#falling-from-the-4th-floor harder to be specific

[ianthedebonair]

He fell first...

But he fell harder.

Gotta be one of my favorite tropes 🥰

[choco-pudding]

Space Channel 5 Gyun Gyun Book p. 62-71. (Translations by @lavoszero and myself. Edit by myself.)

The guide pages for Report 1.

Edit: 5/10/22, fixed an error on page 62.

Imgur link to all of the Gyun Gyun Book translations we’ve done thus far.

Plain text below

P .62

1F Lobby The report first starts off on the 1st floor Lobby, where many frightened people are fleeing! The whole port is in a confused state and people are trapped, we have to do our best to help and free everyone!

Act. 1 Dance You have to press the buttons with the same timing, pay close attention to the different input commands. The second half might feel a little harder than the first half. But it's really about getting used to pressing the buttons to each beat. You don't need to rush, it's even OK to press the button a little late.

Help us! No.09: Guide Lady> P. 103 No.50: Bi Man > P. 110

[Translator’s note: yeah, he literally called Bi Man in Japanese. Most likely referring to him using two colors. You can also call the Guide Lady “Usherette” The text on the image was hard to read but my friend thinks they got it down accurately.]

p. 63

Act. 2 Shooting If you played the first round perfectly, it's recommended to try to make some mistakes on purpose during this act. If you do the 1st set perfectly, then mess up on the 2nd and 3rd, the Green Man will appear during the 4th set. If you rescue him here, then the Purple Man and Space Salaryman will appear in the 5th set!

Help us! No.26: Red and Blue Striped Woman >P. 106 No.32: Green Boy >P. 107 No.38: White Woman >P. 108 No.39: Blue Woman >P. 108 No.40: Pink Woman >P. 109 No.41: Light Blue Woman >P. 109 No.42: Woman in Red >P. 109 No.44: Yellow Boy >P. 109 No.45: Blue Boy >P. 109 No.47: Purple Man >P. 110 No.50: Green Man >P. 110 No.56: Space Salaryman >P. 112

Act. 3 Dance Now, we're dealing with backbeats for the first time. Since you only need to press the A button to the rhythm, it's best to focus on the rhythm. Just keep in mind that the 7th set starts with a backbeat. Don't rush this part, wait for the half beat “u-” before pressing the directional button. 

Help Me! No.53: Space Japanese Person >P.111

Column: How to: Making Mistakes on Purpose… If you want to make a mistake on a certain set to get a specific character, you can do it by just pressing "chu" and changing the A and B inputs. You can either do every command with the B button, or you can switch the A with B button or vice versa, so you won't lose your rhythm.

p. 64

Control Tower The Control Tower is really dark, and the foothold is so bad that I might slip and fall. Can I even do my best dance moves here!? But I can't lose to Pudding, an idol reporter from a rival station!

Act. 1 Shooting The "chu" for the 1st set sounds quicker than the actual rhythm, but it's just for this first attack. During the 7th set when it ends after 5 beats, after the "↑", count during those 5 beats by saying "un un…" and then after the wait, you'll be ready to press "BB" successfully.

Help Us! No.05: Spaceport Worker >P.103 No.06: Spaceport Worker (Macho) >P.103 No.07: Spaceport Worker (Tall) >P.103 No.52: Space Rescue Police >P.111

[Translator’s notes: The first two of these it's Ulala commenting but they change it up in the next ones]

p. 65

Act. 2 Shooting The 4th set is the one you really need to pay attention to. If it's too hard to get a hold of the timing, try counting the "un un" after the first "up chu" before pressing the next button. The 7th set makes you switch between pressing the A and B in a similar method. There's an extra beat to wait for before pressing the final "↑", so no need to rush.

Act. 3 Dance At the 6th set, you quickly press "↓" near the end of the 2nd beat. The timing for this one is a little odd. Immediately after the first "↑" followed up by a half-beat "u-" and then "↓". Let's try pressing the buttons to "up down-down." For the 10th and final set, it's a simple input with only using A. But be careful, because it's a feint and can easily catch you by surprise!

Help Us! No.14: Pudding Bodyguard >P.103 No.61: Guitar Man >P.113

Column: Hold Down That Button! You can keep holding down the directional, A, or B button while preforming other inputs and it won’t count as mistake so long as you don’t let go of it. In other words, it's OK to press A while holding down "↑". But when can you use this?

p. 66

Lobby F2 The 2nd Floor lobby is full of women dancing, it's sort of tempting to call it "the woman's shooting gallery." The key feature of this stages is that the key inputs are different from the other stages.

Act. 1 Shooting     If you mess up on the 1st set but do the 2nd perfectly, then you'll be able to find the Green Woman during the 3rd set. This is the only chance to rescue the Green Woman, so don't mess it up. By the 4th set, the Pilot appears. And if you complete all sets perfectly, the Stewardess will appear at the end. The end result from this is a well put together team.

Help Us! No.11: Pilot >P.104 No.13: Green Woman >P.104 No.27: Stewardess >P.106

p. 67

Act. 2 Shooting Even though it feels like there is a half beat between the "A" during the 4th beat and the "↑"on the 5th beat during the 7th set, there's actually none, so it's OK to just keep on pressing through "AA↑." The Boarding Crew appears at the end. If you make too many mistakes after a certain point, she won't appear!

Help Us! No.10: Boarding Crew >P.104 No.12: Middle-aged Woman >P.104

Act. 3 Dance The inputs and rhythm is easy to remember through this act, so even if you don't have that many hearts it shouldn't be that difficult. By the way, the person who's dancing at the end of the stage depends on the ratings were. If it's 90% or more, you'll get Hard Sexy, if you get 89% or less, it'll be the Space Salaryman instead.

Help Me! No.60: Hard Sexy >P.112

Column: The Difficulties of a Salaryman Even if we helped out the Space Salaryman at the Lobby F1, we see him again at the Lobby F2's dance act. This time, he's being forced to dance and worrying about being on time. Why does this salaryman keep on having a rough time!?

p. 68

Luggage Room ~ Container Room With the beautiful glowing rings, and unique BGM, it'll make it feel like even the simplest rhythm will be difficult to follow. There's lots of neat details, such as the luggage being transported through the glowing rings!

Act. 1 Shooting On the 4th set, it's easy to make mistakes since it suddenly switchesit up to a four-beat rhythm, so be careful. Be prepared for it to quickly become Ulala’s turn too. The rhythm may feel complicated because of the BGM’s baseline but it's actually pretty simple; it’s a quarter rhythm scale with nothing extra, so you can relax with it!

p. 69

Act. 2 Shooting Once you're on the 4th set, there's a sequence of quick inputs with quick changes to the beat. If you make a mistake here, it's really difficult to get back into the groove; focus on following the rhythm. And, if it’s difficult to notice when a Morolian appears because of the glowing rings, we recommend listening carefully to their voices!

Act. 3 Dance The sets in this section vary greatly compared to the previous ones, since it's mostly directional inputs. The rhythm is pretty consistent, so all you need to do is pay close attention to the differences in inputs. If you only have a few hearts, be sure not to make any mistakes! You can do a 3-4 count of "un" between each of the inputs to make sure you get the timing right.

Column: A New Kind of Dog? Space dogs have big ears and bounce-bounce around, they're a little different normal, right? Actually, they were born from crossbreeding earthling dogs and dogs from across the universe, literally a new breed of dog. But, as expected, they still can't talk.

p. 70

Launch Pad VS Coco⭐Tapioca From above the rocket comes down the swanky purplink boss, Coco⭐Tapioca. Since there's lots of hearts compared to the number of sequences for each Act, let's boldly dance to the fullest!

Act. 1 The biggest challenge in Act.1 is the quick beats that immediately switch to Ulala's turn after the 4th beat. Especially after you get used to it and suddenly it switches at the sets 7, 8, and 11 where it has 8 beats. If you don't press anything after the 4th beat, it can really mess you up after the 5th beat!

[Translator's notes: Purplink is just a portmanteau of purple and pink.]

p. 71

Dancing Robot Invader No. 1 Coco⭐Tapioca Height: 57 Morometers Weight: 550 Morograms Special: Ring beam, line dancer robots The electric ring beam released from the antennae is super powerful! The line of dancing robots (Yellow Submorons) are stored in its own body.

Act. 2/Act. 3 The first "A" in all the sets in Act. 2 and Act. 3 sound a bit slow, but they're actually still in beat. If you're confused by it, try pressing the button matching the 8 beats at your own pace. If you are mesmerized by the flowing movements of the Yellow Submorons you can also just play it by ear.

Column: The Identity of the Glowing Overhead Rings Green rings appear above the heads of the boss and Ulala during this battle. These rings actually represent the number of "chus" in the phase. If you didn't pay attention to the timing then how could this be a useful hint!?"

[Translator’s notes: The actual unit of measurements are “mooroos” and “morons.” Mooroos is still pronounced like the moro in Morolians. I just thought morometers and morograms was cuter.]

[her-world-on-fire]

"I promise I won’t let you fall.” {Jason Todd x Reader}

MASTERLIST

REQUEST HERE

Word Count: 3, 304

Hi! I just read "it was all yellow" and just got me hooked to ur tumblr! I'm not sure if the requests are open but if their are could u pls do an angst with fluff ending ab Jason × Reader ft. Drivers license? Thanks for the attention ♡♡

Prompts: 20. “i promise i won’t let you fall.” 101. “leaving you was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do.” 118. “you’re the only person i want to wake up to every morning.”

“JASON DON’T,” I stepped forward and he moved to pick up his bag. The tears that had welled in my eyes now began to fall. He had his back toward me. But the crack in his voice told me everything I needed to know. “I’m fine!” He stopped and turned back to me. “You had 3 broken ribs, a collapsed lung and a concussion.”

“It wasn’t you fault.”

“We both know that’s not true.”

“The heat signatures showed that most of the guards are on the 4th floor.” Dick’s voice sounded in my ear. “You need to get in through the south entrance on my signal. The shipment arrives in 30 minutes.” I looked at Jason, he was beginning to get impatient. He hated sitting around, and he was not one to follow direct orders. He paced back and forth on the rooftop. “We can just take them all on.”

“Let’s just wait for the signal. We don’t know what we’re up against.”

“They’re just low level fucking criminals.”

Another few minutes passed. “Fuck it.” Jason leaped from the roof and onto the next building. “Jason!” He ignored Dick’s voice and broke one of the windows. I followed after him. The sound of gunshots immediately alerted everyone inside the building. Glass from the windows crunched under my boots, and the air was heavy with gunpowder. The sound of a loud crack echoed in the warehouse. I followed the trail of bodies. There were six men on the floor, each clinging to life. I could tell by the way their limps were sprawled, they were in a world of pain. I ran down the hallway and the gunshots resumed.

I reached for the first hired gun I saw and went after him. His gun was pointed directly at Jason. I reached up and knocked it out of his hands. He was caught of guard, I slammed my hand against his throat. He choked and I brought his leg down out from under him. He fell with a loud thump and I slammed my fist into his face enuring he would be asleep.

Now a few of the men turned towards me. I took my staff and two men charged towards me. I rushed forward and hit one on the side of his head, he tumbled and I kicked him in his shin. He cried out in pain and fell to the floor. The other lunged for me and I moved out of the way before he could grab me. I looked over at Jason for a second, he was getting overwhelmed. Quickly I took the mans arm and slammed it against my knee earning a loud pop. I lunged to Jason. One of the men had managed to get his arms around him. Another was beating him. I took my staff and slammed it on his arm. In that moment Jason slammed his head back against the man who had been holding him. Then he kicked him as he fell. The man turned towards me angrily as the blood trickled down his arm. He pulled out his gun, I moved under him and slammed his hand into the wall. The gun fell and I kicked it away. His other hand reached form my hair. I kicked him in the crotch and he groaned.

I slammed my fists against his face. I looked around the room, Jason was gone. I ran out of the room and up the stairs. We were on the 4th floor now. “There’s a truck coming in.”  I reached Jason and helped him clear the room. “There was C-4 in that truck get out now!”

It all happened in a split second. There was a faint beeping noise. I quickly turned to my left. C-4 was placed on the north wall. Jason was standing right by it. He was too distracted to notice. “Look out!” I ran to him as fast as I could and grabbed his collar. I tossed him outside of the room and took the C-4 and threw it to my right.

The walls began to crumble I tried moving out of the way. I had moved out of the room but the floor was falling underneath me. Jason reached out for me but he was half a second too slow. The last thing I remember was the feeling of falling. Jason’s blood curdling scream filled the room.

I was lucky it wasn’t a lot worse. I didn’t blame him. It had been 3 months and he still couldn’t look at me.“I should’ve waited. I should’ve been paying attention. It should have been me.”

“Don’t say that.”

“It’s true! You could’ve died and that would have been on me.” His voice broke. His guilt was eating him alive. If he had just listened, then this would’ve never happened. Dick didn’t let him hear the end of it.

“Let’s just talk about this. Don’t go.” I moved towards him and he stepped back. “I can’t.” The room fell silent. We both looked at each other. My throat was hoarse, I had been trying to get him to stay as soon as he started packing. He didn’t have anything left to say. “I’m sorry.” I rushed forward and embraced him. As gently as he could he put his arms around me. It had been 3 months since he touched me. He was worried he would break me. But I knew this was he way of saying goodbye. “Please.” He pulled back and wiped the tears from my face. His own eyes were bloodshot. He leaned forward and placed a kiss on my forehead.

He pulled away and took his bag and his helmet. He grabbed the door handle and opened the door. He paused before walking out and closing it behind him.

--------------------------------

Jason practically fell of the grid. No one knew where he went. He was smart, he covered his track electronically. He had slowly been withdrawing his inheritance. Transferring what he could into burner accounts. It was meticulously planned. Another month went by and I went back to train.

It was hard being around the team. For a long time they treated me as if I were glass. I was going to break at a moments notice. I could see the pity in their eyes. I turned to training as an outlet. I focused all of my time and energy into. I didn’t want to be left alone with my thoughts. The memories of Jason and the accident flooded my head. I kept as busy as possible.

Dick had informed he knew where he was. He had found that the crime on the south side had dropped by 5 percent. In his first week down there he acted like himself. He never crossed the line but the scenes were far from innocent. He was acting on his emotions and releasing his anger. But after just a week, he was controlled. The scenes were getting harder to identify. He started to blend in.

Jason’s anger was something like I had never seen before. It was destructive and explosive. He was getting better, but after the accident something changed. He was regressing. Whatever had been holding him together had snapped.

As much as I wanted to, I wasn’t going to go after him. He needed space. As I got inside my car I turned on the radio. I didn’t want to go back to the apartment. It was hard being in that space. I was so used to sharing the space with him. I drove, not looking for anything specific.

And I know we weren't perfect but I've never felt this way for no one And I just can't imagine how you could be so okay now that I'm gone Guess you didn't mean what you wrote in that song about me 'Cause you said forever, now I drive alone past your street

I sighed, being back at the manor had brought back a lot of feelings. Memories of training. Sneaking around the manor. From the moment we met we were inseparable. At first I was annoyed by his cockiness. But once I took him down during training, he turned it down. Overall he was impressed. That later turned into infatuation. We did everything together.

As I drove through the city all I could think of is all the places we went together. None of them would ever feel the same without him.

And all my friends are tired Of hearing how much I miss you, but I kinda feel sorry for them 'Cause they'll never know you the way that I do, yeah Today I drove through the suburbs And pictured I was driving home to you

I wanted more than anything for it all to be a dream. I wanted to wake up and have everything back to the way it was before. I wouldn’t have let him go inside the building. I would give anything to go back and change it all. I would really be there for Jason.

But I've never felt this way for no one, oh And I just can't imagine how you could be so okay, now that I'm gone I guess you didn't mean what you wrote in that song about me 'Cause you said forever, now I drive alone past your street

And I know we weren't perfect but I've never felt this way for no one And I just can't imagine how you could be so okay now that I'm gone Guess you didn't mean what you wrote in that song about me 'Cause you said forever, now I drive alone past your street

I found myself driving to our usual place. We stumbled inside after patrol, and talked for hours. I looked inside and pictured us sitting there. We were laughing so loud we were drawing attention to ourselves. If anyone ever had a problem with it Jason would laugh even louder. 

If Jason hadn’t left large tips then I’m sure we would have been kicked out. But in his eyes they deserved it. They were hard workers and they were good people. He tried to give back as much as he could because he couldn’t growing up on the streets. He used to go into the back and try and save food from the garbage.He thought about the nice owners who would let him take a few things. Some even offered him some work. He remembered all those faces, and he gave back. That’s the kind of person he was.

Red lights, stop signs I still see your face in the white cars, front yards Can't drive past the places we used to go to 'Cause I still fuckin' love you, babe (ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh) Sidewalks we crossed I still hear your voice in the traffic, we're laughing Over all the noise God, I'm so blue, know we're through But I still fuckin' love you, babe (ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh)

It pained me that it was over but he needed this. He was so angry once he came back. Angry at the joker from taking him from Bruce. Angry at Bruce for letting him get away with it. Angry at the world for letting it happen. For as long as he could remember he needed to fight to survive. It was a long road to even get to where he was now. But he knew that he still had a long way to go. And he couldn’t let anyone else get hurt while he figured it out. He had to start piecing himself back together for his sake, and for everyone around him.

I know we weren't perfect but I've never felt this way for no one And I just can't imagine how you could be so okay, now that I'm gone 'Cause you didn't mean what you wrote in that song about me 'Cause you said forever, now I drive alone past your street Yeah, you said forever, now I drive alone past your street

We had problems. We were far from perfect, but I don’t want anything else. I spent the rest of the car ride in silence. I decided to get back to the apartment. I couldn’t hide forever. I needed to start living again. It’s what he wanted.

--------------------------------

I turned the key and the door clicked in response. I heard shuffling on the other side. Immediately I reached for my staff. I opened the door, the lights were still off. I moved quietly, as I tried to search for the source. Quietly I closed the door, and moved through the apartment. I noticed a card on the coffee table. I heard a creek. I turned down the hall. I waited for a moment and I heard the footsteps approaching me. Right when they were about to round the corner, I pushed them against the wall. Holding them in place with my staff.

I looked up and dropped the staff. “Jason?” He looked shocked, more so than I was. “I had to see you.” I bit my lip. I was feeling overwhelmed. He was the last person I expected. I worked hard to put myself back together and now I was going to have to do it all over again.

“Are you coming back?”

I was getting mixed signals. The card on the table gave me the impression he was leaving again. It was like he intended to just drop it off and leave. But he stayed until I got back. He was tense. His arms were crossed over his chest, overall he looked very closed off. He wasn't giving me an answer.

I broke the silence.

"I can't do that again. You can't leave and come back, and except me to be okay.” I swallowed, trying to keep my tears from spilling. “I begged you to stay and you just left. I haven't heard from you and now you're back and I don't know how much more I can hang on." Once again the tears welled up in my eyes. I was reliving the moment he decided to leave all over again. Deep down I know why he left. He needed to learn to forgive himself. He needed time to work on himself. But it was hard knowing that he could leave at a moments notice. Even though it hurt him he still did it.

"I'm sorry. I had to go, I couldn't look at you without blaming myself. It was selfish of me to leave but I understand that now." He moved forward and took a deep breath. "I promise I won't let you fall."

And he meant it.

His own eyes were cloudy with tears. " I tried to convince myself that you were better off without me. But I can't do this without you. That month I spent alone made me realize how empty I was without you. You're the only person I want to wake up to every morning."

"But if you decide that you don't want me-" I didn't let him finish before I pressed my lips against his. He responded immediately. We pulled away and he ran his thumb across my cheek. I wrapped my arms around him. I could feel him loosen up. He had been so tense, it felt as if he could finally breathe again.

"Come on, I have something to show you." He pulled away and stretched out his hand. I took it and he opened the door and led me out. We walked to his bike and he handed me my helmet. He got on his bike and started the engine. I got on and wrapped my arms around him "Ready?"

I nodded and he took off. The sun was just beginning to set. Although Gotham wasn't the safest city, it was mesmerizing. I leaned my head against Jason and watched the streets. The streets that had seemed somber were now vibrant. Jason stopped at the red light and turned back to me. I gave him a smile.

We went on for another 5 minutes. "Okay close your eyes."

I closed my eyes and we stopped soon after. Jason turned off the bike and helped me off. He gently took of my helmet and took my arm. He guided me, and I heard a door open. We had entered some building.  "Can I open my eyes now?" I asked, growing more curious at time went on. He laughed at my impatience.

"Yes."

I opened my eyes and looked around. It was the Gotham botanical gardens. "This is beautiful." We walked down the pathway and I took in my surroundings. The bright yellow flowers, the beautiful stream leading to the fountain. As I looked around something stuck out to me. There was a lack of people. There must've been one person who opened the door for Jason and I. But I didn't see anyone. "Where is everyone?" I turned to Jason and he smiled. "I may have rented the space for the night."

"Jason this must be a fortune." It was government property, he had to get approval from the mayor himself. "How?"

"Believe it or not but the mayor actually owed me a favor."

We reached the center of the garden. There was a table that had been set up. Jason pulled my chair out for me. Suddenly a workers had appeared. They set the table and the lights were dimmed. As quickly as they appeared they were gone. The table was filled with our favorites. The drinks were from a cafe just near the apartment. The food was from our usual spot after patrols. There were small delicacies from the pastry shop we frequented to satisfy our sweet tooth. "This is really something, Jason. Thank you."

"I'm keeping my promise. Leaving you was the hardest thing I've ever had to do." I won't ever do it again."

We talked as we finished dinner.  It felt like just another day before the accident. After we finished, Jason left a large tip on the table. "I have one more thing to show you."

"Jason you really don't have to do anything else. You've done more than enough." Still, he lead me up the stairs. He opened the door first and let me go up. I walked to the edge of the roof. I looked over the railing. The view was absolutely breath taking. It wasn't like any other rooftop in Gotham. It was quiet up here. The sounds of the city didn't touch this roof.

The wind had picked up, and since the sun had set it was colder than inside. Noticing this Jason put his jacket over my shoulders. He stood behind me and I leaned my head against his shoulder. "I didn't know views like this existed in Gotham."

We just stood admiring the city. Neither of us spoke as we looked at the beautiful sight. We both knew that everything was going to be alright. We were going to come back from everything. This is what it was supposed to feel like.

"Are you ready to go back?" He asked and I nodded. "Just one more thing." I leaned forward and kissed him. This one was soft. He smiled into the kiss. "We've got some catching up to do." He mumbled against my lips. "The night's not over yet."

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MASTERLIST

REQUEST HERE

[ask-the-lgbtqs-of-lovestruck]

Hellooo My name is Anon gamer! I want to play a game!😆(I came from another blog who also did this game, so if some of ya'll came from that blog as well and you know the answers, just...ssshhh...🤫)

Let's play "Are you a psychopath?"😏(My fellow anons can play along if they want😆)

So basically, I will ask you serious of questions and if you get 1 right you will have a point, whoever has the most points wins, and if your wandering what's the prize, well..... the prize is you have a mental illness😆

Now.... LET'S BEGINNN!!!

1. Imagine living alone in a 4th floor of a apartment building in an isolate area, but 1 day before you go to sleep you gaze out in the window to another apartment building across your road, your eyes fall upon 1 of the rooms, in the room you see a man who's repeatedly stabbing the woman, as your momentarily stunned of what you are witnessing, the man makes EYE CONTACT with you and then stares at you for a few seconds and starts mouthing something and repeatedly pointing his finger at you. So what is the man actually doing?

2. A train is about to ran over and kill 5 people and your standing on a footbridge next to a larger stranger, your body is too light to stop the train but if you push the stranger on to the tracks, killing him you will save the 5 people. Would you push the man and why would you push the man?

3. It was winter when you were home alone watching news at night about a serial killer on the loose, as you wander about the killer in a middle of a pandemic, you go and gaze through your sliding glass door, and saw a man getting closer and closer to you, and thought it was the serial killer, you try to call 911 but when you look back at the man, he is suddenly in front of you now but.... there were no footprints. How come there's no footprints in the snow when he was walking towards you?

(If it's just too much for your brain just ignore it😂😂)

-gamer anon

‘Ooo! Ooo! Alright! So....

1. Now, this is hella specific so be ready... He was holding eye contact and was repeatingly pointing at you. He wasn't actually pointing at you, he was counting the floors of your building. That alone should be a goddamn warning to... Leave and don't come back!

2. See this could go either way. You could push the other guy to give the other five people a hint or vice versa. My mind says save the 5 people, but there's a chance if we save the one guy, that he'll figure out not to stand so close. That or tell them to move out of the goddamn way. But tbh, I don't want 5 people looking at me like I'm crazy for pushing someone in front of a train so... I won't push him.

3. It's... a glass sliding door... Glass is sometimes reflective. The "serial killer" you see is yourself.’

- 💎 Mod Vivien

———————————

“Ohhoh… gamer anon, huh...

1. He def counting the floors and which window to were you live.

2. I don’t think this large man could stop the train either... 🤣 But saving 5 ppl is tempting... but if the train can’t stop him and I still try to save the 5 ppl... and push... then I’d be killing 6 ppl instead of 5, lol... no good! 😱 (Ignore this babbling, I dunno.) 😅🤣

3. It was snowing? A snow storm, so it covered the tracks. 🤔 But the reflection thing Mod Viv is talking about is def a good one... hard!”

- 🍃 Mod Evina

——————————

“Hmm..

1: He's counting, so I'd turn off the light in the apartment and take a pic of him. Make it harder. 😏 I'd dare him to come find me, I now have the upper hand and I know what he looks like.

2: I'd go along the tracks to the junction and change it so the train doesn't hit anyone.

3: Reflection, he's already in the house... ATTACK!!!”

- Mod Vinca

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“1. Counting floors, so I would hightail it out of there and call the cops from a mate’s flat.

2. I hope the person next to me is maybe an opera singer or theater actor, since I’ll need their help projecting our combined voices to tell the workers to move off of the tracks! 🙀

3. A reflection, whether it is us as the killers or the killer is already inside the house. Not a great scenario either way. 😅”

~ 🐺 Mod Mackenzie

———————————

‘People are literally not going to like me for these answers, so I apologize right off the bat.

1. The man is trying to figure out how the woman he's killing is across the way from him. He's stunned and shocked. I'm not aware of that though; I just know I'm a witness to a crime. (Also this was played out in “Love, Death & Robots”. The episode is called “The Witness”.)

2. So I'm one of those people that will see many sides of situation. But I will sacrifice one for the good of the many. It's kind of how I am. I will feel guilty after, but if only one person died while I saved countless others, I'll do it.

3. You're looking at a glass door which is also a reflective glass. No footprints means I am the killer because I'm looking at myself in the reflection.’

- 🐍 Mod Medusa

——————————

‘Okie doke, here are my responses...

1. The killer is a) pointing behind me because there's another killer in the room poised to take me out, or b) he's trying to mime setting up a playdate 'cause he's thinking I'm enjoying the show, since I'm not on the phone to the cops. 🤷‍♀️

2. If I thought for a *single second* that only one body could stop a train... [shakes head] That's a stretch for even my extensive willing suspension of disbelief. I'm of the same mind as Mod Medusa, I'm willing to sacrifice one to save many, though I'd be far more willing to sacrifice myself... Uh, is there a reason we're not all screaming our bloody heads off at the five idiots standing on the train tracks??? Are they tied to the tracks and being held hostage by some supervillian (and if the villian is a woman, is she single and can I gently show her the ways of redemption and love in enough time to save the 5)??? As you can see, I usually over think these things. 😂

3. Oh my lords and ladies, this is a simple one: it doesn't snow in Miami! Our idea of winter is anything under 88° F. But even if he is "the killer" I'm not too worried, our hurricane proof glass doors are shatter resistant, so I have plenty of time to call the cops before he faints from heat stroke trying to bash his way in. [stares at the slumped form and shakes my head in pity] Poor guy wasn't a Florida native or he wouldn't have exerted himself in such heat without proper hydration. 🤣’

Yours insanely - Mod Helena ⚔️

[thorinthehottotty]

Battle Scars (Part 2) - Thorin

A/N: this is my 4th time trying to write this damn thing! But @tomisbaeholland has requested this so it shall be done! Just got to stop losing my drafts.

Summary: Thorin gets to make things right but he’s a little nervous you only want him for sex.

Warnings: This is mostly smut. cute smut...

Every time you caught his eyes throughout the day, he'd flush and look away. Sometimes he'd glare at the ground, embarrassed, you'd guessed. Sometimes you'd catch him watching you, eyes roaming you and throw him a challenging smirk.

This time, once again late in the night, when your eyes met, there was no one else around. High up in the mountain's city, a tower of sorts. A favorite escape for you, one that didn't smell like Smaug or death. One that had glimpses out of the mountain and onto forests and lakes below.

Pressing your back to the wall, you give him your best come-get-me grin. He didn't though, instead he waited near the stairs he climbed to follow you. He watched you for a moment.

He smiles after moment, chuckling softly. It makes your heart speed up. The edginess you felt that had stemmed from your want of him waned in your chest at the softness of his eyes. It reminds you that perhaps your moving a bit to fast with all this teasing and suddenly your nervous about what he will say.

You shy back into the wall as he slowly picks his way closer to you. "I used to come up here as a boy, you know." He's reaching into a pocket, smiling up at you warmly. "Tell me, Y/N. Were you taking advantage of your drunk king?"

"I suppose I did take advantage, didn't I?" You murmur. He steps closer when you look away, dragging your chin back toward him.

"Or do you feel more for me?" Gulping as he stares you down, you squirm.

"Yes." The answer makes him beam, his eyes sparkling in a rare way. There is no mischief in his eyes, no teasing, no malice. No, his eyes were brimming with hope and eagerness. Your confidence surged back, drawing up up into his touch, the gentle caress of his fingertips grazing over your cheek and jaw. “Yes, my king. I love you.”

A gives a joyful laugh that sounds like music. He pulls you close, everything about him shining like the sun. “Then I’d like to give you these.” He draws his other hand from his pocket and shows you the beads in his hand. Courting beads. You glance to his face in disbelief. He wanted to court you? 

His eyes hold sincerity to them. Pushing onto your toes, you lock your lips with his eagerly and he kisses you back with delirious fire. Pushing you back into the wall behind you. Your emotions shifting back and forth between desperation and wanting to be gentle with each other. The lust and love fighting with each other.

Thorin was just as delighted to kiss you as you were him. Sinking to groan into your mouth. His hand fluttered back to his pocket a moment before he captured your waist with his hands, dragging you back into him and pulling your back from the wall and towards the middle of the room. You were already tugging at his robes. His rich taste has you shivering as he shuffles out of the fur cloak. Without breaking the savoring kisses, he drapes the cloak down behind you and a thrill ripples up through you.

“Here?” You ask eagerly against his lips. They tug up at the corners and you end up kissing teeth. It makes you both grin and chuckle. In a shock of strength he’s sweeping you up and off the floor. You gasp, twisting your legs about his waist tightly. 

“Yes, here.” The both of you greedily claim each other’s lips again, teeth occasionally gnashing against each other as he drops down to the floor with you. All at once your curtained with his hair as he leans over you. You captured, knees thrown over his thighs as he’s pressed between yours. “I’m going to show you how much I am your devotee. To make up my poor bed sport last night.” 

Excitement shoots right to your quivering sex. His hand trailing up your leg was definitely inciting more in you than you cared to admit. His big warm hand pushing your skirts up as he went. You settle back eagerly on the fur below you. Your legs naturally parting for him. This makes him smile down at you. His fingers not hesitating to brush over your most sensitive area. The foreplay having been from the day of staring and him chasing you about, trying to speak to you. 

He purred happily at what he found. You whimper, backing arching as he pressed the first finger in. The lewd slickness made a squelching noise and the dwarf above you groaned lowly, his face fluttering with want. It was so wet, in fact, he slipped a second of his fingers in and you moaned loudly. It stretched you deliciously as he allowed to rock onto his hand. 

“Thorin, please, I want you,” you whine to him softly, unhappy with the slow pace.

“Tonight, Y/N, I am taking my time with you.”

He proves his point by shuffling down your body and leaning in to lick you like last night, one long swipe up the middle. Your legs shifted, moving to allow for him to lay more comfortably between your thighs. And like that is how you both stayed for awhile, no complaining on your part. He took his time, unraveling you slowly with his mouth. Soft, nibbling, suckling, all until you were trembling and gripping his hair. He didn’t relent to you pleas of just a little bit harder and it was worth it. The powerful, slow built orgasm had you crying out as he continued to lap at you, unfazed by the fact that you were mid-climax. 

He gave you one more before rising, beard dripping with your finishing. A gentle look in his eyes as stared at him, drunk. Your whole body hummed from it. Your orgasms hadn’t just shivered down your legs and up your spine. You could feel it tingle through your skull and finger tips. Your whole body ached with bliss when he finally crawled back up your body, rubbing your thighs and leaning up to kiss your neck.

You’re not sure when he had pulled his trousers down but it was a shock when you felt him invading you. He shuddered as he sheathed himself to the hilt, wheezing out a strained groan at the stretching he was giving you. You gasped and rolled into his body, feeling the heat of him impale you delightful. 

“Finally,” you moan, whole body quivering around and against him. He let out a groan, drawing back only to strike at you again with his hips. Filled and hot, you let your body arch and roll up into him. He aided you by using one arm to prop himself up and the other to wrap around you waist, dragging you off of his cloak to hold you to his chest. 

His thrusts were hard and deep, but he took each drag of his cock slowly out of you until the head of it slipped out and then he thrusted back in ruthlessly. The back and forth of it teasing but delicious  at the same time.

Your toes curled as you pushed at his chest, arching even farther off the ground and into his movement. You were whimpering and moaning with every calculated thrust. This was far better than the drunken rutting of last night. Your whole body felt like it was made of starlight, ready to burst.your shoes had been kicked off in the mix of this and the cool stone beneath your toes dirtied your bare feet. You only wished the corset had been taken off so gasping for breath wasn’t so hard. 

“Thorin,” you whimpered as he rocked firmer into you. You were still buzzing from your last orgasm, mind fuzzy as you lost yourself to the throws of Thorin’s passion. His name became your new mantra, with occasional prayers of ‘Yes!’ and ‘Please don’t stop,’ filling the air. When he changed positions, kneeling and then dragging you back onto his thighs to support you, he began to ram into you madly. 

You were vaguely aware of the sweat and the grunts that left him. You both were too far gone to the pleasure to realize how loud you were being. Thorin jerked into you a final time, spilling into you and letting you sink out of his grasp. He shook, the hair falling from his face trembling, as he gazed down at you. You just stared back, parted lips panting up at him. 

A goofy grin passed his face for a moment and he began laughing.

“What?” You ask him. 

“Is my bed sport so good that you want to marry me? Just skip the courting all together?”

“What!? When did I say that?” You ask, more startled than anything. 

“I believe it was during your second orgasm.” Your cheeks flare as he shifts you hips to lower himself down beside you. The fuzzy memory danced at the edges of your mind. “You said specifically, ‘Fuck, fuck, fuck, I’ll marry you.”

“Let’s be clear.” You tell him, pushing up to wave a finger into his face. “Nothing said during sex counts. It’s the opposite of a contract!” Thorin laughs and nips the finger in front of his face.

“It’s too late. We’re getting married now.” He teases.

“If I could go down those stairs without falling right now, I would, sir.” You wouldn’t. Not with him dragging his tunic off and reaching for his pocket again. Not with him about to put courting braids into your messy hair.

[party-of-rpg-muses]

A Look At Stuff You Probably Never Heard Of: Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey

I was actually going to take a look at a different game today, but at the last second, I decided to take a look at this fairly recent game. So today, we’ll be taking a look at... Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey!

Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey, or simply just Ancestors, is a T-rated open world survival game developed by Panache Digital Games, a new game studio founded by Patrice Désilets, who left Ubisoft after Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood. It was also published by Private Division. This game was initially released on PC via the Epic Games Store on August 27th, 2019 due to an exclusivity deal that would last a year. It later saw a release on PlayStation 4 and XBox One later that year on December 4th.

The game doesn’t have a story in the typical sense, but it takes place about 10 million years ago prior to current time in prehistoric Africa. The objective is to survive, learn, adapt, explore, and evolve from an ancient hominid known only as “The Missing Links”, evolving up to 2 million years prior to current time.

The game itself opens with a fish being caught by a pelagornis (an ancient pseudotooth bird), but drops it into the water, where it gets caught by a grey-crowned crane, but drops the now-dead fish when it gets attacked and eaten by a Thorbjarnarson's Crocodile. The fish is then picked up by an elderly male hominid with an infant on his back. Upon taking the fish to a high point to eat it, the hominid is taken away by a Bateleur Eagle to its nest, where it is killed and eaten as the infant falls to the ground below. Upon finding a hiding spot, perseptive switches to an adult, trying to find the lost infant. After that, the game opens up.

As stated before, this is a survival game with a wide open area to explore. The biggest thing about this game is that there are no maps, meaning the player must rely on recognizable locations to navigate. Though this isn’t entirely up to the player to remember, as the hominid can “remember” specific locations (only one at a time until later). The game encourages exploration and there are many ways to get around, most notable by swinging from branches to branches and climbing up cliffs and tree trunks. This is the best way to avoid many predators and enemies that can often be found on the ground floor.

There are many animals that can and will attack any and all available hominids. From predators such as the Machairodus (early Sabertooth Tigers), Crocodiles, Black-backed Jackals, and even Hyenas. Crawling Threats include Megarian Banded Centipede, African Rock Pythons, and Black and Green Mambas. While Irascible Threats (creatures that are typically passive, but can and will attack if the player gets too close) such as Giant Warthogs, African Buffalos, Hippos, Miocene Elephants (easily the strongest and most difficult animal), and even Miocene African Otters (which are far more aggressive and bigger than current otters).

With a Clan, the player can control a single hominid and by bonding with another adult hominid of the opposite gender, a bond can be formed, making the two a couple, thus leading to procreation. Once a child is born, Neuronal Energy can be gained by performing certain actions and this Energy is used to Evolve the present Hominid. But if that Hominid dies, all Neurons (upgrades) are lost unless they had a child and said Neurons become permanently locked upon changing a generation.

And now, the time has finally come for my Final Recommendation: Never Let Go Of It||Get It||Hold Onto It||Try It||Consider It||Stay Away From It

I won’t lie, this game isn’t for everyone. It can feel really slow at times and though this is a game that doesn’t hold your hand, it’s also the kind of game that tosses you into the deep-end of the pool while being tied to a 40-pound weight and expecting you to swim.before you drown. While you are told how to play the game and the general controls, they expect you to instantly remember everything. But at the same time, it can feel satisfying when things finally click and you can do things without really thinking about it. There are (in-game) days where you can do a lot of things and make tons of progress, while there are other days where things run slowly with little to no progress being made. I myself, despite enjoying the game, couldn’t play it two days in a row, as my interest wasn’t great enough to do so. I would take a break from the game for days or even weeks before picking it up again.

The A (XBox)/X (PS4) is used for almost everything. Picking up items, running, jumping, eating, sleeping, swinging, and dodging/attacking. The X (XBox)/Square (PS4) is used for hearing. B (XBox)/Circle (PS4) is used for smell. And Y (XBox)/Triangle) are used for “Intelligence”, which is what allows you to remember specific things, such as notable locations, animals, food, and items.

I couldn’t figure out where else to put this, but you’re given these side quests to do. They aren’t important in any way, but are there to encourage exploration and help you become more familiar with the idea. Pretty much all of them are about discovering a specific location. On to of encouraging exploration, the game also encourages experimentation and traveling outside your comfort zone. When you start the game, your clan’s territory is very small, but it doesn’t take long before you have to explore and enter unknown locations. When entering a new location, the hominid will become scared and you’re required to gain dopamine by identifying things nearby, such as fruit, items, and even other animals before finally conquering your fears.

And at various points in the game, you’ll be required (but not explicitly forced) to take your clan and move to another location. This, of course, can make your an easy target for enemies. But they can be scared away by using Intimidate, with your group scaring them away. Intimidate hardly ever works while on your own with only a few exceptions. You also have to be careful, as while many injuries won’t outright kill you, that can hamper your movements, making it harder to get away from enemies. Bleeding is especially dangerous, as it can slowly cause your primate to bleed to death unless treated. Not to mention falling from too great a height can cause you to get a broken leg, which can either heal naturally (after a considerable amount of time), or using certain food. But even greater will outright kill your hominid. And not just falling onto the ground, but even onto a tree branch you planned on swinging from will impale your hominid.

When at least one child is born, you can change the generation, causing time to leap forward a few years, causing infants to grow into adults, adults into elderly, and the elderly die. And any female adults become infertile upon becoming elders. This can only be done at your Clan Settlement, while accessing the Evolution Menu (which is also used to gain Neuron). You can do this to Lock in a Neuron, thereby making it permanent for all hominids from that point forward But you only get a certain number of locks relative to the amount of children born in that generation. So if there are any that aren’t locked, they must be regained again.

After passing a Generation, you can perform an Evolution Leap, allowing you to jump ahead several thousand years, gaining more with each Feat you perform, marked by a checklist based on what you’ve seen or done. The more you do, the more you jump ahead. And if you do or discover certain things before what science dictates (like standing upright before 4 million years ago), you get an “Ahead of Science” bonus, jumping ahead even more years. Births also count to how many years are added while deaths (not counting natural deaths) take away from it.

I also want to mention that when you finally reach 2 million years ago, you get a final cutscene and the game just ends right there. I won’t lie, it’s rather underwhelming. But apparently, this is only the first part in a trilogy.

So with that said, I’ll see you guys next month, where I take a look at a game that it impossible to buy now and you can’t play it unless you already owned it or use an emulator. And no, I’m not talking about PT.

[buckybarnesstar]

Snow Angel

Note: I hope you guys aren’t getting annoyed with me posting about Cody Fern/Michael Langdon for a little bit! I thought this was really sweet and I imagined it, clearly i had to write it down! please leave feedback if you enjoy it! .c

P.S.: listen to this while reading after the 4th paragraph: https://youtu.be/_hW8VqaLdeU

You sat at the piano, your fingers lightly pressing the keys as you hummed a Christmas song to yourself. Keeping up with the time of year is difficult, considering you’re at an Outpost and seasons probably aren’t a thing anymore. Everyone celebrated Halloween and Thanksgiving - they came and went, and now it’s December. November passed by quickly, yet it felt slow at the same time. 

Christmas is your favorite time of the year. Even though it wasn’t always jolly - your family having their ups and downs - Christmastime was when you all got together and realized how much it means to be one.

Gallant groaned as he walked into the room, scratching his head. He was ready for bed, you could tell. But they had a strict bedtime schedule here. Emily and Timothy followed after him, small smiles on their faces. You stopped playing , catching Gallant’s eyes.

“Hey, don’t stop on my account. That’s much better than the crappy song that keeps playing on repeat.” He rolled his eyes and sat on the couch, slouching down as he rest his head back. You smiled and looked between Emily and Timothy for their approval too.

“He’s right.” “You should keep playing.” They said simultaneously. With that, you began playing this time, the sound of the song carrying through the whole Outpost.

Silent Night was your favorite song, so that’s what you chose to play. As the others came in, they smiled at hearing such a familiar tune that didn't make them want to shove scissors in their ears from hearing. Even Venable couldn’t contain her small smirk, standing off to the side. Only one person wasn’t here, but you knew he wouldn’t show his face. He rarely hung out with the people here.

You’ve seen him around during after hours when you went to use the bathroom or get a glass of water. Small conversation is the most you’ve gotten out of him, but you felt something there, it's hard to miss. He started to leave his room more often and would only try to talk to you when he did, there was no specific reason other than seeing you. You didn't have the guts to say anything about to him, though. Not yet.

All ears and eyes were focused on you as you played. They weren't usually so calm and quiet, but this seemed to do the trick. Memories of their lives before the world ended put them in a trance, it made them feel nostalgic. It made them miss what once was. Mallory and Coco were actually sitting close to each other, their hands gripped together, as if they've been best friends for years.

Gallant was sat beside his Grandmother, handing her a handkerchief as she shed a few tears. No matter how much Gallant and his Grandmother would fight, they knew they love each other deep down. The same went for Andre and his mother. Emily and Timothy were hugging close, her head on his shoulder as he rubbed her arm soothingly. 

Your own eyes filled with tears as you continued to play, your heart heavy and your mind full of memories; experiences you'll never have again. Your family was gone. Only you were left to carry on the genes, if you were chosen by Langdon. You sniffled and tried to hold it together but the longer you played, the harder it became. You knew everyone needed this, too, so you held your head high. If you could make the others fell as if things were normal again, you would.

As the song ended, the room filled with applause and cheers. You turned in the seat to face them and smiled shyly, meeting the eyes of people you'd have to spend the rest of your life with if you all made it. They clapped and cried, asking for you to play more songs, giving you compliments, and more than happy to have sat and listened to you play.

"Please! You're so good! I mean, damn, you talented bitch!" Coco said, laughing as she wiped her tears on the back of Mallory's hand, gaining a grossed out reaction from the grey assistant.

"Your wish is my command." You said with a smile.

You played a few songs you knew, ranging from Christmas songs to oldies. Everyone started to dance and you noticed movement to your side. Venable stood still, keeping her eyes on you, Ms. Mead standing right beside her. It wasn't the death glare she usually gave everyone, but her own look of sorrow. You turned back to the piano and focused on playing. 

The night went on and they all ran out of energy. Emily had fallen asleep on Timothy and the rest were yawning or nearly falling asleep. The last song was a lullaby, one your Mom used to play for you when you had nightmares or trouble sleeping. So, you knew it was the perfect song to close with. You sighed as you closed the lid to the piano and turned around, smiling as everyone stood to leave.

Emily walked over to you, leaning down to hug you. "We all needed that, thank you." She whispered with a smile as you hugged her back. Timothy hugged you, as well, then led Emily out of the room. Venable was the last to leave, the sound of her cane echoing through the room. You sighed and rest your elbows on the piano top, your eyes watering once more as you closed them.

You knew you'd never have a Christmas like before, ever again. Ice skating with your family, decorating the tree, giving special gifts to them, and drinking hot chocolate as you all sat by the fireplace, cuddled together. And your favorite part, the snow. Building snowmen, having snowball fights, making snow angels.

Your silent cries soon turned into broken sobs, your body jolting with every weep as you held your head in your hands. You sat there for a few minutes, letting everything that you've been holding in, out. You didn't want to wake the others from crying, so you tried to stay quiet, but you couldn't help it. Your heart was breaking and you knew nothing would put it back together again, nothing would fill the hole you felt growing in your chest.

Suddenly, something cold landed on your arm, then soon after, it happened again. It felt wet and cold. The temperature in the room dropped drastically and you opened your eyes. Staring at the wall in front of you, you exhaled shakily. Your breath came out in a puff of fog around you.

A small snowflake fell right in front of you and you followed it with your eyes, the intricate design clear as day to you. You gasped and reach your hand out, your fingers trembling. The snowflake landed on the palm of your hand and immediately melted, but soon, more fell.

It was snowing. Snow was falling as you sat there, bewildered. You quickly stood up and looked around, seeing the entire room covered in snow. Snow fell from thin air and you covered your mouth. How is this possible? Are you dreaming?

Your eyes watered as you walked around the room, holding your hands out, letting the snow fall onto them, only to melt away seconds later. You smiled and noticed the snow was gathering into a thick blanket on the ground beneath you, covering your hair, and even landing on your eyelashes for a second.

Before you could lie down to make a snow angel, a gentle touch on your back caused you to turn around. Langdon was standing there, holding his jacket out for you, a small smile on his face.

You were cold but you hadn't paid any attention to it before, too distracted by the snow falling. "I didn't want you to freeze and get sick." He said in his low, raspy voice. He reached his hand out to your cheek, wiping a tear that fell.

You took the coat from him and put it on. His eyes drank you in and he looked proud. You looked damn good in his clothes. His hand remained on your face, his body close to yours. It made you nervous.

"Thank you. But what- what is this?" You asked, glancing around the room. His smile grew as he watched your eyes widen with awe. "Snow, of course." He shrugged as if it wasn't inside the Outpost. You scoffed and shook your head. “I know, but it's... How?" You questioned, looking back at him.

He didn't answer you. He reached out for your hand and guided you to the middle of the room. He sat down and laid on his back, looking up at you with that smile. "Well? Are we going to make snow angels or what?" He raised his eyebrows and you couldn't help but giggle.

You joined him on the snow covered floor and gazed up above you. It looked as if you were looking into the sky it was snowing so much.

“I miss this.” You whispered, feeling a lump rising in your throat. Langdon hummed, looking over at you. “Why do you like snow so much?” He asked, sounding genuinely curious, almost childlike.

You sighed. “When it snows, it’s like it’s covering up all the bad experiences and bad memories, things that took a turn for the worst, capturing them to the ground. Then when it melts, all of the bad melts with it, and you can start fresh...a happy beginning.” You felt rather silly with your explanation but it stood true.

Langdon thought about what you said for a moment and looked up at the snow falling. There’s no denying he wants you to come to the sanctuary. You were peculiar, special. You made him feel something he’s never felt before, but he knows it’s something good. Maybe you could be his fresh and happy beginning.

You started to move your arms and legs in a swift motion, creating a snow angel. Langdon looked back at you and started doing the same, his chest full of joy as he watched you.

You laughed and looked over at him, noticing he was also chuckling. Snow fell onto his blonde hair and you had to admit, he looked like a real life angel on his own. You sighed happily and laid there, letting the snow fall on you as you closed your eyes. Memories flashed behind your lids once more but you decided to focus on the now. Langdon's smile filled your mind.

You felt movement beside you and you opened your eyes, only to find him hovering above you to your side. "You look beautiful in the snow." He said with a smile, reaching his finger out to caress your cold cheek. 

You blinked, seeing small snowflakes melt as you did. You didn't know what to make of all of this. It was amazing, it was something you missed so much. It still felt like a dream. But when Langdon moved closer and pressed his lips to yours, you knew it was very much real.

[randomly-random-jen]

2018 in Review

A list of stories I’ve posted in 2018.

This list is kind of long because I posted a lot of back-logged stories this year.

The 100 fanfic:

I Found a Girl | Bellamy/Clarke | 495 words | PG | Bellamy’s been walking all night, carrying the weight of the world and the lone survivor of Factory Station. His mission to find Clarke has failed miserably. And another member of the group died on his watch. He’s not looking forward to this homecoming, but Camp Jaha has a surprise waiting for him.  

Weather the Storm With You | Bellamy/Clarke | 1828 words | PG | Bellamy gets more than he bargained for during a hail storm. Like a wet, angry, sobbing Clarke in his tent.

All These Things I’ve Done | Bellamy | 398 words | PG | Picking up the pieces of your life isn’t as easy as watching them fall apart, especially when there’s no one there to help you.

Running Out of Reasons to Pretend | Bellamy/Clarke | 638 words | PG | The morning before Bellamy and Lincoln make their daring attempt to infiltrate Mt. Weather, Bellamy has a quiet moment with Clarke. He doesn’t know what to say to her anymore, but he’s tired of pretending he doesn’t care.

Every Time I Turn Around | Bellamy/Clarke | 272 words | PG | Since she came back, Clarke is always there whenever Bellamy turns around, even when he doesn’t know he needs her. Bellamy’s thoughts during his emotional conversation with Clarke in 3.13.

Friends in Low Places | Clarke & Murphy | 836 words | R: mild language | Murphy and Clarke are locked in her room in Polis, but they need to escape before the next Heda is crowned and the kill order goes into effect. Or worse. Tag for s3e07.

At the Center of the Night | Bellamy/Clarke | 2043 words | R | Sleepless nights send Bellamy and Clarke on a crash course to finally fixing their friendship. Post season 3.

Worn Around the Edges | Bellamy/Clarke | 3031 words | PG | Bellamy tries to be the friend that Clarke needs while she deals with what happened in The City of Light even if it tears apart his heart.

Follow You Down | Bellamy/Clarke | 849 words | PG-13 | There are a lot of dangers on the ground, but Bellamy found out quickly that the scariest one was Clarke Griffin. She had ways of hurting him he’d never imagined, and yet, he keeps going back for more. Like a moth to a flame in the center of hell.

Every Time We Say Goodbye | Bellamy/Clarke | 586 words | PG | Saying good-bye gets harder and harder. Bellamy hopes this one isn’t forever. Episode tag for S02e16.

Mid-Morning Interlude | Bellamy/Clarke | 1570 words | PG-13 | They’ve been on the ground a week, and Clarke has had enough of the whining. She needs a break. Too bad Bellamy can’t seem to leave her alone. Too bad she sort of likes that about him.

Always & Forever | Bellamy & Octavia | 673 words | PG | Just a little snapshot of a cold night on the Ark for young Bellamy and Octavia.

Handle With Care | Bellamy/Clarke | 886 words | PG | Set not long after s1e10 (I Am Become Death). Clarke is left to clean up the dropship on her own, but Bellamy thinks there’s something more important that she should be doing.

Forty Days to Gone | Bellamy/Clarke | 462 words | PG | Bellamy contemplates the first forty days on the ground with Clarke.

Wash Away the Pain | Bellamy/Clarke | 1272 words | PG-13 | Clarke has too much blood on her hands, but Bellamy is there to help wash it away.

End of the Line | Bellamy/Clarke | 690 words | PG-13 | An alternate scene in episode 1.07. Clarke and Bellamy disagree on how to handle the captured Lincoln. Because there’s no coming back once you cross that line.

Won’t Say I Told You So (But I Totally Did) | Bellamy/Clarke | 1780 words | PG | Things would run a lot smoother in camp if people would just get their heads out of their asses and listen to Clarke. And by “people” she means Bellamy. Takes place in the first weeks on the ground but without them ever contacting the Ark.

A Hero Without a Sunset to Ride Into | Bellamy | 608 words | PG-13 | The war may be over, but the battles never end. Bellamy contemplates the consequences of war. Post-season 2 finale.

Unstoppable | Octavia | 523 words | PG-13 | Octavia doesn’t need anyone to tell her who she is–she already knows.

Don’t Look at Me That Way | Bellamy/Clarke | 590 words | PG | Things are running smoother on the ground thanks to Clarke’s effect on Bellamy.

Us Against Everything | Bellamy/Clarke | 1539 words | PG | Canon divergent. With a brutal winter ahead, Bellamy realizes there might be more than friendship growing between him and Clarke.

Fall to Pieces | Bellamy/Clarke | 1454 words | PG | Canon divergent. After a year on the ground, Bellamy and Clarke are finally ready to confront their feelings. As long as Bellamy doesn’t break his neck first.

Meanwhile, Life Goes On | Bellamy/Clarke | 1108 words | PG | With two new graves dug, Bellamy finally realizes he’s going to need help keeping everyone alive, but first, he has to get everyone inside the walls.

I Wanna Be Your Left-Hand Man | Bellamy/Clarke | 1597 words | PG-13: missing limbs | An accident takes something from Bellamy that he can never get back, but he has Clarke to get him through.

Heaven Help Him | Bellamy & Heaven | 643 words | G |A fluffy AU of my Heaven Can’t Wait story. Bellamy gets hurt on the job, but luckily there’s someone there to kiss it and make it all better.

No Place Else I’d Rather Be | Bellamy/Clarke | 2585 words | PG-13 | When Bellamy and Clarke get stuck in the mud, it’s finally time to have a conversation that’s been brewing far too long.

Hope for the Future | Bellamy & Murphy | 470 words | PG | Four years after they lost everything, Bellamy and Murphy have a quiet moment to remember and find hope for a future that may never happen. Canon-divergent from the end of season 4. A little glimpse of what life might have been like on the ring.

Hope is a Four-Letter Word | Bellamy/Clarke | 300 words | PG | Clarke had Bellamy once upon a time and took it for granted. Now she’s paying the price. Or she could listen to Madi (and Echo) and take a chance.

Penny For Your Thoughts | Bellamy/Clarke | 545 words | G | A year after waking up light years from Earth, Bellamy and Clarke have a quiet moment and make some decisions.

Where the Green Grass Grows | Bellamy/Clarke | 1079 words | G | Three years after settling on New Earth, Bellamy and Octavia finally find themselves at ease with life and looking forward to the future.

Red vs Blue fanfic:

Burnt Toast | Wash/Carolina | 1013 words | PG | Two years ago, they shut down Project Freelancer for good, saved the people of Chorus from mutual annihilation, and stopped Hargrove from destroying more lives. Now Carolina and Wash have to figure out how to live with everything that happened and each other.

Rockets Red Glare | Blue Team | 639 words | R: language | The one where the DVD collection is a mess and Caboose thinks it’s the 4th of July.

Shut Up and Dance | York/Carolina | 1684 | PG | A mission without armor and weapons? Instead, there’s black ties and gowns. Schmoozing and dancing. Sounds like Carolina’s worst nightmare. Specifically, the dancing part. York, though, is loving every bit of it. Especially, the dancing part.

Midnight in the Garden of Our Past Lives | Wash/Carolina | 1440 words | PG-13 | It’s late, and Wash can’t sleep. But he’s not the only one. Maybe what he and Carolina really need is someone to talk them through the dark night. Cuddling also works.

Gross Family | Tucker & Junior | 292 words | PG-13: mild language | Junior visits Tucker–from Junior’s POV.

Nightlight | Wash & Caboose | 561 words | G | There are still a lot Wash has to learn about the inner workings of Blue base now that Epsilon is gone. Like Caboose’s sleeping habits.

Better Late Than Never | York/Carolina | 1007 words | PG-13 | Yet another mission shot to hell, but Carolina’s having a hard time staying mad at York. What with his flowers and awkward flirting.

Left Behind | Carolina & Tex | 607 words | PG-13 | They never come back from their last mission.

Best Service Minimum Wage Can Buy: Why Are We Here? | Simmons & Griff |453 words | R: language | I blame this post @red-vs-red but make no apologies. Welcome to BurniMart where the pay sucks and the service is even worse. In this episode, Simmons regrets all his life choices.

Attention to Detail | Epsilon and the gang | 9832 words | R: language | After their last Eleventh Hour Hail Mary mission, Grif had plopped down right among the dying enemy soldiers and said he wasn’t moving until he got some leave. He wouldn’t even budge for Sarge’s shotgun. “We’ve saved the galaxy enough times. I think we deserve a vacation.” No one could come up with a logical rebuttal for that so they headed to the nearest resort planet.

Unfair Advantage | York/Carolina | 798 words | R: language | Watching Carolina spar on any day could leave a man breathless, speechless, and probably a little brain dead from the blood rushing out of his head to other parts of his body. But watching Carolina spar against Wyoming sans armor. That’s something else entirely.

Save the Last Dance for Me | York/Carolina | 695 words | R: language | York’s not sure what to think when Carolina puts his dancing lessons to use because she looks amazing twirling across the floor. And he’s not the only one noticing. A sequel to Shut Up and Dance.

Girl Genius fanfic:

The Beginning of Again | Gil & Klaus | 1021 words | G | Eight-year-old Gil Holzfäller has made a few mistakes in his short, miserable life but none as far-reaching as getting his best friend expelled from his life.

The Distance Between Us | Gil/Tarvek/Agatha | 1003 words | PG | Gil has spent the last three years of his life fighting to save his friends, and now it’s over. They won. It’s time to settle down and enjoy the victory. Except nothing is ever that easy for Gil. Just when he was finding peace, Tarvek and Agatha throw him a curve ball. And it hurts.

Quit Pretending | Gil/Tarvek | 1071 words | PG-13 | Set sometime after Mechanicsburg is freed as everyone settles into life at Castle Heterodyne. Agatha thinks she knows how to fix Gil and Tarvek’s relationship. She’s usually right.

Blast From the Past | Gil/Tarvek | 841 words | PG | Tarvek is settling into another semester of university when he runs into someone from his past he thought he never wanted to see again. Now he’s not quite sure.

Sacrifices Better Left Undone | Gil/Tarvek | 1100 words | PG | The machine is finished. It works just as Agatha predicted. But not everything goes according to plan. Now Gil has to make a difficult decision. Too bad Tarvek is thinking the same thing

Wax in the Frosting | Gil & Bang | 980 words | PG | It’s been nearly a year since time stopped, freezing his friends in the town below, but Gil doesn’t even know what day it is. Luckily, Bangladesh Dupree has his back and a cake.

[dawnoftime21]

Why Him? (Patrick Hockstetter x reader) (smut)

Summary: You’re the girlfriend of Henry Bowers, leader of the Bower’s but, what you don’t know is that Patrick is infatuated with you and absolutely hates the thought of you and Henry together

Warning: smut (of course aha), Oral sex(female receiving), Jealous!Patrick, Blood, knife play (but not really)

A/N: I thought I’d try something new and go into different things, so let me know who I should include for my imagines/one-shots! :)

It was everything about you that made him fall head over heals, the way your (Y/H/C) hair would somehow flow perfectly in the wind as you rode in the Trans Am with the gang, the way you smile and laugh at the most simple things, the way his name would slip off your tongue like a soft coo, made for only him to hear. But what he didn’t like was the way you looked at Henry, the way you stayed close to him at all times, the way you’d laugh at all of his jokes and most importantly.. the way you kissed him. Those should be his kisses…not Henry’s.

You were walking down the hallway, heading to your 4th period class, when you came across the Bower’s gang, the biggest bullies in school. You smile to yourself and trot over to, walking over to the very handsome leader.

“Hey babe!” You giggle, pecking his lips, he smirks at the gesture and wraps his arms around your waist, pulling you closer.

“Hey baby” He smiles softly, as you rest your head on his chest.

You close your eyes as you feel a pair of eyes on your back, you knew who’s eyes they were, you knew the feeling all too well, you slowly open your eyes and look over to see Patrick, staring dead at you, with a distant look in his eyes, a look of longing, you faintly smile and look away and back up at Henry.

“Let’s skip” you whine playfully, causing a smile to instantly show up on his face.

“Whatever you say princess” he says in a sarcastic tone as he said ‘princess’ before grabbing your hand and heading out the front door with you and the rest of the gang.

~

Throughout the whole night spent with the boys you felt Patrick’s eye’s on you, piercing through you, causing your blood to run cold with each glance you made resulting in eye contact.

Why was he staring?

You stepped out of the shower, having washed off the events of earlier from your body, going to the quarry and going to the pond and swimming.

Softly humming a tune you’re interrupted by a knock on your front door, you quickly wrap the towel around your body and rush to the door, Henry was usually the only one to visit you at this time of night so you weren’t really worried about being in a towel, you open the door and your eyes widen to see it’s Patrick, standing right in front of you, hair a mess, eyes bloodshot.

Was he crying? Hockstetter never cries!

“Everything alright Hockstetter?” You ask, moving out of the way to let him in. He hesitates at first but then walks in.

“Can we go upstairs?” He asks softly, looking at the ground.

“Y-Yeah um.. sure” you managed to stutter out, why are you so nervous about having him in your room? It’s just Patrick!

You two silently make your way to your room and you motion for him to sit on the bed, you start searching around your room for clothes to wear.

“I-I can’t stop thinking about you (Y/N) no matter what I do, y-you’re always there! Your smile, your laugh! The way you kiss him!! Fuck the way you kiss him” You freeze in your tracks at the words coming out of his mouth, you tense up as you hear him rise from your bed and make his way over to you, “The way he touches you, looks at you.. the way you touch him, look at him” he says softly in your ear, running his hand softly down your shoulder, down your arm and intertwines your hands.

He kisses softly down your neck to your shoulder, causing goosebumps to spread through your body.

“P-Patrick we can’t, I-Im with Henry..a-ah” your breath hitches as he undoes the towel and let’s it fall softly to the floor, allowing the cold air to engulf your body, causing your nipples to harden almost immediately. A whimper leaving your lips, body shivering slightly.

“Why him (Y/N)? Because he’s the leader? Because he’s not… Crazy?” His free hand that isn’t in yours slowly makes it’s way down your chest, stopping and resting on your stomach.

“Y-you’re not crazy Patrick”

“Oh but I am my little dove, crazy about you” his hand travels lower and rests on your hip, “But you still have answered my question babe… Why him?” His hand tightens around your hip, you take your free and put it over his, on your hip, “I-I don’t know” you say barely above a whisper. He let’s go of you and turns you around, he backs you against the wall and presses his body against yours, you look up at him, his blue-ish green eyes piercing through yours, he leans down and connects your lips softly, you weren’t hesitant in the slightest about kissing back, your lips move in sync as if they were made for one another, you moan softly as your hands make their way to the side of his face, rubbing your thumbs softly against his cheek. Henry never kissed you like this, it was always rough with him, always about him but Patrick was being gentle…which is rare with him. Your lips separate and his lips connect to your neck, leaving soft wet kisses down your neck, and down your chest to your lower region. “P-Patrick” you whine with want, you hated to admit it but you needed him, not Henry, not anyone else…him.

“Shhhh baby, I’ll take good care of you, by the time I’m done with you.. you won’t need him anymore” he states, lifting up your leg up over his shoulder and kissing the inside of your thigh, you bite you lip and arch you back of off the cold wall and wrap your fingers into his long black locks. He moans softly at the act and lips your fold softly, “Fuck, you taste so sweet baby” he purrs, licking again, “Mm, please b-babe, d-don’t tease me” you stutter out as he works his tongue over your clit, slowly moving in circular motions, your fingers tighten around his hair and you gently pull upward to signal him to come up but he doesn’t, he slides his tongue into you and explores your walls, deep inside of you, your fingers tighten around his hair as you writhe against him, your feel your body jerk suddenly as his tongue hits a specific spot of your body, sending sparks through you, you feel the knot in your stomach tighten greatly. “P-Patrick I’m gonna–” “Let go baby, cum for me” he mumbles against you, sending vibrations through you, his tongue exits you and you let out a whine but that whine soon fades as his mouth attacks your clit, sucking and licking. You let out a strained cry as you practically scream his name, releasing all over him.

“Good girl” he purrs lapping your juices and standing back up, you softly kiss his neck as you remove his button up, and start to undo his belt and unbutton his jeans, you smirk against his skin as you hear soft low moans escape from him as your kisses turn into sucking. You soon pull away and take his tank top off, as he starts to work his pants and underwear off. There he stands, naked in front of you. You whimper at the thought of him inside of you, making you his, he was definitely bigger than Henry, not that he was small but he certainly wasn’t as big as Patrick. He sees you eyeing him and smirks, taking your leg and wrapping it around his waist, positioning himself at your entrance, his lips hover against yours, almost taking your breath away “You ready baby?” He asks softly, sincerely. You silently let out a yes and his lips lock against yours, as he slowly slides into you. Your lips separate as your mouth opens slightly letting out a shaky breath, he smiles and starts to thrust in and out of you, slowly but forcefully, you look up at him and rest your hand on his cheek. “Say it baby…say you’re mine” he grunts out between thrusts. “I-Im yours Patrick, only yours” you moan out, the feeling of his body against yours was pure bliss, his thrusts get harder and he grabs your hand, reaching into his shirt you had thrown on your dresser, he pulls out his switch blade, panic goes through you but it soon subsides when his lips collide with yours, you soon feel a sharp pain in your right hand and you wince against the kiss not daring to pull away, he slowly pulls away and cuts his left palm diagonally from his pointer finger to the end of his hand. The sight didn’t make you feel nauseated it disgusted, the sight made you curious.

With his thrusts still rhythmic and hard, he puts his cut hand into yours, as if to create a blood bond between the two of you, the feeling made adrenaline rush through you.

“I love you (Y/N) so fucking much” he breaths out, lifting you up.

You wrap both legs around his waist and kiss him passionately, “I love you too Patrick” you coo, letting Henry slip your mind completely.

He brings you to the bed and lays you down, his speed increases and his thrusts harder, making your bed shake and creak “F-Fuck, O-oh my, Baby right there!” You cry out, reaching your hands up to the sides of his face and yanking him into a kiss, you feel the knot in your stomach become unbearable, “You like that, huh? Who do you belong to?” He grunts, going harder, he moves down to your neck and starts sucking and biting. “Y-You! S-Shit! I belong to you!” You scream, “I’m gonna cum!” You grunt but it sounds more like a whine, This wasn’t any sort rough to you, to you this was passion. Henry never did anything like this, he would more of fuck you, cum and stop, whether you came or not. But this, this was cloud 9, this was addictive.

“Cum for me my love, I-Im coming too” he mumbled against your neck, “Let me feel you around me baby, show me how much you love me” he whispers softly in your neck, needing you. This sends you over the edge as you claw into his back, hold onto him for dear life as if you’d never see him again, like he wasn’t real. You feel your eyes roll back and your back arch against him, pressing your body even closer to his.

Seeing the sight of you send him over as well, his thrusts getting sloppy as his breath quickens and your name comes out of his mouth over and over like a mantra. You feel him release inside of you and you shudder at the warm feeling. He rolls over off of you and kisses you, holding your bloodied hands together.

“We’re connected now…by mind, body, soul…and blood” he says softly, these words didn’t come out as intimidating, they came off as loving, you knew why he did this. He couldn’t handle it if you went back to Henry. So he made you his with the only thing he knows, blood. And that made your heart flutter.

You laid your head on his chest, “I love you Patrick Hockstetter” you whisper softly, as if to yourself as it had just dawned on you what happened. You cheated on your boyfriend, but.. you felt no remorse. But if you were to go back with Henry, you’d feel horrible as if you’d cheated on Patrick.

Your heart belonged to Patrick and every part of you knew that.

[s2he-gamewalkthrough]

Part 12: In the Clouds

The part of the game where Tensho has to complete some finicky and very specific game requirements to progress the story.

If you don’t know what this is about, please refer to this previous post.

[Any new comments by me will be designated by brackets.]

[Oof, this chapter’s one of the messier ones... I’ve cleaned it up a lot from the original LiveJournal post, but it still jumps around a lot in places. Apologies for that.]

Before I get on with the plot of the game, I found some upgrades!

Tensho:

Lv 2 --> 3:

Tenka:

Second listed item, Lv 1 --> 2

Youzen's:

First listed item, Lv 1 --> 2

First listed item, Lv 2 --> 3

Second item listed, Lv 1 --> 2

Second item listed, Lv 2 --> 3

[I uh. Really hope these combinations are still correct as I am unable to test them out in the old saved game I have. I highly recommend upgrading paopei/weapons whenever you can because it helps to make all future battles significantly easier.]

Oh, I forgot to mention before, but you should have gotten a few equipable items by now. Those are marked with stars (in the item description) in the inventory menu:

You can equip them to characters by selecting the third “word” in the menu screen:

Some equipment items affect certain stats, while some I guess negate status ailments. If you don't know Japanese, then finding out the effects pretty much comes down to trial and error. (I won't be listing the specific effects of all the equipable items--Sorry!)

Cavechan was nice enough to translate the character stat screen for us in part 1, so that should be a big help when you're messing around with equipment. (Thank you again to Cavechan!)

In the end, I had to equip Tenka with an item to boost his attack because it was pathetically weak.

Also, I've recently found out that you can't use HP-restoring potions on doushi/senin. I have no idea why this happens. This means that if you want to heal these characters while in a dungeon, you have to use a character that has a healing move. Man, that's going to be annoying in a pinch.

Anyway, time for more level grinding in the Houshindai!

I will only be unlocking two senins in the Houshindai today because the monsters on the lower floor are getting harder and harder to beat.

Another of the Juunisen, and In Hon's master. His name's Seki Seishi. (Also, he apparently talks A LOT.)

I also unlocked In Cho's master! (Kou Seishi)

Their bonus is:

They both sell things for something other than cash. One seems to sell potions while the other just sells combo upgrades. I suppose it’s decently useful?

While training in the Houshindai, I messed around with some of Youzen’s new moves.

After having beaten Chou Koumei (yet again), Youzen can now transform into him (4th move, second option.)

Sadly, you only have one attack Chou Koumei (a whip-like attack) and it frankly sucks because it does such a small amount of damage. I think this form is balanced out with all the supporting moves you have at your disposal, though I admittedly never utilized Chou Koumei’s form much.

And oooh, the 60 EP move (unlocked from the cutscene between Youzen and Gyokutei) allows Youzen to go into yokai form!

His ultimate attack (costing 40 EP) does A TON of damage.

(For reference, I was only doing about 1000 points of damage with Tensho and Tenka at this stage in the game.)

Anyway, time to head to the new location, finally. It looks to be someplace up in the clouds?

Hmm, that kid looks familiar...

Hey, it's kid-Tensho!

...Wait, what?

Yeah, this is actually all just an illusion. Those treasure chests scattered about are actually real, but you’ll have to find a way to get to them yourself because... Well, you’ll see why soon enough. 

After the short convo, kid-Tensho beckons you to follow him, and he’ll move a few steps along some kind of invisible path. You have to follow kid-Tensho’s steps EXACTLY. Otherwise you'll fall off the clouds (Hitou saves you from falling to your death) and have to re-do the path all over again. This “invisible path” is ridiculously long, which is why they included a guide in the form of kid-Tensho. You have to follow him about six times. You can save at any time in this area; so if you're the type that has trouble following an exact path, then you might want to save in the middle so you don’t have to keep restarting all the way at the beginning if you make a mistake.

Also, don't follow too closely behind kid-Tensho, otherwise you might accidentally walk ahead too far when he turns. This happened to me many, many times. [I’m not going to give a guide on how to grab any of the treasure chests in this area, because honestly; I haven’t been able to figure out how to grab most of the chests myself.]

After all of that trouble, Tensho finds himself in a quant little village in the clouds. (It's actually a small village on top of a very high mountain, if you've read the manga.)

I'm going to just say this now for lack of a better place to bring it up: when you exit, you'll immediately leave the place. (You won't have to go through the invisble path in reverse or anything.) But you'll have to do the walkway “puzzle” again every time you try to visit the village. Really quite annoying. The next time you arrive, you'll be given three options on how to do the puzzle--slow, medium, or fast. This refers to how quickly kid-Tensho walks along the path. If you have amazing memory and want to save time, then you can choose the medium or fast option. I always go with slow, because it's the turns that get me...

The cameos in this village include:

The Village Chief guy with a strong aura.

And surprisingly, an un-possessed Chuu Ou. I have no idea how he got here or even what he’s doing here, but I get the feeling Shinkyohyo had a hand in this somehow.

And of course, there’s Taijou Roukun (a.k.a. Roushi) sleeping amongst the sheep.

[Alright, this part... You’re supposed to talk to Taijou Roukun but he’s not an easy guy to get in contact with, as he’s almost always asleep. Even now I still don’t know the EXACT requirements on how you activate the next part of the game’s plot, but I have figured out a rough guideline... sorta.

Talk to EVERYONE in this location ONCE.

Yes, even the sheep. But ONLY once. If you talk to the same sheep twice by accident, the next cutscene won’t activate. This is an extremely specific set of requirements, I know.]

After having talked to everyone and every sheep ONCE, go up to Taikou Roukun and try talking to him. After the usual sleeping noises Roushi makes, Tensho will say something.

I "think" after doing EVERYTHING you possibly can do, Tensho figures it out and does the same thing Taikoubou did to talk to Roushi... Sleep.

No BGM plays in this mini-cutscene. That means important stuff. Too bad I can't read Japanese. You're given two different dialogue choices in a row. I don't think it really has much effect on the storyline, but I don’t have any real way of confirming that (due to my lack of Japanese language knowledge). 

[I have no idea what this says but it’s probably important.]

In case you're wondering, I just went with the first choices for both “choose your dialogue” moment in the convo with Roushi. In this game, the first choice tends to be the better one, it seems.

After that mini-cutscene...

Hey, you're--!

Nentou Doujin! (By the way, his BGM is AWESOME.) Talk to him, and you’ll get treated to a loooong conversation. After that, leave Taijou Roukun’s place. The dot over Mount Kongrong’s location should be flashing, and all your party members will be gone. Don’t worry--this is only a temporary thing.

To continue the plot of the game, you'll have to bring Soushou along to the village in the clouds. (His room is the back right one, on the first floor.) Then head back to talk to Nentou. I can’t remember if it was ever officially confirmed (or if I’ve already mentioned it in this guide), but Nentou is Soushou’s master.

After another long convo, Soushou stays behind, I guess to train under Nentou. You get the rest of your party members back here.

Like master, like disciple.

BONUS MATERIAL TIME (a.k.a. some extra stuff that I didn’t know where to put so it’s going in this post whoop whoop)

At this point in the game, some locations on the overworld have changed a bit. If you go back to the water cave area (the one with all the arrows), you'll find Sengyoku and Dokouson there now.

I have NO idea why they're even standing here. Maybe to guard the place? Maybe because Sengyoku thinks that it's a romantic spot?

Anyway, if you want to initiate a rather humorous scene; first have youzen transform into this:

Second, talk to Dokouson.

In case you're wondering who Youzen just transformed into, it's Hekiun, one of Ryuukitsu's disciples.

Dokouson starts drooling over her and his wifey gets mad.

There’s some pounding noises and the screen shakes.

You can also now find Mokutaku and Kintaku at the old battlefield area.

It took me a long time to figure this out, but Tenka’s “action button” allows him to bust through certain walls:

Apparently the one-off “Tenka as a construction worker” joke from the manga was so funny to the game creators that they included a special face portrait of Tenka in a hardhat.

Anyway, if you head back to Tensho’s hometown after finishing the Taijou Roukun cutscene, you’ll be given a lot of dialogue choices if you talk to the villagers. This doesn’t seem to do anything too important. 

But if you choose the second dialogue option on one of the old men, he begins frantically running around the whole town. It's... somewhat amusing in a morbid kind of way.

The old dude freaking runs at the speed of light. I had to block him like this to get a screenshot of him.

Going back to Genshitenson's place briefly...

A grave has been built for him. I think Hakutsuru built it?

Inside Geishitenson's hut, if you look at the right pot at the back of the room, Hitou will say something. THIS IS IMPORTANT. He doesn't do it when you look at the other pot (on the left) so you know something's up. We will return here later.

[That’s all for this post. I hope you guys enjoyed it, despite it being a bit of a mess.]

To be continued.

[zilcar]

A Torn and Battered Journal

((This is a tome recovered during Zilcar's time as a prisoner of the Sin'dorei guild Fireborne. Hope you enjoy the read.)) <The pages are extremely old, and the original ink in the book is faded, and illegible with the new ink written over. Most of the beginning Darnassian and Common look very jagged towards the end of the book, as if the writer was trembling heavily. > Zilcar Montesa, Day 9; 1st Entry I found this old destroyed tome in one of the abandoned rooms that we passed when we first got here, and I finally have something to write with. I can’t lose this book or let them find it; I figure putting my thoughts down on paper will help delay the time it will take me to lose my mind in this place. My thoughts are still racing from that day. How many times has that scenario played out in my head? How could I have done better? I still have her look in my head when they took me. I wonder how she’d react knowing I kept fighting once I was across that portal? Maybe a smile. Though I forget why, I blacked out during the struggle and awoke in a cell… with almost nothing on my person. My cellmate was this wild-eyed, bearded cultist who looked like he hadn’t seen the sun in too damn long. He kept mumbling about how ‘the cell is the haven in this hell’. I figure he means how harsh these torture methods are, and how they don’t come down here to torture us unless they want something from us specifically. I’ve been here little over a week, and I’ve yet to see anything too harsh. Perhaps they don’t know what they have yet. ---- Zilcar Montesa, Day 11; 2nd Entry <The ‘ink’ is now red, changing from the faded black from the last entry> My cellmate bled out from the last torture a few hours ago, and I was out of ink. Whoever finds this, don’t think too much into the change in ink. They’re more vigorous with how they’re doing things. They want something, and they’re working to get it out of someone. They just lacerated my crazed cellmate once they figured he’d give them nothing they needed. It’s hard to get sleep here. Harder than normal, that is… they never stop; someone is always screaming, either it’s down the hall or floors away. There’s always some kind of noise. Though I can still sleep comfortably for now, they haven’t done anything worse than whips and beatings yet. Though it’s strange; I remember them willing to lose personal to capture me, so then why are they going so easy lately? This worries me. ---- Zilcar Montesa, Day 12; 3rd Entry I was right, they didn’t know what they had. I was about to get a new cellmate. A fighter, he knocked one of the guards with his elbow straight in the groin. First time I’ve smiled in days. Though… they beat him for a moment and threw him in here, they were about to leave. Then one of them saw me. He seemed to recognize me from somewhere, but he immediately took the other prisoner and put him somewhere else. Then… that warlock, or mage… whatever she was. She told the guards what I was… I laughed. I got a small beating from laughing at her, but… I found it funny that she had me put here without telling anyone what I had. Nevertheless, I assume my leisurely stay here is about to be a bit more serious now… ---- Zilcar, Day 19; 4th Entry <Small impact drops of blood stain the top of the page, over where ‘Montesa’ would normally be> A week. I haven’t been in this cell for a week. There’s someone else here now… another with this same connection to darkness as me, a human. He says they attacked him in Northrend, same as me… After I laughed at her, they picked me up and… it’s been a blur of pain and questions since. The only way I know it’s been a week is how many times I’ve seen the moon out the one window they have. I’m sure I’ve fractured or broken a fraction of my bones, this gash on my forehead won’t stop bleeding, and I’m missing a wisdom tooth. That one hurt a bit more than it should have. Though hey… on the bright side, I know the Order works fast. I’ll be out soon. Even if not by them, I will escape before they do anything big to me, or get anything out of me. I won’t let them. They could have me in there for a decade… I won’t break. ---- Zilcar Montesa, Day 24; 5th Entry <The writing is extremely sloppy, as if someone still learning their alphabet was writing> They cut off my left hand, so now I get to write with my right… joy. No better reason to become more ambidextrous. Also, the other prisoner was taken away from here. So much for having a close ally. They’re good at making their prisoners feel weak, both in spirit and physically. Though that’s mostly from blood-loss and belittling tactics… Oddly, simple shit. It’s just what they do here. Some of these tactics… they’re all on the fly. One man seemed to care for half a second. He asked one of the prisoners if he needed anything. He told him that he was hungry… poor bastard. He took the prisoners hand and cut off a finger, and shoved it into his mouth, which he taped shut. He took off the tape the next day to do something else, but the finger was gone… I don’t know how long that man had been here… but how desperate do you have to be... ---- Zilcar, Day 30(?); 6th Entry They put me in solitary confinement awhile ago. I don’t know the day count anymore, but I’m pretty sure it’s been about a week… maybe not as long yet. At least I was able to catch up on sleep… though I started running out of things to think about those last few hours. I’m glad they pulled me out to punish someone else who fucked up. When I asked one of the others about what’s happened since I was put away like that, and he ignored me. Figures. I can’t get a straight answer from anyone anymore, they beat and punish anyone who talks to me… to anyone, really… but they focus on me. They’re trying to isolate me, and its fucking working. I need to find an ally in here. Anyone. ---- Zilcar; 7th Entry <There seemed to be an original entry here, though it’s now covered in a splatter of dried blood and written over> It feels like it’s been weeks since my last entry. I have no idea what time it is, and all the days just blur together. Wake up, pain, questions, an hour for their lunch or whatever they stop in the middle of the day for, more pain, thrown back in the cell for an attempt at sleep, and it feels they come get me for more pain an hour later. It never ends, and I finally had a chance here. Idiots caught me writing, and beat me for it… but forgot to take the tome. Or maybe he didn't think it really mattered, he just wanted a reason… who knows. I need to start looking at ways out. Or some kind of ally here, I need help. I can’t keep going at this alone. The cell is haven in this hell… I see what that human was talking about. ---- Zilc-… ; -8th Entry <It’s obvious there was space here for an entry, but it looks smeared in dried blood, the name starting the entry blotched out by what looks like large drops of blood. All that’s legible are a few words here and there.> …They cut it out, my f-… alking to other prisoners, and he came up to me with sciss-… -od won’t stop pouring out, I feel like I’m g-… -ightheaded, doing what I can to stop the bleeding. My sight is getting blurry, I ca-… <The next letter was in the middle of being written, but trails off and the ink runs off the page> …I passed out. I’m being a bit more careful and less panicky while I write this time… they cut out my fucking tongue for talking about escaping. They caught me and pulled out scissors. I can’t think of what the others were doing, but now it’s going to be all on my own. I just pray I make it out soon. There has to be something here they missed. There always is, there’s always a weak point in defense. ---- Zilcar; 9th Entry They know what I’m trying to do now, so guard around me has been increased. They’re allowed to do whatever they feel is necessary whenever they feel I get out of line. It’s not like I have anything to say to them, anyways… heh. Accidental Pun. The guards switch out at midnight and noon, 12 hour shifts. They’re gone for about 2-3 minutes when they leave, and the lock on the door is a brand new padlock, but it looks generic. It shouldn’t be hard to pick even with makeshift tools. This missing hand is a pain in the ass, though… really, everything hurting right now is a pain in the ass. I’ll find something, though. I won’t die here, not in this hole. ---- Zilcar; 10th Entry I took a beating for it, but I got what I needed to get out of this cell when I get the chance. And best of all, they can hide in plain sight. They were dragging a dead prisoner past this cell, and he had a limb hanging by a scrape of skin… I managed to pull it off, claiming I need something to beat the rats away. Not sure if it worked, considering they kicked me a few times, but they left the arm. I’ll have to dig the bones out from their place and whittle them down to something I can use as a lockpick when I get the chance. I can taste freedom. <It looks like there may have been a few more entries, though the rest of the tome is torn off, the spine of the book being all that’s keeping it from falling apart.>

[neonnihilism]

kneel on my arrival. 

chapter one.

The Vagabond is shoving Gavin against the wall enough to wind him by the time Gavin can open his mouth. As he struggles to breathe, mouth wide open, eyebrows drawn together, the Vagabond is already starting to leave the bathroom. When his foot is out of the threshold of the room, he stops and looks at Gavin. He points at Gavin. His hands go straight in front of him, one palm facing up, one facing down. He turns them.

He’s signing at Gavin. He signed ‘you’re dead,’ to Gavin.

Gavin is still breathing hard, but he manages to fingerspell ‘ASL,’ raise his hand to his head, almost in a salute. Then he drops his hand to a ‘y.’ His eyebrows are raised. You know sign language?

The Vagabond looks stunned immediately. Gavin can’t revel in it for too long, because he’s already gone. Gavin sinks to the floor, chest heaving. The communication device in his ear crackles. “What happened?” Geoff’s voice isn’t the best quality, but Gavin understands. He presses a button on the device and clears his throat.

“The Vagabond knows sign language.”

“Does he know you know it?”

“I doubt he did before, but, now he definitely knows.” Gavin stopped talking after that, instead standing up and beginning to walk out of the bathroom. If the Vagabond didn’t know Gavin knew sign language, why use it? He shrugged it off, questions could come later, right now he should get ice on his back. Caleb might laugh at him for that, but anything for relief. Gavin looks around the club for his masked little friend, but of course, there’s no sign of him. Before he leaves to the penthouse, he orders the strongest drink they have. It never hurts to drink.

After he sleeps the hurt off, Gavin sits down to do research. All the notes he has of the Vagabond, the man they’ve been chasing for months, the man whose face has never been seen, are extremely vague. The man wears a mask 24/7, how can there be any notes of him. There’s newspaper clippings of his crimes, his height, build, abilities, allies (or lack thereof,) even what car he drives most of the time (armored kuruma.) But nothing of note, nothing of eye color, hair color, or frequent dive bars. What can Gavin do?

Gavin goes back to the club the next day. Though as much as he wants to, he doesn’t order the drink he got last time. Instead, he gets a girly drink that’s so pink he forgets there’s alcohol in it. When a drink comes his way, he smiles politely and refuses. Does the same when the guy who bought the drink for him comes his way as well.

There’s obviously no Vagabond here. It should be obvious since no masked men here are making people run screaming out of the building. By the time Gavin is 5 seconds from walking out of this building defeated, someone puts their hand on his shoulder and leans in close. “Can I get you a drink?” said the disembodied voice.

The voice is deep, but a pleasant deep. A light lilt at the end. Gavin is ready to turn him down.

Up until he turns.

The first thing he notices is his eyes. They’re remind him of Geoff’s eyes, with how blue they are. When Gavin finally pulls his eyes away from them, he’s already saying yes to the drink.

“Anything specific? I, uh, don’t actually drink. So, I don’t know what’s good.” The guy was smiling shyly. “I didn’t think you would say yes.”

Gavin is adopting a mask as quickly as he can. He’s smiling enough to make his cheeks hurt and leaning forward into the guy’s space, under the assumption of not being able to hear. “I’ll take whatever you want to give me.” When he pulled away, he winked at him. “What’s your name, anyway? I’m Gavin.”

He laughed and flagged down the bartender when she walked by. “Sex on the beach, please.”

“Take me out for dinner first.” Gavin had his chin in his hands, looking at the mystery man as he ordered. “I want the orange slice on it, too.” The bartender nodded and went off.

“My name is Ryan.”

“Hi Ryan.”

When the drink was set down in front of them, Ryan offered it to him. As long as Ryan doesn’t touch it, Gavin should have nothing to worry about. He grabbed it and took a sip of it. Gavin hummed. “You sure you don’t drink? This tastes delicious.”

Ryan smiles and orders a diet coke for himself.

He doesn’t seem the best at small talk, but Gavin likes to think that his eyes make up for it. And his hair. And his build. Gavin takes a few seconds to appreciate his build specifically. He obviously had the bulk of someone who lifted weights, and Gavin wanted desperately to lift his shirt to see if he was lean or not. Gavin actually hoped he wasn’t lean. Maybe Gavin had a type, or just maybe Gavin is accidentally attracted to all men with a certain body build. And maybe it was the alcohol in his blood that made him put a hand on Ryan’s shoulder to turn him and ask-

“Do you have a dad bod?”

Gavin doesn’t remember much, because after his question and Ryan’s subsequent laughing fit that attracted a lot of attention and lasted for far too long, he ordered even more sex on the beaches. Around his 4th one is when the night started getting blurry. All he could remember was talking to Ryan the whole time. About where they grew up, siblings, schooling, and jobs. Ryan is an animator at a large studio and if Gavin was just a little more sober, he would have asked about his current projects. Gavin racks his brain for an answer that isn’t quite a lie and comes up with ‘I run a company with a few friends,’ and a smile. Who knows what this guy knows about the Fake AH Crew. Hopefully nothing.

Then Gavin wakes up at home with no idea how he got there. His phone is dead and surprisingly sticky with a sweet syrup. He hooks it onto his charger and goes back to sleep, until his phone wakes him.

Geoff’s name is on the screen. When he raises the phone to his ear, Geoff’s voice is crackling.

“You dumbass. Oh, you’re dumb and you suck.” He’s laughing and Gavin just pulls the phone away from his ear. It was too loud and Gavin is too hungover for everything to exist near him.

“How did I get home?”

“You called an uber. You kept ringing the penthouse to let me in.”

Gavin hummed into the phone. “At least I didn’t die.”

“Oh yeah. That’s the important part.” And then he hung up, leaving Gavin in the silence of his bedroom. He starts going through his phone, trying to find any evidence of the night before. Then, he realizes he has a text from yesterday.

Unknown:

Hey, It’s Ryan. Hope you’re safe.

Somehow, Ryan got his number. He can only assume he gave it to Ryan when he was drunk.

Gavin:

yeah i just woke up. hungover as all hell though haha

He gets a text from Jack telling him to come upstairs for breakfast after that. Leaving his phone in his room, he goes up to eat it before Geoff comes back from wherever he is and eats Gavin’s share. Jack is already sitting at the table, eating, by the time he’s in the kitchen.

“So, what happened last night?” Jack asked.

“I would tell you if I knew. But I don’t. Actually, I met this guy! He’s really fit, and he has a dad bod. The last thing is yet to be proven, though.”

Jack is laughing at him when Geoff comes in. His first stop is Gavin’s plate, from which he takes a huge bite out of Gavin’s pancakes.

“Gavin was telling me about his dream conquest.”

“You should have heard him last night. Wouldn’t shut up about Ryan, Ryan, oh Ryan is so lovely.” Geoff’s mock accent hurt Gavin’s hungover ears just as much as his sober ears.

“Oh, come off it, you have no proof that happened.”

“Buddy, believe me, if I had proof you would never hear the end of it.” Geoff cackled.

They ate breakfast together, as always. But Gavin only thought about the man at the bar. Ryan’s eyes were so beautiful, enough that they still captivated Gavin hours later. By the time Gavin could get away from Geoff and Jack, he was running to check his phone.

But there was nothing. No notifications, no messages from Ryan, nothing. Gavin isn’t going to hide his disappointment. So, he throws himself onto his bed and spends most of the day coding stupid scripts.

When night comes, he finally stops. He’s made enough viruses and plug-ins to last a lifetime.

Gavin lies in his bed and begins chasing a pipe dream, that if he goes back to the club, he’ll see Ryan there.

He’s halfway through with dressing when he realizes how stupid that it. Halfway to the club by the time he realizes he shouldn’t go. He’s already there when he realizes how stupid he is. Now he’s already inside the club, walking around. First, he sits at the bar. Ryan isn’t there, he quickly realizes, but he can still order a drink or two to pass the time and watch the door. Nothing. An hour of nothing. So, he hops down from the barstool. He wanders to the dance floor, only half heartedly swaying to the music. A few people come and try to dance with him, but he’s not a very responsible dancer right then, so they leave.

About half an hour of rotating people goes by, when Gavin’s thinks he sees something- or rather- someone- in the distance. He’s not rational enough to stop himself from chasing after it. The person must have realized that Gavin was after them, because they started walking away- and fast. Gavin’s impulse only heightened. Whoever it was did not want Gavin after them, so Gavin went after them harder.

They were tall and broad, stomping their way through the venue. But, Gavin was light and fast. He wasn’t quite as tall, a few inches shorter, but he still had enough height to see over the crowd. They took a sharp left into a hallway and Gavin was right behind. It was dark, but not dark enough that he lost sight. Couldn’t see the face. Just the rough outline of them.

Gavin bit his tongue not to scream when they grabbed his shoulder and pulled him into a room off of the hallway.

It was painfully bright in there. Mirrors everywhere. Bathroom.

Whoever it was threw Gavin to the opposite side of the room, so he’s far from the door. But they don’t seem to want to get any closer. When Gavin has recentered himself and isn’t falling over his own feet anymore, he’s in a defensive stance.

Vagabond. Tall imposing silhouette. Leather jacket. Mask. He can’t see anything under the mask from far away, and he doesn’t even know what to imagine under it anyway. His shoulders are broad, head down to look at Gavin.

During their last encounter, he had signed at Gavin. That must be why he pushed Gavin in here, to see his hands. He’s in here to talk. Hopefully.

Gavin raises his eyebrows and signs to the Vagabond. “You pulled me in here to talk?”

The Vagabond nods his head.

“Why do you sign if you wear the mask? It covers the expressions. How do I know If you’re asking a question?” Gavin points at his own raised eyebrows. It’s probably stupid to ask someone anything when they could kill you with their own two hands, easily.

“Stop.” He signs. Gavin doesn’t.

“What about the mask? How do you see through it enough to see my hands?”

“Stop.” Again. Gavin does this time. “Why are you here again?”

“Is that a question? I can’t tell.”

The Vagabond reaches inside his jacket. Gavin wants to pretend he’s not scared of what he’s going to bring out, but he is. Geoff and Jack don’t know where he is, they could still think he’s in his room.

It only gets worse when what he pulls out is a gun. Completely black and it looks heavy. The safety clicks off, but he’s still pointing it at the ground. Of course, Gavin has had guns pointed to his head before, so one pointed at the ground isn’t bad. But the Vagabond is taking a few steps closer to Gavin. Vagabond is raising the gun. The muzzle is pointed a few inches away from his hip. But he’s still keeping his distance. Like he doesn’t want to be to close to Gavin.

With a gun, he doesn’t even have to be close to kill him, though. Sadly. If he had used knives, Gavin might have had a chance.

The next few seconds feel like slow motion.

The Vagabond points the gun at his head. He takes a step closer. He pulls the trigger.

[flauntpage]

Sixers Season Review: Robert Covington

This is part six of a season-ending series looking back at each player’s 2017-2018 campaign.

Part one – Jerryd Bayless

Part two – Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot

Part three – Justin Anderson

Part four – Richaun Holmes

Part five – Amir Johnson

Robert Covington had a bad Boston series.

The Sixers’ streaky swing man shot 27% over the course of five games, going 0-6 in game one, 0-8 in game three, and 1-7 in game four. A 22 point, 8-15 game two effort was the outlier in an otherwise disappointing offensive performance from a guy who showed similar inconsistency all season long. He was the odd man out when T.J. McConnell was inserted into the starting lineup, coming off the bench to play just 19 and 21 minutes in the final two games of the series.

Covington recently had surgery to repair the middle finger in his guide hand, but didn’t seem to be affected by the extensor tendon issue, at least not outwardly. He brought it up but didn’t make a big deal of it when asked about lingering issues during his exit interview, so it’s hard to know how much discomfort he really felt while shooting the ball. Covington had some recurring back tightness beginning in mid-December but only missed two games, starting 80 times and averaging 31.6 minutes.

A look at the raw season-to-season totals shows that his field goal and three-point percentages were up from last year. 41.3% from the field was his best mark as a Sixer and a 36.9 three-point number was his second best, much better than 2016-17 but down slightly from his first year in town:

All of that looks pretty good on paper.

It was the peaks and valleys on the offensive end of the floor and the low-IQ plays that popped up every so often that would drag down Covington’s game, whether it was a bad turnover or questionable shot choice. Cov wasn’t great in finishing at the rim this year and didn’t create many shots for himself, operating mostly as a stationary “3 and D” guy. To his credit, he spoke to those weaknesses specifically, telling reporters two weeks ago that he’s going to spend the summer focusing on “ball handling, quickness, explosion, and finishing at the rim.”

To the casual observer, Covington’s flaws were always more apparent than his strengths. It was very easy to scratch your head when watching his three-point percentage drop from an unsustainable 46% in October to 29% in February, then back up to 40% in March. He’d follow up a 7-11, 22 point effort (March 6th) with an 0-10, 3 point effort (March 8th). Sometimes he’d pick up a few quick fouls that would force him out of the game and keep him from getting into a groove on either side of the floor. Think back to the November Cleveland matchup.

And because defense is harder to quantify with numbers, those same casual observers would find it very easy to criticize Covington’s overall performances when his shots weren’t falling. It didn’t help that he started to cool down after signing a four year, $62 million contract extension just a month into the season.

Statistically, he was 4th-best in the NBA with 2.6 steals per 48 minutes. He also finished with a league-high 312 deflections. His defensive rating of 99 was the best individual mark among all five starters, better than Joel Embiid’s 99.7.

So yeah, he does play good defense, but I wrote a few months ago about the things you need to specifically look for to understand why Brett Brown values Covington. He is not Bruce Bowen. He is not Patrick Beverly. He’s not going to lock you down 1v1 and make life miserable.

Brown said as much back in March when I asked him about it:

Asked Brett Brown last night if Robert Covington doesn't get a fair shake for his defensive work when his shot isn't falling. Are fans and media looking at the wrong things? – pic.twitter.com/BIKpLIwkCm

— Kevin Kinkead (@Kevin_Kinkead) March 22, 2018

So some of this is philosophical; how much do you value versatility in defense? The Sixers value it. They like having a flexible small forward who can switch onto power forwards and shooting guards, get his hands into passing lanes, and do a bit of everything. That looks kind of corny when smaller guys are blowing by Covington on the perimeter, but a lot of his contributions are not easy to see.

For instance, here’s a pair of pre-switches that he uses to fluster Indiana on a possession right before half time:

The Pacers are trying to set a Myles Turner screen on T.J. McConnell to get Darren Collison onto Joel Embiid. Covington sees that, so he takes Turner instead and prevents the mismatch. Then he does it again to prevent Collison from getting a mismatch on Ersan Ilyasova.

It’s a small thing that goes unnoticed.

Same thing here, where Ilyasova blows a defensive assignment and Covington goes over the top of two screens to prevent Tyler Johnson from getting an open three point look:

Miami gets a long-two instead, which you can live with.

Those are the things I’m talking about with Covington. It’s just harder to measure his defensive contributions because a lot of them are utility/auxiliary/under the radar type of things. It works well against lesser squads, but when a team like Boston is hitting you with a batch of athletic wings in the conference semifinals, it’s a different story.

I look at those clips above and then wonder why things like this were happening in the playoffs:

Covington hurting the defense big time pic.twitter.com/ceeNlJCRux

— BBALLBREAKDOWN (@bballbreakdown) May 1, 2018

Again, this is mostly philosophy. The Sixers value versatility. You may not. You may prefer a pest to a glue guy.

Whatever the case, you’d have to say that if the Sixers are going to improve their starting lineup this season, Covington’s spot looks like a starting point. Where else are you going? It’s not Embiid or Simmons. I don’t like moving Saric to the bench. Redick isn’t a guarantee to come back, so maybe they do something different there. But if the Sixers make a play for LeBron or Paul George, those guys take Covington’s position as Philly continues to roll out an amalgam of positionless players.

If the Sixers look to trade instead, Covington is a movable piece with a manageable contract. It seemed like a no brainer at the time, the extension, though a portion of the fan base probably now disagrees with the offer in hindsight. I could be wrong, but I honestly don’t recall a ton of people complaining about it in November. It was a great story, a dude picked up off the scrap pile, given a chance, and molded into a legitimate NBA player. It was very easy to cheer for a guy like RoCo.

The stakes are higher now, as are the expectations. Cov will continue to be a cult hero to Sam Hinkie/Process types, but there are plenty of doubters out there who can be proven wrong if he comes back next season showing more consistency and continuing to improve on his misunderstood and normally overlooked defensive contributions.

Sixers Season Review: Robert Covington published first on https://footballhighlightseurope.tumblr.com/