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rosanna-writer · 6 months

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we said hello and your eyes look like coming home (16/?)

Summary: A canon-divergent AU where the bond snaps for Rhys on Calanmai, Feyre unwittingly accepts it, and Fire Night magic proves to be more transformative than anyone bargained for. Feyre drags a mate she hardly knows out from Under the Mountain, then puts him back together as war with Hybern approaches. Warnings: dubious consent, canon-typical sexual violence, canon-typical violence Rating: Explicit Chapter Word Count: ~4.3k

They bang. Finally.

Read on AO3 or you can find the sixteenth chapter below the readmore.

Rhys's wings were redder than I'd originally thought. I hadn't noticed it until one morning a few days later, when sunlight streaming in from the window illuminated the membranes from the back, making them appear almost translucent. As I sipped my morning tea, my eyes kept drifting to the intricate network of veins, the outline of the delicate bones, and the gleaming, razor-sharp talons.

Cauldron, they were beautiful.

I hadn't had much time to admire them until then. The past few days had been full of training in the mornings and then reading lessons while Rhys caught up on the state of the Night Court and Prythian. For now, it was all we could handle. There was still so much we were both putting off, but neither one of us had slept through the night since our return.

But that morning, Cassian had insisted on a rest day, so I let myself stare over my mug of tea because we had the time for once. I wasn't quite ready to face a blank canvas just yet—and when I did, there were other things I needed to get out of my system first—but I'd paint this view one day.

Despite all the shameless flirting, I was still fairly certain Rhys didn't want to be ogled over breakfast, so I said, "How do you get a shirt over your wings?" I hadn't noticed telltale buttons on the back of the tunic he was wearing.

His eyes sparked as he cocked his head at me, his curiosity at my sudden question obvious. My cheeks heated. "I generally use magic to seal it shut," he said slowly.

"And how do you get them clean in the bath?"

"Sponges. Surely you're familiar with the concept?" Rhys said drily. I shot him an irritated look that just made him smirk. When he spoke again, I could have sworn his voice dropped a bit lower as he added, "So many questions this morning. Why?"

"I didn't have a chance to ask before." It wasn't really a lie—I hadn't shied away from asking the Inner Circle questions before I'd gone Under the Mountain, but once I'd realized exactly why Illyrian wings were so sensitive, I'd hesitated to ask much about them. Cassian and Azriel would have humored me, but there were some things that I didn't want to discuss with my mate's brothers.

"Come touch them if you're curious."

I stood up so quickly that I nearly knocked over my chair, then froze. "Are you sure?"

He certainly didn't look unsure, not with the way he was sitting with his legs spread, wings flared out wide behind him and one arm on the back of his chair. If anything, he looked arrogant. But it wasn't quite enough—I still wanted to hear him say it.

As I stepped around the table, I caught the slight movement of his throat bobbing. "Please touch my wings," he said.

I stopped just in front of him. To get my hands on his wings with him sitting down, I'd either need to put one hand on the back of the chair for balance as I leaned in…or I'd have to straddle his lap.

"You never had them out Under the Mountain."

His eyes didn't leave my face, even as I felt his fingers interlace with mine. "If something is precious to you, it's safest kept hidden."

Velaris. Our mating bond. And his wings, too. Away from prying eyes, there was security that came from being shrouded in darkness, and I'd felt that at the very core of the Night Court's magic. Stealth was key to hunting, and perhaps years of moving undetected through the woods had shaped me in the same way.

"No one else has ever…" I whispered, trailing off.

"I'd never let myself be vulnerable in that way. Not unless it's with you."

I didn't ask if it was because he loved me or because of the mating bond—I didn't care. Rhys trusted me, and that was the important part.

There was no point in hesitating or doing this by halves. I made myself comfortable on his lap, resting my thighs on either side of his hips. His hands settled on my waist.

I ran a finger down the membrane of his wing, careful to use the pad and not scrape it with my nail. It was smooth and surprisingly cool, almost like silk, but stretchier than I would have guessed. I kept dragging my finger down, moving it closer to where the wing met his back.

Rhys hissed and bucked his hips, jerking at the contact with a sensitive spot. I let out a squawk of surprise, and if he hadn't tightened his grip around my middle, he would have knocked me off his lap.

I started to ask if he was alright, but he just laughed and said, "I should have known you'd go straight for the most sensitive places."

Interesting. I skimmed my finger along his wing again, closer to the talon, where I guessed it wasn't quite as sensitive. If he'd let me, I'd map out every inch of his wings with my hands, learn everything until I knew them as intimately as I knew my own body.

Now that I was closer, I saw the scars. Or more accurately, I felt them—they were old and faint, but slightly stiff under the pressure from my finger. None of them were particularly large, but his wings were covered in them.

Rhys had the same healing magic as any other High Fae. Scars like this…they were the result of torture, intentional cruelty by someone with magic who knew what they were doing. And they'd already been there before he'd been trapped Under the Mountain.

"These are from the War, aren't they?" I said.

"Yes. They don't hurt as much as they used to."

I traced one with a finger, watching his face carefully for any sign of pain. He just shifted his hips under me. It gave me the confidence to splay my entire palm against his wing and slide it slowly down to that sensitive place from before. His answering groan heated my blood, and as I leaned down to kiss him, I ground against the rapidly-hardening length of him.

Rhys was still gripping my waist, as if now of all times he'd decided to be something of a gentleman, which was ridiculous when I was already straddling his lap. But maybe…I'd rushed him. It was still so soon after everything we'd just gone through.

I tipped my head back to look at him. "Do you want this?"

"Like I've never wanted anything else," he said, voice so rough it was nearly unrecognizable.

"Then move your hands down."

He slid both hands to my ass and squeezed, pressing me against him. I let my satisfaction at finding him harder than before cross the bond. As I leaned in again, I felt his growl reverberate in my chest just as strongly as I heard it.

I swept my hands across his wings in several directions, and no matter where I touched, Rhys couldn't keep still. Each caress made him shudder against me, the friction against my clit sweet and intoxicating, even through layers of fabric. His fingers dipped under my shirt, and I pulled my hands off his wings to shuck it off.

His face was between by breasts before my shirt hit the floor.

Rhys's tongue traced a line towards a nipple. I arched into him, and for a moment, I couldn't remember why his mouth had ever been anywhere but that very spot or how the endless well of need on both sides of the bond hadn't swallowed us both whole.

A plea floated into my head, through the bond so he didn't have to move his lips from my skin. If you never take your hands off me again, it will be too soon.

I skimmed my fingers down his wing, and territorial instinct had me wishing for paint or something to leave behind a mark on every bit of skin that I touched, to warn everyone else away from what was rightfully mine.

I hadn't meant for that thought to cross the bond, but it tore a keening, desperate noise from Rhys as his hips ground against mine again. I'm yours. Leave all the marks on me you wish.

"You're wearing too many clothes for that," I whispered.

Before I could scramble for buttons, I was on my back and on the floor, clothes gone and Rhys naked above me, cradling the back of my head in one broad hand. I thought we might have winnowed, but the world hadn't disappeared into smoke and shadow—no, he'd just pounced with that inhuman speed of his.

I could see the question in his face, the hesitation that this might have been too much and too fast for me, even with his eyes the darkest shade of violet I'd ever seen them. Despite how badly I could feel that he wanted to keep going, Rhys was giving me an opportunity to stop.

Not that I wanted to. Naked and under him was exactly where I wanted to be.

I pushed up onto an elbow and kissed him softly, cupping his face with my other hand. He leaned into the touch, then turned his head to kiss my palm. A shiver went through me at the memory of pomegranate seeds the last time his mouth had been there.

Rhys started to move down my body, and when I realized where exactly he was going, I locked my legs around his waist, keeping him in place. "Not now," I murmured. "Another time, but I want you inside me. Please."

His face darkened, and for a moment I thought I might have said something wrong—perhaps I'd pushed too hard or he merely did just want to bury his face between my thighs for now. He just said, "You don't beg. Not for anything, from anyone."

The words sounded like a vow. But before I could respond, his face broke into that cocky smile I'd come to love. With a teasing nudge at my entrance, he added, "But especially not for this—I'd never deny you."

True to his word, Rhys slid into me as I said, "I'm yours, too."

I let him set the pace as I kissed and nipped as his neck. Every mark I left drew another soft noise from him or a deeper thrust, and I wanted him covered in them.

He braced one hand against the tile floor to hold himself up, and the other seemed to be everywhere, squeezing my breasts, skimming down my stomach, circling my clit. The world narrowed to just the places our bodies touched and the golden thread connecting us. Before long, I was shattering around him as he spilled into me.

I'd hardly caught my breath when he winnowed us to his bed. And perhaps we should have ended up there sooner, instead of on the kitchen floor, but I was feeling too contented and comfortable to care. I lay back against the pillows as Rhys shifted, sprawling half on top of me with our legs tangling together. One wing draped over us both like a blanket, and he buried his face in the crook of my neck.

We were quiet for a long moment. His arm banded around my chest tightly, holding me to him as if he were afraid I'd disappear. With a stab of guilt, I wondered if he thought I might run off again. The bond was also quiet, but I suspected there might have been a reason he wasn't looking at me.

It was strange, I realized as I traced the swirl of a tattoo on his upper arm, to want to linger like this after sex. Everything before this had been in a barn or a cave—not somewhere I could just be held afterward. The lack of urgency driving me back to the woods to hunt or Rhys back Under the Mountain…I still couldn't bring myself to trust that it was real.

I double-checked that my shields were up; I didn't want that thought to interrupt any peace that Rhys had found.

"After the first decade Under the Mountain, I thought I'd never want another person to touch me again," he said eventually, so softly that I almost didn't hear it. The words were muffled against my skin, his breath warm. "I'd thought she'd stolen the ability to want like that, along with everything else. Calanmai was different, something that could only happen once. But then, after you told me you were trapping a Suriel, you said next time like it was inevitable, and I…started to believe it could happen. I wanted it to happen. I didn't know you well enough to love you yet. That's when I knew the mating bond had changed everything."

If I hadn't felt the way the bond in my chest had rearranged my the world for me, I wouldn't have understood. Love might not have been enough to fix what Amarantha had destroyed, but there was nothing more powerful than a mating bond. The cord didn't just tie us together—it held our shattered pieces in place to heal, like a cast around a broken bone. Nothing else could have done that.

"I love you," I said, because it still mattered. His hair was soft against my cheek as he turned his head to press a kiss to my collarbone. "And there's always going to be a next time, even if I have to tear the world apart to make it happen."

At that, Rhys finally looked at me; he smiled, eyes bright and without any sign of tears. "If it were anyone else, I would have thought those were just empty words," he said.

I shrugged. "I've been told I'm stubborn."

"'Perseverant' is a better word," he said, then leaned over to kiss me. "Or 'tenacious.'" He kissed me again. "Or 'undeterred.'" Another kiss. "And I love you for it."

"This sounds far too much like penmanship practice," I grumbled into his shoulder, though I suspected that ducking my head hadn't hid my smile.

"If you want more sentences about how handsome, delightful, and cunning I am, then I'm more than happy to oblige," he purred.

Cauldron boil and fry me—he knew the effect it had on me when he dropped his voice low like that. Heat pooled in my lower abdomen, and I didn't need the bond to sense the purely male smugness that oozed off of him.

With both of us naked atop his bed, perhaps it wasn't much of a surprise that we made sure next time happened a few minutes after that.

We would have stayed in bed all day if we'd been given the opportunity, but even a rest day wasn't completely free of obligations. Rhys had scheduled an appointment with a healer to discuss a regimen of exercises to regain strength in his wings and the utility of a sleeping draught, and that was too important to miss. I'd offered to go with, but there was no need.

For the first time in a while, I was alone. I didn't particularly want to be, and with the bond still on my mind from earlier, I realized I'd never asked Amren if her research on mating bonds had turned up anything promising. And if I was being honest with myself, I was also burning with curiosity about the lingering tension between Rhys and his Inner Circle. I dressed and headed for Amren's apartment.

The walk was short, but it was still enough to second-guess myself by the time I arrived. Amren and the others had their hands full, and she might not be home, let alone willing to entertain my questions. I took a breath and raised my hand to knock anyway.

Only for Amren to pull the door open before I made a sound.

"What brings you here, Feyre?" she said, slightly accusatory. By now, though, I knew that was as welcoming as she ever got.

"I came to speak to you," I said.

I didn't miss the way her nostrils flared and the grimace as she stepped aside to let me in. She must have scented what Rhys and I had been up to; I'd nearly forgotten that the fae could. I'd have to remember to bathe next time.

"Well?" she said, once I was inside.

"I wanted to thank you. For not trying to talk me out of going Under the Mountain."

It still took an effort not to squirm as she leveled her swirling silver eyes at me, even though I'd expected it. Coming here alone to say that, with the scent of Rhys and sex still lingering on me…she'd draw conclusions from it and probably share them with the Inner Circle. I'd thought about that and accepted it.

Jeweled bracelets on her wrists clinked together as Amren flicked a hand in a gesture that indicated it had been nothing. "Sending you was the only sound strategy we had," she said.

"What makes you say that?"

"There were no mated pairs with a fully accepted bond and one or both parties Under the Mountain. If there were, Amarantha would have been defeated well before you were even born."

I considered that. Mating bonds were rare, so perhaps it shouldn't have come as a surprise that Rhys and I were the only ones. And everyone trapped Under the Mountain had something or someone they loved—and after fifty years, that clearly hadn't been enough to save them.

It meant something. It didn't feel like a coincidence that Rhys and I were the only such pair, that I was human, that the Night Court's magic wanted something with me, that a hunter made of stars pointed to Velaris and I'd brought the High Lord of the Night Court back home.

I didn't understand everything, but I was supposed to be here in the Night Court.

Amren must have been able to tell I had more questions. She jerked her head towards the sitting area, then took a seat across from me. "Did you find anything on mating bonds between humans and faeries while I was gone?" I said. With Amren, it seemed best to get straight to the point.

"There might not be much to find. The most plausible theory is that the lifespans of a human and a faerie are too different for a mating bond to exist between them. Your being Made immortal supports that assertion," Amren said.

With everything that had happened lately, I'd nearly forgotten I was immortal. The lingering echo of magic still hadn't dimmed, but at some point, I'd grown used to it, like a background hum I could tune out. I'd have to face it eventually. One day, I wouldn't be able to ignore the fact that I'd stopped aging.

Before I could respond the sound of Mor's voice cut across the room. I nearly jumped out of my chair—I hadn't heard her winnow in. "If you were going to skip our meeting, the least you could have done was send a note," she was saying.

Her eyes landed on me as she stepped around a bookcase, and her scowl turned to a smile. "Or you could have said that Feyre was here," she added brightly.

Mor dropped into the seat between us and hugged me hello. It was still foreign to me, to be greeted this way, for someone to be pleased to see me and not just the game I was carrying out of the woods. I suspected I'd been hugged more often in my few weeks in the Night Court than all the rest of my life combined.

And it was definitely still strange to feel Mor's sharp inhale as she got closer to me and know what it meant.

"I was going to come speak to you later, but now works, too," Mor said. Her hair was pinned up into a bun, and her gown was a more subdued shade of red than what she typically favored—she must have been spending the morning attending to her duties as Rhys's Third. She'd been back to the Hewn City often lately.

"What about?" I said.

"How do you feel about a trip to the Day Court, emissary?"

"Now?"

Mor laughed and shook her head. "Gods, no. None of the courts are going to be up to hosting official visitors for a while yet, but if we're going to be first on the docket when the time comes, we need to start the conversation now."

Even with the glamour back in place, I hid my left hand instinctively at the memory of Helion approaching me Under the Mountain. "They're still our allies?" I said, though they must be if sending me there was under discussion at all.

"We have a shared border and need access to their libraries," Amren said.

"For what?" I asked. The library under the House of Wind was massive—it was difficult to imagine any information couldn't be found there.

"There are spells that don't require magic from the wielder," Amren said, watching me again as if she could see right through me. Not sizing me up, just interested in picking me apart and examining my component parts one by one. I tried not to shiver. "But that knowledge was destroyed during the War, by High Fae who were afraid it could fall into the hands of humans interested in using it against them. Day has the most extensive libraries in Prythian. If any scraps remain, they will be there."

I didn't need to ask why—I'd be safer with any magic at all at my disposal. And it would be best if we could manage it before my immortality became impossible to hide.

"It's a long shot," Mor said, "and it would have been, even before Amarantha burned most of Day's libraries. It's still worth a try."

When I'd learned a bit about the courts of Prythian before going Under the Mountain, there had been an offhand mention of a thousand libraries in Day. I sat in silence for a moment, just struggling to comprehend the scale of devastation.

It made the so-called blight on the Spring Court seem like nothing.

"Helion would share that information with us?" I said.

"The Day Court stands for widespread access to information, and their librarians keep information about who borrowed what confidential," Amren said. That seemed flimsy to me, and I started to ask about the possibility of spies when she grinned, showing her teeth. It didn't look friendly. "And I know how to make sure they stay quiet if it comes to that."

"With the shared border, there are plenty of reasons to send a Night delegation to Day that won't arouse any suspicion about what you are, Feyre. And sending just you, Amren, and me will help us get in front of any rumors that we're mistreating the Cursebreaker," Mor said.

It made perfect sense, but I still caught a slight hesitation. Perhaps because she thought I might not be ready or she anticipated an instinctive angry reaction to a plan that would separate me from my mate for a while. In truth, it was the potential of embarrassing myself as a poor reader that made me more nervous than anything. The Day Court could gawk at me if it kept the rest of Prythian off our backs.

If Feyre Cursebreaker was another role I'd have to play, then I'd do it.

"I'll go," I said. Mor and Amren shared a look as if they were communicating mind-to-mind—not daemati, just two people who knew each other well and had worked together for centuries. I shifted in my seat, uncomfortably aware they'd likely been discussing how to handle me again. After a moment, I added, "Have the rumors gotten worse?"

"Yes, but nothing we can't handle," Mor said, and I was struck again by the plain honesty, even though she knew it wasn't the answer I'd hoped for. "If you get out into Velaris more, that will help. You're well known, so word will spread if people see you, even if they can't say exactly where in the Night Court. I've been meaning to take you to dinner anyway. We could even find some blood for Amren and call it a girls' night."

Amren scowled. Mor tossed her head back and laughed.

I did want to see more of the city, though. So many other things had taken priority, but Velaris was the closest thing I had to a home anymore. Most of what I knew was the information Rhys had deposited in my head, and I wanted to find out more for myself.

"Just tell me when, and I'll be there," I said, and Mor beamed.

There wasn't much else to discuss, and Amren's irritation at two guests in her apartment was becoming palpable. Mor offered to winnow me back to the townhouse, but I was feeling restless from having spent so little time on my feet that day.

"And Feyre?" Mor said as we both stood to go. "I know my cousin knows how to treat a lady. If he doesn't get it together and take you on a proper date already, I'll kick his ass."

Amren made a disgusted noise behind me as Mor winked and then winnowed away. I took that as my cue to leave, saying a quick goodbye before hurrying down the stairs.

I felt lighter on the walk back to the townhouse. At first, I wasn't sure why, perhaps it was nothing more than just sunlight on my face and sea-scented air. But it ran deeper than that.

At some point, it clicked—I had plans to look forward to, for the first time in ages. Even in Spring, when I'd thought I'd found a bit of peace and a chance to rest and paint as much as I wished, I hadn't had that.

Happiness, the real, lasting kind, had never felt more tangible.

#feysand #feyre archeron #we said hello and your eyes look like coming home

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immeasurable-depths · 7 months

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When will my Imodna return from the war? 😭

Here’s a slightly angsty Imodna snippet while we wait for the next episode. In all honesty, this was meant to be smut, and then the preamble turned into its own chapter. Oops. I’ll get to the fun bit later.

Snippet here, rest on AO3 ☺️

Laudna was only half-paying attention; instead, her focus was on Imogen, huddled up next to her. Imogen leaned heavily on Laudna while the group chatted, the reassuring warmth of her pressed companionably against Laudna’s shoulder. Her rhythmic breaths grounded Laudna, affirming to her that Imogen was alive, and safe.

Imogen’s exhaustion was clear, however. Her eyes were bloodshot and strained as she shifted her gaze between whoever was speaking, nodding politely but struggling to add anything more than a sympathetic mumble or soft sigh to the conversation. Laudna felt her weight shift with time, gradually leaning more and more of herself into Laudna before resting her head against her shoulder. Eventually, Imogen’s purple eyes focused wearily on Laudna and she ran a hand subtly across her own temple. A secret sign to Laudna that she wanted to speak to her privately; silently asking permission to be in her mind.

Of course. She’s always welcome. Always.

Laudna smiled softly and nodded, almost imperceptibly. Immediately, she felt more of the tension leach out of her body as the familiar thrum of Imogen’s mind nudged against her consciousness, and the soft, drawling voice crackled comfortably through her mind. A smile crept unbidden to her lips.

Not gonna lie, Laudna, I’m strugglin’ to keep my eyes open. She smiled weakly.

I can tell, darling, Laudna chuckled internally, and her hand reached out instinctively to take Imogen’s. Even that small physical contact sent reassuring waves of comfort through her body, a warmth that flooded through her own sluggish circulatory system and warmed her cold bones.

I feel sorta like a skyship crashed into me today. Even her internal voice sounded exhausted; it made Laudna’s heart ache.

I’m not surprised. Today was… a lot. Laudna fought to keep her voice level, but it was no use: she felt her words increase in pitch at the end, the worry laced through every phrase. Well, what was the point in trying to hide it? Imogen was in her head already.

Laudna bit her lip. You should rest, dear. You’ve been through a lot. She squeezed Imogen’s hand once more, gently - too gently, she wanted to squeeze her so tightly that she could knit her back together. How else would she convey her concern, her protectiveness? But she was deliberately restrained; soft; weak.

Do ya mind if I lay down in your lap for a while, hun? Just for a little bit. You can wake me up when my watch is due.

Laudna snorted - out loud, this time, which drew a few curious looks from their new companions. Ashton, who sat next to the two of them, rolled their eyes jovially - he was well used to picking up signs of their private conversations by now.

You are not doing a watch tonight, Imogen. You need your rest.

Imogen started to protest, but even the mental thoughts were cut off by Laudna’s stern gaze boring into her. M’kay, Laud. I just need to close my eyes for a little while. Her words were already starting to slur, laden with sleep. Soon she was curled up like a cat, purple hair a tangled mess splayed in Laudna’s lap where she lay, legs folded up to her chest. The way their minds were entwined, Laudna felt Imogen’s thoughts slip away into unconsciousness like water spilling over a weir and into a calm pool. In moments she was asleep, the rhythm of her breathing slowing as she slipped away. Laudna let out a small, relieved sigh. The red storm that plagued her at night meant Imogen was often terrified to sleep; Laudna was grateful that tonight, at least, the transition had been effortless and peaceful. Her heart melted further as Imogen’s hands curled instinctively into the fabric of her own skirt, pulling it like a blanket closer to her chest.

#critical role #imodna #imogen temult #laudna #imodna fic #cr campaign three #campaign 3 #hurt/comfort #imodna angst

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borbology · 1 year

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idk if anyone has asked this before but may i ask for some knight headcanons? specifically sword and blade,,?👀

YESSS I have been waiting for this ask! I have a lot of hcs about Sword and Blade that I'd love to share. GET READY FOR A LONG POST!

To start off, I have the post where I drew what I think they look like under their armor (I also birthed this cursed image).

First of all, and as much as I love them, I think Sword and Blade didn't get a big enough personality in the anime. If I were to describe them in my hcs, I think that Sword is generally the more chill one out of the two. He strikes me as the kind who is easy to hang out with, but he can be unexpectedly funny or stubborn at times. Sword is more gentle with the way he speaks, whilest Blade is bri'ish and has an ocassional potty mouth (says wanker and consistently gets away with it because no-one knows what it means). Because Blade has a harsher voice in the dub that somehow makes me want to make him the bolder one of the two. He's the one who's more likely to express himself. We gotta hear more of that hilarious voice afterall lol. In making his design I gave him his one eye that he has in the game sprites. I've really enjoyed drawing him very expressive so I decided to make him a creechur with big emotions.

I love thinking about how they interact with eachother. I see them as brothers. They've been through a lot, love eachother, but also get into shenanigens and bother each other sometimes.

Their relationship is both endearing and hilarious. Between the two of them, Blade is actually the older one -- I decided that because it's funnier if he's the eldest even though he's shorter. At this point they wouldn't know what to do with eachother. I think that they share a room next to Meta Knight's quarters, and that they have bunk beds. I actually have a sketch of their room that I want to finish someday soon.

As for their personal lives, it's important to me that characters have substance which makes them feel like real people, so when I make my own characters I always give them five things to help with that -- hobbies, desires, a favorite food and favorite drink, a birthday, and trivia (some little traits that have no real impact on the character in their story but still exist and are interesting). This is something I love doing and my autism always has me making lists/filling out self-made questionares for characters. I highly reccommend it, it's fun as Hell and a useful tool for writing character.

Sword:

He can play guitar and he likes music in general. Once I decided to give him antenna I thought it would be neat because bugs hear by picking up vibrations, so the vibrations of music are probably very pleasing. He also likes to watch sports because he has become quite athletic since training under Meta Knight.

He is happy with the state of his life but once he feels like the timing is right he wants to find a girlfriend. My man has been alone too long. Part of this is because he feels like he missed out on getting to experience relationships when he younger (due to the war). He'd like a girlfriend, but he's somehow embarrassed to talk about it and he worries how Blade would feel if he spent some of time with another person.

Sword likes comfort foods like macaroni and cheese. He enjoys the taste of ginger ale because it makes him think of the ginger beer they sold at home (whatever the kirby universe's equivilant to australia is lol)

His birthday is June 14th (I do have a system for how I pick chracter birthdays btw but I'm not willing to share it you just have to trust me)

For trivia, he likes cats, and he's allrgic to peanuts

Blade:

He likes to relax in his off-time and scientifically the best way to do this is by playing Animal Crossing, so I gave him an Animal Crossing town because I love Animal Crossing. It'd be funny if there was a game in the Kirby universe where you played as a cappy or something in a village of creatures like Rick, Kine, and Coo. He also likes to practice baking (he and sword said in the anime that they both always wanted to be cooks, but they were too afraid to tell this to meta knight. plus its fun for him to watch meta knight eat all the treats and still somehow try to deny he has a sweet tooth lol)

Blade, unfortunately, is British - which means that he, unfortunately, likes British food. He will eat beans on toast and make everyone around him uncomfortable. As for his favorite drink... peach nectar lol (bugs love sugarsugarsugar)

His birthday is March 9th (don't question meee)

For trivia, he likes dogs (its funny if he is a dog person while sword it a cat person). He's got just the one big eye so cats give him allergy. I also subscribed to the idea of him being trans because of the difference in his voice between the sub and the dub versions of the anime. Just this alone comes with its own set of hcs I won't get into here.

Lastly, I felt the need to dive into their history. Their backstory about being survivors of the war and having to resort to robbery to survive is so interestingly tragic and something I feel like people don't pay attention to enough when it comes to portraying them. They had to have homes and family and friends that they both lost before happening upon each-other and deciding that two is better than one when it comes to staying alive in the barren hellscape that they now roamed. I plan on making some art about this topic in the future so I'll leave out my hcs for now.

THANK YOU FOR COMING TO MY TED TALK FEEL FREE TO ASK QUESTIONS

#thank you for indulging me #im working on some stupid doodles of them now to add to this #kirby anime #sword knight #blade knight #borbology hcs #borbtalk #long post

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disguiseddeer · 21 days

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🐛🦋🪲🪰🦟🦗🐍🐢🦎🦖🪼

what do all of these guys have in common? being silly beasts, that's what

i'm not the biggest bug fan, bugs don't like me and i don't really like them, but i make exceptions. moths, dragonflies, caterpillars, mantises, crickets and grasshoppers, beetles, and maybe one or two others i can't think of rn are cool with me. although not a bug, spiders are my arch nemesis, sadly - mosquitoes too! those little guys love my blood

snakes are awesome!! i love snakes!! they're either super cute or super cool, little inbetween. ball pythons are the dogs of the snake world, i love them so much! i still gotta make me but ball python (been on my to-do for a while), so silly! i've really liked reptiles for a long time, they're just so interesting to me. crocodiles and alligators are definitely some of my favorites, they're just so cool and wide and beastly and <3

i think that has to do with my love for dragons, though. ever since i was a little kid i've always been so fascinated by them. once a dragon kid, always a dragon kid who's with me 🗣️🗣️🔥

i love dinosaurs too, they were some of the first things i ever drew! it's amazing and mindblowing thst these fantastic, huge creatures once lived on our planet. biology, evolution, and the history of life is so damn cool. i gotta try drawing dinosaurs more

jellyfish are, admittedly, also interesting. like, how does THAT thing just, exist?? what is bro up to?? i haven't looked into them too much, but they are beautifully weird. same goes for sea life in general, especially deep sea animals! so damn ugly and weird i love them

in general i have a huge love for wildlife, biology, (including spec bio!) and just everything and anything relating to animals and ecosystems. recently, i have been *dying* for some sort of custom ecosystem sim, where i can freely create my own species and watch them interact with their world and everything around them. there is just something so damn interesting about it, it sends off all the "ooh, i like this a lot" parts on my brain! if anyone has any recommendations on something like this please let me know! spore is great, i love spore, but i'd love something more in-depth and open ended

i also really like speculative biology, if you couldn't tell before lol. there's just something about it, thinking about how things work and interact in realistic - yet different - settings. it's awesome! -- that and my love for nature and the natural world is probably what has led me to being such a massive fantasy lover. i just love thinking of other worlds, ones that are much cooler than our own. i love thinking of strange, beautiful, crazy critters and beasts that would inhabit those worlds. magic that bends the rules of reality, that can be a tool for both good and bad. everything about it is wonderful, and i eat that shit up!! i'm always on the hunt for new fantasy content to get that itch in the back of my brain, so suggestions are awesome! i've always liked elder scrolls, and just started watching delicious dungeon/dungeon meshi, i've also been trying to get into dnd for like, ever lol (i just gotta get my friends together and figure it out)

thank you for giving me something to ramble about! it is very fun and i'd love to hear any thoughts, comments, or suggestions on anything!! i'm hooked on the tumblr ask system now please give me things to yap about this is so good <3

#the yapper #i'm yapping #bouyaps #answered #ask me more please and thanks #talking #reptiles #bugs #dinosaurs #dragons

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disorganizedkitten · 1 year

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#girlsprotectinggirls one shot fic question! Sorta. Are you a fan of Marvel at all? Or any other superhero media? Because I love that forum system, and thought it would be amazing if it connected all sorts of heroes. What other fandoms do you think could use a support system for their heroes?

OKAY SO I absolutely am! Not enough of a fan to always know what's going on, but I have my series and universes (marvel rising is the most recent) and can recognize most of the art.

Have you read You have (1) New message by chipanddealer? Because it's very *mwah* and definitely affects my answer; but yeah! I think if I went around and just added in all my favorites, I'd find a way for there to be a SuperHero one and a Hero one, because I love the trope of 'hero of the story is overwhelmed and meets retired hero from another story and gets mentored'. I love it so much.

Specifically, I think my ideal chat fic at this very moment would include Jackie Chan Adventures, Miraculous Ladybug, (Harry Potter? maybe?) and Danny Phantom, but just a large one for fun would definitely be a huge mishmash. Harry Potter, Trollhunters, Marvel (rising), Miraculous, JCA, DP, some nice Kim Possible but she has to either be the youngest and just starting her website or the oldest and the mom hero, and maybe some Gargoyles? There's not really a Young Hero(TM) in Gargoyles but there are a lot of traumatized old as dirt men and women who have some nice commentary on loyalty, betrayal, and living through grief.

Oh and Scooby-Doo. A chatfic with any of the superheroes-gotta-have-a-plot and scooby-doo-we-invented-and-immortalized-the-episodic-formula would be wild in the best way.

As an actual 'heroes' forum I definitely want it- not quite open but very near to it? Like, there should be a spot for 'I just did a thing and now I think I might be starting a vigilante career what do I do' and a bunch of other new and old heroes can pop in with Things I Wish I'd Known When I Started (like a stretching routine!), and that's a lot more accessible than the rest, which in #girlsupportinggirls is for "vetted" heroes and vigilantes, and idk if I ever decided how they were vetted but it was a thing.

Oh and winx club should be in this.

So glad this isn't an essay there's probably no clear form of thought, but back to the original question of "what other media do I think could do with a support system" and the answer is All Of Them. Except Stranger Things, because while they absolutely do and I haven't watched the series through, I do have to forever give them props for having a parent who not only cares but actively involves herself in the things that are threatening her children, without being an oblivious/clueless/useless/gag character who just causes more problems.

Which is why a non "hero" forum would have a lot of people - Percy Jackson and Magnus Chase characters, for one, because they could do with support and - ooh DP/MC crossover - grow up to be some pretty sick mentor candidates. "I didn't wanna be a halfblood; I didn't ask to be a hero seeking praise," lives rent free in my brain and likely forever will.

I read a pretty awesome Trollhunters/Miraculous pen pal fic once back when trollhunters was the only Tales of Arcadia out, which was lovely, but since we're at it 3Below/DC would be a very nice crossover, there are plenty of aliens to play support and grief counselling.

Um. I lost where I was going with this, I'm very sure, but we should add a Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys/Scooby-Doo either chatfic or casefic to the list of things that exist in a perfect world and also maybe my to-do list.

Okay FINAL list for the current 'perfect' "someone support these kids who are doing their best/thrown in the deep end/need a hug desperately" is Kim Possible, Nancy Drew, Scooby-Doo, Hardy Boys, and maybe Winx Club for the well-adjusted and likely give the best advice, probably play a mentor role; Dectective Comics, Marvel, Danny Phantom, Miraculous Ladybug, Trollhunters/Tales of Arcadia, and Harry Potter for the 'have advice but as peers and also are definitely using solving your problems as a distraction from their own'; Winx Club (the anime), Gargoyles, and Jackie Chan Adventures could be in either of these, and technically I guess so could Marvel and Detective Comics, but Winx and JCA have much more 'they grow up and get their crap together' vibes than DC and Marvel. Harry Potter could also also go in the mentor category which would be lovely, a prophecy child who survived their prophecy travelling the world/the interwebs and supporting other child heroes and chosen ones however he can.

Gargoyles and Batman should definitely meet sometime, it's been a while since I watched Gargoyles but I feel like they could learn from each other.

...I forgot the riordanverse but you know what it's fine they can be there and just log in once every three apocalypses.

#Jaymeow Speaks #girlssupportinggirls #riordiverse #Winx Club #Harry Potter #jackie chan adventures #DC #Marvel #Danny Phantom #Crossovers #chatfics #Trollhunters #tales of arcadia #Nancy Drew #Scooby-Doo #hardy boys #Gargoyles #Silverwhiteraven #Ask Box Things

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52booksproject · 2 years

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Book 25 dumb, dumb, dumb

Time for another theme book and since it's November, which is about family and Turkey Day, I chose dumb, dumb, dumb: My Mother's Book Reviews by Mary Jo Pehl (pronounced Peel) of Mystery Science Theater 3000 (see? Turkey Day!) and The Mary Jo Pehl Show fame.

The premise of the book is that Mary Jo's mother passed away a few years ago and she inherited a box of index cards that her mother, a voracious reader, reviewed books on. The book is a mix of these terse book reviews and Mary Jo's memories of her mother. First off, it wasn't as funny as I thought it would be. Don't get me wrong- when the book wants to be funny it kills. But it is also a memoir about her mother's death so there are poignant parts and sad parts to the book as well. But a lot of laughs as well, of course. It's just not pure comedy.

A typical review reads "When Wind Blows; Patterson, James; 5/10; Children of illegal experiments who could fly. Not much of a thriller- kind of dumb." and often the reviews are themed with what Mary Jo is writing about her mother. A lot of the memories are food/eating themed as it was a favorite activity of young Mary Jo, apparently to her mother's distaste who dragged her to Weight Watchers meetings when Mary Jo was a child!?! (Ok, elephant in the room- her mother seems really mean sometimes and did stuff I'm not sure I could have forgiven personally, but perhaps if I shared everything my mother did Mary Jo might wonder how I still have a pleasant relationship with my mother now. We all have our traumas and only we know how to process them. Plus I'm sure death changes everything sometimes.)

Overall, it's a funny, sad, maddening, and crazy ride through a Midwest life.

BEST LINE: "How could I - who considered the AP Style Manual and The Elements of Style summer beach reads - have possibly been born of the loins of someone who used greengrocer apostrophes?"

SHOULD YOU READ THIS BOOK: If you like to laugh, or cry, or feel all sorts of emotions I'd definitely recommend it. It's a MUST read for any MST3K fan for sure, but even if you aren't I think it has real value.

ART PROJECT:

Ok, so a main story is that Mary Jo once ate the family's cheesecake (just one more bite- oh, gotta even it out - oh it's gone...) and her mom immediately accused her out of all the family staying there. Mary Jo indignantly denied it until the day her mother died. Human Duplicators, episode 420 (heh heh) of Mystery Science Theater 3000, has an invention exchange where Frank and Forrester get the sillies over a William Conrad Fridge Alert system that lets you know if William Conrad (of Rocky & Bullwinkle and Jake and the Fatman fame) and ONLY William Conrad is breaking into your fridge. I thought this would be the perfect alibi for Mary Jo and drew it.

#dumb dumb dumb #book reviews #memoir #mystery science theater 3000 #MST3K #william conrad #mary jo pehl #dumb industries #52books #52booksproject

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whumpsday · 2 years

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I'm going to throw my own analysis in the ring here. Apologies ahead of time if this steps on any toes, as with all analysis the thoughts shared here reflect more on me than the original work. Insert your post on forgiveness here.

I read Kane as disabled and fundamentally failed by his society, who sees that he's effectively missing a hand and decided that's all the reason they need to lock him out of sight.

Does that excuse his actions? No. Goodness knows Bellamy has been waving the "happier better life here" flag where Kane could see it.

He chose, time and again, to hurt Jim. That's on his head.

And he was punished for it.

My particular take on the whole thing is that the Hunters (and thereby us) were the crucible that knocked all the slag out of Kane that was weighing him down. Purifying him in a sense. He is smart enough to learn his lesson and do better. Anton can't claim that. I highly doubt the rest of his family can either.

At the end of the day the story strikes me as one of metamorphosis, at least for Kane. Starting out as a shitty person, who goes through a hell only he would survive, and is lucky enough to be able to reform himself on the otherside.

As for Jim and Liz, their story is more complex. For them the situation really is thorny, but they also have a plethora of good options.

Killing Kane is a good option. Technically it would even be a mercy. Jim just can't bring himself to do it. Which, fair.

To my mind, letting Kane redeem himself is the harder but "holier" option if that makes any sense.

this is a very interesting analysis!

one point i want touch on is the reading of kane as disabled. this isn't quite analogous. kane's in a very peculiar situation. lack of persuasion is looked down on with intense scrutiny within vampire nobility, but you'd be hard-pressed to find a regular everyday vampire who would care. kane was born into a very insular community with very skewed values.

@whumpshaped and i have actually discussed an AU where kane is human, and the parallel we drew there was kane being born into a cult that stigmatizes left-handedness: most of the world won't care, but particular communities REALLY will. unlike ableism, which is pretty pervasive throughout larger society.

the concept of kane's traumatic experiences "purifying him in a sense" is a tricky one. there's some nasty implications that can be drawn from that. but in a way, i do think it speaks to real life. i would draw on my own personal experiences for this. i have posted about my own trauma here, just linking that so i don't have to re-explain it. prior to my own dismal experience, i was far less understanding about the horrors of the american mental health system. i would tell people who were acting like dicks to "go to therapy". i once called 911 on a suicidal friend. i thought my grandfather (who went through something very similar to what i did) was koo-koo because of his intense paranoia of doctors.

after what i went through, i completely get it. i'm the same way, now. always afraid. never trusting healthcare professionals, ESPECIALLY mental health ones. i get it. and i've projected a lot of that "suddenly getting it" feeling into kane, obviously. for all the horrors, i personally feel that i am a better, more compassionate person now than i was before i got ptsd. so that's where that comes from.

jim and liz's situation is really thorny. for jim, once i decided to go with a whumper-turned-whumpee angle on it, i'd decided jim's story would be a metaphor for "learning to live with your trauma". anyone who has trauma needs to learn how to live with it, how to function despite it. it's something i've been trying really hard to do myself. in jim's case, it's literal. kane is his trauma, living in his house, in his basement, and if he can't bring himself to kill him, he has to learn to live with that.

#ask #k&j ask

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scentedsstuff · 5 months

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The Wrath & The Dawn

By Renée Ahdieh

Rating: 2/5 ⭐️

Coming off from the excitement of having finished The Sands of Arawiya duology I wanted to keep within the Middle Eastern based fantasy books and that's how I ended up reading 'The Wrath & The Dawn.'

Quick Plot Summary:

It's a retelling of the One Thousand and One Nights tale, where Khalid, the young Caliph of Khorasan, claims a bride every night and by dawn she dies.

This is where our main character Shahrzad is introduced. Having lost her best friend to the Caliph, she devises a plan of revenge that would see the end of his murderous reign once and for all. But ofcourse, not everything goes to plan as Shahrzad comes to discover that there is more to the Caliph than what meets the eye.

Thoughts:

This book was an interesting read, that's for sure. It had its moments but ultimately lacked direction (this is mostly applicable to the 2nd book and the series as a whole but these problems do find their footing in the 1st book).

To start off on the positive, I liked the very beginning of the book. The mystery, the allure of the tales that Shahrzad would tell, these drew me in immediately as a lover of fantasy and folklore.

Unfortunately, as the book continued I found that there was less that I liked and there are a number of reasons why.

1. The main character

I'd say it's a no brainer that if the main character isn't that likeable, the book becomes less tolerable the more you read it.

Our main protagonist Shahrzad is presented to the reader as the epitome of a YA protagonist. She's said to be cunning, fearless, and a skilled archer, to name a few, but through out the book she comes across as this careless, and short tempered girl who couldn't keep anything to herself if she tried.

She talks about getting revenge on the Caliph, but does very little in actually carrying out these plans. Her so called 'revenge plan' only lasts a few days before she starts catching feelings for the Caliph. This leads into yet another rant of mine regarding this book;

2. The Romance.

In my opinion it is both fortunate and unfortunate that I consider the romance to be the most entertaining part of both this first book and the second.

On one hand the chemistry was there, despite complications and obstacles faced I eventually ended up liking the idea of these 2 main characters together.

Did it develop much quicker than I would have liked? YES, but eventually, due to the writing (which I did enjoy for the most part), I grew to like them as a couple.

On the other hand, I couldn't bring myself to care about much else, and that is most definitely a problem because I found myself skimming through parts of the book that weren't related to this.

3. The Magic System

Again, this is a fantasy book that has its own magic system and yet, we see so little of it. It is touched upon maybe once or twice with the main character but after that not much is mentioned until the second book, which in my opinion is a little too late to be introducing your readers to a whole new magic system, especially in a duology. If it is supposed to be a component that exists within a world you've already set up, it's not something you just throw in later but should be established more thoroughly as a foundation in the world building.

And these were just the points I wanted to expand upon the most. Pair this with characters that were mediocre at best, and a tendency to drag out descriptions and there's only so much I can like in the book.

All in all it was another 2 star read for me. Here's hoping the next book I post about reaches above 2 stars.

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hrfranklin · 9 months

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Development Post 1 - Asteroid Escape

Hi,

Our focus has now shifted onto an Asteroids-style game. After all I've learnt from A Quest For Bread, I'm really excited to work on Asteroid Escape.

I've got quite far into the prototype's development so far, and I'd like to share it.

My planning begun on paper, and didn't make it's way to GDevelop for about half a week, until I was happy with the game concept. During this period, I wrote out the 3 main mechanics I wanted (after picking the best 3 I had thought of ), I rather crudely drew out some example gameplay and wrote some story/context for the game. This made it much easier when the time came to begin work in GDevelop.

Below is a picture of a crude sketch I made with some basic annotations, followed by what the gameplay looks like so far:

There's a lot to discuss so let's get into it.

The game's front cover (which in my opinion looks really cool) doesn't perfectly match the gameplay, mostly regarding the design of the asteroids. This comes down to me struggling to find asteroid assets with enough variation. I decided my time was better spent ensuring the game logic worked. The same goes for the bottom of the screen not matching in my progress so far, and the pen and paper sketch. This is largely because I've struggled to find assets for the civilian fleet that you are protecting. Once I have this, the logic is there so I can easily add functionality to the "Fleet Health" UI element.

Writing out a lot of the inner workings of the game on paper before starting work in GDevelop sped up the 'coding' process greatly, but I still had some problems. I managed to work around a lot of them, but some of them persist.

For example:

lasers don't point in the right direction

although it appears to work correctly here, the background isn't infinite

there are no ship customisation or upgrade options so far

My response:

I've spent a lot of time trying to get this to work, and I just can't find a solution. I've put this on the backburner for now as the lasers still funciton.

The background in the clip above is just one long tiled sprite, which isn't ideal, but it works for now. Again, I've spent ages on trying to fix this, and even copied the given GDevelop example, and still can't get it to work.

This is the next thing I plan on working on, including pick-ups/power-ups that can help you on your mission.

Despite the prototype's shortcomings so far, there are a few things I'm really proud of so far.

For example:

As simple as it may be, I the UI elements add a lot to the game, and are a huge improvement compared to my previous prototype.

Similarly, the game's title screen, loss conditions and end screen add a lot to the game, and intensify the sense of stakes. - although, the stakes are reduced by the fact that there is no civilian fleet behind you.

The underlying 'code' is so much more complex in this prototype, compared to the platformer prototype. Some of it works beautifully, such as the invincibility when you take damage, and the animations changing when you get hit, to show a more damaged ship.

I really like the mechanic that means if asteroids collide, or a laser hits them, the asteroids have a chance of breaking up into a smaller asteroid, which can hit the player after the invincibility wears off.

Although the clip above doesn't show it (partly because it only works half the time), when you take damage, text appears on screen - implying that the player is speaking - whenever they take damage. This also works off of a randomised system when the player hits a small asteroid, as there is ~50% chance that you can dodge the hit.

Next Steps:

I want to fix the collisions, to ensure that the aforementioned text appears 100% of the time it is supposed to.

I plan on adding a fleet behind you, just in the scene, that you must protect, which will fill out the story/context of the game.

I plan on working on one of the main mechanics, which is customisation and upgrades.

One buggy element of the 'code' is the boost system, which sould work like NO2 in racing games, where you can use it for X period of time, and have to wait to use it again. So I intend on fixing this.

Summary:

Overall, I'm really happy with the progess I've made on this prototype. I'm working much faster, where more elements work straight away, compared to the first game. The increased planning and paper prototyping and development I did early on definitely helped and I'm really happy with that. The game excites me already. Maybe it's because it's a cool game idea, maybe it's because space is cool, either way, I'm having a really fun time working on this. Developing my understanding of conflict and balancing - from this week's lecture - has helped me work out some issues I had with my game, i.e. the game being impossible if 2/3 large asteroids collide and spawn 6 medium and 12 small asteroids all in one second. I also tinkered with lasers and ship speed with this in mind.

Be sure to stick around and watch out for my next dev. post!

#development

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samtheflamingomain · 1 year

Text

the mystery machine

I'm into mysteries of all sorts - games, books, shows, what have you.

I started at 5, reading Nancy Drews and solving them halfway through and skipping to the end to confirm it. I expressed the simplicity of the stories to her, and then my mother gave me an Agatha Christie.

Those were a bit harder, and it didn't help that the first one was And Then There Were None, which was an insanely difficult solve for a 9 year old.

But I did solve it.

See, ATTWN actually has an epilogue that tells you whodunit, and my mother taped those pages shut because she didn't want me to spoil it and that's probably the closest she's ever come to understanding me.

It made me think for DAYS, rereading it twice. It was a lightbulb moment, I rushed home from school to say "Warren did it!" and my mother was fucking astounded. She really thought she was gonna get me.

From there, I kept reading Christies, but also other authors, and also, when I was 10, I got a Nancy Drew video game for Christmas. #11, Blackmoor Manor. My most-replayed video game by far.

If you're 9 playing a Nancy Drew start-to-finish on the first go, it could take well over a week, maybe 2. Today, speedrunning, I clock in at just under 3h.

I have played and won every single Nancy Drew game. Nowadays that's not much of a flex, but 20 years ago? Before the existence of the forums that have a thread for literally every puzzle? Add another 5 years before I even knew it existed, and the fact I solved every single game on my own till #14 or 15… it's probably the thing I think of most when I think about my level of intelligence.

(Kind of an aside but one day I was home early from school and caught my father... playing the ND game I was in the middle of, to get ahead of me to seem smart by pointing out the way to go. No, it wasn't to help me. It was for him to appear smart, and I know this because he literally said so.)

Fast-forward ten years, and I partake in mysteries of different kinds. Oddly enough, rather than video games, I've been into card/board games of mystery. Mainly the one-play EXIT games. A good 2-3h of mysteries as a game, $20, but only playable once due to having to cut up cards and such.

For Christmas, my best friend got me 2 kinds of mystery - a game in the EXIT series, and a book with 100 pages out of order, the goal being to put them in order, and only 3 people have ever solved it.

All this to say, I have a few categories of interactive mysteries. Does it have hints? Does it need hints? Do hints hinder the experience?

I started the book, Cain's Jawbone, and I already have several pages in order. It's… oddly, intuitive to me. I truly believe I will solve it. I haven't even looked up hints, though I likely will.

In terms of hints making a game worse, I'd point to something like Thief Sim, which is pretty damn specific, a $3 Switch download with a surprisingly well-made system of play. It's very smooth, very intuitive and not too punishing. But the game is absolutely blasting you in the ass with hints. Every house you burgle you somehow know the exact daily routine of every tenant. It would be harder but a lot more rewarding with fewer hints.

Hints that improve a game? Odyssey. I can't stand an open world without a map and directions. Odyssey, to me, is unplayable without the arrows because the world is just too open.

Time-travel back to when 9-year-old Sam started Blackmoor Manor. Ask me if I need a hint anywhere along the way and the answer is yes fucking please. I got none. I still won. But I'd have saved a lot of bullshit with hints. Again, there is a forum. But the games themselves have no hint system - well, okay, hold on.

So some games, you can access the internet. Sometimes you can call Bess and/or George and/or Ned to help… but their answers are usually just another riddle in themselves.

Early games have no hints, though. I'd say Blackmoor is the last of the early games, and the last one without a dedicated hint system. You do get internet, but it doesn't hint, it's part of the puzzles.

EXIT games come with Hint Cards. A LOT of the puzzles are just very badly written and even Hint 1 and Hint 2 don't help, and the first sentence of the Solution card is just the answer so very often you can't really get a step-by-step on how to get there before you're just told the answer.

Each game has 12 puzzles. The best one had 10 good puzzles. The worst had 2 good puzzles. We've played 4. Never have I had to pull the Hint 1, Hint 2, and Solution cards for more puzzles than that last game, and every single one was something stupid or something we were severely over-thinking and could never dumb ourselves down enough to get it and I'm not kidding.

But I think the best mysteries lie in a sweet spot of some amount of hints, but ones you don't necessarily need to consult to get the answer.

Ironically, the best example of this is actually one of the puzzles from the bad EXIT game I just talked about. When we do these games, only one of us pulls hints and then we try to guide the other to the answer. Sometimes it's just not possible because it's so dumb. Sometimes, it's rather seamless.

I got obsessed with a certain puzzle so Connor pulled the hints for me. The first hint tells you what exactly you need to solve. This hint was "You need Riddle Card E". I had it. No help.

Well, not no help - it lets you know you only need that one thing to solve an entire puzzle, which is honestly pretty rare. Usually you need at least 2 Riddle Cards and multiple pages of the book. Not this. Just that one card.

E was a simple 4-line rhyme that mentioned paying close attention to #13. Immediately, we went for the book (the game comes with a "journal" or some such with usually 10-15 pages of puzzles and letters/notes and stuff) but ours only went to page 12.

He's leafing through the book looking for a 13. I go through a few thoughts - when do they ever, EVER mention a number?? Usually it's symbols. We don't have page 13. Where else do numbers show up? Well, there's 3 decks of cards in each game - Riddle Cards unlocked as you go, A-Z. Hint Cards that help you, each with the puzzle's symbol on it. But Answer Cards, for when you think you've got it, are numbered. I almost think I'm cheating but I go for #13.

And there it is. A big yellow X. Wait, yellow, not red? Usually when you get an answer wrong it will tell you to pull a card from the deck with a big red X saying put this card back and try again. This card said "Put this card back unless you want the code 338".

But the funny thing is, I showed it to Connor and he groaned. I laughed and handed it to him and he just looked at me. "READ IT!!" He's like holy shit good catch.

Then 10 minutes later I'm absolutely adamant I'm going to solve this card so he pulls hints and it's the angriest I've been in 5 years.

Hint 1 - you only need the card you're holding. The card I'm holding has every letter of the alphabet, =, and a number 0-9. The top says, "What is the the wrong thing?"

I'm pulling fucking algorithims outta my grade-11-math ass, thinking syllables, checking how many of each letter appears in the book. Connor is dying. "It's just that card. Just… read it."

George is getting upset! I'm throwing everything at him. "What? What's wrong? A=3? How do I know if that's right or not??" There's an equation at the bottom. A few numbers added = 18, and it adds up. That's not wrong. So I start assigning those numbers to the letters but there's 6 possibilities for a 1…

"Stop. Read. The. Card."

Ugh. Okay so "'What is the wrong thing?' Those words are in order, so that's not wrong-"

"Are they?"

And instantly, there it is. "What is the THE wrong thing?" Like a goddamn Facebook post pointing out you didn't notice they skipped #4. Perfect case of overthinking, but then again, the entirety of that card doesn't matter except that extra The. Whoever made an entire fake cypher? I just wanna talk. Outside. I'm free after 4.

But some puzzles are legitimately so hard that you need to think that deep.

My favourite EXIT, and probably my favourite interactive mystery ever, is "Murder on the Orient Express" - the only game in the series with a 5/5 difficulty. And the only game where, for the very last puzzle, you only get one guess.

Every other game, if you're wrong, you pull a card saying "try again". We got Orient on the first try, so for a few minutes we just celebrated. Then we read the one card left and realized if we'd been one digit off, we would've outright lost the game.

Technically you could just pretend you didn't get it wrong and try again, but this game had a dedicated card to all 7 wrong answers telling you that you are murdered by the culprit. But it's cool cuz someone else solved the mystery.

I get why, I do, it's one of the lowest-rated games. It's very, VERY hard to pick the culprit among 8 suspects.

However, I started taking Game Notes at age 9 and I know how to notate a game with items you need instant/repeated access to.

Me and Connor have a routine. I lay out a table and tell him to read me every 3rd word, every time a food is mentioned, every date etc. and know how to organize such info.

It got away from me a bit, but I was trying to talk mystery with regard to hints. So let me finish by going back to Cain's Jawbone.

I'm used to, nowadays, having infinite hints just by a simple Google search. If I ever solve Jawbone, I personally wouldn't feel any amount of pride if I didn't at least give a hint to those attempting to solve. Because some things just need a word or a phrase to ignite a lightbulb. Gatekeeping a puzzle because of its exclusivity doesn't jive with me.

Some puzzles need hints. Some don't. I think the distinction is worth discussing.

Stay Greater.

#puzzle #writing #mystery #sam

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anissanightyoung · 3 years

Text

Of kisses and Roman traditions

[SUMMARY] Where Seungkwan enjoys kissing you and blames it on the Romans.

Idk what this is. Fluff? Flirty!Seungkwan definitely. Oh and noona!reader😁

3,087 words

HAPPY 6 YEARS TO MY BOYS💖💎

masterlist

You and Seungkwan have already kissed on three occasions. You didn't want to put too much thought into it, and you never mentioned it anyway. But sometimes it's hard to stop thinking about what those kisses mean.

The first kiss was at Seungkwan's house. All your friends were already asleep, tired of playing all his board games, and drunk innumerable bottles of liquor. You had finished cleaning up when Seungkwan came towards you. "Yah, why did you clean? This is my apartment.” You laughed at his half-asleep state, you could see just how tired he was trying to beat Soonyoung with one drunk. He did his best, but Soonyoung kept giving him +2s and +4s of tequila or vodka and mixing alcohol in Seungkwan's system ended badly. He threw up twice overnight.

"Look at you, hangover's gonna bite your ass in the morning. And you know I can't sleep when this place is trashed." You can hear him laughing lazily, trying to stay awake. "Come on, let's get you to bed." Seungkwan grins, "Starving. Creamy cheese bagels. Feed me?" You laughed at his antiques. You met him a year ago, and you know drunk Seungkwan needs to eat before he goes to bed. "This is a way of waking up hangover-free, noona. You should try it." But you know that Seungkwan will still have a headache the following day, with an Americano as a telling sign.

"You're too cute for your own good, do you know that?" You joked to him, shaking your head. You were warming up the bagel when he took your hand. "Happy anniversary, noona."

"What?"

"Do you think I wouldn't remember? It's the anniversary of the first time we met.”

"What a sappy, sappy man you are." You laugh while finishing his sandwich. You turned around to face him and said "ah" so he could take a bite out of the bagel. When he did, it was as if he had tasted food for the first time. When he had already swallowed his first bite, he suddenly threw his arms into your waist, swallowing you in a cuddle. That surprised you because he's not usually that sweet, and now he's very touchy.

"What are you doing?" You asked him when he set his bagel down on the counter and tugged the ends of your shirt pulling you closer to him. This is the only time you have noticed how he is a few inches taller than you, and that he has long eyelashes a bit like those of a baby. You were that close to notice that. He slowly bent over your face, staring directly at your lips, waiting for you to stop him. When you didn't, he closed the gap between the two of you and kissed you softly.

When he retired, he laid his head upon the counter and slept his intoxication away. You figured he’s too wasted to have done so. When you asked about the kiss the next day, he brushed it off, saying, “Sorry, got wasted trying to beat that tiger hyung.”

“Just don’t do it again okay? Friends don’t do that.”

“Yepp,” popping the last letter, “I’ll take you to your favorite burger place to make it up to you.” He drags you to his car while holding your hand. When he was driving, he held your hand still. “Hey, it's not okay to kiss, but it's okay to hold hands?” There was complete silence.

“Friends can hold hands, sure. When did friends start kissing on the lips?

“Friends with benefits do.”

“Ya are you asking me to? Cause you know I’m not into that kind of shit!”

Seungkwan laughed at your outburst. “Joking noona, sheesh. You’re getting old.”

“Shut it, I’m barely a year older than you.”

Throughout the ride, he didn't let go of your hand. However, you didn't seem to mind the extra warmth.

The second kiss took place around a campfire.

Soonyoung told the three of you that he wanted to go for a drive, and you were shocked when he suddenly parked by a beach. You never asked how Soonyoung got all of your clothes and other belongings, but he seemed to need the view of a peaceful ocean at night, so you all decided. You were already there, and the semester had just ended.

While you and Seungkwan were eating dinner you bought near the store, Seokmin began jamming to a guitar and singing his heart out. Soonyoung was on the lookout for the beach's caretaker to inquire about some wood for a campfire.

“I swear, I know Soonyoung oppa is the most spontaneous of us all, but I never expected him to be this bad. Is it really because of the finals?”

“He may look carefree, but hyung goes through a lot,” Seokmin chuckled. You understand; everybody has their own way of dealing with their baggage, and Soonyoung's are to be daring and laugh his problems away.

“Minnie, can you play the song you submitted for your music class as a group project?” Campfire?” You believe it is appropriate for the atmosphere of the evening. While Seokmin was singing, you glanced over at Soonyoung to see how he was doing. His smile is beaming, and his eyes are glassy as he takes in the stunning scenery in front of him. You were relieved to see that his plan worked.

You looked at Seungkwan, realizing that this was his first time hearing the track. “Kwannie, pay attention to the next line. It's comforting.” You sang with Seokmin when the part came up. It reminds you of how Seungkwan made getting out of bed easier every day. Your anxiety held you awake at night or made you fearful of what might happen the next day. But Seungkwan, he unintentionally shone on you at a difficult period. Slowly but steadily, you began to anticipate waking up knowing that he would face the day with you.

Soonyoung accompanied Seokmin to the market to buy some food after he finished jamming due to his hunger. It was time for you to jam. Of course, you'd choose Taylor Swift's The Way I Loved You, in honor of her Fearless cover. You've always admired Taylor Swift's music, especially the older songs because you identify with the words she wrote. You were grateful for how her music got you through your childish heartbreaks.

You were so engrossed in Seungkwan's angelic voice that you didn't know he was already squatting in front of you. Both of you were grinning at each other when the last chord was struck, and you kissed him as though it were nothing out of the ordinary. The kiss felt right; it felt like it was what completed the song you were singing; it felt like the happy ending the song promised. To keep your balance, you clutched his arm. When you jerked away from him when you awoke from your daydream, he immediately drew you back in and kissed you again, squeezing your hand three times.

The four of you had agreed to spend Christmas Day at Seokmin's. Your mother didn't let you hear the end of it when you told them you couldn't come home because your family has always been conventional. Your mother guilt-tripping you to come home, saying, "We're family, we're supposed to spend time together." “Ah, well, families are supposed to support one another, not nag each other to death when one fails to meet one's expectations.” After that, you hang up, assuming that if you don't agree, your mother will say something else that you don't want or need to hear.

Seungkwan was supposed to pick you up, so while you were waiting for him, you double-checked everything you'd packed to make sure you hadn't forgotten anything. Seungkwan's introduction of Soonyoung and Seokmin is one of the things for which you are grateful. You've outgrown your crappy friends from high school, so the trio is a breath of fresh air for you.

You place your bags in the trunk as soon as you see his car, like a little kid heading to Disney World. “Thanks for picking me up, Kwannie,” she said, beaming. You excitedly slid down to the passenger seat. He immediately hugged you once you were sitting, saying, "Ah noona, you're in a good mood?" You can see his smile doesn't reach his eyes when you've broken free from the embrace. He's giving you a fake one.

“This is my first trip away from my home. I already know it'll be a lot of fun.”

“Really? At Seokmin Hyung's house, you'll feel right at home. His mother prepares the most delicious Christmas dinner. My mother's cooking pales in comparison.” Seungkwan once gave you a dish made by her mother, and one bite was enough to make you feel like you'd died and gone peacefully to heaven. The fact that Seokmin's mother cooks better piqued your curiosity. “Ah really? Then I'd really have to give it a taste.” He smiled again, the false smile, and you're starting to get bothered by it.

“What are you doing, Kwannie?” You're giving me this strange grin.”

“What do you mean strange?”

“Fake smile. It's the first time you've feigned a smile at me. What’s up?”

“You can see right through me, can't you?”

“Yes, I do. Would you like to talk about it?”

“Nope. But I'd like to take your hand.”

Seungkwan is holding your hand and exhaling contentedly. He kept it until you arrived at Seokmin's house.

Seokmin's house is warm and inviting. They live in a house on a corner with a vibrant garden surrounding it. The living room has an L-shaped couch that can comfortably seat all four of you, with additional seating available. Seokmin and his sister have a wall full of family photos and accomplishments. You can tell Seokmin's parents are a laid-back, loving family, as shown by his kindness and good humor. You don't know if it was the long ride, but you fell asleep as soon as you sat on their couch after the house tour.

When you first awoke, you chose to visit their garden, which you recall has a swing set. Seungkwan is seated by himself.

You teased, "Where are your twins?"

“They went grocery shopping with Mrs. Lee.”

“What kept you from going?”

“Too exhausted from driving.”

“Then you should've just slept with me.”

Seungkwan swung his head in your direction right away. “I-uh, what?”

Then it dawned on you what you'd said. This is so humiliating. “Sleep!” you exclaimed, “Sleeping, with eyes closed and resting-“

“I never expected you to finally ask me-”

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN WHEN YOU SAY "FINALLY" YOU LITTLE SHIT?”

He laughed out loud at your reaction while you chased him around the backyard. He quit running around after you told him that you wouldn't smack him in the head.

“I hate you.”

That made Seungkwan stop laughing.

“Do you regret meeting me?”

You were surprised at his sudden change of tone, no longer joking. “Is this what it’s all about?”

“Well. Yeah.”

“I'm not sure what got you to think like that. You said, “But you know our first meeting was a flop.” When people meet for the first time, they usually ask for each other's names, go through some more tedious formalities, and then seal the deal with a handshake. You had an early class with him, and you didn't mind sharing a seat with him almost every time because you thought he was one of the quiet ones. The year was difficult for you because things didn't go your way, you had a lot of misfortunes, and you had a lot of work piling up that was affecting your mental health.

As you sat down in your chair one fateful morning, you put your cup of coffee on your side of the table. This is where Seungkwan got his drink mixed up with yours because you both have the same coffee taste.

“- flop is an exaggeration for that noona-”

“-you drank my coffee in our 8 a.m. class thinking it was yours, I'll never forgive you.” Reliving that moment made you roll your eyes. “But you know what? You wouldn't have replaced it if you hadn't, and I wouldn't have had the best year of my life.” It may seem to be an exaggeration, but it is true. You were grateful for Seungkwan's carefree and playful personality, which helped you get through your lowest point. He had no idea what you were going through, but you were relieved that someone was taking care of you.

He can be seen chewing his mouth, attempting to conceal his smile. “Ah dumb main character in a drama,” air quotes the phrase, ‘I wish I hadn't met you.' “I instantly thought of you.”

“Huh, that's strange.”

“What is?”

“That. As I previously said, this has been the best year I've had in, what, three years? And it's all thanks to you. I might be harsh with you all of the time, cursing at you whenever I get the chance, but that's just how I am. I'm glad I got you as one of my most reliable friends, my rock, and my go-to person. Even Seokmin and Soonyoung oppa were introduced to me by you. Seungkwan, I'd rather live in a world with you in it. Don’t think otherwise.”

Seungkwan stared at you and felt a combination of emotions. He kissed you when he understood what he felt. At first, you thought it’ll be quick like the last time, a peck. But he deepened the kiss, and when his tongue touched yours, you hear him groan. He tugged you closer, afraid you’ll get away. He reassuringly held your hands, squeezing them three times just like the second time. I can get used to this. You thought. You focused on his soft lips, how you’ve always felt content while kissing him.

He pulled away, his chest heaving for breath. “Holy shit,” Seungkwan said. You nodded in agreement, apparently unable to concentrate because of your heart beating so loudly.

“I-, uh, I--”

“I thought we’ve talked this through?-”

He sighed deeply before adding, “I-I got cold. Sorry, noona.”

“You dumb shit, if you were cold, I would have made you hot chocolate. I’m nice sometimes you know.”

“I don't mind,” he smirked, “you're hotter anyway.”

“What the heck is wrong with you? I swear to god, you've been flirting with me since that drunk uno shit.”

“It's a Roman thing to kiss under the mistletoe,” he said, pointing to the mistletoe he was carrying.

You both laughed it off, thinking about how ridiculous it sounded. “Roman tradition my ass.”

You and Seungkwan are both in the hospital on New Year's Eve.

“Ah, what a dumb plan you had there,” you exclaimed, staring at him in disbelief.

“Well, I've always wanted to go out of my comfort zone...”

You give him a light smack on the head. “Shut up. Now I'm trapped in a hospital over New Year's because of your dumb plan.”

It's never a good idea to combine Seungkwan with hiking. Sure, he's fit, but when was the last time he went hiking?

“Then have Seokmin hyung or Soonyoung hyung accompany me.”

“They're still at Seokmin's.” You and Seungkwan both arrived at your dorms earlier than anticipated. After all, you didn't want to overstay your welcome; it was your first time. You were worried that Seokmin's mother would think you were too at ease in their home.

“Well, if you want to go home, you can.”

“Who will look after you if I go home?”

For a moment, Seungkwan didn't dare add a sarcastic comment on that question. So, instead, “Come on y/n, don't be so mad...”

“Where are your manners, I'm your noona?”

“three kisses in and I still can't call you by your name?”

You blushed when you remembered all of the times Boo SeungKwan kissed you and how sweet his soft lips were.

“Noona is blushing, wah.”

“I hope your ankle doesn’t heal you little shit.”

Raising his eyebrows at you. "You don't mean that. You love me."

"Of course I do. I love all three of you."

He reached for your hand. "I bet you love me more." There it was again, Seungkwan surprising you with his sudden seriousness. He was staring straight into your eyes, waiting for your response. Luckily, a nurse came in to check his vitals.

A few minutes after the nurse came out, both of you were ignoring each other due to that sudden tension. To ease the situation, both of you just watched television until you fell asleep.

"Y/n wake up." Nudging you by your shoulders. "We're nearing the countdown. Cmon," and urged you to stand by the window, waiting for the fireworks.

Seungkwan then leaned in to put an earphone in, with a song already playing in the background. You realized it was a song written by Soonyoung's classmate, Woozi, for a songwriting class. You were bopping your head to the music when the ten-second countdown started.

You and Seungkwan alternately sang along.

"I promise myself, while drinking a glass of water in the morning, to tell you"

새벽에 물을 마시면서 혼자 다짐해 나는 너에게

"Beautiful words like the lines in a movie"

영화처럼 달콤하고 예쁜 그 말

"The words I've prepared overnight for days"

몇 날 며칠 밤새 연습했던 그 말

"I want to say them to you tomorrow with clenched fists"

내일은 꼭 두 주먹을 꽉 쥐고 말해주고 싶어

Seungkwan turned to face you just in time for the next line.

"You are pretty."

너 예쁘다

As soon as the clock struck twelve and the fireworks went off, Seungkwan kissed you. What astonished you was how you knew he was about to kiss you and how you returned the kiss with fervor as he deepened it. You can't help but compare this man to fireworks; how dark it was before him, and how awestruck you were when he came into your life.

Seungkwan was the first to back away, touching his forehead to yours and giggling like a joyful little kid. “Did you know that it’s a Roman tradition to kiss on the first minute of the new year?”

“Blaming the Romans again, I see?” playfully raising your eyebrows at him.

He laughed at that, giving you no excuse. "I love you, Y/n."

You grinned as you silently thank the Romans for their weird traditions.

#seventeen #seventeen scenarios #seventeen x reader #seventeen x you #seventeen x y/n #seventeen imagines #svt #svt seungkwan #boo seungkwan #seungkwan x reader #seungkwan x you #seungkwan scenarios

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the-hoarse-bard · 2 years

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Honningbrew was just outside of Whiterun, and I'd already passed by the building before. Inside, I found the owner, Sabjorn, leaning over the counter and nervously bouncing his leg. The door creaked as it opened, and he whipped around in shock, "Oh. I thought you were the guard captain. What do you want? We're closed for a private event tonight." I responded, "I heard. I also heard you have a bit of a rat problem and thought I could help." He let out a relieved sigh, "Oh, thank the gods. Mallus sent you, didn't he? I'd make him do this himself, but he's just never around." Sabjorn stood up from his stool and went behind the bar, rummaging around a bit before placing a leather bag on the counter, "Okay, here's the rat poison. They nest down in the cellar." He pointed to a door to my right, "It's just through there. Scatter the poison on their nests, that should do the job well enough." I picked up the bag and descended down into the cellar.

Among the aging casks that the cellar had been constructed for were several dead skeevers, apparently dead by several bear traps scattered around the room. I followed the trail of rat corpses to a large hole in the wall that lead into a bit of a cave system. The stench quickly made it very clear that the rats had nested in that direction, so I headed in.

The cave was cramped, dank, and smelled horrid. There were a number of still living skeevers down here. They were easy to deal with, I used my staff to redirect them around me and into the walls as they lunged. A few proved hardy enough to make a second attack at me. They seemed to be slobbering some kind of disgusting black slime. I swung my staff down on those one's backs, snapping their spines before they could get too close.

Once all the rats were dead, I dared to scrape a sample of the slime in the larger one's mouths off with my dagger. It had a consistency of oil, but with none of the rainbow sheen. I smelled it and nearly gagged, it was absolutely the source of the wretched scent down here. I shook the dagger to attempt to dislodge the sludge, but to my chagrin, it clung tight. No strength of venom was worth the rank smell, so I just left the dagger there. I can easily replace it.

There were blessedly few of those larger rats with slime on their teeth as I went deeper, and none of them managed to bite me with that venom. I avoided attracting the attentions of a family of frostbite spiders as best I could, too. Horrible things. But soon, I found the rats nest in a large cavern. From the far side, I swear I heard muttering that became clearer as I drew closer. And then I saw him. A shirtless Nord, hunched over an alchemy setup, rambling to himself. Something about "making them all pay". By the sound of it, he was completely mad. I did my best to stay hidden as I approached him, staying low and quiet. I drew one of my spare daggers as I came up behind him and stood up. Quick as a flash, I put my left hand over his mouth and pulled it up to reveal his neck. As he thrashed and attempted to pull my hand off his face, I brought up my dagger and plunged it into his throat and quickly withdrew it again, covering the alchemy equipment in arterial spray.

I dropped the Nords limp corpse on the ground. Hopefully the Guild wouldn't mind the mess. I rummaged through a nearby trunk, containing the mans belongings. Inside was a journal, detailing how this man had been falsely imprisoned in Whiterun's dungeon and this whole skeever plan was his idea of revenge. Raise a rat army and enslave the whole of Whiterun. What a loon. There was another book in the trunk, titled Three Thieves. A trio of conspirators planning a heist, with notably little scruples against murder and arguing how to best do it without getting caught only for one of them to use the method they decide is best on the other two. Very ironic, and perhaps for the best that the author chose to remain anonymous. I took the mad Nords journal and the Three Thieves with me. Anyone asks why there's more dead down here than rats, I won't be tried for it. I scattered most of the poison on the rat nests and continued on to the end of the cavern.

The cavern let out into another cellar. This one, I quickly discovered, was luckily attached to the brewery building. I climbed up the ladder to the top of the in-use brewing vat and dumped in the remainder of the rat poison. Whoever drinks this is going to one hell of a time. I slammed the top of the vat closed and leapt down to the floor below and hurried back to the main building to watch Sabjorn poison the captain of the guard.

#story post #shirazzha #skyrim special edition #khajiit #gore cw #blood cw #thieves guild #whiterun

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wouldduskwood · 2 years

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Jake's POV Descendants of Despair Part 70

Watching her go into the Aurora, free from the constraints of living in the shadows, was heart breaking. I wanted so desperately to be able to give her that life. Where we could walk in together, hoods down, hand in hand. Showing the world that we were there, together, alive and free.

'Pull yourself together, moron!' I groaned internally. I needed to be able to get eyes and ears in there. I hated the thought of betraying her as much as I hated using her as a pawn to help gain access to information about Hannah. Spying on her felt both terrible...and necessary. If anything happened to her, I would never forgive myself. I considered my options. There was the possibility of sneaking in and laying low in some dark corner, but if I was asked to remove my hood this would draw too much unwanted attention. Lingering around outside didn't seem much better and there were no obvious vantage points where I would be able to have eyes on her. That really left only one choice. Head back to base and see if I could hack into any cameras that might be around the bar. Maybe I'd strike it lucky.

With each step, the sound of jovial revelers began to disappear into the distance, and a new wave of bitterness washed over me. Those morons had no idea how lucky they were, that they could delight in her without fear. That they could sit so freely and converse with each other about things that didn't need to involve the possibility of death and destruction. Grumbling to myself, I began hauling my gear into the area I had designated for it, quicker now as the need to find her became more urgent. Within minutes I had enough set up carried to the loft that I would be able to focus my energy on tracking her. My hands went through the practiced motions of plugging in and starting the system as my mind fought furiously with itself...going through all worst case scenarios and then beating each one back again. She had never once failed to impress me with her ability to protect herself.

After what seemed like an eternity, the computer had booted up and I had begun the process of finding and getting in to the cameras in the area. As I typed, my phone buzzed in my pocket. I pulled it out and scanned it briefly. My heart skipped a beat as I realised the message was from her. “Phil off. Set up? Leave!”

The words were like a searing heat. Anger. Frustration. And...somehow...resignation. Somehow, she drew trouble to her like a moth to a flame. Instead of responding, my typing increased in speed as my eyes strained to keep up with them, desperate to avoid any potential errors in the script. Being forced to take the time to find and fix the errors would be costly.

Finally, I smiled in success. A variety of grainy images appeared on my screen. Some from outside, flickering over the streets around the Aurora, and one from inside. This camera had been frustrating. It was trained on the cash register, my guess was to avoid theft. I worked to manipulate the camera, bending it to my will. Of course, I would have to delete the footage later...and it would prove completely useless if Phil were to be robbed while the camera was trained on her. This last part made me smirk.

Once I had found her, I sat back and watched in disbelief. She was...drunk? I watched as she swayed and spilled her drink on a table, calling the barkeep over for another. As the barkeep returned with her drink, I smiled wryly. I could just make out the hardened shapes in the glass. Lots of ice. She was working the room, manipulating her surroundings...of course. The ice trick was relatively common amongst people seeking information. It allowed for the appearance of a drunken and uninhibited state, while still allowing the drinker to maintain their state of clarity.

As I watched, her grainy form appeared beside Phil. The two appeared to be enjoying an intimate...even flirtatious moment. I watched intently, attempting to push back the burning rage that consumed me as I watched Phil, so free, being near her. I couldn't afford to let my jealousy overwhelm me. It would risk everything she had done. My eyes remained fixed on her, as she paused and seemed to be staring at Phil. Something had happened.

Part 71

#duskwood jake x mc #duskwood #duskwood jakexmc #duskwood fanfic #duskwood fanfiction #duskwood jake x player #duskwood jake pov

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boop-le-snoot · 3 years

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PARTY FAVOURS I CHAPTER 35

💖first time reader click here💖

Reader and Eddie going on their mission. They're all morons, okay? Some canon-typical violence, bad guys being bad guys. You guys can see that I treat the fighting plot points as total crack, right?

Eddie Brock was pissed, at the Avengers mostly - for not telling him of my accident - but also at me, for the fact that I didn't call him sooner. Venom had taken over at some point, eager to participate in my plan - and it I was being honest, my uncle's space boo was the one I had relied on to participate in the mayhem that was to be caused to finally let my family breathe in peace.

The Avengers wore various expressions of guilt when an angry Eddie stormed the tower, berating them for not getting into contact with him when I was in danger. Venom growled at them, too, just the right amount of teeth and drool for Tony to quickly usher me out to 'take a walk, have some fun, build a snowman' with uncle Eddie and Venom. It was almost too easy, too predictable. The guilt that reared it's ugly head was stomped down by me and two glasses of whiskey in Eddie's rented Airbnb as I went into the fine details of my plan.

Both I and Eddie were equally surprised when Venom dropped their sarcastic, angsty teenager attitude and approached the topic with maturity, giving valuable input. The goth space goo was much, much smarter than their first impressions showed. I belatedly remembered their remark about being an apex predator species... Scary.

The plan was pretty simple.

Eddie was a professional investigative reporter and an unregistered mutant, his files being hidden so deeply due to the alien nature of the symbiote that it was unlikely that underground gangs would have any idea as to who he truly was. His involvement with SHIELD was buried under so much red tape, even Coulson himself had very little idea about Eddie's body-mate.

My uncle would sniff around the mutant underworld, just enough to catch a whiff of the mercenary's whereabouts. It should be enough if he was as famous as Natasha claimed him to be. And if it wasn't enough... I'd be bait. I doubt that the merc knew the box has been retrieved and secured; every now and then, I still caught chatter about the SHIELD agents trailing me catching a person sent to monitor me. They weren't even trying to hide that hard.

I had my suspicions SHIELD was indirectly using me as bait, too, and both Eddie and Venom were inclined to agree with the notion. Over beers and ridiculous amount of chocolate cake, a third side of the operation Baby Thief had been formed. SHIELD played their own game, the Avengers and SI threw a ridiculous amount of resources on their own and then there was me and Eddie, two halves of a whole idiot.

For once, the plan didn't go south immediately off the bat. Eddie and Venom got the information - there was a lot of uproar in the mutant community, rumours about an artifact that would let them assume their rightful place in the world, pushing the pesky humans off their pedestal. I definitely supported mutant rights - but the common notion that violence was necessary to achieve the recognition of said rights didn't sit well with me at all. Eddie agreed with me, his own curiousity pushing him to dig deeper into the situation.

My uncle could be a brilliant investigative reporter with the proper motivation and his significant other at the side. I could never tire of Venom's stories: each and every time they saved Eddie from making a clown out of himself was remembered, documented and brought up at the quickest available opportunity. I haven't laughed so hard in months.

The positives of our plan? We got a hot trail and enough information to know about the mercenary's whereabouts. We possessed the manpower needed to off him in record time, Venom eagerly offering his digestive system for our convenience.

The negatives? We'd need to bring me. Apparently there was a hefty bounty on my pretty little head and the merc himself had given up trying to chase me, hiring a bunch of muscle to do the legwork for him instead. The mercenary, a man who went by the nickname Cadre, was an ex-shield agent, who knew enough to successfully avoid the organisation following hot on his heels.

And neither SHIELD, nor Tony nor Eddie knew who had ordered the retrieval of the artifact. The mysterious person had deep pockets: all of the men were supplied with high grade weaponry and the mutants participating in the missions had equipment specifically tailored to their powers.

Perhaps, I wasn't as clever as I wanted myself to be. There was something big and ugly brewing and the bounty on my head was just the tip of the iceberg. But what was done, was done, and Venom was looking forward to a hefty meal and we set the date of Eddie "kidnapping" me in a few days time.

I hoped I'd make it home for Christmas.

The biggest surprise was that nobody suspected anything. Not even Natasha's watchful eye and inherent knowledge of shit about to be stirred - somehow, Nat always just knew those things - had revealed itself and that's how I knew it was absolutely necessary for me to be successful. There was no room for failure. In the day before my planned trip to Cadre's lair, I forced the team into a movie night and took extra time with everybody, seeing as even the most cheerful people - Thor and Wanda - walked around with sullen faces for most of the time. Perhaps, deep down, I knew that chances of my plan going awry were pretty damn high.

It felt like I was leaving for war. And perhaps, I was. The nervous, anxious energy increased as the hour X drew closer and I couldn't hide it anymore. My insomnia wore Tony's face: I could see his disappointment as clear as day, but I figured he'd forgive me for the betrayal eventually. Every single thing I hid from my newfound family made me feel a traitor. Unfortunately, there was simply no other option.

That afternoon, Eddie picked me up from the tower and drove me to one of the hideouts that belonged to Cabre. He'd tied my hands together and blindfolded me, all for show of course, whilst Venom briefly connected with my body to induce a drowsy state of mind. I didn't actually mind to be drugged and was way more wary of the symbiote's effects on my body but the space pudding extended his tentacles so quickly, I barely had the time to even swear at them.

To my (and their) surprise, it wasn't as bad as we thought it would be. In my hazy state, I briefly head Venom growl that I could be a decent short-term host if something would to happen with Eddie; I did not know how that information made me feel but did not disregard it completely. I was out of my depth on this one yet marched on towards the danger with grim determination.

"Here's the girl," Eddie's voice penetrated through the curtain of chemicals that Venom had dosed me with; I was tossed none too gently on what felt like a mattress, the landing haphazard but not painful. Venom must've dulled my pain receptors, too. "Where's our money?"

I was unceremoniously groped, my face examined by a man with ice-cold hands. Whatever he found, he deemed it satisfactory. "I'm impressed," He whistled. "We've been trying to get her for months. Care to share how you achieved this?" The strange man sounded suspicious.

"WE HAVE OUR OWN TRICKS," Venom's deep voice filled out the room like thick smoke and I just knew that the man who had been groping me was twitching in discomfort. "SO?"

"Alright, alright," The man mumbled, voice unsteady. My drowsiness slowly began to recede and I finally could focus my eyes somewhat; Eddie was partially obscured by the writhing, onyx mass of his symbiote and the man was dialing up the phone, speaking in a rapid-fire dialect I did not know. "Cabre will be here in an hour. Care for a beer?" Just like that, the man was obviously attempting to placate Eddie.

"HOT CHOCOLATE," Venom announced flatly and I had to struggle to hold back my laughter at the image of a seven feet tall tentacle monster sipping hot cocoa from a tiny porcelain cup. My nerves had me feeling ten types of way, as usual, and props to Ven making me unable to speak. I would have already killed myself by running my mouth ten times over.

The hour passed by with me floating in my mindsphere, Eddie loudly playing Candy Crush on his phone and Venom consuming ridiculous amounts of hot chocolate. It was absurd and the eerie calm was beginning to make me suspicious; I had expected... More. Threatening thugs with guns, experiments, blood tests and physical violence. Instead, the man who met with Eddie was sitting with a vacant, bored expression as he practiced card tricks in the corner furthest away from Venom.

Finally, a knock on the door forced all of us to pay attention to the newcomer. It was a tall, massively built man in his early forties. His face was covered in scars, narrow red lines that looked like small cuts; one of his eyes was completely black while the other was blue. He looked like the man at the coffee shop but at the same time, nothing like him at all.

"Good afternoon, gentlemen," His voice was low and quiet. If not for the heavyweight weapon hanging over his shoulder, I would have considered him to be one of those men who only look threatening but actually are gentle giants. With steps too quiet for a man his size, he approached me, crouching down to look me in the face. "Hello, child. I've been looking for you for a long time. It's a shame we had to meet this way," He removed the strands of hair sticking to my face. For all purposes, his touch could have been considered fatherly. "Richard, bring the money." With a wave of his hand, he dismissed the man who was babysitting me and Eddie and he promptly disappeared behind the steel door.

"Hello," Eddie briefly shook his hands with Cabre after the merc left me alone. I noted Venom had disappeared into the reporter's body completely. "We are Venom," Eddie introduced himself (they introduced themselves?).

"Cabre," The Merc watched my honorary uncle with a sharp eye, taking note of Eddie's lack of weapons, his worn clothes and the shaggy hair, the bags under his eyes. "Tell me, Venom, what do you know of this child?"

"Not much," Eddie shrugged, convincingly. "Just that the Avengers picked her up for some reason and locked her up in Stark's tower. We're guessing she didn't like it much 'cuz she kept sneaking out and trying to shake off the tail. Had to go through quite a few SHIELD agents to get to her," Just like we agreed, Eddie spoke with slight disdain towards Tony and SHIELD, making sure to let Cabre believe he was on the mutants' side. "We just need the money, man. Not many people will hire us," To top it up, Eddie spread his arms, showing his skin ripple and move on it's own prominently under his ratty t-shirt. Atta boy!

Cabre appeared to have bought the lie, chuffing sympathetically, before pulling out a tablet and typing on it. "Well, not for long. My superiors have found an artifact that, if unlocked properly, will render most of the technology suppressing mutant powers useless. They won't be able to get rid of us that easily anymore."

Eddie nodded eagerly, for all purposes appearing to be ecstatic about the news. "Yeah, heard some rumors here and there. Well, you and your superiors know where to find me. I could always go with some extra cash," He scratched his head, carefully watching Cabre's fingers dance on the keyboard. "What's the kid got to do with it anyway? Seems like an ordinary spoiled brat to me," Eddie threw me a look, blinking twice. The fatigue and wariness, courtesy of Venom, had begun to recede quite some time ago; with Eddie's signal, I knew the shitshow was about to start very soon.

Eddie was smart, however, finding out the bits of information SHIELD hadn't bothered to disclose to me. The residue that the cursed box had left in me was removed, so I could not understand why SHIELD was still guarding me. There had to have been another reason, a reason that neither of us knew for sure.

Cabre paused his typing. "We've been watching her for years. She's a genius. We were hoping she could help us solve a few problems..." The merc paused to rub the bridge of his nose. "We tried to get her to come willingly but her parents forbade her from it. My superiors suggested to use the artifact but something malfunctioned." For all purposes, Cabre was looking apologetic. "I am not overly fond of kidnapping children but some things just need to be done." With that, the man turned around, landing his eyes on me. "Glad to see you're up and about." Something about his smile was unnatural, forced, malicious.

"Charmed to meet you," I sat up, dazed and confused about the turn of events. The things he was saying, they didn't add up. I hadn't received any requests for my participation in ANY kind of project, illlegal or not. No scholarships, no internship offers. Something was very, very wrong.

As soon as Cabre's back was turned, Venom enveloped Eddie, turning themselves into the seven feet tall outer space monstrosity I had seen on the first day. Their combined form was terrifying - but Cabre's fingers merely twitched at the rapid change of the situation as he took slow steps towards me. "Hmm," His voice still quiet, he once again crouched in front of me. "You fought us off once but we are many. There is nowhere to run, child," Cabre's eyes began to darken, his speech turning flat.

I recognized the speech pattern, recalled the expressionless, vacant face that stared at me. Cabre was infected with the Legion from the cursed box; I hadn't prepared for that, hadn't even regarded that, thinking the little epic speech the demon had given me was a mere intimidation tactic. Fear bloomed within me, opening it's jaws like a hungry Venus flytrap but I refused to succumb to it, clenching my fists against the waves of paralyzing terror.

Venom made a confused growling noise behind me, extending a tentacle to push Cabre away; with a sickeningly wet splat, their whole form collided with the opposite wall, sliding down it like a puddle of misshapen goop. "MORSEL, GET OUT." The symbiote growled, reforming itself back.

"Silence, beast!" Cabre shrieked, unstrapping his weapon and aiming it at Venom. No bullets came out as he pressed the trigger but my ear started ringing, eyes watering as the whole form of the symbiote began to morph and ripple. Pained groans and whines came from them. A sonic gun?

"Screw you, man," I attempted to draw Cabre's attention to myself by kicking out a leg towards the gun, disrupting his arm briefly. Things were going to shit faster than a party full of teenagers and alcohol. "Fuck you, listen, FUCK YOU!" I knew antagonizing people was my best skill and that's what I did, figuring the time needed for Venom to reassemble themself could be acquired if Cabre was pissed off enough at me.

The backhand hurt, not going to lie. I saw stars from that one sloppy hit the possessed merc delivered to my face. The adrenaline rush allowed me to stay somewhat coherent and just like that time when I was trapped in my nightmares, I dove for Cabre, winding myself around him as both of us landed on the floor in a heap of limbs.

Despite my best hopes, Venom remained a puddle of black on the floor. I saw something shiny attach itself to Eddie's chest; apparently that something prevented them from combining into one again. My smaller size proved to be a great advantage; I remembered Venom's words about being a suitable short-term host and with a shriek, I placed my palm into the nearest piece of symbiote I could reach, my vision being obscured by blackness a second later.

THE TAG LIST IS NOW OPEN! @another-stark-sub @mostly-marvel-musings @vozit @littlegasps @pilloclock @shereadsinquiet @downeyreads @hermione-grangers-wife @individualistfem @sleep-i-ness @capbrie @lillsxd @agustdowney @dee-vn @justanotherblonde23 @fanngirl19 @persephonehemingway @softie-socks @schemefrenzy @letsby @romeo-the-cactus @jelly-fishy-babie @mikariell95 @gladiosamicitias @warrior1-19 @toomanyrobins @i-cant-hangout-im-drumming

#party favours #bun writes #tony stark x reader #bruce banner x reader #Stephen Strange x reader #tony stark x y/n #tony stark x you #bruce banner x you #bruce banner x y/n #stephen strange x y/n #stephen strange x you

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polar-stars · 3 years

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Why do you like Nene so much? What about her has attracted your attention the most? (This is a chance to ramble your heart out, I'd love to hear your thoughts on her)

(Aww thanks for this anon 🥺💕 I appreciate this a lot 😭❤️💕 At the same time I gotta apologise on advance because this is about to get convoluted and messy…🥲 )

I must confess that, at first, I did not take too much notice of Nene. With Tsukuda barely putting much focus on Nene, Somei, Momo and Megishima after their introduction she kinda escaped my radar.

The first moment where I first really got aware of her was….well…

Anyway, we’re not here to talk about that.

While she was really only in the background before, Nene started to get focus and large chunks of characterisation in the first match of the RDC. And once I learned about her? I ended up liking her!

She fits into a character archetype I generally like (cold & serious characters, but also…characters that hide their true emotions/concerns/etc. behind several mental shields because…mood) & I liked seeing her being capable of murdering people with just one icy glance. Her cool, sophisticated aura and the grace she had to herself when cooking just drew me in, lol.

Something that also really resonated with me was her backstory which explores feelings that are very relatable to me… :,))

Anyway, as we all know by know I am not a fan of the one match she has had in the series. And to my dismay, she was given very little outside of it.

Nene was put into a character position that should have required a lot more focus on her with her being the highest-ranked 2nd year in the largely build-up Elite 10 council. Considering that, it’s baffling how little character work we got for her.

Something I really would have liked to see explored would be her alliance with Central and how she dealed with the aftermath of it’s failure.

Central Arc would have generally benefited from more exploration of the motives on the antagonist’s side and I think Nene is a character you could have actually gotten a lot out of because I can see her agreeing on Central’s ideologies to some extent. Probably the most after Eishi perhaps. Totsuki‘s old system did favor natural talent (Zenji Marui remarks on it when he talks about how much reading and studying he does so that a “normal one” like him can keep up with all the gifted geniuses of his generation). So…I’d say there is a chance to link Central’s ideals to her insecurities of being surpassed by natural talents. Central also favours textbooks over innovation which could also point towards deep rooting insecurities of Nene.

It baffles me how much of her potential was untapped

I like that there is certain softness hiding behind that cold exterior of hers. I like thinking about how she might show her affection and that there is a lot of love and care in her reserved for the few people that manage to dig through her. But I do also see her capable of being seriously ruthless as well. It’s something I would like to see presented more as I have the feeling that her alliance with Central is kinda downplayed within the fandom a lot of times. Nene, despite pronouncing fairness, does not bat an eye to the expulsion of the Rebel’s in the Promotion exams. I mean, yeah, I am sure she gave whoever she fought…she won through raw skill and without the use of cheap tricks but the overall situation of having the rebels dealing with significantly harder challenges to let them deliberately fail their exams….That is pretty unfair.

It does shows signs of there being multiple layers to her and, while I do lack a bit of the skill to throughly explore that yet…I’d like to try someday. I’d have generally love to see her get to be more badass rather than her being demoted to the second lowest seat in her third year for seemingly no reason 🙃

There’s also of course the case of her getting the most notable upgrades in her timeskip-looks indicating some form of character-development. But we’re never shown any of it. Neither in the manga, NOR in the anime despite all the other creative liberties they took.

Ultimately, I’d say that Nene is simply a character that inspires me in many ways. There are parts of her story that really resonate with me. And with all the untapped potential canon has left her with I desire to get more out of her, to give her engaging stories and to possibly view her from different angles. I’ve always been one to feel drawn to side characters and, as I’ve said, they tend to be my favorite subjects for fanwork because there’s often more room for imagination when there’s a limit to their focus on canon. I always understood why there was less focus but with Nene…The lack of canon character work feels like a legitimate hole given the position she was placed in.

And while I am angry over the way she was treated at least I can have fun in my numerous attempts to fill this hole 🥲

#Nene Kinokuni #Shokugeki no Soma

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