#YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE A TACTICAL STRATEGY GAME

[duskkodesh]

#Morbius #Morbius The Living Vampire #Midnight Suns #WHY IS THIS GAME GIVING ME FEELS?! #YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE A TACTICAL STRATEGY GAME #The last hangout Morb talked about his childhood and how he doesn't know if he could ever have kids... #I am WEEPING

[sanshofox]

At this point I am really wondering how the entertainment industry, especially gaming industry, is going to uphold/maintain themselves.

One layoff after another. How are people from that industry supposed to find a new job there when layoffs are happening everywhere? Do studios really think there’s longevity when they aren’t even willing to hire newcomers/juniors so there‘s adequate supply in the work force? Because look at how it’s currently going: investors want more and more money, the workload increases, but people are getting fired, leaving a smaller team to do said work, even distributing them for 2 or 3 projects at the same time, only to crash in a burnout or in later years go into retirement. Then who’s left? AI? Are you kidding me? As if games aren’t becoming more and more repetitive anyway, because of some „safe recipe for good numbers“ strategy. Creativity and the people behind it are suffering.

It’s been almost 2 years since I saw a junior 3D character artist offer. Ever since then it’s been a desert. And it’s not looking all too bright in other departments either. It’s now even a thing in job descriptions where they want you to have „AI abilities“. So as a junior or regular they want you to feed their machine, so in a few years they can fire you. The audacity.

Another audacity are those layoffs just to rehire people for a smaller price (can’t tell me otherwise. For me this is a tactic to put pressure on the work force to say yes to less money otherwise they will stay jobless). People that made projects what they are today, who are seniors and leads for a reason, out of a job just like that. Make it make sense (it doesn’t).

Studios like ubisoft now openly saying that they want to focus on AI, like assets completely made by AI to „save time and money“ and expand AI onto more fields. Shame on them.

The way creative industries like gaming finance themselves is also their biggest poison. And I only see a solution in that by regulating investors demands and upper positions sheaningans. They can’t have „absolute power“ anymore. It’s destructive and greedy and not realistic. Games can not be linearly successful. For the game design „recipe“ to improve it needs iteration just like when you work in a project for example and work on a design that needs to be iterated until it‘s improved or solid even. We see time and time again that „business/numbers people“ and creatives do not go hand in hand. We see an extreme imbalance.

I would predict that with less creative new input and letting mainly AI do the work consumers will be less and less entertained because everything seems to be and look the same. It will stagnate. And then crumble. And the industry needs to start like it did before. And that’s what I guess for the big companies.

With the layoffs happening and not enough job offers in return I could see that big talents get together to build their own studios now and we may get an era of new successful and growing studios happening that may even replace the current triple A studios one day in the future. They may even change the financing game. We saw successful games happening through platforms like kickstarter more often. So it might lead back to a „power to the people“ thing. Having an idea for a project and seeing if enough people agree and invest to see it happening. There’s room for improvement in that system. That’s all what it leads back to; in the end the consumers need to be satisfied to make it a creative and monetary success. BG3 and larian studios was a good example for that. It’s what made coral island grow and grow too. So there‘s potential.

Feel free to comment your theories. I really would like to see what others think about the current state of gaming studios and how it will or could develop.

#video games #gaming #rant #venting

[pookietv]

online embarrassment | arthurtv

this was a req!! and i think its adorable

there will be a part two to this !!!

being a simple university student, you had simple pleasures - getting drunk on the weekend, binge watching tv shows, and a more strange one, online chess. you liked watching people play, you liked playing yourself, you loved the strategy aspect. on some websites you played on, there was the option of livestreaming your chess game - no faces or voices, but people could chat alongside you playing, and you enjoyed seeing input on your games.

one day you were playing a particularly tricky game, being forked from practically the get go, and being the victim of many pawn trades, you were definitely on a losing streak, even if you were just playing against a bot. it was being streamed, but there were only four people watching, not that embarrassing right? especially because it was hidden behind a chess username and no one knew who you were anyways, so it didn't really matter.

so when a comment came in,

ATV: i wouldn't have played rook to f4 there, leaves an opening for a three move check :)

your head tilted a little, turning back to the game and furrowing your eyebrows, trying to figure what they had meant - and they were right, the move was a little careless and it could lead to checkmate.

you nodded to yourself, trying to amend the damage by playing your bishop defensively, to which another comment came in.

ATV: sorry for backseat gaming here, but you could have check in two

you smiled a little more at the comment, placing one hand on your chin and the other on your mouse, following some moves for what must have been fourty-five seconds before you clicked, they were right again. you made the move, the bot making its response, defending also, before in a few short moves, the game was over, you had won by check.

youruser: @/ATV thank you! i still kinda suck after playing for so long lmao

ATV: @/youruser do you want a game? :)

youruser: @/ATV sure! i'll add you now :P

so you added them, and they requested a game. in the chatbox on the side, you saw another message just as they had moved their first piece.

ATV: so what's your name?

youruser: i'm y/n, what about you?

ATV: arthur :)

he moved with an unusual polish opening, so you played traditional and tried to take control of the centre. within a few minutes, he had one of your pawns pinned, and had taken another.

youruser: damn you're actually really good

youruser: feeling a little defeated here :)

ATV: i'm just a loser with far too much time on my hands

youruser: well i mean me too but still, you're smoking me

ATV: cause you're playing too much attack not enough defence

youruser: i feel i may need you to tutor me lmao

ATV: lets finish up this game rq and then i'll help lol

unsurprisingly, he won, but you actually came closer than expecting, and it was a pretty even match after the poor beginning.

ATV: you're actually pretty good, you were just being modest

youruser: hm well maybe

youruser: suppose i'll have to keep challenging you til i win >:D

ATV: do you have discord or anything? easier to explain and talk on there rather than chess in game chat lol

youruser: i do! i'll link it rq :)

youruser: it's yourdiscuser #1782

and from there, you began talking semi-regularly, you played chess often and spoke tactics and games, he helped teach you and you enjoyed the company.

youruser: isn't it really strange we know nothing about each other other then chess defence strategies

youruser: i mean what if you're the insane chess killer man

ATV: yes, thats exactly who i am, the Insane Chess Killer Man, can't believe you caught me red handed

ATV: i mean what do you wanna know

youruser: i mean, idk,,, where are you from? i mean i know you speak english but you could be from anywhere i guess :O

ATV: i live in england, what about you :)

youruser: me too! i'm in london atm for uni, getting my masters

ATV: i am also in london! so if you're getting your masters, you're like ... somewhere around 24?

youruser: yeah, i'm 23 :P

youruser: what about you? i mean i have a feeling you're not some sixty year old man based on the fact you use discord but idk

ATV: i'm 28,,, getting very old :(

youruser: wow, very old indeed, must be such a shame

youruser: its gonna suck when i'm gonna have to visit you in a nursing home to play chess with you in two years time

ATV: okay i'm not that old you divvy :)

youruser: kidding, kidding ! anyway, i have to go because i have class but,, if you maybe wanna add me on instagram, its @/youruser :)

getting back from your lectures and practically throwing your backpack on the floor and collapsing on your bed, you planned on rotting the rest of the day away in pajamas and consuming far too much social media.

you opened instagram to a new follower: @/arthurtv

you assumed it was arthur from chess, and obviously in curiosity you opened his page straight away, you were nosy and you wanted to know who he was.

the first thing that shocked you was what he looked like: you didn't know what you were expecting but you didn't think it was going to be him.

he was... attractive, you had to admit, and your eyes had widened once you had seen him.

the second thing that shocked you was his followers, and his bio - he was a youtuber?

classically, you had to be nosy and follow the links to his youtube, your eyebrows raised a little as you looked at his channel, giggling to yourself, he did commentary on reality tv? you hadn't seen that before, but once you watched a video, you realised he was funny, too. he made it funny, despite the fact that you had at first felt it was the strangest youtube topic ever.

youruser: why hello arthurtv

youruser: i was definitely not expecting you

arthurtv: why hello y/n

arthurtv: i could say the same about you

youruser: well i mean i don't have any surprises

youruser: but you are apparently known for commenting on 90 day fiance?

arthurtv: i'd argue you have some surprises

arthurtv: and yes, i make commentary videos! wasn't trying to hide it or anything, just was a weird thing to bring up in conversation :)

youruser: no, it seems cool! i wasn't judging :) i don't watch much youtube so i don't know too much about it

youruser: and anyways, what surprises do i have?

arthurtv: i wasn't expecting you to look like that i suppose

youruser: like what ??

arthurtv: i mean, i don't know, pretty i suppose

arthurtv: you're very pretty, i just didn't know what i was expecting to be honest

youruser: wow you thought i couldn't be pretty cause i'm a loser playing chess??? smh arthur

youruser: (i'm kidding, i didn't expect you to look like you either)

arthurtv: you know that's not what i meant!!

arthurtv: what did you expect me to look like then?

youruser: well since you're 28, i suppose i was expecting a zimmerframe or walking stick or something

arthurtv: ha ha very funny

#arthur frederick #arthur frederick x reader #arthurtv #arthurtv x reader #chaos crew

[brighter-by-the-daly]

Millie Bright x Reader

Big Mouth

AN: Sparked from @wileys-russo’s comment on a previous fic ~ “Millie and her big mouth would most definitely out someone”

It was the 70th minute in the quarter final of the World Cup as the team were shuffling around preparing for a corner. England had been marked all evening and Columbia weren’t letting up anytime soon, you were in serious need of a new strategy and fast if you wanted to progress any further in the tournament. You were floating around in the box trying to break away from your marker whilst listening out for instructions from your captain, suddenly feeling hands on both your shoulders and being viscously shoved to the ground. You were in shock as the attack was completely unprovoked and the ball wasn’t even in play yet. The corner was delayed for a moment as you scrambled to your feet and as a warning was handed out to you, your teammates swarmed the ref to object. How could you push yourself to the floor? Is she completely oblivious to the abuse you had been receiving the entire match? As an arm pulled tightly on your shirt in another direction you were prepared to receive a yellow if it meant not allowing yourself to be bullied any longer. “Get the fuck off me!” you screamed, expecting to turn and face a Colombian player but surprised to see it was actually Millie pulling you towards her for protection. Your demeanour changed immediately as you let her move your body like a rag doll; wherever she wants you, you’re there. Squeezing you infront of her, the taller woman pressed her body tightly against your back and her arm wrapped around your stomach to keep you in place so you were finally unmarked for once in this game. Millie quickly grabbed Rachel too and directed her in front of you, sandwiching your body between them. “Hold Rachel” Millie directed bluntly, “tighter”. Squishing you so close together you could barely breath as Rachel reached around your back to hold you all in place too. Making three unmarkable players, others copied in doing the same to give you the best chance to advance. Millie muttered directions into your ear as close to your face as possible so the opposing team couldn’t hear your tactics, the last thing you remember before the ball was kicked in by Alex was Lucy joking about where she fitted into this threesome and laughing to herself.

‘I knew what I had to do but did I do it? Did I fuck!’ Being grabbed and pulled by the older women took all your attention away from what you were actually supposed to be doing and that was scoring, that’s why they were protecting you in the first place you idiot! As the ball was kicked, the girls instantly spread out taking the Colombians with them, leaving you stood by yourself in acres of space with a gawped expression on your face. Seeing the ball flying towards you, Millie’s voice hollered your name just in time for you to zone back in to your surroundings and plant the ball neatly into the net.

Back in the locker room discussions were flowing about your goal, winning the game and being awarded player of the match. Lucy was in the corner joking with the older girls about your spaced out look just before the ball hit your head, you were huddled at the other end of the room with your friends from youth level. “You did look so out of it before you scored” they laughed in agreement with Lucy. “I was taken off guard! I didn’t expect to be sandwiched between Mills and Rach” chuckling to yourself but the comment was met with quizzical eyes and confused expressions. “Were you-“ Hempo started before you finished the question for her. “Turned on? Yes” shrugging it off as no big deal. “Ohhh from the train? I saw you guys do that and could already imagine the memes! That wasn’t what I was gonna say though..” Hempo still had the confused look that seemed to never leave her face. “Wait, what did you think?” you asked, wondering if you’d just over shared unnecessarily. “That you got shoved pretty hard, I thought they took the wind out of you!” your best friend’s voice was muffled inside the clean shirt as she tried to push her head through the arm hole. Helping her get dressed like a mum would a toddler you told yourself that next time you must remember to let people finish their sentences so you don’t make a fool of yourself. Yet somehow you ignored your own advice and still kept talking. “Yeah I think I’m gay now!” you blurted out jokingly. “You’re gay?!” Millie bellowed behind you, luckily she didn’t seem to have heard the rest of the conversation but this still wasn’t ideal. “Who’s gay?” “(Y/n).” “(Y/n)’s gay?” “About time she told us!” Glancing around the room at all the voices chiming like dominoes at overhearing the gossip you were shocked to see how many people thought you already were. “Was it the train?” Lucy laughed with a smirk in the corner of the changing room she hadn’t moved from, “the TikTok edits are gonna loooove that!” The brunette was always showing off edits that had been made of her on the app, always seemed proud of them too. “Nooo! I’m not gay!” you exclaimed to make sure the whole team heard you. “You’ve gone all red tho!” Millie pointed out whilst poking your cheeks making you wish the ground would open up and swallow you. Backing away from the blonde who was making you flustered you ran for the showers, eager to wash away the thoughts and the sound of being outted. You’re not gay, you were just turned on by some very attractive women that you spend all your time with holding you in a certain way, that doesn’t make you gay and certainly not for your teammates!

The next day at training you felt the same forcefulness as the day before, two hands landed heavily on your shoulders shuddering you out of the daydream you were in. A blonde messy bun flopped in your face as her arms wrapped loosely around your collar bones. “Hey, sorry for shouting about you being gay, I shouldn’t have done that I was just on a high from winning” she said pulling you into her once more. Your body instantly became stiff with being so close to the defender again and as words jumbled in your mind unable to form a sentence, you just nodded in response. “I’m here if you wanna talk okay, love you” kissing your cheek before running off to join her group. Hempo was watching the interaction from afar and made her approach when she saw Millie had left. “You’ve got that same look on your face as yesterday” she laughed, “yknow just cause you fancy a woman doesn’t mean you’re gay” bending down to tie her shoelaces. “Thank you! That’s what I was trying to say yesterday, at least someone believes me” you breathed a sigh of relief. “I meant, gay and straight aren’t the only options (y/n). You’ve got bi, pans, demi and-” she trailed off listing sexualities you had never heard of before as the realisation hit that not even your best friend believed what you were saying. “Y/n, work with Bright over your link ups, they could use some work” Sarina shouted over the pitch interrupting your friend who was still spelling out the queer alphabet. Hempo looked at you sympathetically but also a little amused, “good luck!” she nudged as she ran back to her spot. You reluctantly walked over to your skipper who was as loud as ever, shouting encouragement and silly remarks about taking your time but once you got there you couldn’t even hold eye contact with her. Making an excuse that you didn’t feel well before running back inside, Millie’s eyes followed you, squinting in confusion. She knew something was wrong but didn’t know how to approach you in a way that would make you open up.

Once you’d arrived into the safety of your hotel room you threw yourself on the bed to scour the internet to look up all the unfamiliar words Lauren was telling you about earlier. Taking silly quizzes to find out what sexuality you are always came up as 100% NOT straight which made you even more confused. You’d never thought about it before but you’ve never really felt attraction to anybody, relationships never lasted long because you just didn’t feel anything. After a few hours of flicking through an LGBTQ+ encyclopaedia your eyes landed on a definition you were unable to divert your attention from:

Graces, gray A’s, or gray asexuals: Individuals whose sexual attraction exists within the gray area between sexual and asexual. They experience sexual attraction infrequently or not very strongly. Other terms that are used to describe this identity are semisexual, asexual-ish, and sexual-ish.

‘That would explain my very rare attraction to anybody I guess’, you thought to yourself. My demeanour and fashion sense could come across gay sometimes but that word doesn’t seem to define me, neither do any of the others. I must be a Gray A.. or Grace? That seems to fit well with me the most.

Sitting back to admire the screen while you soaked everything in there was a knock at your door. “Hey, can I come in?” nodding without words as the blonde entered your room and sat down on your bed. “Can you just talk to me please? I know I’ve upset you and just wanna make it right” she pleaded. “You haven’t upset me Mill” reassuring her as you sat down next to your friend. “It’s just..” you started to explain but hesitant with how to word it. “The other night when you pulled me into you it made me feel something.. different. It turned me on okay and then everyone started shouting about how I’m gay and I just got confused. But I’ve done some research and I think I know why now.” Planting the laptop onto her knees so she could look at what you had highlighted. “I’ve never heard of this?” she muttered while reading the definition. “Me neither, but it explains why I’ve never felt attracted to anyone and then suddenly I was” you shrugged, relieved with having an explanation now. “I do have that effect on people” she mocked swiping her hair from her shoulder. “You’ve got such a big head!” rolling your eyes and slapping her arm. “Hey!” she pouted, trying to slap you back but you’d moved out of her reach. “Matches your big mouth!” your laugh exaggerated but comforted in the fact that everything was out in the open and the awkwardness had floated away. “Okay, so we cool?” “We’re cool” “I won’t go grabbing you without warning anymore” “hmm. I liked it” punching her bicep lightly. “Good… cause my love language is touch” her hand glided from your shoulder down to your fingers, linking your hand in hers. “Really? Cause I hadn’t noticed!” your heavily sarcastic tone earned you a glare before being swamped in a huge bear hug.

#millie bright #millie bright x reader #engwnt #engwnt x reader #lionesses #lionesses x reader #woso x reader #woso masterlist #woso fanfics #woso imagine #woso one shot #woso community #engwnt imagine #engwnt fics #lionesses imagine #lauren hemp #lucy bronze #rachel daly

[faithinchances]

Hit me with more of Roy conned Jamie into being nice and City is mad about it. I remember the concept and am face pressed against glass!

The basics of the original concept from @jamiesfootball are that Roy accidentally puts Jamie on a niceness points system so they can be friends, wherein Jamie gets to be a dick once for every four times he does something nice, with plenty of shenanigans along the way and everything is fun and hilarious until Jamie gets sent back to City which is when I get to make it sad and dramatic (ie, Jamie spends his nice points on his teammates/Pep/everyone else at City, and his dick points on Sr with the predicted results)

Jamie is an asshole at Richmond, in a way which is pretty well on par with the people around him, except that the narrative frames them well and Jamie poorly. Isaac and Colin do the brunt of the on-screen bullying but we're supposed to blame Jamie because he laughs at it. Roy humiliates Jamie by framing his embarassment as the funniest thing Roy has ever seen except that it's okay because Jamie is an asshole. Ted yells at Jamie for being hurt and unable to train, which is cool because Jamie is "obviously" faking an injury to get back at Ted for benching him.

Basically everything and everyone kind of sucked.

Take him out of that and put him in a functional dressing room with a good coach and lower pressure overall, and I don't think Jamie would behave that way. I don't think he ever behaved that way at City.

So Jamie goes back to City, a place where he never was much of a prick to begin with (except to the opposition team, because that is part of the sport), and has a casual identity crisis in the back of every shot.

He is touch-starved, being very very good, and blatantly and obviously anxiety-ridden, and all of this in ways which he hadn't been the year before.

Someone: *gets tackled kind of rough by someone on the other team* Jamie: Pep put me on put me on I will break his ankles and restore our honour Pep: ... no... ... Jamie are you doing okay? Jamie: Yes Pep all is well and good, I am just using a nice point. Pep: I'm going to think about what that means some other time. Jamie on the inside: oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck

Meanwhile, Jamie is gradually racking up bruises, injuries, and sore spots because he is constantly pushing Sr's buttons so he can pretend that he's still 20% an asshole, and City desperately want to know what Richmond did to their previously nice, normal teammate for him to come back as this clicker-trained attack chihuahua.

(sidenote, I headcanon Jamie as struggling with statistics and numbers games. That he doesn't play FIFA because he worries about how wanting to maximize his ingame stats could negatively affect how he plays in real life. That the only person he's willing to take statistics from are the tactical scouts (a position at a club where you study the upcoming opponent to learn their strategies and tendencies to better prepare the players to face them) because he doesn't want to wind up maximizing his pass completion percentage by no longer taking good risks on through balls or crosses. He's a numbers guy in a way which is sometimes a problem, and is definitely a problem here.)

(a different sidenote, Roy's poor opinion of Jamie was probably a torpedo to his self-confidence. He probably always struggled with both, in some part due to Sr's abuse, but he worshipped Roy. And Roy hated him.)

Hence: an intervention.

Someone, either the captain group (football teams will have ~4 captains with an internal hierarchy, since there has to be a captain on the pitch but no one can actually play every minute of a season) or Pep, sits Jamie down for a chat about how concerned they all are about him and Jamie what is a nice point, what is a prick point, Jamie you were already nice. We already liked you. But right now you're scaring us. You're hurt. Jamie who are you using your prick points on. Jamie? Jamie?

#child abuse tw #ted lasso #jamie tartt #fanfic

[soulofapatrick]

Home, Sweet Home - Peeta Mellark x Female Reader

Summary: You reunite with Peeta after winning the 76th Hunger games and you act on your feelings for him

Words: 1.7k

Warnings: none

Y/N’s POV

The Victory Tour has been an elaborate masquerade, a relentless parade of smiles plastered over a soul still reeling from the wounds of the Games. Every handshake, every fabricated grin, felt like a weight pressing down on me, the agony of pretending to revel in the celebrations when all I truly yearned for was the solace of home. 

The Capitol’s decadence, its opulent celebrations, and effervescent extravagance—it’s all a cruel reminder of the life I’m expected to embrace, the left I’m supposed to relish as a victor. But it’s a facade, a role I’ve been forced to play. My heart remains tethered to District 12, to the quiet streets and familiar faces that offer a semblance of genuine comfort. 

Amidst the sparkling lights and the cheering crowds, my mind drifts back to the memories of the arena, to the mentorship under Peeta, to the haunting absence of Katniss in District 12. 

Peeta Mellark. His name is a lifeline woven into the fabric of my survival. From the moment our paths intertwined, his presence became an anchor amidst the chaos of the Games. His guidance wasn’t just about tactics and strategies; it was a steady stream of compassion and unwavering support that stitched together the shattered remnants of my courage. 

In the heart of the arena, amidst the looming threat of death, he was my solace—the calm in the eye of a relentless storm. His words were a balm to the wounds inflicted by the ruthless Games, and his unwavering belief in my abilities breathed life into the embers of hope flickering within me. But it wasn't just survival that bound us. It was the unspoken understanding, the shared pain, and the unyielding determination to rise above the horrors we were subjected to. Peeta’s presence was a beacon of resilience, a reminder that humanity perseveres even in the darkest of times.

His absence during the Victory Tour amplified the void within me. Each forced smile for the Capitol's pleasure felt hollow without his reassuring presence. The memories of his kindness, his selflessness, and the way he made me feel—safe, understood, and cared for—lingered like an ethereal melody, a symphony echoing in the chambers of my heart.

Every victory in the arena felt incomplete without the prospect of returning home to District 12, where I knew he would be waiting. His absence now is a stark reminder of the yearning that's blossomed within me, a yearning that transcends mere friendship. It’s a yearning rooted in admiration, respect, and an inexplicable pull toward someone who understands the depths of my soul.

As the train hurtles closer to District 12, my mind lingers on the bittersweet ache of anticipation. The knock on the carriage door draws me from my reverie, and when it creaks open, Haymitch stands there, his gruff exterior softened by a knowing glint in his eyes.

“We’re almost home kid.” He tells me, looking for the liquor which Effie had tried to hide but I just point towards the cupboard Effie put it in as he’s gone almost cold turkey the whole tour. He makes a triumphant sound when he finds it and I retreat back into the cocoon of my thoughts, sketching aimlessly while visions of home dance in my mind like fragments of a beautiful dream. Peeta’s words resound, his descriptions of the Victor’s Village painting vivid images of a serene haven—a place that promises solace amidst the remnants of a harrowing past. 

He spoke of the houses with such reverence, a testament to the life waiting beyond the tumultuous journey, “It’s beautiful, you’ll see.” He had assured me with that trademark sincerity of his, as though he wanted to paint the scene for me, to offer a glimpse into eh sanctuary that awaited. I remember his promise, a simple yet heartfelt vow: a cake waiting for me upon my return. The thought brings a smile to my lips despite the weariness clinging to every muscle. It’s a gesture, a small slice of normalcy in the chaos of our lives—a symbol of comfort, of the simple pleasures we often take for granted. 

The idea of stepping into the Victor’s Village, of sharing a slice of cake baked by Peeta in a house that holds the promise of peace, feels like a respite—a chance to shed the weight of the Games and the elaborate facade forced up me during the tour. 

The train's rhythmic chugging signals our imminent arrival. The anticipation swells within me, a mingling of excitement and relief. Home. It's not just the physical place; it's the prospect of being enveloped in familiarity, of finding solace in the warmth of companionship, and, most of all, of reuniting with Peeta—a friend, a confidant, and perhaps something more. 

As the train slows to a halt, the station looms ahead, a beacon drawing me closer to the arms of District 12, to the Victor's Village, and to the person whose unwavering support and promise of a simple joy await me—a promise embodied in a freshly baked cake, a symbol of the comfort and understanding that Peeta Mellark embodies.

Haymitch, ever the gruff guardian, extends a steadying arm, guiding me up from my seat as a twinge shoots through my right calf—a lingering reminder of the games that won’t easily fade. His presence offers both physical support and a sense of familiarity that grounds me in this whirlwind of arrival. 

As the doors of the train slide open, a cacophony of jubilant cheers fills the air, reverberating through the station. The collective uproar, a symphony of gratitude and celebration, overwhelms my senses, but amidst the adoration echoing in the air, my focus remains fixated on finding Peeta. 

Through the sea of faces, my gaze darts around the mass of faces until it lands on him—a familiar silhouette standing slightly to the side, his ocean blue eyes locking onto mine with a mix of relief and unspoken understanding. In that moment, the cheers fade into a distant hum, and everything else blurs into insignificance. The intensity of his gaze feels like a lifeline, pulling me through the tumultuous sea of emotions. 

My heart swells with a surge of emotions, a rush of feelings that transcends the boundaries of mere friendship—a torrent of affection, gratitude, and a love that had quietly blossomed amidst the chaos. In the depth of his ocean blue eyes, I find a reflection of the unspoken sentiments that echo within me. 

The realisation crashes over me like a wave—I’m in love with Peeta Mellark. It’s not just a fleeting infatuation; it’s an undeniable truth that has been silently growing, nurtured by shared experiences, understanding, and the unspoken connection that binds us. Before rational thought can temper the surge of emotions, instinct takes over. Without a second thought, I break away from Haymitch, the thudding of my heart growing out all other sounds. The cheers, the bustling crowd, the very world around us becomes a blue as I sprint towards Peeta, my every stride a leap closer to the person who has become an integral part of my being. 

The distance between us diminishes with each step, the air crackling with an unspoken anticipation. His eyes widen in surprise, a mix of astonishment and a mirrored rush of emotions dancing within their depths as he realises my intent. With an unabashed burst of emotion, I throw myself into his embrace, my arms wrapping around him with a fervour that words could never encapsulate. Peeta’s initial surprise melts into a reciprocated rush of emotions as my embrace envelopes him. His arms, strong yet tender, instinctively encircle me, pulling me closer as though trying to bridge the gap that time and distance had imposed between us. In that shared moment, the world around us dissolved into insignificance, leaving only the raw intensity of our connection. 

“I’ve missed you,” my whispered confession hangs in the air, laden with unspoken emotions and the weight of an unguarded heart. 

His response is immediate, a gentle yet desperate movement as he shifts slightly, enough to cup my cheek with a tenderness that makes my heart flutter. His eyes, a reflection of the unspoken turmoil within, lock onto mine with a raw honesty that needs no words. And in that unspoken exchange, he pulls me closer, his lips seeking mine with an urgency that echoes the unspoken longing we both shared. 

The moment our lips meet, it’s a collision of emotions—an amalgamation of desperation and relief, of aching hearts finding solace in each others embrace. The kiss is a symphony of emotions, a crescendo of pent-up feelings that spill over in a rush of passion and tenderness. The screams and cheers of the District get even louder but also fades away. 

His lips mould against mine, conveying a depth of longing and understanding that transcends words. In that kiss, there’s a separation to erase the distance, to soothe the ache of separation, and to find solace in the shared embrace—a moment of reunion that feels like coming home. Every brush of his lips against mine is a reassurance, a promise of understanding and support. It’s a silent affirmation that speaks volumes—of shared trials, unspoken confessions, and a love that had silently bloomed amidst the chaos. 

My heart pounds in my chest, the world narrowing down to the sensation of his lips on mine, the warmth of his touch, and the overwhelming rush of emotions that threaten to overwhelm me. It's a moment of surrender and acceptance, a moment that feels like the missing piece in the tumultuous puzzle of our lives has finally found its place.

“Come home with me.” Peeta murmurs against my lips and I’m nodding, pressing another kiss to his lips this time chaste. 

“Take me home Peeta.” 

The Hunger Games Masterlist TAG LIST - updated 21st Dec 2023

#hunger games #the hunger games #catching fire #the mockingjay #Peeta Mellark #Peeta Mellark x reader #Peeta Mellark x you #Peeta Mellark x y/n #Peeta Mellark fluff #Peeta Mellark smut #Peeta Mellark angst #Peeta Mellark hunger games #peeta x reader #Peeta x you #Peeta x y/n #Peeta smut #Peeta fluff #Peeta angst #josh hutcherson

[emelinstriker]

Emelin, I need headcanons for Nezha now that he has an official design- and what a beautiful design it is!

I need to know multiple things like how he plays, what's his strategy tactics. And anything else you'd like to share about DND ESAU Nezha. Please. Starving. I'll die. Feed me content.

Thank you, you're amazing, as always!

Aight so there's a bit of a difference with how he plays depending on the overall AU he's in- For example, if he were to play in A Special Stranger, he'd actually play a lot nicer and gets quite a few Nat 20's. Especially when playing with his family.

Though in terms of ESAU...

He's lawful neutral.

If the Reader is a player and not the DM, he sees protecting them as his main priority.

If the Reader is the DM, he insists on them creating a divine character to represent themselves just so he can be their paladin.

Has a tendency of getting Nat 1's. Whether or not Mink rigged the die is another thing. :)

Plays rather aggressively in combat, which kind of reminds others of how brutal he usually is towards victims and enemies outside the game.

Probably met the party at a temple/shrine/church instead of a tavern.

Easily annoyed with certain decisions made by certain individuals in the party. Cough cough.

Is actually pretty fast despite his armor and having no wheels under his boots.

It would be funny though if he got wheels later on as a sad substitute for a mount, but then his character begins to like it.

He was actually supposed to get a sword as starter weapon, but he really wanted a spear, so he ended up getting the design of his actual spear in the game.

Or rather, he rather unhappily made his spear lean against the table to make a point of why he wants his spear. So it was reluctantly added.

Probably burned a village at one point too, just like outside the game. But maybe before becoming a paladin.

Would burn a village in the name of the Reader anyway though if they're the DM/a divine character. So the village better not have any NPC's talkin' smack about any character the Reader is represented by.

#lmk dnd #eternal servants au #esau qna #esau nezha #paladin nezha #headcanons

[wifflum]

Video games that suck and why they suck

Dark Souls spawned a wonderful genre with an excellent, new (besides Demon's Souls), combat system that has been improved to have everything you could think of asking for, by games like Stellar Blade. Dark Souls, even though it was first, however, sucks. Here's why it sucks.

Dark Souls was made by a self-proclaimed masochist who said, about the game, "these are ways I would like to die," and then set the entire game design team to the objective of killing the player at every opportunity. It's like hostile architecture as a video game. The game is trying to kill you at almost every step, but it had this amazing new combat system, so that was tolerated. Now the blind sheep that are the masses worship it.

Elden Ring and Sekiro, on the other hand, did not have this incredibly sadistic touch to them, and are far more fun to actually play. And these trainwrecks who love Dark Souls would say it's a skill issue, to not enjoy crawling your way to the next death spot like it's progression in Final Fantasy XIV raids only through a fu**ing level, let alone the boss fights, and would blame the victim of literal and admitted game design sadism.

Red Dead Redemption, Spiderman, God of War, and also Grand Theft Auto (at least the campaign) and Uncharted-- all of these games also suck. This is because they are not made with gameplay in mind, because the target audience hardly gives a sh** about gameplay and just wants an interactive movie. They are, as a popular and often contrarian video game critic put it, "ghost train rides". They are theme park attractions that are purely there to entertain from a distance, and not really to be interacted with like you would expect from a video game. Gameplay is secondary, and it's often almost tertiary it's so far from being considered important. That is why these games suck.

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

Another somewhat extensive area for video games to suck in, is the Fallout and Elder Scrolls type of games. These games, instead of making story so fu**ing primary that gameplay, the whole point of video games existing at all, is ignored, do the exact same thing with their open-worlds and RPG mechanics. Just imagine a turn-based game like Final Fantasy 7, only the gameplay that can actually kind of stand on its own is actually gameplay that sucks co** and could never stand on its own.

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

I play video games for combat. To have fun and display skill. Everything else is set dressing for that one primary thing, and games that suck either intentionally obstruct fun combat, like Dark Souls does, or might as well not even include it it's so bad.

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

Some other games that suck are fighting games, because in order to get your ration of 3 seconds of neutral game per match, which might be pretty good but in my experience isn't anything to write to my girlfriend in jail about, you have to spend 8 million hours mastering filler moves that waste both players time and just drop the health bars to what they might as well be at the start, which is 3 hits until death.

Tactical RPGs are not that bad, I don't think, but dear God are they stressful sometimes. It's also slow and can get tiresome unless you personally are slow and tired and prefer that pace over action games.

First Person Shooters need defense options other than fu**ing sprint or better offense (throwing a flashbang is an offense action, as is laying a mine) for every situation, which Remnant: From the Ashes really put in sharp relief.

MOBAs, like League of Legends, need to be done differently rather than copying a game that had a barely passing grade on its combat system (DOTA 1 on Warcraft 3) because it took it from an strategy game where you're supposed to be spending 3/4 of your time managing your base and resources and only fighting a small portion of the time. Battleborn actually showed what MOBAs are capable of to some degree, although it didn't have dodges or anything, but got overshadowed by Overwatch which everyone either immediately regretted or regrets now since Overwatch is agony to play.

One game that largely sucked but did not entirely suck, contrary to what everyone and their goldfish will tell you, was Anthem. At one point it had a triple jump, triple dodge, comboing melee character that could frontflip into sniping something in the head or spraying it with submachine gun fire. Yes, that was motherfu**ing Anthem that had that, in the Interceptor Javelin, though the people in the other Javelins did not look to be having much fun.

The last games that suck, which I think everyone largely knows they suck, are Ubisoft games. Now Far Cry isn't that bad, because it still has a reasonable focus on gameplay, but Assassin's Creed games have combat that is almost as ass as Rockstar games' gameplay.

Just, all you have to do, lol, is take some reasonable approximation of soulslike combat, with an actual functional deflect if you include one, unlike Rise of the Ronin, and do whatever your little gimmick is on top of that. People will fall over themselves saying how amazing it is. Just make ACCEPTABLE gameplay with whatever your horsesh** is that your audience of nitwits loves, and it will be something as if from an advanced society in the future.

Although, I personally think the window for that is closing and it wouldn't be jaw-dropping anymore, with soulslikes branching out so much. All we really need now is a soulslike MMO and that'll be the kitchen sink, and I think it's rapidly approaching. All I would ask of someone doing that is that you model the PvP after Guild Wars 1 Random Arenas, and you'd have to study that pretty extensively because there's a lot of nuance that made it so good, but it was namely an extreme difficulty to combat, like you'd get from a PvE game set to Insanity difficulty, somehow enveloping the PvP experience.

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

Anyway, that's how video games of today almost all suck. And it's because they're not really video games; they're either like a simulation of something, traveling or getting stronger, or just straight-up a movie, with video gameyness slapped onto the side like a sticker, with about as much effort put into the application. The games that are good, as video games and not interactive media, which is what a lot of these things should be distinguished as, ask the user to display skill and they make that display enjoyable and varied. There's a million ways to screw up the execution of that design or to excel at it, but only a few games even set that objective of good combat as an actual goal.

But, if it makes makes money it's fine how it is, fu** foresight and artistic integrity, and we must all keep churning out pig slop to the pigs.

#dark souls #battleborn #overwatch 2 #red dead redemption #spiderman #call of duty #remnant from the ashes #league of legends #warcraft 3 #dota 2 #god of war #elden ring #sekiro #fromsoftware #game design #hidetaka miyazaki #anthem #video games

[roo-bastmoon]

Fractured and Adrift

I was going to write a big huge post with lots of screen shots and chart data and analysis that I'd saved on my phone, but honestly I'm too sick right now to sit up and organize all that. If you go on twitter, you see in real time what is happening, anyway.

Bottom lines:

it's very clear to me that ads, payola, pay to play, vpn and other "networking" tactics that go against what BTS has always been about have pretty much come into play--for a catchy, but ultimately impersonal and generic, pop single that was given to only one member.

I'm not just disappointed, I'm gutted. I don't know where to go from here, as someone who used to take pride in being an ARMY and stanning artists who made it to the top the organic and hard way, by being genuine and talented and real with us.

As always, I look to my ult-bias, Jimin. His debut album was abandoned the moment he hit #1, yet he continues on with this company and to be a team player. He was with JK on private time during a couple's holiday. He's been filmed with and is likely working on some sort of project with JK right now. These are my cues. So without any further information about what is happening, I will continue to follow Jimin's lead.

I am a person who believes in the potential and the very best of others until I just can't any more. But I also cannot hide from the glaringly obvious. Jimin was mistreated, and Jungkook was prioritized in ways I personally find dishonorable.

I don't know how much, if any, input JK had in this. He's got a Masters in Communications, a decade of industry experience, and owns stock in his company; but I also know that talent are very rarely given complete insight or say over sales and marketing strategies--that's external, executive business decisions. I don't know what conversations, trade-offs, or internal pressure came into play here.

At this point, I would say I'm very adrift.

I'm a good soldier. I bought the CD, I bought each version of the song, I added it to my playlists. But I no longer feel needed as a fan for Seven; I feel replaced by Scooter's dollars. And I don't feel any personal connection to this particular song, as catchy as it is. I was excited when the styles JK helped choose seemed to be an homage to Jimin's Face, but... now a lot of the elements of this work seem rushed and disjointed. I just don't know.

I'm very worried about what this rollout means for our 7, especially how they are supposed to come together in a fair and equitable way after military service. I'm trying to read through their book when I can stay awake long enough. Trying to trust and hope and manifest the best.

I wish there was more transparency, more communications around what the game plan is, and if the members are all on board with everything.

All I can think to do is to keep loving Jimin and the people who are good to Jimin, keep working hard for what I want and not invest energy and time into what I don't. I do believe that Jungkook and Jimin love one another.

But I'm... fracturing... inside. It hurts.

I'm very ill. Maybe I'm just too emotional right now because I'm so sickly. Maybe I just need more time and more data to have a more rational perspective.

All I can think to do is hang in there and wait to be more anchored in facts before I can decide what all this means--for Jikook, for BTS.

I'm sorry if this post isn't very coherent. I'm on a bunch of steroids until I can get to a specialist and the brain fog is immense. I'm gonna go rest now. I think I might stop posting memes and thirsts and other things for a bit, while I just focus on getting well. But I'm sending you all so much love.

Hang in there. Deep breaths. We will find our way. We will make our way, if necessary.

#jimin #jikook #jungkook

[dduane]

After knowingly being a fan of your Star Trek work since the 90s, and having pushed Young Wizards on as many folks as I can for the last (how long have I been on here?) dozen years or so, and having bought the full download pack just before UK sales went on hiatus due to taxes, I have finally, finally started reading SYWTBAW. I'm instantly in love. The character introductions are perfect. The system explanations are natural, fitting with what the characters know themselves. I'm so happy! But that's an aside, a happy bonus...

I have been a fan of the X-Com/UFO game series since I first discovered it, which was when they brought the game to the Playstation in '95? Wow, that game was wild. I would go visit my friend and play with him, working on tactics for missions for hours on end, then come home and boot up my own system and run more missions on my own. I had multiple memory cards so I could save while engaging the enemy and also keep a save safely back at base if things went pearshaped. When I finally entered the PC-owners market in 97, it was one of the first games I installed there and I still have a copy on every computer I've owned since, and play regularly. I have the official strategy guide, and (the point of this message) I have the tie-in novel that you wrote! Finding that was a lucky thing, I've never seen or heard of another copy. I love what you did with the story, how it ties in well to the mechanics and spirit of the game without remaining constrained to the specifics of the game engine's limitations due to programming requirements.

When it came to writing about games, and writing for games such as Wing Commander, did you (do you still) play (m)any of them to learn more about the systems and lore?

Firstly: thanks for the nice words about my work. :) Much appreciated.

In answer to the question you wound up with: I'm not gaming actively at the moment... there's too much other stuff going on locally that requires my attention. But when I've been asked to participate in a game-based project, I absolutely spend as much time playing it as possible before I get down to work. I'll never be able to spend as much time on it as any given game's major enthusiasts would. But I do my homework, and make sure I have the data I need to handle the story issues and to drive a decent plot.

When I was working on Privateer 2: The Darkening, this wasn't so much of a problem, because I came in as cold as anyone else: nobody outside EA had played the game before. :) That said, I hadn't been hired for my expertise as a gamer, but as a screenwriter. I did spend a lot of time with the game designers and engineers, watching how gameplay was supposed to go and working out how I could best reinforce that rhythm in the way the scenes I was writing played out. It was a really enjoyable collaboration, as the engineers were as fascinated with what I was doing as I was with what they were up to. If there was a downside to the experience, it was having to be more or less a prisoner in Slough for six weeks while the writing and rewriting happened. But this kind of thing is an occupational hazard, best taken as gracefully as possible. (Though that wasn't hard in retrospect, especially considering the cast who wound up speaking the lines I'd written. Clive Owen, Brian Blessed, Mary Tamm, David Warner, John Hurt, Mathilda May, David McCallum, Jürgen Prochnow,... my God, what a lineup.)

X-Com: UFO Defense, though, I'd known for a long time and had played quite a bit: so when asked to pitch, I more or less came in hot with a bunch of issues that I felt needed more attention than they'd had in the actual game. I was delighted to get more or less carte blanche to handle them, and to create a bunch of edgily professional characters to run around destroying the bad guys. It was also, frankly, a ton of fun to use the narrative to blow up or drop alien spacecraft on things that (in real life) were annoying me in that timeframe. For example, in the culmination of one battle I dropped a big alien ship through the beautiful Renaissance Revival roof of the main rail station in Zurich because I was cranky about some slippery floor tile they'd installed downstairs in a refurbishment of the ShopVille shopping center. (I mean, seriously, people track huge amounts of snow and slush in down there when they come off the escalators from street level: why would you not put nonslip tile on that floor? It's deeply irresponsible. So they had it coming.) :)

...Anyway, it was really enjoyable having a chance to play around with what I imagined Earth's geopolitics to be doing under gameplay conditions, while also enacting a more than usually complex game scenario in prose. I don't know if or when I'll be doing that kind of work next, but writing the X-Com: UFO Defense novel definitely left a good taste in my mouth.

Thanks for asking!

(ETA: and here are those tiles. ...The cubical affair in front is an art installation: an illuminated "fountain". It was originally made of wires or strands of plastic cable, down which drops of glycerine, or something like it, slowly slid. But they seem to have swapped that out for water. And, oh look, there's video!)

#X-Com: UFO Defense #Privateer 2: The Darkening

[dragon-ascent]

Geeking Out

Genius Invokation TCG, Zhongli, and you.

Genius Invokation TCG is all the rage, everyone’s playing it no matter who they are

Which is why Zhongli isn’t surprised that you’ve been swept by the TCG wave too. You’ve already built a few strong decks, spent some Mora on good action cards, and played against other people in your free time

You rave about the game all day to Zhongli, who doesn’t mind. He likes it when you’re gushing about the things you’re into (he also finds it adorable, quite frankly, but that’s beside the point)

Zhongli passively learns the mechanics of the game thanks to you, understanding the kind of tactics you’re into and how to get the best of your opponent. He’s a good listener after all, so he remembers every last detail

One day you come home with the BIGGEST grin on your face, waving a card around excitedly

“Zhongliiiii, guess what card I bought today!”

“What is it, dear?” he asks, putting down his book to pay attention to you. He remembers everything you’ve told him about the card game, and thus today you must be boasting about a good action card you’ve purchased.

Your grin widening, you show him the card – it’s the Mask of Solitude Basalt.

Zhongli’s brow furrows. “An artifact card. But darling, if I recall correctly, none of your decks incorporate Geo units. Have you started building a new deck?”

“No, silly! It’s not what the card does, but who’s on it!”

You’re fangirling about the fact that Rex Lapis is the wearer of the mask in the card, so in a way, your lover is a TCG character too

It’s an action card, but it quickly becomes your favourite card for obvious reasons. You take even better care of it than your character cards, much to Zhongli’s amusement

You anticipate the days you get to go to the tavern to play a round or three, which means your disappointment is immeasurable on occasions you cannot…

“A-choo!” Blowing your nose, you whimper for the umpteenth time. “Today’s supposed to be match day…”

“There is always next time, my love,” Zhongli offers kindly as he refills your cup of tea. “Why not go next weekend?”

You pout. “But I wanted to show off my new deck to everyone! I put together a whole new set that’s bound to have everyone jealous!”

Zhongli kisses your forehead. “Can it not wait a week?”

“No!”

Therefore, because Zhongli loves you so much, he comes up with an idea

He’s seen you talk about your new deck and the tactics you have in mind for it, and thank the archons Zhongli has impeccable memory

He decides to go in your stead and play on your behalf

Naturally, you’re overjoyed but also apprehensive. Sure, he’s seen you play many times, but that’s not the same as actually playing it himself…

He assures you he will do his best by emulating all that you’ve done and shown him, and you get so emotional you almost sob and blow your nose on his coat and wish him all the best of luck

“Hm���”

The second Zhongli has stepped into the tavern, your fancy new deck in hand, he sizes everyone up. People recognise him, partly as the funeral consultant from Liyue and partly as your husband – mostly the latter, since you’ve become quite well-known for your card game prowess, and therefore Zhongli is famous too by association.

After he has found a challenger, he sits opposite them and takes out the deck. His opponent comments on how he’s surprised to see Zhongli today instead of you, and Zhongli explains that he’s playing on your behalf.

His opponent chuckles. “This is no different from being up against a first-time player then. I’ll take the easy victory, thank you.”

But Zhongli smiles as he rolls the elemental dice. “Come what may in this match of ours, but I have the utmost faith in my wife’s strategies.”

#genshin impact #zhongli #zhongli x reader #genshin #genshin x reader #rex lapis #morax #tcg #genius invocation tcg #fluff #drabble #sini writes

[darkstarofchaos]

For the character ask game, I'm not sure how many numbers you're willing to do for a single ask, so you can just do as much as you want from this. For Prowl - 2, 3, 7, 8, 12, 15, 16, 23, 25

I don't mind a bunch of numbers! Gives me an excuse to ramble, lol. And to rant, because Prowl deserves better.

2: Favorite canon thing about this character?

His willingness to look Optimus in the face and tell him he's being stupid, and to do his own thing to mitigate the stupidity if he has to. Mostly applicable to IDW, but Optimus needs a foil so badly in G1 that I've pretty much transplanted it into G1 Prowl when I write him. Not in its entirety, because G1 Prowl isn't IDW Prowl, but I like that he has his own opinions on tactics and morality and doesn't just go with the Autobot collective. His job is not to be a yes-mech; it's to keep people alive and win battles. If his commander is making stupid decisions, what benefit is there in standing back and letting it happen?

3. Least favorite canon thing about this character?

Making the police car an actual cop was the most boring decision anyone could have made. In stories where the Cybertronians choose their alts, especially, there are so many more interesting things you could say about his character by giving him a pre-war job that's completely unrelated to his Earth alt. For example, I like to think he chose it for tactical reasons: it's a common black and white vehicle, thus perfect as a disguise, and the sirens let him "legally" break Earth traffic laws in an emergency. It's far more interesting if his alt is a result of strategy and reasoning instead of, "I guess I'll take the one that matches my old job description."

7. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you like?

I like that people took the little tidbit about Prowl having trouble with the unexpected that has exclusively appeared in two bios (that I'm aware of) and made it reasonably common. Would be really nice if they treated it seriously instead of making it comic relief, but maybe it does get treated more seriously these days. I don't read a lot of Prowl fic.

Let's talk about why.

8. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you despise?

The image compilations of Prowl getting punched. The prick jokes that litter every TF Wiki page for every G1-based Prowl. The fanfics where Prowl is an uncompromising jerk or straight-up hate sink because the author needed a mean Autobot. The conversations and hypotheticals that make Prowl the source of any amoral action the Autobots take. The people who distill him down into Essence of Asshole and strip out every positive or sympathetic quality he has.

"Prowl gets villainized for being sensible" is one of my most hated fanfic tropes. Grab just about any fic where a Decepticon defects or earns the Autobots' sympathy in some way, and Prowl will be the only one who's unhappy with the situation. Which is perfectly reasonable because that is an enemy and he has no reason to trust them, let alone like them. But because we're supposed to sympathize with the Decepticon, that makes Prowl the villain. The other Autobots aren't naive and unreasonably forgiving, Prowl is just a bad person.

And it's not just IDW fics. G1 Prowl didn't get a whole lot of screen time, and thus no chance to develop his own personality, so he gets slapped with the same portrayal. Never mind the fact that when he does show up, he's one of the nicest characters - sure, he gets in on trash talking the Decepticons (though far less than some of the Autobots), but he's always helping out around base, shows concern for others, and pretty much stays out of interpersonal conflict. And yet, in stories based on a cartoon that has Powerglide, Gears, Cliffjumper, and Optimus Prime himself, I am expected to believe Prowl is the Autobots' resident jerk. Not gonna happen.

12. What's a headcanon you have for this character?

As I mentioned earlier, it's kind of quasi-canon that Prowl has trouble dealing with the unexpected. It's never appeared in any actual media, but it does come from official sources, so I wouldn't call it a headcanon. But I do headcanon that he has some pretty severe anxiety in dealing with people because of it. Things like math and physics are reliable; if something doesn't do what you expect it to, it's because you lacked information, and you can remedy that. You can update your calculations based on the results you actually got, or try to find out what you were missing the first time. Given enough data, you can predict just about anything as long as the results are consistent.

People are not consistent. You can make some sweeping generalizations about them based on categories - social groups, behaviors, readily obvious personality traits - but you can never say with certainty that someone will react in a specific way to something. Once you've known them for a while, you start to understand them and can anticipate them with a reasonable degree of accuracy, but that's assuming their behavior is genuine and consistent. If they're messing with you or pretending to be something they aren't, your data is inaccurate, and you can't correct it unless you know it's inaccurate.

People are the only things in the natural world that can deliberately give you false data about what to expect from them. So yes, I think Prowl has social anxiety. And probably some form of people-centric agoraphobia or anthropophobia.

(I also headcanon him as biromantic asexual. It has nothing to do with the above, and actually predates the anxiety headcanon).

15. What's your favorite ship for this character? (Doesn't matter if it's canon or not.)

If I had to pick just one pairing, I guess I would say Jazz/Prowl. Which is ironic, because for a long time, it was one of my least favorite Prowl pairings. Not because it was particularly objectionable; it was just everywhere, and I couldn't see it working. I think of Prowl as the kind of person who needs a steady, reliable partner who will let him have his routines and respect his desire to plan things before doing them, and Jazz's thing is more spontaneity and flexibility. He seemed like one of the worst partners for Prowl, especially with how I developed Prowl's disorders over the years.

In the end, though, that spontaneity is what brought them full circle to a pairing I can support. Because I do think Jazz would be willing to compromise and accommodate for Prowl's needs, and that Prowl could eventually trust that he's not going to suddenly change how he acts around him. It's a rather tenuous case of opposites attract, and requires patience from both parties, but I can see it working now.

16. What's your least favorite ship for this character?

First, an honorable mention goes to my immediate impulse, which was Constructicons/Prowl. I get why people want IDW Prowl to have someone on his side, and I don't think the Constructicons meant any harm. But Prowl was forced into the team through a series of traumatic events, the Constructicons like him for things he hates about himself, and being a part of Devastator seems to have contributed to his psychological decline. It wasn't a good or healthy situation for him, and I feel like the Constructicons having romantic feelings for him actually makes it more uncomfortable for me.

That being said, I'm going to have to go with Optimus/Prowl as my absolute least favorite ship. Optimus is very strongly motivated by morality and will generally take what he perceives to be the most moral action in a given situation. Pair that with someone like Prowl, who is willing to cross lines when he feels he has to, and you already have a relationship on rough ground. The only way things can work between them is either for Optimus to accept Prowl's "moral failings", or for Prowl to change a fundamental part of himself. There is literally no option that doesn't require one of them to compromise their principles or change who they are. And since Optimus isn't the kind of person who will do that, the only hope for a relationship is to "fix" Prowl. And that gets into abusive territory, because Optimus has power over Prowl in both the physical sense and in their professional relationship. He also has social power, because because Prowl is unpopular and Optimus is exactly the kind of person you wouldn't expect to be capable of abuse.

And yes. For the sake of argument, it could be toxic from Prowl's side too. He could try to hurt Optimus by throwing his mistakes in his face, or by blaming him for everything that goes wrong. But Optimus has a great deal of confidence in himself and the support of pretty much everyone, while Prowl is isolated and already isn't proud of things he's done. He is far more vulnerable to abuse than Optimus is, socially and psychologically, and he just doesn't deserve that.

23. Favorite picture of this character?

Mmm. I guess I would have to say this one, since it inspired an entire story that I'm still working on. There's actually another one that I like better (which also spawned an in-progress story), but I'd have to do more digging to find the link for that one. Might do it later.

25. What was your first impression of this character? How about now?

When I started watching G1, the Autobots were just a conglomerate of near-identical personalities to me. Prowl was just one of the generic background bots who got a few minutes of screentime in one episode and was otherwise relegated to a support role. I was mildly interested by some of the fanfic portrayals I saw, but I definitely preferred the Decepticons, so I didn't read much where he was a main character unless there were Decepticon MCs too. And most of those fics were written by a couple authors whose endings were consistently disappointing, so after I stopped reading their stuff, Prowl just dropped off my radar.

Nowadays, Prowl is my favorite Autobot (well, second favorite after Skyfire). Thanks to IDW, I kind of see him as the Autobot version of Starscream (narratively if not in personality), but he's also a fascinating character in his own right. I love that he doesn't conform to the Autobots as a whole, he's fun to write and analyze, and he was the one good thing I got out of the IDW comics. 10/10 character, deserves better.

#transformers #Prowl #unpopular opinions

[artbyhauk]

do you have what it takes?

in many ways, the games industry as we know it is giving off death rattles, likely on account of people whose sole priority is numbers having this idea that growth is infinite- and independent of the state of the world. everything can be nailed down into handy little strategies and powerpoints, surefire plans to make insane numbers- and boom, one day the plan falls through and the same people whose purpose is the survival of a business get off scot free while thousands of workers lose their livelihoods.

i have some views i have been told are radical regarding business as a game studio owner.

First, i believe that success is random and incredibly situational. All you inherently can do to affect it is manipulate chances. You could have all the money and eyes on you in the world and flop, you could release a 2 dollar asset flip and gain terrifying amounts of attention overnight. In all ways, releasing a game is a gamble consisting of a million chance successes to even get to this point. Hell, not dying before you drop your work is a chance success in itself.

More money and more time gets you more chances. Easy as, and pretending otherwise is futile. In the end its all chance, and you work with what you have- which brings me to my second point: working within your means.

I dont think i'll ever understand pretending you have money you dont have- i'm just not wired to. Loans terrify me, i cannot ever 'expect' a revenue- what business do i have expecting anyone to give me money? Am i forcing people to buy my product? You either have money or you dont.

Unless you can afford to, dont hire people. Its cruel to promise people money where there is none. There cant be any growth if there is no ground to grow on.

These two things might very well make me bad at business. But if business is cheating people out of money and lying to myself and others, maybe thats not a thing i wanna be good at.

I suppose it makes sense though. I own a business out of necessity. I'm forced to care about powerpoints and plans and strategies, to put my belief in social media and neatly defined target audiences, because they let me create my art. But they also drive me insane, pushing against my moral compass and putting me face to face with a cruel industry that combines all the worst aspects of art, film and technology.

Ironically, this industry is also thoroughly hostile to art. Everything must have a proven success or rely on cheap tactics to earn revenue. Exploration, the unique and creative approaches are shunned and dismissed. Even the notion that a work can exist not to be a success, but to further games as a medium seems incomprehensible. Because in the end, its all about the bottom line.

i think, that to 'have what it takes' to survive the games industry, you need to be a cockroach. Work within your means, survive, and hunker down to fend for yourself- because capital will either eat this industry alive or vanish from it, and at that point what else will there be but art and love for the medium?

On the plus side, the small inherit the scraps from giants.

#personal #gamedev

[vigilskeep]

curious on your ostagar opinions as a player—i’m personally on the side of “ostagar wasn’t anyone’s fault, including loghain’s, though some people cailin couldve minimized the loss better than they did”, (though i still hold loghain very accountable for the way he handles the ferelden civil war and the slavery), but i know you spared him in your main playthrough

ostagar’s an interesting one and it’s taken me a while to develop my thoughts on it. battles are by nature complicated and chaotic and hard to pin down to one factor—there’s a reason real medieval war leaders tended to avoid them if possible—but here’s some thoughts

1. the push to confront the darkspawn as quickly as possible, even when troops from amaranthine, redcliffe, orlais, etc. had not yet arrived. both cailan and loghain seem responsible for this. cailan is reckless and confident, unconcerned with the idea of facing the darkspawn without reinforcements, and loghain actively vetoes the idea of waiting for orlesian reinforcements. as i recall it’s primarily duncan who wants to wait but the grey wardens are on shaky footing and he doesn’t have the influence to press that. if it hadn’t been for loghain’s insistence, cailan might well have waited for the orlesians, but if cailan hadn’t called for the orlesians, maybe loghain would be the one counselling to wait for redcliffe and amaranthine. neither should loghain’s fears of the orlesians be written off as unreasonable imo like yes his choice here went badly but it wasn’t based on unfounded prejudice and there’s no way to know what might have happened

2. the beacon was delayed and mistimed. this isn’t anyone’s fault except the darkspawn. alistair and the warden were supposed to light the beacon at a particular time, but instead of that being an easy job, the tower has been suddenly overrun by the time they get there. alistair comments as you fight through the tower that you’ve probably missed the signal and should light the beacon just, like, as soon as you get up there. this chaos must have affected decisions taken on the ground and, as the main change from the original battle plan, was possibly why the beacon was delayed enough that loghain considered there no longer to be any chance of saving cailan

3. alistair says at flemeth’s hut that he has no idea why loghain would turn away, and that the king’s forces “had nearly defeated” the darkspawn. i’ll make allowances for his perspective being somewhat affected by the losses he’s just suffered, but his judgements are generally very good on this kind of thing and i trust them. i don’t see any reason to write this off, especially combined with other witness accounts. i do believe him that there was a real possibility to win here

4. at flemeth’s hut, all anyone can guess is that loghain wanted the throne—men’s hearts hold shadows darker than any tainted creature, and all that—but there’s no sign of this in loghain later in the game, although supporters of his like howe may have wanted that as an end goal. there’s nothing ambitious in loghain, there’s no intent to betray. loghain claims he remembers “a fool’s death and a hard choice” and that “the darkspawn would either have had him or have had us all”. it seems odd that he consistently blames cailan’s foolishness when it was a battle plan he had agreed to and nothing really changes on cailan’s part, but cailan’s recklessness and lack of care for battle plans is thoroughly set up in the ostagar prologue and i imagine it affected how he was handling things during the battle and also the aforementioned failures to get all of ferelden’s forces there in time. nonetheless my point is that this was purely a tactical decision on loghain’s part, and he regretted cailan’s loss (even if he blamed cailan for it). so either he genuinely thought the battle could not be won, or that it would mean enough losses that it would not be worth winning. and i trust his judgements too—battle leadership and strategy is his whole skillset

SO where does all that leave us. i think ultimately my perspective on the battle, which i think gives it a reasonable balance and a reasonable way to argue both sides, is that if loghain had followed the plan they would have won and cailan and duncan might have lived. thus, loghain can be considered responsible. however it would have left ferelden with significantly higher casualties. loghain’s men would have been lost as well as the king’s. ferelden would have been in an even worse state than it already was, and that with a) a blight still ongoing, since the archdemon was not present at ostagar, and b) a whole orlesian army of reinforcements on the way, with no-one to stop them at the border, and who with ferelden’s defences completely crippled might well fight the darkspawn just like the grey wardens wanted... and then find reason to stick around. celene was obviously trying to regain orlesian influence in ferelden with her letters to cailan, and there are several pieces of minor dialogue in da2 which openly threaten the possibility of orlais retaking ferelden in the aftermath of the blight’s destruction. could they really resist the temptation if their armies had the excuse to already be there? ferelden hasn’t even been free for as long as it was under orlesian rule

(as a side note, me sparing loghain in my main playthrough isn’t me being a Loghain Was Right truther and certainly doesn’t mean i or my warden absolve him of his actions during the blight, especially towards the alienage. ‘is loghain right/morally salvageable?’ isn’t really the decision my warden makes at the landsmeet; it’s ‘is it more important to kill a man for doing evil or to let him live to do good?’. it’s ‘is it more important to publicly make a peaceful compromise or to make a strong statement against my enemies and in favour of my allies?’ more personally to my warden, it’s ‘i have fought so hard all this time so that everyone will know someone like me can save ferelden, but how will the history books remember me if i become the elven mage who killed the hero of river dane?’ those are all far more interesting and relevant considerations to explore for me narratively than assigning blame)

#loghain mac tir #battle of ostagar #all open to discussion as usual #its a fun one. i love ostagar as an opening to the series and an introduction to the world #such a good tone setter

[murdererofthumbs]

I find it fascinating that some people think that Roman’s mountain top outburst with Matsson was a fucking business strategy, that it was actually a negotiation tactic. I’m sorry, but did we watch the same scene? Not only did Matsson fuck them over by giving an offer the board absolutely won’t refuse (which shits right on the genius master plan of Kendall taking over Waystar - yet again, for what?), he also pretty clearly blew his lid off. Is revealing all the ways they planned to fuck the deal supposed to be this amazing tactic? Absolutely not. He lost it, it was a culmination of all the grief, all the anxiety, and all the anger at Matsson for dragging them up there days after their father died, and he just fucking erupted. Comparing him to Logan in that moment only matches if you think about Logan fucking losing it and making a stupid decision because he lost his tempter (like his little tantrum after PGN went to shit). I feel like in their world, you’re either an emotional wall or you lose, that’s it. No cards on the table, because you can’t manipulate someone if not only they can clearly see through you, but you also just come out with unhinged monologue, revealing everything (which I’m happy that Roman did it, he needed that catharsis, but also - not a good business move overall). Lucas was not intimidated by Roman, he was amused, he threw more money at them to solidify the deal, because he saw an emotional value ATM holds for them. That’s what the picture from Shiv was about, that was his one big fuck you. In the end of the day, it is a big dick competition.

I also saw some interesting (if only questionable) opinions on Shiv - Matsson stuff. Like yeah, I think girlie was definitely winning this episode, especially when you had her brothers as a comparison, who just stood there with dicks in their hands, looking absolutely clueless half of the time. At this point what is going on between Shiv and Matsson could be considered a mutual symbiosis; they are kind of like two parasites feeding of each other, playing each other off but to the benefit of both of them. But this cannot be long-term, we all know how things go - the closer you get to the sun, the more painful the fall is going to be. Matsson getting Shiv on his side (with quite a lot of enthusiasm on Shiv’s side, she did try to play her own angle all along), is a very easy way of getting himself an insider to the company. It’s also very easy way to take care of Kendall and Roman problem. Shiv has a motivation to stab her brothers in the back, she can sense that she is not being included, and she can very clearly see that her brothers are actually incompetent and don’t have a plan. Which means that Matsson going with “you remind me of your dad” was an extremely good move on his side. It solidified it for Shiv, it literally lifted her of the ground. Because everyone with a pair of working eyes can see that Roy siblings cling to Logan like he’s a raft, and all they want to do is either make daddy proud or be like daddy. For Shiv it’s a compliment of a highest standard to be compared to Logan, because Logan was the big boss, because in the end of the day - Logan always won. They are still playing the same old game, and I’m worrying that it’s about to bring the same results it always brought, just from a different person.

Then again, obviously this show is very highly open to interpretations and I might possibly be giving a bit too much credit to Matsson (in the end of the day he might turn up to be a complete idiot, business-wise, although I doubt it), but that was my overall read on the last episode.

#roman roy #they have no fucking clue what they’re doing #especially ken and roman #i think they are all very clearly getting played by matsson #and its about to turn into a fucking bloodbath #where they stab each other and bring the whole family to ruins #succession #kendall roy #succession hbo #shiv roy #logan roy #lucas matsson #marta rumbles poetically

[donshowmachine]

Can you do agent reader with ATP Engineers too? Something something they came up with a scarily deadly device that will definitely "help you do your job better" or organised a date that you're not sure is supposed to be a jab at your poor computer skills or an actual exam on programming

To me they're the brains of every tactical planning in AAHW, talented in their fields, but come off as irritable and bit snobbish due to being surrounded by people who might not understand their 4D chess game in battle strategy. They know they are smarter than the majority of agent mass, probably like to flirt with making gadgets or aggressively organising your paperwork.

Thanks for detailed prompt! Here you go, hope it will satisfy you. Choosed the device route. :]

This is still agent!reader, but here wasn't any soldiers flirting with them :D

Semi-mature joke, really bad compliments and flirt, little non graphic descriptions of reader corpse, not beta read, Engineers are trolls. 1,7k words.

There was a bunch of sudden attention from ATP engineers. Usually their lectures, tasks and help distributed evenly among agents. But now you rarely see them with anyone, without them shifting their attention to you. Why?... Usually all your talks is about work.

ATP engineers surround you when you take a sit in dining room, not letting other agents talk, interrupting them. At one moment Your familiar agents have completely stopped sitting next to you because of their oppressive company. They flock just like pigeons, rather passively surrounding you like a piece of bread, and noisily cooing. And they just can't shut up their little masked beaks about how rust-bloods all dumb. Sometimes they ask you things like, what is your favourite weapon, or some sort of tactical riddles, which made to mock you for not obvious answer. Or once asked wasn't it you who unplugged the computer from a power outlet "for fun". They laughed at one engineer who panicked and didn't understand why nothing was working... And they trolled you from time to time. It was like that classmate who is an arrogant nerd, but if he was cloned, and had no other things to do but pester you. Annoying. You wanted to punch them in face, sadly, they had durable masks. That's probably why.

Their laugh sounded like funny anecdote was told to a bunch of kookaburras. They was rather funny than annoying while laughing, just like little loud fluffy birds with funny trembling tummies, a bit satisfying even, but you wish that anecdote wasn't litterally any of your attempt to socialise with them.

Probably they choose to troll you to have compensation for all agents who made jokes about their blood. Well, now you totally understand how is it, being in ATP shoes for this part. It even started romantically, before gates of hell opened: "Rose-blood", "Bullfinch-Blood", "Sunset-blood", "rubie-blood"... It even made you blush. But after, it was a whole lot of "lobster-blood" "crab-blood", "flag-blood", "Stop-sign-blood", "Fire-trucks-blood", "Borscht-blood", "fire extinguisher-blood", "Acne-blood", "clown-blood", "shame-blood", and many others.

This day was no differ. Some crap happened on the other side of AAHW, so the dining room was almost empty. They slowly moved a lot of hot dogs towards you.

...You usually ordered them with same sauce and additives. What is it. What does that mean.

"Is it for me?"

"Yes." They said, muffled through the masks. You felt uncomfortable with the attention, they all looked at you through the yellow glass of the mask... Some had crazy eyes, like some insane scientist who just electrocuted himself, others have a more tired gaze. They usually communicate more with each other, only occasionally giving time to you, because, well... You weren't so an enthusiast to communicate with them.

"Is it a prank?"

"No."

"Are they poisoned?"

"That'd be illegal!"

"Can i do your paperwork?" Another engineer asked.

You looked at him terrified. It's sure some kind of check. He tests how lazy you are, to report to Auditor. There is no way he would really want to do it for you!..

"I can replicate signatures very good."

"No-no-no, thanks, i prefer to do it myself."

Engineer looks at you suprised. Ha, ate it, piece of snitch?! Report someone else!

"Respectable. I just finish my work too fast." He bangs on the table a little bored. "And after that i just waiting... For incidents."

They're famous workaholics, as any AAHW workers, tho. You probably was the black sheep, but you will never let anyone say it, or notice.

"It's kinda hell to have free time. I always have full existential crisis." Skill issue, you think. "And here is hard to find work sometimes, the most interesting things have already been assigned to someone else... I finished my rant, yes, now to the deal." His voice sterned. "Want to test our shrinkihankwhinblentonator?"

And from this day they offered you their... Experimental scary devices, each for killing, and a lot of them were raw, no matter how many "tests" they said were done. It always somehow backfired at you. Either these inventors have hands out of their asses, or you have a talent for breaking the tech just by breathing on it.

And, next time they wasn't even asking about permission to do your paperwork. Not like you can complain, and Auditor will check.

Some of gadgets were a complete joke... One time You've been handed an old radar.

"It detects best agent in the whole AAHW." There was only one flickering dot, always in center...

"Who is it?" You looked around. Any agent nearby moves, but the dot does not, as you stand still.

"I don't know." Calmly and patiently lied engineer, his silhouette towered over you like a statue of an angel. "Maybe you will figure out eventually." He giggled softly.

You felt ashamed because you never can distinguish Engineers visually, but they can always identify you with ease. It's like an endless embarrassing moment from a sitcom where you confuse twins. You were jealous of characters of the series, they had only two twins, and you had whole AAHW of them to suffer. You wish you could just write their names on their face, or that they wear badges. And for them it's not even problem! Like you were the only one with "agnosia", and they just magically know who is who. Or they don't even care...

Fortunately, at least they weren't offended, but you sure they would be annoyed at some point. Sooner or later.

***

"You had good results in this month, yay!" One Engineer softly complimented you. All of engineer crowd quietly clapped. "And, you probably don't know what it mean... It mean you will help us with experiments. We need our best workers, non-modified, for it."

The dim corridors became less crowded as soon as you got into... A small cabinet with surgical table and instruments. Cold here.

"This is... Basically, modified cloner. Too much budget is spent on the constant fast transportation of agents on missions."

"Oh... And... This is will be inside me?"

You was scared. The iron structure looked very sharp, big, not like tiny inconspicuous chip, and clearly had to puncture the organs. This strange dark liquid with organic chaotic mess from which usually cloners collect soldiers in cells, big needles, it should be for mag agents, not... You. It looked like chthonic cyber-parasite who will tear you apart inside just to heal your mere flesh wound.

"This is goes under ribs," Engineer's finger moved on metal thing, "here it will be attached to the spine..." He enthusiastically moved his finger to another place.

"You will be unkillable! Probably. This thing is pretty FAST." He said with delight. "Probably also very painful, but anyway, would you like to test it on mission?" He looked at you like a madman escaped from a psychiatric hospital, but also like very cute pleading kitten.

"I... I... Can i take time to think?"

"Do not bother to think, this is offered only once in your entire career!"

"Uhhh... Well..."

"Death is painful anyway," engineer smiled with his voice, his eyes were narrowed like those of a Cheshire cat. "Regeneration is better than just beating records on dying per day, don't you think so." His low voice sounded ominous, despite the friendliness, cheerful eyes looked creepy. He definitely wants to convince you...

You make a frightened, eloquent face, and run away.

***

ATP Engineers unpatiently sat in their elite, VIP-gold-blooded-intellectuals-only restroom. It wasn't restroom, just cabinet for work - and as obsessed, possessed by demons workaholics, they finished all they had, and now they just grumbled and discussed agency and work, as they did everyday. But now they got new topic...

"This Agent... You know, THE AGENT." Started ATP Engineer, named gLd3n.

"Y/n?" Answered other engineer, with nickname "Fractal". He developed some parts for AAHW Purgatory this way, and now it's his name.

"yes, Y/n. I think they didn't understand hints at all. Are we not obvious enough?"

"Yeah, you for sure are. But not me. They looked at me for more than 5 seconds." Third engineer said impossibly proudly. "You know, i have hundreds more chances than you all." His voice is super-arrogant, and the whole sitting pose was like an tyrant king on throne. True winner.

"Pfft. Because you're used our year's supply of cologne? I sure they just wanted to ask you to quit room. Normal people at least wash themself, before using cologne." Calmly roasted him Fractal, and turned back to gLd3n. "You know, you can use some compliments. Practice. Imagine that i am them." Engineer put broken agent's glasses on mask.

"Uh-oh. Yeah, i think i can do that..." He coughed, clearing his throat. "Your blood is... So orange... Nice color. Second best color after yellow. Rusty as just red, but better. Like... Ehm... And you always so elegantly smeared on the asphalt on missions, like... Cat. You sure got flexibility that no agent have. Your liver shines more than the claws of a mag agent."

"You're necrophiliac or what? Too much attention to their corpse and organs, they would be FREAKED OUT and have nightmares about you."

Engineer giggled softly.

"Sounds romantic... Okay, okay! Show me how pro would do it!" gLd3n angerly took agent's glasses and put them on his mask, and sat on chair the way you usually do.

"Easy!" Fractal took the hand of the interlocutor. "Hello." He murmured in the most languid voice. "Can i fill your papers with my ink?"

gLd3n slapped his mask.

"How you dare! Who you think you are!" gLd3n trying to parody your voice as funny as possible.

"They would never say that... And their voice is better than THAT."

"Go ahead and check it out, if you're such a telepath. Im Y/n now! So try your best."

"Okay. Can we... Oh, you know what?" Fractal took the glasses and threw them in the trash. "I wouldn't teach you my best pick-up lines!"

gLd3n laughed.

"Nice flirt, they would like it! Especially their glasses in trash can."

"Okay, we are all bad at flirt. But there is so many ways to show love!.."

"Like?"

"Teach them fire and mag safety..." Whispered Fractal. Another engineer interrupted the sequel.

"Yea, who need flirt at all! It was invented by scammers to sell dumb courses for thousands of dollars! No one would ever like this crap, it's all scam. Would even one of you fall for this stupidity? I bet no. Don't even bother with it guys." Other engineers agreed approvingly.

"I'm sure Y/n are materialistic. What agent like them want?"

Silence. They were as amazing at brainstorm battles idea and humiliation of less mentally gifted colleagues, as they were terrible at brainstorming ideas for Y/n.

#madness combat #madness project nexus #madcom #madness combat x reader #Atp engineer #Atp engineer x reader #Atp engineers x reader