#Spoilers up to 5.5

[bluuscreen]

i really like the communication pixies, they’re cute :] and hey, maybe they could be used to stay in touch when everyone goes their separate ways at the end of the series? idk, i don’t think senshi would be too into it

[cogito-dreams]

so like.

so like. hey. are we gonna talk about the fact that this discussion of 'rich folks with screwed-up perversions' involving human sacrifice is the first time we've ever seen hong lu, known rich boy from fucked up rich family, say "uh" or otherwise show this kind of hesitation and then immediately change the subject. or like are we gonna let this one slip by-

[skrunksthatwunk]

thinking about how eiji's a pole vaulter and how ash talks about eiji "flying" and how eiji's associated with bird imagery and how eiji's free (unlike ash) and how eiji comes in on a plane and leaves on a plane and how ash cannot fly, ash cannot be free, how nyc is ash's prison, and how ash is the leopard who dies climbing the mountain, unable to live at such elevation, how he was trying to reach the sky and be free but was always stuck to the earth, how he chose to die instead of climbing back down, how he chose to die where he could see the sky and hope and freedom almost like a bird with eiji's letter right in front of him rather than letting everything go wrong and ruin it once again, how eiji's a failed pole vaulter anyway, how a bad fall ruined his career and grounded him (physically and emotionally), how it took flying to america and meeting ash and needing to save him and skip for him to try flying again, how he landed hard and harsh and still the thought of that escape compelled ash to protect eiji at all costs because if he could fly that means something to him, even if he doesn't think he can fly, how eiji is the manifestation of his hope and how when he breaks and asks eiji to stay with him a while he folds himself over his legs and weighs him down and traps him and grounds him, how ash fights like hell to keep eiji alive not because he thinks he can be like him (hopeful, flying, innocent), but because he makes him forget the gravity of his situation, and so he can see eiji fly again. how he wants to see him escape. how eiji is a bird and ash is a wildcat and how ash never once saw eiji as prey. how eiji never saw ash as a predator. how it is eiji's naivete that first endears ash to him, how it is his freedom and flight and removal from darkness and his ability to leave that darkness that really roots eiji in ash's blood as something essential to him keeping on living in this hell of nyc. how it is that distance from the violence and that hope for the future that ash chooses to surround himself in as he dies. how ash dies in a dream because he feels more than anything that he can't fly like eiji, that he can never leave. how his violence is a part of him and will be forever, how it weighs him down. how he wants to enjoy the view from the mountainside rather than looking up from the ground below. as if they can both fly. as if he is with him up there and not grounded. eye-to-eye with what he can't have, seeing eiji's homeland: the sky. how he dies trying to reach the top because he couldn't take retreating and trying again. how ash, tired and tired and tired and convinced it will go on forever if he crawls back down the mountain, chooses to close his life deluged in eiji, in eiji's insistence that they can fly together, in eiji's hope for him and for them, in eiji's beautiful dream. how ash dies without trying to realize that dream. how ash, in dying, destroys it.

[viiioca]

day 5: fire

From the journal of Estelle de Laussienne, 3rd of the 5th Astral Moon, 5 7A.E. As we work on bringing the various tribes of Eorzea back into the fold – and stamping out Fandaniel's many fires – it has been enticing to imagine Ascian fingerprints on every misfortune that's ever befallen us. It's an understandable leap of logic, even, given that two or three of them have skittered out from under nearly every rock the Scions have picked up since the Calamity. It does make sense, doesn't it? The strategy was clear enough: Drive a wedge between the peoples of Eorzea, create a state of desperation in the various oppressed populations, teach them how to weaponize their own deliverance, and let the situation escalate on its impressive momentum. It all comes together with a neat little bow, tied expertly. How could we have avoided it? We were being manipulated from the start. And yet I know for a fact that the average Ul'dahn Monaterist has already considered some manner of betrayal, monopolization, or war profiteering before the breakfast kettle even whistles. When they voted to break the alliance with the Amalj'aa and eject the tribes out of Ul'dah, there was no deft hand necessary there. I doubt Elidibus ever needed to take time out of his busy schedule to convince the Syndicate to have the sultan and his wife murdered to protect their future profits. When the Ascians came to sow their seeds in the Amalj'aa, had we not already made the fields plenty fertile? Even now, Fandaniel reaps the benefits of mistakes we were all too happy to make on our own. Now that the Unsundered are gone, we are going to spend the rest of our lives – and some lives beyond these – cleaning up the mess they've left us. But even absent their influence, I have a feeling we're going to be perfectly capable of making brand new messes all by ourselves.

[roevember 2023 prompt by boreal tempest & roe fizzlebeef]

[plsleafmelon]

OK WHO THE HOLY FUCK IS JUN AND WHY IS HE DECIMATING MY TEAM SO FUCKING HARD IN MDH

all my sinners do is breathe in his direction and he goes so trigger happy like jfc the moment i see someone boutta clash w him i go full defense mode like u just see that whole bar full of evades yeah thats me fighting him

[frenchy-and-the-sea]

I can't pose in anam because I play on console, so I have to take the few crumbs that Yoshi-P gives me of Tritchet being in character around Estinien.

Cause seriously! Getting to see him again after a year without contact (thank you, time distortion on the First) made Tritchet really happy! Genuinely so! But did you know that if you give his name to the node in Azys Lla in 5.5, you also fold your arms and scowl to mimic him, and he stares at you for a solid ten seconds before telling you to knock it off?

Absolutely canon Tritchet interaction.

[possum-tooth]

oh fuck i forgot about succession

[thevoidstaredback]

Spoiler took her cue about five minutes after Batman left for the Watchtower to ride into the Cave. The heroes were with Robin by the display of their costumes, paying special respect to Jason's memorial. She made sure to rev the engine of her bike further down the tunnel to announce her arrival.

"Spoiler," Robin greeted her after she'd parked and pulled off her helmet. "These are some of the heroes in the Justice League. They were invited by Batman and Nightwing to come see the Cave."

Spoiler grinned widely at the group, "Hey! Nice to meet you all, I'm Spoiler." She'd never met the group during her few months as Robin, but her suit sta proudly between Tim's and Damian's.

"We weren't aware that there was another hero working in Gotham," Martian Manhunter nodded to her in greeting.

She gasped, her right hand moving do sit directly on the purple bat on her chest. "There are heroes operating in Gotham?" At the confused looks from the group, she cackled and dropped her hand to sit on her hip, leaning her weight more onto her left foot. "We're vigilantes in Gotham. We work outside the law, not alongside it."

"But, Batman-"

"-works with the law when working with the Justice League," Robin cut Cyborg off, successfully pulling everyone's attention to him.

As soon as their eyes were off of her, Cass switched out with her. It was seamless. SpoilerBat (Cass as Spoiler) emerged from her place in the darkest shadows of the Batplane, tapping Spoiler on the shoulder and pointing to the training room. She caught Robin's eye as Spoiler left, nodding and using the LoA signs to tell him the switch was done.

Robin nodded and continued his explanation of the displays, not naming anyone. "Batman's suits are all lined up on the upper tier. He improves them based on his needs and the changes of technology he has at his disposal, resulting in the nine suits you see, as well as the tenth that he's currently wearing. Robin's and Batgirl's suits are lined upon the middle tier. From left to right we have Robin 1, Batgirl 1, Robin 2," He didn't mention that this one was obviously a memorial. "Batgirl 2, Robin 3, Robin 4, Batgirl 3, Batgirl 4, Robin 5.1, Robin 5.2, Robin 5.3, Robin 5.4, and Robin 5.5." He adjusted his stance as SpoilerBat came to stand next to him.

"The lower tier are suits for others in Gotham," she explained, expertly ignoring the whispers about her being a different person a few minutes ago, "Same order: Discowing, Nightwing 1, Nightwing 2, Nightwing 3, Nightwing 4, Redwing, and Nightwing 5." she pointed as she named them, skipping over all five of Jason's suits, as well as the sixth empty one for his current costume, "Red Robin 0, Red Robin 1, Red Robin 2, Red Robin 3, Red Robin, 4, Drake, Red Robin 5, Spoiler, Black Bat, Orphan, Signal." Of the named suits, four suits were missing; Nightwing 5, Red Robin 5, Robin 5.5, and Spoiler.

Because the stealth suits were made specifically to be stealthy, they were never displayed in the open. Instead, they were kept in the locker rooms. No one who didn't know they had them knew any of them were even missing.

"Why are there so many?" Superman wondered.

"We all operate out of the Batcave." Robin stated as though it were obvious, "Our costumes change as we need them to."

"So," Flash began, getting close to the displays but no touching them, "Who all shares costumes? Or do they all belong to different people?"

Robin and SpoilerBat shared a quick look, neither wanting to explain. Let them think what they want. Skewing the numbers via omission will only help their plans along, as well as work to keep their identities.

Moving on, Robin told of how the penny and the dinosaur had come to be in the Cave. He warned to keep away from the edges because of the chasm.

"Chasm?" Aquaman had a smirk on his face, "Why do you need a chasm?"

"To keep the dragons." Robin said. he and SpoilerBat led the way to the garage. "The platform the Batplane rises and lowers as needed. The area above it is a door that can only be opened via remote in the plane itself or via command on the Batcomputer. Over there is the garage. The Batmobile, the Batcycle, the Wingcycle, Ricochet, the Redbird, the Batpod, the Spoilermobile, and Spoiler's motorcycle. Honestly, he turned to SpoilerBat, speaking to Spoiler, "You still haven't named your motorcycle?"

SpoilerBat shrugged.

Green Arrow took his time to look over every present vehicle. "Impressive. None of these are mainstream."

"That's because they're all custom made." Robin preened.

"Really?" Flash asked, bouncing like an excited puppy, "Which one's yours, little man?"

Robin scowled, but didn't address the name. "The Batcycle is the one I am permitted to use. Although, Batman has given his consent for me to drive the Batmobile in case of emergencies."

Cyborg was looking over Ricochet, Red Hood's bike, closely. "This doesn't look like any of the others."

"How do you mean?" SpoilerBat tilted her head slightly to the right.

"It's got the obvious base of a Harley Davidson," he pointed out, "It's also a lot less tech focused than the others."

"The second Robin build that bike from scratch," Robin said shortly, "Do not touch it."

"Right, sorry."

SpoilerBat decided to lead the way to the training area. Robin followed behind the group.

The training area was a clump of four offshoots from the main area of the lower level of the Batcave. The widest area was full of standard gym equipment. In the offshoot to the left was a taller cavern full of gymnastics equipment. The offshoot to the right was weapons training. The offshoot directly across from the main area was for sparring matches on mats or in the ring.

Wonder Woman regarded the gymnastics set up with a keen eye. "You all are trained, yes?" SpoilerBat nodded. "Can we see a routine?"

"Sure," SpoilerBat said. She stepped up to the starting point of the obstical course they had yet to take down from last week. Taking a deep breath, she began. About halfway through, she was out of the heroes' sight long enough to land in the rafters that Duke, Tim, and Steph and occupied temporarily. When she landed, Steph jumped down to continue the routine as Spoiler.

Having finished the routine, Spoiler landed, breathed again, and then jogged to rejoin Robin and the Justice League. A minute nod from the littlest bat let her know that the visiting heroes didn't see the switch. "So, what'dya think?"

Green Lantern did a double take. After a few false starts, he finally managed, "Are-are you a different person?"

Spoiler tilted her head to the right in a perfect imitation of Cass. "What're ya talking about? I'm the same me you met!"

Green Lantern didn't say anything more, choosing instead to follow the others as they explored the sparring mats and the weapons room.

Green Arrow and Martian Manhunter were the ones to take the most interest in this room. The wall on either side of the opening was dedicated to storing all kinds of weapons. The left side of the wall directly opposite the opening was a shooting range for all kinds of ranged weapons. The rest of the room housed training dummies.

"Let me guess," Aquaman admired the shorter ranged weapons, "You all forged these on your own, as well?"

Robin scoffed and crossed his arms. "Of course not. The swords were gifted to me by the finest of swordsmiths. The daggers as well."

"Yeah," Spoiler nodded along, "The only ones we actually produced are the Bird and Batarangs."

"Where do you get the materials?" Martian Manhunter inquired, holding one of the Batarangs to the light.

"There wasn't always a chasm." Red Robin said from where Robin had been standing. The Justice League heroes all whipped to look at him, dropping into ready stances. Red Robin held his hands up but didn't flinch or move back otherwise. "Whoa there, calm down. What spooked ya."

"Where's Robin?" Superman demanded.

Red Robin and Spoiler looked at each other. "What'd ya mean?" she asked, "He's right here."

"No," Flash looked between the two, around the room, and then back to Red Robin, "Robin is a child. You, decidedly, are not."

Red Robin huffed. "Are you okay? 'Cause I've been here the whole time?"

"Really?" Superman asked.

"Yeah," Red Robin crossed his arms. "Spoiler can vouch for me."

"Ah, but she can't!" Green Lantern pointed as though he'd caught them in a trap. "She's been switched out with someone else!"

Again, the two Gothamites shared a look behind their masks. "Alright," Red Robin shrugged, "This is an enclosed space with exactly one accessible exit-" if you don't know your way around, that is, "-if we were being switched out, where would they hide and why wouldn't Superman have been able to hear them?"

The answer is the sheer number of bats. The rafters are high and hidden enough in the ceilings that they blend in with the natural formations. The bats hang from the rafters. Because there are so many of the animals, and because of their training and spite, the Batfam have been able to hide their heartbeats within the throws of bats'. Superman's hearing would be able to pick up any sound that doesn't match with the nocturnal animals. The flutter of a cape could easily be the flutter of a bat's wings. The heartbeats that are slightly too slow are easily taken to be an older, sleeping bat. Movement is just a bat that's been disturbed.

The heroes were all quiet as Superman listened intently. Then, after a few minutes, he sighed and shook his head. "I can't hear anything out of the ordinary."

"But-!" Flash tried.

Red Robin shook his head. "If you guys are too paranoid about being here, we can take you back to the Zeta Tubes. I don't think we'd be able to convince B to let you come back here, though."

"No," Wonder Woman composed herself, "We apologise. Please, continue."

Hesitant, RR turned to take them to the large med bay. "Alright, if you're sure."

Part 5 Part 7

[the-witchhunter]

Masterpost for all the DP x DC vodkas y’all have suggested and I’ve made… (so far?)

Previous post here

Burger/batburger/nasty burger

Beefy followed by pickle. Not the worst thing I’ve put in my body. Mainly just weird and combine with tomato juice and a float of smoky scotch it tastes like a backyard cookout burger and is a decent drink.

5.5/10 it’s not the worst but you’ll probably not make it again. Shoutout to @stealingyourbones for making this with me

Ranch 2 (ectoplasm)

Salty af and tastes like vodka and ranch. Unironically makes a good Bloody Mary but not recommended on its own. It’s just ranch seasoning and green food dye. Hard to rank because not good as a shot but mixes well in savory drinks 6/10? Unless you really like ranch and/or Bloody Marys it’s not really worth making again

Dick(Grayson)/fruity pebbles

I mainly just think it’s funny to call itDick flavored so bonus point there. It’s literally just soaking fruity pebbles for a couple minutes in vodka and straining. It tastes great, it’s freaking fruity pebbles 8/10 definitely worth making again. Mix with sprite or just do shots. If you want a stronger flavor soak fresh cereal instead of soaking longer

Jason’s Pit Rage

Raspberries, sugar, and a Serrano pepper. Spicy and grassy flavored up front balanced by the red berry flavors of raspberry and the sweetness. Actually really good and could easily replace the Serrano with a chipotle pepper to add a smoky note. 9/10 do make this one. Good as a shot, on the rocks, or as an addition to a margarita

Green apple (ectoplasm)

Apple jolly ranchers and vodka. It’s good. I don’t think this will surprise anyone. Sweet, apple flavor, it’s welcome if you bring it to most parties 7/10

Lemon/lime(ectoplasm)

Lemon lime kool aid packet and about 375ml of vodka. Add sugar if you want it to be drinkable because I, a fool, forgot for a second and boy it tasted kind of chemical in a way cheap vodka, artificial citrus flavor, and citric acid only can. Sugar, actually makes it taste good. Like a very boozy sprite flavor 6.5/10

Waffle (Steph Brown/Spoiler)

Brown butter washed vodka sweetened with pancake syrup. Don’t use real maple syrup. This is going for waffle crisp cereal taste and you’re going to get closer with pancake syrup than the real thing, or even light brown sugar. 7/10 its fun and tastes nice

And that’s all I got so far. Overall these have all been surprisingly okay to even delicious. Thanks to everyone that made suggestions it’s been interesting at the very least. I might revisit this soon considering I still have vodka and jars

Let me know if you try any of these

[ebonysplendor]

There's Something Wrong With Sunny Day Jack (Demo) Review🌤️

TL;DR: Sunny days, keeping the clouds awaaaaaay~! ... Okay, but like what if our cloud is the "sunny day", and it won't go away? Do we even want it to at this point...?

Game Link: https://snaccpop-studios.itch.io/sunny-day-jack

Game Link (classic): https://snaccpop-studios.itch.io/sdj-classic

Notable Features: Gender Neutral language, Self-Insert, Yandere LI, Voice Acting, Create a cup of froyo ... yo Spiciness: 5.5/5 -- Let me tell you! It's a whole scene going down in this thing, okay?! FULLY delivered. The literal only thing that would've made this any spicier is if you saw it. You kinda do, but it's just out of frame. LI Red Flags: 3/5 -- Manipulation, possessive, lowkey obsessive, implied violence and possession, but like, I'm pretty sure I can fix him, so whatever, ya know?

Wanna know more? Lmao naaah. Not if you aren't at least 18, and I mean that. There is a WHOLE spicy scene in here. This one's for the adulty adults. Anyways, if you don't care about my yapping and/or you're in the 18+ club, let's get into it!

Okay, okay, okay, I know, yeah, I know, but listen...I'm only getting around to making the review now.

Okay, okay, okay, wait, stop, listen. I know that this game is damn near two years old, but I didn't start getting into reading visual novels until last year, and I didn't start taking the plunge to make reviews until this year so... :P

ANYWAYS! I do have news that you may not know yet! When I was looking for exactly how old this game is, I stumbled upon a little news~

As of me typing this (which was on the 28 August at about 9:30pm, but who knows when I'll actually post this review lmao), the game was updated an hour ago. I'm talking this shit is fresh out of the box! So, naturally, I went scouring for a download button...but then it occurred to me that that message said that it was for the $12+ tier of their patreon supporters. Not gonna lie, the spicy scene in that damn game has got a girl tempted, okay? But the way my bills are set up...

Okay, anyways, getting back on track because I've started yappin'. I'm going to go ahead and jump into this thing because, let me tell you, if you're like me, and you're late to this game, you've gotta hear about it! Granted, the download to the version that I'm talking about isn't available anymore (at least for the public/non $12 patrons), but the classic version is! I don't know how different it is though ^^;

Admittedly, because this game is almost two years old and because there's not a download link available currently, I might spoil it just a little so that you're not left too much in the dark about the game, especially since, again, the download link isn't available. That being said, it may still be spoiler friendly because habit lol.

But you get it by this point. Let's stop talking and start summarizing. Let's get into it!

So boom.

Basically, we're being...haunted?, we guess?...by this very attractive, but frankly super cheesy, children's TV show host. How'd it happened? We aren't really sure. We just remembered that we got some weird tape and was like "Huh...okay", watched it, and boom, here he is. Speaking of "he" and "here he is", here he is!

Everyone, this is the bae, Sunny Day Jack, but he doesn't mind being called just "Jack", so refer to him as such.

Jack has kind've been rocking with us for a few months at this point, and admittedly, it was very poor but really great timing. The reason why that is the case is because we had experienced something pretty tragic, and we were having a really hard time getting over it, but honestly? Jack's child-like explanation of working through problems and explaining emotions actually came in clutch, because we were lowkey able to get this far because of him. That being said...our relationship with him is getting a little blurred -- more than a little.

Ya see, things kind've...escalated between us, and we honestly aren't sure if we're glad that we got called into work or if we're pissed about it. Like, the undertones have been there for a while, but it was only today that those undertones became more pronounced and obvious. I mean, the man had his tongue-- ANYWAYS!

So, we go into work where our asshole manager ditches us because apparently the things that he has to do is way more important than us having a day off from babysitting and picking up the slack of our lazy ass co-workers. The only upside to this is that the day is likely to be slow because of the rain and that we're alone, meaning that we can openly talk to Jack.

Oh, now that I think about it, I forgot something super crucial -- we can see and hear Jack. More specifically, we can touch him, feel him, smell him, fuck him, the works, but, for whatever reason, others can't do the same. I guess it's like...medium privileges or being a ghost's host perks or something? Anyways, I'm getting off track. Gonna stop it there before I start spouting some stupid shit.

We kind've flashback to what happened right before our boss called, and whoo boi, does that steamy feeling come back full force. It's weird, because it's like Jack can read our mind about how we felt so comfortable and so safe and so protected and, frankly, so curious about him and what all went down in that moment. Jack basically reassures us that the feelings that we have are okay, and what would be best described as "love". Oh...oh, haha, uh...

"Nah, dawg, it's not love."

"Well...do you love me?"

AYO? I beg your finest pardon, sir!? Like, he's just gonna come out the woodwork with that shit?!

Regardless, he's still reassuring us that, "It's okay if you see me as bae" and we're just "We're roommates, dude, and seeing someone as bae is way more complicated than you're making it sound!" He pretty much just laughs it off and is like "Well, either way, I'll be here. Always. I'm not going anywhere. Ever. I'll be anything and everything that you need". Oof, that is...a bold ass claim, and one that we're not so entirely sure we should trust...but damn does it feel good to hear those words and have some support...anyways.

Our work day continues, we run into this awkwardly cute guy (I'll explain more later), our whore of an ex-boyfriend called and ruined our fucking mood, Jack lays down some more heavy words of reassurance, and the day goes onto the next.

Unfortunately, we land ourselves back at work, but fortunately without the "un-", we are alone and can freely talk to Jack again. Like mentioned, the guy is a ghost, but he's so very real, just not to others, which can be super disorienting sometimes; this is one of those sometimes. Jack wanted us to make him a yogurt and...oof, his reaction was...

...less than thrilled. Disgusted, even. Horrified.

Now, this doesn't sound like a huge detail or issue, but he actually got a bit scary here because, what is this shit that he's spouting about us "not being that type of person anymore" and "being better than that, now"? Like, when I say that this man -- clown? ghost? -- had a full shift in personality, and it was just...fear in his eyes, desperation in his voice? Like, he looked and sounded absolutely haunted and terrified of something. Like, this was beyond the horror in a cup that we apparently made him experience; it only triggered it.

Thankfully, although awkward, he easily moves past this saying that the combination of flavors just threw him off, and a customer walks in to provide a diversion for an extra layer of safety.

Oh! It's that awkward but polite cutie from the other day!

When we see him, or rather when we hear the door, we say our awkward ass, lame ass greeting, and it's kind've an opener for him to start some super brief small talk. He eventually takes the plunge and shoots his shot. Now, personally, I think the guy is damned adorbs, but at the same time, it's just...it's too soon. That mixed with this whole thing we've got going on with Jack...

We're pretty conflicted on how to answer, un-- Wait, huh? What did...?

Did-- Wait, Jack wants us to tell him that we have a boyfriend? And what does he mean that "it doesn't even have to be a lie"? ... He said the thing again, too. That thing about being whatever he wants us to be.

This is so anxiety inducing, too, because it's like, first off, we weren't expecting to hear him talking to us, and second, we can't acknowledge him in any shape, way, or form. Jack is quite literally looming right behind us, whispering in our ear, and we cannot so much as look his way without the guy in front of us thinking that we've completely lost our shit. Even still, our feelings for Jack have been complicated lately. Should we even take that plunge? Something about doing that doesn't seem right, though...

...We tell the guy that we don't have a boyfriend. Before he gets his hopes up too much, though, we tell him that we aren't really looking for anything right now, either. The guy leaves. The store is quiet, and we're left with alone with Jack with that awkwardness from earlier back in the air at full force; he's the first one to speak.

He apologizes and starts asking if he's pushed anything onto us that we didn't want. Before we can really answer though, he apologizes again. He explains that he thought that he was speaking in terms of what we wanted, but he keeps going back and forth like he's trying to find the right words but also figure out where he misunderstood; better yet, and more accurately, he's trying to figure out why he misunderstood in the first place. The poor guy is honestly so pitiful at this point, and we try to stop him from rambling and reach out for him... but our hand falls right through him.

Obviously, we start panicking, and Jack explains to us that he doesn't want to do anything that we don't want him to do nor feel comfortable with, and if it's him that we don't feel comfortable with and it's him that we don't want...this is what happens.

Okay, now, we're past the point of panicking; we're on the verge of tears because had we known us saying "No, I don't have a boyfriend" meant that Jack would start questioning if we actually wanted him around and fading away, we would've never said it. True to his optimistic nature, Jack reassures us that he's not "fading away" or "disappearing", and we're just like "Dude, piss off with that. Now, is not the time" because it's like, bro, this isn't a joke or us not wanting to get up for work; this is serious.

Jack chills with the reassurance and explains that he understands that we're serious, but that this isn't an issue that he can fix himself. Jack basically said that our words -- better yet our acceptance or denial of him -- are very weighted and that the only way to fix what's going on right then and there is to reaffirm that we accept him being there and truly meaning it, and that's only because he doesn't want to do anything that we don't want or need from him.

Even still, do we really trust him fully enough to do this? He's not the kind of guy to hurt us, is he? I mean, it's Sunny Day Jack. Then again, we also thought the same about---

"Hey."

"Yeah, Jack?"

"I know it's scary, I honestly do, but you can trust me. All I want is to be with you, protect you, and make you happy; that's what I'm here for."

All of that sounds so nice, too nice, but...

Can we trust him so easily...?

We really shouldn't...

But that horrible, heartbreaking moment...

That pain that Jack somehow made bearable, took away even...

That companionship he gave us in the place of loneliness...

His comfort...

His gaze...

What's wrong with feeling good? Why doubt him, and why feel like this unique and irreplicable connection is a bad thing? It's like Jack said: these feelings are okay; it's normal. There's nothing wrong with this.

...Right?

Y'all. You all. Guys. Gays. Theys. People. Friends. MY friends. SQUAD. (all right, enough...)

Hot and bothered, bothered and hot. Like, please allow me like 3 - 5 sentences of degeneracy. Between Jack and Ren (iykyk) ... Ren still laid down the pipe better but Jack?? Jack was a damned close second. Like, did you see the way that man was looking in our eyes and holding us? Then he's so big and masculine looking and ahhhhh~! That is BAE right there!

Anyways, getting back on track, when I had to go back and get those screenshots, what should've taken me like 5 - 10 minutes took me like 30+ minutes because I had to relive these moments. I had to relive this story! Like I mentioned earlier, the game is damn near two years old, but it reads like new, you feel me? The story, the implications, the art style, the scenes, the drama -- ahhh! I LIVE. I ASCEND. Like, when these developers hit the mark, they hit the damned mark with such precision!

I'm pretty sure that it's been mentioned at this point, but do you know what I loved the most about this visual novel (degeneracy aside, of course lol)? The subtle but oddly specific ass details that you're sure to miss or gloss over if you're not paying attention. I'm talking those details that you probably wouldn't catch until you've already read it once, seen how things have panned out, and then read through it again. Like, how it described us feeling cold whenever we thought about Jack leaving or fading away from us, or how the air would feel like syrup or cotton candy whenever he spoke to us, or how we'd get all warm in the most literal sense whenever Jack was near, or feel full, or completed, or -- the list honestly goes on. Like, there's a lot of allusion to being slowly corrupted/possessed by Jack, because this guy is a ghost, remember? Yeah, I had lowkey forgot, too.

Those specifically subtle details really made the story come together, and once I caught onto what was going on, I was just like, bro, the signs were there! I'd have to say that my absolute favorite "subtle" sign was when Jack always seemed to know exactly what we were thinking, almost like he was able to read our thoughts, but as soon as we started to "reject" him, all of a sudden he wasn't exactly sure what we thought. He went from responding to our thoughts to questioning what we may have been thinking about. Like, what? Go the eff off SnaccPop!

I love this visual novel, I love this visual novel, I love this visual novel, I love this frickin visual novel. I could ramble and geek way more but I'm gonna start wrapping it up before I start yappin' too, too much. Just allow me a few more sentences, a paragraph or two, please.

I. Cannot. Wait! For the full and official release! I am so excited to see how the team is going to mold this story and how things are going to pan out. I'm excited to see how and if we're able to get away from Jack because, at this point, he has a damned strong hold on us, but I'm speculating that our horror movie fanatic and director friend is going to come in clutch for this one.

If it was not obvious (and honestly, if you were somehow later to this game than I was) 100/10 would recommend, and I am recommending. It is so good, and I really hope that I'm not over hyping it, because the foundation that has been built for this story is so damned solid. Like I mentioned way earlier, unfortunately, you can't play the (free) updated demo anymore, but you can still play the classic one; I just don't know how different it is compared to the new version. Either way, I'll give you the link to both just in case (Update | OG). If you're able, definitely give them that monetary support and play the updated version. Hell, tell ME how it is because...I really don't want to put off my bills but, at this point, Jack has me in a fucking chokehold all over again. What's an extra, unplanned $12 at this point? Also, if able, visit the game's page and give SnaccPop that ever so encouraging but thirsty "NEED. MOAR. I mean, you take your time because perfection can't be rushed, and I know you all are people with a life and other responsibilities and such, BUT I NEED. MOAR. IT'S SO GOOD. STAND AND DELIEVER. ...please UwU I beg OTL"

Meh, that was highkey three paragraphs, but I'm not gonna split it so it can still be the two paragraphs that I requested. Lol sorry for pushing it there, but I'm done now! Promise. No more yappin'. The yap has been concluded, and I'm gonna go ahead and head out.

Big preesh for getting this far, and please, remember to drink water, don't be dumb, and hope to see you around~!

Something's Wrong with Sunny Day Jack (Updated; download not available to public)

Something's Wrong with Sunny Day Jack (Classic; download available)

[vincentcipherstrange]

As an XY enjoyer, I was holding out hope for new Kalos games rather than Unova remakes. And Apparently I was right to do so! Now with the new game announcement, it means some things to me and I have predictions/thoughts.

(more under the cut in case.... future spoilers)

1. It seems like it's set in the modern day, potentially not long before or after the originals. So We probably get to see more Sycamore. Which. Yes please. Gimme. I would like to see my boy.

2. If it's set not long after the originals, Potentially a Lysandre return. Or mention. There's no way he's DEAD dead. So they better do him justice. He got flubbed in the original games.

3. MORE KALOS LORE! FINALLY! 11/12 YEARS (when Legends ZA releases) AFTER XY PROPER!

4. The cancelled event Pokémon, AZ's Floette, might ACTUALLY be obtainable this time around! (Which also means the return of event mythicals like Volcanion, Hoopa, and Diancie)

4.5 which also means if you have Xerneas, Yveltal, and Zygarde from either the original games or the shinies from Go, USUM Ultra Wormholes, or SWSH Dynamax Adventures, they can probably be brought over!

5. Zygarde might be the big bad you have to defeat this time around, using Xerneas and Yveltal to stop them. Probably controlled by someone like Xerosic. (think like Ultra Necrozma in USUM, or Eternatus in SW/SH)

5.5 that being said, Xerneas and Yveltal may get new powered up forms (potentially Megas) as a boost to calm the rampaging Zygarde

6. Sycamore actually participates in Story Events with the player. Because he might feel bad for asking so much of them the first time. (It's a stretch but a Sycamore lover can dream. I want to see him be a badass like in the anime. Give him his Garchomp)

7. Team Flare might still be kicking around, though subdued a bit depending on how long after the originals it's been. Maybe some new faces in there. Malva is probably the one running things with Lysandre being MIA.

8. It might be revealed that Kalos and Paldea did have beef in the past, which is where Paldea's crater came from. Bringing Paldean pokemon into Kalos may strike up new dialogue. (If paldean 'mons can be transferred over, that is. If that's the case though Terapagos, Ogerpon, and the Sandwich Dragons are going to be nerfed. HARD. Especially the small Terastal Turtle.) (i wanna see Sycamore's reaction to a Clodsire or Terapagos. He'd love the little guys.)

9. New megas, but that's kinda obvious. I'm thinking some i want to see are going to be Rapidash, Talonflame, and the original Box Art Legends.

10. It may be revealed that Sycamore and Lysandre did have a little fling, if not a full on relationship before the weapon incident. They gave us Brassius and Hassel in SV. And implied one with ORAS Maxie and Archie. You know what we want, Gamefreak.

(bonus) 11. A Paldean character might appear for a side quest.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'm holding out hope. But just the fact we're getting more Kalos stuff at all is enough to make me happy. It gets glossed over far too much.

[heliotropepajamas-books]

Green Ice - First Fanbinding Project

After having ArmoredSuperHeavy’s How To Make A Book From An AO3 Page instructions open in a tab on my phone for nearly a full year, I decided it was finally time to give it a shot.  I started with one of my favorite, comfort-read fics, and while I still have a lot to learn I’m quite pleased with how it turned out for a first try.

 The Fic: Green Ice by Adina ( @figtreeandvine​ here on tumblr) https://archiveofourown.org/works/255163

This is a cross-over between Bertie Wooster and Lord Peter Wimsey - let’s hear it for tiny fandoms!  The story is told from Bertie’s point of view, which the author captures perfectly, and while I can’t give away the twist at the end without major spoilers it is so, so good.

The Binding: This is a quarto size (quarter US letter, so around 4.25 x 5.5 inches or  10.8 x 14 cm) typeset in LibreOffice using Garamond for the body and AR Bonnie for the titles.  I learned so much while putting the typeset together!  The book itself is made out of scraps scavenged from library discard bins and decorative papers that are probably old enough to get their learner’s permit in several states.  Flatback case binding made with a variation on the bradel binding method (the only real difference is heavy card for the spine piece instead of book board)  

Since the story is set in the 20s I was going for an older look, and given the title it had to be green.

Things to improve: the print quality could be upped a bit, I need to figure out trimming textblocks, and I had to do a bit of patchwork on the inside of the spine when I was too generous cutting relieving darts.  But all in all I am super pleased with how it turned out.  Now on to the next project!

[frostythefrostedfox]

Spoiler Alert for Inside Out 2, you've been warned, if you keep reading from here on, that's entirely on you friendo

Nuff time has passed, and I know it's only been like a week, but in internet time that is like 500 days

Inside out 2 was mid as fuck, not even Harry Potter makes me snooze this hard; is literally the first movie, with the same problems with the added problem of constant retcons and a super unsatisfactory ending. I would give it a 5.5/10, at least Blue Beetle made me feel something other than annoyance, even if that emotion was anger

I guess pixar wasn't lying, they are truly trying to massify the appeal of their new stuff by basically copypasting "The Current Trend TM" into the movie where it fits or not. What is this, a modern sonic videogame?

The scene in question was very well done, it felt very real, but don't forget there is still 85 minutes of movie to consider, and I bet it'll be just like the first one, where nobody remembers absolutely anything from the movie except for that one specific scene, the ending and the ending alone.

I really thought that pixar was onto something with Cars 3, when things seemed magical yet real, when the life lesson of the movie was something that is usually hard to hear, but no, instead we got "Be selfish and lie, that'll get you what you want", because that's exactly what the ending does by giving Riley what she wanted instead of punishing her for her blatantly shitty actions and being an even worse friend, nope, instead everything is solved with a hug and everyone's cool with her, what is accountability am I right?.

Joy apparently learned absolutely nothing from the first movie because now she has even more control and is doing even worse shit than before, in the first one she was just a control freak that kept the other emotions from doing anything, but in the second one she is even worse, now she straight up tries to make Riley forget things so she can create an idealized version that fits her perfect ideal of who Riley is, is like her whole take of the first movie wasn't that there has to be room for other emotions and that it is okay to not be happy all the time, her take seem to be that you should absolutely get rid of everything that doesn't makes you happy because that's just easier than acknoledge your mistakes, lie to yourself every single day of your life, that'll make you happy! And the least said about how Starbucks Karen coded she is in this movie compared to the first one, the better

I am not even going to talk about the huge ammount of inconsistencies with the first movie that were just shoved in for unknown reasons, like Nostalgia, did y'all forgot that Nostalgia is the emotion that Riley discovers at the end of the first movie when the memories of her past are a mix of sadness and happiness?

And lastly the marketing, it was the most corporate thing I've ever seen since the garfield movie, ew, never thought anyone could ever do it worse. Just product placement in bigger brands so they can hijack your attention for a couple of seconds while you consume another product and secure their money by force-exposing everyone to their movie. If those had been stand-alone ads I wouldn't have a problem, because that is the point of advertisement, to sell you something, and we know what happens when you barely show the movie you're trying to make money out of, like Elemental, but y'all could at least pretended to believe in your own product's ability to stand on its own two legs instead of ductaping it to literally every other brand that was popular enough at the time.

[diospore]

MHA 430, no real spoilers to the ending but I'm also discussing my au ideas under the break too so that's why I tagged spoilers and added the bar, because there's a variety of spoilers.

That was fine I guess, could've been worse... Sad no dfo but I kinda gave up on that being good 10 chapters ago. Insert Thanos I'll do it myself gif.

5.5-6/10.

I'm gonna start my analysis + reread on Saturday I think?

Here's thoughts I already have:

- Reduce amount of students in 1-A. I realized that I can't handle 20+ main characters lol. My original idea was 5, but I've got it down to 10 by fusing characters. Izuku, Aoyama, Uraraka, Shoto, and Bakugo remain the same. I'm going to review the fusions and draw them later...

Fusions:

Sero/Kaminari/Kirishima (Reason: I get them mixed up a lot.)

Iida/Momo/Ojiro (Rich kid + I like Ojiro)

Jiro/Tokoyami/Shoji (Characters with a "dark vibe" ((emo lol)))

Mina/Tsu (I'd feel bad having one and not the other)

Koda/Sato (Honestly they're here because they're the ones I think of when I think "they got shoved aside" as well as Ojiro but I like him more.) ((... Also combine their names and you get Soda....))

Most likely to be cut: Ojiro, Sato, Koda, Sero

Cut: Mineta (Obvious reasons), Hagakure (I couldn't think of anything)

I swear there's logic here but I'm unable to explain it better lol. I'm eepy.

- Bakugo will be expelled from UA in the first arc, perhaps that'll be the conclusion of it. Possibly return in a later arc, I'm thinking the vigilante arc? Minor character. Basically a starter antagonist before the stakes ramp up.

(Results in the same amount of students as OFA users! Which I think is a nice parallel.)

- First arc will be about the class bonding since I really wanted more 1-A bonding scenes. Mainly about them helping each other. (I. E. Izuku opening up about being bullied, the class helping Shoto with the Endeavor situation, etc.) Bakugo's role will be getting in the way of this. Minor antagonist.

- LOV shouldn't be introduced until after a bond is established. Sorry Shiggy my beloved, you must wait.

- All for One dies in Kamino equivalent. (Unsure of how to set this up w/o Bakugo, maybe Midoriya's the one kidnapped?) Sorry AFO I love you so so much, but I'm killing you off. You're op as hell and the kill should be All Might's. You can come back and possess people later if you're good.

- DFO will be there as well as reducing the role AFO played in Shigaraki's backstory. Increase the role in Midoriya's life (negative).

- Aizawa will have a bit of a tweak, he'll be less physically violent with the students. (Less scarf grabby, only in extreme circumstances) Also I think having a lasting injury from the Oboro incident would be a nice touch. Give him a House MD vibe with a cane??? God I fucking loved House. Gay and homophobic, what an icon.

- Eventually I want Endeavor to go to prison or face some form of consequence. Maybe death. I was also thinking about him being tricked into helping AFO out of desperation for that number one spot. Bakugo takes his place for redemption arc?

- I don't really want to kill Midnight off... Or Twice... Or like. Any of the LOV. Need to think about that... But I know Twice's death was very important, so I might have to get over it somehow.

Not saying there won't be death, it just has to make more sense to me.

-

Wrote most of this at 2 am lol so this is probably incoherent. It's not a critique of the series, it's just my idea for the au. Like I get that classes have like 20 people in them. And that characters die. That villains die even if they're children.

I think if I plan this in arcs, I'll have the best chance of finishing it.

[hollowtones]

i can't find the vods for the rest of your endwalker playthrough (if you even did stream the rest) so i was wondering, what were your opinions on 6.0? (also what were your reactions to That urianger scene)

I think I only did like one or two streams of it. It ran kinda bad when I streamed it, people didn't want to watch it, and I wasn't getting much out of streaming it compared to just playing it on my own time. That and I think I had a really severe depressive episode at the time (for unrelated reasons).

IDK if anyone's still trying to avoid spoilers but I'll throw it under a read-more.

It's been a while since I last played so my memory's kind of spotty. I liked it, though. It felt like a satisfying conclusion to what they've been getting at since 2.0 MSQ, and a nice little dialogue on despair and exhaustion and depression and hope, and finding ways to carry on and keep living and keep loving and keep trying. I feel like that's when the game's overall writing and theming tends to be at its strongest (yes I liked the Dark Knight questlines haha).

I remember having mixed feelings about how they pulled off the Garlemald segment & the "Alphinaud and Alisaie's shit head dad" plotline but I don't remember enough of the specifics to really elaborate on that.

Alisaie has lesbian college admirers and I thought that was funny.

I came out of 5.5 MSQ expecting White Woman Jumpscare Hydaelyn to be a little trite but I ended up really liking Venat. I felt kinda whatever about Emet-Selch coming back, but I didn't hate what they did with him I guess, and his earless-Viera boy toy was fun. Fandaniel felt like The Joker but he still felt like a fine first-act villain. The way they write him (& Meteion) in the later chunk of the game felt more interesting to me, & felt like a fun play on "Shadowbringers"-era Emet-Selch's whole "AMAUROT, BABY! GREATEST CITY IN DA WORLD, BABY! SLIMES ALL OVER DA STREET, BABY!" nostalgia. It was funny when he was The Joker, though.

Final area was thematically and visually really interesting. I'm excited we got more stuff related to Omega & I'm glad we got more "btw the dragons are aliens" stuff. I've seen a lot of people forget about that, for whatever reason. That one area right by the end that was completely desolate, with no people & no indication of who lived there, was a really good setpiece. The Namazu canonically suffer in all possible dimensions and all possible worlds and you cannot help but laugh out loud.

I kind of rolled my eyes at Zenos coming back. "By the way he's a Reaper now" felt like it amounted to nothing, but admittedly I never did the Reaper questline or the post-6.0 stuff. Getting to punch him in the face at the end was fun.

Music was good, I liked the way they played with different motifs & I really like how that comes to a head in the final boss fight.

I was expecting moon rabbits to be grating and insufferable but I liked them. I fucking love that none of this planet's moons are normal. Why are they both orbital prison-ships. I love it.

Zodiark's design owned and Hydaelyn's design was okay. Very Yoshitaka Amano design, which makes sense given how he did that one boxart for "A Realm Reborn" & she looks a lot like she does there, but I kinda wish she got to look more monstrous and weird. She kept talking up becoming a monster to do what she felt was right!!! I wish that had informed her design a little more.

Hamburgers exist & I do like that the animators got to livingly render G'raha Tia going to town on one like those weird clips of anime girls where it looks like they've never eaten in their lives.

I don't remember what you mean by "the Urianger scene". LOL

You didn't ask, but the crafting/gathering questlines were a lot of fun. I feel like they (& the guildleves) added some fun extra context to everything going on while I was going through the MSQ.

I liked it overall. I don't think it's the highest point of the game's writing, but I had a good time and felt very satisfied by the time it came to a close.

[chickenmetenders]

💝💕💘 [ FALL(ING)DOWN FOR YOU ] 💖💌💞

Happy White Day! To celebrate, here's a Valentine's/White Day-themed collaborative MAMIYA fanzine!!

Featuring lovey-dovey art & fic from 12 creators!

Read it digitally or print it out yourself!

⚠️ DDD spoilers

Get it here! ➡️ Google Drive (pdf)

Directions for printing/binding + contributor credits below!

PRINTING

This zine was designed for letter paper, but I think it should print fine on A4 (I haven't tested it, sorry). If it helps, each individual page is 5.5 in x 8.5 in (140 mm x 216 mm).

We're going to print using the Booklet setting, which requires Adobe Acrobat or Foxit to use. Both programs can be downloaded for free. (I'm using Acrobat for this tutorial, but Foxit works the same way)

To print:

Download the zine file to your computer and open it in Acrobat/Foxit.

Open up the print menu using ctrl+P or by finding the printer icon near the top of the window. The print menu looks like this:

3. Select your printer from the "Printer" menu, then select the "Booklet" option under Page Sizing and Handling, as shown in the image above. You can also check the box near the top of the window to "Print in grayscale (black and white)" like I'm doing, or leave it unchecked to print in color.

4. Select the "Print" button to print.

BINDING

Honestly, you can bind however you want! I chose something fancy this time (because I'm trying to show off for photos), but normally I go for something simpler. Here are some methods I've used to bind zines/booklets before:

Three-hole ribbon binding (this is the method I used here)

Stapling

Pamphlet binding/saddle stitching

Methods I haven't tried but would probably work fine:

Another three-hole ribbon binding method + ring binding

Perfect binding

Machine sewing

Regardless of which method you use, I always recommend pre-folding all the pages before doing any binding. I usually try to fold like 1-3 sheets at a time--enough pages that it doesn't take forever to fold all of them, but not too many pages because I want to ensure each sheet gets creased really well.

Watch out for page order, by the way, because these pages aren't numbered!!

Depending on how you've bound it, it should come out looking something like this. Isn't it so cute??

Feel free to contact me if you need help!

CONTRIBUTORS

Thank you to everyone who participated in this zine!

Gizzia (twitter @ GizziaAobara) Nana (instagram @ honeyqtea) Nikki Bane (twitter @ Ghosty_Bane) Kiwi (@kiwifie) WovenSnow Easter Cha (me) madhu (@bunycube) Rionne (twitter @ dawnspring45) Mio (twitter @ nifocide) Alle (@tindoiimu)

It was my first time organizing something like this, so I'm really glad it turned out so great!! You guys are all so talented and awesome and I love what we've made!!!!!!