#and a discount on the game and collapse

[lulu2992]

Planes fly smoother in Hope County now.

Not better, though 😅

[souenkun]

July recap! 🏖

[satorhime]

. ･｡･ self checkout ࿐ nagi seishiro.

── ◜ ⪩⪨ ◞ content ㆍ﹒fluff, aged up!nagi, pro footballer!nagi, height difference (reader is shorter than nagi), shopping trips, slightly suggestive, established relationship. f!reader. w.c. 2k & not proofread.

── ◜ ⪩⪨ ◞ synopsis ㆍ﹒nagi enjoys running errands if the two of you go together. & ໒꒰ྀི ´ ꒳ ` ꒱ྀིა notes: baby’s first blue lock fic !! honestly i’m supa nervous bc i haven’t written 4 them before n i’m still figuring things out but i hope u enjoy reading this anw <333

“this date is so tiring,” nagi laments for the fifth time since you stepped through the automated sliding doors of the neighborhood supermarket. he blows out a breath from his puffed cheeks, sounding as if he is on the verge of collapsing while you browse the shelves for pantry essentials and late night snacks. “when can we go home?”

a trendy song from a summer spotify mix croons over the tinny speakers overhead, its bubblegum pop lyrics interrupted every now and then by a cheery voice advertising new items and upcoming discounts. the supermarket is busier than when you and seishiro usually stop by, which isn’t all that surprising considering it’s the end of the day. college students carry armfuls of instant ramen and sugary sodas for study sessions and old ladies browse for medicinal teas while parents push full carts of groceries, ignoring their wailing children who press their little noses against the frosty glass of the freezers, begging to be given overpriced ice creams locked away inside.

and you resist the urge to roll your eyes with exasperation, glancing over to where your boyfriend leans heavily on the handle of the cart he has been tasked with pushing for you— his long fingers tapping away at a mobile game on the screen of his phone.

“that’s because,” you begin, wagging a finger at him when you turn around and toss an item into the bottom of the cart. “it’s not a date, sei. i told you that i had to run errands today and you insisted on coming with me when you hate it.”

“‘s’boring at home when you’re not there, so it seemed like a good idea at first,” he shrugs, rolling the cart further down the aisle when you’re on the move again. slothy, midwinter gray eyes drag lazily over your body— taking in the way your faded t-shirt (which is, really, just one of his old ones) rides up a little on your body, exposing the cute little dimples in the soft part of your back as you stand on your tiptoes, struggling to reach one of the higher shelves in the freezer section.

you are well aware that nagi hates daily tasks. things such as making the bed in the morning, washing the dishes after dinner, or visiting the laundromat once a week requires too much energy from your drowsy footballer boyfriend, but it makes you happy to know that he tries, even if he falls asleep while doing it; that he will do anything if you are involved, and nothing if you aren’t.

like right now, he abandons his mobile game and the shopping cart in the middle of the aisle without care to come over and help you, making a mother of two-under-two glare at him viciously. he snorts, sliding his hand into the back pocket of your denim shorts, a romantic comedy habit of his when the two of you are walking anywhere together. nagi’s head tilts cutely to one side, blinking owlishly up at the shelves. “which one d’you wanna get, shortstack?”

“i am not short,” you huff, twisting your mouth to one side at his teasing, but you point to the item you want— an assorted pack of ice lollies. “shelves are designed against short people. and i dunno— are we in the mood for ice cream or popsicles?”

it’s hard to make a decision because freezers full of summer treats line both sides of the aisle. tubs of gourmet gelatos, variety packs of creamy ice candies, and an endless selection of mochi with custard fillings in the middle that make your mouth water at the thought of bringing them home with you.

“i’ll eat them no matter what anyway,” he shrugs, unwilling to be the one to choose, but then his gray eyes glance down at your lips, then back to the items in front of you. you swear that his eyes darken to a stormier color, even though his expression never changes. “you make cute sounds when you suck on ice pops, and you always taste sweet after. get those.”

and then he faces forward, browsing the selection of ice creams with interest, as if his words didn’t short circuit a current in your brain. you’ll never understand how seishiro can say the most outlandish things so casually, only to return to what he’s doing while you’re left attempting to calm your fast heart.

“ice pops it is,” you say, a little winded. “make sure to get the second pack, and not the first.”

“mhnn, why’s it matter? the second one’s farther back. they all look the same to me.”

“they’re not. the first is one everybody has touched or returned.”

“that . . . makes sense,” he considers it, then he nods, lips formed into a little ‘o’ shape. “okay, we’ll get the second one.”

you watch as he steps forward, pushing the first pack of ice lollies aside to select the second as you requested, reaching the item with ease and heavens, it’s moments like these when you are reminded just how much bigger seishiro is. he’s always towered over your shorter height and it’s so, so unfair how he uses it to his advantage, making your tummy burn at the sight. frosty air wafts from the open door of the freezer, bringing chills over your heated skin. “‘s a good thing i was here, since you’re so little— there was no way you could reach it.”

“‘m not little,” you mumble, all pouty because nagi is squishing your cheeks between two finger pads. “you’re just so tall. it’s unfair.”

“want me to be shorter?” he asks, and before you can ask what he means, nagi drops the pack of ice pops into your hands and deflates dramatically, bending down to drape himself over your frame. his head tucked against your shoulder, the footballer’s milky fringe tickling the skin of your neck as he closes his eyes. “man, now ‘m even more tired.”

“seishiro, you’re heavy.”

“i know,” he sighs, eyes shuttering below thick lashes, but he makes no effort to move away from your body. instead, his hand slithers under your shirt. making you shiver because his fingertips are dewy and cold from the arctic blast of the freezer and the frozen treat he picked up. you hiss, squirming under his touch as his fingers trail across your belly. “but i’m tired ‘n’ you feel s’soft, like a pillow.”

“nagi, off,” you wheeze, his extra weight making it hard for you to properly breathe. it’s easy to forget how solid he is, straight lines of athletic muscle that usually has you cow-eyed and cooing, as long as it’s not weighing you down in the middle of a supermarket. you try to shake him off, but the midfielder only squeezes you against his body even tighter, his slightly damp lips pressing a kiss to the nape of your neck, sending a shiver down your spine. “we’re never gonna get anything done like this, you lazy boy. if you don’t wanna walk, go wait in the sitting area with the grandpas.”

he sighs in defeat and shakes his head, pressing his lips together in that cute frown he pulls whenever he’s thinking. then, he’s dropping his arms from you suddenly. “mmhn, got a better idea.”

“and what’s that—”

you face nagi, only to catch your boyfriend with one foot in the shopping cart as he tries to hoist himself over the railing and inside of the basket.

“sei, you can’t fit in there—!” your eyes flicker between him, and the elderly man judging the two of you at the other end of the aisle. “you’re too big.”

“you’re always saying things like that,” he says, and the innuendo intertwined in the words flies over your pretty head because with one boost, he’s hopping over the railing and sinking into the cart, the metal rattling in protest. you stand there, dumbstruck as he settles. “now i can stay with you without walking.”

“yeah, but now that means i have to push you,” you grumble. “i should leave you here and get a new cart.”

but it’s hard to refuse when your boyfriend is that cute. his impossibly long legs are folded against his chest so that he can fit inside the shopping cart comfortably, taking extra care not to crush any of the delicate items surrounding him. the lower half of his face is buried into the collar of his soft hoodie as he absently chews on the drawstrings, but you can still see the sanrio bandaid you put on him yesterday after he got a nasty elbow to the cheek during football practice.

even though you two are already receiving strange looks from other shoppers passing by, you grip the handle, pushing the cart and your boyfriend dutifully, rolling it onto the next aisle.

“you look ridiculous,” you tell him, but you’re grinning. “but here, you’re on list duty. what do we need to get next?”

nagi’s eyes dutifully scan over the shopping list open in the notes app of your phone, his fingernail scrolling the screen lightly.

“it says ‘ramen because my greedy athlete bf keeps eating it all’ so y’need to get . . . oi, you mean me—”

“i wonder who wrote that there,” you whistle innocently, plucking the device out of his hands, wheeling him away fast.

the rest of your shopping trip is a blur, except for you turning a corner too fast and nearly dumping him out of the cart or the weird looks shoppers continue to give you because by the time you’re lining up in the queue, nagi is buried under the items because he takes up too much space. there’s a bag of rice on one shoulder, a pack of ramen on the other and fresh radishes sprouting from the snowy peaks of his head. not to mention, he’s still holding the pack of ice pops, condensation dripping over his hands.

“you’re making them melt, sei.” because he runs hot a heated blanket in the summer, and you can sympathize with the poor popsicles being defrosted in his big hands.

“‘m gonna eat one so they won’t— oh, hey this one is lemon,” he says, prying open the cardboard lid and tearing open the plastic wrapper of a lemon crème ice pop. tongue peeking out to lick before he’s holding it over his shoulder for you to taste next. “try it. i don’t sound as cute as you when i eat them.”

“sei, you’re not supposed to open those before we—” but nagi pushes the cold treat between your lips insistently, your eyes rounding wide, whining in protest as the ice pop hits your sensitive teeth. but it does taste good— creamy, sweet and sour flavors coating the surface of your tongue. “oh, it’s sh’good. we should get another pack.”

“see? y’make the cutest sounds when you suck it.”

“shut up, seishiro.”

you begin placing the items on the conveyor belt, listening to the irritating bleep, bleep, bleep of the scanner as the cashier rings up each product. you’re not frugal, but you peep at the total on the screen every now and then with a wince.

“that’s it for you, or are you buying the man in your cart too, ma’am?” the cashier asks, glancing at nagi as he finishes off the melting ice pop in the shopping cart, chin resting on top of his knees.

“no,” and you giggle, cheeks warming as you roll your eyes in exasperation. “this one is already mine.”

[fredwkong]

You and your boyfriend had been going through a rough patch lately. Being a pair of nerdy programmers who spent your free time gaming in different rooms didn’t make for an exciting dating life. Plus, the sex had gotten stale.

You had decided to bring back the spark. Instagram had served you an ad for an “all-inclusive fantasy vacation” from FWK Vacations. It seemed like they offered roleplay vacations. You’d walked in on your boyfriend watching frathouse porn enough times that you knew exactly what kind of fantasy he’d be into. Plus, the “frat bro vacay” package had a discount if you bought it for a full week!

You finalised your purchase, and only after you had paid did you notice that you had never been prompted to choose your vacation dates. You checked your email and read:

“Thanks for your purchase from FWK Vacations. We’re connecting you to your frat bro vacay right now! Please get comfortable and prepare.”

You furrowed your brow, but before you could properly panic, you felt a wave of exhaustion wash over you. As you fell asleep, you heard your boyfriend drop his game controller in the other room as he also collapsed.

You woke up what felt like moments later, and your nostrils were immediately assailed by a stench so strong it felt like it had a physical presence. It was a mix of man sweat, stale farts, and sour beer. You opened your eyes to see a suspiciously stained white ceiling over your head, very different from your bedroom. As you shifted, you realised that you were lying under the heavy weight of another man. And you were both crammed into a twin bed.

At this point, you also began to notice the changes to your body. You looked like a total gymrat, with thick muscles covered in sweaty hair. You were wearing sweat-stained gym shorts over a crusty jockstrap, like you’d gotten home from the gym and passed out. When you grabbed the phone on the floor next to the bed—a new iPhone with a cracked screen—you saw a rugged, manly face with a thick beard and dark curly hair.

The whole room was a mess. Empty beer cans littered the floor, along with discarded gym gear and a used condom or two. The closet didn’t have doors, showing a solid wall of stringer tanks, compression gear, and a whole rubbermaid bin of jockstraps.

Somewhere in the back of your mind you thought you should probably be panicking, but a much bigger part of you let out a dumb chuckle in your deep, douchey voice. What a perfect morning. You slapped the other man’s—your boyfriend’s—ass. “Bro, get your fat ass up,” you told him.

Like you, your boyfriend had just a moment of confusion as he looked around the room. He took in his burly bro body and sexy face, then gave you an airheaded grin. “Bruh, check this out.” He turned around, put his ass in your face, and farted.

You chortled, and you felt your dick chub up in your jock. “Bro, that’s so against dorm rules,” you said. In one motion, you slid out of your shorts and jockstrap. Then you grabbed your bro-friend’s head. He started to wrestle against you, your thick bodies battling for dominance, but you stuck his face in your unwashed armpit and he relaxed. You had a full hard-on now, your thick bro cock hot against your bro’s hip.

“Here’s your punishment for breakin’ the rules, bro,” you told your bro, and you hooked your jockstrap over his head, making sure the cum-crusted pouch was over his nose and mouth. “Gotta keep that on through house breakfast.”

Your bro seemed totally blissed out on the smell. “Huhuhu… Bruh, that means you gotta go naked, tho.”

You grinned and gave your big cock a few pumps, then flexed your massive arms. “Of course, bro. Who needs clothes when you’re a fuckin’ god.”

Looks like your vacation is off to a great start!

Want to go on vacation? Drop me an ask!

[squirrel-art]

Finished my little compilation of Sav and her mobility aids! ID in alt for each.

Disclaimer that I'm able-bodied & open to criticism about my portrayal! Also I realized belatedly her rollator is parked in a way that would, in fact, not keep it from rolling the fuck around, my bad.

Further details about my design philosophy/Sav's symptoms under the cut.

I played Savtas through Consular Story Chapter 1 in Full Good Girl Mode, saving all the Jedi and using the shielding ritual whenever prompted. The side effects of the rituals are vague and inconsequential in-game so as to make the job of the writers and programmers easier; characters comment worriedly about the fact that you "look tired" and not much else.

Fortunately, I have none of these restrictions. I don't know how to scientifically quantify "life-essence", but in my canon the energy required to create and maintain the shields comes right out of the body of the shielder, and behaves first and foremost like a faster-than-sustainable burning of calories. In the short-term, Sav became dangerously malnourished and fatigued; in the long-term she developed PoTS and what I've been glibly referring to as "Force fibro" in my brain, because the symptoms she experiences are the similar to that of those who suffer from fibromyalgia in real life: chronic pain, chronic fatigue, disordered sleep, and brain fog.

Some of those physical symptoms are ameliorated via use of a mobility aid, so she's tried out a couple different types.

Rollator

Sav's mobility aid of choice, purchased somewhere at the beginning of Ch 2. Sav is prone to dizziness and fatigue, and has less difficulty walking than she does standing for long periods; the rollator helps keep her balance and gives her somewhere to sit for short spells when she needs to.

The wheels do make this device better for navigating flatter and more even ground, but I imagine she can swap the wheels out for all-terrain varieties. I wonder if you could put blades on them like ice skates, to move around on places like Hoth? Well, the brakes wouldn't work, so probably not.

As mentioned in a previous post on my other sideblog, the design and colors are meant to evoke the pillars of the old Jedi Temple on Coruscant. This model is bespoke, created to Savvy's whimsical specifications. It wasn't even that expensive; you'd be surprised how many discounts people are willing to offer a Jedi!

Chair

A gift from the Jedi Council upon her defeat of Terrak Morrhage and the subsequent quelling of the Force plague. It's a more expensive model, and comes with a sturdy stand to rest it on when it's charging or not in use.

Design inspo drawn from both canon sources and the wonderful hermitmoss' hoverchair headcanons post!

I deliberated for a while as to whether Sav would have been given a wheelchair or a hoverchair. I settled on hoverchair mostly because Sav wanted a certain level of independence in her movement, but nobody was sure how long it would take her to regain enough upper body strength to reliably push herself around in a manual chair.

Sav in this image is at the beginning of her recovery, but she does continually make use of her chair after regaining some of her weight and muscle mass. Her rollator became her device of choice over the chair in part because the chair is kind of bulky and heavy, and can't be easily collapsed for transport. She probably has a lighter, more maneuverable transport chair stored on the ship to utilize in a pinch.

Looking at the design of the chair, I am already dissatisfied with it - the seat isn't raked to keep her from sliding out of it, and the control panel should realistically be attached to an extension and not directly under her hand. We'll fix that in the next pass, I think, but for now this drawing is representative of the overall design and colors.

Cane

She's got a few of these! Most have an offset or contour grip because she finds them the most comfortable, and most have adjustable bases.

Her favorite is probably the non-adjustable wooden one she got from a craftsman on Alderaan, the only one she owns made of fully organic materials.

[afreakingdork]

You Are My Sunshine, My Only Moonshine - Chapter 8

RotTMNT x Reader

What's with that call, Ump!? Leo's a bit of a pitch point in this week's chapter art by funneylizzie

Rated: Teen and Up Audiences

Relationships: Michelangelo (TMNT)/Reader, Michelangelo (TMNT)/You, Donatello (TMNT)/Reader, Donatello (TMNT)/You

Warnings: POV Second Person, Gender Neutral Reader, Anxious Reader, Introverted Reader, Stuttering, Aged-Up Mutant Ninja Turtles, Romance, Love, Love Confessions, Falling In Love, Unrequited Love, Rejection, Aromantic Asexual Michelangelo (TMNT), Bisexual Donatello (TMNT), Pansexual Leonardo (TMNT), Lesbian Cassandra Jones | Foot Recruit, Demisexual April O'Neil (TMNT), Implied Cassandra Jones | Foot Recruit/April O'Neil/Sunita, Endgame Donatello (TMNT)/Reader, Romantic Love, Platonic Love, Panic Attacks, Sexuality Crisis, Agoraphobia, Social Anxiety, Happy Ending, Fluff

Synopsis:  You’ve lost most of your life to anxiety and fear. Now, in your late 20s, you are desperate to reclaim it and during one such outing you encounter the sun personified. With his and his similarly celestially inspired family, will you finally reach your goal or will you lose yourself along the way?

Also available on Ao3

First 💛 Previous

You were dying.

Not in a medical sense though if you were to be strapped into some type of machine, you imagined your charts would be something worthy of a medical journal. Your heart was pounding out of your chest, you felt lightheaded, your ears were ringing, your skin felt aflame, sweat dotted the back of your neck against the hairs that stood up there, and somehow amongst all that, you found time to do the wave with the rest of the crowd.

Returning to your seat, though your panic attack refused to join in, you shrank as much as you could. It meant squishing against an unrelenting mix of wood or plastic or whatever the bright bench was made of. The hat on your head did little as an additional layer of protection especially when Leo shot up from the row in front of you.

“ARE YOU EVEN WATCHING UMP!? DO US ALL A FAVOR AND SIGN UP FOR LASIK, YOU BLIND BAT!!!”

A baseball game.

Why had you ever agreed to come to a baseball game?

Because you said yes.

Because you were supposed to say yes.

Because that was the whole supposed point to bettering yourself.

You had to push yourself out of your comfort zone.

Mikey was supposed to help you. 

You should have known hitching your wagon to some great joy would come with karma. 

This was your pittance for your strange friendship agreement. 

Said man would also be your greatest ruin. 

As if on cue and despite yourself, you looked over at said man. Dressed up in way more merch than everyone else, he was his usual beaming ball of incandescent gas. He swam in so much memorabilia that it was hard to believe he could see the field and yet when Leo collapsed back into the seat in front of him, Mikey leaned forward to poignantly discuss whatever contested call you had missed.

Of your current lineup, Raph, Mikey and you had seats in one row while April, Leo, and Donnie had the next. The jockeying for position had been a violent one and you’d opted out of the drawn straws. It seemed poignant that you would accept whatever was left as that was how you acquired your ticket. The only reason you were even here was because Splinter had thrown out his back again and some as of yet unseen man named Draxum refused to accommodate what he apparently called silly human rituals.

Of which had you seated at an example of America’s greatest pastime and another family outing. New York, in her efforts to better embrace mutant kind, had offered up both discounted and specialty seating for mutants in a show of solidarity. At first and predictably, said tickets were highly scrutinized by the Hamato. They had bad blood with baseball stadiums and as such weren’t sure if the entire thing was a trap. In the end, being able to openly attend a game had won out. Thankfully, this didn’t seem like a ruse and so far it was what you assumed should occur during a baseball game. 

Not that you had ever been. 

Sporting events were meant to be seen through screens. 

Yet you wanted more.

You had to be selfish.

You had to rise above your station.

Look where greed got you.

You were having a panic attack and about to ruin everyone’s day. The Hamato finally had a chance to go out and be a part of life as they always deserved. Something you casually threw away on a daily basis. The insult to injury was not lost on you as you spiraled uselessly, but it was the drain you were rounding that threatened to swallow you up. The stakes only made the fall that much steeper. It was your body's fault.

Not something built for bus rides or capitalistic toils, your faulty neurons sent out the wrong chemicals at even worse times. Your adrenaline was confused. It wasn’t in its usual containment unit which you liked to imagine was a rickety old box from some old horror movie. The beast had, of course, escaped and went on a rampage that wasn’t its fault. It wasn’t meant to be there at all. It was meant to be stowed away somewhere safe. It wasn’t meant to be among screaming fans and thus it left your body in ruins with what you could only label as your worst case scenario.

You would soon pass out.

It’d be a thing because it always was. Doctors would understand and throw benzos at you, but for the layman, passing out was something dying people did. 

Good thing it felt exactly like that.

No, fear was the mind killer.

It was the little death.

You’d expire here in the stands and they’d do little more than memorialize you on a bench. 

No, you were avoiding that kind of talk. 

Focus.

What was the rest of the quote?

It was somewhere in your brain.

You could walk back from the ledge.

You had managed before with only minor catastrophizing.

In fact, you’d only actually passed out from panic attacks a handful of times in your life.

A doctor had once told you something.

What’s the worst that could happen?

So you passed out. 

So what?

You would wake up and be fine. 

You would be okay.

The stupid idiot probably hadn’t had a panic attack in his whole life.

No, that was mean.

You had wherewithal which was a good sign. Since panic attacks came from the brain, working through them always seemed like a war against one’s self. You had to be smarter, more clever, and flexible as the same trick to stop them never seemed to work twice. There were some consistencies; it was never good to focus on symptoms because that would mean you were ultimately prone. Given a momentary distraction and since mantras weren’t currently working, you thought maybe you could save yourself with memories. Just as the recollection of your doctor has inspired ire instead of further illness, you moved to comb through what had occurred most recently. Since the ballgame itself had caused your current state, you inched backwards to what had occurred just before it.

It wasn’t the best choice, but Raph had been memorable if nothing else.

As soon as you had entered the park, the oldest brother had diverted your course with his giant form. You tried to glance at the others only to find them wishing various forms of good luck as they got to go to your seats. It had taken you an alarming amount of time to remember Donnie’s warnings. You imagined that was the moon’s way to warn without pretense. It was how night was foreboding and it didn’t immediately illuminate how the ground could shake. It was Raph’s way as the solid earth to find a suitable area behind a beam for his discussion. It was just open enough that others would pass, but the privacy afforded said those walking by would do just that. As others went to get food, hit the restrooms, or find their seats, you were stuck as Raph gave you his shovel talk.  

It was highs and lows as his hero side was at obvious odds with the supposed necessity to strike fear into you. For each time he tried to warn you about hurting Mikey, he’d also backtrack by quickly adding that there would be no actual injuries at your expense. It made for an odd display that reminded you very much of their ninpo demonstration. They were heroes with the power’s of gods and yet they were also wisecracks and had insecurities the same as any other. They were both regular people and far beyond mere mortals. 

By the end, the content hadn’t necessarily struck fear into your heart, but the way Raph’s finger had pointed accusatorily into your chest spoke to more. You were treading dangerous waters and Raph had been the first to actually confirm it. You had long worried about that exact fact yourself, but you had only gotten Donnie and Mikey’s takes so far. Both were painfully bias and, though it was obvious Raph was as well, he had a different edge. For him, he’d been fussing over his super powered siblings his whole life and knew the faults better than anyone. 

He was a good big brother, you thought as he dotted off the conversation by putting his giant paw on your head. He rubbed affection there and airily said he had faith that you probably wouldn’t come to any bad end. It was there again, that odd assurance the Hamato all had in themselves, and you stewed on it as Raph led you to your seats. It was there that you had entered the killing floor where the first anxieties cropped up as the group was agitated because they’d missed the opening pitch due to Leo’s refusal to be the portal bus.

From there you’d stumbled step by step into a panic attack as the sour mood was compounded by the growing noise. It was as if being trapped in a room filling with water as the terrible cacophony drowned you. It spoke of the amount of people in the stands which was daunting enough. This was a special day; mutants and humans colored your stands as a means to represent the lovely tapestry of the city. A commingling of all types, this was the lifeblood and solidarity that American life touted but never achieved. You should have felt a sense of pride at having been a part of it.

All you felt was dismay that you were about to ruin it.

Each step was a threat of falling. Both metaphorically and physically, you imagined yourself tripping down the stairs. You would bust your head open and the leaking blood would light some planted naysayer. They would use you as their excuse that mutant’s were a threat to humanity. 

That might be a little too dramatic. 

It was far more likely that you’d knock over someone’s drink. It would then tumble in a chain reaction that would somehow cause a foam finger to fly out onto the field. There it would hit the bat boy who would strike the mascot who would then roll out onto the field and interrupt a great run. 

Mutant’s Ruin Big Leagues!

The headline would run for years.

You would be little more than a footnote. 

You were the stepping stone for hatred.

You’d pave the way no matter what.

You were spiraling.

Going through your memories had led you back to misery. 

The claws of anxiety were dug into your back and the symptoms were playing out yet again. Any movement at all was akin to a scalping. A player hit a ball for a crack that deafened your swimming ears before the contradictory roar of the crowd fried what was left of your nerves. Left battered and to drain in your seat, the other’s rallied and you were left burning under an exaggerated heat lamp. 

Your pocketful-of-sunshine partner had done very little. Mikey had not registered any of your distress though you couldn’t blame him. There were no obvious outward signs of anxiety until it was too late. From the outside you’d simply appear to faint. Only those studying you would notice how tight your jaw was or how your pupil shook. With Mikey’s helmet, flags, and sticks, there was no way he could see anything so small even if he were to check in.

He couldn’t know that trying to verbalize in this state made it worse. The labor of speech was yet another stressor. If this attack’s onset hadn’t been an immediate one, you might have been able to warn someone. Instead it had been a flash in the pain occurrence which meant you were using every ounce of your sanity to not succumb. 

You could stave this off.

You had before.

Raph whooped loud to announce his return from the concession stand. 

The others readied themselves. 

This day wasn’t for you. 

This was for them. 

You weren’t going to ruin it. 

You were still conscious.

You were still here.

“Finally!” Leo’s mouth slacked around his annoyance. “Dog me, bro!” He held up a hand as if to catch it.

Raph only stared where his arms were totally full. “No.”

“Not even!” April’s head popped out from behind Raph’s form. “C’mon and help pass everything out if you’re so eager.”

“Fine!!” Leo whined long and loud as he got up.

Food and drinks were distributed and you butted your arm against Mikey’s cup. Ice cold condensation one of the best mediators, you let it chill your arm as Raph’s load lightened. Feeling a little more present, you watched as Donnie received a wrapped sandwich which signaled the last of the snapper’s load.

“Where’s my hot dog?”

“Uh…” Raph strung out the sound looking to April who shrugged her shoulders, hands empty.

“My chili cheese dog!?” Leo spoke a little louder.

“It’s, uh… we totally ordered it, didn’t we, April!?”

“S-sure… did…” Her eyes darted away. “I coulda swore…”

“One request! No drink! No nothing! I ask for a hot dog, all beef, the classic, covered in musty chili from a burned pot and cheese so plastic it’s going to be killing a fish in the ocean long after I’m dead and gone!!!”

“Leo, it’s just a-” Mikey started up, chips falling from his square nacho container.

“Don’t!” Leo flew over his seat to slam a finger into Mikey’s lips. “Don’t you dare, of all people, besmirch the name of America’s single greatest ballpark food by saying ‘it’s just a hot dog.’”

“Could be boiled peanuts.” Donnie remarked casually, obviously relishing a chance to fuel the fire.

“Nuts?! Where?!” Raph ducked and knocked over his drink.

“None I’d let near you, Red King.” Donnie crooned. 

The cup hit the ground and dripped down toward Leo.

Leo screamed at the trickle which silenced several rows and sent your blood pressure through the roof.

No amount of cold cola was going to save you now.

Coming off his screech, Leo slammed a foot off onto the steps and made it clear he was going to storm off. “If you’re going to do something! You have to do it yourself, apparently!!”

Muttering a string of curses over how his family couldn’t do a single thing right, Leo led bowlegged fury up the stairs.

“Well, he’s been a peach tonight!” Raph turned, not looking the least bit guilty. “Damage control?”

“I’ll make it worse.” Donnie spoke, breezy.

April snatched his sandwich away.

Donnie glowered at her before spinning to Mikey. “Rock, paper, scissors, again.”

Mikey shook his head. “I actually got this one, I think. I know one of the chef’s and I think I can get Leo into a box. That’ll fix his mood right up.”

“That’s teamwork!” April cheered, throwing a hand out which Mikey high fived.

“Take this and cheer in my stead!” Mikey spun away from the maneuver and poured an avalanche of goods onto your form. Fumbling all of it and the food then placed on top, he was halfway up the stairs before he called back. “Mine is yours! Have fun!”

Dismay.

You looked over your shoulder with tears in your eyes.

The sweep returning to the field was an abysmal one.

Another scream tore through the crowd.

Raph nearly matched April’s volume. 

Loud.

Everything was too loud.

The ringing wouldn’t stop.

Food, colors, it swirled all too much in your lap.

It then drained. 

Away, away.

You mechanically dumped what you could into Mikey’s empty seat and watched your hands shake violently as you retreated.

You squeezed them to your chest.

It was too much.

Electric discharge went through your brain without proper release.

The cage wasn’t cracked, it was busted.

Without repair.

In a blink, you saw the vignette.

That was the final symptom.

You were about to pass out.

Body screaming amongst everything else, you swirled with the dizziness as fainting came on.

Silence encircled you.

You blinked slowly into something purple.

You could still see.

That didn’t make sense.

Your hearing always went after your vision. 

It always occurred the same way. 

There was a moment of dark, after your vision was cut, that preceded the memory loss of unconsciousness.

It shouldn’t be quiet yet. 

Something squeezed your cheeks.

You gasped a breath.

One that sucked greedily on wakefulness.

It was so blessedly quiet.

Your hands moved to your ears on instinct. 

You felt warmth under your fingertips, but not on your head. 

Either you did or didn’t have your sense of touch; the lopsided nature didn’t make sense. 

A small stroke of your pads said you were touching skin. 

There shouldn’t be anyone else’s on your head and confusion carried you to a sort of clarity.

Another squeeze.

It was a reminder to breathe. 

You were supposed to breathe.

You sucked a quaky one and caught hold of a wrist.

It was so close to your face that it didn’t make sense.

Then you saw eyes.

Or rather, you finally comprehended there was a pair close to yours.

Concern painted in dark depths, it took several blinks for you to register its owner.

Donnie had his hands around your head.

‘What are you doing?’ It felt like you mouthed the words because you couldn’t hear them.

You couldn’t hear anything.

‘Panic attack.’ Donnie enunciated slowly so you could catch the familiar mouth movements even though no sound reached you.

You nodded and squeezed your eyes shut to find tears dotting them.

When was the last time you blinked?

The burn said too long and you hunched forward.

Donnie came with you and prevented you from hitting the back of his seat.

Held steady, you felt weepy little whines in your throat and felt all the more pathetic.

You were having a panic attack.

Were.

You hadn’t passed out.

Blinking with recognition, exhaustion hit you.

Having run the equivalent of five marathons all while seated, you brought your gaze back up to him.

He waited there without judgment.

He held you, a steady current.

You caught his arms and squeezed.

He’d caught you at the precipice and you hadn’t gone over.

You gripped him in desperation as he felt like your only lifeline.

Twice now. 

Though the other was his own making, twice Donnie had held you together.

How did he feel being your handler?

How must he feel dealing with you?

You wondered how much guilt played a factor. 

You’d owe him at this rate. 

No matter what part he’d played then, he was your savior now and holding onto him felt like the only way for you to stay safe.

He was the only thing keeping you tethered to his plane.

Probably scratching at him with how pathetic you were, you felt him pull.

His raft keeping you afloat, you buoyed a little shake before you felt the warmth of his forehead hit yours.

A single contact point sent waves of heat throughout your body and with it a flood of a new kind of chemical.

One you didn’t currently have a name for, it was the coziness of being by a fire and warming of a bone deep chill.

You went a calculated slack against him and butted into his head to get a little more of those good feelings.

He allowed it and you settled into a soothing current.

His arms soon shifted, settling against the back of the seat separating the two of you and you wedged yourself between them as a ballast. Comfortable to a point minus the fact you very much wanted to sleep, you didn’t mourn much when he pulled his head away. Keeping his hands steady around you, you gave him a dopey expression for the solace he’d given you and he shook his head with a tiny smile in return.

He squeezed the sides of your head again and at first you thought it was admonishment, but you quickly felt there was something else there. His hands slid a little lower and you released your lock on him to explore what it was. Unable to move much further above his fingers, you brushed to find a band of metal. It revealed little and a twist within his palm found a circle encasing your ear. Whatever it was almost felt like headphones and with that thought you realized it was the goggles he always wore. 

You sent all your surprise toward him. 

You had no evidence of it, but the fact that you’d never seen him without them seemed to mean they were important. 

Except, for whatever reason, he’d placed them on your head. 

‘I’m sorry-!’

He pinched your cheek.

‘Ow!’

You earned another pinch.

Thinking maybe he didn’t want you to talk, you slicked your expression into a wounded one.

That got a bit of a smile and you decided he was a sadist as he tapped your left ear cover.

There was no sound and instead a vibration against your head. 

Unsure of what he wanted, you turned that direction and he curled his large hand around your ear before barely lifting the headset. Sound ate up the new real estate, but he quickly tucked his head beside yours to force it out. “Status?”

“Better?” You sounded raspy and you jolted a little now that you could hear yourself.

“Noise canceling.” He explained, his voice steady amongst the leaking sounds of a baseball game.

“Don’t… you need these?”

“Someone else needed them more.”

“How’d you know?” You rested your cheek against his.

He stiffened a little against you, but you weren’t sure if it was from the contact or the question.

Why was it so easy to be familiar with him?

You should be terrified of him. 

You should hate him. 

He seemingly appeared only during your worst moments. 

You were wrung out.

You would stop interacting with him like this another time. 

Now he was your life preserver. 

“I saw you. I noted the symptoms.” He hesitated once before adding, “I… know the feeling all too well…”

It was the content then.

You might not know the finer details, but from what the Hamato had saved the world from, you imagined the aftermath they dealt with was equally large.

“I’m sorry…” You mumbled back.

“If that’s for taking these then you know the repercussions.” The hand that was still cupping your face turned with fingers ready to snag your cheek. 

“No! The other thing! Def the other thing!”

“I never said.” You couldn’t see him, but you could feel his eyes narrow with suspicion. “Pity?”

“Understanding.” You rubbed your cheek against his to enforce your apology so he’d hopefully accept. “I’m sorry you know what this feels like.”

“I suppose I could say the same.” He ended his statement with a thoughtful hum.

“Thank you. You… you really saved me.”

“Statically speaking and based on your health records, a panic attack would not be lethal for you.”

“We really need to establish boundaries.” Your voice flattened out. 

“I gathered that information before.” He had a bit of a complaint to him. “As in when I was still evaluating your morality.” 

“Doesn’t make it okay. What if I got your doctor notes just because I thought you were a bad guy?”

“I’d applaud you for breaking into my system and try to fold you into my evil army.”

You pulled away to view him.

He shrugged nonchalantly, but it only further contested the great care he exhibited in making sure his hand still blocked out excessive noise.  

“How’d you notice? No one else did. Weren’t you watching the game?”

“I was until Leo threw his little temper tantrum.”

Donnie had watched Leo leave like everyone else. 

He was in front of you. 

He would have had to turn around. 

You would have been in his periphery.

You could only think of how very much that suited the moon.

Where the sun blasted its way through its stage, the moon was reflected light. It needed a source; it needed a certain level of attention. It also revealed. Where the sun poured out lumens indiscriminately, the moon carved out the dark. Seeking to reveal that which was hidden, it acted as an uncaring guiding light. A savior to many, its fickle nature turned the rest away.

You moved your hands over his and squeezed. “Thank you.”

“You’ve said that already.” He didn’t seem to care, exactly as you thought.

“Don’t like repetition?”

“I don’t like wasted time” He scoffed.

You jarred and his hands tightened like a wrench.

“Which this is not, to be clear! Do you understand?”

“No…?”

“I don’t need your thanks.” His brows came down, serious. “That’s superfluous. This.” He pressed your cheeks. “This I would do as long as necessary without a thought of complaint. There’s a difference. I’m saying it’s obvious.”

Your lids lowered.

You guessed it was.

“You missed the game…”

“Ah, yes. Missing how every few minutes the golden retriever mutant a few seats down will block my view and throw slobber around? Miss how Leo elbows me every time there’s a run? Miss the repulsive stickiness that seems to cling to this entire stadium and how no amount of hosing down will make me feel as though I’ve washed it off? Sure, I missed so much.”

You stared at him.

“That was sarcasm.” He felt the need to clarify. 

You laughed.

The sound came with a joyous feeling in your chest that you usually didn’t feel until after you’d slept off the effects of your panic attack.

Riding the high, your vision uncrinkled and you clipped the stunned expression on Donnie’s face.

Your lips dropping with a question, you might have teased him about it had something else broke through the barrier of Donnie’s hand. 

“Y/N!” Mikey yelled. 

You were released and the headphones dropped into place with Donnie only giving one quick squeeze to the left side.

The softshell returned to the game as if he’d never touched you.

“What happened? Are you okay?” Mikey kicked the junk in his seat out of the way to reach you.

You could hear him.

Glancing once at Donnie, you could also tell the rest of the stadium sounds were far quieter.

There must have been a setting he’d activated in that last touch.

Something that blocked out background noise.

“Y/N!!!” Mikey caught one of your hands where it was still hung in the air from the person you were once holding.

“I… I had a panic attack.” You explained in a voice that was probably too soft, but you weren’t sure how to modulate your volume with the headset dulling it yet.

Mikey’s crestfallen expression was quickly buoyed as he caught a glimpse of Donnie’s goggles. “So that’s what Donnie was doing! These help him a ton! Don!!” Mikey turned his joy on his brother.

Donnie might have stayed stubbornly away if Leo, who had also returned and was not sporting a mouth full of chili dog, hadn’t shoved an elbow into him. “Look at Dontron, over here! Being the hero all on his own!”

“Help was asked and I simply responded to an inquiry!” Donnie growled, clearly flicking his gaze to you in his periphery before it flew back to Leo.

You smiled.

“Are you alright now?” Mikey fussed, looking you over.

“Tired.” You admitted.

“We gotta put something on that glaring chrome dome!” Leo took off his hat and plopped it on Donnie’s head.

“Leo!” Donnie shrieked. “This has chili on it!!”

“A bonus!” Leo winked.

“Bonus this!” Donnie raised his fist, but Raph had the reach to catch it.

The older brother then quickly extracted the hat and smushed it and Leo back down into his respective seat. “How about we give Donnie a prize? I’m feeling kinda bad that Raph didn’t notice neither.”

“T-that’s okay…” Your hands came up.

“Downplay your reactions.” Donnie sneered at everyone but you. “You don’t feed panic attacks; you ignore them.”

“Then let’s enjoy the game!” April cheered and yanked Leo who splattered himself with more chili in the process.

“I suppose I wouldn’t say no to kettle corn however...” Donnie mumbled as he faced the field while craning a head to his arm for a lackluster display.

No one else reacted and you returned to find Mikey patiently smiling at you.

Had he not heard?

He was just as close.

You had a feeling it had something to do with the goggles.

“Can… can we get… kettle corn?” You asked Mikey.

“Of course! Maybe some water too? You haven’t had anything…”

“Yeah… sure…”

“Let’s go! Don’t worry if your legs are weak, I can lift four whole Raphs!”

“The projections don’t weigh as much as the original!” Raph chirped to annoy him.

Mikey pointedly ignored that and offered you his hand.

You took it. 

It had a certain warmth. 

You would try harder to tell Mikey next time. 

You couldn’t keep relying on Donnie to save the day. 

The purple brother invaded your thoughts and you tugged, ready to remove the goggles.

Donnie’s voice wafted into your ears. “Keep them.”

“But…” You stared at the back of his unmoving form

“Take care of them and return in one piece.”

You nodded.

“Y/N?”

“Huh?” You spoke absently. 

“Who are you talking to?” Mikey leaned into your vision.

You gave one final glance at Donnie before staring right into bright orange. “No one, let’s go.”

💛 NEXT 💛

Whoop thank you to my betas @tmntxthings and @thepinkpanther83

[roanofarcc]

PROJECT SUNSHINE CHAPTER FIFTY ONE → A FEVER DREAM HIGH

summary: steve harrington x oc

when another product of Hawkins National Laboratory escaped a long-survived nightmare alongside her sister, she crashed into one unsuspecting teenage boy and dragged him deeper into the dark mysteries that made up their hometown.

word count. 4.1k || masterlist || ocs moodboard

warnings: cannon typical violence, child abuse, horror, gore, and depictions of mental illness. parts of this story were written pre-season 4 release. cannon divergence.

previous chapter ← → next chapter

Time was almost out of Calum Miller to get the answers he needed. He needed to understand why his father abandoned him, why his mom resented his father, and what kind of business had gone down in Hawkins National Laboratory. Calum needed to understand what connection Danielle Torres had to that place, the reason behind her strange tattoo and disappearance, and to know once and for all if she had any connection at all to his father as he had believed from the start. 

It was the Fourth of July and the next day his mom was deadset on skipping town to stay with one of her friends in Indianapolis until they found a place of their own. It was too drastic of a change, and it was happening too fast. Calum didn’t understand any of it. He didn’t understand why his mom wanted to leave so badly all of a sudden, plucking Calum from his childhood home right before his senior year of high school. His last hope was to get the truth out of Danielle and hope she led back to his dad. If he could talk to him, maybe everything would end up being one big misunderstanding. His dad could home, and everything would be set right. Calum would finish high school in Hawkins with his best friend and everything would be as if nothing had happened in the first place. 

It took Calum and Tamera a couple of days to re-write all of the information they could remember from the file and all of the other information that had been collected alongside it. They stored it all in two notebooks that had left Calum’s body in fear that his mom would find them and take them away. 

Their next course of action had to happen that night; they were going to find Danielle. The entire town was going to be at the county fair’s firework show that night, so that was their game plan. They’d track her down there and hopefully pry the truth from her. 

First, he had to pick up Tamera from her shift at the mall. He cruised down the streets of Hawkins in his busted minivan, with his windows down and head full of thoughts. Unfortunately, his van was on the verge of collapse and just as he rounded a curve along the road that cut through the thick of the woods, he heard a loud ‘pop’ before his car nearly veered off of the road. He muttered a series of curse words under his breath before he threw his van, affectionately nicknamed Beige Betty, into park. 

Beige Betty had been a cheap steal from his neighbor's yard, who sold it to him for a severely discounted price. It had a long list of problems, but Calum had gotten most of them fixed. He learned more about cars than he ever intended to, including the fasted way to fix a flat. They were on a time crunch. They needed to find Danielle and pray she knew more than she led on. That, and Calum hated being near the woods at night; they freaked him out. So, he fixed his tire as quickly as his hands would allow him, ignoring the unease that spooled in his gut as his back faced the woods.

Finishing up, he tossed his tools back into his trunk and was about to head back to the driver’s seat when a branch snapped, startling him. He felt a little stupid about it; it was the woods, teeming with all kinds of different animals, of course they were going to make noises. But then another branch snapped somewhere inside. It was an odd breaking sound. The ‘snap’ didn’t exactly sound like a twig being stepped on by an animal or a break of a thin tree branch. His first thought was maybe the fireworks had started already, creating little ‘pops’ that echoed throughout town. But as he gazed above the tree line, he listened for the noise again, and when it happened there was no sign of fireworks exploding in the sky. 

But he brushed it off and continued to collect his things. He tossed his flat tire into the trunk as well before closing it. As the trunk latched, another noise ripped through the air. It wasn’t the boom of firecrackers or fireworks. It no longer sounded like twigs snapping either. The noise was startling, and it grew louder and louder until Calum felt the vibrations through his feet as the ground shook. He turned his gaze upwards as he stood at the edge of the road. Across the way, straining his eyes in the darkness, he noticed the tops of the trees in one area of the woods move. 

Calum had listened to the news that morning on the radio as he showered. A rainstorm was supposed to blow in later that night, but the local weatherman said nothing about severe weather. 

The cracking noise turned into ear-drumming crashes. It was nearly a windless night, so there was no reason for the trees to be moving like that. He strained his ears to hear an accompanying sound along with the crashes. It was something animalistic, like a growl amplified through a speaker. 

His brain screamed at him to get into his van and drive away, ignoring whatever was happening in the woods, but something stronger inside of him compelled him to stay, stupidly so. He stepped around his van and further onto the lonely road, staring at the waving trees. It was like a path was being cut through them, picking away trees closer and closer to him until, just down the road, an entire tree crashed down, snapped in half as if it was a simple twig. He stumbled backward, having no idea to question how that was even possible before something emerged from the spot the tree had been torn out of. 

It was as if his brain short-circuited. He stared, only for a moment, at an enormous figure as tall as the treetops stalked across the road. Calum’s legs gave way under him. The sight of the animal, beast, thing was enough to knock the wind out of his lungs. It walked on too many legs which were wider than tree trunks as it stepped over the fallen tree with ease. The thing looked also like a spider, but it was far from spindly and far from quiet. Whatever it was, was more horrifying than he could put into words. It looked like something pulled from the pages of a horror novel or a nightmare. 

The thing plunged into the woods on the other side of the road, ripping down trees as if they were nothing more than annoying sticks. As just as it had come, it was gone. 

Calum blinked, seated in the center of the road unsure if what he had just seen was even real. It couldn’t have been. He was in Hawkins, the place he had resided in since he was born, and sure weird shit had happened there, but there weren’t creatures that lurked in the woods. Monsters didn’t exist; his mind must’ve been playing tricks on him. He hadn’t slept well in a while, and maybe the weed he had gotten from one of his D&D friends still lingered in his system. 

Slowly, Calum willed himself to stand up, but he was wrapped in a wet blanket of fear that locked up his limbs. He was stiff and flushed hot with panic. For a moment, he stared at the large, broken tree in the middle of the road that he had just driven down. Its spilled leaves and broken branches looked back at him sadly. He forced himself toward it until he stood in the middle of the pathway the thing had carved through the woods. It was just like the aftermath of a tornado, a line cut in almost a perfect path. 

Somewhere down the path, where the thing continued to cut down trees and toss them aside, a roar ripped through the air and that was enough to jumpstart the fear inside Calum’s body. He ran as fast as he could back to his car, threw Beige Betty into drive with uneven breaths, and hit the gas hard, peeling down the road toward Starcourt Mall. 

☀☀☀

“You look like you’re surfing!” Robin laughed loudly, holding onto the handles of a cart Steve stood on as the elevator shot up toward the surface. Sunshine and the two kids watched Robin and Steve, confused and at a loss. 

Sunshine’s hands still shook, and panic still had a tight hold of her, but she had managed to collect herself just enough. The second she heard Steve and Robin’s joint screams ring out through the base, enough of her fear melted into rage. In some half-baked plan, using the same tactics from her and El’s escape from the Lab and the strength she had built in her abilities, Sunshine broke free from her binds, drew in the two guards posted outside her room, and took them out, and fled into the pure commotion that filled the base, thanks to Erica and Dustin. 

After she ran into the two kids, much to her horror, they all located Steve and Robin. She managed to blind the doctor and the soldier who had interrogated her and collected her friends. Dustin had stolen a little transport vehicle, which made their escape to the elevator a lot easier. They used the keycard from the soldier Steve had knocked out and ascended the elevator with hopes of their nightmare being over. 

However, they weren’t completely out of the woods, yet. 

Between the lack of sleep, food, water, and reliving a familiar scene too much like Lab, Sunshine felt run down and awful. She leaned up against the wall, head hurting and hands shaking, and tried to figure out what was wrong with Steve and Robin. 

Aside from Robin’s bloodshot eyes and a small red blotch on her cheek, she looked fine, even if she was half out of her mind. 

Steve, on the other hand, looked troublingly bad. One of his eyes was nearly swollen shut and the skin all around it was a deep shade of red. Blood was dried around his nose and mouth, his skin split open in deep, harsh wounds. His eyes were also bloodshot, and he too was in a strange daze. 

“They seem drunk,” Erica said. 

“Why would they be drunk?” asked Dustin. 

“I’m a natural! Check it out!” As soon as the words left Steve’s busted lips, he tumbled off the cart and crashed against the ground with a pained groan. Sunshine winced before she peeled herself off the wall and kneeled beside him. Up close, his face was even worse. She carefully swept back the bloodied and sweaty pieces of hair that clung to his forehead, feeling the heat coming off of his skin. She pressed the back of her hand against his forehead and frowned. 

“He’s burning up,” said Sunshine. 

Steve lazy shot her another lopsided smile. “No, you’re burning up.” His eyes drooped, closing briefly before Dustin kneeled on his other side and tried to pry his eyes open. Steve groaned in protest and tried to swat Dustin’s hands away. 

“His pupils are super dilated,” Dustin noted.

“Maybe they’re drugged,” Erica said. 

Sunshine ran a hand through her tangled hair with a sigh. She didn’t know what they were supposed to do. They still had to make it out of the mall’s parking lot without being seen. They needed the hospital, but how was she supposed to explain what happened to them? She needed Hopper or Joyce, real adults who would know what to do. But they couldn’t reach them until they were away from the mall, which meant it was up to Sunshine until that point. 

“Steve.” Dustin got in his face, talking slowly yet frantically. “Are you drugged?” 

Steve scrunched up his face in an undiscerning look. “How many times, dad? I don’t do drugs. It’s only marijuana.” 

“Steve.” Sunshine drew his attention, carefully avoiding his wounds as she held onto his face. “We need to know what they did to you?” All he did was giggle in response. 

“Are you going to die on us?” Dustin asked. 

“We all die, my strange child friend,” Robin said, twirling her hair around her fingers. “It’s just a matter of how and when.” They must’ve been drugged, that was the only explanation for why they were acting that way. There was no telling what other kind of side effects they would experience before the night was over, which was why she needed to get them away from Starcourt and to someone who would help. For everyone’s sake, she hoped the only effects of the drugs were them acting and feeling spacey and nothing more severe. 

“Steve, listen to me. They’re going to be looking for us up there, okay? I need you to tell me where you parked your car.” Sunshine had little clue of how to drive, but she was sure she could figure it out. If Max could drive them without crashing, she was sure she could too. 

Steve gasped, his eyes widening as he grabbed both of her hands. “Oh! Can we make a pit stop at the food court?” 

Robin nodded enthusiastically. “I would kill for a hotdog on a stick right now.” 

“Fine!” Dustin said, growing visibly more agitated by the second. “You guys can have all the food you want, but you have to tell us where you parked your car.”

“The car's of the board,” said Steve. “They took the keys. The Russians took the keys, like, forever ago. That’s a bummer, right?” 

The elevator stopped and Erica opened the door with the keycard. They’d have to think of another plan. Maybe if they went to the far end of the parking lot, just out of sight from anyone who was lurking around the mall’s perimeter, they could use Dustin’s walkie to contact someone from the party and get a ride.  

With that plan in mind, she helped Steve to his feet and led the way out. A warm summer breeze blew across her face, welcomingly so. She had only ever been so grateful to be outside one other time in her life. 

Ahead of them was a gate that, when crossed, would take them straight to the main parking lot. It felt so close and for a moment, Sunshine believed they were going to be home free, but nothing could ever be that easy. They didn’t even make it halfway to the gate before two men, armed, spotted them. 

“Stop!” they yelled at the group before they began running in their direction. Sunshine turned around quickly and pointed back towards the mall. They raced inside a door that led into the mall’s service halls. She had no sense of direction or destination in mind, all she knew was that they needed to find somewhere to hide before they were caught, again. Dustin took the lead, promising that he had the perfect place to lie low. He skidded to a stop at one of the doors and peeked his head out, scanning the surroundings before he waved them on. 

They slipped into the mall movie theater, which was loud and dark, a perfect place to go unnoticed. Nearly every seat was filled, but Erica had spotted two in the front row. They dragged Steve and Robin toward the empty seats and forced them to sit down. 

“These seats are too close,” Robin wined. 

“Then don’t watch the movie,” Dustin replied in a hushed but sharp tone. 

Steve frowned. “But we wanna watch it.” 

“Then watch it!” A few people around glared at them, forcing Sunshine to extend them an apologetic smile. She didn’t feel sorry, though. Bigger things were happening inside the mall than some stupid movie. Not a single soul inside the theater knew about the military base right under their feet or the wide-open Gate. They went about their lives normally; it made Sunshine jealous. 

“Hey,” Sunshine whispered looking between Steve and Robin. “Stay here and do not go anywhere, okay?” They muttered a response before fixing their eyes on the screen. She, Erica, and Dustin moved down to the seats on the opposite side of the theater. 

Sunshine fell against the seat with a quiet groan, aching muscles, and a pounding head. She pressed her fingers against her temple and tried to rub away the pain to clear her head. 

“It’s official,” Dustin said, sitting beside her. “I’m never having kids.” 

“You’re telling me,” Sunshine replied. 

Erica, who sat on the other side of Sunshine, asked, “What are we doing here?” 

“We’re waiting for Sunshine to recharge so that we have at least a fighting chance against the Red Army,” Dustin replied, causing her to squeeze her eyes closed. She was going to need more than five minutes to recoup. Taking out a couple of soldiers didn’t leave her completely drained, but she wasn’t in the best shape after everything. The toll on her body and mind felt her tired and pulled tight with anxiety that she couldn’t shake. She didn’t know if another fight was in her. 

Dustin continued, “We’re just going to lie low and cool off, like Oswald.” 

“Oswald was found in a theater and shot to death,” Erica retorted. 

“Yeah, a week later.”

“The point is his plan didn’t work.” 

Dustin rolled his eyes. “Yeah, because it was a setup. He was just a patsy.” 

“Tell me you’re joking?”

“Guys.” Sunshine looked between the kids, silently pleading for them to stop bickering. 

“Sorry,” Dustin apologized. “Um, so, how long do you think you’ll need before you can, you know, take out the you-know-whos?” 

Sunshine appreciated the faith Dustin had in her, but there were a lot more Russian soldiers than she could reasonably take on, and they all were looking for them. She feared their escape would not be easy, and she didn’t know how much aid her abilities would be aside from keeping them out of immediate danger. Their best bet was to sneak out, but they needed a surefire ride to do that. They’d be spotted too quickly trying to walk across the wide-open parking lot. The Russians probably had eyes everywhere, especially since they had broken into their base and then escaped it. 

“I don’t know.” 

Dustin was quiet for a moment, before he stood up, grabbing Sunshine by the hand and tugging her out of her seat. “Come on,” he whispered before looking to Erica. “Stay here and watch Tweedledee and Tweedledum. Make sure they don’t go anywhere.” 

“And where are you two going?” 

“To find us a ride,” Dustin replied. They exited the theater and found a safe spot inside the projection room, empty and free from any slider surprise attacks. Dustin pulled out his walkie-talkie as he sat on the floor. Sunshine copied his actions, leaning up against the wall with a deep breath. There was no time for her to be in pain or lag behind, not until they all were safely out. 

“Here,” Dustin tapped her leg with a half-drunk water bottle that he had, smartly, kept in his backpack for emergencies. She thanked him and took a long sip, letting the room-temperature water wash away some of her nausea. “Are you okay?” Dustin asked, eyebrows furrowed, and lips turned in a slight frown. 

“Yeah.” She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, rubbing off some of the stained blood from under her nose too. She then smeared the crimson off on her wrinkled dress, uncaring of the stains it would leave behind. The dress was one she’d probably never wear again. It had gotten ripped at the bottom and a hole in the upper back, which was a shame because the dark blue dress was beautiful but ruined in more ways than physical. It would hold all of the memories of the past day, and she did not want to remember any of what had happened over the last twenty-four hours.

“I’ll be a lot better once we figure a way out of here.”

“Yeah, no kidding.” There was a far-off look in Dustin’s eyes. 

“Are you okay?” She hated how tough all of the kids tried to act. She wished they didn’t feel like they needed to put on a brave face for her or anyone. They were allowed to be sad and scared, but they all had a habit of rolling their shoulders back and pretending like it was no big deal; they could handle it. They shouldn’t have had to ‘handle’ it, though. 

He shrugged. “It’s dumb.” 

“What is?” 

“We were, uh, kind of close to almost dying back there, and you know what I couldn’t stop thinking about? I couldn’t stop wishing that the rest of the party was there too and that they were with us right now. Not because I want them in danger or anything, it’s just…we usually figure this kind of stuff out together. We’re a team. We work better as a team, I think. But things are different now and I get it. It’s just weird.” Sunshine frowned and reached out, squeezing his hand and prompting him to continue. “This summer, between camp and this whole operation, is the longest I’ve spent apart from Mike, Will, and Lucas since elementary school.” 

That was the real tragedy of it all. The party had to grow up too fast, and they wouldn’t get back the time they lost. They were still just kids, but it was easy to see that they didn’t really see themselves as that anymore. All kids had to grow up eventually, but growing up wasn’t supposed to entail the knowledge of monsters in the form of people and creatures from another world. It was unfair, but most things were. 

���I bet they’re missing you as much as you’re missing them.” 

His shoulders slumped as he stared at his walkie-talkie, a little device full of memories. “And what if they aren't?”

She gave his hand another squeeze, a hopeful one. No matter how grown up the party got, she was sure that they’d continue to love each other. “Call your friends, Dustin. Let’s get out of here and solve this thing with them, together.” 

Dustin sucked in a deep breath before bringing the walkie to his lips. “This is a code red. I repeat, this is a code red. Does anyone copy?” They waited a beat but were only met with static silence. He tried again. “This is a code red. I repeat, this is a code red.” 

Another beat. Then, through the hiss of white noise, a voice cut in. “Dustin?” 

A bright, explosive smile spread across Dustin’s face that Sunshine had no choice but to mirror. “Mike!” 

“Dustin!” Mike sounded just as excited on the other end. Sunshine was sure she had never been more relieved to hear Mike’s voice. 

“Oh my God,” Dustin cried out in happiness. “You have to listen. I know I’ve been MIA, and I’m sorry. It’s not because I’m mad. I mean, I actually was mad, but not anymore. It’s also because I was trapped underground in a secret Russian base. I know that sounds insane, but the Russians have infiltrated Hawkins! The goddamn Russians! They’ve opened the Gate and now they’re after us and we don’t have a way out of here. So, I need you to come and get us. Can Nancy drive?” 

In response, Mike’s voice became gargled by static and it made no sense. He cut out too much and their connection sounded unstable. 

“Mike?” Mike! Do you copy?” Dustin’s walkie made a noise, beeping before it died in his hands. “Shit! No! Not right now! Please, not now. Mike! Shit!” 

Sunshine hung her head as the hopeless feeling crawled back up her throat. She wanted to cry, again, but refused to in front of Dustin. They had no way out, and no communication to anyone outside the mall. They could use a pay phone, but they’d have to find someone who was home and hope the calls were tapped by the Russians. 

“Do you have any batteries?” Dustin asked. She shook her head. There was nothing on her. Anything that had been in her pockets was taken by the Russians and Erica had dropped her walkie when they were in the elevator the first time. It wasn't in there when they returned, meaning the Russians had found it.

They retreated into the theater, where Dustin then asked Erica if she had any batteries on her, which she did not. They needed a different game plan. Sunshine let the kids mull over another safe place to hide in the mall while she moved to grab Steve and Robin, but when she gazed down the row of moviegoers to where they had left them, she was met with two empty seats. There was not a Steve nor Robin in sight. 

Tagged. @sattlersquarry , @leptitlu , @drunkengodsofslaughter

[android-and-ale]

Writing Patterns

Rules: list the first line of your last 10 (posted) fics and see if there's a pattern! Thanks @affixjoy and @flippyspoon!

I'm new to Trek, so I don't yet have 10.

1 “Have a seat, son.” (One (1) Daily Shoulder Pat, AOS, Spirk Endgame)

2. Spock collapsed onto Jim, panting. (Discounts at Starbaase One, TOS, Spirk)

3. Jim twisted in a rough circle, laughing as his arms tangled in his uniform. (External Existence, TOS, Spirk)

4. Vriha sat on the damp stone bench, three feet from T’Pila. (T'Ruth and Consequence, TNG/DS9 Era, OC Vulcan and Romulan sapphic teens)

5. Jim’s hands closed around Spock’s biceps.  (Not In Front Of The Klingons, TOS, Old Married Spirk)

6. Jim took another long drink of his rum spiked vegan hot chocolate, beaming as his brother lied his way to winning another game of Dreidel. (Replicator Roulette, SNW, Spirk)

7. The overhead lights in Starbase 11’s officer’s lounge flashed three times before dimming. (Captain's Logs, TOS, Stealthy Spirk)

Interesting. I rarely start with dialog, even though my fics themselves are very talky. It seems I like to begin with some characters in motion.

My first sentences definitely don't set up the whole fic, but they do usually help set the scene. My second sentence is often a lot more punchy.

This is a fascinating exercise! Show us what you've got!

@indeedcaptain, @uhuraprime, @schattengestalt, @spongynova, @wren-of-the-woods

[thatdebaterguy]

Deeply interesting that you critique others for not providing sources whilst rarely doing so yourself. Also interesting how you point fingers saying "that's an unsubstantiated claim!!!" at others whilst claiming everything, everyone anywhere in Palestine is Hamas if its convenient for your narrative.

You're rotting yourself to the core with your hatred. History will remember you unfavourably. The children of Palestine are the children of us all. Cutting down the flowers will not prevent spring's arrival.

I understand sounding intelligent is deeply important to you, but do you truly feel nothing seeing the battered bodies of children? The suffering that's on display for all of us - do you have anything to say apart from "but hhhhhhhamas". Is there anything left of you?

Rotting to the core? I can go about my day quite happily without suddenly collapsing at the thought of terrorists. And have you listened to a word I've said? Countless times I've said I hold sympathy for those on both sides who've suffered unfairly at the hands of old men, extremists and politicians waging their board game wars. Nowhere have I said everything in Palestine is Hamas, nowhere have I said everything everywhere is wrong apart from if it's on my side of the fence, I've critiqued Netanyahu, I've agreed that some Israeli soldiers have done horrible things, but you've got to look at the facts, Hamas employ civilians, use civilians, have a membership that takes up what could be around 5% of all Gazans, with affiliates of an unknown number, they had 10% of a global aid charity aiding them in various means, from hiding terrorists, plotting October 7th and holding hostages. I have zero sympathy for anyone who does as little as give Hamas discounts on fruit. They've slaughtered thousands for the smallest things over decades. This is just as I have no sympathy for Israeli soldiers who shoot civilians like target practice, but you have to make the distinction that, the IDF as a vast majority operates as a national military defence, whereas Hamas are openly terrorists who want the death of every Israeli. You can't say that for every member of the IDF. Actions will usually speak louder than words, but since Hamas fortunately aren't capable of eradicating Israel, hearing them say over and over how they'd massacre every Jew living peacefully in their homeland, it speaks volumes.

[hawkepockets]

mr hawte pocket, may we ask your thoughts on the expansion news, since you mentioned in that recent post you have mixed opinions (@commanderhorncleaver)

ok i'm just gonna go point by point

👍 standard price for the expansion size. pleasant surprise! i was put off at seeing only a $5-10 discount from prev expacs, but i also wasn't expecting 3 maps and such sweeping changes to combat. if it includes living world unlocks, i think $25 is very fair.

👍👍 mounted combat PLEASE. YEAH

👍 if i'm understanding the rune changes right, they sound solid. while certain stat sets may be collapsed together, i think that moving the current 6th rune perk into its own distinct slot will lead to more build customizability, not less, while cutting down on tp costs as a barrier of entry to endgame group content.

👍👍👍👍👍 MESMER RIFLE‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️

👍 adding a new path to unlocking skyscale, while vet players who went through the tedious collection already are rewarded in the mastery tree. i’m glad their efforts aren’t gonna be totally thankless, and that the mount will be more accessible to the rest of us!

👍 "silent surf" is a gorgeous & highly vertical map. i'm sure the new zones will look and feel good.

👎 i have worries, based on the gyala episodes' failure to strongly tie the new oni threat to the end of the dragon cycle or the commander's canonical interests/motives & the amount of goofy filler, lore fudging, & fanservice in "what lies within," about the story's ability to follow up on itself. i think upcoming story releases will try to appeal to new players who haven't played the aurene storyline live and have less loyalty to the existing cast of npcs, while appeasing vet players with sloppy gw1 tie-ins and lazy answers to long-memed-about fan questions like "where's zojja" and "kessex wizard tower????" and that it’s likely to hurt itself in its confusion.

🥴 i hope that i'm proven wrong here, like i was by core eod story, and don't get me wrong i'm into wizards & demons, but after the false promises of "what lies beneath" and IBS i'm feeling... hm! well.

👍 i'm glad we're seeing more of cantha! 🫶 cantha...

🤨❓ decoupling elite specs from their signature weapons. here's where i get complicated.

IT WILL BE FUN. like. let's just get that out of the way it will be fun. i'm very excited to see all the new playstyles that become possible, a broadening of the endgame instanced pve meta, a big bang of rp builds tailored to character lore, new animations!! IT WILL BE FUN.

but i have some bigtime problems with it. first, i think anet has always fallen short of paying back vet players who've invested the most time, energy, and money to a game that gets continuously cheaper, easier, and more accessible. cheap and accessible are good things! high difficulty should be opt-in! and i don't in any way resent new players for having a better experience getting into the game. that said, the elite specs & their associated new weapon proficiencies were a major selling point of the prev expacs, right alongside story, maps, and gliding/mounts. it feels scammy for anet to now say, "remember when you preordered heart of thorns, full price, as soon as it was announced because you were THAT excited to play a guardian with a bow?? silly." the value loss here is not insignificant, and not reimbursed in any way.

& if access to the signature weapons is no longer an incentive to unlock and play an elite spec, there needs to be another incentive. those trait lines need to be powerful, individual, and on-point with lore and personality. that's the trade off. and right now, that is not at all the zeitgeist of gw2 balance patches. for a few years now, balance has been homogenizing specs, spreading out q/alac and heal capabilities while methodically deboning what's unique, potent, and vexing about the devs' least favorite classes: chrono boon support, mirage evasion, berserker dps, etc. without their signature weapons, what do these specs have going for them? what's their appeal? what's their vibe? where's their place in the world lore or the meta? opening up weapon selection, without reversing the trend of 2022-23 balance patches, accelerates the specs' decay into sameyness, and may make some completely obsolete. i'm not okay with that. keep guildwars weird.

however, i am hopeful that the change will address another of my beefs with balance, which is that in the current meta many elite specs are expected not to use their signature weapon at all. my feeling is & has always been, if i wanted to play D/D thief i wouldn't have trained specter, a spellslinger class made for scepter. if i didn't like axe, i never would've been attracted to mirage. so i hope the new armory system will put some of those back into play.

👍 hey. look at me. mesmer rifle.

[postgamecontent]

A Taito Arcade Archives Sale Starts Today

I'm not going to do news on this site as a general rule, but if I see something cool that my readers might appreciate, I'll go ahead and post it. So... here's something! Starting later today and running through September 25th, a selection of ten Arcade Archives Taito games will be on sale for 30% off on both the Nintendo Switch eShop and the PlayStation Store for PlayStation 4. That makes them $5.59 instead of the usual $7.99, which is not a huge discount but might be enough to win you over. Arcade Archives rarely go on sale twice, so if any of these look interesting to you, the time is now. Or soon, I suppose. Here are the included games:

New Zealand Story (Also Seen In Taito Milestones 2)

The popular platformer that seems to have really caught on in Europe via a variety of home computer ports. You might know it under its alternate title of Kiwi Kraze. It's rock-hard, but the cute visuals and variety of stage gimmicks make it worth a playthrough.

Metal Black (Also Seen In Taito Milestones 2)

A very enjoyable and slightly bonkers horizontal shoot 'em up whose main claim to fame is its giant laser duals that inspired the usage of a similar mechanic in later Darius games. If you like shooters, this one is quite a bit of fun. Good for fans of the score attack and timed Caravan modes in particular.

Bonze Adventure

A decent little platformer with an interesting theme. As you would expect from a Taito platformer of this vintage, it's tough as old boots. Some might know it from its PC Engine release under its Japanese title, Jigoku Meguri. I think it's good, but if you don't like platformers with stiff movements you might find it frustrating. Not featured on either Taito Milestones collection so far, and not on the list for the third set either.

Don Doko Don

One thing you can hand to Taito is that it knew how to put together a good elimination platformer. That's the genre label I'm going with. But you know, Bubble Bobble-likes. Don Doko Don is a pretty good one, even if it doesn't have quite as much personality as some of Taito's other games in the genre. Not included in either of the currently-released Taito Milestones collections, and also not on the upcoming third one.

Alpine Ski (Also Seen in Taito Milestones)

Phew, this one is an oldie. As you would guess from the title, you control a skier as they make their way through a course. Go through the flags to earn points, and watch out for trees. Not a bad score chaser, really. You have to have some appreciation for games of this vintage to get the most out of it, though.

Ben Bero Beh (Also Seen In Taito Milestones 2)

This is a quirky one, to be sure. You play as a hero trying to rescue his girlfriend from a burning building. Put out fires, jump over collapsed floors, and watch out for the enemies that are for whatever reason trying to hassle you. If you're looking for something unique, this is it.

The Fairyland Story (Also Seen In Taito Milestones)

Another elimination platformer, this time with you playing as a witch who can turn enemies into cakes. Frightening stuff. You can even drop those cakes on other enemies to smoosh them. A little lacking in frills, but here be plenty of thrills. I just thought of that one on the fly.

Liquid Kids (Also Seen In Taito Milestones 2)

You might know this as Mizubaku Adventure. You play as a hippopotamus named Hipopo and are on a quest to rescue your precious friends from monsters. Your main weapon on this journey is a supply of water bombs. A colorful and enjoyable side-scrolling platformer, and I give it a very high recommendation.

Gun & Frontier (Also Seen In Taito Milestones 2)

A vertically scrolling shoot em up from the same team that made Metal Black and Dinorex. Imagine a world where everything is guns. That is Gun & Frontier. A very imaginative setting and some slick action makes this a solid choice for fans of the genre. Another good one for those who want to try their hand at score attack or the timed Caravan mode.

Dinorex (Also Seen In Taito Milestones 2)

Dinorex is an absolute trash fire of a fighting game starring dinosaurs, and I love it. It is completely ridiculous and it's almost worth playing just to see all of the goofy things going on with it. It also features a story link to Rastan, so if you're a fan of that and want to know the complete lore, you have no choice but to buy and play Dinorex.

And there you have it, friends. Many of these are in the Taito Milestones collections, and that might be a more economical way to go. Do note that the Milestones versions don't always have the full set of features seen in the stand-alone Arcade Archives releases, though. It might be worth the double-dip for your favorites.

[arcplaysgames]

hey guys have you met kanji tatsumi

he's like the best dude

wait lemme sum up other stuff first before getting to my good good punk boy

I'm good enough friends with shrine fox that he'll give me a discount on healing which is good because HOLY SHIT THIS BITCH IS EXPENSIVE, what the hell. 9 THOUSAND yen, bro? what the fuck. i'll just go home and sleep thanks.

Hung out with Yosuke and like the retail core of my soul just shrivels and dies every fucking time because yep YEAH YEP THAT SURE IS A THING.

Like... it is horseshit the amount of hours retail sucks out of your life, but leaving other people to take on your hours and thus grind that other person further into the ground just. hate it.

Yosuke is both trying not to be The Junes Kid but everyone around him expect him to basically be a ad hoc manager and that shit fucking sucks so much, I'm sorry, dude.

also he burst into Reverie's room looking for porn. ah, life before the more widespread proliferation of the internet and its cavalcades of erotic content. someday, yosuke, you will be able to just look up tiddies.

i know everyone has probably said all of this already but out of everyone, yosuke feels the most like he's Trying to be hetero and it's painful to see.

Over in the Hierophant SLink, I got enough eloquence to talk to Dojima and this conversation took me tf OUT. Dojima, you HAVE to try harder, Nanako hangs out more with my high school friends than you and it SUCKS.

That said, the whole family working on the garden is very heartwarming and gives me hope. Dojima needed me to level up my stats to even TALK to me, so there is this gap he has to bridge to reach out to Nanako, and it's painful to see because I'm sympathetic but also you GOTTA do better, Dojima. This is not optional.

I read the first few chapters of My Immortal.

AND IN THE SUN SLINK THERE IS LIKE SO MUCH FUCKING DR-- drama. there's. drama in the drama club. i see what they did there. Yumi's mother collapsed. but ho ho!

It turns out that her deadbeat dad collapsed and mom lied to get Yumi to come, and it's a fuckign MESSSSSSSS.

Then in the fucking Adachi SLink that apparently exists??? The game gave me the option to flirt with him and he actually let me down very smoothly, which.

WHY IS THIS HERE? Was there a hankering for this weird side character to get an SLink? I'm baffled.

And then Nanako asked me why people die and I am not equipped to handle that one, honey! Not yet! Whoo boy! Your dad sucks!

here nanako, do you have a psp? play this game, persona 3 portable, it'll explain everything, okay? make sure to use the arcade games to boost your stats, you'll be fine.

KANJIIIIIIIIIIII

hang on the entire scene with him is so good i need another post, brb

[lecpenni]

LEC RETROSPECTIVE: VITALITY

So yesterday I said I was gonna start posting about the team individually, starting with last place in LEC Summer Regular Split 2023, and that means I'm gonna write first about probably the most chaotic and insane story this year, a team known for their frequent superteams and subsequent collapses.

This is the 1,2,3,4 5th! failed superteam from the french organisation, and considering their track record they really aughta stop trying. After coming into the league, shitting it up with that godawful Hachani roster, having a mildly successful run to worlds in 2018 with Kikis and early Attila, and then blowing up every last successful aspect of their roster in 2020 with the Saken rosters, they've since decided that they're going full money, no thoughts and built a roster of hopefully, high quality.

Winter began with a roster of Photon, a former T1 Challenger player who was probably the 3rd or 4th most exciting prospetive toplaner in LCKCL, Bo, the maligned prodigy booted from his home region for matchfixing allegations, who spent 2022 absolutely running EUW and making montages of the top level LEC players, Perkz, a western GOAT, one of the most storied players in our fair region and fresh coming back from his NA journey, looking (honestly) worse than ever.

Now, this topside was fairly exciting. Perkz was historically known mostly as a carry player on mechanical assassins, like Leblanc, but in his recent years, he was yet to show any real promise in game. Out of game, he's a renowned leader and able to get along with anyone. Bo was a prodigy jungler, undefeated in 2021 until the matchfixing allegations came out and arguably doomed the FPX roster, while Photon was a bit of an unknown quanitity. As a CL player, Thanatos was MUCH MUCH better, and others like DnDn are in LCK now and doing well for themselves, but Photon was on T1 Challengers, which has produced some of the best new talent in the LCK and LCS, with Berserker going to NA, Trigger doing well in LFL, and others like Mireu doing well on R7 in the LLA. So you can't exactly discount his potential. Now the botlane? They went from Carzzy and Labrov the year before, with Carzzy looking bottom 3 at best and Labrov being a coinflip on his performances, to a power duo of Neon and Kaiser. Now, as a certified Misfits Fan until their departure, I am always hyped to see former bunnies doing well. Kaiser? Less so. I don't enjoy his play and I think he's either been massively overrated in his time in LEC or performing to a basic average level of what an LEC support should be. So I wasn't exactly excited after Kaiser spent 2021 clinging to Carzzy's legs dragging him back to elo hell, and 2022 ensuring UNFORG1VEN couldn't have too good a time. But, you know, it can always get better. And honestly, who better to bring this roster together than the former Misfits coaching staff? A very strong, proven coaching staff that managed to take a team of middle of the pack players and almost propel them to worlds on unique and interesting strategies, and VTO. Well, Winter began and Bo ended up kinda performing to the level expected. Photon did pretty damn well, and Perkz didn't look bad either. And despite a lot of what people now say, Neon actually didn't do too badly on uncomfortable picks, while kaiser utterly SPRINTED some laning phases and oft abandoned the botlane to push their topside ahead. Not the worst, but on picks like Caitlyn? Yeah not advisable. Neon also showed that he still had it in him with some amazing lategame carry performances on Varus and Zeri, but both of those were so broken at the start of this year that it's maybe easy to discount his performances. The topside certainly had a time. Photon was performing pretty damn well most of the time, usually on Gnar, Gwen or an AP Gragas or two. He ended up being recognised as the best or at least one of the best junglers in the league. Bo was mostly resigned to Maokai, Vi and a very early Graves carry game, and usually went down in kills but, overall, not the worst. Perkz? Yeah not too bad either. An overall mixed bag that had some good azir games, some int tristana games, and a questionable leblanc and taliyah at the end. But the overall cohesion of the team was sometimes called into question. Which, considering this was essentially one of the first LPL players to be brought into the LEC, and an unproven LCK player who had to learn english as well, AND deal with (what I presume was the reason for the vitality collapses before) a general manager who does something. I don't know, but to foreshadow, it's absolutely something to do with management that this team ends up THIS bad, and that most people who move on from Vitality end up so much better off.

Vitality ended the regular season with a 7-2 record, placing them in first place, with losses to a surprisingly strong underdog in SK Gaming, with Irrelevant stomping an Ornn Photon in the toplane and successfully transferring that lead throughout the map, and to KOI, the former Rogue, with a dominant Azir from Larssen, and a double ADC botlane stomping the Zeri-Yuumi of Vitality. But, this was ok, since they tied first alongside MAD Lions, holding the head to head, so taking the lead and their first ever 1st place regular season in LEC. Congrats Vitality! Now just carry that through to the all-new Group Stage! ...This is where this overview is gonna take a bit of a depressing turn. Winter Group Stage is where a lot of Vitality's problems begin. They begin by picking Heretics to go up against. And that's completely understandable. Heretics had the disaster lanes of Evi and Ruby, a fairly weak botlane of Jackspectra and Mersa (sadly) and I'd argue The Western GOAT, Jankos, having a hell of a season with 3 training weights. Unfortunatly, Vitality drop a game to Heretics. Now, not the end of the world, but this game hard exposed some things. Target and overwhelm the botlane, Neon and Kaiser can collapse, and Bo will usually try to salvage bot rather than focus topside. Photon can be beat by forcing him onto tanks, and don't give Bo something he can carry on. An embarassing Cait/Lux lane in game 2, a kindred carry in game 3 from Bo, plus a weak series from Photon showed that the "god" can bleed. But ultimately, Vitality did win. Dropping a game does mean nothing, at the end of the day. You don't lose points or anything for that. And then the KOI series happened. KOI vs Vitality's Bo3 was a disasterclass. A clean 2-0 from Malrang's Xin Zhao, an utter failure of a Nidalee/Yone comp, and speaking of Comp, why did people give him Zeri? He's the pentakill guy now he gets pentakills, cmon. KOI cap off the series by annihilating Vitality, and qualifying for the playoffs. Not the end of the world. Vitality have one more chance, vs... SK GAMING The guys who beat them in regular season, the surging rookies looking promising and incredibly exciting going towards the playoffs. They lost a series too right? To... Koi... Well. Shit. Vitality proceed to play a 40 minute game with maybe one of the most useless scalers ever, Elise, and Perkz' Shitty Goddamn Sylas, and then get stomped in under 25 minutes by The Sertussy on Ahri, and picking Karthus with no protection or scaling in jungle, vs Draven Vi. Oh God. So that's Winter dead and gone now. Placing 5th overall, after winning the regular season, ain't exactly great. Fingers started being pointed, and at the end of the season, the team went forward with heads held high. So you dropped to 2 surging teams with high ceilings? What could go wrong next season?

Well... How about dropping your perfectly fine botlaner? Here's a twitter link for an announcement video that Neon is being benched for Upset! ...What??? A lot of people quickly jumped on board saying that Upset is a better botlaner than Neon, and should be a better fit for vitality's playstyle. He's goddamn Upset, right? The best botlaner EU's ever produced that never won his title? That's what people say. They also like to neglect that fuckin EGO that Upset has. Maybe it's unpopular to say, but some of his comments about being the best to not win a title, or claiming He's too Good to Not Win A Title come off as very egotistic to say the least. But other than that, Vitality remained the same going into Spring. G2 won the split, MAD came 2nd overall, and Vitality have a bright future ahead of them! How can they NOT win the regular seaso- 6-3 they went 6-3. Which is still impressive! But the losses were to goddamn ASStralis (who also went 6-3 and looked a whole lot better without dajor but That's for tomorrow), G2 who just came off from winning a split, and BDS, who were really coming into their form in this meta. Not the worst, but some performances were… sketchy to say the least. Bo didn't look as good, Perkz was faltering in some matchups, Kaiser had some real fuckin int plays at times, and Upset did sometimes play for pure KDA. Photon still looked pretty damn good, playing carries more, and a game or two of malphite who just looked useless at times, but whatever. His Gwen looked good, he had a scary Jayce, a couple of Camilles and a Darius, for a bit of variety! There's not as much to say other than the whole team... well... they looked tired. There was less laughing, less jokes, people seemed frustrated, and overall the atmosphere seemed slightly worse. Speaking as someone completely outside of that sphere, that's what I saw. Which could be completely wrong, but eh. Some things you do have to infer. Their losses often looked much worse than in winter, as well. Bo usually got the bad end of the stick in their losses, looking completely exposed as a fairly bad jungler, which wasn't always fair. Sometimes it was just a passive less explosive botlane which led to slower or longer games which no-one in vitality really wanted to kick start. Even in some wins, Perkz or Photon got hard exposed, while Kaiser kinda shit the bed or messed up engages in lane, leading to Upset usually just playing under turrets and begging for help from Bo. But you can whinge all you want, they still came out with a positive record, and a 4th place position, meaning they get to avoid the top 3 of Astralis, BDS and G2. And they made the best use of it! Groups started out with a very clean 2-0 over MAD Lions, owing to some stellar Zeri Gaming from Upset, then Ahri from Perkz dominating MAD's scaling comps that shit the bed colossaly from Carzzy and Hyli playing Lucian/Nami very poorly all game both times. Not much else to say, but they managed to repeat the effort vs a defeated and downtrodded Astralis, where 113 put on a disasterclass of being punished in jungle. That one series showed the Bo We Were Promised, and uhhh.... it never came back. Seriously. That was the last good performance by vitality, for basically the rest of the year (spoiler). They qualify to playoffs and something flicks in their heads, and they look hollow, like absolute shells of humanity.

First series vs BDS has a kill-less game for Vitality, one of the worst Annie performances for a long time, and an absolute schlacking in the jungle for Bo, on a 1/9 sejuani. There's nothing else to say than it was an absolute wipe, and Vitality get dropped to the lower bracket vs a loser's bracket MAD Lions who infamously were 1 nexus strike away from being dropped to 9th and missing groups, let alone playoffs. And Vitality get a win off the back of a good tristana performance from Perkz, and get roundly whipped into shape by Nisqy and Elyoya, who look world class again if only briefly. An absolute disaster in the botlane for games 1, 3 and 4, Chasy proving that he was the better korean top all along, alongside some really damn good carzzy performancse led to Vitality absolutely losing everything. And that's spring split done. Vitality completely figured out, losing to the top 2 teams one after another, and missing out on MSI. But the team not only made it to playoffs convincingly, but put on some good performances before then! Surely nothing will go wrong going forward? Right? Summer. If any Vitality fans do truly exist, they will shun this season with hatred and fear. And going in, it didn't look much different to Spring, if anything people were more hopeful. Upset was apparently signed hastily after playoffs, meaning a general lack of time to sync up as a team and get on the same page, as well as less scrim time. Well this time, there's a whole ass international tournament in between, hosted near Berlin and a large number of huge players are gonna be in the EU, on soloq and ready to scrim. Week 1 starts in an... unfortunate manner. A quick loss to a humbled and utterly whipped MAD Lions after the infamous 1647 incident, with Bo getting utterly demolished and, of note, a very very distinct lack of harmony. Bo would often start objectives and go entirely MIA during the objective, basically just leashing for the enemy while leaving his lanes in a horrid state, and going for objectives basically against the wishes of the laners. Kaiser looked lost, Upset lost almost every lane, Perkz often got pushed in and left to fend solo vs ganks, and Photon got way too over eager and similarly lost lane, and threw games off of it. Week 1 finishes with a middling win over a slumped SK with some truly disastrous jungle and support performances, and another loss to an up and coming Heretics with Vetheo. Week 2 was worse. A 0-3 week, losing to G2 with another jungle disasterclass, losing to Astralis who outscrapped Vitality to death, and Fnatic who utterly shitstomped Bo with a pocket Amumu. You might notice a recurring pattern of Bo being the most focused and often lost person on this roster. Management thought so too, so they brought up their 17 year old LFL jungler Daglas, who was just ok. A carry focused player who often took risky fights against most conventional wisdom. AKA A mini Bo. Oh God. Week 3 started Daglas' LEC journey, in an absolute snoozer vs Koi where Photon was the only human logged on and Daglas got put on Maokai duty, where they lost, and then on Day 2, they needed the win. Desperately. Without this win, they're eliminated from groups, and it's vs a slumping BDS. This game was fought with blood, sweat, tears, and teeth. A constant back and forth between 2 teams fighting for last chances in the season, and it all comes down to one teamfight. I implore you, if you haven't to watch the final few minutes of this game. It is utterly heartbreakingly close. And BDS just sweep one fight and walk in a wave to end the game. That's it. That's Vitality's season, basically. One more game vs Excel looks just as lifeless as ever, and they're gone. Vitality's out, the superteam has failed again. Well, they can qualify for season finals on a technicality but it's so slim that I doubt they will. Not that I, or any other viewer would want to. They look utterly hopeless and depressed, and I cannot wait to see how badly this ends.

Vitality's season was one of tragedy. Few teams shoot for the stars so often, and fall so hard and so short of their expectations. Let's see if they do it again next year, shall we?

[motionjames]

Wake up girlies, it's time to return to the frontline!

Guess who has insomniaaaa! 🤗💕💕

A month of cramps, nausea, increasingly worse insomnia (but a strangely good mood) has lead me down the path once again. I caught wind of some strange "gfl2" thing and after being struck with nostalgia, I grabbed bluestacks and fell into hell once more. I'd deleted gfl off my phone simply because it took too much space but now that it's on my computer, it's become DANGEROUS...! Github and clip studio up front with logistics running forever in the background. Yes, the ideal working experience.

Anyhow, everyone say hello to Contender.

I've been making more progress in these past two days than I had in the entire two months I spent with my new account because I realized how to (partially) Not Be An Idiot. Turns out there's a thing called "anchored construction" and you can get some pretty nice units (eventually) if you realize it exists! Wow! I got the girly and now I'm working on grabbing Carcano because she is pretty but also insane skillz.

Also, there's a discounted gatcha running right now and that means I can finally get over my mental block and spend tokens... I was surprised at how easy it's been to acquire them, so I've just been shilling em out. My dorm was totally bare until now. I'm sorry, everynyan...

As for actual gameplay, I finally made it past 2-6. It might seem like a simple thing to most but I was yet again, being an idiot. I was under the impression that I HAD to have dupes of the girls to dummy link them when I actually was swimming in dummy cores 🤦🏽‍♂️ What's wrong with me... Well, I jumped over that hurdle, blasted through the emergency missions, and am finishing chapter 3. The first parts arent so bad when you learn how to read! 😃😃😃

First eschalon is good, it's the standard one that everyone seems to use to clear the early game. This second one is a WIP mess that I'm readying for night missions. You see, I'm really hurting for half-decent SMGs and rifles, the second one there is kinda lacking in defense/fire power... I wanna create a decent second eschalon and night mission groupie but I gotta figure out what units to invest in. I hope for Carcano soon. She is cute. Also, feel free to berate me for my bad decisions and suggest decent compositions. I am so lacking in SMGs that dont immediately explode (mpk you are so cute but so stupid). I'm currently looking at friend's compositions to figure out what formations work...

In completely different news and only further proving how dense I am, I only recently learned that Girl of the Bakehouse was related to GFL. I've had my eye on Reverse Collapse for a while now since it's a remake (of a remake?! I didnt play the previous one) of a visual novel I played in 2012 or so. The original vn was made in 2009 in like Kirikiri script and I was a young lad very fixated on all things with girls and guns (Gunslinger Girl was and still is a favorite of mine, I would've read it one summer at my Uncle's out on the front porch). There's an english patch now, but back then it was only in Chinese so I had to use text extracting and image translators, looking up the characters as I went. I got a cup of coco and opened up a patched version last night for old times sake. It's clearly a doujin work with those rough edges but it's so damn confident in its presentation you can't not get swept up in the presentation. The sound work make it very immersive. I highly reccomend reading it if you want a solid, emotional war story. Looking at the sepia soaked sketches, down-to-earth narrative, dense wordbuilding and general war otaku sentimentality... It really predicted a lot of my tastes, huh... 😅

Behold, teh wolfguy...

Back to work. Logistics still running. I can and WILL continue being stupid. The nostalgia is really strong, I'm tempted to draw fanart despite the sour memories of the past. Again, please berate me and tell me of your team compositions. I think my ID is 772030 but I promise you, I won't be any good on teh battlefield 😇 this machine runs off hopes and dreams, not realities!

[satoshi-mochida]

Dokapon Kingdom: Connect for PC launches September 7

Gematsu Source

The PC version of Dokapon Kingdom: Connect will launch via Steam on September 7, publisher Idea Factory International announced. It will be available at a 15 percent-off discount price for the first week of release.

Dokapon Kingdom: Connect first launched for Switch on April 13 in Japan and May 9 worldwide. The PC version will be a port of the Switch version.

Here is an overview of the game, via Idea Factory International:

About

Everyone in Dokapon Kingdom loves money. One day in this peaceful land, monsters suddenly appeared and began attacking nearby towns. The economy collapsed, and people were at their lowest. Taxes were no longer being paid, of course. So that’s when the King took action! He decided to gather the bravest warriors to rescue these towns so he can get paid! In exchange, the one who collects the most shall be rewarded with the Princess’ hand in marriage and the throne. And thus, an adventure for money begins, where absolutely anything goes!

Key Features

RPG and Board Game Lovers Unite… AGAIN! – Originally released for PlayStation 2 and Nintendo Wii, the hybrid party board game is now available on Steam! The game is simple: spin the roulette and defeat whoever stands your way!

Connect With Your Best Frenemies Online – Holding a grudge never felt so good! Players can now duke it out against their friends via Online Mode!

Five Game Modes and A Massive Game Board! – Plot your revenge and choose from five different game modes: Normal, Story, Shopping Race, Kill Race, and Town Race. With a kingdom spanning seven continents, who knows what shenanigans you’ll get into!

Outwit Your Foes With 11 Possible Job Classes – Wanna slash your way through the Dokapon Kingdom? Choose the Warrior! Interested in conjuring flashy spells? Pick the Magician! Choose from 11 job classes and earn experience points to level up your character! Purchase or even steal items and use them to your advantage!

[mail-me-a-snail]

for the cyberpsychosis ask game, Discount Doc and Under The Bridge? :3

Discount Doc: Is your OC good at improvising? Would they survive a mission under prepared?

ABSOLUTELY NOT vance would prefer to know every plan inside and out, down to the most minute detail like where he can find access ports. improvisation is how u can get urself and others killed. he works okay under pressure and can make decisions on the fly if need be, but it messes him up when a plan doesn't go exactly as he thought it would (it's the autism).

Under the Bridge: If your OC is a netrunner, what does their interface look like?

i always imagined it to look like the operator's setup in the matrix, or a surveillance room. screens in a three by three grid, some cozy chair, a desk that shifts and crawls with data.

like this ^ but in pink and in more of a void rather than a room. he sits cross-legged in front of these screens; the screens themselves aren't fixed entities and will usually "collapse" into pixels to form whatever part of a diagram he needs them to be. like if he needs a diagram of corpo plaza, one screen will become the buildings, another the cars, the people, etc.

his work-in-progress daemons take the form of the symbols he assigns them. his cupid daemon is a cartoony arrow struck through a heart, for example. they're usually slapped on the "side" of the monitors