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a-b-riddle · 1 month

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Part Six

Can't stop thinking about reader finally giving the boys a taste of their own medicine. And hurting my own feelings in the process of it all. I wanted to make this a baddie reader chapter, but its just a saddie reader chapter. I played Down Bad by T.S on repeat while writing this. Y'all need to thank @blueladys-world for being my ventor for this part.

None of them came the next day to pick up the box of everything you had collected. By everything, quite literally everything. Birthday cards and gifts. Keepsakes from your time together they had given you. Even going as far as returning lingerie they had given you. You didn't want any trace of them in your home anymore. You were gonna have to work hard in rebuilding it to be your safe space once again.

You were surprised that someone from the expo had DM'd you. Renée was an author who had tried to stop by to your stand, but got too caught up in the day. She was in London, working on her next series installment and wanted to pick your brain. Writer to writer.

The two of you agreed on a time. She had mentioned wanting to try this restaurant the last time she visited and you already knew you would be putting that meal on a credit card. It was a bit of splurge, but after the past week you deserved it. You could even wear that sexy black number that had been collecting dust in your closet.

By the time you were done getting ready and squeezing into your dress, you looked more ready for a date than dinner with a colleague.

A colleague. You had a colleague!!!

The knock on the door pulled you from your girlish glee. You didn't need to guess who it was. Your friends knew to text you before they came over and Renée had agreed just to meet you at the restaurant.

It was one of them.

You didn't even t bother looking through your peephole before you opened the door to find Johnny standing there with a floral arrangement of your favorite flowers.

Johnny began to speak, afraid you were going to shut him down immediately no less. But no words came out. His eyes traveled up and down your body, taking you in.

A vision.

You wanted to snap at him that your eyes weren't located on your hips. But damn if it didn’t feel empowering seeing Johnny’s gaze gloss over.

"Fuck me." He swore, gathering his bearings before realizing you were dressed. In a sexy black dress and heels and makeup and oh, fuck you were going out. "Where are you going?"

"First off, none of your business," you said holding a finger up. "And secondly, what are you doing here?"

"Listen," "Bon-"

"The box is right there." You said pointing to a large cardboard box on the floor. "That's everything."

"If you just let me make it-"

"Up to me?" You cut him off again. "I'm over it. Really."

"Just give me a chance."

"Either you haven't spoken to the other two to know I am well and truly done with this situationship, or you’re hoping some half-ass apology and flowers will let you get a last fuck in and the skedaddle. So hopefully if it was latter, hopefully the former answered that for ya.”

So if that's all you came here for, I've got to get going. My reservation is at seven and it's rude to keep a friend waiting."

"It's been a week and you're already going on a date?" He accused.

"Who said anything about a date?" You didn't outright say it wasn't. Where would be the fun in that? “It's just dinner with a colleague.” You didn’t want to lie. It wasn’t a date. But you didn’t need to say it was a woman. “Hardly a date.”

“Look at the sight of ye!" He said, taking the opportunity to take a quick look at how deliciously your ass filled that dress. “A fookin’ dinner with a colleague. Like one of us would show up to a briefing like that.” You opened your compact. Not needed in the age of cellphones but loving the feminine touch.

There was something so... seductive about using a compact mirror to apply your lipstick.

“Kyle does have the legs for this dress.” You said, applying that lipstick he loves. That same shade that looked beautiful on your lips. The same lipstick you would mark all over Johnny’s body. “Believe what you want. Not my problem anymore.”

You put your compact back in your purse along with the lipstick in case you needed to reapply it after dinner.

Johnny's eyes zeroed in on your lips before his eyes met yours. That's when you felt it again. That undeniably spark of chemistry that you had with him. With all of them. That feeling that sucked the very breath from your lungs and for a moment all you could see was the man in front of you.

"Bonnie," he said placing his hands on your neck. His thumbs stroking your cheeks softly. "Just one more chance." He begged, his voice breaking. "I'm a fucking git, but I won't let you go again. I won't leave." You knew that when it came to promises, Johnny had proven that even if he didn't mean to break them, he had forgotten he made them in the first place.

But in that moment you didn't care. Even after everything, Meredith was right. You had loved them. Everything else had ended so shitty. John had blamed you. Kyle had only shown up until it was too late. And Simon. The last time you would ever hear his voice was after he said such cruel things to you.

No.

If you were done with Johnny, you won't let the last time he fucked you being a quick, rough fuck doggystyle before leaving you naked and alone in your bed.

No. The last time with Johnny needed to be good. It might make it harder to finally leave, but you needed this. You needed to know that he could still make love to you and not just fuck you like an animal in heat.

"Johnny?" You asked. Your mouth dangerously close to his. "I don't want you to fuck me."

"I don't have to," he said, starting to take a step back to give you some space before your hands reached his. Holding him in place.

He can't let you go. You couldn't let him go. Not yet. Just one more. You needed just one more time to get him out of your system. The closure you needed.

"Make love to me." You begged, your eyes pleading. "I need to know that I wasn't just something you wanted to fuck." You don't move as his eyes search yours, looking for reassurance. When you nod, his mouth softly touches your own.

His hands travel along your body, but never fully leave you. Sliding your neck to your back. Pulling your body closer to his. A hand placed on your hip so tightly he's afraid you might disappear.

There's no rush, no haste in his touch. His mouth not eager to devour you.

He's slow. With his hands, his tongue. Even when he picks you up and walks to your bedroom with your legs around his waist.

He doesn't throw you on the bed.

Not this time.

He lays you down. His body laying on top of yours. His hand skimming along your bare thighs, but not daring to travel any higher.

But damn you needed him. You wanted love making, but if he didn't get inside you soon, you weren't sure you could let him go after this. You weren't sure you would be able to leave.

"Johnny," you whimpered, pulling away from his mouth. "Please." You took his hand, putting it between your thigh. Aching for any friction.

He obeyed without hesitation. If you told him to get on his bark, he would in that moment. Anything to make you happy. Anything to keep you.

"Got to get you out of this dress first." He resting on his knees before he began to slide the black satin from your thighs to your stomach. You maneuvered, helping him undress you leaving you in nothing.

"I thought you liked the dress." You couldn't help, but tease. Your hand finding its home on the back of his neck, pulling you to him once more.

In a tone lacking any note of humor and in all seriousness, he looked at you. Really looking at you. Taking in how your smile reached your beautiful eyes before he said, "I want you bare to me when I take you."

You felt your stomach flutter at his words before he began to take off his clothes.

He joined you again. His body relaxing when they got between your legs again. His mouth traveled from your exposed neck to your nipples. Sucking and flicking them with his tongue until your back arched. Pressing harder into his mouth.

Your hands tangled in his soft brown hair before you boldly guided him to your already dripping core. He slid down your body before his hands began to push your knees apart until you were fully expose to him.

With your knees bent, Johnny settled on his stomach, placing soft kisses on your soft inner thighs. God, did he love seeing you squirm. He smiled at your tortured expression before looking down at your sex. "There she is." He said before placing a kiss on your pussy.

It wasn't sloppy. He wasn't diving in and licking at your center like so many times before. He was kissing it just as tenderly as he kissed your mouth. Slowly building it deeper and deeper. Adding tongue. Breaking away to readjust his head.

The delicious ache between your thighs began to become to unbearable. "Need you inside me." You panted. "Johnny-"

"Shhh." He soothed. "Got to warm you up first , Bonnie." He said before slipping his finger inside of you. One was all it took before your head settled against the pillows again. When your body relaxed, he added another. He would need to add three to make sure you were good and ready.

His digits stroked that spongy spot inside of you that made your toes curl. "You're barely fitting around my fingers." Johnny was a good 6 inches in length, but the girth is what always did you in. It hurt to take anything past his head into your mouth. If you fucked him without any preparation, especially after a week of no sex, he would tear you into too.

His tongue caressed your clit, your eyes squeezing shut as you felt your first orgasm creeping up on you.

"Johnny." You moaned, your fingers running through his soft brown hair.

"Give it to me, beauty." He panted. "Come on my face. Squeeze my fingers, Lass." He begged before his mouth went back to you.

It was like lightning. Your body now sensitive after being forsaken for so long. Your vision blurred and before you could process it, Johnny was sitting on his haunches between your legs, stroking his cock.

You could only nod, dazed and barely keeping a grip onto the reality of what this was.

The end.

He leaned forward, his cock nestling against you. You knew this was going to be nothing compared to his fingers. "Tell me if I need to stop."

You smiled, mockingly. Reminding him, "Not our first time together, Johnny." just our last.

"You were wrapped tight around my fingers." He gave a half smile before kissing your forehead. The gesture like a knife twisting in your heart. "I just don't want to hurt you."

"I'm ready." You brought your legs around his waist again. Pulling him to you, your arms wrapping around his neck as your mouths meet.

He presses into you. The head of his cock sliding inside just one or two inches. You body contracting around him in a small spasm. He swallows your moan and lets you adjust. He pulls away before looking down where the two of you meet.

"I could die like this, Lass." He said, his breath coming out unsteady as he tries his best to control himself. So close to just burying himself inside of you to the fucking hilt. "Seeing you like this is this first thing I want to see when I make it to the other side." You let out a choked cry as he pushes deeper inside you. Another inch. And another. And another until you're taking all of him.

He slurs something that sound like "fuck", but you are in too much of a daze to care. You arch into him, trying to get closer.

His thrusts are slow and deep. His pubic bone brushing against your clit making you whine and squirm. Begging for more.

You're not sure how long he had fucked you like that.

You needed it to stop.

You couldn't handle it. The softness. His words.

I could die like this, Lass.

Your lip quivered as you told him you wanted to be on top. You needed a moment. A chance to create a bit of space before he shattered your world yet again.

He pulled out. His absence already making you ache for him again before he settled beside you.

You squatted above his cock. Your feet flat against the mattress as you grabbed his hardness and slipping it inside of you. The sound you let out was pornographic. A high pitched, soft moan slipping from your lips as he buried himself inside of you again.

You placed you hands on his chest. Using the leverage to ride him. Your arms serving as barrier for you to get your bearings.

You used his body just as he had used yours. Throwing your head back, you moved faster and faster. Readjusting so your hands went from his chest to his stomach, giving him a better view of your connecting bodies.

His hand slips between the two of you, thumb pressing against your clit, and you tighten even more around. A needy whimper coming out of your throat. The sound mixing in with the sounds of his labored breathing and slapping skin as he begins to fuck up into you.

Even though he had been doing all the work for the last several minutes, you felt the tension start to creep into your calf.

"Fuck fuck fuck." You screech, barely able to hold yourself up any longer. "Ow." You hissed as the cramp took hold.

"Leg cramp?" He asked, not even faltering in his thrusts. You pathetically nod before he takes it upon himself to flip you on your back again.

"I'm going to do this every chance I can." He promises, pressing a searing kiss onto your exposed neck. "Any chance you'll give me." You can't take it. His words, his mouth, his fucking cock. It's too much. "I'm going to show you how much I want you. How much I want to fucking worship ye. Do anything to make you feel good. Not going to leave you again like that, Bonnie."

You reach for him again, pull him into a searing kiss just to shut him up. You need him to shut up. You couldn't take his false promises. You wouldn't survive it. Couldn't.

"Shit." His thrusts quicken, his thumb returning to your swollen bud. Flicking it in a way he had crafted into an art. He buries his face into your neck and you know he's getting close.

You weren't too far behind.

He didn't want to come, not yet, but this was fully out of his control. It was pathetic. A week without sex and you had him nearly coming in the first ten minutes.

But that's what you want. To see him lost in the idea that you would stay.

"Johnny." You groan out. "Please. Cum inside me."

He draws fast, beautiful circles around your clit that immediately push you over the edge. You shut your eyes tight, squeezing him like a vice as you come in strong waves, continuing to push inside you.

in out in out in out.

Deliciously clenching around him tighter and tighter until he can't take it anymore.

"Fuck," he says again, and you see it in his face, and you see it in his face, the second it's all over for him. You want to sear the image in your head. Keep it there forever. Knowing you'll never see it again. The way those enchanting blue eyes squint nearly shut before closing in complete ecstacy.

His mouth would open. A moan caught in his throat that he isn't ready to let go.

His hand closes around your hip, holding you to him while he presses as far as he can go, and it's only then do you feel his cock twitch in quick, jerky movements. He moans out your name before taking your mouth into a searing kiss.

"I fucking love you." He says. "So fucking much."

He was still under the blanket when you returned from the bathroom. You picked up your clothes up from the floor. Looking at the clock realizing you had less than five minutes to get out the door before you would be late for dinner.

"What are you doing?" he asked. You couldn't look at him. Hearing the panic in his voice almost made you stop. Tell him it really was just dinner with a colleague. A woman. That you would be back. Beg him to wait until you came home.

"I can't cancel on the dinner." You said slipping your feet into your heels. "This was a mistake."

You weren't sure why you said it. You weren't sure if you were trying to convince him or yourself. If you wanted to hurt him or make him think you regretted it when you would truthfully do it again. You would do it again and again. You would never stop.

Like Johnny, you could have died in that moment, but for a completely different. Where he would be content, you would be saved from the pain. The pain currently coursing throughout your very soul.

"Lock the door behind you." You say as you practically sprint out the bedroom. Only slowing in your stride to snatch your purse off the kitchen counter before running out. The door slamming behind you.

The restaurant was nicer than you expected. The wine alone was the price of an entree. You didn't seem to be phased at all and were relieved when Renée insisted on picking up the bill.

Your dinner had been delicious and the conversation even better. Renée wrote fantasy romance and wanted to pick your brain about a Why Choose. You had nearly spent out the over priced wine you weren't even really enjoying. Oh the irony.

"It's like all the rage now, but it's hard to make more than one appealing as the love interest. You should have seen the Goodreads comments on my last book. So many people bitched about my FMC not ending up with a character who was quite literally her adopted brother."

"So," you took a breath trying to find the words. "I'm going to be honest. I only read your latest book and I loved Luka. But I can't compare him to other MMCs you've written about so I don't know if they are similar or different. But what I can say is that I'm seeing like this trend of MMCs where they are all this dark-haired, brooding or mysterious character who dislikes mostly everyone and is only soft for either a select few or only the FMC."

"I think if you are going to write a Why Choose you need to think of guys you wouldn't mind falling in love with." You couldn't help, but think of what drew you to your boys. "One could be the leader. Someone who isn't afraid to have his neck on the line. To make sure everyone else is taken care of and being strong enough to handle the stress of that. He would be big on words of affirmation. Lifting the FMC up. For me, it would be someone that I know will take care of business. He's confident in his decision. That confidence would extend to me." You clear your throat. "If I was the FMC, that is."

"Okay." She nodded, pulling out a pen and notepad. "You don't mind if I-"

"I don't write about polygamy." Crossed that bridge. Currently trying to burn it. "So feel free."

"Another could be the one who it's so easy to fall in love with their charm. The one who falls to his knees. Wanting to worship every inch of her. The one who makes her laugh. That one to make her forget about the sadness that creeps into her bones. The one to hold her whenever he could. He's about quality time and physical touch."

"So different love languages." She said, her pen quickly scribbling.

"Yeah." You said, leaning forward. "Then there is the gift giver." Your mind went to Gaz. Most of the gifts and trinkets in the box sitting by your door had came from him. He had gotten you new earbuds when yours broke. When you were being harassed at your gym, he had bought you and him a membership at a different one. "The one who would give her the world if she asked for it. If you're going with a high fantasy then maybe the one to take note of something at a market that the FMC had been eyeing and he bought it for her. Just someone who takes notice like that."

"So acts of service would fall with all of them then you think?"

No. Simon had been the one who probably spent the least amount of money on you. He didn't praise you like John. He didn't even try to attach himself at your hip like Johnny.

But if you needed something fixed, he would come fix it himself. He'd be damned letting a strange man into your apartment. And alone? Fucking forget about it. The one who hated any sort of cardio activity outside of fucking you, but didn't hesitate in attempting to keep up with you when you wanted to go on a run and get some fresh air. If you needed something done, he didn't pay someone else to do it. He did it. If you wanted to do something, he made it happen. He made you safe.

You couldn't bring yourself to say explain it. Your eyes begin to itch. Warning you to think of something else.

So instead you just told her yeah. That they would all commit acts of service. And even in your hypothetical explanation of characters that haven't even been written yet, Simon was still the ghost among them.

"Lucky fucking girl." Renée said setting down her pen.

"Yeah." You said, downing the rest of your wine.

You walked home. The cool crisp wind feeling like it was whipping your exposed skin. It was soothing as the ghost of Johnny's touch still seemed to burn you.

You had hoped that you would get some closure, but you just felt hollow. You came twice and still manage to leave unsatisfied. Johnny wasn't malicious... he was Johnny. He wasn't like the others. Simon would never apologize and John and Kyle wouldn't try to keep reaching out after you told them know once.

Johnny couldn't stand you being mad at him. He never could. He would beg and beg for your forgiveness. You didn't regret fucking him one last time. He needed to know that you were well and truly done. There was no going back from this.

"Hey, Love!" You were pulled from your thoughts at the sound of a voice coming from a source you couldn't see. You perked up, quickly scanning the dimly lit street before your eyes settled on a cluster of shadows just across the street. "Yeah." The slurring voice said again. "Talking to you gorgeous!"

You resumed your trek home. Now picking up your pace. "Don't be like that! Where ya off to?" The voice followed you. You kept your gaze straight. You were three minutes away. Three minutes and you would be at your building.

Three minutes.

"What's the rush?" Another voice joined the cacophony. "Just want to have a chat."

You turned. They were maybe twenty feet away. You kept your eyes glued to them as your started to make a run for it.

You had made it about ten feet before your body collided with someone. Firm hands gripped your upper arms, steading you as you threatened to fall back.

You sucked in a breath of air, ready to scream when you looked up. It was too dark to make out the man's facial features. He was tall. His head eclipsing the street lamp just behind him. You shook beneath his hands. The voices behind you now silent.

"Keep walking." You didn't need to see his face. You knew that deep timber voice anywhere. He released you from his grip before letting you pass him.

"Just wanted to have a chat." You heard one of them try to reason. "No harm done."

"No harm done yet." Was the last thing you heard Simon say before you broke out into a full fledged run.

#captain john price #kyle gaz garrick #simon ghost riley #john soap mactavish #call of duty #angst

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theblobmaster · 1 year

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chanlix in retrospective

so i've been watching old skz content for the first time and i have thoughts specifically about how chanlix is shown. this isn't necessarily about shipping, but it's also a big part of how kpop groups are promoted by their companies so it also kinda is.

first up the survival show:

1. - jype really just handed chris felix and said here he's your responsibility now. we find out in the second episode that felix moved into the same dorm as chris as soon as he landed in korea. him having been living in the dorm with chris, jisung and jeongin for 8 months when the other guys move in.

and i do think that was pretty intentional, chan has said that he knew felix was coming to the company beforehand, so jype probably sat him down and was like we have another aussie boy joining, help him settle into the company and communicate with others.

which no wonder they ended up close if that was the case.

2. - they barely interact throughout the entire show. the only time we really see them together are very short 2 second clips from their selcams where they're joking. when they're out and about they constantly seem to be in close vicinity of each other, yet we never really see them speak? it's weird.

3. - then we have episode 8 with felix's elimination. where we still don't really see them interact in the first half. we do get chan saying that he's worried about how felix will do, but not much else. then he gets eliminated and we're shown chan being devastated over it. it's a completely different reaction to when minho was eliminated.

side note - the footage taken during and after minho's elimination is some of the most invasive i've seen in a long time. it made me deeply uncomfortable to watch. idk if they got backlash from it but i was so happy to see that they turned it down for felix's elimination.

back to felix and chan: the entire band is crushed, but chan is visibly more upset than the last time. it might be because he has now lost two members of the group he put together and the collective loss makes it harder for him to hold it together but the line,

"always find me, yeah? i'm not gonna leave you behind"

is not something you say to someone you're not deeply attached to. and up until now we've had no indication they're close at all? it's so left field from how they're portrayed the rest of the time. and of course we have chan breaking down in the solo interview shot, blaming himself. and that's on par and he also did that when minho got eliminated. tho not as visibly emotionally distraught.

in the montage of felix with the members we get 1 (one) clip with chan and they're not even interacting, chan is just looking fondly at felix while he plays around. we see more clips of felix with minho who at that point is not in the band.

there were multiple clips of chan and minho during his montage. (also with minho surprisingly clingy and affectionate towards chan) chan and felix cannot have interacted that little for them to have no footage of them at all.

4. - when felix and minho gets their second chance and the other find out, we only see chan interact with minho (not a lot) and welcome him back. the closest we get to him acknowledge is him staring at the whole group celebrating.

In the studio when felix and minho join the other seven members to record, felix beelines to sit beside chan and he does so throughout the session. even after he went in to record and got back. yeah we never even see them look at each other much less talking.

5. - and then there was the final, which was broadcasted live...

yeah, chan gives felix comforting touches on multiple occasions throughout the ments and when they're just standing. more importantly is, it does not look awkward or forced, it looks like something he's used to. felix doesn't react as if it's something new either, it also clearly settles him more.

when it's announced they're gonna debut as nine members, felix once more beelines to chan and crashes into him so hard they stumble away from the group and spends quite a good few moments standing so far apart from the group hug the members are doing. it's almost as if they were told they'll debut as a duo and the others as a group. it's a tight hug, it's a hug between people who know and love each other a lot.

they at some point join the others and then when jyp is on his way down to congratulate them on his own decision, you see felix and chan in another tight hug just the two of them. felix breaks it off when he sees jyp approach them.

and again in the end when the camera zooms out and captures the entire stage, the two are in another tight hug just the two of them. and i mean they're clinging to each other.

i think after the last one you see them in a group hug with one other member, when chan is clutching the other two close.

end note for this show - i haven't watched any of the extra clips they uploaded seperate from the official show yet, so i don't know if they interact more there, but i would've been so goddamn confused if i was a viewer back when it first aired with none of the knowledge i have of their relationship now.

at no point do the show indicate these two members are close and yet we get an extreme declaration from chan after felix is eliminated and when they get to debut together they're clinging to each other? with how they edited felix and his relationships, you would've thought he would be clinging to changbin.

they really went in hard on the changlix on this show, and i'm not trying to discredit how close those two are, but it was a really obviously a choice made by the showrunners to focus on their relationship.

i've been in the kpop fandom for a long time and it's not unusual for a company to push a specific 'ship', scarily aware of how much shipping goes on and how much money they can earn from it. it happens less so with newer groups than back when i started getting into kpop, but it still happens. and funnily enough normally chan and felix would've been the perfect fit. two boys far from home, but they can find solace in each other, and oh they're also from the same city, maybe they've crossed paths without knowing before ect ect. people tend to eat that shit up and companies are aware of that.

so why is it, that from the get go we're almost never shown that? why did the jype take that decision? it's really fucking confusing.

i'm probably gonna do more of these when i go through their other shows. because my brain has decided these two are the hyperfixation for now.

#chanlix #stray kids #skz #bang chan #lee felix #christopher bang #felix #banglix #stray kids survival show #overanalyzing celebrities and how theyre portrayed #kpop

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hollowmend · 7 months

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Counter-Side Dev Log #1 - 11/03/23

In an attempt to seem much more professional than I am, I've decided to give monthly dev logs a shot!

I'll keep individual projects sperate, so if you're here for Fetch Re;Quest stuff, keep an eye out for another post later this month.

Please bear with me as I figure out what the hell I'm doing 😂 And let me know if you like this kind of content, or if I should just stick to my random updates!

So anyways...

As a quick catch-up; Counter-Side is a kinetic BL sci-fi drama. It's about two men who live and work in a capitalistic hellscape- A mining facility on the barren, atmosphere-less planet of Ikarus.

But the story's not really about that. It's about two men who've been unlucky in relationships becoming friends and hanging out at a bar. It's a BL, so I think you see where this is going.

The Boys

Counter-Side has lots of fun (and not so fun) characters, but let's just focus on the two protagonists for now.

Transferred from his home facility to this one for mysterious reasons, Rae is the new Human Resources Manager for the software engineering department.

Rae is calm and collected... or so he'd like people to think. In truth, his inner thoughts are much more fiery than his reserved persona lets on. With a short temper and a protective streak, it's a constant struggle for Rae to keep his head down and his thoughts to himself.

Rae is not interested in dating at the moment, because as much as he hates to admit it, someone else still occupies that place in his heart.

His drink of choice is the gin and tonic 🍸

Stationed at the facility for military training, Rosco works as part of the mining crew by piloting a mech that houses an experimental sapient AI named MARC.

He may have only been here for half a year, but he already has a reputation; Everyone knows that Rosco, the hotshot playboy pilot, never turns down a date. Little do they know that rather than playing the field, Rosco is a hopeless romantic who simply doesn't want to miss an opportunity to find his one true love.

Currently in his longest running relationship, Rosco is determined to make things work and prove that he's not the flighty, promiscuous one-night-stand that everyone makes him out to be... no matter what he has to give up in the process.

Rosco's preferred drink is anything colorful and fruity 🍹

Chapter Select

And now on to the more technical aspects of the game!

Counter-Side is kinetic, which means there are not choices or multiple endings. It's a linear story told in three acts, but there is a bit of interactivity when it comes to how the chapters work.

(The UI is just a placeholder for now, if it wasn't obvious from Rosco's rather... colorful outfit.)

The story is told from both Rae and Rosco's perspectives, so after each act's linear opening, you'll get the option to choose what order to read things in, chapter by chapter. Once you reach the end of the act in one character's chapters, their option will be locked until you finish the other character's side.

Most chapters are completely unique scenes, but sometimes, Rae and Rosco are in the same place. These key moments are called Counter-Side chapters, and you get to experience them from both men's perspectives. The dialogue may be the same, but Rae and Rosco will have different narration and inner thoughts about what's happening, and they often start and/or end the scene apart.

Counter-Side chapters account for about 35% of the total number of chapters.

The Demo

We're currently working on a demo that will feature the entire first act- Over 50k words! It might be missing the final UI design and some cut-in art, but other than that it will be feature complete.

After that, we don't expect the full game will be more than a few months away.

The script for the game is about 3/4ths finished and we have the rest of it already outlined. The current word count clocks in at over 130k words 😭 It's gonna be a long one.

We haven't settled on a price yet, but the full game will not be free.

Wrapping Up & Discord

There's a lot more I could talk about, but I think this is getting pretty long already. I'll post again next month, but in the meantime, let me know if there's anything specific you want to know!

And if you're interested in a slow trickle of content instead of a monthly tidal wave, I post updates as they happen in my ✨ discord server ✨

#visual novel #counter-side #devlog #kinetic #yaoi #boys' love #hollowmend #sci fi

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nerdythebard · 1 year

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#54: Harry Dresden [The Dresden Files]

(Art Credit: Mika-Blackfield on deviantArt) ---

Yer a wizard, Harry!

This one is a two-parter, coming from an anonymous requestor. This time, we tackle Chicago's only practicing wizard, Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden (the more names the more secure the wizard). I remember reading the books in high school and beyond, since I'm a big nerd of everything that includes magic and urban fantasy, and I have to admit, it was one of the books that inspired me to start writing. Let's jump into this case then!

Next Time: Part Two: Now you're playing with portals... Lizzie

So, what does the White Council says about becoming a wizard?

Non-Squishy Wizard: While Harry uses magic (in accordance with the Laws... mostly) as his primary tool, he's not lacking when it comes to physical abilities. Perks of being a Winter Knight, I guess.

Master Blaster Caster: Harry's speciality seems to be magic related to combat magic: blasts of force, fire, wind, as well as occasional necromancy and thaumaturgy.

Temptation of the Dark Side: Let's be honest, every wizard will occasionally give in. So does Harry, who's broken some of the Laws of Magic when the situation needed him to.

---

Harry is a human in a world where the supernatural and the mundane mixes and blends together. We're going to make him a Variant Human. We get a +1 to two abilities of our choice (Intelligence and Constitution), ability to speak, read, and write Common and one more language of our choice, proficiency in one skill (Perception), and one feat of our choice; War Caster gives us advantage on Constitution saving throws when concentrating on a spell, ability to perform somatic components even when holding something in both hands, and whenever a creature provokes an attack of opportunity from us, we can cast a spell (casting time 1 action and targetting one creature) instead of making a weapon attack.

Honouring Harry's profession, we'll going to give him the Investigator background. We grab proficiencies in Insight and Investigation, proficiencies with a disguise kit and thieves' tools, and the Official Inquiry feat; thanks to it, we can use a combination of improv and deflecting questions to gain access to places and people connected to our investigations.

ABILITY SCORES

Intelligence will obviously be our first pick, followed by Dexterity and Constitution. Harry often finds himself in sticky situations where he is either forced to run and evade, or straight-up tank the damage.

Wisdom will be next, to keep some positive modifiers for saving throws. Charisma will be on the lower end, Harry is a known blunt and brusque asshole throughout most of the series. Finally, we're dropping Strength.

CLASS

There is also no surprise here; Harry is a Wizard start-to-finish. Wizards get a d6 as their Hit Dice, [6 + our Constitution modifier] initial Hit Points, no armour or tool proficiencies (we'll get that soon), proficiencies with daggers, darts, slings, quarterstaffs, and light crossbows. We're obviously gonna pick a staff and perhaps keep a few darts and daggers around. Our saving throws are Intelligence and Wisdom, and we get to pick two class skills from the list (Arcana and History).

Level 1: Wizards learn how to manage their resources with Arcane Recovery. Once per day, after a short rest, we can recover expended spell slots: a total level of spell slots must be equal to or less than half of our Wizard level, and we cannot recover spells slots of 6th-level and above (for example, if we're 4th-level Wizard, we can recover two 2nd-level slots or two 1st-level slots and one 2nd-level, etc.)

As the paragons of the arcane, Wizards starts with Spellcasting. Intelligence is our casting ability, and we know cantrips and rituals. Wizards start with a set number of spells and gain two new spells during every level-up (in addition to any spell they collect during their travels). We start with three cantrips (Fire Bolt, Minor Illusion, and Gust) and six 1st-level spells (Absorb Elements, Burning Hands, Detect Magic, Healing Elixir, Protection from Evil and Good, and Shield).

Level 2: At this level, we pick our subclass, our Arcane Tradition. I was considering making Harry an evoker, since elemental magic seems to be his weapon of choice, or perhaps a necromancer since it's been stated to be his unusual talent... but ultimately, Harry is a Wizard who also packs a punch without the use of magic, so we need to be able to fight. Bladesinger Wizards learn enchanted swordsmanship from the elves, so it fits for our Winter Knight. Since we're Trained in War and Song, we gain proficiency with light armour (for that, let's grab a standard studded leather - if you can, ask your DM for a glamoured one, to mimic Harry's coat), one-handed melee weapon (let's grab a rapier for the Finesse property), and in Performance skill.

We also learn how to chant a Bladesong. Think of it as the Barbarian's Rage, only applied to a weapon. While the Bladesong is active (1 minute or until we're incapacitated, cancel it willingly, don medium or heavy armour, or use a two-handed weapon attack), we gain the following benefits:

Bonus to our AC equal to our Intelligence modifier

Walking speed increased by 10 feet

An advantage on Acrobatics checks

Bonus to Constitution saving throws made for maintaining concentration on spells (equal to our Intelligence modifier)

For this level's spells, we can grab Thunderwave and Unseen Servant to give us a facisimile of Bob.

Level 3: We do not get any new class features, but we do unlock 2nd-level spells. Darkvision for eliminating the weakness of our human eyes, and Misty Step for taking a shortcut through the Nevernever seem like a good choice here.

Level 4: Time for our first Ability Score Improvement. Let's raise our Intelligence by two points, and I'll surprise you by saying that this is our final Intelligence score. I know, Wizards should strive to max it out (or even go beyond), but Harry's not one of those super smart Wizards. We need to make him a magic combatant.

For this level's spells, we're gonna grab Magic Aura and Scorching Ray. We also get another cantrip (Blade Ward).

Level 5: No new class features, but we unlock 3rd-level spells. By picking Galder's Tower you can essentially create a copy of Harry's island, Demonreach. To gain an upper hand against other Wizards, let's grab Dispel Magic (or, if you're playing in a modern day setting and really want that 'magic destroys technology' vibe, pick up Haywire from the Modern Magic Unearthed Arcana).

Level 6: We get another subclass feature: stolen from the Fighter we get Extra Attack. We can now make two strikes instead of one during a single Attack action. For this level's spells, we're gonna make ourselves even more resistant to attacks with Protection from Energy, and we'll reach into more shady territory with Summon Lesser Demons.

Level 7: We unlock 4th-level spells. For some offense we can grab Ice Storm, and to get everybody's favourite lazy dog, Mouse, we're gonna pick Mordenkainen's Faithful Hound.

Level 8: Another ASI! We'll increase of Dexterity by two points to get some better swings for our sword. For this level's spells, we will travel the border of breaking the Third Law of Magic and pick up Phantasmal Killer, and then make sure we divide and conquer our fights with Wall of Fire.

Level 9: At this level, we unlock 5th-level spells. Time for some bigger artillery to join our repertoire. Let's start by finally causing trouble for the Council and break the Fifth Law. Danse Macabre shall help us with that (it's the next best thing after an undead T. rex). Next, we can elevate our detective business by employing Scrying.

Level 10: Halfway through the build, and we finally get a subclass update! With Song of Defense, we can now spend a spell slot (while our Bladesong is active) and absorb the damage dealt to us. The maximum amount of damage we can absorb is [Spell slot's level x5]. This means that by sacrificing a 5th-level spell slot or above, we can now tank a full-power Fireball.

We also get our final cantrips here: let's pick Toll the Dead now that we have some proper damage dealing options. For this level's spells, let's consult Bob with Legend Lore, and use Dawn in case any vampires decide to be too cocky.

Level 11: We unlock 6th-level spells, and it's time to break the First Law and cast Disintegrate on our uncle. We will also mimic the Death Curse and pick Contingency. By setting up the 'my death shall release [X]' as a trigger condition, we can be sure to get the last laugh.

Level 12: Finally another ASI. Let's bump up our Constitution to get some better Hit Points in the mid- to late-game. For this level's spells, we're gonna make some more deals by casting Summon Fiend and then finally gain the proper Soulgaze via True Seeing.

Level 13: We unlock 7th-level spells here. Let's cause even more damage with Delayed Blast Fireball and Reverse Gravity.

Level 14: We unlock our final subclass feature. With Song of Victory, we can add our Intelligence modifier to our melee attacks while our Bladesong is active.

For this level's spell we will pick Sequester and Whirlwind.

Level 15: We unlock 8th-level spells. We can utilise the energy of the storm with Control Weather and then shield our own mind from Lawbreakers with Mind Blank.

Level 16: If you manage to get this far and get this ASI, it is finally time to grab the Tough feat. Out Hit Points maximum is increased by [our level x2] and every level-up henceforth we can add +2 Hit Points. For this level's spell, we'll grab Demiplane and Maddening Darkness.

Level 17: We unlock the apex of the arcane; the 9th-level spells. Let's use Gate and Invulnerability.

Level 18: We gain a feature called Spell Mastery. We choose one 1st-level and one 2nd-level spell from our spellbook and can now cast them without spending spell slots, effectively transforming them into cantrips. Let's do that to Shield and Scorching Ray.

For this level's spells, let's grab Meteor Swarm and Prismatic Wall.

Level 19: With the final ASI of the build we will actually add to our Strength to remove the negative modifiers. For this level's spells we'll use Gate and Imprisonment.

Level 20: Our capstone is Wizard 20, which gives us the Signature Spells feature. This works in a similar manner to the previous Spell Mastery, however we get to choose two 3rd-level spells that we can cast once per a short or long rest without expending spell slots. Let's select Dispel Magic and Protection from Energy.

For our final spells, let's finally choose Wish and Weird.

---

So that's Harry-but-not-the-one-you-think. Let's see what came out of this:

First of all, we're a full Wizard which in late game provides plenty of utility options for both ourselves and our allies. Additionally, with the Bladesinging subclass, we can hold our own in combat. We also have a nice bag of skills to use in our detective work. Overall, I'm actually satisfied from the resources we've created.

Our AC (when utilised absolutely everything at our disposal at once) is 24, we have a +3 to our Initiative, and the average of 178 Hit Points.

Unfortunately, we suffer a little bit in terms of abilities. We have no ability score of 20 and a relatively low Strength and more importantly Wisdom, which leaves us vulnerable.

---

Happy 2023, my dears. Now that my life is relatively back together (also, guess what, I've become a sworn translator of English! :D), I can return to you with some goodies. There is still a few requests and I know some of you are waiting to return to more God Builds. Let's kick off the new year with a blast!

-Nerdy out!

#dnd build #dnd #dnd5e #dungeons and dragons #dnd character #character building #harry dresden #dresden files #jim butcher #wizard #bladesinger

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azerothtravel · 1 year

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Secret Origin

I'm just an old time Warcraft nerd who's too dumb to quit. My first WC game was Warcraft II, when I was in high school. I gravitated toward the Horde because they were funnier. I liked the game, but wasn't too good at it. Jump ahead to the release of Warcraft III, it's a whole other thing. I read all the lore in the huge manual. I was completely taken with the concept of orcs as once noble, tragic victims trying to make their way in the world and atone for their crimes. A friend of mine had me read some of the novels. I was suddenly way, way into the setting. Plus, I knew a lot of people who played WC3. I enjoyed the Orgrimmar campaign in Frozen Throne with no idea it was more or less a test run for WoW.

But I didn't like MMOs. I wasn't sure about WoW. Then I got into the beta. I hauled my whole-ass desktop over to the house of the same friend who loaned me those books, and we were up til 4am downloading the client and then getting started. Gormorash the orc warrior was born that night (And so was Skarsnik the troll hunter, but he lost interest after BC). I was immediately sold. Running around Azeroth at ground level, full of detail from the RTS games, was a ton of fun. Gormorash went on many strange adventures in beta, like a hilariously inept "raid" on Westfall where half our group died before we got there and none of us were even level 60.

Then Gormorash was rebooted on Argent Dawn US when the game launched, a member of <Flaming Skull Clan> with several other friends of mine.

By middle 2005, almost literally everyone I knew played WoW. My oldest friends, friends from college, friends from the internet, relatives. Basically 2 friends and my parents were the only people not playing. Friends of mine who didn't know each other met and bonded through WoW. It was a glorious time.

By the end of 2006, I'd been through 2 guild collapses and one server move, as they opened up free transfers to Eitrigg and my friends all took it. I wasn't sure I'd keep playing. The novelty had worn off for most of my friends. I wasn't that into raiding, and doing Arathi Basin over and over was only so interesting (Gormorash just lived in Hammerfall for like a year). I was maybe gonna quit. And then, in early 2007, my brother found 2 Collector's Editions of BC just sitting on a shelf in a store, and asked if I wanted one. I had the vanilla CE, but I'd missed BC when they were released, and didn't buy BC at all. He bought them and shipped me one, and we leveled 60-70 together. It was a lot of fun.

Along the way, I started a new guild with some online friends, and Gormorash is still in it. He's never missed an expansion. Most people have fallen off the wagon. Our guild typically only has 3 active members at any given time these days, but that's fine with me. Sometimes a couple people come back for major content. It was lore that got me into all this, and that remains my primary motivator for playing. My endgame is more PvP and leveling alts than raiding, but the game has literally never supported those 2 things better than right now (2023), so that's pretty good. I still have a good time. And that's why I have hundreds of screenshots to choose from stretching from the 2004 open beta to just a few days ago to post on this blog. With the sad exception of most of 2006, lost in a hard drive failure, I have a comprehensive collection of every screenshot I ever took, and that's what this blog is all about.

I've made a few other Gormorashes on other servers, but rarely leveled them very far. Someone out there made a Gormorash that isn't me, a fact that shocked me when I found out. Who stole my name? Was it you? I have characters of every race on both factions, but still tend to prefer Horde. If you see me, say hello!

Gormorash is an orc warrior who came of age in the camps. With his brother, Rugurrash, he's led a guild of adventures for many years, with trusty allies Snarfner, Vallkillmore and Canon rounding out the core group. His hair's started to gray after saving the world 8 or 9 times, traveling through space and time and the realms of death, but he's still out there, still exploring, still getting into trouble and mostly getting back out of it. He's an alchemist and herbalist in his spare time, and has a completely unmanageable collection of pets. He is really, really tired of being forced to fight his own Warchief, and really hopes the gods don't lean on that already very tired trope again in the future.

#wow #world of warcraft #gormorash

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katcoquette · 2 years

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Almost There

Reuben "Payback" Fitch x Reader

part of my cabin in the woods collection happening throughout the month of october- a collection of stand-alone* stories (cute fall & spooky) set in the same cabin in the woods, read them all if you dare uncover the full mystery...

summary: the drive up to the cabin you've rented for the weekend is uneventful, until you can't shake a dreadful feeling for the rest of the night.

✦ word count: 2.8k

✦ tw/tags: 🕷 spooky spider out of 5, sense of impending doom, weird feelings, ghost sighting, driving through a forest at night, nausea

✦ author's note: the amusement park in my town rates their haunted houses out of 5 pumpkins or whatever so I'm gonna do the same for the spooky half of this collection, five spider scale 🕷🕷🕷🕷🕷 meaning I was so scared while writing this I almost shit myself when my dog opened my bedroom door & 🕷 meaning just a little spooky, might give you a little shiver

The evening had died down enough that even the stragglers had finally made their exit, leaving you and your family to sit in the satisfying silence that came at the end of a successful event.

Streamers, glitter, and ring-shaped souvenirs were scattered around the floor- remnants of the celebration that had come together, through no small feat of your own, in less than a week after your baby sister’s proposal.

“Well that was fun.” Your brother interrupts the silence to comment. “Yeah, it was.” Your sister confirms, giggling with her new fiancée from where they were sprawled across the couch.

You smile at their interaction, snuggling further into your boyfriend’s arms as the conversation about the night continues. You’re close to falling asleep when you feel Payback shift.

“We should probably get going.” He says softly, kissing the top of your head. You almost groan, but pry yourself up anyway- he was right. You stretch your arms back, trying to wake yourself up, and then you offer him a hand to pull him up.

“You headed out?” Your sister notices and stands up to say goodbye to you both.

She hugs Payback first, “Thank you for coming.”

“Of course. Congratulations again.”

She smiles at him, and then turns to you, pouting as she holds out her arms.

“Thank you for putting this together for us. It was such a fun night.” She’s teary-eyed when she pulls away, and you pout back at her, pinching her cheek. “Of course, honey. There’s no one else I’d rather be planning a wedding for.”

You say goodbye to the rest of your family, and your mom walks you to the door. “Are you sure you don’t want to stay the night? Go up in the morning?”

“We’ll be alright, Mom. It’s only an hour from here.” You kiss her cheek. Payback’s hand is resting on your lower back as you walk out the front door. “Thanks for having me, Mrs. Y/L/N. It’s always great to see you.”

“It’s our pleasure, Reuben. You’re welcome anytime, even without our daughter!” He laughs, promising to take your mother up on her offer at some point. You don’t doubt that he will.

“Parent-pleaser.” You mutter as soon as the front door closes. He slings his arm over your shoulder, walking you down the driveway. “One of us has to be.”

“Hey!”

He chuckles, then changes the subject. “Want me to drive?”

“Yes please. I don’t think I can mentally handle trying to get us to the cabin.” He fishes your keys out of your front pocket, giving you a quick kiss in the process. “I figured. You’ve had a long work week.”

He unlocks the car and opens the passenger door for you, closing it once you’ve dragged your legs inside.

“It was a fun long though, for the most part.”

“The party tonight was fantastic; you really did a great job.”

It’s close to midnight by the time the two of you manage to pull out of your parents’ driveway and get on the road. He intertwines one hand with yours over the middle console, the other firmly holding the wheel.

The radio plays softly in the background as you settle into the drive. You catch yourself yawning, and, having decided that you weren’t going to sleep and leave him alone, you shift in your seat, sitting up straighter.

“Tired?” He glances over at you with a smile.

You rub the back of his hand with your thumb, returning it. “A little bit. Are you?”

“Nah, I’m doing good.”

“You apologized to everyone about us being late right?”

“Your sister’s engagement party wasn’t something we were ever going to miss, but yes, I apologized anyway.”

“Okay. Good.”

He takes one hand from the steering wheel and squeezes your thigh. “You have nothing to worry about. Everyone’s gonna love you.”

“How did you know I was thinking about that?”

“Your thoughts are written all over your face, I can always tell.” You sigh, looking out the window.

You’re not convinced.

Sure, nothing to worry about- apart from this trip being with eleven of his closest friends and their own guests, and your first trip as a couple.

Exciting yes, but also, a little stressful.

“You’ll know some people there; it won’t be all strangers. And you also aren’t the only ‘new’ person in the group.”

He squeezes your hand. “And- there’s no way the entire group will still be awake when we get there, so you can meet everyone in smaller waves.” You purse your lips as you ruminate on his words.

“Annddd… you know me. I’ll be there the whole time too.” He grins, teasing you.

That causes a smile to break out onto your face. “You’re rightt.” You do feel better about it.

“God you’re good at pep talks.”

“I know.”

You occupy the next forty minutes with random discussions and upbeat music. The roads narrow to one lane and start to wind around and through the twisted trunks local to the area. By the time you reach the sign announcing your official arrival to ‘Elfin Forest Recreational Reserve’, you’re feeling more awake than you have all day.

You’re in the middle of laughing at something Payback has said when you’re hit with a wave of nausea. It’s unlike anything you’ve felt before, and it happens almost instantaneously as you pass the sign.

Your head spins as you try to process it, had the curves in the road made you carsick? Suddenly, the car feels too hot, your clothing feels too tight, and the road feels too small.

You shift uncomfortably in your seat. The nausea has morphed into a different feeling- one that you’re not even sure you could describe if you tried to in this moment, but it’s heavy, dark, an overwhelming dread.

It’s worse than the nausea.

“Can you pull over?” You can barely keep your voice steady, and your hand is gripping the arm rest.

“We’re almost to the cabin, I think-”

“Pull over!” You wince at the tone of your voice, but you need to get out of the car, you must. You’re trying your best to control your behavior, but you can’t help grasping frantically for the door handle as soon as the car stops.

“Jesus- are you okay?” You barely hear your concerned boyfriend. The cool air that hits you provides some comfort, so you swing your legs out of the car and plant them on the side of the road, leaning over and resting your elbows on your thighs.

“What’s going on?” He’s leaned over the console as far as he can manage, rubbing circles into your back.

“I don’t know.”

“Do we need to call someone? I don’t know who we would call- an ambulance? Do you need an ambulance?” You focus on your breathing, squeezing your eyes shut, and whisper, “No, it’s not that bad-“

“Shit- baby, I don’t have cell service.” He hits his phone against his palm, and holds it higher- as if that will make it start to work. You’d make fun of him for it if you were in different circumstances. He’s genuinely scared and doing anything he can short of willing a cell tower to suddenly appear.

“Reu, I don’t need an ambulance.” It starts to get easier to breathe the longer you sit in the cool air, unmoving. “It’s okay- I’m okay.”

“What- are you serious?” You sit back into the passenger seat, taking a moment to mentally check over yourself. “Yeah.”

He looks at you with wide eyes, still in disbelief. “…are you sure?” You nod, more scared at your body’s outburst than anything else, because as quickly as it had descended on you, it had completely subsided.

You glance outside again, taking notice this time of a mile marker right where you’d pulled over.

Mile marker 314. Your car door is still open, and suddenly you feel an urge to close it- your mind convincing you that if you don’t close it now- something will happen.

Mile marker 314 is exactly six and a half miles from the sign. Of course, neither of you know this, nor do you know that it’s much newer than any of the other markers that dot the forest’s road- on account of it being the only one that had to be replaced.

You pull your legs back into the car and slam the door, clicking the lock immediately after.

“Let’s keep going.”

“That seemed pretty fucking serious.” You can hear a wobble in his voice, and though you’re completely freaked out by the whole thing, you’re trying not to let it show.

“I know, Reu, but I just want to get to the cabin. I’m sure it was car sickness.” His brow is still furrowed, not entirely convinced. You’re not either.

You have no other explanation, and you just want to leave the dark road.

You twist in your seat so you’re facing him, and take his hands, giving them a reassuring squeeze.

“I’m sorry for scaring you. It was just sudden, probably because of how curvy the roads are.” You move a hand to cup his cheek and kiss him. “I promise I’m okay.”

He rests his forehead against yours, searching your eyes. “Okay.” You smile softly, giving him another kiss before you sit back against the headrest.

You feel even more relief as you pull away from the side of the road, and mile marker 314.

It takes 20 more minutes to reach the gate of the cabin. You find the code in your notes, and Payback gets out of the car to punch it in. You take more deep breaths as you watch him walk around the front of the car. He must punch it in wrong the first time, because a light blinks red at the top of the box.

Your eyes wander over the landscape beyond the gate as he continues to try to get it open. The cabin was much bigger than you’d been expecting from the few pictures Payback had showed you from his group chat.

It looked nice, really nice, and from what you could see of the grounds, everything had been well-kept.

The gate finally creaks open, and you see your boyfriend jogging back to the car. “It’s really cold out there.” He comments, rubbing his hands together as you wait for the gate to open fully. “I’m glad we’re not camping.”

As you pull up the driveway, you can’t help the words that come out of your mouth, “It’s so beautiful.”

You notice movement on the roof over the entry way, and you crane your head to get a better look.

Sure enough, you see two figures stand up and walk back toward the light from a nearby window that sits behind a porch on the second floor. You can’t see who it is from the driveway, but you smile, glad that at least two people in the group would be awake to meet.

From the corner of your eye, you notice something else, so you sweep your eyes over the rest of the structure, landing on another figure.

They’re standing at the side of the house, near the edge of the woods. You freeze- as if all time has stopped around you.

You can barely make out any detail of their clothes, or features, as they’re facing away from you. But as soon as your eyes land on them, they start to turn toward you. It’s slow, and deliberate, and you’re struck with the same feeling from the road.

In your mind you beg, plead to some higher power that the figure- a woman, you can see now- not turn any further, not face you. You want to pull your eyes from the scene, but you can’t seem to will yourself to do it.

“We made it.”

Payback’s voice breaks through your mind, a savior to you in this moment, and it’s enough to break whatever trance you’d fallen into. When you turn from the window and see the excitement on his face, the dread falls away from you.

You feel relief once again.

“You ready to go in?” You blink, registering his words. You don’t dare look back to the side of the house.

“Yeah. Let’s go in.”

You meet each other at the trunk to grab your bags, and then you’re walking up the steps. The door opens, and Rooster’s head pops around the side of it. He steps back when he sees the two of you, opening it wider so you can get your bags through. “Hey! You made it.”

The familiar face smiling next to Rooster immediately calms your nerves. She steps forward and pulls you into her arms, giving you a tight hug. “Agh, I missed you!” You hear Rooster close the door and greet Payback behind you.

When you pull apart you notice her husband staring at you with the best poker face he can muster. You share a knowing glance with her, and then she elbows his side. “Oh! Uh- it’s good to see you again.”

“I’m surprised you remember the last time we met, you and Reu were prettyyy out of it.” His eyes widen as he looks to his wife for some sort of lifeline, but she just shrugs, a grimace on her face. “Think you’ve been caught, babe.”

Payback laughs, clapping him on the shoulder. “She saw right through you, man. It was a good effort though.”

“You two are the worst.” He points at them. “No help at all.”

“I did appreciate the gesture though, don’t worry.”

“Well, it’s nice to meet again anyway, I promise I’ll remember most of this trip.” He jokes, causing the rest of you to laugh.

When it dies down, you speak again, “Is anyone else around?”

They glance at each other, then both shake their heads as Rooster answers your question. “Not that we’ve seen, but we have been up on the roof.”

You hum in response.

“You two have probably had a long day, we should let you get settled. But tomorrow I want to hear all about your sister’s engagement.”

“Sounds good.” You smile at her. They give you directions and say goodnight, and then you and Payback are on your way to the unoccupied suite at the far end of the main floor.

It’s quiet as you put your bags down and start to get ready for bed, not for any other reason aside from exhaustion catching up with both of you. When you’re standing at the double sink in the bathroom brushing your teeth, you make eye contact in the mirror and smile at each other.

“Are you still feeling okay?”

You spit your toothpaste in the sink, turning on the water, and nod. “Much better now that we’re here.”

He wipes his face, and you finish up your skincare routine. “I didn’t think you got carsick.”

You rub lotion into your hands, then follow him out of the bathroom, flipping off the light. “I usually don’t- that’s why I was kind of panicking.”

He stops to face you, and pull you into his chest. “I think your panic was justified. I was panicked. That got really bad really fast.” You wrap your arms tightly around him.

“I know, I’m sorry.” He kisses the top of your head. “Don’t be. It’s not something you can control. I’m just glad you’re okay.”

You tilt your head back to look at him, and he leans down to kiss you.

“Now-“ He emphasizes the word with another kiss. “-we can get some sleep, and tomorrow we’ll really start enjoying our first trip together.” You smile.

“Sounds perfect.” He rubs your back as you pull apart to walk to the other side of the room, patting your ass when you turn.

You glance back, pursing your lips amusedly.

As you pass by the large window to get into bed, you hesitate, biting the inside of your cheek. It wasn’t lost on you as you walked through the kitchen and into another hallway that you were headed toward the side of the house closest to where you had seen…someone earlier.

And though you feel a little silly for doing it, you pull the curtain aside just enough to look out toward the woods.

Because even though, according to the Bradshaws, everyone was sleeping, and even though you don’t particularly want to feel that feeling again, you still hope the same someone is still outside- that you’ll be able to recognize them.

Because then you’ll be able to put your mind to rest.

But you don’t see anything, or anyone, out of the ordinary. There’s enough moonlight to see that the property extends all the way to the edge of the tree line, with a wooden fence to mark the separation, and that’s all.

You let the curtain fall back into place, shielding you once again from the outside world.

Maybe it was just car sickness- you hadn’t eaten enough that day. And it probably was just one of your friends in the yard- they’d gone back inside without passing through the main area of the house. You let out a decisive breath.

Yes- there was an explanation for everything. It’s what you repeat to yourself as you get into bed, turn off the lamp, and snuggle into your boyfriend’s arms.

Taglist: @imwaytootires @choochoo284 @teti-menchon0604 @hopefulinlove @phoenix1389 @littlebadariell @cycbaby @seasidh @nonsensical-nonce @dracosluvbot @army24--7 @unordinare @xoxabs88xox @alexxavicry @Itsyogurl19 @toocoldoutsideforyou @double-j @classygirlything21

#payback #payback x reader #payback fic #reuben payback fitch #rueben payback fitch x reader #tgm #tgm fic #top gun maverick #payback top gun #katescabininthewoods #I love that picture of him #he's so cute

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bambiraptorx · 1 month

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19 4 1 20 24 25 62

19. What is the most-used tag on your ao3?

Gonna be honest I don't really know a shortcut to figuring it out if there is one, but it's probably just character tags lol. I don't necessarily use tags like "x character needs a hug" or whatever consistently. Honestly though it's probably some variation of the Baron Draxum and the turtles tag lol.

4. Where do you find inspiration for new ideas?

Gonna be honest, half the time I forget where my ideas come from or how I got to what I ended up using lol. That being said, I think I just kinda run through a lot of variations on an idea seed and kind of play with it to see where it goes, if that makes sense?

Do you prefer writing one-shots or multi-chaptered fics?

Honestly I don't have a real preference, but I will say that I like how contained oneshots are. If I finish one, its over and done. Sure I could write a follow up, but I don't need to. With multi-chapter fics it's a little more complicated, especially as I'm less of a planner and more of an improviser. I don't really start fics knowing how long they're going to be (which is probably part of why I have so many fics that are/have ended up as long fics lol).

20. Have you noticed any patterns in your fics? Words/expressions that appear a lot, themes, common settings, etc?

Honestly if I notice myself repeating words or phrases I try to edit it to lessen the repetition because I feel like it flows better then (the exception being if I repeat something intentionally as a callback).

24. Worst writing advice anyone ever gave you?

It's not actually bad advice, but the whole "know how your story will end" isn't a principle I keep in mind as I start. For me it's more important to know approximately where I'm going, and then I can figure out where the ending will be as I go along. (That being said, I do have endings in mind for several of my long fics, but for some of them it's much more fleshed out than others). Like with Minor Interference for example, I very much did not have an ending in mind when I started it, but I had a premise I wanted to see explored. To be fair though, that was my first multichapter fic, and I do in fact have an ending I'm working towards now.

25. What fic do you wish you got more of a response on?

Hard to say, honestly. I wouldn't turn down more interest in any of my fics, but at the same time, the ones with less interaction are the ones that are a bit more... self indulgent I guess? Like, Body Horror Baby and My Circus My Turtles don't get quite the response of some other stuff of mine, but fankids are a niche genre of fanfiction anyways and My Circus My Turtles is really more of a collection of stories set in the same AU than a cohesive fic. That and MCMT had lived in my head for months before I started writing it, so there's a lot of stuff in it that I probably haven't explained well but that makes sense to me lol.

62. Thoughts on cliffhangers?

They can be used well and they can be used poorly. So far, I've avoided them in my stories just because I tend to like wrapping chapters up fairly neatly, but there's a couple points in some of my fics where they would work very well with what I have planned.

#asks #bambi's rambling

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blazehedgehog · 2 months

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What sonic merch do you have? I kinda wish I could get a statue but there's less of those than you think. Megamans been a lot easier to get good merch for for some reason

It's really not much. So as previously mentioned, I have that Sonic candy dispenser...

The Caltoy Sonic and Tails plushes...

I used to have a full set of the Sonic 3 McDonalds toys, but who knows where half of those are anymore

And the two Sonic Underground plushes from Denny's.

This compromised basically 80% of Sonic's entire american merch catalog in the 90's, outside of some books, clothing and assorted odds and ends.

Since then, things haven't grown massively, but I have picked up a few items here and there. For the above images, none of those were my photos, but we're going to start getting into pictures I have personally taken of my newer stuff.

A friend gifted me the "basic" version of the Sonic nendoroid. The basic version comes with fewer accessories, so I don't have the checkpoint posts or item capsule, and I don't think I even got separate hands. I am not complaining.

I bought the Sonic amiibo for myself when it came out.

I got a special poster from the Sonic Mania reveal event courtesy of TSSZ having someone there as the event was happening. I framed it since it's such a nice, heavy duty poster.

I have the 11" Metal Sonic figure that I picked up at the thrift store I used to work at. He was like, maybe a dollar? Kind of a steal.

I grabbed one of those Pixel Pals lights back when it seemed like they were getting discontinued. They had a bunch on pretty deep discount (like $4 when normally they were like $15), so I grabbed Sonic.

I don't have a super good photo of this, but I was gifted the Orbot and Cubot figures I think for a Christmas or a birthday by the same friend that got me the Sonic nendo.

This is a mixed photo of a bunch of different figures I got at different times. Sonic, Tails and Knuckles are from the 25th Anniversary collection by Tomy, and I bought them when we arrived in Nevada as we were moving out of Colorado. Eggman and Mecha Sonic are, once again, from the same friend that got me Orbot, Cubot, and the Nendo Sonic. I cannot express how much I love them, and I love that the Tomy figures are almost in the correct scale.

Now we're gonna get into things I REALLY don't have good photos of...

This horrifically blurry photo is probably from 2007? 2008? It's my Sonic 06 preorder statue, my Sonic Adventure 2 "10th Anniversary" pin, and my "Thanks for all your support!" pin from Sonic Team. I'm sure I have a clearer photo of these somewhere, but I can't find them. I could also, like, take new photos of some of this stuff, but where's the fun in that?

While digging through my imgur looking for photos, I found this photo of a Sonic 20th Anniversary plush. I couldn't remember where I got it, but given he's in a photo with some books I picked up at the thrift store I used to work at, I'm assuming he came from this same haul.

Getting increasingly difficult to find photos now... digging through twitter...

This is the... 15th? 20th? Anniversary Sonic 1 + 2 Album that famously features Masato Nakamura's demo tracks. I think this was Christmas 2011 or 2012. Not pictured, but I also have the soundtrack to the original Sonic Adventure.

This was Christmas 2021. Eggman and Metal Sonic are part of a KidRobot collection and came from my sister-in-law's parents. The Sonic coffee mug was the last Christmas present I ever got from my Mom, and unfortunately it was one of those super cheapo ones where the print washed off the first time it went through the dishwasher. I think this was the same Christmas those in-laws got me that short little Werehog action figure.

This is a Hallmark keepsake ornament that I think was intended for Christmas 2022, but didn't arrive until April 2023. They are beautiful. Also got Sega Genesis and SNES ornaments with them, which have little switches on them to play VERY loud music.

For Christmas 2023, my brother got me this limited edition flocked Knuckles Funko Pop. Some of the only Funko Pops I have are from my brother because it's kind of his thing, and I think this guy looks alright.

This hardly counts because it's definitely not official, but a friend pointed out one of those "daily pop culture t-shirt" sites was selling a shirt that was Sonic crossed with Mega Man. Literally the first fangame I ever worked on was something called "Sonic Infinity" that was Sonic + Mega Man X and it looked extremely similar, so I couldn't pass it up.

And then finally, most recently, a few months ago I was out running some errands and I saw some Sonic blind bag backpack charms, so I grabbed one and got this guy out of it. He's surprisingly big, solid, and well made! Paint is a little wobbly but I'm impressed regardless.

I think that's about it, though maybe I'm forgetting one or two things. There ended up being more than I expected.

#questions #journaloftomfooleryandjapery #sonic the hedgehog #sega #sonic team #merchandise

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dasozelotvonnebenan · 1 year

Text

Ok so I promised to talk about my sci fi stuff. It's now six in the morning again* but I feel far less tired than yesterday so I'm gonna dare to write it down this time.

It's not really a concrete story, its more just a loose collection of characters, worldbuilding and unconnected fun story beats.

There will be absolutely no structure to this. Just ramble.

So for a little context, this has been brewing slowly for years but I really started to gather up all those ideas after I finished watching Killjoys (Bounty Hunters in Space) and craved more space adventure in my head. Theres also a lot of Firefly (Western, but in space), The Expanse (Uhhh a bunch of stuff, in space), Battletech (Mech Mercenaries, in space) and my dads loosely RIFTS based sci fi role playing world in there.

Now first thing first you might notice that all those things above involve lots of guns which is maybe the biggest step away I am taking in that there is exactly one (1) gun involved in the entirety of this whole thing. Also the images in my head are a lot brighter and less gritty than most of those series. Like it's a genuinely good world. Because it's a thing I'm thinking about to relax.

So let's meet the crew! Because of course this space adventure revolves around a colourful bunch of people who travel the vastness of space together.

Most importantly theres the Pilot. He's afraid of sleeping when they're flying because if he isn't awake then whos steering. Even though theyre in space, where it's basically impossible to hit anything unless you want to, flying consist of pointing the ship in the right direction and waiting and any correction would need to happen way faster than a human could make them anyways.

Which is kind of a problem when travel times between planets range between a few days for inner system distances to easily over a month of want to get from one side of the system to the other. Interstellar travel involves specialized jump ships so travelling the lightyears between stars actually ends up taking much less time than getting from the edge of the suns gravity well to anything remotely worth visiting.

He accounts for about half of the crews caffeine consumption and sometimes his sleep deprivation leads to some hijinks (like when he goes hunting the space spiders in the vents). The ship is his own, he has won it in an advertisement lottery for a video game which is why there is a giant wizard painted on it which he really wants to remove but is not allowed to. Everybody else loves the wizard.

Next up is the one person in the group who has an actual job. This is not a wild thing because most people don't have a serious job and don't have to have one to get by, but he definitely has one. It's the mechanic. Big beefy guy, and not just muscle beef and also he has a big metal arm because of course he has. He's a mechanic and he runs powertools off of the arm. His job is that he works at the local museum of transport and restores old trains. Like back when they still ran on diesel old old. can you imagine!

He is the main reason for them flying off planet because other places ask him to come over to repair a thing for them, so Pilot flies him over, their other friends come with because it's like a roadtrip and that's kind of their thing and the remaining seats are chartered out which always makes for interesting company.

He enjoys his work very much but his hobby hobby is building model planes.

Next up the Detective, who is absolutely not just straight up Miller from The Expanse. He got unfrozen from cryosleep and lives in a totally different story from the others. He is constantly fidgeting because he doesn't have a gun anymore so he doesn't know what to do with hands. He is brooding all the time but it just looks silly because he has to do it in the very comfy and nice places his friends hang out in. But every now and then they get to go on some kind of investigation, a treasure hunt or something genuinely dangerous happens and he is fully in his element.

The one time a gun is relevant is when one of their adventures brings them to a wildlife reserve and he gets to have a tranquilizer rifle. He wants to be sad because that's all he has ever known but his friends are way too good at being friends. He is in a constant war over the gravistat (thermostat but for gravity) because back in his day spaceships didn't have artificial gravity yet.

Fourth guy I have yet is the Charmer. He's a linguistics student. His whole deal is that on every adventure he falls in love with someone and it never works out for some weird reason but he always stays friends with them. He knows people everywhere. He can not flirt for the life of him. He's like what if an 18CHA Bard only ever rolled nat 1s.

Their favourite place to hang out earthside is a Pub (Public Charging Station). Thats a place with wireless charging things at the tables for peoples cybernetics. Just so happens that the one they frequent also has a liquor license. The house specialty drink is "Battery Juice". A glowing green spiked lemonade. Of course you can also get it "discharged".

I hope enjoyed this little insight into one of the fandom unrelated worlds in my head and have a tremendously joyful day!

#*when I started writing. It is now almost eight

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altschmerzes · 1 year

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and what is this "still upcoming favorite stuff in my dead are mine" that you speak of? not to sound like a broken record but i have been waiting for chapter 6 since july and it is killing me! please drop some clues or teasers or anything!!

ahhhhhh yeah i know it's been a long time!!! it's getting edited, and it'll be up soon, i'm sure!! if it's any consolation chapter 6 is i think about 30k so there's that. below the cut is gonna be some bullet pointed varyingly-detailed references to scenes coming up that i really love, and also a somewhat extended preview clip from the opening of chapter six!

every character in this fic gets at least one hug - and yes i do mean every single one - and i'm looking forward to THAT very very much

there's a scene late in chapter 6 which can best be summarized as 'judith earns her girl scout first aid badge and harrow, who comes from a planet without medical care, sees someone perform cpr in front of her and is like What The Fuck-'

harrow learns she likes having her hair played with and she WON'T actually die on the spot if she lets someone do that

harrow has a bit of a strong reaction to the way someone refers to gideon and gideon is like ???? ? ???? ?? ????? ? ??? about it

harrow has a dream about the third

cam holds it together Until She Doesn't

the teens act like teens and harrow would like to know Is This Allowed

"And there they sit in silence with their hands haphazardly, unfamiliarly linked between them: Harrowhark Nonagesimus and Silas Octakiseron, alone together in their damnation."

and the clip from six (cw for described like.... harrow is building a new body for palamedes so. there's that.)-

It feels like an eternity passes before Harrow has regained enough strength to be sure that she is up to the task of recreating Palamedes Sextus’s body from nearly nothing. She knows it’s no longer than half an hour. The short distance that the brightest spot of light visible through the half-destroyed ceiling moves before she lifts herself from her slump against the vacated cot says as much. It feels like a lot longer.

During that half hour, Camilla makes Harrow drink an unholy amount of water, and the quiet sound of Magnus speaking to Jeannemary and Isaac floats over to her for so long that she wonders how he hasn’t run out of things to say. They don’t seem to reply much, and the longer he talks the less they do, until Harrow would guess it has just been Magnus’s voice for maybe ten minutes. Sometimes she hears Marta and Judith, though their exchanges are brief and purposeful.

Neither of the Eighth move or speak at all. Colum lays in a deep and impermeable unconsciousness, barely breathing while his heart labours through beat after sluggish, exhausted beat. Silas is awake, but he may as well not be. He stays exactly where he’d ended up, slim hand pressed to the thready carotid pulse in his cavalier’s neck, face buried against the couch cushion and his own crumpled arm. The only way Harrow can even tell he’s not sleeping is the lines of his body. He’s just too tense to be asleep.

The tangle of dirty, bloodied hair that hangs loose down Silas’s back bothers Harrow. She doesn’t like to look at it; it makes her anxious in a way she can’t quite explain.

Harrow doesn’t bother telling anyone what she’s doing when she determines she’s ready to set upon the next task. She simply hauls herself up off the cot, coughs the lingering trickle of blood from her throat, and starts for her goal without a word.

Lifting the sheet and pulling it away, Harrow gets down onto the ground and studies the remnants that she and Camilla had managed to collect in the blown-out crater where Palamedes had died. There’s more than she feels like she remembers there being, but less than she’d hoped. Harrow squints hard at the chips. She chews the inside of her cheek thoughtfully, and begins rearranging the fragments. It may not help much, but she at least wants all of the pieces they do have in the right places before she really gets down to trying to make anything out of them.

One by one, Harrow cracks the knuckles on each of her hands. There really isn’t a point to doing it except that the repetitive movement and the pops that send a slight ache through her hands are soothing. The voices in the room, as well as the faint shuffling fabric noise that means someone is moving, die out and fall quiet as the others notice what she’s doing. Harrow ignores them. Footsteps approach and someone crouches behind her shoulder, and she ignores them too. She knows what Camilla sounds like by now, the rhythm of her steps and the pattern of her slightly-quickened pulse, and besides, Harrow has a job to do.

Unfurling a fully-formed skeleton out of the fragments that they had so painstakingly collected should be child’s play, but Harrow finds herself oddly anxious, concentrating hard on details she could do in her sleep. She needs every piece and particle of bone to come out perfect. The skeleton is the scaffolding on which all else is built, and if she makes a mistake at this stage, there will be no point in the rest of it. Harrow spends a particular stretch of time meticulously shaping Palamedes’s skull from the soft clay of osteocytes that respond to her whims as if they are part of her and not of him. She redoes the curve of his left eye socket four times. There’s a faint, persistent imperfection in its shape, a flaw in the degree of the slope where the zygomatic bone meets the frontal bone of the face.

They’re his most striking feature, Palamedes’s eyes. Harrow would never forgive herself if she were to take that away from him, change it irrevocably through shoddy craftsmanship. She would never forgive herself if she were to take that away from Camilla. She cannot be the reason that Camilla Hect looks at her necromancer’s face and doesn’t see the boy she’s always known, just as she has always known him.

Camilla shouldn’t be watching this. Harrow can’t see her, bent as she is over the newly built skeleton at her knees, but she doesn’t need to see to know that the Sixth cavalier has barely so much as blinked since this work began. Even knowing both of these things — that Camilla is watching and that she shouldn’t be — Harrow also knows that it would be futile to attempt to get her to look away. There isn’t enough energy to waste any on a fight like that, not when it would be lost before it truly began. Instead, Harrow relegates the thought to the far recesses of her overtaxed brain and shackles it there, ordering it to sit down and be quiet. Camilla’s presence, her attention, lays over Harrow’s back like a heavy cloak.

Now that the skeleton — the scaffolding — is complete, deciding where to move next is tricky. It makes the most sense to progress methodically system by system, perfecting one before taking up the next. A few issues quickly arise with that plan, however. For one, Harrow can’t build the organs until she has something to hold them in, but she also doesn’t want to wait until the chest and abdominal cavity are sealed over to construct them. The nerves and vasculature present a similar problem. She stares at the bones for a while, turning the issue over and over in her head.

When Harrow progresses from the skeleton and into the meat, it reminds her of stitching lace. She weaves the body together in a complex series of stops-and-starts, periodically diverting from one area to finish another, then returning to the first. She slicks ribbons of cartilage and tendon along the lines of the bone to thread the joints together, puts down layers of muscle tissue, building out a home for the organs. Those are harder — the structure of each is so complex, so different from the one beside it, and Harrow has never spent much time with flesh magic. She almost wishes the Third necromancer was here, just so she could consult with someone who truly understands what lies around and between the bones she is so familiar with.

It helps that the bits Harrow had to begin with — the bits from which all the rest have been grown — were formed from cells that carried Palamedes’s DNA signature. Those cells, the strands of microscopic code inside of them, remember the person they used to be — the shape of him, the way he was built, the way he existed and functioned — it’s all in the memory of those cells. All Harrow has to do is coax her magic into listening to them, following his lead. It’s like a river that’s run dry, swelling again with new water after a long rain and racing down the same path that it has run for centuries.

When she’s finally finished, has put the finishing touches on the monument that she built to house the only person who has ever been truly able to challenge her skill as a necromancer, Harrow regards the body with a critical eye. No matter how she studies him, she cannot find a flaw, and she studies him for quite some time. She isn’t forgiving about it, either. Harrow goes so far as to lay a palm across the cold, dead forehead and peel back the lids to study the empty, clouded-over grey eyes.

The body that Harrow has raised for Palamedes Sextus out of dust and blood and little confettied bits of bone is perfect. There’s even a chip in his front left incisor that Harrow remembers in a faint, shadow of an impression, though she’s not entirely sure when she would have seen it, and a tiny scar almost hidden in his hairline above his right ear. She hopes that Palamedes feels the same when he wakes inside of it. Hopes it feels as perfect to him as it looks to her.

After she has determined this, Harrow waits there, bracing herself on the bruisingly hard floor for a few moments longer, just looking at him. She’s no longer looking for anything in particular. She’s just looking at him, at the still face and the closed eyes, the short hair that lays neater than she’d ever seen it in life. It’s a sharp contrast to the other bodies she has fixed. Palamedes’s hair is clean and orderly, like he’s just freshly washed and dried it.

Palamedes looks strange to Harrow like this. It unsettles her. He looks young and human, laying there still and quiet on the ground, more like a boy and less like a sentient sheaf of grey papers wearing glasses. The lack of his glasses probably contributes to the impression, and Harrow concludes that the effect of seeing him without them is profoundly eerie. It makes her want to hunt down a pair to place over his eyes, though he could make no use of them in this state.

There’s only one thing left to do now, before she goes back in for him.

#gav gab #gav answers #fic: my dead are mine (and yours as well as mine)

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gamebunny-advance · 1 year

Text

I was thinking about what I said the other day, and I feel like putting it to a poll to see if I'm in the minority with my opinion:

*Replaying the entire game multiple times, but only playing the approach the single required time, does not qualify for this option. "Yes" refers to willingly replaying an approach stage after it has been unlocked by already being played once for that playthrough.

Feel free to leave your reasoning in the replies. I'm probably not gonna do anything with the data besides satiate my curiosity, but I genuinely want to know how y'all feel about those stages.

I'll leave my thoughts under the cut, but please vote before you read it, as to not influence your own opinion.

I voted for, "No, I don't think they're fun."

Strictly speaking, I've replayed them all multiple times due to replaying the game multiple times. I've done no less than 3 runs through the entire game. At least twice (but probably much more) through the Switch version due to collecting data/screenshots, and once through Encore Edition. And every time I've done a playthrough, I've always dreaded doing the approaches.

To me, they feel like busy work just to get to the next boss.

Point 1: Combat Doesn't Feel Good

I know that the game's gimmick is that the player doesn't need to attack to the rhythm, but the enemies do. However, the consequence of that is that attacking on the beat goes unrewarded (with one exception) but, failing to dodge on the beat is punished. It creates a very negative feeling gameplay loop where I don't feel good when I succeed, and I feel worse when I fail. The one exception to that is enemies which have parriable attacks. It feels good to parry enemy attacks and subsequently destroy them, but only shooting enemies can do them, and they're one of the least used enemy types due to the game's dedication to making parrying optional during the main campaign. Besides, it's usually faster to shoot those enemies with ammo or by directly attacking them in the case of grounded enemies. (Tbh, I can't even remember if grounded shooters can shoot parriable attacks. I feel like they don't, but I really can't remember, and I can't be bothered to replay them to find out.)

Point 2: Navigation Doesn't Feel Good

This is a small point, since only 2 of the 5 approaches (Sayu's raising platforms and 1010's moving cars) have platforming challenges, but it's a problem nonetheless... at least in earlier releases of the game. In Encore Edition, these moving elements were nerfed so hard by slowing them down that I can't tell if they're even following the music anymore. So now they feel even more like busy work than they did before. This was probably done in response to feedback finding the platforming difficult. And honestly, they kinda were, or at the very least it wasn't intuitive.

Originally, the platforms moved to the beat. As the music for the approaches are EDM based, the BPM is naturally a little fast, so the platforms move a little fast. From observing this, it may then be assumed that to clear a platforming challenge that you must also jump to the beat. But the jump is so long and floaty that by the time you start to descend, the platform has likely already moved, so you actually have to jump in anticipation of the beat, which just doesn't feel as good. Also, since the characters lack any kind of "magnetism," or ledge-grab, even if you just barely miss the platform, if it's gone, it's gone. The designers must have been aware of this because you can unlock a move, the air dash, which seems specifically designed for course correction. (A greater issue with NSR is that it seems to have a lot of "band-aid solutions" to its problems, which is indicative of its troubled development, but explaining all that is beyond the scope of this post).

Again, less than half the stages force you to do platforming like that, but I bring them up because they're arguably the only things which made their respective stages even a little engaging to go through since I have to consider my actions before executing them first, but the Encore Edition doesn't even have that much, and the remaining 3 approaches don't have anything.

This isn't to say that the other 3 stages don't have "gimmicks," but they're not better than the platforming of the other 2.

Point 3: These Are Just Corridors of Combat

Yinu's approach has a homing missile which requires the player to almost always be moving. In theory, that could be engaging: having to bob and weave between attacks could be its own kind of rhythm game, but what's really happening is that it's increasing the time it takes to destroy the drones. Since I already don't like the combat, forcing it to take longer is just frustrating. I can't attack while dodging, and most of the enemies already have attacks which require you to back-off to avoid damage, which is more annoying than engaging. If I want to get through the stage quickly, I'm basically forced to tank the damage or rely on other methods of attack such as ammo (which requires defeating an enemy to collect) or abilities which take a lot of time and/or items to charge.

Eve's approach is similar, but rather than having a constant threat, some of her hallways have security eyeballs where if you're caught in their spotlight, they'll attack. While this theoretically means that you need to be a little more careful with your movement lest you take damage, I don't remember there being any section where you're actually forced to walk through one. That being the case, her approach is both the longest and most frustrating because the only thing I can do to progress is to attack enemies and move forward.

The escape from NSR tower isn't addressed as an approach, but it has the same gameplay elements, just reversed: instead of destroying enemies to charge a generator to move forward, you have to charge the generators first while the enemies are *technically* optional. But, the enemies are only optional in the sense that you don't need to destroy them to move forward, but it's going to be annoying as hell if you don't. So if you want to get through the stage without having to constantly stop your charge to avoid enemy attacks, you're basically going to have to destroy every drone anyway.

There is just not a single moment or thing in any approach stage that I ever look forward to doing or seeing. They don't even have the benefit of having cool set pieces most of the time. I just do not see any reason to ever play through an approach except that it's mandatory for completion.

#nsr #no straight roads #gbunny writes #i wrote so much under the cut that it might as well go in that tag #hopefully i didn't mess anything up #since the post has a poll i can't edit it after i post it~

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mrmallard · 6 months

Text

Okay, got my Nintendo Switch stats ready to go!

...NOOOOOOOOOO

Honestly I didn't play as much Switch this year as I did last year. My pro controller has drift in both the sticks, and I recently plugged my PS3 back in so I've been playing that.

Okay, MK11 is a little bit embarrassing.

I bought the game for like twelve bucks. It's an inferior port - not to the degree of MK1, but it's pretty slow.

The reason I have so much playtime is because I was trying to complete the Krypt, which is where you spend in-game currencies on chests to get skins, "konsumables" and additional fatalities and brutalities. This requires a lot of in-game currency, which you have to farm, and to finish the Krypt you have to perform 25 fatalities on every member of the base roster of the game - which adds up to like 675 fatalities.

Tears of the Kingdom was a great game. I think Breath of the Wild is a masterpiece - at the risk of sounding like a pretentious douchebag, I feel like BotW is a very diagetic game. You get those piano licks and OST elements as far as music goes, but for the most part it's the wind blowing through the trees, it's the grass swaying, and you're left to your own devices to fiddle with the controls and have your own adventure.

Tears of the Kingdom reneges on that, but I think it's necessary. If they just made BotW again, quiet and contemplative and vast, it would be way too similar to BotW. So Tears of the Kingdom goes full gamification - here's a suite of editing software, here's a fuckload of doohickeys and doodads, use them to navigate three separate layers of Hyrule. TotK is probably one of the best sandbox games I've ever played, with the way you're able to manipulate your surroundings and build these vehicles. I feel like the developers had so much foresight that your average Joe could have a dumb thought for a contraption that not even they think is gonna work, set themselves up, try it out - and have the contraption work first-time. The shield-spring combo comes to mind, what a great combo.

I'm mixed on Persona 4. I've already played 3 and 5 years ago, so playing 4 after years of hype was bound to be a bit disappointing. I will say that Naoto is my favourite Persona character, but by that same token Yosuke and Teddie are my least favourite Persona characters. It was okay, but it was overlong and I wasn't as interested in the story as it was told as I was interested in my own theories and headcanons. I had a great theory for who the serial killer was, and it went completely to the wayside.

I won't get into Naoto, though I will say that for as much as I had trouble with the direction the game took with her, it still felt more respectful and less shitty/lurid than the way Danganronpa 1 approached gender.

I'm surprised that "action" was my most played genre this year. My guess is that MK11, Minecraft, Diablo 3, Stardew Valley etc. etc. are all tagged as Action as well as other genres.

You can see that October and November are light on gameplay. That's because I plugged my PS3 back in around that time, and I've been prioritising that console with FF13 and the Kingdom Hearts games.

A few standout months:

I bought Persona 4 in February. I was gonna leave it until after my vacation in April, but I managed to squeeze it out over February and March. I'm probably gonna revisit it soon.

April was a short month because I spent two weeks on holiday. I spent three days in Sydney to see Counting Crows, then I spent a week and a half in Adelaide which was great. I didn't take my Switch - it was a good choice, but this was when the Mega Man Battle Network collection came out, and I was DYING for that collection. As soon as I got home, I spent my last thirty bucks on a Switch gift card and bought Vol. 1 of the collection. Haven't even finished MMBN2 by the way, but I'll try and get back into it soon.

I bought Tears of the Kingdom a couple weeks after it launched, and I played it daily through to the end of July. No joke, I was going to work, coming home, playing TotK (and probably eating some cheap, discounted deli food from the supermarket next to my place) and going to bed. This is where my pro controller sticks began to drift - my Joy-Cons drifted way back in the day thanks to a brief but intense Fortnite fixation, and TotK ultimately took out my pro controller. Nintendo needs to fix their drift issues, I hope they've got fuckin NASA engineers working on the next controllers to mitigate the problem.

And then right after I decided I was finished with Tears of the Kingdom? Fuckin HYRULE WARRIORS, baybee!!! Man I love that game. A quarter of my year was spent mostly on Zelda.

This year was a much smaller year for Nintendo in my life. I still played over 500 hours of Switch games, but with the controller sticks on all my Switch controllers drifting and a rumoured new console in 2024, it is what it is.

#nintendo #long post

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myfavebandfizz · 7 months

Text

Crucial Rhythm Interview

FIZZ Released Their Debut Album 'The Secret To Life' On October 27, 2023

Nov 2 2023

Indie-pop supergroup FIZZ released their debut album, The Secret to Life, on Friday, October 27th.

The album has a 12-song tracklist, including their hit single, “High In Brighton.”

What was the inspiration behind the album?

FIZZ: We did it in two separate weeks, the first week we did it in December 2021. We didn't know what was gonna happen but we were excited to be there. Our producer Peter is amazing, he was an amazing facilitator of creativity. He set up the room with all these instruments and most of us were used to working in dimly lit London rooms with not very much in it. We were giddy for that first week, running around and playing the drums, plugging in the guitar and just very noisy chaos. A Lot of the big songs off the album came from that first week. Then we had 6 months in the summer of 2022 and did the second half of it. It was more of the same, we had the best time the first week. We wanted to do the same thing as the first time. Naturally, the giddiness only lasts so long, it's not a sustainable state to be in emotionally. We’d write a couple of really big songs and then go in the kitchen and make dinner and chill. Someone might have a cry because they were stressed out. But then after go into the booth and belt out the song.

What are you most excited about for your upcoming record store tour and headlining tour?

FIZZ: I'm most excited to get energy back from the people who've been listening. We've done so much in the last few months, presenting the band and we've put a lot of energy into it. I'm looking forward to hearing the words sung back at you. It's satisfying and gratifying and all the good things. I'm really excited to bring it into the real world and see their reactions and see what part they laugh at or cry at.

Is there a song you’re excited for people to hear and what song are you excited to perform?

FIZZ: “Grand Finale” it's the most out there. It's the last song of the album. It's 6 minutes of how it feels to not say no to any idea. The spirit of the song feels like that. It doesn't feel like any of us were like should it be shorter, less indulgent, less key changes. That doubt is so far away from that song which is where it belongs. I love how arrogant it is in itself.

What do you hope that listeners take away from this record?

FIZZ: I hope people can take an appreciation of taking stock of their own life and realizing it is enough and it's great and to celebrate it.

How did you know “High In Brighton” was the first single to be released?

FIZZ: It was the first song that we wrote, I don't think there's anything deeper than that. I think that maybe presenting ourselves first with a song that was very everyone. Some of the songs have someone to the front but we wanted it to be clear that the band is a collective with no front person. That is always changing and shifting and being passed around. I think that was maybe a factor of choosing that one first. I just always thought because we wrote it first I like how chronological it felt. Also, it was very convenient that we launched the band at The Great Escape festival in Brighton. So it felt like a nice introduction to the beginning of something.

What has writing and recording this album taught you about finding the secret of life, especially as a group of friends?

FIZZ: We didn't want to put so much weight on writing this album. We didn't want to try and figure out what to say. It's so interesting when you let go of those pressures what comes out. They are some Amazon writers, i always knew that but coming into a room together. I struggled writing with anyone else pre FIZZ but writing with these guys it's so interesting how easily a song can be and how quickly a song can come together. Especially as best friends of all similar ages. It's interesting how a story is kinda written for us, it's already there almost and we shape it to be.

If you could feature any artist on any of the tracks who would it be?

FIZZ: Chet Atkins, the guitarist from the 60’s, we love him, he's great. Also anyone from Queen, ABBA, or The Darkness. That would be sick.

How did you guys determine how to craft the visuals to compliment the music you were making?

FIZZ: I think when we were talking about the trip itself after we came back. We were talking about it as if it was this whirlwind and was made in this dream state. It felt like a retreat from how we had been doing music in the past. It felt like we'd inverted or completely flipped our approach to music-making. Naturally when we started to think of the visual world that would mirror that we kind of referenced films we grew up watching. Like Willy Wonka, Tim Burton films, Alice in Wonderland, and Wizard of Oz, all of these sort of fantastical technicolor films that feel very joyful and exaggerated and triumphant in so many ways. But kind of had this twinge of darkness to it. Something I realized as well is that all of these films start off in normal life and then go off to these whimsical places where people go on a journey to find out more about themselves and their lives and the people they surround themselves with. Which is such a direct reference to how the making of the album was. It was just really nice that we sorta reference those films. We worked with an amazing photographer Jp Bonino who is incredible and helped bring this make-believe land called Fizzvelle that keeps coming up in all the visuals and campaigns that is part theme park part town. If you join our discord you can become a Fizzville resident. In all the artwork you can see Fizzville in the distance and there are loads of easter eggs throughout the campaign. Telling the story of the band behind the music has been really exciting.

#fizz #yourfavebandfizz #fizz band #all #interview #Crucial Rhythm #Crucial Rhythm interview

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bangtanpromptsfics · 3 years

Text

coral roses. (m)

dialogue prompt #2: “If you won't do it then I'll”

pairing: jungkook x reader

genre: established relationship, smut, pwp(?), fluff

word count: 1,414

warnings: making out, unprotected sex (more like a quikie(?)), top!oc, bottom!jk

summary: jungkook loses a bet because he needs to devour you

a/n: drop your feedbacks guyss!! pretty much a pwp :)

masterlist

“If you won't do it then I'll”, he grits his teeth, more like in a cute way making you chuckle. You glance at him through the book you're reading at the moment, winding up to relax from the long day.

“Well then you lose”, you coo. He plops on a farther end of the bed, bringing himself to sit on his heels.

“Why are we even doing this in the first place baby?”, he whines, tapping on your ankles a little to catch your attention. First of all you are taking a really childish challenge way too seriously and acting like a brat on top of that.

“You started it”

“I was drunk!”, he fights back, his doe shaped eyes enlarging to show his disappointment.

“It's just a few more hours Jeon. Don't be so impatient hm?”, you don't look up at him. Going on and about teasing him. He did like it sometimes, but right now wasn't the time.

To put more context, Jungkook drunk confessed that he is addicted to your lips and kept kissing them all through a party and you sort of pricked on his lack of self control. And since Jungkook is a man fond of challenges, he immediately makes a very dramatic toast with half a glass of his liqor that he won't touch you or kiss you for an entire day.

And as usual, his sober self has to bear with the consequences. To take things further down the hole, you are wearing only an oversized hoodie, fresh scent of your shampoo and skincare products around the air, sitting there with a bare face and focused eyes, though that might be just a play you're putting up.

“Aren't you going to change, just gonna sit there? Go take a shower Jungkook you are stinking”, you add, and it's a lie. He smells like his expensive collection of perfumes and much more boyfriend enough to not kiss, but...you know, ego.

To summarise, he had enough of this.

The book is yanked away from your hand. His strong hands builds a cage around your small frame and presses it against the headboard of the bed. He smirks, realising it only takes the bare minimum to make you falter.

“Okay…I lose baby. I just need you now”. he growls.

He immediately seeks home in caressing your outer thigh where your hoodie ends, and spreads them enough for him to settle better to kiss you hard. Loads of pent up frustration and he feels like he is pulled back to life when he finally presses into your mouth.

Thanks to your bratty ass, he doesn't go any easy. A shaky moan leaves your lips when his tongue licks at the floor of your mouth, but also, he isn't doing anything more than holding your thighs when you are already craving and all worked up.

You hold his wrist and try to bring it to your chest, but he slaps it away, so you go for his collars to pull impossibly closer to feel his torso on you, althoughfeeling sad with no other stimulation on your body.

When the air starts to run out, he finally inches back, licking on his lips. Your lips quirk up when he tugs at the hem of your hoodie.

“My baby didn't seem so eager earlier”, he rasps. Glad that your face stays hidden when he slowly pulls out your hoodie, leaving you in white panties.

He holds you by the waist and turns both of your bodies around so that he sits resting back on the headboard while you are straddling his lap, immediately trying to rub against his denim covered thighs for some friction.

He stops, squeezing your butt cheeks, “Patience baby, ride something better hm?”.

He chuckles at the animalistic endeavor of yours to get him naked. But you don't bother to get his pants all the way out, just enough to pull out his member.

He shudders, feeling the air cooling off the wetness on his member, and you get up just a moment enough to be completely bare while he starts stroking himself.

Removing his hands, you hold his girth, pumping it a few times to watch him sink into your touch, head falling back.

You go for his neck, determined to bring spots of purple around it. It feels like you are taking your sweet and his not-so-sweet time to go further, so his grip drops down to hook under the butt and plop you straight on the head of his cock. He holds some sort of intense eye contact, one that of beyond lust, but there is no time for any analysis when he jerks his pelvis upward to sear into you.

You clench almost pathetically around him and he groans, guiding you to bob up and down his length.

Jungkook can't come up with any coherent thoughts to word his feelings right now. He just loves you so much and very happy to have a really healthy relationship, one consistent for years and with understanding. He feels like tearing up, out of both pleasure and warmth.

He sees you fondling with your breasts so he leans forward to lick in some attention to the pebbled buds. The more faster you went on him, he suked in harder, biting around to return the artwork on his neck and along the jaw.

“I'm close baby… mngh keep going”, he aligns his movements accordingly to let you feel him as deeper as possible. You can't come up with words, except chanting his name for every clench of the wall.

Though it was just breif sex, it felt euphoric after being touch deprived. A day doesn't sound long, but he is crazy about you and could make love all day if he could.

With a silent scream, he comes, starting your own orgasm. It takes a moment to come down from the high.

You remain as you are, close and cuddled. The bed is probably stinking with sweat and arousal, but you couldn't care any less. You wrap your hands around his torso, feeling his cock softening inside you.

“I love you so much baby”, he whispers, planting a kiss to your cheek. You blush and press your cheeks to his pecs, “I love yo— what's that? ”

His pants have ridden further down his thighs and something is poking out of his pocket. You feel his heartbeat increasing against your cheek.

Fuck. It's a ring.

“Baby please don't freak out I can explain! ”, he shouts out, wrapping his hands around you more firmly, assuming the worst of the scenarios.

You hug him back, eyes still on the black velvet box spread out on the bed.

“I planned so much. I swear. I wanted to make this perfect”, he rushes to supply. He feels your warm hands rubbing his back to calm him down.

“Kookie”, you pull away from him, hands cupping his cheek because he is too terrified to look at you in the eye right now, “Please propose to me”.

He takes a moment to let your words sink in. And after, he is the quickest thing on earth to grab the box and open it.

“Y-Y/n…”.

“Take it easy. Breathe Kook. You are not breathing. It's just me. ”

That puts him into more ease. He feels embaressed that he couldn't do it in a more independent manner, the way he had them all laid out— coming Saturday at the first cafe you went on a date. It was supposed to be perfect. You would walk home holding hands, and then he would get on one knee and tell you how much you mean to him. But it's all gone now and he feels bad.

You hold his pecs and give it a pat and he smiles, a nervous one, “Y/n...will you marry me?”

You plant a sweet kiss to his lips. It feels a little salty from his incoming tears. You rub it away with the pad of your thumbs, “Yes Kookie, I'll marry you”.

“Baby you make me the happiest man alive”, he sobs. His hands still trembling to place the ring on your fingers. It's lavish and work of custom made beauty, he put months of work into it. Though things didn't go exactly planned, it was a happy ending. He can't wait to see you in a white dress at the altar, to be the father to your kids and to call you his wife for the rest of his life.

Thank you so much for reading!! ♡

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biggest-stupidhead · 3 years

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I'm sorry for sending many requests 😭 but I saw something and I had to show you! I was reading about spellchecker mistakes and this popped up:

"Once, close to Christmas, I was wondering if we were going to work the day before, I asked “Hi boss, good afternoon. Are we going to have sex tomorrow? ”. He was on the second floor and you could hear his laughter in the entire office."

I thought it would be funny a levi x reader from that 😂 you pick if it's gonna be platonic or romantic!

ahhhh this is so funny I love it! Tbh it took me way too long to understand what was happening but now I get it and I think it’s so cute.

Summary: You make a typo in an email to your boss.

Word Count: 1.3K

You leaned back in your chair and swiveled around to look out at the snowy city. Fat flakes of snow were spiraling down from the sky, you felt like a little kid when that familiar excitement that came with a good snow gathered in your chest. It was nearly Christmas, a time that wasn't celebrated in your office, your boss, Levi was only just recently warming up to the idea of allowing a birthday party for him to be thrown. Behind his back you had heard the interns calling him a slew of mean names: Grinch, scrooge, and even comparing him to that scary neighbor in home alone. You hadn't said anything, simply because you knew that they weren't wrong, but also you knew that Levi was deeper than the front that he put on. You turned around and decided to get up and grab a cup of tea, and probably one for Levi too.

You had gotten to know him well over the past four years that you had worked under him. He was a particular man, who loathed small talk, coffee, you assumed he hated children, and he also hated parties. You had invited him over to your humble apartment once for a beer and movie night with Erwin, Hange, Mike, and Nanaba. He had surprisingly showed, but proceeded to complain and be an absolute sourpuss the whole evening. You marched out of your small office and into the even smaller kitchen, where you weren't surprised to find almost all of the interns.

They had been lagging behind their usual pace the past few weeks, most offices offered a few days off for the holidays, but Levi basically held the employees until Christmas day. The interns all collectively straightened up at your presence, you worked directly under Levi and they were always hyper aware around you incase you had loose lips. Thankfully for them, you were no snitch, you just wanted your afternoon tea. Eren shimmied out of your way as you reached for the burner, he was in the middle of tying his hair off of his face. Mikasa was surprisingly no where to be found, you knew she and Armin were the two good ones. Connie and Sasha returned to their game that they had been playing, a weird spin on rock paper scissors, you had seen them play it before. They used a bowl large enough to fit their head in and an empty bottle of pop. As soon as they both matched the sign, for example, scissors, one would grab the bowl and the other the bottle. The goal was to cover your head before your opponent could bash you over the head with the bottle. It was a loud game, but it kept them busy so you didn't complain. Jean was officiating as always, legs crossed and nose in a magazine as he gave out half-assed hum of approval or disapproval. You finished the tea and stalked back to your office to catch up on emails. You glanced at the calendar and found it to be only a mere week away from Christmas. You decided to shoot Levi an email and attempt to bargain for a few extra days off.

"Hey Levi, good afternoon, is there anything you need? I was just looking at the calendar and couldn't help but notice that your birthday is only a few days away! Crazy how time flies. Anyway, I just wanted to know if we were having sex on Thursday?"

-(Y/n) (L/n)

You pressed send and continued to scroll through your emails as per usual. No less than five minutes later, your door practically blew open when Levi stormed in, stormy eyes dark and clearly crankier than usual.

"Oh don't tell me you were just yelling at those poor-"

"Explain now." He snapped, slamming his hand down onto your desk. You didn't flinch, well accustomed to his fits of rage. However it was a bit concerning that it was aimed towards you.

"I...don't understand sir?" you were careful with your words as you looked up at him, once again swiveling in your chair to stand.

"The email (Y/n)" he sounded exhausted as he gestured towards your desktop.

“Oh...I know it was a bit of a long shot, but I had to ask.” You shrugged, still confused on why he was so upset. Levi growled and rounded your desk, he pushed you rather roughly back into your seat before shoving your chair aside and leaning over your computer. He clicked through your emails before opening the one that you had sent minutes prior. He reached back and hauled you back to your desk. His hand was gripping the back of your chair, causing the leather and wood to groan under the pressure he was applying. You looked up at him with concern written over your features.

“Levi?”

“Just read the damn email.” Levi growled as he glared at the screen. You sighed dramatically and turned your gaze to the screen, where you slowly and carefully reread the email. Levi watched your face closely as your eyes scanned the screen. You gasped when you realized that you had somehow replaced work with sex. You turned with a hand over your mouth to look up at him.

“Levi I swear I didn’t-”

“Oh no don’t double back on me now (Y/n)” Levi teased as he looked down at you with amusement sparking in his eyes.

“Please you have to understand-”

“No I understand just fine, you want to fuck your boss.” Levi hummed, hand still resting on the back of your chair.

“It was a typo.” you huffed stubbornly, of course you thought he was attractive, but you had never dared cross that line. You were surprised that Levi was being so playful on this matter, usually he was a stickler about in office relationships.

“Oh a typo.” Levi scoffed as he swiveled your chair to be facing him, you rolled your eyes trying to mask the flustered feelings that were threatening to come to the surface.

“Yes a typo.” You confirmed as his hand slid off the back of the chair in favor of resting on the arm of the seat, effectively caging you in.

“Well in that case...yes you can have Thursday off. But only if you get all that paperwork done before then.” Levi’s breath was fanning over your face, the lingering scent of tea and mint flooding your nose.

“Consider it done.” You assured him as you crossed your legs confidently and leaned back in the chair.

“And when I have the day off....we can go try out that new restaurant down the street.” You said boldly and Levi hummed in agreement.

“No plans for Christmas Eve then?” Levi inquired as he drummed his fingers on the arm rest.

“Levi...I don’t celebrate the holiday.” You couldn’t help but giggle at the way his face screwed into a confused expression.

“You asked for it off though?” Levi said slowly, not understanding why you were being to difficult.

“Yeah, my family celebrates it but...I just don’t really.” You shrugged and Levi glowered down at you.

“That’s not confusing at all.” Levi huffed sarcastically and you rolled your eyes.

“Maybe if you’re extra nice to me...I’ll tell you why I don’t celebrate the holiday.” You said with a sweet smile up at him.

“You don’t have to, I don’t celebrate it either.” Levi shrugged as he went to stand, you reached out, hoping to keep him close. You snagged him by the tie and brought him back into your space.

“So dinner on...Thursday then?” You hummed, tilting your head up to meet his eyes.

“Yes, dinner...” Levi swallowed thickly at the feeling of you tugging on his tie.

“Perfect. See you then.” You said, releasing his tie and turning back to your work. Levi let out a relieved sigh as he went to leave your office, glad to have settled that awkward ordeal, and even more excited for Thursday.

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