#I also have clear sprites of the second batch

[seanait]

Senjuushi half-anni art

[foodbytesback]

I Played Every Food Game in the Indie Bundle for Palestinian Aid

In light of increased violence by the Israeli military against Palestinian civilians, several game developers have to come together to create the Indie Bundle for Palestinian Aid.  And with over 1,000 games (available at https://itch.io/b/902/indie-bundle-for-palestinian-aid until Friday for just $5, of which all profits go towards the United Nations Relief and Works Agency), it’s no surprise that there would be a handful of food-related games.  So let’s take a look at them.

I did, however, omit a few.  There were a couple of food-related text-based RPGs, which is ultimately not a medium that I’m familiar enough with to feel like I could talk about and do it justice (and also most of them required at least 2 players).  “Breakfast Cult,” ended up being more about cult stuff than breakfast stuff, which was disappointing (for the purposes of this, anyway). A couple, upon extracting the .zip files, seemed to be files of all Unity assets and no actual game, and eventually I kinda stopped caring.  Sorry if I missed any otherwise, I did my best to gleam through the over 1,000 titles in this bundle.

Ace Baker

You’re presented with a list of ingredients with names that don’t resemble any food known to man, and it’s up to you to throw things together in combinations that will result in something that resembles a baked good before your partner comes home from work.  There are icons next to each item, which vaguely suggest what it is, but the whole point is to sort of work it out yourself.  I was just barely able to get a Perfect Cake before running out of ingredients, after countless Acceptable and Dubious attempts.  

The UI was simple but effective, and I was almost a little sad that the list of fake applications off to the side couldn’t actually be accessed. Most of the dialogue (which is very slim, and basically bookends the game) with your partner, Nora, would be clunky if it wasn’t so tongue-in-cheek about how Cyberpunk-y it’s trying to be.  The repeated use of “shiny” immediately brings to mind that one Spongebob episode where everything in the future is chrome.  The fact that the player character and their partner are both asexual (yes, that kind of “Ace” Baker) doesn’t seem to have much to do with anything at first, but it’s worth mentioning that this game was originally developed for an asexual game jam, so think of it as a game that started off as being about an asexual person and then they added the baking afterwards, rather than the other way around (And even then, who cares? If you’ve got something against asexual people, get outta here.)

My only real critique is that after a while, the music loop stopped, forcing me to sit in silence as I studied my baking grimoire. But again, this was a little game hashed together for a game jam, that, if for some reason you didn’t want to get the bundle, is actually free on itch.io, so can you really complain?

Hot Pot Panic

What a classic conundrum: you’re at a hot pot restaurant with a friend, and, despite being all-you-can-eat, you have to control your appetite to avoid weirding out your friend.  There’s basically two mechanics you need to keep track of: cooking the food in the hot pot, and managing the conversation with your friend.  You click on the raw ingredients to put them in the pot, then wait until the sprites turn a golden hue and you start to hear a sizzling audio cue to eat them.  Meanwhile, you have to make small talk with your friend, and pay just enough attention to be able to choose the correct multiple choice response to any question or open-ended statement she ends her side of the conversation with.  But you have to be careful not to burn your food, however, because that won’t count towards filling your stomach, which you have to do before you run out of conversation topics.  The whole thing is a delicate balancing act.  I have to admit I failed at first because for some reason it didn’t dawn on me that you could cook more than one thing at a time?

The pixel art sprite work works very well; the foods are instantly recognizable and I could really  feel the judging glare coming from behind the friend’s thick glasses.  The background music perfectly matches the atmosphere, and, as already mentioned, other sound design elements like the sizzling cues from perfectly cooked meat prove to be vital to juggling the different elements of gameplay.  All in all, a neat little game that perfectly encompasses the feeling of anxiety that comes with wanting to not embarrass yourself in public when all you really want to do is eat.  

Putahe ng Ina Mo: Sinigang Edition

Ok, I’m gonna try to be nice to this one.  On one hand, I love the aesthetic it’s got going on.  Upon opening the game, you can tell from the background music, which I can only describe as “whimsical mad scientist,” as well as a stream of emojis flying past, that this game is supposed to be very goofy.  Unlike other games on this list which were more point-and-click, the ingredients for your sinigang (a Filipino tamarind stew) can be picked up and thrown about as you wish.  The fact that the art style is very realistic makes this that much funnier.  

However, upon opening, the window forces a specific resolution that just would not work with my monitor.  This may seem like a minor problem, as I was still more-or-less able to access all the ingredients, but imagine the mental state I was in: I’m already confused, and then the second I clamp the lid on the pot, everything goes up in smoke!  How the fuck did I burn water? I ended up also watching a playthrough on YouTube, and they also, no matter what, burned the sinigang.   Considering the name of the game translates roughly to “Your Mother’s Cooking,” maybe the idea is that no matter what, you’re never going to make it as well as mom.  Or, considering my mom’s cooking, maybe it’s the opposite of that.

A weird, goofy little game that just didn’t seem to like my computer.  

Sangwish

This is 100% in the vein of all those weird 2010s “[Mundane Thing] Simulator” games that were all the rage for a while.  No instructions, no objectives, just a pile of food for you to play with.  My immediate reaction was, for some reason, to grill the mysterious meat slices, but it turns out the stove there is just set dressing.  Giving up on such pointless gourmand pretenses, I decided to just make the biggest sandwich I could.  Eventually, there was so much on the sandwich that the bottom slice of bread started vibrating slightly, because physics.  Then I tried to put my knife in the sandwich, but the vibrations knocked it to the floor, never to be seen again.   Then I decided to throw all of my bread and most of the ingredients on the floor, never to be seen again.  Here is my end sandwich.

Easily one of the sandwich simulators I’ve played all day.

Terroir

Much like a wine with a good terroir, this is by far the most complex game on this list (muffled snooty wine snob chuckles in the distance).  The end goal is clear: grow grapes, make wine.  But, as you can imagine, you are completely at the mercy of the elements.  The ideal time to harvest your grapes is when they are at a ripeness of 4-6 out of 10.  However, the randomly-generated months gave me month after month of cloudy and rainy weather, not allowing my grapes to get the sunlight they needed to get their ripeness above a 1.  The only time my grapes ever hit a 6 was out of harvesting season, and by the time I was allowed to harvest, they had somehow dropped back down to a 1.  And as you can imagine, a bunch of 1-star grapes will only make 1-star wine.  The fact that I almost immediately got root rot didn’t help any, either.  And because I tried to expand too quickly, buying an extra plot of land when I couldn’t even afford the grapes to grow there, I was thousands of dollars in the red within 3 years.  

Is that a dig against the game? No. It’s frustrating, but in that way that games with a learning curve often are. The tile-based design is pleasant to look at, although much of the UI can be a little confusing to look at at first.  And, of course, most of the “gameplay” is sitting and waiting for the wine critics to tell you what a bad job you did.  Some of the few management choices you can make seem to not have much of an impact (my first wine wasn’t acidic enough, so I added pressed juice to my second batch that brought the acidity up to a 9, but then the mere act of bottling the wine brought the acidity down to a 4 somehow).  It’s an interesting concept for a game that I assume I’m just not getting, but might give another chance at some point in the future.

[littlepurinsesu]

V Watches MagiReco - Episode 6 Review

*Spoilers for Magia Record Anime Episode 6*

I think I’m starting to see a pattern for these episodes that introduce main characters: one slower, “expository” episode with a lot less action that introduces the new character to us, and then a more action-packed episode the week after.

With this in mind, I kind of expected this episode to be calmer and less “exciting” than last week’s, but there was still plenty of cuteness and weirdness that kept me hooked throughout!

First things first: I was overjoyed to see Nanaka’s group animated! To me, they’re probably the most important characters out of that huge batch of 2-3-star girls introduced at the very beginning of the game. And Nanaka was always my favourite out of all those and I still love her a lot even now with the cast expanding and so many more amazing girls getting added. But I’m also a bit cautious about these kinds of cameos; they make perfect sense to game players, but I wonder how anime-only fans would react to suddenly seeing a whole new random group of Magical Girls, especially since this week’s “cameo” was a lot longer and the group actually spoke and used names. In any case, seeing this team animated was still a joy to me, and I’m so glad that they got to be featured in the anime! ^^

That being said, I really did love the way they ended the opening scene with Felicia finally showing her face and screaming one of her most iconic phrases in that aggressive voice and slamming her hammer at the screen as the OP begins. GOSH I LOVED IT. An amazing introduction that really captures Felicia’s character super well!

Another interesting detail I liked was that they didn’t simply ignore Iroha’s Soul Gem becoming clean again and pretend that “it is what it is.” The breakfast conversation between Iroha and Yachiyo shows that Yachiyo definitely knows something about Doppels, but chooses to go along with Iroha’s misunderstanding rather than explain what really happened back there. Ignoring the fact that game players already know, this kind of direction makes one wonder just how much Yachiyo knows at this point and why she refuses to reveal more details to other Magical Girls.

Oh, and I got excited for a second when Yachiyo mentioned that Iroha should be careful if she wanders into the East side of Kamihama. I know it’d be unrealistic for Kanagi to show up or even be brought up so early on, but the Kanagi fangirl in me is impatient for one of the best girls to arrive (≧ω≦)

That place where Iroha drank the water is another example of how the PMMM world blends labyrinths and reality so seamlessly and leaves you wondering where exactly the character is situated. But that place was darn creepy even before the Rumour started talking and the drinking figures showed up, so I applaud Iroha’s courage in being able to walk into a place like that like it’s no big deal xD

But anyway, Felicia is super adorable (๑>ᴗ<๑) Seeing them portrayed in a way other than the game sprites really reminds you of how young and tiny she is (an actual kiddo!), and no matter how loud or boisterous she is, you can still feel the innocence and purity of a child in her, which is really endearing <3 I also love how well her reckless attitude and brash way of speaking contrasts with Iroha’s much more gentle and timid nature xD And while Felicia’s transformation sequence was quite short and simple, I assume she’ll get the “Episode 3 treatment” once all of Team Mikazuki are assembled later on, so I’m not fussed or disappointed about that :)

I don’t remember seeing this week’s Witch in the game, but I do recognise its familiars from all my farming/grinding lmao. In any case, this episode’s Witch fights were also too short and too insignificant for my liking, but I guess they really wanted to show how quick and sharp Felicia is at completely demolishing any Witch that comes her way. I’ve also resorted to believing that this might just be their way of presenting the Witches as being less threatening than the Rumours, so if we get a longer and more interesting battle with this Rumour next week, I could probably let these underwhelming Witch battles slide lol.

Kyoko!!! I was fully anticipating her appearance this week so I wasn’t surprised, but the way they brought her into the story was different from what I was expecting. I was waiting for her to pop up beside Felicia during the water-drinking scene, as she was there with them in the game, but they do show that she, too, drank the water, so I guess they just wanted to go about it a different way, which is fair enough :) I didn’t realise how much I missed seeing Kyoko (the way she eats, the way she speaks, the way she holds herself etc.) until this week T^T She shares a lot of similarities with Felicia in both attitude and way of speech, so it’d be really interesting to see their dynamic once they’re brought together in the next episode!

The montage of Iroha and Felicia experiencing supreme luck was really, really well-done (and super cute!). Having the numbers incorporated into the scene was much more interesting and creative than the flying bits of paper in the game. And I know I’m not the only one who lost it at this:

A+ sneak game advertising right there xDDD

Tsuruno and Felicia’s bantering in the background during their meeting was adorable, and Yachiyo with her hand over Felicia’s mouth is already kind of establishing the mother-child relationship between them xD All these tiny details make me so, so excited to see the team finally together and living at Mikazuki Villa ^^ <3 

And of course, the Wings of Magius finally made an appearance this week!!! The scene was another one of those strange, trippy, surreal kind of moments, but what truly struck me was the way the Feathers are portrayed. In the game, they’re much more like individual girls who just happen to be dressed the same way, thus erasing any notion of individual identity in our eyes. But in the anime? They legit feel like carbon copies of each other--almost like clones. Those short phrases spoken robotically one after another without even a sense of a complete sentence really adds to the impression that they’re all just incomplete pieces of a larger being.

But as much as I love this uneasy and mysterious introduction, I’m also a bit concerned that the Feathers and the Magius they speak of seem almost a bit like a part of the Rumour itself, rather than an actual organisation that functions as the main antagonists of the story. But it’s still very early on and they’ve only just made their first appearance, so hopefully they’ll get a much more informative and clear introduction next week with the Amane Sisters’ first appearance!

And finally, Felicia, that face at the end was possibly terrifying.

[yesyesyoumae]

Drinking the Moon→ Stae (Stevie & Mae)

Tagging→ @yesyesyoumae @streetsmartstevie

Location→ Stevie, Dani, Rachel, and Ava’s apartment

Date→ September 14, 2018

Summary→ In short, Mae drinks shots of moonshine and gets really drunk. Stevie has to babysit a very, very drunk Mae. Stevie doesn’t like that. Enjoy. 

STEVIE

Tucking away her tools back into her cardboard box of bike parts, Stevie glanced at her watch. Ah shit. Mae was going to be here soon and here she was, with grease on her hands and her bike in the middle of her room. Whatever, it wasn't that big of a deal. Moving her bike back to it's usual corner, she went to the bathroom and washed off her hands. One quick fix to her make up later, she was rummaging through the back of the freezer, digging around for the mason jar she'd tucked away there this morning. Pulling a jar out, she grinned at the amber liquid. Old fashioned moonshine, courtesy of Great Uncle Jeffrey. "Oh, Mae, you have no idea what you're in for." She said, shaking her head. This shit was 170 proof; it could probably take paint off the side of a car.

MAE

Why was it that the only time Mae and Stevie hung out, alcohol had to be involved? Mae was almost sure this wasn’t coincidental. Regardless, Mae didn’t mind hanging out with Stevie. Mae had to admit, there were times Stevie managed to get on her nerves and almost say something not nice with her careless and grumpy attitude. But she was still determined to get Stevie to like her. People not liking Mae left her feeling uneasy and she had to change this with Stevie. Mae shook the thoughts out of her head and took out her phone when she made it to Stevie’s place and changed to the next song on her shuffled music library and Childish Gambino filling her ears. Mae sent a quick text to Stevie that she was outside already and to let her in, slipping an obnoxious amount of emojis at the end for good measure.

STEVIE

Stevie's phone buzzed in the back of her pocket and her lips pressed together when she saw the annoying long string of emojis in the message. Whatever. There was just something so irritatingly... peppy about Mae that Stevie just couldn't let slide. She was pretty okay with letting people do their own thing, but after that one time, where she snapped? Stevie knew that the perky bubbly face that Mae put on wasn't the all there was. And she wanted to see what else there was to her. Which had nothing to do with this little bet. Opening the door, Stevie tilted her head inside. "Hey there, Gymboree. C'mon in."

MAE

Mae smiled at Stevie. “Hey, 85 and a half! Take your meds yet?” Mae teased, sticking her tongue out playfully. Mae looked over at Stevie for a few seconds and noticed a smudge of black on Stevie’s neck and stepped forward to wipe it off with her thumb. “Looks like you need your sponge bath too.” Mae teased with a grin before wiping it off with her jeans and she stepped inside Stevie’s apartment. Mae looked around curiously, toying with her headphones. “For the record,” Mae spoke up again. “I don’t work tomorrow.” Mae told Stevie. “Just in case you thought I was gonna recklessly work hungover.” Mae shrugged. “Also, I googled moonshine and I’m kinda disappointed there’s no famous brand that uses a moon as their logo.” Mae scrunched up her nose. “Someone needs a new marketing team, just saying.” Mae chuckled.(edited)

STEVIE

Stevie wrinkled her nose at the nickname; even if it was only fair, she still wasn't a huge fan of it. Blinking at Mae's sudden movement, she was startled when the other girl wiped away something from her neck. Stevie rubbed her neck and saw a bit of grease rub off. "Sorry. I was working on my bike earlier." She muttered, wiping it off on her jeans. She shut the door behind Mae and watched as the other girl looked around. "Most of this isn't mine. I don't keep much stuff out in the living room." She said as she went to the kitchen, pulling out a few glasses from the cupboards. "Well, that's good to know. I'm telling you, there's no way you can do that many shots of this." She said, gesturing to the mason jar on the counter top. "That's my Great Uncle Jeffrey's special recipe. Go ahead, take a smell."

MAE

Mae shrugged. “S’okay, I won’t judge you for being handsy with your bike.” Mae said softly as she nodded at Stevie’s words before following her into the kitchen. “I totally can and I will.” Mae insisted with a nod before raising an eyebrow at the mason jar. “Uh...okay?” Mae tilted her head as she opened the mason jar and moved her head closer to the jar to take a quick smell and her nose felt like it was on fire for a second and quickly pulled away and closed it. “Did you just pour rubbing alcohol?” Mae asked. “And you’re just blaming it on your poor great uncle?” Mae scrunched up her nose. “Maybe the taste will surprise me. I’m still up for this bet. Shots do nothing to me unless I make it to the sixth one.” Mae said, shrugging. “I got this.” Mae said confidently.

STEVIE

"Wasn't getting handsy,it was just maintenance." Stevie replied as she pulled out a carton of lemonade for herself. Watching as Mae took a quick whiff, Stevie grinned at the immediate reaction that came from it. "Nope." Stevie said and poured herself a glass of lemonade. "That's Tennessee moon shine, the real deal. Not that branded stuff." She said and folded her arms across her chest. "And hey, Great Uncle Jeff is super proud of this, so don't call him out like that." Stevie said before reaching back into the fridge to pull out a bottle of sprite. "What do you want to chase with? Lemonade or sprite? Clear stuff usually goes better with moonshine." She offered. Stevie narrowed her eyes at the idea of Mae taking six shots. "If you try to do more than four, I'm going to stop you." Stevie warned. She didn't want to have to deal with taking Mae to the hospital, particularly not after she'd already warned her of how strong this stuff was.(edited)

MAE

“That’s not what the grease on your neck tells me.” Mae teased. Mae hummed as she continued to inspect the moonshine. “It’s...uh....not how I expected the moon to smell like.” Mae laughed, shaking her head as she looked over at Stevie. “He gets a ribbon for nearly helping in getting me to lose my sense of smell.” Mae stuck her tongue out playfully before shrugging. “Either works. Why not take a straight shot, though? Does it taste as bad as it smells?” Mae asked as she giggled at Stevie’s look on her face at the suggestion of six shots. “Relax, 85 and a half.” Mae teased. “We bet on four, I won’t do more than four.” Mae assured with a smile. “Where’s your room?” She asked. “Or are your roommates gonna join in on the fun of moonshine?” Mae asked as she gestured to the mason jar in her hands with a cheeky grin.

STEVIE

Rolling her eyes, Stevie let the comment slide. "How would you expect the moon to smell like? You can't really smell in space. Otherwise you'd get vacuumed to death. And I'm pretty sure the moon is just a bunch of dead rocks, so even then. Did you really expect it to smell like rocks?" She asked, deadpan. "This is one of his more mellow batches. He's literally made 190 proof moonshine before. It was basically wood alcohol at that point." Stevie said as she poured a little bit of moonshine into her glass. She wasn't going to get absolutely trashed, but she wasn't going to make Mae drink by herself. That would be sad and kinda weird. "Uh... that door." She said, pointing down the hall to where her bedroom was. Stevie hadn't really expected Mae to invite herself in there, but she had a good point. She wasn't sure how keen the roommates would be on having a very drunk Mae hanging off of their couch. "Nope, this is all mine." She said, collecting the glasses in her arms before following Mae to her room.

MAE

This time, it was Mae that rolled her eyes and chuckled. “Geez, have some imagination, will ya? So serious about everything.” Mae teased, nudging Stevie playfully. “Aren’t you an artist? Just imagine a little. I expected the moon to smell like marshmallow, but now my hopes have been shattered. As if losing Battle of the Bands yesterday wasn’t enough—but, hey, at least I have a reason to take my first shot.” Mae smirked as she nodded along to what Stevie said, despite the fact that she has absolutely no idea what 190 proof even meant. She assumed it just meant it can get you really fucked up if you drink any. Mae hummed at Stevie’s answer and nodded as she walked over to the door Stevie had pointed at and let herself in. “Cool room, 85 and a half.” Mae complimented as she looked around, letting curiosity take the best of her as as she looked around before looking out the window. “It’s comfy.” Mae said softly as she picked up a book that was on Stevie’s nightstand and read the back cover before flipping through the pages. Mae was a fan of reading and usually liked to read romance novels, so the moment she caught sight of a book she immediately felt the need to look through it. Mae was snoopy like that.

STEVIE

Scowling, Stevie shook her head. "I have plenty of imagination. I'm just pointing out the flaws in your statement." She said dourly. There was just something about Mae that never failed to irk her. She couldn't quite pinpoint what it was, but it was there. As Mae waltzed into her room, a slight wave of panic rushed over Stevie and she hurried after her, nearly dropping the carton of lemonade on her foot as she followed after her. "Sorry about Battle of the Bands," Watching as Mae grabbed one of her books, she set the jar of moonshine on her desk and frowned. "Stop touching my things. I'll lose my place in that book." She said. That wasn't entirely true; she'd read Starship Troopers five times before, it was just one of her favorite sci-fi action books. "Thanks. It's more comfortable when people don't mess with my stuff." Stevie grumbled

MAE

“The fact that you feel the need to shows how much of a grump you are.” Mae retorted. “You just can’t accept a little fun, can you?” Mae tilted her head, knowing she was getting under Stevie’s skin and weirdly finding satisfaction in it. It was weird because Mae usually couldn’t stand the idea of someone being annoyed by her, but since Stevie liked to get under her skin, she found equal satisfaction when she got under Stevie’s. Mae shrugged. “I think it was mostly my fault we lost. I sang too much.” Mae mumbled as she looked away from the book and over to Stevie and raised an eyebrow, slowly putting the book down and raising her hands in surrender. “O-kay, literature police. I’m unarmed, I swear. No scissors or pens to destroy property.” Mae laughed. “I like books, I was just curious what it was. It has a cool cover. What? Is it about aliens and stuff?” Mae asked as she sat down on Stevie’s bed and put her bag down and took off her jean jacket. “I like romance novels, mostly.” Mae shared. “They’re fun.”

STEVIE

"I'm not grumpy, I'm logical." Stevie muttered as she sat down on the edge of her bed. "I have fun. I play video games, soccer, I work out. I like stuff. I just don't think jokey stuff like that is fun." She said and took a sip from her glass, the taste of lemonade masking the initial bite of moonshine. Shaking her head, Stevie held out the jar of moonshine to Mae, along with a shot glass. "That's not true. You mostly did back up in your duets. Though, I'm definitely sinning the Train song. Not a fan." Stevie said, keeping an eye on Mae to make sure that she set down the book back where it belonged. "Thank you. And yeah, it's about these big bug aliens that are trying to destroy mankind. Think Halo, before Halo." She said. Laughing, Stevie shook her head. Romance novels. Of course. "That doesn't surprise me at all."

MAE

“Mmmm...grumpy.” Mae insisted with a cheeky grin. “Jokey stuff is plenty of fun, you’re just plenty of lame. What kind of video games do you play?” Mae asked as she took the shot glass before serving herself a shot of moonshine and listened to Stevie. “Still...someone else could’ve sang it better.” Mae mumbled before humming. “I only know Halo by Beyoncé, sorry.” Mae chuckled. “But that sounds cool!” Mae exclaimed before pouting. “They’re actually really great, don’t laugh!” Mae stuck her tongue out at Stevie before taking the shot of moonshine and scrunching up her face as she felt the aftertaste. It wasn’t bad, but it was definitely strong. “Wow, okay, wow that’s...wow very strong. It reminds me of vodka, kinda.” Mae said as she looked at Stevie. “So did you want me to do four in a row?” Mae asked with a smile as she reached over for the moonshine again.

STEVIE

"Logical." Stevie repeated. "Plenty of lame doesn't even make sense. I play FIFA, Call of Duty, Rainbow Six: Siege, Battlefield. Stuff like that. Halo's a game, by the way. It's about these space commandos who are trying to kill these bug aliens." She said. Rolling her eyes over the rim of her glass, Stevie shrugged. "I think you did a good job. PL just had their eyes set on reclaiming their title. Not much you can do about that." Stevie said, watching as Mae tossed back the shot of moonshine. Panicking as Mae reached out for the jar of moonshine, Stevie grabbed the jar before she could get to it. "Nope! Give it like, at least ten minutes. For one thing, you have no idea how hard this is gonna hit you. For another, anyone can just throw back shots one after another. It's another thing to take them after you're feeling them."

MAE

“There ya go again with the disagreeing.” Mae pointed out with a roll of eyes. “You’re great at disagreeing you should just make a career out of being grumpy.” Mae smirked. Mae hummed. “Rainbow six sounds cute. Do you just shoot rainbows at people and make ‘em gay?” Mae guessed with a laugh. “If it’s not, I’ll be real disappointed.” Mae shrugged at Stevie’s words. “I guess.” Mae mumbled. “Let’s move on from that.” Mae said, not wanting to think about the thing that made her currently upset. If she didn’t think about it too much, it wouldn’t make her as upset that the Warblettes lost. Mae shrugged. “I can handle it pretty well.” Mae insisted. “Come on, let me do another shot, lameass.” Mae teased with a smirk.

STEVIE

"And you can make a career out of being annoying." Stevie replied, shaking her head. "And no. You shoot people with normal bullets and make them dead. Pretty standard shooter, but you get to use drones and do barricade stuff. There's more strategy to it than most FPS's." She explained. "Alright, fine." Stevie said, not wanting to press Mae on the singing thing, particularly not after the last time she pushed Mae a bit too far. "And no, not happening." Stevie said, keeping the jar far away from Mae as she can. "Trust me. Just chill for a bit."

MAE

“Oh? You think I’m annoying? Shocker.” Mae gasped dramatically, putting a hand on her best to enhance her “shocked” look even further. “Wow...I...I don’t know what to say...” Mae trailed off. “I never would’ve thought you thought that about me.” Mae faked a pout, wiping away a “tear” and sniffing. “How am I gonna move past this when an 85 and half year old grandpa has claimed as...annoying—OH!” Mae fell onto the bed dramatically, draping her arm over her head. “The tragedy!” Mae said melodramatically. Mae listened to Stevie and hummed. “That’s cool.” Mae said softly, even though she had no idea what Stevie was talking about because Mae didn’t really play video games. The most experience she had was Animal Crossing and Club Penguin. Mae huffed at Stevie’s insistence to make her wait. “I guess.” Mae mumbled as she stood up from the bed and started to walk around the room again before walking over to Stevie’s desk and humming at the paintings. “Oh, hey! These are so beautiful!” Mae exclaimed as she inspected the paintings carefully. “I love the beach one.” Mae mumbled, furrowing her eyebrows as she leaned closer to get a better look at the painting.

STEVIE

Unimpressed by Mae's theatrics, Stevie scooted out of the way as Mae flopped back onto her bed, still holding the jar of moonshine. "See? You could totally be an actress or something. One of those really over the top soap opera ones." She said. Stevie wasn't quite sure what to make of Mae most times. Heck, that could be amended to all the times, honestly. She was just so weirdly energetic and perky, it was hard to understand what was actually going on in that head. Or if there was anything going on in there. More often than not, it always seemed like Mae just spouted whatever came off the top of her head. Relaxing a fraction when Mae agreed, her internal alarm bells went off as the other girl headed towards her desk. Folding her arms across her chest, she bit the inside of her cheek while Mae looked at her paintings. Shit. She should have set them to dry somewhere else. "Uhhhh thanks. Don't touch them, they're still drying." Stevie muttered. "Yeah. It's just based off a picture, though. I've never been to the beach."

MAE

Mae scrunched up her nose when Stevie didn’t go along with her antics and hummed. “My grandma loves watching telenovelas. She’d be proud of me if I landed a role.” Mae flipped her hair dramatically. “I can definitely cry in demand, hand me a water bottle. Or give me the moonshine—oh not a good idea.” Mae mused aloud, shaking her head and laughing. Mae honestly couldn’t understand why Stevie was so serious and stoic. Mae often wondered if Stevie was a robot and if she tried knocking on Stevie’s chest, she thinks she would most likely hear a hollow noise echoing. Mae was sure Stevie had no joy in her life—she hasn’t even seen her genuinely smile or look happy. Did she even feel anything? Mae continued to look at the beach painting and hummed. “It’s beautiful—wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.” Mae turned to look at Stevie with a shocked look on her face. “You’ve NEVER been to the beach?!” Mae exclaimed. “Not even Coney Island?!” Mae asked, in total shock. “How could you not? The beach is gorgeous!” Mae exclaimed. “We should go right now!”

STEVIE

"Uh huh." Stevie said, not entirely sure what the heck a telenovel thing was. Must be some kind of Spanish soap opera? Eh, didn't really matter to her. "Yeah, no more moonshine just yet. And I don't particularly want you to cry right now. Wouldn't really look good if one of the roommates came and saw you bawling in my room." Stevie said before taking another sip from her cup, enjoying the warmth of the alcohol as it rushed down her throat. "Thank--" Startled by Mae's sudden movement, Stevie stared at her, startled. "No? Tennessee is a landlocked state and I'm not usually interested in the beach. I've got other stuff to do besides going to the beach." Stevie said and shook her head at Mae's suggestion. "No, not happening. For one thing, it's already late. And another, you're not getting out of this bet." Glancing down at her watch, Stevie sighed. "I think you're good to take another shot. How are you feeling?"

MAE

Mae chuckled at Stevie. “Yeah, you even put in rules to drinking—so that would be the reason I’d give your roommates if they caught me crying.” Mae joked before chuckling. Mae pouted when Stevie said no to her suggestion of going to the beach. “Okay, fine, but we’re definitely going to the beach one of these days! You have to!” Mae insisted, raising a finger at Stevie. Mae chuckled as she leaned closer to Stevie. “You just want free food, but not a chance. I’m saving my money.��� Mae laughed. Mae nodded excitedly at the suggestion. “Pff, I’m fine. The shot didn’t even hit me.” Mae lied. The shot did, indeed, hit her. She wasn’t drunk, but Mae was definitely being more obnoxious than usual. Mae took the mason jar and served herself another shot, quickly downing it and scrunching up her face again. “Wow, since you didn’t let me drink for 10 minutes I forgot how it tasted like.” Mae pointed out. “You should let me take another one so I get use to it.” Mae smiled cheekily.

STEVIE

"I'm putting rules on it because I don't want to cart your drunk ass to the hospital for alcohol poisoning. This stuff was made in the backwoods of Tennessee. It's not exactly regulated stuff." Stevie replied. Pausing at Mae's suggestion to go to the beach, Stevie shook her head again. "No, thanks. It's not my scene. Besides, I'm usually pretty busy. I don't have time to go splash in the water." She said. Though, it would be kind of nice to see the ocean for herself, just for sketching purposes... Mhm, but Mae didn't need to know that. Pulling away when Mae leaned towards her, Stevie shrugged, "However you wanna frame it, the answer's still no." Watching Mae take the second shot, Stevie rolled her eyes. "No, you idiot. Here. Drink some of this." She said, holding out the carton of lemonade for Mae to take.

MAE

“Ooh, scary.” Mae feigned to be scared. “Unregulated...ooh.” Mae giggled. “Alcohol poisoning...yikes!” Mae continued to laugh. “Backwoods...” Mae started laughing harder. “I’m about to pee my pants!” Mae exclaimed before snorting. “You crack me up, old man.” Mae patted Stevie’s shoulder. Mae pouted. “The beach is great. It’s where I do lots of thinking and reflecting and sometimes I write songs on the beach.” Mae shared. Mae didn’t even tell many people that she wrote songs, but the influence of alcohol made her think less about what she was saying. “You should consider going. It’s beautiful. You can paint something!” Mae exclaimed. “Like this!” Mae pointed to the painted sheet enthusiastically like an overly excited five year old. Mae huffed, crossing her arms with a pout. “Grump!” Mae exclaimed, the second shot starting to make Mae feel a little dizzy, but nothing she couldn’t handle. Mae took the carton of lemonade and drank some. “Hey we should listen to the lemonade album—ooh there has to be a bunch of songs with lemonade as the title. I should make a playlist!” Mae exclaimed as she reached for her phone.

STEVIE

Stevie watched as Mae began to laugh to herself, a small smile of amusement spreading across her face as she realized that yep, Mae had definitely bit off more than she could chew with this. She was tiny, which was why Stevie had her doubts about Mae's abilities. Not that Stevie was any bigger, but she also didn't go around saying she could handle 4 shots back to back. She knew her limits; three was the most she could do in a short amount of time if she didn't want to get hung over. "I'm still not old or a dude, but okay. You're welcome, I guess." She said. Tilting her head, Stevie took another drink from her cup. She didn't know that Mae wrote her own songs. "What sort of stuff do you write when you're there?" She asked, ignoring Mae's gesture to her painting. She didn't particularly want to talk about her painting, particularly not one that was just her dabbling with things. "Uhhhhh. Are you talking about Beyoncé?" Stevie said while the other girl fiddled with her phone. Oh boy. This was going to be a time.

MAE

Once Mae’s giggles subsided, Mae hummed as she poked Stevie’s cheek. “Just cause you’re not wrinkly, doesn’t mean you don’t act like one.” Mae teased, a lazy smile forming on her face. Mae sat down on the bed again and hummed. “I don’t know.” Mae shrugged. “Songs about love...shocker.” Mae chuckled as she thought about it a little more. “Sometimes about stuff that hurts.” Mae said softly as she reached for the mason jar again, taking a third shot and scrunching up her face again. She just couldn’t get use to the taste moonshine. Mae nodded excitedly. “Great album.” Mae mumbled as she put on “Pink Lemonade” by James Bay. “Isn’t the guitar here great?” Mae asked. “We’re not drinking pink lemonade, though.” Mae pouted as she nodded along to the song and moved closer to Stevie. “Hey...can I tell you something?” Mae asked, her words slurring slightly. “You’re not that bad when you’re not being such a grump.” Mae giggled. “But you’re rarely not a grump so.” Mae frowned before shrugging.

STEVIE

Stevie stiffened when Mae poked her cheek. Maybe if she ignored her, she'd stop doing this shit. "I don't act like an old person. How many old people do you know who can play soccer the way I do, huh?" She demanded. This time she didn't bother shifting away from the other girl; she had a feeling Mae would just do more annoying stuff if she drew attention to the fact that she didn't want Mae to touch her. It wasn't that she didn't like Mae, she just didn't like anyone touching her in general. "Stuff that hurts? What, like cacti?" Stevie asked idly, playing with the edge of her comforter as she talked. Which meant she was too distracted to stop the other girl from taking another shot, way sooner than she should. "Dammit, Mae!" She muttered, snatching the jar and sticking it in her lap. "Don't have any more of that. You're really gone." She said while the other girl continued babbling about loosely related thoughts. "Thanks, I think. Again, not a grump, but whatever."

MAE

Mae shrugged. “Eh, you’re okay for a person who kicks around a ball.” Mae smirked, leaning back. Mae hummed at Stevie’s question and shrugged. “No, not that.” Mae mumbled. “Like, about not being wanted. Like, being disposable or whatever.” Mae shrugged. Since Mae was undoubtedly drunk, it was as if the filter in her brain turned off and she wasn’t thinking about what she couldn’t say or took the time to bury the things that didn’t make Mae feel very good. And, of course, Stevie was the one stuck hearing it. Mae would most likely regret her recklessness when she was well and sober. Mae giggled at Stevie when she saw the girl was annoyed that Mae sneaked in a shot. “How can I be gone when I’m right here?” Mae asked as she gestured to herself, even doing a little silly dance to further prove that she was very much visible. Mae scrunched up her nose at Stevie arguing that she wasn’t a grump and rolling her eyes. “You know, Stevie, you know—you’re just—you’re—“ Mae slurred. “You’re cooler to hang out with when you’re...you’re—you know...” Mae tried to recollect her thoughts before deciding to just cover Stevie’s mouth with her hand. “Wow, you look way cuter, too.” Mae mused before giggling.

STEVIE

At Mae's words, Stevie blinked. Ah shit. This was something that she doubted Mae wanted her to know. But, there wasn't anything she could do about that now, it was all out there. But, she also couldn't just let that sorta stuff just hang there. "You're not unwanted. I dunno why you'd think that, but you're not." Stevie mumbled. Was that the right thing to say? She really wasn't good at this sort of thing. Where was Stacey when she needed her? She was always better at touchy feely stuff like this. "Yep, you're definitely checked out." She said, choosing to ignore the weird little dance that Mae did. As Mae began to slur her words, Stevie sighed and opened up her night stand, pulling out a water bottle. Usually she kept that around for guests of a different nature, but Mae needed it more. "Here drink--" Blinking in confusion at the sudden hand over her face, Stevie glared at Mae, unamused.

MAE

Mae shrugged. “It’s just the truth.” Mae chuckled. “My grandma had no choice but to raise me and my mom didn’t want me and no one wants me. My grandma tries really hard to make sure my happy, so I gotta keep up.” Mae shrugged. “All good.” Mae mumbled. Mae giggled at Stevie glared at her. “Ooh someone’s mad.” Mae teased as she leaned closer to Stevie with a smirk. “I thought if I covered your mouth, you’d look less grumpy but,” Mae copied Stevie’s same unamused look before giggling. “still there.” Mae whispered.

STEVIE

Stevie shook her head as she listened to Mae talk, not entirely certain what to make of what she was hearing. Why was Mae telling her this? Besides the obvious "because shes drunk answer" Stevie couldn't figure out why Mae was telling her this. She didn't want to know. And yet she still felt obligated on some level to try and help Mae. Fuck. "You don't have to keep anything up. You can just be you. Folks seem to like that." She said before taking another sip from her cup. "I'm not mad. Just generally annoyed. Kinda my default state of being with you." She said. As Mae mimicked her frown, Stevie couldn't help but grin. She looked really dumb like that, it didn't suit her at all.

MAE

Mae shrugged. “I am me.” Mae looked over at Stevie. “I am right now.” Mae told her with a lazy smile. Mae wasn’t in the right (or sober) mindset at the moment, but those words had never been more honest. Mae grinned. “I like annoying you. Your face gets so annoyed, it’s cute.” Mae hummed before moving her hand away and seeing Stevie’s grin. “Oh. That’s new.” Mae pointed to Stevie’s grin. “I’ve never seen that before on ya. It’s...weird. I’m kinda scared. I should leave.” Mae joked as she got up too quickly and her legs felt similar to a newborn fawn trying to gain their footing. “Oh fuck.” Mae squealed, falling right on top of Stevie. “My bad.” Mae started laughing uncontrollably. “Stevie, Stevie I have something to tell you.” Mae paused. “I’m drunk.” Mae pouted.

STEVIE

Stevie couldn't help but stare at Mae. It was honestly all that she could do. She just didnt understand this girl at all. "Alright. I'll take your word on that then." The moment Mae pointed out her smile and immediately began to make fun of it, the expression fell from her face, replaced with her usual deadpan exterior. But, that didnt last too long because no sooner had the other girl started giggling and pretending to leave, Stevie found her falling into her lap. Squirming, she did her best to wriggle away from Mae-- she was not a fan of any of this. "You don't say? Gee, never would have figured that one out for myself." Stevie grumbled, a hint of her Southern twang coming out as she scrambled away from Mae.

MAE

Mae nodded. “Mhmm I’m being honest. Where do I cross and die?” Mae looked down at her chest. “Somewhere here but I don’t have any boobs so...” Mae pouted as she looked back up at Stevie. Mae groaned when Stevie pulled away. “I was comfortable!” Mae exclaimed before hearing Stevie’s little accent come out and Mae paused for a few seconds. “Was that a little TWANG, I heard?” Mae asked before starting to laugh. “Oh my god you LIAR, you totally do have an accent.” Mae giggled as she moved closer to Stevie. “Say something else. Say my name! Mae!” Mae grinned excitedly. “Do it, do it! Say it!”

STEVIE

"Ideally die somewhere that's not my apartment? So I don't have to deal with the cops?" Stevie asked. At Mae's mention of her boobs, Stevie rolled her eyes again. At this rate she was going to wind up causing permanent damage to her vision with all of this eye rolling. Still scooting away from Mae, Stevie rolled off the edge of her bed, recovering less than gracefully onto her feet. "No, gawddamit, I'm not gonna--" Clearing her throat, she glared at Mae and folded her arms over her chest. "You're acting like a child." She said slowly, taking care to enunciate all her words.

MAE

Mae giggled as she caught Stevie rolling her eyes. “They’re gonna get stuck like that if you keep doing that!” Mae exclaimed. Mae gasped as Stevie fell down. “Are you o...” Mae watched as Stevie glared at her and chewed her lip. “...kay?” Mae looked at Stevie with a pout. “I just wanted you to say my name.” Mae mumbled, looking away. “It’s not like I was asking you to recite a poem.” Mae crossed her arms. She was NOT acting like a child.

STEVIE

Feeling her phone buzz in her pocket, Stevie checked her messages before firing off a brusque text. This was such a dumb idea. She barely tolerated Mae sober, having her around drunk was a mistake. And getting weird texts didn't help either. Sighing she shrugged, "I'm fine." She said before sitting down in her desk chair, out of reach from Mae. She wasn't being entirely truthful-- she'd smacked her knee on the ground and it was throbbing a bit, but Mae didn't need to know that. "Your name wouldn't sound any different. It's just one syllable." She replied.

MAE

Mae felt her phone buzz as Stevie’s did and smiled as she did her best to respond to the messages but finding emojis too confusing to send. Mae still tried to send them, anyway. Mae frowned when Stevie sat on her desk and crossed her arms as she leaned back. “I wanted to hear it anyway.” Mae mumbled, looking away with a frown. Mae didn’t even know why she was upset (it was probably the alcohol), but Stevie not giving her the attention she wanted? Very rude. Mae looked around the room before speaking up. “I only took three.” Mae told Stevie. “It’s supposed to be four.”

STEVIE

"Like I said, it wouldn't make a difference." Stevie said firmly, not in any kind of mood to humor Mae. Besides, she'd always disliked the slight Southern drawl that affected her voice when she got angry or too tired to care. It was just another reminder of her family, a reminder that she'd much rather forget. But, it seemed like Mae was dropping it and calming down. Even if it was only just a little. That was her thought until Mae piped up again. Eyes darting to the jar of moonshine lying on her bed, Stevie rose slowly from her chair. "Mm, I think you've had enough." She said. No sudden movements, she just needed to get the alcohol away from Mae. Jesus christ, she hadn't thought it would be this annoying to try and prove Mae wrong.

MAE

Mae shrugged. “You don’t know that.” Mae mumbled. Mae watched as Stevie slowly rose from her chair and looked over at the mason jar and a smirk formed on her lips as she quickly tried to reach for the mason jar. “I CALLED DIBS, I CALLED DIBS, STEVIE.” Mae exclaimed. “I called dibs first!” Mae told her as she laughed.

STEVIE

Realizing that Mae wasn't quite as gone as she thought, Stevie swore under her breath before diving across the bed to grab the jar. Sliding over the top of her comforter, she cradled the jar in her arms and rolled over onto her back, still clutching the half empty bottle to her chest. "You can't call dibs on what was mine to begin with, you frigging weirdo!" Stevie growled, though most of her usual bite was absent from her words.

MAE

Mae pouted when Stevie got the jar, but Mae wasn’t giving up as easily. Mae straddled Stevie and tried to get the jar from Stevie’s hands. “It’s not yours! It’s great uncle Jeffrey’s! You liar!” Mae retorted, laughing while she tried to get the jar again. “Come onnnnn, whats one more shot?” Mae whined. “You said I had to do four! I’ve only done three. Simple math!” Mae exclaimed, crossing her arms with a pout.

STEVIE

As Mae landed on her, Stevie let out a whoof of air, startled by the sudden weight pressing against her. "Geddoff me!" She said, doing her best to wiggle away. She was not a fan of this, not in the slightest. Managing to turn onto her stomach, she did her best to army crawl out from under Mae while keeping the jar away from her. "You've had too much, you really shouldn't have any more. Bet or no bet, you're not getting poisoned here!"

MAE

Mae pouted when Stevie crawled from under her and huffed. “You just want to get dinner outta me.” Mae mumbled as she looked at Stevie. “You don’t like me.” Mae told her, her words slurring. “I can leave right now.” Mae stood up, her legs still a little wobbly. “I can walk.” Mae assured. “I can.” Mae insisted.

STEVIE

"For fuck's sake, you're really that set on the dumb dinner thing?" Stevie said, exasperated. She really didn't understand anything that stuck in this girl's mind. Not that she ever had any idea what was going on in other people's heads, but Mae was particularly annoying to try and decipher. "I don't dislike you." Stevie shot back. It was true. She didn't like the other girl all that much, but she also didn't dislike her. She just felt... confused by her. "Uh, you're in no shape to go anywhere." Holding up two fingers, Stevie waved them at Mae. "How many fingers?"

MAE

Mae nodded. “And if I am? So what?” Mae asked as she crossed her arms. “You said!” Mae exclaimed. Mae’s emotions were all over the place and only heightened through the alcohol. Mae tilted her head at Stevie’s question. “Two.” Mae scoffed. “I’m not a little kid, I know how to count.” Mae said, moving Stevie’s hand away. “Don’t wave your hand, it’s making me dizzy.” Mae mumbled. “And what if I wasn’t wearing any contacts? It’s not because I’m drunk, but it’s because I can’t see. Big difference, 85 and a half.”

STEVIE

Stevie shrugged and let out a long suffering sigh. She had no idea that this was the kind of drunk that Mae turned into. Note for the future, don't be anywhere near her when she's drinking ever again. Lowering her hand, she nodded once. "Alright. So you can count. Great." Stevie said before frowning again. "Dizzy, huh? And what makes you think you should drink more if this," she wiggled her hands in front of the other girl's face, "Makes you dizzy?"

MAE

Mae furrowed her eyebrows as Stevie started to wiggle her hands. “Okay! Okay!” Mae exclaimed. “No more drinking!” Mae relented. “Don’t...do that.” Mae grabbed Stevie’s hands. “Dizzy.” Mae told her before letting go of Stevie’s hands and then lying back down on the bed, suddenly remembering she had a thing with Stacey tomorrow. “Fuck!” Mae exclaimed. “I have to play soccer tomorrow.” Mae groaned. “I still have to wrap my head around the point of kicking a ball.” Mae mumbled.

STEVIE

Stevie stopped shaking her hands and nodded once, glad that she'd convinced Mae to quit drinking. And if the dinner thing bothered her so much, fuck, she'd by Mae something and call it even. Watching the other girl flip back down on her bed, Stevie rolled the water bottle from earlier over to Mae. "Finish that and I'll get you another one. I didn't expect you to take this so seriously." She said before rummaging in her nightstand again. Nope, no, ah. Setting the bottle of aspirin on the stand, Stevie quirked an eyebrow. "Why are you playing soccer?" She asked. "And yeah, you're gonna need to get the hang of that."(edited)

MAE

Mae took the water bottle and drank a little from it. “I take my shots seriously.” Mae nodded. “I don’t mess around with them.” Mae chuckled as she drank a little more from the water bottle as she tried to get her thoughts together. “Oh, I told Stacey I was good at soccer and could help her train and I’m dumb and went along with it, so I could hang out with her.” Mae shrugged. “So I’ll definitely break a leg now and not in the good luck kinda way. The real way.” Mae said as she took another sip of her water.

STEVIE

"Apparently. Doctors must love you." Stevie said dryly, settling back into her chair, jar firmly in hand. Stevie's ears twitched at the sound of her sister's name. So, Mae was hanging out with Stace? Not surprising, given both of them had that weird, wide-eyed optimism thing going for them. "Well, you played yourself there, son. You could have just told her that you liked comics or skateboards or something." Stevie said, voice flat. She didn't really have much else to say in regards to her peppier younger sister. "Have fun with that."

MAE

Mae scrunched up her nose. “I don’t like going to the doctor. They just poke you with needles and that’s not fun at all” Mae mumbled. Mae tilted her head. “I thought she liked Star Wars?” Mae asked, confused before groaning. “She’s so cute, but never noticed when I flirt. Am I just bad at flirting or does she just not like me or does she not see it? I sang that song about her yesterday! I looked at her the entire time! Do I need to wear a neon sign that says yo I think you’re cute let’s go on a cute date?” Mae asked, pouting. “Stupid crushes.” Mae crossed her arms. “I even tried watching Star Wars. Not fun.”

STEVIE

"That was kinda the joke, Gymboree." Stevie said. Any other witty remarks were stalled out as she listened to Mae ramble about her sister. Ah. Great. Which, was totally genuine. Stacey and Mae would be a good match and she had been telling Stace to put herself out there more. But, the more Mae talked about the stuff she'd been trying to do to get Stacey's attention, her stomach coiled. The sensation was similar to how she felt every time Dani and Sam talked about being together. Gross. "Neon might be a bit much. Try pastels. Nice and subtle. And keep drinking water." Stevie reminded. "Believe me, I don't get the Star Wars thing either and I'm related to two of the biggest nerds on the planet."

MAE

Mae hummed. “Gymboree. I love that name.” Mae smiled. “You know, I was working with a little kid named Stevie and they were the total opposite of you. So sweet. You should take lessons from them.” Mae smiled smugly as she drank more from her water bottle. Mae hummed in thought at Stevie’s recommendation. “Pastel...gotcha.” Mae nodded as she took another drink from her water bottle. “I’m sure it’s nice but they’re just fighting with glow sticks the whole time.” Mae giggled, trying to make the lightsaber noises and used her water bottle as a lightsaber. “That’s all I know.” Mae continued giggling. “It’s cute, though. That she likes it so much. I like people who are passionate about something. Like, even though sometimes you make me want to fling myself into the sun, I really admire your passion for art and tattoo designs. I can tell you really love it and I think you’re really good.” Mae told Stevie.

STEVIE

"Give 'em till puberty. I'm pretty sure all kids are required to turn into angsty little shits around then." Stevie said, not bothered by Mae's comment. She didn't care if she was sweet. If folks wanted sweet, they could talk to someone else. Raising an eyebrow at Mae's head nod, Stevie kept quiet. Well, if Mae actually did got out with a pastel sign, at least it'd be funny. "Yeah, it's whatever. I think there's too much talking and not enough actual fighting in the old ones. Haven't watched any of the new ones, mostly cuz they seem like a waste of time." Stevie commented. Tilting her head, Stevie regarded Mae for a moment. Fling herself into the sun? That was a bit dramatic, wasn't it? "Thanks..." She said, shifting uncomfortably in her seat.

MAE

Mae nodded. “I mean, I guess it’s a little true. Even I had that phase. I wasn’t a little shit, but I was angsty.” Mae told her. “Shocking, I know.” Mae chuckled. Mae hummed at Stevie’s opinion on Star Wars. “I like mostly rom coms and Studio Ghibli so,” Mae shrugged. “I’m not into anything else other than that. Oh! And Steven Universe.” Mae smiled. “You like those car movies, right?” Mae asked. “I think you mentioned it once.” Mae furrowed her eyebrows as she tried to remember. Mae looked over at Stevie. “I tried to impress you with my drinking but,” Mae chuckled and shrugged. “guess I’m not all that good at it.” Mae hummed. “I just wanted to get you to like me but, I guess you want to fling yourself into the sun a little too.” Mae laughed.

STEVIE

Stevie couldn't help but grin at the idea of an angsty Mae. It was hard to visualize. But, given the weird past that she had, it didn't surprise her. What with her hang ups about her parents, that was enough reason for anyone to be angsty, teenager or not. "Aside from the words "rom com" I have no idea what those are." She said. She'd heard people mention both of them before, but never had an interest in looking into them at all. Cartoons just weren't her thing. "Yeah, Fast and Furious. They're fun." Stevie nodded, a bit surprised that Mae remembered that. It was just something she mentioned in passing. Her confusion only grew at Mae's next words. "I still don't get why you want me to like you. And no, I don't. You're just..." Letting out a sigh, she regarded Mae for a moment. "Difficult to understand."

MAE

Mae raised an eyebrow. “Why are you smiling?” Mae tilted her head. “Do you like the idea of me being an angsty teen? Because, trust me, my grandma was freaking out during that time.” Mae laughed. Mae hummed. “I’m not shocked at all, honestly. I don’t think it’s something you’d like, anyways.” Mae shrugged as she finished the water bottle. “I think there are some rom coms you’d like, though.” Mae added. Mae hummed. “I looked up a trailer and I feel the dudes are trying too hard. Like they’re compensating for something, if ya know what I mean.” Mae giggled. Mae shrugged. “I just do.” Mae told her before tilting her head. “What’s so different to understand about me?” Mae asked.

STEVIE

"Just having a hard time thinking of you like that." Stevie said, watching as Mae finished up the water bottle. "Hang on, let me get another one." Heading to the kitchen, she grabbed two more water bottles and cracked open one for herself. "Catch." She said, tossing the bottle into Mae's lap. If Mae wanted a fighting chance with Stacey, the least Stevie could do was prevent a god awful hangover. "Doubt it. And yeah, that's definitely a part of the franchise, but everyone knows that going into the movies." Stevie sat back down in her chair and took a sip of water, mulling over why Mae confused her. "I dunno. Your constant need to be liked? The fact that you try really hard with people who really just don't care, case in point," She gestured to herself. "I've never met someone like that."

MAE

Mae hummed. “I was figuring out my sexuality, at the time. And I wasn’t sure how my grandma would react, but I just assumed the worst so I acted like I’d already lost her. Like she didn’t want me anymore because I was gay.” Mae shrugged. “Obviously it didn’t turn out like that, but I think she just accepted it because she just wanted me to be happy again. That’s all she wants me to be so,” Mae shrugged again. Mae waited for Stevie to come back and squealed when Stevie threw the water and covered herself out to dodge it. “Oh.” Mae realized as it landed on her lap and grabbed it. “Thanks.” Mae chuckled, blushing. Mae watched Stevie carefully and listened to her rely, nodding slowly. “Oh.” Mae said softly. “Well...I don’t know.” Mae did know, in fact. Mae paused for a few moments, looking down at her lap. “I just...I’m trying to prove a point.” Mae told her, trying to get her thoughts together. “That...um...that...” Mae paused. “If...if I can get people like you to like me—all people, really—then, they can like me too. My parents. They can want me.” Mae pursed her lips. “So...that’s why I have to. That way I can know.”

STEVIE

"That's all she wants you to be." Stevie echoed, intrigued by that. Sounded to her like Mae had a pretty dope grandmother, but... that was an interesting thing to say. She couldn't quite make out why it bothered her so much, but it did. As Mae opened up about her motivations, Stevie kept her expression unchanged, even though she was startled by what Mae was saying. Trying to prove herself to parents who weren't in her life, by setting such an impossible standard? That sort of scenario would only ever lead to disappointment it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure that much out. But, if that's what Mae wanted to do... that was her choice. Even so, it didn't sit right with Stevie. "All people? Isn't that setting the bar a bit high?"

MAE

Mae only hummed and nodded slowly, taking a drink out of her water before sighing. Mae furrowed her eyebrows at Stevie’s response. “No, no it’s not. You just have to try and people...I’ve gotten people to like me. It’s just you that’s ruining it.”’ Mae told her. “But if I can get even someone like you to like me? Then all I have to do is find them and I’ll get to have my parents in my life and I’ll be wanted by them and there’s nothing wrong with hoping for something.” Mae said, shaking her head. “There’s nothing wrong with hoping for something good for yourself. And...and if I can get people to like me, they’ll see that I’m good enough to be wanted by them. That maybe they messed up in not wanting to me. So I gotta.”

STEVIE

Stevie's frown only grew as she listened to Mae rattle off her reasoning. None of what Mae was saying sounded... healthy. Not like Stevie had much room to talk when it came to healthy relationships when it came to family. But, hinging all of these ideas on the hope that, if she could befriend literally everyone she met, her parents would like her? Would want her? That wasn't okay. Taking another drink of water, Stevie shrugged. "Okay. Sounds pretty hard." She said.

MAE

Mae shook her head. “I can do it.” Mae nodded slowly. “I can. I just—I just have to try.” Mae justified. Mae would definitely regret telling all this to Stevie in the morning, but her filter was off and Mae was just...talking. Talking about all things she spent so much time making sure she never talked about. Not to her grandma, to Blair, or anyone. And to Stevie, of all people. “I just want them to see that I’m a good person and that I’m worth being wanted. Or at least trying to.” Mae shrugged.

STEVIE

Stevie nodded, though she still didn't like the sound of what Mae was saying. Not only did she just straight up not understand Mae's situation with her parents, but she didn't understand her need to be validated by... anyone. Stevie had never worried about holding herself to anyone else's standards besides her own, not when it came to people liking her. And hearing Mae talk about all this only furthered her suspicion that Mae wasn't just the happy person she always claimed to be. "Got it. I dunno. Seems to me like it's a lot of work." Without much pay off, Stevie thought privately to herself.

MAE

Mae nodded. “It’ll be worth it in the end.” Mae said softly, drinking a little more water. Mae looked over at Stevie. “I’m gonna stop talking now.” Mae chuckled. “I talk too much.” Mae mumbled, fumbling with the hem of her shirt. “And I’m probably annoying you.” Mae said softly.

STEVIE

Glancing over at Mae, Stevie sighed and shook her head. Was Mae annoying? Yes, undoubtedly. Was she annoying her at this present moment? No. In fact, she looked pretty fucking pitiful, like a kicked puppy. If puppies could also be drunk. "You're fine. I'm a listener." She said with a shrug. It was just what she did. "And, if you were annoying me, I would have bailed a while ago."

MAE

"You know, you're not so bad. Or maybe I'm too drunk to not be that annoyed by you." Mae blurted out. With Mae's filter turned off, Mae really wasn't thinking about anything she was saying to Stevie. There were definitely things she was going to regret in the morning, but Stevie being the only person that knew more details about her than anyone was going to be her biggest regret. Not even a killer hangover would beat it.

STEVIE

"I'm thinking it's the second one." Glancing at her watch, Stevie caught sight of the time. Damn. That late already? Looking up at Mae, she gauged how drunk the other girl was for a moment-- nope. Even with the wonders of Uber, Stevie didn't like the idea of her going out alone. Standing up, she grabbed a spare pillow from out of her closet and one of the blankets on the edge of her bed. "Well. Keep drinking water. There's aspirin on the night stand. I'm going to bed." She said, heading for the door. The couch was comfortable enough, one of the perks of being a fairly small person.

[leslogames]

Layers

Wow, what a Ludum Dare last weekend. 72 hours to make a game based on a theme, this time being: “Deeper and deeper”. Normally it takes me a huge chunk of the time trying to think of an idea I want to explore, this time was no different, but actually the time where less I knew what I was doing for the longest time. This is a journey in detail of how I designed the game:

------------------------------------------------------------Brainstorm

Ludum Dare started 3 AM here, so I decided to go to sleep prior to the announcement of the theme, and handle it next morning. I spent most saturday just blocked without any interesting idea to pursue, however, there where two concepts that kept coming back to me:

Digging game, but with water, which spreads when there is space to the right, left or bottom. This would affect the character, making him float, having a sort of “Snake and ladders” situation.

Fossils card game. Having a board with dinosaurs, different cards for different type of soils, in each turn players would place those cards over the board, creating piles that players would have to dig in a second phase of the game.

Whenever I’m looking for jam ideas, there are two big questions to ask “Do I want to make the game?”“Can I do the game in that time?”, very early on I need to know that there will be some art-light way of presenting the game to the player, since I’m not a good artist, and that the programming will be bounded enough.

------------------------------------------------------------Blind work

At night, I was dry. No clear goal, no line of mechanics, no concept of game, no hint of the art and no focused path. I didn’t even open the game engine yet to prototype anything.

“At this point I should be making something, anything”

Opened Game Maker 2, and, inspired by the two previous ideas, I decided to start with the art, trying to make a sprite that could work both as a tile and as a card. Of course, I started with water.

Somehow, I got into the flow of drawing tiles, and made some more. I got a nice looking physical tile look that draw my attention, and worked on a free space spot where these tiles would fit. 

End of day 1.

------------------------------------------------------------Rules

The physical look of the tiles made it weird to make a side view digging game, but I still wanted to explore this idea. I started creating a player character (a cursor), with a movement affected by the tiles the character was in.The first rules I made where:

Empty: player falls south / gravity. Water: player floats north / buoyancy. Fire: ice movement (ironic)

This batch of 3 simple rules was extremely corner casy, like an infinite loop between water and empty, or ending on fire at the edges of the screen. I tried a couple of variations to make it feel right, but it wasn’t making any sense.

However, I liked the idea of moving around the tiles, so worked from there:

Tiles affecting adjacent tiles: The player movement could be normal, but have some stats (life, oxygen, speed) affected by the tile they were in, and after X number of turns, tiles would affect its surrounding. Again, some unintuitive cases made the system unpleasant (fire next to water, who wins?)

Character actually acting as a cursor to select things: I really disliked this approach, a mouse input system would make much more sense. It also felt closer to a match 3 game, that I wanted to avoid, so players wouldn’t be influenced by an existing genre.

Character movement affecting tiles: Ah! This was interesting! It was easy to define rules, the player had much more control over the board and the number of things that happened per turn were limited to 1, making much readable. Got some rules in that made the system playful and unbalanced before letting it rest.

------------------------------------------------------------Sound

Break from design to make some sounds to have a better idea of how the game felt, good sounds can really help understanding a game and allow for more minimalist animations.

I looked for some sounds in freesound.org, and treated them with audacity, combining, removing noise, cutting, adding small effects...

After that I opened Ableton to start composing a main theme for the game. I usually start finding a pair chords + sound preset to get going, after that, a simple melody and some beats. I then copy and paste the number of bars a couple of times, making a couple of variations (no drums here, melody ends differently...), find a spot for a drop down, adding a couple of instruments and followed to reintegrating all the elements in a more uniform composition.

This is the first time that I made the audio in the second day instead of the last, and I really appreciated being able to listen to everything for a longer period of time, to find the weakest spots and change them if possible/necessary (I unfortunately didn’t have the time to polish the song, sad emoji).

------------------------------------------------------------Objective

I jumped to the design to figure out what the game was about before going to sleep. The temporary set of rules I had was clear about something, there were elements that were predominant, and had more chances to end up overpopulating the screen; I needed a way to get rid of tiles.

At this point, I was pretty convinced that I needed to make the game about sedimentation and fossils being preserved, digging was at this point pretty unrelated, and if not, the game would be completely out of the jam’s theme.

To better represent the sedimentation I needed to stack the tiles, and that implied that the information was much less readable once they were stacked. I needed a way to let the player understand the quality of their performance by solely looking at the grid.

I created an automatic system that after X moves a new row would appear on top, and the bottom discarded to the sedimentation pile, that would be the “final score”. Since information needed to be on the grid, every tile should have a clear value to the player, being the lazyest option: points. Another score attack game.

I don’t think points are the funnest stimulous, but they get the work done in a game jam, and I find very fun designing fair system points; there is something pleasant about finding numbers pattern matching what you think it’s fun about the game.

End of day 2.

------------------------------------------------------------Play

After spending the morning making the gameplay loop to work, it was time to play with a more critic mindset. Some weak points I noticed:

The automatic counter condition (X moves) felt claustrophobic, every move mattered, so it wasn’t only deciding how to alter the elements but finding the optimal path. Also, the system creates kind of a dynamic laberinth, where the direction you enter a tile matters, meaning that detouring is a necessary technique for getting the best boards; hence penalizing movements was contradictory. Focusing only on turns where there was some change in the grid seemed to be a much more interesting approach (This was much clearer because I already added the SFX for the “special” moves while there was nothing for the “normal” ones.)

Rock power up (Pushing a row or column) was very strong, if you managed to have two, it was most of the time the best move to make, allowing to change the positions of 5 tiles in a single turn. I needed to limit the number of uses, specially given that I wanted this to be the tile with more value, creating a tension between the powerup and the points it would give.

Air powerup (swapping with any tile) was really weak in comparison to stone, and I wanted both to be seen as “items”, limiting its uses too. I decided to make air actions free, but I regretted it later.

Fire was rarely useful, and only something you wanted to extinguish as soon as possible. Adding a new positive interaction could create more interesting decisions of when to extinguish it. I looked at the possible interactions of the fire with existing tiles, and created a new tile, sand, made by drying mud. I added a couple more interactions to make it part of the system (mud + air: sand, water + sand: mud)

Polishing the values of the tiles after seeing what a random run’s score was, the ideal to me is that the score is near zero, so I decreased the value of all tiles by 1. I also reordered the values so the “heaviest” tiles were the best, trying to match the theme, as well as making the most valuable tiles not appear directly on the grid (a new line is made first by fire, water, grass, mud and one empty space, and then change one random place to another empty space).

Intuitively I chose a maximum of 8 rows, so runs were short, but long enough that empty spaces could ruin the score, making the management of those key for the best scores.

------------------------------------------------------------Tutorial

This is usually my nemesis. I tend to underexplain the mechanics and system of my games and players normally struggle to understand what is going on; I’m in a never ending journey to a middle ground between giving enough information to get started but never holding the hand of the player.

In this case, despite seeing the special moves as simple individually, there were a lot of them, so teaching all of them was not an option: it was too much information at once. However I should explain the difference between a normal move and a special move.

First time doing an interactive tutorial, and I think the result is good, there is a small of initial information, given step by step, and that instead of giving away everything, stops by encouraging players to explore and explicitely acknowledging the lack of explanation. It works much better, although it isn’t everybody’s cup.

Probably the biggest flaw is not pointing towards the UI elements (tile values and highscore list), which was the part of the game the least understood (I misjudged the clarity of those). I also regret forcing the tutorial to stop, instead of allowing to experiment freely until the player pressed or hold a key to start the first run. 

------------------------------------------------------------Polish

Nothing interesting here, except that for the sake of consistency, I made the air power up cost a special move very late, without balancing further, making it a tile that felt more as a punishment than a tool. I will probably add a couple of rules to it after the jam ends to make it more valuable. The rest was adding visual polish, mainly to the score system which was the last thing I added.

End of day 3

------------------------------------------------------------End

This is layers: https://le-slo.itch.io/layers

[street-saint]

Giant Diaries, pt. 24

“Belladonna! My love! Come in here, there’s someone you need to meet!” says Alister warmly as I enter the War Room.

We’ve been calling Alister’s den the “War Room” for the past three days as we planned our Gridlock mission. It was Alister’s idea, of course.

Annielly is hustling around placing plates of baked goods on the table. She’s been gradually refining her cookie recipe. Some combination of the fact that there are not many good ingredients available, and the fact that Annielly is not a particularly good baker means that the cookies produced leave something to be desired. I think she has mainly just wanted something to keep herself busy, and keep her mind off her previous circumstances. I’m proud of her for bouncing back so quickly after what she’s had to face.

I catch her eye, and she returns a bright smile. “Good morning, Commander,” she says.

“I told you to stop calling me that,” I tell her as I walk up to my place at the table and take a bite of the cookie she’s left me. It is still a bit overcooked and hard, but better than yesterday’s batch at least. She’s been saying that the only ingredient a chef truly needs is love. I can’t say I agree, but I don’t have the heart to tell her just yet.

I notice Annielly’s expectant look and I send a smile right back her way. “Delicious,” I lie, “Annie, you’re really getting good at this.” Annielly smiles back, spins on her heels, and exits. Probably to start on another batch. I’m still surprised Alister has given her free reign in the kitchen, but I think she just likes seeing Annielly look so animated. I suppose we all do.

Alister places her large hand on my shoulder and I spin around.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” I say, “I got distracted by the cookies.”

“You didn’t spit it out the moment she left the room, so they must actually be pretty good this time around,” Alister chuckles. I’m a bit resentful. I don’t mind criticizing Annielly’s baking, but hearing someone else do so does not sit well.

Alister quickly pivots to present another Giant to me who I did not notice standing behind her. “Commander Belladonna, allow me to introduce to you my friend Darro. She’ll be our second driver.”

Darro is massive, even by Giant standards. She stands a few inches taller than Alister, with broad shoulders and ripped muscles. She reaches her hand out to me, which looks to be the size of my torso. I notice the black arm sleeve that covers a good portion of her arm, but I do my best to ignore it. I grab what I can of her hand to shake it courteously.

“Commander,” Darro says obediently.

“Oh, she’s just joking, you don’t have to call me that. Belladonna is fine.”

Darro just nods in response. Her blank expression and militaristic demeanor tell me not to expect much more from her in the way of speech.

“Thank you for helping us. Alister tells me you are very resourceful.”

Darro just shrugs a bit in response.

Called it.

“With that, I think we have everything we need to roll out tomorrow, wouldn’t you say?” asks Alister.

I nod. “I think so.” The mention of it still gives me butterflies in my stomach, but I do my best not to show it in my face. “We should take some time and go over the plan once more with everyone here, and make sure everyone knows what their roles are.”

Alister raises her hand in a salute. “Roger that, Commander.”

“I told you, cut it out.”

Alister laughs, but does not lower her hand. “Whatever you say, Commander.”

All I can do is shake my head. “By the way, have you seen Teddy?”

“Not yet. I’m pretty sure she’s out back with the hummingbird.”

I consider taking another bite of my cookie, but instead drop the rest onto my plate. “I’ll go find her.” I start making my way toward the back door. “Have all the adjustments been made to the Rhino?”

“Yes, ma’am. Gonna give it another look over with Darro here to be sure.”

“Sounds good,” I say, calling over my shoulder. “Come find me here when you’re done, and we’ll talk everything through.” I don’t look back, but I can sense Alister throwing up another salute behind me. “Cut it out, I said.”

As quickly as everything has been moving, I feel more excited than nervous. I would never have expected to be so confident about such a crazy plan, but with the support I’ve gotten from Teddy and Alister, I feel surprisingly optimistic.

Once outside, I look around for Teddy. It doesn’t take long to find her, as I can hear the clinking of tools against the hummingbird.

I round the corner of the shack where I can see Teddy lying on her back, fiddling with something underneath what I assume to be the engine of the vehicle. She doesn’t seem to have noticed me approaching. A compulsive smile creeps over my face, as I can’t help but capitalize on such an opportunity.

I circle around to the opposite side of the vehicle as quietly as I can. Checking to be sure Teddy is still unaware of my presence, I climb up to my seat on the hummingbird and lay across it so I can dangle my head and arms over the side. I pause for another moment, hearing the clinking of tools and heavy breathing from Teddy.

I hover my hand over Teddy’s torso, slowly lowering it down closer to her belly. With a gentle brush of my hand, I flick the edge of her shirt up, exposing some skin.

I hear the tools stop abruptly, and Teddy slides out from underneath the hummingbird. As her face emerges, I place mine as close as I dare to hers, grinning.

“How’s work?”

In slow motion, I see first the color drain completely from Teddy’s skin. Her face contorts into one of abject terror, and her jaw drops to the bottom of her neck. She lurches away to try and stand quickly, but bangs her head loudly on the edge of the hummingbird’s baseboard.

She still nevertheless pulls away and scrabbles to her feet, clutching her forehead. I feel bad that she hurt herself, but the whine of horror that escapes her mouth is well worth the effort.

“B-Belladonna?! What the heck?! What are you doing?” Teddy shrieks, her voice cracking hysterically.

I throw my hands over my mouth, trying to hold my laughter at bay. “Oh my goodness! I’m so sorry, Teddy! Are you okay?”

Teddy takes a few more labored breaths, “Yeah. I’m fine. What are you doing up there?”

I stand up on the hummingbird’s seat. “You looked so focused, I couldn’t help myself. You know how cute you get when you’re nervous.”

Teddy blushes, and then spins around to face away from me. “That’s not funny.”

“Oh, come on, Teddy! I swear I didn’t mean for you to hurt yourself. Let me see it.”

Teddy reluctantly turns back around and walks over. Standing on the seat of the hummingbird, I just barely outsize her. This allows me to easily see the red mark on her forehead. It doesn’t actually look as bad as I thought it would, and I instinctively rub it gently with my thumb.

“It’s not too bad,” I say. “On the bright side, I bet you can’t feel this at all anymore.” I jab at Teddy’s hip with my toe. She pulls away just before I can connect, pushing my leg away. I stumble a bit, but maintain my balance on the hummingbird, laughing all the while.

“Yeah, yeah. I’m fine. No thanks to you,” she sneers.

I can hear some levity return to Teddy’s voice, which empowers me to continue harassing her. “Come on! Don’t say that! Who’s been looking after you this whole time?”

Teddy rolls her eyes, and I chuckle once again.

“Here, let me make it up to you.”

Teddy shoots me a curious, and then uncomfortable look. “Don’t worry,” I say, reading the embarrassment in her eyes, “No one’s watching us.”

I’m not sure why, but Teddy has been very secretive about our relationship ever since we got to Alister’s place. It’s clear she enjoys getting essence from me, and not just because it numbs the pain of her injury. But for whatever reason, she doesn’t want anyone to know about this arrangement.

I suppose I also assumed it would be a one-time thing, but I’ve found that there is a certain excitement that comes from connecting with a Giant. When I offered Teddy essence the first time, it felt a bit strange, but afterwards, I was charged up. Like a surge of electricity had pulsed through me. It made me feel energized somehow.

After offering to her the second time, there was no discomfort at all. It was thrilling. It felt like I could run a marathon afterwards. I doubt it is as intense a feeling as what Giants get, but I never realized offering essence could be as rewarding as receiving it.

I guess that, if the fear of being captured, tortured, or killed is removed, a Sprite can actually feel good about pairing with Giants.

Teddy is still reluctant to take from me, but I do my best to reassure her that I am happy to do it.

I don’t know if it was fate or just coincidence, but I still thank my lucky stars I somehow ended up finding Teddy.

TO BE CONTINUED…

[kaleenjackson]

Advent: Day 6

Hi! I am late on this one but it is up. I should really mention that these stories are all post Ragnarok so be aware of some spoilers but I will try to keep them to a minimum. Enjoy

Pairing: Winterfrost (Bucky/Loki)

Warnings: language and spoilers (tiny ones, maybe. Better safe than sorry)

Dec 6

Movie

Loki had found his sweater on the compound’s kitchen table. The edges of the thumb holes had been carefully and atrociously been stitched open. Bucky really did have as much skill with knitting needles and as he did knives.

“For someone who seems to not feel the cold, you sure like to wear a lot of layers.” Bucky said behind him as he slipped the sweater over his tee shirt.

Loki took a quick look around to ensure they were alone before speaking. “You are right, I don't really feel the cold that much. I was born on an ice planet. My skin is much cooler than normal and I don't like people commenting on it.”

“Is that also why you avoid touching other people?” Bucky stepped next to him, leaning on the table.

Instead of answering him, Loki scoffed. “You also dislike physical contact with others. I wonder why that is Barnes?”

The look those strange green eyes gave him was enigmatic. In his mind he heard the last words of advice Thor had given him in regards to Loki.

“My brother has a silver tongue James. If he speaks to you, be aware that his words often carry more than their obvious meanings. He is also highly observant and sees more than he says. If he ever seems to know more than he should, this is likely why.”

Bucky gave him a soft smile. “I guess we've both been threw some shit eh?”

Loki nodded as Tony and Pepper entered the kitchen. He left silently as Tony tried to argue with Pepper about his long hours in the workshop. Before he could follow his ward, Pepper dragged Bucky into their discussion.

Bucky didn't see or hear Loki again until everyone was settling in to watch the first batch of Christmas movies. They had ordered pizza and he was pretty sure the smell had drawn the long limbed alien from his hiding place in the library. Now he was lurking around the back of the room.

To Loki's dismay there was no place he could sit and have a piece of furniture to himself. He stood observing the other members of the “team” as he ate. They all seemed to just pile upon each other, no respect or need for personal space. All except for his guardian, who sat on a small sofa by himself. Something about the whole situation reminded him a bit of Sakaar and that made him uneasy.

A firm hand was placed on his shoulder and in the blink of an eye he had whipped around, grabbing the person’s wrist, wrenching the hand from him.

“Chill out Mischief. It's just me.” Bucky smiled as Loki glared at him. A moment later he relaxed a tiny bit. “Come sit down Loki. You can sit with me if you want. The others know I like my space so… yeah?” He rubbed the back of his head. Loki notice he almost seemed to blush.

Not wanting to seem either interested by the slight rise of colour in his guardian's cheeks or rude, Loki shrugged.

He curled up in one corner of the loveseat and Bucky in the other. It surprised Bucky just how small Loki could fold himself up. He rested his plate on his knees as Tony put on the first movie.

By the time the animated clay reindeer with the red nose was leaving his friends behind to save them, Loki had shifted so he was more stretched out. Bucky rested his hand on Loki’s shin unintentionally. He didn't pull away. Neither of them really moved once they had gotten comfortable. No one even noticed Loki until Tony got up to grab some popcorn after they had finished watching How The Grinch Stole Christmas.

“Shit! You're like the ghost of Christmas Future. Silent and suddenly here.” Tony clutched his chest.

Loki smiled pleasantly. Bucky laughed.

“You're so fucking creepy Loki.” Tony sighed as he went to the snack pile. “What movie are we watching next guys?”

“The Santa Clause.”

“No, it's too early for that.”

“Die Hard!”

Tony laughed. “Not actually a Christmas movie Clint.”

“How's bout Home Alone?” Bucky suggested. The room seemed unanimous in that choice.

“Ten minute intermission then Kevin McAllister takes on the Wet Bandits!” Tony announced and pretty much everyone got up. Loki was surprised by just how comfortable he was. Not just with having his legs in Bucky's lap but with everyone. He had relaxed as the two short movies had played out.

“Ya gotta let me up Mischief.” He patted Loki’s leg and the long limbs moved off his lap. Loki looked at Bucky as though he were asking something.

“Let me guess,” Bucky smirked at his ward, “you want a couple cans of Sprite, some candy canes and you'll just steal some of whatever snack food I grab for myself. Sound about right Loki?”

Judging by the devilish smile he was given Bucky figured he was right on the money.

“How the hell?” Tony asked as Bucky grabbed three Sprite cans from the fridge.

“Watch your target, learn their habits, extrapolate. Loki always goes for clear pop, ate 24 candy canes yesterday, never gets his own popcorn and always drinks more than on can of pop.” Bucky stated matter-of-factly.

“You used your assassin training to figure out what Reindeer Games wants to drink?” Tony still seemed confused.

“Well I ain't shootin' at anythin’ these days. Might as well use it for somethin'.” Bucky shrugged as he gathered his own snacks.

“I guess…” Tony walked away from the smiling assassin, shaking his head.

Everyone was settled before the ten minute mark. Everyone but Loki. He had retreated back into the corner of the loveseat.

“You gonna stretch back out Mischief?”

Loki shook his head and grabbed a handful of caramel corn from the bowl on the table in front of them.

By the time Harry was giving Marv shit for leaving the water on Loki had moved so he was leaning against Bucky with his green sock clad feet on the arm of the seat. Bucky had draped his arm around the other man's waist simply because it was the most comfortable position.

“For two people who dislike physical contact so much we sure seem to be okay with touching each other.” Bucky said softly in his ear as the Wet Bandits watched the lights of the McAllister’s place flick on. He felt Loki shrug.

The prince didn't want to admit that he felt as comfortable with Bucky as he did. His guardian was the first person to not be bothered by his other form and to not push when he made a choice. Hell, Bucky seemed happy to let him just do what he wished. It was nice to not be looked upon with suspicion.

“Hey Loki, don't booby trap the compound like this, ‘kay?” Sam stated, making everyone laugh.

Tony piped up. “Give the man some credit. His traps would actually stop the Bandits, not just injure them.”

“Though, just a note Lokes, most of these traps would kill a guy instead of injuring them.” Sam added.

As the movie began to come to a close Bucky realized he could feel Loki moving. Looking down, he saw tears in the other being's eyes as Mrs. Kate McAllister returned home to find her son unharmed and decorating a small Christmas tree. Loki kept whipping them away as they threated to fall.

Buzz McCallister shouted on the TV, “Kevin, what did you do to my room?”

Before he could stop himself Loki laughed aloud. The little shit was in so much trouble, Loki thought to himself. Then he noticed everyone was looking at him.

For a long moment everyone stared at Loki. His cheeks were hot as Bucky started laughing.

“Well so much for making everyone think you're a mute Mischief.”

It took him a moment to realize, Bucky was laughing at the situation, not him. This reality made Loki snicker, eventually laughing with Bucky. Stupid movie had been funny the whole way through but that last moment had caught him off guard. It was good to be caught off guard.

“You can talk!” Tony exclaimed making everyone around him start laughing.

“Of course he can Stark.” Bucky stated as both he and Loki rolled their eyes. “He just doesn't want too.”

Loki nodded, shrugging his shoulders.

Bucky grinned as his friend relaxed against him. “So, we are watching the second one right?"

Tags:

@reogni @thegingerslytherin

[maddiviner]

Hello everyone. I’m enjoying a warm, rainy February day here in Krakow. I’m excited, though, because today I’ve finished my two-part series on color magick! In my previous installment, I covered the basics of why color is useful in magick, and described some of the traditional systems for working with it in the Western Magical Tradition.

I recommend reading that article before this one, just because it includes a lot of historical context and tidbits about getting the most out of color magick. In this second article, I’ll be focusing on practical techniques for incorporating color into magick and spellcraft. 

The practices I’ll be describing will work for a variety of skill levels and life situations, running the gamut from simple to complex, and I do hope you find something to your liking amongst them!

Visualization

Visualization is one of the most useful skills to develop as a witch or magician.

Indeed, it can be quite powerful if used effectively, and is also quite fun and enriching. In terms of color magick, you’ll find that colors are some of the easiest things to visualize. While it can be difficult to visualize a complex symbol or even a simple shape and hold it in your mind, many people find it rather easy to visualize colors and fill their inner vision with bright hues. 

As you might expect, visualizing a color for which you’ve a strong association can easily change your mood. Even many non-witches will visualize (or just stare at) something red and feel invigorated, for example. Visualizing the color flooding your inner sight is one simple and effective way of causing change in yourself, requiring no tools or overt actions.

If you want to extend the influence of your color visualizations, try visualizing colors in your immediate environment. An easy way to enchant an object is to visualize it surrounded by a color associated with your intentions. You can also visualize the entire space around you filling with a color to invoke the color’s energy into the situation.

You can also help and have fun with your friends using this technique, visualizing colors surrounding them and seeing how it affects them. All you need to attempt this is a partner to “receive” the color, and your own ability to “send” to color by visualizing it around your partner. This is a fun exercise, but requires some practice.

Many witches talk about seeing, sensing, and directing “energy,” and many of us manipulate magical forces by adding color. A good, direct way of getting in touch with the subtle forces around you is to visualize them flowing and changing in conformity with your intentions. This can include taking on a particular color for specific spellcraft, such as green for a love spell. 

If you’re interested in working with sigils as well as colors, you can visualize sigils, glyphs, and other symbols in vivid colors aligned with your intention. This is terribly difficult when you first try it, but becomes easier very quickly if you practice. As is the case with most, if not all, visualization techniques, this can be done with your eyes either closed or open.

I particularly enjoy visualizing a helpful glyph or sigil in bright colors with my eyes closed just before falling asleep. You might find, though, that you yourself get better results visualizing with your eyes open and seeing the symbol in your immediate environment. Everyone is different! 

Many witches undertake astral journeys to other levels of reality, a practice commonly known as hedgeriding. While visiting such places and realities, it’s quite possible to enact meaningful changes around you by visualizing different colors in different contexts. 

It is, as a rule, kind of difficult to alter astral landscapes themselves, but your fetch or astral double can easily take on a particular hue for a certain purpose, such as keeping away negativity.

Sketchwitchery

I use the term “sketchwitchery” to refer to witchcraft performed with the aid of nothing more than a writing utensil and paper. Most people probably think of sigil creation when they think of this, but the possibilities are actually quite vast, and even more so when color is added to the mix. 

Just as you can visualize a sigil adorned with colors, you can create a physical paper talisman featuring a colorful sketched sigil. This can be as simple as just sketching the symbol in colored pen or marker, or as complex as coating the talisman with bright watercolor paint, and there are many other possibilities. If you keep a grimoire, you can incorporate color into your witchcraft records, both for magical and practical purposes. 

I personally color-code my current grimoire based loosely on the four elements, but other approaches are easily imagined. Write love spells in green, red, or pink, and money spells in rich purple, or any color you associate with those things. When you add art supplies beyond just colored pens, this becomes even more intense and interesting. 

I, for example, have a small set of soft pastels that I use to add color to my Book of Thorns (a hedgeriding grimoire), and I’ve also experimented with using watercolors to highlight specific spells in my notes.

Going beyond obvious witchy sketching, consider the possibility that one could weave intent into an otherwise ordinary work of art while creating it, thus making it a visual spell cast by you, the artist. 

How you go about doing this would be deeply personal, so I can’t really give specific instructions, but it is possible to enchant every brush stroke of a painting or every line of a sketch to manifest your goals. Some authors call these complex works of art hypersigils, and a good way to incorporate symbolism into them is through choosing pertinent colors.

Many of us have probably dreamed of creating our own divination deck. While it can be difficult to sketch or paint a full seventy-eight card Tarot deck, ambitious witches do make it happen. If you’d rather try something smaller, consider creating your own Lenormand deck based on your personal color associations for each card. 

You could even create an oracle deck unlike any in existence. Another fun activity is divination with color swatches. If you can get a batch of them from a paint retailer, you can associate meanings with the colors, and read them as you would other divination decks.

While this section is about sketchwitchery specifically, I do want to note that techwitches can do a lot with color, as well. Sigils and hypersigils can be created digitally just as easily as physically. You can apply color filters aligned with your intent to photos you’ve taken, using the image as a sort of digital taglock to help you connect with the subject of a spell. For example, you might apply a bright orange filter to a picture of an ailing friend to help heal them.

Ingredients

If you find yourself with more materials, there’s plenty that can be done to incorporate color into your magical workings, as well! Almost every witch has at some point worked a candle spell, and these almost always incorporate color symbolism when choosing the candle. 

A red candle might represent passion, or a pink one, friendship. As a wide variety of candle colors are available nowadays, you’re likely to find one that suits your purposes.

Color can be incorporated into other spells, as well. Any time you find yourself sewing or creating something with fabric, thread, yarn, or cord for your Craft, you can choose a color of material suited to your aims, if it’s available. Charm bags are a fairly common type of spellcraft, and they can easily involve color symbolism in this fashion. Cord magick, as well, can have an element of color.

Acrylic or simple dyed wool yarn is usually inexpensive and comes in a variety of colors, which works great for cord magick. If you’re feeling adventurous, you could even dye your textile materials yourself! Naturally, as was the case with painting and creating works of art, you can also weave spells into fabric garments and articles you knit or sew, and color magick can play a big role in doing so.

On the subject of garments, many witches wear special ritual attire, such as robes. Certain traditions prescribe specific color robes for their aspirants, such as the A.’.A.’.’s requirement of a black robe for Probationers. Beyond any advice provided by your own tradition, you can choose your own robe color based on what traits you want to embody in your work, or based on what you feel you need in your life. 

A shy person, for example, might choose a vibrant orange robe as a symbol of their desire to become more outgoing and gregarious, and someone working to become more artistic might choose a green one, symbolizing Venus and beauty. If robes aren’t your style, you can still dress for magical success by wearing colors that harmonize with your intent, even if they look perfectly ordinary to most people.

Cosmetics can even be a way of bringing color magick into your life. Wear eyeshadow in colors corresponding to your goals for the day, for example. The image below describes some more possibilities with this.

Food and drink are another vehicle for color magick. If you’re not allergic to it, you can add drops of food coloring to your clear beverages and baked goods to give them a nice hue. 

I don’t recommend doing this often or in large amounts, but it can be fun to make a potion that’s simply Sprite or water with a drop of red food coloring. Sounds silly, but with proper intent and focus, and of course, empowering the beverage, it can be quite effective.

Obviously, more traditional witchcraft practices also involve color symbolism. Though it’s not a rule, many plants gained their magical associations due to their appearance, such as yellow chamomile flowers being associated with the Sun. 

Most, if not all gemstones garner their correspondences from their appearance. Moonstone is called such, and associated with the Moon, due to resembling the color of moonlight. Bloodstone is associated with battle, strength, and protection due to the blood red flecks on its surface. 

Many man-made or dyed crystals and gemstones have even brighter and more evocative colors than those found in nature. Though some witches prefer natural substances, some of us (especially those who put a lot of emphasis on color) often hold that the origin of a thing doesn’t matter as long as it evokes the proper associations. 

For us, using simple glass beads (available in many different colors and usually sold for aquariums) can often be as powerful as working with a traditional gemstone.

Finally, I want to add that home decoration and the creation of altars can involve color magick very intensely, as well. Many cultures and schools of thought have existing approaches to decorating for positivity, and will paint certain rooms in a home a particular shade for specific goals. 

If you can’t paint your area, you can always add colorful posters and knicknacks to brighten things up and bring a little color magick into your daily life.

Thanks for reading, and I hope this gave you some new ideas for color-based spellcraft. Keep in mind that everything I’ve said here is based on my own experiences, and is just my suggestions - you, no doubt, will find your own unique and creative ways of manifesting your Will via color magick!