#All maze cubes

[meadowfics]

nsfw alphabet

namgyu x afab!reader

warnings: 18+ MDNI! smut. vulgar dialogue. switch!namgyu, powerbottom!namgyu.

there is only one season three spoiler

aftercare (what they’re like after sex)

honestly, namgyu didn't even know 'aftercare' was a thing until he started dating you.

"fuck do you mean, 'aftercare'.. isn't sex caring itself?"

however, this mf is a simp and became the king of aftercare after a year into the relationship.

it was a new learning experience.

he mainly gives back and feet massages.

a blunt and a bottle of water from him helps too.

body part (their favorite body part of theirs and also their partner’s)

namgyu's favorite body part, on himself, is his hands.

those fingers are so long.

he knows how to use those fingers as well.

namgyu's favorite body part of yours is your boobs.

he is a boob guy 100%

whenever you're laying down together, one of his hands are inside of your shirt.

he appreciates you walking around your home with only a lace bra on as well.

"my eyes are up here, namgyu."

"well your boobs are down there, y/n."

whenever you're riding his dick, he goes crazy when your boobs are bouncing in his face.

its a game to him whenever he chases your nipples with his tongue.

cum (anything to do with cum, basically)

he is a cum eaterrrr

sorry.

namgyu is obsessed with the sweet taste of your pussy.

in the morning, he will drive out three orgasms from you on his tongue.

"well that was my breakfast"

namgyu will tease.

dirty secret (pretty self explanatory, a dirty secret of theirs)

during the fourth game, the maze game, namgyu wanted to bend you over and fuck you right in one of those rooms.

the mix of homicide and drugs put him in the most horny mood possible.

"just the tip, I promise, please y/n?"

he moans into your ear, fondling your boobs through your red vest as he attempts to pull your pants down.

"what if somebody walks in--"

"then they'll know that you're getting your insides rearranged by me, and will stay away from you."

experience (how experienced are they? do they know what they’re doing?)

namgyu is experienced with kissing and giving head.

when it came to actual 'p in v' sex, he never did it much before you since it was only hookups.

he had 3 bodies (max.) before he met you.

he knows your body more than you know yourself.

namgyu makes it a priority to know what you enjoy.

favorite position (this goes without saying)

if he is the dominant one, he puts you on all fours.

this gives him the control that he craves so much.

however, when he is in a submissive mood, he loves when you ride him.

goofy (are they more serious in the moment? are they humorous? etc.)

when he is on drugs, he is the goofiest mf alive.

he will not stop laughing while groaning, talking about how good you're doing for him while assuming everything is a game.

for example, he will count how many times you bounce on his cock from the time he enters you until you cum.

the last time, you only bounced on his cock 18 times before cumming.

hair (how well groomed are they? does the carpet match the drapes? etc.)

there are moments where namgyu doesn't give a fuck about grooming.

he goes at least a month without trimming at times.

the carpet color matches to drapes.

intimacy (how are they during the moment? the romantic aspect)

namgyu is so romantic when it comes to 'make-up' sex.

he always begs for your forgiveness, giving you the sweetest compliments as he slowly fucks into the sweet spots over and over again.

he is the king of compliments.

however, don't expect rose petals on the bed and stuff like that.

jack off (masturbation headcanon)

namgyu hasn't jacked off much since he met you.

why jack off when he has your good and wet pussy for him to have?

kink (one or more of their kinks)

temperature play. come on, he would LOVE using an ice cube to overstimulate you.

imagine he's eating your pussy while using the ice cube in his mouth to heighten the nerves in your body.

exhibitionism.

namgyu loves the idea of fucking you while being seen.

he wants everyone to know that he is the only person who knows your body.

orgasm control and edging.

he loves when you edge him, not giving him what he wants until he earns it.

namgyu loves delaying your orgasms too, punishing you if you cum without his permission.

location (favorite places to do the do)

namgyu loves the hallway outside of your apartment.

it is so close to privacy, yet so far.

one time, he bent you over the door outside of your apartment since the both of you were so impatient.

motivation (what turns them on, gets them going)

you being fully naked.

mf can't even shower with you without wanting to have sex with you.

he has control, don't worry.

however, that rock-hard penis through his pants tells another tale.

no (something they wouldn’t do, turn offs)

no food and sex together

like none of that whip cream & fruit roll up on his dick type of stuff.

he just doesn't see the hype about it.

namgyu's closest definition of 'food' he will bring into the bedroom is an ice cube.

oral (preference in giving or receiving, skill, etc.)

60% giving, 40% receiving

he prefers when you ride his face.

namgyu loves pushing orgasms out of you with his tongue.

pace (are they fast and rough? slow and sensual? etc.)

slow, and rough.

he needs you to memorize all of him down to the vein.

quickie (their opinions on quickies, how often, etc.)

namgyu loves them.

he doesn't have much of an opinion on them.

the only thing he hates about quickies is the lack of foreplay.

risk (are they game to experiment? do they take risks? etc.)

off the drugs, absolutely not.

on drugs, he can't see the consequences in risks.

stamina (how many rounds can they go for? how long do they last?)

namgyu's stamina is peak when he is on drugs.

five rounds at the most.

off the drugs, he will go to three rounds before tapping out.

toys (do they own toys? do they use them? on a partner or themselves?)

namgyu loves that 'rose thing' you use on yourself.

(a rose toy lol)

he begged to let him use it on you when you first bought it.

it was the first time you might have squirted with him... maybe... if you wanted that to happen of course!

unfair (how much they like to tease)

namgyu is king at being unfair.

until it happens to him.

volume (how loud they are, what sounds they make, etc.)

namgyu WHIMPERS

nobody can't convince me otherwise.

he makes all the noises possible.

moans, groan, whimpers, whines.

once he cried when you were playing with his balls.

it felt that good to him.

wild card (a random headcanon for the character)

you and namgyu love hooking up somewhere where you shouldn't be.

for example, club pentagon.

it is a struggle to stay quiet even though loud music is blasting.

especially when people are so close by.

the thrill of getting caught gets namgyu so excited, he bites back his whimpers.

x-ray (let’s see what’s going on under those clothes)

skinny boys got them long (according to science.)

six inches on hard.

he is a grower.

namgyu's body is slim, but he is stronger than he looks.

the bathroom fight scene in season two is proof.

yearning (how high is their sex drive?)

too high

especially on drugs.

sometimes he expects you to call off work just to have sex with him all day.

you did, but nobody's judging you!

zzz (how quickly they fall asleep afterwards)

that mf is knocked out.

pussy put his ass to sleep!

masterlist

lol

[ego13]

CRIMINAL ── yjm.

─ having cheated in one of the underground casinos, you didn't think you'd be caught red-handed and punished in a rather interesting way.

now playing : Taemin - Criminal

warnings, sensitive content: semi-rough sex, too much dirty talk, gp!karina, sex with strangers, sex in public places, dry humping, fingering (reader recieving), facefucking, deeptroating, praise kink, hair pulling, pet names (kitty, good girl, princess), nipple play, spanking (even too much), riding, hickeys, breeding kink.

word count : 3,2k

The aroma of whiskey, pricey perfume, and the slightest hint of cigarette smoke clinging to the velvet upholstery filled the air inside the casino. Its deep crimson fabric, adorned with swirling gold filigree, hushed every footfall as the main character stepped onto the luxurious carpet. With the occasional outburst of jubilant laughter or the moan of someone who had just lost a fortune, the sound of jingling slot machines filled the room like a fascinating symphony.

Crystals in the glistening chandeliers hanging from the high ceiling caught the light and dispersed it in stunning patterns on the marble floors close to the entryway. There appeared to be movement in every direction as cocktail waiters with trays full of glasses and elegant, shimmering gowns moved fluidly between the tables.

Men in fitted suits sat at the blackjack and poker tables with stone faces, their palms hovering over chips, while others, more relaxed, flung their bets in with reckless abandon. As you navigated the maze of flashing lights and velvet ropes, you passed tourists who were ecstatic and high rollers whose eyes glowed with either triumph or despair.

The sound of falling cubes was drowned out by the clamor of electronic jingles and whispered talks as a dice game broke out in cheers to the left. A huge indoor waterfall poured into a glistening pool as the casino extended past the main floor and past the high-limit salons where the real kings and queens of the gaming industry played.

Oh, you clearly had a very interesting evening planned.

You walked to one of the tables, which stood almost in the very center of the gaming room, sitting down opposite a man unknown to you in an expensive suit who looked at you as nothing more than easy prey, well, you're clearly not against playing along and pretending to be a fool, knowing that he'll give you more than a few for one game.

"Well, shall we play, princess? Or is Texas Hold'em not suitable for girls like you?" He chuckled, making the men standing at the table laugh with this phrase, and you clearly caught a sign of falsehood in this feigned laughter, well, it looks like you're not the only one lying today.

You were playing with the stack of chips next to you with your fingers, which the man noticed, raising his eyebrow as if offering to place a bet with you.

"All in," you said so calmly, as if you were trying to strangle him with your indifference, to which his eyes widened, but then his face broke into a satisfied smile, after which he pushed his chips towards the dealer.

"Such a delicate girl, but she plays for big money," he said before taking a small sip from his glass of whiskey, hearing the ice cubes touching each other, creating a pleasant sound.

He drank the same half-full whiskey, never taking more than a sip, while a server, well-paid for his quiet, made sure his glass was never empty. The room was buzzing with excitement as the city's elite gathered to watch the match.

Following the face-down dealing of two private cards, a number of community cards were positioned in the middle. The choices to bet, raise, or fold changed with each round. You're was planning on read the man, playing on his confidence, and laying the ideal trap were more important than simply using the hand.

Because of the fact, that you first played conservatively, he was able to win a few hands, which boosted his confidence. Feeling in charge, the wealthy man laughed and threw back another drink. You patiently waited for the right time to happen, allowing him to believe it. With one ace on the table and one in your hand, they had the starting point for an almost invincible full house. Yet you remained composed, hardly responding, as though fortune had finally shifted in your favor. The fake hesitancy was misunderstood by him, who grinned. In the absence of weakness, he perceived it.

As you called the bet and set down your cards, the room fell silent. The murmurs followed by few gasps. Three aces, two kings, a full house. Fucking amazing. When the reality struck, his confidence crumbled and he went pale. Someone had played him. Exactly. In your direction, the dealer shoved the pile of chips. Just enough to acknowledge your achievement, but not enough to leave a trace, you glanced at the rigged dealer and gave him a little, contented smile.

He shook his head incredulously and muttered a swear. "You're simply lucky," he whispered. In a silent toast, your merely lifted your glass which a minute earlier had been filled with fresh whiskey by the waiter, who was still obediently standing next to the table, with ease, you uttered, "It's hard to call my talent luck."

You just chuckled, getting up from the table with your glass in your hands, looking for someone else, someone who would once again give you everything they had acquired that evening.

Having noticed a table with several people, you were about to approach it when you felt someone put their hand on your shoulder, turning around, you saw a serious man in a suit, «Security» said the badge that hung on his black formal jacket. This realization made you wince, had you been caught? Had someone noticed that the playing chips were counterfeit?

"You need to go with me," said the man, taking you by the wrist, pulling you, at that moment you morally said goodbye to your friends and loved ones, thinking that you were clearly going to be killed to hell now, but everything changed after a long walk, as it seemed to you, around the entire casino, you were not taken into a dark room, only the sofa stood in the center, and the door behind you closed with a loud bang.

"What a beautiful girl cheating," you heard a rough female voice, the cold look on Jimin's face only intensified as she took in the nervous fidgeting of the girl before her. Her piercing gaze seemed to bore into the very soul of your soul, making her feel even more exposed under the scrutiny of all four women.

"You're really beautiful, It's a pity that you act like a rat," the room felt stiflingly hot, the air heavy with tension and unspoken promises of punishment to come. She smirked, clearly enjoying your discomfort, watching you shudder just from the feeling of the weight of their gaze on your body.

Once again, her hands were on your shoulders, the she smirked, feeling your skin get covered in goosebumps, slightly lowering the straps of your dress, "you know, all girls who behave like this should be punished," you lowered your head in shame, unable to maintain eye contact with them.

"Oh, what a shame, are you really embarrassed?" Jimin smirked at your timid movements, at the way you simply let her take off your dress like a person who had already resigned himself to his burden.

"As for being shy, don't be like that, I'll fuck the crap out of you," Jimin said, grabbing your wrist and forcing you to come closer, looking at the blush on your face with a smirk, "by the way, regarding your punishment..."

She backed away, sitting on the couch and patting her knees as if inviting you to sit down, "bend over, you fucking brat," the rough tone made you feel like your knees were weak, the other girls' hands pushed you to lean on Jimin's lap and bend over, causing them to exclaim your obedience.

A smirk played on Jimin's lips as you approached, the soft pad of her footsteps echoing in the spacious room. She watched, unmoving, as you leaned over her lap, the fabric of your dress riding up you creamy thighs. Her hand, already resting on her thigh, slid higher, fingertips brushing against the exposed skin.

"Oh, aren't you an eager thing?" She said, smirking and leaning closer to examine your body in more detail which made her lick her lips in anticipation, "Good enough to eat," she exclaimed, placing her hand on the bulge that had formed in her pants in such a short time, sighing heavily at the sensation of the touch.

Yu's hand crept further up, grip tightening, fingers digging into the soft flesh of your thigh. She leaned in closer, her breath hot against your ear as she hissed, "you better behave yourself so I don't fuck you senseless right now," with that, Jimin delivered a sharp smack to your ass, the sound of it ringing out in the room. She massaged the reddening skin almost immediately after, her touch a confusing mix of punishment and soothing caress.

"Taking her punishment like a good girl, fuck... I can cum just from this view."

Jimin let out a dark chuckle at your whimper, feeling a twisted sense of satisfaction at the way you arched your back, her hand leaving a vivid red mark on the soft, supple skin. She could feel the heat radiating off your skin, could see the goosebumps prickling her flesh from the mix of pain and unwanted pleasure.

"Count it," she said in a rough vouce, raising her hand for another smack as her eyes glinting with a dark, twisted version of affection, Jimin growled, her voice low and threatening. Her hand leaned down on your ass once more, the sound of the smack echoing obscenely in the room.

"O-One!" you sniffled, making her smirk, tears pricked at the corners of your eyes but you blinked them back, not wanting to give Jimin the satisfaction of seeing you cry. Jimin's hand worked methodically, each smack harder than the last, each one leaving a more visible vivid red handprint on your tender skin. She could feel you squirming, could hear your breathy whimpers and ragged counting.

"E-Eight, nine, ten..." You gasped, trying your best to keep up with the relentless pace of Jimin's actions. Your delicate skin was on fire, each smack sending jolts of pain and something shamefully close to pleasure coursing through you.

Throughout the spanking, Jimin's other hand crept under the hem of your black dress, which during this time has managed to almost completely slide off you, fingernails raking up your thigh, dangerously close to where her legs met.

"Fuck, so wet from being spanked? Such a bad girl you are..." She raised her hand again, letting it hover for a moment, allowing anticipation and trepidation to build in the air between them. Then, with a contented grin, she brought it down hard, striking the same cheek as before. Her hand was relentless, moving from cheek to cheek with mechanical precision, each blow designed to punish and arouse in equal measure.

"Baby, I don't want to see you cry, you know very well that girls who break the rules are always punished," she said, stroking your flushed skin, giving you a few minutes to come to your senses while her other hand slid down to the front, cupping your pussy possessively, feeling the damp heat even through the thin fabric of your panties.

"Fuck... you're so soaked, kitty," She ripped away the flimsy fabric barrier, baring your cunt to the cool air of the room. Her fingers slowly circled your clit with a rough fingertip, feeling it swell and throb against the touch, as her fingers slowly slid inside, curled her fingers just right, knowing she'd found that spongey spot that would make you see stars.

"Such a drenched cunt, holy shit..." She punctuated her words with a particularly hard thrust, burying her fingers as deep as they could go and grinding the heel of her palm against your swollen clit, you let out a choked scream, hips bucking back against Jimin's hand, trying to take her fingers even deeper.

"Oh, aren't you a loud girl?" Jimin encouraged darkly, free hand coming down hard on your ass, leaving another vivid red mark blooming on the abused and sore flesh, she continued her relentless assault, fingers curling and scissoring, rubbing mercilessly against that sensitive bundle of nerves deep inside your walls.

"You're gripping me so tightly..." Jimin growled, feeling your pussy clamp down around her, you teetering on the brink of climax, "gonna cum for me, baby girl?"

She leaned down, teeth sinking into the side of your neck, biting down hard enough to leave a mark. She sucked and licked at the reddening skin, marking her possession, as her fingers never stopped their brutal pumping, fucking into your cunt with a single-minded intensity.

"Right now," with those words, she slammed her fingers in as deep as they could go and ground the heel of her palm against your clit, pushing you over the edge into oblivion. Jimin's other hand came down on your ass with a brutal slap, the sound echoing obscenely in the room.

"Good fucking girl, such a good girl..." She praised darkly, fingers pumping through your orgasm, drawing it out and making it last longer, she continued to grind against your swollen clit, rubbing through the aftershocks, until the you collapsed forward.

"On your knees," she said in a hoarse, rough voice that made you immediately climb off her lap on trembling legs, standing on your own knees, Jimin's hand drifted down, palming herself through her pants. She could feel how hard she was, how much she ached to shove her cock down your eager throat.

"You're going to take it all baby, every. fucking. inch," She punctuated her words by rubbing her clothed erection against your face, letting you feel the size and shape of her as her breath grew heavier, the anticipation building in her chest.

She smirked as she watched you scramble to obey, eagerly tugging at her belt and the button of her pants. The desperation in your movements was palpable, her need to free Jimin's cock an almost vulgar thing.

Jimin tangled her fingers in your hair, gripping the silky strands as she forced you to look at her, slowly and deliberately, Jimin rubbed the swollen head of her dick against your soft lips, smearing them with the musky essence of her arousal.

"Open up, kitty... Let me feel that tight throat of yours," As she spoke, she began to slowly push forward, the thick length of her cock made you to part your lips, invading the warm, wet cavern of your tight throat which you immediately tried to relax. She groaned at the feel of the girl's tongue sliding along her sensitive flesh, the slick heat of her mouth engulfing her.

She began to thrust, dragging her length in and out of your mouth, fucking her face with slow, deliberate strokes. Her heavy balls slapped against your chin with each pump of her hips, a filthy wet sound that echoed obscenely in the room, "Fuck, you're such a little cocksucker, don't you? Fucking hell..."

Yu could feel your throat constricting around her, the tight muscles fluttering as you struggled to accommodate her length. It felt incredible, the way you choked and gagged as you tried to take her more deeper, from the feeling of how she almost touched the back of your fucking throat made your head spin.

Jimin growled in pleasure, fingers tightening in your hair as she began to pick up the pace, fucking your face with increasingly rough, brutal thrusts, her hips moved like a piston, slamming into your throat. Drool leaked from the corners of your stretched mouth, bubbling obscenely as Jimin fucked your throat raw.

"'m getting close," Jimin panted, the hand not tangled in your hair drifting down to grope and squeeze at your breasts, pinching and rolling the stiff peaks between her fingers, with a final, brutal thrust, Yu buried herself balls deep in your mouth, grinding against the back of her throat as she came with a guttural groan.

Thick, hot ropes of cum poured from her spasming head, flooding and forcing you to swallow around the heavy load. As the waves of her intense climax finally began to stop, Jimin slowly withdrew, her softening cock slipping from your abused mouth with a wet pop. She looked down at you, taking in the sight of your flushed face, messy hair, your ruined makeup and the way you gasped and choked as you tried to catch your breath.

She reached out, thumb and forefinger pinching your chin, tilting your face up to meet Jimin's intense gaze. Her eyes were dark, filled with a hunger that promised all sorts of sinful delights. She licked her lips as she stared down at her girl, a slow, filthy grin spreading across her face.

"Oh baby, I think I ruined your makeup..." she smirked, grabbing your wrist only to have you fall back onto her lap, gripping your hips tightly, "while you're riding me - makeup will be the last thing you need right now."

She leaned in, capturing your lips in a filthy, open-mouthed kiss, all clashing teeth and tangling tongues. All the while, her hands continued their sensual assault on your breasts, kneading and massaging the soft, pliant flesh with a reverent hunger.

You sat up slightly, allowing her to slide inside, letting out a low moan into the kiss, causing her to squeeze your hips tighter, deepening it, It made Jimin's cock throb and pulse inside you, the sight and sounds of your pleasure stoking the flames of her own desire.

"Fuuck... tightest pussy ever..." She punctuated her words with a sharp thrust of her hips, slamming up into your dripping cunt. The wet, obscene sound of fucking filled the room, the lewd slap of skin against skin echoing off the walls.

Your whimpers and whines only spurred Jimin on, urging her to grope and tease more roughly, to pinch and tug at the stiff little peaks of your breasts. She could feel them hardening further under her ministrations, could see the pretty pink flush spreading down your neck.

"Such a good girl, taking me so fucking deep like you were made for it..." Jimin thrust up hard and fast, burying herself balls-deep inside your fluttering cunt. She set a rapid, almost punishing pace, fucking up into you with brutal, animalistic intensity.

"Gonna breed you, princess, make you full of my pups, fuck..." She could feel the pressure building, the coil of ecstasy winding tighter and tighter in her core. But she gritted her teeth, determined to hold back, to make you finish first.

With a final, brutal thrust, Jimin buried herself balls-deep inside your spasming cunt. She could feel your release crashing over you in waves as your pussy gripping and rippling around Jimin's thick shaft like a vice.

Jimin's body shuddered and convulsed as her own mind-blowing orgasm ripped through her. A guttural, feral growl tore from her, thick cock pulsing and throbbing as it pumped stream after stream of hot, thick cum deep into your spasming cunt.

"Fuck, fuck fuck!" Her eyes rolling back as she filled you to the brim with her seed. Her hips jerked and spasmed erratically, grinding her cock as deep as physically possible as she rode out the intense waves of pleasure crashing over her.

As the final aftershocks of your mutual orgasms began to subside, Yu slumped back against the couch, pulling your limp, sated body against her own. She wrapped her arms around your trembling body possessively, holding you close as they both struggled to catch their breath.

"Fuck... baby, I hope you're not dead, because I'm not done with your punishment yet..."

[kyupidos]

pokepoke.. i saww that requests r opeenn:3 so can i request the housewards w m!reader whos super energetic and always happy,,, ball of aunshine (oor like emu:3!!) hcs pwease

04/11/25 — twisted wonderland <3

‘is meaning smile!’ — summary. ‘housewardens with an energetic and happy m!reader!’

characters ;; housewardens -malleus , tags ;; reader is male ( masculine terms like “boyfriend” ), reader may or may not be yuu ( up to the reader ), romantic fluff

a/n ( omg…gets poked…AAH it’s been MONTHS since this ask, my apologies..i got stuck a few times and really had to look deep into my heart to come up with ideas, but here it is! i mean i wrote it a long while ago when i first received the ask but things came up…like me working on getting a job,, i also ended up cutting out malleus, i’m sorry 😭 sunshine x gllooomyyy(..??) is such a common trope but i ended up having a hard time writing him. i think my bias in characters shows in writing length anyways.. ( also hope you don’t mind me testing formats here )

riddle rosehearts —

riddle is, quite usually, strict and hot headed—of course, that’s not to say things change. especially upon meeting you, who always seems to be so lax and free spirited. not only that, but very full of energy and enthusiastic, so he noticed. for quite a bit of time, he watched you from afar, in all honesty, in almost the smallest tinge of jealousy ( not that he’ll ever say it aloud, unless you manage to get him vulnerable enough ).

actually, he quite likes your attitude, from time to time, even if it, when you first met, would give him a migraine most of the time from your fits of energy and happiness. whenever he becomes upset about any sort of rule breaking, your energy and good spirit tends to bring the peace ( not to say he doesn’t still get pissed over ace and deuce..especially ace, cough. that’s a lost cause ). and it gave him pleasure to know that despite his..attitude, especially pre book 1, you seemed to be so chipper around him despite what he put you and the others through.

and to be honest, he can’t even begin to count the amount of times you’ve happily and willingly, he notes, listened to his rants and helped him calm his temper when necessary. not condescendingly or anything, just be there both for him and with him.

for some reason, despite the fact you’ve been together for some time now, he still lets out a hushed puff of surprise when you grab his hand, sat at a gazebo hidden within the rose maze—particularly to follow rule 339, for your post-meal beverage to drink some lemon tea with two sugar cubes together. quite usually, and especially prior to his overblot, this was a solemn act. but it’s as you squeeze his hand empathetically he comes to terms with the fact that “solemn” won’t be a phrase he’ll use to describe himself any time soon, from the very moment he met you.

“i hope you’re not too upset about the mess from earlier,” you laughed it off easily, and he’ll never understand how you manage to find it in you to be so cheerful, but he’ll never be truly upset about it. “i’m sure ace and the others didn’t mean it.”

“the fact ace always ends up mentioned by name should be enough to state how much of a trouble maker he is,” riddle huffed, but in all honesty, he stopped being mad the moment you stepped in to help out—at the very least, you covered most of the blow. ace definitely owes you after that one ( or so he promises ), but it’s not like you were doing it for selfish reasons anyway. “i’ll make sure he properly atones soon later.”

you laughed at that, but he already knew you weren’t doing it out of ill will. especially since he could feel the genuinity behind your smile from miles away. “yeah, i bet,” and your hand is still gently holding onto his, he noticed. he wasn’t a fan of pda, but honestly, he really loves this kind of attention. he never says it, but his content smile tells you all you need to know. and he adores his loving boyfriend more than you’ll ever think.

leona kingscholar —

he will, truly and honest to goodness, never understand how you do it. leona would even go as far as to say that your cheerful outlook on things even blinds him and forces him to close his eyes even when he isn’t about to go to sleep. and honestly, he’ll never be able to make sense of the way you always, whether literally or figuratively, always seem to extend your hand towards him so invitingly and with such genuine warmth. when you were only getting to know each other, in fact, he almost hated it. almost.

of course, he loves and worships you now. not so blindly, of course, he knows better than to be so ignorant when it comes to having this kind of relationship with someone. but that doesn’t change the fact he has a bias towards you, and it’s obvious ( ruggie had to corner you to make sure you weren’t stealing his money. ). at the beginning, your overwhelmingly positive attitude somehow put a damper on him. maybe it was jealousy, or the fact at the time he was convinced he would never get to have you, he’ll honestly never understand or recall what his thought process at the time was.

but now he does have you, and you have him, and his dreams most definitely are far better now. since he convinced you to start being his living pillow, actually, he’s been more content in his sleep, he noticed. makes it a little harder to wake him up, you’ve heard ruggie complain..but still, you think it’s nice he feels so safe to be off guard around you, the predator he prides himself to be. ( a lot of his dreams consist of you too, but he’ll never say that aloud given said pride ).

you were having one of those nice moments right now, actually, together in his dorm room as he draped himself over you, you smiling like an idiot ( or so he thinks so on a whim, but if he were to be more poetic, he’d say you were blessing him with a smile befitting to be worn by angels ) as you combed through his hair with your hands. his hand gently holding hours, with barely any force so you could still go on with your handiwork as he gazed up at you through his half lidded eyes.

“you don’t always need to be so loud during our spell drive games,” he muttered, almost like it was mostly just something he said to pass the time. “it gets embarrassing sometimes.” a half lie, he’s actually very proud of the attention you give him and will never not use an excuse to flaunt it. the teasing remarks from malleus and his goons ( as he calls them ) during spell drive games tends to get on his nerves though.

“huh? why wouldn’t i cheer on my boyfriend?” you questioned like it was obvious, in a way that almost makes him feel silly for even asking. of course that’s how you would respond. “isn’t that a boyfriend’s duty? i’ll love you forever, you know! i’ll show you off forever, you can trust me on that, leona.”

oh, by the way, if he ever had the chance, he would finally and definitely let you know he loves you just like that and 100x more. because just so you know, if he ignores the fact you are his sun, not even the explosion of the sun would be enough to get him away from you.

after all, you make a very comfortable pillow ( cough his way of saying he loves you ).

azul ashengrotto —

point blank and simple, when he first met you he assumed your cheerfulness and kind “act” ( he can’t believe someone would be so genuine with him ) was a ruse to extort something, anything, out of him. but it never happened. he was convinced you were playing the long game, and i’ll tell you, it took him a while to finally adjust to the fact that you’re not kidding when you say you’d rather blow the school up with a microwave mishap than do anything like that to him. i mean..it’s a little out there and oddly specific ( he’s actually worried you might’ve actually accidentally nearly done that once ), but floyd and jade have said worse so it’s fine.

actually, no matter what, he’ll never get used to how you seem to never expect anything in return. ‘it’s stupid’, he thinks, and he even goes as far to call it idiotic, ‘how does he even survive in this school?’ it stresses him out actually, because he always considers himself indebted to you whenever you do something for him that you keep telling him he didn’t need to pay you back for. he just couldn’t seem to get it out of his head that someone would do something for him out of the pure goodness of his heart.

that’s part of how the two of you grew closer, in fact..somehow. in his need to no longer owe you, he’d offer you little things like discounts at the mostro lounge or his help in certain subjects you were struggling with free of charge. slowly, these things turned into a genuine pleasure to be around you, and a way to no longer owe you slowly became an excuse to meet with you again and be greeted with your constant energy and affection. how long is takes for him to accept this and actually confess to you ( or maybe you just confess to him if you’re impatient enough ) is another story.

however it goes, he’s thankful it happened. after all, your cheerful and high spirited attitude, which you seem to always be able to tune and adjust to when the situation needs it ( he quickly realizes the more he spends time with you that you’re also much more perceptive of social interactions than he first gave you credit for, ) always seems to help destress him after long days of work at the mostro lounge.

“dear,” he starts carefully, “you don’t need to wait for me to finish my work like this. i suspect it may take me much longer than i initially expected it to…i’m sorry.” you perked up when he first spoke, but didn’t let him deter you. “i know i said we could go out today, but..”

you didn’t let him finish. instead, you got up carefully to hug him from behind, something he tensed at. not because he wasn’t used to your affection, he learned long ago how casual you were with it, though you understood when he didn’t want it ( albeit not often, he always seems to be vying for it ). rather, because he knows that’s how you like to tease him.

you gave him a light kiss on the cheek, one which he sighed in content at as he slowly raised one arm to hold onto yours, which still seemed to be holding him. “you think i’d just leave you by yourself knowing that?” you teased, and he hummed in response as if he already knew the answer. “plus, if that’s the case, i think i have the solution.”

he tilted his head up now to look at you in curiosity, “is that so?”

he was quite sure at first you only said it on a whim given your usual spurts of energy and unbotheredness at the unfortunate turn of events, but he quickly came to terms with it as you took a chair to sit right beside him, though you leaned against him as though the chair rests dividing the two of you never existed at all.

“i’ll just stay here with you!”

he wanted to refuse, at first. the work pile was enough that he would likely have to pull an all nighter for it, as embarrassing as it was to say, which was probably why he left that tid bit out in the first place. but as you gleamed in happiness at the idea as you usually do, so unbothered by these sorts of things as usual, he couldn’t help but be a little selfish.

“alright then, dear,” he sighed, although in a dramatized way for you to know he wasn’t truly upset by the turn of events, “stay here with me.”

kalim al-asim —

a kindred spirit, in a way, and kalim can’t help but be delighted. it’s unusual for a guy to be in night raven so casually, so merry about their way and energetic on top of that, he knows and acknowledges that. consider him a babbling idiot all you like, he knows better than that, and you’re quite sure he knows more than anything he ever lets on.

actually, he approached you first. and when i tell you, he was in for a big, but lovely surprise when you returned the favor. two people whose energy and smiles could put out a hundred stars and more. truth be told, he was a little worried at first. he’d been in love with you since the moment he laid eyes on you, but for a few days, the idea you were so kind to him only to poison him for his family lineage, or worse, stuck in the back of his mind as if the idea itself was a poison. but only just a little, because you managed to wipe those worries away so easily with your sunshine attitude.

through your enthusiastic reassurance, he’s come to learn to trust and rely on you whenever he needs it, and you, of course, do so with him too. jamil finds himself feeling like if the two of you plan another party in the next three days then he’s going to get an aneurysm. you assure him he won’t, at least any time soon, but he’s a little unconvinced when you cheer on kalim to make this party “the most exciting one yet!” ( you’ve been proclaiming about that for at least nine prior hosted parties ).

“hahah…sorry you had to get stuck with cleaning with me, [y/n]!” kalim giggled nervously, rubbing the back of his head with his free palm before reverting back to sweeping the mess left on the floor from the party a few hours prior.

as it turned out jamil had taken your word when you reassured him he wouldn’t be getting a bad headache anytime soon, and scolded you both into cleaning the aftermath. not like you minded, you’re someone who keeps your word.

“you don’t need to apologize at all kalim,” you waved him off mindlessly, not too far from him as you collected the party streamers from under the tables, a smile still on your face despite it all. “even the boring things can be fun whenever i’m with you, you know!“

“hey, you’re right!! after this, wanna go on a magic carpet ride? we can make this into a game until then!”

“kalim.. i’d be delighted!”

vil schoenheit —

vil gets typecasted as a villain too constantly. as a result, oftentimes, he ends up to be considered intimidating and hard to approach, even by his peers. that in mind, he finds it refreshing to find a soul who can be so casual and friendly around him, not taking into mind his celebrity status.

originally, his thoughts were: ‘someone such as yourself would never survive in the acting industry’. whether you’re actually interested it or not, he can’t help but initially observe you for at least a hot second as if you were a rival of his. he lets go of the thought soon though, allowing his conscience to relax the longer he spends time with you. he finds himself relaxed and pleased by your upbeat attitude.

it’s winter time—naturally, vil needs makeup to compensate for that change in temperature, no big deal. of course, things always seem to be fun whenever you decide to tag along, no? rook seemed to be busy dealing with “hunting for the winter season” or whatever anyways. you weren’t completely used to this high end kind of outside market, but that didn’t seem to stop you as you stayed beside him pointing out all the nice items you saw.

“wow…” you spoke awingly in a loud whisper, more than enough for vil to hear as you intertwined fingers, “the world of the rich and famous is totally no joke, isn’t it?!” vil never wasted an opportunity to spoil you in luxury ( though he doesn’t want you to take advantage, and you don’t, of course ), and yet you always still seemed to be caught off guard by whatever you came across.

“hm,” he hummed contentedly, “i suppose, though it’s nothing special for me.” not as though he intended to brag, it was more so fact and not any kind of attempt to put you down, and you could tell by his genuine smile at your excitement. “if there’s anything you like, i would be alright buying it for you.”

“what?! no way!” you perked up, looking around, almost overwhelmed by what you saw that interested you and had to choose from. “i’ll take you up on that, then!”

vil couldn’t help but allow himself to freely laugh in amusement, then, as he watched you scurry off to the different stalls to look around.

though, he grew to be surprised when you returned with something that, though he knew you were fond of, wasn’t exactly the type of thing you’d select out of everything you could have. now, if it was something that related to an interest the both of you shared…

“this is for the both of us!”

‘ah…of course.’

and, as he imagined, his solemn laugh away from you turned warmer once you had rejoined him and laughed alongside him.

idia shroud —

‘there’s no way he’s surviving here..’ that’s the first thing idia thinks when he first sees you. and then he quickly learned not to be fooled by you, as there’s always more to a person that meets the eye, no? even before formal introductions, he found himself entranced by you and your positive energy.

he would always feel warmer in your presence, but he could never quite tell if it was because he was envious or enraptured by your high spirits. ( of course, it wasn’t long before he found out it was the latter ). and ever since then, he can’t remember the last time his hand wasn’t so warmly clasped around yours.

you always indulged in his interests, just as much as he indulged in yours, even if he didn’t quite understand what the interests of someone completely opposite to him exactly entailed. he gets excited though, when it comes to the interests the two of you share, and he’s always ready to be there and join alongside you…so long as he can do it in the comfort of his room. he’s extremely thankful you’re not too hard on him about it, by the way.

today was one of those days he was even given the blessing of you joining him, casually laying on top of him, sitting on his lap in fact as you watched him engage in some open world rpg boss fights. you had yet to create an account to join him, as through a terrible stroke of unluck, your router was completely busted ( but don’t worry, ortho’s helping you out there ), but that didn’t deter you from joining him one way or another.

“y’know, [y/n],” he starts, and you have a feeling he’s starting one of his usual rambles when he gets in the zone during certain gaming sessions, “i know you love me..a-and, i love you! but…i was super shocked when you wanted to know what i liked, and stuff…”

every now and then he has these sorts of self deprecative rants—and you always let him know you were never one to judge, letting him express his feelings and reassuring him all the while. it was when he let out a little grunt to show he was done that you lifted your hand up to stroke his hair, him leaning into your touch, and gave him a response.

“of course, idia!” you expressed easily, like it was the most natural and correct response, subconsciously lightening his nerves as he got better at the game. “because you’re amazing…so don’t believe anyone who says otherwise!”

he felt a little bit better about himself after that. he hopes you know how much he likes you.

[marlynnofmany]

Similar Skill Sets

“Aw, man,” I muttered, staring at the board game. “Was it this one or that one? I was trying to get over here, but you moved that row. I think it’s this one?” My finger hovered over the switch on one nearly-identical tile among many.

Captain Sunlight gave away nothing, her scaly yellow face serene. “Make your move.”

“It already smells like a flower shop threw up in here.” I struggled with the switch, my human fingernail barely up to the task usually meant for Heatseeker claws. When it finally clicked, the tile spurted a weak jet of scent. This one smelled more leafy than flowery, but I still had no flaming idea if it was the one I was trying to find. I sniffed the scent compartment of the token I’d drawn, hoping they matched. Leafy? Vines, maybe?

“I’m sorry it’s such an old model,” said Captain Sunlight, taking pity on me and drawing her next token. “The scents are fainter than they should be. Maybe we can get replacement cartridges at the next station.”

I sighed as I watched her make three moves in a row, matching up scented tiles and rearranging the maze of the board until I’d lost all idea of where my target was. “Somehow I don’t think that would help.”

She sat back, idly spinning the last token she needed to find. “I wonder if there’s a model with scents from your planet. This is a pretty popular game; it only makes sense that they would branch out.”

“Maybe.” I stared at the maze, plotting pathways and trying to find a target that I could reach in a single turn. My odds weren’t great that it would be the right one, but that was better than nothing. “I’d probably be able to tell them apart better if they were things like cinnamon and citrus, but if the game makers just went for all flowers there too, I’d still be guessing. It’s not my area of expertise.” I shifted a row and moved my piece, then spent a moment trying once again to identify a scent.

“That’s the one you tried last time,” Captain Sunlight told me, dashing all hopes. Her next move was swift and decisive, countering the detour I’d just thrown in her path. She set her final token on the stack of others and waggled her fingers in silent triumph.

I slumped against the backrest. “This is definitely not my game.”

The captain began disassembling the board. “How about you pick the next one?”

“My pleasure,” I said in relief, immediately moving toward the entertainment cabinet. This lounge was well stocked after our last stop. “Want to do a puzzle?”

“What kind? Cube, sphere, string?”

“Uh, the regular flat kind,” I said, holding up the box. It showed a lovely nature scene (waterfall), a piece count (100), and a planet of origin (Earth).

“That sounds refreshingly different,” said Captain Sunlight. She carefully fitted the scent tiles into their insulated compartment. “Competitive or cooperative?”

“Cooperative,” I said, bringing it over to the table while she finished putting away the other game. “Though I suppose there’s room for trash talk about who’s working faster.”

“How very considerate. Have you played this with Trrili or Zhee yet?”

“Not yet,” I said with a smile, easily able to imagine the amount of agitated hissing and pincher clicks that would come from a competitive game between those two. “This one’s new. I was thinking Blip and Blop might like it.” The Frillian twins were also competitive, though they worked well together. I had no idea if they were any good at puzzles.

Time to see if the captain was. She set aside the other box and I opened this one, spilling the hundred puzzle pieces onto the table and getting to work flipping them over.

Captain Sunlight followed my lead. “So is the goal to assemble them in a certain pattern?”

“Yeah, they make up this picture.” I pointed at the box. “It’s easiest once they’re all color-side up.”

“I see,” she said, as focused as if she was studying a new trade language. “How long do you expect this round to take?”

“This one should be pretty quick,” I told her. “It’s just a hundred pieces, and a lot of different colors. If this was a picture of a green field with a blue sky and not much else, that would be a lot more annoying.”

“Seems like that would be less to keep track of.”

“Sure, but fewer clues about where things go.” I held up a fragment of vivid purple. “This one, for example, can only go in the corner. No mystery there.” I pointed out the matching flower on the box.

Captain Sunlight nodded, still looking serious. “Right. Deduction. So do we take turns?”

“Nah, that would take too long. It’s more fun just to go for it. Unless you want to make it harder?”

“No no, the regular way is fine.” She hurried to flip over the last few, then looked at me and waited.

“Righto. The best way to start is by finding the corners first, then the edges. It narrows things down. Do you see any corners? Here’s one.”

We began. It really was an easy puzzle, but I could see the captain was struggling. This was a surprise, to say the least. Sunlight was smart. Always thinking ahead, clever and levelheaded and full of insights, but she seemed to have trouble guessing which direction a piece should go, even when it was perfectly obvious to me.

“Oh hey,” I said. “I was looking for that one. It goes right here.”

“This way?”

“Turn it so the sticking-out bit goes … yeah, like that.”

“And is this one also part of this red patch?”

“No, that one has smaller red petals; it belongs in the other spot. I JUST saw the piece that fits it, too; that was overrrrr… Here it is!” I plucked it out of the mess and Captain Sunlight handed me the other piece, letting me put them where they belonged.

I suggested, “See if you can find all the speckled blue ones, and we can fill in this area.”

She gamely searched for blue among the chaos of colors, visibly scanning pieces one at a time with concentration on her lizardy face. I hesitated over whether to pretend I couldn’t see all five of the pieces we needed, or to speed things up. I settled on grabbing material for the grassy area nearby, only picking out the last blue one when she’d found the rest.

This turned into a pattern of me asking for pieces in a certain color, which she gathered slowly and I assembled. The puzzle took about three times as long to finish as I’d thought.

“Success!” the captain said as she clicked the last piece into place. (I’d left it for her to do the honors.) “That was surprisingly challenging. I must say, I’m glad it wasn’t competitive.”

“Ah, you wouldn’t have lost as badly as I did in that last game,” I said, lying through my human teeth.

“That’s kind of you to say,” she told me. “I do wonder how some of the rest of the crew would take to this, though. Mur is always looking for a difficult game he can excel at.”

“Because you usually beat him?” I guessed with a grin, quieting when I picked up the sound of tentacles approaching down the hallway.

A blue-black squid head appeared around the corner. “I hear it’s game time in here!” Mur declared. “And we have new puzzles after the last stop.”

“Do you mean this puzzle?” I asked, gesturing at the completed waterfall. “Lemme just take it back apart—”

Mur ignored me, tentacle-walking over to fling open the cabinet and reach in. “These puzzles!” he exclaimed, pulling out several Strongarm puzzle cubes. “We’ve got a range of difficulty levels here. These two are unsuited to fingers, but I imagine you poor souls with no tentacles could manage one of these!”

He lined them up along the edge of the table with all the flair of a children’s magician, or maybe an older sibling who was looking forward to seeing the younger kids suffer. Since I’d been subjected to the Strongarm version of a “simple kid’s challenge” before and nearly dislocated something, that seemed appropriate.

I sighed and exchanged looks with Captain Sunlight. She didn’t seem particularly excited either.

Then more tentacles slapped down the hall, and Wio joined us. “Hey! Kavlae says it’s puzzle time! I told Mimi to take a break from the tool-sorting he’s been doing, and we can see who’s puzzle master today.”

The look I exchanged with Captain Sunlight now was different. “Let me just clear the table for you,” I said, picking up the puzzle box.

“Yes, by all means,” said the captain. “You can have my chair.”

~~~

These are the ongoing backstory adventures of the main character from this book.

Shared early on Patreon! There’s even a free tier to get them on the same day as the rest of the world.

The sequel novel is in progress (and will include characters from these stories. I hadn’t thought all of them up when I wrote the first book, but they’re too much fun to leave out of the second).

[prokopetz]

Your long and arduous journey has led you to this, the final confrontation. You thought you knew what to expect, but just as you struck the final blow, your ultimate foe's eyes gleamed with unnatural light as they proclaimed…

THIS ISN'T EVEN MY FINAL FORM

A game for 4–6 players

Introduction

This Isn't Even My Final Form is a GMless tactical minigame for 4–6 players. You'll take on the roles of a party of heroic adventurers nearing the end of a world-spanning quest to defeat a great evil, the Final Boss. Unfortunately for them, each time they think they've won, the Final Boss assumes a new, even more horrifying form, and the struggle begins anew. Is there any end to this conflict? There's only one way to find out!

What You'll Need

This Isn't Even My Final Form requires a dozen six-sided dice, as well as a way of keeping track of a few important numbers – a shared text document or some scrap paper will suffice.

Update 2023-10-30: Print-and-play card decks are available here:

http://penguinking.com/this-isnt-even-my-final-form/

Character Creation

Choose two of the following actions to be your Party Member's Class Actions: Strike, Heal, Buff, Debuff. If you'd rather determine this randomly, roll on the following table.

1. Strike, Heal 2. Strike, Buff 3. Strike, Debuff 4. Heal, Buff 5. Heal, Debuff 6. Buff, Debuff

Give your Party Member's Class a name which suits your Class Actions. Also give your Party Member a name; it is traditional but not obligatory for your Party Member's name to have exactly five letters.

Playing the Game

Play is divided into a series of Phases. During each Phase, one player takes on the role of the Final Boss. That player's Party Member does not participate in this Phase; they're trapped, lost, incapacitated, or otherwise separated from the party or unable to act for the duration of the Phase. All other players take on the roles of their Party Members.

The Final Boss player's first order of business is to describe what the current Phase looks like. The Final Boss player can roll 1–3 times on the following table (re-rolling duplicates) to decide on a theme, or use it as inspiration for their own theme. To use this table, roll a six-sided die twice, treating the first roll as the "tens" place and the second roll as the "ones" place, yielding a number in the range from 11 to 66.

11. Beasts 12. Bells 13. Blood 14. Bones 15. Chains 16. Chaos 21. Cubes 22. Eyes 23. Fire 24. Flowers 25. Food 26. Games 31. Gears 32. Glass 33. Gold 34. Hands 35. Holes 36. Ice 41. Iron 42. Light 43. Mazes 44. Meat 45. Mirrors 46. Music 51. Orbs 52. Order 53. Plague 54. Shadow 55. Slime 56. Space 61. Spikes 62. Teeth 63. Time 64. Trees 65. Weapons 66. Wings

Once the Phase has been defined, set the party's Momentum to zero. Momentum is a value which will increase or decrease over the course of the Phase; it has a minimum value of zero, and no particular upper limit.

Play proceeds in a series of rounds, as follows.

The Final Boss Attacks

The Final Boss always goes first in each round. Roll one die:

1–3: The Final Boss chooses one of the following actions. 4–5: The Final Boss chooses two of the following actions. You may not target the same Party Member twice; however, you may use the same action on two different Party Members if you wish. 6: The Final Boss does nothing this round. On its turn next round, it does not roll and instead uses its Ultimate Attack.

Wound: Inflict the Critical Condition on a single Party Member. If the chosen Party Member already has the Critical Condition, it's replaced with the Down Condition and the party loses one Momentum.

Imprecate: Inflict the Cursed Condition on a single Party Member.

Envenom: Inflict the Poisoned Condition on a single Party Member.

Bewilder: Inflict the Confused Condition on a single Party Member.

Counter: If you're targeted by the Strike or Debuff actions this round, after resolving that action, perform the Wound action on the Party Member who targeted you. You may counter any number of actions in this way.

Dispel: Remove the Buffed and Protected Conditions from any number of Party Members.

Enrage: The Final Boss rolls two dice and takes the better result on its next action. The party may cancel this benefit with a successful Debuff action; doing so removes the extra die instead of forcing the Final Boss to roll twice and take the lower result.

Ultimate Attack: This action can only be chosen by rolling a 6 during the previous round. When the Final Boss uses this action, choose Cursed, Poisoned, or Confused: you may perform the Wound action AND inflict the chosen Condition upon any number of Party Members, in that order. (i.e., Wound each targeted Party Member, THEN Curse/Confuse/Poison any who remain standing.)

The Final Boss player describes the outcome of the chosen action(s) in as much or as little detail as they like; control then passes to the other players.

The Party Acts

After the Final Boss has attacked, each Party Member who doesn't have the Down condition chooses one of the following actions, in any order the players wish. After choosing any action other than Defend, the player rolls their dice pool, which is a handful of six-sided dice constructed as follows:

Start with a number of dice equal to the party's current Momentum (initially zero, though it will grow over the course of the Phase)

Add one die if you're performing one of your Party Member's Class Actions

Add one die if your Party Member currently has the Buffed Condition

Add one die if your Party Member currently has the Critical Condition

Roll all of the dice together, and find the highest result. Ties for the highest result have no special significance; for example, if you rolled four dice and got 1, 3, 5 and 5, your result is 5. If you'd ever end up with zero or fewer dice for any reason – either because your dice pool was empty to begin with, or because some effect obliged you to discard every die you rolled – you receive an automatic result of 1.

If an action requires you to target a specific Party Member or make other choices, you can wait and see the result of your roll before making those decisions.

Strike: You attack the Final Boss. Roll your dice pool:

1–3: Nothing happens – either the attack misses, or the Final Boss turns out to be immune to whatever you just did. 4–5: The attack strikes true. The party gains one Momentum. 6: Critical hit! The party gains two Momentum.

Special: If you roll triples or better (i.e., at least three of the same number) on a Strike action, the Final Boss' current Phase is defeated, and you move on to the next Phase. It doesn't matter what number comes up triples.

Heal: You attempt to restore the party's strength. Roll your dice pool:

1–3: You may remove the Critical Condition from a single Party Member. If no Party Member has the Critical Condition, nothing happens. 4–5: You may remove the Critical Condition from any number of party members OR you may remove the Down Condition from a single Party Member. 6: You may remove the Critical and Down Conditions from any number of party members.

Buff: You attempt to bolster a party member. Roll your dice pool:

1–3: You may grant the Buffed Condition to a single Party Member OR remove a Condition of your choice other than Critical or Down from a single Party Member. 4–5: You may grant the Buffed Condition to a single Party Member AND remove a Condition of your choice other than Critical or Down from that Party Member, if they have one. 6: You may grant the Buffed Condition OR remove a Condition of your choice other than Critical or Down to any number of Party Members. You may choose a different option for each targeted Party Member.

Debuff: You attempt to weaken the Final Boss. Roll your dice pool:

1-3: Nothing happens – it turns out the Final Boss was immune to that effect. 4–5: The Final Boss rolls two dice and takes the lower result on its next action. 6: The Final Boss rolls two dice and takes the lower result on its next action AND the party gains one Momentum.

Defend: You may grant the Protected condition to a Party Member of your choice. Do not roll.

Based on the outcome of your roll (if applicable), describe the outcome of your action in as much or as little detail as you wish.

Once each Party Member has acted, return to "The Final Boss Attacks" to begin the next round.

Ending the Phase

As noted above, rolling triples or better on a Strike action results in the immediate defeat of the current Phase. Alternatively, if all Party Members simultaneously have the Down Condition, the Final Boss player's Party Member suddenly breaks free or arrives on the scene and rescues everyone in a stunning deus ex machina; this also ends the Phase, but does not count as defeating it.

In either case, reset the party's momentum to zero, remove all Conditions, and move on to the next Phase. The role of the Final Boss passes to a different player, with preference given to those who haven't yet had a chance to be the Final Boss; the previous Final Boss player resumes playing their Party Member.

Continue until the party has defeated a number of Phases at least equal to the number of players, or until mutual agreement has been reached that all this has gone on quite long enough.

Conditions

Some actions can impose Conditions upon the individual Party Members. Conditions can be positive or negative, and last until specific conditions for their removal are met.

Buffed: Your strength has been boosted. When rolling your dice pool, you roll one extra die.

Confused: You've lost your wits. When the party acts, your action is determined by rolling a d6 – 1: Strike; 2: Heal; 3: Buff; 4: Debuff; 5: Defend; 6: do nothing this round AND remove this Condition. This Condition is also removed if you gain the Critical Condition while under its effects. You may choose targets normally if the rolled action requires them. Confused Party Members always act before their un-Confused peers; if there are multiple Confused Party Members, the Final Boss decides the order in which they act.

Critical: You are badly wounded. Desperation lends strength, and so this Condition adds one extra die to your dice pools; however, if you suffer the Critical Condition a second time, it becomes the Down Condition instead.

Cursed: You've been afflicted with misfortune. Discard your highest result after rolling your dice pool, but before applying your chosen action's effects. If there's a tie for the highest result, discard all of them; for example, if you roll four dice while Cursed and get 1, 3, 5 and 5, your result is 3. If the Condition causes you to discard your only set of triples of better on a Strike action, the Phase does not end.

Down: You are incapacitated by injury or foul enchantment. When the party acts, you may not choose an action; your action remains lost even if this Condition is removed before the end of the round. When you gain this Condition, remove all other Conditions, and the party loses one Momentum. (This is not in addition to the Momentum loss noted by effects which inflict this Condition – those are just reminders.) You may not gain other Conditions while this one persists.

Poisoned: You're afflicted by a poison, plague, or death-curse. If you have the Poisoned Condition after resolving your action for the round, you gain the Critical Condition. If you already have the Critical Condition, you instead gain the Down Condition, and the party loses one Momentum.

Protected: The next time you would gain any Condition other than Buffed, remove this Condition instead. You also remove this Condition if you take any action other than Defend on your turn.

[xxsugarbonesxx]

Librarian Miguel x Flower Shop Owner

tags: tooth rotting amounts of fluff and some suggestive bits. No one is spider man in this AU, mainly just character set up stuff :3 and no gender is specified for reader any1 can read it

hopefully this will be me getting back into writing since i took a break from it lol (this was done in 30-40 minutes at 2am so sorry if it isnt too high quality) ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚

In the little rural town of Nueva, there was a library, it was owned and operated by the single hottest man in town, and probably the whole state, Miguel O’Hara. 

Miguel O’Hara was a simple man really, he ironed his clothes, did sudoku on the train and ate a bagel with light cream cheese, an assortment of raspberries, blackberries and blueberries every morning every day for breakfast. 

He took his coffee dark with the littlest splash of cream and one sugar cube. Two sugar cubes would be just reckless. Coffee could be substituted with Camellia flower tea when he was out of coffee, peppermint for when he had a migraine.

All the women in town would sing his praises to another. Little was known about him besides that after the death of his daughter he moved to Nueva and opened his library. In front of his library was a small community garden and a bench dedicated to his dear daughter by the double doors. 

No one brought it up, no one asked, and he liked it that way. He liked the simplicity of Nueva. The air was cleaner, the people there warmer and the ringing in his ears seemingly disappeared when he moved there. 

He liked to keep his library neat and tidy, he had plenty of rules set in place to follow…children's books in the front and adult books in the back. The spicer content was shelved by the cook books so no kids found them. You are to only use the various lamps in the library, never the big light. It totally ruined the cozy atmosphere he had set up. 

Jazz, Frank Sinatra, and Selena Quintanilla was the only music allowed to be played, he didn’t like any other types of music. Coffee was free as long as you returned your mug to the table his coffee maker was on once you were done. No talking louder than a whisper, and only pet the library cat if you had all your shots. That was mostly a joke, but Miguel didn’t want people who weren’t up to date on their immunizations touching his cat.

It was almost closing time, and there were only a few people left. The familiar cast of characters Miguel had come to know now wandering the maze of shelves. Ben Riley was using one of the community monitors. Sending emails back and forth to his girlfriend in Canada. Only god knew if she was real or not.

When Miguel asked why Ben just bought his own laptop or computer to converse with his girlfriend, Ben explained he didn’t want to go through the trouble of setting up a laptop when he could just walk to the library to use one for free.

Miguel couldn’t help but hold back the fattest eye roll known to man when he heard that.

Peter Parker was looking for cookbooks for the dinner he was gonna make to win his ex wife back. Stressing over the perfect dish to make as young Mayday Parker debated whether she wanted to check out GoodNight Moon or Skippyjon Jones for her bedtime story tonight.

Then there was Pavitr Prabhakar and Gayatri Singh. Debatably his most adorable regulars. Miguel would watch the two teenagers stumble through their awkward study dates, he couldn't help but feel the littlest bit proud of Pav when he finally worked up the courage and kissed her. 

But his favorite, hands down, was you. You owned the little flower shop across the street from his library next to the bakery. On the opening, you had brought him a bunch of sunflowers tied with a pearl white ribbon as a gift. He didn't have the heart to tell her that he was actually allergic to sunflowers and graciously took the generous gift with a stuffy nose and kind smile.

You would come waltzing in, batting your eyelashes like you were auditioning for a mascara commercial. At first he had no interest in romance, but you were just so…kind, caring, loving, compassionate. You were so slow and soft spoken, giving him the space he needed while he grieved and was there afterwards to hug him and dry his tears. 

At the beginning, you’d only stop by and help him in the library or check out a novel or two, but as you became a frequent visitor, you stopped coming just to help him…and started coming just to see him.

He remembered how one day, you had arrived at the library as usual. A perplexed look on your darling face with your hands behind your back. You had spent all of the night before carefully crafting a special bouquet of lilies and tulips. Making sure there wasn't anything in it he was allergic to.

After dancing around the subject, you had slowly confessed her feelings to him. 

The next hour was spent in the back room of the library. Feverishly groping another and kissing frantically, your glasses kept sliding against each other’s as you both ran to rip each other's clothes off another's bodies.

Miguel was still that simple man he was all those years ago when he moved to the sleepy town of Nueva. The idea of building a real relationship with someone scared him from how many times he'd been hurt in the past and the fresh wounds from the death of his child.

But now he has you. He has someone to come home to besides the empty walls of his little cottage home. He has a significant other to fill that void and to lift him up, someone to be his lock screen picture.

Someone to tell all the things he’s learned from the regulars at the library. He told you about Ben getting catfished, Peter winning MJ over with homemade ratatouille and a promise, about Pav and Gayatri’s kiss while the both of you snuggled up on the couch over a bottle of strawberry wine.

You'd both started the relationship a little rocky, not knowing whether this was right with the things Miguel was working through then. But it soon proved to be the best decision either of you could have made. 

He had your wedding picture next to Gabriela's school picture day portrait on his desk. 

His favorite parts of his day were when you’d walk from your shop to the library on your lunch break to eat together, and in the evenings when he'd read the book you were currently reading out loud to you, before going to sleep together. 

He was still that simple man, but now he’d share his bagels with you. He’d offer to iron your clothes for you, and even when you didn’t understand, he showed you how to play sudoku on the long train rides. Even though you were just nodding along to hear him talk about something he enjoyed.

[svmjaeyvn]

LOVE MAZE — 심재윤

chapter 08. jealousy. pairing: trust fund baby!jake x college student fem!reader

An unfortunate encounter, drunken mistakes, and a sort of (definitely) stalker lead to Sim Jaeyun 'dating' his best friend's childhood crush!

or, your life gets intertwined with a rich boy’s in an attempt to not get sued by his crazy personal fangirl and like with all good cliches, sex overcomplicates things.

08. JEALOUSY

prev   masterlist  next word count - 4.1k note - minjun is being a stalker, that’s sort of it?? jake using his rich boy privileges for the first time cause hes down horrendous lol

"PLEASE STOP STARING," Riki whined, throwing an ice cube in Jake's direction who was perched at the counter with a giddy smile. You were on the other side of the store, in the midst of barring out drinks before turning to help your coworker with an unsatisfied customer.

It was different to see you in your element, of course to you it being a mere barista job but Jake couldn't deny how much a leadership position suited you. You were good at quite literally everything, barely paying him mind when he waltzed in 20 minutes ago due to the afternoon rush but seeming calm and collected as you handled the line of drinks that seemed never ending. You looked as pretty as ever in his eyes, your hair pulled up by the clip in your hair and bare skin that seemed to be glowing.

You were called in at the last minute by a fellow shift as they weren't able to come in due to an emergency. Knowing Ms. Cho would've been the one to cover, something you couldn't bear to make her do as she was meant to take the week off due to spraining her wrist, and not wanting to leave Riki hanging you canceled on the previous study-date you had scheduled with Jake much to his disappointment.

Lo and behold though, said boy decided that he had all the time in the world to wait for you. After you called him on your break, excited that a coworker would be coming in to do the closing tasks, telling him you'd be off at 6:30 instead of 10, Jake stopped by an hour before your shift would end deeming that allowing him to treat you to dinner would make up for the raincheck.

"Bro honestly, I know she's your girlfriend but can't you go sit down at least?" Riki's voice breaks his thoughts once more. Jake merely rolled his eyes, waving off the boy who looked exasperated by his presence.

"Yah, whatever. You're just bitter 'cause you’re bitchless," Jake began to tease, watching as the younger boy rolled his eyes and discretely flipped him off without the other customers taking note.

There was a familiar jingle from the door, Riki's eyes looking past him to greet whoever walked in but his face turned into one of visible disgust. Immediately making his way in your direction without a word, Jake curiously turned around with his brows frowned to see what caused such a reaction.

A small scoff left Jake's lips, watching Minjun beeline to where you were behind the bar with Riki glued to your side and staring him down like a guard dog. A small smirk picks at his lips, Jake waiting patiently, watching from afar to see what he planned on saying as you'd be able to handle it yourself.

"___," Minjun spoke, attempting to gain your attention but you merely lifted your gaze for a split second as you focused on the drinks you had sequenced. "Can we talk?"

"I'm busy," You said dryly, sending him a pointed look as you were on shift quite literally in the middle of working. "If you need something you can ask my other staff to help you,"

"Are you seriously going to ignore me?"

"Are you seriously showing up to my job when I told you to leave me alone?" You shot back, brow raising in disbelief. "It's harassment, do you want me to call the cops?"

Minjun bit his lip, seemingly collecting his thoughts to carefully piece what he intended to say next. "You're ignoring my texts, how else am I supposed to talk to you?"

"I blocked you," You answer with a small shrug. "I don't want to talk to you. We have no reason to either way, it was your idea to move on with our lives in the first place so I don't see what you need from me now,"

"It was a mistake," Minjun attempts but a loud scoff comes from your end at his words. Feeling yourself grow more and more annoyed, you take a second to collect your thoughts, having to silently remind yourself that there were a handful of other customers that you still needed to be portrayed to in a professional light.

Your eyes flickered to the left, feeling the familiar gaze boring into your side. You met Jake's look, his brows slightly pinched as he held an unreadable expression glancing over Minjun. His arms were crossed against his chest, leaned against the front counter while his head tilted in the smallest of ways meeting your eyes. Silently indicating whether or not you wanted him to intervene, you shook your head, turning over to Riki who was still on guard just a step behind you.

"Can you take over for me?" You ask the younger boy, his eyes softening as he glanced down to you with a small nod. Telling Sooyun the same, you leave the two on the floor to handle the customer flow and walk away from Minjun without a word. He attempted to follow along the counter that kept you separated, only to stop short noting how you met Jake at the break that separated the workers and customer side.

"You okay?" Jake asks softly, his hand finding its place in your own as he traced his thumb over your palm in an attempt to offer some ease to your mind.

"I don't know why he keeps trying," You mumble out, swallowing the lump in your throat while Jake pursues his lips. You had to admit, no matter how unaffected you attempted to seem, having Minjun back and weaseling his way into your life was slowly opening up old wounds that never fully healed. It felt exhausting seeing his face, much less feeling trapped in your own workplace since that seemed to be his resort to finding you no matter how many hints you've given to leave you be.

"You want me to call the guys and we can jump him out back?" Jake offers, the teasing in his voice caused you to laugh though the glint in his eyes made it hard for you to tell if he was entirely joking. "I could take him on my own but I'm sure Jay wants a few hits at him anyway,"

"So does Riki," You snicker, glancing over to the boy who had his eyes trained on Minjun with a menacing glare. "I don't have the money to bail all seven of you out though so let's not do that,"

A cocky smile fell upon Jake's lips knowing well enough his next words would cause you to grimace. "It's okay baby, I'm rich, remember?"

You rolled your eyes but couldn't refrain from the small laugh that fell from your lips. "You're annoying," You huff, though the giggle that filtered through your words had Jake smiling from ear to ear. Leaning closer, he's quick to place a kiss to your lips, your eyes widening as you pull away with a tsk. "I'm on the clock, stop making me look like a bad worker,"

"No one's looking," Jake reassures, not even sparing a glance around the room but he's sure of himself. His hands fell to your hips, pulling you in closer and technically he was right, the large pastry case and stack of boxes that you had yet to be able to put away had blocked a significant amount of view of where you two stood, someone would have had to come around the corner to see you two if they really wanted to.

A clear of someone's throat caused the two of you to pull away from the giddy bubble you were in. Your annoyance flooded back in a second while Jake lazily looked over his shoulder, his eyes lighting up taking note of Minjun who stood with a dark expression.

"What's up man?" Jake smiled, turning as he said so but still keeping one arm draped around your waist though you shifted slightly in your spot. His grip tightened, feeling how you attempted to move, squeezing your hip as a silent way to tell you to stay in place at his side. "You need something?"

"Can you give us a minute?" Minjun's words were short and clipped, the visible annoyance dripping from his persona.

"Don't think so," He hummed with the click of his tongue. "M'names Jake," Holding out his hand with a cheeky smile, Jake waited for Minjun to introduce himself. You had to refrain from the laugh that wanted to spill from your lips, the obviously annoying but polite tactic one you wouldn't have guessed he'd play but it seemed to work better than being possessive or immediately hostile.

"Minjun," was all he replied with, not bothering to complete the handshake Jake intended. Turning his gaze to you, he nearly pleaded in a softer tone. "Can we just talk?"

Jake let out a loud sigh, dropping his hand with the shake of his head. "You know, man, I wouldn't have held anything against you but you're really making my girl uncomfortable," His previous bubbly expression was gone, now replaced with a bored one that shamelessly glanced over Minjun. "You know me personally, I don't go for girls I broke up with, especially after she told me to leave her alone and she has a new man. That's just me though,"

"No offense man, but I know you two just got together. Your new relationship doesn't compare to us," Minjun shrugs while you let out a laugh of disbelief. You and Jake were more comfortable together, by miles, in a short amount of time even if your relationship was based on a facade. After the first two months with Minjun, it felt as though you were walking on eggshells everyday to keep him around, a feeling you remember all too well and ridicule yourself for staying in for so long.

"I mean, you're the ex for a reason, right? Our relationship s’not supposed to be like yours," Jake shrugs, a humorless laugh left on his lips.

"You guys don't even make sense together!" Minjun was now speaking to you, gesturing between you both with an exasperated expression. "His life is completely different from yours and you know it, why waste time now when it won't even work out?"

You frowned your brows, not knowing how much he had looked into Jake but either way, being so ambient on your differences seemed to rub you the wrong way. What exactly was he entailing? The fact that Jake was a party guy or that he was rich? You grew up attached to the hip with Jay, sure you weren't directly a part of that life but you did know how to act with a cocktail dress and dining etiquette when you needed to. You truly lacked nothing if the relationship was real and so far, Jake didn't either.

"It's cute to know you've been thinking about me," Before you were able to voice your thoughts, Jake beat you to it. His tone was teasing, though there was a slight edge to it indicating that the cat and mouse play going back and forth was something he began to grow tired of. His hand squeezed your hip, somehow subconsciously knowing that your agitation grew as well, it was a silent reminder that he was there for you.

Minjun scoffed, seemingly ready to retort but Jake shook his head. "You know, I don't really like being a dick and all," He starts, a small huff of air leaving his lips as if it pained him to continue. Jake's eyes flickered to you, he winked before the bored look was sent back toward Minjun. "But I do take advantage of the benefits that come from my family. Let's just make it easier on all of us since getting the lawyers involved is always so messy, yeah?"

Your eyes widened slightly, certainly not having any thought of any legal precedent but the threat should've been more than enough to get his point across. You felt a shiver run up your spine, thinking back to weeks ago when you got yourself into the situation you were in now. She totally would've sued me.

There was a clear of the throat that broke the tension between you three. Riki making his presence known as he sends Minjun a rather large, but most obviously fake, smile.

"I'm afraid I'll have to ask you to leave since I've had a few customer complaints from the situation that's occurring," He says in his peppy customer service voice, the faux sympathy in his tone adding salt to the wound. Looking around, you take note of the lie considering the lobby had cleared out significantly and not a single person in sight was paying any mind to what was occurring in the corner but you were certainly thankful for the deescalation.

Minjun doesn't say a word. His eyes lock with yours, the silent communication causing you to feel uneasy. For a split second, you almost felt bad for him seeing the look of pleading sincerity, for a second he seemed like the boy you once knew and you couldn't deny the slight tug in your heart that longed for the past. But as Jake’s hand made its presence known on your back, you shook out of the temporary daze, you subtly moved behind him, using Jake as a shield of sorts and looking away.

You weren't naive enough to fall for that. And your thoughts proved right as Minjun's expression changed in an instant, the look of anger and annoyance familiar but he merely turned and made his way out of the shop without hesitation.

The bitter feeling caused your stomach to turn, picking at the skin of your fingers as you pulled out your phone to check the time.

"You okay noona?" Riki carefully asked, His brows were pinched, a slight frown at his lips taking note of your visible discomfort.

You nod, placing a smile on your features but it didn't quite reach your eyes. You looked behind him, seeing Sooyun working by herself. "I'm alright, I need to finish my pull before Hejin comes in so support where you can for now," You delegate, already heading toward the back room while footsteps followed soon after.

Jake sighed watching you walk away. He didn't know the full story, certainly didn't want to know the details of how in love you were, but he did know that Minjun was important enough to still bother you after some time apart. A small part of him was selfish, never wanting you to think of anyone like that but him, even though your relationship wasn't even real in the first place, but he knew that was his own jealousy.

The larger part of him felt upset for you though, the crestfallen expression you held more than enough for him to want to hold you and wash all your worries away. In a perfect world, Jake would make sure you'd never feel sad again. He vows to never be the one responsible for your tears, and if he were he'd kick himself and beg for the room in your heart to forgive him.

You stopped by the back freezer, facing the stainless steel doors and you could see Jake's reflection behind you. "I'm alright," You repeat, not having the confidence to turn around knowing your eyes were glossing over and the lump in your throat grew.

Jake hummed, watching you from afar. He watched as you began to count the frozen pastries, having to go over twice losing your train of thought and seemingly looking around aimlessly. You let out a sigh, leaning your head against the frozen rack as you shut your eyes, the cold air that wrapped around your body caused goosebumps to form along your arms, though it did well in stopping the tears that were built up to the brim.

"You know, you're technically not supposed to be back here," You mumble, a hint of amusement in your words though you were rather dejected.

Jake chuckled, shaking his head while you couldn't see it. The two of you stood in silence, not knowing what to say that would make it better. Heavy footsteps sounded as someone entered the back of the house, you peaking from behind the freezer door while Jake straightened up.

Hejin pointed a finger at you as she pulled her apron over her head. Your brows frowned, clicking on the tablet that was stuck to the door to see it only be 5:50. Her keys jangled in her pocket, the lollipop in her mouth muffling her words. "Go home,"

"What?" You let out a small laugh, amused by the loud groan she let out upon her apron getting stuck while pulling it down. "It's not 6:30,"

"I'm here now so go," Hejin huffs, pulling at her ponytail as she nods towards Jake, a silent acknowledgment to his presence but not bothering to ask why he was beside you. "I saw creeps-a-lot in the parking lot. The kid and Sooyun were blowing up my phone to get me here so I chased him away. Go home and relax, I'll make an incident report to let everyone and Mama Cho know to not talk about you and refuse him service from now on,"

Your lips pull into a frown, the tears once again welding up in your eyes. You covered your face out of embarrassment, Hejin clicking her tongue as she waved you off.

"Ay, don't cry," She tuts. "He's not worth it, new boyfriend hug her!" Hejin directs, gesturing between you and Jake causing you to let out a laugh. Jake tilted his head, his arms open as you reluctantly stepped into his embrace. You refused to look at him directly, hiding behind your hands though you could see the fondness in his expression as he stared down at you. "Good, now get out of here. Pretty girls should never cry over ugly men,"

With that, Hejin was out onto the floor. You stifled your laughter, heart pulling at the thought of your work family. She, in particular, was known to be rough around the edges, not one to show praise or direct affection but small acts like these were truly the most meaningful. You made a mental note to treat them in the future, thankful for the saving grace.

Jake pulled away from the hug slightly, a small smile perking at his lips as he tilted his head. He gently pulled away your hands from your face, wiping away the few stray tears with the same fond look.

"You know, I don't know how to feel about you crying over another man," He teased, causing you to roll your eyes. "Guess I have a lot of work to do to make you forgive him,"

"Forgive?" You echo, raising a brow not following his words.

Jake nods. "You know, for being an idiot but at least it allowed for me and you which is like, a million times better," He says in the most obvious voice causing you to snicker. "Forgive but not forget, or whatever it is that people say,"

"Have you been looking at pinterest quotes?" You laugh while Jake begins to nod wholeheartedly.

"You put me on, it's honestly so chill scrolling. I have like, five different boards I've made so far,"

"Rookie numbers," You tease, causing him to mock offense.

"They all have certain aesthetics and are listed in order," He offers, causing you to hum.

You nod in approval. "Better,"

Noting that your mood had seemed to raise, Jake leans in, placing a small peck to the tip of your nose causing you to let out a small squeal. Your face scrunches up, pulling away from him while he lets out a laugh.

"C'mon, you owe me your time and I think I have the perfect idea to get your pretty little mind off everything,"

•☽────✧˖°˖☆˖°˖✧────☾•☽────✧˖°˖☆˖°˖✧────☾•

"YOU’RE JOKING?"

"What?"

You sent Jake a pointed look, smiling down at the excited animal that jumped into your arms, licking the skin of your cheeks while your heart nearly bursted at the sight of her tail wagging so happily. "We've been faking it for over a month and you decided to just tell me you had a dog?"

"Her name's Layla," He laughs, crouching down to the level where you were sitting on the floor. As soon as you walked into the door of the unfamiliar apartment, you were greeted by soft paws jumping at your leg along with excited barks for attention. "This is my brother's place, she's a family dog but he has her most of the time since my parents are always out of town. He's on a trip with his friends so he asked me to watch her for the week," Jake cooed as he pet Layla's fur, eyes full of affection and love as she leaned into his touch.

“I’ll watch her for the week,” You smile, gaining her attention once more as you scratched at the spot just behind Layla’s ears. Her eyes shut as you did so, a small giggle leaving your lips as the dog visibly relaxed to your petting. “I’ll keep her company while you party or whatever you do in that frat house,”

Jake rolled his eyes, his view set on you but you were far too focused on Layla to care. “I haven’t gone to a party in weeks, and if I do you’re with me,” He says pointedly as you merely hum.

“Exactly, you can go do what you want. I’ll stay here with the cutest little puppy I’ve ever seen,” The latter half of your sentence was spoken in a high voice, cooing at Layla who seemed to be happily responsive to it.

Though he liked seeing how well you got along with his childhood pet, Jake tsked. Maybe it was a bad idea bringing you to see her, all of your attention would go to the little border collie instead of him which, admittedly, he couldn’t have.

“What I want,” Jake starts, leaning over to flood your view. “Is for you to not love my dog more than me,” He finished, dangerously close to your lips as you blinked, a small snort leaving your lips.

“Well for one, I barely tolerate you so Layla wins by a long shot,” You tease, causing his lips to pout. Lightly pushing Jake away, he ends up sitting directly in front of you, Layla happily pouncing into his lap but still begging for you to provide her with scratches as she rolls onto her back to expose her stomach. “And two, you can’t be jealous of your own dog. She’s just too cute,”

Jake sighed half heartedly. “You kicking me to the curb now for my dog?”

“Precisely,” You nod, a wide grin playing at your lips that you were unable to resist. It was still between the two of you for a moment, Jake taking the silence to gently place Layla down onto the ground beside you. You raised a brow, noting how he inched closer causing you to move back. “Hey~”

His arms were suddenly thrown around your body, one around your waist while the other was behind your head, blocking the impact of him suddenly tackling you to the hardwood floor. Your laughter filled the air, arms stuck under the weight of his chest and your faces inches apart.

“Too bad, you’re not allowed to get rid of me,” Jake huffs though there was an amused smile playing at his lips. “Say you like me more,”

You gaped in disbelief. “Are you serious?” The response to your question ended up with Jake’s fingers dancing along the skin of your waist, your shirt riding up and him knowing how ticklish you were as you began to squirm beneath him. “H-hey! Okay, s-stop—”

“Say it,” Jake taunts, his laughter mixing with yours.

“O-okay—”

Layla’s loud barks suddenly broke the air before the view of her jumping onto Jake’s head was seen. Your laughs were now from seeing how he yelped at the sudden help you received, rolling off of your body and with Layla still attacking his face with an abundance of kisses, you sat up. Now straddling Jake’s waist, you returned the favor of poking your fingers into his side, moving until you found a spot by his ribs that caused him to squirm around.

“Hey! You can’t team up against me,” Jake called out, unable to move either of you due to the way you sat and how Layla was now perched on his chest to get a better angle of sloppy kisses that he attempted to block. “She’s trying to lick my nose! Baby please—”

“What? I’m giving you attention like you wanted,”

[redstone-archivist]

Day 9 - Locked

Scott smiles and holds out three cubes towards his partners. Yellow, like a wheat field, sunlit on a hot summer afternoon for Jimmy. Orange, like a cozy home fire in the hearth for Tango. And green, the color of the summer evening forest for Martyn.

- It's a puzzle. - Smajor says tenderly, looking at his partners in turn and seeing puzzled looks in his direction. - The recipient goes through a small maze to get his gift. It won't be easy, but the main thing is not to give up.

- Oh... - the redstoner made a loud sound and actively wagged his tail, Tango tries to disassemble his intriguing mechanism, which does not give in from the first seconds.

- No! I want to be the first! - Jimmy groans and begins to twist the cube in his hands, trying to understand how to work with it.

Martyn, smiling contentedly, silently begins to twist his green cube, wanting to find out before all his partners what the wily Smajor hid in their gifts.

Smajor only grinned, enjoying watching the emotions on the faces of his future fiancees. How nice to see Tango's almost aggressively wagging tail, who was already a quarter of the way through the puzzle. Snorting Jimmy, who fluffed his wings in frustration and looked at the cube, which did not move from its place in his hands. And a contentedly smiling Martyn, who had just begun his journey.

- You know, something important for all of us is locked there. - the elf says coquettishly, catching a few second glances and enjoying the enthusiasm with which his partners continued. - Perhaps it will not work on the first try, but do not give up.

A couple of minutes later, the click of an open puzzle was heard. Martyn winced quietly, watching in amazement as the ring with yellow, orange, green and turquoise colors came into being. Tango and Jimmy, standing nearby, gasped in surprise.

- Will you be my fiance? - Scott says coquettishly and tenderly, winking at Martin, who immediately and agreeably nods.

- But.. I.. - Jimmy's voice was heard, causing Scott to smile tenderly in response.

- Take out the locked ring from your puzzle, and I will propose to you, too. - Scott winks, watching with awe how Martyn puts the ring on his finger, Tango (making chthonic sounds) along with snorting Jimmy - continue to pull out their locked rings to hear the same words.

[king-candybug-backup]

hello i am creeping crawling into your inbox. umm so worldbuilding makes me insane and the singular mention of the 'gutters' in killswitch has been making me think so hard that i genuinely cant remember what parts are canon to the fic and which parts i just Made Up. so anyway im gonna word vomit now

-

when i visualise the gutters, i imagine a giant, massively collossal empty room that stretches far beyond view, the roof being so high up you have to crane your neck alllll the way back to see it. the floor is made of a massive network of motherboards and cpus, some incased and some half cracked open. right under the game central station is a giant column- in fact one of the very few things connecting the floor to the ceiling. this column is full of pulsating wires and sticking bits of metal.

this massive void room is the 'short term storage'. all the character models and programming that are regularly used in the arcade get held in this area, as code within the circuitry that makes up the floor. this temporary storage area, however, is not the only storage area.

below the short term storage is the long term storage. original, i know. every few days, a 'purge' of sorts will systematically sweep through the short term storage and deposit unused files into the long term storage. the long term storage is a dense crawl-tunnel maze of machinery and wiring. a practically solid cube of metal, bits and bobs- trying to make your way through the long term storage would be akin to the experience of navigating an uncharted cave system.

this is, of course, where i now introduce turbo and where i think way too hard about how the hell he navigates the gutters. turbo of course can access the gutters via the game central station- he pulls back the panelling and manages to make his way down the giant pillar at the centre of the short term storage. he would at first probably just wander, trying to figure out where the hell he ended up this time.

he would get severely jumpscared by the 'purges' of the short term storage- visually taking the appearence of a giant glowing blue wall shooting over a portion of the circuitry. (this appearence causes turbo to give them the name 'waves'). turbo, skilled at biding time, learns the pattern of the waves- he figures out that he needs to stay moving in order to not get caught by one (not that he knows what would happen if he did, but thats not something he wants to risk), and that after a wave passes, he's safe to stay in the area it just cleared, as another wont pass through the same space for another few days.

the gutters in general are very quiet- the short term storage has the occasional quiet whirring of a fan, but what turbo listens out for is the distinct rumbling of an oncoming wave. luckily, the waves dont seem to reach too far up the pillar leading to the game central station- and turbo finds a nice little alcove amongst the wires, above where the waves can reach, that he can hesitantly call home.

for a while, (time is hard to track in the unchanging gutters,) turbo lives in the short term storage- waiting for the drama overhead to blow over, periodically stealing supplies, trying not to fall into a spiral over losing his game, and occasionally venturing out onto the flat plains of circuitry. he ventures out partially to distract himself from Everything Going Wrong, and partially out of curiosity over where the hell he is. of course though, on one of these ventures, he doesnt quite get out the way quick enough, and finds out exactly what happens when someone gets sweeped by a wave.

turbo ends up in the long term storage!! yayyy!! immediately, he realises getting caught in the wave was something he was right to have been avoiding. he gets deposited in a random tiny alcove amongst cold metal, so small he can barely move and so dark he cant see his own hands in front of his face- and so eerily silent his ears start ringing.

navigating the long term storage is, frankly, a literal nightmare. pulling himself through tiny spaces and having to twist into awkward positions is exhausting, the kind of physical activity that really requires Every Single muscle to be working overtime. its easy to lose track of which way is up and which way is down, and although turbo had never pinned himself as claustrophobic, this was very much making him second guess that.

i think if most characters in the arcade were asked when exactly turbo started losing his humanity, most's answer would be 'the moment he decided to attack roadblasters'. turbo himself would answer escaping the long term storage.

to escape the long term storage, you cant think like a person.

he does make it, eventually. through a brutal survival instinct turbo seems to have in droves, he manages to pull himself back up into the short term storage. he runs to the pillar and doesnt venture out again.

when sugar rush gets plugged in, he couldnt be more happy to leave the gutters behind.

and that is my long winded explanation as to why i headcanon killswitch candybug to be claustrophobic!!! yayyy i hope you like my in depth interpretation of the gutters lmao

other stuff: i headcanon that the gutters can actually be accessed through any game- turbo found out not long after he took over sugar rush. in the events of killswitch, he very purposefully did not tell anyone about this hypothesis when telling the others about the gutters. he wanted a back exit up his sleeve just incase he needed to jump ship.

even more self indulgent, playing with the idea that after some big showdown between the cast and sinistar in some random game, the carnage left behind causes the game to be unplugged- with everyone still inside of it. in the mad rush to the exit, king candy, vannellope, ralph, felix and calhoun are left trapped somewhere out of reach. turbo decides to finally reveal that one last card and manages to save everyone by breaking into the gutters. cue everyone now needing to hesitantly trust king candy to get them back to game central station alive, because hes the only one who knows anything about this place.

they show up a day later, thoroughly exhausted and maybe a bit more willing to trust turbo. the characters of the arcade, who assumed they were dead, almost pass out from shock.

turbo makes sure to point out that people need to stop assuming he's dead.

ok i lowkey hope i didnt rob you of any upcoming plot points LMAO but considering its unlikely my interpretation of the gutters matches up with whats canon to killswitch its. its fiiine right? anyyway here have at thee

RRRAAAGGGHHHHH LOVE THIS LOVE THIS LOVE THIS!!!!!! 💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖

I imagine the visuals pretty much exactly the same, too! Though I kind of picture it as more like, endless narrow hallways rather than a larger "room" kind of thing, I feel like there not being as much open space to wander around adds to the claustrophobia vibes TEE HEE

ALSO I CAN CONFIRM AT LEAST ONE THING HERE, you are right that the gutters can be accessed from pretty much any game, it's just a matter of finding those "weak points" to break in there without causing damage to the game's plug/cord! :D

AUGH I'M SO BAD AT VERBALIZING MY THOUGHTS SO I APOLOGIZE IF THIS COMES OFF AS NOT REPLYING VERY WELL BUT UGH I LOVE ALL THE INTERESTING THOUGHTS AND CONCEPTS YOU PUT INTO THIS IT'S SO DOPE JHGFSDHVJHBJ 💖💖💖💖💖💖💖 FIVE BILLION HEART EMOJIS!!!!!!!! AAAAGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[kobrafangs]

i've been compiling a bunch of maze runner headcannons over the past few weeks, and i decided to share what i have so far :) fyi most of these are ivytrio centered heheh ^_^ enjoy!!!

- newt would be a big oatmeal fan. he'd have it every day and put cubed fruits and maple syrup in it too. thomas prefers a plain toast with butter and always teases newt for "being an old coot"

- minho is rlly extra and likes to make these fancy pancakes that frypan taught him how to make

- newt would be addicted peach tea. every morning he goes to the convenience store and he buys a bottle before class

- newt loves bracelets and he made a matching pair for him and thomas :] (minho, newt, & thomas also have separate matching bracelets!)

- newt does poetry & art. he carries around a little sketchbook in his satchel where he jots random thoughts and sketches. his muse is thomas <3

- newt likes musicals & claymation/stop motion movies (his fav is dear evan hanson or kubo and the 2 strings) & thomas likes action movies (his favs are starwars or the spiderman movies)

- their fav movie to watch together is fantastic mr fox or coraline

- thomas and minho are both on their school's track team

- thomas downloaded duolingo as a joke but now he feels guilty if he misses even a single day so he has a daily streak of 479

- thomas almost threw up crying watching end game (he forced newt to watch it with him as well)

- thomas prefers calling/face timing over texting and he will do everything in his power to call

- he's also like the least coherent texter of all time He always has like 90 spelling errors in a 4 word text

- newt doesnt like calls but is also the driest texter of all time

- minho sends those corny Good Morning! gifs with a sunset in the background and glitter and flowers on it

- minho studies hard, passes his classes

- newt barely studies, passes his classes (hes just smart)

- thomas doesnt study whatsoever, passes his classes somehow

- minho has legible, normal-but-a-bit-wonky handwriting

- newt has a slanted cursive scrawl

- everything thomas writes is illegible

- minho has the dirtiest mind known to mankind

- when frustrated, minho gets really sassy, thomas gets snappy and fidgety, and newt just goes silent

- minho would go on 5 am runs and post a picture of him on his instagram story all sweaty and smiling and put the dumbest caption of all time on it

- thomas cannot eat unless he puts on a show

- minho scrolls on his phone and texts people while he eats

- newt raw dogs every meal No stimulation whatsoever. pure silence

- thomas is extremely ticklish. like hellishly ticklish. he will literally scream like hes getting stabbed and kick his feet if he gets tickled

- ivy trio stays up until like 3 am playing horror games. thomas is the one who always screams bloody murder at literally any noise, minho keeps yelling at thomas to shut up, and newt is the only one actually playing the game. they also love roblox

- minho and thomas play dress to impress and they get way too invested in it

- newt & sonya braid daisies in each other's hair

- thomas likes having his hair played with

- thomas likes chewing gum, specifically bubble gum because hes actually 8 years old and likes to blow bubbles

- newt looooovessss libraries he'd literally live in one if he could

- minho unironically says "where my hug at" to thomas and newt

- newt is usually the little spoon but he knows thomas likes it too so sometimes he insists on being the big spoon just so thomas is happy

- sun thomas, moon newt, comet minho

- thomas isn't allowed to play fnaf anymore because the last time he did he got jump-scared so hard he threw his phone against the wall so hard it made a hole

- thomas's favourite pony is pinkie pie, newt's is applejack, minho's is rainbow dash

- newt has a fear of heights so thomas and minho always have to beg for him to go to an amusement park with them

- danny gonzalez thomas, drew gooden newt, kurtis conner minho

- minho always quotes random tiktok audios that nobody gets so at one point he just started making up really specific ones that catered to whatever situation they're in and then proceed to gaslight newt and thomas into believing they're real

- dog thomas, cat newt, otter minho

- THOMAS TMNT FAN RAAAHHH

- newtmas' favourite date was an aquarium date. thomas is absolutely captivated by all the fish and newt is so enamoured

- newt would probably like manga (he really enjoyed saiki k, chainsaw man, and sxf)... its his guilty pleasure

- on minho's aforementioned morning runs, he BLASTS pop music thru his headphones. because of this he's literally almost deaf. he always goes "huh" "what?" "say again?" whenever talking to anybody but it especially makes newt so frustrated

- also. minho would love charli xcx SORRY I DONT MAKE THE RULES!!!! he really likes pop music because it gets him pumped up and energized

- when thomas is focused, his speech gets really curt and he kinda shuts the world out because hes so tunnel visioned. as a result people think hes just really rude and a pain to work with

- only newt can work with him effortlessly because they don't need words to communicate. a slight nose scrunch? thomas knows he made a mistake. quirk of the brow? newt nods his head to show his approval. thomas taps his fingers against the table? newt can tell he's frustrated. their relationship can be tacit but understood by one another which is why they work so well with each other

- thomas LOOOOOVES karaoke he literally will not hesitate to belt his heart out

- when thomas blushes, he blushes HARD. he gets really red in the face and gets super embarrassed and newt likes to tease him for it

- when drunk, thomas gets really chatty, newt becomes clingy, and minho turns into a whole nother person he gets SO rowdy and loud and crazy. life of the party kinda guy

and thats all for now hehe !! ^_^ hope these were entertaining enough :p

[flappyhappystim]

Tariff Updates for Shipping to our American Customers

We are waiting for more information, but as of right now, when we send shipments to our American customers, we are sending them where we pay any fees that will come up. This means that you should not have to pay fees on your end. This is what our contact with our shipping company tells us. We would like to get confirmation from some of our customers in a few weeks, but if for some reason this is wrong, please contact us and we will work something out with you.

As things progress, we might have to stop selling certain products across the border. As of May 2nd, we are going to be required to include a manufacturer address on all items, and some suppliers have not gotten back to us. I'm not sure if it's because they're concerned about giving us info about their manufacturer (for competitor reasons - concern that we may be trying to cut them out as the middle man), but if we do not get theses addresses, certain products will no longer be available for American customers.

As of right now, the products we will definitely be able to sell are: any we make ourselves (earrings, marble mazes, bead chews, shaker necklaces), our silicone chews, our spinner rings, our fidget necklaces, our infinity cubes, our fidget cubes, our ark chews, and our mobii line. We still may hear back from others, but if not, it will be by the end of this month certain products are not available for purchase for American customers.

I will keep updating as changes happen, and once things are more solid, will make an update page on our website.

We absolutely adore all our customers, and you have all been such a big part of our success. We are doing our best to make sure our items are still affordable and accessible. Please don't hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.

[tempestvista]

ok I promise I'll stop screaming for two minutes after this but heyyyy. some dream game/frozen soul + forge and the crucible headcanonnnsss... mostly random

I'll eventually do more for other characters later maybe (ilovy, blue john, GVR, WeGottman, Anton (forge), etc..)

Clarence Iron

Fan of margaritas and pineapple flavored stuff. Does not rock with the artificial things, though.

Also has a mild allergy to pineapples (mouth goes slightly numb) but he doesn't care.

Insane spice tolerance too.. would def outlast anyone in a korean noodle competition, even Clovis (hc Clovis has decent spice tolerance).

Doesn't like closing his eyes in the shower. that one Horse image iykyk

Would prefer flip-phones over modern ones

Would get canceled on social media (if he used it) for being right

Loves dogs. specifically Dachshunds and Beagles

Sun-bathes 100%

Floppy disk enthusiast

Has an absolutely WRETCHED computer that is on fucking life support and everyone begs him to get a new one. It sounds like a wind turbine

Great with long-term memory stuff, absolutely shit in the moment however

Openly a fan of stuffed animals

Clovis Bealdhild

CHUFFING A FAT FLAG

On a real note he doesn't smoke often however when he does he really likes to indulge .. will go the extra mile to get nicer ones

^ Passed on this mannerism to Nash (even if she doesn't know it)

Knows how to use chopsticks rlly well

Big fan of Thai and Vietnamese food. On the flip-side he does not fw Greek food

Initially not very great with social cues, had to build up an understanding of them. Partially contributes to strangers viewing him as "stoic" when instead he's just really .#autistic .. Though I will say he's . ok I don't know how to explain this but he's outgoing except in the quiet sense. It's akin to those meme images where it's like "really excited (silent and/or neutral face)

Well-versed in languages, even if he can't speak in some, he's picked up on a variety of things from fixating on historical and linguistic books (also interested in anthropology). I would say if there were things similar in universe or if they existed in FS/DG that he would know Spanish, Latin, Hebrew, and Arabic (English + Meladze is a given).

And as for languages he can understand but can only speak broken parts of / typically won't attempt to speak: French and Portugese.

Likes specific puzzles. Very proficient at sudoku and word searches.

Can solve Rubik's cubes but he doesn't rlly like them all that much

Enjoys those maze balls where you have to maneuver them constantly to get the ball to its destination.

Otherwise he hates mazes and especially loathes being in them. Not because he's bad at navigation per se but I imagine there's just something that makes them displeasing 2 him.. maybe I'm projecting 2 hard

Noden

Would harbor a fugitive for an unspecified time in some circumstances unless it was something egregious. Mostly out of curiosity I think.

Generally desires interaction and holds profound interest/curiosity in spite of his hesitancy, especially since he isn't easy to reach.

Cracks knuckles really loudly. Not even to be obnoxious he just has weird hands

Big jacks and marbles fan.

Jock Stuart

Likes the word "pinnacle."

If there was something that was slightly more religious than agnostic I think he'd be that. Probably fond of absurdism.

Likes the look of ouija boards and pagan religion(s) artifacts, though he won't really dabble in it beyond just.. looking and admiring, I think.

Enjoys seeing people's shrines in their homes, respectful of all religions and similarly to last point likes seeing people's practices and their methods of devotion.

Lets out a very shrill / "girly" scream if u scare him hard enough

Does not fuck with grocery stores. Too bright

On a similar note probably has light sensitivity of some sort and might wear glasses on worser days

Play-fights / The kind of person who would rustle your hair or shove you lightly as a sign of affection/enjoyment

Black coffee enjoyer

Blue raspberry flavor enjoyer

Keeps his phone in the blue-light protection mode + dark mode + 9/10 will have the light percentage at 0

Has GAD

Previously addicted to energy drinks now he's (somewhat) normal and his fix is black coffee

Dry humor

Toa Zuku

This isn't to say his house/residency (if any/assuming) would be dirty but he would probably instinctually clean another person's house just . because. you know like that one friend at a sleepover who just decides to do your dishes at 3 am.

Bibliomaniac

Minstrel Bloxxer

Not a big fan of EDM music or anything hyper-techno. Willing to give it a go but it's not his preferred genre(s).

Of course ghosts exist in FS/DG lore but in the more "our world" sense he'd probably believe in them and would indulge in stereotypical "spooky stories."

Able to admire/understand fashion but he doesn't care to go all out for the most part

Has quite literally no romantic preference/limitation, I think he's comfortable with just about anyone gender wise regarding that. Slightly aromantic though

Has full on conversations in his sleep

Also a hard sleeper and snores loudly LMFAO.. Sleep apnea sufferer

Likes silent films + black and white ones

Amazing posture / Probably has the best spinal alignment and no neck pain compared to everyone else (looking at you Xigeris)

Finds soda to be downright disgusting. Mtn dew (equivalent) especially

^ Not a big fan of overly sweet stuff.. Savory >>

Would call memes "meh mays" (not maymays) probably

Nashatra Bealdhild

Secretly big fan of glittery gel pens. Not a unique thought but I just find it to be fun for her specifically

Probably not a new headcanon here either but has very pronounced eye-bags. Like. Intensely noticeable

Does not like waffles 🙏🙏

Chronic nail biter

Despises Christmas music since it seems to haunt her in particular in excess

Insanely bad at romance/negative charisma that somehow works. Her way of flirting is giving someone (cough: Eunoia) a really cool rock and then trying to awkwardly explain why / just move on as if she didn't. Just bring a rock in.

Has thalassophobia

Piggybacking off the Thalassophobia thing- If it were to be specifically tied to an event and not an oddly specific phobia, I'd say she'd possibly have fallen into a river or gone too far into the ocean and now she's like Urggh… Did not enjoy that lengthy ass boat-ride to get to Lesmosyne ill tell you that much

-Relatively okay with hugs but very bad at reciprocating them / just goes stiff usually

Physical appearance . I'd say she has broad shoulders, sleeper build.

Knows MMA but never finished learning it

Two defaults of hers are an insanely strong hook and violent round-house

^ By hook (unspecified left or right) I am in fact also saying she is ambidextrous- which also contributes to her being able to pull out items quickly + use them fast

EMDR therapy would scare the shit out of her

Leans more into abstract art compared to traditional styles. Eunoia likes her art 4 this

Xigeris

Kenophobia . Specifically just fear of large voids, not spaces (unless it's an abandoned mall or something)

Afa other fears I would say he isn't fond of severe thunderstorms, hurricanes or tornadoes. Not in the regular sense like . intense distress over the mere possibility

Severe acne + slight eczema. someone save this guys skin

Enjoys biology as far as subjects go.

^ Would actually excel in an academic setting if given the proper accommodations

Regularly has nightmares. Wakes up in a cold sweat on occasion

Would enjoy walking in parks and/or hiking . Rocks w/ the idea of picnics

Suffers from IED (disorder)

Enjoys folklore and holiday stuff. Especially the sillier/dumb kind . Whatever the in-universe equivalent of Santa, Leprechauns, Cupid would be.. so on

Fan of peppermint (candy+scent) and eucalyptus

Hesitant on this headcanon but if he had an accent it'd be . Vaguely like a Hungarian one

Restless leg syndrome

Dude would chow down on a black forest cake

[earths-roots-grow-up]

[anonymous-ace72]

Some of my favorite ToA quotes

I was a dramatic god.

 I thought my last statement was a great line. I expected gasps, perhaps some organ music in the background. Maybe the lights would go out just before I could say more. Moments later, I would be found dead with a knife in my back. That would be exciting! Wait. I’m mortal. Murder would kill me. Nevermind.

Hidden Oracle, p.201

--

“If you pull out a brochure, I will make you eat it.”

Hidden Oracle, p. 235

--

VERILY, THOU ART DENSER THAN A COMBAT OSTRICH CUBE. 

Dark Prophecy, 125.

--

What was proper? Commodus intended to live forever. He would drive away the darkness with the roar of the crowds and the glitter of spectacle.

But he generated no light. 

Not like the Waystation. Marcus Aurelius would have approved of this place. Emmie and Josephine lived properly with what time they had left, creating light for everyone who came here. No wonder Commodus hated them. No wonder he was so bent on destroying this threat to his power. 

Dark Prophecy, p.370

--

Leave it to McCaffery to be tactless about love to a child of Aphrodite, while simultaneously starting a fire in front of a satyr.

Burning Maze, p.122

--

I remembered how disgusted Poseidon had been, watching Caligula tootle around the Bay of Baiae, though I think Poseidon was just jealous his palace didn’t have rotating statues.

Burning Maze, p.221

--

I had never been a fan of felines. They were self-centered, smug, and thought they ruled the world. In other words… All right, I’ll say it. I didn’t like the competition.

Tyrant’s Tomb, p.76

--

Nothing is quite so disconcerting as having science explained to you by a supernatural creature.

Tyrants Tomb, p.116

--

I could imagine a younger Meg exploring these tunnels, doing cartwheels in the muck, and growing mushrooms in forgotten locations.

Tower of Nero, p.28

--

NERO IS NOT WORTH A FIG, HE SEES NOT MY BRILLIANCE.

Tower of Nero, p.247

[thewatcher727]

Writing Description Notes: Confused

Updated 30th May 2024 More description notes

The sharp intelligence he usually carried was drowned out by the static of confusion.

John cocked his head to the side, confusion written on his face.

John tilted his head in confusion, his eyes trying to discern the almost-too-serious expression on Jane’s face.

Confusion briefly laced John’s features, though it faded as fast as it came.

A labyrinth of thoughts tangled in his mind, each path leading to a dead end of bewilderment.

Her confusion was a kaleidoscope of mismatched colors, swirling and shifting with each passing moment.

The puzzle pieces of understanding lay scattered before him, but no matter how he tried, they refused to fit together.

His thoughts resembled a tangled ball of yarn, with no clear beginning or end.

Confusion was a thick fog that clouded his senses, leaving him groping blindly for clarity.

It was as if someone had shuffled the cards of his thoughts, leaving him to sort through the jumbled mess.

Her mind felt like a crowded room, with too many voices clamoring for attention, leaving her unable to focus on any one thought.

Like a map with no legend, his thoughts led him in circles, leaving him stranded in a maze of confusion.

Confusion gripped her mind like quicksand, pulling her deeper with each attempt to find solid ground.

It was as if a glitch had occurred in the matrix of his mind, leaving him unable to decipher the scrambled code of his thoughts.

Confusion was a foreign language he couldn't decipher, leaving him stranded in a land of incomprehensible gibberish.

Like a Rubik's cube with no solution, his thoughts remained stubbornly scrambled, defying all attempts at unraveling.

It was as if the wires of his mind had been crossed, sending signals haywire and leaving him lost in a maze of misfiring synapses.

[goldyluna]

You seem the most experienced so what’s your ultimate death game tier list?

Not sure if I would call myself experienced. I always find new things that I haven't heard about before! But here is my current list of death game media (as I don't really want to rate them all) in no particular order! Games: Your Turn To Die Zero escape series Exit/corners No-one has to die Danganronpa (I won't write them all) Slenderman The Final Prize Is Soup Among us Gnosia Fatal Twelve Quantum Suicide Exile Election

Books/novels: Battle Royale by Koushun Takami Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (all parts) Maze Runner by James Dasher (first book the most) The Long Walk by Stephen King Global Examination by Mu Su Li

Manga/manhwa/manhua: Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint Tomadochi Game Doubt by Yoshiki Tonagi Judge by Yoshiki Tonagi Sss class suicide hunter King's Game Your Turn To Die

Graphic novels: Geis/Curse of the Chosen

Movies: Hunger Games (all parts) Maze runner (first part the most) Escape Room (2019) Escape Room: Tournament of Champions (2021) Escape Room (2017) Cube (all parts) Saw (all parts) Circle Truth or Dare (2018) Would You Rather Nerve (2016) Ready or Not The Belko Experiment Kaiji: The Ultimate Gambler The Hunt

Tv shows: Alice in Borderland Squid game

Anime: Danganronpa King's Game Deadman Wonderland Battle in 5 second Darwin's Game Btooom! Tomodachi Game Sword Art Online Talentless Nana Death Parade High Rise Invasion Alice in Borderland Mirai Nikki Kaiji Alien Stage (I will leave it here as I don't know to what category it belongs lol)

I know there is more of... everything. But yeah, that's it for now! If anyone has any recommendation that aren't on the list, please, share with us :3