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jok13-writings · 8 months ago

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Something About Us (Modern AU, Gyuraro x reader) Prt 2

Read part 1 or part 3 |. Read full work on AO3 here

Note: Thank you so much everyone for all the love that the first chapter has received! I'm really happy to be able to post the second part. I apologize for the slow update, but I hope you guys enjoy it! I will continue working on this series and slowly update new chapters here and in AO3. I'm open to any suggestion or tips as always!

Gyutaro was laying in his bed playing some games in his old beaten up PSP when he heard his phone vibrate in his night stand. A sigh of annoyances escaped his lips and placed the console on the bed, feeling a little pissed off for being interrupted while having a moment to relax. He rarely got any message, only from Ume or some of his few friends, so he grabbed it, thinking that probably was one of them. He unlocked the phone and felt his heart do a small jolt as he saw who it belonged to.

Cute girl from class: “Hey Gyutaro, its Y/N, I was wondering when are you available so we can meet up and start the project ☺️”

Gyutaro immediately felt his cheeks head up and a bubbly feeling building into his chest, as he stared at the message that you had sent him. “Damn, is that annoying girl again…” he muttered under his breath. Then he ran a hand through his messy black locks in frustration.

Since the moment that you smiled at him for the first time, he felt a bunch of mixed feelings towards you. He was not used to receiving attention from girls, specially not girls as pretty as you. Normally in high school, girls would look at him in disgust or talk to him just to poke fun on him. The prettiest the girl, the meanies were her to him.

So when the first day of class you walked towards him and introduced yourself in the sweetest voice he had ever heard, his brain stopped working. He did not know how to react at all, for a moment his defenses came at full force and just told you to “get lost”, leaving as fast as he could in fear of getting mocked by you.

He thought that with that you would not talk to him ever again, just like everyone else did when he usually acted like that. But then you continued to smile at him the next day, taking him completely out of guard. When you started to say good morning and greet him almost daily, he started thinking that maybe you were stupid or just out of your mind. He did not understand what exactly did you want from him and felt a little anxious and confused. But even though all that, he secretly craved the attention he was receiving from you.

Slowly, he started to long for those little moments. You were a pretty girl, so why wouldn’t he? He always ignored you at the beginning, most of the time taken out of guard by your politeness, feeling as if his heart would go out of his chest. But with time, as he got used to it, he would give you sometimes a small nod in acknowledgment.

He couldn’t help it, but he started to taking notice of you in class, sometimes just staring at you from the distance, watching you interact with your friends or answering questions in class. He felt a sense of disdain towards you, a typical popular pretty girl with everything in life served in a silver plate…. He couldn’t stand you at all, but for some reason he felt drawn to you, and he hated it.

Then, one particular day that he skipped class, he received the first message from you in his phone. At the beginning he was confused, not used to receive notifications from unknown numbers. And when he unlocked his phone and saw that it was from a girl that was sending him her notes, well, he was even more confused.

Why would anyone send him their notes? Specially to him of all people?

But then he looked at the profile picture of the unknown number and saw a picture of you in a cute blue dress drinking a cocktail, and almost dropped his phone.

Of course, it had to be the cute girl from class that always smiled at him… He felt his chest flutter. Damn it, why was he feeling like this?

He did not respond to your message till the next day with a rude tone, but he surely had spent the night looking at your profile picture.

All this small gestures weren’t small at all for Gyutaro. No one had ever taken the time to acknowledge him like this before, and for the first time in his entire life he felt seen by someone other than his own little sister.

He hated it, but he was growing attached to a random girl from class for just doing the barely minimum for him. And the worse part is that he did not know how to react to all this kind gestures he was receiving.

So when he noticed you between the crowd one Saturday in his basketball match, he almost barfed from the anxiety. Why were you there?, could it be the possibility that you were there to see him? It couldn’t be that, surely.

During the beginning of the match, he couldn’t focus at all, stealing glances at your way all the time. But then he started to feel more motivated by your presence. He wanted to do his best for you, in order to impress you. At the end of the match, he managed to basket four times and performed better than he ever had in a long time. After that day, he really wished you would go see him every match, having the little fantasy of how nice it would be to have for once someone to cheer for him among the grades.

Deep down, he knew that you were shallow and that probably he wasn't even someone special for you. But he couldn’t help but begin to feel a certain way towards you and want to cling into a small feeling of hope. Because maybe… just maybe… you could be interested in him in a certain way, right? After all, you always smiled at him, and more over, for some strange reason that he couldn’t understand, you never looked at him with disgust. It was crazy really, and all his self-deprecating thoughts were screaming at him constantly that he was being delusional. But he couldn’t help it, he was starting to develop a crush on you.

He began to make a conscious effort to suppress those feelings and ignore you even more. He couldn’t let himself be vulnerable like that. But every time he saw you in class and got a glimpse of your smile, his heart melted.

And then, you did the most unexpected thing… you asked him to be your partner in the next project.

He wasn’t sure if that wasn’t just a prank or something. You have been nice to him, sure, but why would you even want to do any project with him to begin with? And what if it was all an elaborate prank to make him fall for you and then make fun of him? He was paranoid there, so he acted as usual, pretending indifference and anger. But at the end… he couldn’t say no to your cute pretty face, so now he was here, answering your text and agreeing to met up after class on Friday to do the damn stupid project.

What was he getting himself into?

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Thanks for reading!

Read part 1 or part 3 |. Read full work on AO3 here

#gyutaro #gyutaro shabana #gyutaro x reader #modern au #kny x reader #gyutaro x you #demon slayer x reader

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dewdrops-whammy-bar · 6 months ago

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TDF chapter 3: Smile

The past few months have been rough for me but I’m back on that fanfiction grind.

Dew is having a real bad time in this one. This is the only chapter where his headspace will get this dark so don’t worry, he’ll be fine. This is his rock bottom and he’s going up from here.

psps I made a playlist

Read below or on ao3!

Words: 4062

Warnings: Dissociation, self-destructive behavior/allusion to self-harm, BPD split and the thoughts that come with that, flashbacks, description of physical abuse and injury, description of emotional abuse, religious trauma, panic attack, vomit mention

Taglist: @skele-bunny @rain-loves-scallops @dewphomet @0-miles-away

Dew taps the bottom of a tiny espresso mug on the counter and tosses it back like a shot. Unfortunately, it’s very hot. He should’ve known that, considering he had just made it, but he was tired. Which is why he’s currently choking down a scalding shot of espresso at 8 in the morning.

“Fuck- god-“ Dew hisses, diving for the sink to fill the tiny cup with water to soothe his burning mouth. It helps a little. “Ow- goddamnit-“

Luckily everyone else is in the kitchen, so Dew is saved from embarrassment for now. He places the little mug into the dirty dish bin and returns his attention to setting up the grinders. Ow. There goes my sense of taste.

Cumulus pushes the curtain in the kitchen doorway out of the way, carrying a tray of various baked goods with her. Dew steps aside to let her pass and she gets to work stocking the glass display case.

“You doin’ alright, hun?” She asks, setting muffins onto a tray in perfectly even rows. “Sorry we had to call ya in early, Sunny’s got some kinda stomach bug.”

“I’m alright, it’s no problem.” Dew lies through his teeth. It’s not like he’d been up all night, grinding his teeth and pacing. He just has to make it through the next five hours and then he can go home and sleep.

Cumulus cocks a bushy eyebrow at him but says nothing. She offers him a cranberry muffin from the tray. Dew takes it gratefully.

“Take care of yourself today, Dew.” She tells him softly before turning back to the pastry trays. Dew nods silently, too busy shoving the muffin into his mouth to answer. He checks the clock- ten minutes to opening.

Luckily, he can somewhat taste the muffin with his scorched tongue. It cheers him up slightly. Unfortunately the heavy tightness in his chest and throat doesn’t budge. It’s been there since last night when the shell holding all his unhelpful emotions in a tight little ball cracked and began to leak.

“Well look who’s up!” Swiss crows, sweeping past Dew to restock the stack of paper to-go bags in a drawer behind the counter. “Never thought I’d see you conscious before ten AM. What was it? An act of god? Three ghosts showing up and convincing you to have a change of heart?”

“Sunny’s hangover, actually.” Dew rolls his eyes. “Didn’t think she’d be the kind of person to drink on a Sunday night.”

“Oh, no, she’s actually sick.” Swiss’s normally cheerful, slightly mischievous expression fades for a moment. “I got up at 5 to get her ginger ale and saltines, and you know how much she hates bothering people.” He chews on his lip.

“Shit, sorry.” Guilt joins the wad of half-chewed emotions in Dew’s gut. “I hope she’s doing okay.”

“Me too,” Swiss sighs. “She’ll be fine, don’t worry.” He takes the hair tie off his wrist and pulls his locs back into their usual high ponytail. “I would offer to take the register but Cirrus wants me in the kitchen.”

Dew sighs. “I’ll try not to kill anyone.”

“Good luck.” Swiss gives a two-finger salute and disappears back into the kitchen. Dew walks around the counter, trudges to the front door, and unlocks it. The neon ‘open’ sign is flicked on. Dew looks at his reflection in the window in the harsh light. He looks half-dead. Feels like it too.

He rubs his eyes with the heels of his hands and heaves a sigh. If he has to take an extra smoke break to give himself the strength to make it through his shift, so be it. His lungs aren’t getting any less shriveled.

Dew is pulled from his tired thoughts by a soft tap on the glass door. He sighs again and lowers his hands to pull the cafe door open. “Sorry, come in. Spaced out a bit.”

“No worries. Good to see you again, though!” A familiar voice, deep and smooth and the subject of a few late-night fantasies. Dew’s head snaps up fast enough to make his neck pop. Aether stands before him, wearing- oh good lord, are those scrubs ?

“Uh- give me a sec.” Dew scampers back behind the counter and takes the precious few seconds he has to process this new information. He curses his stupid medical kink. If there is a god, he has a sick sense of humor.

He taps on the dark screen of the register, willing it to turn on. After a few seconds of increasingly harder taps on the display, he realizes he should press the on button. Why didn’t he turn it on before opening?

“Um- it takes a minute to turn on.” Dew chuckles nervously. Unlike me, who’s pitching a tent over a customer in scrubs.

“That’s alright. I’m not in a hurry.” Aether smiles. “I usually wouldn’t come in until later but I have to shadow a nurse this morning. Twelve hour shift on a Monday.” He sighs and runs a hand through his hair.

“Is that what you’re studying?” Dew asks, his hands frantically navigating to the right screen. Curse this stupid digital register. “Nursing, I mean.”

“Yeah!” Aether seems to perk up. “I’m specializing in obstetrics and neonatal care. Midwife stuff.”

“Oh, that’s cool.” Dew answers sincerely. Would he give me a pelvic exam if I as-

SHUT UP, Dew scolds his horny thoughts. The register finally boots up to the transaction screen and he sighs with relief.

“What can I get for ya?” He asks, holding back a yawn. Aether considers the menu on the back wall for a moment.

“Hmm… I’d like a large iced dirty chai with… four shots of espresso.” Aether requests. Dew raises an eyebrow as he punches in the order.

“Four? You trying to meet a fifth dimensional being today?” He jokes, grabbing a cold cup and a sharpie.

To his surprise and delight, Aether giggles, ending in an adorable snort. “Nah, I just need a lotta energy. Twelve hour shift, remember?”

“Yeah- I think I’d do the same.” Dew rings up the order. “Uh- $7.43.”

Aether hands over a lightly crumpled ten and his punch card. Dew punches it- a smiley face this time- and slides it back over the counter with Aether’s change. “I’ll have that ready soon.”

“Thanks.” Aether smiles- that goddamn smile- and steps back to stuff his change back into his wallet. Dew’s tired mind drifts as he goes into autopilot making the espresso. He’d like to see that smile and those crooked teeth more. Especially if he was the one causing Aether to smile.

Then his daydreams come crashing down. A guy like Aether was surely taken. He had a partner, a fiancé, maybe even a spouse. Dew wasn’t going to break up a relationship because of a fleeting crush.

It’ll pass . He scolds himself. The chai concentrate and milk are added to the cup and the espresso is poured on top. You have to get yourself together. Focus on what’s important. He doesn’t smile as he slides the drink across the counter toward Aether.

“Here ya go,” he recites in his customer service voice. “Have a good one.”

“You too, thanks Dew.” Aether smiles as he scoops up his drink- god, his hands are huge. Dew waits until the man is out the door before slamming the side of his fist against the countertop in anger. Tears prickle at his eyes- why does everything have to be so hard ? Why can’t he just focus on work and making music and functioning as an adult without his feelings getting in the way?

He wants to scream and curl up in a ball under the register counter and cry. It reminds him of the time he’d accidentally dropped a bottle of some mechanical fluid while poking around his father’s tool shed. The aged plastic had cracked and begun leaking dark and sticky fluid onto his favorite shoes. He’d tried to fix it, put duct tape over the crack and scrubbed the cement floor clean, but his shoes were ruined. He had begged his parents for them, red and yellow with velcro closures and the number 95 emblazoned across the side. Cars was his favorite movie for most of his childhood. He had crawled under the workbench and cried until his father found him and scolded him for snooping.

That same cornered, hopeless feeling blooms in his chest now. He wants to go home- at least now he has a home. That scared little girl never had a “home” to go to. All she could do was hunker down and weather the punches.

Dew thinks he would rather relive his entire teenage experience than have his own mind turn against him like this. He’s scared and tired and he doesn’t know what to do. So he does the easiest thing he can think of- shuts down his brain and takes orders. During quieter moments, he cleans the machines. He has to keep his hands busy. He makes a to-do list in his brain:

Take a nap once I get home

Re-string guitar

Shower- NO JERKING OFF.

Check on that tupperware of mold in the fridge, note new colors. Report back to Rain.

Some time passes. He takes orders, warms baked goods, gives customers hollow smiles, and doesn’t. think. This works until his smoke break. Dew sparks up a cigarette and uses the taste of smoke to ground himself.

Nurse Aether would have a fit if he caught me smoking. Dew thinks to himself with a dry chuckle. The hoodie he’d brought with him isn’t warm enough to keep him comfortable so he cuts his smoke break short and heads inside. He stops at the cramped employee bathroom to piss.

Ohhhhh. That’s why I’ve been feeling like shit.

Luckily the box of menstrual products under the sink is fully stocked. Dew digs out a tampon, grinding his teeth at the gaudy pink wrapper. It doesn’t usually bother him but right now it feels like a kick in the ribs while he’s already down.

You go girl! The wrapper taunts him. Dew throws it back into the box and pulls out another one. #Girlboss! It reads.

“Okay, well, fuck you too.” Dew grumbles. He pulls out another one- Breathe and center yourself. That wouldn’t be too bad, if not for the Venus symbol emblazoned next to the words. He tosses that one back too and groans.

God, he wants to go home. That way he can put on his period boxers and not worry about shoving chemical-filled cotton up his pussy. A pad would move around too much in his boxers so he’s forced to resort to the alternative.

Dew gives the tampons one last try. They’re merciful this time, giving him a yellow wrapper and the words dream big.

One haphazard insertion (cold fingers are not the most dexterous with smooth plastic) later, he’s feeling slightly more put together. At least his pants are black today.

His reflection looks back at him in the mirror- he swears the hollows of his throat and cheekbones seem sharper than usual. He looks like a skeleton. He feels sweaty, even though his fingers are still numb from the cold. His tongue and throat are tender from that shot of near-boiling espresso. The taste of smoke makes him almost nauseous.

Dew swallows and looks at his watch. He has two hours left on his shift. His body tells him to go home but his stubbornness wins out. Two hours is nothing.

The cramps hit after about 45 minutes. Luckily Dew’s on dish duty so he can hunch over the sink and grit his teeth and power through. He just wants to go home. Cirrus pulls him aside twenty minutes later. Dew expects her to ask him to stay for another hour or two- she’s got that slightly stressed look on her face.

“How long do you need me for?” Dew asks, trying not to look too disappointed. Cirrus shakes her head.

“I want you to go home. Frankly, you look like you’ve been through war.” She pats his shoulder. “You have PTO. Give yourself a few days to rest, alright?” Dew opens his mouth to protest but she squeezes his shoulder in a comforting yet slightly threatening way. “ Rest. ”

The care and concern in her eyes is the final straw. Dew crumbles into pieces, his carefully built shell around all his emotions shattering. A sob works its way out of his throat and his knees buckle. Cirrus catches him and lets him lay his head on her shoulder.

God, he feels pathetic. He hasn’t cried in six years- not since the night he’d slipped out the back door of his parents house with his guitar, a backpack, and a greyhound bus ticket. He’d promised himself he’d be strong. Turns out it only took a sleepless night and a spiral over a fleeting crush to break him.

“It’s okay, buddy.” Cirrus murmurs to him. “Let it out. No judgement.”

“I wanna go home…” Dew whimpers into her shoulder. He’s going to get fired for this, but right now he doesn’t care.

“You can go. Take all the time you need.” Cirrus replies. “I won’t tell anyone about this.”

Dew nods. He doesn’t trust that she’ll keep his moment of weakness a secret but he appreciates the facade of security. “I’ll come back as soon as I can.”

“You’ll come back as soon as you feel better .” Cirrus corrects him, pulling back and holding him at arm’s length. “Don’t force yourself.”

“Okay.” Dew swallows. “Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it.” Cirrus shrugs. “Just promise me you’ll take care of yourself.” She holds out her pinky.

Dew looks at the offered finger and links his own pinkie around hers. It makes him smile a bit, he has to admit. “Deal.”

The walk home is bitterly cold and his fingers are stiff as he unlocks his door. He groans as the heat of the apartment envelops him. Thank fuck the heating system decided to work today.

Dew kicks off his boots and makes a beeline for his bedroom. He collapses into bed and burrows under the covers fully clothed. He’s fully expecting to close his eyes and drift off easily, but… sleep doesn’t take him.

Fuck. He knew he shouldn’t have overdone the caffeine today. His heart and brain are racing. He rolls onto his stomach and screams into the pillow.

The scream turns into a sob and now he’s crying again. God FUCKING damnit. He doesn’t even fight it this time. There’s no one home to witness his weakness. So Dew sobs and screams into his pillow and curls into a tear-stained ball.

He manages to cry himself to sleep for a merciful few hours. The dreams he manages to remember consist of dark rainy highways, dingy bus lighting, and faceless strangers.

Dew drifts awake sometime later to the sound of Rain’s footsteps. For a guy built like uncooked spaghetti, he can really stomp.

Through the gaps in his curtains he can see that it’s dark. Granted, it’s November so that could mean it’s anytime between 5 PM and 8 AM.

He looks around blearily for his phone and discovers it in the pocket of his jeans. He’s shivering and absolutely soaked in sweat. Gross.

It’s 6 PM. Five and a half hours of sleep are better than nothing. Dew drags himself out of bed with a pained groan and pushes his hair out of his face. Shower, then eat.

So he does just that- peels his clothes off in front of the bathroom mirror, turns the water temperature up as hot as he can stand, and stands in the shower for what feels like hours until the stickiness melts off his skin. He tastes salt- he’s crying again.

“ Why?” Dew whimpers to himself, sinking to his knees. His chest aches deeply as he takes desperate gulps of air. Oh no. Please no.

His heart is pounding and his hands are shaking.

He kneels in the shower, one hand clasped over his mouth to muffle his sobs. On the shower floor is a necklace, the delicate gold chain snapped. The heart locket pendant is open, the photos inside unrecognizable from water damage.

Why was this happening now? Today of all days?

Dew wants to scream and punch the wall. He wants to rip that fucker apart with his teeth. He picks up the locket and rips the two halves apart.

He’d TRUSTED him. He’d laid on the roof and smoked weed with him, telling each other the things they each kept hidden. He’d spent countless steamy nights in the back of his car. Dew’s guitar was a birthday present from him, secretly bought with his parents’ credit card.

Then he’d turned around and told the whole school EVERYTHING. He’d gone from sharing knowing glances and stealing kisses in the school bathroom to spreading Dew’s secrets to the entire school- and worse- the church.

Dew’s jaw aches from how hard he’s clenching it. Old anger wells up in his tear ducts. He was why Dew had sworn off romance. He couldn’t be betrayed like that again. It would destroy him.

The shower starts to cool down, snapping Dew out of his misery for the moment. He gets out and dries off. He doesn’t care that he gets blood all over his towel or his hair drips all over the floor. Keep moving. Don’t let your past catch up.

So he dries his body and hair, goes through the ordeal of dealing with his tampon, and finally slips his period boxers on. He washes his face, examines the faint wisps of a mustache on his upper lip and sighs. Dysphoria is a bitch.

Dew wanders to the kitchen, still feeling hollow with exhaustion and disorientation. It doesn’t help that he’s hungry too so he digs a mini pizza out of the freezer and pops it in the microwave.

It spins. And spins. Around and around. Like swirls of blood going down the shower drain or lazy curls of smoke. Dew suddenly doesn’t feel hungry. He leaves his pizza in the microwave and curls up on the couch. The microwave beeps at him and he flips it the bird.

The crumpled paper buried in his dresser drawer crosses his mind. He could write. It seemed to help a few days ago.

Dew doesn’t feel like getting up so he snags a pen off the coffee table with his foot and rolls up his sleeve to use his arm as a makeshift journal page. There’s not much space so he tries to write down one-word descriptors. Angry. Tired. Frustrated. Violent. Betrayal. A

Dew stops before he can write the name. He licks his thumb and smears the ink away. Him. Horrible ex.

Scared. Dew pauses. He is scared. Scared of being rejected, scared of peeling away the layers of armor around his heart and exposing his weak spot. His Achilles heel.

Achilles was hella gay, wasn’t he? Yeah. For that other guy. Patroclus. Dew had learned about the story in English class. His teacher had glossed over their relationship as “brotherly comradery” but Dew’s little closeted brain had known better. He found a retelling of the story online and secretly downloaded the PDF to his phone.

The ending had made him sob for hours. It was so beautifully tragic. At the time, he’d hoped that maybe his story would be different. That his mother would accept him before it was too late, before he was buried.

That was a naive fucking fantasy. His mother had clung so hard to her vision of a perfect blonde-haired blue-eyed Catholic daughter that her claws left permanent scars.

Dew’s hand- the one holding the pen- drifts to the back of his head. Speaking of scars…

His vision tunnels and his breath hitches. Here he goes again.

The scent of butternut squash. Dew’s mother had come to the dinner with a stack of Dew’s journals- neatly tabbed and annotated- and read out every entry detailing his process of questioning his faith. Thank fuck he hadn’t written down any of his gender crisis.

He’d been forced to sit there and swallow back tears as his parents told him he was weak, he was stupid, he was letting the devil in.

Dew had mustered up enough courage to snap back. He’d stood up and gone to storm out of the kitchen.

His mother cornered him. He tried to duck and slip past her.

Pain exploded across his face as the back of her hand connected with his cheek. He reeled and lost his balance.

A flash of pain, so bright he could see it. Like a thousand suns.

Stars. Pain. It hurt so much. He tasted pennies. The kitchen ceiling swam above him as his parents yelled at each other. It felt like a dream. His stomach churned with nausea.

He barely managed to muster the strength to turn his head before his dinner came up all over the floor. Something warm and wet was soaking into the back of his sweater. He wanted to wake up from this nightmare.

His memory was choppy from that moment. Trees speeding by outside a car window, sterile lights of a hospital, doctors shining lights in his face. A machine where he had to lie really still as it beeped and rotated around his head.

“Dew?”

Finally he was carried back into the house and laid on the couch. His parents stood over him and told him in concerned voices that this had happened because he had let the devil into his heart. Dew was too dazed and tired to argue so he nodded his head and apologized.

“Dew? Dude, you okay?”

His rosary was placed in his hands and he was ordered to pray. He did, begging forgiveness from a god that never answered until he was allowed to sl-

“Dewdrop!”

Dew’s eyes snap open. There’s a hand on his shoulder- he flinches away from it.

“Sorry- dude, you okay?” Rain is crouched next to the couch, big blue eyes wide and worried.

Dew is too tired to pretend. He shakes his head and bursts into tears again.

“Woah, woah. Can I sit with you?” Rain asks softly. Dew nods.

Over the next few hours, Dew splits himself open. It hurts, but fuck it feels good to release everything. Rain wouldn’t tell anyone anyway. He starts by telling him about Aether. His stupid gorgeous puppy crush. Then his fear of relationships, then his shitbag ex, then the flashback Rain had interrupted. He probably wasn’t coherent for a lot of it but his friend seemed to understand.

“…That’s fucked up.” Rain tells him after a moment of silence. “I’m… so sorry.”

“Not your fault.” Dew sniffles, muffled by the blanket his face is buried in. “Thanks for listening.”

“Anytime.” Dew feels Rain shift awkwardly on the couch. “Can I get you something?”

“Made a microwave pizza. Can you reheat it for me?” Dew asks. Rain nods and gets up.

“And… stay with me?” Dew adds sheepishly. “I can’t be alone right now. I’ll smoke myself to death or-“ he stops and swallows. “Something worse.”

“Got it.” Rain shoots him a smile. “Want a soda?”

“ Please. Did you get another case?”

“Yep. Splurged a bit and got a case of cherry coke too.” Rain opens the fridge and grabs two cans.

“Fancy.” Dew manages to smile- a genuine one. It’s shaky but it’s real. He takes the plate of pizza and the can of off-brand Dr. Pepper with a grateful nod.

“I had some extra change.” Rain shrugs, popping open his can. There’s an expression on his face that makes Dew raise his eyebrow.

“Who’d you suck off?”

“Oh, shut up.” Rain elbows him. “Just a quick coding commission. Someone wanted an in-browser game to put on their website.”

“Alriiiight.” Dew still has suspicions, but he leaves it alone. Not his business anyway.

The two of them stay there, laughing and talking until well past midnight. Dew feels like a weight has been lifted from his chest. By the time he heads off to bed, he feels vastly better. He changes into pajamas and crawls under the blankets.

Maybe Aether won’t be as bad as the last guy, he thinks before sleep takes him.

Kudos and comments on ao3 are greatly appreciated!

#tenth drink free #dewther #nameless ghouls #the band ghost #dewdrop ghoul #aether ghoul #trans ghouls #trans dewdrop #trans aether

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neroburningrome · 19 days ago

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The autism has won.

Finally put my fav FMA illustration on my PSP wallpaper, I love life and everything in between 🤓👍🏼

Been playing the FMAB combat game too lately and it's actually really fun too, everytime you press an option in the menu it is said with the FMAB VA voice of the character on screen !!! (they alternate each time you return to the main screen)

Recently discovered there're additional outfits you can unlock throughout the game's story mode, including for HAWKEYE !

Makes me so happy I'm so ecstatic ahah :> Been running around my house showing my fam, they just nodded and said ''cool'' 🥲

#maybe i'm just crazy #fullmetal alchemist #fullmetal alchemist brotherhood #riza hawkeye #i love her so she needs to be included everywere #team mustang #playstation portable #psp

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painfully-painful-pain · 18 hours ago

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Poorly written lengthy Review of The Sims 2 Castaway for Nokia Phones.

Alternate title: I played The Sims Castaway for Mobile so you don't have to. Also I'm too scared to record my voice for a video.

I played another Sims Nokia game because I don't know what to do with my life 💙 so what better way to celebrate finishing another sims game than to force this post on peoples feeds. The game's exhausting and I'm pretty much done with it internally. This time it will be A LOT longer and have a bit more depth to it as I wrote everything while I played it (instead of writing it after I did) so. This will be an EVEN LONGER review than the sims DJ one. I hope you brought.... Good eyes.

Doubt anyone's gonna read this but I'm putting this out there if anyone ever comes across my account or something idk.

The Gameplay

This game is actually touch! Meaning you don't really need your Nokia phones' buttons. Sure you need the ok button sometimes but other than that it's pretty much like a modern phone game! Just smaller in size lol. You tap where your sim needs to walk over and press the stuff you want to collect. If it's a grabbable object, a hand appears as your cursor, if it has a chance to kill you (quicksand, beehives and poisonous berries) a skull head appears. Though death in this game isn't that easy (except quicksand as that one's 100% instant and way too easy to achieve, but you never have to do anything in there so idk why it's even an option)

There's the usual Castaway needs. Those are easy to manage here and I don't see a problem with them at all. Especially not if you always take stuff everywhere like I did.

There's multiple minigames and only one requires your OK button and I hate that game.

The Minigames

Not the best things ever. They're pretty tedious at times. ESPECIALLY the surfing one I fucking hate it. Stupid piece of- but they're ok.

Fishing:

really simple. But your stick moves on its own and the fish do too. You have to tap the screen on the correct moment to get them. You can get 5x fish max per spawn point.

Dancing:

you flick your screen to the direction that's given. It's really easy. Probably my favorite one because of it.

Surfing:

you have to balance out the green marks so it gets to the other side. Sometimes a shark (that looks more like an orca) comes through so you have to hit the ok button too. I hate it. (I deleted 3 paragraphs of rant for this)

Cup: (idk the name of this)

exactly how it looks. Really simple too. It's not fast either. You get prizes to romance every sim. The Orangutan asks you for a brush and it's never explained why he wants it or why he's even gifting it to you so you gift it back in the first place. He makes me question everything.

Hit the marked bongo: (Idk the name of this one either.)

Really simple too. Really easy. Really forgettable. Last minigame to be unlocked. Has ties to mark and is hosted by the monkeys.

The Story

The story begins with the usual that can be found in other iterations of Castaway too: People go on a boat for who knows why, storm arises and throws all of you into the water and on a deserted island yada yada yada. And then you wake up. But this time you can only play as either a man or a woman. You don't create your crew as you do on the PS2/Wii version. The crew actually has preset characters in this. And you unlock them per area.

After you wake up on the bay, your sim is required to do the tutorial level like picking up all the vines and getting bananas and coconuts from palm trees. But the game changes once you feel sleepy because you set up a bed in the camp area instead of the beach. And that's when you are directed to find your first crewmate, Sandi. She's INCREDIBLY fast at setting up the tent because apparently she already built a huge ass house when you were on the jungle. FOR 2 SIM MINUTES.

The characters give you tedious tasks all the time because, just as newlow said in the PSP game, everyone apparently only gets rid of their problems once YOU show up. You can unlock more areas without the tasks but later you reach a stop so you'll have to do those to get all of them and escape this mad house of an island.

The next area you unlock is the waterfall. Your friend Leyla put up her hut on it and, honestly, good for her. She is the only sim to have a shower next to her. Nobody ever uses it except you and you can only shower ONCE a day. And it looks incredibly goofy. It's just this image btw.

Layla is also the one that makes clothes for your sim. And from what I've seen is the only one of these guys to sleep during the late morning. All the sims sleep at night but she sleeps in the late mornings too.

The next area you unlock, the beach, has the character called Jeff. He's a surfer dude. You can tell by the way he talks to you and what he talks about. He's weird. I don't like his Minigame but his area has a lot of resources for some reason like driftwood for objectcrafting. I also don't like Jeff himself.

After that, Jeff's area is a dead end. So you'll have to go back to camp to find the other path. Jeff gifts you his axe he used for his surfboard if you give him stuff and then you can cut down the overgrown jungle. Sounds great in theory but. Once you get the axe, EVERYTHING IS ALREADY DONE! so there's no animation for it. Sims 4 level animations

On the next area, the jungle, you find Higgins the Orangutan. he can talk but this is never ever addressed for some reason. I am so conflicted about him. Anyways he builds your objects and your houses. Don't ask because I don't have answers. You can kinda skip him and walk straight into the cave.

There you meet Crazy Joe. A shipwrecked guy that's been there for 20 years apparently. Which is.... Odd as he looks pretty young to me. Anyways he's hungry and wants fish stew. ONLY fish stew. This pissed me off because fuck you?? just eat anything so I can advance and go home... He says "I will advance with you if you give me fish stew" BUT HE NEVER COMES WITH YOU!! he stays in his God damn cave and never leaves. He just gives you stupid tasks to do...

At this point you cannot go to the last 2 areas as you do need to fulfill some quests like the fish stew. Also the next area is apparently too dark so you need to get a Torch from Leyla because God forbid you do anything yourself.

She... wants to dance if you want her torch. These people and they're stupid standards I swear. 😭

Also to get a Fish stew you need Pineapples, Cucumbers and Fish. Disgusting. Sandi makes it for you. But you need a garden from the Orangutan then help Sandi get her seeds back from Jeff because???? and wait until you have all the ingredients. People can't do shit can they???

After you get a Torch you can skip hungry Carl for awhile. He doesn't die from hunger sadly. You can go to the last 2 areas without doing a quest. Only the cliffs are important because that's where the last character, Mike, lives.

One thing I didn't mention is that everyone thinks you didn't make it.... Which is such an asshole move???? Like? "Oh you're still alive." Like wow you're SUCH great friends.

i accidentally called my sim Kaw don't @ me

Anyways this is too long. One thing leads to another and the last mission is then given by Mike. He needs to complete his research on llamas back home in the city. So he orders you to get Leyla, Jeff and The Orangutan Higgins to build parts of a float so he can build that together. Then after doing that they want to throw a farewell party and the nightmare FINALLY ends.

this game exhausted me. It's a survival story but everyone already survived. They just waited for you to... Idk what they would've done IF you died but who cares. Also idk if the others came on the float too??? It's just you and Mike back home. Like where's Leyla?? Or Sandi?? Probably out of frame but still weird.

The Characters:

Talking about them because they have a bit more tied to them here than The Sims DJ. ALSO they are probably the closest thing to GBA sims lol. ALSO: everyone has seen all of these guys at least once. Because this game features all the cover sims as actual characters. Which is weird. Because why are they on the Wii and DS covers if they don't appear in it 😭

You:

There's not a lot to say about you. I believe the canon gender in this game is to play as the female character as she's also the one that is on the front cover and promo material of the game. The guy just feels like an afterthought 🤧 I believe his PNGs are actually Beta test screenshots of The Sims 2. also you're pretty much everyone's doormat to home. And I hate you.

Sandi:

i kinda forgot she was even at the bay. And that was 2 minutes after I met her lol. Her first mission is for you to find specific fish and coconuts so she can cook some weird coconutcrust snapper or whatever the fuck. Jeff steals her seeds. And I'm too done with this game I swear.

Leyla:

Honestly I kinda headcanon'd her to be Neo Flange(Foundry Urb)s sister while I was playing it. I just want more ties between the sims games like they used to have. Also adding her disappearance to Neos desperation "Sister shipwrecked on a deserted island and nobody knows where she is" yk? And also because she is a fashion stylist and is skilled in crafts, has dark hair, glasses and- these sims don't have an actual last name so I can make them anyone I want them to be. I'll turn her into an unofficial foundry Urb you can't stop me.

Rambling aside she has the dancing Minigame tied to her. When the story demands you to get an item from her, like the torch, she actually won't take your resources... she is really adamant to battle you in a dance session. Which is just flicking your screen in a certain direction. It's not even fast.

Romancing is possible in this game. I tried with her but you have to win some weird prize from the fuck ass orangutan and I don't want to do that

Jeff:

I hate his minigame. Also he's kinda like Dudley Landgraab. Only as a surfer. He steals Sandi's seeds and won't give them back to her. So you have to clear his minigame so that he does. He's kind of a jerk.

Higgins The Orangutan:

i want this Orangutan dead.

THE MONKEY:

They just host the Minigame 24/7. They don't sleep. They don't do shit.

Crazy Carl:

he was kinda boring... Like the concept sounds so cool. A guy that could never escape! For 20 years. But that only shows how stupid this guy is. Because you manage to escape after 6 days.

He's even more pathetic because once you get to the ghost of the pirate to get his treasure.... he just tells you it's somewhere here and it's literally right in front of the ghost I'm crying 😭 20 years for nothing

Mike:

so cool. Yet so undercooked. I wish he had something else to work with. Doesn't help that he's the last character you meet on the island. Like I said he should've had more to him. The Kayleigh Wintercrest of The Sims 2 Castaway.

Mike had his glasses stolen from the monkeys hosting the "bongos" minigame so you have to play it to get them back. But Mike's sprite never wears his glasses.

Fun fact: Mike DOES wear his glasses in ONE render for The Sims Castaway:

he carries the whole poster ngl

For some reason the poster ALSO shows an unknown character climbing up the tree. I don't know who that is but she's there.

Captain Busto:

He is not important at all

Its also weird he appears in the relationship panel. He doesn't do shit and you never see this portrait outside of it.

????????:

He's just a prop to talk with. No relationship gains or anything

Woohoo!!!

I nearly lost my shit when I saw this. After the party you can gift people something they want. And then after that you can romance and marry them. You can also be gay with them! But that woohoo Cutscene is.... Out of this world.

Conclusion/ TL;DR

That was The Sims Castaway for Nokia. I doubt anyone is ever reading this so... One of the games ever. Anyways:

Leyla and Mike carried this game for me

I'm not ever touching this game again

I need sleep

First Castaway game I actually finished

This game features every Castaway Cover sim

I kinda recommend it for you to try it out. It's a mediocre game.

Bye

#The Sims Castaway #Sims Castaway #The Sims 2 #TS2 #Sims 2

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thedawner · 27 days ago

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I finished Story Mode for the first Cars game on the PSP and unlocked Chick. It’s very satisfying bashing his head against the edges of the tracks and hearing him scream in pain.

#commentary #this series also reminded me that really like some of the nfs games

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artdcnaldson · 9 months ago

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I just started animal crossing because my asd family member didnt want to start it alone and the little yellow dog reminds me of Art, i just unlocked a flower crown and i feel like im dressing him up. Thinking about how i want to buy Art cute little clothes and smooch his face

If they played games, what games do you think art, tashi and patrick would play/ have on their phone? off of the top of my head patrick would have some old school shit like fruit ninja

Omg imagine they all play sims, arts got a little garden, patrick is having affairs, getting the characters pregnant with alien babies, loves creating drama and watching social services get involved, tashi is putting people in square walls and removing all the doors and windows til they starve to death 😍

This is SO TRUEEEE

in terms of 2006 era here are my thoughts:

For Art: he still plays Pokémon ruby and emerald on his gameboy advance. Its beat to shit and gets hot when he uses it but it tucks into his gym bag or pocket so he always keeps that thang on him. He would also have flappy bird on his iPod touch in 2012 and he would take that so seriously……..

For Patrick; he LOVESSS his PSP and his PlayStation. He plays GTA and hits pedestrians with his car and goes to the strip club. He also plays rollercoaster tycoon on his laptop in class and builds rollercoasters that launch the passengers into the ocean or sky.

For Tashi: nintenDOGS 💜 Tashi has a pastel pink Nintendo DS and she plays nintendogs and diner dash <3 her dogs are a black schnauzer like her dog that’s named after him, a white chihuahua named Cookie, and a chocolate lab named Marco. also she runs cooking mama kitchen like it’s the fucking NAVY. In downtime at tournaments and stuff she whips her DS out and goes crazy.

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tackyink · 1 year ago

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This was supposed to be for @asususasa but in the middle of writing I thought this could be useful for someone else, so here's Tacky's general list of otome recs. It took me over an hour to write so I'm not proofreading it.

Not much to say here because back in those days otome games didn't get localized. The stand outs are Tokimeki Memorial Girl's Side 1st Love Plus and Tokimeki Memorial Girl's Side 2nd Season, who have English fan translations. Slice of life games where you play as the protagonist through her three years of high school. And if you feel like a student-teacher romance that would make Sakura Kinomoto's mom proud, these are your games.

PSP

Still well into the no localizations era with one exception: Hakuouki Demon of the Fleeting Blossom. Not recommending it on PSP because there are better versions. Tokimeki Memorial Girl's Side 3rd Story Premium also has a fan translation and should be played over its DS counterpart because it has added functionalities. Sadly this time around the teacher is a secret character and a shota.

3DS

There's Hakuoki Memories of the Shinsengumi. Still not recommended because we can do better.

PS3

Hakuouki Stories of the Shinsengumi includes the original game and the fandisk with some neat animations added. This is the version to play if you want the original experience. If you want even more routes, go for another version.

Vita

Hakuoki Kyoto Winds and Edo Blossoms, Collar x Malice and Amnesia are the best games you can get for the Vita imo. Some people dig a lot the Psychedelica of the Ashen Hawk and Psychedelica of the Black Butterfly (I've only played BB, it was good but wasn't the best; wouldn't rate it as high as the others). There's Code Realize and its two fandisks (Future Blessings and Wintertide Miracles) and many people swear by them, but while I liked the common route in the first game, the rest didn't do it for me. You can find all of these except CxM and the CRs on Steam, and the Hakuoki games get dirst cheap on sale. Best bang for your buck of the saga. The CR games have PS4 ports and CxM has a Switch one, which you already know.

Switch

*rolls up sleeves* LET'S GO.

To get it out of the way: Hakuouki KW and EB are getting a Switch rerelease and a new translation and will be released as a single game, Hakuoki Chonicles of Wind and Blossom, on August 1st.

Collar x Malice fucking nails the mystery and lowkey horror vibes with and excellent plot that's interconnected in every route. CxM Unlimited is its fandisk and only recommended if you really have the CxM itch, because it's mostly fluff and the little plot there is is at most functional. It has a route where Ichika joins Adonis and you get to see its inner workings though. That was very interesting.

Bustafellows is 100% found family vibes with a very assertive protagonist. It's a mystery/action story and the team dynamics are sort of Ocean's 11-ish. Hilarious, heartbreaking at times, I've never felt more dread in a game than heading towards the basement in a certain's guy's route. There are two unlockable stories after you finish the routes of the guys, one of which I thought was glorious, another which sets up a sequel and is a big downer but I also really liked. It gets heavy at times with murder, suicide, sexual assault, human trafficking, among other kinds of violence, but despite it, it's generally a very funny and upbeat game. We're getting the sequel next year. Also available on PC.

Café Enchanté baits you with the premise of being a girl who manages a coffee shop patronized by handsome supernatural beings, so it's a real surprise when the cannibalism shows up. Anyway. Great game, but I'm afraid saying more would kind of defeat the point. Reminds me of Megami Tensei games, so if coffee shop AUs with supernatural world-ending threats are your thing, go for it. Just be warned that the fandom has kind of collectively agreed that poster boy's route never happened.

Birushana is a hidden gem that goes on sale super cheap and is also probably a hit or miss thing. You play as the legendary Yoshitsune, who in this game is a girl disguising her gender, but she's an amazing warrior as in history. It has the best otome couple I've ever seen, bar none, with Yoshitsune and Noritsune. The game is worth the price just to see them fall in love on the battlefield and watch Noritsune chug down Respect Women Juice all the way through it. The thing is... the rest of routes aren't great. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed how utterly unhinged they got at times, but the plot got worse as it deepened. Still. Noritsune. And I loved that most of the guys respected her as a warrior and were aware she was as capable or a better warrior than them and she didn't need a man to protect her. Very refreshing. One of my faves got done dirty by the translation because they started pulling lines out of thin air to make him creepier. Just him. Why. It's not like he needed the help.

Virche Evermore Error Salvation is also a good one if you can handle continuous drama and see egregiously bad science and say, "You know what? It's magic. Humans in this world are just built different." The worldbuilding is really interesting and the characters very enjoyable, though they don't feature a lot in each other's routes or aren't that friendly with each other. The continuous tragedy may tire you out, or maybe it'll work and emotionally destroy you. It didn't get any emotional reaction out of me until a certain point near the end, but I enjoyed the game a lot, nevertheless. We're getting the sequel this November and I'm really looking forward to it.

Variable Barricade: a fun romp where a young heiress has to chose a fiancé among the four disaster bachelors her grandpa has selected. It's not really similar to Ouran, but it reminded me a little of it at times. It's a pretty light game. The BFF is a gothic lolita otaku who has the time of her life shipping you with the guys, and the butler... oh boy the butler.

Amnesia, as I mentioned earlier, has a PC port as well as the Vita version, as well as two localized fandisks for the Switch (Amnesia x Crowd) that I can't speak of because I haven't played them yet. The protagonist has supernatural amnesia and must piece together her life while avoiding that other people realize she's lost her memory. It's a super intriguing game the first time you play, really nailed the being completely and utterly lost in the protagonist's shoes. A required play to get in on the cage jokes. It's sort of a rite of passage for otome gamers.

Jack Jeanne has probably the best group dynamics of any otome I've seen. I think some people have issues with the protagonist because they find her passive, but to me she felt the complete opposite. Everybody is adorable. A sentimental story of hard work, being young and and fighting for your dreams, 10/10, no notes. I lied, there's a note: Tanakamigi deserved a route! Where is our Tanakamigi route! щ(゜ロ゜щ)

Last but not least at all, the two Piofiores. Mafia games where all trigger warnings you can think of apply. Well, maybe not the cannibalism, that's still Café Enchanté's crowning glory. Fated Memories, the first one, has its ups and downs, but has very enjoyable characters, rock-solid worldbuilding, an amazing atmosphere set in 1920s Italy with a jazzy soundtrack that ends up living rent free in your brain. The last routes of the first game, Gil's and Finale, are worth the full price of the game alone. Piofiore Episodio 1926 is a masterpiece of the otome genre. It doesn't have a single boring route, and the final stretch (Advent Calendar-Alternativa-Secret Character route) has the best writing I've seen in an otome. Lots of points of view and situations interconnecting, an excellent final couple, top notch interactions between the main characters. Just the best.

#honorable mention to olympia soirée the most heterosexual otome i've ever played #i felt a visceral rejection towards it so i cannot recommend it #but i acknowledge it's a great game if you don't mind the constant talk of reproducing #tacky ramblings

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lalunameli · 1 year ago

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Hero's Day for PSP: Yuri's April Fools Day Message and Small Interview with Yusa Kōji (his Jp VA)

@tempkiriri unlocked Yuri's special April Fool's Days message in Hero's Day for PSP:

I'm pretty certain he says the following:

ほぉ？まさかこの私にうそ打つくを積もりですか。

Ohhh... Don't tell me you're going to lie to me?

Something something "Liars get fires!" 😂😂🤣

A small Yusa Kōji interview regarding Hero's Day for PSP from an unknown issue of B's Log.

Cast members were asked the three following questions:

ユーリ・ペトロフ役遊佐浩二さん

Role: Yuri Petrov - Mr. Kōji Yusa

1. 「TIGER & BUNNY」という作品の魅力、そしてゲームならではの魅力についてお聞かせください。

1. Please tell us what's charming about "TIGER & BUNNY" and how the game is uniquely charming.

1. もちろんヒーローたちの活躍や会話のテンポも魅力的ですが、みんな非常に人間的で親しみが持てるキャラクターだというところが大きいと思います。ゲームは、ひとつの視点ではなく、それぞれの立場で物事を見られるので、そこがアニメと違う部分かもしれません。 ユーリも仕事をしています（笑）。あまりお目にかける事は多くないので、お忘れなきようお願いします。司法局の人間です。

1. Of course, the activities of the heroes and the tempo of conversation is charming, but I think the big points are that every character is very human and friendly. The game is not played from only one point of view, and you can see things from the other (characters') perspectives, which may be different from the anime. Yuri is also working (laughs). You don't see him very often, so please don't forget he's a person from the Judicial Bureau.

2. 自分だったら、どのキャラからプレイしますか？

2. If you were me, which character would you play?

2. やはりユーリから、と言いたいのですが、ここはタイガーかバーナビーからいくと言うのが正統派かと思います（笑）。

2. I'd like to say Yuri, but I think it would be more orthodox to start with Tiger or Barnaby (laughs).

3. 読者へのメッセージをお願いします

3. What message would you like to leave for the readers?

3. アニメでは観客としてご覧い頂いている「TIGER & BUNNY」をご自身が中心となって楽しむことができると思います。ぜひ楽しんでください！

3. I think that the anime "TIGER & BUNNY" is fun to watch with an audience. Please enjoy!

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englishotomegames · 2 years ago

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Amnesia: Later x Crowd (AMNESIA LATER アムネシアレイター) (AMNESIA CROWD アムネシアクラウド)

Release dates (Nintendo Switch) Japanese (Amnesia Later, PSP): March 15th, 2012 Japanese (Amnesia Crowd, PSP): April 18th, 2013 English: September 20th, 2022

"The fandisk companion to Amnesia™: Memories featuring two games previously only released in Japan! Within Amnesia: Later and Amnesia: Crowd, each title will provide a multitude of different story scenarios, as well as new mini-games. Deepen your relationship with the main characters and sub-characters of the original game and see what sparks!

Amnesia: Later Beginning with the enchanting NEW WORLD, you can unlock four different story scenarios, ranging from a study of the many sides of Waka in WAKA'S WORLD to AFTER STORY, which takes place after the events of Amnesia: Memories. Depending on the routes unlocked in AFTER STORY, you may even hear wedding bells...

Amnesia: Crowd Enjoy even more story scenarios, like the thrilling what-if story of SUSPENSE, where you must interact with your environment to escape danger in each route. Plus, play a variety of café mini-games in WORKING or card games in TRUMP, earning Orion Points to unlock events."

These are the the two Amnesia fandisks combined into one, for the Nintendo Switch! You can buy the physical version from Amazon.com here, or digitally from the Nintendo store.

#amnesia #amnesia otome #otome game #otome games #amnesia later #amnesia crowd #later x crowd #idea factory #gxb #visual novel #voice acting #nintendo switch #fandisk #fandisc

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beevean · 10 months ago

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Castlevania PlayStation Collection Thought

It just occurred to me, last night, that if M2 were to do a collection with the PS2 Castlevania games, they could very well make that collection PlayStation themed altogether and include the other games exclusive to Sony's family of systems (that aren't Symphony of the Night).

Not only could Lament of Innocence and Curse of Darkness see re-releases, but also Castlevania Chronicles (the PS1 version) and The Dracula X Chronicles (the PSP Rondo of Blood remake, with the unlockable classic Rondo of Blood and Symphony of the Night removed). Two 3D games, two Classicvanias (+ the obligatory bonus game which goes outside the collection's theme).

5 games (technically 6 if you count Castlevania Chronicles' Original and Arranged Modes as 2 separate entries), with the voice acted ones (LoI, CoD and DXC) having language settings for their voice tracks (Japanese and English), as well. The whole package could be pricey, but would it not be a sweet deal?

Reply: Funny to me that you specified that there wouldn't be SotN, because right now there is a bit of a discourse going on about fans of the game who wished it got included in Dominus 😂

(the 5th game should probably be Legends Remastered lol)

5 games, of which two are 3D and quite long, would def be a lot. Yeah, it would be a hefty and pricey collection. I need it. I need it in my life now. I understand also the idea of lumping the PS2 games with the N64 games, but this sounds great too

#castlevania #akumajou dracula

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txtfromcellx · 10 months ago

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Just realise that TMGS3 that got ported to switch is the ds version and not the psp premium version…that’s sucks :/ like there’s no live2d, no angel/devil mode, no special after date scene where you got those mini “episode” thingy, no boy’s life so you can see what those boys are doing, no extra cg & adv and you can’t unlock the exclusive secret character??????? Konami is so ass, it’s too bad because GS3 is peak!!! 😭

Also they didn’t change much of GS1 and 2, they’re not different from the original version. The homemade chocolate mini game sucks and the boys are as sensitive as ever in GS1 especially when you’re going after Kei’s route…

As for GS4 imo it’s just plain bad…especially because of the dlcs, it’s just not worth it 🥲

#tokimeki memorial girl’s side #tmgs #sorry for the rant #i just finished the psp ver it’s so good #i’ll do seiji’s route 4 more times

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advancedpottery217x2 · 3 months ago

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Ever17: From Remake to Original

Ever17 is a game of longstanding fame, and I have known about it for many years thanks to it being one of the earliest English translated visual novels. While I always heard it was a shit bricks twist game I never felt like playing it until I saw the remaster announced last year. Of course I also heard that this release is based on the Xbox 360 remake of the game and not the original. If you are reading this post I am sure you have seen people posting about how this version is a downgrade from the original. To me however, it sounded like people who were deeply familiar with the original lamenting the fact that the remake was different.

So I decided to use my haven't-played-ever17-in-2025 status to play the remake first and go in the other direction to see how my thoughts compared. I have played the Zero Escape series in English and knew a few Ever17 spoilers (a long time ago so mostly vague memories now) but otherwise was able to go in with a fresh mind. I enjoyed the game in the end and couldn't stop thinking about Tsugumi for a week so I ended up playing the PSP version immediately afterwards out of curiosity. Even though I played the same game back to back it didn't feel like too much of a chore, and by the time I finished the game my opinion solidified.

I like the remake better. Part of this is definitely because I played it first, although I feel part of it is also what I ended up appreciating from the game.

Delving into the details requires spoilers of course so go back if you somehow clicked this without knowing that. (Basic non-spoiler Steam review here)

I have heard that the original writing staff is not involved in the rewrites for this game, and indeed none of them are named in the credits (there is a general 'Original Game: KID'). This is probably the greatest point against recommending the remake as saying "you should play this game that has text rewritten by someone else" is kind of an anti-recommendation. For better or worse I don't have a particular attachment to Uchikoshi, so fans of him and Nakazawa should play the original.

In that sense, I was surprised by the fact that a lot of the text between versions is the same (some conversations take place in different parts of the game such as Sara and Yuu talking about their high school teacher with a robot dog is only in a choice after unlocking Coco's route as opposed to a common route event), as I thought there would be more differences. While it feels just different enough to say it's different, it is fundamentally the same game. For people who want an Infinity series game and the lore/theories that come with it the remake is different enough to be dismissed in those conversations and I am in no position to argue with that.

The remake has the characters acting towards a goal to escape while doing things to pass the time when they have to wait as opposed to the original where they hear the time limit and are passing time most of the time. The original only felt a little bit "slower" and I didn't feel it was too slow either way.

Below are some of the differences that stood out the most to me playing the game twice in a row.

Characters/Story

Takeshi: In the remake he resolves to be forward-facing in the beginning which makes his proactivity feel like an extension of his desire to not let anyone die and not just because it's the good protagonist thing to say or do. Seeing him say "You should live" to Tsugumi and Kaburaki in the original was too preachy for my taste. It also felt weird seeing him be so inclined to hit people, including the above mentioned scene with Kaburaki where Takeshi chastises him for voicing his frustration with eating the same thing everyday. Regardless of the fact that there is a choice to not hit him the fact that this choice exists colors my perception of his character in the original. In general Takeshi does less "weird" things in the remake; while remake Takeshi is not a 100% serious guy either he would not eat the plastic display food at the sandwich stand.

Perhaps because of this Takeshi does not say 俺は死なない at the end of Tsugumi's route in the remake (although in the final route epilogue Tsugumi does think those were his final unspoken words). While I do sympathize with the people who think this line of passion shouldn't have been changed, I feel his confidence in his actions was already shown through his extremely optimistic attitude in this scene and the existence of this line is superfluous at best and conceited at worst (sorry Takeshi).

I will give ロマン points to the remake for taking this line Coco said in the original that never got brought up again in text and using it for dramatic effect in the Sora/Tsugumi routes. Don't worry Coco you've also got the Yaobikuni story.

Tsugumi: Probably the character I felt the biggest gap going from remake to original and mostly for the worse. In the minor details department there is the fact she uses 私(わたし) while in the original she uses 私(あたし) which was hard to go through as a stalwart watashi supporter. She also starts calling Takeshi by his name much earlier in the original which is a stark contrast from the remake where it only happens late in her route, giving a completely different impression of her character.

In general I like the way the relationship between Tsugumi and Takeshi is developed in the remake more because in the original the Takeshi preachy parts are prominent.

The above image is from the two of them went down to fix the power on May 2 and Tsugumi panics a little after filling the elevator with water, which is cute but then there's Takeshi's reaction. The fact it happens on the second day of the game was not encouraging.

This one is from when Tsugumi goes for her hamster while doing Sora's route so she ends up going by herself. I had to stop in shock because this was one of the most he would not fucking say that moments coming from the remake. In the remake version of this scene he worries about her after seeing she's wet all over and looks after the hamster while she takes a shower.

In contrast in the remake while he does feel pity/sympathy for her after hearing her life story he is determined to help alleviate her trauma (there is no equivalent thought process in the original). This is helped by the May 4 scene in infirmary, where instead of saying she should live it becomes a hope/despair thing and Takeshi says the world is not only full of despair. I also like this because it gets brought up again in the ending and immediately afterwards the power in the escape sub runs out which even if I knew things couldn't be going this well still struck me with the juxtaposition.

On the 2034 side, I initially thought Tsugumi's outfit was a visual change to signal that this was some kind of parallel world. It wasn't quite what I thought but I'm glad I got to see a new outfit. It looks good on her (and I didn't know her boobs were so big).

Sora: I liked the original Sora route more than the remake. I think the remake version had too much romance game roleplay for me to take it as seriously although the CGs of her in the school uniform are cute. One thing I like about the remake is the 大富豪の革命みたい line after escaping Sora's mind palace which gets referenced in Yuu's route.

While it is a very classic non-human entity tries to find what love is route I think this straightforward nature works in its favor. The original epilogue having her reference things that should not have been on her backup disk is a nice touch. Also Takeshi randomly becomes a poet in this route as he tries to teach Sora about love.

I really wish they kept the "I saw you and Tsugumi have sex in the Qualle" scene because it is incredible to witness. They don't make them like this anymore huh.

Yuu (haru): Probably the character that shocked me the most personality wise as she does not do any info dumping in the original. There are also no hints that she has a health condition. Yuu is also more energetic as opposed to the remake where is is a bit more composed (a bit closer to Yuu (aki)?), so I had a hard time believing she gave birth to her own clone a year before the story started. I shit the most bricks at this reveal because the cloning law wasn't mentioned in the remake. I'm glad she is shown taking medicine for her heart condition in the remake.

Funnily enough it feels the opposite for Yuu in 2034 as she retains some of her younger energy in the remake and has a more serious demeanor in the original. Both time periods fulfill the visual novel Schrodinger's cat quota (remake only).

Hokuto: Like any good person fooled by the trick I thought he was 2017 Kaburaki at first so when he got into longer spiels I kept thinking does Kaburaki actually know all this stuff, although I guess Blick Winkel was also there. Since I played Virtue's Last Reward, when they kept mentioning the mirrors were broken I was hoping it would happen and it did.

Hokuto's tachie is pretty cute so I'm glad they gave it more use in the remake. One of the greatest mysteries of Ever17 is where he got his hair color from.

Yuu (aki): Her character and route are mainly the same except for the ending. I quite like the original ending, as the remake version is confusing without endgame knowledge. Need to know what she was on here though.

Sara: Sara and Hokuto get combat training from Leiblich from a young age in the remake so she gets CGs where she holds a combat knife and a gun which I am not saying no to as a big girls with guns fan, though I am sure coming from the original people will think this is taking her backstory a step too far. I found her increased hostility against Tsugumi interesting and her new skills gave her ninja jokes a bit of substance.

Due to this change a lot of the text in this route is different although the framework is the same. Interestingly, in the original Hokuto is the one to initially deny the reveal that they're siblings (due to his guilt for leaving her) while in the remake it is Sara (due to her not wanting her brother to put himself in a dangerous situation again). Seeing both versions made their love for each other feel even more palpable.

The biggest change for me is her route ending. In the original Sara and Hokuto swim to the surface from Zweitestock (34 meters below the surface) with Hokuto supporting Sara with one arm, swimming with the other, wait a minute wasn't one of his arms broken.

In an earlier scene he breaks his right arm until these lines not very far apart from each other contradict this somehow.

Even if Hokuto is stated to be superstrong in the PSP version I would at least like to keep his broken arm consistent. Being superstrong also doesn't lessen the shock from him (okay Blick Winkel in Hokuto's body who does stop to think this is a bit much, but still does it anyway) diving straight to 119m below sea level. If it wasn't 10 minutes before the credits and the story wasn't running on pure inertia at this point I think there would be more complaints here.

In contrast the remake has them on the Qualle using the debris from LeMU to break the glass surrounding the path's enclosure and rise upwards. The conversation that takes place when Hokuto finds Sara amid the rising waters in the original is moved to this location, and not only is it a better place to have a serious conversation the added isolated space gives a more ethereal atmosphere.

Of course it stops rising and despair takes over before coral spawning begins below them to push them to the surface. Is this actually realistic, geographically and physically? I don't know but the CG reminds me of the marine snow scene from Soukyuu no Fafner Right of Left so it gets extra エモい points. Peace of mind fits pretty well in this scene too.

Earlier scenes in the remake-exclusive fake aquarium location give Hokuto and Sara more connection to the moon and provide hints to the coral spawning happening. Not only does this give ロマン points, with the Tsugumi name origin reveal it feels like she led them to safety which gives more エモい points and(永久機関

Even though Sora says coral spawning happens on the full moon it seems it actually happens a few days afterwards and the 2034 moon phases line up so the question of whether it can plausibly happen grows faint before this perfect coincidence.

Kaburaki: In the original he feels more like a stranger as he never gets too close to Takeshi but in the remake they've got the promise between men thing going on and Takeshi helps him calm down a lot. Their friendship is exchanged for his crush on Coco being a smaller part of his character in the remake.

Coco: There are new Coco nicknames in the remakes as she calls Sora 空ピー and Blick Winkel ブリたん. The greatest mystery of Ever17 is how Coco is 14 years old. The remake does add a line about how she made a bunch of weird games to keep herself occupied while her father was busy working. In the remake her father actually appears as a character and he survives in the end; there was nothing about him in the original except for the bit in IBF.

I thought there would be CoCo Ichibanya jokes but there were none despite ここ一番 appearing a few times.

Blick Winkel: In the remake BW does most of the talking when saving Takeshi in the final route as opposed to it being Hokuto in the original. Thanks to that there are the railroaded but extremely kino choices.

The new remake scenario shows scenes of Yuu (haru) and Kaburaki preparing for 2034 in addition to showing how all the ends in the game including the bad ends converge into the epilogue CG. It is unnecessary but it was a nice way to end the game.

Other: The weirdest change was how LeMU and LeMMIH are referred to in katakana most of the time in the remake so I only found out what the latter was supposed to represent in the original. LeMU it self feels different between versions because in the remake there are showers, washing machines, and food variety which the original does not (I think washing machines were mentioned once in the original). Remake LeMU is much easier to live in especially because there is no ankle-length residual water on the floor.

There are core facilities on each floor on the remake so seeing the infirmary only being on the second floor took me by surprise. Himmel being out in the open was also a shock because in the remake it was hidden behind a projected fake wall. The compression/decompression time between Himmel/IBF was also changed from 1 hour down/12 hours up to 17 minutes down/34 minutes up (matching the elevator from Insel null) making Takeshi skipping decompression sound even more insane in the original.

In terms of the game spoiling things earlier than it should, the random appearance of faded Takeshi next to Kaburaki on the Hokuto side was completely unnecessary and I have no idea why they added that. There's gotta be a better way to show the superposition going on here.

The other big one is showing the Tsugumi with the babies CG in Sara's route. In my head I understand that this is also completely unnecessary. But to my heart seeing this made me think of Tsugumi non-stop for a week and made me want to finish the game as soon as possible even though I had work the next day.

Seeing the remake-exclusive scenes of her thinking about Takeshi made me think "Is Tsugumi going to get even more endearing as the game continues?? Even though her route is over???" so seeing the CG pushed me into overdrive as I finished the game and changed my phone lock screen to Tsugumi later. I don't know if I would be this obsessed if I did the original first.

The actual reveal scene in Coco's route is a bit different structurally too. In the original, Karma start playing and Sara jumps into Tsugumi's arms and then the flashback starts with Der Mond Das Meer. In the remake, the flashback is in the middle and the BGM changes during it, and then the hug CG happens. I was thinking I didn't feel as emotionally charged in the original version and I didn't realize why until I was skipping through this part again to get some screenshots. Hearing Sara call out Mama hits different when it happens after the flashback...

I fell into most of the tricks in the game except for the moment in Yuu's route when the date of Yukie's death comes up and I remembered there was a date trick, one of the few spoilers I remembered. I did find the story structure and use of meta elements interesting (albeit it's not as fresh in 2025), though what I found most fascinating about this game was the depiction of 生への渇�� and playing the original just made me think of the stuff I liked about that in the remake.

This phrase can be found in the original synopsis for the game and the remake version opening but I can barely find anyone talking about this phrase in connection with the game which feels insane. 生への渇望 is embracing your own desire to live and the lengths you will go to protect your loved ones, with promises being a simple and effective way to extend these ideals into an uncertain future and I liked how this played out across the different characters.

In that sense the new Blick Winkel scenario having everything converge on a single event is the epitome of that concept for me, with every character working towards a single inevitable goal. I was a bit skeptical before I finished but in the end it really felt like every character was necessary and elevated the game to a level greater than the sum of its parts, which is already a large number itself. It's also a secret family reunion game which is always good.

Sound

I 100% gotta give this one to the remake. The arranges of the BGM are excellent and fit in with the new backgrounds. The second half of Heilmittel is particularly beautiful. The remake has seven new tracks: piano versions of Karma and the heroine themes as well as a remix of Je nach. The piano versions serve to expand the emotional range of different scenes, giving moments of calm that were not present in the original. This is most apparent with Sora's and Coco's themes as the original versions are upbeat. Yuu benefits from this the most as she has a lot of introspective scenes.

The piano version of Karma takes a classic emotional piano song and uses the bare minimum amount of melody to accentuate its beauty and the loneliness of the vast sea, making the scenes it plays in even more poignant. The PSP version has a piano version added to the music menu after clearing the final route but it never gets used in game. :(

The new remix of Je nach was particularly striking to me because it first plays in the final route when BW witnesses Takeshi's final moments and the washing machine CG appears again (in the original Der Mond Das Meer plays which is not a bad choice). It brought to mind memories of me finishing Tsugumi's route first, looking at the credits play in disbelief, and thinking "What part of this is the 'good' end?!" afterwards. The emotional effect of hearing Der Kern -Je nach- after hearing the original credits song multiple times to get to this point was paramount. I was kind of skimming the text here only stopping to listen to Takeshi's voice lines but this track compelled me to listen to all the voice lines for this scene again.

In terms of BGM usage I was surprised to hear Drittes Auge be used twice before the mirror reveal scene although I am not complaining too much since it was used only once in the remake.

The voice acting is also much better, but it would be hard not to with the same cast rerecording the game nearly 10 years later. I am partial to the greater emotional range in the remake performances. The experience gap is very noticeable although I didn't mind it too much in the original and it was interesting to hear famous voice actors be newbies back in 2002.

Except for Tsugumi.

While I could tell the voice actors were the same when playing the original, Tsugumi was the only one I legitimately thought sounded completely different. I had to strain my ears to tell myself I was listening to Asakawa Yuu. I said this in the story section too but I really REALLY don't know if I would have loved Tsugumi this much if I played the original first. In particular when I was checking the hug CG scene hearing the emotional difference in the performances back to back was shocking. Remake Tsugumi is the perfect balance of cute, strong-willed, emotional, hardened, (eventually) softened, and everything in between. The mere exposure effect is real and I am not immune.

Neither version has Tsugumi singing the lullaby though which makes me sad.

System

The remake is a bit hard to use because it only has 48 save slots (and 48 quick saves). If they were going to port this game in 2025 I really would have liked extra save slots. There is also a little fade-in for text so even if you set the text speed to instant you have to wait a bit (it is not instant).

The new backgrounds give off the near future vibe better than the originals but there are no variations for different floors so you will see floor 1 even though that is wrong; the original has different backgrounds for these situations. I do like that in the new background character drawings you can see girls wearing Sara's uniform, which gives legitimacy to Sara asking Yuu if she saw other kids from her school earlier (I did not see the uniform in the backgrounds in the original).

There are new locations with the fake aquarium being the most significant as the Sora projecting multiple versions of herself scene takes place here and not Karussell Delphine, and kick the can is played here and not the different locations of Drittestock. Karussell Delphine lives on in the CG of Sora riding the carousel but there is no background of it in the remake.

The other significant addition is the new background for the inside of the Qualle. In the original there are not many scenes there so there is only an image of the exterior, but in the remake Takeshi and his family members all spend more time in there cementing it as a memorable place for all of them which I quite like.

The small amount of back tachie in the remake are a nice addition although I wish it were used more. This can be said of the remake in general as the original changes expression/zoom level much more frequently and has wet tachie for each character.

Conclusion

Just like the first gacha game you get into is one of the better gacha games, it is more likely the version of the game you play first is the one you will like more. I would be surprised (though I guess not impossible) if there is an Ever17 fan who played the remake second and unequivocally liked that one more. As someone who played both the remake and the original for the first time in 2025 I found more things to like in the remake, and what I liked in the original was not enough to reverse my opinion. The spirit of Ever17 is ever present in the remake so I wish people would stop talking about how it is an affront to god even if you can reasonably say it is an affront to the original writers.

I got more than I expected from playing Ever17 in 2025 so I am extremely satisfied with my decisions. There is more I could have put in this post but I think this is enough to get my point across.

Bonus: I talk about the OPs in the order I heard them

1) LeMU 〜遙かなるレムリア大陸〜

The OG and a great song. Spoiler level in the lyrics is medium.

I actually first heard this Saekano cover version of this song. I bought the CD mostly because I was curious about the Koiwazurai cover, but the arrangement disappointed me. Then this song came on and I was overwhelmed from how good the music and vocals were. I immediately went to Twitter and followed Yahagi Sayuri. While it is a stark difference from the original and the vocals stick closer to the character voice than singing naturally (the same can be said for the album as a whole), I feel it worked in favor of creating a more austere atmosphere in contrast to the more mysterious one of the original. The drums bit before the chorus at 2:32 is pure sex. Needless to say I find myself looping the cover more.

2) レムリアに捧ぐ

This is Ever17 in song form. Spoiler level in the lyrics is medium-high. The density level is off the charts. It really feels like a song dedicated to the game as a whole. It's a Chiyomaru song in both music and lyrics through and through yet I feel like I am going through a religious experience every time I listen to it. The opening video for this is actually different between the Xbox 360 version and the remaster.

As explaining in words would take too long I have elected to include an annotated copy of the lyrics.

3) It's a fine day

A good song that gets carried even higher with Imai Asami's powerful singing voice. In good competition with the previous song in spoiler level. The ki↑ra↗me↘ku↓ in the chorus is sooo good. I like how in the OP video the dimension diagrams appear when the chorus starts because what other game could have a diagram chorus hype moment instead of a character CG? Although I gotta say Chiyo 背くサイエンス is a bit much.

#not 水増

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