#every drawing i post of them is a cool animated moment i replay in my mind over and over till the drawing is finished

[ningadudexx]

saving you from yourself 🫧

[vrainsrewatch]

episode 8 thoughts

i was gonna watch later, since i’ve got other things to do, but i burnt the shit out of my hands making hot chocolate like an idiot so i watched an episode first LOL. 

this episode starts out with that really strong fairy tale scenery i absolutely adore, with yusaku and ai trying their hardest to get blue angel to wake up.

i seriously could talk about the imagery in this scene for days lmao. i love the sleeping beauty aesthetic, but i also really love the colors. LV goes through so many different color palettes through the series, but i love the purples and blues of this area here. i’m not sure if the intention was to make blue angel seem like she was meant to be there, while in contrast playmaker stands out due to his hair, but i seriously replayed this section twice because it looked so nice. 

i have a lot to say about this episode, and it will also be my most screenshot heavy post so far lol, so once again, buckle up! 

this episode starts to really build up yusaku as a character - his sense of justice, his core values, etc etc. on top of that, it takes its time to flesh out akira, and to show his worse qualities, which we’ll get into in a minute.

first, though, is one of my favorite awkward exchanges in the series lmao:

i’m surprised he even caught onto what akira was getting at, tbh with y’all. vrains started out ship teasing yusaku/aoi really hard these episodes, but drop it almost completely up until the minimal tease we get in s3, which i find really funny. i was always really invested in them becoming friends, though, so while i’m happy we had that happen in s3, i would’ve really liked to see it happen earlier. not this early, though - yusaku’s nowhere near ready for that.

I HAD TOTALLY FORGOTTEN VYRA WAS HERE. yugioh hair makes it known that she’s going to be an important character, but i had really completely forgotten she was working as one of aoi’s doctors during this part lmao. i love this so much, actually.

moving onto everyone talking shit about blue angel on forums and stuff. this kinda shit:

would be really awful to deal with. it’s very real, though - cancel culture, anyone? but seriously, this is so brutal. on top of that, does this imply that she’s never really lost before? she is the number 2 charisma duelist in LV, so i wouldn’t be terribly surprised if that meant that she hadn’t really lost since starting to make it big as an idol. once again showing off how good of a duelist aoi actually is, even if the show makes her lose a lot. tbf, her loss/win ratio isn’t that bad looking at the other main girls - 5 wins, 5 losses on screen, and considering the kind of opponents she faced (soulburner, bohman, ai), that’s seriously not bad.

next up we get the chess pieces again, and boy howdy, does this conversation make me seethe.

i understand it’s partially a cultural difference thing, but i can’t help but get angry about it LOL. 

i didn’t remember how often the chess pieces were actually utilized in these first few episodes, either. i guess i can understand why people were irritated they were just dropped, but i don’t really see them as a plot point, more like... just a kind of weird way to run a company? just show your faces and have normal meetings like everyone else, y’all don’t have to be so extra.

the akira/emma meeting is nice because it shows you more of emma’s character, but it also gives you more of akira’s stupider (and ruthless) side.

you don’t see him like this very often, but honestly, when you think about all the unsavory jobs he was doing to keep him and aoi afloat way back when, it kind of makes sense. even if he was originally a gentle person, you don’t last doing... any of the jobs he’s done, being that way. even a higher up in a company like SOL tech would have to be a bit harsher to get to that point imo. i don’t see a lot of people talk about this side of akira’s character tbh which makes me kind of sad.

also, seriously, he’s an idiot. how did he arrive at this conclusion? when he saw that it was aoi who was baiting him into the duel? no matter what direction i approach this from, i can’t understand how he ended up on that conclusion lol.

also, the worst father ever award goes to....

seriously! i hate that man so much lmao. to say that directly to your own child, on top of everything else...

it’s a nice look into revolver, too, though you wouldn’t know it at first glance. his reply says everything, though. he fully accepts his role in his father’s life and has an incredibly toxic attachment to him, and wants his approval more than anything. we never see him get physically abused by kogami or anything of the sort, but you can’t deny the mental anguish he must’ve been going through in order to keep on his father’s good side. 

i know a lot of people like to say that revolver is kind of not a great guy, seeing the tower of hanoi arc, and how he probably should’ve went to jail etc etc but really, he was manipulated hard core. and extremely suicidal. i could really talk a lot about this all day, but i’ll cut myself off and instead say how much i love how vrains sets up revolver as a character. this, combined with “i’ll fulfill your wishes, father” from episode 3 gives you his motivations nice and clearly, but this specific scene also gives a bit of a hint as to where his character arc goes and what he has to work through. just thinking about this makes me so excited to get to 116 again lmao.

anyways, though. another excellent exchange comes up. seriously, lmao, ai being like “waaaah that’s illegal !!!!” and kusanagi’s just very casual 

makes me laugh every time i see it. they are criminals, even if what they’re doing is for the greater good. they’re not exactly innocent here lmao.

then there’s the talk about the virus infecting her, and it’s a nice way to bring up how that works before the another arc comes up in.. a couple of episodes, right? tbh it’s the arc i remember the least about, so i’m looking forward to rewatching it.

actually though, the idea of viruses in LV being able to infect someone’s body is so, so interesting. i really, really wish they had done more with the whole LV/rl merge idea, but guess i’ll just have to write more fanfic instead lol.

i mentioned at the beginning of this post we get into yusaku as a character more here, and this is one of the lines that really made him interesting to me originally:

he has such a strong sense of justice, but what sets him apart from other ygo protags is that he is not defined by it. he’s not the classic, stereotypical do-gooder who gets caught up in something and has to make it right, his justice is more so that he is not okay with seeing other people hurt because of what happened to him. his justice is driven by his trauma, almost entirely.

revolver even brings it up this episode:

where he talks about how some rando wouldn’t have done them any good because it wouldn’t have been public enough. yusaku doesn’t really care about the little people, not in the same way, say, yugi would. it’s not that he wants them to be hurt or see them get hurt or anything, it’s just that unless it effects him directly, it’s not on his radar. but once he gets involved, he feels fully responsible.

while he didn’t plant the hanoi virus into her, he probably knows it was to intentionally draw him out thanks to ai (and the fact that he beats them up all the time). he feels fully responsible for what happened to her, and he’s prepared to do what is needed to make it right again.

i really like yusaku for this. i find those kinds of characters really interesting, and yusaku is no exception. 

we get the whole emma/blue angel/yusaku scene, which is pretty sick tbh looking at it again - just shoot a church straight up from the ground for dramatic effect! - and i’ll bring up more of akira’s ruthlessness here.

seriously, this is not a line from someone who is just angry about his sister. and it’s also him being fuckin DUMB. playmaker willingly lets himself get caught into your trap, and he tells akira straight up what he has to do to save his sister - no sugar coating it, no trying to make it cryptic or difficult despite being caught in that hand and in that trap. he’s incredibly honest, and akira still does this lmao.

then it’s probably the wildest turn of events in all of vrains:

where’s that post that’s like, “remember when playmaker gets caught in a gothic looking church while he’s getting tormented by a giant demon hand controlled by his classmate’s brother and then his rival who he hasn’t met yet shows up in a lightning bolt to save him”? bc really LMAO what the fuck. it was so hype watching it the first time, and it’s still awesome watching it back.

and why is this never really??? brought up again later???? and when he leaves in that datastorm to go prepare to fight playmaker LMAO i know it’s supposed to look cool but the animation is so dorky, i love it. 

more on yusaku, though. before playmaker goes to fight revolver, who he’s been gearing towards for awhile now, we get this exchange:

to which playmaker responds with “i don’t hate you. i only hate the knights of hanoi”. which is another really good moment for his early characterization and very, very consistent with his backstory that we find out in about 12 episodes.

everyone who wasn’t involved in the LI in any way just... exists to him. they’re completely neutral. if something happens to them because of him, he feels directly responsible, because he feels like he got them tangled up in a mess that nobody should be in. i mentioned that briefly earlier, but this really drives that point home.

he doesn’t even hate akira for torturing him mere minutes ago. because he’s been through worse. because akira was doing what he thought was right by his sister, no matter how stupid he was being.

and even more so than that, he’s not seeing this as fighting for akira. he feels responsible for blue angel, but also, here’s his chance to fight revolver. it’s a two birds one stone situation here for him. 

anyways, i’m gonna stop myself there lol this is really long OOPS. gotta take care of a few things, and then onto the first rev vs playmaker duel!

[cryptrat]

Clone decks are cool and fun.

In this post, I will be discussing my motivations for playing clones and then discussing the specific cards which I feel best fit these motivations. Even if clones themselves are not your cup of tea, please read the first part about why I am drawn to them. Those motivations may resonate with you and each has a category of cards beyond clones which are attractive for deck building at large.

Magic at its core is a vehicle we use to enjoy ourselves. There are many routes to enjoyment but that is the goal. In our time using this vehicle there is a huge swath of nuanced factors affecting our decisions both in-game and deck building. Mana bases, consistency, personal interests both temporary and long-term, the local meta, the community at large, individual deck constraints, philosophical goals, power level targets, budget and more. It is hard to encapsulate everything at once and so we often develop general heuristics. As everyone’s experience and constraints are different, your mileage may vary and your own heuristics may lead you to a different place. That’s fine. Do what makes you happy, preferably with like-minded players.

With that said, let’s begin with reasons why I favor clones.

As a general note: I will be drawing from my experience with a clone-themed deck as opposed to a deck with a couple clones in it. Individually, a clone is able to fill these motivations on a card level, but a deck that is structured around ~6 clones will play fundamentally different, feeling more free to use them as they’re drawn. Additionally, I will only be focusing on clones that have the option of copying opponents’ spells. For reference, here is my bant clones list, though absent is the context and commentary including philosophical reasons for specific card decisions.

Motivation: Significantly Increased Replayability

Among the decks I’ve built, some of them just don’t have the replay value since they boil down to doing the same thing every game. The worst of these offenders was a Jund deck that had almost no interesting or enjoyable plays and was just a tutor recurring chain to set up a Necrotic Ooze combo. The deck built from scraps after it was significantly more interesting and while it had a systemic problem, the deck I built from the premise I found has continued into being one of my favorite and longest-lasting decks.

Clones have the capacity to be anything, making each game capable of playing out in different ways that are unpredictable at deck-building time. Every game. Every opponent. Every new deck they build is another experience to sample from, making the deck a different experience from one game to the next. Other parts of my philosophy may augment my plays and deck-building to enhance this aspect, but the themselves clones are what makes much of it possible.

Further, I’ve been happy to discover that the deck provides that same added variety across longer expanses of time. As new sets are released and people brew with the cool new cards, clones give you the option to sample them without having made any changes to the deck. I first noticed this when copying the newly printed Panharmonicon from one deck which happened to synergize with what I was doing.

Other cards in this space, leveraging the variability of opponents to increase replayability. A short list of examples include Animate Dead, Mind Control, and Praetor’s Grasp, all of which have variants themselves. My philosophical heuristics suggest playing clones instead of mind control effects due how bad it feels to have something taken compared to the validating feeling of having something worth copying: the table has more net positive vibes with a clone than a theft.

The deck persisting across time and staying fresh despite minimal changes also makes the deck cost efficient when looking at it through the lens of money spent vs time played. Short-lived decks, while possibly cheaper, wouldn’t necessarily fare as well on this metric. This leads into the next point:

Motivation: Accessible Power on a Budget

Certain specific clones are more expensive than others, but as a group, clones tend to be fairly inexpensive, especially so when compared to things you can copy with them. Their ability to become powerful cards on a budget makes them cost effective sources of power. You’re able to copy the strongest threats available, possibly ones outside of your budget, often getting a discount on mana in addition to that monetary savings. If you have spare budget as a result, that can be spent improving other aspects of your deck.

This premise of this category is large enough for its own series, which many people already make content for. The general pattern I’ve found is that any time a card doubles the effect of another card or whenever something moves cards between zones in any direction (hand, library, graveyard, battlefield), it will tend to scale the more effectively with your available card pool than those that don’t. These zone-moving cards tend to be the ultimate sources of budget power as a result and have the power to open up plays. Tutors, card flow, recursion and removal are the biggest categories, but in this case, flicker effects and clones double up on enters the battlefield triggers.

Motivation: Scaling up to Powered Decks

This typically goes hand-in-hand with the previous point, having cards which scale to the power level of opposing players is important for helping to smoothen out the rough variance of power level disparity that a table can have. A clone is able to approximate the power level of an Avacyn or Consecrated Sphinx, should an opponent deploy one. Clones inherently lack the synergistic context of the cards being played in their home decks (which may lead other opponents to leave yours on the table while destroying the original, especially if your deck is weaker than the home deck), but even so, you can reach upward when playing against more threatening decks, where other creatures while definitely still solid, may fail to scale.

This is especially important given my philosophical constraints on certain kinds of power level and play experience, allowing me to play things like Seedborn Muse and Eternal Witness, but only when someone else at the table already decided to do so.

Another end of my philosophical framework is that clones are generally less oppressive than non-variable creatures against decks weaker than yours since they don’t have an inherent proactive use outside of creatures that already exist. Ultimately this is comes down to the deck that they’re played in and whether they have a baseline synergy with other cards in the deck.

Motivation: Scaling from Early to Late Game

Clones are the epitome of flexibility so harping on it a third time should not be a surprise. Here, I’m focusing on the ability of a clone card to have variable utility in the different stages of a single game. I’ll use one game as a concrete example:

In one game, I played a couple of clones early as copies of Solemn Simulacrum to develop my mana base. Later on, I was able to recur those clones and reset them as copies of Angel of Serenity to take over the board and press for damage in the air.

The scaling of utility over time is something only a small percentage of cards have, but it’s a core feature of cards I find appealing in commander. This is perhaps a fundamental feature of my favorite cards. In limited, this category often manifests as mana sinks, but commander has the wider card pool so it will show up in a wider variety of forms than might initially be obvious.

Kiora’s Follower is my preferred example for the sake of simplicity. On turn 2 you can play it to act like a signet by untapping a land. Later on, you draw Sol Ring or a Simic Growth Chamber, so it starts to produce two mana instead of one. Later still, you find Enclave Cryptologist and suddenly the Follower is tapping to draw cards or give your big voltron vigilance. Most harmoniously, this pattern works regardless of whether you draw Kiora’s Follower first or if you top deck it later when those other pieces are already in play. Compare that to the signet it was replacing when you top deck it and the power scaling becomes immediately clear. Even something like Sylvan Reclamation fits this category: finding a land in your starting hand and being a powerful removal spell when drawn or recurred later.

This category of cards produces the best game play, because they fight the inherent problem of card games has: You cannot control the order in which you draw the pieces. By scaling in power at each point in the game, it doesn’t matter when you draw the pieces and the pieces will tend to just be stronger overall as the game progress. This category probably also deserves its own series if for no other reason to find and list the rare times cards cleanly have this play pattern.

Now that I have discussed reasons why clones are desirable for play, I will discuss a handful of clones which I find most favorable for deck building and then discuss related cards that play well with clones, especially when clones are a noticeable percentage of deck space.

[ Clever Impersonator ]

Obviously starting here because it can copy anything. This lets you try whatever new card is played. It has the most flexibility which also lets it stay relevant when playing against decks that are heavily non-creature based. Often there will be an enchantment or artifact you can get value out of so it should never be dead. I suspect this most often gets played with the intention of doubling a crucial combo piece, but even there, it has the opportunity to make cool copies in the moment.

[ Phyrexian Metamorph ]

This is in a similar space since it can also copy artifacts. Costing less allows it to often approximate a mana rock on turn three which reduces the number of games when it’s dead in your hand early on. Being an artifact makes it a little bit easier to destroy, recur, and reset as something more useful as the game progresses. Being an artifact also makes it generally synergistic when included in certain decks as it is.

[ Stunt Double ]

Having flash lets you trigger enter the battlefield effects at the moment when they’re needed, approximating a flicker effect. It also provides you with a surprise blocker, or on end step, a surprise threat with pseudohaste. The flash really is a substantial upgrade since it can provide inherent card advantage due to the timing of its play. On top of that, players will have already committed some of their resources to other plays and not have as much of an opportunity to react to what you do with a copy they hadn’t anticipated.

[ Phantasmal Image ]

Two mana for a copy is an excellent rate. It most likely won’t survive to be a threat on its own and can’t be flickered but copying a trigger for two is a very solid rate depending on the effect you’re getting. Being a creature makes it significantly easier to recur than the spell variations. The cost reduction typically pairs well with recursion effects since you’ll be able to play it during the same turn more easily than the other clones, which tend to cost four or more.

[ Gigantoplasm ]

This clone is underrated. The X ability solves a fundamental problem of clones: their lack of being a reliable, proactive threat. This can come in as a Reclamation Sage to handle a threat and then morph to a 10/10 later in the game without the need for a flicker effect or a better clone target. The nuances of cloning clones allow this option onto further clones of it (though each of them will need the X activation paid to achieve this benefit; it’s worth learning the gritty details in this case).

[ Body Double ]

This is the only blue way to recur creatures that have died. Being a Rise from the Grave in creature form also allows it to feed off opposing graveyards, typically giving you more options than a normal clone, and often better options since the strongest creatures usually eat removal first. As with Clever Impersonator, having a different play pattern is important. If your deck has a high percentage of generic clones, a heavy enchantment deck won’t give you many options for things to copy, as an example.

[ Faerie Artisans ]

While not strictly in the space of clones, this does make copies of opponents creatures and can be a fun minigame to play. It does play well with the flicker effects that clones already like, since the faerie will become a new object and unlinked from the now permanent token that it has created.

[ Sculpting Steel ]

Hitting artifacts typically makes this the most narrow, though as with Phyrexian Metamorph, it usually can be a mana rock in the worst case. Playing WITH metamorph and the artisans also provides the opportunity of to copy artifact versions of creatures that the other two copy.

[ Mimic Vat ]

This also is not a clone strictly speaking, but like clones, it does tap into the same sort of space. It plays best with ETB triggers, but I’m also highlighting it here since, in addition to playing in the clone space, it is a soft way to disrupt graveyard decks. Separate sections of my philosophy makes me decline hard graveyard disruption like Rest in Peace. While Mimic Vat is softer than something like Rakdos Charm, it thematic to a clone deck and the welcomed incidental disruption does not cost thematic deck space to include (hitting yet another philosophical note).

[ Rite of Replication ]

This is the only spell version of clones I am going to bring up. I generally don’t like these since they require a target and are therefore susceptible to being countered outright if their telegraphed target is destroyed. That makes them far too risky for my tastes in a deck where copying my own creatures is an expected and eventual outcome. Rite of Replication however does have the added benefit of scaling into the late game by providing four extra copies once you hit nine mana. For a clone deck that has trouble finishing the game due to a chunk of creatures having variable utility and power, the instant army this provides, is worth considering. I don’t have a list that includes it yet, but Archaeomancer or Eternal Witness would likely need to appear in the list since recurring spells is comparatively difficult to recurring creatures.

Now that I’ve discussed the clones I favor most, I want to discuss cards that pair well with a deck running several of them. This is fairly straight forward but I’m going to include it for the sake of completion.

Enter the Battlefield Abilities

This category is the critical part of your deck’s core since the clones and these have the same synergy pieces and everything points back to this. The effects you have that are worth copying need to be impactful enough to spend a clone doing, but also varied enough that you have meaningful options. The options are what lets you access their power.

Harmonic Sliver is my favorite example since it’s a Reclamation Sage that is even more effective when cloned: the first clone will destroy an additional two permanents and the second clone will destroy three more on top. This gives a clone deck in these colors the ability to leverage them against decks that are heavily artifact or enchantment focused without devoting too much space to narrow removal of that type (further highlighting the power in the flexibility of clones).

Of special note here are triggers that have a lot of flexibility themselves, allowing you to chain the flexibility of a clone into the added flexibility of your trigger options. Diluvian Primoridal as an example, turns a clone into a variety of spells, potentially ones that aren’t in your colors. Chancellor of the Spires has a similar pattern, but does not exile the spell, allowing repeated clones to perform the same action.

Flicker Effects

Ghostly Flicker on a clone will allow that clone to become something new. It will also trigger enters the battlefield effects again, either on the clone or on the original source of the trigger. Often these sorts of effects can be most useful at responding to critical opposing plays or for protecting a crucial piece from removal. Ghostly Flicker and other versions of the effect that hit multiple creatures can also act as a value engine when an effect like Archaeomancer can recur it in addition to whatever else it’s doing.

Creature Recursion

The clones themselves are creatures, the easiest card type to recur. Several cards in white and black can return them to other zones, allowing you to get additional uses out of them, and due to their flexibility and scaling, this means that when you get a clone back, it can be something else based on the current state of the game.

Recursion generally is something I’m very high on since I also play a lot of looters to fix my draws and the combination of recursion and looting means I always have what I need in the moment. Creature recursion generally has the same sort of pattern as flickering, both resetting creatures and also triggering enters the battlefield effects.

Angel of Serenity is one of my favorite clone targets, hitting all of these points at once. It can deal with threats, it can recur clones, and it’s a chunky flying body, effectively allowing clones to chain and maintain a solid board state while disrupting opponents.

Did I miss any of your favorite clone cards? What are your favorite creatures to clone or cards to play together with clones?

[bewareofchris]

Macaroons and Sex

PG-13 | Bucky/Tony | all Canon events?

a/n so obviously this isn’t a full story, just a bit of fun exploring the idea from this post.  Set directly have the bombing in Civil War, before the other bullshit

VIENNA

Tony had seen men jumping to conclusion before, but he couldn’t pinpoint a finer leap than the one the mass of blustery government men made to get from point a (a grainy bit of security video) to point b (the return of the Winter Soldier).  They could have made a go at Olympic Pole Vaulting, they didn’t even need the poles.

“Wait, wait, wait,” said he, the civilian non-combatant that was only present as a courtesy and a just in case. Tony was a nice smiling face for the public, an important figure in support of the Accords, but he wasn’t there to make choices about what men they were going to kill on sight.  “What software are you using to enhance the footage?”

The technician, sweating bullets in his seat, had never been so offended in the whole of his short professional career.  Here was a young man with integrity, a young man with morals, a young man that had just uncovered the sort of thing that made a career. Here was a man who was going to sail by for weeks never having to buy a drink, retelling the story of how he’d enhanced that video you saw on the news.  He’d brought down the Winter Soldier, the notorious Hydra assassin. 

“Do you have something useful to add, Mr. Stark?”  The fussy little man to his direct left was something of an intermediary, the man that was here like a placeholder for men who knew more about these sorts of things.  This was another man working to make his career be more memorable than his current record of sixteen trips from his desk to the company water cooler in a single day.  

Tony had something of great significance to add; it was just that he wasn’t about to go off and throw gasoline on this pile of bullshit.  “Get me someone with clearance, someone that—  If I find out that you,” he pointed at the sweaty technician making puddles in his seat, “leaked this footage to the press?”  He didn’t add a threat because men were good enough at threatening themselves. “And you, Hagget, get me someone in charge.  I’ve got to make a phone call.”

--

It was two phone calls, actually.  The first one to Natasha, doing a credible impersonation of a person who couldn’t be rattled by something as simple as near death by bombing. “Why are you calling me?”

“I was concerned?”  

“Why are you really calling?”

Oh, well, because he knew Steve’s phone number but he needed just a little time, just a tiny, insignificant bit of time left before he had to go through the whole pleasant ordeal of talking to the man. Because he’d always preferred to rip the bandage off in one go rather than drawing it out.  “I need Steve, find him and convince him to meet me.  I’ll text you the address.”

“Steve is at a funeral.”

The TV was interrupting their conversations to announce breaking news.  The drippy technician had abandoned his seat in search of towels (or shelter), and there was no way to stop the shitstorm that was about to follow.  “Someone’s framing Bucky, Natasha.  Get to Steve before he does something we can’t fix.”  

If Natasha wanted to know more (and she always did) she didn’t have the opportunity to ask before he hung up the phone.

--

The second one started like this, “oh hi honey,” said with a smile, in front of an audience of nosy ears and big-fat-eyes, all of them hoping to find out something worth repeating.  (Whatever happened to integrity in this day and age?  Whatever happened to keeping secrets that needed keeping?)

“I’m watching the news.”  Bucky had a quality to his voice, this unique quietness that came out when he experienced stress that hit too close to his chest.  It was the sound of a man who had no hope of escaping his past, the one that knew he had a bomb strapped to his chest.  “So, are you calling to ask me if I did it?  Or to tell me to go quietly when the taskforce gets here?”

Tony was too smart to ask either.  Smart enough to have security cameras and smart enough to know that even if it were in Bucky’s best interest he wouldn’t go down without a fight.  That was just animal instinct.  “I think it’s about time we shared the good news.”

Bucky was sighing, probably shaking his head, probably trying to work out exactly how they’d gotten here from where they started.  How they could have ended up on opposites sides of a transatlantic call, watching the same news footage splash plausible theories as facts across the screen.  “Steve’s not going to like this.”

“I’ve taken care of that.”

“I didn’t mean me the frame up—which,” verged on being impressed, “is a very good job.  I meant the good news—are you being watched?”

“All the time,” Tony answered.  “I’ll call you back.”

“Watch your face,” Bucky said.

--

The man in charge, the man with clearance, the man that Tony had demanded to talk to was Everett K Ross (no relation, just unfortunate coincidence) a man who stood an impressive five foot seven and used every inch to convey fight me.  The rest of the room was filler, secretaries and agents and—

Natasha leading Steve in like a misbehaving mule.  The idiot was carrying a hat crushed in his fist, with sunglasses folded into the neckline of his shirt.  Behind him was his new best friend, looking like the two of them had just been doing the least credible version of acting casual any two people could possibly have managed.  Natasha left them near an easy exit, put her hands on Tony’s arm to pull his attention sideways so she could whisper, “I hope you appreciate how difficult it was to get him here, what the hell are you doing?”

Tony was ripping off the bandage.  “If I could get your attention—this won’t take very long at all, if I could just get everyone to look here.  Miss—if you could put down the palm pilot, and you if you could look up from the phone, right so—  James Barnes did not bomb the UN Complex.  You’ve got the wrong man.”

That was met with various responses, confusion, outrage, a wide assortment of slow blinks and sideglances.  They made the rounds, people trying to figure out how Tony could possibly have known but none of them more confused and angrier about this announcement than Everett K. Ross himself.  “I’m sorry, how could you possibly know that?”

Cap might have been more confused, but he wasn’t angrier. He was holding that in, waiting to see where this was going to go.  

“For one, this video,” Tony said.  “That can’t be admissible in court.  What program did you use to enhance that?  It’s just filling in the spaces it can’t make out clearly.  We see half his face?  That could be anyone.”

“It could be James Buchanan Barnes, the Winter Soldier, a Hydra Agent that specialized in— 

(There was Cap’s anger, like indignant indigestion, coming up from his gut.)

“It really couldn’t have been,” Tony said.  (No, and why was that.) 

“Why?” Mr. Ross asked.  “If you don’t have a good, viable, intelligent reason why it couldn’t have been him we are going to proceed from this point under the assu—” 

Well that would have been outcome even less ideal than the one they found themselves in at the moment.  The whole room was full of men that were dying to know what he was going to say, a great sea of eyes staring right at his face, but Tony was looking back at Steve.  Right at his stupid face (right at the man who still hadn’t told him what he’d found out about how Tony’s parents died).  Tony lifted his phone just high enough to be sure it had been successful in establishing a link to all the screens in the room, he flicked it forward to broadcast the signal he’d queued up.   

There it was.  Repeated on every screen around the room, cell phones and computer screens and TVs, there was Bucky fucking Barnes, with an empty chip bag on the table in front of the couch, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees, watching the imposter on the news replaying over-and-over-and over. 

“Because I found Mr. Barnes eight months ago.  That’s my penthouse in New York, real time footage.  I don’t now who bombed the UN, but it wasn’t him.” 

Everett K. Ross was speechless, searching for a way to express you’re harboring a war criminal and well fuck me I was wrong and we have no idea whose responsible.  His anger was cooling off as his confusion overheated. 

But Steve, oh Steve was looking at Tony like a man who was plotting the perfect murder. 

(Watch your face, Bucky had said.)  Tony thumbed the screen to kill the feed and cleared his throat, “so,” he said.  “Maybe we should figure out who is responsible.”

[httpsung]

A Series of Monsters

pairing: reader x jungkook x jimin x yoongi

genre: thriller, supernatural/mythological monsters! au

word count: 3,924

note: it’s been a while since I’ve worked on something new so my feelings are a bit mixed with posting this, feedback is greatly appreciated! Tagging @jungee

description: the beginning of all things unexplainable happens the one night you decide to live for once...

The typical chitter-chatter of young adults soothed his ears the moment he entered the halls of his campus. The conversations, usually dull and not of his taste proved to be comforting this time as he sauntered his way to his classroom. Those meaningless words spoken by his peers were ten times better than the hissing of voices that raked his mind every now and then, whispering chilling declarations of someone’s impending death, which could invoke a scream so piercing to claw its way out of his throat if he let them get the best of him.

They’ll die soon.

But why should he care? He was often late to the scene of the crime, the voices in his mind leading him too many times too late to save anyone from an unsightly end. So why listen? Especially if he was no help at all and especially when he could live without seeing an excessive amount of blood. “Jungkook over here!” His eyes lifted to meet a male who called out to him, just down the hall near the classroom he frequented three times a week. This person might be the only one in his two years of attending university that he called friend.

“Hey.” He answered back with a wave of his hand. Jungkook’s lips began to tilt into a small smile, only to drop when he felt a body crash into him accidentally, losing their balance and scattering to pick up their things.

His dark irises settled on the girl who quickly apologized and hurried off, her features burning into his mind with a sharp twinge digging at his heart. Something wasn’t right.

“Hey Jungkook you okay man?” His friend now behind him asked, hand resting on Jungkook’s shoulder to get his attention. “Oh, yeah…I’m good.” He lied, turning away from her figure that continued to rush in the distance, ignoring the sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.

It was at least two hours into the morning and he’s in his second lecture of the day, eyes glazed over and fixated on a quick sketch that had his heart pounding at the scene he’d subconsciously drawn.

There she was, the girl from earlier lying on a bed helplessly bloodied with two dark figures representing the culprits of her death, and here it was the harbingering yell aching to tear through his lips, signifying a death soon to come. Jungkook immediately stood from his seat, the metallic sound of his chair scraping against the hard-wooden floor interrupting his professor’s words and drawing attention to him as he hurried out the door to the nearest bathroom as if to hold in vomit or something viler, threatening to escape.

Swallowing back something hard Jungkook let go ragged breaths, shaky hands gripping the edge of a marbled sink while he gathered his composure. Beads of sweat formed along his forehead, salty droplets trickling down his nose. This may have been the worst premonition he’s ever faced, a feeling more awful than the rest and one that motivated him to put forth an effort to change it. With his last deep exhale, he took a glimpse at himself in the mirror, guiding his nimble fingers over the reflection of his mouth which were in stitches, reminding him that no matter how much he tried to blend into this world he won’t be able to avoid his fate much longer.

You were prepared for the night to be like every other night in your apartment. Your roommate would be out with her friends studying as she liked to call it, though you knew she was partying it up and living a life you never imagined for yourself.

Your nights consisted of the same activities ever since you began college. It didn’t matter if homework came first or a nice shower, after it all you were going to end up on the couch with snacks aligned, enjoying some of your favorite animation and that was so much better than wasting the nights around people you had no interest in.

“Not tonight!” You heard the high-pitched voice of your roomie entering the living room, interrupting your show. She took in your appearance, hands on her hips, front teeth sinking into her lower lip. Your hair was a mess on top of your head, feet covered in big cozy slippers and over-sized pajamas hanging off your frame. It was a staring contest between the two of you until you decided to ask her what she meant with a raise of your brow and a bag of unopened chips fiddling between your fingers.

“Not tonight...?” You urged for her continue, the faster she told you what was up the faster you could get back to enjoying the television. “You’re coming out with us tonight Y/n… you promised to let loose for once and let me show you a good time.” She beamed at you with a grin you could never fully trust.

“I don’t recall.” Your answer was immediate, quick and cold as you plopped backwards onto a pillow, propping your slippers on the arm of the sofa. “You promised me last week!” She whined and stood in front of your face, fingers reaching for her cellphone with proof of the words you seemed to forget, seven days ago, to be exact.

You sat up, mouth settled to protest but the look she gave you and the constant replaying of your recorded words made you sigh and stand up without much of a fight. It looked as though tonight wasn’t going to be like every other night and surely you weren’t prepared for the events that were about to unfold. Within forty-five minutes you were staring at yourself in a mirror, seemingly unrecognizable thanks to the make-up you were wearing. It wasn’t heavy but just right, it was amazing how different you looked. If you were a different person you would enjoy getting dolled up more often, sporting petite dresses to keep the attention of others with maybe a guy or two following your every step. But you weren’t a different person and that was fine but at least for the night you could at least try to be.

“Where are we going exactly?” You spoke over several voices coming from your bedroom, your roommate and her friends waiting for you to exit, to get the show on the road and head out to god knows where. “A club!” There was one girl, too enthusiastic for her own good who answered you promptly and gushed over her next words. “There’s this night club, kind of sophisticated I must say with live music performed by the man of my dreams.” Her giggle had your eyes rolling. This wasn’t the first time you heard of such a place, your roomie regularly informed you about some guy singing at a club she liked, his voice making the gals go crazy though you doubted he was that good and assumed he was mediocre at best.

“Nice...” You tried to sound excited as you exited, receiving a thumbs-up of approval over your look before getting dragged out the front door in seconds. It hadn’t been a full ten minutes since you left your apartment and you were already missing the comfortable couch, wishing you didn’t have to sit crammed in a taxi full of strongly perfumed girls, to a setting you’ve only been to a couple times in your life and both weren’t great experiences. Before you knew it, you were losing track of how much time passed and becoming immersed in the city’s scenery. The dark sky was lit beautifully by skyscrapers peeks and the streets were bustling with bodies hurrying home or to dinner at the late hour.

“We’re here!”

You didn’t notice the car had stopped, your roommate disrupting your view as she waved for you to exit the cab while the rugged driver cleared his throat signaling for you leave as well.

“Thanks sir.” You sighed and stepped out, low heels clicking behind hurried ones, entering a nice establishment with a smooth melody of music grazing your ears.

There were a lot of people around, at the bar if not on the dance floor and you were thankful to find a lot of seats available, planting your butt into one of them as quick as you could. You were sure your roomie and her friends would wonder away from you as soon as possible but were pleasantly surprised to see them sit at the same table, calling over a bottle of alcohol to kick off the fun.

“The shows about to start.” She winked at you, handing over a glass of dark liquid. “Looking forward to it…” You lied, fixating your eyes on the stage and knocking out the bitter beverage in one gulp.

Ten minutes passed and you found yourself anticipating something to happen, there were so many women seated around you now and it made you curious to see what this performer was all about. You noticed a few ladies squirming in their seats before a tune began to play, a few on edge as if they were ready to pounce on the person about to take center stage. The sudden drop of lights in the venue left the room barely dim, startling you almost to the point of choking on your liquor. The subtle sound of a violin began to echo in the air, lingering beautifully while the strings of a guitar followed. A mess of lavender tresses is what you noticed first about him, well-designed clothing clinging to his body, shirt opened to give a tease of smooth olive flesh. You were expecting to lock on his eyes next but they were covered, completely blindfolded as he gripped the mic stand before him, licking his plump lips before singing.

Captivated, you were sure you wouldn’t be, he couldn’t have been that great from what all the other girls were saying, but you were wrong. His voice was like honey, it was suave and sweet but what you were most interested in was his eyes. What did they look like? He couldn’t perform the entire time blindfolded, could he? It was as if he read your mind because in seconds one hand of his gripped the velvety fabric and pulled it off, revealing a pair of blue irises that seem to glow. Your heart began to flutter, a rush of warmth heating up your typically cool demeanor. You were becoming entranced, just like everyone around you and it didn’t help that his eyes seem to linger on you alone.

It was odd to say you felt a connection so soon, but you did. It was strange that you were so influenced by his singing that you didn’t want him to stop and the thoughts of leaving with him raced through your mind. When his performance was over he simply smirked before exiting the stage swiftly, leaving the women to scream with applause. He was nowhere in sight but it was as if his voice was trapped in your head, keeping your heart jittering in your chest, making you long to see him once more.

“He was great, right?” You were nudged by your roommate who had the biggest grin as if she watched you become undone at the performance. “His name is Jimin by the way, he performs here almost every night.” She added as she stood to head off to the dance floor. “He was alright…” You finally replied though she probably didn’t hear you.

“Jimin...” His name rolled easily off the tip of your tongue, a name you could get use to saying repeatedly. You poured yourself what was left of the alcohol at your table, switching your view to the others in the building, a dark-haired fellow with a twisted smile coming into the view. It appeared he was looking straight at you and the moment you blinked he disappeared.

“May I sit here?” An unfamiliar voice asked from behind you, it was soft and had you turning around to meet Jimin himself, staring down at you with a pleasant smile on his lips.

“S-sure.” You stammered, cursing yourself in your head. Though he was right in front of you and speaking, you could still hear that song of his dancing in and out of your ears. “I’m Jimin... and you are?” He held his hand out to you once he was seated and you didn’t hesitate to accept it as if you had no control over your limb.

“Y/n…” You gave a light smile. “Lovely name, I haven’t seen you around before so I must say I’m a little intrigued by your presence.” He chuckled. His words made your heart skip a beat. “Are you saying you see the same women here all the time?” You asked with a raise of your brow. “Just about.” He sat back in his seat with a laugh, even that was melodic. Interesting.

You spent what seemed like forever conversing with Jimin, taking notice of every little action and gesture he made and whilst still hearing his song as if it was surrounding you and drawing you into him. After a few more drinks, you were surprised at yourself for accepting his invitation to leave the club and have some fun elsewhere. It was like you were in a trance, following behind him, his hand gently gripping yours, the environment around you fading to black.

It was easy.

Once again, he had hooked another victim and lured her away to become prey to him plus one more. She would be the most beautiful feast for his companion, the best-looking woman he had brought home to his temporary residence in a long time. It was a shame that such a stunning girl was about to meet her demise but it was against his nature if she didn’t. Jimin locked eyes with her vacant irises, they were a beautiful shade lacking a lot of light thanks to his little spell. Right now, she was lost in his voice, a beautiful song that sung sweet nothings into her ears without him parting his lips.

Nothing less from a siren. She would be trapped in a whirlwind of musical notes unless he decided otherwise.

“We’re almost there love.” He smirked, glancing out the window at the streets momentarily before settling his gaze back on her. She nodded of course, that was the most she could do while dazed.

The car ride ended and Jimin tipped the driver, he slipped his arm around her waist and guided her up several floors by elevator to his shared suite. “Here we are y/n…” Jimin simpered sliding his card key through the lock and pushing the door open for her to enter first. He was greeted by another male, dark-haired, pale skin and even darker eyes that were hungry.

“Didn’t take long right Yoongi?” Jimin grabbed her hand once again and led her to sit on a couch.

“Tch, you’re a minute too late…” Yoongi replied, his eyes fixed on the beauty before him. He closed his eyes and tilted his head back, inhaling a scent. It was not of the sweet-scented perfume that wavered off her body but what lied inside her, a soul waiting to be his.

“She looks almost too good to eat.” Yoongi hummed as he approached her, slipping his finger under her chin and tilting her head upward just a bit. “Let’s have some fun darling, it’ll be quick.” He flashed her a gummy smile and she nodded, a muted yes slipping past her lips.

You were a puppet, that’s what it felt like, no control over your body, following your heart and lost the man that was Jimin. His voice was comforting as it sung to you, confirming that everything would be okay and that Yoongi was just as safe. Both men were beautiful, hypnotizing you with a pair of ominous black and fluorescent blue eyes. You were guided to a bedroom, your surroundings becoming a bit hazy, body numbing. But the pair of lips connecting with yours was fresh and sent a jolt coursing through your system for a split second then everything felt as though you were floating, like you were being detached, as if your soul was leaving your body. Maybe this was a good way to die.

He ran as fast as he could, following the voices in his head, directing him to the beginnings of a crime he could only hope he’d stop on time. The image of the girl he bumped into earlier rushed through his mind a thousand times. She hardly looked at him, yet from that brief encounter she was all he could see. Jungkook stopped in front of a hotel, catching his breath before barging through the doors too impatient to take the glass elevator and settling on the stairs instead. She wasn’t too high up, and the minutes were quickly ticking by. His heart kept sinking by the second and the moment he made it to the floor he sensed she was on, he kicked up his speed and stopped at the door. Jungkook took a deep breath in and tried to keep his composure, slipping on the hood of his jacket over his head and raising his hand to knock.

“Are you alright sir?” A voice from behind startled him, making his fist clench. “I uh…” Jungkook turned around slowly in fear of being suspected that he didn’t belong where he was. When he noticed a young male with a walkie talkie in hand he fixed his lips with the assumption that he was some sort of management or security.

“I seemed to have lost my card key and my phone is locked in my room, think you can open this up for me...?” He swallowed hard after his question, nervousness shooting through his veins, he was running out of time. The male answered immediately. “Sure, no problem sir. We’ll get you a new card key as well.”

Jungkook sighed in relief as the gullible gentlemen opened the door, and hurried away to get a new key sorted out. This was it. Any more delay could result in a failure. He hurried inside, eyes quickly scanning his surroundings. The suite was big and elegant, so it was someone with a lot of money about to commit a horrible act. Jungkook tensed when he heard a light moan coming from the other room, feet swiftly moving in that direction. His doe eyes widened at the sight of the girl limply in the arms of a black-haired man, a visible light slowly passing from her lips to his.

Demon. He was eating her soul.

“Hey, who are you...?” A light voice came from behind. With quickness Jungkook turned around and hit the one behind him, fist connecting with his nose before hurrying over and snatching the dark-haired male off the girl he came to save. The white of Yoongi’s eyes changed black, his voice leaving his throat in a raspy growl. “Jimin who the hell is this?!” He snapped.

Jimin stood up carefully, wiping blood from his nose, blue eyes glowing. Jungkook grabbed the girl in his arms, she was unconscious but still alive with cheeks flushed. Yoongi inched closer to Jungkook and so did Jimin. “Listen little man, you’re ruining a nice meal here, just hand her over and we won’t have to hurt you too bad.” Jimin sighed, cracking his knuckles. “I don’t want to get these clothes too dirty anyway.”

Jungkook’s heart pounded against his chest as he cradled her tightly to him, taking a deep breath in he released an ear-piercing scream, stunning the two and making them quiver to the ground beneath their feet. While his ear-splitting voice lingered in the air he used the opportunity to escape with her in his arms unscathed.

The sun’s warmth woke you the next morning, light rays tickling your skin. You stretched your arms above your head and sat up, groggy and a bit hung over. You felt relieved to be awake from the weirdest dream that seemed almost too real for your liking, the men in it were beautiful but there was no way they could even exist in your reality. It took you sometime to feel your best again, but not too long that you couldn’t make it out your front door and on your way to class.

“Hey Y/n!” Your roommate could be heard chasing you down campus halls. “Great news! My boyfriend asked me to move in with him this morning.” She squealed, clinging onto your arm. “That means I’ll be out of your hair and snuggling every night with my honey.” She beamed. Her words circled around your head, the realization of her not sharing a place with you anymore was too good to be true, but it also brought about a new issue. Who was going to help you pay rent?

It had been a few days since Jungkook saved your life from the demon and his companion and he tried his hardest to keep away from you to avoid any triggering memories and to keep his heart from thumping out of control. He sighed to himself after avoiding your presence in the hallway, eyeing a letter on the college bulletin board:

Looking for a new roommate, rent and details of the apartment to be discussed! Call: #82-2-987-5432

He furrowed his brow at the vagueness of the letter but took it down anyway. Jungkook was looking for a new place to stay, growing tired of living in a dorm and willing to try anything to get out of the small room he shared with two others. He dialed the number in between classes, freezing momentarily at the female voice he heard over the phone. It was familiar but he couldn’t pinpoint where he recognized it from at that moment. The conversation was quick but he got the address, promising to show up after his classes had ended for the day to check the place out.

He found the apartment with ease later that day, just a block away from the university. The area seemed noiseless, already better than his current residence. Jungkook made his way up to the right door, ear phones hanging from his ears and donning a black hood over his head. His fist gave the door several knocks, waiting patiently for someone to answer him, “Hello?” He felt confused, he was sure she would be here now. When he knocked again he was surprised to see the door slightly move, his mind wondering if he should just enter.

“Um... excuse me...?” He cleared his throat peeking into the apartment, his eyes widening at the sight before him. There sat the demon and the siren he fought with just days ago, panic settling in his system. The two gestured him a smile, approaching footsteps from a different direction grabbing his attention and theirs.

There she was.

You heard faint knocking through your headphones, curious to if you were simply hearing things until you remembered you were expecting a possible new roomie to share your home with. It was a male who sounded very promising from the brief conversation you had with him earlier and you couldn’t wait to talk with him. When you entered the living room you froze upon seeing three different males gazing back at you and each of their faces triggering your brain with faint memories.

[skeletorific]

Every single Undertale ask you haven't answered yet. Heck even the ones you have.

I’m putting a hecking read more line because that’s a lot of shit

1. Who’s your favourite character from UT? Excluding the skeleton bros its Undyne. I love her I love her I love her she reminds me or Erza from Fairy Tail and did I mention I love her?

2. Who’s your least favourite character from UT? Honestly? Alphys. Its not that I think she’s poorly written (she’s very fleshed out) but I don’t really like characters that I have to feel sorry for. Pity’s not really an emotion I like. Plus she never really apologized to me or Mettaton. She only seemed to be concerned with how she felt. Which I think its important for people with anxiety and guilt to learn how to forgive themselves, but it would have been nice to hear her say sorry.:

4. What’s your favourite quote? Anything out of Flowey’s mouth

5. What’s your favourite soundtrack? Spear of Justice. So pumped up

10. Your first letter to Mettaton was:Leg so hot. Hot hot leg. Leg so hot you fry an egg

11. Your reaction when you saw Omega Flowey for the first time: CONFUSED AND HORRIFIED SCREAMING

12. Your headcanon about Frisk’s gender: Female, but I really don’t give a shit. Mae or gender neutral Frisk is cool too.

13. Which UT character reminds you of yourself? Sans, minus the badass stuff, but with the laziness, fashion sensibilities, and shitty sense of humor

14. Which UT character reminds you of your best friend? My best friend….honestly some bizarre fusion of the River Person and Asriel

15. Would you smooch a ghost? If the right one came along

16. Which UT character would be your best friend? Why? Like I said, Sans and I have a lot in common. I think I’d have an odd friendship with Mettaton if the right circumstances came along. And of course Papyrus.

18. Did you do sth in game you regret? I KILLED UNDYNE

20. Your favourite land in UT and why: (Snowdin, Waterfall or Hotland) Waterfall. The atmosphere and the music were stunning, and I loved the color scheme

21. Your favourite place in UT and why: (Undyne’s house for example) The Judgement Hall. Gorgeous colors, beautiful atmosphere, and I am a sucker for pillars and stained glass.

22. Your headcanon about River person’s gender:…..honestly, not a clue. I’m going genderless.

23. Your headcanon about one of the UT characters:……too many to count. But Undyne is afraid of thunderstorms and copes by going out to fight them.

24. Butterscouch or cinnamon pie? B-scotch, my dude

25. Your opinion/headcanon about six human souls: Not all of them are kids. And they are all salty lil fucks.

26. With who would you go on a date? The dates with Sans were always pretty chill. 

28. Do you wanna have a bad time?….I mean not really

31. Would you want to fall into underground? I think only if I knew I could help them get out. While still being, you know, alive.

32. Describe or draw your undersona: I don’t really have one? When I think about self-insert stuff I tend to just view myself as a human who ended up friends with them on the surface. 

33. One reason why you love UT: Story, characters, writing, unique take on old mechanics

34. One reasom why you hate UT: For a game that’s meant to be replayed a lot the puzzles are repetitive as shit. The steam vent puzzles in Hotland can go fuck themselves. I’m with Papyrus its a shitty place.

36. Your favourite amalgamate: Lemon Bread. I love them for no reason.

37. Your headcanon about Gaster: who do you think Gaster is to Sans and Papyrus? (Father, brother, uncle etc) I’m that basic bitch who lives for Dadster

38. Your opinion about bad puns: This game actually completely changed me. I was a well-known Pun Hater. Now I’m a piece of shit who lives for the groans that follow a particularly bad one 

39. Do you draw fanarts from UT? If yes, then what do you like the most to draw? Can’t draw for shit

40. Which of human souls fits you the most? Patience. I kind of let stuff roll of my shoulders, and prefer to wait for the right moment. I’m also lazy as fuck

41. What would be the first thing you would to show to Sans, Papyrus or the rest of characters in human world? Why? Roombas. Just want to see Undyne and Papyrus gush about it and watch it for hours, Alphys try and reprogram it, Toriel use it to clean the house, Mettaton feeling oddly jealous of the attention its getting, and Sans laying his socks on top of it.

42. Which song reminds you of UT or one of the UT characters? Why? I’ve posted about this before but “Salvonic” reminds me of Frisk after a Genocide run and “Just Gold” by Mandopony makes me think of Chara and Flowey

43. Your opinion on underloid: Haven’t listened to much, but I’m down. I like vocaloid.

44. Do you forgive Asgore for what he’s done? Yeah, I love my Goat Dad, even if he makes poor decisions.

45. Did you pay for Tem’s college? Once, because I’m a filthy cheater and wanted Tem armor.

46. Have you seen any youtube letsplay of UT? Jacksepticeye’s play-throughs are what got me into the game in the first place. I also watched dan and Phil’s.

47. Do you listen to any fanmade songs? If so, then which are your favourite? Yeah dude. I really love the “stronger than You” parodies, and fishy love is my jam.

48. What are your favourite theories? Chara is the narrator

49. Who is your favourite enemy? (Not including boss monsters) Doggo. His yapping face fills me with glee

50. Do you have any headcanons about Chara’s past? (Why they hate humanity, why did they fell to the underground etc) I had a lengthy as fuck backstory written up at one point, but I think they had a neglectful as fuck dad. Not abusive, but he just left them alone and only paid attention when they did something wrong or “earned” his attention. Nobody in their lives did anything, leaving Chara to believe that you can’t trust other people to help you out or care about you. They ended up in the Underground by accident. They were walking late  night, fed up with everything, frustrated, crying and ended up tripping into the hold. What sucked was that they weren’t sure their dad would even notice.

51. Who is your favourite dog? Greater Dog. That little bark noise made the world right for a brief and shining moment

52. What was your reaction to true lab? Fuck this shit I’m out….

53. Your fabourite voice acting: tehrogue does good stuff. And FUCK supershadicx250 and crashboombanger’s Fell Sans’ voice FUCK ME UP RN

54. At the end of pacifist run did you stay with your friends or did you come back to your family? Did anybody actually go back to Frisk’s family? Other than for intellectual curiosity?

55. Who is older - Sans or Papyrus? For some reason regardless of universe I always see Papyrus as the older one.59. Your favourite puzzle: That one with Mettaton in the Dungeon

60. Which battle was the hardest for you? FUCKING WOSHUA I HATE THAT BATTLE I DON’T KNOW WHAT IT IS BUT I CAN’T FIGHT WOSHUA

61. Did you still hate Flowey after you discovered his true indentity? I never hated Flowey.

62. The saddest moment: The God of Hyperdeath begging me to stop trying to abandon him

63. Which ending is your favourite? True Pacifist, obvs.

65. Any post pacifist run headcanons? I love PTA!Sans as much as the next girl but PTA!Papyrus is where its at. Also Alphys is introduced to a whole new world of anime because the only anime that ends up Underground is the crap kind that people throw away.

66. Your favourite NPC: I’m guessing you mean side character? Gerson. Love me some cantankerous old people

67. Humans or monsters? I REFUSE THIS CHOICE

68. The funniest situation: Temmie Village released horrified and manic giggles out of me, but also the date with Papyrus.

69. Skeletonfucker, robotfucker, goatfucker or kinkshaming? *looks at Red*………..kinkshaming (JK total skelefucker)

70. When playing for the first time how many candies did you take? All of them. Fuck da police.

71. Did you kill or spare Flowey at the end of the game? Spared, but hot damn I wanted to kill him.

72. If you had to be one of the main characters, which would you choose? Undyne. I want that hair and muscle tone74. Which character(s) would you like to cosplay? I’m not much of a cosplayer but I wouldn’t mind doing Chara. I’ve kind of got the hair anyways.

[itsfurty]

Here we are in July. Hope everyone has been having a great half of the year and a good summer! Things are exciting in my end with a new job starting soon and will be having me moving halfway across the United States once again. As I prepare my move I figured I'd do another set of reviews. This one has less indie focus than previous entries but I think it'll be just fine. If you want to catch my last post just click here and hopefully my gibberish thoughts and opinions are of some interest. Also I changed these posts to be called Quick Thoughts since my posts aren't really in depth reviews. We'll see if I stick to it.Steamworld DigI’ve already played Steamworld Dig when it came out on the Wii U but I decided to pick it up for the Switch considering how much I enjoy the series and especially its sequel. Well I gotta say, the sequel is better in every single way after replaying this one but I do think the original is still worth your time. The basic premise is you dig. You dig for gems and power stones to upgrade your character so that you can dig faster and through tougher stones. There is a very simple plot with characters that have some personality but it isn’t much to be honest. The visuals are also just okay. To its credit the game was originally a 3ds game and then ported to other platforms. The style looks fine but it gets massively improved upon in future entries. Really the hook here the aspect of digging and gaining new skills as you unlock equipment in test rooms. You’ll unlock a double jump, power drill, and dynamite amongst other skills and items as you play. The test rooms are honestly some of my favorite parts of the game as it makes for some fun quick puzzles and platforming outside of the regular digging you will do. I should mention you will encounter some foes to bash with your pick axe but the combat is just all about holding “A” and dodging any attacks. You will also have to watch out for toxic water, spikes, and some other surprises the deeper in you go.The biggest thing holding the game back is the length and lack of replayability. You can easily clear this around 2 hours and that’s with doing all the test rooms you come across. There are some secret gears to collect in the rooms but it doesn’t add that much extra play time to go through and collect them. Honestly you can skip Steamworld Dig and just go into its sequel. But if you really want to play the game 10 dollars is a decent price but I’m sure during the holidays there will be a decent sale for a more reasonable price.Still it isn’t a bad game, it’s just too little of a game without its truly own identity since it plays so much like the old flash game Motherload. Now if only a sequel to Steamworld Heist would get announced!Price: $9.99 Time played: Less than 3 Hours Verdict: Wait for a sale Flint HookDamn. I really wanted to like Flint Hook but too many aspects just had me wondering why play it over the (personally) better roguelikes out there. I mean visually the game is outstanding. This is the same team behind Mercenary Kings so the pixel art and animations are top of the line. Its colorful, charming, and just fun to look at. The music is also outstanding. The main theme when the game starts up gets me pumped to do a run and has me forgetting all the reasons I didn’t enjoy this game but then I start playing it... The biggest hurdle I thin this game has is it should not have been a rogue like. The dig draw in this game is you have a grappling hook that can pop bubbles or grab onto certain locations to have you zip around really tiny levels. Already the bigger focus is on movement and platforming as you avoid cannons, lasers, spikes, spike balls, motion detection enemies, regular enemies, ghosts, fire, and so much more. This should have been a platformer with carefully crafted levels right from the beginning rather than what feels like an attempt to chase the indie roguelike genre.Just consider the actual content in the game. The way it works is you pick a boss bounty and and complete a few ships (levels) to get to the boss. During this time you will retread very similar rooms with no interesting abilities unlocked. Most are passive like more health, more gold, higher critical chance hits, or faster movement. Nothing that makes you excited to pick up and encourage multiple replays since these are minor passive change ups with no major adjustments to gameplay. The worst part is the obvious hook is the grappling hook but only 1 or 2 abilities you can find changes how it works. It’s like the devs made a really cool mechanic but didn’t know what to do with it. Also, the shooting and combat was clearly an after though as the majority of enemies stand still and do not move. Some don’t even attack and could just be replaced by targets that need shot. The ones that do shoot back have really basic attack patterns. The bigger challenge is moving around the screen with your hookshot and avoiding stage hazards. I honestly had way more fun traversing the maps in the game than fighting any enemy. That should have been the focus. Anyways, back to the content. The bosses you fight will always be the same no matter what. Attack patterns are the same and you will always fight the same boss when you reach the end of a run depending on the bounty. It makes runs feel like there are only 5 variants, one for each boss, as opposed to nearly limitless mix ups.The game contains a lot of collectibles in the form of lore and relics. Neither of which effects the abilities of the layer but rather add background to the game. I found these uninteresting as I do not find reading text on the screen about a watch exciting or a good way to provide purpose to a game’s universe. Relics at least offer XP to your character so that you can unlock new starting skills but again the skills are just not interesting that I did not care about this aspect. I know this mini review negative and disappointing but that is just how I felt when playing Flint Hook. It is a game with great visuals and charm but lacks in gameplay department. It isn't terrible but I think Gungeon, Isaac, Don't Starve, or a Robot Named Fight are way more interesting in what they offer. I really thought I was going to love Flint Hook but it just didn't mesh with me like I had hoped. Price: $14.99 Time played: 15 Hours Verdict: Wait for a sale Splatoon 2 with DLCSo Splatoon 2, it's good, really good. If you’re following Nintendo then you know this game is great. It has risen to being one f Nintendo’s big franchises. I mean this game has so much going for it. It is colorful, some great music, and such an interesting gameplay mechanic I can get my friends and family, that don’t play games, into a match and they’ll have a blast. While at the same time playing ranked can create an incredibly stressful few minutes. So obviously the multiplayer is excellent but single player wise can lease a bit to be desired. I love the hub world where you explore and select the next level to jump into. The traversal of the world by spraying ink is the best part. The enemies don’t really do much of anything in the base game that I’d rather for larger more interesting levels. Plus, the story is pretty simple and doesn’t offer that many exciting moments. Sure the boss fights are a highlight but there aren’t any character moments unlike the dlc, which i’ll get into. Overall with the base Splatoon 2 game the multiplayer is the main draw with the single player offering a decent one time though experience. Sure, you can replay levels with different weapons but nothing major changes that I wouldn't recommend it unless you are a huge fan of the single player.Splatoon 2’s DLC somewhat fixes a lot of the complaints I have with the base game. While it does not offer larger levels, instead smaller for focused challenges, this is still much better than the base game. These focused challenges (I think 80 or so?) levels are a lot of fun. Some will have you reaching a goal with no items, fighting waves of enemies, escorting a ball, shooting shapes out boxes, flying in a jet pack, and so much more. These are great bite sized missions that are vastly better than the single player missions. Sure, they aren’t large open levels to explore like I wish but they’re still great in their own way. The other big fun aspect of the dlc is how much character interaction there is. Pearl, Marina, and Cuttlefish, have a lot of dialogue between each other and they are swimming with personality. They’re a joy to read and watch as they interact with one another. Plus the ending sequence has an actual cutscene which adds a nice cinematic quality to the game. It makes me really excited with where Nintendo takes the single player.Splatoon 2 is a no brainer when it comes to the Switch. I didn't even get into Salmon Run which I have poured tons of hours into. This is easily my most played multiplayer game and maybe my most played game in general. Both the base game and DLC are well worth picking up. Price: $59.99 | DLC: $19.99 Time played: 140 Hours Verdict: Recommend Ys 8Ys 8 is the first game I played in this series and I gotta say I’m impressed. You play as Adol, the silent protagonist, who’s ship is mysteriously destroyed at the the beginning of the game. You wake up on a deserted island and have to reunite with other castaways to find a way off the island. I liked the aspect of finding survivors as they would be added to your base camp which would grow in size as you played. It has a nice sense of progress the more you play and the deeper you explore the island. Sometimes the base camp will come under attack and you will have to fight waves of monsters so be ready to have to travel back from time to time. The story and pacing however is pretty strange. It starts of with a nice hook of ending up on an island and a strange side plot about a mysterious girl who lives on the island. But by the halfway point the story kind of just disappears and you just gather survivors with the vague plot of “find a way off the island” is your only goal. There is no real antagonist throughout the game until the very end. This is where you are hit with heavy exposition and everything comes together and makes sense. It just would have been better if it was better spread out through the game rather just appearing at the very end.While Ys 8 might falter a bit around the plot department the gameplay is a high point. It is all real time and unlike most JRPGs you do not enter a battle arena upon fighting an enemy. You can attack as you please with no transitions and this makes combat fast. You attack with a single button to perform very simple combos but can perform a magic attack with on of the 4 face buttons. You’ll gain a lot in the game so there is a nice variety of moves you’ll perform. For example by the end my main moves for Adol were a vertical arching slash, magic tornado, a spinning air dash, and a long automated ground combo for heavy damage. There are tons more you unlock but that is just what I chose to use by the end. You can have up to 3 party members active at once and you’ll want to switch between them (this is done by pressing “Y”) to fight certain enemies as many are only weak to one type of attack which a party member will fall under (Air attack, smash, or slash). You’ll upgrade armor and weapons as you play but in order to change the visual appearance of characters you’ll need to trade for costumes ( as there is no currency in the game since you’re on an island) which I found disappointing. It did not feel like I had as much control over my character’s visual appearance which I really enjoy doing in these types of games. The last bit of gameplay is exploring the island which is somewhat metroidvania like. You’ll find new tools to let you get through swaps, climb vines, or double jump. Oh, and there is fishing which can be fun to get supplies.The soundtrack to Ys is solid albeit nothing amazing in my opinion. Only a few track really stood out and the rest sot of blended in with that jrpg electric guitar generic sound but nothing out right terrible. The only bad aspect of Ys is sometimes the frame rate and resolution can really dip. Grassy areas are hard on the eyes especially in handheld mode but it is still playable and there are varied environments that you can move to other parts of the game. Also, the translation is sloppy at times with some misspellings or forgetting words in sentences. It’s sloppy but I wasn’t too bothered, although for 60 dollars you’d expect a bit better. If you hate turn based jrpgs then this game might be what you’re looking for as long as you can deal with some anime tropes. There are a few in this game that had me cringe and feel mildly uncomfortable but overall not too bad. Definitely a fun game though and way better than I was expecting. I hope future entries release on the Switch.Price: $59.99 Time played: 40 hours Verdict: Recommend Wolfenstein 2Wolfenstein 2 is another technical marvel ported to the Switch thanks to the devs at Panic Button. Visually it is obviously going to be the weakest compared to the other platforms but it still is quite a game to look at. There were compromises to make it possible to run however. Frame rate is capped at 30 fps, textures can be blurry at times, motion blur is mandatory, and there is a subtle haze to limit the field of view. Still, the game has some great visuals considering the Switch’s limitations. In case you aren’t familiar with Wolfenstein 2 the premise is Nazis won WW2 and it’s time to start a revolution. You will kill a ton of Nazis and it is glorious. You’ll fight inside ruined American cities, Nazi airships, subs, secret bases and other locations. The story is really enjoyable with a great mix of absurdity but also a serious somber tone. There are only a moment or two I felt out of place but over all the game does a great job at setting up characters and moving the plot along. The game is not very long maybe about 10 hours but it’s a quality 10 hours.The weapons, while not as varied as I’d hope, control very well and provide excellent feedback and sound as you dual wield shotguns blasting Nazis to bits. Running and gunning is not the only thing you’ll do as there is some simple stealth in the game. In many situations you can sneak around with a hatchet and knives so you can eliminate Nazis without any hearing a sound. If spotted it just means reinforcements are called in on your area. Now when the game originally released I heard it was deemed to hard and maybe it was changed for the Switch but I’d say normal and hard are perfectly enjoyable experiences. Hard mode will have you hiding behind cover a bit more but it never reached a point where I was frustrated. Gyro aiming is also in the game which is great for fine tuning shots when aiming down sights. I do wish the game had more varied enemy types similar to how Doom does as encounters can sometimes feel too samey at times.In terms of extra content there are extra missions you can play that take place in levels you have already beaten. These are harder than the first time you play these and task you with eliminating a high ranking Nazi in the area. I have not beaten them all but from what I’ve played you have no checkpoints and need to beat it without dying. I wish there was a more arcadey mode in its place where you can just run around killing waves of Nazis as the game feels great and I’d rather just be able to jump in to play rather than having to select one of thee bonus levels but that’s a personal preference. Even with that small complaint Wolfenstein 2 is an excellent game and definitely should be played. If you only own a Switch I fully recommend it. If you have a PC, Xbox, or PlayStation pick it up there as it is cheaper and has better performance. But either way, play this game and enjoyable the world. Also, don’t forget to kill as many Nazis as you can.Price: $59.99 Time played: 10 hours Verdict: Recommend That finishes this set of games. Next time I do one of these I'll be in a new state so I don't know when I'll actually get around to it. I don't think it'll be too long but I'm not sure how many people will actually be missing me haha. Either way, take care and enjoy the rest of the summer months! via /r/NintendoSwitch