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idunnoanymore7 · 1 year

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Warming Up

Description: You and JJs looks at each other keep getting longer. What happens when you need him to warm you up?

Content: bad writing, JJ Maybank x fem!reader, friends to lovers, fingering (f!recieving), reader wears a bikini

Authors Note: Lowkey planned this with a super smutty part 2 in mind…thoughts??

—————————————————————

You didn’t want to go camping.

You are not a fan of bugs and outdoor toilets, and were perfectly comfortable with the idea of never going.

But when your parents overheard your friends asking about it, it was all over for you. Soon enough, you found yourself in the back of the Twinkie trying to decide whether to cry or scream.

“C’mon y/n/n, it’ll be fun!” Pope says, gently slapping your shoulder.

“You were just warning us about the dangers of hypothermia Pope!” You respond.

“Yeah, that’s not gonna help anyone feel better,” says Kie.

“I think it’s important everyone knows preventatives! Drying out clothes, conserving body heat-“

“That sounds like the start of a porn,” JJ chuckles in the passenger seat.

You cant even laugh.

“Anyway, we’re here for you,” Kie says.

“I didn’t want to go on my first trip either,” Sarah chimes in. You smile at them.

“Thanks, guys. Just don’t want this to end up like Blair Witch or any other camping movie.”

“I’ve been to this campsite a million times,”

John B says as he turns the wheel.

“Because my family owns it,” Kie rolls her eyes. “It’s barely in the woods.”

“Totally flat,” JJ says around his blunt. “Can see hot people from far away.”

“Very crucial,” you say dryly.

The conversation shifts away from you to the failed camping hookups. You think over your friends’ words in your head. Especially JJ’s.

You turn to look out the window at the passing trees. Your eyes catch JJ’s in the sideview mirror. He winks at you and you smile back, not quite reaching your eyes.

He spins back in his seat and calls your name. “You want a hit?”

“Yes please,” you say, needing any escape from your brain you can get. You reach forward and take hold of the smoke, careful not to touch his hand; you had enough going on right now.

“Damn JJ, thought you were saving that weed,” John B said to the rear view mirror.

You pause before your inhale.

“It’ll help calm her nerves man! Get off my back,” JJ retorted.

You smoked the blunt and secretly let Kie have a hit before John B had stopped whining about JJ not giving him any.

You had handed it back when the van rumbled onto the gravel parking lot of the campsite.

“Fuck, you had a lot,” JJ said looking at it.

“Sorry. Lots of nerves,” You grin sheepishly.

“Let’s go!” John B hollers, jumping out of the van and walking around to open the door for sarah. They kiss and the rest of you make gagging noises.

“Aww you’re just jealous of how much body heat we’ll have,” Sarah says.

“Ewwww”, we chorus back.

JJ has already lifted the trunk, tshirt blowing in the breeze.

He hands you your backpack first, but when you go to thank him he’s already moved on.

You shake your head and stick with Kie to follow her directions on setting up your shared tent. Sarah and John B also shared, Pope had his own, and JJ insisted on sleeping outside.

“How often do you see the stars like this, baby?”

“He’ll be crawling in my tent at the first breeze,” Pope grumbled.

With everyones stuff packed away, it was time for the beach. You struggled getting on your swimsuit in the cramped tent, but succeeded and laid out your towel to read on the sand.

“Whatcha reading?” Sarah says, her sunglasses pushed up on her head.

“Beach Read,” you reply with a grin, showing her the cover.

“Nice,” she smiles back before john b hauls her up and runs toward the water.

He checks if she’s okay before jumping in, the shallow water coming up to their calves as they laugh. Your mouth bitters from jealousy.

“C’mon y/n/n! I’ll race you in!” JJ raps your shoulder.

“And freeze to death tonight? I don’t think so.” You tease.

“I’ll keep you warm, m’lady,” his sharp canine appearing under his smirk.

“You better keep that promise,” you grin and allow him to grab your hand and pull you into the lake.

The warmth traveling up your body from the connection only vanishes once JJ pulls you both fully under.

You come up, gasping. “Fuck you,”

“You wish!” He splashes water above his head and you smile at the joy on his face.

Soon enough, you’re all in the water.

Your friends call out to start a game of chicken, and you call dibs on JJ as fast as you can.

“Come on!” Kie groans.

“Hey!” says Pope indignantly. “I can do it!”

You shrug at Kie and smile. “I’m just being strategic,”

“Ouch baby, I thought you just wanted to tug my hair,” JJ says.

“You’re the most intense about chicken,” you refute.

“Really it should be called ostrich or something-chickens are too short for this,” JJ says.

“Guys let’s go!” John B calls with Sarah already on his shoulders.

JJ squats down. “You ready?”

“Yup!” you pull your bikini up on your hips and place your hands on his shoulders. Sliding your right leg over, then your left, you timidly place my hands on his head, flatly.

JJ shakes his head at you. “C’mon y/n/n you gotta grab on! That’s how we win!”

“Okay jay, okay,” you say, getting a better grip on his hair. You tried not to think of the implications, grabbing his hair as he-

“We’re ready!” JJ says, getting a better grip on your thighs. That doesn’t help you focus, but you try to keep calm as you look at the competitors: Kie on Pope, Sarah on John B.

You lean down to speak quietly into JJ’s ear.

“John Bs still got that right forearm from that fight with topper-if we push sarah that direction he won’t catch her.”

He grins and looks at you. “Dirty. I like it.”

You pat his shoulder and sit back up, getting situated. JJ bites your knee and you laugh.

Kie and Pope finally stop bickering and Sarah claps her hands to start the game.

“And…go!”

You clamp your feet harder on JJ’s back. He moves towards John B and Sarah, trudging through the water.

JJ and you share a smirk as you divert to John B and Sarah’s left side. You immediately lock arms with her and began to shove.

“I’ll get you!” Sarah squeals.

“C’mon y/n get her!” JJ says.

With a final shove, you send Sarah reeling back into the water. She squeals as she goes down, John B scrambling to keep her on his shoulders.

“Our turn!” Kie challenges you.

JJ turns to her and Pope.

“We got this,” you say.

“Hell yeah we do,” JJ replies, bouncing on his feet.

Kie and Pope lunge at you, but JJ sidesteps the attack. You grab Kie’s shoulder and tug to the left. Pope squeaks and they topple over.

You raise your arms and cheer as the other four begin to grumble. It was a group of sore losers, but it was hard to care when you came out on top.

“Okay, game over.” John B says, rolling his eyes.

“What, don’t want to lose again?” JJ teases.

You whoop again to be annoying. JJ chuckles and leans down to let you off.

You turn to him. “We did it!”

“We did it!” He repeats, and wraps his arms around your waist to swing you around. “Dream team!” He screams.

“Dinner time!” Kie yells and splashes to the shore. You all follow her, the heat of JJ still lingering on your back and down your legs.

After dinner, we sit around the fire and drink JJ’s cache of warm beer he forgot to put in the cooler.

Everyone slowly breaks up: Sarah and John B heading to their tent with their hands all over each other, then Kie heading to your shared tent, and Pope to his.

Soon, you and JJ are the only ones left.

“Losers,” JJ says.

“Both in chicken and in being teens,” You say, taking a swig.

JJ chuckles and shakes his head. “Like, what now?”

You jump to your feet. JJ looks at you confused as you place your beer can down.

“Screw them. Let’s go night swimming.” You reach out your hand. He grins and grabs it, standing up.

“Like, skinny dipping?”

“Up to you!” You giggle, running towards the shoreline.

“What, really?! Wait up!”

You’re already pulling your shirt over your head when JJ reaches the water.

“Jesus christ,” JJ says, eyes trying not to look at your bikini top.

“I wore this earlier,” you laugh.

“Yeah, but I was focused on winning..damn…”

You pull your shorts down your legs. “You coming or what?” you ask.

“Yeah yeah working on it,” he said, crossing his arms to pull his shirt over his head. You try not to look as his abs appear, a happy trail down the bottom. You wade in instead.

“Oh fuck it’s cold!” You yelp as your toes touch the lake.

“Don’t be a chicken,” he said, now in just swim trunks.

“Oh yeah?” you retort.

“Oh yeah. I’m jumping all the way in.”

“Then i will too!”

“Okay, 3, 2-” JJ dives in before finishing the countdown.

“You dick!” you yell, running to jump in after him.

Unable to see anything in the dark water, JJ catches you completely by surprise when he jumps out and pushes you in.

You scream when you hit the ice cold water.

“Fuck!”

“Yeah, it’s fucking cold. You were right,” JJ says, shaking water out of his hair.

“You think?!” you say, trying to be angry but just laughing in the end.

He smiles in agreement. “Yeah, I think.”

“Ok we’re gonna get hypothermia…let’s get out.”

“We’ll be fineeeee,” JJ responds.

“Maybe you will, you living furnace, but I’m cold.”

“I’ll keep you warmed up,” JJ gives you a toothy grin. “C’mere,”

“What?” you say, getting closer.

“Just c’mere-” suddenly he jumps forward, pushing you in again.

“You ass!!”

“What, you like it?” he turns to show me his ass.

“Hmmm lemme take a closer look,” you say. He backs up and you shove him.

“Fuck!” he resurfaces, looking at you with big hurt eyes. You can see the gears turning in his head on how he can get you next, so you end it there and head back to shore.

The two of you giggle and whisper on your way up the beach. But when you peek inside your tent, Kie is sprawled out asleep across both your sleeping bags. You groan to the sky.

“What’s up?” JJ says.

“Kie’s all over my stuff and I don’t want to wake her up.”

JJ leans in beside you and grimaces. “Yikes.”

“The fuck do I do now?” You say, already beginning to shiver in your wet clothes.

“There’s room in my sleeping bag, and body heat and all that.”

“What?”

“I said i’d keep you warm-sleep with me,” JJ replies.

You could feel my skin begin to buzz at the idea of being so close to him. “Are you sure? I don’t want to intrude…”

“Yeah totally,” he shrugs. “These stars cant be appreciated alone.”

“Okay, but feel free to roll me out if i’m a bad bag-mate,” You say.

He laughs. “I don’t think that’ll happen.”

I grab my pillow, which Kie thankfully had not gotten on. “Thank you so much…Popes hypothermia talk has got me freaked out.”

“I won’t let you die, babe,” JJ says, unzipping the sleeping bag. Your heart pounds at the nickname.

JJ pauses once the bag is open.

“Are you sure about-“ you start.

“Yes, i am,” he cuts you off. He climbs inside and lays on his back, shuffling to the side.

You approach slowly, until he pats besides him.

“Roomy! 5 stars!”

You laugh. “Is there room service?”

“Whatever you request, milady.” You feel your face getting warm as you slide your legs in next to his. He was right-there was a good amount of room for a sleeping bag. That didn’t mean you weren’t in incredibly close proximity.

You sit on your elbows to put your pillow down.

“Oh good, I forgot to bring a pillow,” he says.

“JJ. What? How?”

“See! This arrangement works for both of us.”

“Did you plan this just to steal my pillow?” you tease.

“Oh, absolutely,” he responds. You both shift to get comfortable, putting your heads on the pillow. Whatever space the sleeping bag may have granted is stolen away by you both resting your heads on the same small pillow.

Your breaths fan over each other as you lay there.

“Thanks for helping me win chicken today,” he says quietly, looking into your eyes.

“Thank you for getting me my first ever victory,” you smile back. Before you can stop yourself, you drag a piece of his hair behind his ear.

He freezes.

You scramble to apologize but he stops you. He slowly reaches his hand up to brush your hair behind your ear. His hand doesn’t move, instead resting on your jaw.

Your knees knock.

You can feel the heat building between your legs, and try to squeeze your thighs tighter.

“Y/n,” he whispers.

“Yeah, jay?” your eyes dip to his lips, and he lets out the smallest whimper.

His fingers weave more desperately into your hair. “Can I kiss you?”

“Yes, please.”

He groans and pulls your heads together. You moan into the kiss, hands going to his hair and gripping it harder.

It was everything you had imagined and more. You could feel him wanting you just as desperately as you wanted him. The lake water still lingered in his taste.

When you pull back to breathe, his eyes are on yours immediately. His thumb traces your lower lip, sending shivers across your face. You trace his cheekbones.

“I lied earlier,” you say.

“About what?” he says, concerned.

“I did pick you in chicken to tug on your hair,” you giggle.

He groans again and kisses you harder. His open mouthed kisses expand to your jaw, and your breathing gets heavier.

His breath gets raspy. “Do you know how I felt seeing you in that bikini?”

“You can see as much of me as you want,” you reply breathlessly.

“Not here.” He kisses you again. “It has to be right.”

You don’t get a chance to respond before his lips are on yours again, hands grasping you desperately. You slip your hands under his shirt to feel his stomach, almost gasping when you feel the hard lines of his abs.

“Jesus, JJ, fuck..”

He took advantage of your gasp to slip his tongue into your mouth, exploring you with fervor wherever he could reach.

“Please, JJ..”

“What, baby?”

You moan softly at the nickname and the intensity of his eyes. “Want you..wanted you for so long,”

“Me too, baby, me too,” he kisses you. His hands grip at your breasts, their sensitivity making you arch closer to him.

“Fuck, love,” you mumble, scratching his scalp.

You lean to his neck, wanting to leave a mark of you on his skin. His hands slide up and down your torso as you work on the bruise, his pinky sliding along the hem of your bikini bottom.

Your buck your hips, and he takes the sign to slip his hand lower. His palm slips over the hair there and reaches your clit.

You groan into his neck, trailing your hands from his abs over his shorts to palm his cock. You took him in your hand but he stopped you.

“Sorry, I should’ve asked-“

“No no just…let me take care of you,” he says, sliding your hand back into his hair.

“I knew you liked your hair tugged,” you grin.

“I knew you liked thinking about me in bed.”

“I-I didn’t-“ you’re cut off when his thumb circles your clit.

“What was that?” he smiles.

“I-okay, I did,”

“What did you think about?” his middle finger begins to gather the slick around your hole, as his thumb continues its rhythm.

“I-if you-“

“If what?”

“If you liked praise-if you-if you’d let me sit on your face-“

He groans into your neck. “Yes and yes.”

He slides his middle finger inside you, curving it to hit your spongy spot. You groan.

“God J, you’re a dream,” you babble.

“Oh yeah?” he says, beginning to pump his finger.

“Did you - think about me?” you ask.

“All the time,”

“What do- do you want to know?”

“I wanted-“ he trails off.

“Tell me, please,” you moan and grab his bicep.

“I- fuck- I wanted to know what pretty sounds you make, if you’d let me get you cockdrunk, what you taste like-“

You moan and kiss him again. He pushes another finger inside you and you break, cumming over his fingers.

You feel his strangled gasp beside you, and a wet spot on your thigh.

“Fuck, JJ, did you come too?”

“Yeah,” he says sheepishly.

“That’s so fucking hot,” you groan, shoving your lips into his again.

He pulls his fingers up and holds them between you.

“Look at this mess you made,” he teases. He puts his fingers in his mouth and groans, tasting you.

“God you’re perfect…I knew it. Taste yourself.”

He puts his fingers in your mouth, and you swirl your tongue to get every taste of you and him combined.

“Did I keep my promise?” he asks.

“Definitely. I am very warmed up.” you smile.

The sleeping bag is much more comfortable once you wrap your arms around each other, and you fall asleep tired and smiling.

#jj maybank smut #jj maybank x reader #outer banks one shot #outer banks #obx season 3 #obx3 #obx x reader

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mc-survivalist-steven · 10 months

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Welcome to BBQ party redux!

Rundown:

Steven's decided to host a revamp of the BBQ version! The event itself will be some sort of 'draw your OC here' social event. The purpose is... well, mostly to have fun, but also so this event can be one way for your OC to find an excuse interacting with other OCs in the askblog (if you want to have an excuse to). The deadline will be Sunday next week, 20th of August. Note: For Minecraft Askblog community only!

What do I do?

Pretty simple, actually! Remember the jailbreak event where I give you guys poses to draw your characters in? This is just like that, but a bit more loose and there is no character limit. Look up the post here to see how people submitted theirs! From this list of poses, you can pick any to draw your characters in. They have to be: a) lined and flat color or simple shading at 2000x2000 px ^ ^

b) drawn like they are eating food/interacting with others

c) I'm permitted to do little edits (because I will be the one editing them into the panels).

d) Please leave me preferences notes! (Like where u wanna be placed or whose oc u wanna be close with/avoid. Mostly bc idk who ur OC dislikes/likes.)

How this works:

When drawing your OCs, think of them in a casual social gathering settiing. What do you think they'll do? Here is a list of poses that is encouraged to draw:

1. Any 3/4 or sideview, seen from the front or back, is very appreciated. 2. Gorging on food is fine. You can draw your characters eating with thwir plates on a table too! 3. Waving at someone is fine. 4. Warming self close to fire is fine. 5. Holding/receiving a tray of food is encouraged. 6. Talking to others is encouraged. 7. Laughing/being friendly is encouraged. 8. For those who aren't sure if their OCs want to be in the crowd are allowed to submit hiding-behind-a-tree pose, or something like wallflowering. It's all cool if you want to! 9. If you wanna draw something that is more unique, just know it may not fit the scene. So be careful! (Note: You can submit multiple OCs and multiple poses. There is no limit! Just have fun, it's kind of like a social gathering. )

You are not allowed to:

Draw your OC killing others, causing too big of a ruckus, being overly villainous to others, or anything that does not fit the overall theme of the event.

Basically that's it! Pretty straightforward event for this time around. Last submission will be Sunday next week, 20th of August, so be sure to submit all you like and invite your friends. I will be mentioning which blogs submit stuff, so think of it as an mc askblog gathering, if you want. :D

Thanks and happy drawing! ^ ^

#bbq event redux #just a little event for all to enjoy :D #mcaskblog #event

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cherryblossomlion · 4 months

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Katsugi

Oh hai, it's a Mizukemi Yakuza AU! Many thanks to @todaywefvight for collaborating with me on this project, it's been so fun!

You can read it after the cut or also here:

🌸

Katsugi (noun): shouldering, carrying, raising, bearing.

<i>Katsugi is a noun form of katsugu, which means “to carry on your shoulder”. So in katsugi waza, you life your shinai towards your left or right shoulder instead of above your head</i>.

🌸

Akemi's outfit would be completely unacceptable back in Kyoto. Short, tight, blood red, her cleavage on full display-- Akemi looks nothing like either the dutiful Yakuza daughter or the med student overachiever that are the warring counterparts of her identity...

But it’s summer break, the first summer of Akemi's life that hasn't been filled with "family" functions or cram schools or internships. Next year, she'll begin her residency in Florida under a new name and a social security number she’d bought for a hefty price.

Even though she's spent the last eight years in New York, she's only been out maybe a dozen times, always at the behest of Ringo. It's not any different this time.

"You finally have some time to enjoy yourself. Live this life you worked so hard for," he'd said.

Ringo knows her better than anyone. Is the only person who's ever been able to change her mind– and Akemi has always been stubborn. Like her father.

The same stubbornness that had elevated the Tokunobu clan to the one of the four great Yakuza families in Japan is what allowed Akemi to escape it. She’d crossed an ocean so she could become the opposite of her father. Someone who helped people. A doctor.

Or, if she wanted, for just one night, an ordinary girl on her way to a club in a dress that was way too small and unsuitable for the weather. Ringo will let her borrow his leather jacket, and besides, he’s picking her up in his car. She can hear him honking the horn for her, so she steps out into the not quite warm spring air.

🌸

The phone rings in the dim apartment, interrupting its owner as she sits at the table, a katana laid out beside a bottle of polishing oil. Sharpening stone in hand, she finishes the remaining strokes with a satisfying vibration, before wiping it down with a lambskin cloth.

She shakes her head and lets the answering machine pick up.

[ We are calling to inform you about your car’s extended warranty- ]

She growls and rolls her eyes. Try as she might to keep her status updated on Do Not Call lists, there’s always some scam or gaudy advert that weasels its way in.

She stands, tall and slender, then strides into the bedroom, where she picks up a pair of slacks, a button-down and suspenders, and heads into the bathroom. The club, O, would be opening up soon.

12AM

Lace-up boots splash in the shallow puddles of a recent rainfall, as footsteps carry her to the famed nightclub, O. Music spills out onto the streets from inside the three-story building, along with colorful and strobing lights. The orange lenses of her glasses filter everything.

Easily dodging a few drunken and unsteady passersby, she wears her sword inconspicuously at her hip. Any other night, such a weapon would draw much attention- but this event gives her a perfect alibi.

Walking past the entrance and into the back of the long line of patrons, she takes a deep breath and waits.

🌸

“What’s the matter?” Akemi worriedly checks her makeup in Ringo’s sideview mirror. It nearly falls off when she tries to adjust it.

“I told you. It’s a masquerade.”

She notices that Ringo is wearing a mask, not what she’d presumed to be a hat, on his head. Probably so he can focus on driving.

Akemi shrugs.

“So what? They’ll have masks there, won’t they?”

Ringo sighs heavily, then gives her a once over. “Take off your stocking.”

“What? No!”

Ringo folds his arms, his prosthetic hooks resting on each bicep. “Trust me. I’m the fashion student.”

Akemi sighs and reluctantly hikes up her skirt in order to unhook her garter belt.

Ringo’s voice startles her. “Are you wearing a fucking knife?”

Akemi looks up and blinks. Right. Ringo doesn’t really see this side of her that often. “Just in case,” she says, then slides her fishnet stocking down her leg.

Ringo shakes his head. “What about security?”

“What about security? O just has four bouncers at the door. They're not going to pat me down. They don't have cameras. There's not even typically anyone at the back.”

“Who checks that kind of thing?!”

Akemi shoots him a warning look. He knows about her family, but he doesn’t. He’s from Kyuushu. “Let me have my little ways, Ringo. We’ve talked about this.” A bit too much, for Akemi's taste. It’s a subject she lacks patience in. She peels her stocking off and and hands it over to Ringo, then moves to take the other one off– but Ringo stops her.

“I only need one.”

“What? I’m not going to wear one stocking–”

“Rip it up in a couple places, it’ll look good.” Ringo reaches into the compartment between him and exchanges his hook prosthetic for a knife prosthetic– a shearing knife, to be exact. Akemi watches him work, but the mess of material in his hands makes no sense to her. She looks down at her remaining stocking, on her right leg, and takes Ringo’s advice. Worst case scenario, she’ll just get rid of the garment.

But it ends up looking good. And Ringo has fashioned a long rectangle of fabric out of the fishnet. He hands it to Akemi. She uses the mirror– which is now definitely tilted– as a guide. She wraps the cloth around her eyes. The strings of thread in front of her eyes are unexpectedly non-occlusive. It looks surprisingly appropriate– modern– but it also clearly fulfills the dress code.

It takes three tries for Ringo to get the car started, but his car always starts on the third try. The day it doesn’t it when Ringo says he’ll finally give up the jalopy he’s had since he came to the States. He parks it far away from the blazing pink O that towers above the club.

Outside of his. car, Ringo looks chic, his suit avant garde and deconstructed, his prosthetics a complement. His mask is similarly deconstructed. With Akemi by his side, a promoter scouts them and takes them to the front of the line.

It’s been a really long time since Akemi’s been on display. Ever since she got to university, she’s been in either sweats or suits, depending on the occasion. It was a deliberate choice, a rejection of everything her father had raised her to be—a beautiful thing, a possession to be leveraged or sold.

The old posture comes back like muscle memory, spine straight, head inclined just so, a graceful step. She attracts attention, especially in a crowd of Americans, especially next to Ringo, who looks like her fancy bodyguard. Especially since they’ve been chosen by the promoter to bypass the line.

Akemi’s eyes flicker over—everyone is wearing masks, half the crowd is in costume. You’d never see this sort of thing in Japan, except for maybe Harajuku. It’s too extra. Maybe that’s why the wolf in black catches her eye. As soon as she really looks, she realizes she’s caught their eye, too.

Everything stops, and turns blue—ice blue. The eyes are so bright she can see them even from here, even in the silver lines of a lupine mask. The eyes are the only part Akemi can see. The snarling muzzle of the mask makes the eyes look animal, predatory.

The figure is long, and slim, suited in sharp black lines. Perhaps it’s the posture that stops Akemi—no, it’s more like a stance. It makes sense, because the man is wearing a sword.

And staring right at her, like he knows her, like he knows more about her than she knows about herself. Akemi turns as she walks by, unable to let go of those eyes—until Ringo calls her name, and she realizes they’ve gotten too far ahead of him and the promoter—she rushes after them, towards the entrance of the club.

🌸

The looming neon O bathes the street in a pink glow.

The line moves surprisingly fast for how many patrons are ahead of her, yet Mizu’s patience is quietly waning. Club-goers begin putting on their masks, if they aren’t already eagerly donning them, complimenting each other on their outfits. Mizu is particular about her appearance and is almost always dressed to the nines in any public appearance. She doesn’t have anyone to dress for but herself, and takes a quiet pride in it.

Deft fingers detach the wolf mask from her hip, while her other hand removes the glasses from her eyes as she slips it on. She was lucky enough to find it at a specialty costume shop- it looked much more elegant than most of the novelty items there, and stylish enough not to feel too ridiculous. What’s more, it complimented her dark silhouette as much as any costume could. The shape settled comfortably against her face, a matte black visage dusted with traces of silvery blue. Mizu hadn’t grown up in very social settings, despite dealing with large swathes of people in her line of work. She takes a private delight in the opportunity to remain anonymous.

Even more so, given the task at hand. She’s waited years for this opportunity. Years of gaining information here and there, years of dead ends and trickles of clues, and then… everything is finally coming together, so beautifully orchestrated that it almost feels too easy. Especially to someone like Mizu, ever the skeptic.

Weeks ago– after mercenary jobs were cleared from her schedule and she was able to revisit a long-held personal vendetta– Mizu had tracked down a stateside associate of the Tokunobu clan. Through careful investigation, Mizu unearthed a trail of information on the only daughter of the bastard Lord Daichi.

The temptation to capture and torture the associate was strong, and Mizu could have probably pulled it off. But she wanted to strike closer to Daichi’s heart, and pride.

Akemi. The little princess was privileged enough to travel stateside and pursue an education, the records showed. With clean hands and a clear mind. Perhaps Daichi let her leash out so that she could be sated on her thirst for knowledge, fattening herself in self satisfaction. It was impressive, really.

And the demon in Mizu was that much more eager to strip her of that opportunity.

She’s going to make make his daughter’s life hell, and when she’s finished with her, she ‘s going to draw out her father.

Mizu and Daichi are both sinners, but she intends to make the oyabun of the Tokunobu clan pay for his in full. Mizu is fairly insensitive to greed and corruption in the world, but that bastard was responsible for the collapse of her personal corner of the universe.

She slips her glasses into her pocket, straightens, and stares ahead, letting out a light sigh as she observes everything around her. She cultivates an air of vague disinterest.

She feels, before seeing, the woman who would walk past in just a moment, a fire beginning to smolder in her breast. The loud call of a promoter signals everyone to make way, leading a chosen few past the velvet ropes and weaving through those loitering outside of the line.

Mizu turns without thinking, eyes drawn like a magnet. Locked onto a gaze darker than hers, yet bright with recognition and… just as tethered to Mizu herself as she is to those eyes.

A young woman whose face had stared back at her from low-res photographs on the four walls of her apartment a thousand times before… now it was here, in the flesh, not even five feet away.

In that moment, it feels like she knows. Mizu is not often unnerved, and she tells herself she isn't now, knowing it is a half truth at best as her posture goes rigid, her breath catching in her chest.

She sees in those eyes, opportunity… and, something she cannot yet put a name to. Yet.

And just like that, the spell is broken. She’s staring at the back of her head til it disappears into the crowd.

Mizu blinks, and stills the urge to bolt somewhere to find a back entrance. That would be guarded as well, especially on a night like this.

No matter.

Her prey is in the four walls of the club, and that is more than enough for her purposes.

🌸

Akemi wishes she’d brought earplugs. It's way too loud in this club. It's impossible to hear anything Ringo is saying– she keeps shaking her head at him when he talks. Finally, he makes a drinking motion with his hands, and Akemi nods.

She looks around her as she waits for Ringo. American girls don't dance like Japanese girls– they sweat under the lights, let their makeup run down their faces. Mizu stares at them, a little transfixed. It's raw, muscle under skin… beautiful.

She remembers those eyes, the dark figure in line, wonders if she'll see him in here. Wonders if he’ll hunt her down.

But then, Akemi’s never been into men. So she shakes off that too-long look, accepts a drink from Ringo, and studies the crowd, trying to figure out how to move so she at least didn't stand out like a sore thumb.

It’s so loud, she can feel, not just hear the music. That helps a little– hard not to keep the rhythm when it’s in your bones. The second she and Ringo enter the crowd, it’s not an option not to dance. So she does her best. At first, she imitates the people around her– then she starts to get it, the way the shoulders go, the hip rolls, the beat– she and Ringo are ensconsed by dancers, and have both done very well not losing their drinks.

Ringo toasts Akemi, and she toasts him back. They dance, mostly with each other, but they open themselves to everyone around them… Akemi has a low-key goal of going home with someone, but being a femme Asian woman makes it hard to go home with who she wants to– white guys in particular tend to get in Akemi’s way.

Not even fifteen minutes in and some guy in a tiger mask is dominating her attention. It doesn't really matter. If she ends up dancing the night away with Ringo, it’ll be the most fun she's had since she remembers.

Besides, the guy’s a pretty decent dancer– she's pretty sure he's foreign, maybe Asian like her, from his movements. He doesn't get into her space, like the Americans. When she copies his movements, he smiles.

Ringo’s been distracted by some girl. Akemi shrugs, follows tiger mask into the crowd– when he goes to place a hand on her waist, she stops it with a hand on his wrist– the dancer takes the hint, thankfully. Seemed to only be pulling her to guide her–

Tiger mask bends closer to Akemi’s ear– she hears: “too loud” and nods in agreement, and follows him off the dance floor. When he guides her down a corner and gestures towards a door, she shrugs. She’s not about to follow a stranger into an unoccupied room at the club. So she just looks at what the door reveals, curious.

The thing is, it's a billiards room. And pool is s Akemi’s weakness. Pool halls were the center of the best and most peaceful times of her childhood.

And she’s damn good at it.

“Wanna play?” Akemi asks the stranger in the tiger’s mask. She realizes she hasn't heard him speak yet.

She heads over to me the row of pool cues anyways. Picks her stick, heavy and short. “Come on,” says Akemi. “Bet you a hundred bucks I'll win.”

“No need to bet,” says the man in the tiger mask. Akemi freezes. She knows that voice– but he’s taking his tiger mask off. “I know you'll win.”

“Taigen,” gasps Akemi.

He’s so different than he was the last time she'd seen him, a high school senior, with a school appropriate haircut, a slimmer physique, and clear skin.

A tattoo of a dragon pokes out of his t-shirt, a nod to the family business–her family business. He’s thick with long-hewn muscle. His hair is long– he wears it in a top knot. He's wearing exactly the kind of shiny suit they used to make fun of when they were young.

It makes sense. He’s her father’s wakagashira now, his second-in-command. The day he told Akemi he was going to work for her father was the last day they spoke.

“Taigen,” Akemi repeats. “What are you doing here?”

🌸

It’s as chaotic inside as expected. Knowing her target is so close, while she’s held up by the crowd, feels like drowning. Mizu keeps her stoic facade as the crowd draws nearer to the bouncers, but she feels something start to stoke the anxious spark inside of her into a fire.

She makes it past the entryway before it ignites. Past the first bar the club opens up to a vast dance floor, nearly every inch of it covered with people. The music pulses in her ears and in her ribcage. Partygoers bump her shoulders as they skirt past.

If she desired, Mizu could cut them all down. It would make her mission easier. But that wouldn’t be the thing to do. Especially knowing that Yakuza from the Tokunobu clan could be nearby. Mizu was more than efficient at tracking, but it would be foolish not to assume that others could be tracking her.

Stopping at the corner of the second, bigger bar, she backed into a small pocket of space to gather herself. Her heart was racing. Every time she blinked she saw those imploring eyes. Mizu’s eyes squeezed shut as if to wrench it from her vision, and she took a deep breath. Held it for a few seconds. She imagined the anxiety within her (a rare element for the swordswoman) as flecks of golden dust in her lungs, swirling around. And with a slow and thorough exhale, she breathed out, through the snarling maw of the wolf. She opened her eyes, and steadily scanned the crowd, patrons moving together like some giant beast.

A hand traced her shoulder. Gripping her sword, she declined to sheathe it as she turned, meeting the masked face of a woman dressed as an exotic bird.

“Hello handsome, can I buy this wolf a drink?” She was forward, only looking to flatter. Mizu’s eyes stared dully back and she calmly brushed the woman’s wrist away. Words weren’t needed; it was too damn loud in here anyway.

She would start on the outside, scanning outlines, silhouettes framed by the strobing lights and swirling colors. This may take a while, and patience was needed now more than ever. Mizu was never sloppy, but she felt the potential, the eagerness as a beast breaking its containment. If anything could make her trip, it was Akemi.

Standing with her back against the wall, she caught sight of the taller companion that was with her when they headed to the front. Gaze sharpened, and she saw her. Talking to a man wearing a gaudy suit and a tiger mask. The body language read that she did not know him, but she was apparently interested enough to follow him. Mizu held her breath as she watched, where they soon disappeared into a hallway, no doubt to another room within. Mizu straightened, grip tightening on her sword. Her eyes narrowed, and she followed. There was no need to rush now. She would tread carefully, with the surety that each step would carry her further to her task.

🌸

Akemi can’t help it—she’s glad to see Taigen. After all, he was her oldest friend, her childhood sweetheart who didn’t hold it against her when she figured out she was gay, kept her secret for her—even after he joined her father, even now. He gives her one of his old bear hugs, lifting her off the floor—even with five inch heels on, Taigen still towers over Akemi.

“I thought you were supposed to be in med school,” teases Taigen, gesturing at Akemi’s club wear.

“I thought you were supposed to be committing crime with my father,” says Akemi, folding her arms. She’ll always love Taigen, but the old betrayal still rankles. Half their friendship had been dreaming their way out of the world they were born into. She’s even had a plane ticket ready for him. It would have been that easy, not to become a scumbag like her father.

The smile has long since faded from Taigen’s face. There’s something new in the set of his features. Akemi has a good guess about some of the things he must have done by now. He sighs, and blinks, and all of the sudden, his eyes are completely cold. “He wants you back.”

All of the sudden, Akemi knows it’s very important to pay attention. “We have a deal,” she says. Not one she intends on keeping. And, apparently, not one her father intends on keeping, either.

She looks around. Only the one door, and the windows are too high for her to access before Taigen can get to her.

Taigen shakes his head. “Not anymore. Your father’s brokered a merger with the Ito clan. You’re a doctor, like you wanted. He did his duty to you. Now it’s time for you to do your duty.”

Akemi has been dodging her “duty” since she was 13 years old, when it was obvious that she was going to be beautiful. The only thing that kept Tokunobu from selling her off was the idea that a virginal, well-educated wife was more valuable than a whore he could use to placate his contacts with, like his friends did with their daughters.

Akemi had insisted that her education be overseas. She had a whole new identity waiting for her in Florida. She wonders if there was a leak, if this is why her father’s making his move now.

Akemi backs away from Taigen. There’s a door set in between the empty bookshelves that line one wall of the billiards room. “If I say no?” she says, eyes flickering towards the door they’d come in through.

“I’ve got two guys waiting on the other side of that door. Twenty three more in the club.”

Akemi nods. “So you were expecting a fight, huh?”

“There’s more going on than you know. You have eyes on you. Your father wants you back under his protection.”

Akemi laughs bitterly. “You actually believe this bullshit now, don’t you?”

Taigen shakes his head, has the audacity to give her a pitying look. “You know how this game is played, Akemi.”

At that moment, they’re both interrupted by a shout and a crash coming from the other side of the door. After a beat, the door crashes open.

The man from outside—the wolf, the one who’d been standing in line, the one who’d been staring at her— steps into the room, utterly calm despite the fact that there are bodies behind him—Taigen’s men. He steps into the room, and brandishes a blood-covered sword, pointing it at Taigen.

The swordsman speaks in Japanese, in an oddly musical voice. “She’s coming with me.”

🌸

The second she turns into the hall, she spots the two men in well-fitted suits, the blades at their sides similar to hers. Mizu’s hackles raise, and she draws her blade. Unmistakable Yakuza. She wonders how many may have infiltrated the club.

The question is, are they for Akemi’s protection, or to kill her, or something else? Something in Mizu’s chest leaps as the thought crosses her mind– what a terrible irony it would be if her chance at revenge was lost like that– an image flashes in her mind, the woman’s body splayed on the floor, red dress stained with a darker red.

Focus.

The guards step in front of the door, hands reaching for their weapons. One manages to shout a warning into the inconspicuous earpiece that he wears, his eyes wide. She cuts in high wide arc, slicing through their tracheas and external carotid arteries before they can attack– before they can say anything further.

The door is locked. She severs the handle and thrusts to crush the mechanism inside, then delivers a strong kick to take care of the rest.

Mizu finds Akemi inside. Shocked, of course. She’s still alive.The man is leaning toward her, but he straightens defensively as Mizu walks inside. A trickle of blood that is not her own runs down the ridge of her mask. Her sword–its blade a brilliant blue, covered in red– raises and points to him. A drop falls onto the pool table that sits between them.

“She’s coming with me.”

The man steps forward with his weapon, his proud chest out, waist coiled. He’s tense. A juxtaposition with Mizu’s controlled but open stance. Mizu notices the shape of his tattoo, peeking out from between the open buttons of his shirt and recognizes it immediately.

Tokunobu.

Her eyes narrow and her head lowers like a predator.

He opens his mouth to retort, but Mizu disregards it as unimportant. Futile.

Mizu watches carefully. It’s often predictable that her opponents make the first strike, and she is waiting for just that.

But the next to move is neither Mizu’s, nor the man’s.

A knife flashes behind him in the flourescent light, Akemi’s pale fingers curled tightly around the handle. It happens quickly, her features twisted into something vicious as she sinks it into his body.

“I do know how this game is played, Taigen.”

Mizu’s eyes widen in surprise. Daichi’s prized daughter is dangerous. Heavy footfalls crowd the doorway, and she feels Akemi turn with her in unison as more Yakuza rush in, weapons ready.

#blue eye samurai #mizukemi #mizu x akemi #akemizu #akemi x mizu #ao3 writer #fanfic #mizu blue eye samurai #akemi blue eye samurai #80s aesthetic

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queen-scribbles · 5 months

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I saw the post about the big Bioware sale and figured you're a good person to ask since I've seen you posting about Mass Effect/Dragon Age a lot. The games look fun, and I'm a sucker for complex stories with customizable protagonists, but I am a complete weenie about the more, uh, mature stuff when it comes to romance and the 'M' rating keeps scaring me off.

Like I'm over 18 and I'm fine with the violence/drinking/most of the swearing listed with the M rating, but I just get deeply uncomfortable with the other stuff. I'm just weird like that, I guess.

Is it really a lot? Or is there like a skip option, or some kinda setting that'll just have it be a fade-to-black sitch like SWTOR? I won't be too disappointed if there isn't, I kind of expect that really, but I figured it was worth an ask while the sale is on/to keep in mind for the next sale.

I have major social anxiety and am kinda embarrassed about all this, so sorry about the anon-asking. :P

No, no, you're fine, I understand completely. (I can take or leave a lot of the sexier stuff myself) Now I will try to remember romance scenes bc I haven't played some of these games in 4-5 years, and some of the romances I haven't gotten to yet. 😅 (if you don't mind spoilers you can always look up the romance on yt to check for yourself if it goes past your preferences. but if you do wanna avoid spoilers I will do my best) P much all the romances there's only even potentially anything that might be a problem in the Culmination Scene.

(If I got anything wrong anyone please feel free to correct me)

I know in ME1 the romance scene(with Kaidan for f!Shep, Ashley for m!Shep, Liara for either) there's sideview but shadowed nudity for f!Shep/Ashely/Liara(with Arm Strategically Placed to block boobs so all you really see is a little bit of butt) and Kaidan/mShep is shirtless.

ME2.... I think there's 0 nudity and ftb for Garrus, Thane, Tali, and Jack(ftb on tenderness, comes back in to fully-clothed snuggles in bed), Jacob's shirtless, and Miranda you half-unzip her catsuit uniform so you can see her bra. Oh, and there's a mini-romance-y thing with Kelly and she wears something really skimpy if you do that.

ME3... I need to caveat I've only actually gotten through ME3 with my Kaidanmancers + the Jackmancer, but I watched p much all the others on yt to hurt myself. Also it's been a while. I don't thiiiiink there's any full nudity, when it gets to the big sex scene toward the end, the furthest it goes is cuddling/foreplay with underwear still on, then cuts to waking up still just in underwear, and not all the romances get that. Some of them, ah. end prematurely for different reasons, or the romance isn't an actual companion in this game, so there's less content(Kaidan, Ashley, Garrus, Liara, and Tali get the most, since they join the team + have been established longer). There are new m/m and f/f exclusive option in ME3, but it's been long enough I don't rememberrrrrr if there's anything risque for them. I don't think so.

Andromeda I've only done Liam's romance and I don't think there was much in there(you can get him to stop wearing a shirt on the ship about halfway through and there's a makeout session on the couch that ftb). I think Cora's and Jaal's involve male and female shirtlessness, but I'm straight up blanking for the rest of them.

FOR DRAGON AGE

In Origins, the "big scene" for the romances does involve "sexy" movements, but the characters still have on underwear, so no nudity, and tbh with game engine/graphics advances that have been made a lot of people find those scenes cringey/silly more than sexy now. I think you can skip those, maybe, but if you can't there's dialogue after so you can just look away til you hear your chosen sweetie start talking and the conversation takes place fully clothed.

DA2 they did ftb for the four vanilla game romances. Love interest shows up, there's cutscene kissing fully clothed, ftb, wake up in underwear at worst. (Sebastian MY BELOVED is romanceable with a f!Hawke, but since he's a) chaste and b) a DLC companion, there's absolutely no sex scenes with him, you can get chaste married on his friend path and he'll talk about the two of you getting married to reclaim his homeland on his rival path).

DAI is... simultaneously best and worst in this regard lol Josephine and Solas there's nothing. Sera and Cassandra you see boobs and enough leg to hint at full nudity without actually showing it(Sera's might get a little more explicit, it's been longer for her so I don't 100% remember). Dorian's has... full rear nudity, but I think that's it. Blackwall's I don't remember, Cullen and Iron Bull both have scenes where you can tell they're naked, but the Inquisitor or an object is strategically in the way of the naughty bits.

OH AND not romance related, but possibly an issue, there are demons in the DRagon Age canon known as Desire Demons, who look like practically naked purple ladies(they have, like, an even skimpier version of the SWtOR Slave Girl outfit and are fond of caressing themselves seductively). They aren't in DAI, but do show up in the first two games for a few quests.

#queen rambles #i really really hope i'm remembering things right #there are many romances and i have not done/watched them all #some day i will escape the magnetic draw of raphael sbarge's voice and romance someone OTHER THAN KAIDAN with fshep #(tho points to him for being literally the only video game romance i can't skip if playing a gender who can pursue them😂)

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nekobami · 11 months

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"Some people just... don't read."

"Hey Rick, we're finnaly in home aren't we? That party was awful, but at least I got a cool jacket."

"Yeah Morty, yeah, just remind me to not get us into such a mess again. But it was worth it anyway."

Oh the results of this drawing just made me so happy, because at first I thought I wouldn't be able to draw they in sideview, and walking cycle references are to confused for this porpuse.

Context:

Supposedly, due to not reading the name of the dimension, Miami Rick and Morty ended up in a Faker. A Faker is a nickname given to an artificially created dimension, whose purpose is to attract, distract and neutralize different world-devouring plagues. Fakers mimic the original dimensions and can confuse even extra dimensional travelers, as they do here. The danger here was in Miami Morty and Miami Rick getting caught in the Faker's daily reset, which can almost completely alter the behavior of a living being that shouldn't be inside the Faker. This here even takes place before the sketch of Agent Morty carrying Miami Morty like a kid, and even yielded an interaction with Miami Rick himself. Also, I really enjoyed the RP I did with the bot to get inspiration for this. Such a fun.

#rick and morty #art #Miami Rick #Miami Morty #Mortyhearted #please just read it isnt a joke oh noes #//not &

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risingsunresistance · 2 years

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Top 5 favorite art you've done

actually made the exact same list the other day but i'll include pictures this time for you :] and also links to the original posts jhdjfh

5. this random drawing of billiam i never finished, even tho i didnt finish it i still REALLY like where it was, probably the best anatomy on a sideview i've ever done tbh

4. techno and simon :] it just looks happy to me and i like that, i like when i can tell i had fun with a drawing bc it's not always about how "good" the piece looks

3. nether clothes, same reason as above!! i've had so much fun designing this outfit ehehe, tbh i have some issues with the proportions n stuff on this one but i dont really mind, i like the concept enough to ignore it. maybe one day i'll redo it :D

2. my memorial piece. ignoring All That, i actually do like this artistically too. i originally hated the sketch back in 2021, im glad i decided to see it through anyways. when the colosseum was updated to be overgrown, i had actually considered finishing this sketch then too jdhjf. the rising sun means a lot to me <3

1. DRAGON TECHNO REDRAW AAAAAAAAUGH IM ACTUALLY SO PROUD OF THIS ONE IT WAS SO MUCH FUN AND IT LOOKS GOOD. when the idea in your head actually looks exactly how you wanted it to look on paper >>>>>>>>>>

#love how i have art that has like 2-4k notes and im just. No. These Ones jdhfjh #also making this nonrebloggable bc if you wanna reblog the art i'd rather you reblog the originals :0 #plus on some of them there's like. additions n stuff. Extra Content in the tags kdhjd #asks #anons #tw death #(for the memorial piece)

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thejustsimon · 3 months

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My OWN FNAF Missing Children Incident Theory

So, after a lot of thoughts, like A LOT, I finally got my OWN theory who were MC, I believe that they are none other than kids from FNaF 4 minigames, here's my explanations. Gabriel - Baloon Kid - Freddy Fazbear: Freddy definitely in idea widest animatronic of all 4, since Baloon kid is kinda fat I believe Freddy is the only animatronic or costume for who boy's body fit to physically, plus, this boy wasn't actually mean to Evan, in minigame or talked about something his own like other kids, Freddy in idea kind animatronic (at least I want to believe). 2. Jeremy - Boy with a bunny - Bonnie: Well, my only implication is here that he holding a bunny, yeah, that's probably Sprigtrap or Plushtrap or even Spring Bonnie BUT, fact that this toy is implication of Spring Bonnie can be a hint an actual bonnie and future fate of this kid. Fun fact: At first I thought that was Sammy Emily, cuz he had fredbear and friends toy, Sammy's father is one of creators Fredbear franchise (Henry Emily) and he could make a toy for son, but now it's ridiculous and Sammy probably don't exist in lore of games. 3. Susie - Girl with toys - Chica: At first I had doubts and thought she was Charlie (by the same reason as Sammy) but if think about that she really have a similar image with girl from FNaF 6 Fruit Maze mini game, similar haircut plus color, similar color of clothes, similar color of eyes, that's kinda all and they way she mentioned Chica (and her beak) as her toy BUT ignored Freddy and Bonnie. 4. Fritz - Laughing Boy - Foxy: By elimination method I confirmed for myself that Laughing Boy is foxy, plus he looks taller that the others or actually his legs, usually tall people walk fast, its like a hint that Foxy is fastest of all animatronics, plus, after his death boy replaced his laugh by dum dum song. 5. Cassidy - Pigtail GIrl - Second Spirit of Golden Freddy: Yeah I know that someone already had a theory that she is Cassidy & everyone just threw this possibility away, but hear me out, as we know that in that confusing logbook Cassidy is a girl with a black hair and yellow eyes and yet we never saw her clothes, like at all, only head and in a sideview, anyway, there's two things that make me think that PG is Cassidy, first one is obvious, pigtails, she have the same damn haircut like girl in logbook, and second thing similar cruel sense of humor, as PG she scaring Evan by gossips about animatronics and then pretends like nothing happened, now remember how she REALLY cruel and restless in UCN, "I will never let you leave, I will never let you rest", she does have a cruel demeanor or something, and last thing that make me think that she and Cassidy one and same being is color of text, last text of Fredbear plush in the end, its the same like her, pale yellow, while Fredbear's text in other games (who I believe is William) is just yellow or even slightly gold, so her words "I will put you back together" but what does it mean? She planned to "resurrect" Evan? It seems that PG knew more than it seemed, maybe she even knew about remnant, plans of WIlliam about immortality and that's he specifically kidnapped her and killed, because she knew too much, but after death became Wlliam's worst nightmare "The One Who He Should Not Have Killed" and share GF together with Evan, also, I tink in UCN she kinda using Evan's image as a facade, to confuse Wlliam, to play some cruel mnd games with him, to DOMINATE- okay I stop.

#five nights at freddy's #fnaf #fnaf theory #fnaf 4

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varian-polis · 3 years

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Here are all of the separate Rins from the birthday post! Hopefully drawing 14 Rins in 3 days means I can draw her consistently now!

#vocaloid #rin kagamine #kagamine rin #polis does an art thing #fun facts about each of the drawings GO!#it took me like 15 minutes to finally make the canvas wide enough to fit aku no musume's whole arm #when i finished the first batch on the 24th conductor canary was my most detailed drawing in this post #not even I know what expression sunflower is making #I internally groaned when i got to scissors because I don't like drawing hoods #night series is probably the most detailed in terms of linework #I'm really proud of childish war because it's a decent looking sideview and her hand looks great too #connecting is a super simple design compared to some of the others and yet it took me a while due to the angle #tsubaki is probably my least favorite. the pose is weird and part of her was covered by a katana in the official art #karma was the fastest due to the straightforward pose i chose and the extremely simple color scheme #mirror sound's kingdom was a pain due to the salute and the angle #i originally tried to blend the outlines of the triangles on bring it on's bow but it looked bad so i just left it #we are not suspicious dealers is paler due to the fact rin seems ill throughout the whole song. also colored pupils go brrr #i despise newly edgy idols's hand

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emperorsvornskr · 4 years

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Kylo and Hux on roadtrips:

They fight over who drives. Kylo usually wins.

Kylo is the better driver; he has perfect reflexes, and the car seems like it’s part of him when he drives. He’s also at home behind the wheel and loves long stretches of highway.

Hux isn’t a bad driver- he’s actually a very alert, defensive driver, but he has scary roadrage.

They argue over what is played on the stereo- Hux wants classical or podcasts, usually podcasts about politics, STEM, etc. Kylo wants typical lead-foot road trip playlists, the NoSleep podcast, or comedy podcasts.

They compromise and listen to Lore, Small Town Murder, and a playlist that’s a mix of both their favourite songs. Hux won’t admit it, but he’s secretly become a fan of some of the horror podcasts Kylo likes (The White Vault and Old Gods of Appalachia are becoming favs of his, but he will NOT admit it)

When Hux drives, Kylo leans the seat all the way back and props his feet up on the dash. It drives Hux NUTS- especially when Kylo is a Shithead and sticks his feet out the window, because they block the sideview mirror. Kylo does this on purpose when they have an argument, because Hux will drop the argument to tell him to move his enormous feet out of the way of the mirror.

When Kylo drives, Hux has the seat only leaned back EVER so slightly, and to keep himself from being a backseat driver, he has a stack of books or something else to keep himself busy- puzzles, work, etc.

Kylo can fall asleep easily in the car, and will sprawl out awkwardly as best he can with how tall and gangly he is when it’s Hux’s turn to drive.

Hux can’t sleep in the car- he gets migraines if he tries, and it infuriates him.

Kylo stocks the car with lots of junk food- chips, poptarts, LOTS of beef jerky, energy drinks, sodas, etc. He will consume 100% of his body weight in beef jerky if Hux doesn’t stop him.

Hux brings a cooler and stocks it with water, gatorade, veggie sticks, trail mix, and cold brew coffee- he drinks it black, with only a tiny bit of salted caramel flavour. He gets mad when Kylo drinks it when he runs out of his energy drinks.

Kylo plays Punch Buggy and Hux hates it and Kylo knows this, so he delights in it.

Hux likes making a tally of every different license plate he sees on the road- not just state/country, but the different variations.

They both love making fun of bad bumper stickers, vanity plates that can be COMPLETELY taken out of context, and they both delight in reading church signs/Fear of God type Southern/Midwestern signs.

#kylux #modern au setting i guess #mostly inspired by my current road trip #i seriously recommend those podcasts btw #they're AMAZING and hilarious/intense/entertaining

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fluffifullness · 6 years

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Following someone apparently breaking my sideview mirror for fun (it was the one ...on the sidewalk side but not close enough to said sidewalk for even a bike to do it) while it was parked on the street (much) earlier this summer, we’ve finally got a replacement mirror (necessary since this jerk really hit it so hard it was hanging by a wire)...

...the catch is that while my car is silver, the mirror casing is black and while I COULD maybe get it to match the rest of the car it’s also funny to me to have a black mirror

Geddit. Black mirror

#i kinda want to...buy a black mirror bumper sticker instead of like. paint #personal

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sunnyaliceart · 7 years

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I love Zoras, so it’s no surprise that I’m also a Prince Sidon fan. I just love how positive he is! Plus, gotta love King Whale Dad. What a good fishy family!

#botw #botw spoilers #prince sidon #breath of the wild #king dorephan #legend of zelda #gosh I love zoras so much #alicechrosnyart #aliceapproved #my art #longpost #long post

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pixelrender · 5 years

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My 5 genres of video games

I used to spend my time on a variety of games from AAA open world titles to small flash tower defense games. I’m still quite fond of many of these games and Kingdom Rush in particular has a special place in my heart as the smoothest tower defense game I’ve ever played. I got obsessed over niche genres from time to time too. I had a short period, in which I read many articles on hg101. Naturally, I got super interested in shmups back then. I still like to play a simple free shmup from time to time, but I avoid more difficult entries these days and I can’t call myself a hardcore fan of the genre.

For the longest time I was big on RPGs and Boiware in particular. I loved Dragon Age and I still plan getting my hands on Inquisition one day. I need to replay Mass Effect 2 and finally finish the trilogy. Baldur’s Gate is still on my shortlist of games to finish and Jade Empire is one of my favourite underrated games to recommend. There were other RPGs than those from Bioware too. Gothic 3 probably qualifies for the game I spent most time with as completing it took me half a year. I still like low fiction of Gothic series and admire compact worlds of the first two games and Risen. Oblivion is my favourite roaming game. The best part about it was bumping into a small settlement in the middle of nature and just be there. The last not least I should mention RPG Maker. I developed few small games in it and I still sometimes work on three more. 2 of them are actual RPGs. I played and enjoyed many RM games, some of them epic fantasies. So, why is this genre only a honorable mention? I don’t find myself as attracted to it and its power fantasies as I used to. I don’t have time for sprawling epic and there are certain strategy games fulfilling my lust for medieval and characters better. The two basic premises of RPGs aren’t as interesting for me as they used to be. I don’t really care about hero’s journey narrative and I’m little bored with basic mechanics. For example leveling up can be such a chore.

Now my choices are way narrower than they used to be. I still play other games and especially hobbyist and micro RPGs, which might enter my top 5 one day. These are the five genres I purposely follow, build up libraries or knowledge of their game design and talk about on Discord the most.

1. Non-linear platformers

I enjoy myself a good metroidvania. There’s only one thing, which makes a foggy, rainy better. It’s not alcohol. Also, I used term non-linear platformers on purpose. I enjoy sideview platforming and not every metroidvania’s that. There are many different movements and some of them are less fun and there are 3d games, which use Metroid inspired progression. Also, I haven’t played a single Metroid or Castlevania proper. I don’t have any excuse for the travesty. Ok, not being a console guy might give you an explanation of my situation. And with so many likes and clones on steam, I have enough to eat through without touching emulators.

I enjoy the genre’s level design in particular. I think that adding multiple layers and making souls inspired timing based combat or adding too many rpg elements rarely helps. Movement’s still the core. Upgrades/progression is at its best, when focused on obtaining new ways of movement and not stronger weapons. Clever boss fights are always important, but I prefer them to be a puzzle rather than an endurance competition. I have a huge, almost endless list of metroidvanias to play and to base my own one on.

2. Walking simulators

Sometimes I just need to turn off. Games in general are a good resting activity, walking sims and ambient games take it little further. And I usually feel enriched by playing them. I don’t feel like an overgrown child. Walking around studying original aesthetic of their creators. It’s a dialogue, in which I confront and reflect their approach to architecture and aesthetics They are definitely better enjoyed on a big screen with proper audio and smooth performance. They’re quite power hungry as even low poly ones are usually 3d. That’s a problem with my current hardware and software. In general I enjoy low poly and minimalist walking sims the most. They tend to focus more on composition.

Almost walking sims present you with a sense of wonder. You explore unknown and often massive lands. They should let you find your own way, but some of there are more focused and lead. Even if the land’s strange, it’s for the better when it rings a sense of familiar. Going cheap surreal isn’t the way. Landscapes in walking sims can be way weirder than Dali, but they should have their own nature. Walking sims are usually very slow. There’s no activity besides walking, maybe you can pick up an item. Sometimes, you follow a story. It’s hard to define a hard border, where walking sims end and other genres start. Gone Home is about something completely else than pure walking sims, but I still enjoy it for its pacing and ambiance. That brings it very close. Curtain certainly isn’t a walking sim, but the way you move around the apartment and then walk through a corridor to bend time is very much close to timeless scenes of walking sims.

3. Art games - game art

This is a difficult category to define. Art games are usually aiming for more than entertainment. They’re deeper with references to other media or filled with social critique. Having fun sometimes feels bad in them. Game art is even more difficult to define. To put it simply, it’s usually a piece of art using games as its medium. It can have a form of an interactive executable or weird modification of an existing game but the artistic concept is more important than it being a working game. In terms of mechanics, this is a diverse group and vague one, when it comes to game design. Here I can learn from areas more relevant in the real world. They often take on philosophy, ethics, politics, aesthetics and other fields I’m interested in more than in violence and loot.

Some game are clear art games. An easy example is Kentucky Route Zero, which despite it’s artsy nature is clearly defined by its mechanics and sense of progress. The other example from my favourite games would be Little Party. This one’s lighter on mechanics, but it tells a very subtle and civil story and it uses art and creativity more than being a product of it. Proteus would be my personal borderline example. The game’s about complementing and its island are small art pieces. This is actually very close to an ambient video installation and could be considered game art.

4. Turn based strategy games

Games my brain enjoys the most. I get satisfaction from solving. Solving concrete situations of strategy games is closer to me than abstract puzzles and logic games in general. Into the Breach is close to the latter in terms of mechanics but I love it, because it’s not cold, it makes me feel and every time I fail and an enemy hits one of the cities, I stop breathing for a moment. It makes me feel heroic to put one of my mechs in front of houses and almost sacrifice its pilot to save those lives.

There’s a huge influence of Heroes of Might and Magic. That game has many flaws, but its pace is perfect. Battles are usually either swift of epic. Heroes were my first love and I still fondly return to them from time to time. They’re not as challenging or complex as most tactics/strategy games, but they’re perfect rewarding fun. I only left them as my default turn based strategy to branch out. Series like Civilization and Warlock are building more consistent worlds. Especially in Civ its super fast turns and ties to the real world’s history make it a captivating game, in which you need to strategize on several fronts at once. Tactics are the second path I currently follow. There are closer to RPGs, but for reason your characters becoming stronger makes more sense here. It’s often because you can lose them and losing a level 10 character hurts more. I enjoy the small scale of tactics games too. The smaller the better. Again it’s a game design challenge of going further without sacrificing complexity.

5. Grand strategy games

I wonder how longer this one sticks. I love engrossing myself in Paradox games, losing track of real for weeks and becoming weirdo obsessed with my own history of the world. But it’s weird and disconnecting and you can’t talk about it with your friends, because explaining it is impossible. You can share some stories with fellow grand strategy players, but it’s not difficult to realize the weird nerdness of the company.

So, what’s so good about them? They simulate politics on a world-wide level with an amount of realism, which just feels right. You can change history, but only within borders set up by Paradox. For example you can conquer France as an Aztec, but it stays France. Shapes are the same, systems too. This shade of reality makes fiction in Crusader Kings, Europa Universalis, Victoria and other games much more easy to engage with. That’s also why I find Stellaris boring. Leaving reality, there’s nothing to compare your fiction with. It renders my choices irrelevant and different developments have same impact on me. Multiplayer probably changes this.

Civilization is far less complex than grand strategy games. It’s simple and easy to explain and to change. Yet it keeps certain connection to the real world and it has great modding scene. There isn’t an infinite number of expansions for it, which would make it bloated with features. And one run lasts a lot less. Civ isn’t a simulation, it’s still a very long puzzle. One day, I will only stick with one of the two. Now It looks better for Sid Mayer than Paradox.

Pictures are from following games: Caged Bird Dont Fly Caught in a Wire Sing Like a Good Canary Come When Called, Gunmetal Arcadia, Mura Toka (1 and 2), Morphblade, Victoria 2

#feature #genres

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astrotranslations · 7 years

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ASTRO Moonbin, "I Want to Act in the 'School' Series" ⑤

Moonbin is the sub-vocal and lead dancer in his team. If you listen to ASTRO’s songs, Moonbin’s characteristic masculine voice will strike your ears. Even in 'Baby' off their recent album, Moonbin was in charge of the song’s intro and dance.

Dance, singing, he is good at everything so I asked him if he was greedy to challenge himself in other areas like musical, etc.

"Musical actors are cool and it’s a charming job. (But) I still prefer watching them than acting in them. I learn and feel a lot from watching them act, dance and sing. I fall short to be able to do the same."

He looked at his cup of coffee for a bit, as though feeling dissatisfied with his answer. He continued to spick a quick moment later.

"As of right now, I want to focus on my job as a singer. But I hope a chance for me to act will come. It’ll be nice if I could appear in the 'School' series."

Moonbin has experience promoting as a child actor. He was the child version of U-Know Yunho in the MV for DBSK’s song, 'Balloons', and also appeared as Kim Bum’s child actor in KBS drama 'Boy Over Flowers'. He was an idol trainee for 7 years under Fantagio Music but seems like his eagerness for acting has not disappeared. There are several idols appearing in <School 2017> so I hope that Moonbin’s hopes will come true in the near future.

I asked Moonbin, who usually enjoys exercising, what he does when he is resting.

"That’s true. I like exercising so I ride my bicycle and do a lot of other various things. I enjoy webtoons so I read them often. I think it’ll be a big hit if 'Caught Up in Rumours*' and 'Windbreaker*' were made into movies. I like animations too so I’ve watched stuff like 'One Piece' and 'Naruto'. I also enjoy gaming so I game sometimes."

He paused his words, took a big gulp of his iced latte and continued himself.

"I really think I would’ve lived freely if I hadn’t become a celebrity."

Moonbin answered me honestly and with a light heart, his sideview overflowing with charms. Cha Eunwoo, who shares the same room with him in their dorm, had something to add on.

"Bin-ie is the reflection of a typical guy in his 20s. The kind who likes exercising, likes gaming and likes eating."

Moonbin, who was looking at Cha Eunwoo, exclaimed, "Yeah!" and laughed brightly. It was a moment where you could feel the two roommates’ close friendship.

Webtoons and exercising are not the only things that Moonbin enjoys. He quite likes idol group 'BTS' as well. There was a day where Moonbin introduced BTS’s Butterfly on Twitter as his song of recommendation for fanclub 'AROHA'. BTS’s Jungkook was caught on camera during the year end award ceremonies calling out to Moonbin, who was going up on stage, and causing a stir. Was there a chance for him to get closer to Jungkook since then?

"I’ve exchanged numbers with Jungkook hyung and contacted him several times. But he seems like someone who you have to meet up with for you to get closer to. Moreover, he’s really busy and our schedules don’t match so that’s a shame. We’ll probably be able to grow closer when we both get the chance."

There was disappointment hidden in Moonbin’s voice. Our interview was somehow already reaching its end. I put Moonbin’s voice, which was nice to listen to, behind me and finally turned my attention to 'face genius’ Cha Eunwoo.

If I had to point out someone who has contributed the most to letting today’s ASTRO come to be, then it is definitely 'face genius' Cha Eunwoo. He has a handsome face that is hard to forget if you have looked at it once. As the owner of a superior brain who has ranked no.3 in his whole school during his school days, he has gone on various variety programs and caught the eyes of the viewers with his calm personality and polite demeanour.

He is recently active as an MC for MBC program 'Show! Music Core' and properly challenged himself at acting appearing in KBS Fri-Sat drama 'The Best Hit'. I tired throwing the all rounded perfect guy a brazen question. Is there anything inconvenient about being handsome? Cha Eunwoo had a slightly flustered expression hearing the unexpected question.

"I’m not too sure if there’s anything inconvenient. But I went to Lotte Cinema this holiday with my mum to watch a movie. I was going from home so of course I was in some comfortable clothes. I just put on a t-shirt, pants and slippers. But there were a lot who recognised me. I thought they wouldn’t. I like going around comfortably. I was there after going on a drive with my mum but I couldn’t conveniently go around since people recognised me. I could’ve confidently made my way if I had on sandals which would add one more strap around my ankles but I was in slippers so I wanted to quietly hide myself. It happened like that."

Rather than it being an inconvenient aspect of being handsome, it was an incident one would experience after becoming a star. Hearing Cha Eunwoo spill about his recent experience, the members worriedly said something each, "How could they have not recognised you!" Rocky shared an incident he experienced going out with Cha Eunwoo.

"There was once I was in the dorm with Eunwoo hyung and JinJin hyung so we decided to go out for a movie. We suggested wearing masks just in case but Eunwoo hyung kept insisting, "We won’t get caught, they won’t know us." So we said, "Let’s go!" but people recognised us as soon as we reached the movie theatre."

Hearing Rocky reveal the episode, Cha Eunwoo responded, "So what? If they say hi to us then we can just tell them hi back." Leader JinJin, who was observing the two, laughed as he summed up, "It was a situation where it was difficult to not recognise us."

I was curious if the clean-cut Cha Eunwoo had reverse charms to him and pleaded the members to disclose any.

Moonbin started to talk.

"Eunwoo’s a person too, right? He naturally sees to his biological needs and sometimes even passes gas. Won’t you think he’s more charming if that side of him gets revealed? He behaves like total klutz when he’s with us and his actions too,"

Moonbin looked at Cha Eunwoo, who was listening in quietly, and added one more thing.

"He uses the same room as me and talks in his sleep a lot. He speaks randomly. He was snoring so much yesterday."

Rocky said, "Eunwoo hyung didn’t use to snore but……" and let his words drift off while JinJin mentioned, "Eunwoo snores when he’s really tired." It is obvious for Cha Eunwoo who acts, MCs and is a CF model on top of promoting as part of ASTRO, to feel tired. The members had on an apologetic expression looking at the silent Eunwoo.

What is the work that the all rounder Cha Eunwoo feels he has the most knack for? JinJin asked, "MC?" expressing his curiosity alongside me.

"When it comes to MC-ing, it’s something I’ve done in school so rather than calling it a new challenge, it’s something I had fun doing.. Standing on stage as an idol is something I could do after learning how to since my trainee days. But I think the joy you feel on stage can’t compare to when you’re an actor. How shall I express the feeling of matching to your partner when you’re acting? It’s all hard to describe. I might come across as greedy but I don’t want to let any of those three go."

Cha Eunwoo flashed me his flowery smile as he ended the conversation and I wanted to encourage him that he could excel in all those three things. As someone who tries his best and does not make it obvious he is tired despite going through a packed schedule, it is obvious that worthwhile results are bound to follow him. As we parted, I told him, "Eunwoo-ssi, stay strong!"

The interview that lasted a little over an hour ended in the blink of an eye. Moonbin and Cha Eunwoo who try their best running forward whilst not being greedy. I am looking forward to how the pair’s journey will continue to draw out as part of ASTRO who have grown more matured.

Source: http://www.vop.co.kr/A00001187073.html

Translations by @99pmh Take out with full credits

#MJ #Myungjun #JinJin #Jinwoo #Eunwoo #Dongmin #Moonbin #Rocky #Minhyuk #Sanha #ASTRO

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exilesofembermark · 7 years

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Game Dev Update | 6.9.17

Who is that? What’s he so sad about? What’s that on his head? Read on...

Welcome back to the Exiles Game Dev Update, wherein we cover all things happening in the world of the game and its development.

Last time, we covered a bunch of content, gameplay experiments and visual evolutions on the Exiles UI. This Update goes across the board with a look at the way we’re setting up battle environments, a new NPC, lootz (as always) and an introduction to the fellow that will guide you through your early experiences in Embermark.

ENVIRONMENT BREAKDOWN: VANISIR

We’ve mostly shown our classic foresty Wildewoods battle environment in the past (or the Arena), but we’ve been quietly working on many different Battle setups for different Zones and situations all the while. This time, let’s take a look at Vanisir, the southwest Zone known for arid land and DANGER (ok, fine, every Zone in Embermark is dangerous-- it’s a fantasy-post-apocalyptic landscape after all). You can see from this setup that we’re taking several 2D paintings and arranging them in UE4 to achieve our 3D-but-hand-painted look:

AMA TRANSCRIPT

We had a rousing discussion in our 2nd-of-many Ask Me Anything a few weeks ago on the Exiles Discord Channel, with subjects ranging from Abilities to Stats to World Events & Houses tackled. Besides lively banter, several Exiles won coveted items when the game launches via “rolls” in chat.

In case you missed it and want to get all the info & shenanigans, you can find the entirety of it here for posterity (our gratitude goes out to community stalwart Drakythe for capturing the AMA and posting the transcript).

BANDITS!

A Faction exists in Embermark that doesn’t really acknowledge (or respect) any leadership other than its own-- the Raiders. If called to fight as a unit or untied Faction, they probably wouldn’t fare well, but when encountered in Quests or random encounters in Exiles, they can be deadly.

Of medium build and questionable (read: awful) morals, the bandit can be found in Wildewoods and Askala among other Zones.

Don’t like the red bandanna? FINE...

Now, a significant constituency of the Exiles community are Rogue-friendly (yes, that is a term), and I’m not saying this Bandit here is reminiscent of what you might expect your player-Rogue to be like... OR AM I.

What I can say is that because we’re using the player models for creation of NPCs, we have the ability to appropriate their equipment for YOU. So a shout-out to you Rogue-friendlies out there-- consider this gear a bit of a preview to what kind of gear you might outfit yourself when gameday comes...

ABILITIES UI REDESIGN

UI 2.0 is on its way as we watch people play the game and discover optimizations ourselves. One we attacked this month is the switching of Ability Sets (remember, Ability Sets in Exiles can be 4 Abilities in the basic combat we’re testing and 8 in the “Deck” version we’re also testing). Using a list view to toggle between what becomes quite a few saved Ability Sets for an advanced player becomes cumbersome, so we added in some additional options for ease of use:

Ability Set title at the top

Arrows (and swipe, of course) for switching between your saved Ability Sets

Pips below the current Ability Set to show both which one is active and how many you have

This underscores some things that we’re experiencing in play sessions

THE ELF IN ACTION

We’ve shown the evolution of Exiles’ wood elf characters since the beginning of this project (here, here & here), so having him in the game now is really exciting for us. We’re doing a little extra fudge factor to get his arrow to do different things (stay tuned for additional VFX we’re working on), but you can see his Sharpshot Ability here:

With a sideview of same here:

And Gunslinger’s animator-extraordinaire Andrew even used the arrow as a comedy device in the elf’s death:

Found all over, but concentrated in Wildewoods, Feral Moon and Askala, these wood elves are no fans of their brethren in the southern island Zone of Queviel. Those elves made an exodus during the Collapse to get away from the destruction, leaving their wood elf cousins to fend, adapt and evolve into the wilder, more martial elves that you will encounter often.

HELMS & TELLS & TUNICS

Each month, we increase the Exiles library of loot and show a few choice pieces to illustrate both our stylistic choices as well as our experiments in gameplay. As we turned the dwarf I showed last month into a formidable foe (and sometimes ally), his gear was adapted into player-wearable items, and we gave it the color-tell treatment (go here for explanation). We’re in the process of figuring out how far we need to go to get the effects telegraph across to players, cuz where this helmet definitely says “green” to the opponent...

...this one has a certain style...

You’ll see where we landed when closed testing begins, and I will likely address this whole system in a later update.

It also occurred to me that we’ve never shown (or even mentioned) TUNICS before, and what’s a fantasy RPG without that word (or item)? Well, it’s not going to deflect much in the way of damage, but here are three tiers of a mage tunic for your wearing pleasure:

And of course, the latest in power-fashion magery:

All of the items that I’ve shown in the last few updates are now in the game, and we’ve been upgrading and improving our backend system that pushes content into the game in real-time. I’ll be starting to post video of more extended gameplay and battles once we get more finish on the feedback systems, but for now, take a look at another GIF of equipping, featuring the Spear, Axe, Shield and armor set show in the past 2 or 3 updates. Please note the now-working rarity icons!:

(click here for a much longer and better GIF unbound by Tumblr’s file size limits)

THE NARRATOR (& HIS MANY HIDDENS)

The backstory and Lore of Exiles has been a fun and evolving part of the project, and as the preview stories started coming together with Bound, we realized the need for creating a character who acts as the voice (check out the Pocket Gamer article on Bound’s announcement of award-winning writer Andrew Saxsma as the talespinner on Exiles). We needed bit of a narrator. So we went through a process of coming up with who/what we wanted him to be and do. We went through many iterations of look and feel and reference to get something that nailed the tone of someone who would engage in telling you these stories...

(With great respect to GRRM, who sees Jorah Mormont in the above? Which one?)

Then we started playing with the type of fellow he might be, what he would be equipped to do, to survive and to know...

Until we arrived at a backstory and personality that we’re pretty excited about, but...

...then we SHROUDED HIM IN MYSTERY.

Har. So I’ll say little else other than there are no less than 2 major signals about who and what our Narrator is in this illustration. We shall reveal those items in due time. For now, I give you:

NARRATIVE - A GLIMPSE

There are quite a few episodes of the Exiles storyline in the can now. If you’re just joining us, we’re telling some of the backstory of the game before it’s available, and once the game launches, we’ll be telling the story of YOU. By that, I mean we’ll be reporting on the storyline as players play out their adventures, using the data from the game and the choices you make to direct the ongoing narrative.

Very soon, our friends at Bound will release early episodes of the backstory (told by our haunted friend above), so now-- have a read through of the very first mid-episode snippet from our coming Tales...

A farmhand and his wife, who had been pulling behind them the few belongings left of their home, mentioned in passing that there had been an attack against House Resolute that morning, before the sun had risen.

They described a horror of the loudest thunder and the hottest fires that rained down from the skies over the gulley of central Siege, barraging the fortress at its heart. Mages, it was rumored, of a rival House had rallied against the hoarding House Resolute. These Mages, I learned, wanted retribution for the deprived territories and as I neared the mountain’s peak, I witnessed fires devouring the countryside and ash falling as snow from bloated dark clouds.

Though Hurinyl withstood its aggressors, neighboring encampments were leveled and homes and farmland for miles vanished.

More troubling was that a message of blood and destruction was delivered that morning, one which would resound for ages to follow. That message, my friend, was quite clear: Man had lost his abundance, his satisfaction. His eyes, and all they desired, had turned upon his neighbor.

The rise of the Houses was signaled. War was coming.

What?! What was Resolute hoarding? What mages? Who’s the “bad guy?” Who had the power to engulf the whole countryside? Stay tuned, Exiles...

REMEMBER

We’ll keep sharing details as we head into testing (remember to PM TheWizard on the Exiles forums with your device type if you want in on closed testing & beta later), and you can count on early impressions from the testers throughout our various channels.

If you haven’t already, follow along with the Exiles development on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. And if you haven’t, I’ll find you. And SMITE you.

THERE’S CHAT CHATTER EVERYDAY AS WE READY TO BATTLE

If you want to hear about the game, ask questions or connect with others who are helping the development team think about features, design and narrative, hop into the Discord Channel for live chat and say hi– it’s a friendly lot with plenty of daily shenanigans (there’s even a Shenaniganizer).

THE BONUS: A TURNAROUND

Lots of “Fs” in this one...

#gamedev #hearthstone #rpg #ue4

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