#day zero duology

[fortune-maiden]

I never thought the day would come where this would actually happen <3

#don't mind me having a moment #CROSSBELL DUOLOGY LETS GOOOOOO #I say having never finished Zero since the fan tl days :’) #I just can’t believe they’re really here! #as soon as I finish Ishin & Engage I will finally finally finally play this duology

[aleksanderscult]

Hello! I loved your post about Baghra and how she is a glorified egoist and super toxic!!!

I would like to know your opinion about Ana Kuya, the terrible woman who screwed and oppressed Alina when she was still a child!!!

⚠️TW!: Domestic violence and abuse!⚠️

Thanks, anon!

Apparently that's a similarity that they share, the Darkling and Alina. They both had shitty, abusive mothers. And in Ana Kuya's case it's pretty much the same. She was physically abusive and Alina and Mal remember her fondly. And that's the problem. Instead of having the characters admit that she was a horrible mother figure, we have them look back on her punishments as something...worth to be remembered fondly??

Let's dive in her most fucked-up moments.

Talking shit about the children she's assigned to look after. Alina and Mal both heard her but she's still an icon in their eyes! 😍

No 'cause imagine comparing your mother figure to some blood-thirsty creatures with sharp claws and teeth that live and thrive in darkness.

Uhh...

Excerpt No. 1, in which the protagonists talk about Ana Kuya's physically abusive behaviour.

A LETTER?!

Girl, if I were you I would say adiós and never look back. What letter are you talking about?? 😭

Ana Kuya being responsible of Alina's shame for wanting to get it on with a man. This woman and her morals are imprinted in her mind.

Imagine having to spend your last day with your love and choosing to talk about her. And the memory is again toxic 🥹

Other couples: "Let's talk about our happy memories"

Malina: "Let's talk about how our mother abused us"

They have literally zero good memories from her. Only shouting and beatings.

Now that's a woman to admire!!

Do you hear that Alina?? You must kiss their shoes otherwise you would be like that poor girl on the road! 😠

Excerpt No. 2, in which the protagonists talk about Ana Kuya's physically abusive behaviour.

Excerpt No. 3, in which the protagonists talk about Ana Kuya's physically abusive behaviour.

Excerpt No. 4, in which the protagonists talk about Ana Kuya's physically abusive behaviour.

If a child refuses to eat a food, beat it!

Aha! So she does acknowledge it, huh? But what does it matter? We forgive her in this house😍❤️

(also can we talk about how they wanted one of their friends to meet her? Like guys whyy??😭)

Thank the heavens actually.

In my opinion, children need mostly love and understanding. But they also need discipline, yes. But NOT through physical violence. NOT through constant screaming. This is wrong but it's very possible that in Ravka it's accepted and forgiven? Because I also remember reading somewhere that when Nikolai was a child and misbehaved, they were punishing his best friend physically (I haven't read the duology so please correct me if I'm wrong). So even the royal family found it normal.

But having the characters look back to it as something that was okay? And they adored her?

I'm sorry but I didn't shed one tear when she died. Botkin's death affected me more than hers ever did.

Alina when she died: "Oh my God!"

Me when she died: "Oh thank God!"

#anti ana kuya #alina starkov #the darkling #anti mal oretsev #mal oretsev #anti malina #shadow and bone #siege and storm #ruin and rising #grishaverse #grishaverse trilogy

[hauntthenarrative]

MATCH-UPS FOR ROUND 1

Here's how this is going to work: we'll be making a proper structured bracket starting round 2. For round 1, you won't know who anyone will go up against next!

We tried our best with the match-ups based on what we know about each character's popularity and the type of media it is, and the idea starting round 2 is to use round 1's results to make the brackets.

As before, here is the list of media in the tournament, in case you want to avoid spoilers for any of the media involved!

Polls will start tomorrow on July 8th at 1PM EST!! They will be in a randomized order, and 8 polls will be posted per day, every other day!

Edit after the polls have ended: Winners are now bolded and italicized!

Day 1

Andrey Nikolayevich Bolkonsky (Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812) vs. Connor Murphy (Dear Evan Hansen)

Carmen (Lobotomy Corporation) vs. The Pale King (Hollow Knight)

Chara/The Fallen Human (Undertale) vs. December “Dess” Holiday (Deltarune)

Doug Rattmann (Portal) vs. Professor Sada/Professor Turo (Pokémon Scarlet & Violet)

Falin Touden (Dungeon Meshi) vs. Mami Tomoe (Puella Magi Madoka Magica)

Jackie Taylor (Yellowjackets) vs. Shannon Masters (Warrior Nun)

Kasumi Yoshizawa (Persona 5: Royal) vs. Lacie Baskerville (Pandora Hearts)

Shen Jiu/Original Shen Qingqiu (The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System) vs. The Oldest Dream (Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint)

Day 2

Alice (Alice Isn’t Dead) vs. Leelathae/Lilyth (Cursed Princess Club)

Ava Ferin (Just Roll With It: Riptide) vs. Cassandra “Andi” Brand (Glass Onion)

Beatrice Baudelaire (A Series of Unfortunate Events) vs. Jordie Rietveld (Six of Crows Duology by Leigh Bardugo)

Dr. Casper Darling (Control) vs. Hinawa (Mother 3)

Godot (Waiting for Godot) vs. Rebecca de Winter (Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier)

Goto’s girlfriend (Samurai Flamenco) vs. Hikaru Indou (The Summer Hikaru Died)

Iphigenia (The Iliad) vs. Laura Palmer (Twin Peaks)

Saki Momose (Kamen Rider Ex-Aid) vs. White Lily Cookie (Cookie Run: Kingdom)

Day 3

August (A3! Act! Addict! Actors!) vs. Himeko Murata (Honkai Impact 3rd)

Avatar Roku (Avatar: The Last Airbender) vs. Caleb Wittebane (The Owl House)

Ayano Tateyama (Kagerou Project) vs. Klint van Zieks (The Great Ace Attorney)

Junko Enoshima (Danganronpa 2/V3) vs. The Snail (Zero Escape)

Maes Hughes (Fullmetal Alchemist) vs. Trisha Elric (Fullmetal Alchemist)

Maria Robotnik (Sonic) vs. Rose Quartz/Pink Diamond (Steven Universe)

Maric Theirin (Dragon Age) vs. Zack Fair (Final Fantasy VII)

Martel Yggdrasil (Tales of Symphonia) vs. Sliver of Straw (Rain World)

Day 4

Ai Hoshino (Oshi no Ko) vs. Mari (Omori)

Altan Trengsin (The Poppy War Trilogy by R. F. Kuang) vs. Rose Thorburn Sr. (Pact: Devils and Details, by J. C. McCrae)

Gertrude Robinson (The Magnus Archives) vs. Lup (The Adventure Zone: Balance)

Gregory Edgeworth (Ace Attorney) vs. Jason Todd/Red Hood (Batman)

Joe Tazuna (Your Turn to Die) vs. Ted Kord/Blue Beetle (Booster Gold)

Kite (Hunter x Hunter) vs. Red-Haired Shanks (One Piece)

Mara (She-Ra and the Princesses of Power) vs. Summer Rose (RWBY)

Renju Okiura (AI: The Somnium Files) vs. Tadashi Hamada (Big Hero 6)

#haunting the narrative tournament #not polls #match ups

[hellou-i-guess]

Hello, hello

Welcome to what is probably going to become a series of rants about the very unimportant details of books that live rent free in my head

Today I present to you:

The older brother of a least mentioned side character in a (unfortunately) very unapreciated sci-fi ya book

Now that that introduction is out of the way I have thoughts about Daniel Batu Wing from Warcross.

And I was not kidding about the character introduction. Warcross has a fandom with like 4 people in it in total, which is tragic in my opinion. Asher is a side character, the captain of the team and out of all of the friends Emika makes during the events of the book the one mentioned the least. So, now imagine how much his brother is mentioned.

I'll tell you - it's about 1.5 pages and 2 by-the-way mentions in around 600 pages of the duology.

So what are the things we know about Daniel:

He's Asher's older brother (if I had to guess maybe like 2-3 year age gap)

He's a famous actor and stuntman

He comes off arogant in Asher's memory when he is touched by Zero

He's Day's ancestor, so at some point he was married/had a girlfriend/one night stand - procreated so to say

And... that's about it really

So not much as you can see.

Now, what I have thought about reading the book and what led to this post is Asher (as a character I wish had more developement) and in turn his relationship with Daniel and that somehow led to a very badly done psycho analysis.

On to the bussiness.

The first time we see Daniel mentioned is when Emika meets Asher. She says that he is famous and that Asher was originally known as his younger brother and Ash gets a brief cold look at the mention of his brother.

The second time is when the dorm is blown up and Hamilton mentions that Asher's parents and brother are there to see him.

The third time is the memory in which we find out maybe the root of the problem between the brothers.

I would like to present to you my personal headcanons for the ages of Daniel and Asher. I like to think that Asher in the series is 22-23. Which would make Daniel somwhere around 25. I may explain my way of thinking this later, this is already long and I have told you nothing that you did not already know.

Why are the ages important, you may ask? The memory. Since Emika places the memory some 8-9 years, before the events of the series. The boys would be around 14 and 16.

From what we know their parents are getting a divorce and their house is a mess as well as the relationships in their family.

Daniel's way of dealing with this? Absolutely ignoring the situation around him. For what I understand to be a significant amount of time - a couple of years would do the trick.

So he sees what is happening and ignores his feelings and thoughts about the matter.

Why? Simple - he's neglected and feels alienated from his family so he alienates them back.

One another headcanon I would like to mention, that sort of makes Daniel's attitude and things he says make sense, is that Asher lost the use of his legs in an accident some time before their parents divorce.

This, understandably, makes the parents dote on Ash and in turn neglect Daniel.

And I say this because to me at least it seems that Ash does not understand that Daniel does not want him around and sees Ash as a problem. Most likely due to some change in dynamic Asher is not aware of. Which is perfectly understandable because why would his relationship with his brother change?

We see some evidence for this in:

Asher: Where are you going?

Daniel:...

Asher: You know what? You don't have to tell me? I don't have to know every single thing about your life, when you clearly don't care for me.

Daniel *sarcastically*: You only need me to care. Don't you have enough people giving you attention already?

Or something along those lines, I have the translated copy.

He sound so bitter and jelous there.

And Asher ( who is not good at dealing with people, like at all (also a post for another time)) calls out on Daniel's coping mechanism (ignoring the divorce). In which part I understand given the next part of the conversation where Daniel tells Ash that he isn't doing much better and Ash, not at all reading the situation or understanding that Daniel also means ignoring the divorce, says that Daniel is not doing much better, but at least his victories are the reason they have food on the table.

First of all, some A+ parenting, right there.

Second of all, Dany straight up goes for Asher's throat after this and that entire conversation causes a rift between them.

Very fun on all sides, as you can see.

What's fun to point out is that Daniel acts like a threatened animal. He was ready for jumping at his attacker the first available moment from the moment Asher refused to put the matter to rest.

We see this from Ash's POV, but how would it look like to Daniel?

He has a small career, that he's very proud of

He's starved for attention from the people he needs it from the most in his teenage years

The only attention he gets grom family comes from the very reason he is neglected (not to say Asher is at fault here, because he is not. Daniel just seems to place the fault on him)

All of the family's finance and well being is put on the shoulders of the youngest member of the family who is disabled

Like, he, as most older siblings (it's a curse), feels the need to, in some capacity, provide something to the houshold when the parents clearly don't, but he only continues to ignore the situation at hand.

If their parents have not gotten a divorce, Dany would have probably ran away from home a mnd cut all contact.

And like all things that are ignored, the sitation at hand comes to bite him in the butt in the form of Asher (the aformentioned problem) who just keeps on pressing the sore spot until Daniel has to options - run away again and keep the cycle going or bit back and get rid of the problem. And bite he does.

To his credit, Daniel was most likely 16 at the time of this and none of us emotionally mature at that age, he delt with his emotion really badly, took it out on the wrong person and soured his relationship with his family.

They have most likely made up (I do not think that the cold look Ash had at the mention of Daniel was because the had bad blood, but rather that Emika put him again in the back of his brother's shadow when Ash worked hard to get out of it). Why do I think this? You don't fly half-way across the planet to check on someone you don't like/don't speak with/have bad blood with, when if he wanted to come across as caring he would have called or texted. Or ask third party who knows what happend and has seen Ash like Roshan, Hamilton or their parents.

So yeah, to sum up this way too long of a rant in which nothing was said, Dany was just a teenager in a horrible situation with which he delt badly.

And to those who have suffered through this, thank you :)

#warcross #daniel batu wing #asher wing #warcross duology #character analysis #hellou rants #i have returned both to tumblr and to this fandom with something unimportant #like i was legit here when there was 10 posts total in the tag #funnily enough my first post on the now deleted blog was also about warcross #how the turns have tabled #now i come to you with this... thing?

[raven]

what video games would u recommend. based on me seeing ur posts and thinking ur right even though i never know what youre talking about. also i have dogshit taste but i have good taste actually but its bad

OMG

hop on backloggd heres mine and heres my buddy rory's bc they make points too and are generally more serious than me so if you want to be serious u can go there. More under the cut bc i cant shut up 👍

otherwise my pretentious but #real and #true recs that i genuinely think everyone should play are disco elysium, pentiment, and kentucky route zero.

"theyre just good!" - who's lila?, the world ends with you, return of the obra dinn, hylics 2, portal 1&2, ghost trick, outer wilds (however outer wilds may be difficult for whatever reason- i recommend hollow_tones on twitch's streams although she has not streamed the dlc!)

series that have taken over my life for periods of time, for good or ill - dragon age (2 is my fav, all are worth playing, inquisition is dogshit storywise but has good gameplay, centrist liberal writers that make u want to bomb a church (for the record @ fbi this is a reference to the events of one of my favorite characters in the series, not real life. he was justified), ace attorney (1-3 are great with some questionable moments but apollo justice is the best overall game, 5&6 are some of the worst games ive played in my life, and the great ace attorney... exists), and persona (UGH). i can go more in depth about any of these, but i will go more in depth about persona because thats my current disorder and because theyre the most problematic, LOL. but dgmw da and aa are also problematic in many ways

persona - ive posted about it. im realizing i didnt talk about the misogyny in that post because i thought it was well known honestly but like. my god. the misogyny. especially persona 5 royal. dont play 4. or do, bc i need anyone to suffer as i have, but im serious. i feel like whatever people say, its worse. ive also posted about 4.

if you want to lose a week of your life in a "game for 16ish hours, sleep for 8ish hours, repeat" cycle play baldurs gate 3. its a fun game it takes up your time it has great mechanics! do not pay attention to character discourse baby.

if you like good gameplay, play dishonored 1&2

if you don't like good gameplay, play morrowind (this is kind of a joke in that i dont actually think morrowind has bad gameplay, but it still can be tedious.)

if you don't like good gameplay, play the persona 2 duology (this is not a joke, the gameplay in those games are actually bad.)

if you like gameplay, play any katamari game

also gonna plug one of my favorite genres, nonlinear visual novel adjacent games (lots of wordy, story-based segments but there are actual gameplay portions) these games also are not necessarily "good" but they are "fun": 999 (play on DS!!), ai the somnium files (note that this and 999 kind of require a... specific taste with the sexual humor) these games did have sequels but theyre all pretty bad for various reasons but check em out if you enjoyed the originals, paranormasight (one of the best ones in this genre imo), gnosia, 13 sentinels

also i have not hopped on final fantasy 7 (ORIGINAL) but i am about to hop on final fantasy 7 (ORIGINAL). and i am currently struggling against the current playing smt iii nocturne.

also, games that i have not played but interest me storywise and deserve honorable mentions are baroque (not really planning on playing but planning on watching stuff), pathologic classic (played a little and watched a full playthrough years ago, probably will get back to one day), pathologic 2 (never completed), fear and hunger (played for a few hours and decided to watch a playthrough instead), and fear and hunger 2 (not played but planning on playing bc ive heard its a little more user friendly than the original!)

so thats video games.

#thanks i love you i also have dogshit taste but its also good but its bad #and if you play any of these as always you are invited to talk to me about them ^_^

[stromuprisahat]

For someone who only wants nikolai content and his journey and arc is kos duology worth it?

Nikolai content? Occasionally.

His “arc”? No.

Due to “reasons”, Nikolai loses his braincells most of the time he’s around his “friends”. There’s some negative energy field or something, because otherwise I can’t really explain why would he surround himself by bitter, inept fools with little to no skill in leadership and zero political usefulness.

The worst thing that happens to him is that he- bright, clever Nikolai- looses all the blood in a duel with his cock, since his “love” for Zoya’s so great he doesn’t merely let her lead Second Army- a job she’s ill-suited for at best-, but uses her as his closest advisor, confidant and eventually surrenders his crown to her. Yes, that one thing he fought for in order to be in position to get Ravka out of shit. Apparently Zoya’s better fit, because those same people, who were cheering him few days ago, are adoring her now. Guess it’s what happens when you turn into dragon avatar. No one’s opposed to your sex or nationality or station... (She’s visibly Suli now from time to time.)

#reply #Grishaverse #grishanalyticritical #King of Scars duology #Nikolai Lantsov #The Righteous Gang™ #anti Zoya #Zoya Nazyalensky

[ifellinlovewithpersona]

Sorry if that blog is kinda boring lately (cuz I'm only reblogging art because that takes almost zero effort tbh) but I have so many research work for my masters thesis ( but not only for that) lately that I don't have any time to play any megaten game and when I DO have free time, I'm actually playing other cozy/relaxing/not needing that much effort/not making me stressed games (like sims 3/4 lol) or just watch some dumb things on youtube or anime to unwind (or just go straight to sleep) cause I'm so stressed 😭😭

I realized only 10 days left until my self-made deadline for finishing dds duology (I wanted to finish this game by halloween and start smt iv in halloween...) but I have so many research work that I'm working almost 24/7 lately (around 6 hrs in lab from mon-fri & then in home on computer) lol so idk if I'll be able to meet my own deadline for finishing this game lmaooo

I'm almost at the end of the game tho if anyone is wondering, I just.. don't have time (or energy) to finish. Hope that at least I'll finish it this year hahaha

So yeah, sorry if anyone is waiting for liveblog or wondering what is happening to me that I stopped liveblogging completely- yeah, I'm having just so many work that I have barely time to play anything 😭

#ngl i understand why all megaten scientist went mad lmaoo #i feel like i'll soon become mad as well 😭 #guys if you are spiritual pls pray for me and my computer to survive this lmaoo #if you're not just pls wish me good luck i need it rn 😭 #i want to play smt again so badly 😭 or any megaten game in general 😭 #lilly's talking #personal #life update #lowkey vent #smt is a great game to play but also stress inducing and not good for someone who is already stressed and mentally exhausted lol

[4d-hypermoth]

Nintendo Direct 9/14/2023

This Direct is pretty much what I expected from the Switch at this stage in its life. One potentially interesting new game, plus a bunch of remakes and third-party/indie titles, as well as wrapping up the DLC content for all their games.

Another Code: Recollection was honestly the highlight of the direct for me, and I don't even plan on getting it. Maybe I should. In a sea of remakes of games that your average Nintendo fan my age already owns, seeing an obscure duology from the DS and Wii get another chance at life is great, especially with one of the games being Japan-exclusive previously. A genuinely nice little surprise.

Princess Peach: Showtime! looks like it's going to be Nintendo's last actual new game on the Switch. I'm not even sure what genre this game is supposed to be, but the outfits look snazzy as hell and I'm keen to learn more. Big win for the lesbians.

Splatoon 3 - Side Order is interesting, and I hope it impresses to a similar degree as Octo Expansion. Not much else to say right now.

Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door rightfully had people screaming. This, combined with Super Mario RPG's remake, gives me the slightest bit of hope that Nintendo might one day produce a new Mario RPG that everyone can agree is good. Hopefully this game has some new features over the original.

WarioWare: Move It! looks like a great game for parties and families. I'm very glad Nintendo still makes WarioWare, even though they don't sell very well.

Mario vs. Donkey Kong looks nice, but I've never had much interest in this series, and neither has the Nintendo fandom at large from what I've seen. At least this one's not centered around the Mini Marios. I'd be down to try it for the right price, which is most likely not going to happen with Nintendo. Very happy for any fans of the GBA original. Sad for all the Donkey Kong Country fans who got their hopes up.

Luigi's Mansion 2 HD is... yet another remaster. Except unlike the other ones from today, this one just looks like an upscaled 3DS game. I'm always up for new ways to play old games, especially ones that released on unique hardware like the 3DS, but with Nintendo's pricing this one's going to be very hard to justify.

Detective Pikachu Returns is at least a new game. I don't think I've met anyone who played the original. If you're into this sort of game, fantastic. While I'm glad there's finally a game where you can creep on people with Luxray, I'll have to pass.

F-Zero 99 just makes me sad. Another battle royale gimmick game that's going to disappear, just like Super Mario Bros. 99. Except this time it's with a series that's been dead for 20 years. Even without Pyoro's leak baiting us, this is a massive letdown, regardless of the quality of the actual game.

For the rest, everyone I know loves Dave the Diver, I just haven't gotten around to it. I'm surprised Riot announced Bandle Story here, but it looks nice. Contra: Operation Galuga looks kind of ugly tbh, and I don't know what to think about Tomb Raider I-III Remastered's graphics as someone who never played the originals. Unicorn Overlord is something I might look into, and I really need to play Wargroove so I can know whether or not to be excited for the sequel.

Something something trombone, something something amogus. The Funky Kong is real. 7/10 Direct. Some nice surprises, but remake fatigue is very real. For the final stretch of the Switch's lifespan, it's about as good as I could have realistically expected, if not slightly better.

#nintendo direct #nintendo switch #another code #princess peach showtime #splatoon #warioware #detective pikachu #f-zero #luigi's mansion

[thewriteflame]

10 Songs Tag

Thank you @druidx for the tag!

Soft tagging: @megarywrites @blue-kyber @theunboundwriter @silvertalonwritblr @jamieanovels @emelkae @theprissythumbelina and open tag

Rules: Use your WIP playlist and put it on shuffle. Write the first 10 songs that come up and quote your favorite lyrics from each song and/or the lyrics that fit your WIP best (they might be the same lyrics), then tag 10 people.

Using The Revenged playlist since it's the longest. I've sort of just thrown songs into it so it's more a The Revenged duology vibes playlist. Also if you happen to know some songs that might fit any of my WIPs please send me them; I am always on the lookout for more songs.

Jab Se Tere Naina by Monty Sharma

Since the threads of your heart and mine are attached, since then I got mad

This is one of the Shuntala x Nahuel (Natala) songs on this playlist.

Fixed at Zero - Acoustic by VersaEmerge

There's a vulture on my shoulder, and he's telling me to give in

I love the figurative language in this song.

Push Back by One OK Rock

Go ahead and push us We'll get up and push back

This song is mostly about the vibes. Shuntala gets pushed down a lot and, well, she pushes right back.

Ghost by Meg & Dia

Still got that ghost in my bed and in my bones

Do I know what this song is about? No not really but I love this line and it just feels right for The Revenged, you know.

The Beginning by One OK Rock

I risk everything if it's for you I whisper into the night Telling me it's not my time and don't give up

Shuntala spends some time wanting to give up but refusing to.

King of Anything by Sara Bareilles

But you expect me to jump up on board with you And ride off into your delusional sunset

I'd put the whole song here to be honest. Whenever I hear it I can picture Shuntala doing a performance as she sings it to Mythel, the guy who her mom sets her up with.

Crave by Dia Frampton

You don't know what you do to me I crave you

Another Natala song. It's sort of a simple, self explanatory song.

Born Again Tomorrow by Bon Jovi

Bones grow stronger where they break Who says that scars don't fade?

In The Scarlett's Song Shuntala has grown from her experiences. She's stronger and although she's still dealing with her traumas the pain has faded so these lyrics fit well.

Make it Out Alive by One OK Rock

Make it out alive Set this world on fire now

This is like the theme song for The Scarlett's Song.

Fight the Night by One OK Rock

The light is gone and we know once more We'll fight fight till we see another day

This part is sort of the theme for at least half of The Revenged.

#tag games #wip: the revenged #10 songs tag

[pitagain]

#365DaysOfVGM Day 126:

Wonder Panorama (Rockman ZX/Mega Man ZX, especially the “Rockman ZX Soundtrack: ZX Tunes” version [2006])

Out of all the tracks I love from the ZX/ZXA Tunes albums, this one keeps its essence in-game the most. The way the track keeps a “water-y” atmosphere with its given sounds, works like a dream! The Bass and Guitar combo are also great on how they keep the attention of those not into tracks focused on atmosphere such as this one.

The “ZX Tunes” version takes all of this an extra step further, with more pronounced Drums, reverb, additional sounds, and shortly after the point where the original would loop, a beautiful edited voice presenting the original’s melody with more emotion than ever! Both versions are among my many preferred visions of how an area where natural environments mix in with technology, should sound like.

You can already tell that I listened to most of the ZX and ZX Advent OST prior to playing it, just because it was THAT good! Having the Mega Man Zero/ZX collection in my Steam library, I look forward to playing the rest of the Zero series and the ZX duology for the first time! Wish me luck when I get there, I suppose

(Length before loop [Original]: Nearly 1.5 minutes, [ZX Tunes]: Nearly 3.5 minutes)

#mega man zx #megaman zx #rockman zx #rock man zx #mmzx #rmzx #mega man #megaman #rockman #rock man #nintendo ds #nds #ds #365daysofvgm #youtube #Youtube

[checkoutmybookshelf]

Teenage Vampires Meet Jane Austen

There is a danger of decrying all vampire YA books released in the 2000s as mere Twilight Saga clones, but Beth Fantaskey's (and if ever an author had a vampire novel writing last name, she does!) novel was published in 2000, and Twilight wasn't released until 2005. So please, no comparisons between these two books--they're sufficiently different that they deserve to be discussed on their own merits. Honestly, I kind of wish that Fantaskey's books had blown up and become the mainstream YA vampire duology of the 2000s, but a girl can't have everything. Let's talk the marvelous mix of Jane Austen and vampire lore that is Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side.

Right off the top, this book has startlingly excellent adoption representation. Jessica is adopted, and she has a phenomenal relationship with her adoptive parents. She is unconditionally loved and supported, she is happy, there is great parent-child communication, and there is exactly zero resentment or hesitation once Jessica is ready to explore her birth parents--she is supported in that too. She struggles with her adoption circumstances specifically, but even that is handled well--who wouldn't struggle with being adopted as an infant to avoid being murdered alongside their family? I was pleasantly surprised to find such great representation, and it serves the story equally well, given how objectively abusive and cruel Lucius's biological family is. This tends not to be something I see a lot in SFF (you could argue for found family doing similar things, but this is an explicit adoption story in the 2000s, so I think that gets its own literary area), and I loved how well it was handled.

So who are Jessica and Lucius?

Jessica was born in Romania as Antanasia to the Dragomir royal vampire family. However, she grew up as Jessica Packwood, daughter of a university professor and a hippie in Southern America, a mathelete, and a 4H horsewoman who isn't a half bad jumper. She's not popular at school but she has her best friend, her mathelete colleagues, and even a boy who is a little bit interested in her as she learns to be more assertive with her worth and skills--again, supported wholeheartedly by her parents.

Then Lucius Vladescu rocks into town and pulls a Heathcliff out on the moors at her bus stop on the first day of senior year. That absolutely unmitigated dramatic flair is arguably a combination coping and rebellion methodbecause Lucius is the heir apparent to the Vladescu royal vampire family. He's basically a teenage angst version of a combination of Mr. Darcy and Heathcliff, and that in and of itself is the weirdest combination of chivalrous, assholeish, dutiful, and "let it burn." It's unusual for me to say that the male lead in a YA vampire romance is actually fascinating, but watching Lucius try to burn down the status quo as hard as he can while also trying to stop things from catching fire as hard as he can is never not interesting.

In addition to Jessica and Lucius being genuinely interesting characters to follow, the book itself does the weirdest thing where it combines literary influences and allusions to Pride and Prejudice (in the form of Lucius's letters to his uncle and Jessica's resemblance to Lizzie), Wuthering Heights (in Lucius's *gestures broadly* and direct diegetic references to the novel that get a bit close to the heavy-handed line), and Dracula (in the general vampire aesthetics and the Vladescu vibes--I am super not speaking for the Dragomir family vibes, because that is just...yeah). Vampire and Gothic make sense together, but the Pride and Prejudice vibes just take this story and give it a bit of lightness that I wasn't expecting and frankly think works astoundingly well.

Overall, this book was a favorite of mine when I found it in high school, and I cannot recommend it enough. It's part one of a duology, so be sure to follow it up with Jessica Rules the Dark Side.

#beth fantaskey #jessica's guide to dating on the dark side #wuthering heights #dracula #pride and prejudice #vampire #vampire romance #ya books #ya romance #ya vampire romance #high school book #books #books and novels #books and reading #books & libraries #book recommendations

[idiotsonlyevent]

HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️ i hope 2024 is kind to you and that if any difficulties do arise, they can be resolved quickly and easily!!!!!

some thoughts about my 2023 + 2024 are under the cut for personal reference but feel free to read if youd like

OUGH so many things happened this year. it was. a lot. some bad. but also lots of good!!

things i've done in 2023:

- played p3+p4: some of my favorite games of all time!!! i love you persona!!!!!

- started writing fics: ive published more than 30k words since i started, and have AT LEAST 5k scattered across various wips/ufos. which is!! thats a lot of writing for someone who only did academic stuff for the last couple of years!!!! and it feels especially good since i haven't been able to draw or make music so im glad i was able to find another creative outlet and build new(/different?) writing skills :)

- lost my job :(( but found a better COOLER job!!!

- played ghost trick: GO PLAY GHOST TRICK RIGHT NOW!!! please 🥺 best game of all time i will shill it forever

- one piece: i would kill for monkey d. luffy. that is all. haha just kidding i love you one piece thank you for the joy and whimsy youve brought into my life lets keep it up 💪💪💪 lets stay silly and work to overthrow corrupt systems and stop injustices in our world 🔥🔥

- got a surgery ive been planning on for a long time and it!! went well?? which!! yay!!! ill be officially out of recovery in a few days and its :^) nice

- also i graduated therapy for the first time ever!!! it was nice actually having closure and 'ending' the relationship on a positive note, not just being thrown to the dogs in the middle of treatment

things it would be cool to do in 2024:

- travel, even if its just a day trip. literally i've only traveled to visit my family since covid started in 2020. i need to see the ocean soon or ill die

- try revisiting the p2 duology !!! i miss my kids 😔😔 and the music 😔😔 and persona in general and since im abstaining from p3re id like to do something to 'make up for it'

- start playing bass again!!!!

- maybe start up art again?? idk :// as much as i want to get back into it, i have so much difficulty transferring what i see in my mind to the page that a lot of times it more frustrating than anything but it might be worth a shot

- read dungeon meshi

- read dandandan (+ watch the anime if i like it!!)

- write more fics!!!! hopefully i will finish my vinsmoke-centric series!!! id say finish my law series too but that might never happen since i cant shut up abt this guy lmao. and i still want to write more persona!!! so many ideas AND so much time!!!!! no need to rush!! just gotta keep chipping away!!! and trying new things!!!!!

- WATCH STOCEAN. BC I STILL HAVENT < fake jojos fan 🤡

- play the zero escape series

- play twewy/neotwewy > if theres time !!!

- probably more!!! idk!!!

#ok gn everyone im gonna drink tea and go to bed :) hope yall had a nice evening #L.txt

[writingmylifesstory]

Book Review

The Shine and Bright Duology

I’ve been wanting the Girls’ Generation tea. As a Sone, I feel like I was more personally affected than Jessica was when she was kicked out of GG. While she promotes this book as fictional, she makes some pretty outlandish claims about her ex girl group.

In Shine, Rachel aka Jessica is a trainee with a dream. Reading about the trainee days is so much fun and makes me want to work harder at my own goals. But Rachel has to put up with relentless bullying and even her band mate (probably Taeyeon let’s be real) drugging her all because she’s a threat because she’s so talented and perfect and gets things handed to her easily…ok….

It gets juicy when Rachel enters into a relationship with another kpop star (dating isn’t allowed). Some drama ensues and finally Rachel gets to debut with her bully band mates, achieving her dream. As a book, it’s pretty juvenile in its writing. I was hoping for something with more depth. But it’s reminiscent of Jenny Han and if you’re into high school drama then it’s probably a good pick for you. I did stop it at one point because I wasn’t into it but I picked it back up and finished it.

⭐️⭐️ out of 5 stars

Bright time jumps seven years into the future which sucks because I wanted to read about her experiences being the top girl group in the world. Like tell me more about the glitz and the glamour and the ungodly working hours.

But Bright delivers when it comes to a romantic love interest. Jessica, I get it. I too would have fallen in love with Tyler. He doesn’t know she’s famous. He likes her for her. He’s actually super successful and rich, surprise! He’s more than willing to protect her and her secret dating. He doesn’t mind having to lose paparazzi and in fact takes charge during the situations. I mean Taylor Swift’s exes and whoever else can’t deal with dating famous women need to take note.

She mentions she likes an expensive bag. Boom it’s hers. She mentions wanting to be a designer. He’s got the meeting set up with her favorite designer and buyers already set. I mean, this man was like made to make her dreams come true. It’s wilddddddd. He also unabashedly calls her his girlfriend in front of his family. He has zero issues claiming her or fighting for her. It’s insane.

Meanwhile, Rachel plays the victim because her band mates give her an ultimatum of choosing the band or her fashion line. She chooses neither which effectively means that she’s not listening to their concerns and then she’s surprised they kick her out??? Listen, I think Jessica leaving Girls’ Generation was their death keel. They shot themselves in the foot but why was she surprised? They told her what would happen.

Rachel also claims that they used her stolen lyrics for their next album which was shocking. I don’t get why they were this vindictive and cruel. Like you are co workers. Why is it this personal?

All in all, it was a fascinating read. Definitely a one sided piece but hey at least I got to learn some of the tea. I still love GG for what they gave me and I still support Jessica. I hope they can work it out one day.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ out of 5 stars

#writingmylifesstory #booklr #book review #2023 #girls generation #jessica jung #snsd #sone #kpop

[karatam]

hello. no such thing as a late response, you reply whenever. ah yes the season for lying on the cool basement floor. the heatwave has struck ldn and i too have begun to lie on the floor in various rooms. what is on the list so far, are they completed shows or on-going ? do you ever re-watch shows you have finished ? i have not played a legend of zelda game since link's awakening lol i fear i missed out on the francise. instead i purchased horizon forbidden west. have a good week ! (or weekend) !

you're too kind, especially when once again I'm answering this 10 days after you sent it :P

and it's once again a heat wave, though a little less severe. I do need to somehow mow the lawn in between thunderstorms though....

Right now I'm watching The Americans, just started S2 and I love it. I'm so stressed for every moment I'm watching and it's great.

On my "to watch on the treadmill" list: The Night Manager, Class of '09, The Bear, Andor, Lupin, Deadloch, Station Eleven, Peacemaker, Treason

I do often rewatch shows, but something just specific episodes, rather than the whole thing. I reread books too, though I reread the whole thing lmao

Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom are kind of their own little duology that doesn't require knowledge of the rest of the franchise. there'll be easter eggs you miss, sure, but they stand quite well on their own

the Horizon Zero Dawn games are some of my favourites, they're just beautiful and also I love the soundtracks. all my love for Aloy <3

have a nice weekend too!

#ask #Anonymous

[sonicshrew]

#amreading 6/29/22: Go Hunt Me, by Kelly deVos

#amreading 6/29/22: Go Hunt Me, by Kelly deVos

This is the latest book by YA author Kelly deVos. I enjoyed her previous Day Zero/Day One duology, so I decided to read this one following its publication a few weeks ago. (more…)

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#horror #mystery #Reading #Young Adult