#a bit belated on this one but had to get it out of my system | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

star-going-supernova · 6 months

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SB prompt for ya since it’s almost Halloween!

Gregory for Halloween goes as Freddy and Freddy absolutely goes loses it. I’m just imagining Gregory in the full outfit with shoulder pads, a cute little headband with ears, and face makeup quoting Freddy saying “way to go superstar!” with a huge grin and Freddy just melts.

The mental image of Freddy walking beside a small mini him around the plex is so cute. You can’t tell me Freddy wouldn’t scoop him up and get as many pictures of the two of them as possible.

Also the others would be good natured and jokingly talk about how it’s favoritism and Gregory would just go “well he is my favorite” and cause Freddy’s system to crash.

Here’s tumblr generated prompt number 13! I’m so glad this one got picked, so I can at least say I wrote a belated Halloween ficlet! This is pure fluff!

Double Trouble

“Hold still!” Cassie complained, not for the first time. Gregory, prone to wiggling, gripped the chair tightly to keep from fidgeting too much. He didn’t actually want to cause problems, for once.

He desperately wanted to ask if she was done yet, or at least close, but talking would mean moving, and he really was trying to be on his best behavior. He’d asked for this, after all.

After another few agonizingly long minutes, Cassie leaned back with a pleased smile. “Done! And looking fabulous, if I do say so myself.”

Gregory leapt from his chair and skidded to look in the mirror. “Cassie!” he cried, beaming. “It looks amazing!” He turned his face this way and that, admiring her work. “I’d ask if you want any help with yours, but…”

She snickered, tucking herself close to a smaller mirror on her desk to start on her own makeup for her Halloween costume. “You’d mean well,” she allowed, “but I’ll pass, thanks.”

As she preformed some witchcraft to keep her lines straight and even and symmetrical, Gregory finished getting dressed. He was overly careful not to smudge the Freddy makeup—the blue was a perfect match, honestly, he didn’t know how Cassie did it—thankful that he at least had already put on his shirt. He snapped on the bracelets and slid on the headband with the fuzzy ears and little black top hat hot-glued at a subtle angle. The bowtie was carefully safety-pinned to his shirt, nice and straight.

The shoulder pads—and Cassie had agreed with him on this—were actually the hardest part of their costumes. They were a little too big and heavy to be clipped, pinned, or glued to their shirt shoulders without them slipping or tugging on the fabric in a way that just didn’t look good.

Cassie’s dad had solved their problem: backpacks. The shoulder straps were much sturdier and could easily support the foam shoulder pads’ weight. Plus, it made it super easy to take them off without damaging the rest of their costumes.

Their backpacks were waiting by the front door with their boots. Gregory’s were snow boots covered with foam to mimic Freddy’s feet and the red part of his legs. Cassie’s were just the same, only with Roxy’s purple and black animal print.

Another bit of practicality, curtesy of Cassie’s dad, who was pretty good at arts and crafts. Gregory’s costume wouldn’t look half as awesome without his help.

Cassie finished her own makeup (much faster than she’d done Gregory’s, and that wasn’t only because he needed more) and hopped up to finish putting on her own costume. Arm bands, wolf ears—complete with earrings, just like Gregory’s—and fuzzy wolf tail. She blew her green lock of hair out of her eyes.

“That’s gonna annoy you all night,” Gregory half teased, half warned her.

She conceded with a disgruntled huff and went to stuff a few spare bobby-pins in her pocket. Pushing him over to the tall mirror hanging on the back of her bedroom door, Cassie squished them together so both their reflections fit. “How do we look?”

“Awesome. Duh.”

“Are we missing anything?”

They each critically examined each other’s costume. Luckily, they weren’t too complicated.

“Yours looks good to me,” he said.

“Yours too.” She grinned widely. “They’re gonna freak.”

Gregory snickered. “This’ll knock ’em both out, for sure.”

“Perfect,” Cassie said, eyes glinting mischievously. And people thought Gregory was the only troublemaker between them.

Cassie’s dad took a few pictures once they finished getting dressed up before driving them over to the pizzaplex. The Halloween party was in full swing by the time they got there, and thanks to their special VIP wristbands, they got to skip past all the lines. And bless Mr. King for never asking any questions about how or where they got the wristbands. He just followed along behind them with his own average VIP pass until he split off from them with a reminder to be good, stay together, and text him if they needed anything.

Unleashed, Gregory and Cassie meandered through the festivities for a while, accepting donuts and cider from one of the many treat tables set up in the building. There were some games scattered around, a few face-painting booths, and reminders for the evening’s activities plastered on every other corner. Almost everyone was in costume, even the employees and some of the STAFF bots roaming around.

“Oooh,” Cassie said, tugging at Gregory’s arm. “They turned the Fazer Blast arena into a haunted house!” She gave him a pleading look, cheering when he obligingly set off in that direction.

• • •

The annual Halloween party was, at the very least, a pleasant change of pace. It was one of the busiest nights of the year, but Freddy could not bring himself to mind how exhausting it was, not when all the children were in such high spirits.

The costumes were perhaps his favorite part, though the pizzaplex’s decorations were a close second. They were all so creative and fun to look at. There were costume contests scattered throughout the event, separated by age groups or themes or group costumes. The animatronics were not judges of the contests—they did not have opinions as robots, obviously—but they were expected to attend each one and give out the prizes once the judges had deliberated.

There was even a contest specifically for all the children who came dressed up as members of the band (with a few of Sun or Moon, or even more rarely, the DJ). One particularly memorable past winner had been accompanied by a service dog wearing a simple homemade wet floor sign bot costume.

Freddy became increasingly distracted as the night carried on. Gregory had promised to visit during the party, but there had been no sign of the boy yet. It was a large building, and there were many activities to participate in, and so it was most likely that Gregory was having fun elsewhere—he was logically aware of that, of course.

But that wasn’t helping his patience.

Gregory had mused about what he wanted to do for a costume since before October had even begun. Freddy had tried to veto all the gory suggestions, though he was still not sure if Gregory had meant them sincerely or was simply messing with him. Last he had heard, Gregory was mostly settled on a character from his favorite video game.

This was necessary information to better explain the way he short-circuited from surprise when he saw Gregory cross the stage during a costume contest. Specifically the one for kids dressed as them.

A warning flashed on his HUD that he was in danger of overheating, though he hardly noticed. His friends were all snickering around him, less subtle than normal, as they were safely at the back of the room.

Gregory did a jaunty spin to show off his Freddy costume—more than one system in Freddy’s body had to reboot, stalling out from pleased shock.

Roxy elbowed him in the side, grinning, some pointed remark surely on the tip of her tongue, when her jaw dropped open as if the hinge had suddenly broken.

On stage, Cassie, in a similarly styled Roxy costume, joined Gregory. The announcer was saying something about them being a pair, and both of them were smiling widely as Gregory twirled Cassie under his arm.

Roxy’s body visibly locked up, and her the lights of her eyes flickered wildly. Beneath his frantically whirring fans, Freddy felt a bit appreciative of karma’s quick turnabout.

You were saying? he asked pointedly over a private channel.

Shut—shut up, she sent back.

They had seen dozens, hundreds, of children dressed as them over the years. They had gotten used to it, and though it was sweet, they did not really feel anything from it anymore. It was nearly comical, then, how these two particular children made him and Roxy feel so much.

Distracted with trying to regain his composure and stop being on the verge of involuntary shut down, he failed to notice Gregory and Cassie’s approach until the two of them were standing right in front of him and Roxy.

Given Roxy’s choked little sound of surprise, she had similarly been caught off guard. Curse Monty and Chica for sidling away and not warning them.

Gregory and Cassie grinned up at them knowingly. “Like our costumes?” Gregory asked, his eyes nearly glowing with mischief.

“I know you probably see tons just like them,” Cassie said, faux shyly, tugging at the crop top layered over her gray shirt. “Or even better ones. But we did our best!”

Roxy twitched. Freddy’s attempts at internal damage control were not going well.

“Yeah,” Gregory said, not nearly as good at playing bashfully innocent when the slant of his smile warned of the one-hit knock-out verbal punch he was about to deliver. “You’re our favorites, after all, and we wanted to be just like you.”

The punch landed. Freddy’s systems flashed a brief warning before he went into a soft reset. The last thing he registered was Roxy crashing simultaneously with him, which made him feel only marginally better.

#i answered a thing #anonymous #fnaf fic #fnaf security breach #fnaf ruin #star's stories #life and times of star

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luvistqrzzz · 1 year

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･˳ . ⋆ these days i am taken back to the summer we loved

loving you losing you- jay one shot

pairing- jay x f.reader

summary- loving jay was like a dream, a dream so happy you knew he wasn't yours...

or where jay tried to break away from the system of soulmates but fate had other plans for him... and you.

genre- strangers to not lovers (uh oh), soulmate!au, college!au, first love, fluff, angst

word count- 7.7K (can yall hear me scream outta joy??)

warnings- profanity, mentions of drinking, my writing (lawl), sad ending (sorry not sorry)

taglist- @en-chantedtomeetyou

A/N- happy belated jay day <33!! Omfg my first ever oneshot?? I still cant believe i just had the motivation to finish this wip😭😭... its my first time ever writing a long fic so it maybe a bit all over the place but i really enjoyed writing this hehehe! So i hope yall enjoy this :((! try listening to this playlist for more feels it really helped me in the writing process! the beach scene is slightly inspired from 2521

note- this is purely a work of fiction and in no means depicts the idols' real personalities or the relationships between them.

･˳ . ⋆ subtle loneliness

Jay was never the one to believe in fate or destiny or even the fact that there was something like an 'other half. Despite having parents who loved each other and having their soulmate link, Jay never bought it. In a world where every individual was connected to another through some link, be it matching tattoos or the ability to feel someone's pain, he hadn't found his.

For him, it was bullshit. Who even was fate to decide whom he loved? ('Well, no one but, honey, you can't meddle with how it's meant to be', he still remembers his mother's words.)

Maybe as a kid, Jay used to sit long hours in his bedroom, willing to feel his soulmate's link, search for any tattoo and even write on his palm with hopes they'd reply.

Nothing ever happened and as he started growing older, he saw people around him meet their soulmate, he saw the way their eyes lighted up in their mention or the way they used to talk about their other halves.

He grew distant... different. It wasn't easy to be always the odd one out.

Even as Jay tried to go against it and casually date people in his high school, he realized how true his parents were. It never felt right, the feelings were never there and even if they were, they died too soon. In the end, he was left alone.

Which brought us to the present time of Jay's 3rd year in college. He sat on a creaky cafeteria chair observing his friends. Heeseung was busy on his phone messaging his soulmate, Yunjin,. Jake and Lily sat across him, laughing at something Sunghoon just said, their matching flower tattoo glowing dimly.

Looking at them, he felt this sort of loneliness fill in him, the type which made him want to runaway from his life. He had loving and supportive parents and friends who wouldn't leave him but deep down, Jay felt empty. Empty because despite his opposition against the system of soulmates, he knew he yearned for one. He yearned for someone who'd understand him, someone with whom he could share the love he saw in his parents.

'Yo bro, you going to the party today?' Heeseung's voice cut through Jay's thoughts.

'What-? Oh at Yeonjun's place right?'

'Yep', Sunghoon replied getting up. 'Time to get highh- ouch!' He exclaimed as Sunoo smacked his head from behind.

'Shut up, pretty boy. I ain't taking you home', the latter said, walking past the table where they sat.

'Oh c'mon Sun!' Sunghoon whined, following his boyfriend out of the college canteen.

Jay chuckled at their antics. It was almost... cute, he couldn't lie.

Keep reading

･˳ . ⋆ deep conversations with a drunk stranger

You weren't supposed to be at the party. Hell, you should have been studying for a test scheduled next week but being friends with Somi did have its disadvantages. Such as being dragged to some college party as the designated driver.

It wasn't like you hated parties. Quite honestly, you thought they were sort of fun and sometimes getting drunk seemed like the perfect option. But on that particular Friday night, you wanted to be anywhere but at your senior Yeonjun's house.

'Y/N it'll be fun i promise!' Somi begged you, dragging you out from her car to his door. 'No. You are just there to hook up with some guy.'

'Whatever. I am loyal to my soulmate!' She stuck out her tongue whilst pointing towards the black ink on her forearm.

'And who knows', Somi said, entering the house which was presently filled with half-drunk college students. 'Maybeee you could meet your soulmate today.'

You sighed, pushing past people, at the same time waving and smiling to some. 'Sure. My link-less soulmate', you replied sarcastically.

You realized she was leading you to the kitchen which was comparatively quieter but you could still spot a couple out in the distance.

'Hello ladies! What would you like in this fine evening?' The person sitting at the bar counter said, spotting you both.

'Hey Sunghoon, what you got?' You best friend asked the boy leaning against the counter.

'Some beer if you wanna stay with your senses or maybe something stronger. What about my specialty? It has been a hit today.' 'Fine... Lemme judge your bartender skills.

He turned towards you, 'And for you...?' 'Water because I need to drive this bitch back to dorms', You gave the blonde haired girl beside you a pointed look.

She grinned before her eyes squinted, following some guy. 'Ay sunghoon! You know that boy, standing 9 o'clock? Is he taken?'

'That's... Beomgyu. And no, lucky for you, he is pretty single.'

She clapped her hands, almost like scheming her plan. 'See you later, bestie!' Somi gave you a flying kiss, taking her drink from the counter and walking down the hallway.

You sighed, being left alone, your other friend Gaeul was down with a bad flu. You gave Sunghoon a tight lippped smile, accepting a glass of water.

An hour later, you found yourself moving to the backyard of the house. After spending an excruciatingly painful time trying to strike conversation with drunk students and avoiding being pulled into the dancing crowd, you escaped.

The night had cooled down a bit and the spring breeze hit your face, you walked up to the open. But what you didn't see was the figure already sitting in the dark.

'You can sit down if you want to.' You flinched at the sudden voice, turning to face the boy sitting down on the empty backyard.

You considered your options. You could go inside into a crowded party and not have to have a one on one conversation with a stranger. Or maybe you could avoid all the noise and do some small talk with a person who was kind enough to even offer you a seat.

You nodded, seating yourself down beside the boy on the steps. Only then did you notice who he was, 'Park Jay...?'

'Oh, so you know me?' You shrugged in reply. You had heard of him, the handsome and studious guy and spotted him in passing.

It was the first time you had ever seen Jay up close. And to be honest, he was just as gorgeous as you had heard people around you gush, maybe even more.

Almost as if you could look at him the entire day without getting bored.

The boy beside you questioned, 'And you are?' 'Y/N. We are in the same year, in case you're wondering', you added, half knowing what his next question could have been.

'Nice to meet you, Y/N', he extended his hand, giving a wide drunken grin. You shook his hand. It was the first time you had seen him smile because all the other times were from some other end of a college hallway. And you wouldn't lie, it suited his otherwise serious face.

A comfortable silence settled between you two for a while. You both looked ahead. Jay looked up as if counting the stars and you stared at the small garden. You could hear crickets chirp in the distance. And if it weren't for the fact that you had a friend to drive home to, you would have snuggled up in the back yard and slept.

'So, Y/N', Jay's voice suddenly boomed around your environment, as if crushing the calmth which surrounded you both. 'Do you believe in soulmates?'

This caught you off guard. Why would even a stranger be asking you this? 'Uh, that's... random.'

'Just answer me. I'm tired and I wanna talk to someone', he replied, somewhat impatiently.

I mean, what harm could it be? It was a typical topic of conversation and you needed some distraction to keep yourself awake.

Sitting up straighter, you looked towards him whose eyes were distant. 'Well, yep, I do.'

'You must be one of those lucky people who found their soulmates early in life, huh?' He whispered under his breath, not meaning you to listen.

'Actually no', you replied calmy. 'I... don't have a soulmate. Or even a link for that matter.'

It didn't faze you anymore. The fact that you didn't feel any physical or mental signs of a soulmate. Some people did consider it weird. But it was all okay for you.

Jay's head quickly turned towards you. 'So, there are people like me?'

'I'm sorry?' 'Guess I'm just like you, Y/N.'

Your stomach flipped at the new information. You hadn't thought of ever meeting someone who had much the same problem as yours. 'Oh. That's well... new?' 'Why do you still believe in it?' He asked further.

'Why not? Imagine being with someone who understands you so much that it's crazy. Don't you think it's pretty amazing how two people are connected since birth, destined to meet? I feel that's kinda magical. In a cruel world, sometimes it's worth believing in fairytales.' Jay's eyes were closed but he was listening to every single thing. Almost as if your voice was calming him down, putting a stop to his racing thoughts.

You then added, 'You aren't different, Jay. You just need some time.' Well, this is what you always said to yourself.

'But what about my soulmate? What are they waiting for?' he opened his eyes and you noticed how dark his eyes were but they held a soft subtle innocence in them. Even though Jay had a casual smile on his face, his eyes said otherwise.

You weren't an expert in reading people but you thought you saw a bitter loneliness in his eyes. It reminded you of yourself, which made sense. And for some reason it made you feel sad too, it made you want to take away his sadness.

'They are there somewhere. Don't worry about them. And I hope you find them, just at the right time. Just when you need them. It's hard I know, to go about your day seeing all the people around you together.' You trailed, checking the time. 'Oh fuck! I think I need to jet. Gotta save my friend from making bad decisions', you chuckled, getting up.

'Can you read my mind, Y/N?' Jay wondered. You laughed, 'Oh yes! I'm secretly a psychic. Bye for now, Park Jay.' You waved him goodbye, your thoughts slowly getting occupied with those concerning Somi as you made your way down the hallway.

Jay muttered a small adieu, his face resting on his cheek. He felt lighter and giddier for some reason. Like, excited to meet you again. Something in the way you talked made him listen to your voice again and again.

･˳ . ⋆ almost... complete

Jay didn't believe in fate but after that night he hoped that he could see you again. Even if it was just to talk to you once. All he knew was your name. He was starting to forget your face which he had seen in the dark in a drunken haze.

He may have almost forgotten the sound of your voice a month later if it hadn't been a somewhat familiar voice calling out to him when he was somewhere in the depths of sleep.

'Uh sir, excuse me. We are about to close', you said, lightly tapping the shoulder of the boy who seemed to be asleep, his face down on the table of the cafe where you worked. All around him were pages and books and his laptop was wide open beside him, its screen dark. Typical college student things you could relate to.

Since starting your shift three hours ago, you had seen him in this position. Your only hoped that he hadn't fainted or anything due college pressure. That may have caused you some trouble.

The person before you slowly started to stir after your continuous calls. It was almost 11pm and you couldn't afford to be late to an early class tomorrow.

Seeing him lift his head off the table, you moved away.

'Who wha-' Jay yawned, rubbing his eyes to see his surroundings only to find your widened eyes staring at his sleepy form. His stomach dropped at your sight, moreover at the thought of you finding him sleeping like that. 'Oh fuc-' he hastily patted his hair and wiped his chin for any signs of him drooling.

You tried to hold back your laugh upon seeing him so flustered. You wouldn't lie, he did look adorable, quite a contrast to studious and mysterious vibe he had going on. 'Jay, we meet again.'

'You work here?' 'I mean, I wouldn't be wearing the barista's uniform if I didn't', you replied teasingly.

'Sorry. My bad', he rubbed his forehead. 'How long was I asleep?'

'More than three hours for sure. It's closing time and everyone has left. I suggest you pack up', you pointed at the mess on his table.

He realized what he had done. Slept when he should have been completing his assignment. 'No. It's due today', he whispered to himself, softly banging his head on the table.

'Here', you came from behind the counter and placed a cup of coffee in front of him. 'In case you need to pull an all nighter. This really helps.'

Jay quickly sat up seeing you. He was taken aback, 'I- uh can't accept this.' 'You have to. Now, quick, I need to go back home', you said, closing any room for arguments.

Jay awkwardly stood beside you, finishing his coffee as you locked the cafe. Patting the lock twice as a part of an old habit, you started walking with Jay following in tow.

You wouldn't lie, you were kind of nervous by his presence, you didn't even know why. Plus you were at loss of what to say.

Okay, maybe that wasn't the case... you did have questions for him like why was he so tired, what was his major, who gave him even the permission to look so attractive without even trying- (oh, that wasn't part of the script). Hell, you wanted to know him better and maybe even befriend him. And of course, you hadn't been thinking of him a lot since that one Friday night (ps, it's a lie).

'Sooo', you stopped in your tracks in an attempt to start up a conversation. 'Tough week?' Jay chuckled, catching up to your position, 'You know, you don't have to start a conversation just because we are so awkward.'

Fuck? Your cheeks turned pink in embarrassment, 'Uh-' 'But yep, I haven't had proper sleep in a while. Just have these assignments piling up which sucks.' He let out an exasperated sigh, 'Be a business major, my dad said, it'll be fun.'

'I can assure you that a creative writing major ain't any better', you rolled your eyes, walking up to the bus stop.

'Wait that's so cool!' Jay exclaimed and he meant it. He wasn't at all the creative type and he really marveled at how people could make others feel so much with words.

'Uhh it isn't as cool as it sounds', you scrunched your nose in disgust. Jay couldn't help but feel his stomach do a back flip at your expression. Dude, what is wrong with you? Why are you being a creep? His inner voice scolded him.

'But yea, it's fun when I'm not drowning in- oh the bus is here!' You announced looking at the familiar last bus that ran to your apartment.

You got in, finding a mostly empty vehicle aside from two sleeping college students and a man returning from work. You turned back, raising your hand to wave at Jay only to find him climbing behind you.

'Wait you live south of the campus too?' You asked, confused.

Jay made a surprised face, 'Ah yes! Just a bit farther away from there.' 'Weird I haven't ever seen you in this route.'

He laughed, which you assumed to be, nervously before going a taking the window seat.

You stood their in the aisle wondering whether to just sit beside him or take another one. You knew you should just find another place, considering how empty the bus was but weren't you both having a conversation?

A conversation you didn't want to end...

Jay didn't expect to feel a presence beside him as he looked out of the bus window. Surprised, he turned to look at you staring back at him.

When you saw him looking at you, you quickly ducked your head and cleared your throat, 'Ahem, so as I was saying...' you trailed, questioning whether he wanted to hear your useless banter.

'... About writing? Tell me more about it', Jay eagerly completed for you.

A small smile grew on your face. 'Tell me when you get bored, okay?' You jokingly warned him. I could never get bored of you talking, he thought but nodded nonetheless.

'Well, this would be me', you said, seeing the bus near the stop situated just a block or two away from your apartment. 'Where do you live?' You asked him as you took your bag.

'Uh', the boy stuttered for a second. 'The... next stop yep', Jay gave you a smile, internally slapping himself for the answer.

'Oh', you nodded. 'It was... nice talking to you, again.'

'I'm pretty sure the first time doesn't count', he chuckled. 'Message me once you reach home', he blurted out and then realized what he had just said. He wasn't even as close as a friend to say something like that, what was he thinking?

You felt your cheeks warm at his concern (?). Honestly, you found it very cute. 'Sure Mom', you teased him. 'Bye Park Jay!' You waved, getting down.

His lips quirked upwards, waving back to your slowly disappearing figure before taking out his phone and checking where he was. He had never, for the life of him, even ventured into this side of the town. Mostly he didn't have any need to.

Yes, he had just taken a different route and ended up quite far away from his dorms. All because he didn't want to let a chance go to talk to you.

After he was out of the bus and sitting on a bench, the dim streetlight shining on him, Jay sighed waiting for his cab and rested his head on his cheeks, he wondered out loud, 'what is happening to me?'

He knew it wasn't normal for him to be like this, use up the time talking to you when he should be doing his assignment. But you had an aura around yourself, something about the way you talked, the things you talked about, all seemed to pull Jay towards you. He had noticed the way your eyes sparkled when speaking about something you loved and how you were just as attentive to hear him rant.

He wasn't used to feeling like this, almost... complete.

･˳ . ⋆ against all odds

After that day, you talked to Jay almost everyday. Be it long deep text conversations or a good morning or have a nice day across the hallways, he could always find you somewhere. Sometimes you both ditched your friend groups to have lunch together because it was kind of boring to sit there with couples all around, you both claimed. Somedays you studied together at the library where you found yourself taking small nervous glances at his concentrated face.

But, at least for you, you just enjoyed his presence. Enjoyed how easy it was to strike a conversation with him, talk to him like old friends. Enjoyed how despite being kind of serious, Jay was very funny and he always found a way to make you cringe with him dad jokes.

It was all the small little things about him that just made it harder to not adore him. Like when the time he was willing to take abandoned kitten homes despite being allergic to them. Or when he tried the coffee flavors you were experimenting with, even though, they all tasted awful.

It didn't mean anything else, right...? we are just friends for God's sake! you told yourself. But then why were you feeling giddy at the sight of him walking up to you? Why did you feel your stomach do a sudden turn as he neared you, a soft smile on his face?

'Ready?' Jay asked. You nodded and noticed how casual yet handsome he looked with an oversized t-shirt and shorts. Well, he knew just how to pull any look. ('You know, you could have just chosen a fashion major', you had said to Jay once when he was contemplating his life choices).

'Let's go!' You exclaimed, skipping your way ahead of him. He chuckled behind you, feeling his heart warm at your childish action but then grumbled about how crowded it'd be at the Uni's summer festival. You turned to face him and stuck out your tongue, 'Too late to cop out now!'

You thought it was kind of a crime that Jay hadn't ever been to the festival in the past two years (for his defense, he said that the it was filled with soulmates. 'How can you know if you haven't ever gone there?' You counter questioned him). So, this year you took it up to yourself to drag the boy.

However, surprisingly, it wasn't as hard to convince him as you had expected, just a bribe to treat him to free coffee every week and win him something from the fair.

So, there you both were, walking through the festival, with various stalls set up by the students. You could see Somi in the kissing booth and Gaeul was probably somewhere with her soulmate, Hueningkai, hosting a bake sale.

'How do you like it?' You asked Jay, walking side by side while searching for the game stalls. 'It's... okay. But hey, I was right, this place is filled with soulmates.'

'Omg c'mon now! Let them be. Just because we haven't found ours doesn't mean you have to be so anti-romantic', you playfully slapped his shoulder. 'There it is!' You spotted it, pointing at the ring toss game.

You pulled him through the crowd. Jay noticed the way your hand was tugging at his wrist and he felt a jolt of electricity run through his body at the contact.

'Oh Jake?!' You exclaimed upon seeing Jay's friend at the stall.

'Y/N!' He replied enthusiastically. You hadn't hung out with his friends much but the times you had they had been nothing but warm, especially Jake who was always willing to talk to you.

'What are you doing here?' Jay asked in a flat voice. 'Making money, mate.'

The Australian guy then noticed your hand circled around his and wiggled his eyebrows at his friend. Realizing what he was implying, you quickly dropped his hand, embarrassed.

'One ticket for the game', the tall boy beside you said, breaking the awkward atmosphere that had settled and taking out his wallet.

'Hey! I pay', you scolded him. He turned to look at you with bored eyes, 'Yeah right, no way.'

You sputtered, 'B-but I forced you to come here, I should pa-' 'Which gives me even more reason to pay because you did succeed.'

You grumbled, defeated and knowing how stubborn he could be.

'So, you get four chances with one ticket', Jake said, handing you four rings. 'Make all these four through the pegs and you get a prize. A smaller prize if you get three pegs down.'

You nodded, determined to win.

What followed was your very hard attempt to throw those rings in place. You didn't realize how bad of a hand-eye coordination you had until only one of the rings made it to the peg. 'Fuck! Wait I don't get anything for one?' Jake shook his head, giving a sad smile.

Beside you, Jay chuckled, 'Tried your luck? Let's go.'

'Nope! One more ticket', you took out the money from your bag, beating Jay to it. 'Okay phew!' You prepared yourself, tying your hair.

Jake cheered, 'Y/N you can do it!'

You couldn't. 'Nooo! What the hell!' You cried in defeat, looking at the four hoops that had landed at different places, one even hitting Jake on his head.

'Oh God. You are terrible at this. Here, lemme show you', Jay said obviously done with how poorly you had performed. 'Last round.'

He came behind you, one hand touching your shoulder and the other one holding your hand. You stiffened at it, feeling his breath near your ear.

This was normal, right? Normal for a friend to touch your hands oh so gently and guide it so that you could win the prize?

But I have already won my prize you thought, turning your head to look at him carefully instructing you, his eyes on the game. You didn't know how to stop the blush from settling, seeing Jay so close, his dark eyes sparkling in the setting sun. It felt almost... magical.

Magical but deep down you knew, wrong because he wasn't your soulmate and you weren't his.

In the daze you were in, you didn't realize when and how he had put four rings through the hoop. 'There!' He exclaimed, removing his hand from your. 'That's how you do it', Jay said, flicking your forehead.

'Ouch!' You tried your best to break away from your thoughts, shaking your head and making a face of fake annoyance. 'But ugh-!' You pouted. 'I wanted to win it for you!' You whined

He chuckled, taking a plushie, 'You can still claim it like you won it for me, hm?'

'Fine.' You snatched it from him, turned around for a second before offering it to him, 'My dear friend Park Jay, here is my bribe for bringing you here. Please accept this little offering for I have won it with all my blood, sweat and tears!' You proclaimed proudly.

Yea, quite some eyes turned to your direction but you didn't really mind it. Jay cracked up, before pulling you away from the game stall, 'C'mon noe. Gosh, dramatic much?'

You grinned, 'Only for you.' Playfully bumping your shoulder with his.

He brushed it off but his mind was somehow stuck at your earlier three words. only for... him? It shouldn't account to much, but it did.

After going around the festival for another half an hour, greeting some of your friends, (forcibly) eating the burnt cookies Gaeul had made and stuffing your mouths with some much better food, you both made your way to the open area where the live band took place. It was the star attraction and your college was pretty famous for it.

The best thing was that anyone could come up on stage and sing their hearts out and the audience would follow them. Even before starting college, you used to come there alone to enjoy the vibe.

And now you had Jay with you.

Night had fallen by the time the first band stepped up, hyping up the crowd. Luckily, it was a clear evening, the stars shining bright as the songs started flowing in.

The first few were soft melodies, you swayed your body to the beat and watched Jay standing beside you, his eyes on the stage. You wanted to decipher what they said. Were they mesmerized? Did he feel bored? Was he thinking of something?

Jay wasn't a very expressive person. The only time you had seen him in a fully vulnerable state, filled with feelings, was the night you met him. But you didn't want him to be like that, you didn't want him to hold back his emotions.

So, you took his hand. Jay, surprised, turned to face you. You shrugged and smiled, raising his hand with yours, moving it with the song.

While you closed your eyes, he was still looking at you, his lips parted apart which slowly turned into a small smile. He studied your features one by one, eyes filled with adoration.

And that is when Jay realized. He didn't need any soulmate or his other half if he could spend all his time with you. Like, at that moment how you both were dancing to some fast track; panting, screaming and shouting like everyone else. He didn't need anything else if he could see you smiling, staring into his eyes with orbs filled with joy.

There may not be fate connecting you and Jay but it was fate that had brought you to him and at that moment he felt he wouldn't give up on you, even if he found his soulmate.

'And for the next song, I'll request you to partner up with your soulmate and if you haven't found yours, grab the person who's closest to you', the lead singer said.

Before you could look for a friend or anyone, Jay turned you towards him. 'The person nearest to me, you', he whispered, pulling you a bit closer. You nodded, feeling butterflies going wild in your stomach, unable to look anywhere but his face.

A guitar started to strum in the background and the low, sad voice of the singer followed it. It was a familiar song.

Jay bathed in the lyrics of the song, singing along to Jaurim's 'Til Death Do Us Apart'. You placed a hand on his shoulder and intertwined the other with his fingers. He looked into your eyes, '죽음이 우리를 갈라놓을 때까지 (i'll not let go of your hand that i take).'

'오, 그대여 내 손을 잡아요 (my dear, hold my hand)

이제는 혼자가 아니야 (you're no longer alone)'

You didn't know what passed between you both at that moment but you realized that somewhere along the past few weeks, you had crossed the line of being mere friends with Jay, or rather your feelings had.

Or else you wouldn't be resting your head on his shoulder, feeling his voice flow into your ears like some age old melody you had been searching for...

'Til the death do us apart

'Til the end of the world...'

Later that night, Jay lay awake on his bed, thinking back to the feelings that had dawned on him. He felt a smile make the way to his face as he thought of you. The way you lighted up the world or rather his. He hadn't ever felt so connected to a person. He knew that the feelings he had been harbouring were more than just passing emotions.

Could it be possible...? Possible that you were what he was searching for the entire time. Neither of you had a link, so it could make sense. Jay sat up, the sheets rustling under him.

'Bro, sleep and wipe the lovesick smirk off your face', Heeseung yawned from beside him. 'No I'm not-' he tried protesting.

The other boy turned to face him with a deadpanned look, 'You look different. As in, happier.'

'What...' Jay was confused, he didn't feel that way.. okay maybe that was a big fat lie, he did feel... well, something!

'You know well enough what I mean, Park. Don't act like we are blind to you and Y/N. See, Jay, you have always been kind of a... how do I explain it? Somewhat of a pessimistic sad person, using sarcasm to mask yourself, which I totally understand. But these days, dude, you are more open and free and I think it's because of her...'

Jay didn't know how to react. Heeseung was right. He did feel like meeting you sort of took away the sense of loneliness set deep within him. Not only because you were like him but also because you were you. Always attempting to have fun, to pull Jay out with you, like that one time you both dance in the rain with your friends even though normally he would never. You had a subtle wild and playful side to your deep persona.

'Do you... do you think we could actually be together if I tried?' He asked his friend, his eyes on the dark ceiling.

'Now I don't know the chances of her being your soulmate but even if she isn't, do you want to take the chance to be with her? It's up to you, Jay.'

He was right. There was no gurantee that you both were meant to be but he was willing. He was willing to take the chance.

Against all odds..

･˳ . ⋆ maybe this moment would last forever

In the days that followed the night of the festival, Jay seemed changed, but in a good way or so you hoped. You noticed, in small ways, how he smiled more often, seemed happier when around you and randomly gave you compliments. Jay was a naturally helpful person but somedays you could find him waiting outside your class or walking you home which was quite afar from his, despite your protests. ('See as a good friend, it is my duty to accompany you back home late at night', he said once. You had scoffed, 'Speak for yourself, Park. You are literally scared of everything.')

This was unlike him but what was unlike you was that you liked it. You liked how he made you feel- giddy, excited and blushing. You had had fleeting crushes before but with Jay it was something more because with each little interaction, you found yourself falling more and more.

Love was a strong word and for someone who had never got a sign from their soulmate, you were even more wary of it. In fact, you couldn't even say how it felt. Did it feel the way your parents used to cook dinner together in the kitchen, looking into each other's eyes, having some secret moment pass between them?

'Hey, Y/N', Jay called out to you in a low whisper as you both sat at a secluded corner of the library. You looked up from the short story you were working on for the past hour. It was due in a few days and you were stuck at just the most crucial part if the story.

'What now?' You questioned, rubbing your forehead in slight frustration for running out of ideas. 'Wanna ditch this for a while?'

'Look, Park, you may be having a nice time with assignments right now but I'm struggling to write the ending', you glared at him despite wanting nothing more than to close your laptop shut.

He clicked his tongue, 'Which gives us even more reason to have a little fun, hm?' 'Since when do you give up on our studying session?! You asked, confused at what he was saying. 'It's my job to take you on random adventures!'

How can I even study when you're the only thing in my mind? He thought but replied, 'Guess I should take over your position. Now, give yourself a break, Y/N.'

You sighed but gave in. A break wouldn't hurt... right? Plus, it was Jay so you knew you would have said agreed after some persuasion.

'Where are we going? Are you kidnapping me?' You demanded, packing your things. He winked, 'You'll see.' Your heart did a flip at his action and you couldn't help but wonder what had been taking over your friend (? Or crush? Or the literal love of your life?) for the past days.

'Okay, is this a trap to drive me to my death?' You huffed, sitting in Jay's car, remembering that one time he had offered to drive you home and you had to take over the wheel considering how bad he was driving.

'Don't worry, I don't drive that bad. Trust me.' 'The only thing I cannot do', You lied.

'Are we going...' You trailed, turning your face away from the rapidly changing scenery and looking towards the boy heavily concentrated on the road. He gave a quick smile, 'To the beach? Yep.'

'You know, I could have driven us to there too', you protested seeing how tensed he looked. 'But I wanted to kind of... surprise you', he muttered.

You stopped, staring at his face. God, you couldn't even help it but to giggle at his words. 'Caught you there, didn't I?' He smirked.

You whispered, not meaning him to hear you, 'You did...

You felt his hand on yours. 'Focus on driving, dummy.' But he didn't remove it. A blush caught in your cheeks as you rested your head on the seat, looking ahead. It was almost 6 in the evening but the sun was still up there, thanks to summer.

The beach was quite far from the campus but a mundane happiness filled you, driving down the empty roads, singing along to the music playing. You could hear Jay's soft voice sing under his breath as he slowly gained confidence in his driving. 'You should sing more often, Jay.' it sounds like honey.

'Finally!' You exclaimed, jumping out of the car and seeing the beach spread before you. You squinted your eyes in confusion, 'But why is this so empty?'

Jay came up behind you, taking your hand, 'I drove us to a quieter part. I accidentally discovered it during my first year when me and Sunghoon bunked our classes. Let's go!'

'You know we could get sick, Y/N!' Jay screamed at you as you splashed water all over his shirt.

You teased him, 'Too late! You suggested that we- yah!' You shouted as he suddenly attacked you. He laughed at your shocked face.

'Park, you'll pay!' You warned, searching the sand for anything you could find.

'What are you doing?', he asked, curious before widening his eyes at the sight of you picking up a stray rock and readying yourself to chase him. 'Are you crazy?' He ran in the opposite direction.

Jay turned around to find you catching up to him, laughing, the rock held high up your hand. The wind blew your hair in different directions and the sun casting beautiful patterns on your face. Jay thought he hadn't seen a sight so free before.

He fumbled for his phone, taking it out and snapping a picture before you could protest. 'Delete that!' You demanded, upon reaching him and softly hitting him with the stone.

Jay shook his head, pulling you with him closer to the shore, the waves washing up to your feet and the feeling of the sand slipping under you. 'God, I missed this so much!' You muttered to yourself. 'And I missed feeling so complete', he said.

Your face lighted up at his words. He was a lonely boy and you were a lonely girl but maybe that is what completed your friendship. You both were so alike that you loved small differences you shared.

'What are we? Kids?' Jay asked, sitting beside you in front of his car, waiting for the fireworks.

'Maybe. But I liked this. I like feeling like we are some dumb 10 year olds instead of adults', you said looking ahead at the horizon and reflecting back on the past hour where you both ran around the shore, writing your names on the sand, drenching each other in water and bathing in the happiness that those moments brought.

It felt special, like you didn't want to let it go. 'God, why do I feel like this moment would last forever?' You wondered out loud, a sinking feeling in your stomach knowing how it will end in a matter of few minutes. 'Maybe it will.' Jay scooted closer to you, resting his head on your shoulder.

You looked down at his soft hair and grinning face and put your hand around his shoulder and nervously put your head on his.

For once, you seem to forgot that he wasn't your soulmate, you just wanted to convince yourself that maybe... just maybe Jay could be the one.

You now think how foolish you were to be blinded by those delusions.

'You once said I'll meet my soulmate just at the right time. I guess that didn't happen but I met you, just at the right time. I don't think I want to give up on being twenty or in love with you. I want this summer to last forever, I want us to last forever', his voice came like a soft whisper, the words blending into each other inside your brain as you tried to process what he had just said. You stared back at him, your heart leaping at what he had just said.

The four lettered word you had been scared of. But at that very moment, you thought love found a meaning for you. At that very moment when you saw Jay's face nearing yours, his eyes sparkling with some hidden thought.

However, you knew what they said. Love. 'I love you-' He couldn't complete it because the next moment, you cupped his face, pulling him closer into a kiss.

And that's when you found the meaning of love. It was simple, soft like landing on a bed of feathers, but it was also like a spark, like the fireworks you could hear in the distance as his lips moved in sync with yours in the dying light of the summer, saying the words you don't think you'll ever have the courage to utter. Love was a grand thing but sometimes it just meant spending a summer evening at the beach, letting the feeling of youth wash over you. Sometimes it meant playing a game you couldn't win.

And it was also the moment when you understood what heartbreak felt like because after you broke the kiss, resting your forehead on his, your breaths the only sound you could hear, something caught your eyes. It was Jay's finger that was tracing your cheeks.

It was a red string, so thin, barely visible. The red string of fate, that connected two souls together and that's when you saw, it wasn't connected to your finger...

He wasn't yours to keep.

･˳ . ⋆ letting you go

'Y/N, wait, can... we just... talk?' A voice called out to you from across the almost empty hallway.

His voice.

You stopped in your tracks, a familiar feeling of sadness taking over you. Over the past week, you had tried everything to avoid Jay, to keep him at bay.

The car ride back from the beach was silent, he had been way too shaken to say anything and kept glancing at the red thread emerging from his finger. His soulmate link, something he had searched for ever but it only came when he wanted it to disappear.

Through the long journey, you had made up your mind. That you weren't his soulmate, no matter how either of you felt. And you wouldn't be the one to hold him back.

'What is there to talk?' You asked bitterly, feeling his hand turning you to face him.

'Why have you been avoiding me? Di-did that kiss mean nothing?' Jay's voice broke.

'It meant everything to me-' '- then why?! Are you scared of this?' He pointed at his finger. 'You know I have tried everything to make it go. I have searched online to see what to do with it but I just can't find anything! That's how much I want to be with you, Y/N', he said, desperation seeping into his voice.

'But Jay, we aren't meant to be. I don't want to take you from someone who really deserves you. Don't you see, it will-' You took a deep breath, controlling the tears welling in your eyes. 'It will hurt us both.'

He took your hand, pulling your chin to face his eyes, 'We'll make it work, love. I cannot let a stupid thread decide who I love. Please.'

His please quite literally broke you from the inside and you couldn't help but let one drop of tear roll past your cheek. No one said how hard it could be to fall for the wrong boy. The boy whose line of fate didn't collide with yours.

No one said that letting him go, for both of your happiness would be one the hardest things ever. And maybe because you loved him, you uttered the next few words, 'No. I will not live my life as a regret, thinking I stole you from someone. I have to let go, Jay. You should too.' You pried your hands out of his as Jay's face contorted in sadness, his eyes flickering, unable to hold back his tears.

You couldn't see him cry but mostly you knew you should just withdraw yourself to not cause him anymore pain. You turned around wiping your face and walking away. Away from the one you loved, away from a future you could have had.

･˳ . ⋆ twenty forever

You knew what you were getting yourself into when you agreed to accompany Gaeul to the college reunion party. It had almost been over six years since you had seen your classmates.

Since you had seen... him.

It wasn't like you didn't wanna go, heck, you had missed those friends from the days of college too but you knew he would be there and with him would come back all the memories and love you had tried so hard to suppress. They would overflow, creating a new wound or maybe opening the old one.

And he stands before you, a glass in his hands, giving you a small, almost sad smile. He looks different and yet so same to the Jay you had fallen for.

You remember laughing at his jokes, bickering with him over the stupidest nerdiest topics ever, holding his hand as you both ran in the dark. It all flashes like some film montage. But mostly you remember the night when you met him.

A night which was similar to todays. The night you found him drunk in the backyard. You wonder what would have happened if you hadn't gone to the party, if you hadn't made your way to him.

You'd be a way different person than you were today.

If you try hard enough, you feel like you'll get transported to your memories, where you are still twenty.

His voice comes out soft and tender, 'Thank you, Y/N. Thank you for teaching me how to love and-' He stops, hesitating or rather contemplating whether to say what comes next, 'Thank you for-' '- for being my first love, Jay.'

･˳ . ⋆ In the season when the wind blows and flowers fall, it still seems as if I'm holding your hand...

If you have made it through this mess, drop down a feedback as it really helps! ily and i hope you have a great day/night ^^!!

work belongs to @/luvistqrzzz do not, repost or translate my work.

#enhypen x reader #— works !#jay imagines #enhypen fanfics #enhypen smau #enhypen jay x reader #enhypen imagines #enhypen au #enhypen jay imagines #jay enhypen #enhypen fanfiction #jay x reader #enha jay #enhypen jay x you #enhypen oneshots #enhypen jay #park jongseong #park jongseong imagines

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reidfucker · 1 month

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boy wonder

mini drabble of reid coming out to the BAU as a trans man. happy belated trans visibility day !!! sorry, i only realized what day it was by 11pm lol. i can't think of much, just wanted to get this out of my system before exams.

also !! this might be very very ooc. it's more self indulgent than anything.

dr. spencer reid knows who he is. and he's sure that aside from his mother, the BAU is the closest to knowing the most about him. but there's something he hasn't ever mentioned — not because he didn't trust them, but at first, he was scared. and when he had the courage, he could never find an appropriate time to speak up.

well, up until today...

see, while on his walk to the office, he passed by a little trinket store selling button pins of a flag he's all too familiar with. in those 5 seconds he had in between approaching and passing by the shop, he had a bit of an internal debate.

for one, he could just buy one, wear it on his leather messenger bag, and not have to explain himself until one of his friends points it out. however, on the down side,

wait.

he can't really think of a con.

it's not like they're unaccepting,

it's not like something like this, at this point of their dynamic, would ruin it all...

that day, reid walked in a little cheerier, with a little button pin on the strap of his bag. upon walking in, he felt a sudden surge of confidence, like he had to tell someone. he couldn't keep all this euphoria to himself. so, he stormed into garcia's bat cave.

reid opens the door swiftly, but no sounds emit, so garcia doesn't notice. he taps her on the shoulder, while shaking just a bit, and before she could react, it all kind of just.. spilled out.

"i got a new pin. it's a trans button pin. because i'm transgender. i'm a trans man, i transitioned at a very early age. i don't know if it's obvious but i really, really wanted to tell somebody! and i just really don't want to hide this from you, or the team, and i know not bringing it up technically isn't hiding it, but—"

"reid." garcia cut him off. reid looks at her, a little upset, a little confused.

garcia pulls him in for a hug, rubbing circles on his back. reid stands stunned for a few seconds, but he melts into it. he doesn't quite understand what this means.

"oh, my sweet, sweet boy wonder, you don't have to explain yourself to me." penelope says, not letting go of him. "you're still the dorky, adorable genius i've known since day one." spencer feels tears welling.

penelope finally lets go of the hug, keeping two hands on his shoulders — which is... an odd position for their height difference, but it's still heartwarming, all the same.

spencer can't help but cry. and penelope understands, comforting him with her sweet words and soft touches. she always understands.

#spencer reid #trans spencer reid #penelope garcia #bau team #bau is one big family #platonic pencer #platonic love #criminal minds #trans visibility day #trans #belated tvd lol sorry

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windchimesgames · 4 months

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End of Year Recap + Plans for 2024

Hey everyone!

Belated Happy New Year to everyone! I know this is a very late end of year recap 😂Unfortunately, the past week ended up much busier for me than expected, so I could only get around to doing this now that things have calmed down a little.

This is a crosspost of a public post I made on Patreon a few days ago, so if you prefer the formatting there, you can read the post at this link:

PS: I do free monthly devlogs / posts there on Patreon, so consider joining the free tier of the Patreon even if you aren't interested in the paid tiers!

For those who'd rather read the post here, I'll leave the extraordinarily long ramble in a Read More cut below!

Let's start with a quick recap of the highlights / achievements accomplished in 2023!

Okay, this one may be slightly cheating. While Emberfate only launched on Steam in Jan 2023 so the 92 positive reviews came in in the year of 2023, it was up on Itch.io since mid 2022, so not all 383 Itch.io ratings came in in 2023.

Still, I'm pretty proud of these stats! Perhaps the numbers are nothing compared to some other amazing games' out there, but it's still something I'm proud of. It makes me happy that my silly experimental nostalgic little game struck a chord in so many players — much more than I expected given how niche the topic was!

Now, unfortunately, I could not get Emberfate's DLC for Potato's route out by end of 2023 like I had hoped. Porting the game to mobile also ended up much more difficult than I expected because of just how much of the UI I'm going to have to redesign — and hence, programming to be redone — if I wanted to make the game fit a small mobile screen. So both plans are going to have to be postponed to 2024.

The other notable highlight of 2023 is that both Lyrissa's and Kierdan's routes for Reanimation Scheme were released for beta access! That put the game at 3/5 routes complete, with a total of 431,786 words for the script.

I recruited a handful of beta testers to test the three completed routes a few months ago, and so far, the feedback has been positive overall. That's been a huge relief and lifted a massive weight off my chest — due to the controversial reception of the demo, I've been extremely anxious that the game would be hated by the players, and I've done so many rounds of editing and honestly perhaps somewhat unnecessary and obsessive rewriting of the script, but none of it felt good enough 😂 So hearing the positive comments has been a huge motivation / morale booster. Perhaps I should have done beta testing sooner… LOL

There are two more achievements unrelated to a specific game project that I'd like to mention:

2023 is the year that I became more interested in and better at Ren'Py programming! Most of it is thanks to my amazing programmer friend and Ren'Py wizard, Feniks (whom you may know as the programmer for Our Life series), who sparked my interest in programming and helped teach me a LOT. While I'm by no means a professional now at coding, I feel much more comfortable navigating around Ren'Py code and setting up what I need to in the backend of the games I'm developing, which opens up new doors for me for future projects in terms of what kind of features (big or small) that I may be able to include! Though the side effect of that is I looked back at the code I did for Reanimation Scheme from previous years and was immediately horrified by how ugly and inefficient it was. 😂I did redo the backend code of the Gallery and Achievements system a bit, but the rest will just have to stay for now.

I made quite a few new connections within the indie VN dev sphere in 2023! I made a shocking discovery that there's enough number of indie VN developers from Hong Kong to fill half a minibus, and I was lucky enough to connect with them and share our experiences and learn from each other! Due to new project commissions I took on for $$$ (real life financial needs suck), as well as a couple of small game jam projects I joined as programmer to buff up my programming portfolio, I also made some new VN dev friends unexpectedly. It's been really nice, because honestly, solo dev can be a really lonely and isolating endeavor sometimes. I'm super grateful for the new connections I found myself making in 2023!

Looking Ahead: 2024

Okay, that was a lot of rambling for the recap. More than I thought I would write. Now let's move forward to what the future will look like for this studio in 2024 and what goals I'm setting for myself this year!

Priority #1: Finishing Reanimation Scheme

Of course it's Reanimation Scheme. As mentioned above, we're currently at 3 out of 5 routes completed (sans partial voice acting). So the biggest goal for 2024 will be to get the game done. and out. Finally.

I won't be giving a concrete release date until we're like, literally in beta phase for all 5 routes, just so I won't have to announce a delay and let people down. But given the current progress and pace of work, I'd say probably around mid-year — maybe Q3 latest.

I'll be keeping up with the episodic updates of Reanimation Scheme's beta build on Patreon (and Kickstarter) from this month onwards, beginning with Jori's route and then followed by Sebastien's.

The remaining Kickstarter rewards may take a little longer — but ideally, all of them (artbook / lorebook / short stories collections, etc.) will be done by end of the year as well.

Priority #2: Potato's Route DLC for Emberfate

Potato, poor Potato. His DLC had to be put on the sidelines until Reanimation Scheme is done.

Half of the art has already been commissioned and completed by the amazing Remnantation — we're just missing his selfie CG & his MMO character sprite! So the next step would be the script and then the voice acting for the calls part. I won't be able to start on the script until mid-2024 earliest, but given the fact that his route won't be that long if it's parallel in length compared to the existing three routes, it probably won't take too long to do. Perhaps 2-3 months for the development process of the DLC?

I'll likely be releasing his DLC early on Patreon, potentially also episodically as it's completed, like I did with Emberfate. So if you're interested, keep an eye out for it when the time comes!

Something Secretly Brewing in the Shadows?

If you're pledged to this Patreon on $10 tier or above, you'll probably already know what I'm alluding to.

I won't be announcing or talking much about this for now, since I don't know when I'll be able to start working on this project properly (i.e. I need to meet my above two goals first). For all I know, it might end up being not a 2024 thing but a 2025 thing. So I'll only tease it slightly for now here.

Bonus Goal: Market, for the Love of God

If you follow Wind Chimes Games on either Twitter or Tumblr, you'll probably have noticed the sorry state of my social media. I… really do not like marketing or posting on social media. I never know what to post or say. I'm too unfunny and uncreative to meme or write humorous captions that get engagement. 😂It kind of feels like I'm shouting into the void, and nobody really cares about what I have to say on my projects when there's so many cooler and more interesting things out there. So I always try for a brief period of time, and then I give up 😭

This year though, I really really need to take marketing more seriously. With two releases planned for 2024, marketing is going to be important if I want the games to sell more than like 20 copies LOL

So I guess, uh, hold me to it and call me out if I don't start posting regularly after all 🥹

Conclusion

If you've made it this far on this post, thank you so much for listening to me ramble. 🥹 2024 is going to be a very busy year, but hopefully, a productive one that will end with me meeting all of the above listed goals.

Thank you so much for joining me on the wild and bumpy journey that was 2023, and I hope you'll stick around for the exciting things to come this year too! Here's to a great year ahead of all of us!

#otome #visual novel #interactive fiction #dating sim #otome game #otoge #if #vn #english otome #english otome game #indie otome #renpy #lgbtq #english visual novel #amare #reanimation scheme #emberfate #announcement

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gayshrug · 5 months

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(belated) pit babe ep 3 thoughts

holy fuck

- i once more have to empathise how fucking hot daddy's tony's assistant is. sorry for being disloyal, babe, but that man......

- still couldn't care less about the vlog squad, soz. i suppose they're serving a purpose by being way's PIs but a bad thing (the vlog squad) + a worse thing (way) is still an annoyance 😭 happy to be proven wrong in the future though.

- way being like "let me drive/ take you home" is so unserious like girl you've been drinking too

- i love how everybody and their cousin twice removed clowned on babe for having that 4321 door code, only for the show to make it clear that he changes it daily. he IS careless when it comes to charlie, nobody can dispute that, but he doesn't only think with his pussy (all the time).

- if tony weren't so abhorrently evil, i'd probably be simping for him. yeah he exploited all those kids but that charm when he smiles 🧍🏼‍♂️

- jeff/alan is gonna hit me hard, i can already tell. their chemistry is off the charts and the whole "i need my space" vs "i'm gonna weasle my way into your space" thing..... yeah

- TELEKINESIS????????!???????????? 👁️👄👁️

- i need charlie's actor to give me better line delivery like. he's SO cute but right now, i can't tell whether it's Charlie Wanting To Stay Distanced or the actor just not being on the same level as pavel

- that being said, their chemistry is incredible. those first kisses were SO tender. their body language!!!!! their smiles and the little pecks! thank you! that's so much more impactful than if it had happened in the middle of a sex scene. like, babe thought about that and made a conscious decision. (probably a bad one for the time being but.) 💌💌💌

- so thankful the Neck Stuff is still being catered to. ep1's throat mauling changed me as a person but i'm fine with little kisses as long as that part of babe's body is still being served. and it is. so. 💯

- pavel....... i once again tip my hat to you. he gives it his all in every single scene. (i fully take back whatever i might have said re: wanting the drama etc. btw like... babe is my heart and soul. that's my fucking baby. knowing he's gonna get hurt/ betrayed is terrible. i ride for him and him only.)

- alan seems like such a good guy. i don't trust anyone here but he gives off the most genuine vibes. there hasn't been one moment where i've doubted his intentions (so far). kim is on that same wavelength as well. yeah, he's playing for the opposing team, but he wants to stick to his morals and earn his success. (i need winner to croak btw. or get the unwarranted superiority complex fucked out of his system.)

- jeff running into the [car parts thing] after the little head kiss PLEASE he was so shaken up. if this were twins the series, he would've cupped his crotch for emphasis

- "from now on, our team doesn't have to stress about money anymore" and there's crisps with a fork, 15 chicken nuggets and some pickles on the table. ALAN. BABY. could you have maybe made this celebratory party look a bit more appealing 😭

- get those fucking product placements, widely adored omegaverse show.

- 😳😳😳😳😳😳😳😳 the chemistry. yeah. i love me a good bit of explicit tonguing or whatever but the way they show the growing intimacy......... perfection. and yeah, i'm hurting.

- babe breaks my heart. he wants nothing more than to be loved and to be shown that the doctrines tony tried to instill in him are wrong. he deserves honesty. i hope charlie confides in babe and shows him just that - and soon. it's all already starting to crumble but i don't believe charlie and jeff have bad intentions at the core of it.

(- babe trying to be upfront with charlie is another reason why i love him so much. he knows he's probably gonna get lied to in response but he at least tries to clear things up. because he respects and appreciates charlie. and wants to, for once, believe in the best in people. he's a good egg. yeah, the "charlie ❤️" made me feel terrible.)

- i hate that i can't tell what charlie's concern is aimed at, babe's condition/ withdrawal or himself starting to lose access. i assume it's both, of course, but....

- watching the race itself made me feel sick. all those insecurities taking over. like i said, babe is my #1 priority and losing under those circumstances, with the emotional turmoil and lack of "concentrating" + whatever the fuck winner might've done to sabotage the race + the pressure of a wealthy sponsor on his shoulders....... i kept pausing tbh. like, i knew it was coming but 🧍🏼‍♂️🧍🏼‍♂️🧍🏼‍♂️🧍🏼‍♂️🧍🏼‍♂️

- i was fuming but winner stumbling like that after a tiny shove made me giggle. and kim standing off to the side, Knowing, was the cherry on top.

- THAT PREVIEW........ FUUUUUUCK. waybabe history. tonybabe confrontation. winner being a little bitch again and getting scolded by kim (hot). charliebabe olive branch and drama. ANOTHER ANXIETY-INDUCING RACE. it pains me that i always have to catch up so late because of my jobs atm but i can't fucking wait.

- tl;dr i'm still thoroughly enjoying the show and yeah, i block every single person who's being obnoxiously negative in the tag. 😇 it's legit a good show. bite me.

until next time

#pit babe #pit babe the series #thai bl #i'm having a blast baby etc.

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sodamnradd · 1 year

Note

A Drabble about jealous Hermione please!

fun! i haven't had a tumblr prompt in a while, and this one is irresistible 🖤 (feel free to send me a prompt if you want more)

There were grass stains on her wedding dress.

Every molecule of oxygen in her body was wheezing its way out. Gasp-gasp-gasp. Like little foot soldiers knocked off, one by one. The world was spinning. Blue skies, for a blessed and belated union; singing songbirds someplace nearby, the hush of golden rods in the late afternoon glow.

“Granger!” His grey figure appeared, waving at the bottom of the hill, pinpointing her fluffy white silhouette like a lost lamb. “What’s wrong?” He was out of breath by the time he reached her.

Hermione pressed her shaking hands over her chest, motioning to her heart, begging it to please stop beating so hard, she couldn’t think straight. “It’s my wedding day and all I can think about is Padma Patil on your arm.”

Draco started gathering her skirts. “I can ask her to leave.”

“Don’t you get it!” She yanked them back. “I’m marrying another man but I’m-I’m—”

“You’re what?”

“Jealous.” She sighed. “I am jealous of the woman who gets to be by your side.”

“You love him. It’s just nerves. Come, we’ll get you cleaned up and—”

“Do you want me to marry him?”

“It’s not about what I want. You are in love with him—”

“But I don’t think I am,” Hermione stated suddenly. “I’m imagining him with another woman. And it’s not pleasant. But it’s not…” Her eyes caught on his face. The molecules of oxygen were dissipating again. “Intolerable.”

“You’re just experiencing a moment of doubt.”

“Don’t you love me? Is that what it is?”

“Of course I love you!” Draco exploded. “I love you to bloody bits.”

“But do you love me enough to want me by your side?”

“I love you in all the ways,” Draco said. “And that’s why I’m telling you to get up and do this now. I’ll be here for you tomorrow, and the day after that. Just because you’re married to another man doesn’t mean you’re losing me.”

“But I am,” she said. “Eventually you’ll fall in love with someone else.”

Draco shook his head. “You’re overwhelmed right now. You’re not thinking straight.”

“I’m in love with you.”

“Hermione—”

“Do you hear me? I’m in love with you, Draco. I can’t see you with another woman. I can’t—”

“Hermione.” Draco took her face between his palms. “You love him more than me.”

“I don’t.”

“You always have.”

“But—”

“He comes with a support system. He’s loved by everyone. He fits into your life. You’ll resent me if I took you away from him.” Draco looked sorry to say it, but the conviction in his eyes was louder than regret.

“I love you,” she repeated, her gaze dropping to his lips. “Don’t make me marry him.”

He swallowed roughly. “I know you. You always put their happiness first. That’s what makes you happy.”

“Not this time.” She shook her head stubbornly.

“He’s your best friend.”

“You’re my Man of Honour, you idiot!”

“He’s your groom!”

“I don’t want him.” She clutched her stomach. “Oh God. I’m going to be sick.”

Draco started tugging her skirt again, trying to clear a patch of grass beside her.

“No-no. I’m fine.” She swallowed deeply. Gulping in the countryside air, opaque with pollen. The crisp green scent of the overgrown grass. Oxygen was growing thin again. “I can’t marry him. I can’t. I can’t.”

“Okay.” He took her shoulders, rubbing heat into them. Even though she felt too hot. Too claustrophobic in her burdensome dress. His hands slipped behind her neck, massaging the stiffness until the tension melted away. His eyes softened, a flicker of hope in the deep grey. “What do you want to do?”

“I want to leave.”

He nodded like he’d expected that. “With me?”

“Please.” She squeezed his wrist. “Promise you’ll come?”

“You’re the only reason I’m here. I’ll follow you anywhere, Granger.”

Draco helped Hermione stand, brushing off the grass from her dress even though it was pointless. She was not getting married, and certainly never in this dress. He drew her into his arms. “It’s okay,” he whispered against her cheek. “I’ll always be here.” And then he reached for his wand, and they vanished.

(695 words, alternately if you would like a drunk jealous hermione with no filter might I suggest this drabble i wrote a while ago?)

#sodamnrad #dhr #dramione #dramione drabble #dramione ficlet #draco malfoy x hermione granger #hermione x draco #draco x hermione #draco malfoy #hermione granger #ask me anything #tumblr prompt #sodamnraddrabbles

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mushywriting · 8 months

Text

WIP Wednesday Quitter

Inspired by @yoongiofmine to post a bit of my Hoseok x reader WIP. Hope you all like it, any and all feed back is appreciated!

Burning. That was the best way to describe how you are feeling right now. Painful, exhilarating burning. You had salty sweat dripping into your eyes, your legs and arms felt like they would give out at any moment, and you couldn’t get air into your lungs fast enough. All your unnies were convinced that you stopped breathing every time you performed and maybe today you had proven them right.

Evaluations. The day of the month every trainee dreads. A random day in a given month chosen by the managers, choreographers, and vocal coaches. They never gave more than a 24 hour warning in HYBE saying they didn’t want to know what you could prepare but what you could do right there and then. You hated this system when you first joined but had grown used to it. Even found yourself looking forward to the day where all your hard work would be critiqued to death telling you exactly what to fix and work on.

You were last to go today, all the other trainees having left for the dorms to shower and get a good meal in their systems. You waited in the hallway for hours, the number of trainees having grown since last month. New and old, everyone was nervous because it was rumored that the CEO was here for the first time after his military enlistment. Wanted to see how we had improved in his absence was the rumor going around, but you knew better. He wanted to see how his staff had held up the training routines during his service.

Now here you were, head bowed as you caught your breath not daring to make eye contact with anyone in the room until you were spoken to. This would be your 97th evaluation since you first came to the company on your 16th birthday. One evaluation a month since you turned sixteen, no months off, no breaks. Nothing but hard work and determination flowing through your body for over eight years.

You knew better than to go for water or a towel before they had dismissed you. Walking in you knew this time was different. The CEO and his two closest friends sat by him at the middle of the long table of “judges”. You had sang, rapped, and danced your heart out for the last ten minutes and not a single word had been spoken between the three of them, until now.

You remembered just how all three had worked their ways up in the military ranks based on their cold expressionless faces as you performed. Looking them in the eyes was an absolute no go, wait until you are addressed directly or risk humiliation in front of all your mentors. Hushed voices they discussed you and your talents, if you strained hard enough you could hear key words when they raised their tone just a little. “24…8 years…background…never failed…trainees fear…no I…” You didn’t know which words belonged to who, just stood there the sound of your breathing filling the empty space in the room.

“Song y/n, correct?”

“Yes,” You kept your head down looking at your dirty trainers, you should’ve let Minyoung clean them for you. You tried to steady your breathing while fighting the urge to throw up. Never had you been this nervous about evaluations in all your years here at HYBE but standing here waiting for the feedback from the CEO you could swear you had left your body behind.

“You’ve been with us for eight years correct?” You recognized the voice of the CEO and raised your head to look at him. Steeled brown eyes met yours from behind glasses as you stared at Kim Namjoon. “You were sixteen when you first came to us, and now you are,” He pauses to look at your file again. “Twenty-four, happy belated birthday.

“Yes, thank you Namjoon-ssi.” You bowed formally, still not raising your eyes to meet his.

“That’s almost as long as it's been a company…” The blonde at Namjoon’s right spoke this time. Agust D, or Min Yoongi, better known as the legend of HYBE. Solo rapper and head producer of the company. You expected to work with him when you made your debut. “Impressive you’ve lasted here this long.”

“Not just lasted sir,” Your choreographer piped up this time. “She’s been at the top of evaluations since she was eighteen.”

You fought the urge to smile. Binnie unnie had always had a soft spot for you since you had attended her dance classes when you were a child. If it wasn’t for her you might not have made it as far as you have.

“Is that so?” You swallowed, feeling everyone’s eyes scan over you. “You joined when we were still BigHit right?”

You nodded, not trusting your voice at this moment. You knew they had your file in front of them so you didn’t understand why they were asking you so many questions.

“y/n you’ve survived 96 evaluations and you’re still here, working harder than everyone else, any company could take you right now and debut you but you choose HYBE every month. Why?” Your stomach dropped, taking a moment to collect your thoughts. Your confidence lies in performance, you hadn’t prepared to be asked questions today.

“This is all I’ve ever wanted. I dropped out of highschool knowing I could make it if I worked hard enough and if I haven’t made it yet it just means I haven’t been putting in enough into it.” You stared down the CEO as you spoke, voice never faltering, trying your best to come across as confident. “I joined BigHit because you inspired me. Your music had meaning and messages in it and I wanted to be a part of that. Being a soloist who couldn’t make it you rigged the game. You created a company when no one else took you and here you are, owner and CEO of one of the biggest agencies in Korea. I’m here because I refuse to lose a game I know I can win.”

You remembered the first time you read about Kim Namjoon, the underground rapper who wanted to make waves in the idol industry. He was a small fish in a big pond but he had created a tsunami. You looked up to him in every way and couldn’t believe the day you were accepted as a trainee at BigHit. You had seen so many people come and go you had become steeled to the proceedings but had never given up, you couldn’t.

CEO Namjoon nodded looking back at your file. “You are 24 now, not the oldest trainee but the one who has been here the longest right? I see your potential and I know you’re gonna make it. You’re close, you just need that last little push kid.”

You bowed deeply in thanks. Staring at the floor you tried not to let the emotions rule over you. Hearing that from your biggest idol brought you back to your sixteen year old self. “Thank you so much, that means so much to me.”

A silence filled the space as you stood up straight again. Your eyes met with the person to the left of Namjoon, Jung Hoseok. Your breath got caught in your throat realizing he had been staring at you so intensely. Of everything you needed to work on it was dance, and he was the HYBE god of dance and had been staring you down the whole time you performed. You couldn’t tear your eyes away from him as the other judges began discussing with each other again. His eyes burning into yours, making your whole body feel on fire once again.

After minutes, hours? You had no clue, Namjoon spoke up once again. “Well that’s all I have for you, are there any final questions from our other evaluators?”

“I have one,” so he does speak, if you hadn’t heard his music you would’ve thought he was mute after this interaction. “Eight years is a long time, with a lot of hardship. You’ve seen friends come and go, diets and exercise regimens that would kill anyone let alone a teenager. You never left but had every reason to, why?”

You had never felt so small as you stared back at J-Hope. After a moment, mustering all your courage, you finally answered.

Thank you for reading!

Mush Love <3

#hoseok x reader #mushy writing #quitter by mushy #wip wednesday #bts fic

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tumblingyeti · 12 days

Text

A brand mythology that brought a startup into the heart of the nation’s children

I thought for my first belated post, I’d talk about a story of rebranding from an Indonesian start up where I spent four years as VP of Product and reflect how Go-jek’s branding story touches on the concepts of brand mythology and equity, brand architecture, and even friction.

A bit of context

Go-jek was founded in 2010 and is on-demand “super-app” platform that started as motorcycle ride-hailing but now one of the largest SEA tech giants, providing more than 20+ services extending beyond transportation to logistics, food-delivery, grocery-delivery, digital payments and lending, entertainment, e-commerce, and more.

Brand mythology

Go-jek’s registered company name reads “Aplikasi Karya Anak Bangsa” which translates to “an application that is the work of the nation’s children.” This tagline resonated with many people in Indonesia; the fourth-most populous country in the world which was in the midst of the smartphone revolution and which had yet to produce a “unicorn” (tech company valued over $1Bn). By using this tag line as part of their brand mythology, it allowed the company to become more than its on-demand transport and delivery products. It sought to enter the consumer psyche as something that they can be proud of. Go-jek aspired not just to be the story of a company but a story of the nation. The emotional implication was that using the services would feel like an act of patriotism.

Exhibit 1: Photos below show the tag line “Karya Anak Bangsa” as well as the Indonesian flag (and colors, red/white) featured prominently on advertisements as well as the Gojek driver jackets.

The following excerpt from a 2018 blogposts describes this well “There is pride in what GO-JEK has done in Indonesia. And when you talk to Indonesian’s about GO-JEK, you will notice a particular phenomenon: The brand is theirs, their home-grown star, a reflection of a new era in technology.” Source: Medium Blogpost (2018) - “Why Go-Jek is the operating system of Indonesia”

Brand equity and extensions

The mythology as well as smart use of words, was in-part, one of the reasons why Go-Jek was able to expand from 3 services to 20+ within a span of three years. Subsequent product launches included Go-Car (car ride-hailing, think Uber/Lyft), Go-Food (food delivery), Go-Beauty (on-demand haircuts and beauty services, beauticians would come to you!), Go-Pay (peer-to-peer transactions, digital wallets, and more) and so-forth. Because Go-Jek had so much brand power and recognition, there was a lot of built-up trust and it reduced the hurdle for consumers to try out new services immediately after they were launched, even if it was in a completely new vertical. For example, one may not think that a company you trust to get you from place a to b is one that you might also trust to get you a good haircut or one that you may trust with sending money or taking loans.

I personally find it hard to imagine if Uber or Lyft launched a peer-to-peer transaction or money lending service in the US that their brand equity would carry over and consumers would try out those new services. I think if this happened, this would end up like the failed brand extensions that we discussed in class (e.g. the fate of Bic’s perfume and Levi’s suits).

This brand mythology was not a one-time play but a strategy that we continued to invest in as a company. In 2018, eight years after the company was founded, Go-jek launched a campaign titled #AnakBangsaBisa (translates to: Children of the Nation Can) to celebrate the 73rd independence day of Indonesia. Source: Gojek Blog

And in the Youtube comments of the campaign video, we can glean that the emotional impact of national pride is still very much alive:

This perspective of brand mythology / equity / extensions adds a new dimension to my previous reflections on our work at Gojek. What I thought was more of a branding strategy for recruiting and “feel-good” emotional aspect with using our services may have also played a significant role in enabling us to extend to so many different services in such a short time and become the “super-app” that it is today.

Final thoughts on friction

In 2019, Gojek did a rebranding with a new logo, a new look, and new in-app landing page. The new company mission was to “remove friction from people’s lives.” Refer to the LinkedIn post below by one of the CEOs at the time announcing the new homepage. Source: LinkedIn.

In thinking how this squares with the discussions in our last class. In a country where life is chaotic (ask any Indonesian or person who has been to Jakarta, the capital city, and chaotic will be an adjective that is certain to come up), daily life is fraught with friction. In that sense, I do believe that the overall mission to remove friction was aspirational and is still relevant.

However, when thinking of the work I did day-to-day as a product manager considering today’s era of surveillance capitalism, and given the lessons learned in our last class, I am becoming increasingly more cognizant that removing friction in the design of products and applications should not be done at the expense of the user’s agency and should not exploit their resources including their data, time, and money. Sources: “The Age of Surveillance Capitalism” by Shoshana Zuboff and Renee Richardson Gosline’s MIT Sloan 15.846 Branding lecture.

#MITSloanBranding2024B

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victorluvsalice · 1 year

Photo

Well, it’s Spring Sunday in the Chill Valicer Save as of this update -- a new year for our trio! And we’re kicking things off with an update that is only FOUR PARTS. Yeah, I’m shocked too. XD But to be honest, it was a pretty chill day around the Valicer farm. . .

. . .if only because, not only did I get both High School Years and Growing Together (well, in all technicality, my parents got them for me -- belated Christmas/birthday present!), I installed a BUNCH of new mods from one Lumpinou. Including the LGBTQIA+ Mod to properly set everyone’s gender, romantic, and sexual identities. So setting that up took a decent amount of time! And by the time I figured out that and some of the other mods I’d put in, like Open Love Life (hint: if you can’t find where to update everything, it’s under Actions in the pie menu when you click on a Sim), it was easier to just have everyone hang around the farm and get themselves sorted. They probably needed the time to just chill after all the traveling around to different cities and realms of the last three updates anyway! So here’s how their day went:

-->Smiler, after getting the robot salvage parts necessary, enhanced Party Time up to level 2 (it loses charge slower now), then started work on a quadcopter toy! Unfortunately, after so long avoiding it, they got shocked halfway through the process and had to take a break before completing it. :( I had them use the time effectively, though, buying a white hen and a brown rooster for the chicken coop -- they were down to just one black hen and a rooster chick in there after so many visits from Grim! So now they’ll have proper egg production again, yay -- and maybe they can actually get to know these chickens a little better. (Especially since I’ve finally turned livestock aging off to match with the actual Sims not aging either.)

-->Alice got a little bonding time in with Shadow, then sold both her most recent books to a publisher (gotta get those royalties) before doing a bit of recycling (gotta get those bits and pieces too). Simple stuff, but important!

-->Victor -- well, when he woke up, I was finally able to gather everyone to let each other know about their new gender, romantic, and sexual identities! For reference, Smiler is now officially non-binary, panromantic, and pansexual; Victor is cis male, biromantic, and bisexual; and Alice is cis female, demipanromantic, and demipansexual (yes, she’s actually gray-ace in my headcanons -- mostly asexual except under certain circumstances -- but I think currently “gray-ace” in the mod means that Sims accept or reject touching-related romance interactions randomly, so I decided demi fit her Simself better). Everyone was very positive and accepting of each other’s new identities. :) I also had everyone agree to be non-exclusive in their relationships (Smiler and Alice were actually already set to prefer non-exclusive relationships -- while Victor was set to prefer exclusive ones. Sir -- sir YOU’RE the one with a wife and a themfriend. I reset Victor and Alice to be indifferent as that’s closer to my headcanons, but left Smiler as preferring non-exclusive, because why not?), so that’s all sorted now! :) Oh, and for what it’s worth, I ALSO popped into CAS to set some of the new conversational topic and Sim archetype preferences -- mostly just making sure everybody liked the kind of Sims the others were (Victor and Alice liking spirited Sims, Smiler liking homebodies and nature enthusiasts, stuff like that). So now they all have amazing compatibility as per the new Growing Together system too!

-->With everyone up to speed and having reaffirmed their love and acceptance for each other, Victor was allowed to have some breakfast and then go potter about in his greenhouse, while Alice went out for a jog (her resolution is to get fit, after all!) and Smiler went back to their quadcopter. They finished that up with no further issues, and then went to ask Victor in the greenhouse for a drink. Victor said yes, of course. . .

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bee-dot-exe · 1 year

Text

Hello hello hello I bring the gift of fanfic for the wonderful @the-radio-system-writes! I feel like I would like to give you a hug, if that's okay of course, it's just been so nice to get to know all of you and I'm very grateful for what you've shared with me this past month and I hope we continue to talk and be friendly now that you know who I am. I really hope you enjoy this, everyone reading this actually, I had so much fun making it and I'm really proud of it. @grey-rambles, thank you so much for making this, we haven't talked as much but it's been nice meeting you as well. Happy holidays and happy reading!

BeeDuo And Ghostbur Holiday Exchange

1,117 words

No warnings just pure fluff

The freshly setting sun on the horizon cast the landscape of white powder into one of purples and oranges. Trees with trunks and branches bare spiderwebbing the vicinity.

Tubbo sat on the sofa, his silhouette bathing in the the fading light, creating an aura. His mess of hazelnut wavy hair surrounded by a halo. His face, the left side with braided patches of scar tissue and a grey eye under his bangs, glowed. Features painted by the colors of sunlight and magic, with an open smile, followed by laughter that sounded like the color of honey. He was the clouds in the sky you dreamt of sitting on, soft and sweet like candy floss.

On the opposite side of me, sat a tiny piglin. An even tinier mess of pink fluff atop his head. Braids of green and grey showing death and rot among the soft pink skin trailing the left side of his face. An eye matching Tubbo's own, lacking in color and in use.

Tiny hooves pulled a small box onto his lap, waiting for a signal to open the one gift before the rest tomorrow, as is tradition for many, when a shy knock on the heavy wooden door came from outside, pulling me out of my thoughts.

I looked over to my partner and son sitting on the floor, Michael being shielded and covered in the shadow of his obnoxiously tall other parent.

The sun lowering behind the horizon as the day began to come to a close, making Ranboo's upper body shine, a clementine colored halo wrapping around his duel colored hair. Voice soft as they spoke to our son and a large smile highlighting his face.

Stretching slightly, I stood up from the sofa and walked to the oak door, which echoed a soft round of knocks again.

Upon opening, stood a man a bit taller than myself, skin slightly grey and hair a faded brown like shavings of a chocolate bar or the shell of a peanut, a rope in his hand leaning to a sheep with fluffy blue wool.

"Hi Ghostbur! Hi Friend!" I greeted cheerfully with a wave.

"Hello Tubbo and Ranboo and Michael! Oh I'm sorry, am I interrupting anything? I was just wandering to no where in particular, and I remembered that Tubbo and Ranboo and Michael lived near the area I found myself in, and I said to Friend 'oh let's go see them!' Is that okay?" He replied with a voice higher pitched and slightly distorted.

"Of course Ghostbur, you're always welcome, do you wanna come in where it's warmer?" I gestured to the fireplace behind my husband and son.

"Oh, I don't think that would help much, but if you don't mind I can, and I can bring Friend?"

"The more the merrier!"

So I walked into the large cabin, past the slightly shorter Tubbo and towards the very tall Ranboo and the even shorter piglin and the fire contained behind a clear wall and a dark wood boarder, Friend walking right beside me.

I looked at Michael, something small and covered by paper the color of the snow outside in his lap.

"Ranboo, what is Michael holding?"

"Oh, his present? He's gonna open that soon and then he has more to open tomorrow!"

"Oh. Why?"

"Do you know what Christmas is, Ghostbur?"

I shook my head and Friend belated, he is a good boy.

"It's a day that some people celebrate and you get presents, like the one Michael is holding, kinda like a birthday party, it's just something nice to do, some people like putting up decorations too!" Said Tubbo from behind me.

"Oh. Like what?"

"A lot of people like to put a tree somewhere in their houses."

"Trees don't grow inside, that's silly, they are silly, Friend." He bleated in agreement.

"It does sound kind of silly, doesn't it? People like to put their presents on the floor around it."

"Oh. Okay."

Think think think. Oh yes okay!

"Tubbo, could you hold onto Friend's rope for a moment please, I'll be right back."

"I mean, of course, but where are you going?"

"Just hold on please!"

Ghostbur replied, already opening the door, his voice fading. So I took Friend over by the fireplace where the other two sat, Michael grunting happily as his hooves brushed across the thick blue coat.

"Would you like some help opening that, now?" Ranboo asked and gestured to our son's lap, who grunted and squealed and nodded quickly.

Not long later, a round of knocks echoed again, I held onto Friend's lead so Tubbo could open the door.

"Tubbo and Ranboo and Michael, would you come outside, please?" Ghostbur fidgeted with his hands as he spoke, then gestured, so we all followed.

"I'm sorry, I didn't have an axe or anything to make one, so I couldn't cut down anything, but yes, here you go."

His voice was a bit higher pitched and shakier than usual, nerves apparent, as he motioned to a small group of fallen branches and twigs covered with pine needles sticking out of the ice and snow, three little cloud like objects colored like the ocean sat beneath them.

"Oh, Ghostbur!" Tubbo almost sounded shocked.

"Is that a bad thing? I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done anything. We can go home now, Friend, I'll take him now."

"No! Don't be sorry, you didn't do anything wrong, no one's upset. This is amazing, this was so sweet and clever of you, thank you, Ghostbur!"

"Oh. Oh!"

And Tubbo was hugging me. It felt. Nice. I don't remember the last time I was hugged. Or when Wilbur was I mean. I think you're supposed to put your hands around someone's waist, so that's what I did, and Tubbo put his head a bit closer between my neck and shoulder. Yes this was nice.

When we finished, I looked to Ranboo standing and holding Michael on top of their shoulders, Michael was holding a little stuffed chicken, that must have been what was in his box, it looks like this is Friend for Michael.

"I'm sorry, here, have some blue!"

Ghostbur was picking up the cerulean fluffy piles from the stark white ground beneath his makeshift tree, and he handed them to us, Michael holding his close to his chest and grunting happily.

The day was almost too a close now, the sky a dark blue with bits of pink, with white stars beginning to freckle, the air around us grew a bit colder but no one could care.

Tubbo passed the lead with Friend on the other end to his owner, and the sheep bleated, Ghostbur giggled and we all smiled.

"Merry Christmas, Ghostbur."

#mcyt #dsmp #ranboo #tubbo #beeduo #wilbur soot #ghostbur #creative writing #greys holiday exchange

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jobrookekarev · 2 years

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Caught By Surprise

Chapter One of Six: I Think I Just Had a Baby.

Words: 1,308

Summary: Jo was sitting against the wall on the floor of the bathroom and cradled in her arms was a tiny pink baby. Alex could feel the blood drain from his face as his lips parted. Fear rose inside of him, especially with the blood in between her legs.

“I think I just had a baby,” Jo said in disbelief, her eyes wide as she looked up from the baby in her arms to stare at him.

Alex comes home to see that Jo has unexpectedly delivered their baby girl on the bathroom floor. Neither of them had any idea that she was pregnant before this and now they’ve suddenly become parents.

Fandom: Grey’s Anatomy.

Relationship: Alex Karev/Jo Wilson.

Characters: Alex Karev, and Jo Wilson.

Rating: Teen and Up Audiences.

Additional Tags: Birth, Pregnancy, Unplanned Pregnancy, Baby, Medical Procedures, Angst, Fluff, Family Feels, Baby Hats.

Read at AO3

Read at FFN

AN: This is a belated birthday to @mac-andcheeses. It’s been so hard to write since she left, but I hope she enjoys this! Takes place after 16x09 and 16x10.

……………………………………………………………………

Jo walked into the loft alone that evening. It was just her for now and she felt the loneliness sinking in as she dropped her bag. She immediately went over to the couch and picked up the little baby blanket that she had used for the safe haven baby. It felt so odd that just a few hours ago she'd had this tiny baby in her home. She missed the sounds that they would make and being able to hold them as she sat on the couch. Now she was all alone. Jo pulled the blanket to her chest as she grabbed the remote desperate to fill the silence. Luckily, her phone started ringing and Alex's face appeared on her screen making her smile as she picked up his call.

“Hey, did your flight get in alright?” Jo said if she smiled and laid back on the couch.

“Yeah, I’m going to get my bag and head out to grab the car so I should be home within an hour or so,” Alex said before his voice turned to one of concern. “How are you? I got your voicemail about the safe haven baby. How did it go?”

Jo just sighed as she sunk back into the couch. She laid back on the cushions as she pulled the blanket up to her nose, inhaling that sweet newborn scent.

“That bad, huh.”

“No, he was perfect, but I still don't understand how a mother could do this. How my mother could do this and still not want me years later. I thought it would heal me, but instead it just… I don't know. I didn't want to give him up. I didn't exactly bring him to the hospital after I picked him up. I brought him here to the Loft instead. I don't know why. I just thought he deserved one night in a home. I wanted to give him the love and attention he deserved before he went into the system and became a pile of paperwork.”

“You brought the safe haven baby home?” Alex asked, and she could hear the smile on his lips. “How long did you keep him for?”

“Only for a few hours, then Link and Meredith came over and Link made me take him to the hospital. I named him, Asher Wilson. Because he was left at the fire station like me and he deserved a name from someone who cared,” Jo said, with a frown, staring at the baby blanket that still smelled of him.

“Jo, you stole a baby and named him!” Alex said in disbelief.

There was a beat of silence on the other end of the line before Alex burst out laughing. His laugh filled her ear before she heard him get a little further away as he had taken the phone away from his ear. Jo bit her lip as she looked down at the little blanket. She knew Alex would probably react like this and she wasn't surprised by his laughter. Still, it took a while for him to regain his breath again.

“You kidnapped a baby,” Alex said, still in the middle of his laughter and she could almost see him shake his head.

“I didn't kidnap him, I just didn't take him to the hospital right away,” Jo said, before her fist curled into the baby blanket as she felt her stomach start to cramp up.

“Babe, that's still kidnapping,” Alex said with a chuckle.

She didn't respond as the cramp carried on, and continued for a couple more seconds until it let up and she let out a breath as she sunk further into the couch.

“Jo, you okay?”

“Yeah, I just think I'm getting my period. I'm starting to get a couple of cramps.”

“The hot water bottle is in the closet with the pain meds. I'll pick up some tampons and bring home your favorite snacks. Does that sound good?” Alex said in a lighter tone and Jo smiled.

“Yeah, sounds good,” Jo said with a sigh as she got up to go grab the heat pad and figured she would get dinner as well.

“Well, if you have the urge to kidnap another baby, I might as well just put one in you,” Alex said and she could hear the smirk on his lips.

“We can talk about that once you get home,” Jo said, not giving him a definitive answer.

“So that's a yes,” Alex replied, with a bit of a chuckle.

“We'll see,” Jo said as she rolled her eyes. “Besides I'm getting my period so we'll have to wait two weeks anyway.”

“Well, you could still stop taking your birth control,” Alex said and she could almost hear his smug smile.

“I'm gonna go make dinner,” Jo said, grabbing the hot water bottle from the closet.

“Okay, I love you.”

“Love you too, you horny bastard.”

……………………………………………………………………

Alex was thankful that he oiled the loft door before he left to visit his mom as it didn't make a sound when he came in that night. It was late and he had been traveling all day after his flight got rerouted to Denver. Then he had to wait another five hours for the next fight. He was exhausted and thankful to finally be home.

Alex had spent two weeks in Iowa helping his mom after a busted pipe flooded the basement. His mom had handled everything better than he expected as she was so frantic on the phone. Still, he suspected it was because she missed him and because his presence was calming to her.

He carefully put his bag down by the door and slipped out of his shoes, shrugging off his jacket as he looked around. It wasn't quite as the TV played some late-night soap drama that Jo loved. He figured she had fallen asleep on the couch like she always did, but the couch was empty with just blankets and a plate of food on the coffee table. Alex circled around to the kitchen to see if there were any leftovers for him but grumbled when he found only an empty pot of what looked like mac and cheese. He rifled through the fridge, grabbing a cold slice of pizza before turning back to the bed. He was sure he would find her asleep on his side of the bed. She always slept on his side when he was away, but the bed was empty too. Alex looked around the loft again, it was completely empty, but signs that Jo was home were everywhere.

Finally, he called out for her. “Jo?”

“Alex?” Jo called back to him from the bathroom and he could hear the panic in her voice as he dropped the slice of pizza and rushed over to her. “Come quick!”

The bathroom door was ajar just a smidge and he pushed it open, prepared to run inside but he froze at the sight before him. Jo was sitting against the wall on the floor of the bathroom, half-naked with her legs spread out in front of her. She was dressed in one of his old t-shirts and it was stained with blood that also pooled in between her legs.

Cradled in Jo’s arms was a tiny pink baby, covered in vernix and fast asleep. The cord to the baby was cut and laid in between her legs as it disappeared back inside of her, telling him that she hadn't delivered the placenta yet. Alex could feel the blood drain from his face as his lips parted. Fear rose inside of him, especially with the blood in between her legs and the baby in her arms.

“I think I just had a baby,” Jo said in disbelief, her eyes wide as she looked up from the baby in her arms to stare at him.

#jo wilson #alex karev #grey's anatomy #jolex #otp: home and heart #grey's anatomy fanfic #my work #my writing #my fanfiction

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xb-squaredx · 30 days

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B-Squared's Belated Top 10 Games of 2023

Well, this has come out…a lot later than I wanted to but life gets in the way. 2023 had a lot of fantastic games in it…but sadly I didn’t get to very many of them. So many great games, from the indies to the AAAs and everything in between. As of now I’ve had to be a bit more careful with money and still haven’t gotten my hands on either a beefy PC to play all the new games or a next-gen console, so my options are somewhat limited…which will be reflected in this list. So for anyone asking why Baldur’s Gate 3 or Alan Wake 2 or Spider-Man 2 or anything else isn’t on this list…I had no real means to play it. That said, I still enjoyed the bulk of what I played in 2023, so I figure it’s better late than never to celebrate those games.

#10: F-ZERO 99

F-Zero is a franchise I have limited experience with; I’ve played far more of Captain Falcon in the Smash Bros. series than any other F-Zero game combined. Regardless, the release of a new game after a near 20 year hiatus certainly had my attention. F-Zero 99 is a new take on the original game, after the popularity of Tetris 99 on the Switch. Up to 99 players race together in a battle-royale fashion, aiming to take first place…or at least survive to the finish line. I’ll be up front that I’m terrible at this game and didn’t play that much of it, but I can recognize that it was a fun spin on an old idea, giving players ample ways to try to play catch up in the chaotic, high-speed races, and for those that are more well-versed in F-Zero it served as a way to scratch an itch that has been bugging them for a good long while. Its unclear what the series’ future will be but I’m hopeful that the overall positive reception to this free-to-play title means there might be more to come for F-Zero sometime soon.

#9: ADVANCE WARS 1+2 RE-BOOT CAMP

As long as we’re talking about older, revived Nintendo franchises, we may as well talk about Advance Wars. After Fire Emblem really took off worldwide, this series has been rather dormant over at Intelligence Systems. Due to real world events, this release was delayed by about a year, but I’m glad that the remake of the first two Advance Wars games helmed by Wayforward was able to finally release. Overall, these are very faithful remakes with some great new bits of animation, voice acting and music, with players able to compete in the campaigns or wage war locally or online in the multiplayer modes. Some people weren’t a huge fan of the visual style in this remake, or felt that it could have done more, but ultimately I’m just happy to see this series come back again and I think Wayforward did a great job. The endless horrors of war have never been so fun!

#8: HOLOLIVE FAN GAMES: (HOLOCURE: SAVE THE FANS AND IDOL SHOWDOWN)

You might remember from a while back that I’m a VTuber fan, especially the ones over at Hololive. There’s been a number of really fun fan games that have released over the years but this year we got two of them released that were right up my alley…well, kinda. First off we have Holocure, a “bullet-heaven” game in the same vein as Vampire Survivors starring the Hololive girls. It’s technically still in early-access and has been out for a while…but the STEAM release was in 2023 and that’s when I first played it so it counts. It’s a very fun game with cute pixel art, great remixes of Hololive songs and is filled to bursting with tons of interesting references to these streamers…which makes it almost completely incomprehensible to non-fans, but that’s beside the point.

We also received a Hololive fighting game in Idol Showdown this year, which I also enjoyed for the most part. The character movesets are filled with just as many references, with some very expressive sprite work on both the playable cast and the backgrounds. A rogue like Digital Frontier mode adds to the stuff to do in the game if pure fighting isn’t for you, and it’s even received some free DLC characters as time has gone on. I do wish the game was a bit more optimized in some regards, but it’s otherwise a really fun game that managed to combine two of my interests together into one package. So I’m counting both of these games together under the umbrella of being Hololive fan games. Give them a try….and fall down the rabbit hole.

#7: NICKELODEON ALL STAR BRAWL 2

Speaking of fighting games, I was pleasantly surprised by the reveal and subsequent release of Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2. Despite being excited by the prospect of the first game, I wasn’t all that fond of it by the time it released. It was a barebones experience, devoid of any voice work for these iconic characters (often with iconic voices), looked bad, ran worse at times and most of the cast had very same-y, uninspired movesets. So I’m very happy to say that the sequel is everything the original game should have been.

NASB 2 is a gigantic improvement in every way; it looks a lot better, the voices are here from the get-go now, there’s a huge single player campaign and the cast this time around all feel FAR more fleshed out and distinct. I still have some qualms with the roster overall, but I’m glad the team at Fair Play Labs (and the few members of Ludocity on this project) managed to create something that can appeal to both hardcore platform fighter fans and fans of the Nick characters. Sadly, I think a lot of people felt burned by the last game and didn’t even give this one a try, but trust me…this really is one of the more inventive platform fighters out there. The Slime mechanic itself is kind of worth the price of admission, being able to augment your moves, burst out of combos, or spend on a huge super move to send foes flying. The single player is also filled with fun references and a fair bit of things to do as you fight various minor enemies and bosses from across the various Nick shows. While a bit bug-riddled at launch and my potato PC can barely handle it at times, I had a blast with it, and I hope that people can eventually give this game a chance.

#6: BAYONETTA ORIGINS: CEREZA AND THE LOST DEMON

Oh hey and speaking of burning fans with the last installment and giving things a chance…yeah Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon was always going to be a tough sell. Even if Bayonetta 3 had been well-received by fans, taking a series known for its over-the-top arcade action and extremely sexual heroine and pivoting to a fairy-tale aesthetic and relatively simple puzzle solving and exploration wasn’t ever going to have a wide appeal. If you don’t like the other Bayonetta games you might end up enjoying this, but then why would you even be looking in this game’s direction? And conversely, if you love the other games, this one is so completely different there’s no guarantee you’d enjoy it. Truly, Bayonetta Origins is a game for an extremely small niche of players, but I was willing to give it a shot and ended up quite enjoying it. In fact, I think it’s one of the best games Platinum has put out in years.

Taking place when young Cereza was still a witch in training, players have to guide Cereza and her first demonic summon, Cheshire, through a maze-like forest infested with dangerous fairies. The game itself feels inspired by something like Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, alongside Platinum’s own Astral Chain. Players control Cereza and Cheshire simultaneously, using each control stick to guide them through puzzles and the occasional combat encounter. Cereza uses her magic to hold enemies in place or manipulate the environment while Cheshire is in charge of tearing enemies apart. The cel-shaded storybook aesthetic is very charming, making for a game that I think is a lot easier on the eyes than Bayonetta 3, and the coming-of-age element of Cereza learning to stick up for herself and get stronger gave us a fairly well-told story (which is kind of a rarity for this franchise). Outside of a map that isn’t all that helpful, and the fact that it’s still connected to Bayonetta 3 in some strange, confusing ways, this is far and away the best Bayonetta game developed for the Switch, and yeah, I’m just as surprised as you are.

#5: STREET FIGHTER 6

Once upon a time Capcom was considered to be the kings of fighting games, but everything changed when Street Fighter V came out in such a barebones, awful state that the FGC at large moved onto other things. But 2023 was the year Capcom returned to take their crown back, and MAN is Street Fighter 6 a massive return to form. Now, I should stress my time with this game has been limited; I’ve played with a friend with their own copy of the game as well as poured over the PS4 demo, but I don’t actually own this game myself yet. If I DID, this would probably be a bit higher on this list honestly.

SF6 took a long hard look at the complaints levied at the previous game and did everything they could to turn things around here. Rather than launching with no arcade mode and later adding a lackluster story mode, 6 launches with a massive World Tour campaign, giving players the ability to create their own character and dive into the world of Street Fighter in what is ostensibly an action RPG hidden within the greater game. Rather than give us the divisive V-System that encouraged passive play and largely locked away each character’s strongest tools, the Drive System in SF6 gives players tons of way to engage with the game right from round start and encourages both aggression and proper resource management. At high-level, SF6 becomes a tug-of-war between players doing everything they can to whittle down their opponent’s Drive Gauge, while holding onto their own, and then place them into checkmate when they go into Burnout. The game’s new, more realistic artstyle took some time to grow on me personally, but I think they ended up making it work, though admittedly I’m with everyone else in stating that the OST for the game is a bit lacking. Thankfully, they nailed it where it really matters: the roster is filled with some awesome new faces (Marisa my beloved) and manages to make the veteran fighters feel fresh, and the cherry on top is an almost impeccable online experience. I’m glad Capcom learned from their mistakes, and the result is one of the best fighting games around.

#4: FIRE EMBLEM: ENGAGE

Releasing right at the start of the year, I’m sure a lot of people forgot about Fire Emblem Engage, though really I think they’re missing out. I’ve been a fan of the series since Awakening, so the gaps in knowledge with the series is vast, but I could still recognize this as a love letter to the entire series. Clearly intended as a celebration of the franchise’s 30th anniversary before a certain pandemic got in the way, Engage is filled to the brim with fanservice…and not just the sexy kind! Truthfully I do feel aspects of this game are at odds with each other; while the overall presentation is great, being the most colorful and flashy game in the series yet, its story is…let’s say lacking. The characters are all fairly one-note and at times lean way more into stock anime archetypes than fully-fleshed out cast members, especially in comparison to the best parts of Three Houses, and there is the odd….otaku-bait stuff for lack of a better term, especially regarding the romance options, but the actual core gameplay is the best in the series.

Fights are fast, ferocious and give players a ton of great new mechanics to sink their teeth into. The star of the show is obviously the various rings characters can equip, which can summon a ghost of a past Fire Emblem hero to help out, giving you a neat little Stand of sorts to augment your abilities for a short time. Adding to that, players can push enemies away, or even break their guard, preventing them from attacking during your turn. I really enjoyed some of the changes to the core weapon triangles of the series, including a new one with archers, mages and bare-handed fighters. Being able to have my healers lay waste to those units with some fisticuffs never got old. Engage might not be the most ambitious game in the series, but at the same time it was a fantastic celebration of how far this series has come and how much more life it still has in it yet. Alear’s hair is still kinda dumb though…

#3: THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: TEARS OF THE KINGDOM

Years ago Breath of the Wild not only launched the Switch into immediate sales success, but also started a conversation about how to craft an interesting open world game after years of the genre feeling overdone. And now in the twilight years of the Switch, Tears of the Kingdom returns to that same world with some new tricks. Link’s new abilities give players even more options for engaging in that world, and many of them are true technical marvels. I’ve gone over a lot of this game in a separate blog post, so I won’t try to reiterate what I said there too much, but ultimately I just enjoyed getting to bounce around a familiar world with even more freedom and opportunities to mess around and see how things worked.

I’d argue that TOTK has more in common with a big old box of random Lego pieces than a game at times. Half the fun is reaching inside and seeing what I can create when mixing and matching things together. Using Link’s Ultrahand and Fusion abilities I can craft vehicles and weapons that are often very goofy and don’t always work right…but when you land on something that’s just crazy enough to work it’s magical. In addition to the massive world from BOTW we also have islands in the sky to investigate, alongside the mysterious Depths, so there was always something to poke at and do. You get into a pretty solid gameplay loop of using the sky islands to look for areas of interest down below, then messing around on the ground during quests and visiting towns, before traveling into the Depths to harvest ore that goes towards making a variety of vehicles that can help me get around elsewhere, especially when it comes to getting back into the sky. Your options start out limited, but as you play you get more and more tools to work with and your various mechanisms become that much more complex. This even gets reflected in some of the dungeons you investigate, with one in the Depths in particular being such a programming flex, tons of game developers on Twitter were losing it, just wondering how Nintendo made it happen. For as much as we tout graphical upgrades as true progress in games, Nintendo is doing more interesting things with the very innards of a game using a console that was already out of date when it launched, and that needs to be championed.

For as much time as I poured into this game (probably somewhere close to 200 hours), I’d be lying if I said I enjoyed all of it. With that amount of playtime, you’re bound to notice some cracks. While this game definitely amplified everything I loved about BOTW, it also failed to really address many of the concerns people had with the previous game. Fusion as a mechanic makes ALL weapons feel usable to a degree, but the constant breaking is even MORE frequent. While there IS a way to stop slipping on wet surfaces, it requires a TON of time investment and the potions that give you slip resistance feel like a bandage over the whole annoyance. And then there’s the story being…very repetitive and a bit too much like the previous game in ways. I can see why talk of this game kind of dried up faster compared to BOTW; there was both a lot more competition this year, but also a lot of this game felt too derivative and lost that novelty of the original game. I wouldn’t have poured over 200 hours into the game if I didn’t love it, but there was definitely enough there to hold it back from being my favorite experience of the year.

#2: XENOBLADE CHRONICLES 3: FUTURE REDEEMED

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 was my GOTY last year, and I knew that a beefy DLC campaign was still in the chamber. I was looking forward to Future Redeemed, but it exceeded about all of my expectations. While the core Xenoblade games have their connections, they’ve all been relatively standalone experiences on the whole until now. I had remembered going into Xenoblade 3, curious to see how all of these elements from the first two games would come together, but that game’s story leaned far more on the brand new cast rather than touching on the older characters in the series and I was left with a lack of closure. I should have had more faith in Monolith Soft, as Future Redeemed serves as not just a prequel to the story in Xenoblade 3, but as the glue that ties the entire Xenoblade series together.

Similar to Xenoblade 2’s Torna: The Golden Country DLC campaign, Future Redeemed is about the size of a medium-sized RPG in its own right, even if it never got a standalone release like Torna did. It keeps a lot of the same core systems of the base game here, but with some interesting twists. Whereas base game Xenoblade 3 made use of a class system and the ability for allies to fuse together, Future Redeemed emphasized pairing up different characters so they could cover for each other’s weaknesses or add to their strengths, on top of having some flashy combination attacks. There was a ton of things to do on the world map at any moment, with Monolith Soft making great use of a more limited map compared to the base game. Seriously, grind rails that can go up AND down were about the one thing Xenoblade 3 really needed! There was also just…so much fanservice and real love for this series found throughout. Seeing Shulk and Rex, the protagonists of the past entries, interacting with each other was fantastic, and newcomer Matthew was a great lead in his own right.

Longtime fans of Monolith Soft CEO and overall creator of the Xenoblade series, Tetsuya Takahashi, will know that his vision of a complete story has been a difficult one to see to completion. Starting back with Xenogears and later Xenosaga, it’s here that Xenoblade finally managed to have a satisfying multi-game arc and conclusion that finally answered some burning questions I had from the ending of 3. Somehow Future Redeemed managed to bring it all together in ways that longtime fans had always hoped for, and all in a neat 30-ish hour package. While I had greatly enjoyed Xenoblade 3, it was still missing something and Future Redeemed was that final piece, making me feel really valued as a longtime fan in the series, and also seems to have some nods to fans of the overarching “Xeno metaseries” that makes me extremely interested in seeing just where Takahashi’s Wild Ride takes us. If this DLC was an indication, the future is indeed bright.

#1: SUPER MARIO BROS. WONDER

As long as we’re talking of bright futures…boy is it good to be a Mario fan right now. From a billion dollar box office hit, to remakes of two beloved RPG spinoffs, that alone would have satisfied fans of the plumber, but then we got hit with the first wholly original 2D Mario in almost two decades. While the New Super Mario Bros. games were all mostly well-regarded critically and commercially, they were just as often considered kind of stale. Inoffensive, but not very interesting, and with so many pumped out in such a short time, it was felt that Mario’s 2D outings had lost something. With the Super Mario Maker games, many had felt that Nintendo had done all that they could with the formula and left it in the hands of fans…but boy were we wrong.

Super Mario Bros. Wonder is oozing creativity out of every pore. From the stylish art direction that calls back to the older 2D art from the NES and SNES days, to the focus on music found throughout the game, it’s a rare game that made me smile about the whole way through. So much here feels fresh and different, from the litany of brand new enemies and power ups, to the various Wonder effects that often cap off levels and take them off the rails. I’ve gushed about this game enough in a separate blog post, which you can read here, but ultimately it has to be said that Wonder is a fantastic experience from moment to moment.

Not every game needs to be revolutionary or create a whole new industry standard to be recognized as great. Sometimes it just needs to be really fun. But even so, the amount of care that went into Wonder deserves praise. The developers weren’t given a deadline at first and got to really explore ideas before nailing things down. To see so much of the original Mario crew still involved on this project after so many years in the industry also showcases Nintendo’s iterative design that is continually polished to a fine sheen. The simple act of moving around is so smooth and responsive, the level design constantly plays with your expectations and makes hunting for secrets such a blast, and many of the new mechanics are slotted in seamlessly, like they were always there. Why yes, giving Mario a grappling hook makes perfect sense! Of COURSE he can turn into an elephant and put out fires with water shot out of the trunk! Some dislike the changes to multiplayer, no longer having any collision or ways to really screw with other players, but that results in seamless online play that lets players experience the levels together, yet apart, in a way I haven’t seen many other games implement. Being able to guide newer players through levels by giving them hints, or even a power up if they need it, and throwing down a standee sign that can revive them even if I’m not there…it’s really something special, akin to how players of Journey felt back in the day. The one blemish on what is otherwise a perfect experience are the boss fights that are both too few and too same-y, but honestly that’s a nitpick in the grand scheme of things. So yeah, Super Mario Bros. Wonder is the game that probably gave me the most joy this year. Not the longest game or the most technically impressive, but a masterclass in design that deserves every bit of praise.

CONCLUSION

There are tons of games I wish I got to this year. I’m sure this list would look a LOT different if I had a beefier PC to check out certain games with, or a fancy new PS5, but that wasn’t in the cards this year. If anything though that just goes to show how many talented people are in this industry that there are so many finely-crafted experiences, so many ambitious titles that keep pushing the medium forward. It was admittedly a lighter year for Nintendo, which has always been my bias, but I’m glad to see the folks over at Remedy and Larian and so many others pushing the boundaries of what we can expect to see in games. Having a virtual D&D campaign filled with moments where you have to adapt to things on the fly is nothing short of a magical experience, and seeing how Alan Wake 2 fuses together film and video game to create something so unique deserves its roses as well. Ultimately though, this was a year filled with some developers running on all cylinders, truly excelling at their craft. We’re getting fighting games with honest-to-God single player content! Strategy games are alive and well and continue to tease and torment players with tough decisions. All the while smaller developers pump passion into their projects, resulting in some fantastic experiences all their own. It was a good year for games and I look forward to seeing what will make my list next year. Until next time.

-B

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ragingbookdragon · 3 years

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I'm Only A Crack In This Castle Of Glass (Hardly Anything Else I Need To Be) PT. 2

Batfamily x Batsis Story!

Word Count: 2.7K Warnings: Explicit Language and Angst!

Author's Note: It's amazing how much one can write when they've got a story to tell, eh? Enjoy! -Thorne

Set Three Years After PT. 1:

Life for her revolved around work in the A.M. and community college in the P.M. If she wasn’t brewing cappuccinos and baking apple turnovers, she was writing research papers and taking physics exams. It was hectic and it was hard, much harder than anything she’d done, but it was her life, and she was going to make the best of it. The money she’d taken from her savings account had only lasted her long enough to get a decent one bedroom one bathroom apartment in a small complex and the rest went towards tuition. The coffee shop two blocks from her building had fortunately been looking for a new hire when she arrived, and she took the chance where it was, not going to look the gift horse in its mouth.

The life she lived now was a complete 180 from her old one. Back then, she didn’t have to work (though she did at a high-end department store in the mall—her father got her the job but at least she had one) and there wasn’t anything she couldn’t get with a swipe of a credit card. Now she was on a budget that consisted of five and ten tips and the last time she actually bought a new pair of shoes over a hundred dollars had been last year when she needed them for an interview, and even then, it cost her a limb.

Everything was so different, but she didn’t want to go back, preferring to be on her own and away from Gotham. From the newspapers and media, her family had convinced the world that she’d taken a few years to go overseas and spend time in Europe. A mental reprieve, they’d called it. Partially true if she was honest, but she wasn’t going to open her mouth about it lest they learned where she was. She didn’t go through all that trouble to be found within three years.

“Melisandre.”

Maybe I should move again?

“Melisandre?”

Moving would take a long time but it would be effective.

“Melisandre!”

Someone grabbed her arm over the counter, and she jerked with a start, eyes widening as she finally realized someone was standing in front of her.

“Barry?” she asked, and he smiled.

“Finally,” he snorted. “I’ve been calling your name for like ten minutes now.”

She felt a flush creep along her cheeks, and she smiled apologetically. “Sorry, I was thinking about something. Usual?” she murmured, marking a disposable coffee cup with a marker.

Barry nodded with understanding and handed her a credit card. “I hear you. How’s studying going for that physics exam?” His blue eyes darted to the science book she had sprawled over the counter.

“It’s going,” she muttered and turned, starting to mix together his latte. “I still can’t get the thermodynamic laws down. They’re a bit confusing.”

“Yeah, it’ll take a while. You know if you need my help, all you gotta do is ask, right?”

Shrugging, she glanced at him as she poured. “You’re a busy man, Barry. I can’t have you trying to help me while trying to solve cases too.”

Barry chuckled and accepted the freshly poured latte. “I’m an excellent multitasker, Melisandre. Besides, you don’t have to worry about it messing with my work.” She opened her mouth to retort but he cut her off. “Seriously, shoot me an email about whatever questions you’ve got, and I’ll take a look at ‘em, okay?”

Her eyes narrowed warily, and she inquired, “You’re sure it won’t interfere? I’d hate for you to get in trouble for working on non-work-related things.”

“I promise, Melisandre,” he smiled and accepted a bag of apple turnovers too. He couldn’t help but pull one out and bite into it, letting out a delighted noise. “God, what do you put in these things? They’re phenomenal.”

She giggled and winked as he handed her a twenty. “A baker never reveals her secret, but if you really want to know, I use a little vanilla extract.”

Barry shook his head with a chuckle and started making his way to the door. “See you later, Melisandre!”

Waving at him, she called, “Bye Barry! Take care!”

Just as he opened the door, he stopped and spun around, suddenly asking, “Hey, what are you doing tomorrow?”

Blinking, she glanced at the physics book then back to him. “Well, I was going to be studying for the exam…why?”

“My nephew is in town and I wanted to introduce him to you. I’ve already mentioned you a bunch of times and he wants to meet you.”

Her face pinched. “Barry Allen, what did you tell that poor boy?”

He stuck his tongue out at her. “That there’s a lonely college student who has no friends but has the greatest baking abilities in the world.”

“I cannot believe you told him I had no friends! Why!”

“You don’t.”

“Well, yeah! But still! You don’t just tell someone that! It makes me seem like there’s something wrong with me!”

Barry waved a hand. “Relax. Wally’s the least jerky person you’ll meet.” He smiled. “You’ll like him.”

She frowned. “I still don’t think this is a good idea, Barry.”

“Why not?”

“Well, he’s here to see you and your wife, not come meet the person who feeds your apple turnover addiction.”

The blonde’s cheeks turned a dark shade of crimson and he spluttered, “It is not an addiction!” he spun around and marched through the door. “I’ll send him over tomorrow! Bye!”

And he left before she could even say a word.

***

It had to be hieroglyphics. It was either that or some ancient cuneiform he’d recently taken up interest in, because there was no way whatever he’d written on the paper was English.

She cocked her head to the side, muttering, “Jesus Christ, Barry, did you write this on a caffeine bender? Your writing is like chicken scratch.” She tipped her head to the other side trying to decipher it when someone leaned over her shoulder.

“Which problem do you need help on?” they asked, and she pointed to the sheet.

“I have no idea what that says.” She turned and saw a red-haired stranger. “If you think you can, be my guest.”

He took it and read over it a moment, green eyes scanning over the page then he said, “Let’s see, he wrote first, ‘The third law of thermodynamics states that the entropy of a system at absolute zero is a well-defined constant. This is because a system at zero temperature exists in its ground state, so that its entropy is determined only by the degeneracy of the ground state.’”

Pausing, he scanned it again and added, “Then he marked a note beside it and wrote, ‘In simplistic terms, if an object reaches the absolute zero temp. of (0 K = -273.15C = -459.67°F), its atoms will stop moving. In other words, at absolute zero, the entropy of a perfectly crystalline substance is zero.’”

Glancing at her, he smiled. “Make sense now?”

She huffed and nodded, taking the sheet back. “Yeah, thanks. I don’t even know how you managed to get all that from his writing.”

He nodded. “Yeah, Barry’s handwriting is deplorable.”

Her eyes went wide, and she immediately questioned, “How did you?”

Sticking a hand out, he greeted, “Wally West. I’m Barry’s nephew.”

Shaking his hand, she couldn’t help but laugh. “I can’t believe he actually told you to come up here and meet me.” A smile came across her lips. “I’m Melisandre Hale.”

“That’s a pretty name, Melisandre.”

“Thank you,” she grinned and waved him to one of the bar-stools on the adjacent side of the counter. “Have a seat and I’ll get you something to eat and drink.” As she slid behind the counter, she inquired, “Anything specific?”

Wally stared at the bored, offhandedly mentioning, “Barry said something about apple turnovers that could make you cry with joy, so I’ve gotta have one of those.” His evergreen eyes met hers. “Maybe two if I’m being honest.”

She grunted, but a grin crossed her lips, nevertheless. “Barry exaggerates a lot, Wally. They’re good, but they’re not mind-blowingly good.”

“Then I guess that leaves me to be the judge,” he countered with a smirk. “What should I drink?”

She thought for a moment then offered, “Have any judgments about drinking before five o’clock?”

He let out a startled laugh and shook his head. “It’s five o’clock somewhere.”

With a grin, she turned and started working her magic and a moment later, she was sliding a plate with two iced apple turnovers over along with a clear steaming mug of dark coffee with cream on top. She leaned her hip on the counter and watched him pick up one of the apple turnovers and take a bite.

Immediately his eyes went wide, and he exclaimed, “Holy shit.” He gaped at her. “This is delicious, Melisandre!”

Despite herself, her cheeks warmed, and she gave him an easy smile. “Thanks, Wally.” She nodded to the crystal mug. “Try the Irish coffee.”

He did so and tossed his head back, letting out an exaggerated groan that had her laughing until her stomach hurt. Wally was on his second turnover and he looked at her.

“You’ve gotta open up a bakery or something, Melisandre. Your pastries are awesome.”

She huffed and took the plate from him as he finished the last bite. “Let me get through college first and then I’ll wonder how to rack up enough to open a shop.”

“What are you studying?”

Pausing, she tossed a quick glance at him. “There’s no specification right now. I’m just doing general studies to get all the basics out of the way.” She put the dish in the sink and started rinsing it. “I’m at the four-C right now.” His brows pulled together, and she added, “Central City Community College.”

He snapped his fingers. “Right! It’s been a while since I went to the four-C.”

Her eyes found his and she curiously asked, “Did you go there?”

“Yeah, a few years back.”

“You don’t look that much older than I am. How old are you, Wally?”

He sipped his coffee and set it down as he replied, “I turned twenty-eight a month ago.”

“Happy belated birthday,” she smiled, and he gave her one in return.

“Thanks. How about you?”

“I turned twenty-one a few months ago.”

“Hmm, happy belated birthday to you as well.” He grinned, quipping, “How’s it feel to finally be able to legally do all the things you were doing before you turned twenty-one?”

She shot him a look. “Shame on you, Wally West, for assuming I was doing illegal things.” He chuckled and she shrugged. “But to answer your question, it feels great, so thanks.”

Wally snorted at that. “My best friend and I got absolutely hammered on our twenty-firsts and swore to never drink hard liquor again after we woke up in the bathroom in our underwear after passing out on the floor.”

A shudder passed over her at her own memory of waking up beside the toilet after her birthday celebration with a bottle of white rum. She cocked a hand up with her water bottle in it. “Here, here,” she toasted and took a sip as Wally raised his coffee and drank too.

She glanced at him. “Are you in school, or are you done?”

“I finished a while ago. I work out of a tower with a group of friends in Manhattan.”

For a moment, her eyes drifted to the simple pair of jeans and graphic shirt he was wearing. She lived in the upper area of Gotham and she knew what uptown Manhattan was like, and it wasn’t jeans and t-shirts.

Evidently, he did too because he scowled, “I have suits and ties, thank you very much.”

She snorted and took the empty mug from him. “I didn’t say anything, Wally.”

“You made a face.”

“Is a face a ground to be hostile?” she grinned. “I was just wondering what type of business in Manhattan ran on flash t-shirts and skinny jeans.” She eyed him. “Tech?”

He shrugged. “It’s…a bit of everything if I’m being honest.” It sounded like he didn’t exactly want to say, and she let it be, rinsing out his cup before setting it to dry.

A buzz sounded and she felt for her phone when he said, “That’s mine.” Wally pulled his phone out, read the message, and stood up. “I’ve gotta go, Melisandre.”

She nodded and took the twenty-dollar bill he handed her, waving her off when she tried to hand back the change. As he started towards the door, she called, “Wally?”

He turned on his heel and waited and she felt foolish for saying it, but she admitted with warmth in her cheeks, “It’s been a while since I had any semblance of a friend…so thanks for this afternoon.”

Wally gave her a pearly white grin. “Barry said you’d say something like that,” he chuckled as she scowled and he added sincerely, “Can never have too many friends, Melisandre…and I hope you’ll become a great one of mine. So far, you already are.”

She smiled, “Same here, Wally.” The bell signaled his exit and she let out a heavy sigh as her heart warmed in her chest at the feeling of a newfound friendship.

***

She was dead on her feet when she finally got through her front door and into her living room, practically collapsing onto the couch. Though it wasn’t far from the truth as she flopped down and toed off her shoes, heaving a long and winded sigh as she stared at the dark ceiling. She wanted to turn on the lamp on the table beside her, but she didn’t want to move. Hell, she barely wanted to get up and take a shower, so she didn’t go to bed sweaty.

Just a moment. She thought. Just a moment to close my eyes and I’ll get up and go shower.

Of course, the second the shut them, she was opening them to her phone telling her it was two A.M. She groaned and picked herself off the couch to shuffle into her bedroom, and when she got there, she peeled off the clothes from her body and let them fall, not caring about the hamper just a foot away. She’d do it tomorrow after class.

The shower was quick, and she crawled into bed a few minutes later, glancing out the window at the stars that were still in the night sky. Even if she tried to avoid thinking about it, she couldn’t, and her mind drifted to when she was a young girl and would stare out the window in her bedroom back in Gotham, watching the spotlight come alive and paint the silhouette of the bat symbol against the night sky.

She missed them. She missed them a lot. Missed eating meals at a full table and the laughter in the manor. Hell, she even missed being ignored, because at least then she could see familiar faces every day. Now, it was wake up, go to work, go to class, then come home. And the process repeated every morning. She was alone in a city where she didn’t know anyone except for one forensic scientist and his wife, going to a college that didn’t even have her real identity. She’d not even said the name “(Y/N) Wayne” out loud for fear that someone with super hearing would hear her and tell her father, instead going by “Melisandre Hale”, a twenty-one-year-old born and raised Central City citizen going to community college. It pained her to admit, that with her decision to grant herself the freedom she desired, it came with a heavy price, and that was the loneliness. And it was worse compared to what it was like back then.

Sighing, she rolled over and pulled the covers up over her head, hoping that when she shut her eyes, she’d stop thinking about what she left behind. Unfortunately, the universe and her mind were never kind, and as she drifted to sleep, she saw the pained faces of her family.

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