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starsomens · 8 months

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Can you perhaps write a Noah one shot where it involves person A fell first but person B fell harder

Note: ooo cute! I made Noah person A and Y/N person B. I feel like this isn't my best work but I also think it's really cute, I hope it's okay

*ring ring* the small bell of your cafe rung. You turn and smile to the person who walks in

"ah, look who it is! My best and favorite customer" you say coming to lean on the counter of your front desk. You owned a very small and secluded, but popular cafe and bookstore.

"And it's my favorite cafe bookstore owner. How have you been?" Noah asked as he leaned on the counter. Noah had often passed your small place whenever he was back home in LA, but never went in. He then saw a sign posted outside that read "2 books for 1 coffee" So he had decided to go in and see what it was about.

"So, do I have to buy 2 books to get a coffee?" he asked

"No, not at all. All I ask is for some book donations in place for coffee. The books are then put out for sale or donated sometimes. So, just passing on a book to the next person kind of thing." you smiled at him. It was that smile. That’s what started it all and kept him coming back every time he could.

“So how did the tour go?” You ask him fixing him a cup of coffee. He’s come back so often you know how he likes his cup

“Really tiring but it was amazing.” He admitted “how have the books I’ve brought you been?” He returned the question

“Well, I did read through them and I surprisingly really liked the crime and horror one you gave in! I read through it so fast it was over before I knew it!” You usually read the books he brought before putting them on the floor to give.

Truth was you kinda had a feeling he had a thing for you. More because people kept on telling you and you had finally pieced one and one together. You had finally realized you had some feeling for him when he had gone on tour the first time and you missed him deeply.

You kept telling yourself that it was just a Silly crush that cousins work because of his career. Someone like him couldn’t have had feelings for you! Could he?…

“That’s really good. What about the extra one I threw in there?” He asked

“The romance caught me off guard because you usually don’t bring stuff like that. I haven’t finished it just yet though. ” you inform “I’m nearing the end!”

“Huh. How about we sit down while you finish it?” He asked grabbing the cup of coffee, motioning told his usual spot.

“That sounds really nice” you smile at him grabbing the book and coming around the counter “so why did you pick romance this time around if I could ask?” You ask pulling the chair out and taking a seat

“Oh you’ll see” he giggled.

If he was honest. He was so SO nervous! There was a purpose for this specific book! He never read romance, not until he met you that was. So before he left for tour he left a couple of books in hopes you’d make it to the romance novel in time.

“You know i really did miss you coming around” you admit as you look out of the window. Watching as the clouds began to form, raining was soon to come.

“Awh how sweet” he said slightly sarcastically as he sipped the arm drink “don’t worry I missed coming here too”

“Whenever the bell rang I kinda hoped it was you when I turned” you chuckle “instead it’ll be a group of girls, or my best friend or even that weird guy from the video game store” you said with a slight cringe. He knew exactly who you were speaking about. There was a video game store employee who’s come in nearly every day at the same time to order something complicated just to speak to you longer. Most of the time he would hit on you and it had gotten very annoying even after saying ‘no’.

Some days Noah was there and was able to have the conversation cut short. But since he’s been on tour it’s been tough.

“He’s still trying? Even after 100 rejections?” He asked shocked and you just nod

“I don’t know how else to tell him” you shrug as you open the book only having 3 pages left to read "Kinda feel bad at the same time."

“I could tell him for you” he thought to himself

"You know this is really nice," you said flipping the page "just sitting here with you and coffee you know?"

"Yeah I know....Y/N you know when I was on tour. I did have a lot to think about" he said sticking his hand in the pocket of his hoodie. His hands fidgeting with something

"I can only imagine. Even with all of shows you had to prepare for?" you ask

"Yeah, you can say it's pretty important if it's got my attention during tour" his leg began to bounce "and I just thought that once I got back I should tell you in person instead of just a text"

"Awh how thought- wait. Noah," your eyebrows scrunch together as you examine the book "The book is missing a page! It's the end where he finally confesses! Did you buy it this way?" you ask shocked

"No, no you're right it is where he confesses I just." he pulls out a folded page "have the end with me. Liked it so much I had to take it with me."

You look at him puzzled. What could he have possibly liked about it so much that he ripped the page out.

“Noah, you’re acting weird. More than usual that is” you poke at him

“Oh I’m weird?” He shoots back “why don’t you read what I underlined for me?”

“Okay…” you look to the page and see some words and letters are underlined. “____” your name spelled out “will….you…please….let me…call you….mine?” You were completely lost and once it came to you, you’re entire face burned up! You could feel the blood rushing to your cheeks. Your eyes dart between the page and the mischievous smile on Noah’s face , he had this planed all along?!

“Look ever since I came here I thought. I thought….so many things about you. You were so nice and really cool and had great conversations with me.” He admits “then I started noticing how you’d make my heart race. How everyday felt better after seeing or hearing form you. You’re gorgeous, you’re generous, you’re just….so amazing. I knew that I felt something for you…but then I had to go on tour.” He said with a guilty tone

You thought you had feelings before but now it was on a different level. You could feel your heart taking leaps in your chest. Your hands flaky, your mind racing. How could you have fallen so hard and so easily?!

“I….I…” you didn’t know what to say you were just star struck!

“Well?” He chuckled nervously “I-I know it’s kinda corny but you know. You have the book store thing going on and thought it might be cute to-“

“Yes.”

“What?”

“YES- ahem. I mean” you take a breath “I’d, love to go out on a date with you” you smile softly. You test the waters and reach over for his hand that laid on the table. His tattooed hand taking your own and wrapping it in warmth.

“So I’ll take that as you liked the lil plan?” He asked

“I loved it. I didn’t take you for such a romantic Mr.Sebastian” you tease him getting up from your seat and he stood with you

“Well, you could say the thing I was thinking about on tour, or rather the person, was important enough to make me romantic” he smiled pulling you in for a hug

“Good to know”

「✨Taglist✨」 @lilhobgobbler @cncohshit @vir-tual @tdopomymind @concretenoah @noah-seb-omens

#noah sebastian #noah sebastian x reader #bad omens #noahsebastian #badomens #bad omens cult #bad omens band #bad omens fanfiction

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toxicanonymity · 1 year

Text

Corey C. from the call center (one shot)

Words: 4.5k | Corey Cunningham 🥹 x Fem!Reader

Sub!Corey,kinda. Shy, brooding, meowmeow!Corey, post-accident, pre-Michael.

Summary: You start talking to Corey when he's working at the call center and you call in. You invite him over for Halloween 💕. [In Halloween Ends, Corey's mother threatens to send him back to work at the call center when she thinks he was injured at Prevo]

You take Corey’s jacket and for the first time see his strong, expansive chest. He notices you noticing, and he assumes he has something on his shirt. He looks down at himself and brushes nothing off his chest then smiles shyly and tucks a wild curl behind his ear. You welcome him to sit on the couch with you. He sits upright, awkwardly. You can tell he's going to need some encouragement.

18+ EXPLICIT

mdni

You recently moved into your own little house. It’s the first time you’ve lived on your own, and you’re far from where home used to be. Right after college, you lived with a partner who would call the landline every day after you got off work to make sure you came straight home. When that ended, you stayed with family for a while, then moved to Haddonfield for a fresh start. The weather felt cold and bleak at first, compared to the deep South, but the town seemed to have a real sense of community, almost like perfect strangers were trauma-bonded.

Still, you haven’t been fast to make friends, and sometimes you’re lonely. You initially moved in with a roommate, but she moved in with a boyfriend and you hadn’t been able to find a new one. Instead, you move into a little duplex you can afford on your own.

Your internet hasn’t exactly been reliable, and you’re still getting used to managing your own utilities. You haven’t called for help yet because the prospect of it overwhelms you, but you get tired of rebooting the router and finally call your internet service provider to troubleshoot your connection.

You reach a polite young man named Corey C. Corey has a deep, sexy voice and a Northern accent. Northern accents are super hot to you the same way a foreign accent might be hot to someone else.

“Can I get your phone number in case we get disconnected?” You give it to him.

“Tell me about why you’re calling today.” He follows the script, you give him the answers.

“I lost the internet.”

“Are you near your router? Can you tell me which lights are blinking?” You tell him you don’t know what the lights are and he guides you through light by light. You aren’t really listening, you just savor the sound of his voice. You could listen to Corey C. talk forever.

“Ma’am? Ma’am are you there?”

“Yes, sorry. The top one is blinking orange.”

“Okay, I can reset the connection from here, it’ll just take a minute to reboot, okay?”

“Sure.” It’s refreshing how sweet and patient he is. You were nervous to call for help, and he’s made it easy and even enjoyable.

“I’ll stay on the line to make sure it works, okay?” You already want to hug him. Sometimes you still feel so alone, and even though he;s just helping you through this tiny problem in the big scheme of things, it feels good to have someone sound like they’re actually there for you.

“Sounds good,” you say. “How’s your day going?”

He sighs. “You know, it’s just another day.” Something sounds so sad in his voice.

“Awww”

“Actually, you’re the first nice customer I’ve had all day.”

“Sorry to hear that.”

“That’s alright, it’s just the job. How’s your day?”

“Oh, fine, not too interesting. I was just streaming Euphoria when I lost connection.”

“Sorry about that. How is that, by the way?”

“Oh it’s awesome, you should watch it.”

“I don’t have Showtime, but it looks really good.”

“You have an amazing voice, by the way, sorry if that’s weird, I just had to tell you.”

“Uh, heh, well, thanks.” You can practically hear him blushing

“Do you get that a lot?”

“Um, no, not really, most people are just annoyed. Their internet is out or their bill is too high.”

“That doesn’t sound very fun, sorry.”

“Well, it’s a job, my mom got it for me, so I could save for college.”

“Oh, are you still in high school?” He doesn’t sound young, but you feel like you have to ask.

“Oh, no, no, I go to community college, I’m just saving up for engineering school.”

“Well, you’re good at your job, Corey C. You’re patient and kind, and hey, it looks like you already fixed my issue.”

“Oh, heh, you can just call me Corey.”

“Okay Corey,” you smile.

“Is there anything else I can help you with today?”

“No, I think that’s all for today. I hope your day gets better.”

“Thanks. You’re nice. Give us a call back if you need anything else, okay?”

You wish you could talk to him longer, but you let him go and give him five stars on the customer service survey.

For the rest of the day, you can’t get his hot voice out of your head. He’s earnest and sad and that just makes you feel more connected to him. The whole time you’ve lived in Haddonfield, you’ve felt like an outsider. It’s almost like people wonder why anyone would move to Haddonfield after 2018, and they never quite let you in. You hear something similar in Corey’s voice. You hate the thought of him getting yelled at all day.

A few days later, you have the same issue and get Corey C. again when you call. He remembers you. You make conversation again, and at the end he says “It was nice talking to you, really.”

The day after that, you call back just because, and you ask for Corey C. by name. He’s about to go eat his lunch. You talk about your favorite foods and drinks.

Each time you call, you pretend there's an issue and give him five stars. Corey tells you he's switching to a later shift and gives you his extension. The late shift is pretty dead sometimes, so if you're ever bored you could give him a call. Now you have his extension.

You're listening to WURG in the car, and Willie the Kid is on about how Corey Cunningham is a killer. Corey Cunningham. You always felt bad for him, but hadn't thought about him since you started talking to Corey C. on the phone.

You go on YouTube to try to find old CourtTV footage, and there it is, that deep sexy voice. You didn't know Corey Cunningham was hot. You had a feeling Corey C. was though.

Corey's hot voice paired with his sweet curly hair and glasses and the way he can barely make eye contact really pulls at your heart. You also can't help but notice the way his prison garb hugs his body, and his thick neck, and his Adam's apple when he gulpsl.

He's a gruff, sexy hunk of man wrapped around the sweetest saddest package and you just want to squeeze him.

You call Corey on the late shift. can talk until he has another customer. You talk about your favorite holidays. Yours is Halloween but he doesn't like it. You ask him his story and he tells you his full name and says you probably already know it. “It’s cool if you have to go,” he adds, sadly. You don’t, of course.

You come clean about hearing his name on the radio and looking him up. He doesn't mind. He’s just relieved you still want to talk to him. You tell him your full name and story, too. You tell him things you hadn't ever told anyone else before. He tells you about his home life. You tell him how you came from a similar situation - in terms of feeling controlled and unable to live your life. You talk for hours. He only has one customer and calls you back after.

You call back the next night.

"I wasn't sure you'd ever call back again," he says. “After getting to know me more, I mean.”

Your heart hurts. "I called back especially after getting to know you. I wanna get to know you even more, now."

"Yeah? What do you want to know?"

"Do you have friends? A girlfriend?"

"Not really"

"No girlfriend, really?"

"No. The past couple years have been - it’s been tough. I wouldn’t want anyone to deal with this. Plus, you know, I still live with my Mom.”

"Well. You're sweet. And cute, you know that, right?" Secretly, you suspect he doesn't.

"Heh. You don't have to say that.”

"Really. Very huggable, too. I just want to squeeze you"

"You do?" You wonder if he was even hugged as a child.

"Yeah, is that weird?"

"No, not at all. Just unusual. I mean, I can't remember my last hug. Is that messed up?”

He has another customer, but you tell him to text you later. You know he already has your phone number from your file.

You text throughout the week, and sometimes you talk on the phone because you like to hear his voice, still. As Halloween approaches you worry about him, especially because it sounds like Joan has been acting even crazier now that he’s working a later shift. Everything you learn about him intrigues you more. He doesn’t drive. He rides a bike. He trespasses and hangs out at abandoned, bleak locations a lot. He never really had a dad, but his stepfather is cool.

Even pathetic things – like his mom still doing his laundry – only make you feel closer to him.

Knowing how traumatic Halloween must be for him, you invite him over to spend the evening with you. The whole night, if he wants.

Halloween

You watch your niece while her parents go to a Halloween dinner party and your sister picks her up right before Corey's shift ends. The flow of trick-or-treaters tapers off. When the doorbell rings, your heart races.

You answer the door and almost don't recognize Corey. He looks so much bigger in person. His hair is darker, too. He's wearing a brown corduroy jacket, black and green flannel shirt, and black jeans that are too big. His glasses are different. Round, wire rim. He's wearing old white sneakers. His bike is on a kick-stand behind him. His curly hair is wild from the wind. He’s even more unassuming and huggable than you imagined. “Hiiii Corey,” you say. You can’t believe he’s really here. Your heart is fluttering. “You can park your bike on the porch.” You get the bowl of candy and set it out on the porch for any late trick-or-treaters as he parks his bike.

“Hey, thanks for inviting me,” he says. His voice is even nicer in person.

You hold your arms out for a hug before he's even in the door. He walks into you with his arms hesitantly outstretched and you curl your arms under his. His big corduroy arms wrap around you like a blanket, loosely at first, then you squeeze him around the waist and inhale, and he gives you the bear hug you really wanted. His shirt smells like a wood shop. His jacket has a faint hint of smoke. And his skin - his thick, masculine neck, smells freshly showered, minty.

You invite him in and lock the door behind him. You have a big leather sofa with an oversized plush ottoman. Your TV is mounted on the opposite wall. You’re going to watch Black Christmas and the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

He faces the tv and you face him with your feet up on the couch. You tuck your feet under his muscular thigh. He puts his large hand on your foot and stretches his big feet out onto the ottoman. After twenty minutes like this, you say “Can I have another hug? The first one’s wearing off” and smile

"Come here," he says, smiling shyly and extending his arm. He's finally relaxing.

You settle in next to him, hugging him from the side, inhaling his masculine, minty woodshop smell. He strokes your arm.

Your skin is hungry for his. You can't get close enough to him. The closer you are, the closer you need to be. You already have your arms wrapped all the way around him, and his arms over yours, and you still don't feel close enough. It's like your body has a magnetic need to be all the way around his. Like an affectionate, emotional horniness.

"Wanna lie down?" you ask? "On your back." You wonder if that was too direct, but he takes off his glasses, then does it.

He lies there, watching you curiously. You climb on top of him, straddling his sturdy hips with your legs, and you slip your hands under his large arms. You hug and squeeze him like a koala. "Can I stay like this?" You ask. “Like forever?”

He laughs softly at you. "Yeah, you can stay like that," he says softly. You love feeling his voice through his chest. “I like it. Do you want to watch the movie like this?"

"Yeah," you say. You haven’t been this close to anyone the whole time you’ve lived in Haddonfield.

He’s very strong and solidly built, but not overly cut, which you love. He’s unassuming and comfortable to lie on. He’s perfect. Your head is against his soft flannel chest, rising and falling with his breaths, listening to his heart pound. Your knees are to either side of his hips. You're straddling his meaty thighs and it's a stretch. Your crotch is just below his, but they would be aligned if you got out of your koala posture. You scoot your knees back a little. You’re very comfortable. His hand comes to your head and strokes your hair. Your eyelids are heavy.

"You're really pretty, you know," he says as your breathing grows steady and falls in rhythm with his against his chest. Your heart swells.

His belt buckle digs into you. You pull your head up for a second and touch his belt buckle and say "can I?" He blushes and nods. You feel his cock twitch under your arm as you unfasten it and slide out the leather.

As hot as he is, your awareness of his cock doesn’t distract you from your primary desire at the moment, which is just to be close to him. You're so overwhelmed with affection for him that your number one priority is to hug him forever and never let him go and never let anyone hurt him again. You pull a thick blanket over both of you and doze off top of him.

***

When the movie ends, you wake up in the same position. You look up at Corey and he's asleep. You stretch out so you’re more parallel to him and lie on top of him with one of your legs falling between his. Your hunger for affection is actively being satisfied, and now a different hunger stirs in your core.

He looks so peaceful. He stirs and you kiss him on the cheek, then the neck, then you lock eyes and kiss him on the mouth. His soft lips embrace yours. As he kisses you tenderly, you begin to unbutton his flannel shirt. You feel him harden against your thigh and your clit is screaming for you to grind against him but you don't want to make any sudden moves. You can take the lead if you have to, but want to savor every moment and resist the urge to rush things. You kiss affectionately as you finish unbuttoning his shirt. Meanwhile, you’re twitching with need for him.

You spread your hands out, fingers wide, and trace his pecs through his tight, thin undershirt. His breathing changes when your palms graze his nipples and you feel him twitch against your thigh. He sits up on his elbows and you back off to give him room. He takes his arms out of the flannel sleeves, revealing how his thick arms fill his thin undershirt.

Corey looks like he’s trying to read your face like a book as he drops the flannel shirt to the floor. He begins to wrap his arms around you again, but you slide your hands under his white cotton shirt. His skin is smooth and warm under your fingers. You meet his eyes with a hopeful look. He helps you remove the shirt, then he lies back down and opens his arms for you.

You take off your own sweater, and before laying back down on him, you take a moment to appreciate his bare chest. His skin is pale and smooth and warm. You hug him again like you were, with your cheek now resting on his bare, warm chest. One hand strokes your hair while the other caresses your back. His large fingers graze over your bra strap repeatedly, and you take that as his way of asking you to remove it, so you do. His face flushes and you smile. His eyes look back and forth between your nipples as you bring your chest to his. There’s a magnetism between your bare torsos as they meet and your breasts flatten against him. He rests his arms on top of you and strokes your skin. You kiss his neck, then his cheek, then his mouth, and you’re making out again.

You take in the feeling of his lips against yours, his skin against yours. Your chests and arms together feel like they should never come apart. You could stay like this for hours, do nothing else, and still consider it a good night, but you want all of him against all of you. When you look him in the eyes, you’re certain he wants the same.

“Your skin feels so good,” he whispers.

“Yours too. I want to feel all of it.”

He slips a hand in between the two of you and you lift yourself up to give him some room. Large knuckles graze your skin as he unbuttons, then unzips his pants. You scoot yourself down toward his feet and begin to slowly remove his jeans, pulling from the ankles. His briefs start to come with them, revealing some red pubic hair. He doesn’t pull the briefs back up. He’s breathing slowly, deliberately. His thighs are muscular and fade from white to tan. His legs have soft, auburn hair and a few scars lighter than his skin. His feet are huge. You leave his socks on. You almost can’t believe how lucky you are to have him here in your house.

You lie down again, cradled by a large arm, slowly squirm out of your joggers - you weren’t wearing any underwear to take off. He watches you while you’re nestled against him. Your entire naked body now lies against him. He takes his free hand and nudges his briefs down a little more and you help him slowly pull them off with your hand, then your toes, not wanting to leave his side again. He raises his knees one at a time to help. You don’t look directly at his cock but you see enough to know it’s thick and getting thicker.

You’re both nude. The room is just chilly enough that your body heat together will be enough. You pull the blanket up so only your heads peek outside it. You’re cuddled up so close you’re like one body with two heads. You hook your bare leg over one of his and nestle comfortably against him. You reach down and remove one of your socks, then use the toes of that foot to remove your other sock. You slip your big toe into the hem of his sock and he lets you remove them one by one and he giggles when it tickles.

As you play footsie, you feel his cock harden against your leg, and you feel yourself moistening against his strong, hairy thigh. The contiguity of your bodies is intoxicating - the magnetism of his warm skin against yours.

He kisses you softly on the forehead, then on the lips. You close your eyes and inhale through your nose as you kiss, feeling his arms around you. You’re cosmically absorbing him into yourself and at the same time transmitting yourself into him. You want all his feelings and his fears and his trauma and his problems. You want both of you to carry them and yours together as one.

His cock swells against you and his pelvis pushes into your leg and he whispers "sorry."

It stirs you from your affectionate stupor and you whisper back, "don't be. It's natural." You bend your knee and spread your legs, shifting yourself so his hardness is nestled against your warmth. "And I like it," you add. “I want more,” you purr. He takes a deep breath.

Corey’s expansive hands glide over your arms and his thick arms wrap around you tighter. His hot, stiff, member rubs against your warmth. You grind against him, bury your nose in his armpit, and inhale slowly. Your nipples harden as his musk fills your nostrils.

He kisses the top of your head. You look and he bows his head, a wild curl falling in his forehead, and his lips meet yours. He pushes his rock-hard length against you harder as you kiss, and you feel pre-cum. You tilt your hips, slickening his shaft. He softly moans and pulses rhythmically there. You badly want to be filled by him. Your body inches upward on his. Your legs spread for more direct contact and you grind your clit hard against his shaft. You drag your warm, wet cunt against him. Your hips tilt, offering your entrance if he wants to take it.

The wet, swollen head of his cock slides against your folds and nuzzles at your soaking wet entrance. You truly ache for him. You feel the pain not only in your throbbing cunt but in your head and in your chest.

His cockhead nudges your entrance and you whisper “yes.”

His hips rotate upward and the head of his cock pushes into you, unleashing a swarm of butterflies in your core. He sighs. He inches further into you, pleasantly stretching your cunt. Time stands still. You feel his cock pulse and your hips start to move on their own. As you roll into him, his hips jolt up, plunging his whole length into you.

It takes your breath away. You’ve never felt happier than this moment. He sighs and you gasp as pleasure shoots through your spine and spreads to your nipples, your thighs, all your skin against his. Your eyes feel weak like you might cry.

Corey is still for a moment, both of you savoring the first moment his length was sheathed entirely in your warm, wet cunt. You breathe with him, feeling your skin against his, your cunt around his cock. You feel him pulse inside you, then he pulls back a few inches before thrusting into you harder. He shudders as he fills you again. Your chest is hot against his. Your arms curl under his and his thick fingers dig into the smooth skin of your back.

You bring your knees up and hug him like a koala again, rolling your hips into his, your throbbing clit rubbing against his pelvis, savoring the perfect feeling of his length inside you. Your body has a mind of its own now. Your hips let his shaft halfway out, then lower yourself back down hard, and repeat. You drag your breasts down his chest a few inches then sit up. He marvels at your body and his hands come to your hips as you ride him. He reaches for a breast and your nipple hardens against his wide palm. Your pace quickens.

Corey’s face is flushed and his eyes are dark. His dark eyes sparkle as they gaze into yours. His lips are slightly parted. “You’re so beautiful,” he says in a low, gruff voice. “I love being inside you.”

“I love it too,” you say as you keep riding him. He closes his eyes and you watch his hot Adam’s apple as he swallows. His breathing gets heavier. His hands go from your breasts to your sides then beg you closer against him. You kiss him deeply as you lower your breasts to his chest. His lips are soft and plush but they kiss you hard this time, invading your mouth with his strong tongue, sucking you into him, consuming you as you ride him.

Your hard nipple grazes against his and he softly moans into your mouth. His hips rise and you slowly stop riding him, hovering half-on his cock, begging his hips upward into yours. He thrusts upward into you and begins fucking you from the bottom and your cunt clenches around him. You both breathe heavily against each other’s mouths, breathing each other’s breath.

He starts to say something, “I–” but his own moan cuts him off. You sense he’s about to come and as much as you want his hot seed to fill you up, you want to swallow it even more. You want your body to digest him, millions of little versions of him, take little bits of him and turn them into you and you into him.

Your cunt is clenched around him but you beg it to release. You lift your hips and slowly let his swollen cock slide out. It’s ready to burst. You grab it in your soft hand and scoot quickly down his legs, then bring your lips to the head of his cock. You suck the head of his salty cock then open your jaw to slide your lips down his girth. Your strong tongue massages him and you suck from the back of your throat. He strokes your hair and groans and says he’s going to come.

His hips tense as his cock releases a huge salty load into your throat in waves. You seal your lips around his shaft, not wanting to waste any of it at all. You swallow after every pump, still sealed round his shaft. Then, once he’s empty, you gently slide your lips off and replace them with your gentle hand, wanting to protect him from the cold as he deflates.

He sits up and kisses you frantically, pushing you down onto the opposite end of the couch so you’re on the bottom. His huge hand engulfs your cunt and his lips come to your nipple, then your neck. His middle three fingers massage your aching clit and your hips roll up into his huge hand. You can tell he’s desperate to make you come. It won’t take much. He begins to move his hand to your thighs, and you sense he’s getting ready to bury his head between your legs, but you’re too close to let him break contact. You grab his wrist and force him to stay.

His lips come back to your neck and he sucks you hard, biting you lightly, as his soaking wet hand pleasures you rhythmically. You feel the blood in your neck rising to the surface of your delicate skin. Just a few more seconds and your back arches as pleasure shoots through your core, seizing your entire body, and through your final waves, you moan “Corey, Oh, Corey,” and your eyes well up, and his eyes water too as he kisses your lips again. You collapse and hug him into you, on top of you.

Corey nuzzles his curls into your neck and the skin of your chest tingles against his. Your insides buzz with his cum inside you. You would be content to stay like this all night. Preferably every night.

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starstruckkittensweets · 27 days

Text

chapter two

Fandom: My Hero Academia Pairing: Dabi x Reader Words: 5.6k

A/N: Anon in my inbox, this chapter is for you! I've had this in my drafts for a while now, so I cleaned it up and edited it so I could post it ASAP. I hope you enjoy! Please heed the warnings both below and in the main masterlist!

Warnings: 18+ only (minors DNI), Reader is referred to with she/her pronouns, explicit language, mentions of arson, mentions of violence, stalking, breaking and entering, Reader is followed and nearly attacked by a stranger (nothing happens, heavily implied though), murder, brief descriptions of a corpse (it's Dabi's fault), Dabi is kind of an asshole towards Reader in his descriptions of her but that's to be expected I guess

“Kerosene and Butterflies” Masterlist

Your house used to be an akiya, one of the many abandoned homes in the rural parts of Japan. Upon graduating and moving out, you were able to snag a nice one for an affordable price, with a few investments in repairs here and there. And while your family wasn’t a hundred percent on board with the idea of you living so far away from the rest of them, they didn’t really stop you because, well, it all came out of your pocket. Why stop something if you’re not the one footing the bill, right?

It’s quiet, calm, and comes with some gorgeous scenery, especially in the fall season. Only a fifteen-minute walk to the nearest town, seven if you power walk. It’s the dream house you’ve always envisioned yourself living in when you finally grew up and moved out of your parents’ home.

But now you’re starting to see the downsides of living in such a secluded home: far away from the rest of civilization, not a single soul in sight. A perfect location for any wandering criminals looking for an easy break-in.

You haven’t slept much these last few nights. The little note is in your desk drawer, stuffed between two books and covered up with a towel. Part of you wanted to throw it out, to stuff it down the shredder, to burn it and toss the ashes somewhere in the forest—but eventually you caved and decided to keep it. Maybe hand it over to the police as evidence if any more were left behind.

But it’s been the only one for about a week or so. And since then, you’ve triple checked each lock on every door and window in this house, even scoped out the entire place from outside to make sure there weren’t any crevices or secret entrances anyone could use against you. And just as a precaution, you keep your old softball bat right next to your bed, brushing your fingers over the handle every night before you go to sleep.

Not like it’ll do much against an attacker, you barely have any arm strength to begin with. Still, it gives you something to cling onto.

And now the moon is high in the sky, and you still have to get ready for work tomorrow. Part of you wonders if you should stay in a hotel for a couple nights in the city, but you decide against it. You have to save up for bills anyway, there’s not enough cash between weekly grocery shopping and student loans to splurge on a hotel getaway. Besides, it’s not like anyone can get into this house anymore; you’ve latched both locks on the front door and shoved a bookcase in front of the kitchen window. The curtains are shut and the lights are off. No one’s getting in here now.

You wish you could remember anything about that night—anything unusual, like missing items or unusual scents. But you’d been so tired from your shift that you’d thought nothing of it, completely oblivious until you found that little note tucked away in your notebook.

The little black notebook you’re cradling against your chest, an uncapped pen trembling between your fingers.

Someone was in your house. Someone had found this book—had leafed through it and read your little entries. All the embarrassing words and thoughts that plagued your mind in the dead of night, and sometimes during the day, about a certain black-haired villain. Someone who had left a taunting note about it, leaving you rattled for days on end.

Oh god, I can’t believe someone saw all those notes and entries—they must think I’m a total weirdo! I thought no one could find it and read it, that’s why I kept writing—but oh my god what’s going to happen now? What if they come back and try looking through it again? What if—

Calm down, it’s okay, what’s the worst that could happen? So what if they read all your embarrassing writing? It’s not like they’re going to go to the police and tell them you have the hots for a villain. You’re not gonna get arrested for something like that.

You grit your teeth at the thought. You do not have the hots for him.

Go figure, you’re more hung up over the fact that someone’s read what you’ve written in your little diary rather than them actually breaking into your own fucking house.

Maybe you really are screwed up in the head.

As quickly as you can, you change into your pajamas and finish your nightly routine. You tuck yourself into bed, surrounded by the trio of plushies next to your pillow. As sad as it sounds, they give you a sense of comfort you haven’t felt since before you left home to come live here.

Maybe it was just a one-time thing. Maybe it was just some lowlife who thought he could scare you. Maybe he’s far away from this place by now, looking for another house to break into. Besides, it’s not like he took much, right? He’s probably traveling light in order not to get caught. He’s not gonna come back anytime soon.

It’s true, only a few snacks and candy bars from the counter were taken that night. You realized the next morning, after staying up the entire night holding the note in your hands. Not enough to put a dent in your food supply for the week, but enough for you to notice its absence.

If it happens again, you could always contact the police. Maybe they could get a hero or two to patrol the area, to make sure he’s really gone. Wouldn’t that be nice?

Sure enough, the thought’s enough to send you to sleep, with a hand curled around the handle of the softball bat, and another wrapped around the little stuffed toys on your bed.

“I have some terrible news…the pocky I was planning on sending you mysteriously disappeared.”

“Shocker.” The sound of Fay’s laughter crackles over the phone’s speaker. Part of you wants to laugh along with her, but the growing pit in your stomach tells you it’s not a good idea just yet. “Did your brother come over and steal it again?”

“No…actually, his is gone, too.”

“Wait, seriously? What happened to it? Because I know you suddenly didn’t get a craving for pocky in the middle of the night.”

You shrug your shoulders, even though you know she can’t see you. Even if she’s miles away overseas, just talking to her again makes you feel a little bit safer. Like nothing can hurt you if she’s on the phone with you.

No scary people lurking outside your home tonight.

“I…I think someone broke in and stole it.”

“What?!” It’s hard not to flinch at her shrill yelp. Why did you put her on speakerphone again? “Someone broke into your house?! Are you okay? They didn’t take anything valuable, did they? No money or electronics? You still have all your personal stuff, right?”

“Yeah, Fay, don’t worry about it. Everything’s in order. Looks like they just helped themselves to that stash of candy I was saving for you guys. But…that’s all they took.”

Fuck, even when you say it out loud it sounds ridiculous. What kind of thief breaks into someone’s secluded house just to steal a fistful of candy? Not a very smart one, if they ignored the whole gaming system you have set up in the living room. You could easily make a few hundred bucks off of that…so why didn’t they think to take it when they had the chance?

Fay hums on the other end of the line; you can just picture her tapping her finger against her chin, lost in thought as she stares into space. “…That’s weird. And you’re sure they didn’t take anything else?”

“Positive.” You checked each room twice, then triple checked them just to be safe. Everything’s in order, aside from the supply of candy in the kitchen. “But…it happened about a week ago. Nothing else since then, so…I’m guessing that’s a good sign?”

“Well, did you call the police at least? Or put in a report? Maybe you can have a couple heroes scope out the place if you’re nervous.”

“Yeah, I thought about that too… If it happens again I’ll let them know. But honestly I think it was just a one-time thing. It’s been pretty quiet since it happened, anyway.”

You don’t even bother telling her about the note; you know if you do, she’ll be screaming in your ear about how dangerous it is over here, that you should just move back home to be with the rest of your family and friends. Safe and sound, where they can keep a close eye on you.

Not like there aren’t villains and lowlife criminals where she lives, but still… You can kinda see her point. Nothing like this had ever happened back when you lived with your family.

Besides, telling her about the note will only lead to telling her about the journal—about Dabi, and you’re never going to go there with her. You trust each other with a lot, but this is a secret you’re willing to take to your grave.

Nice way of putting it, but whatever.

Can you even imagine how fucking awkward that would be? Yeah, I ran into one of Japan’s most wanted villains at my job and now I’m fucking obsessed with him. I can’t stop thinking about him and honestly he’s the reason I started writing in that old journal again. Oh, and whoever broke into my house also found that journal and read through all those stupid little entries I wrote about him. And they left me a little note taunting me about it. Fucking amazing, right?

She already knows you’re weird, but admitting something like that to her would guarantee her checking you into some kind of hospital. Or back home with your family. Honestly at this point, you don’t know which one would be worse.

Thankfully she drops the subject; you can tell the time difference is getting to her (it’s almost her bedtime, and the day’s just beginning for me). But talking with her always puts you in a good mood, and when you say your goodbyes and hang up, your chest already feels a thousand times lighter. If you have one regret upon moving overseas, it’s not being able to bring Fay along for the ride.

But now the house is quieter without her voice echoing through the rooms. Today’s housecleaning day, and thankfully it’s nice enough outside to have the windows open. The fresh air always makes you feel better. And besides, it’s broad daylight—what kind of thief would try to break in now?

So you change into an old shirt and pair of shorts, push open the windows, and set to work. First comes the laundry—you’re lucky enough to have a working washing machine and dryer in the powder room downstairs. Once the first load of clothes is shoved into the washer, you head upstairs with a bucket of rags in one hand and a mop in another.

The first casualty is your bedroom; you’ll work your way downstairs and clean as much as you can, until the smell of lemon makes your stomach twist.

The hours tick by slowly, and eventually you lose yourself in your housework, humming along to the thousands of songs on shuffle blasting through your headphones. Sweep the floor, mop the floor, polish the windows—oh, don’t forget to switch the laundry. One load down, two more to go.

And it’s…nice. Not that you enjoy doing housework, but it’s almost relaxing to keep your hands busy with something else for a change. Keeps your mind off other things, lets you focus on the gorgeous weather outside and the fact that it’s you day off from work. Sometimes it’s nice to just enjoy the simple things like that.

Don’t even mention the events of last week. All that’s over with now, gone with the wind. And thank goodness for that.

The sun is nearly gone by the time you finish, and you’re fucking exhausted. But at least the laundry’s done and folded, the upstairs is spotless (save for the storage room, that’s a project for another day), and the entire house has a faint lemon scent to it. Not overpowering, but just enough to remind you of home.

Still, even with how tired you are, the last thing you wanna do is dirty up the kitchen and make yourself some dinner. Maybe you should treat yourself to that cute little ramen shop in town…

The more you think about it, the more enticing the idea sounds. Your stomach is already growling, but you manage to change into a fresh pair of clothes and fix up your hair a bit before heading out the door. Heavy lanyard hanging from your wrist as you lock up and head into town.

Just a quick bite to eat, and then it’s bedtime. In and out, twenty minutes’ adventure. What could go wrong?

He didn’t expect to see her out and about this early in the day.

Granted it’s nearly half past nine, a dark veil over the streets of the city. But it still makes Dabi stop in his tracks, huddle further into the alleyway when he sees her sitting at the counter of a ramen shop. Eagerly slurping up noodles from the bowl in front of her, scrolling aimlessly through her phone. Completely unaware of her surroundings.

As per usual, the little idiot.

Well, he can’t be too mean to her; she has been a bit skittish the last week or so. Probably found his note in that little book of hers, and now she’s more careful about wandering too far from her little house in the woods. She hasn’t left it much other than to go to work, and unknown to her, he’s only a few steps away from that downtrodden path. Making sure she gets home safe.

At least, that’s what a hero would think, and he’s the furthest thing from one. Nah, he just doesn’t want anything to happen to that little stash of food she’s got in the kitchen. Thanks to her generosity the League was able to fill their bellies for a few nights. Only downside is that Toga is consistently begging him to get more of those candy bars, maybe even some more pocky. She seemed to like that the most.

He’s just thankful she hasn’t decided to follow him out here. No telling what the little psycho will do if she sees the cute owner of that tiny house.

…Cute?

He grimaces at the word. Not even close. Just fascinating to him. He wants to know what’s going on in that stupid little head of hers—how much of it is filled with air and empty space if she has the balls to go and write little love letters to a villain like him.

He’s been to her house three times since then; two for recon (making sure no one else is scoping out the area), and one to explore that huge master bedroom of hers. She’d been at work, not scheduled to come home until hours later, so he made himself comfy at her desk and flipped through her little journal.

She’s got a bad habit of writing about him. Not any other villains, not even any heroes. The only name scrawled down in those pages is Dabi.

He hadn’t seen her up close since that first night at the store; and now she’s just ten feet away from him, chowing down on some ramen like she hasn’t eaten all week.

Bet she’s eaten more than any of us have, if her loaded kitchen’s anything to go by. The thought makes his stomach twist and his fists tighten at his sides.

But he has to keep his distance—for now, at least. Don’t wanna scare her off just yet.

Dabi pulls his hood up and over his head, careful not to make any sudden noise from the alleyway. She’s sitting there with two other guys, all three of them too engrossed in their meals to pay attention to each other. Looks like she won’t be leaving anytime soon, so he might as well get comfy.

Not like he has much to do tonight anyways. He’s been hanging out here since the sun went down, waiting for a possible new addition to the League. But he hasn’t shown his face yet, and Dabi’s waited long enough. Can’t waste time on nobodies not committed to the cause.

Of course now he’s got a reason to stick around a bit longer—one that’s slurping up noodles so loud he’s surprised she hasn’t woken the entire neighborhood.

He lights a cigarette, careful to shield the spark of blue from any prying eyes. Only a few people roam the streets this late at night, eager to get home and tuck themselves in bed for the night. A tipsy couple getting a little too handsy on their way to their hotel room. A group of teens chattering away like they’re the only ones in the world. Far too many businessmen checking their watches, probably planning on apologizing to their wives for not making it home on time.

All of them walk by him, too lost in their own troubles to notice a villain lurking a little too close to the streets. Guess nothing’s unusual about a guy leaning in an alleyway for a quick smoke.

He glances back up at the girl, just in time to see her finish off the bowl of ramen. She bids farewell to the owner, and from the smiles they give each other, it’s safe to say they have a bit of history together. He barely has time to sneak further into the shadows of the alleyway before she’s walking past him, that damn lanyard nearly hitting him in the knee.

She’s on the move now. He stomps out his cigarette and shoves his hands in his pockets. Wonder where she’ll head off to next?

She doesn’t veer off towards the path that’ll take her home. Instead she keeps walking aimlessly through the streets, drinking in the bright lights of the city, not even caring if someone nearly walks right into her. It’s getting harder to stick to the shadows, but at least the people around us give him enough cover. She hasn’t seemed to notice him following her.

Not yet, at least. And when she does…

It’s hard not to smile at the thought.

She’s lost in her own little world, admiring the sights like a fucking tourist. Like she doesn’t live in this damn city—oh that’s right, she doesn’t. She’s living out in those woods, secluded and tucked away in the shadows. Part of him wonders if she hates it, living on her own like that. If she was forced to or had nowhere else to go but an old cottage with a sunken roof and a coat of moss.

Must be so lonely in that big house, with no one to keep you company.

Eh, not that it matters to me anyway. She’s just a way to pass the time. To keep his hands busy until he gets bored of her. Or she gets bored of him.

Wonder if she’s written any love notes for me lately?

Suddenly she bumps into a random person in the crowd ahead; she shakes her head and offers an awkward smile, a thousand apologies spilling from her pretty lips. And then she’s off again, lost in the sea of city folk.

The man doesn’t move, frozen still on the edge of the sidewalk. The bastard’s a bit grimy, with an unkempt beard and bloodshot eyes. Apparently someone doesn’t care a whole lot about appearances.

Not that Dabi has much room to talk, looking like the patchwork freak he is.

But then the stranger glances over his shoulder, eyes searching deep into the crowd…and something stirs in the pit of Dabi’s chest. Something hot and sharp that sends alarm bells ringing through his head.

What the fuck is his problem?

The man’s shoulders stiffen, jaw clenching tightly—and suddenly he’s walking straight into the crowd, his eyes trained on her back.

And she’s none the wiser, poor, stupid little girl.

Dabi doesn't know what kicks him into gear; what has his feet moving on their own, every step sending a jolt of adrenaline rushing through his body. Once or twice he actually shoves someone out of the way, earning a couple dirty looks—or averted eyes, if they’re smart. But he doesn’t pay them any mind; all he can think about is getting to her before he does.

What the fuck has gotten into him? Since when does her safety and well-being concern him?

He should turn around. Pretend he didn’t see anything and walk the fuck away. Maybe head back to the shitty excuse the League calls a base, it’s a pretty boring night anyway.

Turn around. She’s not worth it.

Not worth it, not fucking worth it.

Like he hasn’t heard those words before.

She’s blissfully unaware of the audience she has, as she follows the familiar path towards the forest that’ll take her home. The stranger is close behind, footsteps too loud and clumsy. She’ll know she’s being followed the minute he hits the dirt.

Dabi has to be quick. While she’s occupied with heading home, he picks up the pace and meets the stranger halfway. Curling one arm around his shoulders, slapping a hand over his mouth to stifle his screams, as he yanks him into the nearest alley. His other hand lifts up to the stranger’s face, a spark of blue coming to life at his fingertips.

“Not really in the mood to play tonight,” his voice drawls out, making sure to keep his back turned to the forest, “so if you start running now I promise not to hunt you down.”

He’s not worth his time; just some lowly trash who thought he could score big tonight. And Dabi can see it in his face, with the way he glares up at him, stringy hair hanging in his face, mouth curled into a sneer…

Wait, is he smiling at me?

“Didn’t think you were following me,” he sputters out once he moves his scarred hand from his face. “I thought you wanted to meet up near that ramen place?”

Dabi’s hand freezes in the air. This is the guy he’s been waiting for? He shoves him to his feet, stuffing his hands in his pocket.

“You’re late.”

“Yeah, sorry about that.” The man runs a hand through his greasy hair; Dabi barely manages to hide his grimace. “Something came up, and then I ran into…”

His gaze darts towards the trees, his tongue dragging along his lips. Dabi takes a step forward, the sound of his heavy boots echoing through the alley. The man clears his throat before meeting his eyes once more. Credit to him, he doesn’t flinch away when he sees Dabi’s face head-on.

Probably can’t see the severity of his scars in this light.

“Hey, you didn’t happen to see a girl come by this way, did you?”

“Stay away from her.”

The man’s face falls, and Dabi swears he can see his body tremble just a bit. “Oh, is she yours? Lucky man! Gotta say, pretty little thing like that shouldn’t be walking around in the dark… Quite a few dangerous fuckers out there wouldn’t mind getting their hands on a woman like that.”

Dabi can feel his blood boiling with every word that leaves the man’s lips. It’s not like he hasn’t come across men like this before; he has, and every single time they’ve left him with a twisting stomach and a burning throat. Eager to hunt down the weak, to prey on them till there’s nothing left—but when they’re confronted about it, they turn the other cheek and play that sweet innocent smile. Quite a few heroes do it to keep order in the public eye, so it’s no surprise a common citizen would stoop so low to save their skin.

But it’s the way he keeps staring at the trees, like he’s hoping she comes back out into the dim streetlight, that makes Dabi’s hands curl into fists inside his pockets. Call it a gut feeling, but something tells him he’s not worthy enough of being admitted into the League. Like hell is this bastard going anywhere near Toga if that’s how he looks at a girl.

Breaks my fucking heart.

But he can’t kill him yet. Gotta give him a chance to prove himself before anything else happens. Something about false hope, makes it a little more fun in the end. Even though he already knows the verdict on the matter.

“Let’s just get this over with.”

The sound of glass shattering jolts you out of your slumber. Your eyes snap open, your heart lurches in your throat—and when you hear the creak of the stairs, you almost scream right then and there.

Almost.

You have barely a minute to think. Mind still frazzled with sleep, fingers still numb and head splitting with a throbbing ache. You completely forget the bat resting beside your bed and drop to your knees. Thank god you never put anything under here.

You crawl underneath the bed and slap both hands over your mouth. Your phone is resting on the bedside table, you didn’t even think to grab it. All you can think about are the impending footsteps—and the fact they come to a stop right outside your door.

Oh my fucking god, why didn’t I ever put a proper bed skirt in when I moved in here?! At least then I could be better hidden, anyone can see me if they’re looking hard enough! It’s so dark in here, but I’m almost positive anyone can see me—

Someone raps their knuckles on the door. It takes every bit of strength in your body not to squeak at the noise.

They’re outside. Oh god, they’re right outside the fucking door, shit—

Another knock. You squeeze your eyes shut, teeth sinking into the skin of your palm.

Then, silence.

You don’t know how much time passes. Seconds, hours, it all blends together. Your face hurts from being scrunched up for so long, but the minute you relax your muscles you think you hear a noise—and you clench your eyes shut all over again.

There’s someone in my house. They must’ve broke through one of the windows downstairs, but how? I thought I had them all blocked off and shut!

Is it the same person who came to my house before? The same one that left me a note? Or is it someone completely different?

What’s stopping them from busting down the door and killing me right here and now? Why are they just standing out there like a fucking creep?

Eventually, the footsteps can be heard again. But there’s a creak on the staircase, a telltale sign the intruder’s retreating for now. Something heavy falls somewhere downstairs, probably one of the bookcases against the windows, the sound rumbling throughout the entire house. Your nails sink into the skin of your cheeks; part of you wonders if the intruder is tearing up your home in hopes you’ll come out to investigate the noise.

No fucking way. Your ass is staying right here, glued to the floor beneath this bed.

But then it suddenly stops, and it’s quiet again. Only for a moment, before you hear the sound of glass being kicked around, of the door downstairs opening with a harsh swing.

You don’t find the courage to breathe until you hear the door shut with a heavy slam, the walls rattling all around you.

Still, you wait a few more minutes before moving from your spot. As quietly as possible, wincing every time the floorboards squeak beneath your weight. Keeping your eyes on the door ahead, you reach up and feel around the bedside table for your phone—finally finding it and glancing at the time.

Four thirty-six in the morning. Half an hour before sunrise.

I think I’m going to be sick.

So you wait it out. Hunched beneath your bed with your phone in one hand and your bat in the other. Until sunlight streams through the curtains, bathing the room in a warm orange glow. Only then do you swallow your fear and open the door with a trembling hand.

There’s…nothing outside in the hallway. Just the usual wooden floor you’ve come to know over the last couple of years. The same one that’s always a pain to wash on housecleaning day.

The sun is your best friend, filling the house with a gorgeous golden aura. Shining through every window, nearly blinding you as you slowly make your way down the stairs. You don’t know what sick part of your brain makes you think you’re safe in the sunlight; for all you know, the intruder is still lurking outside your home, waiting for you to let your guard down.

Maybe it’s the same part of your brain that thinks you’re okay as long as you have the covers pulled up over your head at night. Yeah, that’s gotta be it.

At first glance, the entire downstairs seems normal. The front door remains shut, like it was never opened in the first place. The bookshelf is still in front of the large window in the kitchen where you left it. It’s the one in the living room that’s been shattered completely, shards of glass sprinkled on the floor, glimmering in the morning sun. A soft breeze flutters through the living room; you wrap your arms around yourself and turn away, already thinking about how much it’ll cost to get that fixed.

And then you see it—resting right there on the kitchen table, in the midst of all your shopping lists, bill payments, and letters to your family and friends back home.

A single rose with gorgeous red petals, its stem plucked of any dangerous thorns. Something that definitely wasn’t there last night when you went to bed.

Your hand is trembling as you reach out to grab it. There’s nothing else, just a lone flower with blood red petals—and the lingering scent of smoke and ash.

But something else on the table catches your eye. A piece of crumpled paper, clearly ripped from the notepad you keep on the kitchen counter for lists and reminders throughout the day. You’re shaking so hard you can barely get a grip on it, nearly tearing it in half when you try to open it up.

Sorry about the mess out back, doll. He won’t be bothering you anytime soon. Hope you can forgive me if I scared you.

You know it the second you see it: the handwriting is the same exact kind as the note from your journal. The same messy scrawl, the same swirl on the tail of the y, the same pet name doll.

Doll, doll—shit, it’s the same guy from before!

Wait a minute…what does he mean, ‘the mess out back’?

The longer you stay there, the stronger the scent of smoke gets. At first it was just a whiff, but now it’s hitting you square in the face, so strong you have to lift your sleeve over your nose.

Where is it coming from?

But you know the answer even before your feet begin to move. As slowly as you can, you start to walk towards the broken window. Trying to ignore the churn in your stomach as the smell of smoke gets stronger and stronger.

The early morning sun spills over the trees, creeping up the deck that stretches around the perimeter of the house. Broken glass glitters across the floor, twinkling like diamonds; your hands are trembling as you reach the railing of the deck, leaning over to peek around the corner—

The smell hits you almost instantly, even before your eyes land on it. Something large and charred and smoking horribly, reminding you of all the barbeque picnics your family would have over the summer. But it’s a gruesome smell, far too pungent to be a piece of food or part of a tree.

And too fucking big to be an animal.

Fuck, fuck, fuck it’s a human, it’s gotta be a human, holy fucking shit is that someone’s corpse out there on my lawn—

Someone screams in the distance—no, that’s just you, and you realize a little too late as you slap both hands over your mouth. You can’t tear your eyes away from the scene—your eyes nearly popping out of your skull when you make out a few bits of ragged fabric and the shape of a hand, scorched down to the bone.

The rose falls to the floor as you bolt back up the stairs, nearly tripping over your own feet at least twice, and slamming your bedroom door shut behind you. Locking it tight and crawling back into bed, throwing as many blankets over your head as you can. Keeping your bat close and holding your phone against your chest.

It takes a solid five minutes before you can punch in any numbers, your voice dying in your throat with every word you speak.

It’s okay, the police are on their way. Maybe they’ll bring a hero or two to help them out—it’s alright, everything will be fine once they show up.

Your head is spinning like crazy (it’s too early in the morning for this shit). The break-in, the corpse, the note, the rose—what the fuck does it all mean? Somehow it’s all connected, there’s no fucking way all of this could be just a series of coincidences, but you know you’re still missing the bigger picture.

Who’s following you around, leaving you little notes and shit, and why did they leave a burning corpse outside your door like that? Hard to believe it, but you’re actually looking forward to going to work tonight. Anything to get you out of this house for a bit.

#dabi x reader #dabi x you #dabi x y/n #touya todoroki x reader #touya todoroki x you #kerosene and butterflies #tw: stalking #restricted fics

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darlingpoppet · 5 months

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Writing Updates!!

For anyone who doesn’t follow me on Twitter (or if my posts haven’t been showing up on your tl recently lol) here’s some updates on what I’ve been up to for the past month or so!

First off, I participated in NaNoWriMo again this year and I won with 50,345 words!

About 14k went to a new pza oneshot WIP that can best be described as a modern AU mashup of the Iliad & the film The Dreamers and whose draft is about one-third of the way through now.

The other 36k went to the Where The Dead Forget manuscript, mostly drafting chapters 6, 7, 8, & 9 (chapter 7 ended up getting split into 7 and 8 in the process so now the whole thing is 22 chapters).

In my notes for chapter 5 on AO3, I said I would be publishing chapter 6 before November and then having chapter 7 done before the end of the year but I ended up letting myself take a break from writing in October so I could do reading & outlining while refilling my creative cups and I think that ended up being the correct choice!

So that just means I’m now gonna be editing and publishing WTDF ch 6 in December, and since the rough drafts for the next three chapters after that are near completion, I’m hoping the time between updates will be shorter for the time being. It actually seems rather efficient for me to write 3-4 chapter chunks at once so if I’m able to also edit & publish several chapters at a faster clip this way I might cycle between “writing months” and “editing months”.

My unpublished manuscript docs are now at 72k and if we add that to the almost 51k of WTDF I’ve already published, that puts it at 122k… rough estimate it’s about 50% complete. Soooo yeah it’s another one of THOSE fics that completely took on a life of its own and became a monstrosity LMAO. Hope no one minds! uwu

I’ll do my best to publish as much as I can in 2024… hopefully it’ll only take me another year to at least finish all the drafting.

Also one more: I’m participating in a Hades fandom gift exchange this year so after WTDF Ch 6 goes up, I’ll be focusing on writing one more Hadesgame fic with a deadline of mid January. I can’t say anything else, such as what it’s about or even which character(s) and/or ship(s) are involved without possibly giving away the game but trust me I was really excited & honored to receive my giftee and I was immediately inspired (I wrote 1k already!) I hope they’ll like it ;3;

So TL;DR:

WTDF Ch 6 sometime in December (the title is Guilt btw)

Gift Exchange Hades fic in January

The Dreamers-inspired modern AU Iliad PZA fic… sometime. Spring might be nice, let’s shoot for spring (also btw the working title is Liminal Spaces)

WTDF chapters 7-9 as soon as they’re edited (working titles are currently Known, Glory, and Champion, although they still might change) TBD 2024!!

#emica chat #sorry if this post was boring I like to talk lol #but I also wanted to check in since it’s been a few months since my last fic update #hopefully after Ch 6 goes up I can also make some reading & writing year-end wrap-up posts #my fic #where the dead forget

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indecentpause · 1 year

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so I have no reason to share an excerpt on this specific day other than it’s my blog and I want to, so HAVE SOME OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PUZZLE

(I got some super sweet comments on other Josselin and Meara stories I’ve posted on Ao3 and omg it was so encouraging y’all. y’all. you guys who say nice things about my stuff helps me so much when I get stuck. I go back and read all your nice comments and tags when I feel bad about my work. thank you.)

cw: drug mention (cocaine and fentanyl)

the beginning of whatever chapter number I just started:

When you get home, Josselin swipes everything off the dining room table–not nearly as full as the coffee table, just some paper plates and a couple cans he forgot to throw away–and throws a plastic sheet over it.

“Where did you–?”

But he interrupts you. “It’s important to be prepared.”

You don’t ask what that means.

You lean against the wall, your weight on your good foot. The cane helps a lot. It’s much less clunky [than the crutch] and it’s way easier to get up the stairs. You’re a little afraid to be out alone with it, in case someone says something cruel. You’re only in your mid-twenties, and you’ve heard the shitty things people say about those who need things like canes and wheelchairs when they’re young. Some of your old coworkers said those shitty things themselves.

Maybe it’s better you’re not a paramedic anymore. Not just for safety reasons.

Josselin pulls on some nitrile gloves. He fishes the ziploc out of his bookbag, drops it on the plastic-covered table, and disappears into his bedroom, then comes back with a small box of… something.

“It’s not as good as Dona’s lab,” he says as he cracks it open, “but it’ll test for the big ones. You can’t really test for fentanyl at home, but we can see if there’s any cocaine and if it’s worth following up.”

You swallow nervously. He grabs the back of one of the dining room chairs and slides it over to you.

“If you’re going to be here, at least sit,” he says.

“Do you… want me to not be?”

Josselin’s head shoots up, eyes wide. “No! I mean, that’s not what I meant. I’m sorry. I just thought you looked really uncomfortable like that, and you’ve been on your feet a lot today.”

You nod and hobble the few steps over to the chair. Your ankle is screaming. No matter how much you want to keep pushing it, your body is going to make you stop if you don’t stop now.

With a huff of an exhale, you drop into the chair and Josselin nods once before going back to his test.

It takes a while of fiddling, and then you have to wait, and wait, and wait, but eventually Josselin is able to figure out that, yes, at least part of that white powder is cocaine.

“So what do we do with it?” you ask. “We can’t arrest anyone. And this can’t be used in court because we stole it.”

Josselin nods. “I don’t want to use it in court. I want to know if we’re on the right track, and we are. This James Harris guy is definitely involved, and that’s all I wanted to know.” He carefully puts everything back in individual ziplocs and then carefully folds up the plastic sheeting, so he doesn’t spill any residue that might be there. He stuffs it in the trash, dumps some old sauces in the fridge over it, and ties it up.

“I’ll be right back.”

And he’s out the door and on his way down the stairs to throw it away.

An indignant yowl comes from Josselin’s room, and that’s when you realize you haven’t seen the cats this whole time. Josselin probably shut them in so they wouldn’t get into anything and get hurt. When he comes back inside and locks the door behind him, he hears it, too, and he chuckles and shakes his head.

“Silly kitties,” he says gently. He lets them out of his room and they swarm him, Crackerjack and Grandpa curling around his feet and Familiar trying to climb up his leg.

Josselin ‘oof’s and grabs Familiar, cradling her like a baby. “We’ve gotta clip you!” he says. She miaows indignantly and he presses his forehead to hers, then kisses her nose and lets her go again.

You shift in your chair. Josselin turns back toward you and says, “Is the chair uncomfortable? Do you want to move to the couch? Or go back to your room?”

“No, it’s just. What do we do now?”

“We don’t tell Dona,” Josselin says. “If he doesn’t know, he can’t snitch.”

“But–”

“He said so himself, remember? If we don’t tell him what we’re up to, he can’t stop us.”

You shift again and nod unsurely. “What if they find us?”

“They won’t.”

“But what if–”

“They won’t,” Josselin repeats firmly. “I’m not going to make the same mistakes my mom did.”

Puzzle taglist: @ohsugarfoot @abalonetea @only-book-lovers-left-alive @poore-choice-of-words @leadhelmetcosmonaut @jasperygrace @drippingmoon @athena-anna-rose @viskafrer @thelaughingstag @athenswrites @kaiusvnoir @magic-is-something-we-create

if you want to be added or removed, just ask!

#writeblr #my writing #excerpt #wip #the most beautiful puzzle #sheraton academy #sheraton academy au #josselin clearwater #meara ryanne #familiar

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miscelunaaa · 2 years

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some small updates

Hi y’all, I've been logged into hellsite for like thirty seconds and haven’t managed to work myself up into arbitrary rage so that’s good ig.

It’s beeennnnn ... oh wow.

It’s been exactly a month since I went on a real hiatus. That's fucking wild. tbh not much is happening on my end. I’m trying to get started as a freelance editor but it’s like a super slow burn. I’ve written a little, but not a lot, and it’s been kind of a struggle trying to find things that count as self care while actually being self care. It’s planner season and I’ve already spent toooo much money on hobonichi and the stationary shit, etc. This year’s dalmajung concept is killing me slowly and Sexy Nukim was just mind meltingly cool. So like, all in all, a pretty average time for me. I can’t say I've missed this space a ton, but I have missed y’all, so that definitely counts for something.

A few things:

Sacrificial is still getting posted weekly-ish on AO3. It’s not behind their accounts wall, and we’re not even half way the story yet, so you’ve got plenty of time to start reading and maybe get an account there to subscribe if you so desire. The feedback and love people have been giving the story has really blown me away. It’s given me the courage to try to make sure that as I work through edits, it comes out closer to what I originally intended. Will it ever really meet my impossibly high standards?? Probably not, but it’ll be closer and that matters more to me at this point. Please consider reading it if you’re interested! Here's a link, have fun.

In a couple of hours, I will be posting the first in what I hope is a series of weird hybrid fics. The series is called Animals in Predicaments and I’m fucking vibrating with excitement for it. When I realized I was burnt out as hell in like, July, @thatlongspringnight said I needed to work on something fun and absurd, rather than something that was going to rip my feelings out and eat them. Y’all probably don’t know this but I have a SERIOUS LOVE for hybrid fics, so being able to work on something crack-y and strange and delightful was just ... so nice. I got held up on the smut though so this took me like two months to complete alkdjsfhlaskdjh but I finished it last night and ah, wow. I’m just really glad I managed to finish something at all. It’ll go up on ao3 and mmmmmaybe here, I haven’t decided. Regardless, I’ll be back with a link so y’all know it's up.

Sooooo yeah, there you have it. I’m not ready to return to this space for real, yet. Honestly, most socials just make my brain hurt anymore and ugh, I have little patience with the bullshit that happens on them. I looked up a few weeks ago and realized I'd lost touch with why I was here in the first place: Celebrating these seven weirdoes by writing stories about them. So many people have lost the point of this community, and it makes me incredibly sad and angry.

With that said, I’m still incredibly grateful for the people who’ve continued to read my shit and love it. It means the world to me.

I’ll be back in a couple of hours with a link. Lots of love, y’all 💜 stay safe and well.

#updates from the void #texts from em

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theadventurerslog · 1 year

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King’s Quest: Quest for the Crown | Part 1

The Adventurer’s Log

King’s Quest I: Quest for the Crown Part 1

Release Date: 1984 (original version)

Introduction

Ahh, King’s Quest, the well-known series from Sierra, but while it’s a series I’ve known of for a long time, it’s a series I had never played nor even seen played until these past couple months.

I came across the Youtube channel, Such Minutiae, and started watching their Lets Plays of the series. Come King’s Quest V and VI I decided I was interested in at least giving those two a play. On GOG they come bundled with KQIV and I figured, why not? I could give IV a shot too. Then this idea to start blogging my efforts struck and I thought, you know what? Why not start right from the beginning and grab the first three games after all, too? Throw in them being on sale and here we are.

Now, as noted, I watched a Let’s Play, so this won’t be a blind play. However, this particular game is a different version from what I watched. They played the Sierra Creative Interpreter (SCI) version which was a sort of remake/remaster. I’m playing the older AGI game and aside from graphical differences there are other differences as well. I probably won’t be able to spot a lot of them, but there is one different puzzle solution I’m aware of and I’ll make note of it when I come to it along with anything else that sticks out to me.

Having already watched the games be played I expect this will go a lot smoother than it otherwise would, but that I will still have some hangups. There is some real bullshit in these games, so it’s nice to go in prepared, accept that and enjoy the ride. And die a lot. I intend to keep a death counter. That will be noted at the end of the posts.

Let’s get to it, shall we?

The first thing I noticed when I loaded it for a simple quick test, was that unlike the SCI version there is no intro scene. It dumps you right into the game and you gotta go into the castle yourself and talk to the King yourself to know what you’re doing.

So the first step is to go see the king and so the quest begins.

And so the quest ends

Come on now, I couldn’t not throw him in the moat. Also, the death music! It’s different in the SCI version. I know this music because it was also used in KQ II. It starts sombre with Chopin’s Death March and then… oh and then it transitions to I don’t actually know what it’s called, but it sure clowns on you. Please just go to this link https://youtu.be/AWvZNAv4_B8?t=527 I have it timestamped to the right place already and know my suffering. The most taunting thing ever. I love hate it.

Okay back to it for real. Go see the king and be told what your quest actually is:

If you want further backstory and more details, you better read that manual.

From the manual in summary:

The kingdom of Daventry was ruled over by King Edward and his nameless, but lovely! Queen. They held three magic treasures that served to help Daventry maintain its peace and prosperity:

A Magic Mirror that reads the future so they were able to use it to stave off disasters and avoid things like planting crops right before frosts.

A Magic Shield that is supposed to make the bearer invincible and his army always victorious.

A Magic Chest that always remained full of gold.

Then disasters start striking. They want an heir but haven’t been able to have a child. A sorcerer comes and offers a solution but wants the mirror in return. They consult the mirror and see what they think will be their future prince (spoiler alert: It’ll be Sir Graham). They agree. No child is ever born. The Sorcerer ran off with mirror and placed it under guard by a beast.

Later the Queen falls ill. A dwarf offers a remedy that looks like it’ll work but wants the shield in return. The King agrees. The dwarf runs off with the shield. The Queen dies.

The King grows lonely as more years pass, but eventually Edward comes across a beautiful lady, the Princess Dahlia (she gets a name) in need of help. He saves her. They plan to wed and now it’s the night before the wedding except whoops. She was actually a witch and planned to steal the chest all along which she successfully does and off she goes too.

More years pass with the King and Daventry falling into despair and disrepair. King Edward realizes he may die soon and summons his knight, Sir Graham, realizing it was him he saw in the mirror. If Graham can gather back Daventry’s three treasures he’ll prove himself worthy of the crown and become the King foreseen in the mirror. Time to go Questing.

Once you see the king it’s time to set out and start exploring. I set out, I pushed a rock and died because I pushed it from the wrong side and got crushed. And I forgot to save, so I basically had to start again, although ScummVM autosaved me in the hallway in the castle, so I got to skip entering the castle.

Then I set out again and remembered to save this time. Save regularly and keep multiple saves. Now something cool that King’s Quest does is having some puzzles with multiple solutions. There is a points system and to get the highest points you need to do the optimal solutions. If you don’t care about points you’ve potentially got other options.

After finding a dagger and a pouch of diamonds I quickly encountered a flying condor. This condor is mandatory but unfortunately it’s random as to when and where it will show up. I managed to jump and catch the ride while I could, except I ended up in a dead end because I didn’t have what was needed to get past a big mean ol’ rat. I did try offering it the diamonds, which worked, except I think it actually lost me points and I would have ended up stuck again anyway. I reloaded a previous save.

Thanks for the dead-end, condor, but fly on majestically.

My other activities included more exploration and finding more items, getting mauled by an ogre at least once or twice and managing to run away another time, some sorcerer encounters one of which left me frozen in place and essentially dead, got flown off by a witch and eaten, stolen from by a dwarf a couple times and got some temporary protection from a fairy.

I found a four-leaf clover and a walnut. I climbed a huge tree and found a golden egg. Surprisingly for how easy it is to die in other ways, falling off the tree doesn’t kill you. The egg doesn’t break either. Shockingly nice of them.

Moving on, I helped a starving woodcutter husband and his wife and got a fiddle in return. I got lucky in doing those two activities, and along with finding one other item, I earned everything I needed to deal with the rat and the rest of that area and shortly after getting those needed goods the condor showed up again. So, this time I was able to handle everything there and got my first treasure: the Magic Shield.

I was able to find the witch’s house, a gingerbread house naturally, and deal with her accordingly. Actually, I had to do it twice, because fumble fingers for me killed me again oops. This place was another big difference from the SCI version. In the SCI version there are gingerbread figures outside the house and of course the house just looks better. If she catches you Graham gets turned into gingerbread and she puts you outside with a punny Graham cracker death message. In this version you just get put in a cell and know you’re about to get eaten and that’s that. I did miss that in this version.

Not exactly gingerbread-y on the inside. In the SCI version that oven is a cauldron.

I still have a bridge troll to deal with, but I have the means to do so and that’ll open up more areas to explore. I also found a well I haven’t checked out yet as well. I’ll probably try for the well first then go for the troll.

I’m coming for you, troll.

I’ve been mapping as I go and I’m very glad I’m doing so. I’m sure I’d be getting lost if I hadn’t. There are many screens and quite a few are pretty nondescript.

With the huge caveat that I’ve watched this played before, I’m having a pretty good time. Sure, it’s primitive. It’s easy to die, ridiculously so at times. It can be easy to screw yourself over into an unwinnable state in these games, but if you go in with that knowledge and stay on top of your saves, it’s entertaining.

With deaths by: moat alligators, falling into unswimmable water, ogre, sorcerer, witch, rock crushing I am currently sitting a death counter of 15. I’m a little worried I may have forgotten to update it a couple times so it may be a death or two higher than 15. Three of those were deliberate.

I probably only have one, maaaybe two sessions left.

Death Counter: 15

Time Played: 1hr 35min

Current Points Score: 86/158

#king's quest #king's quest: quest for the crown #KQI #KQI_Log #adventure games #sierra

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londonhalcyon · 2 years

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WIP It’s Wednesday???

Bullied tagged by @dumpsterhipster, and I’m counting @unoriginal2tall’s post as a tag for this week too. Tagging—really whoever wants to join at this point.

Because I’ve been in a state of “AAAAAHHH!!!” lately (you know the one?), my writing has been limited to plotting and jotting down the occasional random snippet. So, I have something new today: all my progress on a certain Skyrim fic. It’ll be a while before I complete the full thing (because, as always, The Mad Witch), but I’ve been getting my ideas down now. Introducing my West Weald-raised Last Dragonborn, Ivy, who is very much at her limit.

“This one says you are not Khajiit,” Khayla purred. “You are an Imperial wearing Khajiit fur.” The traders laughed, as they always did at jokes at Ivy’s expense, and she was forced to smile and laugh with them.

All of Skyrim seemed convinced they knew what Ivy was or wasn’t far better than she did. The Nords were convinced she was Khajiit, which was the only name the Hold Guards called her when they were in a good mood. Cat, when they were in a bad one. Rug, when they wanted to kill her. All synonymous with thief. But the Khajiit were convinced she was not Khajiit because she did not talk or act like one, so she must have been Imperial. But the Imperials laid no claim to her either. If they did, her fathers would have given her an Imperial name.

[Somehow we get past the intro.]

It had been raining for a week. Ivy enjoyed the rain. Loved it, even—when she was able to listen to it from beside a warm hearth in a nice inn. Not when she had to trek for hours on the road to Whiterun.

With each step by weary step, it made her fur heavy, as if she was wearing plate instead of leather, and her skin was uncomfortably damp where it had worked beneath her armor. She wasn’t convinced this weather wasn’t the work of Sheggorath, because when rain was all she could feel and smell and hear, she was this close to giving in to insanity. A pleasant pitter-patter of raindrops on a roof was relaxing, but this torrent that was running in her eyes and roaring in her ears had her in a state of paranoia. Visibility was so shite the smudgy trees could have been made of dragon bones and she wouldn’t have noticed. Her hand hadn’t left the hilt of her sword for two hours—ever since she had walked right into a smudgy wolf that had been as startled as she was. The bite it had given her arm wouldn’t kill her, but it had pissed her off.

The longer she walked, cold and drenched and on the verge of tears, the more she wanted to shout her rage at the sky. She had, repeatedly, but her wimpy Thu’um had failed to clear the clouds for more than a few minutes at a time, leaving her even more angry than before, with extra exhaustion to boot. And gods fucking dammit why hadn’t she taken a horse?

[A rage-fueled walk later, Ivy makes it to Whiterun.]

Ivy wanted nothing more than to sit down with a hot meal by the fire, but she knew before she even opened the door to the Bannered Mare she wouldn’t be allowed to rest that easily. When she stepped into the delightfully warm inn, water dripping off her whiskers, Hulda looked seconds away from launching herself over the counter to chase her back out with a broom. “No, absolutely not,” the proprietor scolded, a stern finger raised toward the corridor. “If you plan to stay, you take a bath. I still haven’t got the smell out of the blankets from last time.”

Barely restraining herself from whining like a cub, Ivy pulled her pouch of gold from her bag. She knew she stank. A wet Khajiit smelled only slightly worse than a wet Nord and only slightly better than a wet troll. It was the fur, and hers was the thickest it had been since coming to Skyrim. Lately, bandits’ threats to turn her into a rug had begun to sound less like intimidation and more like genuine interest.

She placed extra Septims on the counter, in addition to the usual room fee. “If I may have some stew as soon as I get out.”

“Don’t leave the fire till you’re dry and that may be arranged,” Hulda agreed.

[Ivy takes a bath and returns. For simplicity’s sake, there’s one in the inn.]

Ivy thanked her as Hulda placed a wooden bowl in her hands. Having spent the whole bath feeling sheepish, she said, “I can pay for new blankets.”

Hulda squeezed her shoulder, in a much better mood now that a filthy cat wasn’t making a mess of her establishment. “Don’t let it trouble you, dear. I have plenty more. Between you and me, you don’t want to know half the things guests have done with the blankets in that room.” Then Ivy was distressed about something else entirely.

#wip wednesday #skyrim #tes #skyrim fanfic

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twoidiotwriters1 · 2 years

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Copycat: Origins —(Marvel Fem!Oc)

A/N: We reach the end of phase three at last! I might not post next phase right away cause I haven’t finished it (first time that’s happened in a while) but I’m hoping it’ll only take an extra week, maybe less if you’re lucky -Danny

Words: 2,155

Phase Three Masterlist

Previous Chapter // Phase Four

Listen to: ‘Birds’ -by Imagine Dragons

xxx: Fallen Heroes

"Agent Copycat reporting for duty," she stood beside Fury, both of them facing the group of people that were scattering.

He hummed. "It's been a long day, agent. Dare I say it's been more than a day in your case. Take some time off, I'll call you."

She was almost glad to hear him say that. "Fine, but don't take too long."

He chuckled lowly. "Look at you, pretending you want this..."

"It's what I do best," She saw Peter walking in their direction. "Pretend."

Cat excused herself and met Peter halfway, she smiled a little.

"Have you and May found a new place to stay?"

"We're still looking."

"What about Pietro's apartment?"

He looked at her. "What about you and Wanda?"

She shrugged. "She talks to me but it's not like we're close friends. She understands I didn't mean any hurt... I'm sorry about what happened between us, though."

Peter kept his eyes on her and she knew what was coming even before he'd blurted out his reply.

"Don't break up with me."

"Pete..." She said tiredly.

"We can make it work, C.C."

"C.C. doesn't exist anymore," Cat replied in frustration. "We burnt her papers, deleted school files, everything."

"Okay," He replied, clutching his hope. "Copycat's been my partner for years— I dated her too, and I know she loves me—"

"I like someone else now," She said plainly. "I've been with others while you were gone. I'm sorry... It's— It's not just our age gap. You were gone for too long."

Cat hadn't originally planned to confess that to Peter, but it seemed that nothing in the world could convince him to give up on her. Pietro once told her that when you love someone, nothing they do can make you leave, so Peter had to stop loving her.

"I killed people," She hid her hands in her pockets so he couldn't see them shaking. "I wanted others to suffer. I stole things from people that didn't deserve it. Our future was nothing but a dream, and what I've done, that's the reality."

The boy stepped back as if he'd been slapped in the face. He stared, her soul had been revealed to him and for the first time, he did not recognize her.

"You're only saying that push me away," He muttered, and even though he was right, she could hear the uncertainty in his voice.

"I don't see the point in fighting for what we had," She said feigning disinterest. "S'not worth it."

She wrapped her jacket tighter around her body and looked away. Cat knew she would never be able to look at him without feeling ashamed of this moment.

"I'll send you the keys to Pietro's apartment, I'll pick up his stuff later. Maybe Wanda will want some of them. Talk to the landlord about the new lease."

"Cat—"

"Don't look for me," She turned away and blinked back the tears. "I'm not your friend."

"You know, I wish there was a way that I could let her know... that we won. We did it."

"She knows," Wanda said. "They all know."

"You should try and write letters to Nat," Cat offered. "Even if she won't read them."

Wanda's voice sounded a little amused. "Pi told you that, didn't he?"

Cat smiled without looking at her. "He was a good brother."

It stung, talking about him and knowing they would never see him again. She didn't want to keep thinking of the whole situation, she wanted to forget, all of it.

"I'm glad he wasn't alone," Wanda confessed. "I hated you for a while, felt like you'd been the reason for our separation, but if I really think about it... it was me."

"I was scared, desperate to get what you'd had for years... if I hadn't been so selfish, you wouldn't have felt the need to run."

"We could've been a family," Wanda asked absently. "Nice pipe dream."

Clint patted their shoulders. "You're not so little anymore, are ya?"

Wanda had to look up in order to lock eyes with Cat. "I don't know about you, Copy, but I still have room to grow."

"Toddlers," Rocket approached the young mutants. "Got something for you."

He noticed their hesitant glances and scoffed.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

"You've been trying to kidnap us ever since we told you we're staying on Earth."

"I changed my mind," Rocket grumbled. "You'd be the worst Guardians now that the old group's back."

The mutants shared a look, they nodded in agreement.

"Probably."

"I mean, they're far more experienced, including that demigod dipshit—"

"No, that's all bullshit!" Rocket exclaimed. "I was trying reverse psychology, that always worked on you!"

"I'm sorry, Rat," She smiled. "Maybe you could try and hit me real hard on the head, see if that makes me forget the last year of my life?"

"Don't give him ideas," Kurt said disapprovingly.

"Ah, crap, I'll miss you two," Rocket rubbed his eyes roughly. "You're like my children... Groot, come say bye to the toddlers!"

"Having a raccoon as our father figure was definitely not on the list," She noted.

"Becoming an Avenger wasn't on mine for sure," Kurt sighed. "But I think I was pretty damn good anyway."

Young Groot fist-bumped the mutants. Rocket tried to stretch his farewell a bit more.

"Don't be strangers," He said. "Give your Captain a call every now and then, otherwise I'll go crazy surrounded by all of those idiots."

"You love those idiots, Rat."

"Love is a strong word," He groaned. "I tolerate them."

"Sure," Kurt opened his arms. "Group hug?"

They knelt so Rocket didn't have to jump, Cat wished they could stay that way forever, maybe then she'd never think of all the others they would never get to hold again.

"Have this," The raccoon handed her the blaster he'd been carrying around. "You're a sharpshooter, I'm sure you'll find a good use for it... and here," Rocket took off his scarf and wrapped it around Kurt's neck. "So you can hide your ugly face."

"You know... I tried. When I had the gauntlet, the stones, I really tried to bring her back... I miss her."

"We all do," Cat replied. "I gotta locate her sister, let her know what happened..."

"She'll be impossible to find, Cat. She's just like Natasha."

"Yeah well, guess who trained me?" She shrugged. "I have time. Too much, actually. But I'm lacking dough... Gotta love your twenties."

Steve smiled at her. "You know, it's not so bad that you're like Tony. We could use a new Stark."

"I could shift into him right now and make you pee your pants out of pure shock."

Sam let out a disgusted grunt. "And they say you grew up."

Steve grabbed the case and walked towards the platform. "You have to be friendly if you're going to work together, the Avengers care for one another."

"You know, if you want, I could come with you," Sam offered.

"You're a good man, Sam. This one's on me, though." The blond man moved to Bucky and smiled at him. "Don't do anything stupid 'til I get back."

Bucky chuckled. "How can I? You're taking all the stupid with you."

They hugged, and something about it felt final.

"Gonna miss you, buddy."

"It's gonna be okay, Buck."

Cat locked eyes with the Winter soldier, he walked up to her.

"Buttercup," He greeted.

"Captain Hook," She retorted.

"How longs is this gonna take?" Sam ignored them.

"For him as long as he needs. For us, five seconds."

"He's not coming back, is he?" She whispered.

"Don't know," Bucky replied.

"He can't stand it when others get the spotlight, huh?" Cat taunted. "Tony just died, the least he could do is pretend it was an accident."

"You have a rotten sense of humor."

"And yet people like me more than they like you," She remarked.

"They're idiots."

Steve fell into the tunnel and didn't come back on his mark. Banner tried to bring him but nothing was working. Sam got worried, Bucky turned around to leave, then stopped.

"Sam," He called.

The three of them approached the figure seated on a far bench.

"Go ahead," Bucky told them.

The others shared a look, they moved together.

"...Cap?"

"Hi, guys."

"You little shit," She crossed her arms.

"Did something go wrong, or did something go right?" Sam smiled.

"Well, after I put the stones back, I thought... maybe I'll try some of that life Tony and Cat were telling me to get."

"How'd that work for ya?"

"It was beautiful."

"Good. I'm happy for you. Truly."

"Thank you."

"Only thing bumming me out is the fact I have to live in a world without Captain America."

"Oh," Steve grabbed a package, his hands were thin and wrinkled. "That reminds me..."

He unwrapped a shield, one that had not been destroyed by Thanos.

"Try it on."

Sam looked back at Bucky and Bucky nodded encouragingly. He seized the shield and looked down at it with a frown.

"How does it feel?"

"Like is someone else's."

"It isn't."

Sam took a deep breath. "Thank you. I'll do my best."

"That's why it's yours."

He shook Steve's hand. The old man's attention fell on her.

"Why the long face, Heathen? I'm leaving you in good hands."

"I don't need 'em, I got my own."

"That's what I meant," He beamed. "Come here."

She sat beside him. Steve patter her knee, on his left hand he had a gold ring.

"I'm not sure you want to be on the team after all that's happened..."

She looked ahead, lost in thought. "I'd be angry at you if I didn't think saying goodbye feels liberating, to some extent. Without the Avengers, I won't be so pressured to live up to their standards. Who knows? Maybe this way I'll be better..."

"That's all we ever wanted for you," Steve nodded.

"Hey," Sam gestured at Steve's hand. "You're gonna tell us about her?"

"No," He grinned playfully. "No, I don't think I will."

"C'mon, Sam, don't be silly," Cat said matter-of-factly. "Her is a he, and he's standing right behind us! I always knew you guys would end up together, bit insulting that you didn't invite us to the wedding, though."

Steve laughed in a lighthearted way. "I guess he would've been alright, but I wouldn't want to steal your chance to shoot your shot. I heard you like that sort of older and grumpy fellow..."

"Oh God, I can't believe Pietro told you about that," She blushed.

"He loved talking about you, and we were always asking for updates," The old man squeezed her hand. "Whatever you do, Cat, remember you were loved. Remember your family."

They knocked on the door softly, once it opened Matthew welcomed them in.

"You could've said no, you know?"

"Right," He laughed dryly. "Refusing to help the heroes that brought everyone back— Who do you think I am?"

"The love of my life?" She teased. "Just tell us where to go, you're probably expecting friends and even if you're not, we shouldn't stay for too long..."

Matthew gave her a piece of paper. "Ask for Maggie, tell her I sent you."

"Who's Maggie?"

"My mother."

"You have a mother?" Her eyes widened.

"Mimi..."

"Right— sorry," She looked at Kurt and then back at Matt. "Thank you again."

"Keep in touch," He placed a hand on her shoulder and squeezed. "Take care, alright?"

"Yeah," Cat smiled a little. "You too."

Twenty minutes after they left the building, she heard Kurt giggling.

"What?" She snapped.

"He's handsome," He raised a brow, still smirking. "And blind. Do you like him cause he can't see your creepy eyes and your weird friends?"

"Trust me, Smurf, he sees us," Cat heaved a sigh. "And yet he's never told me whether he thinks I'm attractive or not."

"Don't be a sinner, Mimic. Can't you see we're in church?"

Cat looked up and found herself standing outside a temple. She looked at her friend with a frown.

"Are you sure you'll be fine here? I mean, you're not exactly a beacon of sanctity."

"Hey, they're the ones that can't discriminate against me, right?" He shrugged. "As long as it's secluded and away from prying eyes, I should be fine. Maybe they'll end up liking me?"

"Well, Matt said this is a discrete place," She tilted her head. "I trust his judgment."

"Or you're blinded by love," Kurt taunted.

"You know better than to think I'm in love," She rolled her eyes. "I've got a stupid crush, that's all. I'm a busy woman, and he thinks I'm too young."

"But what if he didn't?"

"Then we would get married right away," She replied sarcastically. "Ya done with the dumb questions? Wrap that scarf properly and let's head inside."

"Once I hide here," Kurt continued as they entered. "What are you going to do?"

"I'll get a cheap apartment, I'll patrol the city with Daredevil, make sure we stay away from Spider-man... I'll visit you as often as possible."

"Are you going to go back to hiding? Once you're an agent, I mean."

"What would be the use of a spotlight, anyway? You see what putting a target on your back does to the people around you. Most of my friends are dead or no longer my friends, but still, I think it's better if I quietly move away from the public eye."

Kurt walked across the church's hall with her, stopping in front of the altar. "I think it's good that we're choosing to remain anonymous, we're free."

"It's a nice way to put it."

Cat stared at the colorful windows, it would take a while before she could feel good about living.

Next Phase —>

Taglist.

@ieatpanicattacksforlunch @jesuswasnotawhiteman @siriuslysirius1107 @greengarsstuff @itsyagirl01 @23victoria @espressopatronum454 @jkthinkstoomuch

#twoidiots writing #marvel #marvel fanfiction #marvel fic #copycat fic

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princepestilence · 1 year

Text

NYR: November in review.

Post-November horoscope: “I do not need to be good at the things I love to do them.”

And what a November! We’re properly moved in now, aside from the many boxes left to be unpacked and/or cut down and recycled. Some of what’s been going on:

finished moving in. Sort of! I think it’ll be an ongoing process for probably the next little while, but our home is now super functional and we have a huge comfy new lounge that I am in love with.

poetry reading! It went well. Very cool established people made a point of complimenting me, which I’m still a bit giddy about.

thesis! Technically, I finished the chapter draft yesterday, but I feel like it still counts. Now onto the final chapter.

fifth month milestone at work. Not that anything’s different except that it would be a lot harder for them to fire me now if they wanted to (which they extremely do not). I am very content. Also it was the season launch but whatever.

ttrpg work. The editing part is yet to come but the starter scenario is finished! I’m very happy with the final product. It’s very much a love-letter to my home and the people I’ve known in this strange, gorgeous part of the world.

medical appointment. Will find out the results next week and then hopefully be able to start remedying things, which will be nice. Being sore all the time is not really very fun.

my birthday! I’m very happy and feel very loved. I’ve got big dreams for next year’s birthday festivities and it’s been exciting to share an imporant project with my friends as part of the twelve-month countdown to the thirty milestone. Should actually put that on here as well, now I think about it.

In December, I will:

write thesis chapter four. The fourth and final chapter of the thesis draft! Once it’s done, I’ll be taking a month off to relax and refresh before jumping into the major redraft/rewrite/restructure and edit process in February.

ttrpg editing. It’s exciting to get to see the final version after hearing about the game for so long.

novel feedback. I’ve already read it through once, so now it’s time for a close read of the work and some feedback.

last board meeting of the year. The board I’m on convenes this month for the last meeting and a little dinner together, which marks my one year anniversary of becoming a member of the COM. I’m looking forward to more years, and taking on more responsibility once I’ve got the thesis off my plate.

New Year’s Eve party. We’re thinking it would be nice to do a house-warming + new year welcome here, especially since a lot of friends still haven’t had a chance to visit the new place yet.

think on new year’s resolutions. It’s almost time to begin the journey again.

#2022 resolutions

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prettyallfriends · 1 year

Text

Pretty Rhythm Rainbow Live: Kirakira My☆Design (RL) Chapter 10, 11, 12 English Translation

okay i had 3 chapters in my gdrive lmao. i think i didnt post them bc the umlauts were annoying me. märchen

RL Chapter 10: A Sparkling Runway Showdown!

(1 billboard out of 6 is now advertising prism stone)

Naru: Thank you very much for shopping at Prism Stone!! Man, we’ve been getting way more customers since Dreaming Session, huh?

Ann: Well, the tournament excitement is dying down, and Prism Stone’s been doing well lately, soooo… why don’t we all relax a bit? Oh, I know~! Why don’t we go to a dessert buffet after we close?

Naru: Yeeees! You come too, Ito-chan!

Ito: Huh? Why should I go…?

Ann: It’ll be more fun with all of us! So you’re coming, end of story!!!

Ito: Wai-... wait a minute… I don’t even like…

Naru: I’m so glad we can all finally chillax together~! Let’s hurry up and go!!

Cosmo: …’Sup.

Naru: –Wait, huh!? Cosmo-chan!?!? Oh, uh… welcome to Prism Stone!!

Cosmo: Is Player here?

Ann: Well, yeah… why? What’s up??

Cosmo: Hehe. They won the tournament, which helped them get a leg up in the Harajuku Style-jack. So, congrats. Though this much isn’t a surprise since you have the help of My☆Deco… Nor is it a surprise from my rival! Obviously you’d be able to get this far.

Ann: Woah… She’s practically dripping in self-confidence… all while looking down on everyone. She really fits the title of “stylish gang leader”!

Cosmo: Hehe. I’m here today to bring Player out. Hey you, ever walked the runway before?

Choice: You have to know I haven’t! / Yeah, I have actually!

Cosmo: Oh… well, I guess that’s not too surprising. Only the feet of the chosen stylish few can touch the sacred ground of a fashion show’s runway! Luckily, you barely scrape by with your sparking stylish aura!!! Tonight, you’re walking in Tokyo’s most cutting-edge fashion show… Harajuku Runway!!!

Ann: What!? Even the most stylish girls don’t have a chance at getting into Harajuku Runway! Getting on the main stage of a fashion show like that…

Cosmo: I’m endorsing them, so it’s all good. I told them I know the best up-and-coming fashionista!

Naru: Oooh, thanks, Cosmo-chan! That’s great, Player-chan!

Cosmo: Of course… You’re not just taking part like anyone else. You’ll be doing a runway battle. Amane, I’ll leave the explaining to you.

Amane (dark haired Cosmo☆Sister): Of course. Please allow me to offer an explanation of the event, Player-sama. A runway battle is…

(tutorial)

Amane: …I believe that was everything. Was my explanation sufficiently comprehensive? I shall be your opponent in this evening’s event. I humbly request that we both act in accordance with the rules of sportsmanship.

Cosmo: Will you be able to beat Amane’s elegant runway? Hehe, I can’t wait to find out.

Naru: Good luck, Player-chan! Put on the most ‘you’ runway show you can!

Cosmo: Well, we need to prep, so laters. And once we get to Harajuku Runway, the Player VS Amane runway battle will cosmically START!

(runway)

Naru: You were suuuuper happynaru on the runway!!!

Ann: My heart was beating like crazy when you were walking!

Ito: The audience was also super pumped. Nice runway!

Amane: …I… I lost… to one so inexperienced… I do not deserve to count myself amongst the ranks of Cosmo☆Sisters… How could I lose!?!? There is simply no waaaay!!!!

Cosmo: Hey, Amane, you’re acting kinda… undignified?

Amane: Ah, my sincerest apologies, Cosmo-sama! I cannot excuse my behaviour…

Cosmo: I get that you’re frustrated, but you lost. Your coord was off, your expression was too… And you weren’t able to get the audience as excited as you needed to. But Player beat you in all regards.

Amane: …sob…

Cosmo: Well, all things considered… what’s most important is being able to walk freely and, like… poise or whatever…

Naru: Oooh, so that must be why Player was so good! They’ve been working really hard for Prism Shows too!

Ann: Prism Jumps and dance involve poise, so it looks like they’re also good training for the runway!

Cosmo: Prism Shows can… help on the runway…?

Naru: Oh, that’s it! Hey, Cosmo-chan! Why don’t you do a Prism Show with Player-chan?

Cosmo: Huh…!? A P-Prism Show!?!? Me!?!?

RL Chapter 11: Designer Debut! My Dream and Cosmo’s Dream

Naru: Yeah, you should totally give it a go!

Cosmo: Me…? Why?

Naru: Don’t you like doing Prism Shows? I mean, you didn’t enter the tournament…

Cosmo: …I’m not interested.

Naru: What?

Cosmo: Hard work, sweating it out in practise… stuff like that isn’t stylish at all!!

Ito: The three main components of Prism Shows are dance, fashion, and music. Bring those together and you get a Prism Show, the peak of entertainment.

Cosmo: …

Naru: I really wanna see you put on a Prism Show, Cosmo-chan!!

Cosmo: …

Ito: Wait, no way… you won’t do it because you’re nervous?

Cosmo: !!!

Ito: Oh, so I’m right.

Naru: Gotcha! Well, there’s really no reason to worry! Anyone can do a Prism Show, even if they’re not great with exercising. I mean, I’m super clumsy after all…

Cosmo: W-wait, that’s not it! I can exercise just fine! It’s just… um…

Naru: ??

Cosmo: I’ve just never done a Prism Show before…

Yuuhi (red haired Cosmo☆Sister): Huh!?!? Wait, like never never!?

Cosmo: …

Naru: Oh, so that’s it… Well, that makes you the same as Player-chan!

Ann: Your first Prism Show is always scary, but it’ll turn out just fine! A Prism Jump is when your heart leaps, and the Prism Shows that allow you to Jump are super special. A Prism Show can make your heart dance! What’d you think when you watched Player’s Shows?

Cosmo: …Kinda… like everything was sparkling…

Ann: Exactly! Putting on a Show is amazing because it can make people feel that excitement!

Cosmo: Make your heart… dance…

Ann: So why don’t you put on a Show together with Player?

Cosmo: You… really want us to put on a Show together!?!? For real!?!?

Ann: Player, why don’t you help Cosmo learn about Prism Shows?

Choice: Yeah, let’s do our best together! / Just don’t hold me back.

Cosmo: You’re seriously okay with this? Doing our best… together… You’re totally… a great person, Player. Hehe…

Ann: Okay then! Let’s start your Prism Show lesson! First you should watch Player’s Show as an example. Let’s! Prism Show!

(prism show)

Ann: Woohoo, your Show went great! Now, next up is Cosmo’s!!

Naru: You’ve got this, Cosmo-chan!!

Cosmo: Hah..! Stardust☆Shower!!!

Amane: Eeek!!! Cosmo-sama, you were exquisite! I could feel your sparkling stylish power!

Cosmo: …I performed… a Jump… I did a Prism Show!!! Yaaay!! Woohoo!! Yaaay!!! That was the best! It was totally like a dream!!

Amane: …Cosmo…-sama…?

Cosmo: Ah!!! …Sorry. I got a bit carried away, huh… Hah… Player, you’re obviously exceptional if you can teach me to perform such an amazing Jump!!

Amane: How delightful! With this, your style power has presumably risen, therefore your success with the Harajuku Style-jack shall progress accordingly. Ah! Forgive me. It seems the time of your interview draws near, Cosmo-sama. We must be off!

Cosmo: …

Amane: …Cosmo-sama…??

Cosmo: As the stylish gang leader, Houjou Cosmo, simple words cannot speak over actions regarding my rival!

Amane: Cosmo-sama!? What could you possibly be thinking up at this time…?

Cosmo: Player, do you know about My☆Dress Design? It’ll help raise your style power, so why not make even more designs? Now then… here goes Houjou Cosmo’s cosmic design lecture! You’ll now be able to use more patterns and colours, and school-style clothes! So challenge yourself with more My☆Dress Design, and raise your style power! Laters!

Naru: …She’s… a pretty nice person, huh? …Deep down… maybe.

Ito: She definitely seems really skilled, at least.

Naru: What do you think of her, Ann-chan?

Ann: …

Naru: Ann-chan??

Ann: Cosmo… said she’s never done a Prism Show before, right?

Naru: Yup!

Ann: So I was wondering if she’s from another country, or something… Y’know, since otherwise she would’ve done Shows at school or something, right?

Ito: Oh, like how she said she’s never done a Jump before?

Ann: Yeah… I’m all curious now… Hm…

RL Chapter 12: A Märchen Party with Otoha

Ann: Hmm… I’m kinda interested!

Ito: You’ve been thinking about Cosmo ever since then, huh?

Ann: I mean, she’s super mysterious…! And she’d never even done a Prism Show before, even though she should’ve done them at school…

Naru: Oh! But Player-chan was in the same boat when we met!

Ann: What!? Player was!? Seriouslyyyy!?!?

Ito: Did you… skip class a lot??

Naru: Um, no. That’s just you, Ito-chan.

Ito: Ugh…

Naru: I guess there are schools out there that don’t have Prism Show classes~

Ann: Hm, I guess that must be it… Cosmo and Player are pretty alike, then. They’d never done a Prism Show, both have mysterious powers… My☆Deco and Design are both super occult-ish, I need to know more about them!!!

???: I’m sorry, I’m so sorry!!!

Naru: Th-this voice…!? Oh, Otoha-chan!

Otoha: Wah! Sorry to intrude. Hm? Sniff sniff… What a wonderfully märchen fragrance… And who is this?

Naru: This is Prism Stone’s new employee, Player-chan!

Otoha: Wah~ Nice to meet you, Player-san. My name is Takanashi Otoha.

Ann: Otoha’s a member of Edel Rose!

Otoha: Are you familiar with Edel Rose?

Choice: Of course I am / Nah, no idea…

Ann: Edel Rose is a Prism Show Academy where all of the best Prism Stars practise. Only the elites can attend.

Otoha: If you’d like, please feel free to come for a lesson, Player-san!

Ann: Anyway, why did you rush over here? Did something happen?

Otoha: Ah! Apologies! I came here to ask you all for a favour! Ah… I will be… throwing a party… and would like someone to perform a Prism Show! Anyone able to put on a märchen Show would be perfect…

Naru: In that case, Player-chan is in!! Their Show’s sure to be all fresh and sparkly!

Ann: Perfect!! I really wanna see them put on a ‘märchen’ Show! And by helping with Otoha’s party, they’ll learn about feminine power!

Otoha: In that case, might I ask for your help, Player-san? As you will be putting on a märchen Prism Show, what outfit should you wear… How about the Teacup Märchen Dress? If your Show goes well, I’ll give you some delicious tea and a Seventh Jump as a present! Now, your Seventh Jump Challenge & Märchen Party Show… will now start!! …Märchen!

(show)

Otoha: Wow~! That was a very, very… veeeeery wonderful Show!! Märchen, Player-san!

Ann: The Show was good, but your tea was also super yum, Otoha!

Naru: This was such a good party! Happynaru!!!

Otoha: Great job, Player-san. If you’d like, I’ll prepare some delicious tea for you!

Ann: Sounds good! We have dessert too, so this’ll be a great afterparty!

Naru: Yeah, let’s have an afterparty!

Otoha: Märcheeeeen!

Ito: …Player. Sorry to drag you away from the party, but um… can I have a minute?

#pretty rhythm rainbow live #prrl #pretty rhythm 3ds #pretty rhythm #kkmd #kkmdrl

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hanjisick · 2 years

Note

hello, it’s seungmin fic anon!! this name is also funny to me too lol, but i’m just gonna stick with it. i’m cheering for you as someone who’s also in an unsafe (mentally) environment and has mental health problems as well. i hope we both can get through this to a better place. :)

honestly i am considering making a yandere blog on tumblr but i don’t think i’d be able to handle it. i heard some yandere blogs get hate and i’m not very good facing that kind of stuff. i also don’t really write as much these days because things haven’t been as good for me lately. whenever i try, i let the writer’s perfectionism get to me and delete it or something, and i hate writing violence or anything like that so i mostly just stay in one comfort zone when i write yanderes, haha.

thank you for saying so though, i seriously considered it. maybe one day or soon but it’s unlikely. i’d like to see stories that continue too if that’s what you’d like to try! i think they’d be nice. i was the anon who asked questions about your jeongin au and i really loved that one. i reread it sometimes cuz it’s just that good (and all of your other works too sjwndkwnsn).

i’m glad i made your day better. that’s great that you write to comfort others! i hope that one day i can also do the same, but right now i just write to comfort myself. :))

anyway i’m gonna send a ship request as a separate ask, so sorry if it looks like spam but it isn’t!! have a wonderful day/night and thank you for taking the time to respond to my ask. i felt heard? (idk how to describe it but it’s a good feeling) while reading it. 💖💖

you should stick with the name! it’s very cute and fun :) as for the environment, i hope we can too! i’m sure it’ll all work out in the end.

i haven’t gotten hate yet, and especially none for the type of content i post. i prepared a lot for it both in the beginning and even now, so i’m very surprised to see that isn’t the case. i think the warnings and clarification i have all over my blog do help a lot, so i blame it on that. :) i also really suck at taking hate so i understand that.

i also understand the part about perfectionism. if you look through the time i post throughout my blog, you’ll see gaps of months on end where i didn’t post anything and just let this blog rot— most of that was times where i had works to post and anons to answer, but none of it seemed good enough.

comfort zones are hard to break. i have multiple requests that i haven’t been able to fulfill because i don’t feel like i am all that good at a specific genre, even if it gets lots of notes. :,) but if you do plan on starting a blog, it’s okay to write similar stories! i always look for stories similar to ones i’ve read after i read them because sometimes you just can’t get enough, yk?

whether or not you start a blog, know that i’ll always be your number one supporter, and i love you so much! don’t thank me for responding to your anons, because honestly, anons are the ones who make my writing worth it all. i can tell you’re such a kind soul and i can’t wait to learn more about you! <3 i’m always here to hear you.

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singull · 2 years

Text

been a while since i posted a personal thang heeeeeere.

wanna know why?

‘cause my ass got a journal ohmergerd! also got a glass dip pen like i mentioned i wanted and aaahhhhh i feel so FANCY writing with a dip pen. 8D

but yeah, since i’ve been spilling all the boring deets of my life into a journal, i haven’t been posting shit here bahaha. probably a good thing? xD but also sometimes a bitch misses getting feedback about things sometimes rather than just writing into a void.

last few days have been a little rough because my mind has gone back to dwelling on the friend breakup from early this year. keep spiraling into trying to pin down what i must have done or said that was so wrong that she felt the need to cut me out of her life for good. and like…yeah i can think of plenty of reasons, but being able to come up with a laundry list of what i believe are my faults isn’t terribly helpful bahah. i’ve fought with myself a few times this year about reaching out to get some sort of non-vague answer, but ultimately i know that i likely don’t want to know whatever her answer is because it isn’t likely to give me any sort of satisfying closure anyway and will probably just make me feel worse about myself.

annnnnnnd yeah it feels like all my progress of slowing accepting that my friend is gone for good is unraveling completely and aaaaaahhhhhh. the fact that we had to put our other dog down a few weeks ago and i’ve been sleeping terribly is probably a big reason for the back-tracking. been feeling that depression slithering back into my life and it makes it difficult to focus on things that would preoccupy me usually and keep me busy. plus it’s beginning to get darker earlier so i’m sure that isn’t helping bahaha. winter months in alaska fucking suck. i could deal with the cold and the snow and shit, but the darkness just makes things so much harder.

anyway…i talked my boss into upgrading our POS system at work! we’ve been using a Square Stand with an iPad Air for a few years, but the tablet has been lagging a lot with square’s app in particular for a while now, so we’re going to get Square’s Register (which will be so nice so i don’t have to worry about iOS updates butting heads with app updates) AS WELL AS a barcode scanner and receipt printer. aaaayyyyyyyy. i’m pretty lowkey hype about the scanner. it’s gonna be an asshole to reorganize the entire inventory, but hey, it’ll be something to do at work during downtime. P; will be nice to make checking out more seamless, especially since my boss wants to start looking into getting volunteers for the shop again. lemme tell you, trying to tell a volunteer to study the inventory so they learn to know where to find items on it for check out is like pulling teeth. being able to tell them to just scan a barcode will make training so much easier for me. xD also, no having to worry about teaching someone how to interact with an iPad. suffering is having to teach an elderly person about iOS gestures. xD; just teaching them to use the app can be a whole thing in itself. hopefully the register will be much more straight forward.

still reading, but been working on playing god of war 2018 since september since i’m interested in playing ragnarok later this year, but vidya gaems really cut into reading time bahaha. also i keep falling behind on my shows and youtube watch later list. xD;

#personal bloggity

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pahrak-the-sinnoh-slizer · 7 months

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[Games in 2023: Sonic Frontiers: The Final Horizon]

Following Sonic Frontiers’ release in late 22, Sega announced a DLC roadmap consisting of three waves of content that would be released over the next year, all of them being completely free. I’ve been meaning to summarize my thoughts on them as they’ve rolled out, but uh…the third and final wave has released, so I guess I’m going to cover all of them in one post!

I’m definitely going into spoilers, so tl;dr: if you already loved Frontiers, there’s now even more to love, and if you were on the fence, know that you can now get a significantly improved and expanded experience at no extra cost. Frontiers is bigger and better than ever, and while the challenges of the newly-added Another Story can be quite frustrating, I absolutely still enjoyed the overall experience.

If you’ve been here for at least a while, you probably know that I fucking adored Sonic Frontiers. I’ve been getting back into the series over the past few years, and this was the first major new game to release since beginning that process; Frontiers was designed to be the beginning of a new era for Sonic himself, so it all seemed to line up quite well. It certainly helped that the tone of the game was highly reminiscent of the “Dark Age” titles I grew up with. The game has its problems, certainly—performance issues like pop-in and some loose seams that show Sonic Team needed a little more time than Sega was ultimately willing to give them—but for me, the positive immensely outweighs the negative. Frontiers is fun to play, ridiculously cool, and not afraid to be itself the way Sonic games of the past decade-ish have seemed to be; seams be damned, I love the story dearly, and I’m excited to see how it might be followed up on. Frontiers was the exact kind of Sonic game that I personally needed at this point in my life.

Wave 1 of the DLC introduced a variety of new features with the theme of enhancing the “sights, sounds, and speeds” of the game. One that I still haven’t messed around with much is the new photo mode—I’m glad to now have the extra freedom in setting up screenshots, but it just didn’t occur to me to use it yet. Honestly I don’t think I’ve played many games that have a photo mode, it’s not something I’m personally used to thinking about. Several gauntlets were also added, featuring both the Cyberspace stages and combat challenges. It seems odd that the Cyberspace gauntlets are separated from the Cyberspace arcade mode: if I had spent a bunch of time perfecting runs in arcade mode to then find out I had to do it all again, I imagine I’d be rather annoyed. As for combat challenges, simply providing a way to refight the Titans without going through the whole game again is enough to count as a win in my book (though being able to do so without the “warm-up” rounds would be the most ideal), and if you enjoy the combat, this is the best way to get a nice helping of it all at once. I’m told that completing these modes unlocks the ability to use Power Boost in Cyberspace stages, and an Extreme difficulty setting, but I haven’t felt a desire to push for either of those myself yet.

My favorite addition of this wave is the Jukebox. By tracking down Sound Memories scattered across every island, you unlock a few dozen songs that you can play while running around, these being pulled from various games all across Sonic’s history. Most people know Sonic music tends to be pretty good (putting it mildly). Having so much of it on-hand is a wonderfully tantalizing prospect. The Sound Memories are all on the map, just like every other collectible—this is good, because it would’ve been frustrating to find them otherwise…though, it did enable me to run around and grab all of them in one sitting, which may have been an error on my part. I’m eager to see what it’ll be like finding this as you go through a fresh game; I imagine it’ll be a very welcome additional reward for player progression. Nevertheless, it was still fun to run around the islands and figure out how best to reach each Sound Memory and discover which new song it unlocked. There are some great picks! I’m also really glad that some of the songs are found on Rhea Island—for as large as it is, there was no real reason to explore it before since it was totally devoid of life and collectibles outside of the towers you progress through one after another. But now, taking a quick stroll around its lovely locales rewards you with Open Your Heart and Stardust Speedway and Flying Battery! It’s obvious that the devs spent a lot of time building Rhea, and nice to know that more players will be able to appreciate it now.

On to wave 2, released in celebration of Sonic’s birthday. I was expecting only some small cosmetics, but it’s FAR more substantial than I was expecting! The birthday cosmetics actually change a lot in the overworld, really changing the atmosphere in a fun way. New Sound Memories were added, these being the themes that play while exploring the islands: they each have various “stages” that progress as you fill out more of the map (if I recall correctly), and every single one of them can now be unlocked for the Jukebox. There are also several new Action Chain Challenges that lead to unique Koco which, when returned to the Elder, extend Sonic’s Boost Gauge! Fantastic as this sounds, these challenges were a bit too much for me, though I’d like to think this is at least partly due to my being so rusty at the game. I’ll have to try these again sometime, because on top of more Boost, completing all of them apparently unlocks the Spin Dash, and without even searching I’ve seen some sick-looking movement you can do with that. The other big addition is New Game+, and though I haven’t used it yet, I am absolutely going to replay Frontiers at some point and this will probably be the way I do it.

It, uh, seems there’s a trend of me not actually going deep into a lot of the new stuff. It’s good stuff to be sure, just primarily groups of small things that probably are designed to be done bits at a time as you go along like the other collectibles. Since I’ve already completed the story, maxed out Sonic’s stats, and gotten the Platinum trophy, I suppose my sense of direction has been lacking. I do my best when I have a specific, overarching goal to work towards.

Which brings us to wave 3, “The Final Horizon”. Just about everything here is contained within a new episode referred to as “Another Story”, accessed through a big Warp Ring that appears on Ouranos Island; it seems like this becomes available as soon as you reach the island, but I won’t be able to verify that until my next playthrough. This mode also has its own separate save slots, which is nice…because it’s really freaking difficult and I’m glad to know I can go back to the main game if it becomes too much. But we’ll get to that. Essentially, Another Story puts you on a completely revamped Ouranos with its own platforming bits and map challenges. I didn’t see much in the way of standard enemies (maybe because I was playing on Easy?), but there are a handful of enhanced Guardians roaming about: Master Ninja+, Spider+, even more Ghosts! I accidentally ran into one and had my ass promptly handed to me—they’re not messing around—so they’re still on my To Do list. The map challenges can also be surprisingly tricky, from a ball and hoop puzzle with entirely too many hoops, to a time trial that gives you less than 10 seconds to run to the goal. Another Ouranos is tough as nails, which will either delight or frustrate you…or some combination of the two. Of note is that Sonic gets the Spin Dash for free upon starting if you haven’t already gotten it the hard way; it’s fun, but I’m not sure I’ve passed the skill floor yet lol.

But that’s not all! Another Story kicks off with Sage proposing a new plan for taking on The End: taking on a new set of towers a la Rhea Island so that Sonic can learn to not only control his cyber corruption, but actually harness it to increase his power. They’ll still need the Chaos Emeralds of course, so Sage uses her own abilities to keep Sonic’s corruption in check and brings back Amy, Knuckles, and Tails so they can cover as much ground as possible. That’s right: for the first time in *checks notes* nearly two decades, these three characters are playable in a 3D Sonic game!! Each of them get two segments of gameplay hunting down Emeralds interspersed with Sonic dealing with the towers, and after clearing the final tower you gain a method to switch characters at will. Everybody has their own unique Skill Tree with a few standard abilities (like Cyloop, Boost, Spin Dash) as well as several unique ones (including character-specific variations on Parry that inflict debuffs), and I’d say everyone feels suitably distinct without having too steep a learning curve. So, what can everyone do?

Amy is the one who surprised me the most, in that she only uses her hammer for two abilities. Everything else involves her Tarot Cards. I do like how hard they’ve been leaning into the cards in recent years, and they do predate her hammer; I imagine another concern was that a hammer-focused playstyle would be a little too similar to Knuckles, and yeah, the card-based moveset is very unique. I’ll admit to finding it a bit jarring due to how long the hammer has been Amy’s weapon of choice, but I’m sure I’ll get over it. Her Double Jump is far more substantial than Sonic’s, and if that wasn’t enough, she also gets a third jump that puts her into a hovering state, giving her enhanced aerial mobility in the same vein as Knuckles and Tails. Another move is functionally similar to the way the Homing Attack in Lost World could lock onto multiple targets, letting her zip along an entire line of enemies in a flash. If I had gripes they would probably be that she can’t wall run or Lightspeed Dash, but her insane verticality makes up for a lot of that.

Knuckles is the most in-line with expectations: he punches, he glides, and he doesn’t chuckle. In addition to climbing the same green walls as Sonic, he can also climb exclusive red walls—though, again, no Lightspeed Dash. The gliding is…let’s say contentious. You need to Double Jump before you can glide, then it plays a short animation of Knuckles getting ready to glide, and then you have to try to figure out how to steer the damn thing. It’s not ideal. While that is a bummer, you can unlock a Power Boost analogue that lets Knuckles glide infinitely without losing altitude (while he has max Rings), and that’s a lot of fun even if the glide is a bit unwieldy! He’s got a charge attack drilling strike that’s pretty cool too. I’m kinda just glad to get to play as Knuckles some more tbh.

Now Tails! Tails is interesting. You’ve probably seen the wrench throwing memes by now—what’s nice about this ability is that it and another move where he uses a blaster make Tails the best character for ranged combat/interactions. I’m a fan of them using wrenches rather than the ol’ dummy ring bomb, it’s a much better fit for the kid. But what throws me off the most about playing as Tails is that he’s the one character who doesn’t have a Homing Attack. Turns out I got real used to using the Homing Attack on springs and such, because I keep hitting the button and being confused when I start throwing wrenches at the spring instead. I wouldn’t call this an issue, honestly, and I don’t think it ever even really messed me up, I just need to learn to suppress my muscle memory. Of course, Tails can also fly! I find takeoff a bit tricky: you need to Double Jump before you can use it, and when Tails starts spinning his tails he falls a short distance before they get going and he shoots straight up. Definitely manageable, just feels a little weird. He has limited stamina as always, but it seemed to me that he could keep flying for a good long while before he started to drop, no complaints there. As for other moves, Tails uses some gadgets like a blaster and a giant pile bunker…and, also, there are abilities that let him summon the Tornado to fly around and attack enemies. I haven’t unlocked them myself yet as I had other priorities, but just seeing that pulling out an entire-ass plane is an option makes me smile.

There are several challenges around the island designed with each character in mind, as well as some “Map Koco” that are like map challenges but can only be activated by a specific character. They each have their own color-coded skill pieces too, which you mainly get by finding Koco with giant backpacks who give you a few thousand at a time. Stats need to be leveled for each character separately, but to help with this, the Starfall in Another Story fills the island with Koco and seeds instead of gems for the purple coin gacha. There are even plenty of new, optional conversations for each character, and they don’t even require certain amounts of Memories to access! I wouldn’t say the implementation of the new playable characters is perfect, but it’s clear that a LOT of effort was put into them, and I’ve been able to have a lot of fun with them too. As far as I’m concerned, this is a win.

While those three are off collecting Emeralds (and dealing with their own instances of cyber corruption), Sonic is climbing “Trial Towers”. They can get pretty intense, but it seems playing on Easy gives you some advantages here and that was appreciated. It’s irritating that there are no checkpoint pulleys like on Rhea, barring one at the top of the very last tower since the NPC there has the vital functions of both switching characters and starting the final boss battle. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves! The towers, while they can be tough, aren’t the hard part. The hard part is getting to the top of each to speak with the Koco housing the soul of one of the Titan pilots, only for them to send you into a combat trial where you’re locked to level 1 stats and have a very strict time limit. Shockingly, the easiest one for me was the trial that just had you fight a pack of Wolves! The hardest one was Snake’s Trial, where you have to beat four shielded enemies within the time limit and with most of your skills taken away. Apparently the intent is to parry the shields when they’re thrown to keep the enemy vulnerable, but I couldn’t pull that off. You can still Cyloop these enemies to knock their shield away briefly, but when I say briefly, in this case I mean extremely briefly: they seem to regenerate their shield after a mere second passes. If you time your loops and combos just right, you can barely take them all out in time this way, but yeesh, if any of the trials get nerfed I hope it’s this one. Though there’s also the fifth and final trial…a boss rush of the 3 earlier Titan fights. Doesn’t sound so bad? You’re again locked to level 1 stats, and the Parry can no longer be held indefinitely—Easy gives you some leeway, but you still need to be fairly precise. Still doesn’t sound too bad? Well, the 400 Rings you start with when you spawn in Giganto’s arena? Those have to last you the whole gauntlet. There are NO other rings Sonic can pick up. Since Super Sonic loses 1 Ring every second, assuming you don’t take any hits in the segments where you climb to the final Chaos Emerald, you have just over two minutes to wreck each Titan. With level 1 stats and a nerfed Parry. I didn’t realize just how essential Parrying was to these fights, especially Wyvern. After a single attempt, I knew I had to put the game down for the night and search for tips online. Thankfully, if you focus on Cylooping and Stomping the Titans, you can get by in decent time so long as you don’t botch too many Parries. IMO Wyvern was the toughest part and Knight was actually the easiest. But yeah, if you were wondering why people we so up in arms about the difficulty, these trials are the biggest reason of why.

Anyway. Amy, Knuckles, Tails, and Eggman gather up the Chaos Emeralds, and Sonic learns to use cyber corruption as a power-up. First, you have to go through the standard Supreme fight, but after that (and regardless of difficulty), The End descends onto the battlefield and connects itself to Supreme, causing it to grow five more arms and go absolutely feral to really drive home the Evangelion reference. The title card for Supreme comes back up, but then glitches out before changing to say “The End”—I love shit like that, really slick. After a short period where you can’t damage the boss (Supreme End, as I like to call it) or block its projectiles, Sonic unleashes the power of his cyber corruption, and transforms…into Super Sonic 2. (In-game it doesn’t really get named but apparently the files literally call it “Super Sonic 2”, and that’s hilarious and rad so I’m going with that.) I’ll go more into the form itself later—in terms of the fight, Super Sonic 2 is able to damage Supreme End and use the Perfect Parry to deflect its shots. However, this is where things get…tricky. The End is able to constantly refill Supreme’s health no matter how fast you deplete it, so you need to sever the cable connecting them. Alright, so maybe try a Cyloop? No? What about a Grand Slam, will that make it vulnerable? No, not that either? Turns out the plug is a separate target that you can only hit by targeting it specifically. In spite of the fact that the game always automatically targets the head. Well, once you figure that out you can actually deplete Supreme’s health, but you still need to get to the next phase. With no indication, you need to figure out that you can target the gun holstered in Supreme’s back, use Cyloop to pull it out, and then Cyloop the gun again. I’ll admit that staying focused on depleting Supreme’s health and ignoring the gun after getting it out was a dumb mistake on my part, but there really isn’t a lot to let you know you can Cyloop the gun out in the first place, made worse by the way the trees surrounding the arena tend to obscure the camera. Whatever—you Cyloop the gun (twice), and then a scene plays where Eggman grabs it with his own giant cable while Sage and Sonic’s friends form a barrier. At this point, Supreme End can attack the barrier, and you lose if it breaks it. I kinda lucked through this part, but if you attack the head, then dodge, you end up above the Titan, and after it flails its arms a bit you can Parry and Grand Slam to keep it from attacking while you finish whittling down its health. After some awesome QTE attacks, Sonic loads himself into the stolen gun and brings out the full power of his cyber corruption, turning cyan and black with glitch effects and fangs and crazy eyes. (Again, saving that for later.) Eggman then shoots Sonic through Supreme and The End, obliterating them both, and this time Sage gets to go home with her father without needing to sacrifice herself. Which I do like. But anyway, the boss fight? Epic scale, cool as shit…clear as mud. If you know what you’re doing it’s a real fun power trip, but it’s more difficult than it needs to be to know that. I dunno, maybe it’s just a skill issue, but I’m simultaneously frustrated and gleeful over this fight.

Not sure where else to put this, but Another Ouranos has its own set of Cyber Space stages—you can completely avoid them if you want to, but these are actually rather inventive! One has a radar that tells you if you’re close to invisible landmines; one has capsules that give you a powered up Rocket Boost; apparently there’s one that switches the Boost Gauge out for a Gear Shift mechanic. I haven’t been able to beat any of them. Yet. BUT, it’s still cool to see Sonic Team already experimenting more within this framework, with both these stages and the playstyles of the different characters. Frontiers is meant to lay the foundation for the next era, after all, and I’m excited to see where these experiments lead.

Right though, those new forms! We have to talk about the new forms! Super Sonic 2 is visually very similar to base Super Sonic, which is a bit disappointing even if it does fit the reference. Still, Super Sonic 2 does manage to be a more noticeable change than Super Saiyan 2: his eyes turn from red to blue, his body has a red outline, and he has a double aura somewhat reminiscent of the Super Saiyan Blue Kaioken. What really sells it, though, is the way Sonic acts in this form. As one last addendum to the DBZ comparison, his demeanor and movements invoke Ultra Instinct Sign to a certain degree: a casual and cold fury as he nonchalantly sidesteps and pushes aside the attacks Supreme End lobs at him. When his Cyloop expires, he adds a finisher to it where he snaps his fingers and the light constructs he summoned crush the Titan. The Grand Slam for this fight? Sonic floats in close to the charging Supreme, arms crossed, then the screen goes black with golden slashes like the fucking Raging Demon from Street Fighter, and after watching Supreme hit the ground, we get a low angle shot of Sonic, arms still crossed, glaring over his shoulder at it. Fucking sick. For the final QTEs, he does a barrage of punches and kicks that launches Supreme into the sky, floats in place and slowly raises his hand as Supreme falls, and then slams one last punch into it the instant it comes close enough. This could actually be the coolest Sonic has ever been. And then there’s the glitchy blue form he uses for the finishing blow: the game’s files call it “Super Sonic Cyber”, and while the eyes and teeth are taken straight from Fleetway Super Sonic, the full-body cyan makes me think of fucking Nazo. The Koco who gives him this power-up says that if he goes all out he’ll lose his cyber corruption power permanently, and he does revert to regular Super Sonic after going Super Sonic Cyber, so both 2 and Cyber could be one-offs seen here and never again—which would be just fine! But I see two ways they could possibly make a reappearance: firstly, maybe Master King was just wrong, and Sonic is able to retain the cyber corruption power and reawaken it in a later game (I would not be upset with this); secondly, though, the text in-game refers to Super Sonic 2 as “the hidden power of Super Sonic”, making it seem like this power or something like it already lay dormant within Sonic, and maybe there are other ways it can be brought to the surface. I dunno, if Hyper Sonic and the Storybook forms are anything to go by, the best we can hope for is 2 and Cyber units in mobile games if anything—again, I would not be upset with this. The fans, however…they’re going to have fun with this. (I request Burning Blaze 2. Please.)

This ending was definitely a happier one, though I don’t think it hit me quite as hard. The only real difference is Sage’s survival, which again, I’m a big fan of; but that being the main win we’re focused on while she also gets much less to do in the final battle feels a bit odd to me. Well, maybe that’s a nitpick. I’m not sure if it’s been stated whether or not this new ending officially replaces the old one? Either way we’ll have Sage going forward, so maybe they can skirt around the details if they want. I’m definitely interested to see what direction they take her in, and how her continued presence affects Eggman. I’m also curious to see what Amy, Knuckles, and Tails get into on their solo adventures. The main plot also raises some serious questions regarding the Master Emerald, so I’m hoping those get dealt with. Also…those meteors raining down…those are pieces of The End, right? Are those, uh, safe? Even if the moon form is gone, there’s no way that’s enough to permanently kill a godlike personification of death. Honestly, I am hoping we get to see more of The End in some form: their philosophy of equating “order” with destruction and death is a great antithesis to the power of Chaos that Sonic and his friends wield. The End, who embodies order, versus Sonic, who embodies chaos…there’s a lot of potential there. And, even if Frontiers maybe doesn’t completely stick its landing, you still have that mountain of potential it opens up waiting for you at the end of the exhilarating ride it takes you on.

#Sonic the Hedgehog #Sonic Frontiers #Games in 2023 #Game Night

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spei-sidus · 9 months

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The Binoculars

Rating: Mature

No Archive Warnings

I didn't know if I could post this kind of content so I didn't at the time. I'm doing it now.

Written for UsaMamo Week 2023, Day 4

A day at the beach leads Mamoru to ask Usagi out.

“YAY it’s Summer Break and we get to PAR-TAY!” Usagi cheered.

“Time to hit the waves!” Ami said.

“And meet some guys!” Makoto said.

“Lots of guys,” Minako said, drooling.

“You girls,” Luna moaned.

“Speaking of guys,” Minako said slyly, "I invited Motoki-kun.”

“You didn’t!” Makoto said, blushing.

“It’s your time to shine, Mako-chan!” Usagi cheered. There was a time when she crushed on Motoki, but she was now firmly in the Tuxedo Kamen camp. She’s known Tuxedo Kamen since she became a Senshi four years ago. Meanwhile, Motoki and Reika broke up six months ago because she wanted to solely focus on her career. Makoto had been crushing on Motoki for as long as Usagi on Tuxedo Kamen.

“He didn’t want to be the only guy there, so I invited Mamoru-san, too,” Minako added.

“Of course you did,” Usagi said with a groan. Mamoru was a third year student at Keio University which just went on Summer Break. He and Motoki, being only two years apart, were good friends.

“Be nice, Usagi-chan,” Rei warned. “I want to actually enjoy this trip. It’ll be our last before we part ways.”

“Not completely,” Usagi whined. They still had to fight the Dark Kingdom and gather nijizuishou. None of them could go too far from Tokyo, where the enemy centered its attacks.

“No, not completely. But we will be on our own paths otherwise,” Makoto said sadly. All of the girls except Usagi were attending University in Tokyo, but each of them got into different schools.

Usagi didn’t try to go to college because she knew Sailor Moon would be needed at every battle, and so had to be available at all times to fight. What was the point of a career when you had to keep deserting your job all the time?

Rei laid out the beach blanket while Makoto pitched the umbrella. Minako brought out some binoculars and began scanning the beach for “hot guys”. Usagi ran after Ami to dive into the ocean.

“Cold! Cold! Cold!” Usagi yelled after she resurfaced.

Ami giggled. “Here, this’ll help you acclimate,” she said before she made a large splash.

Usagi spluttered. “How dare you splash me! That’s unforgivable! In the name of the moon, I declare Splash War on you!” She retaliated, but Ami, being the Senshi of Water, was able to dodge and redirect the flow seamlessly. Once again, Usagi was left spluttering. Ami laughed as she swam away. “Hey! No fair! Aaaaaami-chaaaaaaan!” Usagi wasn’t going to let Ami get away. She started swimming, coughing her way through the waves. Ami took pity on the Senshi of the Moon and turned about, treading water. Usagi similarly began treading water, and then it was a fest of splashing, round and round, amidst peals of laughter.

“It looks like they’re having fun out there,” Rei said with a smile. At least Ami didn’t bring a book this time!

“Look at this cutie,” Minako nudged the miko, leading Rei to look.

“Hey, girls!”

“Motoki-kun! Mamoru-san!” Makoto greeted. She nudged the voyeurs next to her.

“Oh, hiiii Motoki-kun, Mamoru-san,” Rei said, blushing a little at having been caught staring at guys.

Minako had no qualms. “Hello!” she said with a megawatt smile before getting her binoculars back from Rei.

“What are they doing?” Motoki stage-whispered to Makoto as he and Mamoru settled in.

“Boy watching,” Makoto stage-whispered back, blushing.

“Only because I was waiting for you two to show up,” Rei said smoothly, staring daggers at Makoto, and then at Minako.

“You only live once!” Minako said, correctly for a change.

“So how are you both?”

“I’ve still been managing the arcade. My parents have let me take over full-time. There’s a lot on the business side I need to learn.”

“I’m glad it’s Summer Break. I’ve been studying nonstop.”

“You haven’t been to the arcade the last couple of weeks.”

“Finals,” Mamoru said with a grimace. “I couldn’t spare the time.”

“Not even for coffee?”

“If it were just coffee…”

“Ah. No time to fight.”

“Right.” He was very moody because of it. He missed his arguments with the blonde. That was in large part why he agreed to Motoki’s invitation. “Where is Odango, anyway?”

The girls pointed over to the ocean where Usagi and Ami were still having their Splash War. The girls were circling each other and laughing. Mamoru smiled. He loved Odango for her bubbly personality, which was clearly on display now.

“I win!” Ami shouted as she swam back to shore.

“Hold it right there!” Usagi shouted.

Mamoru froze. Usagi had sounded an awful lot like Sailor Moon just then. But of course that’s just silly. Odango Atama, Sailor Moon? Odango was far too sweet and innocent to be the heroine that faced youma on a regular basis. Then the two girls were out of the water - and there was nothing sweet and innocent about that body of hers. Usagi was clad in a pink bikini which left nothing to the imagination. Wide eyes took in her perfect breasts, toned stomach, perfectly flared hips, and long, slender legs. Her wet hair and skin glistened in the sun. How had he never noticed before that Odango was downright gorgeous?

Usagi’s breath caught as she drew near the group. Mamoru was sitting on the blanket facing her, shirtless, revealing well sculpted muscles and bulging arm muscles. Eyes burning blue went down her body and back up again. He was checking her out, too! “Hi,” she croaked. She cleared her throat. “Hi, baka,” she said.

“Hi, Odango,” he said.

“Wanna play volleyball?” Minako asked suddenly.

“Sure!” Makoto and Motoki both said.

“No, no,” Usagi said, waving them off. “You know me.”

“That you’re the biggest klutz of all Tokyo? We definitely know.”

“Is there one day - just one day - where you aren’t mean to me?” The others had retreated at this point.

“The truth isn’t mean.”

“Yes it can! It’s how you say it that makes the difference.”

“I don’t think there’s a kind way to say you’re a klutz, Odango. You also walked right into that one - pun intended.”

“Ooooh,” she groused before picking up Minako’s binoculars, determined to ignore him.

“Now what’re you doing?” he asked irritably. “Watching for hot guys?”

Actually, she’d been scouting for good food places for later, but she’d never admit it. “So what if I am?”

“I’m not going to sit here and watch you ogle other guys, Odango.”

“Can you please stop with the nickname? My name is Usagi! U-sa-gi!”

“You’ll always be Odango to me.” Then he growled, “Put. The. Binoculars. Down.”

“Okay, baka, geez. I didn’t think you cared.” She did as he demanded, shifting back to look at him fully.

“I’m not having a fight with you when you aren’t looking at me.”

Looking? Usagi had to shut her eyes for self-preservation. He was still sitting there, looking gorgeously sexy, and shirtless… “I’m not looking at you,” she said with a half-groan.

He stared intently at her eyes shut noting how the lashes were long and lightly curled, all framed by her heart-shaped bangs, which still glistened. He heard her groan and decided to edge closer. “Well, I’m looking at you,” he murmured.

“Only to find fault, I’m sure,” she said, her eyes still closed.

“Far from it, Usagi.”

Her eyes shot wide open. His eyes were dark and intense as they regarded her, desire in their depths. He wanted her!

Her eyes were wide, confused, but he also found desire in their depths. She wanted him - and was likely too nervous to do anything about it. He understood. They were Odango Atama and Mamoru-baka. Could they suddenly turn from being worst enemies to being lovers?

“You’ve been missing, you baka.”

Well, that was said churlishly! “I didn’t know you cared,” he said tauntingly, throwing her earlier words back at her.

She grimaced, then said quietly. “Well, yeah. Who else am I gonna yell at?”

“We could do something other than yell,” he said seductively. “Maybe scream?”

“Umm,” she incoherently choked out, images coming unbidden from just that one word. “Can you please put on a shirt?”

“No,” he chuckled.

“Why not?” she whined.

“Because you’re still clad in that skimpy outfit, which would be unfair.”

“Unfair?”

“Yes, Odango. You drive me to distraction.”

“But - but we’re worst enemies!”

“So? I want you, and I know you want me.”

“I’m not going to - to do that. We aren’t even dating!”

“I’m asking you out, Odango.”

“Just like that?”

“Just like that.”

“Well, I can’t!”

“Why not?” he growled.

Tuxedo Kamen. She wouldn’t do that to him. Ever. “I like someone else,” she said weakly.

“He obviously doesn’t like you back, or you’d be with him.”

“It’s complicated.”

“Then forget him. Give me a chance,” he pleaded.

Forget Tuxedo Kamen?! Could she? “You can’t make me forget Tuxedo Kamen,” she murmured, and then her eyes went wide. Oh no.

“Tuxedo Kamen?” He was stunned for a minute. “You like a superhero? Someone you haven’t even met?! And that’s why you won’t go out with me?!”

“Like I said, it’s complicated.” He shook his head at her, but his eyes were gleaming. What was he so giddy about? “What are you thinking about?” she asked warily.

“I refuse to be in competition with a guy who’s never going to know who you are,” he said confidently, because he knew he was going to keep it that way.

Usagi frowned. Tuxedo Kamen certainly knew Sailor Moon, but he didn’t know Tsukino Usagi. Nor would the others ever let her reveal her identity to the hero. Perhaps she could fool around a little? Mamoru and she did have explosive chemistry together, if their fights were any indication! She took a deep breath and said, “Fine. I agree - but only to a few dates!”

“I’d say we’ve done a lot of ‘dating’. We’ve met for coffee and shakes for years. We’ve had drawn out ‘discussions’ with one another. I think we’re ready for…other things - I mean, if you are.”

The gauntlet was thrown, and Usagi was quick to snatch it up. “Of course, I’m ready,” she said hotly, “and - hey! What are you doing!” she screeched as she was tossed over his shoulder.

“They have a nice resort over there,” he said. “I’m checking us in…so that we can get on with the screaming.”

Motoki and the other girls had paused their game to gape as the blonde yelled in protest for him to put her down while Mamoru walked away.

Minako sighed. “At least one of us got a hot guy today.”

The End

#usamamoweek2023

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