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thewordworrier · 10 months

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A Cardboard Box Of Photos Of The Life We Made

Word Count: 6,913 words. (This might’ve gotten away from me a bit.) Notes: ~ Title from “Timeless” by Taylor Swift. ~ I was quite inspired by Timeless [Taylor’s Version, From The Vault] for this one. Clearly. And I already have a piece hidden in my files regarding photographs, Shelly’s grandparents and the video shoot for The Ghost Of You. So that song reminded me of that too. ~ While this is another of my “inspired by Taylor’s new music” pieces, this one isn’t really a continuation of the other two. Sometimes you’re just not inspired that way, and I am pretty mentally invested in Shelly’s MCR-U timeline at the moment. ~ I do have an almost complete list of the contents (it’ll make sense when you read it.) ~ There are parts of this that are actually gross (affectionate) - like, who gave them the right? ~ I am not totally happy with the ending but it works.

~#~ [Setting: During the massive tour for The Black Parade.] It was close to the time of the holidays - Thanksgiving had been a quiet, to themselves at home, kinda affair because they were just so tired and worn out. Especially after all of the dramatics of ProRev. And it looked like the break for Christmas might end up going the same way - they both loved touring; Gerard loved performing for the fans and Shelly loved watching her band come alive on stage while she worked in the background to make sure that everything went as smoothly as possible. She would also fully, readily, happily admit that she had loved watching them perform and having them sort of flirt with her while they were on stage - because they all did it. It didn’t matter if she was down in the ‘press pit’ or if she was watching from the side stage. She’d get winks and blown kisses and all kinds of flirty behaviours from all of them. They had been especially “bad” during the ProRev tour, especially flirty and suggestive. Then again, there had been a reason for that. She had tried to get them to tone it down a little but, when they had been so insistent, how was she supposed to stop them? Plus there was something just so… Extra swoon worthy about the way Gerard looked at her while he was a) on stage - because he wasn’t normally so obvious with his affection in public, and b) dressed up like that - all suited and booted and so damn delicious. He almost looked like he was glowing. Shelly knew that he flourished on stage, but she’d never seen him look like that before. It was insanely attractive though. Naturally, Gerard checked in with Shelly when it came to their plans for Christmas, and he was (maybe not so secretly) relieved when she, albeit shyly, admitted that she was kinda looking forward to some time without other people. “I’m tired Gee,” she said softly, snuggling against him as they cuddled on their couch. “I’m enjoying the tour but there’s so many people, all of the time.” “And so much travelling,” he added with a nod. “Mm, it might be nice to just keep our feet on the ground for a little bit before we have to do it all again later,” Shelly hummed happily as he pressed kisses to the top of her head. “Okay. We’ll stay home if that’s what you want.” Shelly moved away from him so she could look at him properly. “Babe, if you wanna go home and see family for the holidays, or whatever it is you want, you can do that. You don’t have to stay stuck to my side. We can do things apart.” Gerard hooked his fingers under her chin to draw her forward so he could press a kiss to her lips. He felt her smile as he kissed her and that just made him smile. “I know we’re not attached at the hip,” he said quietly, tucking some of her hair behind her ear. “I know that. But, I have spent almost every holiday of my life so far with my family. I would very much like to spend this one with you. Especially if it’s a quiet one in this otherwise really loud period of time.” “Are you sure?” Shelly whispered. He nodded. “Very sure, love. Very sure. We don’t even have to have a traditional holiday meal if you don’t want to.” Shelly tilted her head at him. “I mean, I’ll help you cook, obviously, I’m not gonna leave you to do anything alone, that’s not fair.” “Well,” she said with a slight grin. “Maybe you should leave me to do the cooking.” Gerard fake gasped. “Shelly, that’s rude!” She giggled and kissed him gently. “Might still need you to carry things and be all manly and stuff though.” “Hmn. I’m sure I can manage that. I think I can throw in some emotional support and maybe even some jar opening as a bonus.” She laughed, he grinned and they settled down to relax some more. ~#~ Not too long later, still during their ‘winter break,’ obviously, Gerard returned to the bedroom after showering to see Shelly already mostly dressed and ready for the day. “Shell, did you have plans for today?” “I have a few errands that I need to go out for,” Shelly checked her make-up in the mirror. “I did wonder why you were putting on make-up,” Gerard wrapped his arms around her from behind, pressing a kiss to the side of her neck. “Not that you need it in the slightest.” “You’re so biased though,” she hummed and giggled, making him smile. “Nope. You don’t need it,” he leant his chin on her shoulder. “But I’m never going to stop you wearing it if that’s what you want. I don’t own you or control you, love.” Shelly hummed happily and almost purred at him as she leant back against him. “And I love you for that, really. But, I gotta be presentable in public.” “Do you want me to come with you?” Shelly twisted in his arms, leant hers on his shoulders and raised an eyebrow at him. “And have my tasks take twice as long because you get distracted, or because we get a little bit mobbed?” Gerard grinned guiltily. “Yeah, okay, fair point…” “Besides,” she leant up on her tiptoes to kiss him gently. “How am I supposed to look for your Christmas present when you’re with me?” “Babe,” he kissed her back, holding her tightly. “You don’t have to get me anything, you know that.” “Gerard,” she gave him A Look. “I’m going to buy you a gift. You can’t stop me.” He opened his mouth to try and counter that, only for her to continue. “More to the point, you won’t stop me, because you know that gift giving makes me happy. And you love seeing me happy.” “Hmm,” he nuzzled her and kissed her jaw. “That’s true. Seeing you happy is my favourite thing after all.” “Sap,” she mumbled, unable to keep the smile off of her face. “Did you need me to get anything for you while I’m out?” “Hmmm,” he held her a little tighter. “I don’t think so. I can always go out by myself tomorrow or something. Do you want me to do anything while you’re out?” Shelly thought about it before shaking her head. “I don’t think so.” “Okay. Well, you can text me if you think of something, and I can text you if I do too.” “Sure love,” Shelly unwound herself from him and went to finish getting ready to go out. He was on the couch when she left, not without first kissing him goodbye and whispering ‘I love you’ of course. And, naturally, he said it back. Not just because it was true, but because he knew that she always wanted those to be the last words she said to him, to anyone. If something bad were to happen while she was out. It was why she never went to sleep angry, it was why she never left a building in the middle of an argument. And he got it, really he did. The door shut behind her and he looked around the apartment. It wasn’t bad, it was fairly nice, actually. Just because they weren’t in it much while they were touring, didn’t mean it couldn’t be nice. It was enough for the pair of them, as they were. Obviously, if their relationship continued from strength to strength, and levelled up, he’d buy a house. Something on tv startled him out of his thoughts and he was reminded that yes, it was December. It was nearly Christmas. And the apartment didn’t have any decorations up. He was sure that they had some - not many, but some. He could do that while she was out, then he could maybe see about picking up anything they were missing when he next went out. He still had to find Shelly a Christmas present anyway, so he’d have to go out at some point. Not that he really knew what he wanted to get her, but he believed that he’d know when he saw it. Gerard finished his coffee and started hunting around for the boxes of Christmas decorations he swore they had. He initially thought he’d found them when he found a box of neatly coiled Christmas lights and tinsel - yup, Shelly had definitely put these away. He probably wouldn’t’ve taken the time to wind them that neatly. His moment of victory was brief because the box he pulled out after the tinsel and lights didn’t have decorations in it at all. Despite its size (just a little bit bigger than a shoebox, in fact, it might’ve been a shoebox in a previous life - or one that contained a pair or boots or something), Gerard had still been hopeful that it might’ve contained some smaller tree ornaments or something. Nope, nothing of the sort. It didn’t even have anything holiday related in it at all. Gerard knelt on the floor, carefully going through the box in front of him. The box was full of magazine clippings, newspaper articles, flyers, a copy of the ‘programme’ from the Helena video. Strange things - like a small bag of… Was that confetti? One of his dog collars from when he decided dressing as a priest was a good idea. (And, god, it really was.) Not so strange things, like guitar picks and a Revenge Era knuckleduster bracelet. And photos. So many photos. A couple of semi professional looking ones from performances but the majority of them were candids. Including one of her in the studio with them when they were recording Revenge. She had the softest expression on her face - full of sympathy but she also looked hurt, almost. He remembered that, actually. He hadn’t known that she was there until after he’d finished belting out Desert Song. He left the booth to join the others, to see what they thought and had come face to face with the tiny, cosily dressed blonde. And the others too, of course. She had looked at him like she had wanted to dash over and hug him, but seemed a little shy about it. (She did, later in fact, wrap him up in a tight hug when they found themselves alone and the conversation turned around to the music again. He swore that she had tears in her eyes when they broke apart.) He hadn’t been aware that someone had caught that look on her face on camera. Just like that second photo Frank had taken when they’d been doing the ‘soldier's wallet’ photos during the filming of The Ghost of You. The first photo of him with Shelly was them looking at the camera - he remembered Shelly rolling her eyes slightly before doing it. But the second was of them glancing at each other. God, had they always looked at each other like that? He knew he’d looked at her like that for ages - there was even video proof. From the Helena shoot, specifically; the camera focused on Tracey teaching a suited up (god that had been hot) Shelly a dance move or two, and then it had panned over to where he’d been watching them. Well. He’d been watching Shelly specifically. She’d worn a suit! A well fitted, incredibly hot, suit! How was he supposed to not look? Gerard shook his head and looked through the box a little more. More almost-professional photos, group shots of them from before they headed out to awards shows, because Shelly always liked to get one or two before they left, in the relative privacy of their hotel rooms or whatever. Plus it meant that they could get one or two with her in them as well. More candids of her with them - individually, or in groups. A few of just him, maybe a few of her helping him with his make-up. He still enjoyed that, actually. This box was an inevitable treasure trove of the band’s history, he thought as he looked through it for a little longer. And possibly the history of their relationship. He knew that she was sentimental but… This was special. She’d been collecting this stuff since even before they’d gotten together - this was more for the band, their relationship was just a bonus addition. She really had always been in it for the music, for them. He knelt on the floor, slowly looking through the box for a little bit longer, until his phone chirped in his pocket, startling him. He quickly (but still neatly) put the things back in the box and put it back before getting to his feet and pulling his phone out of his pocket. Apparently it wasn’t an important notification, which annoyed him, but, on the other hand, it meant he could stop looking through this box that he thought was supposed to be hidden, and he could go back to hunting for their decorations. Because he was still certain that they had some. Gerard found the decorations not too long later and felt incredibly pleased that he’d been right. Sure, it was only a small tree, nothing large and grand like he imagined they’d have when they got their house - you had to have a big tree for the kids, you know? Once he’d dug out the smaller tree, he found the rest of their minimal decorations and started putting them up, pausing to make a note in his phone to pick up more Christmas lights, because he knew Shelly liked them. She thought a room looked cosier when those were the only lights on, and having spent a Christmas with her family where this sort of thing happened, he agreed. Maybe he could see if he could get some that had warm, white lights instead of coloured bulbs. She’d look good under that kind of light. He left the box of tree decorations for her to help him with - he knew that was her favourite part. She’d never really told him, but he remembered seeing her help her family with the tree in the second sitting room, that they’d left undecorated just so she could help them when they knew she’d be returning home for Christmas that year. When she realised that they'd left that tree for her, her face had lit up brighter than the Christmas lights he'd helped them untangle. He knew that she’d want to help with these ornaments, even if the tree was their little one. And he definitely wanted her to be the one to put the tree topper on. Maybe one day he’d be lifting their kid up to do it, because she’d totally pass the duty on like that. Gerard hummed a little to himself as he finished up with the decorations before going to make himself a coffee, standing in the doorway with it to inspect his work. He hoped that he’d done a good enough job for her, that she’d approve and not want to move anything. She deserved the best after all, and he just wanted to give that to her. Once he decided that actually, he’d done a pretty decent job, he settled down and started to make a list of what he thought they were missing. He knew for certain that he wanted to get some warm white holiday/fairy lights for the bedroom - they’d be nice around the headboard and they could stay up all year. He had the feeling that she’d like that. He was relaxing when she got home, all stretched out on the couch, completely engrossed in whatever it was he was reading. Shelly stood in the doorway, watching him for a moment, a small smile on her face. She could kinda imagine a small child scampering up to snuggle up with him while he read. Maybe he could read to them like that - she used to love it when her family read to her as a child and it was especially lovely when she was able to curl up on her grandfather’s lap as he read to her. She definitely wanted that for her own kids. She was so distracted by him that it took her a little longer to realise that their Christmas decorations had been pulled out of the cupboard and put up. Everything except the ornaments for their small tree. That went straight to her heart, and she wondered if he remembered. “Hi,” she said softly after a minute. Gerard almost jumped a little, but quickly sat up and put his book aside. “Hey, love. Successful trip?” Shelly hummed and nodded. “I think so, yeah. I managed to get all my errands done at least, but I still haven’t managed to find you a gift yet.” He rolled his eyes and crossed the room to wrap his arms around her. “You still don’t need to get me anything.” “I know more of what I don’t want to get you than what I do,” she smiled as he nuzzled the tip of his nose against hers. “I’m still going to get you something.” “I don’t need anything,” Gerard kissed her forehead. “I have you, we have a home, we have our friends and family. We’re financially stable and I’m very happy. Are you?” “Of course I am,” Shelly replied without hesitation. “But that doesn’t mean I don’t want to buy you things. You know you’re not gonna win this.” “Hmm,” he squeezed her gently. “Yeah, that’s true. You are very stubborn.” “Hey, it helps me in my job, so it benefits you.” “It benefits all of us. You do such a good job at looking after us.” Shelly hummed again for a moment as she snuggled against his chest. “I see you’ve been busy while I’ve been out.” “Oh! Yes, I figured it might be a nice thing for you to come home to,” he leant his cheek on the top of her head and turned her so she could see the living room again. “I think we’re missing a few things - I either can’t find them or we just don’t have them.” “Probably don’t have them,” Shelly nodded against him. “How do you think I did?” Shelly unwound herself from him and wandered further into the room to have a look. “I figured I could pick up anything we didn’t have when I go out tomorrow,” he continued, watching her. “You did good babe,” Shelly stopped by their little tree. “But… What’s the deal with this?” Gerard hummed and rubbed the back of his neck. “I remember spending Christmas with your family. I remember how much you lit up when they showed you the undecorated tree in the back living room.” Shelly blinked rapidly, just looking at him. He swallowed and continued softly. “I know it’s not the biggest tree, but I know it’s kinda tradition for you and, even though you’re not at home right now, I didn’t want to take that away from you.” “I didn’t… I didn’t realise that you’d noticed that,” she said quietly, smiling at the memory. “How could I not? You shine when you’re with your family anyway, you’re completely in your element, but you were almost fluorescent when you realised what was going on.” She crossed the room very quickly, wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him hard. His hands found her waist pretty quickly and he kissed her back just as hard - why wouldn’t he? She was his woman and kissing her was his favourite thing. Okay. One of his favourite things. “Stop it,” she whispered. “Stop what?” He tucked some of her hair behind her ear. “Being so… So…” She waved a hand. “So perfect.” “Oh, Shelly, you know I’m not,” he let her go as she took a step back. “I’m nothing of the sort.” She gave him one of her looks and he grinned back at her. “You’re a flawed human being, just like the rest of us,” she said gently. “But that doesn’t stop you from being perfect for me, Gerard Way.” Gerard just stared at her until she kissed his cheek and made her way back into the hallway. “Stay there,” she called over her shoulder. “Don’t follow me.” He did as he was told, even going to sit back on the couch and back to his book for a moment, which meant that he didn’t see Shelly taking bags from the front door to… Wherever she hid things when she had surprises tucked up her sleeve. “Okay,” she said a few minutes later, returning to him. “That’s all sorted and put away.” “Oh!” He put his book down and looked at her. “I wanted to ask you something actually.” Shelly frowned and sat down. “I don’t like the sound of that…” “It’s nothing bad, I promise,” he kissed her cheek and moved to his feet. “I’ll be back in a second. You can stay there.” “I was gonna,” she said with a grin. “My feet hurt a little bit.” Gerard laughed softly, retrieved the box and made his way back to the living room. “Um,” he said quietly as he sat next to her, putting the box on the table. “I was looking for the decorations and I found this…” Shelly looked from the box in his hands to his face as soon as he returned to the room. When it clicked what he was holding, her eyes widened and she looked a little worried. “Um,” she echoed softly. “Did you… Go through it?” “Yeah,” Gerard admitted. “I only opened it because I thought it was Christmas stuff.” “What made you go through it?” Shelly asked, reaching for the box to put it on her knees. “Curiosity,” he said, watching her open the box and start to go through it herself. “Are you mad at me?” “That depends,” she said quietly, looking at some of the photos. “On what?” He shifted his body to face her a bit more. “Whether you think it’s creepy and weird at all.” Her voice was so quiet he almost didn’t hear her. “Shell…” Gerard gently grabbed her chin to make her look at him. “Why would I think that?” She went a little bit pink. “Because it is kinda weird?” Gerard hummed, leant forward and pressed a kiss to her lips, his hand cupping her cheek and giving it a gentle, affectionate squeeze before he moved it back to his lap. “I don’t think it is. I don’t think any of the stuff you have in that box is weird.” “Y- you don’t?” She blinked rapidly and glanced back down inside the box. “Nope. It’s not like you’re keeping used tissues or old socks or anything.” Shelly pulled a face and he laughed, edging closer to wrap an arm around her waist. “No,” he continued. “All this stuff makes sense to me. And, it helps that I know that you’re a very sentimental little creature.” She looked up at him with a raised eyebrow. “Creature?” “Part lion, part regular cat, part teeny tiny woman,” Gerard grinned down at her. “Frank would say part fox, and I’m inclined to agree.” Shelly went pink but she smiled. “He’s a flirt and I’m surprised Jaima lets him get away with it.” “She only does it because it doesn’t upset you,” he kissed the top of her head and watched her go through the box some more. “She’s a good woman and deserves some kinda award for putting up with Frank.” Gerard laughed and leant his cheek against her hair, before reaching into the box and pulling out the little bag of confetti. “I did wanna ask though, what’s this from?” “The video for Welcome,” Shelly tried not to giggle as he let out a ‘ohhhh!’ before he put it back. “I originally didn’t pick up that much, but I think we were all shedding it for a few hours afterwards, so I gathered that too.” “Why the confetti though?” “Because the video was huge!” She looked at him. “I knew the album was going to be Really Something Else.” “Like you knew that we would be?” Gerard said softly, tucking her hair behind her ear. She nodded once. “Like I knew you guys would be. And I haven’t been wrong yet, have I?” He smiled. “No ma’am.” Shelly giggled and leant up to kiss him once. “You really don’t think it’s weird?” Gerard shook his head as they went back to looking through the box again. “No. No, I really don’t.” “I’m just so proud,” Shelly whispered as she picked up a photo of the band receiving a ‘Best Album’ award for Three Cheers. “I’m so proud of you guys I could burst. And I wanna remember it all.” “I love that about you,” he picked up a different photo; the one of her watching him sing Desert Song in the studio. “I love that you’ve always cared.” Shelly went pink as she looked at the photo he was holding. “Yeah, well, of course I have. It’s always meant something to me. I mean, look at my tattoo.” Gerard picked up a couple of newspaper clippings - one smaller one from much earlier in their career, and one larger one that was more recent. “The bigger we get, the bigger these clippings get.” “I know,” she beamed. “I love it.” “I love you,” he kissed the tip of her nose, making her giggle softly. “And I’d be just as proud even if we weren’t together,” she said. “Our relationship has nothing to do with any of that.” “I know. You were proud here,” he gestured to any of the photos of them receiving awards for Revenge. “And we weren’t together.” Shelly hummed in acknowledgement and smiled as she picked up one of her and Gerard sat close together at a table with his art stuff spread in front of him. She was clearly listening to him as he showed her something he’s been working on, and she was truly listening because he had her full attention. He had a smile on his face and he was obviously talking with his hands, so they must’ve been sitting there together for some time for him to get to that stage. “I think Mikey got that one,” Gerard said. “You’ve always listened like that.” “Especially to you when you’ve been willing to talk about your art,” Shelly almost snuggled against his side. “It’s a very special thing when a creative type wants to talk about their work with you.” “Now it’s your turn to stop it,” he muttered into her hair as she shuffled the box contents around for a moment. “Nope, shan’t,” she grinned up at him and smiled when he kissed her. “There’s one more thing?” “Mm?” She held up the priest collar, which upon further inspection now she’d turned it over, had a lipstick print on it - right where the white would’ve shown between the the two sides of his shirt collar. “You don’t think me keeping this is weird?” Gerard glanced at the lipstick mark and the memory of how it got there, or rather what happened afterwards, came back to him rather quickly. He must’ve blushed because Shelly giggled. “Absolutely not,” he grinned. “Hmn! I didn’t think so,” she put it back in the box and closed the lid. “Put that back for me? Unless you wanted to ask me about anything else in it?” He shook his head, picked up the box and went to put it away, returning to cuddle with her for a little bit afterwards. Not for long though, as soon Shelly was letting out a soft “oh!” before getting up and darting back into the hallway. Gerard watched the doorway with a raised eyebrow as she reappeared with something behind her back. She rocked on her feet slightly with a bright smile and giggled when she saw the look on his face. “What’ve you got there, sweetheart?” Shelly giggled again. “Well, it’s not exactly a Christmas gift. And it’s not technically just for you, but I bought them while I was thinking of you…” Gerard pushed himself to his feet and took a few steps towards her, stopping when she took a step back. “Oh? And what do you have there, pretty girl?” She smiled and moved the bag in front of her, standing holding onto it with both hands - like when she stood with her hands clasped in front of her. Gerard’s eyes followed her hands, then dropped to the logo on the bag. He recognised that logo - it belonged to one of her favourite lingerie stores. Personally, any lingerie store she chose to shop at was his favourite because she looked incredible in anything, but he recognised the logo from that one as he’d sometimes find her browsing their online store. Sometimes she’d even let him pick. “Well,” she lifted the bag up closer to her face, opening it and looking inside. “There’s a couple of things in here, so…” “Are you suggesting what I hope you’re suggesting?” He tried not to sound too optimistic - normally when she bought multiple pieces it meant that he got a fashion show. “Well that depends,” she closed the bag and looked at him. “On… What?” Shelly couldn’t prevent the grin from spreading across her face. “Did you bring home any of those feather boas?” ~#~ When the band reconverged to continue the tour, it didn’t take Gerard long to get everyone in the same room. Except Shelly - she was off doing whatever it was she did, working her magic powers, but that suited him just fine. “What’s the deal?” Mikey asked, settling in a spot next to Lux. “Yeah dude,” Frank settled in a chair. “Where’s the fire?” Gerard glanced around to make sure everyone was listening and that Shelly hadn’t snuck back. Once he was satisfied that it was safe, he exhaled slowly and started telling them about the box; the photos, the newspaper clippings, (he might’ve left out the fact that she kept one of his priest collars. They didn’t need to know that bit) - the confetti and the comment she’d made to him when she’d been explaining that - about how she knew that the album, the video was going to be Really Something - like she knew that they were going to be that too. The others got a bit choked up at that, actually. “Lux,” he said. “Did you know that she’s kept a pair of your broken drumsticks?” The other woman smiled and nodded. “Yeah, of course. She asked for them, so I gave them to her. She said she was proud that I’d played that hard.” “Did you also know that she kept the friendship bracelet you made her?” Gerard tilted his head. “It’s actually tied neatly around the drumsticks to keep them together.” Lux softened considerably at that. “I… Didn’t know that, no.” “I’m not sure why you’re surprised,” Ray said kindly. “We all know that she’s super sentimental.” “She’s still got the keyring from her first Band Mom day,” Mikey added. “I bet she still has the bear too,” Frank grinned, looking at Gerard - he’d been the one to get the bear after all. Gerard coughed slightly. “Yeah, she does. But, she’s also still got the preserved rose petals from that first Band Mom’s day too. Picks from you guys,” he nodded to the three guys. “From every time you changed the designs. She had a knuckle duster bracelet in there too.” “Is it the same one she wore to death?” Frank asked, his eyebrows raising as Gerard shook his head. “A new one? She could sell that for a fortune.” “She won’t,” Gerard continued. “She said she keeps gathering all this stuff because she wants to remember all of it, the band’s entire journey. She’s so fuckin’ proud of us.” “Yeah,” Frank swallowed the little lump in his throat. “Yeah, you can tell when she talks about us to others - you can even tell if you’re reading something she’s written about us.” “You can feel the pride coming off of her in waves,” Ray added with a nod. “She cares, she’s always cared.” Gerard nodded at his brother’s statement before continuing. “At the bottom of that box were a flyer and magazine clipping regarding the gig we first met her at. And her ticket.” “Her tattoo not enough?” Frank said with a grin. “Apparently not, but I don’t even have it in me to mind,” Gerard shook his head. “Where are you going with this?” Lux asked gently. Gerard hesitated for a moment, chewing his bottom lip. “I… I guess I never really realised just how much… How much she is, you know?” They looked at him, slightly confused. “How much she values the memories, how much she cares and has always cared, how much she truly believes in us. Even before we got together - she’s always felt like that.” “She fights for us,” Ray said. “She fights for what you believe in, even when you forget and need a reminder,” Lux grinned, gesturing to herself as she remembered what she’d been told about the conversation around the table when they’d been looking to hire a drummer. “How it’s never been for the paycheque,” Gerard continued, nodding to Lux. “Like, I knew, but it’s never really sunk in like this before.” The others nodded at that. “About the money thing…” Frank said slowly. “She told me once that she doesn’t really need it. She never has. It’s nice, but she doesn’t need it. She’s never shown me proof or anything but I’ve never asked her for it. I just believe her.” “She’s just so genuine, she’s so honest.” Gerard listened to the hums of approval before he cleared his throat softly. “Guys, I almost asked her to marry me over Christmas.” There was a few seconds of silence while that sentence sunk in for everyone, but as soon as it did he was hit with a wall of noise. “Dude!” “What?!” “What do you mean ‘almost'?!” “Seriously?” The vocalist chuckled nervously and took a step back from the onslaught. “Um! Well, let me explain!” Lux folded her arms and stared at the older man. “This better be good Gerard!” Gerard felt incredibly nervous under the drummer’s stare - she was incredibly protective of Shelly and he was pretty certain that she wouldn’t be afraid of punching him if his answer wasn’t adequate. It was a fair feeling on the drummer’s part - everyone was pretty protective of Shelly, just like she was protective of them too. But he was way more scared of the girl from Arizona than he was of any of the other guys. “Okay,” he started, addressing Lux more than the others, even though he knew the others were listening and judging him just as much as she was. “This whole situation with this… Memory box? Just really dug in how much I love her, how much I love every single part of her.” Lux raised an eyebrow at him and he swallowed. This was worse than being introduced to Shelly’s family as her boyfriend for the first time. “I mean! Obviously, she’s gorgeous! Look at her!” “I do, quite frequently,” Frank said with a grin, quickly shrinking back and almost ducking behind Ray as Lux glared at him. “But it’s more than that; I love every part of her personality,” Gerard glanced at Lux. “C’mon Lux, you know that I do. Don’t look at me like that.” She nodded. “Continue.” He sighed and shook his head slightly. “Going through that box just reminded me of a lot of things that I’d temporarily forgotten about, and it just… Cemented exactly how much I love her and…” The others looked at each other before looking back at him. “And how much she’s it for me now,” he continued softly. “I don’t want anything else with anyone else. It’s all with her or nothing. I wanna help her continue filling that box with all of those memories.” Mikey smiled a little to himself at his brother, but his smile turned into a grin when he saw Lux almost melting out of the corner of his eye. She was trying not to squeal, he could tell. “That doesn’t explain how you almost asked her to marry you though,” Frank pointed out. Lux blinked rapidly, almost having forgotten about that. “Oh! Yeah!” Gerard cleared his throat. “So, it was after this memory box thing, maybe about a week? I don’t know. But we were sitting on the couch in the evening, music playin’, the Christmas lights on, I think she was reading? I don’t really know, but she just looked so peaceful and so beautiful, and I kept thinking about that box and everything she’s done for us, all the things she’s handled -” Frank was about to make some kind of dirty comment, but a glare from Lux made him close his mouth again. “And I nearly just blurted it out!” Gerard continued, covering his face and huffing for a moment. “Just, sat in our apartment on a random evening in December, while she was wearing sweatpants and an oversized t-shirt! She never would’ve forgiven me!” There was a collective snort. “Yeah, she would’ve,” Ray spoke first. “Because she’s so in love with you it’s disgusting,” Mikey continued. The others nodded in agreement. “That’s not the -” Gerard shook his head. “I only wanna do this once, you know? And, more to the point, Shelly deserves better than that. She deserves the best proposal I can manage - she deserves the whole show, you know? More than letting the question slip out with little preparation or thought. She deserves the world, and I wanna give it to her.” He huffed again softly as he looked around his band, looking over at Lux last. “Is that a good enough reason, Miss Lux?” “You’re damn right she deserves the world,” she rubbed the corner of her eye a little, brushing away a sneaky tear. “And yeah, she deserves a better proposal than that!” “Even though she wouldn’t mind, as long as it was heartfelt,” Frank added. “But still!” Lux continued. “Now you gotta do it properly!” “I know,” Gerard nodded. “Don’t screw it up!” “Believe me, I’m going to be doing everything in my power to get it right, but I -” A knock on the door cut him off and Frank gave permission for the person to enter. The door opened and Shelly returned to the room. “Shell, you don’t need to knock, let alone wait for permission,” Frank said with a frown. “You know that.” “I always knock and wait for permission,” she shrugged, crossing the room to be closer to them, to Gerard specifically. The singer automatically wrapped an arm around her waist, gently pulling her closer to him before he replied; “but it’s just us.” She snorted. “Even more reason to knock and wait. You could be up to mischief.” “I’m hurt and insulted,” Frank grinned at her. “Everything okay? All your spells cast and traps set?” “Traps?” Shelly looked at him innocently. “I don’t know what you mean.” “I think he’s referring to the fact that you always seem to get your way for us,” Mikey added. Shelly hummed. “Mm, no traps. I’m just very good at what I do.” Gerard tried not to blush too much, because his mind definitely didn’t keep that clean. Unfortunately, Frank noticed and grinned. “Gerard seems to agree with that statement.” Ray rolled his eyes, Mikey groaned and Lux threw a tied up Oreo wrapper at him. “Stop it,” she said. “Don’t be rude.” While this was happening, Shelly glanced up at Gerard who just smiled at her. She giggled, leant up a tiny bit and kissed his cheek before turning her attention back to the others. “Kittens,” Shelly said gently and affectionately, a mild warning tone creeping into her voice. Gerard glanced at Shelly when he heard the start of that ‘mom tone’ - it didn’t get used on him, oh no. She had a completely different tone of voice for him if or when he misbehaved… But hearing the ‘mom tone’ didn’t help him with trying to forget that he’d been thinking about them having kids a lot as of late. Lux stuck her tongue out at Frank, who did exactly the same back. “Children,” the tone in her voice was a bit more obvious now. “Behave yourselves.” “Frank started it, Shell,” Mikey said. Shelly hummed. “Don’t care, finish it yourselves or I’ll finish it for you.” “Yes mom,” Frank pouted, getting an eye roll (but also a smile) from Shelly. “Sorry Shell,” Lux said genuinely. “‘S alright,” she said, handing out some paperwork. “Just behave for a little bit, so I can get these details, then I can run off and you can go back to teasing each other. Or whatever mischief you were up to before I walked in.” “Why do you always assume that we’re up to something?” Frank asked, taking the sheets. “Because you normally are and I feel like this time is no different.” Gerard shuffled in his spot, still next to her while trying not to look at anything other than the papers in his hand. The others, meanwhile, shared looks. “Oh Shelly,” Frank said with a grin. “You have no idea.”

#She Speaks #She Writes #my writing #Gerard Way x FOC #Gerard Way x OC #July 2023

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bearsinpotatosacks · 10 months

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Grieving the Living - a Sloose fic

After his and Carole's divorce, Goose is finding it difficult to adjust to his new life. Ron helps as much as he can.

~~~~

For a prompt list, this was "What are you doing up?" "My personal heater went away"

Words: 726

Sitting up at the table, he watched the cars go past in the distance. San Diego was much different to Texas. Bustling people, even at three in the morning. Lights flickering in the background as he took a sip of his water. He could’ve had something stronger but thought against it. Even though Bradley was halfway across the country, in DC, he still thought about what would happen if he found him half drunk in the kitchen.

Which is why he was a little confused when the floor board creaked behind him. Nick turned around to see his gentle giant rubbing his eyes and pacing toward him from the bedroom.

“What are you doing up?” he asked.

“My personal heater went away.” Ron came up behind him as Nick turned around, wrapping his arms around his shoulders and adding. “Besides, I could ask you the same thing.”

Nick held his hand as it rested on his collarbone and kissed it. He tilted his head to rest on his arm. He thought of Carole, all those miles away raising their son, and wondered if she was feeling this shift as well. The divorce had only gone through recently and despite it being a mutual agreement, it didn’t mean this felt at all natural to be at home without her or Bradley there.

“This all feels a little weird-” he gestured to the house and Ron. “Being here, no Bradley, no Carole, and they’ll never be again, even though we both get to do what makes us happy, and she’s not out of my life, it’s still a whole section of my life that’s over now.”

He sighed. “I guess I’m just grieving. Is that stupid?”

Ron moved away and sat on the chair next to him. Bags hung under his eyes as he smiled at him in a half distant way. There was a way in which he slumped as he sat that made Nick wonder whether they should even have this conversation now or wait until the morning, he looked as exhausted as he felt. Yet, their hands stayed together as he got settled.

“‘S not stupid, ‘s normal,” he mumbled. “One period of your life ended, ‘s gonna take time for you to process it.”

Nick nodded, Ron then added. “And you’re missing your kid too, I mean, I know that you spent a lot of time away from him before but it’s still different from this, there was a reason why you couldn’t see him before and now it’s like you could but you’re being stopped, it’s a new kind of missing him.”

He thought of his baby boy, now seven years old, was living all the way in DC. Nick wanted to carry on flying, Carole didn’t after the accident, and after trying to make do in a position there, they both agreed that they weren’t happy. But, as Bradley had already settled into his school and made friends, they thought it wrong to move him again. It didn’t mean Carole had full custody, though, Bradley was set to visit during the holidays, and they called almost every day.

“I don’t really have any other advice, it’s just something you’ve got to get used to, unfortunately,” Ron said, getting up.

“Yeah-” Nick joined him. “I’ll call him tomorrow, though.”

Ron hummed and dragged him toward the bedroom. “But bed now, please.”

He didn’t say it like a question, more of a statement, a fact. His hands held onto his wrists as he pulled him. Ron was always so secure, maybe it was because they were both RIOs and their whole job was to keep someone else safe that the people who were drawn to it were instinctively protective.

They didn’t have a very big apartment, they were renting somewhere rather than staying in Navy barracks, it meant that Ron could rough him up without worrying about being kicked out, so their bedroom wasn’t too far. Nick was also still adjusting to living in just an apartment rather than having a whole house.

Their bedsheets were ruffled and wrinkled, thrown about as they’d tossed and turned sleeping. Nick crawled back in with memories of Bradley on his mind as Ron’s arms wrapped around his waist, his cold hands touching his arms as they reached some kind of equilibrium. He hoped Bradley was sleeping well.

I'm coming to the end of this list now! Only 2 to go!

Also Carole's in DC because I'm setting up my new power throuple Charlie x Penny x Carole or Charenole. So Carole bumps into Charlie, they start dating, and Penny joins the party when her dad, stationed in DC, gets sick and she goes to care for him. So, Carole ends up happy, don't worry.

Also Ron is Goose's gentle giant and you can't convince me otherwise. Thanks for reading!

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dragons-and-dwarves-are-nice · 1 year

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To the Shadows that Cry Witch /// Chapter 8

Good evening! (For me anyway) This one is going to be another short one, but I promise the last two chapters of Part 1 are over 1.5k words each so you'll get plenty for the final two parts! If you're enjoying it so far, do message or comment to be added to the taglist. Enjoy :))))) <3

Summary: Welcome to Middle Earth! Though not in a nice way, you've got some challenging things to experience. Enjoy your stay!

Tags: Kíli x oc/reader - Fíli x oc (POV to be written soon) - Thorin's company x ocs/reader (platonic) - fluff - angst - SUPER slow burn - crack - Bagginshield

Word Count: 948

Warnings: Mentions of Minor and Major Injuries from last chapter, People waking up and panicking a bit too much.

Taglist - comment or message to be added!

PLEASE START FROM THE BEGINNING IF YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY OK LOVE U

Want some background music? Check out my Soundtrack Playlist!

Now available on Wattpad and AO3 (please let me know if links aren't working)

< Chapter 7 // Chapter 8 // Chapter 9 >

PART 1: Chapter 8 -

How it feels to chew five gum.

Jamais Vu (definition): translates to ‘never seen’. When one experiences being unfamiliar with a person or situation that is actually very familiar.

Twisting around in my sleep was a bit of a mistake, seeing that I ended up leaning on practically every injury I had.

Not to mention the loud voice that sent Kay into hysterics. But what really had my eyes shooting open was that she had accidentally planted her foot right where I felt it in my ribs. Broken bones remember?

Sitting up on my good arm, I faced over my shoulder to where I had heard Kay land unceremoniously on the floor, her legs the only thing I could see kicking about as she tried to untangle herself from the covers. I blinked at the early morning light, getting my bleary eyes to finally open up properly, when I froze.

Well, we were certainly no longer in the middle of nowhere, instead a completely strange place, as if we had gone back in time. By the looks of it, it was definitely a bedroom of some sort, though it looked as if it had shrunk ever so slightly, if the feeling of my feet hanging off the edge of the bed answered anything. It was also concerning as I had no recollection of arriving here, and I doubted Kay would either.

Regardless of how much it resembled the definition of an age old English cottage, the one thing that stood out to me was the weirdest feeling that I somewhat knew what this place was. A familiar place that I had never been to. Thankfully, my questions were answered when I looked towards the foot of the bed.

My face went slack with shock and all I could do was stare. He stared back most of the time; his eyes darting back and forth every once in a while.

Kay was still flapping around, though now only her arms as she brought herself to her feet. She looked at me, then to where I was staring, only to fall silent herself, her eyes stretching wide as her mouth fell open.

The miniature version of Martin Freeman himself was stood at the foot of the bed, looking like this was the last place he wanted to be right now.

He became easily flustered, redness crawling up his neck and over his round face. We were staring after all, gobsmacked, in absolute silence at him as if he was some sort of zoo animal. I opened my mouth slightly, chapped lips cracking after drying out all night. I wanted to say at least something before this non-existent conversation become even more awkward as it was. I didn’t get very far though, since anything that once was died back down my throat, and I pressed my lips back together.

Seeing that we weren’t going to move at this moment, he stuttered out that breakfast was ready, before darting out of sight, scurrying down the hall before either of us could say a word.

It wasn’t like either of us were planning to say anything, considering we spent the next twenty seconds or so gaping at the empty door frame, before slowly turning towards each other.

I was the first to rouse from our mutual state of shock, silently mouthing ‘WHAT THE FUCK’, as I pointed my finger wildly, whipping my head back and forth at Kay and the door.

‘I DON’T KNOW’ Kay mouthed back as she flailed her own hands around in confusion.

I frantically beckoned Kay towards me, waiting until she had clambered back on the bed before slapping my bandaged hand on her shoulder.

“That isn’t the actor.” I murmured.

“Uh-huh.” She nodded.

“He’s far too short to actually be Martin Freeman.”

She nodded her head eagerly in anticipation.

“Do you realise what this means??” I hissed. She stared, waiting. My eyes became wide and unfocused, as it finally dawned on me.

“We’re in Middle Earth?!?!?!”

Kay took a deep breath, seeming to hold it in as she tried to contain herself. However, we were soon both flailing slightly in excitement.

“Holy shit you’re right.” She answered with a laugh, as she bounced around the bed, eagerly taking in what was around her. I wildly grinned back with the same enthusiasm. Placing my hands on my lap, I took them off less than a second later at the unusual feeling. Looking down, I let out a whine at the sight of dried mud on my trousers.

“Though we didn’t exactly arrive in the best of conditions.” I added, flicking away bits of mud and dried blood. Kay looked down at her own self and let out a groan at the sight of her cargo trousers on the verge of becoming completely ruined.

“Forget that.” she replied, picking at the material. “If this place doesn’t cure my goddamn depression, then I really don’t know what will.” I let out a short laugh at the statement.

The sound of teacups clinking together from deeper in the house somewhat managed to knock us out of our state as we realised we were currently in someone’s home as guests. And very dirty ones at that.

Kay swiftly slid off the bed onto her feet, picking up anything that her unruly wake up technique had knocked off the mattress. I followed suit, standing up to stretch as much as I could without disturbing my fractures. Though that proved to be a mistake as I ended up colliding my head with the ceiling, Kay letting out a cry of laughter when I yelped in surprise.

Now weary at the height of things, I tried my best to recall what Bilbo had stuttered out about where to go, then turned to lead us both through the door into the rest of the hobbit’s home.

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

< Chapter 7 // Chapter 8 // Chapter 9 >

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Can't wait to see you on the 12th May for Chapter 9! Also please comment if you want to be added to the Taglist <3

Taglist:

@opheliasdrowningg @mrsdurin @g1gglef1t @qmabailor @jupiterrdarling @emstar07 @geewoo-ko

(Message me if your tag isn’t working)

#the hobbit #the hobbit x reader #the hobbit x you #the hobbit x oc #kili x reader #fili #kili #fili x reader #hobbit x reader #fili x oc #kili x oc #thorins company x reader #thorins company #To the Shadows that Cry Witch #big soup #kili durin

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neon-moon-beam · 2 years

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I’ve already made a post about how including Ingo in PLA overshadowed the other Wardens, and in some ways the main plot for many people.

I’m wondering now if the Daybreak Mission from the Pokemon Day content update was a response to that. These are my thoughts regarding that, and what we might see in the future.

Spoilers follow.

Please don’t reblog and add, or message me with theories or headcanons. I don’t like to discuss these things with people I don’t know.

Bl*nkshippers dni--I will block you.

While we did have some moments with the Wardens during the main storyline, Ingo is the one we spent the most time with. The player travels with him and is told more about his background (ironically despite him not remembering it) than the other Wardens.

The content update didn’t answer anything or give any sort of conclusion to PLA, and in fact, posed even more questions; we’re never told why the Massive Mass Outbreaks occur at all and why in precipitation, did a Zoroark and Zorua impersonate Mai and her Munchlax for some cakes? and why did we never get to see and/or fight them? What is going on between Palina and Irida, did Palina really spite Irida by making her go to a place that’s too hot for her, and will they make amends? How does Munchlax know where and what the outbreaks are by eating Aguav Berries, which are not found in Hisui other than by being dropped by Pokemon during outbreaks, and how/why are the Aguav Berries getting to Hisui? However, it did fix the issue of Ingo not acknowledging the player at the Training Grounds unless spoken to or a Pokemon was sent out to interact with him.

During the Daybreak Mission, every Warden gets a callback, even if it’s a short appearance...except Ingo. All of them appear to be doing duties related to being a Warden, except Arezu, who has kept her status and may still tend to Liligant from time to time but primarily runs the salon, and Ingo, who has in-game never said or done anything regarding Sneasler since introducing the player to her.

We certainly spend a lot of time with Mai, and Lian and Melli have their moments, and while we get some new interactions with other Wardens, we still don’t see too much, such as Palina and Iscan, despite their relationship being allowed. I’m wondering if they decided to show the most popular Wardens aside from Ingo, though I’m not sure which Wardens are the most popular. I know Arezu is up there, but she still only had a short scene at the salon. The developers also probably kept the content short, because if they added too much content, it would require a price tag and be a DLC.

Ingo finally appears after the mission is complete, saying that Kamado asked him to create more battle styles. He’s not acting as a Warden, he never aided us while investigating the Massive Mass Outbreaks, he’s just...back running a Battle Facility. And while there are more options for battling him and others, we don’t get any new, personal dialogue from him, just dialogue pertaining to the battles. I was hoping to see him in the Coronet Highlands or somewhere else (as several of the Wardens appear in different areas from their Nobles), or new dialogue hinting he’d return home at some point, but he was sort of an afterthought.

I think Ingo’s inclusion in PLA was both because they could make a pun in Japanese and as a hint/hype for revisiting Gen 5, but it backfired in more ways than one. The first way is that new and existing Submas fans were upset over the separation and how distressed Ingo seems to be in PLA and the lack of confirmation that he will go home. The second is that people tended to focus on Ingo, Submas fans or not. Everyone who knows or finds out who he is wants to know why he’s in Hisui, how he got there, and if he’ll go home. GameFreak has been silent on this, and the official PLA guide book’s art pages only posed more questions, including whether or not the concept art made the final cut and is canon, as well as exacerbated the panic. Rather than enjoy time with other Wardens and experience Hisui, many people just want answers regarding Ingo, as well as more time with him. For some people, his inclusion and lack of a favorable resolution for what seems to be more of a subplot than a cameo soured their experience with PLA.

There’s actually a really easy solution here; send Ingo home. We don’t have to see it, we just have to know it will happen, and then see him being OK however they revisit 5th Gen. As of the time I’m typing this, PLA as a whole has yet to truly conclude. The main plot and player character are left hanging, as is Ingo, and a few other plot points from the main gameplay as well as the Daybreak Mission. This game doesn’t seem to know when to end or how, and for players, that’s very frustrating. I’m hopeful for a DLC, but it seems GameFreak is mostly moving on to Scarlet and Violet. Maybe we’ll get lucky and they’ll use an ad or something for the Battle Subway, with Ingo intact, to hint that we can expect to revisit Unova in the games after Scarlet and Violet.

I’m also hopeful because they seemed to notice everyone saying Ingo didn’t acknowledge the player at the Training Grounds and were wondering if that was intentional, and responded by fixing it. They also have to be seeing the constant subtweets asking if he will be OK any time they tweet about PLA. He’s also gone back to running a Battle Facility, almost seemingly in favor of being a Warden, suggesting he’s moving towards going home. His memories seeming to slowly return and dissatisfaction not knowing his past is also promising, as Anabel (who many people compare Ingo to), never gets her memories back and seems to happily settle into her new life. They’ve always been aware that Submas are fan favorites, and to permanently separate them would be a move worse than just trying to tease revisiting Unova and overshadowing all the other characters and for some people, the main goal of the game. They also had an event recently in PokeMas, which may be hinting that he’ll be OK.

I doubt we’ll see Emmet added to Scarlet and Violet for whatever reason, as a lot of people have been hoping. Pokemon so far, with rare exceptions, hasn’t spanned major characters/organizations across regions or generations, and has never done this with plot points. And they’ve likely realized from the reactions to PLA that adding Ingo and/or Emmet to any game other than running the Battle Subway or unless they’re intended to be major characters, can and will overshadow the other characters and plot. Scarlet and Violet’s stories were probably finished before PLA was released, and new games tend to focus on their own plots, the new Pokemon, and new characters. Adding Emmet searching for Ingo, or as a villain (this goes against his entire canon characterization btw), or having a plot point that reunites Ingo and Emmet would definitely eclipse the main, new story the developers want to tell with Scarlet and Violet. And maybe that’s part of the point of the Daybreak Mission; they put Ingo in PLA and unfortunately he became a major focus, so they added some extra content to attempt to bring the focus back to the story they wanted to tell about Hisui and the Wardens.

#submas #ingo pokemon #subway master ingo #warden ingo #emmet pokemon #subway master emmet #ingo #emmet #pla #legends arceus #legends arceus spoilers #for all the frustration i have with this game i did enjoy it for the most part #but the story was probably the weakest part and it needs a proper conclusion #and ingo needs to go tf home!!!

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azzys-personal-projects · 4 months

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ATTENTION D&D PLAYERS AGED 16-18

I have a proposition for you. Are you wanting to play D&D but either have no one to play with or don't know how? I have some great new for you! I am an almost 17 year old writer/DM, but recently I've been experiencing some writers block. Where do you come in? Well I've had an idea, I would like to write a series based on a D&D campaign I've already created, I just need players! The idea is that I will record each session, and then write out a chapter based on the events of that session, here on tumblr! A quote book included separately and everything!

Here's the catch: I don't like being in/dming for groups larger than 4-5, I start having issues focusing on everything and it's no fun sitting there waiting for your turn in combat.

If you are interested in playing please message me so i can get you into discord and on the D&D Beyond campaign!

Also, if you're too lazy/don't want to create a character yourself, I have four characters premade for this campaign that you can claim under the cut:

ALL ARTWORK IS AI GENERATED ON THIS SITE!

Character 1:

Audhilde | Level 8 Rogue/Thief | Air Genasi

(Claimed by irl friend)*

(Afab gender fluid ) Background: From a young age their family lived in poverty, when their father disappeared travelling to another city, they started to take things of value to support their family, only for their brothers and mother to disappear as well. They had met the twins at a young age, and became fast friends, only to grow apart as they reached adulthood. They spent years searching for their friends, but struggled to even feed themselves some days, leaving them unable to travel in hopes of finding them.

Character 2:

Ajack | Level 7 Wizard/School of Evocation | Variant Human

(Unclaimed)

(AMAB He/Him)

Background:

Growing up fairly wealthy in the House of the Hearth with his twin brother, he grew to be a kind man, often being found in the poorer neighborhoods to play with the children. He always enjoyed the company of Audhilde, and has always seen them as a great friend. When his family moved cities he was put into the school of Evocation, but no matter what he does he always seems to fall short of his twin brother, Alack. If he'd been granted the time, he would have tried to find Audhilde, but his duties never granted it, leaving him to wonder what had happened to his good friend.

Character 3:

Alack | Level 8 Wizard/School of Evocation | Variant Human

(Unclaimed)

(AMAB He/Him)

Background:

Growing up spoiled, he never really cared for the company of the poorer children, except for Audhilde. Something about his brother wanting to be friends with her made him also want to be friends with them. He always had to find a way to be better than his brother, one upping him constantly to win over their parents favor. He only ever spoke to the children that Ajack did, even if he didn't care for his company, due to the fact he struggled to make friends of his own. When the two had moved so they could attend the school of Evocation he never bothered to search for his old friend, not seeing much of a point. Though he'd never admit it, it did hurt him to see his brother so upset about his lost friendship.

Character 4:

Taniew | Level 8 Cleric | Wood Elf

(Unclaimed)

(AFAB She/They)

Background:

Growing up in the temple of Eldath she was taught to always help others in need, however, she was not given many opportunities growing up to interact with anyone outside of the temple, growing up lonely and awkward. She eventually finds her way to the main city, still following the teachings of the Temple of Eldath, but also trying to find her own path and (hopefully) make some friends.

*Unlcaimed characters will become NPCs and when a character is claimed the player tag will be added in place of an unclaimed tag

Player limit: 1/5

#A Tale of Seven Cities #d&d #d&d 5e #d&d character #d&d oc #dungeons and dragons #azzy's works #creative works #fantasy #fantasy world #ttrpg #dnd #dnd character #dnd oc #dnd campaign #dnd5e

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plasma-packin-mama · 1 year

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💕 self-love time! talk about which ones of YOUR creations (edits, artworks, fanfics) you like the most then send to other creators to do the same 💕

AWWW hi Astra, thank you!!

Hmm I feel like a lot of times as of late, I'm already a bit unsatisfied with my works as soon as I've finished them. It's a good thing because it means I'm learning, but not the best feeling anyway. I think it's an important skill as an artist to learn to love your works even if you see flaws with them, because there's always some element to appreciate, and creation in itself is beautiful. Here's some things from this blog that I still like:

Of course I have to put my comic here. I'm not too happy with a lot of the art in it to be completely honest, but I know that I worked very hard on it, and it was a big step for me to put something so personal out for others to see for the first time. I'm generally very private about my identity, so I was very nervous to broadcast something that talked so directly about that subject, even if it was actually about Delilah's story. (I've never tried to hide the fact that I put a lot of myself into Delilah lol) I still go back and reread the feedback I got on that comic sometimes because it makes me so happy to see others connecting with and feeling "seen" by my work. I never expected so much kindness. I think the reception of this comic is stored forever in my brain like one of the Core Memories from Inside Out. Thank you so much to everyone who left me feedback of any kind on that work, because I'm sure it means more to me than you really expected.

This is from very early in my blog when I first met @/thebigolbee and I worked SO hard on it because I felt so lucky that such a great and popular artist like Bee was doing an art trade with me! 😭😭 About nine months later I think we draw each other's OCS about as much as we draw our own- so I guess it worked out lol! I spent a long time on the line art for this one and I think it turned out really nice :)

I'm very proud of the background in this drawing, and I think the characters came out cute as well even though they're just a doodle. I get lazy with backgrounds most of the time so it was a good exercise. It was fun to work on!!!

This was a drawing I did when I was really struggling with art, I tried to loosen up (the hardest thing ever for me lol) and just go with the flow and honestly, even though it's nothing too special I still just really enjoy something about it!!! It's fun I think! (I have to draw Delilah during that period of their life more...)

ACK. This Frankenstein drawing that I picked at for so long and eventually just didn't finish the background for. I really love the characters and the mood of the piece, even though i intended to add much more detail to the room they're in. I think sometimes it's ok to leave things "unfinished" instead of just agonizing over it and never letting it see the light of day.

Valentine's drawing. It really surprised me how this became one of my most popular posts because I didn't really expect anyone to notice it!!! I drew it 1000% for myself, because happy sparkly characters being happy together are my favorite to draw. But apparently everyone else also likes that! A good lesson. (Maybe it was just bc everyone loves Ms. Rae Jepsen's musical stylings as much as me...)

I'm really proud of all the art that I did for high fantasy au, but this one especially because I worked very hard with my markers and I feel like it came out well!! I'm really awful at utilizing color in an interesting way-- I get nervous about ruining stuff by adding the wrong color the wrong place, but I think I did really well this time!!

I think that's enough!! It was really nice to look back at all my old works - I was actually surprised by how many things I still like despite their age!!! I do feel very positive after writing this post, so thank you for sending this along to me Astra!! :] I encourage everyone to do this, really go through your works and think about what you've learned from each one and why it's still nice!!

#peepie art #<- if u want to browse ALL my posts hehe #ask #thedorkyastra

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topazshadowwolf · 1 year

Note

What if the guys taught Lyra how to play video games?

Whenever she visits the castle, she usually brings something with her. Pie, brownies, cake, cat hoodies, blankets, and whatever else she decided to bake or craft for the boys and Nightmare. She didn’t know why she felt compelled to do so, but she felt a desire to do this for them.

So, after all those gifts she has given, it shouldn’t have surprised her that the boys would give her something in return. Yet it was….

“What… is this?” She asked as she looked at the box.

“it’s a switch! here, we are going to help you set it up and show you the games we got for you,” Killer said as he held his hands out for the box.

“we don’t know where you go or do, but you can play it if you get bored now and then,” Cross added.

“you can play with us even in a different au, thanks to static strengthening the multiverse wifi signal,” Horror stated as he started to help Killer by plugging things in.

“or nightmare… he sometimes plays,” Dust added.

They spent the rest of the afternoon into the evening showing her the games they bought for her. The one Killer bought was about fighting giant beasts… that one hit a little too close to home for her, so she will not be playing it any further. Still, she thanked him as it would have been enjoyable if… things didn’t happen in her AU as they did. Cross got her a game that he said was an “RPG” with some interesting characters and a storyline that seemed a bit much for her. Horror got a fun racing game for her, and she did enjoy that even if she did horribly. As for Dust, he got her a game with a village of animal people, and she liked that one.

It was calming, easy to learn, and cute. According to Dust, Nightmare also tends to play this game at night when the others are sleeping. He learned that when he got up one night after being unable to sleep. On his way to the kitchen, he heard the soft noise of music. When Dust peeked in the room, he saw Nightmare sitting there, playing this game. Dust said that he then walked over and sat by him. Nightmare knew he was there, grumbled about how he should be sleeping in bed, then allowed Dust to stay there as he continued to play.

Naturally, Nightmare would not want anyone to know he had such a soft side. It made sense why he liked it, though. From what she has seen, Nightmare likes to collect things. He enjoys history and art as well. So, she could see why the dark skeleton chose to take an interest in the game.

It was time to sleep, but she wasn’t tired. So, she picked up the game system and turned it on. Reminding herself how it works, she got the game open and started. Shortly after she began playing, she got a phone call. It is so rare for someone to call her; she jumped when it started to play that little song.

“Hello?”

“heya… boss is playing right now,” Dust’s voice said.

“Oh! So am I,” She replied.

“yup, i can see that with my buddy list,” Dust said.

In the background, there was a deep rumble that she knew as Nightmare’s voice. The phone was moved, as Dust’s voice became more muffled, but she could hear him say, “i’ll help her get to your island… yes, i got the game for her… so you two could spend more time together?”

There was more talk from Nightmare, but Dust returned to talking to her, “anyway, you’re coming to boss’s island. here’s how you visit.”

…

It was very late when she finally went to bed… but it was a pleasant sleep. For once, she didn’t feel so completely alone.

#FuzzyNight #Lyra Toriel #Balance!Toriel #Nightmare!sans #Nightmare flavored Soriel #She wouldn't play much #I don't see her being much of a gamer #But I do thing she would enjoy Animal Crossing and Mario Kart

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sarah-skylark · 1 year

Text

This summer will mark the 35th year I’ve been into Star Trek. 35 years of fangirling TOS and TNG and everything else that came after. Which also means 34 years of shipping Spirk, even though those first few years it was more me thinking- wow, if one of them was a girl, this would be a love story!!! ( it was the 80s, people, and I was being raised hardline catholic).

So I was 11 and a half and I stayed overnight at my friend’s house a weekend she was at her mom’s and not dad’s house. She spent the two weeks before at her dads and came home obsessed with the Star Trek movies (ALL 4 of them!!!!!). She wanted me to see them. We rode our bikes past the (faaaaaar too expensive) blockbuster to the Pharmor grocery near Midway airport in Chicago to rent the tapes, made a bunch of popcorn and watched I, II, III, and IV all night.

I was hooked. Around the same time, my mom passed away after a cancer diagnosis. Star Trek became my comfort. In the world of Star Trek, my mom could have lived, I thought. They would have cured her.

I interlibrary loaned VHS tapes of the original series and tried to find it on TV. I started reading and buying the books from Crown books (which I could also get to on bike). I saw V and VI in the movie theater and had enough money to buy collectables when VI came out. I got all the cups from 7-11. I clipped articles in the paper. I sewed my own next generation uniform (red, though sciences were my thing). I made tribbles and sold them in a spot at the comic shop. I subscribed to the magazine and found pen pals in the back pages.

I discovered the existence of zines, and by the time I was in high school, I’d learned the comic book lady would have OMG SLASH zines she’d bring back from cons (which I didn’t/couldn’t go to) that i could ask for by asking if she had anything featuring The Premise.

(Remember that part where I said I was raised hardline catholic? Hahahahahaha yeah I was a bisexual teen not knowing what that was reading mostly Kirk/Spock hurt comfort. or even OT3 with bones. Yeah. That would’ve gone well if discovered).

I made a radio play parody where captain Pecan was protecting federation twinkies from Klingons and Ferengi and used the score music from IV and III in the background. ( Wesley got lost on the ship running around to the music from chekov’s run, fun times)

I made a part of a video where I turned my living room into the enterprise bridge made out of poster board. My friends grew out of Star Trek and I only had more fun with it.

Years after this, my dad remarried and while I was living in an apartment and going to college, stepmom threw out my entire Star Trek collection I had at home. I only had my 6 VHS movies, my scrapbook, a small amount of my own art, my pins, and the books Ishmael, How Much for Just the Planet, uhura’s song, Spock’s world, dwellers in the crucible, killing time, and doctors orders. Everything else, gone. All my zines, my books, my art, the model enterprise… gone. About 15 years later, I also discovered my card collection while cleaning out my dad’s trailer after he passed. They probably thought it’d be worth money.

—

It’s a different world now. I have my own things. I have kids, some of who are grown. I married a Star Wars fan (hilarious in many ways as we are fans of both now though I added Stargate to my fangirling to make a trifecta). I can find friends on the internet with the same ridiculous sense of humor as I have and the same geeking out I do. And I have new content getting created all the time to enjoy for the foreseeable future.

What a great time to be a long-term Star Trek fan.

Though I sure wish I still had those 7-11 cups.

#spirk #Star Trek #star trek tos #star trek tng #Star Trek history for me

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izzy-b-hands · 1 year

Text

There’s a moment or two of gentlebeard in this, but tbh? it’s v in the background bc the main focus is everyone realising that Ed does in fact miss Jack (we’re setting this past the Big Reunion Point, all of that has been squared away by this fic kdlfjsakj) and

That he might not be dead.

So of course they’ll need to go look, just in case, and ask around, bc even if he is dead, Ed deserves to know for sure, to grieve properly (even if he and Jack were pissed at each other at the time of Jack’s potential death, there are still Feelings, ya know?)

Happy ending with new crewmates being added to the team though!

Genuinely, this is all the best I can describe this. I entered a fugue state of some sort while writing this, I swear skfjdklafj.

---

“I’m not bothered by it,” Ed insists.

Multiple times.

Without being asked about Jack or anything in regards to Jack at all.

“He’s definitely not actually okay with it, is he?” Olu suggests, after the captains have gone to bed.

“No,” Izzy replies from where he’s wedged between Roach and Frenchie. “But I figured it would be best if I didn’t say anything, this time around.”

“You’ve known this whole time-”

“Look, what has being vocal gotten me in the last few months?” Izzy interrupts. “Would you be so eager to speak up and mention that your captain seems affected by the death of a...”

He frowns. “Jack was a lot of things.”

“Is he dead though?” Frenchie asks. “Like, I’m thinking about it now. Did anyone really check?”

Silence, minds churning away.

“I don’t recall that any of us saw his body,” Roach says slowly. “But he can’t have survived that.”

“Can’t he have? Would it shock anyone if he did?” Frenchie continues. “I say we keep an eye out for him first. Ask around at the next few ports, ask anyone we raid, anywhere we stop, we check.”

“Not a bad idea,” Izzy nods. “Worst case, he really is dead, and we can deal with that once we have it confirmed.”

They all lay back down to sleep, but no one actually sleeps.

There’s too much to wonder about in how even Calico Jack might have survived a cannonball to the gut.

“But have you actually seen him?” Izzy asks Jackie softly. “In the flesh?”

“How the fuck else would I see a person, but also,” Jackie replies. “I don’t like what that phrasing implies. I didn’t like him that way. Love the money he spent here, but otherwise?”

“No, I know,” Izzy says. “Just...it’s for Ed. We need to know for sure.”

“I can put word out,” Jackie nods. “He owe anything to Ed?”

“No, it isn’t like that. He just wants to know...to know for sure, if Jack is dead or not.”

“Most emotional ship on the water,” Jackie rolls her eyes.

“It isn’t the worst thing.”

“It isn’t, but I don’t allow crying in here. One person goes, then someone else asks why, they hear it and start crying, then I got a whole fucking thing on my hands,” she continues. “You know my rules. No exceptions, not even for Blackbeard.”

“Fair enough. You’ll write me if you hear anything then?”

“About all I can do, unless you want us to take him hostage, hold him here, and then write you so you can come here and see him yourself.”

Izzy ponders it. “That would work too.”

“Consider it done. If he isn’t dead, and if he isn’t weirdly greasy like last time.”

“Did you ever find out what he had all over himself?”

Jackie shakes her head, a grave look on her face. “And now, I don’t wanna know. Better not to know.”

Izzy nods, and thinks how ridiculous it is he almost misses those antics of Jack’s.

Almost.

“So, he did look like Jack?” Jim asks. “The guy you saw swimming near here?”

Their Nana nods. “Based on this lovely sketch-”

“Thank you,” Lucius interjects. “That’s from memory, by the way.”

“Really? What else do you draw?”

“Well-”

“This isn’t what we’re here for,” Jim cuts him off with huff. “If you see him again, write me.”

“I can do that. And in the meantime-”

“Yes, Roach is trying the cake recipe,” Jim sighs. “I promise. He said he’ll write to you if he runs into any issues, though I don’t know what fucking good that does-”

“Tell him to write anyway, I want to hear how it goes no matter what. Now, back to this young man with the talented hands: could I bother you to sketch my Jim before you go back to the ship?”

“I really don’t care,” Ed scoffs. “But the concern is appreciated.”

“Hm,” Stede remarks. “So, what are we naming the new kittens that Fang rescued?”

“Jerry, Jemaine, Jaclyn, Jack-” Ed pauses. “Okay, so I have been the one naming them all, but the names are a coincidence.”

“Look, I have to be honest,” Stede sits by Ed on their newest stolen couch. A nice yellow, but not overly bright, satin. “I didn’t care for him.”

“You don’t fucking say? I’d never have guessed it,” Ed smiles.

“But, that said...even if we don’t care for someone, when they die-”

“I think I know that,” Ed interjects. “That even if you didn’t love everything about them, even if you were really fucking mad at them by the time they died, you can still miss them and think hey, Jack would have loved those kittens, and-”

Ed stands.

“Ed?”

“M’good,” Ed grunts, but he won’t look at Stede.

“Did he like cats? I figured he was more of a dog person,” Stede continues softly.

Ed drops back down beside him, and into his arms. “He liked all animals, even fucking snakes. He used to get rid of them for me, and I took care of spiders for him.”

“Scared of them?”

“He’d kill me if I told you, but yeah. Not a lot, just enough that he didn’t want to touch them if he didn’t have to,” Ed replies. “Fuck.”

“Maybe I’d like him better if I knew more about him.”

There’s a beat before Ed laughs. “You almost said that like you meant it.”

“I do! Kind of,” Stede mumbles. “I’m sure he was...okay, sometimes.”

Ed’s crying, but laughing as he does. “You’ve got to stop; you’re killing me.”

“I’m trying!”

“I know; I appreciate it,” Ed wipes away tears. “This is really fucking confusing for me, this moment.”

“Lot of conflicting emotions.”

“Too many, arguably,” Ed sobs. “I don’t know that I would have forgiven him right off the bat, but-”

“You didn’t get the chance to find out,” Stede rubs his back and peers out the nearest window.

It’ll take the crew time to check the various spots they’ve asked or begged people to take mail for them. They’ve been gone all of half an hour, and he did tell them to shop and eat and relax a bit too.

But he’d like them to be back now, for Ed’s sake.

“I like your look,” a voice purrs. “I’m into the beige sort of thing myself.”

Jim turns. “How long have you been standing in the corner here? Not saying anything, waiting for me to notice you, like a fucking creep?”

“Actually, I just walked up,” Jack smiles. “I promise! Thought up my line a good six feet away.”

“And how long did that take you?”

“In my defense,” Jack slowly opens up his vest and lifts up his shirt slightly. “As you can see, I’ve got a bit of an injury I’m recovering from. Man has to take it easy, go a little slower, in times like these.”

Jim stares at the gnarled wound in his gut. “Weird question. What’s your name?”

“That’s...not a weird question,” Jack chuckles. “Jack. Calico Jack, to some. Jackie, to a few people, more than you’d think! James to my grandmother, god rest her soul. She wasn’t confused; she just really thought James fit me better.”

“I need you to come with me,” Jim grabs his arm.

“And why should I do that?”

“Because...” they pause and think of what the rest of the crew has told them about Jack. “We’re having a wine tasting on our ship. And we have spare places, so if you’re into that-”

“Wine! Well, what fancy motherfuckers have I found,” Jack snorts. “Sure. Lead on.”

“Hey,” Olu dips his head into their quarters. “So, can you two get dressed up fancy quickly?”

Stede nods.

“You don’t care why?”

“I suppose I should. Why?”

“Because we found him,” Olu grins. “But, per the relay chain, they told him he was being invited to a wine tasting on here.”

“Oh! Do we have any wine?” Stede asks. “I don’t think we do.”

“We don’t, but Roach is working on getting us some,” Olu replies. “Ed, you ready to see him?”

“I’d like to believe it’s him,” Ed sighs. “Hearing that you’ve all been trying to find him behind my back...explains why we’ve been stopping so often, actually. Not that I mind the extra shopping, time to stretch the legs, but-”

“That’s a yes,” Stede interrupts. “We’ll be ready.”

The galley is suitably full of wine (almost to excess, but no one is complaining) when Jim and Jack follow in the crew’s footsteps and return to the ship.

“Wow,” Jack’s eyes go wide as they enter the galley. “That is...y’all okay?”

“What do you mean?” Jim asks. “We were completely out. Now we don’t have to stock up for awhile.”

“Rum is cheaper.”

“You’re the one that called us fancy motherfuckers,” Jim smiles. “You wait here, and I’ll go get the other guests.”

“Kind of a weird setup for a wine tasting,” Jack says, but Jim is already out the door. “Wonder if they got cheese too. Can’t have wine-”

“Without cheese,” Ed says as he steps into the galley.

“That was the dorkiest fucking thing I have ever heard,” Lucius sighs, but Stede slaps his arm. “Don’t be like that; you heard it too!”

“Well, well, well,” Jack turns and scoffs. “So...no more pirate shit, just wine?”

“No, actually,” Ed says. “We did buy the wine, but we’re still very much pirates. Did...did you not recognize the ship-”

“My man,” Jack grins. “I am on so much morphine, constantly, it’s a wonder I recognize myself. Or you! I do like the beard bows though.”

His beard has grown out just enough for it, and Stede’s fingers still hurt from helping Izzy get them all tied onto Ed.

But they do look fucking amazing.

“Should you be doing that?” Ed frowns. “Or drinking, if you’re-”

“I shouldn’t be alive,” Jack tosses his vest off and lifts his shirt. “For a fucking week, it was an open hole. I still don’t know how the doc I found saved me.”

“How did you find anyone?” Lucius asks, pouring himself a glass of wine. “I wasn’t going to stay after we got Ed in here, but I’m curious now.”

“More the merrier,” Jack nods, and Stede takes it as a cue to lean out and let the crew know to come in.

“I swam,” Jack continues as everyone settles in. “Too fucking far. Bleeding out. Probably lost some of my guts along the way, but I didn’t ask questions when I did finally find a surgeon. Random little house along a beach, and he just happened to have worked in the field before.”

“And he sewed you up?” Ed asks as he motions for Jack to sit with him at the long table. “What about the guts you lost? I mean, we do need most of them, as far as we know.”

“He said he found replacements, and like I told you, I didn’t ask questions,” Jack chuckles. “I was alive, and that was good enough.”

He takes a bottle of wine as Stede starts passing them out and down the table. “We treatin’ this like a fancy one, where you spit it out, or-”

“Just drink it,” Stede replies hurriedly. “Swallow it, please.”

“You wouldn’t have to ask me twice,” Jack winks.

“Oh, fuck off.”

“You’ve grown on me!” Jack laughs. “It’s a compliment.”

“I was going to share this extra expensive one,” Stede sighs and sits on Ed’s other side. “But this bottle is just mine now. Everyone good with that?”

As he asks, he pops the cork and starts drinking, and the question answers itself.

“What do you do now?” Ed asks Jack. “You’re surviving somehow, I presume.”

“Surviving,” Jack gets into his own bottle and takes a noticeably long drink before continuing. “Is a word for it. I can’t fight like I used to, so now it’s random boring gigs onshore. Fucking...getting shopping for little old ladies, and shit like that. They’re nice enough, don’t get me wrong but-”

He grins. “I fucking hate every minute of it.”

Ed frowns. “I’m sorry.”

“Not your fault. Twas mine own,” Jack scoffs and drinks again. “Fucking bird.”

“Olivia will absolutely try to kill you again,” Izzy notes. “I would mind your language when you talk about her.”

“How the fuck do you know that?”

“Buttons has told me,” Izzy replies. “On the later watches we’ve shared. She’s very nice, actually. For a gull.”

“Watch yer tongue!” Buttons calls from down the table. “She’s not forgiven you, by the way, Jack. But she’s agreed to forget.”

“That’s...” Jack nods slowly. “Okay. Cool. Best news I’ve gotten since the surgeon said I was gonna make it!”

“That’s a decent chunk of time with no good news,” Ed says, and looks to Stede.

“Oh no,” Stede sighs. “Oh, Ed. Darling.”

“I mean,” Ed continues. “We can almost always use spare hands. And we could put you somewhere that you won’t have to fight unless we’re well and truly fucked-”

“Can you cook?” Roach, sitting on the other side of the table, nods to Jack.

“Nothing fancy, but I can make shit without burning it.”

“I could use an apprentice,” Roach shrugs.

“I’m older than you. Apprentice doesn’t seem the right title.”

“It is when you’re being taught cooking and surgery,” Roach says. “Because if you apprentice with me, you’re learning both. Meat is meat.”

“I can work with that.”

Stede leans against Ed’s shoulder. “He’s your responsibility.”

“You sound like I did when I was talking to Fang about the kittens.”

“Kittens?” Jack peers down under the table.

“They’re in the Jam Room,” Stede replies. “You can go down and see them later, if you’d like. Because, and I cannot believe I’m saying this...you can stay here, so long as you follow our rules.”

Jack cheers, arms raised, only to immediately wince. “Oh god, that wiggled something. Hate how that feels.”

“Ew,” Stede remarks. “Anyway, that means Ed and I are both your captains. Do you underst-”

“You have my undying loyalty,” Jack stands and sweeps to the floor in a deep bow. “Mostly because I’m afraid if I don’t give it, Olivia will have me killed again.”

“She just might,” Stede turns around. “I mean, she said she would forget, but...”

“Gulls are fickle,” Buttons remarks. “Livvy may not like it, but she’s admitted it herself. If ye fuck with her, or any of us, in such a way again...”

He shakes his head. “I’m not responsible for what happens to ye.”

“Creepy,” Jack sits back down. “But fair.”

“I’d say we should do something to celebrate,” Stede says. “But we’re already drinking. Drunk. We should have had dinner before this, hm?”

“We could have dinner now!” Jack trips, standing again rapidly. “Roach, you and me, let’s do this!”

“I like the enthusiasm,” Roach follows him into the kitchen. “We have slightly more wine than food options, but-”

“Let’s put some wine in the food! Make a reduction!”

“You know how to make a wine reduction?”

“Here,” Jack gently pushes a bite of cupcake into their hostage’s mouth. “Now, Roach and I made these special for you.”

The man swallows and smiles. “Thank you. A bit of kindness, finally.”

“Oh,” Jack chuckles, and motions to Stede. “You wanna tell him?”

“Those were poisoned,” Stede says cheerfully. “But, we do have an antidote!”

“All you need do is agree to give up your ship, loot, and...” Ed pauses. “Hm. Anyone on your crew you don’t like?”

“We could do without Rory.”

A crew member of the merchant vessel steps out of the crowd of them. “Hi. That’s me.”

“You,” Stede stares. “Badminton?”

“Ah, yeah,” Rory blushes. “I don’t use the family name out here, since they’re not real pleased with my current career.”

“This is perfectly respectable,” Stede scoffs. “You know they tell people you died, right?”

“I did not know that.”

“Would you mind being a pirate?” Ed asks. “Instead of...what is you people here do?”

“We sell and ship ornate bejewled hairbrushes,” the captain replies. “My throat-”

“Yeah,” Ed cuts him off. “Rory, weird question, but bear with me: if you had to say if you liked your brothers or not-”

“Fuck ‘em,” Rory grins. “Seriously, they hate me and I...I’m not a fan of either of theirs. Not to be rude, but I think our captain is dying.”

“No, he’s dead,” Jack says, gently checking for a pulse at the side of the man’s neck. “Roach, you wanna double check my work though?”

“Nah,” Roach waves a hand. “Welcome aboard, by the way.”

“Mum won’t like this anymore than the merchant stuff,” Rory giggles. “Exciting though! Is there an opening in the kit-”

“Galley is full,” Jack interrupts quickly. “But I bet Izzy and Olu would love to teach you about being a first mate.”

“Hang the fuck on,” Izzy and Olu say at once, but Stede is already nodding.

“Is this what we get for looking for Jack?” Olu murmurs to Izzy as they finish the raid, moving loot from the merchant ship to theirs (all hairbrushes, unfortunately.)

“I think so,” Izzy sighs. “But it’s worth it.”

“Is it?”

“I’m trying to be more positive, you know that-”

“Sorry, right. Well. This will probably go fine.”

“Not that positive.”

“Thank fuck, this is gonna be a fucking mess.”

Izzy shrugs and sets down his box of hairbrushes on the deck of The Revenge. “Maybe he’ll get better with time.”

They watch as Rory trips on the board to cross from one ship to the other, shouting as he hits the water.

“We can make Jack go get him,” Izzy says. “Because...medical concerns, right? Since he fell.”

“That makes sense to me.”

Before they can call, Jack is already over the side.

Apparently, a natural born paramedic that missed his calling, a surprisingly good cook, and...

Well. Jack. To sum him up in so little would never do him justice.

#text post #long post

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panthera2912 · 1 year

Text

P5R broke me

Hello tumblr ! I finished playing Persona 5 Royal and I have a lot of feelings about it and need to put it out there. And tumblr seemed like the best place for it even though I haven't posted in years x)

Beware, this post will contain spoilers (well, the game is old but there still might be people like me who are late to the party).

So, first of all, I wanted to play a Persona game for a long time since I heard a lot of good things about it, but I never got to it 'cause I didn't have the motivation to spend 100+ hours into a game (says the girl who played WoW for 10 years). But since it recently came out on Switch and I didn't have any ongoing game I decided to finally give it a try. And I'm SO glad I played the royal version because Akechi was by far my favorite character and a big part of why I loved this game, and apparently he didn't have as much development in the original ? And Sumire was my second favorite so... yeah, royal for the win !

Anyway, to talk about the plot, basically this game broke me several times.

The confrontation with Akechi in Shido's palace was absolutely heartbreaking (props to the voice actors, JA and EN). A lot of what he said hit way too close to home, and the whole time I was yelling at my screen for Joker to say something ("say something i'm giving up on you" cover by Robbie Daymond playing in the background).

Anyway, I spent the rest of the game grieving (and raging against Shido because will you fucking die goddamnit, I've been fighting you for 45 minutes !!!!), but then Akechi reappears like nothing happened ??? And he's way too evasive about how he survived ????? And then Maruki's like, sike, got you, he dead ! ... Thank you game, I don't need to grieve a second time.

And of course, Akechi knew the whole fucking time, and didn't say anything, and he basically tells Joker he wants to die and tells him he doesn't need pity. Like, excuse me Sir ?! But first of all don't talk about yourself like that, and secondly, what about Joker in all of this ? This is not about pity, Joker wished for Akechi to be here. Like, seriously, Joker deserves to be happy after everything he's been through. And I get what Akechi is saying, he doesn't want to be toyed with by Maruki, like he's been controlled all his life, but he's aware of it, and I'm sure he could find happiness somewhere in this...

So... after staring at my screen 5 whole minutes, I took Maruki's offer. I'm weak, I know, I really just wanted to see them happy for once, they deserve the world. That end card is my wallpaper now.

But anyway, after taking a break, back to the true ending because I'm still curious despite it all. So we defeat Maruki, and Joker's reward is some time in jail and Akechi disappearing. Great. At least they get him out of jail but like, nobody talks to him about Akechi ? They know that Akechi was Joker's wish but they don't address it with him. Seriously, someone at least give this guy a hug, wtf ? Through the WHOLE game, he helped every single one of them. But no, he's the leader, he needs to stay strong, right...

And then when Joker goes to the jazz club.. and he still has Akechi's glove in his pocket... Excuse me, just crying over there.

To top it all, I was dating Sumire in this playthrough (rank 9 event done), but since I didn't get her to 10, the game acted like nothing happened. I spent valentine's day alone and it felt like Joker and her had broken up so it just added that much more drama lol.

But really, I love tragedies, and this game delivered. This was a well-crafted rollercoaster of emotion from start to finish and every hour was worth it. And it's very rare for me to do multiple playthough of a game, but I definitely will for this one. This is going in my top 5 games of all times for sure.

Anyway, I'm dead inside now and I'll probably be reblogging memes to cope x)

(Also, on a lighter note, the music in this game is a bop. Lyn is absolutely incredible.)

#persona 5 #p5r #p5r spoilers #reaction #goro akechi #akira kurusu #ren amamiya

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queen-scribbles · 2 years

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Hi hi you don’t mind me popping in!! So I just read your tags on the TIM-LI Picture-Manipulation post and 👀👀 I am so here for Sheps who are FURIOUS about being forced to work with Cerberus/TIM. I’d love to hear how your Shep(s) handle the whole being brought back to life by Cerberus plot point.

(Also hehe complicated relationship status left off in ME1 just for everything to go to hell FEEL that with my Shakarian idiots)

Yeah, nope, pop right in, I love talking about my kids. I'm gonna do at least a little for the four main ones bc I think it's so interesting how their background/profile effects their view on the whole thing.

Boys first, since they're less developed 😅

Charlie(Earthborn/Ruthless) spent a decade working for a gang, then the time in Alliance military, and he's very ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ about authority in general, so he does to TIM what he's done before; "Uh-huh, sure"s his way through the conversation(maybe pushed back a little more against his BS) and then did what he thought was best regardless of what TIM wanted(Very big believer in "Easier to ask forgiveness than permission"). Long as he gets result and doesn't cost too much in the process, the worst he's ever gotten is a slap on the wrist, so TIM doesn't scare him anymore than his gang leader or DI did. xD Why waste a second chance at life, right? He was very "I know, dude" about Kaidan's whole thing with not trusting Cerberus on Horizon. He did relish blowing the Collector base to hell and flipping TIM double birds as he flew off in the nice shiny new warship. :3

Quinn(Colonist/Sole Survivor) viewed working with Cerberus and having their leash on his neck, so to speak, as the price to pay for them bringing him back and giving him a second shot at taking down the Reapers, since he feels like he failed first time around. Not thrilled about it, definitely looking for a way out, but if this is what it takes to defeat the Collectors, he doesn't really have much choice, does he? He romanced Ashley, and if anyone had overtly threatened to do anything to her, I think he would have just laughed and wished them good luck. xD

Emily(Spacer/War Hero) is grateful to be alive but sees working with Cerberus almost as a punishment, or penance of some sort or something like that. She failed against the Collectors and this arrangement was the price tag on getting another chance. A lot like Quinn(my Paragon bbys), but with added guilt. Almost like she deserves this, even though she hates it, bc she's The Hero and she failed at her job. She felt like she was suffocating, she wanted out, but they brought her back and they were the only ones taking the Reapers seriously, so she stayed. She struggled the most with her identity and holding herself together like puzzle missing pieces, and Horizon didn't help with that. A lot of the stuff Kaidan says there was stuff she'd wondered herself. She did not have a good time.

Lisa(Colonist/Ruthless, a delicious combo to play) might be grateful to be alive, but she's fucking furious at Cerberus for just about everything else, lol. How dare they try to use Kaidan to manipulate her? (if they touch one hair on his head-) How dare they toss her a couple of her friends as if that will make her happy with this arrangement? (happy as she is to see her bestie Tali again, she knows why TIM let her have Tali and Garrus back, it's to give her a tie to the crew and make her care and keep her here and she resent the hell out of the motivation even if she's relieved with the familiar faces) She feels trapped and manipulated and mentally is just semi-feral, lunging against her chains with every ounce of strength the entire way through. she'll work with them bc she has literally no choice, but doesn't ever miss a chance to push against it, to say "No, we do this MY FUCKING WAY. You need me, we do it the way I want", to grab for just a little bit of control. IF she has to stay bc Cerebrus is the only one Doing Anything against the Reapers/Collectors, she's gonna do everything she can to keep a little bit of agency. (Horizon was by far the worst for her bc of the complicated state of her and Kaidan relationship/romance, his pointing out the... murky morality of a choice she felt a) cornered into making and b) didn't feel like it was a choice hurt a LOT. She still got the romanced hug even with not sleeping with him and holy hell her emotions were a mess. She's not great with them anyway, and this did not help) Gonna c&p a post I made about one of the songs on her playlist bc it's still a pretty perfect summation of her attitude

Masquerade by Lindsey Stirling gives me really big Lisa Shepard vibes. I’ve never been able to put my finger on it, it just felt like a song for her. It’s the music box feel of the song. Lisa feels very…. herded. Caged. Controlled through ME2. More than my other Shepards she feels like the Illusive Man is just using her. A weapon in his arsenal, a wind up doll to point at a threat and make it no longer a threat because she’s Commander Shepard™, the one-woman army who Gets Shit Done and she resents it fiercely the whole way through.

But she has to go along with it, stay in the cage, dance to his tune, bc the Collectors are a threat. And no one else seems to be doing a damn thing about it. And she’s Commander Shepard, the one-woman army who’s willing to get her hands dirty and do hard things if it gets shit done and apparently the Reapers are “her problem” for now, so if this is the only way she currently has of stopping them, well. What choice does she have?

No matter how much she hates it.

#BEHOLD a character ramble #i really need to flesh quinn out more #dude's so introverted even i don't know what he's thinking xD #charlie shepard #quinn shepard #emily shepard #lisa shepard #ty for the ask!#i love going off about my babies

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bearpillowmonster · 2 years

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Kirby Super Star Ultra Review

I'm a Kirby noob so let me get that out there first before anybody says that I just don't know what Kirby is. I'll admit, I'm not a fan of Kirby. When I see gameplay, I see the 2D side-scroller and that's about it. I remember the first time I played it and it was the original in the demos of Super Smash Bros. I kept floating and floating and thought to myself "It's almost infinite" I breezed through that entire demo just floating over top of everything, I considered it broken.

There was one game that wasn't entirely 2D however, called "Kirby 64: Legend of the Crystal Shards" and I adore that game (I guess there was Air Ride too but that's a racing game) I thought we'd never see anything like it again…then Forgotten Land was announced and I was like "Okay! Odyssey for Kirby!" I was sold. No. The demo came out and I figured I'd play it before I bought it, demos usually carry over to the real game anyway and it was easy. Like…really easy. I didn't even play on the easy mode, I played on the harder one which apparently has more enemies and less health or something along those lines. No, it was terribly easy. It might've just been that it was a demo but it surely wasn't what I expected out of the game. The environments weren't really explorable or open like Odyssey, just more open than normal. I knew that it'd be short because I experienced so much from that demo alone. I was disappointed because I was really excited. (turns out it ended up being a decent 10-11 hour length). That has nothing to do with this game but just some background to how I ended up buying this anyway.

This thing:

I saw this thing and was in awe. It looks so cool and I heard a certain story tidbit about it and I knew I had to check it out. I could've visited the SNES title because this is technically a remaster/remake but I bought this one to see it all in 3D (cutscenes, not gameplay) plus it seemed like Ultra added more as a whole.

THE GAME:

The first two worlds are not what you should judge this game on because I played those two and they were unreasonably easy much like I felt with the other games but then the third world fixed relatively all the qualms I had with it and from then on. It even added treasures that you can find throughout the map. And it's a stark difference, I actually found myself kind of stuck towards the end.

You can also give a power up to make into your companion, which if I let Kirby go, they would do all of the work in no time but they also have a health bar and it seems more vulnerable than yours (probably because of the AI) but if you face them a certain way after so much time, then I guess Kirby gives them a face sucking or hickey or something because it starts healing them. Just adds to the cuteness points.

Once you finish the game, you unlock Meta Knightmare Mode which is the game but as Meta Knight. It's not really a hard mode but it gave me more initiative to play the game, it's got a different story and such (or at least cutscenes, Stage 4 doesn't make a whole lot of sense though). While I might've preferred different levels, it was a nice addition. It's like a speedrun version with slight modifications here and there where you don't have the copy ability and instead have the sword at all times. The more enemies you defeat, the more points you get and those points can be used to heal/get a companion/increase walk speed/do mega damage.

As far as what you want out of this game, every chapter is different, with its own contained story for most. In fact credits play at the end of most of them. So it matters what you want out of those chapters, some I liked, some not so much. There's also cool minigames to take into account but those are optional so I don't necessarily count them because who buys a game for the minigames? It's a cool little cutesy game and I spent an okay amount of hours on it so I'm satisfied.

#meta knightmare #kirby #super star ultra #ds #review #game #kirby super star #nova

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ixcaliber · 2 years

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Cool Games I Played May 2022

My time on twitter somehow convinced me that posting on tumblr is only worth it if i have a small novel to write so here’s a new something i want to do more often

1. No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle (2010)

I already spent a couple of thousand words saying, essentially, that the game’s plot had some wasted potential. I missed the open world, even though there wasn’t really anything to do in it, having it there added a sense of scale to the world that simply wasn’t present when you were always just a second away from any location that you had to go to.

It’s not the worst suda51 game i’ve played (Shadows of the Damned), it’s just sort of okay. Squanders its potential and some of the fights are really annoying but it does have the best cat massaging animations in any video game I’ve ever played.

2. Bugsnax (2020)

Bugsnax is a really good game. I love the cute creatures. I love repeatedly saying Bunger to Forgie. The characters are neat, nicely varied and well voice acted. Eggabell and Lizabert are great I love these gay girls. I may or may not have gotten a little emotional with some of the background film reels you can find and relating a little too hard with Eggabell and anxiety. Floofty is also really great, I love the game’s absolute non-issue with them being non-binary. It’s cool and good. I did eventually turn them entirely into Bunger, but I eventually did everyone dirty like that it’s just the nature of the game.

The puzzles are sometimes kind of frustrating though, usually in the way that, you know what you need to do but managing to execute on that can be really tough, especially when the hot and cold elements start coming into play.

I won’t go into the story but like maybe skip ahead if you’re not interested in very vague spoilers. I was also really impressed how the game did eventually address the innate body horror of its premise. It was way past the point where I thought that the game was going to actually address any of that. Part of me wants to make an argument for the game secretly being a horror game, that even the cutesiness of the premise is an intentional malicious camoflauge. It’s obviously not that, but it is fun to think about how easily, how just a little redesign on some of the bugsnax at that key moment and tonally it would fit.

3. Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes (2019)

My favourite suda51 game is Killer7. I love the inherent weirdness, the strange characters who recur with strange, idiosyncratic dialogue. A lot of people did not enjoy Travis Strikes Again from what I understand, but for me this game is the closest any suda game has come to recapturing the things I liked about Killer7.

And hey, the gameplay is fluid and fun. The only real downsides for me is how padded out the game feels and how little variation there is from one game to another.

And hey should I be including little summaries as to what these games are? Okay so Travis Strikes Again is a side game in the No More Heroes series. Renowned assassin Travis Touchdown is in hiding. The father of one of his victims is given a Death Ball; a thing which is simultaneously a video game to be played in an extremely discontinued games console the Death Drive, and also a mystical artefact capable of summoning a dragon and granting the user a wish. Collect the Death Balls, play the games on them and bring Bad Girl back to life.

With the premise involving going into different video games I was sort of hoping that the gameplay would be wildly varied from game to game. It isn’t so much. Each game has a slightly different structure but only the racing game offers a variation on genre.

Also the game, in the final level, doesn’t so much homage Hotline Miami so much as attempt a full on crossover. I was just sort of weirded out by that whole part of the experience. I never really know how to feel about Hotline Miami in general after that game’s sequel.

Aside from the crypticness, the amount of worldbuilding detail spent explaining the Death Drive, its creator and her goals and beliefs, the other thing that I really love about this game is, it’s a bridging of so many Suda51 games. There’s so many cameos; an entire level which is a full on sequel to Shadows of the Damned, Mondo Zappa from Killer is Dead appears, an implied grown up version of Juliet Starling from Lollipop Chainsaw, a bunch of people I don’t know because I’ve never played The Silver Case. Even a character from Killer7, even if it is a character I don’t care for.

Overall it’s not a perfect game but I got to put Travis in a Disco Elysium shirt and I think that’s pretty fun.

4. Supraland: Six Inches Under (2022)

Premise: Essentially set in an enormous sandbox populated by tiny living meeple figures, this is a sequel to Supraland (2018). A great cataclysm has come to the land. You are plunged into an underground world where class disparity and capitalism must be overcome before you can return your people to the surface. Mechanically it’s a difficult one to place. Sort of open world sandboxy but most of your interactions with the world are puzzles to solve and slowly you amass an arsenal of different tools that allow you to solve different puzzles and to progress along the game’s narrative.

I would absolutely recommend Supraland, and who knows this game might even be better. Its certainly more focused in on its puzzles and exploration. Combat is at a minimum as compared to the first game and it’s sort of a blessing and a curse. The combat was the weakest part of the first game it makes a lot of sense to pare it back, but it leaves you with a problem; I was always broke. Never had enough coins to get all the upgrades I wanted, even into the post-game. In Supraland I’m reasonably sure that any coin shortage was solved by going and finding a room full of enemies, and the same just isn’t available here.

There’s also a lot more post game content to puzzle your way through, and weirdly that sort of put me off. I 100% completed Supraland because by the end I was just mopping up the few remaining things I hadn’t been able to get my hands on earlier. In Six Inches Under I felt I’d already experienced a conclusion and didn’t have the patience for the amount of content still remaining.

And, one weird personal preference but the order in which the upgrades are given to you in this game kind of irritated me. The first upgrade from the first game is the last thing you get and by the end I really wanted that cube.

I sound pretty down on this one, but honestly the puzzles are good, the sense of humour is extremely silly and often reference based but you’re likely to get some chuckles out of it at least. I guess I was just a little underwhelmed only in comparison to the original.

5. A Juggler’s Tale (2021)

Premise: The game is presented through a puppet-show. Abby is a juggler at a cruel circus. They keep her in a cage when she is not performing. It’s weird. She escapes from the circus and is finally free, however the ringmaster and hired goons pursue her. She must fight for her freedom. Mechanically it’s very much like a Limbo, or an Inside or Little Nightmares. Easy to fail 2d platforming with emphasis on hiding, evading, simple physics puzzles.

The thing about this one is that

Well I kind of really hated this one. Its such a waste of its own premise. Skip ahead if you’re averse to spoilers because I’m just going for it.

Part of what’s interesting about this game is that the puppetry isn’t just an aesthetic of the game. It has a gameplay purpose. Abby cannot go underneath certain objects, her strings get stuck, so you have to find some way to navigate around this obstacle. And it has a narrative purpose.

This game has a narrator who early on emphasises how free Abby is once she’s run away from the circus. It immediately put me in mind of The Stanley Parable (2013), a game with an incredibly voiced narrator which is entirely about choice and the illusion of freedom in video games. Immediately I feel as though this is going for a similar idea; Abby is technically free of the circus but not free of the narrative. As the game progresses Abby gets recaptured and as the narrator gloats about how foolish she was to try to run away she eventually snaps her strings and she is free. Here the narrator turns full on antagonist and you play out the rest of the game escaping from a hunter under his control before going back to free everyone at the circus from their strings.

1) This game isn’t about juggling. If you idle you do a juggling animation. There’s no reason this should be a Juggler’s Tale specifically.

2) The comparison to the Stanley Parable is unfortunate because the voice actor for the narrator in this cannot hold a candle to the voice actor for the narrator in the Stanley Parable. I know that’s a particularly high bar, it’s an unfair comparison but the game is invoking the same ideas in the same ways I can’t help that my brain made this connection.

3) Also every line the narrator says is in a semi-rhyming couplet. Except they more often than not don’t rhyme even slightly. Just like a similar sound maybe. And the attempt to bring them into this rhyming scheme creates the most disjointed and unnatural sounding sentences. God I wish I remembered some examples here but it was really distracting. It was distracting enough that I was debating turning the sound of the narrator all the way down and only didn’t because I could tell it was going to become a vital plot element.

4) The metaphor falls apart when you continue to control Abby after her strings are cut. She has no palpable difference in her own freedom, her own agency before and after they are cut. Before and after she is under your control, still under the control of the narrative, not the narrator’s narrative but the structure of the video game. For this to really work, to really click, either the game has to end when her strings are cut, or you have to take control of someone else.

The game has her running from a hired hunter at this point and the much more interesting version of this game would be you are now forced to play as the hunter by this furious narrator and maybe there’s a way that this part could be structured so that you could play it straight, play your role as intended and capture Abby, or you could intentionally play in such a way that ends with her cutting your strings too. There was such potential here. Such a clear and direct metaphor for control in video games and it was so frustrating to see it underutilized.

6. Pokemon Shining Pearl (2021)

You have to complete the entire national pokedex before the game will even let you see an eevee. Not recommended.

7. Patrick’s Parabox (2022)

It’s a sokeban puzzle game where the boxes you push around can contain entire rooms and it takes this concept and exhaustively works through every possible permutation of what it could mean, what could be done with it. Every set of levels pushes the concept in some new direction, or toys with some aspect you may not have even considered up until that point. It’s probably going to be one of my games of the year just based on how thoroughly and effectively it explores its own premise.

8. #AkiRobots (2020)

#AkiRobots is a simple puzzle game about guiding a robot through a side on 2d level to an end point. It has growing complexity with different kinds of robots introduced that follow different rules.

It's kind of a disservice to have played this one immediately after Patrick’s Parabox. It’s a fine puzzle game, but it doesn’t have as concise or unique a mechanic as Parabox. It iterates on its own mechanics well enough and it has the added complexity that you control all of the robots in a level at once, requiring you to think more strategically about your moves. It’s neat but its not the puzzle game I would recommend this month.

9. Lost Nova (2022)

Premise: Ami is something of a workaholic, her best friend Quinn desperately wants her to take a vacation and suddenly she crash lands on an alien planet. She must repair her spaceship to leave, making friends and learning how to relax as she does so. In terms of gameplay it’s mostly exploration and resource collection focused. There’s no combat, just a fun little world to explore and lots of characters to meet.

It’s a really cute and chill game. It wears it’s themes pretty openly and manages to tie it into the narrative in a pretty neat way. I enjoyed it quite a bit and also by the way in the post game you can get a cute little axolotl friend. I love them so much.

10. The Room Two (2013)

Premise: There’s some kind evil black goo that your friend A.S. found and it’s making you solve puzzle rooms forever but maybe you can escape? God I do not even pretend to know the plot of this game series. It’s all told through little documents and seems to assume a baseline of knowledge that maybe I would have if I’d played the original recently but my memory is atrocious and I’m not actually convinced I ever really acquired the knowledge the game expects of me.

The point of the game is to solve intricate little puzzle boxes. To manipulate switches and push buttons and occasionally find a code elsewhere and find a place to input it. The strange arcane set dressing is sort of unnecessary to the experience. As inpenetrable as the plot is it does provide a variety of interesting locales for puzzle solving.

The worst part of these games is the moments where you missed some small hidden compartment and the puzzle solving grinds to a halt for a minute as you have to comb over the entire room looking for the next spot you need to interact with. There is a hint feature that does at least point you in the right direction but the pixel hunting is definitely a problem.

The best part of these games is simply the intricate nature of the puzzles, sliding open secret compartments, unfolding elaborate contraptions. In writing this I learned that they were originally made for ipad and that makes a lot of sense to me. The focus on the tactile seems like it would be pretty well served for touchscreen devices.

11. The Room Three (2015)

The first two games in this series are very similar in pacing, in fairly incomprehensible narrative, in mechanics. I was expecting pretty much the same experience here, I was taken by surprise to find that the puzzles in this one were a lot more intricate and involved and that the story was a lot more approachable.

The big improvement mechanically is the ability to walk around between multiple set locations. Imagine Myst. It’s that. It was playing this game that I suddenly noticed the similarities to Myst. Lots of puzzles involving complicated machinery, and a plot I generally had a bit of a difficulty getting a handle on, delivered primarily through notes dotted throughout.

It’s not one to one though, Myst games are usually fairly sprawling with puzzle elements sprinkled around its world, here the puzzles are very condensed, just a couple of rooms per chapter. Also this game doesn’t present the same kind of beautiful otherworldly environments you might want from a Myst.

One of its other new mechanics is an upgrade to your looking glass that allows you to shrink (?) or if not actually shrink then somehow project yourself into a metaphysical space that exists within certain objects and machines. Allowing you to manipulate a puzzle from the inside. It’s essentially just another screen you can go to but it is used well to create some memorable moments and puzzles.

I was genuinely surprised how much The Room Three did to elevate itself. I don’t know if I’d suggest skipping the first two, they’re not bad they just lack some of the complexity.

#ix plays video games

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