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nitrosodiumfmp · 3 months

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Games Like Sinister | Gameplay

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The only reason I picked Doom 2 over Ultimate Doom is that I prefer it; better level design, more enemies, generally more fun. The link here is obvious; you move through levels trying to reach the end, fighting off demons as you do so. The game is 2.5D, which may seem confusing, and it is. Essentially, there's no up - floors can't be placed on top of each other, but it gives the illusion of height. The basic idea of exploring an abstract underworld filled with two-dimensional monsters is what Sinister is entirely based on, and I'll probably add limited combat, but not on the gratuitous level of Doom.

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Pathways Into Darkness is a classic 90s dungeon crawler akin to Ultima Underworld, but slightly more obscure as it was released for the Mac and the Mac only. The story is bizarre; a gigantic god-like entity is asleep under the earth, and its dreams are causing a massive temple to manifest in the jungle. You're part of a spec ops team sent into the temple, to drop a nuke in its lowest chamber and pacify the being before it wakes up - as this would cause the end of days. It connects to the Marathon series as well, but that's not important right now. Having a game focused on exploration and combat, but also being set within a dead god's dream is very in line with my idea for Sinister. The game is also quite surreal with its enemies; from lumbering blob-men with mouths in their chests to goofy walrus-like floating creatures to reanimated skeletons, who throw bones at you.

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Penumbra was essentially a tech demo for Amnesia: The Dark Descent. It follows Philip, a physicist who enters a desolate bunker in Greenland to find his father. Inside, you must solve puzzles using the proprietary physics engine, and occasionally avoid enemies; namely, rabid dogs. There is combat in Penumbra, but it is discouraged, and there are many ways of getting around enemies. You could sneak by them, you could run, you could bait them with meat or distract them with a flare. You could throw explosives (a quick but costly kill) or use physics objects to slow their pursuit. You could even lure them into an enclosed area and trap them, or use environmental obstacles to kill them without your input. It's an interesting angle of immersion that I haven't seen much; so many immersive sims will give you all sorts of weapons and gizmos and character upgrades for dealing with enemies in unique ways, but these usually boil down to a fancy way of killing them that isn't just shooting them in the face. This idea of discouraged but viable combat is what I want to replicate.

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Prey 2006 is pretty obscure (mostly due to Prey 2017 making it impossible to search for, and it's removed from Steam) but quite interesting. You play as a Native American guy named Tommy, who gets abducted by aliens, and has to fight through their massive bio-organic ship to save his girlfriend Jen. The game uses seamless portals, one year before Portal, as well as loads of interesting tricks like non-Euclidian level geometry and alterable gravity (such as walking on walls and ceilings). It's really cool. The relevant thing for my game is that Tommy canonically dies within the first hour. After this, he's taken to a spirit world by his grandfather, where he gains spirit-walking powers and a ghost of his childhood pet, a hawk named Talon. When you die again in-game, you're taken back to the spirit world, to battle the "dishonored dead" and regain your health and spirit power. I really like games that deal with death in a canon sense - instead of restarting at a checkpoint, your character has legitimately died and returned to life. I want to explain respawning in Sinister in a similar way; you're in the afterlife, so technically, you're already dead.

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Pathologic is a game I can't say enough good things about. It's a mega-obscure Russian game, about (in simple terms) a strange town, a string of murders, and a plague. You have twelve days to explore the town, uncover its mysteries, save your Bound (a group of people who are connected by fate) and save yourself. You'll have to make tough decisions, scavenge for supplies, learn the town's esoteric customs, and all while discovering the secrets of the Sand Plague. When I was first deciding what I wanted the project to be about, Pathologic was my main inspiration for the key themes: "Exploration in an unfamiliar world". The gameplay is primarily walking about, but you will occasionally get into combat. Stakes are very high in the game, and so you are encouraged to run and hide in buildings just as much as you are encouraged to fight. This more visceral and realistic approach to combat rather than just "shoot the bad men" is another thing I want to replicate in Sinister.

#nitrosodium #indie dev #indiegamedev #indie game #indie games #indie game dev #indiedev #devlog #gamedev #Youtube

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the5n00k · 11 months

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CHOOSE VIOLENCE ASKS: 4, 6, 7, 8, 10, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 22, 23, 25

I am so sorry for so many feel free to skip as many as you want lol

DAYUM OKAY (readmore bc this is long af and I don't wanna clog timelines)

4: it takes a lot for me to block you and usually I won't do it at all in most cases but some people are in my replies on Twitter a little Too Much saying some weird ass stuff occasionally I'll just say fuck it bye bye and block em

6: the most annoying ship fans are the ones that harass other people because they ship something different/not at all case closed (this even goes for proshitters, just block them and move on, harassment is never okay)

7: this happens. Far more often than I'd like to admit. And sometimes it changes depending on who I've been talking to. And I don't necessarily hate this character but most recently it's Andrea? She's got a great arc set up and I don't mind seeing her on screen at all, she's fun but whenever some people bring her up it's just. I know they're about to say some dumb shit. Doesn't help with how weird Twitter is about the girls

🗣️📣 THAT MOLLY IS A BAD FRIEND BECAUSE SHE FELL IN PUPPY LOVE WITH A GHOST HUNTER‼️‼️‼️

HOLY SHIT WAS THAT AN EXHAUSTING WEEK AFTER I WANNA DANCE WITH SOME-OLLIE.

ALSO everyone seems to think enemies to lovers is a tried and true ship dynamic when SOMETIMES IT JUST DOESN'T WORK‼️ REALLY FUNNY COMING FROM A SCRINX FAN BUT C'MON SOME OF THEM ARE JUST PLAIN TOXIC! EVEN THE CANON ONES

10: how starved people are for emotional content that they'll write characters completely ooc to make a dramatic and dark plot. I'm sorry but there's a balance to this shit you can't just kill off a character or take every good thing away and have it be narratively satisfying. Again, rich coming from me but most of my shit has a point

13: Tord from Eddsworld. What the fuck even happened to that poor character

14: I don't read a lot of fics so I can't really answer this one but can I complain about my own fics and say "really fking cheesy emotional speech between the mcs"

15: this isn't even fandom specific but when people overuse the chromatic aberration and don't mark it as eyestrain like OW WHY I CAN'T EVEN COMPREHEND WHAT IS HAPPENING IN THE IMAGE‼️‼️‼️

16: I don't understand how people are so attracted to the dark and brooding types like. I've literally never been attracted to a character like that

They're cool??? But I don't see the appeal? Romantically at least. Give me my goofy asses and my Absolutely Deranged men pls

18: for TGAMM, they been sleeping on my mans Darryl (gonna pretend like I haven't as well)

And the episode Lock, Stock, and Peril literally one of my favorites from s1 please

22: I barely see Anyone else drawing scratch being a fucked up creature PLEASE I CAN'T KEEP SUSTAINING MYSELF LIKE THIS‼️

23: gonna be honest I was a Mollie hater and Ollie hater in general before season 2 aired (victim of leaks 💔) but one of my friends gaslit me until I started shipping it ironically to make the fandom mad and now I would die for them

25: that some episodes of TGAMM are boring because they're not plot relevant or they're too predictable. My friends in Christ you are watching the 2021-2023 equivalent of a slapstick cartoon with slide whistles and crash cymbals, the point isn't to subvert expectations all the time, it's to have a silly fun episode sometimes with comedy first and foremost please the show is literally a slice of life comedy

I think that's everything hope I answered the right ones my attention span is completely SHOT today whoops

#tgamm #(mostly)#ask me things #aired out some dirty laundry thank you Silvia

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auxiliarydetective · 2 years

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Why you should watch "Die Rosenheim-Cops"

As described in English even though the show is German because I want to reach all of my mutuals. Language shall not be a barrier. Also, I feel like I can convey this stuff better in English. If you like stuff like Midsomer Murders, this is for you. I started making this post during summer break but never got to finish it. Well, now I finally did.

The Formula

The structure of the story is mostly the same for every episode. Someone finds a body, we switch to the office where the call is taken, the inspectors are informed and at least one always arrives late. Then the forensics expert gives some basic info and interrogations start. Usually, there's a more comedic or lighthearted B-plot to the main murder plot. Sometimes, it's more relevant and focused on, sometimes it's just there to make everything feel less stiff and repetitive. Then, both plots work towards conclusion, the murder plot with lots of zigzags and twists and turns as more and more is uncovered. Each episode ends with the culprit being found and a final fun banter freezeframe.

The Characters

Aka the main reason for watching the show, all pictures are from s08e15

Korbinian Hofer

One of the core three that have been with the show from the very beginning

Has a farm that he works at on top of investigating

Bickers with his sister a lot

Sassy

The more serious one, but just because he's more experienced

Doesn't take shit from anyone

Pretty stereotypical Bavarian, think Schultz from Hogan’s Heroes but smart

Aroace vibes

Older brother of the entire homicide squad

Sven Hansen

This isn't actually from the episode but I found this picture and thought it captured his essence well

One of my favourites

Originally from Hamburg

Regularly struggles with the Bavarian dialect and culture

The good-looking gentleman bastard

Did I mention good-looking? He wears a suit 99% of the time and has an expensive taste. Sadly doesn't have a bloody suit moment yet though. He's the Sanji/Face/Hogan/Hugenay of the show

Second-oldest brother

Loves to go sailing (and apparently becomes a bit feral when competing in races)

Sir, you’re bi

Best friends with the owner of the fancy bar/restaurant in town and regular customer there. Like, can he even make breakfast for himself?

Ladies' man

Gets really, really sassy, snarky and passive-aggressive if you annoy him

Miriam Stockl

Sassy secretary

Secretly the inofficial boss of the homicide squad because if she refuses to do her job, everything comes to a stop

Absolutely LOVES gossip

In charge of the coffee machine and cookie jar. Also has tea and even hot chocolate

Sucks up juicy details and drama like a sponge and then redistributes it, usually wildly over-interpreting it

Really kind if you don’t annoy her

The Bob Andrews of the show, does 90% of the research

Big sister of the squad

Girlboss

Michael "Michi" Mohr

Golden Retriever vibes

Literally so wholesome

Always all over the vibes

Smart but also really dumb

Huge dork

Always doing his best

Gets super excited if he finds out some important info and has the inspectors basically beg for him to reveal it to him

Stockl's gossip buddy

Little brother of the group

Definitely not straight

Peter Shaw of the show, as in points listed above and the occasional "den schnapp ich mir!" Has a slightly higher success rate though

Gert Achtziger

The de-facto boss of the entire station and all its departments

Dad of the squad, as in he has to put up with their nonsense but also switches between scolding them and pretending to scold them like a metronome, tolerating or sometimes even supporting the nonsense

Serious but can also be goofy

Constantly stressing about either his boss or the music academy

Sometimes also investigates because he misses it

Friends with Hofer's sister

Marie Hofer

Korbinian's sister

Really nice, generous

Bickers with her brother

Hardworking both on the farm and in local politics

Becomes part of the city council, responsible for the music academy

Besties with Stockl

Ties to the city's high society, regularly has important information for the case

Girlboss

Patrizia Ortmann

Honestly a bit of a bitch. Or a lot.

In charge of the finances and absolutely done with everyone's nonsense

Hates Hansen but they also have a romance storyline??? I remember I shipped them the first time watching the show, but now I'm just... no??? She has to get her attitude checked first

Literally so petty, but get her on your side and whoever you're up against has already lost

Queen of Sass

Probably has the most braincells out of the cast

Has to do most of the paperwork, including Hansen's "business expenses" which... I can’t imagine how frustrating that has to be

Ingnaz "Jo" Kaspar

Owner of the local fancy restaurant/bar called Times Square

Honestly kind of pathetic

Always manages to somehow get in trouble

Involved with most big events in or around the city because he's doing the catering, providing the drinks, helping out as a waiter...

Shit goes down in Times Square. Whether it's drama or interrogations or just Jo overhearing important stuff or having the main subject sit in his restaurant, there's always something going on

Can't keep a girlfriend for more than 10 days and falls in love in a heartbeat

Knows every customer by name, the girls usually by first name

The Scenery

The whole show plays in the city of Rosenheim and its surroundings. So, if you like older buildings, mountains, lakes, you'll like the aesthetic too

There's just one issue:

The show is in German only. I haven't found a source for English subtitles yet either. BUT if you understand German, I'd definitely recommend you watch it. Additionally, if you don't and you ask me nicely, I might even be able to dig up my old hyperfixation energy and write subtitles/a translated script for one of my favourite episodes. Or one of the best-rated ones. The show is on IMDb after all, so you could browse and see which one you like. Third of all, I might also translate my fanfic to English, who knows.

Anyways, self-ad over, essay over, have a great day!

#rosenheim cops

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thankskenpenders · 3 years

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And so that’s it... nearly 200 issues deep, we’re done with the contributions of original writer Michael Gallagher. I’ve been asked in the past about the possibility of writing an article going over Gallagher’s run, like what I did with Penders. And I might still do that. But for now, here’s a shorter postmortem summarizing my feelings on the work of the original writer for history’s longest-running video game comic

I think it’s easy to look back on Gallagher’s silly old stories with a lot of nostalgia, especially after seeing what the series would become in its Dark Age. I can’t blame anyone who feels this way. I feel that way sometimes, too. It was a simpler time, with short, self-contained stories and a ton of puns, and it was a lot more easily digestible than a lot of the teen melodrama and half-baked sci-fi that followed. But the thing is... that doesn’t mean that Gallagher’s writing was good

Gallagher was always an odd fit for Sonic. I can’t really blame the man for introducing lame concepts like Cal and Al that didn’t fit in with Sonic early on because it’s not like he had much to work with in the early days. The guy was expected to write a monthly comic series based on a couple 16-bit platformers with very little story and some snippets from a cartoon that wasn’t out yet. He also had no way of knowing that his work here would lay the foundation for the longest video game comic ever made. I don’t envy his job. Of course he’d do a goofball story where Sonic travels back to caveman times. It’s not like he had much else to do

But as the series progressed and the cartoons and games gave the comic writers more material to work with, Gallagher didn’t really play along. He gave us a few solid, fun stories like Mecha Madness, but for the most part he was off in his own world, trying to sell us on shoehorned characters like the Forty Fathom Freedom Fighters or the Downunda Freedom Fighters who existed almost exclusively to deliver new flavors of lame pun. One time he even worked with Jim Valentino to make a naval-gazing parody of classic Guardians of the Galaxy so they could make lame puns about a comic they used to write (that very few children in 2001 reading Archie Sonic would be familiar with)

People generally pinpoint Penders as the guy who became obsessed with his own pet characters over the main cast as time went on, but really, Gallagher was just as guilty. And honestly, sometimes Gallagher doing it bugged me more. At least Penders had some prominent characters people actually liked, like Elias, Lara-Su, and Julie-Su, as well as some semblance of an overarching plot to work with. Meanwhile Gallagher was over here trying desperately to get people to care about a group of characters he had created exclusively as a vehicle for trite Australia jokes

Gallagher did introduce a few characters who stuck around, but he doesn’t really deserve much of the credit for that. Most notable would probably be Fiona Fox, who would become a major recurring character under later writers... except Gallagher only really invented her robotic doppelganger that Robotnik tricked Tails into falling in love with that one time. He created Knuckles’ grandfather Athair, the one comic character to somehow make it into a cartoon, but Penders helped out with that lore and did more with the character, meaning most people just assume he’s another Penders echidna. He created Tails’ parents, but Karl and Ian were the ones who actually did stuff with them. And he created the Ancient Walkers, who were kind of neat at first but quickly devolved into a tired plot device, only to be killed off by Ian almost immediately to cut down on the deus ex machinas. If you look at the list of characters Gallagher created, it’s mostly just randos he created for the sake of puns

And that’s really what most of it comes down to. Lame puns. I’m totally down for Sonic stories that go for a silly tone. I love Sonic Boom as much as the next fan, and I’ve been having a blast with the extremely goofy Sonic X comics. I’m not a cartoon snob who won’t watch a show that doesn’t have action and drama and lore, I’m out here watching shows like Apple & Onion. But while Gallagher could write good jokes sometimes, he mostly relied on groanworthy newspaper strip-level puns. (I guess it’s fitting, considering he’s related to both the guy who created Heathcliff AND his successor who makes those comics about the Garbage Ape.) I love me a good pun from time to time, and a lot of Gallagher’s are funnier when shared out of context, but when a story is just wall to wall puns it becomes agonizing. Puns should be a spice, not a main ingredient. And when Gallagher got a chance to follow an ACTUAL newspaper comic strip format in the Off Panel, he fared even worse. It was so rare for the Off Panels he wrote to actually be any funny

He WAS genuinely funny at times, though. I’ll give him credit for that. I don’t want it to seem like I hated ALL of his stories. (He did impress me with at least one political joke that’s sadly still relevant today, and in hindsight there’s something really funny on a meta level about the dark and gritty return of Cal and Al.) I think his best work came when he was paired with better artists. Scott Shaw’s more energetic Sonics really helped sell the cartoony comedy in the original miniseries, and obviously Spaziante’s work on Mecha Madness made that story legendary. When he was stuck with the less exciting Manak or Mawhinney, though, not so much

Beyond the puns, there was also this undercurrent of nastiness, meanness, and general grossness in his stories that I don’t see as many fans pick up on. This was mainly evident in the many odd decisions he made with the female cast

We had his take on Sally, who was treated as little more than Sonic’s annoying, moody, bossy girlfriend who bickered with him, sat on a big throne, and occasionally got to be a damsel in distress. He added Bunnie to the cast early on, but it felt like he didn’t have many ideas for what to do with her except make her the butt of jokes about her being a southern belle, including literally making her say “the South shall rise again!” We had Barby Koala’s extremely creepy flirting with Tails, who was half her age. We had that tone deaf Off-Panel joke about turning the special dedicated to the female readers into a swimsuit special (which isn’t far off from what everyone else actually did). And we also had that baffling story where Dulcy killed her mother. I have NO idea what the fuck he thought he was going for with that one.

It wasn’t just the girls, though--Antoine was somehow even more of a punching bag in Gallagher’s early stories than he was on SatAM. At least in the cartoon Sonic was responding to Antoine’s’ massive ego when he poked fun at him. In the early comics, Sonic would constantly rag on Antoine at any opportunity he got. It was VERY distracting in the early issues, and it made his Sonic come off as way more of a jerk

Later writers would often talk about needing to fix certain characters. Penders, for all his countless insufferable faults, used his early stories to steer Sally towards the version of the character fans knew from SatAM. (He then ruined Sally in his own special way, but, you know.) Just about every writer who touched him spent years and years trying to fix Antoine and make readers stop hating him. The unspoken part here is that the original incarnations of these characters that everyone had to work so hard to fix... were Gallagher’s

Again, Gallagher didn’t have an easy job as the first writer on this series, and most of his stories were... fine. Nothing I’d recommend to non-fans, but they had their moments. They make for an amusing read for their sheer absurdity. But a lot of it ranged from not very good to outright bad. We’ll always cut him some slack for having so little to work off of when he started and for writing stories that were, in hindsight, better (or at least less grating) than a lot of the melodramatic schlock that came later. I’ll always have some nostalgia for those simpler times. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that Gallagher’s stuff was ever all that good

But I can’t hate the guy too much, because he gave me the greatest Sonic character of all time

#StH 185 #tkp post

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scolopendress-tag · 3 years

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Have some Asra n Muriel disorganized headcanons: animal themed!

Asra's most likely to answer quetzal if you ask for his favourite bird (he had a close up encounter with one his first time in nopal and had never seen a bird like it so it's a special memory), but he also appreciates all others. He also loves dart frogs and his favorite reptile would of course be perfect lavender angel baby fictional fantasy pythons. I'd also see him loving dragonflies as well.

He will see literally any animal generally and always say "they're one of my favourites!", though. It doesn't matter how many times he's said it that day or how many animals he's said it about. It's almost without fail he'll point one out and say it's a favourite.

One of his favorite animals is always the one in front of him Right Now, as a quick reference.

Plus, he loves to point animals out on travels or when out and about Vesuvia, so get used to hearing it!

He may attempt to catch critters occasionally too, or just pick them up, these will be mostly bugs usually. He just likes to cup moths in his hand on occasion and the watch them flutter out and I think he should be allowed to! Or just cradle bugs in his palm and watch them walk around for a bit. If it's a reptile or amphibian somewhere it could get stepped on or dried out or eaten he will still scoop them up and carry them to the brush.

[Cont. after cut]

Nothing he ever handles seems to get too upset or stressed, even when it's an animal that otherwise would. They just seem to be more relaxed if it's Asra who's touching them. Sometimes reptiles just come up to him (or even crawl onto his hand, as a few lizards have,) curiously enough. Though they may still refuse to be touched even then, they're notably not bothered by his presence when for others they'd run away. It's not something Asra's ever noticed to be odd, nor would it be overly noticeable to most people, but it's definitely something you can recognize if you pay attention.

Asra would also love to run on the beach sometimes, namely as a kid, maybe making himself invisible or otherwise undetectable until he's right up on a big flock of seagulls before giving them a hearty boo! And watching them all fly away all giggly. As an adult he may still stir up flocks for fun sometimes, or just to see how pretty it is to watch them all fly at once.

In general he just loves watching birds or bugs or whatever be it fly, always so effortlessly. Maybe he wishes he could fly himself. It certainly would make things easier he would come to think time to time growing up in Vesuvia.

Plus, he likes to collect the feathers that flutter down. Back when he sold masks, they were something he incorporated into them often. Then, too, he would also sit by the river after wearing himself out practicing hydromancy or what not, and a few times dragonflies would perch on him. He'd always gasp n grin all big and goofy when they did.

Muriel doesn't pick favorites really when it comes to animals (barring wolves and bears), but he does mirror Asra's 'one of my favourites' statements by saying "they're one of Asra's favorites," Occasionally.

While Asra's animal encounters or observations are typically brief, Muriel is more than content to just watch animals long periods of time. He can spot or at least know where to find some seriously elusive ones. The only one such animal Asra seems to have luck like that with seems to be foxes.

If you want to see an animal, local to the area around Vesuvia namely, Muriel can probably help you with that, granted he trusts you. This includes dens, hives, and nesting sites of course, things he will stop by occasionally in his forest to check on. His luck/skill in finding these things can't seem to be mimicked by even the most skilled animal trackers, you'd think they were practically just showing themselves to only him.

Muriel is also content to let animals do their thing and not interact with them much. Birds, butterflies and similar may land on him occasionally and he's always enchanted by it though, and will make no move to prevent an animal being on or touching him. Similar to Asra, he will also remove any animals in bad spots and put them somewhere better. He's a bit more effective at this though, as he tends to be looking down anyways, while Asra has probably smooshed a few pillbugs and snails before while doing his own thing- eyes elsewhere.

If Muriel did ever nerf a bug accidentally he would probably feel pretty damn bad, and if it wasn't reduced to a mere smear he would return its poor bug corpse to nature so that it might reclaim it. He'd get over it quick though if he was in a good mood prior, just give him a moment. If he was upset over something else already and he killed one, I could see it even pushing him to tears or rather making it worse if he was already at that point.

Asra would probably be like 'awh.... :( oof, I'm sorry lil guy...' and sweep it into nature if he could, but otherwise he would not be impacted too much.

Asra would purposely kill bugs on a few occasions even, pest bugs namely - like flies or mosquitoes or, of course, plague beetles. He may even instinctively lash out and flatten a bug that simply resembles a plague beetle enough, particularly if something had his anxiety or panic (ptsd trigger from the plague??) going. Otherwise plague beetle resembling beetles he'd be a little unsettled by, or uncomfortable to be around, but not enough to necessarily kill. He'd either move it somewhere else, try to scare it off, or move away from it. Muriel doesn't have many hang ups on plague beetle resembling bugs, though he would probably kill the real deal readily.

Any dead animals not in a wild area (like left in the city or on a road,) Muriel would move as long as it wasn't yknow. Too nasty. Birds that hit windows, starved or sickly scavengers, anything that dropped in a heatwave or was claimed by a flood, things like that, recent deaths. It pains him to see at all, but pains him more to leave them just.... There. Some he may bury, others he may leave out in places where there's animals he know will take it for food.

Injured or sick animals Muriel would try to help best he could, and he's successfully done it a few times. If it's blistering hot he'd also likely leave water out here and there for the animals of the forest, and he may enlist Asra's help with this to replenish water in natural water basins as well in droughts.

Muriel can handle animal death okay, hunting and fishing is a thing he does to some degree, it's just the preventable or senseless ones that hurt, it's worth saying here. It's just sad. He'll be okay after though, unless there's something more nefarious and upsetting at play.

Asra helping unwell/hurt animals would mostly consist of magic healing, but beyond that he wouldn't know what to really do besides bring it to Muriel or any animal experts near him. He doesn't come across these situations too often thankfully, though. Domestic animals he would take in more readily, and would let crash at the shop for a while if he can. If it's a livestock animal he'll ask if Muriel wants to take it in, or even in the case of an ownerless pet animal. If not, he can ask around. See if anyone wants a new dog or cat or... Goat. I just imagine those are the kinds of animals he's most likely to find in need, being in the center of Vesuvia.

Moving on from that....

Animal knowledge!

Asra likely doesn't know a ton about animals outside of ones that feature prominently in magic and myth, he's just good at identifying them and overall tends to appreciate their presence. Identifying animals can make for good pass times on long travels, or if he just sees something particularly neat he may simply want to know what to call it. He also probably learned most the common local Vesuvian species names growing up, probably through reading, though the bulk of his knowledge of the nature he grew up around is probably botanical- foraging can be dangerous! Plus, magic knowledge probably leans more heavily on plants than animals as well.

If Asra can't identify an animal, though, he will simply make up a name for it on the spot. If he finds out it's ID later he will still refer to it as his made up name followed by AKA/sometimes called/locally known as [real name]. He also tends to refer to tons of animals as the infamous, famous, legendary, revered, etc. Regardless of relevance, commonality or obscurity. He just thinks they all deserve such titles, and when has a little flair ever hurt?

"Ah, MC, look! It's an Abramesmerwhymsical Zadithi midnight-billed stilt-wader! Though it's sometimes also known as the famous crab-plover," Kinda shit. He enjoys it.

Muriel doesn't actually know the actual names of a ton of animals species. He knows of a few though, not to mention the Asra-given names that stuck with him. Despite not knowing their names sometimes still, he can tell most all species apart readily, and juveniles from adults, males from females, things like that. He watches animals of the forest regularly and is in tune with the local species life cycles, breeding or rearing seasons, migratory patterns, unique behaviors and everything else. Though his knowledge is probably limited to Vesuvian species, he's able to quickly pick up on other animal's traits and such when outside of Vesuvian territory, and is generally good with animals as is.

He knows what doves/pigeons and owls and vipers and mice and geckos etc are. He may not know that a specific species of such is called like, namaqua doves, omani owls, ocellated mountain vipers, cario spiny mouse, kotschy's middle-toed geckos n shit. It's not like he has NO idea, species names are weird and can be long winded so....

...He just doesn't know that dunnocks aren't actually called stripple-caped tseepers.

But he doesn't need to. <3

If he does learn the real names for them though, he is quite glad and will use the name readily. If you're looking at a Muriel who's in the city more, he will probably read up on this information himself, but otherwise he would of course treasure it if MC told him.

The only reasons he doesn't even know the names to begin with is mostly because the names you'll hear out and about most commonly only cover a fraction of species to start, and everything else youre mostly going to have to study via reading or classes. Neither of those seem to be things a young homeless Muriel would care to pursue lmao.

Annnnd

I forgot what else I was going to add and lost track so, I'll maybe add more later. I'll probably also amend this as I may find I don't agree with my own statements the next day and also I don't proofread so. I hope u enjoyed these feel free to add on or add differing opinions!

#asra #muriel #the arcana game #the arcana #tw animal death

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infriga · 2 years

Note

22, 15, and 4 for the meta writer asks? ~ @authortango

I put this in my drafts because I was planning on pulling up the meta ask post on my phone to help me answer, and then my adhd ass totally forgot to actually answer OTL sorry for the delay lol

(meta asks for writers post)

4: Share a sentence or paragraph from your writing that you’re really proud of (explain why if you like)

“I’m a fraud.” He’d said, on his hands and knees. “I’m a monster.” Something inside him had torn its way out, and he’d tried to hold himself together, but he couldn’t anymore. He was a dying star, a supernova, destroying everything around it in a flash of heat and terror before collapsing in on itself and ceasing to exist.

(From Aid to Navigation)

I like this one because it’s a nice multilayered metaphor for Steven’s conflict in that scene and Future in general (I’m a sucker for metaphors lol) that came out really nice and feels like it puts across the exact sort of feeling I was trying to convey.

15: Which is harder: titles or summaries (or tags)?

Usually titles, cause I’m kinda picky about my titles. Sometimes they come easier, but in general they’re the hardest. Summaries I don’t have too much trouble with since I usually go for something that I think would entice me to look into a fic with the premise I’m using. I also might use a relevant snippet of my writing so people know what it looks like and to give a small glimpse of what’s going on and what the tone is. The only trouble I have with tags is trying to keep the number of them reasonable while still being informative so they aren’t overshadowing the summary.

22: Do you reread your old works? How do you feel about them?

All the time lol, though there are some I might not read as much because I don’t feel they aged as well as I’d like and I am only human. I’m obviously more partial to my newer work, but I’m still quite fond of some of my older stuff, and I feel like plenty are still good and/or at least fun to read, even when they’re dated, or have lots of mistakes. I remember a very short story I wrote based on a prompt in a Gaia Online writing contest forum from 16 years ago that I still occasionally look back on fondly for no other reason than because I find it cute and funny. And it won me the contest so bonus! The prompt was just something simple based on a character named Chairman, who was “a member of the elite Chairforce, which fought the evils of the world from the chairs all over the world”. Here’s the snippet for anyone who’s curious :

"Oh no!" cried Chairman "the world is being over run by evil monkeys!"

"Nonscense" chided his wife "why would evil monkeys want to rule the world?" she continued her knitting, oblivious to the howler monkey tapping on their window.

"Haven't you ever seen "planet of the apes?"" Chairman asked her angrily.

"Yes of course dear, but those were apes, not monkeys"

"I see no difference!!"

"Of course not dear"

Chairman wheeled himself over to the closet and pulled out a 50 caliber assault riffle. He loaded it and headed towards the door.

It was time to shoot some monkeys.

I didn’t mention anything about the Chairforce, and I never actually clarified that Chairman is supposed to be in a wheelchair, but I give myself bonus points for at least hinting at it, since it was a creative and inclusive take on the chair theme (for a 2006 Gaia online writing contest at least lol). I also still really like the goofy tone of it. Somehow the mistakes, like misspelling rifle as “riffle”, only add to its charm for me lmao.

I used to be really embarrassed by my old writing, and sometimes I still can be, but the older my old stuff gets the more I appreciate it for what it is, cause sometimes I surprise myself with how much better I did than I remember, even if it’s not as good as I am now. And I like seeing how my work changes and evolves over time, it’s a nice showcase of how I’ve improved over the years. Something that stuck with me was when I deleted a fic once, because it was old and I thought it was cringy, plus it hadn’t gotten much attention anyway. But not long after I deleted it someone actually messaged me asking where it went. It was just a random oneshot, but someone still liked it enough to notice that it was gone, and they even brought it up to me directly and told me that they’d enjoyed it and wanted to read it again. Because of that I’d planned on editing it a bit and then posting it again instead of removing it permanently, but tragically I ended up losing the original document before I could. Now it’s gone forever, and I really regret deleting it in the first place because I’d still rather have the original version than nothing, for that one person who wanted to re-read it if nothing else. I’ve never deleted any of my old works completely off the internet since then, just kept the oldest ones mainly on FFN cause I like having the older stuff just on the older account where they originated, like a digital museum (though I have backups and if needed will probably archive them on a separate AO3 account/pseudonym if FFN ever goes under).

#writing #ask meme #ask tag #sorry this took like 3 days to reply to lol #maybe someday I'll find that lost fic and be able to post it #but it's been years so I don't have my hopes up #that was a lesson learned the hard way

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ravenadottir · 3 years

Text

non fluffy alphabet: tai

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

extremely caring. he has this habit of holding you close, kissing your forehead as he lies behind you, taking the role of the big spoon. hearing your breathing as you slowly fall asleep, or the way you mumble your answers when he asks you something, are the things that breaks this man into a big grin.

he always has water on his nightstand and he will force you to have a big gulp. ��you lost a lot of water there, beautiful.”

his arm goes under your head so he can snuggle closer, covering your back entirely with his own. he also loves nuzzling in the back of your neck, catching the scent of your hair before falling asleep.

B = Body Part (His favorite body part of their partners)

everything that relates to the bottom half of your body.

ass and thighs have a different impact on this man when the imagery is you moving in a way that displays them properly. the waving of your hips, the top of your thighs’ muscles contracting as you grind on his lap.

he adores running his fingers on your skin, or leaving a trail of kisses. an occasional slap is always part of it. digging his fingers on the crease of your hip bones.

he can’t take his hands off your body and that, to him, signifies closeness during sex.

C = Cum (Anything to do with cum)

tai loves the intensity of the moment and how to make it even more heated.

he mostly prefers to cum inside of you. to him, it’s much more raw and real for when it happens. and he knows you love the look of his legs trembling when he lets go and do it.

D = Dirty Secret

none.

he is openly bisexual. “out and proud” as he once said, and he likes talking about sex, preferences, past experiences. he won’t hide anything from you, it’s part of his personality to be open and sincere.

and he appreciates if you’re open to him as well. he likes knowing everything about you, and that wouldn’t change when it comes to intimacy.

E = Experience (How experienced are they?)

relatively experienced.

he’s had serious relationships, but also one-night stands. to him, numbers aren’t relevant. not on his end nor on yours. i wouldn’t guess hundreds, but definitely dozens.

he doesn’t take too much time to decide if he wants to spend the night with someone, caring about pleasantries or “rules”.

if he has a feeling it’s going to be fun, he goes for it.

F = Favourite Position

you on all fours, on the bed.

the way your body moves while he thrusts behind you makes his mind travel. everything about the outlines of your back and hips, when you rear up and gyrate against him messes with him.

your ass, your legs spread, the possibilities are endless.

he also likes bending over to kiss your shoulder blades, to bite the back of your neck, to pull your hair and whisper in your ear how much he adores you just like that. he will call you beautiful at all times.

tai has a firm grip on your waist and if you take the lead and move against him, he melts. to him nothing beats the motions you make while in that position. nothing is sexier and he has to control himself to not cum so fast.

G = Goofy (Are they more serious in bed? Or are the humorous?)

tai can be both. his natural self is usually playful, chuckling when you black out from an orgasm, sharing smiles as you move together.

he can also be intense if the occasion asks for it. but that’s not his default.

he would rather have fun and sexiness over intense stares and muted moans.

H = Hair (Are they groomed down there? Does the carpet match the drapes?)

trimmed, very taken care of.

he does his best to keep it tight and pretty. the guy feels more comfortable with less hair and knows how sometimes can be unpleasant to some people.

the sensation of having a ‘haircut’ is satisfying to him.

I = Intimacy (How are they during the moment, are they romantic?)

sex to tai is something he shares with someone he feels comfortable with. in one way or other, he has to have that level of connection before it can happen. when he’s in love, he’s extremely caring, passionate and romantic.

he wants that moment to speak for itself, and whatever he can do to make it special, he will. he doesn’t care much for ambiance, but about what you do together before, during and after.

J = Jack Off

if you’re away, he loves phone sex.

to picture you touching yourself as you moan his name softly is one of his favorite things in the world. not to mention how your voice messes with his head and senses.

to him, it’s the sexiest sound in the world, and that’s when you’re speaking normally. he might even have seconds while talking to you.

as for jacking off by himself, i believe tai likes compilations of girls and boys having real orgasms. the whole trembling, rinding, grinding shebang. he doesn’t last very long when he has those on.

K = Kink

hair pulling, for the both of you. he needs his hair pulled as much as he needs to pull yours (if possible, of course).

he also likes slapping and biting. if it’s your ass, even better.

from time to time the control stays in your hand, but he does appreciate torturing you with lingering nibbles and slaps while you ride him, or he rides you, so to speak.

L = Location (Favourite places to do the do)

you already made his dream of the waterfall come true. i think if tai could choose, a balcony with the view of the beach would be the perfect spot for him. the waves crashing on the shore, the salty wind refreshing you both while you’re biting your lip from screaming each other’s names, the rails you’ll grip on while he’s behind you.

everything about the beach view excites him.

at home, the couch. he likes placing your knees on the edge of the seat while he grabs your shoulder, rolling his hips, grunting your name.

M = Motivation (What turns him on? What gets him going?)

you and your smile, the way you tease and goof around with each other.

to tai, sex starts before foreplay and kissing. the way you understand each other and how he can be himself with you is his major turn on.

but he’s also the type of guy that has “boner on command”. if you walk around in shorts, or just your underwear, he can’t take his eyes off you. he follows your every move and if you bend over to pick something, he’s ready to go.

N = No (Something they wouldn’t do.)

the one thing i’m certain about this is that tai is open to try anything once. there’s not a lot he would put a limit to, and he’s open to most things.

he’ll try, but if doesn’t like it, don’t expect him to sugarcoat it. he’ll be blunt and honest about it, and he appreciates when you do the same.

O = Oral (Do they like to give or receive? Are they skilled?)

tai skills while going down on you is to almost die for. what contributes to him being so good at it is that he knows communication is key. he can’t guess what you like, so he lets you set the pace, the location, the speed, intensity.

it relies on you to tell him what to do. everyone is different and the sooner you have this experiment, the better.

on girl, he loves swiping his tongue, feeling the back of your legs on his shoulder. when you moan a little louder you can see his smile reaching his eyes. his fingers might tease their way in while your hips roll against his mouth.

on boys, he swirls his tongue on the tip while in his mouth.

he works it nonstop, and won’t cease his work until you cum. that’s the one thing you can expect from him. oral is not a way of foreplay, it’s as important as the act itself.

P = Pace (Are they fast and rough? Slow and sensual?)

his default is rough and slow.

the speed increases as time goes by, but the intensity of his kisses, the way he touches your body, his bites and slaps stays the same.

he’s the kind of guy that likes to hold your gaze while inside of you. that only shows him how he’s at the right place, at the right time, with the right person.

Q = Quickie

volunteer of the year!

before leaving to work, in the morning. before parties in friends’ houses. during those parties on a hidden cupboard somewhere in the house. in the car on an empty parking lot after doing some shopping.

you name it. tai won’t back out from a quickie, and it often happens by him pinning you on a wall.

R = Risk (Do they take risks? Are they willing to experiment?)

absolutely. he’s open to new things. when it comes to intimacy, he’s willing to experiment.

“how do you know you don’t like it if you never tried it before?”

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

he can last long or not, depending on what you need since he’s pretty selfless when it comes to it. if it’s his choice, definitely taking his time is the way to go.

he enjoys watching your body tremble, and he goes for the 4+ goal every time. you’re there to have a good time and to enjoy each other’s company.

besides, tai’s default is to last longer than usual. with him on your bed every session is a rollercoaster. he’s changing positions after every orgasm, flipping, turning, rolling. it’s wild and fun, all the time!

T = Toy (Do they own toys?)

that’s where his cruel self might make an appearance. one of his favorite things is to watch you writhe with whatever he’s doing.

he knows the intensity and speed you like on your toys, and has zero shame in whipping one from the drawer. he might hold your legs on each side of his hips and hold a magic wand on you until you ask for mercy.

the thought of dominating you in that way is something that makes him go crazy.

he combines toys with his mouth or fingers, or even when he’s inside you, he can use a suction vibrator on you. there’s no stormy insecurity with him when it comes to accessories.

U = Unfair (How much do they like to tease?)

such a fucking tease!

he will touch your skin with his mouth, from your ankle to your waist and make sure he skips the most important part, and while at it, a stupid grin will stay on his lips.

he loves hearing you pleading and huffing when he doesn’t give you what he wants, licking his way up your legs just to go straight to your breasts or lips, to plant another kiss.

he also likes swiping the tip on your wet skin. almost masturbating you with it, long enough to have you throwing him on the bed and sitting astride him.

and even then, he might hold you, physically, stopping you from getting what you want.

V = Volume

vocal and loud.

he says what he wants, he gives your orders, tells you to grind, to ride, or simply how much he loves having you like that.

doesn’t hold back his moans, and they happen usually when you’re on a slow pace. but when he’s about to cum, or is having a hard time to hold back, he can’t help grunting your name, repeatedly. this is how he communicates.

tai also hisses and speaks through his teeth. not in an aggressive way, more in a pleading manner, trying to hold back as longer as he can.

W = Wild Card

if not in a serious relationship, open to it. he might even be the one bringing it up. boy or girl, he doesn’t care. the important thing is that he likes the person he’s about to share you with.

but if he’s committed to someone, i can’t say it would happen. he would be taken aback if his partner suggested it, even a bit insecure. there’s definitely some limitations about sharing the person he loves with someone else, even if he gets to be with the third person as well.

X = X-ray (What’s going on down there?)

so much girth. length. our boy is P-A-C-K-I-N-G and he knows it. he displays big dick energy and it’s not for nothing.

it might even hurt your shoulder if you stroke him for too long.

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

my god, he’s driven!

he craves your touch at all times. it’s the way he knows he’s found the person he’s supposed to be with. and there are many ways to show someone how in love you are with them, but the most practical to him is sharing the bed. or the couch. or the wall.

Z = Zzz (How quickly did they fall asleep?)

he falls fast after so much exercising.

tai goes hard when in bed, so the effect it brings is just as intense. he wants to make sure you’re ok, taken care of and hydrated. once those bases are covered, it’s snoring time for tai.

#litg tai #litg #love island the game #litg s3 #litg season 3 #fusebox #fusebox games #queue #alphabet

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thevioletjones · 3 years

Note

31, because I can’t see it fitting Ian/Mickey easily and know you’re a good enough writer to prove me wrong ☺️

Thanks! I tried. 🙂

Prompt 6: “I can’t keep kissing strangers and pretending that they’re you.”

Ian’s Box of Crap

Being currently unemployed, Mickey didn’t have much of a leg to stand on when attempting to deflect Ian’s demands that he get chores and household tasks done while his husband was out earning an honest paycheck. He wasn’t even allowed to shake people down anymore, let alone pull robberies, or get back into the drug trade. Ian had made it clear that divorce wasn't off the table if Mickey deliberately did something stupid that got him thrown back in prison for a long stretch.

He didn’t much like being told what to do, but what he liked even less was not having Ian in his life. He’d had to go too many years without him in the past, and nothing good ever came during those times. Unfortunately, Ian Gallagher was it for Mickey Milkovich. That meant that he actually had to stay in line and put in the work if he didn’t want to lose him again. Ian wasn’t as soft as he used to be. Never really had been at his core, but the maturity of age had cemented his backbone rather rigidly, and Mickey was actually loathe to piss him off too badly these days.

So he did the bullshit grunt work requested of him, just to keep the peace. He was tired of fighting every day of his life, and what was the point of marrying Ian if they weren’t going to try and make each other happy?

In the past couple weeks, Mickey had done everything from laundry and dishes, to vacuuming and mopping. He’d patched up a couple of big holes in the wall that Frank had made, and fixed the loose parts of the wooden outdoor steps and banisters, both front and back. He’d even gone so far as to babysit the tiny, helpless Gallagher spawn a few times, which had been interesting and somewhat terrifying. Then Ian had given him this look when he caught the scene one afternoon, eyes shining, smile beaming. It reminded him of that brief time they’d helped take care of Yevgeny, which made Mickey’s head spin. He didn’t need Gallagher getting the whole ‘having kids’ thing back in his head right now. Mickey was in no way ready for all that. Hadn’t been the first time, and they’d all seen how that turned out.

Today, he was supposed to clean out the attic. He told Ian that asking someone outside the family to do it sounded like a bad idea. How was he supposed to know what shit the Gallaghers wanted to keep, and what they wanted to get rid of? What if he made a mistake? If anyone had asked him what to keep from the hoarded piles of shit in the Milkovich house, he would’ve laughed in their face, then set everything on fire. Mickey wasn’t the sentimental type. So did Ian want him to just toss everything?

Ian had rolled his eyes, clarified that Mickey was a Gallagher now, and given him a run-down. Anything that had obviously been made or cherished by a Gallagher kid, any family photos and albums, or small boxes of keepsakes, those stayed. Anything that wasn’t being used by anyone, but could be of use and handed down to the youngest or recently shacked up of them, set them aside to be put in rotation. Anything that worked, but they already had one of or didn’t need, donation box (because apparently they actually sometimes donated shit to the local shelter). And anything that looked completely unnecessary for anyone, throw it in a Best Choice trash bag, but don't take them to the curb yet. Ian would go over everything when he got home to make sure it was sorted correctly.

“So you’re gettin' me to do all this boring-ass grunt work, then you’re gonna have to go through it anyway? What the fuck, man?” he’d asked.

“It'll make the whole thing way easier on me, so can you just shut the fuck up and do me the favor? I’ll blow you later for your trouble.”

“Like you wouldn’t be doin’ that anyway.”

Ian had shrugged. “If you don’t, I won’t.”

“Threatening to withhold sex? That’s a bitch move if I ever heard one.”

“Whatever, deadbeat. You want me to support you, gotta help out when I ask. A blowjob would just be a bonus, because I’m generous of spirit.”

“I’m not gonna forget this hardcore manipulation, Firecrotch. I’ll get my revenge eventually.”

Ian merely kissed him on the nose. “Sounds like a plan. See ya.”

And he was out the door.

“Asshole,” Mickey’d muttered under his breath.

And now, a few hours later, here he was; sitting on the dusty, hard planks of the weird-smelling Gallagher attic, sorting through the memories and forgotten things of the family he’d married into less than six months ago. He’d dawdled as long as he could on the couch, eating junk food and watching his favorite daytime game shows, judge shows, and salacious ‘who’s the baby daddy?’ shows. The only hint of fun left in the remainder of his day was in the bong and the beer he’d brought with him up the rickety ladder. After every box sorted, he’d take a rip or two and chase the smoke with a long swig of cheap alcohol.

The most interesting things he’d found so far were some old pictures of Ian when he was little, his hair a curly mess, and his pale skin covered in dark freckles. His smile was too big for his face, and he looked goofy as all hell. Nothing like the hot hunk of man he was today. It was the Ian Mickey remembered from Little League a million years ago. And maybe he’d set one of the photos aside to keep for himself and taken some pics of others with his phone, so what?

Mostly he’d had to sift through little Debbie’s ridiculous girly shit, and Frank’s completely random assortment of insignificant trinkets with a side of what looked like bondage gear. He’d since moved on to a group of boxes obviously labeled by Carl when he was younger. He recognized the scrawl, occasional backwards lettering, and lack of possessive apostrophes. The words were short enough not to be atrociously misspelled, and consisted of a Gallagher first name in plural, followed by: ‘box of crap.’

Everybody had one, including Fiona, who hadn’t taken it with her when she’d left Chicago, and the kids she’d raised as her own, behind. The most scandalous item in there was a dildo of decent size that Mickey definitely would’ve packed in his suitcase if he’d been the one moving away as a single chick. The thought crossed his mind to pilfer it for his own collection, but he figured that Ian would be weirded out by the association. Sex toys were probably the only thing Gallaghers never shared between them.

Carl had a box of his own, semi-well-hidden compared to the others, and Mickey discovered why when he’d managed to get the copious amount of packing tape off. It was full of straight porn mags with big-tittied women and shaved pussies, underneath an array of dangerous weapons the family had forbidden him to have when he was underaged. He found everything from nunchucks, to throwing stars, to switchblades, to brass knuckles. No guns or attempted homemade bombs, thank fuck. He chucked the porn in the trash pile, cuz nobody needed to see that shit, and set the switchblade aside for himself, deciding to give the rest to Ian to sort out.

He saved Ian’s box for last, opening it up to find a grab bag of old army decorations, tattered paperbacks, comics, a bunch of loose paper covered in scribbles, and a stack of notebooks.

Mickey didn’t realize Ian was such a huge nerd that he’d kept his high school notebooks, but giving a quick flip through the first two revealed they weren’t school-related at all. He remembered Ian going through a phase when he was always writing shit down, ranting about having great ideas he needed to save for posterity. Before he went to the hospital. A manic phase. Probably one of many he’d cycled through, yet Mickey had missed some of those extremes.

Everything had been so chaotic then. He’d pushed Ian away, then gotten the same treatment in return. Their typical messiness pervaded everything back then. And now, he had in his hands Ian’s unfiltered thoughts about what happened back then.

“Fuck,” he said to himself, setting the notebooks down and going for the beer/weed combo again.

There were exactly two ways to go about this: he could put the notebooks back into the Ian box and not invade his privacy, or he could skim through them and hone in on the interesting relevant bits and maybe get a few long-pondered answers. On the one hand, Ian would probably get pissed if Mickey read them. On the other hand, Ian never had to know about it, did he?

It really wasn’t much of a choice… he’d always been curious as to what the hell was going through Ian’s head back in the day. They’d never exactly been great at talking things out, and he didn’t have it in him to try and make Ian relive some of the lowest moments of his life just to give Mickey some peace of mind. Plus, they were always facing some new bullshit obstacle head-on, so the past always just kind of got lost in the shuffle of their present difficulties.

Mickey took a deep breath and opened one of the notebooks again. The pages weren’t dated, and a lot of it didn’t make much sense. There were many lists with lines crossed out, but they didn’t describe things ‘to do,’ more like an endless inventory of concepts and feelings. The thought patterns were totally abstract, and Mickey couldn’t really make heads or tails of them. It hit him sharply in the chest when he realized that when Ian had been out of it, he’d really and truly been fucking out of it. These seemed like the crazed rantings of an unmedicated schizophrenic babbling on public transportation. It pained Mickey to the core, and it scared the shit out of him too.

He flipped through it fairly quickly, then opened the next one. It seemed to be calmer, more legible, and less unintelligible. It was more like a diary with bad poetry sprinkled in, and it only took a few pages for Mickey’s own name to jump out at him among the wall of words. It must have been written during Ian’s lost months, after going AWOL from the Army when he was 17.

He described running away from Chicago, scamming his early enlistment, crashing and burning his way out of bootcamp, shaking and selling his ass as a club boy, snorting, smoking, and swallowing all manner of substances, and crashing anywhere from penthouses to flophouses with sexual favors sprinkled in liberally. It was like the chronicle of a person going mad and coping in all the wrong ways. It surprised Mickey how emotional it made him to read these things in vivid detail. He’d completely forgotten how worried he used to be about Ian. When he was gone, when he went missing again, and when he started doing irrational things that could’ve ended so much worse than they did.

Ian was the one that had to live out all the drama and trauma of his disorder, but Mickey was the one caught on the sidelines, not having a single clue what to do or how to fix it. He’d never felt so useless or helpless in his entire life, even through all the bullshit he’d suffered growing up with Terry as a father. Maybe it was because of his age, or how Ian made him feel a certain way he’d never felt before. He just remembered hating it, and being so fucking sad.

These pages reminded him that through the mania, Ian was a bottomless well of sadness himself.

It was tough text to get through, and more than once, he felt like maybe he shouldn’t be reading it at all. Ian had never intended for other people to see his innermost thoughts, even Mickey. But it was impossible to stop now that he’d opened that floodgate. It was like reliving a part of their shared history through the eyes of his partner in crime. It was too fascinating.

After countless pages of dark tales from the void, Mickey came upon a page that was actually addressed to him. Surely, Ian had never intended to hand it over, but it was his nonetheless.

Mickey— I never had the balls to tell you this, But you’re the only boy I’ve ever loved. I thought you loved me too, But now I’m not so sure. I’m so confused and I go back and forth, Never really knowing what to actually think, Or what the truth is. All I really realize now is that I can’t keep kissing strangers and pretending that they’re you. It took you forever to let me, And now I just do it with anyone, Cuz I don’t fucking care. I just miss you, And I wish you were here. But also, I don’t, Cuz I don’t want you to see me like this. I’m having a great time on my own adventure, But also not. You shouldn’t be a part of it right now. You’re on your own strange journey, I guess. Maybe one day we’ll be on the same road together again, And also for the first time, since we never really were.

Mickey barely had enough time to sniff and wipe away the stray tear that had fallen, when his husband’s voice startled him out of his reverie.

“You’re still up here?”

“Jesus Christ!” he cried out with a visible jolt of his body.

His head snapped toward the attic hatch, where Ian’s dumb red head was surveying the musty space. Mickey let the notebook fall from his grasp, but Ian was already climbing the rest of the way in before it occurred to him that he was about to be caught red-handed with journals that were supposed to be deeply private. He could only flip it closed and grab his beer to polish it off, before Ian was crouching in front of him and taking a seat.

“Can’t believe you actually did this for me, to be honest,” Ian said with a chuckle, glancing at the bong. “Anything left?”

“Baggie’s right there,” Mickey replied nodding his head to the left.

“Nice.”

Ian got distracted with loading a bowl, so Mickey very subtly tried to nudge Ian's notebooks aside with his foot, like maybe if they were slightly farther away, he could claim complete innocence as to knowing what they were.

He watched Ian take a couple hits before passing it to him, and Mickey welcomed the opportunity to temper his suddenly sullen mood.

“How was work?” he asked between hits, before passing back to Ian.

Ian snickered and furrowed his brow. “You never ask me about work.”

Mickey shrugged. “Don’t mean I don’t care.”

“Uh huh.” Ian looked even more skeptical, and finally glanced around at what Mickey had in his vicinity. That sent his brow up high, in a decent imitation of Mickey’s usual expressiveness. “Oh. That my box?”

Mickey gulped and nodded. “Yeah. Just sorting it out. Should’ve just left the whole thing for ya. Sorry.”

Ian’s gaze snapped to his face. “You read stuff.”

It was a statement rather than a question.

“Just a little,” Mickey admitted. “I shouldn’t have. Fuck, I’m an asshole.”

But Ian only shook his head. “Nah, it’s okay.”

“You don’t have to say that. I’d be pissed.”

“I’m not. I promise.”

“Really? You’re not mad?”

Ian shook his head again. “No. Actually, I’m kinda relieved.”

“How the fuck so?”

“It's all stuff I wanted you to know. I mean, part of me used to be really ashamed, maybe still is, but… another part of me always just wanted to be totally honest with you. In a way I haven’t ever been with anyone. Even Lip. But I didn’t have the words to say it, you know? And I know a lot of it is just scary rambling. I don’t even understand what some of it means, but the stuff that’s real… the lucid stuff… it’s depressing as fuck, but it’s the truth. We didn’t always tell each other the truth, but we showed each other. And this was something I couldn’t really show you. So maybe you were meant to find these. Do my dirty work for me.”

“Damn, Gallagher, that’s kinda heavy. These were… kinda heavy. Made me feel shit I’d forgotten about, you know?”

Ian nodded. “Yeah. I haven’t read ‘em in years, but I remember. It’s why I wanted to put ‘em away, I guess. Plus, I didn’t want someone else snooping around and finding out too much. I mean, you never know in this house. It’s possible every fucking Gallagher already read them, but I hope not.”

“Ian…” Mickey started, but didn’t know exactly what he wanted to say. Words of reassurance? It was all in the past, and Ian was doing so well now. He was diligent about his medication, and he hadn’t spun out of control since before prison. Anything Mickey said now would just be cold comfort, since that notebook version of Ian barely existed anymore. Ian was always afraid that it would recur, but Mickey wasn’t. They were truly in it together now, and he’d never let Ian cross the threshold into the uncontrollable. “I wish I coulda been what you needed me to be back then. However impossible it was. Some of it was my fault.”

“It wasn’t your fault. It wasn’t even my fault, really. It was some shitty shit that happened to me. I reacted the only way I thought I could. There’s no use in either of us wishing we’d done things differently now. At least we got the right outcome, right? We’re together.” He clasped their left hands so that their wedding rings touched. “Forever.”

Mickey couldn’t help but snort. “Okay, you didn’t have to get that gay about it. I already had to suffer through a buncha your faggy teen poetry. I deserve a break from the high drama of it all.”

Ian laughed, kissed his hand, dropped it, then smacked him on the cheek. “Fuck you.”

“Just say when,” Mickey responded with a smile.

“After we go through all this shit, Romeo. Explain the piles.”

“Well,” said Mickey, pointing to the nearby corner, “Carl has a shitload of contraband in there. Weapons, not drugs. Frank has some shit that might be S&M gear, not sure, then aside from your lunatic journal ramblings, everything else is boring as shit. Oh, and Fiona left a big blue dildo.”

#ian x mickey #fanfic #gallavich #fanfiction #asks #answers

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avauntus · 3 years

Text

I was recently lured back to Final Fantasy XIV by their “returner” campaign (if you are away a while, log in and play for free for two weeks). I’ve been having a great deal of fun, got over my “healing yips” and jumped into group content, and finished the Shadowbringers main “5.0″ storyline.

(Yes, it made me cry. Yes, like everyone else-- I concede it is excellent as everyone says.)

Final Fantasy games always kind of...”wink and nod” at their series traditions. And thus I’ve been happily playing along (when I’m not sobbing, natch), running across the occasional call-back to threads I know from earlier in the series, going “Oh, that’s cute. That’s clever,” and not thinking too hard...until the most recent breadcrumb dialogue line for the continuation of the story (patch 5.1) made me put down my controller, put my head in my hands, and go “Aaaaaargh!”

Urianger in brief: “I think I’ll be a problem ON PURPOSE.” lol.

Theory overthinking hours! I can come back later and see if I was right.

SPOILERS, after the cut, for Shadowbringers through 5.0 and, uh...Final Fantasies 3/6, 7, 10, and 12. (lol)

One of the very, very clever things Shadowbringers did is finish up much of the story of the Umbral Calamities by retconing the existence of the FFXIV storyline as taking place and/or belonging to the same universe of every single other Final Fantasy game all at once, many worlds existing side-by-side ignorant of each other, each just sliightly different from the next.

Which means all those “clever callbacks” aren’t just fun Easter eggs for fans-- they’re also fair game for the plot. If the game isn’t just being goofy, it’s leaning really hard into the Final Fantasy tradition of the “Oh NO Statues.” 😆

The what now?

The “Oh NO Statues” are my mental nickname for the recurring powerful, often sentient monuments that show up in Final Fantasy and invariably break the world:

Kefka did a number on home values with these three in FFVI, for example.

Later Final Fantasy games would refine and riff on this, of course. “Oh no, the statue is a space alien (?)” (Jenova, FFVII); “Oh no, the statue came to life and destroyed our civilization!” (Sin, FFX).

This isn’t Zanarkand, but it totally could be, right?

And my personal favorite of the “Oh NO Statues” incarnations, The Occuria, FFXII. Statues who aim “guide the History of Man,” ancient beings who manifest as aetheric masked forms, often visible only to a few, whose origins are (in FFXII) unknown:

Balthier: This creature... So this is your Venat?

Cid: Ashelia B'nargin Dalmasca! Just how far will you go for power? Does your lust for nethicite consume you? Am I right? I am, aren't I. A worthy daughter of the Dynast-King! You would do well to go to Giruvegan. Who knows? You may receive a new Stone for your trouble.

Ashe: Your words mean nothing to me!

Cid: The reins of History back in the hands of Man.

And later:

Cid: To hell with the Occuria and their stones! What good a power that cannot be harnessed? Baubles best-suited for study, no more.

Vayne: We conquered two kingdoms, that you might study these "baubles."

Cid: Oh, I am grateful for the sacrifice. Without it, manufacted nethicite would have eluded us - an unrivaled weapon. Tell me, Venat. Have I not been an apt pupil?

Venat: My counsel did but guide your able hand. Through power of Man, the Stones did you perfect. Yes. So much accomplished in six fleeting years. Man's fervor o'er all obstacles prevailing.

Cid: Our lives are much too short. You undying might waste long centuries away, but we, I fear, cannot.

Vayne: Just so. Had we more time, we might have used more "prudent" measures.

Cid: Your greatest work still lies before you. Not lightly will the Occuria allow you to wrest the reins of History from their grasp.

Venat: Indeed. What claim does Gerun have on history's reins... seated on throne immortal, rent from time? For your ascendance, Vayne, I offer prayer. May you attain all that which is your due.

Vayne: Attain it I shall.

This is... fascinating, because it is heavily implied by a different storyline in FFXIV that Ivalice and the events of FFXII, exist somewhere in the worlds that were shattered from the Source that was FFXIV’s ‘main world.’ There is even an Ivalice in FFXIV, but it is NOT the one we know from FFXII-- Fran exists in FFXIV as a general of Dalmasca, and to all appearances (that I’ve seen, so far), a key difference is Balthier never existed, or never left his position in the Empire.

(On realizing this, I took a good minute to be amused that Balthier really WAS the “leading man” as he so often trumpeted, that apparently so much depended on his existing in his bravura sky piratery, all unknowing-- bless.)

As Ivalice exists -- well, the ‘Occuria’ are much like Emet-Selch and the other Ascians, aren’t they? “...seated on throne immortal, rent from time...” indeed.

Of course, in FFXIV, we’ve struck down most of the “relevant” Ascians by the end of Shadowbringers so what then? Almost certainly, the last “sane” one is gone.

But what’s interesting to me is this: Emet-Selch asked us to remember his people, and he mentions the three Ascians we know as antagonists-- but every single time he talked about his “purpose” it wasn’t to save the named Ascians. It was to save some unnamed other or others, his “lost friends and loves”-- one of which is heavily implied to be connected to the player character.

(There’s a whole “fragments of a shredded soul thing,” but-- ‘we don’t have time to get into that’ meme-- here.)

The other-other Ascian that is eluded to --heavily-- in the run-up to the end of Shadowbringers 5.0 is the Unnamed Fourteenth-- the Paragon who turned away from the other Ascian councilmembers when the details of their plan to save their civilization and the toll that would be paid were revealed. I think we’re meant to think this conscientious objector is the one who summoned the Light, to grant autonomy to mortals rather than guide them towards a destiny that would serve the Ascians’ return, even if the mortals were “shadows” of what had come before the worlds were split.

Beyond a lot of breadcrumbs, we don’t get much more than that in the ending bit of 5.0, but that sure sounds like Venat to me.

Venat was always portrayed by a woman voice actor, despite the Occuria being “genderless,” and...

OK, so...what does this have to do with nethicite?

In FFXIV, “manufactured nethicite” exists -- it’s called White Nethicite Auricite (oops!) and the Scions (the faction our character belongs to) use it to trap Ascians’ will and shatter their energies.

It’s also heavily implied that if natural auracite is allowed to feed on mortal souls and imbued with aether (energy), it will cause mortals to go insane. The Ivalice raid sequence spells all this out, but in short-- your fears and desires are made manifest in exchange for your life energy. Over time, auracite exposed to mortals gains a low-level chaotic will of its own, like the One Ring in Tolkien’s works.

It is, in short, a staggeringly insane idea to propose putting your soul into a soul-eating crystal as Urianger is doing. And Urianger has no way of knowing this, of course, but this will of the nethicite in FFXII came from the Occuria -- their tools to “guide the History of Man.”

There are no more unsundered Ascians left worth mentioning (Elidibius, lol), but the energy of that Unnamed Fourteenth is out there scattered in the Light-- and this is “White [light] Auracite.” Despite everything, I don’t know that the Light are all sunshine and rainbows for mortals. For one, they like stability.

If the Scions start unknowingly imbuing themselves with the powers of Ascians by merging themselves with insane immortal chaos crystals (!!), they may manage to bring about the Eight Umbral Calamity and the end of civilization anyway by unbalancing the world(s) themselves.

...Wouldn’t that be a kick in the pants for Emet-Selch? I mean, if the main character hadn’t had to put him out of his misery already. (*sob*)

#ffxiv #overthinking it #auricite #occuria #venat #ffxii #shadowbringers spoilers #final fantasy #emet-selch

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queenlua · 3 years

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hey, i started following you recently and ur bio says ur a hacker? any tips on where to start? hacking seems like a v cool/fun way to learn more abt coding and cybersecurity/infrastructure and i'd like to explore it but there's so much on the internet and like, i'm not trying to get into anything illegal. thanks!

huh, an interesting question, ty!

i can give more tailored advice if you hit me up on chat with more specifics on your background/interests.

given what you've written here, though, i'll just assume you don't have any immediate professional aspirations (e.g. you just want to learn some things, and you aren't necessarily trying to get A Cyber Security Job TM within the next three months or w/e), and that you don't know much about any specific programming/computering domain yet.

(stuff under cut because long)

first i'd probably just try to pick some interesting problem that you think you can solve with tech. this doesn't need to be a "hacking" project at first; i was just messing around with computers for ages before i did anything involving security/exploitation.

if you don't already know how to program, you should ideally pick a problem you can solve via programming. for instance: i learned a lot back in the 2000s, when play-by-post forum RPGs were in vogue. see, i'd already been messing around, building my own personal sites, first just with HTML & CSS, and later on with Javascript and PHP. and i knew the forum software everyone used (InvisionPowerBoard) was written in PHP. so when one of the admins at my RPG complained that they'd like the ability to set multiple profile pictures, i was like, "hey i'm good at programming, want me to create a mod to do that," and then i just... did. so then they asked me to program more features, and i got all the sexy nerd cred for being Forum Mod Queen, and it was a good time, i learned a lot.

(i also got to be the person who was frantically IMed at 2am because wtf the forum is down and there's an inscrutable error, what do??? basically sysadmining! also, much less sexy! still, i learned a lot!)

the key thing is that it's gotta be a problem that's interesting to you: as much as i love making dorky sites in PHP, half the fun was seeing other people using my stuff, and i think the era of forum-based RPGs has passed. but maybe you can apply some programming talents to something that you are interested in—maybe you want to make a silly Chrome extension to make people laugh, a la Cloud to Butt, or maybe you'd like to make a program that converts pixel art into cross-stitching patterns, maybe you want to just make a cool adventure game on those annoying graphing calculators they make you use in class, or make a script for some online game you play, or make something silly with Arduino (i once made a trash can that rolled toward me when i clapped my hands; it was fun, and way easier than you'd think!), whatever.

i know a lot of hacker-types who got their start doing ROM hacking for video games—replacing the character art or animations or whatever in old NES games. that's probably more relevant than the PHP websites, at least, and is probably a solid place to get started; in my experience those communities tend to be reasonably friendly to questions. pick a small thing you want to do & ask how to do it.

also, a somewhat unconventional path, but—once i knew how to program a bit of Python, i started doing goofy junk, like, "hey can i implemented NamedTuple from scratch,” which tends to lead to Python metaprogramming, which leads to surprising shit like "oh, stack frames are literally just Python objects and you can manually edit them in the interpreter to do deliberately horrendous/silly things, my god this language allows too much reflection and i'm having too much fun"... since Python is a lot of folks' first language these days, i thought i'd point that out, since i think this is a pretty accessible start to thinking about How Programs Actually Work under the hood. allison kaptur has some specific recommendations on how to poke around, if you wanna go that route.

it's reasonably likely you'll end up doing something "hackery" in the natural course of just working on stuff. for instance, while i was working on the IPB forum software mods, i became distressed to learn that everyone was using an INSECURE version of the software! no one was patching their shit!! i yelled at the admins about it, and they were like "well we haven't been hacked yet so it's not a problem," so i uh, decided to demonstrate a proof of concept? i downloaded some sketchy perl script, kicked it until it worked, logged in as the admins, and shitposted a bit before i logged out, y'know, to prove my point.

(they responded by banning me for two weeks, and did not patch their software. which, y'know, rip to them; they got hacked by an unrelated Turkish group two months later, and those dudes just straight-up deleted the whole website. i was a merciful god by comparison!)

anyway, even though downloading a perl script and just pointing it at a website isn't really "hacking" (it's the literal definition of script kiddie, heh)—the point is i was just experimenting a lot and trying a lot of stuff, which meant i was getting comfortable with thinking of software as not just some immutable relic, but something you can touch and prod in unexpected ways.

this dovetails into the next thing, which is like, just learn a lot of stuff. a boring conventional computer science degree will teach you a lot (provided you take it seriously and actually try to learn shit); alternatively, just taking the same classes as a boring conventional computer science degree, via edX or whatever free online thingy, will also teach you a lot. ("contributing to open source" also teaches you a lot but... hngh... is a whole can of worms; send a follow-up ask if you want that rant.)

here's where i should note that "hacking" is an impossibly broad category: the kind of person who knows how to fuck with website authentication tokens is very different than someone who writes a fuzzer, who is often quite different than someone who looks at the bug a fuzzer produces and actually writes a program that can exploit that bug... so what you focus on depends on what you're interested in. i imagine classes with names like "compilers," "operating systems," and "networking" will teach you a lot. but, like, idk, all knowledge is god-breathed and good for teaching. hell, i hear some universities these days have actual computer security classes? that's probably a good thing to look at, just to get a sense of what's out there, if you already know how to program.

also be comfortable with not knowing everything, but also, learn as you go. the bulk of my security knowledge came when i got kinda airdropped into a work team that basically hired me entirely on "potential" (lmao), and uh, prior to joining i only had the faintest idea what a hypervisor was? or the whole protection ring concept? or ioctls or sandboxing or threat models or, fuck, anything? i mostly just pestered people with like 800 questions and slowly built up a knowledge base, and remember being surprised & delighted when i went to a security conference a year later and could follow most of the talks, and when i wound up at a bar with a guy on the xbox security team and we compared our security models a bunch, and so on. there wasn't a magic moment when i "got it", i was just like, "okay huh this dude says he found a ring-0 exploit... what does that mean... okay i think i got that... why is that a big deal though... better ask somebody.." (also: reading an occasional dead tree book is a good idea. i owe my firstborn to Robert Love's Linux Kernel Development, as outdated as it is, and also O'Reilly's kookaburra book gave me a great overview of web programming back in the day, etc. you can learn a lot by just clicking around random blogs, but you’ll often end up with a lot of random little facts and no good mental scaffolding for holding it together; often, a decent book will give you that scaffolding.)

(also, it's pretty useful if you can find a knowledgable someone to pepper with random questions as you go. finding someone who will actively mentor you is tricky, but most working computery folks are happy to tell you things like "what you're doing is actually impossible, here's why," or "here's a tutorial someone told me was good for learning how to write a linux kernel module," or "here's my vague understanding of this concept you know nothing about," or "here's how you automate something to click on a link on a webpage," which tends to be handier than just google on its own.)

if you're reading this and you're like "ok cool but where's the part where i'm handed a computer and i gotta break in while going all hacker typer”—that's not the bulk of the work, alas! like, for sure, we do have fun pranking each other by trying dumb ways of stealing each other's passwords or whatever (once i stuck a keylogger in a dude's keyboard, fun times). but a lot of my security jobs have involved stuff like, "stare at this disassembly a long fuckin' time to figure out how the program pointer got all fucked up," or, "write a fuzzer that feeds a lot of randomized input to some C++ program, watch the program crash because C++ is a horrible language for writing software, go fix all the bugs," or "think Really Hard TM about all the settings and doohickeys this OS/GPU/whatever has, think about all the awful things someone could do with it, threat model and sandbox accordingly." occasionally i have done cool proof-of-concept hacks but honestly writing exploits can kinda be tedious, lol, so like, i'm only doing that if it's the only way i can get people to believe that Yes This Is Actually A Problem, Fix Your Code

"lua that's cool and all but i wanted, like, actual links and recommendations and stuff" okay, fair. here's some ideas:

microcorruption: very fun embedded security CTF; teaches you everything you need to know as you're doing it.

cryptopals crypto challenges: very fun little programming exercises that teach you a lot of fundamental cryptography concepts as you're going along! you can do these even as a bit of a n00b; i did them in Python for the lulz

the binary bomb lab is hilariously copied by, like, so many CS programs, lol, but for good reason. it's accessible and fun and is the first time most people get to feel like a real hacker! (requires you know a bit of C beforehand)

ctftime is a good way to see when new CTFs ("capture the flag"s; security-focused competitions) are coming up. or, sometimes CTFs post their source code, so you can continue trying them after the CTF is over. i liked Stripe's CTFs when they were going, because they focused on "web stuff", and "web stuff" was all i really knew at the time. if you're more interested in staring at disassembly, there's CTFs focused on that sort of thing too.

azeria has good ARM assembly & exploitation tutorials

also, like, lots of good talks out there; just watching defcon/cansecwest/etc talks until something piques your interest is very fun. i'd die on a battlefield for any of Christopher Domas's talks, but he assumes a lot of specific x86/OS knowledge, lol, so maybe don’t start with that. oh, Julia Evans's blog is honestly probably pretty good for just learning a lot of stuff and really beginner-friendly?

oh and wrt legality... idk, i haven't addressed it here since it hasn't come up in my own work much, tbh. if you're just getting started you're kind of unlikely to Break The Law without, y'know, realizing maybe you're doing something a bit gray-area? and you can cross that bridge when you come to it? Real Hacking TM is way more of a pain-in-the-ass than doing CTFs and such, and you'll learn way more with the latter, so who cares lol just do the fun thing

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ultrahpfan5blog · 3 years

Text

Retrospective Review: Dalton and Brosnan Bond Era

So finally I am at the era of Bond films that I know a bit more of. I had not seen The Living Daylights or License to Kill in their entirety before, but I had seen all 4 Brosnan movies. He was the Bond I knew first before I saw Casino Royale. But I was looking forward to seeing Dalton's Bond movies because I had heard they were more serious and grounded.

For me, the both the Dalton films are really solid Bond movies. They are a refreshing break from what the Roger Moore had become towards the end. Not to mention, Dalton actually looks like he's in the type of shape and age to be a secret agent, running from country to country. The Living Daylights is good. There is immediately a more grounded story of espionage. But the better Dalton movie imo is License to Kill. Which is the revenge movie that we never got after Tracy Bond's death. License to Kill is really good. There is less romantic entanglement because Bond is more focused on what he wants to accomplish. And there is a slightly unhinged edge to him. Plus, you can tell that the movie is going into some darker stuff compared to previous Bond movies.

When it comes to the Brosnan era, I have a bit of a bias since he was the first Bond I ever saw. I genuinely like 3 out of the 4 Brosnan movies. GoldenEye is arguably one of my favorite Bond movies. It is fast paced, it has a good villain, it moves away from the stereotypical cold war era Bond plot, the Bond girls are good, and the action is splendid. Its the best of the Brosnan era. Given its made by Martin Cambell who also made Casino Royale, it doesn't surprise me. I know people aren't necessarily big fans of Tomorrow Never Dies and The World is Not Enough, but I like both. Tomorrow Never Dies is really fast paced. There are some really solid action sequences, including a big bike chase which is quite fun. I actually liked the news mogul as villain idea. Its maybe more relevant now with the idea of 'fake news'. The World is Not Enough is more classical Bond. Its a more personal plot because M and Bond are more intricately involved with some of the players. Bond also has more of edge and is harsher in this movie which is actually pretty cool to watch. There is also a really disturbing element with the relationship between Renard and Elektra King which is also interesting. Die Another Day is unbelievably dumb for sure. To be fair, its fun in a dumb way but it goes into full blown science fiction with the whole idea of DNA being changed and a Korean man becoming a white british guy. Then there is the whole beam of sun villain plot. It is incredibly cartoonish. Its also the most effects heavy of the Bond movies and the effects have not aged well at all. The Brosnan era is one full of really cringey double entendres from Bond. In every movie, there are at least 4-5 and everyone of them is just so cringeworthy now but it seems that the writers were so proud of themselves when they wrote those lines.

The Bond girls across all these eras were a mixed bag to be sure. Kara Milovy, the Cellist from The Living Daylights is a bit on the dimmer side for sure. But there is some humor there because you see Dalton's Bond get really frustrated with her at times. Pam Bouvier is a pretty good Bond Girl because she is actually quite important to the story and plays an active role in rescuing Bond. Lupe is also not bad. In the Brosnan era, Natalya was pretty good. The romance between her and Bond wasn't really necessary and could have been taken out, but she is at least a competent person who is not dependent on Bond doing everything. We also get maybe the hottest side villain of all time in Famke Janssen's Xenia Onnatopp. I loved how sexually charged and batshit crazy she was. I had a crush on Teri Hatcher in the 90's when she was Lois so I always love seeing her even though she's there just to be killed off in TND. Michelle Yeoh was a badass even then. So she was cool. TWINE has the first Bond girl who is the main villain. I loved Sophie Marceu in that role of Elektra King because you are not sure how much to feel sorry for her in how her mind was warped by her trauma and how much to be a bit disgusted by her. Denise Richards on the other hand is perhaps the most hilarious piece of miscastings in a movie that I have seen. She is so completely wrong for the role that its almost entertaining to watch how bad she is. I would love to hear the casting director try and justify her casting for the role in any way other than to say that she is hot. Rosamund Pike and Halley Berry are probably the biggest names out of all the Bond girls. They have done much bigger and better things since but in Die Another Day, they are basically just there to fight each other and be bedded by Bond.

The villains are similarly a mixed bag. In The Living Daylights, the villains are nothing much to speak of. License to Kill has some good villains because Sanchez has some menace to him as does a young Benicio Del Toro as Dario. I think Sean Bean is one of the best Bond villains. Jonathan Pryce seemed to be having a ball in Tomorrow Never Dies. And I already mentioned that Marceu was damn good as Elektra. Renard is more the physical villain in TWINE but he feels more like a henchman for Elektra by the end. Gustav Graves is just completely ridiculous an a villain that just can't be taken seriously. He also wears a power rangers looking suit by the end of the movie which doesn't help.

One of the big plusses of the Brosnan era is the inspired casting of Judi Dench as M. She was so good that they kept her in the rebooted Craig era, despite a possibility of confusing the audience. M in the past was just a figure who gave Bond the mission and occasionally told him off. Judi Dench brings a personality and a weight to the character. She has a combative relationship with Bond but you still see that they share mutual respect, especially when you see where she admits that he's the best agent she has in TWINE. After the Roger Moore era, there was a refreshing in some cast such as Moneypenny which changed to Caroline Bliss under Dalton, and then to Samantha Bond under Brosnan. We also got the introduction to John Cleese as the new Q in the last two Brosnan films, taking over from Desmond Llewelyn. Robbie Coltraine has an entertaining supporting role in GoldenEye and TWINE. The Dalton era also saw the last use of Felix Leiter until the Craig era.

When it comes to the Bonds themselves, I think Dalton is extremely underrated. I think he is a precursor in spirit to Craig's Bond. I love the darker edge to his Bond. He gets angry and frustrated. It humanizes his Bond so we see he's not a superhero. He doesn't have the suaveness and charisma of a Moore or Connery but he has the physicality for it. He sells the action scenes far more than Moore did. He is really good in License to Kill which played to Dalton's strengths as an actor. Brosnan's portrayal split the difference between Moore and Dalton. He feels very much like a mixture of the two. He has the suaveness and charm to feel like the womanizing Bond, but he also brings out moments of anger and harshness. Even in the goofiness of Die Another Day, you always feel that Brosnan is giving it his all. I really like him particularly in GoldenEye and TWINE. I do feel both Dalton and Brosnan are underrated as Bond because they were both very good.

Anyways, now only the 4 Craig films, coupled wit No Time to Die. Not sure if I should do a restrospective on the 4 Craig Bond films and then do a separate one for No Time to Die or just include them all together to do a Craig era review since those films are so interlinked.

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missholoska · 3 years

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Have you ever thought about making some Deltaswap designs? I personally am not a fan of the Kris and Susie swap or the Lancer and Ralsei Swap, but I didn't like Underswap Alphys either, but you managed to get me to like Alphys alot more with your design for her.

I’m so out of touch with Deltarune AUs I didn’t even know that Kris & Susie was the main swap, ahah :’D I know Deltaswap is A Thing That Exists™, but I’ve never once looked up any content of it. to be honest I’m not against Deltarune AUs at all, but personally it feels like if you tried to make Underswap just based entirely on the Undertale demo. like, imagine trying to make Underswap Toriel without knowing she was a queen, or lost over half a dozen children, or even about her friendship with Sans? you probably could make it work, but you’re lacking like 80% of the depth the characters have.

point is, despite how charming all of DR’s characters already are in a single chapter I feel like there’s gonna be so much more we find out about them in the full game, and any AU I tried to make with what we currently know would just feel kinda flat to me. just doing some designs wouldn’t be bad, but I like to make designs feel relevant to characterisation and personality, so uh. same issue

...but despite that this ask did get me thinking so just for fun, here’s a very undeveloped Deltaswap idea I’m not going to do anything with:

(and again, I know absolutely nothing about any versions of Deltaswap, so apologies if any of this has already been done, I genuinely do not know)

swapping Kris & Susie and Ralsei & Lancer does sound like it’d make sense as the two duos of Lightners and Darkners, and it requires way less worldbuilding changes than this idea of mine, but I really can’t imagine Ralsei with Lancer’s personality at all? and I can’t say I have any ideas on how I’d handle Kris and Susie’s personality swap, either.

so if we’re avoiding that swap, the next logical option to me would be Kris & Ralsei and Susie & Lancer, since those are the two main friendships for a chunk of the game. but then that causes the issue of Darkners in the roles of Lightners, and the only way I could make sense of that is to swap the Dark World and Light World entirely. swapping locations usually isn’t my preference, but I could see this being fun!

a Dark World-themed Hometown could have buildings in the style of Card Castle and Ralsei’s Empty Town, and the autumn trees would be replaced by those red square-leafed trees like in the field and forest, and the Darkners who live there are just chill friendly people to talk to.

the Light World would then be the one you fall into, and it’d have the same layout as the original game’s Dark World but with the Light World aesthetic. the field and forest would be all autumnal, and maybe the Empty Town could look like the graveyard area? and I guess you’d have more of UT’s monsters who can show up as repeated enemy encounters, but there’d be the occasional familiar faces to talk to or fight as well.

as for the characters: no clue what to do with Ralsei’s home life or the player possession thing, but I’d see him as the quiet loner type like DR Kris, though still very sweet and friendly, and not as much of a silent protagonist. maybe he’d have his classic hat and black fur appearance in the Dark World and the hatless white-furred look in the Light World.

Lancer would be outright meaner but his insults still tend to be pretty goofy, and both DR Susie and Lancer already have issues with no one actually liking them, so no change there. I don’t know how his appearance would change in the Light World jhgjksdf

Kris is... complicated, but I think their personality would be like a more serious version of DR Ralsei. they’ve been alone for a long time waiting for the Heroes to arrive and act as a responsible guide for Ralsei, and I could see them having a “my choices don’t matter, but maybe yours will” kind of mentality? dunno how much sense that makes but whatever it sounded cool ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Susie wouldn’t be as silly as DR Lancer, but she definitely has more fun being the Mean Girl with her actual motorbike. also not sure what to do with her home life and being related to whatever big bad the Light World has...

Rouxls in Alphys’ role as a Dark World teacher would be hilarious and you can’t convince me otherwise. “thoust worms, bringeth me the chalk This Instante or thou shalt all be placedesteth in the Detention Dungeons”

Alphys on the other hand would be Suffering over puzzles and you’d probably just feel bad for her until she realises how cool the Fun Gang is and roots for them instead.

Jevil swaps with Sans. you know in your heart there’s no one else either would swap with. Jevil would’ve recently moved to the Dark World Hometown to run a shop, but remains a terrible little gremlin man who says weird things at you. still has his CHAOS CHAOS branding, of course.

Sans just gets to be a hellish boss and make dumb jokes again, only he has a jester-themed hoodie or something.

...and uh, I guess since people like shipping Jevil with Seam (don’t really get the ship myself but more power to those who do), it’d only be fair to swap Seam with Toriel. Seam as Ralsei’s parental figure could be pretty adorable, actually? it’s just a shame the price of that fluff is putting up with Jevil talking about befriending your parent last night.

Toriel can be the sweet, tired shopkeeper who kindly tells you about the Light World, offers you some food and armour, and later gives you hints about her long-lost friend who got locked in Clown Jail for causing problems on purpose.

I guess Spade King and Asgore would be an obvious swap, but I can’t see the King being a father figure to Ralsei and there’s no way in hell Asgore would be cruel to Susie, so who knows.

swapping Clover and Undyne could be very cute! DR Undyne being a cop is, uh, controversial to say the least, so instead Clover could be one of those people who holds stop signs to let kids cross the road safely. some of her heads yell at people if they don’t slow down quick enough.

Undyne’s just yelling about puzzles and celebrating her birthday, she’s having a good time

I have nothing more than that and this already got miles long anyway but if there were a Deltaswap like that out there maybe it’d be kinda neat 👍

#disclaimer: I know there's like 276 plotholes in this idea which is exactly why I'm not making it a thing #but it was fun to think about for a bit at least! and thank you about my swap alphys too I'm glad you like her ;v;#holoskart asks #holoskart rambles #bad opinion zone #anonymous #long post //

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soft-hard-peaches · 4 years

Text

Reaction: Ateez Going to a Fashion Show with You

ͥ ͪ ͦ ᷮ ͤ ꙷ ͦ ͧ ᷝ ͥ ᷜ ͤ ͥ ͭ

~fluff~

Kim Hongjoong

You're both excited for tonight. Even the opportunity to simply attend fashion week separately is amazing let alone being able to go together. You spent the morning getting ready together, doing your final touches together. You show him the clothes you're pondering on and put them on for him. Taking off your top and replacing it for another, swapping your plaid skirt for plain leather pants, asking him if you should wear stockings or not. You trust him wholeheartedly with these kinds of things and he never wants to disappoint or put you down but he knows you want his honest help so he gives it to you. But he doesn’t need to try hard helping you anyway.

In reality, Hongjoong absolutely adores your personal style, how you are able to mix street fashion and chic one day, preppy and cute the next day, and then go back to dressing completely casual. He’s simply having fun with his own personal fashion show. He thinks you're gorgeous in whatever you wear and when you decide to wear nothing at all.

“Joong, should I wear this chain belt with the pants or will that look like I’m trying too hard?”

Hongjoong walks to your selection and picks out a thin silver chain belt. “This one. It’s not too much but a nice addition.”

You smile at him as he walks up to you and slowly hooks the belt into your pants, pulling you closer, leaving nothing but tension between you both. Once he’s done, he lets you fasten the once cold chain ends. When you look up, he’s smirking playfully at you.

“What was that?”, you asked, amused by his random seducing. Hongjoong walks to his closet and begins looking for his already set outfit.

“Nothing. But you can help me if you want.”

Seonghwa

You sat on the couch of the boy’s dorm waiting for your boyfriend to finish getting ready for tonight’s upcoming event. This is practically routine for you to wait for Seonghwa while he got ready. Not like you mind all that much. You understood how much he cared about his appearance and his interest in fashion. So you waited patiently in the kitchen, scrolling through your phone and occasionally talking to the other members.

“Are you excited for tonight?”, Yunho asked you. You glanced up at him to respond but then went back to your phone, scrolling through twitter to see who was all attending, “I heard that Jennie and Lisa were supposed to show up and I can’t wait to see their glamorous outfits. I feel like they are gonna be the best dressed of the whole event.” As you finish that remark, you see your boyfriend descending from the stairway.

Your phone slipped from your grasp slightly when you saw Seonghwa make his way towards you.

“Y/n? Do you think this outfit is alright?”, he asked as he fiddles with the cuff of his overcoat.

“Woah hyung, you should be the one walking the runway!,” Yunho interjected but he practically took the words from your mouth. Placing your phone down, you walked over to your rather dapper boyfriend. Removing his clumsy hand from his cuff to properly fix it. “You look runway ready, Hwa.”

Jeong Yunho

Walking into the event was a bit overwhelming for you. All of the photographers and fansites with their flashing lights that were almost blinding, the loud commands of where and how to pose, the group’s managers leading you all to get inside. All the boys looked well-dressed and well groom and you followed suit in your best black-tie attire.

You sat between your boyfriend Yunho and a well known up-in-coming designer, popular for their nature/fantasy inspired designs, and behind you were other celebrities in the industry that were way more relevant than you because you were only known for being girlfriends with a famous idol. For that reason you felt like you had no merits being there. You felt like a fish out of water. Even after the show you stood there behind the group’s manager watching the boys pose for a photo op, the feeling sat inside you that no one would care if you were even there and that feeling engulfed you until you sat in the car on your way home.

Once in the car, Yunho grabbed your hand and softly placed it on his cheek. He let out a long yawn as he began to rub the back of your palm on his cheek, “Yaaahh, Y/n I’m so glad you came… these things can be so tiring. When you're around I feel at peace.” You watched your sleepy boyfriend silently. Trying your very best not to break down from happiness from the unintentional consolation.

Kang Yeosang

You rested on his bed, half dressed, thinking about the day’s big event. Initially you were ecstatic that your boyfriend was going to such a big event like a fashion show but now that you are going, it has you a bit wary. Nonetheless, you are excited to share this experience with your beloved Yeosang. Yeosang on the other hand was more noticeably nervous. Pacing around his room, changing his outfit for the third time, mixing up the arrangement of his accessories, and muttering to himself. You sat up, deciding it was also time to atleast put a shirt on so you can help your tottering boyfriend,

“Yah, Jagi, what color should I wear?”, he asked, scouring through his closet.

“You look great in red and black”, you state simply, heading to his nightstand to borrow a pair of dangly earrings.

“Button up or turtleneck?” You look back to see him holding the options in his hands.

“Definitely turtleneck.”, you affirm while also picking out something from his closet. Yeosang looked at you in confusion, “Didn’t you bring an outfit with you?” You chuckled as you draped one his jackets over on your body, “Yeah I did, but your clothes are better.”, you respond coyly, giving him a cheeky smile. You practically traded half your outfits for his at this point but since he takes a bit of pride of you wearing his clothes, he doesn’t complain.

Almost finished with his ensemble, he checks for your opinion once more asking, “Contacts or no contacts?”

Also finished dressing, you walked over to him and caressed his face, pulling him down to plant a kiss on the lips, “No contacts, your visuals are striking enough.”

Choi San

The energy of the show is exhilarating! The talent of these designers give you a surge of fascination. The assorted patterns and colors, all the different materials and textures, and the skill to make fabrics look good on a person’s body brings you to a complete awe. Holding your hand on your lap was your boyfriend San. He knew how much you loved fashion so he was more than eager to invite his sweetie love to go with him.

Every now and again you’d turn to each other to comment on the models and what they are modeling. “Look San!”, you’d have to speak over the music, “Amazing!” Small phrases were easier to communicate. San agreed that the models and designs were nice but the way you looked at all the models with such amaze and adoration was how he looks at you everyday and seeing your eyes light up with wonder was the whole show for him.

Song Mingi

You were a bit apprehensive but excited to be seen in such an important event with your boyfriend Mingi because this is your first time being seen together as a couple.

It was a pretty big deal for you both to come out as a couple; you both being idols from different companies. Together, you had to meet with your respective companies on this decision and on when and how to release the news. You both were worried about the very possible backlash from fans and antis. But this was very important to you both so with the support of your companies, you two became successful separately and together and today is the day that you’ll be seen hand-in-hand for the very first time.

“Mingi! Y/n!”, you hear your names shouted from all angles. You felt a bit awkward. Although you’ve had your picture taken many times before, this is the first time at an official event with your boyfriend.

“Mingi!”, a fansite shouts. You expected him to move away from you to give them a better shot of him but he places his hand around your waist, scooting you closer to him. You try to hide any changes in expression as much as possible but the moment he grabs your hand, signifying his love for you, cracks your generic idol grin to a genuine goofy smile that your fans and him know well, which slightly embarrasses you and causing everyone including Mingi to… lack of better words… bust a UwU.

Jung wooyoung

“Doll...”, Wooyoung knocks on the bathroom door, “... the car will be here soon.”

Though he said it in a playful manner, you know he was trying to put a bit of fire under your butt, but as long as the car hasn’t pulled up you saw no reason to leave the bathroom especially for this upcoming event. Outside the walls you hear the muffle chatter of the guys that for time to time you can make out and chuckle to yourself but your main focus is to vamp up your look. This a BIG event with big names and gorgeous people and you wanted to look the part. You tried on three different shades of lipstick to compliment your eyeshadow, reapplied your eyelashes to make them perfect, and gave yourself an efficient enough pep talk just in case you lose your cool at any point. Though you were only in attendance, you were ready to be the best at the show.

*knock**knock* “Baby?”

“Yeah. I’m ready Woo, you can come in.”, you said in a sweet sing-song tone while you sprints your finishing spray on your face. Making sure your makeup stays strong for what today will unfold.

Wooyoung walks in just in time to catch some of your mist in his mouth. Trying to speak between coughs, “Ya done *couch* yet?” You look up at him through the mirror, not yet turning back to him. You stop there staring at your coughing boyfriend in total awe. Yes, Wooyoung is always fashionable but today he is something different. From his perfectly styled wavy black hair down to his slick designer toes. And he notices your stare.

With his last attempt in clearing his throat, he questions your stare. You admire your confused boyfriend further. The quizzical expression fixed on his face breaks your trance with a laugh, “Woo! You take best dressed of all I see.” Your blunt compliment takes him off guard but that makes him even cuter.

“Ya… you’re making me blush… Let’s go! The car is here!”

Choi Jongho

About an hour into the car ride home was gradually becoming quieter with the tired members slowly falling asleep and the manager turning down the volume of the radio to accommodate for the members. Jongho sat in the back between a sleeping Yeosang and you. This event took a lot out of all of you. For him and the rest, they are more or less used to strenuous scheduling but he was afraid that you were over exerting yourself on his behalf. When the company accepted his request to invite you, he was overjoyed to have you experience something as prestigious as fashion week with him. You’re his darling Y/n afterall. He wants to experience as much with you as possible but he worried that his idol life may tire you out one day.

The rumble of the moving car and low volume radio played in the background. Once Jongho stopped thinking so much he mistook Yeosang’s gentle snore for your’s and leaned over to check if you were asleep. Once he leaned far enough to see your face, you opened your eyes, spooking him. “Woah you’re awake Y/n?”, he tried to play off his surprise, “Did I wake you?”, he whispered. You shook your head no making him relax back into his seat. You were both silent for a few minutes when he noticed your hand resting close to his. As he noticed, you brushed your fingertips on the back of his hand affectionately, catching his attention further.

You rested your head on his shoulder to whisper to him, so only he can hear your message, “You know Jongho? I’m really glad you invited me. You didn’t have to invite me to this but i am really grateful that we can do things together. Albeit, I would be just as happy if we stay in and watch a bad movie.” You end a very sentimental statement with a slight joke to keep from getting emotional but Jongho takes that much needed validation and places your hand in his for the rest of the ride home.

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sunnomnoms · 4 years

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How do you think Mirio Togata would handle crushing on a first-year student? It's honestly one of my fav hcs for Mirio 💕

AYYYY more Mirio hell yeah god I love writing for him (and Tamaki, sue me). I did previously do a first year related headcanon thingy if you want more (right here!) of this headcanon! I decided to use a headcanons again for this, I hope you don’t mind! I also made it so Mirio doesn’t lose his quirk? during the work studies chaos? I’m trying to avoid angst that’s all agskdgskdj

Mirio having a crush on you was by total accident. He wasn’t too much older that you, but he had a habit of looking at the first years as... tiny.

You caught his eye due to your work study with Fatgum. You spoke a good bit with Tamaki, considering you were fighting at his and Kirishima’s side.

Tamaki had mentioned you to Mirio, all good things of course. Tamaki found you easy to talk to, and impressively skilled with your quirk for a first year. Then again, he shouldn’t have been surprised, you were part of 1-A.

Mirio originally didn’t think much of you. Just another impressive first year Tamaki fought beside. Of course, he hadn’t seen you either, so he couldn’t exactly say much. There wasn’t much to base any opinion on.

But when the meetings for taking down Overhaul started, Mirio got a chance to actually meet you. Tamaki had introduced you to him (he had spoken so highly of him, it made you curious), and it was fair to say you made a good first impression on him.

“Oh! You must be Miri- Togata! Sorry, Amajiki-senpai refers to you by your first name so much I almost forgot your last name, haha! I’m sorry, you can call me [Y/N]! No need to be formal!” You said cheerily while shaking his hand.

Mirio noted your behavior, the way you shook hands instead of bowed, the way you presented him with your first name and nearly used his. Boy, were you an endearing little thing. Perhaps even foreign? He couldn’t put his finger on it, but you definitely struck a cord in him some sort of way.

After the chaos with the work studies, Mirio could now focus on other things. There was the school festival he was looking foreword to, he wanted to bond more with Eri, and most of all he wanted to get to know you better.

Mirio, when he wasn’t working with his own class with their part of the festival, he occasionally visited 1-A. Of course, his true plan was to see you a little bit more and talk to you. But he disguised this as meeting up and talking with Midoriya about Eri and the Overhaul incident.

His plan worked surprisingly well. When he’d visit, you’d usually greet him, as would Kirishima, Uraraka and Tsuyu. He’d talk to the whole bunch of you, sometimes even Tamaki came to visit with him to see you and Kirishima. Nejire occasionally came to meet up with Uraraka and Tsuyu again to catch up. Mirio managed to get the numbers of all of you, making a little group chat of all the people who worked to take down Overhaul. It was a nice little thing you all had, and your terrifying experience with overhaul kind of brought you all together.

There would be times here and there where Mirio would text you privately. These times would usually be if you mentioned you weren’t feeling well in the group chat or if he had seen you looking a little down during school. He seemed to be super attentive to your state of being often, which you didn’t mind. You found him easy to talk about your bad days or your worst fears or your nightmares. He was a bit goofy in the way he made you feel better, but he always did. He wasn’t perfect with words, but he was certainly good enough to get his point across and help you chin up.

At this point, Tamaki started to notice his friends attraction towards you. Mirio really thought he was being slick... but he’s not slick enough to fool Tamaki.

Tamaki reminded Mirio that you were indeed a first year. Again, not that that was a problem, there wasnt a concerning age gap between the two of you. But Tamaki brought up some of the things Mirio had said in the past. You could say Mirio used to be a bit,,, unintentionally,,,, “first year”-phobic. He saw them as tiny little things. Seeing Mirio get flustered and try to explain that “they’re different! I swear they’re different!” was a bit funny to Tamaki.

The truth was, you kind of were different. To Mirio at least. You weren’t some child in his eyes, you stood tall and were strong against opponents of any age, size, or strength.

Mirio started to slowly accept that you were someone he really did like. It had been awhile since he had a crush, and this was a bit of a slap in the face to him.

You and him started to spend more time together. Mirio had suggested the two of you would have study sessions and whatnot, he could help you with homework and help with upcoming parts of the course. He was slowly making himself more relevant in your life, and no matter what he was nothing but helpful to you.

The two of you, and other people in the group chat, would often go out and do things together. You and Mirio were usually ones to ask in the chat if they want to “go on an adventure!” when really you guys would just go hang out at the mall or something. Sometimes you guys would just do dumb things in a grocery store or would just go walk around town. No matter what, you all would usually just have fun no matter where you went.

Though he felt attracted to you, he was starting to enjoy talking and hanging out with you just as a friend. Not that he didn’t want to maybe later on pursue his attraction towards you, but you were just a generally fun person to be around even platonically.

Mirio enjoyed seeing you have fun along with everyone else. He enjoyed seeing everyone get along so well with you and just seeing everyone have a good time wherever they went. Mirio wouldn’t deny his feelings to himself, not anymore, but for now? He certainly doesn’t mind being your friend. For now, he’ll push his feelings aside. But a school dance is coming up in a few weeks, and he heard you didn’t have anyone to go with....

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