#wonder what that game is a ripoff of huh

[tresenellaart]

The Big Life Update!

Um, hi everyone! Long time no see huh? In fact, it’s been a very, very long time. 5 years ago I nearly dropped off the face of the internet, and while some of you might have caught a glimpse of my work here and there, I've been almost completely offline and I've kept away from all social sites ever since.

Around 2017-2018, I found myself very lost artistically. I hit a hard wall where I wouldn’t know where to go next, what project to embark on. I had many ideas, but all of them seemed to evaporate into nothing the moment I sat down to flesh them out. I felt extremely apathetic creatively, eventually stopped uploading any art, and sank most of my time into gaming or mindlessly watching videos and streams. My partner at the time helped me gather the strength to look for a job, but without any formal education or previous jobs I could refer to, I tried my luck on Fiverr.

My experience on Fiverr was… mostly terrible. Being paid very little for a lot of hard work, and having to deal with some problematic clients and tight deadlines, really took a toll on me. My time there did send me on a path that I wouldn’t have expected though. I was contacted by a game dev to do a character design for a little wizard character. This person was quite pleased with my work, and continued to ask me for art for a second character, then some test animations… And soon I found myself handling all the art and music for the game, in what’s been my job for 5 years. The game is called Enchanted Portals, and it’ll be releasing later this year!

It’s been… a wild ride. The game’s very heavily inspired by Cuphead, with very similar art-style and gameplay. My boss, being an avid fan of the original, was very passionate about creating his own take on the genre, but maybe not surprisingly, the initial reaction to unveiling the first trailer was one of mass rejection and hate towards it. A useless ripoff! An inferior clone! I hope they get sued for this! Instead of the love letter from a fan that it actually is, it was mostly seen as a ploy from some greedy studio to make a quick buck. Didn’t help that the trailer reached a lot more people than we could’ve ever anticipated.

I can’t really call the game mine in any way, as I’ve mostly just been hired to make art and music assets for it, but the wave of hate was still quite overwhelming and soul-crushing for me. Is this all I’m gonna be known for now? Is this hate going to follow me forever? That creative black hole I had found myself in before, grew even bigger. I didn’t want to be public online again. I wanted to disappear. I couldn’t work on anything creative outside of my job anymore. I was burnt out, scared of the world, feeling completely defeated.

I was very fortunate to be contacted by a long time friend from my early DeviantArt days, someone that, despite my lengthy online disappearances, would make an effort to send me a message from time to time to catch up. We started talking very regularly, and she got me interested in a project she was part of, a fandub of the webcomic Rain by Jocelyn Samara D. (that I’m sure a lot of you know already). We toyed with the idea of upgrading the project into a full animated series, a pretty ambitious task since I’d be the only one animating, but my creative spark was immediately reignited. Working on Rain was such a joy, and a rekindling of everything I love about creating art. The project hit some serious bumps along the road, but it’s still going strong now, and while it’s been really slow working on it on top of my job, it’s been the best artistic experience I’ve had in a very long time. If you want to check it out, here’s the Rain: TAS Youtube channel! We just released a new short!

This long time friend has since become my girlfriend, and we’ve embarked on other wonderful projects together. If you want to check out some of our other stuff, we have a wonderful world of gay fae bugs in the making too!

Despite all of these exciting new personal projects I’ve embarked on recently, coming out of my bubble has still been a huge struggle. Posting on my own accounts, drawing new strips for my webcomic, uploading anything that's more personal, still fills me with fear and anxiety. I really want to get out of my comfort zone and start posting again, being more active online, reaching out to new people, sharing my art with others once more. I miss it all dearly. And I know people have been missing my art too, and some have even been seriously worried about my well-being. I sincerely apologize if I made any of you worry too much! ^^;

I hope this post is the first step in a long new creative journey for me. I’ll do my best to leave my shell, and to build myself and my art back up again. There’s so much wonderful stuff I want to do, and to show to the world! Stay tuned!

#journal #personal post #life update

[jstarswrites]

Sweetness and Spice

Hoo, boy that last chapter was a lot huh? Well, don't worry because this one is a treat. And it contains NSFW content, so minor's, uh, go away! Please? Thank you :) Anyone over the age of 18 may of course read the second half of this chapter and enjoy the wonder that is Eddie Munson ;)

The Outcasts Masterlist

You and Eddie were sitting in your car, listening to Metallica as he planned the next part of the campaign for Hellfire. You’d started going ever since that first time you’d subbed for Lucas, and now you were joined by the others in your group. Even Steve had started coming, you and Dustin taking the time to walk him through the game so he could understand. Robin had turned out to be unexpectedly good at it, and constantly flaunted it over Steve. She and Erica had teamed up to basically knock all the boys down a peg or two, and you would sit beside Eddie, laughing your ass off as he struggled to keep a straight face.

You were dancing along to the music, not caring who saw you, when Eddie looked up from his notes. He stared, mesmerised. You looked so beautiful. You always did, but this reminded him of the first time he’d ever seen you, and that memory was burned into his mind forever. He’d still not worked up the courage to ask you on a date. You hung out a lot, at his place or yours, went to Hellfire together, ate lunch together. You’d even been helping him get his grades up, so he was on track to graduate this year. He still didn’t know how he’d got so lucky to have you as his girl. And he wanted to do something to show you he appreciated you. 

It was as he was watching you that something caught his eye. He turned to follow a long line of trucks and cars, all carrying trailers on the back. The fair was in town. He’d been seeing flyers for weeks, but hadn’t given it much thought. But now that it was here, he reconsidered. He knew you loved fairs, thinking they were magical, even if you could acknowledge that most of the stalls were ripoffs. And he was a fan of the roller coasters. Plus, he remembered from movies that it was a thing to take your girl to the fair and win her a prize. 

Reminding himself that he’d fought Demobats and survived the upside down, he turned to you. As the song finished, you turned the music down, playing with your hair to return it to its ordinary state. ‘Uh, y/n?’ He asked.

‘Yeah, baby?’

He smiled. He loved it when you called him that. You were wearing his ring on a necklace and the Hellfire shirt he’d given Dustin for you all those weeks ago. ‘Uh, so the fair’s in town, and I wondered if you wanted to go?’

‘The fair’s in town?’ You asked, surprised. You hadn’t noticed. But then you’d had a lot on your mind lately.

‘Yeah, just got here,’ he smiled. ‘You want to go?’

‘Sure,’ you said, turning to him and meeting those brown eyes you loved so much. ‘Sounds fun.’

‘It’s a date then, sweetheart,’ he said, grinning. ‘Pick you up at eight.’

You smiled, feeling your cheeks heat as he pressed a soft kiss to your cheek. ‘It’s a date.’

Of course, panic mode set in once you got home from school. What were you going to wear? You went through your whole closet, dragging everything out and dismissing it, throwing it on your bed. What were you going to do with your hair? You had no idea what you should wear on a date, let alone a date at the fair. And it was Eddie. He’d seen you looking like crap the entire time you were dealing with Vecna. You knew he wouldn’t care, but you did. You had to look perfect.

Dustin passed by your room and smiled on his way out, heading to the front door only to spot Nancy’s car. You were doing the exact same thing Eddie had done. Called in reinforcements. He was getting picked up by Steve as Eddie had called and asked for help. He let Nancy and Robin in as he opened the front door, jumping in Steve’s car before he peeled out of the drive and headed towards the trailer park. 

Once Nancy and Robin were there, you relaxed a little. Nancy was the queen of fashion, and even if you had different tastes, you trusted her opinion. Robin helped you get all of your nervous energy out with thirty-second dance parties and suggesting mad ideas for your hair and makeup. Laughing, you finally settled on a nighttime version of your normal makeup, and kept your hair simple so as not to overwhelm you. It didn’t take long for Nancy to find you something to wear; she kept it simple, a little black sundress and your doc martens, and one of Eddie’s flannel shirts you’d stolen for when you got cold. She even helped you paint your nails to match. 

Eddie turned up at eight on the dot. Your mom was out visiting your cousins for the weekend. Dustin was at Mike’s with the rest of the kids. Nancy and Robin had left five minutes ago, so when you opened the door, it was just the two of you. Eddie took one look at you and practically fainted. You looked beautiful. Almost ethereal. Without thinking, he leaned in and kissed you, long, and slow, and sweet. You giggled, hands coming up to rest on his chest. Eddie looked pretty damn good, too. He was wearing a Metallica shirt and ripped black jeans and a leather jacket. 

He’d even brought you flowers. Beautiful dark purple tulips. He handed them to you, taking your other hand and pressing a kiss to your knuckles. ‘You look beautiful, sweetheart.’ 

‘Eddie, you brought me flowers?’ You smiled and kissed him in thanks. ‘Let me just get these in some water and then we can go.’ You quickly dug out a vase in the kitchen and filled it with water, settling your flowers inside and putting them on your desk in your bedroom. That done, you and Eddie climbed into his van and took off for the fair. 

The fair was busy. It seemed everyone had come out tonight. The fair’s arrival marking the start of summer. Eddie held your hand, your fingers entwined, as you walked through the rows of stalls and rides. It didn’t take long for you to find something you both liked, and then you were piling into a cart and strapping in. Eddie screamed like a girl on every ride, making you laugh your head off, only to have it turn around to have him laughing when you punched a guy in the haunted house who made you jump when he got a little too close. You apologised profusely while Eddie roared with laughter, bent over as he tried to calm down. 

You grabbed slushies from a stall, and Eddie slipped a shot of vodka in each, making you giggle and kiss him. You ate candy floss after a particularly scary ride, which had flung you around like rag dolls. Eddie ended up with some in his hair, and you had to get it out with the comb you’d brought in your bag. You both ignored the strange looks you got occasionally. Most people had forgotten Eddie was even involved in everything that happened over spring break, but some remembered and kept a wide berth when you and Eddie approached. Neither of you let it bother you.

Eddie was in heaven. You held his hand the entire way around the fair, and he’d never seen you laugh so much. He loved hearing your laugh, and he loved being the cause of it. Though watching you almost knock a guy out in the haunted house was definitely the highlight of his night. When your eyes lit up at the sight of a stuffed turtle in a top hat, he knew he had to win it for you. Thankfully, the stall didn’t look too difficult, and he’d come prepared with extra cash so he could win you a prize. Grinning, he pulled you in the direction of the stall. 

You were surprised when Eddie stopped at a prize stall, thinking it wouldn’t be his thing. He had a whispered conversation with the stallholder, leaving you curious. It was a slingshot game. All Eddie had to do was hit the targets before the time ran out. He was quietly confident he could do this, though he didn’t let it show. He’d never live it down if it took him fifty tries to win you that turtle. He did take heart when you kissed him, though. You said it was for good luck, but that bright smile and the look in your eyes told him there was something more in it. 

You watched as Eddie picked up the slingshot, testing it out, the rings on his fingers glinting in the lights of the stall. You stood to the side, watching him happily, always content to look at your boyfriend. He hit the first target within seconds. And then it was like watching him play the guitar. His hands moved faster than you could see, those bright brown eyes focused on his target, and you knew he was in the zone. Within a minute, he’d hit all five targets, and the stallholder was declaring him a winner. When Eddie picked the turtle in the top hat, you realised he must have seen you looking at it and decided to win it for you.

Your heart melted at the sight of Eddie holding the turtle out proudly, the biggest grin on his face. You took it, and then kissed him long and hard right in front of everyone. When you pulled away, he was still smiling brightly. 

‘I don’t know how I got so lucky to find you, Eddie Munson, but I’m so glad I did,’ you said. 

Eddie shook his head. ‘Nah, sweetheart, I’m the lucky one. How else did I get you as my girl?’

‘D and D, obviously,’ you joked, making him laugh.

You went on the Ferris Wheel next, where you spent the entire time making out instead of looking at the sights. When it was over, Eddie was looking at you with desire in his eyes and you told him to take you home, knowing you had the house all to yourselves and you could finally do something about the sexual tension that enveloped you.

You had barely gotten inside the house and the door closed when Eddie pulled you to him. He kissed you passionately, pulling you close so you could feel the hard lines of his body against yours. You pushed his jacket off his shoulders as he walked you backwards down the hall to your room. Once inside, the door shut just to be safe; you helped him out of his shirt, finally getting a look at every one of his tattoos. His lips were still on your yours, one hand on your waist, the other on the curve of your ass. 

His hand slipped down to grasp your thighs as he lifted you up and you wrapped your legs around his waist, burying your hands in his hair and making him moan. He took a seat on your bed, his hands moving to the straps of your dress and sliding them down as he pressed kisses along your jaw and the curve of your neck, making you shiver. He helped you pull your dress off, discarding it on the floor. He took a moment to take you in; the sight of you in your underwear alone making him hard. He laid down on the bed, as you pulled his face to yours so you could kiss him again. 

Eddie rolled suddenly, making you laugh, until you were under him, one leg hooked around his waist as he pressed hot open-mouthed kisses across your shoulder and down to your breasts. He slid the straps of your bra down, one hand sneaking behind to deal with the clasp. That too was flung across the room as Eddie finally took in the sight of you without your bra. The way he was looking at you, the desire in his eyes and the reverence with which he touched you, was setting you on fire, your own lust pooling at the base of your spine. 

Eddie pressed sweet kisses across your breasts, finally settling on one and sucking the nipple into his mouth, making you moan his name. Eddie grinned as he swirled his tongue around the hard nub, your hand reaching down to grab his hair. He slid a hand down your torso, the coolness of his rings contrasting with the warmth of his calloused fingers until his hand slipped into your underwear. Once he felt how wet you were for him, he groaned, knowing he had to taste you. He kissed his way down, sliding your underwear off and throwing them over his shoulder. 

When he slid a finger in experimentally, you let out a sharp moan, surprised at the feeling of his finger inside you. ‘So wet for me, sweetheart?’ He teased, sliding in another finger and watching as your hips bucked as he slowly slid them in and out.

‘Eddie!’ 

‘Gotta make sure you’re ready to take me, sweetheart. But I promise you’ll enjoy this,’ he grinned, grasping your thighs. 

You whined at the loss of his fingers, and he pulled you closer to him. The first brush of his tongue felt like heaven. You groaned and buried both your hands in his hair as his other hand came up to land on your stomach, holding you down as you squirmed. His tongue dove in and out, his fingers working your clit and making you want to scream. ‘That feel good, sweetheart?’ He grinned, his mouth wet with your juices. He dove back in, loving the taste of you on his tongue and your hands in his hair, nails scratching lightly against his scalp. 

‘Keep making those noises for me,’ he told you. ‘Wanna hear you scream.’

His fingers soon joined his tongue and your hips bucked as he hit the sweet spot. ‘Eddie, there, right there,’ you moaned breathlessly. 

Eddie continued what he was doing, licking up every drop you gave him as the ball at the base of your spine shattered into a thousand pieces, making you scream his name in ecstasy. Eddie worked you through your orgasm, lapping up everything you gave him and helping you release the last of the tension. He withdrew, licking his fingers as you watched him, and wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. 

‘Knew you’d taste divine, sweetheart,’ he grinned, slipping out of his jeans and boxers as you watched, still panting. He worked his way back up your body, leaving a trail of kisses in his wake. When he kissed you again, it was full of desire and you wrapped your legs around his waist. ‘Ready for me?’

‘Please, Eddie,’ you moaned, his lips on the curve of your neck, sucking and biting. 

‘Yeah? Hold on sweetheart, I’ve got you,’ he said. He reached over to your beside cabinet where he’d seen condoms before. Grabbing one, he slid it on, and took his cock in hand, ready to enter you. He slid it up and down, getting it covered in your juices first, before slowly pressing against your entrance. You let out a soft moan, waiting for him to enter you, and wishing he would hurry up. Eddie slowly entered you, groaning out your name as he slid home.

‘Fuck,’ he swore. ‘You feel so good, sweetheart. So fucking good.’

‘Eddie,’ you begged. ‘I need you to move!’

‘I got you, don’t worry.’

Eddie settled into a gentle rhythm, one of his hands reaching up to take yours and entwining your fingers. He kissed you slowly, moaning into the kiss as you dragged your nails gently down his back. You tightened your grip on his waist, pulling him closer and by extension making him hit deeper inside you. You both let out a moan at that and Eddie began to speed up, the gentle pace replaced with deliberate thrusts at faster speeds. You tried keeping your voice down, even putting a hand over your mouth, but Eddie grabbed your hands and pinned them above your head, his hips snapping into you as he picked up the pace. 

‘No, no, sweetheart,’ he smiled. ‘I wanna hear you. Wanna make you feel so good, all you can do is scream my name.’

‘Eddie,’ you moaned, as his cock hit that spot and a wave of pleasure washed over you, your next orgasm so close you could practically taste it.

‘Yeah? Like that?’ 

Eddie sped up, pressing kisses across your jaw and moving slowly down the curve of your neck and sucking on the sensitive spot there. Your nails dug into his back and he groaned, hitting you harder and faster. Your mind went blank, your vision went white and your orgasm burst, making you scream his name just like he wanted. Eddie followed not long after. Your name a prayer on his lips as he came, spilling into you. He buried his head in the crook of your neck for a long moment. 

Eventually he slid out of you, heading to the bathroom. He was gone for a minute, and when he came back, he held a washcloth and gently and carefully cleaned you up, kissing you softly when he was finished. He came back, lay beside you and pulled you into his arms and kissed you again.

‘You okay there, sweetheart?’ He asked.

You nodded tiredly. ‘Yeah. You?’

‘Me? I’m pretty sure I died and went to heaven,’ he laughed. 

‘Heaven?’

‘Oh, yeah. You feel that good, y/n,’ he told you.

You snuggled up to him, your head in the crook of his neck, his arms wrapped around you as your tired eyes closed. ‘Love you, Eds.’

‘I love you too, y/n.’

In the morning, Eddie was gone. You sat up, feeling a delicious twinge as you stretched your tired muscles from last night. You noted the absence of Eddie’s boxers and jeans as you scooped up your underwear and his shirt and slipped into the bathroom. That taken care of, you opened your bedroom door and headed out to find your boyfriend. You found him in the kitchen, sitting on a stool and looking at the coffeepot and smoking a cigarette. When he saw you standing there, wearing his shirt, his eyes darkened, and he reached for you, pulling you onto his lap. 

He kissed you soundly on the mouth, making you smile. ‘Good morning sweetheart, sleep okay?’

You nodded, stealing the cigarette from his fingers and taking a long drag. ‘Yeah, like a log. You wore me out. What about you?’

Eddie grinned, feeling proud. ‘I’d say the same. Figured I’d make you some coffee, see if you wanted breakfast.’

You shook your head. You weren’t awake enough for food yet. ‘Just coffee is good, baby.’

‘Sure, I got you,’ he said, standing up and putting you on the counter before pouring you a mug of coffee. ‘Oh, my uncle said to invite you for dinner, if you’d like to come?’

Eddie stepped between your legs and you wrapped them around his waist as he handed you your coffee. Made exactly how you liked it. ‘Of course I’ll come to dinner. Wouldn’t miss it for the world.’

‘Yeah?’ Eddie’s brown eyes lit up, and you wanted to spend the rest of your life making him look like that. ‘Never had a girl over for dinner before. You’ve been a lot of my firsts, you know.’

You smiled softly. ‘And you have been most of mine.’

‘I like that,’ he said, kissing you sweetly. ‘I like that a lot.’

You giggled, brushing curls out of his face. ‘You don’t mind that I’m inexperienced?’

‘Nah, means you’re all mine, doesn’t it, sweetheart?’ 

‘Eddie, I’ve been all yours from the moment you asked to kiss me,’ you told him. 

Eddie smiled, and you swore it was the loveliest thing you’d ever seen. Eddie had never had a girl like you. To be fair, he hadn’t been with many. But you were the only person to ever believe in him, to tell him you loved him. And he knew he loved you too, had from the moment he first saw you really, but everything you did only made him fall harder for you. Last night had been perfect, and waking up to you in his arms, fast asleep and looking like an angel had only made him more sure of the course he was on. Because anything that kept you by his side was the right move for him. 

‘Y/N?’

‘Yeah?’

‘I love you.’

‘I love you too, Eddie.’

He kissed you, soft and sweet, and you felt yourself fall a little more for the man who had already stolen your heart.

Taglist: @efvyqrs @gnnnne @smc777 @okilover02 @itsjenna2u @linkpk88

#eddie munson #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson x henderson!reader #eddie x reader #stranger things #stranger things fanfic

[drawnbyhaste]

Day 3 (01/04): party - split - tainted

@shigarakiweek

(Please click for better quality on mobile!)

Winner, hands down [a lazy day]

I'll admit I used these prompts very loosely today but I had this kinda dumb kinda cute idea and just couldn't help myself

#shigaraki birthday week #shigarakibirthdayweek #shigaraki tomura #shigadabi #dabi #video games #wonder what that game is a ripoff of huh #day 3 #split #party #cute #dumb fluffy shit #league of villains #ink pen #comic art #traditional art #artists on tumblr #character drawing #drawnbyhaste #bnha #my hero academia #anime fanart #manga #lov hideout #scars tw #food tw #ngl i kinda wanna draw more shirtless dabi now #also I hopes this fits as Shigaraki-centric eheh

[kawaiikichi]

Were We? (Saiou Week Day 7)

@saiouweek

Surprise, surprise, I actually managed to write something for Saiou Week! I feel like it could also fall under the prompt “Past Life” for Day 2 but because the past life in this references to them during the killing game and their present life is something completely different, I decided to just post it under free day.

I hope you all like it! :D

Title: Were We?

Prompt: Shuichi’s Birthday or Free Day

Summary: Shuichi has spent over three hundred years as a Grim Reaper, roaming the streets of Tokyo and leading deceased souls to the afterlife. One day, he runs into a purple-haired male whom he has seen in his dreams and it makes him feel emotions he hasn’t felt in god knows how long.

One-Shot Notes: Inspired by the Kdrama Goblin with Shuichi as the Grim Reaper and Kokichi as Sunny; their past life is them in the killing game while their present life is with Shuichi as the grim reaper and Kokichi as a human

Warnings: A sprinkling of angst, NDRV3 spoilers; read at your own risk!

Read on under the cut!

Shuichi walked along the sidewalk, the crisp autumn breeze ruffling his black hair and making his long, black trench coat flutter with each step he took. He stuffed his leather glove-clad hands into his pockets, hoping to warm them as he walked to his destination.

He had no souls to collect and take back to his tea shop until the afternoon, so he decided to take a walk and get himself some coffee before heading to the first accident that was supposed to take place. He also wanted to get away from Rantaro, the immortal goblin that he’s been rooming with as of late. His singing was obnoxious, anyway.

Upon arriving at the coffee shop he frequented, he was met with the warm and comforting smell of baked sweets and freshly brewed coffee. The barista at the counter greeted him, a wide smile on his face. Shuichi greeted him in response as he grabbed for an empty medium-sized cup.

“Americano with no sugar and no cream, correct?” he asked.

“Yeah, that’s correct. You know me well, Naegi-kun.” Shuichi told him.

“Well, you come here so often that I know your order by now!” Makoto slid a small plate with a cream cheese danish on it across the counter. “Here’s your danish as well, Saihara-kun.” he said.

“Thank you.” Shuichi replied.

After paying, he went to sit at the window bar. He nibbled on his danish as he watched passerbys walk the streets. He let his mind wander, and just like it usually did, it went to a male whose face he was unable to see.

Recently, Shuichi has been having dreams involving him. They always took place in what the grim reaper assumed to be a school, but it gave off prison vibes and it rubbed Shuichi the wrong way. But what happened between him and the male in that prison-esque school building could only be summarized as eventful and fun.

The male seemed to be a pain in the ass at times, lying all the time and pulling pranks on other people that were at the school, but the times they spent together were nice. They played games in the dining hall, hid away together in the casino, and read books in the basement library until they fell asleep on each other, blankets wrapped around each other with the male’s head on his shoulder and his head resting against the male’s.

These dreams were filled with happiness and love confessions whispered against each other’s lips as they pressed against each on the couch in the AV room, the film they were watching long forgotten. The Shuichi in those dreams was overjoyed and he looked at the male in his arms with love, which confused the grim reaper when he woke up from that particular dream.

Never in his three hundred years of life had he felt such an emotion so raw and passionate.

Fueled by his curiosity, he looked forward to these dreams. He wondered about how the Shuichi in his dreams interacted with this male he was dating and if these two were able to get out of the school that held them captive and away from the black and white robotic bear that played them like a fiddle in this killing game they were thrown into, living happily ever after.

But what the grim reaper dreamed of last night was anything but nice. In fact, it resembled a nightmare. Everything was smeared in darkness and steeped in the pungent, coppery scent of blood. There was mourning over the execution of a guy named Gonta, whose heart was made of gold and who wouldn’t dare hurt a fly (literally). There was screaming, shouting, tears, and words that pierced through the heart like sharpened blades and spilled blood everywhere without mercy, the dream eventually ending with images of a bloodied hydraulic press.

The way the dream ended last night unsettled Shuichi. Those images were still fresh in his mind as he took a sip from his Americano. Bitterness coated his taste buds, but it wasn’t the pleasant kind that he was accustomed to. Instead, it made his nose crinkle and his body tense from the intensity of it.

He didn’t bother finishing this coffee this time and wolfed down his danish before heading out, hoping that the subtle sweetness would overpower the bitterness that lingered in his mouth.

He eventually found himself strolling along a bridge, which seemed unusually quiet for a Monday morning. Well, save for a nearby jewelry booth that he spotted out of the corner. His eyebrow twitched.

Is that even allowed? he asked himself.

He shook his head, clicking his teeth before sighing.

“Whatever. It doesn’t concern me.” he said.

He started to walk past the booth when the owner of the booth called out to him.

“Hey, Mister Handsome in Black!” a chirpy voice called out.

Shuichi came to a stop, wanting nothing more than to tap on his watch and disappear from her sight.

Can’t anybody let me be in peace today? he wondered to himself.

He shot a glance at the owner, who turned out to be a girl in her twenties with wavy black hair and sparkling amber eyes. Her red lips pulled upward into a smile.

“Are you in need of some new accessories?” she asked.

Shuichi turned his body more, lowering his gaze to the sparkling jewelry and then up to the girl, who continued to beam at him.

“These kinds of accessories aren’t my style.” he told her.

Besides, you can tell at first glance that they’re cheap ripoffs of the real thing, his mind supplied for him.

This only made her giggle.

“Oh, no worries! Then, you could get one for your girlfriend. I’m sure it’ll please her very much.” she said.

“I don’t swing that way.” Shuichi told her.

She blinked her eyes, shooting him a dumbfounded look as he continued.

“I have a preference for guys, so buying something for a so-called girlfriend would be pointless.” he told her.

“I see...well, maybe your boyfriend would like something from here!” she said.

Shuichi got ready to tell her that he didn’t have a boyfriend, but she was already reaching for a purple rope bracelet with a simple puzzle piece charm on it.

“Here, you could buy this. It’s simple, but quite cute.” she told him.

“I’m sorry, but I’m not interested.” he said.

She puffed her cheeks out.

“Come on! It doesn’t even cost that much. I’m sure you could give me a couple yen.” she said, growing more persistent with each word she spoke.

“Really, I’m fine! I don’t want to buy anything—“ he stopped, gold eyes landing on a checkered scarf.

It was just a simple checkered scarf and yet, Shuichi felt a tug in his heart. It was like the scarf was calling his name, begging for him to pick it up and buy it.

His hand started moving on its own before he could stop it. It inches further and further towards the checkered fabric, the tug at his heart growing stronger. His finger brushed along it as another hand appeared in his vision, snatching the scarf up and abruptly snapping him out of whatever trance he had fallen under.

“Oooh, this looks cute! This is totally my style. How much is it?”

Shuichi blinked, looking to his right and locking on a male wispy purple hair that stuck out in all directions. He was shorter than him, making him about five foot one, if he had to guess. The male wore a black and white sawtooth pattern coat with dark denim skinny jeans and black ankle boots.

Almost as if the male knew he was being watched, he turned away from the girl running the booth and locked eyes with Shuichi. The grim reaper felt the wind being knocked out of him the minute it happened. The male’s eyes were a deep shade of purple that sparkled like precious gems in the morning light.

Then, it happened.

Snippets from the dreams he’d been having came slamming into him like a truck, accompanied by a chirpy voice.

“Saihara-chan, let’s play a game!”

“Nishishi! It was just a lie. Or was I lying about that being a lie? The world may never know!”

“I...like you too, Saihara-chan.”

“Ew, I don’t think I can understand why you like black coffee so much.”

“Come oooooooon, Saihara-chan! You promised we’d go swimming!”

“Saihara-chan!”

“Saihara-chan!”

“Saihara-chan...I’m sorry.”

“...I’ll always love you, Saihara-chan.”

Before Shuichi could process what was happening, a single tear trailed down his cheek. He could only stare at the male with a dumbfounded look on his face.

The male peered at Shuichi curiously, brows furrowed and lips pursed.

“Why are you watching me like that? I saw this first.” he waved the scarf around. “You hear me? I saw it first. First!” he shouted.

However, Shuichi didn’t respond. The male arched a brow as he continued to look Shuichi up and down.

“Wait a minute...are you crying?” he leaned in closer. “Oh shit, you are.” he said.

Minty breath tickled his lips and the minute Shuichi realized how close his face was, he immediately jerked back like he burned himself.

“H-Huh?” he stammered out.

“You were crying just now.” the male pointed out.

“What? I wasn’t—“ Shuichi reached up to touch his cheek and immediately felt the wet tear trail on it.

He dabbed at it in surprise. He couldn’t remember the last time he shed a tear, let alone if he actually did during the amount of time he’s been alive. Just what the heck was going on?

The male continued to eye him.

“Do you want it? The scarf, that is. I wanted to buy it because it looked neat, but if you want it…” he murmured.

“Uh...I…” Shuichi trailed off.

“Hm? Are you speechless? Is it because I’m so drop dead gorgeous that you can’t say anything?” the male teased.

“Wha…?!” Shuichi gawked at him in shock, cheeks flushing red.

“Nishishi! Aw, you’re adorable when you’re flustered! It makes me want to kiss you.” the male said.

The blush on Shuichi’s cheeks deepened, which only made him giggle more.

“But seriously, do you want it? Because if you do, I’m not gonna give it to you for free.” the male held his hand out to him. “Give me your number.” he said.

“My...number?” Shuichi questioned.

“Yeah? I’m going to need to contact you in regards to this scarf, you know.”

“I don’t have one.”

The male blinked twice.

“Wait. You’re telling me you don’t have a phone?” he asked.

“I don’t have one.” Shuichi replied.

“Why not?”

“I don’t need one, that’s why.”

“How could you not need one? We live in the twenty-first century! Of course you need a cell phone!”

“I just don’t see why I need to have one.”

“Because…!” the male heaved a deep sigh. “Okay, I can’t be doing this right now. I guess that means this scarf will be mine.” he said.

He moved to tie the scarf around his neck, but Shuichi spoke, effectively stopping him.

“W-Wait! Set the scarf down. Write your number down and place it there with the scarf. I’ll call you.” he proposed.

“Weeeeeeell…” he proceeded to twirl some hair around his finger. “We should at least exchange names if that’s how you wanna do it.” he said.

“Okay...well, my name’s Saihara. Saihara Shuichi.” Shuichi told him.

“Saihara-chan? I’ll make sure to remember that, then. I’m Ouma. Ouma Kokichi.” Kokichi introduced.

He reached his hand out for Shuichi to shake. The grim reaper could only stare down at the hand quizzically before redirecting his gaze to Kokichi’s. The purple-haired male watched him expectantly, waiting for Shuichi to shake it.

“If you don’t want to shake it, then that’s fine.” Kokichi turned back to the booth owner. “You said it was thirteen hundred yen, right? I’ll take it.” he said.

He began to fish through his pocket, mumbling to himself about where he put his wallet. Shuichi sighed, reaching into his trench coat and pulling out his wallet. Flipping it open, he pulled out a few bills and handed it to the booth owner.

“Here, I’ll pay for it.” he said.

Kokichi gaped at him in surprise.

“Wait! Saihara-chan, I can pay for it—“

“I already gave her the money. Just let it be.”

The purple-haired male pouted as the girl giggled.

“Aw, how sweet! By the way…” she leaned in closer to Shuichi, which startled him a little. “This scarf costs way more than thirteen hundred yen. The cost for it is...quite hefty, if I do say so myself.” she whispered lowly.

“How much does it cost, then?” Shuichi asked.

“Hm...maybe someone’s memories?” she hummed out in response.

Shuichi eyed her warily, but she only smiled at him brightly as she accepted the money from him. He sighed, withdrawing from her as Kokichi spoke.

“Well, since you bought it, I guess I should let you have it for now.” he handed the scarf to Shuichi along with a slip of paper. “And here’s my number.” he said.

Shuichi took the scarf and paper from Kokichi, examining them. As he did, Kokichi continued to eye him. Upon feeling the set of eyes on him, he glanced back at Kokichi.

“Yes?” he said.

“You know...the more I look at you, the more I feel like I’ve seen you before.” Kokichi commented.

Shuichi’s eyes widened in surprise as Kokichi leaned in towards him, purple eyes scanning him.

“I wonder...were we lovers in a past life or something?” he mused aloud.

“Were we...what?” he questioned, wondering if he heard him correctly.

“Lovers. Maybe we were lovers in a past life.”

“Were we?”

Kokichi shrugged.

“The world may never know.” the sound of a phone ringing reached their ears. “Ah, that’s mine. I’m going to need to go now.” Kokichi said.

He pulled away from Shuichi and began to walk past him.

“I’ll be waiting for your call, my beloved Saihara-chan!” he called out over his shoulder.

“My beloved…?!” Shuichi squeaked as he turned, watching Kokichi wave his hand as he headed down the steps and disappeared from his sight.

Shuichi sighed deeply.

“That was...interesting.” he murmured.

He looked down at the scarf, running a thumb along the fabric before focusing on the piece of paper that had Kokichi’s number on it along with his name and a quick doodle of himself. As he continued to stare at the two items, Kokichi’s question rang in his mind.

“I wonder...were we lovers in a past life or something?”

The bits and pieces from his dreams resurfaced as he thought back on them. This time, the mystery male had wispy purple hair, purple eyes, and a mischievous smile. He gripped the scarf tighter.

He couldn’t help but wonder if these dreams he was having were merely dreams or if they were something. Maybe they were pieces of his memory from his past life that he was told that he shouldn’t remember at all costs.

But if it were indeed those memories that stayed buried within him, locked in Pandora’s box...then Kokichi might be onto something.

#saiouweek #danganronpa v3 #saiouma #shuichi saihara #kokichi ouma #day 7 #shuichi’s birthday or free day #free day it is! #had this idea circling about in my head forever so here it is #goblin au anyone??? #shuichi is the grim reaper #and kokichi is sunny #reincarnation (somewhat) #tw: ndrv3 spoilers #tw: angst #it’s...actually not that shippy i’m sorry ;^; #kawaiikichi

[terrence-silver]

Hey, I saw your gorgeous faceclaims for Terry's parents earlier, so I was wondering; could you perhaps do some sort of quick one-shot featuring the two of them? Nothing long or complicated. Just a little insight into their daily (messy?) lives back in the 50s? Thanks a lot. 💙

He waddled in drunk.

Again.

Thing is, he didn’t understand how come Red 31 wasn’t a winning option on the roulette wheel when red as a color has never failed him before - his lucky choice for years, in a sense. He could’ve swore to god almighty, that fucking game was rigged. It was rigged and it was rigged in such a way to harm the economic savings of decent, hard-working Americans like himself. Really, if anything, he blamed McCarty for letting in all those damn Communists into the country and messing up the order of things around here. That was the only way Morton could explain his losses tonight. Fifty thousand dollars in one sitting. Straight ripoff and as such, the deplorable state he was in tonight was well-warranted. Did he try to fight those bastards in the security department? Yes! Did he get thrown out of the casino? Yes, he was! Did he, by any chance get in an alteration with one of the suckers who did in fact win a sizeable amount of money tonight on the same fucking roulette wheel and were slaps generously thrown around? Yes, they absolutely were! And proudly at that! This was a free land.

And now, he was home.

Deep-fucking-joy.

His beautiful pastel Harrods catalogue house.

To his gorgeous nagging wife and their gorgeous tiny brat son.

-”It’s three in the morning.”-

A voice chided and of course Myra would be awake waiting for him like some sort of interrogator in the partial darkness of the hallway, stepping out of the bedroom in a silk bathrobe over her lace chemise and her blue rollers strapped to her curls, arms crossed over her chest with bloody intent, a scowl gracing her red lips as she took a long drag out of her cigarette, huffing the smoke into the air. She had time to put on a lipstick? In the middle of the night? The damn casino scammed him out of his own money and she had time for her goddamn rouge face-paint? The absolute nerve of this broad. She didn’t even wear her usual house slippers. No. She had her heels on like some manner of decadent, shameless saloon harlot. Because of course she did.

Wretched Biblical viper.

-”Y’know. If I knew you’d be so good at stating the obvious and telling the damn time I’ve would’ve strapped you to my wrist instead of a Rolex and just carried you with me around all day.”-

Morton shook his hand at her frantically to nail the idea behind his words into her head, clanking the gold clasp of his arm-watch in her direction. The general idea was, that before she even tried to accuse him of anything at this late hour, to gently remind her, as she often needed to be, that he in fact made all the money in this household, and as such, he could waste and spend as much of it as he pleased, however he pleased, whenever he pleased like the man he was. Because, really - who was going to stop him? Did she really think he didn’t know what time it was? There were no clocks in casinos. Yet, he always knew, regardless. It was an ingrained instinct, by now.

-”You’re bleeding, you reek and you look like hell, Morty.”-

She clicked her tongue in annoyance alongside an eyeroll, using an endearment instead of his full name, walking around him with her heels clicking on the marble carpeted floor as she plopped down in the velvet armchair facing him directly, crossing her legs, watching him pour himself a glass of scotch and downing it one swift move. This has happened before. Of course it has. But, was it such a sin he wanted out of this stifling, godforsaken upper middle class life out here in the fucking desert, peddling rings and knick-knack like a common salesman or roadside merchant? Was it so bad he wanted to make a quick spin of money? Was it so hard to understand he wanted Lady Fortune to smile at him? If only just once? Let him live the life he knew he deserved? That she deserved. That their son deserved. That he, correction and all humbleness aside, Morton Silver, deserved, most of all?

-”We can’t all look like Liz Taylor, ma’am. Respectfully.”-

He spat back in disgust, loathing how beautiful she appeared.

So close to making him behave in ways a gentleman never should.

-”How much?”-

She inquired firmly, with a certain sense of softness.

He immediately what she meant, even without clarifying.

He averted his gaze, sighing in defeat - putrid, bitter defeat.

Leveling his eyes instead, with the glass liqueur bottle in front of him.

-”That much, huh?”-

Myra knew, even without words spoken, more or less what the monetary casualties of tonight’s exploits were - she had an instinct for things like that by now, the damn woman - finishing the butt of her cigar and crushing it in the crystal ashtray next to her seat and leaning over her white cream boudoir instead, starting to remove the rolls from her hair one by one, combing them out steadily and attaching the pearled earrings to the pierced holes of her lobes. She once stated he had a serious addiction and that  she read in a health magazine at her book club that such things weren’t anything to be ashamed of and that it could be curable with the right methods and care - that she worried about the state of him - where he was headed - where they were headed, as a married couple - but he didn’t want to hear about it. If she intended to institutionalise him she had another thing coming. He knew what they did to people deemed crazy.

And the Silvers had a reputation to uphold around these parts.

His father was a jeweler and his father before him.

His father’s father, even.

He only wanted to increase what he inherited.

Not let it all go to waste with the knowledge that he wasn’t quite right.

People would avoid them both like the plague for it - bloody bastards.

-”I’ll make it back for us. I always do. You know me! You know I do! I’ve luck at the tip of my fingers, all I need is the right moment at the right time and it’ll find me when I least expect it! And you love me for it! Maybe next time this year, we’ll be sitting at a balcony somewhere, overlooking the sea! And you’ll be sunbathing with a big hat and we’ll never look back! Maybe up the West Coast - maybe -”-

He found himself ranting, a wave of desperation, guilt and hysteria taking over his senses, fueled by alcohol and a need to rationalize and justify himself, suddenly on his knees and grabbing Myra by her ankles, nearly ripping the nylon of her sheer, flesh-colored stockings with the sharpness of the ruby on his wedding band, pulling her away from the mirror and back unto her arm chair, embracing her legs and leaning his face unto her lap, trapping her in place because he needed her to stay put and listen like he needed air to breathe, rambling and stuttering as he did. He despised this place and he knew she did too, but money was never enough to move someplace better permanently and for that reason he hated it here all the more out of rage. All the dust and scorched, dryness of the earth, and the unbearable desert wind and the goddamn mob burring mutilated bodies out in the wild, and the hyenas, and the loan-sharks, and the snakes, and the hookers and the temptations and the sinning and people blowing their fucking brains out due to accumulated debt and he just couldn’t take it anymore. It was hell. And he wasn’t out of here in a couple of years, he’d just ram his car off of the first cliff with himself, Myra and Terry in it and call it a day. It wasn’t the most Christian way to go, but heck if he cared at this point. He was as far removed from God’s light as he could be by now.

-”You’ll wake up the child with your drunk rambling.”-

She chastised whispering, with infinite tenderness.

With a tinge of sadness and pity too, he figured tiredly.

Letting her run her manicured fingers through his hair sweetly.

Comforting him - another woman would’ve left him by now, surely.

He drank and whored around and gambled and cussed and shouted.

Not her though - all she wanted was him, their son and money.

And although a bit skinny, puny and small for his age.

Almost to the point of occasional embarrassment -

Morton figured a change of scenery would do Terence good too.

Get some strength back into him - make him tall, statuesque and healthy.

Last thing Morton Silver wanted was a malnourished, sickly offspring.

-”Do you believe me, though? Do you believe me when I say I’ll give us lives worthy of gods and leave behind this petty corner-store waste of time? I don’t want to spend the rest of my days behind an old, dusty counter, convincing people which fucking engagement ring to buy some random, nameless dame off of the street they met in a joint one time!”-

He looked up at her almost pleading, fingers digging into her skin to the borderline point of nearly making her bleed - his humiliation at requiring her approval in the first place mingling with genuine need and rage at even being in his position mixing into a potent sort of fury where he was just one inch away from slapping her if she answered negatively and then grabbing her and kissing her the next for running her pretty little mouth like that. He was an irresponsible, hypocrite, drunk gambler and lying, materialistic, greedy whore-mongerer. She was a tobbacco-addicted, fashion-crazed, haughty diva obsessed with her pearls and being the perfect, unassuming upper-crust housewife and mother. They were made for each other. Hell, they even looked alike, aesthetically speaking, both pale, lanky, dark haired, with stark blue eyes - like a matched pair of paper dressing dolls cut-out from a magazine. If anything - little Terry would be a looker. Not an overly wealthy looker, but a looker nonetheless. A little pretty twig-boy with no inheritance quite big enough or impressive to turn heads. Not if they stay here. In this crime-infested cesspool of filth that threatened to drag him down even lower.

He pressed a sloppy, inebriated half-kiss to the side of her mouth.

Trying to make himself forget how much he exactly lost tonight.

She turned her head away, nostrils flaring at the stench of him.

She didn’t exactly bear the scent of roses either, reeking of tobacco.

How many did she exactly smoke in the darkness expecting his return?

-”You always did things your way and I’ve enabled you, in part. Now all I can do is sit around and wait for you to come home alive and hope to god someone doesn’t beat you half to death on the steps of some sleazy, two-bit gambling den like a dog.”-

Myra’s voice cracked and she was overtaken by a wave of sobbing.

Tracing the fresh wound on his head, impartially.

In defeat - her tone pained, regretful.

They been through his debate a million times.

And a million times they’ve reached this exact conclusion.

She didn’t even bother cleaning the blood on his scalp.

This happened so often, there was hardly a point anymore.

He’d be battered and bruised at work again by tomorrow.

She’d ambush him in this same fashion, at this same hour.

Wearing the same bathrobe and spewing the same reprimanding.

And he wouldn’t really change or learn - neither would she.

#two people being extremely in love and extremely fucked up #and extremely dysfunctional and tragic because of it #terry silver #silver family #morton silver #myra silver #request #kk #ck #a highly fanon take #but i hope you like it

[gayregis]

blood and wine rewrite au basic layout

i already posted something like this before but i cant find the post so im just rewriting all of this from the top of my head

everyone’s repurposed roles:

geralt - he’s still a witcher. he’s geralt of rivia. obviously. i don’t have time or interest to think about how to rewrite the entire witcher 3 game to be lore-friendly, but i assume there would be less triss and more dandelion involved in it. for this let’s just take him as geralt having done everything in tw3 but with the personality of geralt from the books because geralt from the games doesn’t have much of a strong personality good for writing or thinking about.

regis - a bitch. nah jk. he’s same regis but just what he was like 100 years ago when he got his head cut off. he’s less spiralling-into-doom than he was then, and is less desperate and hopeless overall, but is slowly getting there once again. he doesn’t remember anything about learning from his mistakes and becoming a good person, because this regis didn’t get any of that. to this regis, it’s like no time has passed at all since he died, and he’s ready to start partying again without any thought of the consequences. he’s moved to toussaint because everyone’s already tipsy there and the north is plagued by war so it’s not a really great source to be drinking from (like if there was a sewage leak near the vineyard you sourced your wine from). he doesn’t remember anything about maturing up or about becoming a surgeon or about the hansa, so that sucks.

dettlaff - not a fucking maniac. actually a character geralt will likely spend a good amount of time talking to. total character overhaul because he does not have a personality in the actual DLC. he arrived in toussaint because he had heard that regis had returned and wanted to fix things wih him, he had previously left him.

syanna - not a fucking dumbass, yet still naive in her own way due to being blinded with the promise of power. in this, she is planning to stage a coup on the duchy (because she is the older sister, so it IS her right by law) and she supports regis’ slow dive again into uncontrollable insanity because it helps her prop up rumors that her sister’s reign is ineffective against real threats and is cursed. but this alliance does not go as she planned...

orianna -  in this, she is the owner of a gladiatorial school (instead of an orphanage), and is still like in canon a wealthy and influential individual of beauclair, yet reclusive from human society. she is regis’ best friend and goads him on, because she never fixed her own issues with alcoholism and now is elated to have him back and forgetting that they had disagreements which drove them apart in the first place. they’re best friends (NO romance) and it’s just good to see how insanely different orianna and geralt are because they’ve both been regis’ close friends at different points in time.

the purpose of this:

fix regis’ relationships with the vampires. he slowly drove all of his good friends away by going off the deep end and many are likely wondering whatever happened to him. but books regis would never consider partying like that again, so we bring the party regis back and then slowly de-escalate him into normal books regis again, and we finally get closure with him and his old friends.

cool dramatic stereotypical vampire shit. i’m talking about a final battle or conversation in a giant dark castle with large open windows and billowing drapery.

regis’s hairstyle

give syanna actual agency as a character and give her motivations that extend beyond pure revenge (although they are related to revenge) and make her more unique so she is not just a ripoff of renfri. 

demonstrate anna henrietta and geralt’s relationship as it was in the books. he was genuinely intimidated by her and i interpret him as being jealous of her relationship with dandelion, so he in practice was quite withdrawn around her as she was her overemotional and embellished self

give dettlaff an actual character, holy shit. i hate how sorely underdeveloped he is in the game. i understand why because it’s not meant to be writing, it’s meant to be a video game, but come on. i hate having the vampire with the cool character design be the ultimate villain of the whole narrative. in this, he’s someone geralt can talk to and sees himself in. he’s emotionally mature and doesn’t mix with the other vampires. since we already know what regis is like, we don’t have to sit through dettlaff making excuses for him and trying to describe what his character is like. we also get a better view of regis’ past through dettlaff’s lense. 

give orianna an actual character, holy shit. i hate how they didn’t even try with her and just used her as a “surprise, she is quite evil!” gimmick. have her actually have a larder for blood that is lore-friendly yet still jumps out at the audience as morally wrong.  give her more personality and development.

examine regis’ backstory without actually getting into every single year of those 4 centuries. we can examine how it started good, turned bad, went worse... there’s a lot of loss involved and i think this would be nice to process it.

roughly what happens (under cut because if i ever do write this fic out, this is spoilers, literally the synopsis of the whole thing):

anna henrietta sends envoys to geralt. they establish that the duchess has no conflict with geralt and that her conflict was with dandelion, only. she has requested his help because he effectively dealt with many monsters while he was in beauclair and established a trustworthy reputation (also, he’s famous, and toussaintoirs are superficial). instead of the beast of beauclair killing particular victims, it’s the countryside which has been plagued by vicious attacks of the devil knows what.

geralt arrives and examines the scenes of the attacks. the sincere majority of the victims are alive, so he speaks to them. they remember nothing, but woke up with their village fucking absolutely trashed and with vomit everywhere. they all have wounds on their necks. geralt thinks he knows what’s up, but is reluctant to deal with it because of his memories of regis, who he misses

damien de la tour is assigned to geralt as a sort of backup. they argue and geralt manages to get him to stay put in beauclair while he rides to a village they believe will be attacked next. it’s not even a full moon so the vampires don’t even come out in their bat form (disappointing) but instead just mesmerize their way in in humanoid form. dettlaff sneaks up on geralt who is (ahem) staking out the situation, and is like hey dont kill regis hes not evil hes just misguided!! and geralt is like REGIS? EMIEL REGIS? THTS WHO’S LEADING THEM? i ..... i know him.... and dettlaff’s like what the fuck how... then they get caught and regis is like oh hey dettlaff who’s this guy and geralt feels very left out :( and also sad bc regis doesnt remember shit and geralt even lists the hansa members by name and regis is still like O_O ok yeah im just going to hypnotize you to get lost ok goodbye! but dettlaff prevents him from doing this and they both get thrown out of the party.

after the party geralt is a mess and is like wtf so hes back and what... how... huh... and dettlaff doesnt know how he returned or why he returned either but they compare geralt’s knowledge of how regis died with dettlaff’s knowledge of how regeneration works and they figure out that regis just regenerated from his past body and that’s why he doesn’t have any of his memories from when he turned good.

then they eavesdrop a little more and find out that syanna has been talking to regis and making deals with him (its... not really like she thinks, regis really hasnt been doing anything he doesnt want to. shes just like “hey can you attack this village here” and regis is like yeah i was gonna host a party there tomorrow night ...) so they are like who the fuck is this woman and track her down to her base of operations, and then they find out that THEY got followed by damien de la tour, who identifies her as sylvia anna. geralt is a little miffed on behalf of dandelion that damien seems to be so close to anna henrietta but i digress.

geralt reports his findings to the duchess but does NOT mention regis because the duchess knows who regis is. then we get the same vampire talk from canon b&w where the duchess and damien are sorely misinformed on every single thing ever.

geralt is defeated and has no idea on how to fix this and hes looking hard into a mirror by candlelight and then decides to go to bed so he turns around and regis is right behind him like hey. cue ‘holy shit what the fuck’ moment and freaking out. regis explains himself and says that he doesnt remember him but the fact that he gave so many specifics weirded him out and he kind of wants to know more out of curiosity. also he wants to talk to dettlaff but feels too bad about how he argued with him like 3 centuries ago that he cant just ask him directly.

so they talk and geralt is all :(( and regis is like ok well. i kinda want to get these memories back because they sound pretty significant and also im pretty miserable. but also im not going to stop partying bc its the only thing that makes me feel alive rn. so long!

geralt and dettlaff talk to orianna and she dislikes them both but still talks to them and then regis materializes and also begins bothering them and its quite civil but this scene just serves to demonstrate how annoying they are as friends lol

there’s scenes where you can either save damien / syanna from being unalived by the vampires’ / regis’ hand, only if you let syanna die will the duchess be mad and accuse you of being heartless like dandelion is and then geralt and the duchess actually get into an argument bc of that comment but geralt ofc loses bc hes scared of her lol

no matter what you get regis his memories back but your decisions to either continue helping him or not is what makes him change or not. even after he gets his memories back (or because he gets his memories back?) he decides to raze beauclair bc hes just so fucking miserable and geralt has to talk him down, if you are harsh and not understanding and shame him etc then he doesnt change, if you condemn his actions but still offer your support then he does.

if you offer your support > geralt talks about the hansa like For Ever and regis then adds in everything and yay regis is back to normal. theres like a wholesome montage of geralt being like “just TRY to sew up a wound i promise you you will be good at it” and regis does and hes splendid at it. regis and dettlaff finally make up and are bros once again. we help orianna with her issues and she realizes stuff but is still going to have a drink once in a while. if syanna is alive she doesnt hate on any of this but just decides to make up with the duchess and then become captain of the guard (damien gets fired for being a dumbass).

if you do not offer your support > regis goes to cry in a delapidated creepy old castle and you have an epic fight (geralt is backed up by dettlaff) and he turns into a bat and geralt almost dies, they manage to decapitate regis again and put him in the ground and set a timer for 50 years

if you redeem regis then there’s an ending scene where the duchess is like “oh regis i didnt know you were in town” and hes just like <:) ahaha... yeah...

cue crying about milva/cahir/angouleme For Ever. maybe link this with the fic where geralt and regis bring them all back as ghosts/real ppl and then they have to deal with those consequences

#blood and wine rewrite au #regis #geralt #thoughts

[arecomicsevengood]

“Follow Your Own Star”

Lately I’ve found it hard to shake the feeling that everything of value is being destroyed, but we are being given simulacra in exchange, while we wait, to soften the blow. The relationship between the U.S. economy and what actually has value is basically nil, obviously, and COVID has only highlighted that, but beyond that, being in isolation has brought to light how much of what I consider “real” because it exists outside the bounds of money is nonetheless vulnerable. We’ve been given podcasts to fill our working hours with parasocial relationships where once we may’ve had genuine camaraderie with our coworkers. We’re given desultory political candidates to vote for in the absence of those who would govern in accordance with our actual beliefs. It feels like an elaborate art heist is taking place, where the masterpieces are exchanged for forgeries, and the endgame of those seeking to enrich themselves is to set a bonfire of all that’s made us human, all we’ve invested our true selves into. All this can occur only because our relationships have been made increasingly transactional already. I wondered at the start of quarantine how many couples, with the ability to see one another in the flesh compromised, had switched to having “sex” over Skype, how many intimate relationships were compromised by distance into resembling cam shows. Partly this curiosity was a way of comforting myself, as I came to the understanding that I would not be entering into anything approaching a real romantic relationship for the foreseeable future.

In the context of all of this, reading a book that feels reminiscent of the work of another artist feels like a minor thing, but it slips easily enough into the larger pattern. After reading Roaming Foliage by Patrick Kyle, I thought “Huh, this is very much a CF/Brian Chippendale thing.” Then, after reading Eight-Lane Runaways by Henry McCausland, I thought, “Oh, this is even more like a CF thing.” Both are, I think, appropriate for kids, which Powr Mastrs isn’t, but I also never read Powr Mastrs and felt like the thing that made it good was its BDSM pornography elements. People have been biting CF’s style for years — enough for him to address it with a little note in the third Powr Mastrs book, instructing them to “follow your own star.” Simon Hanselmann admits the similarities between the character design for Owl and a character in CF’s story in Kramers Ergot 5, Hanselmann’s subsequent popularity seems to suggest a moment where something becomes less of a direct influence and more just something that exists generally in the world. It’s art: Inspiration, influence, and appropriation are all part of the game. Reading Hanselmann, I’ve wondered what his work would’ve been like before exposure to his most obvious influences; reading these, I wondered instead if they would still have been made had Powr Mastrs 4 ever come out, to finish out the story and close the system; it feels like, in a transactional relationship between artist and audience, the fact of a work remaining unfinished makes it more socially acceptable to steal from. For instance, think of the debt Alejandro Jodorowsky’s The Holy Mountain owes to Rene Daumal’s Mount Analogue. It feels like an attempt to create something with an ending, to satisfy a desire for the logic to reach its conclusion. The comics fulfill a certain set of expectations, I found them a pleasant enough experience, satisfying on a certain level. However, on a deeper level, I found them completely unsatisfying, because they speak so directly to a sense of unfulfilled potential. They lack the thrill that CF’s comics provide, of totally transcending any expectations placed on them.

Measuring the impact made by CF, Paper Rad, and the Fort Thunder contingent is difficult to calculate, because there were so many radical gestures inside that work, and while some have been metabolized, others have not. The “reclamation of genre material in an art-school context” is maybe the most readily understood. Johnny Ryan’s Prison Pit probably wouldn’t exist were it not for these comics, but that’s such a “who cares” for me, such a dumbed-down and simplistic understanding of what makes these comics good. The silkscreening of covers is close behind, in terms of something that people really ran with. That’s fine, no one owns silkscreening, it looks great. What hasn’t really been reckoned with are the gestures against commodity fetishism. Paper Rodeo is progenitor of the free comics newspaper format, but the work that ran there is so much wilder than what you see in what followed, and most of it was anonymous. I understand why that was a gauntlet that wasn’t picked up, but is still one of the things that made an impact on its initial readership. Similarly, I haven’t seen anyone steal the CF format of the single-sheet xerox, with comics on the front and back. I guess that’s not surprising! But honestly? Sick format.

I’ve just been talking about comics, but Lightning Bolt playing on the floor is its own radical gesture, albeit one with an obvious precedent in the form of Crash Worship. The Forcefield oeuvre is its own thing. Those videos are great! The animation made out of photographing the cutting layers of multicolored clay… I wonder how much of this stuff hasn’t been picked up on because it’s the last stand of working with real world physical materials, before the coming of digital as the default medium for art students to work in. Obviously, the silkscreening has similar roots in physical media, and playing on floors relates directly to how you communicate with people when you’re in the same physical space as them. Real world community has distinct advantages, but many that came after took the trade for the benefits working digitally provides. Anyway. I could write a 33 1/3 book proposal for Lightning Bolt’s Ride The Skies that addresses all this stuff, but I also believe I would not be the best person to write such a book; I suspect those better suited would not be interested.

There is something so exciting about artists whose work feels overflowing with ideas, not just on a level of concept or drawing but also in terms of how the work is presented. That whole Providence/Picturebox crew was so abundant with this creative ferment that when I see others picking up on individual threads it makes sense on a certain level — you want more of a certain thing — but if it’s not backed up by something distinctly unique, as a reader I’m hyper-aware of what’s absent.

These artists also made books, and records, and it was their doing so that brought their work to a larger audience, including me. Not everything has to be a gesture against making money. But at the same time, radical gestures suggest the benefits made in fostering community work out better in the long term than leveraging oneself to be consumed as a commodity does. This is not to suggest that McCausland or Kyle are doing something wrong that will sabotage some sort of grand plan for utopia: I’m really just riffing here. If I buy electronic music mp3s online, I’m not necessarily going to lament the death of live music performance the same way I do when buying the mp3s of a jazz act. Looking at a contemporary superhero comic that feels dire and ugly will make me nostalgic for the Mike Parobeck comics of my youth, but a contemporary black and white zine exists in a completely different universe and might not remind me of anything. Certain things make you miss the world that was more than others.

It’s also worth noting that by all accounts Patrick Kyle has a bunch of people online ripping off his style but I have successfully been able to avoid such people. While Roaming Foliage is consciously modeled after the sort of weird adventure comics of not just Powr Mastrs, but also Brian Chippendale’s If N Oof,  What I am most often seeing and thinking “that’s a ripoff” is the presence of these geometrical patterns which are also similar to design choices made throughout his oeuvre. There’s a chaotic, obfuscatory energy approach to comics that he works with frequently, but so much of his other comics feel dark, melancholy, or paranoid whereas this feels much lighter in its tone. At the same time, compared to the claustrophobia of Don’t Come In Here, having his characters move about makes for an adventure narrative. Watching them wander, interact, and be given quests and goals belongs to this tradition that’s not unique to the Picturebox artists — but the feeling that this fantasy material was arrived at through adventure games like Zelda moreso than Tolkien makes for this sort of… generational level of familiarity, rather than seeming to occupy some sort of Campbellian myth-space, if that makes sense. The strangeness of Kyle’s art, where backgrounds overtake figures, suggests a sort of PC glitching, almost like the Cory Arcangel/Paper Rad collaboration Super Mario Movie, but achieved through photocopier technology of blowing up and distorting images. It is the sensation of a feeling being chased after that makes the book feel less exciting and more melancholy, though subsequently, that darker feeling might make the book slot into Kyle’s oeuvre so much that bigger fans of his might not even notice the resemblance I’m seeing.

McCausland has a list of acknowledgments in his book which includes CF alongside Herge and Otomo. I can sort of see them all, but Herge especially is an influence that’s been so widely absorbed by comics as a whole that I really only feel particularly aware of it in the case of Joost Swarte or something. McCausland’s resemblance to CF is reinforced by things as molecular as a resemblance in the lettering, which is really odd. The figures all have this youthful smallness to them, and I can’t tell if the characters are meant to be young specifically or if it’s just the way he’s learned to draw. I can see Otomo, but it’s definitely approached through the CF filter. Other trademarks, like the rendering of geometric shapes, the patterns of parallel lines, seems integrated, highlighted, by the “racetrack” premise that gives the book its name. However, he distinguishes himself because his work is more constantly busy, with the same general level of detail. There’s also these trees in the background, which seem like they’re rendered as these painted soft grey daubs, a type of texture you don’t see in CF’s darkened pencil work.

His storytelling is different, prone to large spreads, or showing the same character multiple times in a panel as they move across the landscape. (The dimensions of Eight-Lane Runaways are considerably larger than those of Powr Mastrs.) There are nonetheless panels that seem exactly like CF drawings, but with a less cryptic sense of humor. It feels more populist, like it’s based around what a person liked, and in the act of working it out, subtracted the mystery. What would’ve been a detailed “money shot” in a CF sequence is here the baseline level of drawing detail that never gets subtracted from. It’s really fascinating to me how this makes it less good, I think many people would prefer it.

I wrote most of this before learning that Anthology is releasing a new CF book next week. You can order it and see preview images at the Floating World site. You can draw your own conclusions. CF’s on his own path such that you might not even note a resemblance between his new images and McCausland’s. We’re all living on the same planet, orbiting the same sun in an expanding universe, subject to the will of an accelerating time.

[paladin-andric]

Heatwave

Hey folks. Thought I’d hammer out a story for everyone real quick, what with the lack of activity and all. This is yet another short set in the modern setting of the world of Deaco, about two pals trying to cope with the worst summer has to offer. This one’s got some Mood Music! Not the mood of the setting per se, but rather the music coming from the TV as the two play the game.

This was definitely not inspired by any personal events, and the video game described is absolutely NOT just a ripoff of Earth Defense Force. Short below the cut.

This is also a bit of an exercise to get back into writing from scratch. I haven’t done much more than edit and rewrite recently.

“For the love of God…”

Michael wiped another sheen of sweat from his forehead, moving it onto his plain white t-shirt, which was already soaked. The young man was sitting in a bedroom, on the floor in front of a large TV. His hair was mopped with sweat, and his eyes were narrowed as he focused on the TV.

The clicking of buttons became louder as he desperately tried to keep up with the challenge in the game. On the screen of the television, two human soldiers with assault rifles and rocket launchers were running through a city, fighting off hordes of dragons and kobolds. Gunfire, explosions and screaming filled the otherwise quiet room.

Beside Michael, a koutu lay in his bed, eyes glazed over. The bird was patterned after a kestrel, with plumage of varying shades of orange, white, black and brown. This was Yawel. Although he looked half-dead, he too was holding a controller, being the other player of this split-screen game of Deacan Defense Force.

There was a third player, but they were found online. The pair were the only ones in the room at the moment. The online player had been cut off and surrounded by a giant horde and was losing health quickly.

“Help me!”

One of the shoutouts available to players, the stranger looked to be near death as his character cried out for aid.

“I’m on my way!”

Michael picked the option from the list of shoutouts and began sprinting through crowds of kobolds, only stopping to turn and fire a few rockets on the way to thin out the hordes.

Yawel groaned audibly, slumped over on his back and lying sideways on his bed. He still looked like he was in a stupor, and Michael could hardly blame him.

The heatwave that had torn through the continent had been especially brutal in the hottest months of summer, and now temperatures were well over a hundred degrees. Normally, this wouldn’t be a problem, as the friends had an air conditioner in their bedroom.

Of course, that’s why it just had to break.

The pair had been such good friends throughout their school years that once they graduated, they decided to move out and become roommates. Logic stated that as long as they both had jobs and shared accommodations, they’d save money.

They did of course, but finding work had been pretty tough as of late. Both of them were only able to land jobs as grocers for the time being, so there wasn’t much left over they could afford to waste. That was why they had to share only one air conditioner, and why it was left in the bedroom so that they could keep cool while they played video games.

Now, without that AC, the temperature in the normally comfortable bedroom was bordering on unsafe.

“How about you save ME?” Yawel muttered, barely able to keep playing.

“Huh? You’re good,” Michael responded plainly, continuing to run towards the other player, fighting his way to where the stranger was making their last stand.

“Good?! You call this GOOD?!” the koutu squawked, “I feel like a turkey in the oven!”

A plume of fire swept across the map as one of the dragons attacked the other player. His character let out a wail as he collapsed, last of his health gone.

“Oh, I thought you meant...nevermind. Just hang on, I gotta revive this guy.”

“Aaah, God...how does Rangal live like this?! Shaggy bastard would die!”

A wolfman the pair knew. The three of them were good friends. He lived on the bare essentials. His house lacked many luxuries...including air and heating.

“I actually texted him. He’s in the tub with cold water. That’s how he manages the summers apparently.”

Yawel shook his head. “Nutty. Dunno why he doesn’t just spring for an AC.”

A ping from the game let everyone know Michael had successfully revived the other player. His character was a sallik, one of the lizardmen from the desert land of the far south.

Bet he’s doing just fine in this heat, Michael thought jealously.

Of course he could have just picked a sallik, but Michael tended to assume people picked their actual race when they created characters in these kind of games.

The fact that Yawel played as a human threw that theory for a bit of a loop. He’d always secretly wondered why that was, but ended up deciding he probably liked the stat bonuses better or something. 

“I owe you!” the other player shouted, now back on their feet. Michael smirked and opened the quick chat again.

“No man left behind!”

The ingame radio blared to live with a burst of static.

“Where are the fighters?!” a commander shouted in frustration, “They’re getting chewed up out there!”

“The air force has been intercepted by dragons,” an officer explained, “We’re trying to slip a force through, but it’s gonna take some time.”

“God, damn it!” the commander cried, “Thunder Team! The jets are tied down dogfighting the dragons. You have to hold on a little longer! Stay strong!”

“Are you kidding?!” Yawel croaked, “It’s really not over?!”

Neither of them had gotten this far yet. This mission was so difficult that they’d abandoned their initial goal of beating it together and set up an online lobby to get more players.

Between the blistering heat and knowledge that this length mission still had time to go, Michael felt some resolve sapped from him. “Oh God...this really sucks…”

All the while, the trio were blasting and shooting their way through more hordes of dragons, desperately diving and running behind a new building when the last one got destroyed.

“Where the hell’s Ginit?” Yawel asked, “I’m dying…”

“Should be here really soon,” the human answered.

Ginit was a pseudodragon local to town. She, like most pseudodragons, loved to go around helping out where she could. When the air conditioner broke and the temperature inside quickly leaped into the hundreds, Michael texted a friend of hers and told them his plight.

He thought with her knowing all kinds of magic that there was something she could do. The friend only vaguely answered back that Ginit could help and she’d come over right after she was done delivering a package for someone.

Pseudodragons were natural couriers, with their instinctive spark of joy, desire to help, and ability of flight. Ginit was no different.

“Hopefully she’s done soon,” Michael said with a sigh. The heat was so bad he could swear he saw the air waving in front of the TV slightly.

“Ugghhh...save us…” the koutu grumbled.

Michael wiped another bunch of sweat from his face, some of it sticking to the controller. He made a mental note to wipe the thing down later.

The entire area seemed to radiate heat, and they didn’t have any substitutes for the air conditioner.

“Next paycheck,” the human offered, “We gotta get a fan.”

“Faaaaan? You think a faaaaaan can help with this?”

“Better than nothing.”

“Whatever. I hate this. Once this mission’s over I’m done.”

Michael frowned. “Come on man, I wanna beat the story.” “Naaaaaaw. I’m followin’ ol’ furbutt’s lead and napping in the baaaaaaath.”

The human felt a pang of pity. Poor Yawel sounded delirious, slurring his words with his eyes half closed. The heat must have been even worse with feathers or fur...maybe he was lucky after all…

“Alright man, you do you. Just hang tough for this level, alright?”

“Alright.”

The muted reply made Michael feel even worse. Yawel sounded...defeated. Like he was just doing this because he wanted to help his friend.

“We’re nearly there. I bet this is the last wave.”

The soldiers, two human and one lizard, gathered up and began shooting at the massive swarm of dragons in the sky. As the behemoths flew at them, dozens and dozens of kobolds rushed through the city streets right at them.

In the game, there were so many hordes. Shots and fire were sent the defenders’ way as the sheer volume of creatures overwhelmed them. There were so many the game could barely keep up, dropping frames every second.

“No way. They don’t really expect us to do this, right?!” Michael complained as he lost half his health in a few moments.

Yawel’s soldier fell over dead, hit by dozens of shots from several different angles. He dropped the controller on the bed and sighed.

“It’s impossible.”

“We’re so close...we can’t lose now…”

Just as the human mumbled that, there was a sudden roar overhead. A group of stealth bombers flew by, dropping countless explosive warheads right into the center of the crowded horde of enemies.

Inspiring music began to swell as a massive portion of the enemy army was wiped out immediately. Another soldier came onto the radio.

“Hey there, Thunder Team! Thought we’d drop by and give you a hand.”

“This is Valor Two, entering mission area. We’ll cover you!” another voice called out. As jet fighters began to do strafing runs against the enemies, a fresh squad of AI soldiers moved into the map to reinforce the players.

As all of this was happening, the pair heard a knocking sound behind them. Michael shot up, eyes moving to curtains at the back of the room.

“O-oh, shit, hang on…”

Michael quickly revived Yawel before leaping up and running to the curtains, drawing them away and revealing a massive pair of windows.

Such oversized windows wouldn’t be considered proper for their humble home, especially for their bedroom of all places...but there was a really good reason why they were this way.

So the pseudodragon behind them could get through.

Ginit leaned against the window, the copper-scaled dragon’s snout pressed against the glass as she grinned at the human.

He threw the windows open without a moment's hesitation, returning a grin of his own.

“Michael! Yawel!”

“Ginit!” the human exclaimed, “You’re here!”

“Yes I am!” she beamed, “May I?”

“Please, please, come in!”

The human moved back to his position in front of the TV, sitting down and returning to the game. He didn’t want to be rude to the other player by abandoning them, after all.

“I heard you have AC troubles,” she teased in a sing-song voice. The pseudodragon hopped into the room and jumped onto a plush chair, laying down with her tail hanging over the edge and coming down to the floor.

“Please,” Yawel muttered, “Help us…”

“You can do something about this, right?” Michael asked with a hint of desperation.

“I sure can! Tell me, how long until this issue is resolved?”

“The repairman can’t come until tomorrow,” Michael admitted, “It’s gonna be hell.”

“Not anymore! Check this out…”

Ginit willed out the magic flowing through her, until it filled the room. In a flash, something in the air changed. At first, Michael couldn’t tell what it was, until he noticed something peculiar.

“...it’s getting cooler.”

The temperature kept dropping, and dropping, until it felt downright cold, like the AC was on full blast.

“A-ah, God. It’s so cool…”

Yawel seemed to spring back to life, eyes shooting wide open as he took a deep breath.

“I-it’s amazing! Ginit, what are you doing?!”

“Just a little spell that lets me control the temperature around me!” the pseudodragon said with a big smile, “Now it’s like you don’t even need the air conditioner!”

A loud explosion signaled the death of the last dragon, the city in the game now completely free of enemies. The players all spammed chat commands as the mission complete screen popped up.

“DDF! DDF!”

“We did it!”

“Great work!”

All the soldiers cheered and celebrated as the harrowing mission at last came to a close. Now Michael and Yawin could finally continue with the campaign.

The game was over, and the trio sitting in the room basked in the coolness of the air. Michael said goodbye to the other player and turned the game off. He closed the windows and sat back down.

For the next hour or so, they could just relax. Get all that sweat and heat off and gone while they recovered from the heatwave.

Yawel looked over at Ginit. “Hey...how long can you stay?”

“You said the repairman will come tomorrow, right?”

“That’s right.”

“Well then...I’ll stay the night! Until it’s all fixed up!”

“W-what?!”

“Yeah! It’s been too long since we’ve met, anyway! I’ve been looking forward to spending some time with my friends!”

Michael smiled. “Ah, hell. You’re a lifesaver, Ginit.”

“Don’t mention it!”

For the rest of the day, and into the night, the blistering heatwave was but a faint memory. The trio talked, ate and laughed, swapping tall tales and playing guessing games together.

For a moment, all the troubles of the world ceased. There was only home, comfort, and the unbroken bonds of friendship forged to last a lifetime.

Tag list: @thereisnothingwrongwithbeingmad, @lady-redshield-writes, @paper-shield-and-wooden-sword, @sheralynnramsey, @tawnywrites, @writer-on-time, @oceanwriter, @zwergis-spilledink, @fluffpiggy, @elliewritesfantasy, @homesteadchronicles, @laurenwastestimewriting, @elaynab-writing, @the-ichor-of-ruination, @candy687, @fierywords, @shewrites-sometimes, @nerds-and-nebulae

[differenttriumphdragon]

Good evening, everyone! We've got a big update for you this time!

Big as in, important, not in the number of images. And like any big update, there's a new title screen to go with it!

Once again, an unreleased Cookie is being featured!

How are they not in the game yet when they have so much dialogue!? Don't do this to us, Devsisters! Ugh...at least I'm back on the title screen where I-...wait, is that DC in the back? How does he fit into this?

Apparently our new friends are cooperating to find him...the reason remains to be seen why, though. For now, let's go over the updates!

Guilds have arrived!

And for everyone who was wondering if we're flat or round...we're, uh, both? I guess?

Place a Cookie of your choosing around your guild's headquarters to receive rewards! Sometimes you'll receive a super reward, which gives gifts to all of your guild members! You can also send a team of your own Cookies out on adventures to find prizes and level up your guild!

That sounds pretty cool and all...but isn't that kind of an RPG thing? Wouldn't it make more sense for this kinda thing to be in Cookie Wars, or maybe, like, one of the...upcoming games?

I suppose it would, honestly. But the developers have confirmed there's more to come, so we-

'We'll have to wait and see', yeah, yeah, we all know already.

...Do I really say it that often?

YES!

So you guys saw that trailer where they spoiled this guy, right? Here he is!

Purple Yam Cookie has arrived!

...I'll be honest, I was kinda betting on him being Dragonfruit.

Good guess, but I think Dragonfruits are usually a little more reddish.

The spikes really threw me off... Cool mace, though!

Purple Yam is a Cookie geared towards destruction of anything and everything, and his companion Firestarter is much the same way. Both share an all-consuming anger that Purple Yam claims is from surviving the fires of Hell itself.

Uh, we ALL have, buddy. It's called The Oven.

If Hell is really The Oven...

HEY! WAIT A MINUTE!

...Yes?

The new Cookies are literally just US!!!

Wait, what?

This edgelord here is clearly just a ripoff of me! We're even the only two Cookies with that Widow's Peak hair or whatever! Seriously, look it up!

I mean, I can see the resemblance between myself and Milk...

LISTEN UP, TRYHARD!!! You think you've been through Hell? I AM HELL!!!

Devil, please, you promised not to transform in the studio!!!

Urgh...you're lucky I'm running low on magic right now...

Let's just move on to the treasure, okay?

Huh? No costume this time?

Apparently not.

Wait, THAT'S the Treasure!?

Don't take it lightly, Devil, this-

No no no, it's just- I haven't seen one of these since I moved out!

Excuse me?

My Dad made them all the time! They're his favorite! Usually he'd eat them straight, but sometimes he'd chuck 'em around for fun!

Wait, he ate them? Just, still on fire?

Uh...yeah? He's kinda made of fire?

...OH, right, you're talking about HIM!

Heh, he figured out pretty quick I couldn't take that kind of heat when I was little...but I've trained ever since! It's how I learned to breathe fire!

...This is getting more concerning by the minute.

Why? What's wrong with getting tougher?

...Anyway, we have a new event to discuss...

Introducing a brand-new board game event!

Ugh, another Spinner!?

It's not another Spinner, Devil. This event involves rolling dice to move along a board, which has prizes waiting along every space!

So it's exactly like the Spinner?

Well, no. The aim is to get a certain number of laps on this board. You can roll the die with gems, but you can also earn free rolls by completing missions-

So it's exactly like the Spinner.

...Yes, I suppose it is. But at least the board looks nicer this time...?

...It's a little bright, but I guess I'll give you that one.

And that's it for the update, everyone! Until next time...

Heaven or Hell, let's rock!

...Wait, doesn't Dark Choco have a widow's peak, too?

Still doesn't change the fact that Yam ripped me off!

#cookie run #heaven n' hell #purple yam cookie #milk cookie #dark choco cookie #angel cookie #devil cookie

[hashtagkairideservedbetter]

My main issue(s) with KH3

Spoilers abound, so please don’t read if you haven’t beaten the game or don’t want any negative opinions influencing how you see the ending/ the game. I did enjoy several parts of KH3, but this post is focused on things I had issues with, and if you don’t want to see criticism of your media please look elsewhere. 

This is how I interpreted the game as someone coming into KH3 with KH2 being the last game I played, and a playlist of youtube videos spanning lets plays, summaries, and humorous deconstructions as a codex. 

Here’s the thing. I’ve seen several people already break down how KH3′s story and pacing could have been handled better. Specifically, to more comprehensively tie in the 10,000 plot points that needed to be covered in a way that actually helps connect the main characters. I’m not going to get into all of that, because frankly I can’t fake knowing enough about the background lore of Kingdom Hearts to know how to better juggle all of the intermediary games into KH3. 

Most of my grievances honestly lie with the handling of the Destiny Trio and the Disney Worlds. 

I’m going to do a read more on this because it’s gonna be a long one. (Also very much a train of thought, so disorganized, sorry). 

So. Sora. Protagonist of the game (mostly. kind of?). 

A cheerful ray of sunshine.

A Keyblade wielder who has overcome traumatizing ordeals that tore him away from all he loved and knew at least twice now for over three years. 

A continuity disaster stuck being pinballed back and forth between happy goofs and hollow tragedies every thirty minutes in between busywork battles and off-scene disney films for 85% of KH3. 

I understand that Sora’s greatest power is supposed to be his optimism, as it’s sort of the prerequisite for going through disney worlds where people sing about their problems. I get it.  

However, there’s a difference between, “I’m naive and happy and oblivious and that’s why I’m a guardian of the light,” and “I have battled true darkness and felt true loss and decided that choosing to be kind, choosing to embrace joy in new experiences and relationships, is a bigger middle finger to the darkness than anything else.” Guess which one I prefer. Guess which one I was thinking would finally be Sora’s character arc. Instead he’s happy, happy, happy, happy... and then suddenly in the eleventh hour having a mental breakdown. 

Sora is written into a loop every game of kind, naive, but unchanging (”Don’t ever change, Sora”). That was endearing when we were both 14, but after almost twenty years it gets tiring to watch Sora get hit with a reset button every time you meet up with him again. There’s a scene in the gummi ship early on in the games where Donald asks Sora to “take this seriously,” and Goofy remarks that they seem to be stuck in a rut as Donald and Sora have the same conversation over and over again before entering the first series of Disney worlds. Sora knows he needs the power of waking in order to help his friends and free those trapped in his heart, but seems content to just drop into various worlds and wing it, and hope that it all sort of works out. 

And then when it does work out, and Sora uses the power to save everyone, he’s immediately told he’s doomed now? Like, what was the point of him being able to use this to connect with people if he’s doomed. Why did they want him to have this. What’s the point then of Sora having these strong connections. 

Each world makes a big scene about the friendships and connections that Sora makes so easily, but in KH3 there never seems to be enough time for Sora to actually pay them any attention unless the person is right in front of him. Sora seems to make connections for the sake of making connections in KH3, and the ones he has, he does very little to advance or reconnect with.  

Like, the whole point of 100 Acre Wood this time was apparently that Sora’s connection to Pooh was weaker for some reason. I honestly didn’t understand the reason or how it was magically resolved just from Sora showing up and saying hi? But whatever. 

My two least favorite worlds were Corona and Arendelle, for the same reason. There was no believable connection between Sora and the characters there. For fuck’s sake, the combat ally you get in Arendelle is the snow monster, not even a main character.

Sora is like the living embodiment of the B99 clip of Rosa with her dog. He just met Elsa and spoke a whopping five sentences to her, but damn if he won’t climb a mountain five times just for her to save herself without ever talking to him again. Like, literally that is the only interaction Sora has with Elsa. Same thing with Anna, and in her case I literally had to mute my tv so I could track what she was actually saying since they decided to shove two songs from the movie into this game.  

You spend the majority of your time in these worlds trying to play catch up to the leads as they have their movie play out around the bend in the road in front of you, out of your sight. Props to Disney’s ego that they think I remember the beat by beat plots of their films when they came out 9 years ago (Tangled) and 6 years ago (Frozen). I actually had the thought of going and watching Tangled just to remember what Flynn and Rapunzel got up to while Sora wandered around a marsh and had a pointless conversation with Marluxia. 

(Also, getting real tired of the “Good to see you Sora” “Who the fuck are you?” “Oh that’s right you don’t remember that game haha it’s fine it was a gameboy game nobody even knows what those are anymore.” That shit was getting old midway through KH2.) 

To be fair, the PoTC world suffers from the same problem as the other two. Sora shows up, sees everyone for thirty seconds, gets separated, and while we’re dicking around trying to find white crabs on the islands there’s a whole movie going on that we don’t see or participate in. I feel really bad for anyone who did not keep up with that franchise because I only watched the third movie the once and I was confused as hell. Also, the whole time I was finding the crabs in Port Royal all I could think about was this ProZD video. 

I just. I’m 26 years old. These movies hold no nostalgia for me, and maybe that’s the problem. I already had a connection to Aladdin, Peter Pan, etc, so I was maybe more willing to suspend my disbelief and just enjoy the interactions. But those Disney worlds also felt more tied in to the plot. You can make the argument of Marluxia and Larxene putting pressure on Sora to find the Wayfinders so that six princesses of heart aren’t used as backup... but where are the other three? Anna, Elsa, Rapunzel, and Kairi make four. Where’s Merida, Tiana, Moana? Mulan or Pocahontas even, since Moana was probably too recent. (But probs not, as it was probably starting development in 2014). If that’s going to be yet another subplot, shouldn’t you at least see it through?  

My point is, I can distinctly recall prior games mostly keeping to the established script in the disney worlds, but still letting Sora really get in there and interact with the characters. The heartless, nobodies, etc were a real wrench in the works for the plots, and had an actual effect on how the story was told and the order of events. Sora felt more involved in cutscenes and was an active participant in the world’s events instead of just a bystander. 

In KH1 and KH2 there was a dialogue happening between the villain of each world and a greater evil. Hell, in KH1 they were a unified council! In KH3 they’re puppets who don’t even talk to the bigger bad like Randall or Mother Gothel, or are there for a whopping thirty seconds like Hans. It makes it more and more obvious that the Disney worlds are just being shoehorned in as a contractual obligation than for any real purpose anymore.

 The only world that’s appeared in all three games, Olympus, was especially jarring. Like, you could tell there was a lot of corners cut on what VAs they could get for this game, as Phil does not speak once. Meg spends more time making eyes at Hercules and nodding than showing any of the sass she has from the film. (This was a thing in KH2 as well tho so I can’t complain about them continuing to drop the ball on even background women characters-- Oh wait, I can, because they’ve had T H I R T E E N YEARS to get it right.) 

Which I guess is as good a segue as any into Kairi Time. 

Listen. Did I mention I’m 26? Yeah. I started reading fanfic on livejournal. I was there when AO3 first got its start. I’ve seen the shipping wars. I know the dark past of Soriku vs Sokai.

I couldn’t give less of a fuck. 

These characters are still 16 and I am now 26. I’m fine with them trading noogies and maybe being able to kick back and play some Mario Kart. Kairi would wipe the floor with both of them because she had time to get good enough to beat Tidus, Wakka, and Selphie combined between KH1 and KH2. 

The point is, I don't care one way or the other about shipping. If my 15 year old self were here, they would be horrified I wasn't over the moon when Kairi and Sora finally shared the paopu fruit. As it is, I kind of stared blankly at my screen and went 'huh, there's gonna be a lot of fanfic fixing this moment.'  From both sides, I think, because even if you're into Sokai you gotta admit that moment did not feel romantic. It felt forced. Like "Oh hey, we've been putting this off, huh. Welp, here we go!" 

It doesn't help that I really, truly, don't like whoever Kairi's VA is in this game. Like, she sounds so ditzy and soft. Get that shit out of here. The dialogue and voice acting in this series has never been its strength, but honestly, I cringed my way through every interaction between Kairi and Axel because of how stilted and bad their conversations were! I’m definitely not saying that Kairi’s voice was stellar in 1 and 2, but at least her voice was clear, and had personality, and by the end of 2 was actually fairly strong. She sounded strong, and determined to be fighting with Sora and Riku, green as she was then, in the World That Never Was.

Whenever she talked in the third one I just sort of grit my teeth and wondered why someone on the production team wanted Kairi to sound so weak. 

Then they killed her at the labyrinth and I said, ‘Ah, that tracks.’ 

I played FFXV, so I guess shame on me for not seeing the signs when the girl love interest is about to be capable and not needing the hero to save her. She gets taken! And killed. Fool me twice, shame on me. 

I actually saw people excited about that Verum Rex thing and after seeing the Noctis ripoff reaching for the Luna ripoff covered in purple light I laughed, and laughed. And then sighed and reached for a stiff drink. 

All this to say that while I’m angry but not truly surprised that Kairi was once again shafted, I’m all the more pissed that they did it in the laziest, most insulting way possible by hinging it all on Sora needing a reason to fight Xehanort. Like, really???? Really. That’s your angle. The man-pain trope is so painfully overdone. Please. It’s 2019. Come into the future with us, Nomura. 

And I feel bad that all of the stuff I just wrote mostly revolves around Kairi being Sora’s romantic interest. But that’s because that’s all this game allowed her to be! Princess of light what? Bequeathed Keyblade wielder in her own right who??? Every battle she and Axel share with Sora they get their asses kicked in 30 seconds flat, so maybe Merlin should have left them suspended in time a little longer. Maybe long enough to convince someone out there in the universe that these two deserved to be competent. 

Hell, not just competent. Amazing. Kairi deserved to be able to stand on her own two feet and hold her own. To be running alongside her boys and not just be an object for them to tussle over or save. As Aqua’s somewhat successor, she deserved to be a terrifying wielder of battle magicks and flurries of light magic. 

To be replaced by Xion was just insult to injury. Like, I’m very happy that Xion got her heart back and was reunited with Roxas and Axel, but she didn’t need to be brought back at Kairi’s expense. The world won’t implode if the replica and actual person inhabit the same space. 

Which is leads us to our third member. 

Riku. To be fair. Riku got the most growth as a person out of the three of these kids, easy. We finally see a Riku who is confident in himself and his journey, and willing to take everything he learned along the way to help Mickey, Aqua, and even his own replica. However.... 

He doesn’t seem to give two shits about Kairi anymore? Did they even talk, like, once during the whole game? I can’t recall a single instance where Sora, Kairi, and Riku were in the same place together where it was just them, and they held an actual conversation. Hell, where they even said “Hi, how’s it going? What have you learned, had any good food lately?” 

God, even when Kairi was taken, and then when she was killed, Riku had one moment of anger, and then was completely, like, chill again, and back to talking Sora down. Like, what? I don’t want any love triangle bullshit, but Riku and Kairi were friends as much as Sora and Kairi and Sora and Riku are friends. 

And that’s what bothered me the most about the disappearance of Kairi introducing this bullshit narrative of Sora abusing his power of waking. He spent two games trying to get him, Riku, and Kairi together. But he doesn’t want Riku to help him get Kairi back? And Riku’s just going to let him go?! After all Riku has done and learned about falling to darkness and clawing yourself back to light and peace, he’s just going to let Sora do the same?

I call bullshit. 

And this is why when Sora suddenly faded out of view on the beach next to Kairi I slowly leaned back in my chair, dropped my controller into my lap, and flipped off my tv screen with both hands.

#vent #kh3 spoilers #kh3 #writing criticism #give these kids the happy ending they deserve #they can be paired in any combo you want #but let them be happy

[calimera62]

Memorable things in the Harry Potter PC games (HP1 to HP3)

Many of us grew up with Harry Potter, not only with the books and the movies, but also the games! We played HP on gameboy, on playstation and also on PC and these games were pretty memorable in many ways. 

With the PC games, we learned wizards shouldn’t have any problem to stay thin and had to be natural born acrobats with all this running, jumping, escalating and walking, always walking. We also learned the teachers’s method of teaching was to throw their students into a dark and deadly maze. We learned that students traded Wizard Cards and other things like drugs, that chocolate frogs increased our stamina. We could bump into students to make them talk and some of us tried to cast a spell on them without success, and we could find beans e.v.e.r.y.w.h.e.r.e!

Today, I would like to share with you some of those memorable things, and you’re free to add others yourself if you want to :)

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s/Philosopher’s Stone

The introduction scene with this music!

Hermione awarding you points when you managed to do the Alohomora spell

THE. FREAKING. GNOMES. WHO NEVER FAILED TO FREAK ME OUT WHEN I WAS YOUNGER

The amazing flying lesson class

Flipendo, aka the most iconic spell ever

The Wingardium Leviosa spell with the small feathers appearing when you were lifting something

That big garden you had to cross through to get to Hagrid’s house or to get to Herbology’s class with orange snails and venomous tentaculas and spiky bushes and blue doxies

The spells symbols you had to recreate to the perfection in order to win House points

Casting a Flipendo spell at knights or cauldrons so you would have beans

Having to collect stars during the spell challenges

The way a magical chest would move when you casted Alohomora at it

Hermione saying “Stop admiring yourself” when the mirror Harry was looking at turned out to contain a secret area

Fred and George asking you 25 beans for an experiment and giving you a Wizard Card as a reward

FRED AND GEORGE’S EXPERIMENT AT THE END OF THE GAME

The gnomes’s music theme (which also turned out to be Fred and George’s theme also)

The movements and the music when you got a Wizard Card

That duel with Malfoy throwing up Wizard Crackers at you

The dragon statues that were almost everywhere in Hogwarts

Magical chests that would sometimes contain… only one bean!

THAT FREAKING TROLL CHALLENGE!

Wanting to cast a spell and sometimes missing it

Wanting to cast a spell at rude students (I know I wanted to!)

The classes getting more and more challenging as you were progressing in the game

The way chocolate frogs croaked

Seeking for Fire Seed plants and waiting forever for the seeds to cool down

Hagrid’s quest for fire seeds, more like the mountains of infinite peril

The lost Slytherin kid during the Lumos challenge

Snape’s trick after he sent Harry to collect a few ingredients, thus putting us in an abyss of eternal darkness

Wondering why wizards can’t just put ingredients on some shelf nearby instead of putting them everywhere in the dungeons

Sneaking up at night and trying to get past Flich aka the most stressful and challenging level!

THE SOUNDS FLICH MADE WHEN YOU CASTED A SPELL AT A FLIPENDO SYMBOL OR TO UNLOCK A DOOR

PEEVES

Sneaking up at night and trying to get past Flich AND Miss Norris who could climb on the shelves

The struggle that was trying to put Fluffy’s THREE heads to sleep so you could go through the trapdoor

Trying not to get killed at the giant chess challenge

Trying so hard to keep your eyes on the right potion during Snape’s challenge

Quirell using Flipendo to make the marble blocks back away

Using the pillars to hit Voldemort with, VOLDEMORT EXPLODING THEM AND YOU SCREAMING AT THE INJUSTICE

Using Flipendo like crazy to defeat Voldemort

Those students who were sometimes jerks (like: “You're a Gryffindor, huh? Make way for a Slytherin!” or “Sorry, I don't speak to first years!”)

The Lumos gargoyles

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

HP2 aka the most amazing Harry Potter PC game ever

The Lumos spell not creating “paths” of light, like in HP1 but revealing secret areas and things

That little music when you discovered a secret passage

Having many Wizard Cards to find in Hogwarts

Being given a stamina increased every time you collected 10 bronze cards

Trying to collect all 40 silver cards to unlock the door to the golden wizard cards challenge

Having more of Hogwarts to explore than in HP1

Basically, Hogwarts being so much bigger and so much amazing

Lockhart being the worst DADA teacher ever but managing to teach you two spells

Fire crabs and giant orange snails being everywhere

Getting to throw gnomes back into their gnome holes and getting their beans

Those funny sounds when you threw a gnome into their holes

The weekly house points ceremony and the bean bonus room

Discovering the most useful (and the only) potion in the game, also the easiest potion since you only have to collect Flobberworm mucous and Wiggentree bark and to stand before a cauldron

Recreating the spells being much easier than in HP1

The Skurge spell to get rid of ectoplasm

Lockhart putting portraits and statues of him in his challenges

When you unlocked a magical chest but instead of beans, you got Peeves

Ectoplasm, cornish pixies, orange snails, fire crabs, gnomes and spiders? No wonder Snape is always so grumpy when you see what you have to go through to get to his storage room xD

That toilet in the girl’s bathroom that spat out gnomes if you managed to cast Flipendo on it and jumping to the top of the stall to get to that toilet!!

50 BEANS FOR MUCOUS?? WHAT THE HELL??

The Diffindo challenge (still not over the fact it was translated into “Cracbadaboum” in French xD)

“How about a trade, Harry?”

“Sorry, I just sold my very last item a few moment ago!”

Using the Diffindo spell to cut through vines and plant growth and spiderwebs

Horklump mushrooms being fun when you had gnomes around because they would stop to eat them and drop their beans, so you could collect them

Diffindo spell to fight venomous tentaculas, more like “OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!”

Bowtruckles looking very different from their FBAWTFT counterparts

“I have to be careful to not wake Goyle”, 2 seconds after: “FFFFLIIIIIIPENDOOOOOO!”

Exploring Dumbledore’s office

“There he is, sleeping like a particular ugly baby”

Sometimes, when looking after Goyle, you had to cast Flipendo at a block in the chimney to make it fall and it didn't work, no matter how many Flipendo you casted :/

When you transformed into Goyle and suddenly there weren’t as many students as usual in Hogwarts

“Why do you look so lost? This is our common room” “You don’t seem like yourself, Goyle” “There’s something different about you Goyle” LOL

On my way to go inside your common room and steal your beans

After that rude kid in HP1 saying “I don't talk to first years!” we have that rude Slytherin kid saying “I don't have time to talk to second years!”

Small spiders trying to climb on you

Never be over Goyle's voice!

Why do Slytherins have to go through an obstacle course…. just to go to their common room, when you just have to say the password to the Fat Lady when you’re a Gryffindor?? Maybe that’s why Slytherins are so grouchy…

On the other side, their common room is so much bigger compared to the Gryffindors’s

Transforming back into Harry in the snake den and having a heart attack about it

Trying to sneak out of the Slytherin common room without been seen by Slytherins/while running away from Slytherins screaming “PROFESSOR SNAAAAAAPE!!”, “I THOUGHT I SAW A GRYFFINDOR IN HERE!, “WHO ARE YOU? YOU’RE NOT A SLYTHERIN!!”

That painting you could jump into during the Spongify challenge because it contained a secret area

Trying to threw imps into their holes as fast as you could because those little shits could wake up when you were still carrying them and bite you

Casting Alohomora at Hedwig/A white owl during the Spongify challenge to unlock a secret passage

Jumping instead of walking down the stairs because walking is for Muggles

After doing the Slytherin common room level, noticing Ron is still in the girl bathroom and urges you to go and find the Slytherin common room!

Exploring Hogwarts and finding all secret areas

Exploring Hogwarts and sometimes finding out McGonagall is teaching when going to the Transfiguration classroom and asking you what the hell you were doing

50 OR 75 BEANS FOR WIGGENTREE BARKS?? ARE YOU SERIOUS??

“I wonder if You Know Who is in control of You Know What?” Haha boy, you have no idea!

Exploring the Forbidden forest and somehow discovering some people left behind Wizard Cards and beans

Having to fight Aragog and his children

Exploring the Chamber of Secrets and discovering the Basilisk wasn’t on his own since it’s also infested by pixies, fire crabs, imps and spiders.

Harry doing an Indiana Jones ripoff, running in the chamber from a big rock

Fighting the Basilisk

Being able to do Wizard duels

Somehow being able to cast Rictusempra at the pigs, near Hagrid’s hut??

The Golden Wizard Cards challenge!

Moving stairs!

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

THE MENU MUSIC THEME! I STILL SHIVER WHILE LISTENING TO IT!

Being able to play Ron and Hermione as well (I used to complain because I wanted to be able to play Hermione more)

Discovering the Hogwarts Express for the very first time in PC games

Same with the Shrieking Shack

Wondering what happened to the Flipendo spell (I missed it, it was such an awesome spell)

At least, they kept the Spongify spell, as well as the Lumos gargoyles

Rictusempra being somehow replaced with Depulso (same symbol, same colour, different name??) and being used like the Flipendo spell

But the Rictusempra still being here but… different colour and symbol??

Ron’s sense of humor

The design/art style for everything changed in this game: Hogwarts, the beans, chocolate frogs, … but it was well done!

Some awesome spells to learn, such as: Carpe Retractum, Lapifors, Dragonifors, Glacius and of course, Expecto Patronum

Those spells you could only cast when you were together with Ron and Hermione

Flying books and the Monster Book of Monsters's Encounters aka the bane of my existence

Wizards Cards somehow not being only about famous wizards but also famous witches, hags, vampires, giants, dwarves, fantastic beasts, … which was awesome!

The Bonus Beans Room aka IT'S RAINING BEANS! HALLELUJAH, IT'S RAINING BEANS!

Hippogriff flying courses, that were awesome

Buying Portrait Passwords to discover secrets areas containing beans, candies, wizard cards but also pixies, imps and flying books

Peeves challenging you more than once (in my opinion, he was more of a nuisance in this game than the previous two)

The challenge stars from HP1 and HP2 being replaced by challenge shields

Spells somehow not being effective anymore against imps and imps now using Wizard Crackers to hurt you

Being able to collect not only beans but also pumpkin pasties and cauldron cakes

Portraits that provided shortcuts to every floor in the castle, which was really nice when you were feeling lazy haha!

The return of the moving stairs!

The return of the rude Slytherin kids (“Buzz off! Can't you see I'm a Slytherin?”)

“Harry! Come over here!”

Fred and George's shop

That big special card in the shop you would get for free if you collected all Wizard Cards

Using the Carpe Retractum spell to pull things toward you or to pull yourself toward something

The mini games: Pixie challenge, Hippogriff flying courses and the Monster Book of Monsters's challenge and winning Wizard Cards once it was achieved

At least 40% of the Glacius challenge being just going down a slide

Secret areas that could be found if you casted Alohomora at flags and tapestries

However, you were not able to do many slides during the Glacius final exam, which was weird

No more gnomes, orange snails, tentaculas and spiky bushes. Instead, we had charmed skeletons, salamanders and bundimun (that weirdly produced pumpkin pastries if you jumped on them) and, of course, dementors

No Quidditch matches you could play, however we had final exams for all spells learnt during the game (except Expecto Patronum but hey! we got to fight too many Dementors for my tastes, so it counts as an exam!)

Somehow, you could also find beans in skulls, pumpkins and flags/tapestries

Malfoy’s expression, that were just priceless in this game

Lupin’s trick during his Dementor exercice, I felt so betrayed...

The game being less into the HP3 plot than the first two games

Trying to find as many cauldron cakes as possible to be able to buy passwords in Fred and George’s shop

This is where I am going to end with the Harry Potter games on PC, as I never played the following ones. To be honest, for me the franchise ended with the POA game. Sorry for those who loved the next games. To me, the games lost their charm after POA, the atmosphere just wasn’t the same and the game added nothing new to the HP universe. They tried too hard to copy the movies, and somehow it ruined the games for me. I have nothing against you if you loved the next games, it’s very good for you if you did! It’s just my personal opinion, I just think I wouldn’t enjoy the following games as much as I did with the first three, and that the gameplay wouldn’t feel great for me.

I grew up with the first three games, so there’s nostalgia of course, but I honestly think those games were unique and brought a lot of insight into the HP universe on their own. They had their own design/art style and added new trivia to the franchise (new spells, the wizard cards, etc), while the following games were more like the movies and brought nothing new (or too little). And, yes of course, the POA PC game copied a little of the movie (like Hogwarts or some of the actors’s face), but there was still some new things to discover.Anyway, I hope you liked this post and thanks for reading! Maybe, one day, I’ll do a similar post with the Harry Potter games on gameboy color (I only played the first two however, as HP3 never came out for gameboy color, only gameboy advance)

#harry potter #harry potter games #harry potter pc game #harry potter pc games #harry potter and the sorcerer's stone #harry potter and the philosopher's stone #harry potter and the chamber of secrets #harry potter and the prisoner of azkaban #harry potter is serious business

[hgfstreamchats]

Dark Skies

thenightetc Hello! Me Hello there! thenightetc If a "Zarla" knocks on the stream door, she's a friend of mine I told about the stream Me Got it. Bunny1532651036604 Hello! Me Hello there! ThebesAce Ah, there we go, didn't have username set thenightetc Spider! 😀

ThebesAce spide~ thenightetc BIG FLUFFY girl Me Poke. thenightetc omg Me A troublemaker. Bunny1532651492398 Yo thenightetc Hi! ThebesAce hallo! Bunny1532651492398 wow. i do not like this lol thenightetc Awwwww ThebesAce well then you came just as it ended. thenightetc So! what are we in for with this one? thenightetc So! what are we in for with this one? Me Something we can all agree is terrifying. Jalaperilo ill only be here for a bit. still not 100% and also, not the biggest horror fan thenightetc Ohhh boy Me It's the quality of our shared horror experience that counts, not the quantity. thenightetc Very true. Me It's a good one if you don't care for horror. Short on gore, high on aliens. Jalaperilo i like old horror. From beyond, braindead. alien horror seems cool Me Never seen either of those! Are they good? thenightetc ...Is he watching porn ThebesAce yep Jalaperilo yes! Braindead is an early Peter Jackson film and From beyond is from the same director that did reanimator (and has a few recourring characters) thenightetc *relieved that the "schoolgirl" appears to be at least 30* Me Oooh! ThebesAce oh man, I remember Braindead! That movie gets so gross Jalaperilo ikr? so fun ThebesAce especially the bits with the priest Jalaperilo but i do think if you've never see them, watch reanimator and from beyond Me I do like Reanimator. thenightetc I've never seen it 😮 Jalaperilo people injecting bright green liquid and sending them crazy? lots of practice with that huh? Me Naturally! ThebesAce oh, Knockout, I have a wiki page for purposes of future so-bad-it's-hilarious movie nights Me Do tell! ThebesAce https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Syfy_original_films a complete list of Syfy Original movies thenightetc Well, that can't be good ThebesAce well, not 100% complete, but enough for entertainment Me Beautiful! thenightetc Well, that's productive Me That'll help something. thenightetc ...What. ThebesAce This is a thing that is happening thenightetc I'm unsettled Jalaperilo wasnt this a thing in ppoltergeist? the chairs being put on the table thenightetc At this point it's definitely beyond what a raccoon or something could accomplish Me At any rate, time to switch planets. Jalaperilo I WISH I COULD GO LIVE ON ANOTHER PLANET sorry, didnt means caps Me It was a sentiment worth yelling. Jalaperilo she drank can we just watch the sharks? thenightetc his terrible edifice of lies ThebesAce "I didn't lie. If I lied, I'd be the asshole here. So I didn't lie." SOUNDS LEGIT thenightetc Ha! Jalaperilo "i didnt lie" i said,you know, like a lier Me Hah! thenightetc Right? Jalaperilo this is more terrifying than anything else, an alarm going off in the middle of the night. happens to me too many times thenightetc Ohhhh dear Now go check the kitchen. ...Okay! That's fucked up Jalaperilo 'cause its the one thing you cant replace' lots of john mulaney shit happening lol ThebesAce HA Me Plot twist: John Mulaney was behind all of this. Jalaperilo ha! Jalaperilo i hate kids in horror. even if theyre not at fault, theyre al so creepy thenightetc So he's wrecking his kid's room because of a dream. Jalaperilo i hate this man thenightetc Yeah. ThebesAce I detect an arrogant asshat who makes everything about himself Jalaperilo lets see how he handles this thenightetc uh Me That's how I react whenever something leaks on my anatomy. Jalaperilo even breakdown? Me Especially Breakdown. thenightetc Poor bird. hey what the fuck! Maybe just LET the bank foreclose Jalaperilo i dont understand whats going on. like what is the bad things power? Me Childish pranks and an impassioned hatred of birds. ThebesAce birds are pretty easy to hate Jalaperilo maybe theyve seen birdemic Me Maybe let the bank take the boy, too. thenightetc What did he say? I couldn't quite hear The kid, I mean Jalaperilo he said im a creepy ass boy Me "Then I wasn't me anymore." thenightetc ...Ohhh Jalaperilo big mood thenightetc I keep expecting jumpscares Jalaperilo does no one turn the lights on? thenightetc ...HE didn't trigger the alarm when he went out ThebesAce We are officially in 'get him to an institution' territory. thenightetc So he definitely has some kind of implant or something, huh Or something laid eggs in his skin Jalaperilo or a slight allergy o his new shampoo thenightetc *facepalm* Me No, don't reward him for that! Jalaperilo fucking cliche as shit 'if a boy is mean he just likes you' fuck off and get in the sea ThebesAce right? thenightetc dude not the time Me "Let's do it while the aliens are watching." Jalaperilo sorry thebes, i keep reading your name as The besace as if it rhymes with vesace lol ThebesAce pfff well go ahead if it amuses you~ Jalaperilo that is my internal nick name for you now, thenightetc Of course they can fuck up cameras. Me In the most artistically haunting way possible, of course. thenightetc ...Kinda looks like they were going to each room in turn, too oh no Me I like how they just let her do that. Jalaperilo someone didnt wash her makeup off thenightetc Jesus Jalaperilo oh shit, it was real Me "Search" thenightetc Heh. "chosen" ThebesAce The graaays We got the Vok, but you got the grays. Jalaperilo how come most of the aliens out there are wither chill or war like, but the grays are the only creepy ass ones? ThebesAce oh, that's easy. They're trying decide between the two. thenightetc "thank god because I just lost mine" ThebesAce nothin' creepier than an unknown thenightetc oh jeez hope neither of them gets possessed during-- Me Or alternatively, both of them get possessed during and it qualifies as an orgy. thenightetc lights, get the lights ThebesAce I've read more than one story that works on that logic. Just now you'd throw in the grays thenightetc goddamn uh FUCK Me That's the only part of this movie that gets me. Jalaperilo turn on the goddamn lights!!! ThebesAce oh my god that's not how that works Jalaperilo well, im gonna go try to sleep, but its still 22 degrees C here with 76% humidity so i dunno how well ill sleep thenightetc yikes... good luck ThebesAce good luck with that friend! Me Good luck! Have a gray-free sleep! Jalaperilo i will tell you, today it rained for the first time in 55 days here asnd even then it was only 5 minutes so yeah. bad times in SE England if the grays have AC, ill let them take me ThebesAce yargh--I lived in London for a while, sounds like a nightmare thenightetc *shudder* Jalaperilo night! ThebesAce night! thenightetc "hey jackass, you got out of bed , walked out into the yard, and started leaking blood without knowing anything about it" Uh Jesus ThebesAce the straights are at it again thenightetc I THINK the orange tip means it's a fake gun But I'm not ENTIRELY sure Me There's a mood. thenightetc ...jesus really, why WOULDN'T he think they did it ...did she just start crying blood? thenightetc oh god oh no FUCK ThebesAce WELL THEN PHOTOGRAPHIC EVIDENCE Me And only three. No more, no less. thenightetc Three shall be the number of aliens,a nd the number of the aliens shall be three ThebesAce This is so weird watching this outdated science considering we just elected our first lizardman president. Me Hah! thenightetc Taking ol' Lincoln out of his chair Me Taking him on a joyride around the galaxy, snapping pictures on alien planets. Me Not very well, clearly. thenightetc he says that like he's *shudder8 thenightetc ...So... does he have any tips on "fighting", or...? ThebesAce BET THE GRAYS GOT TO HIS FRIENDS thenightetc Well, if they're lucky, they might "move on" to their friends.... "give him my eyes" Me Give him a few organs you don't need. thenightetc ...they've kind of... already shown they can get anywhere in the house Me "Don't split up." "Let's do exactly that!" thenightetc FUCK NOPE ThebesAce DON'T SPLIT THE PARTY thenightetc oh god oh god ThebesAce welllllll hell thenightetc ah. So Sammy wasn' tthe first one they contacted. Me Surprise! thenightetc and it just leaves it there!!! Me That it does! ThebesAce well then. That... went wrong for everyone involved to say the least Me Literally nothing went right. thenightetc don't like that, no sir yeah I noticed the Apple product placement there not the long list of others though Me Well, there we are! thenightetc Could we... watch something a little lighter to top it off? Little mood whiplash? Me Absolutely! Any requests? thenightetc Nothing I can think of thenightetc Ahhhh, 900 numbers targetting kids! Me This is what you get when you leave my to my own devices. thenightetc Of course, now we have pay-to-win phone games thenightetc I wonder what happened if you called the number ThebesAce Could be worse. Could be the Wow Wow Wibble Woggle Wazzie Woodle Woo Me You become the next Freddy Freaker. thenightetc Scary! "Vines that butter my croissant" *squints* Ooooo! Ooooo! ThebesAce this reminds me, I gotta snag me the new Jurassic Park game. It lets you let giant carnivores loose wherever the hell you want thenightetc Oh gosh I saw the most amazing Planet Coaster LP, but it's way too long (Over an hour, at least) Me Link? Maybe we'll watch it one of these nights! thenightetc Let me see if I can find it again... I'm sure I can, just gimme a minute thenightetc ...I come back and everything's on fire! thenightetc Alright, so, it's more like eight hours total, but anyway here's part 1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QstYje84DaM for your amusement thenightetc So it's uh more of a slow burn Oh wow Me I'm intrigued! thenightetc PFFFF thenightetc I looked it up and that kind of thing isn't really enforceable ThebesAce I recognized that cartoon thing. That was the Land Before Time ripoff they show when they can't get the rights for Land Before Time thenightetc HA Me It's delightfully horrifying. Me I think that's a good place to close for tonight! ThebesAce agreed, thanks for having us! thenightetc Yes And thank you! Wait Could you... hover over that third one The "top 100" thing Aha Thanks, I just wanted to see what that was Me Not a problem! Thank you all for coming, as always! thenightetc I didn't know GTA had a bulldozer thing to shove people off a board Me I didn't either until exactly this second. ThebesAce no, no, that's just to emphasize the fail it's GTA V compilation they do not have those graphics thenightetc I mean, ThebesAce whoop, got you might have been joking, my brain skipped there thenightetc I kind of want to know where they got that art though Anyway! Goodnight, and thanks again. ThebesAce good night! Thanks! Me Good night!

[insomniac-arrest]

Advice

show: adventure time (miniseries: islands)

pairing: Frieda x Susan, bubbline

summary: Susan and Freida end up back in Ooo and Susan is a little worried about their relationship, she asks Princess Bubblegum (& Marceline) for advice.

Ao3

A/N: hey, this is based off the AT miniseries (you can watch it here) and has spoilers. I highly recommend ‘Islands’ if you haven’t seen it already! It’s some of the shows best work I think.

Susan didn’t plan to go back to Ooo, in fact, one part of her had decided to never go back again.

Enough had happened there, and enough that she didn’t want to relive.

Nonetheless, a violent storm hit their ship like a punch to the gut, a gust as strong as a swing push from God sent them whirling off course.

It had been a year or so, but Susan recognized the bit of land almost right away. Freida looked at their GPS and rose her eyebrows, the slow smile- the one like a butterfly unfurling its damp wings for the first time, comes across her face, “Isn’t that Ooo?”

Susan furrows her brow, “I...Think so.” Frieda made a thoughtful noise and touched the back of Susan’s chair, “Isn’t that where you spent like, years? With that kid you came to the islands with.” Susan tried not to frown too deeply, it was also where her brain had been fried and she had spent some time going berzerk. Not great.

On the other hand, Freida looked interested, “There really no humans there, all just other talking stuff.” The other woman pondered, “Hey! And I could meet your old friends.” It was almost teasing, she had already realized Susan would need some convincing- and the redhead knew she would probably win.

Susan sighs, “We can visit the people I used to live with I suppose. Or um,” Susan rubs her upper lip, “Some kingdoms of Ooo if you want.” “Ooh,” Freida says not unironically, Susan rolls her eyes but turns back to her.

“They have a library princess and a hotdog princess.” Susan gives her own smile, “We could punch some monsters on the way even.” Freida gives her a frank look, “You can do the punching.” She kisses her on the cheek and Susan could have blushed her way into oblivion. “I just wanna see what’s out there.”

Susan was still getting to used to this.

-----------------

Susan showed her around Ooo after they landed their ship and fixed the haul with duct tape and some spit after it was still a little battered.

Freida said they’d need a new engine transistor soon, but that shouldn’t be too hard, Susan smiles and she really couldn’t stop herself from staring. Her little dog hat flopping up and down and hands fiddling with the wires in the depths of their craft.

There was grease across her nose.

Susan stops her, because she really had to, honestly, and she told her she would just start showing her around, there was a lot to see.

Susan takes her to a talking stream, the witch’s donut garden (it turns out you can steal them if you’re real careful) and ends up punching some rough-boy robbers in a desert on a picnic. Not a bad time.

Freida is just as excited as she had always been, starting a little collection of singing mushrooms, cool rocks and a toy that told you your future every time you squeezed it hard enough.

Freida was laughing and choking the poor thing as it’s little face bulged out, it’s flat voice speaks: “You will not get dysentery in the next 2 to 4 days... Congratulations.” Susan thinks it may be a little annoyed with them.

Susan stokes the fire and Freida rips open a food packet with her teeth and squeezes the doll again, “You will make a new friend. They will sell you a new shirt, but it won’t be new. They slept in it, there is a mustard stain on the back. It’s a ripoff.” Freida raises an eyebrow and Susan laughs a little, “Okay.” Freida says slowly as she licks up some goop from her hand.

Susan shakes her head, “Come on, put ‘er down, try my green tea.” She smiles and Freida shrugs,

“One more, one more.” She squeezes the doll again, Susan could almost hear it sigh, it takes a long time to respond.

“You will find love.” Both of their eyes go huge, faces slack and Susan coughs after a moment, Freida quickly puts the doll down.

She settles down to eat with her, “Okay, we’ve checked out most the places out here, even that treasure cave that just makes you cry. What’s in that direction?” She asks curiously as she points to the north.

Susan hums and pours her tea into little cups they found, “The Ice Kingdom, it’s always winter and it’s ruled by the Ice King.” Freida sits up a little straighter, “Ice huh... Can we go there?” Susan frowns and shakes her head, making herself a little angry thinking about it. “He’s always trying to steal pretty girls, we shouldn’t go.” Considering the very idea made her want to punch him. “He’s a dillweed. I don’t want you locked in his lame cages.”

Freida blinked at her, mouth a little open, “Pretty girls?”

Susan spills some tea out over her lap from the little pot they were using, she ignores the burn on her leg. “And uh, that ways the Candy Kingdom! And Finn’s house.” She says quickly and points west.

Freida looked outward, “A candy kingdom?” Her face lit up into an excited smile, the butterfly wings one, Susan shivers. “Awesome. Can you eat it?”

Freida always did like things like toys (making them), kids game and candy.

Susan drinks her tea nervously, “No, the people are candy, can’t really eat them. Or you shouldn’t.” She says thoughtfully.

“Even better,” She was bouncing up and down, “Candy people, that’s like, ten types of impossible algebra.”

Susan’s mouth pulls sideways, a lingering sense of guilt piles up in her gut. “It’s...not a great place. We should do another dungeon run with Finn.” Images of herself ravaging the land and threatening the confectionary people flash behind Susan’s eyes. “I don’t think you’d like it.” Freida’s face visibly falls, “I dunno. I’m, I mean, interested.” Freida offered an imploring smile. “We could make a day trip of it, a little one.” Susan shifts uncomfortably, her nose wrinkling. “No.”

A little annoyed dent forms above Frida's eyes, “Why?” Susan didn’t want to answer that just quite yet, she just grunts and looks away. “It’s bungus Freida, just trust me.” Freida tensed, “I could just take a peak. See for myself- candy people Susan!” She said once more excitedly.

Susan’s blood pressure rose, “No!” Going back meant memories of Dr. Gross, of losing it with her brain going pissy.

“Come on Su,” She almost pleads, confusion stirring in her brown eyes. “Drop it.” She hisses, “I told you, you won’t...like it.” At least, she might not like what she hears about Susan.

“Maybe I should find that out for myself.” She responds coldly and then sniffs, “We don’t have to do everything together anyway, I can go by myself.” Freida got up without finishing her tea and grumbled loudly all the way back to her sleeping bag.

They didn’t sleep next to each other that night.

-------------

Susan ends up walking beside her through the fields the next day anyway.

“You don’t have to come with me.” Freida grouched moodily as they walked.

Susan looked away, “I want to... I said I’d show you the world.” She tried to be conciliatory, but Frieda makes a dismissive little noise and they walk in silence.

Susan bows her head, their first fight and it was her fault.

They arrive awkwardly at the Candy Kingdom, Freida is instantly delighted (‘candy! Made of people, or the other way around’), she always did want to see stuff, all sorts of stuff.

Princess Bubblegum was unfortunately around and showed them all over the little candy city. She was a regular hostess with whatever royalty had that made them gracious.

But it was still like nothing had happened, or maybe PB had already forgotten, her Kingdom got wrecked a lot she figured. That fact doesn’t stop her bad mood

Susan followed them around glumly and Freida was got lost in the little houses and tasting whatever it was the butler brought them.

Susan sighs and watches her closely, despite everything her heart still swelled when she saw her dancing around some weird new thing or hands gingerly going over unfamiliar texture. Susan was in over her head.

Freida eventually goes on some sort of banana guard tour and Susan has some room to think. And sometime alone with Bubblegum, who was in the corner of one of the common rooms with a notebook out. She was scribbling in it and Susan wonders if she forgot she was there.

Susan watches her closely, Bubblegum was an overworking monarch with questionable morals. But she was also a princess. A really smart one, she had to know something, didn’t she?

Susan crossed her arms and pursed her lips, thirty minutes pass, Bubblegum is engrossed with whatever it is, eventually taking out some beakers and ‘hmm’ing to herself.

Susan formulates her question, “What do you think about relationships?” It could have been phrased better. Bubblegum almost drops her glass beaker.

Her eyes go wide, “What?” “You know,” Susan turns her face up, “You’re pretty old,” Bubblegum scowls, “You’ve had relationships.” Bubblegum's mouth falls open, it almost worth it to see her lose some composure. Susan leans toward her when the silence becomes too long. “Please.” Bubblegum mumbles to herself, “I mean, infatuation and love are chemically occurrences in the brain, on top of stress from daily life and diet it could mean, um, I mean relationships, hmm.” Susan gives her a pointed look and Bubblegum cringes.

“Okay. Yeah. One sec.” Bubblegum says in resignation and rings a little bell, “Peps.” A little man arrives at the door, “Get someone who, uh, understands relationships.”

The Peppermint Butler doesn’t seem phased by the request and disappears quickly, Susan and Bubblegum stare at each other.

“Soooo,” Bubblegum scratches her chin, “What’s up? You and uh, that girl.” “Freida,” Susan says with a bored tone.

“Yeah, yes,” Bubblegum nodded, “Nice, so you and her…?” Susan sighs deeply, luckily a figure arrives at the door. “Peps,” Bubblegum raises her eyebrows, “That was quick, don’t tell me it’s a banana guard or Finn... I love the guy but he doesn’t have a great track record.” Peppermint shakes his head and steps aside, “She was just hanging around outside.” Marceline The Vampire Queen, if Susan remembers right, floats into the room with her hands behind her head, Bubblegum gives her a stern, questioning look.

“What? It’s almost night, visiting isn’t a crime.” Marceline says back. Bubblegum hit her forward with her palm, “Of course. Of course, this would happen.” “Okay...” Marceline glances around the room curiously, “Oh Susan, you’re back, cool.” Marceline goes to fist-bump her and Susan returns it. “How’s it going?”

Susan shrugs, “You know. Traveling.”

“Nice,” Marceline nods approvingly, “What’re you doing up in Candy Kingdom biz? Peps said guys needed help.” Bubblegum shakes her head and interrupts. “Nothing. You can’t help.” Susan looks between them, since she had a brain, two eyes, and listened to at least a little talk she put it all together, “You two were a thing.” She says flatly, “What do you recommend for relationships?” She might as well try. Marceline’s eyes go wide and Bubblegum looked at the vampire flatly, “I told you.”

Marceline clears her throat and then clears it again, “Uh, any reason for this?” Her gray cheeks were a little red.

Susan blink but Bubblegum gets to it first, “She came in with a girl.”

“Ooooh,” Marceline’s face morphed into something sly, “That’s how it is.” Susan huffed and looked away, Marceline leaned forward, “She cute?”

Susan flushed even harder, “Yes...And if you can’t help then, okay.” She went to get up.

Marceline glances at Bubblegum, “No, no it’s cool dude,” Marceline floats over to seat and Bubblegum awkwardly joins her on the pink couch in the room.

The air is thick with stiffness, Susan is now invested in seeing what they come up with.

Bubblegum blinks, tightening her ponytail and sitting straight-backed, “Communication.” She says clearly, “You have to talk about how you feel and-”

Marceline elbows her roughly, “She doesn’t want that textbook talk Bonnie, she wants the real talk.”

Bubblegum crosses her arms and scowls at the vampire, rubbing her side, “What’s your ‘real’ talk?”

Marceline bounces her eyebrows up and down and Susan pays attention, Marceline briefly licks her lips, “Don’t let it get boring.” “Oh my glob,” Bubblegum looked decidedly up at the ceiling and curses.

“What? I’m not bashing you, it was never boring B.”

Bubblegum looked back at her lap, “It’s not all rollercoasters and pillow talk though. You can’t just...always be together. Responsi-”

“Pfft,” Marceline interrupted, “Not that again. Look, Susan, do what you want, if you can’t make it work then you can’t make it work.” Susan frowns and looks between them, “That’s not true.” She says resolutely, slowly, “You have to work at it.” She couldn’t believe she was teaching them this, they slouched down on the couch, “I mean, I want to make it work.” She suddenly wanted to see Freida right then and there. Marceline looked slightly uncomfortable, “That’s, that’s fair.” Bubblegum looked at her lap, “Yeah.” She breathed gently, Marceline sat stark-upright.

“Physicality!” She burst out, “See that’s the deal, you’ve got to seal the deal.” Susan figured she wanted to change the subject.

Susan bites her lip, “Okay.” She takes note, “I guess we haven’t done that yet.”

Marceline nods earnestly, her head bobbing her head up and down in a hurry. “Romance them and junk, then bend her back real deep and do the kiss-dip.” Marceline narrowed her eyes, “With tongue.” Bubblegum's mouth fell open, “Marceline that’s obscene.” Marceline pouted, “Blah, blah, sure Bonnie... It’s not like that worked on you anyway.” Bubblegum wrinkled her nose, “I didn’t say like that…” She seemed off put by herself, she turns back to Susan after an awkward pause. “Whatever. Just say you're sorry if something went wrong and maybe, maybe,” She blushed a deep red, Marceline seemed to pay attention. “And maybe the kiss thing.” “Uh-huh,” Susan was ready to leave, she was feeling a lot better about her relationship after seeing these two. She was a little embarrassed for them.

Marceline kicked Bubblegum gently, “Should we show her? She looks new to the whole thing.” Susan makes a face. “No!” Bubblegum threw her hands in the air, “Of course not, we can’t show her.”

Marceline gave a half-smile, “Just ‘cause you’re a goody-goody doesn’t mean Susan should suffer for it.” Susan felt very invisible at that moment. Bubblegum was rising to the bait, “I’m not.” Marceline wiggled her eyebrows, “Is that a no?” Bubblegum mechanically took Marceline’s face in her hands, she suddenly made hard eye contact with Susan. “Watch the angle of my head and how I avoid bumping noses.” Bubblegum took Marceline’s face, who looked genuinely elated, Bubblegum pushed their mouths together. It looked awkward, PB appearing a little too focused and force, nonetheless, Marceline flipped their positions and kissed her down into the couch- a little more natural. 

Susan literally got back up as soon as possible and snuck out of the room as they made out like emotionally-stunted teenagers on the couch.

So that was unhelpful.

---------------

Susan found Freida playing king of the mountain with the banana guards on a low hill, the guards were falling over themselves and Freida was cackling on the very top.

“Hey,” Susan waved immediately, Freida pushed her red bangs back into her hat and grimaced at her, Susan flinches. “I’m sorry.” She says immediately.

Freida tilts her head to the side, “Don’t have to-”

“I want to do everything with you,” Susan tried to climb the hill after her, pushing the banana guards away easily as they tried to bombard her, “But I had some bad memories here. I didn’t want to tell you...my brain went all wonky from the implant.” She sighs, “I hurt some people.” Frieda’s face goes soft, maybe the very first thing Bubblegum said was not so off.

Her lips turn up butterfly smile, that one. “Sue. Ohmystuff, why didn’t you say so?” She touches Susan’s face, Susan leans into it. “I wouldn’t be mad. You’re like you’re my favorite person here.” She beams. Susan looks down at her delicately, she was so small. “Favorite person where?” “Everywhere!”

Susan laughs and spins her around, Freida yelps but lets herself be swept up with a low “Noooo.”

They laugh until Frieda struggles down, standing on top of Susan’s feet as her hair fell loosely around her face and the light played over her eyelashes like fairy dust. Susan’s entire chest flutters, she can’t help it, she dips her, leaning her back on the little hill and pressing closer. “I’m King of the mound.” She whispers.

“What?” Freida seems dazed.

“You’re feet are off.” Freida’s mouth fell open and she threw her hands up, “No fair.” Susan shrugs and dips down, “Losers have to kiss.”

Freida gets a twinkle in her eye, “Good thing that’s both of us.” she wraps her arms around Susan’s neck and pulls, she hauls her down for a messy kiss, deep and thorough with the gentlest bite.

Susan grins into it and her heart bangs like a drum in her chest, dang.

Freida eventually pushes her off the hill and Susan cries out in surprise, the other girl pushes her down to kiss again. It’s like a dream, a heady one.

“Bon!” She eventually hears the voice Marceline call from the castle window, “They totally went for it.” Susan rolls her eyes, but gives her a quick thumbs up, “Woooo!” Marceline cheers, her shoulders bare and face lit up.

“Marcy, get back in here.” Susan watches the vampire get yanked away from the window, Susan shakes her head and lets the confused piece of gum and vampire figure it out. She looks back to the girl in her arms.

“Let’s get out of here.”

They stand up and Freida takes her hand, “I suppose, alright, I hear we have places to go.” She winks, “I’d like to see it all.” Susan nuzzles her neck, “I’d like to take you there.” Freida huffs as they walk, “Don’t be cheesy.” Susan picks her up bridles and carries her, “I’m not hearing a no.” She carries her back to their ship and Susan at least feels a little more done, a little more ready to leave. Frieda sits on her lap when Ooo becomes a speck in the distance and they keep flying.

She finds a mechanical note from Bubblegum in the ship, it justs says ‘good luck.′

#adventure time #adventure time islands #bubbline #susan x frieda #susan strong #islands #frusan #AT spoilers

[f4liveblogarchives]

Fantastic Four Vol. 1 #97

Sun March 18 2018 [15:32:14] <Wackd> BEEEEAAAACH EEEEEPIIIIISOOOOODE!!!

[15:33:09] <Wackd> oh it's not a beach episode [15:33:12] <Wackd> just a cool cover :( [15:33:29] <maxwellelvis> And an odious tradition begins... [15:33:30] <Inbarfink> Boooooooo! [15:33:47] <Wackd> They WERE vacationing by a beach [15:34:25] <Wackd> But the story starts in media res, after their vacation has been interrupted by the Navy asking them to investigate sinkings in Lost Lagoon [15:34:35] <maxwellelvis> I take it Ms Harkness would not be joining them in that vacation [15:34:50] <Wackd> It's vampires that burn in sunlight, not witches! [15:35:02] <maxwellelvis> I know [15:35:07] <Wackd> Also so hey, uh. [15:35:23] <Wackd> Maybe if you didn't want ships to disappear here ya shouldn't have called it Lost Lagoon. [15:36:16] <maxwellelvis> Yeah [15:36:34] <Wackd> So, Reed, Johnny, and Ben (no Sue I guess) are attacked in their vessel by a killer whale. They suspect it might be Namor for a hot second, but then realize he'd probably just show up and start punching them, which checks out. [15:37:04] <Wackd> Ben thinks the whale mighta caused the sinkings, but it turns out that many of the survivors have reported sightings of "a monster in human form". [15:38:11] <Wackd> Also, apparently Tony Stark designed this submarine. Which is weird, right? With the exception of that one thing they got from T'Challa, I kinda figured the implication was that Reed built all their weird vehicles. [15:38:36] <Wackd> I can't imagine Tony sitting down and going "hm, you know, robot suits are cool, but I could *really* do with a submarine." [15:38:44] <Duraz> are they trying to keep people in their specialties? [15:38:53] <Duraz> I mean, they're usually bad at that [15:39:01] <Inbarfink> Does Reed have a specialty? [15:39:16] <Inbarfink> I thought he was a scientist, that studies science [15:39:27] <Duraz> my take would have been, like, particle physics [15:39:34] <Wackd> Transport kinda IS Reed's specialty! Like, he investigates deep space and microverses and negative zones, and then build things that take his team there. [15:40:13] <Wackd> Insofar as he's been confined to a field--and I'm not saying he's never dipped into other fields, especially when un-Thinging Ben is concerned--exploration has been it. [15:40:26] <Duraz> true enough [15:40:38] <maxwellelvis> I think, iirc, the last few times they went underwater, transport was provided for them, and I guess Reed never thought to build a submarine. [15:41:33] <Wackd> Man, I know we've already got Namor and all that stuff, but I would dig an arc where the Four had a deep-sea exploration and found, like, really bizarre shit down there. [15:42:04] <Wackd> I think people underestimate how much of the ocean floor we've actually covered, and just because Atlantis exists in Marvel doesn't mean that Atlantis is on the same level as giant squids or whatever. [15:42:35] <Duraz> reminds me of a time when I was playing Ultimate Alliance with a friend who doesn't read comics [15:42:49] <Duraz> "Looks like we're going to Atlantis," I said.  "Okay.  Awesome!" he replied. [15:43:14] <maxwellelvis> "Oh fuck," I think. As I recall that being the worst level in that game. [15:43:44] <Wackd> 1. Johnny, it's okay to be emotional. 2. oh my god that righthand panel is fantastic on so many levels

[15:44:46] <maxwellelvis> Strong men also cry, Johnny. Strong men also cry. [15:46:38] <Wackd> Admittedly, I don't have an encyclopedic knowledge of the first 100 issues, especially since I read many of them back in 2016. But this take on Johnny as a lady magnet feels new to me. If nothing else, it's leaning into him as the "youth culture" member of the team more than we've done in a damn long while.

[15:47:19] <maxwellelvis> It's been part of his character in Spider-Man, at least. [15:47:30] <maxwellelvis> As part of the contrasting between Johnny and Peter. [15:47:46] <Wackd> Makes sense. Has he been a regular over there? [15:48:15] <Wackd> (I mean, Spider-Man as a book also has a lot more time for civilians than Fantastic Four tends to, Alicia excepted.) [15:50:26] <maxwellelvis> Wackd: He pops up every now and then [15:50:57] <maxwellelvis> In the early years, mostly to be everything Peter wishes he could be: [15:51:13] <maxwellelvis> Cool, confident, popular, a hit with the ladies, beloved by the public, etc [15:51:37] <Wackd> I like that Reed just sort of assumes that his being around isn't a prerequisite for Sue to enjoy herself, as though on some subconscious level he knows how shitty he is.

[15:53:34] <Wackd> SO! Turns out the monster has some sort of chemical that can change him into a human being (or vice versa?) He's currently "undercover" as a dolphin trainer at an aquarium. [15:54:38] <Wackd> I like that Reed immediately cracking the plot is depicted here not as him being incredibly smart, but as him being a workaholic who's reaction to a fun trip to the aquarium is "what if the dolphin trainer is a villain?"

[15:55:11] <Wackd> (Also, uh, can you sit on dolphins like that without hurting them? That seems wrong.) [15:55:47] <Duraz> I guess they ought to be able to take a lot of pressure [15:56:35] <Wackd> PROBABLY not this much pressure, though, right?

[15:57:09] <Wackd> I feel like you PROBABLY can't toss a pilot whale INTO A WALL without something going horribly wrong somewhere. [15:58:47] <Wackd> The whale lives! (But Ben won't enjoy it.)

[15:59:57] <Wackd> So! It turns out our baddie can't speak in human form. (Possibly also in monster form?) I didn't notice, because villains having an ongoing internal monologue is par for the course at this point, but huh, yeah. This guy hasn't said a word so far. [16:01:16] <Wackd> (In an earlier panel, Ben jokes about him being "a real chatterbox." Because the baddie hadn't had a chance to say anything yet, I assumed Ben was making a joke about Reed not being able to shut up, but nah, he's making jokes about a guy he just met not talking, cool) [16:02:07] <Wackd> Indeed, as our baddie volunteers to lead Reed, Ben, and Johnny on a deep-sea expedition, it is CONSISTENTLY pointed out that he can't talk, with Reed finding it odd. [16:02:16] <Wackd> Does...does Stan not know mute people exist? [16:02:49] <Wackd> Like sure, it's not like this guy is using sign language or writing things down--he doesn't even seem to use body language, which makes me wonder how it was determined he wanted to tag along. [16:03:48] <Wackd> Anyway. Ben determines the baddie has led them into a bog, and that it'd be difficult for them to maneuver out, like he's trying to get us stuck down here with no way out!" [16:04:19] <Wackd> So this story is basically about our heroes assuming some rando is a villain because he doesn't speak and is too good at doing dolphin shows for tourists, and being validated in that belief. Cool. [16:05:59] <Wackd> The baddie busts up their submarine, and only Ben can hold his breath long enough to save Reed and Johnny. All the while thinking about how his life is worthless compared to theirs. [16:06:12] <Wackd> Ben: capable of hating himself while saving people from drowning. [16:07:56] <Duraz> hmm, whales were able to ram wooden ships, but still... [16:08:21] <Wackd> So, Ben fights the monster, then Johnny and Reed wake up, and then all three fight the monster. Fight fight fight. The monster makes a retreat. [16:08:33] <Wackd> Monster design, by the way? Real boring. Basically just a Creature from the Black Lagoon ripoff. [16:09:05] <Inbarfink> So when will Johnny start banging the monster? [16:09:13] <Wackd> pffffffffffft [16:09:49] <Wackd> So Ben's solution to having lost track of the monster is to just. Punch the walls of the cave they're in so all the walls collapse and the monster will have nowhere to hide. [16:10:02] <Wackd> Which I'm sure is a thing you can do while maintaining structural integrity. [16:10:28] <Duraz> he's gonna get buried if he keeps doing that [16:12:20] <Wackd> I mean, I suppose it's possible Ben knows enough about this sort of thing to make it work. https://usercontent.irccloud-cdn.com/file/2ED37f5X/IMG_1564.PNG [16:13:44] <Wackd> ...well, now I feel like kind of a jerk. [16:14:20] <Wackd> Turns out the baddie wasn't a baddie at all. He's a stranded alien who was only trying to collect water for him to breath once he repaired his spaceship and could make a return trip. [16:14:43] <Wackd> He was attacking the boats because he thought he'd be attacked if discovered. [16:15:24] <Wackd> So the entire POINT of this issue is that you shouldn't jump to conclusions about people just because they're strange. [16:15:53] <Wackd> Maybe, if they wanted that to work, they shouldn't have had Reed been right every time he suspects anyone ever in all previous issues? [16:15:57] <Wackd> Just a thought. [16:16:48] <Wackd> anyway fish boobs

[16:17:12] <Wackd> (maybe they're just friends, reed, you don't know) [16:17:34] <Wackd> OH HEY ALSO! The monster STILL can't speak! Reed is still just jumping to random conclusions! [16:17:49] <Wackd> So I guess the actual moral is that Reed is always right even when he's wrong. [16:18:04] <Inbarfink> Goddamit Reed and his Heteronomativity [16:18:19] <Wackd> those last three words are superfluous [16:19:09] <Wackd> HEY BEN MAYBE YOU SHOULD'VE BEEN A BIT MORE UNDERSTANDING IN THIS SITUATION

[16:19:31] <Wackd> didn't i just do a thing a few issues ago about how it's weird that ben is the quickest to judge considering his own issues [16:19:35] <Wackd> is that just a trait he has now [16:22:56] <Wackd> yeah, here--where he has no sympathy for mole man https://f4liveblogarchives.tumblr.com/post/171974975823/fantastic-four-vol-1-90 [16:23:44] <Duraz> not very introspective, for all the time he spends in his own head [16:23:59] <Wackd> Anyway the alien takes off, Reed works out the alien and the murder dolphin guy were the same dude, the issue ends [16:24:11] <Wackd> That sure was a thing

#1970 #Stan Lee #Jack Kirby #The Main Book

[bundeslihaha]

To React in a Flash: A Drabble Collection

A few (cracky) impressions of the year 2015, from both men and women's leagues... enjoy!

x

(Featuring: VfB Stuttgart, Karlsruher SC, VfB II, Frauen-Effzeh, Frauen-KSC, RB Leipzig, Dynamo Dresden, and FC Ingolstadt 04!)

A New Force Awakens

RB Leipzig emerged out of the theater with tears in his eyes, ignoring Ingolstadt’s whines. He couldn’t care less that the older club had to take many small steps to keep up with just one of his ground-eating strides, he just needed to come to terms with the fact that neither Mara Jade, Ben Skywalker, the Solos, Xizor, Thrawn, nor secret agent Wrenga Jixton was canon now. Fuck, why did Jar Jar Abrams had to do this? Yeah, it was far better than tacky Phantom Menace, maybe some fans saw it as an apology and all, but it was far from perfect. Heck, it was a fucking ripoff of the original Star Wars, even if Bandwagon Inge didn’t know that! Just because it has better CGI… and is more ‘progressive’… bullshit.

Fuck, he needed to meditate or something on this change. He wasn’t going to throw an emo fit like that stupid, even-Bayern-is-more-intimidating Kylo Ren, though. He wasn’t fucking ready!

It was ironic for a club like Die roten Bullen to think about this kind of thing as he stormed out of the movie theater , but damn Lucasfilm – or Disney – to just disappoint a whole group of fans just to milk the cash cow! Not to mention the upcoming Han Solo film, or Rogue One, whatever it was…

CRASH!!!

Leipzig collided with a fellow mall-goer, sending his unfinished popcorn flying in the air, raining over the three of them (panicked, little Inge had run to RB’s aid, but he was just plain useless.)

Cringing, the two adults stood up at the same time, RB pulling the Bavarian up as he did. “Sorry, Sir–“

When they heard each other’s voice, they broke off in unison–

“Dynamo?”

“Soda?!”

“What are you doing here?!”

Dynamo's red eyes and Leipzig's blue ones bore into each other, leaving poor Ingolstadt alone with his BB-8 plushie.

“Watching Star Wars,” spat the Dresden club.

“What?!” the Retortenverein roared, “we couldn’t have been on the same theater, could we?!”

Dynamo folded his hands over his chest. “Show me your ticket.”

RB handed the other club his Premier Pass with a scoff, knowing that he couldn’t afford it. “Inge’s dad paid for it.” The lie rolled easily from his tongue, and he paid his fellow ‘plastic club’ no heed.

The blond-and-black-haired club, unfortunately, saw through it, what with the condescending scowl contorting his angular features, or maybe it was his words, “Whatever you say, you’re still a money club with no fucking tradition, so cut the crap, Soda.”

“And whatever you say, you’re still a third division club who’ll probably go bankrupt in a few years,” Leipzig retorted, “now give me your ticket.”

“No need,” Dresden said gruffly, returning the ticket as hastily as he could, as if it was deadly radioactive poison that could turn him into goo, “like a true fan, I go for the actual movie, not for the massaging chairs and whatever posh shit you two bandwagons eat inside.”

“I’m not a bandwagon!” Ingolstadt whined.

The club with the record-breaking banner not-so-playfully smacked Germany’s tiniest club in the head. “Shut up.”

“Hey – you can’t do that, I’ll tell my Papa!” the crybaby continued, “and you can never, ever bully us again!”

While the two clubs went on with the useless banter, RB Leipzig focused into himself, calming his mind – the Light Side of the Force called to him, whispering calming tones as he breathed in… and out. And in… and out. He shouldn’t be so angry… but stars, a whole fucking expanded universe! From semi-canon references with compelling stories, memorable characters, and world-shattering tech, was now mere… fanfictions. Those mouse-controlled bastards may have called it ‘Legends’, but…

SLAP!

“Oi! Red Bull!”

He blinked, barely registering the pain at first, but a second later, his nerves decided to be jerks and made him rub it uselessly.

SGD shot him an even dirtier look.. “What the fuck are you high on?”

“What?”

“You were fucking standing in front of a furniture store with your eyes closed,” the Dresdener continued, “what else would you call that, huh?”

“Oh I know!” Inge piped up from under the grown ups’ armpits, “he’s meditating! With the Force!”

Dynamo started laughing. “Are you freaking kidding me?!”

“Well… I…” Leipzig paused, fighting his blush in vain, “I was just thinking about the EU.”

Silence.

The 2009-born club swallowed his pride – maybe the violent Traditionsverein could be civil in this common ground. “It’s just a shame,” he continued, “that Episode VII throws away the effort of tens, maybe hundreds of EU writers… just like that!”

The older Saxony club ‘hmm’ed mock-thoughtfully. “I second that,” he replied, “but you know… it reminds me of your situation, Soda.”

“How?” Leipzig wondered aloud.

“Imagine SSV Markranstädt as the EU,” Dynamo said in a low, dramatic voice as they walked to a nearby restaurant on the pint-sized Bundesligist’s insistence, “the fruit of thirty years of labor with thousands of fans, fanfics, and merchandise.”

RB let out a growl, knowing full well where this conversation was going.

“And you, the money bastard who bought his license and replaced him, erasing years of tradition, is The Force Awakens,” the 3. Liga club paused, gauging Soda’s reaction, “so it’s fucking ironic that you hate the new, glamorous Star Wars while being Mateshit’s new, glamorous rent boy.”

Ingolstadt stared at the two eastern German personifications, from Red Bull’s clenched fists to his glowering eyes to Dynamo's casual steps and eye-to-eye smirk, and shuddered.

It can’t be the Dark Side, can it?

Social Media Shenanigans

1. FC Köln - its women’s team, to be exact, logged into her account, giddy to share (the photo of) her first win in what seemed like ages. Sure, it was ‘only’ DFB-Pokal, but a win was a win, right? Especially against the Baden Cup winners!

  (photo)

MsEffzeh SIEG IN KARLSRUHE! 4:1, baby! - with @karli_ksc :3

#sieg #victory #dfbcup #dfbpokal #football #fußball #soccer #koe #effzeh #ksc #happy

 Not a minute later, the Rhine club received notifications from clubs she barely knew:

  GeissbockVIII , StuttgarterSnarker and VfB_jungundwild liked your photo.

StuttgarterSnarker and Karlsruh_94 commented on your photo.

  Out of curiosity, she decided to check them out.

  StuttgarterSnarker Congratulations, kid! >:)

Karlsruh_94 @StuttgarterSnarker @MsEffzeh she’s an oberligist, big deal

StuttgarterSnarker @Karlsruh_94 Someone’s a sore loser, isn’t he? @MsEffzeh Remind me to treat you sometime, eh?

  Köln giggled like a lovestruck teenager.

  MsEffzeh @GeissbockVIII ayyyyyyy~ @StuttgarterSnarker awww, thanks!! <3 @Karlsruh_94 a win is a win :p

  After replying to the boys’ comments, she switched tabs to DFB’s website to watch the highlights of her game… Karlsruhe’s Mädels played well, but they were surely no match for hers!

Just when the second goal touched the southern German club’s net, she got a new notification. If it was possible, her face lit up even more. I hope it’s Stuttgart, she thought, mouth watering at the prospect of being treated to delicious food, or even better, a new costume for Alaaf!

Click!

  karli_ksc commented on your photo.

  “Aww, it’s not Stuttgart,” she lamented. But… was the sister going to be as butthurt as her brother? Better click the link, then.

  karli_ksc @Karlsruh_94 COULD YOU PLEASE STOP EMBARRASSING ME FOR ONCE

  The Cologne-born woman doubled over in laughter. This banter might just be the cherry on top of the whipped cream that was her victory!

  Karlsruh_94 @karli_ksc but he’s bullying you! and i’m your big brother, i should protect you

StuttgarterSnarker @Karlsruh_94 @karli_ksc Awww, the joys of having a baby sister!

Karlsruh_94 @StuttgarterSnarker shut the fuck up, asshole

karli_ksc @Karlsruh_94 @StuttgarterSnarker I DON'T NEED TO BE CODDLED OK I’M NOT A BABY

StuttgarterSnarker Ah, I wish I had a sister… (sigh emoticon)

StuttgarterSnarker @VfB_jungundwild No offense, little bro.

VfB_jungundwild @StuttgarterSnarker :( :( :(

Karlsruh_94 @StuttgarterSnarker she’d disown you (middle finger emoticon)

karli_ksc @Karlsruh_94 I’M DISOWNING YOU

StuttgarterSnarker @karli_ksc Sweet!

  Wait, scratch that, Köln grinned, leaning back further on her bed, it definitely was.

One Thing For Sure

“Miss Hertha, how would you explain your third place finish in this Hinrunde?”

Hertha Berlin flashed the reporter a warm smile, as she was wont to do. “There are a lot of factors at play, which will be explained further by the coach,” she intoned, “but one thing’s for sure,” she exchanged a glance with the Hungarian sitting beside her, “Dardai is the best Pal we’ve had in years.”

  (End Hinrunde)

EU: Expanded Universe And yes, I know RB only 'replaced' SSV for one season, but Dresden doesn't bother with his research :p

#bundeslihaha #vfb stuttgart #rb leipzig #hertha bsc #karlsruher sc #sg dynamo dresden #fc ingolstadt 04 #bundesliga #2. bundesliga #star wars #don't ask #crack #drabble #football #soccer #gijinka #personification #pal dardai #football fanfic #soccer fanfic #football fanfiction #soccer fanfiction #3. liga #afbl #frauen bundesliga