#some guns are easier than others for my style of play

[rosiegames]

It’s a good job there’s likeable things about the game (mostly the legends themselves) …

[dazais-guardian-angel]

Dazai Osamu and the Dark Era: the visual novel (a fan project)

On a whim, I've decided to finally just publicly release this project that I've had laying around for two years at this point, for Dazai's birthday today. It was originally made for my very dear friend @letmereachforthestars , when I first introduced her to the series and wanted her to be able to read my favorite BSD light novel in an easier-to-read format. You need a computer to be able to play. The details and links are under the cut:

If you've never played a visual novel before, it's basically a novel in the form of a video game. Text will appear line by line, one a time on the screen, and it will be accompanied by relevant background visuals, music, and sound effects, to make the reading experience more immersive, and more stimulating than just reading from a book. Some visual novels have actual gameplay elements to them, and some are just books and nothing else (oftentimes dating sims/choose-your-own-adventure novels), the latter of which this is. If you've played the mobile game Bungou Tales/Mayoi, the story sections of that game are basically mini visual novels.

This game was made with screenshots and music from the anime, sound effects from the anime and Bungou Tales and free sound effect online sources, as well as graphics and fonts and other assets from Bungou Tales and other official BSD art (particularly the official anime soundtrack cd covers). The script is taken entirely from the official Yen Press translation of Dark Era, with the exception of about two or three iconic lines that I used different translations of because I felt like they had more impact. Additionally, at the very, very end, I added on the original ending scene from the Dark Era stage play and wrote a few fanfic lines of my own to accompany it you can tell because they are very cringe and don't match Asagiri's writing style.

Before playing the game, there are a few very important things to keep in mind; PLEASE read all this:

I am not a professional in the slightest. I took some coding classes in high school, and have some photoshop skills (when it comes to the design elements of the menus), but for the most part the former wasn't much help here; this was my very first time ever using the Renpy engine, and I made this entirely from scratch. I used my knowledge of playing other visual novels to emulate the kinds of effects and timing that is typical for these games, and I think it turned out pretty well all things considered, but it's still very amateur. This is most evident in the sound effects. The sound effects have no volume consistency between them, and some of them, particularly the gun/battle sfx, can come on very suddenly and be loud. I highly, HIGHLY encourage going into the settings and turning down the sound effects volume (the music should be fine), so that you're not startled by certain sounds when they happen, and for a lengthy time. I wouldn't blame you if you decide to turn the sfx off entirely if's too distracting, honestly 🫠 I am no expert in sound files equalizing and making sound files loop seamlessly, so this was by far the most tedious and frustrating part of the process of making this for me. Hopefully it doesn't ruin the game or break immersion too much if you decide to leave them on (I hope you do, for the rain and clock sounds at least, but again I wouldn't blame you if you can't).

Dark Era is the most faithful light novel adaptation in the anime, but there are still a handful of scenes, mostly fight scenes, that got shaved down significantly. Because of this, there are numerous occasions where I had to simply linger on a black screen or the same screenshot for a long period of time, while tons and tons of narration happens, because there's simply nothing I can show to accompany said narration. This is not ideal, but unfortunately I didn't have much else of a choice in those instances, so I hope it's not too distracting. There are also a few instances of straight-up inconsistencies between the novel and the anime (ex. the fight between Oda and Akutagawa happens in the woods in the novel, but in the anime it's still right outside the art museum), so sometimes what you're reading won't quite match the screenshots I use. Fortunately it's never anything major, but it does happen.

There will sometimes be long, unchanging black screens. Don't worry, the game isn't broken; just wait long enough and it will continue.

Sometimes, a character will get cut off when speaking, and when that happens the dialogue will auto-force to the next line. If you didn't get a chance to see what was said before, check the text backlog/history (in the menu or the H key).

Last but not least, this game was made with the default text speed in mind. Meaning, that when it comes to certain specific scenes, the mood/tone of them, made up of the timing of music, transitions, sound effects, etc, all of it was arranged around the speed at which things progress when using the default text speed. I completely understand if you can't, but if at all possible, please try not to change the text to go too much faster or slower, especially faster, because certain scenes will lose a lot of impact otherwise. If you already know Dark Era, you probably have an idea of some of the scenes I'm referring to. At the very least, during the more high-stakes/intense scenes, please try to play through those all at once without stopping, for the greatest impact based on how I designed the game, and only pause/quit during the slower scenes. There are specific moments that I'm really proud of how they came out, and I'd like for them to have the maximum impact that I intended :') (also note that if you make the text appear instantly, the cut-off dialogue mentioned above simply will not appear at all, and you won't even know to look back for them, so please refrain from making the text instant at the very least)

Ignore the cringe sappy final message

...I think that's everything. With all that out of the way, here are the links for both PC and Mac:

Download the PC version

Download the Mac version

This was a passion project for me for a good many months back in 2022. It started out just as a gift for my friend, but in the end I was really satisfied with how it turned out, despite how tedious and frustrating it was to work on. I've been hesitant to share it with the fandom for all this time because I kinda doubt anyone would really be interested in something like this especially since it's not stormbringer or beast, but someone on discord who tried it told me that I should share it, so here it is. I'm sharing it not just because I'm proud of my work, but because Dark Era is a truly amazing light novel — underrated, in my opinion (yes, I said what I said) — and far better than the anime adaptation, as good as that is, and I want more people to read it. If reading the books is hard for you and you've never read Dark Era before, if I can help just one more person to read it with this, I'll be happy, and consider my job done. 💖

I so desperately want to make more of these visual novels for the other light novels, but sadly, some of them simply aren't possible thanks to how many scenes are missing from the anime, like with Entrance Exam in particular. I've also been waiting with vain, thin hope that Bungou Tales will eventually reach seasons 3 and 4, so I can use their Fifteen and Untold Origins title screens like I did here, if those ever exist. However, I'm also held back thinking about certain scenes that would require some redrawing/drawing additional details to match what's written in the novels. If anyone has any ideas on things I could do to possibly get around these issues, or just thoughts in general about how the other light novels might be tackled, or if you're an artist who can recreate the anime's style and takes commissions/knows someone who does, I'd absolutely love to hear from you! As well as any advice/help on how I can smooth out/improve this project here!

Anyway, sorry for the long wall of text. Thank you for reading all this, if you did, and if you do try the game, please let me know your thoughts; I crave any and all feedback. 💙✨

[horseshoegirl]

Damn Those Dog Tags: Part 15 - Have You Ever Seen The Rain

📖I need to make two apologies. First, I am so sorry for the long delay. While work was beating my ass, I actually received a rude comment on my Wattpad account for the last chapter that triggered a horrible writer's block. It was taken care of, and it didn't bother me at the time, but I didn't realize how much it affected me until I started to write. Then I decided to use it for inspiration!

Secondly, I'm so sorry for what is about to unfold. This one was planned from the get-go (which is also probably why I struggled because this is the one chapter I dreaded having to write).

(I'll be running from the pitchforks as they come, Woot Woot!)

❗️+18, strong language, godmother reader/original female character, Mentions of an original child, Shitty family dynamics, Angst, verbal fights, sexist implications, one slap across the face, and Jake being Hangman.

#6k words

Part 14 | Masterlist | Part 16

The story behind how you started ego-checking some of the cocksure pilots at Hard Deck is less interesting than one might think.

It all started with a game. 

You weren't kidding when you told Jake you were a library, loving geek who'd rather spend her time deep in the stacks. That was the plot of your entire post-secondary experience. You didn't know how to flirt. You stayed clear of frat parties and cliquey groups. And if a guy tried to flirt with you, you ran for the freaking hills without a backward glance.

You only decided to take that bartending job in building H's damp, dark basement because you were dead-ass broke. But the thing about being a bartender on a University campus, there were moments when you had nothing but time on your hands.

You had to get creative.

Looking back, you would blame the writer-orientated part of your mind that decided to create that little game of making up stories for the people who regularly visited the miserable bar.

The quiet girl, always sitting in the back corner, cramming for a test or writing a paper. Did she like the ambience, or was she avoiding the library? Or was she trying to work up the nerve to ask out one of the bussers, waiting for the perfect meet cute?

Maybe the nerds who gathered every Friday at the arcade-style game consoles playing Pac-Man needed to leave their dorm because Friday nights tended to be the one night everyone liked to party.

Those popular girls sitting around a table with their $5 cocktails, lowcut tanktops, and jean shorts, always on their phones gossiping over the latest social media post from their favourite celebrities. Did they have Regina George in their ranks? Which one was sleeping with the other's boyfriend? How much blackmail did they have on each other?

Which one would murder the other first?

That little game you invented for yourself got you out of your shell. It also made it easier to deal with the persistent football jocks who'd try to flirt with you for a free shot.

Ridley would always get a kick out of it whenever you told her. You'd always imagined her curling up in a ball and kicking her feet back and forth while she squealed in laughter over the phone.

"Be a character in one of your freaking stories. Or better yet, act it out! You're a damn writer, Lizzie."

She was right. So you did. 

You'd never forget the laughter of that football jock when your rejection of his flirting attempts to weasel a free drink out of you resulted in his childish reply of, "Well, nobody's perfect, Sweetheart, least of all you."

"I never said I was," you had said with a smile.

You must have said something right because a few minutes later, Penny was introducing herself and chatting you up, asking if you wanted a better job bartending.

You were all too happy to leave. But nothing could have prepared you for the hotshot, ego-driven, and stupidly horny Top Gun pilots who frequented the Hard Deck. 

Between remembering their drink order or what side of the room they tended to gravitate towards, you needed more than your little guessing game to figure out their tells. You did pick up little things about them, though.

The WSOs were the kindest; ironically, they stood out in the crowds. Always a kind smile, never a bad thing to say about anyone.

The female pilots were always badass. At least, you thought so. Strong. Always commandeering the room the second they walked in. Always nice, no question about it. But mess with them; you got schooled hard.

They were the literal definition behind the saying, 'Do no harm, but take no shit.'

And with each new group that came in, the male pilots, the single flyers you had called them, paled compared to those jocks. They never changed. A pair constantly vied for first place with each new group that came through the Top Gun program.

Always a pair of males. Women always knew there was more at stake than a freaking trophy.

Those guys talked to you. Well... properly flirted at you.

That's where your little game came in handy. Picking out the little things about them, letting your mind do the creative parts next. It's how you turned Jake down so quickly that first time.

But the guy currently approaching the bar? He did not fit the bill of any regular customer you had seen in a while.

Tourists came and went without question. They stood out like a pack of flies, unsure where to go, with friendly faces and always asking what the best places were. They tipped great, and they never returned.

This guy? 

Not a tourist.

He was from out of town. The plaid shirt, jeans and cowboy boots were unusual for a California bar. It was also how he gaped at the walls and ceiling, taking in all the Navy memorabilia Penny had collected over the years. If you hadn't been paying attention, you could have sworn there was a look of distaste on his face with each new item he saw.

But what irked you was the sense of familiarity you couldn't place while looking at him. Blonde hair and a sharp face. Something in how he carried that toothpick between his teeth, not in the way god forbid fucking Tyler had, but as if it was a piece of grass. Also, in the way he walked.

Then he openly leered at a woman's ass as she walked by, and it all made sense.

Ah, a Wham, Bam, Thank You, Mam.

He sat in the empty chair directly in front of you, still watching the women's retreating form. You didn't want to serve him, but a tiny part of you hoped your assumption had been wrong.

It had been a while since you had to rebuff flirty advances; the newer pilots going through the Top Gun Program hardly said anything to you except smile and relay their order.

You suspected Jake was behind it.

"What can I get you?" you smiled at the guy. He slowly pulled his eyes away with a sly grin. The second he caught sight of your face, his mouth stretched even wider as he leaned forward on the bar.

"Your number and the name of a good hotel."

You should have known better. 

If it looked like a duck, it quacked like a duck too.

Resisting the urge to roll your eyes, you straightened the line of shot glasses under the bar, not once looking up as you answered him. "Well, I can answer one out of two of those questions, but I'm afraid the only hotels around here are resorts. There is a bed and breakfast about ten minutes down the road that will give you a good deal."

"Will they give me a good deal if I mention your name?"

"Only my friends know my name, and you are simply a customer sitting at my bar wanting a drink?" you raised your eyebrow, tapping your finger against the bar.

He made a show of thinking about it, rocking his shoulders back and forth. He finally nodded, leaning forward to answer you.

"Whiskey. Straight."

You recognized his accent as you reached beneath the bar to grab the bottle. It was more pronounced and slightly more profound, but without a doubt, he sounded like Jake.

Good old southern Texas Charm.

Normally you'd engage in small talk, but you wanted nothing more than to leave this asshole alone. Thinking he'd leave it be after you poured him his drink, you slid the glass forward, then made your way over to the other side of the bar.

The words he called out after you made you stop in your tracks.

"You must get attention all the time. Having your pick of the litter each year."

You whipped around, offended. " Are you calling me easy?!"

He shrugged. "I'm just saying a good-looking woman like yourself, in this place... you clearly aren't sticking around because of the pay."

Oh, you wanted this guy gone. That could have been one of the most double-standard comments you had ever received. Old Liz would have sputtered, maybe run into the back fridge and asked one of the other bartenders to handle it.

You now? No chance in hell. If he were going to give it, you would give it right back. You weren't going to play the boyfriend card. You could fight your own battles, and something told you even if you told him you had a boyfriend, he'd think you were lying. He seemed like the type that wouldn't take no for an answer.

"You've got some nerve." You crossed your arms, matching back to him from the other side of the bar. "Let's get one thing straight. I'm not here because I'm looking for attention or have trouble finding a date. You've spent all of two minutes sitting at this bar, talking shit, while I've been fighting the urge to point out your confusion regarding basic anatomy." 

He raised his eyebrows at your reply. "My confusion?" 

You leaned forward, resting your arms upon the bar, eyeing him sourly. "Is your mouth your asshole, or are you just one?" 

It was one of the more cruder remarks you had ever responded with. But this guy was trying to go for gold. Unphased, he leaned back in his chair, throwing his hands up. "Hey, no need to be aggressive. You should take it as a compliment. I never called you anything derogatory." 

You huffed, pushing yourself away from him, rolling your eyes. "Calling me good-looking, then proceeding to say I'm only working here because it's 'easy to access' is still calling a woman a slut. You don't need to say the word to imply the meaning." 

You ripped the dishrag from your shoulder, running it under the tap, muttering more to yourself, "There's no way that shit works on women."

"It does on the women back home," he answered you.

"Oh, so are you staying? Don't tell me you're a new pilot at Top Gun."

They'll beat that attitude right out of you.

"Oh, I'm just passing through. I figured I'd scout out the area. I heard this was a Navy bar. Don't understand what all the fuss is about." 

You didn't answer him. Opening your mouth only led to him replying, and the quicker he finished his drink, the faster he'd leave. He took your silence as a means to continue. 

"Still playing hard to get?" 

"You ask me a question. I might choose not to answer." 

"Wow. Subtle." 

You turned, a hand on your hip. "You can't honestly expect me to speak to you, a complete stranger, after the way you just undermined my job because I'm not giving to your attempts. There is nothing to get." 

He smiled, holding out his hand. "George Seresin. There, not a stranger."

Well, shit.

You wanted to hang your mouth open like a fish. You were staring down Jake's brother.

Now you understood Jake's reaction to Janet's warning. His anxious behaviour in the back of his truck. His lost-in-thought stares or the way he couldn't stop looking at you and Sadie when he came home from work this week.

George Seresin was a very unwelcome, uninvited and long-awaited guest.

Something snapped in your stomach, a twinge of weariness that Jake didn't confide in you. Then again, your slight disappointment was overshadowed by something greater.

Clearly, you were fated to ego-check both Seresin brothers while standing behind this bar. Because the idea came without warning, without doubt, or any sense of hesitancy. 

George Seresin was at the Hard Deck.

He was right in front of you, trying to flirt with you without any idea who you were. 

And he was sitting in the best spot in the entire place.

It was too good of an opportunity to pass up.

You stepped backwards, turning to lean up against the bar. As you did with Jake all those months ago, you took the rag and started to wipe.

"So let me get this straight," you said, dragging the damp cloth around his glass, not once looking up. "I tell you my name in some effort to prove we are not strangers. I'm supposed to forget about your 'comments,' so you can use that good old Texas charm to woo me into your bed with a promise of a good time?"

You finally looked up, George only staring back at you with a heated smoulder.

"Something tells me none of those loose cannons cannot even promise you a good time. A quick roll in the sheets before they let some brass monkey in a fancy suit tell them where to shoot. You look like you could let loose for once in your life."

You froze, losing your grip on the rag and fingers twitching. Scanning Jake’s brother, you leaned against the bar, resting your weight on your elbows, throwing the fabric over your shoulder as you got inside his bubble. You never once broke eye contact as you pinned him down.

George bought it, hook, line and sinker. He was so focused on you and your face that he was oblivious to everything and everyone around him, including how your hand slowly reached up toward the rope hanging from the top of the bar.

The second he looked at your lips, you tugged.

Cheers and music flooded the Hard Deck when everyone heard the distinct ring of the barbell. You guessed the song right away, old habits dying hard.  Slow Ride, its distinct beat letting you know Jake was here and he had seen the whole thing.

George reeled back, shocked as a few people came up and slapped him on the back, thanking him. You laughed softly at his reaction, pushing yourself away to help the few customers you knew who would take advantage of the free drink.

You had never rang the bell for someone like him. George Seresin would be the only exception.

"What the hell just happened?" he called after you. You didn't bother turning around, flinging your hand to gesture over your head, "Read the sign!"

George followed the direction of your hand, landing on the piece of wood dangling by the silver chain.

You disrespect a lady, the navy, or you put your cell phone on the bar, you buy a round.

You had already helped a few customers when he managed to tear his eyes away to glare at you heatedly. You turned to face him with a gleeful grin. Instead of asking him which one he thought you rang him out for, you started teasingly singing along to the chorus.

You hadn't done that in a while. It felt good.

"What did he do to warrant that?" 

You smiled up at Jake as he approached the bar. He never took his eyes off you as he leaned on his elbow against the top of the bar beside George. 

"What do you think?" you laughed at him.

Jake smirked. "I'd say he didn't take no for an answer."

"He did a little more than that. Tell him to put his cell phone on the bar, and he'd get three out of three."

"Ouch," Jake dramatically drawled. He finally turned his head, nodding once in his brother's direction. "Hi, Georgie." 

You stiffed a giggle. 

George huffed, jutting his chin out in your direction. "This one is trouble."

"Don't I know it," Jake said, looking back at you. "Pulled the same trick on me the first time I met her. Only she didn't ring the bell. Guess I did something right, considering she let me come back."

George glanced between you and Jake several times, and you could see the gears grinding in his head. 

"Hi," you beamed at him, walking over and holding out your hand. "Elizabeth Beck. Your brother's girlfriend. I guess we aren't strangers after all."

George stared down at your hand, then gritting his teeth, knocking back another gulp of whiskey. He spat out his following words with the glass still to his lips, "So you are real. Jake, there's no way you're dating her."

 You didn't try to hide the snark from your voice as you lowered your hand. "You thought I was imaginary? Sorry to disappoint."

George still chose to ignore you. "What's the matter, little brother? Need your girlfriend to speak for you?"

Jake stiffened, and it took everything in you not to ring the bell once more. Cause you knew if you did, Jake would be the one to help throw George out, and you didn't know what repercussions he could face.

"At least he has a girlfriend," you scoffed. "I can't imagine you've ever had a meaningful relationship with how you treat women."

You spied his empty whiskey glass, grabbing it firmly.

"Wham."

Sliding it across the bar's smooth surface, you caught it in the palm of your other hand.

"Bam."

Reaching into the pocket of your apron with your free hand, you slapped his bill down in front of him, rounds and all, attempting your best version of a Texan accent.

"Thank you, Mam."

Not wanting to waste more time on him, you turned to Jake, slightly worried. Some of you didn't know how to act around Jake when he was like this. When he was so... Hangman.

You gently touched his wrist, murmuring softly, "I'll see you in a half hour?"

He twisted his arm in your grasp, sliding his hand down so he could gently squeeze yours. But his eyes screamed a different, intense, unsettling story. As if he was assessing you for any threat.

"Sure."

You tried not to let it bother you, his non-chalent reply. Trying not to frown, you let go of his wrist to serve another customer, calling out as you walked away, "It was nice meeting you, Georgie!"

Jake watched you go with a slight turn of his head, proud you one-upped his brother but wishing you didn't leave him alone.

He knew why George was here. What he wanted him to do. No amount of smirk, cockiness, or even Hangman, could save Jake from this. George was the grave reminder that no matter where the Navy sent him, whether in California or on the other side of the world, there was no end to the metaphorical leash the 'hell bringer' had on both of his sons. 

George scraped his chair back to stand. "Come on, little brother," he gruffed out, tossing his credit card onto the bar. "We need to have a chat."

—-

With Ridley's Jean jacket in hand and your bag, you placed them on the bar as you greeted Jimmy after finishing your shift. "Can you watch these for a second, Jimmy? I'm just going to the bathroom before I find Jake. We're going to pick Sadie up from Penny's and take her out for dinner."

The older man smiled. "She's feeling better?"

You nodded. "Mild concussion. She was okay after a few days and back at school. Bummed about not being able to play in soccer playoffs, though. Hence the trip."

"That girl loves her soccer. What a shame."

"Jake's is making it easier on her. I don't know what I would do without him."

He tilted his head towards the bathroom hall with a knowing grin. "Go get ready for your date."

You blushed, walking away, calling over your shoulder, "It's not a date!"

After freshening yourself up, you took a few moments to stare at yourself in the bathroom mirror. You saw the famous callsign board hanging on the wall behind you. You scanned the names from the mirror, looking for Jake's, doing a double take when you couldn’t find it. You turned, properly facing the wall.  

Like the sign in the bar, it was a piece of wood with the words engraved into the top, “Ladies Beware: Navigate the Hard Deck with Care!” and underneath that, “Pilots who fly solo.” Several metal slots were glued to the surface, designed so she could easily slide plastic slate with a pilot’s callsign into place. 

You recognized a few, even Rooster's, though his was listed way further down, out of harm’s way. But Jake's was nowhere to be found. 

Then you realized - Penny had taken his name off.

She didn't do that for a lot of people. You could only recall one other instance when she removed a pilot's callsign from that board. She prided herself on it, so much so she never removed Maverick's at the top of the list, even after they got back together.

You needed to tell Jake. 

With a hint of a smile, you eagerly walked out of the bathroom to find him. He was standing with George at the pool table, the elder Seresin brother lining up a shot as he spoke. As you approached them, you honed in on Jake, realizing he looked uncomfortable. Stiff, shoulders square, and his fists were clenched tight.

The closer you got, the more you heard of their conversation, and when you heard Sadie's name fall from George's mouth, you froze. Hearing him utter her name, especially in that hardened tone, was a punch to the gut. The urge to hide behind one of the support pillars in the middle of the room at the last second was too great to ignore, and you made yourself as small as possible. 

You had stumbled upon a conversation you weren’t supposed to hear. George’s voice accompanied the sound of the eight-ball scattering the balls across the table. 

"Come on, man," he said, his tone laced with arrogance. "Think about it. She threw her whole life away for her niece. She's tied down now, and you deserve someone who can give you more than that."

Jake remained silent. George continued, encouraged by his lack of protest. "You're a Navy pilot, for crying out loud. You could have anyone you want. Why settle for a girl with so much baggage?"

You weren’t stupid. You knew enough about George to realize he was the golden child, the favourite used to getting his way. George would only see you as Jake’s attempt to one-up him on something. 

“You know why I'm here,” you heard him say firmly. “Dad doesn’t approve. He wants you to know if you continue on with her, you will never be welcomed back home.”

You swallowed hard, a knot forming in your stomach. There would never be a time when you asked Jake to choose you over his family, even with what you knew. You wanted to go out there, but this was Jake’s battle. Storming out to threaten anything but a kick to the balls was out of the question. 

But when Jake finally spoke, his words were like shards of ice piercing your skin.

"Yeah, you're right."

A strangled noise escaped from you, a sound of raw pain and disbelief. You clapped your hands over your mouth, trying to muffle the sob threatening to escape. George’s reply triggered the blood rushing through your ears, the pain in your forearm from your nails biting hard into the skin. 

“You know I am,” he laughed, another clack of the pool balls sounding out. “

There was only one way you saw this - Jake played you like he played those other bartenders. 

You couldn’t hide any longer. You pushed yourself away from the pillar, swerving around to confront them. 

“So Sadie and I were just a game to you?” 

Jake turned sharply, shock in his eyes. “Liz,” he held his hands out in front of him. “It’s not what…” 

“Not what?” you said heatedly, tears streaming from your eyes. “I heard plenty!” 

He opened his mouth to say something, but the words died in his throat, confronted with your beat red face and tears. You were not supposed to hear all that. 

The shock on his face was not enough to erase the sting of his words.

"Come on, Liz. You don't understand... it's..."

"What's there to understand, Jake?" you interjected, your voice seething with a volatile mix of pain and anger. "That I'm just another one of your bartenders?"

“Liz, don’t.” 

“Enlighten me, Jake.” You crossed your arms. “Tell me all the reasons why. That bringing me flowers wasn’t a game. That getting close to my niece wasn’t a game. Asking me to give you a chance, taking me out on a date.”

 You sobbed. “Taking me up in that damn plane.” 

The thought was erupt, tearing itself from the deepest part of your mind. You couldn’t help it, the words spilling out in blinded anger. “Was my grief an opportunity for you to get into my pants? Telling me it would be alright so you could leave me high and dry? Telling me it was going to be okay?” 

There was a sudden shift in his expression, his gaze hardening. As if a switch had been flipped, the warm, understanding man you knew disappeared, replaced by a stranger draped in defensiveness and sarcasm.

"Oh, excuse me," he declared. "I didn't realize I was your knight in shining armour, rushing to your rescue the second you need all your problems fixed. The girl who never had a relationship, thinking a man would solve all her issues."

The words hit you like a physical blow, your knees nearly buckling beneath you. Jake's harsh gaze didn't match his usual soft and protective demeanour. It was like looking at a stranger, someone you didn't recognize. The man before you was not the Jake you'd fallen for.

This man reminded you of your father. 

Was this his plan all along? You racked your mind, searching for any indication this had been coming. But what only stood out was Rooster's words echoing in your head where you found none. 

Did you really only add your name to the list of women Hangman had pursued?

Because here and now, those months of working through the trauma of losing Ridley didn't matter. 

Was anything about this past year even worth it? The moments you worked through when you would avoid anyone mentioning her because acknowledging her in the past tense was too much. Avoiding the things that reminded you of her. Till helped you through it.  

She would know what to say right now. She would be the one beating his ass with verbiage and scathing remarks. She would nail the moment and get it right. 

It hit you, the hidden weight of how desperately you missed her. 

Suddenly, you were that girl again, starting her first shift in that basement bar, wondering what to say to the students who saw you as a mere bookworm with no character or class - because you couldn't compare to the girl sitting in the corner writing her paper, actually having the courage to ask that busboy out. 

Or the geeks in the corner cheering as hard as they did when they beat their high score on the console, uncaring of strange looks. Or that girl, finally standing up to her 'so-called friends' when one had been spreading rumours and crude remarks about her to the others behind her back. 

He really did leave you out to dry. 

"Stay the fuck away from my niece," you managed to gasp through your tears. "And stay the fuck away from me."

You wanted to believe your assumption that Jake was merely putting on a front. Hangman, his alternate self, was his attempt at protecting himself. 

You had a hard time doing so.

There, plain as day, across his face was the most condensing grin you had ever seen as he dramatically drawled out slowly, "No fucking problem, sweetheart."

You didn't believe in thinking about everything you regretted throughout your life. Ridley was the only exception; if you had done more, moved back home after school, or gone to the police the day you kicked Tyler out, maybe she'd still be here. You couldn't change what had happened in your life, so spending time thinking about it in the present wouldn't do you much good. 

So it was no surprise to you when you followed through with your knee-deep reaction, your hand coming up out of nowhere, open and firm, slapping Jake hard enough across the side of his face, his head turning with the force of it.

You knew you shouldn't have. You weren't a violent person by any means. Next to Tyler, you never had raised a hand to anyone. You were too hurt to care you just slapped him.

That should have scared you shitless.

Rather than voice the obvious, you remained silent, allowing every repressed thought, every buried emotion to resurface.

Ridley - dead. 

Sadie - hurt. 

Tyler - lurking. 

Bradley - damaging.

It was all too much.

George's figure stood out from behind Jake amongst your blurry vision, tears creating a vignette in your line of sight. You tore past Jake, sticking your finger out only to push George square in his chest. He stepped back at the force, hand shooting out to balance himself against the pool table.

Jake wouldn't have done that had George not shown up. Had he not played with Jake's emotions.

"You need a fucking ego check and to grow the fuck up," you seethed at him. "I don't know whose got your balls on a very tight leash, but you have no right to go around and fucking up other people's relationships."

George didn't answer you, taking his hand off the table to stand properly. You pressed him again. "Does it give you some sick fucking pleasure to hurt your brother? Dad loves me best, so I'm going to remind everyone just cause I can?"

George was still avoiding your heated glare, fixating on his football ring, twisting the piece of metal back and forth. It only pissed you off further.

"My eyes are over here, Jackass! Have the decency to look me in the fucking eyes when I'm talking to you."

If nobody had been watching when you slapped Jake, you clearly had their attention now. Even with the music blasting from the speakers, every conversation in the Hard deck had gone quiet. You could feel everyone's eyes on you, but you couldn't care less.

You were too far gone.

George slowly cocked his head to face you. Your breath was harsh, your body jolting with each gasp as you gave in to the anger. "My sister died, and I took in my niece. What's so fucking wrong about that? That I threw my life away, that I have no future?" 

He shifted on his feet, about to transfer the pool stick into his other hand, when you reached out and snatched it out of his grasp, tossing it behind you with a clack. 

"You're damn right I did! That's what you do for people you love. I would sacrifice my entire life so she could have hers. And I would do it again in a fucking heartbeat. I will stay on the other side of that bar for the rest of my so-called miserable life, getting catcalled and dealing with assholes like you if it gives her the best shot with the shitty hand she's dealt. You, George Seresin, have no right to judge the choices I've made in my life." 

Your breathing was harsh, ribs aching with effort. Every vein, every pore, was consumed with pure white rage. And yet, you still found yourself growling out, "You have no right judging your brothers either." 

Even after breaking your heart, you still stood up for Jake. 

"He risks his life every single time he goes up in that jet just so the whole world can fucking survive. So you can go on day in and day out and let your father control what you want to do with your life. So you can gallant around letting someone who has lived their life decide what you do with the rest of yours? So Jake’s here for you to bully and control every time he comes home? What the fuck is wrong with you?”

The burning sensation in your cheeks mirrored the fire in your eyes, unshed tears making them shine brighter. The salty sting of tears blurring your vision did little to diminish the searing gaze you levelled at George.

"My sister believed everyone deserved a chance. That people cared, regardless of what they did or who they were. I had forgotten that until my niece invited Jake to a barbeque, till she invited him on a hike because he was being treated differently. Despite what I heard and everyone telling me otherwise, listing off why I shouldn’t. That he will hurt me and my niece, and I still gave him a chance.”  

Squaring your shoulders and balling your hands to fists at your side, you take a step forward, a dangerous glint in your eyes. You lean towards him, your face close enough to feel his breath, your jaw clenched and muscles tight.  

"You are the first person ever to prove my sister wrong,” your voice is dangerously low, underlying anger accompanying each word. “You sure as hell don't deserve that sentiment." 

As you stepped away, George lifted his head to glance around the room, everyone's eyes pinning him down. The older Top Gun instructors had stood at their tables and chairs, arms crossed. Some of the current students in the program also stood, the others sending him the most scathing glares they could manage. Even some regulars who weren't aviators were casting him a scornful glance.

You spun, ready to leave him in embarrassment and escape this literal fucking mess, when you caught Jake's bewildered gaze, his mouth hanging open in slight shock.

You weren't sure whether it was that look or the dying embers of your outburst that made you spin back around to snarl, "So, leave your brother the fuck alone! Live your own goddamn life without judging others for the choices they make! Cause you sure as hell don't know what it means to sacrifice something for those you love. If you need an example, look around this goddamn room."

Jake reached for your wrist as you charged toward the front door. The second you felt his touch, you shook your hand loose, a wrenching sob tearing through your chest.

"Don't fucking touch me!"

You didn't bother seeing his reaction to your remark, rushing to grab your bag and Ridley's jean jacket off the bar.

The skin around your wrist burned from his touch, the rough callouses once a comfort but now felt like coarse sandpaper. You wanted to get under a shower or jump in the sea, hoping to remove the feeling of every memory, kiss, and word.

God, you let him touch you. Do things with you.

You were going to throw up.

God forbid you didn't want to walk home. But you needed to go, be anywhere but here, and you didn't have your car. Barely keeping it together as you took off toward the door, you had half a mind to look up to watch where you were going, deaf to Jake's shouts of your name.

There was Bradley, sitting in the first booth by the door. His brow furrowed as you made your way over to him, probably having witnessed the ordeal. You were too upset even to question why he wasn't marching across the bar, ready to knock Jake to next Sunday.

It had been weeks since the fight, with no communication in between. But it was a distant memory compared to this. 

It didn't matter what he implied. It didn't matter what happened in your hallway.

It didn't matter.

It didn't matter.

It didn't matter.

You just needed your friend.

With each step you took toward him, your shame only grew greater. You couldn't even look him in the eye when you stopped, standing next to his side of the booth, hugging yourself tighter.

"Can you take me home, Bradley? I don't want to be here anymore."

Bradley's opportunity to act smug had finally arrived. But he didn't do anything other than frown. Standing up from his booth, he threw a few bills onto the table before blocking everyone's view of you. He placed a comforting hand on your back, gently pressing you forward as he uttered quietly, "Of course I can, Liz."

You kept your head down as you stepped towards the door, but Bradley, so willing to help you without so much of an 'I told you so,' made whatever resolve you had, crumble. Your knees wobbled, and your heart dropped into your stomach. You fell, and Bradley's arm whipped out, gripping your hip and pulling you tight to his side to support your weight.

Burying your head into Bradley's shoulder, you hid your face. You didn't want to see the looks of everyone in the Hard Deck, whether pity, concern, or applause, as another wave of tears wrecked your body.

Closing your eyes seemed better than reliving the truth.

And because you kept them shut, you didn't see George place a hand on Jake's shoulder, preventing him from going after you. Nor did you see the look of devastation wreck his face; the weight of every wrong decision he had ever made coming back to haunt him. 

Whether Jake turned on a dime to punch George square in the jaw, you heard none of it. You hadn't even bothered to turn back to look as Bradley carried you out the front door.

.... So... Who is going to pitchfork me first? 👀

Tag List:

@blue-aconite @tinytotontheoversizedpony @djs8891 @caitsymichelle13 @startrekfangirl2233

@mayhemmanaged @ereardon @dempy @shanimallina87 @teacupsandtopgun @daggerspare-standingby

@phantomxoxo @formulapierre @eli2447 @fulla02 @blckgrl-sunflower @mizzzpink @ohgodnotagainn

@bubblegumbeautyqueen @sarahsmi13s @desert-fern @lynnestra44 @memoriesat30 @penwieldingdreamer @mxlanciia

@bradleybeachbabe @bobby-r2d2-floyd @lavenderbradshaw @roosters-girl @lovinglyeternal @kmc1989 @gigisimsonmars @dakotakazansky

@keyrani @craftytrashprincess @hisredheadedgoddess28 @abzidabzy @memeorydotcom @vicsnook

Part 16 - In the Blood coming soon

Wickett ;)

[doriswife]

NSFW Niragi Alphabet

I couldn’t just pass by and created my own version, btw, too many alphabets seem so unrealistic about him, I believe this one isn’t fully OOC. So, anyways, here’s explicitly content, and I really tried to make it more detailed. Scroll this, if you don’t like smut.

A = Aftercare (what they’re like after sex)

Niragi? Aftercare? If you’re expecting long cuddles and some other cute stuff from him, honey, you’re definitely in a wrong bed. He’s more about to leave right away he’s finished, saying something like “You actually did not bad.” If he actually loves trusts you, he might stay for a night, but be sure , he will silently leave in the morning.

B = Body part (their favorite body part of theirs and also their partner’s)

His favorite body part is his tongue. He shows it off as much as he can and definitely is proud of the way he can satisfy with it. Also, his hands. Like damn, have you seen his long fingers?

Speaking about his favorite body part of yours , I feel like this man loves ass and thighs. Be sure, that he will touch them as much as possible.

C = Cum (anything to do with cum, basically)

He enjoys seeing his cum all over your body, cumming into all your holes and praising you for being good girl, taking his cum inside, especially when swallowing it.

D = Dirty secret (pretty self explanatory, a dirty secret of theirs)

Niragi won’t admit his attraction to men. He hates to seem submissive no matter which way, so he won’t tell anyone that once he had fun with some guys that dominated over him. It obviously wasn’t his favorite experience, but you can be sure he low key enjoyed it.

E = Experience (how experienced are they? do they know what they’re doing?)

I’m sure, that as soon as he arrived in borderland, he decided to try basically everything that is about sex. In real world he wasn’t so opened and didn’t have many partners, but here he is, and who the hell can stop him?

F = Favorite position (this goes without saying)

Doggy style and something like missionary, but your legs are on his shoulders. Give this man some control. Perfect positions for fixing your hands while he is fucking you, grabbing your hair or holding your neck.

G = Goofy (are they more serious in the moment? are they humorous? etc.)

It really depends, but I feel like you won’t escape from his sharp remarks and jokes even during the process. However, he also can be serious.

H = Hair (how well groomed are they? does the carpet match the drapes? etc.)

He is well groomed there, he might have some hair, it won’t get in the way during blowjob.

I = Intimacy (how are they during the moment? the romantic aspect)

Again, if you expect romantic from Niragi, you’re in the wrong bad. He’s trying to get as much pleasure as possible, but don’t worry, he’ll take care about you too. He’s not that type of person who will ask you if you’re comfortable, he’ll just make sure you moan and beg him for more.

J = Jack off (masturbation headcanon)

This man jerks off as often as he has sex. Sometimes it’s just easier, than finding a girl.

K = Kink (one or more of their kinks)

He. Has. SOOOO. Many. Kinks.

I believe his favorite are gun-play, blood-play and bondage. He loves seeing you vulnerable in his hands, totally under his control. You can relax, because he really knows what he’s doing, so he won’t hurt you probably .

L = Location (favorite places to do the do)

He can do it basically anywhere. But this man LOVES public places. Like he takes all the risks and can fuck you somewhere in a corner before the game. The thought of getting caught turns him on.

M = Motivation (what turns them on, gets them going)

He’s always ready. Like seriously, you can come up to him and say that you want and he’ll be up to fuck you right there.

N = No (something they wouldn’t do, turn offs)

Degradation. Try to call him slut and rifle near your temple will be there not in role play way. Degrading him gives him really hurtful flashbacks, so probably you just become enemies now, cause we all know he won’t share his feelings. However, he will degrade you during sex.

O = Oral (preference in giving or receiving, skill, etc.)

Preference in receiving. When you are sucking it, he enjoys the view so much. He can let you do the job by yourself or just fuck you in your mouth. But he also pretty enjoys giving, like have you seen his tongue??

P = Pace (are they fast and rough? slow and sensual? etc.)

He’s definitely fast and rough, but slows down to tease you making you beg him for more.

Q = Quickie (their opinions on quickies, how often, etc.)

He likes quickies, not more than proper sex , but he’s up to have sex if you’re both hard but need to go soon. Honey, believe me, even 5 minutes with him will bring enough pleasure.

R = Risk (are they game to experiment? do they take risks? etc.)

He loves taking risks and he’s open to anything you offer. He’s always ready to experiment and he’s initiator of some new stuff in your sex.

S = Stamina (how many rounds can they go for? how long do they last?)

He’s up for 4-5 rounds, depending on the duration. But obviously high stamina.

T = Toys (do they own toys? do they use them? on a partner or themselves?)

This man is absolutely into BDSM , so for sure he has some ropes, cuffs, gags and leashes. For you, for sure, I hope you didn’t think he’d let you use that on him.

U = Unfair (how much they like to tease)

Niragi teases a lot. When he passes by or standing near, he’ll certainly touch you or say some dirty things in your ear. When you are in bed, he will make you tell him how much you want him , describe all the positions you want him to fuck you in and beg for his dick inside of you.

V = Volume (how loud they are, what sounds they make, etc.)

He isn’t pretty loud, but he can let out some moans and growls.

W = Wild card (a random headcanon for the character)

He’ll probably boast with his sex experience and other militants will be forced to hear about it. They’ll probably tell him how disgusting he is and that he needs to stop talking about that, but this man doesn’t shut up. Try to shut up Niragi. Also, he’ll be up to threesome sometimes, so someone from militants can also join you in bed. You’ll be really surprised, because he didn’t care to let you know beforehand.

X = X-ray (let’s see what’s going on under those clothes)

I think he has a bit bigger than average dick like 18 cm. Enough to please a woman, especially don’t forget that it’s not length it’s skill that matters.

Y = Yearning (how high is their sex drive?)

His sex drive is really high and he’s really pissed off when he doesn’t have sex or do the do for a long time. So if you’re not able to give him as often as he wants, bad news, you’re probably not his only partner.

Z = Zzz (how quickly they fall asleep afterwards)

Lol, why do I feel like he still has lots of energy after it, so basically no need to fall asleep, but if you ask him to stay for the night he’ll probably be sleeping in some minutes.

[ghostlywritings]

Interrogation.

Summary: You're an accomplice of a wanted drug lord that has been under the radar for years. Until on the day you're to meet with him, you get taken into custody hoping to get any information out of you that will lead to his arrest. However, Ghost has some interesting interrogation tactics.

Warnings: Smut with some plot, very rough oral, slight blood play, slight knife play, mention of breeding, slapping, choking, coercion, use of slut/whore, no explicit consent, overall intercourse is on the rougher side.

A/N: This is my very first work ever! I hope you enjoy it might not be the very best but I tried to make it as perfect as possible. I hope you enjoy </3.

 Never would I think this day would happen, but maybe that’s just what happens when you become too cocky, the world will find a way to humble you. Years ago you were down on your luck until one night a man in an expensive suit, well more expensive than anything you’ve ever seen, approached you with an offer that seemed to be too good to be true. A life full of luxury, all the days of constant worries about where your next meal was going to come from would be no more. You were piss poor, nothing to lose at this point, you didn’t have to hear another word to tell him you were in. You would do anything to experience the amazing life everyone else seemed to be living. You meet with the mysterious man. His name Ludovin Petrova. He sold drugs. Lots of drugs. But needed help moving them, which is where you would come in. My job was simple enough. Move the drugs into the states without arising suspicion. Ludovin needed a woman to do this since you would be less likely to arise suspicion of even being capable to carry out such an operation. You get the drugs to the drop-off location and receive 100k. Seemed easy enough. You did a test run and went without a hitch. The second time, better than the first. You were making money so fast that you didn’t even know what to do with it anymore. Every single time it became easier and easier. You couldn’t stop now, you had to keep going. That’s until one night you were to meet Ludovin at the pickup point. He didn’t show. You met at the same place, same time, every two weeks. He was never late. Never early. Always on time. But something didn’t feel right. Did you mess up the dates? Were you at the wrong location? Before you could even call Ludovin to ask what the fuck was going on. A swarm of men comes out behind the shack where you were supposed to meet Ludovin, guns raised. You were arrested and taken to a holding center. You were engaging in illegal business but weren’t given any other explanation as to why you were there. You’ve been in here for what seems like hours. The clock on the wall would say otherwise though. You’ve been in here an hour max. The boring grey walls with no decor could drive anyone insane, to be honest. Your thoughts were quickly interrupted when two men walk through the door. One holding a manilla folder. He has a green tactical vest over a plain short sleeve black shirt. Stubbled covers the lower half of his face, his hair styled into some sort of Mohawk. However, the man behind him is much more interesting to look at. He’s big, no huge. 6’3, 6’4. He’s so big he has to duck under the door frame. He wears the same clothing as the first. But he’s wearing a skull mask. You can’t make out any features but his eyes. Any skin around his eyes is covered in black. He’s muscular and incredibly toned. One of his forearms is covered in a tattoo that you can’t entirely see. His hands were covered by black gloves. Curiosity takes over you. What was the reason for the mask? Better yet you’d love to find out what was under the mask. They pull the chairs across you and sit. The first man speaks in a Scottish accent. 

“I’m sure you’re wondering why you’re here right now…well at least to a certain extent.” He states.

“Mmm can’t say I’ve been a very good girl lately.” You sigh. Was this the point where you refuse to talk about anything else because you might talk too much and ask for a lawyer? That’s what they always do in the movies anyways. 

‘I’m sergeant “Soap” MacTavish and this is Lt Ghost”. You can’t help but to scuff. Ghost. Really? What a pretentious name.

“Is something funny?” MacTavish stares at me head on as if trying to intimidate you; it was working, you can’t make him think that though. You’d be lying if you said you weren’t petrified right now.  

“Uh no continue”, you try giving an apologetic look. 

“Like I was saying, you were arrested today for your involvement with Ludovin Petrova.-” You cut him off maybe denial would be your best bet right now.

“Don’t know who that is and before we continue further with this…..interrogation I want a lawyer here present, with me.” Soap and Ghost share a side-eye look. 

“Do you not know how much shit you’re in right now? This isn’t an arrest because you got too many speeding tickets, sweetheart. You’re heavily involved with a man that’s been on the most wanted list for smuggling an insane amount of drugs into the country and selling and exporting young women for sex trafficking. You don’t get a lawyer. You either tell us everything you know to help arrest him or you’re going to be spending a very, very long time in prison. As far as anyone else is concerned they don’t even know you’re alive. We can get rid of you once we’re done here and no one will know.” 

“Woah wait what? Sex trafficking? Uh sure I was moving drugs here and there but I wasn’t doing anything with sex trafficking let's get that straight”. Now you were really starting to panic. Sex trafficking? Was it dumb for you to just assumed Ludovin was only in the drug business? Jesus Christ. If you weren’t before you were definitely fucked now. Who knows what other things they had on you. What if they try pinning any random thing they find out on you?

“I thought you didn’t know him? No?”, Soap questions.

“Never said I did, I said I just moved drugs here and there.” You tried talking with confidence but were lying through your teeth hoping they wouldn’t notice how hoarse your voice started to become. Your mouth was so dry all of a sudden, your words only coming out as a small squeak. Who was going to get you out of this big ass mess? You didn’t have anyone. At least you couldn’t think of someone right now. Who would you even call let alone try to explain any of this, “Hey mom I got arrested for moving drugs for a huge drug lord who was also dabbling in sex trafficking but I didn’t do any of that stuff just the drug stuff!!!” God this is so fucked. 

“Well since you say you don’t know Ludovin maybe this will jog your memory a bit, eh?” Soap opens the manilla folder pulling out various photos. Some are of you on your first run. Others are taken of you meeting with another mover. One is even you in your home in a heated conversation with Ludovin. Another of Ludovin and you discussing a plan over dinner and another of you leaving his home in Mexico only two weeks prior. 

“Still wanna claim you don’t know this guy?” What can I say now? No, I don’t know him? You try to think of something quick but your mind is blank, Nothing, not a single excuse or lie could save your ass right now. So you sit there in silence. 

“Ludovin was supposed to meet with you today for your drop off but he didn’t sho-“

“I already told you I don’t know anything.” You say sharply.Denial would have to be your strategy for now till you figure something else out.

“I don’t think you’re understanding what’s going on here, you have no choice no one is coming to get you as far as anyone is concerned you’re dead. No one even knows you’re here. It would be in your best interest to help us figure out where the fuck your boss is at or you’ll end up dead.” Mactavish was growing with anger standing up from his seat to pace around the room when his phone begins to ring. 

“Mactavish what have you got for me?” He speaks into the phone. You try to make out the conversation from the other side of the line but it's too quiet. “I’m on my way” he ends the call closing the burner phone and putting it back in his pocket. “Price needs me to go deal with something I’ll be right back and keep an eye on her will ya?” With that said he leaves the room and it’s just you and “Ghost” now. If they wanted you to talk they should have had him interrogate you instead. He didn’t have to talk to intimidate you or do anything for that matter. I couldn’t tell if he was intimidating given the certain circumstances or was it because you couldn’t stop thinking of what was under the mask. He had to be attractive under it just by looking at the whole package. He’s tall and muscular. His muscles practically bulged out of his clothing. He readjusted himself in his seat. Still not taking his eyes off of you. What you would pay to know what he was thinking about right now.

“I can ask you a question?” No response. “Okay…do you, you know wear the mask all the time? Like do you wear it when you’re having sex?” I move closer across the table trying to get a better look at him but mostly to tease him. Having to readjust my arms as the handcuffs strain against my skin. “Now that's something id pay to see.” I can’t help but laugh like an idiot. I feel like an angsty teenager but I did want to know but mostly because I wanted to find out for myself. “I’ve never had sex with a guy wearing a mask before but I’m willing to try anything once.” Ghost crosses his beefy arms across his chest. Still no response. Geez, rough crowd. “Alright, I get it not much of a talker…” Enough with the failed flirting you had to find a way to get out of here. With just one of them here you could probably take one of them on. Of course, it had to be one of the biggest men you'd ever seen but you had to at least try. One of the handcuffs was loose enough to slip out of if you tried a little harder. Once loose you could just kick up the chair Ghost was sitting on. While he’s on the floor you can bolt for the door. You don’t know what the fuck you were gonna do after that but you'd have to figure it out once you got there. Oh god, here goes nothing. In a swift motion, you pull Ghost’s chair towards you using your legs causing him to fall to the ground. Yanking your hand out of one of the handcuffs you make a run for the door. You yank the handle. It’s locked from the outside. Ghost right behind you slams you against the door. An unbearable pain starts at your nose, blood already splattering all over the floor. Ghost throws you on the table you’re scrambling to hold on to something to keep you from falling over. 

“Are you always that fucking stupid?” Ghost spits out. There's a hint of sarcasm when he says it like your failed attempt was something to laugh about. Taking the handcuffs and looping them once again under the metal bar on the table making sure the cuffs are tighter now. You wince when he tightens them. Any movement and they were practically cutting into your wrists. 

“Ahh so he speaks, I was starting to think you were mute”. You say, hoping to break the tension once again. Red droplets of blood start to drip on the table. You try using the sleeve of your shirt to stop the bleeding. You have to move your whole body to get close to your arms, moving your arms toward your face is too painful now. “Also not really but I thought I would have at least tried,” you reply. Even trying to escape was rather embarrassing of course the door would be locked from the outside you were being held in a secret facility. “Shit I think you broke my nose too”, you suck in a breath. You try to not touch your nose the pain becoming more excruciating but at least the bleeding had finally stopped. Ghost comes up to you hooking his finger under your chin and angling your face towards the light to further examine the damage he had done.

“Hmmm maybe”, is all he says while taking a look at your nose. 

“Dick” is all you’re able to murmur under your breath. That’s all he was gonna say? He couldn’t even offer to clean you up or get you a tissue? Anything? 

“What was that?” Ghost is quick to hear what you said even though you practically whispered the insult so quietly you weren’t even sure if you said it out loud or it was just in your head. 

“I said you’re a fucking dick, you enjoy beating on women or something?’ You say it louder this time making sure that he heard it. Ghost still looks at you only letting out a quiet sigh.

“I don’t have a preference love, I do what I have to.” He replies in his deep British accent. “How would you like me to treat you instead? Do you want me to treat you like the whore you like to act like?” “Hmm?” He’s right behind you talking into your ear. All of a sudden the room is starting to feel 10x smaller than it was 5 minutes ago. “I asked you a question.” He presses on. His voice was extremely serious, any form of emotion was gone from his voice. He’s so close now you’re sure he can hear how fast your heart is beating now. He uncuffs you from the table. He holds onto the back of your shirt positioning you on the floor on your knees. 

“If you want to act like a whore I can treat you like one too.” He says. You're stunned, speechless and your mouth seems useless at making any words of protest now. He starts to unbuckle his belt from his blue denim jeans. He pulls out his dick and boy does it match his build. It's big. 8-9 inches rock solid, beads of pre cum teasing the tip of his cock. He holds it in one of his big hands, despite his hand being so large it only holds half of his dick. All you can do is just watch him. He grabs the back of your head forcefully pulling you closer to his cock. Your scalp burns with how rough he is with you but he doesn’t care. He drags you by your hair as if you were a rag doll. His gloved hand slaps your right cheek, a prickling pain starting from his slap and you can feel your cheek start to heat up.

“Open your fucking mouth slut”, is all he says. You comply opening your mouth as wide as you can. His cock is so big he’s not fully in your mouth and he’s already hitting the back of your throat. You gag at the sudden force he uses. Tears already starting to form in your eyes threatening to fall down your stinging cheek.

“Oh come on don’t tell me you can’t take it?” He teases. You try again taking his cock into your mouth and using your hand to jerk off whatever didn’t fit in your mouth. He pulls you by the hair off his cock slapping you again.

“Did I say you could fucking touch me?” He barks. You’re in shock by the sudden slap. You take him in your mouth again and make sure you’re only using your mouth now. Your attempts at giving head weren’t good enough. His glove-covered hands hold the sides of your face as he starts to face fuck you. His cock stretching your throat, you can feel him sliding in and out.

“I’ve had whores do better than that” is all he says as he continues to drill his dick into you. You try to fight off your gag reflex as much as you can. Tears from your eyes are practically streaming down your face at this point. He slides out of your mouth. You gasp for air trying to catch your breath. He lifts you up by the collar of your shirt throwing you against the table again. Bracing yourself he grabs your arms and handcuffs them to the bar once again. He pulls a knife from one of the holsters on his leg. Pulling your jeans down he uses his knife to cut your panties off. He nicks the side of your thigh, it's very subtle you barely feel the knife scraping you, but it stings. Bent over the table you stay frozen in place, not knowing what to say. Ghost is on his knees his mask at level with your sex. 

“Oh that poor little pussy,” he says. Taking his dick in his hand he softly glides into you. It doesn't take you long to realize why he said that. He feels even bigger inside you. Your walls stretch in an attempt to take all of his length in. It burns and you swear he could just split you in half with his dick alone right now if he wanted. Despite how rough he had been with you he was showing some remorse. He stayed in place for a couple of minutes letting you adjust before slowly moving in and out of you. 

“Holy fuck” is all you manage to mutter out. Despite the pain that came with his length he felt amazing inside you. 

He begins to speed up, the small room being filled with sounds of skin slapping. His groans become deeper and louder. He snakes a hand around your shoulder grabbing you by the neck and squeezing you so you're against his chest him still pumping into you. His mask is right next to your face the material scratching your cheek that he slapped only a few moments ago. 

“Now when that nice Scottish man comes back your gonna answer all his questions, right doll?” He whispers in your ear. 

“I-I can’t” you can barely speak but you know you can’t talk if you even make it out of here alive Ludovin’s men will find you and even kill you for speaking. Using the same knife Ghost used to cut your panties off he holds it to your neck. 

“I’ll ask you again think of a different answer okay? Plus you’re so close to cumming I can feel your walls closing on my dick trying to milk me. Don’t you wanna come?” He replies.

“You’re a fucking dick”, you bark back at him. He still has the knife pressed to your neck. Surprisingly it doesn’t intimidate you, you’re more concerned about finishing right now. 

“Please you know I can’t do that” you’re practically begging at this point. Pleading.

“Can’t or won’t, love?” He starts to pick up the pace you’re so entranced into the rhythm you can’t even focus your so close you can practically reach it. 

“Answer me you fucking slut or I swear I’ll stop right now”. He’s yelling at you now.

“Okay! Okay! I’ll say whatever just please let me come I’m begging sir,” you respond. 

“Now I’m sir? Oh, you are a whore,” He laughs at your pathetic begging. It doesn’t take long for you to feel a tightening in your stomach again. You’re so close. He starts to speed up in and out in and out. You throw your head back in absolute ecstasy as your orgasm ricochets through your whole body. Ghost guiding you through your orgasm.

“There you go atta girl,” is all he says as you go utterly limp over the table. Ghost slides out of you. All the juices that were inside you start slowly slipping out of your sex dripping onto the back of your thighs. You’re still frozen in place but Ghost unlocks the cuffs and removes them from your hands, roughly turning you around so that you’re facing him. He grabs you by the hips lifting you and pinning you to the wall. Wrapping your hands around his neck he repositions himself back inside you. His vertical movement forces you to move up.

“Please I can’t anymore,” you whine. Despite the pleasure he brought you he was so rough with you, you were completely worn out.  

“Oh come on you can give me one more? Can’t you?” He says. You don’t reply but hold onto him tighter and hide your face into the neck of his mask. You can feel his throaty moans coming from his chest, his breathing becoming more rapid. 

“Christ, I’m about to cum, should I cum inside you? Do you want my seed to shoot up inside you? I’ll come inside you and let it drip out of you when I’m done.” He holds onto your head whispering into your ear waiting for an answer. “Wouldn’t you like that huh? For soap to come back and see a big puddle of my cum in your chair and you’ll have to explain to him that you were being a little whore? Tell me how badly you want me to fucking breed you right now.” 

“Fuck please, c-” it was so hard to even make a coherent thought. You’re so overstimulated if it wasn’t for him keeping you up you would be jelly on the floor.

“Come on use your words like the good little slut you are.” He replies.

“Please come inside me sir I am begging please I want your hot seed dripping out of me.” You can barely finish your sentence as you can feel yourself again hitting your peak. You squeeze Ghost closer your legs starting to become numb from being around his waist while his cock drills in and out of you. 

“Fucking shit just like th-.” Before he can even finish his sentence you feel his cum shoot into you, his strokes becoming sloppy and lazy. You’re right behind him squeezing every last drop of cum his dick has to offer as you cum. Ghost releases you from around setting your feet on the ground. You attempt to stand on your own nearly falling over, you reach out for the table to catch yourself. Ghost takes your panties and throws them in a trash bin nearby. He grabs ahold of your jeans holding your ankle to signal you to move your leg into the pant leg so he can slide them back on for you. He sets the chair behind you so you’re able to sit. Gently he takes your hands cuffing them to the bar once again, except this time he doesn’t tighten them as much as he did the second time. It was funny seeing him this way now. He was so rough and harsh with his words. It’s not that you didn’t enjoy it but all of a sudden he was being so nice and gentle with you. Ghost takes the chair across from you again staring blankly ahead. As if on cue the door clicks open and in walks Soap.

“Holy shit what the fuck happened”, he says surprised. You suddenly become aware of your appearance. You probably look like shit from Ghost smashing your nose in and slapping you around. 

“Not much but I’m sure she’s ready to talk now”, is all Ghost replies. 

[lavenderskye29]

Do you have any ideas about the differences between Macaque and fem!Macaque? Like how MQ is more emotionally intelligent than her male counterpart but also more cold to Peaches, I think fem!Macaque looks like she’d be shyer and perhaps more emotional than pragmatic than male Macaque.

Also is it cool to just refer to her as Plum to differentiate between fem and male Macaque?

Yes! I'm still working some stuff out in my head, but here's what I got for now (also, of course you can refer to Fem!Macaque as Plum! That's what I was hoping would happen!):

- So first off, Plum is shier than Macaque... or at least comes off as it. What I mean, is that she's not so much shy as she is quiet upon first introductions. Plum is the type to observe first and then, depending on her first impression, act according to her opinion.

So for example, if after introductions she decides you're a good person, Plum will start to let her more playful side out. This is kind of a second test to see if the newbie really is good. Plum will test the newbie's patience as she messes/teases them; should the newbie remain kind, or even better, play along or laugh, Plum will start to give in. She let's her charisma bleed through with every new interaction with the newbie... her playing becomes more gentle, more touchy; instead of teasing, she's flirting. Plum really starts to open up.

Now if Plum decides that the newbie is a bad person... there are multiple paths she could take:

1. (Passive aggressive) Bully them out of the lives of her and MQ. She'll insult and poke at every little insecurity she can find on the newbie, using her silver tongue as a dagger. Along with that she will "play" with them. Plum will go through their belongings and scatter them about, destroying them, stealing them, etc (She'll even get her monkey friends in on it). Should the newbie continue to stick around, Plum will pull out the big guns and start working on mentally breaking them with her shadow magic: causing them nightmares, playing on their paranoia, creating scenarios to gaslight and decieve. Just anything she can do to rip them to bits mentally.

2. (Cordial) Silent treatment with splashes of sharp insults. Keeps to herself, but is always watching.

3. (Aggressive) Beware! Violent Monkey woman on the loose! Proceed with caution.

Plum is very good at discernment, with her analysis of a person being almost never wrong.

- Now, both Plum and Macaque are pretty straightforward... but there are differences in how they show it.

Plum is actually more physical while Macaque is more verbal. "Growing up", Plum has learned to rely more on touch to express her feelings rather than words due to the females in their troupe being more physically affectionate with one another. With it being almost a daily occurrence, the females would gather together to socialize and groom one another, or to help watch over/play with the group's young.

For Plum, words can't always properly express how she's feeling despite her skill with them, so she'll use cuddling, love bites, grooming, and other methods to show her affection for a person. If angry or hostile, she'll withdraw completely from a person, wanting no contact at all. It's very easy to tell how she feels about a person because of these habits, and to be honest, Macaque would probably have an easier time opening up if he did the same as Plum, but alas he is emotionally constipated to the max, so at this point it would probably break him if someone even tried to high-fived him.

- All in all, Macaque and Plum are pretty similar. The both of them are confident, intelligent, charming, and very frightening in battle. Both Macaque and Plum are some of the only people to make MK and MQ sweat in a fight, with their fighting style being very cutthroat and brutal. It almost makes up for the small gap in strength between the hero and his/her warrior friend.

[bearmemesreviews]

Skylanders Review: Trigger Happy

Oh yes, my first fave. Let's talk about one of the many "subspecies" of Skylanders: The Gremlins. You see, since a major part of the Skylanders are the collectible figures, they would obviously need a way to make manufacturing them easier. So, while each figure is obviously unique in how it's detailed, they will often use a specific body type as templates for multiple figures. Similarly to how Neopets and their alternate forms work. Spyro shares the "Dragon Template" with several other characters, which we'll see soon, but for now we have the "Gremlin Template".

[Image: Trigger Happy is a short Gremlin with a Firey orange and sandy tan color scheme. His body is covered in uniformly orange fur, with the inside of his ears and the entire front of his body/the area acting as his face being tan. He has small stumpy feet and muppety three fingered hands with forearms thicker than the rest of his limbs. He has yellow eyes with black irises, almost always crooked, alongside fur around & in-between his eyes that's orange - making a pattern resembling a domino mask. He is almost always smiling with his comically large tongue hanging out, with teeth that are almost human-like with sharp canines. He wields two large pistols designed to fire gold coins, and in this specific image, he's straddling a golden cartoon missile Dr. Strangelove style.]

With Trigger Happy you'll be able to get what the body type is all about. A neckless and round being, more like the head itself is its entire body, supported by four limbs. There's not many of them, but each one is so unique it really does highlight how you can stretch one body type in so many ways.

Trigger Happy is a mysterious little guy, being the token "crazy loose cannon" as his name would suggest. He simply showed up one day, explicitly role playing as a western hero type, and protected frontier towns from bandits with custom-made guns that used coins as ammo. He's a Tech Skylander, as being an engineering savant is basically second nature to all fictional Gremlins, and he can even bring out a Coin Gatling gun as a special move.

He has a high pitch, kinda grating, voice; but in early Skylanders trailers he has an accent that sounded like an incomprehensible mix of Spaniard and Frenchman - almost like he's a Team Fortress 2 character.

In fact, doesn't that game have its own...

Anyway, I love these reviews because it really does highlight why I love my favorites. Trigger has a simple design, but making one of your playable characters marketed towards children a gremlin packing heat is just instantly hilarious. And it's only today, as I'm writing this, that I realize that the pattern of fur on his face is meant to resemble a domino mask. That really ties together his "Goldslinger aesthetic," though I still think he needed a ten-gallon hat.

Alternates: I don't know if I'll talk about all the recolors and occasional redesigns some Skylanders get, but I feel like I should tell you guys that Tigger Appy gets to wear an Evel Knievel Daredevil's costume for Superchargers, the game where the Skylanders get to Mario Kart with Bowser and Donkey Kong. Both he and the other two I reviewed by now have another-other form, but they're so weird we'll have to review those things by themselves down the road.

We'll get to Gimmicks once we get to Giants.

Trigger Happy is a fun exploration of his trope, and it's nice to know that the Skylanders team had bangers right out the gate considering he's one of the first few original Skylanders designed after the beta five.

Motto: "No Gold, No Glory." - Great Catchphrase, even if it's very obvious that it doesn't apply to him specifically. His lore outright states that the townsfolk that he saves get rich from the amount of gold coins his battles leave behind. I think that concept applies to the NPCs of Mario and Sonic games too, considering those two mascots become ATM machines whenever they walk into anything with a sharp corner.

The same thing happens to babies by the way. 4/5.

Trigger Happy gets 5 Chompies. The first of my personal roster.

Those cowards couldn't even be bothered to arm this child.

[winslowleachthecomposer]

SWAN FAN SPOTTED!!! thoughts on swan/the juicy fruits?

hihihihi!!! sorry for taking so long to answer!!!! there is a LOT

his work is a lot bigger of an influence on my playing style than i'd care to admit. if I tell people I don't listen to pop that often i'm lying through my teeth 🙃

i really do think his work is brilliant, especially his older material but I also love a lot of his newer releases (esp. his spin on the California sound/sunshine pop and return to early British Invasion influence with some of his more nostalgia-oriented albums)

not to mention just being a monumental influence on rock music and music as a whole while ALSO strictly refusing photographs and staying out of the public eye as much as possible apart from interviews. I can't even begin to imagine the sheer level of humility that must take. Massive respect. He's the Oxford definition of a living legend

Slightly-tangential-but-not-really personal rambling ahead: when I was in piano lessons in my early teens, half of my repertoire was miscellaneous classical composers and the other half Bach (and I kind of have a deeply-ingrained prejudice against his music as a result that i'm still grappling with). My ma, who definitely meant well, blindly agreed with my instructor's claims that contemporary music wasn't worth learning because it lacked technical skill, but after managing to (sloppily) learn a few Swan songs by ear from the radio, that was enough to convince ma that maybe modern material was worth switching teachers over after all, for the emotive aspects of the music but even for its own distinct technique that can't quite be gleaned the same way from classical compositions.

It's kind of like how Erik Satie's Gymnopédies and Gnossiennes are often dismissed by piano teachers (including my own) for being "too easy", but the emotional aspect of them is greatly overlooked and is, in actuality, very difficult to master unless your heart is 100% in it. I think the same goes for music on the Death label. A song doesn't have to be structurally comparable to the works of Liszt to be exceptionally powerful and challenging to replicate the right feel of. I'm definitely grateful to have had that classical training under my belt bc having that technique/theory knowledge makes my musical pursuits a lot easier now, applying that experience to contemporary repertoire, but I'm equally grateful if not more for having stuck to my guns knowing what I was passionate about. and I have Swan and his music to thank for that

and uhm. really rather not talk about the juicy fruits

ty for the ask!! swanblr's felt so empty lately so it's so cool to run into a fellow cygnet ^^

[pushing500]

I found your posts from the rimworld tag and I'm really enjoying them! A lot of playthroughs I've read wind up either too anime or grimdark for my tastes, it's really great to see someone with a similar playstyle to me (essentially, sims with guns). Irwin is probably my favorite of your pawns, but Andy is also adorable.

Also, if you don't mind me asking, what expression mod do you use?

Hello! I'm so glad you're enjoying my Rimworld colony. I'm relieved people seem to like my play style. Sometimes I worry that people will expect more of the oft-memed Rimworld War Crimes to take place, but I can't even bring myself to be mean to Wookshys in the game, let alone the colonists I actually like.

I like your description of "sims with guns". That's very accurate!

The facial animation mod I have active is "Vanilla Textures Expanded - [NL] Facial Animation", which takes one of the more anime-esque mods and makes it a little nicer to look at (in my opinion). It adds a lot of character and makes it much easier to project fun personalities on the pawns. I highly recommend it if you're looking for a mod that stays a bit truer to the Rimworld art style!

Fair warning, the mod does clash with some modded xenotypes, though. For example, the T'au xenotype in the "Tau Armory" mod (Candlelight's xenotype) and the Kroot xenotype from the same mod are supposed to have specific facial designs, but they don't work with the facial animations. I was a little frustrated by this at first, but I already know how to draw T'au and Kroot, and I'm more than happy to extend my imagination when drawing faces for Yttakin, Saurid, and all the other xenotypes too.

Irwin is one of my favourite colonists, too, and I agree that Andy is a very cute kid :D

I drew them hanging out as a thank-you for your lovely message. I hope you have a wonderful day! <3

One last thing, if you're hoping to avoid any darker/unhappy subject matter, you might want to skip over the next post about this colony...

[splashink-games]

A Note On... Ann Ultra and the Cyber Neko+ Statues

ANNO: Mutationem is an action platformer by ThinkingStars! Explore a cyberpunk world while fighting the baddies in your way!

This game was a much-needed change from the games I've been recently playing (which were a bunch of management and strategy games). I needed a little action in my life, so to say.

I played the demo of this game way back when, during a Steam Next Fest. And I don't often play demos, but if I remember correctly, a friend had recommended it to me. It was immediately interesting with the style the dev team was going for—half side-scrolling, half 3D exploration.

The art is actually one of the best points of the game because of its unique 2D-3D thing. The cyberpunk world is really cool, especially with the bright lights in the city areas contrasting the derelict combat areas. The character design is awesome. Main/Named characters feel unique and recognizable. Plus all the shiny specials effects!

And everywhere feels rather "lived in", in that nowhere in the game does it feel they added a space without worldbuilding. It shows through the art as well as the documents and posters spread across the maps.

Speaking of documents, the narrative for this game is fairly straightforward. Very mcguffin-chasing, though it allows us to meet a variety of characters before delving into the hidden plotline that we get glimpses of throughout the game. Solid pacing and storytelling!

I also really like the supporting cast. Well, Ayane. Her banter and relationship with Ann very much fills the void in between main story points. It also helps that I found her love for her best friend (that goes as far as calling Ann, "darling") endearing.

Mechanics-wise, I really liked the upgrade systems in this game. The traditional "get skill points when defeating enemies to unlock stuff in your skill tree" is something I missed for a while. It also didn't give me enough to unlock the entire tree, which is surprising, but doesn't hurt the gameplay in any way.

I will say that the melee weapons are a bit unbalanced. Once you get the dual swords (fast weapon with a little less damage), the regular sword is pretty useless (it's slower, with middling damage) because it doesn't have enough upside. And then the two-handed sword is always good/useful because of its armour-breaking.

The ranged weapon, on the other hand, felt very extra because of the melee-focused, low item-usage way I played. Ended up with over 70 magazines of ammo for the small gun despite using it more often than the others. Plus, you don't unlock the last ranged weapon until way near the end. Ultimately, I probably would've had an easier time if I'd used them instead of hitting and running with melee.

Also super surprised that they added input combos for certain abilities in the game. Like left, left, X performed a lunging attack. Didn't expect it, but glad to have some variation in combat that would otherwise end up being button mashing (not that I dislike that sometimes).

Platforming in this game is smooth and you get new movement abilities at a good pace. There's no need to backtrack in this game, which is nice.

ANNO: Mutationem is an awesome platformer that combines 3D exploration with sidescrolling combat!

As always,

Enjoy gaming!

[sisterdivinium]

I think someone mentioned mixing WN with D&D on Twitter a while back and I hope that, if so, "D&D" was being used as a synonym for RPG rather than actual D&D 5e (which you shouldn't really do because they aren't synonymous, but I know it's a common thing).

Adapting Warrior Nun into 5e rules seems a bit like fighting the system rather than working with it, at least to me.

Here is a game that depends on character classes -- how will you make it work when all characters will probably share the class of sister warrior? If the idea is to differentiate them through skills, then isn't it better to just ditch the concept of class altogether? Maybe take inspiration from something like Knave, Maze Rats, Cairn if one wishes to stick with a D&D-ish aura.

Fights in WN aren't all that long if you think about it; so how will you conciliate that with the HP sponges that 5e characters are? (An anecdote: the other day I saw someone complaining about their weak initial character, who had some 20 HP. Playing old school D&D, I've had players start with 4. Ask them if they weren't scared shitless of dying -- and if this fear didn't make them play smarter and end up valuing their PCs much more when they levelled up!)

The economy system of 5e (well, of D&D as a whole, really, including older editions) has very little in common with the one our favourite ass-kicking nuns would use -- would it even be necessary, if we assume the Vatican is responsible for providing them with gear?

I'm not asking any of these questions simply because I dislike 5e (which I do, I admit) or to dissuade people from mixing WN and RPGs (I even did it myself once and might or might not be doing it again with another play style and basic system in mind), I just ask that they take mechanics into consideration. 5e can be good for what it's made for (or so I'm told), but in this particular instance it seems inappropriate for WN.

If I may be so bold as to offer amateur designers some suggestions...

I'd start by taking a look at Nathan Paoletta's RPG Design Zine, just because it helps you think about what the hell you're doing.

Generic systems are just that, generic, but they can be much easier to adapt than something so heavily-coded for a certain type of game as 5e is. They can be more complicated (maybe GURPS, though you could go for Lite and consider getting, idk, Religion, Martial Arts, Low Tech, High Tech... Go explore) or lighter. I am a gigantic fan of Freeform Universal Classic, but you could do something cool with FATE or FAE, Mini Six, hell, I don't know! There's a good deal of generic systems out there.

You could be a little more daring, if versed in PbtA games, and hack one up yourself, why not?

All I'm saying is that you shouldn't be wrestling with the system to make this thing. Have it work for you, not against you; find something that can "translate" the show more easily than 5e does.

There's a whole world of games out there, a wealth of inspiration to work with. A lot of creators stick to 5e because it's popular and it helps them get visibility for their products -- and I don't fault them for it, but you aren't going to sell this, are you? You're not the IP owner. Others use 5e because "everybody knows the rules" -- which isn't true and, honestly, if you're going to change the whole thing up so it matches WN, then what's the use of knowing how rangers in a high fantasy campaign progress if you're playing nuns with guns?

I guess my point is: just don't tire yourself out trying to make an apple pie out of ingredients meant for chocolate cake.

[swirlmup]

Get ready lads, it’s a double feature this time for scene art made by moi!

First scene is the opening, and was my first assignment for this episode. I hadn’t gotten the chance to draw tyrian or hazel yet in my works for this series, so I really wanted to amend that by doing some villain work. However, shortly after beginning work on this scene, I had to put it on hold to work on the later scene which I’ll talk about later.

A redesign was done by one of our artists for Salem’s castle, heavily modeled after the emerald city in the wizard of oz, and I went off the art they did for drawing it.

Lots of people caught on to the presence of others at the castle! I’m so pleased when people pay attention -w- Basically they’re followers of Salem, and are the staff who inhabit and maintain the castle for Salem and her crew. You know, doing all the menial shit like storing the airship, cooking, cleaning, searching their mail, all that jazz. Hey, it’s a castle, and a castle has gotta have servants, right?

I wanted to sketch the characters in a more detailed way for this scene, I didn’t feel like copping out with one of my simpler art styles, even if it would’ve been slightly faster. Although I was still having to work pretty fast, so even these sketches aren’t as polished as I would’ve liked. xD I got put on this episode a week before it was due to come out(my own doing since I requested the scene), but even so I had confidence in myself I could get it done in time.

the heights are a little scuffed whenever Hazel’s on screen. He’s 8 feet tall, and technically should be even bigger next to mercury and emerald than he is here, but in the interest of easier framing and not having to shrink them just to fit their proper heights all together, I played it a little loosey-goosey and allowed the other characters to essentially stand on apple boxes when needed.

Drawing Tyrian being a creep is so fun~ I love creepy characters~ I saved drawing Tyrian for last, Emerald before him, Mercury before Emerald, and I drew Hazel first in all the frames. I wanted to make sure I was primed for drawing Tyrian, since his face is a complex shape.

Drawing such an exagerated, sparkle-eyed expression for Tyrian was also super fun. xD I wanted to match the rough sketch I made for this scene as closely as possible, which was sorta more spongebob-esque? it was this lmao

truly a lovely face for a lovely place.

Anyways, I was also glad I saved Emerald for one of the last characters I drew, since her design has a lot of intricate details. Her guns I 100% half-assed though lol, I figured if I could make them vaguely convincing then it’d be fine.

I had to think carefully about Tyrian’s approach in this scene. Whether he would cut his cheek like he does in canon, whether he walks forward to cut his shoulder, or grabbing it like he does here. In the end I decided him grabbing her blade and cutting his hand was more malicious, especially since he’s in the middle of lecturing Emerald about the importance of not spilling blood on Salem’s hollowed ground. It’s like he’s purposefully trying to create an excuse for himself to hurt Emerald, consequence-free. In addition, it communicated strongly the amount of control that Tyrian had over the situation, even with Emerald brandishing her weapons, she has no power over him.

I always loved this scene in canon!! i’ve been an emerald/mercury stan since the two were introduced, so i gotta appreciate the little breadcrumbs as they come lol

this frame is actually pretty accurate in terms of the height different between tyrian and hazel. tyrian be a toll man

prancing tyrian~ it was about this frame that i really began to understand the sort of character tyrian was when drawing him. in that he’s like a preacher for a cult who was also given liberal permission with a knife.

not much to say about this shot. it’s nice that there’s an airship landing pad at salem’s castle and a direct entrance from there lol.

Now the second scene I worked on! I actually wasn’t assigned this scene, but an emergency came up where the artist who was originally supposed to do this scene just wasn’t available anymore. This was a cowabummer, because it was actually one of the most important scenes in the episode and had been listed as high priority. Seeing the distress and emergency of the situation, I put my first scene on hold and volunteered myself to take over the jaune and saphron scene, presented celtic with the finished rough sketches first thing in the morning.

Since speed was once again the #1 priority, I opted for a simpler and looser style. However, I didn’t fall fully into my old stickman style, and instead ventured to create something of a new iteration on that style? My art has been pushing towards smaller/more realistic facial features, and I started wanting my stickman style to reflect that somewhat.

I went through a couple different iterations of this frame before I decided it would be best if it was shot from the other side of the door. I was having issues illustrating both jaune sitting down and saphron standing and looking after ruby in the same shot, as well as showing saphron’s worried expression. In the first iterations I favored putting the camera over on Jaune’s side and letting him take up most of the frame, but I like this positioning much better.

This was kinda tricky to draw. I don’t normally draw characters rubbing their brows to communicate weariness, so it was an interesting challenge. Although it turned out more of a forehead rub than a brow rub, lol

I love it when I can be economical with my art, and a single drawing can last for an entire exchange.

serious jaune making a serious face, fighting back against the dark of saphron’s realism, oh yeah.

I may not be very good at drawing people in foreshortened poses, but i still think it’s fun xD I like how tender this moment between Jaune and Saphron is, she gives off such kind big-sister vibes, and Jaune takes her advice seriously.

And that covers it for this episode! Thanks so much for reading, and I look forward to seeing you all the next time there’s art to share for Fixing RWBY!

Toodaloo!

[redlerred7]

Favourite Sonic games?

I can respond to this question in three ways and here they are:

2D Sonic Game

3D Sonic Game

3D Sonic Fangame

I'll explain myself under the cut

1. Favorite 2D Sonic Game

Sonic Advance 2 for the GBA.

There are a lot of reasons to like the gameplay of Sonic games and Sonic Advance 2 hard-focused on two of those reasons, to the detriment of almost everything else: Routing and execution. Let me explain.

Routing is the act of memorizing a level layout and figuring out the most efficient route to accomplish an objective. For the most part, SAdv2's objective is simply getting to the end of a level, though sometimes you're asked to also collect things on the way to getting to the end.

Anyway, the levels in SAdv2 are massive, tricky to traverse, and expect you to be moving through them at speeds up to 1280 pixels per second. For reference, the width of a GBA screen is 320 pixels. There are five playable characters in SAdv2, and each of them have abilities that allow them access to different parts of a level, inherently changing their routes. Not only that, executing an optimum route is difficult, so you either need to get good enough at the game so that you're able to take those routes, or figure out a different route that's within your skill level.

It's really satisfying, blazing through the levels and executing the routes you've come up with yourself. Fun game.

Other 2D Sonic games that also do this, particularly the Sonic Rush series for the Nintendo DS, but I enjoy the controls of this one much more.

2. Favorite Official 3D Sonic Game

Sonic Adventure 2 for the Dreamcast, GameCube, and various other platforms, including Windows PCs.

SA2 has three main gameplay styles based on the characters you're playing as. Sonic and Shadow have the same high speed platforming that Sonic is known for. Eggman and Tails have slower-paced platforming while piloting a mech that guns down robots with multi-lock missiles. Finally, Knuckles and Rouge have scavenger hunts for three mcguffins hidden around a large, vertical level, densely-packed with hiding places.

As a child, I became quite competent in all of them. Over the years, I also learned a bunch of tricks to make much of SA2's jank easier on me.

For example, you can homing attack towards a trail of rings and then spam the action button to enter a light dash without accidentally somersaulting or using a bounce attack. Another one is that Tails' and Eggman's mechs can move very quickly in a straight line on the ground, but have low acceleration and need to jump in order to take turns without losing speed. Finally, there are 100 possible placements for the different mcguffins you're asked to find in Knuckles' and Rouge's treasure hunting stages, and the hints given for each placement are consistent enough that memorizing the hints first hint is the equivalent to memorizing the placements as well.

Even though I'm no longer as good at the game now as I used to be, the muscle memory I have from when I was still good, plus my journey of getting good when I was a kid, elevates the experience to much higher than it would be if I played it today for the first time.

And finally

3. Favorite 3D Sonic Fangame

Sonic World DX for Windows PC.

Technically this is my favorite Sonic game of all time, but I'm wary of saying that without some caveats and clarifications. First and foremost, it's not officially licensed by SEGA. Despite having "Sonic" in the title and featuring all of the common elements of Sonic games, including Sonic the Hedgehog himself, I can't in good conscience lump it in with other officially licensed Sonic games. Second is that I'm part of the development team for SWDX, so of course I'd like it the most. Still, it feels a little wrong to say it's my favorite without disclosing my personal involvement in it.

Anyway, Sonic World DX is a fan-made Adventure-style platforming and sandbox game that allows you to play user-made Sonic levels and even create your own. There are over a dozen characters with unique playstyles based on their playable appearances in official Sonic games. The starting roster of 5 characters include Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, and Cream, with additional characters becoming unlocked by playing more of the game or using in-game cheat commands to unlock the whole roster all at once. Every download of the game also comes bundled with over a dozen stages, each with side missions that change the level objective, the level layout, or both. Overall, the game has a lot to offer.

As for why I consider it the best, I have three reasons.

The first reason is how the characters control. Generally speaking, Sonic characters have low acceleration and high top speeds, with the slopes and inclines of a level helping or hindering their movement on the ground. In the air, there also exists simulated air-drag, which slows down character movement and dampens the amount of control you have. In SWDX, acceleration is relatively high compared to most other Sonic games, giving it a sort of stiff yet slippery feeling. It also has a much milder air-drag that makes air movement just as twitchy as on the ground. Most people would consider this a bad thing. To me, it's a positive because it allows a level of control in the air that is simply unmatched by any other Sonic game. This control further exacerbated by the different abilities that characters have.

Which leads to my next point: character abilities. Every character has their own set of movement and/or combat skills which they can use to traverse a level, such as launching characters forward, slowing your descent, or literally flying. The use of these abilities at the right time and in the right order allows a player to bypass difficult platforming or gain access to parts of a level that are normally inaccessible. A character like Sonic, for example, has an aerial kick attack that launches him forward, which can be jump-cancelled to gain additional horizontal distance, after which he can use a homing attack for even more horizontal distance. All of that, on top of air control with similar responsiveness to grounded movement, makes it feel like Sonic is able to fly without explicitly having said ability.

And finally, there's the custom levels.

Long before Sonic World DX was BlitzSonic, an open-source fangame that SWDX is built off of. BlitzSonic is also a sandbox that allows people to make levels. And through BlitzSonic, I discovered my love for seeing amateur and hobbyist game devs creating small projects for others to play. I also discovered my own love of level design through BlitzSonic, which continues to this day as I help work on SWDX.

There also exists nearly 15 years' worth of user-made levels for BlitzSonic. Quality varies between them, only a fraction of them are compatible with Sonic World DX, but that's still a lot of levels. Plenty to look at and play if you feel a lack of content. That fact alone makes me so happy.

[manysmallhands]

New album: Scarlet by Doja Cat

All things considered, I think that Scarlet will probably end up as my favourite record of 2023. While there have been plenty of others that I’ve enjoyed before now, there hasn’t really been anything else that I’ve obsessed over quite so much and played to absolute death as this. However, i'm not seeing many people who feel the same. While a few have declared themselves fully on board, reviews have often been middling, bemoaning its sharp turns of style and tone. Similarly, it's failed to gain much popular momentum, charting high in the first week but then dropping out of the charts at speed. So far as I can tell, anyone not put off by its embrace of hard rapping and old style beats appears to have balked at the relentless barbs directed at her online stans. Given how lonely my position feels, I figured that I ought make a case for it. No doubt sales will be impacted. Warn the pressing plants. Put Spotify on alert.

First of all, Doja comes out swinging. Megahit single “Paint The Town Red” is surely already familiar but it bears repeating what an extraordinary banger it is. The track appears relatively slight on first hearing, underpinned by a glitchy retro sample of Walk On By, but its real power comes from a bouncing bassline and Doja’s joyously unrepentant delivery - “Bitch, I said what I said” - as she rips into the losers and haters alike. This vibe dominates the front end of the album, with the stakes raised even higher on “Demons” and “Fuck the Girls”, tracks where she goes off at an absolute fever pitch. But while the music on “Demons” matches her ferocity with a heavy 808 attack, FTG feels like a musical harbinger for the rest of the record, its twitchy live bass forming a bridge into some of the easier going material. 

And it’s fair to say that, beyond these harder edged songs, most of the album sounds absolutely gorgeous. Tracks like the high octane pop of “Ouchies” and the warm, swirling RnB of “Gun” and “Go Off” are entirely absorbing, the kind of music that you don’t so much listen to as luxuriate in. If there is an issue here, it’s that it sometimes feels like Doja isn’t letting go as much as the music is. 97 is one of the best examples of the kind of disjointed funk that comes to dominate later on but her claim that it “looks like we don’t give a shit” is heavily undermined by how often she returns to attacking her enemies. When she (hilariously) begins a line with “…in a tweet that I’m probably gonna stand by…”, you start to get the feeling that Scarlet may be one of the most '...and another thing...' albums ever to be released.

And yet, I can’t say that I really mind. Being new to her, it may be that I just haven’t had time to get bored of it, but I’ve heard plenty of hip hop albums where rappers string out beefs like this whilst being far less entertaining. Say what you like about Doja but, a few clumsy rhymes aside, her rapping is generally excellent and she always has a choice insult for her detractors, whether they’re mocking her shaved head on Attention (“boo hoo my n-, I ain’t sad that you won’t fuck me”) or fretting over her mock-‘Satanic’ affectations on “Shutcho” (“got you cussin’ on a Sunday now - GOOD LORD!”). Do we get more of this stuff than we really need to? Yes, we probably do, but even where it wears out it’s welcome a bit, it’s a rare tune where she can’t make me crack a smile.

And in any case, there’s always something else worth focusing on. This continues to be true through the second half, where its softer elements mutate into dislocated neo-soul, full of twisting funk basslines and a strong late night vibe. This is especially so on Skull and Bones, where Doja’s overlapping vocal lines knit into an intoxicating psychedelic sweep, and the slinky sex track “Often”, a rare non-rap tune where she comes off like a huskier and hornier Erykah Badu. In general, the few love songs here feel genuinely touching, especially new single “Agora Hills” where her adoption of a teen girl persona only heightens her vulnerability as she gently pokes fun at it. And while even here the conflict isn’t quite done with (Doja’s desire to “rub it in their face” refers to the media controversy over her new and deeply unpleasant boyfriend), that softening is not just a welcome respite from the fury but a real ace in Scarlet’s sleeve.

Yet apparently it isn’t enough. And that's a perspective I can understand tbh: the people waiting for a Doja Cat album might be interested in the poppier material but they probably want to hear a lot more singing and they could certainly do without the relentless bitching and sniping. And from the other side, a lot of the people who might be interested this kind of hip hop are fairly unlikely to hear it: Doja Cat is a big pop star, whereas rap is notoriously focused on “keeping it real” and shunning the supposedly commercial (so long as it suits them anyway). Given the pace with which it's dropped out of the charts, it seems a bit late for Scarlet to find a mass audience now, though while its singles remain on the radio I guess that all is not yet lost. Regardless of anything, it’s a record that makes me extremely happy but for Doja Cat, I guess the challenge is to knit this - in all truth - absolutely breathtaking sound into something that makes a little less effort to rub everyone up the wrong way. But with the biggest single of the year still under her belt, I feel like she’s got a few lives left in her.

[overflowchute]

game thoughts: bio-ship paladin (sega genesis)

Bio-Ship Paladin is a very strange game - enormously slow, with a defensive gameplay style similar to missile command. It drags on for an incredible length of time, not just from the perspective of the slow scrolling and movement, but also the sheer number of stages (there's like ten) and the fact that the game only has like 3 songs. As other players have noted, it's comically rigid, full of random ambushes that seem bafflingly impossible for you to dodge the first time through. (The boss of Stage 3 comes to mind). And yet, there's something weirdly engrossing about the whole experience to me.

I guess fundamentally, the way the game is just so different from any other shmup I've ever played appeals to me. I think the idea of a game like Bio-Ship Paladin but with a bit more budget and thought put into it would be extremely cool. What I find most interesting about the game, though, is this sort of... uh... Dark Souls - esque "you WILL die, deal with it" energy to the whole game, the exact same thing that makes it frustrating to play. It's kind of... I hate to say this, because it's obviously incredibly silly to refer to a hyper-idealized genre game this way... realistic?

Okay, okay, so I know you're probably scratching your head at that. What I mean is, Bio-Ship Paladin feels like plodding battleship combat more than speedy movie thriller action 90% of the time. The bosses are of a classic style where instead of shifting from form to more and more dynamic form, instead they usually start out with a ton of weapons that you shred off of them until they're pitiful, so the fights start out overwhelmingly hard and become easy once you've deleted all your opponent's gun turrets. And that sort of all-or-nothing, throwing everything you've got at your opponent, hoping its enough combat really reminds me of how real combat works... There's a sense of sad, trudging, despair-filled warfare in Paladin that's exacerbated by the grimy Genesis palette and the simple, melancholy soundtrack. In the end titles of the game you're presented with a listing of all the bosses you fought the entire time, and in an extremely unusual move, every boss has a listed crew count. There's no visible humans in the game at all, no cool protagonists babbling "Let's attack aggressively!" in lieu of a plot or fulfilling the local cute anime girl quota, no intro cutscene explaining the stakes, the only presence of humanity is their reduction to numbers in the end, a quiet little procession of kill counts. More than anything that's what makes this feel like a depiction of heartless warfare to me, the casual mention of the fact that hundreds of people were manning the death-raining war machines that your two pilots had to shoot down and kill. It's pretty interesting.

Oh, speaking of two pilots. I think my favorite thing about Paladin was playing it with my brother. It's much easier as a two-player game for obvious reasons, a single player has to constantly switch modes to play the game (no twin stick capabilities on the Genesis!) which makes it way harder to handle all the ambushes it throws at you. But with two players you have the added element of communication, you actually have to talk to your partner to discuss threats and priorities. This is another aspect that feels powerfully simulationist, like an early 20th century warplane pilot having to get the help of their gunner. Bio-Ship Paladin is simultaneously a sterile space battle game where machines trade lasers with other machines without a human in sight, and a game defined entirely by the idea that to some degree, even if you can't see it, those mechanical behemoths are all about the people within them. Thousands die. That's life!

Also I like the thing where your ship gets larger and easier to hit as you get more health. Thanks for reading.

[ilivelikeimtrying]

I just woke up from the weirdest turtle dream I have ever read and honestly it was the coolest shit over.

The dream was on Leo's POV the whole time (2D in the design of 2012) and started off cute with Donnie inventing, Mikey playing with a really squishy toy cheese, Raph beating up his boxing bag, and Leo watching them all contently while they did it in a very nice room where the center was Donnie's lab.

I don't remember why, but Donnie and Mikey were suddenly sad, something about Donnie's invention and Mikey's squishy toy, and the two decided to leave and become "villains".

Leo is saddened by this and worried sick and Raph tells him that they should just go and get them back but Leo's still worried.

Suddenly humans that believe that society sucks are involved and there's guns and knives and murderers and such and Donnie makes a deal with Raph, sort of capture the flag style, that if they can come to their home base and bring back what they believe was something that their brothers loved or made them who they are and such and take it back to their own home base that they'll go back.

(There's a brief moment with a viking and a modern pirate ship and me being stranded on a little reef island a bit off the shore but I was fine.)

Suddenly both I (Leo) and Raph were dressed in the coolest ninja/hoodie concept I have ever seen and we teamed up with a human for help, and it was almost time to start.

The other team had guns, but for some reason I had a lot of knives of varying degrees and took those with me because I did not want to shoot my little brothers.

Me and Raph removed all of the coverings from the windows for an easier escape and got ready.

Mikey and Donnie were also getting ready by candlelight until, around 7:16am (we stayed up all night apparently) Donnie shot out his lights.

I turned off our own and Raph warned me that we were running on no sleep and barely any backup (just that one guy) and that this would be dangerous, I told him I knew and we hugged before we went out separate ways.

I learned then that Donnie and Mikey's lair might actually be closer then we thought. They were our neighbors on the right side, only stopped by a wooden fence and door on the other side. A snuck to where I was sure Donnie was and heard him fight off a purple dragon before throwing his tech bag over the fence. It seemed that while I discovered their location, they still hadn't figures ours out.

I fought off some humans, had to kill a few who tried shooting me, and then went to Raph at the front who was being confronted by the same dude who was helping us pointing a gun on him, I made it in time to distract the guy but he turned the gun on me but I swiftly pulled out one I stole from this guy and shot the dude in the shoulder, he was in shock but shot me anyways but I put my hand in front of me and took at least five shots there. The dude fell and Raph knocked him out and I told Raph that time was up. I ran to where I knew Donnie's tech bag was with all his tech and ran with it to our home and set it their, and then pulled out some ninja moves to get to him and Mikey (who honestly didn't even fight me he was so chill) and grabbed him, telling him "I think you guys forget who helped raise you" and started moving him around like a mascot with a billboard sign. I found his little squishy cheese, but I know that wasn't it and kept flipping him around until he admitted that the object was he himself and we both laughed together. Then Donnie was confronting me and I had Raph carry Mikey like a potato sack back home. I don't know what happened but I managed to take Donnie down and was cradling him because I did not want to hurt him and he told me "you know, the thing that you had to find wasn't my tech." and I told him "I know", I only took it because I know it was something he loved and would probably want to take back home.

He asked me then "Than what is it? What is it that society took from me?" and I looked into his said brown eyes and grinned while saying "... Your smile." and he smiled up at me but I started crying and hugging saying "and I'm so sorry for that."

and then I woke up.