#and i've started using mine to keep track of what game i think i'll want to play in the future

[madegeeky]

Epic Free Game (til 23 May 2024, 10am)

You are the Inquisitor, tasked with saving the world from itself. But the road ahead is paved with difficult decisions. Thedas is a land of strife. Factions constantly war with each other even as a larger demonic invasion has begun. And you? You and your band of champions are the only ones who can hold it together. It’s your job to lead them...or fall.

[cerastes]

I've seen people before saying that, in terms of presentation, NIKKE delivers it better than Arknights in telling what they want to tell. And I still see this occasionally whenever people start comparing stories in gacha games. Looking at your post, seems like that wasn't a lie at all.

Right, this is an interesting topic for me, so let me give my two cents on this.

I would say that statement is generally true. Nikke's main strengths are its presentation and knowing how to leverage its strengths in general, but let's focus on presentation: It's story is nothing to write home to (note that I am up to Chapter 18), neither are its events (on this regard, take me lightly, I've only read three), but what Nikke wants to say, you will very clearly understand. It's good at telling its story. Sometimes the localization will have Localization Moments (Chatterbox is described as female in the first cutscene he is mentioned, male every time afterwards; there's a lot of clearly literally translated little expressions that make no sense in the flow of the conversations), but overall, even though you're looking at a story that in a lot of ways you've seen a lot of times, its particularities stand out because Nikke tells them properly, concisely, and clearly. Characterization is consistent, and there's a good amount of care clearly put into both consistency and overarching important parts of the narrative; a favorite example of mine is how, in the tutorial, if you pay close attention, you can actually see Marian's eyes glow red during her reload animation, foreshadowing something pretty important that happens with her later.

So even if the story beats are not particularly good or intriguing -- and sometimes, outright terrible, like in Chapter 18 oh god I hate Chapter 18 -- you at least can tell with clarity what's going on and why it's going on.

Arknights has the yang to the yin here, somewhat: The stories on Arknights tend to range from okay to great, and AK events have a habit of going pretty damn hard, either as a whole or at least parts of them. Sometimes, however, they have a weakness, and this weakness is that the actual story telling can be dense. Density is often attributed to good writing, but the truth is, sometimes, the text isn't advanced, it's simply clumsy, and the prose in Arknights is decidedly clumsy. But when you actually untangle the spaghetti of clumsy prose, you find some strong story telling, strong characterization, and topics you don't often find discussed in video games, less so in gacha. You kinda have to work for it, basically.

Something Nikke does good is also that it keeps its relevant cast at any given story beat low, giving it more cohesion, or rather, making it easy to stay cohesive, because Arknights can handle larger casts pretty well sometimes, but I'll be frank, the current main story has so many literal whos to keep track of that I'm supposed to be invested in that I don't really bother. I'm sorry, but I can't really feel a damn thing about Outcast when she showed up for a few scenes and then got nuked off by a contrivance while fighting some faceless nobodies we are told we should fear.

But on the other hand, Nikke narrative, again, despite its strong delivery, is still built on a feeble base for the most part. I only think of a few characters I care about in Nikke, because a lot of the cast is just fluff and Obligatory Archetypes (bunny girls, school girls, maids, etc), whereas in Arknights, I care about a whole damn lot of them, even those without events, because their files and modules paint a very integral and intriguing picture of them. Even smaller scenes in Arknights sometimes can have a big emotional impact, due to its extensive and well crafted worldbuilding and its clever use of its elements in every event, something Nikke cannot claim, because worldbuilding in Nikke is almost non existent.

They both have their strengths, basically, and it's fascinating to me, a writer, to take a deeper look at them.

[howdy-folks-its-showtime]

It's Showtime! - July 2024 Devlog

Howdy! Cobalt here, and wow, July really went by quick for me. Luckily, I also got a good amount of things done! In fact, I did a lot of things I've been holding off on for a while. Sorry the dev log is late,despite knowing I should, I didn't make notes on what I did this month nor did I start it earlier… Then I had a really bad time with my body (just cramps, dw!) the last few days of the month which made it hard to write. I swear I'll develop better habits for this as it goes on.

when it comes to programming, I've gotten a few minor things going on. I have a cut scene manager script now that keeps track of various things, including which cut scenes have already played but also which cut scenes you've seen between save files and stuff. This way it can make any cut scene you've already seen in any of your playthroughs skippable. I haven't actually gotten the skipping script to work yet nor stuff like triggering the cut scenes, but I'll need more placeholder sort of things to work on that stuff. The inventory also reorganizes itself after you use an item to make sure empty slots are at the bottom and filled ones are on the top. A lot, I mean a lot, of writing has been done this month. On Focuswriter [the program I use for all my writing] I hit the longest writing streak I ever had, 63 days in a row of meeting my daily goal [which is 500 words]! My in-depth/in-game writing doc has 16,783 words right now and my game design document [which contains the story summary] 20,764 words. [It actually shrank a bit because I made the story summary of chapter 1 like an actual summary, instead of being far too in-depth on a lot of parts. But that's still an improvement even if it seems weird on the word counts.] I've done a lot of writing out the story beats I've had in my head for a while but haven’t inserted it into my documents yet. I wanna focus on doing stuff like writing out the ending and more general story beats since I don't really want to go too far into development without way more of the story taken out of my mind and actually written down somewhere. Despite how excited I am to show more to the public. Since we will not be releasing It's Showtime through the chapters, I'm gonna try to make development less chapter focused, I don’t know how we’ll be releasing it, complete or in some other parts… But we’re not really far enough into development to be thinking of that yet. Luckily, I can say confidently I'm delighted with the speed of development so far. It's not much by most standards but for two queers making their first game of this scale while also balancing learning adult stuff, we've done way more than I thought we would so far! In terms of art, there's been both a lot done and not a lot. We've been doing a bit of concept art, getting references done, and speculating on things. But the place where the most progress has been made technically wasn't actually for the project itself… See, this month I think I finally started to really get the hang of blender. I finished a model for a friend of mine of their version of Evan from the Bendy Novels. It's fully rigged and I'm really happy with it. I'm also almost done with two other big models I'm making of someone's Bendy au designs and I'm sure when you guys see them, it'll make you excited for what the models in Showtime will look like. In general, I think I've finally found a workflow I'm happy with, and that allows me to make models both quickly but also to a quality I'm very happy with. I imagine very soon I'll be doing the first true collections of models for Showtime, whether they'll be the ones seen in the final release I don't know. But the practice alone will surely teach me a lot more about Blender.

As for other things… Ink Demonth is happening again and this time, I would love to create something for each prompt. They probably won't be posted daily, or in order, but still, I'd love for me and my partner to make something for each prompt within the month. Specifically related to Encore! and such. It'd be a good way to keep the blog alive and to stir up more attention on It's Showtime! This isn't a promise we will, but I thought I'd mention our hopes for Ink Demonth. Overall, I'd just advise all of you to be on the lookout for things going on with this game. I've got a lot of little plans for it that are almost ready to be put into motion and I'm super excited to show you guys more as things go on. Once again sorry it was late, but I hope this update was exciting! See you guys next month!

[ros3ybabe]

Daily Check-in: October 11th, 2023 🎀

So I was wat more productive then I had thought i would be given the exhaustion I felt from jet lag. I am proud of what I got done! However, I only slept about 2 hours, and it was broken sleep at that so I am not exactly feeling top of my game at the moment. We'll see what my energy allows me to complete today.

🩷 What I Ate, Oct 11th -

Brunch/Lunch - Spaghetti with meat sauce and ground turkey, topped with grated parmesean

Dinner - Turkey & Roast Beef bagel sandwich with avocado, 1 slice muenster cheese, 1 slice cheddar cheese, and a small side of potato chips.

Snack - a half bowl of spaghetti with ground turkey and meat sauce

Extra - 4 cups of coffee, each with one sweet n low and a splash of French vanilla creamer

I actually cooked which is odd for me as I typically don't have energy. My goal for today is to cook a batch of ground beef for taco bowls!

🩷 Personal Achivements, Oct 11th -

Washed bed sheets + pillowcases

Did the dishes

Maintained Duolingo streak (1 lesson)

Maintained Busuu streak (3 lessons)

Video called with my boyfriend twice

Made a shopping list for langaueh tracker/bullet journal (purchased at 1am because Amazon prime big deals were ending and I wanted to save some money)

Made a schedule/routine for working out next week

Cooked myself a real meal

Swept kitchen and disinfected/wiped down counters in kitchen

showered + morning skincare

🩷 Academic Achievements, Oct 11th -

Completed and submitted lifecycle nutrition chart

submitted and passed lab 7 anatomy pre lab

submitted discussion post + replies for nutr discussion 3

I feel quite proud of yesterday! Let's hope today I can tackle some more stuff on my todo list!

🩷 Personal ToDo, Oct 12th -

cook ground beef for taco bowls (leftovers!!)

wash dirty laundry

put away all clean laundry

therapy appointment

video call boyfriend

morning + night skincare

morning + night journal (?)

do 2 duolingo lessons

do 2 busuu lessons

complete/continue genki I lesson one

type up draft for upcoming blog post(s?)

🩷 Academic ToDo, Oct 12th -

Chapter 9 Notes Psyc

Quiz Chapter 9 Psyc

Culinary chapter 10 Quiz

Consumer Debt Inventiry assignment

Using Credit personal finance assignment

I've put a lot on my to-do list for today, but if I can even get a third of each list done, I will still be very proud of myself. Productivity should not come at the cost of my own well-being. Maybe I'll take a nap today? My boyfriend thinks it's a good idea, but I'm not a big fan of naps regardless of the situation. We shall see.

I took complete advantage of the prime big deals on Amazon and ordered some new workout clothes, some hair accessories, a set of silk pillowcases, and supplies for my bullet journal language tracker/planner. I even bought this cute little journal that's made specifically for fitness and health tracking, as a little side thing of mine to help keep me going! It comes with stickers and already set up pages, so hopefully, it proves to be useful!

I may or may not have made an Ulta order for some makeup using my afterpay account as well, because as it gets colder outside I'm starting to want to wear makeup for fun again. I'm not typically drawn to full beat looks but in the winter I love going all out with my makeup looks, whether I'm doing a more grunge goth emo look or a soft coquette girly look and everything in between. I love makeup as a form of self expression!

May or may not buy some more skincare as well, I'm just trying to decrease the amount of stuff in my skincare cart on the shopping app but it's so hard choosing what to get now and what to wait on!! I'm super indecisive too so that intensified the struggle.

Thats all for today! I'll make sure to update you lovelies tonight/tomorrow!

til next time, lovelies 🩷

[cirilla-fiona-riannon]

Kicho's Main Story Ch. 12 Part 2 Romantic

These translations are not intended as a replacement for the game. Please support Cybird by buying their stories. Spoilers under the cut. Expect grammatical errors.

Sorry, the lines are all over the place.

Mai: "The wind feels nice today."

Kicho: "You're right. The sky is clear too."

He nodded as he rowed the small boat.

After our reunion, we came to the lake to avoid being seen.

Mai: "I never thought a boat rental service was available in this era."

Mai: "Did you know? There are boats shaped like swans you can row with your feet back in the future."

Kicho: "I've never been on one, but I've seen it. I think they are called swan boats."

Kicho: "Putting a large bird afloat on a lake is a playful idea."

Mai: "True."

Chatting casually, we turned our gaze to the scenery.

The beautiful sparkling water was like it had been sprinkled with diamonds, reflecting the magnificent mountain range backed by large clouds.

(I feel like it's been a long time since we've spent time together.)

(I've been constantly trying to keep myself busy ever since we got separated.)

I met his eyes as I turned my gaze back to him.

Mai: "..........."

Kicho: ".........."

Neither of us managed to say a word as we stared at each other.

(I want to ask him a lot of questions right now, but I can't.)

(I'm afraid that if I start talking, our time here will be over.)

Kicho: "Let's go over there."

Mai: "Okay, I'll row this time."

Kicho: "No, it's fine. Let's talk more about the future instead."

Mai: "The future?"

Kicho: "Even if we knew the same world, we've seen and felt different things."

Kicho: "The stores you liked, the songs you liked, etc."

Mai: "I understand. I have lots to tell you then."

He started rowing again, and the boat glided along.

As if to bid our time, we continued to talk about other things, swallowing what we wanted to hear from each other.

Mai: "I had an experience like that, and after that, I got hooked."

Kicho: "I see. Liking more stuff is a good thing."

After getting off the small boat, we continued to walk side by side along the lake.

(What else?)

(Right. I should tell him that the teacup he has looked like the one in the coffee shop near my house.)

I turned to him as the next topic popped into my head.

Mai: "Oh..."

I stopped dead in my tracks when something caught my eye.

Mai: "Look over there."

Kicho: "Hmm? Yeah, it's beautiful."

The setting sun, descending over the mountains, cast a dazzling light.

The lake, the shore, and the spot where we were standing now were all tinted with gold.

Mai: "Time flies so fast."

Mai: “It’s natural to have fun times, but I think it’s the same when you’re in pain.”

Mai: “It may seem like the moment felt long, but when you look back on it, it all flew by so fast.”

Kicho: “You’re right. There’s the present. Next thing you know, the present has turned into the past.”

Mai: “That’s why I want to stay close to the people I love.”

Kicho: “Mai…”

I clenched my fingertips, unable to take the hand close to mine.

(I know because I've spent years living it.)

Moments like this are fleeting.

Soon night will come, and then, if I close my eyes, the morning will come.

No matter how much I treasure these moments and wish to keep them forever, time moves on so easily and cruelly.

Mai: "Kicho, I..."

Mai: "I don't want us to be apart."

Mai: "I want to talk about these things tomorrow and the day after."

Kicho: "..........."

Mai: "I want to be by your side like it's natural.”

Kicho: "Mai."

He hugged me, and though the distance between us disappeared, my heart ached as I heard his low voice.

Mai: "Don't you feel the same way?"

Kicho: "I can't tell you. Anything I say will just hurt you."

He pulled away from me and gently took my hand in his.

Kicho: “Sorry.”

Mai: “Why are you apologizing?”

Kicho: “Because I’ve come to a point of no return.”

It looked like he was carrying all the shadows alone as he stood against the setting sun, smiling gently.

Kicho: “I’m glad to hear your stories. I know there’s still a place for you outside of this place.”

Kicho: “Be sure to return to your original time, Mai.”

Mai: “You know that a wormhole is going to appear?”

Kicho: “Yeah. I was able to observe it a while ago.”

Kicho: “I checked on you today, and you don’t seem to have those symptoms, either.”

Mai: “Yes.”

Mai: “Does this mean the future is coming back?”

Kicho: “That’s right.”

Mai: “Kicho, what on earth did you do?”

Mai: “I heard at the castle that you and Motonari attacked the trading post and took it back.”

Mai: “You’re putting yourself in danger by doing that.”

Kicho: “Does that mean the Oda forces are going to invade Sakai?”

Mai: “...........”

Realizing my slip-up, I quickly covered my mouth, but it was too late.

(He doesn’t seem surprised.)

(He was working intentionally for this.)

Mai: “If that were the case, what would you do?”

Mai: “I know you’re not my enemy, and you’re not a liar. But I don’t know what you’re doing and your purpose.”

Kicho: “There are things you don’t need to know.”

Mai: “I already know. I know you’re going to start a war, even though we’re supposed to have the same goal.”

Mai: “If you do that, more lives will be lost again.”

Kicho: “...........”

Kicho: “It’s a necessary sacrifice.”

Mai: “Kicho...”

(I think we’ve had this exchange before.)

Desperately trying to reel in the memory, he slowly released my hand and whistled, and a white horse came running from somewhere.

Mai: “W-Wait! Let’s talk more properly.”

Kicho: “Neither I nor you have the time.”

He mounted his white horse and gripped the reins.

Kicho: “Thank you for keeping the past me alive until this day.”

Kicho: “Please be yourself, even in the future.”

Mai: “Kicho!”

I tried to stop him, but he turned his back to me and galloped away on his horse.

Eventually, his back became smaller and soon got swallowed up by the sunset.

(Why did you say that one last time?)

(I’m not yet ready to say goodbye to you in this life.)

Sitting there helplessly and with no strength, I carefully clutched my still-warm hands and tried to wipe my teary eyes roughly with my sleeve.

???: "Don't do that."

Someone suddenly grabbed my wrist to stop me.

Mitsuhide: "Doing that will cause extra swelling around your eyes."

Mai: "Mitsuhide..."

Mitsuhide: "Did something happen?"

Mai: "That's..."

I couldn't say anything and only stared into the setting sun with my mouth slightly open.

Even though I knew it was impossible, I couldn't help but look for Kicho in it.

Mai: "No, nothing."

Mitsuhide: "I see. Then I won't ask any more questions."

Mitsuhide let go of my hand and sat down right next to me.

Mitsuhide: "By the way, why are you here? Taking a walk?"

Mai: "Something like that. Why are you here?"

Mai: "I heard you're tracking down Motonari and Kicho."

Mitsuhide: "Then, you also heard about the attack on the trading post."

Mai: "Yes."

Mitsuhide: "I've received some information on the matter, so we need to get back quickly."

(I wonder what information Mitsuhide prefers to say in person instead of writing it down in a letter.)

Mai: "Um, can I ask you one thing?"

Mitsuhide: "Of course. I've actually been looking for you."

Mitsuhide: "You are, after all, an important person in this scheme."

After saying that, Mitsuhide stood up and looked down at me.

Mitsuhide: "It'll get dark soon. I'll tell you about it as we return to the castle."

Just as he said, the sun quickly set, and the area grew dimmer as we walked the less crowded street toward the castle.

Mitsuhide: "First, the rebels' movement is slowly changing, probably due to the rumor."

Mai: "Rumor?"

Mitsuhide: "Yeah. They call it a rumor, but it's actually true."

Mitsuhide: "They say the rebellion was caused entirely by Kicho."

Mitsuhide: "Those people who got robbed by the rebellion and the rebels are now directing their anger toward him."

Mai: "I see."

(Ranmaru was talking about this.)

(As I thought, it had something to do with Kicho.)

Mai: "So, where did this rumor come from?"

Mitsuhide: "I have no idea, but merchants, traveling entertainers, and civilians know this rumor."

Mitsuhide: "It's spreading at a frightening pace."

Mitsuhide: "As expected. He was doing the job perfectly.”

Mai: "I thought you had no idea."

Mitsuhide: "It's just speculation."

Mitsuhide: "But you probably know who could do something like this without me telling you."

Mai: "I do."

I didn't want to nod, but one face popped into my head.

Mai: "Why does he always put himself in danger like that?"

Mai: "Why is he directing their negative emotions at himself and then trying to sway the Oda forces?"

Mitsuhide: "You heard it too. You heard the cry of one of the people before he left."

(Is that...)

------------Flashback------------

Old woman: "Ha! That's ridiculous. You're going to control this place?"

Old woman: "It's useless. Just look around you. It's never going to end, no matter what anyone does."

Old woman: "All these people are killing each other without knowing who their enemies are and their purpose."

---------Flashback Ends---------

Mitsuhide: “This conflict he has sown in Japan is already out of control.”

Mitsuhide: “Sometimes, justice is necessary for peace, and to achieve justice, the existence of a common enemy is essential.”

Mai: “Is Kicho trying to do that?”

Mitsuhide: “I’m just speculating here.”

Mai: “You’re right. This speculation is as close to the truth as you can get.”

Kicho knows about the future, and he also knows what this turbulent world looks like.

(On that day, the turbulent world was shaken by a single bombardment of Azuchi because the opponent was Nobunaga, a man of great influence.)

(Then, if Nobunaga defeated everyone's enemies who are shaking Japan…)

Mitsuhide: "In every generation, sacrifices need to be made to change something."

Mitsuhide: "That man is probably planning to die."

Mai: “………..”

I felt dizzy upon hearing it.

Mai: "Kicho's going to die? Why would he throw his life away for nothing?"

Mitsuhide: "It wouldn't be in vain if it's the only way to achieve his goal."

Mitsuhide: "I said that, but I don't know what will actually happen. He might just end up imprisoned."

Mitsuhide: "But I'm sure he's already made up his mind."

Mai: "Oh no..."

I was so shocked that I couldn't speak, and the tears, threatening to spill earlier, were gone before I knew it.

Mitsuhide: "Mai. Kicho told me that you're from the future."

Mitsuhide: "Is there any way for you to return there?"

Mai: "Yes, there is."

Mai: "I need to decide tonight what I'm gonna do, but I don't plan on leaving."

Mitsuhide: "That won't sit well with that guy."

Mitsuhide: "To save your life, that man chose to continue being a demon and sacrifice himself."

Mitsuhide: "Don't let his feelings go to waste."

(For my sake?)

(Is Kicho going to give up his life for me?)

I shook my head again and again like a kid upon realizing that the choice he had kept from me for so long was a cruel one.

Mai: "But because of me, the life of the person I care about most is in danger."

Mai: "I won't accept that, ever."

Mitsuhide: "..........."

Mitsuhide didn't say anything and just quietly lowered his eyes.

Mitsuhide: "The rest is for you to decide."

Mitsuhide: "I'll leave for Sakai as a member of the Oda army, no matter what happens."

Mai: "Okay. I understand."

(Right. Even Mitsuhide has something he has to go through.)

Mai: "Sorry for getting emotional. Anyway, let's go back to the castle quickly."

Mitsuhide: "Yeah."

Feeling awkward, we returned to the castle, and I stayed in my room.

(I guess I never really understood Kicho.)

(Even after spending so much time with him today.)

------------Flashback------------

Kicho: “There are things you don’t need to know.”

Mai: “I already know. I know you’re going to start a war, even though we’re supposed to have the same goal.”

Mai: “If you do that, more lives will be lost again.”

Kicho: “...........”

Kicho: “It’s a necessary sacrifice.”

---------Flashback Ends---------

(I finally remember.)

(The first day we met, when I tried to stop him from getting the weapons, he had the same look and said the same thing to me.)

(I said something awful to him.)

Alone in the quiet room, impatience slowly grew in my heart as the clock continued ticking.

(What's the right thing for me to do?)

Mai: "Oh..."

Previous Part╏Masterlist╏Gacha

[chevvy-yates]

Why I'm so … away lately:

Spending my freet time with my Info PDFs on Vijay and Ryder.

This project is somewhat insane and ate already a lot of free time (doing all the casual outfit shots alone). I know I do not need to present it in this way, but as the graphic designer who I am, I enjoy doing this way too much! I just love to create layouts and in this way I also make use of my own VP pics as well in a secondary usage. It is something I cannot life out in my daily job. I've always wanted to create some sort of a guideline. And my ocs are just perfect for that. I wanna do Thyjs and Jaysen as well ofc but I won't start with them for a while. Ry and V need to be done first, then I 'll look into other priorities (e.g. roleplay story -> + turn it into fanfic, get more creative in VP, help some modders maybe) for a while and then I go back to getting this done for Thyjs and Jaysen as well. <3

So what about these documents?

of all they provide some huge help for me to have the best overview possible on their main mods and clothes I use for them. Once this is done, I can just open the PDFs and click onto the links that bring me to the mod page of a specific mod. I've been asked a few times what I used so this will help me find it within no time. Searching on nexus is sometimes a whole pain for me when you do not know the title of the mods. And I don't want to keep everything in "tracked mods" either except for the core mods such as CET, archive XL etc. needed for the game.

it hopefully does a good service to the lovely @gloryride who's going to turn both, Vijay and Ryder, into NPVs soon <3 I want her to have it as easy as I can make it (hopefully it works how I imagined it). So she's got everything neately sorted to look up in lists — especially for the outfits I want to include — even though I'm going to send over all the needed stuff. But if there's need to look it up you can just simply klick on the link that brings you to the nexus page that has the usual additional info, original mods (since my are renamed with prefixes) and who it belongs to.

it also will serve for everyone who wants to take pics of my boys in the future. Because I do love to share them and I wanna see how they look through other VPer's eyes! Therefore I added a short backstory, character dates and inspiration, likes and dislikes so you can imagine them better plus every up to this date outfit I've got for them so far. A bunch of outfits will be included to their NPVs but not all since both have already something between 15-20 outfits and some mods require permission for NPV (it takes ags for me to ask permission). I assume people love more to take pics with NPV rather than having to install all their mods (tho Ry's and V's are okayish; Thyjs on the contrary has like approx. 50 main mods alone lol) but I'll still provide both once I'm done. Dunno how often I'll update these docs since there will always be new outfits for them.

If you read all through to the bottom: please feel free to send me a dm or write me on discord if you think about wanting to VP my boys some day! <3 Once I'm done and NPVs are there I'm more than happy to share.

Once this massive main project of mine is done for the time being, I may reach out to some of you in the future asking if I can VP your ocs as well and I'm always happy to see my ocs making new friends too! I'm just very bad at doing all at once, so I never came around asking – I need to finish one thing first, before I can take on antoher or I'll get completely lost, :,D I've already got a list of stuff I have to/wanna do. So everything I've promised some time back will be still done at some point!

Thanks for reading <3

[crystalelemental]

Now for the polar opposite in the second game I played, Triangle Strategy. My last posts on the subject speak for themselves, but as a cohesive whole, I have a lot to say. I'm not in the habit of tagging things without being clear where it's going, so to avoid problems: I do not respect this game.

Starting with an aside: I do not tend to keep track of who made what. I generally don't know, because I don't care to know. The game is either good or bad, I'll take note of consistencies if they keep producing similar stuff that lands. In the case of Team Asano, this game finally got my attention enough to connect dots, and find out that Team Asano are responsible for the Bravely Default games, Octopath Traveler, and Triangle Strategy here. I haven't played all of them, but I have played BD1, BD2, OT1, and TS. Which, to sum up that experience: one of the worst games I've ever played, middling, middling, and one of the worst games I've ever played. I do not respect any of their output. I have officially come to know their names to avoid anything they produce in the future, because nothing they've made has stuck with me. Which is. Maybe a first. I've look at some things as far as like...I can't play Shin Megami Tensei games, I just do not like them. But Atlus games can be great, depending on what I get. This is the first time I've truly felt like an entire team has just made nothing of value to me.

There are two reasons to this, and they both apply to Triangle Strategy. First is that I think their writing quality sucks. Bravely Default 1 is an absolutely garbage story, I liked effectively nothing about it, despite the presence of Edea who should've salvaged something. Bravely Default 2 and Octopath Traveler 1 are mildly engaging while playing, but ultimately left no impact on me and despite the years that have passed, I've never once looked at them as games I would want to replay. A big component of that is story. BD2 is just cookie cutter generic, while OT is too disconnected with its cast to actually come together into anything sane. TS falls more in the BD1 category. Despite some strong scenes and lines, it has a tendency to operate on the mindset of "Why say in ten words when you can say in ten thousand?" It just. Keeps. Talking. Without offering like any new information. It tries to hold a major mystery over you regarding the mines, but if you pay even slight attention to just the main story, you've figured out what's in there before any of the characters open it, then get to spend like 12 chapters of "But how can Aesfrost stand against Hyzante without salt, all they have is the iron in the mines?" There's also a constant issue of over-sharing information in the side stories, presenting the player with information the characters wouldn't have, and ruining suspense and tension regarding decision-making.

Even by the finale, and the way it presents its endings, none of them are satisfying. I've only seen three: Freedom Ending, Utility Ending, True Ending. I couldn't do Morality, I was burnt out by that point. The Freedom Ending presents unifying everything by defeating Hyzante, and granting salt access to everyone with myriad uses, encouraging free trade and development. This ending spends most of its time telling you how awful everything because due to wealth inequality, especially pointing out that the Roselle are freed from slavery, but have no inherent wealth so most are too poverty-stricken to survive anyway. The True Ending, by contrast...does functionally the same thing. Salt is made freely available, but this time Idore and Gustadolph die and Roland remains king, and despite that being just a matter of whose butt is in what chair rather than any change in policy, the game cuts out earlier in the timeline and we're left to assume the wealth inequality issue somehow didn't crop up this time. You didn't functionally change the idea, but somehow the result is completely different for no discernible reason. Oh but don't worry. The Utility Ending where you just surrender everything to Hyzante and accept that there's a slave class being exploited for profit? That one gets a pretty happy ending of Roland reflecting that some orphans can afford to eat even though their parents and dead and internally commenting that he did the right thing. If you're wondering what kind of tone or statement they're going for, me the fuck too.

The second major issue of Team Asano broadly is that their style seems to be "Take this other concept and staple this one (1) gameplay mechanic onto it." Bravely Default is, essentially, Final Fantasy 3 or 5 with a more "serious" story. Octopath Traveler is, more or less, Final Fantasy 6's World of Ruin as far as collecting your guys and moving forward. Triangle Strategy is, from what I can tell of it, just Final Fantasy Tactics. But. Their games have Turn Conservation as a mechanic. Brave, TP, and AP, all functionally identical. Every turn you get one (1) point of turn saved up, and this can be used to unleash bigger attacks, or take more turns, or something equating to "damage number go up." Anything that manipulates this counter is immediately overpowering. This is consistent across every game, and to be blunt, I don't think it's ever worked for them. Bravely Default 2, the one I have a better memory of, can use the mechanic just fine until endgame where every single enemy counters with +1 Brave Point, and then just keeps acting infinity times unless you have perfectly crafted damage teams that render 90% of your classes irrelevant. Octopath Traveler relies hysterically on the super classes for any level of optimized effect. Triangle Strategy isn't quite as bad, but in part because there's less control. You have Julio, but his AP conferral is a much weaker effect, so instead you burn turns just waiting for it to come back.

It's just never a balanced mechanic. It wastes time, and restricts effectiveness of classes. Having replaying Final Fantasy 5 recently, it's kind of staggering to go back to it and feel like damn, a lot of those classes may not be great, but they are functional and do some fun things, even in endgame, compared to Bravely Default 2. But now I'm harping on the less critical aspect of the current game.

Triangle Strategy's pace is absolutely abhorrent. This game wants so badly to be a visual novel. There was a stretch of game, where I shit you not, I went about two hours without ever playing a map. TWO. HOURS! Of nothing but cutscenes, and useless exploration! And I do mean useless.

This is the most wasteful I have ever seen a game be with mechanics. Exploration exists solely to gather information, which can be used to sway your allies to a particular decision as you wish. Except in 50% of cases, those pieces of information don't even work. Hell, probably more than 50% of the time, the solution is picking different dialogue than the special one. So that exploration did nothing. What influences you more is how often you've deployed your ally characters, because they're more likely to listen to you. Alignment matters too, but that one's completely useless.

Alignment comes on three factors: Morality, Utility, and Freedom. Depending on dialogue choices during exploration mostly, you get bonuses to one of these alignments. The first time through, you don't get to know where values are. Things just happen, and it gives the illusion that this matters. But once you're on run two, the illusion shatters, because you know where values are and what their consequences are. For example, my values at the end of run 1 were something like 2000 Utility, 1400 Morality, and 1100 Freedom. I got the Freedom ending by just choosing that path as the sensible one. The only consequence of that being my lowest-rated attribute? It was stated that it would be slightly harder to convince people on that path. I convinced everyone first try. When I went for Utility ending, half the characters wouldn't listen to me. These factors exist for only one purpose, and that is to recruit side characters who have nothing to do with those alignments. Once you have 1500 points, and recruited all those characters, the stat is functionally worthless. It has no influence over anything. It may as well not even exist.

Even the scales are useless. Your decisions have seemingly big shifts in what's happening, but each path loops to the same destination two chapters later. There is a true route that relies on knowing one (1) piece of information from certain decisions, but it really is not significant half the time. I still can't really piece together why visiting your dad is requires for true route. Is it supposed to be Milo? That's my best guess, but fuck if I know.

By actual gameplay during maps, it is painfully slow. No map ever took me more than 15 minutes, but the whole time felt like pulling teeth. I have newfound respect for Fire Emblem. Having a player move all their characters, and spend a good stretch of time engaging in the gameplay before showing how enemies more and letting you react to it en masse, is a good flow. It gives you a sense of control, it lets you feel like you are experiencing gameplay. This turn order shit, where there are like three times as many enemies as allies and your turns are mixed in, results in you getting like three seconds of gameplay before watching enemies move around uselessly for like two minutes, because the maps are too big and nothing happens half the time because you're just in transit to each other. Add in factors like needing to set which way you're facing to avoid back attacks, and going to move only to find out that oops that elevation is slightly too high for them to climb, drags the pace into the mud. It's the least fun I've had with a strategy game.

It doesn't help that the gameplay is too granular to begin with. Elevation is a bad mechanic that takes otherwise simple maps and turns them into a complete stall-fest of getting people to just climb a bit. Anything at Twinsgate is fucking intolerable. Ranged attacks are also a fucking mess, because they bump off level geometry, and will hit your allies instead if someone is standing between you and a target. Not Roland's spear, though. They'll move for his spear, but not Anna's daggers. Which is just...so fucking stupid, and makes the simple act of moving and attacking take longer than it needs for the most frustrating reasons.

As the final gameplay complaint, it's a similar Team Asano issue to Octopath. At the very end of the true route, apropos of nothing and with no warning...you must now use every single character in the game, split across three armies. Now, keep in mind: I mentioned earlier that using your primary cast was highly reinforced. Using them means easily swaying them to your side during voting. There is no reason to ever use the side characters; they have no voice or relevance. You get one or two extra slots beyond the main 8, so you'll likely only train one or two others. The rest of the cast falls hilariously behind the level curve, and suddenly you are told that all of them mattered and you need to level up. There are grinding missions for training! They're exactly as slow as every other map! And now you need to bring all your piddly level 12 units up to 45+ so they can keep up!

I quit. This never happens. I never quit a game when I'm close to beating it. Completionism is my Gamer Sin, and I gave the fuck up. Because I can't deal with that, man. I cannot. Never again. Octopath Traveler had this exact same problem, where suddenly the backups mattered for the first time right at the end without any warning, and I spent so many hours just grinding levels to experience a shitty final boss and no significant story progression past that point. I'm not doing that again. I quit, and watched that story on youtube. And by watched, I mean half-watched, because my wife was playing a more interesting game. I could still follow everything going on. In part because the major reveal of Idore's motivations? You can figure that out no problem with one of the side books. They'll tell you early on that the previous Heirophant took ill during the war and Hyzante fell into chaos. You know exactly what happened and why Idore is acting like this, WAY before his motivation is actually revealed. It's completely unsatisfying, just like the mines.

I could complain about story minutia forever, so we're moving on to cast. The side characters are useless. The main cast is flat. They hint at personality, and can get some development on their respective routes when things have to solidify for the actual story, but prior they're all "strong convictions loosely held." Everyone is so easily swayed off their course they think is sane, that they wind up not holding to any actual values. Frederica can be swayed into handing over her people into slavery. That's how non-committed these people are to literally anything, until the point in the story where they decided divergence was happening, and we could commit.

There were two characters I kinda liked, mostly for dynamic reasons. Cordelia and Avlora. Because Cordelia is her own person, with an actual character growth arc, she's super interesting! Avlora being the super tough general who starts to question her own kingdom and vows to protect Cordelia as someone she respects because of her honorable nature, is super interesting! You get this dynamic for one (1) chapter. Cordelia either then disappears entirely or joins your team depending on your path decision, and either way is written out of the narrative. Avlora "dies" in every decision route, but comes back for the true route only for some reason but is unimportant to the story entirely. Which is. So unsurprising, but so very annoying.

I guess Benedict is the favorite who's actually present? His motivation in the Freedom route is pretty interesting, and his vaguely nefarious plot to get you into a position of power is respectable, at least to me. Moreso than Roland's bitchfit, anyway. Hughette, Geela, Anna, and Erador are functionally without character, operating as side-pieces to the major three driving the ending split. Frederica is fine, but I feel like she doesn't have as much going for her as a person. Her overcoming how she was before is pretty...immediate, in some ways. Things with Erika and Thales just kinda resolve right away on the map, with little more than a brief thought to them at the end of that chapter then moving on. There's one scene in Freedom route where Gustadolph comments on her growth, but I dunno man, there's just not enough fixation on her or her aims. Maybe the Morality Ending does more since that's her path, but I can't be asked.

The side cast is somehow worse. There are side stories! I guess the equivalent of supports in Fire Emblem. They give a little more depth to characters, or at least are supposed to. Probably says enough about quality that every time I saw them come up I groaned about having to read more. The main cast doesn't get much, but side characters, this is all they get for character. I didn't use side characters, so I can only speak to two: Cordelia and Groma, the old punch lady. I hate both of them.

In the case of Groma, it's a matter of the story having nothing to say. Story 1 is her sharing a drink with Geela, recounting the Saltiron War and her time as a general. Specifically, she attacked Hyzante and won a major strategic victory, but in so doing accidentally killed a bunch of Rosellans by burning down what turned out to be a slave encampment. Haunted by the death of so many innocents, she abandoned her station and lives with this guilt, now fully aware that there are no winners in war, and the innocent will always suffer most. ...conversations two is "Haha just kidding, none of the Roselle actually died because they all were freed during Orlaea's uprising so only bad people died then, isn't that a relief?" Like way to undo all of the significant thematic storytelling you might've done there, dude.

Cordelia's is infinitely worse, because it operates on the notion that the citizens are constantly hounding her for being a puppet queen of Aesfrost. While this could be interesting, note that Cordelia is only recruited on the Roland Path where you clean up the Royalists in Glenbrook. You know. Where they reveal that most of the citizenry was on board for Aesfrosts' social mobility plan, and seemed to like their reign, criticizing Roland for being someone who would revert the positive social change. So the citizens of Glenbrook are pro-Aesfrost when we need Roland to be torn, and anti-Aesfrost when we need Cordelia to be. The socio-political climate of Glenbrook may as well not even exist with how wishy-washy public opinion is. It's extra stupid because the bitching at Roland is over him killing Patriatte, a dude who was using his wealth and influence to extract state aid for his personal coffers, and killed two people in the streets. And it's like man, I dunno, if President Biden came out and killed a state senator in public for embezzling funds and then proclaimed everyone would be taxed fairly, I'm pretty sure that would only do positive things for his approval rating. It would get my vote, is all I'm saying.

There is one last thing I feel like needs to be said. I only knew about this game due to all the old comments and complaints about this trying to copy Three Houses. It was a huge talking point when it came out; that this was trying to ride the success of Three Houses, and copying that game's style. I don't think that's fair. This game is very distinct and similarities are mostly incidental. It is different, but if we're willing to compare them, it is worse. Three Houses has a stronger opening hook, a more colorful and engaging cast, smoother gameplay, a side cast that actually matters, a main cast with more serious convictions, and broadly just more to offer. The only real similarity they share is that they completely fall apart on a second playthrough as you realize it is not fun to progress through this visual novel's poor map design for a couple scraps of new information. Which was not the element I imagine they wanted to replicate here.

All that to say: Bad game. Would not recommend.

[sherl-grey]

For the get to know your fic writer meme: 2, 11 (I don't know if it means of your works but that's what I wanna know), 16, 28, 40 & 65? Sorry I got a lil carried away

hello friend, thanks for the ask!! realized i reblogged this without access to a laptop and had to wait til i had mine again to answer 😂 but here we go! (Also don't apologize, these are fun! Mostly I'm sorry because I can't answer briefly like a normal person, and this response is probably going to take up a lot of space, lol.)

2. Do you plan each chapter ahead or write as you go?

I don't have too many multichapter fics, and I think they've all been done differently, haha. "love don't roam, but occasionally it wanders off" was mostly outlined in advance. "the rose-pond swap" was me messing around at the beginning, but then people read it (lol, how dare people read this) and I frantically tried to plan the rest of it (and we can all see how that went 😂). "the weight of words" has the barest skeleton of an outline just to keep track of the canon timeline, but otherwise is just being made up. "my mind turns your life into folklore" was written on a complete whim, no thoughts head empty just eightrose. (I think we can infer here that planning worked best, but alas, it also appears that I'm bad at that.)

11. Link your three favorite fics right now (I don't know if it means of your works but that's what I wanna know)

😅Desperately going to try to remember what the heck I've written...

gravity like a lunar landing - Twelve is a major challenge to me, and I'm really proud of this because I think I managed to properly explain the way I see him in this one

Barcelona: Where No Doctor Has Gone Before! - Is the plot good? no. However, there are five Doctors, and it was fun, and even if I wish I'd planned it better, I'm fairly pleased with the result.

a more literal method of compartmentalization - I suspect this will always be one of the ones I'm most proud of, in that I knew what story I wanted to tell and somehow I got there? Wrote this in a sleep-deprived haze so no clue how that happened, but I'm glad it did!

16. How many fic ideas are you nurturing right now? Share one of them?

Technically speaking, a lot. Things I'm actually thinking about writing? Maybe like... 5? 2 are Spotify asks from the frickin 2021 Wrapped game and YES I've started I swear 😂😅 I just got stuck. Various other people/conversations have had me revisiting like 4-5 things I'd jotted down in the past (Eight chameleon arch, a tenrose Bridgerton thing, a sequel to something, an out-of-order thing). Uhh, in non-DW news, I've got a Hellcheer thing I really want to write that's mostly about "right person, wrong timing" angst (with a happy ending because it's me, lol).

28. On average, how much writing do you get done in a day?

Most days, I don't write. When inspiration strikes, anywhere from 500 - 2000 words, probably. On a few rare occasions, I've just cranked out the whole story in one sitting, but I don't generally have time for that nowadays.

40. If someone were to make fanart of your work, what fic or scene would you hope to see?

This is such an interesting question... I've never really even considered this. I think one of the scenes I most consciously decided to try to make pretty is the Woman Wept scene in LDRBOIWO (that is a bad acronym lol), so that could be nice? I'll have to think about this more!

65. Tell us about what you’re most looking forward to writing – in your current project, or a future project

Honestly, at the moment the thing I'm most hopeful about writing is the Hellcheer thing mentioned in 16. DW-wise, though, I really want to go update all of my WIPs sometime soon, and I want to get at least one of the songfics done--I feel like I'll feel way less guilty about starting new projects if I wrap up some of the outstanding ones.

[boileddogchicken]

i feel like most blorbos of mine that qualify as oc's are ones made within the context of either a ttrpg or a video game, that's cool and all but i should try to make one not confined by any particular setting tbh, although knowing me i'll inevitably turn said character into someone within something anyways i still have thoughts about the thirsty sword lesbians campaign i gm'ed even though it's over, one of the npc's has become the template for so many characters i've made, so there's the original one, there's the star wars 5e one, the dungeons and destiny one, there's like half of a pathfinder one (i need to play pathfinder fr), also i keep thinking abt the species she was and coming up with more lore abt how they work and in the silly college au i think abt from time to time where all my oc's just get to be normal (except marina of course, she will never know peace) the TSL bird woman and the star wars 5e bird-adjacent woman are dating oh and also my WoL just fights everyone oh yeah i still need backstory for my D2 guardian, also i should throw her into the blender that is the My OC's University™️ AU im new to using tumblr how long is the character count for a single post??? wowww i can just keep typing and just keep going honestly tho, if my brain just wants to keep writing stuff i might as well take the time to write that ffxiv thing i've been thinking abt lately but haven't been able to put together if it ends up being stream of consciousness like this post that's fine, tbh it'd make sense for b'rsh to write in that way but wait i was gonna write in third person. hmmmmm i'll have to think about what i want to do in that case also i need to think more about how exactly b'rsh is connected with all my friend's WoL's bc like *one* has been properly flushed out but the others are almost entirely vibes yknow? maybe i'm just tired and forgetting things since i'm so bad at memory but idk iverelle and b'rsh's dynamic???? or like backstory stuff???? like b'rsh and etrii hang out on weekends and shoot the shit but no one else has been properly developed i mean b'rsh likes to bother narail and also she has an auntly vibe with just abt every other WoL belonging to my friends but how did that come to be yknow??? wtf was this post abt when i started wait it was me wanting to make oc's outside the confines of specific settings/ttrpgs/games eh whatever if i make my own character and i think they're neat who cares right? i think the closest thing i have to a fully independent oc is Dusk, she's a wild west but fantasy outlaw who was cursed with absolute silence, meaning she can't cast spells or speak but also it makes her so hard to track so yeah but also i had been thinking of using her in a ttrpg. but honestly i don't think i will tbh if i'm being honest- but yeah that's the gist of it i'm still not at the character maximum for tumblr- is there one? or can i just keep going until i decide that it's time to stop. hmmmm do i really want to try to push tumblr to its limit or should i just stop now and press post

[miqolena]

Spoilers for my GaiusWoL fic, The Seduction of Gaius Baelsar, ahead (for both past and future additions).

Discussing my past and current methods and my future plans!

The Seduction grew a lot last year. By over 220%, in fact! And I intend to continue to let it grow into an even greater behemoth than it already is. With that said, I've never really talked about my writing methods publicly, and I've had people ask me about writing longfics. I thought I'd share a little about how I do what I do and talk future updates.

My Methods

To start, I want to introduce you to a software I've been using for I think about six months: Obsidian. The Seduction has grown into a monster and has many pieces to keep track of. I keep track of these pieces and add new ones with Obsidian. You can jot down notes long or small and connect them to other notes with backlinks. These connections show up as lines on a graph view.

If you're looking for something to organize your ideas, I highly recommend it! It's a fun little tool to write in. I storyboard chapters in my #Ideas hashtag as I think of more to add to them, and update info on characters as they develop. I still haven't gotten around to adding Carmilla yet. Whoops!

As for how to write longfics, or at least how I write mine - The Seduction is a serial fic, meaning most of its chapters are complete ideas with complete arcs in themselves. This is what a lot of fanfiction ends up being. In the past I normally just thought of an idea spontaneously and put it in as a chapter. Over time I've managed to insert recurring themes, overarching plot threads, or problems that the characters have to confront every once in a while - like Gaius' distrust of Lena's avatar, or Lena's habit of running away to be alone when she is traumatized. But mostly, chapters are open and shut books. I try never to end on a cliffhanger unless I have an immediate followup planned. Maybe someday I'll plan something on a larger scale, but for now, I'm happy doing this.

I draw inspiration from the game's lore and events and write down whatever I think would be applicable to Lena and her journey with Gaius. I toss around ideas with others and take in their feedback. I read books on occasion - not to copy, but to remember how to write well. Something about reading good, professional writing inspires me. And sometimes the best place to find inspiration is outside yourself.

My Plans

As for my future plans, you can see in the #Ideas cluster on the graph what I have floating around in the realm of possibility. There are a few things that aren't there... possible spoilers ahead!

I fully plan for Carmilla to be Lena's Thirteenth shard. I've hinted at it once or twice in the fic. If it turns out that Zero is the WoL's Thirteenth shard, I may pivot to Carmilla being Gaius' shard. Otherwise she will simply remain a very powerful voidsent, my OC donut steal.

I intend for Carmilla to be able to stay inside Gaius as a reaper avatar and separate from Lena as needed. No more holding hands every time they need to teleport. We have the technology. Yes, this means I want to write Gaius struggling with learning magic. I think it would be cute.

I want to bring Liran in on some sort of side adventure. Maybe 6.3 Tataru's Grand Endeavor? That would, of course, mean starting up the 6.1 and 6.2 plotlines in the fic.

I need to work toward establishing my timeline because I have, unfortunately, anchored myself in a particular point in time with my Starlight in Garlemald chapter. Now I need to know how much time has passed if I want to incorporate further seasonal events. Twelve preserve me.

And that's all for my State of the Fic address for now. Thank you for reading as always, and I'll see you on twitter and Ao3.

[callgespenst]

Well, I started playing Yu-Gi-Oh! again.

It's not the main thing I think of being into when I was a youth, but I sure was into Yu-Gi-Oh when I was a kid. The card game and the anime both. I'm sure I would have played some of the video games if that was something I was allowed to do. I played a decent amount in middle school at the local library with older kids who were way better than me, and then again in high school where I had a fairly decent deck. It won a tournament once! Just not when I was playing it, a buddy borrowed it for a weekend. I lost my deck shortly after graduating high school and it became a fond memory.

Anyway a friend of mine who was still in the loop told me a few months ago "oh hey, there's a new mahjong-themed archetype coming" and like a fool, I started looking into it. Found some decklists, checked TCGPlayer, and discovered that putting together a Tenpai Dragon deck was surprisingly cheap! Two of the three main deck dragons go for pennies, the Synchro monsters are maybe a dollar, and the white dragon goes for $10. I found plenty of other cards that worked well with them on the cheap as well. I still lack the key Synchro that makes the deck really work, but that's because it's still minimum $60 and I refuse to spend that much on any one piece of cardboard. $20 is my absolute upper limit. There's a reprint of Trident Dragion coming soon so I'll try one box and hope the aftermarket prices go down.

Tenpai Dragon has proven to be a lot of fun to play so far! The few duels I've gotten in, I've had a great time. It's a competitive, fast deck, but not so much so I lose track of what I'm doing. My biggest issue in pulling off wins is definitely that while I know what my cards do and how they combo, I don't know anyone else's Deck that I'm playing against well enough to use my cards that negate opponent's effects. But that'll come with time.

I've played in two tournaments since my comeback. The first one, I had one Duel win, and otherwise lost every Match. The second one, I managed an overall draw on my first game! And a resounding win on the first Duel of my third Match. Lost the second Match outright, and the third Match, my opponent side decked in a lot of hard counters. That's another problem, Tenpai Dragon is actually pretty big right now, so plenty of players are actively keeping its best counters close at hand.

I had a lot of fun at that second tournament. At the end of three matches I had to like, zone back in. I thought way more time had passed than actually did. And everyone I've played against so far has been really nice and helpful and friendly. Haven't run into a single stereotypical smelly stuck-up rules-lawyer neckbeard. Yet. I hope that keeps up. But at locals, the spirit of good sportsmanship is alive and well, so that definitely also keeps me wanting to come back.

Anyway, I haven't spent a whole lot of money on my comeback. Definitely more than I would have been able to spent in middle/high school, but compared to my other hobbies, not a whole lot at all. It's actually kinda nice because when the overwhelming desire to make an impulse purchase kicks in, instead of dropping minimum $50 on a collectible I want, I can spend $5 on a pack or on ordering some cards online and it scratches the itch just as well.

There's more support incoming in future boosters for Tenpai Dragon so I'm hoping it remains viable for a while yet. It's hard to imagine it getting completely outclassed, but then again, the current state of the game was beyond imagining fifteen years ago.

On one last note, I've already been hit with one of those "haha new ygo is so weird! forever combo! card text too small!" jokesters. I won't deny it's a wildly different game than it was when I was growing up. But that doesn't mean it's not still fun! It's definitely got a learning curve and a barrier to enter high level play due to cost. But like, what card game isn't like that, at this point? I'm sure Magic and Pokemon are just as bad, maybe worse. Anyway, even if you don't like the modern setup, there is nothing preventing you from buying old cards for cheap and playing the way you want to. All the old staples and one turn kills and tremendously busted cards of yesteryear are now pennies on the dollar. It's still in the mail but I put together a classic Warrior deck for myself and a Kaiba deck for my wife for $20 total, for casual play. With the exception of only a handful of cards and original printings, old YGO cards just don't go for that much. Have fun the way you want! Don't let the meta stop you.

[atom7453]

Week 13/14: Assignment 3 Postmortem

It truly fills me with regret to say that I am very disappointed with our final product. The game functions, I'll give it that much, but its very barebones, I didn't expect so little to be changed since we first started working on it. Most of the code seems to work which is good and they at least used my sprite art, but it deeply saddens me to see essentially the majority of my animations discarded. I made unique animations for every movement and attack of both the player character and NPCs and to see that they have used none of them, I honestly can't believe it. I put in all that work and they just ignored it, even if they didn't that's what it feels like they've done to me. Weeks of work and they have practically cut out all of mine, this is atrocious. I will be posting some of the full animations below but having finished this project I think I can say for certain I would and could have done better working on my own and my last hope is that I pass this unit because I never want to work on something like this again.

The last reading we will be doing of Fullerton's 'Game Design Workshop' will be chapters 13-16. These chapters cover the stages and methods of development, communicating your designs, understanding the new game industry and selling yourself and your ideas to the game industry. The first two chapters I felt resonated with me as if we had just had better communication, made a better plan, held people more accountable then maybe something like this wouldn't have happened. Having finished this project the last two chapters feel more like recommendations for what to do after finishing development. Basically how to learn from your experience, improve and understand how this industry works and then being able to sell yourself in it. Knowing what I do now, I'll definitely be keeping what I have learned from this book in mind for the future.

I'm sorry to leave this one such a sour note, this blog was started at the beginning of the term and it tracks and follows my experience, my work and my journey throughout this course. It details a part of my life that is now shared with you and for it to end like this, it's certainly not at all what I wanted. So let me say this. Thank you for following my journey, thank you for reading this and hopefully you can take what I've written here as a learning experience because I sure know I have. Hope you enjoy the sprite art.

Fullerton, T. (2018). Game design workshop : A playcentric approach to creating innovative games, fourth edition. ProQuest Ebook Central 

[trashlord-007]

So. Tana? Is that correct? Well as your secret Santa thought I'd stop in and say hello! So many questions and such a limited character count. I guess I should start with the basics....who's your bias? Is it Jongdae? Your avatar is him but I don't want to just assume. How long have your been an exol? Do you have other interests? I saw your pinned post about gaming....what games are you into? Why is your favorite color your favorite color? What is your favorite color? Do you have a favourite song? If it's not an exo song which of our boys' songs is your most cherished? Go to song for a mood pick up? What sort of things do you create? Have you ever killed a man? Favorite movie or book? Why? Best moment in fandom life? What YouTube video have you watched the most?

I'll stop there and save some for later.

🎁🎄🎁

Hiii, my super awesome Secret Santa!

Tana is indeed correct~ welcome to my small corner of Tumblr!

Jongdae is my bias <333 I love him so much T_T who is your bias? or biases? I know some people have multiple, especially in bigger bands. To be honest, my ult top 10 has several EXO members! But Jongdae will always be my EXO bias, and my ult bias across all of kpop!

I've been an EXOL since... Tempo! While I enjoyed their title tracks before then, bought their songs and listened to their MVs etc, I didn't truly appreciate them until I listened to the Don't Mess Up My Tempo album. Everything clicked then, and I realised I had been so wrong about them before T_T and after listening to all their previous music it became evident that they'd always be my number one~

I do have some other interests. Like you saw, I enjoy gaming. The Mass Effect and Far Cry franchises are my everything <3 no matter what else is happening, I can always return to them and find some semblance of peace... it's hard to explain. But you can fish in FC5! Sometimes I just pop the game on to do that. Or turn on ME:A to travel between planets - it has this awesome feature where it's kinda like you're piloting the ship to each one. I've been thinking of Feros and Noveria again, which are missions in the first Mass Effect. They are my favourites! and I also need to finish my AC Syndicate playthrough so I can move forward to the next--

Sorry,,, heh, I tend to ramble T_T it's a bad habit of mine. Do you game?

My favourite colour is blue but I'm not sure why! It's just... pretty. Any colours that remind me of nighttime ambiance, stars and space, etc are my favourites too. The universe is so perfect.

Favourite song... that's too hard T_T well, I'll keep it easy by saying Monster by EXO! Which is your favourite? EXO or otherwise? and which solo is your favourite? Have you listened to Xiuminnie's new song? I LOVE IT !

I have a playlist called Cheer Up, Buttercup! and the first song in it is Good Day for a Good Day by Super Junior haha. There's a lot of GGs in it too, like Twice and Saturday.

I mainly create problems.

Err, I mean, I mainly write but I'm dipping my toes in GIF-making too!

I plead the fifth.

Interstellar is my favourite movie!! (... is it becoming obvious yet how obsessed I am with space?) and my favourite book is... wow, I can't believe I'm gonna be cliché like this but... probably Wuthering Heights? Or maybe The Gunslinger by Stephen King. What about you? I'd love to talk books or movies, especially if they are horror or sci-fi haha.

Oh... why... I'm never really sure why I like the things I do but I will say that I've seen Interstellar countless times (I even watched parts of it every time I went to the dentist lol). Before that was Avatar... and the second film is finally coming out!! T_T I'm so excited! As for the books... haha, I guess what makes a piece of media/fiction wonderful is the emotions it invokes.

It's the small things, like amazing events and excited conversations, that make fandom great.

My most watched YouTube video as of late is probably one of the music playlists I use to write, like Brian Tyler - I'm Sorry [Far Cry 3 ] (1 Hour Version) or Dark Clubbing / Bass House / Dark Techno Mix 'SINFUL'.

Now, my friend, I am curious about you! What's your most played YouTube? What do you like to create? Best part of fandom? Do you listen to music when you create? and if you do, what do you listen to?

It's so exciting to have a Secret Santa! I hope this answers your questions adequately and I look forward to your response!

[starlightxsvt]

Sweeter Than Sweets

Pairing ➳ CEO!seungcheol x baker female!reader

Genre ➳ kinda enemies to lovers, arranged marriage au, romance, angst?? clicheeee :)

Warnings ➳ hella cursing, reader's going through a lot lol

Word count ➳ 2.5k

part 1 l part 2

Part 1: THE BEGINNING

The plot owner is going to visit you today. I'm sincerely sorry for my mistake, I misunderstood. Please resolve the issue with him gently.

You scoff at the message. What the actual fuck? Fury floods through your blood and you clench your fists.

This cannot be happening.

After such a long time you had finally scraped enough money to lease a place for your bakery shop. It's been your dream since so long and after years of hard work it was finally coming true- until today. Apparently the real estate agent is nothing but a fathead and for whatever goddamn reason, she leased you the place when it was clearly not up to be leased. The building owner is on his way now- to possibly kick you out.

No, you cannot let that happen. It is their fault and because of their miscommunication or whatever you are not going to give this place up which you worked so hard for.

If he thinks you'll give in so easily, he has another thing coming.

A Mercedes Benz pulls up in front of your shop just as you finish screwing one of the decoration lights.

He's here.

You take in a deep breath and march out of the shop as a tall male comes of the car. You almost stop in your tracks to gape at him- broad shoulders, gorgeous rich black hair that matches a sculptured face- he's simply breathtaking. No one should be that gorgeous. And he's young- why the fuck is he so young? Does he seriously own this building?

No no no. Stay focused.

He takes long steps towards you and even before he can reach you, you snap, "I'm not giving up this place so don't waste your time."

He stops right in front of you, his hands in his pockets and raises a brow at you. He chuckles- how dare he, before saying, "You do know that this is my building, right?"

"So?"

"So, it means I can kick out a nuisance like you anytime I want." His eyes go dark as he stares you down.

Nuisance? What the fuck? You take in a deep breath, trying to stop yourself from reaching out and choking him. He's so fucking gorgeous and infuriating, damn it.

"Mr. Choi, I've leased this place for two years and if you want it so much, come back two years later and we can talk about it."

"Leave while I'm being polite," his tone is gravelly and his eyes bore into yours. You shiver slightly.

"But I paid for this place! This is mine now!" You yell, unable to hold yourself together. "If you were so concerned about your building then you should have been careful that your agent was leasing it!"

"I admit that it was her fault, a huge one at that matter but I need this building. I'll give you 3 days to take everything and leave. My workers will start their renovation work from next week." He says and turns around his heel, ready to head back.

"No! I will not be moving out! I've worked so hard to lease this place! I even brought all the furniture for my shop! You have no right to do this!" You shout at him. Fuck that son of a bitch.

He stares at you with a bored look, "You've 3 days."

"No!" You whine, stopping him in his tracks again. "If you really want this place then give me some more time. At least a few months."

He marches back to you, his jaw ticking, "Do you think I'm here to play games? You move out in 3 days or my men will drag you out from here." He warns, eyes glinting.

Motherf-

You can't hold in your temper. So you walk past him and towards his fancy car and draw a long nice scratch on the body using your screwdriver. After being satisfied with your handiwork, you turn back to him.

He stares at you, dumbfounded. His driver looks the same except he looks a bit scared. You smirk at Choi, crossing your arms.

He still looks surprised and he scoffs as if he can't believe what happened. He rakes a hand through his hair, his jaw clenched.

"Expect a call from my insurance company. You'll have to pay for what you just did." That's all he says before walking past you to car as his driver quickly fires on the engine.

You mutely watch him leave.

Fuck. Oh fuck.

What have you done?

-

You stare at Choi's personal number that you managed to get from the real estate agent. Shit. You've to call him. You've to apologize. You're in no condition to pay for his damn fancy car.

Shit. Shit. Why did you do that?

You bite your lip, staring at your phone screen, mustering up the courage to call him. You've to apologize and somehow get him to forgive you.

Oh heavens, here goes nothing.

With shaky hands you ring him up and hold your breath. After several rings he picks up, his voice gruff, "Choi here."

You clear your throat and inhale deeply, "Mr.Choi, it's me, ___. We...uhm, met earlier today." You try to stable your voice.

The line is silent for a moment and you're afraid he has hung up but he speaks, his voice laced with a chuckle, "Well, well, to what do I owe this pleasure?"

You swallow, "Mr.Choi I called you to um... apologize for what I did to your car. Please understand that I was really angry then and I sincerely apologize for what I did. I'm so sorry."

"Okay," is all he says. You ask nervously, "So, will be please be kind enough to cancel the charges against me?"

"Do you think that a sorry from you will repair my car?"

"I- please, sir, you've to understand that I'm in no condition to afford for the damages... I-I know I'm responsible but please understand-"

"You want to keep the place to yourself, you want me to drop the charges against you- what you think I am? Some sort of genie who'll grant all your wishes?"

"No- sir-"

"Besides you don't even sound so sorry," His voice sounds teasing and you exhale loudly.

This son of a-

"I don't have time for this bullshit so-"

"No sir please! I'll do anything, please cancel the charges. Then we can talk about your building, I'm sure we can come to a conclusion."

"Are you trying to make a deal with me?"

"Sir- I just-, please, please understand my situation," you almost beg.

The line is quiet for a long time and you're about to break into tears but then you hear his voice, "Fine, I'll text you a place. Meet me there at 8 tomorrow evening. Don't be late." Then the line is dead.

-

You're not dumb enough to go where a stranger tells you to go without telling anybody. So, on the morning of the appointment, you tell your friend the location of the restaurant and in case you were found with a slitted throat, at least the police will have a lead. After that you decide to google Choi, wanting to have a little bit more info on him. Sure enough, he's the son of a filthy rich businessman well known in the country and Choi, himself is the creator of two business companies.

Sure, it'd be nothing for him to dump your body in the water or poison your food.

-

Evening comes quicker than you expected and you rush to get ready. You pick a maroon knee length dress that is what you believe- hope- to be appropriate for the fancy restaurant. It's not like you have a lot of dresses to choose from. You take a cab and just as the clock hits five minutes past eight, you're rushing into the restaurant.

The receptionist asks you if have booked a seat to which you reply that you're here to meet Mr.Choi. Then you're led through a fancy lobby and into the private dining area, where the said male sits. He's dressed in a grey vest and a pressed linen white shirt underneath, with the sleeves rolled up, showing his muscular arms- damn.

His eyes meet yours and you feel an electricity jolt up your spine.

Lord please help me tonight.

"Good evening, Mr.Choi," you murmur, gently sitting down.

The bastard has the balls to smirk as he crosses his arms over his chest, "Good evening, Ms___. I was wondering if you bailed out on me."

You chuckle nervously, tucking a strand of hair behind your ear. He grins, motioning towards the menu in front of you,"Shall we order?"

Your eyes glide over the fancy food and the fancier prices. 85$ for a fucking piece of meat?

After chewing on your lip and thinking too much about what to order, you go with a plate of salad and pasta.

"Do you have any wine preferences?" He asks, eyeing the wine menu. Why's he acting so nice? What's his deal?

"Er...I'll let you choose," you say.

After ordering a fancy bottle of wine, Choi folds his hands over the table and looks at you, a small smile playing on his lips.

"So..shall we talk business now?" You offer, unsure.

He nods but stays quiet which you take as a sign to start first, "I only have two things to ask for. Please cancel the charges and please give me a little more time to look for a place. It's impossible to find another place in 3 days. I've paid for the lease here and I've also ordered the furniture. And then there is a monetary issue. Please understand my situation."

He pretends to think, pursuing his lips, "Hmm, I'm afraid that's too much you're asking from me."

"Mr. Choi, I'm sure a man like you can help me with that much." You try to butter his ego.

"Again, I'm afraid you don't know me. If you had any idea about a man like me, you wouldn't say that." His eyes darken.

Fuck. He won't bulge. Why is he so stubborn?

"Sir- please, I sincerely apologize for my actions yesterday, I wasn't in my right mind."

"If only sorry could cover it," he says, nonchalant, leaning back into his chair. He eyes you quietly, his eyes scanning you carefully as your palms grow sweaty.

You are interrupted as the waiter serves you your dinner and pours you the wine. As soon as he's gone, you gulp down the wine, trying to calm yourself.

Damn, it tastes nice.

Choi laughs at your actions before an evil smile crawls up his face. You swallow, meeting his gaze. What's he thinking?

"You see, nothing comes for free. I'll take off the charges against you and I'll give you time to look for another place- actually no, I'll pay for a nicer place for you to open your shop. But in return you've to give me something."

Fuck. You eye him warily.

"What?" You squeak.

"Marry me."

You choke on your food very unceremoniously followed by a lot of coughs. You sputter, trying to get yourself under control. Meanwhile he simply watches you, a playful smile on his lips.

When you can somewhat speak, you breath, "I...I think I misheard you."

"You didn't. I asked you to marry me."

You gape at him, utterly confused, almost certain this is a dream or nightmare. He simply offers you silence as you try to process what he said.

You're left even more confused.

What? Marry him? What the actual fuck?

"Would you please... enlighten me?" You murmur.

He grins, leaning over the table, "You're thinking too much. It'll be a pretend marriage. I need someone who'll pretend to be my wife for a year or so, so that my father hands over his company to me- which he won't unless I get married and settle. It's as simple as that."

Your mouth only grows wider. That's nowhere near simple.

After processing his words in your head for a long time you mumble, "So...you need me to be your pretend wife for like a year and in return you cancel the charges and give me more time to look for a place?"

"It's actually more than that sweetheart. I'll pay every penny for your shop. I'll make sure you have a successful business. Be my pretend wife and I'll give you the biggest and best bakery shop this country has ever seen."

You're dumbfounded and you can only squeak out, "Is this some sort of a hoax?"

He chuckles, "Say yes and I'll have a contract prepared with all our terms and conditions."

"I- I need to think about it," you rush out. Think? Damn it, were you seriously considering it?

Yes, yes you were.

This is a lifetime opportunity.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

Choi nods, "I'm sure you need to. But I expect an answer quickly. You've until tomorrow evening."

"H-huh?" You're lost.

He stands up putting on his jacket, "You've my number, call me when you make your decision." He gives you a look and just like that he's out of the room.

You're left with your half eaten plate of food.

-

"So you are telling me that a filthy rich, smoking hot motherfucker asked you to marry him?" Jane's voice echos through the phone.

You rub your temples, staring at your lap, "Yes."

"Bitch if you don't want to do this then give me his number. I'm more than willing to help him out."

"Jane, I'm serious."

"Me too, babe."

You groan, flopping into the bed. "Can you believe it? I still can't wrap my head around it." You whisper.

"You're thinking too much. It's not like you're going to be married to him forever."

"I know but still it's so scary...If I say yes I'll be living with a stranger for the next year."

"A sexy as sin stranger for that matter."

"Gosh- will you stop!"

"Okay okay," you hear her sigh. "Listen I know it's scary and all but this is a win win situation for you, think about it. You're going to be living as a millionaire's wife and when you're divorced you're gonna have your own shop. This is a lifetime opportunity, I mean how many of us gets this? This is like one of those romance movies where-"

"Okay I get it. Thank you for your precious help." You roll your eyes.

" You're welcome!" She laughs. "I'll be waiting for updates!"

"Piss off." You laugh, hanging up.

You stare at the ceiling, your mind numb. This is overwhelming- unreal. Why can't he just marry someone prettier, richer? He can have any woman he wants. Dozens of questions gather in your mind but despite the answers, you've made your decision.

You're going to get married.

A/N ➳ heyyy~ it's ya girl's birthday today lol! I've been wanting to write a fic like this for quite a while but yk, couldn't muster up the courage. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it! Please please leave your feedbacks, my ask box is always open- I'll really appreciate it! 💖

Masterlist

Tag list: @chimikima @all-i-needislovee @peekabooseoksoon @masterpiecejoonie @sorrywonwoo @sweetiescoops @diamondsvts @insidesvt @bononswife @ayla-hathway @kpopssuregi @justasoftstan @top-crop @wainrain

[lareinenoir]

THE PURGE; Sanctuary C.E x black reader

PT III

60 Days Until The Purge

THEN...

"I'll order take out. I know you like Thai-"

"Don't order anything. I'm actually not even hungry." You said as he took your bag and put it on his shoulder. "What?" He was looking at you weird and it made you frown.

"Where's the rest of your stuff?"

"You asked me to stay the night. That is my overnight bag." You replied folding your arms and walking over to the couch. Your hand touched your forehead and you sighed. You could still feel him looking at you as you tried to relax with your head leaned back. "After I tell Shonda about our situation, you're signing the papers."

"What do you mean-"

"You know what I mean." You shot back

"Ok, well theirs a lot to consider now." He motioned to your stomach and you sat up straight. "We're having a baby, now."

"No no no." You shook your head feeling your petty insides bubble a bit in sarcasm. "I'm having a baby. Me. Just me.”

"Obviously I want to be apart of our baby's life." Chris argued back and you frowned and scoffed. He put your bag down and crossed his arms as you brushed it off. "You can't seriously think I won't. V that's insane."

"You wanna know what's insane? You think you're gonna get anywhere near it. Why in the hell would I allow you and your broken promises anywhere near my child? Do you think I'm stupid? To make the same mistake twice!"

"Again? V what do you want me to do?" He asks throwing his hands up. "Acting is what I do, that's my job-"

"I don't care about that. I'm not asking you to chose your job or me-"

"It damn well near sounds like it. I would never make you choose." He countered back and you gripped your fists together.

"You may not have said it directly, but there have been many times where you have indirectly patronized me. I just found out I'm pregnant and I have been trying so hard to deal with it." you replied watching him pace back and forth and shake his head. "I have been getting the worst headaches, I can't keep any food down and I literally get lightheaded on set every single day because hiding my pregnancy has been a real joy ride." You replied sarcastically with a small chuckle

"What do you want me to do? I tell you to tell the producers, you get mad. I tell you to take a break, you get mad. I tell you to come over and you’re mad.” Chris said in disbelief. “I don't know what you want from me." He shrugs brushing the hair from his eyes.

"Not once since you found out have you asked me how I'm doing? My whole career is at risk I could lose my job. And you don't even seem to care.” You said

"V, I do care." He reached for your shoulder and you took in another breath. "I want you to stop worrying all the time. And you're right, I should be concerned more about you. I should be there for you-I should've been there for you in the beginning.” He admitted and you folded your lips again.

Are For real this time? Should I let it go and move past it? Again? No because it'll start all over again.

"This baby is mine. This is a life changing thing that's happening, I can't let you ruin it too." You spoke

" I'm taking responsibility because this is something I want. Ok? Can't we find some common ground? You of all people should know what it's like to grow up without a father!"

"You know too!" You shouted back. Chris' dad had died when he was younger. He talked about him sometimes but not as much. "I'd rather have had my father six feet under then to have him choosing when it's convenient for him to show up!" You said with your foot down shaking your head.

"Forget the divorce. Me and you living here happily married for the years to come. Whats so bad about that? Why can't I have that? What's so wrong with the picture of two parents raising a child?" His voice was loud and he was getting frustrated. He didn't shout, but you could tell how passionate he was about it. He always wanted to be a daddy, a parent. "Huh?"

"It's not just about you!" You said stepping closer. "Because..." You shrugged feeling your eyes water as you suck in your cheeks. "I knew the kind of man I was marrying. So involved with his job it took him almost fifteen years to actually start dating. It's not about you or your career. This baby is all I have right now.”

He looked confused as he relaxed his brow and pinched the bridge of his nose. From two feet away you could feel his heartbeat and you felt a little bad for how foolish you probably looked. You still loved him, not like you ever stopped, but you remembered that you still loved him.

Because, it's not about me either anymore. You thought

"Forget the papers okay..." You said swallowing your own pride. "just forget it. You’re right. I want our child to have two parents who will love him unconditionally. But it has to stop, because it takes two. I can't have you with one foot in the door." You admitted

“Yeah yeah.” He nodded “yeah I get that. I’m not going anywhere.” Chris said and you walked forward and took his hand kissing his palm as you placed it on the side of your face. “I promise V.” He cups your face and stares into your eyes. His stubble poking at you a bit as you held his wrists.

“I love you.” You said with a small smile

“Still?” He laughed making you roll your eyes as you giggled a little. “I love you too. Are you sure you aren’t hungry?” He asks again

“Yes.” You nodded “now shut up and come take a nap with me.”

NOW....

CHRIS POV**

“Damnit! Damnit! Damnit!” I said throwing the phone on the couch. I had called five times and her phone went straight to voicemail.

“This is not a test, this is your Emergency Broadcast System. Announcing the commencement of the annual purge sanctioned by the U.S. Government. ALL Weapons have been authorized for use during the purge. Government officials of ranking 10 have been granted immunity and shall not be harmed. Commencing at the siren, any and all crime (including murder) will be legal for 121 days. Police, fire, and Emergency Medical services will be unavailable until December 15, 12:00 o’clock midnight, when the purge concludes. Blessed be our new founding fathers and America... A nation reborn. May God be with you all.”

My tv was replayed the message nine more times before shutting off. I swallowed the lump in my throat. Today is august 15, Vanessa’s birthday is tomorrow which was when she’d be 17 weeks. We had marked it on the calendar together. More than half my wife’s pregnancy would be spent during the purge. I needed to find her!

I didn’t support the purge. Something about killing people to be “cleansed” just didn’t sit right in my gut. It made my heart ache thinking about the clean up at the end. I could bring Dodger, but he can only do so much. Maybe he could help track her scent. Grabbing my coat I folded my lips together.

“Fuck!” I shout

With what weapon? How was I going to run the streets looking for my wife without a gun? I loved the idea of owning one, but Vanessa made me swear not to bring one in the house if she was there. So I just dropped the idea. Looking in the kitchen I grabbed one of the Chef knives off the rack. Maybe this would be enough for now...

“Damnit!” I curse looking at Dodger. “She said she was at Topanga Park. Start there?” I asked, as if he’d answer back. I grabbed her bonnet from off the bathroom door handle and stuffed it in my backpack.

I didn’t hesitate l. I locked up everything and jumped inside my truck. Dodger sat on the passenger side and I felt my hands start to shake as I put my foot on the gas. I started to promise god I would go to church if he would keep her safe.

“I don’t even know if you’re even listening or you even care. I love her, I’ve been such and idiot and I don’t wanna lose her.” I looked at Dodger and he was sitting up straight. “I remember you didn’t like her. You wouldn’t let her anywhere near me, you bark and squeeze yourself in between us when we sat down in the room to watch movies.” I chuckle wiping the little tear that slipped from my eye “You stole one of her wigs too.”

“WHAT THE FUCK!” she shouted chasing you around the house. “DODGER GIVE IT BACK! COME BACK!”

We chased him around the house and Dodger thought it was some sort of game. We had been officially dating for a month. I had started laughing when I caught him and held her headband wig in my hand. She stood their with her arms folded while I petted his head and she rolled her eyes.

"I told you he doesn't like me." She said as I stood up and she took the wig from my hand.

"Come on, he's just getting used to you."

"I've been over here every day. Your dog hates me."

"What?" I tilted my head to the side and touch her nose with my index finger. "Deal breaker? If my dog doesn't like my girlfriend, I'm gonna dump her? Tell me where that makes sense."

She walked closer to me and wrapped her arms around my waist looking up at the ceiling as I kissed her neck. "I guess you have a point." Vanessa sighed.

"He's just warming up to you that's all."

"What's stopping me from breaking up with you?"

"Over a dog?"

"This is his third assault against me. First it was tearing up my purse, then chewing up my crocs, not to mention the little shit I found inside of them. And now stealing my wig and playing cat and mouse." Said Vanessa as I rested my head on top of hers. "Luckily this is a backup wig."

“Aren’t you wearing one right now?” I asked

“Headband wig. And that wig your dog has destroyed,” she gave him the side eye “it was my favorite and expensive.” She gritted her teeth

“I’ll buy you another one.” I offered

She purses her lips and shook her head. “I don’t want you buying me anything. I’ll just break up with you. For real this time.”

"Fine then..." I baited her shrugging my shoulders. "Break up with me."

“Over a dog?” She frowns mocking me as I smile down at her and her eyebrows bend downward a little as she caressed my face. Her finger was gentle and she stood on her top toes and kissed my lips. “Never.”

...

I look over at Dodger and pat his head. "We'll find her. I know we will." I say trying to lift my spirits.

When we arrived to Topanga Park, it was a sight. I didn't even want to leave the truck. I felt my heart race a little more. "What the hell..."

In the middle of traffic-in between the cars were bodies. Dodger started barking at the train of blood that stained the streets. It was empty, but I could feel a heavy weight on my back. Walking behind me, next to me...it was all around me. I hadn't realized I had my hand over my mouth an nose, it was hard for me to breath as the stench of dead bodies. Dodger kept barking and that led to me chasing after him. I had her bonnet in one hand and I called after him.

I came to a halt when I came face to face with another person. He had Dodger in his hands and I felt my muscle tense up. He was tall and very familiar looking. I swallowed the lump in my throat and held the kitchen knife in my hand with a firm grip.

"Captain America?"

I tilted my head sideways and licked my lower lip narrowing my brow a little. "Yeah, give me the dog and we can go our separate ways. Ok?"

He nodded his head. He ran his fingers through his hair and put the dog down. I wasn't really concerned about who he was I was trying to prepare for a fight. He dropped his gun on the ground and held up his his hand.

"I'm not going to kill you. I'm looking for my wife." He said "She left her watch in that building." He pointed to the school and slowly pulled the watch from his pocket.

"In there?" I asked

"Yeah." He nodded, but I still couldn't shake the feeling I knew him from somewhere. "My name is Jared. My wife's name is Gianne, I'm pretty sure she was with someone else-are you looking for someone too? Maybe we could help each other. There was something written on the chalkboard in there, I wasn't something Gia would write, but she was here. All I wanna do is find her-"

"Supernatural?" I asked turning my head to the side. Vanessa loved that show. Whenever she had spare time she would watch it or on those many night she'd spend the night at my house we would watch it-well not really watch it. The Netflix and 'chill' was emphasized. "You said something about some sort of message on the wall?" I asked motioning with my hand. "what did it say?"

"um, CE equals BE or something like that." He shrugged

I laughed a little. Vanessa Evans plus Chris Evans equals Baby Evans. It was a stupid joke-an Easter egg if you will. Shonda put in the show on the whiteboard in one of our love scenes as a way to announce our pregnancy to the audience. She often left clues to the next episode in every episode except this one was not only in the show but in real life.

"Chris Evans." I say extending my hand out to him. I'm pretty sure he knew by the little smile playing on his face. He shook my hand and nodded his head.

"I know. I'm a big marvel fan, I know all your lines." Jared chuckled and then cleared his throat as he nervously laughed. "Nice to meet you. I'm Jared Padalecki - I know I said that already..."

I introduced him to Dodger and I felt a little more relaxed. I gathered that she was alive and we both came to the assumption that they were traveling together.

"Where do you think their headed?" I asked as we walked to his car which was tricked out and full of ammunition and guns. Not to mention government level protective gear.

"While I was in there, I picked up someone else. Heavy footed and big, traveling with dogs. Hair everywhere." He went on tossing me a bullet proof vest. "You heard of Sanctuary?"

"The safety place? Yeah, but it's hard to find. It's for people who get caught in the Purge right?"

He narrowed his brow and shook his head. "No." Said Jared sharply. "Sanctuary is a secret government funded task force. It started off as a conspiracy some myth to explain all the random disappearances throughout the year. It's a government project designed for population control." He went on

"Ok...what does that have anything to do with the Purge?"

"Everything. An organization designed to control the US population. We're talking Pro killers who were once on a leash, but when that horn sounded and the Purge began, they are just as free to kill anyone they want." Said Jared handing me an ipad. It was a list of celebrities. From pro athletes like Steph Curry and their immediate families to movie stars and singers like Rhianna and Tom Cruise. "There are rumors that they are hunting celebrities. The kardashians and Jenner's are fair game. If not the stars themselves then they choose their parents, brothers and sisters."

"And do what?" I asked quietly as I saw mine and Vanesssa picture

"Most get auctioned off to the highest bidder, I've also heard they kill them on the spot for money or bring them in to fight for the death. Bottom line, there is a bounty on our heads. During the Purge everyone is fair game, their is no protection."

"You're telling me she's out there being hunted by them right now?" I asked

“Possibly. The dog hair isn’t a breed we know. They are a combination of hunting canines, bloodhound, foxhound, Labrador retriever with the built and aggression of a something like a pit bull a Rottweiler.” Said Jared as I looked up from the iPad and gave it back. “You’re gonna need more than a kitchen knife. We find the dogs and the hunter and we’ll find them.”

He held a gun out to me and wiped my mouth with the palm of my hand trying to mentally prepare for what is to come."

“Do you believe in the Purge?” I asked still questioning why his car was full of weapons. “You kill people?”

He nodded his head. “Yes. I don’t believe in hiding or waiting for someone to kill me. We all have the right to Purge."

"What's stopping you from killing me?"

Jared sighed and shook his head. "I'm hunting them. I'm surviving and if you decide to threaten my survival, then I'll kill you." He went over to the driver side of his Ford charger. "Get in. Knowing Gia she is headed for Roberts hole."

"What's that?" I asked climbing in the passenger seat of the car.

“It’s a Cassino for celebrities. Jack Black owns it. It’s locked up right but open to his favorites during the Purge.”

“They’ll be there?”

“Relax.” He out his hand in my shoulder and looked at me as dodger sat in the back seat. “We will find them. You know how to shoot don’t you?” Jared raised his gun in the air and nodded my head.

I guess it wasn’t confidently and he chuckled. “Vanessa isn’t a fan of guns.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll practice. Ok?”

.

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A/N: Sorry it took so long😬 don’t hate me, please. Lol, I hope everyone is doing well and safe out here. If you wanna be tagged leave it in the ask box, Anyways…Untill next time!

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[darklymelanatedstories]

Hope you like this intro to:

Hide and seek (ft Goku)

Part 1

You kept as still as you could–despite your uncontrollable shaking–steadying your breathing as not to hyperventilate.

Breath in...breath out...breath in...breath out

The only thing you could hear was your breathing in this unbearable silence. Where was he?

Last you saw him, he was counting to 10. But you didn't stick around as you started running as soon as he reached 2.

You tried to control your sobbing and quietly prayed that he wouldn't find your hiding spot. It was dark and cramped on an especially dark night. Hopefully he'd miss you if he ever were to come by, if you just kept still.

Breath in...breath out–

Then you heard it.

The sound of a broken twig and crunched leaves as his footsteps became known, followed by the loud clanking of chains that spoke wonders of its intended use. You could hear his goofy chuckle, that which once brought you joy now brought you chilling goosebumps.

"Ready or not, here I come!"

~

"Found you, (Y/n)!"

A shriek left your lips as you were tackled to the ground.

"Goku! Goku, let go of me!"

You rolled around the grass in a fit of giggles and laughs as you tried to push the spiky haired man off your smaller form.

"Not until you give it."

"Never!"

Still struggling to free your self, you thought up a plan that was sure to work...and if it didn't then you'd die from embarrassment.

With Goku looming over you, you cupped his face with your hands, closed your eyes and hoped for the best as you leaned forward.

"What are you doing?"

You froze. Your lips just a kiss away from his and the man of your dreams was watching.

"Uh," You immediately pushed Goku off your form and jumped up from you spot. "Hey Vegeta. We were...uh just wrestling."

He raised an eyebrow at you. At that moment you could've died from embarrassment and you'd be happy because the last thing you'd see is Vegeta.

"Wrestling with your lips? Or actually was it tongue wrestling?",he teased.

"Well..."

"It's (Y/n)'s distraction technique to put her enemies off guard." Goku said, placing a hand on your shoulder. His way of saying that he was backing you up. "I gotta say it sure did the trick for me." He chuckled and you couldn't help but notice the light blush on his face.

"Uh huh, so if you two idiots are done with your little games," he then turned to look at Goku. "We have a match to get to."

And with that, he left.

"Sooo Goku–"

You were immediately cut off when Goku started rummaging through your backpack that you left on the ground. Realizing what he was looking, you rushed over to him but it was too late.

"Aha! Found it." He raised the box he found, up in triumph while using his other hand to stop you from trying to take it.

"Sorry (y/n)",he said before making a run for it, with you chasing after him.

"Goku, get back here with my donuts!"

•••

After chasing Goku and failing to get your donuts back, he made you a deal that if you stayed to help him prepare for his match against Vegeta then he'd give you your donuts back.

You didn't really have anything else planned so you decided to stay and help him warm up, also while trying to find where he hid your donuts. Priorities, right?

You were currently holding the giant punching bag still while Goku sent a flurry of punches so fast and hard that you thought you were the punching bag. The reason for his sudden aggressiveness was because of all the eyes that were immediately on you he moment you walked into a gym full of thirsty male wrestlers.

"Oh, sorry. (Y/n) are you okay?",he asked when he realized he almost punched you.

"Yeah.",you reassured. "It's nice not having you going easy on me as usual."

"But you know I'd never hurt you."

You gave him a smile and playfully punched him in the arm. "I know, big guy." You stood on your tip toes to match his height, your face dangerously close to his. "So does that mean I can wrestle today?"

Goku blinked comically before he chuckled. "I don't know (Y/n)."

"Aw." You crossed you arms and pouted. "Can I at least have my donuts?"

"Yo guys I found a box of donuts. Let's eat!"

Goku's eyes snapped towards the donut thief and you noticed him somewhat trying to forced back the scowl. You figured it was because someone found the donuts so you paid it no mind. You ran over to hug Yamcha and chow on your donuts like the world was coming to an end. Unaware of the burning glare a certain spiky haired man has been giving Yamcha. Though he kept his mastered fake smile whenever someone came near him.

It's no secret that Yamcha has been after you for a while now. Making no effort to hide his feelings or keep his hands to himself. He'd always make up an excuse to be around you or to have you to himself even if it was for something like watching a movie. You never really picked up on his flirty nature since he was like this with most women and you thought nothing of it but seeing him so much as touch you made Son want to cut Yamcha's hands off, break both of his legs and literally kick what's left of his ass with them.

He hated it. He hated that he loved the idea of having Yamcha scream in agony. Goku was a nice guy. He is a nice guy. Most loved in the city.

Goku had tried to convince Yamcha to leave you alone with some lame excuse but Yamcha wouldn't give up.

He watched as you laughed at whatever Yamcha just said while he wrapped your arms around you in which you thought was a loving brotherly manner.

6 weeks.

6 long weeks of seeing that shit and he was tired of it. It would end...tonight.

•••

Walking over to his car in the dark, empty parking lot, Yamcha couldn't help but feel uneasy, as if he was being watched. And the more he tread towards his car, the harder the feeling felt. Reaching for his keys in his pockets, he pressed a button that lead to what was music to his ears.

beep beep

Now sure his car was only a few steps away, his nerves slowly calmed as he quickened his pace.

"Haha, what was I so worried about. No one is here but me.",he tried convincing himself.

"10"

Yamcha immediately stopped in his tracks at the sound of the sudden voice seemingly echo in the parking lot.

"9"

"What?!" He started freaking out as he heard it again. The voice sounded so familiar but he was too scared to find out who it was.

The voice chuckled. "8"

"Who are you?!",Yamcha yelled only to be answered by another number.

"7"

"Fxck this!" Yamcha started jogging to to his car cautiously as his eyes searched the darkness for any other signs of life.

"6...5... You better be running the opposite way Yamcha because if I find you...no one else will."

Increasing speed, now running to his car, he tried to ignore whatever it was that was speaking to him. Once he reaches his car, he'll be fine. He'll be fine. That's what he keeps telling himself.

"4...3. Yamcha turn the fxck around before I kill you~",they sang.

They were delusion if they thought that would happen. Yamcha was getting to his car if it's the last thing he does.

The mysterious voice was soon heard laughing as soon as Yamcha touched his car.

"2.."

A horrific thought came into Yamcha's mind of seeing this person in his car.

He cautiously opened his door, his guard up just in case.

"Oh thank God!",he shouted after letting out a breath of relief. He jumped into his car in excitement. "Yes, I made it, now let's get the fuck out of–"

BOOM!

An explosion seared the air and earth in large expansion of smoke and flames leaving only a few large burning scraps of what used to be Yamcha's car.

~

Fixated on the glorious sight from his hiding place, he couldn't help but let out a derange cackle.

"Nothing like a bomb to make everything lit!",he joked to himself, clapping his hands excitedly to have gotten another victim in such a long time. Though he had to admit it wasn't as much fun as chasing after his prey in a nice little game of hide and seek but it was exceptional. He wouldn't waste all that energy on Yamcha.

Letting out a content sigh, he composed himself as he wiped a tear of joy from his eye. "I've missed this."

Looking back at the tiny destruction he's caused, he scowled at the thought of seeing that bastard Yamcha again. To think that one wrong move could have destroyed their friendship so fast that it'd have to result in manslaughter.

No regrets.

"I warned you Yamcha but you just had to go after my (Y/n).",he said. "You aren't the first and you certainly won't be the last. (Y/n) is mine and anyone who thinks otherwise better hide, because once the countdown ends I'll come seeking. And when I do, you better pray to Kami that I don't find you."