#the first game we were like. ain't no way this is serious??? this has to be a joke

[euclydya]

so like are the people behind garten of banban taking the games seriously anymore. genuine question

[hearts4renaa]

AIN'T GOTTA TELL ME.

summary: things that the ‘95 line do that show how much they love you. gender neutral reader contains: drabbles for each member, pure fluff, established relationship a/n: i listened to "i think he knows" by taylor swift while writing. my first svt work! pls enjoyyy <3 and yes, i will get to the other members!

S.COUPS/CHOI SEUNGCHEOL | seungcheol has his eyes on you at all times, in a lovestruck daze.

“-ungcheol? seungcheol?” a hand waving in his face snaps cheol out of his daze. he blinks for a few moments before looking at who was asking for his attention. his eyes make it’s way to jeonghan, who’s leaning against his hand with a smirk. “seems like someone’s got your attention.” he teases.

he shakes his head, brushing off his comment. “oh, be quiet.” and suddenly, he finds his eyes drawing to you once again. you were striking up a conversation at the kitchen counter with dino, sipping on a glass of water. his chest feels all warm, seeing how you interact with the boys. nothing makes him happier than seeing all his loved ones get along. he feels the corner of his mouth perk up ever so slightly at sight of your animated conversing. then, all the chatter of his bandmates began to fade out, until there was only you. he had never seen anything more beautiful.

jeonghan laughs next to him. “you’re so obvious.”

seungcheol rolls his eyes, but deep down, he feels a fuzzy feeling start to build up.

YOON JEONGHAN | jeonghan drinks your shots for you.

“aeeey! y/n!” soonyoung’s voice is giggly, already drunk and long gone. the 14 of you were playing numerous drinking games, and with each loss, everyone slowly got drunker. obviously, soonyoung wasn’t too skilled in these games. unfortunately, you were the victim this time. “drink! drink! drink!” mingyu and dokyeom chanted playfully, with seungcheol already starting to pour a shot for you.

you laugh and shake your head. “nope, can’t drink more today.” they collectively groan, but you know they’re not serious. “sorry, boys.”

“aiii, come on!” seungkwan complains lightheartedly.

jeonghan extends his arm forward. “give it here, i’ll drink it.” his hand beckons the alcohol to him.

you turn to him. “you sure, hannie? you don’t have to.”

“mmm,” he mumbles before downing the alcohol. “it’s for you.” he smiles. you smile back and kiss him on nose.

seungkwan whines out loud. “hey, where was that energy before soonyoung got wasted?!?”

HONG JISOO/JOSHUA | joshua brings little gifts for your parents when he visits.

“oh joshua, aren’t you the sweetest?” your mom coos, admiring the bouquet of flowers he brought for her. she turns the vase around delicately, smiling at the arrangement. joshua smiles pridefully from beside you. “how did you know i liked carnations?” she asks him.

“ah,” he starts, flashing his award winning smile. “you mentioned them last time we were over for dinner.” he explained.

this only makes your mother beam even more. “oh joshua, you are such a gentleman!”

“i brought this for you too,” joshua turns to your father next. he hands him a bottle of leather cleaner, along with a brush. “i’ve always seen you with leather shoes. i figured you might appreciate this.”

your dad smiles too. “thanks, sport.”

“now come on, let’s go eat!” your mom exclaims. your parents head to the dining room.

he looks back to meet eyes with you, and you could feel how much love he has for you. “thank you.” you whisper. he kisses you on the forehead before speaking. “now, shall we join them?”

[bengiyo]

Sukiyanen Kedo Do Yara ka Ep 6 Stray Thoughts

Last week, Sakae's ex showed up, and that manipulative twink lied twice in his attempt to slide back into Sakae's life. Sakae wasn't thrilled, but didn't feel like he could just not help Mizuki. The squad was not thrilled about this, and rallied quickly to cut down on misunderstanding. Mizuki interrupted sauna time in a fantastic moment, and Kazuyo told Soga he needed to get his head in the game. We left at Sakae and Soga making some things clear and having their first kiss in the park.

Oh right, Soga has plans to return to Tokyo, and hasn't told Sakae yet.

I loved that. Sakae is willing to let Soga work out whatever he needs to, but also made it clear that he's not willing to be put in perpetual stasis.

Interesting. Seems the show isn't done with Mizuki if the regulars are still thinking about him and worried about lingering problems from him.

Episode 6: It's a crisis, what now?

I love that Mizuki is still showing up in the sauna. Unfortunately, he made a good point about how one-sided the relationship looks on the outside. We know, however, that Soga is trying to be reciprocal here.

Very excited about this new customer plan.

There's a new employee from Tokyo, and he is RUDE!

OOF. Adult problems. Soga got Sakae all gassed up about this promotional video but got called in to work.

I get why Sakae was with Mizuki. This man's movements are so casually alluring.

A senpai cafe where they also wear high school uniforms. INCREDIBLE.

Oh ho! Mizuki helped. Now what?

You know, I was worried we weren't going to get a fitness gay scene this week.

I'm so invested in the Mizuki flashbacks. We learned that Sakae took over the restaurant from his mom, and struggled with replicating her dishes correctly right around the same time he met Mizuki, who offered to stick around and help.

New guy, you are fucking up my favorite adult relationship on air right now. Step outside. We ain't gonna jump you.

Poor Sakae was looking forward to this date. He put on his favorite hideous leopard print pants and everything.

Where is my spray bottle? This twink has gone too far!

Oh lord we have them competing for Sakae next week!

Last week I thought we were seeing the beginning of their relationship, but it does not appear to be so. Looks like we're going to have to sort the way Soga manages his work-life balance. It feels like the impending return to Tokyo is tied up with this project as well. I'm also genuinely enjoying the Mizuki role in the story and how he complicates matters. He wants to be with Sakae now, even as he openly admits that he leaves any time things get too serious.

[nerdynanny]

GET TO KNOW THE MUN [2.0!]

I did this previously on one of my old blogs, but that was four years ago and we need an update.

TAGGED BY: myself from four years ago @journalsauthored TAGGING:THE DASH

1. FIRST NAME: Max

2. STRANGE FACT ABOUT YOURSELF: I was born with one functioning eye. [same] I also share a birthday with the late great Robin Williams.

3. TOP THREE PHYSICAL THINGS YOU FIND ATTRACTIVE ON A PERSON: Still hella ace, so physical attraction ain't it. I'm drawn to kindness, compassion, and just a bit of pettiness. So basically my partner.

4. A FOOD YOU COULD EAT FOREVER AND NOT GET BORED OF: PASTA.

5. A FOOD YOU HATE: Peas are a crime against humanity. So is cilantro.

6. GUILTY PLEASURE: Japanese, Korean, and Thai Dramas.

7. WHAT DO YOU SLEEP IN: Depends on the weather. Boxers, usually. [same]

8. SERIOUS RELATIONSHIPS OR FLINGS: Happily in a relationship. When I last answered this I had just gotten out of one with a TERF. I'm in a way better place now.

9. IF YOU COULD GO BACK IN THE PAST AND CHANGE ONE THING ABOUT YOUR LIFE, WOULD YOU AND WHAT WOULD IT BE: I would absolutely go back in time to prevent myself from working with a narcissist who has recently accused me of stalking him??? When he traumatized me?? Gaslighting fr fr.

10. ARE YOU AN AFFECTIONATE PERSON: So like-- to a handful of people. This answer is still the same, I'm energetic and entertaining but if someone touches me I will shriek.

11. A MOVIE YOU COULD WATCH OVER AND OVER AGAIN: Back to the Future Part III. It’s my favorite [SAME STILL].

12. FAVORITE BOOK: Artemis Fowl. Not sure which in the series I love most but the original is dear to my heart. [addition] Cirque du Freak. The Darren Shan saga TIES.

13. YOU HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO KEEP ANY ANIMAL AS A PET, WHAT DO YOU CHOOSE: DOG ARMY. [same]

14. TOP FIVE FICTIONAL SHIPS [IF YOU ARE AN RP BLOG, YOU CAN USE YOUR OWN SHIPS AS WELL]:Oh shit. JackFord [feat @sonxflight​, same], Hilson [with @downs1de, ConYuu [otp 5 ever], SakuSayo [solid ship], and DocClara [with @doctorbrown]

15. PIE OR CAKE: Pie. [same]

16. FAVORITE SCENT: Sandalwood and the Ocean. [same]

17. CELEBRITY CRUSH: Manny Jacinto. He’s all that and a bag of chips. [same, forever jason mendoza fanboy]

18. IF YOU COULD TRAVEL ANYWHERE, WHERE WOULD YOU GO: The UK. Anywhere but the US. The Netherlands maybe?

19. INTROVERT OR EXTROVERT: Ambivert. I tend to respond to the types of folk around me. [same]

20. DO YOU SCARE EASILY: HAHAHAHA. No. But I DO have an intense response to jump scares. I’ve been banned from a few haunted houses because of it. [same, panic disorders go brr]

21. IPHONE OR ANDROID: iPhone. [same]

22. DO YOU PLAY ANY VIDEO GAMES: Yes. OBSESSED with Palworld and Minecraft. I just love games where I can play with my frens and build cute shit. I once started a cult in a Minecraft RP server.

23. DREAM JOB: Stand Up Comedian [or just being recognized for my MAD improv skills]

24. WHAT WOULD YOU DO WITH A MILLION DOLLARS: Give everyone I know ten thousand bucks and use the rest on myself. [same]

25. FICTIONAL CHARACTER YOU HATE: Delores Umbridge. But you’re supposed to hate her. [same, also jkr coded]

26. FANDOM THAT YOU WERE ONCE A PART OF BUT AREN’T ANY LONGER: Undertale. I kinda moved away from it and it's populated by kids lately. I still chat about it with my friends, but I doubt I'll ever RP it again.

[queenlua]

8, 18, 27, 30!

8. Least favorite lord/protagonist?

haha, this feels like a bit of a cheap answer, but: eliwood's such a nothingburger of a character. the writing in FE7 was generally weaker than the games in the series i care more deeply about, so like, the dude has a serious disadvantage there, but lyn & hector were both reliably more interesting, whereas eliwood is just. bland wonderbread

18. How do you tend to play Fire Emblem? (es. casually, doing Ironman runs, playing it like a visual novel)

i like the strategy & story aspects of the games equally, and i like them in a can't-put-it-down, can't-wait-to-see-what-happens-next, can't-wait-to-try-the-next-map kinda way. ergo, i tend to play: on hard mode (but generally not maddening, because if it's too hard that kills my forward momentum), strategy nerding pretty hard but not exhaustively so (i.e. i'm not gonna spend ages on forums trying to figure out the Objectively Correct Build; that takes away time from PLAYING THE GAME), bolting straight for the ending (e.g. ignoring skirmishes in games that have those), as fast as humanly possible. (it's dangerous for me to open an FE game if i have other important obligations going on in my life lol)

i'm also definitely influenced a bit by who else is playing around me. when Awakening came out, me + my most strategy-nerd FE friend were on an absolute tear to see who could out-hardcore the other, so i was doing EXHAUSTIVE spreadsheets for all the genetics stuff haha.

i also was doing a weekly slowplay of the Tellius games with some friends a few years ago and that was REALLY fun. we'd all played the games before and liked them, so we'd switch who was piloting the map each week and the rest of us would heckle, share opinions about characters/story/tactics/etc. good times <3

27. Any fanfics/fan content you’d recommend? (You can plug your own stuff it’s fine)

oh boy DO I EVER, here's a bunch

MAGVEL

* sleep of the just. occasionally i get to be the person to send this fic to someone who JUST finished Sacred Stones for the FIRST time, and then they send me a capslock WHAT THE FUCK message an hour later and i'm just like :DDDDDDDDDDDD

* l'arachel/rennac silliness! and yet more l'arachel/rennac silliness!

* this one's technically a crossover with Awakening but. L'ARACHEL. MY GIRL. jonphaedrus writes her so well sighs into hands

* we all love creepy ephraim/lyon, yes? yes.

TELLIUS

* i'm completely feral for myaru's naesala/sanaki stuff. here's one, here's another

* here's naesala being a messy disaster for 20k words and i love it so much

* actually the correct soren pairing is: soren/kurthnaga

* i think about the final scene in this sothe/micaiah/pelleas disaster like once a week

* this sothe & tormod friendship thing is so perfect that i've been checking it every day since i got it as a gift & thinkin GOD MORE PEOPLE NEED TO APPRECIATE HOW GOOD THIS SHIT IS

* shinon is my favorite asshole

* bastian & renning. god i can't believe more people haven't fic'd them, but, at least there is this one and it's a great time

THREE HOUSES

* the blue lions defect to the empire & everyone's miserable in the most delicious way. also there's some serious edelgard/ingrid vibes and they're immaculate

* this ashen wolves casefic is just so satisfying and cute and self-contained and fun

* this claude and flayn bodyswap fic is really goofy and fun and pitch-perfect. and if you dig it, there's more where that came from; the author excels at having so much FUN with every fic they touch

* cough there's a certain dimitri/yuri fic that's, uh, very iddy and has every trigger warning imaginable but also rules. i ain't linkin it here, but it's not hard to find, if that sounds compelling lol

and yeah i also write fic! Silent World is probably my personal fave ("Naesala being a bastard for 15k words, what's not to love"), but i've written plenty of other stuff, mostly featuring golden deer & laguz characters~

30. Since horse abuse is currently popular on Tumblr, beat up a dead horse with your take on an oversaturated topic🐴

"is edelgard literally hitler" the people ask. "is edelgard the great liberator of our time" the people ask. and yet nary a soul asks: "woah that body horror stuff with Edelgard at the end of the Blue Lions route was kinda blink-and-you'll-miss-it but also weirdly hot, can we get some bad ending stuff with that—"

[portorfeitansimp]

Teruya Otori x Male!Reader

We had been locked in this killing game for two days. Two days that I investigated all day long, only to end up no further ahead than the others. From time to time I stopped at the antique store, where I saw Teruya. For some reason, he spent a lot of time in this room, although I didn't see much point in it. Even today, I continue my research. Thinking of finding some information, I enter the antique store. Teruya is there, as usual.

Hi, Teruya.

The boy turns to me, surprised at first, before smiling broadly.

Oh, hi, (Y/N) ! What'cha doin' her' ?

Just tryin' to investigate. And you ? I see you here everyday, do you really find this place interersting ?

O' course ! I'm a merchant, after all !

Ah, yeah. That's kinda logic that the ultimate merchant like this place. So, did you find anything interersting or helpful ?

Not really. Ther' just a bunch of objects of every type, but not any clue.

I see... Heh, doesn't really matter.

Eh ?

Yeah, we will definitely be able to get out of here one day or another !

Yeah, ya right !

I smile at the little merchant, gently placing my hand on his head. I was convinced that we would all get out of here alive.

By the way, what time is it ?

I dunno.

Hm... Must be almost night time.

As soon as my sentence was finished, a bell that I knew only too well rang out.

Puhuhu~ Everyone, it's night time !

Teruya and I look at each other. Teruya has a slight amused smile.

Guess ya were right.

I swear I didn't know !

The young boy laughs lightly.

I know, I know. Anyway, goo'night, (Y/N) !

Good night, Teruya !

I exit the room and head to my room. Once there, I collapse on my bed, exhausted, and fall asleep immediately.

The next morning, as soon as the morning announcement sounds, I join the others in the refectory. All of them discuss what they have (or haven't) found, although the searches haven't turned up much so far. Only Rei found something, the academy guide. Even if it's not going to help us get out of here, unfortunately. Suddenly, during the discussion, Monokuma appears and tells us that he has prepared a mobile for us. Yuki therefore decides to go see what it is before everyone else, but a few minutes later, we hear a cry. His shout. So we all rush to join him, and we find him in a bad state in front of one of the computers. After a short explanation of what Yuki saw, we decide to watch our DVDs too.

After the video I was watching is over, I let out a scream of terror. That couldn't be true, could it ? This video had to be a montage, right ? I look at my comrades, trembling. They too have an expression of terror on their face. Some like Teruya or Satsuki even started to cry, panicked.

C-Come on... T-This is a joke, don't you think ? T-This video has to be manipulated ! You don't trust that, do you ?!

But unfortunately, my words did not reach anyone. Anyway, no one would have taken me seriously, would they ? After all, I'm just as horrified as they are.

Guys, (Y/N) is right. Let's calm down and forget what we saw, okay ?

K-Kinjo...

Yeah, psycho cop is right. This has to be some bullshit manipulated by Monokuma.

But what should we do...? This... This is serious !

N-No, Mekaru's right, this is just bullshit. Ain't no way it's real !

The discussion continues until just about everyone has calmed down. Then, we leave the room one by one, returning to our usual activities. For my part, I decide to go see Teruya. He seemed really affected by the situation, after all. Who would I be if I didn't help my classmates feel better ? As usual, I find the merchant in the antique store. I approach him slowly.

Teruya ?

He turns to me, his tears still falling a bit. Slowly, I step up to him and take him in my arms, gently rubbing his back and whispering reassuring words to him. I have no idea what drives me to give him so much affection over others. Maybe it's just because I feel the need to protect him ? The young boy buried his head in my neck, and I heard him sob. I feel his body shiver in my arms as I continue to reassure him. After several long minutes, he finally calms down and I hear him whisper a weak "Thank you". When I move a little to look at him, I see that he has finally fallen asleep. So I decide to carry him and take him to his room. Once there, I put him in his bed and then go out, now going to my own room. Shortly after, when I was on the verge of sinking into Morpheus' arms, the announcement of night time is heard.

The next day, as usual, we meet in the refectory. However, this time Kiyoka and Rei are missing. Worried, the others decide to go looking for them. After a long time, I finally hear a scream. So I rush to see what's going on. Once there, I find Akane in front of the girls' bathroom, her eyes glued to...a corpse. Kiyoka Maki's corpse.

GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH !!!!

My cry was much louder than Akane's, so everyone eventually came running to see what was going on. Eventually, a body discovery announcement sounds. However, Rei has not yet joined us. The others inform me that the teacher cannot be found. She eventually arrives after a long time, and Monokuma appears to start the investigation.

During the trial, I remained silent for a long time, listening to everything the others said. However, I have a lot of objections to make. It's only when Mitsuhiro finally accuses me that I break down.

That's bullshit ! Shut your fucking mouth, Higa ! Seriously, don't you think YOU'RE suspicious ?! You're literally accusing everyone since the begenning of this fucking class trial ! Do you have something to hide ?! Because you're acting exactly like a criminal right now !!

The room becomes silent. Everyone looks at me with an expression of shock.

................. (Y/N), please.................. Calm down...

How do you expect me to calm down, Kurokawa ?! This crazy bastard is literally accusing everyone but him and acting like a fucking criminal !!

................... I agree............ That his behavior................... Makes him suspicious.............. But we just............. Need to refute him................ No need to................ Shout at him like that...

Listening to Mikako's words, I calm down a bit.

You're right, Kurokawa. Sorry.

Mikako gives me a very slight smile. Then the trial resumes.

After a good thirty minutes, we come to the conclusion that Mitsuhiro is indeed the culprit. He is therefore executed before our eyes. After the execution, we are treated to a huge crack-up from Tsurugi, who forbids us to "call this criminal a friend". What I answer with a magnificent slap.

Why should we listen to you, psycho cop ? You don't even see us as friends, so why would you care about what Higa is ?!

I turn my back to him, ready to leave the room.

And anyway, the true criminal is the one behind that fucking pedobear !

With these words, I leave the room, leaving behind an outraged Monokuma at my words and a shocked Tsurugi at my behavior. When I finally arrive in my room, I collapse on my bed and fall asleep immediately.

The next morning, we all gather in the refectory. There, Tsurugi gives us a new speech, inviting all those who do not want to follow his orders to leave the room. Rei gets up and heads for the exit.

I assume you accept to be treated as a potential criminal.

The redhead leaves without saying anything. Annoyed by Tsurugi's remarks, I bang my fist hard on the table as I stand up.

You know what ? Screw you ! You can die and go to hell, I won't even care !

With these words, I head for the door of the room.

W-Wha ?! Y-Ya're leavin' too, (Y/N) ?!

Yes ! I've had enough of this asshole already !

With these words, I leave the room. As I walk away, I see Kinji and Kizuna come out as well. Without paying attention to them, I go to where there was the gate that prevented access to the stairs that go up to the second floor. As I thought, she was no longer there. So I go up to the second floor and start exploring it.

After a few minutes, while inspecting the metal plates that block the windows in a classroom, I hear the door open and a voice I immediately recognize.

Ah, hey (Y/N) !

I turn back to the little merchant. He approaches me, a broad smile on his lips. Why do I feel like he's happy to see me ? And why, as soon as he walked into the room, did my worry and stress evaporate ?

Is your investigation goin' well ?

I look at him without saying anything, searching in vain for answers to my questions.

(Y/N) ? Is everythin' okay ?

Suddenly, I come out of my "trance" and feel my cheeks turning red with embarrassment.

Ah ! Y-Yeah, I'm fine, don't worry, Teruya. I assume that someone told you the second floor was open.

Not only tha', the bathouse's also open !

Really ? I didn't know. We should do a bath party with all the boys, I'm sure that would be fun !

Great idea ! But fo' now, the girls are doin' one, so we'll have to wait.

Really ? They didn't lose time.

Still smiling, Teruya approaches the blackboard in the classroom.

Say... Do ya love someone ?

Taken by surprise, I nearly choke on my saliva.

W-What ?!

Do ya love someone ?

I look at him. Teruya is now staring at me seriously, showing that his question was serious.

W-Well... I-I don't know... Why do you ask ?

Curiosity.

After that, I watch him leave the room in silence. Why had he asked this question ? Is he trying to send me a message ? Does he love someone and he wants advice ? So many questions raced through my head, but none had an answer. I sigh.

Why does he seem si unpredictable to me ?

I stare into space in silence for a few minutes, before finally leaving the room myself. I do not know where I am. The questions are linked in my head, but none has an answer. And above all, since he came out, my anxiety has returned. And I don't know why, but when he's not around I feel lonely. What effect does he have on me ? Why do I feel like I need his presence so much ?

I sigh again before finally going back down to the first floor. Who can help me understand this feeling ? Kakeru ? Kinjii ? Haruhiko ? Yuki ? Tsurugi ? No... Definitely not Tsurugi. And I doubt Kakeru and Kinji know enough about it. And Yuki ? I don't really trust him. So only Haruhiko remains. Yeah, I'll ask Haruhiko.

On this thought, I therefore begin to look for the young pilot. Looking for him, I come across Rei. She informs me that she saw him on the second floor. So I go back to the second floor. And, indeed, the young man is there, in the corridor. I approach him.

Hey, Kobashikawa !

He turns to me, slightly surprised. I guess he didn't expect to see me.

Ah, it's you, (Y/N) ! What do you want ?

Can I talk to you about something ?

Sure, what is it ?

Um... Not here, please. Somewhere private.

Okay then follow me !

So I follow him to the first floor, then to his bedroom. He ushers me in and tells me to sit on his bed, which I do.

So, what did you want to talk about ?

Um... Well... It's... It's kinda hard to explain...

Take your time, don't worry.

Well... I need your help on something. I... I don't know what is going on with me, or what Teruya did to me, but... Everytime he's near me, I feel relieved. And when he's not around, I... feel like I miss him.

Ooohhh.

Do you know what this feeling is ?

Yeah. That's love ! (Y/N), you're in love with him !

I'm... in love ?

Yeah ! You should go find him and tell him !

But... What if he loves someone else ?

Trust me, I know he doesn't.

If you say so... Well, thanks, Kobashikawa.

I smile at him, happy to have finally understood how I felt. Then I leave his room. Immediately, I see Yuki waiting outside the door.

Maeda ? What are you doing here ?

Mekaru told me you and Kobashikawa were here. Teruya asked me to come get you, so please follow me to the bathhouse.

Oh, okay.

Haruhiko comes out of his room and we follow the lucky guy to the bathhouse. When we arrive, I see that Tsurugi, Kakeru, Kinji and Teruya are already there.

Guys, I brought (Y/N) and Kobashikawa !

Took you long enough, Maeda.

It's our fault, (Y/N) and I were talking together in my room.

I see.

Well, let's get ready !

With these words, we get ready in the locker room and then we go to the room with the bathtub. It's hot there and by dipping my hand in the water I see that it is at the perfect temperature. Without hesitation, Teruya goes straight into the bathtub. I join him quickly.

It's pretty cool !

Yeah, I agree.

So. Does anyone has a crush on someone ?

Are you fucking serious, Kobashikawa ?!

I do.

I look at the merchant, surprised to see him respond so quickly. His gaze turns to me, then he smiles.

You.

Immediately my cheeks turned red. Then, I feel two hands push me towards Teruya. The little merchant catches up to me and gently places his lips on mine. I feel him giving me some space, he probably thinks I'm going to push him away. But this is not the case. On the contrary, I tenderly respond to the kiss. After a few minutes, we part and I manage to whisper a "Me too", my face being totally red.

After this magic moment, I promise to get Teruya out of this killing game, and it is on these magic notes that the killing game continues.

[adhdavinci]

Requesting some GHP4: wrath is a bad coping mechanism for WIP Wednesday please!

i fucked up and originally put 3 instead of 4 in the post lol. this is a big chunk, answering for a total of 5 (!!!) asks, thanks so much yall!

⚠️GHP spoilers

"So was he any good? Or was it hard for him to fuck with that stick up his ass?" Jak snorts. "I'm not answering that." "Aw, c'mon, pal, you can't keep me hangin'! Yanno, we forgot to fuck yesterday." The jealousy is back in Daxter's voice. An awkward cough. "Yeah, I realized…" "Hey honey," Tess interrupts, "d'ya know where that gummy is, the one I had in this drawer?" "Uh," Daxter turns, his ears going a little low. "I, uh, mighta had it last night?" Tess's hand freezes. "Wait," she says, "you were high last night?" "Um…" Daxter's ears flatten completely. "Yeah. I didn't tell ya?" "No." Tess inhales slowly. "You didn't think you should've, you know, asked me first?" She's wording this terribly, but right now, it's hard to care. The spark of irritation has caught, and it's threatening to become a fire. Her back spasms again, the cramps setting in fully, and she grits her teeth against the wave of pain. "Sorry, babe." The sheepish little grin on Daxter's face makes the flame grow a little more. "I'll get ya some more tonight, okay?" He turns back to Jak. "If you ain't gonna tell me, I'm gonna have to assume that he had terrible dick game and you need someone to save ya. And baby, I volunteer." He leans in close. Surprisingly, Jak moves away from Daxter slightly. He's still smiling, but it's - not fake, but forced. Underneath it, he looks exhausted. Definitely not up for their shared boyfriend's tomfoolery right now. "Hey, Daxxie, how about we give Jak a little space -" "C'mon, Tessie, look at him! No way he got the right treatment from the likes of Torn. Never fear, the Daxternator's here!" The air around Tess feels slightly stuffy. There's an odd grinding sound - ah, it's her teeth. Daxter continues on. "Whaddya think, baby? Should we go save some water?" His eyes flick to Tess for a second, and suddenly, she has a bad feeling. "Or we could skip this little dance -" "Daxter," Tess warns. "- and have the threesome we're all dyin' to try!" The silent shock on Tess's lips is mirrored on Jak's face. Abruptly, Tess stands, the blaze in her chest barely contained as she ekes out, "Actually, Daxter, we need to leave." "Huh?" The ottsel blinks. "Whaddya mean? We got a mission?" "Yes. Right now. Let's go." Jak stands, Daxter scrambling onto his shoulder, but Tess points at the man, using all her authority as Torn's right hand to command, "You stay. This is just Daxter and me. Your job right now is to get in that bed and take a nap. You look dead on your feet." With a frown, Jak starts, "If there's a mission -" "It's nothing serious. Just a supply run." She glares at Daxter. "Someone had the last of my painkillers." Daxter cringes and leaps down.

[burnitalldowndarling]

what's your interpretation of the Agnus redux scene in dmc4 where Dante and Agnus try to out-camp each other on stage? 4 was the first dmc I ever played so I used to think Dante was just being goofy and playing with Agnus a little before the boss fight, and the writers were just having fun (this part is probably still true), but now I know more I wonder if Dante was having some kind of manic-depressive episode? (is sanity... the price to pay? for POWER??)

LOL, no, I think Dante was just being goofy that time. I also think the devs were just playing with the audience. DMC2 got a lot of flak for making Dante too serious and quiet, and so in 3 they made him the silly trash-talking counterpart to his straight-man brother, and that was a hit. They just doubled down on this in 4, probably since Nero was playing straight man in that game. Same reason we got Dante's moonwalk in 5; at that point the Ninja Theory devs on DmC had pissed off the fanbase by saying nobody wanted Dante as a "gay cowboy," so ha ha, the Capcom devs gave us a supergay dance scene with a cowboy hat, literally spotlighting Dante with rainbow lighting and special effects, just to drive the point home that yes, Virginia, this hack-and-slash game hero is very much a gay cowboy.

But despite this complete lack of subtlety in every other respect, the devs have only ever addressed Dante's depression in (relatively) subtle ways. It's not visible in his silliness, it's visible in what he doesn't do (like barely speaking in DMC2), and the silliness is a smokescreen that he uses to keep his friends from worrying about him. But for the first time in 5, we got a clear glimpse of what he's like when he's not throwing up smoke -- just sitting in the stinking dark, waiting to die -- and it ain't pretty. So I actually respect the hell out of the devs for making it explicit at last, and treating his depression realistically (if briefly).

[halothenthehorns]

Chapter 9: I LEARN HOW TO GROW ZOMBIES

"Yes!" Alex cheered upon reading the new chapter title. She'd have called dibs and wrestled this one away from anyone who dared tried to read this anyways and began on such a remarkable journey before any of them could even begin to question what Percy got up to five minutes out of camp, even while Magnus cringed into his seat in disgust at the idea of the coming apocalypse nobody else seemed concerned with!

"Does it involve plants?" Nico tried to ask like he knew what he was talking about. Wasn't that a popular game? Better to pass off the idea of ignorance he probably had more practice at growing zombies than anyone in here would be comfortable with knowing.

Will gave him another of those encouraging smiles, but for once he gave just as confused a shrug as anyone. 

The thing about flying on a pegasus during the daytime is that if you're not careful, you can cause a serious traffic accident on the Long Island Expressway. I had to keep Blackjack up in the clouds,

"These books are really inconsistent with what the Mist does and doesn't hide from sight," Jason said with all the confused excitement of a kid on a road trip.

"The mortals would see something to make their day go weird," Thalia shrugged. "If you're lucky, just a helicopter, with Percy's luck, a hang glider in a kilt. It really just depends on that person."

"Knowing my luck, it would be a duck with a knife, and then a police helicopter would be chasing me," Percy sighed.

which were, fortunately, pretty low in the winter. We darted around, trying to keep the white Camp Half-Blood van in sight. And if it was cold on the ground, it was seriously cold in the air, with icy rain stinging my skin.

I was wishing I'd brought some of that Camp Half-Blood orange thermal underwear they sold in the camp store,

"This has gone unmentioned before now," Magnus and Alex both protested as if this were a great concern.

"I don't know why, they come in all sizes." Percy grinned. "I think the Stoll's tried to talk Chiron into wearing a pair."

"There aren't a lot of winter quests," Will gave a proper answer.

but after the story about Phoebe and the centaur-blood T-shirt, I wasn't sure I trusted their products anymore.

"But there's that," Percy sighed.

"My takeaway was don't trust anything the Stoll's have given you," Jason corrected, "I'd take them up on the rest of the store." He was eyeing Percy and Will's orange t-shirts with something like confusion as he imagined himself in one, and it wasn't because he was worried they wouldn't have one in his size.

We lost the van twice, but I had a pretty good sense that they would go into Manhattan first, so it wasn't too difficult to pick up their trail again.

Traffic was bad with the holidays and all. It was mid-morning before they got into the city. I landed Blackjack near the top of the Chrysler Building and watched the white camp van, thinking it would pull into the bus station, but it just kept driving.

"Where's Argus taking them?" I muttered.

Oh, Argus ain't driving, boss, Blackjack told me. That girl is.

"Which girl?"

The Hunter girl. With the silver crown thing in her hair.

"Zoe?"

That's the one. Hey, look! There's a donut shop. Can we get something to go?

I tried explaining to Blackjack that taking a flying horse to a donut shop would give every cop in there a heart attack, but he didn't seem to get it.

"Neither do I," Jason once again rolled his eyes Percy seemed to constantly forget about the Mist.

"Maybe they'd see you in a Mustang," Will grinned.

"I don't think the Mist would make me look sixteen, the cop thing would still be an issue," Percy sighed.

Meanwhile, the van kept snaking its way toward the Lincoln Tunnel. It had never even occurred to me that Zoe could drive. I mean, she didn't look sixteen. Then again, she was immortal. I wondered if she had a New York license, and if so, what her birth date said.

"Definitely not," Thalia said with a twitching smile, confusing most of them. They'd expected her to get frazzled at the very least being in another bus so soon.

"It might have an infinity symbol next to it if Artemis gave her one," Rachel chuckled to help play off in hopes nobody would question her friend about it. Alex looked like she wanted to, but the draw of zombies had her keep going instead.

"Well," I said. "Lets get after them."

We were about to leap off the Chrysler Building when Blackjack whinnied in alarm and almost threw me. Something was curling around my leg like a snake. I reached for my sword, but when I looked down, there was no snake. Vines—grape vines—had sprouted from the cracks between the stones of the building. They were wrapping around Blackjack's legs, lashing down my ankles so we couldn't move.

Percy squealed like a stuck pig and leaped out of his chair, sword drawn and slashing at the hem of his pants in remembered horror.

The others watched the show in vague concern how he'd left camp and was being attacked by the wine gods plant, especially Will shifting about in his own seat as if ants were in his pants making Nico bite his lip in amusement. It was a good thing Mr. D didn't go around using that on everybody who annoyed him.

"Going somewhere?" Mr. D asked.

"Damn," Alex drew out in fascination. "I didn't think he'd literally drag you back if you left without permission for a quest."

"He didn't last time," Jason agreed, "and I'd say a goddess missing is even higher stakes than saving the camp."

"But Dionysus left Camp!" Magnus recalled he could apparently do this to knock up mortals, hence his twins, but it was particularly strange now he'd exercise out for this. If he could when students made a break for it, he might be thrilled. Was that another reason for his horrible behavior? Was he actively trying to make them flee the camp so he could pull this?

"Anything to cause more trouble," Percy glowered at the book, clearly least impressed and already stewing over the next insult to a god.

He was leaning against the building with his feet levitating in the air, his leopard-skin warm-up suit and black hair whipping around in the wind.

God alert! Blackjack yelled. It's the wine dude!

Mr. D sighed in exasperation. "The next person, or horse, who calls me the 'wine dude' will end up in a bottle of Merlot!"

"That threat doesn't dissuade the stereotype," Nico said critically.

"Mr. D." I tried to keep my voice calm as the grape vines continued to wrap around my legs. "What do you want?"

"Oh, what do I want? You thought, perhaps, that the immortal, all-powerful director of camp would not notice you leaving without permission?"

"Ah, more like wouldn't care," Percy was still flexing his wrists in disgust and eyeing his seat in concern.

"Well... maybe."

"I should throw you off this building, minus the flying horse, and see how heroic you sound on the way down."

"Been there, done that," Alex waved off. "He just screamed and made a flaaboom noise."

"You're not the zombie, are you?" Magnus groaned.

"Even if he did crave brains, it wouldn't help his IQ," Thalia shrugged.

"Hardy har!" Percy rolled his eyes affectionately, "I could get rich with the amount of times all of you are in awe I'm alive."

"Not off of me," Magnus rolled his eyes right back.

I balled my fists. I knew I should keep my mouth shut, but Mr. D was about to kill me or haul me back to camp in shame, and I couldn't stand either idea. "Why do you hate me so much? What did I ever do to you?"

"I was under the impression he just hated everybody at that camp," Rachel shrugged. Especially her, for adding to the count. As he so loved to remind her, at least the Oracle before her hadn't talked without the green smoke.

Purple flames flickered in his eyes. "You're a hero, boy. I need no other reason."

"Is it ironic that a god hates a hero? I feel like it is?" Magnus asked.

Jason looked a little queasy at the idea too. The gods were volatile by nature and revered for their power. Hero's were blessed to have half their gifts, and yet Percy nor any of the campers really seemed very worshipful about it. No wonder the gods would loath them really.

"I have to go on this quest! I've got to help my friends. That's something you wouldn't understand!"

Um, boss, Blackjack said nervously. Seeing as how we're wrapped in vines nine hundred feet in the air, you might want to talk nice.

"An almost literal jackass has more sense than you," Thalia frowned at him.

"Blackjack is a purebred thank you," Percy sniffed.

"Hybrid horse, the term still counts," Thalia said right back.

"That's a mule," Magnus corrected.

"This isn't about zombies!" Alex more than happily interrupted their squabble.

The grape vines coiled tighter around me. Below us, the white van was getting farther and farther away. Soon it would be out of sight.

"Did I ever tell you about Ariadne?" Mr. D asked.

"The spiders?" Percy asked as he cautiously went back to his seat.

"That's Arachne," Will told him in exasperation. "Every Athena kid curses her name!"

"That's why it sounded familiar," Percy shrugged, though his heart panged at the idea of Annabeth scolding him for that instead. Gods he hoped there weren't any spiders in that cavern dream.

"Beautiful young princess of Crete? She liked helping her friends, too. In fact, she helped a young hero named Theseus, also a son of Poseidon.

"Not this again!" Percy flopped properly into his seat in exhaustion. "Would everyone please stop comparing me to my dad and any past siblings I might have had!"

"I'm with you there buddy," Thalia nodded along while Nico kept his eyes on his boots and wished they'd stop thinking of his father first every time they looked at him too.

Alex swallowed her own agreement, not because she was hiding Loki being her mother, but because she actively denied her mother had any influence on any part of her life in the future. It was all in the past where it would stay.

She gave him a ball of magical yarn that let him find his way out of the Labyrinth.

Percy was glad he'd sat back down now as his skin crawled with stress, and he glanced at Rachel again. That was a name of something he instinctively knew he didn't like, but it meant nothing to Alex as any more than just another Greek myth she'd never heard of and so kept reading, and nobody else who winced was going to stop her for their memories of the event being perfectly intact.

And do you know how Theseus rewarded her?"

The answer I wanted to give was I don't care! But I didn't figure that would make Mr. D finish his story any faster.

"The fact that he's telling you a story is sort of disturbing," Jason informed. "Now where's the campfire and threats of murder?"

"I'm being threatened on the side of a building, the horror's plenty present," Percy assured.

"They got married," I said. "Happily ever after. The end."

Mr. D sneered. "Not quite. Theseus said he would marry her. He took her aboard his ship and sailed for Athens. Halfway back, on a little island called Naxos, he... What's the word you mortals use today?... he dumped her. I found her there, you know. Alone. Heartbroken. Crying her eyes out. She had given up everything, left everything she knew behind, to help a dashing young hero who tossed her away like a broken sandal."

"Jeez, your mom wasn't kidding about none of the old hero's getting happy endings," Magnus frowned.

"And that's not even the depressing ending," Thalia muttered.

"That's wrong," I said. "But that was thousands of years ago. What's that got to do with me?"

Mr. D regarded me coldly. "I fell in love with Ariadne, boy.

If crickets could chirp at the bottom of the ocean, they would be, as the awkward silence settled in.

"Isn't he in trouble for-"

"Yep," Alex nodded before Magnus could finish.

"And he's accusing Percy-"

"Uhhu," Alex nodded while scrutinizing the words.

"I have a headache," Magnus grumbled. Why was the world of gods and monsters no better a place than the mortal world?

"I'm glad it's not just me!" Percy raised a commiserating high five. Magnus mock did so back without looking up from his scrunched eyes shut.

I healed her broken heart. And when she died, I made her my immortal wife on Olympus. She waits for me even now. I shall go back to her when I am done with this infernal century of punishment at your ridiculous camp."

I stared at him. "You're... you're married? But I thought you got in trouble for chasing a wood nymph—"

"My point is you heroes never change. You accuse us gods of being vain. You should look at yourselves. You take what you want, use whoever you have to, and then you betray everyone around you.

"Who invented the pot and the kettle?" Percy stage whispered.

"Most likely the original kettle and pot," Will sighed. You could look at anybody's life and find the good and the bad, the more famous and longer they were around, the more one was to outweigh the other.

So you'll excuse me if I have no love for heroes. They are a selfish, ungrateful lot.

"He has kids!" Magnus reiterated. "Didn't he say he was a young god, used to be mortal?"

"You are arguing with the original cast iron skillet," Percy waved at the book. "I don't think you're going to win here man."

"The gods are not all good or all bad," Will insisted. "They, exist, just like we do. Their choices have bigger consequences, they are slow to change, but it doesn't mean they're incapable of it." He wasn't very comfortable with how clearly angry Percy was growing of the gods of late, nor with an outsider who knew nothing of their life constantly questioning all of this making it worse. After her last fight with Percy, Thalia was being pretty quiet over there, but Will wasn't going to stop reminding Percy of the family he'd fought for. "Dionysus didn't kill you Percy."

"That's such a great thing to be happy about after all his careless jabs about Annabeth," Percy scowled back, "that he didn't kill me right then."

Will couldn't answer. He couldn't remind Percy of Mr. D's grief after he lost his son, how quiet Percy had become after his trip to Calypso's island, or that Percy would be struggling with this for quite some time before and after the Battle of Manhattan. Being stuck down here now was only a temporary setback, he believed that Poseidon meant his son no harm. Now it was just a matter of making sure Percy didn't wind up like Luke by the time they got out of here.

Luckily neither Percy nor Alex were waiting around for an answer, for now.

Ask Ariadne. Or Medea. For that matter, ask Zoe Nightshade."

Thalia winced, but Rachel gazed on without surprise, only concern. It made sense after all, girls didn't usually join the Hunt because they already had happy, fulfilling lives.

"What do you mean, ask Zoe?"

He waved his hand dismissively. "Go. Follow your silly friends."

"Thank the gods he didn't chuck you off the side of the building with the horse so you could figure that out," Jason muttered.

The vines uncurled around my legs.

I blinked in disbelief. "You're... you're letting me go? Just like that?"

"The prophecy says at least two of you will die. Perhaps I'll get lucky and you'll be one of them.

Nico's olive skin went sallow at the reminder the same amount of campers had come back who had left, exchanging Thalia for Annabeth. The prophecy had taken away two of Artemis's. Dionysus hadn't gotten his wish any more than he had for the champions that day.

But mark my words, Son of Poseidon, live or die, you will prove no better than the other heroes."

"I hope you marked his words with washable markers," Rachel said proudly.

Percy's heart was spiraling without direction as he tried to smile at her. Annabeth, the gods, his mom, being trapped down here...

With that, Dionysus snapped his fingers. His image folded up like a paper display. There was a pop and he was gone, leaving a faint scent of grapes that was quickly blown away by the wind.

Too close, Blackjack said.

I nodded, though I almost would have been less worried if Mr. D had hauled me back to camp.

"You would have burned down the strawberry fields," Thalia told him confidently.

"I said less worried, not less angry," Percy agreed.

The fact that he'd let me go meant he really believed we stood a fair chance of crashing and burning on this quest.

"There's the upside," Will said with a weak smile.

"No more jokes from you today Solace," Thalia scoffed.

"Come on, Blackjack," I said, trying to sound upbeat. "I'll buy you some donuts in New Jersey."

As it turned out, I didn't buy Blackjack donuts in New Jersey.

"Such lies and sacrilege to the poor innocent pegasus," Alex said disparagingly.

"I'll be sure to feed him extra when I see him again," Percy promised, and there was just the slightest upbeat to his voice again he at least seemed confident of that. He had the horse to come back to.

Zoe drove south like a crazy person,

"Can verify," Thalia sighed, but again to their confusion she still just sounded exasperated. Not even slightly out of breath or stressed, like the time she'd nearly burned a city down had never happened.

and we were into Maryland before she finally pulled over at a rest stop.

Blackjack darn near tumbled out of the sky, he was so tired.

"How many horsepower is that bus?" Magnus asked in concern. "I don't think he can canter nonstop in the air?"

Percy felt a pang of unease for yet another friend he was letting down. He couldn't answer that, but he knew he'd been running Blackjack hard keeping up with them and was starting to wish he'd used this opportunity to sneak inside the bus.

I'll be okay, boss, he panted. Just... just catching my breath.

"Stay here," I told him. "I'm going to scout."

'Stay here' I can handle. I can do that.

I put on my cap of invisibility and walked over to the convenience store. It was difficult not to sneak. I had to keep reminding myself that nobody could see me. It was hard, too, because I had to remember to get out of people's way so they wouldn't slam into me.

"Annabeth makes everything look so easy," Percy grinned.

"Or she just trips them and blames it on ice, anyone's guess," Thalia snickered.

I thought I'd go inside and warm up, maybe get a cup of hot chocolate or something. I had a little change in my pocket. I could leave it on the counter. I was wondering if the cup would turn invisible when I picked it up, or if I'd have to deal with a floating hot chocolate problem,

"It would vanish," Thalia gave him a strange look for not knowing that. "You don't see your clothes or her backpack just floating along do you?"

"Right yeah," he agreed, pushing away the urge to scowl at her for the obvious answer. Somehow whenever she said stuff like that, it always made him feel stupid, sound more grating than if Annabeth had.

when my whole plan was ruined by Zoe, Thalia, Bianca, and Grover all coming out of the store.

"Grover, are you sure?" Thalia was saying.

"Well... pretty sure. Ninety-nine percent. Okay, eighty-five percent."

"That's still a passing grade," Jason said enthusiastically.

"I'll pass along how eager you are to see one of these tracking songs yourself," Nico chuckled. Jason looked delighted, and Will repressed the urge to roll his eyes.

"And you did this with acorns?" Bianca asked, like she couldn't believe it.

"That is the bottom of the barrel in weird," Magnus promised.

"Poor girl is on her first quest," Alex reminded, "she hasn't even gotten started on weird."

Grover looked offended. "It's a time-honored tracking spell. I mean, I'm pretty sure I did it right."

"D.C. is about sixty miles from here," Bianca said. "Nico and I..." She frowned. "We used to live there. That's... that's strange. I'd forgotten."

Nico once again received many a strange look for that, but he brushed it all away again with a heavy swallow. His shadow flickered behind him as if caught in a strobe, but everybody already turned eyes back to the book by the time it started and settled back. Almost everybody.

"I dislike this," Zoe said. "We should go straight west. The prophecy said west."

"Oh, like your tracking skills are better?" Thalia growled.

Zoe stepped toward her. "You challenge my skills, you scullion? You know nothing of being a Hunter!"

"Oh, scullion. You're calling me a scullion? What the heck is a scullion?"

"The one who cleans the chamber pots," Alex pitifully informed.

"A servant to a maid," Magnus offered, "the lowest of the low chain."

"Thanks, got that," Thalia assured.

"Why do you know that?" Percy muttered, but he knew the answer he'd get again. Readers.

"Whoa, you two," Grover said nervously. "Come on. Not again!"

"I'm just beginning to wonder if this is always how you make friends?" Jason asked with one of those smiles that made the scar on his lip dimple and stand out.

Thalia's heart squeezed too tight for her to respond. She'd never gotten the chance to grow up and argue with her baby brother. Alex was still impatiently reading to get to the walking dead to hear it.

"Grover's right," Bianca said. "D.C. is our best bet."

Zoe didn't look convinced, but she nodded reluctantly. "Very well. Let us keep moving."

"You're going to get us arrested, driving," Thalia grumbled. "I look closer to sixteen than you do."

"Perhaps," Zoe snapped. "But I have been driving since automobiles were invented. Let us go."

"That was scary. And impressive." Percy looked about as confused as somebody explaining the gods to him again. Like he still had trouble realizing things existed that long ago. Before the internet.

As Blackjack and I continued south, following the van, I wondered whether Zoe had been kidding.

"I still trust Artemis on the whole Zoe never kids thing," Will assured.

I didn't know exactly when cars were invented, but I figured that was like prehistoric times—back when people watched black-and-white TV and hunted dinosaurs.

"You mean when phones were plugged into the walls and people sent letters with stamps? I've never even seen a stamp," Magnus seemed just as baffled.

"You just made history museum top of our list when we get out of this," Alex chuckled at that dopey look on full display. Her reward was getting to watch those grey eyes land on her again, and a faint blush in his cheeks as he tried to guess what that meant. She wasn't quite sure herself anymore if she was just making fun of him either.

How old was Zoe?

Nico twitched at the bitter thought it was no wonder Bianca liked Zoe better, they had more in common, being stuck out of time. He'd tried to readily adapt to this time with his love of games and always smiling like an idiot at the bright lights. The television had only just been constructed a few years prior of when he was born, Percy would probably think he went to Catholic school on a pteranodon as soon as he would a horse-buggy.

And what had Mr. D been talking about? What bad experience had she had with heroes?

As we got closer to Washington, Blackjack started slowing down and dropping altitude.

He was breathing heavily.

"You okay?" I asked him.

Fine, boss. I could... I could take on an army.

"You don't sound so good." And suddenly I felt guilty, because I'd been running the pegasus for half a day, nonstop, trying to keep up with highway traffic. Even for a flying horse, that had to be rough.

Don't worry about me, boss! I'm a tough one.

I figured he was right, but I also figured Blackjack would run himself into the ground before he complained, and I didn't want that.

Percy wished that someone would scowl and call him a jackass. Just because Blackjack had volunteered for this didn't make this okay, and he felt lower than horse dung for doing this to his friend!

"Luke wouldn't have cared enough to ask Percy," Will gently reminded.

Percy startled, but then smiled and relaxed. He was right, Luke would have run Blackjack into the ground and called another pegasus without a second thought.

Fortunately, the van started to slow down. It crossed the Potomac River into central Washington. I started thinking about air patrols and missiles and stuff like that. I didn't know exactly how all those defenses worked, and wasn't sure if pegasi even showed up on your typical military radar, but I didn't want to find out by getting shot out of the sky.

"Yeah he might not forgive you for that one without a donut," Thalia snickered.

"A blueberry one at that," Percy smiled hopefully along that was all a joke and she didn't use him as a human shield if those missiles were deployed.

"Set me down there," I told Blackjack. "That's close enough."

Blackjack was so tired he didn't complain. He dropped toward the Washington Monument and set me on the grass.

The van was only a few blocks away. Zoe had parked at the curb.

I looked at Blackjack. "I want you to go back to camp. Get some rest. Graze. I'll be fine."

Blackjack cocked his head skeptically. You sure, boss?

"You've done enough already," I said. "I'll be fine. And thanks a ton."

A ton of hay, maybe, Blackjack mused. That sounds good. All right, but be careful, boss. I got a feeling they didn't come here to meet anything friendly and handsome like me.

"Nowhere in the world they could meet such a fella outside of camp," Rachel all but crooned with a sly look Percy didn't get. When would a mortal have been to camp? When did she meet Blackjack?

I promised to be careful. Then Blackjack took off, circling twice around the monument before disappearing into the clouds.

I looked over at the white van. Everybody was getting out. Grover pointed toward one of the big buildings lining the Mall. Thalia nodded, and the four of them trudged off into the cold wind.

I started to follow. But then I froze.

A block away, the door of a black sedan opened. A man with gray hair and a military buzz cut got out. He was wearing dark shades and a black overcoat. Now, maybe in Washington, you'd expected guys like that to be everywhere. But it dawned on me that I'd seen this same car a couple of times on the highway, going south. It had been following the van.

"And here I was beginning to wonder if Zoe had been around to invent all the best tracking and evading techniques too," Alex raised a surprised brow.

"We should have been expecting we were being followed," Thalia grimly agreed. She tried to play it off by giving Percy a light shove, as if she knew it was him all along, but the truth was they had been foolish not to expect this. Monsters had been after Nico and Bianca specifically, Thorn had been working with mortals. They'd been careless and shortsighted not looking for a tail.

"It's a good thing I followed you then," Percy puffed up his chest and swept away his hair with all the posturing of a bird. "You can thank me any time."

Thalia really did try to shove him then, causing the two to snicker that was all the thanks he was going to get, and he knew it.

The guy took out his mobile phone and said something into it. Then he looked around, like he was making sure the coast was clear, and started walking down the Mall in the direction of my friends.

The worst of it was: when he turned toward me, I recognized his face. It was Dr. Thorn, the manticore from Westover Hall.

All joking vanished from Percy as he leaned forward in his seat, bending Riptide so hard in his hand he might be in danger of snapping the pen as he concentrated again as well as he could. This beast was alive. He knew where Annabeth was.

Invisibility cap on, I followed Thorn from a distance. My heart was pounding. If he had survived that fall from the cliff, then Annabeth must have too. My dreams had been right. She was alive and being held prisoner.

"I couldn't even wish your dreams were wrong," Magnus agreed with dread. Her only options were to be held as prisoner, or dead. A nightmare in any reality.

Thorn kept well back from my friends, careful not to be seen.

Finally, Grover stopped in front of a big building that said NATIONAL AIR AND SPACE MUSEUM. The Smithsonian! I'd been here a million years ago with my mom, but everything had looked so much bigger then.

The surprise of Thorn showing up had mostly distracted anybody from asking why they stopped, but even Percy and Alex looked up from their laser focus to stare at Thalia with big question mark faces.

"What's a quest without sightseeing?" She, as usual, was no help with an answer. She even felt bad for this one, what would it hurt Percy just to assure it was Grover's tracking song leading them here, Jason might even get a kick out of it.

She didn't want to risk hurting him again though, since he soon got to witness his best friend doing a jig himself later and even hinting at details could make it worse right now.

Percy groaned and Alex couldn't blame him for constantly being frustrated his friend didn't have many helpful answers that wouldn't get them killed in here.

Thalia checked the door. It was open, but there weren't many people going in. Too cold, and school was out of session. They slipped inside.

Dr. Thorn hesitated. I wasn't sure why, but he didn't go into the museum. He turned and headed across the Mall. I made a split-second decision and followed him.

"Those impulses of yours are going to save the world," Alex told him with admiration. Why follow his friends when he could get the drop on the enemy.

Thorn crossed the street and climbed the steps of the Museum of Natural History. There was a big sign on the door. At first I thought it said CLOSED FOR PIRATE EVENT.

Nico's delighted snort of laughter was the loudest of all, but he was distracted from imagining guinea pig Percy in a plastic hamster ball running around one of those by Will smiling at him like he'd been sucker punched. "I'm sure that's a real event somewhere, everything is lately," he told him instantly.

Nico still looked at him strangely, like he was still waiting for Will to start mocking him now that he realized the Son of Apollo knew of more of his interests, but Will was just smiling same as ever.

Then I realized PIRATE must be PRIVATE.

"That dyslexia stuff must make for some awesome confusion," Alex said not unkindly.

"Because the Mist and monsters didn't do that enough," Percy shrugged.

I followed Dr. Thorn inside, through a huge chamber full of mastodons and dinosaur skeletons.

"Please tell me they're zombies like a strange Jurassic Park spin-off," Magnus's frown was hopefully cautious. Only Will noticed Nico mouthing Jurassic Park spin-off with a blank look.

"I could live with that," Alex nodded along.

"Nobody questioning how and why Percy's mere presence is going to bring prehistoric animals to life?" Jason chuckled enthusiastically.

"Well I don't think Thorn's poison is going to do the trick," Percy said without a hint of thrill at the idea as well as he rubbed his shoulder in remembrance.

There were voices up ahead, coming from behind a set of closed doors. Two guards stood outside. They opened the doors for Thorn, and I had to sprint to get inside before they closed them again.

Inside, what I saw was so terrible I almost gasped out loud, which probably would've gotten me killed.

"Of all the things you've done to nearly get yourself killed," Rachel winced. "Let's hope you don't sneeze."

Percy gave her a strange look and winced a bit, and she smiled guiltily, having forgotten for a moment he wouldn't get the joke.

I was in a huge round room with a balcony ringing the second level. At least a dozen mortal guards stood on the balcony, plus two monsters—reptilian women with double-snake trunks instead of legs. I'd seen them before. Annabeth had called them Scythian dracaenae.

Even just remembering the scared tremble on her voice as she'd told that to him tugged on his heart. She should be here in that memory, beside him to keep an eye on their friends as they went to rescue Artemis; though she would have just been invited on the quest and he still would have snuck along. She should be here beside him now hearing his crazy adventure without her. She should be here with her arm around him to chase that scared tremble in her voice away from his memory.

But that wasn't the worse of it. Standing between the snake women—I could swear he was looking straight down at me—was my old enemy Luke.

'Traitor,' the caution hissed through Jason's mind. There was a traitor at camp from Luke, but no one in this quest could possibly be it. Grover wasn't around to sell them out last summer, unless Luke had more than one around Camp?

He'd bet his memories being gone for good it wasn't Thalia. A rash swear on the Styx he'd still commit to.

It couldn't be a Huntress...but there was literally no other explanation why this could possibly be a meeting place for Thorn. Was it Zoe? She'd been so committed to Artemis, or possibly a really good actress? It couldn't be Bianca, unless she'd somehow managed to fake during that first meeting she had no clue what was going on.

 Luke being there was just too huge a coincidence he couldn't help but vow to keep his suspicions open Luke may have acquired more spies than whomever the undiscovered one at camp was.

He looked terrible. His skin was pale and his blond hair looked almost gray, as if he'd aged ten years in just a few months. The angry light in his eyes was still there, and so was the scar down the side of his face, where a dragon had once scratched him. But the scar was now ugly red, as though it had recently been reopened.

Perhaps Magnus's previous theory about punishments and displeasing Kronos weren't so far off track. This was a far cry from the boy in his lavish sweet on a cruise liner bragging to Percy and Annabeth about his great choices.

There was no true sympathy in his heart though after leaving Annabeth in that trap for an untold time like there was in Will though, as he leaned forward in his seat. Will couldn't begin to imagine what all Luke had been through, but some part of him still hoped if Luke had just talked to someone instead of going so long silently resenting the gods he would have stopped this in its tracks. Had the Son of Hermes ever confided in any of the other half-bloods he recruited except to give nasty speeches about toppling thrones? Some part of Will still wished he could have lent an ear to Luke while offering him an ambrosia square to help, even if he had to handcuff this traitor and drag him back to camp kicking and screaming to do it.

Next to him, sitting down so that the shadows covered him, was another man. All I could see were his knuckles on the gilded arms of his chair, like a throne.

"Well?" asked the man in the chair. His voice was just like the one I'd heard in my dream—not as creepy as Kronos's, but deeper and stronger, like the earth itself was talking. It filled the whole room even though he wasn't yelling.

Percy repressed the urge to shiver at the memory of that and regretted himself all the cracks he'd made in the floor, grateful as everyone no voice had come from them.

Nico shivered right along with him as he imagined the same from something even more powerful than a Titan, the mother of them.

Dr. Thorn took off his shades. His two-colored eyes, brown and blue, glittered with excitement. He made a stiff bow, then spoke in his weird French accent: "They are here, General."

"I know that, you fool," boomed the man. "But where?"

"In the rocket museum."

"The Air and Space Museum," Luke corrected irritably.

Will made his own pained grimace as he whispered, "you all would have loved the time we took a field trip there."

Nobody felt the need to ask further questions, it clearly wasn't a happy memory for him. Perhaps because Annabeth had once corrected anybody who dared miss phrase the place while she'd been running around there. Thalia even smiled again for a brief moment as she imagined Chiron in his wheelchair trying to keep up with her, Annabeth smiling so brightly as Luke patiently listened to everything she had to say between the entrance and the gift shop, Clarisse and Salina being forced into the buddy system on the trip.

It was all in a bleak discerption of a memory from Chiron over a whispered game of cards as she'd hidden away from the harpies and he'd taken pity on her rather than sending her to bed. All the grand trips that were as close to quests as they'd come before Luke's failed fruit mission.

Dr. Thorn glared at Luke. "As you say, sir."

I got the feeling Thorn would just as soon impale Luke with one of his spikes as call him sir.

Thalia grimaced, she hated having something in common with that monster, even a common enemy.

"How many?" Luke asked.

Thorn pretended not to hear.

"How many?" the General demanded.

"Four, General," Thorn said. "The satyr, Grover Underwood. And the girl with the spiky black hair and the—how do you say—punk clothes and the horrible shield."

"Thalia," Luke said.

Thalia's eyes sparked with anger he pretended to care enough to make sure they got her name right as she vividly imagined shoving his head in a rocket and turning one on.

"And two other girls—Hunters. One wears a silver circlet."

"That one I know," the General growled.

Everyone in the room shifted uncomfortably.

"Let me take them," Luke said to the General. "We have more than enough—"

"Patience," the General said. "They'll have their hands full already. I've sent a little playmate to keep them occupied."

"Why do I feel like they didn't bring blocks and toy swords?" Jason muttered.

"Where are the zombies?" Ales was pouting they'd gone practically this whole chapter without brain-eating corpses. "It didn't mean Luke did it?"

Thalia once again swallowed without answer it might as well mean him. He was a shell of himself, having already sold his soul to Kronos.

"But—"

"We cannot risk you, my boy."

"Yes, boy," Dr. Thorn said with a cruel smile. "You are much too fragile to risk.

"Luke loved that by the way," Percy informed them, his sneer had nothing on Luke's venomous look that could have rivaled Thorn's spikes. The baffling implication left them much more confused what Thorn could mean by that, though Magnus at least tried to tell himself it was just bad guy, in house, squabbling.

Let me finish them off."

"No." The General rose from his chair, and I got my first look at him.

He was tall and muscular, with light brown skin and slicked-back dark hair. He wore an expensive brown silk suit like the guys on Wall Street wear, but you'd never mistake this dude for a broker. He had a brutal face, huge shoulders, and hands that could snap a flagpole in half. His eyes were like stone. I felt as if I were looking at a living statue. It was amazing he could even move.

Thalia's eyes glimmered with somehow yet more hatred, a truly frightening expression that nearly rivaled Aegis none of them thought could top her scowl for Luke moments ago.

She would have struck him without hesitation and much more for whatever he'd done to her.

"You have already failed me, Thorn," he said.

"But, General—"

"No excuses!"

Thorn flinched. I'd thought Thorn was scary when I first saw him in his black uniform at the military academy. But now, standing before the General, Thorn looked like a silly wannabe soldier. The General was the real deal. He didn't need a uniform. He was a born commander.

There was a ripple of unease around the room that came from no one demigod. Such a powerful leader that struck Percy left those not in the know just how much worse Kronos himself could possibly be. Yet Thalia alone who had seen his mortal form still only saw this atrocity of a Titan as a warmup for the pain she expected to feel fresh and sharp as ever. She swore vengeance on Zoe's killer even trapped in his imprisonment again, and it was nothing compared to the twisted root of pain lodged in her every time Luke's name was said.

"I should throw you into the pits of Tartarus for your incompetence," the General said. "I send you to capture a child of the three elder gods, and you bring me a scrawny daughter of Athena."

Alex and Magnus exchanged uneasy glances. They'd thought Bianca was the true goal that day, they needed a girl to capture Artemis, Percy was just a bonus when he showed up. Now they realized the Di Angelo kids were just bait...but how had Thorn known who would come to fetch them? Was it possible Thorn through Luke knew who Grover was and would call for help?

"Scrawny!" Was the only word Percy seemed to hear as bubbles flumed from his ears in anger once more.

"But you promised me revenge.'" Thorn protested. "A command of my own!"

"I am Lord Kronos's senior commander," the General said. "And I will choose lieutenants who get me results! It was only thanks to Luke that we salvaged our plan at all. Now get out of my sight, Thorn, until I find some other menial task for you."

Thorn's face turned purple with rage. I thought he was going to start frothing at the mouth or shooting spines, but he just bowed awkwardly and left the room.

"Now, my boy." The General turned to Luke. "The first thing we must do is isolate the half-blood Thalia. The monster we seek will then come to her."

Jason studied Thalia with a pit of concern, the untold prophecy nagging in his mind. It wasn't the only reason he could imagine them singling her out, Zeus surely had many enemies, a likely one possibly whoever this mystery man was. Thalia getting a choice to save the gods though would be a more comforting answer, because he was confident of that outcome, what she'd do. Anything else, he found himself nearly freezing up in concern what they could have done to her, what monster could this be?

"The Hunters will be difficult to dispose of," Luke said. "Zoe Nightshade—"

"Do not speak her name!"

"My liking for Zoe just went up tenfold," Rachel said darkly. Anything that upset this guy could only be used for their advantage, even the Persian princess.

Luke swallowed. "S—sorry, General. I just—"

The General silenced him with a wave of his hand. "Let me show you, my boy, how we will bring the Hunters down."

He pointed to a guard on the ground level. "Do you have the teeth?"

The guy stumbled forward with a ceramic pot. "Yes, General!"

"Plant them," he said.

"Do we have a botanist handy?" Will asked blearily, wishing Katie was around to turn to. He had no clue what was coming.

"I'll do you half of one," Nico muttered in disgust. He knew of a fair few from listening to the Demeter kids and Persephone threatening to poison him. He also knew of every ritual to summon the dead due to his own practicing, though he needed no aid like these mortals were doing, performing this ancient act.

Will gave him a curious, hopeful look, the exact opposite of what he'd expect expressing knowledge of zombies. The guy really was weirdly happy about everything.

In the center of the room was a big circle of dirt, where I guess a dinosaur exhibit was supposed to go. I watched nervously as the guard took sharp white teeth out of the pot and pushed them into the soil. He smoothed them over while the General smiled coldly.

The guard stepped back from the dirt and wiped his hands. "Ready, General!"

"Excellent! Water them, and we will let them scent their prey."

The guard picked up a little tin watering can with daisies painted on it, which was kind of bizarre, because what he poured out wasn't water. It was dark red liquid, and I got the feeling it wasn't Hawaiian Punch.

Cursed blood, enchanted and stolen from the enemies. Nico swallowed and didn't offer that information, he had a feeling it would wipe Will's smile away when he realized who may have been sacrificed to fill that daisy watering can.

The soil began to bubble.

"Soon," the General said, "I will show you, Luke, soldiers that will make your army from that little boat look insignificant."

Luke clenched his fists. "I've spent a year training my forces! When the Princess Andromeda arrives at the mountain, they'll be the best—"

"Ha.'" the General said. "I don't deny your troops will make a fine honor guard for Lord Kronos. And you, of course, will have a role to play—"

I thought Luke turned paler when the General said that.

Percy studied the book in Alex's hands and swallowed vomit, knowing he felt sick enough already before a zombie popped up now. That. That was something he should have a memory about, and should possibly for the first time thank whoever took them away to save him from whatever it was.

"—but under my leadership, the forces of Lord Kronos will increase a hundredfold. We will be unstoppable. Behold, my ultimate killing machines."

The soil erupted. I stepped back nervously.

In each spot where a tooth had been planted, a creature was struggling out of the dirt.

Magnus was leaning all the way back in his seat and bracing himself for horrible descriptions that hit to close to home, having seen the dead on the streets, most citizens walking right past and not even realizing it. Of desiccated skin and jaws that wreaked of human flesh, with shuffling gates and soulless eyes in a forbidden human face-

The first of them said:

"Mew?"

"Kitten?" Magnus leaned excitedly over Alex's shoulder, a silly cartoon book coming back to him he hadn't thought of in years as his mom laughed with him about Freya loving cats.

"Well I didn't say moo," Alex grinned in agreement.

It was a kitten. A little orange tabby with stripes like a tiger. Then another appeared, until there were a dozen, rolling around and playing in the dirt.

"These are the cutest killing machines we will ever experience," Will beamed.

"Have you already forgotten Annabeth?" But Percy was smiling along in confused surprise just as much what the heck was going on. Maybe he could steal one for Annabeth when she got back, cats loved to chase spiders, right?

Everyone stared at them in disbelief. The General roared, "What is this? Cute cuddly kittens? Where did you find those teeth?"

The guard who'd brought the teeth cowered in fear. "From the exhibit, sir! Just like you said. The saber-toothed tiger—"

"No, you idiot! I said the tyrannosaurus! Gather up those... those infernal fuzzy little beasts and take them outside. And never let me see your face again."

"Honestly, that guy got off easy," Jason said with a raised brow. No remorse at all for the mortal who had passively stood around and been okay dishing out previous orders to kidnap and shoot kids. "How do you even swap those two?"

"Maybe somebody went around and played with a few placards?" Will said with a chuckle as he vividly remembered what Travis and Connor had gotten up to while there, but even then, it was really hard to imagine somebody couldn't look at the skeleton and get the wrong carcass so badly.

The terrified guard dropped his watering can. He gathered up the kittens and scampered out of the room.

"You.'" The General pointed to another guard. "Get me the right teeth. NOW!"

The new guard ran off to carry out his orders.

"Imbeciles,' muttered the General.

"This is why I don't use mortals," Luke said. "They are unreliable."

"They are weak-minded, easily bought, and violent," the General said. "I love them."

"Somebody has to," Percy muttered, though he didn't look happy of all the things to imagine Grover and this guy would agree on. His eyes were on Rachel again though, that inexplicable feeling of knowing  she was mortal...and yet associated none of that with her like he did Gabe. He didn't hate mortals on principle, but his time with most of them wasn't good memories...except her for some reason...when he couldn't reach those memories!

A minute later, the guard hustled into the room with his hands full of large pointy teeth.

"Excellent," the General said. He climbed onto the balcony railing and jumped down, twenty feet.

Where he landed, the marble floor cracked under his leather shoes. He stood, wincing, and rubbed his shoulders. "Curse my stiff neck."

"Is that supposed to be a hint of who he is," Jason asked a little breathlessly, and he just knew the answer was buried somewhere in his mind...

Percy shrugged without much care though, fidgeting as restlessly in his seat as ever like everything but hearing about Annabeth caused him.

"Another hot pad, sir?" a guard asked. "More Tylenol?"

"No! It will pass." The General brushed off his silk suit, then snatched up the teeth. "I shall do this myself."

"Damn, sucks to have a go-getter leader," Alex frowned for having always admired anybody willing to do what they dish out, even watering zombies.

"There's something we have in common," Jason nodded along with the same perplexed look.

Thalia popped the collar of her jacket and cleared her throat with a malevolent smile. "I thank you for the kind words."

"Anytime girlie," Alex nodded.

He held up one of the teeth and smiled. "Dinosaur teeth—ha! Those foolish mortals don't even know when they have dragon teeth in their possession. And not just any dragon teeth. These come from the ancient Sybaris herself! They shall do nicely."

"Do I even want to know?" Magnus looked a little hopeful though they wouldn't be human zombies, which was like point one percent better.

"Sybaris was like a Scythian dracaenae, but worse," Nico supplied without concern. "Snake with feet, but a rooster head, mountain-sized," he concluded mildly. A Persian myth, making it slightly ironic why Percy had earlier mistaken Zoe of looking of that decent if Atlas had any association there. "It's odd though, because that's not what these guys turn out to be." Perhaps the resurrection process had to be performed by a priest of Hades to actually bring back the exact dragon, and these minions had been invoked from the process done by Atlas not performing the ceremony correctly.*

Will was looking for it now, and pressed his lips together unhappily to watch Nico's shadow flicker as he kept himself uptight and disconnected while explaining that, and Magnus was to busy making faces at dragons and zombies existing in the same sentence to notice. 

How could Will possibly guess Nico was trying his hardest to suppress the memory of these things showing up on the worst day of his life, Percy saying nonsense, she was dead, he could hear their ghostly promises of more death on his hero and, and he just couldn't let him die, but he couldn't stand to look at him either...so he ran- stop! Moving on!

Magnus's mood had been dragged down with every word Nico used to describe them, and Percy looked no more thrilled what was actually going to come out of the dirt. To Nico's bemusement, but for once not surprise as he got used to Will, the guy gave him a smile and once again asked, "is she in Mythomagic?"

"You guessed it," Nico agreed without hesitating to smile back.

He planted them in the dirt, twelve in all. Then he scooped up the watering can. He sprinkled the soil with red liquid, tossed the can away, and held his arms out wide. Rise!

The dirt trembled. A single, skeletal hand shot out of the ground, grasping at the air.

The General looked up at the balcony. "Quickly, do you have the scent?"

"Yesssss, lord," one of the snake ladies said. She took out a sash of silvery fabric, like the kind the Hunters wore.

"Excellent," the General said. "Once my warriors catch its scent, they will pursue its owner relentlessly. Nothing can stop them, no weapons known to half-blood or Hunter. They will tear the Hunters and their allies to shreds. Toss it here!"

As he said that, skeletons erupted from the ground. There were twelve of them, one for each tooth the General had planted. They were nothing like Halloween skeletons, or the kind you might see in cheesy movies. These were growing flesh as I watched, turning into men, but men with dull gray skin, yellow eyes, and modern clothes—gray muscle shirts, camo pants, and combat boots. If you didn't look too closely, you could almost believe they were human, but their flesh was transparent and their bones shimmered underneath, like X-ray images.

Magnus groaned in disgust and now knew the next time he sensed the dying ember of life leaving a mortal's body wrapped in trash bags, he'd get another horrible memory on top.

Alex met his eyes, licked her lips, but then turned back to the book. He sat stunned as he realized she wasn't hollering in pleasure at finally getting her reward of live zombies, she wasn't laughing and begging anybody to teach her how to do this.

Maybe, maybe his guess was right and the strained, hint of recognition of seeing her in a kitchen out of the corner of his eye was real. That she'd seen the gruesome side of humanity too, and this was just her way of dealing with it, smiling grimly through to laugh in the face of danger.

One of them looked straight at me, regarding me coldly, and I knew that no cap of invisibility would fool it.

The snake lady released the scarf and it fluttered down toward the General's hand. As soon as he gave it to the warriors, they would hunt Zoe and the others until they were extinct.

I didn't have time to think. I ran and jumped with all my might, plowing into the warriors and snatching the scarf out of the air.

"Percy..." Thalia couldn't begin to find words to thank him for what he'd done. Artemis would have grieved and sworn revenge for them, if they'd even made it through this quest at all, but there was no telling if their goddess would have even continued the hunt at all with her maidens after a decimation like that. She was struck with awe she could go back and tell her crew a male hero had saved the legacy of them all, if not in spirit, than literally.

"Thalia," Percy bobbed his head and turned back to the book. That was that, all that was needed as he watched the gratitude in her eyes.

"What's this?" bellowed the General.

I landed at the feet of a skeleton warrior, who hissed.

"An intruder," the General growled. "One cloaked in darkness. Seal the doors!"

"It's Percy Jackson!" Luke yelled. "It has to be."

"That was presumptuous," Percy looked almost pleased though he was so high on the list of people Luke suspected.

"You get a cookie for the big kid word," Thalia patted his shoulder and grinned at him swatting her away.

I sprinted for the exit, but heard a ripping sound and realized the skeleton warrior had taken a chunk out of my sleeve. When I glanced back, he was holding the fabric up to his nose, sniffing the scent, handing it around to his friends. I wanted to scream, but I couldn't. I squeezed through the door just as the guards slammed it shut behind me.

And then I ran.

Rachel shivered in particular disgust as Alex declared she was done. When she'd asked Percy where those skeletons chasing him had come from, he'd been pretty vague about the answer. He spent those weeks with her talking of anything but his father's side of the family, basking in what could have possibly been his last mortal, normal summer.

She watched Percy now as he got to his feet and cautiously went for the book, an expression more similar to fear twitching across his face than she ever would have believed possible was there. The last time he'd had his memories in hand, Annabeth had gone over a cliff. He took it now and looked from it to her, something strange still trying to wage with the memories of his girlfriend as he slowly went back to his seat beside her.

She'd thought she had a crush on him, and maybe there for a time he'd looked at her and wondered what life would be like if he could have a simple life with her too.

But just like she'd always known he would from the second she saw him and Annabeth together, he turned away with only slight hesitation and kept reading to find his way back to her, and she smiled and declared excitedly, "are we taking a lunch soon, I'm starving?"

PJOPJOPJO

*Why did dragon teeth create human skeletons? No clue, but I don't think my explanation makes it make less sense.

[safestsephiroth]

completely unbiased objective factual review of every MSQ in FFXIV as of the release of base dawntrail (pre-7.1) (Part 3: EW and DT)

A repeat of the intros from the first two posts, which can be found here: https://safestsephiroth.tumblr.com/post/762492923054047232/completely-unbiased-objective-factual-review-of

https://safestsephiroth.tumblr.com/post/762495259487895552/completely-unbiased-objective-factual-review-of

Just to clarify, I know some people are bad at reading tone through text. This is, of course, the objective truth because it’s my opinion and my opinion has never been wrong ever, and I take this as deathly serious as a hostage negotiation, a military standoff, or an argument about vtubers.

[And if you don’t already know this is written tongue-in-cheek with that, then you might not enjoy what’s to come. Especially if you cannot stomach negativity. If you keep reading from here that’s on you tbh.]

[This series of posts will not be tagged with anything relating to the game because I have learned over the years not to tag things when you’re being a hater. If you hate this, it’s not likely to come up again on here so just ignore this post dude it ain’t hard. Press the J key. Or read and laugh. I’m writing this for me, your enjoyment is not a concern, audience!]

Just to clarify, I know some people are bad at reading tone through text. This is, of course, the objective truth because it's my opinion and my opinion has never been wrong ever, and I take this as deathly serious as a hostage negotiation, a military standoff, or an argument about vtubers.

[And if you don't already know this is written tongue-in-cheek with that, then you might not enjoy what's to come. Especially if you cannot stomach negativity. If you keep reading from here that's on you tbh.]

[This series of posts will not be tagged with anything relating to the game because I have learned over the years not to tag things when you're being a hater. If you hate this, it's not likely to come up again on here so just ignore this post dude it ain't hard. Press the J key. Or read and laugh. I'm writing this for me, your enjoyment is not a concern, audience!]

Endwalker:

Okay, so here we go.

Endwalker is the point that FFXIV completely ditched subtlety and consistency in favor of going "Fuck it, this sounds rad, do it". For many people Endwalker is not very good, or worse than Shadowbringers, blah blah.

Listen.

Endwalker is delightfully fucking dumb and ridiculous and over the top and if it weren't for the fucking loporrits being 6 hours of misery (proving we learned nothing from the Moogles in Heavensward and reminding us how great it was that Stormblood's joke tribe was the Namazu who had functionally zero MSQ presence, and the Dwarves in Shadowbringers were handled pretty well in general) I would say it does a flawless job of this.

Endwalker is also the expansion that suffers possibly the most from the FFXIV Template (Trademark Square-Enix, all rights reserved.) and from the fact they built up a story for ten years and, very clearly, wanted it over with.

There's another timeline somewhere where Endwalker came in two parts. In part one, the MSQ deals A LOT with Garlemald - you actually have involvement in the civil war, learn what the various sub-factions are like, go to various settlements and learn that there's depth to their society even if there isn't to their leadership. You find out that they're so terribly reliant on technology because they literally have no choice, and this is conveyed in a fascinating way. It's a wonderful exploration of a civil war plot and directly contrasts Heavensward and Stormblood in a beautiful way, and it's handled magnificently. (This obviously requires changing the lead-up patches from Shadowbringers.) In this version, Anima is an actual trial fight instead of a dungeon boss, and Zodiark is the final boss of the expansion.

In that timeline, we don't go to Sharlayan or Thavnair at all in this expansion.

Then the post-release patch content lead-up is dealing with the pending Final Days caused by killing Zodiark.

Endwalker: Part Two deals with Sharlayan and Thavnair and then covering every past zone. We're covering how every single society can play into working together to save the world from apocalypse. There are no loporrits; we save the day because of the technological cooperation of the Garlond Ironworks and Sharlayan, with Cid and Nero's toxic gay couple relationship from Omega being paid off properly in the MSQ. Maybe they hold hands as they watch the spaceship fly off or whatever.

It's a wonderful story about unity and cooperation and carries forward past themes that problems which seem insurmountable CAN be overcome through collaboration and cooperation. It's a beautiful wrap-up of the story of the game to date. It also has good gameplay while I'm imagining, and Yoshi-P gives a press release where he personally apologizes to me for ruining class design and they revert every single Shadowbringers change, and when they go back and change past content it's to make every single dungeon have something at least mildly interesting going on like many did in ARR, instead of squashing out that personality in the design in favor of making something that can be completed by a basic AI script to accommodate Trusts.

So that would have been a 10/10 in story and gameplay both. Unfortunately, that world is not the one we live in, and in the world we live in it was made abundantly clear that Square Enix did not actually want to continue the story, they wanted it over NOW. They wanted it done with NOW.

I can't hate Endwalker's story like some people have - I adore how over the top ridiculous "I guess this is how this works now then" the story was allowed to be. We have time travel now? Sure, why not. Why not just make Primals okay to be summoned if you change a couple numbers in the programming to remove the "mind-controls their followers" malicious code the Ascians obviously injected on purpose. (Like when they did that with Zodiark, apparently, I guess? Clearly the Convocation deserved it if they decided to create a god to save the world and agreed "mind control of everyone" should be part of the process).

Anyway.

Endwalker's great. I love Endwalker. It's cheesy and terrible. I love it. I hate what the formula does to it. I have incredibly conflicting opinions about Endwalker. Every bad has an upside, every good has a downside. I think it's great that Thavnair is a secret dragon dictatorship and Sharlayan is "What if nerds ran a country", but I do wish both had more flaws as societies because it's pretty jarring to go "our societies have NO FLAWS, or what flaws they DO have are insanely easy to solve." When you spent the entire game introducing societies with complex issues and flaws at their hearts, it's pretty jarring to do this in Endwalker. Whatever. I give it a pass this time because I didn't notice how much they leaned into this concept at the time of release.

Endwalker is an Endwalker/10 for story and a 1/10 for gameplay. That's right. You heard me. This is the floor. They gutted the job design and decided to gut the encounter design too, leaving no actual gameplay. The only reason it's 1/10 and not 0/10 is because Island Sanctuary is worth one point.

Let me ask you: Did you at any point wipe in anything below EX/Savage in your entire time playing Endwalker? Be honest, now. And now that you've said "maybe three times", count how many of those times were in content introduced within Endwalker as opposed to doing something old, and then explain to me how that one time you DID wipe was because it was actually challenging and not because the jump potion baby Paladin and White Mage in your party were on par with slime molds as far as capability to respond to stimuli in a timely manner goes.

Dawntrail:

I'm about to make a lot of enemies.

The first 50% or so of Dawntrail is far less interesting than the arguments about Dawntrail and how incredibly stupid they are. I'm gonna be real with you right now, people who complain or praise Dawntrail do so for entirely incorrect reasons. It is so infuriating to me that "I hate Dawntrail" immediately is associated with declaring oneself transphobic, because the immediate knee-jerk haters were only hating because Wuk Lamat's voice actress is trans. Listen to me. Listen. There are so many reasons to be a hater on Dawntrail that aren't tied to something so completely fucking pointless.

The voice acting in Dawntrail is a stark drop in quality overall. They decided to bring it back down to how bad it was in A Realm Reborn again. I suspect when concepting DT they wrote on a big whiteboard "EVERYTHING THAT MADE ARR ARR, LET'S DO IT AGAIN." And the first person wrote under that heading "BAD VOICE ACTING" and somehow didn't get immediately fired.

Dawntrail's story fucking sucks. It is the purest distillation of every problem everything in this game has ever had. It is kindergarten-level plotting, with the pointless edge of Heavensward, and forced cataclysmic scale of Shadowbringers and Endwalker without the backing both expansions deserved. Let me be plain: a united Tural invading the rest of the world is a punchline, not a dire threat. The threat is to Tural, not anywhere/one else. And I'm gonna be real, this expansion did an atrocious job of making me give a shit about Tural.

It's telling that when you hear people praise Dawntrail, have you noticed how much it's either about the gameplay (GENUINE massive improvement, A++ encounter design, ASS class design in many cases but WHATEVER, it's FINE) or extremely superfluous/extraneous/minor things? Dude, the ENVIRONMENT DESIGN in this expansion! Dude, the GRAPHICS! Dude, the... uh... ENVIRONMENT DESIGN! Dude, the VISUALS! Dude, the way that light comes off your screen and hits your eyeballs when you go to zones. I mean, the music is mid at best (GOD the main theme is TERRIBLE, it's THE WORST main theme of any final fantasy flat-out, but most of the rest is just mediocre/fades into the background and is unmemorable) but uh... dude, the stuff you SEE with your EYES-

So Dawntrail fucking sucks, I'm not sugarcoating it anymore. I was right to not want to play it, I hated forcing myself to do it, it fucking blows. If you've never played Dawntrail save yourself the trouble and skip every cutscene in the MSQ. Here, let me save you sixty hours:

1: Wuk Lamat goes to a new zone, and you trail along as the mercenary she hired to "mentor" her by standing around and contributing nothing.

2: Wuk Lamat has the INSANELY GENIUS idea of finding out how to help by learning to understand the locals. No one has ever considered this line of inquiry before. Some will doubt that such a radical approach could work.

3: Go talk to X locals to ask about Y local trend.

4: Report back to Wuk Lamat.

5: Wuk Lamat will say the dumbest thing you've ever heard in your life, everyone present will audibly speak aloud exactly what they think/feel about what's going on so the audience can be sure to understand. Wuk Lamat will be Sad as she thinks about Problem Plaguing Locals.

6: Wuk Lamat will do something dumb/"comedic".

7: Wuk Lamat will comment on how Their Ways Are Different From Ours, be that because they're traveling merchants who deal in specialized goods or because they harvest people's souls and directly repeat the thing that made Endwalker's villain so serious a threat. Wait, wh-

8: Let's move past that and find a way to solve the problem by working together to do something incredibly menial/blunt/straightforward that will instantly solve all problems that the local society has right now, earning their forever loyalty and love.

9: Have a cutscene where the antagonists speak antagonistically because they're Bad People, as set-up for how you're supposed to feel bad for them later even though there's no reason to.

10: Move to the next zone, where there will be no consequences or pay-off for anything that happened in the previous zone.

This exact formula repeats with almost zero deviation with every single tribe in Tural, and then again with an evil transdimensional soul-eating dictatorship that just massacred a bunch of civilians of Tural essentially unopposed.

Speaking of, the turning point where Dawntrail MSQ goes from "eh-to-bad" to "This aggressively actively sucks" is Shaaloni and everything in it. And I don't just mean when Blah Blah Baja Blast kills a (former) king completely unopposed and then we just let him walk out and it's totally fine that he did that and we did nothing because how could we possibly fight him (Hey remember in Stormblood when Zenos attacked Rhalgr's Reach and we had basically no hope of beating him but-) but I also mean how fucking BORING not-texmexicozona is, and it's boring ENTIRELY because it's the absolute worst case of one of the most irritating flaws of Dawntrail:

No society is allowed to have moral ambiguity present at all.

The exceedingly capitalistic merchant society that invented the standardized currency of the continent are religiously married to the concept of deals being fair because GOD FORBID any of them whatsoever have a flaw (the only bad merchants are from Eorzea, did you notice that?). Is the fact they used to be slaves of the giants any source of tension? Do they maybe harbor some resentment towards the giants for that? No, we wouldn't want any kind of tension or ambiguity or anything like that.

The society that are known for their parties (sorry, the ONE party a YEAR they do) and reed farming are in dire straits because of a recent earthquake or whatever. Is this commentary on how dangerous it is for a society to cling entirely to one crop as the backbone of everything? Is their reliance on parades perhaps some sort of flaw? Is their clinging to tradition at all stifling or bad in any way? Is there any part of this society at all built on top of that extremely barebones description that might have any cause for conflict or social tension?

No, the party saves the day because of course it does. They're totally correct to lash their society to a single crop and doing a dance once a year to channel faith into fertility.

(Hey, remember how that used to be like, idk, a Primal? Wouldn't it be interesting if we brought that up in the plot, maybe had some kind of ambiguity about whether this process is a problem-)

Okay, so let's go hang out with the Moblins. So it turns out that slavery didn't work, so they decided to enter a weirdass BDSM relationship with every artisan they can find, because one guy said "hey maybe don't do slavery" and they completely turned their society on its head as a result. What else do they have going on? Nothing. Do they have a culture? No. Stop asking questions. They live in big kooky ceramic pots. Now shut up and move to the next zone.

Wait, Wuk Lamat got kidnapped because everyone here has to act like a fucking moron so the plot can happen the way we want it to. Now let's do a shitty stealth mission that takes ages and is boring and sucks, and then have a cutscene of what should have been either a dungeon or a solo instance.

Okay, so let's go on to the giants. You know, the ex-slavers who used to be in charge of everything?

Turns out their society is the remnants of a bunch of murderous assholes but aside from one subfaction that's fringe and unimportant (and takes exactly one Wuk Lamat to completely reform their entire belief structure) they're just the good guys now and it's fine, hey did you get that the theme of this expansion is dealing with how societies deal with death and moving on from it?

Okay, so now one of the competitors unleashed a living nuke on the continent and will suffer ZERO repercussions for doing so.

Anyway, next zone, where their society is defined by a paranoid stand-off relationship with their neighbors, and uh. Genuinely delicious-looking food. What else does their culture have going on? No, we already covered all of it.

This DOES include the most interesting act of subtlety in the entire plot (if it was intended, which I'm still unsure of) in that Wuk Lamat's biological father gave her up for adoption thinking there had been an assassination attempt because she fell into a sinkhole... except ADULT wuk lamat gets lost on a one-way road to a destination she can see with her fucking eyes, and explicitly says that it's only because of Erenville she didn't fall into a sinkhole ten minutes before we talk about how surely as a tiny toddler she couldn't have accidentally fallen into one, it MUST have been an assassination attempt.

BTW, in the expansion where every character looks directly at the screen and loudly declares their thoughts and feelings and actions every five minutes, did you notice no one in all of Mamook admits or even implies having been involved in that?

Isn't it interesting how a father giving up his beloved child out of paranoia despite everyone around him and all evidence being that he's overreacting out of unjustified terror (you know, the theme of the zone? of the relationship between the two societies?) REALLY fits into the theme if it ISN'T true? I mean, if it WAS actually an assassination attempt, are you telling me the Mamook are too stupid or incompetent to just kill a child with a sword or something and feed her to a hungry beast in the wilderness and let that look like a coincidence?

So anyway that's the last interesting idea that Dawntrail doesn't immediately dismiss for the rest of its plot.

But yeah, isn't it wild how after we have a handful of conversations we're able to take any negatives or problems any society has and instantly fix them? Isn't it crazy that we don't want any kind of moral ambiguity, so in Shaaloni the "dueling" they do is nonlethal with rubber bullets? Isn't it crazy how we run into the analogue for the native americans and they basically go "Wow we sure don't like that you're tearing up the environment. Anyway here's some lumber we would never choose to try to interfere in what our neighbors do, just so you know, player, there is no ambiguity. We're not like, god forbid, prejudiced or hostile in any way to anyone. Holy fuck can you imagine. We might get called racist if we made a single society have downsides or problems."

So anyway let's go to the absolute worst reference to any FF game ever (I thought Ivalice being copy-pasted directly from FF12 with FF12 assets was the floor of possibility but dawntrail breaks out the six mile long drill and gets to digging a borehole) and it's to the best FF game. Alexandria is a fucking embarrassment. It's a mess of a knockoff of a cyberpunk aesthetic as designed/described by someone whose only experience with cyberpunk is they looked at the art on the box of a graphics card once.

It completely fails to land a single theme of the genre it's ineffectually ripping off and dodges any kind of interesting ideas or concepts like a sprinter through a minefield. Don't worry, we don't want to risk anyone thinking there could be ambiguity to the AI NFT copies of everyone's memories - all of them we talk to are either only half-aware or desperately beg us to kill them so that we make sure there's no question of what we should do. We decided to put a reference to Garnet into the MSQ (did you get it? She's wearing a techno-version of Garnet's outfit in FF9? Her name is a gemstone? We keep zooming in on her GARNET-gemstone ring? Huh? Huh? It's subtle, right? It's subtle? It's done well? We did it well? Get it? Do you get it? Except now Garnet wants GENOCIDE! HA! We didn't copy-paste shit this time, aren't you HAPPY?)

Man, isn't it great that fucking Lindblum nuked the world? We could've gone so many different routes with that but just like with the death of whatever the ex-king's name was (something something ja ja every Mamool Ja name sounds like we threw some random syllables together and followed it with an English pronunciation of Spanish laughter) we decided to dodge any of the obvious ways we could have made this NOT the stupidest thing in the world.

Anyway Alexandria is a fucking nightmare dystopia incompetently designed and we go do a La Resistance plotline utterly incompetently and pointlessly with THE WORST remix of the Tantalus theme imaginable (it sounds like you fed the original theme through a paper shredder and just as 'pleasing' to the ear) and we treat it like there's any ambiguity at all to whether the people who degrade their own souls and deny them (and want to deny those of others, don't forget) participation in the hard factual process of reincarnation are wrong to do so. Why?

The aesthetic is so incredibly hard clashing with itself and it's jarring and incredibly confusing. Hey if we're stealing stuff from other games and saying fuck it, why not just make this Zanarkand (or ideally not-Zanarkand like Ala Mhigo is not-Ivalice) and copy-paste that scheme so you have some measure of parallel? Damn imagine if Bevelle kicked off the apocalypse, and we have the Thunder Plains right there, holy shit it's almost like that's an obvious slam-dunk right there. You could even if you're married to the stupid soul-concept have Blitzball make sense remixed as a horrendous death sport because people are just cool with drowning if they end up doing so as part of the game. Fuck dude it'd be so easy, holy shit. Imagine!

Hey isn't it wild how they insist Lalafell aren't children and shouldn't be viewed as such but 100% of characters ripped from other games that were kids in those games are lalafell? did they really have to make Relm a Lalafell? Really?

Hey isn't it wild that the only class that's gotten more complex since Shadowbringers is Dancer?

Endwalker gameplay is a 6/10 because the encounter design is 9/10 and the class design continues to be dog shit.

Endwalker MSQ is the worst it has ever been, with a 2/10 and those two points purely come from a handful of cool moments amidst a flood of mediocrity and garbage. I'm reminded of when someone told me the original michael bay Transformers movie was good because starscream fucks up a bunch of fighter jets, in a sequence that lasts six seconds if that. (DUDE VRTRA SHOWED UP ISN'T THAT COOL. Anyway we sure don't have any reason to feel like Alexandria is any kind of threat since we can see them get fucking ROCKED by a tiny fraction of the military might of everything they totally would have "conquered".) Also not-Steiner is neat and I appreciate he literally is not Steiner even though he's Steiner. It's clever to have "Rusty" be introduced through literally a rusty robot chassis.

Final point: GOD I hate the final dungeon for just being "Remember FF9? WATCH A ROBOT RECREATION OF THE INTRO GET FUCKING ANNIHILATED! Fuck yourself! That's your reference to FF9! Garnet's running the scheme Garland ran!"

Hey remember how hype it was when Gaia showed up in E8 to help save Ryne and it was this real power of love moment that felt deserved and pretty awesome and it was her buying you time to beat the DPS check?

So anyway the end of the final trial fucking blows dicks because I finally got to have a real fight and then at 20% I get robbed of it by being turned into a cheerleader in the audience.

I think a lot of the hate Wuk Lamat gets would be exaggerated if it weren't for the final third of the story, because it's just Wuk Lamat being the dumbest motherfucker in the world over and over and over and over and over and over and over and us doing sweet fuck-all at any point besides stand around and give pointless answers to pointless questions while she solves everything through the most simplistic way possible, to the extent the one time we get to have a real boss fight against the major antagonist and she ISN'T there she interrupts it.

Can YOU guess why I didn't do a single dungeon with Trusts this time? That's right! It's because they put the empty husks of the Scions in the MSQ and then stripped them of all personality they once had for the story because we're not allowed to make a new crew of characters since they're too important for the trailers, but we ALSO don't know how to write them at all so they're kind of just There. We decided to identify exactly one personality trait per Scion and that's their entire character now.

Remember how Urianger forgets the patch content in Heavensward happened?

This expansion's MSQ fucking sucks and has functionally zero qualities that can redeem it for being so god damned horrible, and it's especially agonizing on the tail of the Endwalker patches that really genuinely should have been this expansion instead. No Void, only new zones that half of them COMPLETELY suck and the rest are visually Pretty Good.

If they don't deliver on the promised improvements to class gameplay next expansion, I'm convinced this game is doomed to suck forever. Because they sure as hell destroyed any hope or faith I have in the MSQ.

In case you're wondering and it's not clear enough let me just look at the screen to explain to you that yes, my feeling on the matter is that this expansion MSQ is worse than Heavensward, and I'm saying that as the biggest hater of HW since the day of its release.

[nickymortis]

Resurrecting Fear: Alone in the Dark Returns to its Roots

The first Alone in the Dark game from '92 is basically the OG of survival horror, laying the groundwork for series like Resident Evil and Silent Hill, which is why enthusiasts often seek out platforms to buy Xbox games. While those two blew up big-time, Alone in the Dark kinda fizzled out by the early 2000s. The spin-offs dropped in '08 and '15 pretty much sealed its fate. But in 2018, THQ Nordic swooped in, snagged the rights, and announced they're rebooting the OG game. They're aiming to bring it back to its roots while giving it a modern makeover. We got to test out the PS5 version early, and it's clear: there's a ton of legacy to live up to, but the competition in the genre has leveled up big time, especially in the action department.

Evolving Darkness: A Contemporary Twist on the Classic Tale

Alone in the Dark kicks off with a spooky car ride through the swamps of the American Southwest, where we meet Emily Hartwood and Edward Carnby, embarking on a journey that has sparked interest in platforms offering options to buy PS5 games. Carnby's a private eye hired by Emily to find her missing uncle Jeremy, who's chilling at the Derceto Manor sanatorium, far off the grid. Once you're there, you gotta pick which of these two you're rolling with for the whole game. Emily and Carnby each see the story unfold differently in some scenes, so it's worth running it back a few times to catch it all. You can only get those alternative endings after you've seen the "normal" one with both characters. Alone in the Dark sticks to the '92 original's vibe but puts its own spin on things instead of just rehashing the plot. You don't need to know anything about the ancient debut to dive right in.

Mysteries of Derceto Manor: Navigating Haunted Hallways

No matter which main character you pick, Alone in the Dark spins a gripping detective tale with supernatural twists. It's set in 1920s Southern USA, dripping with period costumes, decor, and a jazz-heavy soundtrack. The devs roped in real Hollywood heavyweights for Emily and Carnby. Jodie Comer (Killing Eve, Free Guy) nails the brave Emily, while David Harbour (Stranger Things) brings grumpy detective Carnby to life. They add serious personality to the main duo, with the original English voices shining a bit brighter, but the German dub ain't too shabby either. Even the side characters hold their own, like the perpetually griping housekeeper, the shady director, and the artsy celeb. They unfold through cinematic cutscenes, leaving you mostly to your own devices in between. Derceto Manor steals the spotlight as the main haunt. You navigate this eerie sanatorium in third-person, starting with lots of locked doors and blocked paths. To move forward, you'll snag clues and crack environmental puzzles like a pro.

Combat Frustrations: Navigating Survival in 'Alone in the Dark'

In Alone in the Dark, you've got three difficulty levels to choose from. The higher ones amp up monster toughness and cut back on gear. But since the combat's the weakest link, it just ends up being frustrating. You can opt in for puzzle hints too. Characters drop lines like "I've seen this before," and key details are highlighted in docs. Sometimes, it makes things too easy, but at least you won't wander clueless for ages. It's cool that you can pick which hints to use. The monsters hunting you are mostly cut from the same cloth. There's a handful of types—zombie dudes of different sizes, leeches, and these demon bat things. They all kinda move the same and go down quick. The only thing giving you a rush is the clunky controls. You can sneak around, but it just drags out the annoying parts without any real perks besides saving ammo.

A Call for Focus on Core Strengths

They really went all in! I kept wondering if the action parts were even needed like this. Personally, Alone in the Dark would be way better without them, more like those newer Sherlock Holmes games or Call of Cthulhu. If THQ Nordic wants to keep the series going, they gotta think hard about sticking with this formula or focusing on what it's really good at.

[smokeybrandreviews]

NBA Rant: World Champion for What

This stuff with Noah Lyles is hilarious because, technically, he ain't wrong. The fact that the US didn't even medal in FIBA, also goes a long way to prove his point. That said, the best players in the world do come here to hoop. I get both sides. The game has evolved and, while the level of NBA talent is still absolutely the best in the world, it's not like the world isn't catching up. A long time ago, we used to send college kids to compete in hoop against professionals from around the world. We won several gold medals until we lost one. The following world competition happened to be the '92 Olympic and the US sent the greatest NBA team ever assembled to absolutely embarrass the rest of the globe. And we did just that, however, it lit a match under the ass under the ass of the international game and they went to work. It's been thirty years since the first Dream Team busted ass across Barcelona and the international game is producing players almost as good as some of those guys who ran alongside Jordan. The Eurogame is all grind, fundamentals, skill, and hard work. If we're being honest, the US game has fallen sharply in terms of skill and relies too much on athletic talent. Why do you think guys go overseas and get exposed in Euroleauges?

The problem most US citizens have is the fact we do not see the game of basketball as a properly global one. For us, especially black kids from the ghetto, it’s intrinsically American. More to the point, it’s intrinsically black and black people are uniquely American. Way back when the NBA first started, there were no other participants around the world. It's American invention. For about a third of the NBA’s existence, the US WAS the world to the league. I mean, the simple answer, and probably the truest one, is that World Champion sounded cool and looks good on the trophy. That’s probably it. Hell, baseball calls their championship game the “World Series” so this argument can be made for that, too. Ultimately, this sh*t basically boils down to a very narrow US focus. We don’t value FIBA or “world” games unless it’s the Olympics. We are taught, early on, that the Olympics are the end all, be all, of global competition even though, technically, they’re not. No one else but the US takes that sh*t as serious. Well, maybe the host country but the United States puts so much weight on Olympic gold, it’s stupid. That is something, to this day, I never fully understood.

If you can’t tell, I’m in Lyles’ camp on this one. Calling a national title anything more than that is dumb to me. Especially when there are world games basically held every other year. I’ve watched the NBA for three decades, man. I know for a fact that the talent pool across the world has caught up. Cats like Giannis and Luka are out here running circles around our home grown guys, strictly because they had to have the skill to dominate in their respective leagues. Giannis is an athletic freak, for sure, but Luka? That dude is basically Dirk 2.0 and making our best talent look like clowns. With no vertical. Like, kid has a four inch jump but dog-walks most teams night in and night out. Basketball has truly become a global game and should absolutely be embraced as such here in the states. We shouldn’t refer to the winners of the NBA Championship as “World Champions” because they’re not. They are NBA Champions. I absolutely believe that the NBA is the premier league in the world. The best to ever play, play in The Association, regardless of where they are from. Luka and Giannis play in the NBA. Jokic, Duncan, and Ginobli. But also Jordan, Kobe, Magic, Curry, Steph, and LeBron. The best to ever do it, are from the US. The best to ever do it, are black kids from the ghetto. Still, it’s more than presumptuous to call our title, a world title, when Team USA just got beat by Canada in the actual world games, getting bounced out of medal contention in the process.

[bengiyo]

Theory of Love Rewatch Ep 9 Stray Thoughts

Last time, Khai struggled to reconnect with Third, because it's really difficult to do the emotional work required to be in effective long term relationships with anyone when the person you need to reconcile with is the person you relied on to do that work for you. Khai may be serious about Third at this point, but he's never treated his relationships as more than a physical release prior to this, and went through the motions for getting the booty. No one is on his side, and Third is trying to move on. Meanwhile, Two is trying to move forward with Lynn, and Bone just learned that Paan has someone who's serious about her. Everyone thinks Un is into Third. We left at Khai crashing his motorcycle and getting hurt after being yelled at by Third for forcing a kiss on him AGAIN.

I really think Un and Third just went to a screening to get inspiration for their script.

Oh, he's delirious from blood loss. I don't remember this portion of the show well, so I really hope Khai doesn't take Third giving him attention again because he's hurt as a reasonable approach to getting him to interact in the future.

Khai was talking all that shit about Un, but look whose big ass is driving them to the hospital.

Ep.09 Love Triangle. I think this is the first Thai film they've used as the inspiration for the episode.

I do like when a character has to confront their psyche in a nether space. The Walkabout episode of Babylon 5 is my favorite example of this.

Okay, I am really harsh on Khai, so let me say some nice things about the production. Having Bone and Two not be scared when Khai woke up is very reassuring for the audience, even if the inventory of injuries Khai sustained is extensive. Also, telling us he's been asleep for a day as Third walks up still in his bloody clothes lets us know immediately how worried Third was.

Obsessed with Khai's parents. The dad trying to keep upbeat, the mom chiding, the dad reminding Khai that this actually is quite serious, and them asking Third to look after Khai. I get it, show. They're best friends and everyone knows. I'm still salty.

Oh, thanks for explaining my earlier bullet, Bone.

Good job, bros. Khai is an idiot for kissing Third AGAIN. We ain't forget!!

See, this is what I'm saying. It's convenient he got injured? ABSOLUTELY NOT. Face yourself and your friend!

Bone, why are we suggesting checking again? Y'all pissed off me and Third the last time y'all did this shit.

These mofos really going through his messages. I know y'all are boys and all, but respect your homie's fucking privacy.

They don't even know how to set up a side chat. This is embarrassing.

I'm glad the privacy invasion bit ended quickly on Third telling them all to fuck off and let him handle his business.

Hold on, Lynn, we need to do some quick PPL.

Love that the musical cues in GMMTV shows were loud in 2019 and they're loud now.

It really is so hard for me not to simp over Gun constantly in every one of these reactions.

Oh, Khai, you're getting there. Is it hard when the person you're trying to get over suddenly treats you kindly?

I will accept the show using Khai's lingering injuries as a way to illustrate that he can't really heal or take care of himself while Third isn't part of his life.

"Let me help you with your shower." Now, Third, we have all seen this scene before. You gotta give your bro a hand?

Good thing Third wears capris.

I don't want to give Bone too much credit for his awareness of his feelings for Paan because they're hets. Two may just now be figuring out that he was jealous about Un sharing that restaurant with someone else, but it feels like this may be new for him and he's been trying to pursue Lynn.

All that paper is going to make a mess of the pool.

Listen, unnamed boy in the Never Have I Ever game, do you not realize there are queers at this table and you're just lobbing grenades into the chat??

Keyword association went to shit, too!

Why are they leaving us hanging on Lynn's answer to Two?

Curious why Praew wanted to come clean to Third.

If I was Un, I know I would have to whip Khai's ass later over this. This gang stay fucking with him and all he does is help them. Now he's being punched out because Khai is jealous and misunderstanding? Hell to the no. Don't start shit with me because I will finish it.

Oh lord we got big drama next episode with early dating, lies, and bad timing.

Khai is such an asshole, so I think it's correct for his character to confess his feelings in the heat of an argument. I think this is a pretty solid episode for the most part, but I'm not sure all of the party worked for me. I think Khai's injuries were used well to mirror his internal feelings. I'm a bit bored of the stuff going on with Bone and Two though.

As always, this rewatch is sponsored by @lurkingshan, with support from @waitmyturtles and @neuroticbookworm. Tagging @twig-tea by request.

[smokeybrand]

NBA Rant: World Champion for What

This stuff with Noah Lyles is hilarious because, technically, he ain't wrong. The fact that the US didn't even medal in FIBA, also goes a long way to prove his point. That said, the best players in the world do come here to hoop. I get both sides. The game has evolved and, while the level of NBA talent is still absolutely the best in the world, it's not like the world isn't catching up. A long time ago, we used to send college kids to compete in hoop against professionals from around the world. We won several gold medals until we lost one. The following world competition happened to be the '92 Olympic and the US sent the greatest NBA team ever assembled to absolutely embarrass the rest of the globe. And we did just that, however, it lit a match under the ass under the ass of the international game and they went to work. It's been thirty years since the first Dream Team busted ass across Barcelona and the international game is producing players almost as good as some of those guys who ran alongside Jordan. The Eurogame is all grind, fundamentals, skill, and hard work. If we're being honest, the US game has fallen sharply in terms of skill and relies too much on athletic talent. Why do you think guys go overseas and get exposed in Euroleauges?

The problem most US citizens have is the fact we do not see the game of basketball as a properly global one. For us, especially black kids from the ghetto, it’s intrinsically American. More to the point, it’s intrinsically black and black people are uniquely American. Way back when the NBA first started, there were no other participants around the world. It's American invention. For about a third of the NBA’s existence, the US WAS the world to the league. I mean, the simple answer, and probably the truest one, is that World Champion sounded cool and looks good on the trophy. That’s probably it. Hell, baseball calls their championship game the “World Series” so this argument can be made for that, too. Ultimately, this sh*t basically boils down to a very narrow US focus. We don’t value FIBA or “world” games unless it’s the Olympics. We are taught, early on, that the Olympics are the end all, be all, of global competition even though, technically, they’re not. No one else but the US takes that sh*t as serious. Well, maybe the host country but the United States puts so much weight on Olympic gold, it’s stupid. That is something, to this day, I never fully understood.

If you can’t tell, I’m in Lyles’ camp on this one. Calling a national title anything more than that is dumb to me. Especially when there are world games basically held every other year. I’ve watched the NBA for three decades, man. I know for a fact that the talent pool across the world has caught up. Cats like Giannis and Luka are out here running circles around our home grown guys, strictly because they had to have the skill to dominate in their respective leagues. Giannis is an athletic freak, for sure, but Luka? That dude is basically Dirk 2.0 and making our best talent look like clowns. With no vertical. Like, kid has a four inch jump but dog-walks most teams night in and night out. Basketball has truly become a global game and should absolutely be embraced as such here in the states. We shouldn’t refer to the winners of the NBA Championship as “World Champions” because they’re not. They are NBA Champions. I absolutely believe that the NBA is the premier league in the world. The best to ever play, play in The Association, regardless of where they are from. Luka and Giannis play in the NBA. Jokic, Duncan, and Ginobli. But also Jordan, Kobe, Magic, Curry, Steph, and LeBron. The best to ever do it, are from the US. The best to ever do it, are black kids from the ghetto. Still, it’s more than presumptuous to call our title, a world title, when Team USA just got beat by Canada in the actual world games, getting bounced out of medal contention in the process.

[marigoldenchrys]

the unexpected date

Let's call this guy I had a date with (in my dream), John. Oh wait, that's literally his second name but anyway, here I go.

Last Friday afternoon of August 11, I had a dream. It's not strange, it's not weird, not scary, and I can't also say happy(?) because although I was happy in that dream, I knew it doesn't feel like how it should feel in real life if I was on a date with John.

Who's John? He is a former coworker, a batchmate on my first ever job. He wasn't converted as a regular employee and I'm not sure why.

What was he like being a coworker? He's cool, one glance at him and you might think he's innocent because of his face but let him talk and you'll see. He ain't the angel you think he is. He smokes, he vapes, he drinks, (so do I) and one thing that I'll forever think about him is that he gossips like a woman. I hate that part of him. I don't know him that much or more like, I didn't get to know who he really is and what he does off work, when at home or whatsoever but I think he's a bit of a good man(?). I'm not 100% sure, really.

There was one time when some of my coworkers wanted to get some drinks, it was after our shift which was around 4am in the morning, yes, and then I was originally thinking of drinking alone because I thought it's better, just me, no noisy people beside me. Just soju and peace, ya' know? Lol. Anyway, they were able to convince me to join them. It was fun anyway. But on our way to where we're gonna get drinks, the rest of the group was ahead of us, by us I mean me and John. So we actually got to chitchat a bit. I remember him sharing that he got his own air conditioner for his room when we started receiving our salary. I may or may not have asked if he has some mixed race because of his eyes. I think he has a monolid eyes(?), not sure but you know, eyes like most Korean/Japanese/Chinese people. I don't remember if he said yes or no, but I think, not sure again, he mentioned having a neighbor whose Japanese(?). And other stuff I no longer remember. Honestly, it felt good talking to him that time because he seemed like a normal guy, like he's just tryna go with the flow of life or something. I wasn't uncomfortable. Wait, I just remembered haha! He also talked about college and studying, and abroad.

So that's John's introduction. Here's the dream I've been dying to share haha!

***

I think we all know that in our dreams the settings are freaking weird and the way it changes is crazy. So please don't mind if I suddenly mentioned that we're in some kind of magical paradise shit playing soccer in front of millions of people with the big aliens above us watching and eating some trees as if it was popcorn.

We were in a room full of ladies and gents. Inside the room there is a big rectangular table that almost consumes the entirety of the room. It didn't matter where you wanted to sit but we were all facing each other from across the table. Some men are on the right side, some women are on the left side and vice versa.

I didn't know what I was doing there. I didn't know what was the purpose of us gathering there inside the room. And so a flashback hit me. I was talking to a girl, a friend, and my words were..

"John? No. Never! I can't imagine dating a guy like him. He's obviously a playboy! He's not serious about relationships and you know me. I don't do games with love. So, nope! Not dating him. Won't ever imagine dating him. He's probably an asshole and would only treat me badly."

And there I was, standing right next to John, who has that very, very, nice smile on his face. So I was confused, but I said nothing. I looked around and was amazed by how beautiful the place we were surrounded with. Then our date started. We went from here and there, vendor to vendor, variety of stalls and all I could hear from him was:

"Do you like this? I'll buy it for you." , "This looks good on you. Let me get it for you." , "Are you hungry? I'll pay for your food." , "You wanna get some milktea? Go ahead, order some and I'll pay." , "Let me get some pictures of you here." , "You look so good in this picture."

All throughout our date, he was annoyingly nice and gentle and thoughtful and sweet and I felt happy, comfortable, special, so loved and cared for and I wanted it to not end. Just let it keep going. I still remember clinging on to his arms. Me smiling felt like it was never-ending. I was jumpy and so excited with every new activity we tried on.

The date was done and we were calming ourselves for all the fun we had. But we both still have that smile on our faces. I can see through his eyes the pure intention he only has for me. It was unusual. The date was unexpected. I was happy and was enjoying everything but deep inside my mind there was a voice that kept telling me, "This isn't how it should be. This is not the usual. It's not right."

I was about to ask him why. Why did he do this? Why is that all of a sudden he's so nice? Why is he in my dream? When I wasn't even thinking about him in real life. But my dream started glitching and then I-

***

My phone was ringing. Someone's calling but I know who it was so I just declined the call and couldn't get back to sleep.

My heart felt weird. I don't like him though.

this song might not fit the content but you get it haha!

[countenanceblog]

Chapter 39

Chapter 39

David, Rufus, Karen, Jack, Corey, Lazarus, Jonah, Nook, Emma and Ariadne sat cross-legged in a circle; in a circular room. Nook's eyes were intently closed. An atmosphere of tension permeated the room. A pair of large black dogs circled the room aimlessly. Rufus huffed.

"The house has been destroyed. They took out an entire city block just to get it. I don't know what else to look for," Nook told the others. Her body convulsed for a brief moment, and then her eyes opened. "I'm sorry."

Tears welled in Karen's eyes. Rufus put his hand over hers on the floor. "We don't know what happened," he told her. "Maybe some of them got out alive." Jack snarled.

"Damn it! We should've taken them with us. By Hel, that's it. The Fort was hit by a wedding crasher."

Lazarus' low voice rose. "Ain't no way they missed."

Emma said, "Rufus is right, we can't be sure what happened. We were too late to find out. Your friends could still be alive, but the use of a wedding crasher raises a question. Has the Court given up on order?" Corey watched closely as Emma spoke.

Karen buried her face in her hands. She cried. "I knew this was going to happen. I knew I was supposed to – "

"Hey," Rufus cut in, "We don't know what happened. Maybe they bombed the place because, because they knew that someone was escaping. Maybe . . . "

"Sorry, Rufus," said Jack. "It seems likely that they got everyone just now. Aleister, Gwyneth, Xander, everyone."

Rufus' pointed eyebrow spiked up. "Dude, that's not helping. Let me put it to you this way, why don't we keep my little sister, who has telekinesis, as calm as possible?"

"What do you mean?," snapped Karen. "Are you saying I'm dangerous?"

Rufus held up his hands in a calming gesture, trying to diffuse the tension. "Hey, Karen, that's not what I meant. You know I trust you. But with everything that's going on, it's natural for emotions to run high. We need to stick together, right? I'm really fucking sorry."

Karen wiped her tears, trying to regain her composure. "You're right. I'm sorry too. It's just so hard to accept that they might be gone."

Corey spoke up. "We can't lose hope just yet. We need to find out what happened for sure. Nook, is there any way you can use your powers to gather more information?"

Nook nodded, her face a mix of determination and exhaustion. "I'll try my best. It takes a lot out of me, but I'll do whatever I can."

Emma chimed in, her verve evident in her voice. "And while Nook does that, the rest of us can start gathering whatever resources we have left. We can't let the Court destroy us like this. We need to fight back."

Ariadne, always ready for a challenge, grinned. "Hel yeah, let's show 'em we're not pushovers."

Lazarus spoke up in his signature slang, "I got your back, fam. We gon' take 'em down one way or another."

Jack cracked his knuckles, a determined glint in his eye. "Count me in too. I've had enough of their games."

David nodded with a serious expression. "Alright, then it's settled. We stick together, we gather our strength, and we hit back harder. But first, Nook, do your thing."

Nook closed her eyes once again, focusing her energy. Her body trembled slightly as she reached out with her mind, trying to connect to a source of information. Slowly, images and snippets of conversations began to flood her mind. She saw an SCET Bunker model, black paint, driving down the highway. Inside were five people.