#absolutely immaculate enemy design
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This is the most beautiful creature in all of creation. It is perfection manifest, there's nothing more that evolution or god can do. Breadbug is love, Breadbug is life and all that is good in this universe.
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No devil hides beneath my bed
Part 1, Part 2
AO3
CW: nsfw (minors dni), whumper pov, past noncon, promise of future noncon, pet whump, captivity, dehumanization, sexual slavery, put on display, intimate whumper, creepy whumper, multiple whumpers, cages, restraints, ring gag, forced arousal, object insertion, overstimulation, auction, noncon touching
Tonight Scarlet hosts the Lanista Society for a special dinner event. The Champion is the coveted prize, and Ivan is honored to have been the cause of it.
Champion taglist: @emmettnet , @ostensiblyfunctional
Ivan is left marveling once again at his superior's immaculate taste.
High Martinet Matar sure knew how to throw a party.
Her guests had been greeted with the finest. A banquet of gourmet Crescentine dishes and exotic delicacies. Fresh fruits and cheeses, tender meats and fish, spiced breads and decadent sweets, aged wines from the mountain vineyards. The finest money and magic could offer.
Their venue is just as grand, perhaps more so due to its creativity. A conjured demiplane Scarlet produced specially for this affair. Ivan finds it rather ingenious.
The woman was no stranger to hosting guests at her manor; he himself had been there only last week. But she limits those meetings to no more than a few people at a time. Fewer bodies are easier to keep track of. With large parties like this, comes the ever present risk of unsavory infiltrators. The Lanista Society held members with many enemies. The uninvited in disguise or potential rivals waiting for the right moment to snoop around. Larger groups made it inconvenient to keep tabs on everyone.
The demiplane removed that risk.
No need to worry about the unwanted loose in your home if you're not bringing them to your home to begin with.
And as a bonus, the spell's design was limited only by the imagination. And a wizard of Scarlet's caliber knew fine decor.
All which was fully on display for tonight's event. It was a special occasion after all.
On one end of the chamber, seated on a raised platform, was an ornate bronze cage. Round and domed at the top like one of those old-fashioned bird cages that didn't allow room for the bird to spread its wings. However this cage was far larger, for its occupant was no bird.
Scarlet found the perfect display for the Society's beloved Champion. An advantageous maneuver given he was the subject of business this evening. If Ivan had thought he looked enticing their first meeting a week ago, Scarlet had expertly ensured that the people present now would be incapable of keeping their eyes off him.
In fact, there was already a crowd forming around the cage.
Knees spread and wrists secured above him, the Champion was giving everyone a show with his trembling body. Years of fighting had toned his muscles, and the shimmering red velvet bands only accentuated them. Scarlet must have gotten the outfit custom tailored, for it turned the tiefling's form into a canvas painted with red. Velvet strips hugging his thighs and shoulders. Flowers of beaded lace climbing from hip to collar to the small of his back. Dangling garnets mimicked the appearance of dripping blood.
Absolutely exquisite.
Scarlet had elected to keep his lower region covered, draping that same black cloth around his waist that he'd worn last time. Ivan could see the sense; what was already being shown was enough of a free sample.
The guests were permitted to touch, at least to the extent they were allowed without having to pay. And the Champion’s body was a buffet getting more attention than the actual food. Fingers traced the soft velvet, then slipped in between to caress exposed skin.
“He has the best reactions if you stroke his tail,” Ivan had informed them, and they were quick to take advantage.
The touches worked well to elicit forced pleasure, though perhaps not as much as some other things.
Scarlet couldn't allow her pet to spend the whole party glaring or growling at guests, so Ivan suggested a means to keep him occupied. Just a couple simple toys, one placed inside him and the other encircling the base of his tail where he was most sensitive. Both hidden from the guests eyes with a specially crafted belt that doubled to prevent the tiefling from making a mess of himself.
From how much he was trembling, struggling to close his legs, face flushed as he moaned around the ring gag strapped around his head, the toys were doing their job. And the guests were very much appreciating the sight. Ivan could see a number of people with their hands under their pants.
He couldn't blame them. They stood before a desperate succubus, beckoning them all with pleading huffs of breath and squirming hips. Ivan himself was imagining how pretty that face would look around his cock.
He would have to wait his turn.
Ting! Ting! Ting!
The rhythmic taps of a wine glass drew the attention of the masses to the head of the table where Scarlet stands.
“Now now, everyone. I know my pet has been an exciting treat for you all, but I do hope you help yourselves to the dessert table.”
There were more than a few bouts of embarrassed laughter. Ivan included, as he too nearly forgot to go fill up his dish.
“I'm pleased to see he has garnered such interest,” she continues. “Just a quick reminder that the bidding period ends in thirty minutes. The current highest offer stands at 2,500 platinum.”
Well, not too bad a price tag for the Champion’s first official patron (Ivan's previous night with him didn't count). And if this went to a formal auction at the end of the party, if there was still an active bidding war, that amount would likely grow.
But already, he'd be returning home tomorrow with a decent payment. In a deal that spoke wonders of her generosity, Scarlet had agreed to save a percentage of the funds for him. None of this would've happened had he not raised the suggestion to her.
Lucrative business indeed. Ivan could recognize many big names at this party. Politicians, industry tycoons, nobility, all those with plentiful riches and power. He wonders if he could convince some of them to assist him in forming a similar operation in Mężnydzik. Or perhaps a connected branch.
Those were thoughts for the future. Right now, he was enjoying the view.
The first moment the cage is clear of onlookers, Ivan walks over and reaches through the bronze bars to lift up the Champion’s head to face him. With how long he'd had his mouth held open, his chin was streaked with drool, but thankfully Ivan had the foresight to wear gloves.
“Just like I said, little devil,” he purrs, gazing into eyes that struggle to focus through the mind clouding sensations. The tiefling whines in protest as Ivan lets his other hand trail up his thigh. “I knew you'd be quite popular.”
There's a moment of clarity to the Champion’s stare. A moment he's able to fight through the tears and the unwanted stimulation and-
Oh. Well isn't that a nasty look.
Reference for the outfit here.
#whumpblr#whump writing#whump community#nsfwhump#pet whump#tw noncon#tw dehumanization#intimate whumper#creepy whumper#Narcos#Ivan Mitreski#Scarlet Matar#my ocs#Xitanae tag#my work#my writing#original#whump stuff
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Game Review: Crosscode
Imagine if you were playing an Augmented Reality Multiplayer Online RPG but instead of actually playing an Augmented Reality Multiplayer Online RPG you played as a character who was playing an Augmented Reality Mulitplayer Online RPG? Welcome to Crosscode, an absolute BANGER of a RPG and the single game I’ve been obsessed with for the last two months or so.
Story:
Meet Lea, an amnesiac playing through the Augmented Reality game of Crossworlds to relearn her memories. Through the story, you meet incredibly fun characters and explore a gorgeous futuristic world, uncovering the secrets of your past and figuring out who you are in the present. This game’s got some twists and turns that kept me gripped the whole way through. I wanted to squeeze every dialogue option out of all the characters I met to learn everything about them that I could. Man this game has a story that’s so rich and plentiful I feel like I’m wallowing in a five-star course. I love a good lore-filled game.
Gameplay and Controls:
As Lea, you travel through a 2D RPG, exploring new places, solving puzzles, and fighting monsters to level up! The world is vast and well-designed, the puzzles are immaculate, but one of the most fleshed out parts of this game is its combat system. I’m usually more a puzzle gameplay person than a combat one but man the combat just feels good. The enemies are interesting and varied, you’ve got an extensive amount of control over how to build the character that you want to play, and its super satisfying to go back to earlier levels that you’ve toiled through and just fucking disintegrate every enemy in your path. And there’s accessibility options too, for both the combat aspect of the game and the puzzle aspect!
Sound:
The music is a treat and is very intuitive to the mood of the story and the environment, But also, past that, just the sounds in general are great too. I didn’t realize what a treat it was for certain attacks to sound so nice until I was using them. There are places in the game where the waterfall effects are a bit too loud, but other than that, the game is just really nice to listen to.
Art:
Crosscode’s got a nice pixel style which lends a special charm to the game, almost calling back to older games with its style while making a story about a futuristic gaming environment. The only gripe I have with this style is that, due to its 2D nature, it can be hard to gauge perspective sometimes which can make platforming a bit tricky.
Playable, Replayable, or Unplayable?
God, there is so much in this game to do. It’s worth playing it, it’s worth going back and replaying it. For an indie game, it’s so richly made and there’s so much love put into it that I can’t recommend it enough. If you’re looking into this game, I’d HIGHLY recommend also yoinking the “A New Home” DLC, which offers a whole-ass epilogue chapter. And if you’re not sure if it’s the right game for you, try the free demo out! Man, I love this game. 10/10.
Steam
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Man's World - Chapter 4 - Heat? I Eat Chilis Raw
Pairing: Female!Leclerc reader x Carlos Sainz Jr
Warnings: slow burn, eventual Smut, enemies to lovers
Rating: Mature
AN: Did we like the Carlos POV from the last chapter? I think I might add some more Carlos POV if we think its fun! Thanks for all the lovely comments and messages - make me so excited to post!
Mini Synopsis: Georgia Leclerc is one of Bugatti's two female drivers. As the newest team in Formula 1, Bugatti has a lot to prove - especially since Team Principal Isabelle Binotto has decided to make the team a pre-dominantly female run team - from race engineers all the way to drivers. But even though Georgia has had an impressive start to her career, the press have labeled her a sassy hot head, nothing like her twin brother Charles.
With sponsorship money on the line, Ferrari and Bugatti come up with one solution – fake a relationship between Georgia and Carlos with the hopes that the Sponsors will see the drivers in a new light. An easy task – if the drivers didn’t hate each other.
Check out the full intro synopsis here!
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Thursday morning arrived and much like Wednesday, it was full of more publicity stunts and small media stories. We did a visit to the local children’s hospital in the morning, which was pleasant. I had always loved children and visiting the children’s hospital and speaking to the young girls truly brightened my day. That is, until we got to the track and Lizzie reminded me that I had a track walk with Carlos scheduled after the mandatory Drivers meeting run by the FIA.
I wanted this FIA conference to last forever, but to my dismay, this one ended up being one of the shorter ones. Before I left for the Ferrari garage, Lizzie slid another index card into my hand with even more questions – because the other ones had gone so well last time, I mused to myself. I thanked her and headed off with my Bugatti hat and Ray Ban sunglasses. Figured they might remind Carlos what was at stake, and if it got under his skin, then even better.
When I arrived at the garage I smiled sweetly, waving at Mattia Binotto, the Ferrari team principal and husband to Isabelle. “You here to see Charles?” He asked, a nice little twinkle in his eye. It took everything within me not to roll my eyes at him. The bastard knew I was here to see Carlos, but he wanted me to say it.
“No, actually Carlos promised me a little walk around the track,” I said casually, “plus I figured it would be a good time to get all the details on this weekend’s Ferrari strategy,” I added with a wink. His face told me he didn’t think the last part of my sentence was particularly funny, but I didn’t care – Susie Wolff would get a good laugh out of it.
Mattia nodded and gestured for me to come with him. The Ferrari garage was beautiful, and well designed. I was impressed, but I guess that’s what decades upon decades of Formula 1 races got you – a well oiled machine.
As we approached Carlos’ room, I knocked on the door gently.
“Come in,” he said and I entered. I’m not sure what I was expecting from Carlos’ driver room, but it definitely wasn’t this. I suppose I was expecting whatever I saw when I walked into Charles’ room – an absolute mess. But instead, I was greeted with what could only be described as serial killer cleanliness. His room was in immaculate shape.
He must have noticed the shock on my face. “Not all men are slobs like your brother.”
I wanted to retort something sassy back to him, but in all honesty, it was good to see. “Shall we go?” I responded.
He nodded and we exited the garage, heading towards the track. The Miami track was brand new to F1 in 2022, so several of the teams were out, walking around the track and analyzing everything from the curbs to the width of the straight. As we continued to walk down the track, I saw a bright color papaya shirt up ahead of us.
“Danny!” I called out, causing the papaya shirt to turn around. Carlos groaned, clearly not interested in chatting to Danny, but I ignored him.
“If it isn’t Little Ms. Sassy Leclerc,” he said, running up and giving me a big hug, lifting me ever so slightly off the ground. He nodded to Carlos, who nodded back, doing his best to avoid his eyes anywhere but Daniel’s face.
“Enjoying Miami?” I asked. I knew Daniel lived in Los Angeles, and he visited to Miami often, but there was still no hiding his excitement every time he visited the city.
“It’s marvelous as always. How about you, Carlos, enjoying the deeply rooted Spanish culture and cuisine?” Daniel knew the answer; there wasn’t a cultured bone in Carlos’ body as far as either of us were concerned, but it was still fun to watch Carlos squirm.
Carlos only nodded, clearly looking around the track, searching for a way out of this conversation. Where was Lando when he needed him?
“So Lando says you’re all going to drinks this evening. That sounds fun.” I knew Daniel was itching for an invite, but we needed to sell this an in intimate drinks between a couple and their two closest friends.
“Don’t worry, we’ll save the good drinks for Sunday once we celebrate my win,” I said winking at him. He grabbed my shoulder playfully, giving me his big Daniel laugh.
“Well, if we’re going to get to these drinks this evening, we better finish this track walk,” Carlos let out bitterly, clearly done with this conversation.
I nodded. There was still a lot to do before tomorrow’s Free Practice sessions. We finished the rest of our track walk in complete silence. As we passed Pierre on the way out of the track and back to the pitlane, he waved at me, giving me a little squeeze on my arm and a wink as he walked by. I gave him a look that said, “please, god, save me” but he was gone before I could force him to talk to me.
I dropped Carlos back off at Ferrari and headed back to the Bugatti garage.
“Have a nice track walk?” Susie asked, raising her head from her computer screen. I gave her a look that, in my opinion, said it all. She chuckled and handed me an iPad. “Here, go finish reviewing the track with the analysis. We’ll talk more tomorrow.” I spent the rest of the afternoon at the track, reviewing the track analysis and discussing various race strategies with the team.
“Alright Georgie,” I heard from behind. I set the iPad down and turned to see Lizzie, all smiles and bubbles as usual. “Ready to go conquer the world!?” She asked.
“You mean ready to go feed the media dragon?” I asked sarcastically, raising one eyebrow at her.
“Same thing,” she quipped back. I laughed – never a dull moment with Lizzie.
We made our way to the media center where all the other drivers were waiting. Truth be told, these media days were some of the better ones because at least I had 4 other drivers in the conference room with me. They always split us up between 4 groups, five drivers per session - so you were never with your teammate. If a couple of drivers had a crash last race, the FIA would also put them together. The more drama, the better, especially if Netflix was filming that press conference for Drive to Survive.
Typically the FIA put Charles and I together. They enjoyed the sibling banter back and forth, although they learned their lesson when they once added Lando into our session. I don’t think the media got any of their questions answered, and Lando spent half the interview in literal fits of laughter.
I walked into my segment and of course sitting next to my seat was Carlos. Oh FIA, how you never let me down, I thought to myself sarcastically. Undoubtedly there had been some whispers in the paddock after our dinner last night and track walk together. While it hadn’t blown up on social media, the team was expecting this press conference and tonight’s drinks session to give us the push forward that everyone wanted – well, everyone except Carlos and I.
I nodded at Carlos, who got up and gave me a mini hug. “Twice in one day, cariño, lucky me,” he said quietly, but not quiet enough so that the front row of journalists couldn’t hear. I just smiled and sat down, thankful that Lewis was to my right. He gave me a fist bump and a knowing look. Nothing got past the 7-time world champion. From my understanding, Lorenzo had filled him and Sebastian in on the drama because they were the most likely to say something to me about it, and they were always the first two drivers to defend me during bad press interactions.
The conference started with the usual questions on the track and what we all thought about the FIA’s new jewelry ban. Soon the conversation moved onto the heat of the afternoon and the weather. Miami in June was known for rain, and tomorrow’s weather report was inconclusive, as Susie Wolff had said. It would either be blistering heat, or pouring rain. No in between.
“So Georgia, how does it feel to be back in America, racing Formula 1 cars?”
This was a simple question, I told myself, I could answer this. Nice and easy… but as I went to answer I could feel my hands start to clam up. I looked to my right and saw Lewis, who was smiling brightly at the camera, but I could see his eyes shift ever so slightly towards me. He wiggled his finger at me as if to say, “you got this kid.”
“Yeah, it’s, uh, it’s nice to be back.”
The journalist nodded at me. “Since you’ve raced in the South before, do you think you’ll be ready for the heat tomorrow? I heard several of the drivers dropped several pounds today due to the heat.” It was true, the heat was bad and I had left the car considerably lighter then when I had went in.
I wanted to roll my eyes a bit – they had neglected to ask Lewis, Carlos or Yuki if they could stand the heat in the car, but I decided not to let it bother me. Still, I guess my internal conflict was taking too long because before I could answer I heard Carlos say, “Please… I can’t think of anyone more prepared to fight the heat – last night at dinner I literally saw her eat a chili pepper raw,” he joked, turning to me and winking.
I turned to face Carlos, my face clearly a little shocked. I could feel myself blushing, a slight heat rushing to my face. To my right I heard Lewis giggle, followed by Yuki and Alex. I saw Alex wink at me, clearly getting Carlos’ inuendo.
Carlos nickname was Chili, a sort of joke from his childhood that had spun up into a fan favorite name used not only his entire family, but also the F1 community. Everyone knew him as Chili; his helmet even had a red chili pepper on it.
If the journalist also got the joke, he didn’t say anything, although he did let out a laugh. “Fair enough,” I heard him say.
The rest of the conference went well. Fortunately, the journalists let me off with just a few more easy questions, which after Carlos slightly embarrassing response, actually felt fairly easy to answer. I guess Susie was right – Carlos was good at media, and I could use the help.
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Lizzie met me inside of my drivers room once the press conference was over. Typically she would walk me back to the garage after the conference, but a meeting with Coco, Carlos’ manger, had distracted her.
“Right, Georgia, time to head back to the hotel and get ready for drinks tonight,” Lizzie said, popping her head into my drivers room. Chris, my personal athletic training, just wiggled his eye brows at me and helped me off the massage table.
“Ah yes, another date with the infamous, but devilishly handsome, Carlos Sainz,” he chimed in. I rolled my eyes at both of them. I knew Lizzie was secretly loving this. Chris, on the other hand, was openly loving this far too much.
I grabbed the keys to my Bugatti and bag from the table and headed to the parking lot. As I was getting into my car, I saw Lando pass by, waving his hands at me. I rolled down my window and he gave me the world’s biggest high five.
“Not the hands, Lan, gotta save those for driving tomorrow,” I quipped.
“I don’t know, Georgia, as far as I see it, if I remove you from the grid, I get to move up a spot,” he joked.
I simply waved my hands at him and yelled, “See you tonight, loser.”
Drinks tonight were to be at a bar fairly close by. Again, Carlos was to pick me up and drive us to the bar in his Ferrari. This time I had grumbled about why we always had to take his Ferrari, especially since I actually knew how to drive in America, but I was told to shove it and move on. Apparently no one in my all female team had wanted to hear about the sexism of a woman constantly being told she couldn’t drive to dates. Isabelle gave me a look that told me to give up, so I did.
You win some, you lose some.
I decided not to be late to meet Carlos this time. Truth be told, I was excited to see Charles and Lando, and figured the quicker I got there, the quicker I could start ignoring Carlos’ presence. I put on a cute top with some new jeans that Luisa, Lando’s girlfriend, had given me.
I met Carlos again at the front of the hotel. He was wearing a nice, purple button down shirt. Of course he decided to wear my favourite colour; guess someone was listening during last night’s ‘question time’. As much as I hated to admit it, he looked really good in the purple button down and Lucky branded jeans. As I approached he looked up at me and smirked, obviously noticing me staring at him.
Cocky bastard. Fine, Georgia 1: Carlos 1. Well, maybe .0.5
When we arrived at the bar, I immediately ran up to Charles and gave him a big hug. My anger from Tuesday had simmered down, and we had managed to get a few more chats in throughout the last two days. Lando gave Carlos a big hug, which surprised me. I knew the two were friends since they were teammates for two years at McLaren, but I didn’t realise they were ‘hugging friends.’ Figured they were more, ‘friends because we had to be’. Plus, Lando was friends with everyone. You could give him a rock and he’d manage to make it his best friend.
“Carlos, Georgia, good to see you both,” Lando said, wiggling his eyes suggestively at the two of us. He quickly stopped when he saw both of our faces. I have no idea what expression Carlos had on his face as he looked at Lando, but I imagined it looked like mine – unimpressed and disinserted in Lando’s antics.
Charles laughed awkwardly, ever the peacekeeper of the group. As the teammate to Carlos and my twin brother, I have no doubt that he wanted to play the situation very delicately. The four of us took a seat at the table, Carlos and I sitting together with Lando and Charles across from us.
“So, how is the car feeling for tomorrow, Lando?” I asked.
“Breaks are going to be rough with the heat, but we’re hoping for some kind of breakthrough,” he replied, a tint of sadness in his voice. Lando loved McLaren, but the car they had given him just wasn’t up to his ability – at least not yet, as he would say.
I nodded. “It’s going to be willfully hot this weekend, not looking forward to it. Whoever thought racing in Miami in May was a good idea should be fired.” Lando and Charles chuckled. I supposed Carlos was more used to the heat, having grown up in the warmth of Spain. At least, he never seemed concerned about it.
As we chatted some more, a group of guys came up to us and asked for a photo. Here it was – our big moment as a small group. Needless to say, these kinds of photos always made it across social media. By tomorrow, everyone who was interested would have a photo of the four of us at this bar.
We scrunched together and before I could protest, Carlos had his hand on my waist, pulling me ever so slightly to him so I leaned into him for the photo. Before I had time to react, I smiled for the photo, remembering where we were and why we were doing this. I felt flustered all of a sudden. On one hand, Carlos fucking Sainz had touched me and I was annoyed, but on the other hand, Carlos Sainz had touched me – and in a way that I hadn’t been touched in a long time. His movements were soft and sweet. I hated to admit it to myself, but it felt nice. As the group thanked us, I noticed several other people around us sneaking photos of our group. I guess after the commotion of the first photo, people had started to notice us. Carlos let his hand slip from my waist, but kept it on my back, rubbing up and down ever so slightly. Not enough to where it was super noticeable, but enough where with all these photos of us, someone would capture the moment.
I can see why they paired me with him. Without even saying a word, Carlos was a master at manipulating both the fans and the media. While those absolutely closest to us, like Lando, Charles and Danny, knew this was a farce, to the rest of the world, we were this close group of friends – with some of us becoming closer than others.
“Peaches? …Earth to Georgia?” I all of a sudden snapped out of my thoughts and turned towards Charles, who was looking at me. “Want another beverage?”
“No, thanks, I’m good. I already broke my no alcohol rule twice this week – no need to push it before Free Practice tomorrow.”
“Always focused on racing – do you ever relax?” mused Carlos.
“Yes, after I win,” I quipped back. He scrunched his eyebrows in annoyance at that comment, but let it go.
The boys each got one more beer, and then we closed the tab. We continued to chat a bit more about our cars and the track, keeping it light and easy. Lando, Charles, and Carlos discussed a bit of golfing that they had done earlier in the week. Once the beers were drunk, we all got up and Carlos and I head back to his Ferrari. I hugged Lando and Charles good-bye and wished them both luck tomorrow, as it would be unlikely I’d see either of them before the Free Practices sessions.
The ride back to the hotel was quiet, but at this point, all of our rides together were quiet.
“Here’s an interesting question,” I said, breaking the silence and pulling out the piece of paper Lizzie had given me earlier in the day. “Who is the most important person in your life?” There was an awkward silence. Perhaps I had asked a question too personal, but Carlos didn’t strike me as someone who much cared about that kind of stuff.
“My father,” he said suddenly. I motioned for him to continue, but he didn’t, so I just nodded. I understood that. I came from a very close family, and before our father had died, he was my #1 supporter.
“I guess I would have said the same when our father was here,” I said with a gentle sigh. “Currently its all of my brothers; my family is the best thing to happen to me.”
Carlos took a moment, as if he was thinking about my answer. “Surprised you didn’t just say Charles; you two are always joined at the hip,” he sneered. I didn’t really know what to say to that, so I just scoffed.
“I love all my brothers equally,” I snipped back. Asshole.
“Of course you do,” I heard him whisper under his breath. As much as I wanted to say something, I thought against it and let us continue the rest of the ride in miserable silence.
Friday – Miami GP
The weather on Friday wasn’t quite so brutal, quite being the operative word here. The weather was rough, but the clouds had given us some shelter. When I arrived at the track, the paddock was buzzing with excitement. There were cameras and fans and media everywhere. I waved to a few of the cameras, but made a b-line to my garage as quickly as I could.
As I entered the garage, I stepped into my drivers room, only to see Lily, Chris and Lizzie all circled around Lizzie’s phone.
“And to what do I owe this honour?” I asked.
Lily’s squealed a bit, clearly eager to tell me what was going on. “Your little stunt worked – look at these photos of you and Carlos!” I hobbled over to the desk where they were all huddled and took a look. There we were – Carlos and I at the restaurant – both drinking our wine and staring into each others eyes. I knew that couple next to us were taking photos of us, I thought to myself. As I scrolled down the Instagram feed, I saw countless photos of me and Carlos – both at the restaurant and then at the bar from last night, including photos his arm around my waist and on my back. Such little touches that meant so much to everyone.
“Looks like your little plan is working,” Chris chimed in, clearly enjoying himself. “The fans seem to love the two of you.” I rolled my eyes. Of course they did.
“Oh, look at this one! The dinner date looks so romantic,” Lily said, sighing a little, as if she was jealous of this ridiculous conspiracy I was now apart of. “It even says you’ve been dating for weeks – now that speaks to your chemistry.” She winked at me, clearly aware of how much she was getting under my skin.
“Did you happen to ask him any of the questions I wrote out for you?” Lizzie asked, eager to see if her plan for us to get to know each other was working. I just nodded, attempting to make it clear that I had no more interest in discussing this.
“Annnddddd…?” Chris looked at me, clearly wanting to know more about this new, mysterious boyfriend that had been thrust upon me.
“I learned he likes the color red,” I responded simply.
“Good thing I put you in that red dress then,” Lizzie said winking. With that, she, Lily and Chris burst out laughing. “He must have thought he had died and gone to heaven!”
“I doubt it,” I quipped back. Little did they know. Carlos probably thought the red represented the hell he was also in.
“Now if you don’t mi-“ I began, but before I could continue, Chris pulled up a new Instagram post.
“Now look at this one!” I motioned for Chris to read it for me. I think I had seen enough social media for one morning.
“It says ‘Rumour has it Georgia Leclerc has moved on with a new driver in the paddock – Carlos Sainz. Sources tell us that rumoured ex-boyfriend Pierre Gasly is fuming at the match.’” At that, I rolled my eyes and let out the biggest groan I had ever heard myself utter. Apparently I had better luck getting fake boyfriends than I did real ones, since I’d managed to snag two fake ones in just a couple of days vs. my one actual real one I had when I was in America.
“I am sure Pierre will love that,” I said sarcastically. For years the media and fans had speculated that Pierre and I were dating. Sure, he was flirty and handsy and we were close enough to where it might look less than platonic, but the truth was, Pierre was my brother’s best friend – and Charles had made it very clear we were both off limits to each other, something we decided to respect.
“Well, I am glad your little publicity stunt is working, but I must be off to get ready for Free Practice.” Lily announced, getting up from her seat and giving me a small hug. “Good luck out there!” I nodded and gave her a hug back.
Free Practice Sessions 1 and 2 went okay. I came P3 in both, which, considering the heat and issue with my front wing in the second practice, I figured was okay. I was annoyed that both Max and Charles had beaten me… but at least I had beaten Carlos, who had come in P4 and P6 respectively.
After the sessions were over and I had properly reviewed the data with my race engineer and Susie Wolff, I caught the eye of Lizzie, who was motioning for me to come over. I knew what she wanted – it was time to stir the rumour mill and give the fans a little something extra.
It was time for the dreaded garage visit. Garage visit #1. If I didn’t die during this visit, I was to be sequestered to a second visit tomorrow. Just lovely.
@ferrarifwendvale @ihearttheoriginals @lightsoutpierre @starxqt @internetgremlin @ashf1 @lovingroscoee @ccloaned@xheera @markluv4u @kashee-h @questionslostinmoments @pierre-gasllllllyyyyyy @questionslostinmoments@jpotterdilf @oyesmendes @groovy-slytherin @hnmaga-blog @zoobabystation @opfire
#Carlos Sainz Jr x reader#Carlos Sainz x reader#Carlos Sainz imagine#F1 Imagine#Carlos Sainz x Leclerc!reader#Carlos sainz#Carlos sainz jr#Carlos sainz x you#carlos sainz jr x reader#formula 1 smut#f1 smut#f1 fanfic#carlos sainz x you#Charles Leclerc x reader#f1 fluff#formula 1 fanfic#f1 fic#formula 1 imagine#f1 x reader#f1 x you#f1 imagine#f1 imagines#f1 series
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World's dumbest spymaster
Azriel / Eris
Summary: The way in which Azriel's family learns about his relationship with Eris is not exactly the way he envisioned it.
Word count: 2068
Warnings: none
Notes: English is not my first language so if you see the dumbest possible mistakes ever please tell me.
Read on AO3
Being Night Court's spymaster was a profession with an abundance of stressful situations but Azriel cannot recall anything more stressful in the last couple of centuries than having Eris visiting Velaris for Winter Solstice.
What is worse it was Azriel's idea to invite him and he wonders what were he fucking thinking when he proposed this to Rhysand and Feyre a few weeks ago.
He probably thought, rather idiotically, that the opportunity was so easy it would be a sin not to take it. Azriel was invited to Autumn for Autumn Equinox, where he helped Eris to orchestrate Beron’s very sudden and very deadly demise. Now it was politically excusable to invite a new High Lord of Autumn to celebrate his new reign and flaunt an alliance between courts.
It's clear to him now that he was thinking solely with his cock when he came up with that idea.
He dramatically miscalculated how hard it will be to hide his relationship with Eris in front of his whole fucking family. Hiding it for the last few months has been easy. All their trysts were taking place only in Autumn, where Eris as the High Lord could do whatever he fucking wanted and no one dared to question him. Here, in Velaris, with the whole of his drunken family present and ogling Eris like a new quirky thing, feigning disinterest in his own lover is a new kind of hell.
Eris looks magnificent in his festive well fitted jacket and carefully arranged hair. Alluring. Devastatingly handsome. Absolutely delectable. And Azriel is forced to stand far from him and pretend he doesn't want to pounce him. Convincing his shadows to stay beside him instead of curling around Eris's nimble fingers or slim wrists or freckled ears is a torture. Keeping distance is literally painful.
But he will do it. He will endure it and mope in the corner because sooner or later everyone will scatter and finally he will be alone with Eris. Having him here, in his house, or almost his anyways as House of Wind is technically Cassian's and Nesta's now, for the first time since they started sleeping together is filling him with much more tender feelings that he cares to examine.
So he endures and endures, Eris's brilliant smiles to people that are not him, Rhysand's carefully maintained mask of politeness donned to mingle with other High Lord, Feyre's excessive interest, Cassian's a little too artificial cordiality, Mor's pouting, Amren's snide comments bordering on being rude.
He's a fucking spymaster, he can wait forever.
So he's waiting until the party ends, until everyone's gone to their homes or to their rooms, and then he waits some more, just to be sure. And only when his shadows report that the House of Wind is immaculately silent he dares to go to Eris's designated guest room, on the way hidden in shadows just to be double fucking sure.
And then he makes Eris to put up insane lot of wards so no one will overhear them, just to be triple fucking sure, which is for the best, because Eris is not very prone to being silent when he has Azriel's cock up his ass.
And it was worth it. It was worth everything to have Eris here, in his home, in his arms, where he can pretend they are normal couple that doesn't have to hide in fear of estrangement or exile or wherever form of punishment Rhys and Feyre might come up with when they learn he is sleeping with someone who's essentially an enemy in all things that matter. Having other High Lord on festives in their court might be fine and dandy until they learn that this same High Lord is fucking their spymaster.
That night when he falls asleep, tangled with freckled covered limbs, with auburn hair ticking his nose, he thinks that he never felt as much at home as he feels now.
What wakes him up, regrettably, isn't a blowjob from Eris. It's an offensive knocking.
"Az?" Cassian's voice is muffled through the door or maybe it's his brain that is still dulled from sleep. The sun only just started to rise and this was the deepest and calmest sleep he had in centuries. In the House of Wind, where he feels completely safe, magnified tenfold by the comforting presence of Eris in his arms.
"Yeah?" he tries to sound like he's not guilty of having a secret lover by his side.
"Do you by any chance have someone in your bed?"
Azriel looks at sleep rumpled Eris rousing to sit and peering at him warily. He wants to tell them. He wants them to know. Most of all he wants them to accept it. To accept Eris. But he's not so hopelessly naive as to confuse his longings with reality.
"No," he replies with as much conviction as he can muster at this hour.
"You are in my room you moron," Eris grumbles and Azriel's world shatters around him like the finest china.
He forgot he's in Eris's room, not his own. He shouldn't have responded to Cassian calling his name. How could he possibly be so dumb? Rhysand should fire him as Prythian's dumbest spymaster. Rhysand might fire him anyway, why would he want a spymaster that presumably spills all the secrets in the ear of his high lordly, other courtly lover?
There's a bit of deafening silence where his heart threatens to breach his chest and then he swears he can hear Cassian snicker behind the closed door.
"Are you decent? Can I come in?"
"No." Azriel hopes the answer is sufficient for both questions but Cassian opens the door anyway and behold the view in front of him: both of them sitting naked on the bed, the rumpled sheets barely covering their legs and hips, Eris's hair mussed, traces of pillow on his cheek.
Azriel feels all of his muscles tensing in anticipation but he doesn't see any disgust or hatred on Cassian's face. Strangely there's only amusement.
"I came to ask if you want to bring Eris to our annual snowball fight."
"Your what?" Eris asks dumbfounded while Azriel is still having a stroke over the reveal.
"Snowball fight. You know, throwing snow at each other?"
"Throwing snow at each other," Eris repeats dumbly which is really unbefitting of a sharp tongued Autumn royal but Azriel is definitely not in the state to mock him for it.
"Yeah, we do this every year after the Solstice. Me, Rhys and Azriel. Lots of fun, you should join."
It's not possible that they have a discussion about fucking snowball fight in the face of this revelation. Its too fucking surreal.
"You're not going to comment on-" Azriel's hand is moving between him and Eris like this explains what's between them better than words which are suddenly stuck in his throat.
"Sure I am." Cassian's voice is unexplainably full of mirth. "Nice abs," he's throwing in Eris's general direction and Azriel bristles instantly.
It's wrong for Cassian to look so freely at his lover's private body parts. He shifts in bed so his torso is partially shielding Eris's nakedness and Cassian snickers again, this time unapologetically in their faces.
"You really thought you could hide something like this from us?"
Azriel really, really thought exactly that.
"It was obvious there was something between you two after your last mission in Autumn. Every meeting since you were looking at him like he was a piece of fresh meat."
Azriel is reasonably sure he only looks at Eris like that in the confines of their private rooms.
"Rhys had an idea to invite Eris here for Solstice in hopes that it will prompt you to finally spill the beans."
"Inviting Eris was my idea."
"Sure it was."
It must be a dream. There's no other logical explanation. But Eris's body seems very real and warm where it touches his under the covers and Cassian also looks like a very real, albeit unwelcome, apparition.
"Does everybody know?"
"All the inner circle, yeah."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Why didn't you tell us?" Cassian replies smoothly which promptly shuts Azriel up. He was so afraid. He expected so many things in reaction, none of which was... this.
He's not sure what he should say now. Should he apologize for not trusting them with this? With the truth about himself? Should he say thank you? Thank you for not condemning me for my preferences. For whom I choose to lo-
The L word strucks him unexpectedly and shuts up even his inner thoughts.
"So, what do you say, Eris? Up for a little challenge in the snow?" Cassian is definitely getting too comfortable standing in the doorway, leaning carefree on the frame, talking and smiling like nothing changed, like the world didn't reorient itself on its axis.
"You want me to go and tumble in the snow with all three of you illyrian brutes?"
"Also with Lucien. I might have spontaneously invited him too yesterday."
Judging from the expression on his face Eris doesn't find this as adequate incentive as Cassian thought.
"And we go to the birchin after, you know, to sweat a bit, naked."
"Excuse me?" Eris brows go ever higher than at the mention of the annual snowball fight.
"Absolutely not!" Azriel interrupts, all hackles raised, before Cassian can repeat what he said with even more smug expression. There is NO scenario in which Eris will be seated naked in front of his brothers. In front of anybody, ever. His nakedness is Azriel's and Azriel's only to see.
"Think about it." Cassian has the audacity to wink and then he quickly leaves before Azriel can thoroughly and painfully explain to him what he thinks about this idea.
"You really sit with them naked, every year, with no other reason than 'to sweat'?"
Of all things he thought he would be discussing with Eris after their ruse had fallen, sitting naked with his brothers somehow was not one he anticipated.
"You don't have saunas in Autumn?"
"We have. I remember spending time in them with my previous lovers though, not with my naked brothers."
Azriel definitely doesn't want to hear or remember about Eris's past lovers. More importantly he doesn't want Eris to remember them. And he really, really wishes to never hear the phrase 'naked brothers' again.
"Forget the birchin. We are not going there."
"Why not?" Eris's eyes are full of cunning flames. "I heard all of the Illyrians have large... wingspans. And I have only you to confirm it. It might be my only chance to see with my own eyes-"
Azriel hits Eris in the face with his pillow before he can continue this horrendous topic which magically manages to get more and more horrible with every passing second. After a little afterthought he removes the pillow and replaces it with his own lips sealed on Eris's lips in hopes that it will erase the idea of thinking about his brother's dicks.
The only dick Eris should think about should be Azriel's.
"You fretted so much over telling them and he didn't seem even a little disappointed," Eris manages to say in between kisses.
"You sound disappointed yourself now."
"I expected at least a very dramatic fight. Maybe a little blackmail. Some emotional manipulation. Not Cassian propositioning me to sit with him naked."
"Can we please abandon the topic of sitting naked with anyone?"
"You sound jealous."
"I am jealous."
He probably shouldn't have said that. Do they even do jealousy? Are they at the phase of the relationship where he can be possessive? He's trying to imagine being able to casually put his arm over Eris's shoulders so everyone can see they are together but his brain short-circuits.
"You are going to be insufferable now when you can show everyone in your home that I'm yours aren't you?"
Eris says it in a very matter of factly way and Azriel's heart joins his brain in a short-circuit party.
"Say that again," he doesn't exactly beg but it's a close call.
"Which part?" The burning smugness is back in Eris's eyes.
"You know which part."
Eris raises his hand ever so slowly and puts it on Azriel's face, thumb grazing the cheekbone in the softest display of emotions he ever did.
"I'm yours," he says.
And Azriel believes him.
part 2
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Final Fantasy VII Rebirth (PS5)
That's a spicy pickle
The general gameplay is vastly improved from Remake, which was already pretty good; it feels better, everyone moves more fluidly because the game is actually performant (steady 30 on Graphics Mode and a flawless 60 on Performance, which is the way to play), attacks are all generally better (Cloud now can shoot sword beams by attacking after dodging so you can reliably hit aerial foes, for example), and on and on. It's actually kind of insane going straight here from Remake (I never got around to Intermission) because you now have so many options it's unfathomable.
In addition to all of the mechanics from Remake and all the new moves, you now have Synergy Moves that confer special effects, co-op defensive manoeuvres to use when guarding, more unique materia attacks (Enemy Skill is here in a limited but highly optimised and supremely useful form), some of Remake's summons but also half a dozen new ones, tiered Limit Break moves reached by pulling off specific Synergy Moves, unlockable elemental magic attacks that cost no MP to give type coverage outside of spell materia...
They went fucking wild, to the point that outside of the remaining party members from VII to go, I've no idea what they could add in the next.
Cait Sith is the only party member who just feels bad to play as; trying to commit to his original gimmicky nature here is noble and they try, but he just kind of sucks to play as and feels like an active liability when set next to literally everyone else. One dud in such a spread of characters is a hell of a run.
Speaking of the party, Square have been on a roll with writing party interactions in Final Fantasies of late (XVI excepted), but VII Rebirth sets a new high bar. The ways the party interact, the tangible feeling that they are not just friends but actively influence each other and have actual relations, it's fucking immaculate; it's at times obsessive in the ways it does it, from Red XIII and Barrett saying things the same way because they get on so much to just how Tifa and Aerith have an actual full friendship on display now. Remake was already good for this but Rebirth amps everything up.
It is a deeply, unbelievably charming game; as with the silly elements of parts of Wall Market and Midgar that were retained and even amped up in Remake, Rebirth goes super hard into revelling and uplifting the sillier, funnier parts of the original VII as far as it can go. It leans into jokes, it tells many more of its own, it goes fucking hog wild with bits and parts like the big highlight events of the Gold Saucer feel absolutely decadent in what they do with it.
All I need to say about the soundtrack is that I need you to listen to the frog song. And the dog song. And the combat variant of the dog song. There's 400 tracks and while they might overuse the original FFVII overworld music as a leitmotif in overworld tracks, holy god this OST fucks.
To put it shortly, and to get in this dig at least one last time (there will be more in future), VII Rebirth does everything right that XVI did wrong, in every area. To the point that it's an indictment of Square, almost; there's not even a full year between these two! What are you doing, lads?
It's not without issues, some of them hefty enough; the decision to turn the original VII overworld into an open world ultimately hurts the game, I think. They did insanely good work at designing an actual world that actual people live in and clearly use and used, it's nuts in that respect, but also not all of that space is used well and some of the areas feel simply too big. This is further compounded by the zones becoming increasingly massive pains in the ass to actually just move around in, never mind go around doing all the open world optional shit in.
This hits a terrible fever pitch in the godawful 1-2 punch of Gongaga and Cosmo Canyon, the former a ridiculously over-layered zone that combines the visual illegibility of dense jungle with a map designed very deliberately to make you go cross-country and loop back just to get to basic objectives, having to root around unclimbable cliffs and paths of bounce-pad mushrooms to find the one single actual path to get to anything. It's deeply frustrating, it broke the spell and I abandoned doing the open world shit outside of summon crystals after that.
And that was then aggravated by Cosmo Canyon being the same thing, only it's all open air red-brown canyons with the single path to get to thing tucked into rock bumhole crevices barely discernable from other rock walls. Getting anywhere and finding anything becomes such a fucking hassle, starting around Corel in particular but Gongaga and Cosmo are just shite. Open world games have changed massively even in the four years between this and Remake; Elden Ring and Sonic Frontiers and Zelda: TOTK have all come out and changed the game and broken conventions in ways that make Rebirth feel sluggish and a generation out-of-date at times.
It doesn't help that chocobos feel really bad to use; they don't turn well, they stop dead at touching even minor obstacles, they don't scale things well and some of their traversal abilities are miserable (the gliding in Cosmo Canyon feels bad and doesn't make any sense, further frustrating exploration). Running everywhere is preferable...except for open plains, again, where you have the space.
The map doesn't help, by the by; it's an overhead/satellite view of the actual area, overhanging rock formations and obscured underground/cave/lower paths and all, making it absolutely useless for identifying paths or actually figuring out how to go anywhere that isn't an open plain. I hope Square finally gets over themselves after this and just makes a normal ass overworld next time; Star Ocean Second Story R was such a breath of fresh air between XVI and this.
I can go on; quite a few sections and some of the side content just feel like filler (the Nibel Protorelics being slow boring walks that end in basic standard fights is a highlight of "we needed this for the checklist"), the game has dozens of minigames, way more than VII ever did so naturally a good number of them are a bit shit or actively frustrating and should've been cut. Remake's biggest problem to me was how "Western 7th Gen" it was at times, with slow walk-and-talks or sidle-through level dividers and shit, and Rebirth not only still does that but goes further with pointless button presses, overly involved cutscene button-event shit (hold R2 and L2 forever for no reason; fuck you this could not possibly have been a cutscene), piss-takingly slow box pulling and pushing and so on. Some of it feels clearly like filler and I hope they get feedback from this one telling them to cut it out. Final Fantasy is better than that shite, or at least it should be; it absolutely should not ever be taking notes from Sony first-party games, except for "don't do [all of this]".
Still, on the whole, VII Rebirth is a great time. It's an absolutely massive, at times decadent action RPG that lavishes love upon its cast and world, that's hellbent on you getting your money's worth (it's still not worth £70 no game is or ever will be for non-special editions, but I got it for £29 due to trade-in credit so hey), and while it becomes a slog at points due to its open world shit, you can easily skip that and start to railroad the story after a point (or right away by kicking it down to Easy, I guess). I think Square have easily justified the "Final Fantasy VII remake trilogy" idea with this entry, so it'll be fun to see how they close it out, and what they do with themselves after this.
I have more to say, but it'll be in a reblog of this with some aggressive Read Mores to condense the size.
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Bread's Game Of The Year #3: Sifu Arenas
I am obsessed with Sifu. I've written about it briefly before, but sometimes I wonder if I really get the level of obsession I have with Sifu across. I think it is firmly in the top five of video games I have ever played. I think it is immaculate, flawless, a beautiful work of art that doubles as the sickest possible kung-fu game anyone could ever design. So who's shocked that its major update is among the best things I've played this year.
Sifu Arenas is not complex, until it it is. Arenas on a base level, is just that, a series of Arenas. Smaller challenges that allow you to engage with the combat of Sifu, free of the trappings of the story modes levels, not that those did much other than funnel you to combat anyway. Each Arena is self contained, tweaks the existing formula of the game, and provides a new challenge to players.
Some of those challenges are straightforward. Survival challenges, challenges to hit a high score, challenges that ask you to defeat enemies in a certain order. Even those simple challenges shine through with Sifu's absolutely beautiful combat systems. Where Arenas really kicks into high gear though, is when the challenges start to get weird.
Say perhaps, your attacks have been swapped with those of the final boss, and you must fight your way through a large crowd of clones of yourself. Say the game becomes wildly obsessed with The Matrix, and outfits your character in the iconic trench coat, while floods of men in pristine black suits filter into the arena and your focus attacks are replaced with infinite use slow motion. You've never seen an arena that's simply a long, narrow hallway get quite as wild as when you start descending into new levels of technicolor hell as you progress. Don't even get me going on the beautiful nightmare that is the Dragon Stamp challenges, which even an obsessive like me can barely make a dent in.
Arenas didn't have to do anything fancy. Sifu's combat is so divine that this update could have simply been a traditional wave mode and I'd have shown up eagerly to play again. Sloclap went above and beyond, delivering what may as well be a fantastic new game layered over top of the already perfect mechanics at play under the hood of the original Sifu. Nobody will ever get me to shut up about this game. Sifu will go down in my own personal history as a transformative experience in gaming. Arenas was a twist on it, and it was more of it, and it was incredible.
#video games#bread's game journal#ps4#xbox one#pc gaming#game journal#video game#steam#sifu#Sifu game#indie game#action game#ps5#xbox#xbox series x#playstation#sloclap#Sifu arenas#games#game#gaming#action games#indie games#indie
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demon’s souls is great.
dark souls 1 is taking demon’s souls’ engine and putting one huge level into it, and adding a bunch of horrible creatures, hidden subquests, and berserk references into it.
dark souls 2 is taking demon’s souls’ CONCEPTS AND GAMEPLAY into an interconnected world, and jamming it full of UI QOL changes, levels, bosses, and content.
dark souls 3 is mashing bloodborne and demon’s souls into one cohesive marketable product as a send off to the series.
dark souls 1 is the worst game in the series based solely on the gameplay itself being absolutely horrible. janky, clunky, broken, AND THATS THE FUCKING REMASTER. the art design is impeccable, the lore is deep, the music is incredible, and on the surface dark souls looks great. but half the bosses suck, half the levels suck, half the weapons suck, and when you actually have the controller in your hands you’ll understand. and I don’t mean “oh it’s too hard” because that’s bullshit, dark souls isn’t hard, it’s just not fucking skyrim or dynasty warriors; it’s devil may cry or bayonetta. but slow. ITS JUST CHARACTER ACTION WITH RPG ELEMENTS. and if you struggled with it, it is a personal failure of your own skill. git gud. read the fucking item descriptions. look at the goddamn environment. it’s literally just zork except you can see. it’s purposefully manufactured to be as obtuse as is humanly possible. it might as well be another kings field installment with how much trolly bullshit replaces good conventional game design. it’s the beef jerky of games: you may like the taste but NOBODY LIKES CHEWING IT. anyone who says that dark souls is their favorite video game of all time is either lying, or they have literally over 2000 hours in it like lobosjr. maybe even 3000 by now.
dark souls 2 came along and said, let’s do that but even cooler. it’s gonna be awesome. the greatest thing ever made! oh no sony promised miyazaki a big fat stack to make bloodborne exclusively for them and he said yeah okay! so shibuya worked on it instead and it was going to be the coolest shit ever but then bamco nandai fired his ass and replaced him with tanimura, said “redo literally everything, bitch”, kicked him in the shins, and slashed his time and budget in half. or at least they might as well have. so he frantically cobbled and stitched together a horrible frankenstein mess into an actual working game. and it released and people loved it! well maybe not the diehard dark souls 1 fans who haven’t even smelled the first game (which is demon’s souls). but everyone else did. and then namco said good job now make more shit. so while they were contracted to make those four DLCs that turned out to be three in the end, they also fixed the main game and added shit that had to be cut for time and handcrafted it into a much more evolved version of what it used to be. then when the DLCs were all out they made their corporate overlords happy and proposed a standalone expansion pack type of release where they charge more money for half new content and half the same content, and so scholar of the first sin was born. and scholar is genuinely actually one of the best games I’ve ever played. it’s the resident evil 4 of RPG character action hybrids: divisive. loved by a significant portion of the general audience, but DESPISED by a vocal minority.
and then dark souls 3 exists, exacerbating every single legitimate (and illegitimate) criticism of 2, being one of two things: an immaculately crafted PVP experience, or a stupid linear slog through ganks, broken enemies with bad hitboxes and animations, a smattering of bosses who either absolutely suck ass or are easily exploitable, unnecessary and nonsensical fanservice up the ass, horrible level design, a pointlessly droll story, weak lore that says fuck you to the player, and the lamest cheap deaths I’ve seen since cat mario. oh and walking estus. it’s the only good thing they changed imo. it’s just not a very good gaming experience. it’s the opposite of dark souls 1: instead of shitty gameplay and good everything else, it’s good gameplay and shitty everything else.
now my path through these games was demon’s souls, then dark souls 1, then scholar of the first sin, then dark souls 3. just as it was for so many others. but here’s the thing. I blasted through boletaria and loved it. I never killed the tutorial asylum demon. I platinumed the 2nd game. and by the end of 3 I was so fed the fuck up with it I didn’t even bother walking into the dlc boss fog gate for either dlc. I never fought midir, the nameless king, freide, or gael. what’s even the point? they all have so much health and so many moves that it would take hours upon hours to learn their movesets, and for what? a gold star that says “congration you done it”? no thanks because I’d rather play literally anything else. fucking 60 fps was the death of character action.
and I gotta say dark souls 2 is the most like demon’s souls. and I can easily say it’s the best in the series. hands fucking down. and anyone who disagrees with me is only doing it for the bandwagon. those people delude themselves into thinking that 2 is simultaneously EZPZ and also too hard. you sprinted past mook enemies in 1 because they were all slow as hell, so you think you can just sprint pass mook enemies in 2 and get a free path to the boss handed to you on a silver platter, but they’re like nah son you fight us, they die from being swarmed by a dozen enemies that they could very easily have fought one at a time (these people never played a mmo clearly), then they scream THIS GAME SUCKS.
it’s just annoying
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1.3k words, Purge! AU, Enemies to (Possibly) Lovers, Beware of swearing
Mastermind! Hyunjin X Fem! Reader
Music: Ponzona by Purple Kiss, Boca by Dreamcatcher, Double Knot by Stray Kids, Criminal by TAEMIN.
A/N: PART-2 IS HERE WOOP WOOP!! I’m so excited to write more of this, it inspires me so much! ANYWAYS- ONTO THE FIC!
New Dawn Miniseries || Part-1 ||
The Annual Purge: A 24- hour period in which all crimes are legal and emergency services are suspended for the entire period. Government officials designated as “level 10” are fully protected from harm.
March 16th 2021 ( 5 days to the Annual Purge, 2.45 p.m)
The second time you were marched into Hwang Hyunjin’s office, the primary emotion swirling through your mind was not fear or apprehension, but a searing-hot rage. You weren’t dressed in the garb of tattered royalty either- a sleek pencil skirt and blouse adorned your curves, hair pinned in a way befitting of the governor’s daughter. Your teeth were gritted, hands fisted against your sides as you walked the same opulently designed hallways you had focused on not too long ago.
So much for being the future face of the city- it seemed that cavorting with the enemy had now become your only ( rather unfortunate) pastime.
He was dressed exactly the way you remembered 2 nights ago, his suit jacket immaculately pressed and perfectly fitted against the planes of his body. Blonde hair swung gently as he raised his head from work to watch you walk in, his lips once again curling in a frown as his eyes met yours.
The guards who had walked you to the study made their way out of the room, clicking the door shut on their way out. You walked into the study, closer to the table, eyes still narrowed as you matched Hyunjin stare for stare- it was him who looked away, clearing his throat in annoyance.
“Why is it that you insist on barging into places you are not welcome?” He sighed, his annoyed tone only serving to incense you further. It was rare that you were ever this angry, but something about Hwang Hyunjin’s elegant yet brutally infuriating dismissal was all too good at making your blood boil in your veins.
Sliding into the chair opposite his table and crossing your legs, you raised an eyebrow in irreverent challenge, your lips only just concealing the venom you were dying to spit- no, you would sound casual, unassuming instead.
“Are you telling me you have no idea why I’m here, Hwang?”
At that, Hyunjin smiled- a wide, thoughtless grin that would’ve convinced anybody else of his innocence, but not you. It looked like a threatening snarl to you, like he knew exactly why you were here and was, in fact, counting on it-
“Are you telling me I wanted to see you any more than I absolutely have to?” He chuckled and your hands curled into fists against the fabric of your skirt yet again. Oh, this aggravating bastard-
“Are you telling me you had one of your lackeys tail me everywhere for a reason other than that you were curious about me?” You responded, your voice barely, deceptively light, and yes- you finally spotted it. A crack in Hyunjin’s impertinent armour, the same flicker of surprise that had danced across his eyes when you revealed how you got into his stronghold that first time.
“So you caught him after all.”
“Han Jisung, right?” You picked at your nails, looking for all the world like a woman uncaring. “He told me he was tailing me because you didn’t have enough information to actually kill my father.”
Hyunjin’s lip curled in derision, expression darkening at your words.
“And here I was, thinking you were here for the sheer pleasure of antagonizing me.”
“I might look like a rich brat, Hwang, but I think I’ve proven to you that I’m more than just that.”
Hyunjin leaned back, his arms resting on the sides of his chair as he exhaled through his teeth, head cocked to the side as he watched you.
“All you’ve proven to me is that your loyalties are about as solid as your week’s opinions.” He responded evenly, not letting you get a word in edgewise before continuing.
“You sold your father out to us almost too easily. What’s to say you didn’t agree with the way the Faceless handles things and decide to sell us out? Can’t have that now, can we? I value my power in the Faceless much more than I value this...whatever this is with you. I’m sure you understand.”
You swallowed, a chill settling in your veins as he spoke- as much as you were loath to admit it, he did make sense.
“I don’t care what your intentions were, Hwang. I trusted you to handle it yourself, but clearly, you’re missing important information. If you want details, just ask. You do not send people to stalk me.”
“You’re not exactly instilling any sense of confidence or trust in your motives, ma’am.”
“Fucks sake, Hyunjin,” You threw your arms up in exasperation. “I came here that night ready to hand my dad over to you on a silver fucking platter. It was the most difficult decision I’ve ever had to take but this city won’t survive a year without the Purge and the Faceless. I’m ready to do whatever it takes to make sure my father’s plans fall through. No matter what.” You stressed, looking the blonde man in the eye with your last words.
A stagnant silence passed between the both of you before Hyunjin stood up and you straightened up in your chair, following his movements. He looked down at you, the sunlight from the windows behind him staining his hair burnished gold.
“I think I’d like to set those words in stone, just to be on the safer side.”
Ten minutes later, you were standing behind Hyunjin, watching as he ushered another young man into the study- one with an aura of intimidation and irreverence identical to Hyunjin’s. It permeated through the whole room almost effortlessly, despite his short stature and unassuming dark hair.
He grinned at Hyunjin, eyes crinkling as he shook hands with the blond man before he turned to you- it was like the temperature in the room had gone down a couple of degrees despite the late afternoon heat. There was something intensely icy about the way he stared you down like he was scanning your very existence with just his gaze.
“This is Chris. He’s the...ah, the counsellor. Lawyer, advisor, strategist-”
“Also the previous leader.”
And it all clicked. This Chris character had clearly trained Hyunjin to be his reflection in all ways possible - identical aura, manner of speaking, standing, down to the icy, insolent scrutiny. You held his gaze, nodding in acknowledgement. Steeling your nerves, you willed yourself to think, say something, anything in response-
“Why would you give up your power if you’re clearly still capable of leading?”
Chris’ eyebrows raised, the shadow of a smirk twisting his lips as he turned away from you, leading the way to the table.
“Who said I gave up any power, princess?”
Maybe it was the dark threat the words were laced with, or maybe the words themselves, but something about Chris made your hackles rise, body unconsciously tensing for a fight. It was a struggle to keep your expression neutral as it always was, to keep your body language closed off to a person who seemingly thrived off unconscious conversation cues.
Chris was dangerous. Maybe even more so than Hyunjin.
As quickly as the moment came, it was gone- Chris cleared his throat, smoothing out his already immaculate suit.
“Hyunjin told me you had details that would help the Governor’s assassination?”
Thoughts raced and eddied in your mind as you looked between Hyunjin and Chris, weighing your options. If this was Hyunjin’s mentor, you were sure he would scent the slightest apprehension from miles away- no point in hesitation now, was there?
“More details than you’ll know what to do with.”
And the identically wicked smiles that graced both men’s faces was a sight to see, a savage look of celebration and sinful glory. Chris pulled a phone out of his pocket, possibly to record your words-
“You have no idea what we can do with details, princess.”
HUUUUUU A ROGUE VILLAINISH BANG CHAN I SCREAM - okay I'm good ( i think) plOT THICKENs!!!!
Taglist: @aliceu @decembermoonskz @cuokka @lavenderbexlatte @straykidsownmysoul @stellarmonsterr @soya-zz @fylithia @bythesunnotbythemoon @luminois @moonlight-hyunjae @melodie-mingi @cotccotc @popisdead @kisskissbanggang @sungieshines @blueprint-han @danyxthirstae01 @leximb1222 @ohmysparkle
Network Tag: @inkidz @angstyskzclub @kpopscape
Thank you ror reading! Do let me know what you think! - Elliana
#districtninewriters#kpopscape#stray kids#skz hyunjin#stray kids imagines#hwang hyunjin#skz#skz fluff#stray kids scenarios#skz scenarios#skz x reader#hyunjin x reader#skz fantasy au#hyunjin#skz au#kpop#kpop imagines#kpop scenarios#ellaskz
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I finished Lords of the Fallen and boy was my experience mixed. There's some good in there, but this is one of those rare cases where the bad outweight the good. At least in my opinion. My enjoyment was like a rollercoaster going up and down, and there was even a moment where I considered the game a "flawed gem", much like Dragons Dogma for example. But then I kept playing, and yeah. More below.
Lets get this out of the way: at the very least this new version of Loft is better than the original by miles. The original Loft was so janky and generic that it was a truly forgettable experience. It's honestly not a high par to pass, but the new Loft did it. They made the world so much more intricate and interesting and the Rhogar feel a little more than just generic demons. The setting is fantastic and I found the world truly interesting, plus the atmosphere was on point. The game also visually looks gorgeous thanks to Unreal Engine 5.
The combat was very simple, reminded me of Dark Souls 1 and honestly I've been wanting a more slow paced souls game. The magic system in the game was really cool and there's plenty of variety when it comes to picking your build. I went the pure umbral route and it was fun. I also gotta give this game some props for the ammo system. If you decide to not use any magic or even ranged weapons you can still throw around grenades and bombs. They're not one time use like in the souls game and instead consume an ammo bar. In souls games you don't really feel like using those bombs, especially in bosses because if you die after using 10 bombs they're gone forever.
I found most enemy/boss/armor designs really cool. Like seriously the drip in this game is immaculate. That on top of the ability to recolor your gear makes Loft one of the best souls games when it comes to fashion and making your character look unique.
Boss design in general was fine. Not too difficult, but fun. Once again really reminded me of DS1 where once you figure a boss out they're not that hard. There are a couple stand out bosses in the game, and a couple genuine turds. One boss is a gimmick fight where you fight hordes of enemies and do a bunch of waiting around. And the games final boss is a dumb gimmick as well. Congratulations Loft, you managed to make Demon's Souls' final boss look good. That's a feat and a half!
But that's really where my praise ends. The game is absolutely muddled with the strangest design decisions that I can't wrap my head around. Like when you find new items they don't display what is new and what is old, so every time I found a new sword I had to look through my bag and try to guess what it was. Same with important items. In the midst of hectic encounters you just miss what you get. I once found a key and I had no idea where I got it.
Enemies are everywhere. It's gank city absolutely everywhere you go. Regular enemies, ranged enemies and elite enemies out the ass. Large majority of "bosses" you encounter turn into regular enemies. I can't even begin to describe the level of frustration I felt with the game when they just kept throwing more and more enemies at you all the while making the space between checkpoints longer and longer. Ranged enemies also have a ridiculous aggro range and of course everything does a shit ton of damage.
You can't even deal with the enemies one by one, because for some reason if you hit one enemy all the other enemies in 10 mile radius aggro on you as well so you're always grossly outnumbered. There was a bit in the game where they threw 3 mini bosses at you at once and you couldn't deal with them 1 by 1 because if you hit one of them they all aggro. Not to mention those constantly respawning assholes in umbral. Oh yeah, umbral. It's a neat idea as a mechanic, but got quite dull towards the end of the game. I wish there was more to umbral than a few traversal puzzles and a few side rooms you can explore.
The level design is also so odd. Every level is like a maze that looks the same. I'm usually really good at mapping out games in my mind, but I can't fully do it for this game. The swamp level at the beginning of the game is one good example of having so much shit in it. I honestly don't know if this is a bad thing or not. There are unique and beautiful vistas in the game, but also some really boring and samey ones. Some shortcuts as well didn't feel like they made sense to me. Sometimes I'd open a shortcut to somewher useless, or there was a shortcut back to the lamp behind a corner like I'm not saving any time using this?
The most frustrating thing about Loft is that underneath all the crust, the annoying encounter design and untapped potential is a decent game. I love the setting and atmosphere, the lore, the fashion, some of the bosses. It could have been so much more, but in the end my first playthrough was filled with frustration. No other game has pissed me off quite as much as Loft did. I was so frustrated with the game towards the end that I just kep summoning for bosses because I wanted to be done with it all. In the end Loft is a disappointing experience.
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Mixed thoughts and gripes about SOMA
So I got back into playing SOMA again for the first time in a little while.
Long ramble here so I’m going to add a break. Discussion of monsters, my relationship with horror in general, and environmental design under the cut. The tl;dr is I really like this game, but it has some flaws in its enemy and environmental designs, which I explore at length. (NB I still haven’t beaten it so no spoilers if you’re interacting pelase)
I think my main gripe with the game right now is the monsters. See, I don’t get scared easily in horror games. And I mean like actually scared, not just startled or grossed out. SOMA is actually scariest when nothing is happening. The atmosphere is immaculate; poking around techno-gore-infested underwater bases while the base itself rumbles and creaks around you with unseen damage feels fantastic (in that it feels very bad, but in a good way, a keeps-you-on-edge way).
And I’ll be honest, the monsters’ designs are creepy! The ones I’ve seen so far are a big awkward stompy drone, a handful of glowy disco-ball-headed guys, and two flavours of nasty choking barnacle-encrusted fellas. They’re gross, and they are credible threats. Now, my problem is this: the monsters’ behaviour is annoying, and therefore they become not scary.
There appear to be two classes of monster in SOMA: ones that you can hide/cower from, and ones you have to constantly be running from. The game starts out with the former, but, without warning, transitions to the latter (And there are some of the same visual design that span both behavioural types, for an extra slap in the face). There also appear to be blind monsters, and ones that play dumb but can still absolutely see you. And again, no warning on the switch.
Amnesia kind of had this problem as well, where at a point the only way to raise the stakes is to throw a bunch of these wobbly bastards at you in a series of branching corridors with many dead ends. (Though to my memory, it wasn’t as much an issue in Amnesia.) I basically ended up brute-forcing my way through a segment just tanking damage because I had no idea where to go or what to do. All tension was gone by the first time I died in that area and realized that a) these monsters did not have consistent rules, and b) I was going to have to fling myself around the maze I was in to get my bearings before making any progress. It was no longer scary, there were no longer stakes.
And this is my main issue, why I don’t get “scared” by a lot of horror games. The only threat I feel is to my time. I’m not scared of getting caught and killed, I just don’t want to have to run your bullshit gauntlet again. I’m not immersed enough to get properly scared and it is a game. And honestly that’s... fine? It kind of baffles me how some people get so into a game they panic and scream (like, genuinely, I know for some YTers it’s half an act but I’ve seen former roommates freak right out) when the division between player and protag is so clear.
I want to be clear I’m not saying I don’t like horror games. I enjoy a good creepy atmosphere and a tense chase. Like I said earlier, SOMA’s overall atmosphere is amazing and very unsettling. I was more scared when nothing was happened than when I was fleeing for my life. What I’m saying is I personally recognize and rely on the player/game divide, and don’t like being “pushed out” of the experience so to speak by poor game “rules.” SOMA, I think, genuinely, could benefit from fewer monsters. And I’m not just saying that because I’m “salty” because I died a bunch. I died as an information-gathering tool. I died because I had to, because another part of the game was butting up against its own experience.
And that’s the environmental design. Again, SOMA’s environments are great. It’s got the grungy industrial thing going on that I love so much in the Half-Life games. Its techno-haunted sea bases and ocean-bottom treks are gorgeous. In fact, I’m going to draw another parallel to the HL games, specifically Black Mesa (which is technically a fan reimagining of HL1 but it is a fantastic update/upgrade): Both SOMA and Black Mesa have functional signage.
And I mean that literally. There is in-world labelling and signage that actually points to the places it says it goes. Which, honestly, is kind of mind-blowing to me, even today. So many games rely on a HUD or separate map for signposting, having to actually read directions is a neat bit of immersion.
Except when it bites you in the ass, as it did me this evening. See, while running around this mazelike area with too many unpredictable monsters, I found where I had to go. Unfortunately, the door was locked and had no power. So I had to find... some way to start the power. And this was what took me so long. Because the thing that restarted the power was behind a panel on the wall which looked like every other piece of non-interactable set-dressing I had sprinted past trying not to get killed. I only found it because I was turning around when the cursor gave me an interact prompt to pull the panel off the wall!
Now, I get it. I get it, I get the game is committing to a design-sense, there is actually very little in the environment that’s signposted as interactable. I get it. But at the same time, this was a very hostile area and I had to be in constant motion, you think they could have added some other cue other than the dead-end room that this nondescript panel which, while admittedly labelled, still looked like every other power box I’d never been able to mess with, was what I was supposed to be looking for. Ordinarily this doesn’t bug me, but today it combined with my above gripe about cheaty monsters to really tick me off. (I’ve run into a similar problem earlier; I got stuck for a few minutes because I literally had to plug in a computer, but couldn’t see the wire for the much more interesting crap on the floor.)
SOMA has a particular way of making you feel like a dumbass. Which, I suppose, is a bit in character for your protag, but still. And I concede I’m no environmental artist, I’m no coder, I get that striking a balance between a monster that’s a genuine threat and a monster that’s just an annoyance // a visually consistent environment and one that’s easy to move through is difficult. Games are hard, I get it. I just want to share my thoughts while they’re fresh in my mind. And in fairness, I’m still loving SOMA. I genuinely am, it’s just had a handful of hiccups, like any game.
#sable talks about games#Soma#soma game#game design#environmental design#Simon is a dumbass so my blundering is canon#but also i would prefer not to blunder
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OC’s my friends have that i like a lot !!
i saw elliot made a list about it’s favourite wordgirl characters but i haven’t watched it all SOO i wanted to do it w their and zeke’s ocs !!!!!!!!?!??! 😈
FAV OCS FROM ELLIOT
5. SIR SUNDAE HIS LORE IS SO GOOD AND HIS DESIGN IS MY FAVOURITE I LOVE HIS CHARACTER SO MUCH HE WAS ONE OF THE FIRST OCS ELLIOT SHOWED ME JE ALWAYS HAS A SPECIAL PLACE IN MY HEART I LUV U SIR SUNDAE
4. VIN SMOKES. HIS DESIGN IS IMMACULATE, I REMEMBER ELLIOT MADE INSIDE JOB OCS WHEN IT WAS TRENDING AND VIN JUST STUCK W ME. HES SO PRETTY, AND HIS STORY ELLIOT MADE IS SO COOL ????
3. CHERRY FIZ OH MY GOD I LOVE HER I WANT TO KISS HER MARRY HER WIFE HER UP SHES SUCH A SWEETIE PIE HER DESIGN IS MY ABSOLUTE FAVOURITE OUT OF ALL OF THEM ???! PINKIE PIR VIBES
2. VIXIE/CROW I LITERALLY CANT PICK BOTH OF THEIR LORES SO GOOOD UGH OH MY GOD. THEY HABE SO MUCH ANGST IM ADDICTED, I DO LOVE VIXIES DESIGN MORE THOUGH AND I LOVE HER WHOLE ZOMBIE-THING AND HER RELATIONSHIP WITH XUKEUS AND CROW IS JUST SELF EXPLANATORY I LOVE ME SOME ENEMIES TO LOVERS ❤️ 💕
1. THE ENCHANTED HIMSELF!!! OH. MY. LORDY LORD. WHAT A FINE ASS MF HE IS, HIS LORE IS SO GOOD AND HES SO PRETTY AND FUNNY ESPECIALLY PERSONALITY SWAP TE HES HILARIOUS I LOVE INTERACTING WITH HIM HES SUCH A PERSONAL COMFORT TO MEEE AHHHH ❤️ 😭
FAV OCS FROM ZEKE
5. TEDDY !! HES EASY TO FORGET BUT HE JUST HAS A SPECIAL PLACE IN MY HEART HES SO CUTE AND SKRUNKLY. HES JUST A LITTLE LAD
4. WENHUU IS AN ABSOLUTE GIRLBOSS JOT ONLY IS SHE SUCH A SUPPORTIVE GIRLFRIEND SHES SO RELATABLE AND FUNNY I HAVE A BLAST RP’ING W HER AND ARI I WISH I HAD MORE TIME IN THE DAY TO RP I MISS THEM SM ZEKE IF UR READING THIS REMIND ME OK??! 🐺
3. TANJIROUU AND KETSUEKI ARE SUCH A CUTE BROTHER DUO, TANJIROU SITTING BACK AND WATCHING HIS OLDER BROTHER EMBARASS HIMSELF GOT ME 😭 ❤️
2. CHITOSE. LISTEN ……… LISTEN …… HE MAY BE A WOMANISER AND A LITTLE MF BUT HES MY BABY I WILL DEFEND HIM W MY LIFE HES SO FUNNY 😭
1. DRUM ROLL PLEASE !!!!!! 🥁 🥁 🥁 ELIZABETH/KYUNGSOO MY DARLING MY BLISS MY LOVE MY PRIDE AND JOY I LOVE WHEN OCS LINK BACKSTORIES AND I LOVE HER CHARACTER AND HER ARC AND I MAY OR MAY NOT KIN HER HAHEHSJESJE ❤️ LIZZYBIZZYMCGLISSY SUPREMACY
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Yuki Kaji plays FFXIII (3)
@aesirfalling PART 2 LET’S DO THIS
Part 1 (First half)
Part 1 (Second half)
Link to episode
——> Next part
I’ve got a cocktail and a bowl of kraft mac n cheese time to get started 🍸 🧀 Doing the whole episode this time. 💪
Excellent beginning to the stream with Kaji commenting that Lightning’s armpits are oddly sexy (like in a purposeful design sort of way) 😂
OOH this is interesting. Kaji mentions that when he auditioned for the role of Hope the character name he was given was “Wish”. Similarly, Snow was being called “Blizzard”. These were the codenames used for audition purposes. The more you know! 🌈 ⭐
AHHH very happy to report that Kaji is still supplying mock-Hope lines. When they come to the uncrossable bridge in Lake Bresha and Hope says, “Hey, I think we can use this” about the wrecked ship/gun/thing, Kaji, in a perfect imitation of him, goes “I think we can use this, Light-san!” ✨presh ✨
CONCERNED HOPE VOICE: “Light-san, are you okay with your holster knocking against your legs like that? Your thighs will turn red.” 🤣 🤣 🤣
MORE MOCK-HOPE (as Hope stands in front of the ship/gun/thing they need to inspect to cross the bridge): “Here. Over here. Check this please, Light-san.” My guy has a whole-ass running commentary going right now as Hope.
More chuckling from Kaji and Tan-chan at Sazh as he gets left behind by Lightning because he’s old and slow and not a badass soldier. “You can do it!” Tan-chan calls down to him as he hops up to the top of the big cliff.
The conundrum of where Hope keeps his boomerang continues. Does he shove it into his pants? Kaji and Tan-chan have a good laugh about this. “That would be dirty” they agree.
Enter: Fang
Kaji, the moment Fang walks up to Snow: “Kakkoii.” He remarks that there are a lot of cool women in this game. He continues to “kakkoii” about Fang as she goes about being her badass self.
VILE PEAKS AT LAST!!!
LMAOOOO THIS WHOLE PART:
Kaji and Tan-chan laugh at the fact that when Lightning runs Hope lags behind, and because of this his voice sounds far away when he speaks. “It seems like Lightning doesn’t even hear him,” Kaji remarks. In his mock-Hope voice, he says: “Light-san please listen to me! Don’t run away!” Then, in a softer voice, he threatens, “I won’t heal you.” Tan-chan laughs and says “Ohh you sound just like him.” In response, Kaji, in an absolutely flawless Hope voice, says, “Are you watching, viewers? This is 2021 Hope Estheim.”
He continues to serve immaculate Hope lines during the following battle. “Fire! …Oh, wait, it’s fira.” *HP runs low* “Ah! Player-san! Heal me! Support!” *casts cure on self* “Cure! Ahhh that was close.”
He also enjoys giving a sympathetic robot voice to the hoplite enemies. Hoplite: “Ouch. That’s my heart. Motherrrr.” *Hoplite dies* “Farewell.”
Kaji in his hoplite voice again as Sazh and Vanille fight: “How cruel. We should be friends.” The rest of the episode is mostly just him and Tan-chan having a good old time doing hoplite voices and remarking on the cutscenes.
Next time: VILE PEAKS CONTINUED
#ffxiii#hope estheim#hoperai#might as well tag hoperai since I'm pretty sure most of the people interested in this will be hoperai shippers#I'm so pumped for the next part of the vile peaks
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omg i want to request an au! i don’t see much of aus surrounding black clover so i thought i’d be the one to start it! i want to request patry and a modern!day au pls cough cough and,,,,,,,,,,,, i would love to see the enemies to lover trope 👀👀 smut too please ehe ❤️ maybe you can do like reader and patry are rivals at work 😗😗😗 just a suggestion! you can do whatever you want, i’ll be happy to read it.
This is so cute please! I’m not sure if I’ll be good at this, but I’ll try! @3@
Modern day AU with Patry!
Oh and since it’s a Modern day I needed Patry to have a last name as well so I named him Patry Licht. :3
NSFW TOWARDS THE END!
You worked in a small international company as a marketing executive for about 3 years now and you had been always highly regarded by your boss because of your creative ideas and immaculate work. You were rumoured to be the next Marketing head.
One day, A newbie was head hunted and he stole the spotlight from you. Patry Licht was not only good with your boss, but also popular with the ladies because of his flawless look.
“Isn’t he just an all in one package?” Your colleague Tessa would swoon, “he’s good at his job, handsome, charming and absolutely so nice to everyone”
You scoffed while eating your packed sandwich. “I don’t really get all the hype about him Tess. I won’t deny his works are good but I really don’t see why you girls are all over him”
——————————————————————————————
One day, you both met in the coffee room.
“I heard you’re the top of the department, miss l/n~” he cooed. “I saw your works, they’re good but there could be room for improvements~ you have a potential there..”
His tone was slightly cocky and it riled you up. “Oh? I’ll be better, thanks” you stirred your coffee, about to make your way out.
“Well I guess it makes us rivals then, because I plan to be the marketing head too~” he smiled “oh, but I hope it doesn’t sour our relationship, just a healthy rivalry, what do you say?”
His skin was flawless even under the bright lights, his golden orbs shone, just like a cats’.
“Whatever” you let out a grunt and left the room.
——————————————————————————————
Over the past 6 months you worked extra hard to clinch projects and you and Patry both had the highest amount of project clinched.
One day, your boss summoned you and Patry to his office.
“Patry, y/n, I have a big deal from this new client. Here are the details and requirements.” He passed a file to each of you. “A representative from the company would come in next Friday and decide if they want to work with us.” He folded his arms and continued, “this project is significant to our company so I would like you both to work together and come out with the best design and proposal.”
Nani?! Work with this cocky bastard? No way.
You both looked at each other. Patry gave you a big smile. “Look forward to working with you y/n~” And you almost rolled your eyes in disgust.
When you came out of your boss’s office you simply told him, “we’ll just come out with our own idea and decide one the best one and submit it”
All of a sudden, he leaned in, closer to you. “But, you’re never gonna admit that mine is better than yours, even if it will be, won’t you?” he placed a hand on the wall right beside you. “But okay, this Thursday, come up with your best draft”
———————————-
You spend the next 3 days and nights burning the midnight oil, with almost only 8 hours of sleep in 3 nights to come up with a rough draft for this proposal. You woke up that morning , your eye bags seemed like it weighed a ton, you haven’t washed your hair in 3 days and you practically looked like a disheveled crazy woman.
At 9am sharp you walked into the meeting room where you and Patry had planned to meet to discuss your drafts and ideas.
“Good morning y/n~” the white haired man looked up from where he was sitting, “Have you had your breakfast?” He was looking sharp as always, hair tied up in a neat pony tail today, his blue suit was well ironed and his black tie clipped neatly on his shirt.
You sat down and started your laptop. “Let’s start.”
“Cold as always aren’t you, y/n” Patry’s smile towards you never faded, as he started to look at your drafts.
“Nothing less from y/n herself,” his bottom lips lifted up as his lips pursed together, “I do feel that it should have a little more ‘POP’ in it, you know, something that will stay in the customer’s minds”
He opened his laptop and he showed you his draft. You were really amazed at his work. Meticulous and creative, you really could understand why your boss would headhunt him. You hated to admit it, but his idea was indeed more suitable for this project.
“Alright,” you conceded, “I admit my loss, your draft is better.”
Patry stared at you for a good 5 seconds in total surprise. He wasn’t expecting you to admit defeat without a fight. Besides, he felt that your idea had it’s potential as well. “But y/n, your work had it’s strong points as well.. don’t you see that it’ll be better if we merged together?”
You had really expected him to gloat about his win, maybe you did really misunderstood this man..
“I’m not sure what made you dislike me, but I’ve never met another amazing marketing personnel that had works that are just as impressive. My previous companies always relied on me on all important projects, it was kinda boring.” Patry paused and sat right next to you. “Your works amaze me and you motivate me all the time to do better.”
You were tongue tied at the sudden confession.
“Could we please work Together for once? And create a masterpiece?” His eyes gleamed and you could see that he was so passionate and excited.
You relented, also excited at what both of you combined together could create. You nodded your head with a smile.
For the next remaining days, you and Patry spent almost every waking hours together. You discussed, edited, came out with even better ideas and refined original draft to make the perfect project.
Over the past few days, your hatred and disgust for this man had turned into nothing but respect and admiration. He was witty and quick on his toes, and he was organised and timely.
Sometimes while taking a break, you’d talk more about yourselves and each other’s own personal story and goals. You felt yourself slowly looking forward to seeing him daily and discussing about your new “baby” together. It wasn’t easy to find someone with similar interest and that was passionate about their work, just like you were.
—————————————-
1 day before the deadline, your project was almost 90% done. You had quite a few more loose ends to tie together.
“Guess we’ll be burning the midnight oil tonight y/n” Patry said with a soft smile on his face. You could tell he was just as worn out as you were, but he always remained cheerful all the time.
At around 8pm, every one had already left and only the two of you were left in the office. It was heavily raining outside and it was getting really cold.
“AHHCHOO!” You sneezed, stroking the sides of your hands to gain some warmth. A big and warm jacket covered your frame.
“If you don’t mind y/n... Maybe we could continue this at my apartment..?” He suggested carefully. “It’s not far from here and I have a room heater for this crazy weather..”
You agreed upon hearing about the heater. There was nothing you were more afraid of than the cold.
————————————————
His apartment was only a 15 mins drive away. “Please, make yourself at home, I’ll make us some tea and get some snacks.” He put down his bag and disappeared into the kitchen.
You looked around, it was quite a nice place, neat and tidy, and most importantly warm, like he promised.
You settled down on his thick fluffy carpet, and leaned your back against the couch, you opened up your laptop on the coffee table in front of you.
“Why are you sitting on the floor?!” He nagged at you upon returning to the common room with a tray of tea and snacks.
“It’s comfy and cozy here, and your fluffy rug keeps me warm” you looked at him, all contented, “besides, your place is so clean and tidy, it’s alright to settle for the floor”
His hands rubbed the back of his neck, “well, i hardly have time to even make a mess...” he settles next to you and continues your final works.
You finally finished at 2am in the morning. You stretched both your hands in the air yawning. “Oh my god, we’re finally done...”
You both took one last look at the project he and sighed, “what a masterpiece indeed y/n, I know we’ll definitely clinch this customer, I’m hoping for a big fat bonus after this”
You both laughed. Suddenly, your stomach growled. You looked at each other and laughed even harder. “Let’s order one last take out together,” Patry decided.
You were kinda sad in your heart when he said “last”. But you just shook that feeling away. He turned on the tv and you just chitchatted and ate.
“You know Patry,” you said while wiping your mouth, “I didn’t like you at first because I thought you were so full of yourself. You said you wanted to be the marketing head and all.. you were just so cocky”
He looked at you and let out a little laugh. “I’m sorry I came off as cocky y/n.. I guess before I met you, most of the people in my previous company were all... incompetent you know? They were lazy and their works were sloppy..” he scratched his head, “maybe I really thought I was that damn good. Until I saw your works and how you worked. You’re really amazing y/n”
He turned to face you, and both of you locked eyes. “Do you still dislike me now y/n?” He stared at you intently and you suddenly felt so bare and vulnerable.
You closed your eyes and shook your head with a smile. “No, of course I don’t. You’re nothing short of amazing yourself, Patry” you patted him on his shoulder, “you’re actually a nice guy aren’t you?” You giggled.
He grabbed your hand that was on his shoulder, eyes never leaving yours. You were a little startled, initially you thought that you did something wrong, that he didn’t like being touched.
His face inched closer and closer to yours, until you could feel his breath on yours. You closed your eyes as a sign of permission, and your lips crashed against one another.
It was like a collision of two galaxies; impactful, crazy and out of this world. Your tongues swirled together, exploring each other’s mouth. Your hands around his neck, pulling him closer to you, wanting to close the gap between you and him, wanting more of him.
His hands held your waist and the next thing you knew, you were on his lap and one of his hand was on your ass, grabbing it and giving it little squeezes.
Your hands now roamed to his shirt, unbuttoning them, revealing your intentions.
You both broke off for air, and leaned your foreheads against one another.
“May I?” He asked, and you just nodded your head, understanding what he was implying.
He scooped you onto the sofa, towering over you. He unbuttoned your blouse, exposing your bra. He marvelled at the sight of you, and your face flushed slightly.
He pressed kisses on your exposed skin and left marks all over your body, you couldn’t help but moan a little. You reached for his belt and released his bulging member. He proceeded to unbutton your pants and pulled them down.
He slowly kissed your ankles, calfs and slowly to your inner thighs. One hand roamed to your panties and circled your buds over the cloth, earning little mewls from you.
The sensitivity from your inner thighs and his fingers were driving you insane and before you knew it, your panties were soaked wet.
He removed your panties and inserted 1 digit into you, fingers still circling your now swollen bud. You moaned in ecstasy, grinding against his fingers, wanting more.
He pulled down your bra, exposing your breasts and he fondled and sucked on them. He slowly inserted 2 fingers into you, pumping in and out, picking up pace.
“Ahh- Patry~” you moaned his name, “I’m close!” You gripped his well built chest, signalling your impending high. His fingers pumped rapidly, curling a little so it hit your sweet spot as your clit tightened around his fingers.
A knot was released in your abdomen and you came, moaning out loud, your vision turning white as your body froze and your nails dug into his chest, creating red lines on his fair skin.
“You’re so sexy y/n, when you work, when you talk and when you’re lying on my couch like this.” His voice now low. “I can’t hold myself back when you’re like this”
He removed his pants and he parted your legs, putting his tip at your entrance. He leaned forward, his hand on your face, looking at you for some kind of permission.
You nodded, and he slowly inserted himself into you, stretching your tight walls.
“Ahhh!” You gripped at his forearms.
When he was all the way in, he waited a while for you to get used to him in you before he started moving.
He tilted you a little so that your butt was slightly off the couch. His tip grazed at your g spot and you could feel your orgasm spilling over again.
“Pat - ahh! I ca- ahh!” Your words turned into incomprehensible moans.
“y/n.. you feel so so good” Patry growled, “your walls so tight around my dick” his pace hastened and he thrusted into you balls deep. “I want you cum around my dick y/n..”
With that, you reached your high once again and this time it came crashing like waves throughout your entire body. Your body shook in pleasure and your mouth was silent as it formed an O.
After a short silent moment only then your brain found words as you came down from your high. “You’re so fucking good baby” you managed between your breaths.
Hearing you calling him baby sent him over the edge, he took a few more deep pumps into you and pulled out, releasing his warm seeds all over your tummy.
He collapsed his head on your shoulder and you both tried to catch your breath, staying in that position for awhile.
He grabbed for some tissues and wiped you down. “So... would you like to stay the night?” He gave you a sheepish grin.
-end-
I hope you liked this Anony!! Took me some time to write it @3@
#black clover#black clover smut#black clover imagine#black clover x reader#black clover headcanons#black clover patry#patry x reader#black clover au
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Facts in Check
You just need to find someone who thinks bias conforms with results to check a fact. Journalists verifying their semi-co-workers' astoundingly dubious claims make their quasi-industry even more shameful. Citing people who always happen to agree with their oh so balanced worldviews is a nice touch. Naturally, they don't realize they're doing it.
Democratic press agents planted rather openly behind what they pretend to be enemy lines are renowned for never being biased, so we can trust them to issue truth with infallibility. If they're pushing their own beliefs as indisputable actualities, that would mean their entire industry is a joke of a sham, and that's just another alleged fact that can't be true. Check the facts about fact-checking, as the absurdity of feigning objectivity passes through yet another useless checkpoint.
One special section of the ether paper is dedicated to backing opinions expressed as truth dictated by the supernatural being of your choice. The purported verification is just as slanted as the original. Well, I see no way anyone can disagree. Claims go through layers, which means conclusions are certain unless all those involved are partisan hacks working for the White House on an unofficial volunteer basis. I confirmed Subway is delicious with a franchise owner.
Asserting their quite contentious notions as entirely accurate just causes further embarrassment. You'd think trying to get ideas right in the first place seems easier. But, like mobsters who toil constantly to steal instead of creating their own products, journalists think they're beating the system.
Please validate my claims. The truth doesn't need to be restated out of insecurity. By contrast, those upset at math and human nature for ruining their glorious mandatory schemes crave gold stars to slap on their preposterous classifications of reality. Very reasonable types who think cops can't be trusted to enforce laws properly think someone who works at the same paper has cosmic truth on their side.
A notoriously unbiased press explains why everything liberals believe is to be accepted as gospel if you had heretical doubts. They sure are condescending snobs for journalism majors who write poorly for a semi-living.
Those churning it out must be exhausted by the rhetorical framing. They love focusing on how they intend their precious policies to function instead of how much carnage and debt they cause in practice. Parroting the initial silly notion is treated as proof.
The case is closed except for the open bit. Another layer of mendacious reporting is designed to end the argument. There's no need to examine any further. The only thing worse than letting someone untrustworthy back you up is if that someone is Glenn Kessler.
An expert is someone with a degree who agrees with you. Reporters on the fact beat tirelessly seek out people with credentials to their liking for affirmation. Those entrenched in a perniciously useless business might believe nonsense about alleged facts to which they've clung for as long as they've tried to ruin lives through politics. In fact, subjectivity is more likely the more people with the same opinions research the statements in question. They claim this is false.
The subset of communications majors are arbiters of absolute truth in the same sense the Heaven's Gate guy was the messiah. Laughing at anyone who tries to win an argument by citing Snopes is one of the few moments of levity in this rather dumb era. Naturally, laughter is provoked inadvertently.
It's rare to even hear of mundane fact checks like New Yorker-style verification of coffee size. The increasingly irrelevant embodiment of a snotty magazine would now rather be known for pimping partisan narratives that are tougher to disprove.
Don't say silly things if social media drones voted for your foe. Twitter decided Donald Trump's preposterous claims of winning an election must be labeled while Hillary Clinton's preposterous claims of winning an election are allowed to fester. No: our side's lunacy is justified. Stacey Abrams is a liar by evidence, which you wouldn't know based on the lack of disclaimers.
Fact-checking is the preferred job category of those who can't even do internet searches to find fundamental truth. The absurd notion that someone at a publication known for thinking Joe Biden knows what he's doing will accurately classify preposterous claims resembles how they see science as a faith. Gathering information is a ceaseless process, which surprises those who act as if closing cases means they respect the process.
It's unsurprising that those citing fact checks as immaculate also worship an attention whore of an oscillating hypocrite like Anthony Fauci. Working for the government carries the imprimatur of superiority for a certain type of sucker.
As with endless claims of forthcoming doom for anyone who managed to chew through the duct tape holding on their masks, fact-checking is the flabby exercise of finding a partisan ally who makes claims aligning with their ideology.
Smugly proclaiming the debate's end has precisely nothing to do with indifferent results. Checking fact-checkers throws them off, so don't irritate prophets.
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