#no setup card tricks

[awniie]

games ! - featuring your boyfriends megumi, choso, yuji, namani, saturo ♡

ʚ summary: basically just headcannons of playing games with your favs ִ° ⋆ 

ʚ content: some language, cheating in games, no prn + gender specific reader ִ° ⋆ 

ʚ megumi

- is pretty neutral when it comes to any types of game, he’s pretty good at them though

- sees them as a distraction, especially whenever he tries to talk to you and your playing hole.io

- if it’s a raining day and the two of you are bored, he’ll absolutely suggest board games though

- if he wins the game he’ll go “i won” with a silly smirk and placing his cards down on the table leaving you frustrated and fuming. Sometimes if he’s really feeling himself, you guys can go multiple rounds (lmao)

- if YOU win, you can see a little twitch in his face but he won’t get too riled up. “Good job, let’s go something else now.” He’s a little bit of a sore loser, but he tries horribly not to show it.

- you suggest something like Minecraft though and he acts like he’s 8

- cracked at building houses, probably has 3 dogs and has a bed placed next to yours <3

ʚ choso

- lovessss games ( cannon!1!1!11! )

- play fighting, races, board games, video games, you name it. Even if he doesn’t know how to play it, trust me, he WILL learn.

-when he’s with you, he’s calm and more sweet with them. He lets you gloat if you manage to beat him in Mario kart, knowing he’ll destroy you next time.

- sometimes you’ll play something more slow-paced like stardew valley and animal crossing

- if he’s with Yuuji it gets hella competitive ( older siblings vibes )

-You’d suggest Uno as a game and show choso how to play

- trust when i say all three of you are probably having shouting matches, slamming down cards on the table, and demanding rematches.

- Apologizes afterwards “sorry…i got a little carried away. BUT-” and then you guys start having a ‘passionate’ conversation on how you absolutely cheated

ʚ namani

- also neutral about games, thinks they’re appropriate for certain times

- probably plays like sudoko, crossword puzzles or some old man type stuff.

- you try teaching him a racing style game, only to find out he’s cracked.

- “Oh hm, i won again.” He’d say nonchalantly, mouth turning into a smile as he saw your open mouth and irritated brows

- he secretly plays like candy crush and that one panda game on his work tablet like a little iPad kid.

- he probably wears those blue light glasses whenever he uses a screen to play a game :sob:

ʚ saturo

- also lovesss games

- probably plays games like street fighter, streets of rage etc.

- will show you how to do special moves, but then also gate-keeps some whenever you play 1v1

- says something like “a good sorcerer never reveals all his tricks” or something nerdy like that

- he’s actually a cheater

-whenever you guys are racing, he’d probably start running before you finish counting down.

-if you guys are playing a board game, probably has some cards up his ass

ʚ yuuji

- plays every single video game ever and IS GOOD AT THEM

- probably plays Fortnite, wouldn’t be surprised if he had a twitch channel too

- has a whole gaming setup and sh and definitely gets into “a zone” whenever he’s playing.

- probably also hacks and cheats in games just to mess with you and choso

- you guys have probably had a competition to see who can fit the most grapes in your mouth

END ♡

#jjk #jjk fluff #jjk smut #jjk x reader #jjk x you #jujutsu kaisen #jjk choso #choso smut #jjk gojo #jjk nanami #jjk megumi #jjk headcanons #jjk season 2 #jjk yuuji #nanami smut #gojo smut #choso x female reader #jujustsu kaisen x reader #jujutsu kaisen choso #jujutsu nanami

[bouncybongfairy]

Angels Like You

Loki x Fem Reader

Summary: After being pruned by the TVA, you were sent to The Void where you've lived ever since. During a storm Loki comes to your setup, seeking shelter. You allow him to stay and explain your nexus event to him.

Word Count: 2.0k

The context for this story: I based the reader's character after Sigyn who is the goddess of victory. In Norse Mythology, Sigyn is Loki's wife and is known for being extremely loyal. In Loki the mythical god's actual lore, after he kills the god Baldr he is banished to a cave where he is bound to rocks as a poisonous serpent drips venom onto his face until Ragnarok. Sigyn is so faithful she stays with Loki in this cave and holds a bowl above Loki's head to protect him from the venom. I based the reader's actions and relationship on the lore of Sigyn and Loki's romance if that makes sense; Thanks for reading!!

<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3

You were sent to the void so long ago that it’s hard to remember what life was like beforehand. It was such a beautiful life, living on Asgard with your mother and sisters. Mother was a baker and made everything from sweet to savory and your father was a butcher. They were in love and always were, newlyweds by the time they were only 17. Everyone in the family helped out with the bakery, one of your favorite things to do was teach your younger sisters how to make different pastries. Taking care of the animals and interacting with so many locals. You threw another stick in the fire, trying to shake your head of all the memories. Your handmade shelter was holding up nicely from the storm currently roaring around you. While you were scavenging recently you found a mini DVD player among a bunch of rubbage. It had the movie Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones which you’ve been watching on repeat ever since. It was comforting to you, especially because of how much the background looks like Asgard during certain points of the film. You had your legs kicked up, eating an unknown form of fruit that you picked earlier when you heard rummaging. You slowly start to get up not wanting to alert the potential threat. Arming yourself with your daggers, you get closer to the entrance of the shelter. Throwing the wooden door open you step in front of it. Unsurprisingly, a Loki stood in front of you smiling as if he was coming to ask for a cup of sugar. Instead of focusing on who was standing before the doorway, you whip your body around. The Loki that you saw was an illusion created to distract you, every single Loki you encountered did this so you were very familiar with this technique. You pressed the blade into his neck, causing him to raise his hands in defeat. 

“How did you get my blades?” he asked, looking quite taken back. 

“These are mine, not yours,” you replied flatly. 

“How did you know I was coming,” he asked, most likely to stall. 

“Because all Loki’s think they're clever by doing so, it’s like your party trick at this point. What is your business here?” you asked. 

“Is that an Asgardian accent I recognize?” he said, dodging your question. 

“What. Is. Your. Purpose. Here?” you ask, backing him against the wall and pressing the blade against his neck so hard that you caused a small scratch on his throat. 

“Okay, cards on the table. I only came here looking for shelter from the storm. Truly had no ill intentions, could you please..?” he asked, insinuating for you to unarm yourself. You did pull the dagger away from his neck but kept them in each hand. 

“I don’t believe you,” you said. 

“Like I haven’t heard that one before,” he said, sitting down and putting his hands in front of the fire, “you know you’re incredibly uncharismatic for a Loki,” he said, using magic to dry his clothes.

“I am not a Loki, and I never said you could stay here,” you said. 

“Okay if you’re not a Loki then why do you have those daggers?” he asked.

“They belonged to a Loki and now they belong to me; end of story,” you said. 

“Wasn’t aware it was pawning for a storytime,” he said giggling. 

“Do you want to die,” you said, moving closer. 

“You think you can kill me?” he asked. 

“Me being able to kill you is irrelevant. I know I can keep you out of my hut, and I know that storm will have its way with you,” you said. 

“Fair enough,” he said, putting his hands up playfully to surrender. 

“Why are you wearing a TVA jacket?” you asked. 

“I am a bit of a consultant, helping them with an inside look into the mind of a Loki,” he said. 

After physically showing your disgust for his loyalty to the TVA through facial expressions. You started roasting a chicken over the fire that was in the center of the shelter. Loki again began to pry about the origins of your accent. You ignored his inquiries and turned the roasted chicken that was cooking above the fire. He was eyeing the food like a lion would a gazelle. 

“I thought you worked for the TVA? Don’t tell me your wonderful new friends aren't feeding you,” you said flatly. 

“Well you know sometimes missions go… askew if you will,” he chuckled then conjured himself a blanket. 

“The TVA discarding lives at will? Can’t say I’m surprised,” you said. 

“And what about you? Clearly, you're Asgardian so what was your nexus event?” he asked. 

“I lived in the villages of Asgard, my family and I lived comfortably. My mother and father ran a foodery. They were given the opportunity to work in the castle’s pantry. Without a second thought, they took the opportunity, especially because it meant proper education for my sisters and me. We were shocked to see the interior of the castle. I couldn’t stop laughing because of how mesmerized I was,” you said, turning the chicken again, “as my sister and I lost our minds, the queen came around the corner. My mother was so upset that she saw me acting foolish, she pinched my forearm so hard it bruised. She took us to our separate rooms before showing my parents around. I didn’t want to be in separate rooms, in our old home, the room we shared was so small and the sudden change was jarring. Once I was alone in my room I broke down into tears, I was only 13 and it was all so overwhelming.” You moved the chicken away from the fire onto a makeshift table. Ripping one of the legs off and setting it on a chipped plate. Loki thanked you before you even handed it to him. After taking a few bites, he stared at you, waiting for you to continue. 

“The next day things were getting easier. I came out of my room and saw a snake slithering outside my door. I picked it up and began talking to it, saying things like ‘If someone else would have found you, they’d make you lunch’ or ‘let's get you out of here before you’re killed’ but after I set it free, Loki shapeshifted out of his snake form. The first thing I noticed were his eyes, they were so bright and his pupils were wide. 

“I was uh- trying to scare you but when you picked me up I had to wait till you set me down to shapeshift back,” he explained. 

“Why would I be scared of a creature that is simply existing?” you asked. 

“You have a point there,” he said laughing, which caused you to join him. 

“After that encounter, it was like we couldn’t stop bumping into each other. Everywhere you went, he'd always end up stopping by even just to share a quick glance with each other. Eventually, things got more serious, and we’d both sneak out to meet each other in the library. Loki loved the library, he explained that when he was to rule Asgard, he’d make his soldiers study basic battle strategy and geography to ensure his glorious purpose wasn’t to be wasted. I always loved romance novels which irritated him beyond no end. One that you remember was about a young king named Angus who was turned to stone by Medusa. His queen Rose was wrapped in his arms when turned, he was protecting her. He thought if he shielded the queen from the serpent's view and it did. The queen could have escaped but she would’ve needed to shatter her king’s stoned body. He was gripping her so tightly that the stone was rubbing her skin raw, but she was so touched that in his last moments, he wanted to be as close as he could to her. The love she had for him was so strong that she couldn’t bring herself to it. So she died in his arms. Aphrodite was so moved by the queen's sacrifice that she turned her body into a rose bush with thorns that completely wrapped around him. To protect his stoned body so she could be with him forever. Loki would poke up and talk about how no king would ever do that. Even if he was right, it didn’t stop you from reading them obsessively.

The night before my 14th birthday, Loki appeared at my window wanting to talk.”

Flash Back:

“I have something to show you,” he said, taking you by the hand and helping you climb down from your window. 

When you got to the bottom, there was a black horse that Loki helped you on. You were scared of getting in trouble but he insisted that nobody would notice. This is when you knew feelings were starting to develop, at least on your end. At first, you were scared to fully wrap your arms around him. He reached behind him and pulled you by your arms closer to him. You now had your cheek pressed against his back, watching his long black hair bounce as the horse galloped. You guys were getting deeper and deeper into the forest, starting to see more animals and thicker trees. When you guys finally stopped, it was starting to rain quite hard. He grabbed you by the waist and helped you down from the huge stallion. Taking you by the hand he began leading you to a cave that was nearby. At first, you were reluctant to go into this dark and foreign entryway. Loki dried your clothes and conjured a lantern. When he lit the cave up with light from the lantern you couldn’t believe your eyes. The cave had rose vines on every section of the wall. Your hand immediately threw your hand over your mouth. 

“Like in that book you love, when I found it I knew I had to show you. I know it’s not much-” you interrupted him by pulling him into a hug. 

“This is amazing, thank you for bringing me here to see this,” you said. 

“I actually didn’t bring you here only to see it,” he said, pulling the book out of his saddle bag. 

The cave’s floor was covered in long grass, which made it very comfortable when sitting on the ground. Loki’s back was pressed against a portion of the wall that he cleared of vines and thorns. You were your back against Loki’s chest as you read aloud to the book. You kept stuttering over words at first, being distracted and flustered. Eventually, you settled and were able to read fluently through the story. You guys stayed there until it began to rise, and right before you parted ways to separate bedrooms you shared a chaste kiss. Ever since that night, you knew Loki was the love of your life. The connection that was growing was strong and undeniable. It remained that way even after time aged the two of you. By the time you guys were 18 the love between the two of you was still as fresh as the roses in the cave. A wedding was being planned and the energy in the air was euphoric. Both of your families were healthy, the kingdom was thriving and you loved each other. Long story short: Baldr invaded Asgard. Loki killed him and saved so many people's lives yet he was punished. Banished to the very cave where your love blossomed in, only now the roses were all dead, yet the thorns remained. When you saw him, he was passed out from the pain. A serpent was suspended above his head, dripping its toxic venom onto his skin. You refused to leave his side, at first he would scream for you to leave. Not wanting your mind to be poisoned by the pain of seeing him so weak. You comforted him and held his head with one hand and used the other to hold out a bowl, catching the venom. You weren’t sure how much time passed, but one day you couldn’t stand the thought of living this way. For your love to be punished for doing what he believed to be right by his people. You noticed Loki still had his two daggers tucked into his pant-line. Knowing you would have to be quick, you emptied the bowl of venom and quickly grabbed his daggers. Using your own head to cover Loki’s body from the venom you start attacking the snake. After severing its head, you passed out from how bad the venom burned your skin. When you woke up Loki was already causing Ragnarok, he had so much pent-up rage. The timekeepers found me and when I was at the TVA pleading for answers, they told me certain events on my timeline needed to play out before Loki was released. Because you were the one who released him, they blamed it on you.

End of Flashback

The Loki you’d just met was looking at you with a pitiful expression. You noticed he picked his chicken clean which made you chuckle. 

“I’m so sorry for your loss,” he said. 

“Not your fault,” you said. 

“I know but, that’s one of the most heinous stories about survivors of the TVA,” he said. 

“I’m glad you liked the chicken. I’m going to bed,” you said, setting your cot up. 

“Is it okay if I stay?” Loki asked.

“If you stop asking questions then yes,” you said, extinguishing the fire and going to sleep.

#loki x reader #loki x you #loki x y/n #loki series #loki season 2 #loki fanfic #loki fanfiction #loki imagine #loki s2 #loki fanfction #loki fandom #marvel loki #loki mcu #glorious purpose #marvel mcu #marvel fanfiction

[thewildwaffle]

A Capella

I'm hoping the writing block I've been slogging through the past two months is lightening up and I'll get to some more of the prompts I've been sent!

*** *** *** *** ***

"We’re on a time crunch people! I need everyone to step it up if we’re going to get this all together in time for the ceremony!” Sevahn marched stiffly through the bustle of his crew as they rolled in large boxes of decorations and gear, strung garlands of flowers across the banquet hall, and laid wires, cords, and ropes for the laser light shows and entertainment equipment.

He eyed their efforts scrutinously and made sure everything lined up with the charts in his claws. This was easily the biggest client he’d ever been hired by, and he would be flarged if tonight wasn’t absolutely perfect for them!

“Bexts, those merkel blossoms are not the right color! They totally clash with the color pallet I sent you.”

The tall silver kloxan in question stopped arranging the bouquets and stared blankly at him.

“Do your optics need to be reset?” Sevahn marched up to the robotic figure and pulled out a pallet card. “Look, these are far too light. Some of them are nearly white! I specifically asked for rich purples and reds. Swap them out, inject them with dye, or paint them if you must, just get me the right colors within the next 15 mentiks!”

Without another word, Sevahn spun on his heels and was off to inspect the stage setup. Several crew members and techs were darting between various marks and consoles. By the looks of things, the hanging microphones and lights were just about ready. Techs were also laying wires for a couple microphones sitting on stands at the front of the stage. They were a bit obsolete (technology and usage-wise) what with the hanging mics, but some of tonight's featured vocal performers had specifically requested them.

Speaking of which…

“Has anyone heard anything from the humans?”

A booka tech by the name of Nuree perked her whiskers, “Oh yeah, I’ve heard them before! Last cycle I set up for one of their concerts on Vituka 4. They didn't use any instruments, but you wouldn’t know that if you were only listening! They were amazing!”

A few other on the crew chuckled a bit, and the Nuree’s fur flickered and reddened a bit as she realized everyone was listening.

“I meant, has anyone heard from the humans’ whereabouts? They were supposed to be here already for rehearsals.”

“They’re in the back,” a toanoaktree mumbled out slowly as they reached up to adjust the high-hanging mics. “I believe they said they were going to arrange a ‘green room’ and unpack their gear.”

With a curt nod and a short “thank you,” Sevahn was on his way to search for the humans. He’d worked with other groups of human performers before. Several of his recent clients had been caught up in the human craze that seemed to be spreading through the galaxy. Everyone wanted to hire them- security companies, shipping unions, exploratory associations, art and science guilds, and on and on.

The entertainment industry was, by no means, any different. Humans, as it turns out, love to perform and have a wide array of interesting talents. Sevahn had planned parties where humans had been hired to do anything from singing, dancing, playing instruments, swinging from elevated platforms in various acrobatic fashions, throwing multiple projectiles into the air, and “juggling” to keep them aloft, etc.

Eight cycles ago, there’d been a group hired by the Magensi Syndicate to perform what they called, “magic” at their yearly Harvest Festival. Sevahn had been busy with keeping other parts of the celebration running smoothly, but he’d been able to catch a few snippets of the show. There’d been some creative sleight-of-hand tricks that even Sevahn had to admit were pretty impressive.

The grand finale was by far the most… memorable. How by all that is bright and shining did the human sneak a “school bus” into the act and get it on stage without Sevahn or his crew knowing about it?! And what’s more- where the flarg did it disappear to after he removed the tarp?! He still hadn’t recovered from that.

Tonight’s ensemble of humans, however, was a singing group. Simple enough. There shouldn’t be any buses, school or otherwise, involved in their act.

Sevahn quickly found where the humans had set up their “green room.” It was less of a room and more of a partially sectioned-off alcove. It looked like someone hung up some cloth partitions as curtains to add a bit of additional privacy. He could hear them talking and laughing as he approached. He rustled the makeshift curtains a bit to alert them of his presence before he entered.

“Come in,” one of the voices called out.

As Sevahn dipped through the curtains, he quickly took in the surroundings. The six humans were spread out and pulling equipment and packages from various bags and wheeled boxes.

“Hello, welcome,” Sevahn looked around to try to identify the manager, Marisol, whom he had spoken to earlier on a comm call. She had her back to him at first, handing out small wrapped packages to the others.

“Ah, Akeno Sevahn, a pleasure to meet you face to face,” Human Marisol turned and stood to greet him with a short bow of the head and hand on her chest. Sevahn paused for a bit. He was used to greeting humans in their various methods, but this was the first one had greeted him in Austral Akeno fashion.

He blinked in surprise for only a mentik before returning the gesture. “It’s a pleasure to have you here with us. My team and I are at your disposal. What can I help with first to get you all set up for tonight’s performance?”

“Where’s the nearest water dispenser?” One of the humans, a tall male with a deep voice asked.

Sevahn gestured behind himself. “Just around the corner next to the catering station.

The human nodded thanks and left in that direction carrying a large empty bottle. Sevahn looked expectantly at the others.

“What time do I need to have everyone ready for mic checks?” Human Marisol smiled.

Sevahn smiled back automatically then pulled back his shoulders to attention. “Any time you’re ready,” He needed to keep a professional stance and tone. “Our first guests aren’t set to arrive for another four moorts, so there’s no rush. Our sound techs just ask that you allow them to set levels for each instrument individually, and afterward, Biert, our stage manager will come by to schedule instrument trades or swaps if you need.”

“Oh,” Human Marisol’s eyes widened a bit as her head tilted slightly to the side. She looked to the other humans in the room who all kind of chuckled quickly under their breath. “I don’t think that will be necessary. We won’t be swapping instruments.”

“You… uh, you… what?” Sevahn frowned. He looked around for instrument cases he could point out.

There weren’t any. None that he could see or recognize at least. The humans watched him with varying levels of amusement slipping into their features before Marisol broke Sevahn’s confused silence. “I thought you knew… we discussed it on the comms? We’re an a capella group?” She gestured to the others in the room who were now all smiling very widely, a few had to cover their mouths to hide laughter.

A capella. Sevahn remembered her saying that. He remembered it being said by others. There are so many different kinds of music that humans perform, he just assumed it was just the name of a particular style among so many others. He glanced around the room once again. No instruments. Is that what a capella meant? Not completely unusual, he supposed, he’d seen performances where singers would carry on parts of or even entire songs without the use of instruments. But to have an entire performance on this scale with no accompaniment? Surely not.

“I apologize for the misunderstanding,” Sevahn could feel the scales in his face warm slightly as the humans continued to try to not laugh at him. “I must admit I am not entirely familiar with the concept. Do you, uh, do you have pre-recorded music to perform with? I can personally make sure that gets to the sound techs right away.”

The curtain rustled and the human from before returned with his bottle now full of water from the dispenser. “Woah, look out! Sorry!” He nearly lost his balance trying to avoid running into Sevahn.

With their attention no longer focused solely on Sevah, a few of the other humans pulled out equally large bottles. One held theirs out expectantly with a huge toothy grin. Sevahn nearly flinched at the display, but he remembered that humans sometimes bare their teeth like that when they’re happy.

“What?” the recently returned human mockingly scoffed at the proffered bottle. “Your legs broken? You heard the director, the dispensers just around the corner. Get off your lazy butt!”

The responding sound was one Sevahn was not used to hearing. It was some sort of long drawn-out whine, stretching down in pitch then curling back up with some sort of broken, growly note. The others laughed at it. Sevahn stared straight ahead, mouth slightly pursed. Humans made a wide, wide range of sounds, hence the hired group in front of him, but he hoped that sound was not part of their show.

Marisol shook her head as her band broke into teasings and joking negotiations for water. She pulled Sevahn aside and smiled at him. He couldn’t help but instantly smile back. His scales warmed a little bit again.

“We’ve got our music sorted,” she explained over the din of her band. “No instruments, just us. Biert’s got our song list. We have a few things to unpack in here and we’ll be ready for a mic check and run through in about five moortiks, if that’s alright?”

Sevahn blinked a bit, then nodded his head. “Alright,” he straightened his posture again and gave a nod before heading for the curtained exit, “I will inform Biert. She’ll get you sorted with that when you’re ready. Let her or myself know if there’s anything else you need.”

“We appreciate it, thanks,” Marisol nodded politely as he left. As soon as the curtain settled behind him, he could hear her voice change as she turned to her band and began giving orders and try to wrangle them back onto the task.

What an odd group. He wondered if it was actually the same group Booka Nuree claimed she saw perform on Vituka 4. In any case, they were the group that the client had hired tonight, so at least someone must like their instrument-less performance.

The rest of the setup ran perfectly. Not that Sevahn would accept any less. Soon enough, the banquet hall filled with quests, welcoming remarks, and slightly overly-long speeches were given, guests of honor were recognized, and culinary masterpieces were distributed. Roaming entertainers were applauded as they wove through tables, performing tricks and feats, telling jokes, or showing off artistic displays.

And finally, the lights dimmed. Someone was speaking on stage and the guests began cheering. Sevahn didn’t notice at first, at the moment, he'd been pulled away to sort out a misunderstanding between the venue manager and one of the catering assistants. Having avoided a minor waste disposal crisis in the kitchens, Sevahn returned to the main banquet hall with a small sigh.

As he stepped into the large room, he immediately noticed all eyes in the hall were glued to the main stage. He paused. According to his schedule, this should be the main entertainment. Marisol’s a capella singers. He looked. Sure enough, there were five humans on stage, with a smiling Marisol in the wings, just barely visible from this angle, nodding her head to the beat of the song.

But what really shocked him was the song itself. They had no instruments. He was watching them with his own eyes and he could tell they had nothing accompanying them. But that’s not what his ears heard!

There were notes that sounded like they should be beyond human vocal cord capability. They ranged from bone-shakingly deep to cloud-piercingly high. There were rhythms, beats, and harmonies that came together like the humans were weaving the very sound waves into a stunning tapestry.

Sevahn closed his eyes to listen. He’d directed countless events where human musicians had performed. He enjoyed them with few exceptions. In all honesty, he actually was often too wrapped up overseeing various tasks or enacting the backup plans for failed backup plans to really enjoy the shows. But whenever he could get a moment of peace like this, he always stopped to savor the performances. And this one was one that seemed to have also everyone frozen to listen.

He’d never heard this song before. It was likely a human song, so it's unfamiliarity was not surprising. There was something about it though. It made him feel like he should start singing along. The words themselves sounded simple and easy to follow. They carried through and floated between notes like they were soaring.

He opened his eyes again, and for a moment, his brain momentarily protested at the visual evidence of there being only humans on the stage. Something about that felt exhilarating. He could have sworn he could hear a kloxan flute, or maybe an orchestral barelt, but his eyes told him otherwise.

He knew he couldn’t stand here all night, as much as he wished he could. There was always something that would call for his immediate attention and pull him away. For now, though, not a soul seemed to be doing anything but listening and watching. After a while, Sevahn could start to make out which sounds were coming from which human. The tall male who had first gone to fill his water bottle earlier was the one creating the resonating bass notes. He couldn’t tell which of the two humans to his right were the ones carrying the main melody. It was mesmerizing to watch and hear.

As the humans finished the song, the effects of its spell over the audience slowly came undone. Sevahn joined in with all the applause. He felt silly now about being so apprehensive before, and yet at the time, it seemed so reasonable to question how humans could perform an entire show without a single instrument. As it turns out, humans can make themselves into their own instruments just fine. He wondered just how many sounds they could learn and mimic to incorporate into their music.

As the cheering died down, the humans began their next song. Sevahn forced himself to move on to make his rounds through the banquet hall, listening as he went. He recognized this song. It was a popular ballad throughout the central systems. This time, the humans were really laying it on thick how much their voices could imitate a multitude of instruments. He had to turn his head several times as he walked to make sure they hadn’t pulled out a set of strings or percussions. They of course hadn’t, but instead started moving around the stage with a well-choreographed routine.

He paused once again to watch. Maybe it would be fine to just take a break a while longer and enjoy this surprising show. After all, at this point, the entire banquet hall could burn down, but as long as the humans could finish their show, tonight would still be considered a success.

He hoped he directed more large events like this in the future where Marisol's group would be hired again.

#humans are weird #a capella #music #hfy #aliens #writeblr #space orcs #original writing #humans are space orcs #humans

[itsclydebitches]

It occurs to me that all the fun of an Alice in Wonderland story kind of gets sucked out when your characters can just beat up everyone there instead of being forced to engage with the nonsensical and unfair rules of the setting. Where's the fun in tricking the Queen of Hearts and playing a bizarre game of hedgehog croquet? Just knock her block off.

I might have argued that RWBY backed itself into an inevitable corner by being a combat show - you have to forsake the bizarre rules and trickery of the Ever After for choreographed fights because that's just what RWBY is and what the viewer expects - IF we hadn't been introduced to the Jabberwock first thing. Plus, you know, Neo is there. We have the perfect setup for classic battles via old enemies/fantasy beasts and new, fun, interesting conflicts that require the girls to navigate a situation with skills other than brute strength... but no. I mean, maybe we'll get something moving forward, but the Prince's game isn't very reassuring in that regard.

You know what I was thinking about throughout that part of the episode? The Magicians. Specifically the scene where Quintin plays Push. Basically, he's a magic user playing a game of War, but in this version the whole point is to cheat. The player who's better at putting the right card in their own hand, the wrong card in their opponent's, or generally just fucking with the deck is the winner; a game of skill, power, and creativity. For all the show's many other problems (oh boy did it crash and burn lol) I love that scene and it kept popping into my head as the Prince yelled about humans cheating while, of course, cheating himself. That cheating could have been interesting, especially with a supposed strategist leading the charge, but as you say, instead we just get another beat 'em up fight. (You know, how Yang also wanted to solve her arm problem.)

Which I'm admittedly ambivalent about because we dodged three potential battles in the first two episodes (vines, Jabberwock, guards) and I was absolutely going, "When is RWBY going to give us some combat?" but it's one of those details that make me wonder why we're in the Ever After in the first place. If the show wanted Ruby to grapple with her depression while engaging in straightforward battle sequences, rather than grappling with her depression via the twisty, metaphorical rules of an alternate reality... she could have just done that in Vacuo. Thus far, three episodes in out of ten, all the Ever After has provided is a weather cue for when Ruby is feeling really sad. Otherwise every important character moment is easily removed from our setting. Some opportunistic Vacuo thief could have stolen Yang's arm. Ruby could have found something that reminds her of Penny among the Atlas civilians (which probably would have made more sense). Hell, people can even ask probing, thematically relevant questions like, 'Who are you?' given that they're unwelcome refugees. I'm slightly interested in the trio remaining small for a time, but beyond that everything we've gotten - Ruby is separated from her weapon, Neo's semblance evolves, Yang and Blake are still flirting, etc. - is not a result of the setting, it just happens to be happening in that setting, which begs the question of why we're taking this Ever After detour in the first place.

#rwde #rwby #mymetas

[ohvalleys]

( ncuti gatwa, thirty one, cisgender man, he/him ) ☼ i know it’s a small town, but i run into MARCEL “THE MARVELOUS MARCEL” UWASE every time i go to THE SALOON. it’s like they practically live there and not THE CALICO DESERT  for THREE MONTHS. it must be because they’re DISHONEST and CHARMING. come to think of it, that’s probably why they’re a SCAMMER/MAGICIAN too. but i did hear they want to GET FAMOUS OR DIE TRYING, and sometimes they like to PERFORM CARD TRICKS. rumor has it they also like WINE, but dislikes SLIME. what do you think?

born to the world’s most boring parents and six other siblings in a big old house on the outskirts of zuzu city. his mother was an important corporate lawyer and his father was a surgeon, so marcel was often left in the care of his assortment of nannies… and often getting lost in the shuffle of his siblings. though wealthy, he was very lonely.  

after learning slight of hand tricks from his weird old man neighbor that was a scammer before marcel was a twinkle in his mother’s eye,  marcel became committed to the art and craft of magic. sure, a few doves might have died in the process, a few dozen  cards shuffled across his room and left under his bed for the maid to pick up later. but marcel was determined. once he was old enough, he would sneak into the downtown of zuzu city, putting on magic tricks and scamming tourists with slight of hand wallet theft. he does know how to make a quarter come out of someone’s ear though. 

eventually marcel ran away from home when his parents refused to support his magic career, and went on the road, performing first with the circus. after five or six years with them, he disappeared with a stolen cart and one of the trapeze artists, who became his assistant and on and off lover. they worked together tirelessly for years, happily scamming people, performing basic magic tricks, promising to predict the future and flopping at it, you get the picture. sometimes marcel would go broke and would have to cry to his parents to fund his next scam or magic venture, including cart upgrades and the wonderful super fancy tent setup he’s currently in in the calico desert.

of course, this time when his cart broke down a mile away from stardew valley in the, marcel’s parents finally got sick of funding him and cut him off. his longterm assistant couldn’t bear the desert heat and how annoying a whining, broke marcel was, and left a month and a half ago. marcel is now saving up to fix his cart and go back on the road again. he’s also looking for a new assistant, so hit him up.

total flirt. like, with anything that moves. super annoying. does NOT respond to marcel. only the marvelous marcel. 

#dew.intro #marcel.

[blazehedgehog]

Apart from animated shorts, IDW comics and Sonic Frontiers, I don't know Ian Flynn. However, I always hear great things about him. What makes Ian Flynn so special to the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise? If you had to rate his work on Sonic out of /100, how would you rate him?

I mean, in my mind, he's one of the few Sonic writers who just... understands how to write. He's great at natural sounding dialog, he understands how to imbue characterization, he knows how to setup and pay off story arcs...

To some degree these are very basic things but when it comes to people who write Sonic the Hedgehog media it can be a surprisingly scarce thing to come by at times.

Like the thing I always come back to is when he started having to do reboots for Archie Sonic. Starting in issue #225, Dr. Eggman, after being away for a long time, suddenly turns up again. (spoilers for what would lead into Archie Sonic's "finale" follow)

But he doesn't just suddenly reappear, he launches a new Death Egg, too. Now, in 2023, you're like, "so what?" because Sonic's proclivity for nostalgiabait has seen some version of the Death Egg relaunch like, six times now. But this story predates Sonic Generations. Bringing the Death Egg back here, now, is a big deal.

The story arc that follows is basically a rewriting of the comicbook's canon. The Death Egg mk.2's big new trick this time is effectively shifting the timeline. Sort of a combination of time travel and multi-dimensional travel. The freedom fighters assault the Death Egg, but Eggman isn't playing around this time. He holds all the cards and there's no time to formulate a plan; all they can really do is storm in there and hope for the best. Sonic and Princess Sally make it to the core of the Death Egg, but before they can do anything, Sonic gets distracted just long enough for a security turret to put several shots into Sally.

Before Sonic can assess whether or not she's even still alive, Eggman activates the Death Egg.

He's won.

The next four or five issues show Sonic meeting the cast of the comics for the first time, but now everyone has been mysteriously transplanted into the universe of the Genesis games. Nobody really knows how they got there, and there's this unshakable feeling they can't really articulate. Sonic is right at home in Green Hill Zone, but everyone else... They're supposed to be here, but they aren't supposed to be here at the same time.

Bits and pieces of their original dimension slowly start to leak back into their memories. Things that used to have happened, but now apparently no longer do. There's a strange melancholy to see characters remember a particularly dramatic moment from this book's long history, even if it's only for one or two panels.

Sonic's dimension has been stretched and twisted, and like rubber, it's trying snap back into place -- but Eggman is trying to take advantage of the confusion to activate the Death Egg mk.2's other new ability: to roboticize the entire planet in a single shot. It's his hope that in doing so, he can solidify this as the new reality and prevent it from going back to normal. The only thing stopping him is, of course, Sonic, who suddenly gets a flash of his own memories and begins putting together what's going on.

Sonic makes it up on to the Death Egg alone and faces off with Eggman in a recreation of the final fight in Sonic 2. In the case of this Archie Sonic story arc, it features a moment that would go on to be referenced in the Sonic movie. (Spoilers)

Something about Super Sonic's presence is causing the old reality to reassert itself faster than ever before, not helped by the fact Sonic himself uses his rapidly returning memories to activate Chaos Control. As reality corrects itself, we're unsure of what world our characters may be returning to or who will survive. Her memories returning to her, Sally shares some comfort in that, no matter what happens, Sonic will make things right.

Everybody re-emerges in the original timeline, and it's clear that things have changed ever so slightly. Sonic and Sally are still storming the interior of the Death Egg, but little things are different. And time appears to have been rewound a few seconds; Sally hasn't been shot yet. Sonic manages to rush in and save her before the turret can get to her. Sally is confused how Sonic could have known about the turret, but he just warns her to be more careful.

The thing is, Sally seems to have some distant, far off memory of being shot. But she shakes it as they work their way deeper in to the core.

There, they meet Eggman. He may not have been able to roboticize his shifted reality, but his planet roboticizer is still primed and ready to fire on the current reality. Sonic and Sally do their best to explain that roboticizing the entire planet all at once may give Eggman a victory by technicality, but it will be an impossible nightmare for him to deal with all the side effects and repercussions. Eggman doesn't care. This is how he wins. All he has to do is give the order.

Sonic obviously won't let that happen, but Eggman has both Metal Sonic and Silver Sonic at his side. One by itself is enough to give Sonic trouble, but both at once might actually kill him. Sonic is too busy fighting for survival to even get close to Eggman.

Eggman turns to gloat at Princess Sally, but she's gone. Crawled into a nearby duct, where she's trying to use her personal computer, Nicole, to find something -- anything -- to shut down the Planet Roboticizer.

Anything Nicole can do here would take days to process. They have seconds. There is but one option: invert the roboticizer. Part of Sonic and Sally's attempt to reason with Eggman was realizing that if the roboticizer tries to convert something that's already mechanical, that thing explodes. Ergo, inverting the roboticizer into the Death Egg will cause it to explode, along with whoever inside of it.

Out of time, out of options, Sally forces Nicole to back up her files somewhere safe and inverts the beam.

The Planet Roboticizer overloads, destroying itself before it can destroy the Death Egg. But the room that Sonic, Eggman, and Sally are in gets caught in the blast.

And though Sonic himself appears to be fine...

Sally is not.

Princess Sally was always "the tactician" of the Freedom Fighters. Her ability to weigh risk and strategize a plan of attack was deeply important to their success rate. Now that mind works for Eggman -- and he quickly sets about upgrading her tech to make her faster and more deadly, turning her into one of the most dangerous threats the book had ever seen. She is cold, calculating, and ruthless beyond anything else. Not only that, but the book has also established that customizing a roboticized person makes it impossible to turn them back -- by modifying Metal Sally, Eggman is ensuring she remains his forever.

The Freedom Fighters, now without their leader, are scattered and confused. Every part of this is a worst case scenario.

It's a wonderful disaster and a hell of a story. Metal Sally stuck around for over a year, but before Ian could finish what he wanted to do with her, the legal battle with Ken Penders got more aggressive, necessitating yet another reboot that ultimately returned the Princess to normal.

If it wasn't for the fact that they did this second reboot inside of the Mega Man crossover comic, it'd probably hurt a lot worse, but that first Mega Man crossover is legit one of the best things Archie Sonic ever did. Using that as a springboard to say "Sally's fine! Orbot and Cubot are here now! Don't worry about it!" is actually totally okay.

All throughout this, the thing to keep in mind is pacing. These stories are action packed, they move quickly, they playing on long standing feelings the reader has developed for these characters over hundreds of issues, and they never feel like they're pulling their punches. Rarely are they confusing or tedious or feel like they're dragging. There's always stakes. Things are always happening for a good reason.

Ian Flynn knows how to write and spin a good yarn, and he's good at understanding the dynamics of these characters and how they all fit together. The fact that his work on Sonic got him jobs all over the comics industry should tell you that much.

He's not perfect, though, and I do wonder if this recent stint on IDW is showing that something in the writing process is getting stretched a little thin. I know IDW has been broadening their writing pool as Ian becomes more busy with things like Sonic Frontiers and other projects, but it's clear something unexpected is causing a dip in quality as of late. I wish only the best for everyone involved and whatever is happening over there.

#questions #Anonymous #ian flynn #sonic comics #sonic the hedgehog #sega #sonic team #idw sonic #archie sonic #LONG #LOTS OF IMAGES

[anormalweirdo]

Part two of my YouTuber!Itadori X reader. If you missed part one it's right here. I hope you all enjoy my new series and if you have anything you want me to write about feel free to ask 😄. I know there's most likely errors and mistakes and I'm sorry bout that. I was just rushing to put this out, especially considering it's been almost a week since the first post came out. Once again I hope you all enjoy my series💙.

You honestly still couldn't believe that you even got a response from the gaming YouTuber himself. You guys have finally contacted each other to plan out a couple of days where you're both free to meet up to record your videos for you separate channels. You two decided not to tell your fans about anything, if anything you chose to trick your fans into believing that he never responded to you. Considering that Itadori did get comments about you and the whole collab which eventually caused him to just turn his comments off completely. Many people were left confused to say the least when you posted a tweet saying "it's finally the day, stay tuned bad bitches‼️".

"Alright you ready to start this shit" you ask while adding your finishing touches to your gaming setup. "Of course I'm so ready to beat your ass" Yuji says while smirking. You press start on your live and watch as people start to join. "Sup bad bitches guess who I'm with today" you say as you grab Yuji's arm and put him more into the camera. "It's yujiiii" you yell. "The people in the comments already excited" yuji says while reading some of em." Yea they've been waiting for this for a lil minute". You sit down in your chair all ge way and put your headphones on while you see yuji staring at you through the camera. "What are you looking at" you say in curiosity. "You" "um why?" "I can't look at you?" He asked while laughing. "No don't be weird now that we finna play this game" "yea yea whatever just prepare to take yo L". "You never showed me how to play this game, so if I lose its your fault" you say annoyed. "You never asked me how to play. I would've been showed you." Itadori says while shrugging his shoulders. You roll your eyes and turn your attention to some of the people in your comments. "Itadori someone asked 'is this why you turned off your comments'". "Oh yea you guys where flooding my comments over her and this collab, so I had to turn em off so I don't get thousands of notifications a day". He joins you and do some comment reading of his own when his eyes glance at one particular comment, which seem to have his attention. He ignores the comment for now, thinking it'll be a good time to announce it while y'all are playing. If his cards is played right it could be used as a distraction. "Alrighty let's get this shit started for real" you say while grabbing your controller. "Ready to lose" Itadori ask with a smirk. "Hell no" you say while smirking back.

...

Fast forward a few minutes and a couple of losing rounds you finally had Itadori in a losing situation. Just as you were about to make Itadori get his first L of the night he asked you a question. "One of.the comments said that you had a major crush on me. Is that true?" It was like the whole screen of your gaming PC went blank as your eyes grow wide and you mouth open. Itadori celebrates as "WINNER" is flashed on his screen. You quickly snap back into reality as you look at the "LOSER" on your screen, still a bit in shock. "That's no fair, you cheated to get that win" "we never said that simply asking a question to each other was cheating, but you didn't answer my question babe" he says while turning his attention to you. You're in even more shock, not only did he win the game, but he also asked you a crazy question, and he called you babe. You look back at him and simply shrug your question, trying to seem uninterested. "Yeah but it wasn't nothing major" "uh huh sureeee" Itadori says while laughing as you roll you eyes. "To y'all people watching this don't think nothing of this, it was just something slight" you say as you huff. "I want yall to make all the edits of us after this collab". You look at the comment section which were mostly filled of a both of comments like "I definitely ship" "y'all are literally perfect" and "please get together". You laugh at some of the comments, especially the ones in all caps. "You guys can't expect us to do anything, especially when we literally barely know each other. Maybe in a couple of weeks." You say laughing "so you do like me" Yuji says while looking into the camera. "Omg not no more, now you're just annoying" you say while getting out of you chair to use the bathroom. "Excuse me" "you're excused" "don't start this childish shit, scoot overrr" you say. "Say please and I'll let you move babe" "oh my fucking god please move" you say irritated. Itadori finally moves out the way, as your walking in front of him he watches you walk away. His eyes look at your ass as.your hips sway. He looks back into the camera and smirks to himself. "Y'all if we ever get together she owes me $20".

Once the live was almost over you announce one more game as Itadori left to get y'all something to drink. "What the hell are y'all talking about" you say as you read the comments about the deal Itadori made without your knowledge. "He didn't even tell me about any deals or anything" "maybe we should make a deal, but what's it about?" You ask. The comments were quick to tell which made you laugh. "Bet we'll make that a deal, but ain't no backing out". Itadori soon comes back into the room and gives a look when he sees you sitting in his chair. "Can you get up?" He ask. "Say please and I'll let you move babe" you say mocking him. "Can you please get up L/N" "hmmmmm no" "alright bet". You don't think nothing of it until you see his back facing you. You quickly lose your breath as he sits on your lap. "Get yo ass off of me" you struggle to say. "Hmmmmm no" he mocks. The people are saying our positions should be switched". Itadori says while laying on you, getting relaxed. "Get off" "if I get off you gotta get in my lap" "absolutely not" you say. "Alrighty then" he says while relaxing on you even more. "Ok ok damn nigga I can't breathe" you say annoyed. Itadori smiles as he gets up and looks at you. "Yo ass stink" you say as you get up and stretch. "That's not true y'all, she was just begging to eat my ass before the Livestream started". "The fuck?! No I didn't stop lying". You bent over a little bit to see some of the comments, which were filled with "get in his lap" and "sit on his lap". You tried to act like you couldn't see the comments until you heard Yuji behind you. "C'mon L/N we gotta keep the fans satisfied" he says while sitting down, manspreading in his chair. You roll of eyes and sit down stiffly on his lap. "Let's make this quick" you say while laughing, which made him chuckle. "Oh by the way I have a question before we end the lifestream" you say. "Yes?" "Did you make a bet with me without my knowledge?" You asked while. Turning you head to look at him. "Oh yeah I said that if we end up together you owe me $20" he says truthfully. "Well let's shake hands on it" you say as you put your hand out. "We got ourselves a deal L/N".

Hours after the Livestream was over you did your nightly routine and went to your bedroom. Yuji went to his hotel a couple hours after the stream. You're laying in bed scrolling through your phone when you seen a notification. It was a text message from Itadori, a TikTok video. You click on the notification which took you to the message, then you clicked on the link which took you to TikTok. You look at the video which started off with a dark screen. The screen flashes and you finally see why he sent you the video. It was an edit of you in his lap and you talking to him from the stream. You look wide eyed as you watched the video again. It was already edits being made! Part of you understood why, especially considering the tension that was made between you two. But the other part of you just couldn't believe how fast it was before anything came out. You thought it would've been at least a day before anything happened. You snapped out of your thoughts when you received another notification. You heart beats even faster as you read the notification. 'That's definitely going into my favorites. If stuff like this happened today imagine how it's gonna be tomorrow. Goodnight L/N~'.

I hope y'all enjoyed part two of the Gamer!Yuji Itadori, I literally started it once I seen the answers from the polls. I'll work on part three as soon as I can especially because I want to be consistent with this series. If you missed part one it's right here and stay in tune. Bye~

#jjk fluff #jjk smut #jjk x poc!reader #jjk x reader #jjk #jjk yuuji #jjk yuji #jujutsu kaisen #jujutsu kaisen smut #jujutsu kaisen x you

[afpwestcoast]

The Observatory North Park, San Diego, 12/9/23

Though we were in a different city the setup for this show was very similar to last night in LA: large, ornate theater with a barricade keeping people back from the stage. But this was no impediment to the band torching through a stellar set.

Amanda calls me Tom the Critic because after shows I have a tendency to skip over the OMYGOD THAT WAS AWESOME part and pick nits over minor issues. It’s a character flaw; I’m working on it.

After this show I took Amanda’s face in my hand, looked her in the eye, and said, “Amanda, you know I love you, but I am about to tell you something that you probably thought you’d never hear me say.”

“Oh god,” she replied, bracing for the worst. “What is it?”

I leaned in close and whispered, “Perfect show. No notes.”

“AWWWW!” she said as she melted into my arms for a big hug.

And it really was a truly stupendous show, but even so it came close to being overshadowed by the after party.

Amanda’s sister Alyson (of forced wedding / gross cake fame) was in town for a hematology conference, and her “book doula” Jamy Ian Swiss lives in San Diego, so they were both there.

I convinced them - and Amanda’s brilliant long-time sound guy Dave - to join us for drinks at Part Time Lover, a nearby combination bar and vinyl record store. As we headed out I snuck up behind Amanda and said, “I think I just convinced your sister to come out drinking.” She said, “Yeah, that tracks.”

The place was jammed with a boisterous young crowd when we arrived, but we closed the place down and there hardly was anyone left by 2am.

I got to learn about Alyson’s efforts to cure cancer with targeted drugs and Dave’s work training the next generation of sound engineers. That was lovely, but Jamy stole the show. Or rather, put one on.

Knowing him primarily from his work with Amanda on her book, I thought the magic was a bit of a side hustle. When I asked, “Are you any good?” his look said, ‘I will tolerate that because you are buying me drinks,’ but his mouth said, “I am much better than good.” And then he pulled out a deck of cards and proved it.

I had never actually seen close magic up close, like literally standing next to the magician. Let me tell you, it is quite an experience. You know it’s a trick, you know he’s doing something, but you cannot see anything, which makes you start questioning your sanity. He really is much better than good.

After we closed the bar Dave and Alyson bailed but Jamy soldiered on and we went to an all-night diner where the spirited (pardon the pun) conversation continued until we finally parted ways around 4am. This was one for the annals.

Annotated Set List:

Good Day

Sex Changes

Gravity

Backstabber

My Alcoholic Friends

Shores of California

Delilah (featuring Veronica Swift) Welcome to the Internet (Bo Burnham cover)

Another lengthy intro before launching into a set of new songs, although this didn’t feel like the angsty delay tactic of the previous night but just bringing the audience up to speed on what was about to happen. Mister God

By way of introduction to the next song Amanda said that the friend who was the first person she sent it to when it was finished was in the audience.

“A really dear friend of mine is in the audience tonight … his name is Jamy Ian Swiss and he’s a man of many talents, among them: he’s an incredible professional magician. But he also helped me write a book called “The Art of Asking,” which was kind of a magic trick itself. Over the course of working on this book together he got to know me very very very well.”

And I thought, ‘Oh yeah I need to party with this guy.’

Houdini

Believe it or not, as Amanda was telling the background story of the next song, there was another medical emergency that necessitated bringing up the house lights, same as the previous night in LA. Once again the staff was on it and the band and the crowd were very respectful.

Afterwards Brian said, “It is actually really amazingly rad to have venue after venue’s staff come up to us after shows and go, ‘Your crowd is really awesome; they’re really good people!’”

Whakenewha Amsterdam (Jacques Brel cover)

Another Christmas

Boyfriend in a Coma

The Runner

The Nail (Amanda on synthesizer)

Coin-Operated Boy

“We don’t take for granted that we’ve been a band for 23 years now and without a record out since fucking 2008 and like a thousand people still came to see us play. That does not necessarily have to happen when you’re a band. And so we want to thank every single one of you for just like loving us and believing in us.”

Merch commercial

Astronaut (A Brief History of Nearly Nothing) (Amanda Palmer cover)

War Pigs (Black Sabbath cover)

—

Girl Anachronism

Photo Gallery:

The scene of the crime.

Ready to Rock! (photo by Deanna Aliano)

The Dresden Dolls!

Delilah

Amanda is WAY up on the balcony for Amsterdam

The many faces of Brian Viglione

Merry Christmas motherfuckers

Technicolor Dolls

Beautiful shot of Brian by Deanna Aliano

Big finish!

#amanda palmer #dresden dolls

[sirpawsies]

A review of Dragon's Dogma 2

Dragon’s Dogma 2 is one of the first major game releases in 2024. With some of the most fun gameplay an action RPG could have and a sense of exploration contrasting with a messy storyline. The game’s world design is more concerned with feeling like a place than being a playground for you to make a mess in.

In Dragon’s Dogma 2 you play as the Arisen, a chosen one of sorts whose heart was stolen and devoured by a dragon. Alongside your main character, you also have a Pawn; a sort of dimension-hopping helper that acts as your main companion in your party. The game fully allows you to customize both characters, including picking a Vocation (think classes), appearance, and in the case of your Pawn, a personality that determines how it will play alongside you. You can also recruit Pawns made by other players to make a party of 4, where they will contribute to your group using whatever personality they were assigned by their creators.

The game’s open world is one of the game’s strongest features, with two major countries to explore with different environments, caves, ruins and other unique landmarks. Exploration in and of itself is the core of how to interact with this game, as traveling around leads to discoveries of treasure, new monster encounters in unusual places, and in some cases new villages or quests of interest.

The combat is relatively simple, with every Vocation having a basic attack, two special attacks that are fixed to the vocation itself and four slots for you to pick special attacks that your vocation offers. With different spells for mages and wizards, uniquely strong physical strikes for fighters and warriors, special tricks for thieves, and similar fitting special attacks for other vocations. The game also features options like grabbing smaller, stunned enemies or grabbing onto larger enemies to climb on them and hit their weak spots.

In spite of its simplicity, or perhaps because of it, the combat in Dragon’s Dogma 2 is addictive. Every encounter with an enemy plays out differently depending on what approach you chose, with every option being simple enough in execution for it to be tempting. If you feel like fighting an ogre straight on or chose to run away, both are viable choices. If you want to throw a goblin at it because they happen to be around, it's a viable strategy (In fact, throwing things at enemies has really high knockdown values.) If you want to goad it into attacking you and falling off a cliff, just be sure not to join him on his way down.

The story of the game is admittedly a bit messy, with an introduction that sets up a plot of political intrigue and a race for the throne that gets lost somewhere on its way alongside the path to fight the dragon and reclaim your heart. There’s traces of good ideas very clearly visible through the plot, but unfortunately doesn’t utilize the setups it makes to their fullest potential. Without getting into spoilers, the endgame in particular throws a lot of things in the story off the rails in favor of something that doesn’t feel connected to most of the main story.

The characters you interact with are also simple. With key characters having relatively simple writing and, with a few exceptions, mostly serving as a means to give you quests and develop the story further. With that said, the characters are written well enough. Additionally, all NPCs exist under schedules, basic behaviors and dispositions that make the world feel like it is inhabited by a few different civilizations.

Which leads to the game’s secret, the strongest card it has to play. The world itself. Some quests are timed by in-game days, so they will end whether you interact with them or not. Larger roaming monsters like griffins and lesser drakes will go wherever they want, independently of you. The capital city of Vermund can be assailed by monsters while you’re strolling around it, NPCs can die from monster attacks. And yet, the game goes on. This world exists even when you’re not interacting with it directly.

This extends to NPCs interacting with the main story, too. For instance, Brant, the soldier who gives you most of the initial quests, can die in a monster attack. Restoring the thread of fate is not impossible, and can, in and of itself, be a source of adventure outside of the story and exploration itself. Whether this is a positive or a negative thing, however, depends on the player and their willingness to interact with the game on its own terms.

With its unique game world design, Dragon’s Dogma 2 overcomes most of its flaws by using design choices that make the world feel so alive that the experience of playing the game overwhelms its shortcomings. The sense of exploration, the thrill of combat and the ever-present feeling of being a part of a living world have captivated my attention thoroughly. And I can confidently give this game a highly positive endorsement.

9/10

*Note: PC version released with performance issues. While I did not account for them in this review. It’s a very important factor to mention. As of writing (28/3/2024), Capcom has expressed their intent on patching the game to address this. I wrote this under the assumption that they will go through with it and the game will have no performance hitches.

#game review #dragon's dogma 2 #dragon's dogma ii #writing

[milk5]

as much as i scoff at gg:s, i think asuka is a really cool character. practical or reliable? probably not! but i really think his gameplay NAILS what it is going for, at least conceptually. he's a yoshimitsu-esque setup character, but in a way that feels far more reminiscent of invoker from dota 2 than any other fighting game character.

in tekken 7, yoshimitsu's fundamental tools, relative to other characters, are bad. his frames are poor and he doesn't really have many conventionally good moves, but he makes up for it by having a ton of really odd moves that lead to unexpected and unique interactions. even flash, his most signature move, is a full launch punish for using it incorrectly; to find the uses that elevate it to an INSANE move, you just need to find a guide or tediously lab it out. this is sort of how yoshimitsu (and other trick characters in fgs) works in general: the player puts in exponentially more "research" into finding setups and weird interactions, while their opponent is oblivious to it because they haven't poured hundreds of hours into labbing a character that they don't play (and rarely encounter). it can be really frustrating to be on the receiving end of this, because the POINT of each setup is to punish you for doing what feels intuitive versus almost every other character in the game. but that's all yoshimitsu has. without his weird stuff, he's just a bad character. this explanation may seem like a scathing review, but i ADORE seeing truly good yoshi players.

now, back to asuka, i am UTTERLY confident that he has gamebreakingly strong card combinations. if you are tuned in to fg (obviously gg:s in particular, which i am not) stuff, you will see some of these soon. they will be stronger than any yoshimitsu trick in tekken. however, UNLIKE yoshimitsu, the ability to carry out a strong setup is hard-locked behind RNG. sure, you can manipulate this rng, but that's the point! while you're busy trying to get an optimal card configuration, your opponent is going apeshit on you! you're playing gg:s, dummy! you're in a round of the most batshit chaotic fighting game with a playerbase right now, and you're trying to get a specific hand of three or four different cards? out of random pulls from a deck of 30 to 90 cards? that sounds stupid as hell!

instead, i feel like asuka's real strength will be when the player is PAINFULLY aware of how each card interacts with each other, situational awareness, and the ability to identify "good enough" instead of chasing after "gamebreakingly strong". if you KNOW that a card is utterly dogshit in your situation, you can toss it without second guessing yourself. if you know a card would be pure gold against your opponent, you know to hold onto for just long enough to avoid it turning into a burden for you.

sure, there will always be the feeling of "man they just won because they got good rng!", but did you LET them get good rng? if they pull a broken set of spells early on, then boo. lucky them. but the chance of your opponent immediately pulling an insta-win combination will almost always be VERY statistically unlikely, and the burden is on the asuka player for even KNOWING the strength of such a combination.

but take all of this with a grain of salt, i've never played a second of gg:s in my life -- i just think that asuka is a really cool concept for a fg character and i think that his potential for really crazy cool stuff seems thematically perfect for such a game.

[luna-spacedoodles]

hermmm rewatching the second season and something odd i just noticed(i did notice it the first time around and then promptly forgot) is something probably pretty small and maybe meaningless but caught my eye are the cups in the magic shop aziraphale knocks over when he struggles(?) with the disconnecting rings. the two of them try to set them back up and now they’re there but kinda messy like this

but then when the shot changes from being behind the counter to being behind aziraphale and crowley the cups are now returned to their original spots all tidied up like they were previously

the main reason i really noticed this is that not only are they fixed but the cups with the doll head are in the snake loop where the single tilted cup should be

AND THEN around the end of the scene the seller goes around the counter and we see the cups from the front this time are knocked over

its a bit hard to see but they are in the knocked over setup

also i looked and in a shot from behind the counter the card stack is knocked down and it is also knocked down in a shot from somewhere else(not exactly the same one with the neat cups because, well you can’t see the table there). that as well as the placement of the rings on the table once aziraphale has set them back down

IDK! i could be talking nonsense i just thought it was a weird amount of detail put on the knocking over if the cups for then they to be switching around positions like that that is consistent too

there’s not much of a point to this post either i just wanted to point out what i hadn’t noticed anyone else seeing. it bugs me not because it seems maybe to just be a mistake, this FEELS intentional. like i really find it hard to believe that this wasn’t on purpose it’s just a weird thing to make notice of

like honestly they could’ve skipped the bit of aziraphale messing around with the rings altogether and go from the snakes in a box to the gun trick. i don’t see how the rings would add anything aside from being there to knock over some things that change from being knocked over back to neat

#good omens #good omens 2 #good omens theory #i guess? kinda? #it’s just odd to me #if this is nothing it’s nothing #there are farther stretches and nitpicks people have made im sure this is rather tame #something something magic shop something something magicians distract so they can do something clever in the background #fuck it im posting this i need to share this or i’ll explode

[kyogre-blue]

Oh, hey. I didn't realize this would take a screenshot of the entire deck! Pretty cool.

Anyway, I finally managed 5 victories (1 loss), which was interesting. Before, I only got up to 3 wins, I think, but I was using an adjusted version of the default deck you get for free, which is um not good.

The deck concept here I copied from Youtube (here), both because I love Noelle and because it's pretty braindead to use.

However, because I can, I adjusted the cards to be... "narratively fitting." Because, you see, Noelle fights a lawachurl in her first hangout and goes to Liyue in her second hangout, so the other character cards are perfect!

Aside from that, Mond and Liyue cards only, no Inazuma or Sumeru. (After this screenshot, I replaced the cheaper helmet with a second three cost one, and leave it to me with I haven't lost yet... which is an Inazuma card, but I think it's funny because I steal Itto's entire setup in the game proper for Noelle. He's spiritually fitting.)

My one loss was to cursed Nahida (with Fischl and Collei). It was going okay, but they completely tricked me at one point in regard to which character they were going to attack with and I walked right into more catalyze, so that was a funny experience in its own way.

Aside from that, the other funny experience was someone actually using the Xiao card to kick out an entire set of Oceanid summons (on a Raiden, Albedo, Zhongli deck). But I just resummoned them, so... very funny to see though.

Oh, and one opponent conceded immediately, presumably because they did not want to deal with Noelle shenanigans (Jean, Xiao, Shenhe deck).

#playing genshin

[saltdomain]

moneyposting pt. 2

@snowcultscuffle wanted to follow up on one of my previous posts, so let's get into it!

The short answer is: yes, absolutely, but how he spoils Chalice depends on whether she would want to be spoiled in the first place.

You could make a case in either direction; show!Chalice grew up a street kid and grifts people for material gain. She also seems to prioritize luxury goods whenever possible.

Now, Saltbaker can be manipulative himself, so I don't think this Chalice would be able to trick him into giving her anything. But a scenario where he winds up adopting her would be interesting, because she wouldn't have to trick anyone to survive, and in fact it would be more productive to just ask for what she wants. Imagine how shocking that would be to this street urchin.

(It would be easy for show!Chalice in a post-DLC timeline to pull the "you tried to kill me & my friends, so you owe us BIG TIME" card, which Saltbaker can never, ever argue against.)

Now, as for game!Chalice, we do have this scene from the 2018 E3 trailer where she hangs out in a mausoleum while using a vanity setup that may or may not belong to her:

On the other hand, she doesn't seem like much of a material girl outside of this instance. Neither do her comic & novel iterations; she's mostly just vibing and getting into shenanigans with the cupbros.

And this is why I believe that the items in that mausoleum scene are indeed hers, and that they hold sentimental value to her. Chalice was interred with them because people wanted to make sure she was comfortable in the afterlife! I'm sure that even if all she was laid to rest with were handwritten letters, she'd treasure those just as much. So my verdict as far as game!Chalice's POV is: she wouldn't turn down Nice Expensive Things™, but she isn't motivated to chase them either. She seems to be happiest simply spending time with her loved ones.

Saltbaker being who he is, though, the urge to pamper her is ever-present- at least until he better understands what she values. To him, Chalice is THE MOST SPECIAL GIRL in the whole world so she deserves THE MOST SPECIAL TREATMENT in the whole world. Saltbaker would probably opt to spoil Chalice by bringing her on fun little trips - rock climbing, sailing, that sort of thing- and by recreating ancient Greco-Roman recipes that she grew up with.

#mine #headcanons #observations #cuphead #cuphead dlc #the delicious last course #the cuphead show #ms chalice #chef saltbaker

[multiandmany]

BATTLE STATS.

★★★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆  —  STRENGTH. ★★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆  —  OFFENSE. ★★★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ —  DEFENSE. ★★★★☆☆☆☆☆☆  —  SPEED. ★★★★★★★★★☆  —  DURABILITY. ★★★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆  —  ACCURACY. ★★★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆  —  AGILITY. ★★★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆  —  STAMINA. ★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆  —  TEAMWORK. ★★★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆  —  STEALTH. ★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆  —  CLOSE COMBAT. ★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆  —  BLADED WEAPONS ( swords, daggers ). ★★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆  —  BLUNT WEAPONS ( clubs, staffs ). ★★★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆  —  RANGED WEAPONS ( guns, archery, staves, cards ). ★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆  —  SUPERPOWERS / ABILITIES / MAGIC. ★★★★★☆☆☆☆☆  —  PREMEDITATED TRAPS / SETUPS. ☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆  —  MEDIC.

FIGHTING STYLE.

commander  /  dualist  /  honorable  /  dishonorable  /  would have others do their fighting  /  stealthy  / long-ranged  /  melee  /  technological  /  sorcery  /  superhuman abilities  /  has fought in a tourney  /  a lover of fighting  /  a hater of fighting  /  cowardly  /  reckless  /  strategic /  uses underhand tricks  /  renowned for their skill  /  trained  /  untrained  /  keeps skill secret  /  won a battle  /  lost a battle  /  ruthless  /  merciful

tagged by: No one I stole this from one of my other blogs :3

tagging: @champiionic @rage-reloaded @crossed-worlds @ocsareawesome and anyone else who wants to do this

#Evil Genius || Jack Spicer #Dash Games #This includes robots and the Monkey Staff somewhat but its mostly just his baseline (the extras are added in to the count already) #if i could give a half star for teamwork i would but i can't

[mysteriousmaninthesmoke]

The clown gives the spider one "good" day part 1

This story is based on the Twitter artist yerikjan comic Joker meets Spider-Man so check him out. By the way @sonicman613 you told me to tell you when this came out so here is the first part

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!" From up on top of the Brooklyn Bridge came this maniacal, evil laugh. Then suddenly, swinging to the top of the bridge came a figure covered in a red suit with black lines running across it. He wore a mask with big white eyes and black lines across it that looked like a web. He landed with his legs spread out and one hand on the ground. "Ah, it seems you got my invitation Spider-Man."

In front of the hero stood a man with an unnaturally white face, green hair, and a wide grin across his face. He wore a purple trench coat over a green suit with a yellow flower over his chest. In his purple gloved hand, he held a card with a big fancy J on it. "Well, it wasn't hard to miss Joker," Spider-Mans said, looking up at the spotlight in the early midnight sky shining an image of his mask with a big grin on it with bright red lips. Suddenly the hairs on Spider-Man's skin stood up as the Joker threw his card at him thinking the hero was distracted. Spider-Man jumped up into the air to avoid the card and pressed his inside fingers to his palm, causing two web-like projectiles to fire out of his wrists at the Joker.

The clown dodged to the side. He put his hands in his trenchcoat pockets and pulled out more cards and started throwing them at the webhead. "Do you care to have a look at this view? It looks majestic. Oh, I lo-o-ove this city." Spider-man jumped and dodged the cards coming at him and when the Joker used up his hand he shot a line of web towards the Joker. "Cut the crap clown-boy" The Joker squeezed the flower on his chest and acid sprayed out of it, intercepting the and melting the webs. "Oh don't be this harsh on me. Have some sympathy for your fellow freak!" he said in a sad-like tone. "It's such a long way from Gotham I am feeling a little homesick!"

The Joker threw multiple marble-like objects at the ground. As they hit they released a green colorful gas that Spider-Man's senses told him was dangerous. He covered his mouth, jumped over the Joker, and landed on the other side as the gas enveloped the clown. "In all honesty though I am probably going to tear this entire fucking city down piece by piece."

Spider-Man got ready to defend himself from whatever trick the clown prince of crime threw at him next. "But first I wanted to thank the local hero who faced many hardships for this city a give a big gift. This gift is something that you always wanted ever since you got bit by that spider." Spider-man was surprised "How do you-" from the green gas the clown started laughing again. "Oh, it wasn't hard to figure out who you are Peter Parker. You really piqued my interest when we first met at that bank. HA HA HA HA! It seems I've said the punchline before even providing the setup for the joke. Let me start over again. You see a clown and his goons walk into a bank."

#spiderman #joker #dc #marvel #fanfic #fanfic crossover

[whowhatwhycast]

Who, What, Why S35.E08 :: A General Chat about Generative AI with Joe Slack

Joe Slack, a frequent guest of the show, joined me once again to help me dip our toes into the conversation about AI art in board games. We did our best to explain AI art from our knowledge base and to explore some of the uses of it so far and even what future uses should look like.

I have an ongoing cough, so I did my best to remove those loud coughs.

I asked ChatGPT to write me a script for a podcast about AI art. I will release that as an episode in December.

Also, I asked ChatGPT to create an Arkham Horror trick-taking game. The game is enclosed in quotation marks.

"Absolutely! Let's call it "Eldritch Echoes: Arkham Trickery." Here's a basic idea for how the game might work:

Number of Players: 3-5

Objective: Players aim to gather Eldritch Echoes, fragments of cosmic knowledge, by winning tricks through strategic card play.

Setup:

Deck: A custom deck with suits representing different aspects of the Arkham Horror universe (e.g., Mysteries, Artifacts, Creatures, Spells).

Eldritch Echoes Cards: Special cards with varying point values representing the cosmic knowledge players seek.

Gameplay:

Dealing: Deal a set number of cards to each player, creating their starting hand.

Trick-Taking: Players take turns playing cards to form a trick, following suit if possible. The highest-value card of the leading suit or the highest trump card wins the trick.

Eldritch Echoes: Certain cards hold Eldritch Echoes values; winning a trick earns those points for the player who won it.

Special Cards: Include special cards that can alter gameplay (e.g., Ancient Tome that acts as a wild card, Shub-Niggurath as a powerful trump card).

Strategic Elements: Introduce elements like sanity cards or mythos cards that add unpredictability or risk, affecting the outcome of tricks or forcing players to discard.

Winning:

The game can be played over several rounds or until a set score is reached.

The player with the highest accumulated Eldritch Echoes at the end wins.

Strategy:

Players need to gauge when to play their powerful cards strategically to win high-value tricks.

Balancing the use of trump cards or Eldritch Echoes cards with keeping useful cards for later rounds becomes crucial.

Thematically: Incorporate elements of Arkham Horror lore, where players are investigators seeking cosmic knowledge, encountering mystical artifacts, eldritch creatures, and otherworldly spells.

Remember, the fun in trick-taking games often lies in their simplicity and the layers of strategy that develop as players become more familiar with the deck and its nuances. Adjustments and balancing may be needed through playtesting, but this framework could provide a solid foundation for an Arkham Horror trick-taking game!"

Right-click to download this episode.