#to the op of the og set: thanks again!! <3 | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

horanghoe · 1 year

Text

SBIADITO - Scarlet Fever 2/2

Main Masterlist // SVT Masterlist

Group: Seventeen

Members Mentioned: Hoshi//Soonyoung, S.Coups//Seungcheol, The8//Minghao, Han//Jeonghan

Pairing: Werewolf!Soonyoung x Reader (Fem Perspective)

Genre: Angst / Fuff / Heavy Smut / Werewolf!SVT, minors dni !!

Word Count: Just over 17K

T/W’s: Heavy smut with frequent mention of Werewolf features & lore. This is purely fiction and not intended to harm. If you don’t like Werewolf!au’s, please scroll on, with peace and love!!

(Pls dm me if you would like a trigger warning added ♡)

SPECIAL SHOUTOUTS & A HUGE THANK YOU TO ALL MY BETA READERS:

Banner, Header & Divider Art: @classicscreations

MTG Discord Furries /jk/: @slightlymore // @raibebe // @starlitmark// @just-come-baek

IMPORTANT AUTHOR NOTES:

(For this post): listen up yall, I'm over writing this shit 😈, imma post it, balls to the walls & errors intact, thanku n GOODNIGHT!!! (its 10.14 am and im at work) (Copied from previous post): Wow. So I think it's fair to say I never ever ever thought in my time here writing that a werewolf series would even be in my league, but here we are, wahahaha... This beast took me over 3 months to fully draft, write and edit. (There's already an Epilogue of the original series, (Spider Boy Is A Dog In This One) in the works, along with an edit of the OGS!)... So please stick around for more ;) Asks welcome!!

Music to listen to while reading ♡ (in no particular order)

None currently on the OP's mind - please feel free to recommend some via my ask inbox ;)

Soonyoung slid his hands down the curve of your arms to grip the middle of your shirt, ripping until the buttons pinged off. Then he continued his hot and open-mouthed kisses down the length of your stomach. A simple squeeze to your right breast made you furl into him with a cry.

Soonyoung chuckled with a mocking tone; knocking your knee out of the way and pressing your legs apart with his elbows.

"You left these on?" he growled against your stomach, hooking two fingers in the elastic waistband of your completely soiled trousers only to let the fabric snap back against your skin.

His mouth continued to lick and suck down your belly, Marking the skin there with wet, bruising, lovebites, as he travelled to your hipbone.

“Y-yes, they’re m-my nesting pyjamas...” Your lips trembled as you moaned beneath him, words barely strung together.

His nails scraped against your skin as he pulled your silk sleeping shorts down towards the crease of your ass. It was humiliating. You held your hands to your chest as his face travelled everywhere but where you needed him.

“Yeah, well. They smell fucking good. Try not to wear these around the house again - unless you're in the market to be bred full of pups.”

He seemed to have some kind of affiliation with your left side. In theory, you figured, maybe because it was the side closest to your heart.

But then again he was never one for methodical balance. As he spread his tongue across the thin skin of your hip, teeth teasing over your bone, you knew he was about to leave his Mark.

Soonyoung anticipated - or really rather, caught - your hands as they attempted to fly out to him. Wrists held in an iron grip as you struggled, pausing only to pant and whine loudly.

“Soonyoung, please, it hurts, please just fuck me, please, please please please please, fuck me, please please, please God I need you -”

The pleaded words were a surprise to you both, but you just couldn't help it.

Your body was burning now; set alight, cunt clenching for a release, that he seemingly was refusing to give.

Soonyoung barely even reacted. He simply growled against your hip, tightening his grip on your wrists until you huffed and whined in defeat.

Satisfied with the way you were giving in to him, Soonyoung released you, giving you the grace to thread your fingers through his hair, dragging your nails across his scalp and earning a deep moan.

His hand spread long fingers across the soft of your belly. Gripping and kneading before weighing you down with strong, lean palms.

“Do you want me to breed you, pup? Fill you up until cum drips out of you and you leak all over your den?”

“Yes, yes, God, please -”

“Mark you till you have no skin left to bruise?”

“Please, please touch me Soonyoung, please -”

Soonyoung chuckled at your begging. Hi smoothed his hand over your belly and your right inner thigh until you settled. Shushing you with kisses and a hickey at the thin of your hip.

“Then settle down for me, angel. And be a good bitch for me. Can’t do much when you’re kicking me, can I pup? All this moving is doing is telling me that you want me to leave you all alone in here like this. Sopping wet and needy.”

You released a deep belly whine, one last kick and twist proving that you wanted him and you needed him badly. His use of 'bitch' was meant in an entirely carnal and sinful way, not degrading at all.

But you complied, panting breaths as you lay below him in a complete and utter willingness to be used.

"Good girl," He purred fiercely against your hip.

Your momentary submission allowed him space to press his palm up against your clit, pushing the silk fabric into your dripping wet cunt. Soonyoungs eyes closed upon contact, nostrils flaring and a deep familiar growl vibrated against your legs as he caught your skin caught between his teeth.

You just couldn't help yourself, grinding yourself down upon his strong palm. The movement of the silk against your boiling skin sent you into ecstasy. Your belly tensed and fluttered under his left palm, keeping you pinned to the bed.

“Soonie, I’m close I - I can’t stop it, I’m so close, please, please don’t stop -”

“I know, beautiful,” He hummed against your skin, watching you with adoration. “You don’t need to stop. Don't stop. Just let it happen. Chase that high till you've got it; then tell me when. I’ve got you.”

You moaned aloud as he flexed his hand to add sensation to the friction, the fingers of his free appendage splaying across your stomach to ground you, your only anchor to the bed.

Quickly, the coil in your belly turned and twisted until it was impossibly tight. Your thigh muscles spasmed and as you moved to curl backwards; you cried out his name, hips bucking up against the palm still firmly pressed to your stomach.

Soonyoung growled loudly before sinking his teeth into the skin of your hips.

The feeling was insatiable.

He groaned deeply as you cried out, his eyes rolling into the back of his head to betray the ecstasy he felt at getting to watch you twitch and writhe against his hold.

It was different here, covered in nerves and much more sensitive. You gushed instantly through the fabric and his nose flared at your scent coating his hand.

Finally, he moved his palm in patterns against your cunt that had you gripping his wrist and seeing stars.

Your orgasm didn’t seem to stop. Your fingertips with frazzled electricity while you pulsated around nothing, aching to be filled and grinding against him wanting more, more, more.

As your orgasm settled you yowled deeply, panting and tugging at his hair as a silent urge for him to ease up, your body unable to take any more of his attention directed at your most sensitive spot.

You could feel yourself dripping down the back of your thighs, the fabric of your trousers and tainting your mate's hand. Your body was pleasantly numbing with energy while your cunt continued to throb wildly.

You could smell yourself from where you lay.

Retracting his teeth from deep within your hips with a groan, Soonyoung licked the wound until it clotted and he could no longer taste blood. He grumbled gently as you gasped short breaths beneath him, stomach still shaking.

He rose to meet your face but saw a blissfully closed expression instead.

"Well done, pretty dove."

Your mate welcomed you, allowing your arms to wrap around his neck, legs curling to lock your feet at the small of his back.

'I'm here.' Soonyoung spoke through the link; the sound bounced around in your mind. 'I've got you. You're safe.'

His body weight pressed you back down into the bed, the vibration of his rumbles grounding your mind and allowing you to give in.

You panted, trying to force your body to breathe at a normal pace while a buzz settled into your mind, your cheeks growing numb.

You released a loud, long moan that sounded more and more like howling as it went on. Shivering as your mind flashed stars behind your eyes, completely clearing your thoughts.

Soonyoung could sense it immediately.

The way you curled into him. Clinging to him and burying your face against his neck.

The twist in his lungs was followed by clarity.

He allowed you space to settle into this new feeling for a moment. Letting the ripples in your after-orgasm glow settle against his ever-so-sensitive skin. Your lustful pants had turned into the smallest sounds against his skin. Murmurs. Whispers of trust.

"Can I see you, angel?" he whispered through a deep growl, feeling your small whimper and a nod against his neck as a response.

Soonyoung rose on his elbows, seeking your face.

With a soft exhale, he met your eyes.

They were newly painted in gold, pupils blown out wide and dark, edged by his purple claim, unique to himself and a high-ranking Alpha.

The colour was permanent. Soonyoung could feel it in his soul.

Deja vu to eyes he had never met before; a love from another lifetime.

He reached a hand to brush the hair from your face, meeting your eager reach for reassurance. A gentle kiss, pressing once, twice three times before settling. Your lips brushed against him, noses bumping against one another before shying away.

“Hi, flower. Well, this is new, isn’t it?” He spoke quietly, lips curling into a kind smile.

His grin widened when you nodded, eyes turning into crescent moons of joy that make you fall in love with him over and over again.

“You’re beautiful, my brave Omega. I'm so proud of you for trusting yourself. For letting me take over. I'm honoured - honoured to call you mine.”

You groaned at the beautiful words whispered by your lover, and the groan coupled with the curl of a familial growl in your stomach, the likes of which you've never felt before.

Soonyoung nodded at you, encouraging you to ‘try it again’. You did, and your brain fuzzed in a way that shook your shoulders, eyes drooping from the warmth on the back of your neck.

“Are you scared? Scared of the new things happening to you?” Soonyoung asked., watching your face carefully for any signs that indicated you were uncomfortable, or that you wanted to stop before you linked completely.

But you were placated. Scented and Marked three times over. He knew you were stubborn, but fighting this would be God-like. And he knew that if you truly wanted it to end, he would be a slave to your pleas.

“If you want, we can stop? You have one last chance before it’s too late. Before we commit to this. You just need to say the safeword, angel. You know I would never push you.”

Gently, you shook your head. You knew your Wolf. And the only anxiety you felt was the anticipation of judgement from absolutely anybody else. So you shook it again.

“Want it. Want you. I’m ready, want to feel you Alpha.” Your voice was once again accompanied by the purr of a growl, and the feeling was alien on your tongue. But it felt good, and it felt right. "I'm nervous, it feels weird - but I trust you. I want it. I promise. Want. Want…"

Soonyoung huffed tenderly in response, the air over your face causing you to blink into a smile.

“Do you want me to scent you?” he asked benevolently, voice barely above a whisper. This close to each other your noses brushed, gazes locked with bated breath. His thumbs brushed against either side of your eyes.

You admired his eyebrows, hands smoothing up and onto his strong shoulders to make him shiver. Then you admired the fluctuations in his skin tone, the length of his pretty lashes, his eyelashes, his tiger-like eyes you had traced and outlined in your mind many times.

“Y/N, listen to me. Would you like me to scent you?”

Soonyoung searched your face as your body tried to match his demand for an answer. His pupils constricted and you felt a tug in your belly to respond to his question. But you were slow to come to a decision. Your lips twitched and your nose flared; pupils fluctuating until you were able to form a coherent thought.

“You liked it before, and it may make the pain of the bites less intense. I will never force you to be scented, love. Tell me what you want, and I’m yours.”

Scenting, depending on the environment, acted like a mild sedative or a calming aphrodisiac for Wolves and their sexual partners. At this point, you were already beyond turned on. If there was such a thing as a Wolf-subspace, you were on the one-way train of getting there. But it would cause you to sink into him even further. Smell like him for weeks, rely on the otherworldly pull to get by.

“Please,” You sighed into his lips. “Please yes, Soonie. Want it. Want you. Don't make me wait, I can't take it…”

You were met with a heavy, placating kiss that lay you back down. Padding kisses from your cheek down to your jaw. Your knees curled up further into him, onto his strong back. Holding onto his bicep, supporting his head as he moved your neck out of the way.

He could scent you any place on your body.

The back of your legs. Even your feet.

Such was the powerful scent of an Alpha.

But he chose to do it near your original scar. Kissing, nuzzling, growling and whining against your skin. Wiping his cheek against your own and purring into you until all he could smell was himself.

The scent hit you heavily, and it hit you hard. A lot harder than usual due to the scenario. Making you feel inebriated with a full body buzz, despite being completely cold-stone sober.

“My den -” You mumbled airily with heavy eyelids, feeling his warmth leave your body as he lifted himself up and away from you.

Soonyoung gracefully turned you onto your belly with his strength.

“It’s -” You rested on your elbows in a cobra-like yoga pose while his hands smoothed along the back of your thighs. Massaging their way back up in adoration of your body. Total praise. "It's -"

“Mhmm?” Soonyoung hummed, spreading your cheeks apart with one hand as his other stroked languidly at his cock. The visual made him groan. "What is it, little dove?"

He was already erect. And he likely would remain so for a long time.

He checked your body for any resistance as he pushed his thumb into your entrance. But he was only met with a dipped head and a strong moan, his hips twitching into the ghost of momentum.

“It smells of you. An Alpha. Of my cum. Of - of us. Both of us. It's so heavy I can feel it in my lungs, Soonyoung.” You finally whimpered. Jaw slack at the two fingers that readily entered you. "Want it to gather till I can't breathe, Soonie ~"

Soonyoung smiled against your shoulder.

"Intense, isn't it love?" He hummed in agreement. Moving to kneel over you as his abs flexed against the feverish ache in his muscles. Fingers hooking down into your stomach and making you tremble.

“Is it bad?” He huffed.

He was asking you if it was a bad thing, the way it smelled.

How it filled your lungs with weights and smoke screened your virgin scent den with a scent of pure sex.

He moved his body onto his strong arms and pecks either side of you; sliding forward to kiss your shoulder and hold your elbows as you tried to speak.

You nasally whined, knocking your cheek against his with a dizzying shake of your head.

“No. It’s good. So. Fucking. Good. Nngh -"

He chuckled at you, placing a chaste kiss on the height of your cheek.

'Breathe, sweet dove.'

Soonyoung pressed the head of his cock into you as slowly as he was able, hands trembling. Your hips twitched upwards, moaning into the open air as you gripped the sheets between your fingers. Meeting his face at your side for the meetings of cheeks as he thrust forward.

Unusually girthy, thanks to the intense rut making his cock throb filthily, it was a new stretch to accommodate. But with your multiple orgasms already, and your own liquid sipping from your cunt, he knew you were ready and soaked through as soon as he had entered your den, moments ago.

With one movement, a sloppy thrust and a grunt permeated the feeling of complete fullness, cock stuffing you full.

You moaned loudly, brows creased as Soonyoung moaned and growled loudly into your shoulder blades. Pulling his hips back to slowly push back in.

The action pushed both his precum and yours out with a loud wet sound, and he could feel you throbbing around him.

He set a slow pace. Pulling most of the way out, before hitting the hilt of your cervix. Making your toes curl and head fall forward in ecstasy. Soonyoung was never a shy lover and became even less so as you lay pliant and pleasure rode beneath him.

His voice only spurred you on further.

Moving your hips back to chase him whenever he pulled out, pushing up against him when your ass met his cervix.

At such an angle where you were lying down, he was unable to go much faster, but you didn’t care.

On one particularly deep thrust, you shuddered, moaning as your hand tapped across the bed to fold over his hand. He accepted you willingly, pausing his thrusts to gyrate his hips while he left hot open kisses on your shoulder blades.

“F-fuck Soonie, you’re - so deep, nghh - fuck -”

Soonyoung purred at you once more, feeling your walls press in against his cock as you hit a very slow and steady peak.

“You’re close already, aren’t you pup? I can feel you, you know. Can feel you squeezing me tight. Feel your heartbeat racing inside your cunt.”

He nipped at the skin on your right shoulder, finding his preferred spot and Marking it before he snapped his hips into you in quick succession.

It made the heat in your skin prickle up until the pressure in your abdomen gave way, moaning and fucking yourself even further on his cock and dropping your head to practically drool onto the duvet.

Your walls pulsated, gripping onto him and making such sinful moaning sounds as you came.

When you whined for him after catching your breath, Soonyoung moved to nuzzle your cheek, cock still deep inside of you.

But even from all this fucking, you were buzzing from head to toe. The other shoulder now sparking under your skin in a way that blew your Wolf's eyes open even further.

He chuckled next to your ear in amusement.

You made a noise of confusion before he moved a hand back and swiped it ever so carefully over your shoulder blade.

You flinched at the sensation of something new and sensitive.

“You didn’t even notice that one, pup.”

Dropping his hand, he traced his teeth over your skin until it dipped into the already-closing wounds. The fit was snug. And your skin was no doubt swollen and

sensitive.

You shivered deeply, mewling as he shifted positions behind you. Your eyes drooped and your jaw loosened at the sensation of being anchored to him by his Marks. Sensing where he was moving his body weight without having to look. He was moving away, to kneel behind you.

Experimentally, he thrust back up into your awaiting hips - sat back on the heels of his feet - tilted forward in the air and just begging to be filled. You moaned deeply at the unexpected thrust but didn’t move to push him away. Instead, you pushed your hips back, shuffling low onto all fours just to be able to feel that heavenly pressure again.

It seemed Soonyoung could hardly wait.

With calloused hands, he used your pliancy to pull you up, back, and into his chest, holding your wrists at the soft of your belly.

The placement of your hands meant his knuckles rubbed against your new mark on your hip with every tiny movement; making you keen with a moan at the feeling of numbness being sparked up your thigh and cunt every time it hit.

You had started panting. Wolf's eyes bleary from the moving lights in the room. You arched your back, pressing into him with a loud open-mouthed moan as his other hand moved to hold your throat. Head pressed back to his shoulder.

He wasn’t choking you. Merely holding you upright with his large hand wrapping around your jugular and pressing into your new Mark. Growling against your cheek with bared canines as his hips hit fast and sharp upwards into you.

A total change up from the pattern before.

And by God's - it felt amazing.

“Look at you, my pretty little Omega, getting fucked dumb. You take me so well, love; I can’t wait to make you gush all over this den.”

Sooyoung's uncharacteristically harsh growls vibrated into your brain, clenching down on him and crying out until he gripped your cheeks, moving to hold your face and point downwards.

“Look at yourself, getting split open on my cock. Look at it, my precious Marked bitch. You’re close already and we haven’t even done anything yet.”

He didn’t need to command you twice.

With bleary eyes, you looked down at where your bodies met. Over your chest and stomach, face held by Soonyoung to watch as his thick cock pumped in and out of you with wet noises followed by slick dripping down your legs. The view made you fold over in ecstasy.

Once again your stomach is bundled. Whining and trying your hardest to withstand his hard thrusts into your hips.

Soonyoung was close, you could tell by the way he stared at you with a gentler expression, eyes full of love. His hips jutted up in a sharper, shorter sequence until he came hard.

It felt like he was filling you to the brim. Making your thighs ripple in pleasure as your fluids dripped down the inside of your leg. Fucking it back up into you all the while.

“Fuck - fuck - fu - fuck - fuck -” Your mantra continued as you ground down on him in a totally different headspace than you ever had experienced before.

He was literally going to fuck your brains out.

And for the unknown time this night, you felt the sensitivity of your walls rub against his hot cock slick with thick warm cum and your belly twisted desperately with the need to release. Shaking with shut eyes and grinding down on him until you were positively vibrating. Totally missing his next bite onto your outer shoulder, holding you up by a squeezed breast and upwards thrusts alone.

And his efforts to fuck you until dumb became even more apparent when despite cumming himself once, despite feeling you orgasm on him twice, he was still rock hard and thick inside of you.

Now with his thick cum creaming inside of you, you dropped forward onto the bed. His cock made you moan and drool, fists gripping at the fabric next to your mouth as you slithered open an eye to see him.

Soonyoung’s hips never stopped. They moved with a stiff judder, thanks to the fever, but if anything it made him hit the right parts of you even harder.

He moved you so your knees stayed together, ass up in the air and between his knees. Hitting the deepest you had felt yet. A strong palm pushed your ribs into the bed and in honesty - you had no wish to fight.

“How - do you - feel - pup?” Soonyoung panted between thrusts. Teeth grit and tone tight.

Your response was immediate. Garbling as he commanded you to respond. Fingers curled into the blankets and eyes blown impossibly wide. Meeting his eyes in your peripherals as he fucked you until you couldn’t breathe.

He knew how you felt.

He just wanted to hear you say it.

“Full.” Your mouth hung open as he thrust harder and quicker; your toes curled until you gasped for air, eyes closed and sound falling out of you from behind your lungs coupled with rippling vibrations in your vocal cords that satiated the eternal ache in your gums. For once, it was enough. For once, you couldn’t ask for more.

“So. Fucking. Full. So good. So warm… Yours…”

“Good.” He snarled. “You deserve it, and more Y/N. Whatever you want. I'll give it to you."

He was content. His instincts were pleased by your display of vulnerability.

Your back was Marked by teeth and tongue. Flushed skin indicated the healthy blood pumping through your veins, the aphrodisiac poison making your limbs go numb in pleasure.

There was no resistance to the bonding anymore.

No want or need to fight for control.

You were finally letting yourself get lost in the motions of it all.

And he was so proud of you and your bravery.

In a final display of possession, Soonyoung lifted onto all fours to press you even further into the mattress.

Fucking down into you until your legs began to uncontrollably shake, voice strained and stuttering, moving and gyrating as he watched his second load pour out of you like a fountain. At this angle, a stream slipped along the length of your back, but the majority of it dripped onto your belly and your bedsheets. Making Soonyoung groan from the sight alone.

Distinctly, he felt you shudder; legs kicking and hips moving to continue the pace as you shoved your face into the blankets and pressed your ass up in a deep curl of your spine.

Well, this was new.

If he didn’t know any better; if he wasn’t acutely aware of your cycle and multiple methods of birth control; he would’ve taken that as a begging to be bred full.

Not that you weren’t milking him currently.

He decided to help you chase your body and its high; fucking into you at the same pace and angle that made you cry out and grip the sheets against your hot body.

Until eventually something panged deep in your cervix. You released a loud, pitiful and erotic cry as a feeling of release seeped across the muscles in your abdomen.

Your body began to tremble as Soonyoung continued to plough into your sensitive and soaking-wet cunt, until you were twitching away from him with a sharp whine.

Seeing you squirt all over his cock and onto your bed, your safe and quiet comforting nesting bed, made Soonyoung practically cum again on command. With your sensitivity finally appearing, he pulled out with only one goal in mind.

He released strips of sticky hot semen all over your ass and pussy, pushing the stream down your belly like melting ice cream.

And like his favourite dessert, he intended to eat you whole.

“Relax, Y/N. You’ve done so well pup. So, so good, pretty girl. Catch a breath.”

Without your eyes even opening, you relaxed fully into the mattress. Whining and moaning and sniffling as Soonyoung held your hips up by your love handles.

You curled the blanket up into your mouth to bite into it; each hit against your canines caused you to moan in dumb satisfaction.

Fucked dumb and yet still writhing for more.

He chuckled at your method of trying to satisfy the deep ache in your gums but wasted no more time in swiping his tongue up the majority of the stream, lapping into your folds as your entrance moved in response. Pulsating around nothing. Clenching to be filled, but pushing your fluids out all the same.

The sight made Soonyoung short circuit.

And before he could help himself, his gums sat snug in the flesh of your ass cheek on the right side. His thumb slipped into you easily as you moaned and moaned and moaned, hips grinding into nothing as he held you there.

It twanged the coil inside of you to suddenly coil and release.

But he wasn’t about to let this orgasm of yours come and go so easily. Even if he was your; totally wholeheartedly obsessed mate.

He removed his thumb to circle your hole, holding you with one firm grip. He slipped two of his fingers into you up to his knuckles, and with surprising ease. You groaned into the fabric in your mouth.

Gnawing with closed eyes.

“You look good, pup, fucked nice and full.” Soonyoung hooked his fingers down towards your belly, moving in and out at a fast pace before gliding slower. He smiled at your pitiful whines, eyes droopy and fucked into oblivion.

“Try holding the bite. That should satiate it.” A particular flick of his wrist pooled cum to pull out with his fingers, quickly lapping at your clit to catch it.

You weren’t listening to him. He kissed his teeth in annoyance before pulling back to see you.

Of course, you weren’t listening.

You had no active thoughts left between those rolling, spaced-out eyes.

With a roll of his own eyes and a sympathetic shake of his head, Soonyoung reached to give you his forearm.

“Go on, baby girl. Bite me, you pretty idiot.”

He growled with a firm tug at your link, smiling at his own humour.

Even fucked brainless you could still follow the command. Releasing the fabric to sink your teeth into his forearm.

The skin there was so soft and pleasant and warm against the very snug top of your canines. A completely new satisfaction that made you drool. It completely eased the throbbing against your skull to just get a hold of something.

You didn’t exactly have any poison like an Alpha would, but the Mark of Claim was enough, and his pulse against your tongue only spurred you forward towards your next climax.

Soonyoung groaned as he sped up the pace of his fingers fucking the liquid back out of you, adding a third finger that had you curling your toes and biting down harder.

When you did eventually cum, and for the very last time, Soonyoung moved down what couldn’t have been two more inches downwards behind you, keeping you up steady as he bit into you one last time at the very back top of your thighs. That made your pussy drip onto his nose. By now, you didn’t even register the pain.

Moaning and whining as the poison seeped like the aether of the gods into your veins. Releasing his arm to bury your face into the bed.

For a moment, you were sure that you must have blacked out.

But you were merely fucked so good that you had started to dissociate.

Soonyoung lapped lazily at your broken skin, scenting the area (your inner thighs) as the wounds closed.

The scars looked clean. Probably some of the best work he had ever seen, aesthetically.

And he cleaned you up with his tongue.

Lazily.

Leisurely.

He diverted for a small moment to lick his own wound, still holding you with one lean arm. He growled in comfort at the Mark you had left on him. Watching your face carefully.

"You okay down there pretty dove? Not going to pass out on me, are you?"

"Mmmm - hhhgh - no - good - feel good -"

"Alright, if you say so." Soonyoung chuckled, kissing your thigh.

He was impressed at how deep and hard you had bit him; imagining that with the look on your face it had finally eased the ache that your human biases told you so incorrectly to ignore.

He was so proud, smitten even, as you melted against the duvet.

With no thought at all he reached his hand up to spread the beads of cum on your legs and stomach, up and over the back of your thighs. It made his cock twitch, and he growled loudly against the fresh bite to your thigh.

"Where do you want me to come, sweetheart?"

Soonyoung asked with grit to his teeth. One hand holding you, the other starting to squeeze at the base of his cock.

"Inside." You moaned dumbly into the duvet.

"You sure?" Soonyoung chuckled, growling possessively as he moved to kneel again.

"Yeah - Want it Soonie…"

Pumping himself on his fist despite his efforts to just clean you up. Fucking his fingers imagining it was your squeezed cunt before - thrusting into you in one fluid pump and groaning.

He gripped your ass harshly, staying there for a moment before reluctantly pulling out.

Pushing in one last time to pump you full of thick white beads of cum.

Soonyoung pulled out and crashed to sit weakly on the bed behind you, holding you up as he regained the blood rushing around his head.

He had come so hard and heavy he saw stars.

He satiated himself afterwards by lapping at your labia. Slipping in between your folds and sucking until you moaned, pushing against his face. Yet twitching in sensitivity.

He amused himself by licking until there was nothing left. Nipping and sucking at your thighs to hear you sigh.

But nothing more. You needed to rest.

Finally, pleased with his work, Soonyoung placed your hips onto the bed. Leaving to clean himself, clean his teeth and change the blanket.

Then, eventually, he doted on you selflessly until you awoke.

—-----------------------------------------

The next thing you remembered was Soonyoung sitting beside you on the bed.

His heartbeat was steady. And you were curled up into an oddly tight ball at his side as he applied ointment to your wounds.

Your knees were tucked unusually tight to your chest. And every intake of breath smelt of him. Eyelids heavy as you moved to find him, his warmth.

You weren’t sure exactly where you were going, so dizzy, full, and content; but you knew you needed to make contact with him.

“Soon -” You called with a sharp and desperate whine, catching his immediate attention as he quickly pulled his oily hand away from you. "Soonyoung, please -"

Soonyoung blinked down at you, growling protectively and with a huge amount of affection in response to your link tugging so suddenly.

“Hey, pretty girl. You shouldn’t be awake yet. What’s up?”

You just about made out his smile in the haze, aching to move up, up, up.

He realised quickly what you were doing. Moving forward to bump against your head. Eyes closed. Breath shallow.

“Easy, angel. I’m just cleaning your bites…" He grumbled, huffing affectionately against your cheek. "I'm right here. You can rest."

You held there for as long as you could.

Whining through your nose with a new wolfish peak to the tone made Soonyoung practically whine back. He was enamoured with you, by you.

'You’re okay, Y/N. I'll care for you now. Easy, pretty girl.'

Soothed, you lay back down. Feeling a gentle brush of his knuckles then an even softer kiss against the side of your head.

"They don’t look that bad at all, actually. Nothing like your first Claim. I think your body actually accepted them this time.”

His voice was low, rough and sore. But back to his usual tone. And it made you reach for him. He smiled fondly at your hands curling into the corners of his shirt. Giggling at your canines tucking your lip into a funny position.

“The fever…” You mumbled before a huge yawn prickled over your scalp, stretching your sore and aching limbs out then back in again. “Is it gone?”

Soonyoung laughed softly with a small cough into his bicep, using his non-greasy hand to press his fingertips into the crown of your head. Sliding back into your scalp with an eye-rolling pressure.

“New discovery. I think it can be fucked out of me.”

“Mmhmm…” You yawned into his knee, curling around his back and placing your arm over his thigh.

“Aching.” You sighed airily.

Soonyoung smiled down at you.

“I think you’re going to be feeling that poison there for a little while, pup. Scenting will help. Sorry, I went pretty hard on you. About ten bites total. I know - it was a lot."

Soonyoung scratched his neck sheepishly.

"Speaking of… second new discovery: you might be the one suffering from the first discovery when it comes to practice... In the future I mean… Sorry, love.”

You shook your head, curling even further around him with an even bigger yawn. Mumbling something along the lines of ‘Don’t be silly. It felt amazing! Would do it again anytime, 10/10 rating’.

But if you knew anything about Soonyoung’s chuckle, you knew that you hadn’t even delivered one line successfully.

But you really didn’t need to say anything for him to understand.

His thumb brushed next to your eyes as your pupils expanded. Enraptured by you.

“Get some rest, love. You’ll be aching tomorrow. Or whenever you wake up. Trust me on this one.”

And being the stubborn beast that you were, you tried to fight it, you really did.

“Go back to sleep, precious dove. I’ll lay with you soon.”

“Please don’t leave… don’t go…” Your eyes dipped heavily as a yawn rippled up your throat, face pressed into the outside of his thigh and lips tucked in front of the gums of your canines. “Stay here… my den… Don’t go…”

Soonyoung laughed softly, shaking his head and scrunching his nose. You were adorable. “I’m right here, Y/N. I’m not going anywhere, anytime soon. I just need to clean you up first, after using and abusing your body so much. You’re safe, angel. I won’t leave you. Close your eyes. Get some rest. Go on. I’ll be here when you wake up. Sleep well, my love.”

But with all that comforting and coaxing, and a healthy dosage of his pressuring ability pulling at your already weak consciousness, you could do nothing but melt into his touch and submit whole and fully to his gentle command.

The grip from your hands slowly released, until they rolled to the bed and into your chest.

“Good job, beautiful.” He whispered, tugging at your link until he felt content enough that you were steady into a deep sleep.

And as your body eased, Soonyoung leaned to kiss your temple one last time before continuing his attention to your wounds.

Scraping out one last viscous lump of earth-scented goop and spreading it into the crease of your ass cheek before shaking his head with a soft laugh to himself.

Of all the places to bite - he really did think with his dick first.

The ointment congealed against the open teeth-shaped wounds on your skin as your Wolf immune system mixed with it to heal. Creating a barrier over your skin to encourage scarring and clotting any chance of bleeding.

But with how diligently he had Marked you, there was nothing much beyond body liquids to clean up.

Most of which he had already swallowed; the heavily scented blanket shoved into your wash bin until a later date.

He watched it dutifully to make sure the skin was completely coated and had hardened before using a damp cloth to wipe away the excess on your skin, testing as he did the others with a poking thumb, stretching the skin.

In the quiet of your room now, alone with you and caring for you, he blushed at such an action. At everything that had happened. He was so happy. And more connected to you than ever.

He placed the ointment on your nightstand and moved away to rinse his hand in the bathroom sink in the hall and change his clothes before coming back into you.

He closed the room to your door with a soft putt. Immediately picking up on, and then further appeasing the sounds coming from your body, curled up in your sleep with a hand to your head and a thumb moving against your tense brow.

“Easy, easy, easy now. You’re so silly Y/N. I’m here, flower. Right here. And I'm not going anywhere. Get some rest.”

As you settled down again, he pulled your weighted blanket down from the overhead cupboard. Doing his best to place it down gently as he stepped over you, lying on his side to curl his legs underneath you. He tucked his arms under your ribs and onto your belly. Crossing them to pull you flush to his abdomen. Anchoring you as your eyes fluttered open, shut, open, shut. In a place between sleep and consciousness.

Soonyoung growled softly at a steady and deep vibrating pace, whispering commands of deep, restful sleep until your movements subsided. Anchored in his arms. Heartbeats matching.

Finally, finally, after hours of stressful waking, you could rest.

Soonyoung thought much the same; burrowing his face into your neck, and curling into you until he felt safe. Comforted by holding you.

His Scarlet Fever was placated.

For now.

—--------------------------------------------------------------------

You woke up alone… but not entirely.

While it was true your nesting room and safe bed were now otherwise empty; it was still warm, and six other beings were moving around and making unwelcome noises in the sanctity of your usually silent apartment.

More noise than you found comforting, in this current state. And it strung a tense band around your head and between your eyes.

You could hear them through the walls.

Their voices and distinct heartbeats.

Could sense their presence like a rash on your skin as a stranger's coy laugh bounced between your ears.

Though muffled, it was intrusive. And as you rose, wiping your bleary eyes, you realised just how much you were aching.

It must have been a day or two that you had spent in and out of deep sleep, you realised with slight shock.

You remembered drinking and relieving yourself with his aid. But never had you felt a sleep this deep. And you didn't even feel hungry, or thirsty.

Soonyoung had flipped over your calendar for you on your bedside table. And as you moved to sit up, a hot water bottle flopped along the floor, until it came to a stop in front of your dresser, where he had hung one of his nightshirts and your favourite nesting drawstring joggers.

“Oh…” You mumbled, clutching the heavy-weighted blanket to your chest as your heart and belly fluttered. Touched. Humbled. Enamoured with love.

He had been doting on you.

The thought to text him came to mind, but you saw his phone on charge next to your own on the bedside, and you huffed in defeat. The time read 8am; which while reasonable on any other day, was an awful time to wake up in your current state. You couldn’t call him from across the suite, you would embarrass yourself in front of these strangers. But you couldn’t exactly run out to him on strong legs either.

As you shuffled out to the edge of the bed, you whined deeply, so deep that you gasped for air afterwards. Scrunching the blanket between your palms.

You had caught a whiff of Soonyoung, disorienting you completely as you knew he wasn’t in the room.

But it was coming from… the blanket?

Curious, you inhaled deeply against the fabric in your hand; dragging it along with a dazed mania until you reached the side he had slept under.

It smelt just like him.

You found some small form of new comfort in rubbing against his scent for a moment, but it just wasn’t enough.

Soon it was replaced with the smell of your usual bedding, and you whined at the ache you felt, desperate to just get near him.

It was a strange feeling for someone who usually defended their independence so fiercely.

Rising from the bed, you changed at a slow pace, and in a great amount of discomfort. You were aching bitterly, but you weren’t suffering from any usual symptoms of heat. This was an entirely new feeling. And you figured the intense tug in your gut to reach him, the strain in your ear and nose muscles to follow your mate’s tracks, was due to his intense imprinting upon you. And yours upon him.

And as you passed the large oval mirror hidden in the alcove of your oddly shaped room, you parted the decorative fake ivy to peer into your own golden yellow eyes.

Well, that was new.

At your own shocked noise, you spooked yourself, watching in morbid fascination as your pupils contracted. Making yourself relax just to watch them expand again, if only slightly. And the colour; a deep matte brown gold edged by an electric purple, which you correctly presumed to be a sign of your mate's imprinting; he had left a Mark on you that was simply gorgeous.

Well, that was something you would just need to get used to.

The thought of trying to suppress your emotions to see the switch into your normal eyes occurred, but before even putting the thought into action you shuddered with a deep whine.

Another time, then. Noted.

Your skin also looked… softer?

And while you knew he had probably helped you to the toilet already RE: a lack of sudden pressing urge to after-sex-pee after being rudely awoken, you hadn’t realised he had also brushed your hair for you.

You huffed a breath into your hand to check your morning breath, but it was just… minty.

“Huh…” You mumbled to yourself.

And your neck, your shoulders… He must have bitten you more than you had realised in the throws of lust and carnal passion.

Two scars lay on either side of your pulse points under your jaw, one old and healed, the original bite that turned you, the other freshly melded and hot to the touch. There was another above your heart, two more on your left shoulder, and two on your right. And you caught sight of one at your shoulder blade and slightly lower on your back and in the middle as you spun with a craning neck to try and see them.

A weak growl rippled from your lips, vibrating your throat.

He had been gnawing at you like a dirty old fishbone.

And you were smitten.

Entirely besotted by them.

Oh if your human companions could see you now - well, they would never understand.

You even pulled up the shirt to brush your palm over the particularly sensitive bite on your hip, and the other on the soft of your belly. It made you twitch with a pang of desire, and with thoughts of the nights before flooding behind your eyes, you decided to leave it alone, for now.

Dropping your shirt to puff out a sigh.

All-in-all, it was an unfamiliar sight. A new, heart-wobbling and consuming image. It sent a message to the world that you could never take back or deny. But it was not unwelcomed, not at all. You had only ever seen glances and been taught about this level of Claiming by your pack elders. It took many a decade to build that level of trust.

That fact made you feel entirely seen.

And you mostly just felt… loved.

Your attention soon turned to your den door. It had never seemed this unfriendly.

But hearing Soonyoung’s small giddy laugh, your body rushed with energy to leap out, hands outstretched.

Before you could realise what you were doing, you stood outside of your room with the door pulled tightly shut.

You just… stood there for a moment.

Outside of your place of security. In shock. In fear.

You even considered hiding. That was what it was made for, you argued with yourself, before deciding that no, it was only to be used when threatened - it’s our home, and there’s no reason to be scared. Not while Soonyoung was near.

While considering whether to lean into your human flight or Wolfish fight instincts; you caught Soonyoungs scent on your shoulder; chasing it to breathe in the smell until you had pressed yourself silly into the corner.

You had practically breached the wall to chase your mate’s track. Huffing with frustration towards yourself as you rubbed your head, punching the stupid wallpaper with a weak open palm.

But eventually, that trace also disappeared. The residual scent still stayed; as yours did to your nesting clothes. And you realised with a flip in your heart that that was the reason he had left it for you. Hugging yourself tightly in his scent before taking a deep inhale and gathering the courage to leave your safe place pressed in the corner to move forward.

You made it about three steps, moving closer to the noise and smells and the unwelcome coats and shoes in your entryway. Almost instantly you felt a small pang of anxiety hit deep inside your belly and up into your chest. You held yourself tighter. Shrinking in against the wall and against yourself until the shaking in your legs stopped and your irises unpinched. But it took an unusually long time, swallowing with a dry throat as your peripherals fuzzed completely.

This was entirely unlike you. Or anything you had experienced in your turning.

‐—---------------‐—---'xxxxxxxxzzzxxxxxx

With a deep huff of frustration towards yourself and such a foreign wave of anxiety, you gripped the fabric of Soonyoung’s thick cotton shirt between your fingers and slid them back out, breathing through your mouth in deep fear of becoming overstimulated.

Your nose twitched as you padded to the edge of the wall.

You could tell that the majority of them were people you knew, with just one remaining stranger unidentified and otherwise unwelcome. Your senses were sharper and more sensitive than ever thanks to your strengthened link. Being Marked by an Alpha was no small thing. And you felt its repercussions in the ache of your bones and the trembling of your legs.

You squeezed yourself in frustration as you just tried to concentrate. They were right around the corner, just - they’re right there! Why couldn’t you properly smell, or even hear them!?

Truthfully, the world was muffled. And as you closed your eyes, inhaling deeply through your nostrils and holding it as Soonyoung had taught you - all you could sense was him. His shallow and relaxed breathing. His pulse. The sound of his hair as he scratched behind his ear; fabric rubbing against his arms.

Even with your new ‘abilities’, you just knew you had to reach him, and fast, before you gave in to your urges to get near him and ended up hurting someone.

He must have felt you coming. A silly thought, you realised, considering how connected you were to each other now. But it was all just so new that you found your brain chasing nature with logic.

Truthfully; he had picked up on the change in your heartbeat as soon as you had awoken from a deep slumber. He had listened out for you as you had shuffled from under your bed covers, anxious to your whines as you got changed, feeling the minute shift of your mood in the mirror, even feeling your anxious heartbeat against his skin as you stopped dead in your tracks at the hallway to your open home.

He found it a true test of his will that he was able to withstand your tugging and reaching for him while there were so many other Alphas present in your home. Let alone other Wolves. And he felt your grievance in the way you moved, the urgency and uneasiness of your footsteps to reach him.

But he had to push you. Had to see if you would follow the pull. Had to see if you had finally accepted him. Needed to test if you trusted yourself enough after years of encouragement to finally lean into your new instincts and lean into them more than ever before. Enact upon teachings that could sometimes take natives decades of processing to understand.

So of course, as soon as you had rounded the corner of the entryway - your eyes wide with strikingly pinched irises, hair loose and appearance soft, while your fists lay white and clenched at your sides, pink scars making themselves known - Soonyoung locked onto you with a pleased smile.

As you locked eyes with your mate, you choked down a pained sound. Face scrunched and body language screaming as you pressed your back, back against the other side of the hallway. Soonyoung watched as you struggled, feeling your own fast pulse beat seemingly in his own throat.

But he had to let you move. For you to come to him. And so he waited. Removed and unbothered by the conversation in front of him; his sole focus was on you, even as the voices in the room stuttered into silence.

Your mate had been leaning forward with crossed arms onto the island separating the modern kitchen and open living area.

Upon seeing you, he straightened his spine. A movement that alerted the company to your arrival.

All attention snapped to whatever the trusted and well-reputationed bodyguard had become alert to.

What they didn’t expect to find a bother to their security was the small stiff form of a female hovering near the front of the apartment.

Soonyoung wore a pressed suit; his family ring pinned to his breast pocket.

He had washed since your activities.

And before he had been expecting you, you imagined his expression was as fiercely sharp and intimidating as it usually was in his job. And with his hair gelled back, he looked as handsome and as eye-catching as the day you had met him.

Well, maybe you were slightly biased.

But he did catch eyes easily.

In the anxious silence of the room; he smiled at you discreetly with an aching heart. The tips of his lips twitched up until his cold expression completely cracked; nodding his head for you to come further into the room.

"Come here, angel. Come in." Inviting you to come into the circle of Wolves, to be seen by several sets of eyes, to come towards him, to arrive safely in his presence.

And despite everything; he was still peering into you with those bright red Scarlet Fever eyes. With a purple ring that now finally matched your own deep and settled gold canvas. Soonyoung was already grumbling with glee, pleased even from this distance at your visual.

His prized partner in life now stood before him, Marked into a possession nobody could ever touch. He wasn’t the type to show off, but he admired you as you stood there; strong despite your nerves. Defiant despite your submission. It reinforced that you had given yourself to him willingly, pulling an enchanted smile across his cheeks.

You had wandered straight into a family business meeting you realised very, very quickly.

Anxiety in the form of carnal fear bubbled in your veins as you stuck to the wall.

Something innate screamed inside you that they shouldn’t be here. That it was too soon, they were too close, too loud. And finally that they needed to leave. You had to get them out of your home before they could come near you. It tormented your mind's eye enough that you began to tremble, with eyes pinched so harshly it was nought but feral impulses driving you now.

Having located your mate, you looked quickly at the other five Alphas.

You could tell they were Alphas by their domineering presence; the knowing of the power they held. You could feel it pressing against your throat like it had sucked all the clean air out of the room.

You knew four of them in total. Your family leaders and eldest brothers; Jeonghan and Seungcheol. Your mate, and his closest friend, Soonyoung’s brother Minghao, who you considered a brother to you now also.

But there was a stranger with his back to you. And it stuck a fist in your gut that had your brain spinning gears.

You huffed quietly in desperation, rocking on your feet before gripping the wall and hauling yourself forward. With thick night socks, large oversized clothes and a deep ache in your bones, you juddered forward as fast as possible until you reached the island.

Running into your mates' arms with a heart-jolting cry and eyes squeezed shut.

Soonyoung caught you behind the island in a tight embrace. He lifted you into the momentum of your run with a graceful spin, before rounding back. His stomach was vibrating as you struggled to breathe, gripping your mate with tears in your eyes.

“Easy, easy, easy now, flower. You’re safe. I've got you.” Soonyoung whispered gently, holding you so tightly against him that you truly believed it for once.

"You're okay, I'm here. You're alright."

He kissed and grumbled against your hair, cradling you between his shoulder and his cheek.

Until after about three minutes, your grip ever so slightly loosened.

"Soonie - please -"

Your body was shaking, nerves still in your throat, irises painfully slit thin, but you were just so desperate to see his face.

When you pulled away; Soonyoung anticipated your nerves and grumbled deeply as he met your forehead. He bumped your nose with his while turning you gently, to shield you from the eyes of your guests in momentary privacy.

His lips met your own; pressing once, then again, then one last time. His eyes blew wide; pouring love and security into your own.

“Hey there, gorgeous. Calm down, you're alright. Can you tell me how you're feeling? Or what you’re feeling, pup?”

Before answering you looked wildly at the room. Looking back into his eyes with the most hushed version of a whining plea that you could muster.

"Hey, don't look at them. Look at me. Look at me, love."

You whined on a long exhale before surrendering.

“Strange, Soonie. I’m so anxious it hurts, my bones ache without you near and their heartbeats are giving me a headache… Please don’t leave me again. I'm so frightened of - of this, it's new and I don't want to get overwhelmed -"

“Hey, hey, hey. I'm not about to let you freak yourself out after reaching the finish line. You've done so well dove, even if everything is a little much right now. I’m also not going anywhere anytime soon. You're my priority. I’m right here. Always have been; less than a room away. Not that far away at all, hmm, silly?”

At his words you whined loudly; so loud that even Soonyoung laughed in shock, the sound piercing across the otherwise relaxed aura of the room.

But he stopped laughing, smiling lovingly instead as soon as you pressed yourself against him, tucking under his chin and reaching to intertwine your hands against the hot, inflamed skin of your cheek.

He felt your heart pounding against him, burying your face into his collarbone with a short, puttering set of cries. Skin hot to the touch like it would be during your heat; though no sweet smell to accompany it.

“See to your mate, Soonyoung.” An older, deep and rumbling voice purred with amusement across the room. “She looks about ready to kill someone.”

Soonyoung pulled away from hushing you to look to his side, observing with a curled lip the eyes that watched you.

It made his skin crawl, and he was never usually the overly possessive type, especially in front of his brothers.

But with his mate shaking so vulnerably in his arms, he had to cut off the tension and fast.

"Quit fucking staring at her before I lose my patience. All of you. You’re intimidating her. She's already newly Claimed and anxious and you're making it worse."

"We're just anxious as to how she might react to us, Soonyoung," Jeonghan explained calmly, with accusing caution written all over his features.

"This isn't - well, we all realise that it's not an ideal scenario for a freshly marked to be exposed to. You’re not naive. She can now shift and lash out violently brother, so please be realistic here."

Soonyoung snarled fiercely in response.

"You're already doing a great fucking job scaring her by impressing yourself upon the room so much, so do me a favour and fuck off glaring holes into her back like a rabid dog. She won’t shift if you don’t give her any reason to."

Soonyoung growled lowly towards everyone in the room. His tongue curled and pressed to the roof of his mouth to make some fearsome gurgling sound.

"I'm sure you’d all like your eyes still stuck firmly in the sockets of your skull by the end of this meeting. Give her some space and we'll keep it that way."

You held him tighter and with a sense of desperation as his sounds caused you to shake in fear. Was he indicating danger? He said you were safe but - were you really?

“Okay, okay, okay. Just - quickly now, please. Everyone divert your eyes for just a moment. Respect and some space.” Seungcheol pressed in a low voice, cautiously eyeing you from beneath his younger brother's arms.

While he couldn’t exactly see you, he could smell and hear how much you intended to get them out of here and away from your newly scented home in the snarl against your throat and anger rushing off you like a wave of heat.

Seungcheol didn’t exactly blame you for being angry.

The three of them had sensed, smelled and tasted that their brother had Scented the entire floor as soon as the elevator had opened its huge reinforced doors to them early that morning.

It was an impossible thing to hide, even despite Soonyoung’s attempts at open windows and odour-neutralising sprays; or the building’s deliberately thick-lined architecture; it was just something innate that a Wolf didn’t have to touch in order to feel.

Seungcheol just preferred his guests to be mauled at a later arranged date - rather than in his brother’s comfy and swish living room by the hands of his newly Marked, freshly Claimed, reasonably pissed off and honestly his favourite, little sister.

You hadn’t quite anticipated the ferocity of your snarl until it curled up against the back of your throat; eyes wide and pure gold as Soonyoung gripped your wrists.

Before you could struggle against him he moved fast and with purpose; dragging you with him in one solid gripped hand and a chair in the other.

"Come on." He grumbled. "Sit down, you pretty pup, and tell me what's wrong. What is it exactly, love, that's stressing you out so badly?"

"Want. Them. Out."

By now you were shaking, about ready to let out another blood-curdling growl before Soonyoung gripped your hips, lifting you into the opposite stool and dragging you into his space until your knees hit up against the chair between his legs.

Growling with wild eyes and a racing pumping beat of adrenaline in your ears; Soonyoung gripped your wrists. Shaking you to look at him again.

“Stop it, Y/N. Quit it. Look at me. Look at me, you precious thing. They’re not going anywhere, and neither are you. Get a hold of yourself before you black out - I'm right here, you are safe.”

Your muscles rippled and tensed visibly all over your body as you shook your head, eyes squeezed shut and teeth bared; somewhere between fighting him and curling in on yourself. Your knees knocked up loudly against the chair as you pulled at his grip on you with some might.

“Look at me, you’re going to hurt yourself in a minute - Y/N, I -”

The leaders watched with accusing eyes; what they saw as a threat, Soonyoung simply knew you were just deeply afraid. Terrified, even. And their pressuring ability was simply making it worse.

Soonyoung growled viciously through grit teeth. Fighting his instinct to smother you to instead allow you to come to him when you needed him. Right now, you were too highly strung to need much at all.

“Fine then, resist it, see what happens. You’re not going to like it, or last long at all. I'll catch you when you fall."

As soon as Soonyoung stopped fighting you, letting go of your hands and leaning back, you paused in shock. And became instantly consumed by a trembling, whole-consuming fear of your mate pulling away from you.

You peered up at him with a desperate plea, one that he answered with a deep grumble you could feel against your connecting skin.

He was right; you couldn’t have lasted longer than a few seconds.

He met you in a teeth-clashing kiss, blunt nails digging into the crown of your head and holding your scalp in his palms as his teeth migrated across your cheek in a forceful growl. You choked for breath, holding him against you as your last fight kicked in.

"Want them out - want - they're scenting our home, Soonie - want them - them to - LEAVE - out - get out of our home, please! It's not their place to stay!"

Soonyoung hushed your manic cries with his tongue lapping at your hot and relatively unscented pulse. He could sense now that he had left you alone for too long and caused you to get overwhelmed by the fight mode in your Wolf.

"Soonie - I can't breathe -" You cried, body flinching harshly at the faux panic coursing through your muscles.

"Easy, you're alright, you're okay. Give in, angel. Lean into me. Stop fighting the pull. Breathe love. I'm here."

He sucked and gnawed and growled against you until your legs shook. His free palm pressed your shaking leg against your bar stool, soothing over the joggers until your body tensed, then fell against him. He held your scalp in a tight grip as he scented you, but this time he went the direct route.

"Let go, beautiful. I've got you. You don't need to protect anyone. You're safe. Let me take over."

Like a predator holding its prey's neck, until it stops moving, Soonyoung sunk his teeth into your new Claim on your shoulder, holding you there until you stopped struggling. The wound wouldn't re-pierce now even if he tried - not that that was what he was even trying to do.

He licked at it occasionally, but mostly he was using it to anchor you to him. The scar was sensitive and soft, the flesh hardening over the last few days but still deep and so snug to the hurting gums that he reacted in a way that made him growl so possessively you couldn’t help but mewl audibly in response, curling into his hold.

"Soonie -" You cried pitifully. " I - my - it feels like you're pulling me into you b-but - h-how do I make it stop - I can't grab onto it, Soonyoung please it feels like you're ripping away from me -"

‘Remember to breathe, my frightened little dove. You're doing so well. Take a deep breath for me. I've got you. Let go, whenever you're ready, let go.’

Soonyoung growled like a rattling engine still canine deep, kneading at the aches in your thighs as you clung to him. Closing your eyes to give in and lean on him in every way.

"Nngh - my head - it hurts -"

‘Is she going to make it, Soon?’ Minghao asked with a timid tone, through the link and across the room. ‘We’ll need to remove her, if not. I don’t want it to come to that. I know you don’t want it to come to that. And neither do the boys… But this is worrying, brother.’

Soonyoung grumbled with a nod and a smile that was tempered completely with love, lips secured over his connection with you.

‘She’ll make it.’

Slowly but surely, you indeed came around.

You relaxed completely in his arms, a pang in your heart causing you to moan a few pained breaths through burning lungs. Your heart rate slowed until it matched his. And he could pull away to Eskimo kiss you. A sense of clarity washed over your scalp like a mint bath as he removed his teeth from your scar, lips pressing to your cheeks and growling hushed against your hair.

‘Well done, beautiful. The link wasn’t snapped, it won't ever break now - but you were so scared that it might, you started to panic. Just another day, another lesson. I'm so proud of you gorgeous. You’re safe. Catch your breath.’

A warm, aching whimper echoed from you, Soonyoung purring a deep growl in response. Your heartbeat and adrenaline slowed dramatically, gasping a breath as you leaned to pull him forward for his comfort. He met you without question.

“Easy, love. You’ve got time.”

You curled your fist up into your aching canines, eyes drooped under the mind-numbing security now occupying your thoughts. You gnawed at your knuckles until Soonyoung tugged your hand away.

“I'm sorry… It's just… It’s all too much, Soonie…" You whispered against his blazer collar. “Thank you…”

The light from the window dazzled you for a moment. Bright and sparkling.

With your irises blown wide; it was not exactly a great idea to stare straight into the morning sun, at least not so soon. Jeonghan moved ever so subtly into the ray of light; growling affectionately, but acting indifferently to the room.

“I know,” Soonyoung laughed gently, after observing the interaction with his brother. He moved to support your head and brush a thumb over your eyebrows; forcing you to blink and break eye contact. “I know it’s a lot.”

‘The boys are worried for you.’ He added mentally, letting you rest for a moment.

Suddenly, your body followed your mind; your eyes flooded out wide and your lip twitched in tandem with your nose.

“Is it - are we safe? Are any more people coming? When will they leave?”

At the urgency in your voice; all eyes returned to you in Soonyoung’s arms. He purred something pretty as he tucked you into his shoulder, embracing you as best he could at this angle.

“You’re okay, flower. You’re safe.” He growled softly through open lips. His heart melted for you. “Nobody is going to hurt you. Nobody else is going to come. They'll leave under Seungcheol's command. Relax, Pup. No one is going to touch you, or me, or our home, without our permission.”

'But - your brothers - why are they here -' You whined through the link.

He understood where your fear came from. You weren’t used to having so much power and it was devouring your usual mind into more instinctual behaviours.

"They're your brothers, Y/N. They would never deliberately hurt you. You're safe."

You took a second to compute. Eyeing them all suspiciously with contracting, then expanding golden eyes. Soonyoung smiled widely as you squeezed the knee stuck between your thighs, accepting your affection as you rubbed your cheeks to his neck. Meeting your embrace.

You had just given him your first non-verbal sign. Agreeing with him by performing the equivalent of folding your ears and rolling; wilfully submitting to his lead.

He took a second to tilt your jaw away from your shoulder.

Your neck and shoulder were Marked so beautifully he couldn't help but deeply growl in comfort. Continuing the soothing of your thighs as he removed his hands to let you curl into him, arms around your shoulders instead in a momentary embrace.

Seungcheol addressed you both now.

The elder watched your reaction closely and with a great amount of caution.

The whole ordeal seemed to have lasted hours. But it was only a minute or so outside of your little bubble. Soonyoung did a good job deliberately shielding you with his body for the majority of the interaction, anyways.

—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As you had dashed to meet him; Soonyoung’s nightshirt had hung low on your shoulder blades. Flowing off Soonyoungs heavy, musky scent in waves and exposing your collarbone and upper back scarred and marked for the world to see.

Not that you cared. You hadn’t even noticed it. Tunnel vision set upon Soonyoung and your desperate need to reach him.

But everybody else did.

Everybody else had noticed.

Everybody else had taken it in with a sharp, focused vision.

Minghao averted his eyes as soon as he took note of you at the corner of the room with a knowing private smile. Instead, he watched your dash to his brother with a warm heart. Laughing to himself as your nails dug into his blazer, desperate for reassurance. Ready to crawl into him in an effort to be soothed.

Jeonghan had stiffened against the window he was propped up against. His lip had twitched up into a sour expression at the scent of a newly claimed entering the space; before shaking out the red that seeped into his eyes. He only glanced back up again at your whine upon contact with your mate, smiling to himself.

He heard the emotion in your voice. But he wasn’t convinced. Uncomfortable in his entire being that they were even in your space after being Claimed so soon.

Seungcheol had also stiffened upon your presence being made known but was the only one to watch you dash the whole distance to his brother.

He had been waiting for your appearance all morning. And you hadn’t failed to please him. Hands outstretched and eyes blown wide for your mate. He was mildly disgusted with his brother and the thought of him even performing the act; but otherwise, he was touched.

And this guest - they seemed to be staring at you far too much.

Seungcheol put two and two together and made a note to watch this newcomer closely, especially around you. His intense staring had been putting you at unease at a much more suffocating pressure than any of the brothers.

As Seungcheol’s younger brother tended to you, the guest seemed to watch with bated breath.

As he understood it; his guest also had brothers, 5 in total, that had never mated, pressured or even bought an Omega from the outer cities. It was strange to him. But he guessed with good knowledge that he likely watched the two of you with envy, slight lust, but mostly pure fascination.

Seungcheol had curled his lip into a snarl until the stranger quickly apologised and averted his eyes.

"Cut it out." He had growled lowly and directly as Soonyoung placated you. "Or I'll gauge your eyes out with my tongue."

The young man bowed his head in apology, but despite his size and physique, he didn’t appear to be at all threatening.

Your pack leader stared him down until he was confident the action was not done with offence, and the heavy beating in your chest had settled into a gentle matching pattern to your mate’s, before looking up at you both.

—-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You looked so out of place.

Your usual sharp-witted self with a sweet musk of an aroma was newly replaced with a bed-soft, Marked and scented female.

It's hard to describe to a human, but the connection and the new binding of the bond could be felt by everyone in the room. It was present as much as Wolf’s pulse, breathing and own Alpha imprints upon the space around them, the type that the eye could not see.

Seungcheol was unfamiliar with the golden eyes that stared back at him over the height of his brother's blazer sleeve. Your gaze was sharp and cold, unlike your natural eye colour and humility he was so used to. He would be lying if he said he didn’t like this new side of you.

But it would take some work.

“Good morning, Y/N. Apologies, I hope we didn’t wake you.” Seungcheol spoke with a softer and far more hushed voice than normal.

With your nose pressed into Hoshi’s shoulder, it was hard to fight the pliancy of the pull and bite back. "You most certainly did." But you still managed. Hoshi giggled behind a knuckle.

“I'm sorry - we’ll try and give you both some more warning next time; so as not to scare you so much. We didn’t realise the situation until we had sat down.” Though he remained his usual sarcastic Leo self. “Thank you for your understanding.”

Jeonghan eyed Seungcheol with suspicion before turning to see your reaction. His brother seemed to know what he was doing; you hadn’t bit back and seemed to genuinely be considering his words from behind your mate’s arms that leaned at ease on the bar stool’s flared edges on either side of your hips.

All six pairs of eyes turned to you. Some yellow, some red, some green. The new male’s eyes struck silver in the mid-morning light.

You growled from within deep in your belly, moving to shift your chair even closer, then behind Soonyoung. He let you move to his side; practically behind his taller frame. The two of you were sitting up with your eyes locked together.

“What are you all doing here?” You growled, nose pressed against Soonyoung’s shoulder as he peered down at you. He was watching you in case you reacted suddenly but he also acted as your grounding in such a volatile state.

“In our home. At this particular moment in time. With a stranger. This early in the morning. Couldn’t you have held this meeting somewhere - anywhere else but here?”

A beat of silence pulsated in the room.

And your gaze was locked with Seungcheol’s.

Soonyoung growled in warning as he moved to lean his weight on the palm planted between your anxiously tensed thighs; lips pressed to your temple in pattered kisses.

‘Drop it, Y/N. Not now, not here.’

Seungcheol met your tension until he heard Soonyoung’s voice through the link. Then he kept it strung tight purely out of his classic morbid curiosity.

Soonyoungs growl grew deeper. And his fang pressed into your cheek, teeth bared.

‘Now.’

Instantly; your thighs eased, instead focusing on his body leaning into you as you nuzzled his bicep with a dizzy expression. One hand gripped his blazer back as the other slipped between his fingers. In a complete tunnel vision of affection, ears once again metaphorically folded. Soonyoung kissed the corner of your eye in thanks.

But you tensed once again as your attention was drawn away, back to the wider room. Eyes pinched at the stranger who stared far too much into your eyes for your liking.

“It’s a fair question.” Minghao shrugged, smiling knowingly at Seungcheol who simply rolled his eyes. Jeonghan remained quiet and watched you with sincere caution. As anxious of you as he would be any other newly turned. “Who wants to take this?”

Soonyoung jumped at the opportunity.

“The neighbouring pack has offered us a treaty, in unity, pup.”

You met Soonyoung’s gaze. His eyes were soft; the purple and red softened by his love for you.

But no matter how much you fought it; these basic customs still churned your stomach into bits.

“You’re marrying off one of our Betas?” You questioned. Tone hurt, sad. Smooth to his ears. “One of our Omega girls? They’re not even ready to consort like that, Soonyoung… You would do that? Marry off one of your own girls?”

Soonyoung considered your words. But didn’t physically react. You were asking a deeper implied question here; speaking for the pack as if the Omegas were your own, shared children. The Omegas in question were well of age, and the Betas in question fell within the gender and sexuality spectrum, more than ready to move on.

“No.” Soonyoung purred plainly.

It was alarming how much he could control his body; but he was determined to keep you steady, so aggressively shaking his head would do no good here.

“At least, not yet pup - that’s why they’re here to discuss it. To see if there are any suitable matches. I’m here to make sure nobody gets hurt, like at every head meeting.”

Your mate spoke in a soothing tone as his thumb circled your palm. His expression was calm, and it spoke to you a thousand words. Tactfully melding you into a state of ease. Your cheek dropped to Soonyoung’s chest, one sharp eye watching the said stranger.

“I’m presuming you already know the implications of the unity, hmm?” Soonyoung asked; words muffled as his nose brushed against your hair.

You nodded against him.

“That’s why they’re here, in our home. That’s why I'm here, Y/N. And not outside. At the office. The company bank. Anywhere else. The meeting came here, so I wouldn’t have to leave you. You're my priority here, love. I’m not sure there’s much more I can do to prove it.”

You didn’t respond verbally. Instead, you rubbed your forehead against his neck; infatuated and submissive. Soonyoung brushed the hair from your cheeks and pressed a kiss to the crown of your head; nodding that it was okay for them to continue.

The brothers in the room audibly sighed.

Every careful step to counter your anxiety was saved effort in preventing your potential sudden and violent shift. This was a critical time, and everybody could sense it. Even the guest.

“I can now see why Soonyoung didn’t want to leave you alone in here, little sis,” Minghao spoke, voice gaining your attention.

“And why he recovered so quickly,” Seungcheol added in humour, voice as gruff as ever.

“Right,” Minghao chuckled to himself quietly. “We weren’t sure how long the meeting was going to take.”

“I’m sorry, we should have considered you further,” Minghao added from his place on the sofa next to the stranger. He sat up suddenly from his resting elbows to stretch his arms.

This allowed the visitor to eye you curiously.

Soonyoung pressed his thumb into your palm as you growled into his bicep. Your pinched eyes pressured the guest until he looked away.

Soonyoung eyed him curiously - exchanging a few mental words with Seungcheol about him - before rounding back to you.

“You’re safe here, little sis.” Minghao continued.

“I’m sorry we spooked you, pup,” Seungcheol uttered through a heartfelt mumble; leaning forward with heart-melting amber eyes that you very rarely got to see. “If I would have put two and two together sooner, I personally would have forced us to rearrange,”

“You’re okay - I promise. Nothing out of the ordinary is going to happen. And we’ll leave as soon as the meeting is done. Okay?”

You considered his words deeply before whining weakly and hugging Soonyoung tightly, burying your face in his scent.

“My. Head. Hurts.” You growled moodily. “And they stink. Want their scent gone, Soonie… They’re making me nauseous..”

“I know, flower. It’s a lot to take in, a little too soon.” Soonyoung laughed softly, smiling down at you. "You're doing so well, though. Just don't push yourself. Your senses are viscerally stronger, so you don't want to process too much too fast and get a mild sensory-hangover…"

"You never even told me that was… a thing…" You grumbled in a long sigh.

"Well, it wasn't really an option before - you weren't able to shift completely - but, it will be an issue from now." Soonyoung smiled fondly down at you. His face pressed into his blazer, glaring at him. "You could always go back into your den until -?"

Before Soonyoung could even finish that sentence your grip around his ribs tightened and you shook your head against his stiff jacket.

“Okay, pup.” He laughed benevolently, looking up to see an anxious Jeonghan as the other two brothers cooed at the massaging hand on your head. “Just don’t strain yourself.”

'I think my big-brain of an older brother wants to talk with you, love, whenever you're ready.' Soonyoung purred inwardly, awaiting your eyes to meet him before nodding back towards the window.

Jeonghan remained tense until you caught his eye from behind his brother.

The older Wolf growled in a way that you imagine a young female Wolf would. It was pretty. Delicate. And the type of sound you wanted to hear again and again.

It was at that moment that you realised you had never actually heard Jeonghan growl before.

Soonyoung laughed through his nose as he heard your mind wander; nodding for Jeonghan to come towards you both.

'She's settled, brother. You can come to say hi.'

Cautiously, he walked forward.

Edging into your space before he stopped at the edge of your comfortable bubble, senses sharp and in tune with your body as he anticipated a reaction.

But there was no reaction. Curiously, your new instincts knew what to do, and your heart followed.

You kept a hand locked with Soonyoung and met Jeonghan’s gaze as he stepped in front of you. His eyes seeped a lighter yellow, closing the distance by holding his breath and closing his eyes to lean forward and knock his head against your own.

You were starting to grow accustomed to this.

It was… a nice and new feeling of familial intimacy.

Closing your own eyes with a sharp inhale, you immediately felt Jeonghan’s love he had been guarding in front of the others.

Something about it.

Something about his gentle exhales and the pretty rumbling as he leaned a hand on the edge of the chair, breath fanning over your cheeks. You could feel all of his worries and anxiety surrounding you and Soonyoung come rushing forward through the link.

'Are you okay, Y/N? Did he hurt you? Are you cleaned properly? Are you able to control yourself around the guest?'

The strangest feeling took over your throat; chuffing delicately against Jeonghan’s cheek. His worrying was coming from a place of love.

'I'm okay, Hannie.' You confirmed in a noticeably weak tone. 'We're okay. I’m just… Worn out and tense, is all.'

Jeonghan nodded ever so slightly, moving to hug you.

'You’ll get to rest together, soon, Y/N. I know it's a lot to get used to. You're doing good, pup. Just shout us if it becomes too much.'

The embrace was a little… odd, given the situation. But you could smell his scent in a new way, and it comforted you greatly. Something like the perfume of a sibling. It filled you with familiarity and love.

'I'm sorry - if we had realised, we - I … Just don't push yourself. We're in your newly Marked territory. But we won't do anything to disrupt it, Y/N.'

You opened your eyes slightly to see him.

Strikingly pale yellow irises against a light brown outline and an inner brighter yellow ring met you.

'I promise.'

You hadn't much to say. But you didn't need to say anything. Not with your new body.

He could read you better than you could read yourself.

You matched Jeonghan's strength until he pulled away, settled now he knew you weren’t going to lash out.

Soonyoung kissed your head on the way back, rounding you to stay by his side.

One arm stopped you from retreating backwards while the other was free to move. Your thighs and side pressed into his suit, a solid hand laying between your knees and gripping the soft flesh under the thick joggers.

"Good job, beautiful." He purred against your hair as your cheek rested on his shoulder.

From this angle, he could see your irises had begun expanding greatly; blown wide whenever Soonyoung pressed against you, but also by Jeonghan. Being still new to muscle control; they would almost touch black if it wasn't for the purple ring.

"You follow your instincts more easily now. I can feel it, pretty dove " Voice hushed so only you could hear, his puffs of air pushed your heavy eyelids to blink wistfully. "Just take it slowly. You're doing so well. Can you try and unfocus your eyes for me, love? You've blown them out a little too wide. And give me these -"

He moved to slowly pull away the fingers curled up and pressed between your throbbing teeth and under the sharp point of your canines - the second time in mere minutes the habit had appeared - to smooth over the grazes and indents and small, sharp, thin but deep cuts with his thumb. A new habit he would have to watch out for.

Your fingers were bleeding.

He popped the finger into his mouth - to make contact with his saliva - without much thought. But winked at you with a giggle as you shied away into his shoulder. Releasing you with a chuckle.

You looked exhausted.

Small pained whimpers fell from your lips as your pupils expanded and pinched at every single dart across the room. A dazed look of confusion began settling on your face with your brows tugged low.

"I know, baby. Try and focus on me. Or Hannie, or Hao if you need to. I know it hurts to process so many people in your territory right now, but you'll be alright, I promise."

Soonyoung was tender to your wants of not disrupting your home, but there was little he could do against his older brother's instructions.

He placed a gentle kiss on your brow bone, smiling deeply as your dazed line of view spun around until your face met his own. He wasn't convinced you could totally comprehend what he was saying at the moment, but your eyes blew wide under his watch and eyebrows eased their tension. And this was enough.

"I'll help you rest again soon, angel. We'll sleep later, get some real good food down you, then afterwards I'll scent you until your nerves settle again. Lean on me, the link, for now. It will all be over soon."

“I’m guessing now would be a good time to introduce myself?”

The stranger's voice made you flinch hard.

Your irises pulled together unreasonably quickly; Soonyoung anticipated the spike in your pulse as a solid warning to place himself in front of you.

You had intended to run towards him.

And to no doubt maul him with your extended and exposed canines appearing from under your lips.

'Don't. Do not. Don't you dare lunge at him.'

Soonyoung growled slowly. Pressuring you not to fight his guidance again. Unable to truly command you with such a soft spot for you.

'Do not move, Y/N. I mean it.'

He held you steady, growling almost inaudibly as you gripped him. His lips pressed against your head as you folded into the tug of him grounding you.

But this action was mirrored by a watchful growl from Jeonghan.

'Sister, you have to resist it. I know it's hard. Try and control yourself. He is safe in your territory. You have many guards here. You are safe.'

You knew logically you were safe. But it was a lot to process and by now your vision was blurry and you had already worn yourself out; sinuses burning as much as the ache in your gums.

So you took his previous offer up immediately.

With a scratchy nasal exhale, your eyes closed and you moved to lean into him in every aspect.

His hand withdrew from your leg for a moment to press into the muscles under the height of your cheekbones, where he presumed you were throbbing into your skull.

"Good pup." He whispered, kissing the corner of your eye with a creased-eye smile before settling again. "Good choice."

Your instant moans of relief proved he was right.

Luckily hidden by his blazer; you had your mouth open and eyes closed so he could easily slip under your lips and press the pads of his fingers into the throbbing ache in your gums.

It was heavenly, but not enough.

You needed to mark him again.

Soonyoung growled softly, tugging at the link while he rested the heavy meat of his palm against your lips.

You followed your body; discreetly sinking into the flesh of either side of his palm with eagerly smooth canines and sinfully muffled moans until he winced.

'Hold it.' Soonyoung reminded you. Brushing his thumb over the hand that held his palm to your mouth. Smiling sheepishly at you despite the sharp pinch.

And you did hold it.

It was terribly tender for him, but you couldn't stop pressing down with new Werewolf jaw force until the tension panged out from your link.

“Enough,” Soonyoung whispered, eager to guide you to stop, aware of the hunger versus the limits of marking in your current state. “Let go.”

You pulled away upon his instruction, pliant and eager to please; processing the taste of iron with a muted moan; gasping for air. The blood spooled from his palm quickly upon the break; dripping down your lips and chin and the veins of his hard-working hands.

"Good girl." He growled affectionately, tactfully avoiding blood stains on his pressed suit by forcing gravity to suppress the flow and hold your face up via a pinched chin.

As you peered up at him with a dizzy expression, he pulled to make eye contact.

'Eyes on me, angel. I’m right here.'

He waited until your irises pinched to make sure you saw him and no one else in such a vulnerable state.

You simply melted under his gaze.

All consumed. Mesmerised like a kid in front of a fire.

He held your gaze until your irises completely expanded; pulled intensely by his powers.

And he was barely even exerting himself. Preferring never to use it on you; the rare occasions he did made such a difference.

"That's enough." He calmly whispered, allowing the grounding to snap. “Rest.”

Like a weight dropping; your eyes drooped with an exhausted whimper. Soonyoung had been holding you in anticipation; pressing you to his chest between his arms instead of letting you fall. You folded towards him as he caught the towel chucked at him via Jeonghan from the counter.

"How unsanitary." Jeonghan mused. He was being light-hearted, luckily. “Marking with company present, next to the kitchen, of all places. Didn’t Mother teach you better?”

Soonyoung snickered but moved to wipe at your face, then his wrists. He was holding the wound behind your back. But mostly he was watching you.

You were placated. And it pleased him, greatly.

Minghao's expression softened greatly from where he sat.

'That’s going to hurt Soon…' He spoke, gently scolding his younger brother. "Not a wise place to put a mark brother, not at all…"

'I know.' Soonyoung replied, looking up at his close companion as he licked at his hand. 'I know it will hurt…'

'Hmm. But not as much as she's hurting; right?'

'Right.' Soonyoung confirmed. 'She's been aching badly, Hao. I can feel it. I've been taking some of the pain from her while she sleeps.'

Minghao pressed a finger against his lips and pulled tight in consideration.

'You're a good mate, Soonyoung. She loves you dearly. You have my wholehearted protection, brother. We'll keep her safe while she's out of your sight. But just look at her, Soonyoung. Her eyes are beautiful. You placed the scars well - even if it makes me gag thinking about the fucking shit you did to even think about placing them. You dog.'

Soonyoung shared a silent smile.

'She just looks so weak, Soon. We're worried about her. All of us. We're also sorry if we upset you.'

'She's so tired already.' Soonyoung confirmed. But he shook his head. 'And thank you. I appreciate it, but you don't need to explain. It's okay, Hao. Really.'

His brother nodded.

'I didn't get a chance to scent her before you guys turned up. The whole thing has really spun her off her axis…'

A pause.

'She's scared, Hao. So, so scared. It's all so new to her. I think the family tends to forget she wasn't born like us sometimes, because she puts on such a brave act. Even I do. But it's mostly a front.'

He growled a consistent hum as you nuzzled against him. Your heartbeat had settled greatly. It grounded him.

'All to cover how lost she truly feels. Vulnerable in amongst the pack. And I don't blame her; do you?'

Minghaos eyes floated to your face; delightfully puffy lips and eyes folded over with grief.

'No brother, I don't blame her. Not at all.'

'Ever since she's let me in - I can feel it, Hao. She's terrified… I think it's all very new for both of us. But one of us was born a human. Please be patient with her. That's all I ask of you. She's trying so so hard for all of us, but it will take her a little longer to get used to it than one of our own.'

Minghao smiled lovingly with a soft muted growl. Sharing a glance with Jeonghan over your shoulders.

Though not speaking directly to him; Jeonghan was being pulled into the link via Minghao. And Seungcheol by Jeonghan.

So in this way, the link in a family acts like a Web.

Whereas a mated pair can communicate solely between themselves; not much outside of that can be hidden from the pack.

Even Seungcheol’s eyes strayed from distracting the guest to the way you folded against his brother so feebly.

How could they say no?

'I know.' Minghao smiled gently. 'We all do. You're both doing so well. We're here if you need us. And you're right; we shouldn't judge too quickly. We won't. And we'll remind the younger ones to do the same… Just make sure she's secure before the next time either of you leave this building. We don't want anybody getting hurt. Especially not our new sister.'

Soonyoung chuffed; deeply touched by his brother's words.

He was talking on a deeply spiritual level. You were now tied into their bond, whether you liked it or not. And they were equally as tied to yours.

'We love you, brother.' Jeonghan added faintly. 'Love you both. We all do. It will be a big adjustment for all of us. There are three of us who have mated until linked now. We'll discuss this later.'

The three dipped their heads to each other discreetly before Seungcheol spoke, bringing them back into the open space.

“I think now would be a great time to introduce yourself!” Seungcheol chuffed through an amused smile, curious to see your reaction.

Softened by you and your vulnerability towards the family. Listening to the link while entertaining the guest until you were all ready.

In fact, everyone was enamoured by you.

But none seemed nearly as humoured as the elder. He knew you too well. Like he got some kind of dark joy out of testing your limits.

“Soonyoung, may I speak for your mate?”

You were far gone again; face buried into his blazer collar. Soonyoung nodded.

He moved to place a grip on your thigh, just in case. “Sure, go ahead.” Rolling his eyes then his jaw, releasing the tension in his own neck to rest his cheek against your hair.

“Thank you. Chan, Y/N is Soonyoung’s mate - if that wasn’t already fairly obvious. She delegates his safety teams where and when needed, in collaboration with Minghao in our statistics team. Oh, and she also helps Jeonghan and me with our accounts. Though I imagine you’ll need to be a little gentler with her today, you’ll usually find our sister to be quite the tough cookie. She has a reputation for being sharp and is a valued member of our family."

Minghao scoffed at his brother, rolling his eyes now, with a kiss to his teeth.

“We’re still not entirely sure how these two paired up. An intern with a killer work ethic and an idiot in clown-to-clown combat training. But there you go. Fate has her own initiative.”

Seungcheol snickered, nodding to his guest; “Go ahead, she doesn’t bite.”

His voice trailed off with a cruelly amused smile as the young and totally oblivious Alpha stood to jump in your direction with a loud booming voice and an outreaching, palm down hand, flashing his gums at you in an eager smile.

He may as well have lunged at you in this state.

Seungcheol didn’t even have to move or give a signal, to know you were protected.

“Hi Y/N, my name is Chan -”

As he stood to speak to you, a snarl ripped from your throat so firmly that it forced Minghao to rise with quick reflexes to stop Chan dead in his tracks.

Demeanour switched in an instant with a hand gripped firmly into the guest’s throat.

Jeonghan had also stepped forward, ready to block. But as usual, he remained able to see all, ready to catch you instead if you ran forward.

"Woah, woah, woah, easy now boys… Stand down before either of you start something we will all have to regret…" Jeonghan mumbled with a snappy tone to his younger brothers, but stepped forward to shelter you further.

"Think about what you're saying before you ruin a fucking pack unity, Soonyoung." He whispered harshly down at your mate. "Take a damn second."

But by now, Soonyoung was furious.

Body shaking and eyes glaring into Chan as Jeonghan moved back out of the way on high alert.

"Sit down, or get the fuck away from my mate, you naive mutt, before I take that choice away from you. Learn a thing or two about body language before you come into someone else's den and start lunging at newly Claimed females. You're lucky you're under my brother's explicit protection, or you would already be staining my wife's 30-thousand-dollar-rug."

Soonyoung growled deeply, lowly and genuinely enough for Seungcheol to quit laughing.

"And you - your shit isn’t funny, Cheol. Don't make me maul our guest like one of your sick and twisted fighting pens for your own fucking amusement in the middle of our own apartment."

nodding at his brother and maintaining mental communication before the elder's face dropped completely, waving his hands for everyone to sit back down.

You don't know what was said, but it was extremely rare for Seungcheol to back down. And maybe more so for Soonyoung to get so genuinely angry. Such is the hierarchy of a pack. But Cheol had considerably overstepped his Mark.

"She's Exhausted, and afraid, Seungcheol. Think of Y/N as your own mate before you start playing your fucking power-hungry games around her."

"That's enough, Soonyoung." Jeonghan spoke quietly from his place against the dark window. Turning around from his view with an unimpressed demeanour.

"Cheol - it's time to move on. Continue with the meeting, please, brother." He turned with a scowl to the elder. "Before one of us gets hurt."

Jeonghan was entirely unamused by everyone this morning, and it hadn't even hit 9am.

“Alright - alright! The fun’s over, that’s enough now, let’s leave the poor woman alone and continue our discussion. Chan, please sit your cute ass back in that chair before my sibling rips your throat out. Either one of them. And Minghao, step down, for fuck’s sake. He’s not going to touch Y/N, you’ve made that perfectly clear, thank you. Thank you again.”

Chan had reacted appropriately to the sudden aggression; though naive he knew how to defend himself and snarled at the tall man digging his nails into his jugular simply for the following instruction. Standing down from his counter with Minghao upon the eldest brothers’ instruction to ‘take a seat’.

Minghao turned to you with emerald eyes as his hand left Chan’s throat. He looked frightful.

It was rare to see your brother angry.

And you were pretty sure the last time he flashed his gums at anyone they died long and viciously in an alleyway outside of a bar - which now that you think about it, was to protect his own mate.

He stepped towards you fluidly, reaching your cheek in an embrace, meeting your forehead and squeezing his eyes shut.

The contact felt strange with your gut tugging you back to Soonyoung, but when he pulled away he stuck to your cheek with a soft growl. It washed over your skin like sparklers and you groaned gently in a confirming response.

'Are you okay?' Minghao spoke through the link so only you could hear. Speaking you through what he had just confirmed non-verbally.

You nodded with a jaw-cracking yawn and a grumbling vocation.

'I’m okay. He didn’t even get close. Thank you.'

You smiled, accepting the final contact of his forehead against yours before curling back up into Soonyoung’s side.

But this time for good.

Putting your legs over his knees - and loving the contrast of your clothes in some deep part of you - as you growled gently. The sensation was… nice. New, but comforting. Soonyoung watched you with a kiss on your forehead.

'Yeah, right, no worries.' Minghao laughed softly as he plopped back into his seat. His eyes were partially green as he bit at his lip, at odds with the stranger next to him.

"Welcome home, Y/N." Seungcheol spoke low and with gummy-grinned intent. And you felt it, what he truly meant. Despite Minghao's dismissive scoff, or Jeonghan’s glance of confusion.

Welcome home.

Finally, he had seen you in your entirety, and accepted you.

"Bangchan, I hope, overall, that you aren't insulted by our younger sister, or my brother's. As you can maybe tell, she has recently been Marked. You're a stranger in her home. And though you haven’t had the chance to experience this yet; I'm sure your mate would react exactly the same way. And your bothers would protect your mate also, I hope."

He was the only one laughing, the only one with years of wisdom and hundreds of dog fights under his belt. But as he nodded to confirm your security across the lounge, a private understanding of boundaries was shared. You never know unless you rock the boat; Seungcheol had almost tipped it.

“Right, golden eyes?” He poked softly.

All eyes looked at you as you nodded back, moulding into your mates’ side and taking refuge in the solid sound of his beating heart as the meeting continued.

At some point in the meeting, Soonyoung purred at you lightly dozing on his shoulder. With little effort, he pulled you onto his lap. Quickly your forehead met his neck, arms hugging yourself tightly as he held you. One hand on your knee and the other on your back.

"I'm so proud of you." He whispered kindly. "Get some rest while you can. We'll talk later. Take some of my energy, if you need it. You know how now."

You managed to mumble something back but mostly moved to find one last piece of comfort. And you found it in the bite against your heart. And the feeling it gave you as your hand curled against it.

Soonyoung felt a tug in his gut, something otherworldly that meant you were aching for him. Pulling on the newly strengthened link is like testing the strength of a new elastic band straight out of the box.

Your mate simply swooned. Kissing your hairline with an enraptured smile, Soonyoung released your knees to press his palm firmly under your own, intertwining your fingers.

'There’s no need to search for me, when I'm already here with you, Y/N. My love is free. You only have to ask. And I'll always leave a part of myself with you, wherever we go. Get some rest, love. I'll be here when you wake up. Closer, this time. Sleep, my brave dove. You deserve it.'

Finally. You felt safe. Secure. Connected.

And your eyes drooped until numbness eased over your brain.

As Soonyoung soothed you, the eldest brother, Jeonghan, mused something new to himself. Something he had been waiting over four years to witness.

You had a bark.

But you most definitely had the spirit to bite.

Both physically - Jeonghan had already noted the deep wound on his wrist and the one settling into his palm - and metaphorically too - despite all the reassurance and placating pheremones in the world; you still went to bite at the guest when wrongfully approached.

They could use that.

It was sadistically amusing to him, just as much as it was to his brother. One of them could just hide it better. One of them deal in relations while the other watched men and dogs bleed out for fun.

And in your new tight-knit family, you were beyond willing to help with anything asked of you. Surviving every test put past you without failure; even with initial barks and doubts.

And despite their sickly sinful inclinations; the family in that room with you would die for you, on a very quick dime.

A good match, even by Jeonghan's standards.

The Tiger and the Dragon - two beasts in their own rights, pushing to face the world one surprise at a time.

“So,” Your subdued voice spoke into the room. “What comes next?”

(BACK TO PART 1/2) ~ (THIS IS THE END OF PART 2/2) ~ (CONTINUE TO SVT MASTERLIST….. )

Well would you look at that: 13/April/2023

105 notes · View notes

agl03 · 4 years

Text

Final Predictions: How did I do?

What I got will be in BOLD and if I feel I need to add notes they will be in italics. Might have to toss in a keep reading line because it is long.

Everyone’s favorite villains, Nathaniel, Kora, and SIBYL will all make it to the finale while Garrett will be killed or locked up by the end of the first hour (and it will use some of Fitz’s tech).

SIBYL will eventually get herself a new body.

Nathaniel will turn on Kora and try to take her powers and/or kill her.

Kora has already turned on him and he/we just don’t know it yet. Either betrays him and helps her sister or tries to kill him herself in revenge for her mother. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.

Daisy will be the one to end Nathaniel and it will be oh so satisfying giant fight scene….even if we have to wait until the second hour for it. Bonus points if Sousa get a hit in first too

Coulson, May, and Elena are able to get to space thanks to Coulson’s new computer Genius Super Power OR Garrett is ordered to bring them so they can lord their victory over them all.

Even though they have pretty much ended Shield and Hydra in the “hot mess” timeline SIBYL and Nathaniel set their sites on the OG Timeline and/or Fitz once they realize he has come into the mix and ruins their plans in the hot mess timeline.. As they are both aware he is the one who ends their little party.

The Chronicoms will not all be super thrilled with what SIBYL has been up too or her methods. This could be another thing that drives SIBYL into the OG Timeline.

The battle between SIBYL and Coulson seems to have gotten a bit more personal so my money is on Coulson being the one to take her down. Close second goes to May and Fitzsimmons.

Diana didn’t only block Memories of Fitz it took out the memories of people associated with him. IE she is not going to remember her friends or Deke.

Deke will earn her trust quickly and be an A+ overprotective grandson of his Nana as they are rescued and get back to the team.

The team will rescue Deke and Jemma, take out a few Chronicoms, and Independence Day their way out of there.

While it won’t be the romantic Philinda some fans want we will see some quality Philinda banter over the finale as it seems they’ve settled into a good place between the two. Coulson has also passed the torch of “team parent” onto her.

Philinda will not end as a couple.

At some point Sousa is really going to question what is going on and his life choices. AKA He looks around stunned at what is going on.

More quality Dousy flirting and banter….they will kiss again and I do see them being a couple when things end.

Fitzsimmons family feels just a lot of them over the whole finale. Iain and Elizabeth are going to murder us with feels. I mean Fitz with his little girl. I shall perish.

Despite not knowing everyone Jemma is going to be super insistent on building or activating a device (that has been stashed on the Zephyr) that she doesn’t know what it does but just knows she needs to build and activate it. She will be the only one who can activate it and possibly it will take something very personal of hers to turn it on. IE how she was hiding Fitz’s ring/necklace in Season 6 she might have the key hiding again. But lets all freak out that Jemma will literally be the key to getting Fitz.

We won’t see Fitz until near the end of 12 if he is not the cliffhanger.

That Bar place in the promo pics is either Keonig’s Bar or the Playground of the hot mess Timeline. Seems to be some sort of secret Shield Base or what is left of them after the big attack as there are some random Shield agents milling/wth/who are these people in the background. We know The Playground was off the books in the OG Timeline and would make sense it was also in the Hot mess.

Jemma will have her memory resorted relatively quickly after Fitz Kool Aid Man’s in all Star Lord from the portal thing Jemma activates. And it’ll be the freaking power of her love for Fitz/her Family that overloads her (Gimme my Framework fix here). Or Fitzsimmons have a fail safe password. BUT GIMME TRUE LOVE. Okay I’m calling this one close enough!

CUE THE SECRET CHILD REVEAL!!!!!!!!!! Yes, I will be screaming. The team will be stunned.

I’m sticking to my theory that they will give their daughter a “celestial” or astronomical name to pay off “One of these days we’ll find something magnificent out in space,” thing from Season 3 (especially if she was conceived on the way back from Kitson). Or a name that is very reflective of their Scottish/English roots.

Everyone needs to hold onto their hats because once Jemma has her memories back it will be because they are gonna want to get home to their Little Girl like yesterday and have one hell of a plan that involves saving the world and taking care of Nathaniel, SIBYL, and the Season 6 Finale attack on the Lighthouse.

This is likely where a ton of the Flashbacks come in.

Where has Fitz been? He’s been back in our OG Timeline. The finale confirmation for me came last week when Nathaniel revealed that SIBYL’s time stream couldn’t see him….or their daughter, and that thing sees EVERYTHING in the HOT MESS Timeline. This would also be why Jemma’s messages didn’t reach him, she couldn’t get them to cross into the OG Timeline and this was something she would have known but Diana blocked as part of hiding where Fitz was.

How has Fitz been watching the Chronicoms? Insert incredibly complicated timey whimy thing the writers came up with that me and my Marketing degree can not fathom so just go with it okay, via the using the Framework in the OG Timeline to get into the Chronicom’s system. Little pay back for what SIBYL has been doing in the Hot Mess Timeline. Him being connected to the Framework explains why he was so exposed. Because when someone is hooked up to that thing they can get their heads cut off and not know it.

Now reunited and having dropped the baby announcement Fitzsimmons will present the plan for the “Final Mission” the team must embark on to save the world….again.

And oh baby is it complicated.

Part of said plan will have them back at the Lighthouse during the Chronicom attack.

The dudes that showed up with Jemma at the Temple will be explained. IE I think its some of the team and they cleared out of the Zephyr before the time travel party got started. They also may have grabbed other hunks of the monoliths.

The fight will take place in both the Hot Mess and OG Timelines

We have not seen the last of the Monoliths. The fact we are jumping timelines and have Flint in the mix over in the OG timeline makes me think they are gonna need Mr. Swirly’s help in doing said jumping (Mr. Swirly is the Grey Monolith). Or they really go with the OG and its Harold (Black Space one) that allows for it. Kind of fitting the Monolith that tore Fitzsimmons apart is now the one that reunites them.

We will for sure see Enoch (via Flashback), Davis (please not by Flashback #davislivesagain), Piper and Flint as returning Favorites.

If they have Davis back to life I just gesture exhaustedly at the Monoliths again. Not even gonna try to explain it.

Small chance we run into the Hot Mess’s Timeline Enoch but he will have no relationship or connection to the team and will make me cry.

Top Picks for SURPRISE not on the Press Release faces to pop up if we get them: Ward (I mean really how have we not seen him again yet), Mace, Robbie, Bobbi, Hunter, Koenig (any of them) and Mike. REALLY WANT IT BUT WON”T GET IT! Dadcliffe But YOUNG VICTORIA HAND HECK YES!

Who was keeping Fitzsimmons Daughter safe:

Top Pick: Piper and Flint: Given Fitzsimmons would have run into them picking up the Zephyr and they could have been the “we had help” they talked about.

Second Place Because I Badly want him back: Uncle Enoch 2.0

Left Field Surprise Option: Huntingbird

LOLA RETURNS

We will get a lot of really fun callbacks to past stories or even lines IE “I’m just the Pilot” For May.

“What We Are Fighting For”: Family. The team family….and the Fitzsimmons family. Also they will have gone 13/13 in that someone will say the titles name at some point in the episode.

We will see old weapons and tech from previous seasons make one last appearance, we’ve seen 2 so far in promos and will see more.

Shotgun Axe gets a proper send off in battle (this one is for Kiddo 3)

Bear will deliver the most amazing soundtrack that we’ll never get to buy.

Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story (Sorry Couldn’t Resist)

Nathaniel: Dies, and we will all cheer.

SIBYL: Dies, and we will all cheer.

Garrett: Dies or locked up, won’t make it to the second hour.

Kora: Toss a coin. If she dies she killed for trying to take down Nathaniel. If in her betrayal of Nathaniel she helps Daisy get Jemma and Deke back that could be a good starting place for the sisters to work thing out. Starting place, she has a long way to go to get in good with Daisy and setting up an 11th hour redemption arc.

Mack: Still so nervous for him based on how he has been in interviews, especially the SDCC ones last year. He was so clearly upset by it. So Mack either falls or does something so out of character (Bails before the finale battle which just is not making sense to me Mack is in such a good place right now) for Mack that Henry was upset by it. Essentially I am very confused because what I am seeing on screen now isn’t matching with how Henry was talking as Mack has really come around since his Endgame stage. Henry really I have no idea why you were so upset!

Elena: Easily lives. If Mack doesn’t die, wherever he lands she’ll be with him. They’ve been a steady ship all season and I see no reason for them to break up outside of death. And while I have a mountain of concerns for Mack, I have none for Elena.. I also see her still being a presence within Shield, she’s become a good solid agent, and bonus points if she keeps Flint with her….and he gets all the tacos he wants.

Sousa: Totally lives (they might give us a good fake out though because he and Daisy are becoming a thing)I can still see him being Director of Shield if Mack falls or steps down. He’s a good Agent in a new time but he said he is right where he is supposed to be, at Daisy’s side. Where she goes he goes. IE he’s not letting her get away and will always be there after she runs into a wall. So if Daisy leaves Shield, so will he. If she stays so will he. If she opens a coffee bar he’ll learn to make an espresso.

Daisy: Totally Lives, but there will be something about her ending that some fans won’t like and some fans are going to love. Staying with Shield or no whatever she does will involve Inhumans be it the Secret Warriors are up and running again, she is mentoring and training new Inhumans coming into Shield, or my favorite option still is she reopens Afterlife. I’ve been feeling that option for most of the Season and feel like it was really set up with Jaiying as was Daisy looking out for her little sister should the chips fall the right way. The SS Dousy will be sailing right along. IF Kora survives I can see her being in Afterlife as well, Daisy taking her mother’s passion that Kora has a good heart to heart herself.

Deke: Okay this one is weird because I feel like we are going to lose him somehow, but he won’t die. I didn’t get the vibe from Jeff, Elizabeth, or Iain that he died and those three are pretty tight. However, in that I don’t think I’m going to get my Fitzsimmons Family all settling down in a giant castle in Scotland together. They set up for him to make a sacrifice, he’s grown, and has something he’s really truly fighting for. I have loved seeing how close he and Jemma have gotten and how fiercely he’s protected her and her secret. Even in the face of torture he didn’t betray her. It will come as no surprise if he doesn’t sacrifice himself somehow. Either in taking a hit for his family or doing something similar to what he did in Season 5 to make sure they got home. Bringing things full circle. He also expressed that he wouldn’t mind being stuck in the hot mess timeline in ‘83. He built himself a nice life there and Nathaniel did a pretty good job of taking out Hydra…with just a bit of Shield hanging on. So if it comes down to it I don’t see him minding if he gets stuck there. Sure him saying goodbye to Nana and Bobo is gonna hurt like Hades but if he ends up alive, I’m good.

Fitzsimmons: Both live, yes they will scare the crap out of us more than a few times especially after we know about the daughter, but they will live. Totally peace out, we’ve done our time, leaving Shield with the adorable daughter and its Perthshire or Bust. They’ve sacrificed enough and will not be willing to risk it again.

May: Lives and reminds us all that she is one hell of a pilot. If Mack decides he wants to step down, dies, whatever I’ll throw her back in contention for Director, especially as I see Sousa Following Daisy if she leaves. Coulson seemed to have set her on that path and at the very least passed the “Team Parent” torch onto her, that it would be her job to give the Coulson talks to those who needed it. If she’s not Director, she’ll be whomever is right hand, or I still have that option for the Academy being up and running and she’s running that, training the next generation.

Coulson: Lives.I know SHOCKING. I think he was very ready to throw in the towel after spending 20 months in the TV but then Enoch’s moving words in his death were what changed his mind about ‘powering down” when this is all over. Coulson realizes that yes, while it is hard to be the one to leave it is harder for the ones that are left behind but it’s also necessary that they move on, and live for those they have lost before. Like Sousa and Fitzsimmons, he’ll be another that they’ll fake out death a few times. I see him leaving Shield though, taking Lola and finally just going and seeing the world, watching the history he loves so much happen. We get to see him driving around or even off in Lola for the last time. Other options include he does something that will allow him to totally run with his new super computer super power. The final thing I can see him doing is being the coolest professor at the newly rebooted Academy.

#aos spoilers #I am very proud of this one

62 notes · View notes

wxste-lxnds · 4 years

Text

QUEEN OF GLASS Thoughts & Opinions (part one)

So, here are my thoughts and opinions on part one of Queen of Glass <- throne of glass’s original story. I know, it’s a bit stupid to critique an almost fanfic but I want to so I’m doing it.

Prologue:

“Adarlan was famous for it’s glassware. [...] At one point, glass shoes were all the rage.” I like this little nod to the Cinderella inspiration, to be honest. The original concept of T/OG was that it was Cinderella as an assassin. Which would’ve been amazing if executed well and T/OG... wasn’t.

This prologue is full of infodumping about Adar/lan’s history. This is easily forgiveable, given Sarah was 15/16 when she wrote this and infodumping country history is a common mistake for new writers. (We’ve all done it!) There’s a lot of untapped talent and potential here in the prologue too which is sad when you consider what her published books are like.

Terr/asen is called Trasien here, which is interesting. There’s a lot about how this is the real story of Cinderella, which once again would have been so interesting if executed well. That’s about it for the prologue, nothing really notable yet.

Chapter One:

“Due to her rather violent nature, she had a new one at least three times a month.” This is the edgy, killer queen we were supposed to see in T/OG. Though, this a bit unrealistic, she would’ve been hung already for killing this many overseers so quickly.

“None of them would ever assume that she, a woman, would actually be a real threat! [...] After all, she hadn’t been Adarlan’s deadliest assassin for nothing.” So, she’s forced to compete in a weekly fight club and it took them two years to figure out she needed more than one man to restrain her. Humble brag, I guess? That’s, again, not quite realistic but sjm likes OP character’s so I’m not surprised.

“You know,” Celaena said, in her cool, cultured voice.” What in the fuck does THAT mean? Also her overseer talks the same way Hagrid does in the Harry Potter books and I am killing myself with giggles, imagining poor Hagrid arguing with Celaena in a mineshaft. She laments about killing someone with an innocent hairpin. Um. Okay.

“[...]If you put shackles on me. I’ll still be an assassin, just a much more intelligent and vengeful one.” I get the sentiment, I do. But assassins kill for political and monetary gain. Here, Celaena’s just killing for shits and gigs. Which makes her a serial killer (and in some cases a mass murderer), not an assassin.

Celaena discusses how she was caught, she mentions sleeping gas. I would’ve been interested to know what exactly the sleeping gas was, given this is obviously set before the creation of mustard gas etc.

“They beat her because they were afraid of her.” They usually beat prisoners because they like to exert power and control and harbor violent and sociopathic tendencies. Plus, Celaena is a young woman and they are grown men used to getting their way.

“In three months, Celaena had killed seventeen overseers.” The gallows are in your future, sweetheart.

“Celaena Sardothien was a beautiful woman - or at least, some had considered her so. Granted, she was never considered unattractive, but her degree of attractiveness depended on those judging her.” Uh, yeah. That’s how attraction works. Why is this paragraph even necessary? We know she’s beautiful, she won’t shut up about it. She could’ve left it at the first sentence.

She goes on her about her special eyes and how they entrance and bedazzel people. Look, I have hazel eyes. Depending on what I’m wearing/what makeup colours I have on/the lighting I’m in, my eyes will appear different colours. Compliments happen, yes, but do they entrance and bedazzle? No, because they’re fucking eyes.

Celaena also says she uses cosmetics to enhance her not so attractive traits. I wish we were told what these cosmetics were, it’s not like she can take a gander to Sephora and pick out a pretty lipstick. Apparently her beauty makes her a good assassin. This isn’t how it works, usually. A person can only fall for physical features to a certain extent and not every person is the same. Cunning, stealth etc are all much more important assassin skills than a pretty face. Also, it’s a bit creepy that she was a young girl (as in 14-17) seducing old men. Isn’t that just child prostitution with murder being the dessert?

So basically these fights clubs are like The Hunger Games. Shes a crowd/guard favourite so she gets more food and supplies than the other slaves. Makes sense, but still. An 18(?) year old girl beating battle-hardened war criminals twice her size? Nah.

“You won’t be eating there tonight Sardothien.” It was not the voice of her overseer. It was dark, smooth, and sounded almost civilised. It had been so long since she’d heard someone speak properly!” This comes across as racist, Sarah. Ew. The overseer says something in his Hagrid accent and the man (I’d assume is Chaol?) says “translate please”. Come on, Sarah. Look how that sounds!! The overseer can’t read, either. Christ, this is nuts. Anyway, Chaol Wydrael is here to taken Celaena away, she thinks she’s going to be hung.

So that’s the end of chapter one and the prologue! Wow, that was gross and so, so much infodumping. At least with T/OG and ACO/TAR, the infodumping wasn’t too bad. Then came CCity...

Anyway, I’ll do chapter 2 and 3 when my brain stops feeling like it has teeth. Thank you @crescentcitysux for sending me the file

#anti sjm #anti tog #anti acotar #anti queen of glass #anti celaena sardothien #anti sarah j maas

31 notes · View notes

courage-a-word-of-justice · 4 years

Text

Waver 1 - 13 (FINAL) | Prisma Illya 1 - 10 (FINAL) | Prisma Illya 2wei! 1 - 3

Another (and to be honest, the last) batch of impressions from the Fate/ project.

Waver 1

Well, this’ll be interesting. I’ve been hyping this show up for a while for myself, so let’s see how it goes.

Geez, this intro is like a dang movie! I’d love to see a proper Troyca movie! (<-Says the fan of Troyca.)

Wait, if it’s Kayneth Archibald, then is Archibald relatd to Archisorte? Or am I just making thing up here…? Also note Reines refers to Kayneth as “Kayneth El-Melloi Archibald”, possibly meaning Archibald is the middle name, since El-Melloi is a shared surname (or is that a title…?). That probably means Archibald =/= Archisorte and both are similar-sounding middle names. The fact Reines is Kayneth’s niece also explains things quite a bit.

Why is Waver upside down…? Won’t the blood rush to his head soon? (Sure, it allows me to ogle his hair more, but…logic rules more than my stupid whims, y’know?)

Interesting. You can see that although Waver grew out his hair, there’s two layers to it – the longer one in the front and the shorter one in the back. (I’m just curious because I like the hime cut – which is pretty similar - and long hair on dudes in general, in part because both are fairly rare.)

Okay, that explained my gripe with upside-down Waver. Thanks, Reines. (<-genuine)

Aw, Waver buddy, even at this stage, you’re plenty cute. Don’t ever change! (<- As you can see, I am an easily pleased person in most cases.)

Melvin who now???

Troyca’s comic animation rules! It’s too bad Idolish7 Second Beat is using chibis instead of this…

Professor Kayneth. I forgot he had a formal title. I wonder, does Waver - I mean, El-Melloi II – have that title as well?

I guess I should’ve known Saber had the capability to look scary, but…I never knew Saber could look so scary…

*cut to eyecatch* - *points at eyecatch* Okay, someone tried to save budget here, didn’t they???

Aw, friendship between fiction boys is cute…until it involves the puking up on blood on one end.

Waver is the OG underdog here…don’tcha think?

“…with several demands.” – Uh-oh…this is gonna be bad, isn’t it?

You need a Tuner for Magic Crests? (…Like a tuning fork, but a person?) *brow raised in suspicion*

…is it appropriate for me to say “Oh, good lord!” now? (Okay, I did that rather deliberately, but normally in these notes I’d self-censor it to be “oh, goodness” or something like that.)

Seriously, the black-haired dude in the Ionian Hetairoi is my favourite, even if only because he looks like Waver (and he’s really easy to spot, to boot).

Why is this in first person??? I’ve dropped entire shows based on their usage of 1st person cam! Room Mate and Makura no Danshi basically scarred me for life on that front…and both of those are TV shorts!

Hey, wait a second. This “use a quote on the titlecard” thing is clearly an Ei Aoki sort of thing to do. I mean, it’s in ID: Invaded as well…

Waver 2

*new blonde girl appears* - So this is the rumoured Animusphere girl (Mary), huh?

Bounded field, huh? I’m glad I chose to watch F/Z before this, then. Now I actually understand the (rough) mechanics of how that works.

There’s assassins and then there’s Assassins…*thinks about the Holy Grail War*

As it turns out, astromancy is basically astrology.

The one thing that bugs me about “Modern Magecraft” (there’s a similar concept of New Magic in Mairimashita! Iruma-kun) is…how is the magic “modern”…? Especially in a work like this, where the magic is based in arcane rituals and bloodlines…you really need to establish how the “modern” bit works.

Gray is facing away from the Animusphere girl (Mary), I noticed.

“When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.” – Sherlock Holmes – Basically, the fact I’ve memorised this quote is one of the lingering impacts of my time in the Detective Conan fandom, as it can be used on things like quizzes, not just mysteries.

Can we please use proper English, Waver??? (Says me to a character whose name I still find nonsensical enough to not be proper English.) As I said previously, “whydunit” is modus operandi or motive…the new bit is “howdunit”, which would be the method.

I do believe the geocentric model was overthrown by people like Kepler.

Gray kind of looks like Saber with that hairstyle, come to think of it.

With the way Gray hides herself under that hood, it’s no mystery as to why guys love her…at least, I know ThatRandomEditor does. Of course, I’m heavily neutral on the whole affair because I don’t swing that way, but…you know…

LEMPC seems to stand for “Lord El-Melloi Production Committee”, if I’m guessing right.

I seem to remember there was a quote somewhere that said the only constant in this world was change…hmm.

Waver 3

They seem to keep calling Japan “the Far East” (or at least, Japan is part of the Far East). That’s a pretty antiquated term for a supposedly “modern” magic anime. I get vaguely peeved by the term “the Far East” because it causes people to take an oriental viewpoint on things and thus it’s kind of like people from the Anglosphere looking down on Asians. (I also get vaguely peeved by the term “Westerners” for much the same reason and “Caucasians” because it implies all people of the Anglosphere come from the Caucasus, which is false…then again, these niggles are specific to international studies, so I have a vested interest in explaining them.)

…Wow, that star-eyepatch girl is…really something, to be thirsty specifically for Waver’s Iron Claw. (Then again, with my weird tastes in things, who am I to critique her?)

Flitz von Erich. I was surprised to learn this guy actually exists…on Wikipedia, at the very least.

“Any lady should know about wrestling.” – I disagree, Luvia.

Blue furry electrical creature…I dunno how the zoology in this show works, but the fantasy series I’m reading as of the time I was typing this comment has a blue creature called a Raiju (literally “thunder beast” in Japanese, so it would suit the “Thunder” in the episode title). If it’s anything like that, I’d laugh myself silly.

This girl on the poster seems to be called Flan Noir (or something similar).

“…yellow, round, fluffy-smelling…” – What? Svin, you have no right to call a girl those words!

When is this series set if people don’t have phones as a standard? *Googles* Okay, if F/SN is set in 2004, then F/Z is 1994. That would make sense, actually. The internet as we know it was first used in 1995 and didn’t become widespread for home use until a few years later, as I remember having computers in 2004 (albeit the blocky ones with the dial-up).

I was looking at images for the source material and I think I know why I like Waver (aside from the fact he has long hair). Normally I like the boys whose appearances are hard to get right, such as En…Waver in the novels and manga for this series sometimes looks grumpy, sometimes he looks constipated and worst of all, sometimes he looks like Snape with a hook nose.

Okay, so I googled Caules to figure out who his sister was…and I got Apocrypha spoilers. See, his sister is Fiore, who is apparently in that series.

The videos got encoded funny again…

There seems to be a mystery around why Svin and Gray can’t be together…well, one deeper than just “Svin is gaga for Gray [for reasons we don’t know at this point in time]”.

Ha, the El-Melloi Class is basically just the Misfit Class from Mairimashita! Iruma-kun.

“Only the flesh was bitten off.”

This Jupiter gibberish, I assume, is drawing upon the mythology of Jupiter – that is, Zeus – as the god of thunder and king of the gods (thus presiding over living beings).

The English is good on the bill, bar a space between “Mystics of magecraft”.

Norwich is apparently a “faculty” which the Modern Magecraft Theories guys – i.e. Waver – rule over.

Can you imagine Waver swearing? Since I had the volume off, I basically made him say “…if Sir Gueldoa had resorted to brute force, we would’ve been f***ed” in my head…and that was hilarious.

Aw, thanks 7Mononoke. “A cowardly thief sneaks away in the night. If you stride away, bursting with song, you are a conquering king.” That’s a quote from Rider himself.

So the Association has set positions for Masters in the War? Geesh…that must be hard on Waver to find out they’re closed, considering how much Waver pines for Rider.

Waver 4

I finally got the chance to listen to the ED last ep and now it’s the OP I can hear properly. This OP isn’t particularly impressive, considering it’s an instrumental (instrumentals always seem to have less impact for me unless I’m looking for something to chill to), but it does capture the London-esque spirit of the setting very well.

What’s up with this metal (?) maid off to the side, anyway?

“Good thinking to leave the door open…” – For some reason, even though it’s a completely different and much more benign context, this made me think of KyoAni and my heart sunk.

Atrum Galliasta…I hate that man. He may look hot, but he was nothing but a b*stard to Medea.

Bolo ties…nrgh…Basically, ever since Arima wore a bolo tie, I’ve become fairly bugged by them. That’s why Bram’s bugs me.

Aw, Waver, buddy, plase don’t sacrifice yourself again. I read on the wiki you become a Servant’s vessel (specifically for Zhu Ge Liang), so keep your hopes up.

I’m seriously feeling ID: Invaded vibes from this episode, what with the lightning.

I suspect a locked room murder is going to happen soon, knowing the genre. Either that or some other crime.

Considering Fate/ was an eroge-based thing initially, these sex jokes…there’s probably plenty of them out there.

Well, it seems this series only makes sense in that non-Detective Conan way, i.e. you want to know how it all comes together and can’t necessarily figure it out for yourself until you know how the magic works. I’m randomly going to guess this is more Jupiter-based stuff and call it a day on that front.

Seriously, I never got what was up with nightgowns (or just pyjamas in general) having hats. You don’t need protection for your head at night…that’s what pillows are for, yeah? (The only reason I see a hat-like thing working with nightwear is a onesie and that’s meant to be part of the inherent appeal of the thing.)

Waver 5

I feel like Adashino is meant to be an Irene Adler-type figure…

“Peaceful Fairys” (sic)

Where did Kairi’s scar come from…?

The Black Dog was in Mahoutsukai no Yome as well, but this one looks a lot less inviting, huh?

It seems, like the name Rail Zeppelin implies (as “Demon Eyes Collection Train”), most of the people involved in this case have Magic Eyes (or whatever they’re actually called). I wouldn’t be surprised if Kairi had them as well, considering he’s wearing dark glasses in the middle of a thunderstorm.

“King Arthur is a dude, right?” - *laughs madly* They finally managed to parody their own bulls***! (Well, I’m not counting Carnival Phantasm or whatever else because this is the first time they threw a meta joke in there in the whole of this project, as far as I can remember.)

Trimmau seems to be the maid’s name…huh. They never mentioned that earlier, I don’t think.

So what’s the difference between Fairy Eyes and Mystic Eyes?

Wait, does that even work…? The entire house is the murder weapon? That’s basically breaking the “secret passageway” thing on a larger scale.

So what’s Trevor’s motive…?

The dogs running towards the Workshop reminded me of the Hunger Games for some reason…must be the climax.

That fairy isn’t emoting much…

Oh cra-Wills is going to sacrifice himself, like Adashino was going to do! That’s the second time I’ve seen that in 2 days (the first was in the Hypnosis Mic manga about the Dirty Dawg).

Uh…Waver’s not particularly fit or fast, is he…?

Can you be paid for your case if your client is essentially dead…?

Adra? I read around and Adra seems to be a way to spell the location (or whatever it is) in the first case…which got adapted into a stage play, but not an anime. That’s probably what he’s (Waver) referring to.

Notably, the title is translated to “lance” but yari means spear…

Waver 6

I seriously wanna slap that pink-haired girl…Update: Her name is Yvette.

This is basically Gray fanservice…

If Gray = Saber and Saber =King Arthur…hmm…does it count as a girl’s party?

Homeland? Since Britain is Saber’s (aka Gray’s) home country, I think they meant “hometown”…I’d hav to listen to the Japanese to make sure, though.

I still think Waver is a stupid, or at the very least false, name for a boy, especially if he did come from Britain. That’s basically my one limitation on him as a husbando.

The red bit of the eyecatch was shapd like an eye…it did catch eyes in a sense, after all.

So Trimmau is sustained by magic.

Locked-room…or rather, bounded field…mystery time!

Luvia did mention wrestling in another episode…

I had to google that, but the Separation Castle is from the Adra case mentioned in episode 5. No wonder I don’t remember it…

“Are you suggesting there were faults…” (from Luvia) - Ooh, I was thinking the perpetrator was caught inside their own bounded field or maybe it was an outsider, but that works too, Reines.

Add calld Luvia out for her extravagance, LOL.

Catch-as-catch-can appears to be “no-holds-barred fighting”, particularly wrestling.

That case was both informative and possibly solveable by the audience. Both good qualities for a mystery.

If you summon the spirit again, is it the same Rider with the same memories? Or can you summon a different version of the same Rider with amnesia, much like Rin did with Archer? Update: Oh yeah, I did read this on the wiki at one point but then forgot about it. The next episode (7) confirms that Rider wouldn’t remember Waver if he were summoned again.

Waver 7

…C’mon, admit it, show. The glasses are not only there for plot reasons but to up Waver’s status as megane boy for the rest of this case. Not that I mind – I actually really like megane boys, but I’m nowhere near the love of Meganebu – but in the case of plausibility, I wanna poke holes into it.

Auction for which Mystic Eyes now…?

There’s a guy…with an elephant head…I know I shouldn’t be bugged by it, but I need the MST3K mantra right now.

This is gonna be a Murder on the Orient Express thing, isn’t it? All cases set on trains seem to take cues or make homage to it. (I may not be that proficient on Christie in comparison to Holmes, since Holmes was Conan’s inspiration, but Murder on the Orient Express I have read and I did secure an anthology of 4 Christie novels at one point specifically so that I could improve in this area.)

The main series never explained the bad blood between the Church and the Tower, did they…?

*sweatdrop* Let me guess…when Yvette mentions “multiplay”, she means a threesome, right?

How do anime people see out of those blindfold thing, anyway??? (Or is it that Leandra has Mystic Eyes that were sold off or otherwise tampered with?)

I believe the word is “palate”, Kairi (or subbers).

Anime characters being bagworms with their blankets is always appealing, no matter the gender. It’s funny and/or relatable, after all.

Does Gray get motion sickness…? Update: Seems I spoke about a minute too soon. She does.

Waver 8

How does Waver know that Adashino got the documents about the train? Is it because she was in all those places at all those times and he connected the dots?

This lady has heterochromia. Specifically, one is brown and the other is blue or green.

Hmm? I thought the character design was familiar for this. As it turns out, Jun Nakai (who did the character design for this) also did Gate’s, which explains it.

Dionysus is the Greek god of wine, IIRC. Hephaestion is, as (s)he explained, the confidante of Alexander the Great (had to google this one).

It’s hard to see before the brightly-lit scene where Olga reappears, but as shown, Waver seems to have cut off part of his forelocks on the left side.

What’s an Odo???...ooh, fanservice…*ogles*

The summoning of Hephaestion and Trisha’s murder may or may not be related…we just don’t know how, yet.

I think a Detective Conan Murder on the Orient Express-style mystery would be a good video ga-*googles* There’s at least one of them out there already (albeit only in Japan)...namely, this one. Spoke too soon.

Oh yeah…this is Olga’s new room, isn’t it? I almost forgot about that.

Update: I think this look at the Adra Separation Castle case is interesting. It’s similar to posts I would write, but done by a professional – namely Richard Eisenbeis of Kotaku and Anime News Network.

Waver 9

So if there’s a Servant…you have to find the Master.

Olga reminds me of Reines…kind of.

LOL, whoever thought of a zombie cooking show…?

This series really goes all-in on the zombies and the fake-outs thereof, huh? Dangit, Melvin, don’t scare us.

Melvin has a really odd relationship with Waver, huh? If you’re really insisting you’re “the only person to ever be able to hurt Waver”, I don’t quite see how you guys can be friends in the normal sense of the word.

Why would someone have a violin at a time like this…?

Interestingly, they don’t bother to do any fanservice of Caules. That scene with Gray and Yvette was fanservice for those who like them, but the only guy who’s getting to do any fanservice in this series is Waver himself…(what with him being naked and knocked out right now.)

“Sibyl” seems to be a synonym for “virgin”…(*whispers “Awkward…”*)

Update: After reading some of Marth’s posts on this series, I’m inclined to call this “Murders on a Train (with an Exploding Helicopter for Good Measure)”.

Waver 10

For some reason, there’s episode 0 – 9, then 11 – 13 on the service I’m using. Where’s 10?

I think Waver’s relationship with Rider is interesting because of the way I think of relationships myself. Waver has made it clear that he wants to see Rider again so he can basically prostrate at his feet all over again (and maybe win a wish and/or see Oceanus while they’re at it), but – hey, hear this! - I used to believe, when I was still an impressionable kid, all relationships, whether they be between friends, family or even lovers, lasted roughly in the same state basically forever (as in, friends stay friends forever, they’ll never be so far apart that they can’t kep their relationship alive etc. etc.)…Obviously, I was wrong and arguably, this change in thinking, plus the related changes in technology, are where my ability to fleetingly but passionate love both 2D boys and the series they come from comes from.

Wait, so the Child of Einasshe (sp?) is the forest, yeah? I don’t think I got that 100% straight.

I never thought the shield form of a Mystic Code could be used for snowboarding down a mountain/hill…whatever Gray just went down. I didn’t even know Add had a shield form, for that matter.

“[U]sual individual” – LOL. What a way to refer to Waver.

“Wait a minute!” – I’m just imagining Phoenix Wright all of a sudden. A Waver legal mystery series would be boring as all get out – I’m far less interested in the courtroom versions of mysteries and more interested in how the pieces fit together. (Update: Then again, I am a person who likes the action genre and courtroom mysteries don’t have much of that, which might also explain my choice.)

“…lacking the element of motive to begin with.” – Well, Waver’s not wrong…

I’m observing this apple and noticing someone skimped on the detail around the stem. Does anyone still remember Art Academy for the DS? After looking at some promo material for it, I basically learnt how to draw a proper apple (and nothing else, really). If an apple is just drawn as a circle, it doesn’t quite look like an apple up close. (Two of the main things I screw up on when drawing are perception and the colour of highlights, both of which are covered in something like an apple stem and the related indent.)

Oh goodness…I was hoping Karabo would keep his vision (or actual eyeballs)…but that’s gruesome.

I’m guessing, based on the wheelchair, that Waver’s still paralysed or otherwise not able to move around like normal. Update: Spoke too soon.

Someone encoded the video funny again…

Waver 11

What was that crossword thing…? A warding spell of some sort?

Is that an owl in the back?!

Stealth fighter…Rider wanted on, didn’t he?

Every time he appears on screen now, I basically curse Melvin. He’s entertaining to watch, sure, but he’s annoyingly prodigal (= wasteful). He’s basically Dice from HypMic at this stage (aka he’s the sort of person who’d bet away his own clothes, given the chance and incentive).

Look at the way Waver’s hair drags behind him as he walks…it’s gorgeous…

“Residual Image” (as translated in the title) is literally “the left-over image” (zanzou). Not surprising, but I find the exact combo of characters used interesting since it could be short for “nokoru eizou” (where the nokoru’s character is read as zan in the combo, as you can guess).

Waver 12

Wow…this series really pulled something out of its butt this time, huh? “The guy without a heart”…no viewer would’ve known that actually referred to a character called Dr Heartless unless they knew of his existence somehow (the closest they would’ve been was having an inkling that this pointed to a name of the culprit).

There is an owl in the back of the auction room!

Ay? So what the heck is Pandemonium in this case?

“dotard” – Turns out this means “an old person, especially one who has become physically weak or whose mental faculties have declined.” You can’t say I don’t enrich my vocbulary through watching anime, huh?

I’m still wondering…why adapt case 7 of this series (Rail Zeppelin)? Why not case 1 (Adra)? Update: I don’t know where I pulled the number 7 from, since this is volume 4 – 5 of the series. Apparently some of the cases were anime-original though.

Waver 13 (FINAL)

Oh, Flat, you stupid…

Waver’s exasperated faces are great. No wonder Reines likes to toy with him…

I can assume Rail Zeppelin is a Ghost Liner, yes?

Can I guess that Adashino ~likes~ Waver…? Update: Turns out that’s not quite the case.

Ooh, Waver without his shirt is se-okay, I’m getting distracted. Seriously though, Waver never showed his Crest in F/Z. I never even knew what it looked like until now! The fact it’s such a simple design in comparison to his Command Seals is…kinda underwhelming, really.

I think there’s a bit of a pattern between Jakurai (from HypMic) and Waver…namely, they suck when it comes to drinking. (Also, of course, the long hair. Don’t forget it, never forget it.)

Shut up, Add!

For some reason, I felt like a lot of that last part, while getting closure for Waver, it almost had connotations of “I’ll meet you on the other side, Rider”…so it felt kind of sad, to be honest. That talk between Reines and Olga I don’t think I’d understand without Apocrypha and Grand Order, but I guess that’s to be expected in such a huge franchise. Anyways, moving right along!

Illya 1

I’ve been a bit worried about what I’ll have to subject myself to for the sake of Magical Girls…

Was that…Taiga?

Who’s Liz…?

Okusama, huh? (Okusama = someone’s wife, although it seems to be used in the plural here since I don’t think Kiritsugu and/or Iri are dead in this timeline.)

The subs I’ve got say Shiro is adopted here too (when it’s not in the Japanese), although I wonder exactly how much of UBW is going to be true in this anime…

Hmm…a bit of digging reveals Luvia’s not a Master. So throwing out Lancer is really just a joke on how Lancer gets roasted early on in Grail Wars, right?

Uhhhhhhhhhhhhh…squick, much…(Thank goodness the source I was using edited out the loli fanservice, so I can tolerate this series a lot more…but still, suggesting you have a romance with your step-brother, even if it’s known you’re not related from the beginning, is…you already know my feelings on that, based on my reaction. Shiro is, what, 15? About twice Illya’s age!) Update: Okay, so he has no confirmed age in Prisma Illya, but he’s 17 in F/SN so I’d assum the same or similar, seeing as he attends the same school. It’s fine if it’s platonic, but this is clearly an Onii-chan, daisuki! thing the likes of which Oreimo throws down! Thank you for calling it out though, Ruby.

Oh my gosh, this looks like the Rhongomynaid (Detective Waver) and Excalibur (or whatever Saber’s Noble Phantasm is called) summoning beam! LOL!

Ruby, you lech! Don’t go praising the angles! *shakes fist* (Seriously, what if magical girl mascots were paedophiles…? *blank face* Welp, considering what’s out there on the internet, I wouldn’t be surprised if a hentai or something had such a concept.)

Hmm? Turns out the word for Servant means something like “celestial hero”. Makes sense.

Nice callback to Saber and Shiro!

Illya 2

I thought Illya would say that her parents are dead…turns out the show’s not that grimdark (to the point where it wouldn’t set the show after Kiritsugu and Iri’s deaths), huh?

Do the sticks have a gender? The subs said “she” for Ruby…

LOL, it’s Rider. I thought Lancer was gonna get his butt kicked all over again (thinking more along the lines of CCS).

It’s Gay Bul-I mean, Gae Bolg! (I’ve been reading TV Tropes again…can you tell?)

This episode was pretty pedestrian. I like it more than the first one.

What’s up with the CGI…?

Oh! Bunbun, who does Yuki Yuna! Update: They only did the illustrations for some of the series. They also did SAO illustrations, although that’s of less significance to me.

Illya 3

The sticks do have genders!!! That’s like claiming Jesus for kakera with Mudae! (Yes, that’s possible. I got him in one server.)

The power of fujoshi…is amazing! How did it get to a girl who’s so young?!

These angles are a bit disturbing…

“Casao”, LOL.

Magical girl nakama, huh?

Illya 4

MST3K mantra!

Whose quote is that again…? “Don’t think, imagine”? Update: It turns out to not be anyone’s quote at all, if Google results are to be believed.

Uh-oh! Saber Alter!

Illya 5

Padding the episode already…?

The mist is a quality of a Berserker, right?

Geez the angles piss me off…

These sticks have brains???

Can you call it teamwork if they’re always complaining about each other?

Illya 6

More padding…

Illya’s UBW!

Geesh, that last-minute shot of Rin and Luvia popping out of the ground scared me for a bit…

Illya 7

*sigh* It’s the sick episode…

I recognise the vacuum cleaner. I have the same one at home.

*sigh* Random fanservice of elementary school girls. This is what gives anime a bad name.

*Sapphire pulls out a USB port* - Ohhkay, is that stick fanservice, in a sense…? Because that’s awkward too.

Maids went out of fashion years ago…

“Lyrical Radical Genocide” - I think this Lyrical Radical things is parodying Nanoha.

Based on the cloak, it’s an Assassin.

“Listen, if you aren’t careful, you’ll die!” – Yep, because people die when they are killed. I almost missed that meme for a bit.

Illya 8

Illya’s still reeling from Miyu’s talk, huh?

I noticed it said tomoda(chi) in the background at one point.

Does Miyu exist in any of the alternate universes?

Ah, there’s yuujou (friendship) in the background as calligraphy.

I think the video got encoded funny again…

Geez, complaining about boobs? The series got worse…oh, I forgot Shiro was around in this series.

…who’s left? There’s been Saber, Archer, Lancer, Assassin, Rider, Caster and…who? Berserker, that’s who.

Illya 9

Ohhhhhhhh brother, not more bath scenes…

Iri looks almost exactly like she does in the Eiznbern Consultation Rooms! (I found those around and watched them today.)

Thank goodness the fanservice is censored…

I never realised Berseker had heterochromia until now…

One thing that I assume makes Saber’s outfit look nice to thos that like girls is the window in the top…but it goes to waste on Miyu, LOL.

I find it interesting Illya has all these concerns – the ones (or similar ones) Iri harbourd in F/Z.

Hey, the bridge! This is the bridge where Rider dies inn F/Z, yeah?

The ED looks different this time…

Illya 10 (FINAL)

E-Eep…loli fanservice…

Now Miyu is basically what Waver is to Rider, no doubt about it.

Bulls***! Speak of the devil! I was wondering what Waver looked like in the Illya style, because I read on the wiki he makes a cameo in season 2, and…here he is. Didn’t expect him in season 1, though.

Another new ED animation. I find it interesting they’ve never once had to recast any VAs throughout the entire existence of Fate/ anime…not that I know of, anyway.

Hiroyama Hiroshi is the original Illya creator.

Okay, that’s the end of one season. I feel kind of fatigued since I finished the Eiznbern Consultation Rooms today as well, so I’m going to take a break from watching more Illya until it’s necessary to watch again in a few posts’ time.

Now that they’ve collected the cards, I’m wondering what the series intends to do next…

Illya s2 Pt 1 Ep 1

They clearly skimped on the budget when Shiro was leaving the house…

I keep forgetting Illya is meant to be German…

That bad English…is actually there in the ep. title…

Oh great…schoolgirls talking about erotic swimsuits…

This s*** is what you call “Class-S”! I have no interest in it, because I don’t swing that way! (Sorry, yuri fans…)

The problem with series that aren’t 100% made with you in mind is that your favourite characters might look ugly…that’s especially the case with En, Jakurai and Waver.

Ryudou Temple, eh? Let’s hope Assassin still looks good.

I don’t think I’ve seen that before…namely, being able to hear what’s going on outside the transformation while it’s happening.

Now this 2 Illyas thing…this is new, alright.

Illya s2 Pt 1 Ep 2

LOL, what a horoscope.

Truck-kun! I don’t think Illya would make a good isekai protag, come to think of it.

Who is this nurse? I feel like she’s from some other part of the Nasuverse… Update: My guess was right. That’s Caren Hortensia, protagonist of Fate/hollow ataraxia and Kirei’s…uh, daughter. I know he had a wife. We never met said wife, but seeing the daughter really drove that fact home.

Uhhhhhhhh…okay, now the lesbian loli scene just made things go off a cliff for me. I’m not against lesbians or yuri – to each their own – but that scene was clearly meant to be pleasing to a certain audience.

How does anyone kill anything gently…?

Ohhhhhhkay, strike 2 for loli fanservice.

I seem to remember…that’s right, Alice from the [something] no Kuni no Alice series was evaluated on her coffee-making skills (by Julius, I think it was). That’s why I’m thinking of Alice when I see Luvia praising Miyu on something similar.

Wa-hey! It’s Rin’s Azoth dagger!

Well, the mechanics of the transformation are also something you have to think about. I’ll give the show kudos for that.

Illya s2 Pt 1 Ep 3

Can we not with the whole “Onii-chan, daisuki!” thing?! That’s it! That’s the last straw! I’m finishing this episode and aborting early so that I can preserve my dignity…and get some proper sleep for once.

The fact Miyu thinks Shiro resembles her brother must not be a coincidence…(I’ve become far too Fate/ savvy, haven’t I?) Update: It seems I was right. Apparently, Miyu was taken in by Kiritsugu in a certain universe, but apparently this is a bunch of spoilers.

Genki na aisatsu was in the back.

This is just getting worse and worse…

So now Kuro’s name is Kuroe (Chloe), huh? Anyways, good riddance, loli fanservice! So long! I won’t miss you one bit!

#lord el-melloi ii-sei no jikenbo #Lord El-Melloi II's Case Files #fate/kaleid liner prisma illya #Fate/Kaleid Liner Prisma Illya 2wei!

1 note · View note

allykat4416 · 5 years

Text

Meme Trip 2k19, Pt. 5

Date: May 23

Park: Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio

Oh boy, this is a park I’ve been looking forward to talking about. By which I mean, Jesus Christ, I really don’t want to talk about this park, but here we are. If you want to see me go from bordering on weepy to ready to rip a man’ s jugular out with my teeth in 0.06 seconds, hit that jump!

Once upon a time, back when undergrad made me want to chug bleach and I had heavy rose-tinted goggles on, there was no park in the world I loved more than Cedar Point. Every summer, I would gripe and complain that I didn’t get to go. And now, I’m at the point (hah, get it?) that this park makes me wanna go full White Boy and punch holes in the drywall.

I have never felt more conflicted over a place in my life. Cedar Point meant a lot to me for a really long time, and that soft spot can’t go entirely away overnight. I hate what Cedar Point represents in the community, and I hate the attitude that a solid 95% of Cedar Point Fanboys hold (and there’s a difference between them and regular people who like Cedar Point, and my heart bleeds for you if you too know that distinction.) I love Dragster, when it’s open. I still really like Raptor, and I have a newfound appreciation for Gatekeeper after the atrocity that was X-Flight. Magnum is amazing, Maverick is amazing, and I’ll even go to bat for Wicked Twister. Millennium Force is still my favorite fucking roller coaster of all time, because it’s 2003 and I am really REALLY cool. Steel Vengeance is my absolute least favorite coaster of all fucking time, and there’s not a day that passes that I don’t wish they’d just kept Mean Streak and ya’ll died mad over it.

Cedar Point made me want to become an enthusiast. Cedar Point makes me want to stop being an enthusiast. Millennium sparked a love in me that sent me to so many amazing places, namely to Agawam. Steel Vengeance sparked a hatred in me that’s made me seriously consider never touching another amusement park again. My most loved and my most hated rides of all time are in this park, no more than half a mile from each other.

But I’ll get to that later. Onto the rides.

I feel like I talked about Cedar Creek Mine Ride last year, and it’s not a ride I care enough about to go make sure if I did or not. I rode with Casie and Jenn because the only way to have fun on a mine train is to go with your friends and act like an idiot the entire ride. I think the Matilda Watkins tombstone out front is interesting, and I wonder if they’re going to do anything more to this ride since they’re trying to make Frontiertown have a story (which, though I detest the centerpiece ride, I still applaud a good tale.) The sign with the other mine trains and how far away they were was a cute touch too.

Thanks to my foot deciding to be a real jerk, we actually had a chance to go look in the museum. I’m kind of glad we did, and not just because the air conditioning was a treat. Sometimes when you have an injury like this, it forces you to slow down and look at stuff you may have missed otherwise in a mad dash to riderideriderideride. We should have done the Gemini photo op, looking back on it now.

Speaking of, Gemini is a fun and inoffensive ride. I’d probably be a little sad if they got rid of it, but I don’t think Gemini will be around much longer. I do think we’ll lose the other mine train and probably Wicked Twister before it, but I don’t see them being here in 20 years. But until then, I’m going to appreciate Gemini while we’ve still got it and the queue isn’t over a 15 minute wait. I do think I would probably like it more if it would actually duel, but alas, such is life.

A lot of stuff we usually like to ride was down. I didn’t get to see Wicked or my Beemer girls. I can live without Valravn and Rougarou, even if Furry Macklemore was running. TTD was eating Takis and laughing at us, I’m sure.

We got two rounds on Magnum, and I’m happy to say the tunnel effects are back! I’d never experienced those, but I’m happy I had the chance to this time. It’s really nice to get some actual ejector, and the last half of Magnum delivers in spades. I was missing that since Kentucky Kingdom. This ride doesn’t deserve the hate it gets, and I can’t speak for everyone, but I have nothing but respect for our OG Queen of Coasters. You’re always going to be the better hyper in this park.

I did 15 rounds on Millennium because of course I did. I’m up to 84 rides now. I could come to this park, ride only this, and be perfectly happy. I saw Spencer, the huge fanboy from last year, again. I don’t want to say it was fate that I met back up with him, but I’m really glad I did. We’ve got that “Force is the best damn thing in this place” solidarity, and that’s so rare to have. My foot was in excruciating pain and the ride operators asked me if I was alright, but I told them there was no way I was going to miss this. So I hobbled back through the queue as many times as I could.

I know logically, my foot felt better on the ride because I was sitting down. The bottom of the train may have had something to do with it too because of foot positioning. But the very childish part of me who still wants to believe there’s magic in the world thinks that maybe that was the ride’s way of saying thanks. For sticking by her through Fury (even though I do have mad love for my bee.) For sticking by her through Steve. And for sticking by her through whatever monstrosities are coming down the pipeline.

I rode once with my eyes closed, and I knew that no matter what happens, this is something I can’t give up. It was like Shivering Timbers again. I promise I’m not nutso. But there was just that small, still voice that said you cannot walk away from this. Not after everything.

He cannot fucking have this. Neither can she. But especially not him.

I’m pretty sure one of my multiple tags for this ride have said I would throw hands for Millennium. I would. Like I say on here, she’s my sun and my stars. And the sky seems awfully dark and lonely without that, don’t you think? I know there are people out there with deeper connections to rides, connections that mean so much more than this little tiny baby one I have ever could. Millennium Force isn’t the reason I didn’t fling myself off a bridge like I’d planned to on August 20, 2017. I was ready to go (TTD pun unintended), and Millennium didn’t stop me, but it was a damn nice consolation prize for staying alive.

I always try to make my final ride on yellow train, so I lost the official last ride of the night because of that. Still worth it, though. I always have to ride that one last, so goodbye doesn’t feel so permanent. If I can wait 5 years, I can wait however long I need. Yellow train was my first train I ever rode Force in back in 2013. I remember because I was so happy, that was always the train in the photos. That’s why I made Milan’s eyes that really weird color, because of the yellow train. I know I probably sound nutso. I really, really promise I’m not.

I’m probably going to leave Instagram--- I like, like, maybe 10 people on there anyway, and it’s clearly making this overall hobby very un-fun for me. I don’t know where I’ll go. I don’t know if going anywhere is the right move. I had a good thing going when I was just shouting into the void about coasters here; that was fun and there were negative levels of pressure. I’ll take having no one to talk to over having to be around…Those People. But god damn it, I cannot cannot cannot lose this ride.

This park is always going to have a negative association to me now to some degree because of Steel Vengeance. But I’ll be damned if I let that pathetic excuse of a coaster diminish the love I feel for Millennium Force for a fucking second.

We only got one ride on Maverick because the lines for that always suck, and I was elsewhere for most of the day and in no shape to hobble back to my favorite filly. I’m not even certain which train we got on since we were sent to the back. You can make the “horses in the back” joke at any time, really. As always, Maverick kicks all sorts of ass. Bow down to the true queen of Frontiertown, you cowards. I do prefer Maverick in the front, but there was no way they’d honor our request. Oh well. This ride doesn’t deserve an ounce of the hate it gets. You guys suck.

And now that we’re talking about Frontiertown, I don’t have to hold back on how much I despise Steve! So let me nail my grievances to Tony Clark’s door.

First of all, I’ll blame myself for setting my expectations too high. That’s on me. I didn’t know that literally nothing could ever compare to Lightning Rod, but I still shouldn’t have expected it to be LRod. Any park is going to market a coaster to be the best of its class, regardless of if that’s true. See: Yukon Striker. Yawn. Canada’s Wonderland wants you to be excited, but it’s really hard to. The point is they’re trying to hype it up. I don’t fault CePo’s marketing for the hype before it opened because that’s just their job. My expectations being high was on me and me alone. I take responsibility for that. And I don’t doubt that if my first RMC had been, say, Wicked Cyclone or Twisted Timbers, I’d still dislike Steve. But I don’t think it would be as strong of a disappointment. The ride is average at best. Steel Vengeance, as a RIDE EXPERIENCE, is so inoffensively boring that it’s offensive. I blame the MCBR.

No, no, my real beef with Steve is the way everyone treats it. It’s like a Children’s Crusade against anyone who dares to speak ill of this ride, and I absolutely do not like that. It’s not like any other coaster’s bootlickers, because 9 times out of 10, they’re still civil. I have met exactly 3 people who love Steve that are decent fucking humans. Three. Let that sink in.

Otherwise, you’re dogpiled for “daring” to like another RMC more. People WILL fight you in the name of SV. Any ride you say something nice about, you’ll have people crowing that “Vengie better!” in the comments. People have lost friends because of their opinions on this ride. Because did you know if it isn’t your #1, you’re lying to yourself? Did you know that opinions were allowed before Stevie?

This is what you’re missing if you’re not in the coaster community. This is why I want out. You can’t think anything is better than Steve now. That’s a thought crime, and you’ll be properly ostracized in this fandom because you’re not being a good enthusiast. These people have turned a fun community into a dystopian police state. And that’s fucked up. Big Brother Blackjack is watching you.

Because it’s RMC, and they do no wrong. [except everything that isn’t Stevie now, that’s “on a whole different level and it’s disrespectful to our father to say them in the same breath”] Because it’s Cedar Point, they definitely do no wrong. [except everything there that isn’t Steve uwu maverick bad millennium bad steve bestest evar] There’s objectively nothing wrong with this ride, flawless and perfect and immaculate in design, we are not worthy.

Except if you rode another RMC, you would realize it kind of sucks. You want so badly to crusade for it because it’s an RMC at Cedar Point, a cocktail of toxicity. I don’t know when the next thing to finally kill Steve will be, but I will take immense pleasure in watching every single one of them squirm and try to find a reason why RMC’s i232 is “better” that isn’t because “it’s an RMC at Cedar Point.”

And that’s why I hate Steel Vengeance. It’s taken so much fun out of something that used to be a pleasure for me and turned it into Cowboy Panem. Call me Katniss.

{Edited because I had this typed up Friday and didn’t bother to post Saturday since I was wallowing in my sadness, but I just deleted Instagram largely because of this ride around 5 hours ago. Whoo!}

But now that that’s out of my system, I guess we should also take this fun tidbit into consideration: The Bane of My Existence was down for most of the day. Not like I ever wanted to waste my time with that snoozer of a ride again anyway, but even having SV not be operational changes the atmosphere of the park.

It almost, for a brief moment, felt like the Cedar Point I remembered from 2013.

I’m not going to say it reduced me to tears because I’m only allowed to cry once a year and I had already used up my annual quota during finals week. But for these small flashes, it’s like Mean Streak was there. Like Phil never left. And everything felt so, so much better. I’d told Casie that the park was like a big blend of pretty pastels, all these gorgeous colors together: sugar pink, baby blue, lavender, soft orange, sea-foam green. And those were the rides there like Maggie and the Intamins and the Beemers. Steve is the big, ugly brown smudge from having mud on your shoe. It throws the whole painting off, but if you cover it up… it’s kind of beautiful.

If MIA makes me miss what I never had, CePo with downtime Steve makes me miss what I know I had and can’t ever get back.

There’s no malice to these rides. They’re just kind of goofy and definitely sleepy. They’ve been through a lot, but they’re friendly. They get it. They know my problem isn’t with them at all.

Someone I dislike told Casie regarding Steve that, “that ride must hate you two.” I don’t think rides actually have souls, despite how I’ve talked through these reports. (Personification is just a fun pastime.) Even if they did, Steve certainly wouldn’t have one. It would explain why the park personified it from the get-go. But it’s good to know the feeling is mutual! Hey Steve, hate ya more! :D Just know someday fire will catch, and just like President Snow, Vengie and his little empire will burn.

#trip reports #i'm in JUST enough of a shitty mood to let it all hang out so here we mcfuckin go

3 notes · View notes

wazafam · 3 years

Link

Gaming with friends is always an enjoyable pastime, no matter what the genre might be. Bullets might fly, starships might be destroyed, and fighters might be met with gruesome and gory fatalities, but there are few themes more enjoyable than joining together on a quest in search of an adventure.

RELATED: 10 Best Story-Driven Games On PS1

RPG games come in a variety of flavors from fantasy to sci-fi and beyond. Since it's dangerous to go alone, why not invite a friend or two to join in on the loot and the action? There are dozens of titles to choose from, and the genre is rich in quests, side missions, and excitement to share.

10 King of Dragons

RPGs and side-scrolling-beat-em-ups are two games that are often blended together in a delightful cocktail of action and adventure. If gamers are just getting into that beloved combination, this Capcom classic is an excellent way to start.

The beat-em-up combat is the core of this adventure, but it has a healthy handful of RPG elements that perfectly complements the traditional fantasy aesthetic. It's an arcade gem that more than likely inspired a number of other games on this list, so why not give the original a go?

9 Castle Crashers

It might not be as classy as some of the other entries on this list, but it's impossible to say that Castle Crashers isn't fun. Beating and brawling through a cartoony fantasy kingdom will definitely keep players entertained for hours, but don't let the Newgrounds look mislead, there's some strategy at play too.

RELATED: Castle Crashers & 9 Other Best Beat-Em-Ups on Switch, Ranked

Players can upgrade their knights, pick different weapons, assign skill points, and take different paths throughout this over-the-top adventure. And with plenty of unlockables, there's reason to come back for more.

8 Borderlands Series

Borderlands has been called a hybrid of FPS and Diablo, and that essentially isn't too far from the truth. Fighting off hoards of mutants and bandits through a cell-shaded wasteland has never been so much fun, especially when this game has more loot than a dragon horde.

With multiple classes, tons of weapons, and four entries in this cult-favorite series, there are plenty of ways to get thrown into the fray. Best of luck, Vault-Hunters.

7 Torchlight Series

This top-down RPG might have a Diablo-inspired makeup, but Torchlight has a fantasy flavor all its own. Its lore, world, and characters alone are worth giving the game a once over, but as is the case with most dungeon-crawlers, this one is definitely better with a full party.

RELATED: Torchlight 3: Best Things to Do After Beating The Game

There are plenty of monsters to mash, character classes to experiment with, companions to aid, and a world to explore and conquer. Single-player is fine, but nothing beats a full party.

6 Lord of the Rings: War In The North

An underappreciated hack-and-slash title, but one that will scratch every fantasy itch imaginable. An epic journey set against the backdrop of Tolkien's War of the Ring with a fellowship of three original characters? How has this not gotten a re-release yet?

The split-screen might take a little getting used to, but it makes for an epic quest between friends once everyone's locked in. The action is the biggest selling point, and crushing orcs together never gets old by any means.

5 Gauntlet Series

If there's one co-op RPG that the entire genre owes its life to, it's Gauntlet. It's the OG of dungeon crawlers and every entry from the arcade original to the modern remake deserves to be played with a full party of adventurers.

RELATED: Best Video Games Of 2020 With Crossplay & Multiplayer

Warrior, Wizard, Valkyrie, and Elf join forces together against an army of goblins, skeletons, and more on their quest to raid dungeons, gather loot, and get to the exit. A little rinse and repeat, but not a formula without its own distinct charms.

4 Battle Axe

Perhaps the newest entry on the list, but not one that was considered lightly. Battle Axe is what happens when Gauntlet, Golden Axe, and Zombies Ate My Neighbors get put in a blender. When an evil sorceress puts a curse upon the kingdom, three heroes must join forces to stop the world from falling by her dark hand.

It's an arcade adventure at its finest, but certainly not without its flaws. Single-player mode can be as difficult as a quarter-eating arcade cabinet, so having multiple players literally provides a better experience.

3 Stardew Valley

Not all RPGs have to be about fighting evil, casting spells, or raiding vaults for guns. Sometimes it's just nice to unwind and plant a garden together. Enter Stardew Valley for players who just want to unwind and veg out.

RELATED: Stardew Valley: 10 Things To Do In The Secret Woods

The 16-bit paradise of Stardew Valley offers more than just sharecropping to pass the time. In fact, players can mine for ore, explore dungeons, raise livestock, and even just take a simple fishing trip. Why not exchange codes and come over for some company?

2 Dragon’s Crown

It's been said time and time again, but the reputation still stands. Dragon's Crown is one of the most beautiful RPGs ever created, thanks mainly to the art design from Vanillaware. It checks a lot of boxes for traditional action RPGs, but it's a classic experience any fan of the genre should have.

It's practically a love letter to the genre and with a full party of adventurers to choose from, each offering their own way to play, it offers a great deal more than the standard fantasy beat-em-up.

1 Diablo III

While the second entry in Blizzard's famous dungeon-crawler series is regarded as the best, Diablo III arguably brings just as much content and carnage to the table as its older brother. Plus, it's the one that's currently available across a multitude of consoles.

Players have their choice of heroes, armor, builds, weapons, and of course that all-important share of the loot. Raiding dungeons and killing demons will always be a go-to activity for RPG fans, and Diablo just makes that multiplayer pastime an absolute dream.

NEXT: Diablo 4: Character Classes That Should Return From Previous Games

10 RPGs That Are Better Played With Friends | ScreenRant from https://ift.tt/3htIun9

#Blogger

0 notes

waynekelton · 4 years

Text

The Best (And Worst) Auto Chess Games on Android and iOS

Dota Auto Chess is being heralded as “the next big thing” after its meteoric rise back in January 2019. While It hasn't quite managed to surpass the Battle Royale craze just yet, its potential has yet to be fully realised. Just as we saw with the Puzzle, MOBA, and Battle Royale genres in the past; clones, copycats, and tributes are quick to spring up across gaming landscape.

We've gone through the best and worst Auto Chess variants mobile has to offer right now, and we're ready to give some recommendations (and some hard passes). And you needn’t worry about price. All 'Auto-Battler' games (legitimate or otherwise) are Free-to-Play. These things make their money through cosmetic micro-transactions like board skins and avatars – there’s nothing we’ve found so far that lets you spend real money to have an in-game advantage, which is the way it’s meant to be done.

Those that don’t follow this model gain swift admittance into our 'Ones to Avoid' section.

Teamfight Tactics

Developer: Riot Games Platforms: iOS Universal, Android (and PC)

Riot's own take on the Auto Chess phenomenon is a bit tamer than Battlegrounds below, but it's still a slick piece of software. Changes are again on the subtle side, although one major difference is that TFT boards use hexes, instead of a square grid. That being said, so far movement patterns and the way combat plays out doesn't seem to differ that much as to make this a noticeable change.

Otherwise, Teamfight Tactics follows all the usual rules set-out by OG Auto Chess. There's a coin-based economy, items and loot drops, mob rounds and you can collect champions to level them up to Tier 3. TFT goes through seasonal content cycles, with the most recent one being 'Galaxies'. Each season entire sets of champions are rotated out in favour of new, more on-brand champions, which bring new synergies. The avatars and arenas also change to be more on-theme. This game features a Battle Pass monetisation system, but is otherwise free-to-play.

Hearthstone: Battlegrounds

Developer: Blizzard Platforms: iOS Universal, Android (PC etc...)

The first genuinely new Auto Chess game to arrive since the craze kicked off, Battlegrounds blends the basic belt-and-braces design concepts of the Auto Battler genre, with the DNA of Blizzard's main CCG Hearthstone. Gone are animated minions that jump and weave across a grid arena - instead you're presented with the main Hearthstone aesthetic. You still draft minions in the same way, although things like minion costs and the economy in general are wildly different. There's also a lot more combos and active planning, as not only do you need to draft cards that synergise well together, their order in your line up is also important, as it will control who attacks (and, just as in important - who dies) first.

It's definitely different and inventive and I've got a lot of time for using cards and card games as a platform, the only drawbacks is that Battlegrounds is just as susceptible to the bonkers combo plays that the main CCG suffers. Stat buffing particularly is integral to the meta right now, and it can be hard to keep track and predict where your opponents are going to be in terms of relative power. It makes it a less predictable game, which combined with the built-in RNG of the format can make the experience more stressful than it needs to be. On the bright side - dealing damage to your opponent can scale quite quickly, so if you do make a mistake you won't have to suffer for it for too long.

Dota Underlords

Developer: Valve Platforms: iOS Universal, Android (PC, Mac)

In an unusual display of vigour, Valve have been anything but lax in getting their own, 'official' Auto Chess take out the door and into the hands of players. Available in beta across all platforms, Valve have essentially built on the original Dota Auto Chess mod and put their own unique spin on things. From little changes like bench size and how the various synergies work, to their own take on monetisation, ranking and an offline mode, Dota Underlords sports a fully functional tutorial, robust AI play, as well the ability to seamlessly transition a game between PC and Mobile.

While it's still early days yet, this is our favourite mobile version of the Auto Chess games so far, mainly because Valve have put a lot of thought into addressing many of the usability and quality of life issues the original game had on both PC and mobile (although, Drodo isn't slouching there either). It's really the offline play that cinches it - not only can you play against different difficulty levels, you can completely disable the round-timers so that you can take your time as you learn the ropes of Valve's blend of Auto-Battler. Anyone who's been wary in getting caught up in knock-offs or clones may also feel starting here a safer bet, before looking at some of the others below.

Auto Chess: Origin

Developer: Dragonest Game/Drodo Platforms: iOS Universal, Android

If you were quick to the scene on Android and assumed Auto Chess by Dragonest to be nothing but a Chinese copycat, you'd be forgiven. It happens with website domains all the time. But in actuality, this is the ‘OG’ Auto Chess game that started it all. It comes from the same developers - Drodo. Washing itself of its Dota roots, Auto Chess (or Auto Chess: Origin as it’s now known on iOS) is the real deal.

Separating from its Dota foundation means Auto Chess: Origin no longer has access to familiar assets like sounds and models. So, while you might recognize its logo from the original PC version, you’ll find a pretty different looking game when you fire it up, with humour that might seem a little too juvenile for some. If you can get passed that, you’ll find a mobile replacement almost exactly the same as the PC version minus the obvious (and better suited) touch interface. It's added new pieces since first launching, and is also now starting to experiment with new game modes to try and stand-out from the competition.

Arena Allstars

Developer: Match Set Games Platforms: iOS Universal, Android

This is another recent newcomer, Arena Allstars is as innovative as it is kinda lazy. 'Optimised for mobile' returns as a selling-point, although in this game's case it's basically true - quicker matches, a vertical UI and lots of information on hand to help you figure out what's what. You'll notice on the screens everything from front-and-centre synergy guides, and you can even tap on your income to get a breakdown as to whether it's all coming from (Notice Interest makes a return in this game). Levelling up is also nice and seamless, and space concerns are addressed by allowing you to stack the same pieces together (provided they are of the same tier).

Other than that though, you'll kind of recognise all the playing pieces. Even that ability that fires a ship made of water at your opponents is in there. It's also got the typical back-end progression and monetisation offerings that most of the others have. I'd say despite it's laziness some of the quality of life features make it worth a potential migration, or at least checking out.

Chess Rush

Developer: Tencent Games Platforms: iOS Universal, Android

Tencent being one of the 'big names' in Chinese videogame publishing, it makes sense that they'd try and push out their own version of Auto Chess - which makes the partnership with Drodo over OG Auto Chess a bit odd. Come to think of it, Imba are also partnered with Drodo, and they've got their own game on this list as well. The Auto Chess Wars are weird. Anyway, Chess Rush might as well be a carbon copy clone of Auto Chess: Origins. It's got pretty much all the same features, and the heroes are very similar in a lot of respects apart from extra/different types and synergies. It's also got a slightly more in-your-face free-to-play economy in the sense that it keeps throwing free resources at you but it's largely harmless.

I'm recommending this one because it's a prettier looking alternative to Auto Chess: Origin - the production values are actually surprisingly good, with nice visuals, and a neat little intro into every match. I suspect Tencent have more resources to draw on than Drodo does so if you're looking for something that's likely iterate and polish at a decent rate, this might be an alternative. It's currently experimenting with a 4x4 mode, after having just introduced Co-op to the game, and is proving to be a bit quicker in terms of pushing out iterations and new ideas.

Arena of Evolutions: Red Tides

Developer: HERO Game Platforms: iOS Universal, Android

Now this is what we're talking about. A grittier, more sci-fi take on the Auto Chess formula. With some moody splash artwork and even a full-fledged opening movie to boot, our first thought when firing up this game was just how quickly the company must have got the ball rolling when Dota Auto Chess originally broke onto the scene.

Everything about Arena of Evolution: Red Tides screams respectable production value. If you're trying to avoid being called out as a clone, this is the way to do it. The units don't always match the space war vibe the opening movie sets up (thank you, kung-fu panda), but there's a nice variety of unique characters to pick up and play with. If you're not into multiplayer, AI brawls will still give anyone but the pros a decent (and welcoming) challenge. If you're looking for a more mature Auto Chess experience, this is a solid recommendation over the official counterpart. Everything from the chess board – which is less a board and more a stone battlefield – to the crude iron fence separating the brawl from your bench screams quality in the face of what comes next.

Auto Chess Legends

Developer: Imba/Suga Platforms: iOS Universal, Android

youtube

This one was down for maintenance when we first tried to test it out. It wasn't a good look, and we honestly thought the game was just dead on arrival… Turned out we were wrong! It fired up without a hitch the next day and was a pleasant surprise. There's a clean UI and most of the of the details you'd come to expect from a game of Auto Chess, but without an AI mode after the initial tutorial, it might scare off newcomers looking to practice before diving into the real thing. It's a little sparse of the extra game modes, but at least the developers found the time to offer micro-transaction goodies, right?

While it starts off looking like one of those cheap mobile ads on a dodgy website, Auto Chess Legends is one of the better made alternatives out there. Nowhere near the same level of depth and detail of the above games, but enough to avoid the bucket list below.

Avoid These Auto Chess Games At All Costs

We're not going to call out the lack of direct competition on the app stores right now. After all, Auto Chess isn't even a year old. But what we will call out are deplorable cash grabs siphoning the Auto Chess name and bewildering any curious mind that dares search for the next big thing. These games aren't vying for your time at all – just your money. They function mostly the same as any other Auto Battler game would, albeit for once little thing – they're all pay to win. Avoid these unless you're looking for the quick and easy route to learn the fundamentals of the game.

Heroes Auto Chess

Developer: Tap2Play LLC Platforms: iOS/Android

The first of the lot we tested out, Heroes Auto Chess is one of the better efforts of the bunch – but it's still pretty gnarly. Its low-poly art-style is reminiscent of old Steam shovelware riding the 'voxel' hype train. Hop into a match, however, and the quality starts to rapidly deteriorate further. It's a very basic take on Auto Chess, with no notable polish. Units lack personality as they're absolutely mute, while battles are nothing more than a slight wiggle animation with a cheap stock sword clash sound playing out every second or two.

Then comes the worst part – you can forgo any need for actual strategy by watching an ad to re-roll and buy additional units in the shop. Not cool. With only three slots on the bench, there's very little actually strategy to be had here, anyway. Without the ads, we could let Heroes Auto Chess slide as a decent way to introduce the game to a far younger audience. Accept donations or charge for skins by all means, but don't nullify the whole point of your game just to make 1c on an ad click. You're better than that.

AutoChess War

Developer: Phoenix Mobile/Chengdu Phoenix Electronic Arts Co. Limited Platforms: iOS/Android

We wanted to like this one, but it flops out of the gate a little too soon. AutoChess War looked promising – and actually could be if development keeps up – but what little it does is quickly soured yet again by in-game ads. A unique Adventure mode is a nice little touch. It doesn't really add much to the Auto Chess formula (aside from the horizontal board), but it does separate the game into bite-sized rounds you can drop in and out of at will, making the game more commute-friendly. When you're at home, the Endless Challenge mode can be a good way to test out some strategies. But you'll need to play another game entirely to actually execute them against another player.

Auto Chess Defense

Developer: Phoenix Mobile/Chengdu Phoenix Electronic Arts Co. Limited Platforms: iOS/Android

The first thing I noticed is that this one calls itself Auto Chess Mobile in game. Looks like someone paid for a logo a little too soon. Diving deeper, Auto Chess Defense (Mobile?) feels like a game you would have found on the original iPhone. The first app of its kind. While that would have been a glowing recommendation back in 2007, it's the worst kind of criticism you can have in 2019. We appreciate the option to skip straight into battle rather than waiting on a laborious timer, but, again, the ads creep in the sour the experience.

Seen any other games worthy of people's attention, or ones they should definitely avoid? Let us know in the comments!

The Best (And Worst) Auto Chess Games on Android and iOS published first on https://touchgen.tumblr.com/

0 notes

guidetoenjoy-blog · 5 years

Text

The best PC games around – essential pick-ups from every genre

New Post has been published on https://entertainmentguideto.com/awesome/the-best-pc-games-around-essential-pick-ups-from-every-genre/

The best PC games around – essential pick-ups from every genre

The best PC games

With unparalleled accessibility and endless upgradability, it’s no wonder that millions of gamers around the world think PC is the best place to play. Because of the platform’s history, curating a list of every great PC game throughout the ages would be a tough task, so we’ve put together a listing of modern titles that’re the best PC games to spend your time with right now.

So, in alphabetical order, here’re 50 of the best PC games around.

Cities Skylines- Honorable mentions: Prison Architect, Tropico 5

In an alternate universe where EA and Maxis didn’t drop the ball, this slot is occupied by the latest and greatest SimCity release. In fact, Cities: Skylines developer Colossal Order was miserably certain its project wouldn’t be greenlit thanks to SimCity’s announcement- but its subsequent pratfall only stimulated Paradox more eager to bring PC gamers what they wanted most.

The best way to describe Cities: Skyline is” SimCity but make use of people who liked the same things about the series as you did “. The indie squad has demonstrated tremendous commitment to ongoing support, too.

Civilization 6- Honorable mentions: Total War Rome 2, Endless Legend

Dissatisfied with the style of the world right now? Fire up Civ 6 and it’ll be 2019 before you know it.

This latest entry into Sid Meier’s Civilization series is an astonishing day sink, with the possibility to spend more than 1,000 hours across multiple games scrapping your style to global domination using strategy, diplomacy, and, when everything else fails, all out war.

The AI can be shonky at times- confounding itself and get stuck in the same flurry of actions- but there’s a lot to love here. Each of the present 24 civilization leaders are colourfully animated and bursting with personality, and there’s enough variety in their strengths, weakness and unique divisions to make playing different nations fun.

CS GO- Honorable mentions: Arma 3

To be honest we didn’t think anything could ever out Counter-Strike: Source as the go-to competitive shooter on PC( and for some people, both CS: S and the original CS remain their primary shooter ), but good ongoing support on top of the experience and panache of Valve’s development team has proved us wrong. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is now one of the top eSports titles in current circulation, and a damn good time even for the less competitively-minded.

Global Offensive was also available on consoles but like every Valve game support outside of Steam was restriction. Steam is where you’ll find the best of the best, if you fancy being humbled.

Cuphead- Honorable mentions: Nuclear Throne, Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth

Because of its unique art style, Cuphead has been on just about everyone’s radar for years. Thankfully, when it ultimately reached, the game was just as good at it seemed.

Cuphead is tough but accessible, and while the amount of projectiles on-screen can reach near bullet-hell different levels of madness, it entirely nails that artery-bursting, desk-smashing difficulty that has you fistpumping with every hard won victory.

DOOM- Honorable mentions: Wolfenstein 2, Bioshock Infinite

If your rig can run it, DOOM on max sets is a beautiful sight to behold. Well, as beautiful as monstrous demons from hell getting ripped to pieces with a chainsaw can be.

Fast-paced and ultra-violent, DOOM isn’t for the weak of belly- not just because the enemies leak strawberry jam like a poorly packed barbecue, but the ardor with which Doomguy doles out infernal punishment from a first-person view can leave some feeling nauseous.

This is no-holds-barred action at its eye-widening, engrossing best.

DoTA 2- Honorable mentions: Heroes of the Storm

DoTA- and MOBAs in general- might have started life as a Warcraft 3 mod, but with DoTA 2, it’s blossomed into a fully-fledged cornerstone of the eSports MOBA scene- with nearly $140 million won as prize money to date.

There’s a vast amount to get to grips with in DoTA 2, where developers Valve attained the trade-off of a steep learning curve for unparalleled depth. Once you’re up to velocity with the meta heroes and builds though, DoTA 2 offers a tense and engrossing competitive experience.

Dark Souls 3- Honorable mentions: Nioh, All of Dark Souls

Souls is a special series, and picking simply one game to represent it on a list is tough. It’s fitting then that Dark Souls 3 plays like a greatest hits, with all the strengths and weaknesses that come with that tag. It might not be as zeitgeist-shaping as the original, or have the same context or subtlety, but everything that you fell in love with is there in spades.

Dark Souls 3 also manages to be the most accessible Souls game, but doesn’t lose any of the challenge. The motion velocity might be quicker and some of the systems streamlined to be less confusing, but that doesn’t detract from the same core loop-the-loop that sits as the foundation for the whole series- die, and get ready to die again until you achieve glorious victory.

Dishonored 2- Honorable mentions: Deus Ex Mankind Divided, Prey

Immersive sims are synonymous with PC, and Dishonored 2 utterly nails the genre. Each map is a rich sandbox where you’re given a simple objective and how you reach it is your choice- leaving you to use every weapon in your arsenal as you see fit.

This means that every level plays almost like a puzzle to be solved, and you’ll be constantly be thinking, “what happens if I do this”, and “what happens if I go over there? ”

Dishonored 2’s dual playable results, Emily Kaldwin- the usurped queen- and Corvo Attano- the grizzled royal defender- have distinct power defines. Emily’s youthful indignation lends itself to a more destructive, violent playstyle, whereas Corvo is more adept at remaining undetected. This only adds even more replayability to a game that are currently has a whole host of different solutions.

Divinity: Original Sin 2- Honorable mentions: Tyranny, Shadowrun Dragonfall

For more than 15 years, Belgian maestro Larian Studios has been churning out quality RPGs in the old-school mould of genre classics. The recently published entry, Divinity: Original Sin 2, is a sequel to 2014 ’s Divinity: Original Sin- which itself is a prequel to the 2002 OG Divine Divinity- and a high water-mark for the already acclaimed series.

Original Sin 2 expertly mixes its nuanced tactical combat and memorable narratives and side quests with an incredible sum of option. The variety of potential interactions that can arise in every situation mean that the game’s formula bides fresh for the entirety of the its considerable length.

What’s more, you can party up with three friends and explore in four-player drop-in co-op, and this is an experience well worth sharing.

Dream Daddy- Honorable mentions: Huniepop, Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havok

The world of dating sims can be a strange one, but the best in the genre approach their characters with a heartwarming earnestness that makes them a pleasure to befriend.

In Dream Daddy you play as a single Dad who’s upped sticks to a new township with your daughter, Amanda, in tow. In a fortuitous turn of events, your new home Maple Bay is stuffed full of eligible daddies just waiting to be wooed. With Amanda’s blessing, you can choose to date any of seven hunky parents, revealing more and more about their personality as your relationship grows.

There are normal and secret ends to unlock for each perfect pop too; enough to keep any would-be matchmaker busy.

Elite Dangerous- Honorable mentions: Star Citizen

A few years ago it felt like you couldn’t move for all the upcoming space sims, but very few of them have materialised in any form a sane person would pay a retail price for. Elite: Dangerous practically wins over its genre buddies by default just by being a playable, full-featured game you can buy as opposed to something you’re allowed to look at in trailers while gibbering for a release date.

It’s also great, though, which is why it’s here. We don’t have much hope for the console constructs, to be honest; what you want is a powerful old beast of a PC, all the situates turned up as high as they can go, and a gorgeous universe to go and explore. At least one of those things is yours for the taking, courtesy of Frontier Developments, and nearly justify an investment in the first one so the second becomes a potential.

Europa Universalis 4- Honorable mentions: Hearts of Iron 4

Ah, grand strategy. How better to live out your imperial fantasies than at the helm of an endlessly growing empire that responds totally to your beck and bellow.

While Civilization V also occupies this list, Europa Universalis 4 stands out because of its straighter representation of history and the world as we know it, rather than a haphazardly made map each time. You’re still guiding your nation through centuries of diplomacy, trade, and warfare, but now there are random events to contend with as well. These can reflect the real world challenges that a nation in your opt part of the world might face, or come entirely out of leftfield- meaning there’s always room for a spanner in the works of your best laid plans.

To deplete Europa Universalis would take hundreds of hours on its own, but add the ceaseless release of new DLC packs and- even if they’re a bit pricey – you’ve got a strategy game for the ages.

EVE Online- Honorable mentions: Warframe, Black Desert Online

EVE Online is like nothing else out there. Where most games are lorded for their deep worldbuilding and painstakingly crafted lore, EVE’s greatest legends played out in real period between real players.

Hardcore members of this profession-based space sim have formed sophisticated corporations which fuel the game’s functioning economy. In times of peace the organic-feeling world is a marvel of role-playing. But when shit makes the fan, EVE Online plays host to more political intrigue and calculated backstabbing than a glossy series of HBO drama.

If you’re in the market for a “living, breathing world” that’s more than a marketing buzzword, EVE might be your purse.

Fallout 4- Honorable mentions: Skyrim

One of, if not the, best thing about Bethesda RPGs is the exceptional community of modders that painstakingly add hundreds of hours of fun to the vanilla experience with their hard work. So when the “Enhanced Edition” of Softworks’ previous highwatermark, The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim, was released and broke years of mod support, it was a weep shame.

It induces sense then to recommend one of Bethesda’s more recent endeavors, Fallout 4, which not only offers another romp into the transcendently awesome Fallout universe, but updates the underlying game mechanics enough to finally make it a competent shooter as well.

While the newly-voiced main character hampers some of the game’s ability to provide flexible role playing, the main narrative is interesting, the side quests are superb, and there are plenty of secrets and pop-culture references to unearth in all regions of the Commonwealth.

FF14 – Honorable mentions: Elder Scrolls Online

Final Fantasy 14 is one of the greatest redemption narratives in gaming. After a bumpy launch which find the game scrapped just after release in favour of a wholly revamped version, Final Fantasy 14 re-emerged with a reworked interface and gameplay, better optimisation and a snazzy new tagline: A Realm Reborn.

Now with virtually 12 million characters generated worldwide, FF14 is a thriving MMO community that’s merely been bolstered by the release of the critically-well-received Stormblood expansion.

The main depict for new players is the story missions, which tell the suitably grand tale of war between the adventurers of Eorzea and the invading Garlean Empire. But there are plenty of side quests- called Leves- to combat through as well; each oozing with that trademark Final Fantasy panache.

Fortnite- Honorable mentions: Team Fortress 2, Totally Accurate Battlegrounds

Fortnite is the biggest game running, and it’s not even on Steam. It’s been a slow-burn, but right now, Fortnite seems unassailable in its global domination, violating well and truly into the mainstream thanks to its popularity on mobile and with kids and streamers alike.

While the paid Save the World PvE game mode is fun enough and a good way to earn free V-bucks, it’s the F2P battle royale mode that’s taking the world by storm. The combining of a low barrier of entry, a simple to learn but hard to master gameplay loop-the-loop, and tense player-versus-player opposes constructs Fortnite a compelling proposition.

GTA 5- Honorable mentions: Saints Row 4, Sleeping Dogs

Yes, GTA 5 is on our PS4 and Xbox One best of listings. Yes, it’ll likely go on every listing we ever stimulate. It is just that good. It is a titan of our times.

But also it’s especially good on PC. Even though Rockstar has not been staggeringly supportive of modding( arguably fair enough, given how hard it must be to police GTA Online ), the GTA 5 mod scene is a gift that maintains on giving. The video editor has enabled some cracking bits of art and craft. And, of course, on Ultra decideds the PC version of GTA 5 outshines all the others. Sorry.

Gunpoint- Honorable mentions: The Swapper, Sperlunky

First there was nothing. Then there was Gunpoint. Now there are imitators- but nothing does it quite as well as Tom Francis did that first time, even if you can knock it over pretty quickly with your whizz-kid brain.

Gunpoint is a sort of stealth puzzle game in which players must infiltrate various houses without being identified by guards. Making use of existing securities systems and eventually even rewiring grids altogether is far more satisfying than merely ninja rolling across a doorway.

Hearthstone Witchwood expansion- Honorable mentions: The Elder Scrolls Legends, Chronicle: Runescape Legends, Gwent

Hearthstone, with each passing expansion, cements its place at the head of the card battling table further and further. While its original appeal might’ve had more to do with WoW nostalgia than anything else, it’s grown into its own distinct entity, and is now just as popular with gamers that’ve never set foot in Azeroth.

Regularly updated with new cards- like the most recent Witchwood expansion- Hearthstone manages to stay fresh by constantly introducing new mechanics. The RNG can be frustrating and the implementation of the new standard competitive format, which rotates cards out of circulation after a certain amount of time, can make it difficult to maintain a competitive deck if you’re not playing all the time. But the additions of the Dungeon Run solo adventure Monster Hunt mode have stimulated it immeasurably easier to enjoy the game for cheap.

Hollow Knight- Honorable mentions: Ori and the Blind Forest, Owlboy

Hollow Knight is a beautiful indie Metroidvania filled with lush animation, tight platforming and tense action. You play as The Knight, a mysterious character exploring the ruinings of the insectoid kingdom of Hollownest.

Despite its nebulous narrative, Hollow Knight is gripping thanks to its absorbing environments and original character design.

It’s not an easy game either, owing to some twitchy platforming and combat. A lot of foes won’t go down without a fight, and you’re almost certainly going to die a couple of times on some of Hollow Knight’s more difficult boss.

Homeworld Remastered Collection- Honorable mentions: Stellaris

If VG247 expanded its editorial remit to cover classic games, this would be a very different listing- but in both parallel cosmoes, Homeworld builds the grade. One of a number of properties put up for auction when THQ folded, support for Homeworld had well and truly ended and you couldn’t even buy the classic games any more, so the fanbase was hungry both for a re-release and for something new.

Gearbox’s Brian Martel was one of those fans, in the enviable position of being able to do something about it. The developer is not merely gave its boon and financial support for spiritual successor and now official sequel Homeworld: Shipbreakers, it put together a wonderfully tasty package in Homeworld: Remastered Collection. Both games in classic and updated kind, with a combined multiplayer suite? Yes, please. The classic gameplay is as strong as ever, by the way.

Into the Breach- Honorable mentions: Invisible Inc

From the sadistic minds behind FTL: Faster than Light, Into the Breach is an addictive turn-based strategy where you squish bug-like foreigners with giant fighting robots. What more needs to be said?

You fell your mechs onto a square grid populated not just with foes, but obstacles and objectives based on the type of mission you’ve undertaken and terrain you’re battling on. Your task is then to clear the field of hostiles in a certain amount of moves, involving considerable forethought and planning to get the job done effectively. While the premise is simple, completing the hardest challenges Into the Breach has to throw at you isn’t- and once you factor in the scalable difficulty modes, there’s some serious replayability here too.

Kerbal Space Program- Honorable mentions: RimWorld

In Kerbal Space Program you design, build and launch rockets from first principle. If this sounds like a doddle to you, you’ve been playing too many crafting survival sandboxes; constructing things takes more attempt than slapping the appropriate number of resources down on a blueprint.

Getting Kerbals into space is hard, but every time you blow one up or leave them endlessly orbiting the moon as a corpse, you’ve gained something: you’ve learned what not to do. It’s almost like a rogue-like with persistent character progression, only what’s being carried over is your knowledge. Get your little Kerbals to new reaches of the solar system, and then get them back again, is an absolute triumph.

League of Legends- Honorable mentions: SMITE

Another of the heaviest eSports hitters around, League of Legends is easier to get into than Dota, but is still retains a high level of strategic depth.

LoL has the largest roster of heroes of all the major MOBAs, with original and interesting champion designs that mean you’re pretty much always going to find someone new you want to try out. That choice is limited somewhat if you really want to play the metagame, but there’s still decent variety in the top pickings.

In terms of gameplay, we’re talking bread-and-butter stuff- two teams try to destroy each other’s Nexus while working to raise their individual power level- but here it’s executed brilliantly. The delicate balance that League of Legends manages to create between fast-paced action and strategic positioning attains it one of the best in the genre.

Life is Strange- Honorable mentions: Dreamfall Chapters, TellTale’s The Walking Dead

Originally episodic but now totally bingable, Life is Strange is an engrossing narrative of high-school drama, rekindled friendship, and day travelling. What’s better is that the first episode is now free, entailing you can get a savor of the waterside township of Arcadia Bay with no strings attached.

As Max, an 18 year-old wouldbe photographer, you explore the parallel mysteries of your new-found powers and the disappearance of fellow student Rachel Amber, all the while trying to fit into a new school and make friends.

From its drizzly Oregon setting to its jangly hipster boulder soundtrack, Life is Strange perfectly captures the feeling of teenage angst and adds a supernatural twisting that’s interesting until the credits roll.

Minecraft- Honorable mentions: Terraria

You can argue that it wasn’t until its Xbox 360 release that Minecraft entered the public consciousness, but it was and remains a culture phenomenon on PC. More than 20 million purchases on a single platform is a huge amount by any measure, but the PC version of Minecraft is also where updates drop-off first, where mods and custom servers happen, where most of the amazing video content is attained, and where educational programs are carried out.

Minecraft is also credited with kicking off or at least popularising a bunch of industry tendencies- paid early access schemes, crafting sandboxes and of course indie as multi-million dollar success tale.

Overwatch- Honorable mentions: Team Fortress 2

Overwatch’s charming cast of playable heroes inspire undying fealty in their legions of fervent fans- and it’s easily to find why. The visual design of this lavish and slickly presented competitive shooter is as stylish as its gameplay is tactical and engaging.

It might’ve been a bit light on content when it first made shelves, but Acti-Blizz’s ongoing supporting has consistently refreshed the competitive meta with tweaks and new heroes. There’s something for everyone the roster, with strong heroes in every architype- from twitch-heavy offensive characters like cyborg-ninja Genji, to slower-paced, defensively minded characters like the mounted gun Omnic Bastion.

Recently Blizzard has doubled down on Overwatch’s esports potential with the multimillion dollar Overwatch League, where teams representing cities from around the world compete for a huge award pond.

Papers, Please- Honorable mentions: Her Story

Papers, Please starts off simple- check the documents, stamp them or reject them- and get very hard very, very quickly. It’s not just the increasingly finicky regulations handed down by your government overlords and the constantly ticking clock; the misery of applicants and the escalating political tension stimulates your role as a border guard feel like a penance. Of course, it pays the bills- if and only if you do a good enough job.

Channeling a kind of generic Cold War East European flavour, Papers, Please isn’t really about any specific place or time so much as it is about depressingly universal themes of hope, hopelessnes, bureaucracy and everyday people whose lives are just grist in its mill.

PayDay 2- Honorable mentions: Hotline Miami

Oh sure it came out on consoles, including current-gen, but the PC version is simply the best PayDay 2 experience. Not to get all Master Race on you, but PC multiplayer aficionados are generally better equipped to deal with the kind of gameplay PayDay 2 fosters and often demands- leadership, teamwork, communication and patience, as opposed to racing to get the most kills.

Overkill Software has kept up support with new content and patches for PayDay 2 over the years, and you are able to even play the game wholly in VR. There’s always something new to find and collect, and the nature of the game means even running the same missions repeatedly can have wildly different results. Get a crew together, example the joint, and go for the loot.

Pillar of Eternity- Honorable mentions: Planetscape Torment, Wasteland 2

Once again, imagine if this were a list of the best PC games of all time. Clearly it would not be complete without a bunch of Infinity Engine games like Baldur’s Gate and Planescape Torment , not to mention other classic CRPGs like Fallout. In the absence of these vintage treasures we offer Pillars of Eternity, a love letter to a golden age of PC RPGs, crowdfunded to be the successor fans wanted even if they did have to wait ten years for it.

Pillars of Eternity is remarkably faithful to the formula, with a huge casting of diverse, complex characters, robust customisation and oodles of compelling content. If you’ve never tried a classic CRPG it may not be the very best basic starting point, but if you’re even partly interested you’ll find plenty to love.

It’s sequel, Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire, is a brilliant game too- and well worth the investment if you enjoyed the first.

Portal 2- Honorable mentions: The Witness, SUPERHOT

Portal 2 is a victory of clever design and exceptional world-building, managing to make the player feel like they’re ingeniously breaking the game at every turn, when that was the correct solution all along.

It’s not just top-quality puzzles that constructs Portal 2 stand out from the crowd though- there are plenty of laughs from Ellen McLain’s star turn as GlaDOS, writer of The Office and Extras Stephen Merchant as Wheatley, and the lovably stupid turrets.

Project Cars 2- Honorable mentions: DIRT Rally, Assetto Corsa

When you think of the lackluster recent efforts from once great racing series, it’s brilliant to ensure new names lining up at the grid. Project Cars 2 is a strong racing sim that offers a solid driving experience, great visuals, and tons of licensed supercars to push to the limit.

Racing fans are notoriously hard to please, but there are some growls that have to be aired. The aggressive AI is sometimes difficult to deal with and penalties can feel unjust, while some players report issues with graphical stuttering. If you can get things tuned how you like them though, Project Cars genuinely hits the place.

PUBG- Honorable mentions: H1Z1 Battle Royale

Though the fervour around PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds may have cooled somewhat in recent months, it was better provides one of the tensest competitive shooting experiences around.

With a stronger focus on realistic weapons and environments than it’s cousin, Fortnite, PUBG laid the groundwork for the battle royale genre to take the world by storm. Not merely does it require intense concentration to hold your nerve as you stalk the large surroundings in search of unsuspecting prey, but the bursts of explosive activity require deadly precision and lightning-fast twitch skills.

It’s still buggy and rough, but there’s tons of fun left to be had.

Rainbow Six Siege- Honorable mentions: Insurgency

When it first released to decent reviews, we don’t believe anyone expected Rainbow Six Siege to have the sheer staying power it’s demonstrated since it dropped in 2015.

Now in its third year of consistent content updates, Six Siege offers something different in the competitive shooter space. There’s less emphasis on all-out fragging, in favour of coordinated team maneuvers in tight, destructible environments. Get used to constantly evaluating the bullet-repellant abilities of every surface around you- and try not to let the habit bleed into your everyday life.

You choose from nearly 40 Operators- each with their own kit and special abilities- and fighting in various categories of small squad game modes. Year Three kicked off with Operation Chimera, which added a new PvE horde mode where you fight infected zombie-ish animals.

SOMA- Honorable mentions: Outlast

Back when YouTubers only attained hundreds of thousands instead of millions of dollars, squealing at jump-scares was in vogue and Frictional Games’ Amnesia: The Dark Descent was many content creator’s go-to. But while it won popularity for its noisier moments, what Amnesia did better than pretty much anything else was create a creeping gothic ambience that dripped tension and menace- so that when something did inevitably emerge from the dark “youre ever” good and ready to shit your gasps.

Five years later, with a few lessons learnt and a new sci-fi setting, Frictional re-emerged with SOMA, an exceptionally immersive and unsetting experience that stays with you far past the game’s near ten-hour runtime.

SOMA improves on everything that stimulated Frictional’s back catalogue great, as well as being mechanically tighter too. As you explore the underwater PATHOS-II research facility, solve light puzzles, and investigate the mystery of your surroundings, things start to get weirder and weirder before the tension reaches its crescendo at the game’s disturbing conclusion.

Starcraft 2- Honorable mentions: Warhammer 40 K Dawn of War 3

The StarCraft franchise was essential to the growth of the eSports scene. Shooters have always been important, and MOBAs have risen to prominence these days, but the tens of millions of dollars handed out at prizes at tournaments today would never have passed without Starcraft. What says eSports more than a packed arena of cheering Korean fans threatening to Zerg Rush their heroes on the stage?

Starcraft 2 is the template that most modern competitive RTSs follow, and has earnt the reverence that it’s afforded in the gaming community.

Stardew Valley- Honorable mentions: Slime Rancher, Farming Simulator 17

Stardew Valley is simply the best farming sim around. While it might not be the most realistic, or the most visually impressive, Stardew Valley more than induces up for those working deficits with exceptional charm and oodles of magical moments.

The game centres around the player’s revival of their grandfather’s dilapidated old farm, raising livestock, sowing crops and making food to sell at marketplace. There’s also a number of light RPG parts where you can fight through dungeons filled with ogres, craft items and forge relationships- some of them romantic- with the townsfolk in surrounding villages.

Developed almost single-handedly by designer and programmer Eric ” ConcernedApe ” Barone, Stardew Valley shows how a clear vision exacted by a lean team can produce something that’s severely special.

Sunless Sea- Honorable mentions: Don’t Starve

“Eat your crew” is a hell of a tagline, and you will eat them, at the least once. This unusual rogue-like is set in the same fascinating universe as browser-based escapade Fallen London, but in addition to the darkly beautiful fiction this time there’s a stressfully difficult survival and exploration game to conquer as well.

Roaming the Sunless Sea in silence as your food and fuel ticking ever downwards, eyes and ears straining for any sign of ogres or pirates, hoping to find a port in need of whatever bizarre cargo you’re carrying – it’s a unique and challenging experience. Survive long enough to pass a trait to your successor and begin constructing a heritage of captains; Sunless Sea is not a game to be conquered in a single lifetime.

The sequel, Sunless Skies, is currently out in Early Access, but due a full release soon.

The Forest- Honorable mentions: Ark, Dying Light

Early Access survival-crafting games were all the rage in 2014, but while some remain in a perpetual state of beta, others are actually coming out as full releases and starting to look properly good.

The Forest situateds itself apart from its contemporaries by being both a fulfill resource-gatherer and spoopy as flippin’ heck. You find, the wooded peninsula that your player-character determines themselves on isn’t as idyllic as it first seems. Infesting the woodland and network of subterranean caves is an intelligent society of cannibalistic mutants that grow more twisted and freaky the deeper you delve.

During the working day- while the mutants are less aggressive – you have to stockpile your resources and craft a fortified base, because come nightfall you’re going to need everything you are able to lay hands on to fend off the ravenous beasties.

The Stanley Parable- Honorable mentions: The Beginner’s Guide, Firewatch

Nominally a game with a very straight forward if surreal story line and a clever narration gimmick, The Stanley Parable only opens up for those who wilfully play with it. While many games expend a great deal of effort ensuring the player knows they have to go from A to B and trying to prevent them doing anything else, The Stanley Parable openly engages with the tropes of modern story-driven gameplay by rewarding you for doing the things a few gamers will always do: disobey. Wander off. Fiddle. Wall hack.

In this sense, The Stanley Parable is one of the very few gaming experiences with a narrative to tell and respect for its players as more than a passive vehicle for the creator’s artistic vision. Also, it is hilarious.

The Witcher 3- Honorable mentions: FF 15

Few games are lauded with as much ardor as The Witcher 3, and it truly deserves every plaudit. This is the high-watermark for character-lead RPGs, constantly telling richly layered and engrossing tales across its main quest, side missions and narrative DLC.

The Witcher 3 follows Geralt of Rivia throughout the Northern Kingdoms on parallel quests to find Emperor Emhyr var Emreis’ daughter, Ciri, and solve the mystery of The Wild Hunt.

Geralt’s world is densely populated with Monster Hunts, hidden rich, and secrets to uncover, entailing you are able to spend well over 100 hours finding it all- as well as mastering the deep potions and crafting mechanics and combat ability tree.

The DLC packs are some of the best around too, meaningfully upgrading the core experience with even more quests to devour and areas to explore.

Titanfall 2- Honorable mentions: Battlefield 1

In 2010, some of the top brass behind the world-conquering Call of Duty franchise left Infinity Ward to find their own studio: Respawn Entertainment. After a spluttering start with the multiplayer-only Titanfall, they found their feet- critically at the least- with the brilliant Titanfall 2.

By blending the same frantic action and eye-bulging set pieces that stimulated Modern Warfare’s campaign live so long in the memory with an affecting buddy-movie storyline, Respawn crafted one of the best shooter campaigns in years.

It might not be the longest, but is often on sale for cheap.

Total War Warhammer 2- Honorable mentions: Warhammer: Vermintide 2

For years, Creative Assembly has been king of the historical strategy war game. With Total War Warhammer 2 they’ve brought the same ingenuity and depth to the table, just this time you’ve get Lizardmen instead of Carolingians. And when is anything not improved by the addition of Lizardmen?

Owning the first Total War Warhammer as well as the second is pretty much a necessity, since it unlocks a ton of content in this more recent game, but it’s worth it for the life-consumingly awesome campaign mode where you take part in an epic battle to control the Great Vortex.

Undertale- Honorable mentions: Kentucky Route Zero

The breakout indie hitting of the last few years, Undertale won hearts the world over by perfecting the delicate balance of in-joky, referential witticism without overdoing it.

Developed virtually single-handedly by inventor Toby Fox, it’s not just the story that induces Undertale special, but also the variety of its combat mechanics and puzzles. It might look like a typical retro JRPG throwback, but there’s a lot more going on than first satisfies the eye.

There’s also an entertaining meta-narrative that gives you a properly compelling reason to run two or three different play-throughs, and memorable soundtrack that blends classic game sounds with haunting piano and guitar.

West of Loathing- Honorable mentions: Jazzpunk

Back in the working day, flash adventure games were awesome. They might not have been the most graphically impressive, but they more than made up for it with sharp humour and chuckles-a-plenty.

West of Loathing is like the best flash comedy-RPG you’ve ever played- full of silly jokes, clever puzzles, and a simple combat system that’s fun without doing anything too fancy. Every area across the stick-figure Wild West has the potential for chuckles, and- like the best cowboy gunslingers- the jokes reached more than they miss.

What Remains of Edith Finch- Honorable mentions: The Vanishing of Ethan Carter, Gone Home

Modern narrative adventure games- sometimes pejoratively referred to as” walking simulators”- can often prioritise style over substance and start to crumble under their own pretence. What Remains of Edith Finch however, is a exceptional journey through the lives of the Finch family, as told through a series of varied and delightful vignettes.

One minute you’re exploring the eerie rooms of the Finch household, then you’re flying through the air as an owl, or swimming as a shark in the ocean. The narrative is still at the center of its own experience, but the new levels of interactivity and inventive storytelling that developer Giant Sparrow has managed to craft into What Remains of Edith Finch make it a real standout.

World of Tanks- Honorable mentions: World of Warships

A former VG24/ 7 editor once called World of Tanks ” niche” on Twitter and was wailed at for days. The competitive online shooter has a huge and devoted playerbase from all over the world, because, it is about to change, the desire to get in a tank and blow up someone else’s tank is quite universal.

If you get really into it, World of Tanks can be incredibly expensive. There’s a massive variety of premium tanks available for buy, and its premium model in general is particularly aggressive. However, the glacial firing rates of your hulking war machines make for something truly unique in the online shooter space, forcing players to stance themselves strategically and overcome foes tactically rather than with brute force.

On PC, the piece de resistance is World of Tanks’ recent 1.0 update. By some miracle Wargaming kept the same minimum requirements while entirely overhauling the game’s graphics engine to bring it in line with current gen gaming. You can run World of Tanks on a potato too, so it’s good for those of us that aren’t blessed with infinite coffers.

World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth- Honorable mentions: Guild Wars 2

There’s life in the old girl yet. While it might not be at its pre-Cataclysm peak, World of Warcraft continues to be played by millions of subscribers around the globe.

Endlessly imitated, WoW streamlined and standardised the blueprint for a modern MMO with its rich lore, differed action-RPG gameplay and deep roster of high-level and endgame activities. As a new player, the sheer quantity of content to slog through is a daunting proposition- especially when you’re forking out $15 a month for the privilege- but there’s a reason this game is venerated above all others.

The upcoming expansion, World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth, introduces four new races to the mix, raises the level cap to 120, as well as adding a host of new dungeons and raids including the golden city of Atal’Dazar.

XCOM 2- Honorable mentions: Templar Battleforce

PC has always been the home of turn-based tactics, and there are few games out there that do the genre better than XCOM 2. Set 20 years after the first XCOM reboot, Enemy Unknown, XCOM 2 freshens up the formula with a higher tempo to the gameplay and new mechanics like the concealing phase, which lets you carry out covert missions while you remain undetected.

XCOM 2 is a tough game, and it can feel a little capricious when your highly-trained super soldiers miss their target from point blank range, but it’s that moreish difficulty that keeps you coming back for time and again.

Your soldiers are vastly customisable, so it’s great fun to give your squad their own panache and personality- or recreate your favourite characters from other games. The only drawback is that it’s all the more heartbreaking when their head is inevitably squished by a hostile foreigner.

Battlefield 5- honest mention

The latest title from DICE assures us return to WW2 for some truly innovative and exciting FPS action. While items like the Union Jack gas mask might be a bit tone deaf, Battlefield 5 captures the camaraderie described by those who survived through the war, whilst giving you a taste of the horrors that would have ensued on the battlefield. War is hell, after all.

You can play the single-player War Stories that take you across different theatres of war or leap straight-out into its multiplayer, with an emphasis on tactics and positioning over twitch skills and a keen focus on team-playing and support classes.

Evergreen list

The best games of each platform

Best 3DS games Best PS4 games Best Xbox One games Best PC games Best Nintendo Switch games Best free Steam games Best Epic Game Store games Best free PS4 and Xbox One games Best PS4 exclusives

Best of genre

Best 3DS games Best PS4 games Best Xbox One games Best PC games Best Nintendo Switch games Best free Steam games Best Epic Game Store games Best free PS4 and Xbox One games Best PS4 exclusives

Best of series and misc

Best Witcher 3 mods Best games of 2018 Best Minecraft skins Best Final Fantasy games Best Metal Gear Solid games Best Minecraft seeds Best apolitical games Most riling things in video games Best Mario games Best Skyrim mods on PS4 and Xbox One

The post The best PC games around- essential pick-ups from every genre appeared first on VG2 47.