couldn't deny that Simone complicated things.  He'd always planned on ditching Rafe once he had a solid lead on the treasure, but that meant ditching Nadine, and he had no idea how Simone would feel about that.  Would she leave her sister behind and go with him?  Would she convince Nadine to walk away from this?

He hadn't intended it when he'd left the pub, being more focused on getting out of sight before Rafe paid the bill and followed him, but his feet had brought him back to the beach where he and Simone had ended up the first night they'd met.  He hopped down off the seawall and into the sand, remembering the way the rain had dripped down the freckled curve of her nose, how her fingers had felt brushing along the sensitive skin below his belly button, and the now familiar taste of her as he'd pressed his face between her thighs . . .

She was coming home in less than a week - just in time for their one year 'anniversary' - and Sam couldn't help but wonder when Scotland had become home?  When had Simone become home?  She was though.  She was the warmth that drew him in, like a moth to a flame, and maybe it was time he admitted it?

Sam exhaled a long stream of smoke, his eyes on the waves as he made his decision.  He wasn't sure what his next move was where Rafe and the treasure were concerned, but he was sure that he was going to tell Simone that he loved her, that he wanted to marry her, that after they found Avery's treasure they could settle into a normal life: paying bills and Thanksgivings shared with Nathan and Elena and maybe, someday, kids . . .

It wasn't a future he'd ever imagine for himself, but in prison it had been hard to even imagine standing on a beach and smoking a cigarette.  It had been hard time imagine having someone like Simone in his life and it had sure as hell been hard to imagine being free again because Sam had never expected it would happen.  But here he was.  

And there he stood, until the last evening light faded from the sky and the stars twinkled into existence and he'd run out of cigarettes.  

***

Sam had been counting down the days, the hours, the minutes, until Simone's plane would touch down in Scotland.  He was eager, his stomach fluttering with butterflies as he waited and he figured that this must have been what kids felt like on Christmas morning when they didn't have a completely fucked up home life or were living in an orphanage.  

Those three months alone had felt like forever and the need to touch her skin, smell her hair, had consumed him like a junkie needing a fix.  And when he spotted her wild red curls, her freckled skin, the tiny sundress in every color of the rainbow, there was no stopping his feet from moving forward, every step bringing him closer to his perfect drug.

She met him halfway, dropping her grip on her bags to throw her arms around his neck and literally leap into his arms.  Sam had been ready for it though.  He'd played his moment over and over in his head non-stop, imagining every possible scenario for their reuniting, but always this was the one that felt right.  It was just so very Simone.

He allowed himself to be overwhelmed by her, savoring every kiss and the feel of her body pressed against his.  Her bare thighs wrapped around his hips had him wanting to pin her to the nearest wall, to be so close he was inside her.  

And he wasn't the only one cultivating those thoughts because just then, Simone moaned against his lips, "God Sam.  I want you so bad."

A small noise of longing escaped the back of his throat, but as desperate as he was to be inside her, they'd both have to wait.  "Think you can wait 'til we get back home?" he asked, eyes focused on those full lips that he was longing to kiss again.

Simone's nose wrinkled and those pretty lips twisted into a pout as she whined, "Do we 'ave'ta?"  

Yes, they did.  But first Sam indulged her for another minute, holding her close and kissing her breathless, before pulling back with a laughing, "Hold on.  Wait a second.  I have a surprise for you."

Apparently that was a suitable distraction because a wiggle of hips proved she was ready to be lowered back to her feet and she fixed him with a delighted smile.  "Oh really?" she wheedled, pressing closer and slipping her arms around his middle, "What sorta surprise?"

"It's in the Jeep," Sam said, fingertips brushing a curl back from her face.

Her eyes lit with excitement.  "Well, let's go then!"

With bags in hand, Sam led the way out of the airport and he found he had trouble keeping his eyes off of Simone.  Everything about her was captivating, from the brush of her dress against her upper thighs to the bounce of her breasts under the thin material, to the way the sun highlighted her burnished skin and the sparkle in her eye as she caught him looking.  God, she really was beautiful and as eager as he was to get her into bed, he was just as eager to simply share space with her, and especially to give her the present he'd gotten her.  

"You're lookin awfully pleased with y'self, Sam Drake," she challenged, bumping him playfully with her hip.  

"I have good reason," he said with a smug smile.

Simone's eyebrows lifted, "Ja?  Is that so?"

He looked past her to where the Shoreline Jeep was parked and she turned to follow his gaze.  Sam watched as her brown eyes widened, her mouth falling open only seconds before her hands flew up to cover it and she let out a delighted squeal.  The noise was answered with a high-pitched yip! from the puppy waiting on the driver's seat, buff-colored paws hooked over the half-door and a tail wagging wildly enough to shake his entire body.

"You got me a puppy!"  

Abandoning her bag, Simone skipped toward the Jeep, hands reaching eagerly for floppy ears as she was met with messy kisses.  He'd tied leash was tied to the steering wheel to keeping the pup from escaping the Jeep, and Simone quickly unclipped it so she could scoop the puppy into her arms.  "Oh Sam, he's perfect!" she gushed, whirling to face him as he reached the Jeep a half step behind her.

There was something so pure in that moment, as Simone stood there cradling the wiggling puppy to her chest, and if there had been any doubt in his mind before, it was completely gone now.  He wanted this woman.  He didn't care that she was - arguably - too young for him, or that she was literally a soldier for hire, or that she was the one thing truly keeping him from seeking out his brother.  He wanted her.  He wanted to spend the rest of his life with her.

"I love you, Simone."

The words passed his lips without consent, coming out with a somber earnestness that he'd have been embarrassed about with anyone else, but Simone's face was softening, her lips parting as she tipped her head and asked, "F'real?"

Sam laughed, his hand coming up to brush fingertips along her cheekbone, "Yeah, for real.  I told ya that you'd be the first to know."

She smiled and leaned into his touch.  "Ja, ya did.  And I love you too, Sam Drake."

***

"Vriend."  

Sam's eyebrows lifted in question, "Hm?"

"That's his name," Simone explained, nodding to the Cocker-Border Collie mix trotting along at their heels.  

Sam wiped the beads of sweat off his forehead with the back of his wrist.  "Friend?"

Simone chuckled, "No, Vriend."  

"With a V?"

"Mhm.  It's Afrikaans."

"Oh," Sam answered.  Well that made sense.  "So it means 'friend'?"

Simone laughed, "Anyone ever tell ya you're a smart one?"

"Every now and then."

He ran his hand idly along the stones of the St. Dismas cathedral as they walked, his gaze drifting upward to the towers stretching into the sky like broken fingers.  It was familiar by now, every crag and crack, and Sam found that he'd grown fond of the structure; it was as much as a part of home as the little cottage where he and Simone had just spent a solid day getting reacquainted.  

"We should climb it," Simone announced, beckoning Vriend closer so she could clip the leash back to his collar.  

Sam's eyes went to the dog, then to Simone.  "Now?"

"Ja."  She looped the end of the leash over a broken wooden post - likely part of a fence that hadn't survived the centuries - and then turned to him with an expectant look.  "Unless ya scared?"

Sam's eyes narrowed.  "That," he said, "sounds suspiciously like a challenge, Ms. Ross."

She shrugged one bare shoulder as she backed up, critical eyes studying the wall in front of them for a suitable handhold.  "Unless ya not up for it," she cajoled.

"Ha!" Sam's eyes went to the wall as well, immediately spotting a broken stone that he could without a doubt reach.  "Not up for it, my ass!"  Without waiting for her, Sam jumped and caught the handhold, levering himself up to the nearest lancet before glancing back down to find her shimmying up behind him.

"Filthy cheater," she joked as she reached his side.  "C'mon then, let's keep goin'!"  And, without even a hint of fear or hesitation, she jumped for the string-course above.

By the time they reached the top of tower, both were sweating and coated in a film of dust and Simone was sporting a bruised scrape on one bare knee, but their smiles proved just how much they'd enjoyed the physical activity - and the ensuing adrenaline rush when either chanced a look down.  

They settled on the pinnacle, shoulder to shoulder and legs dangling off, and for a moment neither spoke, out of breath from the climb and speechless from the view.  And what a view it was, with the mid-morning sun reflecting off the ocean in shimmers and sparkles, and the sky a brilliant blue.  From their perch, Sam felt as if the horizon stretched on forever and all he'd have to do was squint to get a glimpse of eternity . . .

"You're pretty spry for your age."

Sam turned his head to find Simone staring out over the waves, her lips pursed in a teasing smile.  "I'll have you know," he said, feigning offense, "that this is not the first tower I've climbed."

She looked at him, pleased that her ribbing at gotten a reaction, "Oh no?"

"See, climbing sort of . . . runs in the family," he explained, shifting his weight so he could pull out his pack of cigarettes and shake one to freedom.  "Nathan could climb anything."  He popped open the lighter and touched the flame to the cig, eyes cutting toward Simone again as he inhaled.  "Ever since he was a little kid.  Bookcases, the kitchen cabinets, the towers of cardboard boxes that our shit was always packed in," he shrugged.  "Anything he could climb, he would."

Simone was watching him carefully, like she always sort of did when he brought up his brother, and her question was a gentle prompt, as if afraid she'd spook him and he'd shut down.  "And you 'ad to keep up with him?"

Sam smiled, chest puffing out a bit as he boasted, "I was the only one who could!  I taught him everything he knows."  Mostly, anyway.  Until Sully came along and smooth-talked his way into their lives.

"Sounds like you were close," Simone commented, absently wiping a bead of blood from her knee.  

"We were all we had."  Again, until fucking Sully showed up.  He glanced at Simone again and asked, "What about you and Nadine?"

"What about us?"  

There was no hostility in the question, though; nothing that gave Sam the impression that she didn't want to talk about it, so he pressed on.  "I know she's a lot older than you and things were sort of weird when you moved in with her and your father . . ."

Simone was quiet for a minute, as if deciding how much she wanted to share, and Sam was beginning to think that he'd read her cues wrong but then she broke the silence.  "Things're . . . complicated with Nadine," she started.  "We love each other, course, but I think she blames me for what 'appened to our dad and why Shoreline is in the mess it is now."

Sam's brow furrowed in confusion.  "I don't understand," he admitted, feeling like he was only getting half of the story.  

She sighed, eyes drifting out to the horizon again as the wind picked up, sending her curls in every direction.  "I've made a lotta mistakes, Sam.  Made lots of bad choices . . ."

"You're not the only one," he said with a wry smile.  "But what do you mean about Shoreline?  And how does it have anything to do with you?  You're just a contractor, right?"

She nodded, "Yeah, but it was 'cause of me that we lost one of our biggest contracts."  Her hand drifted her her ribs, pressing just under her breast, "Dad beat me bloody for it."

Realization came quickly and with it, searing hot anger.  "The scar on your ribs?" Sam asked, the words coming out harsh, almost demanding.  "That's from your father?"

"His belt buckle."

Her voice was soft and her freckled cheeks red with . . . what?  Embarrassment?  Shame?  He wasn't exactly sure and it was hard to hazard a guess when she wouldn't even look at him.  "What happened?" he asked, but she was shaking her head.

"I don't want to talk about it, Sam."  

He wanted to talk about it though and he wasn't even sure why; it wasn't like he could do anything about it.  It was in the past.  Hell, her father was dead.  He had a pressing need to understand though, because all of these puzzle pieces Simone was sprinkling around them were building up to a picture of who she was and, despite their love for each other, that picture was still frustratingly unfinished.  So he made one last plea before giving up and allowing a topic change, just a simple, "Are you sure?"

"I know it may not seem like it, but what 'e did was actually a good thing."  

Bullshit.  Was she trying to convince herself?  

"He was helpin' me, in his own way."

Sam was shaking his head though, refusing to believe that there was ever any sort of justification for beating the hell out of your child with a fucking belt.  He knew because he'd been on the receiving end of that same sort of treatment before being dumped in an orphanage.

Simone ignored his silent protest, instead continuing with a vague explanation.  "I was eighteen and I had gotten into trouble - remember those mistakes, I mentioned? - and after that, I wasn't in trouble anymore."

It didn't make a lick of sense and Sam opened his mouth to tell her as much, but she was turning critical eyes on him, "How 'bout this?  You tell me why you went to prison and I'll tell you what 'appened with my father and Shoreline?"

Sam blinked, taken aback by the sudden shift in focus from her past to his.  Did he want to know that badly?  Yes, but telling her what Rafe did could open a can of worms he wasn't ready to deal with.  Not yet.  "I was innocent," he said after a moment, and he could tell by the surprise on Simone's face that she hadn't expected him to say anything.  Or maybe she didn't believe that he was actually innocent.  "Someone else did something really bad and I did their time."

A line appeared between Simone's brows, "But how?  Were you protecting them?  Was it your brother?"

Sam shook his head, "No.  Well, sorta.  Nathan was there; he was a part of it but he wasn't the one who committed the crime.  I wouldn't've taken the fall for this person, except that I didn't have a choice."  Now it was his turn to touch his abdomen, where three dimpled scars resided.

"Because you got shot," Simone finished.  

Sam nodded.  "I got shot and they had to leave me behind, so I got saddled with the prison sentence."

"That's awful," she said, and there was no faking the sympathy on her face or in her voice.  "I'm sorry, Sam."  

He shrugged, "It is what it is."  Then he bumped her lightly with an elbow, "Your turn."

She was quiet for a minute, her teeth worrying at her lower lip as she clearly considered her words, but when she spoke it wasn't a confession, but rather a plea: "Please, Sam?  Please just let it go?"

Forgotten in his hand, his cigarette had burned down to the filter and Sam flicked it into the air, sending it spinning toward the ground a hundred feet below them.  There was an unmistakable annoyance to the action; hadn't they had a deal?  And he was ready to argue that point with her but there was a vulnerability to her posture that had that resistance fading.  

"Alright," he acquiesced, lifting both hands into the air in surrender.  "Alright, I'll let it go."  Could he though?  His lips pressed into a firm line, "Just--"

Simone sighed, "Sam . . ."

"Just, if you ever want to talk about it, I'll listen, okay?"  He reached for her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and coaxing her closer, "I won't judge or anything.  I'll just listen."

"What if I never want to talk about it?" she asked, settling in under his arm.  "What if I just want to forget it ever happened?"

It would bother him, Sam knew, not ever having the full picture, but he could respect it.  It wasn't like he'd told her the full reason of why he'd gone to prison and there wasn't a chance in hell he'd ever share the details of his time in Panama with her.  Those details were his burden to bear, his demons to wrestle with, and maybe Simone felt the same about her father.  Whatever her reasons, if Sam wanted Simone then he'd have to live with her silence.  

"Then we won't ever talk about it," he assured her, pressing a kiss to those copper curls.  

"Thank you."  Simone tipped her head back so she could see his face, "How'd I get lucky enough to find you?"

Sam smiled, the hand draped over her shoulder sneaking its way into her tanktop.  "Karma," he decided with a decisive nod.  "And my raw masculine magnetism."

"Ha!" Simone laughed, pulling his hand down further to cup her breast.  "More like I took pity on ya."

"Pity?" Sam repeated, affronted.  

"Ja, pity."  She nodded, "I took one look atchya and I could tell you 'adn't been laid in ages!"

"Ouch, babe."

[buddy-scape]

What is BUDDY-SCAPE

Let’s face it, Mark Fuckerberg is a bitch, and when I say “bitch” I mean he has a feminine look about him, not that I’m slating LGBT, if anything I’m all for it! Happy pride month to all those involved btw, neither am I slating women or being sexist, I love my wife very much, including my 3 mother’s and my adopted daughter, but yea, Fuckerberg is a complete ponce, he couldn’t organise a gangbang in a convent, Facebook may be an overall site for people to come and chat and make new friends, or is it? Ok let’s recap on the flaws with Facebook. 1-nudes There has been many complaints in the past where women have had conversations with a man they only just fucking met, next thing they know their inboxes or pms have been inundated with pics of the phallic symbol! No decent self respecting lady wants to see it, put it away or chop it off! 2-bullying Let’s be honest, we all have our share of enemies right? But you just wanna go online and chat. Unfortunately despite your privacy settings, the only option you have is the ignore messages features, but should you one day check your other message box to see if let’s say, a long lost family member who is not on your buddy list tries to contact you they can only get through on that other inbox, they don’t have a phone number or email address for you yet so what do they do? So you go check to see if they get in touch and bang, before you know it, your enemies have found you and your pms are full of hate-FUCKING FAIL. 3-Facebook is possibly the most controlling and manipulative of social media ever to hit this planet! Some people just want to make new friends, even with strangers, After all that’s how you make friends in the first place, The olive branch is delivered, the recipient decides to accept, and from there can determine a whole new social relationship, be it common ground, interests or hobbies right? On the other hand not everybody was to be social with strangers and may feel uncomfortable with that hand of friendship so they just may decline politely and walk away! Now Facebook is like that, But they got Add or Block. Now You will get some that will accept others might block you, But sometimes the Facebook algorithm will not even let you add people you have known for years, it will often issue warnings and if you try to make too many new friends it will restrict your account by what we often call Facebook jail, which is an algorithm put in place to limit people’s activity on this site, so really it’s the kind of social network that won’t let you be social. And who wants to be told who they can and can’t have as friends? Not something a British person wants to be told by an American is it? There is also a freedom of speech issue on here. Nobody wants to be trolled or told what to do by politically correct morons. But because of strict features in place on this site you can’t have an opinion, I have noticed incidents where someone has posted a perfectly innocent comment or photo on here, And some spiteful troll has reported it! Thing is Facebook is all automated, it doesn’t have moderators doing a Santa clause watching for who is naughty or nice, it has a bunch of codes and algorithms that tell it that. Or does it? People have been reported for posting something perfectly harmless as a pet pic or something else innocent, but along comes some spiteful bastard and it gets taken down for violating community standards! But you will get some dolly bird with a selfie showing a bit too much, and you try to report it, Facebook comes back with, it doesn’t go against our community standards, How fucked up is that? Now the upsides to Facebook jail is if you get a bully or someone doing something inappropriate on there they are sent to Facebook jail! Only problem is they are let out later to re-offend! 4-Inbox or Pm I have to give Facebook it’s due, It does completely filter out porn or nudity on the timeline,you try to post anything sexual on your main wall, be sure it will be taken down. But what about the personal messages? Five gets you ten that some of you or most of you on

here have had some kind of outside harrasment in PM! You have had porn bots, nudes,threats or other kinds of unpleasant stuff, you try to report it but before you get a chance to screen shot it as evidence, your cyber assailant has removed the message via this new fucking un-send button! Now un-send is quite handy if 1-you sent a pm to wrong person 2-you had a typing error Or 3-you sent a file or msg in error. But let me tell you the problem with it. As stated if you have had for example some perve showing off his dick, before you can get a chance to screenshot and report it he romved it, so really the un-send button is not very helpful! 5-privacy Facebook has had repeated issues regarding human rights and privacy. There’s been numerous reports where your data and accounts are leaked to third parties, this is unacceptable. 6-bots These are bloody pests that spam your inbox linking you to paid porn sites, scams or malicious content and malware and all because Facebook leaked your private data! Media Facebook never seems to pay much attention if you post your favourite music via YouTube. But what if you want to share a favourite song on your timeline in the form of an MP3? And why not? It worked for MySpace users! But try to do it on Facebook and they come down on you like a ton of bricks regarding copyright warnings! Now what puzzles me is years ago when Facebook was less than its greater size, they used to have a feature called sound bytes, you could upload an mp3 on Facebook, but then they took it off, they also took away good stuff like when they used to have an active chatroom app, bit strips and a few other kool apps they decided to fuck right off! And after all if you are just posting an mp3 of a song you like on your wall, and you don’t plan to make profit from it, then wtf is all this copyright bullshit anyway? 7-safety I personally don’t feel that Facebook is completely safe for anybody to be honest. It doesn’t have appropriate safeguards. Trolls will attack you sometimes on group pages just for having an opinion, and admins to not always take much notice, and if you get an admin that is in agreement with the trolls you are screwed! In the past Facebook has been a haven for Islamic groups to radicalise others on here to join terrorist networks and still is today! Facebook has been subject to crime related posts before now! 8-video calling Now this feature always bothered me. Ok you can go live on your timeline where your friends can see, but did you know other people can see you even if you don’t have your settings on public? This is because of privacy leakage and cyber criminals know your every move! Video in inbox is even worse, It’s a haven for perverts to put on a show and again is monitored by cyber criminals! This is why Skype and zoom are probably your best bet when video calling, sometimes WhatsApp and TikTok are not completely safe! 9 Lack of features I noticed that Facebook is kind of drying up when it comes to games and apps,also at the time it had an active chatroom, only thing is it was driven by flash player which generally now is obsolete! 10-ads All wel and good I suppose if you want to advertise a business to hundreds of people on Facebook yet it very seldom regards this as spam, or you will get the odd troll complaining that it is, yet if you try to post your service in multiple groups, Facebook will attribute this to spam and restrict you. This is because Facebook monetises itself with ads from all kinds of sources in and out of itself! So you dare not try to promote outside their promote ads feature-FAIL! So do you still love Facebook now? But consider this! Before you go slating something by someone, ignoring it or scrolling past it because your ego is to high and you think you are too good to sit up and take notice, I want you to bear something in mind! Now regardless of my 10 thoughts on the negative side of Facebook I can’t tell others not to go on it or twist their fucking arms up there backs to go elsewhere, But theres always this thing where you give something a

chance or a trial, and you never know you might actually like it, but if you don’t then at least you took it into account! There’s a lot of ignorance out there from people that slam something or dismiss it just because it’s something not well known, but if I recall right Mark Zuckerberg had not bargained on Facebook becoming the social giant it is now, he essentially developed it just as a network to go on the pull or for hookups! But look at it now, we all have to start somewhere right? So here goes! Imagine a new social network that does not control you. Would never tell you your limits unless you did something inappropriate. Would never allow porn anywhere. A network that has superior features such as apps, games,upload ability for audio and video, with new content added everyday? A network that you control. So I hereby present to you. BUDDYSCAPE What is Buddyscape? Buddyscape is an all new social network from the UK It was founded as a hobby just to see if I had what it took to build a social network, And make it run! It’s really only just starting out,so it’s not really well populated yet but who knows? Time will tell,always does! Rome was not built in a day but all roads lead to it! Features:- 1-No ads, porn or bots! 2-100% Non profit, all services are free! 3- No annoying ads! 4-Buddyscape is monitored by real people-yes real human beings! Non of this stupid bloody code stuff, but although we cannot monitor your private chats, We do expect you to tell us if something is wrong! 5-No Facebook jail here-just 3 warnings and an instant ban thereafter! 6-better safety This goes for adults and minors, if anybody feels somebody is making them uncomfortable or unsafe then one word from you will result in an instant ban,And thanks to no un-send feature you have ample time to screenshot evidence and send it to us for examination from the appropriate authorities! 7- Privacy is paramount We do not use your personal data We do not sell it or pass it on! We don’t even use bloody cookies! 8-No video calling This is more of a safety feature than anything else, And should be regarded as a better experience for both adults and children, and as we do not monitor private chats we can’t tell what is going on, although the lack of video calling features on Buddyscape may deter some from wanting to join, It will also deter those who have sexual intentions toward adults and children. And with other video calling apps like zoom or Skype it’s not really important for it to be there! 9-Friendly to all devices and easy to navigate! There isn’t an app of this on AppStore or play store right now, but one is in process of development! That being said, Buddyscape is fully mobile and tablet friendly with all features running as they should! 10-content Buddyscape has Apps, Games and a chatroom with content updating almost every day! You may upload any music or media you like as long as it is relatively clean! Also includes Spotify integration! See Terms and conditions when signing up. Any questions? Give me a shout! Stu! www.buddyscape.net Stuart Henderson-Founder/CEO.

[thegeminisage]

i realized i had been typing up zelda blogging into notepad for like a week plus without posting, cause i didn’t wanna post everyday once i finished the main story? but then it got SUUUPER long. i waited for it to kinda taper down since now i’m mostly down to completionist stuff, and since it has, i’m gonna post it & just do small posts if i decide to blog abt anything else.

it feels rly weird not to zeldablog now

i ran into a blue? silver? lynel and got trapped fighting it on my way out of hyrule castle AND KILLED IT!! yay!!

also im going back to the mountain to check out that glow

i checked the shrine out next to it, since i was only activating them near the end and not DOING them

and they've gotten way more complex

now i understand when the monks commend your resourcefulness like before i was like, pls. that was way too easy. literally anyone could have done that

i went to the lake at night and it isn't glowing ): idgi did i see something else? does it only do that from a distance? on certain nights? i could see it from SO far away...

o my god theres a GOLF minigame the camera angles even do the thing

fucking fuck dinraal showed up WHILE I WAS PLAYING GOLF 

i MISSED him im so mad i couldnt fast travel away bc minigame!!!

WOW AND HERE COMES THE BLOOD MOON WHICH I WAS WAITING ON AT THE LAKE MOUNTAIN im so pissed i fuckin hate golf at this point its faster to finish than to run all the way back and quit :|

i finished golf but the blood moon just turned into?? a normal moon??

ah okay the glow is random and it's a rare mount!! thank god it wasn't just me losing my mind lol

haha i went to kill the shock arrow lynel just to see if i could and it only took like less than a minute with atk+ armor and decent weapons/shields

plus i'm just better at that special timing stuff now

figures it wouldn't happen til post-game

wtf another blood moon only a few nights later???

i read it was super glitchy but i never really realized until i was paying attention...

aww i bought a house!! maybe link and zelda can live there until the castle is restored YES THEY WILL BE MARRIED SOMEDAY

it's a cute quest i wish i had brought enough rupees to buy all the furniture in it

anyway like. it's super nice to have finally beaten this game's story?? i feel like now i don't have to Rush, i can stop and poke around and explore just like i want, tbh i kinda wish i had done it sooner

anyway im done for the night but i think i will rack up a bit more blogging before making a post i don't wanna be making one every day anymore

——

okay so im gonna wait for the blood moon at this shrine

ive been reading that its random and glitchy?? but had i never read any of that i would have been SURE it was just every full moon, like clockwork

so maybe i'm wrong or the internet is

anyway i have enough fire arrows and wood to camp for a full 10 nights, after which im bailing lol

OH FUCK CANCEL EVERYTHING A SHOOTING STAR

I WONDER IF I CAN FAST TRAVEL TO IT??

only one way to find out

I CAN!!!!!

tonight's a halfmoon...if it's waxing then only 2 more nights, if the blood moon is the fullmoon

waning - 6 more nights :/

and who even knows if the blood moon is the full moon...

i've been reading so much and there's so much i was aching to do while trapped in bed that i don't know where to begin...! yet i am waiting at this dumb shrine, haha

i think i wanna to the terrytown quests? tarrytown? where you build a town, those sound so fun, but ofc i need rupees

three-quarters moon! pleeease letthe next one be a blood moon, i say for once in my life lol

oh no...full moon but no blood moon ):

ugh i do not WANT to camp here for a hundred years

i suppose with the nearby shrine i can get to it fairly quicky but not quickly enough for my liking...once the moon rises you only have literally like two minutes before it leaves

so i have to notice it, get out there, and get naked in less than 2 minutes, without warning :/

ok yeah no this is stupid i'll just do something else while i wait

ah, but what! this is what i was talking about earlier, where do you even BEGIN

i could go back and solve shrines, but puzzles are only fun for so long, i wanna explore and there's so much left to see

i could also rupee farm hahahaha

and for better or worse i do eventually wanna get all the korok seeds...

actually i think i wanna fight minibosses?? which is so weird but i feel like i can take em

i know the silver lynels will kick my ass from reading tvtropes but i can take the others!!!

i also read about the lon lon ranch ruins, which i either missed or didn't realize what they were...i don't have a clue as to where they are, but i wanna see them, i know i'll be Sad

omg people startle when i get close to them wearing dark link armor

oooh i was wondering what this big circular tower was...man i havent seen ANYTHING in hyrule field

apparently there are monsters inside...i see a blue lynel? silver lynel? who knows

but i fought one before, so maybe i can take it

i WAS wanting to fight stuff

camera says it's silver, tvtropes says silvers are harder than calamity ganon himself

but the ones that aren't red all look alike to me, so i have no idea which kind i fought in hyrule castle...and my sword had superpowers then

the problem is all these OTHER monsters...no way could i take them on all at once

so i gotta go around and pick them off first without being noticed if i can

omg i cant drop the master sword when electrocuted ahaha nice

oops i dropped a lizalfos down there with the lynel....lmao maybe i better just go fight him before i fuck up anything else

ah no it's coming back on its own. well done

ok, got em

man, wouldn't it be just my luck if the blood moon rose NOW

tbh if it did i would have to abandon this entire thing, which i would, reluctantly, just so i wouldn't have to wait anymore

ooh god he saw me i was hopin for a sneak attack ;w;

ok here we go i guess!!

i did it!!!!

it actually wasn't that bad, tho it got a bit dicey a couple of times

so much of this game is like, your buffs and armor and weapons, i've had harder fights against weaker foes just bc i wasn't properly equipped

but learning to dodge and use my shield a bit better certainly didn't hurt

tbh it looks like most of what i wanna do requires rupees, so i should go farm some i guess!

boring, but you know

apparently i was wrong about the music in goron city and the gerudo areas and they ARE the classic tunes...i just didn't hear it??

AAAAH the satori mountains are glowing!!

;w; i caught him

what a freaky-lookin boy

i wish i could keep him!!

jesus fuck the blood moon came up and i idled at the screen without looking, god, the ONE TIME

i bet i'll never make it in time but i gotta try

dark link armor will make me move a BIT faster at night for what its worth but i dont even think i have revali's gale ready jfc

thank god i made it with just a few seconds to spare

yikes its lightning af outside so im gonna quit for now

——

aww tarreytown looks so cute so far!! i wanna build it up ;u;

lol i hate when you know a guardian is nearby and can't find it even tho i can fight them now my heartrate is still so jacked up

——

god the tarreytown sidequests are so pleasant and relaxing like

i havent felt so calm playing this game since...i don't think ever

and like, they talk about the yiga clan and the monsters outside

and if i were a person with more time i would write the cute genfic about how tarreytown gets put under seige but their location makes that hard and they fight off the bad guys

it's always sunny there!!! no matter the weather elsewhere :')

also i finally did break the hylian shield cleaning out the guardian room on maze island and i got a replacement there......for3k, but still

anyway im finding all the chests from the shrines i missed and one is in the plateau ): my heart

like, i can't believe i used to think this mountain was massive, this plateau was massive. it's so small compared to everything else. and so lonely ;_;

like, i miss it, weirdly, but i miss the version that had the easy enemies and the old man and where when i looked outside of the walls it was all very misty and i couldn't even comprehend the true size of this world

so: nostalgia, i guess

——

jesus FUCKING christ i went out to see the ranch ruins with epona and i got attacked by a guardian, a yiga clan member, and two silver bokoblins on horseback

FINALLY fought them off, terrified the entire time something would happen to epona, and i got attacked by three stal moblins

fought THEM off and there's a stal bokoblin on a stalhorse! but i can't catch it or ride it because of all times, the blood moon is rising!! j e s u s c h r i s t

now i've gotta get on my horse and get the hell out of dodge before those things come back to hurt her

i was thinking of a nice relaxing-if-sad trip before bed but no i gotta come back on FOOT to kill these guys AGAIN and then bring her back during the DAY so we can properly look around

who KNEW this would be so awful, jesus

okay update i did get on the stalhorse bc i have about 30 seconds to snap a cool pic (no way i can ride it out to whatever stable i need for the quest...even if i could leave epona here, it's much too long of a trip) but fucking hell dude

FUCK i took too long it rose epona and i are STILL HERE LMAO (((:

i didn't know if i should get on epona and ride for it or teleport to the stable and then board her

i teleported and it looks like she's still safe bc they boardered her ;_;

i took her back out and gave her a bunch of apples ;____; my poor brave girl

lol as if that wasnt enough its about to start lightning

ugh i'm coming back tomorrow and cleaning that place out good and fucking proper

i'd kinda like to do it tonight but it's already so late and i don't feel well and it would take a long time and also be a bit stressful probably

at least now i know where to find lots of stalhorses lol

although if you think about it they're there bc a lot of horses died

aaaaand i'm sad again

(super mad i didn't get pics on my in-game camera of the horse, but the snapchat pic i snapped of dark link riding it under the blood moon was still pretty damn cool)

——

w o w

i kinda wish i had been able to bring epona, but i couldn't—it's so dangerous here

but after clearing it out and actually getting to look around, uh

this is brick-for-brick the most faithful recreation of oot's lon lon ranch

and i am SO sad

ugh i just had to restart an entire shrine bc i dropped my korok leaf at the last second bc i was trying to open all the chests and i had to go back and get my good spear that i had to drop to get the korok leaf in the first room...but i needed the korok leaf to get back to the end!!!!!

i hate the weapons system in this game sometimes i won't lie like sometimes it's really good and sometimes it drives me bonkers

oh my fucking god lmao

i can't even RESTART the shrine bc the leaf was in a CHEST which is now empty. holy shit

like, that is NONFUNCTIONAL

they should have had a tools section for leaves and axes and shit i swear to fuck bc i always drop korok leaves as soon as i can bc i don't ever use them to sail and i have so little room and there's so many weapons...jesus christ

i made a huuuuuge list of everything i need to fully upgrade all my armor. it took hours but i think i did the math wrong

remember when i said i was never going back to eventide? well here i am! i'm farming bokoblin guts/general monster drops lol and i knew there were a bunch here :|

but i'm better armed now! so it should be a cakewalk

even red hinoxes don't give me much trouble these days. we'll see

sniped the upper camp no problem with some pretty basic bows. don't know WHY i sniped it, i could have fought them...

haha just kidding. yes i do

time to fight the hinox, i suppose

tbh this is giving me trauma flashbacks lol

duuuude theres a lil star by this hinox's name!!

does that mean the game keeps track of which i kill.......awhile ago the fang and bone guy said he wanted me to kill every hinox and i'm like "fffft yeah right like the blood moon wouldn't come up halfway through each and every try"

but maybe that doesn't matter O:

now i can use stamps to only mark hinoxes i HAVENT killed............interesting

unfortunately i've also been stamping lynels, and i'd hate to take stamps off just bc i'd killed something...man

i wish i had more kinds of stamps and the ability to USE more stamps, geez

i could kill all four moldugas first and see what he did before deciding if it was Worth It

this doesn't make me feel like a badass and i'm not actually getting any great drops. i just have war flashbacks and feel slightly creeped out and anxious. so i'm leaving

holy fuck i finally got the rubber armor and duuuuude it really is shock proof! i got struck by lightning and it knocked me off my feet but only took a quarter of a heart!!!

——

guess i should make a list of taluses, hinoxes, and moldugas i KNOW ive killed :|

it won't be comprehensive but i wanna keep track of it, sigh

i'm trying to farm bokoblin guts but this one area is like all these high up bridges and platforms and they ALWAYS fall so every time i have to fly down and climb back up :|

this place was from one of the coolest parts of the trailer though i really like it

i thought foolishly to knock them all off and then go down and get them. of course they'd despawned by then </3

——

I FOUND KASS IN THE RITO STABLE? HE HAS A WIFE AND KIDS BACK HOME??

like tvtropes spoiled that for me i'll admit but im still cryin...hes so homesick!! he fulfilled a promise!!!! kass buddy i'm gonna clear those shrines for you ;_;

also update i get medals for killing all the things so ofc i gotta do that if i want 100%

i Dread the getting of the korok seeds i just dont know if i am Capable especially knowing there's no reward

like, i'm trying to get all the shrines done before i finish off the sidequests bc once i finish off the sidequests i am not gonna wanna play anymore, the story stuff and exploration stuff will mostly be over, my drive to keep going will drop dramatically, so like

gotta do the shrines first so i actually have time to WEAR the super cool armor i get

otherwise it would be sidequests, shrines, armor, but then no more playing lmao

——

I GOT IT AND IT'S BEAUTIFUL

I MAY NEVER WEAR ANYTHING ELSE

(thats a lie i gotta wear other stuff until i can get this upgraded bc the stats are so low...but its BEAUTIFUL)

——

i did all the stables so why won’t kass come see his daughters? ;_;

oh ok i had to go get the cache

AWWW BUDDY

he finally knows it’s me!! furthermore zelink #confirmed thank u nintendo this is probably the most overt it’s ever been tbh

——

finally fully upgraded my armor & i never wanna see another dragon again

they kept failing to spawn where they were supposed to and the only one who spawns reliably/is easy to hit/doesn’t send scales flying 100000 miles away is farosh, naydra and dinraal are absolutely horrible, naydra in particular has nowhere you can fast-travel to, you have to fast-travel to a nearby shrine and then walk a good distance no matter where you drop in at. naydra was also the most finnicky about showing up when she was supposed to

at least i figured out i can use a flame sword instead of fire arrows to light campfires

getting honey was pretty easy there’s a fuckton next to those hinox brothers and acorns are kinda everywhere

the beetles were a little more tedious but once i put them on my sensor not too bad...the worst part was turning beedle down every time he wanted one because he does a LONG speech that is SUPER annoying after the 100th time and you’re just trying to buy arrows

anyway im gonna go test the defense

surprise! lynels and guardians can still kick my ass!

everything else seems to fly right off me tho so that’s something

it’s been ages since any hinox or talus was able to put up a fight against me

i’ve still only killed about half of each tho like :/ damn they are everywhere & there’s sooo many

——

i’m lowkey wondering if i will attempt to 100% this game like i do Not look forward to getting all those fucking korok seeds, at that point it is no longer fun, yk, and the reward is so stupid

also i saw a video about having to visit every major named place on the map as well

and both of those things obviously guarantee that you see EVERY INCH of this huge and exapansive and beautiful world, but i feel like if i forced myself to keep going and doing it i would learn to hate the game a little bit lmao. lowkey feel like that’s adding fake hours onto your game for something that stop being fun and turns into absolute tedium, but i guess i can understand wanting to give completionist players a reason to see EVERYTHING

we’ll just see how i feel - i still have quite a few sidequests left, and while i don’t wanna burn thru them too quickly (bc again, after they’re over my interest will drop dramatically) i also still wanna fight the minibosses and upgrade as much of my armor as i am able to

but like, who the fuck has time to farm 160ish star pieces...? not me my dude and that mmo-type drop rarity is like :/ i disapprove, that’s like...cheating. but anyway. we’ll see how far i get