#fool me twice...

[childofthestone]

[noemitenshi]

Excerpt

“Shit, they’re double-dipping,” Blake hissed.

They were standing in line for their daily water ration. Troy, Nick and Blake. Troy leaned back to watch the woman Blake meant. For the life of him he couldn’t tell if it was true – another sign something was clearly fucked. His powers of observation were unparalleled, after all.

But all Troy had been able to focus on had been Crazy Dog, Crazy Dog with his arms bared, muscles flexing as he was in charge of the water. It had reminded Troy of that other time Crazy Dog had had full control over water (full control over Troy’s very air) and want had coursed through his veins. Hadn’t taken much to imagine how these arms would look drowning him—

Blake and Nick were both staring at him. The former expectantly, the latter wary, though impatience was in both gazes. Right, they were waiting for his verdict (and he was too fucking distracted by images of the Indian pushing his head under water...) His mouth turned downwards. But he wasn’t speaking.

“You positive?” Nick asked Blake in that stretching silence.

“I know what I saw.” Blake was answering Nick but his eyes bore into Troy’s. Demanding, always so demanding. Troy’s attention was in fucking tatters.

Without a word (a thought) Troy grabbed Nick by his upper arm and dragged him off. The younger man let him until they couldn’t be overheard anymore. Then he asked,

“Where are we going?”

“Med bay.” It was hastily said, as if it’d slow him down, this conversation.

“Wha-why?” For the life of him Nick could not guess at what Troy’s plan was.

“I need your… expertise.”

“Huh?”

“I want drugs, Nicky.”

[soft-october-night]

[socialbutterfly19]

I have a very overactive mind. If I first don’t catch it eventually I will

[atdawn]

COLIN MORGAN in THE BOY THAT NEVER WAS

[sunlight-shunlight]

thinking about veilguard and bioware in general, i think we are reaching a point where people need to grapple with the inherent limits of what stories can be told in our Current Society and in AAA gaming companies.

on a labour level: mass layoffs, tons of developers leaving despite previously talking about how passionate and happy they were to be involved, not even paying severance, and crunching employees to the point of burnout. this is unfortunately pretty standard for AAA game companies.

on a cultural level: it is SO white and SO centrist-ly Canadian. i wrote up these asks outlining how. it is a repeated pattern of writing in which they go into tortured racial oppression allegories at best, while constantly peppering in a "but BOTH SIDES were wrong and made mistakes :( :( :(", in between their fictional atrocities that are clearly mirroring irl genocides and enslavement. or at worst, it's "the qunari are radical islamic borg" which has even less nuance. i personally thought, since dai came out in 2014, and a lot has changed since then about the world and in public awareness, that this would have filtered into the narrative and resulted in more satisfying and historically grounded writing. unfortunately not the case. it's shocking if you compare it to how sharp and aware and unflinching something like disco elysium is.

so what does this mean?

under these conditions, it is unavoidable that we get development by people who are rapidly cycled out of the company or demoralized into burnout. we get digestible, easy little soundbites of lore without much substance, because any complexity needs more time and coordination rather than the process of "quick, we have these assets, a lot of people involved in making them just got laid off, we need to make Something by next quarter to show the CEO". we get very little cohesion between games, despite the clear intent from dai to have so many plot points set up to follow through in a sequel, because the team and development are so chaotic that they can't hold onto a vision and complete it.

we also get this inherent caution and "conservatism" from the narrative, because on an ideological level, they're largely white people who want cops to be included in pride. so any major change to even a fictional society is Bad and Scary, and shouldn't be done without making sure that every character finger-wags appropriately at non-state violence. there is clearly not much ideological or even ethnic diversity within the leadership; or at least not enough that anyone there felt comfortable even speaking up on minor issues like the Incredibly Orientalist Isabela Outfit, let alone anything larger.

i don't personally think there's too much value in trying to analyze veilguard's plot or lore at this point. the final product is chaotically developed and does not seem to reflect the goals of the creators as set up in prior games, it's basically a ship of theseus in terms of the people and ideas involved in making it. this is sad for all of us, who were interested in the story, and attached to the characters, and were creatively fulfilled by engaging in the fandom. it's probably worse for the developers who have lost their jobs, burnt out, or feel unhappy with the game that they spent years of their life working on. it's certainly miserable as an indictment of The Industry, as well as the general societal climate of white Canadian centrism.

the solution is to create a society where people can develop games in peace and prosperity and stay on projects for longer, rather than constantly getting turfed out without severance pay. and to get some genuine leftists, poc, and indigenous people on staff who can weigh in and provide significant input, rather than a Council Of Liberal White Edmontonians every time.

in the meantime, at the very least, let's please stop preordering AAA games and supporting companies who notably abuse their employees.

[pavedinashes-if]

I just wanted to say thank you.

First if all, thanks to everybody who voted and shared their opinion on the NSFW ask. Participation was insane. Sometimes one does not see properly what's the best way to handle certain topics if it were not for your direct feedback. Thank you!

Yesterday evening I finished the last little details that kept me up at nights since my last writing update. I'll have to check the code now for consistency, do some playthroughs and then forward it to my lovely friends so they can read the demo, judge me, shake their head, and hopefully laugh a bit.

After that, the big moment is yours.

I will upload the demo, post on the forum, and prepare some things for KoFi / Patreon, which will come out next month.

Writing this update showed me how many side stories / lore stays hidden and is impossible to be included in the demo. Therefore, I am excited to be able to share stuff on the side. I'd love to hear what y'all would like to see once the update is out. What POVs etc.

So, before my ramble turns endless. Have a great day and see you soon. Very soon.

Sai

[milkcricket]

they gotta take out what ever it is they are putting into depresses suicidal French cops i cant be doing this any more, they get me every time

[userhangmanpage]

Will, you want to be the world champion and you should, but that's a profesional goal... but for me, this is my life.

[noemitenshi]

Excerpt

‘You train under our eye or you don’t train at all’ – fuck [Walker for that].

And no one said a word about it. Well, at this point it wasn’t a surprise that Jake didn’t speak up. His silence wasn’t worth more than a contemptuous look – and that was what made Jake finally open his moth, his expression that of familiar disappointment. Troy didn’t need to hear him speak to know what he wanted to say; wanted to rebuke Troy, cow Troy. Just like that first day in the basement.

He turned away, gaze flying to Madison.

“And you?” he exclaimed, “You just gonna let him do this?”

To her credit, Madison didn’t flinch under his glare, nor his words. Met his eyes defiantly. Silently. Like he wasn’t worth an explanation. Fuck her, too.

“This your idea of revenge, huh? Inviting them into our homes. Letting them take control… Told you, you need more fight than that.” He spit that last part, his lips pulling into a snarl.

Something pained passed over her face, just for a second, then her gaze slid to her right. He followed it, understanding passing over him. Understanding and rage anew.

“Oh right, I forgot,” he said and almost sounded it, too, “the only thing you care about is your kids. The rest of us be damned.”

Again she was quiet. Because he was right. His lips curled distastefully, his whole face contorting with anger. And again she didn’t flinch.

[reconcavo]

Fool Me Twice - Sarah Bahbah

[aquanutart]

She is offering water to any lost travelers! However, it's so hot that the water has become tea, so she's adjusted accordingly!

[jenanigans1207]

Are we ready to talk about this yet or…?

[fickleartdump]

came back wrong

[noemitenshi]

From the next chapter of Fool me twice...

Ragdoll. The word was scornful. Demeaning. And yet… he couldn’t help but think there had been something appreciative about it, too, the way Crazy Dog’s whisper had almost felt like a caress. Or… had he been just imagining things – was still imagining things— Tsk, ragdoll.

Happy Sunday, Fellowship! 💜

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[loveridden1999]

well the app is broken or i would've kept track of them but