#Grabiel | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

theorphicangel · 11 months ago

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“𝐚 𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧.”

[ 𝐦𝐢𝐠𝐮𝐞𝐥 𝐨’𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚 𝐱 𝐟𝐞𝐦!𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫 ]

tags: strangers to lovers, roommate au!, best friends brother, fluff, mutual pining, smut, 18+

synopsis: In a desperate search of a new roommate, you have little to no choice but to accept your best friend's / best barista in the world's offer of letting his older brother rent out the room, who just so happens to be conventionally attractive.

You swear nothing will happen between the two of you but one thing eventually leads to another and you find yourself in his bed, leading to an unofficial roommates with benefits situation.

You know deep down it's wrong and you're worried when you start catching feelings...but it's okay because it's only temporary, right?

séries | previous chapter | next chapter

chapter two: two turtle doves (that awkwardly get along)

You were right about not expecting to receive a reply from Gabriel.

You had actually tried to call him a few times, yet it ended up going to voicemail. Your best bet would be that he actually turns up for work today.

On returning back to your apartment last night, you had tried the best you could to remind yourself that you were living in an empty space again. Remembering to not make a meal for two, remembering to switch off the lights, remembering not to turn your head searching for someone to listen to the random thought that had just popped up in your head. It was hard. You couldn’t lie about that.

But with it especially being the holiday season, you can’t help but feel the prickles of loneliness brush up at your skin as you skim through the shows and movies to watch, with all the recommended Christmas romance movies popping up on the home page. Being petty, you turned off the tv and decided to give yourself an early night.

In an attempt to distract yourself, you’ve decided to decorate your apartment this upcoming weekend for Christmas. Due to MJ’s moving you would’ve had it done all up last week, but instead you were focused on helping her pack during her last few days at the apartment.

Checking the time, it’s currently 8:15am and you’re on your way to O’Hara’s. As you stroll down the busy streets of New York city, you can’t help but cross your fingers and pray to the gods above that Gabriel is in for his shift today. You don’t think you could really stand another cup of terrible coffee, no matter how compassionate you’re feeling.

Stepping into O’hara’s, the familiar ding of the bell above the door announces your arrival. Once again, it’s a small queue and you can’t help but notice the familiar cheery tone of the barista which most certainly contrasts the rough, bored voice which you had heard yesterday.

A wave of relief fills your body as you move to the front of the queue, a smile spreading across your lips.

“Buenos días.” Gabriel greets with a smile, “Did ya’ miss me yesterday?”

“Pftttttt of course not.” you murmur. “It’s not like I’d much rather the new barista yesterday who had made the world’s worst cup of coffee word to man– I don’t even know if I can call that a coffee.” you grunt, pulling a disgusted face.

Gabriel lets out a loud laugh as he taps in your regular into the till without even asking you. “You must be talking about my brother, Miguel, m’sorry about that, he was called in as an emergency. We’re low on staff.”

Your face drops at Gabriel’s words. “Your brother?! Oh shit m’sorry—”

Gabriel waves his hand at you, stopping you mid sentence. “Don’t be, we all know he’s shit. Mama couldn’t find a replacement at the last minute so she was desperate.”

“And it was an emergency?” you repeat, crossing your arms as you look him up and down.

“It’s not my fault that I got forcefully dragged to a bar against my own free will!” He exclaims. “It was bottomless Wednesday!”

You hum in response not really believing him. “So that was really your brother then?” Grabiel nods.

At the sounds of footsteps behind him, Gabriel turns his head and then quickly turns back.

“Oh, speaking of the diablo.” He mutters before calling out to his brother. “Oi Miggy, no vas a creer lo que esta chica dijo de ti." [you won’t believe what this girl said about you]

“¿Qué?”

“That you’re shit at making coffee.”

“If you’re gonna continue complaining about me then I’m not coming in to help you next time, Gabi.”

“I’ll tell mama.”

“Uh–huh.” Miguel hums in an unbelieving tone.

Now that you had Miguel standing next to his brother, you could really see their similarities and you almost wanted to kick yourself for not spotting it beforehand. They were almost the spitting image of each other, though Gabi was a little shorter and Miguel seemed to be like a total gym rat in comparison.

Miguel now looks at you, deadpanned as he was the previous day. “I’m sorry about the coffee yesterday—”

“Oh no worries, it was fine.” you lied.

“I mean, it would’ve been better if someone had actually taught me how to use the machines.” Miguel says.

“It’s common sense in my opinion.” Gabi replies hastily.

“Good thing no one asked you for your opinion.”

“Ay, callate.”

“Whatever.” Miguel trails off to the backrooms, tired of the conversation, muttering the excuse that more oat milk is needed.

“Ignore him. He’s a dick but you’ll get used to it once you’re around him more.”

“Is he working here permanently?” you ask, curious about the mysterious older brother, “You never spoke much about him, Gabi.”

“Yeah, well he wasn’t around a lot. He was at university doing his post-graduate degree at Stanford Uni–”

“Stanford?” you practically shout out the word, a few heads turn in the cafe to look at you.

“Hey, keep your voice down.” Gabi warns. “But yeah, yeah, studying genetics or whatever he’s obsessed with at the moment. He’s moved back in with us…in fact that’s what I wanted to tell you—”

“Hold on, hold on, you can’t just move away from the fact that your brother just graduated from one of the most prestigious universities in the country.”

“He got a funding grant–”

“A funding gran–”

“Shhhh!”

You mouth the words, “fucking hell.” to yourself.

“Yep, he’s truly raising the standard for the family.” Gabriel awkwardly chuckles. “It’s weird having him around after being gone for so long but…” Gabriel looks back through the door to the backroom, there’s a sound of things falling and spanish curses which echo from the storage room. “I’m glad he’s back and so is mama, even if she doesn’t want to admit it.”

You hum along, your expression becoming soft. “Just make sure you teach him how to make good coffee now.” Gabriel chuckles loudly at your comment.

You turn your head and scan the cafe. Your eyes widen. Today, it seems will be a good day as your favorite spot in the corner is available today. Making your way over Gabriel doesn’t take long to come over with your drink.

“Anyways chica, I saw your missed calls and—”

“Oh, did you?” You say aloud sarcastically, playfully swatting him on the arm, “And you didn’t think to be bothered to reply to me? After three years of my loyal friendship this is how you repay me?”

“Okay, one: ow!” He pointed a finger at you. “And two: it wasn’t like that. It was bottomless Wednesday and don’t reprimand me because I’ve already had that from my mother and my brother.”

“Serves you right.” you snort.

“As I was saying, if you’d ever let me speak.” he says, still wincing. “I have good news and bad news regarding your roommate situation.”

“Oh…”

“So, what do you want first, the good news or the bad?” Gabriel offers.

You take a sip of your coffee first as you debate.

“The good news first please.”

“I found you a roommate.”

“Really?!” you exclaimed, your face lighting up with excitement. “Are you fucking serious?!”

“As serious as I can be.” Gabriel wincing again as you hit his arm. “You really have to stop doing that to me.”

“Maybe I can forgive you for ignoring me yesterday.“ you mutter to yourself, a smile now tugging at your lips. “So what’s the bad news?” You’d think that after hearing that good news you can barely think how you would even be affected by the bad news now.

Gabriel points back to the counter, where Miguel stands serving another customer. His face is currently in a state of pure confusion, as his fingers aggressively tap at the till.

“That’s your new roommate.”

Your face dropped as Gabriel’s words sunk in.

“Are you–”

“Serious? Yes, yes I am.” He exhales. “But look, he really needs someone to cheer him up.” You raise a brow at his sentence.

“Listen, but you didn’t hear this from me so this stays between us, okay?” Gabriel held out his pinky finger in front of you.

“Okay.” your promise, not hesitating to join your own pinky finger with his. Gabriel twists a little, as if to seal the promise for definite.

“He wasn’t really meant to come back at all, not even for the Christmas period. It was just random. His roommate back in California moved out and he had no choice but to move back with us because the rent is so skyhigh over there— but anyways, his girlfriend also broke up with him and he never really said why but I just think she can’t be bothered going long distance. Buttttt to be honest who would? Miggy is so boring over text, like I don’t even think he can understand the meaning of emojis–”

“Wait, so he needs a place to stay?” You interrupt, your brain trying to process all this information.

Gabriel nods, “And for someone to cheer him up!” he adds. “Pleaseeeeee, you’d be doing a really big favor for me, it’s so awkward between him and my mom, they’ve barely spoken since he’s moved back in. In fact since he left for uni I’m not even sure that they spoke at all. But please get this tension away from me.”

“What makes you think that I’ll be able to cheer him up?”

Just from looking at him you could already tell that he's a grinch. Totally miserable. A total opposite to what you had with MJ.

“Because you’re you andddd it’s only temporary. That’s another piece of good news actually. By New Year's he’ll probably find a place of his own.”

You wince as you repeat the word. “Temporary.” Another roommate who’s ready to leave before even signing the lease.

“I know that he’s not the ideal roommate but it’s just something for now whilst you look for someone a little bit more permanent.”

You hum at him in agreement. It does take the stress of your back for now….what’s the worst that could happen?

“Por favor, ¿para mí, mi dulce mujer?” Gabriel pulls the one trick move that you can’t resist.

[please, for me, my sweet woman]

The puppy dog eyes.

You let out a sigh as he stares at you, curling his bottom lip which makes you roll your eyes even more.

“Don’t make me regret this.”

“Do you want help with that?”

You wince at Miguel carrying four large boxes in one hand. You can’t see his face, his large veiny hands gripping the bottom stack of the boxes.

“No, gracias.” he mumbles, managing to lug them all to his room without a struggle. You knew he was a…big guy, but you still felt uncomfortable at his refusal for your help. Miguel left you no choice but to stand in the corner awkwardly as you watched him make multiple journeys to and fro the apartment.

It had all happened so quickly. Once you had agreed to let him move in, Miguel agreed to sign the contract the next day, albeit it was only for one month. At least that gives you more time to look for a future tenant for next year.

Once he was all moved in, you both awkwardly waited for one another to speak. Thankfully, he began first.

“I guess I’ll go…tidy up my stuff.”

You nod apprehensively. “Right. Uhhh, dinner's at six if you want it.” Miguel nods along too, not adding anything more to the conversation and disappearing into his room.

At six, he didn’t emerge. You knocked on his door as a reminder and a muffled voice replied indicating that he was busy.

You know you shouldn’t take it personally, but it was hard to ignore the feeling of loneliness that surrounded you despite having a new roommate. You let out a deep exhale as you ate at the kitchen table alone.

This was going to be one long Christmas.

taglist: lmk if you would like to be tagged!

@nakimushiohime @keidilla

#a temporary situation.#angel writes #miguel o hara x reader #miguel o'hara x reader #miguel x reader fluff #miguel x reader #atsv headcanons #astv miguel #atsv x reader #spiderman atsv #spider man: across the spider verse #miguel spiderverse #miguel ohara

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mrxadreamin · 5 months ago

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GACHA MECHANICS: Nu:carnival vs What in "Hell" is Bad?(Part 1)

When it comes to characters that we love and adore, we want nothing more than to be able to obtain them. No matter what it is, whether it be their designated/signature weapon, their skin, or even the character themselves, we try to obtain through means necessary. For most gacha games, we either "roll" or "pull" for them for a certain amount of times until they "come home." Now for most players, they need to save up their currencies to a certain amount because half the time they come home by a lucky or by pity. Now although it takes most of players effort to save, what if the game itself helps their players save enough to pull for who or what they want in a pull and how does accommodating them help boost sales and consumption? Well, the best prime example here is Nu:Carnival? How did their mechanics allow them to thrive and how were they able to build both community and financial status?

NOTE: some parts of this essay is just an overview of how the currencies/pulling/banners work so feel free to skim to the thesis of each paragraph. Thank you and please enjoy reading!

Spirit Gems/Contracts vs. Greater/Lesser Keys/Solomon Seals

Like any gacha game, we have dailies, we complete the dailies, we get rewards. As someone who has played Nu:Carnival since their release(or rather a few months after and got back into it since), I can easily say that earning gems in that game has never been more easy. As long as the player does at least five tasks(leveling characters, fighting for coins or leveling potions, etc.) they earn 100 gems. At times, we also earn contracts, but since contracts are a little more hard to come by(they are earned through either daily logins, rewards, or through ecoins) so to help players, they are given spirit gems. About a year ago, we are able to buy 10 contract once a month on a discount using spirit gems and convert them into a contract bundle(10 in 1).

In WHB, we have Great and Lesser Keys of Solomon which are either earned through achievements, login, or likeability. They can also be bought at the shop, to which costs about less than 198 about 50 and for lesser keys cost about 1980 for 30. Solomon seals are a little more harder to come by because they're either earn through achievements. Luckily, we are now given the option to earn them through the dark sanctuary by defeating the three seraphim(Grabiel, Michael, and Raphael). Unfortunately, we usually earn about two or three in the more difficult stages, so it's the more common solution to fight the bosses daily.

In terms of banners, when it comes to Nu:carnival, it's 1 contract bundle = 10 pull first then if the player runs out, they pull with spirit gems which is 6,000 = 10 pull. For WHB, there are at least four banner types: Greater Keys Banner, Lesser Keys Banner, Solomon seals and Nightmare Pass(will get to Nightmare pass a little later...). The Greater Key Banner is designated for devils/artifacts ranked under A, A+, B, and/or S while Lesser Key Banners are for devils ranked under A+, B, S, and L. For lesser keys banner the ticket is usually 50 keys = 10 pull and for greater keys, it's 30 keys = 10 pull. Solomon Seals banner, the ticket is usually 500 seals = 10 pull(half is 250, but again correct me if I'm wrong;;) and this banner is dedicate to L ranked characters that player can pull exclusively before they are moved to the lesser key banner, where they can pull for an L ranked character, BUT it's 50/50 that they will pull for a character that they did not intend to. Now, you're probably thinking: "Mira? What is the point of this extra information" well here it is: accumulation.

As previously stated, we have to save up to pull for character we want. In Nu:carnival, players can save up to 10 contract bundles and/or 60,000 gems which for 200 pulls and that's already pity(sometimes 300) and again, gems are easier to earn through dailies, reward, shop, etc. Whereas in WHB we would have only one lesser/greater key earned through rewards, or logins. Luckily, we can also get them through the pancake house(however, seeing the update maybe a tad more difficult..). In one month, player can earn up to 3,100 gems in Nu:carnival, and yet in WHB we can earn at least 100 or 150 greater keys through likeability and keep in mind, about 50 greater keys = 10 pull, and 30 lesser keys = 10 pull. 220 x 50 = 11,000 keys for greater keys pity, and 150 x 30 = 4,500 for lesser keys pity.

ACCUMULATING in Nu:carnival is more friendly towards F2P than WHB is due to their rewards and even if plays need to spend money, they don't need to spend so much on ecoins due to existing amount that they already have, sohitting pity won't necessarily be a problem for them because they can get them back through time. Although the pity in Nu:carnival is a harsh, they way the games allows for players to gain more spirit gems is compensation in itself. For WHB, they are, again more gracious with their pull so players can pull for a much as they want, but once those keys are gone, it will take more time and effort to regain all those keys and as a result they sometimes to have to spend pocket money to gain more keys through guilty gems(how does that work? I'll mention that in a little bit). On the other hand, there are other ways to regain them!

Sorcery Gems vs. Guilty Gems/Nightmare Pass

HOO BOY, here comes the part nobody likes, but let's slow it down first. In Nu:carnival, we have sorcery gems to which players can buy through ecoins or earn though rewards. Although the for each sorcery gem, players can convert them into spirit gems. One sorcery gem = 200 spirit gems. This also helps in accumulating because 10 sorcery gems is already 2,000 and players can chose to spend between $15-$100 for sorcery gems.

Now for WHB we have guilty gems to which are the rewards that easier to gain through achievements and through the shop as well. To go more in depth, we have blue guilty gems to which plays can buy with ecoins and later convert them into red guilty gems. Players, once again, can buy Lesser or Greater Keys of Solomon using red guilty gems and through the pancake shop.

In addition, we have the evidently least favorite child of the bunch: Nightmare pass. Essentially, they are currencies used to unlock rewards in the Nightmare Pass Banner and can be earned through purchasing at the shop or through the Dark Sanctuary(more specifically the holy coin portal).

Now here's the kicker, the nightmare pass comes into two tiers: the freebie, the advance, and superior which is usually between $40 and above. usually the advances about $20 which plays can pay to unlock small rewards, while the superior ranges between $40-$60. The problem lies more with HANDLING the nightmare pass. In past events, we have As we all know the news, the newest Bath!Beelzebub is to be earned through nightmare pass.

Sooooo, what's got everyone in a riot? Well for one: Beelzebub, our beloved king of Abyssos is now behind a paywall specifically a paywall of $48(you have to buy both advance AND superior to unlock all rewards to get Beel).

When it comes to general gachas characters, they are earned through pull ticktes, but this case, we have the nightmare pass, to which we would have to buy directly. Here's a chart of how much ecoin bundle would cost

In this case, we would have to spend about $53.94 to get the full 2,834 ecoins that alone is for the Nighmare Pass.

Even accumulating nightmare coins takes a lot of time in comparison to getting spirit gems in Nu:carnival, even then we would get around 50 to 100, while we earn about 1 or 3 nightmare coins anytime we fight in Dark Sanctuary.

That alone has already gotten everyone to throw the boat over because this is the second time, rather fourth time that PB has put an L raking character behind a paywall, the first the angels, then Juno/Ppyong, then Lucifer, and now Beelzebub...

Now what does Sorcery Gems have to do with Nightmare Passes? Simple, and I will reiterate again: accumulation and oh yeah, saving. As we all know, Both WHB and Nu:canrival are porn games, so the main demographic are adults ages 18 and up. Meaning, said adults are working, and in the states, paychecks are bi-weekly, SO imagine buying 20 sorcery gems for $17.62 + $7.20? That's about $24.00 every paycheck. Due to that fact, players can save up to how many gems that want per paycheck for future reruns in Nu:carnival. I mean, it's alot to spend $100 all at once, but the sorcery packs are there forever whereas nightmare passes are only open when there's a nightmare pass banner.

Not to mention the one thing that sorcery gems and (red)guilty gems have in common is that they can be converted into gacha currency (sorcery gem = spirit gems, guilty gem = lesser/greater keys of solomon). The only difference is that guilty gems can be converted into two types of keys, and it's more likely that we can convert guilty gems to greater keys since lesser keys cost about 3 for 198 and 1,980 for 30(which is equivalent to a 10 pull)

What fueled the fire even more is that PB has removed the original pancake house, which allowed for players to convert their tealeaves to pancakes and then use said pancakes to get lesser keys TO WHICH is the daily limit is 30. So imagine having to pull only 30 a day in comparison to earning 100 spirit gems every day? Pretty hard, but the rate for WHB isn't as high as Nu:carnival. Point is, it was the only way that players can get gacha tickets WITHOUT having to spend money, which makes it easier for F2P, but now that it no longer esists, or is bound to be removed completely, players would have to resort to buying guilty gems, to which the most players can get is $35.25 for 392 blue guilty gems + a bonus of 67 gems...how generous...

Part 2: The Electric Bugaloo!

#what in hell is bad #whb #what in “hell” is bad?

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