#i'm trying to think which card i enjoyed translating the most and i think either vyn's RRG or neon melody?

[vynegar]

tbh tho, after this card is done, i’m def ready to take a break from translating similar cards again lol

[mirikitakato]

[TRANSLATION] OWEN 4TH ANNIVERSARY SSR CARD STORY “TOGETHER IN A WORLD ADRIFT” AND CARD EPISODE “OWEN AND THE DOOR OF DAYS BYGONE…”

Owen, I feel like you can't stop mentioning Cain in everything you say lol I love it though

Characters: Owen, Akira (mentioning Cain)

Episode 1: A Sweet and Salty Moment.

Owen: Ha. It's been quite a while since I last had such a dull mission...

Owen: It's not merely a bit dull; it's being exaggerated to an extreme extent. You can just ignore it, you know?

The mission assigned to the Northern wizards that day was a result of the Great Calamity's influence, leading to a house cat turning aggressive.

Akira: It was utter chaos.

Owen helped a bunch by talking to the cat and calming it down.

Owen: Those guys are useless, I have no choice but to talk to it.

Owen: Well...the twins tried their best to act like super cute kids, but they were thoroughly disliked, Mithra and Bradley even got threatened by the cat. That was genuinely amusing and fun to watch.

Akira: Ahaha...Once the mission was over, everyone immediately disbanded.

Akira: I wished we could have gone to the shop together. You all came all the way here, but I couldn't offer anything as an apology. I'm truly sorry.

Owen: Doesn't matter. Besides, you don't get rewarded for being the first to run away.

Owen: Instead of that, don't you think you owe me for this mission? Take me to that store quickly.

Akira: Of course! Let me treat you as a token of appreciation.

Akira: That café is recommended by Cain. The decor is very stylish, and the atmosphere is great.

Owen: Heh...Is there a sweet treat that looks like someone's brain has melted and blended into a gooey, sugary snack?

Akira: Pr-probably...? The menu of that shop is very rich, and their most famous item is the baked sea salt cake.

Owen: Salt…? Cake with salt?

Akira: Yes! The salty-sweet combination is addictive.

Akira: You should give it a try...It should be nearby, I'll lead the way.

Owen: Hey... we've been walking for quite a while. Are we there yet?

Akira: Huh? That's odd...

Ten more minutes passed as we continued our search, but the desired café with its blue roof and round sign remained elusive.

Akira: With its blue roof and round sign, it should be easily recognizable...

Owen: ....

Episode 2: A Sweet and Salty Moment.

Akira: Owen, sorry for making you wander around like this. Are you tired...?

Owen: ...Not really.

I thought he'd be in a bad mood since I got him lost, but surprisingly, he wasn't unhappy, which confused me.

Owen: But, I'm thirsty. So, just continue looking for that store alone. Call me if you find it.

Akira: Eh? Ah, Owen!

Owen: Blue roof and round sign…

Owen: (I guess it's this one…)

Owen: ....

Owen: (I can see them clearly from the window seat. That person is still searching for this store in a daze.)

Owen: Amusing. Sir Sage doesn't have a clue that a camouflage spell has been cast on them, and they're still wandering around the same place over and over...

Owen: Haha... Let's just sit back and enjoy the spectacle for a bit.

Owen: (Although they occasionally gets angry, that person is surprisingly tough and won’t break easily. A very good toy indeed.)

Owen: ...Now you mention it, they said the sea salt cake in this store was delicious.

Owen: (Salty cake, but I doubt it's yummy...)

Owen:....

Owen: Oh well, just one bite.

Akira: This path isn't right either...ugh, so confusing.

I tilted my head in confusion and looked at the map in my hand. Still couldn't find the destination, I sighed countless times.

Akira: (It feels like I have been wandering in the same place since the beginning. I don’t even know where Owen went...)

While thinking this, I looked around again and turned the corner of a certain building, then...

Akira: Ah.........I found it!

A store with a blue roof and a round sign. The exquisite and lovely decoration is exactly the same as when I visited before.

Akira: Owen, Owen. I found the shop!

Akira: (He said to call him if I find it. Guess he didn’t go far...)

Akira: Ah...

Seated by the window in the café, Owen rested his chin on his hands, casting a look as if he was watching a show.

A sense of déjà vu washed over me; it felt like I had witnessed this scene before.

Episode 3: A Sweet and Salty Moment.

Akira: Owen!

Except for Owen, who was sitting alone by the window, there were no other customers in the shop. He slowly blinked his different-colored pupils, before casually directing his gaze toward me.

Akira: Great, you got here first. I have no idea why I've been lost for so long...

Owen: I know. I have been watching.

Akira: Eh? Have you been watching me? Since when…?

Owen: Right from the beginning, I used a camouflage spell on you to prevent you from seeing the shop and made you roam in circles, all while observing your bewildered expression.

Akira: So that's why!? When did you cast that kind of magic...?

Owen: Who knows. Thanks to this, I can see your embarrassed and stupid look.

I sighed, wiped sweat off my forehead, and saw Owen happily lift the corners of his mouth. His eyes, concealing their true meaning, formed a curve. It brought back the familiar sensation from when our eyes met outside the store.

Akira: (Speaking of which, when I first met Owen, I was searching for him too... I glanced up, and there he was, staring at me in the same way.)

Akira: (Gazing into those different-colored eyes that seemingly smiling, left a profound impression...)

Remembering the purple sunset on the castle balcony and the enchantingly eerie purple clouds from our initial conversation, I suddenly felt nostalgic.

Akira: (Reminiscing about our first encounter and now sharing afternoon tea like this...it makes me so happy...)

Owen: What's wrong with you? Why are you still laughing when I've obviously made you walk around in vain?

Akira: Ah, no! It's nothing...Oh, Owen. Is this the salty cake?

There sat a small round cake in front of Owen, with some of its white cream already devoured.

Akira: You ordered it! How do you like it? In my world, this kind of dessert is quite popular.

Owen: Yeah. A salty cake, I don't know how to describe it...

Lifting up his chin, Owen thrust the fork into the cake in one swift motion. He then slowly brought the forked piece to his mouth.

Owen: ...But it's not bad.

Licking the cream from the corner of his mouth with the tip of his tongue, Owen tilted his head slightly and shook his fork.

Akira: (Although there are times he is inconsistent and difficult to get along with, but I can feel that we are getting closer little by little.)

Akira: (It would be great if I could share more and more things with Owen like this.)

Owen: Huh?

Owen slowly raised his eyelids. Then, with a somewhat mocking look, he gently pointed the tip of the fork at me.

Owen: You can try it. But if it doesn't suit your taste, don't blame me.

This movement, along with the slightly narrowed eyes behind the brim of the hat, seemed a bit different from when we first met.

Card Episode: Owen And The Door Of Days Bygone...

Akira: I heard that on the shores of Borda Isle, there is a door that allows you to see the past.

Akira: Speaking of the past, when I first came to this world, I still had a lot of uneasiness in my heart. Once I recall a certain memory, I feel at ease.

Owen: A certain memory?

Akira: Yes. The memory of a trusted adult reading a book to me as a child.

Owen: Hmm, sounds dreadfully boring.

Akira: B-boring...

Owen: It suits you, though.

Akira: How do you usually comfort yourself when feeling lonely?

Owen: Think of you.

Akira: Eh...

Owen: I think of...

Owen: Your scream as a gigantic dog almost gnawed you to bits and your teary face when abandoned all alone...

Akira: Ple-please stop talking.

Owen: Don't like it?

Akira: I don't. If you suddenly decide to act on those thoughts, I'd be in deep trouble.

Owen: Exactly the kind of thing I'd do.

Akira: Is there nothing else? Ways to comfort loneliness…

Owen: Who knows. I've never known loneliness or anything of the sort.

Owen: If you don't want to feel lonely, why not just be with others?

Akira: Do you mean making friends?

Owen: Of course not. I mean toying with people for my amusement.

Owen: Because there are plenty of humans and weak wizards that can be treated like playthings.

Owen: Threaten them, watch them squirm in terror, and you won't be bored anymore.

Akira: That's too extreme...Have you really done that to someone?

Owen: Of course I have.

Akira: Who...

Owen: The owner of this eyeball.

Akira: Ah...

Akira: …But, you two are friends now, right?

Owen: As if!

Akira: But if you can begrudgingly become friends despite all this...

Owen: I said no. We won't be friends. Are you stupid?

Owen: I've always done things that Sir Knight hates. Same goes for you.

Akira: Eh...?

Owen: I only do nasty things to you. I won't do anything good in the future either.

Owen: Whether I'm alone or you're alone, what you said just now was incredibly stupid.

Owen: Can't believe you said that having someone read a book to you can alleviate your loneliness.

Akira: Ah…No. I mean it's a memory that can comfort…

Owen: Same difference.

Owen: Even without an adult reading to you, you'd still find comfort in an imaginary character within a book, right?

Akira: Eh?

Owen: ...Incredibly boring.

[animelover20]

🎶✨when u get this, list 5 songs u like to listen to, publish. then, send this ask to 10 of your favorite followers (positivity is cool)🎶✨ !

Oooh now this is the shit I like seeing at 6 in the morning😃 thank you, I actually really like talking about my taste in music. Sorry if I ramble on a bit too much than what you were expecting tho I'm just really excited.

I'm guessing these don't have to be in any specific order so they ain't. Btw artist names are in bold because it looked too confusing otherwise.

Most of these are either gonna be metal,loud as fuck/chaotic, just weird or sometimes even a mix of all of those.

1. Hand me my shovel I'm going in! - will wood and the tapeworms. It's fun as fuck plus the songs been theorised to be about mental health and how the person singing isn't 'sick' enough to get help. (Which is backed by a few lyrics especially "so I bookmark my DSM cause I need you to remember my place".) It's such a cool and fun song because of how chaotic it is and will wood and the tapeworms are one of my favourite bands overall so don't be surprised if they appear a few times😁

2. Death - Æther realm. You've probably never heard of it but it's really cool. You won't like it if your not a fan of death since that's the whole song. Essential made an album based off tarot cards which is such a cool concept(I love tarot btw) but I've only listened to this one so far. Anyway onto the meaning. It's an extremely positive song about death and it actually applies to a lot of my beliefs on death aswell. Instead of describing death as this horrible thing it's so much more peaceful. With a few lyrics being("if I had another chance to live I think id rather be dead" and the one that follows every chorus being "if this is really death then it's not so bad.")I really hate death being seen as a negative thing because frankly it isn't. It's a comforting concept. at the end of the day,no matter what you do,no matter how you live, death is going to come for you. And you know what that's ok. It's one of my favourite songs for this reason. And I know not everyone will agree with me but that's fine.

3. Per Aspera ad inferi - Ghost. I will just quickly mention, they are a satanist band,if you're not into that then ya know don't be mean,their songs go hard lmao. Anyway i am not apart of their religion but I respect it. Anyway the name is essentially a play on the Latin phrase 'through hardship to the stars' or Per Aspera astra.' (rough translation btw) whereas the song name instead translates to 'through hardships to hell.' which is so fucking cool. It's catchy as fuck song and I find it getting stuck in my head a lot.

4. Necromancin Dancin - Bear Ghost. It's just a really fun song,chaotic as fukc too. Plus the thought of people just being revived just to start dancin is really funnym. Added bonus that is song is in my doffy playlist (because of the whole controlling people I thought why not be able to do it to corpses aswell😃) it's actually the only song so far to be apart of said playlist but that may change as I go. I don't know if this song has any specific meaning either then necromancer making people dance. But it's pretty good.

5. Take me back to Eden - sleep token. Ok so I've been making this list up as I went which is why I said in 4 that there might be another song from my playlist and what I said could change and it did. This song is in my doffy playlist and it's actually the song that inspired the playlist in the first place so,hats off to it. Anyway yay metal. Loud, amazing vocals and metal? What more could you ask for. It's mostly been attributed to doffy because of the whole theme of being thrown out of this holy place and desperately trying to get back which...(If you know you know.) I fucking love this song so much and I am genuinely out of words to describe it.

And that's about it I think I'm happy with this. Anyway again thank you for making my morning and giving me something to do that I actually really enjoy. Sorry if this is a ramble I just really like music.

I hope you have a great day/night❤️

[meimi-haneoka]

I honestly have so many feelings after reading the latest chapter. The characters have all grown so much, and they've really been showing their maturity and growth in handling situations (cough Kaito finally came to his senses) Especially Sakura, who I've grown up with in a way too! From the original series till now, finding it really lovely how she can be genuinely happy for Akiho and Kaito, and their decision to travel (comparing to how she reacted when both Eriol and Syaoran were moving away at the end of the salira card arc) and Kaito. Dear Kaito. He finally came to his senses and apologised. Really glad there was no translation errors for the apology, or I would have been MAD. Haha. Anyway, thank you again for the translation post! After reading it and the latest chapter I had a couple questions.

1. What's the price yukito paid? I dont recall it ever being discussed. He mentioned that it was a secret to Sakura and that's that.

2. In chap 42, (parents day) when Syaoran and Kaito fought, Kaito mentioned something about the future that was divined coming to pass. Did we ever get an explanation for that line?

I think overall they tied up the story so well. It's a very sweet ending for them, but definitely a little sad that they decided to travel (though I understand their reasons) I hope that the extra chaper(?) They show us snippets their new life :)

Side note: I was looking back at the clear cards, and realized that the "dreaming card" is actually named "yumemi" as you mentioned in one of your translation posts. And the MCF eventually turned out to be Lillie!! A powerful yumemi. I like how they added this little detail to uncover!!

Hiii, so glad to receive your ask!!! I'm glad to see you've read the final chapter and were quite satisfied with it! I also really enjoyed observing Sakura's growth along the way, it was amazing. When you're in the middle of it, it feels like she's stuck, she's manipulated by everyone (not only Kaito) because everyone is hiding things from her, but most importantly, she doesn't look like she's really trusting her magic capabilities in the beginning and she's quite "lukewarm" about all of it.

And that was exactly the point.

I will have the opportunity to explore this better in one of my posts because I feel like it's a very important matter that needs to be addressed, but I can already say here that the gradual shift from "maybe it's better to not use the key at all" to "I have dreams, I have strange feelings but it's surely all in my head" to "I will try to follow Syaoran's advice and listen to my intuition more" to "I believe in my power and I will decide what to do now" was really amazing to witness. I feel like it's possible to see it more clearly if you re-read the story all at once. Also, Akiho and Kaito's story was absolutely *pivotal* to her emotional growth too, because someone like her, grown up in the blessing of a loving family and surrounded by kind people, touched for the first time what it means to grow up NOT having those things. Her empathy was the absolute protagonist, in this arc, which made her befriend Akiho almost immediately, as if she could feel that the girl needed friendship desperately. But it's also what made her understand the situation and try all of her best efforts to bring Kaito back for her and make both of them happy. She did also a good job at being more assertive with her loved ones, deciding what to do by herself.

Let's go answering to your questions!

1- Hahaha, EVERYONE is asking about that! No, it wasn't revealed! Either they want to keep this as a fun secret forever, or.....it'll be revealed somewhere else! To be honest, I don't even know if Yukito still got that pact with the Tsukimine Shrine. They absolutely remember about it, but since Kaito had undone that with the rewriting of the world (and Sakura gave her friends only their memories back, she couldn't do much about the discrepancies arised - see Akiho's room) my suspicion is that he's back being his normal self, with no actual contract and no price paid.

2- Not exactly, I think this is one of those things we have to infer by ourselves. Also keep in mind that, if I don't recall incorrectly, that phrasing was from the ENG translation. What I understood from the JP is that Yelan simply had a divination about Sakura, and you know how abstract and vague divinations can be....I choose to believe she only saw that Sakura would be distressed/unhappy by a loss of control over her powers (which is indeed the primary reason why Syaoran did what he did, along with Eriol, he didn't know anything about Kaito coming) and not something more specific. Yeah, I have the same feelings as you, about the YunaAki side of the finale! I really, really hope to see them again somewhere else....And I want to see their new life in the extra chapter, yes!! T_T

Yep, well noted! 😉 the Dreaming Card *really* represented Lilie and not Akiho like Sakura had guessed, the "Yumemi" Japanese name sets it in stone! 😉😆

[seabass17]

All that’s left | Pt. 2

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Fem! Reader

A/n: So, this is... a different reader in comparison from the one in the first part but I kinda like it? Anyway, Im considering making a third part and im thinking it'll contain some smut. I used google translator so please don't judge me. Tell me what you think. Happy reading.

All that's left pt. 1

Warnings: angst, mentions of scars, swearing, implied smut?

Word count: 3.263

Summary: After moving from her life in New York, away from the Avengers and him, she finds happiness and a life that she actually enjoys, but that seems to last little when she spots the familiar jet on the roof of the building she lives in. Is she ready to face them? To face him?

*Three months later*

The warm air surrounding my body made me take a deep breath and unconsciously smile. I was happy, I was free, I was whole. I was with my neighbor drinking coffee in our usual spot, which was a cafe near the main street of the place that I decided was going to become my new home.

“Продолжай рассказывать мне о своем боссе, который сводит тебя с ума” (Keep on telling me about your boss who drives you crazy) Andrei said making me laugh and shake my head.

“Не о чем говорить, он просто засранец, который дает мне слишком много работы и заставляет меня плакать” (Nothing to talk about, he's just an asshole who gives me too much work and makes me want to cry) I laughed. I had met Andrei a week after I moved in and there was an immediate connection. No, it wasn’t in a romantic one, god no, we were just really good friends that had a lot in common.

“Now now, that was not what i saw the other day when i went to pick you up from work” He said with a playful smirk plastered on his light brown face. I gasped, a fake indignant expression on my face while my hand went to my chest. He laughed loudly. “Don’t play that card, I saw you!” he added

“I don’t know what you are talking about” I said, trying to fight the smile that tried to come out but failing miserably, we both laughed.

He and I had become quite close in the little time that we had known each other. He was an American with a Russian name. He explained that his mother was from the states while his father was a russian spy, they fell in love against all odds and eventually, Andrei was brought to this world. When he was fifteen his father died and he and his mom went to America, where he finished high school and surprisingly, entered the military. He did two tours before he decided that he had enough and returned to Russia. Hence why he could speak both Russian and English fluently. As for me, I told him that I was in some sort of organization that worked for the government, and that’s why I knew russian. He believed me, thank God,  I didn’t want to talk about how I was part of the Avengers and why I left. Obviously I will tell him when the time is right and I know that he can be fully trusted.

“Oh, come on Ames, are you going to tell me that you don’t like him one bit? Not in the slightest?” he asked, smiling and I shook my head. He stayed silent for a second and stared at me, like he was considering whether he should ask me something or keep quiet. “Is it because of him?” he finally asked, watching me closely to see my reaction. I felt my stomach twist at the mention of him. Of course it was because of him, because of them, I couldn’t afford getting hurt and betrayed one more time. Andrei didn’t know his name, or theirs for that matter, so I smiled weakly and nodded.

“Yeah, I know it sounds stupid but… I just can’t afford getting hurt, not again, not anymore” I said looking at my hands.

“I understand, believe me I do” he said, his hand reaching out to hold mine. I looked up to find his brown eyes looking for mine, I saw nothing but genuine love -the friendly kind- in them. I smiled and squeezed his hand. He was going to say something but his phone rang; a notification. He withdrew his hand to look at his phone and the moment he did, people around us started getting up and running in the same direction. I looked at him confused to find him frowning at his phone.

“What is it?” i asked.

“The Avengers are here…” He said and my heart skipped a beat and my body went rigid. Andrei noticed. “What 's wrong?”. Well, there’s no use keeping him from the truth anymore.

“So, remember when I told you that I worked for an organization for the government? Okay don’t freak out and hate me but, here it goes” I took a deep breath. “That organization was called The Red Room were they trained me from a very young age to be a perfect cold-blooded killer, years later i escaped and was on the run until i got a new identification, name, address, new everything and then joined the avengers to amend the wrongs I made in the past. To my luck, it didn’t go great because it ended up breaking me the same way The Red Room did, so I left to find a fresh start and came here where I met you. Please don’t hate me” I concluded in one breath. Andrei was silent with a straight face, which was hard to read, and eventually after a few seconds that felt like an eternity and shrugged his shoulders. WHAT THE HELL DOES THAT MEAN.

“Believe it or not, I've heard worse” he simply said

“Worse than finding out that your best friend is a train killer and former avenger?” i asked incredulously and he tilted his head and smirked

“US Agent mother and Russian spy father” He said. I laughed and he followed right after. “So, I'm guessing we are running away?” he asked. Say what now?

“We?” I asked, almost in shock to which he simply nodded, “You don’t think im just gonna let you go like that, please, is not that easy to get rid of me” he snorted. “And I'm supposing Amelia is not your real name either, given the fact that you ran off,” he added. Damn, he is good.

“Y/n, y/n y/l/n” I said and he slowly smiled

“Well y/n, nice to meet you, my name is Andrei Petrova” he said, extending his hand, i repeated his action with the same smile. “I’ve got to say, I like the name y/n more than Amelia '' he added and laughed. We were brought back to the matter at hand when the screaming of the people were getting louder. I snapped my head up and saw the familiar jet on the roof of the building where I was living.

“Here’s what we are going to do, I’m going to my apartment and buy us some time while you go get a car and,” i handed him my card “you are going to get all the money from my bank account. I will meet you in front of the cafe that’s two blocks away from my place”

“Are you going to be okay?” He asked with clear worry in his eyes. I smiled and nodded

“Yes, I promised. Now go” I said before he got up and ran. I sighed and went to my apartment. Was I really going to do this? After months, was I ready to face them, already knowing the truth? Well, guess I'm going to find out.

Once in the building I decided to programmed the lights to go out in 50 minutes and then I went to the elevator, wanting to appear as normal as possible even though I felt like my heart was going to explode from how fast it was beating inside my rib cage. When the elevator stopped at my floor I walked until I was standing in front of my door. I didn’t need to wait and confirm, I knew they knew I was here, now there’s only one thing left to do. But before I did anything, the door creaked open.

*10 hours earlier*

Bucky paced from one side to the other, finding himself incapable of staying put. Natasha sat silently on her chair, Tony was in the front with his head in between his hands, Steve was resting on the side of the wall looking at the floor, Bruce was just standing there holding his chin analyzing everyone in the room. Sam sat on the couch looking through his phone, Vision was sitting next to Wanda on the other couch, while Clint and Thor were sitting on the other chairs. Peter had some school stuff to deal with like the teenager that he was. They’ve been looking for her for the past three months, and about a week ago, a picture was found of someone that looked exactly like her, all except her hair that was a bit shorter and the color was different, but other than that, it was practically her.

Not wanting to get their hopes -or rather enthusiasm- up, they decided to look deeper and found out that the picture was taken a month ago in the city of Magadan located in Russia. They found out that before three months, the name Amelia Agapov, didn’t exist. The more they looked into it, the more they were convinced that it was her.

“The mission report from Agent Carter arrived, should i put it on the screen?” the voice of the AI filled the room. The team had been waiting for that report for days, the nerves of the question that lingered in the air ‘was it her?’ being present for that time only grew stronger as Stark asked FRIDAY to project the report on the screen.

Pictures were shown, most of them were about this woman buying in the market, having coffee with a guy, but there was one, where her face was looking straight into the lens of the camera, and it was that picture that left the people in the room absolutely rigid. It was her.

“We found her…” Tony said in a whisper. Everybody kept their gaze on the picture on the big screen. After months looking for her, they finally had found her. To everyone, it was like someone just discovered something new, a kind of relief and anxiety all at the same time.

“Suit up, we’re going to get her” Steve said to the group, but see, it was the choice of words from Cap that Bucky found unsettling.

“Get her? Like she is some kind of criminal?” he said, looking at his best friend dead in the eye. Steve opened his mouth to say something but Tony beat him to it.

“She was trained by The Red Room to be an assassin, we can expect nothing more from her '' He said, trying to calm Bucky down, but instead it only caused him to get angrier, and not only him.

“So was I” Natasha said, her voice low that could scare anyone to the bone if they weren’t so used to her.

"It's different" Tony said

“How is it different?” Wanda said this time, “It wasn’t when you practically recluded me after I helped Ultron and tried to kill you all” she added.

Tony sighed and looked down, realizing that he might be overreacting.

“Let’s just get suit up and get on with it” Steve said, cutting the rather awkward silence that filled the room.

The avengers were suit up and on the quinjet in less that forty-five minutes, and they were in Madagan in nine hours, it took them an hour to find her building, and once they found it, Clint landed the jet on the roof and they all got out and looked for her apartment. Funny enough, it was the same number as the one she used to live in New York; 108. They waited for what seemed an eternity until they heard footsteps just outside the door. Suddenly, the air felt thick with anticipation, but Bucky couldn’t wait any longer so he crossed the living room in two steps and opened the door. She was standing there. Silence took over the entire apartment until she broke it.

“Well, are you going to move so that I can get inside my goddamn apartment Barnes?” she said expectantly. Bucky realized that he had been staring at her since he opened the door. Her hair was different, more wavy and a shade or two lighter. He moved to the side and she was able to see the rest of the team. This was going to be one hell of an evening.

Breathe. In… and out…

It was hard. Fuck. Okay i can do this.

“Well isn’t this nice. All the team back together again!” I said with sarcasm dripping from every letter.

“What the hell did we ever do to you?” Steve said firmly.

“Damn, getting straight into it. That’s okay” i shrugged as I went to my room but the sound of the blasters of Tony's suit stopped me.

“Stop, don’t take another step” He said, lifting his hands and I smiled.

“Really? Well unfortunately i have to change, so i’ll leave the door open if it makes you comfortable” i said as i continued to walk to my room, and like I said, i left the door open.

“Y-you don’t have to do that, you can…” Wanda said but trailed off. I had taken my shirt off; my scars were shown.

“So, Steve” I broke the silence as I put on a black shirt, “the thing that you did wasn’t as bad as tin man over there, but you still let Hydra take me the day we took out the helicaries” i added. His face got pale and started shaking his head.

“What? No, you made it out safe, you-” He started saying but i interrupted him

“You sure? Who do you think stopped Rumlow when he tried to interfere with the exchange of the chip when you were in the helicarrier with Bucky?” He started thinking for a moment until he realized what I said fell into place. “Yeah, I took one hell of a beating, and if that wasn’t enough, I fell to the water. I fell thirty floors down, and I alone got myself out, because I didn't have anyone to cover me or have my back” i concluded.

“Your scars…” Tony said this time and i turned to him

“Yeah, thanks to you Mr. Stark” i said and he looked at me. “Doctor said that 74% of my body is covered with scars, along with one or two burns”

“You were that girl in The Red Room” Natasha said, causing me to turn my head to look at her and I smiled cynically, “You are Eliza” she finished.

“Давно не виделись с Натальей” (Long time no see Natalia) i said and she looked at me in pure surprise in her faced. That’s something coming from the famous Black Widow.

“What about the rest of us y/n?”  Sam said this time, redirecting my attention from Natasha to the rest of the group. Thor was standing there holding his hammer, Bruce was next to the fridge, Clint was by the sink, Wanda was with Vision beside the kitchen table and Bucky was by the door. They were all looking at me. I took a look at the clock, I have to leave in less than thirty minutes.

“Long story short, Clint, Bruce, Sam, Wanda and Vision are the ones that didn’t do anything, so just chill out, you are still on my good side” I smiled and waved my hand.

“Hold on, but what did I do?” Thor asked and I looked at him.

“God it really is unfair how such a little thing can cause such a big problem. The first time you came down to earth, met Jane, bla bla bla… when her stuff was under custody of shield, and you took that notebook; they blamed me. I know it may seem weird because, how? Thing is, I was undercover at that time inside Shield, so when the notebook disappeared, guess who was the one that got beaten for it. I couldn’t move from the pain.”

Thor was standing completely still.

“Lady y/n…”

“How is it possible? I was there  and never saw you” Clint interrupted Thor.

“It was before the avengers, i was on the run and a girl's gotta eat. Don’t worry, I never gave them anything. Got the money and then killed them, they were nobodies” I shrugged off.

“So, that’s all you needed to know, so if you please leave my…” I said but then he interrupted me.

“No” I would be lying if I said it didn’t send shivers down my spine at his tone, and I hate even more that he noticed it. “You’re missing one doll” Well fuck me

I turned to see him and he was walking painfully slow towards me and I was praying for my legs to not give out.

“Barnes” I simply said, thanking God and all the saints that it didn’t come out as a whimper. I took a look at the clock once more. I have to leave. Now. “Such a shame, wish you had fought for us, I would have gone through hell and back for you, Buck” his eyes were looking straight to my own and I felt like he was staring at my bare soul. In a way, he was. I smiled and I saw behind my back that the team was looking at us, we’ve never been this close, not in public anyway. I standed on my tiptoes and reached for his right ear, he instinctively reached down so it was a bit easier for me.

“If you want to know, you’ll have to find me first дорогой” (Sweetheart) I whisper. Next thing, the light went out just like I programmed it to and I slid beside Bucky to reach out to the door and to the hall. I could hear the team screaming ‘what the hell just happened’. I ran to the emergency stairs, and once out I could still feel him behind me, getting close. I went into an alley, having to detour, knowing that he eventually was going to catch up to me and I couldn't have him follow where I was really going. A few seconds later, I felt him caging me to the wall on the alley, both of us breathing heavily. His flesh hand went to my throat and his metal one rested on the wall.

“Given a different occasion, I would have loved this, don’t get me wrong, I still love how you…”

“What the hell are you doing?” he asked huskily and I smiled.

“I told you, you’ll have to wait until you find me again. Alone.” i said

“Come on Barnes, do you really think that the charade of being your personal fuck toy would last forever?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

“It wasn’t like that, i…” he said but trailed off. The pain in my chest starting and clenching my heart.

“There it is…” i said lowly, the hurt in my voice evident, “listen, i’d love to keep talking about how you used me, but like i said,” i got close to his face, my nose touching his, “find me to found out” after that,  I raised my knee kicking him right in between his legs.

He let out a pained groan and fell to the floor, causing his grip in my neck to give out. I took advantage and ran. Two blocks away, I saw Andrei. When he saw me running to him, he immediately got in the car and turned the engine on, then I got in.

“Drive, fast” it was the first thing i said

“Where?” he asked while we took off. I smiled and looked at him

“You’ll see”

-

-

-

Taglist

@silentkiller2374 @vikingqueenlove @girlfriday007 @supraveng

[banana-milk-enthusiast]

So the Shining Nikki early access was a week ago surprisingly they chose Canada for once i was so happy so thought I'd make my points before global drops

I figured that they would give us the skin options for free from the get go and I'm happy that they bothered but I will admit that having only 2 darker options is a bit of a let down. They rarely have a shade of brown close to match me but thats a personal nitpick I'm sure over time they'll hook us up.

On that note I hope we get more natural hairstyles sooner rather than later, from what i remember we starting get them in Love Nikki last year or so, which was years after release. I understand its much harder now seeing as how they'll have to actually model the hair and give it texture but I'll hold out hope it doesn't take too long.

I do dislike that the makeup options are locked behind the guild, i was looking forward to this feature but knowing that I'm limited in how quickly i get the items due to my guild contributions sucks.

The voice acting was a surprise, I didn't expect most of the story lines and cards to be voiced but its not bad. Admittedly at first I was verry iffy on the English voices but they quickly grew on me. They're not super anime to the point that its annoying but theyre not super realistic in their delivery either. Nikki's soft spoken tone and demeanor sounds really great imo. And the other voice actors are great in their delivery and inflection too though admittedly Joy does sound fairly nasal . The translated songs dont hold up too well though.

The soundtrack is amazing Love Nikki already had a great soundtrack but somehow Shining Nikki is even better. They're so catchy and beautifully arranged. Starheaven is my favorite theme so far.

The story came outta left field to me lol. I havent played Love Nikki in quite some time and I admit after what happened to Lunar the story became a blur to me, everything just started happening so fast out of nowhere. I barely remember the details just something about Nidhogg being cursed for what he did and the countries descending into chaos, Bobo being a traitor out of nowhere and going missing and honestly I cant recall much else. So imagine my surprise when I started up Shining Nikki and she's telling me the world had ended and she traveled back in time to try and stop it. And it's been a rollercoaster since then characters are pulling out guns and explosives?? a child had a knife!? I'm fearing for my life over here I just wanted to play a dressup game. Personally the story tone feels way more at place in MLQC (aka mr.love queens choice/ love and producer, a supernatural/sci-fi otome game made by the same company). Tone wise it feels like such a sudden shift thats pretty out of place imo. The writing isnt bad, its great it'll just take some getting used to personally, Its hard for me to imagine Nikki in such situations.

The graphics on the other hand whew boy. Every item is so lovingly modeled with great textures and shading that i cant handle it. Their lace, tulle, metallic, gem textures specifically are breathtaking. I do miss being able to dye duplicates though. Having to unlock diff color sets through the ark cards is super annoying.

The fact that accessories can move to accommodate your hairstyle is great too, and the layering of some accessories is a neat option. The suits we have now are great and I cannot wait for more to come (I have my wallet prepped for that Cardcaptor collab). I dont think we can change the nails yet but thats another feature i cant wait to see in the future.

I will say that the game is ALOT. As in they will hit you with feature after feature after feature and I'm sitting here like I only have so much time and stamina to keep up with all this. The current suits are less of a pain to craft thankfully the blueprint/set system is much better this game. But with set crafting, arena, intel, guild stuff, stylist academy, colours newsroom and the ark its hard to keep up with everything.

Cant think of much else to talk about rn, if anything I'll edit some thoughts in. I hope you guys are enjoying the game as much as I am and I look forward to Global Release.

[sayumia]

Wow

So hey it's your local casual attendant and lover of all things Tofu Twin related (within reason) and I'm about to unleash some brain juice. Just hear me out- (edit: for some heccing reason tumblr shifted and reformatted this entire post, so hopefully I've fixed it, mobile tumblr sucks man)

Have you ever really looked at those clips in their hair? No, well here's a quick scoop.

Sweet and Salty have clips in their hair. Sweet has the roman numeral IX, or nine if you don't already know and Salty has XI, or 11.

NOTE: The Tarot card meaning description is based on the Rider Waite cards.

Sure it's just a 9 and 11, why does that matter? Well this is why.

IX-9 for all you tarot loving (or persona players) attendants out there is the Hermit.

The Hermit suggests that you are in a phase of introspection where you are drawing your attention inwards and looking for answers within. You are in need of a period of inner reflection, away from the current demands of your position.

When reversed, you are perhaps in a situation where you'd like to be alone; there is nothing wrong about that. However, there is a possibility that your seclusion may become harmful to both yourself and others. 

I do spoiler alerts so if you haven't read/translated Sweet or Salty's backstories I reccomend you do! Otherwise here we go. Since they're basically mirrors of each other they both embody traits from either card.

When it comes to the Hermit both brothers embody the need for self reflection, loneliness, isolation, withdrawing from loved ones and contemplation.

Both Sweet and Salty are in a state of forced solitude due to Sweet taking action to stop his attendant and protect his brother by taking on the title of the Light Kingdom's infamous serial killer, who took countless lives alongside his master attendant.

Though the Hermit sets forwards with noble intentions, his path inward may also be filled with great danger. Reflecting may lead to madness and the abyss, for the unconscious is filled with images that he may not yet understand, lurking and waiting to lure you ever inside. Like a man that gets lost in his own dreams, the hermit may find himself stuck in a world of his own, alone, trapped, unreal.

Salty can't stand his brother, even hearing his name is enough to drive him up a wall or cause him to become violent. From his backstory we can see that he doesn't interact with other food souls and barely with humans. He secludes himself with thoughts of one thing. Making his brother his toy, out of anger and the belief that Sweet is dangerous without a leash, much like a rabid dog. (This part is speculation now because translating of Salty's backstory should really be done by someone with a better understanding of Chinese) While Salty seems to be aware that Sweet didn't actually kill all the people (the bodies in the freezer) he seems reluctant and apprehensive of facing Sweet to find out the truth- something maybe deep down he already knows.

Also the Herrmit's desire for real love and real change are the highest in their soul.

So the "Everytime this happens, it makes me wanna give you more love," and "Give me more, more of that love," makes so much sense now I'm in a tizzy. It also explains the whole "Can you make me happier?" that both share.

Hermit also carries emotional baggage and tends to focus on the past- and just who does that sound like?

Now to quickly explain XI, 11, the Justice tarot.

At its core, Justice is about the search for truth. As you explore your truth, you will discover that things are not as clear-cut as you had thought. You must be prepared to dip into the murky waters and explore what truth means to you. Be consciously aware of what you believe to be true and what you believe to be fair and ethical. It may not be as clear-cut as you think, so prepare to challenge yourself and to explore new territories of your belief system.

This fits Salty because throughout his backstory he struggles with the "truth" that his older brother is a murderer and took away the man that they both bad in a sense trusted and loved as a son would a father. He grows to despise Sweet Tofu but after being told his attendant was the one who was actually orchestrating the mass killings he begins to question everything he thought he knew to the point that after a chance encounter with Boston Lobster and Spicy Gluten he runs off before Sweet can be alerted to his presence- because he is most likely afraid of hearing what he most likely has already put together.

From Sweet's perspective, he bore a lot of shit for the sake of his little brother. From poisoning customers to taking the wrap for his attendant, Sweet hasn't had much of a charmed life, especially considering the two people he loved most are not really apart of his life anymore. His attendant is dead and his brother wants him dead. And even though he seems to stick around Boston Lobster (who he seems to enjoy torturing in his own special way i.e. making sure his medicine is intentionally painful) and Spicy Gluten he seems to not have much of a plan for himself, as both brothers wanted to stay with their attendant until he died naturally and travel around together, both of which didn't happen the way either wanted.

That also aligns with the card being reversed. Justice reversed suggests that you are not willing to take full accountability for your actions and may try to ‘dodge the bullet’ and blame others for your mistakes. You are being dishonest with yourself and others – and your unwillingness to look beyond your own fears and ego blinds you to the broader lesson. 

I hope that this design choice was intentional because I went full on game theory on this and I couldn't sleep until I typed this out. If you managed to get through all this listen to It Looks Tasty, and good luck and happy cooking all you master attendants.

[jacepens]

You'll regret this xD

7, 10, 13, 17, 19

Have fun

Ps. Love you<3

Or will it be you who regrets having to read my way too long answers? xD <3

7. What is your deepest joy about writing?

Oh this is quite the question lol. I kinda wanna say the satisfaction of writing something? Especially when it's something I genuinely enjoy reading again or I was able to make a story come together and get the emotions right. A close second is seeing other people's reactions to it

10. Has a piece of writing ever “haunted” you? Has your own writing haunted you? What does that mean to you?

Oooh I love this question, thank you, because yes. I'll start with my own since I have a few that have haunted me, but I still think my fic A Beautiful Tragedy haunts me the most but like in a good way. I think for me and writing it, it was all very natural and I really got invested in that world like none others I've written. I was sad and needed to write about sadness and I think I accomplished that:) (But I left it on a positive-ish note!) As for others writings, the first that come to mind are Blue_Clover's Let Down My Guard because oh my god wow doesn't even begin to describe it. This fic also means alot to me not only because it was a gift (still shedding tears of thanks) but at the end of it, it made me so emotional/introspective it sent me on a personal journey xD. Life changing stuff in there lol. (Go read it if you haven't). The second is like...anything and everything written by grumblebee?? I can't really name one or two of their fics I think also because they inspire(d) me so much and like. oh my god. It's all so spectacular.

13. What is a subject matter that is incredibly difficult for you write about? What is easy?

...I'm half-tempted to say not-washette and then washette. But I'll try to answer more seriously xD

Tbh I know there are plenty of topics etc I struggle to write, but for a specific example, I'm struggling to come up with one. I'm going to start by answering the easy one and see if that helps me remember lol. For easy to write, I guess mostly emotional things?? Not all the time, but especially when I've been feeling those emotions I am able to translate it into pretty good words (in my opinion, sometimes lol). I guess I struggle with (I am struggling to put it into words right now oof) the emotions I don't know as well?? I'm so sorry, I really want to give a good answer but I'm struggling. Maybe this is my weakness. But I know they exist and I know that I've had fic ideas that I shoot down for knowing I won't be able to write it well or easily. I'm just struggling with specifics lol sorry.

17. Talk to me about the minutiae of your current WIP. Tell me about the lore, the history, the detail, the things that won’t make it in the text.

Haha, which one? xD Hmm well without giving spoilers in one wip I've accidentally built a whole town that I don't think we'll be coming back to. It features the Turn spy ring as a group of con-people who have mastered the art of cheating at cards and gambling. They all work together to get a person riled up into betting more, not noticing when Anna is sliding an ace into Ben's hand or Caleb is filling up their cup of ale after every sip or Abe's role as the innocent bystander come to give you advice or give you a reason to hate everyone in that room. Robert Townsend is like. so tired of them lol. Not to mention the no-good sheriffs are so horrible at their job because they're too busy bickering with each other. That's right, sheriffs. Whoever let two people be sheriff at the same time must've been either exhausted or too drunk to realize the horrible decision (Knowing Henry Laurens though, it was likely the latter, or his son getting into business that's not his). But who knows, Alex and Thomas make good enough sheriffs on their own, maybe one day they'll be able to sort out their differences and start doing something right in this town. Maybe. Madison is beyond fed up with them though. As for the Schuyler’s, they’ve been doing quite well on their own, inherited all their father’s land and assets. Eliza is starting to feel bored with the whole money and management and deals thing, Angelica is better at that anyway. Peggy is…well we don’t know where Peggy went, but her sisters know she’ll be back soon. In the meantime, Angelica is getting more and more frustrated with Henry Lauren’s corruption and horrible leadership. Eliza is starting to wonder if there’s anything she can do to help.

19. Tell me a story about your writing journey. When did you start? Why did you start? Were there bumps along the way? Where are you now and where are you going?

Ahhh yess. hehe I'm not sure I've ever told this story on tumblr but thank you. I technically started in I think the summer of 2019, I remember very clearly because I was on vacation with my family and one night my body decided to have like the worst panic attack ever:) (also, the first one I've ever had!) I'm not exaggerating when I say it lasted about 6 hours alllllll night long. It was awful. But during that long and horrible night, I was looking for things to comfort me and calm me down as much as it could and eventually I turned to washette. This was actually more of a return as many years before (you know, during the Hamilton age lol) I read a ton of washette fics and fell in love with them then, but that night really solidified my love. I spent the rest of the week re-reading all my old favorites and just like being so happy with them. The next night after the panic attack night, I was looking for a way to calm down still and suddenly decided: goddammit, I am going to write some washette because I've always wanted to and why shouldn't I do it now?? I made like a bulleted list of one very cute and sentimental scene. One day I'll turn it into a full fic because it's very special to me:) And the rest is history (literally?? lol). I just started writing more and more until I felt brave enough to post something to ao3. Fun fact, I got so panicked after posting my very first washette fic that I immediately deleted it not only from the site but like all my living copies of it. Which is sad for me now as it's lost to time, but I did ultimately end up writing something else and posting it and it's still up today!:) Now I don't delete any of my old works even if I don't like them anymore. Honestly I've gone back and re-read old drafts and been like: this is good??? Baby Tal, this is like so good??? but also been like: oh dear. So you know. I also first started writing these fics on my old phone that had one of those push up keypad things. I still have the phone and some drafts inside! I had to write them as messages and save the drafts because the notes feature wouldn't let you type much at all xD Oh how things have changed. As for now, school has severely drained me of my passion but I reallllllly want to write more and finally have something to share. I am working on things but I can’t promise they’ll be soon. I can only hope lol

Ok lol, I know that last one is long but it means a lot to me. I hope I didn't bore you;)

[playeroneplayertwo]

I like the pictures for these two posts, but neither HORRIFIED nor WINGSPAN will appear on this two-part list. I would, however, fully endorse Horrified as an excellent gateway--and superior (!!) alternative to Pandemic.

NOTE: Part 1 can be found here--and apologies this took a lifetime to complete.

Harbour (2015) WTF is this OOP?; Complexity 2.09/5; BGG; Mechanisms: Worker Placement, Set Collection, Variable Player Powers

I already said that, for many, worker placement is the evergreen mechanic, so I figured I'd turn two entries on this list over to it. Where Coal Baron was a slight subversion of the genre, Harbour is not. This is the prototypical game in that you place a worker, do an action, and block a space. In Harbour, believe it or not, you're working in a... harbor. You, as a small gremlin-looking fellow visiting buildings to take actions, selling goods (cows, stone, wood, fish) in order to parlay those sales into purchasing new buildings in the harbor, thereby giving you new action spaces to do new cool stuff.

Harbour is a great entry into the inherently meaner side of worker placement because you only have one worker, so it's not quite as overwhelming as games where you start with a heap o' workers, but you can most certainly block action spaces. Not only that, but the market of the game is a simple system of fluctuating prices that are affected each time a player sells something. For a small box game, Harbour includes the idea of supply/demand, so things that aren't being sold to market are worth more, while things being sold constantly tank in value. Buildings have varied and interesting special abilities, and there are a lot of buildings that will come out into play during any given game, as well as a huge host of special abilities that players will start with, making the game play slightly asymmetrical.

With its worker placement, fluctuating market prices, buying/selling, and special abilities, Harbour is an excellent small box introduction to a plethora of Euro mechanics, and the fact that all of these interesting aspects are encapsulated in such a cleap, small box is remarkable. I will say, however, that of the six games on this list, Harbour is the game I'm least likely to play because I've grown past it as a gamer. I've seen this jokingly referred to as Tiny Epic Le Havre, which feels very on the nose. That being said, it does a remarkable job of introducing a handful of popular Euro mechanics, so if this game piques your interests, it has plenty of bigger, meatier siblings out there.

For a game that I haven't touched in a long while, Harbour is probably one of the best single small box game introductions to Euro mechanics I've played.

For those meat and potato worker placement fans (light to heavy): Lords of Waterdeep, Viticulture: Essential Edition, The Gallerist

If you enjoyed the market-based buying/selling/producing bits: Clans of Caledonia

Valley of the Kings (2014) Try it and get the deluxe edition; Complexity 2.19/5; BGG; Mechanisms: Card Drafting, Deck Building, Hand Management, Set Collection

It was inevitable that I include deck building on here. For me, deck building is like the junk food of mechanics. When I first encountered deck building, it was all I wanted to do. There is something driving and compulsive about it. You have the feeling that all you have are options, with infinite combos laid out at your feet. I wanted to try every theme and variation possible. For a little bit, the hobby seemed to be exploding with deck builders of all stripes, with variations popping up everywhere.

Things have cooled now, and it seems deck building has found a more comfortable passenger seat behind (or partnered alongside) other mechanics in mid+ weight Euros, and I think that pairing it with additional mechanics in bigger games actually brings the mechanic to life. Deck building is the idea that all players will start with a small deck of very basic and underpowered cards--generally consisting of cards of different currencies, like attack and some kind of purchasing currency--that you'll use to either buy or defeat other cards, adding them to your deck and thereby increasing the strength of purchasing or fighting, as well as the abilities available to you.

It's a simple idea, but boy is it like Pringles when you first play it. We have a lot of deck builders, and a bunch more that we've since parted ways with. The problem is that many feel a bit themeless and similar, begging the question: If you've played one deck builder, have you played them all?

I would argue no. That being said, if you've played one, you've played... most. Dominion, Marvel: Legendary, Star Realms, Aeon's End, Hero Realms, Nightfall, Paperback, Eminent Domain, Core Worlds, Ascension, Marvel Dicemasters (not deck but dice pool builder), Shadowrun: Crossfire/Dragonfire, and Thunderstone all feel pretty sorta similar. Granted, they each bring a little teeny bit of something different, but if you didn't like one of these, you probably won't like most/any of them.

Valley of the kings subverts a lot of the classic expectations of a deck builder. First of all, the market is spatially interesting. Not just a flat row of cards that randomly come out, these cards form a pyramid, and you're only able to purchase cards on the bottom row. For the first time, maybe it would behoove you not to buy a decent card on the bottom, because once you do, the card above it will "fall" down and become available to the next player. But maybe you should do it anyway, because there are plenty of cards that let you slightly manipulate the arrangement of the pyramid, anyway. More interesting than the pyramid, however, is the end game scoring. Most cards are not worth flat rate points, but rather points based on how many you were able to squirrel away. And by "squirrel away," I mean you'll literally need to start removing them from your deck, one at a time, and adding them to your "tomb" (errr, thematically-named scoring pile) in order to score. Great cards in your deck or hand at the end of the game are worth nothin'. Timing is everything. If you realize that the other player is burying way more cards than you and accelerating the speed of the game, you really need to get on your horse and get those cards into your tomb, otherwise you're going to be out a lot of points. But by removing the cards from your deck, you will become less powerful. So... when do you do it?

Tough choices are the queen in great games, and for a tiny box that is not expensive, this game packs a lot of difficult, interesting decisions.

For excellent straight-up deck builders to get you shufflin' everyday: Legendary Encounters: Alien and Arctic Scavengers

If you want a little bit of deck building in your slightly heavier Euros: Great Western Trail (most Alexander Pfister, really), Orléans (not deck, but pool building), Time of Crisis, Newton, Concordia, Founders of Gloomhaven, Undaunted: Normandy/North Africa

Welcome To... $20ish depending on the day; Complexity 1.82/5; BGG; Mechanisms: Roll & Write, Bingo, Pattern Building

Roll and write games are like the little subgenre that could. So small, so simple, and so popular. For the past few years, roll and writes have fought for a place at the table, and at this point, I think they've done it. Heck, they even have entries that are skewing heavier in weight (Welcome to Dino World). That being said, lightness permeates most roll and writes, and that's not a bad thing. Light doesn't necessarily translate to SLIGHT.

Roll and writes are games where players begin with the same, or very similar, starting sheets of paper, at which point some randomizing thingy like dice (see: roll and write) or cards are used to present variable restrictions or requirements that players must work on accomplishing. As you draw or write or fill-in boxes on your little paper, your sheet will begin to look quite different from everyone else's. At the end of the game, you'll calculate scores and the highest wins. Yay.

Roll and writes have a great tactile nature, which for some reason is easier to teach than more abstract ideas you'd find in an equally light game. Being able to draw routes or write down numbers or shade specific areas feels oddly familiar, which makes roll and write games very family friendly. They also generally have a small footprint, small box, and low price tag, without sacrificing replayability. We have a few roll and writes, and I can say that they all seem to have high replayability--if roll and writes are your thing. I've read plenty from people who don't seem to like roll and writes, but the myriad options that clever designers have managed to get into these tiny games are remarkable. In Railroad Ink, you will roll dice that show sections of track, and slowly you will draw tracks on tiny dry erase boards, working to score specific features before your turns run out. In the aforementioned Welcome to Dino World, you'll be building dinosaur pens, powering electric fences, building features for your park, and trying to prevent the dinos from busting out and devouring people your score.

But what about Welcome To...? This game is a small, card-driven roll and write where you flip three double-sided cards so you'll be showing a trio of pairs baring number on one side and a feature on the back of another card, forcing you to choose one and add it to your map of a minute subdivision. Your working to meet end game objectives for points, as well as build specific features, like parks, to make sure you have the best neighborhood around.

Welcome To... brings the simple gameplay and high replayability along with a charming theme and low price tag. I could always play Welcome To..., and it does everything without falling into a roll and write pitfall of being too vaguely mathy or themeless. We've played with family who have not moved beyond Scrabble, and they loved it. And we've played it more than our fair share at the end of the night with a cool adult beverage in hand.

Roll more and write more, too: The Cartographers, Railroad Ink, Silver & Gold, On Tour, Imperial Settlers: Roll and Write

I want something a smidge heavier than that Welcome To... game: Welcome to New Las Vegas!

If you just want a taste of this because it sounds a little juvenile: Get the app for Ganz Schon Clever, which technically may be my most played game ever considering how you just want to get a higher score. You can do better. No, you can do better! Play again! No, now!

***

SORRY this took so long to complete. The problem with taking a long time to write about some games is that now a handful are hard to get. Go figure. Check your local store, older games have plenty of life.

[arabellaflynn]

I now know two of the dancers in this sequence, not that you can pick either of them out in the background of the potato-quality YouTube video. (You can spot one of them in the B-roll/outtakes if you're quick.) One of them was the choreographer, who happened to be a part of one of the collaborations in the most recent show I've worked. He is a very nice man. He has decided we are going to be friends! I begin to wonder if all of the ballroom dancers are secretly Labrador retrievers. This is becoming something of a pattern. I'm not displeased, just bewildered. I have no idea why people with arts grants and IMDb credits continually talk to me like I'm a part of their community in any but the most hopeful amateur capacity, but they are clearly going to keep doing it. I make it a policy, when I work front of house for performances, to not bother the dancers. Everyone in the performing arts has their own personal rituals to prepare for going out on stage, and it's considered rude bordering on sabotage to interrupt them. Working crew is a lot like being a butler: If you do it right, nobody knows you're there until you hand them something they need, and then you vanish again. I do my best to be not there while they're trying to concentrate, and I think I do a pretty good job. This group of dancers did not want to be left alone. If they even noticed I was trying to stay out of their way, they gave no sign. So I seem to have made some new friends in spite of myself. One of them is a jazz vocalist-tap dancer, one is a Bollywood-classical Indian-modern dancer, and one of them is a ballroom-and-other-random-things dancer. They were collaborating on a piece involving doggerel and tea. It did not make what I would call "more sense" in context, but it was nonetheless enjoyable to watch. The ballroom dancer grew up in Israel, which I know now because he is chatty. I've not seen him drink, but I'm pretty sure that after a few beers you could get him telling anecdotes to the potted plants. He'd know he was talking to foliage, he just wouldn't care. Telling the story is fun enough. I read subtitles on people a lot. I talk back that way, too. The tap dancer is American, so that one's easy; the Indian lady is pretty well Westernized, at least when she's interacting with Western people, so that's easy, too. I know how to say 'hey, you guys seem cool' in my own home dialect. The Israeli fellow, though, I had to keep an eye on -- watch how much space he actually wanted in crowded lobbies and narrow corridors, when he wasn't thinking about it too hard. It's less than he might. It's not as prominent as the Italian kid I knew in college, who wanted to stand on my shoes all the time, but it's noticeable. His English says he's been here a good long time, but some part of his voluble little heart is still in the Middle East. I don't think I can explain why I care so much about this without making it sound like five different kinds of melodrama. It's not; most humans watch non-verbal feedback and mirror it as a way to signal friendliness, they just don't think about it very much. Hence the endless books about the art of negotiation and magazine articles about "5 Ways To Tell If She's Into You". I've always thought about it a lot, mainly because I was forced to. When I was a kid and I complained that nobody liked me, I was always told I had to adapt to their way of communicating, rather than anyone bothering to care how I worked, because I was the smart one and it was easier for me. The observation was correct, but the conclusion was completely unreasonable. I learn non-verbal dialects the same way I learn verbal ones, but I'll be damned if I'll do it on demand. I refused for the longest time. It was a lot of effort just to get people to go from 'cruel' to 'indifferent', and I resented being the only one who was ever expected to make it. It was not until I got out of there and into an environment where I had some level of choice in who I interacted with that I realized that piece of advice was actually pretty good, just intended for a completely different context. No amount of change was ever going to make the people I grew up with like me. They weren't interested in liking me. They were interested in not having to pay attention to me. When I did strange things, they had to think about it and decide they didn't like it. This annoyed them a great deal, as it took time out of their busy day of whatever it is normal people do with their lives. If I would just learn how to do conventionally annoying things instead, they could dismiss me immediately without spending any energy on it. I could go to any lengths I wanted, and the best I would ever get would be to make myself tolerable enough to be ignored instead of actively driven away. Whenever I run into anyone who has obviously had to learn a different dialect of movement and space just to get along here, I remember that. It's exhausting to edit yourself constantly. If I'm interested in being friends, you are not required to anxious-babble or stand an extra four feet away or whatever it is you're doing to try and be comfortingly 'normal' around me. I'd really prefer you didn't. I'm not 'normal' for the culture I live in, I don't care if you're not, either. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. People who are being politely normal at me just because I'm there usually try harder if I imply they don't have to keep it up. They take it as a sign that they're not performing hard enough, since the object is usually to keep others from noticing that anything's 'off', and I've just pointed out that it didn't work on me. People who are doing it specifically for my benefit will keep going until they get it, and then it flips off like a switch. I have no idea if it's a relief to other people like it would be for me; I can only recall one person ever saying explicitly that he appreciated me not making him translate things into words all the time. Others' reactions have suggested it, but no one ever really comments. I justify doing all of this largely for my own peace of mind. I have a hard time figuring out whether people are talking to me because I'm me or because I'm there. When I try it and it works, I feel like I've successfully communicated that, whether or not they were talking specifically to me, I am talking specifically to them. I tell myself very firmly that this is information, and they can do whatever they want with it. I really only do it if I'm trying to build bridges, but at a certain point it's kind of out of my hands. A good 90% of the interesting people I meet take my card and then wander off, never to be seen again. I figured if I wanted to be nice to this lot, I ought to do it right then, before they vanished on me. Boisterous as they were, they only managed to break one of their fragile bone china tea cups in a six-show run, and they cleaned it up themselves; I thought that warranted flowers, so I brought them some on closing night. from Blogger http://ift.tt/2EcPlLf via IFTTT -------------------- Enjoy my writing? Consider becoming a Patron, subscribing via Kindle, or just toss a little something in my tip jar. Thanks!