#and hes bad at multiplayer games but hes getting better and sometimes he will fall asleep on my sofa and i get to watch

[dirt-str1der]

I got it; Kiryu is the boy next door who is super hot and everyone has a crush on because of that but hes also a bit shy and doesnt reach out much and you have to take advantage of how close he is to hang out with him and become someone he “doesn’t mind” because you help him pick his shit up when he throws his shirts and like food containers/drink cans everywhere and also make homecooked meals for him and hes like wow ... i gotta learn how to make that ... and he sometimes comes home with his hands all fucked up and hes bloody and you fuss over him a bit and he thinks its nice to have someone whos soft on him and if youre a girl he will kiss you while youre bandaging his wounds but if youre a guy you have to initiate because liking guys is for girls (untrue but its this way in his head BUT if a guy likes him first then its fine). You two will have something good going on until you have to break up because hes in jail again not because being in a long distance relationship is hard but because he will get himself killed shortly after getting out of prison

[otakween]

Digimon World 4 - Final Thoughts

Whelp, that was...something. This game is objectively bad, but I still had a good, brain rotting time. It falls into the "game to zone out on the couch to" category. The lack of much story, characters or dialogue means I got in some quality podcast/music time as well. It's pretty similar to Digimon World 2 in its crappiness, but I found DW4's gameplay more satisfying. I think DW2 has the more appealing art style though, so they even out to the same rank basically. Full thoughts below!

Notes:

So this is loosely based on the Digimon X-Evolution CG film I posted about before. I was disappointed to see that the opening credits are just a hodge podge of scenes from said movie. That's pretty boring and lazy if you ask me. I picked Dorumon to control in honor of the film's protag (and since it would be a more novel experience).

I found any weapon aside from the guns to be a colossal pain to use, so I just used guns and guns alone for the entire game lol. At least I was able to get tech points quickly that way!

This game has the most unbalanced difficulty levels ever. It's either stupid hard or stupid easy. Luckily, the stupid easy moments are far more frequent. Every time I fought a boss I braced myself only to just button mash my way to the end in like a few minutes. Most of them were jokes. On the other end of the spectrum, the beginning of the game was weirdly hard because I would get mobbed by enemies and massacred in like two seconds (this is when I realized I should be using the guns lol). It's hard to have much strategy because most battle moves you can do (spin attack, charged attack, block) suck control-wise. My strat for most of the game was either the ole "shoot and run" or just to get up on a high ground where I was invincible. The latter move kinda felt broken and was part of what made the game stupid easy.

Thank God I emulated this game. Although it's mostly easy, there are definitely moments where it's easy to die. Some dungeons will lock you into the tightest corners and then just spawn like a jillion enemies out of nowhere (the Otamamon and Infermon were the WORST). Some of the harder bosses had some pretty cheap moves too. Save states were the VIP, as usual.

The plot of the game is really basic and the writing is just as wonky as DW2. Basically all you need to know is that there's a virus that's bad and you need to get rid of it. It doesn't get any deeper than that and there are no twists or turns. Ophanimon, Seraphimon, and Leomon are the only characters with significant dialogue (none of the bosses talk) and they really don't have anything interesting to say (I did like Ophanimon and Seraphimon's models tho)

The dungeons were definitely better than DW2 in terms of visuals/layout, but the enemies felt super repetitive. You get maybe 3 types of enemies per dungeon and then you just fight those same 3 again and again and again.

The dungeons are unreasonably long slogs with no way to save in the middle of them. I had save states so I was okay, but sometimes a dungeon would take me over two hours?? Like wtf. I know kids have a lot of free time but some of them aren't even allowed to game for 2 hours straight!

Of course, I played this single player. I actually think it'd be really fun as a multiplayer game? Like, that's probably what it was actually built for. There are actually some moments where you can't go to certain parts of dungeons without a buddy :'(

The bosses were mostly big bads from the series/movies which was fun. Made it awkward when I defeated them so easily though lol

All of the walkthroughs for this game suck lol. The one I used for the majority of the game the guy literally kept writing "I don't remember what happens in this dungeon. Just go through it." LOL thanks for nothing, bud. He said "I don't remember" sooo many times it was comical.

I poked around on the internet looking for info for this game and it seems the general consensus in the fandom is that it's pretty abysmal. Still, there are people like me that got enjoyment out of it regardless.

The little noises Dorumon made when attacked were very cute

I never bothered with digivolution. You don't get digivolution until late in the game and if you digivolve it reverts you to levl 1. Nuts to that!

I also didn't bother with any side quests because they sounded extremely not worth it (some of them don't even have a reward?)

I was pretty under-leveled at the end of the game (barely scraping level 30) but I felt like I had infinite healing basically because I had so much MP. That's another aspect of the game that felt broken.

The ending of this game was SO anti-climactic. I defeated the boss, returned to the hub world expecting a cutscene, and then it went straight to credits. No dialogue, no thank you, nothing. I had to go around and talk to people to get some thank yous but they didn't sound that appreciative really lol. Where are my flowers!? 😭 This took me over a month of tedium!

One part of the game that I did find pretty hard was the Storm Train where you have to get to the end of a train track while hitting the right levers while simultaneously fighting of a ton of enemies. If I had to do that without save states, I probably would have given up lol

I never really regret beating a video game, even if it kinda sucked. It's especially nice to check off another game in a series (even though the World series isn't really connected). I give Digimon World 4 a 5 out of 10.

[flowersandbirdsflyingfree]

FIRST OF ALL- YOU ARE AN ABSOLUTE GIFT💖

SECOND- perhaps your ‘a night in’ post, but featuring Ultimis?💖💖💖

YOU ARE AN EVEN GREATER GIFT FOR BEING SO SWEET! You can always count on me to be your cheerleader as well💖💖💖💖

A Night In With Ultimis

Edward Richtofen

*Compared to his younger self, he’s way more relaxed when it comes to work. He may meddle with schemes every now and then, but not until his sweet schmoopy falls asleep first. So in the meantime, he’ll probably be very curious to see what you’re up to and do anything in his power to get your attention. Grabby hands included.

*He did say he wanted to take up a new hobby that isn’t opening up a morgue (although I headcanon that in a modern au he’d either be an alchemist or mortician). Believe it or not, he often enjoys doing puzzles sometimes to keep his mind going. He would love to have you help him out with a written puzzle (he’s not keen on jigsaw but he’ll do one if it makes you happy). Edward also loves sweets so maybe you two could bake in the kitchen! I can see the two of you working together with him methodically planning out the measurements for a Swiss roll cake and you stealing the batter and getting scolded… until he gives up and joins in too

*When he isn’t being a horny bastard and banging around the house like a maniac, he’s demanding that you pay attention to him and loves to be a koala to your arm when you both lay down. It’s oddly adorable to see him gazing up to you with such happiness radiating from his smile. The voices eased up so much better with you around, but sometimes he needs to stick closer to you in hopes the nasty thoughts don’t come back. Other times, he will be the big spoon/sit up straight with confidence and have you lean on his shoulder. He’s very charming when the time calls for it. “Oh, darling. I could just stay here with you in my arms forever. You are my one und only.” And then you’re peppered with kisses all over your face.

Tank Dempsey

*Dempsey’s a hardcore gamer and you can’t deny that fact. So that means it’s gaming night again! Oorah! FPS shooters are obvious but he also loves stuff like Mario Kart too. It isn’t always multiplayer games though. If it’s a first player or story-based, you both take turns and enjoy the journey together.

*Depending on the night, he’ll either crack open a nice, cold beer with you or whip up some hot cocoa. He prefers coffee and isn’t a fan of tea at all. But it’s a bad idea to drink any before bed to begin with. Then you both think up of a list for what to do on the weekend. Places to go, seeing if any movies came out, etc. You guys are always up to some sort of adventure together.

*If you’re the cuddly type (like me), then you’ve gotten into Tank’s soft side. He does this little this where he rests his chin on the top of your head and hugs you tightly. You swear it almost sounds like he’s purring. If you’re not, then it’s literally the most shameless make-out session on the planet. But if one thing’s certain, you got him hooked to you. “Night, babe. Get some rest ‘cause we’ve got ass to kick tomorrow.”

Nikolai Belinski

*Nikolai used to go out to bars as late as closing time. There’s a good chance that sometimes it still happens unfortunately. But over time, he knew he had to shape up eventually. Nikolai decided to stay homebound to get out of trouble. He would never forgive himself if he let the fantasies of his 8 wives come true. So he may need vodka to prevent a headache like no other. But he at least makes sure to do it enough to where he won’t get super drunk.

*At the very least, he’s the same as his younger counterpart in that he will watch any movie or TV show with you. He shares the same taste of genres (action, comedies, dramas). But unlike Primis Nikolai, he actually likes crass humor comedies. Yes I’m referring to something like Borat or Jackass because neither are taken seriously. It’s not uncommon for him to fall asleep during a movie. The night usually ends with you curled up on his lap, both of you snoozing in an armchair.

*Russian teddy bear is his full-time job. He will always be the big spoon and he is a very tender lover. Despite his drinking habits, you can at least count on him remaining affectionate and concerned about your needs no matter what. “Is okay, Y/N. Nikolai will keep you save in his strong Soviet arms.”

Takeo Masaki

*Takeo is a grumpy old man who wants to enjoy his peace and quiet. He’s extremely introverted and the only person welcome in his presence is you. He enjoys a hot cup of tea with you. You both essentially have a evening tea party for two.

*He does a lot of healing work, however. Every evening is the chance to meditate. You both started it in silence to clear your thoughts. But through your suggestion, you added soothing ambience. It helps you guys stay grounded from the bustling stress of the outside world. Aside from meditation, you guys started a small scrapbook of the places you’ve traveled. You hope to preserve all of your memories to share with future generations of your family.

*Takeo quietly snuggles up to you but he will be easily flustered from all the affection you give him! He’s hiding under the covers and chuckles when you join him to kiss him again.

[justsomeoneintoomanyfandoms]

could I ask for a genshin impact matchup? (or honkai star rail if that's preferable.)

my pronouns are he/him, i'm gay + trans. i'm an intp last time i took the mbti quiz.

i'm also autistic, sort of...medium to low support needs/i can mostly mask. if it helps, my special interests are my OCs, fantasy worldbuilding, lore and writing, and i'm into jrpgs as well.

i'm pretty small and have black fluffy hair, brown eyes and a pale complexion cuz i never see the sun lol.

i tend to wear sweaters and long hoodies as well as band t-shirts - i don't wear makeup a lot and no jewellery or chains due to sensory issues, but i really like black and purple, and dark eyeshadow, it's just fun haha.

i think i'm fairly intelligent, i tend to be more cautious and talk way less unless i like/think i can trust someone, when i'll act much more erratic and sorta ramble about random pretty things that catch my eye and let myself unmask a bit. i'm very open-minded, as well.

i think i prefer to be more...in control, in a relationship? like i'm unlikely to be submissive. i can sometimes be a handful in that i might switch between being sorta obsessed and disinterested quickly and get mood swings, or isolate myself for a while. i'm a bit childish, too, which can go either way.

i like games, obviously, art and poetry, i really like dogs, and winter for blanket piles and snow and stuff haha. i dislike oranges, weirdly, warm weather, and judgemental people ('cringe culture', i guess). and, whether i can touch someone or not depends on them, like if they're wearing anything i have sensory issues about.

i've sort of talked about my hobbies already? but i also play video games a lot, i'm bad at them even though i love them, plus i draw sometimes, and listen to music (i think my taste would be counted as emo?).

that's all, thank you :) have a really nice day

Hi Anon! Thank you for your request! Sorry it took so long. I hope you like your matchups!

In Genshin Impact, I match you with...

Albedo is the best person to be around if you like snow. He’d love to spend time with you up on Dragonspine. Despite his claims that he likes solitude, he appreciates your company.

Despite him not feeling the cold, he also loves it when you snuggle up together when you visit him. With you next to him and a blanket around both your shoulders, there isn’t much more he could ask for.

I feel like in a modern au, he would enjoy learning about the lore of your worlds. He finds them an interesting insight into your mind and will ask questions that allow you to better develop your worlds.

Good at handling your mood swings. Albedo knows some good tips and tricks that will help you control them better yourself but he’s also reasonably patient when you do have them.

Doesn’t mind you taking the lead in your relationship. He’s pretty inexperienced with things like that so he’s happy to hand you the reigns while he’s learning.

In Honkai Star Rail, I match you with...

Another one who loves snuggling up with you in cold weather. Some of his favourite moments with you are spent curled up with you, sharing a blanket, and reading or playing games.

Speaking of games, this guy is the best gaming buddy you could hope for. He’s really good at not dominating multiplayer games while still contributing.

Caelus, much like Albedo, is happy to let you take charge in your relationship. He’s a pretty laid back person so he’s happy with whatever as long as you’re both safe, happy, and healthy.

Because he’s so laid back, Caelus is easily able to ride the waves of your mood swings. He gets that emotions can be tough sometimes so he’s not going to criticise you or make you feel bad about something you have little control over.

Enjoys listening to you read poetry. If you’re comfortable with it, he would love to fall asleep listening to you read your favourite poems to him. He finds it relaxing.

[the-cannibal]

Slashers date ideas!

This is my first post, I’m still getting used to how to use tumblr, so sorry if this is bad! 

This is an X reader (no gender specified) post! Enjoy!

Bo Sinclair

.Okay so dates with Bo I think would actually be really cute

.He’d pack you up into his truck and toss in a blanket 

.You’d be really confused because uh hello? Where are we going? But he just smiles at you and shrugs

.After a while of driving he stops the car at the end of a cliff area and gets out, opening your door. He leads you up on the top of the car and wraps the blanket around you two and points up to the sky

.Did Bo take you stargazing? Yes. Is it cheesy? A little, but you absolutely love it

.If you fall asleep then he will carefully pick you back up, drive back to the house and fall asleep with you on the couch, too lazy to go up to your shared bedroom

______________________________________________________________

Vincent Sinclair

.Everyone always says that Vincent would do an art date

.And they are absolutely right

.This man does not care what your skill level with art is. You have been drawing for years and are practically Van Gogh? Awesome! It looks great! You just started out drawing and can only make stick figures? Adorable! You better draw stick figure you and him holding hands!

.The basement gets hot with all the wax, so instead you guys would draw outside on the porch! 

.Sometimes its drawing with pencils and paper, other times its painting.

.If you ask this man to have a date where he teaches you how to make wax figures (minus the people) he will love you forever

.You two take turns picking the music you’ll listen to! He doesn’t mind listening to something other than classical! Wanna blast heavy metal (same) go for it!

______________________________________________________________

Lester Sinclair

.Ohhh this man

.Lester and you would have a baking date!

.except this man doesn’t know anything about baking!

.Flour would be everywhere, including on the ceiling. 

“Don’t ask Bo. Just don’t.”

.His favorite thing to make is cookies because he loves to eat the dough. .If you know how to make dog treats for Jonesy he will be the happiest man ever. You making treats for his favorite girl? swoon

______________________________________________________________

Stu Macher

.Bet you were thinking a movie date, weren’t you? WRONG! (Although he does like those!)

.Arcade date all the way baby!

.This boy loves video games, I can just tell. He’d challenge you to any multiplayer game he finds, whether he’s played it before or not

.Win or lose, it doesn’t matter! He’s just having fun with you!  .Oh and of course we can forget about the (not so) sneaky making out behind the arcade machines ;)

.You guys would always try and save up for one of the crazy expensive prizes, but you always end up blowing your tickets on stupid shit like finger traps or invisible ink, which you then spray on Randy and Billy to piss them off

______________________________________________________________

Billy Loomis

.Lets be honest here, you’d be the one planning the date

.So you drag him to the aquarium! .He doesn’t know how to feel at first .On one hand there are a lot of annoying adults and children, and its just a bunch of fish. .But on the other hand he can’t help but grin when he watches you excitedly jump up and down and point out all the pretty looking fish .He likes the eels .He would buy you a stuffed eel from the gift shop .You name it after him .He now wants to return the eel

[deejadabbles]

Vampire Atem/Yami Alphabet Headcanons

Found this list of vamp-themes headcanons by @an-annyeoing-writer and I knew I had to do them for our favorite king-turned-spirit!

For those of you who read my Spells of Defiance series, these headcanons can be taken as 100% canon to that AU <3

A - Accident - would they turn someone to save their life?

Oof, already starting with a hard one. So, Atem is one of those vampires who hates his existence, he believes it’s a curse. However, he does still love and care for people deeply, and he knows that for many, life is sacred even if it’s a cursed life. I think in a moment of weakness, especially in his earlier years as a vampire, he might turn someone just because he’s desperate not to lose them, only to regret his decision later, especially if that someone is like him and hates what they’ve become. We all make mistakes, right?

B - Bite - how do they bite? Sensually, aggressively? Do they make it hurt or try to be gentle?

Atem is extremely gentle when he feeds off of people, always careful not to bite too deep or tear the skin more than needed, he even holds you and tries to soothe you with gentle strokes of his hands. Now, whether he tries to make it “sensual” or at all sexual...that’s a complicated topic. While Atem is almost always disgusted with himself when/while he feeds, he does recognize that there is a level of intimacy and even romance that can be connected with drinking blood, so sometimes he can be persuaded to make it a more sensual thing if you’re his lover. 

C - Control - do they take advantage of their powers?

That depends on who’s in the equation. I can see Atem using his new powers in order to bring justice to those he sees as wrong doers (like his season 0/early manga-self) as a way to make his vampire abilities useful, so from that angle he would “take advantage” of his powers. He might even get some small gratification in using his strength and speed to hunt down evil people, them cowering in fear is retribution for their wrong-doings, but even that’s not too over the top. Other than that, no, he doesn’t really use his powers for advantages over others.

D - Dangerous - how scary they can get? How bad things can they do? What’s their ethics?

So, while Atem does have a very strong moral code, Atem also has a temper, and said temper might be harder to control when he’s a vampire. Even when he’s not growling in anger, he can have this cold glare that could make bikers squeamish. There are moments, especially when he was a younger vampire, where he loses his temper and can get pretty scary. If you’re his loved one don’t worry too much, he would never lose control enough to hurt you, even though his yelling (and maybe throwing a thing or two) is pretty scary on it’s own. If you’re someone he sees a vermin though watch out, when he gets scary you’re probably going to end up dead or wishing you were dead.

E - Exchange - do they opt for blood bags or animal blood, if possible?

He opts for animal blood as often as he can. Sometimes he’ll hunt said animals himself but even that is a little too violent for his liking (Atem is a softie okay?!) so if he can go to a local butcher and get animal blood from them he’ll do it that way. He’s not fond of blood bags because A) they’re harder to acquire and B) having human blood in a cold plastic bag just makes him long for warm human blood and skin under his teeth more. Sure animal blood isn’t as sustaining for him, but Atem spent decades (maybe even centuries) figuring out how much animal blood he needs to consume in order to keep his blood lust under control so he’ll choose that over harming an innocent human.

Also, side note, if you live with him I hope you don’t have a sensitive sense of smell, because he heats up the blood on the stove to make it taste better and it can make the house stinky lol

F - First bite - on what occasion would they bite you for the first time?

Oooh that’s a good one. Like I said Atem has a very complicated relationship with feeding from his loved ones, especially his s/o, and he’s never going to ask you for your blood. So I’d say that not only would you have to offer your blood to him, but he would have to be out of other feeding options at the time. He knows that once he reaches a certain point of hunger he loses control and might kill you in a hunger-induced blood rage, so if drinking from you now, before he gets to that point, prevents that danger, he’d be willing to. Like I said above, Atem would be very gentle with you on that occasion, holding you close and stroking the skin around the bite mark to soothe any pain, and when he’s done he’d kiss the wound and the sore skin around it as amends.

The only other “first bite” scenario I can think of is if you spend months convincing him that you don’t mind (or even like) the occasional bite and finally convince him to drink your blood during an intimate moment, and again he’s very gentle and mindful of not hurting you.

G - Growl - are they more on the “civilized” side or do they enjoy hunting their prey down?

A bit of both, I guess? Since he tries not to drink from humans he’s more civilized in that way, but like I said before he does “hunt” evil people like an avenging dark angel, which he may get some small form of enjoyment from, so... 

H - Hate - how do they feel about their kind? About themselves?

It’s honestly pretty depressing how much self-loathing Atem harbors. He genuinely thinks he’s an abomination. It doesn’t help that in all his centuries of living, he’s met very few vampires who’re “good” like him. He’s also someone who’s on a high horse and if he met a vamp who didn’t kill human’s but also wasn’t self loathing like him, he’d look down on said vampire. I’m warning you now if you fall in love with him, his self-hatred is very upsetting and can be hard to deal with.

I - Intimacy - how fast would they let you close to them? Would they want to share with you what they are?

Surprisingly, I say it’s not that hard. See, even though Atem thinks he’s a monster and tries his best to stay away from people, he also craves companionship and love. Sure, he’s spent several chunks of his immortal life isolating himself in remote woods and tall mountains for decades at a time, but he always returns to humanity at some point. So if you show that you want to be close to him he’ll try to warn you or even scare you away a bit, but it won’t take too long to let you in. And yes, he’d share what he is with you if you started to get close to him, not only as a means to scare you away “before he can hurt you” but also so you know what you’re getting into by being near him.

J - Joke - would they do pranks on other people with the use of their powers?

Sometimes, yes. If he’s close to you, he’ll start to get comfortable and like teasing you, so he’ll do minor things like sneak up behind you soundlessly and jump scare you, or zoom past you to get to something before you and play keep-away. Also, he doesn’t do this one intentionally, but sometimes he’ll be sitting in a dark room, and when you walk in you just suddenly hear this voice calling out to you in the darkness, scaring the crap outta you lol

K - Key - what’s the way of making them open up to you?

Honestly just...continue to shove your friendship in his face. Like I said under “intimacy” he still craves relationships and companionship despite how much he fears hurting people. He may try to push you away at first but if you just continue to hang around him he’ll eventually stop trying to scare you away and start opening up to you little by little.

L - Life - do they wish they were human?

Absolutely. I can see Atem, ever the fixer of problems, spending the first few hundred years searching for a cure for his “condition” not just for himself but for others who view vampires the same way. He often thinks about what his life would have been if he hadn’t been turned, and daydreams about the possibility of becoming human again. 

M - Murder - would they kill someone while feeding? Have they ever done so?

Atem has killed while feeding, yes, but not voluntarily. I’m going with the general lore that vampires, when starved too long, can't control their bloodlust and Atem has killed while in that state. When he wakes with a limp, lifeless body in his arms, he’s a devastated wreck. Hurting innocent people is literally his living nightmare and the idea that his bloodlust can turn him into an animal sickens him. He would spend decades learning how much blood he needs to consume and how often, in order to keep that bloodlust from taking control.

N - Nature - do they justify their doings? Do they consider them natural?

Atem, the self-loathing martyr of a fanged prince, considering his bloodlust natural? LMAOOOO No. No he doesn’t, nor does he ever justify his actions. In fact, he uses the terrible things he’s done to justify why he shouldn’t be loved or even alive.

O - Odd - do they have any specific hobbies or habits?

Our gentle dark prince still loves games and puzzles, I think he’d like modern brain teasers that keep his mind sharp and un-ironically loves the puzzle games printed on the back of sunday newspapers, even though they aren’t hard (for him anyway). If you got close to him and showed him games he never got to play bc they’re multiplayers he’d honestly love you. He’d win most of the time, let's be honest, especially things like Clue, but his expression is just so cute and excited when you play his favorites that you’d lose 1000 times over just to see it.

P - Pain - are they sadistic? Do they enjoy what they do?

Nope. I think you all have the idea by now but Atem is one of the most self-loathing and gentle vampires you’d meet....or at least he’s gentle with you. Other vampires who hurt people for fun? Okay, I can see him being ever so slightly sadistic when dealing with creatures like that, he has no mercy for vampires who’ve embraced their monstrous curse, best you run the other way when he punishes them, else you may actually get a little frightened of him...

R - Roles - do they enjoy pretending to be normal people? How do they feel about leaving their life behind to start a new one?

I wouldn’t say that Atem pretends to be normal, in fact, the only part of his vampirism that he embraces is being an “other”, or rather, the aesthetic of being odd, something that most humans feel uneasy when confronted with. He’d see this as a good tool to keep people he may hurt away from him. He’s no stranger to stalking graveyards/cemeteries, creeping in the shadows in a way that has others scurrying past if they happen to spot him, basically anything that makes him seem creepy and makes others keep their distance. Ultimately it hurts him since he’s unexplainably lonely, but it hurts more to know he may hurt the humans he comes across. On the same note, leaving behind one life for another to avoid suspicion is a double-edged sword for him, while it reminds him how terribly lonely existence is, it’s good to keep those who might’ve grown close to him safe.

S - Scars - do they leave marks or try to make the wounds small and invisible?

If Atem feeds from someone voluntarily (as in, not in an animalistic state), he’ll do everything he can to not leave lasting marks. Leaving marks means more pain and we all know how much he hates causing pain to others. 

T - Turned - how were they turned?

In my fic, Marik turned Atem as a form of revenge, but otherwise, I could honestly see Atem being turned by any YGO villain. I say villain because him being cursed with this life by a villain (like Bakura for example, or maybe another minion of Zorc) kind of goes along with the original story’s need to punish Atem and cast him into darkness for things that ultimately weren’t his fault.

U - Universe - what’s their biggest wish that they can’t achieve as immortals?

Mostly just...being close to people without constantly worrying that he’ll hurt or kill them. I can also see Atem yeaning for the simple pleasure of growing old and dying with one's family. If he fell in love he would crave the ability to just settle down and grow old together. Hell, he’s even one of those morbid romantics who thinks couples dying within days of each other is sweet and wishes he could do that when he loses his lover to old age.

V - Vampire - would they turn you?

Man again with the hard ones! Oof, okay, so...If you asked Atem to turn you, he’d say no, reciting his monologue about how vampires are cursed vermin who shouldn’t even exist, even if you retained your humanity after the turn, he knows the deep reaches of this curse and what it will make you do, and he hates the idea of you going through what he has.

...However, much like in the very first headcanon on this list...Atem makes mistakes and has his weak moments. If your life ended unexpectedly, of you were taken from him suddenly, like attacked or in some fatal accident, he may turn you in a moment of weakness; a desperate need to cling to you taking over his better judgment. He’d hate himself after and the only way he’d ever feel okay with it, is if time proved that you retained your humanity. He would teach you how to control your blood lust so you don’t have to go through half the things he has, and only then would he be okay with what he did to you in his moment of weakness.

W - War - would they engage in fighting their own kind for the humanity’s sake?

Yes! No one even has to ask him, Atem basically thinks the only good thing he can do with his powers is to rid the world of other vampires. He’s basically an avenging angel who’ll hunt down any vampire who threatens a human.

Y - Yandere - would they become dangerous to you (their lover)?

For the most part, I’d say no. Atem is self-aware and emotionally intelligent enough to tell if he ever starts crossing lines into “unhealthy” territory, and if that ever happened, he’d literally run away. He would leave you in order to protect you, no matter how much it hurt. There may be one (literally ONE) incident where he does something to you that crosses the line, but he’d be instantly horrified and remove himself from your life, moving to the other side of the world with no means to follow him, if it meant protecting you from himself. Now the chances of this happening in the first place? Hard to say. I really don’t think Atem is unhinged or even violent enough for it to be likely, but, an argument could be made that after everything he’s gone through, Atem may start seeing you and his love for you in an obsessives, unhealthy way. Again though, even if this did happen he would realize it and run away before it can go too far.

Z - Zombie - are they on their way to losing sanity?

I don’t think so. Atem is as strong (mentally/emotionally) as they come. Maybe eventually, after millennia and millennia of constantly losing loved ones and dealing the the monster he’s become he would start losing his sanity, but that would take a long, long time. 

[yoimix]

haikyuu!! as types of best friends.

➼ ft. hinata, sugawara, bokuto, osamu+atsumu.

➼ playlist. talk too much - coin, higher - banks, romanticism - mrs green apple, me and my friends - james vincent mcmorrow

➼ a/n. these have light bff2l undertones hhn i love that trope, pls forgive me. </3 + there’s some timeskip spoilers for atsumu & osamu’s part.

❀ hinata :-

i wish the childhood best friends trope a very good evening.

no one’s better than hinata at making friends, even if you met after he spiked a ball into your face. you’re childhood best friends too !! so imagine being a child and having to pick up this goofball by the scruff, who has the audacity to ask you to play with him after giving you a scratched up forehead and teary eyes from a ball to the face. but, like, you were the one who said yes so it’s on you :-)

sometimes you bicker but it’s ok bc he would literally go to the ends of the earth for you if you asked. no kidding. he hates sitting still anyway so he’ll just gravitate towards where you are like you’re the sun. also gets you taiyaki in the evenings but climbs in through your window instead of using the front door like a normal person. (he has too much energy </3) if you hear someone yelling your name outside your window and ranting about volleyball games, you know who it is.

ok when he makes you mad with his bullheadedness, you'll be complaining with kageyama (who agrees vehemently) and hinata gets pissy bc you get along a little too well when you're throwing insults about him. (he's not jealous, no, of course not.) but.. how long can you stay mad at this sunshine child anyway?? you'll be pretending you never got mad at all within a few hours and go back to joking around.

he gets distracted if you're watching a match sometimes (bokuto somehow got it into his head that he needs to show off in front of you) so you got banned from watching. he overcomes it later on so you can cheer him on in his jersey too <3

gives you ALL his attention when you talk or even complain about your life. he reacts a lot to whatever you have to say so you have to pretend there aren’t people behind you glaring at hinata for having the same decibel sound level as a jet engine.

you have matching keychains you bought at a local fair !!! (you got a pochacco one for hinata but it’s super worn out by now so he keeps it in his wallet instead.) 

he has not won a single multiplayer video game against you (*cough cough* mario kart *cough*) and you don’t even have to be good at it. if you call him a loser, he’ll lose even harder. gets unnecessarily mad at just dance and you have to calm him down.

... you’ve probably kissed bc the two of you (mostly him) were too eager for a first kiss and you got fed up with his pubescent ramblings and ended up kissing him. and then had an early mid-life crisis bc you guys are definitely just friends. (unless.. unless he doesn’t think that way.. surprise surprise 😳) also he's.. kind of bad for make out practice... it’s like kissing a month old puppy.. sorry :/. if you happen to make a lot of offhand comments and tease him about his kissing skills, he WILL turn tomato red and argue in gibberish. only do that in private bc the rest of the world thinks you’re sickeningly cute together >:(

overall, your best friend is a ball of sunshine (who occasionally pisses you off) and your #1 motivation to get out of bed. it's mostly bc he's somehow there to get you out of bed though you've repeatedly told him to not climb in through your window. at least the sun is smiling upon you every day <3

❀ sugawara :-

being best friends with him is such a secure relation !! 

he’s your soft place to fall but also would provide gentle (not so gentle) reminders for your wellbeing (STUDY!!! WATER!!!! BREAKFAST!!). doesn’t get mad when you say you skipped breakfast but gives you this look of disappointment which is 100x more effective. still gets a granola bar for you though. also he literally carries bandaids for u and he’s been doing that since second grade bc you fell off the swing ONCE. you know, just in case. if you’re an accident-prone hazard to society, you’re in luck. 

BEST HUGS especially if you had a rough day and want to sob into his shoulder. if u damage his $85 hoodie tho, he will make u do his laundry and also buy snacks for him. but like he is so soft (his skin is SUPER soft bc he actually follows a skincare routine now) and cuddly like a teddy bear, it's a small price to pay for salvation.

he will hype you up for anything you do !!!! new outfit? offers to be your personal photographer. scored an A+? will treat u to your fav ice-cream. new job? will tell everyone just how proud he is. 

ALWAYS shares the last bite with you and smiles to himself when you eat it so contented. also!!! hanging out at cafes and taking cute pictures is a must <3 even though you’re not dating, you’ll have photos together that make you look a real couple which ensue teasing from daichi and asahi and admiration/jealousy from noya and tanaka. also he gets weirdly protective of you around the team (i’m looking at the moron quartet) and you have to pull the “koushi you’re not my mom” card. it really strikes a chord with him when you say that out loud.

will egg your ex's house with you if you say the word. somehow gets more pissed than you at your ex (if they're a shitty one). it's kind of scary when he's mad too so.... good luck calming him down. he's also really good at sarcastic trash talk so if you happen to meet your ex on the street... send prayers for their self-esteem.

you don't really fight often but if you happen to disagree, he'll go about it in a pretty mature way and talk it out. if you pick a fight on purpose, he'll catch on to it and either tickle you (excessively) or flick your forehead as punishment for trying to rile him up. it’s impossible to prank him!!!!! it’s like he’s got a sixth sense or something so you might as well give up on anything of the sort. 

you said you want to get a dog (or cat) with him in the near future and he somehow equated that to having children. turned bright red and started saying it’s too soon to be thinking of that while you had daichi stop you from smacking some sense into your overly imaginative best friend. (i mean, you do need to live together if you want to raise a pet sooo)

his lockscreen is a picture of the two of you so a lot of people who try to hit on him take the hint quick. he says it’s unintentional but you know he can be terribly scheming at times. if you say something like “why don’t you date me for real, coward” he will malfunction and not be able to look you in the eye. (“don’t joke around, y/n” “what if i’m not” “it kind of feels illegal to date you” “what do you mean?!💢”)

anyway you are one lucky mf if you have sugawara koushi as your best friend even if there are both ups and downs (mostly ups). having someone care for you so blatantly certainly makes the question of romance arise but you’re content with the most loving best friend ever.

❀ bokuto :-

you guys are the “two best friends in a room, we might kiss” “yes we will” “what” type of best friends PLS

it doesn’t matter what stage of life you met him, it’ll feel like you’ve been best friends since the beginning of time.

it’s just so easy to make friends with this airhead and by god’s gift, you cannot physically get annoyed at this man. sometimes his friends will complain about him being forgetful or blunt but you’re just there like. yeah. that’s bokuto. love him for it. (you seem to have a lot of patience.)

he probably gets into trouble with authority unwittingly, so save your weekends to sweet talk his way out after accidentally implying the coach has a weak mindset. afterwards, you go get ice cream or something and hang out at the dog park to forget it happened. (the amount of second hand embarrassment bokuto has given you though... you need some hard drugs to forget all of it.) 

you probably make a lot of friends through him in high school/college but at the end of the day, it’s just you and him and sometimes akaashi making sure you guys are alive. if you guys are alone together on a friday night, you’ll still be having fun!! very often, it takes shape as karaoke :-) bokuto thinks he’s really great at rapping for some reason (he’s not) so cue you screaming the lyrics in an attempt to ruin your part of the song equally. also he always sets the key wrong??? although you sing the same songs each time?? sometimes he picks a song neither of you have ever heard and the both of you try to guess the melody. he’s terrible at it but at least he’s funny. there’s not a single song he hasn’t had a voice crack in.

if you go clubbing/partying with him, get prepared to be introduced as the friend of “the guy who did four keg stands in a row before proceeding to do a cartwheel unprompted and somehow not throw up”. is on first name basis with the bartenders/hosts and gets you free drinks. also gets hit on often but is oblivious unless they’re being very straightforward. if he’s not into them... you have to pull the s/o card and save his ass. oh also he barks at anyone that gets near your drink.

will always exaggerate when introducing you to new people. “y/n and i met when i saved them from drowning a terrible death.” “it was the children’s pool and you were the one that was screaming.” “and then y/n didn’t really thank me but it’s not like heroes need thanks to do the right thing.” “kou, i will push you into a pool right now, let’s see how well you swim.” (he learned swimming to impress you so joke’s on you.)

he likes to watch you do stuff at the end of the day, so if you see him go o_o at you doing homework, you can just put your earphones on and focus on your work. even if he’s making.. a strangely.. adorable expression. also LOVES to listen to you talk about your day when he’s tired, he says it helps him sleep better (so expect a lot of nighttime calls). moreover, if you say you had a bad dream, he’ll comfort you with his ridiculously confident tone of voice (unless the dream was about something bad happening to him, then he’ll freak out and you’ll have to comfort him instead </3)

ok one thing that’s annoying about him is that he probably leaves food crumbs over your stuff like laptop, bed sheet, etc. you clean it up but bokuto.. is a bit... distracted to notice the mess he’s making. it’s usually pretty difficult to get him to be more aware, but like your glare is enough to make him at least try to be careful from the next time. (either that or he’s become sensitive to your change in mood/emotions bc you know... you’re best friends after all.)

i’m not gonna lie, he probably catches feelings for you at some point. he wants to, like, keep it lowkey bc akaashi told him to take your feelings into consideration too but?? it’s so hard?? you’re literally so pretty?? everything you say is like music to him??? he reacts reflexively to all the firecracker feelings u give him. he probably says he likes you all the time but you dismiss it with “as a friend right :-)”. there’s no climbing up from that one, sorry bokuto.

to summarize, if a moody golden retriever was your human best friend.exe

❀ miya twins :-

they feel like a set. it would be strange to have one of the twins as a bff and not have the other one around whoops 🤷‍♀️ 

either you and osamu bully atsumu in your free time, or you and atsumu annoy osamu for fun (or both) <3. it’s always a good idea to team up with osamu and prank atsumu for fun btw. (put wasabi in his breakfast pancakes and you’ll get a very pissed off but weirdly cute tsumtsum. you can blame it on osamu if you don’t want to face his wrath.) your alternative is to embarrass osamu in front of strangers with atsumu, have fun with that. (second hand embarrassment also works.)

when you were younger, you pretended to not be able to distinguish the twins bc it would visibly rile atsumu up and then you’d go “ok you’re atsumu”... which would further rile him up. osamu got used to your shenanigans though it ticked him off the first time too LOL. call them the wrong name on purpose and they’ll start a riot; be careful when you’re playing with fire pls.

you guys played a lot of knight and prince/princess/royal when you were a kid and atsumu would always try to make osamu the evil dragon holding you captive. in the end, you were somehow the knight, osamu the prince to be rescued and atsumu the big, bad dragon. (it’s kind of funny in hindsight. your parents have photographs of the three of you fighting like no tomorrow.) also speaking of which, your parents are also friends and have bets on which twin you’ll marry (or if you will at all). it’s tearing your parents’ friendship apart.

these two have DEFINITELY fought over whose jersey number you’re going to wear to the games ( “oi, ‘samu, stop brainwashing my best friend into wearing your stupid double digit number” “you know i’m the best friend, ‘tsumu. they clearly like me better over yer ratty ass.” “what did ya say?!?!? if anything, you’re the one that looks like ratatouille.”) you wore kita's jersey number to games.

imagine sunday picnics with the boys !!! by that, i specifically mean osamu and his perfect bento boxes <3 sometimes the two of you will cook together before your outings while a sulking atsumu stands outside bc you didn’t let him. (let him in, you monsters.) he says he can cook too but the last time the twins’ bickering almost burnt the whole kitchen down. the picnics continue well into adulthood and you get to diss your boss to the twins who will always support your rants. (sometimes atsumu will tell you it’s your fault but you can smack him off. we only need supportive besties here 🙄)

if someone hurts u.... they’re going to need divine intervention to be safe... you have two well-built, physically adept best friends ready to beat the shit out of anyone who deliberately breaks ur heart. 

when the twins get into a physical fight...... oh boy. it kinda pisses you off that they’re spewing profanity at each other and you’re the one getting glares. but at the same time, you don’t really want to step into a fight that has nothing to do with you. people should solve their interpersonal issues on their own. they have never fought over you, this isn’t twilight <3 

but the question did come up once on which twin you like better; it’s not something to seriously fight over though. if you chose osamu, atsumu will complain for six days straight and you’ll start to regret ever answering the question. if you say atsumu, osamu won’t feed you his onigiri anymore for a few days which is just as bad. the safest choice is to say neither bc it will both be funny and you won’t suffer too many consequences. if you say you love the both of them for being your best friends all this time and go all mushy, there’s a slight chance they’ll go soft too. god help you from the bone crushing hug you’re about to receive 🙏

you make sure to not miss any of atsumu’s official games !! sometimes he’ll wave at you and make the reporters give you hell bc he’s a little shit. just push osamu to them and run away if it gets that bad. (he gets free advertising for his shop, he should be grateful.)

osamu is super good at cheering you up!!! whether it’s with food or with pleasant talk, you’ll be feeling much better with a full stomach and a calmer state of mind. as for atsumu, he’s really good at you cheering you up by distracting you. he’ll talk about his team or this new serve he learnt and the world will seem a lot brighter bc he seems so happy about it. whichever twin you go to, it’s win-win. 

in return, the twins take up a good chunk of your time. sometimes atsumu will crash at your place after a game though you’ve told him to not lead the damn reporters here. osamu makes you taste test his experimental onigiri... which are not always good..... no seriously, why’d he put honey and tuna in there ?? but still, your life is ridiculously colorful with them around.

anyway, what can i say except what’s better than one best friend?? two best friends !!!

[musicalorder4869]

General Servamp headcanons - Envy and Lust pairs

Just some random headcanons me and my sister (Ani) have about our favourite Servamp/Eve pairs xD Hope they’re ok, and sorry for the long post 😅

Mikuni Alicein

Mikuni used to be very skilled at playing the violin, although he gave it up a long time ago. On occasion, he would pick it up again and play for himself but if he catches anyone listening, he would stop immediately.

Because of a certain person, Mikuni doesn’t like strawberries or pasta in tomato or meat sauce.

When he is not working at the Land of Nod or gathering intel, Mikuni often plays chess or card games with Jeje to pass the time.

Despite smiling a lot when talking to people, it is actually rare to see Mikuni give a genuine smile. However, there are times when he will let one slip, such as when he’s looking pictures of a small Misono, star-gazing at night or making something for Abel.

I’m still not sure of Abel’s connection with Mikuni other than being involved in “My Fair Lady”, but I like to think that she is somehow key to his mental stability. When she is with him, Mikuni acts ‘normal’: calculating, rational and confident but without, he’s either like a scared child or completely loses his mind.

Once, Mikuni lost Abel in a shopping mall and went to the information desk to report a lost person rather than a lost item. Jeje had to stop him and apologise to the confused people at the desk.

Both Mikuni and Misono are strong strategists, and with recent events, Mikuni sometimes refers to their actions as “playing chess with real people as their pieces”. He is like a mirror of Misono: whilst his brother wants to protect everyone, is loved and always has people by his side, Mikuni is willing to sacrifice anything to reach his goals, was erased by his family and forgotten for a period of time and wanders alone with Jeje.

Like Misono, he is scared of the dark, thunder and lightning as it brings back bad memories for him.

Mikuni doesn’t forgive himself for what happened at the Alicein Manor and feels like he doesn’t deserve to be forgiven either. This is part of the reason why he is jealous of Tsurugi; whilst the latter started off with nothing, he was gaining more as he went and was accepted despite what he did under Touma. Mikuni, on the other hand, had everything but ended up losing it all.

Jeje

When trying to contact him, it is rare that he would actually reply but messages would be on ‘read’. The only people he would respond to is Lily on very specific occasions or Mikuni if they weren’t together. Even then, it is usually a sentence at most.

He cares about each of his siblings equally but gets along with Lily the most. It hurts him when something happens to them or if he was ordered to hurt them, but he would never show it.

Jeje is surprisingly good with children, even though he sometimes finds them noisy. Back at the Alicein Manor, Lily would persuade him to leave the basement on occasion and play with his Subclass. As he was good at making things, the kids would love to sit and watch him make his bottled ships or origami ornaments.

In his snake form, he is not only coiled around Mikuni because it’s convenient, but also because it offers a sense of security from other animals.

Most of Jeje’s Subclass were people who had been executed after being falsely accused or framed for a crime. After turning them into a vampire, he usually leaves them to live their life and only keeps in contact with a few. Good B and Bad B are examples of this (I headcanon that Bad B was accused of being a witch and Good B was a butler who was framed for murder or something idk).

His favourite season is Autumn, where it is neither too hot or too cold and finds the atmosphere relaxing. Despite hating the cold, he also likes certain aspects of winter such as staying indoors with a hot drink and warmth as he works on his bottled ships. Like watching the leaves fall in Autumn, he views the snowfall as beautiful and peaceful. Until Mikuni comes and dumps snow down his back.

Speaking of Mikuni, there are times when Jeje worries about him. Since leaving the Alicein manor after that incident, he often wonders how his Eve handles it beneath the confident and cheerful exterior he puts on. For this reason and his own guilt for Mikuni’s family falling apart due to Envy, Jeje chose to remain by Mikuni’s side despite his Eve’s questionable decisions.

I feel like Jeje might have been someone who was trained to take orders without question or expressing their own opinion on it when he was a human, which is why he follows Mikuni’s instructions regardless of whether he agrees with them or not.

Misono Alicein

He tries, but he is not very good at cooking.

Tsurugi sometimes nicknames him “Ube-chan” or “Taro-chan” due to his purple colour scheme.

He is a fan of classical music, usually listening to it as he studies or if he is deep in thought. However, he has been trying more modern songs too but dislikes rock and metal.

After leaving the garden, Misono tries everything that he had missed out on; hanging out with friends, travelling on public transport and staying over at either Mahiru or Tetsu’s, being supported by those around him.

Animals like him and whilst he may seem annoyed, he actually likes it and is good with them.

He is confused with pop culture references but is slowly learning.

Misono is better at board games and puzzle solving than he is at video games though when he does play with Mahiru, Kuro and Tetsu, he likes multiplayer and party games despite not being very good at them.

I feel like if there is anyone who could save Mikuni from whatever he is up to at the moment, it would most likely be Misono and Tsurugi. The latter is a lot more perceptive than people realise and with Misono’s planning, they’ll probably be able to figure something out.

Snow Lily

If any of his siblings find or make subclasses that are children, they usually send them his way. He is happy to care for them and seeing them get along well with his own Subclass.

He has a talent for baking and finds joy being in the kitchen making treats for Misono or his Subclass. Sometimes, he would make snacks for them to have during the lessons or when the group decides to have a movie or game night.

I can imagine Lily being good at dancing, especially at the waltz or ballroom and sometimes teaches Misono. When working, he would subconsciously hum classical tunes to himself with a fond smile on his face, although he doesn’t realise he’s doing it.

Lily is skilled at sewing, often mending any tears in clothing to the point they look new again. He would also make clothes and dolls or accessories for the children, Misono and the other Servamps and Eves on special occasions like their birthdays and Christmas. Some of the Easter and Halloween costumes they own were also made by Lily.

Although he likes being around others, there are times when he enjoys the quiet and just have a bit of time to himself. When he does, he likes to light a few scented candles and sit down with a book.

It is very difficult to get him angry.

Just like Jeje does for him, Lily cares a lot about his older brother too. He doesn’t blame him for what happened in the Alicein Household and like how he wishes Mikuni and Misono would reconcile, he wants to be able to talk things out with Jeje too.

He didn’t used to be friendly and cheerful, instead having a past of being unloved which left him resenting the fact that he was turned into a vampire. He initially didn’t want to interact with his siblings and questioned his existence but it wasn’t until Jeje raised his voice at him about the latter issue that he gradually started changing. Now, he’s the one who’s afraid of being rejected by the people he loves.

[madcatdaderpydrawer-blog]

My Benrey Backstory

Okay, so I thought I might as well lay it all out. Be careful about reading this, because it will contain some DARK DARK shit. Just for that I’ll put a chance for you to opt out without seeing it. 

Still reading? Okay :D

It started when Benrey was what could be considered an infant on Xen. He didn’t look nearly as humanoid as he does when he grew older, and his hair was much more like thick black fur. He looked kind of like a mutated rodent/bug, with several hundred eyes across his fur. He had lived a rather.. adequet existence. He was still alive, purely due to instinct, but had no parents like a normal kid does. He had to learn things by himself. Is it friendly looking? No? Run. While it was similar to a animals way of thinking of things, it was far closer to how a human child would decide things.

Needless to say it wasn’t hard for the scientists to catch him, considering his way of processing threats. Humans aren’t nearly as threatening looking as the creatures on Xen. Maybe he would’ve been lucky if he wasn’t so trusting..

The first about five years of his life were spent mostly in complete isolation. They had started to catch on to his abilities, and had still not completely figured out how to stop him from doing things such as escaping by no-clipping. They still hadn’t figured out the extent of his regen either, so thankfully he wasn’t harmed AS much as he would be later on. He was still experimented on, though. During this time he met Bubby and Tommy for the first time. Tommy was ten years old, and was excited to see another young child. The more Benrey was around Tommy and the other scientists, the more he changed his appearance to be more humanoid. 

Would it not be for Tommy, he probably would’ve gotten taught not to use his sweet voice due to the way the scientists treated it. Tommy trusted Benrey, so much so that he wasn’t scared when Benrey used the sweet voice on him and he quickly realized that it was harmless and convinced the scientists to be lieniant and to let him use his sweet voice without being punished. Tommy really made things better for him, as much as he could. He’d talk to him, give him gifts, and try to make him feel as comfortable as possible. But he was still a ten year old, so he could only do so much...

During the first few years, Benrey tried to initiate hugs a lot or hold the scientists hands like any normal kid but they always jolted back like they got electrocuted. The only time they would touch him was for experiments, and not without gloves and or medical suits on. Tommy gave him all the hugs he could, but he only visited for a few hours a couple of days a week. Eventually Benrey stopped trying, and it led to him being severly touch starved as an adult. 

He learned how to talk from the multiplayer video games Tommy gave him, and that was also how he learned to read. The scientists had no intention of teaching him anything, since he wasn’t human they didn’t deem it necessary. As he grew older, the testing got more severe. They would drug his food to analyze the effects it had on him every week, sometimes multiple times a week. This happened so often that after several months he stopped eating at all, and wouldn’t explain why. Even to Tommy.

During this he had been breaking out to see Gordon and play around, but he was eventually caught and they restricted his powers so he couldn’t leave. After this, also came the pain treatments. 

They did everything you can think of pain wise: holding him under water until he almost blacked out, locking him in hot and cold environments until he passed out, shot him, and cut off his arms; they even performed vivisections on him without anesthesia. He screamed his lungs out for the first few times, until they figured out a chemical that would prevent him from speaking during the surgery. That way, he couldn’t make noise- but he could still feel everything that was happening. They had to put a muzzle on him or else the sweetvoice would get in the way. He sobbed almost constantly the entire procedure, and for hours afterwards. They never took care of the wounds they inflicted, so his clothes were always covered in blood. His room was covered in dry blood stains, and whenever he came back from the surgeries he’d throw himself onto his bed and sob until he fell unconscious. Otherwise, he never slept. When he used to sleep, they would drug and hurt him or move him somewhere different and he’d wake up strapped to a table with a muzzle on. 

This happened for years. By then he was a teenager and had adapted to his cruel treatment. He went emotionally numb and after years of being called a monster, he started to believe it and accept it as the truth. His regen was incredibly sharp due to the constant injuries he had, but that came to an end when G-Man offered him his freedom for the agreement that he would do as he says or else be returned to his life of being a test subject.

Things got better, for a while. And then the Resonance Cascade happened. When he first saw Gordon he recognized him, even if he had transitioned by then and was now a guy, which is why he annoyed him. But he hadn’t yet had any plans until after the explosion. Much like with Gordon, G-Man had periodic meetings with Benrey instructing him what to do. He layed out his plan to Benrey: he needed to play the bad guy, lead Gordon through black mesa so he could finish the “game”, be the “final boss” in Xen and die. Of course this wasn’t G-Mans only goal: he was setting Benrey up to be assumed dead so that after Xen he could be recaptured and put back into testing without Tommy interfering. 

Benrey came up with the military thing on his own. He thought it would come off as villian-y enough to be excused by G-Man, but honestly he was worried about Gordon and thought that if he was taken by the military he would be away from black mesa and he wouldn’t have to hurt him as the big boss. This, obviously, went horribly wrong. He got slightly defensive about the arm thing, though. He didn’t think it was THAT big of a deal, because he thought Gordon could regrow his limbs like he could. Tommy had to explain him that no, he couldn’t, and that arm was gone forever and Benrey felt AWFUL afterwards. As time went on he just kept doing more and more messed up shit until Gordon hated him by the end. It stung, but he knew it was better for them to hate him so they could kill him easier.

But.. they didn’t. Somehow, through his nonsensical ramblings Gordon got some string of coherence. He knew there was so much more to Benrey, there had to be, and it didn’t help that Benrey wouldn’t shoot at them and seemed to recall such fond memories with him. Gordon connected the dots as to who Benrey was, and the fact that he used to know him, and by that point Benrey was one shot away from a game over. The battle had died down drastically, and he assumed he was going to be dead. It was the only reason he was willing to tell the truth: he thought it didn’t matter, as he was going to die anyways. 

When the cave started falling apart Gordon Niceman couldn’t stand to leave him to be crushed on an alien planet. SURE, he was a dick who got his arm cut off and insulted him regularly but he still was his sort of friend! Plus Tommy would be sad. 

(because he was in denial: benrey definitely fucked up, dude. His actions were shitty, even if considering his situation they were understandable. Just- wanna clarify, he definitely not escaping blame here. He definitely was a shit head, because of the whole “doesn’t give a shit, I’m a petty asshole” thing.) 

When Gordon eventually got this information out of him, once they were living together and all that, a lot of what Benrey did made much more sense. It was heartbreaking to hear that he had such a fucked up childhood. He definitely tried to be more understanding with Benrey, and explain why he was mad knowing Benrey never had any logical discipline. Probably why he’s so childish.

Oh, and it also made Gordon much more physically affectionate. If those bastards thought he was too dangerous to touch, it was their loss. Benrey is a great cuddler.

[summonerscenarios]

this isn't at all relevant to sin so feel free to postpone this but in your opinion. out of the summorners who would be the most to least helpful if mc starts crying? I can literally already see toji standing there like :[

ASDFGHJKL OKAY SO THE SECOND I IMAGINED TOJI IN THIS SCENARIO I JUST IMAGINED HIM IN THE OTHER SIDE OF THE ROOM COMFORTING MC LIKE THIS

Buuuuuut in all seriousness here’s my personal opinions of worst to best (though the middle is a mixed mess lmao)

-------

Toji

Toji’s arguably the most awkward out of all of the Summoners and handles it the least well when he sees you crying. He isn’t sure what the best way to comfort you is - with words or with actions Toji’s expertise really doesn’t lie in either of them. He’s kept to himself for a long time and as a result handling others emotions and figuring out what people want to hear when they’re vulnerable isn’t something that he’s used to. Toji keeps his distance unless you explicitly state that you want him to come closer, though he does try his best to comfort you with his words. He’s aware that he’s not the best to handle these sorts of things - he’s confident that Ryota or Hanuman would be better suited to cheer you up, but if he’s the only one there he isn’t just going to walk out and let you cry unless you tell him to get out - even he knows that sometimes you don’t want to be alone when you feel like the world is on your shoulders. 

Gullinbursti

Listen I would put Gullinbursti higher on this list if it wasn’t for one major factor. He means well in thought, but the execution can go very, very wrong depending on what’s got you upset. Of course, seeing his master upset, let alone reduced to tears is a sight that physically pains him, and he’s desperate to fix anything that has caused you such distress no matter the lengths it may take to do so. All you have to do is to say the word on what he can do to aid you and he is ON IT. You might want to be careful how you word it however, as we know Gull tends to take things literally, and at the insinuation that someone is responsible for your state he will charge headfirst to confront them before you even have the chance to - if you don’t want that confrontation you’re going to have to practically drag him back and explain that - no, you just wanna leave it. He may be insistent, but he values your word above all else, so if you don’t want to pursue it that’s that.

Kengo

Kengo walks in on your crying and the first words he blurts out is an awkward “Oh...you okay?” which if you weren’t openly sobbing you would’ve laughed at. Once he realizes that you’re seriously upset though he gets serious. His first thought is that someone’s responsible for upsetting you and he’s immediately on the defensive, demanding to know who made you cry and to just point him in their direction so he can kick their ass. Of course if it is someone responsible for making you cry it’s up to you if you want to give him names, just be sure before you do because he will 100% throw down with them with zero hesitation even if it gets him in trouble. If it’s something else though he’s a lot less sure on how to handle it, but seeing you upset of course he’s going to still wanna do something about it! The first thing he’s gonna do is get you to sit down, asking you what you want to do about whatever’s making you upset - talking things out isn’t always his style but hearing what you want to happen directly from you is the best way for him to understand how to help you. You wanna go out there and tackle it directly? He’ll be right behind you. Wanna just forget about it? Sure thing! The two of you can just talk about something else till you’re ready to move on. Wanna just get out of there? Kengo’s going to get you out of there asap and find somewhere you wanna go - whether that’s a bustling shopping district or somewhere quiet for some peace. You’re his partner and he’s got your back, regardless of how good he is at the whole comforting thing.

Agyo

Agyo of course freaks out seeing you start to cry - he’s not prepared to handle this and you can practically see him frantically trying to go through all of the ways to cheer someone up in his head as quickly as possible from across the room. For what it’s worth though he doesn’t just wait for you to cry it out like Toji probably would, and instead approaches you. The type to rub your back and pat your head while you get whatever crying to need to get off of your chest, telling you to just let it out and that you’ll feel better. With the way he tries to comfort you, you wouldn’t be surprised if he’s picked this up from someone else (most likely from Ungyo when Agyo was upset.) but it’s more comforting than you’d think to just have those lil head pats. Admittedly if you’re the hugging type of comforter he’ll whine a bit when you pull him in for a hug, holding off on scolding you about using him like a teddy bear since you’re upset and all, but for what it’s worth he’s super fluffy and squishy so he’s peak cuddling material. Just be sure to give him plenty of head rubs and he’ll relent on the fuss until you’re feeling better.

Moritaka

When Moritaka catches sight of the tears welling up in your eyes his first thought is to take your cheeks in his hands and wipe away those tears as they fall. If you make a noise of discomfort then he’ll quickly back off with an apology for acting before asking, however he can’t ignore that you’re upset and implores you to tell him what has caused you to cry. Mori’s an excellent listener, always willing an ear to your troubles and he takes it very seriously, even if you try to downplay it he insists that if it’s upsetting you it’s important. If you’re okay with physical contact you can be sure that you’ll be getting a comfort hug from him too, just holding you while you cry it out and bury your face into his fur as you let out all of your emotions. Letting your feelings get pent up is an easy way to get overwhelmed and he knows that lesson well, so he encourages you to get whatever you need to off of your shoulders and that you don’t need to carry these burdens alone.

Hanuman

Hanuman’s the master of cheering up through distractions. He sees you starting to cry and he’s immediately at your side asking if you wanna see something cool, catching you off guard as he tugs you over to whatever he thinks will help you forget alllll about what made you upset. There’s plenty of games that you guys can play together - he recommends multiplayer since he’s got some awesome fighting games the two of you can compete with! Or ones where you guys can work together! Or there’s single player options if you prefer - he’ll make it a game night and invite Tsath, Ryota and friends over if you want to be surrounded by people who care about you. And if you wanna see some of his ninja tricks he loves showing them off! Anything that is able to make you smile instead of cry he wants to do! To Hanuman so long as he can at least get a laugh out of someone when they’re upset it means he’s doing a good job of cheering you up; so of course he’s going to want to make you smile and laugh as much as he can until you’re crying from joy rather than sorrow.  When it comes to actually confronting your problems however Hanuman’s inexperienced; comforting sure, but unless it’s an issue that can be sorted out with some mischief or swiping something up from right under someone’s nose he’s stumped on how to help. Aside from that though if you’re just looking to get your mind off of what’s made you upset, if only for today Hanuman’s the boy for the job.

Shiro

When the tears start to fall Shiro takes the initiative, getting you into a position of comfort or safety while you cry, be it leading you to take a seat or getting you something to drink once the tears run dry (gotta keep hydrated after a cry if you wanna avoid the headache after folks). And of course if you need something to cuddle there’s already three lil D-evils on hand, swarming around you with concerned screeches upon noticing their Summoner’s fretting over you. Just seeing them worrying about you and clambering to wipe the tears off of your cheeks with chubby little fingers is enough to make you cry all over again at how much they care (which just makes everyone panic all over again thinking they’ve done something wrong until Shiro swoops back in to calm everyone down). Unlike most of the other Summoners, once you’ve calmed down he’d like to sit down with you and talk through the options that you have available to get through what upset you. If it’s a particular event he’d like you to walk him through it if you’re comfortable with it, and throughout he’ll ask you where you would like to go from here; and, if it’s a person who’s responsible, how you would like to confront them to deal with it. If you’d rather just forget about what happened altogether Shiro’s supportive but also thinks you should reconsider - if this situation was bad enough to reduce you to tears he just doesn’t feel right about it going unresolved, if you push though he will relent, afterall the choice is up to you in the end. 

Ryota

Ryota’s arguably the best in regards to comfort. He’s an empathetic soul at heart and seeing anyone in pain makes him want to do everything that he can just to see them smile again. And this is especially true when it comes to you - you’re one of his closest friends and at the first sign of tears in your eyes his heart breaks at the sight and almost immediately he’s closing the distance to hug you. Ryota focuses on cheering you up above all else - anything he can do to make you forget all about what’s upset you if only for a little while he’ll do it in a heartbeat. It’s up to you whether you want to talk about what happened or not but making sure that you feel better is Ryota’s main focus. All kinds of snacks, a good movie collection and a whoooole lot of blankets is in the cards for cheering up any of his friends! If you’re not comfortable with hugs that’s totally fine! But if you are, you can bet that Ryota’s going to cuddle right up next to you, his hugs proving to be super comforting when it comes to making people feel better. The whole time he’ll be comforting you with his words too - telling you that it’s gonna be okay and that whatever’s upset you will be sorted out and that you won’t go through it alone! You’ve got so many friends who want to be there for you, and he’s sure to tell you that he’s going to be right there with you the whole time, wiping the tears from your eyes until they stop.

[jjuzoir]

To Date Itaru Chigasaki

Request: “insert here”

A/N: I had to split the request in 2 posts!! due to formatting 🙇‍♀️ so sorry!!

- You two met at a gaming shop!

- You were looking for a gift for your best friend’s younger sister, as much as you liked games yourself- buying one for a 12 year old was another story.

- You were freaking out- you had been in the store for almost an hour searching and nothing would come up.

- You were afraid of not getting a gift at all- that is until you felt a tap from a man in a suit.

- “You look like you’re ten seconds away from crying,” Itaru looked at you, “Need some help?”

- He didn’t know why he’d helped you, you were kind of cute and, unlike with other things, he was a bit more open to helping others when it came to video games.

- “Please,” you turned around, “I need a game for a 12 year old but I just don’t know! I-I don’t want her to think I think she’s a child but she can’t play anything too… you know, grown up or else her parents will kick my ass.” You whine, maybe if things had gone better you’d be embarrassed but embarrassment is simply something you cannot feel right now, you’re against the clock and you’re tired.

- “Hmm, a 12 year old girl… thought about Puppy Crossing?”

- And that’s how you spent the next 30 minutes, discussing a game for the kid with a 20-something year old blue collar.

- By the end you had bought the gift plus a recommendation Itaru had given you based on your short, but surprisingly sweet, interaction.

- The second time you met was, again, at the store but this time it was for you instead of a kid. Thankfully.

- He was wearing another suit, you guessed he really was an office worker; what was he doing here though? What business would guy with such a high paying job, you assumed by his suit and clothes, have in such a small game store in the middle of a gaming street.

- You shrugged it off before returning to browsing, you really shouldn’t judge.

- After a few minutes he noticed you and approached you asking about the game he’d recommended for the girl last time. After gladly informing him about the success the gift had- both of you quickly began talking about the game he’d recommended you.

- After that you two began meeting up in the shop- not on purpose or anything, it just kind of happened.

- In most situations he might’ve been annoyed but for some reason he couldn’t really bring himself to be mad. He enjoyed being able to shamelessly talk about games, online and competitive, pay to win or free to play, with a cute person who didn’t judge him.

- It became a weekly occurrence and you really enjoyed it. Eventually he asked you out on a date, it’d be in an internet cafe near the store, and you said yes.

- You were looking forward to being able to know him better, not in a store or just as friends but maybe… as a possible s/o? You slap your cheeks at the thought, silly [Name], that wouldn’t happen... right?

- That is until he called in sick stating he had grown ill with the flu and you were worried, he sounded like he was in hell based on the phone call. He was coughing, his voice sounded muffled, he kept sneezing too, you were surprised he could even dial with how bad he sounded.

- When you tried to call him his number went straight to voicemail so you did what anyone would do;

- You called in to his home number (which he had given you when he gave you his business card, yes he gave you his business card instead of giving you his phone number like a normal person).

- “Hello, Izumi Tachibana speaking.” Your heart kind of stops when you hear a woman’s voice and you wonder if maybe you’d been a side piece, but thinking back to Itaru and how he acted with you - you doubted it.

- “Izumi? Ah, eh… is a Itaru Chigasaki there?”

- “Itaru? Yes, I can give him a message, who’s calling?”

- “Ah, tell him it’s [Name] from the store, I was just worried about him…”

- “[Name], huh? Wait, you mean you’re [Name] [Last Name]?”

- “Ehh… yes?”

- Turns out Itaru had told his roommate maybe wife maybe kid(?) about you?

- You didn’t know he had roommates, he looked well off so why couldn’t he afford a house? Maybe she was a girlfriend and they were in a open relationship? So many questions…

- You thought you wouldn’t really mind but it turns out your cheeks were now bright red when Izumi explained how Itaru had been talking about you often and promptly invited you to check up on Itaru, who was in fact ill. She also gave you a rundown of the situation, turns out he was part of some acting company and she was the director, so with a lighter heart you decided to take her up on going over to check on him.

- Big mistake.

- You were going to stop by after work, you decided, you’d also go and buy him some soup for his stomach just in case. You arrived at the house and welcomed inside by a smiling Tachibana and a strange bird before you were given a rundown of some rules.

- “Knock first, always knock first. If you hear anything between a grunt or a yes you’re in the clear, if you hear anything like a groan or a curse wait before knocking again. If you happen to hear something falling over or a scream I’ll text you when it’s safe for you to come over again. You seem like a nice person, so please don’t forget any of the rules! Now- go!”

- She quickly pushed you in front of the door and knocked for you before bolting behind the stairs, you received a quick thumbs up before she hid again.

- You were now alone in a dorm room looking for a grown man who had called in sick to a date with you, this wasn���t exactly how you thought your friday evening was going to go. You knock the door and put your ear next to the wood… no grunt, had Izumi explained what a no-grunt meant?

- You look at her general direction where she looks confused but encourages you to go in, so you shrug it off before turning the handle around - you end up falling over when the door is opened by the man of the hour himself.

- “Oi, Izumi- now that this match is over you can come in with the-! Ah… [Name], this is… embarrassing,” Itaru had turned around ready to scold Izumi when instead he came to see you.

- He looked like shit- he really did, not only because he was sick but because his room was a mess. You knew he liked gaming but this… this was too extreme, was this what they called a gap moe?

- “What the hell…?”

- He invites you in quickly- shoving chips and cans left and right before sitting you down on a couch.

- “What are you doing here- ACHOO!”

- You explained how worried you were about him- how he didn’t answer your calls and so you came to visit with soup (you felt the need to highlight the soup).

- He thanked you for the thought before looking around the room awkwardly remarking it’d be best you left- the flu was contagious after all.

- It was an awkward reaction, even for him- something Izumi doesn’t fail to note once you leave, unlike when anyone else would come in; Itaru couldn’t find it in himself to scold you or threaten you with an immediate and painful death.

- You leave the room quickly and wave goodbye- but not before he slips you a note with a bunch of numbers scribbled on.

- When you arrive home that night you finally realise what it said; it was his friend code.

- And that’s how your first date was on a island in ACNH he made for the date. And that’s how he asked you out too.

- Fucking nerd.

- You were crafting some furniture for your island (which he had happily helped you plan out) when he asks you out via chat.

- Your response? You used the shocked and glad reactions, the only valid reaction.

- Dating him includes video game dates; any server based game multiplayer is used to seeing you two doing some cringe couple shit.

- You will have to bathe him, he can go days without taking a bath so get ready to shove him in a tub.

- He’s not very good at being a boyfriend sometimes, he struggles in the emotional aspect. He’ll base himself a lot in dating sims, like it’s kind of cute but it can be scary if he uses the wrong dating sim.

- Will kabedon you for 2 reasons and 2 reasons only; one, he genuinely wants to know if it works like ??? does it really make people swoon is it really that cool ?? and two, it’s been a life long dream of his let him have this.

- Itaru can be both mature and kind of childish, you’ll have to stomach a lot of tantrums when you get in the way of gaming. But he’s also not a kid, he can be surprisingly mature when he wants to.

- He takes the relationship very seriously, most of the time; he genuinely likes you and he tries to leave gaming but he struggles.

- So, you decide to combine two things; you + games. You’ll go visit him often and play games together on his couch.

- He’s so fucking happy when you do that, it’s cute. He doesn’t mind you using his clothes but do not touch his yellow-tiger bomber jacket he only uses when gaming. Do not.

- Itaru will let you play with his hair while he plays games, he lets you use butterfly clips and shit too.

- Just don’t expect him to go out like that he’ll fucking riot.

- “Banri will freak out-“ “Omi bring the camera Itaru has fucking butterfly-clips on, Taichi film this shit- he’s wearing clips! And they’re buttefly ones, funniest shit I’ve seen!”

- Banri 100% teases the fuck out of him when it comes to you but Itaru will come back with some cheesy shit to make him uncomfortable.

- “It’s not my fault we two fell in love-“

- “I swear to fucking god if you go on another rant I’ll destroy you and your whole blood line with my pinky.”

- The dorm is kind of surprised how much more social Itaru can be with you- they’re so used to seeing him shut himself in with games, but now that you two are together he comes out more often to spend time with you.

- He can be kind of cold and emotionally distant but after awhile you learn that that’s just how Itaru works. He’s kind of aloof and awkward and he can come off as rude sometimes? He just be like that you know.

- That both the shut-in gamer and businessman are the same guy and that you… l*ve him for it.

- Play games with him please- just do it.

[sylvanfreckles]

Turnabout Handicap

Just resurrecting my old works from ff.net. Presented in its entirety, including original author's notes, as published on February 17th, 2015: Turnabout Handicap!

Summary: Apollo finally bought the latest edition of Rock Mix, just in time to be stuck in the office with Trucy while Athena and Mr. Wright were off on another case without him. Of course, as bad luck would have it, this would be the day Klavier Gavin stops by.

...

Babysitting again.

Apollo glanced over at Trucy, thumbing through a magazine on the couch, and let out a slight sigh. He liked Trucy all right—she was like the little sister he never had—but why did he always get stuck here while Mr. Wright and Athena were in court? It just wasn't fair.

"Didja get it plugged in yet, Polly?"

"Just a second," he called back. There was a lot of dust behind Mr. Wright's TV and he could barely see the connections, but Apollo was finally able to plug in the adapter for his GameStar. He was a little surprised they still made adapters for sets as old as this one but since his own TV was just a little bigger than his microwave he wasn't going to complain.

Trucy gave a whoop as the GameStar whirred to life. "It's starting! What are we gonna play?"

Apollo backed out from behind the TV, trying to brush the dust off his suit. "I only brought one multiplayer game, Trucy," he replied, but she was already elbows-deep in the box of games he'd brought over with him. Technically he was donating it to the office...in reality he and Athena had agreed they were tired of cleaning the toilet when they didn't have clients, so something like this would help pass the time even if he didn't play much anymore.

"Rock Mix!" Trucy shouted and held a guitar-shaped controller over her head. "I've seen this on TV! Who knew you were so musical, Polly?"

"Be careful, I had to buy the controllers used and they're not in the best shape," Apollo rescued the controller from Trucy and connected the cable with his GameStar. "I lost the memory card a long time ago, just give me a second to set up a profile."

"Aw, don't do that now," Trucy complained. "Let's just play! You can do the boring stuff later."

Apollo sighed. He'd really liked the game's character customization when he first bought it...without that they'd be playing with the game's standard avatars based on well-known rock stars. Rock stars like...

"Look, Polly, it's Mr. Gavin!"

It wasn't. Well...it sort of was. The avatar's name was Kevin Gawain, but he looked an awful lot like the rock-star prosecutor.

"Ooh, and we can play one of his songs," Trucy said excitedly, flipping through the songlist on the game's menu. "I'm playing lead guitar, of course. Would you rather be rhythm or bass?"

Apollo felt a headache coming on. "Trucy, that's not exactly what I had in mind. They have a lot of classics in there, too."

But the girl was ignoring him. "Which one, Polly? 'Guilty Love' or 'Atroquinine'?"

"Trucy..."

She jumped up on the couch, controller in hands, posing like the avatar on the cover of the game. "Love, slow-acting and new," Trucy sang, miming strumming strings over the game's controller.

"Get down from there, you could fall."

"Oh, but you have a microphone, too," Trucy scrambled back down to the floor. "What do you think, Polly, should I be lead guitar or lead vocals?"

Apollo sighed and plugged in the second controller. "The karaoke part isn't as fun. I think you should stick to guitar."

"Aw, I wish I could be both," she let the microphone fall back into the box. "Then I'd really be like Mr. Gavin."

"Look, Trucy, I get enough of him in court, can't you pick a different avatar?"

Someone on the other side of the room cleared their throat. "Did I come at a bad time?"

Both Apollo and Trucy yelped and spun around. Klavier Gavin was standing behind them, folder tucked under one arm, smirking that damned smirk.

"W-what are you doing here?" Apollo stammered, quickly setting his controller down against the couch. How much had Gavin seen and heard? Had he said anything embarrassing?

"I'm here to drop off a file for Herr Wright," Gavin explained, holding out the folder. "His case is linked to one I prosecuted last year."

"Oh, right," Apollo took the folder, glanced at it for a moment, and added it to the pile next to the phone. "He's in court now, you know."

"Ja," Gavin nodded and hooked his thumbs in his belt. "He said I could leave it with you."

"Mr. Gavin!" Trucy hopped over the back of the couch, nearly knocking Apollo aside. "You should play with us, I bet you're really good at this game."

Gavin looked over at the screen. He didn't seem to know how to answer...sometimes Trucy's enthusiasm was like that.

"C'mon, Trucy. he doesn't have time to play Rock Mix with you," Apollo interjected, uncrossing his arms to rest his elbows on the back of the couch. "Besides, I doubt he'd want to."

"Rock...Mix?" Gavin leaned over the couch to study the controllers. "The video game?"

"It's only the best ever," Trucy explained, despite the fact that this was her first time playing it. "You get to be a rock star and play all kinds of hit songs for your adoring fans all over the world!"

Apollo covered his face with one hand. He was pretty sure Gavin had already done all of that. "Trucy..."

"Ah, well, Herr Forehead's right. I don't really have time to play games with you." He tweaked the brim of Trucy's hat down to cover her eyes. "Maybe next time I'll stick around for a few rounds with you kids."

"Kids?" Apollo's eyebrows shot up. "Hey, you're not that much older than me."

"Well, experience and genius speak for themselves," Gavin said, flipping his hair out of his eyes.

"Funny, they've never helped you win a case against me."

The room went strangely silent. Apollo's eyes widened as he realized he'd actually said that out loud. "I, uh...that came out wrong. I just meant...I meant to say something else," he finished lamely.

"Really?" Gavin drawled, walking around the couch to pick up one of the controllers. "Maybe I haven't won a case against you, Herr Forehead...but maybe I don't need to. My ego can take a bruising, can yours?"

"Yes!" Trucy pumped one fist in the air. "Here, Polly, you can play bass, it's more fun that rhythm guitar."

"Huh?" Apollo found the second controller shoved into his hands. "Hey, wait, I thought you wanted to play, Trucy?"

"Ta-da!" Trucy pulled a microphone out of the game's box. "This is perfect, Polly, now I don't have to choose."

"We can't possibly lose now," Gavin commented, holding up one hand for a high-five from Trucy. "Ready, Herr Forehead?"

Apollo just gaped. How had...why had...why was he always getting in the middle of things like this?

"Polly," Trucy, hands on hips, glowered at him from her place in front of the TV. "Remember, you're representing the Wright Anything Agency with me."

Oh well. "Fine, but he has to have a handicap!"

...

"Tired?" Phoenix Wright asked the young woman walking next to him.

"Hngh...maybe a little," Athena admitted, stretching her arms up. "That last witness was really tough to get through to. I'm still not sure we got to the bottom of his emotional turmoil."

"There's always tomorrow. Gavin should have dropped off that folder by now, maybe there'll be some info in there to help you."

"I hope so," she said with a sigh. She turned the corner toward the agency but stopped as an unusual sound caught her attention. "Mr. Wright, do you hear that?"

"Sounds like Trucy's singing," he said. "Huh, that's an old one...'Mirror, Mirror', I haven't heard that since college."

"Mirror, mirror, tell me why...do I hide these tender eyes..."

Athena winced and covered her ears. "Is she singing karaoke? The guitar part's all right, but something's wrong with the bass track."

"I'd better tell her to turn it down," Phoenix commented, leading the way up the stairs to the office. "We don't want the neighbors to...oh."

Athena peered around her boss to see what had stopped him at the door. And stared.

Trucy, Apollo, and Klavier Gavin were gathered in front of the TV playing some kind of guitar-karaoke game. At least, that's what she assumed was happening. Trucy was singing her heart out, but Apollo seemed to be having trouble with his guitar. Gavin, on the other hand...

He was standing with his back to the TV, Apollo's necktie tied around his eyes, and a pair of bright yellow rubber gloves on his hands. And he was still hitting every note perfectly.

"Polly, come on! I can't believe you lost again!" Trucy complained. "Maybe we should pick something easier."

"It's not my fault he's a better player," Apollo replied, frustrated. "I think he needs another handicap, like tying one of his arms behind his back."

"Come, come, Herr Forehead," Gavin lifted the edge of his blindfold just enough to wink at Apollo. "You've already blindfolded me to see how I perform in a game of rhythm and dexterity, and now you want to tie me up? Is there something you'd like to tell me?"

"I suppose we should rescue him," Mr. Wright murmured to Athena as Apollo blustered out an answer.

Athena grinned evilly. "Let me, boss," she whispered back. "Excuse me, are we interrupting?" she called.

The three players turned to face them: Trucy with a yell of greeting, Apollo with a face red enough to match his suit, and Gavin with an almost embarrassed smirk.

"Come on, Daddy," Trucy ran over to grab Mr. Wright by the arm. "You've got to take over bass for Polly, he's just terrible at it! Maybe you can beat Mr. Gavin."

"It's not my fault," Apollo protested again, relinquishing the control gladly.

"He was on expert and you were on beginner, Polly," Trucy retorted, trying to settle the guitar's strap over Mr. Wright's shoulders despite his protests. "I really don't see how we could have made it more fair."

Apollo gave a good-natured sort of grumble and stalked over to stand beside Athena. "He's got cotton in one ear, too," he muttered. "I can't believe he's just that much better than me."

Athena leaned back against the door frame and fiddled with her earring, studying the scene for a few moments as Trucy tried to convince her father to play. Something was prickling in her memory, something she really should have noticed right away. "Hey, Apollo?" she finally asked. "The gloves Mr. Gavin's wearing...aren't they the ones we use when we're cleaning the toilet?"

...

Original author's note:

Been stuck in my head for days now. What would happen if Klavier played Guitar Hero against Apollo? Yes, I understand it's different from playing a guitar, but it really does come down to a sense of rhythm, timing, and dexterity. Besides...I never said he hadn't played it before, did I?

Reminds me of my childhood. We had a winter Olympics game for the Atari, and I was so good at the bobsledding event my brothers used to stand in front of the TV to try to make me crash. I still won gold almost every time...mostly because they didn't think to cover the track map in the upper corner.

This story is not meant to be slash, but...come on, if you had the chance to tease Apollo Justice with a thinly-veiled innuendo wouldn't you take it? No matter your orientation? It's like when someone at work or school complains "I'm hot" and you say "Yeah, but you don't have to brag about it", it just has to be done.

[etraytin]

Quarantine, Day 170-171

August 28-29

So the story here is that I started writing a journal entry last night and realized I was becoming literally incoherent from falling asleep at the computer, so I went to bed. Luckily, it saved as a draft on my computer, so here is that draft, followed by today's entry:  "I am writing the journal very late this evening because I have been busy with Projects. Project one is, of course, the continuing weaning of the kittens. After a day and a half of introducing them to the idea of kitten food as food, I am now presenting it to them at mealtimes, stimulating them so their bellies are empty, and then leaving them with the food for half an hour before coming back with the bottle. They are very displeased with the lackadaisical service around this joint, but Robinton is already eating slurry and wet food very well, and Sebell pretty well. No appreciable progress from the girls but they are still gaining weight so that is good. 

Tonight's other project is my terribly illegal effort to acquire geolocked Canadian podcasts from the CBC. =O Way back in the day, I listened to a Sunday Edition series called 20 Pieces of Music That Changed the World. It was an awesome series, super interesting and explored a lot of types of music that I had never thought much about the wider societal impact of. Unfortunately, when I went back for a relisten, it had been geolocked because they played a lot of complete tracks of copyrighted music in order to examine and analyze them."

So that's pretty much what happened yesterday, or at least enough as to make no nevermind. I was so tired because I had stayed up nearly all night on Thursday between a virtual response Red Cross call and a fanfiction read-along for one of my favorite authors that unfortunately was in Pacific time. It led to a very sleepy day, but sometimes you just have to do something slightly unwise simply because it is fun and you haven't had enough fun lately. Plus I felt pretty smart about staying up so late when the Red Cross called at 2am and I was already awake and at my computer. Go me, so alert! 

Today was a generally good day in which not a lot happened. The kiddo has gotten two nights of good sleep after we decided that all electronics will spend the night in my room so as not to provide temptation in the wee small hours. He's also back on his lower-dose medication but it is obviously helping. Today he was able to play with Legos and concentrate on Minecraft, plus he also cleaned the bathroom for the first time in ages. (His bathroom and bedroom are worth quite a few internet points to keep clean, and are a good indicator of his general motivation level.) During Power Hour, we picked out a family-friendly Minecraft server from a list so that he could do some multiplayer Minecraft even though I can't get it to run on my computer. He really enjoyed himself a lot! 

For my own part, I spent a lot of today on the kittens, where weaning is proceeding at a fairly good pace, with two kittens doing great and two kittens extremely reluctant. I can live with this because Sebell and Robinton now require very little bottle at all, saving precious formula resources for the little girls. I'm halfway through the last of my Breeder's Edge formula after I got a number of extremely generous donations in May when I had Rosa and Jackie. That formula has lasted me through those two, the Gaang, and these four, so it went a long way but now it's nearly gone. I think I can probably beg some off the people at the spay/neuter clinic if I have to, but that might get complicated because they have a zillion kittens right now too. The further I can make my supply go, the better! I've got plenty of wet food though, so the boys can absolutely chow down on that to their fat little hearts' content. 

(And hey, if anybody would like to throw another can of formula my way, it's on my wishlist on Amazon, it's the Breeder's Edge Foster Care Formula. It's expensive as hell, but it works _so well._ You should see the poops on these guys!) 

I also made a small amount of progress on cleaning, though tomorrow's project is definitely going to have to be laundry. I got through several more episodes of illicit Canadian podcasts as well, very exciting! I also played a lot of mindless little app games and set a terrible example for my child, but we did stay in the house, safe and socially isolated. Good job, us! Got to talk to MIL on the phone a little and she is doing better, starting walking practice and eating much better than she did in the hospital. It's very good news! My husband reports that the neighbor kids have taken it upon themselves to pick Nana's blueberry bushes and bring him most of the proceeds, so he has something like eight pints of fresh blueberries to do something with. Not a bad problem to have, really! 

[moonguilt]

please give me more kl headcanons.😔

OKAY people this got WAY out of hand and i wrote 7 pages of an entire au plotline so uh. sorry everybody but it’s gonna be split into at least a couple different postswe’ll call this CHAPTER 1: (chapter 2 can be found HERE)I roleplay on MMORPGs so you’re gonna have to deal with my self indulgent online roleplaying AU. There will be klance but I have to SET THE STAGE first so bear with me. basically this is just multiplayer online video game roleplaying garbage. on that note, enjoy.

hunk and pidge were the first ones to discover the video game “Voltron.” they dicked around on it just to test out the game controls and perhaps get coding ideas for a game they are trying to create, but they ended up kinda enjoying it. the gameplay has its issues but is overall pretty fluid.

hunk plays a rogue. he has to turn the game volume down sometimes because of the gross gorey noises the game makes when he stabs people. he probably would have rerolled as a different class just to escape the gruesome sound effects, but he really likes being able to enter stealth. he says it makes him feel “safe”

pidge plays a mage. hunk is under the impression that it’s because she wants to play a class with high intelligence points, and pidge doesn’t correct him. but really she just likes the idea of turning her enemies into frogs

shiro is hanging out with matt one day and ends up watching pidge play. he wants to be Hip and Cool so he decides to create a trial account and see if he likes it. turns out, he’s TERRIBLE at the actual gameplay (his computer reflexes are Bad and he keeps dying to basic mechanics on literally every boss fight. matt downloads the game and creates a priest out of pity just to help keep shiro alive while he levels)

“this is demeaning for everyone involved”

“you’re the one who has died seven times now to haxus. literally all you have to do is not stand in the fire. you’re a FULLY ARMORED PALADIN TANK how are you dying so quic—wait a minute. shiro. shiro why are you still wearing your level 1 starting gear.”

however, he finds out that the server they’re playing on has a roleplaying community! he figures he doesnt need swift reflexes to roleplay, so he starts dipping his toe into RP and discovers he really likes it. he enjoys writing stories about his heroic character, and enjoys combining those stories with the stories of other people he meets in the game. it’s like collaborative fantasy fiction writing, and it quickly becomes a passion of his

pidge and matt tease him endlessly for it. hunk is an angel and is very supportive of shiro’s new hobby. he is the only one who will listen to shiro gush about his character. unfortunately when shiro designed the character, he did not have a good grasp on roleplay, so the character is goofy looking and has an overly dramatic backstory involving dragons and a lost royal bloodline. hunk kindly chooses not to comment on it, and instead helps him develop new ideas and plots for his character’s adventures

eventually shiro manages to convince hunk to give RP a try. hunk is very careful and does a lot of research on the Voltron universe lore. he reads all the fanmade wiki pages, roleplaying guides on the game forums, etc., until he feels confident he can create a good character. he does (and eventually goes on to be a popular community figure who hosts huge server events and is friends with literally everyone, but that is several months down the line), and he and shiro begin their roleplaying adventures together

hunk gets Really Into It. fast. like faster than shiro. and he takes it SERIOUSLY; he is a total lore nerd & WILL tell you (in a very gentle, caring tone) if your character’s story/actions do not comply with the game’s established lore

“your character’s outfit is so cool! btw tho, I noticed you mentioned your character was born in the castle of lions—just wanted to let you know, it was actually only rediscovered and unlocked about 10 years ago in the game’s timeline, so it wouldn’t really make work for your character to be born there, since they’re 27 D: but if you want I can help you come up with a different birthplace :)”

keith, lance, and allura had thus far managed to resist the voltron bug. they just aren’t into mmorpg stuff, they insist. single-player games, sure, but open-world multi-player? sounds weird

lance falls first. Hunk hits him with the puppy dog eyes and its all over for him

he creates the most ridiculously beautiful character he can

“i dont care about whether my guy is a freaking dps or not, hunk, i need him to have an ass like a kardashian. WHERE IS THE BUTT SLIDER HUNK. i have a NICE ASS and i want it IMMORTALIZED IN PIXEL FORM”

he does, in fact, end up picking dps. hunk shows him the archer class and he lights up like a christmas tree

“i know you always wanted to bone legolas, so”

“i wanted to BE legolas, not BONE him, HUNK”

“sure lance”

allura falls next. her and lance’s weekly “self-care spa sessions” turn into lance rambling about all the wacky stuff he and hunk and shiro got up to that week, and she eventually cracks under the pressure because she Hates when there’s a new fad and she doesn’t understand it

“and then this guy came up to us and started roleplaying with us in ALL LOWER CASE and shiro and i wanted to d i e but hunk was all ‘nooo he’s just a newbie in need of some pointers’ and then spent the next TWENTY FREAKING MINUTES giving this guy tips and tricks about grammar and punctuation–”

within 2 days she has gotten almost halfway through leveling her new druid healer because she is Determined damn it

coran, allura’s uncle, also begins playing shortly thereafter. allura never says why exactly, but it does seem to be a direct result of her influence somehow. he plays a gunslinger class because he’s “always wanted to be a ‘rooting & tooting cowboy,’ as you call it!”

for whatever reason, he is Very Good at the game, like freakishly skilled. everyone is kind of afraid to question it so they just accept it and move on

he and pidge are really the only ones who are focusing on the actual game content anymore, so they start doing high-level raids together and then begin to gain something of a reputation as a terrifying duo in player-versus-player combat.

keith is resilient. he is a notoriously stubborn boy and no amount of puppy dog eyes from hunk or persuasive lectures from shiro will convince him to step outside his comfort zone

but lance, well. lance knows exactly how to get keith to do what he wants

“i bet you just know my character’s way cooler than yours would be”

“?? no. i literally dont care about your character or anybody else's”

“huh. guess i will just always be better at video games than you”

“are you seriously still trying to hold your killbot phantasm score over my head. you got lucky”

“i am the peerless king of video games–”

“are you listening to yourself. do you actually hear the words coming from your mouth.”

“–undefeated because you are too much of a coward–”

“fuck OFF send me the fucking download link you loudmouth”

keith takes. forever. to design his character.

lance is leaning over the back of keith’s chair, giving outrageous suggestions (and blatant lies) that keith pointedly ignores

“keith. keith if you give him neon orange hair it boosts your speed, did you know that?”

“choosing big ears gives you greater perception stats keith”

“keith listen to me, you gain the ability to breathe underwater if you choose a broken nose—OW, what the hell–”

keith takes SO LONG that eventually lance has to leave for dance lessons and when he gets back keith is only JUST finishing up

turns out he took so long because he wanted to use every resource available in the game to make the character look like a carbon copy of himself. the end result would have been impressive if it wasn’t so eerily accurate

“you’re seriously naming him keith kogane.”

“it’s my name!”

“keith it’s a ROLEPLAYING game. you’re supposed to play a ROLE”

“and my role is keith kogane.”

“that doesnt even fit the naming conventions for the humans in this game! hunk would be having a FIT right now if he was here”

“good thing he’s not”

keith selects the warrior class because, as lance repeatedly and petulantly insists, he is a “boring basic bitch fuckboy”

“im the fuckboy?? thats rich coming from a guy who plays an archer because he has a big fat crush on orlando bloom in a blond wig”

“HUNK is spreading LIES okay I do NOT have a cru–”

“i dont know what you see in him. he’s literally just a white lotor”

“you TAKE THAT BACK”

to be continued :)

[startselectscreen]

Gears 5 Video Game Review

3 STARS OUT OF FIVE

Ah Gears of War, the franchise that popularized the cover-based mechanic built to regenerate health and shoot locusts from cover to cover. It’s what generated the basis of fun with its horde mode and online competitive matches and of course, the chainsaw lancer which never cease to be satisfying everytime that goes off. Those 360 games were just a blast to play from the never-ending shooting gallery of locusts to the witty and awesome banter between Marcus Fenix and his COG friends, sure there are some douchey moments, no thanks to Dom but everyone just feels like space NFL quarterbacks with their hunky space armor and chainsaw lancers - its just awesome.

However, afterwards the GoW 360 trilogy ended and games like Judgment and Gears 4 appear, it really lost its charm and appeal, its just the same old Gears game streamlining the cover-based mechanics and just basically another shooting gallery of disappointment to say it at least. I mean, having Marcus back as this “old retired” COG alongside a squad of new kids just has been done before and sadly Epic and eventually The Coalition really didn’t entice new fans but still feed into their old Gears fanbase. Now with Gears 5, it just feels like another disappointment and I feel like they really did not improve much since Gears 3 although there is a new Escape and Horde mode which seems more playable like before the 360 games.

The game picks up right after Gears 4, you start as JD, Marcus’ son as he, Del, Marcus and Kait from the previous Gears, want to launch a rocket into outer space and activate the Hammer of Dawn so the COG can be able to combat the Swarm. It is very much a controversial and risky move as it can also affect tremendous human casualties. The game starts as JD but you mostly play as Kait Diaz as she constantly gets headaches and hallucinations from her mother’s amulet and heirloom which somehow is connected to the Swarm. She and her squad goes and ventures through a perilous journey to find the root of her problem and stop it. Much like the Gears game, there will be sacrifices and climatic movie style moments,

The gameplay didn’t really change since GoW 3, it’s the same “stop and pop” action and some new additions. Again, it’s just another Gears’ shooting gallery of never ending Swarm enemies until you have reached the next checkpoint and then rinse and repeat. It’s really the same old conventions and they seemed to downplay it to death. There seems to be only a few new weapons and as well as old and new enemies with painted weaknesses that you hit before killing them. However, it is nice to have corrupted Baird’s DeeBees in the mix of Swarms, it seems to be a nice combination of facing bastions shielding Scions and huge creatures as a new way of creating intense action rather than just jump from cover to cover. It is just a nice touch to the gameplay. 

The AI of your teammates however aren’t as smart as the developing Swarm despite having a new ability to target them, it seems countless of times, the AI will just run to the enemy without taking them down and in harder difficulties such as Experienced (Hard), it seems to be a hindrance of trying to revive them one by one as they stupidly get picked off by Swarm while you are trying to survive Wardens and Swarm drop-shotters that will blow up you instantly. Although, the first Act seems nice, when you are fighting in the settlement that you received a distress call of a Swarm invasion, you can summon Baird’s robotic reinforcements and you have the choice of picking Guardians or Sentinels which is fun, albeit only for the first Act and afterwards you mostly are facing the corrupted versions and they really don’t tell you why they are corrupted, although there are just malfunctioned. Again, it just feels like the AI, the part of the gameplay seems really outdated with the typical fixed gun sequences that seems to be aggravating due to annoying cooldowns from those sequences. Granted, it makes those moments hard with no moment to breathe but there are a lot of them and it is not due to its spiked difficulty that I’m playing. And of course, enemies like Brumak and others still the typical video game painted coloured sections where you shoot to take them down. 

One main component of the campaign is Del’s, well your trusty robotic friend, Jack as a companion in this game. Introduced by Baird, this new robot is an upgrade from Dave’s short yet untimely demise and still has the cute Wall-E charm to it. These flying robots have been in previous Gears’ games but they are part of the COG army and not playable at all. This new companion has a set of abilities whether passive, combative or defensive that will greatly benefit you against the Swarm. Ranging from Shock, Stim, Pulse and passive abilities that can camouflage, instantly revive and so on, it’s pretty much an arsenal of useful perks in your disposal. These abilities aren’t restricted to a RPG-like tier trees but will require an amount of components to unlock them which can be found during both the main and side missions in chapters. In addition to the three unlockable abilities, there is a fourth and final skill that unlocks only through main and side quests that is the ultimate perk of that specific ability (i.e Shock final unlock can freeze enemies for a period of time and such). During gameplay, you can toggle these two sets of abilities, combative and defensive which when used has a cooldown timer after you have used either of them. It really is a life saver to have these abilities, especially stim which can buff up your health and can be upgraded as an instant revive while you are down. Other useful things such as retrieving weapons/ammo from hard to reach areas or in an intense dogfight or laying shock traps/mines can really save you from those large, intimating Swarm creatures from decapitating you

Another new addition to the game is revealed in Act 2 as open world and unfortunately there is a lack of one or rather bland and boring one. They chatted a big deal of a Gears game being open world but it resulted in a couple of side quests and activities that only rewards more components, big weapons and main components for abilities/parts of them in some cases for Jack and nothing more. These quests are only there for them, nothing more, whether or not you choose to pursue them is up to you. At first, it does feel like a stripped up version of the recent God of War’s open world as these main and side missions can be identified with yellow flags by them indicating there’s something to be done as well as the banter between the squad “to go check it out.” Like God of War, you have a method of transport to reach these areas, a skiff which looks like some sort of ski sledge with a parachute in front that accelerates how fast you ride from the wind. The skiff can seat four with you controlling and driving the skiff and mostly Del who sits and navigates, although you do all of the work. The navigational seat be used in Co-op where players can only mark the map (which you yourself can do while driving). Also, you can stow two weapons (heavy weapons like RL-Salvo Rocket Launcher to the Tri-Shot Gatling Gun) on each side of the skiff that can be used in these missions, it’s like a small storage space for your guns but only can be retrieved after you dismount from the skiff. The map itself seems to be an illusion of being an open world game, but it just feels linear, in Act 2, when you reach those communications' towers in part of the main mission, you can scan for these side missions in some sort of frequency mini-game that only appears in this whole Act, sadly not afterwards. It is also attributed that the skiff can take damage and in later cases, explode and kill everyone as there are sandstorms and obsoletes you’ll need to dodge and maneuver and it feels intense much like in combat with the Swarm.   

From a graphical standpoint, the game still delivers. Forgoing the brown and gruel colours of the Gears’ trilogy on the 360, it feels very vibrant and impressive much like the previous game. Each Act really delivers distinct areas to explore in this “open-world” game and it really looks pretty as you ride your skiff throughout the snowy terrain of Act 2 to feeling like Doom or Total Recall in Act 4 with its red sandy desert. It’s too bad that they didn’t make it more open-world to fully realized its graphical potential as it is resulted in a lack of activities to do. Nevertheless, each locale looks great even though it has been done in other better games. It’s also nice that they put nice touches to the characters during these Acts whether having Kait, Del and others wear winter jackets to Act 3 where they wear goggles and less clothing for the hot red sandy desert. The dynamic lightning only looks nice in main missions as the sudden change of effects change when you enter them and it feels weird with a short cut scene to substitute a loading screen in the mix. It does not hinder the visuals at all, the game looks pretty as it is and characters and enemies’ design with the Kait and his team as well as the opposing Swarm just looks menacing as hell. 

Unfortunately for the powerhouse of a game, it falls short on its technical problems. There are always problems with Early Access games, sure and the developers are fixing the bugs/glitches and problems with aspects like the online multiplayer matches whether its Horde, Escape or versus mode but it really is aggravating that I still experience these problems two days after the release. Things like the game freezing at spots reverting back to a save checkpoint, some bad audio clicks and the worst of all, seeing the “fail to load save” pop-up and doing the whole chapter again. The “always online” component of the game is a nice trend to prevent illegal privacy but sometimes people like me have a spotty internet connection and I sometimes get disconnected at parts of the game where I finished a brutal firefight and have to do it all over again which is annoying. 

Speaking of online, I didn’t really play it, after ten hours of finishing the campaign, I'm really not inclined to pursue Horde or Escape mode as I have a spotty internet connection. As part of a pre-order, you get Sarah Connor and a T-800 Terminator to play online alongside a roster of characters from the main campaign and surprisingly, Spartans from Halo Reach. You can customize them, their banner and taunts for the online aspect and thankfully, I will never touch them. Everyday, when you log in, you can also receive a daily cache of points and other perks, maybe cosmetic items for your character. However, Horde and Versus mode feels like they finally brought back the fun part of those 360 games and implement it with better features as what was said from them. Escape mode is basically an intense firefight where you and other players have to kill waves of enemies in some sort of Swarm hive mind while green gas is approaching behind you in a race to the finish. It seems like a challenging effort but requires a set of friends to really make it in this mode. Also, you and two other players can play the main campaign as Co-op where one of the players can even control Jack and his abilities, making it gameplay interesting. 

Other than that, Gears 5 is really a disappointment. The same, derivative combat that has made popular with its cover-based, has done better in other games since then. The game also promises open world which doesn’t have up its expectations with a bland and boring yet beautiful landscape to ride in and from a few side missions. It’s just sad that the Coalition didn’t really implement new features and only maintain it for Gears’ fans and not new players, well only Jack as a Co-op option but again it still suffers from the old “stop and pop” action even in harder difficulties, it just feels last-gen to me with the AI as well. Should it be recommended, only to Gears fan who are really interested in its online multiplayer and the ten hours of the main campaign just feels repetitive and boring to say it at least. 

[jake-richmond]

Thoughts on the Anthem demo:

Since I had to take a day off anyway I decided to try out Anthem. Its a 3rd person adventure shooter by Bioware. I had gotten excited about it last year because it looks a lot like both The Division (game play wise) and Destiny (world design wise), both of which I loved. I spent the day playing the demo with my brother Nick and our friend Gabe (who I also played The Division and Monster Hunter World with). They both seemed to like it quite a bit, but I had very mixed feelings...

Good: Anthem takes place in what appears to be a very large open world. Its interesting looking, with lots of space to explore. I love exploring science fiction spaces, and flying around checking out caves and weird alien architecture was fun.

Bad: There's not a ton of stuff in the world. Its hard to tell since this is just a demo, but Anthem's neat world seems to be mostly empty. Theres not a lot of reason to stop and look around. Even the neat features like the ruins of small communities, giant alien structures, huge waterfalls, etc, are mostly just decorative. There doesn't seem to be much to do. There are a scattering of enemies, but not much reason to stop and shoot them.

- Good: Anthem has a setting kind of similar to Destiny, as far as I can tell. You're the last humans in the last human stronghold, trying to protect your way of life and keep your society and technology alive in a very hostile world. Thats not super original, but destiny had a visual style that I liked a lot,and Anthem's visual style, especially for its hub city and its NPC inhabitants seems to be a direct copy. Which is just fine with me!

- Bad: There's no character creation,and you never see your character. The game asks you to select a masculine or feminine voice, and then starts you off in the hub city with no other customization. Anthem is a multiplayer game, but like Monster Hunter World and The Division your hub is an instanced area available just to you, so no other players will ever see you there. While in the hub you're stuck in first person mode, so you never get to see what you look like. This is incredibly frustrating to me.It immediately killed my immersion. Instead of feeling like i was an inhabitant of this interesting world I felt like I was just me playing a video game. In Destiny, monster Hunter World and The Division I felt like I was directly involved in those worlds through my character. Here it felt more like i was going on a theme park ride. Weirdly, as soon as you put on your futuristic Iron Man style armor suit and leave the hub city the rest of the game is played in 3rd person. So you can see your armor, and so can everyone else. And while you can customize your armor a fair amount, this feels less like having a unique character and more like having a fancy cell phone case.

Good: You can fly. Anthem is a big place, and the main way you get around is by flying in your Iron Man style armor. And the terrain of the game really encourages that. You'll fly through underground tunnels, over vast waterfalls, in and out of ravines. Theres a lot of chaotic vertical terrain to explore by flying. Bad: Unfortunately flying sucks. once you're actually in the air the flying controls are okay. They're a little clunky,a nd don't feel super responsive, but they're okay. Unfortunately, getting in the air is awkward. You can't just take off like superman. you need to actually be in the air before you can activate your jets, which means jumping up and taking off, or falling off something and taking off. Its the "taking off" action thats the problem. Hitting the button sends you into a kind of twist animation that sends your thrusting forward toward wherever your camera is pointing. The action can be disorienting, especially since your character isn't always facing the direction your camera is pointing. As a result, you often start your flight going slightly the wrong way, or even crashing into a wall or object (which can send you falling back down to the ground, sometimes hundreds of feet). The move gets easier to do with practice, but after hours it still felt awkward to me.

The bigger problem is that  you can only fly for about 10 seconds at a time. Flying is both the main way you get around the game and one of the game's main mechanics. You're meant to be flying  and hovering in battle often. But flying has a resource gauge (a  heat gauge) and it only takes about 10 seconds to overheat. Which means flights tend to be short and stressful, and using flying to explore the world, or even just enjoying flying for its own sake, is really limited. You can extend your fly time by cooling down your engines by flying through waterfalls or skimming rivers, but that mostly requires hugging the ground, and that kind of defeats the point?

Good: Missions are fun. Missions in Destiny and The Division tended to be short and mostly revolved around going to a place and killing a guy or flipping a switch.The 3 missions in Anthem are all more involved than that, and while none of them are super complicated all involve multiple locations, lots of different enemies and a boss fight. For this type of game they're satisfying. The game also has some public events in its freeplay exploration mode which seem fun. In one I was blowing up supply tents in an enemy camp while waves of enemies tried to take me down. In another i was collection alien tech while a giant monster chased me through a swamp. I wouldn't say these were more compelling than Destiny or The Divvisin's public events (and nowhere near as fun as coming across a random monster in Monster Hunter World), but they were enjoyable and I can see myself stopping to participate in them over and over. The demo's one Strike/Dungeon was also pretty enjoyable.

Bad: Missions do a very bad job of actually telling you the mission mechanics. Each of the three missions and dungeon had a puzzle mechanic, but I missed the explanation for all of them. Partially this was because the game just says "collect the thing", but doesn't tell you what the thing looks like or where it is. It took me forever to figure out the tiny glowing ball (hidden amidst the explosions, power effects, glowing plants, acid baths, strobe lights, exploding insects, grenade blasts, etc) was the item we were supposed to collect.In another puzzle I totally missed that there was a puzzle at all, and thought the game had just glitched and wasn't opening a door. My second time through the dungeon, after having nick explain the puzzle mechanic to me, I watched the poor random 4th player who had joined our party run around the puzzle room in confusion looking for the item, because he didnt realize that the very unobtrusive and hard to notice pouch that had appeared on his character WAS the item. unfortunately all we could do was  watch, since he didn't have  a microphone connected. 

Good: In addition to being able to equip 2 guns, each of the 4 types of armored suits has a selection of built in options hat allow you to attack, defend or support other players. These can be swapped out or upgraded too, which gives you some fun choices.  I started out with two different throwing weapon attacks, but eventually upgraded to a mine launcher and an acid spray. There seems to be lots of options. Lots of guns too.

Bad: However, gun play sucks. Maybe its just because I've played Destiny for so long, but gun play in Anthem is stiff ad unresponsive. The guns are also just not very fun to use. Theres several types of guns, but they all kind of feel the same and none of them seem very effective.  Thankfully you don't have to rely on just your guns, since the suit abilities are much more powerful. But shooting is a BIG part of the game, an the guns and gun play are just lackluster. The guns themselves may get more interesting as the game goes on, but I'm not sure gun play will at all.

So I'm undecided on the game. This is just a demo, and the game itself could end up being a lot better. But I was pretty excited about this game, and now a lot of my enthusiasm has died. In fact, more than anything its just made me want to go back to playing Monster Hunter World. I'll wait for the game to be released and see what people have to say before I decide for sure.