#GOD this game rules I should replay it

[fluffpuffin]

Was reminded of how good the Bavely Default ost is, and honestly no game can ever match how insane that final boss theme was

[isbergillustration]

Crowboy

[wayfayrr]

This is based on @sketchyspook's Mask - the hero of terminal! he's a lil gremlin who in this decided to pull a sky and break out of his game. He just wants a sibling though so can you blame him?

“Hey we were thinking about going out tonight [name], you want to join us?”

“Nah, I’ll be honest I was planning to stay in tonight. Just want a rest you know, got some old games I’ve been planning to replay.” “Fair, if I hadn’t promised someone I’d join them I’d probably be doing the same. See you around sometime [name].”

After how hectic everything has been recently it’ll be nice to have a night in where I can just zone out and do next to nothing; really what better way is there to do that than by playing through Majora’s mask for the, what 50th time? It’s such a nostalgic game to me that it can’t be anything other than my go-to relaxing game. Besides that though, really it’s just fun to fish using the fierce deity mask. Something about an ancient war god going fishing like that? It’s a fun break from the rest of the game.

Something feels different this time though. I can’t quite pinpoint what but even the opening cutscene feels different. There’s more static than there should be, it just feels wrong. There’s also this feeling, I’m probably just being paranoid, but I swear someone’s watching me. Judging me even. Like they’re trying to evaluate me for something, I just can’t tell what. It’s nothing I’m sure. Just need to shake it off and carry on playing. 

Saving it after getting the deity mask feels like a good point to leave it off for the evening, how long have I even been playing? I could’ve sworn it wasn’t that long but - It’s past 2?? It’s never taken me this long to get to this point before, maybe it’s been glitching way more than I thought. I mean it felt like every few minutes I lost control over Link, oddly enough it was only when his model was facing the screen. My controller must just be acting up, I knew buying the cheapest one on eBay would’ve been a bad idea, of course, it’s gonna have some issues. Just turn off the game and go to bed, it’s that easy [name]. Your bed’s comfortable anyway, you’ll fall asleep in no time. 

What’s that sound? It’s barely enough to wake me up, am I hearing things? What’s gotten into you tonight [name], first being paranoid while playing, now hearing things? Am I coming down with something? Just try to go back to sleep and deal with this in the morning. 

Okay, I can’t just be feeling things now, did something fall on me during the night?

No, it feels far too much like a person, but then who is lying on me? And how did they get here? Opening my eyes to a blonde kid who looks suspiciously like Link doesn’t feel quite real, maybe I’m still asleep and something fell on me and affected my dream? Oh, what am I kidding myself? I’m awake. I’ll just try to gently wake him up to get some answers, if he doesn’t wake up then at least I can move him so I can get a look at just how he got here. 

“Bewegen Sie mich nicht, ich fühle mich hier wohl.”

So he didn’t like that then, my german is rusty but even then it’s clear enough what he meant by how he’s trying to get closer to me in his half-asleep state. He’s going to be staying right where he is for as long as he can get away with it. All I can hope for in the meantime is to try and find out he got in here without moving. There isn’t any broken glass or windows so he didn’t get in that way, it would be insane for a kid to break in just for hugs as well so that rules out that possibility. 

There is broken glass though… by my laptop… what?Of all the - my laptop is shattered. How did that - did he? My laptop is broken and there is a game character in my arms, that has to be related, doesn't it?  

There are tiny cuts and fresh burns on his arms, ones that look like they could be - did he?

That would explain how my laptop broke. There are more questions from that though. Such as how did a video game character get out of my laptop and into my arms?? And why? Answers aren’t going to show themselves and theres only one person who knows why he did this. 

“Kid? I know you don’t want to move, but can you tell me what’s going on? How you got here at least?” That seems to have woken him up a little, enough for him to look at me now even though he looks very bitter he’s had to move. Now that I’m getting a better look at his face though, he’s certainly link but he looks a little different to how he does in the game. White streaks in the front of his hair, paler eyes and far too many scars for someone his age. It’s like he’s picked up traits of the fierce deity mask, you know what if he’s here in my room real like this why couldn’t he look different from in game?

“Ich kann, ich tue es nicht - I don’t want to be in the game any more, so I got out.”

“Can I ask how you got out?”

Alright no answer for that besides a quick look at his hair, must be a sore point for him. I won’t press him on that until he feels more alright to talk about it.

“Is there any reason you wanted to well, be like this link?”

With a gesture to how he’s decided to lay on me, he has at least a little bit of shame as he looks away from me before mumbling something just loud enough that I could hear.

“After you playing through it for so long, you uh, you feel like an older sibling to me. So I’ll stay here with you [name]?”

It’s either he can stay with me or he’ll go out to the street, not that I have the heart to throw him out, after everything I know he’s been through. That I’m partly responsible for putting him through? If I didn’t play his game, he - he wouldn’t have had to go through that would he. It’s my fault. 

“[name]? You aren’t upset at me are you? I didn’t - I didn’t mean to make you cry, I can - Nun, ich denke, ich kann - if you don’t want me here I can go back.”

“No I don’t - of course I don’t think that. I’m sorry link, I made you keep reliving all of that. I never even knew that you were - oh god I’m so sorry link.”

He paused at that to think things over for a second, most likely about to say something although I can’t tell what from his body language. Is he crying now? Shaking slightly while leaning towards me like he wants a hug, I wouldn’t be surprised if he was crying after everythin-

“AUGH! WHAT WAS THAT FOR?”

“You wouldn’t stop crying because you were blaming yourself for ‘hurting’ me. Now we’re even so you can stop crying about it.”

As much as I hate it he is right, somewhat, one single bite doesn’t exactly make up for everything that I put him through but I’m not going to say that aloud incase he bites me again. Inspecting my arm there is a neat mark from his teeth, kid’s got a strong jaw I’ll give him that.

“Alright [name] I’ve seen a few things of your world when you were playing, but um would you mind showing me what it’s like? You’re my big sibling now so I think that’s just what you have to do.”

“Oh about that, why do you see me as a sibling?”

A shrug with yet another glance at his hair like it holds the answer. 

“I’m not the only one who sees you as my sibling, I know the deity has kinda unofficially adopted you as well.”

“Huh? The deity? Like the mask, the thing you use in game? Has adopted me?”

“Mhm, he’s the one who encouraged me to get out, it’s a little complicated but basically I wore the mask a bit too much.”

Just another thing I’ve done wrong then, or maybe not seeing as he seems to be fine with what is happening and the fact that it’s gotten him out of the game. 

“You gonna explain what you mean by that?”

“Nah not yet, gotta come to terms with it myself as well before any of that.”

[silversainz]

I need you to stay

Pierre gasly x reader

Summary: since becoming friends with benefits, Pierre finally realizes one night spent together under the streets that he needs you to stay and not for the night, but forever.

warnings: suggestive smut, friends with benefits to lovers, lots of angst, light fluff, crappy ending.

the softness of his hands lingered against your skin as he placed light kisses to your neck going down to your bare shoulder, before locking his arms around your waist pulling you closer to him making you feel his bare warm stomach that made you your stomach twist with emotions of wanting to stay right there in his arms forever but knew you couldn't.

"you awake darling" his morning voice was rusty and something you had gotten quite used to waking up beside. you turned around in his arms to face him, "of course I am. you should know I would be" you gave him a kiss to the cheek before taking his arm off your waist and turning away from him, throwing your legs over the edge of the bed while throwing on his shirt. you felt the palm of his hand against your back pulling on the shirt trying to get you to come back to bed.

"I can't stay Pierre you know the rules" you sighed softly and got up from his bed to look over at him to see him still looking at you. "about just for the day you stay here" you rolled your eyes at him, your mind telling you to stay but your heart knowing his little games he liked to play with you. "can't Pierre" you walked away from his bed into the bathroom, turning on the shower before hopping in it.

as you stood there under the running water, images of last night replayed in your head, the images of of you under him as he thrusted into you in such a soft-loving pace careful to not hurt you after your bad day at work while he hold onto your hands, kissing away all your aches and pain you felt that night, kissing you in such a way that you've ever had kissed before. it was a night to remember, for sure, but a night you knew wouldn't happen again.

as you sat there washing away all his touches from last night, you heard the bathroom door open and close.

"you okay love?" his now soft voice sounded out in the bathroom, god you could cry if you wanted to from frustration and embarrassment of falling for a man who only wanted you for one thing and on thing only.

"Yeah fine" your voice was shaky, you knew he heard it too, by the sounds of the glass door opening and him stepping inside the shower with you. he pulled you closer to him, his hand running everywhere on your body and stopping at your hands, locking his hand in yours, holding it against your chest.

"Pierre..." You started but he hushed you, "stay for the day love" he gently kissed the back of your neck. "I can't and you know that Pierre" you felt your knees go weak at his voice and the gentle touches he gave you, so weak you almost gave in but your heart told you other wise. he slowly turned you around in his arms, resting his forehead against yours, as the water fell on the both of you.

"I know you don't want to, but I want you to stay here, with me for the day or forever" he mumbled the last word thinking you wouldn't hear it but you did, and that caused your heart to break.

"Pierre come on you don't mean that" you unlocked your hands and hopped out the shower, wrapping a towel around your body. Going back into the bedroom to find your clothes from last night.

you heard the shower turn off and the sounds from Pierre angrily storming into the room, "why, why can't you stay" he asked as he watched you throw on your shirt, angrily buttoning up the shirt.

"Because of our deal Pierre, we have sex and then go on with our lives" you reminded him, even though it hurt to say those words out loud, wishing you both hadn't made that stupid deal in the first place.

"okay...but I'm asking you to stay here with me. why can't you do that" you looked at him tears welling up in your eyes "damnit Pierre you know why" you wiped the tears away and looked around for your pants.

"Because you're still in love with me right" you froze in place at that, back facing him as you stared at the wall in front of you. "That's why you don't wanna stay" you felt him behind you. "y/n if you stopped for a second and think, there's a big reason I made this deal with you in the first place" you slowly turned around to face him

"if you knew how I felt about you, why didn't you say something instead of making a stupid ass deal with me to become friends with benefits" you walked up to him, heart screaming at you to leave, but your mind telling you to stay with him. he stood there, fumbling with his hands thinking of the right words to say. "If you knew how I felt about you, why did you make me make that stupid ass deal" you repeated your question louder this time causing him to close his eyes.

"I don't know" he mumbled so quiet that you almost missed the words, but oh you heard them and that made your heart break even more, regret filling up your body as the seconds passed.

"what do you mean, you don't know?" you asked, and watched as he slowly walked up to you looking down at you, while he placed his hands on your cheek, cupping your face. "yesterday I felt something I hadn't felt in awhile with you, and I don't know, but something in the way you whispered I love you, made me realize something.

you blinked in shocked your mind racing with so many thoughts, but the main one was the fact he actually heard you last night saying you loved him, thinking he wouldn't hear it too caught up in the moment of pleasure, to even notice it.

"You heard that" you asked, voice sounding small in front of him now, your heart failing you by the second, as it slowly gave in to his light touches and words.

"yes I did. I shouldn't have made this deal with you. I regret not telling you how I felt sooner. I came up with this stupid ideal as a way to ignore the feelings I held for you for so long" he closed his eyes and leaned his forehead against yours.

"so please stay here with me, and let me prove myself to you that I actually love you and want you to stay here forever"

you stood there quiet the words were stuck on your tongue like glue. you knew what you wanted to say, but couldn't find yourself to say them out loud as you stood there in front of him. Pierre sensed your unsureness and backed away from you, but still looking at you.

"If you want to go that's fine love. but I am sorry for any pain I caused you for making this deal"

you looked down, your heart still yelling at you to stay, but that little thought lingered in the back of your head, it was nervousness and worry that you would regret your decision.

"god please don't make me regret this" you said before running up to him and crashing your lips on his, you choose to ignore those thoughts in the back of your head and listened to you heart instead, that screamed at you to stay with him.

"I would never love" he muttered out against your lips, feeling a smile spread across his face. as he gently picked you up, wrapping your legs around his waist while he brought you over to the bed.

[dreamsy990]

ok so i finished bbs so time for thoughts!!!!

god this game has. issues. its my least favorite so far and im not saying its BAD im just saying it could be. better

i realize i was supposed to play terra > ven > aqua but i went in order of who i was least excited about to most so i did terra > aqua > ven. also i was super underlevel as terra and aqua so when i got to ven i grinded to level 10 the moment i was able to and then breezed through the whole game

i dont wanna say that i think the game should be shorter but i do think that its not very enjoyable for like 80% of the runtime. like i think most the worlds are boring idk. im not a very big disney person but usually the worlds are pretty interesting but this time around it simply Did not hit and i think it couldve been better? idk man. a few worlds were really good like all of hollow bastion as ven is super fun like i love seeing the org cast theyre just endlessly fun. seeing ansem tw in the ending did make me very angry though i hate that guy

this whole game is a downer and i knew that going in but still like. holy shit its depressing.

i love the main trio they are such a fucked up family i love their dynamic its honestly the best part of the game. also vanitas is a joy but also he is a total fucking wimp i could beat him up in real life. also fuck terranort! that about sums up my thoughts

hate the command system id honestly rather be doing coms card game at least that required some level of thought. i hate how the game can just rip the command i just made right out of my hands that is SO rude. also ima be real i still dont know how to play command board i never read the rules

honestly the game isnt that fun i didnt really enjoy it it kinda felt like a chore to play a lot of the time. i tend to be chronically underlevel in games and tgis is the game where i felt it the hardest so every once and a while i had to just set aside a couple hours to grind and like. i enjoy a challenge so i dont mind being underlevel but this was just painful i simple Could Not. also FUCK terra if i ever have to play as him again ill throw up and die.

the opening is my second favorite so far and the story is pretty good when i know whats going on

decent game. 6.9/10 if they axed the whole command system id give it a 7.5. i think it works better in concept than in execution and replaying the exact same worlds 3 times over gets stale pretty quickly. i wish they cut out some worlds as other characters like you cannot tell me deep space ventus was necessary. solid game though

[trickstarbrave]

big improvement i would put in the elder scrolls story wise if we rebuilt it would be an actual dragon cult faction. no you dont have to be able to join it (though i would like that and think it would be cool lol) but i feel it would make sense and add more to the setting. 

currently the dragon cult is made up of just undead. draugar and dragon priests etc. people entombed since the merethic era waiting for their gods to come back. i think it would be better if real people just up and decided “fuck it. i hate everything going on right now. i hate the war, i hate the thalmor, i hate this empire now, and i hate the stormcloaks. let alduin come back. if he wants to rule the world or end it so be it this place sucks” and just decided to start the cult back up. or maybe its villagers in small settlements who give tribute to dragons in exchange for not being turned into charred corpses--the empire and stormcloaks sure as shit cant supply enough soldiers to keep them safe, and all they have to do is hail the dragons and give them some cattle to keep from being the next helgen.

because as it stands right now the dragons arent imposing or scary they just seem like big monsters that show up to destroy shit for no reason. everyone stands around after you killed one going “wow the dragonborn” and then goes on with their day. they dont even run and hide inside during a dragon attack consistently without a mod. dragons are just annoyances. i think it would be better to see the real effects of them. have them be basically a third faction like in the civil war, they start claiming cities after alduin brings them back. have to keep hushed about being dragonborn there. be able to talk to dragons in those settlements who have their own opinions about you being dragonborn and about alduin in there. 

also i think the civil war should have been more important. have patrols along the roads. if you progress far enough they attack you on sight in enemy territory. taxes, screenings, etc. forts should be important strategic points and not just bandit dens. bridges could have been destroyed and rebuilt in the conflict and you can see evidence of it. have different ways you can go about doing it, like you can be a spy, an open fighter, an archer, etc etc. gives a lot of replay value if its not just picking which npcs you wanna install in cities and who you wanna take orders to but instead its own challenges and ways of accomplishing taking a city. each questline should also involve real issues each faction has, like how the empire cant spare more troops so they need to make due with what they have and stormcloaks having limited supplies so they have many soldiers to feed and not enough metal and food to arm and feed them. 

basically everyone suggests redoing skyrim in the way of gutting the dragons and making the thalmor the big bad and stopping the civil war altogether or whatever. i think the bare bones is fine the biggest problem with skyrim is that Nothing Ever Happens. random encounters mean nothing. dragon attacks except for the tower and helgen Mean Nothing. dragons are just big monsters and bandits are just random enemies and you can only talk to like 3 dragons in the entire game and you dont even really get to understand dragon culture and morality. the civil war doesn’t feel like a war and everything is more filmsy than a disney park. giving some remote realism, branching options of things to go to accomplish the same things, and more depth would go along way to help the game not feel dead and shallow. because an RPG should have. role play in it. choices you make. those choices at least SEEMING like they actually matter when you think about it longer than 5 minutes 

[ashleander]

PIZZA TOWER SPOILERS AHEAD!

The following includes content from the Noise update! Do not click if you haven’t finished it yet! This sums up my experiences with it! So prepare to see me ramble how much I LOVE this update! Feel free to skip this post entirely if you’re here for my art!

~MY THOUGHTS ON THE NOISE UPDATE~

Hey, I’m back again! I just wanted to share my thoughts with the update! I will eventually try to make an art piece about it soon! There might be multiple! This update can’t leave my damn brain.

General Thoughts on the Noise:

We finally get to see the Noise as a playable character! This update made like the Noise even more! There’s too many screenshots to count. I think he’s now one of my favorites! I can totally see his personality and quirks throughout his sprites! God, he’s such a piece of shit and I love him for it! I love how he breaks a lot of the rules here (I’m not going to list it, you can see for yourself). I also think it was cool to see the entire game just being played as a movie but Noise is the “star” of the show (as shown in the ending screen). Also, you couldn’t tell how happy I was seeing Noisette having more of a role here! Grahhh I love her so much! Fuck I gotta draw these two together more! They’re way too cute! What a fun and silly update! I might draw them next!

Playing as the Noise:

Getting used to this guy’s moveset took me a while! He demands significantly more button inputs than everyone else. He can also feel quite fast and slippery! I definitely got bumped into a wall many times after he finishes his skateboarding bounce move (no not the one where you have to press the grab button) But I have to admit, once you get used to the little tricks he has then you should be fine! His transformations also play very differently so that’s also something to consider.

For my first play through, I decided to aim for all the secrets and treasures! I already know where everything is at this point since I practiced it multiple times! I managed to get three P ranks (John Gutter, Fun Farm, Gnome Forest). I wasn’t used to his moveset yet so a few levels in World 4/5 were only A ranks. I aimed for the secrets and Gerome but I didn’t take the second lap.

The bosses were also fun to try! Definitely easier to P rank than Peppino’s for sure! I just didn’t care much about the ranks the first time I played it. I gotta say the end part gave me chills! I don’t know it felt trippy for a moment!

I ended the first game with 93% damn Noise fuck you and then I replayed to get the 101%. Seeing Pillar John in a Noise costume was unexpected but funny!

After practicing his moveset (& attempting to get the Tower Guy clothes which I STILL haven’t because some levels are a pain in the ass), I was able to P rank the rest of the levels! I also got the funny Snick outfit. He turned out to be faster than I thought. I think he’s now my favorite character to play in Pizza Tower! Oh and there’s swap mode! Pretty neat feature! I don’t have much to say about it. Seeing Peppino’s house was cool though… I also had to tally Peppino because I didn’t feel like doing the chef tasks again.

But yeah pretty cool update. The devs cooked on this one and the music’s great! Can’t wait to see where it’s going to head next!

[moonsidesong]

Have you played PuyoPuyo 7? If so, what do you think about it?

good timing anon, i actually replayed it pretty recently with a friend of mine (wanted to play the recent re-translation, very much recommend it, its much better than Nexus's halfhearted mess) so my opinions on it are fresh!!

the short answer is. Its so jank. and probably objectively not a very good game, and there are definitely things i would change about it if i could. But i still really like it for what it is. It's got a unique identity in the series and I love that about it!

im gonna talk a lot now so under the readmore this goes ^_^

i love that transformation mode is just if fever rules were an insane mess. why does it go up to 99 seconds. why does mega mode send SO much damage. god bless it<3 they should bring it back. wanna see what hellfire comet festivals shibakazu would cook up in it.

and like the story is.... not. well paced. but ive learned to laugh about it at least. and like suuuuuure ecolo shows up at the end and then hypes up how unstoppably powerful they are and how ringo could NEVER BEAT THEM and then gets defeated in 10 seconds because the final boss is a joke. its fine<3 at least its actually fun to play and doesnt take a million years to trudge through so the bad pacing doesnt feel nearly as awful. (puyo chronicle i am giving you a little glare)

ive grown to love the jank art style but i will say, i wish they redrew everyone. ringo standing next to characters clearly just with sprites edited from 15th anniversary or fever 2 make her stick out quite a bit. it makes me wonder if the game's art was really rushed or something? it just feels a bit off.

another thing, i dont think this game is a Bad introduction to ecolo at all (i Love their design in this game and i think it perfectly introduces how intensely powerful and unhinged they can be), BUT!!! their chain animations are really... disappointing. idk. i Like that they shapeshift into other characters i think thats fun (i actually think its kind of a shame its a trait of theirs rarely brought up anymore) but the fact its mostly just the others' animations recolored black with some extra particle effects is really lame. minor differences like a more ecolo-like facial expression (get silly!! get mischievous!!!) couldve gone a long way to giving them more personality in their chains.

also relating to the past two notes, its really no secret that transformation mode is... Missing. Quite a bit of assets it really should have. considering a decent handful of characters only go through very minor changes (darkle is literally just a clothing color swap) and honestly Ecolo (since all of their chains are borrowed) still only changing to feli for mini and klug for mega is SUCKS i think and it makes me the most upset out of the cast.. ecolo's already transforming when they're not in fever!!!!! lets do something else!!!!!

this is just a reaaally quick mockup scribble of an idea i had that id been discussing with my friend, but i think it'd be really fun if instead of doing a simple character shapeshift, they got real small and silly looking for their mini form and HUGE AND OVERBEARING AND INTIMIDATING for mega. the core would stay the same size, for scale! pp7 is the game that leans the hardest into ecolo being someone who can switch from silly little thang to terrifying cosmic being of sheer force on a dime, and i think itd be fun if their transformations reflected that.

like idk ecolo is the Debut final boss and (imo) one of the coolest characters in the series so i think it sucks that they got the short end of the stick in the battle animations area in this game.

like ive been saying I've grown to love many of Puyo 7's problems but this is one thing i would definitely change if i could.

[ohraicodoll]

Figment | Chapter 5

(Gif credit to FilmBlazer)

Chapters:  5/7 Fandom:  The Sandman (Comics & TV 2022) Rating:  Mature Relationships:  Dream of the Endless | Morpheus/Original Female Character, Dream/Reader Characters:  Dream of the Endless | Morpheus, Original Female Character, Matthew the Raven, Lucienne Additional Tags: Mix of TV Dream and Comic Dream, Spice a little later, kinda enemies to lovers, Cause Dream likes when people backtalk to him, lots and lots of tension Summary: She had only been able to enter other’s dreams two years ago, but she knew the rules. Don’t interfere with the dream. Don’t create anything in another’s dream. Don’t destroy anything in another’s dream. But then she stupidly broke one of those rules and the Lord of Dreams does not take kindly to others messing with his domain. Chapter Summary:   A game between two where both win or both lose. Read Here on AO3 Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7

CHAPTER 5

The memory of his touch followed me through most of the following day. When I woke up, I replayed the scene over and over, trying to figure out how it had gotten to the point where the King of Dreams was sensually kissing my hands. There was no mistake, that’s what it had been. It was amazing how even with those inky black pits for eyes, I could feel his gaze burning on me. The heat of those starry eyes was scorching and powerful enough that even remembering them, I had a hard time breathing. Because he was Dream of the Endless, the embodiment of dreams and nightmares and stories, billions of years old and more powerful than the mind could fathom. And I…was human, utterly and blandly, human. We were brief flashes of life in comparison to him. Existence that long had to be lonely and he had said he had relationships. He’d been cheated on, which now that I’ve met him, seems mind-boggling because who would dare? Lust and want and desire seemed to beckon all though. It should be no surprise if he had had escapades through the years, if only to temper back that loneliness. It was hard to wrap my mind around. I don’t know, maybe he was secretly a flirt. He didn’t seem like the type but also, who knows? The minds of gods are hard to fathom. My own was struggling to simply process that all of that powerful attention, the attention of such an ethereal being, had been on me.

And I had enjoyed it. Reciprocated. Teased him as if he couldn’t snap a nightmare into existence in a second. As if it was no big deal to stick your hand into the open mouth of an alligator, the idea that it’d bite not even worth considering. I had been brazen, so unlike how I would have been in the waking world. But I was beginning to realize that the me in the Dreaming had no reason to hold back, no reason to skirt around others feelings or to not speak up or hold back anger. Because nothing felt permanent, even if I knew that wasn’t true. It felt like it. I didn’t have to be worried about getting fired in the Dreaming or hurting a coworker's feelings or being embarrassed about mis-stepping. And there was power in that and courage. I chewed on my lip, struggling to focus on the reports in front of me as the echo of Morpheus’ fingers on mine played over and over, the tingling of his touch that reverberated throughout my whole body. My skin had been so sensitive, every minute caress of his thumb sending lightning through me. Someone snapped in front of my face and I jumped, knees smacking hard and loud against my desk, and I almost bent over from the sharp pain.

“Hello?” My coworker, Anissa, was hanging off the side of my cubicle, eyebrows raised high into her hairline, “I’ve been calling your name for like a whole minute. You’ve just been staring at your screen and haven’t stopped pressing the letter A the whole time. I blinked, a wince still on my face, and glanced at the screen to see lines and lines of A’s filling it. Well shit. “Sorry, I was distracted,” I grumbled and rubbed my hurt knees. Anissa smirked, “Yeah, no kidding. There’s practically drool on your face.” The smirk grew when I instinctively went to wipe my lips and found nothing. I only glared annoyed and leaned back in my chair, “Sorry, what did you need?” She grinned and stepped even more into the small space, leaning back into the cubicle’s wall, “Oh no, we’re not skipping past whatever this is. So who's the dream boy? Cause I know for a fact you did not go back to Thomas.” Flashes of skin the color of marble and hair like ink danced in my mind and I shook my head, “It’s not like that, there’s no one. I just stayed up late to finish reading that new contemporary romance they’re pushing hard next week and it’s still on my brain.” Anissa raised a brow, utterly not believing my bullshit lie, “Uh huh. Sure. The mediocre romance with the paper thin characters. All I’ll say, because you seem like the type to be embarrassed but you completely shouldn’t be, is that it’s okay to have a little… fun so quickly after a breakup. Life’s too short to be mopey and you’ve been utterly mopey these past few weeks. Who knows, something non-committal might just be good for you.” I laughed awkwardly and coughed, embarrassed and not knowing if this is a conversation I really wanted to be having right now, especially after last night, “I will…keep that in mind. Thank you, Ani, I would like to hide under my table now.” She winked and pushed off my wall to leave, “Fine, go back to daydreaming about your mystery man. I was only coming to tell you the meeting is canceled since everyone decided Friday meetings are dumb so you can spend the rest of the day and all weekend thinking about him.” She practically cackled as she walked off and I shrank into my seat, face in my hands. What was wrong with me?

__________

“Rest assured that your shadows shall not remain lonely upon your next visit.” It had taken me a whole extra hour to settle my nerves and actually fall asleep that night. His words had whispered through me like a promise. That he would be there in my dream, watching. My lip was raw from worrying it between my teeth all day and I had paced the length of my bedroom for an unreasonable amount of time. This was dumb. The anxiety was dumb, the fact I had even flirted with the Dream King, the thought that anything was going to happen. The Dreaming was his domain, he was in every facet of the realm. Of course he was going to be there, he was always there in some form or fashion. And with that, I slipped into the Dreaming, not knowing what I would come upon. I could hear music, string instruments filling the air and indistinct chatter humming in the background. Opening my eyes, I was standing on the second floor landing of a large ballroom, lanterns lit everywhere and light sparkling off all the shining golden décor. The style of the place was Victorian but still modern with intricately carved pillars and facades. The ceiling was made of glass though, a dome top with the night sky dazzling above. There was a host of different people below me, dressed to perfection but with indistinguishable faces underneath masquerade masks of various animals. They laughed and danced and I wondered if they would have actual faces underneath those masks or if they were just blank slates, placeholders to fill out the world of my dream. The candles of the lanterns flickered, casting everything in warm light but leaving deep shadows all around and in the corners. My eyes searched and I wondered if he was there, waiting and watching, keeping those shadows company as he had said he would. I couldn’t feel a mask on my face but knew I was dressed to match the rest of the crowd, glancing down to take in the black fabric of my skirt. Sometimes my dreams changed my clothes, sometimes it was whatever I had worn to bed, but it had never been this extravagant as if it knew who I was hoping to meet. The dress was gauzy and so deeply black it felt like I was staring into a void, the same darkness Morpheus’ eyes seemed. It was floor length, the skirt pooling at my feet and sparkling crystal stars glittering in the fabric but still felt light as if I was dressed in a cloud. The shape of it hugged my frame, A-line with a deep V-neck that fit me well, gems and sequins embroidered in the bodice in swirls and flowers and leaves. My arms were bare, with the exception of bracelets of gold leaves, but attached with golden pins to the straps of my dress, a long cape flowed to merge with the inkiness of my dress with the fabric draped just so to where my back was still a bit bare and exposed. I felt royal, a dark queen watching over her court and the night her domain. My hair was left undone, falling around my shoulders and down my back in long curling waves. I could see my reflection a bit in the mirrored reflection of the floor, buffed and shined to magnificence, and could see the shimmer of gold streaked over my cheeks and the coal lining my eyes to darken them. I looked like the night sky and the shadows cast by the flickering candle flame. Pushing away from the railing, I was surprised to notice I wasn’t wearing shoes though, my feet bare against the cold of the marble floor and the chiffon of my dress dancing along the skin. That pleased me a bit, as if I was the only one allowed the impropriety of going barefoot in the midst of all these elegant people. Dressed to the nines but still having a small act of rebellion. A winding staircase led to the first floor and I smiled at the mingling people, trying to overhear their conversations but only hearing gibberish. As if the dream had been sure to populate the setting, but couldn’t put forth that much more effort to craft every single thing these people said. The attendees wore finely pressed suits with waistcoats, flowers tucked into pockets, gold embroidery sewn into their charcoal fabric. Nothing was plain, everything exquisitely over-the-top. Black and gold seemed to be the theme for this party, the women wearing glittery dresses with dark flowers sewn in ornate styles with obsidian stones while the men wore ebony suits with gold details and chains attached to antique pocket watches. It was beautiful and felt dark, mysterious, a ball made of smoke and extravagance. I walked around the edges of the dancing crowd, taking in the details and the various masks everyone wore, and began to feel it. A prickling at the small of my back, lingering, like a finger trailing over the exposed skin there. Pausing, my breath hitched and I slowly peaked over my shoulder to stare at the corners of the room where the candlelight did not reach. The darkness engulfed those edges, writhed, making the ballroom seem as if it had no walls and was floating in the abyss, but no twin stars could be found. I knew he was there, could feel him, that vibration of his power sliding over me like the whisper of silk and a lover’s caress. Chewing on my lower lip, thankful the dream hadn’t given me lipstick and knew my tendencies well enough, I turned back around. I could go to him, sink into those shadows and let him find me there. Eager, so very eager, to see what he would do. Or… I made a choice. Head held high, I merged with the crowd, deciding to hell with staying on the fringes, and slid through the bodies of masked people dancing and laughing there to the innermost parts. A woman, slightly reminding me of Anissa, with a gold beaded cat mask danced by me in the arms of a man with an angular deer mask. His antlers were tall and almost made him a crown of thorns atop his hair. They cheerfully laughed and swung each other in a circle, her skirt twirling along mine as she went past to the thrum of the music. Someone with a fox mask and gold dusted black jacket brushed against me and paused and before I could blink, had grabbed my hand in his. He raised it up and was spinning me before pulling me into his arms so fluidly I was disoriented. My hand was in his and the other on his shoulder, his resting on my waist, and we danced.

It was frenetic, fast and loose, as if the music and the dancers knew the rules but chose to push the limits and test the boundaries. It was less structured and I realized, more like following the flicker of flames. This was a ball of mystery and passion and they danced like it, unbound and wild and letting themselves be carried away. I didn’t think I knew how to waltz but I kept up, adrenaline rushing through me and that knowing burn tracing up my back and following me, as the fox faced man spun me again. My dress flared around me like tendrils of darkness and a different hand held mine high now, a man with golden hair and a black crow mask. Both of us mirrored the others movements as we swirled around each other, connected with only our one hand pressed against each other. Someone else grabbed my other hand, a woman in a rabbit mask, and the crow faced man passed me off to her. Our movements were liquid as we moved into the same dance, a mirrored circle where the only point of contact was the soft press of our hands conjoined together to form two halves of a whole. It went like that on and on, hands grasping and pulling and sending me off, the various strangers of the ball spinning me in circles before passing me off to the next, an endless chain of revelers going on and on. The room was a carousel of flickering lights, shadows, and masked faces. It was exhilarating and dizzying and I was laughing, feeling almost drunk and light and warm. Weightless. Absolutely weightless, as if I was shaking off every worry and concern with each press of hands and touch of skin. I danced with them all. Women. Men. Shapeless forms that seemed recognizable and unrecognizable but swirled around and around. The ball, the crowd, the darkness pressing in from the corners of the room, were bewildering and sensuous and I soaked in the magic that hung in the frantic air like the sweat that clung to my skin and dripped slowly between my breasts. My heart was racing and hair flying around me to match my dress as I danced, partner after partner in a twirl of glittering fabric. And then he was there. My breathing was ragged, lips still turned in a smile, as the spinning suddenly halted and the world came to a jarring stop as it was his hand that took mine and I had to keep myself from careening into him. A rock in the middle of a rushing river, the stopping of momentum earth tilting. Morpheus stood in front of me, a pillar of night in the sea of the crowd. No one looked or even brushed against him, as if we were in a bubble of our own that could not be touched. Those eyes of fathomless darkness and their pinpoints of light for pupils stared down at me, taking in the flush of my skin and the energy radiating off me. Our hands were raised between us, opposites clasped, his fingers strong on mine but still so gentle. His cloak looked like it was cut from the stars themselves, the flames burning almost a light gold at the hem and the edges brushed in stardust. If I wasn’t mistaken, he almost looked more formal, a waistcoat and silk black shirt underneath to match the ensemble of the crowd. His skin glistened in the light of the candles, making him look warmer, almost more human-like under their cast. Not quite so pale and made of stone, but still not human. Too beautiful and powerful to ever be mistaken for human. I couldn’t help it, couldn’t help the utter thrill of seeing him there, and grinned, chest still heaving as I worked to catch my breath.

“Hello, King of Dreams,” I spoke, husky and full of laughter as I looked up into that immortal face of his and felt the music thrumming through me. That ghost of a smirk, so miniscule I could reason it away as a shift of the light, played along his lips. He bowed his head to me and slowly, so achingly slowly, he brought my bare skin to his lips and laid a kiss across my knuckles as his eyes bore into mine, “Hello, little dreamer.” A lightning bolt shot through me from the touch and my skin felt so sensitive and tight, blazing heat coursing through me. I laughed, the sound dark and breathy, bottom lip between my teeth, “You kept your promise. I guess my shadows haven’t been so lonely tonight.” He stood straight, keeping my hand in his, and raised a brow, “You were aware I was here?” The tone was less quizzical, less him believing he had been sneaky about it. I’m not sure he had ever been sneaky in his life, but it felt like a whispered accusation, small, as if he was almost saying, “You were aware and did not come to me.” This was a king and he had expected my obedience, my supplication, and I hadn’t given him that. Had never given him that. My gaze was entranced with the way the light moved on his skin, casting his face in stark relief, and I murmured, low and smoky, “I’m always aware of you.” Those twin stars flashed mauve in the candlelight. Everything about me was vibrating as I stood before him, overheated and tingling. I lowered my gaze, staring at our clasped hands between us as my free one balled in the fabric of my dress and then blinked up at Morpheus from under long lashes, “Dance with me, Dream King?” I could feel his gaze roam over mine, face flush from the revelries and lip slightly swollen from chewing on it most of the night (and day). Sweat slid along my skin, clinging to my neck and chest and back but I didn’t care. I felt untethered and unworried and delicious under the gaze of this powerful creature. But he bowed his head in an apology, that small smile of his almost tinged with sadness, “Apologies, milady, but I do not dance.” And there were almost unspoken words there. He didn’t dance because how would it look? He didn’t dance because he was the Lord of the Dreaming and wouldn’t lower himself to the act. He didn’t dance because he couldn’t give himself over to an ounce of frivolity. In that wave of reckless abandon that was carrying me through the night, my hand in his and those eyes of ink and stars meeting mine, I let myself grin widely at him as I questioned incredulously, “Thousands and thousands of years old and you don’t dance? I hope that doesn’t mean that you don’t know how because that would be an absolute travesty. Mostly on your part.” A part of me knew that this was a being that didn’t exactly like to be teased. He was stoic and unyielding in his ways and tightly coiled, but I didn’t care at that moment. I’d walked the razor's edge with him before and I couldn’t keep myself from doing it over and over again. It was the game we had begun. Two opposing forces butting heads, clashing and burning. One would eventually lose but not yet. Morpheus only quirked a brow, not biting at the tease, thumb grazing slowly over the skin he had kissed. “I am very well capable of the act, little dreamer. I simply do not partake,” he replied, admonishing and daring. I raised my own brow, taking a step back in challenge. We never broke eye contact even as I moved a little further away, fingers still wrapped around each other, and a dare in my eyes. Chase me, play with me, take the bait. And with a flash of a mischievous grin, I raised our joined hands and twirled under his arm, letting the darkness of my dress ripple around me as I spun myself.

Dream’s hand reflexively followed the movement, keeping me grounded as he knowingly or unknowingly helped me spin. Then I stopped with the soft rustling of skirts, my hand clasped firmly in his, closer than before as the fox faced man had done to me. So close now I had to crane my neck up to see his face. My grin was wide and proud, chest almost pressed against his while I took in air and my other hand rested on his shoulder to balance myself. His hand had caught on the curve of my waist, those long fingers of his digging gently into the embroidered fabric. His cloak coiled around us like a serpent, blending with the blackness of my gown, and I was surprised that it felt like the most luxurious velvet I could have imagined. The velvet of the night sky, soft and warm and inviting. Laughing softly, I beamed with my tongue between my teeth, “See? Now you’ve partaken. Dream of the Endless does, in fact, dance.” The candlelight darkened his face, eyes shadowed completely and mauve stars burning as he whispered, “Impertinent little thing.” But the words were almost adoring this time, an echo of the angry words he had once hissed at me, a whispered promise in a dark room behind closed doors. “Always,” I whispered back into the space between us, grin slipping into a playful smile. I knew my cheeks must be flushed, that the redness was probably creeping down the exposed skin of my chest. Every point of contact was electricity. My body was so sensitive, alight with his touch and gaze and the dark way it traced from my eyes to my nose, lips, neck before meeting my own gaze. His head tilted ever so slightly and in the back of my mind, I thought I could hear the crowd hush and the music slow. Then we were moving, him guiding us slowly into a dance. Less a full waltz and closer to a gentle sway but I would take it. I would take whatever he would give me. He held my hand in his and pulled me flush against him, chest to chest, not allowing any space between us. And I didn’t care. The whole world could be burning and I wouldn’t care because he was a cold fire, dark and burning and swallowing me whole in its blaze. The other revelers were dark shadows, not quite tangible anymore, but merely brushes along my skin like smoke as they danced around us. The music was low and rich, thrumming through me and reverberating through my blood. Morpheus watched. He watched every little reaction. When he twirled me, almost lazily so my dress could slide along him, and pulled me back in with my back to his chest, he drank in my laughter and watched it light up my face. When I was fully against him, he drank the shaky way my breath rasped out at the contact, hand still entwined with mine and arm fully wrapped around my waist and keeping me there against him. He pressed his face into my hair, nose trailing down my neck to match as he ran a single finger down my free arm and watched my chest hitch at the feather light touch. He laughed softly against the sweat soaked skin of my neck and laid a teasing kiss there, lips lingering until I clenched my fingers in his and let out an imperceptible moan. “Have you had quite enough, little dreamer?” the dreamlord asked into my skin, lips grazing the sensitive spot there as he spoke and I almost moaned again. But I let my head fall back to his shoulder, neck bared to him and eyes slid shut, and grinned, “Oh hardly. Don’t tell me you’re tired already, your highness?” He chuckled into my ear and leaned his head down to lay another torturous kiss on my collar bone, teeth grazing this time. Then he was twirling me away from him, spinning me, pulling me back into the whirlwind of skirts and dancing and heady music that wrapped around us. We danced and danced some more, my body floating and only tethered by his body against mine and our clasped hands. My fingers dug into the muscle at his shoulders, grasping onto him, and I felt them shift under my hands. He was sculpted from stone, lean but muscled, his grip on me tight as if I really were smoke and would flutter into the air if he let go. While sweat and hair clung to me, breath coming out in frantic gasps, Morpheus was unaffected but I could feel his hungry gaze taking me in, watching each bead of sweat slip down into the bodice of my dress and the flush along my gold stained cheeks. We slowed and swayed, his thumb brushing patterns into the back of the hand that was trapped in his. The hand at my waist shifted and left my body and I didn’t even have time to be confused to where it had gone before I could feel the light tracing of his knuckles along the bare skin of my back. I jolted, something I’m sure he could feel, and my breath hitched as he ran them up and down, up and down in agonizing slowness. My breath came out in tattered wisps, so close to him that each exhalation brushed along his neck. If I were to lean forward, I could rest my forehead along his jawline, the long stretch of his neck before me. Images flashed of licking up that long expanse of neck, tasting him, clamping my teeth around that pulsing heartbeat there and seeing if I could garner a reaction. That small trace of his knuckles were undoing me, my mind only able to focus on that small bit of contact and gods if it wasn’t the most erotic thing. Dream leaned forward, breath hot on my skin as he whispered in my ear, “Are you certain that your shadows are sufficiently comforted? I am here, but perhaps they wish for your presence as well.” I bit my lip and turned my face to his as he turned as well, my nose skimming along his skin. He pressed his forehead to my own and I was utterly swallowed by the darkness of his gaze, the feeling of his breath mingling with mine. It wouldn’t take much, just the smallest of movements, and I could press my lips to his, could taste him, drink him in like he had.

I was lost to this creature, completely lost. “Maybe,” I licked my lip and those starry pupils followed the movement, before replying in a barely audible whisper, “we should both keep them company. You obviously need a break from all this dancing you don’t partake in.” Those pinpoints of light in his eyes turned, darkening, and he twined the fingers of our clasped hands together before stepping forward, guiding me backwards. In two small steps, our surroundings shifted and my back hit the wall of the ballroom, shadows swallowing us and the revelry suddenly much farther away from us. Away from view, where no one could see us. Those twin stars in the darkness swallowed my vision as the shadows completely wrapped around him, welcoming him back with loving arms. But I could feel his breath fanning on my cheeks and lips, his hand now flush along the bare skin of my back, and I could swear I felt him smirk hungrily as his nose skimmed along mine. The dreamlord raised our intertwined hands along the wall, the long skim of cool wood against my fevered skin almost making me moan in relief, and pinned it above my head. The hand on my bare back arched me forward, pressing fully and completely against him. I could feel the message there, the trace of amusement in his movements. Caught. Captured. Trapped. I’d coaxed him into playing with me and been triumphant in that, but he was winning this game and I was his prize. The alligator had clamped down and bitten. My one free hand clung onto his shoulder as he slid his nose alongside mine before following a path along my cheek and down my jawline. I was liquid fire, a puddle in his arms with a racing heart and shallow breaths. The torture of those small, simple touches raked along every nerve of mine, taunting, and setting me a light. Morpheus blew out a small, gentle breath along the skin on the underside of my ear and I shuddered, a loud moan escaping me. “Shhh,” he whispered into the skin there, “It would be most…improper, little dreamer, to be caught like this.”   Fuck improper, he was unraveling me and he knew it. There was no one else here, no one of consciousness at least, but this was his game now. That anyone could be watching us, could hear us, could catch us and the game would be over. Continuing to trace along my skin, he bent and ever so lightly grazed his lips under my jaw and up and down my neck. I tilted my head up, eyes closed and biting down on my lip to keep from moaning out loud lest he decide to punish me and stop. He wasn’t kissing the skin, was barely touching it with his lips, gentler than the caress of a feather, but the promise that it would take so very little to do so, yet he didn’t, was aching and torturous. It was the promise, the temptation and want that was driving me insane. Because I wanted him to kiss me, to lick and bite me and unmake me entirely and the denial was painful. My chest pressed against him with each rasping breath and my captured hand spasmed, wanting desperately to be free to touch him, feel him. But he kept me in place, palm against palm and fingers intertwined with a gentleness despite the power. My other hand left its place on his shoulder, the only thing of mine free, to at least move upwards and curl around the back of his own neck. He was so warm under my fingertips, the hair at the nape of his neck unbelievably soft and my thumb tracing the hard edge of his jawline. The tip of his nose dragged upward and I was burning, dying, wanting to pull him forward by his neck and drink in his kiss, taste his lips, and completely devour him. I wanted to feel his hands on my skin, wanted those hands to dive under my skirts and grip my thighs and drown me. His forehead pressed against mine as before and I opened my eyes and could almost feel the knowing look he wore. The dreamlord was deceptively calm, but I could tell it affected him as well from the hard press of his body and the flexing of his fingers along my back. He was the image of restraint, able to take his time, all night perhaps, to pace this out. He was endless, he had all the time in the world. But I wasn’t and patience was never my strong suit. My loose fingers ran up to tangle in his hair, the soft tendrils of strands beneath them and I lightly, slowly, dragged my nails along his scalp. Morpheus hissed, half a moan, onto my lips and shuddered against me at the sound. I couldn’t help the large grin that crawled back onto my face or the utter pride that I could play this game too. He hadn’t won yet. “Wicked thing,” he growled. I chuckled darkly, pressing even closer until our lips were only a hair from each other, whispering my words onto his, “You started it, I’m merely participating.” The hand at my back trailed down, following the curve of my hip, and, as if he had read my mind, he gripped my thigh tightly, bruisingly, while pushing me back hard and fully flush against the wall. I let out a gasp onto his lips as he pressed his own body in closer and let me know exactly how much he enjoyed my participation. But he still didn’t give in, his voice molasses and burning embers and dark promises against my lips, “Well then … perhaps I should put an end to this game.” I wanted to say yes please, for him to quit torturing me and finally kiss me, to wrap my legs around his waist and sate the aching need that was throbbing through ever part of my body. Not pulling away entirely, he bent and so incredibly gently pressed his lips along my neck. I was riding the electrical current flowing through me at the touch, was sure he could feel the want dripping off me as he laid kiss after kiss up my neck up to my ear. I moaned, pressing myself harder against him, body absolutely writhing. The Lord of Dreams smiled against my skin and pressed his forehead against the side of my head, his breath teasing my ear as he whispered tenderly, “Goodnight, little dreamer.” I sucked in a breath and he pulled away enough that I could see his face and that predatorial smirk, full of satisfaction and deviousness, before the dream began to melt away and faded completely. I jolted up in bed, panting and heavy with desire and utterly annoyed to the point of being enraged. The air was cold on my heated skin, body wound so tight, and I stared in the darkness of my room, thinking I could still see Morpheus’ twin star eyes in the shadows but instead found nothing. That asshole. That complete asshole. With the loudest, most agonized groan of my life, I flopped backwards, grabbed a pillow, and placed it over my face to smother myself in. I’d made him play the game. I lost. Then again, I’m not sure he won either, if how much he had seemed to want whatever was happening was evident. But I wasn’t done playing. Not just yet.

[emerald9d]

We're focusing too much on Kris.

Back in chapter one I wrote (yes I'm linking this again) this reddit post about what I think the darkness is. And, frankly, even if some of the details are off, I largely stand by the thesis.

Last time I referenced this post, I myself was focusing primarily on the nature of Kris, but I want to take a different angle this time.

The reason why I say we focus too much on Kris is because Kris is, essentially, far from the only one who's life is getting railroaded by an outside force. As I suggest in that reddit post, it's happening to the entire cast and setting. Hell, it's happening to the audience itself, to a certain degree. Like, regardless of how you feel about all this, we still have to play the game to resolve whatever conflict is going on. Otherwise it's just kinda locked in stasis forever. The audience, too, is railroaded. Far from just some nefarious alien manipulator.

And if Kris is railroaded just as much as anyone else, then why would they be any more aware of it than anyone else? The camera happens to center them the most, sure, but there's no particular reason to think they know what's going on more than anyone else. (soulless Kris notwithstanding, which is a whole different topic)

You might say UT is a different story and its rules don't necessarily apply to DR, but I'd be shocked if they didn't share the same kind of meta exploration. The only way to play UT again is to explicitly yank the entire cast back to the start of the plot, out of the undefined freedom beyond the end credits. I have no reason to think that the same thing isn't basically going on in DR. So yeah, I think we're missing the forest for the conveniently Kris-shaped tree here.

And speaking of things found in forests, let's jump topics a little and talk about moss.

Kris eats moss. Haha funny jokes. Everybody thinks its funny and cute and goblin-esque and fun that Kris will eat moss.

Problem is, the player has to choose to have them eat moss. If you think the player is forcing Kris against their will when making choices, then why is that funny? It shouldn't be. It's kinda fucked up and horrible, really, to force someone to eat something really strange that's growing on the floor of a dingy dungeon cell.

This might seem like a real fandom nitpick, but I've seen both attitudes come out of the same people. The attitude that it's amusing and Kris-like, and the attitude that the player is forcing them against their will. It just seems really contradictory to me, cuz it can't be both. And if you think the player is forcing them against their will BUT for some reason that particular instance is allowed to represent Kris' behavior, it throws all other instances of "forcing" them into question, outside of really obvious stuff like the choices in weird route. At which point I wonder what the point of the puppet theory even is, if it's so indefinably wishy-washy. Like on a replay, you're gonna hit these moments, and rather than being like "oh god I was forcing Kris to do these things all along," instead it's gonna be like "maybe I was forcing Kris here? But maybe not? Should I even worry about it?" That seems kind of pointless to me.

I don't think it's some minor detail to overlook, but player puppet theory proponents seem to treat the contradiction that way, whether they mean to or not. And that always puzzled me.

[twilightknight17]

P5T Story Finale - Part 1

I'm just starting off with the assumption that this will have to be 2 parts, to fit all the pictures I took. XD

So, where we left off, I was doing pretty good.

We'd beaten Metal Marie, and Lavenza had some challenges for us to unlock our final skills. I was kind of hyped, because honestly, it seemed like a good opportunity to get everyone's ultimate personas back. And then Erina could just have whatever.

It was not second awakenings, despite the way they talked about it sounding very second-awakening-ish. Instead, we get a maximum power skill for each Thief's specific element. And, sorry everyone, but Joker's is the coolest.

I also think that it's worth mentioning that when you die, Lavenza quotes Paradise Lost at you.

She also quotes it at the very start of the game, so she's very well-read. Probably Margaret and Theodore's influence; I can't see Elizabeth sitting through a book like that. XDDD

Anyway, Lavenza's challenges were some very elaborate puzzle levels and endurance missions with gimmicks, but nothing that was completely unreasonable. The one where you had to kill everything in one turn by using one-mores and platforms to get Joker to the top of the level to trigger the widest-possible AOA range was awesome. I felt smart when I finished them, which was the important part.

And my reward, other than skills, was......

You have to be level 96 to fuse Satanael, tho, so like... holy fuck, Atlus. Booooooo. And he's got like seven components, which I'm pretty sure he did in P5, but you couldn't fuse him til NG+, so you at least would have had most of them by then. This is just taunting me. Plus, it's not nearly as easy to get money in this. You have to replay missions, and later missions give more money but also take longer, so it seems like it'll be a little tedious to complete the compendium.

ANYWAY.

Metal Yoshiki and Metal Shadow Toshiro went down next, and I'm pretty sure it confirmed that it wasn't actually Toshiro's shadow, just a piece of Salmael masquerading as it. I wasn't... super impressed with these fights? They were basically the same as the first go round, just with more health, more damage, and slightly different arenas. Metal Shadow Toshiro skipped his first round and went right to Giant Scary Eri, so... Yeah. They were fine, I guess.

I did notice something a little funny, though. The final Kingdom is "The Path to God" in the replay menu, and there are six missions (not counting the bosses), each with a letter appended to them.

All six in order spells "A S Y L U M".

If Salmael rules this Kingdom, is he the crazy one, then? :P

So, we are off to the final boss. My goblin kids are ready to beat the shit out of their third god in like... four months? Wow.

Slap him so hard he drops his head, Futaba!

I finally realized what this thing's appearance reminds me of. Some weird fusion of Yald, and the Queen from Deltarune.

He has the SMUGGEST VOICE of any god so far and it just makes me want to hit him harder. Maybe I should have done some grinding for Satanael after all.

He just wants to ~save humanity~, and I'd just like to mention how much I love my wife.

Salmael is totally cool with our disagreement, obviously.

Us? All by ourselves? You think so highly of us~

Salmael says that his actions are the consensus of humanity, so we should just give in. The game gives you an option here between "Our wills are firm" and "Send us back to the real world." Which, if you remember, he offered to send us all home without our powers or memories, so... put a pin in that. We'll be back. In THIS timeline, we tell God to fuck off, as is our wont.

I feel justified in writing Ryuji calling Yaldabaoth "Yald" in an actual fic, now. XD

Seriously, Atlus, one line of dialogue. "We've already beat up a 'god' who thought he knew what was best for us." Call Maruki on his BS.

Anyway, as always, these gods who want peace and happiness and order are willing to murder us. Ooohhhh nooo, I don't waaaaant to use force, you just leave me no chooooooiiiiiice~ Blarg. XD

The battlefield is wild, though. I'm always down for a good giant clock.

The five platforms rotate either forward or back based on a skill that warns you in advance. Platforms that go past the end positions sink into the green, and more arise on the other side to replace them.

So, we wallop the shit out of god while avoiding being tossed into a green abyss. I only lost Toshiro during this stage of the fight, so I still had my three primary fighters and three baton passes.

Salmael, upon being knocked down in round 1, throws a temper tantrum, and... well, I guess calling it "going one-winged-angel" isn't appropriate here. He's still got all his wings, just gets more raggedy and dirty.

But the important part is that he loses the mask and his face is FUCKED UP

He gets two new attacks for this round. The first one is a very Dark Hour-esque clock which leaves numbers on some of the platforms. That's how many people need to be standing on that particular platform to avoid triggering an attack that paralyzes you on your next turn.

Overall, challenging! Especially because the numbers don't rotate with the platforms, so if he does both skills at the same time, you've gotta make sure you're not gonna rotate away from the number you need. (Learned that the hard way.)

The second one is some kind of giant antenna that spawns in the middle of the arena, and you have like... three turns to AOA it before he does some horrible targeted missile barrage. I had the worst time with that. That's how I lost all three of my remaining squad in one turn, because I couldn't get the downed enemy to line up right to allow the AOA.

So we're down Ann, Morgana, and Akira. Welcome to the fight, Haru, Yusuke, and Ryuji!

Salmael's second form has about twice as much health as his first form, which can be mitigated by AOA-ing the antenna, because Futaba can then turn the missiles on him. I only managed that once. X'D But the game REALLY smacked me when it did the clock attack and the arena rotation on the same turn, and the clock was four platforms, each with a 1 on it. I didn't have Toshiro anymore. I couldn't put one person on each platform. So everyone got paralyzed, and the rotation was poised to dump both Haru and Yusuke into the abyss with no way to move them.

It was going to be up to Ryuji to win this fight alone.

...or, it would have been, but as I watched Yusuke sink into the green depths, I realized that... the platform just popped back up on the other side. Yusuke was fine. Didn't even do any damage. X'D I spent the whole fight thinking that if I got sucked down with a platform, that person would just die. But no.

In the end, Haru dealt the final blow, and Salmael took that really well. He just straight up starts taking a swing at us and throwing gears. So I guess we DID slap him so hard he dropped his head!

My baby boy gets to say more than one line of dialogue in this game!

This is the smile of a savior, everyone.

Honestly this last AOA cutscene is wild. I like it better than Scramble's, I think? I need to watch it again, but it's really well done. Halfway through, Erina gets squashed by a whole ton of gears and ends up... I'm assuming drifting in the Sea of Souls, and Toshiro calls her back so she can take her Ernesto form and blast the hell out of Salmael. And then she turns back into Erina and she and Akira slam a flag through Salmael's face. :3

Yeah, yeah. Same as every other monster.

Salmael takes defeat well, of course. By exploding.

And Toshiro catches a brief glimpse of the overwhelming existential dread that knowing about meta-space can cause: namely that humanity is constantly accidentally almost destroying itself.

I like to think that he gets a phone call from the Shadow Ops at some point. XDDDD

Anyway, with Salmael dead, his primary Kingdom is collapsing, so it's time to get the hell out of here. And with this, I have hit the image limit, so... Off we go. Part 2 is next!

[themole]

fear and hunger is so gooood im just getting into it rn and like it rly does feel like the feeling something like LISA was going for,,,, obvs like theyre both going for different things but ik lisa was trying to be like this super punishing world with all these choices you didnt wanna make but it never fully committed to it mostly because it really encouraged save scumming. When playing LISA you obviously should play on hard mode or at least self impose a "no save scumming" rule when playing for a better, more intended experience but all the same once youve played through it once, or if youve checked a guide at all during a playthrough, you can get kinda jaded and know the best, easy options to pick in choices and stuff,,,,, but i think fear and hunger rly successfully nails inflicting this feeling on the player,,, just because of its roguelight elements, you may get a particularly bad start to a new run (common of course) and because of inertia (or because you already reset so many other worse runs) you wanna see it through and once you get a certain amount of time into it youre even further stuck in inertia you have to see the run through and u keep getting fucked over and over again and ur unable to get an optimized save during one long section of the run and youve already replayed it several times and dont wanna waste anymore time trying to get a lucky optimized run to the next save point and it rly does make u question whether ur willing to make horrible choices for rewards to make the game easier akdhdjs like thats the feeling LISA wanted to invoke and its done to much better success here,,, especially because the moments when you need to make choices in LISA arrive along a straight linear story path whereas horrible choices are lying in secret and scattered frequently around the world of fear and hunger and are all completely optional mind you, but when you happen across them you have this natural reaction (if youre roleplaying) of like oh my god i cant do that thats so mean, or whatever, obvs if you just treat it all as "haha video game" this aspect is lost on the player cuz you'll prolly just do shocking things out of pure intrigue for the result, but never the less the option to roleplay is there

[tvccreator]

Replaying Subnautica - Have Some Tips

...I should be doing college work, yet here I am. o-o’

Oh, well.

SUBNAUTICA!!

I really love this game. It’s terrifying as all hell, but I love it so much. I haven’t really played through Below Zero due to being a goddamn coward, but I have put nearly 100 hours into OG Subnautica. Here are some little tips for anyone who maybe hasn’t played it in a long time or hasn’t played it at all but wants to later on. Here are Ellie’s Top 10 Tips for New/Returning Gamers Playing Subnautica.

1. Make fins and an oxygen tank as soon as feasibly possible and keep upgrading them when you can. You’re going to want that extra O2, and the fins, while not the best, can be upgraded to either Ultra Glide Fins or Swim Charge Fins - the latter being able to charge your electronic devices and the former being twice as fast as normal fins.

2. Harvest a lot of salt deposits and coral tube samples. While you can use salt to cure your food, I’d recommend saving it and making bleach out of it. While Bladderfish water gives you +20 to your fluid intake, bleach can make two water bottles that give +30 each. It’s a little thing, but one I find handy until you can make the Water Filtration system.

3. Use the vehicles and the Seaglide sparingly. Most of the enemies in Subnautica are attracted to lights, sound, or both, so moving through the water as silently as possible is key. Especially around the damn Reaper Leviathans.

4. Build bases in the different biomes. This one’s a given, but it helps to have a habitat at the ready in most biomes, especially ones that are deeper underwater. It’s a great storage place, you can fix up your vehicles if you have a Moonpool, and you can build things with a Fabricator if you need emergency supplies.

5. BEACONS. Those will be your best friend, so get the Beacon fragments as soon as possible. Believe me, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve lost my way trying to find the damn mushroom forests and, when I finally find it, I lose it almost immediately after. (My most recent escapade to find the mushroom forest ended up with me going right to the giant-ass gun island by accident. That was not fun for my heart when I started hearing Reapers and I immediately thought I had gone into the Dunes.) 

6. You can desensitize yourself to the Reapers’ roars. It’s been too long since I last played, so I have to get used to them again. However, it’s pretty easy to desensitize yourself. Go into a creative world, go build a base in a Reaper-infested area (I used the Crash Zone for mine, but I plan on using the Dunes next) and just sit down and watch the Reapers for a few minutes. The roaring will be really loud, but it will help you warm up to the Reapers so that way you don’t go into “deer in the headlights” mode when you hear one in a survival world.

7. Don’t be afraid to stock up on supplies. You will find that, as you get further into the game, some resources become pretty damn scarce, so make sure you stock up. Most common things to stock up on would be copper, cave sulfur, silver, diamonds, ion cubes (and tablets), nickel, table coral, and most types of growable flora. 

8. To quote Jacksepticeye: “Okay, do not tempt fate! Fate will come back and bite you in your hairy ass!” For God’s sake, if you see a hostile leviathan or any variation of hostile creature, do not approach them. Leave them the hell alone to do whatever they were doing beforehand. If you haven’t seen Jacksepticeye playing Subnautica, then go watch his playthroughs if you want - both the early release and the full playthrough. He tempts fate way too many times.

9. Stasis Rifle + Scanner + Survival Knife = Safety. Almost everyone who has played Subnautica knows this general rule, but I thought I’d still say it. The stasis rifle, when you get it, will be an absolute necessity if you want to go scan the more dangerous creatures of Subnautica, especially the hostile leviathans. Make sure to charge the blast all the way, then get in close as fast as possible if the shot connects and scan that fucker before the stasis field dissipates. Then, if you really need to, use the survival knife in tandem with the stasis rifle to kill the hostile creature if it still poses a threat.

And Number 10. Don’t be upset if you’re afraid. Believe me, that feeling is very normal. It’s alright to be scared of Subnautica, even if you’re not a thalassophobe. It’s supposed to unnerve you; it’s survival horror where you can’t really defend yourself against the threats. That’s the entire point of the game. I love the ocean, but even I’m terrified of going anywhere near the Reaper Leviathans and the Sea Dragons because of the threat they pose. A lot of people will say that there’s nothing to be scared of when you play the game for a long time, and sure, that may be true for some people, but it’s not true for everyone. Don’t be mad at yourself for getting spooked by a crashfish or by backing away when you see a crabsquid. You’re not alone.

[zhongrin]

OKAY MY GOD HELLO I'M BACK FROM REPLAYING THE P5 VN I NEED TO SCREAM ABOUT DETAILS SO I GUESS I SHOULD PUT A SPOILER WARNING??? FOR THOSE WHO DECIDE TO PLAY??? IDK HOW LONG IT'S BEEN SINCE YOU RELEASED THE GAME BC I FOUND OUT YESTERDAY LMAO

//spoiler warning for the P5, P5R and fanmade visual novel//

I'm still a bit giddy so forgive me for my crappy attempt of explaining my feelings properly lol (but then again, it's kind of your fault for making such an amazing game 🥹)

First things first, thank you so much for your GOD-SENT walkthrough 🙌

There were so many parts that I had to pull up the settings menu just to recompose myself LMAO I didn't even have to touch my cheeks to know they were about to go up in flames from Ren's smooth flirty lines 🙈

That scene???? That we go to the post cultural event??? I LITERALLY HAD TO GET UP AND GO TO THE BATHROOM TO SPLASH MY FACE WITH WATER BC I WAS LOSING MY DAMN MIND OVER HAND HOLDING???? AND REN'S BLUSHING HAPPY FACE AFTER WE TIGHTEN THE HOLD OF HIS HAND???? I READ SO MANY NASTY NSFW FICS AND YET I'VE NEVER FELT SO EMBARRASSED OVER HAND HOLDING 🙈🙈🙈

DON'T EVEN GET ME STARTED ON THAT SCENE WHICH REN KISSES OUR HAND AHSYYDUEHSBBS I FELT SMOKE COMING OUT OF MY EARS 😩

AND THEN IT SHOWED HIM SAYING "You're going to be the death of me" 🫠🫠🫠 I'M SO WEAK AT SMOOTH FLIRTY GUYS LOSING THEIR COOL BC OF HIS CRUSH 😩😩😩

AND THE FACT THAT THIS GAME ISN'T EVEN VOICED AND YET HE HAD SUCH AN EFFECT ON ME?? THE POWER OF YOUR WRITING JESUS CHRIST

During the time of his disappearance, even though I knew Ren was gonna come back this time , I still cried like I did in the bad ending 🥲 and during their first reunion as well 🤧

I absolutely loved the affection heart thingy (I forgot the name lol) and how each day the description changed! When it showed "You're down bad for him. So bad." I related to that in my soul 😆

Playing your game was quite a ride bc I've never played Persona 5/P5R, only watched some gameplays (and not even of the full game since atlus has that weird rule 🤡), so many things at the end were a big surprise for me (like that whole alternative dimension thing and the red haired girl). That didn't affect my enjoyment tho! On the contrary, it's making me consider buying the P5R now that it's released on switch 😆

Throughout my gameplay today, each day that passed and scene that happened, I kept thinking "please don't end here, I want more 🥺". Don't get me wrong, the ending was so cute and sweet 🤧 I'm just really addicted to this vn and don't want to leave RenRen 😆 I can't wait to play the GE2 tomorrow!

i am sobbing. crying. laying on the floor. i wanted to hoard this ask so bad but that wouldn't be fair to you. ironically, even as a writer, i can't express this feeling in words. so have all these instead:

[icharchivist]

What's a Fort Connor mission?

Fort Connor is a mini game in the Original Game where you have to help a city living on top of a mountain to defend themselves against Soldiers trying to climb it, and if you manage to do that you get access to a very useful Summon Materia.

As a mini game even in the OG, it played as if you had a map of the mountain and was to decide where to place troops to fight the enemies troops, and also make sure they don't get to the top, all while knowing you have a limited amount of people you can sum up. So like, you want to figure out where to put your defenders, your offenders, your immobile weapons, your ranged fighters, your healers, all while being aware to keep a balance relevent to the way the enemies approach. Also being mindful of the way to use magic to get the enemies away.

and in the OG, on top of that, it was SLOOOOOOOOOOW. it was SO SLOW. Like oh my god it is AGONIZINGLY slow and you can't walk out of the mini game until you're done and if you fuck up you just have to watch the game unfold to lose your party.

It was always too much for me and everytime i tried Fort Connor in game i would be dreading it so bad. I don't even think i even managed to get the Materia on top because of how it annoyed me.

Anyway so, the Fort Connor mini game in the OG unlock on the area where you first can run into Yuffie. Yuffie is an optional party character you have to run into a random encounter with to meet as she tries to attack you. (Like a pokemon.) So basically you can run into her anywhere on the map past the Mythril Mine, not before. Fort Connor is just outside of the Mythril Mine, so you can start meeting Yuffie around the time you unlock Fort Connor.

So, in the Remake, they made a DLC for Yuffie, a whole new original storyarc implying she was in Midgar before meeting you, which is like, fair enough, curious where it's going. But therefore to keep on the spirit of Yuffie's appearance, they also added a Fort Connor Mini Game.

In the Remake, Fort Connor is a board game using the same rules as the OG's mini game, and Yuffie is tasked in an optional series of sidequests, to defeat as many people as possible at Fort Connor in order to gain prizes and eventually more Materias (which interests her a lot since her whole goal has been "getting back as many Materias as possible for her homecountry")

And the Remake adapted Fort Connor very well, and not as slow, which is nice! I genuinely don't want to replay more Fort Connor tho!! i did it once for the tutorial and i wanted to scream and i opened my map to see what Yuffie should do and i found like 5 markers to play Fort Connor with and i'm like. Actually. you know what. I can play another day.

one day i'll hate Fort Connor a little less.

Today is not the day.

Kudos for the remake to have found a neat way to implemant this iconic mini game into its game and lore and keeping the Yuffie link. But also just as faithful as it is to the OG, i'm, going, to start crying,

[linuxgamenews]

Gods Against Machines: Action Roguelite Strategy Coming Soon

Gods Against Machines action roguelite strategy game aims at Steam Deck and Linux with Windows PC. Thanks to Silver Eye Studios for their impressive and skillful development work. Due to make its way onto Steam this month. Let's talk about the latest title from Silver Eye Studios, Gods Against Machines, launching this February 23rd. It's due to release on Windows PC but also offers hope for Steam Deck and Linux. The Czech Republic-based team is bringing something fresh to the table, and it looks very promising.

...we believe the game should run on Linux (with emulator), and we've tested it on a Steam Deck where it's fully playable, though some UI elements might be a tad small. We'll definitely look into further testing on Linux to ensure a smoother experience.

Good news for Steam Deck players – there's a strong chance of support. Since Gods Against Machines ' is crafted in Unity and already compatible with popular controllers like Xbox and PlayStation, a Linux build seems quite likely. While it's not confirmed, the developer hasn't ruled it out either, so fingers crossed. Taking on the role of a warrior god fighting off an alien machine invasion. You've got a whole arsenal of spells at your disposal, and you can tweak them to suit your style. While every campaign is a new adventure with over four dozen spells, ever-changing maps, and a roguelite progression system that keeps things interesting.

Gods Against Machines - Official Release Trailer

But here's the twist – it's not your usual action roguelite strategy game. You can skip missions if you want, making your journey tougher but faster, or take your time, complete each challenge, and become more powerful. It's all about how you want to play, and I like that flexibility. The pace is quick, the strategy element is solid, and the replay value? Through the roof. With maps and rewards that change every time, you won't get bored. And let's talk about customization. Gods Against Machines has over 60 spells and loads of passive bonuses, so you can create tons of different builds. Plus, the roguelite aspect means every playthrough also feels fresh with new strategies to explore. Visually, its low poly graphics style is gorgeous, and the soundtrack? Epic. It sets the mood. Now, the inspiration behind Gods Against Machines is fascinating. It draws from classics like Populous and Starcraft (thanks to the Nexus Wars mod) and newer hits like Slay The Spire. This blend of old and new is something I'm looking forward to. Crafted by a small family studio, this game feels like a love letter for old-school and modern strategy fans. It's not just a nod to the past but a step into the future of strategy gaming. Mark your calendars for February 23rd, 2024. Whether you're a strategy veteran or new to the genre, Gods Against Machines is shaping up to be a must-try action roguelite strategy. Coming to Steam priced at $10.99 USD / £9.29 / 10,79€. Playable on Steam Deck with Proton via Windows PC, with the hope of a native Linux build too.