#JUST DISCOVERED THE MAX LEVEL CAVE

[laylanatorseventeen]

[ctheathy]

hi omg would you be able to do a smut nine x reader hcs??? i love how u tend to make the reader dominant, i'd love if in these hcs nine is suchhh a sub but tries to deny it and act dominant when really he so isn't... by smut it can range from heavy making out/suggestive to full on smut idm, whatever u can think of :3 (if ur gonna do full on nsfw can nine eat out the reader pls pls (afab reader)) tysmmm !!!!

Nine NSFW Headcanons

Nine x Reader

Suggestive+NSFW Headcanons

Short Concept

Author's note: pfft- Nine would be making sounds that haven’t even been discovered by science yet

Nine/Reader [Romantic]

[Gender-neutral Darling|Female Darling|Male Darling]

Potential ⚠️TWs⚠️ :

Both reader+character are of legal age or aged-up for obvious reasons in this post!

These are smut headcanons, read at own risk. dom!Reader+sub!Nine • Partly !Female!Reader • 1/2 eating his darling out [Fem!reader] • Breast foreplay • Marking • Biting/nipping • Drooling/Salivating • 2/2 making out session [Gender-neutral!reader] • Gagging • You basically shove your tongue down his throat

- ½ Nine eating you out

I honestly just enjoy the idea that Nine is already quick to get hormonal and in the mood. But he gets in heat especially quick when you get a little too whiny and pouty. I just imagine you whimpering for one single time and his whole body would tense up, pressing his legs together and biting away at him bottom lip to the point it almost splits. Trying to keep himself from getting ...hard from something as simple as a subtle mewl. He is so weak towards you, your emotions and the way that you feel to the point any sense of self control can go out of the window. When you're showing signs of being turned on and when he can quite literally smell your arousal, he's gonna have to fight tooth and nail to not get aroused himself.

This is certainly not something that would have too much of an improbability of happening. As you see, the thing about Nine is that he can already be quite lustful in general due to his bottled up frustrations. Now add on several years of isolation from other creatures and you have a boy who hasn't satisfied his primal urges and inner desires for literal ages. But you can make all his anger, frustration and self-hatred turn into a desperate need and craving for you. You could enjoy taking away any sort of dignity and prideful nature that he has left when the intimacy gets to that point, before giving some of it back through your praise after the ordeal. You'd absolutely know him and his vulnerable spots good enough for you to really set him off, because at the end of the day, you'd always have him begging for more.

You could start off a bit simpler before allowing him to eat you out like that, but still feed into his uncontrollable horniness for you. You can begin with giving Nine the opportunity to touch your chest with his mouth, something despite with his shy embarrassment and hesitance, it being something he just couldn't say no to. You could just sit there and lean back all smugly, while Nine's on his paws and knees infront of you, shivering and head hanging down as he shakily reaches out to one of your breasts, fighting his dripping arousal from staring at your bare and exposed chest alone.

But that's a point of no return ...and to take it to the next level. After that heck of a fest Nine had with drooling all over your boobies, he'd definitely be more open and quick to agree to foreplay that includes him pleasing you in some manner, because ultimately, it really pleases him as well. Not only because your body shape and appearance triggers something inside of him, but because you trust him with your body. And that's how you two got to oral fixation, something Nine would want to think about it for a little while. I mean. HIS mouth?? DOWN there??? Though he would be lying if he wasn't intrigued by the idea. The way you excitedly spoke about it in detail got him excited too... And so, he would cave within under a week at max. Even with his denial, he would absolutely be the most eager in the ENTIRE world for that little taste of your bottom half and he would absolutely make sure that he wouldn’t let you down and leave you unsatisfied under any circumstance

And as soon as he gets one of the tips in his mouth, he could start to feel himself melt. It's just the softest and most squishy flesh he's ever felt in his life. His mouth would start watering the longer your breast is inside of him, and his saliva would slowly begin to seep all over your skin. He'd have his self-control at first, but it wouldn't take long before he'd needily start licking his drool over every inch of your chest as if trying to mark it. He'd be all over you and goes completely feral as soon as he feels your nipple hardening against his moist tongue, as he'd let out a soft moan while feeling that change in texture. Nine's tongue would just swirling around your chest, with his body shivering and trembling with every lick and swirl. He’d glance up at you with those pleading puppy-dog eyes for approval while you just look down at him with such a cheeky grin.

Nine would absolutely be reaching for your fluids like it’s a bottle of fresh water in the middle of the Sahara, he’s never wanted to try anything more in his whole life than he wants to have your sweet nectar right now. He would become so desperate and overstimulated that every second he’s away from it would seem like an eternity... and he'd just want the volcano to erupt in his mouth. If you could easily control yourself and just not let your climax happen. No matter if it's for the sake of teasing him or just having the self-control, this would only drive Nine further into going berserk. His entire existence would become centered around having that release in him one day, tasting you like you're the last meal on Mobius.

Nine would desperately try to keep his calm and pretend that he wouldn’t absolutely go crazy if he actually had a taste. He’d absolutely be in a huge need for more of you and it’d be such a spectacle. His face all red with him basically panting over you. And as soon as he'd even start, Nine wouldn’t be able to focus on any single thing at all. His senses would be completely overwhelmed from everything that’s going on because he’s not used to this kind of stuff at all. Even as he's the one eating you out, his own junk cannot help but keep pulsing as he continues doing it. He'd get a bit impatient and would really want more attention to be brought to his privates, so he might just start touching himself in the duration of the moment... which would definitely make him more vocal, even with his tongue in your folds. You could look down with amusement as he plays with himself, all while his needy moans begin echoing through the entrance of your body.

But Nine always seems to remain on high alert on what's happening to you physically. If you just so happened to let out any grunts or moaning noises, those sounds would go straight to in-between his legs. Any noise that indicates that you're enjoying yourself would definitely keep him going... Even if you're just breathing funnily, he'd get an adrenaline boost that motivates him to become more sensual with the movements of his tongue, getting more desperate to make sure to never fail you in this matter.

Though if you were the type to start squirming all over the place with his mouth still on you. Or if you were to rock your hips back and forth into his tongue, that's when he would just crumble and lose it. You'd just be using his tongue to make yourself feel good, something that turns him on so much more than he'd ever believe it would. His body would be going haywire and he would start gently biting and nipping on your most sensitive nerves to try and get even more of your juices, his tongue would be doing absolutely everything that it possibly could because he’s never been this aroused in his entire life. It would be a scenario that he will absolutely never get over and which he'd be utterly desperate to experience once again.

- Making out sessions

The thing about all of this that's the most exciting is just how absolutely convinced Nine is in his disliking towards being so vulnerable and in a submissive position, and yet he would be so incredibly needy for more. Even if there are moments where he doesn't enjoy being under your command, he would be begging you to continue, begging you to kiss him deeper, to go further than he's ever been, all for you. He must feel intimidated by how submissive he is around you, he must feel intimidated by how vulnerable you makes him feel, but he just can't stop, just can't stop wanting more of you and your sweet tongue.

The kisses that you give Nine is certainly something that manages to keep his on his toes. Though your pecks are as innocent and sloppy as it can be, every very time your mouth is on his, you manage to take control and shatter his mind little by little through the heat of the moment. You're always so teasing... pulling out and taking it back as soon as Nine is shown enjoying himself, keeping him so needy and so utterly horny for more while you feed him these little crumbs. As soon as you're slowly pressing your tongue to the back of his throat, you should purposely roll up your tongue as it's sliding down the back of his mouth. You'd have Nine gag at times with ease while his eyes keep rolling back with just how overstimulated he's getting. And with how teasing and playful you're being through the kiss, there's no way he'd be capable of keeping in his loud, pleading moans. He'd love the sensations so much but would feel so shameful for enjoying it as much as he does.

But at that point he would 100% be loudly begging for you. Crying out for more and more, for you to keep using your tongue on him because his brain is too overwhelmed with the intense pleasure he’s receiving to even really think about anything else other than how amazing it feels. I can picture him crying and sobbing, maybe even begging with you to take him to your room. He would become obsessed with that tongue of yours if you just kept it going for long enough.

He would have no choice in the matter, you would absolutely force him to look you right in the eyes as his vision blurred and his whole body trembled in a way he never thought possible. It would be so intense he'd think he was having a seizure. He would still find a way to keep trying to lock his eyes on yours to contain some sense of dominance, but his head would just be going back and forth, his tongue desperately reaching for yours whenever you pull back, needy to taste you again with his eyes rolling back and trying his absolute hardest to not explode. He couldn’t last much longer at that point, his body eager to betray him and his mouth and tongue would be yours further upon that point.

ﾟ+*:ꔫ:*﹤ﾟ+*:ꔫ:*﹤ﾟ+*:ꔫ:*﹤ﾟ+*:ꔫ:*﹤ﾟ+*:ꔫ:*﹤

The poor bastard would look like he’s being electrocuted, the moment he’d try to maintain eye contact he’d just go cross eyed. He’d be completely and utterly broken at this point. As soon as you release him and let go, he’d be a puddle on the ground with his mouth wide open and eyes rolled, just mumbling absolute nonsense while you gaze down at him. A lovestruck, heart-filled look in his eyes as soon as he manages to get back to Earth Mobius. I’d be genuinely surprised if he could even recognize his own name at that point because he’s just been reduced to a drooling puppy who wants to satisfy you.

Something you'll have to make sure he keeps doing with his bratty bottom energy

[cherliin]

the sims 4: elemental legacy challenge

🔥💧🪨⚡💨

note: i will add more to this challenge if i gain more ideas for other elements, and if requested, change goals around for already existing ones.

generation 1: water ˚˖𓍢ִִ໋🌊🦈˚˖𓍢ִ✧˚.🪸

you've lived your whole life underwater, told of the dangers that came from the surface. upon adulthood, your curiosity got the best of you, and you wound up washed on shore in an unfamiliar, tropical place. even stranger? you have legs!

required mods: expanded mermaids 2.0

traits: child of the ocean, vegetarian, socially awkward

aspiration: soulmate

world: sulani

goals:

your sim must be a mermaid

explore the cave in sulani

lover must be a human conservationist

gain at least 3 mermaid perks

reach level 5 mermaid rank

must make all money from diving underwater

must have a beach wedding

must try for a baby at the waterfall in sulani for your first child

have three children

generation 2: ice ❅❄️🧊✧˖°⛸️･:*:｡

your parents were always a little weird. they were secretive, often kept to themselves, and insisted that you and your siblings were different from others. but you didn't understand. when you touched water, it didn't hurt you or turn you into a fish. you moved away not long after reaching adulthood, seeking something more. that was when you discovered snow. it was just like water, but mushy and super cold. you love the cold!

required mods: figure skater career

traits: wiggly (infant), insider, adventurous

aspiration: extreme sports enthusiast

world: snowy escape

goals:

earn the adrenaline seeker lifestyle

reach level 5 in the figure skater career

have the iceproof reward trait

max out the snowboarding skill

max out the skiing skill

max out the rock climbing skill

frequently visit an indoor ice-skating rink (link) and get good at skating

have three failed relationships

one of your failed relationships should end after an engagement. during this relationship, get pregnant by woohooing at the ice cave.

generation 3: fire ⊹₊🔥⋆｡°✩

you're a pretty hot-headed person. you've actually always been rowdy, even as an infant. you're upset with your parents for splitting up and forcing you to stay in different places every week. and honestly, you're tired of the cold and the long trips to the mountains. you quite like the sanctity of being home, and you've sprouted a newfound passion for food, too.

traits: intense (infant), neat, hot-headed

aspiration: master chef / restauranteur

world: oasis springs

goals:

start cooking from a very young age and max out the cooking skill before adulthood

have the heatproof reward trait

max out the gourmet cooking skill

max out the baking skill

open your own restaurant and reach 5 stars

get married to one of your own staff members

have two children

cheat on your spouse, get caught, and divorce

remarry as an elder

generation 4: earth ˙✧˖°📷 ༘ ⋆｡˚🍀

you were the witness of...a lot of violence early in your life. you couldn't stand the sight of it. you run away from home as a teenager and decide to move into the countryside where you hope to find relaxation and start something of your own without the help of anyone else. you love plants and animals equally, and hope to build up a massive farm to call home.

traits: sensitive (infant), animal enthusiast, loves outdoors, peaceful

aspiration: freelance botanist

world: henford-on-bagley

goals:

move into a 50x40 lot in henford-on-bagley as a teenager and start from nothing

befriend birds and rabbits as you grow your farm

max out the gardening skill

raise cows, chickens, mini-goats, and llamas

adopt a large dog breed to protect your animals in the farm and always have a dog in the household

make money exclusively from farming

find love as a teenager and get married as a young adult

have four children

by the end of your life, live in a grand farmhouse and have a large greenhouse

generation 5: wind 𓇢𓆸°❀🍃⋆.ೃ࿔*:･🌪️

the farm life was never for you. you wanted to smell anything but cow poop every time you stepped outside. you wanted education, you wanted...the city! that's right, there's a city! you want to explore, and see all that the world has to offer! of course, life in the city isn't always the easiest, and you struggle to make ends meet as a young author fresh out of college...what does life have in store for you?

traits: creative, outgoing

aspiration: archaeology scholar

world: san myshuno

goals:

graduate from high school early and enroll in university to study language and literature

go out often with friends, at least twice a week

become a freelance writer and move into san myshuno upon graduating university

max out the writing skill

visit selvadorada and explore the jungle to find ruins

max out the archaeology skill

get married to a sim from selvadorada

have one child

write 10 books about your archaeology and have at least two bestsellers

generation 6: lightning .｡ﾟ🗲..｡ ⚡　ﾟ..🗲｡ﾟ🎧

your parents pampered you a lot. unfortunately for them, you have a snarky personality and absolutely live for attention. you hope to become an actress and share your talents with the entire world, and you want to be richer than anyone in your family could ever be. you always thought it was strange that your parents didn't seek the treasures of selvadorada more, so you'll make your own!

required mods: actor overhaul

traits: self-absorbed, art lover

aspiration: world-famous celebrity

world: de sol valley

goals:

max out the painting skill

max out the acting skill

to gain fame, become an actress and sell your artwork

open your own art gallery and sell your work for the highest prices possible

become a 5 star celebrity

become engaged to another 5 star celebrity but never marry

have two children with your fiancé

adopt two small dogs and name them after gemstones

live in a massive multi-million dollar mansion before your death

generation 7: aether ⋆˖⁺‧₊☽◯☾₊‧⁺˖⋆

you and your sibling never really saw your parents much. they were too busy filming television shows together and attending interviews. the nanny who raised you was a strange middle-aged woman with special abilities. you wanted to be just like her, so one day, you packed your things and snuck out of the house to follow her. that was when you discovered magic!

required mods: untamed magic is untamed

traits: loner, ambitious

aspiration: spellcraft & sorcery

world: glimmerbrook

goals:

visit the magic realm and become a spellcaster as a young adult

collect all magical artifacts

learn all spells

learn and create all potions

woohoo with one of your teachers and have a child with them

kill the teacher that parented your child using magic

upon mastering sorcery, become a medium and make money off of exorcising spirits

bring an evil spirit back to life and have a child with them

marry the spirit you resurrected

[monstersdownthepath]

Sorry to pause the infernal march for a time, but Pathfinder’s continued insistence on hiding the most bonkers-wild bits of lore in tiny, unassuming modules before unceremoniously brushing them aside and never exploring them again continues to vex and haunt me

A single blue link on the Wiki--the page for the Muted God--sent me on a rabbithole adventure across several books before finally settling on the most important one, the one-shot Society Scenario Hands of the Muted God.

It’s a simple scenario, one that begins and ends as many do: the Pathfinders Association has lost yet another group of no-name explorers and your party has to go looking for them, as you usually do. What they were investigating was a holy site devoted to the titular Muted God, a silent demagogue (not those Demagogues) who attempted to take the Test of the Starstone and failed... or did he?

The book--as well as every other shred of lore about him as far up as his brief paragraph in Adventure Path: Agents of Edgewatch: Ruins of the Radiant Siege--is deliberately ambiguous as to whether or not he’s actually an Ascended and simply remained characteristically quiet about the whole affair.

Anyway, the PFs are investigating because his cult, which as small and unassuming as one would think a cult devoted to an ostensibly dead god of silence and meditation would be, has suddenly been performing miracles! Healing wounds, doing magic, even bringing back the dead!

I’m gonna skip past a bunch of useless investigative fluff to get to the bonkers-wild part: So there's a demon lord, Abraxas, who knows the Final Incantation, the period at the end of any sentence about magic. He says it, magic stops. it's Mage’s Disjunction on steroids. Other demon lords tend to leave him the alone because they don't want their magic turned off.

Well the Muted God, in his placid meditations, discovered the opposite end of that: the Zero Incantation. It's the pause for breath at the start of the sentence about magic, a "silent word" that generates an infinite font of magic energy. And you find that! You find his holy site and in it, this font of magic that can recharge any wand, staff, or other magic item that relies on charges. Just fill that sucker to max immediately upon dipping it into the fun crystal pool. Battery 100%! But if anyone makes any noise at all for any reason, even as quiet as a whisper and even from dipping the item in the water in the first place (you gotta be real careful dipping something in, but the entire charging ritual can be soundlessly done with a DC 30 Stealth check... or, you know, the application of Silence), the magic font shatters and the entire thing becomes a useless cave pond. The book says that even if the players don't destroy it, the PF agents sent in to double-check their work will, if only to keep it out of the hands of Abraxas' cult since he wants it for himself... because not even he knew about the Zero Incantation. So here we have: A dude who found out how to create infinite magic, who may or may not be a silent god somewhere, whose cult may or may not know how to create these fonts. And you hand their notes on the phenomena over to the Pathfinder’s Association to slowly decrypt, so they may one day themselves learn the Zero Incantation, something that Abraxas now knows exists, likely knows the PF Association has information on, and badly desires for his own designs. Is this ever brought up outside this low-level one-shot or explored in any way again? of course not. I’m ripping my hair out as we speak.

[charlesjosephwrites]

Find the Word Tag

Thanks for the tag @honeybewrites!

My words were discover, mercy, wild, and important.

Here are some snippets from my wip The Magician and Ms. Psychic!

discover (I couldn't find this word, so I replaced it with the synonym find)

“Cut the bullshit, Magician.” Ms. Psychic tightened her grip on my jacket to tug me even closer to her. “Tell me where Hermes is or else.” “Or else what?” “You don’t want to know.” I couldn’t help but laugh despite my precarious position. “I would love to see you stoop to my level.” She went infuriatingly silent as she stared down at me. I kept waiting for her to finally cave and do something, but that expectant scowl never wavered from her face. I exhaled sharply. “Tell you what…” I tried to wiggle free again, but her grip was still lock-tight. “I’ll tell you where to find the little shit if you let me go.”

mercy

“Then she sends her sidekick after you, and—” His sentence cut off with a high pitched squeal as I brought my foot up into his crotch as hard as I could. “Bitch.” Max wheezed, stumbling backwards until his hand caught the side of one of the kitchen counters to stop himself from falling flat on his ass. “Can you shut the fuck up for thirty seconds?” I snapped. “I’m being so nice coming here to ask you to back off when I could have just shoved my knife up your nose without that mercy.”

wild

My social media feed was filled with wild guesses about where Shapeshifter Guy was going to strike next, nervous questions about whether Ms. Psychic would ever do more than temporarily chase him off, and assholes screaming about how the cops should just shoot both of them and be done with it. I was mentioned a handful of times among all the discourse by creeps speculating on my relationship with Shapeshifter Guy in such graphic detail I felt like I was going to throw up.

important

“Call me Ms. Psychic.” It took my brain a few seconds longer than I would have liked to process that. “Don't you have telekinesis or whatever?” I asked. “Yeah.” “How does that make you psychic?” She frowned. “How does teleporting make you magic?” “I'm not magic magic,” I said. “It's an aesthetic based on the art of—” “It's just a name,” she interrupted. “It doesn't have to be that deep.” “Just a name?” I scoffed. “How do you expect anyone to take you seriously as a superhero with such piss poor branding?” “I don't think that's what's important here.”

I'll tag @oh-no-another-idea, @mk-writes-stuff, @writinglyra, @enchanted-lightning-aes, and anyone else who sees this and wants to jump in on the game.

Your words are taste, floor, capture, and aware.

[not-poignant]

@callili replied to your post “Do you have a lot of different farms in stardew...”:

What was the mushroom cave hack? :O

​It's going to be hard to explain now!

But basically back in the day when you went in the Caves, between 80-120 there would be a random 'mushroom' cave. (There still is). Where red and purple mushrooms appear in greater quantities, and so do enemies.

Back in the day though, if you found the mushroom cave on level 82, got all the mushrooms, exited and returned, you would find a new mushroom cave on level 83. You could repeat the exit + return over and over again through to 84, (skip 85 - they never appeared on multiples of 5) and so on and so forth until the end.

This is why nowadays it's harder to 'reset' the caves when you leave and go immediately back in (which is frustrating for finding things like the prismatic jelly etc.). It was completely nerfed.

But for a golden few years, I could max my Forager skill to like 10 in two in-game seasons, and make bank on eventually iridium quality purple and red mushrooms. You'd end up with hundreds on a lucky day. It was the best. And almost no one seemed to know about it??? So back then I was one of like 3 people on the internet who had written about it / was teaching it to others. Eventually more knew about it, but it was the kind of thing that when I discovered it, I looked to see who else knew, and just about no one did. *cries*

I genuinely didn't realise it was something broken in the game because it was hard to find the mushroom level anyway, so you weren't guaranteed to be able to do this method at all. And then it was 'fixed' (now the algorithm is genuinely randomised) and I was sad because I'll never have that many purple and red mushrooms again lmao.

[ournewhome987]

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[twistsandturnsroundwonderland]

Some dnd/ttrpg headcanons because I’m a predictable lass

Ace Trappola

Rogue rogue rogue chaotic stupid rogue

The reason for half of the house rules

Good thing the dice absolutely hate him, it keeps him humble (marginally)

This was probably all his idea in the first place

If you give him a puzzle for six year olds, he will absolutely fail

Decent DM, very rule of cool

Deuce Spade

This good boy is so excited; he has put in so much effort and written eight pages of backstory

Bladesinger wizard because he wants to play a smart boy but then he realized how squishy wizards are

Now he can be a delinquent wizard boy with 25 AC in peace

Will bug DM for in game magic motorcycle

Trey Clover

Everyone assumed this man would play a cleric

False he is playing a barbarian and having the time of his life with barb rages

Brings the good snacks because of course he does

Occasional DM, he swears off DMing afterwards every time, but really, he won’t actually say no

Cater Diamond

King of getting the party derailed on wild side quests that end up being foundational moments for characters

High charisma low wisdom character for maximum chaos

Magicam account specifically for his many, many dice

Riddle Rosehearts

Has read the rule book and at least twelve companion books cover to cover

Please Riddle stifle the urge to rules lawyer

Relates too much to Paladins

What is Off With Your Head if not Riddle’s Divine Smite?

Please Riddle play a chaotic good Circle of the Moon Druid and chill for five minutes

Jack Howl

Jack Howl is as close to the embodiment of Lawful Good as you will find within 500 km of NRC

Probably paladin, ranger, or druid

Circle of the Land Druid specializing in desert because CACTI

House rule that he has to be in wolf mode any time he uses Wildshape as a Druid

Ruggie Bucchi

Somehow has his mouth full of snacks every time it’s his turn in combat

Better at playing a rogue than Ace and will remind him of that at every opportunity

No drama backstory; just adventuring to go from dollars to donuts (quite literally)

Leona Kingscholar

Comes in with as little preparation as possible and zero backstory and a lazy concept

Ends up entirely invested in the story - and in being better than everyone else at both combat and solving puzzles

Character development ends up being essential for campaign plot

Floyd Leech

As with everything, either fully engaged or nowhere to be found

Plays something like a ranger, rogue, or monk who goes off to have solo adventures at the least opportune time for the party

He can play or not play as desired and that keeps the table as a whole happy

Eats the dice

Jade Leech

Encourages Floyd to eat the dice

With a straight face (naturally)

Discovers Circle of Spores Druid and has never been happier

Creative problem solving- fighting a dragon at level 5? Magic missile the ceiling and drop half the cave on it

Azul Ashengrotto

Okay, assuming you can even get him to play because he is not going to hand over his character’s future to the whims of the dice

If you can get him to play, be prepared for min-maxing the likes of which you have never seen

Would probably be a fantastic DM/GM

This man is practically a warlock patron on his own

Jamil Viper

Swears he will never, ever do a character voice

*Three hours later* dramatic in character monologue

Please don’t ask him to DM; he already spends 95% of his time babysitting

Kenku rogue, tiefling sorcerer, or Naga warlock- his characters have an aesthetic

Kalim Al Asim

Wait which dice am I supposed to roll again??

Hey Jamil which dice is the d20??

Oh no his dice are on the floor now

Save him

DMs a grand total of ONE TIME and it turns into the Donald Glover Community meme

Complete with actual fire

Epel Felmier

Give this boy a SWORD

Or give him any and all weapons, really

Heavy emphasis on the fighty classes - why hello there Battlemaster fighter

Can carve apples into minis on demand

“Can you carve a beholder” *looks up beholder* “Yeah, gimme two minutes”

Rook Hunt

Absolutely DELIGHTED to be here

You’d think ranger but no let him be a bard so he can make many long, flowery speeches to his heart’s content

Is he trying to seduce or kill the monster? The answer is yes.

Vil Schoenheit

Leans into hero archetypes since he never gets to play them normally

The folk hero fighter, the world famous bard, the devoted aasimar paladin…

Always getting DM inspiration for those dramatic character moments

Absolutely will not respond if you don’t ask him in character

Ortho Shroud

The only one who knows the rules as well as Riddle

Can minmax better than Azul

But that’s irrelevant because he really is just here to have fun

Time with his brother and new friends! Ortho is having a wonderful time!

Idia Shroud

Of course he’s played before but what do you mean actually playing in person?? With real people?? Not through a computer screen??

Has DMed before… online

Might actually have an easier time DMing than being a PC if he can hide behind a laptop and DM screen

War forged artificer? War forged artificer

Give him enough time and junk food and maybe let him talk through a screen and you’re golden

Sebek Zigvolt

Eladrin on main

Gets incredibly attached to his character in about three seconds

Was his character inspired by Malleus maybe, maybe not you can’t prove anything

Please never make him roll a death save, he might cry

Silver

Get this boy a pre-rolled character he is so confused

Forgets to come up with a name for his character, panics and says something like Sword

When he’s more comfortable with character building, makes a series of characters of all classes, all based on Mulan

Lilia Vanrouge

Ready to go with some of the wildest character design you’ve ever seen

Aasimar Reborn un-fridged wife Gloom Stalker ranger? Goblin warlock with a demon familiar that looks like a long Furby? Half Drow lore bard/pact of the tome warlock who tattoos their spells on themself? YES

Says he helped invent the game with a straight face; not even the Diasomnia boys know if he’s lying or not

Malleus Draconia

Endlessly confused by the concept of spellslots

Why can he simply not cast lightning bolt as many times as he wants? That’s how it works in real life (when you’re Malleus Draconia)

Forget the main quest; his goal is to adopt any animals or endearing NPCs that come his way

Grim

Playing a house cat-sized Tabaxi wild magic sorcerer/barb with a penchant for fire named Grim

Hey, why mess with perfection, right?

No one knows if he’s talking in character or out of character because it’s the same voice

[mandoalorian]

I Believe In Love [Max Lord x F!Reader] - Epilogue

Summary: When you find your calling to leave Themyscira, you venture out to the World of Man with intentions of helping and healing a very specific person’s relationship with his son. You’ve heard his voice before, but only in dreams. You’ve felt his pain and anguish and you’ve never been able to relate to anything more. But things don’t come easy for you, and they certainly don’t come easy for him either. [This series contains spoilers for WW84 and is my interpretation of what happens after the movie ends].

Warnings: the long awaited epilogue. food mention, alcohol mention, pregnancy mention and FEELS.

Word Count: 2000>

REBLOGS APPRECIATED.

Masterlist

Previous - Epilogue - The End.

July 7th, 1985 (One year later).

So much had happened in the space of a year. You’d gone from being an Amazonian Goddess, haunted by the voice of a man from a far off world, to destroying the God of Lies for good, and discovering the beauty in true love. You still kept the crumpled up polaroid of Alistair and Maxwell that you’d taken back when he invited you into his home, last July. It had proven to be a better good luck charm than your tiara or lasso; and it served as a constant reminder of home.

Because home wasn’t Themyscira anymore. It was wherever Maxwell and Alistair were.

“And over here we have a vast collection of quartz! It’s usually mined in Brazil, and it’s the second most common crystal in the world.” Maxwell explains, using the most outlandish hand gestures everytime he speaks. He always spoke with his hands; even when he was on the television. You guessed that some things just didn’t change.

You watch him from afar, unable to contain the smile on your lips. His eyes sparkled and gleamed like diamonds as he gave facts about each of the gemstones he presented.

Black Gold had become an extension of the Smithsonian’s paleontology and gemology department, just like you had planned with Diana. When she had sorted it all out, and you broke the news to Maxwell, he was overjoyed. He hadn’t lost the business he’d worked so hard on, it had only been replaced by something even greater. And he couldn’t have done it without you. He’d spent so much of his life searching for happiness— looking in all the wrong places.

Through meeting you and gaining full custody of his son, he learned that success wasn’t money or wealth or having a solid career. For him, success was family. And he wouldn’t have it any other way.

His eyes caught you standing in a shadowed corner. Alistair was holding your hand, and in your free arm, you were cradling your three month old daughter. He knew now, he’d finally found his happiness. He smiled over at his little family and you shot him a kissy face, giggling when you noticed the rose coloured flush that crossed his cheeks.

You and your little family waited for Maxwell to finish his tour guide of the museum, admiring his work ethic. You were so grateful that he was able to adopt his superb salesman skills and apply them to a profession he was truly passionate about. He’d always loved rocks and gems and stones, even having his own collection at home. But this… this was infinitely better than drilling oil and accidentally scamming millions across the globe. Maxwell was putting genuine smiles on people’s faces, kids too, and that in itself was a beautiful thing.

Once the tour group disbanded, Maxwell was quick to run over to you. He took your daughter from your arms and pressed a kiss to your forehead.

“I missed you,” you smiled, watching as Maxwell fussed over his daughter. “How was work?”

Maxwell’s dark eyes met yours and he beamed with delight. “Oh it was fantastic,” He grinned before excitedly telling you all the details about his day at work. He knelt down to Alistair’s level and ruffled his son’s black hair. “Did you enjoy visiting the aquarium with mommy?” he asked.

“It was amazing!” Alistair squealed, sharing the same excitement as his father. It was unbelievable how much Alistair was growing to be a Mini-Max.

Maxwell checked his wrist watch and gasped when he saw the time. He called Raquel over, who had agreed to watch the kids this evening while you and him had ‘date night’. It was a rarity for sure, and neither you or Max liked to be without your children, but tonight was extra important. It signified exactly one year since you entered Maxwell’s life and changed his world forever.

Once it was just you two, Max couldn’t keep his hands off you. “You look beautiful.” he grumbled, pressing kisses along your jaw and down the column of your neck. His large hands roamed your body, paying extra attention to your breasts. Clearly, he didn’t care if anyone was looking. You giggled and slipped out beneath him.

“Save something for tonight.” You laughed, rolling your eyes and taking his hand.

Tonight.

You had no idea what was to come.

“I’m sorry it’s not Greece,” Maxwell chuckled, reminiscing on your first holiday together (if he could even call it that). It was quite an unconventional one— as he’d never expected to go cave exploring with two Amazonian Godesses’ and kill a God. You laughed, rolling your eyes.

“It feels like yesterday,” you admitted. “Leaving Themyscira… giving up my powers. I can’t believe it’s been a year.”

Maxwell nodded knowingly. “Tell me, princess, if you could go back and change things, would you?”

You’d thought about the question numerous times. You did miss your mother, and the beautiful tranquil oceans of your home world. But if you could change things— would you? The answer was simple.

“No.” you beamed brightly, pressing your lips together.

“Good.” said Maxwell. He gestured a waiter over and ordered a bottle of the finest champagne.

Things had been a little rough for Maxwell, after the dreamstone debacle and all. Inevitably he had to sell his white suburban mansion, as he didn’t really have the steadiest of incomes rolling in. But in a way, he was relieved. He didn’t need all that space anyway, and actually he’d really come to like the much cozier apartment where you, him and Alistair were living now. But with a little one on the way, you had both been discussing the prospect of finding a place with an extra bedroom.

He was happy with his job at the Smithsonian. He was passionate about it too, which was the main thing. He was still a businessman , but a much nicer one. After all, the oil-mogul Max Lord was long gone, and had been replaced by a darker haired, sweater-wearing Maxwell Lorenzano. You had no complaints.

“Here’s the thing,” Maxwell announced, straightening his composure after you’d both finished dinner. “And there’s really no easy way to say this—“

You giggled, scrunching your nose up with curiosity. “Spit it out Maxie.”

“I’m in love with you,” Max revealed, brushing his thumb over your knuckles tenderly.

You nudged him playfully. “I know that, silly,” you laughed. “I’m in love with you too. But tell me, what’s really on your mind.”

Maxwell stiffened slightly. It was now or never.

“You have shown me so much kindness, and you’ve shown me hope when I didn’t believe things could get any better. You made sacrifices for me… for my family. Gave up your powers and the chance to see your own mom again. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to make your decision worthwhile but I’ve known for a long time now that— I at least want to try. I don’t ever want to stop loving you. I want to be with you… forever. For the rest of my life. An eternity. Because you make me happier than I ever thought I could be,”

Tears pricked your eyes at Maxwell’s sentiment, your heart clenching with adoration in your chest.

“And with our family growing, and the possibility of getting a new house, I just… I want to know. I want to know if you’ll be my wife and— if you’ll marry me?” he finished, a hopeful glint in his chocolate brown eyes.

You couldn’t rid yourself of the smile that crossed your cheeks. “Yes Max,” you cried, leaning over the table and wrapping your arms around your fiancée. “Yes I will marry you.”

—————The end.

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I Believe In Love tagged in replies 💕

[xtruss]

Gabriele Gouellain, a German immigrant, waits in the kitchen for her husband to return from mining. According to the Coober Pedy district council, about 60 percent of the town's residents are originally from Europe, having migrated to the area after World War II.

— By Alexa Keefe and Mallory Benedict | September 30, 2016 | Photographs By Tamara Merino

Coober Pedy, a small town in the southern Australian outback over 500 miles from the nearest city, is vast, flat, and arid. In the summer, the heat can climb to 113ºF in the shade, leaving the entire area hot and desolate. If you've seen the postapolcalyptic movie Mad Max: Beyond the Thunderdome—parts of which were filmed nearby—you get the idea.

Photographer Tamara Merino discovered the town by accident when a flat tire sidelined her on a road trip through the Australian desert. She was with her boyfriend, and as they explored, they came across old signs advertising an "underground bar" and "underground restaurant." They then discovered an underground church, with candles burning, and small earthen hills with doors carved into the sides. But not a soul in sight.

At the beginning of 2016, an unexpected storm hit Coober Pedy, bringing in just two days about half the amount of rain the town receives in a year. Miners were forced to wait until the ground dried before returning to work.

Top: Goran Dakovic, formerly a miner in Yugoslavia, searches for any trace of opal on the wall. He has found a good amount of opal while working on this mine by himself for over three years. Bottom: Churchgoers attend a Sunday service in an underground orthodox church built in 1993 by the Serbian community.

They camped in their 1985 camper van for five days with no air conditioning, windows rolled up in the heat to keep out poisonous spiders and snakes. "Those were hard days," Merino says, "but worth it when we started meeting people."

They met someone on day six—a German woman named Gaby, who had lived there several years with her husband. Merino, who speaks some German, struck up a conversation and the two bonded. Gaby invited the couple to come in out of the heat into their home.

It was then that she learned that the majority of Coober Pedy's population lives in underground homes called dugouts. "I couldn't believe [it] when I first crossed the door from the desert," she says. "It was a cave!"

While, practically speaking, these excavated hollows in the sandstone offer residents a respite from the extreme conditions, the reason they exist is the same reason the town exists: opal mining.

Jürgen Feldheim, a German miner, prepares to lower himself down the 65-foot-deep vertical shaft of an opal mine.

Top: An oil painting showing piles of dirt made by a tunneling machine hangs on the wall of an underground house in Coober Pedy. Bottom: Drilling machines used to mine oil create mounds of dirt on the surface. Over two million shafts have been excavated for prospection and extraction of opal.

Opal is one of the most valuable gemstones in the world. Its price can reach into the millions, depending on type, color, and weight.

The gemstone was discovered there in 1915, leading to a mining boom as people came in search of their fortune. (The name Coober Pedy is an anglicized version of the Aboriginal words kupa-piti, commonly assumed to mean "white man in a hole.") Among those first-comers were soldiers returning from World War I—people who knew how to live in, and build, trenches. The early days, Merino was told, were like the Wild West. People who found opal were said to have slept next to their finds with guns to ward off would-be thieves.

The boom was followed by a leveling off, and today, Merino says, with less miners in the field and fewer young people committing to the financial uncertainty and physical hardships of this way of life, the industry is declining. Yet with an estimated 70 percent of the world's opal being mined in Coober Pedy, the industry, along with tourism, still sustains the town.

Gaby's husband, Jürgen, a miner, took Merino down on an electric winch 49 feet into the mine he was working. "The 45-second journey down seemed like an eternity,” she says. “There are only just a couple of spotlights at the entrance shaft, and walking around with a torch in the complete darkness feels like a labyrinth that doesn't lead you anywhere. But the miners know that opal is there somewhere—they just have to find it."

Merino stayed for a couple of weeks and later returned for a month in March to spend more time exploring this subterranean culture. Slowly she made more friends, like Martin Faggetter, who has spent the past 20 years mining for opal in the walls of his home 82 feet below the soil. "I got my own bank if I want to get a shovel out," he told Merino.

And with more friends came more stories. "Overall there are no rules [in] this business, as they work for themselves," Merino says. "They work when they want, and if they find something, they will forget about what time it is in the world above. It's a crazy and unusual life. They could be a millionaire any day or they could not find anything for years."

Top: Costa and Peter, Greek miners, are prospecting an opal field. Extremely high daytime temperatures force them to work at dusk. Bottom: Joe Rossetto, an Italian immigrant, lives underground and operates a subterranean museum that holds his private collection of stones, fossils, opal, and antiques found in the desert around Coober Pedy.

Trucks, cars, and junk from old machinery dot Coober Pedy´s landscape, waiting to be used as spare parts.

For Merino, the most captivating thing about this place is the relationship between the people and the object of their passion. "Coober Pedy is a place for many to start a new life," she says. "Opal is everywhere; they just have to find it. Rich miners have nice cars [and] big houses, and they usually throw big parties and invite all [of their] friends over to eat and drink."

"But some of them haven't been that lucky. They came looking for the big dream and never found anything. [There are still others] that [made] millions of dollars and then lost everything [to] machinery expenses, parties, gambling, or alcohol. I was fascinated with the fact that a stone can drive people into the deepest joy or misery. Somehow, I needed to meet those people and hear those underground stories. I wanted to be part of it—and I got to do that."

— National Geographic

[jgthirlwell]

2020 Year In Review

This year once again I invited some friends and colleagues to reflect on 2020

JG Thirlwell

Composer

Foetus Xordox Manorexia Steroid Maximus Venture Bros Archer

www.foetus.org

2020 was a troubling and disturbing year. I created a lot of music and experienced a lot of nights waking at 5am in a panic. I deeply missed the sacred experience of being able to see live music. In its absence of that I listened to a lot of music. It was difficult to whittle down this list but here are a lot of albums I enjoyed in 2020, in no particular order.

Le Grand Sbam Furvent (Dur Et Doux) John Elmquist’s HardArt Group I Own an Ion (900 Nurses) Roly Porter Kistvaen (Subtext) Liturgy Origin Of The Alimonies (YLYLCYN) Clark Kiri Variations (Throttle) Dai Kaht Dai Kaht I & II (Soleil Zeuhl) Chromb Le livre des merveilles (Dur Et Doux) Horse Lords The Common Task (Northern Spy) Ecker & Meultzer Carbon (Subtext) Insane Warrior Tendrils (RJ’s Electrical Connections) Jeff Parker Suite For Max Brown (International Anthem) Jacob Kirkegaard Opus Mors (Topos) Tristan Perich Drift Multiply (Nonesuch) Bec Plexus Sticklip (New Amsterdam) Vak Budo (Soleil Zeuhl) Merlin Nova BOO! (Bandcamp) The The Muscle OST (Cineola) Zombi 2020 (Relapse) Regis Hidden In This Is The Light That You Miss (Downwards) Rival Consoles Articulation (Erased Tapes) Sarah Davachi Cantus, Descant (L.A.T.E.) Sufjan Stevens The Ascension (Asthmatic Kitty) Idles Ultra Mono (Partisan) Daedelus The Bittereindeers (Brainfeeder) Boris No (Bandcamp) Aksak Maboul Figures / Un peu de l’ame des bandits / Onze Danses Pour Cobattre La Migraine (Crammed) Noveller Arrow (Ba Da Bing) Felicia Atkinson Everything Evaporate (Shelter Press) Ital Tek Dream Boundary (Planet Mu) Author and Punisher Beastland (Relapse) Sparks A Steady Drip Drip Drip (BMG) Corima Amatarasu (Soleil Zeuhl) Code Orange Underneath (Roadrunner) Deerhoof Future Teenage Cave Artists /Silly Symphonies / To Be Surrounded../ Love Lore(Joyful Noise) Sote Moscels (Opal Tapes) Run The Jewels RTJ4 (Jewel Runners) Oranssi Pazuzu Mestarin Kynsi (Nuclear Blast) Master Boot Record Floppy Disk Overdrive (Metal Blade) Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith The Mosaic Of Transformation (Ghostly International) / Ears (Western Vinyl) Michael Gordon Acquanetta (Cantelope) Neom Arkana Temporis (Soleil Zeuhl) Rian Treanor Ataxia / File Under UK Metaplasm (Planet Mu) Helm Saturnalia (Alter) Ivvvo doG (Halcyon Veil) Robert Normandeau Figures (Empreintes Digitales) Ben Vida Reducing The Tempo To Zero (Shelter Press) Beatrice Dillon Workaround (Pan) Dan Deacon Mystic Familiar (Domino) Sea Oleena Weaving A Basket (Higher Plain Music) Elysian Fields Transience Of Life (Ojet) Rhapsody Symphony Of Enchanted Lands II - The Dark Secret (Magic Circle) Duma Duma (Nyege Nyege) Ulla Strauss Tumbling Towards a Wall / Seed (Bandcamp)

Honorable mentions Carl Stone Stolen Car (Unseen Worlds)  Nazar Guerilla (Hyperdub) Iwo Zaluski with the Children of Park Lane Primary School, Wembley The Remarkable Earth Making Machine (Trunk) Nahash Flowers Of The Revolution (SVBKVLT) Cindy Lee Whats Tonight To Eternity (Bandcamp) Insect Ark The Vanishing (Profound Lore) 33EMYBW Arthropods (SVBKVLT) Declan McKenna Zeroes (Tomplicated) Layma Azur Zeii (Bandcamp)

FILM TV Succession ZeroZeroZero Escape at Dannemora 1917 Small Axe : Five films by Steve McQueen Pirhanas Monos The Hater Better Call Saul

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Drew Daniel

Matmos, The Soft Pink Truth

an alphabet of 2020 recordings

Arca “KiCk i” BFTT “Intrusive / Obtrusive” clipping. “Visions of Bodies Being Burned” Duma “Duma” Eilbacher, Max “Metabolist Meter (Foster, Cottin, Caetani and a Fly)” Forbidden Colors “La Yeguada” GILA “Energy Demonstration” HiedraH Club de Baile “Bichote-K Bailable Vol. 2” Ian Power “Maintenance Hums” Jeff Carey “Index[off]” Kassel Jaeger “Meith” Laurie Anderson “Songs From the Bardo” Mukqs “Water Levels” Negativland “The World Will Decide” O’Rourke, Jim “Shutting Down Here” Perlesvaus “These Things Below with Those Above” Quicksails “Blue Rise” Rian Treanor “File Under UK Metaplasm” Slikback “///” Terminal Nation “Holocene Extinction” Ulcerate “Stare Into Death and Be Still” Various Artists “HAUS of ALTR” William Tyler “New Vanitas” Xyla “Ways” Y A S H A “Summations” :zoviet-france: “Châsse 2ᵉ”

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Sarah Lipstate  (Noveller)

With all live performances canceled, this was truly the year of demo videos and home studio recording for me. These are 10 pieces of gear that came out in 2020 that helped keep me feeling creative and inspired during lockdown. In no particular order:

EHX Oceans 12 Dual Stereo Reverb - The Oceans 12 ticks all the boxes for what I’m looking for in a great soundscaping reverb. I used the Shimmer and Reverse algorithms in conjunction a lot when I was composing music for a film score.

Chase Bliss Audio Blooper - While I don’t actually own a Blooper, I had the pleasure of borrowing one from Mike of Baranik Guitars after NAMM this year. He made an incredible Blooper-inspired guitar and I was completely charmed by them both. Chase Bliss always delivers pedals that push me creatively and the Blooper truly hits the mark.

Cooper FX Arcades - I love everything Cooper FX has released to-date so the opportunity to access those sounds in one pedal via plug-in cartridges is just awesome.

SolidGoldFX NU-33 - I was asked to do a demo of this pedal for its release and ended up being really charmed by this box’s approach to lo-fi nostalgia. I’ve used it a lot for film scoring and highly recommend adding it to your collection.

Demedash Effects T-120 DLX V2 - I LOVE a good tape echo and the T-120 Deluxe V2 ranks up there with the best I’ve tried. This pedal made its way to me this Christmas and I look forward to making some beautiful sounds with it in the new year.

Hologram Electronics Microcosm - The Microcosm is one of those pedals where you should fully read the manual before diving in but once you put in that initial effort you’ve got a massively powerful tool on your hands. It does glitch like no other. Definitely worth the homework

Azzam Bells MP019 - I discovered this unique instrument through a post on Reverb’s IG page and immediately looked it up and ordered one. These experimental percussion instruments are hand-made in Italy and they’re as beautiful visually as they are sonically. I used it for bowed cymbal and daxophone sounds on a film score and it was absolutely haunting.

Echopark Dual Harmonic Boost 2 - I love the control you have over dialing in the perfect amount of grit with these dual boost circuits. I use it a lot as a textural tool when I’m laying down drones or bringing in big distorted swells. It’s one of the most versatile overdrives in my collection and I love that.

Fender Parallel Universe Series Volume II Maverick Dorado - I was smitten with the Maverick Dorado when I first saw it at NAMM. It has a lot of the specs that I look for in a guitar and the body shape with the Mystic Pine finish just blew me away. I hope that I get to use it live soon.

Polyeffects Beebo - The Beebo is one of those pedals that I genuinely feel is smarter than I am. It’s like an entire computer in one small touchscreen box. I can’t claim to have mastered using it yet but the sounds that I have managed to get out of it so far have been brilliant. I’m looking forward to spending more time with this box in 2021

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

HELM 2020 REVIEW

Let's get the bad stuff out the way first, 2020 was undoubtedly an awful year. I'm still not sure how to really respond to seeing a global pandemic bring the capital to its knees and everything I love and hold dear to a grinding halt. Our government fucked it's response, putting profit before people and killing tens of thousands. The Labour Party descended into farce with the newly elected leader Sir Keith revealing himself as a bland centrist with no opposition or ideas. On a personal level it sucked not being able to travel or see my friends in different parts of the world - or even the same country - who I am starting to miss a lot. However, I was fortunate enough to get through the year with my sanity intact. Music, art and culture once again being my main positive. I think I listened to more music than I have in any year ever. I read more books than I have done since I was a teenager probably. I also re-discovered the joys of walking long distances and am extremely thankful for living near a lot of incredible green spaces: Epping Forest, Walthamstow Wetlands, Walthamstow Marshes, Wanstead Park, Wanstead Flats...

Music. My favourite albums of the year.

Oranssi Pazuzu - Mestarin kynsi Wetware - Flail Raspberry Bulbs - Before The Age Of Mirrors Necrot - Mortal Rope Sect - The Great Flood Private World - Aleph Oneohtrix Point Never - Magic Oneohtrix Point Never Pyrrhon - Abcess Time CS+Kreme - Snoopy Speaker Music - Black Nationalist Sonic Weaponry Drew McDowall - Agalma Regis - Hidden In This Is The Light That You Miss Nazar - Guerilla Zoviet France - Russian Heterodoxical Songs (and all the ZF reissues!!) Triple Negative - God Bless the Death Drive Permission - Organised People Suffer Actress - Karma & Desire Acolytes - Stress II The Gerogerigegege - >(decrescendo) Chubby & The Gang - Speed Kills Flora Yin-Wong - Holy Palm Eiko Ishibashi - Hyakki Yagyo The The - See Without Being Seen Prurient - Casablanca Flamethrower Henning Christiansen - L’essere Umano Errabando La Voce Errabando Subdued - Over The Hills And Far Away Rian Treanor - File Under UK Metaplasm Komare - The Sense Of Hearing Shredded Nerve - Acts Of Betrayal Jesu - Terminus Autechre - SIGN Hey Colossus - Dances / Curses Sparkle Division - To Feel Embraced Mark Harwood - A Perfect Punctual Paradise Under My Own Name Still House Plants - Fast Edit The Bug & Dis Fig - In Blue Kommand - Terrorscape Haus Arafna - Asche Khthoniik Cerviiks - Æequiizoiikum Worm - Gloomlord Kraus - A Golden Brain Faceless Burial - Speciation

A shout-out to Jon Abby's AMPLIFY series on Bandcamp / Facebook, which I contributed a new piece of music to.

A shout out to the labels where most of the music I listened to seemed to come from:

The Trilogy Tapes Iron Bonehead Penultimate Press Dais La Vida Es Un Mus

Gigs. Despite live music being destroyed in 2020 I still saw a few unforgettable performances at the beginning of the year.

Graham Lambkin @ The ICA, London Puce Mary / JFK @ The Glove That Fits, London Demilich @ Finnfest, The Garage, London Container / PC World / National Unrest @ Venue MOT, London S.H.I.T / Asid / Chubby & The Gang @ Static Shock Festival, ExFed, London

Books I enjoyed. Most not published this year, but all read in 2020.

Joe Kennedy - Authentocrats David Balzer - Curationism Tom Mills - BBC: The Myth Of A Public Service Simon Morris - Consumer Guide: Special Edition Luke Turner - Out Of The Woods Various - Bad News For Labour Mike Wendling - Alt-Right Baited Area issues 1 & 2.

Film. Three good films I saw this year which I hadn't before.

Suspiria (Remake) Midsommar Cannibal Holocaust

Podcasts. I listened to a lot of these whilst walking.

We Don't Talk About The Weather Novara Media Tysky Sour & Novara FM Grounded with Louis Theroux System of Systems Red Scare loveline episodes Suite 212 NOISEXTRA Social Discipline CONTAIN

TV.

Didn't watch a huge amount and what I did was mostly trash. For some reason I rewatched both series' of This Life, a British drama from the late 90's about a group of young professionals house sharing and navigating their careers. Very cringey and has aged terribly, but it was perversely fascinating to revisit something from that time in the age of the pandemic. Following on from this I binge watched the entire series of Industry which was entertaining enough. A programme about a bunch of horny bankers with what felt like a confused ideology behind it. It seemed stuck between trying to criticise and glorify the culture around the industry, but also protect the industry itself from outside criticism by portraying anyone who may oppose as an insufferable wanker. Currently halfway through Succession which is OK. The Murdoch documentaries on the BBC were excellent and a rare respite from their descent into client journalism.

Thanks to anyone who listened to my music this year also. Best wishes to you all for 2021.

Luke Younger

http://hhelmm.com | http://alter.bandcamp.com

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Elliott Sharp

composer

1. My Nr. 1 lesson: patience. Whether it's bouncing through 30 seconds of severe turbulence at 39000 feet or slogging through 30 minutes of a interminable piece of concert music, one attribute I've tried to develop is the ability to see past the discrete and awaited ending, the exact framing of the immediate process, but put it into the context of a larger time frame. I've found that this year more than all others has demanded it. Breathing helps...

2. Books: revisiting old favorites from the realm of Thomas Pynchon and Philip K. Dick (both especially relevant), digging into John Lomax's portrait of Jelly Roll Morton, the works of Colson Whitehead, random things off of the shelf…

3. Composing: with touring off the table, I focused on that which needed to be written, some requested and commissioned, some spontaneously springing forth. Composing requires that one open the windows wide to the world, which at this moment brought in grief, terror, uncertainty, anxiety, visions of plague and pestilence and incipient fascism. Okay, now shut the window and get to work! How to process, translate, transform? The work can be a comfortable and obsessive cocoon once one learns to handle the radioactive materials and put them into the creativity reactor.

4. Beans! We have long been a fan in our house of the wide world of legumes but this year brought two stars to the front: the black bean and the red lentil. The black bean commands the lofty peaks but the seemingly infinite variations of dal surround it. Ginger, garlic, turmeric, smoked paprika, cayenne, onions, and olive oil form the basis then imagination builds.

5. Online teaching substituted for my canceled conduction of workshops in the Pyrenees Mountains of France. Between the participants and myself, we built a temporary but very congenial space online to share concepts and music. In addition, private lessons brought conversation and music with new friends in Germany, Italy, California, Australia, Illinois, Denmark, Pennsylvania, Spain, Florida, Brazil.

6. What started out as "stress baking" (before I even had heard of the term) soon became a frequent practice that yielded very edible results. The twins preferred the sweeter forays into banana bread and chocolate cake. I tried to find a balance between tried-and-true techniques and experiments in texture and taste with yeasted pumpernickels, multi-grains, and seed breads.

7. While not the same as performing 'live ', online gigs proved that it was possible to generate a surprising amount of adrenaline even without the pheromonal handshaking of a room filled with receptive ears. As a corollary, online recording collaborations with friends worldwide proved to be inspiring and a suitable substrate for sonic experimentation, exploration of new instruments, tunings, effects programming, structures. In these realms, shout-outs to Helene Breschand, Mike Cooper, Henry Kaiser, Tracie Morris, Mikel Banks, Dougie Bowne, Payton McDonald, Billy Martin, Colin Stetson, Jim O'Rourke, Scott Amendola, Roberto Zorzi, Jason Hoopes, Eric Mingus, Melanie Dyer, Dave Hofstra, Don McKenzie, Sergio Sorrentino, Veniero Rizzardi, Taylor Ho Bynum, Scott Fields, Bachir Attar, Karl Bruckmaier, Robbie Lee, Matthew Evan Taylor, Matteo Liberatore, Al Kaatz, David Barratt, Jessica Hallock, Kolin Zeinikov, Robbie Lee, Jeremy Nesse, James Ilgenfritz, Sergio Armaroli, Steve Piccolo, Sandy Ewen, David Weinstein, Jim Whittemore, Chris Vine, Werner Puntigam, William Schimmel.

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Daniel O’Sullivan

(Grumbling Fur, Guapo, Miasma & the Carousel of Headless Horses, Ulver, Sunn O))), Æthenor, Laniakea, Miracle, Mothlite, and This Is Not This Heat.)

Music Richard Youngs - Ein Klein Nein Alabaster DePlume - Instrumentals Hildegard von Bingen - O Nobilissima Viriditas Francisco de Penalosa - Missa Ave Maria Peregrina Carlo Gesualdo - Responsoria 1611 Dirty Projectors - Five EPs Sonic Boom - All Things Being Equal Brother Peter Broderick - Blackberry Richard Horowitz - Eros Of Arabia Duncan Trussell Family Hour Cocteau Twins in the bath

Books/comics Alexander Tucker - Entity Reunion II Derek Jarman - Chroma Stephen Harrod Buhner - Plant Intelligence and the Imaginal Realm The Penguin Book Of Irish Poetry - edited by Patrick Crotty The Gospel Of Ramakrishna - translated by Swami Nikhilananda Lucretius - De Rerum Natura Plotinus - Enneads Ram Dass - Grist For The Mill Lisa Brown - Phantom Twin

Other Fasting / meditation / macrodosing Walks in freshly coppiced woodland (for the smell mainly). Plants / Foraging / Growing Traditional ferments Douglas Sirk movies Mandolorian Writing songs on the piano Rediscovery of Kenneth Graham via my kids

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Karl O’Connor (Regis)

01.Wolfgang Press - Unremembered, Remembered 02. Klara Lewis - Ingrid Live at Fylkingen 03. Jesu - Terminus 04. Dave Ball - Leeds Poly Demos 1979 05. Edwin Pouncey - Rated Sav X (the Savage Pencil Skratchbook) 06. The Bug - In Blue 07. New Order - Power,Corruption and Lies ( Writing Sessions  ) 08. JG Thirlwell and Simon Steensland - Oscillospira 09. FM Einheit and Andreas Ammer - Hammerschlag 10. Thurston Moore - By The Fire 11. Body Stuff - Body Stuff 3 12. Ann M Hogan - Honeysuckle Burials 13. Rob Halford - Confess (Autobiography)

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Caleb Braaten (Sacred Bones Records)

Shirley Collins Hearts Ease Dehd Flowers Of Devotion Duma Duma Bob Dylan Rough and Rowdy Ways Green-House Six Songs for Invisible Gardens John Jeffery Passage Drew McDowall Agalma Sweeping Promises Hunger For a Way Out Colter Wall Western Swing & Waltzes and Other Punchy Songs Woods Strange to Explain

My Favorite 90’s Nostalgia Movie Rewatches

Colors Ghost Dog Menace II Society The Player Rounders Safe Starship Troopers Trees Lounge Vampires Waiting For Guffman

Most Culturally Bankrupt Year : 1997

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Charlie Looker

(composer, Psalm Zero, Extra Life, Seaven Teares)

Ten Things That Didn’t Happen in 2020

1.  I didn’t write a ton of new music. Don’t get me wrong, I wrote some. I always do. But mostly I focused on my new YouTube channel, essays, and on getting old recordings released. I haven’t even been working a day-job so I thought I was going to write my next Ring Cycle, but I really didn’t find Covid inspiring.

2.  Trump wasn’t re-elected. Cool.

3. I didn’t lose anyone to Covid. I am, of course, profoundly grateful for this. But I feel pretty embarrassed remembering group-texting ten friends in March, “We are all going to see a loved one die. Every single one of us. Don’t kid yourselves”. I can get hysterical, and that was somewhat irresponsible of me.

4.  No revolution happened. I don’t mean to be smug or cynical, or to belittle anyone’s participation in the protests. But, as far as I can tell, nothing happened in 2020 that promises to reduce police brutality or human suffering of any kind. We’ll see. That burning Minneapolis police station was exciting to watch at the time, if only on an aesthetic level.

5.  I have a stack of unread books I bought this year, just staring at me, with nary a crease among them. These include:

Adorno and Horkheimer, The Dialectic of Enlightenment (looks amazing, but I haven’t touched it) Marx, Grundrisse (it’s 1000 pages for fuck’s sake. Amazon also accidentally sent me two copies, and its double presence in the stack is just comical) Reza Negarestani, Intelligence and Spirit (the first 15 pages blew my mind, then my mind blew it off)

6.  I didn’t settle into living in LA. I moved here six months before Covid and I was just starting to cultivate some friendships and play shows. This was quashed and I still feel like I still live in New York. I still barely know the layout of the city here.

7.  No brand-new buzzy musical artists burst onto the scene, that I can recall. No new hyped micro-genre of the moment. There was just no way for there to be a hot new trend. I’d say that was refreshing, but it wasn’t.

8.  Tyson’s return was not awesome. Two minute rounds, ended in a draw. I’ve been getting way into boxing this past year. This fight was a bummer. I’m looking forward to Mayweather vs Logan Paul (LOL) because we know it’s comedy ahead of time.

9.  For three weeks in July, I didn’t do a single thing other than watch street fight compilations on YouTube and Worldstar. That’s just grim.

10.  There were no school shootings in March. Apparently, this was the first March with no school shootings since 2002. Not a single 7th grader got a hand job in March either. I cannot begin to imagine what it’s like to be a kid now.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Chuck Bettis

https://chuckbettis.com

Other People's Music released this year:

Coil "Musick to Play in the Dark" (Dais)

Duma "s/t" (Nyege Nyege Tapes) Twig Harper "External Boundless Prison/ in 4 parts EP" (self-release) I.P.Y. (Ikue Mori, Phew, YoshimiO) "I.P.Y." (Tzadik) Kill Alters "A2B2 Live Stream 11/13/2020" (self-release) Krallice "Mass Cathexis" (self-release) Lust$ickPuppy "Cosmic Brownie" (self-release) Doug McKechnie "San Francisco Moog: 1968-72" (VG+ Records) Merlin Nova "Boo!" (self-release) Omrb "Milandthriust, The Graths of Mersh" (self-release) Akio Suzuki & Aki Onda "gi n ga" (self-release) Yoth Iria "Under His Sway" (Repulsive Echo) Wetware "Flail" (Dais)

My own music released this year:

collaborations

Chatter Blip "Microcosmopolitan" (Contour Editions) Matmos "The Consuming Flame: Open Exercises in Group Form" (Thrill Jockey) Reverse Bullets  "Dreampop Dsyphoria" (self-release) Snake Union "live at Roulette" (self-release) Snake Union w/ Hisham Bharoocha, Bonnie Jones, Heejin Jang, Matthew Regula "Three Arrows" (Rat Route) Thomas Dimuzio "Balance" (Gench Music) YoshimiO & Chuck Bettis  "Live at the Stone" (Living Myth)

solo Chuck Bettis "Arc of Enlghtenment"  (Living Myth) Chuck Bettis "Motion Parallax"  (Living Myth)

compilation Various Artist "Polished Turds Vol.1" (Granpa)

Music Books read this year

"Intermediary Spaces" by Eliane Radigue/Julia Eckhardt (Umland) "Ennio Morricone In His Own Words" by Ennio Morricone/Alessandro De Rosa (Oxford University Press) "Free Jazz In Japan: A Personal History" by Soejima Teruto (Public Bath Press) "Rumors of Noizu: Hijokaidan and the Road to 2nd Damascus" by Kato David Hopkins (Public Bath Press)

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Maya Hardinge

(musician / artist)

list of things i liked this year

first ever solo road trip through new mexico and Texas right before lockdown experiencing manhattan with no cars on the road . having a car to escape in to nature. (which i craved so much) walks and bike rides with friends… FRIENDS! The web site ‘workaway’ that helped me feel that there were options for escape. playing games weekly on zoom during lock down teaching yoga weekly on zoom. Witnessing and being part of the BLM protests. witnessing and being part of the demise of T sitting on my couch at 6am drinking a cup of tea, appreciating my apt. making time to meditate. halloween without tourists .

some music I’ve bought and/or enjoyed this year Elvis Perkins-Black Coat Daughter Patricia Kokett -Soi soi Henning Christiansen - OP201 Bryce Hackford- Safe Svitlana Nianio and Oleksander - Snayesh yak? rozkazhy Brannten schnure - Sommer im Pfirsichhain Killing Joke - Nighttime David Shea - Tower of mirrors Shakey - Shakey Woodford halse tapes Coil - Musick to play in the dark

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

BJ Nilsen

sound artist / composer

Work 2020

Despite Covid 19 lots of things actually did happen.

In Feburary I visited the only active nuclear plant in The Nederlands as part of my "Expanded Field Recording” project together with SML. In March revisited the Acousmonium at the Elevate Festival in Graz with an additional trip deep inside the Schlossberg recording old mining trains. In March and April I did two daily recording projects “Pending and Auditory Scenes” - both of Amsterdam during lockdown. In May did my first Zoom field recording workshop with the CAMP project. In June & July  two research trips in Waldviertel, Austria with Franz Pomassl. In August recorded bells and organs in 10 different churches around Amsterdam for Jacob Lekkerkerker. In September recorded Kali Malone at the Orgelpark in Amsterdam. Performed at Heart of Noise Festival in Innsbruck and A4 in Bratislava. Also went ice-skating for first time in 20? Years. In November and December I travelled to Jeju island to record field recordings for a project by Femke Herregraven for the Gwangju Biennale, commissioned for 2021. Did lots of gardening, released two tapes “Call it Philips, Eindoven” and “Zomer 2020” with Sigtryggur Berg Sigmarsson. NOW! Looking forward to 2021.

http://bjnilsen.info https://soundcloud.com/bjnilsen/sets/auditory-scenes-amsterdam

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Vicki Bennett

(People Like Us)

Negativland - True False https://negativland.com/products/truefalse-cd (this came out last year but is so THIS year) Bob Dylan - Rough and Rowdy Ways https://www.bobdylan.com/albums/rough-and-rowdy-ways/ The Soft Pink Truth - We from Shall We Go On Sinning So That Grace May Increase https://thesoftpinktruth.bandcamp.com/album/shall-we-go-on-sinning-so-that-grace-may-increase Carl Stone - Stolen Car https://unseenworlds.bandcamp.com/album/stolen-car Porest - Sedimental Gurney https://porest.bandcamp.com/album/sedimental-gurney Matmos - The Consuming Flame: Open Exercises in Group Form https://matmos.bandcamp.com/album/the-consuming-flame-open-exercises-in-group-form Domenique Dumont - Miniatures De Auto Rhythm https://antinoterecordings.bandcamp.com/album/atn044-domenique-dumont-miniatures-de-auto-rhythm The The - See Without Being Seen https://www.thethe.com/product/see-without-being-seen-cd/ Ciggy de la Noche - Hold Tight HMRC https://soundcloud.com/ciggydelanoche/hold-tight-hmrc Neil Cicierega - Mouth Dreams http://www.neilcic.com/mouthdreams/

and my details: http://peoplelikeus.org/ https://peoplelikeus-vickibennett.bandcamp.com/ pic: http://peoplelikeus.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Welcome-Abroad-promo3-2-scaled.jpg

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DJ Food

Music - Type 303 - Sticky Disco / Analogue Acidbath 7" (45 Live) The British Space Group - The Ley of the Land CD (Wyrd Britain) Squarepusher - Be Up A Hello LP / Warp 10 NTS mix (Warp) dgoHn - Undesignated Proximate (Modern Love) LF58 - Alterazione LP (Astral Industries) Robert Fripp - Music For Quiet Moments series (DGM) Run The Jewels - RTJ4 (BMG) Simf Onyx - Magenta Skyline / The Unresolved 7" (Delights) Luke Vibert - Modern Rave LP (Hypercolour) JG Thirlwell & Simon Steensland - Oscillospira (Ipecac) Aural Design - Looking & Seeing 7" / DL (Russian Library) Luke Vibert - Rave Hop (Hypercolour) Clipping. with Christopher Fleeger - Double Live (Sub Pop) APAT - Terry Riley's 'In C' performed on Modular Synthesizer (YouTube) Field Lines Cartographer - The Spectral Isle LP (Castles In Space) Jane Weaver - The Revolution of Super Visions single (Fire Records) King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - K.G. LP (Flightless) Humanoid - Hed-Set - forthcoming on (De:tuned)

Film / TV - Inside No.9 (BBC) What We Do In The Shadows Season 2 (Netflix) Tales From The Loop (Amazon) Keith Haring - Street Art Boy (BBC) John Was Trying To Contact Aliens (Netflix) The Social Dilemma (Netflix) The Mandalorian (Season 2) (Disney+) Long Hot Summers - The Style Council documentary (Sky Arts) Zappa (Alex Winter)

Books / Comics / Magazines Confessions of a Bookseller - Shaun Bythell (Profile books) The Often Wrong - Farel Dalrymple (Image Comics) Edwin Pouncey - Rated SavX (Strange Attractor Press) Jeffrey Lewis - Fuff (all issues - really late to the party on this one) Rian Hughes - XX - A Novel, Graphic (Picador) Cosey Fanni Tutti - Art, Sex, Music (Faber) Caza - Kris Kool (Passenger Press) Dan Lish - Egostrip Vol.1 Electronic Sound magazine Decorum - Jonathan Hickman & Mike Huddleston (Image) John Higgs - Stranger Than We Can Imagine Simon Halfon - Cover To Cover (Nemperor)

Very few exhibitions or shows this year for obvious reasons

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[inr-lya]

Mermaid RP Request

This plot has been in my mind since- who knows when, lmao. Probs a few weeks ago, and since i’m having trouble finding rp partners on amino, I’ve decided to extend my search here to tumblr. 

As to not waste anyone's time, I'll say it beforehand that I'll be playing Muse B in a bxg or nbxg relationship in which I'm both the girl. I've played as the guy way too often; I miss my girl now. 🥺 and, this is a lit to adv-lit rp, maybe even novella if i’m really into it, and my responses are usually around 400+ to almost a 1000 words. Highest is just a little over 2000, but again, only if I’m really into it, lmao. Feel free to ask for my writing examples.

Before I get to the plot of the rp, let me list some information/rules of mine for compability’s sake.

General; 

♡ I'm over 18, so no minors, please!

♡ I use drawn and realistic FCs if you need pics of the oc, though I don't mind what type you use. Speaking of which, I’m from amino, so I have a wiki on my girl, and if you have amino too, feel free to ask for the link! If you don’t, feel free to ask me to copy paste the info to google docs or just ask whatever you feel you need for the rp :]

  ♡ I can play more than one character, maybe 2-3 max? Depends on their roles in the RP ig.

♡ I have no triggers, but please list me yours so I can avoid them.

♡ I'm not the type to send a message if you were to suddenly disappear, but I'd do it after 2 weeks because I'm tired of my PMs getting clogged up with dead chats. If you're still interested but you need more time, just let me know. I promise I'll wait, my ass literally never reached the middle of any 1x1 rp.

♡ Ngl, I'm getting busy af these days with uni life and plans being made with friends and family. I'm not complaining. I love it, and all I'm saying is I might not be able to reply often. It depends on how invested I am and the difference of our time zones, (mine's GMT+8 btw) but I'll try to give at least a reply every few days or weekly if you're willing to be patient with me.

However, the shorter the literacy, the faster and more often I reply. If we're doing just 400+ to 600+ words, I can reply multiple times a day. Also, I prefer this level of literacy for now, but I can fluctuate to longer responses.

♡ fyi, I'm very open to rp in discord as we can create a server with different channels for ooc chat, rp, notes, etc. If you're up for it, lmk! uwu

. . .

Rules

♡ If you're considering pm-ing me, please skip the small talk like “hey, how are you?”, and just straight-up give me details that you’d like to discuss about the rp. It makes me uncomfortable, lmao.

♡ Have good grammar, punctuation and spelling. I can ignore small mistakes or typos but not constant errors. (I can overlook faulty grammar, however, if you have the creativity to make up for it)

♡ Use 3rd POV

♡ No railroading.

♡ For romance, don't make your character fall in love with mine at first sight or after a few nice gestures unless being naive is a part of their personality. I prefer slow burn. Crushes are fine but don't make your oc feel like my oc is their definite soulmate or something, lmao.

♡ Don't spam me unless I've been absent for a week. I may be busy or not in the mood to RP, but if I'm not interested in continuing, I will let you know.

♡ Any drama, romantic or carnal interactions stay within the RP, do NOT pursue anything with me besides friendship or mere acquaintances, I swear this happens way too often and it's getting stressful. Speaking of which, don't make the RP just about smut like c'mon.

. . .

Okay! Now I can finally jump into the plot! It’s pretty simple, and unfortunately, it isn't mine to claim. I wanted to rp this plot with someone, but they didn't reply to me, and I have no way of finding them again so- yeah, that's the disclaimer if you think I'm stealing your plot or something.

Muse A is a marine biologist who spends their time either studying, finding inspiration for their upcoming projects, or simply take a breather all at the beach. This is where they find peace, where all of their worries melt away and nothing else matters except the present.

Muse A's favourite leisure activity is free diving along the coral reef, underwater caves and tunnels, and pretty much any nook and cranny they can fit into. They're graduating from their specialist residency soon and is searching for ideas and incentives for their thesis along the bays and coves. To be honest, they were looking to mostly procrastinate due to the pressure of a competitive environment finally catching up to them, perhaps a burnout they were trying to get over.

Imagine how they would feel upon discovering Muse B, a creature that had been believed to be a myth, one with an upper-body resembling a human, though covered in brilliant scales and specialised fins adapted to exclusively marine life, and the lower half of a fish, stranded within the abyss of a cavity that would've been completely submerged if it weren't for the extremely low tide that had kept the curious entity from escaping.

Due to Muse A's compassionate nature, they aid Muse B to their freedom, but as soon as an opportunity was in sight, Muse B fled without another glance at their saviour, never to be seen again no matter how many times Muse A were to return to where they were last found.

A few months had passed, and Muse A had since lost hope in their search of Muse B as there was practically zero evidence nor leads to help them unless they were to look any further towards the conspiracy theorists and their claims. They are now focusing entirely on their original, more believable research, unfortunately, they had picked the wrong day to go diving.

The weather had been anything but kind, the skies had gone dark faster than anyone could've predicted, and before Muse A could process what was happening, they were caught in the middle of a raging storm, thrown left and right by the unforgiving waves of the ocean before it all went black. When the light of the sun entered their eyes once more, they found themselves within a secluded area of the island, damp, wet sand beneath them and an image of a woman above, with shining doe eyes and...what is that? Seaweed on her head?

"Hey," she gasped, relieved. The corners of her mouth curled into a smile, her lips still trembling from the thought that she was too late.

"I still haven't thanked you for the last time we met."

An unlikely, most bizarre connection formed between them since, but eventually, the reality of the situation presented itself. Will Muse A tell the world to further the scientific discovery and their career or keep it a secret to preserve Muse B's species' safety?

Alright, and that's the end of the summary! Please read them thoroughly and contact me either through PM or comments. I do not respond to likes.

I look forward to hearing from you! 💜

[collectorscorner]

CC Blogger - New Arrivals @ Collectors Corner : Wednesday 3/24/21

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[spaceskam]

no more fading, the night is waiting

Day 2 and 3 of @alexmanesappreciation weekend because loss and reunion❤️ warning: temporary character death, depression-adjacent

ao3

It was difficult to explain the loss of a soulmate when no one knew you had one in the first place.

"Alex, c'mon, I know it's hard, but it's been two weeks," Kyle said softly as he sat at the foot of the bed. Alex just laid there, staring blankly ahead.

Two weeks. Two weeks without Michael. Two weeks of that aching feeling in his chest. Two weeks of watching that pretty golden, leafy pattern fade from the skin covering his ribs. He hadn't looked at it in a week, too terrified to see if it was gone for good.

He remembered Isobel and Max stripping Michael to put him in the pod, sharing uneasy looks as they saw the soulmark they’d only seemed to notice then. He'd told Alex it was no one's business but his. His and Alex's. Sure, he knew other people had seen it, hook ups in particular, but most people knew not to touch spaces that weren't theirs to touch. 75% of the population had soulmarks, but only 10% had them as big as Alex and Michael's.

His body would be bare without it.

“You need to get out of bed,” Kyle urged. 

The request was an empty one and they both knew it. Alex had tried to get out of bed before. Everything hurt and, if it didn’t hurt, it felt hollow. What was he without that warmth in his chest, that constant reminder that he wasn’t alone?  

“I know you miss him, but...”

“How much do you know about soulmates?” Alex asked softly. It’d been on his mind recently and he’d been too scared to look it up. The mark was fading. What happened when it faded completely? And what, really, was the point of the mark at all? Was it just there to mock you?

Kyle was quiet for a moment and Alex could feel the way the air shifted as he realized why he was asking.

“Oh, Alex,” he breathed, sounding far too much like an empathetic mother. He came closer without any more elaboration and Alex could’ve cried as he laid behind him. His arms wrapped around him and he curled against him, holding him and trying his damnedest to be the best friend he could be. This wasn’t something they did, but, fuck, he needed it.

A hot tear slid from his eye onto the pillow beneath his cheek. The worst part about losing Michael was that he didn’t really have anything left of him. They’d been on shitty terms at the time, so nothing smelled like him. Michael only had a few possessions and those were either taken over by someone else or they’d been sworn off for when he came back. If he came back. How long until they knew if he would or not?

“I’m so sorry,” Kyle told him, “Is... I hate to even ask, but is the mark still there?”

“Fading,” Alex admitted, voice weak. It hurt to say it out loud.

Kyle laid there for a minute with him, just holding him and giving him comfort. But then he jumped up. Alex usually would’ve been startled, but he was too tired to even have a feasible reaction time.

“Let me see it,” he demanded. Alex blinked slowly.

“What?”

“Let me see it,” Kyle repeated, grabbing Alex’s arms and forcing him to sit up, “If it’s still there and obvious enough, we might be able to save him. Do you know how strong the bond was on the Scale?”

“No,” Alex said, shaking his head. He’d always been too scared to figure it out. 

Still, he slowly started to take his shirt off. Kyle helped him get it off all the way and instantly started looking at the mark. It took up over half his chest and back, golden vines with leaves and thorns spreading from a place on his side. It mirrored Michael’s perfectly and, when they touched them, they would glow. He remembered how giddy both of them had been when they discovered that at 17, giggling at the rush it gave them to have things fall into place. They were so young; they found each other so early. The memory brought a new wave of tears.

Alex inhaled sharply as Kyle pressed his fingers into the fading mark, not nearly the same shimmery gold it’d been before, but it still rejected someone else’s touch all the same. Kyle looked at him with excited eyes.

“It still affects you?” he clarified. Alex nodded. “We need to get to the pod now.”

“Why? I can’t do anything,” Alex said, shaking his head. The idea of just having to relive losing Michael again was not something he could take. It was hard enough. He refused to get his hopes up.

But Kyle looked so sure.

“If this doesn’t work, you can kill me,” Kyle said, grabbing his hands, “But let me try.”

Reluctantly, Alex agreed.

-

Alex was weak.

He hadn’t been eating right and hadn’t been getting around and it made it nearly impossible to walk. He leaned on Kyle more than he wanted to and still sat down the moment he got into the cave, feeling even more drained. Everyone else was already there. Kyle had called them.

The secret was out.

“Why didn’t you say anything before?” Max demanded. Alex could barely hear him, his eyes forward.

Michael was beautiful even in death. He was in the pod, floating and looking more peaceful that Alex had ever seen him awake. Part of Alex wanted to crawl inside with him, block out the entire world and just be nothing together. That would fill that hole, it had to.

“He’s not Alex right now, yelling at him won’t help,” Kyle said, grabbing Max’s arm and pulling him away. He’s not Alex right now. Was that it? He wasn’t himself? Had Michael stolen a piece of him that big? “It can take months after the mark fades for soulmates to adjust. His mark is still there.”

Alex became a little more aware when Kyle was in front of him, holding a needle in front of his eyes and explaining they needed a blood sample from beneath the mark and, because of the placement, it might hurt. 

“What exactly are we doing?” Alex asked, eyes reluctantly leaving Michael for a moment.

“There’s a theory that if someone dies of natural causes, blood from their soulmate’s mark, as long as their bond is a 5 or higher, mixed with a hydrogen solution followed by a shock from a defibrillator can revive them if it’s within 30 minutes of their death,” Kyle explained, giving him a hopeful glance, “And he’s frozen in time.”

Alex refused to get his hopes up. He refused. Besides, if it worked, Michael didn’t want him. What was the point of wishful thinking?

His eyes drifted to Isobel and Max and Liz and Maria, all of them staring at him like they expected him to do this. This was his job. To bring him back for them. Maria didn’t even seem angry or guilty that he was his soulmate. Did she know? Would it hurt him more if she did?

Yes.

“He didn’t die of natural causes,” Alex said. He knew he didn’t. He saw the poison fill his bloodstream and light his veins on fire from the inside out, killing his entire nervous system in a quick fifteen minutes. It was the most horrifying fifteen minutes of his life.

“That poison they filled him with, though?” Kyle said, “It was a natural occurring chemical in aliens, just a higher dosage. I’m hoping it’ll still work.”

“It won’t.”

“Alex,” Isobel said, “Please. Let’s just try.”

It was then that he realized it wasn’t about him. It never really was, was it? So he leaned back and let Kyle do his thing.

His heart clenched like it always did when someone else touched his mark, his body rejecting anything that wasn’t Michael. When it faded completely, would he still feel it? It didn’t matter. Kyle brought his blood sample over to Liz and they got to work.

“Are you okay?” Maria asked him, coming closer. When he looked up at her, he had to question if she was joking or not. Did he look okay? She knelt in front of him and started to put a band-aid over where the blood had been drawn. “You two were a 7 on the Scale, you know that?”

His entire body hurt at that simple little statement.

“He told you that?” Alex asked. Had Michael taken the test without him? Had he figured out something Alex hadn’t? Did he know that and still chose to not want him? 

“No,” Maria sighed, giving a sad little smile, “But I’ve studied the different levels a lot. Always been curious of what I can’t have since I’m apart of the 25%. You two are a classic case of 7′s.”

“There’s cases of the 25% growing soulmarks after forming a bond,” Alex said because apparently his job was the comfort her when he felt like he was dying from a missing organ.

“Yeah, I know,” she sighed, “Silly me thought that maybe, since he’s alien, he could grow another one.”

Alex involuntarily flinched under her touch, feeling burned by that statement. She pulled her hands away and looked up at him.

“I was being selfish, Alex, and I’m sorry. I’m backing off,” she said. He furrowed his eyebrows, tears pricking his eyes as he shook his head.

“He’s dead, Maria,” Alex said, baffled by her insistence that now that she literally could not have him and that no one else could, now she would let go, “There’s nothing to back off of.”

“The circumstances are good,” she responded, still somehow calm and collected, “It’s not over for you two.”

Maria stood up and walked back over to the other two aliens. Alex was cold and hurt and he wanted to leave, but he couldn’t seem to remove his eyes from the ridiculous necromancy his friends were trying to perform on his soulmate. 

Liz and Kyle pulled Michael out of the body, his body still slick and lifeless. They laid him out on a blanket and worked fast. Liz wiped down the spot over his mark and then quickly stabbed the syringe into it, filling him with Alex’s blood like this was normal. Alex, however, could feel it. He could feel the mark reacting and he could feel the way his blood mingled with Michael’s even though nothing was attached to him.

When Kyle grabbed the defibrillator and put it on his chest, shocking him to try and bring him back, Alex gasped. All eyes stayed on Michael, no one witnessing the way Alex began to burn from the inside out. His mark slowly but surely was strengthening, becoming more gold with each passing second and beginning to glow. It wasn’t a good feeling though. It hurt. It felt like this was the end.

Was this how Michael had felt in his last moments too?

It wasn’t until Alex had fallen forward onto his hands and knees, gasping for air, that anyone reacted. Isobel came to his side and tried to steady him, but it hurt all the same. This was a bad idea. Everything about this was bad. Bad, bad, bad, ba--

“Alex?”

Silence overcame the cave outside of Michael’s coughing. He would cough and then try to say Alex’s name and then cough again. Max brought him water and tried to help. Alex could barely even comprehend what was going on. He was still aching, but his eyes were on him. Because he was back.

“Alex?” he called again, “Are you okay?”

For the first time in weeks, Alex laughed. He laughed through the pain and laughed through the shock and laughed through everything.

“Am I okay?” he asked, still tired and weak and yet unable to take his eyes off his zombie soulmate. “You died.”

They stared at each other, unable to even factor in the fact that everyone else was still there. The whole cave was full of people and there was a large gap of space between them, but it was just them. Alex’s blood was still too hot beneath his skin, but his mark slowly began to relax once it knew he was okay. Once it knew they were bonded once more.

“Alex,” Michael said again.

“Michael,” Alex said right back. They both breathed and slowly sunk into the ground again. Reviving a whole man was exhausting.

But it didn’t matter. He was home.

[scoutception]

Ys VI: The Ark of Napishtim review

After the release of Ys II, and the conclusion of the original story of the Ys games, the series went through a bit of a rough period, as the next three entries were, less than ideal. Ys III: Wanderers from Ys changed the gameplay from the topdown, bump combat gameplay to a sidescroller reminiscent of Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, and rather fittingly ended up as the black sheep of the series. Ys IV went back to the bump system, but rather confusingly released as two separate games by two separate developers, neither of them Falcom; The Dawn of Ys by Hudson Soft for the PC Engine CD, and the far inferior Mask of the Sun by Tonkin House for the SNES. Finally, Ys V: Lost Kefin, Kingdom of Sand was released for the SNES, by Falcom themselves, and in its attempts to evolve from the bump combat, had become something that barely resembled Ys in gameplay, graphics, or music. While none of these games were outright bad, and The Dawn of Ys in particular is held up as the best of the classic Ys games, the series just couldn’t properly commit to a direction to take the series next, and Falcom put the series to rest after V’s release for a while, barring the Ys I and II Eternal remakes. Finally, though, in 2003, 8 years after Ys V’s release, the series was finally given a new game, one that would finally carve out the evolution of the series’ gameplay, and allow it to confidently continue even to the present day. This is Ys VI: The Ark of Napishtim, easily the most important game in the series other than the original two. As for how it pulled it off, and how it holds up, that’s what we’re checking out today. The version I played is the PC version, available through Steam and GOG.

Story: 6 years since the events of Ys I and II, Adol Christin, accompanied by his now long time companion Dogi, has since become a legend throughout the continent of Eresia for his exploits. One day, Adol is reunited with Terra, an ally of his from Ys V, who has since become a member of a pirate crew led by her father, Ladock. Adol and Dogi accompany the pirate crew to investigate the Canaan Islands, a mysterious set of islands surrounded by the Great Vortex, a perpetual vortex that destroys any ship that draws near (basically just the Bermuda Triangle). Unfortunately, the ship is attacked by the fleet of the Romun Empire (no guesses as to who they’re based off of), and Adol is swept into the Great Vortex while saving Terra during the chaos, once again proving Adol should never be trusted to get on a boat. Adol washes up on Quatera Island, which is inhabited by the Rehda, a race of long eared and tailed people who worship the goddess Alma, who is of the same race as the goddesses of Ys. Adol is saved by Olha, the priestess of the Rehda, and Isha, Olha’s little sister, but soon discover that outsiders such as him, several of whom have built a town on a neighboring island, are distrusted by the Rehda, and that leaving the Canaan Islands is impossible due to the Great Vortex. After saving Isha from a strange monster known as a “Wandering Calamity”, however, Adol gains the respect of the Rehda and is gifted a sword made of emelas, a magical ore used extensively by the Rehda. Setting out to the Eresian made town of Port Rimorge and meeting with Raba, a returning ally from Ys I, Adol sets out to discover the secrets of the Canaan Islands and find a way to dispel the Great Vortex, soon encountering three malicious fairies with control over monsters, and a mysterious mercenary named Geis, who seems to know far more about the islands than he lets on.

While it’s actually a pretty unusual plot setup compared to most RPG stories, it’s pretty lacking in execution, simply because the plot just isn’t present for most of the game. By the time the main antagonist, Ernst, makes an appearance, and things besides just running around collecting plot items are happening, it’s just too little, too late, which leaves the ending of the game more than a bit unmemorable. Still, the writing has the typical Falcom charm, and the various NPCs actually have a lot to say over the course of the game, if you care about that sort of thing, like me. There’s not much more for me to say, so let’s just move right on.

Gameplay: Ys VI, as the first 3D game in the series, plays quite a bit different from the games that came before, yet unlike previous games, finally makes it feel like a proper evolution from the original duology, though it’s actually based heavily on Ys V. The bump combat is gone for good, with Adol now having a dedicated attack button, along with a jump button for some rather meager platforming. Adol’s moveset isn’t very impressive at first, only consisting of a 3 slash combo, a jump slash, a down thrust, and a lunge attack, but over the course of the game, he acquires 3 different elemental swords, each with an additional move and magical spell after being charged up. While shields and armor can be bought or found as usual, the swords instead need to be upgraded at Port Rimorge with emel, a resource dropped by enemies. Upgrading the swords not only increase their attack power, but gradually unlock new abilities as well. There are also accessories, with effects ranging from a simple boost to attack and defense, to increasing the amount of gold or emel dropped by enemies, to providing immunity to status effects, and so forth. While Adol only has one accessory slot to start, certain treasure chests throughout the game will bestow additional slots, up to a max of 5.

Unlike the original duology, Adol can no longer regenerate health by standing still, barring the use of an endgame accessory, nor can you save anywhere. Instead, saving is done at monuments scattered out all across the different areas of the game, which also restore Adol’s health to max and cures him of any status effects. Beyond that, however, Adol can carry several different healing items of varying strengths, which can either be purchased from merchants or dropped by enemies, and you’ll be needing them. Even on nightmare difficulty, Ys VI is on the easier side compared to a lot of other Ys games, but it’s still a struggle in its own right, just for the exact wrong reasons, mostly due to the lack of the refinements found in the other Ys games that use Ys VI’s engine. There are many enemies that utterly obnoxious, whether from flying in the air and being difficult to hit, using projectiles, or dealing very difficult to avoid collision damage, and Adol’s moveset isn’t versatile enough to deal with this, meaning, in classic Ys fashion, you’re going to be doing a lot of grinding to get anywhere, whether it be grinding levels or emel. The grinding isn’t nearly as long or boring as in a lot of RPGs, but it can still be irritating, especially in nightmare mode, where you need to do an absolutely unreasonable amount of it to get anywhere due to how much health even the lowliest enemies have. Status effects can also be an annoyance. They consist of poison, which saps health over time, heavy, which severely reduces Adol’s running speed and jumping height, confusion, which reverses your controls, and curse, which reduces Adol’s attack power. All of these except curse fade over time, can be prevented or cured with accessories, and can be cured with certain items, but the problem is that enemies that can inflict these effects do so way too often, and most often appear at a point where you have a good deal of more useful accessories, and too few slots to really manage them on top of this. Hardly a game breaking issue, but still one you’ll likely feel, especially since heavy can outright stunlock you, depending on the enemy.

The areas and dungeons you go through aren’t anything special, for the most part, being pretty linear and basic in design, but there are a few that stick out negatively, namely the Ruins of Lost Time, with some very aggressive and dangerous enemies, along with items that can only be reached with the very finicky dash jump technique, something’s nearly impossible to perform using the mouse, with keyboard or controller being the only reasonable options, along with the overly long and mazelike Limewater Cave, containing many of the game’s most annoying enemies. Bosses, on the other hand, tend to be a much more enjoyable time, thanks to having actual, understandable patterns that make them much more reasonable to take on, and there’s some pretty interesting and fun concepts among them, from a giant hopping, spinning robot that gradually destroys the safe ground as the fight goes on, to an ancient statue that hangs out in the background and can only be significantly damaged by magic, to the difficult multi phase fight with Galba-Roa, and especially the duel with the empowered Ernst. They’re legitimately intense fights, yet rarely feel unfair, and are by far the biggest highlight of the game. There’s even some optional bosses that reward you with accessories, or simply give you a large boost in EXP, though they’re among the less well designed fights.

Finally, some of the changes made by Xseed for the English PC version are worth taking note of. Firstly, and most importantly, the item Alma’s Wing, which was formerly merely an item used for escaping dungeons, has instead been given the functionality of warping between monuments, something that saves a tremendous amount of backtracking, especially during the actually quite rewarding sidequests. Secondly, a new gameplay mode is available, separate from difficulty options, called Catastrophe mode. In  Catastrophe mode, healing items cannot be kept in the inventory, and any normally found in treasure chests have been replaced. Instead, any that are dropped by enemies are used automatically on pickup, making the gameplay a bit more like The Oath in Felghana and Ys Origin. As compensation for this loss, stat boosting seeds are available to purchase from merchants in unlimited quantities, allowing you to boost your stats far past what you’d be able to achieve normally, if you have the patience to grind the money for them. While it’s an interesting mode in concept, the game really isn’t balanced around not having inventory healing items, which can make for a pretty frustrating time. Overall, though, while there’s certainly a good deal of flaws that were ironed out in later games, the gameplay of Ys VI is still quite a bit of fun. It successfully translates the simple fun of blazing through a bunch of enemies, and despite the annoyances, it’s surprisingly addicting.

Graphics: Ys VI uses a mix of prerendered sprites for characters and enemies and polygonal environments, a style also used in the Trails in the Sky games. While it’s hardly aged the best, it has a charm to it that keeps it appealing. Bosses, on the other hand, are rendered in surprisingly decent polygonal graphics. The artstyle used for character portraits isn’t anything special, but they’re well drawn nonetheless, and every NPC gets one of their own, which definitely adds some more life to them all.

Music: Ys VI’s soundtrack, composed by members of the Music Sound Team jdk, namely Wataru Ishibashi and Hayato Sonoda, at least according to the credits, is, in Falcom tradition, a blast. While on an overall, it’s not quite as memorable as, say, the soundtracks to the original games, or The Oath in Felghana, the tracks that stand out are fantastic. Some of my favorites are Quatera Woods, the titular theme for the first area in the game, Mighty Obstacle, the standard boss theme, Mountain Zone, the theme of the first dungeon, Defend! And Escape!, the theme for the game’s obligatory escort mission, and Ernst’s titular boss theme.

Conclusion: Overall, Ys VI makes for a rather odd game in the series, even to write about. In a way, it’s an odd jack of all trades, at least among the games using its engine. It’s not as difficult as most in the series, and is still much more accessible than the games made before it, but its lack of polish and plain frustrating design compared to later games can make it difficult to recommend in comparison, especially to newcomers. Overall, however, I’d still give it a recommended. It still manages to be a fun ride on its own that doesn’t overstay its welcome, and if nothing else absolutely deserves appreciation for putting the series on the right path forward. Till next time. -Scout