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eating-plastic · 9 months

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Away from the Campfire: Ace Visconti x fem!reader SMUT

Warnings: NSFW, smut (MINORS AND AGELESS BLOGS DNI), age gap (older man-younger woman. Reader is +18! Be gone creeps!), AFAB!reader, p in v sex, unprotected sex (life ain’t a fic, people! Wrap it before you tap it), creampie, fingering, slight praise, begging, daddy kink, lots of pet names (kiddo, angel, sweetheart, just to name a few), dom! Ace, sub!reader, shy!reader, inexperienced!reader, slow burn, swearing, all of the typical dbd warnings so violence, pain, angst, all that jazz, comfort, some fluff, probably some grammatical errors

Word Count: 6458 words

A/N: Whelp, here it is! My second oneshot and my first smut! If you knew me, you’d be surprised I waited this long to write something nsfw lol. I don’t know how this is gonna be received considering no one touched my Bill headcanons. I guess the dbd fandom just isn’t that big of fans of old men. Eh, it’s an acquired taste. I do just write these for myself anyway. Still, if anyone does find this, I hope you have a nice day! Remember to drink some water and take a break every now and again!

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You’ve always been a quiet person. Always keeping to yourself, not talking to many people, and honestly just fading into the background. Even now, being in an inescapable hell where you were forced to do the same task over and over again with someone or something trying to kill you, you never really befriended any of your fellow survivors outside of trials. At least in the beginning you didn’t.

No matter how one of your fellow survivors acted towards you around the campfire, they always tried to help you during trials as long as you were trying. In the beginning, there were a few survivors that even would “baby” you, whether it was because you were new to this realm, or the fact that you were one of the few younger survivors, or a combination of both. Still, as you got the hang of trying to survive in one of the many different environments you were thrown into during a trial and many began to stop keeping such a close eye on you, there was one that always kept you close.

To be honest, you were not the biggest fan of Ace when you first arrived to the Entity’s realm. You thought he was arrogant, egotistical, and willing to put his own survival over that of others. Anytime he would open his mouth in-between trials to tell tales about his life before “all of this”, you would try to ignore every word that came out of his mouth or even go for a walk. The walks were always preferable since you enjoyed walking by yourself before arriving in what you could only describe as hell. That was until you had your first trial with him.

As soon as the Yamaoka Estate came into view, you followed the same routine of looking for a generator to work on or a crate for supplies. While you rummaged around, a familiar voice came from behind you.

“Hey, there you are kiddo.”

You had rolled your eyes and closed the chest in frustration. Empty. Ace smirked at your annoyance before he walked up to you.

“Lemme help you with that,” he said, lifting the lid of the chest and moving his hand around in its dark interior. “Aha, there we go.”

He removed his hand to present a toolbox. Your eyes had widened in shock. You could’ve sworn the chest was empty! Ace once again smirked at your reaction.

“They don’t call me a lucky bastard for nothing. Here, take it. It’ll be more useful in your hands anyway,” he held the box towards you, and you hesitantly took it. You had then nodded in appreciation.

“Stick with me, kid. We’ll get through this easy.”

You hadn’t really wanted to follow Ace, once again worried that he was going to ditch you to save himself. Still, it was going to make repairing generators easier, especially with your toolkit. So you nodded and followed him.

-----------------------

“You really don’t talk much, huh kiddo,” Ace said while he worked on the last generator that needed to be repaired. You didn’t respond, just wanting to continue working on the task at hand. Besides, you never would respond when someone would ask a question like that.

“Heh, I stand corrected.”

After the generator was completed , Ace let out a noise of triumph and began to compliment you, until a scream had cut him off. You both had looked towards the sky and saw the Entity’s claws dragging one of your teammates upwards.

“Shit, I guess that’s our invitation to leave. Run towards the gate, kid. I’ll be right behind ya.”

You nodded, before you did as you were told.

-----------------------

As soon as you arrived at the gate, you had looked behind you but Ace was nowhere to be seen. You had opened your mouth to call out for him but stopped. You turned back to open the gate and stood in its entryway. The campfire called to you, telling you to just run and leave another one of many trials behind, but you couldn’t. Your eyes continued to scan your surroundings. You didn’t know how long you had waited for Ace before hesitantly backing up and turning to just run out of there.

When you arrived at the campfire, you began to feel guilt twisting in your gut. It was odd. Sure, you had originally not liked Ace but you weren’t a monster. No one at the campfire deserved what goes on during the trials. You took your seat away from everyone that was waiting around by the flickering firelight. After a few moments passed, the sound of footsteps added to the idle chatter of some of your fellow survivors.

“Whew! I am way too old to be running around like that,” Ace plopped himself down next to you, which causes you to tense up at first. That was until he had asked you a question.

“You got out, okay?” he asked, looking at you with concern. Huh, that’s new.

You nodded and you couldn’t help but let a small smile break out on your lips.

“Good. You did a nice job out there, kid,” he smiled and squeezed your shoulder, before getting up to “entertain” the rest of the survivors.

That was the first thing he did that told you how you had misjudged him.

-----------------------

The second time Ace had proved how much you misjudged him, was when he had rescued you from a hook.

Halfway through the trial, you had taken it upon yourself to loop the current killer, the trapper, in order to bid enough time for the last generator to be repaired and the gate to open. Unfortunately for you, your legs had begun to give out, providing him enough time to down you. At that point, you had already checked out. Your teammates were safe, and that was all that mattered. You didn't even feel the hook dive itself into your shoulder. Not really. You closed your eyes and waited for the sharp impale of the Entity’s tendrils into your body.

That pain never came, though. In fact, you had felt the sensation of your legs moving. You opened your eyes, confused. You could see the gate coming closer and you could hear a voice right by your ear.

“-most there. Come on, kiddo, keep moving.”

Wait, Ace? What was he still doing here? You thought everyone had left. You hoped that they all had left.

No time to think about that, though. You had to keep running. The next thing you knew, your exhaustion had lessened and the campfire was coming into view. You slowed your legs to a stop. Ace had let out a laugh of triumph.

“Ha! We made it! Shit! I mean-I knew we’d mak-!”

“You saved me?” your soft voice stopped the older man dead in his tracks.

“Well I’ll be damned. She speaks,” he quipped. You cocked your head to the side, waiting for an answer.

“Come on, kid. You didn’t think I was gonna leave you behind, did you?”

You just shrugged. You would’ve been fine if your teammates left you. You did your part to keep them safe, after all.

“Just don’t do that again, kay? I nearly had a heart attack trying to find you.”

You had opened your mouth to say something, but Ace was already at the campfire talking with the others. This caused you to huff in frustration. You had wanted to keep talking to him, but not with everyone else around.

Oh well. You were going to get your chances soon.

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You were sitting by the shore of a lake. The campfire had many walking trails around it, and the one you had taken led you here. It was nice. You wanted to be alone at the moment, away from the firelight and prying eyes of others.

When you had first been murdered by one of the killers, a move that the others called “mori”, you were surprised. No one warned you about that. Apparently it was a bit of a rarity. Still, some of them weren’t that bad. At least, when compared to being sacrificed to the Entity. That was until you were “moried” by the onryo. Who could blame you for being shaken up afterwards? You had your limbs painfully broken and you were left to slowly die. When you walked by the campfire to be alone, all of the survivors still acted the same as always. Did they act the same way after going through something so agonizing? Were you just acting like a baby? You didn’t know. All you knew was that you felt like your limbs didn’t belong to you. You could still feel the phantom sensations of them being broken, but when you looked down they were normal.

You couldn’t get it out of your mind. The sound of the crickets and the tide of the lake couldn’t help. You had soon felt tears welling up in your eyes and your body began to shake. You curled yourself up into a ball and began to sob. It felt like utter hopelessness was slowly crushing your body, slowly constricting your chest like a large python. You began to regret not sticking by the campfire. Would it have made you feel better? Would the conversations have been better?

The sound of crushing leaves caused your sobs to get caught in your throat. Your lip quivered as you tried to stop crying. You didn’t want to look so childish in front of one of your fellow survivors, hence why you walked off to be alone as you figured you were going to cry.

“That you, kid?” a voice called before walking towards you. You hid your face in your knees and took deep breaths to try and stop sobbing. You even took your bottom lip in-between your teeth and bit down hard to try and stop its shaking.

Ace took a seat right next to your shaking form. Slowly, he brought his hand to your back and began to rub circles into it. If you were to have told yourself when you first arrived that you and Ace would become unlikely...”friends”, if that was the right word, you would’ve thought you were completely insane. That didn’t matter, though. You were happy he was here and you showed it by leaning into him.

“I, uh...I heard what happened,” he began. Ace really did try so damn hard to think of what to say to you. He has never had to deal with something like this before, but he didn’t want to fuck it all up and say the wrong thing. He liked you, although he wasn’t sure just how much yet. Ever since he heard about you and your quiet, timid nature, he wanted to protect you when he could. Did it seem out of character for him, sure, but he didn’t give a shit. Especially since he had managed to get you to at least speak a couple of sentences to him.

“Look...I’m sorry you went through that...you can continue to cry if you want to,” you moved your head to look at him with your puffy, red, eyes. At the sight of your broken face, Ace stopped rubbing your back to wrap his arm around your shoulder to pull you close to him. With that, you continued to cry until you couldn’t anymore.

With all of your tears shed and all you were able to do was sniffle from time to time, you and Ace just sat there together in silence. That was until a thought entered the older man’s head.

“Hey, you wanna know what this reminds me of?” he asked. You looked up at him and cocked your head to the side, your silent way of saying “what?”.

“There was this one time I had to lie low for a bit. I had, uh, rented an RV and was on a lake just like this. It’s...it’s interesting just how quiet it all is, you know. I didn’t appreciate it at the time. I just wanted to get back into the game as soon as I could...but, it really is nice.”

You nodded at his words and rubbed your arm. Slowly, your limbs started to feel like they belonged to you again.

“I also befriended a raccoon, too.”

You pulled away from Ace to look at him confused, and he laughed at your reaction.

“I was sitting just like where I am now, when...,” he trails off and spinned you this tale that you were pretty sure was 90% fake, but that didn’t matter. You could tell he was trying to cheer you up, and it worked. By the time the tale had concluded, you had a large smile on your face and Ace had even managed to pull a few giggles from you. You both soon found yourselves sitting in silence once more, but this time it was comforting and all thoughts about the previous trial had been pushed to the back of your mind.

“Whelp kiddo, what do ya say we start heading back? Everyone’s probably worrying about us,” Ace stood up and offered you his hand. You took it, but decided to do something unexpected when he pulled you up.

You hugged him.

You threw your arms around him, and hugged him.

“Thank you,” you quietly murmured into his chest. Ace slowly moved his arms to wrap them around you. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to hug you, but at the moment he was trying to understand the odd feeling swirling in his chest.

“Yeah, uh...don’t mention it,” he said. God, why was his chest feeling so weird. You pulled away and smiled up at him and that was the moment that he connected the dots. “Uh...you go on ahead, kiddo. I’ll...I’ll catch up.”

You looked at him confused, but you had just assumed that he wanted to reminisce about his old life. You didn’t blame him, so you just nodded and turned to walk back to the campfire.

As soon as you were out of sight, Ace sat back down in front of the lake once more. He pulled his sunglasses from his face to rub it.

Love. He was in love with you. Had he felt that way for you all this time? He certainly didn’t know. Especially since he had never been in love with anyone before. He let out a deep breath before muttering the only phrase he could think of after this revelation.

“Fuck.”

-------------------------

“Hey Ace, you awake in there or what?” Ash shook his friend after he didn’t respond to his question. Ace quickly put on a mask that resembled his usual smug self.

“Yeah, I’m just in awe that you can even come up with a question,” he smirked.

“Oh ha ha, fuck you. I asked you why you’re being so quiet? You’ve been hanging out with Y/N too much, she’s starting to rub off on you,” Ash quipped, but he was actually a bit wrong. Ace had been avoiding you a bit. He still looked out for you during trials, but he had found himself sitting near the lake more often. He really didn't know what to do after he discovered that he was in love with you. How could he? First of all, he didn’t even know how to tell you. He’s hardly ever had to tell someone that he loved them. For the most part, Ace would’ve always just said it when he wanted something. He had usually never loved them. The second thing was how you would respond. Ace had no problems flirting with men and women alike and had no problems when someone would get disgusted by his action or even slap him, but this was different. Those were all men and women that he was never going to see again or care about, so it didn’t matter. You were someone he liked to be around, someone he cared about, and he did not want you to think of him as a “disgusting old pervert” or something.

“Yep, I lost you again. You know it’s getting boring entertaining the guests by myself,” Ash joked before he got up and made his way to where a large group of survivors were hanging out, listening to Kate as she plucked away at her guitar strings.

Ace sighed before he got up and made his way towards the lake like always. He had to figure something out, especially since Ash had started to notice. And if Ash could notice that something was off, then everyone else probably could too. He was letting the cocky mask of his slip too much. It would only be a matter of time before you-

“Um, Ace?”

God damnit.

Your slow footsteps approached him. He was right, you had noticed a change in him. And so you followed him to the lake, wanting to be a good friend and try to know what was wrong even if you didn’t know what to say.

“What can I do for ya, sweetheart?” like with Ash, the mask went up. Ace had been experimenting a bit. Testing out different pet names with you. It was his way of dipping his toes in the water. To see if you would get uncomfortable with his light flirting. So far, you hadn’t shown any signs of discomfort.

“I, um...I hope you don’t mind but...I overheard you and Ash. I guess I just saw it as...I mean...I just want to see if you’re okay that’s all...,” you glanced down at your feet. Well that could’ve gone better.

“Psh, what? Me? When am I not okay?” he smirked at you, but you clearly weren’t buying his words. “Aw, come on angel, don’t worry about me so much. Shouldn’t you be worried about your pretty, little self?”

Your face began to heat up. You loved his compliments and pet names. Well, when he had first called you “sweetheart” it had made you tense up a bit, but now they made your heart flutter. You didn’t have many experiences with men, but you’ve never met a man who was charming and made you feel as Ace did. Especially one as old as him. It was odd, but you were certainly not going to tell him. Not just because you would be mortified if you had to, but also because after all your time with Ace, there was a sliver in your mind that told you not to trust him. You could picture a situation in which you built up the courage to tell him that you were falling for him, only to get laughed at and told that he just felt bad for you. A quiet, childish, little coward that cries after experiencing something all of the other survivors were seasoned to.

“Hey now, what’s that look, beautiful?” Ace closed the distance between you and him after seeing your face drop. “I don’t mind you worrying about lil’ ol’ me. It’s kinda cute.”

You shook your head. You felt a nauseating combination of wanting to cry and be sick. Jeez, you got way too lost into your own head. Ace took a deep breath before he raised his hand to your face to gently stroke it.

“Hey...hey Y/N, it’s okay. Come on, what’s wrong?” you just lowered your head. Was this a joke? Was it always a joke? Saving you, risking his skin for you, comforting you, calling you all sorts of sweet names, this? Was it all just pity? Ace just continued stroking your cheek and looking at your sorrowful face, thinking hard about what he wanted to say. “Hey, how ‘bout this: you tell me what’s wrong and...I’ll tell you what’s wrong with me, huh?”

You fiddled with your fingers and drew a shaky breath.

“Is this a joke?” you asked, finally raising your watery eyes to look at him. You tried to stay strong.

“What are you talking about,” he moved his hand to brush some of your hair out of your face but you grabbed his wrist, stopping him.

“Is it all a joke? The names, the comfort, the...the affection...is it all just one big joke...? Ace...is it all just you feeling bad for me?”

“I...what makes you think that?” was someone telling you this? How could you think that him testing the waters of your unlikely friendship, trying to see if he really could actually make it a meaningful relationship, as him just playing a joke on you? Was it because of him telling you his history? Someone else who didn’t like him just trying to look out for you? Was it the realm slowly breaking you?

“I...I just want to know...”you said, not breaking the gaze you had with Ace. You figured that if you could be strong during a trial, then you could be strong during this.

“You’re...you’re really gonna make me rip the band-aid off, huh?”

Here it comes, you thought. He doesn’t love me. He never could’ve loved me. I’m just an idiot-

“You know that I’ve been trying to tell you that I love you, right?”

Wait, what?

“You know that’s why I’ve been avoiding you? Why I’ve been hurling pet name after pet name at you?”

You tried to speak, but all you could get out were stuttered phrases.

“When I found you here, shaken up by that bad trial, that's when I realized it...and ever since then I’ve wanted to tell you that I love you but I didn’t know how to get it out and I was worried you’d think that I was a gross perv or something...so there. That’s why I care about you so much. That’s why I’ve been trying to be there for you but avoid you at the same time. I don’t know why you think that I don’t actually care about you, or who told you, but stop believing it, okay. Because I love you, Y/N. Okay? I love you so Goddamn much.”

You just continued to stare at Ace. You truly couldn’t believe it. Your eyes had long since dried. Was this real?

“Really?” your soft voice broke the silence.

“Do I need to prove it? Because I’ll prove it.”

“Wha-no no, I...I jus-”

“Nope! I need to prove it, so I will. Come here, angel,” not one to be serious for too long, Ace pulled you into his arms and even managed to lift your feet off of the ground. You squealed and even began to giggle as he tried to spin you.

“Okay! O-Okay...I get it,” you said in-between your laughing fit.

Once Ace put your feet back on the ground, he tilted your face to look at him.

“So, what do ya say, beautiful? You, uh...you wanna try this out?”

You smiled and nodded, eagerly.

You didn’t even think about how the others would think about the relationship. How some of them would flash you two odd or even disgusted looks because of the age difference or how comfortable Ace quickly proved to be with PDA, but that didn’t matter. You would quickly find that his confidence and silver tongue would be enough to drown out those looks or comments.

-----------------------

“Now, what are you smiling about, sweetheart?” Ace says while approaching you. You glance up at him and shrug.

This lake now had so much meaning to the both of you that it was hard to not smile when you were near it. Not only that, but it has become your own private love nest with him.

Ace sits down next to you and pulls you close to him, causing you to rest your head on his shoulder. He then removes his sunglasses and puts them in his jacket pocket. You always enjoyed when he would remove them. You truly couldn’t get enough of his dark eyes.

“It’s been a pretty easy day,” he remarks, referring to the lack of trials performed. “I hope we get more of them.”

“You don’t think that’s jinxing it?” you ask.

“When have I ever been a jinx?”

Well, he had you there. You had to agree, though. The lack of trials was welcomed, and you wanted more of them. You just shrug and smile at him. Ace smiles back at you and glances down to your lips.

“God damn, angel,” he raises his hand up to tilt your chin up to him. “You look beautiful in the moonlight.”

It didn’t matter that this was the nth compliment he’s ever given you. It still made you feel sheepish and small in his arms, but in a good way. Your body begins to feel warm as he leans forwards to kiss you. You melt and kiss him back.

You get lost in the kiss, even as you feel his hand move from your face to your waist. You quickly tense up though, when you feel the hand move upwards under your shirt. Upon feeling your body going rigid, Ace pulls away to inspect your face. He swiftly removes his hand when he sees a bit of nervousness in your eyes.

“Sorry,” he mutters while trying to move away, but your hand on his stops him.

“It...it’s fine. I-I want...,” you look away. You do want this, it’s just that such intimacy always made you a bit skittish. You’ve had very little relationships before, well, here, and even though you’ve had sex while in these relationships, you were always apprehensive the first time. There is a lot of trust that goes into it, and you always fear about that trust being broken. Not to mention the fact that the idea of trying to initiate sex made you feel embarrassed.

“Do you want me to continue?” Ace asks. He moves his hand back to your face to stroke your cheek. You melt at the feeling.

“Yes,” you breathe out. He nods before moving closer to you and resuming the kiss. His hand also goes back under your shirt.

The feeling makes you sigh, which gives Ace the opportunity to slip his tongue into your mouth. As soon as it begins to dance with yours, you feel a familiar warmth spread in-between your legs, and you squeeze your thighs together in order to try and relieve it.

Next, you move your hands to remove Ace’s hat and run your fingers through his hair. His hands work to hold you close to him and to grope your body underneath your clothes. Soon, he moves his hand to one of your breasts, squeezing it before moving under your bra to play with it properly.

He then breaks the kiss with you, and moves his lips from yours to your jaw, and then your neck. The feeling of his facial hair scratching your neck makes you squirm and deepen your breathing.

Both of his hands are under your shirt and your bra now, groping both of your breasts and rolling your nipples in-between his fingers. the feeling causes you to pant and whine. You need to relieve the desire of having some sort of friction against your clothed, wet pussy. You move to try and straddle Ace, thinking that he was too distracted with sucking the most sensitive part of your neck, but you get pushed down to the ground and he moves to hover over you.

“Aw, what’s wrong angel?” he smirks. You are now unable to even rub your thighs together as his legs are now preventing yours from closing. You let out a needy whine, hoping he’d take the hint. “Ah, use your words sweetheart.”

“A-Ace...please...,” you whimper. Shame begins to eat away at you, preventing your desires to be voiced.

“Please, what? Come on babydoll, tell daddy what you want,” you feel your pussy clench around nothing at that. You have to swallow your shame to get what you want.

“Please...touch me, please,” your face feels like it’s on fire. Lucky, Ace decides to have mercy on you. He moves his hands from your shoulders to your shorts, undoing them.

“There, that wasn’t too hard now, was it?” he smirks. As soon as your shorts are undone, you lift your hips up enough for him to pull them off along with your panties. You let out a squeak at the cool air hitting your sex, but still can’t close your legs thanks to Ace’s.

He slowly moves one of his hands down your body towards the place you need it most. Unfortunately for you, it seems he wants to tease you even more, moving his hand from your lower abdomen to your thigh, and then squeezing it. Just as you are about to let out a frustrated huff, you gasp as Ace moves his hand from your thigh to run his fingers through your wet folds.

“God damn, you’re soaked. This all because of me, beautiful?” he taunts. All you can do is nod. You bite your lower lip to keep moaning too loud, especially as he begins stroking your clit.

“Aw, come on, doll. Don’t you hide your pretty little voice from me,” he moves his head back to your neck. “Come on, let daddy hear you.”

With that, he continues to suck onto the same spot on your neck he was sucking on before. This drags a shaky moan from your lips, which causes him to hum in satisfaction.

After rubbing your clit and soaking his fingers in your slick, Ace decides to push one of his fingers inside of you. Your poor little clit didn’t get a break from his abuse, though, continuing to stroke it with his thumb, now.

You continue to moan at his ministrations of your body. The world of the Entity made it easy to forget that pleasure exists, but God was Ace helping you remember. Especially as he pushes another finger into your tight hole, scissoring them to help stretch you out.

It was all starting to be too much. Your cries grow in volume as you feel the familiar sensation like a coil tightening in your stomach. You try to form a coherent sentence to tell Ace about your approaching orgasm, but all that gets out is his name and your whimpers.

“You gonna cum, angel? Huh? You wanna cum all over my fingers?” you nod desperately as a response, causing him to chuckle. “Go on, babydoll. Go ahead, I’ll be nice.”

You continue to cry out, your moans building up and your toes beginning to curl. You throw your hands onto Ace’s shoulders in a frenzied attempt to find something to cling to, bracing yourself. That coil insides you gets tighter and tighter, until it finally snaps and you scream out in pleasure. Ace continues to stroke your clit and coo at you, working you through your orgasm.

Once you come down from your high, he pulls his fingers from your pussy to inspect them. They are completely drenched in your slick, even beginning to drip down to his palm. He smirks, before bringing his hand to his mouth, licking and sucking your juices from it, even moaning a bit as he does it. His actions make you squirm. You just came, and yet you’re getting turned on all over again.

“Damn sweetheart, you taste amazing,” Ace groans out, before getting an idea. “Here, you wanna try?”

He brings his hand close to your mouth, holding it out so you can see slick drip down the back of his hand. It felt like you weren’t even in control of your body as you lean up and drag your tongue upwards, lapping up whatever bit of your juices you could, a complete puppet to lust. A dragged out “fuck” left Ace’s lips at he watches you, wanting that little tongue of yours elsewhere. An event for another time.

After cleaning his hand, he moves them to his belt, undoing and pulling it free from his pants. The sight hypnotizes you and causes you to roll your bottom lip in-between your teeth. To Ace, you looked absolutely adorable. You look all fucked out and he hasn’t even put his cock in you, yet.

As soon as he gets his pants undone, he pulls them down enough for his hard length to spring out. He hisses just as you did from the cool air hitting his dick. He clears his throat and begins stroking it slowly, making sure your eyes are on him. Of course they were, you are mesmerized by his hand slowly jerking himself off, even letting out a needy whine. You needed him inside of you, now.

“You need something, babydoll?” Ace teases. Of course he wanted you to beg for it.

“F-Fuck...Ace...fuck me, please...,” you manage to get out in-between pants.

“Aw, okay. Since you asked so nicely,” he brings his cock to your drenched lips and strokes it in-between them, lubing it up with your slick.

You cry from your still sensitive pussy being touched and from the tip of his dick catching your entrance.

As soon as he felt that he was lubed up enough, Ace takes his length into his hand and lines it up to your wet little hole. Before pushing in though, he says your name, causing you to look up at him.

“If it hurts too much, you’ll tell me, right? I promise I’ll stop,” his voice was now serious, wanting you to understand what he was saying. You look up at him and nod.

“I will.”

With that, Ace gently pushes the tip of his cock into your pussy and your hands go back to his shoulders as before. He pushes in a bit more until you cry out in pain, stopping the older man in his tracks.

“Shit, you need me to stop?”

You nod, tears starting to form in the corners of your eyes.

“Okay...okay. Just relax Y/N, I got you,” he moves his head to the crook of your neck to place kisses on every bit of skin he can get to, while one of his hands finds one of your breasts once more, this time dragging your shirt with it.

You take deep breaths, trying to relax your body and focus on Ace’s kisses and touch. As soon as the pain begins to subside, you tug on his arm.

“Ace...you c-can move now,” you pant.

“You sure?”

“Yeah.”

Ace looks at your face to make sure you were ready, before continuing to push his dick all the way inside of you. As soon as his hips connect with yours, he stops to check on you.

You whine at the feeling of being so full, a feeling you haven’t felt in a while. You look into Ace’s eyes and shakily tell him to resume.

He nods down at you, adjusting himself on his forearms and beginning to shallowly thrust into you. You rest your head on the dead grass underneath it and let out a breathy moan from the sensation. Seeing that you were clearly okay, Ace’s demeanor returns to the same teasing one he had before.

“Fuck, you feel so good, angel. Mm, taking daddy’s cock so well.”

His words only add to the intoxicating feeling of his dick thrusting into you. It’s addicting, and you want more of it.

“Ah...ha-ah! Ace...m-more, please!” if you were to listen to your voice back, you wouldn’t believe that it was you. Shy and quiet you who always loved to fade into the background, now moaning loudly on an older man’s cock.

“Ha...yeah? You want more? Huh? My babydoll wants more?”

You nod and moan out a desperate “please”. Ace grants you your wish, not only thrusting into your pussy harder, but faster too. God, he wants everything about this burned into his memory, not just the way you feel, but how you look too. Your eyebrows knitted together, eyes closed, and lips parted, letting out loud, needy moans. Oh yeah, he wants to have your noises burned into his mind as well.

While continuing to thrust into you, he moves one of his hands down to your clit, stroking it with his thumb once more. You cry out at the added pleasure and arch your back upwards towards him, hands tightening on his shoulders and your hole tightening around his dick. That coil in your stomach had returned, and the tension in your gut was now growing from each thrust and stroke Ace was delivering to your body. Fuck, you definitely weren’t going to last much longer.

“Oh...mm-fuck! A-Ace-ha! Ah...‘m close!” you sob as white, hot pleasure flows through your veins.

“Yeah? Yo-you wanna cum, huh? Go on, then-fuck! Cum all over daddy’s cock, angel,” he moans out, clearly getting closer to cumming himself according to his groans and thrusts becoming sloppy.

Your toes begin to curl and tears of pleasure start to flow down your cheeks. Your moans become screams and your vision goes white as your orgasm hits you like a freight train. Ace lets out a strangled “fuck” as you squeeze his dick, slowing his thrusts but not his assault on your clit, working you through your high as he did when he was fingering you.

You really didn’t want to come down from your high, especially when Ace started thrusting into you again, chasing his own orgasm. He only slows himself when he feels his cock twitch inside of you.

“Oh f-fuck...where-mm!” he struggles to get out, but you understand what he’s asking.

“I-In-oh God, Ace! In!”

With that, you feel a warmth beginning to fill you as he moaned loudly, cumming deep inside of you. After that, he buries his face into your neck, the only sounds now being that of crickets, the lake, and both of your pants. You both feel exhausted but blissed out of your minds.

Eventually, Ace pulls out of you and rolls onto his back besides you. Fuck, that was amazing. Not only because he hasn’t had sex in a while because of, well, you know, but also because it was sex that wasn’t for the purpose of just scratching an itch. No, what you two just did was miles better.

He turns his head to look at you. Your eyes are closed and your breathing is slowly going back to normal. He smiles at your sleepy expression and rolls onto his side to pull you to his chest. You let out a tired hum and nuzzle your face into Ace, while he rubs your back and holds you close.

“Rest up, beautiful. You deserve it.”

#dead by daylight #dbd #dead by daylight x reader #dbd x reader #ace visconti #ace visconti x fem!reader #ace visconti x reader #x reader #rita writes

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braincoins · 3 years

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WIP Wednesday

There’s a NSFW WIP Wednesday up on Ye Olde Blog o’ Smut, but to go back to Dragon Age: Schism and my warden for a moment, we have this totally SFW WIP :D Oh, sure, there’s a Not-So-Subtle Implication at the end there, but that’s the end of scene; we won’t be... following along, as it were. And the rest of this is totally A-OK!

Cut for the sake of your dash. You’re welcome.

The party was in full swing, elves and humans and the few dwarves chatting and laughing, some of them even dancing as people brought out instruments and began to play. And Kivral just sat draped on her chair, back to one armrest and legs kicked over the other, and watched it happen around her.

She couldn’t pin down how she was feeling. Her emotions were like startled birds just taking wing, and even though most of them were joyful ones, she was still a-flutter.

Happiness to see her old clan again.

Relief that there was nothing wrong.

An aravel of her own, to pass down to Warden-Commanders in the future.

The acknowledgement of that, of the Grey Wardens as her clan now.

The sudden realization that they could and perhaps should be traveling Ferelden. Darkspawn were unlikely to come to them, after all. At least, not anymore.

The weight of the upcoming Arlathven, for that matter. She’d told Keeper Marethari that she and Velanna would be delighted to attend as representatives of the Wardens, to take the opportunity to thank the other clans for the fighters they’d sent to defeat the Blight, and to remember those who had fallen in that service.

But she’d never been someone at an Arlathven before. The last time, she’d barely been a whelp of a girl, still learning the ways of bow, arrow, and forest. She chuckled to herself at the memory of how sick she’d made herself on honey-cakes.

“Enjoying yourself, I see?” Alistair draped an arm over the back of her chair and looked out at the party.

“I am,” she agreed.

“Would it be pressing it to ask for a dance?”

“Pressing it? Why would it be?”

He cleared his throat. “Well, I noticed you didn’t really… um…”

Ah, yes, one of those less-joyful emotions fluttering within her: the fact of who and what Alistair was to her, which she had continued to hide. It was cruel to him, but she wasn’t sure standing up and announcing it now would be much better.

Instead, she kicked her legs up and off as she got to her feet. “Come with me, ma vhenan,” she said, feeling the impulse seize her.

He followed her, of course: out of the room, down the stairs, away and away until the noise and the song dimmed. She went straight to where the halla were penned. “I want to introduce you.”

He barked a laugh. “If the halla like me, does that mean your old clan will, too?”

“It bodes better for it,” she agreed, “but I want them to get used to you. To humans in general, but especially to you.”

She introduced him to Falon, told Alistair all about the halla (well, as much as Maren had relayed to her), and taught him how to make proper introductions. “They’re so much more than mere horses,” she reminded him. “You have to treat him like a… well, like a halla-shaped person.”

It was odd for her human lover, she could tell, but for all he protested that he “wasn’t a dog person,” she’d seen how good he was with Sekh. Some of that could be put down to the mabari’s intelligence, but halla were fairly smart as well. So she wasn’t surprised at all that a halla so friendly as to be named ‘Friend’ would get on well with Alistair. They didn’t do much more than say hello to Enasal, but it was enough for now.

“Joy in triumph over loss, hm?” he asked as she headed for the aravel.

She nodded. “Appropriate.”

“I agree. Uh, where are we…?” He broke off the question when its answer became apparent: she hopped in and pulled the leather doorflap back for him. He laughed. “You’re really happy about this aravel, aren’t you?”

“YES! It’s… I don’t even know what to compare it to for you. Maybe like getting an arling, or at least a bannorn.”

He whistled in surprise as he stepped in. “That would be something.”

“But without the politics,” she added on. “There is a responsibility to an aravel,” as she lit a couple of lanterns, “but it isn’t about leadership.”

“But the leaders have them.”

“So do some others.” She moved to seat the wooden planks into place on this side of the door, the better to keep someone from coming in after them. “They take ages to make, you see. And that’s the responsibility.” She looked around at the gleam of candlelight on polished wood. “To take care of it, to pass it down to the future.” She sat on a padded bench and began work on unbuckling her boots.

“An aravel is a gift from the clan, and they usually stay within the clan, while we’re at it. This one was made specially for me, for the Wardens, and made in a special way that is both stronger and lighter than normal aravels. It took them the better part of two years to make this, and they just… they just gave it away. There are probably clan members who are envious that I have such a privilege as this.”

He sat next to her. “But no one will try to take it from you, right?”

“No one. It is the wish of the elders of the clan that I have it, and that alone is… it overwhelms me, Alistair. Just that thought alone, let alone that they went through with this and gave it to me, knowing and intending that it stay with the Wardens… This is unprecedented.”

“So is defeating a Blight so quickly. What are you doing?” he asked at long last.

Freed of her boots, she rose, turned to him, and looped her arms behind his neck as she straddled his lap. She saw a brief flare of color in his cheeks in the dim light, but his hands went to her waist instinctively.

“We have an aravel, ma vhenan. I was hoping we could make use of it.” She knew her grin would help make her intention clear.

“Now?” he asked in surprise.

“Right now,” she purred, leaning in to kiss him.

And if he had any further protests, it was hard to tell because he was sliding his arms around her more fully, drawing her in tight against his broad chest.

In the distance, the rest of the keep continued to celebrate.

#Dragon Age #Dragon Age: Schism #Warden/Alistair #bask in the Dalish-ness! BASK DAMMIT

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zumpietoo · 3 years

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Oh and About Closure

I realiced some of what pissed me off about Plaiderdale IS shit that doesn't add up (and I'm not talking just plot holes, dropped storylines, but really, all kinds of shit, especially now with this "fab reset") and lacks closure, so I am really sympathetic to Jughead needing that from Betty.....

And I realiced it's because I still didn't have the closure I craved....first thinking just on ONE point (yes, really) at the end of my marriage and then, going back to that first fandumb meltdown thing three years ago last month....

Today in DMs I was able to put a lot more in perspective and, honestly, FINALLY get it on some level...since we all know a LOT more about a lot more people now (and their actual behavior and motivations) it makes a lot of this a lot clearer, as well.

Suffice to day, I'm even moar confident Lili had a Vegas threesome with Hart and Sunny, while high AF on blow....I think Cole did find out really quickly, actually. I think she was able to get him to forgive her with "I was high and grief over my Nana"....

I also think Amy was terrified I'd find out then and post about it. Just as I had about Crotchi's stalking/thirsting and KokeJ's DUI/child fucking...

Cause even tho everybody will insist I'm crazy when I present them with facts, Amy's stated she thinks I have "influence" and she worries almost pathologically about what people think. AS WE ALL KNOW.

So I think, as an anon once sent me hate about, "what if Cole did something really terrible (i.e. cheated) and it got out?". Whelp, again, nothing, buuuutt....this fandumb remains weird and puritanical---the big concern was what if I found out and it got out.

So the "plan" was, as I even then suspected was to so shake my "faith" in Cole I'd delete---or I'd feel so upset at the end of multiple friendships, etc.....

We all know that didn't happen....but knowing this, where it started, etc does make me feel better....

And it was pointed out that multiple blogs will suddenly go dormant or even deactivate----or used to, when what we can now pick up on was probably a "problem" for SH....and were certainly fed some weird version by Amy.

Hey, we all now know, whether it was in DMs or on anon, she was Amab's mysteron, even as she claimed the opposite to other "insiders". And fed various fanfics across the boar to, probably as many as 100 different peeps at its height

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unlockthelore · 4 years

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Die For You

Perhaps it was bad form to tell his infant daughter he would kill for her but Hiei’s done worse.

Part of the Smile Bomb series. For more updates, follow the smile bomb tag on this blog.

Crickets begin chirping in the low lush grass dotted with vibrant flowers glowing silver in the dim. Kurama's energy radiates from every inch of their home's surroundings with his plants standing guard over the forest's edge, soaking in the fading rays of sunlight as the evening dwindles into night. Leaning with his back against the wooden doorway, the wind chimes sing and join the symphony of his sons' quiet snores and the distant clicking of Kurama's keyboard as he works diligently in his study. Warm gusts of wind ruffle his hair and whips it back from his forehead, barely obscuring his view of the small youko perched in his lap.

His daughter ― the novelty of such a phrase bringing a smile to Hiei's face ― running her tiny hands up the length of his arm. Scars, raised jagged skin that hadn't quite healed right, examined thoughtfully with her curious golden eyes. Small claws scraping against them until her attention is stolen by the dragon shifting across Hiei's skin. Swimming past the scars and weaving around them, allowing her to chase it fruitfully, a squeal of delight parting her lips and warming her face when she caught its tail or its head. The Dragon peeling from his skin enough to give her a solid hold and she laughs, mesmerized by the game.

An appeased purr answering in the back of Hiei's mind.

The Dragon calls her name when Hiei's mind is idle. Beckons her when her attention shifts and she begins to fuss, unsure of where to keep her mind, but quick to address when a point of interest is given. It amazes Hiei how much of Kurama he sees in her. From the quirk of her smile to the color of her eyes, but he is there too. For the better, he deduces, because nothing associated with his daughter could be considered otherwise. Her hair is raven black with a blueish-tinge just like his own, and Hiei counts his blessing that she hadn't inherited the white discloration in his bangs.

To Hiei, that is where the similarities end but Kurama was quick to point out others. She preferred to be held but only on her own terms. Displeasure was made quickly and loudly known. Her small and strong lungs were used without hesitation. As vocal as her father, Kurama mused when Hiei scowled at the comparison, unable to keep his agitated expression with Kurama's spatter of kisses along his cheek.

With shadow creeping from the sun's retreat over the horizon, the sky tinges an orange-scarlet and he's briefly reminded of the Makai. Adoration blooms and sits heavy in his chest with the thought of Kurama able to run freely in his demon form. Their daughter, perhaps a bit bigger, tumbling with him in the grass. Silver and black mingling together, two sides of the same coin. He'd seen Kurama's smile in his other form, fallen in love with him just as quickly, and relished seeing it once more.

「 One day, I will take you there, Tsubaki. You and your brothers will be able to run to your heart's content and I will watch over you. 」

Tsubaki doesn't hear his thoughts. Her fists balled in Hiei's tanktop and pulling it until he's sure the fabric would give. Kurama tells him he should remind the children to be gentle when they tear at his clothes ― and Hiei reminds that Kurama is rarely so kind to his clothes either. It earns a rare shade of red across the fox's cheeks, a moment of speechlessness, and Hiei feels fulfilled with simply the thought of it.

Seldom does Hiei find his love for her — for all of them — to be overwhelming and all-encompassing, rendering his senses and the world to narrow down to only this small being who relied on him to live. It astonishes him. Was he this small when his mother's people cast him from the mountain peak of Hyouga? He could hardly imagine doing so to Tsubaki and with a sideways glance at his sons, their hands linked even in their sleep, he couldn't imagine them being separated.

Dreams of bringing them to the Makai are soured by the thought of his and Kurama's enemies. Harm would come to his children later in their lives, it was inevitable, and Hiei steeled himself at the thought. But while they were like this — needing his protection and his guidance ― he would tear the realms asunder for them.

Hiei gazes down at Tsubaki and the steady game of tug and release she plays with his tanktop, now stretched to the point where it won't return its usual form. He doesn't have the heart to interrupt her and delights in the gentle wiggle of the ears atop her head. The wisps of her still-forming tail difficult to see in the low light. Compared to Kurama's four, her one is quite small but she has time to grow and grow she will.

Offering his hand to her, a smile creeps onto his lips when she wraps her small fingers around his thumb. A gut-wrenching throb threatens to shake his frame but he holds fast so he won't jostle her. His fingers curling around her arm, guiding it to his lips to leave a few kisses along her skin, watching her eyes light up and follow him. Her smile, wide and with tiny fangs, almost making him want to bare his own to make her laugh.

"I would die for you, you know," Hiei tells her without ceremony, hearing the monotone of his words but the ferocity of them is hidden deep in his chest.

It startles him. Not as much as his love for her but the implication. He'd fought tooth and nail, with blood, sweat, and arguably tears — all so that he could continue existing when fate deemed it he should not. And yet, this small being who'd barely existed for more than a few months could inspire him to lay down his life.

Ridiculous.

As if responding to him, Tsubaki makes a soft noise and her ears twitch, pricking with attention as she regards him — and Hiei falls in love all over again.

The television dully displays a commercial for a television show that he knows his sons would enjoy. If not for being caught so deeply in the throes of sleep, they might have been bouncing around the living room singing the theme song at the top of their lungs. Hiei smiles down at them, tucking Asahi's foot beneath the blanket with a little nudge and curling a knuckle in Kagerou's hair. Silver strands looping around the crook of Hiei's finger and slipping away when he pulled his hand back. Much as he enjoyed the silence of their naps and the quiet their home provided, he preferred their noise and fervor.

"Ieee!" Tsubaki tugs at the strap of his tanktop, bringing Hiei back to reality. She waits patiently as he returns to looking at her and quietly stares back with her golden eyes blinking minutely.

"What were we talking about?" Hiei mutters, thinking it over before his lips parted with a sigh. That's right. "You may not understand the seriousness of it, but know there are only a small number of souls who have such an honor. I've had my share of protecting the realms and fighting for nameless whelps."

Yuusuke seemed to have it in mind that he "tagged along" on their adventures simply because he cared. Sentiment aside, Hiei couldn't say it was far from the truth. They had grown on him like fungus did a rock. He shuddered to think of what would happen if something befell any of them and he could have done something, but chose not.

A few slaps against his shoulder dragged him away from his thoughts and to Tsubaki. Her babbling filling the silence and drowning out the droning of the anchorman, something about rain lost in Hiei's mind as he tries to deduce what his daughter is saying. Lifting her her until they stared eye to eye, her small feet balancing on his thighs as he held her upright.

"What are you saying…"

It occurs to Hiei for not the first time that he could simply use the Jagan and do away with the mystery. He refuses. It's a curious thing but he didn't want to intrude on their minds. Not even his sons. Using the Jagan on them was prohbitied untl his children were old enough to regard him with some semblance of emotion not brought on by their neediness of him. Whether they loved him or abhorred him would be the difference of whether he'd request access to speaking to them telepathically.

So far though, Hiei found himself addicted to having their love and appreciation simply for being their father. It chilled him to think there would be a day when it was otherwiise.

Pinpricks of pain sank into the bridge of his nose and Hiei flared his nostrils in response, earning a squeal. Steam fanning across the palm of Tsubaki's hand evaporated into the open air and Hiei smiled. Allowing another huff and then another to ellicit giggles from his daughter as she tried to catch the vapor in her hands, failing and deciding to clamp her hand over his nose instead. As annoying as it was to have to breathe through his mouth for the few precious seconds it took to pry her hand from his nose, it was worth it for that wide smile.

Curling his fingers around her tiny fist, dotting her wrist with little kisses before he lifted her over his head.

"Your enemies are my enemies, anyone who attempts to harm you is good as dead."

To others, those words would inspire alarm.

To Tsubaki, it inspired laughter and only strengthened Hiei's resolve.

Her hands reached for him and he brought her closer, cradling her to his chest with his hand to her back and the other beneath her head. Letting her hands explore his face, grab at his nose, explore his jawline, tug at the length of the hair spilling over his ward.

The pain mattered little compared to her joy, and Hiei was used to pain ― giving and receiving — and he would suffer it for her smile. Rubbing his nose against her own, her eyes close reflexively as she laughs.

"I'll summon the Dragon of the Darkness Flame all for you. Raze the realms to ash, anything you like."

Hiei's voice is soft and meant for her ears alone, although in the silence, it feels as if the world is listening. Good, he thinks ruefully. Let all the realms hear. If any harm befell his children, hell would be razed.

Tsubaki continues exploring his face but now she makes soft purring noises, contement rolling off her in waves. Her aura reminding him of a flower gradually blooming, a summer storm and a sunshower. Basking in it is enough to bring him peace and he feels shaken to know how easily it comes. Without a word, she can soothe his flames, reminding Hiei all the while of Kurama with her purring and the gentle touches to his skin.

"Action suits me better than words. But your father --- your father can string sentences together to inspire fear in the heart of even the strongest of souls, but he can also be gentle."

Stories do Kurama little justice. He is a gentle soul with the ability to be harsh and unforgiving. His limits have been pushed and tested and proven, but he always has righted himself. Falliable though he may be, his short-comings only inspired Hiei to love him harder. Making up for where he lacked. Holding tight where Kurama was crumbling.

Golden eyes shine, and Hiei sighs.

"Will you be like me or him…?" He asks gently, tipping his head to one side to press a kiss to Tsubaki's cheek. A short pause follows as she nuzzles him, cooing softly and babbling as she reaches for him. Hiei's eyes searching her small form, finding the parts of her that reminds him of Kurama quickly. Only at the gentle pat of her hand does he speak. "… No, you're like your father. There's too much love in you to be like me."

There was so much of him that was ugly. Twisted beyond recognition. He was cold at the core no matter how warm his body ran. Death and destruction were notions he welcomed rather than balked at. Even this idyllic peace they dwelled in was one he looked at with apprehension. He could see the good in a "good" thing but he also knew there were things lurking. It was his job to be ready for when they made themselves known.

Not only for their ragtag team but Kurama and the family they made. It was what he was meant to do. Hiei was sure of it.

Cuddling Tsubaki close to him, the scent of a sunshower in her hair, Hiei sighed. "He would disagree, you know…” A soft chuckle choked out as he shook his head. “He seems to think I'm affectionate."

"Because you are."

Kurama's voice streaks through the open air and lashes deep in Hiei's chest, his head whipping around to find Kurama leaning against the doorway at the other side of the room. Comfortable and assured, wholly unabashed and somewhat smug, his arms folded across his chest and eyes half-lidded. Blood rushes to Hiei’s cheeks as Kurama strolls over to them, stopping shortly to tuck the blanket around the dozing boys, giving both a light peck to the head.

「 How long were you there? 」

Attempting to hide his mortification is a tactic long wasted on Kurama. With his intuitiveness and sheer knowledge of Hiei’s mannerisms, he sees through it immediately and gives a cheeky smile as he nestles at Hiei’s side. Tsubaki’s ears perking, leaning forward at the sound of his voice, her noises a bit louder as she clenches a fistful of Hiei’s shirt and tries to balance herself with a hand outstretched to Kurama.

「 Long enough to hear you threaten her enemies. 」

Kurama smiles warmly, tucking his thumb in the palm of Tsubaki’s hand. His other hand snaking around Hiei’s back to rest at his stomach. A solid warmth pressing against Hiei’s shoulder as Kurama leant forward to press kisses to Tsubaki’s head.

Nose wrinkled and glare scathing, Hiei tries his best to keep his annoyance brewing at Kurama’s lack of transparency but it drains from him quickly at the sight of the fox’s eyes, golden and bright, meeting Tsubaki’s own. A loud squeal from her bringing forth a new wave of emotion too deep for Hiei to stoke the flames of indignant fury.

「 What have I told you about hiding your energy? 」

「 Forgive me, you were having a conversation and I didn't want to interrupt. 」

Shuffling aside, Hiei finds the solid press of Kurama’s chest to his back far more appealing than the wooden frame of the sliding door. A light kiss meanders along the curve of his shoulder, dark red hair tickling his cheek as he twists his head away to avoid Kurama’s lips at his cheek. The fox huffs a laugh, warm breath sending shivers down Hiei’s spine but his attention is stolen by Tsubaki’s babbling. Kurama engaging her in a bit of conversation lost on Hiei as he adjusts her in his lap.

Knees drawn close to his chest and tiny feet firmly planted against his stomach, Tsubaki is given a full view of both of them with Kurama peeking at her over Hiei’s shoulder. A small game of “hide and seek” awkwardly played but no less adored. Pride swells in Hiei’s chest when he hears the quiet shuffle of vines and whispering leaves, the plants hung and gathered around their home drawing nearer as they could at the sound of their daughter’s laughter.

Just as she glows with mirth, the plants react in kind, soaking in her joy and dancing to the currents of energy wafting from her. Hiei sighs when the emotions grow too deep for him to keep them inside, attempting to take a breath to sustain himself and gather air where love and devotion threatened to smother him.

「 She can't speak. I love everything about her and she can't even say a word. 」

Kurama is his best source of information in times such as this. He can make sense of the feelings deep inside of Hiei’s chest, and on the off chance he can’t, he can at least provide solace. A quick squeeze around his middle, a comforting pressure that nearly chokes out the rest of the words hidden in Hiei’s chest, but no less appreciated.

「 She's our daughter. 」

This time, when Kurama’s lips brush against his cheek, Hiei doesn’t turn his head away. Accepting the featherlight kisses to his cheekbones and his jawline, melting under the ones behind his ear.

「 She loves you just as much. 」

Hiei’s heart stammers in beating and he gazes down at Tsubaki. Undeterred by her fathers’ affections, her attention shifts to the vine hanging overhead. It twists and turns, gathering around her fingertips allowing her to hold tight with her small fist. Her eyes are lit with curiosity but her touch is gentle. Almost instinctively. As if she knows too much pressure will bring harm and just enough will guarantee the reaction she desires. It’s so strange.

「 How do you know? 」

「 Can't you tell? 」

Tipping his head enough to glimpse Kurama from the corner of his eye, Hiei scoffs. If he could tell then what would be the purpose in asking him? Kurama arches a brow and Hiei sighs. Not wanting to start a verbal spat with him or let him see too deeply into why he worries.

Tsubaki is none the wiser. Her attention stolen entirely by the flowers and the vines coming to greet her. Blooms on the vines flourishing beneath her light touches and grateful as they wind gently around her wrist, brushing against her fingers and hugging close to her.

Hiei sighs. Would a day come where she no longer looked at things like this? Where she regarded him with contempt for everything he did in the past? For what Kurama had done with the plants that adored her? Would his own standoffishness and habit of silence deter her more than e dear?

Worry and unrest churned in his stomach. His heart aching. These days would always remembered but they were fleeting. The boys were growing like weeds and so would Tsubaki. He only wished this time would slow so he could cherish every moment a bit longer.

Tsubaki tilted her head head up and the vine wrapped around her wrist pulled away, her hands reaching out to him.

「 She knows when you're worried. 」

Hiei resists the urge to flinch but he does tense. Enough for Kurama to raise his head from his shoulder and Tsubaki to whimper. Leaning down to rest his head in her hands, he closes his eyes when she nuzzles him, unable to look into her eyes and lie.

「 I told her, she's like you. 」

「 You could always tell when I was lost in my own head. 」

「 As if it was hard? 」

The nuzzling continued along with a soft purr. Hiei pressing kisses to her cheek and murmuring in words from a Makai dialect, promising her that he was fine and thanking her for saving him. Tsubaki’s answering hum comes with a light scratch of her claws against his cheek but he can’t find it in himself care.

「 She takes after you as well, Hiei. We made them together. Never forget that. 」

Kurama squeezes him around his waist and the feelings he hid so deeply in his chest begin to bubble up to his throat. He would die for his children and their enemies were his own but they weren’t the only ones. He would lay down his life for Kurama, fight all of his enemies physically and mentally if it meant securing another sunrise with him.

「 … It's hard to remember. They're so… good. 」

Hiei glances back at him, hugging Tsubaki close to his chest and listening to her gentle cooing. A light kiss pressed to the top of her head and her ears twitching as she nuzzled close to him. Sparing a glance at Kurama, Hiei sighs.

「 Almost everything good in my life, I attribute to you. 」

Kurama’s hand cups his chin and tips his head up. Hiei’s eyebrow raising until he’s pulled into a kiss. Senses short-circuiting with the quirk work Kurama makes of his defenses, kissing him deeply and drowning out the world. A sharp nip to his lower lip startles him, his lips parting and Kurama’s tongue delves past. Muffled groans becoming soft sighs as they part, heated breaths and panting between them.

What was just happened…?

Meeting Kurama’s eyes, Hiei sees the gold flickering amidst the green.

"S-Sorry…" Kurama mutters, his voice a bit rougher with a timbre that reminds Hiei of the Youko. “… You were being sweet again.”

Hiei huffed, quirking a smile. “I thought you didn’t like sweet things…”

“I’m starting to have a taste for them,” Kurama grins, his lips a bit wet but his tongue swipes along the bottom one and Hiei smiles as he leans in again

Tsubaki’s hand patting Hiei’s cheek to gain his attention and Kurama sighing softly when Hiei turns away.

“I’m sorry,” Hiei says, though he doesn’t sound sorry in the slightest even to his own ears. Far too amused with Kurama’s pouting, his chin resting on Hiei’s shoulder. And Tsubaki’s smiling, unaware of the moment she interrupted. “Your father is distracting.”

#yu yu hakusho #yyh #kurahi #kurama #hiei #fanfiction #my fanfiction #smile bomb #minamino tsubaki #minamino kagerou #minamino asahi

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theamberfang · 4 years

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Journal 289: Stalled

Whelp. I didn’t write anything for NaNoWriMo today. My best guess is that I had mentally overcommitted to the idea of actually starting a draft of my story. I felt obligated to do so if I were to start writing, and I didn’t explicitly tell myself that it would still be fine to do anything else, so I opted to do nothing instead.

Also, as it got later in the day, it felt like if I started writing, that’s when I would have to deal with the disappointment of having wasted so much time. I think it actually has to do with the way I’ve been writing dialogue with myself, so it felt like I was having to report to someone—even if that someone was literally me. Like, I was actively feeling bad about procrastinating all day, so it’s not like I was avoiding any bad feelings, but I suppose none of this is rational anyway.

Now that it’s come to the end of the day and I haven’t done anything, I just feel really bad; I actually feel in danger of this spiralling into an episode of depression. I need to remind myself that today is passed me now: thinking that I could have totally done things different won’t help me going forward. To be clear, it’s also fine to write absolutely anything else for NaNoWrimo: I don’t have to overly commit to actually drafting a scene. Lastly, I’m only using NaNo as encouragement to get past my usual perfectionism: if I don’t complete the challenge within the time limit, it’s not the end of the world. I’d like to keep working on my story beyond NaNo regardless.

That said, another perspective to take is that I might have been pushing myself a little too hard for a while now. It doesn’t matter that I’m still pretty behind for NaNo: that’s not the only thing I have going on this year. Last year I was wholly focused on NaNo and still struggled in the early goings. This year I’m also attending support groups, continuing to manage this blog, and trying to communicate with people. The simply act of trying to juggle different priorities is new to me—and quite draining in its own right. It’s totally reasonable if I needed to take a break today. It’s honestly fine if I end up needing a break tomorrow, since today was filled with so much stress over doing nothing.

Tomorrow’s Tasks

Exercise; 1000

NaNoWriMo; 1100

Journal; 2000

#daily journal #personal #meta #self care #anxiety #depression

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arcadiaoaksusedbooks · 5 years

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Nadia’s sisters

Nadia isn’t the only living Shard in the world; before the Battle at Killahead she came into contact with three others and together formed a sisterly bond. The other three sisters will share this blog for a week.

Name: Elisi

Age: Over a thousand

Description: Long blond hair tied back into a braid, green eyes, skin paled from being underground for so long, wears loose fitting clothing and boots, fairly muscular.

Powers/Abilities: Super strength (as strong as ten trolls), proficient with swords and blunt instruments, mixed martial arts and boxing. As a Shard, she possesses Life Magic, where she can create sentient life with another’s soul. Immortal. Is a lefty.

Personality: Elisi is a born leader, always making sure everyone is taken care of or has something to do. She takes no nonsense and is supportive of friends and family. Has the patience of a saint, not easily angered or rattled. However, she can tend to overlook the thoughts and feelings of others. While not the first one to jump into battle, she loves a good fight and will protect those who are dear to her, no matter what.

Weaknesses: As a Shard, her powers are tied to her physical stamina; she will lose her abilities when exhausted. She will overlook the needs and feelings of others in order to get something done. Can be overprotective of those she cares about, to the point of treating them like children. STRICT with training others, it’s her way or the highway.

Background: Elisi doesn’t say much about her past, only that she was once a princess but was burned at the stake. It was her first death, and her regenerated body was found by some wandering trolls looking for food. She stayed with them, was taken to their home, and after discovering what she was and what she could do became a part of their community. She married another troll and, with her Life Magic, had six whelps. Soon, Merlin’s Amulet chose one in her tribe as its next Trollhunter, and Elisi volunteered to use her strength to help train him. The Hunter was successful and celebrated for two hundred years until his gruesome death. Since then, Elisi has tried to seek out and train other Trollhunters who emerge. However, the losses leading up to Killahead included members of her family, and her overprotective nature took over. After the war, she took her family into hiding. They eventually settled into Alaska, and the wounds of war healed slowly. Elisi, under an alias, works as a game warden, watching over national parks and keeping an eye on her new territory. She will occasionally, visit Arcadia Oakes to see her sister and a few friends.

Name: Alora

Age: Over a thousand

Description: Short, choppy black hair, brown eyes, tanned skin. Wears pop culture T-shirt, trenchcoat, jeans and combat boots.

Powers/Abilities: Can summon most any weapon into her hands, though prefers swords (mostly swords she’s handled before, cannot summon soulbound weapons). Well versed in combat and warfare. Fast and agile, prefers to strike fast and often. As a Shard, she possesses Life Magic, where she can create sentient life with another’s soul. Immortal.

Personality: Alora wields one of two types of personality: she’s either cold and calculating, speaks harshly and selfishly, and has an extremely short fuse. Or she’s laid back and mischievous, a meme machine like none you’ve ever seen, says what’s on her mind and acts like she owns your place. Either way, tends to have a smirk on her face. She delights in being unpredictable, whether it’s laying the strategy in battle or spending the day playing video games on the couch. The last thing she wants is you to know what’s on her mind or her real motives. It’s just more fun for her that way.

Weaknesses: As a Shard, her powers are tied to her physical stamina; she will lose her abilities when exhausted. Alora is hot-headed and easily angered, as well as easily blinded by rage. In a fight, she goes all out to end it quickly, which would quickly spend her stamina. Her immortality has made her brash and careless, with no fear of death and consequences (a Deadpool Complex, if you will). Has no patience, will get what she wants when she wants it.

Background: Alora started life as a lowly scullery maid of a castle, until it was attacked by trolls. Gumm-gumms looking to get the giant castle out of their warpath quickly gobbled up the young maid when they found her... and she woke up fully alive a few days later. She found herself in possession of a Gumm-gumm general named Borel, and he was quick to use her Life Magic to grow his squad into one of the largest the tribe had ever seen. Not content with just being a glorified brood mother, Alora trained herself in her weapon summoning to fight alongside her general. It took three hundred years for her to find the craft that suited her best, but she was never brought into the limelight. Eventually, Borel lost interest and use of her, and tossed her aside (she doesn’t talk about this moment. Ever.). Alora wandered the lands before Killahead as a loose canon, with only the desire to kill all humans she finds. She was discovered by Nadia, who tried to give her a second chance to live the life she wanted, but Alora resisted. However, she was talked into fighting the War of Killahead on the Trollhunter’s side, to take revenge against Borel. She succeeded, and when the war ended, she decided she had enough of trolls for a lifetime. Her travels eventually took her to California, where she roamed the beaches peacefully to relax and discover herself. She AVOIDS Arcadia if she can, as Trollmarket still regards her as a Gumm-gumm.

Name: Isabow

Age: Over a thousand

Description: Shoulder length, curly red hair, bright green eyes. Freckled skin. The tallest sister. Wears airy, loose clothing, no shoes. Always smiling.

Powers/Abilities: Can manipulate any plantlife to do what she wants (grow big, grow small, grow en mass, gain sentience, attack, defend, help to flee). Can understand any spoken language (something about how everyone’s heart speaks the same language). Exceptional singing voice. Some supernatural creatures describe a pull to her as if entranced by her pure spirit. As a Shard, she possesses Life Magic, where she can create sentient life with another’s soul. Immortal.

Personality: Isabow is always cheerful and looks to the bright side, not wanting anyone to be blue or stressed. She’s sensitive to other’s emotional needs and seems to know what to say or do to put them at ease. Always wants to find the good in others, no matter how terrible or evil they are. She’s also a lovesick thot who is up for almost anything that anyone wants. A true pacifist, the last thing she wants to do is fight anyone for any reason.

Weaknesses: As a Shard, her powers are tied to her physical stamina; she will lose her abilities when exhausted. “So full of love,” she tends to get a huge crush on almost everyone she lays eyes on. Isabow is VERY stupid, and doesn’t understand much of the world (though she has strong emotional intelligence). She refuses to fight, and would rather let herself get injured than raise a bad hand to anyone. Easily tricked and manipulated, very trusting and wants nothing more than to see that everyone, no matter how bad, can be good.

Background: Isabow was abandoned in the woods to die right after being born. She was found by that forest’s guardian after death... and resurrection. Isabow grew and blossomed in power, and her empathy drew many to her. After three hundred years, she had made a glen for herself and those who grew entranced with her. In fact, her neck of the woods was feared by outsiders, since “those who ventured in never returned”. (They were happily living with Isabow as her giant family/harem.) It didn’t take long for her sanctuary to be discovered by Gumm-gumms, who were mind wiped by Gunmar and immune to her aura and charms. Even with her home destroyed, she refused to fight. It was Elisi who persuaded Isabow to make a forest near a battlesite to protect friendly troops and keep the bad troops from escaping: and Isabow herself grew Killahead Forest in one week. It left her exhausted, but she also agreed to try and protect the Trollhunter and use her Life Magic to make an army for him. From the trees, she watched the destruction and death, and it broke her. After the war, she made a new glen within Killahead Forest and stayed there for many centuries. Lately, she’s been brave enough to venture out and see what the world is like.

#profile page #Alora Darren #Elisi #Isabow

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dovakhiindrabbles · 7 years

Note

hello! i absolutely love your blog! you're one of the only people with a skyrim x reader blog (that i know of at least) plus you're a great writer so thanks for that!! i was wondering if i could send in a request? ignore this if you aren't taking them right now but i'd like to request a farkas x reader where the reader gets wounded (reason being up to you). but the reader recovers fine once he gets them to safety. please and thank you!

heCK thank you so much!!!! Even though Todd Howard puts the fear of God in me I love Skyrim and all the characters involved in it!!!

Especially Farkas buT I MEAN clEARLY

I’m sorry this took so long though it’s not that I wasn’t taking requests but my schedule has literally been disastrous and I haven’t had much of an opportunity to really rest and feel comfortable writing until now

Anyhow, thank you so much and have a terrific day!!! Enjoy hun!!!! (ෆˊ͈ ु꒳ ूˋ͈ෆ)

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It hadn’t felt like anything at first.

The dragon had unhinged its jaw in a sudden flash, the remnants of a roar silencing in an instant as its fangs snapped against your arm, your armor punctured and digging into your skin.

You felt the air snatched from your lungs if only for a second before your eyes switched back to the dragon and you raised your weapon again to strike.

You only realized the pain, after.

When it was all over and all that remained were a skull and bones did the dull buzz seep into a searing burn, warmth dribbling from the cracks in your armor down your fingertips.

And your husband noticed, right away.

“MC!” Farkas put away his weapon, his brow furrowing as he took your hand, frowning. “What-”

He stopped seeing the scarlet curling about your knuckles, a curse slipping from his lips.

“How bad does it hurt?”

You crinkled your nose, a faint hiss escaping you as it braced against the metal of your armor.

“Just a bit.”

He scoffed, worry drowning his usually blank gaze.

“Come on, let’s get that off you.”

He wrapped an arm around your waist, pulling you close as he began to move you, lifting you as if you were lighter than a very feather.

“I’m fine…!” You exclaimed, mustering a weak grin. “It’s nothing I can’t take!”

“Doesn’t matter. Just cause a hit doesn’t kill you right away doesn’t mean it won’t later.”

“I’m not a whelp I know that.”

“Talking like that you could’ve fooled me.”

You puffed out your cheeks indignantly, tightening your grip on him as the wound sent another shot of pain through you.

He noticed, softening as he found a place to set you down, smoke from chimneys and distant, loud voices of a town ahead.

“Here, let me get it off you.”

You held your breath, glancing at him, a bit more nervous than you’d like to admit.

“It’s going to hurt isn’t it?”

He hesitated, eventually nodding, reaching out a light hand to your cheek, trying to calm you as best as he could.

“Yeah, but you’re tougher than you look love.” He hummed, pressing a light kiss to your nose. “Just…just focus on me.”

You nodded, tensing, simply trying to keep your gaze locked onto him, ignoring how your skin prickled as he coiled his fingers around the armor, and pulled.

Perhaps to say it hurt, was an understatement.

An incredible one.

You let out a yell, burying your head in the crook of his neck, your skin tearing and clinging, the sound of metal crashing onto the ground soon filling your ears.

Farkas didn’t say a word but held you for a time, his arms entangling around you comfortingly, a hand weaving through your hair.

“That hurt a lot more than I thought it would,” You snickered half-heartedly, trying to ignore how the sweat beaded down your forehead. “A uh…a lot more.”

“I’m sorry.” He murmured, shifting back. “I just know how to hit hard, not really patch them up. You have a rag?”

“What for?”

“Wrap it up.”

You nodded, giving it to him, watching as he wiped away at the crimson lines against your forearm, eventually ribboning it about the injury.

It hadn’t throbbed as much as it once had.

“Jergen showed me.”

“What?”

“He showed me how to do this much. When I was little, I was even less smart than I am now. Got into a lot of fights. He said I ought to know how to handle what comes after if I was going to be dumb enough to get into fights.”

“You’re not dumb!” You replied, huffing. “I think you’re fine just as you are.”

“You might be the only one.” He hummed, helping you to your feet, something like a smile tugging at his expression. “You keep doing that.”

“Doing what?”

“Surprising me,” He cleared his throat sheepishly. “in a good way, I mean.”

You gave a chaste kiss to his cheek, simpering.

“Good to know.”

He barely let out a chuckle, red hinted at the tips of his ears.

“Y-Yeah u-um…h-h-how’re you feeling?” He questioned quietly, taking your hand in his own. “Better?”

And it didn’t even take a moment.

For the warmth in your chest said more than enough.

“Much better.”

#Skyrim #Skyrim Farkas #Farkas Skyrim #Farkas #Farkas x Reader #Reader Insert #Shipfic #Fluff #Farkas x You #You x Farkas #Skyrim Fanfic #Skyrim Fanfiction #Fanfic Skyrim #Fanfiction Skyrim #Fanfic Farkas #Fanfiction Farkas #Farkas Fanfiction

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disneyprincessmodelworld · 7 years

Note

I've followed some CC blogs for a while...I'm a big fan of both D/arren and Ch/ris. I've always been on the fence about believing in CC, but I definitely don't believe in mi/arren. I really like it. Anyway...I was wondering if you now (after this b'day weekend, especially the video of D wearing M's dress) or have ever had any doubts about mi/arren...have you ever thought it might actually be real? This weekend has left me doubting...if nothing else Im starting to think theyre at least friends.

Whelp that is what bearding is supposed to do. Convince you that its real. Its not. And in some cases. (Read that as most). Less is more.

It isn’t. She’s a beard. Ives said they are friends. They hang. Folks get all in a tizzy over it. And they will again cause I said it. I mean I can’t be the only one that routinely wants to choke the ever loving shit out of a person i routinely hang with cause they are on my last damn nerve.

But doesn’t change the fact that TheyAreFriends. Well. They were friends. Cause legit there are times even I’m kind of concerned that he wants to run her over with a car. But ya know I’ve been there. Had that comtemplation myself so I get it.

Some friendships are fucked up. Not all are my little pony sing alongs. I’ll be the first to admit it. Have a few of my own. Toxic as hell and we Still hang. And I am well aware of allowing that person to stay in my life.

I’ve been in her spot. (The beard) And by the looks of it, if agent orange doesn’t blow the world up, I’ll be in that spot again. And I will happily smile and lie and kiss and pretend couple the hell out of it again beause its what is asked.

They aren’t the first fake couple and they sure as hell won’t be the last.

I’ve also said not all fake relationships are bearding or merkining. There are tons of hetero fake couples too.

I can guarantee that some of those couples you think are cute are most likely fake.

If you think my situation is rare, think again. There are more folks with unusual home lives than folks think here.

Honestly though I literally just looked A in the face and told him to fuck it all and come out. At this rate agent orange is going to have us blown up anyway. So might as well go out happy, gay, and free as a bird.

I mean why folks conviently forget Ricky, Wentworth, hell tom and his gfs. I mean is it that they come out and it like we laser beam that makes folks forget all the bearding and fake dates?

Huh. There’s the new plot twist for the next men in black, just say I’m gay and whoooooooosssshhhhhhhh. everyone totally forgets that others played this same game, had the same pictures, video , etc.

(I’m not fixing typos. I took allergy meds and I just wanna rebel and not do it.)

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getoffthesoapbox · 7 years

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[VKM Spec] Slogging Through VKM 11

Whelp, VKM 11 has arrived and it was...underwhelming, to say the least. There are a few tidbits of interest which I’ll be covering below. If you’re looking for indepth analyses on the parallels and intricacies of Haruka and Juri and Kaien please check out @soulisthirsty‘s post which covers the specifics of that trio in more depth.

I despise all levels of the Kuran incest family shenanigans and prefer to spend as little time analyzing them as possible to keep my blood pressure down. ;) Ancient obasans have to watch out for these things, you know!

In the meantime, for anyone who hasn’t read the translations or seen the spoilers, please check them out on @alldempretties‘s blog before proceeding to read below. =)

This post has been tagged anti cross kaien and anti ky for anyone who would like to blacklist it from the tags. Fair warning: I won’t be using any visuals because this chapter isn’t up to snuff panel-wise. Hino got a bit lazy with this one.

On Present Kaien - Melodrama Ridiculous

Why Hino decided to dedicate a full 40 pages to Kaien is...quite beyond my ken. Regardless, here we are.

As many perhaps are aware, Kaien is one of my most detested characters, and this chapter does little to fix this. He’s no better than the noble vampires, running around worshipping his purebloods at the expense of common sense. But we’ll get to that in a minute. For now I’d like to focus on the present and how ridiculous this whole set up is.

Hino makes a big hairy deal about Kaien’s reaction to the doctor’s news (the doctor is absolutely preposterous and unprofessional), and then she drags out Kaien’s long memory sequence about his loved ones. A larger deal is made out of Kaien’s “illness” than Yori’s funeral! Sometimes Hino’s lack of common sense is stunning.

Kaien plays up his illness in order to manipulate Yuuki into giving him a whole host of things she wouldn’t ordinarily give him. Dates to the park with Ai (I noticed Kaien didn’t invite Zero to these), old massage coupons, photo album sorting, great screenings with everyone important assembled. For a guy who’s dying, he sure has a lot of unfinished business.

It’s hard to know if Hino actually intends to kill him off or if this whole scenario was created in order to give Yuuki a reason to be sorting photos and creating this screening for Kaien. Zero seems to be under the impression that it’s much ado about nothing, which I’m inclined to agree with, much as it pains me.

I find it interesting that Kaien still calls Zero “Kiryuu-kun” while he calls Yuuki “Yuuki” and Kaname “Kaname-kun.” It’s clear he’s still on the pro-Kaname boat and the anti-Zero boat as far as Yuuki is concerned, as is fitting for his Kuran-obsessed character. He’s always placed Kaname and Yuuki above Zero, even though Zero was entrusted to his care.

Sadly, I doubt he’ll be dying anytime soon. I was really hoping to get rid of one of the detestable characters, but no, Hino only commits to killing off the decent ones. Thanks for spoiling my fun, Zero. ;)

On Past Kaien - A Long Life with Little to Show for It

My current theory on why Hino insisted on rehashing old exposition of Kaien’s past (Kaien takes photos, Juri wields anti-vampire weapons, Kaien was friends with Haruka and Juri, Kaien started the school for Juri, Kaien was in love with Juri) is to remind the readers of all these things that occurred over the course of the original series. If I don’t think of it this way, I’ll want to tear my hair out over having to reread the same old information again.

Regardless, we do clarify a few things. Kaien gets inspired by Isaya to take photos. Isaya’s words about capturing happy times of your loved ones are probably meant to echo into the future to Zero and Yuuki during their happy times (and to reflect upon the present as an unhappy time despite appearances).

We also find out that Kaien’s become exhausted with his illustrious career as the Ten Thousand Slayer. He’s more like a pureblood than a human, and his comrades begin to pull away from him thanks to that. Kaien also begins to sympathize more with the purebloods than he does with the hunters.

The academy is an idea he cooked up to help create a better world for Juri. Unfortunately it isn’t something she can take advantage of--she’s an adult woman who finished her school days long ago. But the focus is on the idea of a bright future and her encouragement of his plan.

It’s interesting that he admits the results weren’t all that great, even though he did manage to plant a bit of a seed toward that future. His academy was an abysmal failure and his methods brought no peace at all, but he did provide the environment for the next generation to begin building on the ruins of what he’d attempted. It will not be his generation who saves the future, but Zero’s, Aidou’s, and Yuuki’s. Out with the old, in with the new.

Though his accomplishments are meager, he seems content with them, and that’s probably as good as he deserves.

On Kaien vs. Kaname Anti-Mirrors - Interference vs. Acceptance

A few interesting similarities between Kaien and Kaname cropped up this chapter. The similarities weren’t too intense, but they were there.

Kaien, like Kaname, began to see life as dull and gray and ashen. He, like Kaname, wanted to do away with himself. Like Kaname, he was saved by the bright personality of a Kuran woman.

However, the two men differ in a very significant way which the chapter highlights. Kaien watched Haruka and Juri, and although he wished for Juri’s love, instead of choosing to interfere between them, he chose to search for a way he could help both of them be happy and free them of their burdens.

Kaname, on the other hand, watched Zero and Yuuki together and tried to take what Yuuki gave freely to Zero for himself. He interfered with Zero and Yuuki’s natural trajectory and did everything in his power to derail it from its inevitable course. He chose to add to their suffering, and even in his final moments he wasn’t able to truly free either of them. Kaname is in this sense much closer to Rido than to Kaien, despite him and Kaien having similar beginnings.

On Kaien vs. Zero Anti-Mirrors - The Failed Savior vs. The Vampire Knight

Now this was an incredibly pleasant surprise! For a chapter with so little substance, to find this nugget was a real pleasure.

Throughout the chapter, Hino places small hints that Kaien’s and Zero’s trajectories are meant to be compared. They’re not parallel trajectories because Zero corrects Kaien’s mistakes and is meant to succeed where Kaien failed.

In the chapter, it’s made clear that Kaien falls under the spell of the pureblood lifestyle and forgets himself. He loses touch with what’s important to the hunters, and loses their confidence. They grow distant from him and no longer connect with him.

Then we switch to the present and we see the exact opposite going on with Zero. Zero has not forgotten who he is and what he stands for--although he tolerates and accepts vampires, he is still first and foremost focused on the good of humanity. His hunters respect him and joke with him--a sign of a good superior is when subordinates feel they can tease them. Although Zero himself is a vampire and is dating a pureblood, his subordinates are not suspicious of where his loyalties lie, unlike Kaien. Zero is a healthier person than Kaien, in spite of all his losses in life, and this more grounded nature of his enables him to succeed within both the hunter and vampire circles.

Moreover, in the past Kaien has a significant scene where he watches Haruka and Juri and compares them to birds drenched in the rain who have lost something important. His heart goes out to them, and he recognizes in them the same loneliness he has in himself. He decides he wants to save them from their burdens. Unfortunately, Kaien fails because Haruka and Juri die long before his academy can bear any fruit. His purpose and meaning and the people he wanted to save vanish at the same time, leaving him unable to save anyone. Hino highlights this with the color spread--Kaien is outside the deep dark forest, trying to reach in to his friends. They both look at him, but ultimately cannot join him.

This was such a great find for me, because it implies that Zero will succeed where Kaname failed. I’ve reiterated several times that I believe Zero failed as the Vampire Knight in the original series. He was meant to save his birds who forgot the song of happiness--Kaname and Yuuki. But he failed thanks to not recognizing his duty soon enough and to Yuuki’s memory wipe. As such, his burden to save the two of them has been shifted to VKM. Unlike Kaien, though, Zero wants to make a better world for Ai, not just Yuuki. Zero is working for the future deliberately, not for the present. This is a completely different perspective than Kaien’s, and it will allow Zero to flourish and to achieve his goals where Kaien couldn’t.

I firmly believe by the end of the story Zero will succeed where Kaien failed and save not only Yuuki and the world at large but also Kaname. Zero is the seed Kaien planted without knowing it, and the one who--through assisting with the cure, encouraging cooperation between the vampires and hunters, never forgetting himself or his duty, making the world a better place for Ai, and leaving his fragment to help Yuuki with Kaname--will bring forth the “bright future” Juri wished for her daughter and shine a light on the deep dark forest at last. Only Zero can do this, and I have faith in him to take on the responsibility at last!

On Haruka & Juri - The Birds Whose Happiness Went Extinct

I won’t dwell on the parallels between Haruka/Juri and the pairings. I’m honestly in the camp that believes the real Haruka and Juri were more akin to Kaname and Yuuki, and that the idealized Haruka and Juri that Yuuki wished for are what’s akin to Zero and Yuuki. But I really have no stake in the game, so whatever floats people’s boats.

However, there are some callbacks and interesting points I’d like to explore with these two.

For one, there’s a lot of emphasis placed on how purebloods lose their ability to find happiness as they age and as the duties placed on them increase. Honestly, I’m of the opinion that this is thanks to purebloods refusing to accept their duties and constantly running away from their responsibilities, but Hino wants us to pity them, so pity them we shall by god. I’ve never in my life felt bad for her purebloods--they’re all rich, wealthy, and beautiful. They all create their own destruction because they’re selfish beings who don’t know how to do good in the world. Honestly, a great majority of their suffering is of their own making.

Regardless, Hino uses Haruka and Juri to remind us of a couple of callbacks to Kaname and Yuuki. On the cover page of the chapter, she’s placed Haruka and Juri deep within the gnarled trees of the deep dark forest. Haruka and Juri, like Kaname and Yuuki after them, fell into the deep dark forest. Further, Haruka and Juri are compared to drenched birds clinging to each other in the rain, an image very similar to the “birds who have forgotten the song of happiness” Hino used for Kaname and Yuuki back in Night 91′s title. She goes further with Haruka and Juri to indicate that something has gone extinct within them--likely the love of life and the appreciation of its possibilities.

This all hints that Haruka and Juri’s “happiness” is the facade of two lonely people whose love isn’t enough to overcome their long lives and their responsibilities. My personal opinion has always been that this is because Juri doesn’t actually love Haruka--he was just the best of two bad options. After centuries together, she grew fond enough of him that he helps ease her loneliness, but I doubt he was her true love. (I don’t think any of her options were her true love, but that’s beside the point.)

I also found it interesting that Haruka and Juri do not seem to be placing Kaname’s happiness as a priority. Instead all their focus is on Yuuki. This places an extra meta burden on Yuuki as a character--she now has to find happiness not only for herself, but for her parents as well. She is their hope, and they died for that hope. It’s now even more imperative that she find her happiness with the man she chose--Zero. Baby steps!

What I find interesting is that Haruka and Juri’s wish for Yuuki led her directly to Zero, not Kaname. Their method for helping her find happiness delivered her right to just the right man for her. That cannot be a coincidence.

Interestingly, Kaien seems to have tried to subvert the true wish of Haruka and Juri--for Yuuki to find her own happiness--by trying to substitute Kaname and Yuuki for Haruka and Juri in his life. This may explain why he pushed Yuuki to Kaname and supported their reunions at the expense of Yuuki’s mental health and wellbeing and even preferences. It also explains why he wasn’t too keen on Zero and Yuuki as a couple. Kaien was invested in seeing Yuuki and Kaname find the happiness Haruka and Juri weren’t able to, but that wasn’t what Haruka and Juri wished for Yuuki. They wanted her to find a happiness and a bright future that could only be had within Kaien’s academy. A future with Kaname was not that future--a future with Kaname would have ended up the same way Haruka’s and Juri’s did. They didn’t wish a pureblood life of misery upon their daughter--they wished a life of light and joy.

On Ichiou - Evil or Misunderstood?

Poor Ichiou. Hino wants us to hate him so badly she makes Haruka act all hostile to him, but the guy really doesn’t do anything bad this chapter. All he does is remind Haruka of the duties he’s shirking in order to play with Juri at things he shouldn’t be doing. I honestly feel for Ichiou; can you imagine how many unruly purebloods he has to deal with all the darn time? It’s no wonder he gets power hungry later--his job’s thankless!

I’m not the type to hate characters just because other characters hate them. I usually get suspicious when characters are painted as too over-the-top evil. No one is entirely evil. Ichiou probably got just tired of the purebloods and their childish ways and wanted at least a little something for his trouble. Bless the poor man.

On the Screening - What the Future Holds

I suspect Kaien’s going to die before they can host the screening in his lifetime. I think that’s going to be something Yuuki picks up throughout the 900 years of her life, and she’ll add photos of everyone--including her happy life with Zero, Ai, and Ren. Likely Kaname will be the one who gets to watch this compilation of all his loved ones’ lives, maybe toward the end of the story after he’s come to terms with all he lost and never had and is ready to heal and move forward.

Since Isaya mentioned that it’s good to have photos of your loved ones from happy times, this is an indicator that we’ll be getting a significant portion of our photos from the Zero/Ren/Ai days. It also implies that we’re not in the happy times yet, because no one’s been taking photos. (This also ties back to the very first cover from VKM 1, which was a huge stack of photos from the past.)

It would also be nice if we did get to have that amusement park date with Kaien, only Zero goes along and Kaien finally admits to himself that he was wrong to push Yuuki with Kaname--that she’d already found the perfect person for her. =P It’d be nice to see him recognize that Zero is the one who brings the joy out in Yuuki the way Haruka brought it out in Juri, since Kaien can’t seem to attach to anyone unless they remind him of Haruka and Juri. *sigh*

On Zero & Yuuki - The Return of the Public Masks

The time lapse between VKM 10 and 11 appears to be about a week or two. We have no idea what went down during that time, but clearly Zero and Yuuki haven’t broken up and are still together.

This chapter has some striking similarities to Night 50 from the original series. In that chapter, after the small 6-month time skip, we skipped ahead another 6 months to see Yuuki, Aidou, Kaname, and Aidou’s father have a small meeting. Yuuki and Kaname are pleasant to each other, showing none of the difficulties they have behind closed doors. Zero and Yuuki in VKM 11 remind me of that, though in a healthier way (Zero’s not encouraging Yuuki to kiss him or put on a show of affection for the guests).

Still, I think it’s fairly clear that Zero and Yuuki in this chapter are in “public mode.” They’ve just gone around announcing to the world that they’re dating, so they need to keep up appearances, regardless of how things may or may not be proceeding behind closed doors.

The preview for August’s chapter indicates there’s trouble in paradise as expected. Zero and Yuuki are good at hiding their true feelings in public, but this also may be a case where their genuine concern for Kaien makes them both “forget” their problems temporarily and allows their relationship to return to its natural flow when they’re not putting their issues in the foreground.

Either way, it was truly a treasure to see them bickering cutely and acting like an old married couple. Zero chewing out his hunter boys was adorable too. It was a nice break from the storm that’s sure to come this way soon.

On Aidou - The Rising Winds

Hino makes sure to remind us at the tail end of the chapter that trouble is on the horizon.

We now know Aidou hasn’t had a chance to test his Kaien theory yet. Whether he’ll get to or not remains a mystery, but next chapter’s preview implies Zero’s going to get involved in the research soon. All is proceeding according to plan for the Zero/Ren cure theories. ;D

Hino ending the chapter on a sad note is to prep us, I think, for what’s to come. Aidou’s going to be throwing himself into work, and likely Zero will be joining him as Yuuki finds more and more excuses to escape the demands of the relationship through the photo sorting for Kaien.

It would be incredibly nice for Aidou to unload on Zero all the complaints us Zeki critics have with Zero and Yuuki’s progress. ;) If Aidou did that, I think I at least would feel much better about where Zero and Yuuki are currently as a couple. When the narrative faces the problems squarely, it’s easier to sit back and just enjoy the ride.

It would be nice if next chapter could take us back into the future with Kaname. I’m still waiting to find out if my Zero fragment theory is even remotely possible, lol. Guess I have no choice but to keep waiting. In the meantime, full speed ahead with the Zero/Ren cures! Until next time!

#vampire knight #vampire knight memories #vkm spec #vkm speculation #zeki #anti cross kaien #anti ky #vkm chapter review

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risingsouls · 3 years

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Recruited: Chapter 4

[SO apparently I didn’t post this chapter????? I’m putting together the hub blog and it skipped from three to 5???? I swear I posted it but I looked in every possible tag it could be in and nothing.

Well here it is. If you’ve read it already, ignore this. This is basically so I’ll have the link for the hub. :3]

Vegeta

The Saiyan prince only released his exasperated growl once his scouter beeped, indicating the emperor severed the line of communication. In battle, Vegeta responded to the most unexpected changes fluidly and with little issue. Outside of the field in which his very nature, his blood, offered him innate skill in, shifting anything he had grown comfortable with bristled his ill temper. Within a few weeks, he grew used to Nappa’s absence on the jobs assigned to him and Raditz. The oaf would rejoin their ranks when he completed his final session with that new recruit, and Vegeta’s life would return to the normalcy he had become accustomed to over the past few decades.

That was until Frieza graced him with news he didn’t particularly care for.

“Frieza’s really making that woman our fourth, huh?” Vegeta grunted and climbed out of his pod to join the taller Saiyan, deeming words unnecessary when Raditz heard the whole conversation. “I suppose there are worse candidates, especially in looks, but she’s a complete rookie. Won’t she just slow us down?”

“Most likely.” He tapped the button on the side of his scouter. Nappa’s power level flashed across the screen on the other side of the planet, the second nearby no doubt his pupil’s. Their new teammate. Her power level had increased some, though he couldn’t decide if he wanted to attribute it to Nappa’s tutelage in ki control or her own natural competence. "Nappa's reports were...promising for her ability as a warrior, at least. But we both know the oaf is like a puppy and gets excited over even the most mediocre of talents. Not to mention he could be fudging her progress to make himself look like less of a failure."

"I suppose so. Guess only time will tell."

Vegeta fought the urge to roll his eyes. Had he not harbored his own curiosity and desire to see their new addition in action, he would have berated Raditz for his moping and apparent attempt to play on the prince's impatience to convince him to peek in on their training. It wouldn't be the first time he tried to convince him when they returned to base before Nappa finished his session with his trainee. Now they had a viable reason to.

His boots left the metal of the landing dock. "Come along, Raditz, I think it's time I take a personal look at this woman's skill." A slight smirk curled his lips as he took to the sky, that innate excitement for a proper rival to his strength tantalizing. The thrill of battle that often fizzled to nothing in the face of disappointment after disappointment in his opponents' overall power and fighting prowess. "Perhaps I will give her a proper test myself. See what she's really capable of. Nappa no doubt either sparred her himself or sicced his Saibamen on her. Neither a particularly telling gauge of what she can do."

Raditz snorted beside him. "You're not going to try and kill her, are you? Poor girl's only been here a month and hasn't even been in the field yet."

"Tch, well I'm not planning on holding back if that's what you're getting at." The prince shot his cohort a scathing glare, then returned his attention to the front. "What would that prove? If she dies, it just proves Frieza wasted his time."

If Raditz had any further protest, he astutely kept it to himself, the rest of their flight completed in silence. Obsidian eyes narrowed when he found Nappa chatting with the woman rather than training her. Typical. The last day to push his student and he sees it as an excuse to slack off. Had he known Frieza would force her onto his team, he would have suggested he train her himself.

“Of course I would find you flapping your gums rather than training like you’re supposed to be,” he scolded Nappa, landing with Raditz behind the pair. Both turned to face him, and the large Saiyan’s incredulous expression amused him. The woman blinked in surprise, her head tilted slightly as her gaze roved from him to Raditz and back again. Her lips curved into a light smirk of her own, and he noted it twitch further upward as Nappa stuttered and grasped desperately for an explanation.

“We were only taking a small break,” he finally settled on, huffing and folding his arms. “What the hell are you two doing here, anyway? Come to see the progress I helped my pupil achieve, or did you just miss me that much?”

"Actually, the jobs have been rather peaceful without your big mouth running all the time," Raditz said, the loose end of his tail thwapping lightly against his armor. Though he addressed Nappa, Vegeta didn't miss how he observed the woman. She was either oblivious or blatantly ignoring him. "We were talking about convincing you to retire, old man. It would be worth the peace and quiet."

Nappa raised a fist and growled. "You little whelp! I could turn you inside out without breaking a sweat!" he shouted. Another huff and a warning glance from the prince calmed the general, his tone returning to as conversational as the blustery Saiyan could manage. "Vegeta would boot your ass to the curb before me, runt, and you know it."

"I'm about to put you both in the ground of you don't quit squabbling." Vegeta rested his eyes back on the woman. Dropping her blissful ignorance, her golden gaze shifted to meet his obsidian, her amusement lingering as a spark in her eyes and the hint of that smirk on her lips. Pretty, but that meant little to a Saiyan prince. Power was the language of respect.

He raised a gloved hand and beckoned her to follow him with a pair of crooked fingers. The wave of surprised expressions that spread from her and then to Nappa amused him. "Let's go. I don't care what Frieza wants, you're not joining my crew unless I personally test your skill." He halted in the center of the open space, and his lips twisted upward as he turned to face the trio he left behind. "It's about time someone gave you a proper challenge, woman."

"My name is Nabooru," she asserted, blatantly ignoring Nappa's paling and silent warning. An unneeded one; Vegeta had yet to decide if a strategy of fear would be needed to force her in line. If she survived their spar at all. She followed in his path and halted a respectable distance away, hands on her hips. No hesitation to rise to his challenge, the chance to prove herself, a commendable trait. In light of it and his own nature raring for a decent fight, he could excuse and even laud her boldness in correcting him. For now.

"You must be Vegeta."

"A lot of good our names will do you if you don't survive this," he retorted with a dark chuckle. He sank into a combat stance, arms lifted and knees bent. "Come on. Show me how much Nappa lied in his reports about you."

Her full lips pressed together and turned downward in a frown and he saw the spark of anger flash in her eyes. Good. If he pissed her off, she was less likely to pull her punches, a mistake regardless of her mood. Outside of testing the waters, he refused to go easy on her. The rest of the universe wouldn't, so neither would he. She took his lead and took up her own stance. "I think you're going to find I'm difficult to kill if that's your goal here."

No sooner had the word left her lips did she launch forward, and Vegeta dodged her first punch by a hair, the wind from it rushing over his face and ear as he tilted it to the side. She followed up with a flurry of light-speed attacks, bent on forcing him on the defensive with her speed. A trait he underestimated and the half second it took him to readjust to it cost him ground and a rattling strike to his forearm when he couldn't move fast enough to outright dodge it. She was no amateur, certain to be mindful of leaving openings while she attacked. The title of Elite--the Exalted--she supposedly held on her home planet, according to Nappa, a meaningful one, at least. How often he found soldiers claiming to be their army's greatest, most elite warrior only for him to tear through them like tissue paper, or their skill in combat questionable at best.

He caught her next punch in his gloved palm, the crackle of her orange energy sparking around the connection. He grit his teeth at the pain, the effort to keep it from completing its course to his face, revealing elongated canines, but his lips remained stretched upward in a grin. Adrenaline thrummed through his system, that thrill of battle, of a challenge, that evaded him for so long igniting a wildfire within him. Perhaps he would try harder not to kill her after all. When time permitted, he could use a sparring partner like her.

Vegeta took advantage of the halt in attacks he created and pushed back on her with his own. Despite the shift in his offensive stance, she refused to play fully defensive, trading blows instead of only working to block or dodge them to prevent damage while still ensuring she didn't take anything too critical. They used every inch of the battlefield, the sky, a dance of strategizing and re-strategizing, breaking up the high-velocity swapping of melee blows when either of them took a rattling hit that threw them off their groove by being forced to create a pocket of space with a knock back or doing so themselves for a millisecond of reprieve. It was all either of them seemed keen on allowing.

Whether out of exhaustion or a moment of sloppiness, the Saiyan gripped her ankle before the swing of her leg could crash into his head. Surprise ghosted over her features and he wasted no time in taking advantage of it. Laughing, he yanked her backward and flung her back toward the planet's surface. With the speed at which she sailed, her cry was a short one; the Gerudo's body slammed into the ground, a cloud of rust-colored dust pluming above the shallow crater it made. Knowing that wouldn't stop her for long--or, perhaps hoping for such--Vegeta charged ki in either of his palms.

"I hope you had fun with the warm up!" he crowed, laughter continuing as he fired a volley of ki blasts straight downward where she had landed.

A blip from his scouter was all the warning he had, the light from his blasts covering her daring tactic from sight. Orange ki enveloping her and protecting her to some degree from the weak blasts, Nabooru rocketed straight upward through his barrage. He watched in surprise as she deflected a sphere with a swipe of her arm. A distraction, as he failed to see her other arm rise, her hand glowing with energy. With little more than a few feet between them, he had no choice but to cross his arms over his face as the blast struck and sent him flying back from the force. He rolled off of it with a growl only for pain to erupt in his back, his skull, as she brought her leg down on him and sent him hurtling back to the surface. He collided with a grunt and another surge of pain throughout every bone and muscle.

Sensitive ears pricked at the sound of the whoosh of air. He flipped on his back in time to see Nabooru descending on him, knee bent and aimed for his abdomen. Cursing, he extended his arms and captured her knee in both hands, the force of her drop forcing him downward into the ground. He growled and powered up himself, the planet quaking around him and energy crackling between them. Grunting, he pushed up to a seated position and threw her off. She somersaulted and skidded along the ground. He sprang back to his feet as she twisted around to face him again.

"You've done better than I thought," he said. A compliment he didn't give out lightly. While still no match for him, at least she had proven she could handle herself in a fight against a powerful opponent. His doubts had been minimized a degree or two, at least, and she offered him a better spar than most could. Something he didn't realize he craved until his first attacks that landed didn't break her. That instead of dropping to her knees and begging him for her life, she was rising to her feet for next round. The only thing keeping his temper in check.

He noted the rise and fall of her chest as she used the reprieve to catch her breath, her eyes alight and a proud smirk returned to her lips. “Thanks. You’re not so bad yourself.”

Vegeta chuckled, half curious about how long she would last if she were fresh. A test for another time. “Don’t thank me yet.” He widened his stance and pressed his palms together, fingers crooked inward and pointed in opposite directions. Purple energy crackled around his hands, his body, his smirk verging on crazed. He pulled his hands back by his head. He vaguely heard some semblance of a protest from their audience, witnessed the woman’s eyes widen as her scouter warned her of the rapid rise in power level. To her credit, she didn’t freeze, but shifted her own stance and powered up herself, gathering her own orange energy in her hands.

“You’ve been training with ki, right? Let’s see how much it paid off! Galick Gun!” He pushed his hands outward toward her, firing his signature attack. “Fire!”

He felt her blast collide with his, pushing back against his own energy but ultimately matching it and resulting in a stalemate of violet and tangerine swirling between them. His scouter informed him of another surge of her power, the result of it pushing on his and forcing him to dig his heels to maintain his ground. Had this been another situation, he wouldn’t toy with her. He would pour the last of his energy into his blast and watch as it swallowed her and her ki like an insatiable beast. Offering false hope wasn’t usually his style, but he supposed he could reward her promising showing and quick thinking.

The orange-gold ki crept closer and closer until his began to spray outward at all angles the closer it got to the source. Another second and he forced the remaining energy needed to overwhelm her attack, the beam widening with the ki he fed into it. It sped toward her and he heard her wail, the sound of it drowned out by the crash of the blast colliding with a rock formation several meters behind her.

Vegeta lowered his arms and straightened, waiting for the smoke to clear to see how she fared. The dust thinned and he hummed in approval when her standing silhouette came into focus. Upon clearing entirely, it revealed the Gerudo with her arms crossed in front of her, armor chipped and a fair portion of her battlesuit ripped and tattered. Even from a distance, he could see her body quaking with the effort to stubbornly remain on her feet.

He strode over to her and her arms dropped to her side and, as though it sapped her of what remained of her energy, she swayed forward. The prince caught her with a gloved hand pressed to her abdomen. He snorted when she mirrored him, obviously anticipating an attack.

“I’m not going to kill you. This time.” Her knees finally gave out and he let her sink to the ground, her hands catching her and keeping her from eating dirt. How fitting. Kneeling to a prince. Her new commander. The display of his power should have more than cemented that in her mind and serve to keep her in line. If she knew what was best for her and didn’t want to properly incur his wrath.

Still...due to being the only Saiyans left and loyal to the remaining member of their race’s royalty, he never had the need to assert his dominance in their group. He gave orders, Nappa and Raditz followed them with little to no argument. Could he really be sure with her? A stranger with no real reason to be loyal other than to spare her own life?

Spurred by the remnants of adrenaline and the heightened mood the decent spar put him in, he wasn’t quite ready to leave the game on such a simple note. He reached down and rested his hand beneath her chin, tilting her face upward and forcing her to meet his gaze. He smirked down at her. She winced with the sudden jerk and though her eyelids were heavy with exhaustion, her lips remained fixed in a stubborn line.

“Welcome to the team.” He let her chin drop and he flipped around on his heel and returned to his cohorts. “Let’s go.”

Nappa glanced between Vegeta and the Gerudo still on all fours. “Shouldn’t we--?”

“Now, Nappa.” He glared at both Saiyans until they ascended and started back for the base. He cast the woman one last glance and watched her shakily regain her feet. A smirk twitched his lips, and he followed after Raditz and Nappa.

#fic: recruited #this is probably here twice now but ugh #tumblr is shit sometimes #this was a damn important chapter too!#how did i skip it?#well whatever it's here now #and will be on the hub

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carasueachterberg · 5 years

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We survived our record-setting weekend.

Now we just have fourteen dogs. Which we’ve had before.

Gosh, this makes me sound like a dog-raving lunatic. Which maybe I am. Or at least I feel like one after this weekend.

Saying we fostered fifteen dogs this weekend is somewhat misleading since ten of those fosters were under the care of their mama and didn’t need anything from me except that I take good care of their mama (and maybe oogle them on occasion and weigh the runt each day).

Mama Bell is a good mom. Having birthed her babies in a shelter and then lived there with them for a few days, she arrived pretty stressed out from her five-hour drive. She snarled at us from inside her crate as Regina (the transporter), Nick and I carried the crate into the puppy room.

We carefully set the crate down and I fed Bell turkey hotdogs through the grate trying to bribe her into trusting me. Then I clipped the zipties holding the crate together, backed out of the room and carefully lifted the lid off as I left.

Bell popped right out, took a drink of water, and then jumped up at the gate to greet us. She nuzzled Regina and me, in almost an apology. I took Bell out for a much needed potty break and Regina got the puppies settled in the whelping box.

Regina and I talk briefly before she headed back to her Pot Belly Pig rescue (she also serves on the board of the shelter where Bell came from). We talked about the challenges of spay/neuter and she agreed that Katie was right to insist on the exception to the board policy that saved the lives of the ten little darlings now residing in my puppy room. Listening to her, I realized that as a rural northern shelter they have some of the same struggles that many of the southern shelters I’ve visited face – educating the community, spay/neuter, veterinary access, and funding.

Regina volunteered to drive the ten hours on Thursday so that Bell and her puppies could get out of the shelter setting as soon as possible. I never cease to be amazed at the people in this world who sacrifice so much of their lives and their livelihood to save animals. Regina told me a few stories and shared pictures of her current foster puppies, and I thought of her all evening driving that long way back to Northeast PA.

Before I went to bed, I messaged Katie that mama and pups had arrived safely and thanked her once again for saving their lives. In the morning Regina messaged me asking about an OPH program I had mentioned to her. And so this web of dog-hearted people continues to weave its way through my life.

Just before Regina and the PA Pups arrived, Scott had dropped off Daisy for us to babysit for the weekend. She was thrilled to see me and happy to inspect the play yard and her secret hide out. Everything in her lair was untouched since none of the other dogs have attempted to squeeze through the opening she made to access her spot under the deck.

Her favorite friend Paul came for two visits and she was more than happy to see him (and steal his busy bones).

Daisy was excited to see Nick, and even Ian. Maybe absence makes the heart grow fonder. She looked good and we enjoyed plenty of snuggle time. We took a long walk together on Sunday after the big rains up the hollow, and if felt as if she’d never left.

On Friday I met a transport (by the time the van finally arrived it was technically Saturday) to pick up Houdini, aka Hot Diggity. If you follow the blog, Who Will Let the Dogs Out, you may remember that I originally met Houdini in Alabama over a month ago. He was quite literally dying from life in a shelter.

Walker County is a pretty good shelter, as shelters go, but some dogs simply can’t handle life in a shelter. Imagine for a moment if you were taken from all that you know and placed in a metal building with a cement floor where everyone erupted in screams at frequent intervals. It’s a busy place and you get very little contact with others except to walk you to the potty and back. You are fed but it’s nothing fancy or special. There is nothing to do except stare at your neighbors (who don’t like to be stared at and will likely tell you so). I imagine from a dog’s view, living in a shelter is like going to prison.

Houdini got his name because of his penchant for escaping. By the time I met him, he had escaped multiple times usually injuring himself in the process. He’d finally been contained in a corner pen with tall sides and a chainlink roof secured in place with heavy weights. I don’t have a clear picture, but you can see from my fuzzy one what we saw – a small white dog curled in a ball in the back of his kennel. He looked sad and defeated.

Unlike the other dogs around him, he did not get up to meet us, despite the fact that we were handing out treats. (And now that I know him, this is probably what shocks me the most because this boy LOVES his food.) When we pulled him out of his kennel, he was frantic and skeletal. I couldn’t bear the idea of putting him back in that kennel. I wanted to take him with me right then.

Houdini was dying of shelter stress. In fact, even when I was able to get OPH to agree to pull him for me to foster, the vet said he was too sick to travel. Now more than a month later, he arrived plump and happy with an endless appetite for treats and attention. He’d spent the time since I last saw him, at the home of the shelter director, Kay, where she’d gotten him dewormed and neutered and healthy.

He still has some of the scars from his time at the shelter (and likely from before he got there)—permanent stains on his white coat, torn ears, and small bumps and scabs. His nails and his teeth show the evidence of his escape attempts and a cut on the top of his head is almost completely healed up. But he is alive and happy and sweet and eager for the good life.

He trots along nicely on a leash, loves the Frank bed, gets along with all the resident dogs, and is ever vigilant for falling crumbs and hamburger buns left unattended on the kitchen table. As a dog who had almost starved to death, I doubt he will ever lose that voracious appetite.

I took Houdini to the Shrewsbury Pet Valu for a bath over the weekend and discovered that beneath that white coat his skin is covered in black spots, not unlike a dalmatian. Because of his rough start, it’s not easy to know how old he is, but it makes me wonder if he won’t be a spotted dog someday. He was not a fan of the bath and without the help of Amanda, a Pet Value employee who held him and fed him nonstop treats (and took these pictures), I’m sure I would have been the one who got the bath, not him.

Houdini indulges Fanny, but not like Tommy Hilfiger did. That boy could play for hours. Luckily, he was adopted the day before the masses descended on this foster house by a family who have a perfect playmate for him. Thor is as big as Tommy is (in his mind) and reports are that they are doing great together and Tommy is much loved.

Shew. Are you tired? I am too, but there are dogs to walk and books to write, so I’ll tell you more next week. In the meantime, you can always catch daily moments in the Facebook group, Another Good Dog and occasionally on Instagram.

Thanks for reading!

Cara

For more information on me, my writing, and my upcoming book, One Hundred Dogs and Counting: One Woman, Ten Thousand Miles, and a Journey into the Heart of Shelters and Rescues, visit CaraWrites.com.

And if you’d like to know where all these dogs come from and how you can help solve the crisis of too many unwanted dogs in our shelters, visit WhoWillLetTheDogsOut.org.

Our family fosters through the all-breed rescue, Operation Paws for Homes, a network of foster homes in Virginia, Maryland, D.C., and south-central PA. OPH is always looking for more volunteers, fosters, and adopters!

If you haven’t already, be sure to check out my book Another Good Dog: One Family and Fifty Foster Dogs released by Pegasus Books.

I love to hear from readers and dog-hearted people! Email me at [email protected].

What happens when fifteen #dogs descend upon your house. #controlledchaos #fosterdogs #mycrazylife We survived our record-setting weekend. Now we just have fourteen dogs. Which we’ve had before. Gosh, this makes me sound like a dog-raving lunatic.

#adopters #dogs #fosterdogs #fostering #nokill #puppies #shelter stress #shelters #transport

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watchmanis216 · 5 years

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Blame a Left leaning, Trump hating Liberal

Attention: Editors, Writers, Bloggers, and News Hounds!

It is time to begin our campaign to the people who directly support a true Americana. One where the constitution rules and the decency of all people exist. The recent election and the subsequent and continual whining by those who feel they have been disavowed and threatened are now told it is time to shut up and stop listening to those voices who tell you it is American to be so childish.

Today, we begin our “Blame a Left leaning, Trump hating Liberal Campaign”!

Pro 26:4-5(4) Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him.(5) Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit. Psa 14:1 (1) To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.

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If you are a left leaning liberal but take no pleasure in the way your comrades in arms have acted and you really hate what is going on as described below, then this campaign is not about you!

“But should the people of America once become capable of that deep simulation towards one another, and towards foreign nations, which assumes the language of justice and moderation while it is practicing iniquity and extravagance and displays in the most captivating manner the charming pictures of candor, frankness, and sincerity, while it is rioting in rapine and insolence, this country will be the most miserable habitation in the world; because we have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion.

Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

–John Adams, To the Officers of the First Brigade of the Third Division of the Militia of Massachusetts, 1798

Blame a Left leaning, Trump hating Liberal

It is time, way past time. Starting today, why don’t you start to “Blame a left leaning, Trump hating Liberal”! Now I am not talking about hating them, but to simply ‘Blame them’. After all, we have had months of temper tantrums, flare ups, protests, people getting beat up, tears flowing, hearts stopping, calling out for violence, blaming Trump, threatening Trump, and so much more that these nuts have done.

Well, conservatives and Christians alike; “what you sow, so shall you reap”! If you act like a child, you will be treated like a child. If you act like a liberal left wing nutcase who cannot accept a duly elected President and you intend on protesting and causing trouble until the second coming of Jesus Christ or when he is no longer in office; then so be it!

The fiasco at the Oscars made the news. But sorry boys and girls I don’t give a Tinkers dime about your show. Nor do I care about the golden Oscar, nor about who won! I gave up on that political feast of Hollywood liberalism long ago. Don’t care, will never care, and don’t care what you think of Trump! After all, your continual bashing, hating, and finding fault of Trump everyday day simply presents to me just how:

Utterly Childish you are…Utterly incapable of anything that makes sense…Utterly impossible to discuss anything rational with you…Utterly and absolutely crazy!

Yep! It is time.

Ecc 7:9

(9) Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry: for anger resteth in the bosom of fools.

Everything is your fault. From now on, if a fly gets into my house, or Iran does something stupid, or that nutcase in North Korea who just gunned down more of his top officials does something else dumb; well it’s a left leaning Trump hating Liberal’s fault.

Your case against Donald Trump is preposterous. The fact that we have Republicans that join democrats and really do nothing is not surprising to us. We know that the Republican Party, Republican elitists are just like the Democrats. In many cases they are our worse enemy. We have case after case all about how they act. The election and the way the Republican Party treated Trump is another example. But also what they did to Ron Paul is also a travesty. So you see, we could actually lump you knuckleheaded leftists who hate Trump right along with the ultra-pseudo republicans as well.

Don’t worry we won’t blame you forever. We are not like you. We put up with Barack “the lawless” Hussein Obama who took the Arab side over Israel, the UN and EU over America, who pushed lawlessness down our throats, who dissed the constitution, and much more.

We never protested in the streets for eight years!

As for the Liberal left leaning media of CNN, MSNBC, MSN, CBS, ABC, Washington Post, and many others; my life is much better now that I stopped reading these fodder mills for the left socialist agenda and nut case policies of rich billionaires.

Blame a Liberal

Write posts and publish them and pointedly aim at those described in this article

Use social media to not let up on those who refuse to stop their idiocies as describe herein

For some these other methods may work. Hold town hall meetings, street gatherings, and use invasion tactics of opponents at their meetings just like they like to do to the opposition.

Leave your comments, ideas on promoting this campaign, or send us your thoughts on this regard and if it isn’t too offensive we will publish them here!

Don’t answer a fool according to his folly

Use Understanding and wisdom

Don’t be a companion of fools

Yours truly, a right wing conservative, Ultra-right wing and one who blames the Left Leaning Trump hating Liberals

Pro 10:23

(23) It is as sport to a fool to do mischief: but a man of understanding hath wisdom.

Pro 17:12

(12) Let a bear robbed of her whelps meet a man, rather than a fool in his folly.

Pro 1:7

(7) The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Pro 13:20

(20) He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.

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Blame a Left leaning, Trump hating Liberal An in-depth Biblical commentary, writing from the WIBR/WARN Radio by The Watchman Dana Glenn Smith Listen to the WIBR/WARN Radio with the Watchman and Co-Hosted by Tower, see schedule that follows.

Alert: Attention the Battle we Face

Be sure to check out the latest “The Battle We Face” a endtime focus for Remnant Believers in Jesus Christ!

Check out Warn Radio TV!

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Be sure to visit our 7 Garden Tips for the Apocalypse page!

Be sure to visit the Writers Life Blog www.danaglennsmith.com Blame a Left leaning, Trump hating Liberal “Heralding the Truth of God’s’ Word!”

“Life Expression in its simplest form is simply life in words”

Visit our website: www.danaglennsmith.com

Also do not forget this! Hints, tips, lifestyle Gardening; Do not miss our Visit Gardening lifestyles Page, Video, and slides!

Blame a Left leaning, Trump hating Liberal

WIBR/WARN Radio is an end time, preaching, teaching, advocacy, and warning agency heralding in the second coming of Jesus Christ to this earth. We cover many news items on the persecuted church and are advocates for those being persecuted overseas. About WIBR/WARN Radio page here Blame a Left leaning, Trump hating Liberal WIBR/WARN Websites are www.warn-usa.com, www.warn-radio.com, www.wingswatchman.org and have been combined into one large resource depository which can be heard worldwide.Hear us Worldwide: Info Here! Proclaiming The ‘Truth’ found in the Word of God. Biblical, indepth, prophetic, pulling no punches regarding God’s Word . Visit the ‘Writers Life’ Blog www.danaglennsmith.com on DanaGlennSmith.com

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Don’t miss this: America’s Takedown: Soros four step plan to destroy the nation Related posts to America’s Takedown and the Soros Machine

So, They Didn’t Get their Way but left Wing Media is Thrashing in Hate!

Sweeping the Mean Streets “Liberal Bigotry in action”

Electoral College and the Popular vote ‘Keeping dishonesty at Bay’

Blame a Left leaning, Trump hating Liberal

Visit WIBR/WARN Archives

A Vast resource of Christian teachings based on Gods Word following the Apostolic teachings given to them by Yeshua, Jesus Christ

Find The Warn-USA Archives here

Find The WingsWatchman.org Archives here Blame a Left leaning, Trump hating Liberal

Covering the World this is WIBR/WARN Radio

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Origins: Experience, Dedication, and Anointing

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Today, we are still moving forward with the gospel. We are the Watchman Institute of Biblical Research and the Watchman Alert Radio network.

Blame a Left leaning, Trump hating Liberal

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Thursdays 6:30-9:30 pm mst Remnant Battle Lines

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Blame a Left leaning, Trump hating Liberal

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Sound the Shofar Fellowship on WIBR/WARN Radio Fridays 6:30 pm mst

“They Overcame by the Blood of the Lamb, the Word of their Testimony, and they Loved not their lives unto the death!” Revelation 12:11 Blame a Left leaning, Trump hating Liberal

Blame a Left leaning, Trump hating Liberal Blame a Left leaning, Trump hating Liberal Attention: Editors, Writers, Bloggers, and News Hounds! It is time to begin our campaign to the people who directly support a true Americana.

0 notes

jessicatuckerman · 7 years

Text

Thus far you’ve put together some posts on your own, made some fancy images for them, and scheduled them for some date in the future. Now let’s clean it all up.

This… will be my most catty post about blogging. I have many visual preferences and coming from a new media background certainly does not help my snobbery, so I’d like to apologize to all the people I’m about to offend.

Images

Let’s get this out of the way: DO. NOT. JUST. PLOP. YOUR. IMAGES. IN . YOUR. POSTS. WITHOUT. ALIGNING. THEM. PLEASE. AND. THANK YOU.

There is nothing more aggravating to me than people who just plop photos down in their posts without a care of how it all looks after it’s published.

Case in point.

Whelp! There it is. Just sitting on the side of the post, breaking up the text.

And it bugs me to no end.

So let’s talk about moving these images around so that you can have a cleaner looking product.

Alignment

So you’ve just uploaded a photo and now it’s sitting in your post. There are four ways to align your photo.

Left (#1)

Center (#2)

Right (#3)

No-Alignment (See earlier photo)

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I’m going to pull some back copies from GoodReads. Take a look at each alignment. Which looks better to you?

A Voyage to Avalon (image right)

A mysterious curse sparks a dangerous quest in book two of the epic middle grade series ALA Booklist called “a charming blend of Arthurian legend and Brian Jacques’s Redwall series.”

Young mouse Calib Christopher has nearly completed his training to become a squire to the Knights of Camelot when news of a deadly plague reaches the castle. Soon all of Camelot is showing signs of the illness, animals and humans alike. Desperate to find a cure, Calib and his friend Cecily set off on a voyage to find the healing land of Avalon. But even as their journey takes them over land and sea, back at home, Calib’s human friend Galahad discovers that the true enemy may have already found a way inside the castle walls.…

Serafina and the Splintered Heart (image left)

The storms are coming….

Something has happened to Serafina. She has awoken into a darkness she does not understand, scarred from a terrible battle, only to find that life at Biltmore Estate has changed in unimaginable ways. Old friends do unthinkable things and enemies seem all around.

A mysterious threat moves towards Biltmore, a force without a name, bringing with it violent storms and flooding that stands to uproot everything in its path. Serafina must uncover the truth about what has happened to her and find a way to harness her strange new powers before it’s too late.

With only days to achieve the impossible, Serafina fights to reclaim herself as the Guardian of Biltmore, friend of Braeden, daughter of her Pa, and heroine of the Blue Ridge Mountains and all the folk and creatures that call it home.

In the epic third installment of Robert Beatty’s #1 bestselling series, Serafina takes her rightful place among literary champions as she battles fiercely to defend all she loves and become everything that she is meant to be.

Hunting Prince Dracula (image center)

In this hotly anticipated sequel to the haunting #1 bestseller Stalking Jack the Ripper, bizarre murders are discovered in the castle of Prince Vlad the Impaler, otherwise known as Dracula. Could it be a copycat killer…or has the depraved prince been brought back to life?

Following the grief and horror of her discovery of Jack the Ripper’s true identity, Audrey Rose Wadsworth has no choice but to flee London and its memories. Together with the arrogant yet charming Thomas Cresswell, she journeys to the dark heart of Romania, home to one of Europe’s best schools of forensic medicine…and to another notorious killer, Vlad the Impaler, whose thirst for blood became legend.

But her life’s dream is soon tainted by blood-soaked discoveries in the halls of the school’s forbidding castle, and Audrey Rose is compelled to investigate the strangely familiar murders. What she finds brings all her terrifying fears to life once again.

Shadow Weaver (no alignment)

The shadows that surround us aren’t always as they seem…

Emmeline has grown up with a gift. Since the time she was a baby she has been able to control shadows. And her only friend and companion is her own shadow, Dar.

Disaster strikes when a noble family visits their home and offers to take Emmeline away and cure her of magic. Desperate not to lose her shadows, she turns to Dar who proposes a deal: Dar will change the noble’s mind, if Emmeline will help her become flesh as she once was. Emmeline agrees but the next morning the man in charge is in a coma and all that the witness saw was a long shadow with no one nearby to cast it. Scared to face punishment, Emmeline and Dar run away.

With the noble’s guards on her trail, Emmeline’s only hope of clearing her name is to escape capture and perform the ritual that will set Dar free. But Emmeline’s not sure she can trust Dar anymore, and it’s hard to keep secrets from someone who can never leave your side.

The first in a dark middle-grade fantasy duology, MarcyKate Connolly weaves a tale filled with shadows, danger, and magic that has the feel of a new classic.

I prefer my covers to be aligned to the right so that the text flows into them, but left works just as well. What doesn’t work are the center and the unaligned images. There are giant, ugly blank spaces with nothing in them just calling attention to the image. It makes the image separate from your content when really it’s a vital part of your post.

So please.

PLEASE.

Align your images.

In WordPress, just click on the image to bring up a quick menu that will allow you to select the image’s alignment just like aligning text.

Galleries

WordPress (and other blogging platforms usually) offers a few choices on galleries for images. And hey, if you’re doing a cute bookish round up of adorable clothes, crafts, your favorite bookstagram posts this week, then galleries are a great way to publish an image heavy post.

One thing I hate to see, are just individual images. One right after the other just taking up a sloppy amount of space with different dimensions, cutting off text, aligning weird on the page like someone just put glue on them and dropped them on the page. Galleries and Alignment take seconds–literal seconds–to do. So there is no excuse.

There are all sorts of galleries to choose from too. From a slideshow (which takes up minimal space) to tiled columns (which can take up a lot of space). Just go to upload your media and select multiple images.

Tiled Mosaic

Tiled Columns

Circles

Thumbnails

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Slideshow

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Formatting Your Posts: Part 1 Thus far you've put together some posts on your own, made some fancy images for them, and scheduled them for some date in the future.

#Book Tag #booktag

0 notes

symbianosgames · 7 years

Link

The following blog post, unless otherwise noted, was written by a member of Gamasutra’s community. The thoughts and opinions expressed are those of the writer and not Gamasutra or its parent company.

You may have heard – Shovel knight has finally made his way across the ocean to Japan! We’re very excited about the leap. We’ve invested a lot of time making sure our localization is fun and smartly done. Wait, what is localization? It’s the process of translating text and adapting a game for a local market, of course! We partnered with the super cool experts at 8-4 to make our localization the highest quality possible. Today, we wanted to talk about some of the neater changes we’ve made to the game to really go the extra mile for Japanese gamers.

History

But before we jump in…it’s time for a history lesson! Way back in the day, game localization was the wild west. There was no standard or ruleset for what was appropriate in localizing a game. Sometimes developers would make translation changes that were absurd and riddled with typos, and other times, developers would put so much effort in that they’d completely change the name and create a whole new series.

(On the left is Bubble Bobble’s poorly worded text. On the right is Wonder Boy, a Japanese game that was changed to Adventure Island when ported to the NES/Famicom. The game actually split off into two distinct series.)

(Update 8/1/16: It’s come to our attention that Adventure Island was converted from Wonder Boy during its port from arcades. We were confused because often porting and localization are intermixed due to Famicom->NES transition. We apologize for the error!)

This inconsistency created a lot of interesting localization changes in games as developers learned with each title what were the appropriate changes to make. Also, due to the restrictions of the NES, lots of changes were required when bringing them from Japan. Some issues including complexity in fonts, technical limitations, or game design observations and learning that happened post-release. We’re going to discuss just a small sampling of the changes they made to games back in the day, so you can see where the reasoning came from for the changes we’ve made to Shovel Knight for Japan.

Before you read any history from us, it’s best to learn from the expert himself, Clyde Mandelyn: http://ift.tt/1bVVtHS. He’s put together really awesome pieces (and books!) on some famous game localizations and the changes they made post Japan release.

Common Japan to North America Localization changes

Obviously, lots of small or large text changes happen when localizing a game as a result of the complexities of translation. But we’re going to instead show some of the visual, sounds, and gameplay changes that you might have seen during the NES/Famicom era.

Graphic Changes

Of course, usually one of the big changes to a game was the title screen. Sometimes this could be a complete replacement, or sometimes it was just the removal of some Japanese text.

Sprite changes were very common in the NES days. Often, the logic was that players might not understand Japanese specific sprites like food:

Or alternatively, North American localization teams might think the Japanese characters or sprites wouldn’t be appealing. Below Power Blade, known as Power Blazer in Japan, changed its main character to look cooler instead of cute.

Common 80s Knowledge: Arnold Schwarzenegger makes every game sell.

Sometimes these changes were made to make the gameplay more clear and understandable:

Oh hey! I didn't know there was an enemy there before!

Super Mario Bros. 2 (known as Doki Doki Panic) in Japan is a case where Nintendo of America went to great lengths localizing the game. It’s a great example of what was typically changed at the time…they turned a game that wasn’t Mario into Mario!

In some cases, they decided to change sprites so they were now animated! Below is an example of one change where it made the gameplay objects really stand out:

Maybe I should pull those plants up!

Sprites could also be changed to be less or more complex. Or maybe they’d be changed to improve over the Japanese version. Here’s an animation change of that kind from Mario 2:

Sometimes these animation changes were due to restrictions in hardware between the Famicom, NES, or Famicom disk system. Here’s an animated sprite (actually a background tile that appears animated) in Zelda 2 that was removed in the NES version as the NES wasn’t able to manipulate VRAM in quite the same way as the FDS:

Wow...I actually believe it's water now!

Font changes

Fonts were often a big area where changes were made. Creating a game in Japanese was difficult due to the common character set, Kanji, being nearly impossible to contain on the small amount of memory that the NES could afford. Kanji can contain thousands of characters (a common newspaper might include 2500+)! To get around this issue, sometimes games chose to use the smaller Kana character set (up to around 100 characters), or they decided to use the much smaller English character set! English is somewhat common in Japan, so it didn’t make the games completely unplayable as you might expect (especially given the typically small amount of text in NES games). Here are some examples of Kana text on the NES/Famicom:

Here’s an example of Zelda using English in the Famicom version:

Notice the difference in font here. The NES had a standard 8×8 thick font, so the North American text was re-appropriated to use what players were accustomed to seeing. You might also be realizing that all the letters are in uppercase! This is to cut the number of characters needed in half. Shovel Knight already does the same thing!

In cases where text readability was very important, the developers dedicated more resources to represent more complicated text. Below, you can see how Final Fantasy on the NES broke the lower case barrier:

Ah! Much easier on the eyes.

You may notice the odd looking ‘g’ in the letter king. This is due to NES/Famicom games only having space for 8×8 characters. A lowercase g, to be properly spaced would break this boundary, so they’ve instead positioned the character higher. This is another reason why Kanji was so hard to represent on the NES/Famicom. Each character’s complexity is nearly impossible to represent clearly with only 8×8 pixels. But there were limited cases where developers were still able to pull off Kanji on the NES/Famicom. Take a look at Faxandu:

As you can see the font is much larger than the typical 8×8 size. This is due to how Kanji’s complexity is almost impossible to clearly represent with an 8×8 pixel block. Faxanadu doubles the size using 16×16 blocks (where the characters fit in 14×14). On the Super Famicom/SNES, developers had a little more freedom, so Kanji fonts often were 12×12:

Audio

It wasn’t just visuals that were changed, sometimes game localization teams changed the sounds associated with a gameplay object.

[embedded content]

And they even went as far to change music compositions. This was sometimes due to differences between the hardware for a Famicom, NES, and Famicom disk system. Or as we’ve stated previously, this could be due to the difference of the actual cart technology. Check how different Castlevania 3’s soundtrack is between versions:

[embedded content]

Gameplay

Finally, sometimes the NES transition from Famicom would go as far to changing gameplay. This could be anywhere from making the game easier or harder, removing glitches, accounting for hardware differences, or simply trying to make the game more fun. Here are a couple of rooms from Zelda where they decided to add bats!

And infamously in Zelda, Pols were weak to sound in the Famicom version, but the NES controller didn’t have a microphone, so they were instead weak to arrows:

[embedded content]

Shovel Knight Localization Differences

So when we went about localizing Shovel Knight, we wanted to recreate some of the fun differences you might find between regions. We even went through the process of trying to “reverse” localize it. That meant to us, asking what features Shovel Knight would have had if it started out as a Japanese game. We had a few rules in all our changes though: 1) We wanted the gameplay to remain consistent 2) We didn’t want any significant change that made you feel like you missed out by not playing the original version 3) We didn’t want to do something that was traditionally considered bad localization. To us that meant, no typos or bad English, and nothing that would diminish the quality of the game. We also didn’t want to change too much! In the end, we wanted create a great localization by today’s standards. But we had to add a little fun! So we made a few subtle changes here and there that we think really made a big difference!

Graphic Changes

The title Screen is an obvious one. We wanted to match what you’d expect out of a Japanese game in the era, which meant having Japanese text alongside the English logo:

After that, we made some more changes to the static sprites. Below you can see that when upgrading your health, Gastronomer sometimes will randomly serve up a Rice Ball dish.

Additionally, the Midas Coin now has a hole more representative of some Japanese coins:

Also, the Hall of Champions statues have an alternate design.

We also made some slight color changes. Certain Wizzem and Iron Knight palette types have changed as you can see below:

The final static sprite change we made was reworking the character portraits for Reize, Baz, Polar Knight, and The Enchantress. We tried to make them have a slightly more anime-esque art style.

After that, we decided it was time to make some static art be more animated – really show off the power of the Famicom! First up, in Plains, we decided to animate the grass:

For Dragon Whelps (green and blue), we originally created sprites with a lot of frames in their flying animation, but decided to cut it back as it didn’t look like something that could appear on the NES. But we left it in for the Japanese version!

For the Village Fountain, we created a different design and animated it to flow with water!

And the last graphic change we made: sleeping Shovel Knight at the Campfire now has a snooze bubble!

Font Changes!

Font was a really tricky decision for us. We wanted to use Kana characters because that was most representative of the NES era and its limitations. That said, most Japanese players would rather play the game in Kanji. Kanji can be considered nostalgic and retro as well as it was widely used on the Super Famicom. Additionally, Kanji would require us to redo every text box in the game, as we created our menus, dialogue boxes, etc to fit 8×8 font characters. So obviously the easy way out would be to do Kana…so after much deliberation, we caved and decided to do both!

The game has officially been translated into both alphabets, and supports the player switching between both on the fly:

You might see that we opted for 12×12 pixel sizes on the Kanji font. This allowed us to get a look most closely aligned with the Super Famicom.

Notice also, that we haven’t changed the HUD text from English. We felt it was very common at the time to use English words for the HUD, and we decided to stick with what we had:

Sounds Changes

Not much to go on about here. We already took the Famicom route with themusic and included a VR6 chip. So we instead decided to change a few sounds:

Gryphon death SFX and Bubble Dragon death have been swapped

Wizard Fire (and Shovel Knight’s fire rod) uses the burner SFX instead of magic SFX

Fairy enemy plays different SFX when attacking with a bite.

Extra Cheats!

We couldn’t just stop there! We decided to add a few more extra bits. Remember the X&BUTT cheat code? Well, butt is sadly not exactly the funniest word in Japan, so we’ve come up with a different replacement scheme. Along with text replacement, the cheat also enables two new graphic replacements that we thought were a little too far for the graphic changes in the main game.

Carrots are replaced with Daikon Radishes:

And Gold coins are vertical, more closely resembling koban style coin.

We’ve also made it so this Japanese specific cheat turns on localization changes in all languages. Pretty cool, huh! But if you don’t want to use a cheat, you can switch to Japanese at any time to see all the changes!

Thank you

Hope you enjoyed a little look at the extra efforts we put into the Japanese localization. Translating a game is a ton of work, and we hope more people will now see how much love goes into each and every release of a game. You should give it a shot once our update with the Japanese changes are out in the wild!

#IFTTT #Blogger