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captain-joongz · 1 year

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Heroes

Pairing: non-idol!Kim Hongjoong x Reader (it's Hongjoong's POV)

Genre: angst

Summary: Hongjoong attempts to navigate a posh party after his whole life has fallen apart, while what he wants the most is standing only a few metres away from him. It doesn't help that he knows you want him too.

Word count: 3.8k

Warnings: it's very angsty, drinking, post break-up, forced break-up, controlling parent (let me know if i should add anything)

A/N: this whole piece is inspired by the song Heroes by David Bowie, it's just the right amount of emotional damage :')) also, this is my first time posting here, so I apologise if the formating is still a little wonky, hopefully I'll work it out soon :))

“Just… Don’t forget to be there tomorrow, okay?” Seonghwa’s voice rang out in my car and I sighed. “Don’t worry, I know I can’t afford to miss a gathering like that. Everyone that means something in this city is going to be there.” My answer didn’t seem to calm him down whatsoever, even if I couldn’t see him through my phone screen I knew as much. I stubbornly refused to address what he was talking about and instead started talking business. After a while of mindless chit-chat he tried again.

“She will be there tomorrow… I’m sure you know that. Please, Hongjoong, don’t do anything stupid.” I knew he was just trying to look out for me but I couldn’t help getting a little annoyed with him. Even after all this time, you were still a touchy subject. I sighed again, this time louder. “When have I ever done something like that?” I attempted at a joke and got a little chuckle from Seonghwa in return. “Don’t worry, my best friend turned business partner, I’ll be the picture of sainthood and patience.” Then I ended the call.

Needless to say, I was not that. I got to the garden party about twenty minutes ago and was already agitated beyond belief. Seonghwa hasn’t got there yet and I was stuck drinking white wine in a corner of a room watching old rich men laughing at stories that only old rich men find funny. I could feel my lips turning into a scowl and barely managed to look respectable and approachable to the top society.

Just a few years back, I was nothing. A little boy from a poor background who only dreamed big, but deep down knew that a world like this would never let him achieve that. I didn’t come from money like most of these men, I didn’t have centuries of generational wealth at my beck and call. I was the one they laughed at and looked down on, the one who had to fight for every penny they dropped.

I started a little company with my best friend, originally hoping to make our own indie clothing line. Just something small to give us enough money to live normally. But we needed funds to take off and so we started chasing after the kind of people we both hated begging them to sponsor us. That’s when you came into my life. And everything changed.

Back then I hated these parties as much as I do now but I didn’t know how to hide it yet. Seonghwa was much better at looking pleasant and entertained, I usually stood next to him burning holes with my eyes into anyone who wanted to talk to me. You swooped in, all wide smiles and melodic laughs and gave me a once-over.

“You look exactly how I feel.” It came out of your mouth on a laugh and I felt myself relax. “Also here to charm these bastards into giving you a bit of money?” I gave you a flirty smile and took a sip from my glass. I didn’t even remember what I ordered.

“Actually no, I’m here because one of these bastards is my father.” I froze and I heard Seonghwa next to me choke on something. You looked serious for a moment and then burst out laughing. And then you spent the entire night introducing us to people and whispering little sassy comments into our ears. I never knew one could have so much fun here.

I realised pretty quickly you are someone I will fall in love with. It never felt like a hypothetical. Loving you was absolutely inevitable. And when I did, you were there holding my hand whispering how you love me too. It was the best thing that’s ever happened to me. You were the best thing that’s ever happened to me. And then you were gone.

You didn’t want to be, I knew that. It was your father. I met him a few times after you introduced us and he figured out pretty quickly that something was happening between us. And he didn’t like it. One day he called me into his office for lunch. When I came he only looked at me over his desk.

“My daughter will marry someone better.” That was all he said.

“Leave her alone.”

I didn’t.

We both agreed on continuing our relationship and that we would keep it a secret. Me and Seonghwa managed to sell our idea to a big wig that owned a few luxury hotels and he agreed to sponsor our humble beginnings. At this time Wooyoung and Yeosang joined us, after we hired them off an ad to model our clothes during the business meetings. Finally, our dream was taking off. It worked for a little while. You helped us a lot back then, helping us with ideas and even some sewing when we needed every hand we could get. The project was our baby, us five.

With time we grew tired of sneaking around. We became careless, too in love to think about the consequences of being seen together or getting caught by your father. And so one day we were.

Unfortunately, I don’t know the half of what happened, you didn’t want to talk about it too much. But I knew enough to understand you were leaving. I’ll always remember your teary sad eyes as you were walking out the door.

“He’ll sink your company if I don’t leave. I can’t do that to you Hongjoong, not after you worked so hard for it.”

After that I haven’t seen you again. I heard about you here and there, after all I was still in the same social circles as you. But I knew you weren’t allowed to talk to me. I would catch glimpses of you out of the corner of my eyes and then you would disappear into the crowd. That was all that was left of us.

It’s already been three hours since I came here and I was officially tired of small talk. Everyone asked me the same questions, they all wanted to know the same things.

“Congratulations on your latest release, Mr. Kim. I heard it was a success,” said one of the men my benefactor brought over to my corner. I gave him a tight-lipped smile.

“It was a joint effort of the whole company,” I replied politely and looked over his shoulder to see Seonghwa laugh at something Yunho said. They came here together about 40 minutes after me due to having to solve some issues with a design we were currently working on.

“Speaking of company, I remember when it was just you and Mr. Park. It was a pleasant surprise to meet Mr. Jeong too,” said someone else, I wasn’t even paying attention to who.

“Yes, yes… There’s eight of us now, thanks to the endless support of Mr. Byun we were able to expand rather quickly,” I gestured at our sponsor and gave a business smile. “It’s a big relief as we now have enough hands on deck to work comfortably.” Conversation moved on for a little bit and I dissociated again, not listening to a single word until I felt Seonghwa move to my side. When I looked up at him he looked extremely nervous, but before I could ask one of the men directed the topic back to me.

“You know… I really wasn’t expecting you to show up. Considering…” he chuckled a little bit and I felt myself stiffen. There was a mean glint to his eyes and I knew they all will properly enjoy making me uncomfortable with this.

“Yes, considering…” someone else added with a smirk, “Have you met the host of tonight’s party yet?” Silence fell and everyone looked at me expectantly. The host of tonight's party, as in Mr. Lee – as in your father. Even though our relationship was never quite made public, it was a well-known matter. Just as our break-up, no matter how hard Mr. Lee tried to make it disappear. He was thoroughly embarrassed by his daughter entertaining the advances of such a low-born as me, but his desperation to keep this all under wraps was what made it even juicier for everyone to talk about. That’s how I found myself in this exact same position every time I chose to show my face at these events.

Before I could say something, Seonghwa stepped in with his gentle polite shut-down. “Yes, we’ve all said our hellos to him when we came here,” he said and smiled in that way me and Yunho knew meant he was two minutes from distributing slaps. It was a lie, but one said with such nonchalance that everyone believed this boring outcome to be true. They hoped for blood and instead got this. From there the conversation quickly moved on to different topics and no one brought it up again. Eventually the men saw someone more interesting and dispersed, leaving only me, Seonghwa and Yunho.

“Thanks, if I had to answer that one more time I’d murder someone,” I said to Seonghwa with what was supposed to be a laugh but instead came out as a bitter chuckle. My fingers tightened around my glass and I attempted to calm the swirling vortex of uncomfortable emotions currently wreaking havoc on my psyche. Admittedly, I was doing a pretty shit job at it.

“Man, these vultures really never change,” Yunho whispered with a smile and clasped his hand on my shoulder. He squeezed few times to give me courage and then let go. I smiled tiredly at him and clanked our glasses together. “That they never do…”

I was glad both of these men were here. Where Seonghwa was all cold and polite, Yunho came in with amusing stories and boyish charms. Once you started listening to him, he soon had you wrapped around his little finger and you found yourself hanging onto his every word. It was very useful at directing conversation and distracting people when they started asking stupid questions.

Seonghwa hasn’t said anything yet and when I looked at him, he was still watching me with that same sadness and nervousness from before. “You haven’t left this spot since you came, don’t you at least want to move into the garden for a little while?” he said finally and I realised he was in his full mothering mode. As I opened my mouth to give him a funny retort, my eyes flitted around the room and suddenly I was looking straight into your eyes. The words got stuck in my throat and instead came out a little strangled noise of surprise. You waved at me subtly and smiled a little. I awkwardly did the same. Then you turned around and walked out. My hand automatically reached for a fresh glass of wine and I drank it in almost a single gulp, which freaked out Seonghwa.

“Maybe we should go, we did what we came here to do anyway…” he said and reached for me but I refused. “If we leave now it will be considered in bad taste,” I retorted, “Don’t worry about me, go out there and make me proud. I’ll just stay here and keep myself out of everyone’s way.” Yunho laughed at my words but Seonghwa still looked concerned. In the end, he let himself be dragged out into the gardens. I stood there alone. Right, since you left, I was anyways.

I kept myself occupied by drinking, which wasn’t really the best idea. When I looked out of the window again, it was already dark outside and most of the people moved back in. You were back in too. I heard you, heard your laugh as you held conversation with someone. It felt as close as if you were standing right next to me, laughing to something I said. As if on instinct I looked after the source of the sound and our eyes met for the second time that evening. You nodded. I did too. I felt Mr. Lee burning a hole into my side with his eyes just as I saw Seonghwa warningly shake his head. So I looked back down, right into my drink and wallowed in drunken self-pity.

I knew I should let it go. I should have let it go by now. It’s been months. But I couldn’t. I couldn’t make myself stop thinking about you, about us. How could I when you were so abruptly torn out of my life? Inappropriate relationship my ass. Embarrassment my ass. Everyone knew anyway. That I love you and you love me. I didn’t understand why it was a problem. I guess I just wasn’t good enough. Wasn’t wealthy enough. I would still take care of you, better than anyone could. I would give you anything, everything you asked for. So why? Why was it a problem?

I took another sip from another glass and looked at you again. I could feel Seonghwa’s disapproving energy from across the room but I ignored it. Things started blurring together, so I just stood around frowning and drank. When I could see clearly again you were gone. I lost you a long time ago and yet you still disappear.

The party was still in full swing, people now drunk enough to loosen up. All around me it was buzzing with laughter and small-talk, the men switching to joking about their wives while still pretending to talk business while the ladies emboldened by alcohol started making eyes at the young waiters. I made a disgusted face and prayed for these poor souls.

I couldn’t see Seonghwa nor Yunho anymore either and I was trying to persuade myself to move so I could find them and we could finally leave. But before I managed to move a single finger a voice tore me out of my thoughts. A sweet familiar voice.

“Hey…” It was you. You were standing on my right, close to the doors that led outside. I didn’t even notice you get there, too preoccupied with feeling sorry for myself. My heart was beating out of my chest. It was beating so hard I was afraid it was going to jump right out, right into your hands. That’s where it belonged anyway.

“Hi.” I croaked out and then embarrassedly cleared my throat. You laughed. God, how I missed that. I was just stuck looking at you with heart eyes, not even comprehending that this was really happening. Suddenly I realised that the room quieted down a little bit. The people that were present pretended to still have their conversations while straining their ears to listen to us. A fierce wave of anger ran through me but it died down as soon as I saw you gesturing to the open door.

“Do you maybe want…?” you didn’t even have to finish and I was already moving out with a scowl on my face aimed at everyone who was watching us with curious eyes. As soon as I came out panic hit me and I turned around. You must have seen the fear and laughed a little. “My father is currently in the saloon playing billiard and smoking cigars with the esteemed gentlemen, so it’s okay,” you said and sat down on of the chair on this little balcony. It was overlooking the prettily light up gardens. It was almost a romantic setting if the situation was different. I chuckled bitterly and sat down into the other chair.

I took the time to look at you properly. You were wearing a light pink dress. It was a very conservative cut, making you look almost like a happy housewife from the 50s. I let out another chuckle and you only raised an amused eyebrow at me. Your hair was longer too.

“I see that father has a say in your wardrobe too, now.” It wasn’t the best opening line. Definitely not something you say to someone you haven’t seen in months. The amusement was replaced by sadness and you looked really awkward for a moment. I wanted to slap myself for ever even opening my stupid mouth.

“You know, have to make the right impression…” you said quietly and silence took over. I hated it. I hated everything and most of all I hated your father.

“You realise that he’s going to hear about us talking anyway, right?” I asked you and took a sip. It was the last of wine I had, so I just set the glass on the table and instead nervously played with my fingers. Not holding anything allowed me to see just how much were my hands shaking. I looked over and you were also nervously smoothing out your dress over your thighs.

“Yeah, well, he’s going to kill us both but whatever,” came your response. You wanted it to sound nonchalant but we were both too anxious and running on pure adrenalin. But then you gave me a blinding smile and my heart almost broke all over again.

“Yeah, yolo or whatever,” I mumbled and looked into the garden. I heard you laugh and forbid myself from looking. My hands started to rise so I could drink but halfway through I remember I finished it already. So I let them down again. It was the middle of summer but thanks to the late hour, the weather became much more pleasant. I loosened my tie and made myself more comfortable in the chair.

The silence was slowly becoming oppressive as neither of us really knew what to say to the other. I gritted my teeth together and slowly counted the uncomfortably spent seconds slowly ticking away.

“I’m engaged.”

It felt as if the whole world was suddenly thrown askew. If I wasn’t sitting it would feel as if I was falling down the stairs. Slowly I turned to look at you. There were tears on your face. I realised that my eyes were also getting wet. Shit, either I’m too sober to have this conversation or I’m too drunk to not make a fool out of myself. My hand subconsciously moved to lay over my heart, as if to check if it was still beating. It felt as if it wasn’t, wouldn’t really surprise me.

“So this is why you wanted to talk outside…” I said slowly and suddenly my words were slurring more together. It was hard to speak over the emotions of my whole life crumbling to dust.

“Don’t you want to know with who?” you asked quietly. I could see you were too afraid to look at me properly, only glancing over from the corner of your eyes. I scoffed at your question.

“I can imagine with who. Your father has a clear type,” I said bitterly, “Probably with someone that can afford to golf with him in the country club.” You were silent and I knew you were crying. So I turned around again and looked into the garden, stubbornly ignoring the tears about to drop from my own eyes.

“We could run away together…” you whispered and I spun around again. “What!?” I almost screamed that and then checked if anyone inside heard. It seemed that no one noticed. I turned to you again. “What do you mean? Are you serious?” It was absolutely stupid idea. I started regretting not being more drunk. But then I looked at your face and saw your desperation and I realised. You mean it. You’re absolutely serious.

A lightning of hope flashed through me so strongly it almost jerked my whole body. But as soon as it appeared it was gone too. There was no way anything good would come out of that. Your father would cut you off and he’d make sure none of us ever found any respectable job. I couldn’t take everything away from you like this. I wouldn’t. Still I smiled at you and said yes. We both knew.

“We could, you could come to live with me and Seonghwa. He’d nag us all the time but all of us would have movie nights…” I whispered and finally felt the tears trickling down my face. I didn’t even bother to try and wipe them away. When I looked over you were crying too.

“We could just get up right now and leave and never come back,” you said. Neither of us made a move to get up. We just looked at each other. “I would help you with your company, I’d sew again…”

“We’d live off convenience store snacks and whatever Wooyoung brought over for us.” We laughed at that, remembering how he was always pretending to be mad at us for eating at his place too much.

“We’d be together forever… We’d win…” you whispered and I couldn’t hold back the sob that fought its way out. I had to turn away from you for a moment to try and compose myself, even though I heard you crying right next to me. We knew it was impossible, but for a few sweet moments we let ourselves imagine our life together. No one spoke then and after a little while I heard rustling of you getting up.

I didn’t want to look. I didn't want to see you leave and I didn't want you to see me cry. But I knew I’d never see you again and everything be damned, I wouldn’t waste my last chance to lay my eyes on you.

You smiled and even with your face all wet and red and puffed up from crying, you were the most beautiful creature I’ve ever seen.

“I better go,” you whispered again and gestured to the door, “before my dad finds out.” I laughed at the irony of the words. And then I nodded. “Yeah… See you.” The hopeful tone I said those words in was completely against my will. I wouldn’t. But I wanted to believe. You didn’t reply to that and then you slipped inside, forever slipped out of my reach.

I don’t know how much time passed, but when Seonghwa found his way to the balcony, I was still numbly sitting in the chair looking out into the gardens with dried tears on my face. Within few seconds he was on me, holding my shoulder and looking at me with gentle sad eyes, asking me what happened. I was silent. When he was guiding me back inside, I was silent. When Yunho saw us and walked over with concern written all over his face, I was silent. When we were walking out, while we were driving back home, when we were standing in the elevator taking us up to our flat, I was silent. All I could do was wish. Wish we could be heroes, just for one day.

A/N: hope you liked it! don't be shy ^^

#kim hongjoong #ateez #ateez fic #ateez angst #ateez scenarios #ateez x reader #ateez imagines #kim hongjoong angst #kim hongjoong x reader #kim hongjoong fic #hongjoong x reader #hongjoong ateez #hongjoong angst #ateez fanfic #atz #hongjoong fic #hongjoong

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delta-queerdrant · 1 year

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explore stupid nebulas, win stupid prizes (Cathexis, s1 e13)

Oh boy, this is a pretty stinky episode in my opinion, but we get to talk about Janeway's hair some more, so there's that.

We start with Janeway's gothic holonovel! Jeri Taylor was responsible for introducing this storyline, and I see what she was going for, but the problem is that the holonovel is very boring and not terribly credible as a leisure activity for our overworked and underpaid captain. I'm so very confused about Lord Burleigh, who ought to have at least an edge of Byronic charm but is giving us nothing to work with. Of course it is Star Trek and genuine on-purpose sex appeal is hard to pull off.

We do get the first interaction that one could, if you really squint, call sapphic (on the logic that, in a post-Daphne Du Maurier's Rebecca world, all interactions between governesses and housekeepers are inherently psychosexual).

I do not love a Victorian gown but Janeway's hairdo is pretty fun! This woman has so much hair and it's hard to imagine her styling it reliably without some help. My head canon is that Voyager has a holographic barber and Janeway regularly heads down to the holodeck when her coif needs coiffing.

Speaking of the coif, she has a more streamlined version of the French twist from the last episode. It's still better than her usual but a bit awkward and helmet-y. Again, I just think that an undercut (or even a pixie cut) is the solution they're looking for. Her poor hair stylists.

The rest of the episode is, appropriately, a ghost story. (It's gothic, geddit?) I guess it's an okay plot - people are getting possessed, someone is lying, there's a ghost cam POV, nothing adds up. For me it lacked stakes and suspense, especially on a rewatch. During most of the episode we just have a general vibe of "something is up"; without substantial more clues, it's hard to feel like we're solving the mystery alongside the characters.

Oh boy, the medicine wheel! I don't feel like I have any business trying to make sense of what's going on here, beyond the fact that the medicine wheel they're portraying seems to have more in common with appropriated New Age practices than Indigenous / Pan-Indian beliefs (and, of course, Chakotay doesn't have a tribe so it's impossible to say what's "correct" for this character).

Also, the whole conceit of "character has a religious practice; science fiction stuff happens that superficially resembles, but does not actually have anything to do with, this religious practice," feels pretty wonky, especially in this case. Once again Chakotay's culture is instrumentalized for the sake of the plot.

I did think it was an interesting touch that the Doctor is knowledgeable about Indigenous medicine. I like this, but it's such a can of worms! The Doctor is able to provide culturally-informed care, but he's still programmed by / presenting as a white guy; I feel there's a tacit implication that inclusive medicine is when white people learn about non-white practices. What if Starfleet vessels had Indigenous holograms programmed by Indigenous people? Or if the EMH had subroutines that adapted his presentation, knowledge, and practices to any patient? What would it mean to decolonize AI, both in our world and in science fiction?

My notes from the scene where Chakotay finally wakes up - "All Doctor wants to do is to write papers, all Janeway wants us to touch her crew inappropriately." Girl, get your hands off that man's chest! Janeway's wandering hands are an iconic part of her performance, and of course good acting often benefits from more physical proximity than would be appropriate in real life, but you are his boss, ma'am.

Yeah, sorry, this one did truly nothing for me. 1.5/5 vaguely racist musical flute cues.

#star trek voyager #star trek #janeway lambda one #janeway #janeway's hair #chakotay i guess

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stuckwith-harry · 3 years

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A/N: Evening babes! I’ve had an extremely normal day and to cope with that I’ve decided to sift through some more of those Hinny ficlets I usually only write for my own entertainment and polish up another one, so. You get another little guy taking place in the summer of 1998, and I get some distraction. And ideally some ibuprofen. Featuring nosy brothers and precisely one bed (purposefully).

Translations

Of course, the instant they finally decide to move Harry’s camp bed from Ron’s room to Ginny’s, half the Weasley family finds themselves in their path down the various wonky staircases and narrow hallways inside the Burrow, gawking like there’s no tomorrow.

“Not a word”, Ginny tells them, while Harry’s eyes remain purposefully fixated on the task at hand, the camp bed floating in mid-air at the bidding of their combined Hovering Charms. “I’ll hex your toes off one by one.”

She’s answered with much snorting and giggling from several of her brothers, while Ron stands in his doorframe and watches them with an expression that unfailingly calls to mind Molly, watching the train depart Platform 9 3/4.

By the time they’ve made it to Ginny’s room, her brothers have pulled so many audacious jokes out of their arses she doesn’t think the colour of Harry’s face is ever going to return to normal again. Then it’s only her parents, whose half-hearted protest about a boy – a boy! – staying in her room falters when Ginny points out that this isn’t any boy, thank you very much, this is Harry (“You know Harry! You love Harry!”), who they personally talked into into staying at the Burrow for as long as he pleased only a few weeks ago.

When Molly finally lets her bedroom door fall into its lock at bedtime – a miracle in its own right – Ginny has threatened every single one of her brothers with the loss of some sort of limb, except Ron; and she did cost Ron his roommate, so maybe that makes them even.

Lying there in the dark of her bedroom, listening to her mother’s receding footsteps on the other side of the door, Ginny allows for five whole seconds of prudence before she folds back her quilt and grins brightly in Harry’s direction.

“She’ll kill us”, he mutters, but pushes himself up from his camp bed and climbs onto Ginny’s mattress all the same, like he reckons that’s a price he’s willing to pay.

Ginny snorts.

“This is new”, she says as they’re settling in, their limbs rearranging themselves under her quilt. “No one else has ever slept in my bed before.”

“You can always kick me out again.”

She makes a show of taking this into serious consideration.

“No, I don’t think I will”, she grins. “You’re a nice enough pillow.”

As though to demonstrate this, she scoots closer, her arm draped loosely over his stomach, her cheek pressed to his chest, Harry’s heartbeat steady through his t-shirt.

Her bed is kind of comically small for two grown people. And what luck that is, she thinks, feeling his arm around her shoulders.

“You fit nicely”, she says, wholly unprompted.

You fit nicely, which is to say, you fit almost like you used to. Thank fuck you still fit like you used to.

Then: “You’re warm.”

You’re warm, which is to say, you are alive. You are alive and I can feel the heartbeat that proves it, steady and dependable through your t-shirt.

“Sorry if I wake you up”, he mutters, his voice not quite revealing if all that quiet weight in Ginny’s words made it through to him, the way they’re tip-toeing through the dark. “Won’t be on purpose.”

Her brows knit themselves together. “No, you should.”

When he makes noises of protest, she only doubles down. “Really, if you can’t sleep, just give me a good shake. I won’t mind”, she adds after a pause.

I won’t mind, which is to say, you don’t have to do it all alone. Don’t do it alone.

Harry eventually relents, albeit huffing slightly.

“I apologise if I end up hogging the blanket”, Ginny offers, and he vibrates with quiet laughter. She feels it more than she hears it, the way it rumbles through him. “Or if I wake you, for that matter.”

“You’re a blanket hogger?”

“Only one way to find out.”

She feels his hand squeeze her shoulder and has just about enough time to start wondering if the weight of her head is hindering the blood circulation in his arm when he says: “Have all the blanket you want.”

While he speaks, she listens for an undercurrent, something small and sincere tucked away in more unassuming words, like maybe she’ll be able to translate it all back if she pays close enough attention. Maybe he’s trying to say as much as she is. Maybe not.

Either way, she understands.

#hp #hinny #fanfiction #jessie writes #harry x ginny #look the title isn't even a lyric this time it's a Title.

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tallblondasian · 3 years

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Gloom and Doom Review

I know I usually only post about dating sims on here but I just finished playing a non-dating sim visual novel on Steam I wanted to recommend: it’s called Gloom and Doom.

Trigger warnings for this game: contains talk of suicide, self-harm, abuse and has some scenes containing mild gore mentions and death

I thought this game looked interesting so I added it to my Steam Wishlist about a year ago before it was released. It came out in January 2021 and I didn’t remember it until Steam’s Halloween sale this year. I was going through my Wishlist to buy some games for cheap and got this one on a whim and I’m so glad I did.

If you like horror movies, 80s movie trivia, redemption arcs, or if you’re a clinically depressed nerd like me you would probably get something out of Gloom and Doom.

This game made me laugh out loud AND made me cry and that’s something few visual novels have achieved. I’ve played a lot of these types of games in my day but even though the art and plot of Gloom and Doom can be a bit wonky (the art style is kind of a sketchy and muddy comic book art type of deal) that just adds to its charm and makes it feel more heartfelt in my opinion.

The story: The year is 2000, and it’s just a few weeks before the new year. We are introduced to Gloom. Gloom is a fallen angel/wraith who is trying to get back into Heaven by killing demons that he is sent after by the archangel Michael. Michael comes to Gloom and tells him that he has one more kill for Gloom to complete and then he can finally return to Heaven.

Who is this last target? A 16-year-old depressed foster child named Wynona. Wynona works at a video rental store, cares for a stray dog, has no friends, and wants to die because she has horrible nightmares every night that tell her she’s going to end the world by becoming the “doom-bringer” (hence the game’s title: Gloom and Doom).

Oddly enough, Gloom doesn’t even have to go looking for Wynona, she hears a rumor about a ghost and mysterious disappearances happening in an old abandoned house in town and she shows right up at Gloom’s doorstep asking him to kill her to save the world. What follows is an adventure where (depending on your choices) Wynona and Gloom can either find a new reason to live and save the world, or bring its final destruction.

From this description you may think this game would totally be a downer and super-serious, but the tone is actually more of a dark comedy. Gloom and Wynona are both lonely nerds who are always dropping references to video games/movies/TV shows and the supporting cast of characters add a lot of levity and humor to what is in essence a super depressing story.

You can tell just from the writing that this was a labor of love by fellow nerds.

There are of course some moments that are more serious and reflect on the true meaning of happiness, the meaning of life, what it means to be a good person vs. just doing good things because it’s expected of you, all that good stuff, but at the story’s core it’s about the friendship between two sad people and how that friendship can inspire them to change for the better.

There are several endings in the game, both good and bad ones, but it’s pretty easy to get the good (true) ending. I got the canon good ending on my first try and had to purposely go out of my way to make bad choices to get the darker bad ending so if you’re someone who hates unhappy endings you shouldn’t worry.

This game also is pretty unique in the way it handles depression. I’ve had depression and been taking medication to manage it since I was 16 and I saw a lot of myself in Wynona (sadly I didn’t have a wraith best friend to help me find happiness but I guess playing this game at age 29 was better than nothing). The way the game deals with the issues of suicidal ideation, sadness, loneliness, and just the overall shittiness life can throw at you is very thoughtful and doesn’t feel overly preachy but at the same time doesn’t condone just staying in a rut and not helping yourself either.

Gloom and Doom is available to play on PC through the Steam store, it’s $19.99 and I think it’s worth the price (or just wait for a Steam sale to get it cheaper as I did). It took about 6 hours for me to complete my first run-through of the game and about 2-3 additional hours to go back and unlock the other endings and story achievements.

#steam #gloom and doom #gloom and doom game #visual novel #review #don't ask me to proofread these things I'm done with school i REFUSE

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narrators-journal · 3 years

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The most dangerous game

I know I’ve been hella dead, but I return with my usual! Stano smut! I dunno why I adore writing these two so much, but I guess I’m attached, so yeah. Ya’ll get content.

CW: Predator/prey vibes, Xeno gets chased but there’s no real big acknowledgement of it.

It was likely because Xeno had developed a persistently wonky sleep schedule that he got so many night time jobs. That, he supposed, was why he was once again out at night hunting another Vampire, despite having told his boss of his run-in with a particularly pretty vampire. However, at the moment, Xeno somewhat wished he was dealing with Stan instead. At least with him he could rely on his need to flirt and toy with him to give him away. But no, the scientist wasn't hunting Stanley, but instead a completely different vampire who was proving his dislike for hunting the blood sucking monsters. Taking advantage of how dark the night was, the human's weaker vision, and whatever ninja techniques he had learned from the internet, the young vampire had hidden annoyingly well in the thick blanket of shadows and clutter on the streets. So, the white-haired college graduate was poking around at every rock and thicket of grass or bushes along the sidewalk before the boiling irritation in his veins got to be too much and he let out a mix of a groan and a scream like a tea pot. Stomping over to one of the few flickering street lights on the road, the hunter stood in the light and dug out his knife, then used it to slash at his stomach to fill the air with the alluring scent of fresh blood. With a pained hiss and the new wet feeling of blood dripping sluggishly down his pale skin, the trap was set, and all the hunter had to do was wait for the shallow cut to work its magic. Which, didn't take long. All Xeno had time to do was get one of his metal stakes from his pocket and extend it, then he was set upon by the vampiric ninja-wannabe. However, despite his skill at stealth, the vampire was young in both a human and vampire sense. Freshly turned at a young age, he'd become a problem because he had yet to grow out of his pubescent hormones quite yet, and giving him a predatory draw and increased strength had only encouraged him to turn hard into the bad boy persona. Sadly, being a new vampire wasn't all improvements. It also meant an increased hunger and little control of your newfound strength. Which is what had led the young man to be targetted by the monster hunter association, and swiftly wiped out by a stake through the throat via Xeno Wingfield. With a grunt, the monster hunter threw the freshly dead young man to the sidewalk, wincing at the burning and itching sting bending down to yank the stake from his throat brought to his stomach. For a moment or so, he felt bad for the creature. He'd been young, and he'd let his newfound powers obviously go to his head after a lifetime diet of anime and movies, the silver haired hunter could understand his over excitement, but he also had little to no patience for dumbasses who couldn't register that they weren't in Naruto. So, his sympathy was brief, and he was soon just dragging the young creature's corpse into some bushes and calling the cleaning crew to come collect him. Then. He spoke. "God damn, Doll. You're quite attractive when you're being lethal." Stan hummed, hopping down from his hiding spot in a nearby tree and giving the hunter a charming smile that he refused to admit brought a little heat to his face. "Oh, so you're just gonna become a full blown stalker now? Did you follow me from my house, or was this another 'coincidental' run-in." Xeno's words dripped with sarcasm and venom, but the vampire simply rolled his glacial blue eyes, "Actually, I'm here because I smelled fresh blood," At the mention of fresh blood, the scientist glanced down at his work shirt, spotting the tiny stain of blood his cut had left, "Oh." He inwardly winced at how disappointed he sounded, but tried to recover with a sniff, "I had trouble luring the bastard out. It was quite the shock for me to find out that not every vampire would want to chase me down and prowl around my house for the entire fucking night." Stan simply snorted, fishing out a pack of cigarettes and lighting one before he spoke again, "Nah, that's just my thing, doll," "Quit calling me doll! You have my name now, fucking quit." The vampire put his hands up in mock surrender, though his smirk didn't falter under the scientist's withering glare. For a moment, they simply stood in the cool night's darkness, the hunter with his arms crossed and dark eyes narrowed, and the vampire returning his malicious look with his own nonchalant, half-lidded one while he breathed whispy smoke from his dark mouth. Both men seemed to dare the other to say something or do anything, each looking for an excuse to make some sort of contact until the smaller male spoke again, "Are you expecting me to run away? Because I told you the first time we met, I'm not likely to do that," He huffed, but Stan simply shrugged, "I'm just messing with ya, doesn't matter to me if you run or not." He grinned more at the lightning fast moment of irritation on Xeno's face, but the hunter schooled his facial features back into their usual disdain-filled glare, only broiling with frustration on the inside. He hated this man's relaxed demeanor. He was a monster hunter, the tall, hypnotically pretty predator should be avoiding him at all costs. Yet here he was, needling at him as if he couldn't end him just as quickly as he had the younger blood sucker. Okay, well, not as quickly. Stanley had a good four inches on the monster hunter at least, and had a body that had been frozen at the prime of his life, toned and pruned like an artfully shaped shrub through the years into a gorgeous, powerful example of why humans were the apex predators of the world. Or, well, they were, but with his change into the more monstrous his status as the perfect predator had only increased. Stan was perfectly built to hunt humans. Not only did he have a supernatural magnetic beauty to him, but he'd been human, so he knew how humans behave first hand. He was a nightmarish wet dream. Xeno gave his head a good shake to banish those thoughts from his mind when he realized he was looking the vampire over with the hunger of a sugar baby sizing up their next piggy bank. "Hey, Xeno," Stan hummed, but the hunter refused to look back at the man, which he simply took as a greenlight to continue, "you wanna play our little game tonight?" The hunter snorted in response, staring off into the darkness while his cheeks cooled, "I thought you were only here to bother me, not play a game of fucked up tag," He said calmly, only looked back at the man when he heard him walking closer, only stopping when he was about two feet away, maybe within reach, a grin on his pretty face, "Well, I thought it'd be a bit more polite to offer that rather than just asking if I could drink your blood outright." he reasoned, amused at the edge of poutiness that he seemed to sniff out through the veil of aloof indifference the hunter spoke with. "No thanks to either offer, I don't want to be chased tonight." Xeno sniffed in response, simply adding a thicker layer of ill temper to cover how excited he was at the thought of being pursued a second time. The first time had, admittedly, given him a thrill, but he wasn't ready to voice such to the annoying vampire in front of him. However, Stan seemed to have picked up on his kryptonite from that first round, "But aren't you curious to see what happens when you add the scent of blood to the mix?" The purr in the man's voice annoyed Xeno immensely, but the thought of maybe learning just how sensitive vampire instincts were, and how quickly one would succumb to them. Obviously young vampires are more prone to being controlled by their need to feed, but Stanley isn't a new vampire, that curious voice mused, already setting Xeno on a very likely stupid and dangerous path, It'd be immensely helpful to know just how easy it is to bring out those base urges in him. If he's going to follow you around it's best to know what to avoid so he doesn't go feral. It further encouraged, stoking the flames of the scientist's natural curiosity until he hummed, "I suppose it would be useful for the association to know exactly what triggers a vampire to go into a frenzy of some sort. Fine." The vampire grinned at that, "You do know that I can't promise my feeding instinct is the only one that'll come to the surface," he pointed out, making Xeno blink and raise an eyebrow at him, "What? Why would any other instinct come into play?" turning red as Stan laughed, "Well, in simple terms, I find you too attractive to promise that when I catch you I'd only want to drink your blood~" Xeno's face warmed up more at that, getting huffy and tripping over his words in his rush to snap at him. "You can have a five minute head start, just like last time," he simply assured, "Just need a bit of blood, because your original scratch has closed," He laughed more when Xeno pulled up his shirt to see that his shallow cut from earlier had in fact begun to heal, no longer bleeding and instead beginning to scab over. The hunter only responded with a glare at that point as he plucked his knife from the sidewalk where he'd dropped it and wiped it off before leaving another cut along his stomach, this one a bit deeper than the first, but not enough to linger for more than a day or two. With that, Stan gave him a charming smile that showed his extending fangs, his blue eyes already getting a hungry gleam to them. So, without further conversation, Xeno took off down the street. The cuts on his stomach stung and itched more from his running, but he pressed on. His main concern was regulating his breathing and energy so that he could get as far away from the vampire as he could in his small window of time. Naturally, his plan wasn't to just run in a straight line and wait to be caught, not only would that likely be dangerous, as a vampire in a feeding frenzy was much more violent, but was less likely to fulfill the goal of bringing those deadly instincts to the surface at all. So, instead, he sought out other people, a crowded area, maybe a shop, that way it wasn't as easy for the predator to catch up to him. This is insanely stupid, that voice of reason finally spoke up, not only am I playing with fire by instigating an instinctual reaction, but I am woefully under prepared to run from Stan. He realized, filling his veins with icy terror when the weight of his situation fully sunk in, The first time we did this I barely survive on pure panic and him toying with me. If he really loses his shit and goes into a frenzy, I can't outrun him. The reality of the thought hurt, but it was sorely true. Despite all of his training as a monster hunter, Xeno had never been one for good cardio, namely in the stamina category. He relied on his wits and pure speed, not his ability to maintain those speedy response times or pace for long periods. but it's too late now, he reminded himself, thinking back to the way the vampire's fangs had extended so soon after he'd given him a fresh source of scent. Nope, he couldn't chicken out now. He had no choice but to stick to his plan and push the panic and fear aside. Instead, he simply focused on the route ahead of him and locked onto the light of a store further down the street, which he headed for instantly. The bright, artificial light blinded the pale scientist for a moment when he stumbled into the store, but he was swift to regain his barrings and dash down the aisles and through the crowds of night owls and whatnot that were still up at this hour. He knew that his five minutes had ended a minute or so before. Meaning he didn't have long before the vampire would be on his ass. So, thinking quickly, he swiped his hand over his wounds, then smeared the blood on his palm onto the tile flooring in an aisle. Once he had that down, Xeno ran off deeper into the store. He had very few places to hide. The bathroom was basically a dead end with no windows and only one door, he couldn't climb up the shelves or to the rafters in a timely manner, so he forwent that plan. Instead, he did the next best thing. leaving as distracting a trail as possible before bolting out one of the fire exits. "Shit," he wheezed when the fire exit triggered a screaming alarm through out the store. If Stan was in there, he'd definitely know he got out now, but that only meant the scientist had less time to think of such things. He had to focus on running. So, Xeno ignored the way his legs throbbed, and his lungs ached from gulping down the cold night air. He focused entirely on getting home, or at least to a more residential area. He could feel his limbs getting heavier, threatening more and more to give out with each step, but his grit his teeth and bared it until the threat became reality and the asphalt bit into his skin. And there he laid for a few seconds, gasping for air and scraping up as much energy as he could to push himself to his feet. As he did, he glanced back down the street, and sure enough. Stanley was coming out of the alley Xeno'd run out of, his glowing blue eyes locking onto the scientist in an instant. With another curse spat out through gritted teeth, Xeno took off again. His legs still screamed from exhaustion, and now his hands stung viciously from the fall, but he kept going. He could hear Stan closing in on him, which gave him a final burst of frantic energy that carried him to at least the park near his home before the vampire finally tackled him to the grass. The scientist could only wheeze in response, letting the vampire crush against him and push his face into his pale neck with a growl. That seemed to snap him out of the exhaustion cloud, and in an instant, Xeno was squirming and forcing himself up once again. The only way he managed it was because the vampire was taken by surprise, so he was able to slip from his grasp and scramble up, but he only got a few more steps before he had to lean against a tree for support so that his legs didn't crumble a third time. Then, just as quickly as he'd gotten away, Xeno was back in Stan's luke-warm arms, trapped against his needlessly heaving chest with his fangs hovering over his jugular once more. However, he didn't bite down. To the contrary, the feral vampire seemed to hesitate for a moment, seemingly weighing his options of what to do with the hunter before settling on a choice and swiftly switching to almost slamming him against the nearest tree. "S-Stanley!" The hunter wheezed, more surprised then anything, pushing back so that his face at least wasn't forced into the course bark and he could look back to try and see the blonde behind him. Said blonde was keeping him in place with a hand on one of his shoulders, looking Xeno in the eye and almost relishing the dawning realization that painted his pale cheeks before he used his free hand to hook into his pants and tug them down pretty roughly. Then, he was back at the man's neck, but this time he bit with his blunter teeth, sucking at the skin until Xeno's mewls and hums were pulled out and he was satisfied with the hickey he'd left. The scientist, meanwhile was a bit ashamed of how quickly he accepted the turn of events. He tried to save some face by muffling the noises bubbling in his throat, but Stan's mouth at his neck, paired with the way he ground his groin into his now-bear rear drug a few noises out. Though, it also bat back the fog of hormones and lust long enough for the hunter to realize that he was very likely to get hurt if he didn't intervene. So, he whined and reached up to tangle his fingers in Stan's messy hair, tugging at it until he finally relinquished his throat from the second hickey he was dedicated on leaving. Carefully, Xeno turned himself around with what little room he was permitted between the vampire's muscular chest and the much-less-forgiving tree. Once they were face to face though, the college graduate's brain no longer seemed to work, so, the two simply stood there, panting a bit from the chase, before he finally gave up on using words and instead simply sunk down to his knees. Keeping his eyes glued to the glowing blue pair above him as he went. Luckily enough for him, his actions at least intrigued the vampire, because he was allowed to tug his bottoms down just enough for his member to spring free, which earned him a noise somewhere between a growl and a hum. With Stan's pants down and his member now standing erect in front of him, Xeno hesitated. Should it matter if I'm any good at this sort of shit? I just need some sort of lubrication, and he shouldn't really care about anything beyond...mating, so surely he won't give a shit, right? He asked himself, puzzling over the predicament before Stan reached down to grab onto his shirt, reminding the scientist of his lack of patience. So, Xeno threw his insecurities to the wind and grabbed onto the base of the shaft so he could slip Stan's impatient member into his mouth. The vampire moaned in response, and Xeno took that as a sign that he'd bought a bit more time for himself. So, he slowed down, bobbing his head at a medium sort of pace to work himself up to taking as much of the length as he could, which, thankfully for him, was almost all of it thanks to years of speed-drinking coffee and energy drinks and eating at record speeds in college. He also found that once he actually got to moving, the embarrassment of his lack of skills faded away, and part of him simply enjoyed the groans he got out of Stan while he moved his lips up and down him at a steady pace. He simply continued to work him as much as he could until the vampire let out a little hiss and gripped onto the scientist's shirt until he pulled away and let his throbbing member go with a coy 'pop'. Suddenly, Xeno was yanked back to his feet and whirled around again to be slammed back into the tree. His pants were tugged down once more and his feet were kicked apart in rapid succession so the monster hunter only got a moment's break before Stan pushed into him. And while it hurt still, the white-haired man found that he didn't mind as much. As the vampire began thrusting into him, one hand clawing into his hip, the other on his shoulder, Xeno moaned out curses and did his best to grab onto the tree or Stan's neck to keep steady under the merciless thrusts of the blonde. It was shameful how hot his body got, but with how Stan was hitting that sweetspot within Xeno, his face back to being buried in his neck for more marks, Xeno couldn't care less. "Mmmm, fuck! ah, r-right there, please!" he plead, tangling his fingers back into Stan's hair as he moaned, giving another lewd noise when his pursuer did as he asked, swiftly learning that doing so got more needy noises from the hormone-addled hunter. With that, Xeno lost all coherency as euphoria further fogged his mind, and soon brought him to his peak with a whine of the vampire's name. Though, Stan didn't stop when Xeno came, he just kept thrusting into him, still flooding his pale body with more and more pleasure while his hot puffs of breath tickled his hickey-littered neck. The continued rough treatment was beginning to sting, but the edge of pain only seemed to bolster Xeno's pleasure back to its peak, pushing a second orgasm from him before Stan finally grew sloppy with his thrusts and soon gave one final movement before emptying himself into the hunter. After that, the monster hunter let himself melt against the tree, relying on Stanley to hold him up because he was on the verge of passing out after that night's activities. The last thing Xeno remembered was giving a thumbs up to what he assumed was the question 'are you okay'. Then, he let his exhaustion take him into dreamland.

#dr stone #drst #stanXeno #Stan x Xeno #monster au #scenario #vampire!Stan #Monster hunter!Xeno #not sfw

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amimons · 4 years

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Miraculous Sweet-ember (Sept. 17th)

September 17th: Sapotis, Gorizilla, Captain Hardrock

Sapotis is the very first episode to feature a new miraculous hero, Rena Rouge (aka Alya Césaire). Although it’s not the first time we’ve heard about the fox miraculous, it is the first time we actually get to see the other miraculous in the miracle box start to take action. During a sleepover at Alya’s, things get a little out of hand when Alya’s younger sisters start acting rambunctious when they are suppose to be in bed. As a result of disciplining her sisters, they get akumatized into Sapotis, small mischievous creatures. This makes the fight more overwhelming for Ladybug and Chat noir especially since the villain can multiply. This is when Ladybug’s lucky charm suggested her to go to Fu hence the first opportunity of Marinette choosing a new miraculous hero. Of course Marinette knows Alya would make a wonderful hero but her main concern was if Alya had the ability to keep it a secret.

The development Alya went through this episode was my favorite thing about it. Being an aspiring journalist, Alya seeks out to uncover the truth. One of the things she is determined to do is uncovering the truth about Ladybug identity. Even at the start of the sleepover, Alya shared with Marinette the latest discoveries from her research on Ladybug. Marinette told her there is a reason why Ladybug would keep her identity a secret which is to protect everyone involved from Hawkmoth. Alya disagrees saying if she knew she could help Ladybug out more and if she was a hero she would let her friend know. Being Rena Rouge helped round out Alya’s character more. Being the fox miraculous, she must use deception and illusions to trick her enemies, which is the opposite of a journalist who wants to expose the truth. Alya learns the value of not exposing every information with her experience as a hero and working alongside Paris’ heroes. When it was time to fulfill the promise of handing over her miraculous back to Ladybug, Alya try to take it back saying it would be more useful for her to keep it. But she quickly understood the importance of keeping a promise and to trust Ladybug’s judgement with superhero business. Alya now doesn’t try to discover Ladybug’s identity and respectfully returns her miraculous when she is done with the battle. Plus she makes a fantastic fox holder.

Gorizilla has everything. I honestly can pick so many scenes and moments I love about this episode because it is that good. I’m just gonna have to do a bulleted list, I’m left with no other choice.

The fact that this is the first time we get adrienette teaming up together.

Marinette helps Adrien escape the watchful eye of everyone including his bodyguard.

Adrienette getting photographed when hiding in a drain water fountain.

The rumor that started circulating that Marinette was Adrien’s girlfriend (and Marinette being all adorable and funny when Adrien mentioned it).

Adrien showing Marinette once again the lucky charm she made that carries around with him.

Adrienette wearing funny disguises while going to the theater.

Adrien revealing to Marinette that this was a movie that he’s never seen of his mother.

And then the episode switches over to Ladrien time with Ladybug having to safe Adrien Gorizilla.

ADRIEN JUMPING OF A SKYSCRAPER CAUSE HE TRUST LADYBUG TO CATCH HIM!

Then she catches him and they had that heart eye moment.

BUT lovesquare stuff aside the main motive for Hawkmoth to akumatize the Gorilla was very interesting. Gabriel Agreste slowly started picking up on some indicators that his own son could be Chat Noir. The suspicion was there so he created an akuma that would focus on keeping Adrien in his sight. This was a perfect set up for him to determine once in for all if his hunch was true. Hawkmoth even went as far as threaten the life of his very one and only son by watching him plummet to his death after he jumped off a skyscraper. That moment was so very tense and Gabriel Agreste was truly banking on Chat Noir showing up to save him or Adrien to save himself by turning into Chat Noir. These intense moments between Gabriel Agreste and his son are one of my favorite part of this series and this episode explored that very well.

Captain Hardrock is a rock band/pirate theme episode taking place on the Couffaine’s ship/home. If you’re looking for magnet analogies then you came to the right place. Marinette discovers the when a compass gets too close to a magnetic object it gets all wonky and starts pushes different directions. She finds it to be relatable and likens that relationship to her own with Adrien. That no matter how close she gets to Adrien there is always something preventing her from getting close to him.

During the Captain Hardrock battle, her lucky charm ends up being a magnetic metal chain. Not only is this a good call back to the previous conversation but also a good opportunity for Chat Noir to make a funny pun. At first, confused on what to do with her lucky Charm, Chat chimes that “it’s probably telling her that she is chained to him forever.” Her facial reaction was classic and the irony of his comment is pretty good. Even though the lucky charm wasn’t there to tell her that, Chat Noir isn’t wrong in that they are always going to be with each other in the long run. Their lives are linked, their paths are intertwined, and they are destined to be with each other.

About Sweet-ember:

For the month of September I wanted to spread some positivity and praise Miraculous Ladybug on the things I’ve appreciated/enjoyed from the show.

Everyday I’m going to select one particular moment, event, theme, etc. from an episode of Miraculous and shared what I liked from that episode. Each post will discuss 2-3 episodes (from season 1-3; 78 episodes in total).

Whether its something big or small there is something positive that I can take away from every single episode of Miraculous.

Please feel free to add a moment from these particular episodes that you loved to this post as well!

Salt towards the show, characters, ships will not be tolerated!

Sweet-ember posts

[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17]

[18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] [29] [30] [31]

#miraculous ladybug #ml sugar #ml sweet-ember #Sapotis #Gorizilla #Captain Hardrock #rena rouge #adrienette #ladrien #ladynoir #mine

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ratsoh-writes · 4 years

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Oh could I have a matchup? Please! I don't usually go anon, but so you may judge fairly I will... so mysterious XDDD

I'm green kindness soul, I'm shy and very very caring. I'm a li'l clumsy, a tad ditzy and complete space head, I'm in my imagination most of the time. I like jokes and puns and I laugh no matter how many times a good joke or cleaver pun is told, but I'm kinda bad at making/telling my own jokes. I love cuddles and laying in. I can be very lazy sometimes and I'm pretty messy too. I'm INFP if that means much to you.

Looks: long dark brown hair, brown eyes. I'm Short but chubby cuz I'm fun sized.

Strengths: I like learning new things. I'm good at staying calm. Despite being shy I find it easy to get along with anyone, I apparently have some kind of cute charm that makes people want to protect and look after me, or so I've been told. It's really hard to offend me, and I hardly ever get angry. I have a big heart, love is stored within the me, I love all my friends and fam and I'm ready to defend their honour at a moments notice.

Weakness: I'm dyslexic so reading and writing are a tad difficult but i like it anyway, I'm kinda forgetful, a little naive and a bit of a cluts. I get flustered very easily and have a weakness for being teased, and kinda have a thing for bad boys. I'm too quiet some times, and I'm not comfortable in crowds. I have a fragile heart and I can be overly emotional sometimes but don't show it.

Pet peeves: people leaving the milk out of the fridge, (if I wanted it warm I would have put it in the microwave) Pausing shows or movies. My music being interrupted. Being pushed out of my comfort zone, I'll crawl out at my own pace thank you.

Odd habits: I stim by making weird noises, I coo like a pigeon when I'm stressed or tired and sometimes I randomly make a purring like noise. I don't sit still. I space out often. I get very absorbed in movies and such and if it gets tense or scary I need to cuddle with the closest person.

Hobbies: Too many and counting XDD I like drawing, tinkering, Gaming, cooking, all sorts of arts and crafts, writing, reading stories aloud, dancing, coding, singing, etc. Etc. I pick up a new hobby like every other week or so.

No nos: um... idk I'm pretty chill but I don't like people who pretend to be something they're not and I don't like disloyalty.

I'm curious to see who you'll put me with ^_^

Oh you were easy! I’ll match you with OAK (horrortale sans)!

Well first of all, your kindness was a big factor in picking him. Plus you mentioned that you’d laugh at the same joke more than once. Sometimes oak repeats things due to his wonky memory. He needs a companion who’d be patient and gentle with him, and you sound like a wonderful fit!

If you want your cuddles, you’ll get your damn cuddles lol. Also your cute factor just add fuel to the fire. Oak is a very touch guy so expect a hand on you at all times

As for the bad boy bit: softie in the streets, monster in the sheets ;)

Dating oak would include:

That animal magnetism bro. You guys will wind up making lots of furry friends during walks, and that means friends with the owners. Most of ebotts dog walkers know who oak is lol

Grocery trips are a biweekly trip that you two do together. The horror brothers hate food waste and so while they have a stocked pantry of non-perishables, they only get small bits of fresh food to make sure they use all of it. Oak can’t go on his own so would love to take you as company

He’d be actually be completely in love if you read to him. Stories are so much easier to remember when it comes from your lips

Oak also likes giving out little treats all the time. Feeding people makes him feel secure, so you’ll be getting lots of random snacks/candies from him throughout the day

#undertale imagines #horrortale #matchups

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cinni-k · 4 years

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Was thinking about how Image & Form did a poll to see interest in Steamworld plushies and also I want plushies of Steamworld characters so for fun I decided to rank what I’ll call the “playable or close enough” steamworld characters on how well I think they lend themselves to plushies. Disclaimer I do not actually know how making plush merchandise works.

Rusty - Essentially Steamworld’s mascot, + He’s got a simple design made up primarily of basic shapes, but he’s got a kind of pokey steampipe and I don’t know if you’d just omit that or leave it? Also how would dealing with a wide-brimmed hat work on a plushie? 9.5/10

Dorothy - Very cute design also made primarily of simple shapes, incredibly well-loved & there is already a plushie of her in Quest’s credits. 10/10

Fen (dig2) - While they’ve got a very simple design, their body is a fluctuating fire-like shape that can’t be conveyed easily through a plushie that isn’t more of a fancy pillow. I’m not against having a Fen pillow but I’m more interested in character plushies. 5.5/10 But I want a keychain of the charm that the shopkeeper has of them, that’s a 10/10 for merch.

Piper - Very pretty design + there’s no merch of Piper currently available, but her design is somewhat complex and fairly sharp, she is not very cuddly-looking. She would probably lend herself better to something like a figure. 7/10

Seabrass - Seabrass is not cuddly and I think he would be insulted by a plushie of him. It would also be hilarious though. 1/10

Sally - I’ve never once seen someone say they find Sally’s design appealing, and her teeth bother most people. I also just don’t think she’s popular enough to warrant having her own plushie. 0/10

Ivanski - Very big and wide, in plush form he would be very soft. However Ivanski is a big strong man and I do not think the clowns should be given more power. Also how would you deal with the weight? 5/10

Valentine - Loveable but he’s not particularly popular and he’s got a shape that’s probably very wonky for a plushie. 3/10

Beatrix - Neat design and I think she’s reasonably popular but she is very not cuddly and has a lot of pokey bits. 6/10

Fen (Heist) - Incredibly loveable and popular, they don’t have a hat that might be awkward to work with, but they’re a really weird shape and they’re very thin and pointy. I’d be down but their design’s just not good for it. 7/10

Payroll - Payroll would steal my change and leave my house /j. I really don’t think he’s that popular though and while he’s wide and thus has plenty of room to be squishy, most characters would be better than him and he’s probably better for other mediums. 2/10

Dora - Wide and round, thus would be very squishy! Her bag might be awkward though. I want a plushie of her to put in funny places but I think I’m the only person who actually cares about her that much and many characters would be better for the role. 3/10

Billy - He’s got a funky design and seems fairly popular! The animal elements of his design also help make him more suitable as a plushie for a child. His fins might be a little awkward though, and also he’s a little bit ominous sometimes. 6.5/10

Armilly - She’s very lovable but she’s got very wonky proportions because of her armor and her design is fairly complicated, and while it’s definitely good I’m not sure if I’d call her cute specifically. like Piper she lends herself better to other mediums 7/10

Copernica - Small, cute and would be very squishy! Her hat would probably be a bit awkward though, and I feel like it would be very hard to make her glasses not look weird without making them plastic, and plastic on plushies just. Sucks. 8/10

Galleo - Big and cuddly. He lends himself well to a plushie besides his weirdly thin legs. Also, Benji! His little bird is adorable but might be kinda awkward to add. 9/10 Honestly I’ll also give a solid 10/10 to just making a plushie of Benji but he doesn’t get his own thing because we don’t even get his name in the game so he’s not important.

Orik - Orik’s design is actually fairly similar to Piper’s so a lot of my issues with her still stand, + Orik isn’t a protagonist the same way Piper is, so a plushie of him seems a little bit lower priority. 6/10

Tarah & Thayne - Incredibly cute & fairly simple designs, + they’re pretty popular! Although there’s the issue that having only one of a constantly linked duo would suck but having two plushies would take more work & resources, thus being more expensive. Also I think Tarah would hate having a plushie of her. 10/10 for just. Having them as plushies though.

#steamworld #I'm not gonna tag every single game.#Or character.#I&F please give me a plushie of Dorothy I am begging you I want it so b #text post #long post

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destinychose · 4 years

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@ymagishi ♡

❝ as a rising star in the mondstadt’s adventurers’ guild, benny’s adventure team doesn’t usually have many openings, you know! ❞ bennett declares with a hint of false pride that cleverly disguises the feeling of loneliness that they’ve come to associate with their own team. he manages a smile despite the lingering worry that yukako might reject his offer, pushing his uncertainty aside and continuing boldly, ❝ but . . . i figured i could make an exception, since we’ve been adventuring together for a few months now, so . . . here! ❞

excited, bennett extends their hands towards her and finally unveils the product of their hard work over the past several days. nestled between his palms sits a small wooden charm that he had painstakingly carved and painted himself ( with the help of one of his dads, admittedly — though his aid did little to prevent the nicks and splinters he received for his efforts ). upon its surface, he’d etched an emblem of his own design, intended to be his adventure team’s very own logo. it turned out a little wonky looking, but it was still leagues better than their previous attempts.

bennett throws his free fist skyward with a loud whoop of joy. ❝ woohoo! this makes things super duper official! you’re now an honorary member of benny’s adventure team! ❞

his bravado swiftly fades, his arm falling back to his side as he shuffles his feet, overcome with a bout of nerves. bennett picks at the edge of one of the bandages wound around their fingers, avoiding yukako’s ever - striking gaze as they add, ❝ uh, if you’d like to be, that is . . . ❞

#ymagishi #* muse. bennett ／ thread #* verse. bennett ／ main #( u asked for starters from other muses & yet here i am giving u another bennett one...... :pensive:#this was gonna be an ask but as u can see it got out of control !!!! so i figured this would work better uwu #ILY DESTIN! )

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bamby0304 · 5 years

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Don’t Tell Jensen

Summary: Jared likes to get up to no good, and sometimes he likes to drag you along for the ride.

Pairing: Jared Padalecki x Reader

A/N: This is for my @spnkinkbingo card, and goes with the Impala Sex square. If you’re looking to add a little something more to your Jared fic experience, check out @scentsfromthebunker’s Jared scent :) thank you @dean-winchesters-bacon for looking this over, hun xx

Link: Ao3

Square Filled: Impala Sex

Word Count: 1.5K

Warnings: Explicit language. Smut. Dry humping. Fingering. Car sex. Unprotected sex.

Bamby

The set had shut down for the night. Everyone had retired to their trailers. You had retired to your own, having planned to sleep until needed tomorrow. That was, until Jared had knocked on your door and dragged you back to set.

He’d been giggling like a child the whole time, pulling you closer and walking backwards so he could face you. Any question of where he was taking you and what he was doing faded as he leaned down to press his grinning lips against yours.

When you saw the Impala, everything clicked.

“Bob will kill us,” you noted, standing by the beautiful black vehicle.

With his arms wrapped around your waist, Jared shrugged. “Only if he finds out.”

“Jensen will kill us.”

Leaning down, he pressed a kiss to your jaw. “Doesn’t that make it a little more fun?”

“You do realise you’re not actually Sam Winchester, right?” Turning, you looked up at him with a raised eyebrow. “If you die you stay dead.”

“And if I get to choose the way I go out, then I choose this.” Stepping around you, he grabbed your hand and pulled you to the car’s backdoor.

Even you couldn’t deny the thrill of sneaking into the backseat of the Impala, in the middle of the closed set, while the cast and crew slept right outside. Infected by Jared’s bubbling excitement, you found yourself giggling as he guided you to straddle him.

His hands rested on your hips, fingers pressing into the meat of your ass and pulling you closer as his lips found yours again. Your fingers carded through his hair as you leaned into him, pressing your body as close to his as possible.

As you licked into Jared’s mouth, he whined and tightened his grip on you. Your hips began to move out of instinct driven by your arousal. Grinding against Jared, you could feel him hardening, pressing against your barely covered slit deliciously.

Technically the two of you had been dressed and ready for bed, which meant he was in a simple tee and sweatpants, while you were in a tank top and loose gym shorts. The thin material meant you could feel him perfectly, and you could feel how soaked you now were.

“Fuck, baby.” Pulling away, Jared looked up at you with dilated pupils.

Tugging his lip between his teeth, he fought not to make too much noise as you began to grind down on him a little harder. Each push had him brushing against your aching clit, which only made you want more.

Whimpering, you dropped your head to his shoulder as you picked up the pace, rocking the car with every thrust.

Sliding his hand between your thighs, Jared pushed your shorts out of the way and stroked your drenched slit. Mewling helplessly, you shuddered at the feel of him barely pressing the tip of his finger into you. Shifting your hips, you sought out his fingers, wanting more from him, which he happily gave.

Pressing into you, Jared pushed two fingers into you until he was knuckle deep. You keened at the feel of him, twitching needily as he curled his fingers in a way that always made you go crazy. Grinding and thrusting against his fingers, you moaned in his ear as you chased your orgasm, wanting and needing nothing more than that blissful high.

“Come on, baby,” Jared murmured in your ear, pressing against the sweet spot inside you. “I know you’re right there. Wanna hear those pretty sounds you make. Wanna feel you squeeze me. Do it for me.”

With his voice in your ear, his fingers stroking your g-spot, and his body pressed against yours, Jared pushed you over the edge.

Biting your lip as you cried against his shoulder, you dug your claws into his back and clenched around his fingers, twitching against him as a ripple of ecstasy rushed through you.

Turning his head, he pressed a gentle kiss to your temple. “Good girl.”

Delicately, Jared maneuvered the two of you until your back was flat on the seat. Kneeing between your thighs, leaning in to press kisses to your shoulder and neck, he began to inch your shorts down your legs.

“Remember that scene we did this afternoon?” he asked as he dropped your shorts to the floor of the car. “Where Dean passed out in the bar, so Sam and Lexi slept in Baby?” He pulled his shirt over his head, then. “Remember how I had to grind on you, in this exact spot again, and again, and again, and again?”

All you could do was whimper and nod as he continued peppering kisses on your neck, while his fingers began working on pulling his pants down now.

“Made me so hard, feeling you under me like that. Wanted everyone to leave so I could fill you up. That’s why I brought you here tonight. Wanted to try the scene again, only this time we’re alone… and there’s nothing between us.”

That was all the warning you got before he began to push into you.

Jared groaned against your neck as you squeezed him, swallowing him inch by inch as he slowly filled you. When he was balls deep, pulsing against your sensitive walls and pressing against your cervix, you were vibrating with the desire for him to move, and a need for him to stay still.

Taking a moment, Jared pressed gentle kisses to your shoulder as he tried to control his shaking breath and body. You could feel how affected he was by the feel of you around him.

Living on site meant you didn’t get a lot of time to be intimate. You were either working wonky shifts, or exhausted from hours of shooting, or there were too many people around for you to take real enjoyment out of what little pleasure you could find. Jared was always eager, however, and had a habit of finding ways to get what he wanted.

You were what he wanted, and the risk of getting busted having sex in the Impala was not going to dissuade him from enjoying the feeling of being inside you, or the sounds you made when he brought you to that high peek you couldn’t quiet reach on your own.

Lifting your legs to wrap around his waist, you pulled Jared closer, needing to feel all of him. With his body pressed against yours, and his lips trailing along your neck and shoulder, you felt yourself nearing another climax. Hips thrusting against hips, the car rocked in time with your movements as the windows fogged.

Murmured words and soft groans passed between the two of you. Hands slid over curves, fingers grasping whatever flesh they could find. You and Jared fell further into you arousal, drowning in the feel of each other, reveling in a rare intimate moment together.

Reaching between your bodies, Jared began to rub at your clit, pulling you closer to your ending a little faster. Arching against him, moaning unashamedly, you tugged at Jared’s hair as he pushed you over the edge.

The sound of your cumming and the feel of your walls clenching around him had Jared’s pace falter as he shuddered before he spilled inside of you. With a shaking breath, he pressed another kiss to your jaw as he leaned back. He hissed as you whined at the feel of him pulling out of you.

Looking down between your thighs, Jared couldn’t help himself as he grinned. “Whoops.”

“‘Whoops’?” You shot up to lean on your elbows as you looked at him with wide eyes. “What ‘whoops’?”

Running a finger over your slit, Jared lifted his hand to show you the mess on his finger. “It’s on the seat.”

Jumping into action, you fumbled for the clothing on the floor and quickly pulled on the first thing you grabbed. Jared’s sweats were very big on you, but at least they put a barrier between you and the leather of the Impala.

“Jensen is going to kill us.” You glared up at him.

Shrugging, Jared pulled his shirt over his head as he continued to grin. “He doesn’t know it was us. No one does. Any one of the cast or crew could have snuck in here and-”

“What? Rubbed one out?”

“Or…” he leaned in to capture your lips with his, “they could have snuck a beautiful woman in here to show her how desperate they’ve been to be with her.”

Smiling up at him, you shook your head. “Can’t believe you’re trying to charm your way back onto my good side.”

“I’m always on your good side.” Winking at you, he then grabbed your gym shorts and pulled them on. “I’m keeping these by the way.”

Laughing, you shook your head once more as he slid out of the car and then helped you out. Hand in hand, laughing and grinning like teenagers, he walked you back to your trailer, neither of you caring about the mark you left on the leather seat.

Bamby

#spnkinkbingo #jared padalecki fanfiction #jared padalecki x reader #jared padalecki x you #jared padalecki x y/n #don't tell jensen #bamby's spnkinkbingo

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ananas-pineapple-thing · 5 years

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Okay I barely remembering reading the series and could only really tell you the plot of the first two what did marissa do?

Hi!! I have a LOT of problems with Marissa, the way she was written, and things that are technically Angie’s Bad World Building but reflect on the character in a very unsavory way— so this might be long because I think it’s hard to understand without the full picture. I’m also gonna talk mostly about the second series (TodHunter Moon) so if you haven’t read that and are planning to, proceed with caution!!

MARISSA IN SEPTIMUS HEAP

Firstly, i loved Marissa in the first series! She was resourceful, cunning, and knew what she wanted. She was fun to read about. Quick rundown of her role in the first series from my (bad) memory: Marissa is introduced in Flyte as one of the Wendron Witches and the girl that Jo-Jo Heap has a crush on; she appears again briefly in Queste but doesn’t really do much; she again makes an appearance in Darke and reveals that she has left the Wendrons to join the Port Witch Coven (the members of whom have trapped Jenna), and then (i think???) curses Jenna to prevent her from leaving. Jenna curses her back to also keep her from moving, Then Marissa herself is in danger of being cursed by another witch, so she and Jenna strike a deal that if Marissa helps Jenna escape, Jenna will unfreeze her. Marissa helps her escape by kissing her, which turns her into a witch and allows her to leave.

This chapter is the biggest establisher of her character and also her wonky moral compass. even though she obviously helped Jenna only for her own gain, her character was written in a way that we appreciated the selfish side of her!! it was fun to read about her in that situation, because she got what was coming to her and ended up sort of befriending Jenna by the end. Then in Fyre I’m not sure what she did besides flirt with Beetle and start working at the same shop as Jo-Jo lol.

MOVING ONTO THE SECOND SERIES:

Marissa’s big role is in the last book in the trilogy, but first i’m going to set the stage with some details from the second book. It’ll make sense in a minute.THM expands outside of Europe and touches on a couple of places, including (according to a map on the first page) somewhere in the south of Africa. For reasons unknown, Angie Sage decided that the people living here are Arab, which is a little racist because the Middle East is Not in South Africa, but it’s whatever. She also gives these people Egyptian culture (or what white people who read a book on Egypt when they were seven think Egyptian culture is), which again, is odd but whatever. the illustrator draws these characters with dark skin— the only accurate thing about them being in /South Africa/. this will all be relevant in a second.

back to THM!! in this Arab Egyptian South African society- there is a place called the Red City. in the red city lives their Queen, who is dark skinned and Arab— so obviously she’s a HUGE tyrant!! I’m talking about a dictatoring-chopping off people’s heads-people in the streets cowering at her name-first resort is to murder-tyrant!!! WHAT A HORRIBLE SAVAGE LEADER!! brown and Black people are unfit to rule :-) all her useless brown subjects are too stupid and useless to stage a riot or chop off HER head (which would be easy because she’s established as an idiot in the last book. because brown and Black people are also stupid :-) ) so they just live in fear of her.

I want to stress that this is because they are Arab. because they are dark skinned. fun book!!

ONTO MARISSA AND HER ROLE REGARDING THE LAST BOOK AND THE SETTING OF THE SECOND:

Marissa’s traits that made her a fun character in the first series were brought into a ugly light in the second. unlike in the first series, however, she doesn’t face repercussions for her actions and therefore does not either learn from them or get her deserved comeuppance.

The last book in the trilogy is Starchaser, which I have a foggy memory of. I’ll do my best to explain Marissa’s actions in it— I’ll break it up into three parts for ease.

PART 1: MARISSA GOES SHOPPING

Marissa works for an evil sorcerer dude who wants to take over the wizard tower. How she came to work for him is beyond me, but either way he sends to buy something from some shady lady. The “something” is a bunch of little black beads that, if you say the incantation on the bag, turn into these evil beings called Kraaken who straight up kill Wizards. Marissa likes the sounds of this because she also wants to own the wizard tower! She buys the bag and keeps it for herself, and the buys a spell that will give evil sorcerer dude a terrible headache (I feel u evil sorcerer dude) to keep him distracted. Marissa then makes her way back to the castle, ready to put her plan in action.

PART 2: MARISSA AND JO-JO

Marissa and Jo-Jo have this weird relationship thing going on. Jo-Jo is totally in love with her and Marissa is just kind of there. She treats Jo-Jo rudely and take advantage of the fact that he’s in love with her, and Jo-Jo is aware of this but it only makes him want her attention more. Despite this, we get a couple of hints that Marissa cares about him more than other people, which isn’t a lot.Marissa is having a party!! Jo-Jo gives her a charm as a gift. It was to control people and make them do as you say for a certain amount of time or something similar. I can’t recall! More on this later.

Later, the Kraaken from Marissa’s bag get activated somehow. They almost kill Jo-Jo, because Jo-Jo is a wizard!! let that sink in: Jo-Jo is the one person we know she cares about and she bought evil beings that are made to kill him and his family and other people like him. She knows that this happened and shows no regret.

Jo-Jo ends up getting rid of the Kraaken in a heroic feat, so (simplifying events a LOT here, since this is all actually a subplot) Marissa decides she wants the Palace instead!! which is owned by the Queen Jenna, who is also Jo-Jo’s little sister. Using the charm Jo-Jo gave her, Marissa tricks Jenna into giving up her circlet (crown, basically) and ownership of the Palace. she had NO qualms about deceiving someone Jo-Jo cares about.

and then (i have NO memory of how this happened) the Queen of the Red City shows up. Marissa tricks her into giving up her crown and palace. she gives the circlet back to Jenna, only because she “has something better”.

All of this was very frustrating to read and I don’t think I was alone in wanting her to get some sort of comeuppance before the book ended.

PART 3: THE ENDING

I don’t know what the heck happened to the Red City’s Queen, but she is somehow removed entirely from the equation. Marissa, who has evaded jail time i guess (do they have a jail???), has the Crown.

obviously the only solution is for her to colonize the Red City!!! now this part is technically on Angie’s world building but it adds another layer of Awful to Marissa. She, a white women, walks into this city and becomes it’s Queen, saving the black and brown subjects from their horrible blood thirsty ruler. Marissa is also objectively a bad person who would make a bad ruler, but this book doesn’t care because it’s a bunch of savages that she’ll be ruling!!! and she’s also at least better than their savage Queen!!!! this screams white savior.

AND THEN, Marissa asks Jo-Jo, who she has been horrible and manipulative to the entire book and who she also indirectly almost killed, to come with her to the Red City and live there.

Jo-Jo, who is still wrapped around her finger in this toxic relationship, says yes.LET THAT SINK IN: Marissa spent the entire book being an awful person and an awful girlfriend. she deserves a sucker punch to the face at the very least.She gets a kingdom and gets to keep her boyfriend. she gets everything she wanted, her happy ever after, and not once does the book suggest we should be anything but satisfied with this.

IN CONCLUSION

Marissa could have been a villain and a well written character. a well written Villain is fun to read about, even if you don’t agree with them. However, Marissa was written poorly and frustratingly. most villains are acknowledged as being in the wrong, and the last book in their series certainly doesn’t end with them being rewarded for whatever they did. Despite Angie obviously wanting us to root for her, Marissa never showed a hint of guilt for whatever stunts she pulled. She was selfish. And her ending didn’t reflect her actions at all, which was extremely unsatisfying.

Her character arc, for a main secondary character, was very badly written. She never learned a thing. Also, Jo-Jo’s own state is ignored and he ends up staying in the toxic relationship and /living/ with her. It’s a total train wreck!!

and that’s why I personally didn’t like her!! hopefully I explained this well, and didn’t ramble too much!! If i was confusing, feel free to shoot me another ask!!

#asks #septimus heap #sorry for putting negativity in the tag!!#i just think this is an interesting discussion to be had #and if anyone thinks im being harsh #i would love to hear your views!!

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vagrantblvrd · 5 years

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Complications (1/1)

Summary: The Vagabond has his phone.

Notes: Working on clearing out my WIP folder and found this which is a missing scene from A Better Place to Land based on an exchange with @miss-ingno. XD

(Read on AO3)

The Vagabond has his phone.

It’s...Gavin doesn’t know what it is, because it’s not as thought he could just make a phone call what with being tied up as he is. (Tied up, caught. In a bind, a pickle, all those lovely little sayings and turns of phrase that add up to trouble of the worst sort.)

Gavin is bored, though.

Hours of staring at blank walls and nothing to let him know what it is the Fakes want from him. (Everyone wants something in this city, and you don’t go abducting someone if you don’t think you can get your money’s worth out of them.)

He enjoyed the oh-so-charming company of Rimmy-whatsit until he was called away for some bit of business and the Vagabond had taken his place.

Waltzed on in pretty as you please and leaned up against the wall in front of Gavin to pull Gavin’s own phone out of his jacket pocket. And then he had the nerve to set to work trying to unlock it.

Puzzling away at it like it’s the daily crossword, an occasional hmph or huh or hmm to go along with the whole production as though Gavin’s not right there in agony over how terrible a job the man’s doing. (He’s been at it for absolute ages tap-tap-tapping away and no sign of progress to be seen!)

He doesn’t stalk over after failing to crack Gavin’s password for some length of time. Doesn’t loom or threaten or anything Gavin was expecting out of him. He’s not even looking at Gavin, focus on Gavin’s phone and the oh so challenging...challenge of unlocking it.

It feels less like mockery at this point and closer to gloating over the fact they’ve caught Gavin when everyone else in this godforsaken city hasn’t.

It’s just…Gavin doesn’t even know, and that’s even more maddening.

Gavin’s about to offer a hint, bit of a suggestion to help the man out when his phone rings.

It rings.

The Vagabond cocks his head, thumb hovering above the screen. Slowly looks at Gavin.

Gavin, for his part, is frozen in the chair.

Blood gone cold and all that because -

Gavin isn’t the sort to assign unique ringtones to his phone contacts. Doesn’t see the point, but as with anything there are exceptions.

“Queen fan?” the Vagabond asks, so bloody amused because he doesn’t know and now Gavin’s really in trouble, isn’t he, if this contact is calling him.

Finds out the spot of trouble Gavin’s gotten himself into this time and Gavin almost wishes the Fakes had killed him.

“Er,” Gavin manages, voice gone a little croaky on him. “Best not answer that.”

Still a chance he can slip this past them and all, if the bastard lets it go to voicemail. Convince them he misplaced is phone or some such afterwards, assuming he’s still alive by then. (Slim chance, but all Gavin has at the moment.)

Gavin’s not that lucky though, is he?

First he can’t avoid getting caught, and second, the Vagabond really is the bastard the rumors make him out to be because he chuckles.

This quiet little thing, still so damn amused as though Gavin’s obvious dread is just that entertaining – and he answers the damn phone.

Has been playing Gavin for a fool because he just taps in the password easy as anything and unlocks it to answer the phone.

“Hello?” he says, perfectly polite in a too-bright tone of voice.

Retail Voice, Gavin thinks dimly, reminded of his own he’d adopted years ago now, long before he threw himself into this terrible life of his.

Gavin can’t see the Vagabond’s grin under the mask of his, but he’s certain the smug bastard is enjoying Gavin’s clear discomfort over the call. Laughing his little black heart out as he watches Gavin squirm -

Until he isn’t.

Goes stone-cold still, doesn’t he. Frozen to the spot and all that out of shock or something close enough to it anyway.

It’s hard to be certain with the mask and wonky lighting, but Gavin’s swears the Vagabond’s eyes widen.

Which, given who’s on the other end of the phone call isn’t that shocking.

“...Meg?” he asks, stunned, surprised.

Clearly not expecting this turn of events.

Gavin – Gavin would like to know how the bastard knows Meg, but given their line of work it’s not too difficult to guess. (Small world, for people as skilled as them. Of course their paths would cross at some point.)

Gavin refocuses his attention on getting out of his bonds because there’s no way Meg hasn’t guessed something is wrong. Hasn’t figured out Gavin’s gone and gotten himself into the trouble she warned him about, so.

Yes.

He listens with half an ear to the Vagabond’s side of things as the man shakes himself out of his initial surprise and holds a conversation with Meg. Voice rising and falling, exasperation accompanied by hand gestures he glimpses from the corner of his eye.

“Do you mind?”

Short, sharp bark of the Vagabond’s voice has Gavin giving the man an incredulous look.

Not to be rude, but he’d rather take his chances with the Vagabond and the rest of the Fakes than face Meg’s wrath and all that. (Safer, too.)

He’s got one hand free of the ropes and is working at undoing the knot on the other and close to freedom (escape) and the damned Vagabond expects him to stop just because he says so? (And so rudely too.)

“Well, I mean,” Gavin says, trying for a pleasant little smile. Wouldn’t want to bother the nice Vagabond while he’s on the phone and all, be a nuisance. “You’re a bit busy, I thought I might make myself scarce to give you some privacy?”

That nets him a disbelieving look from the Vagabond, followed by a frown as he tips his head closer to the phone.

Meg, and oh dear God, Gavin is surely dead this time. All the good-will he’s built up with her smashed to smithereens thanks to his idiocy.

“She wants to talk to you,” the Vagabond says, calculating look in his eye as he walks over and takes in the results of Gavin’s escape-in-progress.

Gavin eyes him. The phone in his hand. Looks down at the tangle of his bonds he’s still working his way free of.

“...I’d rather not?” he says. “Bit tied up at the moment.”

He hadn’t meant to make a joke of it, but he’s not at his best.

The Vagabond growls, shoving the phone at Gavin and Gavin...Gavin sighs because it seems as though there’s no escaping his fate.

Takes the phone with his free hand and smiles as he answers. Uses that to help get his cheer on as he greets Meg.

“Ah, hello, Turney,” he says, and winces because that was not the best route to take. “Er. Meg.”

There’s silence, edged with razor blades, and then a very put upon sigh from Meg.

“Hello, Gavin, she says, bright and bubbly. “How are you this fine day?”

Oh, that’s not good at all, is it?

There’s a specific edge to Meg’s voice, this what did you do now? that doesn’t bode well for him the next time they happen to meet.

Speaking of -

“Are you at the airport?” Gavin asks, straining to hear a voice in the background that sound suspiciously like a boarding announcement. “I thought you were on a job?”

Meg hmms, and Gavin can imagine the expression on her face at the moment.

“I was,” she says, twittering little laugh because she’s in public and can’t lecture him the way she so clearly wants to. “But them Mariel sent along an interesting tidbit of information about things in Los Santos and I finished things up here early.”

Gavin frowns, eyes flicking up to see the Vagabond watching him. Curious tilt to his head and this...it’s not amusement to him anymore, but something else Gavin can’t quite place.

“Ah,” Gavin says. “I see.”

Meg is silent, waiting for Gavin’s confession which is bad. Means she’s well and truly annoyed with him, tipping towards angry.

“Well,” he says, and doesn’t know how to continue, or even if he should since he’d just be digging the hole he’s found himself in deeper. “Yes.”

The Vagabond snorts, having moved on from mild curiosity and back to amusment.

“You know, love,” Gavin says, because the man has been nothing but irritating about this development. “I’m sure the Vagabond could tell the story far better than I could.”

The part where they caught up to him, at least. Everything else Meg will squeeze out of Gavin himself when she gets back to Los Santos. (Which going by the boarding announcements being made, will be soon enough.)

Meg hmms again, that thread of oh, you are in for it buster not directed at Gavin this time, which is a good sign.

“Play nice until I get there,” she instructs, tone brooking no argument. “And put him on the phone.”

Well, it’s not as though Gavin had much choice in the matter anyway, but the thought of her rushing back to Los Santos to save him from himself is reassuring.

“Of course,” he says, and the smile that tugs at his mouth feels genuine. “Have a safe flight, love.”

He’s laying it on thick, but he’s also learned it’s one of the best ways to soothe her frayed temper. (Oh, she knows what he’s doing, but seeing as she allows it she can’t be that bothered.)

“Charmer,” she murmurs fondly.

Gavin laughs, looking up to find the Vagabond still watching him – bit creepy that.

“She’d like to have a few words,” he says, and laughs again at the way the man’s eyes narrow behind his mask, gaze darting to the phone Gavin’s holding out to him like it’s a venomous snake. “Quickly now, she has a flight to catch.”

He gets another little growl for that, and then the Vagabond’s plucking the phone out of his hand and turning his back to Gavin to talk to Meg.

Gavin glances down at his bonds, half undone and sighs to himself.

All that work of getting himself loose (half-loose?) and for naught, since Meg seems to think it’s a better choice to go along with whatever the Fakes want with him than escape their clutches.

The Vagabond makes this – he whines like a child denied a treat – and glances over his shoulder at Gavin – but then he goes quiet.

Nods his head along to whatever Meg’s telling him and sighs, as though she’s asking something inexpressibly terrible of him.

“Fine,” he mutters sulkily. “No killing.”

He's still looking at Gavin, something accusatory about it now, like this is all Gavin’s fault. (Which. Not entirely wrong.)

Several minutes go by with the Vagabond making these little noises of agreement and capitulation before he hangs up, wishing Meg a safe flight as well, and then he just.

Stares at Gavin.

Puzzling through the hows and whys of how in the hell Gavin met someone like Meg, let alone counted among the select group of people Meg’s fond of. (Enough to speed up her schedule, risk botching a job for.)

Gavin’s aware his association with Meg will complicate matters once the Fakes get around to whatever they plan to do with him, but that’s not his problem, is it? He didn’t ask to be abducted and carted off to this bland little hidey spot of theirs, after all.

“Well then,” Gavin says, not sure what else to say. “I did tell you not to answer.”

#ragehappy #A Better Place to Land #vagrant fic

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mmchoa · 5 years

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hello !! this is joy, surprise !! you all know how wonky tumblr ims can be so feel free to add me on discord @ uwu#2804 !! without further ado, here is hwang choa, a hyeon mu alumni. i've got a profile set up for her that you all can look through, as well as a background. i apologize in advance for how long this turned out, i really went off. i'll be sure to make a tl;dr in the future. finally, here are some plots !! under the cut is the tl;dr on choa & some ideas c:

hwang choa

26 years old, pureblood, eldest child and disowned

alumni at yosul. hyeon mu was her home away from home. any hyeon mu students get an automatic pass in her book.

was arranged to marry the son of her dad's friend since she was 15. their wedding date was set for after she graduates yosul at 22.

he left her at the altar. her fiance ditched her for someone else 😔

after that nasty shitshow, and a lot of stuff in between, choa returned to yosul for grad school.

majored in charms and interned at the wizarding bank of korea during grad school.

picked up the bad social drinker habit. thanks dad !

was recommended for a curse-breaker apprenticeship in egypt after grad school, an opportunity she jumped at.

took ~1.5 years to complete her apprenticeship. she came back to seoul and settled there, establishing herself as a freelance and high profile curse-breaker. does jobs for the wizarding bank of korea, pureblood families, foriegn wizarding governments, and the like.

can sometimes be seen at yosul because she's that student that visits her professors regularly and sends them christmas cards

personality

she's very steadfast and loyal

she can be really petty when she wants to be

isn't always the best at expressing her feelings she's emotionally stunted because of daddy issues so she expresses affection physically. she's always giving hugs, touching someone's face, playing with someone's hair etc

she's a happy drunk, always laughing and a little handsy

she's really proud. her pride is probably one of the reasons why she can't have nice things

choa likes to figure things out by herself first before looking to others for help

is prone to putting others before herself. she's probably one of the first to offer emotional support rather than help someone solve the problem.

plots

hyeon mu buddies: choa, despite having her doubts about yosul, absolutely loved her time here and loved all her housemates, underclassmen and upperclassmen alike.

best friends: been together since your first year, had adventures, and got detentions together. you also had the misfortune of having front row seats to choa’s tragic wedding 🤡

reconnecting friends: after choa’s wedding and getting disowned happening all within like 24 hours of each other, choa literally dropped off of the face of the earth. you two meet a few years later, will it be a heartwarming reunion?

she's not looking for one now, but she's down to be someone's mentor. she excelled in charms, ancient runes, and dada. maybe she'll inspire others to take up the cursebreaking career?

drinking buddies. someone needs to be choa's dd, or you both can get hammered and leave the rest to fate tbh

need someone to confide in ? choa's your girl ! she's always been a good listener, and will be there to give you emotional support. but she can't and won't solve that problem for you 😔

sunbae/dongsaeng relations ! choa loves keeping in touch with people from yosul because it validates her need to be a part of something akin to a family. will you be a part of her found family ?

one night stands. the walk of shame, the awkward morning after. she never brings anyone back home to her sparsely furnished apartment. she's the kind of girl that always goes home with someone else.

business relationships! your house needs some new wards? found out that your uncle twice removed had some dark objects you want to sell? choa's your gal. standard rates may apply 👀

exes. choa tried the dating game after her failure of an engagement but things never worked out because she's still thinking about him™️

that's all i got so far aslkjfl my brain cells are fried. i'll add more once inspiration strikes again

#☽▐▒░ reality is a heavy burden:・ﾟ #mm:intro #mm:plotcall

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dlamp-dictator · 5 years

Text

Allen Rambles about Dusk Diver

I finished playing Dusk Diver, a small beat-em-up by JFI Games. I originally played it because it was on sale, I’ve had my eye on it for a few months now, and I needed a break from DMC5 for a bit. And boy do I have some thoughts about it now that I’m done with the game. Namely a bunch of nitpicks, but... we’ll get there in time.

But as always, let’s start with that Synopsis.

Dusk Diver takes place in the Ximending district of Taipei, Taiwan. The story focuses on Yumo Yang, a Taiwanese high school senior that got caught up in a spiritual adventure over her summer vacation. While out with her friend she was randomly pulled into the alternate dimension of phantoms and demons. Before she was about to get killed by one a local loin god protects Yumo by (accidentally) transferring his powers to her. After she fends off the phantoms she decides to help clean her city of phantoms over summer break with the god’s help, along with the help of his eccentric and frugal boss... Boss.

The plot takes off from there as Yumo pummels phantoms, gains allies, brightens up her town, and learns more about why the phantom and human realms are colliding. I gotta’ say, it’s nice to actually write the synopsis without having to either look at wiki article or outright copy it. This game is very simple for both good and ill.

So... what do I think of this game?

Well, unlike Assassins Pride I’ll be going over the bad first and then try to end on a high note, since for all my issues and nitpicks I did enjoy this game very much.

With that said, let’s start with...

The Bad

The Localization

So the localization is very similar to Under Night In-Birth Late[st] in that it feels very unfinished. When I talked about Under Night’s localization I was a little too harsh on it for my current liking and I’ll use Dusk Diver to explain myself a bit better.

Dusk Diver’s localization isn’t bad. I played this game listening to the Taiwanese dub and nothing sounded too off, but the script, the actual words on the screen, were rife with spelling and grammar errors, inconsistent terminology, and even moments where you could read the actual code of the game in the text. This the translation was either rushed, or it didn’t have enough time to really finish it, which makes it feel really sloppy. The said thing is that this game does have a rather charming script despite this, but reading all those errors and trying to correct them in your head can be... annoying.

The RPG Elements

So... this game is a beat-em-up that revolves around doing large combos and keeping up a hit counter to get higher drops of health, SP, TP, and other resources. The main goal of combat is to get combos going, collect SP and TP, and use those to do more damage to the enemies.

So why is there an RPG level up system in this game?

I still have a lot of DMC5′s mechanics ingrained in me, so forgive me if this sounds pushy, but in most hack-and-slash/beat-em-up style games tacking on an RPG-style upgrade system only slows down the overall gameplay.

Let me explain. Every time you complete a level for the first time you gain skill points. You use those points to improve your HP, SP, attack, etc.. This doesn’t feel good to do for this style of gameplay. In most beat-em-ups/hack-and-slash games skill points and similar currency are typically used for new moves or special abilities. DMC5′s red orbs are for new moves, Nero’s devil arms, and a limited amount of health and devil trigger increases. Senran Kagura uses its currency for costumes, accessories, and music, with the mere act of leveling up giving you higher bases automatically and more moves when you reach a certain level that proves you’re familiar enough with your current moveset to expand it. Solely making the numbers of damage and health go up doesn’t make you feel more powerful, it makes you feel like you can just handle the enemies that have gotten a lot more health and do a lot more damage for no reason other than slowing down the gameplay. I’ll save my recommendations for later, but the quick version is that the skill points should be used for more moves, more SP, and Drive duration only, as health and attack feel really arbitrary points to tack on for this style of gameplay.

The Platform/Alternate Gameplay Modes

Not often and namely during side missions for the Boss, but sometimes you have to do platforming segments and reach a certain point on the map and defeat some enemies.

They’re terrible.

Much like Devil May Cry, movement, jumping, and generally getting around feels fine save for me wishing Yumo’s run speed a bit faster. However, precise jumping and general platforming just don’t work. I don’t believe there’s a drop shadow in this game, the jumping itself has much different momentum when trying to maneuver in the air, making some moving platforms a pain to reach, and while the platforms themselves are rather large, the moving platforms go too slow compared to a lot of the fast-paced combat, making it a painstaking wait to get to the next fight.

Again, like DMC, this most platform this game should have is fighting on rooftops. In fact, I believe in the second or third mission you did have to traverse rooftops and it was actually pretty fun. Like I said, the platforms are usually wide enough that even with the wonky jumping it’s not a pain and getting to a higher point on the map and seeing the overall scenery is... nice.

It’s just when you want me to pull off jumps like this is a Mario game is when things get dicey.

But those are all the big issues down, or at least my top three so...

Smaller Issues that Bug Allen

Like I said, I have more nitpicks than actual problems with this game. The game itself is a fine 10-15 hour experience, but there are several smaller issues that just pile up as you play it. It shouldn’t take you out of the game, but they did frustrate me a little. With that said though:

The minimap needs an ability to mark sidequests, it’ll make for a lot less backtracking and random pausing to look at the map and see where I need to go. I understand that this game is a more or less faithful for recreation of the Ximending district, but for non-locals playing this game like me finding locations is rather difficult.

Since this game has visual novel styled cutscenes it’d be nice to have a log button to backtrack conversations just in case you skim over some important dialogue.

On that note, an option to control the speed of the text would be great as well, as I didn’t see one in there initially.

Cutscene Skip Button. It’s annoying to do the hard mode of these stages and having replay cutscenes I’ve already seen. Especially when I’m just hunting for Dragon Vein Shards.

Dragon Vein Shards should be tied solely to upgrades, as using them for plot advancement only adds to the grind... or so I would say if not for me have twice as many of the shards needed for progression every time. Again, I’ll go more in depth when I talk about my desires in a sequel, but for now I’ll just say these items should either be for leveling up or as a sort of collectible.

I’d like the rank system to be more like DMC, tying clear time, damage taken, max combo, and things like all together so that the end goal isn’t just to speedrun a stage for the S-rank.

Can the menu option be mapped to the triangle button like every other game? It kept throwing me off when I tried to pull up the map.

There doesn’t need to be a small cinematic when you do certain guardian attacks. It locks Yumo in place and has a real high chance to miss its target save for bosses.

It’d be best to map items to the buttons instead of the d-pad, as it kept tripping me up when I was trying to heal.

I think that’s it for the major nitpicks, so let’s move onto the the good stuff.

The Good

Story and Theme

The story of Dusk Diver is simple, but effective. You go around saving the district by fighting monsters, you see how those monsters effect the district in each arc, and you solve the problem, usually getting an ally along the way. The few people that are aware of your secret job as a magical martial arts girl, usually the elderly or spiritually attuned, are very supportive toward Yumo.

The game has an overall light, encouraging tone. It wants you to love the city as much as Yumo and Leo do, and it works. All of your side missions have you help out the locals in some way and you gain increased power for the super mode. You work at a convenience store, you partner with the local gods and guardians. Everything you do reinforces the idea of protect, preserving, and understand the town you live in. Yumo gets bonus dragon shard veins by frequently eating at local restaurants and becoming a regular. You help tourists out finding places to visit. You help an elderly man by taking photos of his old stomping grounds and he reminisces on what those old buildings were originally for. You help a coffee shop for free drinks. The list goes on, but a lot of the game reinforces this theme of community and loving the town do so much in. This is a very comfy game despite all the action of bashing demons and phantoms.

Characters

While simple, Yumo as a character is a very cheery girl that just wants to help others. She’s a bit annoyed at being forced to help at first, but she is someone that’s helpful at heart. And seeing her want to protect her friends and town is genuinely heartwarming.

Plus, I really like her design. I’ve always been a fan of simple street clothes, and black with yellow highlights will always sell me on a character.

Your guardians are pretty fun too. Leo’s knowledge of the city and desire to help others really gives him a cool grandpa vibe. Bahet’s a quiet and encouraging guy with a noble background despite his punk fashion. Le Viada is a model with a complex around her age and big sister mentality, the list goes on. Again, these characters are simple, but effective.

Gameplay

While I did have my nitpicks, the gameplay is solid beat-em-up action. Light and heavy attacks with the occasional use of the the guardians. And each guardian has a special ability with their damage. Leo can do massive damage to enemy shields, getting rid of them in one or two shots with his more powerful moves. Bahet can slowly chip away at an enemy with his scythe’s poison effect. Le Viada’s guns can outright ignore enemy armor and punch through it, as well as lay down traps, and... there’s a fourth guardian for when you beat the game. I won’t spoil it, but they’re basically a turret that stays in one place while you summor your other guardians, making her unique as you can’t usually summon two guardians at a time. And like I said before, aiming and lining up certain attacks can be a bit unwieldy since some moves playcinematics that lock you in place, but it’s overall fun. Racking up combos, using big AoE moves, it all feels great.

And with all of that out of the way.

Wishes for the Future

Much like in my Fire Emblem rambling I don’t like the idea of correcting a story or game that’s already been finished, but I find no issue with discussing what I want for the future. And I really thing this game can have a sequel. The game states that Yumo isn’t the first person in recent time with latent spiritual powers, or that this is the first time that the phantom and human realms became loose. And hell, Yumo is still someone that wants to protect her town, so it’d be easy to make a game in another area of Taipei that’s gone out of whack, or even give the reins to someone else. And I do want a sequel.

Like I said, my main issue with this game are some nitpicks that could honestly be fixed with a patch or a two-month delay. If this game sold well enough to get a sequel I’d buy it.

That said, here are a few things I’d like to see in that hypothetical sequel. Such as...

Rankings

A lot of these are going to be taking a page from DMC since I was taking a break from DMC5 to play this, but the ranks shouldn’t be tied solely to clear time. That just makes people speedrun the stage and miss Dragon Veins. Having rank linked to time, combos, hits taken, and so on would give you some breathing room when you try and explore a stage, as you wouldn’t be punished for being curious. You’d still need to be quick, but you won’t be completely screwed either.

Leveling Up

Leveling up give you skill points that you can stick into your health, SP, attack, super mode duration, just dodge duration, luck, and moves. This game shouldn’t give attack or health for skill points. This is just my belief with design, but beat-em-ups shouldn’t just jack up the health of normal enemies as you get stronger, instead just giving us tougher enemies with different patterns of attack. The game already does this with some success, so those slots that increase health and attack seem pointless. You get skill points when you complete a stage for the first time, or find dragon vein shards. This... really puts a lot of pressure on the kinds of skills you upgrade, and while I’m not against that it does make this very light-hearted oddly restricting as you debate what to upgrade. I’d recommend using those dragon vein shards solely to level up instead of for story progression as well. With each upgrade costing more and more dragon veins as you increase your stats. In this first game you can collect over 150 dragon veins. You only need 50 to complete the story mode, and I had about 75 by the time I reached the final mission.

I know some people struggled to grab them, but... I didn’t, so... maybe have the veins do something else than gate story progression.

Post Game Activities

If we are going to have a post game to finish up some side quests for 100%, then we might as well have some extra things to do too.

Oh right, I never mentioned that yet.

Yeah, once you beat the game you’re essentially in a free-run mode to finish some leftover side quests and do a few extra things you might have missed, but... I finished all the side quests before the final story, so I was left with just finishing some hard-mode missions and finishing up my upgrade tree. That said, if there is going to be a post game here’s a few ideas:

Survival Mode where you fight waves of enemies. Some akin to a Bloody Palace Mode where you can compete for a high score among friends and online.

Post Game dungeons that are hard as hell, this could be DLC if you wanted as I wouldn’t mind paying for more content like this.

Extra moves/skills. Yumo’s moveset is rather small compared to DMC and Senran Kagura. If we’re going to have just one character to play as then I’d rather have a complex character that takes awhile to learn than an easy one where I’m spamming the same moves over and over... or give us more characters to play as with equally simple movesets.

That’s really it. The game overall is fun with it’s only real flaw being a rather short game for 35 bucks. Like I said, either some DLC or a sequel would make me feel better about recommend this one, but if you want a fun, short beat-em-up game then this is out on steam, PS4, and the Switch. Feel free to get... though I’d recommend waiting for a sale.

In any case, back to DMC5 for me.

#your dictator is speaking #dusk diver

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