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mesaprotector · 2 months

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I began writing this Elden Ring review when I felt the game nearing a close. Today I finished it. First "AAA" game I've ever played to completion, and I have mixed but mostly positive feelings. At any rate, my life to come is going to be a bit different not fighting wolves for hours each week.

Graphics

Anywhere from "fine, but relentlessly grim" (Caelid, much of the Mountaintops) to "I want to move here right now" (Siofra/Nokron, Leyndell, the Roundtable Hold). The game looks very good, though I can't say the same about some of the enemies and NPCs. When the designers cared, they made some very cool-looking stuff - Astel, Naturalborn of the Void is one of my favorites.

Music

The region themes were definitely a highlight. Above all, the terribly sad theme of Leyndell, a lone city clinging to life in a world falling gradually to pieces. The way the horn-using enemies harmonized with that theme was a beautiful touch. I wasn't as impressed with the boss themes though that might just be my personal preference for chiptunes.

Characters

Overall, this isn't a character-driven game, and that's fine. The voice acting definitely lends a hand with best boy Margit/Morgott and other characters like the Blackguard; but most characters who are memorable are memorable because of their designs or combat abilities. I do have to ask, though, why do most of the characters have to die? Even characters whose arcs I completed just up and died at the end. Alexander should've survived!

Combat

I think for the most part this aspect was fun. I definitely can criticize certain enemies getting reused (those awful ulcerated tree spirits, if you're going to reuse a boss that many times at least pick one that's fun). The balance was a bit off, as the game very clearly expects you to be playing a Str/Dex melee-focused build with a lot of dodging, weaving, and blocking, and doesn't bother balancing for anything else. Never mind that you can snipe enemies from a distance one by one or mow them down on Torrent, and then certain boss fights are MUCH harder doing anything except melee. (Hi, Rennala... or any of the Crystalians.) I don't know if it was intentional that some dungeons are torture but have easy bosses at the end.

I played Dex/Fth, using the Treespear for most of my run until I went for the Blasphemous Blade later in the game, with the Cipher Pata as a backup. I was terrible at dodging and only attempted it on bosses with telegraphed attacks like Mohg and the Fire Giant. I spent most of my time on Torrent, because the Treespear is an S-tier mounted weapon, and turned into a stealth-sniper every time I was in a dungeon. People sleep on bows and crossbows - their damage is terrible, but they're fantastic for aggroing one enemy at a time or hitting those dungeon pillars that breathe fire.

Despise the weird balancing, I think my only major quibbles with the combat in Elden Ring would be that, one, items are mostly useless - why use a Rune Arc to try to beat a hard fight when it's not enough of a buff to guarantee a win, and you lose it permanently? - and that the boss fights being occasionally hard throws progression out of whack if you're anything other than very, very stubborn. Which leads me to my main complaint about this game.

Questlines

Oh dear lord. I've always hated "guide dang it"-type content in games, but it's fine if it's like, secret rooms that have a bunch of coins and a cool sword. Not if there are obscure quests that you're all but required to play for much of the game's plot to make sense. (Rogier! I'm talking about Rogier!) I'll get into this more in the "story" section but I scarcely had a clue what was going on for most of the game, because almost all the lore for the game is hidden deep in questlines which can easily be permanently missed. I praise Miriel his Holy Turtleness every day for being one of the only NPCs who tells you about the gods without you having to find the Dubious Runebear Medallion first (or whatever). Without him I'd have had no idea who Marika even was.

The game also punishes you, over and over, for daring to explore areas early. Nepheli and Corhyn both died because of this in my playthrough - I'd already explored the Albinauric Village and the cliff by the Royal Colosseum, respectively, so I didn't re-explore once they moved to those locations. Then they just both died when I burned the Erdtree. Thanks, game. Really appreciate it.

While I'm at it - gesturing should never have been a mechanic in questlines except when you're explicitly told what to do (like the Finger Snap to summon Blaidd). Same with the Prattling Pates - there was zero indication they were anything but a joke item and then suddenly, dead Boc because you missed the single chance the game gives you to use one. (Rebirth with Rennala didn't kill me the three times I did it... so why did it kill Boc?)

I'm not sure I'd have completed even a single quest had I not had the bright idea to look them all up after the Fire Giant. (Maybe Fia's?) Turns out that was already a bit too late.

Story

I will say that the game's story and world is very, very good. It's a shame it's so hurt by the poor quest design, because I genuinely wanted to learn everything I could about the demigods, about the conspiracies and factions and everything else. Unfortunately I've learned more from the game's wiki than from the game itself. Even when I burned the Erdtree I wasn't totally sure why I was doing it, except that Melina told me to.

I was told by a friend not to heavily RP my character because it'd make the game too hard, but I did do a bit of it. I played a tough old lady, pious but brutal, who would never dare talk to the Three Fingers or do the bidding of a heretic, but wouldn't hesitate to slay a god. I intentionally skipped Tanith's questline because of this, and left the Dung Eater to rot.

Endings

I accidentally picked Ranni's ending. I was in the boss room after finally beating that obese flying salamander and instinctively pressed E when I saw a message below me, and instead of asking to confirm the game went straight into the cutscene. (Yet another example of this game being poorly designed for PC!) I think I was eligible for two other endings, and Fia's was my favorite concept of the three, though its 20-second cutscene I watched later on Youtube wasn't much. It does feel like the endings have the same issue as the rest of the game - very good ideas that never get explained well enough to be appreciated.

Overall

7/10; an amazing world with passable characters and very fun gameplay, but held back by the terrible quest design. If the game provided a lot more lore by default (for example, at the end of each major boss fight, or through Gideon and other NPCs who rarely change location), and made it very clear what the quest breakpoints were, it could easily be a 9/10. The game breaks the unspoken rule that hidden content should never be core to the plot. Anyone who plays this game should do it with a guide - not an exhaustive 100% checklist, but enough of a guide that nobody ends up dead without you intending it, and that you don't miss the most plot-relevant quests in the game.

#elden ring #elden ring review #i probably will genuinely just look up the lore aspects of the dlc instead of playing it #PRAISE MIRIEL #lol #video games

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tiredassmage · 2 years

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I continue to love Tyr SO MUCH every time I read more about him. Just think he deserves some appreciation in ~the ask box~ and maybe a break. He sounds like he needs a break.

(Tbh he and my cipher agent Five sound like they’re in a very similar boat of “can we catch a fucking breather please?” “No” “okay thanks”) and love that for them

;_; I HAVE NO WORDS. MY ENDLESS APPRECIATION BACK TO YOU. Jkahdjdjfufjfkf. This literally means the world to me and let me also just say, you in my asks is always an absolute treat, I cannot thank you enough.

I really, really do love him, so like... unfortunately for him, he's suffering from my infamous main obsession syndrome and that means I also spend lots of time on his problems jsjdjdkfkf. He really could absolutely use a break. WHY isn't this man retired, honestly? Get out of the game, Nine. You lived. You literally evicted the Sith Emperor. Find a nice, remote planet and just fuck off, dude, take your husband with you. You deserve it, bestie!! (I give him maybe two weeks, tops, before he'd lose his patience. Someone tell him how to turn off all those spy instincts and that nasty sense of responsibility to see the conflict to its end because he can't help but feel he has to do something, knowing what he does of the Empire. Seriously. Tell him to stop. He worries me sometimes. Don’t you dare self-destruct like that, you dumb bastard. I’m watching you, Tyr.)

Imperial Agent support club tbh. They've done enough, damn it. 😔🤣 I probably owe them drinks, if Five would also like. xD

Okay, Tyr appreciation without me babbling off about him because while we’re here. I love playing pixel dress up with this man, so like, favorite ‘fits time!!!!

This is still my favorite look for him, I think. He’d never confess, but ‘the Red Blade’ is still probably one of his favorite covers and returning to a level of that persona on Rishi was way more fun than it had any right being.

It’d also be remiss of me to not mention his absolute classic(tm) - this eventually served primarily as a cold weather ‘fit, but was one of the earliest sets I acquired for him, so it’s one of the default outfits/color schemes I imagine him in.

I would say he has the most outfit slots unlocked of all my toons so far, but I think Lensan’s starting to give him a run for his credits, if he hasn’t already won. Tyr was really like... my descent into outfitter madness. The beginning. The first time I finally grasped the absolute potential of giving them different outfits for different occasions. It’s all been downhill from there, man. What do I play games for - and especially their money markets - if not to play pixel dress up, tbh? (Lensan has an absolutely outrageous amount of blasters I keep in his inventory for the sole purpose of stamping them to outfitter slots, it’s kinda hilarious.)

Also kudos to him for being the only character I have that hasn’t snatched a 2nd combat style bc I may have no idea if I’m doing half of it right, but you can pry Operative out of my cold, dead hands. Superior solo experience. It has stealth. It has a combat roll (that I miss when I play literally every other game, ngl, I’ve been corrupted). Solid single target output for my purposes of story content. I picked it up as a second for Len simply to make Section X dailies less a pain in the ass and I haven’t swapped back to Merc for him in ages, oops. >.>

I also need to go off about him and Shara one day because this bitch STILL probably hasn’t processed his feelings about how all of that went down and, honestly, Tyr, please. C’mon. I’m still judging him for how he tried to convince himself Nathema and Umbara and all of that was just like. Not an issue he needed to talk about. He was fine. Obviously. Theron was back!!! Alive!!! End of story, right???!!!! No!!! Absolutely not!!!! Shakes him by the shoulders, stop repressing your own feelings, you know you can talk to Theron!!!

Idiot. I love him. I love this man so much. I want to spin him around like a Rubix Cube.

#answered #dot talk #ch: tyr #literally like adskfndslfndsf you've slain me i love and appreciate you for supporting my... idk kdasfnlsanfdsd #swtor #imperial agent #swtor oc

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andrevasims · 3 years

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Here it is! It’s a default replacement for the stealth hood that holds all the hobby lots from Freetime.

CC-free, clean & empty of sim references, run through HoodChecker, LotCompressor, LotCleaner, and playtested!

I didn’t include too many pictures, cause firstly this is a lot, but also I think it’d be cool to sort of ~experience it firsthand~ like we did way back when with the original Freetime lots... Though hopefully with less disappointment this time lol

Please read the Notes section below before playing!!!

— What I Changed: ————————————————

• A brand new style for the Hobbies stealth hood!

I added a TON of hood deco & rearranged the lots.

Now the urban/industrial-themed lots look like they’re actually part of a city, and the nature/outdoors-oriented lots have extra surrounding greenery.

The lots are also no longer invisible! It doesn’t change anything gameplay-wise, but it adds to the style of the stealth hood so it looks like a legit place instead of an empty wasteland where nothing exists.

• There are NO townies or NPCs.

It’s completely clean & empty.

Your hood will randomly generate the 10 Iconic Hobbyists as they’re required. They’re generated like normal townies, using your townie name pool & default/non-default face templates, etc.

Alternatively, if you don’t like random, you can use a pre-made Iconic Hobbyist pool like from PlumbTales or PlyPlay665.

Certain lots have objects that spawn NPCs. See the Notes section for more info.

• All lots are now 20x20. Yep, every single one.

I hate how large EAxis lots are, especially because bigger lot + more sims (which of course there are on community lots) = LAAAAAG.

So now, instead of gigantic buildings with almost nothing in them spread out on huge lots your sims take forever to walk across, everything makes the most of the space it’s in.

This leads to a few tight-ish spaces in some lots, but I playtested and asked others to playtest for issues like that, and after fixing some that cropped up there shouldn’t be any more. Let me know if you spot any issues though, it’s always possible I missed something!

Traffic jams are still a risk, but I did what I could to minimize them by adding multiple doors and wider space around certain objects, etc.

• Every single lot was rebuilt from the ground up.

It was kinda necessary considering how drastically I resized some of the lots, but I also wanted to reimagine them in a more “modern” and interesting/fun way. If you’re going to Will’s Garage you expect it to look like a garage, not a rectangle with a hole in it lol.

I also incorporated more EPs/SPs & career objects pertaining to each hobby.

Every object that sims can gain hobby enthusiasm from is somewhere on the corresponding hobby lot. One exception is that Games of Glory doesn’t have a pool anymore, so sims can’t play Marco Polo. It didn’t really fit into the way I redesigned the lot, but I thought it was an acceptable sacrifice.

• I made some (very slight) changes to the names of the lots.

The names were pretty clear to begin with, but I like even more clarity than that so I added the lot’s associated hobby at the end of each lot name.

Example “My Muse II - Art Studio“ is now called “My Muse II (Arts & Crafts).”

It doesn’t change the function of the lot whatsoever. It’s just for player ease of use when choosing which hobby lot to visit.

— Where to Install This: ——————————————

Place the F002 folder in the following location:

• For UC: C:\Program Files (x86)\Origin Games\The Sims 2 Ultimate Collection\Free Time\TSData\Res\NeighborhoodTemplate

• For Not-UC: C:\Program Files (x86)\EA GAMES\The Sims 2 FreeTime\TSData\Res\NeighborhoodTemplate

Move the original F002 folder somewhere else so that the two don’t get mixed together and so there’s only one single F002 folder for the game to access.

— How to Add to an Existing Hood: ————————

Please **BACK UP YOUR HOOD** before doing this JUST in case.

1. Place my Hobbies stealth hood replacement in the NeighborhoodTemplate folder as described above

2. Follow this tutorial to delete your hood’s original Hobbies stealth hood

3. Re-enable the Hobbies Neighborhood Template that you disabled during the tutorial (just rename it back to NeighborhoodTemplate)

4. Open the game and load your hood - The game automatically adds the new Hobbies stealth hood to it!

— Notes: ——————————————————————

• Certain lots have objects that require an NPC:

Desirable Discourse - Cashier, Hot Dog Chef

My Muse Music & Dance Studio - DJ, Break Dancer

Sue’s Secret Kitchen - Food Judge, Bartender

Will’s Garage - Remote Control Car

New NPCs are only created for these objects if no NPCs of that type exist in the main hood. For example, if your hood already has at least one (1) Cashier NPC, the hobby lot will use that NPC instead of creating a new one.

• The Iconic Hobbyist may spawn in a weird spot when a lot loads, like... on the roof.

The original hobby lots had the same problem, because the game picks a random spot for them to appear, so there’s a chance it could pick a “bad” spot. Just leave then reload the lot to make them appear somewhere else.

• With the DJ booth on the My Muse lot, sims will hand-wave like they’re being blocked before successfully doing the “Work as the DJ!” interaction.

This is a built-in EAxis bug. Sims don’t wait for the DJ to leave the booth before trying to use it, hence the complaining. Even if there were no walls or other objects around the booth at all, this would still happen. There is no way to fix this without a mod that edits this specific aspect of all DJ booths (which doesn’t exist to my knowledge).

It does NOT prevent sims from using the booth. They will immediately start using it after doing the hand-wave complaining. This is how all DJ booths work on all lots.

• Some deco is inaccessible, so if a sim tries to “View” it they complain about being blocked.

The main culprit is a scultpure on the Aspirational Laboratories lot, but it’s deco so it’s not supposed to be accessible.

It also happens with the tree ring on the Peerless Park lot, though that’s more due to multiple sims trying to be in the same place at once. Which I can only do so much about lol.

— Credits: —————————————————————

@eulaliasims‘s hobby lot editing tutorial

@sunradersimblr‘s guide on hobby hood/lot editing, the info from their own replacement version, and their guide on cleaning & emptying a hood since I didn’t originally make this in a clean game intending to share it lol - Also for helping me test & telling me what I missed!

@jawusa‘s clean/empty hood templates I used as a base to ensure cleanness/emptiness

✨ DOWNLOAD: SFS | MF ✨

🔹 More pictures & interiors 🔹

🔸 Non-Secret Normal Community Versions 🔸

#ts2 default #sims 2 default #sims 2 cc #ts2cc #sims 2 download #cc free lot #long post #my cc #download: lot #download: default #download: hood

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j-amespotter · 3 years

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★ mirrorball - j. p.

“i'm still trying everything to keep you looking at me.”

Pairing: James Potter x Gryffindor!Reader

x. x. x.

Summary: James Potter has only ever had one girl on his mind. You’ve always known that. You decide it’s time for a new haircut.

Genre/Warnings: slight angst/FLUFF, insecurity (?)

Word Count: 2.1k

A/N: fluff?? from me??? who would have thought? first time writing for james! this is just me finding out lily had shoulder-length hair in ootp and rolling with it ;p let me know if you would like to be added to my taglist

masterlist

“Are you sure about this?” asked Mary Macdonald, a fellow sixth-year, close friend and roommate of yours.

Open scissors hovered around a section of your thick hair. You eyed yourself in the mirror contemplatively. “Positive,” you affirmed.

Mary shook her head disapprovingly and sighed. “If you insist. I really like your long hair, though.”

A small, almost-undetectable part of you agreed. “Change is always good.”

“For the right reasons,” retorted Mary. Nevertheless, she trimmed off the allotted portion of your hair. Gulping at the lopsided haircut, you knew there was no turning back. You assumed that cutting your hair to match Lily Evans’s new hairstyle was not what Mary considered to be “for the right reasons.”

“You know,” said Mary after snipping away in silence for a few minutes, “I think he likes you just the way you are.”

That’s the problem, you wanted to answer. I want more. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Mary glanced towards the door of their dormitory. “Copying Lily’s haircut is not the way to go about this, (Y/N),” she said in a hushed whisper.

Yes, it is. He chose her. “I’m not trying to copy Lily,” you hissed defensively. “I just wanted to try something different. And what better way to celebrate a Quidditch win than to debut a new haircut?”

Suddenly, you caught sight of a new face in the dormitory. With a quick glimpse of her, you couldn't help your defeated sigh. Lily Evans was bright and funny. She was the physical embodiment of sunshine, with hair the color of red wine and vivid green eyes. It was for these reasons and more that, unfortunately for you, Lily became the object of James Potter's affection, nearly as much as he was yours.

But even that was untrue. Your love for James, despite its unrequited nature, was different from his love for Lily. You and James were two sides of the same coin, just different enough to complement each other perfectly. It had been six years. The boy who had overpowered every waking thought of yours was yet to come to the same realization.

“Hey,” greeted Lily. “Great game today, (Y/N)! Party just started downstairs. What’s the hold-up?” She spotted the scissors in Mary’s hand and your sheepish gaze through the mirror. “Merlin, you cut your hair! It looks amazing!”

You wished you could hate her, but such was the unmistakable appeal of Lily Evans. “Thanks, Lily,” you said with what you hoped was a genuine smile. “I was freshening up. We thought I could use a little spruce.” Out of the corner of your eye, you saw Mary turn away hastily.

“Well, hurry up and get changed! Everyone’s waiting,” Lily added with a cheeky smile, one you could not entirely understand.

You stood up, shaking the hair off of your uniform. With a silent incantation and a flick of your wand, it disappeared from the floor. Glancing at Lily, an idea popped into your head. “I just need to get changed. Lily, can I borrow that yellow dress of yours? The one with the daisies? You wore it at the last game and said I could try it on some time.”

Lily nodded, as unassuming as ever. You decidedly ignored Mary’s glare as you waited for the dress to make it into your hands.

☆

“Took you long enough,” teased Sirius as you sauntered down the stairs with Mary and Lily at your heels. As you reached the bottom of the steps, he peered closer at you. “You look different, (L/N).”

You grinned. “Good different? Or bad different?”

“Ask Potter,” said Lily from behind you.

Feeling the heat rise up your cheeks, you dismissed the supposedly good-natured comment. Instead, you took in your surroundings. An impressive display of scarlet and gold ornamented the common room. Your inner lioness roared in delight. As a Chaser on the Gryffindor Quidditch team, the best House team in Hogwarts history, you couldn’t help the immense pride awakening in your chest at your latest win. You closed your eyes. In an instant, you remembered the exhilarating feel of a soaring broomstick in the brisk air. You imagined yourself in perfect formation with your teammates, trailing after a flash of dark, ruffled hair. You looked into his resolute eyes as he seamlessly passed you the Quaffle.

“Did you cut your hair?” interrupted James’s silky voice.

You turned around with a dazed smile on your face. Meeting his unreadable gaze, you hummed affirmatively. “What d’you think?”

For an unknown reason, he seemed taken aback. Slowly, his eyes raked over your body, head to toe. “It’s pretty,” he said quietly. You didn’t respond immediately, confused by the sudden tortured expression on his face. “Isn’t it a bit cold for that outfit?”

You chuckled darkly. “That’s not what you said when Lily wore it last time.”

James stared at you open-mouthed. Without a word, he stalked away, joining Peter for a butterbeer in the corner of the room.

“What happened?” asked Lily.

You stumbled backward. At this moment, you regretted wearing the high heels you found at the bottom of your trunk. “Nothing,” you snapped.

Lily raised her eyebrow. “There’s no need to take that tone with me,” she said coolly. “It’s not my fault both of you are completely blind.”

“You don’t have a clue, Evans,” you responded, involuntarily blushing at her veiled insinuation.

“I think I do. He has feelings for you, (Y/N).”

You laughed, though you found nothing funny about it. “He likes you, Lily.”

“Maybe,” said Lily, “but he’s in love with you. Everyone can see it.” She paused, placing a friendly hand on your shoulder. “Go talk to him.”

Not a single part of you wanted to have this conversation. As Lily walked toward a tired-looking Remus, you exhaled a breath you didn’t even know you were holding.

Talk to him, said a firm voice in your head. Maybe he feels the same way.

Impossible. There was no way he could feel what you felt just thinking about him. Loving James was like flying. He was the adrenaline rush of being suspended in mid-air. He hit you with the speed of a Bludger whirring past your face. He was the Snitch that delicately fluttered in front of you, brushing your skin. He was the Quaffle that thumped perfectly in your hand.

You scanned the room for the hazel-eyed boy that owned your heart, only to discover that he had left Peter to his own devices. Something heavy settled in your stomach when you finally spotted him, seated on the space on the couch next to none other than Lily Evans. James chatted with her animatedly. You found no comfort in the tell-tale signs of her typical irritation.

Without a second glance, you tripped over your own two feet as you dashed for the portrait hole, wanting more than anything for fresh air and a free spot to scream yourself hoarse.

☆

It was by sheer stealth or unshakeable determination that you did not get caught. Students weren’t allowed on the Quidditch pitch without permission, but it was the only place you wanted to be. It was the only place you could bear to be.

You stood in the center of the pitch, hugging yourself as the prickly cold attacked you from all sides. You thought of lying down on the icy ground but knew not to subject yourself to any more physical agony.

Instead, you stood. You stood in heels that were tight around your ankles, sinking into the grass and bruising the underside of your feet. You stood in a strange, sleeveless dress in a January in the Highlands. Your eyes burned with tears that refused to fall.

Without warning, something feathery grazed your shoulder. Tilting your head slightly, you spotted a Golden Snitch. Gone rogue, you supposed to yourself. It floated at eye-level like a taunt. You reached forward and closed your fingers around it, surprised at the warmth the small object exuded.

“I should have you play Seeker,” uttered a familiar voice.

Startled, you whipped around, only to see nothing behind you. Having pivoted too fast, you felt yourself lose balance and topple backward, straight into the frosted grass you were avoiding.

Peeling off his Invisibility Cloak, James struggled to stop laughing long enough to help you up. Instead, he sat right next to you, wrapping the Cloak around both himself and your blueing body.

“You’ll ruin it,” you warned, teeth chattering.

“It can take it,” he assured. “You’re missing the party.”

“It’s your party, Captain.”

James shook his head. “It’s our party. We’re a team, you and me.”

You didn’t have anything to say to that. The two of you sat in silence, your hand still clutching the Snitch.

“You were so tall,” said James unexpectedly. “In your shoes.”

“I’m not even sure they’re mine,” you said lightly.

“No, they aren’t, are they?”

You didn’t answer. You pulled the Cloak tighter around you, unknowingly pulling James and all of his accompanying body heat along with it. The two of you were so close. You could see every speck of gold in his eyes.

James tentatively lifted his hand and reached for the ends of your hair, twirling a piece around his finger. “Your hair grew back.”

You gasped. “How? I didn’t…”

Grinning, James gently tugged the strand, pulling your ear closer to his lips. “Magic,” he whispered.

“Idiot,” you said, playfully shoving his chest.

Like a magnet, he leaned towards you again. There you were, together, under his Cloak, beneath the stars, in your favorite place in the world. With a hand cupping your cheek, he pressed his lips against yours. You inhaled his earthy scent and melted in his slow, seemingly eternal kiss.

Reluctantly, you pulled away. Your foreheads were touching. His hand remained as it was, cradling your face. “That was…”

“Breathtaking,” finished James without hesitation.

“Yes, it was,” you said, nodding fervently. “But James… what about Lily?”

He frowned. “What about her?”

“You’ve liked her for ages, James–”

“Stop,” he interrupted firmly. “This is our moment, (Y/N). I like you, and I think I always have. Scratch that… I liked Evans. But I love you. I’m in love with you.”

Your eyes widened in genuine surprise. “You are?”

“You’re my best friend,” said James. “I’ve been running away from it for so long. I didn’t mean to hurt you (Y/N). But I want to spend every waking moment with you. I can’t stop thinking about you even when I try.”

“But… I’m just me, James. Little old me.”

“Exactly. I don’t want you to be any different, (Y/N). Not for me,” he added sincerely. “I’m in love with you exactly the way you are. I’ll love you no matter how you look. But you shouldn't change who you are because of me.”

“Bighead,” you teased, swallowing the lump in your throat, “thinking it’s just for you.”

He smiled. James Potter was in love with you: the girl in an oversized Quidditch uniform, her hair cascading behind her, one that could easily deliver a kick in the shins in her trusty trainers. James loved your unfailing wit and uncontrollable nervous energy. He loved the way he felt when he looked at you. He loved the sound of your giggly cheers when you were both in the air. Most of all, he loved the way your lips felt on his. “Your hair grew back,” he repeated, this time with awe he couldn’t conceal.

“Guess we’re one crazy-haired couple,” you joked.

“I like the sound of that,” said James, pressing a kiss against your temple.

You snuggled into him, frozen temperatures now trivial. “I’m keeping the heels, though. I like being tall.”

James snorted. “If you can walk in them.” He proceeded to slip out of the Cloak, stand, and put on a very realistic show of twisting his own ankle.

“Shut up,” you said as he slid back in, snickering uncontrollably. Releasing the Snitch from your grip, you kissed him hard as it flapped in front of you.

Without tearing his lips away, James reached for the Snitch and pocketed it. “I love you,” he whispered against your mouth.

“I love you,” you said, tasting the words on your tongue for the first time, “but if we stay out here, I’ll freeze.”

“Let’s go have our own fun,” said James with another kiss and a wink to follow. “I could get used to this, you know.”

“Me too, Captain. Me too.”

Taglist: @iwritesiriusly @mads-bri @she-seeks-magic @sarcasticallywitty15

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crackinwise · 3 years

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My pet AU is Kiyotaka and Mondo somehow out in the post-Tragedy Japan, surviving and saving people. Like either they didn't agree to stay locked in Hope's Peak for safety, or they survived the game and left with the others but didn't join Future Foundation. Major points up front, details divided into sections under the cut:

Mondo's objective would be to find his gang, and Taka's goal, besides finding his dad, would be repairing society while punishing those responsible for its destruction. But their direct task is keeping each other safe & helping victims along the way.

Mondo even stresses calling Taka "Ishimaru" instead of "bro" or his given name in front of others, so they might KNOW who's saving them. Taka caught on quick & is very grateful.

Taka would have kind of a breakdown reconciling who he is with what he has to do in a lawless world where every public moral is ignored. He keeps a small ledger of places they loot from, to compensate in the future.

At the start, Taka can only sleep burrowed against Mondo's chest or back, blocking out their damaged surroundings & pretending everything is as it was.

He cries in Mondo's arms one night after he couldn't avoid killing someone to save Mondo's life, and that's the tipping point. He thinks if he was better, stronger like his bro, he'd have noticed sooner & found a better option. Mondo is being so brave; he's Taka's rock and Taka wants to be as steady for him too. Their souls are already connected so obviously he just has to borrow more of Mondo's spirit, right?

That's how Ishida is created.

(In reality, Mondo just compartmentalizes and shoves down unhelpful feelings. You thought he needed therapy BEFORE all this, oh man-)

Ishida:

Taka ends up slipping into the Ishida facade for fight and flight; any time adrenaline kicks in and he feels he needs that boost. Sadly, that's most of their waking time. He guards Mondo and anyone they're saving like a fierce watchdog, and won't hesitate to bite.

He'll only come out of the role when he personally verifies it's safe and if Mondo can confirm it. Survivors are confused by the dual-sided Ishimaru switching right in front of them, but they're so grateful (and so much weird crap has happened) that it never phases them long.

Too many times, Ishida will go all day without a break. This means when their hideout for the night is absolutely safe, that it's okay to let go, Taka just collapses in exhaustion. But Mondo is there to catch him.

Mondo feels conflicted over the Ishida role because Taka is just a beast in it--it's very flattering and a little hot--but it also makes him worry more than before about Taka's health. He comforts Taka with a lot of praise and reassurances, and Taka sleeps lightly but otherwise fine.

Relationship: (slight mature warning)

When they touch, Taka swears he can feel the link between them flare to fuel them. Twin fires ignited. Mondo doesn't know about all that, but when their eyes meet it definitely makes him feel invincible, so, he can believe.

If they weren't already new boyfriends when The Tragedy hit, all this closeness makes sure of that soon after. Being together is their happiness and, for a while, their only link to pre-Tragedy lives. Vows not unlike marriage were exchanged one night. Where one goes, the other will follow. Anywhere. Always.

When they kiss, safe and alone, Mondo will ask what Taka wants; what he can handle that night. Sometimes it's just the kisses before passing out, sometimes it's more intimate touches to please them both after another hellish day.

Sometimes Taka will ask to be made love to, for obvious couple reasons, but also because Mondo inside him makes their tether feel stronger, more complete. Like going over the invisible line in bold marker. Taka believes any marks they can create with their mouths, any traces of themselves they can leave on or in each other, the easier they can find their bond and tap into it. (He had started a nervous habit of pressing in on lovebites to keep Ishida going when tired.)

Mondo tells him he doesn't need to find a poetic excuse for fetishes and Taka lovingly answers with a stomach punch.

Crazy Diamonds:

Mondo's gang members, the ones not dead or overcome with Despair, are slowly found and joined back up.

Any smaller and sturdier motorcycles are kept when found. If Mondo was able to keep his own in this version, it's a bit heavier than would be good for any off-roading--and much too loud for any stealth--but he refuses to part with it.

Every gang member respected Taka/Ishida the second they saw him fight beside their leader. Before Mondo says a word about him. They readily take orders from him in either form. The change in appearance was a surprise, but they're already used to some members wildly changing demeanor in or away from the gang, so it's easily accepted.

With the gang as backup to keep watch during downtime--after Ishida sized each one up and watched them for loyalty--the pair can feel a lot more relaxed. They joke about having a date in a blown-out restaurant they find, and they can finally enjoy a deep sleep.

When the group finds safehouses with more than one room, Mondo & Taka are given their privacy. Taka tries to insist everyone deserves a chance at privacy and they should rotate, but changing a gang's long-established hierarchy is a losing battle. And Mondo's not on his side because when they're alone he can be as sappy or touchy as he likes.

Legends:

Taka and Mondo save a lot of people over their journey and kinda become a legend that gets spread around and gives people Hope.

This area still needs work from me. Probably some research into Japanese myths and supernatural symbolism. A placeholder right now is something corny like "Two Men with burning eyes and thunderous voices will answer your cries for help. But if you're evil, the two will appear to you as One Demon and drag you down to the land of the dead."

There's also probably a need for costume changes since their color scheme is the same black & white of the Despair Remnants and monokumas killing people. Legend or not, it'd be easy for traumatized survivors to not know they're good guys at first.

Darker Moments: (blood, violence and vague attempted sexual assault)

After he killed a man to save Mondo, Taka luckily (he wouldn't use that word) doesn't have to again. Hurt? Yes. Beat unconscious? Yes. Maim? Yes, but some of the vile dregs of humanity are caught doing things that deserve worse--

--That deserve Mondo. Once when they were still traveling alone, a group of Remnants jumped them, managing to separate the two, and one knocked Taka out with a bad blow to the head. Mondo dispatched the others attacking him and got to Taka right as the Remnant was about to do something unforgivable.

Mondo snapped. He still doesn't remember what he did, he just remembers coming to in all the blood and dazedly picking Taka up to take him to a place he knew was safe.

Taka never finds out. He woke up a day later with a bandaged head and Mondo crying and kissing his hands. Mondo just told him he beat some and scared away the others.

Minor Details:

They try to always fight back-to-back and, to observers, seem to read each other's mind for where to move.

Taka/Ishida would use a sword or hand-to-hand. The pickaxe might just be a random pickaxe they find, if he uses it at all. Kinda hard to carry both a sword and a railroad pickaxe on your back, and I can't imagine it balances very well. (The size in official pics would be a 5lb head w/2-3lb handle.)

Mondo seems like he would use anything lying in debris to fight. Poles, pipes, chains. Aaaand maybe the knives he mentions in School Mode.

For any costume changes, Mondo would keep his jacket at least. A beacon for the Diamonds. Maybe a purple tank top, and different pants better for knife holsters. Unless the holster should wrap around his waist or hip instead?

Any changes to Taka's outfit would keep his armband. It's a reminder of his Talent and his goal to make Japan even better than before. Also wanna keep his boots or change to more rugged ones.

End Goal:

Obviously they'd end up in Towa, after the events of Ultra Despair Girls. They're reunited with Takaaki and Takemichi. Maybe they help set things right there a bit, or Makoto would get word to them about his plans vs Future Foundation's. Look at me, do I look like someone that knows how to end things?

There is no way you read all that. (I love you if you did.) But feel free to use all or any bits of it in your own works. Almost positive I'll never get to compose all this into a coherent fic format. I might update in short scenario posts under a 'Tragedy-survivor au' tag if I think of anything.

If you have a question or want something expanded upon, ask away.

#ishimondo #kiyotaka ishimaru #kiyondo ishida #mondo oowada #danganronpa #Tragedy-survivor au #i've only read like 2 fics that had this concept but it was ensemble so the boys weren't the focus which hurt me

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arukou-arukou · 4 years

Text

A Non-zero Chance

I jumbled the timeline as I was writing this. Just go with it, okay? For @stevetonygames prompt Fluff: Sparring, for team angst. Also adding fic non-linear and tropes: soulmates. Angst with a hopeful ending. Mentions of sex acts. Canon typical violence. There is a read more line after the first section.

Many many months after that faithful day in Sibera, Tony returned to the scene of the crime. The site was untouched. He hadn’t told Ross about it, and apparently T’Challa had decided well enough was better left alone. The holes they’d put into the bunker of the facility had completely covered over in frost and ice, and Tony had to wonder how Zemo had even dug the little hillock out in the first place. Though there had been a snowcat parked outside when they all first arrived. Without any care, though, it had once again faded into the arctic surroundings. Only someone who knew what they were looking for would find it.

Tony broke in through the holes rather than the front door. He wasn’t really in a mood for digging, and as satisfying as it might be to melt snow with an overloaded repulsor, this mission was also supposed to be stealth and secretive, and he didn’t really need Ross any further up his ass.

Inside, the evidence of their fight wasn’t as big or horrifying as he remembered. There were some structures that had toppled, and a few spots where he’d scorched cement with a repulsor, but it didn’t look nearly as bad as he remembered it being. The Avengers had certainly done worse elsewhere. Tony ran his hand over a shield-shaped crack in the wall.

—

“This is ridiculous, Cap, we need to know how to fight together, not fight each other.”

Steve smiles back over his shoulder. His ridiculously broad shoulder. “After Wanda mind-whammied us, I’m not taking any chances. We should all know how to incapacitate each other just as a precaution.”

“Only incapacitate, Steve? Not maim?”

Steve chuckles and starts strapping on boxing tape. “No maiming on the docket today. Maybe next Tuesday.”

—

Tony followed their trail of destruction back into the heart of the bunker, where the super soldiers still rested suspended, illuminated in sickly yellow. There was the fucking TV, right there. The thing that had ruined it all. Tony stared down at it, wondering where the tape reel itself was located. Probably back in that room Zemo had been hiding in. The bulletproof one. Somewhere in the hallways, Tony could hear water dripping. Impressive, really, given the permafrost all around. He would’ve thought the systems had frozen over long ago. Near his foot, there was a gun, the semi-automatic Barnes had been carrying. It was useless now, its clip and firing mechanisms slagged by his repulsors. He picked it up all the same and aimed it at the glass where Zemo had hidden. The suit’s fingers were too thick to fit over the trigger—what was left of it anyway—so Tony just imagined how satisfying it would be to fill that glass full of shrapnel, to watch Zemo crumple to the ground.

—

“Why are you even training me, Rogers? I’m retired. Aren’t you supposed to be looking after the rookies?”

“Just because you’re retired, Tony, doesn’t mean trouble won’t come looking for you. You’re a pretty attractive target.”

“Why yes. Yes, I am. Thank you for noticing.”

Steve punches his bicep gently before offering a bottle of water. Tony takes it, squirting some into his mouth before moving on to his sweat-drenched hair. On Steve’s left wrist, he catches sight of the red band that hides Steve’s words. It would be rude to ask. Totally taboo. But Tony can’t stop himself.

—

Tony managed to jimmy his way into the control room, and there he found the VCR, still loaded with the incriminating tape. If he were smart, he would just rip the thing apart, burn the tape and shatter the shell. And Tony was smart. Just not smart in the right ways. He fired up the power to the TV, rewound the tape, and then hit play again. He’d rewound too far. Barnes was in his cryo tube. Some slimy scientists were hauling him out, shoving him into some horrifying chair, pushing down the nodes, saying the words.

No. Tony didn’t want this. He didn’t want to feel sympathy for Barnes. He wanted to let his rage fester and corrode him until he didn’t care anymore. All caring had ever gotten him was betrayal.

—

“Do you know who they belong to?” Tony asks, looking up defiantly, refusing to be sheepish about his lack of willpower. Steve glances down at his band before looking up again.

“Yeah. Yeah, I do.” He looks wistful and boyish, sweet and beautiful. Tony wants to kiss away the sorrow he sees in that face.

“Who?”

“Doesn’t matter. He’s dead now.”

“Oh.” Tony touches his own band, thinking of the words beneath. He’s my friend. The most significant thing anyone will ever say to him. The thing that, if the romantics would have him believe it, points him toward his soulmate. He’s never really gone in for that, though. His parents had had each other’s words, and their marriage was anything but blissful and romantic.

No. Tony’s got a different theory about the words.

—

There. Tony spotted it before even knowing he was looking for it. On Barnes’ collarbone. Had fate known he would lose the arm? It was unusual for words to be somewhere else on the body. Non-dominant wrist. That was the norm. The tap quality was shit and Tony couldn’t enhance it without bringing the tape back to Fry. And like hell he was bringing the tape home. Were the files somewhere? Hadn’t Zemo had a book? Maybe it was here?

Tony searched the control room, trying to find evidence of the thing Zemo had used to control Barnes. There was no sign of it, but what there were were dozens of filing drawers, all of them covered in a layer of dust. Tony started digging.

—

Steve’s off his game today, Tony can tell. He’s distracted by something, mind not in the ring, and Tony takes advantage. Just like Steve and Nat taught him to. He sweeps Steve’s leg, rolls on top of him, pins his leg in a position that's precariously dangerous even for a supersoldier, and applies weight. “Yield?”

It’s late, the halls are quiet. Tony hadn’t even meant to do sparring with Steve today, but Steve had asked, so Tony had delayed his return to New York City and well, the late hour puts his mind elsewhere.

Their eyes lock. Tony’s still on top of Steve, holding him in place, threatening his knee joint. Between one breath and the next, their positions are flipped, Steve on top of Tony, both of them hard, teeth clacking. Tony doesn’t make it back to New York City that night.

—

What felt like hours later, Tony finally discovered what looked like a medical log. He’d been trying to learn Russian, but adding a new script was harder than adding a spoken language, and he was a busy man, what with covering Rogers’ ass every other day. Natasha might have been a master spy, but Steve was a puppy who hadn’t learned how to control his tail wag yet, and he left destroyed crockery in his wake. There was always some trail to some terrorist or smuggler or weapons dealer that needed cleaning up, lest Ross take notice. The point being, Tony’s Russian wasn’t exactly sparkling.

But he’d double-checked ahead of time to know what he was looking for and now he was pretty sure he’d found it. Flipping through the file, Tony found what he wanted to know almost instantly. ‘Til the end of the line. The words. Those words.

—

It’s a thing. Sort of. Tony comes to the compound. They spar. They fuck. It’s only their third time sleeping together that Steve drags him into the shower, wristband conspicuously absent. Tony touches the thin skin, for once asking permission before he looks down. Steve nods, trusting, contented. I’m with you to the end of the line, pal. “He” Steve had said. Tony doesn’t need to ask to know who “he” is. There was only one really important “he” in Steve’s life way back when. And it makes sense, too. After all, Barnes plunged to his death trying to protect Steve and Steve had tried to protect him just as hard. Of course they’re important to each other.

“Can I see yours,” Steve asks, kissing Tony’s band. Fair’s fair, Tony thinks to himself, and nods.

Steve gently unclasps the snaps and sets the band aside outside the shower. He looks down at the words and then up at Tony with a silent question. “I don’t know whose they are.”

“And you’re still okay with us?”

“Steve, I’m standing naked in a shower with you. I’m pretty damn okay with this.”

The bright grin Steve gives him feels like a gift.

—

Tony left, hauling the tape and the filing cabinets behind him. They would be useful sooner or later, he was sure. And it felt so important, hauling his literal baggage along with him back to the US. Well, first a pit stop in Wakanda so Shuri could make copies. Fry flew the quinjet on autopilot, which was maybe a mistake. Tony needed distractions and all he had were files rendered in Russian, which were frankly giving him a headache. He wanted to hate Barnes so much. But fate was literally sending him a message. Barnes. Rogers. ‘Til the end of the line.

Eventually, frustrated, he managed to sink into a fitful sleep, which took him to Wakanda’s borders. T’Challa sent along an escort at the shield wall to make sure Tony was alone and also to make sure Tony didn’t cause any undue trouble. As if he could manage anything more than a nervous breakdown at the moment. Shuri was waiting for him on the platform, and for her and her brilliant mind, he managed a tired smile.

“Brought a present for you.”

“Thank you, Tony. I would get them myself, but—”

“No, no. You’re busy in Oakland kicking science ass and shooting layups with the youth. Let the old guy take care of the analog—” Tony shuddered theatrically “—files.”

Shuri smiled more brightly and kissed him on the cheek. “You look tired. Go see my mother. She’ll be wanting to mother you.”

“I shouldn’t. I’ve gotta—”

“My brother has already ensured that General Ross cannot find you. Go. Eat some food. Get some rest. Perhaps we can talk about your latest arc reactor designs in the morning. I have some ideas.”

“I bet you do.”

Tony knew when he’d been dismissed, and he also knew he was being handled a little, but it felt nice to be handled. It felt nice to not have to be trying to outwit Ross at every turn for a little while. So he allowed Ramonda to stuff him full of delicious, spicy food and then shuffled off to the guest wing, intent on getting at least four hours before he took off.

But the second he laid down, he was awake and restless, unable to settle. His thoughts kept going back to those files, going back to the “end of the line,” thinking again and again about the letters carved into Steve’s skin. How many times had he kissed that wrist? How many times had Steve kissed his? How was it fair, that Steve would be Tony’s words, but Tony wouldn’t be Steve’s?

Fed up, he yanked on a pair of loose cotton pants and a loose cotton T-shirt and wandered the palace, looking for distraction. None of the guards stopped him, though they watched him with considerable distrust. He didn’t blame them. He wouldn’t trust him either. Not anymore. It was only when he heard the sound of skin slapping leather that he stopped short. That sounded like… But it couldn’t be. All the same, he pushed through the door, freezing as he discovered a huge training ground, Steve inside, alone at a punching bag.

Steve froze too, and the bag caught him on the backswing, smacking him straight in the nose. Tony found himself caught between laughing and rushing forward with concern, and ended up doing a bit of both, snorting as he approached, though he remained well out of Steve’s personal bubble. “Smooth, Cap.”

“Tony, what are you doing here?”

Tony scuffed his toes into the mats, which felt solid right up until he kicked them and then gave way like kinetic sand. It felt heavenly and he wanted to play with it and see what it was made out of. “Oh, you know. Just dropped in for a cuppa with the King.”

“Did…did you bring those files?” Steve remained sprawled on the floor, looking up at him, a trickle of blood trailing from his nose.

“And if I did?”

Steve swallowed heavily, rubbing at the blood and smearing it. And then he was up, faster than Tony could react to, holding Tony, kissing him sloppily through mumbled “I’m sorry’s.” Tony didn’t know how to react. Was this what an out-of-body experience felt like? He remained motionless even as Steve broke away, jumping back, looking more unsure than he’d looked since he and Tony first met. “Shit. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have… You don’t want…” Steve took a huge breath and squared his shoulders, looking Tony in the eye. “That was wrong of me. I hurt you. In so many ways. It was wrong of me to kiss you.”

“Also pretty sure you’re cheating on your boyfriend if you kiss me. Don’t forget that bit.”

The little line between Steve’s eyebrows deepened. “Bucky and I, we’re not… We’re just not. I thought we would. But I can’t. Every time I tried, I felt like I was betraying you. And Bucky felt like it was wrong, too. We didn’t…we didn’t click. Not romantically, anyway.”

“You’re not…” Tony could barely dare to let himself to hope. “Didn’t you back in the war, though?”

“No. No, we didn’t. It was too much, running missions, fighting Hydra. Plus, he was afraid I’d get caught and outed. So we didn’t. I should’ve told you. But I didn’t think it mattered.”

All the thoughts Tony used to have about the words, the idea that maybe they had nothing at all to do with romance, came back to him. He ran a finger over his own wrist, where Steve’s words were hidden.

“Hey, Steve?”

“Yeah?” Steve stood there, square, looking as though he was waiting to be punched, ready to take his punishment like a man.

“Wanna spar?”

#writing #fanfiction #steve/tony #stony #angst with a happy ending #team angst

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tarithenurse · 4 years

Text

Stolen - 14

Pairing: Loki Laufeyson &/x fem!gifted!reader Content: Gambling, mentions of heavy drinking, boredom. A/N: Survival mode: active. Clean up program “Vacation 1.0”: final scan.

14. Snake Eyes and Sissies

... Loki ...

A nudge of a finger, a tap by the thumb, is all that’s needed to turn [Y/N]’s steps to thread an invisible route down the street. Every step she takes sends a bump into his palm. Whenever she sidesteps to avoid colliding with someone (who receives a harsh glare from Loki afterwards), it tugs at his body and he knows that he follows as much as he leads. Across a catwalk and into a lower section of Knowhere until they reach the destination in the shape of a secluded workshop with the owner’s name as the only identifier. Finally, Loki dares let go and he’s pleased to see she keeps close even as he pushes the door open and they’re met with stale air carrying the scents of hot metal and smoke.

“No credits. Only trades.” The creaky voice calls out sharply from behind a heap of scrap on a table in order to be heard over the grind of sawing through metal.

Loki smirks. “Think you can match a Stealth Hawk, Ek’ir?”

The screeching of the tool stops abruptly and a few of the pieces in the pile shifts due to movement behind. “What’s condition?”

“It’s seen some years...got a few dings, too.” Despite the reputation of the Skrull’s fleet, he knows this will be a hard sell. “Nearly intact and with full manoeuvrability.”

A small figure appears at the top of the scrap heap, round eyes invisible behind the goggles and the skin colour indistinguishable due to layers of oil and dirt. Still, Loki knows how carefully the craftsman is at sizing anything (and anyone) up.

“Define...nearly.” Hopping down from the table, they pads towards the potential customers.

“Got no blasters,” the Asgardian reluctantly admits.

Nearly through the first round, Ek’ir stops circling [Y/N] to stare at the Jotun with open mouth. “Why the Flerken would you dismantle the blasters?!”

“It was that or lose the entire ship.”

Meanwhile, the human is trying to come to terms with the situation. Born on a primitive world, her wonder at space travel and the visit on Alfheim had been reasonable, however she is bordering on rude if she doesn’t stop staring at the short person.

“If, and I mean if, it’s in good shape...” The cogs are turning behind the goggles to evaluate the potential gains and losses. “I’ll have to inspect it.”

“Of course.”

“Got a good few counteroffers you can choose from, at the moment.”

Loki arches a brow. “Freedom of choice?”

“We’ll see...but the Reach stays off limit!”

Few things would be as satisfying as wiping the smirk off Ek’ir’s proud little face. A Reach. Maybe the shop owner doesn’t know who Loki really is, but the species has a natural affinity for knowing exactly what a customer wants the most making it rare for one of their kind to settle in this kind of trade.

“Fair enough,” the god shrugs, “would’ve been nice to break open my casket of Asgardian mead onboard an Asgardian ship, though.”

It’s silent enough to hear the rowdy main street several blocks away as the trader pushes the goggles up onto the forehead, revealing exquisite lashes bordering yellow, cat-like eyes with deceptively narrow pupils. Small feet carries their owner right in front of Loki as if Ek’ir could stare down the much taller god.

“You got mead?” Loki shrugs once more. “How...how’ve you gotten Asgardian booze?”

Wouldn’t you like to know? “How have you gotten a Reach?”

... Reader ...

You’ve given up figuring out what Loki and the little person is talking about, preferring instead the distraction of the mess surrounding you. It’s a crammed place, heaps of scrap metal and tools tucked under an inconveniently low ceiling – although the owner wouldn’t have an issue with it, you suppose. Trying not to stare at the short person, you begin a game of guessing which parts could go where on a spaceship. The mental images quickly become grotesquely cartoonish, resembling the work of imaginative kids rather than actual space ship engineers.

Lost to your own musings, the gentle touch of Loki’s hand brings you back with a start.

“Come,” is all he says.

The delighted glint in his eyes doesn’t bode well as you follow both him and the alien out and back the way you came, mostly. A slight detour is allowed to bring you along to another dock with several vessels of different size and type one of which is the focus of attention. The Asgardian is playing it cool but you can see by the slant of his smile that he’s delighted with one of the ships in particular, commenting on its current state versus the original specs which are far beyond your grasp.

However, he doesn’t seem to strike a deal before having led the little one back to the ship that was your prison. It is the first time you really get to look at it without being in a rush (the second time seeing it from the outside at all). Sleek and silvery with a shape reminding you of a jagged spearhead it looks as lethal as you originally felt.

A Bugatti of space? Honestly, neither interstellar nor earthly transportation has mattered much to you as long as it worked and got you from point A to point B – you didn’t even own a car because that’s just silly when living in the city – but you’re pleased with the analogy.

“You got a deal if you throw in the cask of mead too,” the alien creaks.

"You drive a hard bargain," your travel partner retorts dryly.

Back and forth they go, inspecting ships and trying to outdo the other in tall tales about the vessels' past travels while you're bored out of your mind, eventually plopping onto the soft seat in a cabin of what they call “the Reach”. From there, you can see past the broken metal that could have made out the temporal bone (when the place wasn’t a wannabe planet) and to the stars beyond. How far are we from Earth?

This is only the second place you've been to since life changed drastically. In a way, it makes you feel special. Privileged. Deep within you a primal urge to keep moving is stirring, it's vibrating through every cell of the body until they ache with a need you can't satisfy on your own. Glancing briefly at Loki, you prefer to think it's also that longing, roaring silently and sending the butterflies in your belly swarming over a fire pit below.

"The rules are clear?" the little alien, Ek'ir, asks.

The Asgardian nods. "Doubles top with sixes as the best. Everything else reads as they show."

Propping yourself up on an elbow, you see them on either side of the table with a dice cup in between (where ever they've gotten that from). A wooden cask balances at the far end – a trophy on display. Memories from the parties you've gone to come back followed by vague rules from drinking games which always became less important as the nights carried on.

Ek'ir begins, slamming the cup down after having thoroughly rattled the dice around. A short peek. A frown.

"42."

Loki's face doesn't betray whatever he might be thinking. Slender fingers simply grab the cup and scoops up the roll to mimic the shop owner's motions. "Snake eyes."

The small hand with suction cups hovers in the air as the owner thinks carefully. With a flick of the finger the claim is proven true, resulting in a woody groan from this round's loser who of course is intend on revenge – a drawn out duel marked by small increments in the rolls before the Asgardian finds himself bested when trying to bluff. He takes it neatly, even sends you a wink.

"32," Ek'ir opens the third and final session.

"54."

The dice rattle a bit longer than strictly necessary. "65."

"Snake eyes," the god offers politely on return, causing the adversary to freeze.

Even you hold a breath. You have no clue why it's so important to get a different spaceship (and particularly this one except that it's aesthetically pleasing), however some sneaky plan must be depending on it or Loki wouldn't have gone through the trouble of bartering with the little alien.

"Naaaah..." They don't sound convinced. "A second one that soon? You think I'm gullible?" Still, the cup remains untouched, looming on the table.

"If you think me a liar, simply call my bluff." There's an air of nonchalance to the taller of the players. "Otherwise...best it."

"Probably counting on it, aren't you?"

There's no reply other than a shrug and a non-committal arching of the brows. He's bluffing. Admittedly, you're not sure. Yay for not playing him. Surely, Asgardian mead can't be that amazing?

"Ha!" Wrinkly hands snatch the cup away, a bright gleam in the alien eyes and a smile to match. Only...the glee dissipates as the roll is revealed: two ones.

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fibrielsolaer · 4 years

Text

“Forcing diversity” isn’t always a bad thing.

I recently watched a playthrough of Spider-Man: Miles Morales.

I was a bit worried about this game, because I knew that it would be plagued by people alternately parading about and whining about “Black Spider-Man”.

I’ve known for a while that the world has made me cynical and egocentric.

I don’t like immediately wrinkling my nose immediately because a non-white character appears in a major role. Yes, there are a lot of properties out there that are just shallow populist wash, companies have always done that for as long as there’s been a business to do it in.

But it had been long enough since I watched a playthrough of the original game that I’d quite forgotten it already had a huge ethnic diversity, as it takes place in vaguely-realistic New York and uses popular and obscure Spider-Man characters who were already quite diverse decades ago, yet it never felt to me like it was showing any of its ethnicities off (other than how absolutely goofy Mr. Negative and his evil Chinese demon gang were.)

And, of course, Miles was already in it (though he does not get his powers until the ending.) His stealth sections were a bit jarring but he was fine and relevant as a character.

Sorry for forgetting.

But, you see, if the diversity was forced, I would have noticed and remembered it. As it was, it was completely natural, and I did not pay it any heed.

I watched the same player who I watched play the original game. He was quite eager to try out the expansion and I knew he would not get “political” about anything unless an elephant appeared in the room.

Early in the game, Miles consistently uses Spider-Man only to refer to Peter. His nerd buddy, whose name I don’t remember except it sounds like Genki, calls him out on it and tells him “No, stop doing that. You’re Spider-Man.”

And, as the game goes on, Miles’s lines start naming him as “Spider-Man” in his subtitles. At the end of the game, when asked who he is by reporters, the people of Harlem say:

“That’s our Spider-Man.”

Stan Lee once said that he believed the reason Spider-Man took off so well is that he had a full-body suit. By all means, he was Spider-Man, but other than his sex, he could be anybody. White kids, Black kids, Asian kids, nobody could say they had the wrong skin color for the outfit, like people do with modern cosplay. All young boys could be Spider-Man.

Not “Black Spider-Man”.

Not “Asian Spider-Man”.

Spider-Man.

Stan Lee grew up in a time where it was “radical” to consider black people to be human beings. In the era where Star Trek shocked the world with the first black character on TV who was not in an unreasonably servile role, Stan Lee quickly discovered that a lot of people were affected by the social commentaries of his comics. He certainly got a lot of hate mail for “moralizing”.

So, in the most polite way that a nerd from the 1960s could, he told the haters to kiss his ass. He knew his comics were affecting people, and that the world was full of hatred and racism, so he was going to set his work in an optimistic world, not a racist caricature.

He co-created Black Panther and Falcon, and gave his full support for Luke Cage (without using his skin color as a hook.) He continued to insist on Marvel embracing human diversity into the 2010s, shortly before his passing.

Stan Lee believed that “a story without a message, however subliminal, is like a man without a soul.” He noted that even ancient fairytales and mythology were wrapped around contemporary cultural values and traditions.

When Stan Lee passed away, a lot of “yo-yos” tried to tell everybody he was racist. They knew nobody would bother to click any links or fact-check anything to see that Stan Lee was one of the least racist men in American history and, quite possibly, the only reason we have black superheroes at all.

It’s that kind of yo-yo who would exploit Miles Morales’s ethnicity for personal vanity as though black or Hispanic people were trophies.

It’s that kind of yo-yo who accuses every single creator who ever features a non-white protagonist of cheap racial baiting.

It’s because of yo-yos that we need people like Stan Lee to begin with.

I have no doubt that Stan Lee was delighted with Miles Morales, and probably just as delighted with Miguel o’Hara, and Spider-Gwen, and every other wild new take on Spider-Man.

But I think Stan would agree with me that Miles Morales is not “Black Spider-Man”.

He is just Spider-Man.

#rant #spider-man #miles morales #stan lee

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macgyvertape · 3 years

Text

50 or so hours into Cyberpunk 2077

This should be roughly the correct amount of time, ive been leaving the game running as I get up to get food or do stretches. Quests are roughly in order I did them

non spoilers above cut:

i haven't found a single hat/helmet i like, and since you can't hide them I just am not wearing any. It matters that much.

I posted the other day about bugs, every few hours I play I find new bugs. some require me to go back and reload a save others I honestly can’t tell if it’s a bug or just really poor development

there are several perks that don’t quite do what the description says, like the Anamesis perk. Based on reddit and trying it out it seems to just not do anything.

sometimes in car chase segments the passenger will say “look out” as cars spawn in my path and hit me. Can’t tell if that was deliberate or a pop in issue

Yeah I’ve just totally given up on doing pacifist things unless required by a mission. Given up on doing stealth too unless a mission objective, except for sneaking around to set up a fight.

:readmore:

the delemain car quest is fun. From the shock of the one going "beep beep motherfucker" and doing a hit and run to start it off, to the GLADOS car i see a lot of people talking about. It was fun to explore the city when i might have missed places like the landfill apparently there is follow up on T-bug's death if you go back to the quick hack shop in Kabuki. It's not much but better than nothing I made the pass with Panam of "what if the room just had one bed". I know she won't do a wlw romance, which is fine since I wouldn’t have chosen her. I enjoy her as a character, don’t get me wrong, my V considers her as a friend, but it seems like theres always drama going on which would be tiring. I would have gone for a fling, i like her leotard-pants combo with all the straps

but also her questline was buggy as hell. Multiple cases of having to reload due to clipping into objects, including her in a driving section, or just insta-dying when collision physics with some rocks broke "your neural network can no longer function independantly of the chip" me slapping my desk: s y m b i o te!!! come on lets have some s y m b i o s i s

in the scene with hellman i really liked how Johnny moved around the room. It made him feel like he was really there. it was hard to follow the convo as I left the room, i would not have understood it without subtitles. But i guess Takemura fucking waterboarded hellman. :|

lol I hope the dialogue is different b/c i refuse to smoke for Johnny

i am level 18 and still can't beat the first opponents in the fist fighting quest. ffs

I looked up the romances options so I went to do the I fought the law quest as soon as i got it. ACAB, but like I literally just met River Ward 2 minutes ago, and I really like him. His earring and cyborg eye, his big fluffy coat. I'm definitely gonna sleep with him Ok i like how when River Ward is dealing with the tiger claws if you interject it leads to a fight. It goes better if you follow his instructions and let him deal with it. Seriously I enjoy that sometimes its good to not pick a dialogue choice.

during the red queen club part, there was no dialogue over the phone. So i reloaded a save and got myself spotted and attacked. Then River showed up to help me <3 and it was more enjoyable having him there. I honestly am not sure if him not going to the club level is bug or not.

then uuuuuugh the worst of irl police "cops are my family" from Detective Han. Again ACAB "FRATERNITY OF CITY COPS RESEMBLES A [Nomad] CLAN NOT AT ALL" ok a few minutes ago i was complaining about bugs, but the character modeling in this game is good (when they're there). You can see body posture, characters jiggle their legs when they are nervous. Like I though character A was just throwing a cigarette on the ground, but then character B flinches back; I realize Char A threw it at B as a fuck you

I'm honestly curious if "I fought the Law" quest will have any impact later on. My choices were that I thought there was more going on than Holt being the only person behind this (based on how complicated the main questline heist is, and keeping an eye on some of the in game news), and told him not to take it to internal affairs, and I loved his response of how he doesn't give a shit what we think, he's doing it anyway.

In the elevator to report in, Johnny said "this muck is deeper than you think, tell them nothing", so i just said that the case was complicated. anyway i love how much of a sarcastic asshole V is

I thought i was being nonlethal with the monk quest, but it seems i accidently killed someone. RIP, but thats kind of the problem with this game. Like when i do the non lethal cyberpychosis quests I equip my non lethal modded gun and hope for the est. I like how a go here kill things quest led to Charles the ripperdoc. He's getting all his parts from scav gang members so I felt obligated to take him out. I got a police bounty for it but w/e.

I merged the Delemain fragments with the whole. Guess he's the meta now. (Side note: some of my favorite rvb fanfic plots are Ai consiousness/memory merging with the humans, so I’m having fun with this game and look foward to introspective fanfic)

Honestly Jonny made some good points, the fragments didn't deserve to die; but also destroying the core and freeing the fragments, they couldn't really function alone.

I was able to rescue Saul fine with stealth. Using cameras and the synapse overload really made it easy. Can't use the sniper rifle reward b/c I don't have the stats for it, and while it has a silencer the fact that it's a ricochette weapon and not a shoot through walls weapons, makes it not as good imo; and theres a legendary one that is stats free for only 100k.

Lol made a pass again at Panam, and she immediately shut me down. I then did Mitch's quest and I love every time someone tells V they area good person.

I hacked the operation carpe noctem shard, and wow the corporations are using ai to make people have cyberpsychosis, or something like that. What a shocker /s, I've played Deus Ex HR before

lol driving through the unifinished interstate, past the fight from Panam's first quest I found a "batcave" with a very nice car, and a manifesto written by "muckman'. But here's my complaint about the loot, there is a legendary top, but it had 16 armor. My current top has 84 armor, like why would i switch?? then later i found a bunker with soviet spies in it. Wild

Doing River's second quest, love the timing of as soon as you ask, why are we breaking in, someone shows up to tell you he got kicked off the force. It's funny how Johnny comments how maybe River's into you, and V just doubts Johnny's words. Love how the first kid asks River if I'm his girlfriend. also wow like oof both the second parts of Judy and River's quest are SUPER fucked UP!! oof like i stopped doing first person mode on the braindances for those quests as soon as i could, just made me too uncomfortable seeing that in first person.

DRIVING IN THE GAME IS BAD! nowhere is it more apparent than the sinnerman quest, which took me 3 times to get the driving section done, as cars spawned out of nowhere to hit me. Then when you restart, there is a bunch of dialogue it doesn't let you fast forward through. The rest of the Sinnerman questline is interesting. My V took every option to tell the dude that he was messed up, and what he was doing was wrong. idk, I was surprised how much dialogue there was that let you buy into his whole "forgiveness thing" and how there wasn't any real dialogue to call him the fuck out, that in seeking forgiveness he continues to do harm both emotional to the mother of the man he killed, but also that he got the husband killed via cop. The later follow up quest, I told him that what he is doing is crazy, studio is just going to profit off this vid. Then I refused to join him prayer, and told him fuck no i wasn't going to hammer him to the cross, or even watch. Yes, the man is scared of dying, and the corporation is exploiting him, but he keeps creating burdens for others. I think the discussion on this quest will be interesting to read, it's definitely my own personal experience with religion coloring my view. Anyway back to a main quest, yeah i don't trust Placide, especially in that scene where he grabs my hand, then jacks in. I ran off to do most of the sidequests here and got some criticism from him. I do love how in the cinema the western movie switches to a mission brief as the netwatch agent talks. its a fun enviromental detail. I took the netwatch offer, i don't think he's being fully honest with me, but he didn't put a virus in my head. As I told Placide later, I didn't pick a side. I like how you can then talk with the agent, who is a fan of Western movies, b/c they show "a simpler time where all good guys carry badges" :eyeroll:, and then V recommends Unforgiven, which from the wiki summary goes against that theme.

Looks like the Voodoo boys all got killed by Netwatch, but I as revenge for them trying to set me up I'm fine with it. Honestly after speaking with ai!Alt I don’t believe their plan of trying to be on good relations with AI would work.

doing the johnny flashback 2, and wow Johnny really is an asshole. Like I had gotten so used to him in side missions I forgot how self centered and unlikable he was.You constantly get prompts to drink or do drugs, which I ignored. But i do love the goth/punk love Rogue and others have.

lol i called it, when Hellman said that the engram would seek to override the host, put V on the engram. I really like how as the relic malfunctions, you wind up in the chair with a cigarette, which you can either smoke and say you are turning into Johnny or throw away. My dialogue "your problem is the ends justify the means", which is true!!! He and Rogue detonated a nuke downtown, does anyone know that, and like ask Rogue about it????

(Funny you can ask Rouge about Johnny silverhand, over the phone, then the game bugs out and spawns her npc where you are. She doens't say much about the nuke, but she does say no one trusts you for jobs). The line of no one trusting you for jobs is pretty funny at level 46 street cred where im at “respected” status. really loving the family atmosphere at River's 3rd quest. Also his big strong arms, and the fact he is no longer a cop. I totally let the kids win, and wow the family dinner where they GRILL YOU over the relationship and try to set the two of you up, then the water tower scene!!!!! I don't love the first person sex cutscenes but they do have personality. I'm glad afterwards you got to tell River about the biochip and that you might die. Because he's so far removed from your personal plot. So I took that option to back out of a relationship.

I do love that you wake up with "river's tanktop" that says "fuck the police" It actually has extremely good armor stats, so thats what I'll wear now.

panam 3rd quest, when shes like why did you help me, I'm like "because it's important to you". Basically the closest you can get to "when a friend asks for help you help them", which as an ex-nomad backstory I really choose the nomad options when ever i can Paralezes quest part 2! I love the piano song but I always think of it as ocean's 11 music. It's also fun to see the computer and see Judy recommended you for the first quest. The emails talk about "forgetting" to hire a staffer, on the balocony a strange antennia was scannable, the color of the roses was remembered wrong... lol guess i was right with those giant wall screens. Its fun environmental details that spell things out before you can notice, and it ties into some other quests where people's behavior is being altered. Actually, this quest "Dream On" I love it! For a while I've been like "wheres the illuminati conspiracy! Here it IS! I chose to follow Elisabeth's wishes and not tell her husband he was being brainwashed. In best case they program him to forget again, in worst case he ends up dead. The gaslighting Elisabeth described is CHILLING, her husband describes a vacation she can't remember and she doesn't know whose memories have been messed with. On your way to the plaza you get a call from someone/something that says the know exactly WHAT you are, any you black out!!! It's such a great feeling of helplessness that you're just one person in a world so big that you can't fight every power. As Johnny said, could be a corporation, could be a rogue ai, either way Jefferson is fucked (and so are you).

#cyberpunk 2077 #mac plays video games #a lot of this journaling i do #so in a few years i can look back #and see my first impressions

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eljackinton · 4 years

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Anyway, here’s how I’d do Necromunda as a Mass Effect style RPG

Warhammer video games have been coming in fast and loose over the last half decade, there’s been hits and there’s been misses but what’s been most noticeable is the absence of Role Playing Games. Despite both Fantasy and 40k being fertile ground for exploration, levelling and loot, we’ve only really seen the waters tested with the Inquisitor Martyr game, and I never played that, so don’t ask me about it.

I know a lot of people probably have their own idea of what would be the best conceit for an RPG set in a Games Workshop world, but for my money, I think Necromunda would be the best starting point for something like this, and hopefully talking you through how I’d envision it, you’ll see why.

The scope of the game should be a grand adventure set in the Underhive. We’ll create our own character, buy weapons and level up skills over time, but we’ll be exploring and talking as much as fighting, with communities to engage and barter with and characters to appeal or argue against. Gameplay wise, I’d see it playing a little like Mass Effect 2 or Deus Ex Human Revolution. Sort of third person with a bit of a cover system, stealth should be an option and there would need to be a more robust close combat system to show off all the fancy melee weapons the 40k world enjoys.

Unlike Mass Effect, or Deus Ex, however, this game will not have golden endings. Necromunda is set in a brutal world where every man is looking to get one foot up over the other. It’s a game where everyone is out to screw each other over and the only form of honour is how much advance warning one person gives to the other. There will be moral choices to make, characters to empathise with, but at the end of the day this is a game where you can trust nobody, and nobody trusts you.

So the game begins. Here you create your character a-la a lot of RPGs where you design their look, their face, their colour scheme. You choose one of the 6 Clan Houses, and depending on which one you chose will not only dictate what weapons/skills you have access to, but also optional sidequests and a few ways the plot unfolds.

So starting the game we’ll get a little tutorial section. You’re a new recruit to the gang of choice, and word has gotten out that that an Enforcer convoy is heading trough nearby territory. They’re escorting a crate of something extremely valuable, so they’ve decided to send you and your fellow recruits off to prove yourself and retrieve it.

After being given the basics of the game by a mentor from the gang, you get to choose whether your starting class is a Juve (an all-rounder, with access to most weapons) or a Prospect (more restricted weapons/skills but access to special weapons and abilities) the Prospects would differ from house to house, as they do in the table top game itself.

Things go south when the attack on the convoy begins. All the other Clan Houses arrive to try and claim the crate. Just when you think you’ve got your hands on it, a Ratskin ambush happens, they seize the crate, and you end up falling through a decrepit hive floor only to be lost in an industrial labyrinth.

Fighting off hive critters, you come across other survivors of the raid, one for each gang you didn’t join. This will be the main cast of characters, who, like Mass Effect, Dragon Age, or Baldur’s Gate et al, have charismatic characters, interesting backstories that we discover over time, and the possibility of romance (though as mentioned before, not without the risk of betrayal.) The character from the gang you picked will be absent from the crew, but will appear in some capacity as the mentor that trains you at the start.

The characters are none too keen to team up, but lost in the dark, they are left with no choice, as something is beginning to pursue them. Initially thought to be some hive horror, a high tech Spyrer Hunter has decided they also want their hands on the crate, and fast become one of the groups many adversaries.

Escaping the maze, the group rest up in a small Underhive community to take stock of their situation. Here the player gets the chance to talk to characters, read up on backstory and take on a few side quests as a sort of starting village. While here, we discover that t each gang has a mole for the Enforcers within it, and that they were all betrayed in an attempt by the Enforcers to draw out the most dangerous fighters. Unable to trust their own gangs, the group agrees to stick together and go after the crate on their own, and hopefully get answers along the way.

So begins a journey down and deeper into the Underhive. Starting with industrial levels, forges and trading posts, down to dark caverns, sump rivers and more. Along the way the characters have to contend not only with the Spyrer hunting them, but also Enforcer squads trying to reclaim the crate, and other bandits, bounty hunters and hive scum.

Early in the game the player will be contacted by their mentor, which will be filled by the member of the team from your house that would normally be included. This way the player still has the opportunity to find out their backstory and have a potential romance. The mentor states that they were aware of the double-cross, but they still need more info, they’ll hang back and let you carry on with the group, in the hopes that they may spill crucial information your house wouldn’t get otherwise. At numerous points in the game you’ll be given the option to slip away and do sidequests for your own house, and you’ll be given the choice to show more loyalty to your new rag-tag group or the Clan House you chose at the start, but unsure if you’re just being played by whoever the mole was.

Mid game the player levels up to a full ganger, carrying forward their skills from the class they picked at the start. Later on they’ll get the chance to level up to a champion, or do a house specific sidequest that lets them become a special prestige class (like Death Maiden or Stimmer.)

Eventually the player catches up with the Ratskins, only to find that they ended up losing the crate to a bunch of Ash Waste Nomads anyway. You’re lead on a further search far beyond the foundations of the hive, uncovering an ancient production facility for the Men of Iron, and you have to carefully work your way through without waking the titan sized juggernauts that will want to eradicate mankind.

At the crux of the game, you end up out on the edge of the hive, carefully navigating gantries as near poisonous ash wind blows you from side to side as the Nomads attempt to get the crate beyond the hive’s reach. You battle the Nomads, the Spyrer and Enforcers, and the mole reveals themselves. Maybe it was your mentor, depending on your choices. At the end of the game you can choose to stay loyal to your house, where you must fight off and kill your fellow companions you’ve fought alongside for the entire game. On the other hand you can reject your house for your new band of brothers, who will unfortunately all turn against each other anyway in a final stand-off that leaves you fighting for your life and having to kill them all.

I told you there would be no golden ending. The game, however would have multiple bittersweet endings:

If you stayed loyal to your house, and your mentor wasn’t the mole, and whether you romanced them or not you both return victorious and well respected by the clan. If they were the mole, you have to fight them, or if you romanced them you can protect the lie or give them the chance to go on the run.

If you choose your companions, and didn’t romance any of them, you successfully fight them all off, seize the crate for yourself , and go on to be a lone hive fighter of legend, but always looking over your shoulder in case your old house wants vengeance.

If you romanced one of the characters from a rival house, then you’ll be asked at several points in the game for your thoughts on what their future would be as lovers from rival houses. Each character would have a different take, and you really have to pay attention to their foibles and values in order to figure out what the right thing to say is.

If you didn’t gain your love interest’s trust, then during the final showdown your character will hesitate, giving your love interest time to get the upper hand and shoot you, taking the crate for themselves. If you did gain their trust, they are the one who hesitates. You’re given the chance to kill them anyway, or let them live, where you both take the crate and go on to become a legendary duo who always has each other’s backs against the clan houses who want revenge.

What was in the crate? You never find out.

And that, hopefully, will give you an idea of the kind of Necromunda game I’d like to see. Obviously it’d take deft writing, great environmental design, and gameplay with a flow that fits the world and manages to take on the strengths of the tabletop game. So, not a small ask, sure.

I know I’ll probably never see it, but who knows? Maybe some aspiring video game dev will crib some ideas. In the meantime, I can’t wait to check out Underhive Wars, and I’ll be playing that as soon as I can.

#necromunda #warhammer 40k #mass effect #role playing game #rpg

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sylvanfreckles · 4 years

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I’ve Got You (Whumptober 2020)

Whumptober 2020 day four!

Summary: Sam’s caught in a desperate game of hide-and-seek when trying to rescue a wendigo’s victims.

______________________________________________________________

Sam brushed at the dirt and cobwebs on the wall of the mine tunnel to see the intersection label clearly. He held the map up close to the label so he could verify the information and nodded for Dean to take a look.

“Right on track,” Dean murmured. “That old-timer said the north section was caved in from here, right?”

“Right,” Sam agreed. He was conscious of every tiny sound in the abandoned mine, wondering if each one meant something was stalking them in the darkness. Wendigos were always tricky to hunt, especially in the darkness, and tracking one down in its den was particularly dangerous. They had no choice this time, though, as it had taken several victims. If there was even a chance some of those people might be alive they had to risk it.

“We gotta split from here?” Dean asked. He flashed his light down the two sides of the intersecting tunnel. They didn't like it, but they had to cover more ground. According to the weather reports the first freeze could hit any day now, and as soon as that happened the wendigo would retreat into its den and not venture back out until Spring.

They had the smallest chance that it was out hunting now. These things had an insatiable hunger, so it was possible the wendigo was out for one last scavange.

Dean paused at the mouth of the left hand tunnel and held his hand up. Sam rolled his eyes. “I'm not gonna rock-paper-scissors you for the tunnels, just pick one.” His brother shrugged, let his hand bounce three times as though they were playing rock-paper-scissors, and gave Sam the finger. Sam snorted. “Nice, dude. Real mature.”

“You know you love me,” Dean retorted with a smirk. “Hey...stay safe down there, okay, Sammy?”

“Yeah, you too.” Sam watched his brother slink away into the darkness for a few seconds. Dean's stealth always surprised people, like they couldn't believe someone that big could be that quiet. It wouldn't be enough to fool a wendigo, and it was only the fact that they were running short on time that kept Sam from insisting they go together.

The tunnel he was following was a fairly straightforward descent that would end at a natural cavern with an underground lake. He and his brother had argued about which tunnel was more likely to be the wendigo's lair—while this one would have a supply of water (though legends weren't really clear on if wendigos needed water), Dean's tunnel lead down to a maze of half-finished shafts and passages from the mine's last days.

Sam knew he was approaching the cavern by the change in the sounds around him. He could hear more water dripping, with the slight echo that indicated an open space. In the silence these sounds were almost deafening, and he strained to hear anything beyond the natural background noise of the cavern but it seemed the only thing there was his own ragged breathing.

He paused for a moment, hiding behind a rough collection of stalagmites to scope out the area around the lake. He really should have fought Dean for the other tunnel; Sam had hated places like this every since reading The Hobbit in middle school. Yeah, sure, their jobs took them to scary places all the time, but underground lakes and vast, dripping caverns reminded him too much of Gollum. It didn't help that Dean had spent weeks convincing him he'd seen something like Gollum sneaking around every place they'd gone.

There was a rotted wooden structure to the side, probably storage for supplies for the mine. Not explosives or anything that would be damaged by the dampness in the cavern, of course.

He'd just decided to check out the old shed when a whisper of movement beyond it had him jumping back to press himself behind the stalagmites. Heart thudding in his ears, Sam fought to control his breathing and listen for any more signs of movement. He pulled out his flare gun and held it with the flashlight—if this was the wendigo he'd have one shot at this.

Nothing else happened. The wendigo, of course, could move silently in the darkness. It was the deep, heavy darkness of the underground. With his flashlight off there was nothing to break the blankness around him, not even a reflection off the underground lake. The silence stretched out claustrophobically, until another small sound caught Sam's attention.

It was still coming from behind the run-down shed. He clicked his light on and advanced slowly, playing the beam over the ground to watch his footing.

There were footprints. Bare feet with clawed toes, some left in the loose grit of the lake's shore, some coming up out of the water and vanishing down the tunnel Sam had come down. Oh shit. Did these things go in the water?

He slowly rounded the corner of the shed, flare gun held at the ready, only to find three of the missing hikers trussed up and hanging from a rotted support beam. Sam wedged the flashlight between his neck and shoulder and hurried to the first one.

It was a young woman, maybe twenty-one years old. Her dark skin looked sickly and gray in the faint light, but she was breathing and came to with a jolt when Sam touched her shoulder. “It's okay,” he whispered. “I'm here to save you.”

Her eyes were wild with fear, roving around the darkness and blinking against the light. Sam held his flashlight away and angled it so she could see his face. “What's your name?” he asked.

She stared at him for a few seconds, obviously fighting down her panic. “It's Cameron,” she finally said. “Cameron DeLacey.”

“I'm Sam. I've been looking for you,” Sam said with a smile. “Here, lemme get you down.” Cameron's wrists were lashed together with a rough piece of rope that had been looped over the old wooden beam. Sam tucked the flare gun in his belt and easily sawed through the rope, grabbed Cameron around the waist before she could fall to the ground.

“It's okay, I've got you,” he whispered. “I'm gonna get you guys out of here, okay?” He helped her sit on the stone floor and swung his pack off his shoulders, digging out a bottle of water and a second flashlight. “Can you keep watch while I cut your friends down?”

Cameron's eyes widened and she shook her head, dark curls bouncing around her face. “That thing...” she whispered, obviously terrified.

“Just point the flashlight for me?” Sam coaxed. “The sooner we get you out of here, the sooner my brother and I can kill this thing.”

She reluctantly accepted the flashlight, pointing it up at the person she'd been hanging next to. “You can kill it?” she asked.

“It's kind of our job,” Sam replied. The next one was an older man, who wasn't waking up as fast as Cameron. Sam cut him free and gently laid him down on the stone floor. He was stirring and moaning, so it wasn't too late for him.

It was for the next one. A woman, close in age to the man he'd just cut free. Blood was matted in her silvery hair from a head wound and her eyes were open and unseeing. Sam double-checked her pulse just to be sure, but her body was cold and stiff and her skin was papery. She was gone.

To his surprise, Cameron had crawled over to the older man to try to bring him around. She'd pulled the bandanna off of her neck and wet it with the water Sam had given her and was wiping the older man's face and wrists.

Sam crouched beside him, and when Cameron looked up at him then over to the woman he shook his head. “How is he?”

“If we can get him out of here he has a chance,” Cameron replied. “Pretty out of it though.”

“Let's get him up.” Sam wrapped one of the man's arms around his neck and hauled him upright. Cameron took the other side, even though she looked unsteady herself. The man was almost as tall as Dean and Cameron was a good foot shorter, so it was awkward.

There was a secondary shaft that connected to the upper levels, but the man they were hauling between them was in no shape to climb the ladder. It was a longer, and thus more dangerous, hike to the old service elevator.

It was uphill to the intersection, and Sam stopped for a moment while Cameron caught her breath and he listened for any other sounds. He was sure they would have heard it if Dean had encountered the wendigo, but there was nothing. Sam wasn't sure if that was good or bad news.

“Okay, come on, this way,” he whispered.

“Sam? Dean's voice echoed out of the shadows. “Sam? Help me!”

Sam shuddered. Cameron's breath was panting in and out as Dean's voice trailed up from the blocked-off tunnel behind them. “Keep going,” Sam murmured.

“Sammy? Sammy? Where are you?”

“Who is that?” Cameron whispered.

“The wendigo,” Sam replied. “They can mimic human voices.” It was behind them, it knew who he was (or guessed), and it was tracking them. There was no way they were fast enough to get out.

“It knows who you are?”

“It's just a trick. Keep moving.”

“Sam? Sammy?”

The voice was Dean's, but just wrong enough that Sam could ignore. They had a code, anyway, just in case this happened. Dean would have asked for extra mayo, not help, if he was really in trouble.

The man they were hauling down the tunnel began to groan. Sam tried frantically to quiet him, but the man began to struggle against his grasp. Behind them, in the darkness, there was a faint sound like claws scraping against stone.

Sam made a choice.

He ducked out from under the man's arm and grabbed for Cameron. “Let's go,” he hissed. The wendigo was only a few yards behind them, there was no way out of this for all three of them. Just ahead the passage split off to lead to the access ladder to the upper floors. Sam pulled Cameron around the corner and pressed her up against the cold stone wall with his own body, covering her mouth, turning his face away from the open tunnel they'd just left as though that would make what he had done less horrible.

There was an awful, guttural shriek that started low and rose higher and higher until it was a keening wail. Then a horrible snap, a sound like heavy fabric being torn, and the soft pattering of liquid onto the stone.

The wendigo began to feed. Sam shuddered, sick to his heart over what he'd done. There had been no time to get a shot off, and if they hadn't left the other man behind it would have been all three of them by now. Cameron was shaking; Sam could feel the wetness on her face from tears streaming out of her eyes,

“You have to be quiet,” he whispered, his voice barely audible over the sounds of the wendigo feasting. “There's a ladder...up the tunnel. We have to go now, but we have to be quiet. Understand?”

She nodded. Sam slowly pushed himself away from the wall. He reached out into the dark, finding Cameron's shoulder, and gently slid down her arm to take her hand. He had to get Cameron to the ladder, hand off the map and the light, then he could go back to find Dean and hunt the creature.

They picked their way through the darkness until the sounds of the wendigo's feeding had distorted to confusing echoes, then Sam turned his flashlight on so they could find their way. He still felt sick. He should have been able to do something, defend them all, find a better way. Instead he'd left an innocent man to a horrible death, all to save his own skin.

Cameron's grip tightened on his hand as she stumbled over some loose rocks, and Sam tried to force his mind to focus on what they had in front of them. It was too late for the man he'd left behind, but he could get the girl to safety. The ladder wasn't too far, and Sam's light caught the dull, rusted metal leading up to a hole in the ceiling. Cameron moaned in dismay when she saw that the bottom five feet or so of the ladder had broken away.

“It's okay,” Sam whispered. “I've got you.” He tucked the flashlight under his arm and cupped his hands, gesturing for her to step in them.

She hesitated. “What about you?”

“I have to go back for my brother,” Sam explained. “We have to kill that thing before it gets anyone else. Oh, hang on,” he straightened up to dig the paper out of his back pocket and held it out to her. “Follow this map to get out of the mine. Wait for us, there's a big black car parked there. Black impala. If we're not there by sunrise follow the trail down to the highway. Ask for Sheriff Miller.”

Cameron nodded. In the faint light of the flashlight he could see where her tears had cut through the dirt on her face. “Be careful, Sam,” she whispered.

He managed a half-smile and leaned over, cupping his hands again. She placed one foot in his hands and both her hands on his shoulders and he straightened up, holding her up until she could grab onto the lowest rung of the ladder. He supported her feet from behind so she could climb and watched until she disappeared into the tunnel a level above.

Right. Back to the wendigo. It had gone silent down the hall, obviously done with its feast. But did that mean it was stalking Sam? Or had it gone after Dean this time?

Flare gun out, Sam pressed himself to the wall of the tunnel and slowly made his way back. There was a smell in the air now, the iron tang of blood and raw meat.

“Sam?”

He froze. The voice had come from right around the corner. He could smell it now, smell the years of rot and death that cloaked the creature. Sam tightened his grip on the flare gun and spun around the corner. He let the flashlight play around the tunnel until it hit a tall, emaciated figure crouched against the wall. With a cry Sam fired the flare gun as the wendigo charged. It knocked his arm away and the flare struck the ceiling, dust and debris exploding down from the impact.

Sam dropped and rolled to the side, barely avoiding the blow from a clawed hand. He had another flare gun in his pack, but there was no time to dig it out now. He pulled his gun free instead—bullets wouldn't do much to a wendigo, but it was all he had and it might do something.

He yelled as he fired, his own voice adding to the confusion of sound and flashes of light as he unloaded round after round into the skeletal body of the advancing monster. It let out a howl of pain, something dark and primal that had Sam's stomach twisting with nausea and fear freezing his limbs.

“Hey, fugly!”

The wendigo spun, mouth gaping to let out another cry, and the flare from Dean's gun caught it directly in the stomach. It shrieked as it burned, a sound more terrible and bone-chilling than its cry of pain, and Sam tried to curl away from it with his arms wrapped around his head.

An analytical part of his mind realized he was hyperventilating, that it was just the body's reaction to stress and he could calm it down if he focused. The rest of him was overwrought with the events of the night and the sounds and sights of the wendigo as it burned and he just wanted to be somewhere warm and safe and away from the death and darkness.

“Sammy? Hey, hey, it's okay.” Someone was leaning over him, one hand on his shoulder and the other on the side of his face. “We got it, man. It's all over.”

“Dean?” Sam whispered, wrapping a hand around his brother's forearm to make sure he was real. An analytical part of his mind told him the wendigo's scream was meant to cause terror to its victims to make them unable to fight back, and that he was still feeling the affects of the scream. The rest of him just wanted his brother to take him home.

“Who else?” Dean grinned in the faint light. For a split second it looked like he was going to make a crack—maybe about the wendigo imitating his voice—but his eyes softened and his smile was more genuine. “Come on, Sammy. Let's get out of here.”

#whumptober2020 #no 7 #ive got you #support #supernatural #fic #fanfic #horror #suspense #wendigo

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bamon4bamily · 4 years

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TVD 9x06 (part 1) Enjoy! =)

Cut to – freaky old mansion, Darius’s room. A portal closes; we see Bonnie laying on Darius’s bed, in a deep sleep, Danae still holding her hand.

DARIUS: Hello, sister.

DANAE: (Looking terrified) Darius…

DARIUS: Don’t look so frightened, Lish, I’m the one looking at a ghost. God, it’s crazy seeing you in the flesh… (he tries to touch her, she quickly steps aside in a panic).

DARIUS: Calm down, I’m not going to hurt you. You made me a promise (looks at Bonnie) and you kept it.

DANAE: I did, now let me go.

DARIUS: I’m sorry, sis, but I can’t do that.

DANAE: We had a deal…

DARIUS: And I will keep my word. I said I wouldn’t hurt you, and I won’t, pinky swear. But I’m sure you can understand why I can’t let you go; can’t have any loose ends…

DANAE: You bastard!

DARIUS: (Sarcastic laugh) I think we both know who the bastard is; mother was always such a flirt.

DANAE: Please, just let me go. I followed your instructions; I swear I’ll keep my mouth shut and disappear.

DARIUS: (Changing the subject) You know, it truly baffles me that you would think I wasn’t aware that you have been alive for all these years… Come on, Lish, I thought you were smarter than that… Do you really think all that tragedy came from karma? Granted it must’ve had a hand in it, but… really? You couldn’t figure it out? Guess the genius genes do come from my father’s side…

DANAE: You’ve known all this time?

DARIUS: Of course, I have. The only reason you are still alive is not because of your flawed immortality serum, which I’ve perfected, by the way, but because I’ve allowed you to… What can I say, I’m a sucker for family drama.

DANAE: You are insane…

DARIUS: We all go a little mad sometimes… (with sarcasm) Yet, I wasn’t the one locked up in an Asylum for years.

DANAE: It was you... You were the one that got me locked up…

DARIUS: Oh no, you did that all on your own; I only suggested the pertinent treatments.

DANAE: (In painful wrath) They put a needle through my eyeball, you crazy fuck!

DARIUS: Trial and error, sis, that’s the only way to verify a theory… just ask your “friend” Marie… Oh wait, you can’t…

DANAE: (Charges him) I’ll kill you!!!!

DARIUS: (Restrains her with his hands; Bonnie starts to move) Shhhhh… you are waking her up. It’s time for you to take a time out; I’ll take it from here. (Some freaky hooded people come in and take Danae away, Darius sits by the bedside, holds Bonnie’s hand).

DANAE: (As she is being taken away) She is going to destroy you, and I’m going to enjoy every minute of it!

DARIUS: (To the hooded people) Put her in the bunker.

Cut back to – The Mikaelson mansion, 12:05 am. It’s pitch dark. Everyone is passed out on the floor; after a few seconds, they start to react.

DAMON: (Confused) What the hell happened?

ALARIC: I have no idea, but… (before he can even finish his sentence, Damon vamps upstairs to check on Bonnie; she and Danae have vanished… Damon, desperately, vamps his way through every inch of the mansion looking for her, she’s nowhere to be found).

KLAUS: (Also searching) Damon, we have searched everywhere, they are gone.

DAMON: How? We were all by the door, there is no way…

KLAUS: Cloaking spell, who knows? You seem to forget how magic works, my friend, anything is possible. Now, let’s go get the others. (They regather with the group downstairs, Klaus lights some candles so that everyone can have some visibility).

ALARIC: What is going on?!

KLAUS: Bonnie and Danae are gone.

ALARIC: What!? How?

KLAUS: Enough with the how; we need to focus on the where and why.

TYLER: Uhm, guys, I think we have another problem (points to Katherine who is in a catatonic state, they try to snap her out of it, but she is unresponsive, completely lost in a daze).

LEXI: Can’t believe this is happening! I thought we had the perfect plan...

ALARIC: They must have figured it out, orchestrated some sort of stealth attack…

RADKA: All I remember was waiting by the door to attack upon arrival, then I saw an overwhelming light and blacked out.

KHUYANA: Me too…

ALARIC: I think we all did.

DAMON: Enough with the chit chat; we need to find Bonnie.

ALARIC: And we will, Damon, but we have to figure out what we are dealing with first.

DAMON: What is there to figure out, Ric? We know what we are dealing with; a lunatic mind-freak asshole, and his cult groupies. So, let’s skip the over rationalization, and get to the action. Plan is simple, find these bastards, kill these bastards, get Bonnie back.

KLAUS: I agree with Damon, for once.

CAROLINE: Me too.

ALARIC: I would like nothing more, but we don’t even know where these cult freaks are!

KHUYANA: I have a feeling someone might… Matt.

KLAUS: Well, love, that’s not very helpful given that your husband was a no show.

TYLER: My bet is that he’s at the Mayor house; Matt told me he was hosting a Halloween ball; and, for some fucked reason, Matt always seems to be wherever he is.

DAMON: So, what are we waiting for? Let’s go!

CAROLINE: I’m game, but first we need to stop by the house and make sure everyone is okay. And leave this one (referring to Katherine) to someone’s care.

DAMON: We can’t waste any time, Care. Klaus, Tyler and I will go find Matt, you guys go back to the house. Once we find Donovan, we’ll drag his sneaky ass back and figure out our next move.

CAROLINE: Okay, just please, don’t do anything without us.

KLAUS: We won’t, love, I’ll make sure of it.

DAMON: Whatever; (to Klaus and Tyler) wolf-boys, let’s move.

Everyone leaves; as they are driving, they stare in disbelief at the scenery; the entire town seems to be having a total blackout; not a single light at sight.

Cut to – freaky old mansion. Darius takes Bonnie into a private section of the mansion. It’s a strange ballroom, set up as a worship haven, reminiscing of Stanley Kubrick’s “Eyes Wide Shut” scene…

DARIUS: My queen… behold your kingdom. (He takes her by the hand and leads her to the center of the altar, inside a Hecate symbol. All the guests, wearing hooded togas and masks, kneel upon her).

DARIUS: At last, the goddess has arrived! (They start chanting in her worship).

BONNIE: (Whispers to Darius) Darling, this is a bit much, don’t you think?

DARIUS: Nothing is too much when it comes to you. Bonnie Sheila Bennett, you are a goddess, you just need to believe it. You can do anything you set your mind to, no restrictions, no consequences. You are the alpha and the omega…

BONNIE: No restrictions... that does sound tempting…

DARIUS: Just let yourself be free, my love, embrace your destiny...

Bonnie, seduced by the feeling of absolute power, lets go of the last hold she has over who she is and embraces her power to the fullest. A huge energy field emerges from her, the biggest one yet...At this precise moment, a new Bonnie is born, a child of fire and desire, a purely instinctual creature with the power to create… and destroy.

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Cut to- freaky bunker. Matt, sitting outside the heavily sealed door, which is now open. He is crying.

MATT: (To himself) What have I done… what have I done…

MILITARY MAN: General…

MATT: Don’t call me that! I’m not a General! I am the Sheriff of Mystic Falls, that is all…I don’t belong here...

MILITARY MAN: I’ll give you some space, Sir. (Walks away, approaches another military man) I think the General has lost his mind…

MILITARY MAN 2: Cut him some slack, he’s under a lot of stress. How would you react if that order had to come from you? That has to break a man...

MILITARY MAN: Do you think we are doing the right thing, here?

MILITARY MAN 2: Not sure if it’s the right thing but it’s the only thing we can do if we want to have a fighting chance.

Cut to – The Salvatore mansion. Stefan, Elena, and Sam are in the living room. The gang walks in. Caroline sees Stefan and runs to hug him.

CAROLINE: Oh, thank god, you are alright! The girls?

STEFAN: They are sleeping, they fine; we are all fine, it’s just a blackout.

CAROLINE: Oh, trust me, it’s much more than that.

ELENA: (To Caroline, looking quite pissed) Uhm, hello?!

CAROLINE: Elena! Oh my god, you are here! I totally forgot to…

ELENA: Oh, I know! Stefan put me up to do date… what the hell, Care!?

CAROLINE: I’m sorry, we thought you didn’t want to be involved in these things anymore. (To Sam) Hey, Sam…

SAM: Hey… (looking quite uncomfortable, given the situation).

ELENA: Where is Bonnie?

CAROLINE: We don’t know, something went wrong…

STEFAN: What happened?

CAROLINE: As soon as the clock stroke midnight, there was this huge light blast, then everyone passed out. When we woke up, Bonnie and Danae were gone.

STEFAN: Where is Damon?

CAROLINE: He went with Klaus and Tyler to look for Matt; we think he might know where Darius is.

STEFAN: (Looking at a catatonic Katherine) And what happened to her?

RADKA: We don’t know either… she won’t snap out it; she is physically fine, but…

CAROLINE: She’ll be okay, she is just in shock. (To Alaric) Let’s go check on the girls…

ALARIC: They are asleep, Care, we don’t want to wake them.

CAROLINE: We won’t; just as kiss so they know we are fine. (They go upstairs).

ELENA: Lexi, glad to see you made it back…

LEXI: (With a bit of disdain; still resentful for how she hurt Stefan) Well it was all thanks to my girl Bonnie… now that’s what I call I real woman.

STEFAN: So, Lex, can you tell us exactly what happened?

LEXI: I’ll try my best…

Cut to – The Mayor’s mansion. Damon, Klaus, and Tyler arrive.

DAMON: How come this is the only place that has electricity?

TYLER: Privileges of the elite…

KLAUS: Please, Lockwood, if that were the case, there be electricity at my house as well. (Tyler rolls his eyes; they ring the doorbell).

ANTHONY: Fashionably late, I see. Invitations, please.

DAMON: One vampire and two hybrids, how is that for an invitation?

ANTHONY: I’m afraid I don’t follow your sense of humor, Sir. So, once again, invitations, please.

KLAUS: What he means is that if you don’t invite us in, we will rip your insides out… how is that for a sense of humor?

ANTHONY: Gentlemen, I don’t want any trouble, but I cannot allow you inside without an invitation.

EDWARD: (Edward comes to the door, sensing something is up) Anthony, what is going on?

ANTHONY: Sir, I…

TYLER: Wow, you really went all out with your costume…

DAMON: (To himself) I freakin hate clowns…

EDWARD: What is the trouble here?

KLAUS: We are looking for Matt Donovan, we were told he might be around…

EDWARD: Well, you have been misinformed, the Sheriff is not here. Granted he was invited, but he declined. Feel free to come inside and see for yourselves.

ANTHONY: Sir…

EDWARD: It’ fine, Anthony. Come in; you are also welcome to indulge if you like.

Cut to back to – the old freaky mansion. Darius and Bonnie inside his illusion realm.

BONNIE: That kiss made me thrust, care to offer this lady a drink?

DARIUS: I would be delighted (holds her hand and takes her to the bar).

DARIUS: (To the bartender) Champagne for the lady.

BARTENDER: Coming right up, Sir.

BONNIE: Actually, I’m bourbon kinda a gal. (Mocking) I thought you knew me better...

DARIUS: Sorry, love, I assumed…

BONNIE: Well, you know what they say about assuming (winks, Darius looks confused). Just teasing, dear. (Gives him a peck on the cheek, then looks around). This is quite the party…

DARIUS: It’s all for you, my love.

BONNIE: You spoil me too much.

DARIUS: Anything for you…

BONNIE: You are making blush…

DARIUS: I love to see you blush.

BONNIE: Careful. I might not be able to control myself.

DARIUS: Neither will I…

(They kiss passionately, find themselves a private spot, and...)

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Cut back to – the Mayor’s mansion. Damon, Tyler, and Klaus are looking for Matt.

TYLER: (Looking at the decadence) Damn, and here I thought I had seen it all… These people are freaking insane…

DAMON: Concentrate, Lockwood! (Getting frustrated) Where the hell is Donovan!?

KLAUS: I think the clown was telling the truth...

EDWARD: (Who has snuck up on them) I told you...

DAMON: (Jumps in a fright) Jesus, holly shit hole!

EDWARD: I take it you don’t like clowns (smirks)? I’m sorry, gentlemen, but he is not here. And, now that I know he wasn’t with you either, I think I just might know where, or rather, who he is with. As much as it hurts that he would betray my trust, I’m almost certain that he is with a man called Darius.

KLAUS: You know Darius?

EDWARD: Unfortunately, I do. Has been the stone in my shoe for quite some time now.

DAMON: Where can we find him?

EDWARD: At a freaky old mansion… thing is, it’s not easy to find.

TYLER: What do you mean?

EDWARD: Well, it seems to appear and disappear; making it quite difficult to track.

DAMON: I’ve seen that trick before, we just need the location; we’ll figure it out from there.

EDWARD: You make it sound so simple. You are aware of who you are dealing with, correct? Darius is the master of illusion, capable of making you believe whatever he wants…

DAMON: (Getting pissed off) Can you tell us the location, or not!?

EDWARD: Temper, temper… Listen, Damon, is it? All I can tell you is that the last time I was able to locate the mansion it was at this address (shows them a location on his phone).

TYLER: That’s impossible; that’s where Matt’s old house is.

EDWARD: Well, that´s uncanny...

DAMON: (To Klaus and Tyler) Let’s go...

EDWARD: If you are thinking that the trick is a cloaking spell, I can assure it’s not. Like I said, Darius is an illusionist, the only way to see through his illusions is to find a loophole; and trust me, that is not an easy thing to do; especially if you don’t have the proper abilities. So, unless one of you is a psychic-witch, it’s pretty much useless.

DAMON: How were you able to find him before?

EDWARD: With a little help from my friends (points to a mystery lady, and a strange man).

KLAUS: (Completely taken with her) She is breathtaking... (stares in intrigue) seems so familiar...

EDWARD: Does she, now?

TYLER: What’s with the freaky glove?

EDWARD: Let’s just say, she has quite a peculiar taste.

DAMON: Can she help us find Darius?

EDWARD: She can, but I must warn you, with her, there is always a price to pay.

DAMON: I really don’t care, as long as she can lead us to Bonnie.

EDWARD: Okay, but don’t say I didn’t warn you. Come with me. (They approach the mystery lady) My dear, I’d like to introduce you to some friends of mine...

LADY: Pleasure to meet your acquaintance, gentleman.

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TVD 9x06 (part 2) coming soon! Hope you stop by, read and enjoy! =)

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periodicreviews · 4 years

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Uncharted 1-3

With the release of the Uncharted trilogy for free, I decided to finally make my way through them. When I bought my PS4 in 2017, it came with a copy of Uncharted 4 that I’ve left untouched until now. I go into specifics for Uncharted 1-3, then talk a little about the series as a whole.

Uncharted 1

My biggest complaint with this game was the platforming. It was not only tough to figure out which ledges were “grabbable” but even after my 9 hours in the game, I couldn’t accurately judge distances.

Some ledges appear to be close enough, but there’s actually a different side path the developers want you to take. Drake as a character seems to have a variable jump distance depending on if the game detects you are trying to land on a grabbable ledge.

If you jump too soon or at the wrong angle, you’ll execute a short “hop” and fall to your death. I haven’t done any digging on whether such a system exists, that’s just what it appears like.

I died over and over on one of the later levels where there is a series of platforms in the rafters of a church. I just kept misjudging distances and jumping too early.

My primary cause of death had to have been just been falling as opposed to any enemy NPC.

As I say that, I’m reminded of one particular shootout in a courtyard. At the time I remember being really frustrated that being in cover didn’t mean that you were safe from bullets. There was so much gunfire that I couldn’t get anywhere near the people who were shooting at me especially with the number of grenades they were shooting at me. It was tough to have to unlearn everything I know about cover from Gears of War, where you are safe if you don’t peek out from people shooting towards you.

Uncharted 2

Uncharted 2 in some ways felt like a step back and a step forward.

The remastering team on U1 maybe did too good of a job because I felt the eyes of the characters in U2 felt a lot more lifeless.

The step forward was obviously in the improved platforming. I had less and less trouble judging distances. I can’t tell if that’s just because I had 9 hours of practice from the previous game, but I feel like the system judging character movement was also greatly improved.

I died 10 or more times in a single sequence when a helicopter is firing missiles at a building. The building begins to tip over and collapse and you are supposed to jump through a window on a neighboring building to escape.

Fail to jump and you die. Jump at the wrong angle, and you fall between the collapsing building and are crushed. Before I realized I was supposed to go through the window, I thought I was supposed to grab onto the ledge of the neighboring building.

Right after you jump at the exact spot, Drake says “Jump”. But for me, this audio cue always came after I was supposed to jump. I’m not sure if they intended that audio cue to be the cue for the user or not.

This particular scene is a symptom of the root problem in my opinion of the game trying to be too cinematic. I say that, even as a fan of Quantic Dream games. I know there’s a very fine line between cinematic and game. Go too far and you can confuse the player on when they are required to interact and/or make it feel like their actions have no impact. Uncharted 2 had a few such sequences for me. I never wanted to see another train by the end of it.

Uncharted 3

The beginning of the game had me a little worried about the collision detection. It might have just been a side effect of playing with a smaller character model and the collision requirements being slightly different than the regular sized character. There were a few moments when I would get stuck in the chase sequence on corners or edges of geometry.

U3 also put a lot more importance on the melee combat system. I personally prefer to stick with the gunplay but for certain enemies like the shotgun/bulletproof vest guy and the giant brawler types, it felt like a requirement to engage them melee combat. The ability to return grenades and dropdown on enemies in silent takedowns was a welcome addition though.

I really hated the “drug trip” levels. It was very uncomfortable to look at the screen as it distorts and I started to panic during the first level because I was worried I was going in circles and causing this level to last longer than it should. Though to the developers’ credit, that’s really the point of these sequences.

There was one segment I was intent on getting through on all stealth as you infiltrate the airport to stowaway on the cargo plane to the desert. Two enemies at the end guard a door and you can’t shoot either without triggering the “alert”. You had to catch their attention, one at a time, to lure them away from the door and take them out. I really wished I could use the rock mechanic from Horizon Zero Dawn to even get them to spread out on a patrol as they searched for the noise. Ultimately, I was able to remain in the shadows enough to grab their attention but not to fully alert them.

General

I think story-wise, I enjoyed the first game the most, despite it being a little cliché that the Nazis appeared. But gameplay-wise, I probably prefer U2. I enjoyed Elena being presented as someone who didn’t have to rely on Drake to save her. The scene where Elena breaks Drake out of jail in particular was well executed and it was fun to watch these actors perform it.

In U2, although realistic that there would be some animosity between Chloe and Elena, I wished the two could be there as part of a team, not just as two sides of the love triangle. Thankfully they do warm up to each other.

In U2 and U3, characters ask Drake “what’s the point?” and I felt like Drake never successfully answered that. In U1, the driving motivation is rescuing Sully and Elena, then later on it’s in preventing the destructive power from leaving the island. In U2, despite Elena being on death’s doorstep, Drake still decides to face Lazarevic. In U3, especially after getting the warning that Francis Drake himself is alleged to have written. Drake wants to continue on. I guess that just speaks to who he is as a character but the 2nd and 3rd games lost me in that regard as to knowing when to quit. To be fair, he did want to quit in U2 until Schafer convinced him otherwise with the power of the Cintamani stone.

Music

Given Uncharted’s inclusion on stuff like Video Games Live, I expected there to be more to the soundtrack. The main theme is notable but unfortunately that’s the only track that stands out. There are no bad tracks so to speak, but nothing that made me want to listen to it again.

Hints

The hint system was hit and miss at times. I imagine they did a lot of testing to figure out what’s the average time it takes for someone to figure out a particular puzzle and then use that time for how long it takes for the hint to appear. Frequently, the hint would appear when I was already well on my way to finishing the puzzle or when I had just figured it out.

Sometimes the hints would take the form of pressing up on the D-pad and that’s great because I have the option to not press it. It was frustrating when character dialog would tell me what to do instead of letting me figure it out. I know I could’ve turned off the hints in the menu, but I think that would have only worked for the D-pad. It would’ve been nice if that extra character dialog wouldn’t give it all away or could be triggered optionally by the D-pad.

Take a break

It’s probably my fault for trying to rush through these games. But I couldn’t help but notice how high the body count is as you kill non-descript enemy after non-descript enemy. In the first game, they’re just trying to find El Dorado and yet these people are throwing their lives away. In U2, it’s maybe a little more believable because Lazarevic is a warlord basically. And in U3, I guess it’s also believable that this secret society has vast sums of money and influence. Everyone has a price as they say.

At times, I just felt fatigued at having to mow through a whole other squadron of enemies. I know that sounds strange from someone who has played his fair share of Halo, Call of Duty, and Gears of War, where there are no puzzles or exploration, it’s just killing.

In two of those, you’re fighting aliens or “monsters”. I wonder if I played through the 3 Call of Duty Modern Warfare games back to back, would I feel the same way about them? Or maybe it’s merely because Uncharted is not sold to me as being a soldier on a battlefield, you’re just a treasure hunter against mercenaries hired by some rich guy who are just looking for a paycheck (though to be fair, that’s many soldiers as well). Maybe it’s just my personal tastes changing over the years.

This endless warzone type combat also made me yearn for one or two scene where Drake takes it easy. Even just like stopping to eat or sleep would’ve been good. The puzzle and vehicle sections are there to break up the standard run and gun action but I just feel like as a person, it would feel more realistic to see Drake take a nap some time.

Granted, Uncharted is not necessarily aiming for realism. Chances are very low that any person would be able to climb up a train car as it teeters on the edge of a cliff in Tibet. Or escape from a collapsing building that has been shot with rockets from a helicopter gunship. Or survive days walking through the Rub' al Khali with no water and still have the stamina to survive waves of troops in a gun battle. And keep doing it all over and over again.

He does take 1 nap in Uncharted 3 for like 3 hours and I welcomed every second of it. Uncharted 2 opens at a bar where he takes several sips of a drink and of course he takes several sips of the poisoned water in Uncharted 3. But in excluding all of these normal human activities, Drake feels less and less like a human and more like a god.

I feel like maybe I’m missing something that all of these 10/10 and 9/10 reviewers saw. Part of that is probably the time that has passed. I started with The Last of Us and moved on to other games, like Death Stranding, that have built upon the motion capture acting format. Part of it is probably due to me trying to beat these games too quickly, especially when it comes to 2 and 3. I feel like as a whole they are more an 8/10.

I’ve since moved on to Uncharted 4 and so far it feels like a very different game, which I’m not sure if that is a good or a bad thing yet.

#uncharted

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taronfanfic · 5 years

Text

Warmth

Part 3

The play was only opening in a small theatre, yet still had a lavish set-up with a roped off red carpet and small section at the very end for press shots up against the sponsored backboard. It was surrounded with both fans and journalists, and as your car pulled up at the side of the road you spotted a few familiar faces from past award ceremonies and private parties that Taron had been invited to. There was no avoiding the nerves that swirled around in your stomach as images of you tripping up, falling over or somehow ripping your dress and exposing yourself flashed up in your mind. They’d grown familiar with the number of times you’d attended events like this as Taron’s plus one, but thankfully never come true, and as Taron reached out for your hand in the back of the car he pulled you away from the negativity and back to the reality of your night ahead.

“Ready to own this?”

“Hashtag couple goals.” You replied with a snigger, pre-empting the storm of reposted images you’d be tagged in on Instagram over the coming hours.

“Hashtag date night.” He replied with a smirk before stepping out of the car door as it was opened for him. You joined him a moment later and smiled warmly to the gathering of fans as you felt Taron’s hand rest softly against your lower back and then slip around to your hip as you started to walk down the red carpet. Calls came from either side begging for Taron’s attention, but he never let you go, even when the flow of people ahead of you slowed to a standstill.

“Go and sign some stuff, take some photos, I don’t mind.” You encouraged him quietly, but he turned his body in to face yours and simply smiled at you.

“Nah, it’s my night off and I only want to spend it with you.”

“Cute.” The material of his jacket was soft between your fingertips as you held onto the bottom of it and inched him in closer to your chest.

“Can I kiss you?”

“You don’t need to ask.”

“Thought I should check with all these people watching us.”

“What people? It’s just you and me tonight.” You lifted your hand up to his chest as your lips met for a soft and tender kiss.

Before long you were directed forward for a quick round of press shots, keeping things simple with the standard couple pose until the heckles started to come thick and fast.

“Look at each other! Face each other! Give her a kiss!”

“They’re actually tempting me tonight.” Taron said under his breath as he lowered his hand to your arse and pulled you in closer against his hip. “I fancy you like mad.”

“Do it then.” You replied just as quietly as you turned to look at him and felt dumbfounded by his gaze. The spark of chemistry felt stronger than ever, the love you had for him even deeper. The years shared together, the trust, the friendship, the future ahead, everything felt stronger than it had done in a while and you couldn’t have asked for anything more. As Taron moved in to kiss you in that moment it was pure happiness. The smile left behind was completely genuine and you found yourself giggling as Taron stepped back and held out his arm to show you off to the world.

“Stop it. Come on, you.” You blushed as you took hold of his hand and led him into the theatre entrance. “I love you.”

***

Hands were held, kisses stolen, and feet gently nudged against one another as you both knew there was only one person you had in mind all night. The contact between you was rarely broken until you got back to the house. Taron turned to lock the door behind him and you let go of his hand, stepped out of your heels and made a run for it deep into the house.

“Y/N, where are you going?” Taron called out as he slipped his jacket from his shoulders and placed it over the bannister at the bottom of the stairs.

“To hide.” You called back with a giggle.

“But I thought?…”

“Exactly…” You retreated to the doorway and peered around it to see Taron looking down the hall at you. “We both know how this is going to end, but maybe not quite how we’ll get there.”

“You mean I’ve got to catch you first.” There was a darkness that grew in Taron’s eyes as he took a slow step towards you with a sexy grin appearing.

“The thrill of the chase.” You held his eye contact for a moment longer before bottling it and scarpering off around the corner and through the door into the kitchen, ducking into the darkness of the utility room and sliding behind the coats into a small secluded gap. The pounding of your heart against your chest was strong as you heard Taron’s footsteps against the tiled floor of the kitchen. He mumbled something to himself and then you heard his shoes being kicked off so he could move with more stealth. The door creaked as Taron pushed it open slowly and you started to hold your breath, praying he didn’t switch the light on and ruin the game just as it had begun.

“This is fucking cruel, you know that right?” He kept his voice loud as he turned back and started to open some of the kitchen cupboards and check underneath the table. “You’re not going to know what’s hit you when I get my hands on you again.” He purred deliberately as he tried to tempt you out. You bit your lip to contain your smirk as you started to throb for him, but still you waited.

Once Taron had left the kitchen you decided to move, spotting his tie that had been left on the side and loving that he was undressing himself as he went. Your next hiding place was in the tiny gap behind the sofa, where you’d only be visible if Taron happened to crouch down and deliberately look in. You backed yourself in on all fours until your hips were wedged between the fabric and the wall and then you waited again. Taron circled around the ground floor of the house a few times, hoping to catch you out, but you watched on smugly as his legs passed you by.

“If you had any idea how hard I am right now you’d come out and claim me before I have to sit down and knock one out alone, and we both know that would be a waste.” Taron called out again as he circled around the living room, checking behind the curtains and doors. You heard his shirt land down against the floor as he left the room and then the stairs creaked as he made his way up them to continue his search. It gave you chance to scramble out from behind the sofa and softly creep over to Taron’s study. The door handle squeaked as you pushed it down and made you rush inside to get out of Taron’s potential view. The large bookshelves that filled the walls left only one place to hide and you started to regret moving, but you had no other option as Taron had clocked your location from the squeak alone and was already rushing down the stairs to get to you. It was cramped under the desk and the wheels from the chair were rammed in against your leg as you tried to shield yourself, but you knew you wouldn’t be in there for long.

“I’ve always wanted to fuck you over this desk.” You closed your eyes as you heard Taron lower the zip of his flies and tried to mentally prepare yourself for what was to come. It had been over a week since you’d last had sex and you knew he was desperate for it. You were desperate for it too, but still you waited. As you dared to open your eyes again you caught a glimpse of his thighs as he lowered his trousers and boxers to the floor, stepped out of them and then pulled the chair back from the desk. You looked up at him lustfully as the light from the hallway dimly lit his naked body.

“I’ve always wanted you to fuck me over this desk.” You admitted as you climbed out and stood up to face your man. His hands reached out for the sides of your face as he moved in to kiss you heavily. It was rough and messy as Taron practically growled into the kiss whilst backing you up against the edge of the desk. Everything felt hot and rushed as you grabbed as the sides of your dress and lifted the material up to your hips, revealing your black lace underwear. Taron never stopped to look though; he lifted you up so your bum was resting on the edge of the desk, pulled your underwear to one side and guided himself straight into you without ever breaking away from your lips. You wrapped yourself in against his body as he started to move in you, the sensation initially harsh and unforgiving as Taron just went for it. He let you caress your hands up to the sides of his face as he held onto your back and leg for support. It was intense and heated. Flashes of eye contact mixed with breathy half kisses and faces held closely together. You came apart quicker than you’d have liked, dropping a hand to the desk behind you and bunching up the papers as you struggled to find a good grip against the desk. Taron let you have your moment, slowing his pace as he felt you tense up around him and watching down as you lost it because of him.

“Turn around.” He suggested as you started to take a couple of deeper breaths. You glanced over your shoulder to the amount of stuff that covered the desk and then looked back to Taron with a frown as he pulled out of you. “I’ve always wanted to do this.” He smirked as he pulled you out of the way and then used one arm to sweep the array of papers and stationary down to the floor below. “Bend over.”

“Gladly.” You stole a quick kiss from his lips before stretching your arms out to the opposite side of the desk and resting your chest against the surface, thankful you still had the material of your dress to shield the chill. Taron lifted your dress up and then dragged your underwear half way down your thighs before slipping himself back into you.

“God, if I’d have known this would be happening tonight. Fucking hell.”

“Not what you’d pictured?”

“Not even close, this is so hot. I’m loving it.” He finished his sentence with a groan of satisfaction as you arched your back that bit further and felt him get deeper inside you.

“Come on, give it to me.” Your encouragement fired him back up and had him gripping your hips firmly as he slammed into you from behind. His heavy breaths and groans followed the sound of your skin slapping together with every thrust he made and you couldn’t help but join in, moaning into the desk below as the pleasure took over your body. You couldn’t focus on anything but the relentless pounding, the rhythm steady and force hard as Taron brought himself up to the edge and didn’t hold back.

“Oh this is it. This is going to be the one. Fuck.” He swore as he reached his climax and released inside you. The rocking of his hips slowed as he eased himself down and then pulled out, stepping back to fully admire the position he’d just taken you in. “The next time I’m in here for work is going to be a struggle. The image of you bent over that desk is just something else.” You pulled your knickers off your feet and left them hanging off the handle of the desk drawer as a little reminder.

“A future smile for you.”

“And hopefully lots of future smiles for both of us.” He placed his hand to your lower stomach as you stepped in to kiss him.

#taron egerton #taron egerton imagine #taron egerton fanfiction #taron egerton fanfic #taron x reader

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brattywriters-anonymous · 5 years

Text

A Night Off..

Erik x OC

Part three of “I’m Never Wrong” Series

Mini playlist: Moments Of Love x Art of Noise

It’s You x Kem

Share my Life x Kem

Night Off x Drake ft. Lloyd

You’ve been busy. Hella busy. Erik and you had Leanna September after that fateful Christmas, you married the following April, and two years later (before Leanna’s Moana Luau birthday celebration) you found out you were pregnant again. You gave birth to N’Juma That following summer and after being cleared to return to work you were swamped.

You received the promotion for Managing Partner at your firm and you played the role of the Partner’s keepers. Even though you were glad about not having to see courtrooms unless deemed necessary, you now have to track their time at work and expenses on business cards, their vacation and sick time; Along with sitting in extraneous meetings with board members with their bottom line being the only thing they ever care about. You know you could quit at anytime. Your husband reminds you time and time again that he can take care of you, Lee, JuJu, and any other kids you plan on having single-handedly.

Him being a prince and all, you were certain that he could. Momma just didn’t raise you to be nobody’s housewife. You love your children more than anything, and to a certain extent, you love your job, but after two months of going between Mommy and Senior Partner, F/N M/N Udaku, esq. needed a BREAK.

You came home on a Friday evening to find two ladies from the Dora Milaje on your front porch, you knew either Queen Mother, Shuri, or T’challa was behind the door. To your surprise, it was Shuri. You often used to joke to her that Leanna took a piece of Shuri’s personality because she always had a witty come back to her daddy’s sly comments, and they were as thick as thieves from the day she was born.

“Y/N! Hello!” Shuri stands up with your almost four year old in her arms. “Mommyyy!” Leanna yells out in glee. “Hey Lee Lee! Good evening Shuri! To what do we owe this pleasure your highness?” You suspiciously look at her and your daughter like they were up to no good, as you lay down your briefcase. Leanna looks around pursing her lips and says, “Mommy, I d-du-dunno what you talking about!” as she shakes her head. You grin at her adorable yet horrible attempt of lying, “Where’s Juju? Where’s daddy?” Speak of the killer prince..he shall appear. He emerges from the hallway, “Juju is knocked for the night. I gave him his bath fed him, and he went down for the count about fifteen minutes ago.”

The first thing that catches your attention is his cologne. That Dolce & Gabana light blue for men gets you in trouble every single time. You slip out of your work shoes as you apprehensively question, “N’jadaka, What do you have up your sleeve?” Then you travel to your awake child, placing her on your hip, “What is daddy up to LeeLee?” She starts playing with her nails, “Daddy says he wants you to go with him!” Erik scoops you into his embrace, “Daddy needs you to shower up and get dressed. I got everything all laid out for you on the bed, and after we go where we go, I got a room reserved.” His cologne engulfs you into a hypnotized state as he briefly kisses you. You open your eyes to see Leanna covering hers. Shuri retrieves her, “I got some improvements I need to make on T’s suit, I need a little helper so we’re gonna go to the Stark Enterprises lab to do that..” You look back and forth between your husband, your cousin-in-law, and your child, “Well what about JuJu?” T’challa bends the corner from your guest bathroom, “It seems like I am on diaper and bottle duty tonight.”

You lay your arms lazily around Erik’s neck, “So daddy’s got it all figured out, hm?” N’jadaka nods, “Now go get dressed. Don’t make me repeat myself.”

You get to your shared master room to see this two piece outfit with a pair of white pasties, and a white thong to match your husband’s two piece linen button up and matching pants. “Where does this nigga think I’m going looking like somebody’s stripper?” before you can go back in the foyer to protest, he’s already standing at the doorway, “You going with daddy tonight. Lookin’ like daddy’s personal stripper.” He stealth-like footsteps cruises his way over to you to give you a forceful smack on the ass, which got bigger thanks to carrying Juju.

You hopped out of the shower, reluctantly put on the two piece and as you were buckling your shoes, your husband comes in to check on--sorry, rush you. “C’mon Y/N we need to get go--daaaaaammmn. Here baby, lemme help you with that.” He brushes down your calf with his fingertips, slipping on your shoe. “That’s too tight?” You shake your head, “Good.” He counts the hole in order to buckle the other shoe in the same manner, “I’m doing this for you because you need a night off.. Not being mommy, not being a lawyer, not being a home maker, nurse, none of that.” He finishes buckling the second shoe before kissing your foot, “The only thing you gotta be tonight is mine.” your breathing stops at his statement, then you nod. Letting him know you understand.

The drive to your destination was tranquil. Erik played the compilation of Moments of Love by Art of Noise, Kem’s It’s you, and Share my Life, Maxwell’s Lifetime.. it all put you in a mellow mood. He drove the entire way with his hand cascading your thigh, occasionally tapping it to whichever beat was playing. He puts the car in park in front of the club you first met at. When he ran you down, begging to take you on a date that he had to rob a museum in order to take you on.

You giggled and sank into the seat, “N’jadaka, really?” He nods, “Yeah baby. I figured i’d take you to where it all began.” This nostalgic feeling fell over you, remembering how he followed you around the lounge like a sick puppy, his dreads barely touching his neck back then. You give him a second glance, his dreads are now almost to the middle of his back, his nape; tapered. You lean into him, making out with your husband like you’re seventeen. The valet worker tapped on the window to snap you out of it.

Erik really planned that night out. He got a VIP section, got him a bottle of Hennessy prestige, and you a white bottle of Belaire Rose. The waitresses gave you both your appropriate glasses to drink your alcohol out of with a bucket of ice. Your husband kept attempting to roleplay, asking who you were with, “I’m with you, fool!” He then asked where your man was at, you pointed at him. You finally caught on when he asked for your name and number. You put on a corrupt grin, “Heaven. and I don’t think my man would like you asking for my number.” You were good and toasted by the time N’jadaka and you were playing a good game of back and forth, “Oh.. Well your man shouldn’t have left you alone.” The slow tempo of Drake’s A Night off sounds off in the club, “This is my jam!” Your man whispers to you, “See, why would your man leave you along while your song is playing? C’mon. At least dance with me.” You gulped down your fourth glass before taking the last sip out of your bottle, “Let’s go.”

Know you hate explaining how you want it done Just be quiet I'll do fine without your help girl Can you work without a second for some fun? Now you finally got a moment to yourself girl And I know what to do with it

You whine your lower half to his, your ass giggling at the end of every loop. He poured you one more drink for the night, some of his Hennessy, which you both took your glasses onto the dance floor. His free hand is alternating, between gripping your inner thigh, to grasping on both of your cheeks as your mirrored each break down of the beat. His eyes narrow as he bites down on his trembling lip, never letting his hand leave your body. As you feel his erection growing you grind against him even harder. He reaches underneath you to grip your breast, tweaking the skin underneath your pastie. You’re drunk at this point, so all you do in reaction is keep dancing and sticking your tongue out. He has you exactly how he wants you. Relaxed, drunk, and worked up.

So, baby, I'm a lock my door and disconnect my phone Cause I wanna make one thing clear

I want you on top, so let your hair down I took the night off for you Girl, I'm gonna turn the lights off But keep your heels on They're fittin' for what we're about to do

He has a look on his face that you love to see, pure lust and astonishment. Just at you dancing for him.You look down at his hand with the vibranium wedding band you placed on it three years prior is shining even in the almost nonexistent club lighting. His thick fingers grabbing on you like you’ll dissolve at any moment.The Dj switches the song to Keith Sweat’s Nobody, N’jadaka gives you a shock, pressing his fingers against your abdomen, standing you straight up. Then he presses your lower back down so you can still arch against him, as you continue your slow whine.

I wanna tease you I wanna please you I wanna show you baby, that I need you I want your body 'til the very last drop I want you to holler when you want me to stop

N’jadaka’s hands are still roaming your frame. His lips are now brushing past and behind your ear, “So tell me baby, can I get a taste of Heaven?” His growl at the end of his statement mixed with the drinks and that damn cologne were all working against your self control. You literally leaked down your leg. You took your iced out left ring finger and placed it where your nectar was racing down and fed it to him, “Is that good enough?” He moaned as the liquid hit his tongue. He licked a strip behind your ear which makes you tremble against him, “Nah babygirl. Daddy wants more.” He presses down your back even more so you can bend back over. He gently smacks your ass, letting it jiggle back he looks to the Ancestral Plane as if he’s thanking Bast herself for that ass of yours.

You throw back what’s in your glass like it’s a shot and grab him by the collar, giving him the look that he’s been waiting on since you got out the house, “Let’s go...Now.”

Erik made a reserved a room at the Fairmont across the bay. There’s a jam on the Oakland Bay Bridge. That and the tented windows on your Cayenne which gives you the opportune moment to unbuckle your seat belt and jump on the man that’s been tempting you the entire night. His sex playlist going through the speakers didn’t make it any better.

I wanna touch you Right now, right now, right now, right now, right now, right now We ain't gotta waste time going out on dates We ain't gotta count down till you come to my place We ain't gotta, (you ain't gotta), we ain't gotta, (you ain't gotta) We ain't gotta, (you ain't gotta) we ain't gotta, (you ain't gotta) You ain't gotta waste time sending me roses They gon' die anyway, man that's just boring You ain't gotta, (you ain't gotta), you ain't gotta, (you ain't gotta) You ain't gotta, (you ain't gotta) you ain't gotta, (you ain't gotta) 'Cause I want you right now

Your lips are fighting with his for dominance as you climb over to the drivers seat to straddle him. You rip about half of the buttons off of his shirt as your liquor tasting tongues tango. His hands smack against your ass over and over and over again, making you moan into him. Between kisses, while you’re trying to unbuckle his seat belt and his pants he mumbles two octaves lower than his normal voice, “Mmm.. So it’s like that?” You moan out over the music, “Yeah daddy, it’s like that.” He finally shimmies out of his pants and simultaneously rips your thong and the crotch area of those fishnet pants. His primal side and the air hitting your center brings a shiver to your body and it continues as your lover submerges into you.

You cry out, slightly in pain. You and N’jadaka have only made love a handful of times since your six week appointment after having N’Juma. Partially because he went on a two month wardog mission. He’d only came home a couple days ago, and you were so busy in mom mode when you weren’t in work mode and vice versa..you only snuck in a quickie when he first came home. So your healed body is still getting used to his girth again. What feels like a overwhelming pressure eventually morphs into the pleasure you remembered oh so well. You crouch your body to tuck in between his neck and chest as you ride him in the stop and go traffic. He’s basking in the spontaneity of it all, the suburban behind him is occasionally honking their horn at his delayed movement as traffic moves up. If they only knew what was distracting him.

The first of your many orgasms of the night surprises you. You didn’t feel it coming, until it came. Your body is convulsing on his and he holds you right where you are. You screamed his name as best as you could through it. He put the car in park and hoisted his hips to meet your bottom until you could move again. You slam down on him, “Mm mm. You don’t gotta do that. Let Heaven take care of you, daddy.” He smirks while looking at the creamy mess y’all created, “You sure?” You nod, “Yeah. I gotchu. That one caught me off guard.” You laugh together as you grind on him. You love when he’s deep in you, he knows it too. N’jadaka grips your hips as he bites down on your neck, coaching your movements. You move your head back, giving him more access as you feel the second orgasm arise. The head of his phallic member collided with that spot that makes you weak every time he hits it.

He huffs, “My baby cumming again huh?” You cry out yes, “I’m cumming too baby. Daddy gon make Heaven cum to him? Hmm?!” He rotates his hips around to tap it again.. and again... as he hits it the third time, your essence falls, in a trickling waterfall motion. You shriek in bliss as his motions don’t stop, neither does your orgasm.

The car behind you beeps again. Erik being the superman that he is, he put the car back in drive and moved up while still stroking you through what’s probably the longest orgasm you’ve ever had. You rest on him as he presses on the break, his leg slightly shook as he gritted his teeth. You looked at him, “I came. That asshole ruined it. But wait till I get ‘cho ass in that room. I’m really gon get a taste of heaven.”

@chaneajoyyy @theunsweetenedtruth @hidden-treasures21

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