#playing this again on devil hunter mode

[queen-of-many-fandoms]

GN!Reader & Omega — Chaotic Bff Shenanigans (Headcanons)

@violetjedisylveon

Requests: Open

Masterlist

Apologies for any typos or low quality (I'm a little rusty at headcanons), I don't have a beta reader and I started writing this really late at night. Or should i say early morning? (A.n. Cont. at end of post.)

Also, Happy (late) Life Day!

Chaotic Besties doesn't even begin to describe the two of you. More like Twin Terrors, Double Devils, Cohorts of Chaos . . . you get the idea. It was almost like you'd both made it your mission to singlehandedly give the Batchers grey hair.

On one of their trips they stopped on a planet that was in the middle of it's rainy season. When the Batch wasn't looking you and Omega got into a mud fight. By the time you're done, you both were covered head to toe in mud. Echo shook his head, muttering "Now I know what Rex felt like", and shooed you both into the fresher to clean the mud off.

Crosshair found some toy blasters that fired foam darts when the Batch was getting more supplies. He bought them for Omega and you to practice your aim. Totally not just because he thought you'd have fun playing with them. You both used them to sneak attack the Batchers.

An your pranks! Oh, Ka'ra help the poor Batcher that was on the receiving end of one of your pranks. They learned that lesson the hard way. Put simply, don't keep the two of you cooped up, without entertainment, in the Marauder for longer than 3 days. It was three weeks of haraan. Never again.

Sometimes though, you could wrangle one of her brothers into helping you with pranks. Wrecker was always on board with pranks, no matter which of the Batchers was the target. Surprisingly, Crosshair would help you with pranks. Not directly, but he would be the look out, distract the target, or give you ideas. (And if Hunter's the target, you can bet your bottom credit Cross will help you with the prank.) Echo, however, is The Master when it comes to pranks. If you wanted to pull off a really good prank, he's your man. (Rex didn't exaggerate when he said he was a menace.)

Whenever you were able, you and Omega would have a sleep over in her "room." You'd almost always end up staying awake long after everyone else had gone to bed, just talking and giggling over dumb stuff. (Until Tech catches you and lectures you on the importance of a good night's sleep. Oh the irony.)

One night you both had a ✨️brilliant✨️ idea. 'Why not create our own secret code just for the two of us?' (Once you created it) You used your code, hand signals you had come up with, to plot pranks right under the the Batchers noses. (Anytime one of her vode (usually Tech) started to catch on to the signals meanings you'd change to new signals.)

One day while being lazy outside on whatever planet they'd stopped on, you'd both realized that out of all of her vode, somehow, you'd never pranked Crosshair. And that needed to be remedied. (👈 it was that thought right there that should've made you realize you probably needed your heads examined.)

Regardless of what the prank was, the repercussions would be swift. To say that your life flashed before your eyes would be an understatement. You both thought you were as good as dead. Luckily, he seemed to be in a slightly merciful mood (shocking, amiright?) and settled on chasing you up a tree and waiting at the bottom. You were treed like a pair of tookas being chased by a massiff. He eventually lets you climb down. . .

Only to ambush you a little later. He gave you both a good dunking in a cold lake. You and Omega then decided that it was better pranking with him rather than against him. (That was probably a smart decision if you wanted to actually live to old age.)

Tech makes Omega a data pad. Big mistake. Especially with the camera mode. Because, like her brother Tech, Omega records (pretty much) everything. One of your favorite past times is trying to jump scare Omega's vode. It's always hard to jump scare Hunter. (Which makes it all the more satisfying when you do.) The two of you also now have plenty of blackmail material. 😌

Another thing that was a common reoccurance, was you and Omega bringing any injured or lost animals you found back to the Marauder. This time it was a tooka.

Omega: "Can we keep it?"

Y/n: "It's hurt and it can't take care of itself."

Y/n & Omega: *puppy eyes* "Please?!"

Hunter: "I'll think about it. But no promises."

(There's now a one eyed tooka that runs around Cids bar. He's become a favorite with the regulars.)

One planet they visited was covered in snow. Apparently Omega had never seen nor played in the snow. So, obviously, you taught her all the tricks you knew for building snowmen, snow forts, and making snowballs. And, obviously, you just had to put that knowledge to use by ambushing her vode. You got your shebs handed to you. Her brothers have good aim and a wicked throw.

Some bonus ones I had nowhere to put:

Hunter mixing up your names 'cause he's a Tired Dad™. "Omega– Haar'chak!– I meant Y/n!"

Hunter swears having you two around has sped up his aging.

You both are also very curious and love to experiment. Sometimes with not the best results: “What if we…” (literally a minute later) *something explodes*

(A.n. cont.)

I'm terribly sorry that it's not quite what you asked for. I really struggled with the original request and ended up scrapping what I wrote multiple times. Also life and the holidays kicked me in the shebs. It always happens the minute I say I have free time. Every time.

I really do like your idea though, so maybe (big maybe there) I can eventually write it as a oneshot. I'm so so sorry I couldn't get it done quicker.

[shuttershocky]

I want to play DMC5 on my laptop so I can record footage to display on my blog, but that would mean unlocking everything again starting from Devil Hunter mode, and my laptop drops frames at random times because of its broken battery.

[belaprus]

Dottore x reader: being his assistant (pt.3)

"Are you sure you want to continue?"

"Yes"

"Even if it meant for you to spend more time with him?"

"Yes"

Pantalone was looking at your injured arm, slightly concerned. It felt like he was carefully searching for the right words to express himself. After some moments, he opened his mouth to speak again:

"Are you growing attached, maybe?"

"Absolutely not. It's just I'm the only one who can take care of him properly"

The skeptical expression on his face was clear, especially when he had heard you say 'take care of him'. You continued:

"He's no different from my average patient. At least this job is more rewarding, and I can focus on only one person"

"The latter might be a problem. And if you think he's just the average patient, need I remind you that his name is forsaken from the entirety of Sumeru?"

"He's still a person, and I'm the more capable one on this job. This is nothing I can't manage"

"If you say so..."

After a second of pondering, Pantalone smiled at you:

"I guess you really are suited for him, after all"

You smiled back. You were no average person either. You wouldn't deal with the average people. To be fair, your whole life wasn't average at all. You were used to it, it was almost in your comfort zone to be with people like Dottore. You had always found them interesting. Sometimes it would get scary, like with the ruin hunter's incident, but you felt like it was definitely worth it: your payment was not average either.

After you parted ways with Pantalone, you returned back home. 'Tomorrow will be another day of work', you thought while drifting off to sleep in your bed. --------- He was face-down on his own desk, mentally searching for whatever way to continue his experiments. Now he was left with only two children and some chemical components, all because of that bitch-sitter who never shut her mouth. Speaking of the devil, she had just entered the room. He didn't react at all. No, he was staying like this until something, ANYTHING, had caused his funds to raise. He heard a chair moving onto the other side of the desk, her sitting on it. Silence fell onto the room. After some moments, he noticed it wasn't completely quiet around: he could feel someone breathing and an intense stare on him. His heart-rate was just a little faster than normal, meaning he could feel it pump inside his own body. 'Stop, please... Someone make her stop' was all he could think about. It was torture to feel her so close, it was getting him anxious. Was he the real freak, at this point? ----------- You found it so amusing. He was clearly tense, but was trying so hard not to make any moves. It kind of reminded you of your cat's passive-aggressive behaviour: when you haven't been home for a long time, he would always act like you were not there, playing on your sense of guilt. Luckily for you, you barely had any. If the game was set on resistence mode, you were absolutely sure of your win. You noticed his mask was left beside him on the desk. 'It may be uncomfortable for him to wear it in that position.' - you thought to yourself - 'Still, I've never seen his whole face. I'm kind of curious'. You were trying to make out his features by watching him closely, when you were suddendly met with his scarlet red eyes. You instinctively gasped and backed out a bit, as he did the same. Were you too close? You hadn't noticed. He quickly put his mask back on, but you had already seen the big scar on his left eye. You were completely undisturbed by it, but guessed he would feel another way, since now he looked offended.

"You're a freak", he told you as he agitatedly walked around the narrow space between the desk and the freezer, covering his face in a hysterical motion.

"What do you want now? I don't have any new experiments to show you"

You stayed silent, analyzing his behaviour. Most of his sentences didn't have sense, but sometimes he was spitting out things like "Am I your experiment?", "Do I look stupid to you?". The fact that you simply being too close had left him in this state was unmistakably abnormal. 'Did I mess up that badly?', you were thinking. He suddendly stopped. Then, taking a deep breath, he turned in your direction and walked past you, grabbing some cigarettes along the way and rushing out. You had noticed how, when he was too stressed, he would just run away from the place he's in. As you were thinking about it, you sat there, trying to figure out what had just happened. After a few moments, you decided to follow him out.

[mooshs-crack-headcanons]

Do you have any gameplay ideas for Lucia (Devil May Cry)?

Oh okay, that's a new type of question I've never been asked before. People on here don't tend to talk about gameplay aspects on here that much and tend to just talk about the characters - or at from what I've seen my three years on this site. But I'll take it sure!

Well, I'm not the best person to ask since I'm not really a game designer but I think I can think of at least a couple ideas to put her in more on how modern dmc 3-5 characters play with more complexities than Dante/Lucia/Trish had in dmc 1 and 2.

Okay to start off if Lucia would ever be hypothetically playable in a future dmc game she doesn't necessarily need new weapons, pretty much everyone else who isn't Dante with his ridiculous amount of weapons that only gets larger and larger with each game, specifically Nero, Vergil, Lady and Trish in dmc 4 proves this that small arsenals and tools you can work with like the devil bringer which you can throw in a buster whenever in a combo you like to add a little ✨️style spice✨️ A small rotation I find easier to work with and even so everything in that small rotation has a long list of moves and combos that you can steadily form your patterns you can strategize certain take downs for specific enemies.

But that's not saying you can't add anything new for her though, however including all the unlockable blades and knifes she could get in dmc 2 I think she should be okay as long as maybe you change some of their move sets to moreso differentiate them and make them each more unique instead of same knife/blade but reskinned and stronger. Again while you don't have to change anything like what she comes with, just look at Vergil the guy has had the same 4 weapons (counting summon swords) and basic play style since he was more formally introduced in dmc 3 and therefore being playable. However if they do go down this route with adding new things I hope they pull a dmc 4 revamp on us because playable Vergil from dmc 3 and playable Vergil from dmc 4 are very different beats. Dmc 3 Vergil is very, very simple and basic in his move set, similar to current day Lucia actually but - and this is true about every single version of Vergil since he's been playable - he is very overpowered. Like I don't know if this is because I've been playing dmc 3 since almost day 1 that it came out and I'm old but I don't know maybe it's just me but even in very hard and dante must die he makes the entire fucking game feel like a joke. Dmc 4 however (and don't get wrong he is still fucking overpowered as shit compared to everyone else in the game, he can absolutely break the entire game like he can in 3 if you know how to properly use him) I think he's less as OP in higher difficulties (I'm going to be 100% real here enemies in dmc 4 on human and devil hunter are like punchable paper once you play those higher difficulties just once and its veeeery noticeable) however to compensate for more heavy tankable enemies (Vergil in every mode is still a boss deleter no matter what) they they completely revamped his 3 moveset, keeping the all the simplicities and they MEGA built off it in literally every way; new moves, new combos, the motivation concentration meter and mechanics, new summon sword abilities, playable executable judgment cut end 💀, ect. But Lucia doesn't have to be as overpowered and game breaking, I think personally that should stay with just Vergil as like a gimmick afterall he has been that OP since day one and no other characters except Dante in a good several amount of occasions (dmc 4 and 5 particularly) have been able to be on that same level. But in a way story wise her being more strong and confident in her abilities moreso than in dmc 2 would show off more character development and being able to show that off in gameplay would be just perfect.

Sooo learning from that take her simplistic moveset and just revamp it in a similar fashion and that way she could still feel like better dmc 2 version of herself but she'd get more unique moves and combos and maybe build up her older playstyle in a way that feels more in tune with modern dmc without disrespecting her original playable debut despite the unfortunate game she came from, which I always thought anyway that out of the main two out of box playable characters (so not counting Trish who is better out of all three of them by miles) that she always felt good and better to play than the clunky, sword useless, Dante in that game.

Devil trigger gameplay? Since 2 and besides Dante's sin trigger in dmc 5 which is its own can of worms mechanically and runs off its own system very different then how it was dmc 2, no one else really has had a flying form and how it worked in 2 so if they just kept that exclusive to Lucia and modified it where A. It'd feel comfortable to play in modern gaming standards B. Expand on it, maybe make her airborne like 99% of the time and incorporate that into trigger exclusive moves maybe she can switch between the elemental moves that where in dmc 2 just you can switch between them on the fly without having to go through subscreens and menus and it doesn't cancel out your trigger gage and maybe each one has its own pool of moves besides being just that element boosting already established attacks, making it when you do trigger you do have more options and moves to integrate into your combo chain each time ect.

Uhm and I think that's all I have to say about it? Sorry if this was rambled and I didn't explicitly give much ideas this was just the way I think if Lucia ever were to be playable again (which honestly I really do hope, it fucking sucks she's chained down to such a "Yes it is actually that bad as everyone says it is." of a game) this is the technical ways I think Capcom should go about it.

Tldr: Take Lucia's very simplistic moveset from dmc 2 and treat it with a make over like they did with Vergil's from dmc 3 going into 4. Devil trigger should be mostly the same taking in the flight mechanics from dmc 2 and making it Lucia's own while incorporating the element mechanics that would also give her new moves to work with while in trigger.

Thank you for the ask btw!

[zakku972]

So, thoughts on the #FF16 demo? A thread:

 I’ll break my thoughts down into a few categories, then a summary (with a mild spoiler). Also note, I do recognize that this is a demo build from probably a while ago, so some things might have changed compared to the gold release of the game.

 First up, accessibility options:

For the core settings in the game, I did enjoy that there were subtitle size/subtitle background/speaker options. Turned all of those on as soon as I could, and it was very noticeable. I do wish that there was an option for increasing the standard screen text/icon size though – I was having trouble with telling if the icons were referring to L1 or R1. Another thing I thought was a very good move in particular was being able to change audio cues into visual ones. I didn’t use it myself, but it’s a great step in the right direction!

For gameplay accessibility options, I like that they included a “Story” option for those of us that don’t usually play action games, as well as including accessories to make the gameplay a little more forgiving. I didn’t end up using these, but I’m happy more people will be able to play this game now than not.

One last thing for this section, and I’m not sure if this counts as an accessibility option, is that you can bring up a glossary of places and characters if you pause during a cutscene. I may not use this (due to the aforementioned screen text size issue), but it’ll be great for people that have to take extended breaks when playing the game, since it looks like this story will have many locales and characters.

Now, onto presentation/graphics:

Most of the colors in the demo seemed a bit…washed out? All of the lights, magic, and even the title screen were bright and colorful – plus I’ve seen some video of deeper gameplay that doesn’t make me feel too worried – but I know my TV’s automatic darkening settings had a field day. The actual graphics and stability were really gorgeous though, even though the sometimes drab colors. I played in performance mode and didn’t notice any hiccups at all, though I have heard that the FPS even in performance mode aren’t a consistent 60, that they range from 50-60. I’m sure it’ll be a little more consistent in the full release.

Next, some gameplay:

Here’s where I have some mixed feelings. First, I do want to say that I thoroughly enjoyed the gameplay of the combat. As far as what we’re able to do, it comfortably feels like it’s leaning more into a Devil May Cry style than Kingdom Hearts. I did feel like there could have been a bit more “punch” or impact to the combat, but I know I’ve got Monster Hunter on the brain when it comes to sword hitting flesh, so I may not be the best to ask about that.

The Eikon fight did seem to suffer a bit more from that, as it seemed that there wasn’t too much visual or vibrational feedback in the fight. But again, this isn’t the final game and we weren’t even in the role of Ifrit yet, so hopefully it will feel a little better then. This “floatiness” also carries over into the regular movement, in my opinion. It just seemed like outside of combat, that Clive was running around in buttered boots with some inconsistencies, like the automatic jumping or climbing, during terrain traversal speeding him up just a hair too late if you approach them while walking. It was a little jarring to look at. The ladder climbing and crouching under debris looked and felt great though!

Finally, the story:

Hey look, it’s Game of Thrones! But actually, it’s not! Lots of people have made the comparison to the hit TV show/book series, and lots of other people have answered with the fact that the first Final Fantasy predates A Song of Ice and Fire, but here are the brass tacks: Both GoT and FF16 are trying to tell a more adult-oriented fantasy stories, and there will obviously be some overlap in how things are portrayed in certain circumstances. Hell, you can see people in the real world acting like this. There may have well been some influence from GoT on FF16 since various mediums do borrow from each other often, but the story and approach for FF16 feels like it’s doing enough unique things to differentiate itself from being a GoT clone.

On the note of that uniqueness, I do enjoy the purported theme of destroying the Mothercrystals’ hold on the world. Generally, crystals in FF games hold the world together. Though they may get corrupted or used to seal some kind of evil, usually only the villain of the story sets out to destroy or liberate the world from them – and I’m excited to potentially take on that role in the role of a character acting from a place of deep trauma.

I have one assorted musing for the lore though – there is a throwaway line near the beginning from a slavemaster: “I’m having my Bearer fill the well, my lord. Best to save what crystals we can, eh?” Are there only a finite number of crystals in the world? Do crystals get more “used up” depending on the magic affinity of who’s using it? I’ve been trying to keep out of the game’s world as much as possible, so it’ll be fun to find out.

Overall, I’d say I’m looking forward to it, as it could tell an amazing story that’s actually fun to play. I’ve never been the biggest fan of turn-based RPGs, and I do like that it’s gameplay is going in a little bit different direction than the Kingdom Hearts/FF15/FF7R style. Some of the color schemes are weird, but that and some of the other issues may have well been taken care of by the time of release. Most of all though, I want to make Anabella pay for everything she’s done and I really hope we get to mete out that justice ourselves. If you can make me hate a character for who they are (and not how they’re written), then you’ve at least got some decent writing.

[thephantombelow]

(the following post I originally posted as a long rant on discord. this is that but with slight edits to formatting since I think I made a few okay points worth archiving in a format that wasn't in a discord with less than 100 people in it). long post about megaman, x dive, it's offline version, and the reality of the franchise as a whole. doomer post sorry. go play 30XX and Gravity Circuit though and like any platformer Inti Creates (Gunvolt / Copen series and the Blaster Master Zero trilogy are pretty good!)

oh hey, mega man x dive's online version is dead. neat.

what an odd game that was. mega man as a gacha game was always an inherently flawed concept, and its gameplay sure showed that. some of the most stale levels in any mega man game. some of the most uninteresting fights, with all of them being recreations of older fights outside the honestly pretty cool final boss. crossover events that were neat but apparently not neat enough to get archived properly, a story that killed any pacing that the levels had when they were going, and again, holy shit those levels were bad

i am not sure whether or not I can confidently say it is the worst mega man game as that probably still is X6 but it sure was the most boring one. the offline version that for some reason is 30 dollars only further helps showcase how terrible the balancing was with how hilariously easy it is even on the challenge mode. it was the purest form of every disease the gacha game genre has at points. every single issue that every bad gacha game had x dive had. and also there is nfts or whatever I still don't know if those are official or not (though judging by them appearing at some cons it sure is a maybe)

like, we were pretty hopeful after 11 then nothing but the legacy collections came out and also looking back 11 was just okay but that is a topic for another day and also when I actually sit down and replay it, and still more legacy collections, and we keep buying them all as hey it is cool to have every mega man game in a series of bundles relatively cheaply on pc and console (besides starforce and legends at this point)

but like, lmao. what now.

the only new mega man game (since 2017, not including collections and odd ball things like the Mega Man X crossover in Minecraft Bedrock) was x dive and now that is dead, and the offline version kinda sucks even though I am glad it exists in the first place. (something something preservation is good and this is mostly the best way it could have gone out, and I hope more gacha games do the same in the future)

it kinda feels like we have looped back to the state the franchise was in back in like early 2010s (just with extra copium and better fangames)

people are like; guys the battle network legacy collection sold well that means there is going to be a battle network 7 right guys right right. and like yeah, I guess. it did, right. but man mega man will always be the 5th or 6th best selling franchise for capcom

capcom publishes devil may cry. capcom makes/publishes street fighter. capcom makes/publishes resident evil. capcom makes/publishes monster hunter.

battle network is the only good selling sub-franchise within megaman (best overall series for megaman), outside of, and this is true, mega man 2 (yeah). even still, it is not resident evil, monster hunter, or even ace attorney though it has been a while since I have seen the numbers there

so tl;dr of this doomer posting is that mega man as a franchise is like kinda dead and outside of potential extra legacy collection for spinoff games (&bass + wonderswan sequel, soccer, rockboard, battle and chase, etc), starforce collection, and legends collection (lmao collection for 3 games?) like that's it huh

the last actual proper mega man game was 11, which was back in 2018. besides that we have just gotten the collections and x dive, and that latter is now dead. it's pretty joever

[cielospeaks]

i dv meme just bc i thought it was interesting

surv main: either doctor or little girl, but thats mostly for the outfits. id say rn its little girl but i also sometimes play doctor or painter

hunt main: leo, but id like it to be antonio ; ; barely play hunter tho tbh

fav assist/contain/decode/rescue: i dont rlly play different characters much so really idk. ricky is lovely and amazing, but hard to play w bad connection, so him for decode. lg stun is nice, so maybe for contain? doc's healing is fun when i dont get tracked down immediately, and coord or painter are good for rescuing. so -shrug emoji-

overall fave: ricky (composer) and antonio all the way! gosh i love those guys so much!!

least fav survivor: tbh i dont really like any survivors not ricky that much :/ especially the backstories of a lot of them

least fav hunter: i think i like the hunters just a little more, and any hunter played well is a pain to deal with, so again. neutral answer

fav backstory: i love my boys but tbh we dont know so much abt them. so ill say my bois bc i love them, and prologue detective bc the prologue story was actually interesting, as opposed to everything after it

fave s tier: oh absolutely demon symphony (essence antonio). hes got big devil went down to georgia energy and is just sexy/attractive in general. wish i couldve gotten him

fave hunter trait: idk. does teleport count? bc it looks useful

fave game: rickys game just bc hes in it (and antonio's too for that matter) but other than that idk

fave map: i like eversleeping town since its easy enough to get around and kinda fun to look at. i like the interactable stuff in moon river park, but dont get to play on them much

fave crossover: conan and dr1+2! tho id say dr2 for personal reasons, and it had a good array of characters. conan got screwed over in the intl release which is a shame, bc it was really fun too

fave a tier: im gonna say rickys infernal sonata for this too bc its cute and has very good energy.

fave mode: just quick match? or actually that one from last halloween where you had to find things and make it out of the maze, that was actually fun. besides that dont really care for any mode lol

fave event: 2020 christmas event. antonio cute. why he not get a feature seriously

fave essence: the s tier antonio one bc it was nice. its a shame i dont care much for the other characters but antonio is very cute and has a nice neutral role in the story

fave emote: i like that new high five one that was added. tho for individual characters, maybe the take a picture emote from the collab? or any of antonio's ones. resonance is so cute to see him playing violin

[thebowerypresents]

Ravenous Crowd Welcomes Turnpike Troubadours to the Beacon Theatre

Turnpike Troubadours – Beacon Theatre – July 25, 2023

“Turnpike is still Turnpike.”

It perhaps wouldn’t mean much to big swaths of the known universe, but to the pocket of country music lovers for whom Red Dirt country is a calling card, and the Turnpike Troubadours are one of its most-revered exports, it was everything. Specifically, it was April 2022, and as the beloved Oklahoma six-piece returned to the stage after a hiatus — and, for a hot minute there, a very uncertain future — it was word-as-bond: The band was back in action and ready to slay. 

On Tuesday night at the resplendent Beacon Theatre, slay they did. Turnpike Troubadours played their first proper New York City show since 2018, and a ravenous crowd greeted them like conquering heroes, lapping up every snare crack and twang of a 90-minute show. This is a band that really feels it when they’re all on and makes the crowd feel included in that too — you grok these songs. Along with charismatic frontman and singer-guitarist Evan Felker, drummer Gabe Pearson and bassist R.C. Edwards lock in and never fall out of their pocket, and lead guitarist Ryan Engleman and fiddle player Kyle Nix set things ablaze — counterpointing the other’s string tone in hot moments and soft ones alike. Hank Early is the other not-so-secret ace. A swingman in this group, he plays banjo, pedal steel, accordion and dobro, always just right, whether it’s a dapple, pluck, undertone or something else needed. The bigness and nuance in the band’s sound feel like it needs all six of them, any one musical voice would be a conspicuous absence.

The best Turnpike Troubadours songs balance the poignancy of folk with the rollick of stadium country that could veer pop but for these guys, doesn’t ever quite go there. Felker and the rest of the six-piece got to business right away with them on Tuesday, summoning Turnpike staples “Every Girl” and a raucous “7 & 7” and then steering the band into the whipcrack hoedown of “Before the Devil Knows We’re Dead” and the wistful country waltz “The Bird Hunters.” 

They’d play with all of these modes again — often multiple times — as they moved panoramically through their best-loved material, including the choogling “The Winding Stair Mountain Blues,” the stinging, rock-leaning “Gin, Smoke, Lies,” the tender “Diamonds & Gasoline” (performed as a duo between Felker and Early on dobro) and “Good Lord Lorrie,” the sad-sardonic love story with not a little Bob Dylan in it. There were new songs too, anticipating the band’s long-awaited new album — next month’s A Cat in the Rain — including “Chipping Mill,” which was self-effacing and somber, and “Mean Old Sun,” which was kind of sinister sounding. Welcome back, fellas. —Chad Berndtson | @Cberndtson

(Turnpike Troubadours play the Beacon Theatre again tonight.)

Photos courtesy of Silvia Saponaro | @Silvia_Saponaro

[jmpiner]

Devil may cry hd collection for xbox 360

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Log In to add custom notes to this or any other game. Devil May Cry HD Collection Media Xbox 360. Overall, I rate this game 8.5 out of 10 the loss of points is due to no content (1) and the constant need to re-launch the game to change (0.5). For Devil May Cry HD Collection on the Xbox 360, GameFAQs hosts box shots and screenshots, as well as videos from GameSpot and submitted by users. New Game Network connects you with everything on Devil May Cry HD Collection for Xbox 360.

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I enjoyed playing all three games in HD and the large amount of achievements/trophies will keep fans playing until they give up from killing demons however, the HD Collection suffer two problems: the non-added content and the need to bring up the home menu and start up the HD Collection just to change games. Overall, the HD Collection consists of straight ports of its component titles, with the graphics system upgraded to high-definition 720p on PS3 and Xbox 360 and. No: Despite being a HD remake, DMC HD Collection offers no new content other than a audio and art gallery on the game selection screen. Devil May Cry (Japanese:, Hepburn: Debiru Mei Kurai) is a series of action-adventure games created by Hideki Kamiya.It is primarily developed and published by Capcom.The series centers on the demon hunter Dante and his efforts to thwart various demon invasions of Earth. Yes: With the HD update, smooth 60fps and wide screen support, DMC fans would feel comfortable playing their favourite games once again, from start to finish. Get the best deals on Microsoft Xbox One Devil May Cry HD Collection Video Games and expand your gaming library with the largest online selection at. Devil May Cry HD Collection concept art is digital, print, drawn. Road map for this game is as follows: First run is with Dante on Normal Mode. Xbox 360: Apr 3, 2012: Mar 22, 2012: Apr 3, 2012: Apr 5, 2012: Devil May Cry HD Collection Concept Art. To relive the series first three titles, Capcom released the hit titles in a HD bundle for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. There will be at least 5 playthroughs of this game, plus a bloody palace run.

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Devil May Cry is one of the best selling Hack 'n Slash series and lives up to it with its humour, story and bad ass characters fans of the Devil May Cry is one of the best selling Hack 'n Slash series and lives up to it with its humour, story and bad ass characters fans of the franchise agree that the PlayStation 2 titles were examples of how to make a fun game. The Devil May Cry HD collection brings the first three original Devil May Cry titles, Devil May Cry, Devil May Cry 2, and Devil May Cry 3: Dantes Awakening.

[trickstersmagic]

Today is the day that this bitch comes back

[luna-ainsworth]

Part 2 of my The Devil Judge intro analysis. Warning: ⚠️ long post ⚠️

My English isn't great, but I'll try to explain this as comprehensible as possible.

PART 1 | [PART 2]

5️⃣ "There's no justice in real life. There's only a game, a dreadful, unjust game" - Kang Yohan.

Now from the previous parts of the intro we know that The Devil Judge is set in a dystopia SK where everything was in chaos and the government wasn't being reliable. Yohan was the main character so what role did he play in the story? Inside the two statues of Lady Justice is the image of Yohan standing in his courtroom with "showman-mode ON" and playing his "game", the next shot is the same statues but with the words NO JUSTICE inside. This is basically what he believed and did in the drama. He realized that the rotten judiciary wouldn't give people the justice they deserved so he turned his live court into a game that he had made sure to win even before it began, and justice, as well as revenge, were the prize for the winner.

6️⃣ This last part is so important to me it makes me go feral every single time. This is where my Gahan-shipper heart takes control so if you're not into that, you can stop reading here.

Someone on Twitter pointed out that the composition here is very similar to that of Beauty and the Beast live action poster.

While it's an interesting coincidence since writer Moon also said BATB was one of the works he took inspiration from, the composition itself carries a meaning which both BATB and TDJ used: to emphasize that one important person *cough* love interest *cough* in the characters' heart. The two characters facing opposite directions hints the differences between them, as well as the "monster vs human" narrative. Well, don't people usually say "opposite attracts"? In the drama we see Yohan and Gaon clash due to opposite worldviews, they defy each other's beliefs and by doing so they found what they've been missing from each other. We know Gaon is a symbolism for light. He's not only the light of a dark dystopian world but also the light in Yohan's heart that shines through Yohan's cold darkness and ignites the fire in his soul (cue the fire surrounding Gaon). Fire has long been widely recognized as a symbol of love. It's the passionate kind that can burn. It left a scar on Yohan's left hand and made him be willing to die for Gaon. And for Gaon, although not shown here, we know Yohan gave Gaon the freedom to embrace his darkness, to make choices. For these reasons, they keep gravitating towards each other, especially Yohan, hinted here by showing a Yohan in blue, appears from within the Yohan in red and he's turning his head around. If you notice, the fire doesn't start until blue Yohan appears. Blue Yohan is that more peaceful side of him which he has forgotten, now reappears and that part of him long to be with Gaon.

Now if you look to the left corner, you'll notice two cars running side by side with each other and again, this is from the car chase scene in ep2.

It's just them on the road, their light unites and light up the dark road in front of them. It's interesting how they chose this particular scene instead of anything else. One can argue that it's for the sake of composition, but at this point we've gone through most of the intro and come to realize that "everything is there for a reason", therefore the parallel cars aren't an exception. In the previous part of this analysis, I mentioned how this car chase scene could be seen as a symbolism for Yohan and Gaon's relationship dynamic. This scene in context is basically Yohan "the hunter" chasing his "prey". However, the reason why Yohan "chases" Gaon is because he wants Gaon to be by his side. And so Gaon does. Together they fight the corrupted world, chase away the darkness around them. But one thing about this is that, after they pass, everything behind them is dark again. This reminds me of what Gaon realizes at the end of ep16: "It's all the same, nothing changed." Writer Moon said "the world doesn't change so easily". The symbolism is amazing, it's something you won't easily catch without watching the entire drama.

Another thing I think this scene symbolizes is Gaon is Yohan's equal. I know this topic is somewhat debatable but personally I think their power dynamic gradually becomes more balanced as the drama progresses and it reaches an equilibrium in ep12 when Yohan says he doesn't care if humanity falls as long as he has Gaon and Elijah. (Other POVs on this topic are much welcomed, I'd love to read them.)

Last scene of the intro, my ultimate favorite (because it looks so dope with the reverberated ending notes of He Is The Abyss 🔥). The bright lines and the cars (which I recognize are from the beginning on ep1 where Yohan is driving to the Foundation's gala, the night the story begins) guide your focus to Yohan standing in the middle and make the layout look less empty. The fire surrounding Yohan (the flame on his back is shaped like devil wings to me), keeps on burning, and inside him is a silhouette of Gaon walking down the court hall (fyi, it's a scene from this trailer) and being him there a bright light in yellow. The usual blue that pairs with Gaon's yellow has been replaced with the purple that was previously used in Gyu-young's title card. As I said in my previous analysis, purple is a color of sensitivity and mental stability. Nevertheless, purple can represent arrogance, immaturity and intuition. Gaon becomes Yohan's support system, the light Yohan has found, the one he can be comfortable with. How about Gaon's brash and naive side? I think that's a fact everyone knows already.

One thing is, while I look at this last gif, another character comes to my mind: Kang Isaac. Writer Moon said in his interview that similar to how Soohyun was to Gaon, Isaac was Yohan's moral anchor and support system. Isaac helped him hold on to his life, even after death. After the church fire, Yohan has been tormented by Isaac's unfair death, and what happened to his family in that fire fueled his 10-year plan to wipe out the evil caucus - the very reason he became the "Devil Judge".

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

That's it for my analysis, I hope this makes sense to you 😅. Thank you for reading!

[dungeonaspects]

Lizbeth, Monster Slayer Ranger (Fiend)

"I have no time for questionable morals, these things do not question their own"

Lizbeth is a hunter of fiends, slayer of any and all who commune with the lower planes. Employed by the spymaster in a secretive group she has recently been sent out to cleanse the material plane of the clawed hands of devils and demons.

Her training was arduous, her will as strong as steel, and blades as keen as razors. She will use any underhanded trick to complete her goal, ready to carve her way through any cultist or denizen of darkness to stop any influence of fiends.

She is being tested, she will not know once she has passed, but once she does she will be allowed into the inner circles of the group. This organisation has contacts throughout the world, ready to fight the war on evil.

Lizbeth has associates in paladin orders and temples, yet trusts none of them, superstition leads to guesswork, and that gets you killed. She has studied hard to attain knowledge on every creature of the lower planes, from the courts of Asmodeus to the Baernaloth's of the grey wastes.

With her knowledge she is cold and calculating, weighing up the value of slaying singular demons or squeezing them for information until they pop. She has used taboo magics to attain her goals and likely will again, while she may go on adventures with comrades to retain a reliable group her ultimate goal is the eradication of fiends, and will not be waylaid for too long.

Some Ideas

Lizbeth is a difficult character, clearly an edgelord magnet, but I feel she can have a lot of character beyond a single minded killing machine. Perhaps after some time her personality will begin to loosen up, beginning to see that saving the world means nothing if you don't actually bother to live in it.

She could blend well with a light-hearted bard, both speaking their mind, verbally sparring over the importance of their lifestyles. She sees them as gullible and flamboyant, they see her as stuck up and out of touch with life. Maybe together they will come to an understanding and bond over their differences, her sacrificing something to save them, or them having to make the hard choice.

As for her order, talk to your DM about what the "inner circle" entails, you can have a classic switcheroo, a devil plotting against the lower planes to become supreme ruler. Or you may find the spymaster to be a zealot who wishes to wipe out everyone except the "pure" upper planes. Or it could be a genuine inner circle desiring the removal of evil from the world, ready to do anything to attain that goal who will help against the BBEG.

Lizbeth will certainly be more at home in a fiend heavy campaign, a fault with rangers lying in specialisation, as without access to their chosen monster half of their abilities feel lost. Talk to your DM about where the campaign may lead, as if you're going mainly against fae and giants you may be at a bit of a disadvantage.

Of course these are just suggestions, you can play her in any way you like, as a little ray of sunshine until she goes to "instant kill mode" and butchers devil worshippers with impunity.

Art by Konstiantyn Syvolotskyi

She is beauty, she is grace, she will track the stink of the lower planes across continents and stab you in the face. Her armour is perfect, her stance is one of determination and confidence. She is walking toward the BBEG and is DEFINITELY ignoring the monologue they have prepared. 10/10 would fear.

[letusmeetagain]

A place for him in this world

On my question if there is a place for the devil in paradise? Because a devil can’t play with an angel unless a miracle happens.

Narrator: “It seemed wrong for us to continue living. Whether humanity could survive another day was out of human hands. (...) But that day, one boy gripped the dagger in his heart and used it to kill a titan stomping its massive head into the ground. Who did humans that saw that sight feel? Some were filled with pride. Some were filled with hope. Some were filled with rage. But all of them screamed. (...) Can they ever believe again that there is a place for them in this world?“ (ch.73)

I wonder if there is place for rage in a new world. Or will Eren take all the rage inside him down with him?

The dagger...A rage that works as the mean to keep advancing without hesitation. The source of violence in the world, the great power among humanity that also inhabits Eren’s soul, mentioned in Lost Girls. This side of him that no one can pacify nor stop and the one he chose to prevail over his need to save all innocents and use love as a way to connect with others.

That is his kind side which is immensely great and pure. That other side of him that comforted Mikasa after her loss and gave her a new home not being asked for it. The one that made him wonder about Armin’s bravery.

And also the kind side full of compassion that responded to Ymir’s call, stopped her and gave her the impulse to refuse the meaning her environment gave to her existence. That side of him that is capable of great deeds which are always so small yet so powerful. It’s because its modesty that all of this got eclipsed by his other side.

After making the choice to start the rumbling, he became one of the monsters he wanted to vanish from the world. Since childhood, he has always had a clear ethical division between the innocents, his friends, and abusers like him, who is now the one who exceeded any violent act they’ve ever seen. From his perspective, the innocents are the ones that deserve a place on this world. When he discovered he would be able to take such a decision, he immediately lost his own right to have a place and sided with the undesirable to his own eyes. But self-harm is okay under the light of his mission and he also deserves it following his own rules. He would have wanted to live as an innocent yet his own nature is something he can’t deny, ignore nor control.

That side of him described as a reckless child that spouts out his feelings without being aware of the consequences for himself nor for his environment is something he isn’t able to drown. He can’t. He brought things to the point of challenging his environment to stop him like a child who needs that his surroundings show him where the limit is. Stop being a lonely hunter lost in the forest, being truly connected to others means for us to learn to control ourselves and give up on violence. As I said in another post, Grisha hadn’t enough time to show him the truth. Nobody could.

Yet this scene was very clever. Right after showing this panel, Ramzy appeared to point out not only the fact that both drives are part of his nature but the fact that his drive of helping others is as strong and unstoppable as his violent side. It isn’t possible to take them away from him but through his own choice to let one of them have control over the other. His kind side even turned into a justification for his choice.

It’s not the future he can’t control but his drives, he has always been the person who would make those decisions since the very beginning.

In contrast to his determination to continue the rumbling, the true nature of his feelings about his fate seems to be different. As well as Ymir was waiting for someone to come and save her, that also applies to Eren. Maybe he isn’t deliberately willing to be saved but that’s what he needs as any human cornered like him to throw everything he loves. A salvation he is fated to reach since the moment he formed bonds to his friends and loved them (Yes, that meant Krüger). After Ymir died, she kept carrying the mission of maintaining the Eldian empire… obeying for the eternity the statement of King Fritz “You were born to be a slave“  as if it were her truth.

But how is it for Eren? What’s the meaning of his life? Is it just his mission? For what goal does he want to attain freedom? Is it for him? Of course not. I think his existence was always reduced to his mission and urge of freedom what he believes is his own purpose in life. He is the chosen* one who received the power and responsibility to do something fully aware of the future. Both, Ymir and Eren, accepted a meaning given by their nature, their wishes and also forced by their environment too:

Ymir: wanted love, served as a slave thinking that it would be the mean to reach the love and was/is trapped in paths carrying the will of King Fritz.

Eren: wants freedom, let his violent side to be the mean to attain it and is now trapped in paths refusing to stop the rumbling and carrying the mission until the bitter end.

His aim is to carry the burden of 2000 years of collective wrong choices as if he were a fallen hero condemned to carry a sin for the eternity like Atlas.

*by Ymir but also by himself.

For this time, he accepted to throw away everything what’s dear to him, sever ties by planning a systematic attack on two pure bonds based on love in order to set the right conditions to keep up his mission (he and Mikasa, he and Armin and Armin and Annie, ch. 112) and avoiding to make them pay for his own choice. All explains his search for punishment for the child he still is and for being capable of choosing to become a monster.

He also sacrificed the true meaning of having a dream (but not being a slave to it) and being a soldier. All of this sacrifices that corroded his soul. Still this might have been more acceptable/less regrettable than not doing it.

What led him to choose this? There are a lot of circumstances and reasons for it:

His near death to the curse as impulse that prevented him from further dreams of staying with his friends (and also was his responsibility) and go on kamikaze mode.

That childish dream of freedom (as final state) and its delusion as selfish driving force and also coping mechanism helped him to deal with the guilt and keep moving forward. That is also that “something“ he is now drunk on after severing his bonds to his friends and facing this end alone.

And lastly his friends that were the source of strength and determination that justified selflessness of this choice when he had to make a step (ch.108) or when he hesitated to go ahead with the mission (ch.123).

Even if he is testing them and trying to be stopped* and judged by them, there isn’t an underlying feeling of irony here but hope that the choices they’ll make together as a whole will bring a positive change. I had the feeling that he trusts they will follow their own nature to make the right choice.

(*which would be one condition more he set to boycott his own plan as for ex. letting SoY know he would start the rumbling to let them escape)

Although he seems to wait for a clash, there is nothing but hope. The biggest contradiction for his friends would be to have to reach the goal of stopping him exactly through violence. Erasing the cycle of hatred by committing the biggest crime and then searching for a judgment doesn’t seem to bring a true change. In fact, there is hope considering that Ymir was also stopped by the power of empathy and human connection.

Just the modest act of forgetting about grudges and who has the right to hate and live, empathy and recognizing each other as mere humans on the same level, guilty and innocent was enough for Uri and Kenny to stop their fate of being meant to fight each other.

In brief, he was the one choosing this and it was by moving towards the fate he chose that he was being free… he had a performative freedom while renouncing freedom as a final state in the world. The price he has to pay after this is losing the right to live in the world so he won’t enjoy the freedom to stay alive with his friends. He will have//had to give up his dream for himself in order to grant freedom to the people he loves and thanks to this choice, they may be able to make their own choices to solve the conflict and attain common benefit.

At least, his friends, who witnessed his both sides, will know that his truth is to be both: cruel but also beautiful and they will bring him peace by helping him to embrace his duality, that is so human, and release him from this pain and disappointment.

As Karla wanted for him: to be free of having to be special, different from others.

[the-fallen-order]

devil eyes.

I’ll be honest with you all, I’ve never posted any of my writing. Super nervous, honestly. I was sent a Star Wars fic by a friend and I kept getting the urge to write.. Between me and two friends (they helped with ideas), this is a bit of what we came up with. I’m going to post it on ao3, I think, but I’m a bit self-conscience and kinda scared lol. 

This isn’t the whole thing, just a bit - I’d love some (constructive) feed back..

While Hera is an OC, I tried to leave her fairly ambiguous, so you can view her however you want. I have an idea in my head of what she looks like, but I will leave that up to the reader (unless anyone is interested in what I envisioned). 

(PS. Yes, I know there is a Hera in Rebels, completely unrelated)

I’m also up for collaboration, or doing one shots! I tried really hard to keep stuff canon, but I’m not perfect.  It doesn’t look like any formatting copied over, so I apologize for that! 

This is set AFTER the ending of S2 of The Mandalorian. I don’t believe there are any spoilers...

................

Tattooine.

A wasteland the Huntress was certainly not keen to be on again. It was hot, almost unbearably so, with more sand than she had ever cared to see in her lifetime. An unremarkable planet with twin suns, once home to Jabba the Hutt and his palace. She had visited the palace once, had watched someone – a slave that had done Jabba wrong, she presumed – get dumped into the rancor pit, and she had never wanted to return. The only saving grace of the planet was the podracing.

Yet, money talked, and she found herself back on the awful planet once more, tracking a quarry through the vast desert wasteland of Tattooine. She had narrowed her search down to a small village sitting at the bottom of a mountain - an interesting place to hide, she thought, considering there were much better places to play hide and seek with a bounty hunter. The tracking fob in her hand was blinking more steadily now, indicating she was in the right place. Placing it back in her pocket, she reached up to readjust the hood of her black cloak before pulling her binoculars off her belt to get an idea of what exactly she had gotten herself into.

She knew there would be more bounty hunters coming – Greef Karga, who had given her the bounty puck – was notorious for handing out more than one puck for the same bounty, especially when they were high priority. Most hunters within the guild dreamed of getting bounties like this, but very few were qualified for the High Risk, High Reward type of bounties. Which led to a lot of resentment towards the hunters that were qualified.

The village seemed devoid of any natives. The Quarry had most likely captured the ones that inhabited it or had them killed if they resisted. The beings left milling about were undoubtedly guards hired to protect him, most likely heavily armed, too. At least ten, from what she could see through the binoculars, with an unknown amount inside the huts. It would be challenging, but doable.

“Don’t move.” A modulated voice from behind her broke her train of thought. Her breath hitched as the tip of a blaster was pressed against the back of her head. Another bounty hunter, no doubt. How did I not hear him?

She slowly raised her hands. “I’m in the guild.” The Huntress said.

“I know.” He replied. “This is my bounty.”

Uh huh...

“Maybe we can make a deal,” She suggested, “There’s at least ten guards down there, with who knows how many inside the huts waiting for us.”

He was quiet, watching her. The Huntress slowly turned around to face him, hands still raised in the air, her eyes widening at the sight of Beskar. Oh, fuck. A Mandalorian. Fuck, fuck, fuck. This is not good.

There had been talk of another Mandalorian bounty hunter, one that wasn’t Boba Fett, one that was ruthless during his hunts and never backed down from a fight. He had been Blacklist approved.  He seemed to be following in the footsteps of the one and only Fett, with some kind of vendetta against the galaxy fueling him.

“What’s the deal?” He asked finally, blaster still pointed at her head, his finger on the trigger.

“We can split the bounty.”

Dead silence.

Her heart was racing. She had had plenty of blasters pointed at her, had been shot at plenty of times, shot a couple times, but never by a Mandalorian. They were deadly warriors, not ones to be crossed or stand in the way of. Rare as they were nowadays, when one did show up, it was never a good sign.

“We do this my way, then.”

“Your way?” She shot back.

“Yes.”

“I was here first.”

He stared down at her cloaked figure, contemplating.

“I could kill you and have the bounty all to myself.” He said, almost passively, like he was toying with the idea.

Oh fuck. Think…think!

“Even that Beskar of yours can only protect you from so much, Mandalorian. Half of the pay is still better than none if we are both dead.”

“We do this my way, then.” He lowered the blaster to his side, kneeling down beside her, pressing a button on his vambrace that changed the view mode of the visor in his helmet. The Huntress lowered her hands, putting her binoculars back on her belt.

Stars, he was intimidating.

“Quarry is in the far -right hut.” The Mandalorian said, “With more guards hiding inside. Let’s go.”

She sighed quietly, mostly to herself, before following him down the side of the mountain. What am I thinking?

The Huntress stayed low, quietly making her way to the first hut, listening intently as the sound of enemy footsteps came towards her. Vibro-blade in hand, she moved swiftly, her free hand covering his mouth to muffle him as her other stabbed the blade into his neck, pulling him back behind the hut as he struggled against her. She twisted the blade in deeper, his body going limp in her arms as she pulled the blade out, dropping him to the ground.

She continued to make her way through the small village, quietly taking out guards with her vibro-blade as she went. As she set another now-dead guard on the ground, blaster fire suddenly erupted around her. She peaked around the edge of the hut she had snuck behind, watching as mass chaos unfolded in front of her.

Ah, the Mandalorian has been seen.

Guards were everywhere now; she had quietly taken out five, but those five had been replaced by another twenty and they were all shooting at the Beskar-clad target. She couldn’t blame them, though; he was a truly enticing target to shoot at.

Sheathing her vibro-blade, she pulled her blaster from it’s holster and open-fired at a few of the enemies, watching as the Mandalorian disintegrated one with his long rifle.

Impressive.

She kept her gaze on the Mandalorian whose cover was quickly becoming compromised. Turning her attention back to the guards, she began firing more rounds at the them to draw their attention away from him and onto her. The Mandalorian gave her a quick nod - she assumed it was his way of saying thank you - and used the opportunity she had provided to him to move his position and disappear behind the other huts.

Pulling a thermal detonator off of her utility belt, she armed it and threw it in the direction of the guards, peeking her head back out after it had detonated, eliminating the group. It was stupid of them to congregate in one area like that, but she supposed that’s what you got for hiring bandits to protect you, rather than highly trained mercenaries. Even with them being heavily armed, idiots could only do so much.

The blaster fire had mostly ceased after the blast, with one or two guards left trying their best to take out the two bounty hunters. She almost felt bad for them. Watching as one was disintegrated, she took out the last one standing and moved to join the Mandalorian in the last hut on the right.

Walking through the door, blaster drawn, she watched as the Mandalorian cuffed the bounty, who was pleading and crying to let him go, that it was all a misunderstanding. “Whatever you’re being paid, I’ll double it if you let me go!” The Huntress rolled her eyes at that - that was like the go-to statement of the century for quarries when they knew they were caught. She holstered her blaster, continuing to watch the Mandalorian. He pulled the bounty towards the door by the cuffs, stepping past her as if she didn’t exist.

“What are you doing?”

“I told you this was my bounty.” He replied.

“We made a deal.” He stopped, looking over his shoulder at her.

“Deals off.”

“Fight me for it.” She taunted, clenching her fists in preparation to fight. Her blaster was no use against the beskar, this she knew. The Mandalorian let go of the bounty, pulling the long shiny spear from off his back and turned to look at her. His body language conveyed the message to her very clearly; he was pissed.

“We had an agreement, Mandalorian.”

He charged at her, taking a swing at her with the spear. The Huntress crossed her arms at her wrists, letting her own beskar vambraces take the impact of the attack, the sound of beskar-on-beskar rang through the air as he pushed her backwards towards the wall. She stumbled a few steps backwards, regaining her balance as he swung again. She ducked, throwing a punch at his unprotected side, making contact. The Huntress quickly stepped back, activating the flamethrower on her vambrace, forcing him to step back away from her.

“Where did you get those?” He asked harshly. She disengaged the flamethrower, watching him cautiously, both of them poised to continue fighting. Mandalorian’s took their armor very seriously; especially when it was a dar’manda wearing the armor. This she knew all too well.

“This is my arm--“ Was all she managed to get out before he used the grappling line in his vambrace to constrict her, watching as it wrapped around her, causing her to lose her balance and fall to the ground with a thud.

She struggled to get loose from the line as he pulled her towards him, only stopping once she felt the familiar sensation of a blaster being pressed against her forehead. The Huntress stared up at him, fully expecting him to pull the trigger on her this time.

The silence between the two was almost palpable.

“…Kandosii?” It was almost a whisper, barely audible through the vocoder in his helmet. Her heart skipped a beat at the nickname - she hadn’t been called that in years. It was foreign, almost, the familiarity of it just out of her reach. The sound of the Beskar spear hitting the ground echoed through the hut as the Mandalorian studied her – the Mandalorian armor, now painted a familiar blue, her fighting style….her eyes.

She was alive.

[spnsmile]

Cas will smite everyone who insults Dean's freckles

Yes yes he will! No questions asked! 👀

But shit just went down here, anon! Still sweet end, don't worry ✨ For you 😅

--------------- 👀

Castiel likes it when Dean is honest with himself. 

Since their first kiss, their first night, both confessing how they always wanted each other in every way, Castiel made Dean agree they both stop their 'wishful thinking' and start doing as they please. They wasted time dancing around each other, Castiel is not about to condition Dean on his own wants. He wants Dean. Permission was given. Castiel trusts Dean and that's about everything they needed to know.

So he likes it when Dean steals kisses while in the middle of a stressful hunt. Likes it so much when Dean entwines their hands while doing manual research. Best, of course, is when he can pin Dean on the wall without much as a blink. Gets thrilled when Dean pushes his chair and straddles his lap without warning.

It happens anywhere in the Bunker: the library, the kitchen, even the upper entrance where they set the chessboard game. He loves Dean's honesty, it makes his whole face brighten and make Castiel feel like sunshine is flooding his soul.

So it's true. Honesty is the best policy. Except for Sam. Sam needs limits. Sam says he needs his peace of mind so honesty is not for all. Sam who caught them by the ham radio panel once, twice by the telescope too- needs his rules. They had to make sure Sam is safely out of the way.

So when Dean stands up from his chair and walked to him while Castiel sits on the couch by side table, Castiel smiles too. Sam is out for the night. And Dean wearing his cheeky little grin and twinkling green eyes suggestively makes Castiel's invisible broken wings to flutter in excitement.

Dean takes the book from Castiel's hand and threw it away. Angel's eyes follow where it landed (in case he needs to retrieve it before a dog eats it) before falling on his knees. Castiel watches Dean, mesmerized as he unbuckles his belt and unzips his pants. Their eye contact is glazed and intense when Dean looks up before kissing the tip of its head.

Castiel exhales for the blessing. Leaning back on the chair, he cards his hand on the hunter's hair. Dean is beautiful. Much beautiful with cheeks flushed and lips wrapped around his cock. But it's not this that gets Castiel staring fixedly. 

"I love them. Your freckles."

It's the first time he's said it. 

Also, first time to see Dean glare up to the angel's surprise. His movement did not cease but the pacing grows bolder and quicker that Castiel is throwing his head back breathlessly,  fingers digging on the hunter's hair till he comes. Dean draws more from him, Castiel wonders if its Dean telling him to stop talking.

Dean's lips certainly can and when the hunter smirks at Castiel's wrecked form, the angel thought nothing of it anymore

Until the next hunt.

***

The impala door slams shut, scaring off squirrels on the nearest lawn in the middle of a hot suburb. 

"What's the plan, Samwise?"

"Shut up, Dean. We need this done pronto. We already know the demon's inside the house holding two college students hostage-"

"-who happened to play around with a book of witchcraft and eventually summon an actual powerful demon-" Cas supplies flatly.

"Good times." Dean rolls his eyes.

"Is it?" Cas is confused. 

"Guys, listen," Sam pursed his lips "we still have to know what kind of demon they summon okay? From the description of the mother, the book she saw is ancient-"

"That's my boy remembering all the nerdy stuff." Dean pats Sam's shoulder who scowls. 

"I was thinking they could've summoned an old demonized pagan god which means it's going to be a little tricky."

"Can't I smite it on the spot?"

Dean beams at Cas, full of heart eyes. 

"That's why I love that you're here, Cas. You've no idea of half the shit Sam and I went through when we deal with the old bitch stuff as pagan gods." Cas only squints.

Sam shakes his head. "No, Cas. If we can catch it that's much better. We don't know what happened to the third kid."

"And there's a third kid." Dean sighs. "There's always a third kid. Cas, we can't have the demon ganked until we have the whereabout of the kid, okay?"

"Understood."

"You can smite it when things got out of hand," Sam adds. Castiel relaxes. "Dean will work on the trap downstairs while I tackle it wherever the hell it is."

"Definitely not in hell." Dean snorts humorously but nobody laughed. He scowls.

"Cas can cover the back of the house, Dean can go front while I clear what's the second floor, see if the kids are there. And Dean. Don't kick the door, please." Sam finishes. 

Dean winks at Cas. "Sammy does the search and rescue while we get the tough job."

They do the drill. 

Dean is the first to reach the living room. Castiel hears him kick the door. Rolling his eyes, he walks through the kitchen, searching high and low. But he stops when he feels the evil energy contained in the space ascend so he hurries to Dean.

Dean has it in a devil's trap. It has shed the mortal body to its gruesome true form of bile and wood, an old pagan indeed. Probably after Sam exorcises it. 

The demonic voice did not surprise him he hears it talking to Dean. He hears the threats, the convulsing energy that wants to harm, but when the demon starts cursing at Dean, Castiel steps forward. The demon saw him and yells curses in his direction.

"I got it, Cas," Dean says.

"You?" spits the demon, "Yoke of the yellow eyes with his tongue's mark on your skin, got me? Freckled fuck-"

Castiel's whole form flares with anger. He sees Dean flinch, sees the color drain from his face as the demon went on with insults but it's over in a second. Castiel smites the demon, holy grace exploding in blinding rage. His eyes stay on Dean who blinks at him in surprise. They stand there not talking till Sam appears telling them third kid is not upstairs.

"Cas! I told you we need him!" Sam says, crestfallen at the empty devil's trap.

 "It got out of hand," Castiel says tone leveled. "Dean?"

"Uh... Yeah, yeah out of hand. Let's find thirdy." Dean reverts to his business tone, hunter first mode but Castiel sees through him.

Turns out the third kid is dead.

***

That night when in the safety of Dean's room, after Castiel strips all but the necktie on his neck and granted Dean's fantasy, when the hunter is in a better, relaxed mood, Castiel asks Dean about it. 

Honesty is what they needed most.

"It's not that. I love everything you say, Cas." Dean says with the left arm at the back of his head, the other Castiel's pillow while the angel stared up at him. "I just don't like it getting pointed... During, you know, sex."

"Why not?"

Dean looks away. "I know they don't look good. Not in the dark, not with fire-"

"What? Some mortal you had sex with said it's not?" Castiel couldn't imagine the fire at first, wondering how some one- nightstand can make Dean Winchester doubt the perfection of every part of his body. 

Dean doesn't answer so Castiel pushes himself to look Dean in the eyes. His green eyes look somber and hurt. It confuses the angel.

"Dean."

"It's not exactly mortal." he points out.

"Anna?" Castiel chastises.

"No."

"I can recite all the supernatural beings in the world Dean, both in Alphabetical and numerical order.  Also in symbols even Enochian if you want. So unless you want me to start the vigil-"

"I think you'll get there easy with demon A plus torture, y'happy now?" Dean snaps, turning his body away from the surprised angel.

But Castiel is a bottle of rage. He wants to climb out of bed and charge hell once again. Destroy everyone who made Deam suffer. But this is not about him.

Castiel's inside flounders at the gravity of the meaning. He stares at Dean's shrinking form, his exposed back where he can see the lovely sunspots graced by heaven's light even in the darkness of the room. 

The remark of the demon hits him hard. Even when it's been years, scars of words don't easily heal...

He feels Dean's anguish, can see the brightness of Dean's soul slowly diminish. And it's easy to fall prey to your own demons sometimes, much easier than loving yourself after what happened.

It hurts the angel.

"Dean." he places a gentle hand on the hunter's shoulder possessively, glad Dean isn't pulling away. "Dean, when I put you together from hell when I touched you right here," he squeezes the shoulder, "I cleansed your soul from any damage and residue that hell brought you. That's what an angel's claim means to do. To purify and renew. Any sin you committed before then has been... Um, in your words, turned a clean slate. There was no doubt you came out from there intact and cleansed."

"Let's not talk about it." Dean fumes. "Not in the sack. Don't mention it, please, Cas.."

Castiel looks brokenheartedly at Dean. He rubs his hand gently on Dean's skin before finally pulling the man's back flat on the bed. His heart ached when he sees the blurry green eyes swimming in silent unshed tears. 

Castiel frowns deeper. Dean is beautiful and no kind of demon will ever see that. It takes amount of love to see it. Dean needs to see it. So he leans down. Crawls over the man, their bodies parallel, his knees on each side of Dean's hips and then worships him

Lile how Dean deserves it.

He catches Dean's eyes. Makes Dean see the intensity of his love. Presses a gentle kiss on Dean's eyes, his nose, his cheeks. Dean's lips he brushes with his own. 

"I love them. They are beautiful," he repeats firmly, confidently. 

Dean swallows hard. Castiel crushes his lips on Dean to a bruising kiss, distracting Dean further when he presses their body together, igniting the flame dampened by a cursed memory. But Castiel won't let Dean continue believing his freckles are Taboo. He loves Dean's freckles. Loves everything that is Dean. 

So he repeats it when he touches Dean and makes him come. Repeats it when he takes Dean apart. Whispers it when Dean falls asleep in his arms. Knows Dean starts believing when he says it repeatedly on his ears and Dean smiles.

"I love them, okay?"

Dean pecks on his lips and murmurs, "I love everything you love, Cas."

"That means you."

Dean looks him in the eyes softly. Castiel waits, embracing Dean closer like doing so would keep Dean's heart together. Then-

"Mm kay. I love myself too."

Castiel tucks his face on Dean’s neck. 

"Fuck, Cas - babe, you cryin?"

 It's between that and smiling.

[knifeonmars]

Capsule Reviews, February 2021

Here's some things I've been reading.

The Curse of Brimstone 

DC's New Age of Heroes books, emerging from the beginning of Scott Snyder's creative-flameout-as-crossover-event Metal, mostly constituted riffs on Marvel heroes like the Fantastic Four (in The Terrifics) or the Hulk (in Damage). The Curse of Brimstone is a riff on Ghost Rider. It's... uneven. The first volume is generally pretty good, and when Phillip Tan is drawing it, as he does the first three and a half issues, it's gorgeous and unique, when he departs though, the quality takes a nose dive. None of the replacement artists, including the great Denis Cowan, can quite fill his shoes, and the story gets old fast. Guy makes a deal with the devil (or rather, a devil-like inhabitant of the "Dark Multiverse" as a not horribly handled tie-in to the conceits of Metal), realizes it's a raw deal, and rebels. The characters are flat, lots of time is spent with the main character's sister haranguing him to not use his powers (it is, in my humble opinion, something of a cardinal sin to have a character whose primary role is telling other characters to stop doing interesting things), too many potboiler "I know you're still in there!/I can feel this power consuming me!" exchanges, a couple of underwhelming guest spots (including a genuinely pointless appearance by the old, white, boring Doctor Fate) too many flashbacks, and not enough of the action. There's potential in the classic demonic hero rebelling plotline and its link to the liminal spaces of the DC universe, forgotten towns and economic depression, but the wheels come off this series pretty much as soon as Tan leaves. The really disappointing this is that the series is clearly built as an artistic showcase, so after Tan's shockingly early departure, the main appeal of the series is gone and there's nothing left but the playing out of an obviously threadbare story.

Star Wars - Boba Fett: Death, Lies, and Treachery

I don't care much about Star Wars these days, and I think that most of the old Expanded Universe was, as evidenced by Crimson Empire, pretty bad. Death, Lies, and Treachery, is that rare Star Wars EU comic which is actually good. John Wagner writes and he's in full-on 2000 AD mode, writing Boba Fett as a slightly more unpleasant Johnny Alpha (who is like a mercenary Judge Dredd, for those unfamiliar) right on down to the appearance of a funny alien sidekick for one of the characters. The main attraction is Cam Kennedy's art though, along with his inimitable colors: this might be the best looking Star Wars comic ever. The designs are all weird and chunky, with an almost kitbashed feeling that captures the lived in aesthetic of classic Star Wars, and the colors are one of a kind. Natural, neutral white light does not exist in this comic, everything is always bathed at all times in lurid greens or yellows, occasionally reds, and it looks incredible. In terms of "Expanded Universe" material for Star Wars, this hits the sweet spot of looking and feeling of a piece, but exploring the edges of the concept with a unique voice. It's great. I read this digitally, but I'd consider it a must-buy in print if I ever get the chance at a deal.

Zaroff

Zaroff is a French comic (novel? novella?). It's like 90 pages and it delivers exactly on its premise of "Die Hard starring the bad guy from The Most Dangerous Game." It's pretty good. Count Zaroff, he of the habitual hunting of humans, turns out to have killed a mafia don at some point, and after miraculously escaping his own seeming death at the end of the original story, finds himself hunted by the irate associates of this gangster, who have brought along Zaroff's sister and her kids to spice things up. Zaroff not only finds himself the hunt, but he also has to protect his estranged family as they struggle to survive. Nothing about this book or its twists and turns is likely to surprise you, but I don't think being surprised is always necessary for quality. Zaroff delivers on pulpy, early-20th century jungle action, is gorgeously rendered, and the fact that Zaroff himself is an unrepentant villain adds just enough of an unexpected element to the proceedings and character dynamics that it doesn't feel rote. There's a couple of points, ones typical of Eurocomics, which spark a slight sour note, such as some "period appropriate" racism and flashes of the male gaze, but for the most part these are relatively contained. It's good.

Batman: Gothic

Long before Grant Morrison did their Bat-epic, they wrote Batman: Gothic, an entirely different, but then again maybe not so different, kind of thing. It starts off with what must be called a riff on Fritz Lang's film, M, only where that story ends with a crew of gangsters deciding they cannot pass moral judgment on a deranged child-murderer, in Morrison's story they go ahead and kill him, only for the killer to return years later to rather horribly murder all of them as a warmup for a grandiose scheme involving unleashing a weaponized form of the bubonic plague on Gotham City as an offering to Satan. Along the way it turns out that said villain, one Mr. Whisper, is a former schoolmaster of Bruce Wayne's, who terrified the young Batman in the days before his parent's deaths. It's an earlier Morrison story and it shows. Certain elements presage their later Batman work; Mr. Whisper as a satanic enemy recalls the later Doctor Hurt, and the cathedral Mr. Whisper built to harvest souls recalls what writers like Morrison, Milligan, and Snyder would do concerning Gotham as a whole years later.The art, by Klaus Janson, is spectacular. If you're familiar at all with his work collaborating with Frank Miller you'll see him continuing in a similar vein and it's all quite good, even when he stretches beyond the street milieu which most readers might know him from. There's one particular sequence where Janson renders a needlessly complicated Rube Goldberg machine in motion that manages to work despite being static images. The writing by Morrison though, is not their finest. The M riff doesn't last as long as it could, and Mr. Whisper's turn in the latter half of the story from delicious creepy wraith to a cackling mass murderer who puts Batman in an easily escaped death trap feels like something of a letdown from the promise of the first half of the book. Gothic is good, but not, in my opinion, great. It's certainly worth checking out for Morrison fans however, and I imagine that someone well-versed in his latter Batman stuff might be able to find some real resonance between the two.

Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters

For a long, long time, Longbow Hunters was THE Green Arrow story. It is to Green Arrow as TDKR is to Batman, deliberately so. Mike Grell wrote and drew the reinvention of the character from his role as the Justice League's resident limousine liberal to a gritty urban vigilante operating in Seattle over the course of these three issues, which he'd follow up with a subsequent ongoing. Going back to it, it certainly merits its reputation, but its far from timeless. Grell's art is unimpeachable absolutely incredible, with great splashes and spreads, subtle colors, and really great figure work. The narrative is almost so 80's it hurts though, revolving around West Coast serial killers, cocaine, the CIA and the Iran-Contra scandal, and the Yakuza, and it's hard to look back at some of this stuff without smirking. The story begins with a teenager strung out on tainted coke sprinting through a window in a scene that's right out of Reefer Madness. In the cold light of a day 30+ years later, parts of it look more than a little silly. The 80's-ness of it all doesn't stop with that stuff though, even the superhero elements smack of it. Green Arrow realizes that he's lost a step and has be to be shown a way forward by an Asian woman skilled in the martial arts (recalling Vic Sage's reinvention in the pages of The Question), and Black Canary gets captured and torture off-panel for the sake of showing that this is real crime now, not the superhero silliness they've dealt with before. The treatment of Black Canary here is pretty markedly heinous, it's a classic fridging and Grell's claims that he didn't intentionally imply sexual assault in his depiction of her torture is probably true, but still feels more than a little weak considering how he chose to render it.The final analysis is that this book is good, but it exists strictly in the frame of the 1980's. If you're a fan of Green Arrow, there are worse books to pick up, or if you're interested in that era of DC Comics it's more than worth it, but as a matter of general interest I wouldn't recommend it very highly.

SHIELD by Steranko

Jim Steranko is sort of the prodigy of the early Marvel years, a young guy who came up through the system, blossomed into an incredible talent, and then left the company, and by and large the industry, behind. He would go on to dabble in publishing, work in other mediums, and generally kick around as the prodigal son of Marvel Comics. This collection, of both his Nick Fury shorts in the pages of Strange Tales and the four issues he drew of the original Nick Fury solo series, charts Steranko's growth as an artist. The book starts off with Steranko working from Jack Kirby's layouts with Stan Lee's dialogue and writing, and Steranko might be the one guy in history for whom working off of Kirby's blueprints is clearly holding him back. The first third or so of this collection really isn't much to write home about, as Steranko is obviously constrained by someone else's style, and at the end of the day those early stories still read as somewhat uninspired pulp compared to the highlights of early Marvel. There are flashes though, of techniques and ideas, which foreshadow what Steranko is capable of, and when he finally takes over as solo writer/artist it's like he's been unleashed. He immediately has Nick Fury tear off his shirt and start throwing guys around over psychedelic effects. He writes out most of Kirby and Lee's frankly uninspired boys' club supporting cast, he makes Fury visibly older, wearier, but also so much cooler. It's the birth of Nick Fury as a distinctly comic book super spy.By the time he finishes wrapping up the previous writers' plotline with Hydra and Baron von Strucker, Steranko is firing on all cylinders. By the time it gets to Steranko's Fury solo series, he's somehow surpassed himself, turning in effects, panel structures, and weird stories which make the earlier installment about a suit-wearing Man from UNCLE knockoff and its strict six-panel layouts look absolutely fossilized.I can't recommend this collection highly enough for any fan of the artform, even if the stories themselves might not be everyone's cup of tear. It's truly incredible to watch Steranko emerge as an artist over the course of this single collection. The book itself has a few problems, it's not the most elegantly designed in its supporting materials and index, but the content of it more than outweighs that. It's great stuff.