#I don't complain as it's free xp

[aro-pancake]

Can we stop and complain about the fact that...

I've been walking around Porrima II for hours, at 91% survey, landing at different coastal areas... and I STILL HAVEN'T FOUND THE BLOODY FUCKING OCEAN SO I CAN SCAN THOSE DAMNED FISH THAT I NEED TO FINALLY GET 100% ON THIS GODS FORSAKEN PLANET!

Thank you for coming to my Ted talk!

[ravenwitch45]

Ok so you know how striker was lit on fire I'm the new episode? Can j request headcanons where striker comes back to his house and his female s/o helps him? Feel free to ignore

(Yeah good lord, I felt so bad when that happened, he deserved it and I don't blame Blitz but man, how desperate and scared he seemed by it fucking hurt, so love this idea, I'll do my best to give the cowboy some comfort.)

Striker getting help from his Fem SO with his burns, reluctantly XP

Striker practically slammed the door open before closing it, startling you greatly, his clothes were singed and his tail was wrapped around his waist, a burn mark on the tip showing why he was avoiding dragging it across the ground, a very disgruntled look on his face

"What the hell happened?! Are you okay?!"You exclaim, causing him to groan a bit "Nothing! A job just went a little so-south that's all"He grumbles awkwardly, you of course say that's bullshit noting the several burn on his body and clothing and he's too tired to argue with you.

You settle for getting him to sit down so you could help with the burns, pulling out some cool burn gel to place on the burns after he strips down with some difficulty to show you it all, you can't fix the clothes a seamster is probably what he needs but that can wait.

He growls at the sting and chill as you apply the gel at every burn, the one on his tail being particularly difficult as he keeps squirming and rattling it, making you pin it down so you could actually do it, which he grumbles at of course, even more so when you tell him he'll have to try not to move his tail all that much so he doesn't fling the gel off.

Striker is far from a nice patient, but he's not fighting you much either, just complaining and groaning which you ignore both, cause you know he needs this if he doesn't want these wounds for longer then necessary, maybe even avoid them scarring too badly if at all.

You wish he called you when it happened, since a quick application helps more but you don't complain, your just glad he's alive and not sick from the wounds getting infected or something. You still got to him relativley quick.

Eventually you finish apply stuff on all the burns you can see with him just in his boxers before asking if there's any other burns you should know about, he stiffens at that before saying no, and you immediately know he's lying.

You know the routine well enough, so you just ask where it is? His eyes widen but he still shakes his head, refusing to say it, too embarassing so you ask again and he snaps "Why do you care so much?! I can do it myself Y/N! Haven't you helped enough with the aftermath of me being pathetic already!"

You go silent for a second before raising a brow "Okay first, I'm helping you Striker, there's no reason to be like that, and second, in no way are you pathetic! What got that idea in your head?"

"Because I keep losing Y/N! Whenever a job puts me up against them, or anyone with a decent bit of skill, I lose horribly and end up having to run away with my fucking tail between my legs, I keep getting humliated!"

"Having a run of bad luck doesn't make you pathetic, Losing some fights doesn't either, what matters is that your alive for satan's sake! I know how quick death happens around here, so you surviving is strong in my eyes."You counter making him grumble

"I... I just hate not being strong enough, or smart enough it's just... I hate feeling this weak sometimes."The cowboy admits before you hug him, making sure to not irritate any of his burns "Your not weak, it's strong to live to fight again another day, and I'm sure you'll win this one day, one way or another, just let yourself rest, and give yourself some grace Striker."

He awkwardly nods, thanking you with a slight blush on his face and you say your welcome before smirking, "Now where's the last burn Striker?" causing him to sigh as he grips the elastic of his boxers "Not a word after we're done, ya hear?"

"No promises."

[une-nuit-pour-se-souvenir]

Thoughts on Frontiers

(This contains spoilers)

I finally got some time to see to it properly.

The open world platform is great and the roaming free mechanics is also great. There's an overfocus on the open world in detriment of the cyber levels, but even if I prefer the latter to the former on a Sonic game, it works regardless. It takes a lot for me to ignore something I wouldn't like in principle, so I must say that here they got it right. However, it gets somewhat tiresome after awhile.

The open world is bland looking. There are a few places here and there where it's beautiful, but it's in a realistic kind of way. It isn't bad but I think Unleashed's colourful ways goes much better with the Sonic series. In a bizarre way, Frontiers reminds me of 06, although that one was Windows XP Wallpaper bland AND empty. Fortunately, the cyber levels are zanny enough to palate cleanse. The fact that it's so bland also makes me tune out, which mean I'll often get lost, map or no map.

The cyber levels are solid. Some of them are short, but since there are 30 of them, it's not like it matters. Sonic controls well, though I feel like he's lacking weight (recurrent issue). The platforming feels good, even with the traditional glitchings here and there. The skills to fight enemies are decent, although I have no interest in it. Some that play fighting games say it's good, so I'll take their word for it.

I don't mind the recycling of levels layouts. IMO, they are different enough in looks and playability to feel fresh, yet the nostalgia when the familiarity clicks is great. There are 30 of them too, so plenty to be entertained about, even if one or another would potentially rub the wrong way (which isn't the case for me).

(It's also promising that they're testing SA/SA2 levels, it may indicate they're going to redo those games in this engine, and they would do well both because they are old enough that a remake would feel fresh but also because those two are still fan favourites.)

I don't mind the recycling of level assets. It's lazy of course, we cannot complain about Green Hill, but we've seen Chemical Plant and Sky Sanctuary enough in the past few years. Regardless, it doesn't bother me that much and if that was the price for the rest of the game to be successfull, then I'll accept it gladly. There is a slight annoyance sometimes, a sort of "this one again" but it passes quickly. Sonic is very dear to me and the recycled level assets are also dear to me, even if it's repetitive. I end not minding.

I do mind the ranking system, but that's not new. I've had issues with most of them. The only one I truly liked was SA2. That cringe "that was cool" felt earned. Getting an S at first try just by buldozing through a level DOES NOT feel earned. Regardless. ranks aren't something I really care about either. I just wonder what is the point. So much care and work went into making these levels, but the player gets rewarded the most by ignoring it. If the score is linked to time attack, then it should be for studying the level at such detail that the shortest way becomes clear.

The story is mixed for me. On one hand, I've always enjoyed the "ancient technology" story that SEGA really loves telling, most of my favourite games through the... decades (*shock*) have had that as a storyline. On the other hand, I know that such a thing is very problematic in real life and it's not the greatest moment to be pandering to it right now (the crazies are out of control).

I did enjoy the story though. The Chaos Emeralds being alien is something that is very old, from the japanese lore of the 90s. So it was very cool seeing it show up again. The two alien races fighting for it was... strange. It fits with the story they're trying to tell and there's nothing inheritently bad with it, but it felt strange to me. Also, it's clear the story is incomplete, to be continued at a later game, but even within what was in this game things were explained awkwardly and not very well at points.

The aestetics are mixed as well. Like I said earlier, the open world is bland and the ancient ruins also feel sort of bland even if they have very interesting shapes. I was overall irked by the EVA throwbacks. While I love NGE, I found Rebuild to be mediocre, which I oconsider to be a trainwreck written by a man that cannot accept his past and tries to rewrite it. I understand the majority liked Rebuild though, so I also understand that this was clever. Props for using 1 of 2 of EVA's best girls for an expy though.

I enjoyed Sage much like I enjoyed Chip too, even though they're entirely different characters. I think she's a bit too serious for the Sonic universe though, in that the super "annoying" Chip fit better. Perhaps they should have cranked Eggman more, so the contrast would make up for it. I would't know though, I'm not a writer. I do feel like Sage has a lot of potential for future plots even in minor ways. Eggamn being fond of his smartest creation gives him someone to bounce off of when he's on his own. In parallel, Sage is an AI that has gained some self-awareness, which means she can be unpredictable and save / ruin Eggman's plans on a "whim".

Overall, the characters felt a bit too serious though. The dialogue was better written, there was a lot of "makes sense" moments. However, Amy, Knuckles, and Tails felt a bit too bland. Amy's crush was very subdued (in contrast, Sonic's wasn't, at least for the norm, which is nice to see) and her good heart focus, while appropriate didn't feel like explored enough. Knuckles had his moments when antagonising Sonic but felt disconnected from a plot that is close to him and his origins. Tails has been suffering for well over a decade, he should behave like I child but he's systhematically info-dumping technobabble instead (he does more technobabble than Eggman, which is outrageous). I did like Sonic a lot though.

So, I give it a solid 8, placing it along Generations. Unleashed and the SAs still reign supreme to me, but Frontiers is a good game. The issues that exist... SEGA / Sonic has always been a bit rough around the edges anyway (a Sonic game without questionable content isn't a Sonic game) and the issues I have with it are easily ignored (I'll replay for Cyber Levels anyway). This is worth mentioning as I'm notably picky, so if I tend to give it a pass regardless of any issues, that means that the game is a good result.

What truly makes me happy about Frontiers isn't about me though, but the success Frontiers has achieved with others. While I may have issues with the game because I've been a fan for so long I've developed cult-like tendencies, I'm content SEGA / Sonic Team has landed a solid hit, which is hopeful for the future. Success is what Sonic deserves and what it should have.

[medicinemane]

Fuck you duolingo, I did my lesson yesterday

If you didn't like the wifi in my room, you shouldn't have lied to me and said the lesson was done an counted. Eat shit for eating a streak freeze and meaning I have to do an extra lesson to grind for more xp this month

You're basically just making it more and more likely I quit at the end of the year

Would have told you something else a couple years ago, but now I'm telling you don't use duolingo for any reason, it sucks ass. I don't know what the better language apps are (drops seems pretty good, but I haven't used it as much cause they don't have any celtic languages)

If you do know any good free apps with Irish, please tell me, buy yeah, don't use duolingo. I literally only hear about it these days when it's someone complaining about it

[kira-moonrabbit]

Actually to heck with it. Time to post my yume 2kki installation guide.

Well... kind of. I had my brother write these instructions down to send to a few of my friends who wanted to play. The wiki's installation instructions are a nightmare to navigate unfortunately. So me and my brother (mostly my brother) did it for you. Say thank you to my brother. (...Well, not that you can. He doesn't have a tumblr.)

Here it is under a cut!

(Any text written in italics was added by me. Each "figure" is posted below its relevant section.)

This guide assumes that you are using Windows 10. If you are using an earlier version of Windows, or another operating system entirely, I'm sorry but I won't be of much help.

It helps to have WinRAR installed when following this guide.

These are the steps that worked for me. Of course, everyone's machine is different. If you need to tweak the process to get the game working on your machine, use this page for some pointers: [A link the wiki's installation instructions; since it's not SUPER important I have removed it for brevity]

Without further ado…

1: Download the latest original Japanese version of Yume2kki from this page. Do not do anything to the file yet.

(Use the downloaded labeled 'Google Drive (rar, one file)'. For me, this download worked fine.)

2: Download Locale Emulator from this site (copy-paste into your browser):

Extract the zip using WinRAR, and move the contents of the zip to a folder. Be sure you are happy with the location of the folder, because you won't be able to change it's location later.

3: Among the LE (Locale Emulator) files, find "LEInstaller.exe" and follow the installer. (Click on "Install" or "Upgrade" and don't change any settings.

4: Now find "LEGUI.exe" and make sure that everything on that window looks something like Figure 1. Now, when you right-click on an application or a text file, you should see a "Locale Emulator" dropdown menu, and in that menu should be a "Run in Japanese" option.

5: Find the .rar file you downloaded earlier and move it to a location you won't change, where you will extract the contents of the archive. Right-click the archive, and you should see a "Extract files" option. (Should have the WinRAR logo next to it). A window resembling Figure 2 should pop up. Go to the "Advanced" tab, and under Miscellaneous, check the box labeled "Allow potentially incompatible names".

6: Download this file:

7: Extract the contents of the archive and paste everything in the "RTP" folder (contents should resemble Figure 3) into the folder called "ゆめ2っき" (which is where the Yume2kki game files are). If Windows Explorer complains about files with the same name, select "skip these files".

8: In folder "ゆめ2っきver0.118g" (which contains the "ゆめ2っき" folder), find "start.exe", right click it and select "Properties". Under "Compatibility", enable the tick box labeled "Run this program in compatibility mode for:", and in the dropdown under, choose "Windows XP (Service Pack 2)". (Figure 4) Hit "Apply" and then "OK".

Do the same for "RPG_RT.exe" in the "ゆめ2っき" folder.

9: Find "RPG_RT.ini" (Figure 5), open it in Notepad and change

FullPackageFlag=0

to

FullPackageFlag=1

Don't worry if you see any nonsense characters in here.

10: Find "start.exe", right click it, find the Locale Emulator dropdown, and select "Run in Japanese".

11 (ADDENDUM BY ME, KIRA): If you've got windows 11 like me and you can't see the Locale Emulator by default, it should be brought up by clicking this button right here:

That's the Show More Options button. Then it'll pop up the extended rightclick menu.

So... yeah! That's really all there is to it. Hopefully me attempting to add in the various complimentary figures didnt come out too awkwardly, the guide wasn't written with me inserting the complimentary pictures in mind. Happy dreaming!

[hawksugarbaby]

Deku x reader- Minecraft millionaire

Fluff

A/N: I use Xbox so these are Xbox controlls but feel free to change them as you see fit

Izuku sat on his bed flicking his eye's from the facetime with you to the screen in front of him continuously holding the right trigger on his controller and chewing his lip. "Wait what level do you find diamonds?" he asked glancing at his coordinates in the corner and you jumped around the world trying to escape a creeper "Fuck i'm gonna die! i'm gonna die! please NO!" you yelped and decided it was time to dig a hole in the ground and block it off. "Sorry, what did you ask?" you look at the phone propped up against your laptop and chuckle at Izuku's face scrunched up in concentration "uh, what level do you find diamonds" he repeated not taking his eye off the screen filled with grey stone blocks and dot's of black for coal. "12 to 14, usually 13 is like the best place"

You answered uncovering the hole you had dug in just as a creeper passed over you and fell into your 3 by 1 grave. "NOOO!" you screeched as the green mob flashed white and you tried to jump out of the inescapable hole for a final moments peace but to no avail. The unmistakable sound of a muffled explosion and the respawn screen, lighting your face up red and you let out a fake cry. "Did you die?" he asked despite the obvious answer. "Yeahh" you answered with a heavy sigh and respawned at home, grabbing a spare wooden sword and jumping over to the spot of your death. If nothing else you'd get a lot of dirt?

Izuku muttered about hitting his head off every block and you snickered "I mean at least you learned your lesson about digging straight down" he huffed and flailed his arms creating a cold air around him "it wasn't my fault no one told me I shouldn't dig straight down!" he had a point, yes, but still you had presumed that even he would know such a basic rule "I know, I know" you say nearing the site of the explosion and start sprinting ignoring the band of mobs chasing you.

"HOW IS MY STUFF STILL HERE. IT WAS LITERALLY NEXT TO ME?!" you yelped in surprise but ran around the area gathering your stuff and spammed the Y button, automatically gearing up and switched your sword to your hotbar along with your enchanted pickaxe and cooked chicken.

"Maybe the minecraft gods granted you... something?" Izuku laughed and popped out of his mine running to his furnace and dropping in a stack of Iron. "(y/n) I hear you need some cobblestone" Izuku said running to your house across from his and down the basement to your storage area. You groaned begrudgingly trying to fend off an army of spiders who had made it a personal goal of theirs to off you. "Izuku please don't contribute to the cobble chest. I'm begging you. I don't need more cobble" you whined sprinting away with 5x more Xp than you originally had. "Do you have lapiz?" you asked raking through his chests to find the blue material.

Izuku opened the chest almost full with cobble and finished it off with 12 more stacks, leaving one or himself. The green achievement bar popped up at the bottom of the screen "Chestful of cobblestone" and you clicked your tongue pushing your hands together like a prayer in front of your mouth "IZUKU. I SWEAR TO FUCKING GOD I'M GOING TO BURN YOUR COBBLE. STOP GIVING ME COBBLE, THAT GOES FOR ALL THE REST OF THE BOYS TOO!" your shouting could be heard throughout the dorm and some of the other minecraft players snickered to themselves.

Anytime, they had a stack or so of cobble, they would put it in one of your chests and it became a running joke for them to go "Hey (y/n) I heard you needed more cobble" and shove it in the chest despite your begging them not to. You had 3 chests of cobble but never got the achievement because you had burned the first 2 chestfulls before they could finish it off.

"Yes I have lapiz just give me a sec" he answered after your threat and jumped over to you. Meeting in front of your pumpkin farm you were jumping on. "If you fall you're gonna trample your crops" he said and you shrugged "that's what I have a diamond hoe for duh" you say in a bragging way as if having a diamond hoe of all things really just showed your wealth. You jumped off the pumpkin successfully not landing on your crops and spun around in front of Izuku as he threw lapiz at you "Is this what it's like to be a stripper" you chuckled and Izuku snorted at your joke. "Okay that's enough" you say, stopping him from throwing anymore and bouncing off to your enchantment table.

"I can't believe you had 4 extra diamonds and you made an enchantment table and a hoe" he sighed grabbing all the iron from his furnace and spinning to the crafting table to make a new pickaxe and a bucket for milk. He was determined to make a cake just as much as getting diamonds but there was a lack of cows due to bakugo's anger issues when he was in the server. "What would you even have done with them!?" "I COULD HAVE BOOTS (y/n)!" he shouted back and you purse your lips. He could have had boots...

"Okay well I'm sorry I'm rich and have full diamonds" you shrug and he looked up from his controller looking straight forward pinching the bridge of his nose "your a bitch" he laughed and started back down his mineshaft complaining about the steps hitting his head again. "You love me really" you chuckle and he rolls his eyes with a smile "yeah I know" you glance at the facetime and smile, 8 hours, 29 minutes 43 seconds you'd been on a call just playing minecraft in the server you ran for "the lads" as it had been dubbed.

"OOH IZUKU I JUST GOT FORTUNE 3 ON MY DIAMOND PICKAXE!" you exclaim, celebrating by jumping up and down. "Sweet! You're gonna have endless coal!" he laughed and you punched the air excitedly "so much Xp!" "we have an Xp farm" he retaliated and you pouted "Let me be exited" you whined and he awed "sorryyy" he said dragging it out for effect and you huffed "better be."

Izuku's inventory quickly filled with cobble, coal, and iron again, the occasional redstone for Xp and fuck gold, gold sucks. He stumbled into a cave, a platform of stone and on each side was a pool of lava. But Izuku's eyes lit up and he gasped "OH MY GOD!" he shouted digging through the wall to get to the prize. "WHAT!" you shouted back, busy breeding the chickens and throwing eggs in the overcrowded pen. "Sorry but some of you guys have gotta go" you muttered brandishing your iron sword, specifically named "the chicken killer" since you didn't want to waste your diamond sword on chickens. "DIAMONDS!" he shouted back building a platform around the edge of the lave he could walk on and building under the diamonds for safety.

"OH OH MY GOD WAIT THERE AND I'LL MINE THEM FOR YOU!" you say abandoning the chickens and jumping over to his house again. "wait why. This is my moment I've literally never found diamonds and you're gonna take them from me" he asked looking at the phone, your face twisted with concentration. "Because I have fortune 3 and I can make 8 diamonds like 24" you said. "can I mine these ones and tell you when I find more instead I want to mine my own first diamonds." you stopped at the entrance jumping up and down in frustration "okay fine"

As Izuku ventured further into the cave earning probably half a new chest worth of cobble he shouted for you. "I found more diamonds." you immediately sprang into life holding the left stick to go down quicker. "Okay yeah this is really inconvenient" you agreed about bumping your head on the way down and landed at his shaft. "Uhh which way am I going" you asked. "Left" he said. You followed the trail of torches and Izuku's name tag that got bigger the closer you were eventually running into the same square as him. "Move back I can't see" you instructed and he scooted backwards.

You swung the enchanted pickaxe collecting the aqua gems and throwing them at izuku. "That's like 20 something," you said, shrugging at the phone and running off back home. "That was 28" he said running after you to finally make his full iron armor and tools "I have 33 in total" he grabbed sticks from his unorganised chests that you despised and for the first time, made diamond armor in minecraft.

"Oh my god he's wearing BLUE! It doesn't match your colour scheme" you cried shielding your eyes and looking away. "Sorry (y/n) let me just dye my diamonds green real quick" he said, throwing an emerald at you and you feigned shock. "A MIRACLE. TRULY"

"Okay I wanna enchant it" he said following you to the enchantment table. "We do have those enchanted books if you want something specific?" you said but he shook his head "nah i'm doing it old fashioned" he said standing at the enchantment table and taking his time going through, enchanting each item with its purple iridescence.

"What did you get?" you asked, jumping around him excitedly and he hovered over each item. "Respiration on the helmet, projectile protection and unbreaking, wait I got unbreaking as well?" he asked looking at you through the facetime "it does that sometimes" you shrugged and he raised his eyebrows and hummed with the newfound knowledge. "Those on chestplate, protection on the jeans-" "leggings" "whatever, and feather falling on the boots" he said putting all his armor back on and going over his tools "efficiency on the pickaxe, efficiency on the axe, unbreaking on the hoe, unbreaking on the shovel, and fire aspect on the sword" he said stabbing a chicken that immediately went up in flames. "Roast chicken for life!" you cheered.

"Okay you have your full diamond now come to the nether" you said standing in the swirling portal and Izuku whined. "Literally what for!" he asked standing next to you despite his disinterest and the loading screen popped up. "For that Xp, gotta get that nether quartz" you said jumping to a clump of nether quartz and letting the green spheres fall on you watching the bar go up. "(y/n) What's the bridge for?" he asked walking over to the bridge ignoring the magma slime jumping toward you.

"What bri- AGH FUCK NO NO YOU CUBE FUCKING BITCH THINK YOU CAN JUMP ON ME LIKE I'M SOME WHORE WHO DO YOU THINK I AM" (A real thing i've said playing minecraft with my friends) he turned around just as the magma divided into 4 then each of those into another 4 until there were none. "Don't go on that bridge you will absolutely die" you warned and he backed up onto the bridge anyway. You were surprised he even made it halfway before a ghast needed to tell him his place and shoot him right into the neon orange below. "YOUR FUCKING KIDDING ME RIGHT"

Bonus content

Kaminari, bakugo, and kirishima all joined the call loading up minecraft not expecting to get an earful of your abuse to Izuku who was crying into his controller "I FUCKING TOLD YOU NOT TO GO ON THE BRIDGE BECAUSE A GHAST WOULD KNOCK YOU OFF BUT WHAT DID YOU DO. GO ON THE BRIDGE. I LITERALLY JUST GOT YOU THOSE DIAMONDS ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME YOU BROCCOLI. I WASTED MY FORTUNE BUFF ON YOU."

You loved him really. But you would never be taking him to the nether again.

A/n: What is your relationship with Izuku here? That's for you to decide. Also these are all things that have happened to me while in minecraft with my friends.

[fireopal-tash]

How everything started...

If only everybody could see you

Through my eyes

We wouldn't have to worry and leave it all behind

I know it isn't easy but I think we need a brand new start

I'll hold your heart

It was not a good start, nor a bad one. It was not an impulsive moment, much less a thoughtful one.

Spinel spent a week with Steven on Earth, after the Crystal Gems received a message from the Diamonds. Something about a mission, and making peace (peace treaty) with other species. They couldn't take Spinel with them, so they decided that it was best for her to stay on Earth. With Steven. Protected. That was it. Nothing happened, and Spinel returned to Homeworld soon after. Nothing changed... Or so everyone believed.

It wasn't until in Little Homeworld a healed corrupted gem saw them holding hands, laughing and having a good time that things went downhill. They explained they were simply spending some time together, like any friends, but the crystal gems were still upset that the hybrid never told them anything about where he went and with whom. Pearl, specially, freaked out when she saw it was Spinel with whom he was spending time. He couldn't understand why.

Steven was with Connie (it was one of those days when Connie had free time for him), and the boy asked his best friend her opinion about Spinel.

"Steven... I don't think it's a good idea" she started carefully.

"What? Why?" the young hybrid asked without showing his anguish.

"Because she tried to kill you. You and the Crystal Gems" she pointed out "Look, I know you want to help her, but maybe you should let someone else do it" she explained softly.

"No, you don't understand" he shook his head "It's my responsibility. I have to help her. No one else can because... Because no one else can understand her. Only me. And she is not the only gem that tried to kill us, you know? At least she knew it was me, not Pink Diamond"

"She was… trapped, wasn't she? Then Lapis would be the most suitable. Also, she tried to kill you because of your mum" she countered.

"You see!? You don't understand either. Aghhh" he suddenly stood up, anxiety gnawing at his mind "She was abandoned, not trapped. She faithfully waited for my mom for thousands of years!"

"And how about Pearl?" the brunette tried.

Steven groaned, increasingly annoyed that no one could understand him. But that wasn't true, was it? Someone understood him. And that someone was Spinel.. Steven ran away, glowing pink.

"Steven...!" Connie called.

All of my friends and family

Keep saying you're no good

Now that I'm finally happy

Wish that they understood

They may be disapproving

But that ain't tearing us apart

I'll hold your heart

Spinel couldn't meet with Steven after that hasty goodbye. She could still hear the shouting. Such horrible words. She didn't like that one bit. He was her friend, their family. Why were they being so cruel to him? Why wouldn't they let her calm him down.

So what if they were having a good time?

So what if they wanted to be friends?

What difference did it make to them?

What rights did they have to spoil something that was just beginning to flourish?

All those questions were echoing over and over again in her mind, fueling her anger, her contempt for those gems. Towards everyone. But never to Steven. He needed her. And she needed him.

"Spinel, we know that you only wanted to see Steven. We do to. But, surely you understand that it is not right for you to leave without saying a word to us"

Oh, she knew that very well. But it was exactly for that reason that neither of them said anything. They wanted to test their friendship first, before rushing headfirst. They didn't want interference of any kind. It was their life after all.

It was not fair.

Where did everything went so wrong?

Exhausted every option

It's time to run away

Won't even pack a suitcase

I don't need anything

As long as you're besides me

I know that it'll be okay

We'll be okay

Weeks later, after sneaking away from Homeworld again, Spinel managed to speak to Steven, in his room, while everyone else was asleep (or in the case of the gems, in their own room)

"Are you sure?" he asked hesitantly. He was so nervous. What if the gems find out? They would be separated!

Spinel nodded enthusiastically. She had been planning it carefully. Today they were going to leave, they were going to their new home, a home of their own. Far from responsibilities. Away from people who only saw someone else in them. No more Pink Diamond. They were going to be free at last.

"Ok. I trust you. I hope everything works out. How are we going to get there?"

"With Little Homeworld's portal, of course. We will be caught immediately if we use yours. Although, we have to go undercover, just in case" She smirk, satisfied with her plan. She was not stupid, after all. Just a fool.

Steven shared her smile, feeling excited.

Cuz if it's us

Against the world we'll fight it

And win as long as we're united

"Steven?" Pearl called from the bottom of the stairs. Receiving no answer, she went upstairs, determined to wake Steven up. Upon opening the door, however, there was no one in there. Thinking that maybe he would be in the bathroom, she went downstairs again and headed for the other room. She knocked a couple of times. Nobody answered. The fear was taking over the pale gem. Steven was surely fine. These past few weeks he seemed fine, at least. But what if...?

"Steven?" she called again.

"Is he still in the bathroom?" Amethyst said, noticing the other gem in concern.

"I think so... But he would have already answered me" she scowled.

"Maybe he's drowned in the bathtub," joked the purple gem.

"Don't joke about it, Amethyst!"

"Seriously, what's wrong with taking a little more time in the bathroom? Besides, maybe he's still annoyed with us" she said seemingly exasperated.

"Annoyed? Why would he be annoyed with us?" the purple gem rolled her eyes, tired of the tallest blindness.

"Maybe because we are overwhelming? Overprotective? And by "we" I mean you, and maybe Garnet" she finished, with irritation. She really needed to let out everything she thought about this situation.

Take my hand and don't you let it go now

We'll find our way out when we are faced with danger

Steven and Spinel were in the garden. No one was around as expected, but still, they waited holding their breath and their hands. Nothing was happening. The portal didn't activate. They were alone. Together. They smiled widely. And laughed.

And eyes that stares at us in anger

Take my hand and don't you let it go now

"Garnet. Do you know where he...?" Pearl tried to ask the fusion. She was stopped.

"Not now"

"But Garnet!" she complained.

"I said not now. I don't know where he is. I can't even..." She let out a painful cry before a light appeared, separating both gems.

"Oh no. What have we done?" whispered Sapphire, both oh her hands covering her mouth. Her blue orb full of guilt and fear.

We'll find our way out

I'm tired of all the hiding

When the gems told Greg what happened, for the first time ever, he yelled at them. Worse than the time they kidnapped baby Steven in the middle of a snowstorm.

Unspoken secrecy

Cuz nothing's more exciting

When they talked to Lapis, Peridot and Bismuth, they were yelled at again. Never had the crystal gems felt worse than now. They knew it was their fault Steven ran away.

When you're right next to me

I'm captured by the feeling

Connie was the last one to know about their mistake. She just looked at them, disappointed. She waited for Steven. She had faith in him. He would return to her. He always did.

Of when you're wrapped up in my arms

In my arms

Despite all the searching, they never found him. Nothing. No one knew anything about him, nor did he ever came back home.

But one day, they found a little Spinel, far from Homeworld, whistling while looking at some dresses and shorts, shopping apparently.

I don't have all the answers

Not sure what we should do

But it doesn't really matter

I'm so in love with you

As long as you're besides me

I know it'll be okay

We'll be okay

"Our way out" song by Nico Collins

IMPORTANT: Steven and Spinel didn't rushed their decision, but they didn't think it through either. Don't be too harsh on them. They are still young (in fact, worse. Because he is a teenager and Spinel acts like a teenager too, so it was expected xD And Steven almost did the same with Connie, when they were younger)

Another thing. No one thought that Steven was with Spinel because of the time they spent apart, and because they tried to appear like nothing changed. It may sound logic to us, readers, but it's not. That's life without a narrator xD

Also: if it's a ship, or just friends, or family, it depends on the reader~ See them as you want xD I don't care~ xP

People tend to forget the most obvious clues ^w^'

Here a FanArt!

(why I'm always drawing the wrong hand to hold? xD Oh well~)

[lawfulgoodness]

Hello, I was wondering if you could give me some gm advice for my Starfinder campaign because I am at my wit's end and don't know what to do. My players are constantly having side conversations during the game, they often interrupt my explanations and descriptions, combat takes forever because they won't pay attention, one does nothing but complain or override my decisions (also a gm). My playerss claim they enjoy it but I'm starting to dread having it, I could honestly use some advice.

Oh geez man, this is rough.  I’ve been wrestling with it for a few days.  I wish I had some good advice, but these types of situations have been hard for me too.  I can offer a few tangible suggestions, but it’s a rough position.

The first thing I’d recommend is talking about it.  These types of conversations, especially coming from the GM, are usually easier to have away from the gaming table.  If these are players that you’re also friends with, try to approach the subject sometime when y’all are hanging out and doing something else besides waiting to play.  I’ve found it lowers the defensiveness of others (and my own emotional reactions) when we’re just standing in line at the movie theater, or eating fries at McDonald’s, or are otherwise not focused on the game itself.  It helps you all see each other as just people instead of “PLAYER” and “GM.”  Talk to them about what they like and don’t like, and don’t be afraid to mention what you like and don’t like.

Try not to make it personal (ie, not ”I hate it when you & Jesse have side conversations”) but instead more general, (ie, ”It’s really hard to GM when there’s a lot of crosstalk going on.”)  Depending on how those conversations go, then I’d start letting them face the negative consequences of the choices they make.

If they don’t let you finish descriptions or block text, then that means they miss vital clues or pieces of information.  When they get frustrated, remind them that the NPC tried to talk to them, but they weren’t interested.  Once they have to backtrack a few times, or spring a couple of traps they didn’t notice, they may start paying more attention.

I had one game where the players were terrible about paying attention during combat, and every player’s turn took forever because I had to basically recap the entire round for them before they acted.  To fix that, I told them that I wasn’t going to do it anymore, and that they needed to have their rolls & actions ready when it got to them.  If they weren’t ready, that meant they lost their turn and I moved on to the next character on the initiative list.  They really didn’t like that, but after one or two sessions, suddenly they were paying attention and knew exactly what they wanted to do when it was their turn.

As for the player that’s also a GM, I don’t have much advice on that front.  Even here on Tumblr, there’s something about being a GM that makes us feel like we’re free to criticize others.  You don’t have to look far to find a post of a GM expressing frustration, or an idea, or something unique to their game, when suddenly every dungeon master in the world comes out of the woodwork to tell them how they should be doing it. I’m probably guilty of this myself.  Heck, I’m guessing that it won’t take very long before somebody comments on this post about how you and I are both terrible GMs.  The only thing we can do about that is grow thicker skin.

My last bit of advice is just to make sure you know if your expectations are the same as your players.  Some of what you’ve brought up could be symptoms of the fact that the players want a different kind of game.  In the past, I’ve had a hard time with combat-oriented players that don’t really care about the fluff text, NPC motivations, or game world backstory;  they just wanted to level up, get the next stat bump, and kill more powerful enemies.  Those players get bored during exposition, are ambivalent about “canon fodder” or red shirt enemy combatants, and don’t really care about the overall plot.  They want to kill things and earn XP.  If you’re primarily focused on character-driven or plot-driven gameplay, there might just be some tension with the fact they want a combat-driven game.

Not sure if any of this is helpful, but I hope it is.  If you’re putting in the time & energy to prep sessions, then it’s entirely reasonable for you to enjoy the game as much as the players.  Talk them about it, and see if you can’t find some compromises so that everyone can enjoy it.  It’s definitely hard work being the GM, but it’s work that can payoff for everyone involved.

[hedonicghost]

M... Your wayfarers play minecraft headcanons... We MUST have them...

the crew of the wayfarer plays minecraft together asmr (brought to you by 🐌) under a cut bc its uhhhh long af

Rosemary:

probably would ask what the "objective" is.

would follow the achievements page like a holy text.

wouldn't go to the end though because she'd get too attached to the cave house she made and her ever-expanding mine system

Ashby:

would also want an objective, but would see it as "too extreme" for such a "cute game".

would probably have a quaint little house in a plains biome with bees and a farm.

epic exodan moment (no pvp/pve)

Sissix:

would speed run it.

first person to get an elytra.

would fly literally everywhere and rub it in everyone's faces.

she'd suck at caving though, idk why.

she'd have the most fun making intense mob xp farms

Kizzy:

genuinely she just wants to hoard things.

will spend days making a tree farm while having no need for one.

makes massive redstone contraptions that the entire server can use (for a small price).

would make everyone have mailboxes in front of their bases and will give them small gifts on occasion (corbin some kelp, ohan glow squid ink, sissix rockets, ashby an entire cake on top of the mailbox so he cant move it, etc)

Jenks:

would probably have one of those miku/pepe skins just to annoy people.

would play off as being kinda bad at the game just to have someone help him cave and then he abandons them in the middle of a cave spider spawner.

would make a secret underground railway to everyone's base for ultimate hijinks.

gets as much redstone as physically possible just to sell it to kizzy at a high price because otherwise she'd have to go too far away to find any left in the caves

Dr Chef:

similar to ashby i think. would genuinely just be content tending to his farm all day and giving people little gifts of food if he knows they're heading out to the end or something.

would probably refurbish a village to make it more livable/pleasant looking and get the best trades possible.

has the achievement of getting every kind of cat.

Corbin:

complains about not liking videogames, so he's super quiet while playing, but he's genuinely just... hyperfocused on it.

he's been strip mining for twelve hours now.

his inventory isn't full because he set up a minecart retrieval system four hours ago.

has literally everything he needs in his stripmine base.

doesn't have an actual base, just a storage system jenks built for him in order to get his redstone off of him for free.

cannot pve for the life of him, which is why he stripmines instead of caves

kizzy made him a kelp farm and while he didn't say anything, she has been getting diamonds on occasion from an unknown source

Ohan:

nomad sorta vibe.

genuinely just gets lost exploring and needs someone to find him and bring him back to his starter base that he never upgraded from.

kizzy and sissix offer to build him a nicer base but he just frowns and goes "you don't like my build? i spent so long on it..." and then they don't bring it up again for a while.

he's genuinely just having fun finding new biomes and weird spawn structures out in the wild.

probably helps sissix find end portals / end busts with her.

Lovey:

she doesn't really like the game, but she enjoys how much the crew likes it, so she plays with them.

she's the server owner (obviously), so she can occasionally, subtly, make use of command blocks to surprise the crew. it's nothing insane, probably just strange sounds or a weird spawn area, stuff like that.

she'd also probably steal the redstone jenks is selling to kizzy at such an inflated price and put it into one of her chests.

this of course causes jenks to accuse kizzy of stealing but such is the price we have to pay for making things interesting

[retphienix]

hmm.

There sure are some design decisions going on here.

We have pokemon centers now, instead of DWM1's "RNG to the limit! Maybe you'll find an inn but probably not!" or DWM2's more traditional-to-Dragon-Quest Inns which you paid to use.

I'll be blunt. Not a fan. I liked inns just fine. It's not like it really matters I guess, but I know my preference and it's the added challenge of untrustworthy rest spot placement in DWM1 or the traditional RPG feel of paying to rest or exiting the entire world to rest for free of DWM2.

Made dives into combat feel like it had more risk/reward enticing you to go back to the kingdom to rest, now I guess I'll just circle back to the center whenever I please but again, it's no big deal and it's all the same gameplay loop I suppose.

Aww, they took the charm away from monster storage!

Where's my farm run by a poor monster caretaker or my family!

Where's the 'sleep' extra storage which sucked for actual use and existed purely for gameboy limitations I think, but had some of your farm monsters hibernate!

Where's the CHARM! The WORLD BUILDING!

Now it's just the PC box but without even the world building of the PC box! Ya just chuck your mons at this guy and that's it! BAH!

Substitutes could be neat. Sounds like you can bring along subs who can swap in to replace your team and they get extra xp for coming along.

Day/Night is neat, I like that.

Equipment is neat, looks like their answer to hold items and I can't complain about that :) Not to mention there's plenty of equipment they could take from the mainline games.

Oh ho ho ho, you dirty thing you. Talking about SYNTHESIS in PUBLIC?

Come on, man, lol. I guess breeding is too adult to mention, even though the eggs are right there, and pokemon still gets away with calling it that.

Wait a minute... I know magazines and guides and the community call it that, but do... do the games call it that???

I guess they really only ever say things like "What the, a weird egg appeared?" so hell, I guess maybe they don't?..

WAIT NO, POKEMON HAS TRAINERS CALLED "POKEMON BREEDERS"

THEY SAY IT!

I dunno, maybe it's because breeding is so much more important in DQM vs pokemon.

In the older DQM games you'll be breeding from start to finish, as opposed to pokemon where you don't ever need to breed, so maybe they thought you'd see the word too often or something, I dunno.

This is a nothing change. I don't get why it's here, especially since THERE ARE EGGS RIGHT THERE- so like, it's still the same process apparently.

Or maybe that's it, we have weird tech now, so maybe it's not actually "breeding" anymore and instead it's like mad-scientist ray guns that put their DNA together and forms an egg.

If that's the case then it's arguably dumber because it was a deliberate change lol.