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radramblog · 3 years

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Top 5 Games, ever...?

This was sort of on my mind, considering the recent GOTY post I made. Come explore the hyperfixations that managed to stick around long enough to be my top 5 list.

5. Uhhhhhh

So turns out I haven’t figured out what number 5 is yet. I suppose instead I’ve got to split it among the honourable mentions, huh.

Kirby Super Star Ultra is probably the best game from the GBA/DS era of the series and is just a blast to play. It introduced Masked Dedede, and all the banging music and memes that come with it, and probably deserves a spot here just for that.

The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth removes all the awkward Flash Stuff from the excellent original, and adds so, so much more content- the game’s final expansion still isn’t out yet as of writing but even now there’s just so much to unlock. While some aspects of the game can be pretty unforgiving, you probably aren’t going to be exposed to the worst of it unless you get into it pretty hardcore, and if you do, you’ll get used to it. It’s a roguelike, after all.

Speaking of roguelikes, FTL: Faster than Light is chaotic yet serene, brutal but fair, and a bunch of other pretentious dichotomies wrapped into a neat little bow. It takes some getting used to the mechanics, but once you get the hang of it, building your little ship up and up in the face of all odds is extremely satisfying. Have fun dying hopefully not too many times.

SPEAKING of permadeath, Realm of the Mad God gets a spot here just out of sheer hours I’ve spent with it. After a messy few years with a not-so-great owner lead me to dropping the game, it seems finally to have recovered and has devs and community that actually freaking care about it, which is nice. Also, it’s free, and the recent transition to unity has the game looking better and playing smoother than 12-year-old me could ever have dreamed of.

Terraria isn’t just 2D Minecraft btw, its actually more of an RPG/Metroidvania thing, you probably know at this point, but its pretty good hey. Still haven’t fully dove into 1.4 but considering I thought Red was done at 1.1 I’m not complaining with what I have played.

4. Fallout: New Vegas

(...ish??)

I’d argue that between the primitiveness of the original Fallout games (I’ve tried to get into them, but I just can’t) and how…meh… the other Bethesda ones are, New Vegas is the only one in the series to stand up strong. Obsidian’s excellent writing and tweaks to the gameplay of 3 make New Vegas feel like an actual world, rich and characterised, which was something I found lacking in previous open-world RPGs I’d played up until that point (which admittedly might just have been Skyrim). It’s a game that challenges you to make choices that actually matter for more than the mere moments of an altered dialogue tree, both in dialogue and character building, which helps make the game actually replayable. It is also the first game in a long time that really sold the idea of DLC on me, seeing as each of the game’s 4 expansions adds an entire new region of world with its own stories and unique gameplay, tying together with the main plot but standing on their own. I am excluding Gun Runner’s Arsenal from this for obvious reasons, though it isn’t like GRA is a bad DLC or anything- on the contrary, the sheer scope of modifications and munitions makes playing a repair/science-based character incredibly fulfilling- but it just isn’t at the same scope as the other 4 (Courier’s stash barely counts seeing as its just oops! All preorder bonuses).

New Vegas is one of the few games I have actually 100% completed, achievements and all, but I’m still pretty sure there are bits I’ve missed, paths I haven’t taken, characters I haven’t talked to. Despite its inhospitability, the Mojave is always a comfortable place to return to.

3. VA-11 Hall-A

(Hey look, my phone background)

Vallhalla is a masterclass in storytelling, atmosphere, and aesthetic. Like all good cyberpunk dystopias, you get themes of class and transhumanism and artificial intelligence, but they aren’t the point of Vallhalla. Through the window and lens of cyberpunk and PC98 nostalgia is focussed a surprisingly human story centred around the protagonist, Jill, which through multiple replays still hits me in the feels just so. Of course, Jill’s story is not the only one being discussed, as every single patron of the bar has their own life going on, and the glimpses we get imply a rich, often interconnected, world. Glitch City is, frankly, a shithole, and it’s not like you don’t get some assholes coming into the bar while you’re working it. The first patron you serve, in fact, is a great example of this- Donovan D. Dawson, essentially a parody of J. Jonah Jameson, is a colossal prick and knows it- but its clear he has his own system of morals and it is mentioned that he’s excellent at his job, much as he gripes about it. He’s rude and more than a little sexist, but frustratingly charismatic and authoritative, and he’s just one of many people who show up throughout the game. Vallhalla is the perfect game to sit down, grab your preferred beverage, and just relax with.

2. Total Annihilation

(This image is on the steam page for this one, despite blatantly not being from vanilla TA)

I think I actually need to explain this one. Total Annihilation was a game released in 1997 made largely by Chuck Taylor, who would later go on to produce spiritual successor Supreme Commander. It’s an RTS game featuring exclusively robotic units with a fairly chunky aesthetic, allowing the visuals to age better than some, and a fully orchestrated soundtrack by Jeremy Soule, who would later go on to do work on a whole bunch of stuff, most notably Skyrim.

Total Annihilation is an intensely nostalgic game for me, being one of the first games I ever got to play as a kid outside of edutainment stuff, and I’d argue still holds up today (especially with the excellent Escalation mod). What it lacks in story (it’s pretty basic, but functional) it makes up for being miles ahead of its time mechanically, being the first (?) RTS to function in 3 dimensions- heights of things actually matter, hills exist and certain units climb them better than others, shooting down airplanes is difficult without anti-air but possible if you aim *just* right. While appearing pretty similar and having largely analogous units, the two factions of Arm and Core are well fleshed-out in terms of aesthetic and playstyle- Arm preferring fast and cheap equivalents to Core’s slow but powerful- and the unit variety is sufficient that strategies can vary wildly based on the map. Both campaigns as well as those from the game’s expansions are challenging, but satisfying, limiting the units you can produce to force exploration of different playstyles.

Total Annihilation isn’t something I tend to binge play for hours anymore, but I’ll pick it up for a bit every so often, and I don’t see that stopping for a long time (especially due to the recent steam release).

1. Pokémon Emerald

(At the top, where it belongs)

Yeah, this was inevitable. Pokémon is my favourite series ever; Emerald is my favourite in the series. Go figure.

Emerald, being the final game for the franchise’s days on the Game Boy, reflects everything Game Freak had learned in the first 3 generations of the series’ history. The game’s balance is challenging but fair, never spiking so tough that it is insurmountable but never holding your hand either. The AI opponents are throwing odd combinations of mons and moves at you from every corner, double battles are everywhere but rarely mandatory, and the variety of available mon both before and during the postgame is excellent. The added features on top of Ruby and Sapphire are great- Battle Tents serve to replace 3 of the contest halls (they should have all been under one roof to begin with) and provide a taste of what would later be available in the Battle Frontier. The Frontier is probably the single most expansive and challenging postgame in any Pokémon game, providing the game with a longevity that is sorely needed due to the inaccessibility of Pre-DS multiplayer. The game also manages to tie together the plot of both Ruby and Sapphire into something that feels natural, and provides the series’ first ever actual cutscene, which felt a lot cooler at the time than it sounds now. The return of animated sprites gives the Pokémon a level of life far beyond the static sprites of RSFRLG, and in my eyes wouldn’t feel the same until Black and White several years later. The return of the Pokégear phone in the form of Match Call, as irritating as it is to some, makes the world feel alive in a way that Sinnoh and Kanto probably never will, in addition to making grinding a fair bit less tedious and more beneficial. It is, altogether, probably the perfect Pokémon experience, and in my opinion only one other game comes close (its Platinum).

Oh also, they got rid of the font from Ruby and Sapphire, thank fuck, that shit is atrocious.

#ramble #video games #pokemon #retro games #lists

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xoxopandapanda · 6 years

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A Functionally Dysfunctional Valentine’s Day

Set in the Functionally Dysfunctional AU

@inuyasha-valentines

Contrary to popular belief, out of the two of them, Inuyasha was the romantic. While Kagome did love a good romance movie and a date night with her husband, it was Inuyasha who loved to plan and perfect their outings. Kagome had been the one to introduce him to the world of wooing, but once Inuyasha got a taste of it, he was addicted.

Kagome’s work at the clinic had been busier than usual, due much in part to the recent cold snap, and she had all but forgotten Inuyasha’s favorite holiday was coming up. But he hadn’t, and was busily using the extra time that his wife was at the clinic to prepare his ultimate plan. ‘When you getting home?’ He texted his wife because he knew a call would prove to be fruitless. He also knew that expecting a response right away was stupid, so he tucked his phone into his pocket, and set to rotating the tires on the car that had been dropped off that morning. Once he was done, he set to changing the oil, mentally preparing a list of things he needed for his special day with Kagome. ‘I have the roses and chocolate…maybe wine? Oh I should stop by the card section and see if there is a good one. I think we need more dashi stock…’ The good thing about being excellent at his job was his mind could be elsewhere while he was working. It was well over three hours later that Kagome responded. ‘It’s slower today, so I can be home for 4!! :D’ Inuyasha snorted at the emoji attempt, knowing that Kagome had expected it to auto fill but it hadn’t. But nonetheless, 4 pm was good. It meant they had a long evening to themselves. ‘Maybe I should pick up bubble bath stuff too…but she probably has quite a bit of that...’ Inuyasha shot back an actual emoji, just to mess with her a little bit, before looking at the time. ‘Almost one…’

He turned back to the cars he had to work on, and decided that if he worked efficiently enough, he could close up by three, giving him enough time to get to the store. When it came to Valentine’s Day, Inuyasha was always the first person to have in his order for flowers at the local flower shop. He also preordered all the chocolates from the fancy Swiss store on the other side of town, so he knew he was safe in that regard. He had picked them up that morning, and keen to get them home. It was sometimes a toss-up if there were any good cards left, but Kagome loved either cheesy or mildly offensive cards, so he figured he could find one that fit either category. After all, most wives wanted to be wooed on Valentine’s Day, but Kagome just wanted to spend time with him. Locking everything up for the day finally, after calling his regulars to let them know he was closing a little bit earlier than normal, and starving off the jabs from Totosai to ‘Go and love her right up’, he texted Kagome to tell her he was heading to the store, and to let him know if she needed anything. He arrived just after 3 pm at the mom and pop grocery store that Kagome loved, but he wasn’t the only person standing in the card isle. There were dozens of men, trying to find a nice card for their special someone, some toting kids along, some toting carts full of stuffed animals and chocolate. Inuyasha silently judged all of them for their lack of organization, while mentally praising himself for being such a thoughtful spouse. The only reason he waited until the last minute to pick out the card was because the more picked over the isle was, the more visible the most ridiculous cards were, which saved him time in finding one. Scanning quickly over the options in the Funny-For Her section, Inuyasha picked up the first one that caught his eye. It had a dog squatting on it, with ‘HEY HOT STUFF!’ written across the top at an angle in a font suspiciously similar to the word affects in Microsoft Word that every middle schooler loves. Opening it to read the inside, Inuyasha barked out a loud laugh before closing it, grabbing the envelope, and walking away, heedless of the stares the other people in the isle were giving him. He checked his phone, but Kagome hadn’t texted back yet, so he chanced a phone call to her. “Hi handsome!” She answered the phone. He smiled, always happy to hear her voice, “Hey beautiful. I’m at the store, what do you want for dinner?” “Oh! You’re there right now? I need some soy sauce, dashi, and veggies? I think I still have some tofu in the fridge. What are you thinking for dinner?” “Oden or something, should I grab some meat?” “Okay!” Inuyasha heard, her excitement at the thought of having her favorite meal for dinner shining through. “If you pick up a cake mix, we can have that tonight too! Weight need eggs though...” “Got it. I’ll pick up the mix and the ingredients for the cake to be sure.” “Good idea. Also grab whatever snacks you want. I’m certain we are out of those.” Inuyasha swung down the baking isle, grabbing a vanilla cake mix, vegetable oil, and pink canned frosting. “On it. Anything else?” He asked as he made his way to the refrigerator area. Kagome sighed loudly on the other end of the line. “No, I’m just really excited to come home at a reasonable time. I can’t wait to pet my cat while it’s still light out.” Inuyasha snorted while inspected the eggs in the carton he had picked up. “Your cat is more important than your husband? I’m mortally injured, wench.” “Oh you’ll get your attention. But you know how Buyo gets when you get kisses before him.” Inuyasha places the eggs carefully in the basket he had in his arms, and wondered if he should go back and get a cart. “Maybe I should start being fussier than him. I wonder if that would get me the attention I desire.” “… don’t you dare…” Kagome’s voice held no malice, and Inuyasha knew that she was just as amused as him. Deciding a cart was too much of a hassle, Inuyasha meandered towards the snack section, inspected sales as he walked by. “Tempting idea though.” “You’re being a brat. But I do have to go if I’m going to get out of here on time. I love you.” “Hmm, love you. See you at home.” “Bye!” Kagome hung up quickly. Inuyasha rucked his phone back into his pants pocket, and picked out his choice snacks for home. He had to back track to pick up the meat, but it was fate in a way. Kaede was standing next to the fish, inspecting the choices available. She mustn’t have noticed him, but, to her credit, she didn’t jump when he approached. “What are you going for Valentine’s Day, Inuyasha?” Inuyasha selected some thinly sliced beef, wrapped it in a bag, before placing it in his now-teetering-fully basket. He then reached over and took Kaede’s nearly empty basket. “Spending it with the wife at home. What else should I do?” “You’re not taking her out to dinner?” Kaede selected a nice and plump, but small, white fish, and placed it in her basket that Inuyasha was holding. “She’s not to into going out. You have plans?” “Oh yes. To come here tomorrow, once the sweets are on sale, and have my fill.” Kaede grinned up at his with a full smile and a sparking eye. Inuyasha smiled back, responding, “Now there’s an idea.” Kaede turned on her heel, making her way to the front to check out. “Well I have all I need. What about you, young man?” Inuyasha closely followed. “Yeah, I’m done.” He placed the two baskets at the register of a young teenager, who looked completely unenthusiastic. The boy started to mindlessly ring the items up, not even greeting either of the customers, not that either minded.

The two mildly chatted over the different Valentines Day sweets that they liked the most. As the boy finished scanning and bagging Inuyasha’s grocery items, Inuyasha finally spoke to the cashier. “Her items too, please.” The teenager grunted and began to empty the second basket.

“Inuyasha, please. I can pay for my own groceries.” Kaede chided, but made no indication that she wanted to stop him from doing so.

Inuyasha grinned over at her, pulling out the enough cash to cover the transaction. “I can’t ask you to be my Valentine, but I can pay for your groceries.”

Kaede laughed, and Inuyasha picked up the multiple bags, although only one was the older woman’s. Kaede continued her comments regarding the Valentine sweets she remembered from childhood, and how few of them were still around, while the two of them walked to Inuyasha’s car.

Once they were settled in, and Inuyasha was beginning the brief journey home, Kaede took a peek at the card Inuyasha had purchased for his wife. She read it out loud, pausing at the end to chuckled good naturedly.

“If I didn’t know you two,” she croaked out, her voice caught up from her deep laugh, “I would think this was man trying to get a divorce.”

Inuyasha laughed too. “That’s why Kagome’s the best wife. She thinks these things are funny!”

Kaede placed the card back into the envelope, and leaned back for the last block home. “You two are a match made in heaven.”

Inuyasha smiled, but said nothing further to her comments, knowing that she spoke the truth. Pulling into the driveway of their small but present home, Inuyasha turned the engine off, and grabbed Kaede’s grocery bag. He walked her over to her house in a comfortable silence, and was patted on the cheek for his efforts. After making sure she secured her door, he went back to the car to bring in the rest of the bags of groceries. He had enough time to start chopping the vegetables for the oden before Kagome came back and took over.

He figured his car, although it was his baby, could spend one night outside, especially since it was predicted to be a mild night.

Kagome came home just as Inuyasha was putting the broth in the serving bowl to heat it up and boil the vegetables, left over tofu from the fridge, and meat. Kagome greeted him with a warm kiss, and a soft “Happy Valentine’s Day” before jogging to the bedroom to put her pajamas on, with Buyo hot on her heels, true to his nature and displeased that Inuyasha had received any sort of affection prior to him.

Inuyasha took the brief repose from his wife to quickly sign the card, and put it on the table for her, next to the vase of roses and fancily packaged chocolates.

Kagome entered the room, wearing her soft fleece pajama pants with hearts all of over it and one of his old t-shirts he wasn’t allowed to wear in public anymore. Her hair was haphazardly tossed up into a messy bun, and she carried the vocally displeased calico cat in her arms. She saw the card, and tossed a sheepish look at Inuyasha.

“It’s Valentine’s Day, isn’t it?” She asked, remorse already filling her eyes and body.

Inuyasha placed the oden ingredients into the broth, and grunted. He rinsed his hands, and walked over to her. “Don’t stress, woman! Christmas is your thing, Valentine’s is mine. After all, I tried to stay open on Christmas this year.”

Kagome laughed, her tense shoulders easing, letting Buyo slip a little bit. Buyo quickly informed both of them exactly what his opinion of that was, but they ignored him.

“Tried being the key word. No one was willing to come themselves!” She leaned into his embrace.

“Ah, what diligent customers I have, thinking of my wife just as much as I do!” He planted a kiss on her head, before picking up the still yowling cat from her arms and placing him on his shoulder. “One day, someone is going to call the cops on us for animal abuse with the way he carries on.”

Kagome patted the larger brown spot on Buyo, snorting, “If anyone tries to take him away, I’m sure they’ll bring him back in the hour.” She reached down and opened the envelope to reveal the card front. She tossed him a deadpan look. “I think I made something similar to this in middle school.”

Inuyasha grinned. “Isn’t it great! Just wait, it gets better!”

Kagome narrowed her eyes, and read the card. “Hey hot stuff…” she opened the card to reveal the image of the dog defecating with a grimace on its face, “You’re the shit.” There was cartoon steam coming off of the pile of excrement, and the color of the words was a deep brownish yellow, also appearing to be a special word affect, done with bad taste.

Inuyasha looked back and forth from the card to his wife’s face once, and then twice, before Kagome let out a howl of a laugh, which proved to be too much for Buyo who demanded to be place on the ground instantly. Inuyasha complied, knowing that something was probably going to get destroyed by the cat, but not really caring.

Kagome’s laugh was infectious, and Inuyasha started to laugh along with her. “Inuyasha!” she exclaimed, “You’ve out done yourself!”

“I knew you’d love it!” He accepted her arms as the flung around his neck so she could pull him in for a kiss. Pulling back from her affection, he added his last thought for a while, “The only issue is, it’s not really work appropriate, so you can’t show it off.”

“Oh well, it’s the thought that counts,” Kagome retorted before kissing him again.

He was only released when the boiling of the soup pot became loud, and Kagome took a moment to smell the flowers and appreciate the chocolates. They ate their dinner in comfortable quiet, only interrupted by the whizzing of cars outside, and the groans of a grumpy cat in the back ground. They held hands under the table, like bashful lovers, even though they were in their own home with no one looking. Together, they cleaned up the kitchen, and made the cake mix kinda-sorta to package directions, but not too terribly worried if it turned out.

Once it was in the oven and the 58 minutes on the clock, Inuyasha moved into the living room to put on a movie. While Kagome did love a good romcom upon an occasion, Inuyasha couldn’t be bothered to sit through even an hour of it, so he put on a good action movie that he knew Kagome would love.

She sauntered into the room holding glasses of wine. “Look what I found under the sink!” she called to him before noticing his movie choice. “Rush Hour? Heck yeah!”

Inuyasha accepted the glass from her. “Only the best for my better half.”

Kagome blushed mildly, pleased by his comments, but more interested in the movie than further the conversation. Together they snuggled, drinking wine, until the timer went off, and Kagome left to take the cake out of the oven. She came back with one of her abnormally fluffy and large blankets, and dropped her head on his lap for the rest of the film.

Inuyasha absent mindedly twirled her hair in his fingers, and appreciated the warmth of their love and home.

Once the movie was done, Kagome was lightly dozing off on his lap, her breathing deep and regular. Inuyasha made no move to wake her up, but as soon as the noise from the television stopped, she opened her eyes. Her body tensed for a moment, before she released a loud sigh and stretched long.

She rolled over to meet his eyes. “Wanna bath?” he asked her.

“Everyday.” She sat up, and lifted her hands above her head. “Whatcha thinking of?”

“You, in a bubble bath, me, on the floor reading you some stupid tweets.” Inuyasha rose himself, placed his hands on his lower back, leaning back to stretch. He then stepped just in front of her to lift her into his arms, carrying her bridal style.

Kagome laughed gleefully, “Ooohhh, Mr. Romantic! You know the way to a woman’s heart!” Inuyasha carried her up to their bathroom, before turning on the faucet for her bath. Kagome stripped down, wrapped herself in a towel, before reaching to grab some bath salts and a bubble bath gel. She handed them to Inuyasha who put some under the running water. Soon the bath was heavily scented and frothy – just the way Kagome liked.

Kagome crawled into the warm water, sighing in appreciation, and Inuyasha sat on the floor next to the tub. He pulled his phone out of his pocket, where it had yet to leave from his trip to the store, and pulled up his Twitter app. It was virtually the only social media that Inuyasha consumed, but he was never active on it. He just enjoyed the different tweets from comedians that he followed.

He read all of his feed, filtering none of it, and he and Kagome rated whether they thought they were funny or not. If there was a picture included, Inuyasha would show it to Kagome, and some of the bootlegged items that were begin inspected caused quite the uproar between the two of them.

“Oh yes,” Kagome exclaimed between her giggles, “the collaboration between Nike and Winne the Pooh was my favorite one.”

Inuyasha gasped out his laughter, nodding his agreement.

Once the wine and hot water got to Kagome, she beached her way out of the tub, completely unconcerned that she was the opposite of graceful, knowing Inuyasha had seen much worse from her. He handed her a towel after tucking away his phone again. Kagome stumbled, still chuckling to herself to the bedroom. She called over her shoulder, “Bring the car to the garage. Then come back to bed.”

Inuyasha knew he shouldn’t have been surprised that she remembered his car better than he did, but if it was important to him, it was important to her, and he was pleased to hear her remind him to take it in. Although he hadn’t intended to do so, he went to pull his favorite car into the garage. As he grabbed his keys, he saw the destruction Buyo had chosen to wreak. Looking at the little pieces of paper that was strewn all of the entry way to their home, Inuyasha halfway hoped the paper wasn’t important, but chose to do nothing at the moment, because, hell, it was already done.

Inuyasha stepped outside and brought his car into the garage, and was back in the house before Kagome could get her inebriated and happy self into bed. She had managed to get her pajamas back on, but was fighting a losing battle with the duvet. Inuyasha watched for a little while, Kagome’s giggling preventing her from being able to easily pull back the cover, and her wobbly legs making her teeter her and there. Eventually, after he got his fill of amusement, Inuyasha helped her into bed, before changing into his pajamas of light sleeping pants, and no shirt. He went downstairs to frost and bring up the cake that had been momentarily forgotten. He hadn’t realized at the store that the frosting container came with some gaudy hearts and kisses sprinkles, but he poured them on top of the frosting anyways. Although Kagome was a much better cake decorator than him, he knew she would love it regardless. He climbed back up the stairs with two larger slices of the cake, and found Kagome had snagged his phone out of his pants, her mostly likely downstairs in her purse still. She was playing Whitney Huston’s ‘I Will Always Love You’ at full volume. When she saw him enter the doorframe, she sang with it. Normally, Kagome had a lovely voice, that reigned in its listener, but slightly drunk Kagome was singing for the gods. And not in a good way. Inuyasha’s ears immediately pinned against his head, and he looked at her in horror. Kagome only lasted about 10 seconds before she started to cough from the effort, and began to laugh instead. “Let’s not do that again, wench.” Inuyasha approached the bed and put the cake slices on the side table on his side. Kagome rasped out, “You got it, dog boy.” Inuyasha took then phone and turned off the song. He set his alarm, a little later than normal for Kagome’s sake, and put the phone on the nightstand. Kagome was still laying down, looking up at him with eyes that shone so much love that Inuyasha had to take a second and kiss her. She tried to wrap her hands up into his hair and pull him closer, but he moved away from her to grab the cake slices. Kagome was easily persuaded to change her course of action, and accepted the plate with a wholehearted, “oh my, my, my! Thank you!” Inuyasha settled in next to her, still on top of the duvet, but in close proximity. They took turns feeding each other bites of their respective slices of cake, interrupted by kisses here and there. The cake was sweet, but not as sweet as the loved shared between the two lovers. Once the cake was finished, even the crumbs gone, Inuyasha picked up the plates, and walked them down to the dishwasher. He came back with a glass of water for both of them, but Kagome appeared to have already fallen asleep. She was curled up toward his side of the bed, her arm reaching out for him already. Kneeling on the edge of the bed, Inuyasha reached over her to place her water down on her nightstand. Placing his glass on his side, Inuyasha laid down carefully, waiting for Kagome to move her arm before placing his whole weight on the mattress. She pulled her arm back from instinct, and waited for him to settle on his back before reaching her arm across his torso and scooting closer. Inuyasha wrapped his arms around her, whispering, “You’re such a damn lightweight.” Kagome mumbled back to him, “But I’m your lightweight.” Inuyasha snorted lightly, “Yeah, you are,” before closing his eyes and chasing sleep himself. Except, Kagome’s giggles returned with a vengeance, and soon her entire body was shaking uncontrollably, and she looked up into his one opened eye and said, “You’re the shit…” Inuyasha screwed his eyes tight, trying to not laugh, but failing miserably. He too began to shake, and the two of them fell into hysteria together. Kagome reached up to pull him into a wet kiss, pulling away to say, “Happy Valentine’s Day to the best husband in the whole wide world. I love you more than you can ever imagine.” Inuyasha placed his hand on the back of her neck, and puller closer to him, tucking her head into the crook of his neck. “I love you too. You’ll never know how much.” Kagome sighed, and closed her eyes, finally succumbing to the call of sleep, with Inuyasha not far behind. The next morning, they’d go downstairs to find out Buyo had destroyed the water bill, and that they would have to call up the company for the amount they owed, would eat cake for breakfast, and would continue their week the best way they knew how: functionally dysfunctional. But for the moment, they were just in love, and happy to be that way.

#Functionally Dysfunctional #panda writes #inukag #inuyasha x kagome #inuyashaxkagome #kagome #inuyasha fanfiction #inuyasha ficlet #inukag valentine's day #valentine's day story #inuyasha fandom valentine's day 2018

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romancereadingdiva · 4 years

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The Rivals Sneak Peek!

Vi Keeland’s upcoming release, The Rivals, is coming July 13th, and today I have a SNEAK PEEK for you!

Excerpt: Sophia “What the hell?” I pressed the button on the elevator panel a second time. It illuminated, yet the car continued to sit there. So I jabbed my finger at it a third time. Finally, the doors started to glide closed. Just as they were about to shut completely, a shoe blocked them from closing. A wingtip shoe. Weston’s smiling face was there to greet me when the doors bounced open. My blood was near boiling. “So help me, Lockwood, if you try to get in this car, I can’t be responsible for what happens to you. I’m not in the mood anymore.” He entered the elevator anyway. “Come on, Fifi. What’s wrong? I’m just playing around. You’re taking things way too seriously.” I counted to ten in my head, but it didn’t help. F**k it. He wanted to get a rise out of me? He was going to get one. The doors slid shut again, and I turned and backed him into a corner. Seeing my face, he at least had the decency to look a little nervous. “You wanna know what’s wrong? I’ll tell you what’s wrong! My father thinks I’m inept because I don’t have an appendage dangling between my legs. The man I spent the last eighteen months with was cheating on me with one of my cousins. Again. I hate New York City. I despise the Lockwood family. And you think you can get away with anything you want just because you have a big d*ck.” I jabbed my finger into his chest and punctuated each staccato word with another stab. “I’m Tired. Of. Men. My father. Liam. You. Every single f**king one of you. So leave me the hell alone!” Frazzled, I turned back around and waited for the door to open, only to realize we hadn’t started to move yet. Great. Just f**king great. I jabbed the button a few more times, closed my eyes, and took deep, cleansing breaths as we started to move. Halfway through breath three, I felt the heat of Weston’s body behind me. He had to have moved closer. I continued to try to ignore him. But the f**ker still smelled good. How the hell could that be? Whose cologne lasted for—what had it been now?—twelve hours? After the gauntlet run he’d sent me on across town this morning, I probably smelled like BO. It p!ssed me off that the @sshole smelled...f**king delicious. He moved closer, and I felt his breath tickle my neck. “So,” he whispered in a gravelly voice. “You think my d*ck’s big.” I turned and scowled at him. While this morning he’d been clean-shaven, he now had a five o’clock shadow all along his chiseled jaw. It gave him a sinister look. The suit that hugged his broad shoulders probably cost more than Liam’s entire sweater wardrobe. Weston Lockwood was everything I hated in a man—wealthy, good looking, cocky, arrogant, and fearless. Liam would hate him. My father already hated him. And at the moment, those were actually Weston’s strong points. While I struggled with my body reacting to his scent and how much I liked the stubble on his face, Weston slowly reached out and put a hand on my hip. At first, I assumed he thought he needed to steady me, as he had when I’d wobbled in the bar. Had I wobbled again? I didn’t think I had. But I must’ve. Though when his hand glided from my hip around to my @ss, there was no misunderstanding his intention. He was not trying to help me stay on my feet. In my head, my immediate reaction was to scream at him, but somehow my throat felt too clogged to speak. I made the mistake of looking up from his jaw into his blue eyes. Heat flickered, turning them almost gray, and his eyes dropped to my lips. No. Just no. This was not happening. Not again. My heart thundered in my chest, and the blood in my ears roared so loudly I almost didn’t hear the ding of the elevator announcing that we’d arrived at my floor. Thankfully it snapped me out of whatever moment of insanity I’d slipped into. “I…I need to go.” It took all of my focus to put one foot in front of the other, but I managed to walk down the hall and make it to my room. Though… I wasn’t alone. Blurb:

The feud between Weston Lockwood and me started at the altar. Only neither of us attended the wedding, and the nuptials happened decades before either of us was born. Our grandfathers had been best friends and business partners, at least up until my grandfather’s wedding day—when his bride-to-be blurted out she couldn’t marry him because she was also in love with Weston‘s grandfather. The two men spent years fighting over Grace Copeland, who also happened to be their third business partner. But in the end, neither man could steal half of her heart away from the other. Eventually, they all went their separate ways. Our grandfathers married other women, and the two men became one of the biggest business rivals in history. Our fathers continued the family tradition of feuding. And then Weston and I did, too. For the most part, we kept as much distance as possible. Until the day the woman who started the feud died—and unexpectedly left one of the most valuable hotels in the world to our grandfathers to share. Now I’m stuck in a hotel with the man I was born to hate, trying to unravel the mess our families inherited. As usual, it didn’t take long for us to be at each other’s throats. Weston Lockwood was everything I hated: tall, smart, cocky, and too gorgeous for his own good. We were fire and ice. But that shouldn’t be an issue. Our families were used to being at war. There was just one minor problem, though. Every time Weston and I fought, we somehow wound up in bed.

Preorder today!

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Add to your Goodreads TBR: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53421505-the-rivals

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applespotnews-blog · 7 years

Text

How I propelled 3 consoles (and discovered intimate romance) at Babbage's store no. 9 A lowest pay permitted by law gig in the 1990s transforms into essentially the Best Job Ever.

The parking area is full—strange for the little strip shopping center where I offer computer games. It takes me a while to stop my auto, and when I make it into the store, turmoil welcomes me: a line at the counter, the cardboard remainders of a FedEx drop shipment scattered all around, my harried-looking administrator coordinating names from a printout to genuine clients remaining in line, then doling out bright boxes to the crowd as fast as possible. An unattended little child thumps over an endcap show and begins crying.

I rush to the back of the store to snatch my informal ID. When I give back, a client at the front of the line shouts, "Horse crap, woman! I got the preorder slip ideal here. I need the damn stream ski diversion, not only the Mario one." alternate clients in line start to blend indignantly. My chief investigates at me as if I may have the capacity to deal with the chaos.

It is September 1996, I am 18 years of age, and I am the "keyholder" at Babbage's store no. 9 in Houston. This is the North American dispatch day for the Nintendo 64, which makes it the third significant 1990s reassure dispatch I am fortunate (or") "sufficiently fortunate to work. As the shouting raises, I think about whether will endure my work day without getting punched in the face.

Be that as it may, we should begin toward the start.

Sega Saturn

In August 1994, I started working at Babbage's as a lowest pay permitted by law deals relate procuring $4.25 every hour—which, having recently turned 16, I was excited to have. When the entire operation went to a slamming close three and a half years after the fact, I was a more established yet smarter man who had worked through not one, but rather three separate support dispatches that would together bring "present day" consoles to the world. For more youthful or more up to date gamers, the individuals who have seen comfort dispatches just over the most recent couple of years, those mid-1990s dispatches may seem like they occurred in an alternate nation. What's more, from numerous points of view, they did. The retail scene around computer games felt minimal like it does today, and the dispatches themselves were not exactly the genuinely standard occasions they have progressed toward becoming in the years since—however for store workers, they were similarly as insane.

It was an overwhelming time to be a gamer. No "Nintendo 64" existed by then, however gaming magazines were swirling with news that the support engineer was taking a shot at something many refer to as "Venture Reality." If EGM and GamePro were to be trusted, this new stage would convey some sort of virtual reality gaming background that would resemble a concoction of The Lawnmower Man and TRON and transferred specifically into our brains, where it would reclassify the eventual fate of video gaming while at the same time dissolving our confronts appropriate off.

In any case, to start with, before the face-liquefying could start, came the Sony Playstation. What's more, before that came the Sega Saturn. Also, before each of the three came the most established gaming action of them all: contending that the framework you had obtained had been the most ideal decision.

Babbage's had two other low maintenance deals partners when I arrived, and them two appeared 12 feet tall in my young eyes. Todd, the most senior, had won a 3DO in a magazine challenge; the other, Jeff, claimed an Atari Jaguar. These two frameworks characterized best in class amidst 1994. The 3DO was a divine resembling machine of legendary abilities with a cost to coordinate. Retailing at $699 at dispatch, it played equipment quickened, smooth-as-margarine video from CD-ROMs, and its recreations looked astounding. Todd waxed melodic when he portrayed FIFA Soccer or Road Rash or, most fantastically to me, Crystal Dynamics' port of Star Control II, which included full-movement video and speech.But my colleague Jeff at each open door talked up the predominance of his Atari Jaguar. Notwithstanding being more moderate to insignificant mortals, the Jaguar touted itself as the initial "64-bit" gaming console. This was generally a promoting based claim, as the specialized subtle elements behind it were somewhat murky, yet it didn't stop either Atari or Jeff from yelling about it from the housetops.

Sadly, Jeff's Jaguar experienced a miserable deficiency of titles. The framework itself had a flawless perception mode where it would show trippy representation with a music CD embedded, and the duplicate of Cybermorph it accompanied was abnormally fun, yet it never had countless, the Jaguar had one thing that no other framework did: Aliens versus Predator. In 1994, years before the staggering dreadfulness of Alien Resurrection, this was the freshest Alien establishment thing you could get your hands on (well, it was either this or a Laserdisc player with a duplicate of the Criterion Collection Aliens exceptional release, yet typical individuals didn't possess stuff that way). Outsiders versus Predator was incredible: you could play as an outsider or as a Marine or as a Predator! I ate up the AvP box's photos and duplicate, and I listened cheerfully to Jeff's telling and retelling of his gameplay encounters. Many circumstances over my first year at Babbage's, I practically sunk three or four whole paychecks into that reassure and a duplicate of AvP—yet I would never fully commit.Increasingly, in any case, it turned out to be certain that both frameworks had a place with the past. The 3DO versus Puma in-store sacred wars proceeded, however 1994 shut with every one of us energetically expecting the dispatch of the Sega Saturn, which went at a bargain in Japan around Thanksgiving 1994 and was slated to go to the US for toward the finish of the second from last quarter of 1995. My pal Jason, an anime specialist and vigorous mate for goodness' sake Japanese, anticipated that the Saturn would prompt a renaissance in video gaming; Sega's funny Genesis add-on, the 32X, was perched on our store's racks like a thing officially dead, unselling and unsellable. It doesn't mind Sega's stumble with the 32X, however; the Saturn, Jason anticipated, would compensate for every single past transgression and decimate the 3DO and Jaguar both.

The Sega Saturn surely seemed as though it would be amazing. From an innovative perspective, it had a CD-ROM drive and more than about six processors scattered around within it. All the more imperatively, however, was its family. In the start of 1995, support gaming was something of a two-party framework: you had Nintendo with the SNES on one hand, and Sega with the Genesis on the other. Certainly, there were different choices—the 3DO and the Jaguar were two, obviously, alongside more periphery consoles like the TurboGrafx 16, or the considerably more uncommon Neo Geo and its $200 cartridges—however most people were either (R) Nintendo or (D) Sega.

Nintendo still developed a family picture, where Sega went edgier, both in diversions and in publicizing, thus the Saturn appeared to engage an in-your-face gaming gathering of people. Its dispatch cost of $399 was a little nutty contrasted with how much a Genesis or SNES cost (however not as stratospherically preposterous as the 3DO's $699), but rather when we started taking preorders in foresight of the September 1995 US discharge, recruits were lively.

Sony was occupied with playing up its own entrance into the home comfort advertise, as well. The implosion of an organization with Nintendo to deliver a CD-ROM add-on for the SNES drove straightforwardly to the advancement of Sony's Playstation reassure, which propelled in Japan not as much as a month after the Sega Saturn and which was focused to take after the Saturn to showcase in North America, and at just $299, undermining Sega's comfort by a hundred dollars.

From multiple points of view, the Playstation was less actually great than the Saturn. Instead of a visit de constrain of two CPUs and a variety of co-processors, the Playstation had a far less unpredictable customary engineering, with a solitary CPU and a solitary GPU. According to the quality and kind of titles, the Saturn was particularly great at moving around sprites and workmanship; the Playstation took a gander at pushing polygons. Battling amusement idealists put their cash on the Saturn, since the most mainstream 2D sprite-based titles would look and play best there.

Subtle Sega

Today, with the leftovers of Babbage's, Software Etc., and Electronics Boutique all eaten up by the slavering utilized amusement controlled monster that is GameStop, it's difficult to recall exactly how distinctive things used to be. Babbage's, for instance, had a real merchandise exchange. When I began, you could return anything—comfort amusement, PC diversion, profitability application—inside 30 days of procurement for a full discount or trade, insofar as you had spared your receipt.

Individuals once in a while mishandled the benefit. We followed returns and trades, and in the event that somebody was going insane, we may quit giving them a chance to do returns, yet we had few issues. In the event that anything, the approach helped deals since it let people take risks on titles. All things considered, on the off chance that it sucked, you could simply take it back!

We here and there wore ties then, we deals partners, and we recognized what really matters to us. Uncommissioned, conveying no standard, and urged to be straightforward, we were trusted neighborly countenances. In the event that you needed modest computer games, you went to Walmart, however in the event that you needed real master guidance on what to purchase and a gold-plated merchandise exchange, you went to Babbage's.

It was an extraordinary employment—the best a youthful nerd could request. With a specific end goal to guarantee that we remained current on our insight, we were urged to look at amusements, keeping them for a day or two all together form commonality. We got standard visits from diversion organization reps, who might show up in the store and dole out demo duplicates of hot titles so we'd have the capacity to offer their products more effectively.The air was university, blissful, absurd. Our director, Anna, was in her late 20s and as silly as whatever is left of us. Tricks flourished. A running casual challenge tested representatives to bundle the biggest and most complex things conceivable utilizing the therapist wrap machine in the back. One night, I recoil wrapped my administrator's office seat (this is a ton harder than it sounds). We would have recoil wrapped each other's autos on the off chance that we could have gotten them into the back room.

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