#i hateon the things i love.

[necro-hamster]

anyways i do enjoy cyberpunk. btw

[dyrewrites]

Now for something -almost- completely different! (also vampires, otherwise new)

[if you're digging because of Before Deluca, this is wrong now...but it is where it started]

“What were you like then, tell me a story about the great detective in his prime.”

“I was not a detective in my prime, flower…and you do not want those stories.”

“You were turned by an ubervamp centuries ago that's got such a hateon for you he's murdering his way through Europe about it and you're telling me I don't want that story?”

“Yes, I am. I was a different creature then, a vile thing not even fit to haunt the memories of those it destroyed.”

“Then don't tell me those bits, tell me about Lucient. Was it love, your first love?”

“No, and yes…and I maintain that you do not want this story.”

“Tell me anyway.”

“You truly want the particulars of your dear old dad’s wild nights ravishing another man while bathed in the blood and viscera of our prey?”

“... that a trick question?”

“Very well, flower. Our story began then as I begin now, on a warm summer evening, at the dawn of a new year…”

—

1700 held promise for my hometown—a tiny seaside port on the tip of Calabria—we had seen some fame and a great deal of loss and were running headlong into a fresh year with a fresh century on top.

And I, well, I was pensive, cautious, perhaps even cynical while I stood gazing at the moonlit sea. My family were silk traders primarily but we were vendors, not ferrymen. I had grown up around ships, watched them come and go and marveled at all the colorful folk who sailed them. Yet I never set foot on a ship myself.

Not until that evening…and soon after I would forget the safety and comfort of solid ground.

Ethereal, his beauty, there exists no other word. He glowed in the light, his near pearlescent skin a mesmerizing contrast to the bronze complexions I was accustomed to. Nevermind the litheness of his figure, the feline grace in every twist and curve as he walked the dock.

I couldn't look away.

Then he caught me staring, admiring, lusting.

It was later he admitted to following me to the docks, that I caught his eye in the square as the sun set and he had to meet me—taste me. But he had to be certain, had to know if I…desired the attention of men.

“Dad, tell me you didn't hop into bed with this man on the first night.”

“Do you want this story, flower?”

“I asked for it, didn't I?”

“Then refrain from interrupting, if you can.”

“Fine, but if this is going where I think it is…”

“It is, and it isn't. Patience.”

We spoke at length that night, first by the docks, lit by glimmering moonlight and then in the candle-warm glow of his ship’s cabin. Clothed, both of us, though decidedly less than we began—our stations required fashion of many layers.

I do not recall falling asleep yet I began the new year beside him at midday, groggy and weak. Later, when more was shared, he would tell me he fed on me in the throes of passion. A passion I had no recollection of. Not even a kiss could be found in my memory.

But I didn't care. Not that day, not after that night, not with the heady syrup of his voice echoing through every fiber of me.

Father was furious when I came home, too late to start the day, behaving inebriated despite the lack of drink. I slept through much of the day, tossing and turning to the sounds of my parents arguing.

Lucient came to call at sunset, at my front door. Such charm, such cunning he displayed with my parents. They all but sold me to him before he left, before we left. To begin my new life as a sailor on a merchant ship.

On Lucient’s merchant ship, the Lune Royal, his precious Regal Moon.

“So, what, he fell in lust with you and invited you onboard the next day to be his juicebox?”

“As he put it, I enchanted him, made him feel alive and he wanted me close.”

“But you guys didn't do anything that first night?”

“To my recollection, no. He said we kissed, he became impassioned and fed on me…nothing more.”

“And you believed him?”

“Then? Yes. After another forgotten evening, however, I began to doubt…”

I woke in our cabin clothed in naught but a sheet. Lucient stood before a mirror and I watched as he studied the empty space that should have been his reflection. I hadn't noticed its lack prior, but when I did I gasped.

And in that escape of breath he was by my side, cool hand on my cheek.

Does it frighten you, my sweet, to learn I am not as you, not breathing, not warm, not alive—do I?

I said nothing. His eyes shined as bright as moonlight, even in the dim of the curtained cabin. Too bright to see beyond, to find answers in. So I found his lips instead, then the cool sweetness of his skin.

He navigated mine too easily for it to have been the first I felt it was, but I didn't question it then. Didn't care then, I fell to sensation, to longing, to the ache he'd fed in me—to him.

With that act, that unspoken acknowledgement and acceptance of what he was, I became his.

[silvermuffins]

I think one of my favorite things about pokemon is that every single one of them is SOMEONE'S favorite. Like yeah everyone loves legendaries, and everyone loves the powerful ones like Dragonite, or the hyped up powerhouses like Lucario or Gardevoir or Mimikyu, and there's oodles of love for funky little guys like Falinks, and incredible popularity for the photogenic ones like Snom. There's the weirder picks, like Tropius is absolutely stunning, and Dragalge is living its best life. There's runner-ups, like Dunsparce who I think got a Fandom specifically for just sitting there in the pokedex, being weird? Or Vanilluxe, who got so much hate on release but I think has a lot of defenders now specifically due to having so much hateon release.

But then there's just, the random-ass creachers most people forget about. Like, you know there's someone out there who loves Stantler with all their heart and was completely over the moon about Wyedeer. Every pokemon is Somebody's favorite, their special little guy, their best friend. And that love is always valid and that's delightful.

[fanfoolishness]

Mass Effect: Andromeda - my review

Well it only took me about 75 hours, but I got there. Full spoilers.

Overall, I enjoyed it.  However, it never quite suckerpunched me the way the previous trilogy did.  It was fun and interesting, but overall, something didn’t quite click.  I think if I had to boil it down to a single letter, I’d go with B.  But it’s easier for me to review individual components than it is to review the game as a whole, so here we go:

Characters

One of the most important parts of any ME games, there were times I loved individual characters, and yet times I was bored or unimpressed with them.  With all the talk about tons of dialogue I thought there’d be, you know, tons of dialogue; but when you’ve only completed 75% of the game I’d expect there to still be new dialogue with your squaddies on ship, but I haven’t had any new conversations with anyone for about 20 hours.  Banter in the Nomad still works, thankfully, but that’s about it.  

I liked almost all of my squaddies, but to varying degrees.  Even Cora I liked when she wasn’t going on about being a wannabe asari; when she focused her conversations on the future or gardening or gaining insight on herself then I quite liked her.  Drack was tough; I liked his general vibe, but he was also extremely Wrexlike, which was disappointing.  I’d rather he have been fully his own character.  I really liked getting to know some of the krogan on Elaaden who were gardeners, though.

Liam’s passion was really refreshing, not to mention his easygoing humor.  Vetra was sweet and alternately a total badass and a big cream puff (remind you of any other turians you know)?  I loved how unconventional Peebee was, a much more tomboyish asari than we’re used to seeing.  Jaal was hard for me to get used to at first, given he was so prickly initially, but he was one of my favorites by the end.

Kallo was my favorite shipmate.  His gossip about the rest of the crew is great.  I enjoyed my philosophical debates with Suvi and the one time I flirted with her she was adorable.  Lexi was cool and professional and I would have liked to see more of her struggles as a doctor, being one myself.  Gil was the only person I just didn’t click with at all.  He struck me as arrogant and while he was clearly a victim of bad/bizarre/LGBT-clueless writing, if he’d been a real person settling down with a straight woman I’d have had a lot more to say than “oh, do you think you’re ready for that?”

Writing

Sadly, the reviews about poor writing weren’t out of left field.  Most of the time I didn’t notice any problems, but I also didn’t notice much in the way of standout jokes or heartbreaking moments.  The general plot… so why, again, does the Archon carry such a hateon for everyone else?  There were a lot of threads I wanted to see followed up but never went anywhere:

The kett ascendency center: we saw kett being trained and taught, datapads giving hints to their actual culture, and then never saw any of that again except for one cutscene where the Archon’s… advisor? tells him the council or whatever thinks he’s making a mistake.  No further information on kett culture.  Were they another created race made by the Jardaan?  Did they rebel?  Did they work with someone who created the Scourge back in the day?  Nobody knows!

SAM: I was really hoping that SAM would be able to fight back against the Archon somewhat and make it clear he wasn’t just a Remnant-hacking program, but his own person or self.  They completely missed that opportunity.  They still could have had the Archon take control but it would have been really powerful to see SAM verbally defying him.

Angaran creation and exaltation: they seem to be taking this really, really well.  No riots?  No mass depression?  Just a couple forums on Aya. Plus with that business about reincarnation being partially possible for them, none of their scientists seemed to connect that to being made... could have been an interesting angle.

Drack’s quest: for some reason there were so many damn pieces to his quest in particular that I utterly forgot what I was doing not once but several times, as there were so many planets it was spread out over and it took me a long time to even reach Elaaden.  Not so much a thread that didn’t get followed up on, but one I couldn’t keep the thread on.

Standout Quests

That said, there were some moments that were genuinely great.

The first steps on any new world

Running from the first purification field

Going onto the shadowed Nexus for the first time and seeing TALL turians and salarians!  and learning things had gone so wrong

Every ark mission – spooky, sad (ahhh turians no), scary!  They were each immensely satisfying.

The loyalty missions!  Liam’s was damn hilarious, Vetra’s showed her vulnerable side, Peebee’s let us jump around in lava and put down her abusive ex-girlfriend (come on, Peebee, THAT’S why I shot her – she had no qualms stalking and trying to kill you!!! she was an abuser through and through  and couldn’t let you go!), Drack’s was great mostly for meeting young Vorn and his smelly sweet potato, Cora’s had the urgency of saving the asari ark, and Jaal’s really got me going when I thought his sister had killed his brother.

The post-loyalty mission wrap-ups: Jaal’s was the best and most tender, but I also loved the bar fight with Drack and planting flowers with Cora.

All main story quests were generally exhilarating or surprising.  When the Archon hit my Ryder with the headache to end all headaches and went after my twin I was yelling at the screen – always a good sign of how engaged I am.

The anti-AI hackers – definitely felt like a classic ME quest and I wanted to help Alain so badly.  Fuck off, Overlord.

Saving the yevara from poachers!  Those things are beautiful.  I think.

Catching a new space hamster

MOVIE NIGHT, it ended up being totally worth all the obnoxious fetch quests that preceded it

The Nexus bad guy being named WILLIAM SPENDER (seriously they had to have been X-Files fans)

THE QUARIANS ARE COMING SOON PLZ 

Gameplay

Loved: JUMPJET, Nomad, the versatility of different profiles and specializations, Sidewinder pistol, Falcon grenade launcher, and of course my beloved Black Widow; exploring different planets; BANTER IN THE NOMAD

Hated: too… many… fetch quests………. drowning….

Romance

Definitely disappointing.  I feel like I got 5-7 flirts with Vetra, then after her loyalty quest she asked “is this real?” and I’m like “…is WHAT real, it’s not like we’ve started dating or anything!” but we kissed and I was like “Oh yay, romance is triggered!”  Well, I had a grand total of 1 squadmate say anything about it (Drack), a few extra lines of dialogue, and 2 additional cut scenes with 0 naked turians.  I didn’t even get a greeting that changed in the Tempest, she called me Sara on Aya (my Ryder’s name is Zelda), and there are no “let’s go make out” dialogue options.  I couldn’t even talk to Sid anymore after the loyalty quest so didn’t get any teasing or additional dialogue there.

If I do another playthrough I’ll try Jaal and see how it goes, but my FEELS levels are definitely lower than with other Bioware games.

Multiplayer

Yeah, this is actually fun.  I am having a blast playing as a krogan.  I just unlocked an angaran so I might level her up over the next couple weeks too.

Overall

Did I like this game?  Yes, yes I did.

Did I LOVE AND ADORE this game?  No, not quite.  Close – but not quite.