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sekhithefops · 7 months ago

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The Best Games I Played in 2024

So, its been a crazy ass year huh? Great year to say "fuck this, I want to find a good video game and basically hide in it until the real world is less fucked up than the one with monsters and wizards and shit."

Well, as the year draws to a close and with that thought fresh in our minds now, here's my favorite ten games of 2024. A few ground rules.

This is in NO particular order of best to worst, this is just the ones that stood out in my memories this year.

This is for games I personally played in 2024. Some came out before 2024, but I didn't play them until now so it counts.

These are for the games I liked. Some will be Triple-A, some will be Indies, some will be full release, some will be Early Access.

There MAY be spoilers for some games. If this is an issue, exits over there thank you for stopping by.

Ready, here we go then.

Final Fantasy XVI

Having literally just finished this game at time of writing, I can say that it may well be one of my favorite entries to the series now and I cannot for the life of me work out why the fuck this game was so divisive among the fanbase.

I will say this is the darkest Final Fantasy has been story wise since the infamous Type 0 which literally opens like Anime Apocalypse Now, but it also has plenty of moments of levity to balance out the darker spots.

Its not Turn Based Combat, but it is combat directed by Ryota Suzuki, whose name you may recognize if you're familiar with a certain red-coated white haired swordsman with a fondness for pizza. Thats right, same guy who did Devil May Cry V's combat. If you enjoyed beating the everloving hell out of everything as Dante, you might want to consider this one.

But yes, I genuinely consider this one of my favorite entries out of the FF series now. I mean, it literally ends with you punching God in the face.

I'm not kidding, I screenshotted it.

Personally, I really had fun with it and I'm interested to see what the Seventeenth installment will bring... in about 4-5 years give or take.

Metaphor ReFantazio

Good year for RPGs from our friends across the Pacific wasn't it? Metaphor is a story about a young man named Will (or whatever name you gave him) who travels the world on a quest to become elected king because of a giant floating face in the sky telling everyone thats how it works now, while beating up monsters based on the works of Dutch painter Hieronymus Bosch that, as it turns out, are the mad remnants of humanity following a war that ended the old world.

Yeah its a weird game... and basically Persona. But still a decent one.

Only complaint I had was that they didn't stick the landing and the final dungeon was such an ordeal I just said 'screw this noise' and went off to do something else. Sorry Will, looks like your country is screwed. Good luck with that.

Resident Evil Village

Yeah, I know. I just now got to Lady Dimitrescu and her big Mommy Milkers. Theres a lot of games out there and only so many hours in the day okay?

Still I'm glad I got there eventually. While I played through VII as well I found the villains from that one ultimately forgettable and the game itself... not bad but I'd played better.

Village however was absolutely the shot in the arm the series needed. The perfect mix of disturbing horror with the monster baby, the puppet creatures, and the like, and the campy batshittery with bombastic villains like Karl "Hillbilly Magneto" Heisenberg who is now a personal favorite of mine.

Outstanding job on this one Capcom, please don't fuck up RE IX okies?

Enshrouded

If you know me you know I'm a sucker for a good survival crafting game. Mix in RPG elements and set it infront of me and five weeks later the police call off the search and give me up for dead.

Enshrouded is a great title, still in early access mind but with a ton of wonderful ideas behind it and I'm very eager to see where the devs are going with all this.

A high fantasy game where you can focus on being a big burly warrior, a cunning rogue with daggers and bow, a mighty sorcerer, or a little of each as you try to rebuild the world and create your own happy little village to survive the apocalypse... with an actual village infact. Normally I don't like survival games with NPC supporters (I find they get in the way as often as not) but somehow Enshrouded did it right. Good job guys.

SPEAKING OF SUCH GAMES...

Nightingale

If Enshroued fits me gameplay wise, this is a game that fits me perfectly in terms of genre and theme, and potentially gameplay eventually.

I am a massive massive massive geek for anything fae-themed. Changeling the Lost/Dreaming? Hell yes. Seanen McGuire's October Daye series? Gimme. Pan's Labyrinth? Wunderbar!

I love survival crafting games as I mentioned above.

And anything with a unique clothing aesthetic has my attention immediately. MMOs get me with this all the time with WoW's transmog and FFXIV's glamour system.

So a game that's dripping with fae lore, a survival crafting title, and set in the Victorian era?

(art by @xhyperwolfx )

Yep, if I'm abandoned by the authorities for Enshrouded, then for Nightingale I'll be off with the faeries and won't reappear for a century like Rip Van Winkle.

Its not perfect yet, but the dev team is doing their damndest and after the last major update I'm very interested to see whats coming next.

Aces & Adventures

This one I had almost forgotten about, but just seeing it in my Steam list again makes me want to play it.

A card game RPG where you take a deck of 52 poker cards and, indeed, go on adventures using them. Pick one of five classes and sally forth to see the world with a lovely narration and a story that appears to be looping on itself with each retelling.

I'm best with the mage myself, but I'm kind of wanting to try other ones too. I can definitely say it's a favorite of mine now and one I recommend for gamers on a budget.

Palworld

And as far as I'm concerned Nintendo is just being a little bitch because PocketPair did so many things fans have been asking them to do for years that they had to pull out a bullshit lawsuit.

Palworld is an explorative game with survival crafting elements and collection RPG elements (yes collection RPGs like Shin Megami Tensei, Digimon Story, and ALL THE OTHER ONES THAT NINTENDO IS CONVENIENTLY IGNORING DO THE SAME THING POKEMON DO YES I'M SALTY) where you wash up on a beach, find a tablet, and then say 'eh, may as well catch 'em all.'

Then team up with them all, have them all help you build a base, have them all let you ride them around the world, have them all even pick up a gun themselves and watch a magical squirrel bust a cap in someone's ass.

Still in early access as well, but I have high hopes that they'll weather the storm of Nintendo's little 'waaaaah we wanna be king shit' tantrum and come out the other side better than before.

Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous

I didn't really get into this one until 2024 and bigods I'm sorry to Owlcat for taking so damn long. An outstanding CRPG with a downright dizzying number of possible character builds with around two dozen classes and a dozen archetypes for each, a story based on the Pathfinder Adventure Module of the same name, and a well imagined Mythic Path system where you can literally play god by the end of the game.

Want to be an undead gnome? Well oogity boogity m'lads!

A half orc bard who is becoming a fae lord? Why the hell not!

A dwarven herbalist who rides around on a wolf because of his crippled back and makes healing salves out of magic plants? Godspeed ya mad bastard!

I kept starting over because I kept getting new ideas for new characters to be and come up with stories for and if you've ever glanced at my writing projects like Adventures in Azeroth...

... read my godsdamn fanfic... o_o

Anyways, point is, if something grabs my story brain that thing is basically going to live rent free in my head for the rest of my life.

Their follow up to this, Warhammer 40k Rogue Trader, wasn't bad at all... but Pathfinder was a lot more fun and I do hope Owlcat return to the world of Golaria someday.

SandLand

Out of all of Toryama's properties (miss ya big guy) I would never have thought SandLand would have gotten more than maybe a tiny mobile game tie in.

Instead it got a huge explorative action RPG with some great voice acting (though they could stand the option to tone down the tank chatter,) a bright colorful world, and an interesting story that actually continues on AFTER the end of the short-lived comic series he did for Shonen Jump back in the day.

A surprise I had not expected, but a title I grew to love. I never got around to finishing it and I feel like I should really do something about that someday soon.

Pacific Drive

Easily the most unique and surreal game I've played in the past several years. You wind up in a bizarre exclusion zone where reality has gone all wibbly wobbly on you, bound to an apparently sentient station wagon, and now you have to customize and prepare it to drive across the ruined wastelands in the hopes that you can escape back to civilization.

And... thats it. Drive around and explore, avoid reality warping insanity, and keep your car in one piece as it is your only means of protection and conveyance.

Sounds simple, but its anything but. Hazards will do tons of hurt to your little four door (and indeed may reduce the number of doors entire,) you have to constantly scavenge for bits to repair the car, build tools, and new gear, and there's areas where if you stay out too long you run the risk of a rather unfortunate fate... though whether thats death via radiation sickness or being transformed into a rubber duck is a detail the game never goes into.

An outstandingly imaginative title that I recommend to anyone who loves exploration, or just always wanted to customize a car.

And thats my 2024 in review. Thank you for joining me, and here's hoping I get to do a 2025 in review before the downfall of western civilization due to a combination of climate change disasters, social unrest, and having re-elected an orange clown to the White House.

Happy new year everyone!

#video games #2024 in review #happy new year #PC gaming #Steam

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inconsideratekidney · 8 months ago

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10/22/24

good evening y'all,

question (/hot take?): do you prefer toaster ovens or air fryers?

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i'm curious why people put stickers on poles and other public structures. why do they waste good stickers on public spaces? sure i don't want a furry sticker or an anime one, but someone does, so why do people throw them up everywhere? i'd say keep them if you bought them! i know some are advertisements, but i see the same furry wolf sticker every week and do not need to see it. if you like it, keep it or advertise it on your own belongings, not on a public space.

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can you get along with someone who is very similar to you? do you just get someone that is very similar to you or do you clash and butt heads often? for me it depends on the person and the differences (wow, no shit!) but like seriously, yeah.. if our differences are that we both share the same trait, but in different ways, then yeah we're bound to actually be more different, but when we both have the same personality and humor is works out nicely. it's either water and oil or bread and butter. now i want some bread and butter, ooooh, no i want garlic bread.

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how does one achieve that tomboy aesthetic, while also maintaining femininity? i've had this problem since elementary school, believe it or not. i can't tell if people think i have it all together fashion-wise cuz i don't. i often see people wear similar things every day and have a general style--even if that style is extraordinary and extravagant or if they're gender fluid--i still see somewhat of a pattern, but what do they think in their heads? i'm constantly annoyed when a fit doesn't eat and also isn't comfy. it irks me that a fit is just mid and plain and stupid. when i put effort into it and it just looks like i did nothing or like i cant match a style to my body type. i still don't know what my body type is and what style would look best.

i did actually find myself recently thinking of friends and others i see on a regular basis and what clothing i would put them in or what i think would look best on them and it's honestly so much fun, until i can't focus on it for very long. i cannot daydream or fantasize on purpose which is rough when i actually have cool ideas. i wish my brain let me focus on one thing, then i'd have more to write about in this section. womp womp.

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one second i crave chocolate, and the next i crave cheese. what is up with that?? i really want one of those cheddar baked-on bagels ever since i saw someone eat it yesterday. i know i won't like it, but i want to have it. i also really love brie now. has anyone else been getting those cooking videos where all they do basically is bake garlic and smear it on bread with brie or make pesto and smear that on, drizzle a shit ton of olive oil at like every step and tons of salt and pepper at the end. crazy how at one point i saw so many of those videos and they just stick with me. love them, but they do bamboozle me. one account can just label themself as a cooking channel, but mostly post the same garlic recipe five thousand times. i will like every single one they post, but will still be annoyed they know how to get people like me. i am still shaking my fist at the stupid good algorithm.

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i wrote something yesterday while walking to class and added a bit more to it:

something about the warmth of the wind and the liveliness of the swaying flora around summoned her attention to the auburn leaves and singing fronds about. suddenly the depths of the internet mattered no more than benign particles floating just out of sight. her gaze traveled to the earth around calling out for one glimpse of recognition. one existence waiting peacefully to be noticed and appreciated by the bumbling folks who don't often pay any mind to the beauty around them. only then when her breath come back into her body did she realize she had forgotten everything prior to this moment. she took it all in, breathed in and out, and continued about her day.

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it is a struggle for me to not pick up leaves off of the ground lately. i'm kinda addicted to leaves rn. got a whole bunch of them sitting on my window sill..i'm not kidding, there's probably at least 20 or 30. and i love them all. all so beautiful in their own ways even with their "imperfections" which are totally perfect to me. i love every leaf i see on the ground, but especially the vivid orange and red ones. i do love a good brown and green leaf as well tho, gotta represent my favorite colors.

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anyshways, i felt like this was a good blog. it felt genuine and not over the top ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

tldr?: it didn't feel that long, but there's always someone who thinks it is

toaster oven or air fryer?

stickers in public

opposite persons

tomboy/feminine style

food...

something i wrote

leaves!!!

idk if these tldr's are useful or not, but i like summarizing and it keeps me on track knowing i gotta write one so i don't go on and on. maybe i should put these at the beginning, but i don't wanna. >:(

guten tag,

kD >:p

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axvwriter · 2 years ago

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CatMask Writing Options

I'm taking a lot longer than I thought I would to just to draw a Twst SSR card. I decided I want to draw Bobo in different Twst card styles to help push myself out of my comfort zone and it's definitely pushing me.

Bobo is one of my characters that I want to most try putting in Twisted Wonderland as yuu/mc. Envisioning characters in already existing fictional worlds has been a way for me to create my own characters and I do find it a fun exercise to try imagining certain ocs in certain fictional worlds.

One of these other ocs is CatMask by itself. As if I have CatMask with Milo, it would react very differently. With a young ward in its care, CatMask would focus mostly on keeping Milo safe and getting back to their world. With it having no ward, it'll find no reason to rush home and will instead curiously check out the world.

Yeah I'm imagining most of my ocs as taking the place of mc/yuu since none of the ones I choose can travel across worlds/dimensions themselves. My ocs that can travel so freely, I don't see a reason for them to go to Night Raven College exactly, unless it's the violent ones but I have no interest in writing my ocs attacking the college.

So I'm going to list here a few ideas I have for writing for CatMask.

-CatMask arriving in Twisted Wonderland via coffin ceremony and helping Grim become a student.

-CatMask following after Trey during the Wish Upon A Star event, using its own body to carry lit wishing stars.

-CatMask during the halloween events, but I'd like to experience those first before I write them. Reading the events on the wiki is one thing, getting to play the event is different enough that I rather wait.

-CatMask having fun during the A Firelit Sky event then hiding during the actual fireworks show? Another event I haven't experienced yet.

-CatMask tsum?? I'm not sure if I should give CatMask a tsum of itself...

-CatMask taking a liking to Trey and following him about much to his chagrin.

-Riddle using his unique magic on CatMask and everyone freaks out.

-How CatMask fights overblots.

-Crowley sends CatMask to deal with Azul's contracts. Basically how the Octavinelle book goes with CatMask as mc.

-Jamil invites Grim to Scarabia's dorm during winter break, not realizing Grim expects the invite to be extended to CatMask, which he can't easily lock in a bedroom. Basically how the Scarabia book goes with CatMask as mc.

-How CatMask reacts to the blot crystals.

-Malleus visits Ramshackle Ruins Dorm to find it being occupied by Grim and CatMask.

Then I also have some art ideas for CatMask. I will draw some pieces for some of the writing above, but this is stuff that won't really have much writing if any at all with it.

-CatMask getting its own Harveston Ribbon like Grim does.

-CatMask wearing ceremonial robes similar to Grim's.

-CatMask wearing some of the Diasomnia's dorm outfit bits (If CatMask were to be sorted into a proper dorm, I'd imagine it to be Diasomnia.)

-CatMask floating behind Azul while he's seated at his desk, Azul wanting to sign a contract.

If anyone wants to know how CatMask would react to their Yuusona/Mc-insert, feel free to send in an ask. I might contact you for more details about your mc-insert. Same goes for twst ocs.

Sending in questions about CatMask is also acceptable and may help me expand some lore for it.

I may have to just admit to myself to draw other stuff inbetween working on the SSR Bobo card I mentioned at the start of this post.

I tried to put in a poll but I reached the limit and can't run two polls at the same time... so I suppose comment or send in an ask of what you'd like to see first out of this potential CatMask stuff.

#long post #axvie talks #catmask #twst related #oc

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chronicallylatetotheparty · 4 years ago

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Float Like A Butterfly... Ch.6 ...Sting Like A Bee

Summary: An unexpected ally appears before Marinette. The only problem is, he's stumbled onto something he shouldn't have. And she needs it back.

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Marinette was having a terrible day.

First she shows up late with the principal accessory of the Gabriel line's Fashion Week showing. Fashion Week! Marinette was looking forward to it all month!

Next Audrey Bourgeois, Style Queen herself, treats the hat Marinette worked so hard on like gum on the bottom of her shoe. Sure Adrien had been super encouraging but he hadn't seen the look of utter contempt on Audrey Bourgeois face. No one could look that disgusted all the time!

Speaking of Adrien, he didn't make getting over him any easier by being so kind.

And if that wasn't enough Marinette's brain insisted on using Chat Noir's Miraculous to fight the akumatized villain. Again! She didn't want to think about Chat Noir right now because... Because... Marinette blinked rapidly. Deep breath... Because thinking about Chat Noir was painful.

But that wasn't even the worst part.

"Don't worry, Tikki. We'll get the box right after the show," Marinette stage whispered so as to not alert her parents. Who walked not even a meter away.

Tikki let out a concerned whine. Oh, this was a bad idea. She could feel it. Marinette was right that they couldn't get away from her parents beforehand. But that only made Tikki even more anxious to get searching. And Marinette really didn't need something else to worry about on top of... everything else.

She hoped no one found it.

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Chloe's day was ridiculous. Utterly, ridiculous!

She sat next to her mother as Adrien walked down the runway. Lingering dread squashed and thrown into the very back of her mental walk-in closet where she kept unimportant things. Like shoes she never wore anymore, problematic outfits and lingering guilt that totally wasn't her's. Adrien wasn't slowly disintegrating anymore so why dwell on the past?

Adrien's performance was flawless and Chloe was absolutely certain she appreciated his efforts more than anyone else... Even if Alya Cesaire was livestreaming.

The show went off without a hitch. Adrien seemed fine but then he was almost as good at pretending as she was. Chloe eyed him as Gabriel's lackey, um, assistant pulled him along. Not physically, of course. It was more of a metaphorical pulling.

Ugh, Gabriel Agreste started talking with Chloe's mother through his assistant's tablet. Like, yeah, apologizing to the Queen of Style was a no brainer. But he could have at least come in person! Not like Gabriel was doing anything important besides being the world's richest hermit.

... And Dupain-Cheng was there too. Of course she was. At least her mother would put Dupain-Cheng in her place. Chloe felt herself smirk at the thought.

Adrien raised an eyebrow. As though reading her mind.

Chloe pretended not to notice. No petty satisfactions here! No, sir! But it wasn't like the Queen of Style was going to say anything about Dupain-Cheng's hat except-

"It's the most exceptional thing I've ever seen!" Audrey Bourgeois announced.

Exact- Wait, what!?

"You're a visionary, Marinette! Glitter's had its day..."

Chloe's ears rang, drowning out her mother's voice. Exceptional? Her? Over a- a- a hat!? A vice squeezed Chloe's chest with cruel precision. When her own present was rejected without even unwrapping it!? Chloe's fists shook as she bit her tongue.

"Isn't that nice for your friend, Chloe dearest?" Andre Bourgeois asked.

"It's ridiculous! Utterly ridiculous!" Chloe whirled on her mother. "I've never been to New York with you and you're taking Marinette Dupain-Cheng!?" She spat.

"I'm afraid I have a last minute meeting to attend, my dear Audrey," Gabriel announced from the tablet. "Nathalie, bring Adrien home immediately."

Adrien's attention snapped from Chloe to Gabriel. "But, Father, I-"

"Do not embarrass me in front of the Bourgeois," Gabriel snapped, ending the call.

Jaw clenching shut, Adrien stared at nothing with stormy eyes as Nathalie led him away.

"I'm taking her because she's exceptional, Claudette. Uh- Chloe," Audrey stated matter-of-factly, the Agrestes already forgotten.

"I'm exceptional too!" Chloe shot back.

Audrey inspected her white gloves, bored of this exchange. "The only exceptional thing about you, my dear-" Audrey deigned to glance at her daughter. "-is your mother."

Chloe's blood boiled as she shook off Andre's hands on her shoulders, standing straighter. "I'll show you how exceptional I can be!" she promised.

Just as an akuma entered Chloe's present.

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Alya was having an amazing day!

Her livestreams hadn't gotten this many new views since she almost got sacrificed by Pharaoh. The Ladyblog's activity was up. And Ladybug chose her as the Black Cat!

Sure it was weird that Ladybug didn't want to talk about it. But still! Black Cat! Alya tried to contain her grin as she thought about being Ladybug's partner for a day...

Her pace on the sidewalk slowed, enthusiasm dampening a little... Setting her face in determination Alya skipped into gear. All the more reason to piece together what happened! And she'd start with-

A burst of yellow light shot forth from the Grand Palais. Jolting Alya out of her thoughts as the newest akuma victim gave their villain speech from the roof.

"I am Queen Glitter! And from now on the only exceptional person in Paris will be me!"

Alya ran... straight for the villain who was obviously Chloe as she summoned a cloud of glitter and shapped it into a collection of accessories. The constructs restricting the movement of whoever they landed on. Scarves wrapping people's legs together or tying them to lampposts. Hats covering people's eyes as they tried to yank them off. There was even someone with his hands stuck in high heels. Queen Glitter made a giant floating scarf to stand on and took off in a random direction; leaving a trail of gaudy accessories in her wake.

Great. It was going to take forever to catch up to her now! Taking cover in an alleyway so Queen Glitter's sparkly formal wear wouldn't notice her, Alya scanned the street. Mentally kicking herself for not having recorded the villain speech for the Ladyblog.

"Looks like you're raring to go," Ladybug observed as she landed next to Alya. A familiar box in her hand.

"Ladybug! Didn't think I'd be helping out again so soon!" Alya held out her palm and Ladybug placed the Black Cat Miraculous in her hands again.

"Y'know the drill, right?" Ladybug's eyes wandered to the people in various states of running-for-their-lives.

"Give it back when we're done and don't take it personally," Alya paraphrased as Plagg emerged in a ball of light when she placed the ring on her finger.

"Ladyblog girl again?” Plagg gave her a once over. Ears flat against his head but swishing tail betraying his apprehension. "Well, at least Alya's not blue boy."

“He wasn’t that-“ Ladybug shook her head. “Y’know what, never mind.”

Glancing between them Alya filed that tidbit away for later. "C'mon, Plagg. We did great together!"

"You were okay," Plagg acknowledged. "Could've used more cat puns."

Alya chuckled. Of course he'd like those. With a -slightly forced- encouraging smile from Ladybug, Alya called out: “Plagg, transforme-moi!”

Green lightning traveled from Chat Noir’s ring across both arms and down her torso. A green sash wrapping around her waist and trailing into a tail. Running her clawed gloves through her hair as cat ears materialized. Said hair puffing up into an afro. Armor padding her shoulders and torso. Alya flexed her fingers to get used to the feeling. Chat Ombre's suit still felt strange on her skin compared to Rena Rouge.

Ladybug leapt onto the rooftops and Chat Ombre followed her lead. Racing towards the villain while avoiding her glitter. "So what's the plan?"

"Queen Glitter is basically a reskin of Style Queen," Ladybug thought aloud.

"But without that annoying habit of turning into a cloud!" Chat Ombre supplied.

Ladybug launched her yo-yo at a pedestrian and yanked him away from Queen Glitter's constructs as they passed by. "But she can spread her power over a wider area."

"Don't worry, Ladybug. We'll be- Look out!" Alya tackled Ladybug out of the way as a trio of glittery top hats zoomed past.

"Your reign is over Ladybug and wannabe Chat Noir!" Queen Glitter announced as she floated over them. Her appearance was similar to Style Queen except her crown was even bigger and gaudier. A foux glitter scarf around her shoulders. "I don't even care if you don't give me your Miraculous! I'll simply immobilize you and take them by force!"

They evaded a flurry of coats by jumping down to the street. "Really?" Chat Ombre called out. "That all you can throw at us? A tacky outfit?"

"Wouldn't be the first time!" Ladybug agreed.

"No one ever appreciates my gifts!" Queen Glitter stomped her foot. "Fine then. Why don't we try something more expensive!" Raising her hands she lifted two cars wrapped with giant bows into the air.

Alya's eyes widened. "Oh, shi-" Chat Ombre evaded Chloe's attacks as the villain played wack-a-chat. Glitter accessories flying in and attempting to restrict their movements as well.

Ladybug wrapped one of the vehicles with her yo-yo and spun it back at Queen Glitter.

The bright red sports car hurled towards her and- She stopped it with the palm of her hand. "You'll have to do better than that if- Where'd you go!?" Queen Glitter scanned the empty street, rising higher for a better vantage point.

Chat Ombre locked eyes with her for a second before a chimney obscured her line of sight. "Somehow I don't think that bought us much time." Alya voiced as a wave of clothing rose over the city.

Ladybug spotted a strip of blue between the rooftops. Thinking quickly, Marinette grabbed Alya's hand and turned them towards the Seine. Diving into its waters with a torrent of glitter in their wake.

Queen Glitter's constructs crashed into the river and washed away with the current.

Chat Ombre made for the surface once it was clear but Ladybug pulled her back. Chat's staff in her hand and yo-yo on her face. Pointing towards the magic tool Ladybug offered it to Alya.

Nodding, Alya quickly pressed it to her lips and took a deep breath, sweet oxygen filling her lungs. Giving Ladybug a thumbs up once she didn't feel like her chest was on fire.

Grabbing her hand Ladybug led Alya further upstream until they found a boat.

Gasping the (relatively) fresh air Alya examined Chat's staff. "I didn't know it could do that."

"Yeah, the Miraculous are full of surprises. And we'll need one of our own to beat Queen Glitter. Lucky Charm!"

A spotted snorkel fell into Ladybug's hands.

"Don't we already have one of those?" Chat Ombre asked.

Ladybug's brow furrowed as she stared at it. "Yeah... Wait, Queen Glitter's powers don't work underwater!"

"So, all we need to do is get her there!"

Ladybug glanced at a pair of recycling bins. "And I know just how to sneak up on her."

Chat Ombre grinned. She liked this plan.

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

Chat Ombre hated this plan!

It had all gone smoothly. The glitter constructs ignoring the recycling bins they used as disguises. Snake style. Chloe was dumbfounded when she saw them. Enough to let them take the elevator up to the Grand Paris' rooftop where Queen Glitter set up her makeshift throne. Giving them the opportunity to tackle her towards the Seine.

Unfortunately, Queen Glitter could make constructs of any size. Like, for example, a wide brimmed hat big enough to stretch from either bank of the Seine.

"You were going to make me wear this?" Queen Glitter held up the Lucky Charm- "No thanks!" -and struck it across her knee.

Alya winced as the villain broke Ladybug's insta-win button in half. "Please, tell me you have a plan?" Chat Ombre glanced at the spotted hero currently wrapped up in an extra long scarf just like she was. The floating constructs squeezing just a little bit more as Ladybug struggled against them. Alya tried bending her wrist to Cataclysm her restraints but her right hand was held away from the rest of her body.

"No planning! Not that it'll do you any good. I've already won! Me! Queen Glitter! MWAHAHAHAH- Do you mind? I'm trying to savour the moment!" Chloe snapped as Papillon's emblem glowed over her face.

Alya's head turned from an increasingly frantic Ladybug to the annoyed villain.

"Of course I'm going to take their Miraculous! Why wouldn't I take their Miraculous?"

"An excellent question, your Highness!"

Three pairs of eyes snapped towards the source of the unexpected voice.

"... Who the heck are you supposed to be?" Queen Glitter demanded.

"Aristos! At your service!" He bowed with a flourish, giving Alya a good look at the bee shaped comb at the base of his ponytail. Blond hair highlighted with black stripes. Goggles obscuring his face, making his green eyes hard to read despite the grin on his lips. Suit mostly yellow with black, V-shaped stripes on his torso, forearms and lower legs. Three hexagons on his chest giving the impression of honeycombs.

"No no no no no no." Ladybug stared at Aristos, not realizing that she was speaking aloud.

...Well, that can't be good, Alya thought.

"Ha! Did you really think more insects would help, Ladybug?" The villain mocked. Her constructs closing in on the interloper.

Aristos' smile took on a darker edge. "I'm not with her, your Majesty. I'm here to pledge myself to the most exceptional Queen I've ever seen! Really, where does Papillon get off talking to such a glittery figure as your Highness like that?"

Alya blinked. Really? Even Chloe wouldn't fall for-

Raising her hand the villain halted her constructs' advance. "Hmm, well at least you know how to treat royalty." Queen Glitter offered her bejeweled fingers. "I guess you can be my underling."

Ah. Right. Never underestimate the power of Chloe's ego.

The Bee, Alya was ninety-nine percent sure he was the Bee, took Chloe's offered hand and leaned down. Lips hovering over the back of her hand. "Oh! That reminds me your Highness, I have a gift for you."

Queen Glitter's eyes shone. "A present? For me? It better be the latest- Ow! I'm getting to that!" She snapped at Papillon, looking away from the Bee to glare at the absent supervillain.

Aristos removed the striped top Alya recognized as his Miraculous tool from around his waist.

"You didn't beat them! I did!"

Casually, carefully, Aristos placed his top on Queen Glitter's hand. Point against her glittering skin.

"You couldn't do it yourself so you sent me!"

"Venom," the Bee breathed.

"What was-"

Queen Glitter froze as Aristos' top glowed; his power paralyzing her. The constructs bursting into clouds of glitter. Chat Ombre landed in a crouch as her restraints vanished.

"It worked." Aristos sounded as surprised as Alya felt. "It worked! Yes! Nailed it!" He pumped his fist as relief overflowed and- Was he crying?. "Independent hero debut successful!"

"What?" Ladybug was staring at the Bee apprehensively and that didn't help Alya's nerves.

Aristos' mood instantly became more subdued. Blinking rapidly to get the water out of his eyes. "Oh, right. You're still here."

Chat Ombre tried not to take that personally. He did just save them, after all.

Ladybug stepped forward. Voice even, diplomatic. Never mind that she seemed this close to freaking out. "Listen, Aristos was it? I don't know how you found that Miraculous but you have to give it back."

His face was disturbingly neutral. "...Don't I get a 'thank you' for saving the day?"

The tension in Ladybug's shoulders wouldn't budge. "Thank you, but I really need that Miraculous back." She held out her hand.

Aristos stared at Ladybug's hand like it was something alien. Cracks appearing in his facade. "Yeah, pass." Walking backwards, away from Ladybug and Chat Ombre, he kept them in his field of vision.

"Wh- The- Y-you can't just decide that!" Ladybug sputtered, stepping forward.

"Just did! How do I even know this Miraculous is even yours?" Aristos asked, increasing the distance between them.

Alya got the distinct impression that he was bullshitting them.

"I'm the one who lost it!"

Alya's eyes widened. "You lost a Miraculous?"

"Not helping, Chat!"

Aristos' features twitched, eyes narrowing. "Sure you say it's yours but how do I know that?"

Chat Ombre bristled at the implication. "Ladybug is the Hero of Paris!"

Aristos gave her a once-over, his expression inscrutable, but said nothing.

Wow. Rude.

"That Miraculous belongs to the G- to me."

"That's interesting because I say it belongs to me." Aristos laid a hand on his chest. "Looks like it's your word against mine. Guess which one I'm choosing?"

Ladybug's yo-yo was suddenly spinning in her hand. "I swear, I'm not gonna lose another-"

An insistent beeping from Ladybug's earrings interrupted her.

"Welp! Love to stay and dance but it looks like you two need to buzz off before your precious identities are exposed to little old me."

Why did he sound bitter? Everything about him made Alya's head spin with questions. Not least of which being how the heck someone holding the Bee Miraculous showed up in the first place.

Taking his top, Aristos hopped onto the edge of the Grand Paris' roof. "Might want to deal with her before that happens."

Alya looked to where he was pointing to see Queen Glitter still paralyzed. When she glanced back at the Bee he was gone.

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

Adrien's day sucked.

Paris Fashion Week was always a chore but this year was even worse. Despite having friends around he felt lonelier than ever. Getting to talk to Marinette only helped so much. Adrien was still expected to plaster on a smile and represent 'the brand'.

And that was before he got turned into a freaking statue!

At least it's better than mind control.

Shut up!

He did not want to see Ladybug or her new partner up close and personal! Thank you, very much! But like always what Adrien wanted didn't matter.

Imagine his surprise when a Miraculous practically falls into his lap. A familiar glow blooming in his chest against all reason as Adrien opens the box.

"Hello, my King," the unknown, bee-like kwami greets formally.

There's a turning in his stomach that Adrien tries his best to calm it. "H-hi! I'm Adrien. What's your name?"

"I am Pollen," she bowed. "Kwami of Subjection. An honor to meet you. It has been a long time since I've had a king."

"Just Adrien is fine." Taking the Miraculous, a comb of all things, out of it's box Adrien stares at it. It's disguise all black and only vaguely shaped like a bee compared to the details he glimpsed before Pollen came out.

"Of course, my King."

Adrien sighed. Pollen was nothing like Plagg. Then again, Adrien wasn't sure the world could survive two of him. The lazy little jerk was enough to drive any Guardian mad all by himself... God, he missed Plagg.

"Um, anyway, how does your power work?"

Pollen clapped her small appendages together. "It's very straightforward, my King. You simply call out 'Venom' and your top will activate. Then strike your opponent with the point and they'll be paralyzed for however long you desire." She whooshed toward him for emphasis.

"Paralyze..." That was certainly more straightforward than using Cataclysm.

'Cause you sucked at that, didn't you?

Shut up. This was... What was he doing? When Adrien held the Bee in his hands he felt... Alive. Like a promise that things could be better this time around.

Adrien jumped as insistent knocking on his changing room door startled him out of his thoughts.

"M. Agreste? Mme. Sancoeur says we're back on in five."

"Be right out!" Brushing the Miraculous with his thumb to make sure it was really there Adrien placed it in his pocket. Hesitating for a moment he offered his jacket to Pollen.

Nodding, she zoomed into Plagg's old hiding place.

Taking a deep breath, Adrien opened the door. "Let's get this over with."

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

Adrien ran off as soon as Papillon's mark appeared on Chloe's face. Catching Marinette doing the same from the corner of his eye. Glass raining down as Queen Glitter broke through the Grand Palais' roof.

Pollen zipping out as he tied his hair into a makeshift ponytail. Holding it in place with the Bee Miraculous.

"Quickly, my King! Say 'Pollen, transforme-moi'!"

Adrien stared at her. He could hear screaming as people ran.

"My King!"

His oldest friend just got akumatized for the second time.

"My King!"

All he had to do was speak!

"Adrien!"

His knees shook as his back hit the wall behind him for support. "But... I wasn't chosen."

Pollen floated higher as her eyes widened in surprise. "Weren't you given my Miraculous?"

Adrien shook his head. "I f-found it... After giving up the Black Cat."

This time Pollen dipped as she nearly fell out of the air. "Chat Noir."

Adrien shook his head even more emphatically. Hands going up to cover his face. "N-no! Not him! Can't be him!" he choked.

Pollen laid her hand on his and Adrien tensed at the touch. "My King."

Something in her voice made Adrien look at her.

"You wish to help, do you not?"

"... Yes."

Pollen's eyes softened. "Then help."

Adrien stared at her. So sure that she'd want nothing to do with him once she knew what a failure he was... But that wasn't the case.

Rising shakily to his feet Adrien gave Pollen a grateful smile. "Pollen, transforme-moi'."

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

Aristos panted as he glanced up from the alleyway. Spotting no pursuers. "Pollen, detransforme-moi."

Landing on Adrien's outstretched palms, Pollen beamed tiredly at him. "Excellent work, my King."

Adrien smiled back. "Oh! What do you eat? Plagg loves Camembert but..."

"That would be fine. However, I prefer something sweeter."

"Yeah..." A weight settled on his chest. "Let's see what we can find..."

Pollen frowned. "Is something wrong, my King?"

Adrien avoided her gaze. What was he supposed to say? That disobeying Ladybug felt wrong? That he almost let his guilt and resentment make him say cruel things to his replacement? That his heart wouldn't stop pounding? "It's just... Do you want to go back?"

Pollen blinked.

"You're supposed to listen to the Guardian, right?" Adrien bit his lip as his heart tried jumping up his throat. "It's not fair of me to keep you if you want to go back."

Pollen sat up on his palms. "I have been in the Miracle Box for a long time, my King. I can think of worse things than spending what time I have outside it with you."

Adrien's eyes burned as he wiped away tears. "Thanks, Pollen."

Ladybugs swirled in the sky as they repaired the city.

"Of course, my King," Pollen smiled.

"Call me Adrien."

"Yes, my King."

Adrien sighed. A smile coming to his lips. Looks like Aristos was sticking around for a while.

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

Retroactively giving Black Cat Alya an afro.

#bee!adrien #bee miraculous #adrien agreste #canon divergence #canon divergent au #ml au #ml fanfic #queen wasp #kinda #ml #miraculous ladybug #marinette dupain cheng #chloe bourgeois #alya cesaire

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zoopine · 3 years ago

Text

I've had some ideas for a book floating in my head for a while so I thought I'd just write something tangentially related to it.

I'm not a writer by any means and this is basically a rough draft (also written on mobile) so apologies for formatting and spelling and stuff.

(Language warning!)

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

The depth gauge clicked to signify the ever passing metres. Further and further into the dark, dead sea.

Click...

I stared through the small porthole, but the darkness clung to the tinted glass as if it were so desperately trying to break in, to crush and choke and drown. For so much of human history darkness ment death, and now it awaited just outside desperately thin walls; walls that seemed to ever close in on me, burying me alive in a coffin of steel and water.

"Hey," I was snapped out of my trance by the voice Reagan, the man, accompanying me on my journey to hell, "what are you spacing out for."

"I'm just nervous."

"Of what? That you're going to die in the little box you help built?"

Reagan was a Naval officer, he was also a dick.

"If you put it that way yeah, I'm scared shitless."

"Hey, people did this kind of stuff all the time before things went to shit."

"You really think that? That people actually came all the way down here?" I picked up the blue pen in front of me and began to fiddle with it.

"They had bases on Mars dumbass, of course they did."

The speaker in the central console crackled to life.

"Please at least try to be somewhat civil, this is a scientific expedition", the muffled voice of David, one of the mission control members up top, had been carried through a thin cable all seven kilometers down to the submersible, it was the only line of communication with the living world. The scientist was fed up, and had been for some time.

"Yeah, an expedition to see absolutely nothing", quiped Reagan, "There's nothing alive anywhere else in the sea, why would some hole be any different."

"The could be all manner of life living down here, no one's checked in over nine-hundred years."

"Because there's nothing down here."

"Khol, would you please shut Reagan up." Asked the scientist.

Reagan finally shut his mouth with some mumbled sarcastic remark.

...

I was Chief engineer working on the very submersible I'm in now. The mission is to travel to the deepest depths of the sea and just... Look. Look for anything at all.

The oceans are dead, and have been for a very, very long time. There's nothing down here, nothing, but endless, murky water, eager to break in through steel walls and glass portholes.

I thought the entire expedition was stupid and dangerous, but I wasn't the one going to be trapped in a little tin can suffocating in the dark, terrifyingly far from the sun light. At least I thought I wasn't. I wouldn't have taken the job if I had known.

It wasn't a pleasant journey here either. Constantly worrying if we were going to attract the attention of a witch, or something worse.

It's good that the seas are empty. Or else what kind of the horrors would lurk now in the depths.

...

"Just fifteen more minutes until the next research point." The notification once again came through the speaker.

"Just enough time for lunch." Reagan said happily. Not only was Reagan a man of one too many words, but also one with a big appetit as well.

A sort of rice pilaf was the main course. Why the decision was made for something that would inevitably fall into every single nook and cranny of the ship was the prime choice for our packed meals eluded me. That very issue was made clear as Reagan immediately dropped a good portion of his food directly into the center console. The found it's way into multiple cracks and some fell into the bags and boxes that lay on the floor.

"For fucks sake."

"I would have brought a vacuum if I knew you would spill your food like a toddler." I remarked.

"Oh, shut up."

Mostly playful banter made up the majority of our five and a half hour journey to this point. Reagan wasn't a close friend of mine, but I did enjoy his company.

Despite the fact that I very much enjoyed rice pilaf, it wasn't a very good meal.

My eyes were drawn back to the void. The thought of what might lie below us, which at up to this point I had refused to entertain, crept into my mind. The cable that held us up was ten kilometers long, but we still had two and a half to go. We had no idea how deep the trench actually was, and there could be anything in the depths below.

Records of expeditions from pre-cataclyam or apocalypse or whatever you wanted to call it showed that multiple expeditions were made to, or at least near the bottom of the trench. I still struggled to believe it, and even if it were true Reagan and I were still pioneers in a way, the first to rediscover the hellish pits the ocean holds in nearly a millennium.

The fear of the cable, our lifeline, snapping, sending us down, down, down to our slow, horrific deaths, was also on my mind.

The hull creaked again, as it had many times before. It was to be expected, as the pressure rised outside the sub, but it didn't help to ease my worries.

"The trip back isn't going to be very fun." I said aloud.

"What, you don't want to spend anymore time with little ol' me?" Again, Reagan was a dick.

"No, the hex, the witches. What do you think."

"The hex is just a bunch harmless stone pillars and the witches won't bother us if we don't go too deep into it."

"You know what the witches do to people, Reagan, it isn't pretty. And how do we know how deep is too deep, what if they suddenly decide they don't want us passing through."

"Well, we aren't in the hex now, are we. So you don't have to worry about it."

"I guess, but-" Reagan didn't let me finish.

"Man, I wish they packed us some more to eat." Reagan was clearly trying to distract me. It didn't work, but I played along anyway.

"Yeah, we got enough food to last us a round trip, but not much to snack."

"Rice isn't really the kind of high end meal I'd imagine we'd be eating on such an expensive field trip."

"Doesn't help you spill half of it on the floor." I chuckled, and Reagan pretended to pretend he didn't.

"Just a few more minutes left." The speaker reminded us.

...

The sub was small, only a dozen or so feet from back to front. The cabin was cramped, filled with not just Reagan and I, but supplies and food for our twenty hour long journey.

Floodlights were positioned above each of the four portholes that were spread around the cabin. The central console in front of us contained the speaker and a few gauges and dials to show the conditions outside the sub.

It felt so small, so cramped, so claustrophobic, but it was what we had.

...

The submersible lurched as the winch so very far above stopped letting out cable. We now stood still in the cold, dark water, though it felt no different than before. I flicked on the switch to turn on the exterior lights and the water around was suddenly illuminated. Nothing could be seen except the fine, sparse debris floating through the depths.

"Depth is eight kilometers, pressure is at about eight hundred and twenty atmospheres and temperature at four degrees Celsius."

"Pretty cold in here too." Said Reagan.

"Yeah "

"Alright Khol, take a water sample." David requested. Acquiring a water sample was a simple task, it only required the press of a few buttons. I pushed the button to set the sample container in place outside of the hull, then to open it. The lid began to open and there was a loud whoosh as water rushed into the container, but it seemed to catch halfway through opening.

"What, did you break it or something?" Asked Reagan.

"Is something wrong." Inquired mission control.

"The sample collector is caught or something, could be a fuse, the sub is wired pretty weirdly."

"Well, aren't you the one who wired it?" I couldn't tell if Reagans remark was meant to be sarcastic, or if he just likes talking. It was probably both.

I pried off the panel that hid the fuses off the central console.

"What did I say." A fuse had blown, the culprit of the malfunctioning sample collector. I reached to the back of the submersible for the box that contained as many emergency repair parts was practical to bring; fuses, nails, screws, tape and all sorts of tools. I pulled out a spare fuse, replaced the blown one and the reattached the removed panel.

"Alright, let's try this again." The container lid jerked as it started moving again. It held open for a second or two before closing back up and sealing.

"Sample has been collected."

"Perfect, you know what to do next." Said David.

"Stare into the void for twenty minutes."

"Thank you, Reagan, for the-"

A loud rumble emanated from the top of the submersible and a feeling of vertigo overcame as it began to drop.

"The fuck was that?" yelled out Reagan.

The response from mission control was worried.

"The hitch just let a loose some cable. It looks like-"

"What do you mean it just let loose some cable? What the fuck is going on?" My body flooded with a rush of fear, the endless chasm below once again came to the forefront of my mind.

A second rumble came from the roof and the sub started descending faster.

David's voice could be heard over the yelling now coming from the speaker "Shit, shit, shit! It's dropping! Somebody get the fucking winch!"

"What do you mean the winch?" Reagan screamed into the microphone in front of him.

"Fuck! The communication cable is going to go too. Reagan, Khol, we're going to-"

My mind compressed, limbs of thought strung up and severed. A shadow hung over the bloody corpse of my once a rational mind. No words, no sound. The gates of hell had sealed and so had our fates. Reagan's panicked yelling dissolved into nothing, leaving only the sound of shifting pressure outside my prison and the depth gauge reminding of the ever approaching void.

Click...

...

A while had passed with no words spoken between us, just the mindless screaming of Reagan, though that had stopped some time ago. I felt cold and empty and dizzy, like I was bleeding out.

Reagan's voice was but a defeated whisper, "What now?"

"..."

"What now?" His voice was a little louder this time.

"..."

He stood up.

"Fucking talk to me Khol! You're supposed to be the smart one, what now!" He was yelling now.

"..."

"Talk. To. Me. Khol." He fell back into his seat and sat in silence.

Reagan began to cry.

I managed to squeeze out an "I'm sorry."

"What?"

"I'm so sorry..." I was crying now too.

...

A unknown stretch, but a long one, had passed

Reagan tried again to break the silence.

"They'll come for us."

"...You think that?"

"Of course they will, they have to, I mean they can't just leave us down here."

"How will they bring us up Reagan"

"I-I don't know, but they'll figure it out, right? We got this deep and they can do it again, they just have to take us back up with them."

"Reagan..."

"They'll just attach us to another winch and haul us up!"

"Reagan..."

"They have to, right? They'll come in no time, we just have to-"

"Reagan! They're not coming, Reagan. They don't have another sub and-"

"They can just build another, they did-"

"And if they did, they wouldn't be able to bring us back up, Reagan, we're too heavy to be pulled up with them"

Silence filled the submersible once again.

...

I broke into my final meal pack and Reagan followed. Soup, another poor choice for a meal on this tiny coffin. It was cold, of course it was.

"You know the ocean wasn't always red." Reagan said in between sips.

"Hmm?"

"You didn't know that? Used to be blue."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I wish I could've seen it."

"Yeah..."

"What, you don't?"

"The oceans always been Red as far as I'm concerned, right? It would just look the same, but... The wrong color."

"You kidding? It must've been beautiful, Khol. Blue, just like the sky."

"That's almost to much blue." No one laughed.

Click...

...

I screamed as I was suddenly enveloped in darkness. It took a few seconds for the low-power lights to come on.

"Jesus," Reagan jumped up. He had been sleeping as well. "Sleep well?"

"What do you think?"

"What? Are you cranky or something?"

"Would you please fucking stop with sarcastic comments."

"Fine, fine... Wish we had food."

"Should've saved some."

"You think."

"Jesus, Khol, just trying to lighten the mood a little."

"Sorry... Just, you know."

"Yeah..."

...

"Why'd you take the job anyway?" I asked.

"Help me along further in my military career. The money too, having enough of it to feed yourself is pretty nice."

"You didn't get paid enough to do that?"

"Paid... You know well enough that the military is nothing like it was, well, before."

"Before... Everyone acts like they were around then, but this is the way it's always been for us, and has been for such a long time."

"Kind of hard not to when everyone who's ever lived for the past thousand years lived in the show of the people that came before us."

"It's not like we can ever go back to then. This is what we have now and we have to do our best to not fucking die at every turn."

"Look, I actually want to find some hope of returning things to what they were. I don't think we'd find anything down here, but I sure as wish we would"

"What good would finding anything even do, Reagan? All your doing is endlessly following after the dead!"

"Following the dead? Wishing for a better future, Khol!"

"Wishing for the past, Reagan!"

"So? What if I am? What's so fucking wrong with that, Khol?"

"Nothing, Reagan, just-"

"No! What's so fucking wrong with that, huh?" He stood up.

"Just drop it!" I stood up to meet him.

"No, Khol! What's wrong with wishing the hole wasn't a shit hole?" He shoved me back into the wall.

I shoved him back. There was a thud as his head hit the metal handle behind him. He collapsed to the ground.

"No! No, no, no! Reagan, please, I'm sorry Reagan! Please! Please... Please..."

Click...

...

I was hungry now. I hadn't eaten in a long time. Reagan's corpse sat in front of me, cold. I had cried and screamed and thrashed, but I was calm now. I wasn't sure how long I had been down here, in the endless crushing cold. I had broken the gauge meter in one of my tantrums, but it still clicked, slowly but surely, marking my descent into the cold, cold, cold. Never. Fucking. Stopping. I was scared still, so very scared. I didn't want to die, I wanted to see the sun again, have it reflect off the red sea. Click... click... click... I wanted to see the sun, please... please... please...

Click.

#writing #short fiction

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igniso · 8 years ago

Text

@cespires

We'll lay here for years or for hours Your hand in my hand, so still and discreet — So long, we'd become the flowers

( 04:36:07 )

Jieun’s face is an anomaly that Christo despite having seen a thousand times, only wishes to see a thousand more. He and her ghosts, study the contrast that her skin and dark hair leave against the green cut of the grass, he admires the rose staining her cheeks, lips, and the tips of her fingers that twitch ever so slightly in her sleep.

Even from the slight distance he sits away from her, he can feel that her blood flows, albeit slow, it’s warm and sweet much unlike the spirit that takes her entirety from him during her waking hours. The dawn always approaches so suddenly, striking him violently but the morning stirs the spirit within her gently, rousing her to wake — he lets her fingers go just to turn back time.

( 04:01:00 )

With each new turn of the clock, sometimes Christo will lay his body next to hers. Then, and only then does he’s certain God created one of hands for holding one of hers. The other is made to brush away the ghosts who like to stroke her hair, fascinated as he is by such a radiant lovely thing to be within their grasp.

Other rewinds of the clock, he uses his time biding the foxes, urging them to take interest in the songs he’s written for her. Eager, their fur is as cold as it is red and on nights like those, his fingers ignore what they’re made for and will play the strings of his guitar, allowing the melodies to fade one into another. Sometimes he’ll play until his fingers bleed just so he can remember that like these foxes, his blood flows slow, cold and black.

( 05:21:05 )

Then there are the times when he can’t hold her hands when his are painted in the shades of someone else’s red, he can’t bring himself to look her in the eye, so he hires the fireflies.

Christo lures them. The fireflies come one by one in lines searching for the sweetness of the honey inside of them. With each close of a lid he whispers a silent plea that each will live, he selfishly asks them to stay alive long enough to chase off the dark lingering in Jieun’s eyes.

Christo then tucks each individual jar into his pack saving their light for a night when somewhere on the other side of the thick of trees there’s a girl he doesn’t want to lose, he bends the rules of magic to get back to her safely — he leaves the woods, crosses the border of this world and the on intertwined unnoticed.

He takes only what he needs to get back the girl he once knew. (And will always love.)

#cespires #i did the thing #and this sounded so much better in my head #i need sleep #so basically yeah i'm working in the time travel idea that's been floating in my head #but it's weird #and i'm weird #and ilu #and just #hkfjdnmj;sht

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thewakingcloak · 4 years ago

Text

March 2021

I'm back!!!

Oh man it feels good to be doing gamedev again (and actually enjoy it).

So first things first, we had a baby!

This lil guy is super cute and has made an awesome addition to our family. As you can probably guess, this is why I spent a few months not doing gamedev. Even when I had time, I didn't have the emotional or mental bandwidth to work on ProtoDungeon. And that's to be expected!

But there was another issue: a weird bridge bug. Essentially, you could walk under a bridge... and if you tried to walk on it, you’d fall through it. I could not figure this thing out. Collision was working, options were all set up correctly, etc. Every time I thought about working on my game, I knew this bug was facing me down and I’d have to address it. And I couldn’t get over the mental block.

So I took another tack (I make it sound like this was a choice, but it was more a compulsion): something I’d been thinking about for a while was learning 3D. I wanted to see if I could get some kind of fusion between 3D and pixel art. I won’t go into all that here, but I had a good time, and it really primed the creative pump. If you’re interested here’s my twitter thread, and here’s a thing I made:

At last, around mid-May I had worked up enough courage to finally address the bridge bug back in ProtoDungeon. My 3D journey not only got me some cool skills, but warmed me up. And also the more I thought about it, the more I was sure it was due to one particular piece of code: the edge slip.

This was here so you didn’t run into scenarios like this, where you're "floating" on the edge:

Basically it would slip you off the edge if you were that far over it. Makes sense, right?

Well, unfortunately, there are a LOT of weird edge cases (haha) where this is straight up broken. Like the bridge. The bridge was so narrow that it just always assumed you were on the edge, so it’d just push you off (rude). And there were plenty of places where you could fall off and just get horribly stuck.

And, sure enough, deleting that code made all of these things miraculously start working.

That felt really good. And even better, I felt like I could keep going! I decided to listen to something my instincts had been saying about the lv3 boots: the dash roll wasn’t working.

The lv3 boots, while equipped, would transform the roll into a dash, making it faster and giving you i-frames (invincibility).

This was fun, but it had problems. It wasn't intuitive or consistent with how the other items worked. I could've figured out a way to teach the player how to use it, probably, but it also wasn't particularly useful. It meant, first, I’d have to contrive some kind of environment mechanics to make the dash useful, and I don’t want to get too contrived. And second, it meant the standard roll was not actually very useful at all.

I brought this up on the Studio Spacefarer Discord server and after some discussion, I decided to go back to one of my very early ideas from years ago: adding a Pegasus Boots-style dash which the player uses by holding down the item button, “charging it up” via a jump and sprinting on hitting the ground. It sounds complicated, but it feels really good. No invincibility, just crazy speed. Then the roll could get the i-frames, making that more useful too. So behold, the new dash:

And, uh, yeah, this is SUPER fun. And while it’ll be useful in puzzles and stuff, it’s also a good way to just get around (as long as you don’t crash into anything... or maybe even if you do). The boots are all about travel and movement, and while a dash-roll could be included in that, I think a dash-sprint gives a lot more bang for your upgrade buck.

I’m happy to say I got a lot of other stuff done in March, even though I only worked about two weeks total. Here’s the full list...

Changelog:

Fixed some incorrect z-object cliff placement .

Added bridges that work with the new system (can go over/under them).

Fixed a bug that caused bridges to be submerged at the wrong level.

Things fixed by removing the edge-slip code.

Fixed coming out of the water onto a ramp.

Fixed umping up to a ramp.

Adjusted the ground logic to prevent getting stuck when falling down a ledge onto a ramp.

Completed moving the beach “down” on the z-axis to accommodate tide rising and falling.

Removed the old roll dash for the lv3 boots and replaced it with a sprint dash which can be “charged up” with a jump.

Added i-frames to the roll.

Force the switch to the “item get” state to prevent issues with sprinting and rolling into items.

Started testing various other previous bugs to see if they were resolved with the latest changes (a few are, so far!).

That’s all for this month. Thanks for reading!

#devlog #devblog #The Waking Cloak #ProtoDungeon #gamemaker #game development #pixel art

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bearpillowmonster · 4 years ago

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FF6 Review (Overall)

I'm going to rate similar to the way I did FF7 Remake, but in only 2 parts, so there will be an overall review then a separate deep dive into the characters.

I played this game using an emulator and I'm not ashamed of it because I used the FF6 Relocalization project which I'll link

Basically nerd talk and explanation of what that means: It's basically a retranslation of the original SNES script using the GBA port as a base and mixing and matching some of the best parts so there you go. They have a way to mod the PC version to have the OG sprite work because sheesh is that thing ugly and they also have a way to resprite and resound the GBA version but this is the easiest and logical solution to get the best of all worlds. There's also "Anthology" which is the PS1 port that adds some CG custscenes which I just watched off of YouTube because it's only a few of the major scenes.

Anyways, yeah, I'm glad I emulated it especially because of the fast forward function. That first chunk would've been rough without it because you're left just waiting for one of your party's commands to be ready but it eases up as the game goes on because you get pretty busy with the combat.

I'm not a fan of turn-based RPGs which was the main reason I haven't touched a 2D FF game until now so this is my first and oh boy, what a first!

Could you just watch a playthrough or read the story then? I wouldn't recommend it. There are certain things that I feel are better experienced.

Gameplay actually wasn't all that gruesome, as I mentioned, it got better thoughout but I know for a fact that I didn't do everything it had to offer because I see other people doing it online and I just had no idea how. That's not to say it's not newcomer friendly though, I mean I beat the game, didn't I? I think it would've just gotten complicated and made me confused if I learned how to do everything in the game anyway.

I found myself liking some of the mechanics and recognizing some of the systems from games as late as today (I'm not sure if this is where they started but I wouldn't be surprised). The random encounters weren't all bad because of the emulator's speed up function but there were definitely times where it felt a little out of hand with the amount I was getting. (I'm looking at you Cave to the Sealed Gate!) So it's all pretty familiar, though there are "Relics" which are kind of like Materia but each member has 2 each where it gives you an ability, f.e. Reflect, every attack hits, extra power, auto cast protect, heal with every step, etc.

One of the drawbacks of using BSNES though was that there was no toggle for a L or R shoulder button, just turbo and while that's not a big problem, that is the button to Flee a battle, so I just never fled. There is an item that lets you escape any dungeon or battle but I didn't really use it, same with the permanent item that Mog has in the cave (pretty late in the game). I'd rather there be a repel than the warp stone, but I figured that if I just fought whenever the opp arrived then I wouldn't have to grind, which is another thing I hate about RPGs! Luckily, I didn't really feel the need to grind other than for the ending.

Difficulty wasn't really a grind but make sure once you get to the floating island, that you know what you're doing because that level was annoying and I felt a very stong spike in difficulty as soon as I landed on it. Another thing is that sometimes it'd glitch and an enemy would have infinite health so I'd just sit there on fast forward, watching and watching then finally use Libra and no damage was made, might be an emulator thing, might be a game thing and although rare, it still happened.

There are these sections called scenarios where the game branches off into multiple different paths and you can choose which order to follow the specific sets of characters. I really like that aspect and makes it seem less linear and interactive because it's letting you choose how to tell the story. I have a thing for games that let me interact with it (That opera scene is pretty interactive too).

For a 2D sprite game, it has quite a personality with its cutscenes. They can be very cinematic and defintely makes the characters just that more engaging with some of their mannerisms.

Ok, I get it now. The music is bomb. If anything, that would be worth doing a remake for, to get orchestral and updated versions of some of the themes. (I'd probably cry at that opera scene) But Celes' theme is probably my favorite. The PC port has pretty good remixes for the most part though.

Could this use a remake? It's a trivial matter because I think a good majority of fans want it to be remade and I understand why but at the same time I understand the other side of the argument as well. This was the last 2D FF game and that's special, in a way, the story kind of reflects that. And I think with all the personality comes a bit of caution because you might see something in these characters or scenes that may be misinterpreted or done differently in a remake, similar to how you read a book and just imagine how it's playing out. I think it lays enough ground so that you don't "have to interpret" like with most NES games (how the Super Mario Movie was born) from an outsider's point of view, it may first seem that way though. (myself included (yes, I know this was SNES era. Shut up!))

What would I want out of a remake? I would want the airship to return and be able to move around freely but keep the towns pretty faithful (which makes for more linear opportunities). I could see Edgar's tools being used similar to Barrett's but we have "First Soldier" now which is a 3PS Battle Royale, why not have his tools play similar to that? Then actually give him story opportunities to pick up his tools rather than "just because you bought them" It would be a nice natural progression. I would suggest the same with Sabin and Cyan, have them learn their Blitz and Bushido moves by being taught by Duncan, you do learn one move from Duncan in the vanilla game but I'd see it as more opportunity to build your characters and make it feel rewarded. So, in those aspects, I would like to see FF6 remade or improved but as for everything else, they should keep it a lot similar to the original than FF7R did. I think that's where a lot of the criticism with FF7R came from (as well as what I mentioned in the previous paragraph) While I'd prefer a gameplay overhaul similar to what they did with R, I'd rather keep the essence. There aren't sequels or spinoffs or anything of this game so this is all it has (unless you count the ports but that's minimal).

In the CHARACTERS section, I compliment the side-quest system but I would like there to be a better indication as to "what" you're doing, rather than just looking up the next steps or be left to travel around until the goal is clear. They have the quest completion menu as well as waypoints in FF7R, I could see that being put to good use in a game like this. It would also be cool to actually "visibly" wear the gear that you equip to your character but I understand why that isn't utilized in most of the games (probably makes for better character models) especially considering most of these characters' costumes could use an update. You didn't get to use the Magitek suits nearly as much as I thought you would from the marketing and even the dang cover and logo, so a remake could improve on that as well. Another small complaint is that it doesn't tell you what the items do WHILE you're in battle, only when you're in the menu, sorting them and while some are staples like Phoenix Down, I still don't remember what the heck a 'Gold Needle' does.

Overall I'd probably rate the FF games that I've played (but maybe not finished all of) as such: FF7 > FF13 > FF6 > CRISIS CORE > FF15 > FF12 but I think 6 and 13 are kind of interchangeable because if you said one over the other, I wouldn't really argue.

#ff6 #final fantasy #review #ffvi #final fantasy 6 #final fantasy vi #game review #game #it's also considered ff3 but nah

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boy-blu3 · 6 years ago

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Fanged Bow- Stiles Stilinski

Author: nerdymoose

Pairing: Hunter!Reader x Werewolf!Stiles

Summary: Stiles goes to surprise his girlfriend while she's training but almost gets himself killed...

Warnings: Implied future smut, I think that's it.

A/N: Please don't steal or copy any of my work. I'm always taking requests, so if you have an idea and want to see it written ask me, I'll write basically anything. Btw this is my first imagine so if it's crappy I'm sorry. Hope you enjoy! ❤❤

Arrow after arrow was being shot at trees that you mentally made targets for, only moving to the next tree when you hit it. Being an Argent training is mandatory, you were raised differently from your cousin, Allison, your mother never wanted to hide that side of the family from you. But you were still very different from your family, you didn't kill werewolves because they had claws and fangs you only killed if you had a reason to. You believed that not every monster does monsterous things, that everyone deserved a chance. Your mother considered you weak because of that, but you didn't care considering you were dating a werewolf and currently in a pack full of them.

You never stopped training, mostly because the little town known as Beacon Hills always was under attack by some big bad. You being a human puts you at a certain disadvantage than the others, considering you can't heal as fast as any of your supernatural friends.

You always told people not to disturb you while you're training, having your guard up the entire time could end up someone getting hurt or killed. And you do not want that to happen.

As you're shooting you hear a twig snap from behind you. You act like you heard nothing, you take control of your heartbeat just in case it's a werewolf, a trick your mother taught you. You make one last shot at the tree, grabbing another arrow you turn around and shoot at whatever is watching you.

You mentally hope you didn't just shoot an Innocent deer or worse, one of your pack members. "Shit!" You heard a familiar voice yelp, it's Stiles.

"Oh my god, Stiles!" You ran over in a slight panic. "I'm so sorry, are you okay?"

Stiles was holding onto the arrow that was currently sticking out of his arm, "yeah I'm fine, I could use a little help here." He grunted.

"Yeah yeah, right." You crouched, replacing his hand with yours. "On three, one-" You yanked it out of his arm, he groaned in pain.

"I thought you said on three." He said standing up from his spot on the ground.

"I did." You said wiping the blood from the arrow head, "it's a good thing I didn't kill you." You smiled at him.

"Yeah, but did you have to use the silver arrow." He whined, rubbing the spot on his arm where the arrow had been moments ago, which had already healed.

"It was either that or the ones that are cover in wolfsbane. Besides what have I always told you?"

"Not to disturb you while your training." He answered with a roll of his eyes.

"Exactly." You leaned up and kissed him, his lips were always so soft you could never get enough of them. They pulled you into this trance that made you feel like you were floating everytime you kissed him. "I'm really sorry, though. I'll make it up to you."

"I like the sound of that." He said, a mischievous glint in his eyes, matching his name.

"Pizza and Star Wars marathon it is." You declared, walking away slightly to grab your stuff.

He chuckled, "babe, that sounds great and all but it's not really what I had in mind."

"Oh really, then what did you have in mind, Sti?" You asked, your back turned to him.

Instead of getting an exact response you feel arms wrap around your waist, "you... " He bit your earlobe gently. "...And me, in my bed" His lips traveled down to your neck leaving small kisses on your heated skin.

You turned in his arms, your chests pressed together, you looked up to see golden orbs staring back at you. "Do I still make you loose control?" You asked gigging.

"What can I say, I love you too much." He said a smile breaking out on his face.

"I love you too," You kissed him, the kissed being sort but passionate. "And I may have to take you up on that offer." You moved from his arms making your way to your car. You looked back to see Stiles standing in the same spot you left him in. "Are you coming? Or do I have to start without you?" You hear fast footsteps catching up behind you.

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