Y'all the fuckin yt short abt the new 'Quality Time' feature has me on the ground. The background music I, I can't take it seriously oh my fucking god the comments saying they thought it was fan made are so real because sweet jesus look at him.

There is not a single thought in this man's head.

Also is it appropriate to slouch like that when ur doing cardio? I mean ik your legs are still moving but a part of me feels like u should try to keep ur back straight? Then again what do I know, I've lived on god's green earth for 20 years and only once have I been to a gym and all I did was walk on an inclined treadmill for half an hour.

My gym habits (or lack thereof) aside, good on them for making use of their character models and hey if that inspires you to actually work out more then all the power to you.

Judging from the trailer I think we're also getting new outfits for them so that's something to look forward to.

I know I'm focusing on the wrong thing but I did not know of the existence of compression shirts until I saw this man and went 'why tf is he wearing a rash guard at the gym' but apparently after a quick google search this thing is like, kinda fancy? Like it's form fitting right? So it's supposed to increase circulation so your muscles can get more oxygen and better absorb sweat. (I don't know, it still seems hella stuffy)

It's so weird imagining Zayne at the gym. I mean we all know this man is built like a semi truck but he's also a doctor?? Imagine going to the gym and you see the cardiac surgeon that operated on your grandma two days ago pumping iron. God bless the self esteem of the people who go to the same gym as him (or maybe Akso has a gym idk).

Um for a more normal point of focus, it probably won't happen but imagine if u can change which outfit they work out in. Change it to the towel ones and you can watch Zayne's back muscle movements as he does pull-ups.

i had these in the tags on the trailer for the new game but i'm putting them in a post instead it's just less obnoxious that way + some extra thoughts at the end

HELLO? SIR?? HELLO??? MR KRAVINOFF, oh he's so tall, this makes up for the twunky movie casting and the fact that i can't stand the gameplay for the tasm2 game where he's 9 feet tall (i want to play it but i just... can't do it... the menace system is not good...)

wait are they gonna let us go to queens?? or just cutscenes, i guess it could be like the raft stuff in the first game where you can't actually go there...

OH PETER GROSS I LOVE IT, I'M READY SIGN ME UP, oh the jaw… that's such a cool way to do symbiote spider-man actually though…. sleek but meaty

WAIT YOU GET TO PLAY AS MILES AND PETER BOTH AS SPIDEY???? not just the civilian stealth stuff anymore... i mean that makes sense but i never thought about it really.... ough...

oh that slingshot animation is chef kiss mwah beautiful

HE CAN FLY?! (*glide)

sidenote still love how slender miles is compared to peter it's a good detail, gangly teen vs grown man—i know literally everything with miles in it does this but it's just. good.

ooh webline trapeze… seeing lots of very good mechanics here…. ohh spooky… oh thank god it's the lizard i thought it was gonna be a dinosaur and was like, no... but it's not.

miles has some realllllly nice animations very slick

i'm sorry i cannot help laughing at peter's hoarse voice. is that supposed to be evil venom influence??? lmao? it sounds goofy. just let him talk and put him through a vocoder or whatever it is they use for that stuff. voice modulation. like a turian. or glados. i guess the buzzing speech for turians is less #badass than Mr. I'm Trying Really Hard To Sound Gravely But I Mostly Sound Like I Have a Cold (which, it IS a parasite...) but I will say that my headcanon voice sound for Agent Venom IS literally just Garrus LMAO

Peter here sounds like what i'd expect from swine flu grim hunt peter 😂

oh this lizard section is giving me flashbacks to the arkham asylum sewer section… 😩 that shit was so tedious but this looks much faster and less drawn out esp if 2 includes the accessibility features from the previous game(s)

that "he's got sharp teeth" > *dark voice* ''so do i…'' LMAO I'M SORRY i like dark peter and I like symbiote spider-man in theory but it's just so.......... i cannot take it seriously..... it's the fake gravelly voice.... the knowledge that i just KNOW they're working from the "symbiote makes you bad" angle even though peter is just like that....

''he's never like that'' BULLSHIT HE ISN'T this is propaganda ugh but it's whatever, this is what i expected anyway, every media tries to push that peter is innately good anyway, even the comics that are actually in-character, so it really could go either way as far as peter's levels of goody-two-shoes-ness...

i'm excited regardless of the fact that it's probably going to be very par for the course as far as venom is concerned, even though the most the symbiote ever really did with peter was like... make him stay up all night... like... c'mon it doesn't change your entire personality, it mostly just makes your emotions less stable... the rage has to be there in the first place to be emphasized... granted i guess miles would not know peter's angry dark side ideally since peter should generally be a good teacher who is purposefully gentle but it IS still a lie to say that peter isn't like that tbh... like as corny as "so do I..." is it's like. Peter WOULD just say that even without a symbiote. like. he would. it just wouldn't have a long lingering dramatic camera shot—i think that's part of what's making it funny for me. it feels like parts of the gameplay trailer are slightly too protracted, where if they were just a little bit snappier, a little bit briefer and more to the point, with less waiting for quips/jokes, it would feel much tighter and a little bit less funny (though his gravelly voice is still just kind of inherently amusing to me)

hopefully the venom plot doesn't suck ass, i AM excited to use peter's nasty symbiote tentacles, that shit looks extremely fun and i love the weird organic look on the suit... appreciate that it's still glossy and slick, and very straightforwardly patterned in black and white while also being fleshy, cause the texture was kind of my least favorite aspect of movie venom personally, so i like this look... it's not as sleek as some designs (which i personally tend to favor) but i really do like the way the jawline appears to be worked into the "mask" and the way it kind of melds musculature and "clothing" together.

the real question is 1) will they force me to look at the "remastered" face for Peter and 2) if so will this game come out on PC, when, because I would rather not look at that face.

(also because I don't have a ps5 and will not be able to acquire one any time soon unless i suddenly come into a helluva lot of money)

When In Italy Part 4

here is part 4! Um this chapter has bad words and some adult themes so warning for that! The next part will be the last, so let me know what you think! Are they end game or no? Also! If you want a personalized imagine, check out my pinned post! If you want to support me ---> please click here! every little bit helps bc im a broke ass college student so thank u to anyone who wants to support me :)

All comments and feedback are welcome and encouraged!! :)

WORD COUNT: 2.2K

You stood frozen as he stepped out of the elevator, his eyes soft as he met yours, waking towards you.

“Get away from me.” you whisper, attempting to push past him and get into the elevator, pressing the door closed button before even pressing a floor, not wanting him to get any closer.

“Y/N, wait!” he rushed, sticking his hand between the doors and stopping it, his tall frame standing before you that you quickly push past, going back to lock yourself in your apartment, and lock him out, “Please, let me explai-“

“No!” you stopped, voice firm as you turned to face him, “you can’t keep doing this! you can’t keep showing up like this! So just leave me alone.”

You kept walking, ignoring his pleas as he came after you, successfully unlocking your apartment door rapidly, but you catch a glimpse of rings as he hand stops the door.

“Please.” He whispered, not pushing the door open and you saw a flicker of his eyes and you could almost see the sincerity in them, “I know I don’t deserve it, I really don’t, but I would just love to talk to you for real this time, anything you want to know.”

“and you’re not gonna be an asshole this time?” you asked, leaning against the doorframe, peaking at him, “because if you are, I swear to god Styles I will give you 5 seconds to get the fuck out.”

“Promise.” He nodded and your heart believed him, so you opened the door.

You watched as he shoved his hands deep in his pockets, slowly entering your apartment and you didn’t miss how his eyes scanned you quickly, before bouncing around the apartment, looking around the space he used to be so familiar with.

You watched how he headed to the couch about to sit but stutter stepped a bit, scratching the back of his neck and looking at you, almost asking you if it’s okay if he sits down.

You gave him a soft smile and nod, tucking a loose hair behind your ear and sitting on one side of the couch, thankful he sat on the other, giving you each plenty of space as your eyes met. The tension was slowly rising, looking at each other as you sat, wondering who was going to break the silence.

“I never meant for anything to happen.” he whispered, his head falling as a shameful look covered his face, avoiding your eyes, “After the breakup… I- I was just lost. I was messing up at work and I just was doing shit. Then, it was like only like a month ago, I was getting drunk all the time and she just came into my trailer and we were talking and then she kissed me.”

You just nodded, biting your bottom lip and picking at your nails, peaking up and looking at him, your glossy eyes meeting his bloodshot ones, not really having anything to say in response.

“And I just…” he started, “I wanted to feel better, feel anything. So, we just started hanging out more and I just really wanted to feel something, feel a connection. So we took a trip to Italy because… It’s always been a place that made me feel better and then…”

“Yeah.” you chuckled, “and then… Why did you bring her to our house? I know we haven’t talked about that kind of stuff, but it’s mine too Harry and… just seeing you two there? I never felt more replaceable than I did when I saw you two.”

“Oh love, no.” He whispered, scooting closer to you, a hand coming up to cup your face to help your eyes meet, but he retracted it back before he made contact with your skin, “I’m so, so sorry. I’m so sorry and I will never be able to prove to you, but that was never my intention to ever hurt you. The breakup was a mistake.”

“I… How am I supposed to believe that?” you squeaked, voice cracking as the barrier breaks, tears falling on your cheeks as you looked up at him, “We we’re together for years and you just- I mean fuck Harry! I haven’t even thought about even starting to flirt with someone and you’re…”

“We’ve never had sex,” He quietly added cheeks turning a bit red, “or done anything like that. At all, I just… couldn’t.”

Your eyes widen a bit at the confession, watching as he looked at his hands, a slight twinge of embarrassment on his features.

“Oh.” you whispered, “I know I shouldn’t be mad, we… we aren’t together and you have have the right to do whatever you want but it’s just… hard. Especially when I wasn’t expecting it. I went to Italy to try and get away, everything in the city makes me think of you, I don’t know why I thought staying at the house would be any better but, I just wanted to get away.”

“Sorry I ruined your trip.”

“Sorry I ruined your hookups.”

He let out a laugh, the smile staying a bit longer when he noticed you had subconsciously scooted a bit closer to him.

“It’s not like I ever really wanted to… Even little Harry only wants you.” he flirted and an instant, loud laugh leaves your lips, leaning forward and your brace yourself on his shoulder, a simple thing you had done over the years countless times, but still made his heart skip a beat.

“Oh my god,” you said between breathless laughs, your bodies now less then a foot apart as you smiled up at him, “please do not call it little Harry!”

“What do you prefer?” He smirked, “rather I call it bi-“

“What the fuck?” a voice spoke suddenly, both of your red eyes going to your front door and seeing your best friend standing their, her eyes wide in a mix of confusion and anger. Your hand retracted from his body quickly, your best friend looking at you with soft eyes, her eyes darting over to Harry’s and you see the fiery anger behind them, “Y/N, please tell me he was getting whatever shit he left behind and is leaving.”

“We were just talking.” You started, glancing over at Harry, seeing a bit of fear behind his eyes and your lips quirked up in a smile that quickly faded seeing the anger in y/bff/n eyes.

“What do you want to talk to him about? How he broke your heart again?” She asked, confusion and concern laced in her voice, “I’m sorry, y/n, I just… I can’t watch you go through all of it all over again and again.”

You opened your mouth to protest, but he quickly stood up beside you giving you a quick nod as he glanced over at y/bff/n the back at you, “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have just showed up. It was so good to see you, y/n, I’ll get out of your way.”

“Harry, wait!” you stood up, hating the softening in your voice, “I want to talk more… are you staying or do you have to go back to L.A?”

“I’ll be here as long as you need me. And if you want me gone, I’ll book my flight. Okay? It’s up to you, whatever you want.”

“Okay… Can I call you later?”

“You can call me anytime, I’ll pick up.”

***

Y/bff/n definitely wasn’t thrilled with you.

“I just feel like this is a bad idea, y/n!” She had exclaimed once Harry had left your apartment, “He’s gonna hurt you again! What could he possibly want?”

“I dont know, I just… I dont know.” You sighed, sitting across from her on your couch just like you did with him, “I love him and I don’t know what’s going to happen but I don’t want to end up hating him.”

She nodded, looking at you as your eyes glazed over again, “Hey, okay, I’m sorry. I just don’t want you upset. Do you still wanna go try this new place or just hang out here? Let’s get your mind off of everything, you need a break, yeah? Especially if you’re going to talk to him later.”

“Do you think I should?"

“If that’s what you think, I think you should. You know him.” She nods, “but I swear to god if he makes you cry again he’ll have to deal with me.”

So now, here you were, waiting on him to come back to finish your talk from earlier. It was helpful hanging out with y/bff/n, listening to her advice as she gave you a bit of the reality check that you needed, making sure he won’t sweep you off your feet with his familiar charm.

Your heart rate never fully calmed down as you waited for him to come back to your apartment after y/bff/n dropped you back off after your afternoon together and you were glad for the few hours of a distraction, but now your mind was fully occupied with him once again as you sat on your couch.

The knock on your door caused you to jump, hoping up and checking your appearance in your hall mirror before swinging open the door, seeing Harry standing their with a bouquet of flowers, a small smile on his face.

“Got these for you,” he began, “shoulda showed up with them when I kinda crashed into you earlier… but I was so nervous I didn’t think about it, honestly.”

“Thank you.” You softly replied, eyeing up at him and taking them from his grip, letting out a shaky breath as you welcome him in and turn on your heel, going to your kitchen to place them into a vase quickly before going back to him, seeing him in the same spot you two were sitting in earlier.

“I just wanted to say I’m sorry again… and thank you for letting me come back and talk to you at all, really don’t deserve your time, but I’m thankful for it.” He began, eyes glued onto yours as he scooted closer to you when you sat down, his fingers tentatively trailing on your arm before laying his hand on your own, “I… I want you back, y/n. I want to be with you, I never stopped wanting just you.”

“Harry, I… I don’t know what to say.” You started, “I just… there’s so much still up in the air and it’s all happening so fast. Are you still with Olivia?”

“No, of course not.” He instantly answered, “we were never anything real, I left Italy when I went to the house and you were gone. I came back here and I just… I would sit outside your building in my car and just try and get the nerve to walk in to talk to you, but I was so scared of you telling me to leave again.” Harry started deep into your eyes as he continued, his own welling up with tears, “I love you so much and I was such an idiot and fuck baby… I’ll do anything to prove it you.”

Now, you two were just inches apart, his hand cupping your cheek as you leaned into it, eyes glued onto his eyes as both of your gazes were glassy, sets of eyes wandering down to one another’s lips. Your eyes fluttered up and looked at him, his nose nudging into yours, seeming to test the boundary and you simply nodded, causing him to connect your lips in an instant.

Your lips met softly, gaining speed as the passion overflowed you both as the familiar move came back easier than either of you could have imagined. You both moaned into one another’s mouths, his tongue quickly sliding past your lips as your crawled onto his lap, fingers gripping the soft material of his shirt.

Things escalated quickly as he carried you into your bedroom, body hovering over yours as his body pressed against yours, the articles of clothing disappearing piece by piece, lips never separating a second longer than they had to you as you refamilarized yourselves with one another.

His fingers dug their way into your waist as he kissed you harder, singular pieces of thin material being the only things separating you and as Harrys fingers slipped down, pulling back and looking up at you for permission, your breath caught in your throat, reality hitting you like a wave.

“I can’t do this.” You whispered, fingers removing themselves from his hair as you covered your face, voice wavering as tears welled up in your eyes once again, “I-it’s all too much, too fast- I-I, I don’t think I can do this, Harry- I can’t.”

“Fuck, it’s okay.” He whispered, crawling off from on top of you, scrambling to pick his t shirt off the floor and handing to you, quickly covering your body with it, “Fuck, I’m sorry, did I hurt you?”

You nodded quickly, knees tucking into your chest as you let out soft cries, flinching as his arm came around you, going to comfort you with the soft stroke of his arm and retracted it quickly after seeing your reaction.

“I-I… I just keep seeing you and her in my head.” You whispered, “…I don’t know if I can do this.”

there's always money in the banana stand

riverdale promptathon week 3: yellow + business

Even as the sun sets, even as the breeze blows, the hell furnace of July in Riverdale burns on. It’s triply as sweltering inside the tiny booth running three freezers, offloading heat to sustain the frozen merchandise inside. “How can it be so hot in there when we are supposed to be selling frozen bananas?” JB complains, at least twice a week.

She’s twelve. Complaint is her new first language. She complains about being left in Riverdale while Gladys went back to Toledo. She complains about living in a trailer park that usually does not have warm water. She complains about their father being imprisoned for covering up a gruesome murder. But most of all, she complains about working in the banana stand.

Child labor laws aside, Jughead can’t blame her for that one. He hates the damn banana stand, but it’s their best shot.

Gladys’ monthly check covers rent and utilities for the trailer. Everything else is on him, now. The idiot eighteen year old who decided to petition the court to be his sister’s legal guardian. Well, and his idiot mom who signed off on it. So he needs money, and the Jones family has never been particularly flush with cash, just trampled over by FP’s failed “business opportunities.”

Enter: the banana stand.

It’s not the fastest revenue stream, Jughead finds. But it’s got potential.

Initially, Dilton doesn’t let him sell during the Twilight Drive-In’s concession stand hours. Before or after the movie, sure, but no overlap. “I’m not worried about competition, Jones. It’s just too humiliating for me to watch you sweat through that horrible yellow polo you call ‘branding.’”

But when customers asked him more than twice a night when the banana stand would be open, Dilton caved.

It’s not like being open during the screening hours is a whole lot more preferable. He only just transferred from Southside to Riverdale High last spring; now he’s the rising senior who hands out phallic symbols from inside a giant phallic symbol. Not exactly a boon to his popularity.

Still, recently the money is enough to pay the internet bill and keep JB fed for dinner when she can’t go to the summer breakfast and lunch program at the local park district. It’s still not enough for him to eat particularly well, and the smell of hot dogs and slurp of his classmates’ slushies makes the heat feel like a minor inconvenience.

He eyes the tip jar, willing himself to wait on rampaging the concession stand until the beginning of the film roar dies down. It’s a double feature tonight, which means maybe he can score enough cash to cover those damn college application fees his counselor will start hounding him about week one of school.

Then he sees her—Betty Cooper. She’s laughing, watching Archie Andrews try to catch popcorn in his mouth, tossed by his paramour, Veronica Lodge. She pauses to sip from her slushie straw, her lips—which he’s watched argue against homophobic and racist comments in their advanced lit class, or pressed to the cheek of her other best friend, Kevin Keller. Which he’s imagined, doing slightly less savory things, though the mere thought of said imagining has his heart pounding wildly.

(Jughead’s been eating way too many fucking bananas. Someone needs to check his potassium levels.)

His absolutely pathetic gaze, once available three times a day in their shared classes where Jughead has still not managed to exert any confidence whatsoever regarding speech, eye contact, or general acknowledgement of Betty Cooper’s existence other than whatever drooling may or may not be happening, all of which he finds he has no control over… is all interrupted by the absolute polar opposite of Betty Cooper. Hiram Lodge zooms up to the banana stand on his segway, angling to a stop just before taking out the stand’s foundation.

“Still getting a hang of that, Mayor Lodge?”

Hiram grimaces. “Just checking that you’ve renewed your business permit, Jones.”

They do this once a week. It’s still the same permit.

“You know,” Hiram starts as Jughead rustles for the paperwork to make him go the fuck away, “I could find you an arrangement with a better banana supplier. For a discount. If you’re interested.”

Jughead rolls his eyes. “I’m not interested in your GMO, black market bananas, Hiram.”

Hiram gives him a pointed look. Jughead rolls his eyes even harder. “Mayor Lodge.” He proffers the papers, Hiram waves them away. “I’ll take one chocolate peanut butter dip. With peanuts.”

Jughead kisses his teeth. “That will be $3.50.”

Hiram’s whole face goes serpentine. “Not between business partners, Jones. Put it on my tab.”

Jughead grits his teeth, handing the finished banana so aggressively he hopes that the chocolate splatters and stains Hiram’s $500 tie. It is only slightly worth it to watch Hiram struggle with navigating the segway one-handed, frozen banana in the other.

He muffles a chuckle before realizing he’s used the dead end of the chopped peanut topping, and exits the stand to update the order board hanging on the outside. It’s mostly an excuse to feel a ten degree drop in temperature, a sweet relief he might be able to extend by grabbing a hot dog before the intermission rush.

He’s crossing off peanuts from the topping list and spinning around when he hears a shriek and a sudden, cold slosh across his chest. The yellow polo drips with artificial blue slushie, but Jughead swallows his fucking hell when he sees that the shriek, gaping stare of horror, and stumble in question all belong to his very own blonde kryptonite.

“Oh my god. Oh my GOD, jesus, shit, I’m so sorry!”

Jughead is frozen while Betty grabs about half his napkin dispenser and starts pawing at his shirt in a vain attempt to right the giant sticky blue mess all over his chest.

Finally, Jughead swallows the golf ball in his throat and chokes out. “Honestly, it’s fine. That stand is a sauna. I needed that.”

Betty stops, both her blotting and her stream of apologizing (which includes a fair bit of cursing, and he is a little revolted with himself by how much this turns him on).

“It’s going to get very sticky, soon. Maybe I should buy a bottle of cold water?”

Jughead can’t help himself. “Oh, impromptu yellow t-shirt contest?”

Betty grins.

I did that.

“Do you have any employees who could bring you another shirt?”

Jughead shakes his head. “Just my sister. She’s playing video games at home. There’s no earthly way she’ll bring me a spare.”

Betty cocks her head. “I had a feeling you were more than the silent back row kind of guy.”

The fact that Betty Cooper has, at any point, considered what kind of guy he is triggers full-on nervous blathering. “I’m usually very tired at school. I have this little sister—but I’m kind of um, her guardian. So I’m doing this stupid banana stand thing because it’s like one of the three assets to our entire family name I guess? Anyway, it’s hard to engage with Haggly’s basic discussion questions at eight in the morning when you spent the whole night dreaming about wholesale banana margins.”

He’s essentially vomiting words, but Betty is still smiling.

“Anyway, I should crawl back into my fruit-shaped purgatory and let you go back to your friends.”

She’s biting her lip, hedging. “Honestly, they’re probably using the alone time to make out in the car, and I’d rather let them get all their sexual tension out so that I don’t have to feel it radiating off of them for the whole second half of the double feature.”

Jughead laughs and tamps down the impulse to offer her a frozen banana, because he cannot possibly say something like that without making it sound sexual.

“What are frozen banana profit margins like, anyway?” Betty asks, either genuinely interested or legitimately flirting with him. Jughead finds both potentials baffling.

Jughead hesitates, then ducks inside the stand, pulling out his spiral bound notebook. “I’m still kind of figuring it out. All my records are in here.”

Betty sidles up to the stand, taking up the whole window. They’re both leaning over the scribbled line items on college ruled paper; he can smell her shampoo. She takes the notebook, scanning thoroughly.

“Do you have a pencil?”

He hands her one and observes her going to work, writing out some algebraic formula and calculating quickly in her head. There is a calculator within his reach, but he thinks handing it to her might come off as an insult. (Jughead wouldn’t know; he assumes Betty is in an advanced math class. Jughead is not.)

After a few minutes of watching her devoted focus, thinking about her hands touching his pencil, thinking about her hands wrapped around his hand, or his—

“I don’t know how to tell this to you, Jug.”

The shortening of his name stops his heart for a jolt, and his response is embarrassingly delayed. “What is it?”

Betty winces but smiles through it, a combination she’s surely learned to use when delivering bad news. It’s well earned, it really does soften the blow.

“There’s no money in the banana stand. At least, not with these margins.”

Jughead finds himself less than devastated by this news, mostly because it makes a hell of a lot of sense. The messenger doesn’t hurt, either.

“But,” she interrupts. “I don’t know if you’ve nailed down your course load for senior year. But I’m taking AP Econ? This could be, um, a good project. Like, if you want to take the class. Or even if you don’t. Not that you’re like a project or… whatever. I’m just saying we could figure it out. Make lemonade out of… bananas.”

Betty Cooper is extremely cute when she stammers.

Jughead doesn’t know what to do, so he gives her an easy out. “I can’t like, hire you, if that wasn’t obvious by the whole… deficit spending or whatever the whole negative circled number at the bottom of the page really means.”

She flushes. “No, that would be highway robbery. I just thought there might be an… opportunity. For um, us. I mean, for you and I. I mean—” she clears her throat, as if it’s closing up. “An academic opportunity. Or, in your case, professional. Well, a betterment of your livelihood. Okay, um, shit, just… I should go!”

She turns away, her face the deepest scarlet he’s ever seen.

“Betty, wait.”

She pivots back, eyes down at the ground.

“How about I buy you a new slushie and you come back into the booth. Tell me everything I’m doing wrong for the rest of the night.”

Betty looks up, biting the corner of her smile. “Sounds like a deal.”

They shake on it.

Covet - KJ Apa x Reader (ft. Jordan Connor)

Word count: 2650

Requested by: @andwizzlev

Warnings: swear, implied bondage fetish, alcohol abuse

You had been working on Riverdale as a runner for three months now and you were loving it. It had been hard work and you had had to get used to the fact that you had to do every little thing that was asked of you right away, but being on a set was well worth it. You were lucky that the group of people that you were assigned to, the lead four, were very chill and often didn’t ask you to do anything. They would offer to come with you to get coffee, make sure that you had food for yourself, would invite you to lunch with them. All in all, it was like being a personal assistant to your friends, and while that sounded whack it was actually quite fun.

You were sitting in Lili’s trailer watching a movie when Cami poked her head in and let Lili know that she had a scene. This also meant that you had to be on set with her, and so the two of you made your way to the Pops set for Lili’s scene with Cole. It was always fun watching them work together, the fact that they were a couple in real life leaking into their scenes in the best way.

“They’re great aren’t they?” The kiwi accent made you jump and you had to hold you hand over your mouth so you didnt ruin the scene.

“Oh my God KJ you can’t just sneak up on me like that!” You grinned and he smirked at you,

“Sorry babe, forgot how jumpy you are.”

KJ had been the first person that you met on set, and the first person you had looked after. He was even more chill than the rest of them, the New Zealand attitude meaning that he barely even treated you as a colleague, more like another star of the show or an old friend. He had been the first to ask you to hang out outside of the set, the five of you going to a small bar in downtown vancouver where KJ had played a little guitar on stage, and he remained the person that you were closest to. It helped that you found him outstandingly attractive, but you tried your best not to let that get in the way of your work of your friendship. Tried being the optimum word. There had been many occasions where you had been drunk in a bar and had ended up almost kissing him or had his hand grazing your thigh as you sat on barstools, but you both knew you needed to remain professional.

“I’m only jumpy when someone comes up behind me with no warning…” You grinned and he raised his eyebrows,

“Well, I’m sorry..” He whispered, “I’ll make sure to give you a heads up before I get all up close and personal with ya..” His eyes darted from your own to your lips momentarily, and you felt the lust wash over your eyes as you bit down on your lip. Luckily, one of the other runners called him for a scene.

That evening was much like the others when they had night shoots, sitting around drinking coffee and playing games to keep the energy up. You circled the group that was there, this time consisting of Cami, Charles, KJ, Cole and Jordan and passed them all fresh cups of coffee before you sat down next to Jordan and sipped your own.

“I don’t think we’ve properly been introduced.” Jordan spoke after he thanked you for your coffee, “I’m Jordan.”

“I know..” You chuckled but you felt it come out a little more girlish than you intended to, and the dark smirk on his features told you everything that you needed to know, “I mean, I’ve worked on the set for three months and I’ve seen you do scenes with Cole.”

“Three months huh?” He sipped his coffee, eyes running over your body and down your bare legs, “You would think I would have noticed you before now.”

“Well, I do like to keep myself hidden away.” You joked, “They only let me out of the trailer if Cole, Lili, Cami or KJ want anything”

“Keep you tied up in there otherwise?” He grinned, the look in his eyes making your thighs clench together but you played it off with a chuckle,

“I.. Something like that.” You licked your lips and he nodded, sitting back in his chair for only a moment before him and Cole were called to set.

“You better be coming for a drink later,” He spoke more at you than to you as he pulled his Sweet-Pea jacket on, “I want to hear more about you being tied up.” He winked and you bit you lip as you let out a chuckle.

Your eyes followed him from the trailer, and as you licked your lips absentmindedly your gaze fell to KJ. He was talking to Cami, but his eyes were flitting towards you every now and then until he noticed you meet his gaze, his brow furrowed as he sipped his coffee.

Later that evening, the six of you crammed into a cab and made your way to one of the bars in town, the actors and yourself desperate for something to take the edge off a long shift. The directors always advised that you all go home and sleep, but it never worked out that way. Of course ,there were shifts that were sometimes 16 hours long and would mean that you would go home and sleep right away, but over a 7 or 8 hour night shoot that finished at 3am, it seemed rude not to go to down and get into some trouble.

The bar was busy but not rammed, everyone already suitably drunk as you ordered a round of drinks as the others found a table.

“I’ll get these,” You felt a hand on the small of your back and smiled as you turned to see Jordan handing over his card to the bartender.

“You didn’t have to do that, i’ll just get another round later.” You spoke, placing the drinks that had already been made on the tray as you waited for the others

“Nah, tonight’s on me.” He spoke, sipping his whiskey and coke, “As long as you give me a little insight into you being tied up in a trailer.” He smirked, and you shook your head.

“I don’t actually get tied up in a trailer Jordan..” You chuckled and he looked into your eyes with pupils full to the brim with lust.

“Would you like to be?” The offer caused your lips to part, a sharp exhale falling from them and his smirk grew even wider, “I mean.. If you’re into it I’m sure I could…”

Before he completed his sentence, KJ was reaching for his pint from the bar.

“Want me to get this one?” KJ spoke, and your eyes moved from the raven haired man to the redhead, swallowing thickly as you shook your head,

“Uhh, no it’s fine, Jordan has already got it..” You spoke, grabbing your own whiskey and coke and thanking the bartender as he placed the last of the drinks on the tray. KJ immediately picked up the tray for you and the three of you made your way over to the group, Jordans hand on your back sending a spark of arousal through you that you didn’t expect. You were being truthful when you said that you had been around when Jordan had been there before, but you had never really had an attraction to him. Something about the way he was looking at you though…

“You gonna get up and give us a show this time?” You smiled at KJ, his devastating smile running through you. God what you would have given to close the gap between the two of you. You hated that you had set this boundry, that the two of you had the unspoken rule that nothing would happen because of work. Maybe that’s why you were so quick to be interested in Jordan? He wasn’t unattractive in anyway, and he spoke directly to one of your kinks, but he also wasn’t afraid to overstep the line. You couldn’t decide if that was a good or a bad thing.

“Nah babe, thought i’d take a night off..” He licked his lips, swallowing some more beer before he looked back at you. “Feel like getting up there?”

He nodded toward the stage and you chuckled, shaking your head. “Private shows only, I’m afraid.”

The words fell from your lips before you could catch them, before you could hear just how dirty they sounded. His eyes darkened and he let out a sigh, licking his lips before he drunk more of his pint.

“Lets get some shots.” He settled with, and you nodded, walking with him to the bar. You could feel Jordans eyes on you as you walked away, and you sent a quick wink at him over your shoulder before you leaned on the bar next to KJ. He ordered a tray of shots for the group, and an extra for the two of you, and as he watched the Bartender pour the tequila he let out a sigh as if he didn’t want to say what came next.

“Are you and Jordan gonna fuck?” The words were so blunt that you felt physically taken aback, and you let out a small laugh before he turned to look at you, only a hint of a smile on his features.

“I..um..I only just met him..” You spoke, not wanting to give a direct answer because honestly, you didn’t even know yourself. You hadn’t intended on going home with him, but if he kept talking to you about tying you up…

“Don’t.” He spoke, shaking his head, “I mean..ugh.” He groaned in frustration and shook his head, “Do what you want..”

“KJ..” You spoke and he stood back, letting out a deep sigh, fingers tapping furiously at the bar top as he watched the bartender place the last of the shots on the tray. He went to pick them up and you grabbed his wrist, stilling him and forcing his eyes to meet yours. “Why don’t you want me to fuck him?”

You had your suspicions, knew that KJ wanted you but didn’t want to cross the line, but you wanted to hear it from him. You needed confirmation that you were right.

“It’s fine, do what you want” He shook his head and moved his wrist from your grip, bringing the tray back over to the table and taking a shot before anyone else even had the chance to pick it up. Well, if he wasn’t going to admit it then you weren’t going to hold back.

Instead of moving to sit next to him as you had been, you took the stool next to Jordan and passed him a shot with dark eyes. He licked his lips as he watched you take your own from the tray, dipping his lips to your ear to whisper, “Can’t I do this shot off of you instead?”

You bit your lip and shook your head with a giggle, licking your own lips as he placed a kiss to your cheek, “Later then..”

A shiver ran through you at his tone, and you held up your shot with everyone else, knocking it back and picking up a lime to suck on to stop the burn.

Four shots later and you found your head bent back, Jordan licking salt from your neck before taking another shot and sucking the lime from your lips. You giggled as he did so, his hand on your thigh and the sheer amount of alcohol pulling you further and further into arousal.

“You ready for me to take you home yet?” He smirked, nipping at your ear softly, “I’ve got some handcuffs with your name on them.” A soft moan escaped your lips and he gripped your thigh harder at the sound, your nose running along his own before you felt yourself being pulled to the dancefloor.

Cami swung her arms around you as you danced to Dua Lipa, the music in the club pumping more now that it was getting even later, at least it felt that way. The group had gotten very drunk, very quickly, and although you were having a good time being seduced by Jordan, you weren’t ready to go home yet. It was also totally against everything that you had done before to go home with someone you had just met, especially when you worked together. It would be one thing to go home with Jordan and have to awkwardly work together after a one night stand, and a totally different thing to go home with KJ who you had been dancing around for months.

God how you wished that he would just tell you what he wanted. The two of you had drawn this line so thick that you didn’t know if it was okay to cross it, didn’t know when it was okay to defy convention.

When you felt strong arms around you, you had expected to feel Jordans lips on your neck again. Instead, KJs arms wrapped around your waist as you danced between him and Cami, the dance only broken as Charles twisted her into his arms.

You turned yourself, smiling as you wrapped your arms around KJs neck as you had so many times before, your bodies moving in sync to music almost identical to the last time you almost kissed.

“Don’t fuck him, babe..” KJ spoke, biting his lip, alcohol running through his veins and allowing him to speak his mind.

“Why?” You whispered, looking up at him with innocent features and his head ducked to run his nose along your own.

“You know why..” Your breath caught in your throat as he stood so close, his hands moving down to grip your ass and you bit down on your lip.

“Tell me, KJ..” You whispered, and he let out a sigh, licking his lips and shaking his head. “Well.. if you can’t even say it..” 

You broke away from him, moving back over to the table where Jordan still sat, cutting off his conversation with Cole. You took another shot from the table before you straddled him, taking his face in your hands as you kissed him fiercely. Cole raised his eyebrows and looked up at KJ who was standing there in disbelief, the brunette laughing at what was going on right next to him.

Jordans hands moved to your ass, gripping you hard and pulling you down onto him with a moan. Before you could run your fingers through raven hair, you felt a hand grip your arm and pull you away from the crowd.

KJs body pressed you against a wall, holding your arms above your head as he looked down at you with anger in his eyes.

“What the fuck, KJ?” you spoke, anger running through you,

“I fucking like you, okay?” He snapped, “I don’t want you to fuck him because I like you. I want.. I wanna date you.” Drunken syllables stumbled over each other, his accent like music to your ears as he said the words you had been waiting to hear all evening.

“Well why didn’t you just say so?” You smiled, pulling your hands from him to wrap around his neck, standing on your tiptoes to kiss him softly.

“I thought you wouldn’t get involved with someone from work… I thought that’s why you never.. Why we never..” You shook your head,

“Shut up and kiss me, idiot.” You grinned against his lips and he matched it, dipping to pick you up by your thighs and press you to the wall as your legs locked around him.

Bound

Title: Bound Square Filled: Shibari Pairing: Jensen x Reader x Jared Characters: Jensen Ackles, Jared Padalecki, Reader Warnings: Fluff/Smut Summary: Trying new things with her boyfriends was nothing new. When they approached her with ropes during the 300th Episode party for their show, she had no idea what she was in stored for. Word Count: 2461 Created for: @spnkinkbingo

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(Y/N) stared at her boyfriends with a dumbfounded look on her face. “You want me to… what?” she asked as Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki smiled down at her as they each held an end of a rope.

Their relationship had blossomed over nine seasons of Supernatural when she was casted as a female hunter joining their wayward family. First it was her and Jensen falling for one another over dinners out and walks around Vancouver. Then she and Jared began bonding over lunch dates and all-nighters playing video games. When she admitted to having feelings for them both, the impossible happened. They agreed to be in a relationship with her together. Every since then the three of them were inseparable.

Now, staring up at them as they both had mischievous looks in their eyes was making her heart pound in her chest. “Baby, you know we all trying new things and we’ve been wanting to try this with you. Well we’ve been talking about asking you about Shibari.” Jared explained.

“Okay, that I get. What I want to know is how does this pertain to what I’m wearing tonight for the 300th episode party?” she asked as Jensen handed the rope to Jared and pulled her into his side.

He knew she would calm down immediately upon feeling the safety of his embrace. Many of nights he had comfort her through night terrors and dark moments from her own mind. Jensen kissed the top of her head, “Hun, we were thinking that the ropes could be a part of your outfit. We know Trish is helping you with dress and we went to her with our idea.”

(Y/N) sighed seeing Jared’s pleading eyes. Trish was one of the few on set who knew the truth about their relationship and was her go to person to talk too. If Trish thought it was okay, then so did (Y/N). “Alright guys, I’ll give it a go. Now, leave my trailer so I can start getting ready.” They both kissed her cheeks before leaving.

Just before Trish was to be there, Jensen had come back with some rope hanging over his shoulder. “Hey.” He said looking up at her as she pulled her bathrobe tighter around her.

(Y/N) was fresh out of her shower as he walked into her trailer. “Bringing some rope for Trish to tie me up in?” she asked jokingly but saw the seriousness in Jensen’s olive eyes.

“Actually, this is rope for me to tie you up in for you to wear under your dress. Trish and I have been practicing these knots for weeks. I told Jared I was going to do this alone since he would probably never let you leave the bed if he saw you.” Jensen smiled as she chuckled.

(Y/N) stood up letting her robe fall to the floor. The way Jensen looked at her with love and admiration had her skin burning with desire. Jensen carefully wrapped the rope over her ankle, up around her thigh, around her waist and back down mirroring the other side. She outstretched her arms as he wrapped the rope around her breasts.

Watching him concentrate on the making the knots perfect and his hands brushing against her skin was causing a dull ache to develop between her legs. As he tied the last knot his tongue darted out from the corner of his mouth. “Okay, how do you feel?” he asked stepping back and admiring his work.

The ropes were pulling on her skin but not enough to be uncomfortable or painful. The rope around her breasts felt almost like a bra with a thick underwire. Overall, she felt comfortable except for the overwhelming need to jump Jensen.

“The ropes feel fine. I, on the other hand, feel incredibly horny from you tying me up.” She said honestly as he chuckled.

Jensen handed her robe to her helping her slip it back on. Then he took her hand gently placing it over his hard length before kissing her deeply. “I know exactly how you feel, but it will all be worth it after the party tonight.”

(Y/N) simply nodded not trusting herself to speak as Jensen kissed her again and left before Trish got there. When Jensen said he and Trish had been practicing knots together he was no lie. She came in with a simply flowy, strapless, chiffon dress that was a few sizes too big for her. Once she was done tying the ropes over the dress linking a few with the ropes Jensen tied underneath it, (Y/N) was stunned with the finished product.

“You guys have really out done yourselves.” She muttered looking in the full-length mirror. Every curve she had was showing and even though she had no bra on it looked as if she did. The material and the ropes making her chest look twice as big. Trish did her make-up very natural only to highlight a few of her features like her lips and eyes.

Trish whistled, “Damn girl I’m totally girl crushing on you right now.”

(Y/N) laughed hugging and kissing her cheek, “Any time babe. I’m sure Jensen and Jared would give me up for a night a two.”

To the public, Jensen and (Y/N) were in a relationship while Jared was a bachelor just loving single life. Everyone knew the three of them along with Misha Collins were all great friends and family in real life. It was nothing unusual for (Y/N) to be standing between Jensen and Jared at any given moment. What no one saw was the little touches and looks they would give her when all together.

When she met them at the party before the red carpet, she thought their eyes were going to pop out of their heads. All the cast and crew there were fanning over her dress and all she wanted to do was get to Jensen and Jared. She could feel their gazes on her as she slowly made her way towards them. Jensen pulled her into his side.

“You look amazing… better than I could have dreamed of.” He whispered kissing her temple.

She gave him a beaming smile as Jared pull her to him hugging her, “Jesus (Y/N), you look like a goddess in that. It’s going to be so hard to keep my hands off you. Literally.”

(Y/N) smacked his chest playfully as they made their way towards the red carpet. The interviews, pictures and party were a blast. She ended up forgetting she even had roped tied all over her body as they became just a part of her. She danced, laughed and drank the night away until Jensen whispered it was time to leave. They said their goodbyes and Jared whispered to her he would be over shortly to her apartment.

When Jensen and she entered her place, she kicked off her heels sighing in relief. “If you would have told me that the most uncomfortable part of my outfit tonight was going to be my shoes I would have laughed in your face.” She said as Jensen handed her a glass of whiskey.

“So, the ropes are comfortable?” he asked running a finger over the one on her shoulder.

She nodded, “I honestly forgot I was wearing them. I could get used to them if you both like them.”

They both turned towards the door hearing a key unlocking it. Jared walked in already shedding his tux jacket and white button-down shirt, “Next time I’m not wearing the god-awful tux, Jensen. You can look all James Bond while I go with comfort.”

They all laughed as Jensen handed him a glass of whiskey as well, “To us and 300.” He said as they all clinked glasses. The three of them downed their drinks and Jensen took their glasses setting them down on the counter.

“Jared, I do believe we have some unwrapping to do.” (Y/N) looked up into Jared’s hazel eyes as they traveled her body.

He leaned down capturing her lips with his pulling on her ropes bring her closer to him. She could feel Jensen behind her as his lips kissed her bare shoulder. “You go ahead and do the honors. Afterall, I got to tie her up.” Jensen whispered stepping away from her.

Jared pulled away as his hands drifted up her sides to the very last knot Trish had tied. The ropes loosened around her top half. He bent down kissing her neck as he undid another rope around her waist. Soon, her dress was too loose to stay on her body. It pooled around her feet and she watched as Jared’s eyes lit up as if he was a kid unwrapping a present.

“Holy shit…” he whispered seeing her completely naked under her dress except for the ropes Jensen had tied around her body earlier. “Fuck Jensen, this was your best idea yet.”

“I know, right? (Y/N), you look so sexy like this.” He said pulling the rope around her waist, so her body was against his.

(Y/N) ran her hand over his thigh and up to his length stroking him through his pants. She heard him growl against her neck. She motioned for Jared to come closer needing to feel him as well. Running her other hand over him as he hissed letting his head fall back against his shoulders.

“My poor boys were you this hard all night?” she asked stroking them both.

“Yes.” They both answered as she chuckled.

(Y/N) stepped away from them both walking towards her bedroom, “Come on. I want to see you both naked and then you can have your way with me.”

They followed quickly behind her as she crawled up on her California king bed kneeling on it. Jared was standing on the side of her bed as Jensen stood at the end of it. Both them began stripping away their tuxes and her eyes bounced from one to the other. Jensen moved to the other side of the bed pulling his boxers down his bowlegs. Jared did the same his long cock stand firm.

She watched as they both stroked themselves making her mouth water and her thighs squeeze together. She looked over to Jared getting on all fours with her head towards him. He held his length just at her mouth leaning down pulling the rope making her come forward as his tip pushed through her lips. He let out a long, deep sigh as she moved slowly over his shaft.

(Y/N) felt the bed dip down behind her as then her ass being pulled back against Jensen. His thick cock slipping between his lips. He ran his tip over her aching mound before pulling her back entering her deeply. She moaned against Jared’s length feeling complete having both of them in her one way or another.

“Ready?” She heard Jared say.

“Ready, on three you pull.” Jensen grunted as he kept himself stilled within her. “One, two, three…” he counted.

Jared pulled her mouth further down on his length hitting the back of her throat briefly. At the same time, she felt Jensen pulling nearly out of her. Then he pulled her back onto his cock as Jared’s nearly came out of her mouth. (Y/N) realized what they were doing and relaxed herself enough to let them use her body with the ropes as they wanted.

Soon they had a steady pace going as she suck Jared’s cock and Jensen thrusted his into her. They both pulling at the ropes bound around her body. When Jensen was close to coming Jared stepped back letting him take control. He pulled at the ropes bringing her roughly back against him as he pounded into her. She could feel her own release coming as he bent over her reaching around to rub his fingers against his clit.

“Fuck Jensen… oh fuck just like that.” She cried out as she came gripping the sheets in front of her.

He slammed into her a few more times before he finally came buried deep within her. He thrusted lazily into her a couple of times before pulling out of her kissing all the way up her back to her neck. She turned to kiss him fully bring him down on top of her. He chuckled kissing her before lifting himself off of her.

(Y/N) rolled over seeing Jared holding himself slowly running his hand down his cock. He was sitting in his favorite chair and she crawled off the bed walking over to him. Straddling his lap, she braced herself by holding his strong shoulders sinking slowly down on him.

“Shit baby, you’re so warm and wet.” He grunted as she rolled her hips against him.

She leaned down kissing him sucking on his lower lip, “You feel so good deep within me.” She whispered against his lips.

(Y/N) knew her slow pace would drive him crazy and he would soon take control like he always did. Sure enough, Jared was lifting her up as he stood up. Laying on back on the bed with her ass hanging off he thrusted swiftly back into her.

“Jared!” She called out as he reached down grabbing the rope that was going up the middle of her stomach.

He lifted her body slight as she felt Jensen slide in behind her dressed in a t-shirt and boxers. Jared was using the rope to keep her still as he zealously thrusted into her. She stared moaning loudly as she felt Jensen’s hands on her breasts. His fingers rolling and tugging her nipples bringing her ever so closer to her second orgasm.

“Baby come with me. I’m almost there.” Jared grunted as leaned down over her.

Between Jared’s cock slamming into her, Jensen playing with her breasts and the ropes rubbing against her blistering skin (Y/N) started to see spots as pleasure exploded throughout her who body. She was crying out incoherently one arm gripping Jared’s back and the other tangled in Jensen’s hair.

Jared pulled out of her leaving her body limp against Jensen. He cleaned her and himself up before both men began to untie the ropes from her body. She looked down to see the marks all over her body and smiled brightly up at the two men she loved with all her heart.

“I think we broke her, Jared.” Jensen said kissing her cheek.

Jared laughed nodding in agreement, “I think you’re right. Damn, that has to be the best sex we’ve ever had.”

(Y/N) crawled in between the two men as they wrapped their limbs around her. “I wouldn’t want to be bounded by anyone else but you two.” She said before drifting off into the best night of sleep she ever had.

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September - Launched!

Ok, let’s get the big bit out of the way first... we launched a game. Sometimes it doesn’t feel like that long ago that I was popping games into the app store on a fairly regular basis... but this month’s Dungeon Drop launch was actually the first in over 2 years. And I think there was over a year prior to that one to find another. So those days are clearly long gone. And it’s been a trip.

But hey, Dungeon Drop is out, and we’re really happy with it. If you haven’t tried it yet, it’s a free download on the App Store now.

The launch experience was a fun one, we’d had September 19th lined up for a while as the release date, and then a couple of weeks earlier Apple announced that Apple Arcade would launch on the same day. Bringing 50-100 premium mobile games that players could play for free with a trial subscription, or enjoy completely for only $4.99 per month. All starting on the same day as our little game. What do we do? We had a lot of suggestions to move the date, and we were pretty split on it for a while there, but we ultimately decided to go with the original launch date.

And it worked out well I think, we got one of the best feature spots we’ve ever had for the game in the App Store, I think probably our first US feature since Slambots in 2013... I guess maybe a lot of developers avoided that date and left us some air to work with? Either way. It got featured. A few people told me they liked it, and few even told me they bought the premium upgrade. So that was a great feeling, mission accomplished for Dungeon Drop.

Our next iOS game launches mid-November. We’ll post it for pre-orders later this month and share details then.

We hadn’t really used the pre-order feature prior to Dungeon Drop, but it turned out to be really useful for sharing the game info before launch. We didn’t need a separate web page to direct people to, or even really a video, people could just see the screenshots and app preview on the App Store for themselves. We did post a trailer for Dungeon Drop on Youtube and a couple of twitter videos or gifs, and those worked out well too... so we’ll definitely do that again next time around.

Anyway, I’m less concerned about that launch now, having seen Dungeon Drop get some play and positive response I feel happy with where we’re at with what we’re putting out. Now we need to turn that around and apply it to Monsters & Monocles.

Oh god. What the hell have I agreed to. Finishing this up is going to be a big thing. Ryan is a smart cookie, so fortunately the code is clean and organized. It’s just that there’s a lot of it, and it’s all Ryan’s and not mine. It makes more sense than mine would have, but I don’t instinctively know where to find anything yet. I managed to poke at a few bits, they seem to do what I expected them to do, and I think I can massage all the things I don’t like into something we’ll be happy to launch. I just feel massively overwhelmed right now. There’s a lot of layers to everything, there’s 3 different platforms they launched the game on, there’s the single player, local coop, and online multiplayer cases to consider in everything. And then there’s the stuff that Ryan wasn’t really finished working on when he left... some of those things are hard for me to distinguish from things that either weren’t done at all or have been finished for years. For now I’m really just trying to build a big picture of it all in my head without running off to the mountains first.

I think what I’ll be looking at this month will be a long overdue UI overhaul, because I feel like that’s going to be relatively painless to address. I’ll just need new designs and artwork from Craig and I think I can shuffle everything around and give it a nice new lick of paint there... and hopefully that’ll start to make it feel more like my game. In game, there’s a fair amount of broken or less than great camera stuff that I’d like to get working, which should give me some exposure to the NPC systems and what state those are in, and then I’d like to get things like the player death sequences cleaned up. I’ll be having to touch a lot of systems but I feel like I’ll build a pretty good understanding of a lot of it that way.

I’m hoping a lot of the existing systems like the map generation, basic physics and controls, and the network play, are largely sound for most of what a finished version of this game needs to be. Some of the npc/meta stuff will need an overhaul to create a roadmap to 1.0, and some of the systems like the enemy behaviors, weapons, characters might just need expanded on as they are.

Hopefully. Since the game is out there anyway and there’s only a few people reading this I’ll try to talk about it in a more open inside baseball kinda way as we try to wrap it up. I’m always more open on emotional or general aspects of how things are going, so it’ll be fun to try to be more open in addressing specifics. No promises though, I’ve never really tried this before.

Speaking of generalities, this month wasn’t bad really. Launching Dungeon Drop was a huge distraction that I kind of allowed myself, and then I got horribly sick taking my kids to a soft play place and lost a bunch of work there too. But I’ve had much worse months, and after pushing through finishing two games in a row I probably should cut myself some slack. I’m spending some time working in the same room as Craig this week, which helped a bunch with Dungeon Drop, although it’s kind of difficult with Monsters & Monocles since there’s so much to do and I’m so far off the pace on mastering the ins and outs of the project. If nothing else, having someone next to me gives me a good push to try something anyway.

Aside from working, I’ve been having a blast playing the goose game with my kids, they just laugh hysterically while the goose is horrible, and it’s awesome. Probably one of the best games to play with kids. I finished up Mario Rabbids Kingdom Battle. That was great. My kids enjoyed watching some of the earlier battles and the story sections, but they got bored easily when the battles got longer and harder, and during the longer exploration bits. That’s actually kinda like me, tbh, although they did a great job of keeping the later battles challenging without becoming a huge grind or massively difficult. The difficulty probably spiked most in the second half of the second world and the first half of the third for me... There’s some extra challenges to play, I didn’t do those, and there’s more coop levels we didn’t play, those are fun too. Haven’t tried vs mode. 100% campaign and most of the collectables was about 30-40 hours, so a decent length, but my switch obviously can’t pull out kid aimless wandering or repeating time, so I don’t know exactly how that is. I could have shaved off probably 5-10 hours just by not wandering around looking for hidden chests, which mostly don’t add anything to the gameplay or give you any useful boosts, and involve a lot of back tracking and kind of boring wandering around (you’re wandering around beautiful worlds, but it’s mostly linear and you’ve seen it already). 

Other games, we’re still playing Mario 3D World, but the kids are definitely tapping out on it a little, but it had a very good run. They love watching Captain Toad, so I got to play through the first couple of hours of that, it’s adorable, I hope I get to play the rest. But they like to try to play and it’s too hard for them, so they get annoyed. We’ve played a bit of Mario Kart, but they don’t really try to stay on the tracks yet, but I feel like they’re going to love that when it clicks. And weirdly they watched me play Twilight Princess for about an hour last night and both seemed to love it, so I might actually get to make some more progress in that. Although it’s rough going after Breath of the Wild, the rigidity and the camera especially make it feel it’s age, even in the HD remake. Off on my own I’ve been picking away at an old copy of Link’s Awakening with the hope of finishing it again before I eventually play the remake. It’s such a great game, I think it may have been the first Zelda I actually played through, since I never had an NES of my own.

Okay, I’ve gone on long enough, back to work, I’d better get going on something so I have some good Monsters & Monocles progress to report next month.

NTWEWY Live Thoughts (Part 3 - Main Story Finale)

Huge spoilers, naturally.

FINAL PREDICTIONS: Joshua is now the Producer. Not-Joshua (from end of final trailer) is the new Composer. Either Not-Joshua or Rhyme is Swallow.

Can't decide whether all of this or the Red Skull epidemic is creepier.

I wish the Plague Noise required the use of the "run from battle" feature. I liked that moment in the original game.

That reflection thing's gonna be important, isn't it? Can't figure out how, though, but the Plague Noise ARE rather reflective...

A silent guy in shadows whose username is "DownWithTheSyndrome"? Worry.

The arrangement of portrait cut-ins during a Killer Remix just leaves a big open spot for a sixth party member. Not even trying to hide it.

The Plague Noise are being weird with my Groove meter...

Oh, hey, nice to FINALLY meet you, Hishima.

The Social Network calls Hishima a "So-called 'Shinjuku Reaper.'" What's his deal?

When I saw Kanon in the release date trailer for the first time, I didn't expect her character to play out like this.

"DIVIDE" is doing a really good job fitting the tone.

I'm not a fan of the Time Bomb pins when it comes to gameplay, but I like the bombs' design.

...so IS it Beat that Rhyme is talking to?

IT'S A TRAP, SHOKA

I really like Eiru.

Last-second pre-Ayano encounter prediction: the vision will come true, but the wounded person will NOT be Ayano. (HINDSIGHT: I was wrong.)

Seeing Shoka not in her Mr. Mew getup is just weird.

S**ttalking Kubo makes me happy.

How did it never occur to me that "FanGO" was an abbreviation?

Not a fan of this "chat with Shoka" segment. Interesting idea, but it leans too much into trial and error.

And of course Shoka ends up landing the final hit on Ayano.

The iguana's gone...was it evil the whole time?

SCREW. THE. REAPERS.

Could you please SHOW YOUR FACE and EXPLAIN things, Rhyme?

Now THIS is an interesting setup. (Though I can't help but realize the trailer misrepresented the "Rindo amnesia" thing a bit.)

"Strange Noise"? Calling it--it'll be either Taboo Noise or completely made up.

Ah, this is gonna be the finale of Fret's arc about being genuine.

Experiencing the day backwards is great.

Is this "new Noise" gonna be just the Plague Noise?

Kanon ended up being a way more enjoyable and interesting character than I expected.

The voice acting in this game is REALLY good.

Is Coco gonna show up next day?

Is Kaie talking to Rhyme???

...is Minamimoto coming back?

...is this talk about Fret's friend going where I think it's going?

Please tell me Kariya isn't gonna die...

So how long until the Reapers decide to exploit Rindo's "one-Replay-per-day" limit? Is that today?

Hishima is trapping us, isn't he?

Just noticed there's one last Social Network node connected directly to Rindo. Definitely Neku and/or Swallow.

I predict Hishima and Kaie will defect fully.

The Dive battle with that Wall Reaper was surprisingly difficult. The Plague Wolves' dash attack is bulls**t.

Twister's NEO mix hasn't appeared yet, so I'm thinking it'll be saved for Neku's introduction. And/or serve as the final boss theme.

I like how Cyco Records holds the NEO mixes, like it's a shop for classic hits.

We're at Udagawa...is THIS when Neku reappears?

YEAHHHHH UZUKI

The wolves' dash attacks are ABSOLUTE bulls**t.

MINAMIMOTO WHAT ARE YOU DOING

Aaaaahhhhh this makes sense for the birds

LEO CANTUS IS BACK

That fight was HELLISH, but also kinda fun.

BEAT NO

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

TWISTERRRRRRRRRRRR

HE'S SMILING

HE'S WEARING A GATTO NERO HOODIE

ALL RIGHT JUST WAITING ON RHYME, SHIKI, AND JOSHUA

FINALLY a bit of an explanation of post-A New Day

Is Coco the friend?! Was her being good ACTUALLY right?!

Oh God, is Shiba gunning for Neku's friends?

Neku's Social Network reward is a joke about him and Rindo being protagonists; that's SO cute.

I'm guessing there'll be a scene where Shiba says something Neku would have said in the first game and Neku criticizes him for it.

Oh, that's eerie. Good news is that Neku's friends are...PROBABLY safe.

OH I FEEL SO POWERFUL

Aww, that's sweet.

Cat Street...finally gonna explain where the cafe went?

I am SO happy to see Neku again.

I am getting Killer Remixes SO fast now!

The Tower Records clerk is so nervous; I feel bad for her.

That was such a sweet interaction between Fret and Nagi, and getting a pin called "Frosty Friendship" was the icing on the cake.

Hearing "Underground" is so nostalgic and calming.

Everything's coming together...

I doubt "Mr. Mew contains Hype-chan's soul" was ever a theory posited.

Why am I suddenly getting D's when even fights that went horribly would previously get C's?

DISSONANCE?

And finally we know the truth behind Hype-chan.

WOAH YOU GOT BACK EARLY

Please tell me I don't need to fight Susukichi's muscle form a THIRD time. Please let it be just a Cantus.

My biggest question at this point is WHY Shiba is doing this.

The River, of course.

WAIT NO IT'S TOO EARLY FOR THIS

Oh, good, it IS a Cantus.

Shiba's got no one else...except for Kubo. (Is HE the higher power?)

We already know it's Rhyme; can you just show her face already?!

And where's Joshua?!

TWISTER NEO MIXXXXXX

TALK TO HER, BEAT

I like this "meet all the supporting characters" segment.

This is managing a MUCH more intimidating atmosphere than the first game's final day...yet Twister's NEO Mix keeps a sense of determination/

Oh, this is TERRIFYING.

IT RESTARTS TO THE FIRST PHASE?!

Can't even skip the cutscenes...rrrgh...

Okay, Shiba's down...what's the twist?

YEAHHHHH TELL HIM, NEKU

EXECUTOR?! ANOTHER Reaper position?!

Driving home the "Four Is Death" symbolism a bit much, aren't we?

SCREW. THE. ANGELS.

Rindo was a proxy, too...

Hacker Rhyme is great.

Kubo's Cantus will be a raven, won't it?

Wasn't there a Kingdom Hearts boss like this?

SHOKA WAS SWALLOW??? WTF???

...Joshua???

...this finale keeps throwing me for loops.

For a second I genuinely thought Hazuki really WOULD turn out to be Joshua and I'd get to laugh at everyone who said I was wrong.

We're still gonna get an explanation for why Coco resurrected Minamimoto, right?

Meant to say this earlier, but forgot--while the minimap can be a bit disorienting sometimes, I feel like I've gotten a better sense of Shibuya's layout than in the first game.

Actually, Haz kinda feels like Joshua...is it possible it's him in disguise? ...but why would he be disguised?

I STILL think Haz sounds like Joshua.

Is anyone going to bring up that saving peoples' lives is more important than vague notions about what you like about Shibuya?

Ah, yes they will. Thank you.

Honestly feels a bit selfish for Rindo to risk everyone's lives to save a few people.

I feel like this would have worked better if Haz appeared in some form previously.

OHHHHHHHH HAZ YOU MISCHIEVOUS GENIUS ...how much does this actually help?

REUNION HOOOOOOOOOO

OH RHYME IT'S SO GOOD TO SEE YOU AGAIN

Awwwww, Reaper Creeper.

"And I hope your dream comes true." I'm gonna cry

Tsugumi? SHIKI!

Uzuki picking up Rhyme? I'd say that'd be VERY awkward, but I feel like Rhyme would just be "let bygones be bygones."

Shinjuku's gonna be restored somehow too, right?

C-cafe? On Cat Street?

Minamimoto's back! Didn't expect that, but I really should have.

Nice words, Neku.

It's weird hearing Kaie actually talk.

Rhyme is so adorable.

Here we are. Moment of truth. Level 39. Operation: Awakening all set.

SHIKIIIIII!!! EYESSSSSSSSSSSS!!!

I'm gonna cry again

"I CAN SEE YOU JUST FINE"

"I THINK IT'S TIME FOR ME TO GET TO WORK"

JOSHUA! WELCOME BACK YOU LITTLE JERK

This is basically just a really long cutscene, but I don't care; this is awesome.

...My...game...SOFTLOCKED! Didn't realize complimenting the cutscene would be tempting fate.

This is just...amazing. A finale 14 years in the making.

Is the final boss a PHOENIX? THAT'S AWESOME!

NOW A RAINBOW PHOENIX???

My one gripe is that the floor can be hard to make out, so it can be easy to accidentally run into the walls.

I haven't seen a finale that awesome since Octo Expansion. Just...INCREDIBLE.

So IS Shinjuku back?

IT'S SO FRIGGIN' WONDERFUL

Now THIS is the kind of deus ex machina I like

Never thought I'd say this, but GOOD ON YOU, SHIBA.

Tsugumi laughing...

I have no words for this reunion. Just...it's been so long...

AHHHH THE CALLBACK

Awwww...

Finally. A happy ending. Everyone deserves this.

Oh, of course. The world begins anew.

AWWWW the title screen updates!

Oh GOD a new Another Day. I don't have the time or emotional stamina for this right now.

Final thoughts: I don't know how NEO would rank among my favorite video games, but experiencing all of this mostly spoiler-free, seeing all the reveals and feelin all the emotions, just might mean this is my favorite gaming EXPERIENCE of all time. This game absolutely lived up to the hype and is the follow-up that TWEWY fans deserved while still being a fantastic standalone story with (usually) extremely fun gameplay.

Musings of An Otaku #8- On Pokemon Photographs & 25 years

The 25th Anniversary of Pokemon is upon us! 25 years! I remember watching the phenomenon unfold as it came state-side. I saw a simple advertisement in the late Disney Adventures magazine or it could have been a Nintendo Power. I had subscriptions to both back in the day and lord knows my memory is not as good as it used to be. It was for the release of the anime on American television. Or thinking back on it, it could have been for the games. It really did not decipher much. Plain white page with a giant Pokemon logo on top. The slogan “Gotta Catch ‘Em All” printed under the logo and images of various generation 1 Pokemon sprawled under that. That was the entire advertisement. Nothing else. No start date, no coming soon, no channel, no information, no synopsis, no console. I remember looking at it with a raised eyebrow and was like, “What is this?” With no other information, I flipped the page and moved on.

Then all the news reports started piling in and commercials started playing over the television. It became more predominant in Nintendo Power- with story revealed, games confirmed for English release and yada yada yada. The entire seizure issue went on and of course the American media jumped on that hype like white on rice. Because of course the anime was being released shortly after on American television. 

Watched the series and watched it pretty religiously. Hated that they edited out small things here and there because god forbid Team Rocket pulls out a gun or James cross-dresses in a bikini and has inflatable boobs! NOT INFLATABLE BOOBS! AND OMG YOU CAN NOT FORGET ABOUT THE JELLY FILLED DOUGHNUTS! *face palm* Being into Japanese anime, tokusatsu and manga- even I knew that those were rice balls. WHAT IS WRONG WITH RICE BALLS?!? Silly Americans. It’s as bad as saying that sake is medicine in Power Rangers Samurai but we shall not go into THAT one- even with a 10-foot pole. IMHO, Saban totally shat on Samurai Sentai Shinkenger and walked away laughing. 

Back to Pokemon. I ended up watching the anime till the Orange Islands. Basically when Brock left and Tracy came in- I stopped. The anime was repetitive. Every episode featured the same premises- Ash travels to a location, Ash finds a Pokemon, Ash tries to catch Pokemon and fails, Team Rocket has some crazy-ass scheme to try and catch Pikachu and fails, Ash tries to beat Gym Leader but Gym Leader feels sorry for Ash and just gives him said badge and repeat process over and over again for however many said episodes. I moved on to other anime series.

Game wise- yes, I started with Pokemon Red for the original Game Boy. I didn’t play it on the brick sized system- no, I had a Game Boy Color. However, the game was not in color. It was the same pea-green pixelated game as other Game Boy game releases at the time. It was not till the release of Pokemon Yellow- Pikachu edition that I was able to see the Pokemon game world in color. Since I started with Red I went with Charmander as my starter. I enjoyed the game. Loved being able to traverse all over the Kanto region, catch different Pokemon, evolve them, unlock the mysterious behind certain areas and try to collect all the gym badges. I had all 3 Legendary birds and Mewtwo as well. 

With the games and anime series out on American shores, of course the trading card game was next. I was not big into playing card games (and to this day- still not a big fan). Only card games I play are either Cards Against Humanity or UNO. I collected the Pokemon cards to just collect them. I still have them- somewhere. In a closet, in a box...somewhere. 

Promotions were also a big thing. In honor of the series in general- Pokemon teamed up with KFC here in the states. Oh yeah, Pokemon and fried chicken. Odd combination but whatever. Needless to say, I had an entire set of the KFC plushies. Still do, found them not too long ago! For the first movie release, Burger King had kids meals and 23K Gold plated Pokemon Cards in collectable Pokeballs. Still have all of those and the infamous Pokeballs that the toys came in. The same Pokeballs that were recalled because some stupid parent was not watching their toddler and the toddler ended up suffocating itself with it. WATCH YOUR DAMN KIDS PEOPLE! The damn toy wasn’t even for that age group. I sure as HELL was not surrendering all those hard earned Pokeballs just to have them thrown away. Nope. Nope. Nope. Plus, I wasn’t stupid enough to stick things in my mouth that shouldn’t have been in my mouth. Needless to say, all the Burger King kids meal toys are still inside those plastic Pokeballs. 

This was around the time of the first movie release- which I already went into quite a long musing about already. In fact that was the very first musing of an otaku that I posted. I will not go into it again. I am moving on.

In fact I am jumping forward to the N64 era and the release of the Pokemon Snap N64 game. My sister and I got the N64 bundle that game with an Atomic Purple controller and the Pokemon Snap game. Yes, we were a little late to the N64 party. I believe we spent an entire week playing that game and then never picked it up again. The concept was awesome. Take photographs of various Pokemon in different environments. Valleys, forests, rivers, caves, etc. Simple enough. Use food to lure Pokemon out of hiding and snap pictures. The best pictures were sent off to the Professor. Okay, sure. It sounded like it was going to be an awesome game. Not so much. It was a rail-shooter. I absolutely HATE rail-shooters. I HATE being stuck on a predetermined path. I like to explore! I like going into every single nook and cranny of an area. This is why the game only kept my attention for a week. 

The newest trailer for the New Pokemon Snap for the Nintendo Switch was just revealed. I had so much hope and hype for this new version. I wanted it to be an open-world environment. I wanted to be able to walk around, maybe sneak up on Pokemon and snap pictures of them in the wild. Kinda like, how you would have to take pictures of animals and birds in the wild in real life. Being able to hide in grass or behind a tree or even in a tree to snap some pictures. You could crawl around in the environment and try hard not to make any noise at all to scare off the Pokemon. Weather patterns could play a role and could change with each play through. Different weather could trigger different Pokemon. What about seasons? I’m sure you would see different Pokemon during the fall then you would the spring. You could still use food to lure Pokemon out. Maybe have a town or village to go back to and have side-quests where people ask you to collect photographs of a certain Pokemon they are looking for or sell photographs to newspapers or whatever. Well, after watching the trailer- that dream and hope got shot in the ass. I saw the vehicle and got disappointed. Once again it will be a rail-shooter. Same concept as the original N64 version. Not an open world. *sighs* I understand having an open world environment can be a resource hog, but I think it would make the game even better. Kinda put a new spin on things. Make people want to stay interested in the game and play it longer then say...a week. 

Granted, I am just basing this judgement on what can be seen throughout the trailer. I was not impressed with this trailer at all. The game isn’t even out yet. It will not be out until March of this year. In a couple months. Will my thoughts and opinions stay the same after it is released? Will it change? Who knows. I enjoyed the Resident Evil Village Showcase preview trailer 100x more than I did this Pokemon Snap trailer. In fact, it is also the 25th Anniversary for this series as well. Possible muse coming later (maybe after the RE8 showcase on the 21st). 

With Pokemon still going strong, it will be safe to say that it will be around for another 25 years! Stay strong Pokemon fans and trainers!

Prompt: Alphys and Undyne play Mario Kart. VERY AGGRESSIVELY. 

Thanks for the prompt, @eevees-garbage!  I hope this was something like you were looking for.

Rating: G

Characters: Alphys, Undyne (POV), and a special guest appearance from THE GREAT PAPYRUS

Pairing: Alphys/Undyne

---

Undyne liked to compete.  There was something about the thrill of competition that pushed her to new heights of skill.  Alone, she could carry six, maybe seven children at once.  If she was in a child lifting competition, she could lift fifteen and a half children, all the while shouting taunts at her rivals.  

Alphys was different.  Undyne would say she had been ambitious once, and when Alphys was sure she was right, she would state her point for hours at a time, but those just weren't the same thing.  

No matter how many times Undyne tried to rile her up into an intense air hockey battle, or tried to transform self-esteem jogging with Papyrus into a race, Alphys just cheerfully accepted her own defeat.  Undyne didn't mind hearing how cool she looked when she won, but still.  

She'd thought, once, that she had managed to get Alphys worked up about winning a high stakes  bowling game against their friends, but during the harrowing final few rounds Undyne had glanced back at where Alphys was sitting and found her checking her phone, watching the trailer for the new season of her favorite anime.

Undyne learned to accept it.  Alphys wasn't competitive, but she was passionate.  She was brilliant, she loved her friends, and she was always trying to improve herself in ways that mattered to her.  So what if she sat on the side when Undyne got a team together for beach volleyball? Undyne loved her for being herself.  Wouldn't it be worse for Alphys to pretend to care about winning the annual monster arm wrestling competition, or whatever?  Undyne was pretty proud of herself for being such an understanding girlfriend.  

But she was wrong.

Completely, 100% wrong, from start to finish.  Undyne would have said Alphys didn't have a competitive bone in her body, but she actually had one, just one, and it contained an entire skeleton's worth of condensed competitive energy.

"Oh, sweet!  A racing game?"  Undyne knelt on the floor, digging through a pile of videogames to find one she felt like playing.  They'd recently finished an epic multi-game fantasy dating sim, and its conclusion had left a hole in their schedule that only a new video game could fill.

Alphys leaned over the back of the couch, checking what she held up.  "...oh, right!  I, uh..I really liked that game for a while."

"Who's the mustache gremlin?"

"You d-don't have to play as him, even though he's the one it's named after! There's all sorts of characters!  Princesses, turtle monsters - " Alphys launched into a full description of the character choices while Undyne brought over the game and set things up.

"So don't kick my butt too hard!"  Undyne said, laughing.  "You're an expert, right?"

"Um, I've played...well, I got really into it for a little while, but it was mostly me against the computer which is a completely different experience than playing against a person, obviously, so then I - well, I did find some friends to play with and then...well!  Never mind!  Let's pick characters!"  

"Hell yeah!"

"Maybe you should play against the computer a couple times, to get the hang of the controls?"

"Nah, that's for babies.  Show me what you've got."

Undyne noticed unease flicker across Alphys' features, but passed so quickly Undyne wondered if she had imagined it.

She expected to lose, and she did, handily.  Where did her hands go?  At one point, Undyne almost ripped her controller in half in frustration.  The worst part was she got the impression Alphys was trying to help her. She spotted her start to lean in, and then Alphys leaned back again and suddenly she'd be in second place instead of first.  

But she'd still be the first one across the finish line, every single time.

"Th-thanks, Undyne.  That really took me back," Alphys said.  "Eheh...I used to play too much."

"You won!  I'm proud of you," Undyne said.  

Alphys looked away, just for a second, and then she smiled.  "Yeah!  It was fun!"

Undyne needed to get better.  She only seen the tiniest flicker of the skill Alphys was hiding, and she wanted to see it all.  She wanted to see Alphys struggle to keep up with her.  She wanted to beat her and see her swoon in admiration at a display of skill that she understood and admired.  Screw volleyball!  Screw bowling!  

She was going to get so good at Mario Kart that Alphys was going to fall in love with her all over again.  

She hid her plan from everyone but Papyrus.  He was her training partner.  He thought the game was a silly child's game, at first, but he eventually admired the puzzle-like structure of the racing tracks and looked forward to their friendly competitions.  

"I've been playing that Mario Kart game with Papyrus," Undyne said.  "Just a couple times!  But I think I have a handle on the controls now."

"Oh!  It's really a fun game, right?  More complicated than you think when you start - like there are levels of strategy that - uh, anyway!  Ok!" Alphys took their dinner out of the microwave and brought it into the living room.  Undyne couldn't wait until she showed Alphys how much she'd improved.

Alphys beat her again, immediately.  "You really have a hang of the controls!"

Undyne almost threw her controller through the window.  "Yeah!" she said, through gritted teeth.  "How much did you play this, again?"

"W-well...um." Alphys looked away.  "I don't remember how many hours I logged, but there were a couple months where I probably played....a few hours a day?"

There was absolutely no way Alphys didn't remember the exact number of hours she had played.  That wasn't how Alphys' mind worked.  

"But you're so much better!  Let's play again!"  Was there a light in Alphys' eyes, or was that just the lamp reflecting on her glasses?

-

"I have to beat her," Undyne said, pacing back and forth in Papyrus' kitchen. "I have to run her smug adorable face right off the road!"

"YOU MEAN IN THE GAME."

"No shit! Jeez, Papyrus, what do you take me for?"  She whapped him on the back, laughing, and he fell on the ground.

"YOU CAN GET VERY...COMPETITIVE."

"This is just a friendly girlfriend thing!  I want to kick her ass at this freaking game, and then make her some tea and eat snacks and watch cheesy anime the rest of the night."

"I SEE!  SO THIS IS PART OF SOME ELABORATE DATING RITUAL."

"Uh, yeah, Papyrus.  Step one - complete devastation in Mario Kart.  Step two - we get HITCHED on the BEACH on a MOONLIT NIGHT."

"HOW ROMANTIC! DID YOU BUY A RING?"

"No - ok YES you nerd, but -- ANYWAY, STEP THREE!  I noogie all the huge dorks in the room!"  

"OW, WAIT, BUT WE HAVEN'T REACHED THAT STEP IN THE PROCESS YET."  

-

"W-wow, Undyne, you're really good!"  Alphys said, smiling.  

Alphys had beat her.   Again.  Easily.  

"Alphys, I need you to do something for me," Undyne said.  "I need you to be honest."

"Wh-what? I'm...trying to be honest, all the time!  How could you say that about..."  She trailed off into a long silence, and then she sighed.  "What do you want to know?"

"How much of this game have you played?”

"Oh, god.  Um. Way too much."  She laughed, nervous.  "Do you remember when I was supposed to be working on that project for Mettaton, and I was...sort of.  I, uh, hit a snag and I decided to play a game to try and...loosen up, a bit?  Clear my head.  This was that game.  I got, um, reeeeeally into it.  Partially out of frustration because I still couldn't figure out an answer to his battery issues, but also, I don't know.  It was...fun?"

They had gone on quite a few dates during that time, but Alphys had always seemed tired.  Alphys when she was tired tended to have a frenetic energy, almost a level of desperation underneath everything she did.  Undyne had assumed she was having trouble with her work and was watching a lot of anime.  This wasn't that different.

"It kind of got easy, so I joined a club, and then there was a, uh, tournament, and - "

"Wait!  You were in a competition, and you didn't tell me?"  

"I was supposed to be working!  I felt so guilty!  Every second I wasn't playing, I felt guilty."

"But I would've cheered you on!"

"I...thank you. That would have been nice."  Alphys relaxed.  "I don't know.  Mettaton found out eventually, and he and his cousin and Sans for some reason hosted an intervention, and I haven't played much since then."

All this had happened behind Undyne's back.  "Did you win?"  

"I, uh..." Alphys drew something out of her inventory.  It was a gold statue of the mustache gremlin.

"Holy SHIT, Alphys!"  Undyne hugged her tight.  "I'm so freaking proud of you right now!  That's amazing!  That game is actually really really hard!"  

"You're...p-proud of me?  It's just a...silly game, honestly.  I shouldn't have gotten that into it.  I was just avoiding my problems, again."

"Ok, yeah, but that's still really cool!"

"Is it?"

"I mean, you're a huge nerd!  This is like the ultimate cool thing for huge nerds!"

"Go big or go home, right?"  Alphys giggled.  

"And now that I know I'm going up against a championship winning gamer -"

"It was just a regional - "

"A friggin CHAMPION with a creepy but totally badass statue, I know how much training I have to do to kick your butt!"

"Wh-what?"

"I'm going to win against you so hard you're going to beg me to take your trophy away from you, because you just don't deserve it anymore!"

"What?  Undyne, I earned that!  I spent months - and you think you can just waltz in and play a few games and beat me?"  

There it was.

"YUP!  Maybe you know a bunch of lame strategies, but I have the honed reflexes of a natural warrior!  Once I start to really try -"

"I'll - I'll just beat you again!  You really think you can - are you serious? You have NO idea what you're up against.  I could fall asleep and kick your butt!"

"That's what I want to hear!"  Undyne grabbed her controller.

There was a fire in Alphys eyes.  The desire, no the need to win.  

-

It was a month of regular games before Undyne won her first one.  Alphys had been playing cocky all night, and she finally paid the price for it. Undyne jumped on the couch, ripping the controller right out of its socket and almost throwing the game system onto the floor.  She pumped her arms in the air.

"HELL YEAH! There's a NEW champion in THIS house!"

"Oh, come one, Undyne!  That's one out of, wh-what, a hundred?"  Alphys scrambled to put the system back in order.  "That wasn't skill! That was just luck and I'll prove it to you."

When Alphys won the next one, she clambered up onto the sofa and yelled, "S-suck on th-that!  No one can beat the champion!"

"YEAH!" Undyne jumped up next to her and held her in the air.  Alphys' head almost bumped on the ceiling.  "You're the winner!"  She spun Alphys around until she got queasy.

They put away the controllers for the night.  Undyne made tea and Alphys got some snacks and brought them into the living room.  

"I think I'm going to, um, get sick if I go around the track again tonight," Alphys admitted.

"We were like halfway through that lacrosse anime before we got kind of distracted," Undyne said.

"Oh!  And the team captain was just about to confess something!  I can't believe I forgot."

Undyne grabbed a blanket and tossed it over both of them.  "I just want to know if they're going to win."

"Well, even if they lose, I'm sure it'll be like a moral victory," Alphys said.  

"Screw moral victories," Undyne said.  "I want to see someone get their butt kicked."

Alphys laughed.  She leaned against Undyne's shoulder as the opening theme blared through the living room.  

Training

Pairing: FBI!Stiles x Reader

Author: @ninja-stiles

Words: 2677

Author’s Note: In relation to the new teen wolf trailer, this! Lol I wrote this in a couple hours and I think it’s cute? I mean it’s probably shit but I couldn’t wait. I hope y’all enjoy! Thanks to my babe @mf-despair-queen for proofreading this for meeeeeee.

The sun shined through my blinds, indicating that morning finally came around after the long night of training I had with Stiles. Stiles Stilinski. He’s the guy my boss had paired me with for the FBI training and it’s gets kind of awkward, since he’s a really attractive guy and most nights, he sees me in just a sports bra and spandex. The director had set up apartments for each of the trainees and their partners, resulting in Stiles being my roommate. Luckily, it was a two bedroom apartment. I squinted my eyes, groaning as I pull the duvet over my head, not wanting to be awake at the moment. As I try to get back to sleep, a knock on my door echoes off the walls.

 “GO AWAY,” I mumbled tiredly, feeling all the bruises on my arms and stomach, wincing a little when I turn around, facing away from the window.

 “C’mon, Y/N. Get up.” Stiles deep voice flowed through the wood. I bite my lip, always liking how he sounds when he first wakes up in the morning, or even in general. He’s got such a great voice. The door opened, Stiles walking in, hearing his footsteps coming closer to the bed. He pulls my blanket away from me, his eyes widening as he noticed that I’m not wearing any pants, turning around, facing the window.

 “Stiles, you act like you’ve never seen a girl in just a shirt and panties. You don’t have to look away. You knew that I don’t wear pants to bed, so you walked into this knowing what was gonna happen.” I smirked, getting out of my bed, walking towards my dresser as I can feel eyes on my back. I pulled my shirt up, looking at the bruise that was embedded on my ribs, running my fingers over it, hissing.

 “Are you okay?” Stiles asked, looking at the bruise on my ribs, walking over to me, placing his slender fingers against the black and blue skin. I grabbed his hand, flinching away from him and he looked at me, a sad expression on his face. “I’m so sorry, Y/N. I didn’t want to be that rough on you, but you just weren’t getting it right.” He sighed, sitting on the bed as a frown was present on his beautiful pink lips.

 “It’s alright. That’s our job, Stiles. I’m going to end up getting hurt one way or another. I’m a little glad that you were rough on me, because other people won’t be. So, thank you.” I muttered, placing a kiss to his cheek before I walk into the bathroom with some clothes, closing the door behind me.

 Oh god. Why did I just do that? Now he’s gonna think I’m weird, damn it. I rested my head against the door, my eyes shut as I think about the feeling of his skin against my lips. Stiles always held a soft spot in my heart when we’d stay up late after a training session, Star Wars playing softly in the background as he told me about his life in Beacon Hills. He even told me about the supernatural, which I refused to believe at first until he had video chatted Scott, proving to me that he’s a werewolf.

 Stiles stared at the wall, shocked at what I had done. His hand grazed over his cheek where my lips had just been. His cheeks heating up, turning a pinkish color as a lopsided grin appears on his lips, looking towards the bathroom door. Don’t do it, Stiles. You shouldn’t let your personal feeling fall into the mix.

 I walked back into the bedroom, finding Stiles with a grin on his lips, playing with his fingers as he seemed lost in his thoughts. “Stiles?” I asked, smiling as he jumped a bit, looking over to me, noticing I had gotten dressed. I look down at my outfit: my tie-dyed spandex shorts paired with a grey tank top and sports bra. “Whatcha thinkin about?”

 He shrugged, shaking his head as he stood up, wiping his hands on his basketball shorts, swallowing visibly. “N-Nothing. Just thinking about home again,” He lied, not looking into my eyes as he looked around the room. I let out an mhm, walking out of my bedroom, into the living room, grabbing my sneakers along the way. Stiles waited by the front door, leaning against the doorframe as I tied my shoes, running over to join him. “Ready?” He asked and I nodded my head, both of us heading out the door, driving towards the FBI training center that was located in California. We walked inside, our gym bags strapped on our shoulder as I laughed at a joke he told me in the car, feeling people’s stares on us as we make our way to the ring.

 People always assumed that Stiles and I were together because of how much time out of work we’ll spend with each other, but we live in the same space. How could you not spend time with your partner when you live together? Would you just sit in silence? Hell no. We’ll make the most of our time either watching netflix, eating, playing video games, or even talking to one another.

 We climbed into the ring, slipping my sneakers off. I like fight without shoes on. It’s weird, I know. Stiles chuckled at my non-matching socks as I bounced on my feet, holding my covered fists in front of my face, the smirk prominent on my lips. “C’mon, Stilinski. Show me what you got.” He slipped his gloves on, licking his lips as we danced around the ring, no one taking the first move yet.

 “Whatcha waitin for, L/N?” Stiles smirked and I rolled my eyes, going around the ring once more before making my move. I tried to punch him in the face, but he dodged it, swiping his leg underneath my feet, knocking me to the mat. I let out a huff, getting back onto my feet, getting into position again.

 “Good one, Stiles,” I muttered, aiming for his stomach, but once again, he dodges my strike, grabbing both of my arms, pinning them behind my back, pressing his chest against my back. I could feel his breath hitting my neck, swallowing hard as my heart pounds against my ribcage.

 “C’mon, Y/N. You can do better than this, I know you can,” Stiles whispered into my ear, letting me go. I quickly swept my foot under his, knocking him over and he looks up at me in astonishment. I gave him a small smirk before he hits the back of my knees, my legs giving out as he crawled on top of me, pinning my arms to the mat. “You are so off your game.” I rolled my eyes, his face inches from mine as he looks over my face. I look into those beautiful honey eyes of his as my breath hitches in my throat.

 His nose brushed against mine, my eyes fluttering shut as I come up with a plan. He moved his hands from my arms, resting them on each side of my head, his head inching closer to mine. I wrapped my legs around his waist, flipping us over, pinning his arms to the mat. “You shouldn’t get distracted, Stilinski.” I chuckled, biting my lip. He let out a huff, looking defeated as I got off of his lap, sticking my arm out to help him up. He stood up, giving me a smile when someone had cleared their throat. We both looked over, seeing the director standing outside of the ring, a stern look on his face.

 “Stilinski, L/N. I see you’re training again,” He mentioned and both of us nodded our heads. “Stilinski, I have a mission for you that hits close to home.” He told Stiles and he tensed up, leaning against the ropes.

 “What? What is it?” Stiles asked, eventually getting out of the ring, leaving me in it, watching the situation in front of me.

 “I need you and a team to go to Beacon Hills. There’s something that’s happening there and we need to send guys out. I want you to go with them, since it’s your hometown.” Stiles nodded his head in agreeance. I bit my lip as the director patted his back before leaving, Stiles rushing out of the building.

 “STILES! WAIT!” I rushed after him, grabbing my shoes, running towards his jeep. “Stiles, you’re not actually going, right?” I asked, standing in front of his door, my hands against the window. He rolled it down, nodding his head and my face paled. “W-What if you get hurt?”

 “Y/N, that’s what training is for. I’m gonna be fine. I know Beacon Hills like the back of my hand, plus these guys don’t know what they would be dealing with. Nothing in Beacon is natural, there’s always a twist. I have to go.” He leaned out of his window, pressing his lips to my forehead as he pulls out of the parking space, following the other cars, heading towards Beacon immediately.

 “God, please be careful.” I muttered to myself, running my hands through my hair. I need to do something, I can’t just sit here and wait. I ran back into the building, looking for the keys to the cars that the FBI owns, searching through the whole building. After about an hour of looking, I finally found one in someone’s locker, shrugging my shoulders as I take it, getting into the car, driving up north.

 After getting lost, and the car breaking down, I walked towards the sign that said Beacon Hills, gulping as it looks dark and grey, raining a little bit. I place the FBI vest on, heading towards the shooting. I pulled my gun out, sneaking around the buildings as I try to find Stiles. Someone comes up behind me, kicking me in the back as I fall to the ground, groaning in pain. I turned onto my back just as the guy got on top of me, one of his hands wrapped around my throat, his eyes glowing. Holy shit. I punched him in the face, trying to gasp for air as his grip tightens, my other hand reaching for my gun. Someone else tackled him off of me, knocking him out and I got up, pointing my gun at him, my hands shaking with nervousness.

 “Don’t shoot. I’m on the good side,” He mentioned and I kept my eyes on him, his eyes glowing red. He stepped into the light, immediately recognizing him.

 “Scott?” I asked, putting my gun away. His eyes turned back to their normal color, stepping forward, squinting his eyes, trying to see my features.

 “Y/N? Oh my god, what are you doing here? Does Stiles know you’re here?” He asked many questions and I shook my head, pulling my hair up into a ponytail.

 “No, he doesn’t. I couldn’t just sit around and wait. I had to do something.” I confessed as we walk back towards the main fight. Scott led me towards an alleyway, seeing a bunch of our guys running down it, two figures walking our way. Their features became clearer and one of them was Stiles, who was currently holding up another guy. “Stiles!” I yelled and he looked over at me, his lips parting as he hands the guy to a Scott, trailing towards me.

 “Y/N, what are you doing here?!” He grabbed my arm, pulling me to the side of the building. He noticed the bruising on my neck, pushing my head up, analyzing the wound. “What happened?” He questioned sternly, looking at me worried.

 “Some guy tried to choke me to death. Scott was the one that saved me,” I mentioned and his features softened, pulling me into a tight hug. I nuzzle my face into his chest, feeling his hands rub my back.

 “Please, never do anything like that again. I don’t know what would happen if I lost you, Y/N. You mean so fucking much to me,” He whispered, resting his forehead against mine, his hands rubbing my cheekbones.

 “I-I won’t. I just wanted to make sure you were okay. I couldn’t sit around and wait for you to come back or not. Take me with you next time,” I muttered, our noses brushing as he nodded his head. I looked down at his FBI vest, biting my lip softly. “By the way, you look so good in that.” I pointed to his jacket, his chest puffing out a little and I giggled, running my hands up his chest. I glance up at him, his eyes connecting to mine, one of his hands still resting on my cheek.

 “Well, you look pretty damn good yourself. Maybe someday I can just see you wearing that and nothing else.” He growled, his lips grazing my cheek as they heated up, my heart beating faster. “I’ve wanted to kiss you for so long.” Stiles whispered, his lips now brushing against mine, my breath hitching in my throat again.

 “Then kiss me, Stiles. Kiss me,” I muttered, my eyes fluttering shut as he planted his lips on mine. My hands grip his vest, pulling him closer to me as I move my lips against his, letting out little moans. Oh my god. This is better than I imagined. After a few minutes we pulled away to catch our breaths, a loud bang ringing from closeby and Stiles wraps me in his arms, turning us away from the blast. He pushed a few baby hairs out of my face, breathing heavily as both of our hearts are pounding against our chests.

 “You okay?” He asked and I nodded my head, loading my gun.

 “Yeah, now c’mon. Let’s save your hometown.” I smirked, both of us holding guns in our hands as we head into battle together.

 After we had won the fight, both Stiles and I were dirty and a little bloody. I had injured my wrist when one of the guys had attacked us from behind, but it’s only sprained. I was sitting on the ledge of the ambulance, rotating my wrist, wincing every once in awhile as Stiles walked up to me, his hands buried in his pockets, a smile on his lips. “Ready to go home?” He asked and I nodded my head, taking his hand in mine, intertwining our fingers as I got into his jeep.

 Once inside out building, I flop down on the couch, pulling the vest off, throwing it to the floor, Stiles’ landing there as well. “God, it’s been a long night.” I muttered standing up from the couch, both of us walking down the halls towards our rooms. I was about to go into mine when I turned around, facing Stiles as he was staring at his door. “Hey, Stiles?” I asked and he hummed in response, facing me. “Would you want to sleep in my room, with me?” I bit my lip as he nodded his head repeatedly, his hands landing on my waist as he pushed me inside, closing the door behind him with his foot.

 “I thought you’d never ask.” He smiled, leaning down, connecting our lips in a loving kiss that quickly got heated. Stiles pushed me down onto the bed, meshing our lips together roughly as I run a hand through his beautiful chestnut locks. I pull away from him, my eyes drooping shut as he placed a kiss to my forehead, falling asleep with him hovering over me.

 Stiles chuckled, moving some hair out of my face as I began breathing heavily, falling into a deep sleep. He picked me up, moving the covers out of the way before laying me on the mattress, covering me with the duvet. Stiles slipped off his jeans and flannel, getting into your bed next to you, pulling me into his chest as he falls asleep next to me, a smile on his lips.

Don't Touch Her//Bughead Fanfiction (C4)

Chapter 4- Running From The Woods WARNING: (mild) sexual harassment & things of that nature ☾☾☾ Losing a child is an empty feeling, let alone two. You can't eat. You can't sleep. You can't even bring yourself to get out of bed in the morning because you find yourself thinking about the fact that your child, who should have been, would never have the chance to to even get out of bed. Hell, they wouldn't have the chance to do, or know, anything. And you, as their parent, would never get the chance to meet your own child. Thank God Polly's babies were after all, okay. As Betty sat in the hospital waiting room, she relaxed into the chair. Just minutes ago spectacular relief had washed over her body, cleansing all her worries. And now, as she sat, the after-effects of that relief were still roaming her every cell. She smiled. When she'd got to the hospital, she found her mother sat waiting for her to arrive. "Mom?" Betty ran towards Alice frantically, searching the details of her worry-coated face. "Where's Polly? Are the babies okay? What happened?" Alice just shrugged with a sigh, "we don't know, honey. One second I was sat on the sofa, the next your sister was crying her eyes out, saying she was bleeding everywhere." Betty gasped. Surely they were okay. They must be okay. The must! "I've been waiting for you, come on." Alice took Betty's hand and led her down foreign hallways. They stopped at a light green coloured door and Betty's mom pulled her in. Polly lay there, anxiety covering her facial features, and her thumb tapping the palm of her hand. Betty ran to her sister, engulfing her in an emotive hug. "Oh Poll," Betty cried. Polly squeezed her tighter, and Betty felt a wet drop trail down her neck which indicated the shedding of Polly's single tear. "Don't worry Betty... they'll be okay." Polly said hesitantly. "They have too... they're Coopers. They... they'll be fine." Pauses filled her speech, and her eyes were glazed with moisture. The older Cooper girl was certainly trying to convince someone something she didn't believe, and it wasn't Betty or Alice. The three females existed in that plain room, drowning in distraught and distress. But soon, they were thrown a compassionate anchor when a woman doctor entered the room. "You have nothing to worry about. The bleeding was merely light discharge, not a cause for alarm bells." So here Betty was, sat on the chair, waiting for Polly and her mom to fill in some brief forms. She thanked her lucky stars for the babies' safety. But then she was brought out of her thoughts by a ping, the same ping from earlier in Pop's, but with much less heartache. The ping was Jughead, of course. Wondering what happened, where was she, was she okay? She grinned at his concern, her heart fluttering within her chest. Betty filled him in. JUGHEAD: Betts, what happened? Are they okay? Are you okay??? Text me please BETTY: Hey Jug, don't worry it was a false alarm... just some bleeding. Sorry I left so abruptly. JUGHEAD: Don't apologise Betts. Anyway, it gave me chance to mingle with our third wheel😏 Betty laughed lovingly to herself. JUGHEAD: Come sleep at mine tonight? BETTY: Of course The blonde-haired girl locked her pink phone and stood from the hard seat. She quickly told Alice she was going to Veronica's house to study, then scurried gracefully out of the hospital. Betty could walk to Jughead's trailer. Because of the compact size of their beloved town everything was pretty much walking distance. She liked walking. Staring at all Riverdale had to offer, such as it's gorgeous lakes and trees. Today was sunny, bright and blue. Betty was one of those people who naturally enjoyed warmth rather than coldness. She could be boiling hot and still take that any day instead of a tiny bit of coldness. Unfortunately, she spotted a coldness walking towards her, clad in jeans and a tshirt, a smug, sly smirk plastered onto his dark face. It was Chuck. Chuck Clayton. Betty Cooper didn't think she could ever hate anyone. That was until her predicament with the teenage boy. She had found out his sexual harassment ways and attempted to put a stop to it, even going dark on him. She managed to get him kicked off of the football team, yes, but that didn't stop him acting as he pleased outside school. "Betty Cooper," Chuck walked next to her, "what's a little thing like you doing all alone round her?" He gestured to the woods around them. Betty internally shuddered as his warm breath tickled her ear. "That's none of your business Chuck. Go away." Betty snarled back. Chuck's features darkened. All of a sudden she was pushed against a nearby tree, the bark scraping along her arms. Chuck had his hands pinning her petite shoulders into the hard, rough wood of the tree. His hands wrapped around them, the nails angry and piercing. He bent down so they were face to face. "Listen here, Cooper." He began, his eyes menacing and threatening, "I tolerated your actions when you got me kicked off the team-" "You mean when you sexually harassed those girls and got yourself kicked off?" She bit back, eyes hard, refusing to show weakness as she stood tall against the tree. This only caused the dark-skinned boy to become more aggravated and aggressive. He pushed her further into the towering plant. "But I'm not going to tolerate you being impolite to me, little girl. Where are your manners? What ever happened to perfect Betty?" She shot him daggers throughout, especially when he said the word 'perfect'. She hated that word. "Now, I know you and Jughead have a thing going, right? How adorable," he mocked, "but just remember, I bet I've seen way more of you than he has. And think about talking to me in that tone again, well..." he leant down to her ear and began to whisper, and uncomfortable warmness invading the drum. "I might have to visit Dark Betty again. She was so hot." As Chuck pulled away, realisation covered Betty's face as she felt hyper alert of the fact that they were alone together in the middle of the woods. She wasn't much of a fighter, however, she knew how to defend herself, but not with someone double her size and muscles. And the way his eyes stared into her with greedy lust made her extremely anxious. His hand trailed between her legs and up her thigh, painfully, painfully slow. The oxygen in her lungs battled with the carbon dioxide, with her eyes darting around in panic and distress. Before Betty thought it through, she rammed her knee into his groin. Chuck doubled in pain, and Betty took it as a chance to run for it. She ran through the trees, the intimidating trees, the dangerous trees. She ran quicker than she'd ever ran, not quite having a destination for the moment,  just wanting to escape Chuck. When she stopped for lack of breath, she realised Chuck hadn't followed her. Thank God. ☾ When Betty got to Jughead's trailer she decided she wouldn't tell him about the predicament with Chuck. The boys already had bad blood between them because of her, and she saw no point risking him getting hurt by Chuck again. At the moment, the beanie-clad boy and the loose ponytailed girl lay cuddled up on Jughead's sofa. Her head on his shoulder, looking at his perfectly sculpted face. His arm tightly around her in a protective motion. This moment was perfect. Well it would have been. Images of Chuck grabbing Betty swam, painted around her brain. She had a bad history with Chuck, but this was a whole new level of disgusting. He'd never actually touched her before; It was mind games that pleased him. "Betts?" Jughead's voice pulled her out of her Chuck-filled trance. Realising she was staring at him, she quickly sat up. "What's wrong?" There it was again. His sweet voice. It made her feel protected and comfortable. But she didn't want to worry him, as much as she wanted to tell him about what previously happened in the woods with Chuck, she just couldn't bring herself to tell him. He didn't need to be worrying about her. She didn't deserve that anyway. "Nothing." She plastered a sweet, superficial smile on her tinted pink face. Jughead raised a bushy but tamed brow. He wasn't convinced. "Really," she continued, "I was just a bit worried about Polly that's all. Suppose I'm still in that mindset." This time Jughead seemed to believe her lie. He quickly sat up and engulfed her in his long, safe arms. He rolled the pair around so she was underneath him. Betty Cooper giggled happily, forgetting all about Chuck. Since it was Jughead's favourite sound, it also brought him out of his thoughts. You see, he had a secret, but, Betty didn't need to know. At least, not right now.

100 REASONS TO LOVE JEON JEONGGUK

he was a child when he became a member of bangtan sonyeondan, and look at him now!!!

his smile and bunny teeth, so big so bright so precious

when he laughs and giggles

the way he dances and his goddamn body control, like would you please look at blood sweat & tears, wouLD YOU PLEASE LOOK AT HIM DANCING

the way he scrunches up his nose all cutely :(((( like a bunny just !!

his eyes turn into beautiful crescents when he laughs or just smiles and like the wrinkles at the sides!!!!!! of his!!!!!! eyes!!!!!!

he is the fearless and golden maknae

oh and his EYES are so pretty, they literally look like perfectly shaped almonds

he is a masterpiece, made by god himself

his dimples!!! like, yes, ofc he is not the king of dimples but his dimples are big and they could hold a couple of my tears that i would only shed for him

NOOT NOOT

his hands are so beautiful, and his nails are too? like, i don’t wanna sound weird or anything, but they are always neat and nice and just wow

“pardon” - english lessons with namjoon

okay but his english in general tbh. it’s just so nice to listen to and calming and it makes us all super proud, we can’t deny this fact

he loves bowling

his friendship with the seventeen members and yugyeom is soso cute and it’s so nice that they are there for each other (let’s hope that yugyeom goes out to go bowling with jeongguk lots)

FIGHTING! *clicks tongue*

when he smiles his upper lip disappears and its rlly cute (his smile is just rlly rlly cute)

apropos his lips - they are shaped beautifully and kinda curvy? like, not the fullest but definitely super beautiful and the person who kisses them one day will hopefully praise his lips a lot

memekook 

lmao but his hip thrusts are honestly nowhere near to be a joke

the mole under his lip, the mole on his neck, the moles on his cheek, the moles on his thighs - just all of his moles i love them

“oh man, holy shit”

CARAMEL! HAIRED! JEONGGUK!

jeongguk during now3

DOPE ERA OKAY, listen this is the best thing in the world - not only his hair but also the cop!look and 

AYO LADIES AND GENTLEMEN - you are lying if you didn’t hear his voice singing it just now ://

his voice is pure and angelic and just liquid gold when he sings

his stage presence is no joke to be honest, he is so rude and hot and sweaty and- what a sight 

but he is sosososo soft, really

he eats so noisily and it’s too cute to be mad at him, honestly why is he like this

he is so passionate about what he is doing and he works so hard every single day to reach his ultimate dream

seagull

um so he started to push his hair back recently and this is another big thing to just love the heck out of his soft boy!!

his washing routine

um, his cover of paper hearts, lost stars, we don’t talk anymore, sofa, nothing like us, working, like a star (feat. namjoon) and fools (also feat. namjoon) are the best things ever

probably the most beautiful ever when he sleeps, so calm and soft

jeongguk has the cutest nose ever, like, it’s big but so beautifully shaped? i just wanna boop it and kiss it a lot :((

his round house kick at the end of the war of hormone mv is !!!

OKAY BUT rainism suit him soso well and this dance and just the performance overall was made for him, still swooning abt this ngl

he loves his hyungs soooooooooo much

jeongguk helped a staff member at isac 2017 to clean up the trash that some people left behind there

him in blue contacts is magical

the SCAR ON HIS CHEEK like really, can you believe that people fall in love with this scar with every new day that comes - how can such a flaw be so beautiful? i will never know

the rlly big scar on his elbow is .. well its just there but i feel like mentioning it too (i remember the time he always had a padded skin colored patch on it - just a random info)

his acne - i mean, ofc it’s probably not nice for him but it’s a part of him and therefor it makes him even more beautiful, also it makes him more real and everyone who says something else is kinda rlly wrong imo :////

here i have to mention barefaced jeongguk and hotel room jeongguk if you know what i mean - just a really soft boy being all cozy

he drinks milk when eats ramen, this is more than precious

jeongguk in beanies is such A Look, you can’t deny it cause it’s a fact

also omg the time he wore black face masks and the white ones and the blue ones with the white pattern, it was great

his ears have such a funny form tbh and they are kinda big

bring!! back!! jeon!! jeongguk’s!! tunnels!! 

his thick rings he is always wearing are super cool too though, they look so good on him idek

OKAY UM BUT CAN I MENTION HIS NEW PIERCINGS HERE??? because he has two (!) helix piercings now and they look super good on him, just like his five other piercings on his lobes

his eyebrows are on fleek

legs!!!! his calves! his knees! his thighs!!!!!! (also he has so many scars on his legs its no joke, all from training so hard im sobbing)

okay i know that his biceps is big af and it makes me choke at times, but his tricEPS OKAY

free his forehead more tbh :/// because its beautiful and everyone shld have a right to see it once a day

oh! when he wears his bangs parted he looks super good!

when he sang dean’s half moon though

when he teases his hyungs (and his little shenanigans with his fellow members of the maknae line)

he has the softest abs ever, like, his tummy looks so cute? AND HIS BELLY BUTTON OKAY, HIS BELLY BUTTON IS CUTE AND !!!

sharp features, that’s all i have to say

he is the cutest nerd in that the world has ever seen

his smug smile which is oddly enough rlly cute

jungshook

he is so goddamn talented - singer, dancer, producer, rapper, good at every sport and he can draw! can you believe he is real?

so shy around girls (even though it got better)

he is so goddamn humble at times which makes him even more golden than he already is

GLASSES ON HIM!! ROUND! FRAMED! GLASSES!!!!!

he cried on his 16th birthday when the members surprised him after filming the comeback trailer :(((

coconut head

um he owns like 23255385059 plain shirts and do you all remember the time he wore like a different color everyday? it went from yellow to green to purple to blue to black to white back to pink. it was great

whenever he wears a navy blue overall tbh

bangtan passing the baby around to sit on everyone’s lap once in a while - jeongguk sitting on someone’s lap - jeongguk is the baby

i know i already mentioned his voice but like, his voice when he talks all calmly. like, when he films logs by himself. it’s so nice and soothing to listen to

jeongguk in hats or caps is a goddamn thing y’all

over sized sweaters on him are a blessing

remember when he wore this black turtle neck? like, ok, just turtlenecks in general are beautiful on him (x) (x) (x)

and his sweater paws are the cutest thing ever, when the tips of his fingers are slightly showing

sleepy kook

the way he waves. like, his pinky is sticking out when he does so and this is adorable

HIS! SELFIE GAME! is rlly good okay

ohh when he used to always dance girl group dances! i mean, he still does but he used to “be known” for being the best at it :’)

veins - it’s as simple as that

his trot ver. of n.o. (um the way he smiles in this video gives me several heart attacks bye)

even though it was really obvious that he was really

he is so into photography and this is really nice, cause that means we all get really nice pics from time to time on twt and he is having fun with it

curly hair on him makes him look like such a floof (not only referring to fire era, but yes, also there)

HIS SATOORI

it is kinda endearing how often he lets his phone fall down, so clumsy

THIS ONE TIME HE SET OFF THE ALARM AT IKEA or the time he ate the shell at an interview even though the pd told him to not, or the time he sniffed at the bottle and spotted that the camera was filming him, or the time he looked at namjoon all horrified when he told him to not only bring white shirts, or-

he cried while listening to yoongi’s mixtape for the first time

pls never forget that he was all offended when more than half of the members voted for no when the question was if jeongguk truly likes jimin, thanks (he loves his fellow members, just wanna state this here)

Lip Syncing 

the coming of age ceromony choreo or the own it choreo he covered with jimin OH! and when he danced to the choreography of keone madrid to manolo

both of his gradutations, he was such a precious bean ok

when he imitates other members

jeongguk often cheers the other members up by being a clown but he also have a lot of kind words. we probably all know that he is not the best with words, he is still young (mentally anyway) so it makes it even more precious when he finds kind words for each and every member

perfectly imperfect is what describes him so well to be honest, a living masterpiece

Diablo Cody Is Done Directing Movies, But Won't Stop Telling 'Untold Stories' About Complex Women

New Post has been published on http://funnythingshere.xyz/diablo-cody-is-done-directing-movies-but-wont-stop-telling-untold-stories-about-complex-women/

Diablo Cody Is Done Directing Movies, But Won't Stop Telling 'Untold Stories' About Complex Women

Diablo Cody knows what’s good for her. Like many of her on-screen creations, the screenwriter has pushed herself through many of iterations – from “feminist stripper” to journalist, memoirist to Oscar-winning screenwriter, all the way up to director – and emerged from a whirlwind decade in Hollywood with a strong sense of who she is, what she wants, and what she doesn’t want — which now includes directing movies. After Cody stepped behind the camera for her first feature in 2013, the Julianne Hough-starring “Paradise,” she stopped pursing other directing gigs, and five years later, that hasn’t changed.

Asked in an interview if she’d ever direct again, she didn’t mince words. “No, never. I’m retired,” she said. “I’m done directing.”

Cody’s reasons for staying away from directing will likely ring true to many – especially the kind of people who will spark to her latest film, “Tully,” her third screenplay for director Jason Reitman – but they also spring from a place of hard-won pragmatism.  “I can only talk to a certain amount of people per day, it’s like I have a limit,” she said. “When you’re directing, you’re just bombarded with questions and you live the film for the duration of production, and I can’t live the film. I have to eat, drink, hang out with my kids. I’m not that focused of a person. So it’s a very specific personality type that makes a good director. And I ain’t it.” (Plus, she hates reading reviews and hasn’t done that for “at least 10 years.”)

Read More:‘Tully’ Review: Diablo Cody and Jason Reitman Deliver a Modern Fairy Tale About Motherhood — Sundance 2018

Instead, Cody has chosen to keep working on the kind of stuff that feeds her and jives with her personality: movies like “Tully,” which offers up an honest, underrepresented look at the realities of being a parent (with trademark Cody humor to spare). The film stars Charlize Theron as struggling mom Marlo, who’s pushed to her breaking point with the arrival of her third child. A generous gift from her brother (indie stalwart Mark Duplass) changes things, as he offers to foot the bill for a night nurse who can get Marlo and her family acclimated to her new normal. That’s the eponymous Tully, played by Mackenzie Davis, who whips Marlo and her fam back into shape, thanks to her endless empathy.

“What I really wanted to do and what I want to do in everything that I write is to tell stories that feel untold to me,” Cody said. “It seemed like I had not really seen that many really truthful dark depictions of the emotional changes that a person goes through when they become a parent.”

“Tully”

screencap

The film is a natural continuation of the offbeat universe that she and Reitman first crafted with 2007 breakout hit “Juno” and kept mining with 2012’s “Young Adult” (which also starred Theron). All of the films are focused on women at a crossroads (pregnancy, fertility issues, arrested development), expectations to conform to some kind of social construct and failing miserably at it. While other Hollywood movies would use that framework to build out feel-good stories about redemption and rising above it all, Cody and Reitman opted early on to jettison those sorts of constraints. Their movies are funny, weird, and very honest.

They also hinge on the creation of complex female characters who reach beyond the tired trope of the “strong female character,” instead emerging as something more realistic. Those stories are always the ones that have compelled Cody, and it finally seems as if the industry is catching up.

“I’ve noticed on my end of things, in terms of pitching projects and selling scripts, that people are a lot more open to depictions of complicated women than they were when I started out in the industry,” she said. “I think, weirdly, TV has something to do with that because there have been so many interesting and complicated and difficult female characters on TV in the last decade that I think maybe the powers that be have realized that people aren’t as afraid of that as they used to be.”

There’s plenty of scary stuff in “Tully,” though – at the film’s “secret” Sundance premiere, its depiction of the struggles of motherhood were so intense that a male colleague, relatively new to the parenting game and suddenly guilt-stricken, leaned over and whispered, “I feel like such an asshole, I need to go call my wife” – and Cody’s script excels at throwing the real stuff right up on the big screen. That came from experience.

“I love being a mom, but I found after I had my third child that I hit a wall and I was really exhausted and I was able to use this movie to kind of cut a door in the wall, so to speak,” she said. “It was like writing it was my therapy, and I was able to get my own emotions out on the page. I was able to use Tully as a form of relief, oddly, much like the character in the movie.”

In the film, the introduction of the self-assured Tully upends Marlo’s entire life. Tully’s zen-like approach to self-care unlocks repressed emotions in Theron’s character. Cody had the same kind of experience while writing the screenplay.

“I was communing with myself and I was coming to certain realizations at the same time that Marlo was,” she said. “When Tully sort of gives Marlo that speech about how her life is supposed to be boring and that being boring means you’re doing it right, that was something that I needed to hear and I don’t know where it came from. It felt like it came from some mysterious source.”

“Tully” itself has some mystery to it, though Cody is reticent to call what happens in the final act a twist – “I’m not M. Night Shyamalan,” she said with a laugh – and she hopes audiences will be able to see the film without being spoiled first.

“It’s tricky, especially in this day and age where there’s this endless 24/7 dialogue on the Internet,” Cody said. “I want people to talk about the movie, obviously. The more secretive you are about it, the more of a thing it becomes. I don’t want this to be like when I was in high school and ‘The Crying Game’ came out. That was like, ‘Have you seen “The Crying Game”? Do you know what happens?’”

“Tully”

screencap

So, yes, it is a twist, and it’s a testament to Cody’s skills that it works as well as it does (though it does seem designed to get audiences talking about it the second they leave the theater). “It came to me as a whole,” Cody said. “That’s maybe not the most articulate way of putting it. I don’t like the word ‘twist,’ so I don’t know what to say. The ‘third act turn,’ we’ll call it, to me that is the emotional center of the story. There is no story without it. If anything, it was the first component of the story that came to me.”

While Cody’s body of work is most commonly associated with her Reitman team-ups and her now-defunct Showtime series “United States of Tara,” she’s got plenty more under her belt. She wrote the Meryl Streep-starring “Ricki and the Flash” for Jonathan Demme and the wild Karyn Kusama high school horror comedy “Jennifer’s Body.” She even tried to get a talk show off the ground back in 2013. She was often reported as being attached to high profile projects. That doesn’t happen as much now.

“My name doesn’t get thrown around that much these days because I’m not super fancy anymore, but, yeah, occasionally those weird rumors come up,” she said. A persistent one: that she wrote the script for the upcoming “Barbie” film supposedly starring Anne Hathaway. Not true.

Read More:‘Tully’ Official Trailer: Charlize Theron Is A Mother in Crisis in Jason Reitman’s Comeback

“I never even handed in a script,” she said. “I was hired to write it, and I failed. I’ve never failed harder at anything. It was the first time in my life I’ve ever had classical writer’s block where I couldn’t get a fucking word on the page. Usually, I can produce something to fulfill my obligations.”

That doesn’t mean that Cody isn’t still enthused about the idea of the film, but just like directing, it’s just not for her. “The reason I took the job is because I think the idea of a Barbie in 2018 is fucking cool,” Cody said. “I want to see the Barbie movie. I hope they make it.”

It’s not the only project that she can’t seem to shake, and when asked about other buzzy rumors that still crop up, Cody went on a tear. “You know what’s funny? Okay, so there’s a movie like ‘Burlesque’ that came out a long time ago and I was one of 900 writers that worked on it, and people will still ask me about my involvement in ‘Burlesque,’” she said. “I’m like, ‘That was a week of my life.’”

And that’s not all. “When I worked on ‘Evil Dead,’ that was a very short time and I remember it being presented as like, ‘Diablo Cody’s vision of Evil Dead,’” she said with a laugh. “And I’m like, ‘Oh, God, help us, no.’ I’m doing a [script] polish, you know?” (Cody contributed a draft and a later polish draft to the 2013 Fede Alvarez-directed remake, which wasn’t enough to get a credit on the film.)

One rumor that she’s not ready to put to bed: that she’s making a musical “Sweet Valley High” feature, based on the best-selling YA novels from Francine Pascal. It’s stalled for now, but she’s been working on it for almost a decade. “That’s like my dream,” she said.

It’s another kind of untold story about complex women – twins! – that Cody is eager to tell, this one just might happen. Meanwhile, she’s currently working on the Alanis Morissette stage musical “Jagged Little Pill” alongside composer Tom Kitt, who wrote a number of songs for Cody’s unmade “Sweet Valley High” film. Cody says the pair have been talking about it lately and she hopes it will one day see the light of day.

“The songs sound fucking solid and the movie was going to be great,” she said. “Stuff just falls apart.”

Focus Features will open “Tully” in select theaters on May 4.

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BattleBlock Theater Review

Youtube Video

The Trailer is from The Behemoth's YouTube channel.

BattleBlock Theater is The Behemoth's 2D platformer game which was released in 2013. I have purchased the game in 2015 yet still cannot get myself off from it. This game always can magically keep its freshness and never let me down. The players are allowed to share their edited level to others, this feature is great enough to keep its playability and what's more, the developers still updated the game such as giving new special characters etc. It has already stolen my 95+ hours so far, but surly it will steal more.

BattleBlock Theater maintains the art style as Castle Crashers which was cute, funny and crazy. This time, the player is not saving the kingdom anymore. You are on a ship with full of friends ( which is a cool way to present friendship), unfortunately the ship crashes onto an island. The kitties run a theatre on the island, however the theatre is actually like a jail, they kidnap people, treat them as criminal and throw them into theatre to challenge stages for their entertainments. In order to leave this island, the player needs to finish 80+ of platform levels. Doesn't make sense? It's alright. Nothing is logical, then everything is logical.

Just like most of games, BattleBlock Theater has introduce their playing method through a few beginning levels. As long as you play, the hiding place of the Gems and a ball of Yarn are getting trick to find and reach. Although the levels are getting difficult to be passed, and even it hurts the player painfully when the player cannot pass after trying hard, at the end the success the player get from games is always sweet and addictive.

The narrative is my favorite feature in this game. The new chapters always start with the narrator’s monologue which contains lots of jokes and some nonsensical descriptions. He really brings the humor to the forefront. His fast pace, loud and vivid story-telling attractes me to keep playing and expect the story. However, the players might love the narrator and hate him at the same time. The narrator always reacts when the player dies, for instances, “Oh my goodness gracious!”, “Congratulation, uhmmm……DYING!”, or when the player has died several time in different he will say “That’s a new one!”or”Don't ... don't die.” These would be very interesting dialogue when you are not playing the game, otherwise for me the narrator seems like laughing and making fun of me (tears in eyes). Sometimes, dying after thousands times, when I hear the narrator say "OH MY GOD!", I always want to tell him that I'm the one who need to say"OH MY GOD" not you!

Overall, I’m positive that I will keep playing this game. It makes me have lots of great time which contains laughter and tears. I still have one encore level in Chapter 8 to play and other crazy modes as well. Let’s back to the crazy feline theatre!

BattleBlock Theater Review

The Trailer is from The Behemoth‘s YouTube channel.

BattleBlock Theater is The Behemoth’s 2D platformer game which was released in 2013. I have purchased the game in 2015 yet still cannot get myself off from it. This game always can magically keep its freshness and never let me down. The players are allowed to share their edited level to others, this feature is great enough to keep its playability and what’s more, the developers still updated the game such as giving new special characters etc. It has already stolen my 95+ hours so far, but surely it will steal more.

BattleBlock Theater maintains the art style as Castle Crashers which was cute, funny and crazy. This time, the player is not saving the kingdom anymore. You are on a ship full of friends ( which is a cool way to present friendship), unfortunately, the ship crashes onto an island. The kitties run a theatre on the island, however, the theatre is actually like a jail, they kidnap people, treat them as criminal and throw them into a theatre to challenge stages for their entertainments. In order to leave this island, the player needs to finish 80+ of platform levels. Doesn’t make sense? It’s alright. Nothing is logical, then everything is logical.

Just like most of the games, BattleBlock Theater has introduced its playing method through a few beginning levels. As long as you play, the hiding place of the Gems and a ball of Yarn are getting tricky to find and reach. Although the levels are getting difficult to be passed, and even it hurts the player painfully when the player cannot pass after trying hard, at the end the success the player get from games is always sweet and addictive.

The narrative is my favourite feature in this game. The new chapters always start with the narrator’s monologue which contains lots of jokes and some nonsensical descriptions. He really brings humour to the forefront. His fast pace, loud and vivid story-telling attracted me to keep playing and expect the story. However, the players might love the narrator and hate him at the same time. The narrator always reacts when the player dies, for instances, “Oh my goodness gracious!”, “Congratulation, uhmmm……DYING!”, or when the player has died several times in different he will say “That’s a new one!” or ”Don’t … don’t die.” These would be a very interesting dialogue when you are not playing the game, otherwise, for me, the narrator seems like laughing and making fun of me (tears in eyes). Sometimes, dying after thousands of times, when I hear the narrator say “OH MY GOD!”, I always want to tell him that I’m the one who needs to say "OH MY GOD" not you, the narrator!