#on that note my favorite things about this game are time attacks and the ‘plus’ worlds with mini mario

[heloflor]

Me playing Mario vs Donkey Kong: Man this game is so janky! I’ve got so many unnecessary deaths because of it! How are you supposed to do some of this stuff?!

Also me playing Mario vs Donkey Kong:

[generalllimaginesss]

"If the entire human population was in front of me, I'd still choose you” with Jack.

I can only imagine what it would be like to have fans attack you if you were publicly dating him. I feel like Jack is so conscious of this. And he’s just soft boyfriend Jack trying to block out the unnecessary noise.

Maybe they just went public and she’s getting a lot of hate and it’s making her insecure. And Jack reminds her that it’s just them against the world and the only people whose opinions matter are their family and friends who love her.

Warnings: self depreciation, insecurities, self image issues, etc. Please don't read if you're not in a good headspace!!!

This is probably my favorite thing that I’ve written. I hope you like it as much as I enjoyed writing it!!

plus size! reader x Jack Hughes

••

You knew that dating somebody in the limelight would have its challenges. Hell, dating an average person was hard. But nothing could have prepared you for the magnitude of hate that hit as soon as Jack went public with your relationship.

It wasn't like the relationship was new. The two of you had been dating for almost a year before he decided to post you on his Instagram. You let Jack set the pace since he was used to the attention. He could let things go in one ear and out the other a lot easier than you could. He was almost conditioned to be able to do that. You, on the other hand, took everything very personally. Every comment about your weight, about what you wore, about how Jack looked miserable with you, they all hit you like a ton of bricks.

You didn't understand why all of these people were coming at you saying so many horrible things, but Jack tried his best to ease your mind and remind you that at the end of the day it was you and him.

He did a really good job at this normally, but he was away on a roadie for a few days and things began to get really bad. This started when you saw a fan account for Jack post something about how Jack downgraded from Sienna to you and all of the comments agreeing.

It was like a rabbit hole...once you clicked on that post it led you to many others. They all made you feel like shit, but when people started commenting on your body, saying that they "didn't know Jack dated plus size girls," it hurt. Your body was yours. It wasn't like you could just zip it off and find a new one, but if you could you would, just to shut the comments up.

You spent the 3 days Jack was gone in a really dark depression. No laundry was done, you hadn't showered, and you barely could make yourself get out of bed to brush your teeth. Dishes piled in the sink, but you couldn't make yourself do them. You knew the signs of your depression, but you welcomed them in a way, almost like a coping mechanism. Not allowing people to see you was the only way the haters couldn't get new material. Was it a healthy way to cope? Obviously not, but it was what worked in the moment.

As soon as Jack walked through the front door, returning from the games, he could tell something wasn't right. You always kept up with the chores when he was away, normally making the house spotless before he got back. So when he saw the state of the kitchen and eventually the rest of the house, he knew something was off.

When he walked into the bedroom and saw that you were pretty much in the same spot he left you in he immediately dropped his bags and climbed into the bed with you, forcing you to look at him.

He gently shifted your body to face him, cupping your cheek gently with his hand.

"Baby, what happened," He made note of the streaks that stained your face, probably from countless hours of crying. He wanted to make them disappear immediately. You were his happy-go-lucky, carefree girl. You danced around the house all the time, singing whatever song was playing. This side of you was uncharted territory that he wanted to take away so bad.

"I just need you to hold me," You began to hyperventilate, worried that if he didn't hold you that he would leave you. Even though that would never in a million years cross his mind. But he did as you asked, and whether it was for 5 minutes or 30 minutes, he didn't know. He held you until you pulled away.

"Can we talk about it?" Jack asked, pulling the hair that crusted on your cheek from the tears out of your face. He treated you like you were fragile, and you hated that he felt that way.

"It's just the comments, Jack. I'm already insecure sometimes and these people come at me in so many horrible ways," You began to explain, loose tears streaming down your face, but you were composed otherwise.

"They compare me to Sienna, and God, I know I'm not as pretty as her. They tell me I'm fat and that they didn't know you dated "fat" girls. It's just insane. Do they not realize that I actually am a real person with real emotions? Do they know that I've believed, at some point in time, the things they are saying? I've worked so hard to get to this place where I'm at, to love who I am, and within the span of 3 days they just tear it all down," You let the words just flow from your mouth, whatever thought that comes to mind is voiced to Jack.

"Baby, they don't care. They don't care because they're jealous," He tries to soothe you, but it almost made you mad. Not at Jack, but at the whole situation.

"What the fuck are they jealous of? My thighs that I cover with leggings and pants so that I won't have to go through the pain of them chafing? Are they jealous of the fucking stretch marks that go up my stomach, so I refuse to wear regular bikini bottoms? I mean what the fuck, do they want my anxiety and depression? I will gladly give them that..." The tears were beginning to pick up, but Jack continued to rub your back, waiting to get the chance to speak again.

"I know you could have any girl you wanted. It makes me sick when I see some blonde walk past that looks like she stepped out of a magazine because I know that's what you deserve. You don't deserve this. You're Jack fucking Hughes," You looked at him, your lip quivering. You were going to say something else, but Jack put his finger on your lips, gently stopping you from continuing.

"You gotta stop that. I can't let you keep putting yourself down like this, not when I love you with my whole fucking heart," He began.

"First off, I had that. I had whatever you consider a girl walking out of a magazine is. Look how that turned out. It didn't, did it? You don't look like Sienna, and I'm so fucking glad because I don't want her kind of beautiful. I want your kind. I want to see all of the things on your body that show me that you lived. I don't want some manufactured cookie-cutter girlfriend. I want somebody that nobody else has," He pulled you in for a hug, continuing to talk while placing kisses ever so gently on your cheek and neck, looking out the window at the busyness that was the outside world. All he could think about was how you didn't see what he saw. Why couldn't you see it?

"Baby, I want you to realize something. If the entire human population was in front of me, I'd still choose you. Without a second thought, with no regrets. Every. Single. Time. You have such a special relationship with my brothers and that means the absolute world to me. They love you so much. My parents tell me I should marry you anytime that you come up in the conversation. The entire team has commented on how much happier I am with you. And if I'm being completely honest, at the end of the day I don't give a damn what anybody else has to say because it's me and you until the end. Do you understand me?" He broke the hug, cupping your face with both hands and wiping at the tears with his thumbs.

"I love you," You whisper, your voice long gone by now.

Jack pulls your forehead toward his lips, kissing it for a few seconds before letting your head go.

"I love you, too. More than you, or anybody else, will ever know. Now, I think we could go for some cleaning karaoke, yeah? I'll wash the dishes if you'll dry them," He poked at your side, trying, and succeeding, in forcing a grin on your face.

"Only if we can get a shower together afterwards," You bargained, taking in the beautiful boy.

"Deal," He says and drags you off to the kitchen, connecting his phone the the speaker and blaring Dierks Bentley's new song "Beer at My Funeral," occasionally twirling you in a circle.

The water may or may not have gotten everywhere since Jack decided it was a good idea to spray you with the hose that connected to the sink, but he enjoyed every second that he got chased by you around the island.

Once the dishes were put up and the shower washed away the remaining bit of your depression, Jack couldn't help but to just admire you. He promised himself then that he would remind you so often of how beautiful you were so that would be the only words ringing through your head, taking up any space that the hate may have. Because it was true. You were the most beautiful and precious thing that had ever walked into his life, and he'd be damned if anyone made you feel otherwise.

*

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*

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[menticidemushroom]

Project Eden's Garden Theories + Minor Analysis 🍎

Not a specific death order theory, just an excuse to yap because I'm hyperfixating

This is very long and it probably doesn't make sense.

🐍 Damon Maitsu- Ultimate Debater

Obviously everybody has the mastermind theory. It's the garden of eden and Satan was the snake. I do agree with the Satan analogy, but more so as an "outer" symbolism as opposed to an "inner" symbolism. Let me explain that better. I think that Damon will come of as antagonistic to the group because he says the right things in the wrong way. Like how he was trying to help everyone by telling them not to trust each other, but he was a dick about. Damon will play the Devil in the perception of the cast, but I don't believe that he will be actually behind the Killing Game.

🐦‍⬛ Eva Tsunaka - Ultimate Liar

I understand the first culprit theory. Eva is a similar name to Eve, Eve is the first human to sin, Eva is the first cast member to kill. That makes sense, but I see her taking on a more Kirigiri kind of role. Smart girl sort of side protag actively tries to hunt down the mastermind. However, since she's the Ultimate Liar and the cast already seems distrustful of her, I could see Eva discovering the secret to the killing game or the true mastermind but no body believes her which either leads to Eva killing the mastermind, or the mastermind killing/framing her. (Like Junko trying to frame Kirigiri in chapter five.)

🦈 Desmond Hall - Ultimate Marksman

I don't have much for Desmond. I feel like he'll either be a victim or a survivor. I can't see him as a culprit. At least not intentionally. I could see him trying to protect someone and killing their attacker in the process on accident, but I lean more towards a victim for him.

🦢 Eloise Taulner - Ultimate Fencer

I see Eloise as a survivor, but I lean towards a culprit. It's not a strong theory, but I see them trying to flip the shrinking violet trope on its head. In the chapter one preview from the San Antonio game expo we see Wolfgang trying to "help" Eloise by offering to walk with her before they go exploring and she seems to get annoyed with him. I could see this being a way to show that Eloise isn't a fragile as she let's on.

🦩 Toshiko Kayura - Ultimate Matchmaker

I want to believe that since she's literally a baby that she won't die, but part of me believes that since she's so young she will die. My current theory is that she's either the chapter one or two victim. I could definitely see the team choosing to kill her off early as a sort of "shock value" for the cast. Because I'm sure seeing a child get murdered would be more psychologically damaging then seeing an adult die. I'll be honest my Toshiko theory is kind of weak.

🐻 Wenona - Ultimate Entrepreneur

I see Wenona as a kind of Celeste character. The whole "if you do not adapt, you will die" mindset. I could see her staying distant from the group the majority if the time. I think that she will be a culprit, chapter three specifically. In the chapter on trailer we see during her free time event that the bear symbolism they gave her represents strategy. I feel like she'll have a really complex murder plot since she's obviously smart. She's also a Native American woman in the field of business. That's obviously not something easy. I highly doubt that she would give it up so easily. Plus, she's a billionaire. As much as I love Wenona, she's evil.

🦉 Ulysses Wilhelm - Ultimate Historian

Let me start by saying tat he is my favorite. Unfortunately, that means he's going to die. He writes everything in his notebook, if that doesn't sound like a major point of discussion in a trial, I don't know what does. I could also see him surviving, but I lean more towards a victim for him. The only reason I seem him surviving is that there could be this big moment in the final trial where they have to connect several seemingly unrelated notes in his notebook to find the big mystery or whatever. Anyway, I love him and if he dies I will lose it.

🐊 Mark "Mayhem" Berskii - Ultimate Music Producer

I can see Mark as a victim or a culprit and both of them revolve around Jett. As we see in the prologue, Mark is a very shy and reserved person. Obviously this paints a target on his back and any character who has a close friendship is another death flag. I could see him being killed and Jett falling into despair, or killing somebody with Jett.

💄Diana Venicia - Ultimate Cosmetologist

Diana is a character who I feel very strongly about as a survivor. It's not a strong theory, but it's just what feels right. Most people take the chameleon symbolism to be negative, but I don't see it as good or bad. I think it just emphasize that Diana is your average sixteen year old girl blending in with the crowd. She'd not a threat, she isn't aggressive, she just a teenaged girl. She is kind, she is helpful, she loves makeup. She just wants to love her life. She's so plain that she'll blend in and she will live.

🐑 Wolfgang Akire - Ultimate Lawyer

Oh boy, here we go. This is the big one. I believe that Wolfgang will either be a victim or a survivor. He will be the antagonist, but he is not a villain. Like I said for Damn who says the right thing in the wrong ways, Wolfgang will say the wrong thing is the right ways. I truly believe that Wolfgang has good intentions, but he is so optimistic and passionate that he lets his savior complex to bring everybody into a more vulnerable state. Like Damon's snake symbolism alluding to him bring the "devil" to the group, Wolfgang's sheep symbolism shows him as the "angel" to the group. The lamb of God, the Messiah, the guardian angel. He wants to save everybody, but he can't because he doesn't accept the horrible truth of the group's situation. He wants to believe that he can bring them to salvation, but a man can never be a God. My other theory is that he will be a final chapter sacrifice. A death is necessary for the group to escape and he will accept his new role of Martyrdom. Letting him finally become the savior he wanted to for the entire game.

🦋 Kai Monteago - Ultimate Influencer

Butterflies represent change, the butterfly effect. Kai will be the first culprit and this will lead to more fear without the group causing more people to want to kill. The flap of his wings will cause the tornado of death that will plague the group for the rest of the game. Short theory, but I feel strongly about it.

🐺 Jett Dawson - Ultimate Drag Racer

As I stated with Mark's theory, I see Jett as a culprit. Either Mark will be a victim and Jett will fall into despair driving him to murder in a later chapter, or he will kill somebody to escape with Mark. The only way this would work is a motive we're the backend can bring one person with them to the outside or they find a way for Jett and Mark to both equally be held accountable as the culprit. Though I'm not sure how something lijrme that could happen since the only instance is in SDRA2 chapter three and the plan behind that was bizarre (in a good way) and I doubt they could replicate anything similar.

🦁 Ingrid Grimwall - Ultimate Blacksmith

Ingrid is the only character I can't really think of anything for. I just have a strong feeling that she won't survive. Sorry.

🐲 Jean Delamer - Ultimate Ship Captain

I can see Jean as a chapter five victim. Since we see in the chapter one demo that he takes the hope speech guy role, I can see him dying fairly late in the game either as an "easy target" or since he's getting in the way of more murders happening.

🕷 Cassidy Amber - Ultimate Pro Gamer

I see Cassidy as a survivor, but I don't have any evidence. I just can't think of a theory for her as a victim, or as a culprit. She could also be the true mastermind, which is a fairly popular theory. That makes some sense considering her spider symbolism and the whole "tangled in a web" metaphor.

Thanks for reading!

Feel free to tell me any other theories you have!

[apollosgiftofprophecy]

The Wisdom Saga: My Thoughts

Hey all!!!! Here are my thoughts on the Wisdom Saga from EPIC: The Musical!

Overall it isn’t my favorite (Circe/Thunder my beloveds), but it’s still pretty good imho!

Legendary

Love how upbeat this one is. MICO as Telemachus is VERY good, and I especially liked the little trembles/voice cracks (?) as he sang! Gave Tem a “young” vibe.

also loved that “L-L-L-L-Legendary” lol

ITS THE ANIMATIC FROM THE REFERENCE VIDEO :D

The Suitors’ voices 👌 also ANTINUOUS JUMPSCARE. HOW DARE YOU CALL PENELOPE A TRAMP WHEN YOU’RE THE ONE TRYING TO GET INTO HER BED.

Antinuous’s lines are the perfect ick. The ToA Discord and I were all typing out various amounts of EW, ICKY, GET OUT at his parts.

Fight Little Wolf

This is possibly my favorite from this saga! I’ve been looking forward to this one for a while, and I was really excited for it! Athena coming in was brilliant and I love it :3

We’ll Be Fine

ATHENA CALLED ODYSSEUS FRIEND. OWIE.

Anybody else pick up on a similar melody to Open Arms? Because ow.

Love In Paradise

LOVED the flashbacks at the beginning!

The unhingedness Gigi gave Calypso LMAO Zero social interaction does that to you lol

“Last I checked goddesses can’t die!” Stream gets censored

I PANICKED AT THAT LMAO

all I hear are screams…the ptsd is real

“Stay in my open arms” and then IMMEDIATELY triggering an Open Arms reprise. HOW DARE YOU JAY.

NOT ONLY THAT. BUT ALSO EURYLOCUS REPRISING LUCK RUNS OUT AND ANTICLEA’S WAITING. OUCH.

God Games

This is in battle with Little Wolf for favorite Wisdom Saga song lol

THE INTRODUCTION TO THE GODS SLAPPED. WOLFY YOU WONDERFUL WOLF THAT WAS AWESOME.

APOLLO GIVING A LIL BOW AND CASUALLY WAVING TO (us) HIS ADORING FANS (also us)

don’t mind me fangirling he’s my favorite and he was GORGEOUS

Hephaestus being voiced by Jorge’s dad!!!!

I really liked how Luke Holt delivered Ares’s name. Very gritty and perfect I love <3

APOLLO’S LITTLE SMIRK WHEN HE SAYS “GREAT.” I’M DEAD I’VE DIED RIP ALDER

APOLLOOOOOOOOO

his part was sadly short, but honestly? It makes sense why it would be! Apollo really has no beef with Odysseus, and the Sirens are a little out of pocket, like he was assigned to play the game but is throwing Athena an easy thing to counter so he can get back to Orestes and also Athena owes him a solid so EPIC’s explanation for Athena helping Apollo in the Oresteia? 👀 I’m a nerd connecting the dots leave me be

“If that’s true then release him 🙄💅” Apollo has no time for this bullshit he’s like “come on dad why did you pull ME into this?” Lmaoooo

Hephaestus’s part about trust!! I love. Also the lyricism here and in Apollo’s is very very good <3

APHRODITE. Unlike Apollo and Hephaestus, who were rather quick to support Athena, she’s moments away from going “no ♥️💋”

ARES’S ENTRANCE WAS SPETACULAR NO NOTES I LOVE

DISCO HERA!! ANNIFLAMMA THAT WAS SO GOOD AHHHHHHH THE STYLE THE SWAG THE SASS 100/10

THUNDER BRINGER REPRISE AHHHHHH WITH BEAST MODE ZEUS

Also Athena ain’t dead lol she comes back in King isn’t it? Also she’s a GOD. Who CAN’T DIE.

I’ve seen criticism about Zeus attacking Athena, and about how he wouldn’t do that because she’s a favorite…but the thing is, in The Iliad, he does threaten to blast her and Hera off their chariots at one point���plus Apollo’s a favorite too, and he was nearly thrown into Tartarus by Zeus! Being the favorite doesn’t automatically mean you can get away with anything and everything, so I headcanon that Zeus got a bit more peeved than usual because of just how quickly Athena swayed the others (this can connect to the Odyssey then too, because the majority of the gods already agreed that Odysseus had suffered enough and were quite willing to let him go).

I have additional thoughts on God Games, but that’s for another post since it detracts from the actual livestream, but overall I really enjoyed this one! It’s the first livestream I’ve seen in full, though I do think Thunder Saga was more impactful to watch (I watched that livestream too, but came in at the end of No Longer You).

Two sagas to go!! I’ll be updating my tier list sometime soon as well, so stay tuned for that!!

[santae-salt]

the following was submitted by an anon ive spoken with, i copied it into a post so that i can add a cut as it is quite long. enjoy - i will add screenshots at the end of the conversation they reference.

-

hi! a nonny asked why we dont like walmert. my story is too long for a comment, so i'm submitting it as an ask.

i was in the discord when beta launched. i didnt talk much; i made some passing friends, got along fine with staff, no problems. my favorite thing to do on the site was restock my shop, which was one of the top 10 at the time, and on the side i liked to quest.

walmert was newly formed and its members were telling players not a part of their group that their price points were wrong for moral reasons. they called these users scalpers, resellers, capitalists, etc. not nice words, and cushioned to avoid staff punishment. they said other shop owners were trying to profit off fellow players and that walmert’s goal was to lower prices across the board and create a standardization of pricing. sounds good on paper, but thats still market manipulation and not my thing. plus, at the time, they were pricing things in an unprofitable way (often below NPC price points) to crater the market, which obviously wasn’t good for solo players. i said in chat that i disagreed with their practice. for one, i didnt want to join a group to run my store effectively. my time was valuable, too, and i would not restock my store if i wasn't going to make a reasonable profit. walmert argued for a lot of things that made that hard, like only being able to charge double an item’s NPC price. they wanted staff reinforcement for this. for items that NPCs sell for under 1k, double is just not worth it for me. but my concerns (and others’) didn’t matter to walmert players. it seemed to me like they wanted control above all else, and anyone who disagreed was an enemy to be ostracized.

in one discussion, i posted a gif of barbie talking about the trains being on time. it was meant to be a joke with another user about how serious the insults on the discord had become. walmert questioned people’s morality over pet site prices. even joke prices (a staple on pet sites: list something silly or that you’re proud of for max price) were bad in their eyes. i saw them repeatedly complain about a usershop with a green balloon listed at max price when balloons were big drama. the shop owner came in and said it was a joke, and they still hated on them for it. no one was going to buy that balloon. hence, barbie crying about being called a fascist. we can all laugh at that, right?

WRONG.

walmartyr mode activated. fluffmarshmallowpuff assumed the barbie gif was a personal attack. i tried to deescalate, saying they wouldn’t be mad if they took time to look at what was actually being said. they accused me of making fun of them from the start. i was not -- i was engaged in the discussion and sharing my opinion, which was just not the same as theirs, but they didn't understand that, even when i said plainly that we disagreed. they villainized me for it. mods had to step in.

the only thing i did that was actually making fun of them was using a rolling eye emoji reaction when they doubled down on their accusation of me mocking them after i had already said that wasn’t the case. that's it. mods even removed it at some point. i apologized to the mods for doing it, they said something to the effect that they saw it got heated but don’t stoke the flames if you can avoid it (which that emoji react did, so fair play), and all was well.

i do other stuff for the rest of the day. the next day, i come back and fluffmarshmallowpuff posted an apology to the channel at large. i block them. i stop looking at santae discord for a while. santae adds loot boxes. i stop updating my shop and play other games.

(something important to note for the next thing that happens: i said in the screenshots above that i said i dont quest. thats not true, i misspoke. i didnt quest for my main income, but i DID quest for fun.)

i find out sometime later that someone had been screenshotted buying from fluffmarshmallowpuff's store and pilloried as a reseller. it sounded like that user was me, based on the timing and that i had accidentally bought from fluff’s store without checking the username before. fluffmarshmallowpuff accused this other player of buying from their store to upsell the items. which is not against the rules…

... and maybe not what the person they screenshotted was doing anyway? sometimes while i was questing, even if i had the quest item in my shop, i would hit the one-click buy to purchase and complete the quest. the site doesnt let you pull directly from your shop if your item isn’t the lowest priced, and i didnt want to waste time switching up interfaces and removing the item from my store. i've never bought something from another user's store to upcharge in mine because i know it bothers some users and i dont want to get on their bad side. and im not the only one who doesn’t want to bother removing stuff from their shop to quest. Morrie stated on the forums that there plans to implement a cash shop item that will allow us to pull items from our shop from the one-click option even if they’re not the lowest priced, so it’s a built-in inconvenience.

ultimately, it turned out the screenshotted user was not me. but it couldve been. this pattern of shaming other users is so common that i credibly thought it was me. i want people to think about that. this user who was screenshotted could’ve been doing the same thing i was, unaware that buying from fluffmarshmallowpuff’s shop would get them harassed in front of the entire discord. and for the cherry on top of this ugly sundae, some of the people conducting this harassment had been buying out my shop and raising the prices in their own shops the whole time. they bought dozens of items at once. it was not subtle. they were doing the thing they accused other players of while smearing them for it.

im wary of the whole group as a result and don't want to play with them, full stop. i have no idea how many of them condone what happened to me and the screenshotted player, but i know they didn't kick fluffmarshmallowpuff out, so they must be OK with it to some degree. i'm not. if i have to block them all to quest without having to worry about who i buy from and how much i buy, i will.

---- end anon submission

here are some screenshots of the conversation theyre referencing. anon is the user blocked out in black. i didnt screenshot the whole thing, just parts relevant to the aforementioned gif. normally i would have cropped around the user blocked out in pink but as the gif was directed at them, i think its important to see that they didnt seem upset by it.

as always, please dont harass any users mentioned/shown.

[journalsouppe]

I started and beat this within like 4 days in July 2023, and I just completely forgot to take photos of this spread T-T.

BUT I loved Tunic so much, one of my all time favorite games I've ever played. If this was a Zelda game, it might've been my favorite Zelda game. This was only beat out by Ace Attorney: Apollo Justice bc my aa brainrot is that bad hfjdkal.

All of the stickers come with ordering the physical version of the game on fangamer!! There's also a freebie fox sticker I got from TheLittleBirdeeCo thats below keep reading.

My writing is typed below as well as my game notes. I will not type out my game notes and I also don't recommend looking at them unless you have played the game.

Game notes^ Plus a little blurb after rewatching a playthrough that I won't type out either since these are more just for fun.

Rating: 9.5 Played: Su 2023 Port: Nintendo Switch Favorite? Y Replayable? Y Recommend? Y

Comments

similar opening to links awakening

the start screen is gorgeous

THE POT SHARDS ARE MOVEABLE - i love the clay feel

tons of hidden paths and secrets

oooo you find the instruction booklet in the game

I KILLED MYSELF?

GIANT SKELETON SHOPKEEPER SCARED ME T-T he's chill tho

oooo you can hear the wind chimes

LOVE the mechanics of the draw bridge

what are the small tuner/bells for

i am apparently really good at finding hidden chests

i love that the fairies are stone versions of the oot/mm fairies

ENEMIES CAN FOLLOW YOU INTO NEW ROOMS?

it's hard to get acclimated since I'm so used to 2d zelda strategies and patterns

the statues of the hero perfectly encapsulate my view of oot link, i really love the design

the garden boss is hard T-T

the bell towers are so pretty

THE POTIONS REGENERATE? WISH I KNEW THAT

the west garden is so pretty omg

I FINALLY DID IT T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-

IM SO TINY T^T

idrk what to do at the heros grave

the librarian fight reminds me of the links awakening nightmare fight

frogs domain music reminds me of the forest temple

A GUN?

who am i?

why is the cathedral filled with ... me?

the boss rush was fun but hard

I DONT LIKE THAT ELEVATOR WHERE DID THE CRUCIFIED THING GO

i don't think there's a set order to do "dungeons" so i'm not locked to doing only the siege engine

i thought cat man was pissing

why do i have the power to activate the boxes?

librarian's ghost?

COLOR CHANGE?

was the heir me?

Game Notes:

beautiful 3D animation and modeling - very pleasing

wide attacking range - don't just attack straight forward

incredible environmental design and path making

two endings - exploration and collection for good end

diverse attack patterns and learning curve + boss rush

Summary

What a phenomenal game. I loved playing this game so much. It was challenging and I wasn't used to the souls mechanics, but I learned fast and had so much fun fighting the bosses. I love the two endings. The Bad where you replace your former self as the heir, continuing the cruel cycle. The Good where you free the Heir and find out it's you, older, someone who is no longer stuck in the cycle, and you get to be friends together. The music is absolutely gorgeous. I listened to it while falling asleep and was just sobbing from it. I love how mysterious the lore is and how everything still hasn't been answered. I love the designs of the environments and enemies and how the game can go from nice and serene to dark and creepy. I loved how this game was a perfect blend of 2D zelda plus monument valley plus a souls game, it forced me to think outside of the box and use my journal to takes notes on all the little secrets and surprises. I can def see myself play this game again, it's such a charming game that has a lot of nostalgia despite being a fairly new game. I am so happy I bought the deluxe edition, I truly cherish this game so much and love the stickers and artbooks I received. I highly recommend this game to anyone, it is such an incredible journey to go through. I'm gonna be spending a lot of time watching and reading about the lore and digging deeper into this game. Truly what a phenomenal game with such a cute yet tragic main character, ough i love tunic.

[taylortruther]

Hi Rae - I have a question for you about I hate it here - I saw this TikTok (actually was sent it… which personal sigh) about the 1830’s line and how it was indicative of white feminism and how because of the line majorly simplifying things that were happening back all using what’s happening with the Arizona abortion ban as an example of why this line is ‘incredibly harmful and problematic’. Which, like of course I don’t want to police anyone who does feel certain things about the line, because not my place but I guess… I feel like people keep taking that line out of context when I think she even shames herself for thinking that way, but they just want to focus on that part of it. I feel very seen by this song and I dont want to appear that I’m being attacked by it. How you would talk about all of it without discrediting the issues people have with this line?

Here’s the video for clearer understanding: https://www.instagram.com/p/C6FqiJZLWV9/

i admit i didn't watch the whole video, but i get the gist. my take on it is the same as yours, personally. i love the song, it's one of my favorites on the album!

i think the point of that line is to note how the past can't be romanticized as simpler, better, etc. because... it wasn't. the past still sucked, and taylor is acknowledging that even in a "palace," she would still be unhappy. it draws a parallel between the past and present: they're not so dissimilar, the same problems exist in different forms.

some people will think it's bad taste - my note from my first listen was "this is annoying." i do think that game has always been more fun for white people! my little friends played it when i was a kid and i'd always be like, "well, i'd love to live in x time period, but i'd have to go back as a white guy..." - PLUS, a lot of people simply do not want to hear this from taylor. which is fine! feel however you want!

but i think we should all just become more comfortable with saying "yeah, i didn't like that," rather than endlessly moralizing it. maybe it's not sophisticated or funny to some people, but i think that line does address the exact thing people are criticizing about it.

[zettatoad]

thoughts on games i bought during the steam winter sale

You Are Peter Shorts: bought it because i saw clips from the dev that looked neat while knowing very little about it, wasn't expecting it to be a smash bros metroidvania. like the last level of the subspace emissary if the whole game were designed around that. haven't finished it yet but i'm experiencing a problem that brawl also kind of has: smash bros movement is not necessarily ideal for platforming. plus the enemies are similar enough that i rarely have to switch up my technique when fighting them. it's got all these fairly laborious combat encounters that all kind of feel the same. at least the enemies stay defeated. i do think making defeated enemies into a collectable, thankfully marked on the map, is a genuinely interesting design decision. needs wavedashing imo (<- statement from someone who doesn't play melee)

Balatro: let's be real here, you don't need me to tell you balatro is good

The Void Rains Upon Her Heart: i'm pretty hit or miss with roguelites but i am really into this one. fun shmup gameplay, unique and appealing art, good writing, good music, compelling and more importantly interesting meta-progression mechanics, like a bunch of game modes... it's got it all. a problem i have with many roguelites, more because of my taste than because the games are doing anything wrong, is that randomly generated levels often quickly end up feeling less like i'm playing infinite variety and more like i'm doing the same thing over and over. somewhat counterintuitively, TVRUHH being a boss rush game with random order, difficulty, and upgrades that is otherwise actually the same fights over and over feels less repetitive to me. i am learning their patterns and weak spots and how to get a high score (necessary for more meta-progression currency). i am fighting them with slightly different abilities that require slightly different strategies to their slightly different patterns. it's fun. i told myself i'd wait for it to leave early access before coming back to it (mostly i want the story cutscenes to be complete) and it's genuinely a little hard for me to stay away

ENDER LILIES: Quietus of the Knights: actually bought this during a previous sale but i only got around to playing it now so i'm including it. it's alright! i think it's a little more style than substance but i had a good time. a perfectly serviceable hollowtroidbornelike. i do have to note the gender politics of the game being about a group of pure little girls who cannot defend themselves and have the duty of taking on the burdens of their predominantly (though admittedly not exclusively) male protectors. what the hell is a quietus of the knights anyways

Cavern of Dreams: good 3d platformer. colorful and creative environments and characters. rolling and tail boosting both feel great, and are great speed vs. precision mechanic. a little on the short side, but that means it doesn't overstay its welcome. i give it a big thumbs up

👍

^^^ thumbs up for cavern of dreams. i don't have a lot to say it's just good. my number three recommendation after TVRUHH and anthology of the killer (coming later in this post)

YumeCore: bought three games from this dev because of this toskarin post saying the dev somehow was making new types of games. gotta be honest here, this one's pretty much a beat-'em-up with some adventure game elements. not a BAD one, but not really a new type of game. i like the music and theming!

AISZplus: this one's basically a regular shmup (with a neat risk/reward mechanic) but i don't think it advertises itself as anything else so i gotta give it a pass on that. 1cc'd it on my first try (but only just) and didn't feel particularly compelled to play more than that. still fun!

ADEN: now THIS one... is still pretty much a beat-'em-up. but it IS a new type of beat-'em-up! by far my favorite of these three. despite the player character only having two attacks — dash/body slam and grab/slam — the combat stays fun throughout the game. zipping around enemies with your dash then slamming them into other enemies with the grab remains a good time. boss fights are more bullet hell-type affairs, requiring more skillful dodging and positioning. there's also some light rhythm game elements that honestly aren't integrated super well into the gameplay but are still fun. features a weird and interesting story and presentation (PRO TIP: don't do the game's alternate route first or you'll be really confused) and some pretty great music. this one gets the coveted fourth most recommended slot of this batch. if anyone figures out the significance of the red girl let me know

Momodora: Moonlit Farewell: it's been a while since i've played the first three but i think this is my least favorite entry in the series? i don't like the stamina meter. combat is faster than 4 in a way that feels less deliberate. the player animations are too bouncy for my tastes - like, usually when people walk they look straight ahead instead of swinging their heads side to side, y'know? the sprint animation looks particularly goofy to me. the environments are a lot less atmospheric than in 4 and feel less like semi-plausible locations with a reasonable structure and more like videogamey metroidvania zones attached to each other with little rhyme or reason. the addition of varied body types for several male characters but only one female one means what was previously anime sameface disorder is now the much more sinister eichiiro oda syndrome and i'm prescribing the lead artist to draw 10 non-sexy women before it becomes terminal. the very anime "i fight... for my friends!!!" bit during the final boss would have landed better if the people in the village did anything at all and also if like a half hour earlier the protagonist didn't tell her best friend that if she were selected to be a human sacrifice she'd say yes. still mostly good but like, ehh. i'm not doing two more playthroughs for the last achievements

Frogun: a little stiff compared to cavern of dreams (honestly, it's stiff even compared to fellow inexpressive platformer psilosybil, which i played a few months prior) but still a good time. kinda neat beating a level the regular way then figuring out how you can use your frogun to skip massive chunks of it (at one point i skipped basically an entire level with a grapple i was only barely able to make by abusing the fact that using your frogun in midair stalls your downwards momentum). you can tell the developers really cared about this game

let's review PsiloSybil too why not: it's like crash bandicoot but hard. i had some occasional issues telling the depth and hitboxes of obstacles but overall i enjoyed it a lot. creative levels and some on-point theming help give it its own identity despite how closely its gameplay hews to its inspiration. i feel that this game shows the strengths of a game with limited but precise movement options, where the dangers of the obstacles mean minor differences in timing and movement are as meaningful choices as using entirely different moves in more expressive games... and yet, i also feel it shows this type of game's limitations, in that my interest fizzled out while pursuing 100% completion. ah well, i still had a good time. fair warning that this game is like, HARD hard

Anthology of the Killer: by thecatamites of space funeral, goblet grotto, magic wand, etc., which either tells you all you need to know about it or doesn't. BB is an enjoyable protagonist for these horror-comedy vignettes, taking in stride the bizarre horrible things happening to and around her. the surreal, terrible-yet-lighthearted stories and unnatural, collage-like environments you explore combine to form a strange and dreamlike experience that i feel is a better example of video games as art than just about any mainstream example i can think of. it's probably worth replaying these so i can use my knowledge of the full picture to better interpret what's going on, both in terms of the literal events and their thematic and symbolic meanings. i learned a lot about history!

[klysanderelias]

Okay I gotta go to bed because I got a dentist appt but quick thoughts on SRHK so far-

The missions are much shorter than before, but there are a LOT more - no wonder I didn't remember any of this shit, some of these missions can be knocked out in like ten minutes. I don't think they're at all bad, it kind of captures the 'quick and dirty job you're doing for money' vibe, and they're all still a lot of fun, especially the one with Neville Ma. It does kind of end up meaning that they're often one-note, because it's like 'go to a restaurant, kidnap a guy, profit' with no ???? step.

The matrix sections are also faster, which is nice, but I'm still not sure how I feel about the hacking - it's relatively painless, but it's still annoying to have to do simon says on every data node. The brute force option is only viable sometimes, and it always feels bad to choose because I'm not great at the watcher puzzles so I end up having to wipe a few watcher ICEs most of the time - plus, since the mandatory combat sections ALSO up your detection, it means you don't want to make a decision on forcing anything until you know whether you're going to walk into a room with 4 ICE programs all giving you +5 detection a turn.

The combat is the cleanest in the series, but it's definitely... swingy. Some fights are super super easy, and it feels like there's no challenge, and then other fights are really rough. It doesn't help that I'm doing an extremely jank build, so it's a tossup as to how well it performs.

I'm also a little hesitant about how I want to approach the final fight - I remember that one best of all, because I think it's really good, but also I'm not sure that I want to just do the exact same thing as last time. And to a certain extent, the question is 'do I want to have a boss fight or do I want to have a cathartic conversation' and the jury's still out.

It also really makes me miss playing Shadowrun, man. SRHK really captures the feel of the ttrpg in a good way, but I think it's also the downside of any cRPG where I like to talk my way out of stuff, but it's the 'oh a writer wrote this' feeling where I'm like 'ah yes let me pick the charisma 5 option and it'll solve itself'. Not that there's a solution, but the writing is a little... I think most of the time, especially in the conversations with your companions, it's some of my favorite cRPG writing. That being said, it's still noticeable at times where there are two or three options that are like [nice option] [funny option] [attack].

But I'm enjoying the missions, and the chats, and every time I get back from a mission the rounds of talking to all the NPCs are always a good time. It's funny because the PC's dipshit cop brother is always having a miserable time like 'everything is terrible and I'm in hell' and my response is basically always 'dunno man, I'm having a great time' because I AM! I like these people, I like going to a hacker convention and punching a dude's lights out on the convention floor and having the main response be polite but confused applause, I like putting shrimp in a guy's food and then shooting him in his anaphylactic face!

It's the thing of like, this is definitely not an unserious game, the main storyline is absolutely dark to a certain extent, but it's not grimdark, and it's not copaganda like 'being a CRIMINAL in GANG TERRITORY means you have to EAT HUMAN FACES JUST TO SURVIVE'. And the devs are perfectly happy to give you some pretty comedic moments without making it a farce, y'know? They're not out of place or tone, but like, it's FUNNY to walk into a bathroom and accidentally start a drug deal, because you ARE a criminal so y'know, you do in fact want those drugs he's selling even though it's extremely funny that he's selling combat meth at what's effectively a tech convention.

I dunno, I like this game! I remember feeling like the companions were all a little abrasive and unlikeable, and this time around, yeah! And I LIKE that! I like that Gaichu is kind of a fascist who would still be a corpo supersoldier if he had the option. I like that Racter is a sociopathic weirdo about surpassing the human form. I like that the companions are all off-putting and unpleasant a little, because it's SUCH a breath of fresh air compared to the packaged slop of all the AAA RPGs. Too many of the companions in big-name RPGs feel like they're falling over themselves to like you, and to be sympathetic, and specifically to be fuckable! BG3 REALLY wants you to want to fuck Lae'zel, so if she's gonna be weird it has to be a in a fuckable way, and that just doesn't hit for me.

Meanwhile, Gobbet is out here shoving a whole duck in a hot pot and eating wet oysters and I'm like, I'd hit, but more importantly, I can imagine what it's like to live in the same apartment with her, and I'd hate it, but also I can imagine chilling on the couch with her watching her slowly accumulate cheeto dust all down her shirt. I hate to call it immersion, but it's the feeling of like, these are fully realized characters who exist outside of their relationship to you, and more importantly they're not designed to cater to You (the hypothetical everyman gamer).

And that's such a breath of fresh air because the last major cRPG I played was BG3, and those companions were... well, it sucked having every motherfucker in the party trying to jump my bones immediately, and it felt like no matter what I did they all were singing my praises nonstop. And yeah, pretty much every companion in any cRPG is practically begging for the opportunity to open up to you about their tragic backstory, but BG3 was really egregious with how little fucking effort it took to turn every single one of those clowns into your personal pets.

[athousandotherfaces]

kynesgrove, morthal, and markarth for the skyrim asks!

Thank you for the ask! Heads up, I've thought about some of these things for the better part of a decade so there's rambling. Enjoy the scroll!

Kynesgrove: What's your favorite non-major city/town/settlement?

Rorikstead! I think that it has such an intriguing position and a narrative that isn't explicitly explored; it's just hinted at through ambient elements and some PC/ NPC dialogue. I really love that it feels cozy, but slightly unsettling if you stop and think about it.

There's the lack of almost any grown women among the residents, aside from one elvish woman in town. It's positioned close to two known Forsworn camps/strongholds (Serpent's Bluff Redoubt and Bleakwind Bluff respectively) Which, hey, yes they could've popped up after the town was established. (which is another strange point of interest: Rorik lives in town and says he founded it: but it's also mentioned as having been founded literal ages ago in written records) The residents mention they haven't had a bad harvest in years. Years, despite war, hardly any work force to harvest things and being easily open to raids from bandits, Forsworn, what have you. Jouane, the healer, has several books on daedric worship in his home, and has an ambient dialogue with one of the young girls not to tell anyone about their 'little secret' when she asks if he can teach her magic. These facts taken together make me think there's a deal between the townsfolk of Rorikstead and the Forsworn that entails ladies of a certain age be sacrificed to ensure these unfailing harvests. Given it's location Rorikstead is isolated from a lot of the protections of Whiterun Hold and it's mentioned by some of the NPCs- they're essentially on their own. It's also pretty close to a dragon burial mound and a vampire den. Which I think is also meant to further highlight that the village is basically left to fed for itself (without much scrutiny) because it is so far from Whiterun. Dialogue from guards even mentions that Rorikstead is more susceptible to a dragon attack because of its location, low martial population and lack of defensible space. All this, plus you can find Erik the Slayer, probably my favorite follower here: Visit Rorikstead!

Morthal-Do you enjoy exploring dungeons and ruins? Why or why not?

I do! I've done so many different dragonborn builds that each time I do dungeon diving it feels fun. Now that's not to say I don't find it repetitive after a bit. I've played plenty of hours of Skyrim and Dragon age 2 (a game not gracefully noted for diverse dungeon maps); I really think, and this isn't to let things off the hook, but as a rpg fan you gotta make your own fun after a bit. I will say some ruins are more engaging than others and some feel like they are meant to break you of the impulse to get in and out quickly, while others are more of a see-if-you can-outlast atmosphere (I'm looking at Forelhost, Labyrinthian, and several Dwemer ruins). I'm a huge fan of the set dressing and narrative elements the dungeons and ruins have. I also really enjoy using followers. I have my go to followers but I do try to swap in new faces too, both vanilla and mod added followers.

Markarth-If you could rewrite one questline in Skyrim, which would it be?

Ooh, that's a tough one. Really tough.

I think if I had to pick one I would say it would be more of an additional pathway instead of a complete rewrite. But I thought for the longest time that if a few choices were made throughout the Dark Brotherhood and Thieves Guild questlines that there should be a hybridized questline added for a dragonborn who becomes Listener for the Brotherhood and Guildmaster for the Thieves Guild that deals with Maven Black-Briar & her hold on the DB & Thieves Guild after you get into the top spots.

If I remember correctly you can in both questlines tell or hint to Maven Black-Briar/her loyalists that your cooperation as her pawn as you go up the ranks is wearing thin/will cease once you're in sufficiently with the groups and they're restored to their proper glory. I would really love for there to have been an attempt by Maven (especially if she's made jarl through the civil war questline) to try to have you framed for a major political crime or just outright attempt to have you assassinated by the Morag Tong (or just frame the Morag Tong since they're not friendly to the DB and it could easily lead to inter-assassin guild fighting allowing Maven to attempt to take them down in a bid to extend her reach and consolidate power). Maven just never struck me as someone who tolerated the idea of power being wrested away from her, or just the appearance of losing grip on power like the guilds command. So some upstart dragonborn suggesting they'll be doing just that felt like it should have a pretty strong response from her.

[crystalelemental]

Started up Little Witch Nobeta. I'm only in like Area 2, but preliminary thoughts.

Before I get into this, I want to say something. It might not have been their official marketing, but pretty much everything I saw about this game prior to getting it referred to it as a "souls-like," so I will be following suit in that comparison. Because...there are quite a few similarities, and I lack familiarity with the broader genre to make other comparisons.

The game is, overall, a bit clunky? Mechanically there are a few frustrations, mostly in where they start the default controls. The camera is way too close, spins way too fast, and the basic attack button to me really feels like a dodge, so I keep fucking up my inputs. It's really embarrassing.

On the positive side, the game seems very...stress-free. HP and MP auto-regenerate while you travel, and I've never once come close to dying. The worst was around halfway, and it was specifically in two situations: where I was fucking around trying to get the Absorption timing (failed miserably), and when I was fucking around trying to show my wife the fencer doll design (I am not good enough at dodging to do this). Damage numbers are fairly low, and the recovery means it's never too much of a problem to eat shit in a room.

Right now the most frustrating aspect of the game is the lockon sucking ass. When you lock on, all it does is lock your camera on. Your spells have a separate toggle to aim, and it does not auto-align, so if you lock on and fire, odds are you missed. Which...sucks. It's really bad. There's bonus damage for landing headshots too, which is endlessly frustrating given this lack of automatic targeting to the broader body in the first place, but also because there's recoil for firing that throws your next shot slightly off from the first. It's messy. On the plus side, the above auto-regen covers a lot of this fault. But in the moment, it can get annoying to just constantly miss, especially when hitting also doesn't seem to stagger so you take more damage anyway.

The thing I'm enjoying most...well, two things. First is level up rate. The Souls games are about building out a character slowly over the course of the game, but levels feel very finite as a result, and there's very little variety to be had because points only go into what aligns to the build. Nobeta feels like I get like 6-8 levels every save point. It's a nice experience.

I will divert momentarily to comment, this could easily come back to haunt them a bit. One of my favorite Souls-related videos (around Elden Ring specifically) talks about the concept of diegetic difficulty in games, noting that Souls games have an "Easy mode" in the sense that the game becomes much easier or harder depending on the skills and traits you use. In the original Dark Souls, Sorcery was the effective easy mode. Powerful ranged attacks with high spell count meant you could ignore a lot of the direct combat aspects of the game, and made it a lot easier as a result, albeit with certain things then becoming more difficult because you had no melee capability. Nobeta is, presumably, balanced around the fact that ranged attacks are guaranteed, which could be a better or worse outcome depending on how they do with the whole situation. More on that once I'm better acquainted with the game.

The other thing I really like is the magic system actually having variety. Look. Dark Souls magic sucks ass. It's so fucking boring. It's all just different blue beams. Sometimes they go fast and deal little damage, sometimes they're slow and deal big damage, sometimes they hover for a bit before tracking the enemy, but they're all visually boring blue beams of power or whatever. It sucks. Even the alternates of miracles (just lightning bolts) and pyromancy (just fire, sometimes poison) are limited. Magic just always feels really restrictive in the souls games. Nobeta, being focused on the magic, has different types. I've only encountered two: your starting Arcane/Dark spells that have heavy impact and pierce with charge, and the new Ice that operates like a gatling gun that can be charged to multi-target enemies and rain death from above. They feel and look distinct, and I like this a lot.

Still getting truly acquainted with the game. My timing is shit, my familiarity with controls is lacking, I have had no real trouble beating whatever I come up against, and progression feels fast-paced. Enjoying it so far, will update over time.

[sonodaten]

Okay, now that I’ve finished my first playthrough I can organize my thoughts more. Under cut for potential spoilers.

THE GOOD:

-New vocations. Mystic spearhand, Warfarer, and even Trickster (even though I usually hate to play as a non-damage focused class) are all so incredibly fun to play that I basically maxed them out while “giving them a try” before I even realized what happened. I’d like to see the other mixed vocations from the first game return (Magick Knight!) but honestly a lot of their stuff was pretty seamlessly integrated into the existing classes or the new classes, so I’m not sure we will :/

-Monsters. It seems only fitting in the giant monster fighting RPG, the first two things I’d praise are the new ways of fighting and the monsters. Not only are there a lot of my favorites from the first game, but some great new ones like Minotaurs, Medusa, and the Sphinx. The fights are just as big as the last game, but some of the new ones are mechanically interesting as well. Medusa’s petrification beams have to be avoided (or not if you’re trying to do something special!), kinda reminiscent of the cockatrice from the first game but less annoying. The Gigantus boss fight has you desperately attacking stakes on its body to drain it of the Brine (whoever put that one on its heel, I saw it and I love you for it). And even with all, DDII did not forget that it was the “climb monsters and beat the shit out of them” game and made it BETTER, and for that, I can only respect them.

-Story (NOTE: at the time, I have only played through the base story and gotten the “Peace” ending, I have not gone through the Unmoored World quests and gotten the true ending). Story has never been the strong suit for DD (though DA was the standout for me), but I think DDII is a step up. The political intrigue is interesting and fun, the new Kingdom is cool, and Dragons are awesome. If there is one thing I will lament it’s that there was an element of silliness/humor in the first game that is sort of gone here (but there’s plenty of humor to be found in side quests, so I’m not particularly sore about it). There are not enough words to describe how I felt (and the shriek I let out) when I started to explore the Sea Floor Shrine and Realized.

THE MEH:

-Music. As someone who has spent the last 12 years listening to DD/DD:DA’s OST, this one was kind of a let down. I do still have my favorites (Harve Village and Melve Village), and was so excited to see some return (End of the Struggle), but I think it’s the overall mood that just kinda puts me off? I think there’s just something more melancholy and sad as a recurring theme in the first game’s music, which fits great into that game’s overall messaging and plot. Dragon’s Dogma II at most times just feels…generic fantasy? Like it wouldn’t seem out of place in any fantasy game, as opposed to music that was made for this game if that makes sense. Not bad music by any means, but certainly a step down from the first game.

THE BAD:

-Portcrystals. Specifically, the lack of portcrystals. I am not quite sure how you make a game map that is 2x the size of your first game and think cutting the number of available portcrystals in half is even remotely good. I know there are “technically” 7 bc of the portcrystals already in Harve and Vermund, which begs the question of why there isn’t one in/around Bakbattahl—the capital of the other nation and major city in the game????? Baffling to me. Ox carts do lessen the strain of traveling well-worn roads a little, but they’re cold comfort when they can get attacked so frequently and destroyed if a stiff breeze goes by them. There should’ve been 10 AT LEAST; 10 was excessive for DD:DA, but 10 (so the 2 at Harve and Vermund plus 8 satellites to put wherever you want) would’ve been a skeleton network for how big this map is. Also, like the first game, if you placed a portcrystal in the world and then started a new game from cleared game data, those portcrystals should have stayed where you put them. Wtf do you mean they’re all in my storage????

Overall impression: 9/10. Yeah, it was worth 12 years.

[vel-sig-gaming]

[Wildfrost] Review: "RNG" means "Skill Issue"

Card games are one of my favorite types of games. deckbuilding is fun, finding synergies like roguelikes or just looking for combos like a fighting game, it's like building a miniature game. Getting insane combos is fun in any game. There's a lot of room for different artstyles and mechanics in card games that can drastically changer he pacing and gameplay while still keeping the same genre. And recently I found wildfrost is one of the exemplars of what a card game should be.

It's a roguelike game, and you have a very limited deck selection. You'll only have about 10-15 chances to pick up a card all game including shops, and there's about 8 battles per run. Despite that it's still insanely deep and with enough synergies to make even standard 40 card deckbuilders weep in envy.

For starters, you can (usually) only play one card per turn, and you have a battle grid as well. So despite the action limit many things are still happening so the exemplary never feels slow. Cards attack automatically when deployed, and you have units or spells, basically. Combat normally looks like playing units and keeping them safe with spells while shutting down the enemy's threats, you can move your units around to dodge but if your leader dies it's all over.

The real fun part is charms and crowns though. Roguelike games are always famous for insane combos that are super inconsistent,t that's the high notes of that genre However, this game gives you consistency (for a price.) you can buy crowns which effectively allow you to play any card for free on turn 0. This makes each run feel standard enough, as it's not hard to force a specific interaction.

Combine that with charms which have a million different effects, ranging from +2 attack to "This card hits all enemies'.

The neat part is that everything ties into each other, in the sense of both charms and the actual cards. That charm that gives +2 attack? Can go on units, sure, but it can even go on spells. Even things that normally don't do damage. That card that had 0 attack, but applies a tiny debuff to all enemies? Guess that just got overpowered. It's all these little interactions, making any effect apply to any card in essence that maks you feel like a true gamer when making combos, And it's also why this game can afford to be so hard.

Indeed, thats the main criticism others have of this game, that it's unbalanced. Sad to say, everyone saying that is not only wrong, they're bad at the game. Because after a while playing it's VERY clear to see that the devs thought of everything. it's why some cards have pre-build effects like hitting all enemies, or consuming on use (so you can't apply consume effects to them again) or a million tiny effects like that. And when you see what the devs intended, it's crazy fun to break the game.

On the side of actual complaints though, Much like slay the spire though, you'll find that the first few difficulty modifiers make the game EASIER instead of harder (harder enemies, but more gold, for one.) Plus, in some fights, there's clearly an intended counter that if you don't have you just die, probably. Not to mention certain combos feel WAY too reliant on a single card that you only have like 6 chances to find before a boss slaughters you. Plus, the IMO most fun card in the game is only unlockable on the 3rd difficulty modifier. And lastly, for a roguelike, it felt no longer quite appealing after beating the final final boss just a few times, Though a 33 hour playtime can hardly be called a bad deal.

To summarize, it's a very good game. If you like hard games, strategy, card games, or just the general aesthetic it provides, it's worth every penny. Oh also the music is a banger, especially for the final 2 fights. Insanely fire.

Final recommendation: 8/10

[wawawanwan]

So happy to see this post bc I love these two SO much but it is incredibly hard to find any food for them. So for my fellow starving fans of Uncle Vegeta and nephew Gohan, I want to share my favorite fics of them (also, if you already know these fics or end up reading them and want to talk about them or even Vegeta and Gohan in gen, i am on my hands and knees, PLEASE my dms are open PLEASE TALK ABT THEM WITH ME PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PL)

Anyway, fic list:

Completed:

Cold World By jjgp1112 on Ao3 [Rating: T+, Warning(s): Graphic Violence, MCD || CH(s): 44, Words: 363,613]

Ao3 Summary:

After being kidnapped by Raditz and sent off to space with him, a young Son Gohan must now navigate a world of bloodshed and war under the most ruthless space tyrant in the known galaxy with only the savage Saiyans by his side. Will he be able to survive the unimaginable horrors with his humanity intact?

Personal Notes: One of the most popular fics of these two to my knowledge, but still a fav. Big fan of this part of the fic in particular: >> "I hate you…I hate you, Vegeta!" Gohan screamed in between his feverish strikes. "Is that so?" Vegeta said before striking Gohan down yet again. Before he opened his mouth back up to speak again, he waited for Gohan to stand back up. He didn’t give him a chance to prepare for another attack when he began. “You should . I’d expect nothing less,” Vegeta said. He swung his arm to the door. “I walk through these halls every waking day hating everyone and everything around me.”

This scene is the core of the fic. Vegeta teaches Gohan how to hate. How to use that hatred to keep going. He wants to escape? Fight to make it so. Peak fucked up found family that somehow ends up working out, for better or worse. (Raditz is also there, which is a huge plus.)

Shades of Gray by niteryde on Ao3 [Rating: T+ , Warning(s): Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings || CH(s): 10, Words: 52,453]

Ao3 Summary:

Three years after the Cell games and his father's death, Gohan is having a hard time, physically and emotionally. Bulma decides to ask her husband to help… will her plan work or will Vegeta's involvement only make things worse? Some BV.

Personal notes: a lot more going on than what the summary makes it out to be. Seeing how Vegeta acts with all the halflings (including Goten) is real cute. Two child soldiers with daddy issues bonding.

That is sadly the end of the Completed list, yeah... but I still recommend giving these incomplete/dropped fics a shot, a lot have a bunch written and are really, really, really good.

Incomplete/Dropped:

DBZ: Hope of the Universe (series) by TheFriendlyCritiquer on Ao3 [Rating: , Warning(s): Graphic Violence, Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings (final part) || CH(s): 25/? (Across three parts) , Words: 173,281] Status: Possibly Dropped, last updated: 03 Feb 2024. Updates were fairly frequent and quick in the past according to dates of older comments.

Ao3 Summary:

With an unexpected attack from the androids and an unlucky explosion, refugee Bulma Briefs with her young son Trunks and 14-year old Gohan discover that they have been zapped not only to the past, but to an alternate universe! The universe-hopping trio must now use their power, wits, and skills to survive. Hell is always on their heels, but strangely enough, they find refuge among the not-so-extinct Saiyans. Much to Gohan's distress, and Bulma's delight, he is catapulted to the top of Saiyan society - a society which he views as barbaric and destructive. Through a series of (mis)adventures, explosive battles, and political schemes galore the trio may just find their place in this universe.

Personal Notes: I am so normal for this series/au. I pray that one day it comes back, or at least the author is happy and healthy even if they don't return to writing it. This fic is so peak. Cinema. Planet Vegeta worldbuilding and Saiyan Culture. Saiyan Language, Saiyan tails, including Future Gohan's own tail. As a Super Saiyan, Gohan is seen as the strongest. Future Gohan is 14 here, but so much responsibility keeps getting dumped on him. He is a legend, seen as the strongest, by the Right of The Strong, he could order anyone on Planet Vegeta. He Does Not Want That. At all. To the Saiyans, the Super Saiyan is the legendary, undefeated warrior. The Strongest in the Universe. Gohan has only continuously lost against the Androids. He does not view himself as strong. Gohan also struggles because yes, Frieza is bad, Frieza definitely needs to die, but the Saiyans? They aren't much better, in fact, they're basically the same. Yet he's meant to train the Prince Vegeta to unlock the ssj power too? Also reminder: They're in an alternative universe, the Saiyans didn't go instinct. Things are different. I will let you read to find out what I mean by this. I strongly urge you to read it even if you don't normally read incomplete/dropped fics. I promise you won't regret it. The first three parts of the series are completed.

losers in some ancient war by Derogative on Ao3 [Rating: M, Warning(s): Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings|| CH(s): 4/?, Words: 39,081] Status: Likely Dropped, last updated 22/12/06.

Ao3 Summary:

A story about Gohan, Vegeta, the loss of cultural identity, and living with trauma.

Personal Notes: What the Ao3 summary says. It started post-Cell, when they were both dealing with the loss of Goku. When one was in need of venting dress, they fought. This continues far, far past Cell. Gohan really appreciates how he can express his more Saiyan-like thoughts and frustrations with Vegeta and not receive judgement or fear. Their bond here is incredible. I love it so much. There is so much trust and reliance on each other. Adult Gohan venting to Vegeta is so great. Please, please read this fic. Such a shame that so many banger fics of them get discontinued...

Language by unorthodoxx on Ao3 [Rating: NR, Warning(s): None || CH(s): 2/3, Words: 4,842] Status: Likely Dropped, last updated 2024/11/11 and the gap between the prior ch was not that long.

Ao3 Summary:

Vegeta glares at Gohan’s glowing form, the inconsistent spark of electricity and curses. Court Saladian drips acidic and rusty from his lips before mixing with the low tongue of his people. A bad habit left over from Nappa. The man bastardized the language and had no problem slipping in an uncouth word or two while respecting Vegeta’s pedigree. Gohan lands beside the small crater, myth draining from his hair. “What did you say?” ______ Or Vegeta's a warrior, not a teacher. Gohan wants to learn from him anyway.

There is one more fic similar to this, where Gohan asks Vegeta to teach him Saladian, but Vegeta doesn't want to admit that he doesn't actually remember how to speak it properly because Frieza forbade him from speaking it. All he knows how to do is write it and poorly speak it based off old fuzzy memories. Its really good but I can't find it anywhere and I bookmark everything, literally everything, I read, so I have no idea where it is or what it's name is. Tried finding it manually but alas. It lives on only in my memory.

thinking about gohan and vegeta and how their bond is underrated

the difference in their reactions to each other 😭

Gohan being the first one to step between Vegeta and Certain Death, twice, without an ounce of hesitation, and Vegeta saving him back despite his feelings about battle intervention.

Vegeta knowing Gohan's the best of all of them

Vegeta and Gohan both born prodigies assigned an unfair amount of responsibility to be Great and be a Saiyan Messiah(tm) way too young by a stubborn and proud if not (relatively) well-meaning father who didn't see any other option and I just think Gohan doesn't get enough credit as like. The first serious muscle behind Geets' personal growth.

[bye-bye-firefly]

So I just finished The Last of Us part 2. I really liked it!! I enjoyed the flashback sequences a lot and the overarching story and characters were all super great!

I ended up getting pretty attached to Abby. Her whole section was such a highlight, I loved seeing her interact with Lev and Yara. I was filled with like so much dread during the whole beginning section of her pov because I was scared of liking her and then I was filled with dread at end of her pov section because I didn’t want to see her reaction to all her friends being dead and then I was just sooo scared during her and Ellie’s whole fight scene. I’m really happy she got to go off with Lev in the boat at the end. I thought their relationship was really sweet! I got pretty attached to him too! He was great. He was wonderful. I was really nervous during that whole bit where that house was burning down and that random person came out and attacked him like, I had to start talking at the screen while I was watching that because I was so anxious. But the scar island was so pretttyyyy and the horse riding was so cool!! I loved the atmosphere! Also, loved the bridge section! It looked really cool too!!! And the way he was comforting Abby throughout the whole thing! I love it when characters are caring and I love it when characters care about each other! It’s so great!!!

And then I also really liked Dina!! She was so awesome! Her and Ellie were precious. Like their first kiss?? “You go, I go”??? It was soooooooo!! I liked them so much! I was also really excited that they made her Jewish!! So now she gets to be my favorite Jewish representation in a piece of media! Plus, Ellie’s bracelet had a Hand of Fatima on it! That was such a sweet little detail! It was awesome! And on an unrelated note to that, I loved her reaction to Ellie’s mask cracking! Like the sheer panicccc. And then the scene where Dina and Ellie are talking about Ellie’s immunity! Like, the heavy breathing and the expressions and then Ellie’s burden line. I was in such total shock for that bit. It was very intense. The voice acting for when she’s begging Ellie to stay tooooo I loved it so much!! Very cool scenes!

And then also Ellie’s character development was really brutal. Like, it hurt. Her killing Nora was so hard to watch. But like I love the way they did it. The lighting and the way Ellie’s facial expression changes was superr well done and then just like the way she’s so shaken up afterwards. Then when she kills Mel and Owen too and you have to watch her freak out and regret it, like the whole thing is a bit nauseating. And then at the end where she’s looking for Abby and she’s injured and weak and is desperately calling out Abby’s name. Felt sorta reminiscent of those scenes in media where like a character is dying and they’re desperately looking for their loved one to make sure they’re safe or something, but like Ellie’s looking for her specifically to kill her. And then there was also this whole sense of exhaustion to the whole thing. And like, it didn’t even feel like Ellie really wanted to kill Abby when they fought the second time, it felt more like she felt like she had to. I think. A good chunk of my experience watching this game was just me feeling anxious and ill and wishing the characters would curl up in a blanket with some hot chocolate and chill and that fight scene was definitely one of those times

Alright, and I also wanted to say the ending made me sad. Like, the whole game made me sad with the whole cycle of violence, revenge and grief thing going on. But just like seeing the empty house and then her playing the song before it cuts to that flashback. And like that flashback is definitely my favorite part of the game. Hearing the “but I’d like to try” after all this emotional buildup was sooo impactful. Like, seeing Joel and Ellie have this moment where all this hurt is so clear and There, where Joel has said he would do it again, where you can so very plainly tell that they love each other and then to hear that response. And then it cuts back to the present with Joel dead and her alone, physically unable to finish the song. It made me feel so mournful and lonely.

Not that I feel sad in like a nihilistic kind of way! Just in a a bunch of horrible things happened way. Like, I still feel hopeful since like Ellie didn’t kill Abby and she was able to actually let herself think about the last conversation she had with Joel, I don’t think she’ll be alone forever. Hopefully she’ll make more connections with more people. I really want her to be happy.

Anyway, Penny was very silly. I got impatient so I kinda just went and looked up the last of us part 2 and picked whatever playlist popped up first to watch the rest of the gameplay but I was very much enjoying her playthrough! Excited for whenever she uploads another episode. Lesbian hivemind, huchaaa, and getting lost while playing a linear game were all highlights of my viewing experience.

YESSSS FINALLY!!!! i have been so worried that by the end of this it was going to be like No, it's bad BUT ITS NOTTTTT YESSSSS I WIN!!! I FUCKING WIN!!! MY VICTORY MY PERFECT FUCKING VICTORY!!!!!

YESSS i love abby and lev. i always start abby's section iffy because by that point, she is only aware that what she did was wrong. like you see her face when she kills joel in her section. she knows it hasnt fixed anything, she knows shes fucked up, the only reason she powers through is because This is what she wanted. For years. there is so much about abby's section that really sells to you like This game. Isn't about revenge. It's about forgiveness.

dinas inclusion was absolutely to uphold neil druckmanns narrative on israel-palestine, which is incredibly flawed and Evil and tlou2 contains all these bullshit parallels and when you read it like that, it sucks. dina's character sucks because she's there to hold up the image of israel. However. the good thing about neil druckmann's confused take is that it lends to it falling apart completely. and so i dont even have to read it like that. And that's why I love dina. because ultimately dina is a wrench in everything where if everyone who comes from jackson is palestine, then it makes no fucking sense to have dina be there. dina is there and she wants ellie to pull back, but so does literally everyone else who sees her out there. jesse wants ellie to pull back because she literally abandons him when she sees a chance to get to abby and hes like That's Weird and then also DINA IS PREGNANT like seeing this whole game as israel-palestine at the time when the game came out is just. Ugh. druckmann. it does complicate dina's character, but ultimately, i think she is just fucking awesome. by the end of the game, no one wants to go after one another. like abby has moved on. the wlf dont even give a shit about ellie or jackson or whatever theyre doing. the seraphites didnt care in the first place. like. its over. its so fucking over. and dina is ready to have it be completely over. her bitching tommy out is awesome dina ultimately is awesome and neil druckmann is WRONG his game is about FORGIVENESS!!!!

yeah the end of the game. that is really what made me realise that it was all about love and forgiveness and wow . wow. because that is them finally making up. they had plans to make it further but that is i think all they needed. i would like to try. god damn man i love this game i really do love this game. everything EVERYTHING that happens its about love its about forgiveness its about all of it and they put you through ellies part not to tell you about how BAD revenge is but to show you that its hurting her, its hurting the people she loves, and she is getting nothing out of it. by the time they decide to leave seattle, ellie hasnt even seen abby. and for WHAT. because its like. she is hurting because she has hurt people. she is reliving trauma because she has hurt people. abby loses everything, but then ELLIE loses everything. dina, her kid, her place in jackson, everything. and it sucks that this couldve been avoided had abby just . Forgiven Joel. which is an INCREDIBLY difficult ask and its a fucking big one and i think thats why it couldnt have happened. there is no world where joel makes it out of his impulse decisions ALIVE. there is no world where abby doesnt push herself and everyone else toward this goal. there is no world where all her friends think its justified and righteous. there is no world where ellie doesnt chase her. this game is Inevitable. they were all always going to make these mistakes. but it is also inevitable that they find their way to forgive, whether it be "it's you..." or "just take him and go" or "i dont know if i can forgive you for that, but i'd like to try" and that is what is really beautiful. the fact that abby, who can cheat with a man who's about to be a father, who can kill joel while his daughter screams at her to stop, who can almost kill a pregnant woman, can find LOVE? can find FAMILY? and can be a genuinely good person? like fuck fuck fuck ohhh myyy goddddd hrhroeuhgoitjh ... .. its just like. christ man .

and thats another reason why i cling to this game so much because abby is Literally Me maybe not to the extreme but to the point where i have made mistakes and done some terrible fucking things. like i slipped down the alt-right pipeline and it took me a while to get where i am today and forgive myself and know better. like hate is a hard thing to get out of. and abby Goes Through that she Claws Her Way out of that no matter what sorts of terrible shit she's done and she gets reprimanded for EVERYTHING for ALL OF ITTTT she faces the consequences of her actions she doesnt just GET OFF for it and i HATE the idea that to pay she has to die. like. look at where she ended up. look at her friends. "i shouldve gotten the choice to kill her in the end" First of all you are playing tlou. This game has never been about choices. It's linear. Second of all. You missed the fucking point.

i am so glad you get it IM SO GLAD YOU GET IT TTTTASDGHALKGJAWREHGKJAER RRAAAAGHHH this is amazing. this is so fucking amazing. and now youre prepared for that fic that im still working on orz

pennys playthroughs are SO fucking funny i love her so much. im very excited for when she finishes the game also i know that she has played it before? i think? i think she says that when she starts the first game but i cant remember. but im just so excited to hear her thoughts. penny has such a good take on tlou1 that i know shes going to have a take that i agree with on tlou2 im so excited

[chaoswithkaycee]

Hellfire and Honeysuckle, Chapter One

Synopsis: A new girl has moved to Hawkins after the events of the hospital attack, with her own story and her own secrets. She's passionate about many things - her education, baking, friendship, kindness - and ready to finally make friends after a lifetime of running from place to place.

Warnings: Discussion of domestic abuse, discussion of murder, trauma but very little angst discussion (for now), disability, pervert thoughts but no actions

Rating: Minors DNI, this fic will have smut in later parts.

Author’s Note: This fic is both an attempt at self-love (the character's image, accent, disability, and some history are very much based on my own) and the first work I've written in over a decade. It's also the first thing I've ever posted to a public forum. Please be nice. A big thank you, once more, to @thisishellfire and @writerwannabetree for creating stories with plus-sized characters, spurring me to create a story with a character like me.

Word Count: 4k-ish

Honey hated new schools - she always had. Her mother moved her around so often, she’d started to mix up the names of her classmates in other states and other cities. Was Ian in Colorado, or was he in North Dakota? Stacey, Stacey was in Virginia. Or was that California? She’d tried to stay in contact each time, but each time, she’d fallen through. Their numbers would get lost, the phone didn’t have long-distance ability, or her mom just didn’t let her call them. She couldn’t really blame her - Mom didn’t want Dad to find either one of them, after she’d fled with Honey from their tiny hometown in Texas one night when she was six years old. Honey remembered looking at her mother from the passenger seat, clutching the only thing she’d taken with them - a small stuffed elephant that Honey had named Lawrence. She remembered watching the tears pour down her mother’s face, lip busted and bleeding, the eye closest to Honey already swelling shut. 

Sometime the next morning, she’d woken up on the couch of a stranger’s home, listening to her mother in the next room sobbing to someone named “Lilah”. Over the next few days, she learned that Lilah had been her mother’s friend in high school, before she’d met Honey’s father. Lilah was a nurse, having moved to Georgia after graduation. She was the only person who picked up when Honey’s mother called at a payphone in Beaumont, and she became Honey’s favorite person. She wore colorful dresses and kept her hair long, pulled into a braid when she was working or cleaning. Her shelves were cluttered with knick-knacks, tchotchkes, and keepsakes, and she had books everywhere. Honey knew then, at six years old - she wanted to be like Lilah. Lilah helped Honey’s mother get cleaned up, procured clothes from the local church for both of them, kept both of them fed and comfortable, and helped her mom sell her car for a new one, one with new license plates. One her father wouldn’t know. She even helped her mom find a nursing program in another town. Less than a week after arriving in a small town outside the state capitol, Honey and her mother left in a beat up blue Oldsmobile, waving goodbye to a sniffling Lilah.

Honey didn’t remember where they’d gone after that - the cities and states and street names had started to melt together after the third or fourth move. Her mom would take them back to Lilah every year, where they’d all spend a week together in the summer. Lilah always had new toys and games for Honey, new dolls and new stuffies. Nothing replaced Lawrence, though. Lilah made sure he stayed in good condition, taught Honey how to mend tiny tears on his body and how to wash him without destroying him. She was also the one who noticed how easily Honey’s skin bruised, how often she complained of sharp pains that stole the feeling from her fingertips, how she favored heat on her joints at bedtime. When she was about thirteen, after a particularly bad stretch where she felt something not right happen in her shoulder, Lilah convinced her mother to go to the doctor with Honey. There, Lilah advocated with Honey’s mother and they walked out with a diagnosis - Ehlers Danlos Syndrome, a collagen disorder named at the turn of the century. Honey’s painful joints came from partial dislocations, her loss of sensation from nerve damage, her lack of menstruation from a secondary disorder caused by the first. For the next week, Lilah and Honey poured over medical journals and textbooks, learning everything about the multi-system disorder. Lilah walked them both through what Honey needed - stabilizing wraps and braces, mobility aids, pain management techniques - and even taught her how to customize them. Everything about Lilah radiated comfort, love, and acceptance. Every year, Honey swore she’d be like her. 

But this past summer, not long after they’d left, Honey’s dad found Lilah. From what her mother was able to share with her, it wasn’t pretty. The neighbors had called the cops when they heard the screams, but it had been too late. Her father was arrested, convicted, and imprisoned in less than a week; she and her mother were safe; but Lilah was dead. Her mother was called back to Georgia by Lilah’s lawyer, where Lilah’s will was read. Lilah had left most of her possessions to Honey and her mother - the knickknacks and keepsakes and the stacks of toys and games and books Lilah had bought for Honey were packed into boxes and stacked inside a moving van.

And that’s how she ended up here. Mom wanted a new start, one more move, and Hawkins Memorial Hospital needed new nurses after some kind of wild animal had killed nearly everyone there in July. It seemed Death had been busy in the summer of 1985. Now, her first day of her senior year, a week before her 18th birthday, Honey stood in front of yet another new school. Her mom promised this was the last move, they would stay in the cute little one story house with the yellow window shutters come Hell or high water - at least, that was what she’d promised. She told Honey this the night before her first day, hoping she’d make real friends this time. Hoping the sling her arm currently sat in wouldn’t hold her back. Hoping, Honey thought, that she wouldn’t hold herself back anymore. With one more sigh, she eyed her bicycle, wondering if she could get away with sneaking back home. Maybe mom was already asleep, since she worked the night shift, and she could sneak back in. But she knew better. Get it over with.

Honey pulled her bag up higher on her good shoulder, and walked into the school. It was decently sized, a little big considering the actual population of the town, but she took that as a sign that the school had good funding and maybe, God-willing, she’d get an actual education. Weaving between returning students and holding her sling close to her chest, she managed to squeeze into the front office. It was quieter here, quieter than the hallways at least. The thin, scratchy carpet muffled the sounds of her sneakers as she walked to the administrative desk, trying to keep her breath low and quiet. Standing at the rib-height desk, she cleared her throat. The woman behind the desk looked up at Honey behind her spectacles, a crumb from the breakfast sandwich she was eating still clinging to the pink lipstick she’d chosen that morning. “What can I help ya with, sweetpea?” She asked, a hint of the midwestern accent coloring her words.

“I, uh, I’m new. I’m supposed to start today. Transferrin’ from Pisgah, Alabama.” she stuttered out, hoisting her backpack and wincing when her bad shoulder was jostled. The woman, Deidre (according to her admin ID),  took a whistling breath in through her nose and shuffled through her paperwork, muttering to herself. Honey looked around at the drab office space, the inspirational posters and papers stapled everywhere. Each school was like the last, in this regard. This office looked no different than the ones in Alabama, in California, in New Hampshire, in Kentucky and Louisiana and Virginia and South Dakota and every other state she’d lived in. A high pitched “ahem” brought her attention back. 

“Here’s your paperwork sweetpea. This here is your schedule,” She pointed to the bright pink paper on top of the stack, then moved it off to the side. “Now, I’ll need your guardian to fill out this form,” she showed Honey one, setting it to the side, “This form,” she repeated the action, “And this form. If you’d like to join any of our athletics teams…” She trailed off, looking at Honey’s shoulder, then recovered her speech. “If you’d like to join any of our athletics teams, you’ll have to speak with the coaches. Here’s a list of all of our clubs and teams.” Honey nodded, gathering the papers in one hand as she scanned the list of clubs. One in particular caught her eye. “Ma’am?” she asked, as Deidre took a seat with a heavy exhale. “Hm?” Deidre huffed, raising an eyebrow at Honey’s muddled southern drawl. “This one here at the bottom. Hellfire Club. What is that?” Deidre’s lips tightened to a thin line. “Satanic hogwash, if you ask me,” She replied, taking another whistle-breath through her nose. “It’s that Dungeons and Dragons group. They meet on Fridays.” Honey thanked her once more, sliding her schedule on top of the pile and adjusting her backpack again, looking at the clock while pushing out of the door with her back. First bell would ring in a few minutes, and her first class was her favorite - English Literature.

The rest of the day, and week, passed in a blur. New teacher names, new classmate names, dress code rules, sign this form, where did her last teacher leave off, did she get the summer reading list, introduce herself to the class, blah blah blah, drone drone drone. She managed to avoid the cafeteria all week, opting to eat the home-packed lunch from her mother on a picnic table outside. Here and there, other students would do the same, sitting at the far end away from her, but she didn’t mind. She could listen to their conversations, pretend she was part of their group, without having to actually put effort into it. This way, she was able to find out more about the town, the students, the school, the clubs. She was able to decide what to give her attention to, and one club in particular stayed in her peripheral all week.

And so it was, Friday after school, she stood outside the room that the “Hellfire” Club was meant to meet in, half an hour early, dragging her backpack by the loop on top. She didn’t hear anything from inside - duh, why would she, she was early - and she tried to decide whether it would be better to wait by her bike outside for a more appropriate time, or whether she should just go inside and be there when everyone else showed up. She stood, rooted to the spot, chewing the inside of her cheek, staring straight ahead at the door. Back, and forth. Wait outside. Go inside. Wait outside. Go inside. She didn’t hear the footsteps on the other side of the door until it swung open. She found herself face to face with a red-faced demon, sharp horns level with her cheek bones.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Eddie had been planning the new campaign for the start of the school year since he’d found out he was repeating three months ago, and he simply couldn’t wait anymore. Sure, he didn’t expect too many people to show up, and not for another half hour at that, but he wanted to have everything ready for those who did show. He’d skipped all week, but waited in his van on Friday to see students leaving. As soon as they did, he was making his way to the room designated for the club and setting up. He’d brought a stack of character packets - only ten, he didn’t expect any more than that - his copy of the players guide, his copy of the DM guide, and several sets of dice. His plan for today was just to introduce anyone who was new to the game, go over rules, get character sheets started, discuss some ground rules for etiquette - both in game and out. Satisfied that he’d set up the best he could, he decided to go ahead and prop the door open for whoever was coming, making it easier for them to find. He swung the door open, and stopped. There was a girl a foot from the door, and he couldn’t stop from staring.

She was short, her forehead level with his chest, with red-blonde curls pinned back on one side, and a smattering of freckles across her cheeks and nose. A round face with chubby cheeks and a slightly downturned nose, gray eyes, and a natural lift to her lips that made it look like she was wearing a secret smile. His eyes traveled further down, to the flowing black tank top she was wearing - he couldn’t blame her, it was fucking hot outside- and shorts so small and tight that he was surprised she hadn’t been dress-coded. He would venture a guess that it had something to do with the sling on her arm - nobody wanted to be the one who argued with a kid in a sling. 

He looked back up to that pretty face, those gray eyes trained on his own face, and realized he’d been staring for close to a full minute - which was probably coming off as pretty creepy. Seeking to amend this and make her feel a little more welcome, and hoping she actually intended to stay, he hunched his back and curled his fingers to imitate a gnarled old hag. Beckoning to her, he raised the pitch of his voice and added vibrato to cackle out “And what lost soul is this I find, wandering into my lair with no one to protect her?” He was rewarded for his effort with a smile that could have melted snow, the girl's two front teeth slightly crooked but something about it was endearing.

“I wanted to join. If there’s open membership, I mean. I just transferred from Alabama, but my old school didn’t have a Dungeons and Dragons club.” Her voice was low and melodic, and he raised his eyebrows at the southern drawl on her words - how “wanted to” had become “wanned ta”, how her “I” become an “Ah”, the way “didn’t” became “did-inn”, the way she dragged the A’s. He’d never been south of Franklin, but if this was what they sounded like below the Mason-Dixon line, he’d pack his bags tonight.

“Yeah, we have open membership as long as you’ve got an open mind. Come on in. You’re a little early, though. Couldn’t contain your excitement, huh?” He wiggled his eyebrows and basked in her laugh. She turned to drop her backpack by the door, and he saw a better view of those shorts. The way they sat just under the curve of her ass, plastered to the smooth skin, just tight enough to make the skin beneath bulge out slightly. Oh, boy. He was in trouble.

“It’s the only thing I’ve looked forward to all week. Something new and different.” She said, looking back at him over her shoulder. He was quick to bring his eyes up, his tongue darting out to wet his lips before he gave her a dimpled smile. She adjusted her sling and he watched the way her breasts moved, jostled by the sling, before he noticed that she winced. Clearly, she was in pain, and here he was ogling her like a pervert. He stuck his hand out. “I’m Eddie.” Please, tell me your name is as beautiful as you, he thought as she looked at his hand.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

She took his hand in a very light shake, uncomfortable with touching a stranger. “You can call me Honey.” She watched his face, measuring his reaction. Most people immediately laughed at the name she’d chosen. “I’m sorry, did you say your name is Honey?” His voice teetered on a laugh and she tried not to be annoyed. “No, I said you could call me Honey. My mama calls me Honeysuckle, like the flower. It’s not my name, but I like it better.” She didn’t want to tell him that she still remembered her father bellowing her name through the house that night, that the reason her mom had been so badly beaten was because she’d shielded Honey’s six-year-old form as the beast she’d married had thundered toward the little girl. She never wanted to hear her name again. Honey, or Honeysuckle, would be just fine.

He seemed to mull her nickname over, mouthing it. Honeysuckle. Almost like he was tasting it, testing to see if it fit her. It sounded sweet, deceptively so, but the delicate nature of the name definitely fit the five foot tall frame in front of him. As he smirked and nodded, he repeated the name. “Honey. Well, welcome to Hellfire, Honey. Let’s get you a shirt.” No sooner had he turned around than she felt a rush of air - first behind her, then on her left side. she yelped as a body slammed into her shoulder. Throwing her good arm up to pull her injured arm closer to her, she turned her back to whoever had slammed into her. White pinpricks swam in her vision for a second as her blood roared in her ears. It only lasted for a few seconds, but when her vision cleared and her ears stopped roaring, she could hear a squeaky voice apologizing at the same time that Eddie was calling her name from a few steps away and asking if she was okay. It took another few seconds for her to catch her breath, for the painful twitches to fade enough for her to speak again.

She looked around behind her, still cradling the sling-arm. “I’m fine. Sorry. It’s just still a little tender and you managed to hit the wrong spot. It’s okay. I’m fine, I promise. It just twinged.” Her voice was still breathless, a little high pitched, but she tried to convey the confidence she needed to get them to move on. She didn’t want to explain being disabled so soon - people started acting differently every time, and she wanted just a little normalcy and typical teenage time before she had to become “an inspiration” again. A curly haired boy in a Weird Al shirt, a few inches taller than her, was holding his head with a look of embarrassment and guilt on his face. He must have been the one who hit her. She gave him another smile, swallowing down a second sharp wince. “Y’all must be joinin’ Hellfire too.” Her smile was tight, and she felt Eddie’s eyes following her as she walked around the table. She slid into one of the seats around the table, needing to sit before something else dislocated. The boys around the room followed her lead, even Eddie, coming to sit at the head of the table on her left side. This gave her injured arm space without someone else bumping it, and for that she was thankful.

“What happened to your shoulder? Ow!” The curly haired boy was rubbing his arm where Eddie had pinched him. “That’s rude,” Eddie hissed, but she gave a tight smile. The curly haired boy, who she’d later learn was named Dustin, was sitting across from her, adjusting his ball-cap. She noticed they were all looking at her, and her stomach started twisting. Luckily, she’d already planned an excuse before the school week even started. “Nothin’ major, I was walkin’ our dog - he’s a big, dumb boxer mix, so he’s heavy - and he caught scent of a squirrel or somethin’. He took off and the leash jerked my arm out of socket.” She saw one of the boys wince. “Oh, it’s okay! My mama’s a nurse, she got me fixed right up. It’s just a little tender and swollen still, but I should be able to get out of the sling by the end of next week.” She reassured them.

A wiry boy next to the curly haired ball-cap boy put his elbows on the table, sighing wistfully. “I wish my dad would let me have a dog. What’s your dog's name?”

Shit. She hadn’t thought of a name for a dog that didn't exist. Her mind flashed back to the purple and blue stuffed elephant on her bed at home. “Lawrence. My dog’s name is Lawrence.”

To end the conversation, she turned to Eddie, forcing all attention on him. There was a split second of silence before he began, starting by welcoming everyone, then passing out shirts - he seemed to have a whole range of sizes, maybe they’d ordered in bulk? - And then set them all to work creating character sheets. No campaign was going to be run tonight, he said, they were just all familiarizing themselves with each other and their characters. Before she knew it, the sun outside had dipped down and a janitor came by to give a ten minute warning to clear out. Somehow, she’d spent three hours here, laughing and finally feeling at home. Eddie had spent probably half of the time walking her through the different races and classes, and she was thankful for the crash course.

As she wrestled her backpack zipper open one-handed, she felt a presence on her left side, just out of eyesight. She tilted her head back to look behind her. Eddie. “Hey, Honey,” He seemed to enjoy saying her nickname, his lips pulling up in a toothy grin, “Do you need help?” He didn't wait for an answer. Eddie squatted down next to her, unzipping her backpack and putting the shirt and new character sheet inside before zipping it back for her. She reached over to pick it up, but he was faster. In one motion, he’d slung her bag over his shoulder and stood, holding his hand out to help her up too. She took it, letting go as quickly as she could. She still didn't want to touch him, he was still a stranger. “I can carry my bag.” She muttered, reaching for it again. “I’m sure you can.” He answered, twitching his shoulder back to keep it out of her reach as he led her outside. She followed, because what other choice did she have? 

“Okay, I’ll let you carry it to my bike but that’s it. I need it, my homework is in there.” She finally conceded, still cradling her arm. He stopped and whirled around, walking backwards to face her. “Wait, you’re riding a bike home? After dark? One handed?” His voice rose a pitch with every addition to his sentence. She just nodded, watching behind him to make sure he didn't walk into anything. He stopped, so she did. “Nope, nope, not happening. As metal as that is, I’m not allowing that. That’s not happening. I’m driving you home.” Now, she realized, his voice reminded her of the dirt road to Lilah’s house. There was something comforting about his statement, something that sounded like caring. She shook her head. “No, Eddie, I couldn’t let you. It’s already late, I’m sure you have somewhere to g-” He shushed her. She blinked, first in shock, then indignation. “Did you just shush me?” Her twang became more prominent with annoyance, stretching her “you” into “yew”, and he chuckled. “I did, Honey. I’m driving you home. Don't worry, I can fit your bike in the van. I don’t have anywhere to go, I can give you a ride home. I don’t want you trying to get home in the dark with one arm.” She opened her mouth to argue, but he raised a finger and spoke again. “Ah-ah, no arguing. Let’s go.”

Twenty minutes later, he was unloading her bike and backpack from the back of his van and rolling it inside the chain link fence surrounding her new home. Mom’s car was already gone, off to her night shift at the hospital. Good, she wouldn’t have to explain the boy who smelled like skunks and cigarettes to her. Finally, at her door, he looped her backpack over her good shoulder and patted her head. “Be good, Honey. I’ll see you at school.” And then he was gone, strutting back to his van as she fiddled with her key. She noticed, however, that he didn’t drive away until she was inside and had closed the door. Hawkins was starting to feel like home. She smiled, repeating his last words in her head. I’ll see you at school. She couldn’t wait for Monday.