#I am one of those players who goes around the camp circle talking to every single companion after anything even mildly important happens

[scribblingface]

I went into bg3 fully ready to have a good time and have done so despite many ways in which the game is not good and have not worried too much over various dramas about patch changes but my chill streak has finally ended and I am wailing gnashing my teeth etc. about patch 7 (the supposedly final one with story/content changes) not adding companion reactivity for any of the durge content in act 2

[honeypirate]

He’s my soulmate

Kuroo x f!Reader soulmate AU

There is no importance with Jeopardy, it’s just something that popped in my head so I went with it. 

You can communicate telepathically with your soulmate, sending thoughts and feelings to them. it’s a skill that develops through time after you hit 17.  it takes a few months for the connection to grow so for the first little while not a lot comes through. So far you have similar songs getting stuck in your head and thoughts will come through quietly. You tried once to send specific messages but you never had any responses to them so you tried to just go about your day, excited with any thought or songs that come through.

(Touch is what strengthens the connection)

♡´･ᴗ･`♡♡´･ᴗ･`♡♡´･ᴗ･`♡♡´･ᴗ･`♡♡´･ᴗ･`♡♡´･ᴗ･`♡

“God y/n I don’t know why you like to watch Jeopardy so much” your best friend, Michimiya, says from her spot in your bed, textbooks surrounding her and notes spread out, across from your matching space that has a small circle where you were sitting. You had gotten up to stretch your legs from sitting so long studying, Jeopardy reruns running on your tv in the corner, “I feel like watching it makes me smarter and I need all the help I can get” you say with a laugh and she rolls her eyes. “You’re doing a lot better. I almost don’t worry about you” she says with a sigh and you laugh more.

The signature Jeopardy song that plays during the final round starts and you can’t help but do one of the tiktok dances that you were trying to learn, usually set to that love shack mix but now set to this slower pace, you hit all the correct moves after days of practice and when the segment ends on the tv you bust into giggles with Michimiya, falling to your knees by the bed and wiping the tears from your eyes from laughing so hard at your stupidity. “Your crackhead energy is why we’re friends” she says as she catches her breath, holding her stomach. 

His game was flawless, his receives were perfect, but his team couldn’t help but be so damn annoyed with him. “Oh my GOD if YOU DON'T stop humming that damn song I’m gonna PUNCH YOU”  Yamamoto shouts from across the gym “calm down” Kenma says and Yamamoto turns back to him “HE'S BEEN HUMMING THE JEOPARDY SONG FOR DAYS NOW! I CAN'T TAKE IT.“

“Take a lap Yamamoto and relax!” Kuroo says with a laugh as he bounces a volleyball on his forearms “and I’ll stop humming the song… for now” he laughs again as Yamamoto groans but nonetheless follows orders

You were handed your exams but you’re too afraid to look, if you fail this one you’ll have to stay here and won't be able to help with the training camp. You shove it in your notebook, you couldn’t bring yourself to look at the score. you’ll just wait, you’ll ask someone else to look first. Once your class ends you hurry out to the gym as fast as you could, hopping the last few steps of the stairs and holding your backpack down as you run. 

“Y/N! Did you pass?!” Tanaka shouts as you run through the door, leaving your street shoes by the door you run over to him, your feet sliding across the wood floor in your tights, “Tanaka please, I haven’t looked, you gotta tell me” you say in a rush, holding out your notebook. He laughs and takes your notebook from your hands, his eyebrows furrow as he opens it, looking over your test inside the flap, he sighs “oh I’m so sorry Y/n..” your heart drops “..no” you say and he starts to giggle “i’m so sorry that you’ll have to deal with us for two days at camp!! YOU PASSED!” you gasp and then laugh, punching his shoulder “Tanaka you ass!” you take your notebook back and look at the score, pride filling your heart, you did it. You feel amazing. “Kiyoko! Yachi! Our girl’s coming to camp with us!” Tanaka says with tears in his eyes walking toward Kiyoko with his arms out for a hug, Kiyoko walks under Tanaka’s arm, ignoring him and walking over to you “we knew you’d do it” she says with a smile patting your arm, Tanaka getting comforted by Noya in the background.

That night as you packed your bags you closed your eyes, thinking hard about your soulmate. “I don't know if you can hear me, but I passed my exams. I am so happy and I hope you are having a good day as well” 

Kuroo stopped in the middle of his sentence, his phone call with Kenma forgotten about for the time being, as your voice drifted into his thoughts, it’s been a week since he last heard anything from you other than Jeopardy or vines you have on repeat in your head. He hasn’t even seen the vine that goes ‘a potato flew around my room’ but he knew that song was stuck in your head for four days. Your voice fades from his mind and he registers Kenma saying his name repeatedly in his ear “sorry what was i saying?” Kenma sighs “we’re talking about camp tomorrow” 

“So this is Nekoma High” you say as you exit the bus with the team, two players standing waiting for you as you arrive, one tall, handsome, albeit cocky looking, with dark hair that reminded you of a rooster, the other gave you the impression he was like Tanaka, who was currently was pointing out a nearby tower with Noya and getting excited thinking it was Tokyo tower. “Woah is that?” Noya exclaims “i think it is!!” Tanaka answers him, when they spoke at the same time “the sky tree!” they were so excited you knew right then and there they shared the same one singular brain cell. 

 “those poor idiots” you think to yourself as you look at them. “No that's just a regular old steel tower” says one of the boys, you turn your head seeing the tall one holding his stomach in laughter.

You make your way around to stand by the other girls to see if they knew who these two were ``hey who is the tall one?” you whisper at Kiyoko she leans in close to your ear and whispers “Kuroo. Their captain. The other being Yamamoto ” you look over at him “Kuroo…He is really cute” you think with a smirk and then blush as he makes eye contact with you, his eyebrows raised as he first sees you, almost like he heard you say his name. 

Really cute…” the last bit of your thought echoes quietly in his mind in a voice he is semi familiar with, from your voice singing songs in his head, your laugh that comes through sometimes. Of course he didn’t know it was you yet, he looks up and notices you staring at him, “who is she?” he thinks to himself, barely catching Yamamoto talking about how jealous he was that Karasuno has three girls! One sexy, one cute, and one beautiful. “Take a look, Tiger Head. behold the glory of going to Karasuno high!” Tanaka says jumping in front of you and the girls.  You were so beautiful, he would be blind to think otherwise, but he quickly pushes the thought away, focusing on the rivalry and not the pull he feels to go to you, continuing his conversation with Daichi. “Lets go” Kiyoko says and you all just ignore Tanka and the Tiger head, walking around them and going on ahead.

After getting settled in the room you were sharing with Kiyoko and Yachi, you three made your way back to the gym, your thoughts stayed fixed on the captain. You maintain the water bottles and chat with the other managers as your team warms up. 

Your body was acutely aware of where Kuroo was at all times. You could look up to where he was at any given moment, like a small vibration is your body pulling you in his direction, you tried your hardest to push that feeling away. You had a soulmate, you knew his inner voice and got some of his thoughts from time to time. He loved alternative music and hated this one commercial that comes on the radio for cat food. The jingle getting stuck in his head always came with a feeling of annoyance every time it came into your head. just because the connection wasn’t strong yet didn’t mean you could like someone else! 

You felt semi guilty about feeling this way, feeling like you would like nothing more than to talk to someone who isn’t your soulmate. You tried to forget about it. To just get through this camp.

 You watch as your boys do their penalty lap, you zone out, the Jeopardy theme song going through your head and you chuckle to yourself at how dumb it is. “I swear to GOD Kuroo if you don't STOP with the Jeopardy song already I’m going to quit volleyball and I mean this” your eyes flash over to where the Nekoma team is playing, your eyes immediately landing on Kuroo who is laughing at Yamamoto. “Wait,” you think to yourself,  His eyes flash to you and he cocks his head at you with a smile. You mouthed the word “Jeopardy?” and raised your eyebrows in a questioning manner. 

His cheeks flush, your questioning eyes on him made him feel slightly embarrassed for some reason, he just scratches the back of his neck and shrugs with a smile at you. You smile and shake your head slightly, it couldn’t be him, it’s just a coincidence.. it had to be. You break eye contact with him when Kiyoko gets your attention, needing help with something. He watches as you follow Kiyoko out of the gym, smiling back at you when you turn back to look at him with a smile before you exit the gym.

 He stays looking at the door, a smile on his lips, until Yamamoto hits him in the side of the head with a volleyball “you’re being creepy” Yamamoto says and Kuroo scowls “ I am not being creepy! I’m just being nice” “yeah whatever” Kenma says, not really caring about whatever was happening “just toss the ball” 

You cheer for your boys while keeping an eye out on the rest of the teams you could see, making little notes in your notebook about moves you see that your team could implement and do better. Writing down things you wanted to talk with Kiyoko about later. Your notes were very organized and split into sections on your paper. You rejoiced in your heart when Kageyama and Hinata made it on time for the last game, cheering outwardly when they won. “Nice one guys!” you yell and begin to discuss plays with Kiyoko. 

When your voice rang through the gym his body erupted in goosebumps.  What a weird reaction he thinks, he shakes his head and gets back to his own team. 

You stay behind for a few moments, watching the Nekoma game, watching Kuroo especially. You couldn't drag your eyes from him, he was beautiful and he played beautiful, if anyone noticed, and by god Kiyoko and Kenma both had, you had stars in your eyes for that captain. 

“Y/n let's go” Kiyoko says and you nod “of course” you respond and follow her and the rest of the team out of the gym, Kuroo catches the sight of you disappearing out the door, frowning at the reaction he had in his chest, a longing he didn’t understand. 

You ended up getting to shower later at night, you got distracted talking to some of the other managers and when you went back to your room you found the other girls already back from the showers ``sorry guys, i’ll be quick and come in quiet if you go to sleep” “don’t worry about it y/n. I'm sure Saeko will be back late since she went out.” Kiyoko says and you nod with a bow before hurrying out of the room and down the hall to the women's locker room. 

Okay, running down the hallway in the dark was probably a bad idea, but in your defense you assumed everyone was in bed already. You did not expect to jog face first into someone.

 Your face hits someone's chest, you know it is a man because of how he smells. Like clean clothes and mint. You hit your butt with an “oof” quickly picking your clothes up from the ground and shouting “I'm sorry!” the man chuckles and crouches down, picking up your shirt handing it to you, “hey don’t worry about it” his voice is soft, sending tingles down your spine and you look up into his face “Kuroo!” you say in shock and he chuckles some more, taking your hand and helping you up. Now that your eyes have adjusted to the dark hallway you can see him now, wet hair slicked back and a towel around his neck, a small nervous smile on his face lit up from the outside light through the window, “I don’t think we've met yet but yes, I am Tetsuro Kuroo” he holds out his hand to you. 

Your belly fills with butterflies when you take his hand, giving it a firm shake, “Y/f/n Y/l/n. It's nice to meet you” you smile up at him and his chest tightens, you are so beautiful he hardly knows what to say. “Are you okay?” his voice was soft, nervous, he tries to hide it by clearing his throat “yeah i'm okay. How's your chest?” you feel bad for hitting him so hard and before you realize what you’re doing your hand is already on his chest, softly smoothing down his shirt and feeling his muscles through the thin fabric. He chuckles softly and your hand stops above his heart and you feel your cheeks flush with heat at your actions ``my chest is fine. Don’t worry about me.” you hesitantly look back up into his eyes “uh.. Sorry” you say quietly and go to drop your hand but he places his over yours quickly “it’s okay” his lips never moved, his mouth in a small smile as he looks down at you, you didn’t notice that his voice came into your thoughts. 

You stayed like that, standing in the dark, smiling at each other with your hands together on his chest. You could feel his heartbeat strong under your palm, your heart racing as hard as his, you felt like the world stopped for you two. 

The sound of footsteps pulled you both from your bubble, you dropped your hand and you both chuckled softly, when Kenma appeared in the dark you took it as the perfect moment to slip away, quietly running down in the opposite direction to shower and pretend like that moment never happened. 

The next morning you were watching the team warm up, “How do you think we will do with their new player, Lev?” Kiyoko asks you and Yachi as you sit on the sidelines together, “I don’t know, Hinata’s quick attack works great but I feel like it’s nearing the end, these teams are getting better at combating it since Hinata doesn't aim at all with his eyes closed and Lev is t a l l”  you watch them warm up with your hand on your chin, chewing your lip. “their attack is really amazing though” Yachi says, sending heart eyes towards Hinata. You chuckle at the sweet girl’s obvious crush.

At first he thinks the laugh is in his head, a familiar sound he has heard many times. He’s almost convinced it’s in his head but then his gaze is drawn to your sweet smile as you laughed at the girl beside you. “Her laughter is so sweet” Yamamoto says with a sigh a smile, Kuroo slaps the back of his head “focus on the game” he just got mad at him for paying attention to you but he can't seem to stop looking at you himself. It’s just a coincidence your laughs are similar.

“y/n it seems Kuroo can’t stop looking at you” Kiyoko says and you chuckle again, your face flushing as you remember the night prior, you try to inconspicuously look at him but fail when you make eye contact with him. You raise your hand in a small wave and he blushes with a chuckle before he raises his hand, waving with his fingers. The butterflies in your chest will remain for the rest of the day. 

You look at your notes, a thought coming through so easily, stronger than before, “She's so beautiful. But I don't want to think about that. I have my soulmate, she’s here, in my thoughts. why can’t I get this girl out of my mind though? Just focus on the game” your body floods with tingles. That was the clearest thought you’ve ever got. “if I can hear you can you hear me?” you think back, not noticing Kuroo across the gym practice serving the ball and missing it at thelast second, the same second your voice entered his head. 

“You’re here?” His voice enters your head, its so strong instead of it seeming far away or weak like usual. Kuroo’s laugh fills the gym followed by remarks from several members of his team but all of that seemed so far away compared to your soulmate connection. “How did the connection suddenly become so strong?” you think back and immediately get a response “I don't know but I am not complaining”  his excited laughter and joy fills your thoughts, and you feel his energy flood into you as well “me either” you say back and then the volleyball game begins “talk more later?” you ask him in your thoughts and he sends back “definitely”  why did his voice sound so familiar? 

The game ends, Karasuno taking another penalty lap as you go to refill water bottles. “You still there?” his voice makes you smile “of course” you send back “Now that the connection is open I don't know what to say” his chuckle in your mind makes you feel deja vu, where had you heard it before. “Should we tell each other our names?” you ask and put the filled bottles back in the holder,  walking back to the bench with a smile on your face.  “Yeah that makes sense, my name is Tetsuro” you freeze, your eyes flicking over towards Kuroo who was talking to Kenma about something, his cheeks were flushed but that could have been from the game. Is that why his voice in your head sounds familiar now? Is that why you feel so drawn to him?

Your thought was gentle back to him “Tetsuro...Kuroo?” you watch him, watch the shock that went through his expression, heard him laugh nervously as his voice came into your head “do you know me?” it sounded nervous, you watched him with a smile, “i know of you. Mr. Captain of Nekoma’s volleyball team, tall, incredibly handsome, has rooster hair.” you watch his expression, his smile on his lips, his blushing cheeks, he was gorgeous, now that you knew who he was it made sense why you connected with him from the start. “Are you going to tell me who you are?” you look away from  him when you see him turn towards you “I will. After your camp is over. Don’t want to mess you up or anything” 

You glance back at Kuroo who is about to start another game and you find him looking right at you, Kiyoko did tell you that he is a highly observant person.  He raises his eyebrows and you hear his voice in your head “and do you happen to be at this camp too?” he asks and you can’t help but grin at him, you felt like you couldn’t hide anything from him, your previous plan of teasing him is now out the window as you bury your face in your hands, your cheeks feeling warm against your fingers, a smile on your lips. “Focus on your game Tetsu” you say back to him “you are so unbelievably adorable” you look back up at him through your fingertips and he laughs out loud before waving at you. You drop your hands and smile shyly, waving back at him. “What will you give me when we win this game? A kiss?” you scoff “you’ll have to win to see” he laughs and winks at you before turning his attention back to his practice game. “Are you paying attention?” Kiyoko says and you turn back to your game “sorry! I am now!” 

The moment his game ends you can feel his eyes on you, after everyone’s had some water “would you mind..” his voice comes through softly, you can feel how excited he is, how antsy he is, your feelings mirrored back at you “where?” you glance over at him, standing next to the wall with his teammates cooling down, he pushes off the wall, saying something to his team before he is headed in your direction, never taking his eye off you “meet me in the hallway” you nod and then turn to Kiyoko “excuse me for a second” she nods and you stand, walking out to the hallway, Kuroo right behind you. 

The moment you’re alone he takes your hand and pulls you to his chest, taking a deep breath with his face buried in your hair “hey” you say softly into his chest, your hands wrapping around his middle and holding him close despite how sweaty he was, his sweat actually smelled... nice? You couldn't explain it. It just felt right. “My girl” he says and pulls back just enough to look into your eyes “so what is my prize for winning the game?” he asks and you laugh “am I not enough” he laughs with you “you are a thousand times more than enough and probably too good for me too. But I can't lie, I’m dying to kiss you” your cheeks flush “then do it” you whisper and move your hands to his neck, standing on your tiptoes to get closer to him. His hands move to cup your cheeks and he blushes as he leans down slow, closing the distance between you both. 

“Is she tongue kissing the enemy?!” Tanaka shouts behind you, causing you and Kuroo to separate quickly, looking over at your team who just came out into the hallway. You blush and go to explain but before you do Daichi is herding the team the other direction. “Mind your business Tanaka. y/n we are leaving in ten minutes” you laugh embarrassedly “okay i'll be there in a minute”

Kuroo takes your hand and pulls you into an empty room “I don't want you to go” he says with a laugh and you  nod, wrapping your arms around his neck “me either” you whisper and look into his eyes as you close the distance, pressing your body against his and he holds you tight to his chest, a blush rising on his neck and cheeks as his eyes flick down to your lips for a moment “but I’m sure we will figure it out, plus i’ll be back with the team for the summer camp as well” he nods “you’re right” his voice, you realized, was in your head again, your eyes flutter closed as his lips finally connect to yours, you can feel him smile against you and your body feels electric as tingles run from your head to your toes, you felt as though you were weightless. A soft sigh exiting your lips has him licking your top lip, taking your chuckle as a good sign to rub his tongue gently against yours, you moan quietly and his heart races, his stomach knotted with butterflies and electric sparks running down his spine. 

You bite his bottom lip and pull back a little before kissing his chin and the pepper kisses down across his jaw, pulling yourself tight against him as you kiss his neck “I have to go, they might leave me” you whisper and he groans, half in protest against you leaving half because you started to suck a small part of his skin on the side of his neck. 

When you were satisfied with your handiwork you pulled back, kissing the hickey softly before finally pulling away from him “something to remember me by” you say with a cheeky grin and turn to go, he laughs and grabs your hand, pulling you back to him to give you one last kiss. “Be safe, send me” he taps your temple “your phone number, tell me when you get home” you nod and smile, your heart bursting at the seams with happiness “I will Tetsu. Don’t worry” you kiss his lips once more, looking into his eyes for a few seconds, before forcing yourself to open the door and run down the hallway towards the exit and the bus that is taking you back to Karasuno. 

The whole team looks at you with raised eyebrows and silence as you walk on the bus, running your hand through your hair, panting from running all the way there, “what?” you say with a laugh, your cheeks flushing with slight embarrassment as you make your way to an open seat seat by Yachi, “he’s my soulmate”

If you like soulmate AUs check out my Tendou one here and be sure to reblog if you like it ♥️

[corvidry]

All About RP Icons For Beginners by Birdy

Hi OP, I’m not sure how experienced you are with all the nonsense surrounding the making and using of RP icons, so I’m gonna come at it as though you don’t have any experience with it at all and I’m sorry if that’s too simplified for you, but also if I’m gonna write many paragraphs about one topic I may as well make it accessible for as many people as possible ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

This post goes into what tools are out there for the popular methods of finding/making RP icons in the first half and my personal methodology for choosing and using them in my RP for the second half. This is a very surface level answer to the question and is not meant to be an in depth tutorial for the more labor intensive aspects of the process, but if you guys want more information and can’t find it elsewhere, please ask and I'll know what I should be talking about next. 

Also I’m also contractually obligated to mention to the masses that I do take commissions both for the drawing of RP icons and the service of capping, cutting, recoloring, and framing canon icons. Sometimes I even post batches of canon character icons for free on this blog so like,,,,, hit me up if you want. But!! You don’t need me, you can absolutely do all of it yourself!!  I go into the broad strokes below.

Question 1: “How do you get icons?” 

This is kind of a broad question and the answer depends on what your needs are. The right answer for you is gonna live in one of two camps 

Find some that already exist that are free to use

Make them yourself / commission somebody else to make them for you. 

What you'll choose is gonna depend a lot on your character first and foremost.  The big determining factor in most cases is whether or not the face you want has been in anything you can take pictures of. 

If you have a canon character who exists in visible media--

--you're in luck! The chances of you finding some resources that exist already is higher when you have a canon character who is in at least a few pieces of media. OP asked about Pearl from Steven Universe, and she's a great example of a character with a lot of resources. Searching for rp icons of a popular character will often yield packs of icons on Tumblr, Dreamwidth, Livejournal, etc. Most of these will be completely free to use or have very reasonable conditions for use (like credit the person who made them for example.)  It's often a good first step to see what preexisting resources are available to you even if you still plan on making your own icons. 

If you have an OC or a character that's not all that popular--

--you're gonna fall into the second camp. If you want icons, you have to have them made. So what are your options?

Help! My character appears in no media! What are my options?

If your character appears in no media you're in a tough spot. Different people approach this problem in different ways. 

Face Claims

One option you have is to choose a face claim to represent your character. In roleplay a face claim or ‘FC’ is a person or character whose appearance you use for the physical description of your character. I personally am not big on doing this, I prefer drawn icons and I tend to RP as animated characters, but some people really like using celebrities and stuff to represent their characters.  When I was playing Angus McDonald he hadn't appeared in any visual media yet, so I sometimes used Bryce Clyde Jenkins as the face claim for certain types of threads.  

If you're somebody who likes to use face claims there are loads of resources out there for finding the perfect one, including here on tumblr. Try searching up RP Faceclaim Directory and playing around with some of the ones that pop up.

DIY RP Icons

The other option you have is to create those icons from scratch. Draw them yourself based on icons you like or commission an artist to draw some for you.   If you can't draw yourself, I've seen some people get really creative with this. Some people create their character in the sims, dollmakers, or their favorite RPG and then take screenshots of that to use for icons.  There's also no law that says every icon you use has to be your character's face. When I was writing a trashy mermaid AU I got a lot of mileage out of icons that depicted harbor and oceanic scenes with no actual faces. Get creative, go nuts, have fun.

Icons Aren’t That Important

The other thing to remember that icons are not a must in many RP circles. It's perfectly possible to have a great time and write cool stuff without any pictures at all. Depending on your platform of choice there are probably also other interesting ways you can make your posts unique to you by formatting the text or using symbols or emojis or otherwise denoting your personal style in text.

Help! My character appears in lots of media! How do I make icons?

Again, there are a million and one answers to this question and it really depends on what tools are available to you and what your preferences are. This section is not a tutorial but it will outline some of the options you can look into.

The icon making process is typically in 2 stages-- stage 1: get all your images of your character, and stage 2: edit all of those images into icons.  

If you have access to the source material, any version of Photoshop, and software that automates the collection screencaps from video (KM Player, VLC, etc) you're pretty much gucci. You're gonna have no problem getting loads of nice icons in a reasonably short amount of time and there are a million different tutorials on how to use those things whichever way you prefer. 

If you don't have access to those things you still have options. 

You can still screencap things manually, and you can screencap in batches by holding down the windows key and pressing PrtSc any time you want to save an image. They should be saving to >pictures>screenshots unless you’ve set things up differently. It’s a good way to take a lot of screenshots without stopping in between.

( EDIT / UPDATE: to say that if you use automation for taking screencaps remember to turn that shit off when you’re not using because it oh mylanta it WILL continue to take images without you realizing. Figured out where all my disk space has been going with this rookie mistake, thanks OP)

Additionally, PhotoScape X is a really great little tool for windows and mac that I've never seen anybody talk about, but I use it sometimes and it's totally free with the exception of a few paid features I’ve never once needed or wanted. This program is not as efficient as using Photoshop but it has presets for cropping images easily as well as batch editing options for some basic borders and color retouching.  While it’s not as powerful as Photoshop, you can get a lot done with it reasonably quickly compared to other choices. You can also take and edit snips of anything on your screen with it, which is really really useful if you don’t have access to the video or image files you would need on your hard drive for other version of this process.  The program looks like this:

Also, not to be like a minimalist about it, but you can also just fucken use Microsoft Paint or whatever you have. Like, whatever, there’s no law. You graphics dont have to be comlpex or deep fried. Half of my icons have been made or edited in paint at some point. It wont be as fast as some of these other methods but a lot of us aren't out here making icons in batches of 100 at a time. 

Anything that you can use to make smallish images of your characters face will work to make icons.

If you want more information about any of these methods of icon creation let me know and I’ll talk about them.

Question 2: “How do you make your icons ‘work’ in posts?”

I'm a little confused on what you mean by "make them work" so I'm gonna cover my bases here. I'm assuming what you're getting at is a sort of sense of cohesion in the icons I use, or having the "right" expression for the scene I'm writing. Either that or them not stretching and looking weird thanks to tumblr. I’ll get to both of those.

And before I go into my own rationale for icon choices I feel I should point out that a lot of people who aren't me do successfully manufacture cohesion out of their images by doing fun stylistic things like recoloring their images all the same way or putting cute borders and stuff around them or making them fun shapes, and that's totally something you can learn how to do if it interests you.  I do this for icons commissioned by other people and I’m not against talking about how to do those things, but I don’t really bother with them for my own icons all that much. That stuff is all fun and it’s a neat thing you could get into that can make your icons all look really nice together.

BUT ANYWAY --

Since the character you asked about is Pearl, I’m going to focus on her. Nearly all of my Pearl icons are completely unedited and a lot of the credit I would have to give regarding icon quality goes to Pearl herself and the consistently good lighting that the show uses. I don’t have a huge need for editing or color retouching beyond making memes or whatever other goofy things I might be getting up to. Pearl is extremely expressive compared to other characters I have written and since she's in nearly every episode, I've managed to collect…

...oh god, that’s too many icons.

Pearl is a main character and I've been RPing as her for over 6 years now so I have a fuckload of images to choose from and I'm not gonna pretend that doesn't help when I wanna “make things work”. She gives me a lot of options.

That said, you absolutely don't need 3000 images to make a good post. The way I've collected and organized these images may be of use to you even if you dont have as many icons. I've done a lot with my setup to make finding the right icon very easy. 

For starters, a minor subset of my Pearl icons are grouped by a particular defining feature. I have one large Pearly folder full of icons and then a few smaller folders inside for icons I thought worth grouping separately. For example, all icons of SUF Pearl in her new jacket are in the same folder. All icons of Pearl in short term alternate outfits are in the same folder. Anything I sourced from Attack the Light is in its own folder. I do this with anything that has a very specific use, such as writing AU content or flashbacks to specific time periods. If I can picture an icon in my head, I usually know where in my ridiculous hell collection to go to find it. 

This folder was originally just for her pre-canon outfit but now all of her outfits that only appeared temporarily are in there.

Perhaps more important for the sake of cohesion is that nearly all of my icons that aren’t squirreled away in some smaller folder are loosely arranged by episode. What that means is that most of the time I have icons from the same scene right next to one another. It makes it incredibly easy to make my RP replies appear as though it's all one cohesive scene even if I use more than one icon. When you do it this way it becomes very easy to choose icons that have the same lighting or that appear to lead from one expression seamlessly into another. Exhibit A:

While the vast majority of my icons are numbered, I do take the time to name ones I find myself using a lot or that have particularly unique expressions. Usually I'll choose names that I'll find descriptive or easy to remember based on the context of the icon. You can have a lot of fun with that and never lose your favorites.

Also don't be afraid to lean on icons you got from weird places if you like them.  The icons of Pearl from the official comics run don’t look like most of what I have. I think them being different would turn a lot of RPers off, but I use them a lot because I like the style and I almost never see other Pearl RPers using them.  It either makes me stand out or it makes me tacky, one of the two, haven’t figured out which, but also I’m not stopping.

And just to reiterate, you can use icons that aren’t your character if they’re thematically relevant or vague enough to look like them. When I’m capping I’ve started saving a folder of miscellaneous environments of interests, hands, and other everyday types of scenery that appear in the thing I’m taking screencaps of.

You can use any size you want for RP icons but the most common is 100x100 or 150x150 pixels.  Any smaller than that and the image gets to be difficult to read and work with in my opinion. That doesn’t stop people, of course, but I’m elderly and need glasses now, so no tiny icons for me.  On that note, I rarely see RP icons larger than 300x300. Any larger than that it tends to get bulky and be in the way of other people’s comfortable internet browsing experience, especially on mobile.  Of course, these are just my suggestions. What you choose will ultimately be up to you, but somewhere in that 100 to 300 px range is pretty safe.

A very tumblr specific thing to know is that any image that is wider than 300 pixels will be stretched to hell, so you probably want to keep it smaller than that.

Thanks, Tumblr, I hate it!

Also, don’t be afraid to make trash images for fun if you’re so inclined. People love that, or at least I do. Not having the right icon can be fun and lead to a very silly solution. Lean into being a shitposter if that’s what you’re called to do. 

So yeah, that’s basically what my suggestions are. Collect your images in a way that helps cohesion and ease of use. Keep them a good size. Don’t be afraid to get unconventional with your choices or make memes or whatever. It’s all for a fun time.

Anyway, that’s all I can think of right now, but more info on any of this can be obtained at the price of one ask, I know it was a lot of different moving parts.

[poisxnyouth]

hs!dave. chapter 1. (d.d)

A/N: hi babies. it's been two weeks since i've posted anything. me and aly, @fukgoldbars, (🐝, go follow her) have been working on this nonstop for the past week. 17 pages later on a google doc.....and this is what we made. let's goooo. please enjoy. we're both really proud of this. much love. -hailey (and aly)

WC: 7.1k (on the dot)

“Natalie, Y/N, fucking hurry up! The game starts in 30 minutes and I don’t wanna miss the coin toss. I don’t understand why you both had to redo your face paint. You literally had it on at school and it looked fine. They’re dots, for fuck’s sake. I’ll leave your asses, I swear. Did you both forget I’m your fucking ride?” David is standing at the bottom of Natalie’s stairs, propped against the banister on his phone, waiting impatiently for you and Natalie.

“Fuck off, David.”

Dave had been haphazard with his face paint 12 hours earlier, leaning over his sink with paint on his fingers (blue on one, white on the other) as he smeared one of each color across his cheeks. You and Natalie, on the other hand, had applied it with care in the backseat of Dave’s Corolla on the way to school. He had protested the entire time, “If you get paint on my seats, I’ll kill both of you. I mean it, you guys.” Two pencils for each color, erasers dipped into paint caps for the perfect circle and wiping off any asymmetry of the dots. They’d slightly worn off through classes and the pep rally, so you both had decided to redo them, much to David’s dismay.

“Seriously, I don’t get why you didn’t just do it in the car like you did this morning. It doesn’t have to look good.” You and Natalie come down the stairs, all 3 of you in Vernon Hills High School gear.

“Stop being an asshole,” you say, hitting the back of his head, “That’s exactly why you don’t have a fucking girlfriend. Let’s go.”

“Hey! Courtney likes me,” he defends, pulling his keys out of his pocket and moving to the front door. Natalie locks it, grabbing her purse and keys before you both file out after her.

“In your dreams. When’s the last time you got laid? Like, freshman year? Shotgun, by the way.” David unlocks the car, all 3 of you climbing in as he starts it.

“Fuck you, Y/N, you know I didn’t get shit freshman year. Got laid in June, just so you know. Tennis camp.” David’s pulling out of Nat’s driveway, craning his head to look through his rear window.

“Get the fuck out,” you say, “No way. You fucked at tennis camp? Was it any good?”

David laughs as he switches gears, driving straight through Nat’s neighborhood. “Hell no. It was terrible. Barely even came. But sex is sex, I guess. When’s the last time for you?” You shake your head, flipping his visor down and opening the mirror. You dig through your bag, finding your mascara and beginning to apply it; Dave had shortened the time you had to get ready.

“That’s not true. Terrible sex is terrible sex. But great sex is great sex, you know? You go back to that shit over and over again. It’s okay, Davey, you’ll find someone who fucks you good.” You reach over to poke his cheek as he drives, David swatting your hand away in defense. “And last weekend. It wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t great, either.”

“Oh my gosh! Y/N! You finally had sex with Jordan?” Natalie pipes up from the backseat, leaning in between you and David’s seat to be included in the conversation.

“Yeah! But since it wasn’t good, I broke up with him on Tuesday.” You shrug, twisting the mascara closed and dropping it in your bag.

“Damn. Is this how girls work? I’m hopeless. And good, I hated that fucker. You can do better, Y/N. He’s lame as hell. I don’t know why you keep dating those football players, they’re assholes.”

“I don’t know why either. I don’t think I should date anybody for a while, but I want the sex...I don’t know. I’ll figure it out.” David is half listening as you sit at a red light, leaning over into your seat to dig through his dash.

“Nat, are you smoking with us tonight?” David asks, finding the weed and stashing it back in its place, closing the dash.

“Nah, I’m good. Maybe tomorrow night after homecoming. You guys can smoke and come in the house, though, you won’t have to worry about the smell ‘cause my parents are out of town. Isa and Lauren will be asleep too. They want pictures of us from you guys’ parents, by the way!”

“Alright,” Dave responds simply as the light turns green, hitting the gas.

“Stop speeding, Dave!”

“I’m sorry, you guys held me up for 15 minutes because you were doing your damn face paint. I can go 5 miles over if I want to.”

++

The game goes smoothly, no injuries or setbacks; the quarterback and cheer captain win homecoming king and queen, and you win the game. It’s a successful night, and pissing David off by removing your face paint in his car is the cherry on top (even though he begs you to wipe the stripes off of his cheeks as he drives).

It becomes even more successful when you and Dave light up in his car in Natalie’s driveway. You have the joint in your lips, David’s eyes watching as he flicks the lighter and holds it for you. You take a deep hit as he watches, breathing in and passing the joint back to him. You hold it for a few seconds before exhaling, immediately coughing.

“We do this every Friday and you cough every time,” he chuckles, lighting the joint again, looking down at it. “And I always finish the joint. It’s like every time is your first time. Is that how you have sex, too?” David passes it back to you, fingertips brushing.

“Go to hell,” you reply, “I’m good at sex. I worry for the girls you’ve fucked.” You meet his eyes as you take a hit.

He watches and says, smile hinting at his lips as you look at him, “The girls I fuck are perfectly satisfied. Most of the time, I’m not. Seems to be the same for you. Sucks for us, I guess.” David hits the joint fairly hard, inhaling for a generous ten seconds, staring out of his windshield at the front of Nat’s garage. He rests his hand on the steering wheel, joint between his fingers as he holds the smoke in, then exhaling slowly.

“Yeah. I don’t know how to fix that.” Dave doesn’t reply, dropping the subject.

You repeat the back and forth process a few times, David finding a bottle of water in his backpack to ease your throat. You smoke quietly until you’re too far gone, insisting he finish it off for you. He does, putting it out in his cup holder and tossing the roach in a plastic bag. David leans his seat back, head resting on his hands as he stares up at the ceiling.

“You really broke up with Jordan ‘cause he didn’t fuck you good enough?” He asks, “Why? Isn’t it a learning process?”

“Ummmm,” you clear your throat, “It’s not cause he was bad. He just didn’t wanna do the shit that I wanted to, so...I broke up with him. You know, kinda like what we were talking about.”

Dave continues staring at the ceiling of his car, eyebrows scrunched together. “Huh? What does that even mean?”

“He didn’t fuck me hard enough. He was too vanilla. But I know I’m gonna miss sex, so I don’t know what I’m gonna do. I don’t wanna just go around fucking people, you know?” You mimic him, putting your seat down and resting your head on your hands.

“Oh. I didn’t know you were like that. I mean, we could…..Nevermind. That’s weird. Sorry.”

You look at him, concerned, turning on your side in the seat. “Say it, pussy.”

He shrugs, still not looking at you, “I just thought...I just thought that - that like, I’m in kinda the same spot you know? I like sex. Maybe - maybe we could help each other out? I don’t know. It was weird. I don’t know why I thought of it. I’m so fucking gone.”

Your eyes widen, mouth dropping open. “You’d fuck me?”

David’s eyes nervously fly to yours and back to the ceiling, “I mean. Yeah. Look at you. You’re sexy as fuck. There are days where you wear shit……..I have to tell myself to cool it ‘cause we’ve known each other for so long. Literally, oh my God - I don’t even wanna go into detail.”

“Would you fuck Natalie?” You ask, ignoring his statement and sitting up, propped on one arm.

He sits up at your question, weight on his elbows, face scrunched. “What the fuck? No. Gross. She’s like a sister to me. You know that.”

“So how am I any different? We’ve all been friends since you moved here.” You’re looking at him like he’s dumb, confusion and judgment spread across your face.

“You just…..are,” he shrugs, “Always have been. I dunno, I kinda thought we have sexual tension? Like, earlier? I can’t talk about sex with Nat like I do with you. But obviously, now I know you don’t think that.” David moves his seat back up, sitting straight in his seat. "I just think that people like you need to fuck people like me, not people like Jordan whateverthefuckhisnameis. I don't know. It was a stupid suggestion. Sorry for bringing it up. I like your company and I don't wanna change shit between us. Let's just drop it, okay?"

You meet his eyes, biting at your lips before looking away. “No,” you say timidly, “I wanna fuck you, too. But not when we’re high. I wanna be sober.”

“Huh? What? Really? You’d fuck me?” Dave asks, still staring at you.

“Um, yeah,” you admit, “I know I make fun of you but...you’re not too bad, either. Don’t let it go to your head.”

“Y/N, you’re like, the hottest girl in school, I’m not gonna take it lightly-.”

“Ugh, shut up. You’re just stoned.” You wave him off, turning to look at him.

“You’re hot and you know it, Y/N. I mean, haven’t you dated like, 10 guys? There’s no way you don’t know how fuckable you are,” David defends, shrugging his shoulders.

You gasp and smack him over the head. “David!”

“I’m kidding, Y/N, I’m kidding!” You sigh and reach into the backseat to grab your bag, pulling on the handle to escape his car. He grabs your forearm and you turn back to him, David’s eyes going between you as he slowly removes his touch.

“Wait, but seriously...like, you’d fuck me? For real?” You retreat back into his seat, shutting the door and tossing your purse into his floorboard.

“If we’re talking seriously...yes. I would. You’re pretty hot. But again, once we’re sober, ‘cause I don’t wanna do something now and regret it later. Am I making any sense?”

“Unfortunately, yes. I hope you remember this when you’re sober, though.”

You ignore his comment, “So...people like me need to fuck people like you? What is that supposed to mean?” David fiddles with the stitching on his steering wheel, eyes flitting between his hands and you.

“Is that what I said?” He feigns, smacking his lips as you nod, “Well...how many football players have you fucked?”

“Five,” you admit, “But I don’t see why that matters. I don’t have a type.”

“I think you do, Y/N,” David shoots back, “Why else would you-.”

“Don’t be stupid and act like you’re the only one who’s been thinking about it, Dave. Sure, you’re out of my league, but I’ve thought about it, too. I just didn’t want to admit it, ’cause we’re best friends, but you’re cute. You can be an asshole, but you’re cute.”

“Yeah?” He asks, nodding at your approval. “Cool. Wait, what the fuck? I’m out of your league?” He scoffs, hand covering his mouth, “Holy shit. You think that? Fuck...So, um, we’re not doing anything tonight? When can I expect something? Or do you wanna plan it?”

“Surprise me, Davey.”

“That’s bullshit. I don’t wanna do something wrong,” David complains, “Like, if the timing is wrong, then-”

“Be quiet. Stop overthinking it; it’s simple. Make a move when I’m sober, Dave. That’s all I’m asking. Don’t be a pussy,” you move to get out of his car again, purse in hand, before changing your mind, pausing in your seat and staring into his windshield.

It’s silent for a few seconds, eyes cutting between each other, both of you chewing at your lips.

“We should probably go insi-,” David tries to say, hand reaching for the keys and turning them, removing them from the ignition.

“Wait,” you interrupt, “I just - Let me see.” You drop your purse in his floor again, glancing between his lips and eyes. His face turns from confused to understanding as he notices your stares, dropping his keys in his cup holder. Dave doesn’t do anything, though, waiting for you to make the first move. You comply, slowly and timidly, not looking at him as your hand reaches forward, landing on his chest. Your body soon follows, leaning in closer, fingers tangling in his shirt. Dave’s cheeks brush against yours, his hands coming to each side of your waist in an attempt to comfort your uneasiness.

“You don’t have to do this, Y/N,” David tries to explain in an apprehensive whisper, halted by the shaking of your head.

“No. I wanna,” you promise, “‘S just kinda weird.” He nods slightly in agreement as you both gaze downwards and lean closer, eyes fluttering closed and lips attaching.

It’s nervous at first, David's hands gripping your waist slightly tighter than he had been before, sitting up straight and leaning further into your closed mouth kiss.

Dave leans out slowly, lips still close as his eyes drop between you, “Is this okay?” You don’t answer, hands sliding onto his shoulders as you lean in once more. It’s more comfortable this time, his palms shifting to your lower back as you pull him in, forcing him to lean over his center console. You continue for a few minutes, falling into a subtle give and take after an easy transition of lips to tongues. It’s slow, tongues sliding together easily accompanied by hands sliding lower than they should have. His hands slide into your back pockets, lightly squeezing, before you break away from him softly.

“Um, we should…” You say, David immediately catching on and nodding quickly, removing his hands from you and turning back in his seat, wiping at his mouth. He doesn’t say anything as he retrieves his keys from his cup holder, crawling out of his car before you follow him. He locks his car after you’re out, letting you walk in front of him.

“Nat, we’re here!” you yell once you’re through the front door, both of you kicking your shoes off. You can hear her walking around upstairs, quickly coming into sight, coming down a few steps and leaning over the railing to peer down between you.

“Can you shut up? Isa and Lauren are asleep!”

“Sorry,” you whisper, “Are you going to bed?”

In your peripheral vision, you see David step around you to get to the kitchen, then hearing him fill a glass of water at the fridge. Natalie nods, “Yeah. Your bags with all of your clothes and shit are in the living room. If you wanna come up and sleep in my bed it’s cool, but I know you guys are gonna be up for a while so just be quiet, please. I have to take them to cheer and basketball in the morning, so if you and Dave wake up and I’m not here…”

“Got ya. We might just stay down here,” you reply, shrugging lightly.

“Okay. Goodnight. Tell Dave for me.” You nod in response, turning to go through the hallway into the kitchen. David is pushing himself onto the top of Natalie’s kitchen island, phone in hand, before you mirror him, dangling your legs slightly.

“I wanna kiss you again,” he admits, “It felt wrong at first, but I liked it. You’re good at it.” He’s taking his lips between his teeth, chewing lightly as he stares at you, awaiting a response. “Only if you’d let me, though.”

You’re not looking at him, crossing your ankles and focusing on the pattern of the bland tile rather than the blush rising in your cheeks. “I’d be cool with it.”

David takes the opportunity, placing his phone down, to gently turn your head and lean in.

“So...hypothetically,” he whispers in between kisses, “In the morning...I could fuck you, ‘cause we’ll be sober.”

“Mmm,” you reply into his mouth, “Good theory. You’d really wanna fuck in Nat’s house? I’d feel bad for that.”

He grunts softly, “Shit. I don’t wanna fuck in her house either, but I’d do anything to fuck you as soon as possible. I’d fuck you in the backseat of my car in the driveway if that’s what it takes.” David pulls away gently, sliding off of the counter and tugging you along. He presses you against the edge of the surface, hands on your hips as his neck bends down slightly.

“I’m just saying. I don’t wanna have to wait, like, a week to fuck you. ‘Cause you want it soon, right?” You feel his cheek brush against yours, his fingers pushing the edges of your t-shirt up.

“...Right?” Dave asks again, torso coming closer in contact with yours, pulling you closer. You nod in his hold, eyes staring down at the lack of space between your bodies.

“Okay, then it’s settled. I’m fucking you in the morning.” You admire his sudden confidence, a complete opposite compared to his actions in the car. David’s lips start trailing down your neck, teeth lightly grazing against the skin. Your arms drape lazily around his neck, fingers finding the hairs at the nape as he sloppily kisses up the column of your throat and down your jaw.

“Dave, maybe we should...Maybe - fuck.” You sigh as he kisses a certain spot on your neck, tongue running across it lightly. “Maybe we should get ready for bed.” He kisses down to your carotid before stepping away, removing his hands and sighing lightly.

“You’re right. Sorry. Your bag’s over there, mine’s over here,” David points halfheartedly, turning to move towards the opposite side of the living room, pulling at the neck of his shirt and tugging it over his head. You watch his shoulder blades shift slightly as he walks, quickly tearing your eyes away and going the opposite way, crossing your arms and lifting your shirt off by the hem. You adjust the cups of your bra and the straps before your hands reach for your belt buckle, undoing it and swiftly sliding out of your jeans. You toss both articles of clothing into your bag, subconsciously tugging your underwear up your hips. You’re about to grab your shorts and t-shirt before you hear Dave speak:

“Get the fuck out. Oh my God,” he says, forcing you to look at him, confused, his eyes glued on your ass. “Jesus Christ.” David tears his eyes away, glancing back quickly before pulling on one of his tennis shirts. He side eyes you as you pull on your shorts, your hips squirming to squeeze your ass in them. You don’t watch him at all, keeping your eyes to yourself as you get dressed and place yourself on the couch next to him. Dave doesn’t miss a beat, sliding you into his lap, hands on your waist.

“What are you doing?”

“We can’t make out?” He questions, brows furrowed, looking up at you. You shrug in response, moving to lean in and tangling your fingers in his hair. Your lips attach, seemingly more comfortable each time, and David’s hands slide from your waist to your hips, down to your ass, squeezing lightly. In no time, he tugs on the waistband of your shorts. You grunt into his mouth softly in response, pulling away to allow him to do so. You feel his knuckles rub against your skin as you move to rest your weight on your knees, sitting up straight. He gets them past your hips, cheek against your waist as he looks around you, watching your ass as he squeezes you out of the shorts, and you allow him to push them off of your legs.

“You’re so hot,” he says as you settle back down in his lap, arms draped around his shoulders. “Like...fuck.” Dave removes one hand, sliding it in your hair and pulling you in to another kiss, slightly quicker as your tongues slide together. He’s toying with the hem of your shirt, causing you to pull away and tug it off, knowing it’d be coming soon.

He attaches your mouths for a few seconds, leaning back out and resting his hands on your thighs, thumbs rubbing slightly as he stares upwards at you, making eye contact.

“How was your day?” David asks randomly, hands running up your hips, toying with the lace.

“Um, fine? I had a good time. You were with me for most of it,” you reply, bewildered as you run your hands over his shoulders. He adjusts his posture, sitting up straighter and shrugging slightly.

“What are your grades like?” Dave’s switching up on his touches, fingertips barely touching your spine as he runs them down every vertebrae. He takes his bottom lip between his teeth as you shiver beneath his touch, gripping his shoulders slightly tighter.

“Good. I’m pissed off at Mrs. Barnes, though.” His fingers and knuckles are dancing up the insides of your thighs as he keeps eye contact, watching you tense up at the close proximity of his hands and your pussy.

“Yeah? Why?” You’re aware of his game, now; he’s slowly touching you, pushing your hair out of your face and running it over your body. He’s continually switching up on how he touches you: soft, barely felt touches with his fingertips, hard knuckles, and whole hearted grabs with his palms and fingers. He’s trying to distract you, to tease you, and it’s working. Too quickly for your liking. It doesn’t take long for you to begin only focusing on his touches, and not the conversation at hand.

“Hmm?” He gently reminds, hands going over your shoulders, softly running over the lengths of your arms.

“Umm. W-well, my grade was a 95, right? And now it’s an….umm….um. An eighty - an eighty one and it makes me really mad ‘cause - oh my God.”

“Hm? What was that?” David chuckles softly, giddy at how undone you are for him already as he grips at your tits, cupping them over your bra. Your nails dig into his shirt as his fingers find your nipples through the soft cups, rolling and pinching them. He allows you to grind your hips down against him, back arched and head thrown back, the only barriers between you being the lace and his boxers.

“I said - I said it makes me really mad.” You’re pissed off and embarrassed that he’s working you up so quickly, even though you were doing exactly as he wanted. Your high mental state does not help your situation whatsoever, feeling practically every goosebump he brings to your skin.

“Really? Why?” You open your mouth to speak as he pulls your underwear to the side; he doesn’t touch you, free hand on your waist, as you whine at the feeling of being bare as you grind against his boxers.

“Keep going,” he insists, “What were you going to say?” You rut into him once more, whine escaping your lips.

“David, please.”

“Finish what you were saying, Y/N.” Your brain feels fried as he stares up at you, lips parted. Your fingers are digging into his shoulders as you try to remember what you were talking about.

“Ummmmmm…,” you say, Dave laughing lightly at you, “What was I saying?”

He pushes your hair off of your shoulders, free hand running down your back. “Your grade went from a 95 to an 81 in Barnes.”

“O-oh, right. Um, it just p-pisses me off ‘cause she gave me a zero in the gradebook for the - for the - fortheprojectwedidtogether.” You slur the words out in one breath just to get your response out, attempting to not stutter.

“I got a 100 on it. I don’t know why yours doesn’t say the same,” he offers half-heartedly, knuckles running up the insides of your thighs as he pulls your underwear back into place.

“Sorry, what? What did you just say?” You push your hips down once more, rubbing up against his semi hard dick through his boxers, whining at the contact. David can tell how far gone you are as he kisses down your neck and you breathe heavily, pulling him in closer and gasping lightly.

“Does it feel good, baby? Can you feel everything I’m doing?” It’s all you can do to nod in his hold, feeling as though the room is spinning as he reaches behind you, unclasping your bra. The pet name should feel weird and foreign, new territory for you both, but all you can focus on is his touch.

You push your hips down again, squeaking out a “David, please.” He barely complies, pushing the lace to the side once more, feeling a drop of your wetness drop against his boxers. He gasps at the sight.

“How’d you get this wet, baby?” David still doesn’t touch you, guiding your hips over his, feeling his boxers get damper and damper.

“Y-you.”

“You like it that much?” You don’t need to reply; he knows the answer. You’re more turned on than you think you’ve ever been with a guy, and Dave is soaking it up. He had hoped touching you would sober you up some, but it seems to have done the opposite: you’re now further gone than you were in the car. He loves watching you be so malleable in his touch, fingers tangling in your hair in tugging lightly. Your mouth drops open slightly, neck exposed for him. He watches you as he releases his grip, feeling as though he’s dreaming. Dave no longer feels high, sobering up more and more as his dick gets harder and harder.

“Daaavvviiiiiiddddd,” you whine, “Pleasepleaseplease touch me.”

“I don’t think so, baby. Why should I?” He’s still teasing, even though you’re unraveling beneath him.

“‘Cause I want it?” You offer.

“That’s not good enough,” he disagrees, picking up on your lack of ability to form sentences as you push your hips down onto his, taking his hand in yours and leading it to your throat, eyes rolling back as you take your lips between your teeth.

“This is what you wanted? That Jordan wouldn’t give you? He’s a dumbass. Did he see this ass, baby? And these tits? Fuck.” You don’t reply, David taking it upon himself to slide his mouth around your tit, removing his hand from your throat. Your fingers tangle in his hair, pulling as a whine escapes your throat. It feels as though you can feel every single one of his taste buds as he slides his tongue around you, pulling you closer and forcing you to rock forward, feeling the length of his dick.

You gasp in his hold, “You’re fucking kidding me,” you say, halting your movement. “What the hell, David? Your dick is not that fucking big.”

He’s momentarily confused, pulling away from your breast, but you slide yourself along him, against his boxers and let out a moan at the feeling. He’s instantly cocky, chuckling at your reaction.

“Please, David, please. I just want you inside of me,” you beg, hands haphazardly pushing up his t-shirt, palms resting on his pecs. He hadn’t planned to touch you, but he can’t go any longer without doing anything. He brings a hand down, fingers slowly coming into contact with your pussy as he swipes through the folds. You nearly cum at the contact, hips stuttering and collapsing against him.

“You’re so fucking wet.”

You give him a whine, “Uh huhhhhh,” stuttering out an, “A - all for you.”

“I know, baby, I know,” he reassures, one hand rubbing at your ass and the other tearing away from your pussy. David still feels like he’s trapped in his REM stage, pushed by how much you’re trying to please him, even in your current state. He loves it. He had never seen you so vulnerable, and even through your whining and childish behavior, it still turns him on endlessly due to the fact he has never seen you struggle to form sentences. You’re one of the smartest people he knows, someone he respects and loves dearly, and to see you completely fucked out without him actually laying a finger on you is everything to him.

After he removes his hand from you, he holds it up, fingers spreading to show your visible wetness.

“Do you see this?” Again, you don’t answer him, hand going over his to steady its movement. You stare absentmindedly, brain not fully functioning, before leading his fingers into your mouth, looking into his eyes as you suck. His jaw drops.

“Oh, baby…” he lets out, eyes flickering between your lips and eyes, feeling as though he died and went to heaven.

“I bet you taste sweet. Do you?” You nod against him, still sucking.

"Yeah? Let me see.” David takes his fingers from your mouth, pulling you in and attaching your mouths, eyes fluttering closed and tongues immediately coming in contact. He groans into the kiss, leaning out.

“I was right.” His fingers move to your pussy again, causing you to whine once more as he feels you up. You groan, throwing your head back and digging your nails into his chest as he slips two fingers inside, going to the second knuckle. You’re so wet David can hear his fingers sink in, groaning at the noise.

He exhales, “Yeah, baby, I don’t know if I’m going to fit. You’re so fucking tight -.”

“Nononono, please, I need it.”

“We can try, but you’re so fucking tight. Can you feel how hard you’re clenching around my fingers? I can try to help you but shit, you’re so tight for me. How are you so tight when half the football team has been here before me? Are you gonna be this tight every time I fuck you? It’s gonna be like fucking a virgin. Isn’t that what I said in the car, baby? Hmm?”

You whimper slightly, “Fuck you. Who said we’d do this more than once?”

His free hand pulls haphazardly at your hair. “You can’t talk to me like that, baby. Understood? I can stop this at any time. And you’ll be back, babe, I promise you.” You nod, submitting to him easily.

“You think I’m gonna fit?” he asks, eyes meeting yours.

“I-I hope so. I need it.” Dave doesn’t reply, nodding and bringing his free hand to your face, fingers pushing into your mouth.

“Your mouth is so pretty,” he compliments, fingers pulling out and pressing against your tongue. “Wish those lips were wrapped around my dick.” You immediately register what he’s asking for, automatically moving to get off of him and drop to your knees.

He stops you before you’re successful, hands on your hips, “Not right now, baby. Thank you, though. Such a good girl for me.”

You whine, “But I wanna…”

“I know, baby, but I don’t wanna cum yet. I have self-control, unlike somebody.”

Your face scrunches up in a bratty complaint, “I have self-control.” As you say this, David leans up and kisses at your jaw lightly, promising you as you push your hips down, “It’s okay that you don’t.”

“Just let me see it,” you beg, changing the subject, fingers in his hair.

“See what?”

You squirm in his hold, a blush rising on your face as you’re suddenly embarrassed. You reach down and try to touch him, David grabbing your wrist to stop you.

“Please, let me see it. I wanna see it.” You try to grind down against him, David putting his free hand on your waist and holding you in place in defiance.

“Come on, baby, say it. I know you can. What do you wanna see?”

“Just - just let me - let me see, David. I wanna see.”

“Say it. I won't know what to let you see if you don't tell me what it is.”

When you refuse again, he pulls back, leaning back against the couch with his hands behind his head. You groan, grabbing his shoulders.

“Daavidddddd!” He laughs and shakes his head.

“I’m not gonna touch you until you tell me what you want,” he insists.

“I just wanna see you,” you groan in frustration, moving to pull at the waistband of his boxers. David doesn’t comply, pushing your hands away and adjusting them before his fingers find the collar of his t-shirt, leaning forward and pulling it over his head.

It momentarily distracts you, David’s hands returning behind his head as you run your fingers over his chest. You lean down, Dave moving to hold your hair back as you begin leaving sloppy kisses across his shoulders and up his neck.

“Hey,” you say, chock full of courage, lips on his collarbone, “Let me see your dick, Davey. Please.”

He lets out a soft chuckle, hands moving from your hair to the front of his boxers, quietly pushing the clothing past his hips. He lifts them in the process, and you move off to the side as he takes himself into his hand.You immediately push his hand away, replacing his touch and dropping to your knees, placing yourself between his thighs.

“You don't have to, baby.”

“I want to,” you promise, eyes on his dick as you stroke him. You want to deepthroat him, beginning to lick and suck at the head, kissing up the underside of his dick and continuing the movements. David’s hands go to your hair, pushing it out of your face.

“Fuck,” he says, watching as you pull back a few inches and spit down his cock, hand working over him. You take him back in your mouth, David pulling your hair into a makeshift ponytail, and you can easily recognize how badly he wants to push your head down but is too scared to. He leads your head gently, careful not to force your mouth down onto him.

You pull off once more, looking up at him, “David, you can face fuck me.”

“Can you take it?” His voice is taunting, yet genuinely concerned. You nod, opening your mouth and waiting for him to do something.

He grabs a hold of your hair again, pushing your head down slightly. You try to take more, opening your mouth wider, but he doesn’t allow it, pulling your head back up by your hair.

“No, that’s too much for you, baby,” Dave insists, pulling your head up slightly, mouth off of his dick. He gazes at the spit dripping from your lips before your fingers come and wipe it away, using it as lube as your hand replaces your mouth.

“I know how to suck dick, asshole. Do you even want me to?”

“Fine, Y/N,” he gives in exasperatedly, “I’ll face fuck you, but don’t talk a big game and then throw up on my dick.” You roll your eyes as he pushes your head down, still gentle as you open your throat for him.

“Oh, shit,” he exclaims as you take him deeper, gagging as he hits the back of your throat. David is being too timid for your liking; his grasp is too malleable - you could pull away at any time and he’d let you. Still, though, you persevere, forefingers wrapped around the base of his cock as your lips reach your fingertips. You hold yourself there, repeatedly swallowing around him and breathing through your nose, eyes closed.

“Oh my God, babybabybaby baby. Stop.” You look up at him, doe-eyed, and obey as he forcefully tugs you off of him. David loves the sound your throat makes as he leaves you, your body instantly coughing as you continue to spit down his dick, hand working slowly.

“Fucking give me a minute, Y/N,” David bitches, hands leaving your hair and pushing your touches away before running them through his hair, chest heaving slightly. “Jesus fucking Christ. I almost nutted right then. I need a second.”

“Where the hell did you learn that shit? When?” Dave pulls you back up to the couch, half-heartedly kissing down your neck as he tries to calm himself down.

You shrug in his hold, cocky, “I’ve never done it before.” David gapes slightly, muttering a soft what the fuck? and pulling you in, attaching your mouths. You shift in your seat, hands in each other’s hair as you wait for his breathing to slow. You move away from him, going to settle between his knees once more.

David’s hand forges a half-assed ponytail as you take his dick into your mouth once more, Dave finally taking the liberty of moving your mouth up and down on him.

You continue that way for a few minutes; the consistent exchange being a combination of him bucking his hips up and pushing your head down - until you gag one final time and he pulls your head up completely.

“Okay, enough of that, baby,” he sighs, blinking and rubbing at his eyes as he tries to calm himself down.

“Why?” you frown, reaching to grab him again but he pushes your hand back, shaking his head.

“You’re being too loud, I don’t wanna wake anyone up. And I’m seriously about to fucking bust.”

“Fine - are you gonna fuck me now?” you ask, running your hand up his leg. “Please.”

“You really want me to?”

You roll your eyes and begin to tell him yes, obviously, shithead but he cuts you off by pulling you back onto the couch by your hands and pushing you on your back. You’re taken aback by his sudden movements, looking at him as he shakes his head at you.

“Don’t roll your eyes at me,” he warns in a low voice. You whine in response, grabbing his arms and pulling him on top of you, torsos rubbing together.

“Okay, I’ll fuck you, but you have to be quiet. Okay, baby?”

You nod quickly, but begin to whine again when he gets up from the couch, grabbing his wallet and pulling a condom out.

“Dave, I’m on the pill, you don’t even need that,” you try, but he ignores you, slipping it on anyways and moving back in between your legs, one hand resting on your knee.

He positions himself at your entrance, looking you in the eyes and whispering a be quiet before pushing in timidly. You gasp harshly and he quickly covers your mouth with his hand, shushing you and gently kissing you on the forehead.

“It’s okay,” he promises in a whisper, stilling for a moment to let you adjust. You whimper into his hand as he slowly attempts to push in more, only going about halfway before stopping again.

“I’m gonna stop there,” he mumbles under his breath, hips halting their movement.

“Nononono, David, all the way,” you beg, shaking your head and tightening your legs around his waist, trying to get him to go deeper. Dave pushes you back down by your waist in a defiant response.

“No, that’s enough, baby. You’re already overwhelmed.” As much as you hate it, you don’t fight him on it, because taking his dick proves to be a challenge for you.

“How are you so fucking tight? I don’t get it,” Dave questions, expecting no response, “Can you be quiet for me now, baby?” You nod in his hold.

David sets a slow, steady pace, removing his hand from your mouth at the agreement you would be as quiet as possible. He interlocks his hands with yours, holding them to the couch on either side of your head, thumbs rubbing comfortingly.

He starts moving a bit faster once he’s able to tell you’re comfortable, trailing wet kisses down your neck. Dave remains careful, not moving his hips too quickly for fear of the volume. It gets the job done.

“Fuck, Dave, holy shit.” You feel your eyes begin to water, tears slipping down the side of your face and into your hair. He presses his lips to yours again, removing a hand from yours and wiping your tears away. He had been frightened at first, but ultimately encouraged by your cursing and whimpers in his ear.

“Does it feel good? You like it, baby?” He asks huskily as you throw your head back, trying your best not to moan. Your free hand begins to dig your nails into his shoulder, moving to bite at the skin by his collarbone to keep yourself quiet.

“So - ohmygod - so fucking good, Dave. Keep going, please.”

He takes his free hand from your cheek and reaches between you, rubbing your clit. David doesn’t move his fingers too quickly, lightening his touch and working you in conjunction with his hips. It takes everything in you to not cry out, nipping repeatedly at the skin by his collarbone. You don’t understand how he isn’t bleeding yet, the flesh already turning from a pale white to a darkened purple. It hurts him, but it’s only encouragement for him and he needs to stay quiet; he groans softly between you as you continuously squeeze around him, pussy gripping his dick tightly.

“Are you gonna cum?”

You can’t get an answer out before you start to clench around him, mind going blank as you whimper.

“Fuck,” he hisses, “Baby, be quiet.” David slides his fingers into your mouth, muffling your noises.

You realize he still hadn’t finished, grabbing the back of his neck and pulling his face closer, whispering encouragements into his ear as your fingers tangle into his hair.

“Cum, David, please, cum for me. I wanna be good for you, please cum - cum for me, Davey.”

His hips stutter and he groans, head dropping to your neck, slowing down before halting his movements entirely.

You lay like that for a few minutes, catching your breaths and looking into each other’s eyes. David lets out a breath.

“Nat can never find out about this.”

[andrewuttaro]

New Look Sabres: GM 43 - NJD - Exorcise and Celly

It was a rainy night in Buffalo and dread was in the air among the spires of downtown Buffalo. The Sabres were a fright since Christmas and could hardly tame cats. The absolute fright seemed to reach its peak when the Devils incarnate came to town: often the torturers of Key Bank Center crowds they had not lost in Buffalo since April fool’s Day 2014. No, not tonight, for tonight was a different night: tonight would be the night a silver sabre was stabbed into the heart of the beast. Tonight… or last night now… would be an exorcism. Enough of the theatrics: there was a kid in the row behind me who was no older than 8 who repeatedly hollered obscure stats from NHL 19. We’ll be calling him Chel kid for this blog post. Chel kid was a few seats down from Loudmouth. Loudmouth only kind of knew he was at a hockey game yelling about drama of his family and friends to the two rather fetching women at either side of him. Chel kid and Loudmouth had a rollercoaster game. This is all to say I was at this game. I’ve been at both wins since Christmas so… maybe buy me tickets if you really like this team? There might be some rich trust fund baby in Amherst who might take me up on that. Nonetheless, demons were sorta exorcised in this game. In the second period it was a regular Tae-Bo session! Yes, that was a play on words pun and Tae-Bo was basically Zumba before Zumba was popularized, kids. Is this going to be six paragraphs of this guy making exorcism and exercise jokes? The answer is yes; today we celebrate because it’s been a rough go of it for the Sabres these last few games. We’re going to Exorcise and Celly today! Exorcise and Celly with Chel Kid and Loudmouth because the Sabres have perhaps their most compelling win since November in this tilt with the Devils of Newark.

The first period really only exists in this game to remind us of what this club has not been doing well. Passes, zone entries and secondary scoring did not come in the first. That said, it wasn’t a horror show either. It started out sour. Blake Coleman redirects a puck clumsily around Carter Hutton he had received from Miles Wood. Two thoughts on this goal: Miles Wood looks way to handsome to live in Newark, like no offense Newark but that City is what New Yorkers mean when they talk trash about New Jersey; and second: that goal should’ve been stopped by Hutton screened or not. If anyone was screening him it was Sabotka who was not even in his line of sight as the puck crosses the ice to Coleman. The first period ended 1-0 Devils but not before guys like Tage Thompson and Sam Reinhart really begin to lay it on. Do note that the Sabres outshot the Devils for the entirety of this game in spite of the visitors getting many more opportunities there. Loudmouth was really raising the decibel level as the first goes on, not for the Sabres but apparently because one of the women he was with told a very meandering story about how her sister was throwing a fit about having to work on her birthday. All the power to ya girl but do you find Loudmouth shattering ear drums for ten seats around in every direction attractive? Jeff Skinner got some hot opportunities in the first and Chel Kid made sure to let his surrounding compatriots know that Skinner’s shooting rating has been updated because of his hot start. Good to know, Chel kid.

Chel Kid was overjoyed when 1:39 into the second period Jeff Skinner came in on the right circle and sliced one home over Keith Kincaid’s far shoulder to draw the Sabres even. Tage Thompson, banging on the door all night got the only assist on that play.  I get an added kick out of Skinner’s 29th goal this season out of the hope that he’s warming up for Friday night’s trip to his old stomping ground in Carolina. I have that kind of midrange buzzing hatred for the Canes and I hope Skinner does pirouette goals around them. I had hardly stopped freaking out about Skinner potentially getting his 30th goal while I was there when C.J. Smith collects an arching pass from Johan Larsson in the offensive zone all by his Sabre lonesome. He proceeded to lean around the Devils defenseman and get his shot off from the low circle. The puck lands behind Kincaid and trickles in. It hardly looked like a goal. Smith cellyed on his own while it was deliberated. The refs reviewed it and the arena buzzed with cheer as the replays played on the video board. It was made official: C.J. Smith’s first NHL goal and one that feels like the start of something great considering his last 16 months with Rochester: glorious! What comes next over the six to ten minutes to follow is a moderate counterattack by the Devils who were actually 3-2 in their last 5 games coming into this one. Hutton stoned them on the few shots they got. Loudmouth actually started getting into the product on the ice at this point; it may be in part because Chel Kid had a lot to say about the Rochester Americans following Smith’s goal. My word, if NHL 19 is an adequate teacher of Hockey then this kid is probably smarter about Hockey then me, not that I’m any genius.

Casey Mittelstadt has been rough lately. He’s almost a guaranteed commodity. In time he will be a bankable second line center. Unfortunately he’s so not that right now that talk of trading for a 2C to fill that role for a time is afoot. Mittelstadt got the puck at the blue line and went along the left boards before cutting in and shooting the puck right on Kincaid. He then collects his own rebound and puts it around him on the second attempt at 10:42 of the second. That’s a nice little weight off his shoulders and his first goal in ten games. The Devils got twice as many powerplay opportunities as the Sabres in this game but the Buffalo PK was hot and the Devils just weren’t on their PPs. The Devils were on the powerplay with Buffalo up 3-1 when Vladimir Sabotka got the puck to Evan Rodrigues who broke out of the D-Zone with Jake McCabe. The two went in two-on-one against Will Butcher and did the old last second pass and McCabe got the puck past Kincaid who was still looking at E-Rod: shorthanded goal and 4-1 Sabres! This second period had everything from tape-to-tape passes to good zone entries on the Sabres part. It was maybe the most complete period they’ve played since November. But it wasn’t done yet! They were set up in the O-Zone when Conor Sheary got the puck back to our young Lawrence Pilut at the blue line. Pilut just rips that one at a foot per second and the puck goes in a straight line past his own guys, a couple Devils defenders and Keith Kincaid: 5-1 Sabres. Loudmouth must have seen this play from the start because he immediately lost his mind. Chel kid gave me a good laugh when he yelled: How many goals will they score!?

They would score no more and neither would the Devils. The visitors would shoot as many shots as the Sabres in the third period and even get a couple scraps going. None would pass and this game ended 5-1 and hit me like a cool, spring breeze. Buffalo needed this and as Loudmouth said: I’ve never seen a Sabres game with this many goals! Not only that Loudmouth but if you count assists 14 different Sabres got points in this game and all but one from Skinner came from non-top line guys. That by itself is worth celebrating. I don’t just joke about exorcism because it’s the Devils: that lack of secondary scoring has been a real blight for this team. Moreover, the Devils are an Eastern Conference team which means in the second half of this season they get Playoff Trash talk with New Look Sabres: New Jersey, if you make the playoffs at this point it will be something of a miracle. Your mix of young guns and geriatric players makes you and enigma to figure out but goaltending is not stable in Newark and the Sabres would make quick work outscoring a Devils team that in spite of its talent has no true firepower. Taylor Hall went from a five alarm fire in Edmonton to an already burnt down sporting goods store in New Jersey and isn’t saving this team in a seven-game series: not last season, not this season. Beating the Devils in the first round would be our punishment to them for making the 2010s a nightmare at home. Sabres win in 5.

Speaking of the Playoffs: the only good news on that front last night was that the Islanders lost and are now two points back of Buffalo in the first spot out. Montreal, Boston and even Carolina won so all the other spots remain the same although Buffalo moves up to the first wildcard spot. They have to beat Carolina on Friday because every team around them in the standings plays one or two games between now and then. Their buffer is gone but yes, there is much hockey to be played. Like, comment and share this blog. I look forward to a day both Loudmouth and Chel Kid read New Look Sabres although I’m not helping myself with a younger demographic making a friggin Tae-Bo reference. Do also note however that I didn’t call this game just exorcism; yes they played the right way in this game but I am not convinced yet that they’re exorcising some of those consistent mistakes. See you Friday in what will surely be a feelsy game. Keep pace, Sabres!

Thanks for reading.

P.S. Scott Wilson getting waived right now may seem stranger than how precise Jack Eichel’s game day regimen is but the 411 on that is that when he clears he’s going down to Rochester for a reclamation stint if you will having been out since Training Camp.

[asumplicity]

NieR: Automata - game diary pt. 1

Hey. I've felt like doing something with the games I play for a while. Like creating some kind of content with them, written or video or whatever. Recording and uploading let's plays to Youtube or something. But that wasn't really my thing. Just writing reviews seemed boring to me, too. So I decided I'll do game diaries. I started playing NieR: Automata yesterday. I'll do a write-up of my day 1 experience. Full spoilers ahead.

I honestly was really excited for what was expecting me in NieR: Automata. I looked at the series and knew what kind of genre it was, that it was made in Japan and some of the history around it. I hadn't really looked at much more than trailers and Wikipedia articles for any of the games though. I didn't know how the actual gameplay would go, what kind of story it was or anything. All the actual info that was known to me was that it was supposedly good, the main characters were called "2B" and "9S" and there were mech enemies with kinda cute looking faces (I find them fucking adorable for some reason), so I decided I would want to give it a try.

(Just for the info: I’m playing the game with Japanese audio, English subtitles and on Normal difficulty.)

I jumped in. The game didn't give me a lot of time to breathe. First thing I get is a white screen and a female voice talking to me. "Everything that lives is designed to end. We are perpetually trapped in a never-ending spiral of life and death. Is this a curse? Or some kind of punishment? I often think about the god who blessed us with this cryptic puzzle and wonder if we'll ever have the chance to kill him."

Well that's unsettling. Here I am, not knowing a thing and some unknown voice gives me that. Stating life as something like a curse and wanting to kill their creator. Alright then. I wasn’t expecting that, but I was already getting excited. The game goes on to start with a fun to play and decently made shmup sequence, which I didn't even know the game had any of, in which my allies just died like flies and I got left alone. Five allies. Just wiped away. They all got one shotted by some huge scary laser. Did I already say it all felt unsettling to me? I wasn't prepared for anything the game threw at me to that point.

Eventually, it settled down a little, when my flying mech-thingy was destroyed and I was left on foot. That's what I actually was kinda prepared for. Seeing my character and fighting on foot. I encountered the mechs with the cute looking faces and killed 'em. I felt how I wasn't ready to take in the combat system yet and took hits all over the place. Since there was auto-use of healing items when you got low hp it was all good so far though. I got through my first on-foot fighting sequence and got to meet 9S. He’s a polite and really chill dude imo. Before moving on I ran in circles, admiring the scenery for about 5 minutes. Everything looked nice. It was some kinda factory and some things looked kinda broken and everything, but I really enjoyed the atmosphere and I‌ still liked the looks of everything.

I moved on, ready to face and kill more mechs and complete my mission, which apparently was to find and destroy some "Goliath". I figured "Goliath" would translate to something like "real fucking big machine" and I got a destination marker on my map, which I supposed would be where the fight will take place. Every fight on the way was rather clunky on my part. I tried to get used to the game's mechanics and how they worked and took a lot of damage and used up a bunch of items in the meantime. I already noticed how there were a few alternative paths to take, which rewarded me with items, if I saw and took them. The game felt really immersive to me, I really got into the atmosphere and everything that was going on. Not much before I reached my first destination, I saw birds and a patch of green and when the birds flew away 2B slowed down and in disbelief mumbled "Are those..?" and 9S was like "You mean the birds? Yeah, there are more plants and animals here than there used to be" and I was feeling that moment.

I arrived at my destination. I had thought right. A boss fight took place. At this point, let me mention how much I like the music. Even in fights before that boss I already was lifted up by the music, featuring very distinct vocals and instrumentals which I really enjoy. It's hard for me to describe. Go give it a listen if you're interested in music, because it's fairly interesting (and good) music imo. Anyway, I died miserably after two giant sawblades hit me like 20 times in 5 attacks, because everything was way too much for me. Then, the game returned me to the main menu. I thought "wow, that looked quite hard. Weird it returned me to the main menu. But I'll restart at some kind of checkpoint for sure, right?" Let me tell you, I was wrong. I got returned to the very start, with the voice telling me how everything is designed to end and the shmup sequence. I looked at the time. I had played for like 40-45 minutes. I closed the game, mad, googling if that's actually what's supposed to happen, since the PC port, as I had noticed, did have some problems. Luckily nothing was spoiled storywise, but it was confirmed that that's what's supposed to happen.

I was pissed. I was going to go back to that guy and beat him up real bad. I jumped back in. The shmup sequence's controls came to me quite intuitively on the first run already, so that went equally good. When I got into the first fight on foot I noticed how it went much better than the first time. My determination to go and beat up the guy certainly helped with the speed I went through. Within 15-20 minutes I was at the same point I was at before, again fighting the boss. The sawblades-phase I died at before went flawless, if I recall correctly I didn't get hit once. It was a really satisfying feeling. That wasn't all there was to it though and the fight was a lot more than just beating up two sawblade-arms. It was a fun ~10 minute dance of kicking ass and getting ass kicked. However, I managed it. When I took the Goliath down, the game went into a cutscene, where I went to 9S' aid, who got badly damaged during the fight. There was some dialogue. The camera angle changed and I saw how there were 5 or 6 or something more of the same Goliaths surrounding the destroyed one we were chilling on. 9S held up a black cube and told me that the "black box" is ready. I had one too, I don't know if I didn't pay attention or if it wasn't introduced before, I didn't know what it was and where it came from. They triggered it, and everything blew up, including 2B, 9S and supposedly the Goliaths and the mech-producing factory the prologue took place in (not confirmed though).

The screen faded out and the next thing I know is that I was on some kinda space station. Everything seemed strange to me tbh. I just exploded right? So how did I get there? Dialogues happened, I learned that 2B and 9S are androids, that don't really die and even though we blew up ourselves, we simply were brought back. (I think for the sake of this moment of surprise + the message this sends combined with the opening dialogue of the game, the whole prologue had to be started over on death?) I encountered operators/commanders and other fighting units on that station called “Bunker”, which I imagine is going to be something like the main hub for the game. People told me I did great and stuff and sent me off to the next mission, to meet up with the human resistance on earth. To a stunning place introduced as “City Ruins”. I was allowed to roam around freely. There were more machines, but they were neutral/only hostile if I attacked. Plants everywhere and peaceful music.

I went exploring for a while, because I was amazed and wanted to look around before heading to the camp. I found loot lying around a lot, some hostile machines that I could kill without feeling too evil and saving points, which also provided map data. (I saved at every one obviously after the traumatic prologue death.) I didn’t have any problems with any encounters, though I found a couple of dead bodies by other players lying around the place. I approached enemies with care and was able to take them down smoothly. Eventually I went to the resistance camp and did some quests, but honestly it was more of a side thing. I was much more focused on absorbing the beautiful environment, exploring, enjoying the music and having fun. I afkd at least 10 minutes in the camp just listening to the music. Eventually while exploring I found an old rusty tower I could climb up, which I did and decided that beautiful sight was a great point to stop playing for the day.

Aight, that’s it for the write-up of my first session with NieR. I’ll be quite amazed if you actually read this far. It’s been fun writing this and I can’t wait to continue playing, haha. So far I’ve really enjoyed it and I absolutely can’t wait to fight the next boss and learn more about the story, even though I kinda also want to just explore everything around the City Ruins. I hope I’ll have the commitment to finish my diary throughout the whole game. I imagine it’ll be a lot to write once I start going for progress-heavy playing sessions, but I guess I’ll also get a little more routine into it and I’ll be much faster. We’ll see. If you did read up to here, I’ll admit that it would make me happy if you shared this, as I don’t have a real readership, but this has been a bit of effort and I imagine future entries to be as well and it would motivate me if people would read. No pressure though, I’m happy if you read this either way.

I’ll send you off with a listening recommendation, since I really love this song. Thanks for reading, cya.

[torentialtribute]

OLIVER HOLT: No one I admire in football more than Steph Houghton

Steph Houghton sits down at a table in the beach bar in the shelter of the Promenade des Anglais. She has her back to the glittering azure blue sea.

She has her back to the sun worshipers on the beach. She has her back to the white sails in the Baie des Anges. She has her game face on. She knows she has it. She knows she has questions about the punishment. She has tied it up.

She makes the questions fly to her like bullets and they ping and crack the armor she has built around her. She refuses to be vulnerable, even though there have been many times in the last ten months when she screamed inside.

<img id = "i-fbd27a51136e421e" src = "https://ift.tt/2Xx0aka image-a-22_1562443581329.jpg "height =" 407 "width =" 634 "alt =" England skipper Steph Houghton treated himself impeccably during the Women's World Cup

[Engeland] Steph Houghton is a British woman who has been working as a freelancer for many years and says it would not be good for her to contribute to this World Championship to be judged on & # 39; that one kick & # 39 She looks down while she talks.

She says that when the last whistle went off in Lyon on Tuesday, she blamed herself for the semi-final defeat of England by the US. as she squatted down and looked blindly at the grass, she was overwhelmed by the thought that it was her badly beaten late punishment, rescued by American keeper Alyssa Naeher, who d had cost a place in the final.

She says that she is now trying to be kind to herself. & # 39; In the course of the tournament I gave everything to this team & # 39 ;, she says. & # 39; It was a fine. It should have been scored. But we are in it together. We win, lose or draw together. I am always so proud of all my teammates and staff. We have given everything to try something special. We were so close. & # 39;

<img id = "i-b7e738a46afc97b6" src = "https://ift.tt/2JiF3OI -image-a-23_1562445378516.jpg "height =" 407 "width =" 634 "alt =" Houghton missed a semi-final penalty against the United States, but did not indulge in self-pity "class =" blkBorder img-share "/

Houghton missed a semi-final penalty against the United States, but did not indulge in self-pity missed a semi-final penalty against the United States but did not turn into self-pity

She says there was no mystery about who took the punishment and certainly no dispute.

& # 39; It was attached to the wall in the dressing room, so we all knew & # 39 ;, she says. Nikita Parris started the tournament on penalties, but she missed Argentina and Norway, so the responsibility went to Houghton. & # 39; I just didn't catch the ball properly. & # 39;

& # 39; I just did not catch the ball properly. I put it in the net every other day in training, but it was a different scenario. I was asked to take it, I was convinced enough to take it and I had believed in myself but I didn't get it right at night. I'm devastated. & # 39;

Nobody has happily tried to make Houghton a scapegoat for England's defeat, but it is still worth emphasizing her contribution to the team because they are far too modest and reluctant towards the team.

This is a big claim, I know, but there is no one in football, I admire more than Houghton. Not only in women's football. In soccer. Across the board.

It is not that, although it is true, I would rather have been someone else who had overlooked that punishment.

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<img id = "i-2b1bfdcf4368a5ec" src = "https://ift.tt/2XrCUnO -image-m-25_1562445425299.jpg "height =" 425 "width =" 634 "alt =" <img id = "i-2b1bfdcf4368a5ec" src = "https://ift.tt/2CqCUN8 07/06/21 / 15715424-0-image-m-25_1562445425299.jpg "height =" 425 "width =" 634 "alt =" Custodian Mary Earps proposed to hug Houghton after losing England to Sweden on Saturday

Actually, it's not that I don't know what to do. is because she is the most inspiring leader we have in English football, it is because she has been one of the best defenders of the World Cup, it is because she tackles adversity and it is because she puts her teammates before herself

It is because she is stoic and brave and the opposite of self-esteem, it is because at a time when women's football is making such a big step forward, Houghton, 31, exactly the kind of figure that game desperately needs at the forefront, to be able to see everything

It is because the BBC's ratings for matches in England during the tournament have set a series of records, which picture looks better, for example by

It's because someone had to get up to take the highest

That's because she never asks for attention, never looks for excuses and never shows weakness on or off the field. , never moan, never complain. It is because she told the manager of England, Phil Neville, the day after the American defeat that she desperately wanted to play in the Saturday game against Sweden in Nice and that she has to deal with more than we can ever imagine and never expires in something remotely resembling self-pity

I know that sport can be cruel as a matter of routine, but for anyone with a heart, seeing Houghton's penalty was almost unbearable. How much pain can be loaded on a woman? How much adversity can someone be thrown at?

<img id = "i-501d8f7f2cb8821c" src = "https://ift.tt/2Xu685x" height = "534" width = "634" alt = "England manager Phil Neville consoled Houghton after England lost to the US in the semi-final" class =

England manager Phil Neville consoled Houghton after England lost to the US in the semifinals "

England manager Phil Neville consoled Houghton after England was lost to the US in the semifinals

It was finished September when Houghton & # 39; s husband, former Bradford and Bolton defender Stephen Darby, was diagnosed with motor neuron disease, a condition that progressively damages the nervous system and for which there is no cure yet, perhaps making a stupid connection, but it felt as though karma was guilty of breaking when she marched to where the ball rested in the American area, picked it up and put it on the spot. Karma did not show up.

Of course, Houghton would never dream of using her personal circumstances as an excuse. She is horrified by that. She has antennas that detect the hint of special treatment from a kilometer away and forbade it before she arrived.

& # 39; Yes, I don't know what to do, but I don't know what to do in some way, & # 39; she says, & # 39; but I came to this tournament purely on my football and I was allowed to do so through my family and Stephen. He and everyone in my family know that I have given everything to this. I'm hard on myself. I am my own hardest critic.

People can say: & # 39; I should have done this better, but I know it in myself. For me, it will always be something that I am thinking of, but I want to try to make it positive and give myself even more motivation for the next few years to achieve something with England. That is the ultimate dream, whether it is with Team GB or with England at Euro 2021.

& # 39; There are no words anyone can say to you after something like that punishment. You just have to hug your mother, father, husband and anyone else. They have been to every game in this tournament. They are the first to be when something is bad or something negative. Their opinions are the only ones that concern me now.

& # 39; You must keep your circle tight. I am very aware of that. They are the people I really trust and trust, as well as my teammates and my manager. They would never tell me what I should have done with the penalty because I know I should have had a better connection, I know I should have taken my time a little more. "

It is easier to understand her intransigence by talking to Neville. Neville has had his own experience as the main act in an exit in England during a major tournament after he was plagiarized for giving away the decisive punishment with a foul on Romanian Viorel Moldovan at Euro 2000.

His immediate reaction after the US defeat was that Houghton had to be protected against playing in the bronze medal match against the Swedes.

[201459021] In 2017, Houghton went to Liverpool, Bradford and Bolton player Stephen Darby Bradford and Bolton player Stephen Darby

In 2017, Houghton became engaged with Stephen Darby, former Liverpool, Bradford and Bolton

& I spoke with her mother and father and her brothers, her family, after the game, & Neville says, Steph is incredible she just goes on. "She can't play the next game." Spiritually, physically speaking, it would be too much.

& # 39; I said to her: & # 39; What do you think about Saturday? & # 39 ;, And he said: & # 39; You put her there, don't you dare drop her. "And he was right, because the next morning Steph said," We have to win on Saturday and I want to play. "So she plays.

& # 39; The way I present it to her is that there are actually more important things in her life than missing a foolish punishment.

I don't know what to do, but I know not what I have to do I don't know what to do

Houghton defender fought hard against Sweden and didn't deserve to be on the losing side "

Defending Houghton fought hard against Sweden and didn't deserve to be on the losing side Houghton has & & # 39; n inner strength that some of those around the camp in England have even come so far as to believe, even taking ho with their circumstances, it was better that she missed because she was better able to cope with the disappointment about what happened. A younger player may never recover, they suggest. Houghton will.

When I spoke to Houghton in April at the FA headquarters in St George's Park, we talked about how she and her husband dealt with her diagnosis based on the fact that she was less likely to be inclined was to be asked about it during the World Cup, making it less likely distraction for her teammates.

& # 39; Of course Stephen & # 39; s my number 1 priority and he will always be, & # 39; she said then. & # 39; He has been an incredible person in the way he dealt with it. I really motivated myself to be the best person I can be and the ultimate for me to make him proud.

I didn't talk to Darby during this tournament, but then I didn't have a point. If it was Houghton's quest to make her husband proud during this World Cup and perhaps to share the nation with him, then there is only one reaction: mission accomplished.

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[andrewuttaro]

New Look Sabres: GM 1 - PIT - Lies?

Do you feel lied to? I got to say I don’t feel lied to. I know we had a coach and GM who both sold us on the idea there would be competition for roster spots and here we are looking at an opening night roster that looks awfully similar to last season. Were we lied to? This is hazardous territory for an optimist. I risk coming across like I just defend the organization at every turn. Perhaps I am less prone to join the pity aboard the latest hashtag fire this guy bandwagon. At that point, I minus well just apply for an PR position. Admittedly I was late to the Fire Housley Party and history shows the earlier you hopped on that one the smarter you appear. I was proposing ways the Sabres could make the playoffs well into February last season. You could’ve argued the season was over in December or January even with the win streak. Life is just too full of truly awful shit for me to then turn to my favorite sports team and say: “You lied to me! You Suck!” Marco Scandella is a bad player but he’s also a douchebag in real life. I would love for him not to be on my favorite hockey team, but do I feel like dragging myself along the hot, sharp rocks of pessimism after spending my day trying to figure out why Congress has decided party over country is the new norm? No. You see, no matter how bad this Sabres team gets I am going to look at them optimistically. Yeah, I’ll sprinkle in both the realism and the pessimism a lot of days, but the base ingredient will always be optimism because why would I watch sports to be more miserable? You take sports too seriously and it just becomes another source of misery which is bad for the stuff that actually matters in your life.

That was a rant, but it was also a long way of saying I think we’re underestimating this roster. They can be 100% the same players as last year and still be good. There are too many variables in this game to insist results will be the same; especially with a new coach. That’s leaving out the fact that although the win streak was a statistical anomaly on par with the first of the Meg, it doesn’t happen unless you got the horses to do it in the first place. Spoiler Alert: The Meg gets skewered by Jason Statham at the end. The same happened to the first half beast of the Buffalo Sabres last season. Even as the skewering was occurring last year we beat a Penguins team, which by the way also looks strikingly similar to last year’s club minus Phil Kessel, wait for it… twice! The Sabres beat the Pens twice last year including once when Pittsburgh was gunning for a playoff spot. Tonight was the first night of what I think will be a surprisingly good Sabres season. Here is a fact: the Buffalo Sabres had not won a season opener since the lockout shortened 2012-2013 season. Tonight they hung a 3-1 multi-goal loss on the Pittsburgh Penguins not only winning their season opener; but taking advantage of an opposing team very much not having a good night. That alone is a beautiful if it is a sign of things to come.

There is so much I could say about just being thankful for a great Sabres broadcast crew, new 50th Anniversary promos and throwback highlights but I said I don’t want to look like a Kool-aid drinker. The only big lie tonight was me casting dispersions that I’m anything other than a big old sucker for this club. They were fun from the word go in this first game! Five minutes in the Pens gave up a defensive zone turnover and Casey Mittelstadt turned the play around. He maneuvered the puck to Conor Sheary who sniped one past Matt Murray to put the visitors up 1-0! I thought I was seeing things that first period as Buffalo skated circles around the home team. There were more chances too. The yet untitled Olofsson-Eichel-Reinhart line looked dangerous. They looked dangerous and repeatedly connected on passes you can’t imagine will not lead to goals much longer. This game was also breakaway after breakaway. Apparently Kris Letang and the Pens defense has not been the same brick wall of old; it seemed like every time you turned around a fourth liner was taking a one-on-one shot with the goalie. Of course the first couple times it was Girgensons and Okposo so of course no conversion. In the third Olofsson got a similar opportunity and almost sunk it but we’ll get there.

Something happened in the second period that was very on narrative for Sabres twitter of the last several days since Training Camp ended: a Sobotka flub. Our old pal Vlad put his glove on the puck and gave Pittsburgh their first powerplay opportunity of the game. I would tell you this was evidence of the lie of the coaching staff we talked about earlier, but Jason Botterill backed up his guy in a pregame interview making it very clear the philosophy of this team is veterans first. To call the roster competition promise a lie is misleading, it was always about the veterans whether we knew it or not. I’m not pleased about it either but hopefully these incidents on the ice teach them a lesson. Evgeni Malkin did that task scoring an equalizer on the resulting powerplay. When you concede a goal to the Pens, especially an equalizer you have to be careful not to let the game get away from you. Luckily tonight the Sabres did just that and although the counterattack surely came, the defense held up. Namely Henri Jokiharju’s regular season Sabres debut showed his potential. He can get pucks out of the zone... AND he wins puck battles. This defensive depth was effective and fun tonight but geez the time on ice still reeked of a decade of futility. I would say I don’t know who will take all these defensive minutes once Ristolainen is inevitably traded but that’d be stupid: there’s at least 4 guys just on that side of the defense who can take those minutes. The Sabres survived the Pens and even started to dominate. Casey and Conor connected on the powerplay this time with a little over five minutes left in the second. I nearly dropped my Hard Cider: Sheary got a rebound and redirected it around Murray like he was doing some kind of Jeff Skinner impression. Retaking the lead was fun but what happened in the last minute of that middle frame was downright arousing.

Rasmus Dahlin scored a dangle goal that will surely be in this season’s highlight pack next Spring. Sam Reinhart and our Swedish wonder-boy skated into the zone on another surprising breakaway and passed it. Dahlin deked, dangled and put it top shelf. Samson was still going in hard thinking he’d have a rebound to tap in. No sir, this was just a grade-A certified beauty. Going into the second intermission I fought off the feelings this could be a rout. You figure the Stanley Cup caliber counterattack the Pens were known for would show up. It just never came. The breakaways just kept coming and now the big names were starting to get them. Victor Olofsson bounced one off the post! Albeit no Sabre scored on a breakaway in one of the most breakaway heavy games I’ve seen in a while. As the minutes dragged on it became more and more real. Then one soft penalty gave the Pens one last shot. Fans had booed them and were filing out of the building and… they didn’t capitalize. The Sabres took care of business and won this game 3-1 in regulation. I’m sure we’re in for several games this team loses against inferior competition this season but it’s nice to hope this could be the standard for the coming months. Let’s jut enjoy this. Conor Sheary scored his fifth goal against his former club and his second multi-goal game against them! Real Penguin killer, eh? This was the first Sabre season-opening win since the lockout shortened 2012-2013 season when Brian Flynn and Steve Ott were on this team. It was the first win in a coaching debut since 1997! That last stat is a little irrelevant, but I thought Krueger deserved some love after the hell we’ve been given him. When the Sabres lost in a shutout in the season opener last year I said I never take first games of the season too seriously. I’ll hold any declarative statements for another day but gee, this game gave me hope!

All of the 50th anniversary stuff on the broadcast got me thinking: I ought to do something special for this season. So here’s my idea: every divisional game this season, the first being next Wednesday against Montreal, I ask all you guys what was the most significant game the Sabres played against them. I think it could be fun to look back on some history. I’ll be at the home opener on Saturday and the Fan Fest starting at 5 beforehand. Shoot me a DM, drop a comment here or send a carrier pigeon to me if you want to meet up. If you are even remotely inclined to do such a thing you should also drop a like and share this blog around. This postgame stuff happens after every single Sabres game if you’re new here. Sometimes I can’t get it done same night but always before the next game. I hope you enjoyed what you got tonight. I can’t wait to see where this goes! Let’s Go Buffalo!

Thanks for Reading.

P.S. For the record, that Season Preview I did for Southtowns Tickets was submitted before the final roster and paper moves. The collective angst of Sabres twitter hadn’t blown up to DEFCON 4 at that point; it was more of a dull roar when I wrote that article.