#anyway i wish the quality were better on mobile but oh well | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

offbrandhange · 3 years

Text

AOT if you were sick | 𝕳𝖊𝖆𝖉𝖈𝖆𝖓𝖓𝖔𝖓𝖘

Headcanons on how some of the AOT boys would help/comfort you when sick! :)

Characters: Armin, Connie, Eren, Erwin, Jean, Levi, Niccolo, Reiner,

Gender: Neutral, no references to readers’ gender ! :)

a/n: I haven’t been feeling well lately so badabam badaboom here we go. Also I am trying a new format because I’m pretty sure when I write the bullet points it looks wonky on mobile?...I dunno man :/

𝕬𝖗𝖒𝖎𝖓 𝕬𝖗𝖑𝖊𝖗𝖙 ~

After telling him you’re sick...

Right off the bat, Armin would ask what your symptoms are. Immediately after telling him he’d rush out to the pharmacy to pick up meds, and probably some comfort food, too.

How does he comfort you?

Armin would comfort you by bringing you things you need like medicine, wet towels, clean clothes, food, etc. Constantly, and I mean constantly asking if you want anything.

He probably would also set up a little sick-station in the living room with a blanket, pillow, cup of water, wet towel, bowl of soup, etc. and put on a TV show you like and just...chill while you watch or nap (if you fall asleep midway through).

Would they take/call off work to take care of you?

Only if you were super sick. He would 1000% be worried about you while at work, though. You’d get “How are you doing” messages every hour, and he’d totally end up annoying the sh*t out of his co-workers for constantly talking about you being ill. Armin would probably also pick up a little snack/gift for you on his way home.

Are they still physically affectionate?

Most likely not. Armin would be scared he’d get sick too, and then you’d have to take care of him. If you begged him for a quick kiss, or you really whined for some cuddles, then maybe he’ll indulge.

𝕮𝖔𝖓𝖓𝖎𝖊 𝕾𝖕𝖗𝖎𝖓𝖌𝖊𝖗 ~

After telling him you’re sick...

“Dang bro, that sucks.” And that’s all he says.

How does he comfort you?

I think if you asked him for something, he’d get you it willingly and eagerly, but otherwise he’s clueless; He assumes you’re good if you don’t say anything.

Connie would comfort you by hanging out with you. Most likely, he’d sit you down on the couch and play video games with you, like Mario Kart; or he’d show you him killing a really hard boss. I think he’d also send you funny videos/tiktoks, and I mean like, the really dumb ones, where it’s like...a fart sound effect over an image of a truck. Or a, “Can I touch that badonkadonk fool?”

Would they take/call off work to take care of you?

Yup, especially if you asked. I feel like Connie would take any chance he could to take off work, and you being sick would be his opening. He wouldn’t leave you alone all day, either; You’re stuck with him.

Are they still physically affectionate?

Connie does not care if you’re sick. You’re gonna get the same amount of treatment, maybe more if you whine and snuggle into his chest. He thinks you’re even more cute when you’re sick.

𝕰𝖗𝖊𝖓 𝕵𝖆𝖊𝖌𝖊𝖗 ~

After telling him you’re sick...

Eren would say something like, “Oh. Are you alright?” If you said no, he’d make you a snack or ask if you want anything. Afterwards he would chill with you and probably cuddle or snuggle you. I doubt he would really worry, he’d be real calm about it.

How does he comfort you?

He’d bring you something if you needed it. The only time I could see him getting fussy about it though, is if you interrupted him while he was totally invested in a video game or on a work call.

Most definitely snuggles with you in bed. Probably would do something to tease you too, kissing down your neck and saying “Are you better yet? How about now? Are you better yet?” I can see Eren being totally down for an afternoon nap together anytime you wanted.

Would they take/call off work to take care of you?

He would ask you if you wanted/needed him to. If you said yes he would, even if you weren’t really sick. Likewise, if you said you’re fine, but were far from fine, he’d call BS and stay home too; if you kept saying he didn’t need to, it’s very likely his stubborn a*s would argue with you and take off anyways.

Are they still physically affectionate?

Definitely. Eren would still, probably even more than usual, baby the ever-loving sh*t out of you. There’s no escaping his cuddles, kisses, or more...sexual activities.

𝕰𝖗𝖜𝖎𝖓 𝕾𝖒𝖎𝖙𝖍 ~

After telling him you’re sick...

Erwin, like Armin, would ask what’s wrong right away. Except he would completely annoy you by asking a million f*cking questions about your symptoms. He’d probably google them too and list a ton of possibilities that are so far-fetched. He’d end up scaring HIMSELF and forcing you to go to the doctor.

How does he comfort you?

Up your A**. Every five seconds he would be like, “Need something? You’re sure? You’re sure you’re sure? I know I was here five minutes ago, yeah, but I’m just making sure. So you’re sure?”

Pets your head, ruffles your hair. Goes out to pick up medicine, snacks, maybe even flowers. Probably tries to brush your teeth for you. You know, Erwin things.

Would they take/call off work for you?

Y E S. Yes. This man would call off the whole WEEK. He wouldn’t leave you alone, either. The whole damn day he’d be breathing down your NECK. Even if the only discomfort you felt was a scratchy throat. He’d make you call off work too.

Are they still physically affectionate?

I feel like Erwin is on the verge of being either, “Yes, princess, let me hold you.” or, “Oh no, no, no, we can’t be having that. Oh no, no, no. No passing illnesses, sweetie.” If the second were true, the only way to get him off your back would be by threatening to hug him while snot was dripping down your nose. This grown ass man would probably be screaming like a (very deep-voiced) little girl and running for dear life.

𝕵𝖊𝖆𝖓 𝕶𝖎𝖗𝖘𝖈𝖍𝖙𝖊𝖎𝖓 ~

After telling him you’re sick...

Jean would be so FREAKING sweet, and nobody can tell me otherwise. He’d say something like, “Awe, baby. Are you okay? Want anything?” He genuinely cares; although, immediately afterward he did anything nice or caring for you, he’d text all his dude friends and be like “yo man I’m SUCH a good boyfriend.” and brag his a*s off.

How does he comfort you?

He’d ask every once in a while if you needed anything, and he’d randomly bring you stuff like soup or a fresh cup of water. He’d probably feed you it, too.

Depending on what you wanted, Jean would either leave you alone or smother you to death. If you wanted him to leave you alone he’d check in on you every so often, and if you wanted him to smother you, he’d literally follow you all around the house. I’m talking like, cuddling or napping on the couch/bed, or straight up just following you around like an overly-attached child. His arms would be around your waist, chin on your head, and he’d waddle behind you like a d*mn penguin. And that includes trips to the bathroom. He’d probably sit outside the bathroom and wait for you, though.

Would they take/call off work for you?

If you wanted him to, were really sick, or if you were incredibly pitiful and acting like you were on your deathbed. Otherwise, I think he’d still go to work. He would bring home snacks and flowers afterwards though.

Are they still physically affectionate?

Oh my god, Jean would still be all over you. Like, there wouldn’t be a moment you’d be free from his hold. He’d probably still want to have sex with you, too as long as you were feeling well enough for it...The only exception would be if you got too over-heated or over-whelmed, then he’d very sadly hold back. Like a scolded pup, he’d just sit there...watching you...wishing you were in his arms.

𝕷𝖊𝖛𝖎 𝕬𝖈𝖐𝖊𝖗𝖒𝖆𝖓 ~

After telling him you’re sick...

You would tell him you’re not feeling well, and the first thing this man’d say would be, “What is it? You have the sh*ts? Something not coming out?” He’d get you what you needed immediately after you told him what was really wrong, though; but he’d also, very discreetly slip you a box of anti-diarrheals, too, just in case.

How does he comfort you?

Every once in a while he will ask if you need something. He’s not too over-bearing nor distant. Although, he’s probably constantly slipping you hand-sanitzers, and cleaning your room, or anything you’ve touched. It’s for your, and his sake. Oh, and he’s not handing you anything, either; he’s throwing it at you to catch. Or slipping his hand through the door with a bowl of soup/cup of water, and placing it on the floor/nearest surface. Kind of like when a cat pushes their paw through a crack, then disappears, and you’re like, “oh, would you look at that.”

I don’t think Levi would really want to be too close since he’s kind of a clean-freak, so he’d comfort you through, maybe, sending you low-quality cat memes he found on the web. Or he’d put on one of those full-on, ugly, yellow hazard suits and hold your hand while watching a reality-TV show like The Bachelorette meanwhile mocking them to oblivion. You’re legally required to laugh at the comments he makes about the people on the show; he’s doing it to be funny. He’s just awkward.

Would they take/call off work to take care of you?

If you were pitiful, or not that sick, no. If you were genuinely pretty sick, then he’d call off work. He wouldn’t bug you, he’d just...stand in the corner and watch you. Just...he’d be there. Also still in his hazard suit. With his arms crossed.

Are they still physically affectionate?

No. Absolutely not. Not unless you’re talking about him and the cleaning supplies. I think if you tried to go anywhere near him, he’d get really mad and threaten you with a spray-bottle filled with water.

I think he would be upset, though. Like, I could see him having a calendar and just...sadly, squeakily dragging that marker down to form an X over the day to see how long you were sick, waiting ‘till you were better so he could hug you again.

𝕹𝖎𝖈𝖈𝖔𝖑𝖔 ~

After telling him you’re sick...

In a worried, but also kind of loving-scolding way, he’d say something like, “Geez, how’d this happen?” Immediately after he’d make you some homemade soup with fresh ingredients. Only after he would give you your medicine, because it needs a, “full stomach to work.”

Additionally, if he makes you food, don’t tell him if you can’t taste it. Please, god, don’t. He’ll feel like he did all that work for nothing then get annoyed.

How does he comfort you?

Constantly bringing you food or desserts. When he asks if you need anything, his mind jumps to a food or drink instead of medicine or a wet towel, because that’s just his strong-suit.

I feel like he would hang out with you and let you lay your head on his chest while you watched TV together. I picture him saying something like, “Hey babe, let’s watch Hell’s Kitchen.” Or, alternatively, “Hey babe, let’s watch Kitchen Nightmares.” Don’t watch Kitchen Nightmares with him. Those unclean kitchens will make HIM vomit, too.

Would they take/call off work to take care of you?

Niccolo probably wouldn’t call off, but he would make you a whole bunch of yummy meals for you to eat the next day. He’d probably leave you a cute little note too, like a “Feel better, love you! :-D” with hearts all over it.

Are they still physically affectionate?

Depends on what kind of sickness you had. I think if you lost your taste he’d draw the line, simply because he needs to be able to taste the food he makes. Also, it frustrates the sh*t out of him when he loses his taste. Otherwise, I think he’d be down to cuddle, and very limitedly, kiss.

𝕽𝖊𝖎𝖓𝖊𝖗 𝕭𝖗𝖆𝖚𝖓 ~

After telling him you’re sick...

Gets VERY concerned. Wants to take you to the doctor, even if it’s a light illness, because he wants to make sure it’s nothing bad. He wouldn’t leave you alone after you tell him you’re sick, either. Constantly by your side.

How does he comfort you?

You wouldn’t need to ask for anything, because he already has everything for you. You’re surrounded in snacks, bottles of water, blankets, pillows, wet towels, medicine, literally anything you need, it’s already there. He’ll even offer to carry you to the bathroom, just so you don’t have to move.

Reiner would probably cuddle with you and put on a romance, family, or Disney movie. If it’s extra emotional, it’s gonna make him extra emotional. He will be squeezing you for dear life and just saying stuff like, “Boy, I don’t know what I’d do without you...”

Would they take/call off work to take care of you?

Yes, even if all you had was the sniffles, Reiner would have already called off, and make you call off too. He just thinks that’s what you should do if a loved one is sick. If he left you alone, he’d get worried you’d end up falling or unable to get something you need. He wants to be there for you.

Are they still physically affectionate?

Reiner would, but in a much more sweet way. He’s genuinely really worried for you, and doesn’t like seeing you sick. So be prepared for him to constantly be holding you with your head on his chest, and him peppering kisses all over your face.

723 notes · View notes

pebblysand · 2 years

Text

[NOVEMBER '21] - THE LIFE/WRITING UPDATE NO ONE ASKED FOR (AND SOME QUICK LINKS)

oh lads. i don’t know about you but i have no idea where october went. i mean, i wrote every fucking day under the sun, then i went on holiday, then i edited 13,000 words in 27 hours almost straight, bar a 3 hour nap in between, then my mum came to stay with me, and now here we are, lol. plus the clocks have gone back gone forward i never know, and now it’s just dark, all the time, oh happy days. i think i said this in my old fic "children" once, but november is universally the shittiest month of the year, amiright?

Anyway, before diving into more life/writing updates, here are some quick links to different blog pages you might not see on mobile :

to read my fics

to read my original work

fic recs

to read my tumblr rants about stuff

[NOTE: i am currently not accepting prompts but maybe soon-ish?]

Castles (chap 10) ETA: december?

links extended a/n-s: chapter v ; chapter vi & vii ; chapter viii ; chapter ix

[more life/writing updates under the cut]

what i’m reading:

i went on holidays this month and so as planes have always been (and probably will always be the one place i read) we are back in business! i finished two books this month, and they were really good reads!

books:

i finished beautiful world, where are you? by sally rooney. as i’ve said before, i’ve been a sally rooney stan for a few years now, and i genuinely enjoyed this book, although it definitely was not my favourite. i think my issue with this book was two-fold: first, i didn’t love the letters exchanged between the two main protagonists - i felt they were a bit of a waste of space and did not really tell the reader anything new about the characters, if i’m honest and second, i felt a bit frustrated by the four-main-characters set-up, rather than two, like in normal people. i felt the same with conversations with friends so this is not news but i feel like if there’s one thing sally does, it’s character building, and i just wish she would focus on one or two people, rather than try and get confused with doing four. i also thought that strangely enough, she did a better job at having the boys be fascinating, well-rounded, flawed individuals, rather than the girls. both simon and felix felt like very interesting, complicated characters i really wanted to spend time with, and i desperately wanted this story told from their pov, rather than eileen and alice’s. i wonder if this is the only the effect of the restricted pov (obviously, the other characters whose heads you’re not in always feel more like a mystery) but i think it was something deeper than that. i felt that eileen was a bit too perfect for my taste and alice just felt like sally self-bashing. a lot of people have said that alice is a self-insert (insanely famous author of two books about “people,” known for the way she writes about sex… um, yeah, sure, why not?) but i would argue that it only is in the way that alice feels like rooney being like: here is everything i hate about myself in a single character who, by the way, has no redeeming qualities. i fucking hated alice, and i think you’re meant to hate her, and i was like, ‘honestly, sally, darling, no one is that bad.’ all of this being said, though, obviously, sally is a genius. her writing is stellar, her storytelling skills are insane and i will read her grocery list if she gives it to me. there’s that scene at the party with simon and eileen where she conveys all of the feelings in the world with almost no emotion whatsoever in text, that scene legit brought me to tears and i was like: okay, fair play, sure look, i’ll never write again, thanks very much. lastly, (and i’d be curious if this is a shared sentiment by non-irish people, @hiinnys, maybe, i’m curious what you thought) but i felt that this novel was a lot more “irish” than the previous ones. the omnipresence of the dublin rental crisis, the locations, i even noticed more irish phrases like the “do be” verb tense, which i don’t recall being used in her previous work. this might be in my head (or maybe i’m just noticing this now because i’ve been here longer) but this book really felt irish and homey to me. there was a very interesting article in gawker (ugh, i know) on this topic entitled “sally rooney is irish” and how she writes about ireland but without making it into this cliche-ed postcard set up we’re so used to. i thought it was super interesting and would highly recommend.

i also finished a book i’d downloaded on kindle ages ago but only got to now: watch her fall by erin kelly. sure look, ya girl loves a good thriller sometimes and erin kelly is such a master at telling a story from multiple povs… i’m honestly jealous. i really enjoyed this, the pacing and writing was great, and i loved the classical dancing setting. my only complaint is that the end twist, i felt, didn’t wrap around everything as well as it did in he said/she said, so i would definitely recommend reading that one first, because it’s really her masterpiece. this was definitely fab and entertaining. i was up trying to finish it until 2am the night i got back from romania, so this was 100% a banger.

fics:

i’m still reading: knowing where to look by ala_baguette and still loving it. haven’t read the latest chapter that came out last night yet, though, so please don’t spoil haha.

i’ve sort of low key been reading love in a time of a zombie apocalypse off a tiktok recommendation. i don’t know, sometimes i like to switch my brain off, okay? also, i’ve always sort of loved zombie/dystopian aus, they make me lol. it’s not the best fic i’ve ever read and i don’t know how i feel about dramione but sure look, it’s fine.

what i’m watching:

i haven’t finished downton abbey but i have gotten recently obsessed with two other shows lately. the first is maid. i’ve spoken about it on tumblr a bit but boy, if domestic violence and poverty are topics that you feel drawn to, do give it a watch. it’s beautiful, the acting is stellar, it does such as good job of showing the cycle of toxic relationships, the legal difficulties when, as she puts it “you don’t have bruises” and is so, so well written, i absolutely loved it. obviously, it is a tough watch, though.

i’ve also been watching a lot of goliath lately. i’m on season 3, which i feel is slightly weaker than the first two, but i’m honestly loving it so far. it’s got a lot of michael connolly vibes, i feel, especially in the way that it shows los angeles, and is actually very funny. the characters are great, the acting is absolutely stellar (that woman who plays the paralegal is chef’s kiss) and i’m definitely enjoying this. would highly recommend if you’re looking for a non-traditional legal show.

what i’m writing:

okay, this deserves capslocks. CASTLES IS OUT. I REPEAT. CASTLES IS OUT. thank the lord.

jokes aside, this took ages to get out, and i’m so, so glad it now is. i don’t know why but i was convinced this chapter was going to piss off a lot of people but actually, the response was overwhelmingly positive so thank you so much. i am so thankful and humbled by the fact that so many people are reading this story, it’s an actual dream and honestly, getting all your comments in throughout the last couple of days, it’s just been the absolute best feeling. i’ve tried to answer most of yous by now but i am running a bit of a backlog so please hand in there. but thank you, thank you, thank youuuu.

in terms of what happens next, i’ve said it on a couple of discords but i’m finally doing nanowrimo for the first time in my life (yaaaay!) it’s genuinely the first year, since finding out about the event some ten years ago, that i actually both have time and am in the “right” headspace to do this. so i’m trying it out by attempting to write the next 50,000 words of castles. i’m anticipating another 70k so it won’t be really “finishing” castles, but i’m hoping to make a pretty big dent in whatever’s left. this means that while i don’t think i’ll post an update before december, i’ll definitely be working. of course, if you want to send in asks or thoughts or do the word ask game again, anytime, be my guest. i’m actually sort of excited for this. i think it’s going to be tough, but loads of fun.

what i’m doing:

i went to romania and it was fucking awesome to finally go on a trip after eighteen months of pandemic shite. this being said, i am absolutely exhausted and cannot wait for a bit of dublin-based, quiet time by myself. i’m just gonna paint my nails tonight, order some indian food and then sleep lol. whatevs, i’ll start nano tomorrow.

lots of love,

pebblysand.

#november 2021 #life update

27 notes · View notes

berryberryrad · 3 years

Text

𝙨𝙛𝙬 𝙖𝙡𝙥𝙝𝙖𝙗𝙚𝙩⚡️

shino aburame, sfw alphabet prompt

if this comes across as ooc, literally hit me pls. I’m usually kiba biased, but something about shino has just been hitting different recently.

warnings: blatant abuse of grammar and punctuation. cursing. i’m no writer, i just tell it like i see it. I wrote this on mobile and am not a tech guru so I wish I could do the fancy little, “keep reading,” bit but I’m

word count, 3983

A = Affection (How affectionate are they? How do they show affection?)

we’ve all come to the generalized conclusion that the aburame clan aren’t handsy. shino falls in line with this, and pda or even private interactions that involve skin to skin contact aren’t going to be his forte. I can see him holding hands, or the aspect of interlocking pinkies with this boy while you’re both reading or walking throughout the woods just has me weak in my knees. a more common way shino would express himself by ways of affection would be listening; absorbing every word you have to give and then offering up the information he’s collected later to show that he does hang onto your every word. he does so subtly, remembering things that you mentioned favoring seemingly offhandedly but in reality he wants you to feel as seen as you make him feel. someone give him a kind smile right now

B = Best friend (What would they be like as a best friend? How would the friendship start?)

shino’s so quick to throw around the, “I’m not sure I have any friends,” card when kiba inuzuka literally exists— the audacity of this man. team 8? the bond the three of them have outdoes friendship. the loyalty. the camaraderie. the attitude. i get whiplash from their personalities interacting, and i love every minute of it. the bluntness of shino can come across as rude disposition, however it all comes a place of well intent. he speaks his mind, and he speaks the truth. all of it. having shino aburame as a friend would mean you could easily find calm grounds to stand upon. he’d offer words of harsh wisdom, whether you ask for them or not. he sees the best in people even behind his quiet demeanor, and has loyalty oozing out of him. good boy, 10/10 wanna be his best friend.

C = Cuddles (Do they like to cuddle? How would they cuddle?)

can i be self-indulgent for .6 seconds: imagine how w a r m shino is. it had to be said.

anyways, aburame clan: not particularly touchy. we talked about this. however there would come times where shino would hold your hand. it was a practice you initiated, and he quickly caught onto. when you walk through the forest together, he’ll send his bugs out to take a quick peek around before interlocking your fingers silently. he’ll be nervous the first time, but eventually is confident enough to make the move without any plaguing hesitation.

I could go on and on about hand holding because I’m a simple girl, but we gotta get to the goods.

cuddling? with shino aburame? a prize that I want to win. you. bug boy. sitting side by side, chatting about slice of life oddities— you put your head on his shoulder. okay little baddie, we see you: he very carefully presses his head onto the top of yours. shoulder to shoulder, his cheek resting in your hair. you never stop talking about your day, and he never stops you. it feels so natural and easy. c o z y. I’m soft.

you don’t spoon, you want to see his face when he lights up with facts about entomology. when you reach that state in your relationship, you lay side by side and play with his fingers, or he draws lazy patterns on your wrist.

D = Domestic (Do they want to settle down? How are they at cooking and cleaning?)

he’d love to settle down wtf. he’d want to keep a romantic partner close, but even platonically— shino’s in it for the long haul.

he may be bug boy, but he’s also a clean boy. right? like okay his hair may be a bit unkept, and his room is definitely littered with sketches of insects and books here and there. but they’re organized in a way that makes sense to him. he can immediately find whatever he needs whenever he needs it, and that doesn’t make him unclean. when it comes to his insects, he keeps them tucked away with precision. each is labeled and jarred away probably alphabetically, idk, that just feels right to me.

cooking is something that can be accomplished in theory. a recipe can be read and executed, but that’s as far as it goes with shino. don’t expect much creative flare, the aburames are known bug enthusiasts, not ramen curators. the most spontaneity you can hope for is perhaps a pinch of salt on your eggs in the morning. if it’s not in the recipe, it’s not happening. he’s a boy of many talents, cooking is barely one of them.

E = Ending (If they had to break up with their partner, how would they do it?)

i don’t even wanna entertain shino breaking my heart—

good thing he’s breaking yours

shino wouldn’t let a platonic relationship go far enough into a romantic status unless he was without a doubt that you were someone he could trust and hold close to his person. honestly I’d say you’d have to be the one to break up with him if you managed to get far enough in. but if he had to break up with you? he’d have the briefest moment of hurt before setting it out all on the table. once his mind is made up, it’s over. he’s not one to dance around the point. you probably won’t even have to ask why. he’ll tell you without prompting.

F = Fiance(e) (How do they feel about commitment? How quick would they want to get married?)

oh shino has no problem committing his life to you, after you’ve been together for a very long time that is. marriage isn’t the forthcoming thought pressing into his conscious. it’d be something you had to mention in passing to him to let him know you were interested. to shino, he recognizes your relationship as it is: a relationship. your partners for better or worse, he doesn’t think a marriage certificate has any true significance in the way you share feelings for one another.

but you’d like a wedding? okay, no qualms. he’d want to wait a few years, and the atmosphere of the village would to have to fair calm, but he wouldn’t mind a small ceremony. when he tilts your head back and kisses you to seal the deal, kiba faints.

G = Gentle (How gentle are they, both physically and emotionally?)

sorry I was just checking the time, seems to me like it’s, “soft boy hours.”

I want you to know right now that shino aburame hangs onto every word you say with such fervor, it’s just darling okay? emotionally, when you’ve established that you plan on playing an active role in his life, he’s so doting. asks you short and simple questions about your day. offers advice on your woes. let’s you interact with his bugs— because he trusts you. and you better offer him the same love and respect back. I have this whole thing about him receiving cheek kisses. he eats that shit up okay, but silently with a blush crawling up his neck and wrapping around his ears. pinky holding— hullo. that’s the gentlest thing homies can do.

H = Hugs (Do they like hugs? How often do they do it? What are their hugs like?)

maybe he hugs you first. that’s wild, but it keeps you on your toes. you held his hand first, yes, but that night when he accompanies you home you stand nearly toe to toe. you haven’t released hands yet, and he’s overwhelmed with a feeling of gratitude to someone who has lent an ear to him with no ulterior motives other than quality time. it’s strangely second nature to him as he wraps a fast arm around your waist, crushing your held hands between your bodies. you’re taken aback, obviously, but before you can even share a proper moment in the same space he’s retreating back into his stoic persona and wishing you a good night.

shino hugs with his whole body, and my favorite version of this would be him wrapping his arms around your shoulders as your crushed into his shoulder. love it. he doesn’t hug often, cherish the ones he shares with you.

I = I love you (How fast do they say the L-word?)

shino, ever the one to speak his mind, let’s you know he loves you immediately when it occurs to him. I’m not quite sure when this is, but you’ve been apart of his life for a long time without a doubt. you make him feel safe, seen, and he is sure he can trust you. you probably ask him a question about like the process through which butterflies migrate or whatever, I’m not clever enough to think of insect related questions, but after he gets done explaining and you’ve got this thoughtful expression on your face he just blatantly says it. it’s so matter of fact and without any doubt that you have to blink for a moment before sharing the sentiment. it’s not awkward. there’s not any fanfare or roses involved. it’s the truth, and you’re both quietly over the moon about it.

J = Jealousy (How jealous do they get? What do they do when they’re jealous?)

shino and jealousy don’t necessarily exist in the same realm. he’s not going to entertain someone he can’t trust, that’s just a given. and if he did have any doubt in his mind you were pursuing something romantic from another, he’d simply send one of his bugs to investigate the situation. if it proved to be true, he’d confront you on it. if he’s misunderstood the circumstances then he can admit it, but if he hasn’t then he’ll make it apparent to you very quickly he doesn’t appreciate what you’ve been doing.

K = Kisses (What are their kisses like? Where do they like to kiss you? Where do they like to be kissed?)

soft, goodnight.

okay so like forehead kisses, right? forehead kisses by shino>>>>

i will die on this hill, don’t test me.

shino kisses softly and with purpose, there is nothing he does without meaning. it’s a press of his lips to your forehead before leaving for a mission, it’s brushing your lips together in the moonlight, it’s pushing the pads of your fingers against his mouth when you’re upset. I’m a hopeless romantic and there’s only so many euphemism for kissing, so take what you’re given. shino isn’t experienced in tonsil surfing, so you’ll have to bear with him. it’s something that relies less on textbook skill and moreover on feeling and primal intuition, something he does have so he’s not completely clueless. like i said, forehead kisses are a go to and idk if I’ve mentioned you giving shino cheek kisses but for the love of god, please opt to. he eats that shit up, you gotta.

L = Little ones (How are they around children?)

kurenai herself made note of how well shino interacts with kids, and I have never known kurenai to be wrong so it’s been decided. shino? amazing with kids. the scene between him and mirai? shino giving a piggy back ride? goodnight y’all, imma clock out.

and he eventually becomes sensei badass okay, like he can handle himself amongst a child or two. as far as having his own children I think he’d do well with one. shibi and shino share the classic aburame relationship: mutual understanding and appreciation of one another’s existence, and i can see him sharing that with his own child and then some. he spent the better part of his own childhood in solitude. it was in tandem sought out and forced upon him. big boy perks. he’d want his child to not only embrace their aburame side, bugs and all— but also to feel confident and extroverted enough to branch out and make interpersonal relationships

M = Morning (How are mornings spent with them?)

imagine being a morning person. I mean shino doesn’t have to, but it couldn’t be me. shino’s up before dawn breaks, throwing his legs over the side of the bed and pressing his glasses into his nose before he even opens his eyes. rise and shine. if you’ve been sleeping beside him, he’ll cast a long look you’re way, admiring your still figure before standing and beginning his day quietly so as not to wake you. he lets you sleep as long as you wish unless you instruct otherwise. sometimes you ask him to wake you when he wakes himself. you always regret it because why the fuck is he awake, the crickets are still outside doing god knows what. he thinks the ambiance of an early morning is peaceful, and it sets his person in ease.

N = Night (How are nights spent with them?)

can we all just take a moment to appreciate the grand outdoors and how precious it would be to have shino watching you fondly ogle at fireflies in the middle of a field. like arms crossed with a gentle smile behind his collar as you open mouth grin and point because he absolutely asks them to do something impressive just to see you in awe.

nights are spent outside staring up at the sky. in a tree? on the ground? in the park? in the middle of the woods? who cares, time with shino is time well spent.

if it’s raining then that’s tough, I guess y’all will just have to have a night in. sometimes you play shogi, and you don’t complain when he lets you win despite you showing no true skill for the game. he doesn’t mind.

O = Open (When would they start revealing things about themselves? Do they say everything all at once or wait a while to reveal things slowly?)

oh shino won’t reveal anything haha. well not on purpose. see I know I’ve gone on and on about shino being so attuned to you and what you have to say, but you have to show him equal attention and devotion to get a good read of him. anything personal that can be taken from him is conveyed so subtly you’ll miss it if you’re not paying attention. he’ll answer any question you ask, however if you get too personal too fast he’ll slyly avoid the question

P = Patience (How easily angered are they?)

not easily angered, moreover easily annoyed. while shino may not be on shikamaru’s level of strategical advances, he does have a pretty good sense of how things should be completed. it’s usually the way that benefits the most people and accomplishes the goal with as little room for error as possible. when things stray off from the how he envisioned them, I see him getting a little irritated. I think the time he’s spent with kiba has aided in this conclusion, and he isn’t as easily moved to a pissy nature as he once was, but I think the sullen nature still translates across if things fail to go his way because in his mind, it’s the most logical path.

Q = Quizzes (How much would they remember about you? Do they remember every little detail you mention in passing, or do they kind of forget everything?)

broken record alert: he’s a good listener. it’s both a strategic move to manipulate situations because he’s become so good at reading people, and his own unique love language. it’s the juxtaposition of words of affirmation; he shows he cares by ways of empathy and action. it’s stoic empathy, but empathy nonetheless. he remembers everything you tell him, and everything you don’t. on missions when you two are parted, his thoughts are sometimes clouded with images of the way your mouth arches when you laugh, or the soft smell of you lingering on his coat after you hugged him goodbye.

R = Remember (What is their favorite moment in your relationship?)

when you let him go on and on about his insects and you seem genuinely interested. so often do people put up with shino’s knack for bugs out of politeness or to just let him fill the silence— but you ask questions. you seem intrigued with any word that falls from his lips and you’re quick to quip back with facts you’ve dug up on your own. you’re curious about what shino is so attuned with, and he is so excited to have someone to educate who wants to learn. you’ll go on small adventures to locate bugs to breed or to simply watch, and it’s at these moments when you’re both silent and poised over a poisonous beetle with a respective jar and net that he remembers fondly when you’re both parted.

S = Security (How protective are they? How would they protect you? How would they like to be protected?)

well he’s already sworn to protect the village, so initially it’s on that basis. his duty is to do whatever he can to keep the residents of the hidden leaf secure, but with you he keeps a bit more of a watchful eye available. he isn’t paranoid or overly protective, however on days his mind is uneasy, shino has no qualms sending a beatle to hover your person. it’s just a security measure, nothing to write home about.

you keep shino protected from his inner turmoils. hinata and kiba can only reassure him so much, but shino has developed the habit of writing them off. they’re just his teammates, they have to put up with him. however you have no personal ties to him really. you stick around on your own accord, and this boosts his self esteem immensely. you put his mind at ease and make note to remind him daily that the members of team eight are an excellent unit and that he needs to give kiba and hinata more credit because they both care about him as well. akamaru too, woof woof dummy. accept the love.

T = Try (How much effort would they put into dates, anniversaries, gifts, everyday tasks?)

shino’s not a man of many words, and when he does spit fire, it’s calculated and can come across as blunt assertion. you’ll come to put up with it, but he can come to understand he can be a bit overbearing in this aspect. so as I’ve expressed, words of affirmation aren’t his love language (though don’t put it past him to whisper sweetness into your ear when you’re both alone: that would be lovely.)

he expresses himself through gifts, awe. shino won’t present you with precious jewels or money as means of affection. no, the gifts are moreover practical. a book you had been pining after, a scarf to keep you warm in the upcoming months, things of that nature. he also collects rocks, we can collectively agree on that as a community right? he’ll share them with you, encouraging you to begin your own arsenal of rocks that entertain no one but are a sweet gesture— thanks shino.

dates are long walks when he as spare time. he doesn’t mind if they’re silent or if you fill the space with your own daily narrative. you’ll both trade useless dialogue and he likes it. it’s a sense of normalcy for him.

he doesn’t try particularly hard in any sense, but he doesn’t need to. time spent with shino is delightfully casual in both of your lives, please don’t mind it.

U = Ugly (What would be some bad habits of theirs?)

what if shino picks his nails, awe.

he’s a wonderful, brilliant little creature: but he has a habit of writing off people who clearly care about him. you’ve gotta take a little energy into reassuring him from time to time. he won’t outwardly mope in this mentality, but sometimes he seems a little off and it will fall on your shoulders to assist him

V = Vanity (How concerned are they with their looks?)

mans only lets like 3% of his face be shown for the better part of the series and then decided that a visor and top knot were gonna be his debut look in boruto, he is n o t the one to look to for fashion advice, and this is coming from someone who simps so hard for shino aburame like he’s lowkey giving kiba a run for his money at this point but like come on

as far as his s/o goes i know the prompt didn’t ask but he doesn’t mind what his s/o particularly looks like. it’s a personality game baby, let’s go

W = Whole (Would they feel incomplete without you?)

shino’s written as a loner, and he doesn’t particularly mind that status but a friend every now and then is never unwelcome. he deserves to be appreciated, and while he may not outwardly show that he receives the appreciation in good spirits, you can rest assured he does. having a partner would be pleasant, no doubt, and he would love having someone by his side to call a best friend (and eventual partner) however shino’s existence isn’t completely codependent on another half. he can exist on his own with just the company of his bugs with no true remorse. he does feel lonely at times, but he’s got the squad of the hidden leaf backing him up. he’ll make it through

X = Xtra (A random headcanon for them.)

blush bug boy shino = a happy bee (‘s me, I’m bee)

the headcannons where stoic blunt hardass shino is an inexperienced nervous boy eat me alive. man’s is a shinobi who has faced peril and nearly suffocates when you hold his hand for the first time? imma head out, i love it

he’s also always early to things? yes please? early is on time, on time is late, and late means call an ambulance, something super not cool has gone down

Y = Yuck (What are some things they wouldn’t like, either in general or in a partner?)

if you don’t like bugs, you have to evacuate the dancefloor. I’m not saying you have to be the president of the, “insects are the superior race,” committee. to enjoy something and appreciate something from a distance both can weigh evenly on a scale in this instance. if you’re a bug enthusiast, kudos. he’ll love spending time showing off his collection to you with a slightest hint of pride coloring his tone. if you’re the type of person to be afraid of insects, he can deal with that as well. most people are, and he recognizes it comes from misunderstanding. if you are willing to give the bugs a chance and overcome your phobia, you’ve won him over.

wouldn’t like an over the top ditzy person. he needs you to have some sense of self preservation and common sense. shino does not put up with tom foolery and he would make that apparent to you very quickly.

Z = Zzz (What is a sleep habits of theirs?)

can I head cannon that he just becomes unhinged in his sleep? can we get behind that? like shino may begin the night tucked in with his hands clasped over his abdomen, but that is n o t how he finds himself in the morning. as a shinobi, he’s a light sleeper. fair play. but light sleepers toss and turn too, and I like to imagine him waking up discombobulated. face down, open pressed into his pillow, arms doing what they will, hair in disarray. magnificent. a pen drops and he wakes immediately, and is up before you can truly assess what you’ve just seen of the normally so put together aburame.

he knows he’s an active sleeper, ‘s why he gets up at 4am. that’s his business

#shino #shino aburame #shino x reader #shino headcanons #naruto headcanons #naruto #sfw #sfw alphabet #reader insert #naruto fandom #naruto shippuden

79 notes · View notes

thatgamefromthatad · 3 years

Text

Mobile Life Simulators, Ranked (Part 1)

I downloaded a whole ton of mobile life simulator games over the past couple weeks and I realized it wouldn’t be plausible to rank all of them in one go so I’m breaking it up into parts with more similar games grouped together (can’t say when the next part will be made but I’m definitely planning on doing more at some point). Thank you to @creativeghost51 for recommending I cover the Sims games and other life sims!

It’s hard to define what ties these Part 1 games together (as opposed to some other groups like idle life sims and text-based life sims) but I guess the biggest similarity would be that all of these games involve your sim characters living in a home where they can freely walk around, and can interact with objects and each other. With the exception of Virtual Families Lite you can also decorate, customize and expand your home.

Something I noticed about all of these games is that you don’t really have as much freedom to experiment and build your own storylines and such as you do with, for example, the Sims computer games. While the games aren’t completely linear and there is a variety of things you can do in each of these games, they don’t really have the same sandbox quality that I think about when I think about the Sims. Which is understandable - these games are free to play and they’re made to be played mostly on people’s phones so they are expectedly more on the casual side. But I just wanted to point that out in case anyone was looking for something like the Sims to play on their phones or tablets. I haven’t really seen a mobile game in existence yet that is going to give you that same life sim sandbox experience.

Anyway, here’s the ranking rubric for these games (I’ll go into more detail about all of these scores under the read more):

***

1. Home Street

Developer: Supersolid Ltd

Release Date: Oct. 10, 2017

I was actually really surprised by this game - while it is more marketed as a home design game than a life sim it has a lot of similarities to games like The Sims Mobile; you have a character you can customize and dress up in a wide variety of outfits, you can interact with and build relationships with other characters/players (although only friendships, not romantic relationships, and you can’t have kids) and you do hobby-like activities such as painting and cooking.

While there aren’t personality traits or careers in this game, you save up “ideas”corresponding to different emotions or attributes, which function as crafting materials to go toward your hobbies. Through your hobbies/crafting abilities you can complete jobs for other characters, like selling them vegetables from your garden or giving them something you’ve cooked.

🏡 Character Design: 3/4 (while the ability to customize your character’s facial features and such isn’t as advanced here as it is in The Sims Mobile, it still has a wider range of options than The Sims FreePlay and I prefer the art style of Home Street compared to FreePlay; there’s also a wide range of outfits and accessories and you can set different outfits for different activities)

🏡 Home Design: 4/4 (although you’ll probably notice from my screenshots that I’m not exactly a home design aficionado, I found placing decorations, walls and floors etc in this game to be a smoother and easier process than in any of the other games and I like the art style of the objects as well. There’s a good range of items, including ones your character can interact with in different ways, and I like having the various hobby workstations embedded into the home where you can place them wherever works best for you, which is also how it is in the Sims games. There’s a lot of potential for someone who’s more adept at home design than me to create really fun themed rooms and whatnot)

🏡 Gameplay: 9/10 (I really loved the gameplay concept in this game more than in any of the other games, I love leveling up to get new workstations and crafting items to fulfill tasks for other characters. The task concept kind of reminds me of Animal Crossing in a way. While the main screen can be a little busy at times, overall the game is really easy to navigate and does a good job of guiding you with goals and tasks without making it feel like you’re restricted to only following those exact tasks. The characters and dialog are also charming and make you feel like you’re progressing through a story as you level up)

🏡 Playtime vs. Wait Time (without paying to speed up tasks): 4/4 (while you do need to wait for your hobbies/crafting tasks to complete, they don’t really take that long and you can save time if you craft things ahead of time; also there are a lot of things you can do while you’re waiting. The wait times might get longer as you get further in the game but I played for about two weeks and so far I haven’t felt really stalled at any point)

🏡 Total: 20/22

2. The Sims Mobile

Developer: Electronic Arts

Release Date: March 6, 2018

I was also pleasantly surprised by this game, since I had played The Sims FreePlay years ago and didn’t really like it, but this one I liked a lot more and had quite a bit of fun with. As I mentioned before, it doesn’t have the same sandbox quality as the computer Sims games, but the character customization is the best out of all the life sims I played and there’s such an enormous catalog of different clothing and home design items to choose from, there are definitely a lot of fun possibilities.

There’s a fairly wide range of things to do although I did feel a little more confined to the tasks the game set out for me - for example I went with the careers that I had objectives for rather than picking careers I’d really want my character to have, plus you need to wait until you level up to unlock careers so you have less freedom in that aspect.

🦙 Character Design: 4/4 (This game actually uses sliding scales to customize different facial features and body types and such, and although it isn’t as advanced as in the computer games it is much more advanced than I’d expect for a casual mobile game and makes it a lot easier to make the characters look how you actually want them to. The catalog of things to dress your sims up in is also enormous and there’s a fun special fashion feature that creates unique clothes that boosts your stats for certain activities, which is why there are hearts floating around my sim in the screenshot. Oh and there’s a social feature to give other people’s sims stickers based on their outfits, which makes dressing up your sim more fun and exciting)

🦙 Home Design: 3/4 (The home design here is pretty fun and there is a wide range of items, and I also like how there’s a score that goes up as you add more items and complete furniture collections. However I personally found the controls for placing a moving things a little wonkier than in Home Street and FreePlay, i.e. I kept moving things on accident or couldn’t get things to easily snap where I wanted them to, and the collections and goals did make me feel a little confined to selecting certain objects or adding things I didn’t need to fulfill the goals rather than going with my own style, although I suppose you could just ignore the goals if you wanted to)

🦙 Gameplay: 7/10 (This game is fun although it can get quite repetitive since one of the main things you’ll be doing is “events,” which mostly involves just tapping things or waiting a certain amount of time for the tasks to complete themselves. The “events” in this game kind of reminded me of the tasks in the Kim Kardashian game which I also played years ago lol. However there are things to do besides events and the events do have a little more to them than just tapping; when I say tapping I mean tapping task options that sometimes have quirky, funny names and there are also “risky” tasks that have bigger rewards but a certain chance of succeeding or failing etc. There are little bits of dialogue as you progress through your career, relationship and hobby chapters and there are also seasonal/limited time activities you can do that add more fun and variety and chances for rewards. However I still wish there was a little more variety and flare to the “events” aspect, which made up the bulk of my playtime)

🦙 Playtime vs. Wait Time: 4/4 (Like in Home Street, there is waiting involved if you’re waiting for events to complete and you run out of energy to do the tasks that speed them up, but you can choose whether to have a longer event or a shorter event and you can also have one sim be running an event while doing something else with the other sim. I was able to choose shorter event times if I wanted to stick around for a bit and then run a longer event when I was logging off for a while so I could reap the rewards when I came back. The amount of time you can spend playing continuously here is much better than a lot of other mobile games that involve an energy system)

🦙 Total: 18/22

3. Virtual Families 3

Developer: LDW Software, LLC

Release Date: Sept. 17, 2020

(Note: Please disregard how barren my home looks here, this was the last game I started playing so I didn’t progress very far but I feel I can still base my scores on what I’ve played so far and what I can see available that I just haven’t unlocked/can’t afford yet)

The Virtual Families games are all pretty similar to each other to be honest, but the most recent version is definitely the most fleshed out and the least ugly. There are more things to do, more variety in the sim designs (here they’re called “adoptees”) and there are actually nonwhite characters which I’m pretty sure there weren’t any or were barely any in the last two games. You still can’t customize your adoptees though, just flip through the options to pick the ones you like the most.

I kind of struggled with the Virtual Families games because they run on real time and my adoptees would end up severely neglected when I just didn’t have time to play, but there is an option to pause when you’re away, I just didn’t want to and wanted the game to progress naturally.

What I do really like about Virtual Families is that the adoptees have minds of their own and you can kind of watch them lives their lives and imagine little personalities for them. It’s a lot more casual than the other games and you probably have the most freedom here to do whatever you want although there are not as many things to do.

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Character Design: 2/4 (You can’t customize your own characters but there’s more variety here in the randomized designs and the art isn’t as ugly and janky as in the previous two Virtual Families games)

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Home Design: 2/4 (Home design isn’t as big of a thing in the Virtual Families games but there is a decent variety in furniture and objects to put in your house and you could probably have some fun with it if you’re creative. The art style isn’t that great though)

👨‍👩‍👧‍👧 Gameplay: 7/10 (Like I said, what I like is watching the little adoptees go about their lives or dropping them around to pick up the debris on the floor to look for collectibles. In this game there are also a lot of little funny random events like getting random phone calls or being given random choices to make that can have positive or negative outcomes. Occasionally you’ll be given problems to solve like needing to repair or hire someone to repair something, or once I lost the TV remote and had to look around my house for it then send someone to retrieve it. It makes the experience more varied and engaging and makes you feel more involved in progressing)

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Playtime vs. Wait Time: 3/4 (You can pretty much play indefinitely watching your adoptees except that can get boring especially if they’re just eating or sleeping. My adoptees kept getting really tired and I would just send them to sleep and exit out, then when I came back they would be out of bed and still extremely tired lol. But once they did get enough sleep I got to spend more time with them until they had to do something else boring like work or eat)

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Total: 14/22

4. The Sims Freeplay

Developer: Electronic Arts

Release Date: Dec. 15, 2011

This game was pretty disappointing when I played it years and years ago hoping to be able to play the Sims while on the go, and it’s still pretty disappointing now even though I have more understanding of why they can’t put the actual full Sims game on my phone, especially not for free.

The most disappointing thing about this game is not just the long wait times, which are annoying on their own, but the constant ads that pop up any time you do a task that’s more than like 3 minutes. Some of these ads aren’t even skippable. This made it pretty much unplayable for me up to a point, until I figured out how to strategize to do the shortest tasks possible, and until a limited time special event thing came up that gave me something else to do without having to constantly wait or dodge ads.

That being said, this game does have the unique charm of being a lot more similar to the classic Sims computer games, with a similar art style and even the same or similar music and sound effects. If you have patience (or if you pay to play) I can see this being a lot more satisfying and I’ve seen people do really cool things on this game as far as building storylines around their sims and building really impressive houses. But I don’t think this game really works as a casual free-to-play game, it’s much too frustrating and monotonous for the average player.

💚 Character Design: 2/4 (limited options for facial features and not as many options for clothing as The Sims Mobile, plus the low-poly look is not very appealing; I know it’s an older game but since it’s still being maintained I’d think they would have upgraded it a little and added more variety over the last 10 years)

💚 Home Design: 4/4 (editing your home in this game feels a lot like in the Sims 3 and like I said I’ve seen people build awesome mansions in this game so I think this is definitely one of the best aspects of the game)

💚 Gameplay: 5/10 (I was going to give it a worse score given the insufferable, unskippable pop-up ads but I did give it credit for the limited time/seasonal events which are easier to play uninterrupted and add some variety to the game, at least the one I played did. I was able to find this game somewhat tolerable also by only doing the shortest tasks possible to avoid ads and then exiting out whenever an ad popped so I could just come back a little later, although the need to do that was also annoying in itself)

(Note/Edit: A very nice anon pointed out that you can avoid ads in games that don’t need a constant internet connection by turning off your wifi/internet while playing, and this seemed to work with FreePlay as long as you are connected to the main game before you turn off internet! You won’t be able to do everything in the game but you can still play in the main world with your Sims in their houses and do longer tasks without getting an ad pop-up if you temporarily disable internet on your device. I’m not going to fully change the score and ranking since I don’t think that’s how the game was intended to be played and needing to turn off wifi to play is kind of inconvenience in itself but the game definitely is definitely more like a 6/10 or 7/10 if you do this.)

💚 Playtime vs. Wait Time: 2/4 (Absolutely would have given it a 1/4 but the event saved it from that, you can play for longer stretches of time when there’s an event, but of course that only applies to playing the event and not the main game)

💚 Total: 13/22

5. Virtual Families 2

Developer: LDW Software, LLC

Release Date: Dec. 6, 2012

All of the Virtual Families games are pretty similar overall so I won’t go into a lot of detail for these last two but basically Virtual Families 2 has more variety in things to do than the first Virtual Families, especially in terms of home design and things to unlock throughout the game. It also has a slight visuals upgrade, although the character designs are still pretty janky for something that came out in the 2010s imo.

Also this game has a bug where if you do something the tutorial was supposed to teach you before the tutorial is over, you’re forever stuck in tutorial mode unless you completely start over, just a heads up.

👨‍👩‍👧 Character Design: 1/4 (While the janky character designs do kind of give it a retro charm for me this game really didn’t come out all THAT long ago and the designs and animations are pretty wonky. I know Last Day of Work/LDW isn’t an enormous company like EA or anything but from what I understand they had relatively good amount of success in the early casual mobile games sphere, and since this is a sequel I’d expect a little more of a visuals upgrade than this but that’s just me)

👨‍👩‍👧 Home Design: 2/4 (Same deal as Virtual Families 3, more furniture options and opportunity to expand your home but art style is lacking and doesn’t feel like a central aspect of the game)

👨‍👩‍👧 Gameplay: 6/10 (Just a little less varied than VF3 and a little more than VF1)

👨‍👩‍👧 Playtime vs. Wait Time: 3/4 (Same exact deal as VF3)

👨‍👩‍👧 Total: 12/22

6. Virtual Families Lite

Developer: LDW Software, LLC

Release Date: June 3, 2009

Phew, you know a game is old when it has “Lite” in the title. This is one of the first smartphone games I EVER played (though when I first played it I didn’t have a smartphone, just a 1st gen iPod Touch); in fact, I’m not 100% sure, but this might actually be the first smartphone game I ever played, and I do remember it fondly. I want to make it clear that I’m rating it now on the experience of playing it today in 2021 relative to the other mobile games I’ve played and reviewed, being that the purpose of this blog is to hopefully give people an idea of what games they’d like to play, and hyping up a 12-year-old game as though it holds up more than it does for nostalgia’s sake doesn’t fulfill that purpose imo.

That said, this game does hold up fairly well, but definitely pales in comparison to its sequels and other options now available. This game is still worth playing if all you want is to have a little virtual family to check in on from time to time and don’t really want to do much else. Otherwise it doesn’t offer anything that its sequels doesn’t save for its nostalgic charm and uniquely terrifying art style.

👩‍👦Character Design: 1/4 (Same as VF2 but uglier)

👩‍👦Home Design: 1/4 (The house already has everything in it and you can’t rearrange anything, which is convenient but boring. You can upgrade your work stations though)

👩‍👦Gameplay: 5/10 (Same as VF2 but a little less variety)

👩‍👦 Playtime vs. Wait Time: 3/4 (Same deal as the other two, although watching your family is arguably more boring when there are less things to do, but it’s also more convenient when you already have all the furniture and appliances you need right off the bat so it balances)

👩‍👦Total: 10/22

If you got here to the end, even if you just skimmed through, thank you so much for reading 😍 Follow me for more mobile game reviews, articles and commentary 🥳

#life sims #sims #the sims mobile #the sims freeplay #sims mobile #home street #virtual families #life simulation games #home design games #games ranked #full review

39 notes · View notes

notallthosewho-wanderarelost · 3 years

Text

Real quick scattering of thoughts on Loki 1x02 and x03 before I watch the newest episode. I watched them pretty much at the same time so it’s a two-for-one post. Here be spoilers for episode 3! On mobile so no cut again, sorry.

Spoilers ahead. You’ve been warned.

Okay. In no particular order but attempting to start with ep 2 first:

Loki trying to get info on the Timekeepers and the TVA in ep 2 and being blocked by the most bored archive librarian ever was hilarious. The whole sequence of him trying to get her attention only for her to completely ignore him until he rang the bell was creepy but so funny.

Loki’s reaction to getting the details on Ragnarok made me so sad. :( Same, Loki. SAME. I’m also still gutted Asgard was destroyed and I refuse to even watch the movie ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ But him going to look at that in the first place made me wonder if maybe in the back of his mind Loki’s coming up with a plan to save Asgard? (Or at least, one version of Asgard in the multiverse.) I would love that. I want Asgard back in general and was hoping for Thor 4, but having Loki be the one to save Asgard would be SO fitting. He may be adopted but he’s still an Asgardian at heart, truly. Having Loki be the one to save Asgard would be a great way to show him finally acknowledging that and have all the Asgardians acknowledge it too.

We have an official population for MCU Asgard! 9719 people. That fits. It’s about twice the size of a pretty small suburban town. Asgard is SMALL. It just doesn’t have the space for a lot of people. It’s still a city, but Asgard the Realm has other things on it besides just the city, so it can’t have a huge population.

I wonder what the official population of New Asgard is when we see it in Endgame? And how many Asgardians come back post-Blip? This would really all depend on how many people made it through Hela’s rule and onto the ship during Ragnarok- and then half of them would’ve been killed by Thanos in the beginning of Infinity War. Would half of the remainder have been Snapped away at the end of IW, or would Thanos leave them out since he already halved their population? File under questions Marvel will probably never answer. Also file under “Thanos continues to be really bad at math.” (Should probably go look at the New Asgard sign again to check, but I don’t think it listed population.)

Loki annoying Mobius by messing with his salad was great. Loki annoying Mobius in general was great.

Loki letting the goats free in Pompeii made me think he might have a liking for goats, which means I now have a headcanon that Loki was friends with Thor’s goats as a kid and would sometimes let them loose to get their assistance with pranks. Thank you show, for cute kid Loki headcanons.

Tom Hiddleston probably had a BLAST yelling at people in Latin in character as Loki, and good for him!

Sylvie’s entrance sequence at the beginning of the episode with the fight scene vs the TVA set to “I Need a Hero” was amazing. I haven’t seen Shrek in a while but this might just reach the same levels of A+ “I Need A Hero” song usage as the Shrek sequence.

Speaking of the beginning of the episode, the Ren Faire setting was SO good. Great way to get laughs, and it made me want to go to a Ren Faire again.

The Roxxcart setting for the big encounter later in the episode made me flash back on all the times Roxxon’s appeared in the MCU. Two main thoughts: 1. I so want a Jane!Thor movie where the main villain is Dario Agger, evil Roxxon CEO and Minotaur. Preferably working with a better version of Malekith (from another universe probably) like in comics, because as much as I love Thor 2 my one complaint is that their version of Malekith was SO LAME. Especially compared to comics!Malekith. Plus an Agger + Malekith teamup would mean both the Nine Realms AND Earth are in danger, by definition. Thor 5 please, Marvel. 2. I really, really miss Cloak and Dagger and that show deserved so much better.

(Our) Loki’s perpetual insistence that he’s better and that the plot (pun intended) is about him is both funny and also a little sad- because he knows, or at least thinks, that if he stops insisting those things, everyone will stop paying any attention to him whatsoever. And he needs attention.

Poor Mobius probably felt so betrayed at the end of this episode. :(

Onward to episode 3!

This was by far my favorite episode so far. I LOVE Sylvie. I love her and Loki’s dynamic. I love that we get Loki talking to someone he considers an equal about some very personal things, and that Sylvie does the same thing with him. They understand each other in a way nobody else has. Because they’re the same person, sort of. I’ve taken to calling them “alternate reality twins” and that’s what I’ll keep calling them unless told otherwise.

They also annoy each other in a way nobody else can. And it’s hilarious. They look equally annoyed at the other not falling for their tricks and equally annoyed at needing the other’s help before they really start to bond and I LOVE ALL OF IT. I also feel like they adopt each other a lot quicker than either would be willing to admit, and then they’re annoyed at that! Loki yelling “you’re so weird!” at Sylvie made me go “OH they’re bickering like siblings!!!” and that was pretty early on! I’m an only child but that had peak sibling energy to me. Even them trying to trick and outdo each other had sibling energy most of the time.

Their earlier fight when they first get to Lamentis, before they realize where they are, had some VERY quality quips and also really had me wondering who would win in a fight between the two of them. Sylvie seems to have more physical strength, and she’s got a sword instead of daggers so longer reach, but Loki has skill and he has tricks. I think with his skill at magic (he can TELEPORT?! Probably only a few feet and probably limited by where he can see but that’s SO COOL!!! I don’t think we knew he could do that?!) Loki would likely run rings around Sylvie IF there were no people around for her to enchant. And assuming that she wasn’t able to set any traps beforehand, because Sylvie has proven well able to set traps to take down people who should be at a major advantage against her. Otherwise, I think Sylvie would win. She seems to have better physical training than our Loki, and if there were any people around for her to enchant he’d have to contend with them too. And if Sylvie could lay traps ahead of time, then it could go either way (you never can tell with a Loki, much less two) but I think Loki would probably lose. Loki is just as tricky as she is but that seems to be something she’s had a lot of practice in. Loki is more about confusing opponents with illusions and duplicates and talking his way around people. Sylvie sets traps instead, and is more comfortable/better at using brute physical force.

Speaking of enchanting, me while watching episode 2: “Hey, these mind controlling powers remind me of Enchantress’ powers!”

Sylvie in episode 3: calls her powers “enchanting”

Me: “OH.”

So Sylvie seems to be a composite of 3 characters. 1. Lady Loki, as in Loki when identifying as female. (There’s also that time from before they said Loki was genderfluid and a shapeshifter and back when Loki was still evil when he possessed Sif’s body and went by Lady Loki, but we don’t talk about that.) 2. Amora the Enchantress, a major Thor character/villain who uses magic to “enchant” people into doing what she wants-yes this is definitely a cringey “magically enchants people into loving her, consent-issues-out-the-wazoo” evil seductress stereotype in old comics, but it’s gotten better recently. And 3. Sylvie Lushton, the much lesser-known second Enchantress, who was a regular teenage human girl when after a Ragnarok (don’t remember which one, there have been multiple but this would’ve been early 2000s) Loki for shits and giggles decided to make her think she was Amora and give her the powers to match. She was on the Dark Reign-era (aka when Norman Osborn was in charge of SHIELD and the Avengers) version of the Young Avengers, the Young Masters of Evil, and that’s where I know her from. She’s a great character- she genuinely wants to do good and help people, but her brain is a bit messed up by the number Loki did on it, so she gets confused. I believe she’s currently in comic book limbo after Amora found out about her a while back, got pissed at her for stealing her name and her whole Thing, and tossed her somewhere dangerous on the World Tree while saying something about how if she can survive it then she’ll prove she deserves the name Enchantress. She sadly hasn’t been seen since as far as I know.

So each of those characters have similar characteristics with Loki’s Sylvie. Sylvie 1. Is a Loki who is female (Lady Loki), 2. Was presumably raised on Asgard and uses her magic to “enchant” people via a form of mind control into doing what she wants (Amora the Enchantress), 3. Is named Sylvie (Sylvie Lushton, Encanhtress II). Also worth noting that both Amora and Sylvie Lushton have blond hair, and so does the MCU’s Sylvie. All three characters also have green colored magic!

May turn the above bullets into their own post just for informational purposes. Also, when we said we wanted Enchantress in the MCU, this is not what we meant. Stop with the Monkey’s Paw-style wish granting, Marvel! (Looking at you, X-Men comics’ response to us wanting more Wanda.)

Anyway. Will round off with my favorite thing: everything on the train. Everything on the train was WONDERFUL.

Loki telling Sylvie about Frigga and how she taught him magic and then demonstrating the fireworks made me tear up. 🥺 Right in the feels. I miss Frigga a lot. I miss Asgard/the old Thor franchise in general a lot, but this is about Frigga. She was AMAZING and I miss her. Forever love the detail that Tom and Rene came up with the idea on the set of Thor 1 that Frigga is the one who taught Loki magic and fighting and how that informed their characters’ dynamic to the point of it being canonically discussed later. There’s a great Thor 2 deleted scene where Frigga talks to Thor about this exact thing. Frigga is such a fave of mine.

Sylvie telling Loki about her own past in turn made me very curious what her life was like and what the differences are. She seemed to have had a really hard time of it as a kid and I just want to hug her. (I also want to hug Loki, but that isn’t news.) Loki has had a very tough time, but really only after finding out he was adopted. He doesn’t appear to have had many friends on Asgard before (though I headcanon that he was friends with Lorelai before her exile, and since it’s my headcanon I imagine a similar situation with Amora, if not quite as close a friendship because comics Loki gets along better with Lorelai than her sister) but he at least had a family who loved him and who he loved, and a status as a prince that would’ve given him a good life and protection. Sylvie doesn’t seem to have had any of that as a kid. :(

“Surely there were some would-be princesses? Or perhaps a prince?” CANONICALLY BISEXUAL LOKI YES! YES.

Comics Loki is canonically both bisexual and genderfluid! Explicitly discussed on page, multiple times, and expounded on by writers too. (One of the most heartwarming Odin moments for me- yes, Odin does have heartwarming moments!- is when he’s telling his kids he loves them and he says something to the effect of “my son, my daughter, my child who is both.” The latter is Loki, the former are Thor and Angela. I might still be bitter over MCU Hela taking Angela’s place in the family sorry not sorry. This was in Original Sin: Thor and Loki, for anyone wondering.) I tend to default to he/him pronouns when talking about Loki because Loki tends to be male more in appearances, and also partly because it’s what I’m used to, but when Loki is clearly female I’ll of course switch to she/her. I have seen people use they/them pronouns for Loki too. I don’t think Marvel has ever said what pronouns Loki prefers though.

Speaking of which: I realize the “Sex: fluid” on Loki’s info card in episode 1 was probably foreshadowing Sylvie, but I kind of want to also read it as a nod to Loki being genderfluid. (Loki is also a shapeshifter, so gender would = sex in this case.) Whether it would be a nod to specifically comics Loki or also to MCU Loki is anyone’s guess as of now. We’ll find out I guess, or if it turns out to be strictly headcanon than it’s whatever floats your boat. :)

Back to the train scene!! Sylvie loudly protesting that she can’t sleep near people she doesn’t trust and then promptly falling asleep across from Loki a few minutes later made me emotional. ALTERNATE REALITY TWINS. Also VERY much a parallel to Loki falling asleep across from Mobius last episode.

Loki realizing that Asgard was really his home and his family really was his family only to also realize that he’ll never see either again and deciding to handle this by getting ABSOLUTELY DRUNK is SO ASGARDIAN OF HIM. I cannot. He even did the “Another!” *smashes glass* thing just to bring the point home.

Oh gosh, LOKI SINGING IN ASGARDIAN. FEEEEEEELS. I know, it’s actually Norwegian. I wonder a bit why they didn’t use Icelandic instead? Anyway, this was lovely and I love that going by the translation it’s a song of longing to go home, and it mentions Idunn’s apples of immortality. Apparently the full version of the song is going to be on the soundtrack and I’m so excited for that.

Loki’s metaphor of “love is a dagger” was actually quite good, he and Sylvie just lost the thread of it right at the end there. I wrote about this in tags somewhere, I’ll copy it in here later.

Edit: here’s an edited version of what I wrote on this post: This was a great metaphor until it got away from him. So close to the point (heh) and then they veered right away. Let me finish this for them: “Love is a dagger. It’s a weapon for far away and up close. You can see yourself in it. It’s beautiful. You have to give it to the right person.” So what this scene tells us about Loki is that he’s been hurt by love because it hasn’t been real. Or hasn’t felt real to him. Maybe he’s given it to the wrong people, or maybe he couldn’t tell who the right people were. (And if this is in reference to his family then I think he’s still too close to the revelation of his identity to be able to think clearly about the situation. Because his family DID love him! Even Odin. He just lost sight of that with everything happening.) Love is also about trust. And Loki doesn’t trust easily.

I really love this quote and this scene. Kinda want to do a “Love is a dagger” graphic of i ever have time.

I also wouldn’t be surprised if Loki and Sylvie come back to this conversation and come to a more satisfying conclusion. I hope that happens actually.

Sylvie using her headpiece against an opponent in the train fight instantly made me think of Wonder Woman. A+. Also, I haven’t mentioned yet but I love the fact that Sylvie’s headpiece looks exactly like God(dess) of Stories Loki’s from Agent of Asgard. Loki’s Ragnarok headpiece definitely had big AoA Loki vibes, but Sylvie’s headpiece is much closer- mostly it’s smaller, which is very Agent of Asgard Loki in general, but the one horn being cut off is specifically a God(dess) of Stories Loki thing and I love that they pulled from that.

Loki throwing the dagger and missing because he’s drunk was hilarious. Not good for Sylvie, but hilarious to watch. Don’t fight while drunk, Loki. Also, he threw “love” at Sylvie and I laughed when I realized that.

I didn’t realize until I saw a parallel gifset of it why Loki carefully going up to Sylvie after her scream felt so familiar- it’s just like how he went up to Thor after Thor overturned the table in Thor 1. The CONTINUINTY!! Absolutely amazing.

While trying to save the Ark Loki was probably thinking a lot about what he saw in the TVA clips of his own people trying to escape Asgard during Ragnarok and that hits kind of hard.

Loki apparently using telekinesis to stop the column from falling on him and Sylvie threw me off a lot until I saw another gifset that included the moment in Thor 2 (trailers only, I think) when he finds out Frigga is dead and all the furniture close to him breaks and flies away from him. The pose was even the same as when he stopped the column. I think he can sort of... push things away from him? (Almost like a Force Push 🤔) He seems to need to stop and tense up his arms while he does it though. And it doesn’t have the green effect the rest of his magic does, which is odd.

Speaking of Loki’s powers, I’ve said this in tags for sure but I’m so happy they’re FINALLY letting Loki hit people with green magic bolts. He does tend to prefer more subtle uses of magic, but I still can’t believe it took over 4 movies for that to happen. It’s kind of a no-brainer magic attack- probably exactly why Loki prefers other things- but you’d think he would’ve done it at least once after 4 movies.

I saw a post point out that by the end of the episode, Sylvie has lost both her headpiece and her cloak/robe thing, which makes me wonder if she’s going to get a new outfit by the end of the show. Or at least different accessories. I’m also curious if she’s going to take up the Enchantress moniker by the end of the show.

Finishing this with theme analysis and theory time:

The revelation that TVA agents used to be variants and were somehow reprogrammed makes so much sense. There’s something immediately shifty about the idea of 3 Time Keepers dictating the fate of everyone in infinite multiverses, and this just solidifies the hint that the Time Keepers are going to be the overall Big Bads. Which makes sense, narratively! But this shifts the TVA agents from villains to victims. Mobius gets to stay sympathetic and so does Sylvie, AND once the TVA agents find out about their origins it puts the same choice onto them that Loki has. They all have a choice now about who they’re going to be. They’re not who they thought they were, but are they going to let themselves be defined by what other people (here, the Time Keepers) think they should be, or are they going to be who they want to be.

This is exactly what Loki: Agent of Asgard is about, by the way. And I know I said in the last post that Loki’s greatest villain is himself, but I’m going to amend that because I didn’t say it quite right. Loki’s greatest villain is his evil self. Loki the god of evil, the Loki that is the villain. Loki (and all the other Asgardians) in Agent of Asgard is genuinely a god, and AoA tells us that gods are defined by belief- they are what people believe them to be. That’s how they exist. So because so many people believe Loki is an evil villain, the universe tries to twist him to fit that role. The plot of AoA is Loki trying to avoid that fate, to be better, be who he wants to be. It’s a meta story. It’s Loki trying to break free of the narrative he’s been part of up until that point. And eventually he manages to break the fourth wall itself and take control of his own narrative by becoming the god of stories. He controls his own story and it no longer matters what other people think he is, only what he thinks of himself. Nobody else gets to change or define him.

AoA’s villain is a future version of Loki that does go back to being evil. He’s basically the cosmic force- destiny, the narrative itself, etc- that’s trying to fit Loki into the “evil” box personified. Loki is seemingly taking that idea and subbing in a different personification for that same idea of lack of choice: the Time Keepers. We know from the Miss Minutes short in episode 1 that the Time Keepers want one timeline. We don’t know if that’s actually to prevent a multiversal war like the short suggests or if that’s just propaganda. When Loki tries to find out more about the war or about the beginning or end of time in episode 2, he can’t access those documents. Something doesn’t seem right there.

Edit: Also, in episode 2 Loki compares the TVA to Asgard by saying both the TVA agents and Asgardians are equally stupid. The reveal of who the TVA agents are adds a new dimension to that comparison. They both see themselves as guardians of the world around them, special, but really they’re no more special than the people they’re fighting to protect. Or in other words, they’re only as “special” (“heroic,” really) as they make themselves.

Also an edit: damn I just realized the continued stupidity of R*gnarok having Fenris and Odin in the same movie and Odin dies but get killed by Fenris. Asgardians have a saying about watching for wolves’ teeth.

I’ve seen the theory around that Sylvie might be a former TVA agent (which seems to be backed up by the midseason trailer I very belatedly saw, oh my GOD TINY SYLVIE!!!!! But also oh no tiny Sylvie at the TVA :() and I really like that. It makes sense. Maybe she went rogue because she realized the TVA is preventing people from choosing for themselves. Maybe she even knows what it is the Time Keepers actually want. Or maybe she’s doing this just for herself because she didn’t enjoy being brainwashed by the TVA and she doesn’t like being told who to be! That is after all part of “what makes a Loki a Loki,” even if she doesn’t use that name anymore.

I’m also wondering (hoping?) if maybe her being a former TVA agent could explain why she’s a mashup of different characters, instead of it just being Marvel mashing characters together because they can. This is mostly wild speculation, but could the TVA possibly have put multiple people’s timelines/memories inside her head? What if she’s in universe an amalgamation of a Loki, an Amora, and/or a Sylvie?

We’ve had some clips of what looks like a Thor 1 era Loki in front of the throne on Asgard- which looks different to me; maybe Loki redecorated? We’ve also gotten a shot of Loki in front of a ruined NYC skyline, including Avengers Tower. Maybe we’ll get an episode where Loki wins and we’ll see different timelines where he wins in different ways, until he realizes that this isn’t actually what he wants?

Whoops this got long??? Thanks for reading if you read this far!

#long post #loki spoilers #loki 1x03 #loki 1x02 #loki series #meta #a rare text post appears #my stuff

5 notes · View notes

xxanimecoolgirlxx · 3 years

Text

@threateningkahootmusic Prejudice and Fame belongs to them.

Vickie sat at the bar, mindlessly looking at her drink. Another long day at work as a news reporter/ investigative journalist, this time something about a corrupt company. Now normally this wouldn’t be an issue.

Except for the fact that she wished she could legally punch in a couple of individuals teeth without immediately facing assault charges.

Among other things, the company was facing allegations of workplace harassment, discrimination, unequal pay of workers based of sex, and an hostile work environment. And from her experience for working undercover there, it was, indeed, true. In fact, she’d say that the allegations weren’t telling enough! The amount of sexist and racist remarks made at her by staff and management alike would be enough to ensure that no new hires would be daring enough to go there. Even Vickie was surprised at herself for getting this far without snapping at someone. Not that it would’ve made a difference if she did.

All of this evidence through recordings and screenshots would make this seem like an open and shut case, right? Not quite. Even with the damning audio recordings, the camera feed, the multitude of paper documents and such, she knew it wouldn’t be enough for anything to really change. She needed something bigger. She knew that as it stood right now, at the very worse the company would blame a few lowly managers as scapegoats, fire them, and then say that they will do better in the future while knowing good and well that they had no plans on doing anything. Hell, even if they did get any legal repercussions, they could just settle out of court and be done with it. No, Vickie would need something bigger.

Right now she would be doing more research into the company had her work friend not dragged her to this self proclaimed “high end club”. Apparently her friend had been assigned to do an interview to this celebrity, Fame, at least that’s what she hoped his stage name was. She didn’t see a point in drawing needless attention to herself to she opted to stay at the bar and subtly watch from afar. Not like she was dressed to be here anyways, her black knee length form fitting dress was too professional to be in a function like this, her black hair wasn’t styled up to anything fancy and her dark skin wasn’t adorned with any makeup too flashy. It looked like she was at a job interview more than a nightclub. She was more worried about her case than anything else.

“Come on now, I know your defining character quality is being a square, but lighten up a bit, let yourself have some fun.”

Vickie’s eyes wondered over to the ghost that seemingly followed her everywhere, Helena. Seeing that Helena was invincible to everyone but her most of the time, she couldn’t outright face her or talk to her in public without looking odd to say the very least. She raised an eyebrow at the ghost. Like hell she was going to let herself get sloppy drunk and make a complete fool of herself. Maybe that was some other’s tastes to get so blasted that the next morning they don’t know where they were, but it wasn’t Vickie’s taste.

Helena could see the look in Vickie’s eyes

“I know what your thinking. I’m not asking you to behave like an absolute moron. But just chill it. You’re not on the clock right now, you’ll always have time to do this tomorrow. But for the love of god stop worrying yourself.” Helena then crossed her arms

“I promise you if you burn yourself out and pass out from pulling an all nighter again, let me you tell, you will not hear the end of my lectures in the morning.”

Vickie sighed. Although she didn’t say anything, she did make it a point to relax her shoulders and let herself slightly slouch a bit. She finished her drink before ordering a new one when commotion could be heard from the other side of the club behind her. Even with the loud music, Vickie could tell something was going on. Helena looked over and moved closer to see what was going on.

“Oh goddamnit, Prejudice, this is the 5th time this month you’ve crashed the party!” Fame grumbled as Prejudice smirked, snatching a drink out of the hand of Vickie’s coworker.

“Yeah, and I’ll do it again. Besides, I like how you get all p!ssy about it.” Prejudice said as he took a drink from his stolen beverage.

Helena moved back over to Vickie

“Don’t look now, but I think that’s the CEO of that company you’re looking into.” Helena whispered despite knowing she couldn’t be heard by anyone else. Vickie stole a glance to confirm what Helena was saying before looking away just as quickly as to not accidentally get unwanted attention.

“The hell’s he doing here? Shouldn’t he be more worried about saving his company’s face by discrediting the allegations?” She muttered quietly to herself as she took a sip from her Bloody Mary. Helena glanced over

“It looks like him and that other fellow know each other.” Helena said. “I’ll keep watch.” Helena said as she floated over to the crowd. Vickie’s grip on her glass tightened. Maybe this could be the chance she’d been looking for to get solid concrete against the company. Since her coworker, besides from an obvious camera crew, had a recording pen on her, maybe the pen might catch something incriminating, maybe embezzlement, tax fraud, something that really couldn’t be ignored, something that could ruin this business and its corrupt ways.

As she took another swing of her drink, she started noticing the feeling of eyes burning into the back of her head, like someone was staring at her. At first she thought it was Helena, until the ghost floated back over and the feeling didn’t go away.

“Did you catch anything?” Vickie whispered subtly.

“No, but he’s been staring at you. I think? He may be looking at your general area but he’s definitely been looking intensely at the bar area.” Helena said.

Vickie wanted to test that theory. She got up from her chair and walked around, acting as though she was merely stretching. The feeling of being watched didn’t fade no matter where she went. Even well after she sat back down in her chair. Ok, he definitely was staring at her. Did this guy somehow know who she really was, what her goals were? She didn’t think so, she’d done a good job hiding it.

By this point, the amount of people in the club dwindled down a bit, at least in the area she was in. Fame had moved to a different spot of the club and so did a large group of the crowd there. Everyone else around her were either drunk or leaving. Vickie was mid drinking her beverage when she felt someone approaching. Great, just great. She didn’t look over as she just wanted to be left alone. But alas, her luck for the night turned to be Jack sh!t as Prejudice sat down in a chair next to hers at the bar.

Vickie didn’t look over, just remained silent and indifferent as Prejudice pretty much ordered the bartender for some hard liquor. Helena looked like she wanted to intervene but Vickie signaled her not to with some cleverly hidden hand signals the two hand memorized over the course of their friendship/ her being tethered to Vickie. It was quiet for a moment, before Prejudice slammed his shot glass. He glanced over at the bartender.

“I’d suggest you take your fat ginger freak a$$ out of here before you also get a taste of what this little dumb bimbo is going to get.” Prejudice said, in this almost joking way, though she could tell by his voice that He at the same time sounded serious. Either way, it was enough to get the bartender out of there.

Vickie didn’t even have time to get up herself when she felt a hand grab her by the hair and slam her face down onto the counter. She felt her arm being twisted behind her back, the grip getting tighter when she struggled. Helena tried to help, to pull the man off of her but she was swatted away like a fly, which set off all alarms bells in Vickie’s brain. This man clearly wasn’t human.

“Now what do we have here? You know, looking at you, I’d think you’re just another dime a dozen mortal sl/t with less brains than a mutt, it took me a bit to discover what you were actually trying to do.” Prejudice said in casual voice that somehow sounded threatening at the same time. Even then, it was how he said theses things that started grinding Vickie’s gears. He said these things like he was entitled to say them, like it was owed to him.

“You may have fooled my dipsh!t employees, you dumb b!tch, but I’m not exactly as easy to convince. I know you plan on finding whatever evidence you can to ‘ruin’ me or whatever you want to call it. What, you plan on cancelling me? You seem like the type to type essays on Twitter on inequalities or whatever nonsense about equality like anyone will give a damn. At least nobody important will care.” He grinned.

“Oh go f*ck yourself you pompous little sh!t!” Vickie growled. She let out a loud hiss of pain as he twisted her arm more as a result.

“Oh, a little feisty? Good, I’ve been wanting something more entertaining than some obedient little pets. So please, go on. I’m going to break that jaw of yours either way but still, I want to hear more.” Prejudice goated on. She felt his hand slowly leave her hair and travel down to her waist.

“You know, if you really wanted to make yourself useful, doll, than you should stop worrying about whatever job you work in and start worrying about wearing something nice. You dress like a sl/t that acts like they’re someone of any respect. Really you’re not fooling anyone ” Prejudice said, the cockiness in his voice was what sent Vickie off to a boiling peak.

Using the mobility gained by his hand not being holding her head down, she stomped on his foot with her heel, as hard as possible, the man let out a curse but before he could really do much she took a shot glass from the table, spun around and smashed it right in his eye. Sure, this did result in her held arm getting twisted even more and probably dislocated, it gave her the opportunity to get free from his grasp as he stumbled back.

She then took this opportunity to start beating him with pretty much everything and anything in sight, fists, heels, a wine bottle she smashed over his head, chairs, anything in sight. All whilst calling him every name in the book, every swear and curse she could think of, hell, she was pretty sure she set a record. But even all of that didn’t really do much, not when immediately after she was backhanded to the ground when he finally got his footing. She didn’t even have time to recover as he grabbed her by her throat and slammed up against a wall, several times. By the time he stopped her head was spinning and blood was dripping from the back of her head. He then held her up off her feet, hand still firmly on her neck and then he squeezed down, hard.

She desperately scratched at his hand, tried to take gasps of air. But his tight grasp cut off her airways, leaving her attempts useless. Even worse, there didn’t even look like she laid a scratch on him, as any and all injuries or bruises inflicted on him had somehow already healed.

Prejudice’s smirk became wider as he squeezed tighter, his free hand yanking out any remaining glass from his eye.

“God, aren’t you just a fidgety little spazz? Hmm? Did you really think you could fight off a god? Though you’ve been great entertainment so far, it’s been a while since someone’s actually tried to fight me. Good to know not every mortal nowadays are p/ssies.” He spoke.

Vickie could see her world starting to turn dark as Prejudice kept talking

“Let’s just get this part over with. You WILL delete whatever ‘evidence’ you have against my company, and you’ll drop this case. If you don’t, we’ll, I’m sure you don’t have many options here, unless you wanna have a meeting with Death.” He said.

“Then, I want you to meet me in my office as soon as you enter the building. Don’t try quitting now that you won’t be able to do that little expose thing. I can ruin you in so many ways I’m sure your pretty little brain won’t comprehend. It’s alright. You don’t have to think, just do as I say and I won’t have to hurt you.. too much, sweetheart.” That ‘sweetheart’ was said in the most patronizing tone that it would’ve made Vickie said had she not been on the brink of passing out from lack of oxygen.

That was when Prejudice finally dropped Vickie, leaving her on the floor taking greedy gasps for air, her lungs burning from the lack of it. Prejudice just smirked at her once more before checking his watch. He took him longer than he thought. No worries, he didn’t have too much planned for today’s anyways.

Vickie laid there weakly on the floor as Prejudice just walked away, as if he didn’t just do what he just did. Helena by this point finally came too and quickly picked up Vickie, getting her out of the club and into her car.

“Vickie, Vickie. Don’t pass out on me, Vickie just try and stay awake! I’ll get help!” Helena said as she dashed over somewhere as Vickie fought to keep her eyes open before exhaustion finally hit and she felt her eyes close, her body forcing her to rest for the sake of recovery.

#original character #creative writing #tw violence

4 notes · View notes

darkestwolfx · 4 years

Text

Volcano - Re-Review #40

So, I’ve said it before but I’m afraid this actually is the really short review I didn’t want to have to deliver.

My internet is really dying on me now, and I don’t have the time today to faff around with waiting for it to respond, so I apologise. On the positive side, there will be another fic tomorrow (it’s another irrelief prompt, and I’ve got my earmuffs at the ready this time - someone out there among you will know what that means), so can I be forgiven?

Anyhow, episode review;

Seems like a busy day for the Tracy’s... a Tuesday by any chance? (Anyone want to pick out what episode that reference is from?)

“Sending situation details.”

“Cross it off the list.”

“Wrapping things up with the shipping collision.”

“Scott, be a dear.”

Definitely a Tuesday.

And a nice case of cry wolf it seems. Even so, it’s nice to meet a man of science who isn’t like Fischler, for once. I can do without seeing him again for a while.

“Hello Doctor Questa, has it been a year already?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Every year I pick up your distress call, and every year the same thing happens. Nothing.”

“I refuse to let you brush me off again. Let me speak to your supervisior. I’m going over your head this time, young man.”

“You asked for it.”

Ha, yeah, he did. Grandma. I feel like she’d make a really fair supervisor.

“Doctor Questa, did you ever hear the story of the boy who cried wolf?”

“Fourth law? I thought Newton only had three?”

Yeah, I’m with you there too, Scott. I was only taught the three.

“It looks like you’re gonna’ have to walk there.”

“I can drop Brains off on my way.”

The clue about the lack of landing should have been there in the use of “drop”, literally.

There’s Scott’s excellent balance on display again. Someone’s going to fall and break a leg (or worse) one of these days...

The RAD! I don’t really know how it fitted inside Thunderbird One, but hey, let’s save that for when I have more time to make a valid case. Iceland looks quite nice this time of year.

“The things I do for science.”

Yes, tell me about it! I’m up to my ears in environmental science right now. This is my break! It’s quite an entertaining one actually. At least it’s not Fischler, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again.

“Every time you’ve been wrong.”

“Since when was science just about being right?”

Uh... since Fischler entered the industry?

“Let me call a ride and get us out of here.”

I thought Grandma said you’d have to walk, Brains, remember?

“What matters now is saving lives.”

“You mean we’re going to stop the volcano from exploding?”

Yes, Brains, yes you are.

“It’s finally happening, after all these years!”

Um... maybe don’t sound quite so happy about a volcano exploding?

So, is Brains’ uniform more orange or brown in people’s opinions? I’ve always thought it looked orange in TAG, but in TOS ‘Thunderbird Six’ his sash colour was brown.

And look at these lovely robots! They deserve to have each other for friends. MAX playing music as well was just completely classic and MAX following whilst Brains was like “let’s go home”. It would have been lovely to see more of these two, they made a good duo.

“Fritzy seems very nice... but she’s much too old a model for you.”

It’s like parenting, isn’t it? Or gene selection.

I love how we got a robot love story though which just about pushed the boundaries.

“Locals? What locals?”

“Those locals!”

Treating them a little like outsiders there, ey?

So, now we move onto one of my favourite parts of this episode. The guy with the catch phrase, “And I’m Jeff Tracy.” I thought it was meant to be “and I’m the Queen of England”, but maybe that wouldn’t have been as fitting. So here is a lovely little hot spring resort. How nice.

And here is why you should Brains! Volcano! Run for your lives (again)!

Virgil absolutely made this episode for me! Thanks to @flyboytracy for these awesome gifs, they make my day every time.

I’ll fill in the blanks here;

“Hi. I’m from International Rescue.”

No, you’re not, but he is one of Jeff Tracy’s sons. I wish that had been added somehow.

“Oh my!”

Yeah, because Virgil doesn’t even need words to say how awesome he is, he just has to point out of a window and be all like, ‘You were saying?’

I just love how he does that.

So, I probably don’t really have time, but I’m adding the trivia anyway, because I know it interests some of you (and if it interests no one just tell me to stop including it).

So, inspiration or possible sources for this episode could come from three pieces of traditional work. The first is this image, released in the comics as a special news report written by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson. The full story was never expanded upon within the comics or as an episode, but the news reported detailed bystanders views of Thunderbird One undertaking some kind of rescue before fleeing the scene, the rescue being (by rumour) to rescue the scientists who had been studying the volcano.

The second was this one;

A special short story release which focussed on a rescue mission surrounding volcanos on the Ring of Fire. This is also possible source material for where the very first episode of TAG took it’s title from. Similar content to the book can be seen in that episode too, but only so much for the setting. As for the volcanos (which were absent in ‘Ring of Fire’), it seems they were instead moved to this episode. Many also thought that this book was written as the expansion that never come to the news report above. That was never confirmed, and the authors were different, but elements were remarkably similar. So it’s far to say that if this book wasn’t an expansion of that report, it was definitely inspired by it. Goodness I feel like I’m tagging works over on AO3 with all this talk of expansion and inspiration.

The third was this video - yes, video. I still have my video player set up and working thank you very much. Not everything got transferred to DVD in the fading days of VCR and this is one of them, along with many Carlton works actually. You may know them better for releasing many videos that featured under the content umbrella of ‘BBC Videos’, however with the rise of DVD’s, the BBC took over selling their own content under ‘BBC DVD’s’, just like they now have ‘BBC Books’. Carlton were known for releasing many old BBC (and ITV) classics, such as Thunderbirds, Star Hill Ponies, Toy Box... many of these were picked up by ITV and BBC and transferred to DVD, but sadly this one was missed.

CD-Rom is another thing which is dying out now - I still have my CD player, just saying, and it has an IPod nano connector (something which I’m aware is also dying out, but my technology lives really well, I don’t know what I do because I’m not a technological expert, but I did have m,y last mobile for 8 years, once again just saying - and moving away from garbled, rushed trivia about me).

The issue which stops CD-Rom surviving is that it doesn’t play on many general CD players, because it needs hard drive space. Old computer monitors used to have CD-Rom drives in built, so you could listen to music, play games and copy data onto disks. They have mostly died out and so the only form this game survives in, is little chunks people have filmed and uploaded to youtube. The quality isn’t great on many of the recordings, but at least they’re there in some form. Give it another 20 years... Preserve what you have is my message from all of this.

But yes, so this was about Thunderbird Two going to a rescue at a volcano! Low and behold, what have we just watched?

And, to finish off, because my break is definitely over, a little more behind the scenes specials! The making of this episode was actually really intriguing to look at.

P.S. I was typing quickly so any errors are my own and I apologise (again).

P.P.S. I am just going to leave this absolutely awesome here for you to all ogle. Look at that little bell! Do you think there’s room in the tool belt to have nicked it (because yes, Parker Class #101 would have taught those skills), because Gordon ends up with a very similar looking one... just putting it out there. And now I have, anyone want to write me a fic featuring the life of said bell?

42 notes · View notes

therainroguefanfiction · 4 years

Text

♆ Yandere (America/Alfred Jones) Lonely

@karenusia

📑 Table of Contents

Genre: Angst, Slice of Life ☁

Word Count: 2,079 ☁

Pairing: Reader x Alfred ☁

World: Axis Powers Hetalia ☁

Prompt: #20: “Don’t say you’re lonely, you have me!” ☁

Author’s Note: This was requested for the Yandere Set! If you’d like to request your own, please see my post [here] to check and see which are available~ At this point, I don’t even know if I’m writing Yandere or crazy lol

━━━━━━༻♆༺━━━━━━

You were never really the popular kid, finding yourself with only a few good friends throughout your childhood. Quality over quantity, right? But as you got older, you didn’t really change your introverted ways, leaving you with the same few friends from school. This didn’t really bother you until they started to move on with their lives. Friend one moved to the big city to chase her dream of becoming a star, cutting off all of her friends in the process. Friend two ended having twins, so he was unable to go out as he had to stay home with his family. Friend three was still around, but quickly tiring of your introverted nature.

Kiyoko huffed in annoyance when you tuned her out to collect the daily bonus for some mobile game you wasted far too much time on. “Y/N, are you even listening to me?”

You offered her a sheepish smile, putting away your phone. “Sorry, what were you saying?”

She shifted her weight to lean forward on the kitchen island you sat at. “I want to try out that new club. You know, the one that opened up last week. What was it called again? Hetya? Hellium?”

Your eyes widened a fraction as she turned her brown eyes to you. Did she really expect you to know the name? You had no interest in partying or doing anything really that involved large groups of people.

Her eyes narrowed in concentration before lighting up as she snapped her fingers. “Hetalia! That’s it. It’s supposed to be the best hot spot right now.”

You nodded half-heartedly, not at all interested in the subject matter at hand, but when several moments of silence passed by, you glanced up to find her looking at you expectantly and you knew what she wanted. That didn’t mean you were going to give it to her, though. “You should go check it out. You deserve to have some fun.”

“I know you’re not that dense, Y/N.”

You weren’t, but you kind of wished she thought so. “I don’t like clubs…”

“Oh, come on.” She groaned. “Won’t you do it for me? A young girl can’t go out alone these days, it’s too dangerous! I need you there to watch my back.”

The thought that you could offer any semblance of protection was preposterous. In your lifetime, you had been in only one fight and that was staged for a play the teacher forced you into participating in. Kiyoko, on the other hand, was constantly fighting off a number of potential suitors, unafraid to get in their face and tell them off. Meanwhile, you hated confrontation and the attention it drew.

Still… she was your best friend and you knew she was quickly losing her patience with you since you always reject her plans every single time she makes them. The only reason she was currently standing in your kitchen was because you had messaged her complaining about feeling lonely. In your defense, you didn’t expect her to drop what she was going and come over, offering to spend time with you. Still, you always rejected her ideas and she had to do what you wanted each time, which usually consisted of staying home and binge-watching a show or a set of movies.

“Alright,”

“You’re such a buzzkill, Y/N. It won’t hurt you to -” she suddenly froze as your response registered in her brain, eyes growing wide as she slapped her hands on the counter. “Wait, what?”

“I’ll go,” you responded quickly before you had time to reconsider.

She squealed happily, throwing her arms around your neck. “This is gonna be so fun!”

You highly doubted that, but you returned the hug anyway.

━━━━━━༻♆༺━━━━━━

The club was packed with people, making it impossible to walk without bumping into someone on both sides. Despite being the height of summer, the club clearly did not believe in air conditioning, so it was ungodly hot inside with the colorful lights beaming down on sweaty bodies as they bumped and grinded on each other. Kiyoko had run into a group of old co-workers and they started catching up, but you felt like you were hearing something you shouldn’t so you left them alone. You needed some serious air, but just as you were getting close to the door, your way was blocked.

A woman with wavy blonde hair smirked at you, eyes the shade of rubies scanning your body up and down despite your obvious unease. “Hey, hun. You’re quite gorgeous, ain’t ya~”

The man at her side licked his chapped lips, hand running through his black, greasy hair. His eyes, black as night, were staring at you with a predatory glint. “You’re the perfect third for us, ain’t they doll?”

“Oh, yes~” Her hand shot forward like a snake, fake nails digging into the skin of your wrist. “Why don’t you join us for some fun?”

“N-No thank you,” you mumbled, trying to pull yourself free but her grasp only tightened. “Please let me go,”

“Che, don’t be such a buzzkill. It’ll be fun, don’t worry.” The man made a move to grab your other wrist but suddenly stopped, hand hovering in mid-air as his eyes focused on something behind you.

Your breath hitched when a strong hand landed on your hip, a body pressing against your back. Warm breath fanned across your neck as a cheerful voice invaded your ears. “Hey, darlin’. Is everything alright?”

The man narrowed his eyes, puffing his chest out to appear intimidating. “Who the hell are you?”

The blonde tilted his head to the side and, even though he was smiling brightly, the malice within his voice was unmistakable. “Alfred, and you’re messing with my partner.” His hand gripped the woman’s wrist, squeezing tight enough to make her yelp and release you. “You’d well to remember to keep your hands to yourself.”

“You threatenin’ us, pal?!”

“Let’s just go, hun, they’re not worth it.” The woman gulped, eyes flickering to the blonde. She didn’t know why, but looking at him filled her with dread and she did not want to interact with him a moment longer. Without another word, she grabbed her boyfriend’s arm and forced him away from you.

Alfred took a step back, allowing you some room to finally breathe. You turned around so you could see the face of your savior, meeting ocean blue eyes shimmering behind half-rectangle glasses. He smiled and it seemed to light up the dark room. “Are you okay?”

Your cheeks lit up and you hoped he couldn’t see it through the low lighting. ‘He’s so attractive, holy crap…’

He tilted his head curiously, a strand of blonde hair falling across his eyes as he brought his hand up to rest against your cheek. “Ah, you’re burning up! Here, come with me!” His hand slid into yours and he began to tug you through the crowd.

You glanced over your shoulder, seeing the exit get farther and farther away. Where was he taking you? And why didn’t you seem at all concerned by the stranger practically dragging you to the other side of the room?

Alfred led you to the right of the DJ booth, through a thick wooden door. As soon as it was closed behind you, the music died, allowing silence to settle. The sudden loss of booming music and screaming people made your ears ring, but you felt a bit calmer.

‘These walls must be soundproof,’ you thought. “Um, I don’t think we’re allowed back here…”

He sent you a grin as he pulled you into the first door on the right – a small, private lounge with a sofa, a coffee table, and a mini-fridge. A blast of cold air hit your body when you stepped through the door and you sighed in content, not noticing that the door clicked as it was locked.

“Don’t worry, my best friend owns the place.” Alfred guided you over to the grey sofa, cold leather seeping through your clothes and helping to cool you off. “You can relax here until your friend is ready to leave.”

“Thank you,” you mumbled, playing with your hands nervously. It was rare to find someone so kind and thoughtful, and you weren’t really sure how to react to him. Not to mention how attractive he was. It was seriously throwing you off, making you miss all of the red flags he was presenting to you.

“Sorry, what was that?”

You cleared your throat, raising your voice so he could better understand you. “Thank you… for helping me.”

“Of course!” He grinned, pointing at himself proudly with his thumb. “I’m the hero, after all!”

You blinked at the declaration before laughing, covering your mouth to try and stifle the sound. His grin dropped a bit and your laughter died abruptly. “S-Sorry, I didn’t mean to laugh. It’s just… people don’t usually go around claiming to be heroes.”

He hummed. “Guess I’m not like most people~”

You could agree with that. He seemed like a whole new breed of man to you, unlike anyone you had ever met before. There was something… familiar about him, but you just couldn’t put your finger on why. You smiled gratefully, “Well, thank you for being my hero.”

Alfred’s eyes suddenly darkened, but you didn’t notice because you were too busy staring at the ground. He took a shaky breath to try and control himself, “Can you repeat that please?”

Your cheeks darkened again as you thought about repeating something so embarrassing. You hadn’t even meant to say it in the first place, it just slipped out! “I-It was nothing,”

He advanced on you like a cheetah pouncing on its prey, his body forcing yours down across the sofa. His lips met your ear, voice husky as he growled out an order. “Repeat yourself, Y/N.”

You swallowed hard, pressing your hand into his shoulder to try and get him off you, but he didn’t budge, his body acting as a barrier ontop of you. Fear gripped you tightly, the sound of your speeding heart echoing in your ears. Your voice was shaky, barely above a whisper. “H-How do you know my name?”

He chuckled, bringing his hand up to grip your chin as his lips left butterfly kisses on the skin of your neck. “I’ve been watching you for so long, waiting for the right time to you mine. I couldn’t believe it when you stepped through the door tonight.” He pulled back to stare down into your eyes. “I knew it was the sign I had been waiting for. The universe delivered you right into my arms.”

You could only stare up into his crazed eyes with pure fear chilling your veins. Now you remembered why he seemed so familiar – he was the creep that had been following you around the store a few months back! “W-What do you want from me? Why are you doing this?”

“Why?” Alfred frowned, his eyes softening as his hand shifted to rest against your cheek. “Because I love you, of course. We’re destined to be with one another and I’ll destroy anything that tries to take you from me. I’m the hero and you’re my sidekick!”

“You’re crazy!” You cried, struggling against his hold, but his body was like iron and didn’t budge. “Let go of me, you freak!”

The words hurt him deeply and he dropped his weight onto you, his lips at your ear again. “I tapped your phone, you know? Do you know how badly it hurt to see you texting that girl, claiming to be lonely? How could you say such a thing, Y/N? Why are you trying to hurt me?”

“Please,” you begged him, tears stinging your eyes. “Just let me go. I promise I… I won’t tell anyone!”

His chest rumbled as he hummed, nuzzling the side of your neck with his face. He didn’t seem to even hear what you were saying. “Don’t say you’re lonely, you have me! We’ll be together forever and day. I love you so much, Y/N.”

You choked back a sob, tears sliding down your cold cheeks. You couldn’t even scream because of the soundproof walls. You couldn’t run because of his body pinning you down. What were you supposed to do? How were you supposed to get out of this?

“Don’t cry, love.” Alfred carefully kissed your tears and smiled down at you lovingly. “You’re mine and I won’t ever let you go.”

━━━━━━༻♆༺━━━━━━

📜 Read more by checking out my masterlist 📜

If you enjoy my writing, please considering tipping me on Kofi or Cashapp. Every little bit helps and means a lot, thank you so much ^~^)/ If you can’t afford to do so, that’s okay, too, thanks for reading!

6 notes · View notes

ploppythespaceship · 4 years

Text

Rise of Skywalker spoilery post ahead. I can't add a cut on mobile so go ahead and scroll real fast if you need.

tl;dr - better than Last Jedi, by a lot. Not necessarily a good film, but an entertaining one that would likely satisfy most casual fans. I can see why die hard fans would be annoyed tho.

Things I liked:

After Rian Johnson's turn at the helm, it's a relief to have someone who knows how to write, structure, and direct a competent film again. The Last Jedi was boring and incoherent, but Abrams swung this one back around to being fun again. I was entertained through the whole thing and never bored.

Acting, special effects, overall production quality was on point.

This is the first movie where the trio (Rey, Poe, Finn) actually felt like a trio, and had a proper dynamic with each other. And they were great!

I like 3P0 getting things to do, and actual emotional beats. It was lovely.

For the most part, Kylo's redemption arc was handled fairly well. It was a little abrupt of a switch, but considering the last film gave nothing to work with, it was probably the best Abrams could do. And I liked Rey calling him Ben instead of Ren at the end. It was a nice solidifer for it.

Plus I think it's for the best that Kylo died. I honestly couldn't see his story ending any other way. He's killed his father, lost his mother, hurt and betrayed everyone who believed in him... sacrificing himself is really the only thing left for him to do that can atone for this.

Leia's scenes were well done, considering what they had to work with. You could tell that the dialogue was carefully scripted around what lines of hers they had, but I'm glad they chose to reuse existing footage rather than digitally recreate her.

Force!! Sensitive!! Finn!! Yes!!

That girl on Endor who also left the First Order? Loved her. Wanted more of all them.

Ian McDiarmid as Palpatine is a delight, as always. He's mastered campiness in the best possible way.

The scene where all the past Jedi tell Rey to get up?? Picking out the individual voices of past characters?? Amazing??

I'm like 90% sure I spotted Lin Manuel Miranda in the celebration scene, for no reason.

Rey deciding she's Rey Skywalker at the end. I would have preferred her accepting she doesn't need a name, because her family is whoever she chooses it to be, but Skywalker works nicely as well.

Also that last shot with the twin suns. Mmmmmmm. Mmmmmmm yes. Full circle.

Things I didn't like:

Palpatine being back, without any explanation. Just cause they can. I think I'd rather have seen a similar premise play out with Snoke. Or have Palpatine as a Force ghost trying to return to life. Or something.

Also Rey being Palpatine's granddaughter with no real explanation. Who did Palps fuck???? WHO DID PALPS FUCK??????

Anyway I really would've preferred Rey being a nobody. Just a random Force sensitive girl who's finding her own way and making her own family. It's a stronger narrative.

Palps's plan to have Rey kill him also didn't make much sense. I'd have preferred him manipulating Rey and Kylo to face him together so he could rob their bonded life force or whatever. Instead of whatever the hell he was trying to do before.

Some of the opening scenes chasing the various macguffins started to feel a bit repetitive. They arrive, they get followed and chased, Rey wanders off on her own, Kylo finds her, they run away. Rinse and repeat. It was also nonstop action for ages, which I recall Force Awakens having a similar problem with.

The Reylo kiss??? Was so dumb??? Oh my god??? It literally came out of NOWHERE, did not make sense, and made an otherwise excellent scene really weird. Their connection was a powerful one, but it wasn't romantic and framing as such is uhhhhhhhhhhhh. I didn't like it.

I was a bit startled that Leia left Poe in charge, because I felt his character development was somewhat lacking. He still seemed like a hotshot, irresponsible guy who would disregard orders to do his own thing, and not exactly level headed. I think the whole trilogy did Poe a little dirty tbh, his character never really went anywhere.

Rose's part seemed pathetically small. Like no one knew what to do with her. I wish she'd been involved a bit more, both because I liked her character and as a fuck you to all the racist assholes who harassed her.

As expected, the LGBT representation is a blink-and-you-miss-it kiss between two unnamed ladies in the final celebrations. Literally would have been SO easy to let Finn and Poe kiss around the same time instead. (Cause the thing Finn wanted to tell Rey before is that he's gay and loves Poe. That's how it should have gone.)

#personal #reviews #tros spoilers #rise of skywalker spoilers

4 notes · View notes

make-it-mavis · 5 years

Text

Too Young to Notice, Too Dumb to Care (part 1)

WiR fic (main timeline, ~1984) 5643 words Characters: Turbo, Make-it Mavis, Pyro and Nitro (the Turbo Twins) Content warnings: N/A Premise: It’s 1984, and Mavis and Turbo are young, stupid, and inexperienced -- especially Mavis, who is still working hard to overcome her touch aversion. But there’s a sort of touch she has not attempted, one she barely even understands. When she asks Turbo about it, however, she finds that he’s not exactly an expert on it either. So, with all of two brain cells at their disposal, they tackle the question... What the hell is kissing??

______________________________________________________________

To any ignorant outsider, it would have seemed like Make-it Mavis and Turbo were friends. All the signs were there -- the way they joked and played, the way they spent more time together than apart, and the way their biting insults seemed to bite just a tad gentler when directed at each other. Many ignorant outsiders did, in fact, make note of their bond. The two sprites were hard enough to ignore on their own, but put together? Their supposed friendship was explosively loud. Over time, it rang out through the very boundaries of the arcade, until there was not a sprite alive who was not at least aware of the gossip they inspired.

Mavis herself was fully aware, too, of course. The arcade’s assumptions were frustrating to her, what with ‘friend’ carrying so many connotations. Connotations she did not sign up for. No, she and Turbo were not friends, and of this fact, she was quite certain. Turbo was a source of fun, one she had been fixated on for some time, but that was all he was. She liked him more than she liked anyone else. She made the decision to trust him with things no other sprite could be cut out for, even touching her, over time. But if things went south, if he became a drag, she would walk away guilt-free.

Friends did not have that kind of freedom.

Even still, even after over a year of knowing him closely and hanging out almost every night, Mavis was excited to spend the evening with Turbo. It had been another boring day of waiting out gameplay, and at last, it was time to go goof off and raise hell with the only other sprite in the arcade who seemed to know how to do it. She trotted casually down the gravely road flanked by trees, absolutely soaked in the relentless Turbo Time sunshine. Every few steps, she took a carefree leap and sailed smoothly through the air on her feathered feet. The boys’ sort of trailer park would be just down the way, but before she quite made it there, she spied a figure up ahead, clad in blue, with an arm around another humanoid sprite.

Had to have been one of the twins, and… somebody.

Knowing Turbo’s brother would not be pleased to see her, and delighting in that fact, Mavis let out a sharp whistle. The two stopped and turned back to look at her as she flew in for a closer look. The guest looked like he must have been from Front Line, with the camo and dog tags and muscles. His cropped black hair was oily, his skin was dirty, and he smelled awful.

The twin just looked like a twin. Mavis was not sure why she expected to recognize him if she got closer.

“Hi cat,” she said anyway, “what’s this you’re draggin’ in?”

“Hey,” the twin said sharply. “That’s my guest you’re talkin’ about. Watch it.”

“Hi Mavis,” the guest said plainly, as if he had been expecting her to be trouble, and accepted it.

“Hiya,” she nodded. Of course the guy knew who she was. She was only the most notorious trickster in the arcade. This particular guest, however… not important enough for Mavis to remember, anyway.

“My name’s McKenzie,” he said, sending that name through Mavis’ ear and out the other. “If you care to know.”

“I don’t, really,” she shrugged. “But now that I’m here, I’m hopin’ Blueballs here brought you in to hose you down like a dog, ‘cause you sure smell like one.”

The twin actually smirked at that, and nudged his hip against McKenzie’s. “Y’really could use a shower.”

“Oh, really, now?” His guest replied, giving the twin a look that Mavis did not quite understand, but still found repulsive.

“O-kay,” she said loudly, “well, it’s been fun. Always quality conversation with you, Pluto.”

“Pyro,” the twin corrected her.

“Yeah, yeah,” she whined dismissively, twirling off into the air, electing to fly directly to the trailer park. It was a short flight, barely a few seconds at her speed, before she came upon the rough-looking, rectangular mobile homes, arranged in a modestly spaced triangle. Mavis knew all three racers wished they could separate their living spaces even farther, but ironically enough, there was nowhere else in the game to move their movable homes to. Not off-screen anyway, and they could not very well air out their wet laundry right where the gamers could see.

She landed and approached Turbo’s trailer -- perhaps the dirtiest of the three, with discarded bottles and cigarette butts littering the sparse grass. She could even smell a fresh cigarette, but following her nose over her shoulder, she found that it was the other twin leaning out of his window and calmly smoking. By process of elimination, that one was Nitro.

Mavis tipped up her chin at him, and he just exhaled a smoky plume in reply, serving her a look of casual distaste. It was on the friendlier end of their spectrum of interaction.

Wasting no more time, she turned back around and knocked hard on Turbo’s door in a musical rhythm.

“Who is it?” Turbo’s gruff voice called.

“It’s Litwak,” Mavis replied impatiently. “Better clear outta here before I unplug your game.”

“As if you could live without me, old man,” she heard him say, among footsteps and keys jangling. Promptly, the door opened, and there was the demon boy himself, clad in the usual white-and-red jumpsuit zipped down and tied at his hips. His overgrown mullet was as fluffy as ever, but Mavis smiled a bit at the thought of the flat dome of helmet hair she knew it had been right after quitting time. He must have spent the whole time since then fixing it.

“What’s that look?” he asked casually as he turned to close the door and lock it.

“Hm?”

“You’re givin’ me a look.”

“Am not,” she said.

“I’m gettin’ real good at readin’ your nasty lil’ mind, Make-it,” he said as he stepped off the tiny stairs to his door and turned to head towards the gravel path back to Game Central. “And y’know what your face is sayin’ to me, right now? It’s sayin’-- Oh, gag me with a spoon.”

“Wow. Not even close.”

“No,” he rolled his eyes. “Pyro’s brought a friend home.”

Sure enough, Pyro and McWhatever had arrived on the scene, and the twin was unlocking his door with a self-satisfied smile. Mavis got the distinct impression that he knew Turbo was hating what he saw, and relishing it.

“Yeah, so?” she asked Turbo, a bit perplexed.

“So, let’s get outta here before they get a chance to get into it,” he said, taking off with a swift pace. Mavis hovered along next to him.

“Get into what?”

As the two of them passed his trailer, Pyro called out with devilish glee, “Seeya in the mornin’, little brother!”

Without looking, Turbo called back coldly, “Yeah-huh. Have fun swappin’ your spit for the hundredth time this week.”

“‘Least I’m gettin’ any!”

“‘Least I ain't a sleazebag!”

The exchange seemed to be over as she and Turbo put more distance between themselves and the trailer park, but Mavis was confused to the point of irritation. No one seemed to be saying what they meant, at least not to her ears. Like it was all some kind of code that she had not been taught. Some weird brother-code.

“What’s swappin’ spit?” she demanded, craning over Turbo’s head like a vulture as he walked.

“Nothing,” he grumbled dismissively, fishing a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and patting for a lighter.

“What’s Pyro getting?!” she asked more sharply.

“Nothing-- who cares, okay? I don’t wanna think about what my brother’s gettin’. Let’s just forget it and cut right to the hell-raising, aye?”

Mavis did not like giving up, but she did not want Turbo to be in a bad mood for what was supposed to be a fun night. He could get so annoying when he was grumpy. But she would find out the truth later, that much she decided right then and there.

Turbo lit up a cigarette, and the two left the subject behind entirely.

The rest of the evening carried on in the usual sort of erratic way, with the pair doing whatever happened to come into their heads with no regard for others. Some time was spent in Frogger, setting fire to items pulled from Mavis’ hoard, and watching the flames float down the river like funeral pyres. Another little while was spent in Ghosts ‘n Goblins causing general unrest, finding particular joy in knocking on gravestones and hiding while the confused rotting dead rose to find no one there. When a group of angry ghosts chased them out, Mavis and Turbo found themselves hungry, and swung by Burger Time to pick up some take out to bring into Rampage.

Rampage was a favorite of Mavis’, even just to relax in. It was neither dark nor bright, neither day or night, with the sky a vibrant but deep blue just dark enough to paint the tall figures of distant buildings in shadow. It was also both loud and quiet, with tanks below, helicopters above, and three beastly titans, well, rampaging freely through the fully destructible city, but a big enough map that there was always somewhere far enough to sit out of the proper cacophony.

It was in one of those far reaches that Mavis and Turbo found themselves around 3 AM, perched at the very top of a building with their feet hanging off the edge. They ate their food and chatted, casually watching a huge ape and werewolf roughhouse some ways away, deeper into the city.

“See, why can’t my game be this cool?” Mavis complained through a mouthful of burger. “It’s the same basic idea. Big gorilla wrecks buildings ‘n crap.”

Turbo snorted. “Your gorilla just ain’t big enough.”

“And we only got one building,” she grumbled. “And, hey, that werewolf out there? His name is Ralph.”

“What? No way,” Turbo disputed with a smile, “What kinda name is that for a big, badass werewolf?”

Mavis shrugged, smiling back, “Ask the Devs. I guess he wasn’t always a werewolf. That’s how werewolves work, right? He was just some guy named Ralph. Lucky him, now he’s interesting. My game would be way more interesting if our Ralph got turned into a werewolf. But fat chance of that ever happening.”

“Y’know what,” he said matter-of-factly as he popped a fry in his mouth, “the Ralphs should switch places for a day.”

Mavis half-guffawed.

Turbo continued, “Yeah, I mean, big Ralph would be real good at little Ralph’s job. He’d probably decimate Niceland with a single kick.”

“Take more than a few whacks from a hammer to fix that,” Mavis commented.

“We’d call it ‘hard mode.’ It’d be a hit.”

Mavis looked around, considering her surroundings. “Y’know, the gamers do the wrecking in this one, right? So Ralph would be the Good Guy here. I wonder how he’d feel about that. Maybe he wouldn’t be such a stick in the mud anymore.”

“Daresay that Fix-it would have less time to bug you with an entire city to fix,” Turbo pointed out. “Though he’d have to be the Bad Guy, ‘n man, there ain’t a bad bone in that choir boy’s body.”

“Hell, give him a shot,” Mavis shrugged dramatically. “Not like he’s all that good at bein’ a Good Guy either.”

Turbo chuckled a bit, but otherwise fell silent, and she did as well. Then the silence became awkward. Mavis chastised herself quietly for letting any bit of her emotional baggage with her cousin slip into her tone. Turbo knew how she felt. He even knew why she felt that way, what had happened, what Fix-it had done. And, blessedly, he was on her side for all of it. But, still, it was an emotional subject to just throw into casual conversation, and Mavis knew it. She was still getting used to having another sprite in the know on her… family issues.

Topic change. Topic change. Topic change.

Bingo.

“Ready to tell me why Pyro havin’ friends is so horrifying?” she asked suddenly.

Turbo sighed gruffly, smacking his tongue. “They’re not his friends, okay, that’s just-- y’know-- and it ain’t horrifyin’, it’s just gross. Nasty. I don’t need to know every time my brother makes out with someone. I don’t need that image.”

“Uh huh,” she tapped her heel back against the brick wall below, “and ‘makes out’ means…?”

Turbo paused before giving her a very peculiar look, as if she were the one not making sense. “Are you asking me what ‘making out’ is?”

“Yes,” she snapped a bit. “I’m asking you what ‘making out’ is. Will ya just tell me?”

“Well, it’s--” he shrugged sharply, shaking his head. “I mean-- it’s kissing and junk. How could you not know that?”

Mavis paused. “...Kissing?”

“Don’t tell me y’don’t know what that is.”

“I know what kissing is, ya dick. I just mean… kissing? Really? Like-- well, on the mouth, right?”

“Obviously. Where else?” Turbo regretted asking, by the look on his face. He grimaced at whatever thought just came up.

“Oh,” Mavis lifted her finger, “oh. Oh, okay. Yeah. They’re not his friends. They’re his boyfriends.”

Turbo groaned a bit. “Not exactly.”

“But… kissing’s all romantic-whatever, right? Only sprites who are in love kiss on the mouth.”

At that, Turbo outright cackled. It startled Mavis so bad, she quite nearly fell off the ledge. Turbo set his food down behind him and stood, waving her off as he walked to the middle of the roof and laughed it out. Mavis felt her face heating up, just knowing she had said something stupid and now had to somehow recover from it. She stood as well, crossing over to the chortling demon boy.

“If you’re gonna laugh in my face, at least say why before you saunter off,” she told him, annoyed.

“Look, dollface, if you hit me with another joke like that, I was gonna go tumbling right down to my death, arright?” he told her, straightening up and grinning. “I mean-- I mean, you don’t really believe that, do you?”

She hesitated. “No.”

“Oh, oh my Devs.”

“I said ‘no!’”

“Okay, okay,” Turbo said, placing steady hands on her shoulders, but still sporting that delighted smile. He touched his chest, “I ain’t being fair, okay? I’ll admit that. ‘Cause I’m gonna take a wild leap ‘n say all the education you’ve had on the subject has been what your cousin’s told ya.”

“Well--” she frowned. “Ugh. Yeah. But why would he lie to me about-- about kissing rules, or--?”

“Dunno if ‘lie’ is the right word. It’s probably what he personally believes, babe,” he nodded. “The guy’s about as traditional as they come. He probably told ya that because he wants you to be just as traditional as he is. And to keep ya from kissin’ anybody. To protect you from sprites like-- Well, like my brother.”

Mavis backed off from him, rolling her eyes. “I don’t need protection--” she paused. “Wait, like your brother? What’s he doin’, exactly?”

“Mmm,” Turbo put his hands on his hips. “How can I put this? All the boys-- and sometimes girls-- that Pyro brings home? Not boyfriends, not girlfriends. Just conquests. Pyro goes for numbers. And-- well, he doesn’t care about any of ‘em. Not even to the point of bein’ decent. He can get pretty manipulative about it, s’far as I’ve heard. And no matter what, after he’s had his fill a’ makin’ out, he gives ‘em the boot. Seen a fair share of cryin’ sprites leavin’ the game before.”

“Wow…”

Mavis considered all that. Suddenly, Turbo’s disgust made more sense. That really was a reprehensible way to treat other sprites, and that was saying a lot, coming from her. A strange thought crept into her head, one that questioned whether the way she used sprites for fun while refusing friendship was any similar to what Pyro did. Whether it was any similar to what she was doing to Turbo. Was she manipulating him without even realizing?

No. No, it was different. It had to be. Mavis only ever protected herself. Pyro was taking whatever he wanted. She would never do what he did.

A humorless half-smirk appeared on Mavis’ face. “So Fix-it’s afraid I’ll fall victim to some kinda romantic manipulation, then? Doesn’t he know I’ve got a cold, spiky heart?”

“He must,” Turbo shrugged, “if he wanted you to think that makin’ out is just a lovers’ thing. If you believe that, you’ll never so much as kiss anybody, and he’s never gotta picture his sweet baby cousin doin’ grown-up touching.”

Mavis twitched. She could feel her hard-wired defiant nature bristling up. “That’s it, isn’t it? He thinks I'm his responsibility. Like I can't make good choices for-- for my touch life.”

Turbo scoffed. “‘Touch life?’ Y'really wanna go with that?"

"What else should I call it?"

"I'unno Mav, don'tcha think that's a bit generous for the amount a touchin’ you do? I mean, I'm flattered that bein' able to touch me is worth a whole life to ya--"

“Hey,” Mavis growled, pointing, “hey, are you kiddin’ me right now?”

“Okay, okay,” Turbo sighed and put his hands up, “don’t make a thing of it.”

Mavis fumed, stomping over to him as she rolled up her sleeves. There was the slightest twinge of confusion and alarm in Turbo’s eyes, almost as if he expected her to take a swing at him, but she only seized his arm. With a harsh yank, she pulled him closer, and she rubbed the bare skin of her forearm against his. She could feel her code prickling a bit under her skin, but she had worked so hard to become accustomed to the feeling, it barely mattered anymore.

“See that?" she said firmly, “You've seen what'd happen if I tried this six months ago. This here's a big deal. Don't make fun of it, dickweed."

“Yeah, I know-- I take your point,” Turbo said through a rueful smile, pulling his arm away. “Sheesh, I was just buggin’ you.”

“You’re good at that.”

“I’m good at everything,” he rolled his eyes, “and you’re pretty good at being touched now, okay? And I’m sure that if you keep workin’ on it, one day you’ll even be able to handle kissing somebody, or makin’ out, or whatever sorta things would horrify your cousin. I’m sure that’ll be good motivation for you.”

“Y’don’t think I could handle it right now?” Mavis asked, brow cocked.

Turbo gave a short laugh. “Uh, yeah. It’s a bit different from rubbin’ arms.”

Mavis’ eyes narrowed. A challenge was standing directly in front of her, and that defiant instinct of hers grabbed onto it with both hands. He would be proven wrong. He would be proven so wrong.

“Show me.”

Still smiling, Turbo blinked and paused. “What?”

“Kiss me,” she said boldly, stepping closer. “I dare you.”

While Turbo’s smile did not disappear, it shifted into a more nervous shade. His eyes darted around just once, looking for an audience that was not there. “Right now?” he asked, his voice high.

“Right now,” Mavis agreed, straightening up and grinning. “Kiss me right here. Prove to me that I can’t handle it.”

“Well…” he breathed, pausing for a while to stare at her. “Alright, then, weirdo. I’ll give ya one freebie. Hope y’know how lucky you are.”

“Shut up and make with the kiss.”

A bit of an indignant scoff rolled from Turbo’s throat and out of his nose, but he obliged her request. That is, he began to oblige her request. Slowly, he began to bring his face closer, pausing and letting his eyes fall to her mouth, as if making sure he was still on course. Mavis merely watched, intrigued and perplexed by his process. Once he was close enough for her to practically taste the salt on his lips, he cleared his throat.

“What?” Mavis asked plainly.

Meeting her stare point-blank, he mumbled, “You’re supposed to close your eyes.”

“Oh,” Mavis promptly closed her eyes. It seemed strange to her, but it was all strange to her. She had figured Turbo would have been done already, but it was almost like he had stage fright, what with how slow he took it and how he did not want her to watch. But it was just a kiss, something that took literally no skill. No one could be bad at kissing.

Or so she believed, right up until something warm and slimy dragged across her mouth.

“What th--”

Tearing her head away from the tentacle onslaught that just assaulted her lips, she spat and sputtered, shoving Turbo back and stumbling in a direction steered only by her disgust. She wiped aggressively at her mouth, smearing off a horrifying amount of saliva. “What-- pfft-- the hell-- pbbt-- was that?!”

“A kiss, dumbass! Or it would’ve been if y’didn’t bail half a second in! But I told ya! Didn’t I tell ya?! You’re not up to it!”

He was offended. He was very deeply offended.

“That,” she said, finally turning to face him again, “was not a kiss! You licked my mouth! Who have you been makin’ out with, the Duck Hunt dog?!”

Indignantly, he said, “I ain’t been makin’ out with anybody.”

Despite his obvious lack of experience, Mavis still found that surprising, if only because she had not thought to question it before. “Why not? You’re one of them touchy-types.”

“Yeah, don’t call me that,” he said flatly. “Just ‘cause I can stand bein’ touched doesn’t mean I want everyone to touch me. This here--” he gestured a circle around his face, “--this ain’t free parking. I ain’t my sleaze-bag of a brother.”

“So,” Mavis lowered her volume just a bit, “y’don’t wanna be kissed, then? Y’could’a just said no when I asked.”

The demon boy blew through his lips and turned his gaze out to the city, running a rough hand through his messy hair. “No, it’s whatever. It’s kinda different with you.”

At that, Mavis’ heart hit an unsteady beat, and she felt a bit of warmth rush to her face, but not in the most pleasant way. She was almost afraid that she had steered her dynamic with Turbo in the wrong direction, and that she would have to bail for good at any second.

“Wh-What’s that mean?” she stammered a bit.

He seemed to pick up on her vibe. “Well, I know you, is what I mean. You ain’t some rando. Doesn’t hurt that you’re a cute girl.”

His physical attraction to her was never really a secret, and for that reason, it did not bother her for him to say that. Mavis may not have entirely understood what physical attraction entailed as far as one’s feelings towards the object of attraction went, but so far, it had not gotten in the way of them having fun together. So, she figured there was no sense worrying about it.

“That’s fair,” she nodded.

“And, y’know, whatever. It’s just for getting over your no-touchiness. It’s not even real.”

Mavis pondered that, tapping her hip lightly. “Yeah,” she agreed, “exactly. We don’t even gotta think of it like our first times… y’know, respectively. It’s just a practice run.”

“Well, whatever y’call it, y’better be grateful,” Turbo looked at his nails, “‘cause I got droves of adorin’ fans who’d kill to have a practice round with me.”

Mavis scoffed wetly. “After what you just did to me? No, they really wouldn’t.”

“Look,” he rolled his eyes, throwing a hand up,“there’s tongue in kissing! That’s a real thing!”

“Wh-- No, there’s not! What the hell do you think kissing is?!”

Turbo paused, suddenly squinting at her. Suspiciously, he said, “What do you think kissing is?”

Mavis swallowed, but quickly strode over. “I can’t believe I have to show you this,” she said, before leaning in… and craning her head around to plant a quick, sheepish kiss on his cheek, immediately chastising herself for avoiding his mouth. Once she pulled back, she could not quite pinpoint the emotion on Turbo’s face. He was just stunned.

“Did… I just blow your mind, or…?” she mumbled.

“That-- That wasn’t--” he pointed to his mouth, “we’re talkin’ about this kinda kiss.”

“‘Kay, well, excuse me for bein’ cautious a’ you trying to swallow my entire head again,” she said begrudgingly, “but, fine.”

Quick as a mouse, she took the very same kiss and planted it right on his lips before pulling away. It did not feel all that different to her, she noted thankfully. His lips were just a bit softer than his cheek, but that felt like an inconsequential thing to notice.

All the same, she noticed it.

“There,” she said. “See? I told you I could do it.”

Turbo closed his eyes and took a moment to scratch the back of his neck. “...Yeah, see,” he groaned a bit, “that’s not… at all… what I’ve been talkin’ about. Ain’t you ever seen anyone kiss on the lips?”

“I don’t exactly go lookin’ for couples-- or whatever-- to watch ‘em kiss, Turbo.” Mavis could feel herself about to regret her words, “I see cheek kissin’ all the time, and how much different can it be on the mouth?”

Turbo just stared at her, this disbelieving humor sitting behind his eyes. “You’re precious, y’know that? You’re just a peach.”

“Am not,” she huffed. “Don’t say that. It’s weird.”

“You’re a grown-ass woman and still somehow think that a kiss on the lips lasts about point-five seconds. That’s adorable. So unlike a trash-eatin’ gremlin to be so innocent.”

“Oh, I’ll show you innocent,” Mavis growled, stepping right into his space again, practically nose-to-nose. “I’m gonna get this right, and it’s gonna rock your world, hotshot, no matter how long it takes.”

Turbo only had time to load a chuckle in his mouth before Mavis’ lips snuffed it out. This time, she would do better. Maybe not quite right, but better. If time was the issue, she would keep her lips against his just as long as it took for him to stop laughing at her. It was easy enough -- she merely replicated her small peck from before, but held it there, motionless, waiting.

It did not take long for Turbo to make a small, uncertain grunt in his throat.

“Don’t lick me,” she told him, muffled against his lips.

“I’m not gonna lick you,” he said right back.

“Am I doin’ this right, yet?”

“Does it feel right to you?”

“How’s it supposed to feel?”

He shrugged. “Awesome?”

Mavis took the time to consider that before answering. She counted the things she felt physically. From the neck down, she felt completely normal, but her face… was full of Turbo. He was just right there, literally face-to-face, right against her mouth. She could smell the burger grease left over, and even with her lips closed, she could sort of taste it, which, while it was not a bad taste, felt weird to get second-hand… or second-mouth. The breath from his nose was leaving a sort of wetness against her cheek. Her pursed lips were kind of falling asleep. It was weird. All of it was weird.

But did she feel awesome emotionally? ...No. No, she just felt frustrated.

At last, she pulled away, avoiding his gaze to glare at his collar. “Not awesome,” she grumbled.

“Ee-yeah, didn’t think so,” Turbo muttered.

“I don’t get it,” she said, meeting his eyes again. “How’s kissing supposed to be so great that sprites wanna do it all the time, just for fun?”

“Well,” he half-laughed, “they don’t do it like that, that’s for sure. Supposedly, it is pretty damn awesome if you do it right.”

“But--”

Mavis was quickly cut off as the deafening thudding of helicopter blades drew near. Turbo stepped away, attempting to hold his hair out of his suddenly outraged face, but Mavis just let hers whip around wildly. From the direction of the city proper, one of the game’s helicopters had hovered over. Its pilot did not seem too alarmed by them, given its lazy speed, but it was always in the best interest of game characters to keep an eye on her and Turbo. Mavis supposed they were just checking in to make sure no bombs were being made or anything -- something Mavis suddenly wished they had been doing instead of fruitlessly trying to kiss. Bombs would have been way more fun.

After Turbo put an arm out by his side, giving the pilot a silent gesture of, “What,” they seemed to decide all was well, and the aircraft carried on its way, flying back to the city to monitor the beasts.

“Can’t a gal just sit on a roof eatin’ burgers anymore?” Mavis asked no one in particular.

Turbo was growling, too busy trying to put his hair back in the very specific mess he liked to answer her. “Stupid-- freakin’-- helicopters-- freakin’ bird-brain piece a’ scrap metal--”

Mavis’ heart jumped as another roaring sound rudely interrupted them, only this time, it was an actual roar. It came right from the center of the city, right where the rampaging monsters had been playing around. Gazing out, Mavis could see that both creatures were looking right at her, even waving. She grinned a bit. Just like with any other sprite, Mavis did not really consider the monsters from Rampage her friends, per se, but they sure were a lot of fun to play around with. The big, lumbering oafs loved to chase her around and try to knock her out of the air -- something they tried to do gently, but still ended up sending Mavis back to Fix-it with her share of broken bones on more than one occasion. But that was just how Mavis liked her fun.

She withdrew her brush, painted feathers on her heels, and rose a bit into the air to wave back at them. With another flick of her brush, she painted a megaphone and called out to them, “HI, YA BIG UGLY BEASTIES! WHAT’S UP?!”

From below, Turbo groaned loudly, and she looked down to see him covering his ears and glaring sharply. “Really?” he hissed.

George, the gorilla, hooted and bellowed again. He and big Ralph were making beckoning arm motions, even picking up chunks of debris and swinging them around in a playful display. Mavis’ sense of fun perked up like a pair of ears.

“DON’T MAKE ME COME OVER THERE,” she shouted with a grin.

Big Ralph let out a howl that ripped through the atmosphere like it was nothing at all. The boys were so nonsensically loud, and she loved it.

“OH, WHAT,” she called, “YA THINK Y’CAN CATCH ME THIS TIME?!”

At that, Turbo cleared his throat in protest. Looking down, she found him folding his arms and tapping his foot, clearly displeased with her. The megaphone in her hand despawned, and she lowered back to the roof to face Turbo.

“Hi,” she said, just prompting him to be out with it.

“You’re gonna just ditch me for those guys?” he hissed.

Mavis sighed. Whether she was actually too flippant or Turbo was too sensitive, she was not sure, but it was not the first time he got snippy over her hanging out with other sprites. It was not as if she was actually abandoning him -- she was just naturally wired to go where the fun was. He would have to understand that, she thought, if he ever wanted to really understand her.

But, then again, she still could not have been sure just what level of understanding she wanted between her and her… frequent playmate.

“I’m not ditching you,” she groaned. “Look, I’ll be right back, okay? Stay here ‘n finish your food. I’ll just goof off with these guys for a couple games of tag, or something.”

Turbo scoffed. “Thanks. It’s real cozy here on the backburner.”

“Don’t be such a killjoy, okay,” she snapped. “I gotta go shake off how weird it was tryin’ to lock lips with you.”

He was quiet for just a moment, holding her in a narrow-eyed glare.

“Fine. Whatever,” he threw an arm up a bit. “Go pretend like you didn’t love it. I’ll just sit back here ‘n quietly eat all your fries.”

As she rose back into the air, she pointed at him and warned, “I’ll cut you open ‘n eat ‘em outta your guts if ya so much as think about it.”

“Yeah, yeah,” he waved her off, dismissing her completely as he walked back to the ledge of the building where their food sat. She waited only a few seconds before whistling through the air, quickly passing over broken buildings that reached up like outstretched arms. There was an itch in the back of her neck, a sort of fix for fun that needed to be sated after all that awkwardness. What she said was true -- she did have to break out of the frustrated funk that all the failed kissing had put her in.

Strangely, though, she sort of wished that she had been less of a jerk about it.

Because despite the awkwardness, she really did want to figure out how to get it just right. If other sprites could kiss and find a way to enjoy it, then she could, too. And Turbo? Maybe he deserved a bit more credit for helping her. Devs knew there was no one else in the arcade she could try it with. No one else she would have wanted to.

But that still did not mean they were friends. So long as she did not say so.

#fanfiction #wreck it ralph #turbo #make it mavis #the shitgoblins #hi everyone ive been #real sick #but heres the start of something real dumb #pure teenage-ish shitgoblin dumbassery #also im aware that the title is from a really sad song and this is a silly fic #but thats how the mebbis do

12 notes · View notes

zichiandhisnonsense · 6 years

Text

I see at least one (1) person is interested in my bad DM ramble, so that’s good enough for me! I shall shove this ramble under a readmore too because it gets preeeetty long

Okay, so cut back to 2015/16, my last year in university. I stumbled upon an advertisement in my classroom for the campus’ d&d and board gaming group. I thought “y’know what? I’ll give it a go, I do play d&d online but I have yet to experience an in-person game, y’know?”

I had no idea what I was about to experience.

Now, the first session was an experimental piece. Everyone played munchkin, a couple of board games, got to know each other etc etc, there was also 2 DMs and so we got split up into groups. Once we were acquainted with each other, we learned it was d&d 3.5 and we learned the groups we were playing in, it was time to pack up and let the LGBT society have the room. Everyone would make their characters and e-mail the DM if we got stuck and he was nice enough to trust we wouldn’t cheat, but that would be his only redeeming quality as DM... Well, that and he didn’t force an over-powered DMPC.

Now, as this was a new group and there were plenty of newbies, I rolled a dwarf cleric named Halrin Stonebeard and I kept my backstory and personality simple. (Clan halls raided by dragon, took up adventuring to become strong enough to challenge dragon & find allies). I normally play wizards, but I figure I would play a supportive role who could buff, heal and protect my allies.

Let’s cut to the start of the first session, we all meet back up and learn a bit about each other’s characters, the only woman in the group was playing a halfling rogue, who would later become a close friend of Halrin. They both acted as the voice of reason and caution but were able and willing to bash some heads in. Then there was the next player, a pretty fun and boisterous guy who was playing a Half-Orc Monk who basically maxed strength and did what he could for everything else. There was also two newbies. One newbie played an elf ranger, with a massive focus on using the longbow and the other one was a gnome cleric. Now, the DM immediately had a gunning for the gnome cleric, purely because he was a gnome and the DM hated gnomes. Never mind it was a newbie who he made feel like he made a terrible decision, but nothing comes out of it for a while... There were a few other players but this is now 3 years ago and I can’t remember them all, unfortunately.

So we gather round the table, level 1 characters ready and all eager...

Aaaand we all begin in a dungeon

Now, this is a massive pet peeve of mine. The ‘begin in a dungeon’ thing had been done to death in my online games, literally everyone who DM’d had done some form of it and I had grown so damn bored of it. And I’ll be honest, it’s a terrible way to start with completely new players. ‘Hey, all those cool abilities you just got? I’ll be taking those away.’

So we were all chained up and struggling to get out. Naturally, HR (Halfling Rogue) escaped with ease and the HoM (Half Orc Monk) busted his way out. Everyone else was basically ‘well fuck looks like we’re stuck here’ until the other two saved us. Naturally, HoM was the MVP for this first section, suffering no penalties due to having no reliance on equipment. He punched his way through and we all just sorta followed behind.

At some point in the dungeons, we come across a guard dog who does some serious damage to one of the newbie players. Not wanting to hurt the dog, I try non-lethal damage on the creature and actually get lucky. As fun-flavour text, I claim I suplexed the dog. Keep this bit in mind. I dealt non-lethal damage to a dog that nearly killed one of the newbies.

Cut forward to the end of the dungeon, we are met by a platoon of dragon rider knights. (I’ll admit, back then me ‘DMPC Mary Sue alert’ alarm went off) They explained that the whole dungeon was a challenge set by the local king/lord and having escaped, said ruler wished to speak to us. We got all our gear back and were ‘escorted’ by the dragon knights. It felt a little (a lot) railroading, but I didn’t sweat it at the time.

Now here comes the first ‘bad dm’ alarm. The first call that made me go “dude, what the fuck” at this guy. So one newbie player -the elf ranger- was finding the whole march-in-silence thing to be kinda boring and decided he wanted to pet one of the dragons. The DM allowed him.

“The dragon bites your hand off”

No save. No ‘what’s your ac’, just straight up hand bitten off. Now as a reminder for you guys, this newbie player was intending his ranger to be an archer. And archery requires two hands to pull off. And he just got one bitten off. His character is basically screwed, stuck to using a longsword and nothing else.

And the DM won’t go back either, what’s said is said or w/e. So with that out the way we’re suddenly at the king’s chambers. Y’know, no opportunity for any players to react to this utter bullshit. And we get given our main quest.

The ruler’s scouts report a large orc army approaching from the Northeast and he wants us to scout the army and maybe delay it while he mobilizes his forces, or something. I don’t remember the exact wording but key concept was “Orc army” “help pls”. Never mind the fucking dragon-rider platoon right next to us. Given how it’s the obvious main quest we accept, and we get given magical items to aid in our quest.

I can’t remember what everyone else got, but thankfully the DM wasn’t enough of a dick to give the one-armed ranger a longbow. I remember that I got a “Ring of Healing”. Basically, whenever I cast a healing spell, I healed an extra 10%, rounded down.

Now, let’s pause again and quickly talk about that.

First of all, I actually knew what I was doing with my character, and Halrin had a lot of protection/defending spells prepared, shield of faith and whatnot. I knew that it’s better to spend 1 spell to give a buff that blocks damage, than to heal some of the damage taken, so it’s not the best item anyway.

Then I re-read that. 10%, rounded down.

For those who don’t know, in d&d3.5, cure light wounds (the only healing spell I know) heals 1d8+your cleric level HP, not +wisdom. And we were level... 1.

1d8+1 = 9 max. And it rounds down.

This ring was literally useless to me right now. Even when we levelled up and my cure light wounds healed 1d8+2, that was a 10% chance this ring would activate. It was pathetic.

Okay, so let’s cut a few sessions as the party travels to the potential battlefield to meet with other defenders of more or less filler. One-Armed Ranger is constantly screwed over because when we level up, Rangers in 3.5 get two choices: Specialize in Archery (which is no longer an option) or specialize in...

... Two Weapon Fighting. So yeah, he picks archery on the hope that he can get his hand healed as a reward for saving the town and go back to his original archer-build, not half a fighter.

But anyway, time passes, in game and irl. I end up missing a session due to illness, and when I come back, half-orc monk is dead, revived as a zombie.

Basically, the party reached the frontier, only to find the orcs beginning to attack and most/all of the defenses gone. It was so obviously the DM trying to TPK us. But the Monk managed to pull something off, what exactly I don’t know, but he did it with three natural 20s in a row and successfully routed the orc army, but died in the event.

However, he didn’t stay dead, because death was missing. Yeah, I was fucking confused too.

See, what we didn’t realize/weren’t told was that the 2 DMs were working on a shared universe idea, and both groups were running around on separate parts of the world. The other group had apparently done something that caused death to go missing, which meant that souls were not being taken to the afterlife and were remaining on the material plain. Of course, the monk took a fuckload of penalties (charisma and constitution being the worst-hit) but he considered it a fair trade, saving the party from a TPK.

I think, however, that’s when the DM began secretly harbouring a grudge and determined to fuck us over so hard.

So cut forward to a few sessions, and the gnome cleric dies. When his spirit is unable to pass on, it inhabits the body of a rabbit.

Yes, the spirit doesn’t return to the body, the DM has the gnome become a rabbit. And you thought the elf got fucked over? Oh boy were you wrong. The gnome now had no damage output. He couldn’t use weapons, his claw attack was “one damage” and even worse, he couldn’t use 99% of his spells. The player successfully managed to keep one language, sylvan (which no one else spoke) but the DM then said because he had paws and not hands, he couldn’t cast any somatic components, which is more or less all cleric spells. Worse still, because of this death-curse, he couldn’t just kill himself and roll a new character. He was stuck, for two sessions, unable to do anything.

Even better, at the start of the next session, the DM revealed he had ‘made a mistake’. The mistake? The monk wasn’t supposed to return to his body, so his character, at the start of a session, got retconned out of existence and he had to spend the first half of the session making a new character.

The session after however, I think the grim repear was rescued/replaced, so the gnome was basically “I climb up and jump” and killed himself. He said he’d have a new character ready for the next game...

He never came back. I wonder why.

Also, the half-orc monk player was now playng a lawful evil hobgoblin knight, and I think he had decided to fuck with the GM as much as possible in retaliation for the bullshit he had to deal with.

Now, let’s cut a few more sessions, and at some point, the ranger has the opportunity to heal his hand. He goes through with it... And ends up with two left hands.

At this point, the player decided to reroll a new character and says his elf is retiring, traumatised and damaged by the experiences. He says he’ll have his new character ready for the next game...

He never came back. You guys sensing a pattern here?

So some time after that we get to an interesting sub-story that some of us are actually interested in. The starting town with the dungeon had been taken over by a lich and we were asked to put a stop to it. Naturally we were all eager, being good-aligned players and/or in it for the lich loot. At this point, we are joined by a few new players. Alongside out dwarf cleric, halfling rogue/fighter and hobgoblin knight, we have a half orc druid who is “really fucking old” (and I’m worried the GM is secretly rolling for ‘dies of old age’ every night), and the other two players... Okay, so it got a bit weird here.

So, a friend of the DM decides he wants to have a go at DMing, and in order to give him a taste and because the DM is getting bored, this guy takes over the game. The DM isn’t like “hey, run a one-shot” or “hey, run a published module”, he goes “hey take over this game that I know all the solutions for and is half way through and everyone is level 7 and things are super complex”.

Surprisingly, the new-DM is pretty competent for the one session he runs, and I think he deliberately changes some things to prevent former-DM from screwing things up. But yeah, former-DM and his girlfriend decide to join in and holy fuck their characters were... Well...

So, DM played a human paladin, but he played him as like a private investigator, who would get to the bottom of a case and find the truth, instead of a crusading knight. I was actually pretty impressed... Until he basically took control of the party and inserted himself as the leader, which was a role myself and halfling-rogue had been sharing as the ‘sanest party members and only surviving original members’. His girlfriend played the DM’s secretary... And was basically a super-smoking-hot everybody-loves-me elf sorceress. I was almost tempted to change Halrin from bisexual to gay just to avoid her deus-sex-machina’ing me, but fortunately it was just kept to the DM.

So, with our rag-tag bunch of misfits, we infiltrate the castle using all of our skills. The castle siege was perhaps one of the most fun things we ever did and everybody got to have a role in doing something, whether it was the druid inspiring the horses in the stable to run amok, the rogue sneaking in and lowering the drawbridge, the knight and myself bottle-necking the lich’s minions and the sorceress getting some fireballs into the bottleneck.

So, the siege ends and the guest-DM is done, back to the old DM! His girlfriend also disappears, I guess she got bored or something, but that’s not my problem. The DM has it so that they leave to help the surviving townsfolk escape while we combat the lich.

The lich fight is actually pretty awesome, all things considered. I basically got to go super sayan with the spell “divine power” and the battle was an epic clash... And then...

And then...

And. THEN.

The DM fucks up the entire game by revealing that “SURPRISE, THE LICH IS YOUR FAULT!”

So, remember that dog I non-lethally took down? At the start of the game? Dealing NON-LETHAL DAMAGE?

IT DIED FROM IT’S NON-LETHAL WOUNDS.

And apparently, the dog was the court mage’s favourite pet, so obviously, the court mage TURNED HIMSELF INTO A LICH TO REVIVE HIS DOG.

THAT WAS THE REVEAL.

THE ENTIRE LICH THING WAS OUR FAULT.

SHAME ON YOU PLAYERS, FOR NON-LETHALLY KILLING HIS DOG.

I was literally speechless at the table, and told the DM, to his face, “you’re just making shit up, aren’t you?”

Oh, and the session immediately afterwards, he made me kill a demon baby that the male half orc gave birth to.

And in the same session, he tricked the hobgoblin knight into killing two gnomes because with the information provided, it’s what his knightly vows would have him do... and made lose all of his knight powers.

AND WE AREN’T EVEN DONE, GUYS.

9 notes · View notes

thethespacecoyote · 6 years

Note

10 or 23 rhack, please?

I’ll still try to do 10 but for now here’s 23! I actually had some fun making this.

Modern AU!

Rhys watched idly as the outside world blew past, scattered houses and trees blurring by against the shimmering backdrop of the ocean. He rested his temple against the window, feeling the vibrations. The train hummed smoothly along, carting day-trippers and businessmen alike south along the coastline.

Rhys was pleased. The train wasn’t packed, despite its late-afternoon stops, leaving the seat next to him happily empty. Because even if he didn’t get some nosy commuter wanting to ask about everything from where he wwas going to what he did for a living to what his favorite flavor if ice cream was, he would at least have to deal with another body bunching in uncomfortably close and run the risk of needing to maneuver over their knees if they fell asleep and he needed to go to the bathroom.

This way, he had space for his laptop bag, which freed up the legroom below so he could stretch out all the way and avoid the cramping that sometimes pinched in his muscles on those crowded train trips.

His mom had hinted several times she’d buy him a car or at least put up for the down payment to spare him the apparent iniquity of using public transit, but the allure of actually purchasing something as big as a car outright was too much so he was waiting and saving until he could get one for himself. In the mean time, the train was the best option, and the only one where you could nap for half of the trip without causing a major accident.

Rhys crossed his arms loosely over his chest, turning away from the window and sliding down in his seat, trying to get comfortable enough to take said nap. He had his laptop and his phone and the train had free Wi-Fi, but drowsiness tugged at his eyebrows and he wanted to be fully awake by the time Vaughn picked him up from the train station, so hunkering down and passing out for a couple hours now while he was bored and had the time just made sense.

He was just starting to drift off, dreams about all the fun he was going to get up to while visiting his bro swimming in his mind, when a sudden commotion jolted him awake. He rapidly blinked the sleep from his eyes, pushing himself up straight as the din continued. He made out one shouting voice needled by a couple muted ones, followed by the thumping of footsteps that grew louder and louder and closer. Rhys shifted to the other seat, leaning out into the aisle as he listened in. His heart beat quicker—there were signs all over the station and the train itself warning about potential dangers and how if you saw something you should say something, and just as Rhys was wondering if he should worry about being held hostage the door near the front of the carriage flew open.

Rhys was a little ashamed of the frightened yipe he let out when a man stormed through, the floor shuddering with each angry stomp and cutting murmur that spilled from him. Rhys’ arms threw up defensively about his body, but after a moment he realized this guy was a lot more indignant businessman than violent criminal. His charcoal suit, though rumpled, was obviously of high quality. Rhys had worked the summer after his freshman year selling and fitting suits in the mall by his parent’s house, and while he’d quit before he’d made much out of it, he ended up learning quite a bit. The lapel lifted sharply in a sleek Italian cut, and as he violently adjusted his dress collar Rhys caught a glimpse of cold cufflinks that matched the tie the man was in the process of loosening.

Rhys watched as the man thumped down the aisle, the rest of the passengers shrinking in their seats or blindly busying themselves in their books or laptops as to not catch the man’s attention. Rhys realized he was staring a moment too late, as the man’s sharp eyes suddenly lifted to fix upon him and he started to head in Rhys’ direction.

A broad hand thudded atop the plush head of the seat next to Rhys, making him flinch and rear back, staring up at the man like a frightened puppy. Tan fingers stroked angrily against the cloudy blue leather, expensive rings winking in the sun and confusing Rhys as to whether he should look at them or the piercing eyes glaring down on him.

“Move over, kiddo, I’m taking this spot.”

Rhys flattened himself against the window as the man dropped down into the seat, back thudding against the cushion with a frustrated huff that blew hair out of his eyes. He seemed to completely ignore Rhys after that, muttering to himself as he pulled out his phone and started to tap furiously at what Rhys first assumed was a message. However, as he peered curiously over he could see it to be some kind of mobile game involving popping colored balloons for points. Rhys stayed still, eyes alternating between the inside of his hoodie collar and the rapid movement of the man’s fingers and the angry concentration in his eyebrows. After a couple minutes and a new high score, the man shut off his phone with a huff, shoving it into his pocket.

“Frikkin’ bitch…” He moaned, dragging his hand down his face. His legs kicked out underneath the seat in front of him, the tense anger draining out of him and leaving what seemed to be just a simmering fury. Rhys watched tentatively, like he was dealing with a pissed-off lion that could maul him in a moment’s notice if he wasn’t careful.

Rhys figured he should probably just go back to staring out the window or trying to take his nap, but like the idiot he was he decided to prod his new seat mate. He untangled himself from the defensive posture he’d managed to bunch himself into, resting his hand on the armrest separating them.

“P-Penny for your thoughts?” Regretfully, his voice came out as a squeak.

He almost immediately wished he hadn’t spoken up, because the the other man’s neck snapped to him like it’d been broken, eyes angry and affronted as he glared at Rhys’ shirking expression.

“What was that?”

“U-Um, I mean, I just—“ Rhys faltered, unsure of what he’d been thinking to start this conversation. This guy had just barreled into his car, worked into a tizzy, and stolen the seat next to him. Obviously, he didn’t want to be bothered, and yet here Rhys was trying to start up a conversation—why was he trying to do that?

Because the guy wore a nice suit and had flawless bronzed skin and that kind of carelessly styled hair that drove Rhys absolutely wild. It was the kind of hair you expected to see in bed after sex and he wanted to run his hands through it and maybe give it a little tug.

The guy was hot. Basically.

“You…you’re just…um, who’s the bitch?”

The man narrowed his eyes, turning and leaning over the armrest right into Rhys’ space.

“Your momma ever teach you not to stick your nose in other people’s business?” He grumbled, and Rhys’ cheeks colored as he shrunk back, ready to call this a loss and sink into embarrassment, when the older man kept going.

“…It’s my frikkin girlfriend. She always gets bitchy on these long trips but then she doesn’t wanna take the car either, so what the hell am I suppose to do, y’know?” For the first time, Rhys notices the slight slur to the man’s words. This was a guy who could afford to get drunk on a train.

“What…what did she do exactly?” The man snorted, shifting so he sat slightly sideways in his seat, knee out into Rhys’ space and nearly touching his thigh.

“She orders the fish, see? And she always orders the fish. So I tell her if she doesn’t stop doing that I’m not gonna wanna go down on her anymore cause you know. Fish. Get it?” The man’s hands helped him tell the story, flopping around on well-oiled wrists. “Yeah, you get it, handsome lil’ thing like you, you probably get all the tail.”

Rhys was usually the tail being had, but he merely nodded along to the older man’s story as he carried on.

“Anyway she gets all mad at me making jokes about her junk in front of the guy taking the order but it’s just a joke and the attendant doesn’t care, he’s paid to listen to whatever I say but she doesn’t let it go, and then when I decide to order just…just a little bit of after-dinner whiskey, see?” He holds two fingers together for emphasis. “She goes all ballistic on me. ‘Bout how I’m always drinking whenever I’m with her and how if I really liked her I wouldn’t be ordering booze all hours of the day, and then I tell her if she wasn’t such a capital B bitch maybe I wouldn’t have to drink. But she’s upset, so I ask her what I should order like the gentleman I am, and she says to get a diet coke. Diet! Can you believe it? Says I’ve been packing on the pounds lately and well…” He snorted, eyes flitting to the front of the cabin. “Pretty sure you guys all heard the rest.”

“Um…yeah. Kind of did.” Rhys laughed nervously. “A-Actually, I kind of thought for a moment that something was up, like….people were trying to rob the car or something.”

“Heh, you did? What, like old-timey train bandits?” The man snickered, forming a gun with his hand and affecting a harsh accent as he nudged the barrel into Rhys’ side. “Hands up, kiddo, this ‘ere’s a stick-up!”

“Please don’t, I have a family to care for!” Rhys faux-cried as he stuck up his hands, eyes fluttering like he was about to faint across the seat. The man found this endlessly funny, because his chest heaved with laugher until his voice was practically soundless.

“Shucks kid, you’re a hell of a lot more fun than the ice queen in first class.” He patted Rhys’ shoulder and showed him his smile and oh. Oh. If Rhys didn’t already think he was handsome, that did him in. It was the kind of smile that bunched up in the cheekbones and reached the eyes with a flirtatious wink. It made fuzzy feelings dance in Rhys’ stomach.

“A-And you’re a lot better than the snoring businessmen who usually sit next to me, or the mom’s who just wanna tell me about their kids and ask where I’m going to school…”

“Should hope so. I’m a lot more fun than all that, trust me.”

Rhys didn’t know a thing about this guy but he did, almost immediately. He had a weird, hypnotic sort of charm that already had Rhys leaning back over the armrest to get closer.

Suddenly, as if responding to his creeping interest, the man slid his arm around Rhys’ shoulders like they were old friends. He jumped slightly at that, but the man just yanked him closer. The armrest pressed uncomfortably into Rhys’ ribs, but the sudden proximity and the man’s breath—slightly warm from the whiskey—ghosting over his face left him numb to it.

“Shoot, just remembered I didn’t ask your name yet…what do they call ya, pumpkin?”

Rhys momentarily forgot himself, dizzied by the sudden scent and warmth he’d been pulled into. This guy seemed to radiate warmth and blossomed with musky cologne that made Rhys think of black tie dinners and a cabin fireside all rolled up together.

“Rhys. Rhyyys. Rhysie.” Jack repeated his name like he was trying to figure out whether he liked how it felt in his mouth. “That’s one you don’t hear everyday.”

“Yeah, my mom had a friend with that name and really liked it…don’t bother asking me how it’s spelled though, it’s…” he laughed softly. “It’s a headache.”

“Well, lucky for you, I’ve got an easy one. J-A-C-K.”

“Jack?”

“Bingo, kiddo. Nice and simple. No B.S.”

“I like it.” Rhys wasn’t lying. A name like “Jack” just seemed to fit this guy like the way his suit did. Sharp and striking, but with a bit of a relaxed, casual touch. He seemed the type of person to dress to the nines and go to a chain restaurant, just to ensure he’d be the center of attention.

Jack’s lips curled at the edges, like a sticker peeling up. He rubbed Rhys’ upper arm, tugging him in closer, until he was practically resting against his shoulder. His brain continued shorting out, just allowing Jack to touch him and shift him around however he saw fit.

“And I like you, kiddo. Just what I needed after all that crap…” Rhys heart thumped against his hoodie as Jack petted him like a fussy kitten, looking wistfully out the window behind him. “Too bad this ride ain’t longer…”

Jack’s brows furrowed suddenly in thought, before bright realization beamed across his face. He roughly grabbed both of Rhys’ shoulders, turning the kid more towards him.

“Oh, wait, wait. I got it. I can take you out with me!”

Rhys gaped in startled confusion at the sudden grab and the way Jack’s smile grew, corners cutting into his cheeks.

“U-Uh, pardon?”

“You see, my girlfriend and I had reservations at this great place, steaks as big as your head and drinks that’ll put ya in a coma, but like hell I’m gonna go with her after that little scene.” Jack sneered, eyes narrowing towards the front of the compartment. He blew air rudely between his lips. “Whatever. She can have fun figuring out how to get home without my credit card.”

“U-Um, that’s not necessary, really,” Rhys faltered, hands resting on Jack’s wrists. “Besides, um, I kind of had plans with a friend, and I don’t really think I should—“

“Just tell ‘em other plans came up. Hell, to make up for it, they can meet us for breakfast in the morning. My treat.”

“In the…the morning?”

Jack winked at him, smile never hesitating.

“Well sure, pumpkin. You think I’d travel all this way for dinner and not have a room to sleep it off in?”

“H-Hold on—“ This was all going too fast for Rhys. One moment, he’d been joking along with Jack, and now he was openly flirting with him and ditching his girlfriend to invite him out to dinner and even insinuating they spend the night together.

As enticing as Jack was, this felt a little too much, too fast. Rhys wasn’t a prude, not by a long shot, but he wasn’t the type of guy to engage in random hookups on the fly. How old was Jack, anyway? The tasteful puff of grey hair springing from his crown put him at at least forty, unless he was just aging prematurely, but that felt like a stretch.

“What d’you mean ‘hold on,’ kiddo?”

Rhys thought he saw Jack’s smile falter, but it might just be the trees rushing behind them outside the train window, cutting off the amber glow of the sun setting over the ocean. It would be night soon enough, probably well into sunset by the time the train pulled into the station. Vaughn was probably already getting read to come drive and pick him up.

Rhys glanced about for a distraction as his mind scrabbled for some kind of an excuse, a reason he couldn’t spend the night with Jack aside from the reasons that had already been shut down, when his hand grabbed Rhys’ collar and yanked him closer until they were nose to nose.

“I’ll cut right to the chase, kiddo. I’m not the kind of guy who spends the night alone.” He breathed right into Rhys’ mouth, as if trying to give him a taste of what could be. “I could go up to any old chick or dude in that city and have them in my bed not ten minutes later. So here’s your chance to get in on the ground floor. You might not get another one.”

Rhys grasped frantically for his senses, trying to settle on a decision and get his tongue to force it out, but Jack’s proximity and ultimatum was sending his brain into a flurry. All he could see was Jack’s eyes this close, brows creased and irises still vibrant sea green, like a neon sign lit prematurely in the flagging sunset.

Rhys swallowed, the conscious movement helping him think things clearer.

He’d already planned on staying with Vaughn for almost a week. They’d still have plenty of nights to hang out and go to dinner and do all the things they’d been planning on doing. One night with a handsome stranger wasn’t going to change things that much.

“So?” Jack pulled back slightly, just enough so that Rhys could see his entire face again, in its full, charming glory. “What do you say, Rhysie?”

Jack’s arm was looped around Rhys’ waist, hand stuck in his hoodie pocket as the two of them left the train together. Rhys’ laptop bag bobbed awkwardly between them but Jack didn’t seem to mind. In just an hour’s time, the space between them had shrunk to just the little space between their hips, and Rhys’ cheeks heated as he imagined where how close they’d be in another hour, two hours’ time.

The sun had long died over the train behind them, its silvery paneling glowing with the faint remains of red and purple that still streaked over the sky. Rhys looked briefly over his shoulder at it, his ears full of Jack’s voice as he noticed someone was staring at them.

The short red dress and heels set her apart from the rest of the tired, disembarking passengers, as did the piercing green eyes that seemed to glow just the way Jack’s did. She was looking at Rhys’ like she’d expected him to be there all along—or at least someone like him. He felt uncomfortable, then, like he’d done something wrong but only one other person in the world knew it.

It was only for a moment, though, as Jack tugged him away from the main body of the departing crowd and towards the curb, where a smartly dressed driver opened the backseat door to a large, sleek black limousine. Any regrets Rhys might have felt were dashed as Jack slid into the leather seats effortlessly as oil, open arms and devilish smile welcoming Rhys into his evening promise, rich with the dark comforts of luxury.

#spacetext #long post #rhack #modern AU #fanfic #referenced jack/moxxi #tftbl #enjoy nessie!#nessiefromspace

44 notes · View notes