#I don't hate Awakening but at the same time I don't want new titles for the franchise to just be Waifu Simulator or Awakening 2.0

[elionwriter]

Sherlock Holmes the Awakened: a Review

(SPOILERS AHEAD)

Sorry, sorry, sorry, but I just NEED to talk about this game! I have been a Frogwares Holmes fan since the very beginning and 'The Awakened' was always among my favourite titles. Not to mention one of the games that had scared the wits out of me. So I have to speak about the Remake now.

First and foremost, I think it needs to be reiterated that this game was made DURING THE FU****G INVASION OF UKRAINE! During such dark times, the team kept working on this. I would have supported this game even just for this reason alone.

Now, let's be honest: Frogwares never had the most marvelous graphics nor the most polished of gameplays and this entry is not an exception. I still feel the map system is a bit difficult to navigate (I may be an idiot, but I had the same issue with Chapter 1) but I really appreciated the added help the game gives you when you're recreating a scene, letting you know which passage you got wrong. Last game I found myself changing everything trying to hit the right combination so I really liked this fix.

This needs to be said: the game doesn't feel under any shape or form a product for a new fan. Everything from dialogues to game mechanics sort of take for granted that you've at least played 'chapter one'. Honestly? I'm ok with this, I hate having to always go through nearly identical tutorial stages for games I know inside out (like Pokémon) and I believe that most of not all people who are going to get this game ARE old fans!

I wasn't originally a big fan of the new Holmes and Watson models when the last game came out but....I dunno, they have grown on me. I find myself liking them now for, I suppose, no other reason than 'they are very expressive' and 'I've gotten used to them'. I think it's gotten to the point that these might be my favourite models of the two to date. Please ignore how fickle I am! (In honesty, just to draw a similar parallel, when Roger Craig Smith was first announced as Sonic's voice I hated it and now he's my fav Sonic v. actor)

This game has something.....compared to its predecessor, that makes it less scary. I can't really put my finger on it, but I distinctly remember the feeling of claustrophobia building in me when I was in the Black Edelweiss. Or the sheer jumpscare I got when the sacrificed American detective on the altar had tentacles coming out of it and severing his head making it roll to the ground. I remember almost not wanting to paddle the rowboat under the tree of hanging men in the Bayou. I remember how viscerally sick I felt at the lighthouse by all the gore and blood depicted. This time round.....I just didn't. I'm honestly not sure why this didn't hit me nearly as hard as its 2006 predecessor did!

And talking about comparisons, one thing I'm a bit disappointed they didn't grab the chance to do in this remake was fix the loose ends that were left hanging in the 2006 version. I mean....they still abandoned completely the search for that one Maori servant, what happened to all the people they managed to rescue? Who hired the private American detective that was killed? Why give out the cheap pendants? I know I'm a bit dumb and need extra explaining than what is necessarily needed but...I can't be the only one right? Sometimes you want to be told just a bit more.

Now, getting into the really good bits, that make all of it worth it!

'Chapter One' acted as a 'de facto' reboot of the Frogwares Holmes series, and I honestly think that was for the best. I don't really see where they could have gone with things after 'Devil's Daughter' and their Holmes had changed too much to be the same guy from 'The Silver Earring'...let alone Watson. But like this? They have a fresh, clean slate to start off from and they can rebuild the two mains' relashionship and lore from the ground up in a more strictly consequential manner. And the way they are doing it? I think it's state of the art!

The fact that they poke fun at themselves on certain points like Watson stating: "What about when you used to roll up only one of your sleeves? Did you get bored halfway through?!" I think the Devs themselves realized this was a cringe design choice and I like that they said so out loud.

The meta-conversation they wrote in towards the end, 'because yes, this HAS Happened before and the story still has the same outcome', is brilliant. I don't think I've ever seen another remake that acknowledges that it is a remake, and in the general madness that is mounting in the narrative this makes perfect sense! It adds one more layer of horror and inexplicable to the tale. The villain's warning 'that the Final Problem is coming and Sherlock will fall in the abyss too' is such a powerful way to use Canon. The prophecy is only made more real and dreadful by the fact that this person is aware of what has already happen in a similar but different scenario!

Also, not them using that one quote from 'The Valley of Fear' novel which happens to be one of my all time favourites!

I say, Watson,’ he whispered, ‘would you be afraid to sleep in the same room as a lunatic, a man with softening of the brain, an idiot whose mind has lost its grip?’ ‘Not in the least,’ I answered in astonishment. 'Ah, that’s lucky,’ he said, and not another word would he utter.

I think the thing that has most benefited from the Remake is Watson's character. Compared to the 2006 version, this Watson is a truly compelling character in his own right and this time round he's not just along for the ride. In this version, you simply cannot imagine how Holmes would have done it on his own. Watson was in every way a key component to the solution of the problem and the reason why Holmes didn't drown in madness. That point is driven home by Rochester asking 'How did you defeat me?' and Holmes answering 'I made a friend!'

Much of the narrative in the game was focused on Holmes truly learning to accept Watson's friendship and him as a person when he was still clinging so much to his old imaginary friend. You can see how, at first, Holmes refuses to be honest with the Doctor about what he thinks and feels and it's only as they move forward in the adventure that they both open up to each other. You can see as the adventure progresses that Holmes shifts his desperate cries from 'Jon' to 'Watson' to 'John' and the Doctor goes more and more often from 'Holmes' to 'Sherlock'. Mycroft also points this out when he says that Sherlock 'went from one Jon to another'. But this one, John Watson, is real and there to stay. In the context of a story that happens mostly in the detective's mind, Watson's friendship is really what turns the situation around!

I could add of little tid bits which were so random and on the nose that somehow worked, like the possessed 'Heidi' doll or the fact that you had to actually 'Kill Holmes' with the booby traps instead of avoiding them.

Also, "The director Guygax was randomly killed.....by a doll?!????!?!?! Yeah, let's just walk out of here no questions asked. That's too deep a wormhole even for this f***d up Adventure to go down. I'm sure nobody is gonna ask us questions, suspect or stop us as we go out the main doors!" 😃 -Holmes, probably.

So, yeah, I loved this game despite it not being perfect and my love and support goes to Frogwares more that ever!

[isabeauwolf]

Found these Doffy fan made opening and thought I'd share!

All by Raftel Archives, on YouTube! You should check them out! I've shared their Law fan made openings before! And love the both ones for Katakuri!

Song used: Yoru wa Nemureru kai? by flumpool - Ajin Opening 1.

Song used: aLIEz by Sawano Hiroyuki - Aldnoah Zero Ending 2.

------- rambling about Doflamingo; there are spoilers, if you haven't seen Punk Hazard and Dressrosa! -------

Now, onto my thoughts and to give context for any new One Piece fans out there. If you don't mind spoilers, be warned! I've watched One Piece 4 times, yes, you read that right 4 times! lol But it's been a while, so if I forget anything, I'm sorry. X////x

I have a love hate relationship with Doflamingo Donquixote, or "Doffy" for short.

This feathered giant pink flamingo is a great villain, don't get me wrong. His speech in Marineford, a new pirate era is coming was true: " "The Winner" gets to decide what's evil and what's justice."

Given his origin, you do feel sympathy for him, but it was already too late to change his way of thinking when his title as a "Celestial Dragon" (1 of 20 families that created The World Government, they are treated as nobility) was taken away from him when his father decided to live along civilians and throw away their status.

Being forced to leave a life he knew and was accustomed to, being overly spoiled and getting what he wanted, servants and slaves, and then being confused when it was taken away. The civilians(abuse victims from other Celestial Dragons) burned their home forcing them to live on the streets, he and his brother were forced to eat rotten food, then his mother died, the civilians tied him, his brother and his father against a burning building with no mercy, feeding and fueling his hatred and awakening his conquerors Haki(The Kings Haki).

Trebol found Doffy, gave him his devil fruit and a gun. Doffy killed his own father when he was 10. He offered the Celestial Dragons his fathers head to let him back into Mariejois, the home of the Celestial Dragons, but they denied him, so he decided that if he couldn't get back into Heaven, he would create his own paradise and do anything to get it.

His hatred and hunger for power only grew, when the Donquixote Pirates were formed they treated him like a King, he wanted something, he took it. He wanted someone dead, his executives (the closest members of his crew and found family) would gladly take that person out and die for Doffy.

They call him, "The Heavenly Demon" for a reason!

He's a powerful pirate, a warlord and King of Dressrosa. His devil fruit is the "string string" fruit, making him an puppet master.

He's an awakened devil fruit user, which means he can use his fruit on objects around him and turn them into strings. He's very op, smart, prideful and is deadly when he's angered.

"Joker" is his alias in the underground and black market given part of his role and involvement in both Dressrosa and what happens in Wano.

There is no denying that this 10ft, 41 year old giant of a man is attractive, but at the same time....

What he did to become Dressrosa's(Dressrosa is his ancestral home before they become his family become Celestial Dragons) current King, how he lied and manipulated so many innocent people, using his devil fruit, him hurting Law and killing his own brother, the preview Corazon, Rosinante Donquixote (who loved Law as his own and died for Law).

You can see part of Law's character that if Rosinante hadn't saved Law, he would have ended up just like Doffy. In a way, he's still took Doffy's words to heart after traveling with his crew for 3 years. "The weak don't get to decide how they die," which we've heard Doffy say.

I can't ever forgive him for it. Watching him hurt Law, no matter how many times I know he will be okay, I will cry! (Leave my snow leopard alone!)

Every once in a while I will binge read fanfics about Doffy, wanting more and more, then drop it, and the cycle repeats.

XD Dammit, why do I have to be such a sucker for Villains?

[the-force-awakens]

Yeah, that's a pretty good analysis. I don't see Poe included hardly at all, in fandom or in canon to a degree, and I think it's safe to say he has one of the least number of fans who are specifically fans of him. Like I don't see many blogs/accounts that are specifically Poe centric.

Oh man, I actually got up to answer this on my computer rather than my phone, so we'll see how into it I'll get into this ask, but yes! It's vastly unfortunate that he often gets excluded or overlooked when he's the entire catalyst for the sequel trilogy. He is, archetypically and narratively within the story, the Leia of our generation: if it was not for Poe and BB-8 (who is really like an extension of Poe), then Finn wouldn't have been able to escape the Finalizer, and Rey would have never left Jakku.

While yes, it's true that Poe wasn't initially meant to survive The Force Awakens (and other nine word horror stories for me), Poe is still one part of the primary trio of the trilogy and has been since 2015. He is not only Leia's first protégé, but the eventual leader of the Resistance, and according to the Rise of Skywalker novel, the heir to the legacy of House Organa (cue me loudly proclaiming him a Disney Prince). Yet, somehow, at the same time......no one seems to ever want to include him as part of the saga, and an important one as that?

(@dameronalone points out ever so often how much they love the shot where everyone leaves Exegol for this reason, because we see Poe flying alongside the Falcon, which really hammers in that Poe is an important player in the history of the saga).

More thoughts below the cut, because I have more and this is already lengthy.

The worst thing is that Poe was extremely popular. Lucasfilm and Marvel pretty much immediately greenlit a comic series for him, and while that was definitely to flesh his story out, if my memory serves, it was so popular that I believe the first printing sold out? And it was originally only meant to last 25 issues (which personally I think it should have stayed at, because I don't super vibe with 26-onward and it feels off and tonally disconnected to the rest of the series and also the ending of TLJ, and the characterization for Poe also feels off, but that's!! a different rant!!!) but the title was so popular that Marvel decided to extend it for two more storylines!

The issue was the fandom backlash to TLJ.

You don't have to look too far into my blog to know that I adore Poe in TLJ, and that I like his arc in the movie, and that I avidly defend him for it, but the internet in 2017-2019 was an entirely different universe from that. You could not go anywhere - Tumblr, Twitter, Youtube, fucking hell, even most major media news outlets and clickbait websites - without hearing about how much everyone hated Poe Dameron.

Why? Because they walked away from his arc deciding that he was sexist and the movie's perfect example of toxic masculinity (although, lmfao, the First Order clowns are right there). It went further than that, with headlines about how everyone hated him, how he was personally responsible for everything that happens in the Resistance in the film, and how he was the worst character in Star Wars since Jar Jar Binks (because clearly the Star Wars fandom never learns from its previous toxicity, right?). It was to the point that, to my immense horror and frustration, even as far as into promoting TROS, a reporter described Poe as a "secret villain" in TLJ to Oscar (and man do I hope that man knows Poe is loved, actually).

Fandom wasn't much different. Fanon Poe prior to TLJ was....a lot different. In some ways, a lot of fics hit the nail on the head on who Poe was, but there was a definite unifying idea of who Poe was: a pure cinnamon roll who never, ever swore, and always listened to Leia and never argued with her - let alone disobeyed her orders or put a toe out of line (this is even illustrated in canon, with the first Poe Dameron annual, where the author has Poe declare that Leia is "always right" and instantly caving in an argument).

And TLJ Poe is about....as far removed from that vision of Poe as you can possibly get - although nothing about him in TLJ is ooc. We see the bare bones of it in The Force Awakens, and Before the Awakening and the comics further flesh out Poe in a way that perfectly leads into the Last Jedi. But the cinnamon roll fanon was made so common and leaked so far into fandom consciousness, that there was this strange concept that Poe was never, ever angry even in expanded material, which...he does. He gets pissed off plenty of times in the comics, and with the Defense Fleet while arguing with Deso.

So, canon Poe did the unthinkable and, y'know, didn't fall in line with how fanon saw him, which resulted in a huge backlash over the fact that he was a character with agency and a personality (that is NOT sexist thank you), which resulted in us getting books like Resistance Reborn, by authors who can't stand him or describe him as anything besides "supremely arrogant" and spends three hundred pages emotionally torturing him, claiming he needs to die, physically assaulting him, and you know...having the person who attacked him and the other person who claimed he needed to die flirt with him, because it also spends an ungodly amount of time sexualizing him to an uncomfortable degree, because the one thing fanon could agree on outside of the fact that he had been "ruined" or that he was a jackass or a "fuckboi" (yeah that went around too), was that Oscar Isaac is really goddamned fine in the Last Jedi (he is, I'll give them that, there's something about tlj!Poe, scientists remain baffled).

And on top of all of that, a particular fraction of the fandom developed an interesting habit of taking new pieces of canon and spreading them around online out of context, claiming that the writers were now intentionally writing him as sexist and as a jackass, and ruining his character further. I don't know for certain if this had any effect overall on the fandom's perception of him, but I know that it did almost break my spin in him for a while because I thought people were being very genuine, and it wasn't until 2020 that I got curious and started doing my own research into the panels/paragraphs being shared online, and sure enough, discovered that the angle had been falsified to paint Poe into a worse light (which, if anyone is curious, is why I did my deep dive into everything that he was in, because I didn't want to be fooled again. You can't trick me if I know everything lmfao).

So essentially, his popularity nosedived after the Last Jedi. It seemed to bump up a little bit, or at least there definitely seemed to be more people interested in him/writing for him in 2020 coming off the lockdown, but obviously that has very much dwindled. But I've definitely not seen any blogs dedicated to Poe as a character since 2017, and you don't ordinarily see him in miscellaneous Star Wars gifsets that go around either, let alone solo Poe gifsets (I know because I lose my shit anytime there's a new one that's not by me), and Poe creations that have nothing to do with a ship is.........even less likely to be found.

I definitely think canon is at least trying to keep him in our minds though. He was the second character to lead one of the Lego Specials, and that Rey short story ("Through the Turbulence") was focused on her friendship with him. Whether or not that's because of the possibility of Oscar returning for the Rey movie (which feels fairly tangible, considering he's been kind of shady about it after mentioning he'd come back for a good story, and doing that Halcyon video), or if it's just because of Lucasfilm maybe warming up to him as a character again*, I don't know, but I hope it means we get good-faith content for him again soon.

*Because I'm tired of the story group constantly being a little bitch about him, and the same goes for the Topps Trading Card App. Maybe people wouldn't think he was a villain if you stopped describing him like a terrible person? Just a thought.

[leonawriter]

Thinking about getting into something new and having the trouble of "where's the demos, do I really wanna risk spending the money on something I don't know if I'll be able to play" and there aren't any demos for it (or don't seem to be) so... like usual, I will most likely be just. Looking something up online and eventually just... watching through it.

Which only reminds me of the sheer number of times I've seen (especially with the Take Things Literally Autism) "[fans] who haven't/don't even play their own game" and the people who pretty much do say that you need to have played a thing to be a "real" fan and it just.. sucks?

Because with so many things I have to filter out "okay but this social game mechanic gives me bad anxiety. this calendar aspect gives me bad anxiety. I'm not sure how well I'd do with the controls on this one. I don't know if I'd be able to react fast enough for that one. the pov here would give me a headache. I would get motion sick/dizzy from the movement animations" all of which translate to "I have heavy doubts that I can play this and finish it."

I... don't regret buying P5R? I like having it on my system, and in hard copy. But I probably spent ages longer looking stuff up to know exactly what to say correctly for negotiations and stuff than I "had" to, and hate it when I realise I could have used a different Persona that would have worked better for whatever given SL.

Which is probably why my favourite games are ones where you really can just take your time and do all the mini side quests without worrying that you'll get a non-standard game over for taking too long, I don't have to worry about upsetting the fictional characters (I get enough of that from my anxiety disorder about upsetting people in real life, I don't need that in a game), and the controls are easy enough for someone with, I don't know, dyspraxia, which affects fine motor control and coordination (which is why I have trouble with XIV's more recent content).

So, like... early XIV is a comfort thing because I know how that works and it's familiar and easy for me. Mobile games are often easy go-tos, because they tend to be turn-based, which erases the need for fast reaction times. That'd also be why Pokemon was such an easy favourite growing up; it was turn-based, and the combat was easy to figure out because of the type alignments. P5T was fun too, for much the same reasons. I do remember enjoying and beating a couple of the really old (aka, GBC+) Zelda titles, like the original Link's Awakening, the colour version of Link to the Past, and the more "recent" Link Between Worlds, but I had issues with some of the others.

And- pretty much every time I want to try something new, these problems pop back up like "hey, remember me?" which again is like. So frustrating. Because I see people playing games that sound so fun, and the lore is fun, but I feel like... "Oop, guess I've gotta set aside a few dozen hours to watch someone else play! 8)" which isn't even always a viable option... because I find commentary on playthroughs highly irritating and if they skip past the dialogue (like some do!) then they've basically made the point of the videos null and void, y'know?

[sailorrose19]

Obey me headcanon/ AU idea: If Lilith lived

CW: Mentions of death, suicide, suidical thoughts, attempted suicide, blood, self harm, PTSD,

MC and Lilith are not distantly related in this

Well all know what happened during the Great Celestial War and Lilith was fatally shot after Beel had to make a difficult choice to save either his twin or his beloved baby sister well... Lilith survives just barely when the arrow struck giving her a very nasty scar at the base of her wings and they all fell. Lucifer held Lilith in his arms weeping apology after apology for causing the Great Celestial War. Lord Diavolo and Barbatos show up and well know Lucifer swears his alligence and loyalty to Diavolo in exchange to save Lilith's life but instead of reincarnating her to be a human, she is treated for her injuries in a separate room from the brothers due to their severity she sustained in the war. Once she and her brothers were nursed back to health, the Demon King gave them their titles until Lilith was given her title as The Avatar of Despair. Though her physical wounds and injuries healed, her mental and emotional state didn't. When Satan came along after being born out of Lucifer's pure, raw, unfiltered and unadulterated wrath she wasn't sure of how to approach her new brother until when he flew into his rages, her demon powers awakened and managed to stop him when she saw that he was on his knees and tears fell from his eyes. (Think of Steven Universe's Blue Diamond and her powers) This was her Pathokinesis which was discovered can affect anything and anyone within her aura feeling intense sadness and grief.

In Nightbringer if she lived, Lilith doesn't have much control over her Pathokinesis making her brothers cry with her powers whenever she has an emotional breakdown. There are times that she would have terrible nightmares of the Great Celestial War and this was in contribution to her PTSD and CPTSD. She would constantly blame herself for their fall believing fate was cruel to let her live and this made her suicidal leaving her suicide letter in Lucifer's room but her attempts of ending it all were stopped by her brothers mainly the twins. Lucifer had stopped her attempted suicide when she tried to use a knife against her throat. Of course he'd lecture her to never do what she did again which triggered her pathokinesis.

"I get it okay! I'm the black sheep of this family!"

"Lilith, you need to calm down. Your powers are acting up again."

Lucifer understands the severity of her emotional instability and tries to not be so harsh with her in his lectures and assures her that he along with the rest of her brothers don't hate her. Her feelings towards humans is reserved after what happened with her lover and is left in the dark with their fate if they lived or die. Swore she would never fall in love again especially with a human. Hates Valentine's Day but stays for the chocolates and Beel gives her some that were discounted the day after.

In SWD the present timeline: Lilith has better control of her pathokinesis and has a healthier coping mechanism when she has another emotional breakdown. Lucifer revealed to her that he had locked Belphie away for his own protection, because he was openly against the human race and put Diavolo's exchange program in jeopardy and since she was the only one that knew, he forced her to keep silent about it and make tell her other brothers he was sent to the human world as part of the exchange program. When MC came along, Lilith kept her distance from them not wanting history to repeat itself. And in the events of lesson 16 seeing what Belphie had done killing MC her pathokinetic powers are in full flare affecting everyone with her intense sadness.

"Belphie... Stop this you're hurting them!"

"What have you done... WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!!!!!!"

"All I see is a monster in place of the brother I once loved!"

It was almost the same pain she felt when she found out the human she loved was dying of an incurable illness.

When MC is alive again, she promises never to take their presence for granted and both of them weren't ready to forgive Belphie for what he had done and confessed why she kept her distance from them and that she didn't hate them or did anything wrong other than forge pacts with them to free her brother from his prison and to have them be a family again.

"I... I guess I could forge a pact with you. Think of it as my apology for being so distant and aloof towards you."

"MC, why are you crying? I said you can make a pact with me."

"They're not sad tears, they're tears of joy."

I do headcanon that if Lilith lived and became a demon along with her brothers her demon powers would include pathokinesis which is the power to control the emotions of those around you. The House of Lamentation isn't big enough for two emo demons. Yes, I do see Lilith as an emo goth girlfriend.

[deeptrashwitch]

Talofa Witch! Just saw your post about the WIP and this title caught my attention.

Manwha AU

Mind explain or show some snippet about this! Pleeeeeaaaaaase???🥺🥺🥺

Talofa Taro ^^

Ohhh, the manwha AU is a good one! I don't know if you've seen the manwhas about hunters/players that enter to a tower and hunt monsters and are disgustingly rich on the modern world, but it'll be something like that. However since it always shows the society generations after the first monster appereance, I wanted to twist it a bit and do it about the first gen. Like, what would happen if suddenly random people around the world get super human powers? How would the world react? How merciless the world can be?

And because I love talking about this AU! Here's a little snippet!

[...] And it was just a matter of time, by nighttime all of them were looking at how the people were now protesting in front of the base, scared…hostile. Many were throwing objects to the walls, and at some point they had to fortify everything even more, with Elliot rising a barrier anchored to a weird stone inside the base, a manna nucleus. Now Alicia was up in the walls, looking down with indifference and even some disgust, at the same time, Guardian revealed itself by her side. “What are you thinking?” Guardian asked, looking at her human part  “Can’t you guess? You’re me” “...They’re pathetic. and they are terrified” “Indeed, they’re boycotting us because they’re scared as fuck of what we are now. They hate us, and I bet they’ll kill us at the slightly opportunity they have�� Alicia muttered, frowning slightly “and when the break starts, they’ll beg for help” “And then?” “Let’s wait, we’ve survived too many sieges as soldiers and even then, we can get food from the different biomass we were sent to. Elizabeth and Wraith won’t suffer for our fault” “Good to hear, we should go inside, right?” “Yeah” she said while a rock crashed against the barrier, just centimeters away from her own face “it’s for the best” Alicia turned around and jumped into the floor with superhuman agility, then walked inside while the screams became louder and louder behind her, while inside the base everyone was preparing everything. Wraith was absolutely frustrated because the power was shut down, the lines were sabotaged as a punishment, and now they were excommunicated except for little devices. Nicholas was looking for what to do, trying to connect the main system to any source of power independent from the electricity of the city, but there wasn’t much progress. “So outside is chaos, huh?” Elijah asked while he organized all the stories about awakened people that he was able to download before all of them were erased suddenly “It’ll be like it until the world accepts there are new powerful people around” [...]

Thanks for sending this in, aulelei!

[faroreswinds]

Existential question, but what are your thoughts on series changes and how it creates a rift between old and new? The new get criticized for being "casuals", and the old get criticized for being "stuck in the past".

Hm, good question.

I like to believe my opinion is nuanced. On one hand, I don't believe in abandoning a series' identity, and turning your back on the old fans. Old fans are what kept the series alive in the first place, after all. The fans that stuck through the bad because they believed in what the series stood for. The fans that shelled out their precious money for the mediocre as well as the good.

Those fans who stuck around because they loved the series for what it was, what made it special, should not be thrown aside casually.

On the other hand, I also do not believe in completely catering to old fans. New ideas can breath new life into an old franchise. And new ideas can bring about new ways to grow and gain an audience. Sometimes, some ideas are just too niche, and when ideas are niche the series can't pull the numbers in to expand beyond their horizons.

It's a fine line to walk. A series should explore new ideas, but I believe those ideas need to stay rooted to what made the series unique and special in the first place. This is not as easy as it sounds, though. We can see this in series like Zelda or FE, where some of the changes in the newer games have the older fans scoffing at them, while bringing in new fans who have no interest in the older games believe the older stuff is inferior in every way.

Like, if I was to use Totk and Botw as an example, Botw did not scratch that Zelda itch for me because it deviated too much from the origins of the games. Yes, I do mean the OG Zelda game. It has weak dungeons, a weak story, weak puzzles, and so on. But Totk actually felt more like a Zelda game. It still had weak dungeons and a shit story, but it took steps into attempting to bridge the gap between the new playstyle with some of the old, like a linear narrative (sort of), thematic dungeons, etc. [Admittedly, some of that might also be Totk cannibalized a bunch of Zelda games for ideas as well (sky islands, Imprisoning War, Ganondorf kneeling in fake fealty, Sages awakening, a "dark world", a Puppet Zelda AND a Phantom Ganon, time-loop).]

Fans on both sides, though, shouldn't be trying to gatekeep each other from the series. We all love the same thing in some way or another. Old fans should not sneer at the new for being different, and the new should not reject the old as some nostalgic boomer bait. It's the old that lead to the new.

I have been on both sides of the coin. I can say it is certainly easier to be on the "new" side than the old. I am not an old FE fan, for instance. I've only been a fan since Awakening. So the changes that came with Awakening and onward did not hit me so hard as it has FE fans that have been fans for longer. There was a time when I didn't understand why older FE fans clung to the older games, when these newer ones were just the old games but better! It took some time before I saw their side, and I understand now why these fans hold the positions that they do.

The "old" side is much more difficult side to be on. The newer side provides comfort. Comfort in knowing that future titles will likely be more like the new. But the old is not offered such luxury. The old side cannot know if the series will ever return to the way they liked it before. Will I ever get another 2D Zelda again, for instance? Is 2D Zelda dead for 20 years, or longer? Will Zelda continue to be copies of Botw, like Totk was for Botw?

And it is hard to hear how "aged and terrible" the old games are. It is hard to have fingers pointed at you as you hear that you only like the old games due to nostalgia.

I personally hate that this rift exists. I don't want it to exist. And I don't think it has to. I do believe that as long as the series stays true to what it originally was meant to be, what made them popular today and survive so long, the new would be welcomed by the old with more open arms, and the new would look more fondly on the old.

[ineffablydelighted]

Hello @acheemient, you've awakened a monster so that is on you and on you only.

[People who are used to hate me will now hate you just the same. We're on the same boat now. I'm the companion you haven't chosen.]

I just want the infamous Kate Sharma/Anthony Bridgerton tense scene [The S02 E04 one] but applied to Aziraphale and Crowley, like:

Imagine. Season 3.

Aziraphale has tried his best to become a ruthless Supreme Archangel (being heartbroken helping immensely) and has become so much so that even the Archangel Michael avoids getting in his way.

Aziraphale has convinced himself Crowley only wanted him to be the Demon who tempts away an Angel and that he never really cared for him.

He eventually returns to Earth to personally kickstart Second Coming and runs into Crowley in his old Bookshop he thought was abandoned.

He acts all cold and impossible to reach but Crowley tries to break his "armor" again.

[Okay, you inspired me so much I just HAD to write the whole thing. YOUR. FAULT. ENTIRELY.]

Aziraphale: *enters his Bookshop* *turns on only one led candelabrum**is surprised the place is not dusty*

Crowley: *arrives in a rush, ready to fight some mafia**freezes**acts cold* It's... you. What are you doing here, if I may ask, Supreme Archangel? *says his new title super sarcastically*

Aziraphale: *acts even colder* Why are you so surprised I'm here? This is my shop, after all.

Crowley: *paces intensely* When will you return back Up?

[They exchange a first angry/confused gaze.]

Crowley: Are you here for the Second Coming? Are you here to destroy the only place we've ever loved, Angel?

Aziraphale: Yes, that is exactly why I'm here and you do not get to call me that anymore.

Crowley: *angrily mumbles* I call you the Hell that I want. *confused* And you're now sure this is part of the Ineffable Plan? That this is approved? The world crashes down, and... the War starts?

Aziraphale: Why would that concern you? You always dwelled on going to Alpha Centauri anyway.

Crowley: Forget me for a second. How have they brainwashed you so much up there? Is this what you want? *insists louder**approaches* Is THIS what YOU want, Angel?

Aziraphale: *brief movement of recoil*

Crowley: *approaches anyway* Or is it about me? Are you mad at me?

Aziraphale: *angry but his voice starts to tremble* Not everything is about you, Crowley!

Crowley: Tell me what happened, then! What did they do to you? What did I do for a whole planet to be destroyed as punishment?

Aziraphale: *muster all the coldness he can* Because... *eventually snaps* You kissed me! A demon! You kissed me, tempting me away from my real mission! If you would ever have accepted me for who I was, you would never have done that, you would just have let me leave!

Crowley: *snaps as well* You do realize I could say the same about you, right?!

Aziraphale: What? What did I ever do to you?!

Crowley: You... *approaches a bit more* You tried to make me an Angel again! Without my consent. Without ever realizing that is the last thing I would ever want for myself... And somehow, you hate ME for it. *ends with gritted teeth*

Aziraphale: *feels guilty in a closeted drawer of his mind**Still proceeds to answer angrily* You know what? I do. I hate you. You're a Demon, Crowley, we're on opposite sides, how many times will I have to tell you that before you finally grasp it?

[And then, the atmosphere suddenly shifts as Crowley makes two more steps with a new expression on his face.]

[Also, let's keep the Moulin Rouge-sounding violins in the back, I love them.]

Crowley: You're right, Angel. I am a Demon. *makes another two steps*

Aziraphale: *tries to stay cold* And we are... on opposite sides.

Crowley: And we are *only staring at Aziraphale's lips now* *whispers* on opposite sides...

[Silence. Crowley approaches further.]

Aziraphale: *struggles to breathe* D-don't... consider... doing that... again...

Crowley: *seductive/angsty voice* Say you do not care for me anymore.

Aziraphale: *closes his eyes in almost total reddition**Still tries to fight it anyway**heart racing*

[Both are temple to temple now, almost lips to lips as well]

Crowley: *calculately whispers right between Aziraphale's ear and neck so he can feel his breath* Tell me you feel nothing and I will walk away.

Aziraphale: I... I feel... *tries to evacuate but brings himself back to him**cannot say it*

Crowley: Yeah... *closing the last distance between them**victorious smile* That's what I thought, Supreme Archangel. *takes Aziraphale by the back of his neck and kisses him*

Aziraphale: *resists for less than a tenth of a second**gives in passionately*

Kisses I want between Crowley and? Aziraphale in Season 3:

1. When they see each other again for the first time since the end of Season 2, Aziraphale just plants one on Crowley, Doctor Who/Rose Tyler style:

2. Mid-battle, Aziraphale and Crowley fighting back to back and we get one like this:

3. After kissing, Crowley throws out a cheeky, "Wait a minute. Angels don't kiss like that." And Aziraphale responds with, "Oh, yes, they fucking do."

I will take any or all of the above, please and thank you.

[rouge-variant]

heyy i wanted to request something

im a very affectionate and loving person, almost clingy, and i often feel like no one loves me as i love them and i dont recieve the same "love" that i give back. Sooo i wanted to request reader feeling like that with levi? like maybe he doesnt love them as much

its perfectly fine if you dont want to :))

No!!! You deserve to feel all the love you give x2!!!! I will give it to you! 💜💜💜💜💜💜💜

Ok I think I did it the way you wanted but if I'm going down the wrong path, let me know and I will fix. I did change it a little bit so that he does love you, just wasn't sure how to express it which is why he seemed different. Also if you have a better title for this, PLEASE tell me...titles are hard. So sorry about the wait! Thanks for your request and I hope you enjoy!!!

Levi Ackerman x Reader: Affecting Affection

Trigger Warning: Due to the nature of the request there is mentions of neglect and emotionally unstable relationship. Happy ending but please keep this in mind while you read.

Levi doesn't quite understand affection. The description of the word that his mind creates is blurry just like all of his memories of what it feels like to receive this much love.

At first he would be jerking away from your affection only because it was so new to him. It took weeks before he would let you hold his hand, let you play with his hair or even to cuddle against his chest. You be hardly ever seen his face while you initiate thats thing and any time you've asked him to looka t you, you're always greeted with glare and incoherent grumble.

Levi's never been the one to start something either. He just seems so distant and it's not a surprise to see him ignore the changes in your behavior. You've become less touchy, less persistent to get him to get him to take a break and lie with you for a while, you're there in the room but only the body of the person he loves.

It takes him a while but eventually he does notice. It's late...better term, its early morning, when he hears your sleepy voice from the cracked door of the bedroom. Its faint but there's nothing else to cause noise so he can hear you. Theres small whimpers and he gets up to check on you. As he reaches the door, you mutter and he feels his chest constrict.

"Why don't you love me anymore?" Its unclear to whom you're talking to in your dream but it triggers his mind to replay the last couple of weeks. Your absence is outline in red in his memories. The fallen look on your face when you leave him to his work, the way you silently deliver his tea and snacks, you even stopped staying goodnight before you retire.

Panic settles in his body and he backs away from the door so he won't wake you. He hates it. He hates that he's treated you like this because he was afraid of getting used to your affections. He was scared of it and scared of admitting it to you. Some partner he was.

He left his work on his desk and changed into something better to rest on before approuching the empty side of the bed. Slowly he joined you and turned onto his side. His arms reached under the blanket and loosely held your waist. He must've looked ridiculous and his cheeks burned at the thought of it but he managed to snuggle up to you. "I'm sorry" he mumbled into your hair while you continued to sleep. Your subconscious felt him there and you turned slightly to such your face in his chest. He smiled a little and stayed with you for the remaining hours of darkness.

When you woke up, your were greeted by the soft fabric of his shirt and the feeling of fingers in your hair. You looked up to see Levi's head facing the window. He had yet to notice your awakening. This was odd to you, normally he's already dressed and making tea in the messhall, but right now, he's in your shared bed, holding you. You squirm a little to sit up and the familiar flinch from Levi returns. He looks at you and you see the flicker of concern and shock in his eyes. He says nothing, eyes darting down, but his arms are still around you

"Did you...want me to move?" He asks and you blink in confusion. Why would you want that? He's being affection, awkward as hell maybe, but at least he's trying. "Did you want to?" You make him look at you and he sighs.

"I don't know...I'm-" he breaks off looking for the right words and a way to day it that wasn't going to make you feel bad.

"I'm uncomfortable with this, not because of you but because...I don't know how to do this. I heard you talking in your sleep earlier. I love you more than anything, I don't say it enough and I doubt that I express it enough but I do love you" he admits. His body has gone stiff and the silence that settled between the two of you, feels like its choking him.

"I want to know how I can make you feel loved...but I need you to teach me" he continues and looks at you. You're speechless. For good and bad reasons.

The bad being that it took him weeks to figure out that you were acting strange, for nearly ignoring since you guys got together, that even how he's still so hesitant about this.

But he's trying to make amends, and if you've learned anything about Levi, it's that he stays true to his word. The fact that he hasn't left you yet despite his own discomfort, is proof of that already.

"Alright, but that doesn't mean you're off the hook Ackerman" you tease and he relaxes.

"I'm well aware. Thank you" he nods.

"For starters, we are going to stay here for a bit longer and cuddle. If you're going to hold me like this, get comfortable first" you instruct and he does, lying down a bit more to relieve the ache in his back. You then nustled back into his side and he wrapped his arms around you yet again.

"Levi, if I'm gonna teach you how to do this, I need you to tell me what is comfortable, what's new and if you need time to adjust to it, and what not to do" you locked eyes with him.

"This is about you just as much as it's about me" you added and he nods.

"This, this is ok. Thank you for being so patient with me" he smiled a little.

"Thank you for taking this risk" you kissed his lips. He hummed as he returned the kiss, cupping you cheek. You smiled as you pulled away.

Over the next few weeks, you and Levi grew closer as you slowly made progress with him understanding your loving ways. He started to respond better to your touches, engaging with you more when you brought snacks during his late hours of work, even started to plan smaller dates and initiate more cuddles and kisses on his own.

There was a few times when things didn't work well, like when Levi attempted to help rub your back in after a long day of training but you were to ticklish to hold still and it stressed him about hurting you. Or when you tried to cover him with a blanket after he fell asleep at his desk but your fingers brushed his neck which woke him up and set him on guard. They were funny but equally embarrassing on both sides. But it's a work in progress and something you thought you would never see. Sure he still isn't as affectionate as you but at least now he's doing more to show his love for you. As more time passes, who knows, maybe Levi will become as affectionate as you.

[katiecomma]

WIP Tag Game

Rules: I will post all the names of all the files in my WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous, and tag as many people as I have WIPs to do the same. Send me an ask with the title that most intrigues you and I’ll post a little snippet of it or tell you something about it.

Feel free to ask about several WIPs. I love talking about them.

@nade2308 @csinickstokes - You guys asked for it... it's... A LOT... I'm the queen of Unfinished WIPs...

I'm putting these ALL under Keep Reading... because it is NOT a small amount... also: tagging as many people as WIPs is laughable... so that's not happening... And I'm going to tag my people here so they don't have to scroll down what is going to be an insanely long list... @stephmcx @becauseimawinchester @turtle-steverogers @badwolfbadwolf @frozenmemories1987 - as always this is totally for fun and only if you want to guys.

Ok... here goes...

MacGyver (2016)

Baseball AU (listing this because it is unfinished... if you guys want to know more about what's to come you can ask for something on this one)

Tokyo

Prank War

MacDalton McDanno

5 Times - Jack/HR

Jill/Mac

Episode Related (folder title not a WIP)

- 301

- 303

- 311 - coda

PTSD

Light Pollution (Cabin Under the Stars 2)

Those Who Favour Fire (Riley/Mac Fire/Ice)

Desi/Cage

Jack/Matty/Ethan

MacDalton T-shirt Five Times

MacDaltonStokes (folder title not a WIP)

- Caught in the Act

- Hypothermia

- Dating

- Isn't It Weird Bonus Requests

- Lost and Found

- Proposal Chapter 2 - From Prompt

- Nick Kidnappers for MK

- DaltonStokes First Meeting

- Kovacs

- Fight

- Warrick

- DaltonStokes - Mistletoe

- New MacDaltonStokes verse

- Random Smut

64 Days

Bozer/Kalei

Maybe - Mac/Zoe

Jack/Cage 5 Times

Back From the Sandbox

Domestic - One Shot

Nudity

Quarantine

The Breakup

Prince/Soldier AU

Nobody's Ever Really Gone

Mac/Jack/Jill

After the Ghost in NY

Adrenaline

MacStokes

Mac/OC and then MacDalton

Hayloft - MacDalton

Werewolf/Vampire

MCU

Sam/Steve

SamSteve Fall Vacation

Storres

Rumlow/Bucky

SamSteve - First Move

Being Human (UK)

Christmas Miracle

Leverage Fic

Safe

Wanted

No Idea What I Can Do

Can't Lose You

The Old Guard Fic

Jealousy

Kindness

00Q

I Hate Flying

Star Wars (FinnPoe)

Post TroS

Waking Up

Star Trek

DS9 (folder not a WIP)

- Garashir - Home at Last

Voyager (folder not a WIP)

- Harry/Tom - Out of Uniform

- Random ABO idea

Merlin

To Bed Ideas (idea document and folder that contains the dashed list below)

- Elyan

- Gwaine

- Leon

- Percival

- Lancelot

- Arthur

- Bonus Percy/Gwaine

Love Potion

The One You Love Most

OT3 Merline/Gwaine/Arthur

Perwaine 5 Times

Gwaine Doesn't Die - Smut

Crossovers

Mac/Buck - Epilogue

Halloween (idea document and folder that contains the below)

- Scisaac

- Sterek

- Cath/Quinn

- Buddie

- McDanno

H50

415 Coda

5 Times

PTSD

Carson Rodes

Danno Maid of Honour Trash

The Future

McDanno S1 Get Together One Shot

A Little Tied Up

1013 Coda

1015 Coda

BroTPs for the Win

Super random smut

The Jersey Slip

The Missing Peace

Random Get Together

Married

Steve/Jack - Series End

Air Mattress

I'm Not Leaving

Nahele

Supernatural

Two Rooms

CSI

Warnick - Dom/Sub Smut

Warnick - Break the Spiral

9-1-1

Sleep Tight

Buddie

Anger

Buddie Almost Died

Buddie Domestic

Post Crossover Ep - Buck Comes Out

The Future

Random Smut - Eddie Panic/Control

Buddie/Step Up

Eddie's Sexual Awakening

Teen Wolf

Blood

For Life

Stiles Voyeur

Pack bond

First Touch Soulmate AU

Cabin Trip

Don't Leave

Where's Stiles?

Interrupted

Scisaac (Humpty Dumpty)

Scisaac Winter Cuteness

Isaac/Stiles/Derek - Audience

Panic

Define "Ok"

But Now I See

Consent

The Rave

Scisaac - Bike

Scisaac - Ice Bath

[itscinnafox]

STORY NOTES [akafuri] : By The Next Sunrise

Because I had sooooo much fun doing this with a friend (@miss-cactus) :] (also being the first collab' work that's posted) and had a lot of messy notes and drafts, it's just so precious to me not to ramble about it >w< also plenty of fun times in just 2 and half months despite life biting my ass at the same time, totally my stress relief lol. Also, this story really isn't just some cheesy stuff for the sake of romance. It's genuine love (੭ ˃̣̣̥ ω˂̣̣̥)੭ु⁾⁾

Read the story here in AO3 Summary: On the way to his brother’s house, the spring showers had begun again. With an open palm, he let it collect the cold showers and let it flow out from the cups of his palm. They were chilly despite the warming sun, he looked up at the sky, and wondered what the rain would be like in other parts of the world. Furihata smiled. He would find out. Perhaps by one of the next sunrises.

.☆ﾟ.☆ﾟ.☆ﾟ.☆ﾟ.☆ﾟ.☆ﾟ. Rambles undercut ଘ(੭ˊ꒳ˋ)੭✧ .☆ﾟ.☆ﾟ.☆ﾟ.☆ﾟ.☆ﾟ.☆ﾟ.

FIRSTLY, @miss-cactus has all my gratitude ♡(ŐωŐ人) without her; AkaFuri will be stranded in France LOL! Seriously, I'll just dump them in some random village in France and just maybe not even finish this story at all even. The time she took to find me a place, translate, edits and also judging me for my description of the place LOL yep... total life saver. With her help it really motivated and inspired me a lot! She's the oil to my car............. you get the idea :] .

BONUS, she's also a translator and translated many amazing works, basically a deity, breathing life back into them. Also, she has original works too :D check 'em out, it's cute! It's in French, but they're easily translated, she's that good! (๑>◡<๑) her AO3

WEIRD FACT, I also had a short break up with my boyfriend of 7 years while writing this. LOL. I was so upset but I got motivated by the similarities, that when he asked for us back I was like 'But-but the similarities though!' but I love him....bleeegh. So I said yes, and we're better than before. YAY!

๑ Story Base ๑ The idea popped when I was listening to 'The sun after washed by spring rain' by Wang Lee Hom on a rainy day on my day off, and florist Akashi just looks so beautiful lol and the rest just came up.... and I really wanted this vibe for AkaFuri something incredibly soft and warm~ just cozy >w< huehue~

This story sets in Spring, spring here, spring there~ Spring is the breath of new life, basically Furi's story lol.

I was also aiming for this story to be short and a bit poetic...... LOL then 11k words later I just gave up and was like: well, if AkaFuri wanna romance then who are we to say no? (Akashi will shave my hair in my sleep lol)

๑ Playlist ๑ Play on Youtube The playlist is by order according to each part within the story. I really love to ramble about this since music is my inspiration for a lot of things and the vibe of the whole premise, section of their development and perspectives.

☆ 11 : 11 by Taeyeon Introducing Furihata's little sob lol and Furi's perspective. After Furihata breaks up with his girlfriend (who again, have no significant in his life what so ever), he goes through the phase on moving forward. It really isn't him moving forward with his feelings for her though, it's just him moving forward from the familiarity of being with her in his life. With her gone, he finally reconnects with who he is, like in this passage : "However, somehow with just a fling of his bag onto the island top threw him years back. He has not always been this tidy and clean." Furihata had basically lived his life to accommodate to those around him. (I wanna stress that Furi wasn't forced into a relationship or was it abusive. It was just a relationship with someone whom Furi had no infatuation for. It just so happens she wanted to date him after the wintercup, and Furi is just like 'yea ok?' but really he didn't exactly thought it through.)

So this is where Furihata moves on from the familiarity. He cries because they dated lol, but really he's just confuse.

☆ The Sun After Washed By Spring Rain by Wang Lee Hom Exactly one year after Furi's break-up. The source of this story idea lol. Also, Furi's perspective. The title and the song is literally what it meant; the sun after the spring rain which brings in new beginnings. I present you, this passage of the story: "Instead, with an open palm, he let it collect the cold showers and let it flow out from the cups of his palm. They were chilly despite the warming sun, he looked up at the sky, and wondered what the rain would be like in other parts of the world."

☆ Reunite by Jordie Power I present you, when Akashi appeared and Furihata's crush on Akashi just awakened and go haywire LOL! In this AU, Furihata has genuine feelings for Akashi. They were long time friends, and there were even a few emphasis of their friendship through high school but because Furihata has a girlfriend and Akashi respected that (although most times, in my brain, is just Akashi crying to Kuroko LOL!)

☆ Passage by Miyano Mamoru Furihata and Akashi's similarities. The song is basically about finding yourself as you age, the experiences you go through as you age (i'm 27 and i'm still confuse lol) Even though this story focuses on Furihata a lot and little less on Akashi except for little hints here and there, Akashi was just as lost as Furihata.

Random thought (as I type this), my boyfriend had told me this before "Even though we don't need each other, and do well on our own. We have friends but it's so different. Is just something different to have someone you love around, so to an extend, I really do need you and to share everything with you, it really makes me happy." it really is something different to have someone by your side especially when you found someone. (p/s: you definitely don't need to be in a relationship to feel complete. you complete yourself okay? :3) Furi and Akashi have been in-love since high-school, they have accomplished a lot on their own but in a passage, they both felt lost and felt like something was 'empty' that was because they were still in-love, and they met each other and truly want to spend their life together and share everything.

☆ Moonlight by Miyano Mamoru Mmmmmm~ the juice. This is Akashi's perspective when he wants to romance Furihata (∗ᵕ̴᷄◡ᵕ̴᷅∗)՞ and of course, sneakily confesses to him. OH MY GOODNESS! THIS IS LITERALLY THE PART THAT I'VE BEEN DYING FOR! and wrote it sooooo many times. I wanted it steamy and a little desperate after their long pent-up-frustration unprofessed love, without making it 'explicit' kind of way. So I hope I captured it right lolol.

☆ Make Me Love You by Taeyeon Furihata's feelings towards Akashi. I was pondering on a song that would fit Furihata's pull towards Akashi and how Akashi makes him feel every time. No other songs seems to feel like then I was randomly humming to this song while I was working and this is perfect! Also, a wonderful vibe.

I think it has been emphasised a lot on how Furihata reacts to Akashi, how he blushes like crazy, how he also subconsciously wants Akashi to make him fall in love with him. Because deep down, as again, Furihata genuinely loves Akashi but he was never daring enough to do it and since Akashi had never showed any indication, so Akashi had to confess in order for Furihata to be brave enough to smack their lips together to confess too.

☆ Je Fais De Toi Mon Essentiel by Emmanuel Moire Infinitely bless @miss-cactus (and her naughty brother lol) for this! This is song is seriously sooooo beautiful ;w; I don't care if reader's don't listen to the playlist, but OH MY GOD! If nobody had listened to this, is seriously missing out. (just as a song in general is beautiful) and the lyrics are just akjsfhakjsfhaf AKASHI'S WORDS! In Akashi's perspective and the song that Akashi sang to when they were in the car, and Cactus chose the perfect line for it ;w;

This song basically concludes everything!!! From their feelings for each other since high-school and all the way until the day they die! It's basically everything I wanted this story to be about, just their pure love for one another and to share their happiness together ;w;

Also, I want to point out in regards of Furihata's decision on staying in France. It's really not just a spontaneous and reckless decision lol. As stated and shown in the story, Furihata is somewhat a successful person with a career, but Furihata has other passion and interest which he seemed to enjoy doing which is photography and Akashi notices this. Even though with a career, at a time some will have a change of heart. So if Furi wants to stay in France with Akashi, he has thought it through enough, and can afford to even live by even without Akashi's money lolol. ๑ Premises ๑ Cactus, without her, AkaFuri will be hobos. I . AM . NOT . KIDDING ! She just whip out the map of France and pin point me to everything! I didn't ask for that but her soul is made from angel clay and she showed me this beautiful town, and I am floored! I didn't feel that much motivation and inspiration before o(≧∇≦o)

So why not Paris? XD 1, I didn't want Paris, I wanted a natural, country/cottage vibe and not the city. 2, proven by Cactus, "actual paris : if you want a cup of coffee you have to give up your wife and your 2 children bc it's way too expensive" (XD actually there's more but those parts are only between us lol) 3, I want to pull Akashi from his usual portrayal of rich and luxurious life style. I mean.... he's still rich, just not lavish in that lifestyle. In here, Akashi's basically bare as a canvas, and painting it on his own. 4, I google mapped Paris.... and if anything, Akashi and Furihata will probably get run over by traffic LOLOL! 5, we hate the crowds lolol and we'd do anything to drown the citizens for AkaFuri to be alone. I'm not even gonna be discreet about this xD.

☆ Mornac-Sur-Seudre This main village, is the most beautiful town picked by Cactus. It's not so 'in the face' although not so splashed in a lot of colours (except for the oyster huts), it is a very vibrant village. We totally fell in love with it. It's quiet, and not a lot of villagers, so it's perfect for AkaFuri to have their stroll hand in hand (人 •͈ᴗ•͈) They're also very famous for their oysters LOL! So yeah..... Akashi fed Furi oysters.... because....it's yummy.... LOL! Video reference here. There's another beautiful video but I can't find it no more. ;; Other references; here, here and here.

☆ Seagull Train Furihata loves train (and so do I) and since the train exists here! WHY THE HELL NOT?! I really love writing this part! I fell in love with the department Cactus picked and everything was so perfect and beautiful. Pictures and videos of it was just so breath taking ;w; and it's a steam train! I've never ride one before, but I have been into exhibits in the train museum. The smell is amazing lol. It's like sniffing my humidifier......but bigger.

This is the train I had saw mostly from it. the 030 T 3 from 1891. It's still operational so choo-choo!!! they go!

Video reference ; here Train reference; here, here Other references; here, here, here and here.

☆ Saintes & Royan These two towns are what's closest to Mornac. I didn't have much on Royan because Saintes had a beautiful charm, so this is where they would have their wonderful date <3 and talk a little bit about their feelings.

Cactus correcting me on the description on the city as I just woke up from my sleep, is seriously a way to wake up in the morning at 5am XD LOLOL!!

There's a few churches too, and has an interesting history from the Roman empire :D really intriguing.

The bridge where they have their little confession in high-school (◡‿◡✿)

This video here, absolutely pretty!

☆ Akashi's Floristry; Fleurs d’acacia Cactus picked out the most beautiful name! "So either L’acacia (just the tree) or Fleurs d’acacia (acacia flowers)" The Acacia because it rhymes with Akashi's name : Aca - as in 'Aka' in Akashi. Ci - as in sea...because they're near the ocean. A - as in....... h(a)m because Cactus said so... and I can't even disagree because it's where Furi getting some of those..... meat....because Akashi's ham.....like his meat.......y'know..... We're very dignified ( ᵘ ᵕ ᵘ ⁎)

The design of Akashi's 3 story shop/studio/apartment..... I really don't have any reference, it's all in the head LOLOL! Akashi basically lives in simplicity, his shop all on the ground floor, and the second floor is his art studio where paints and do whatever he wants. Finally the third floor is where he stays, it was wasn't very detailed but it's very spacious and cozy >w<!

☆ The Drive-in theatre Bruuuuuh......the confession is the thing! Akashi sneaking in his opportunity to confess. What more is there need to be said? AkaFuri : mlemlemlemlemlemlemlemlem~

Ohh~ Akashi's pretty Bentley of course.

☆ The Landes The finale of their romance ❀.(*´◡`*)❀. I think we all know what a Volkswagen van looks like LOL! And they had the funky in the van and Akashi took Jean's advice with the bamboo charcoal.

Cactus showed this pretty place and I'm just ヽ(；▽；)ノ

Of course I'd really like to say it again. Furihata's decision to stay with Akashi was really not for the sake of a 'happy ending' or so. They've had deep feelings for each other since high-school and bonded closely, but Akashi didn't show any indication of romantic interest out of respect for Furihata's relationship, and Furihata knowing nothing about Akashi's mutual feelings just kept his feelings to himself. As told by the story, Furihata has a career and stable income. But even though his life is dandy in Tokyo with his job, that doesn't mean it's something he wants to keep pursuing or maintain, as we age, we search for something else to add into our experience. Not to say that we're forever unsatisfied, it's just how life is. We accomplish something, and we move on to another thing, and then another and another. It's really something beautiful about it, and life's just us exploring :] In Akashi and Furihata's case, is that they've already have what they wanted, a life of their own, choosing their own path and what they don't have was each other and now that they've bonded and opened up themselves, they can finally pursue another beautiful life together (>*^▽^*<)

๑ Book, Night on the Galactic Railway by Kenji Miyaza ๑ This is a real book. Also, my favourite! There is an anime as well, but if anyone wants the PDF feel free to drop me a DM and I'll give it to ya'.

In here, the story of the galactic railway impacted their lives a little bit differently. With Akashi the loss of his mother and Furihata to live the last adventure before death.

It is shown they have extreme love for this book, and it really is a beautiful book and there's just endless things to talk about, as it is place in an infinite travel of the train through the galaxy, meeting new people, seeing new things, the mysteries of stories and making meaningful relationship despite never being able to see them again.

The sentiment of Giovanni and Campanella is also similar to Akashi and Furihata. Before anything else, they want to have their adventure together before eventually parting their ways (and i really mean, until death do them apart.)

๑ Other Juices ๑ There some nitty stuff that aren't just there for show xD Well, kind of but there's some sentiments and stuff so...

☆ The Sunflower Maybe because I'm bias to sunflowers LOL! But Furihata is pretty with yellow! Sunflowers with darker brown florets are absolutely beautiful. The pendent I had in mind was literally the one I had when I was a kid (but I donno it's gone now lol). I googled other sunflower pendent but it's ugleh...

It associates with the theme of this story which is 'Sunrise' as in new beginnings, Furihata's fresh start to pursuing the person he actually loves.

Sunflowers also grow towards the sun. They radiate pure joy and positivity. They also symbolise unwavering faith and unconditional love; which is AkaFuri's undying love here despite the years.

Sunflowers are also given to show their deepest to the person, so Akashi gift him a sunflower :3 also because Furi looks pretty in yellow, fight me.

In chinese myth, sunflower are best for business... So with Furi around, Akashi's business will bloom LOLOL!

Funfact: In greek myth, a nymph named Clytie fell deeply in love Apollo, god of the sun. Although Clytie was beautiful by nymph standards, Apollo did not reciprocate her feelings, or acknowledge it. (except Akashi appreciates Furi's love okay?) After days of hopeless devotion, the nymph then transformed herself into a sunflower and constantly turned towards the sun so she could always be with the one she loved (Furihata's chasing sunrises because Akashi is there ok?).

☆ The Happy Street Cats :D This is actually a real book I have, a gift by my teacher before I leave S.Korea. The passage idiom is extracted by this page as well.

The front cover of the book is also yellow.

Yellow : Sunrise + Sunflower.

There's so much yellow in this story LOL!

☆ The Movie Cactus : Idol movie Me : *internal screaming* I swear we are always soooooooo close to making this whole thing crack XD

This scene is a real brain wreck lololol. (Still contemplating if it was romantic enough)

☆ Akashi's Florist number I extracted that number from an oyster restaurant LOLOL! Thankfully Cactus changed it.... we were planning on a crack bonus in which, Furihata orders oysters before calling Akashi.

It didn't happen. But if it did.

Furihata will order some oysters. And not regret it.

*Akashi judging*

☆ French Dialogues + Akashi teaching Furihata French Bless Cactus, she's my happiness now. I have no idea how many weird noises were coming out from our mouths just to understand how the French consonant 'R' sounds like to put it into words LOL! XD Without her, it'd be a disaster.

We were looking at other romantic phrases and found the perfect one ;w;

“Je suis ton bonheur.” means "I am your happiness" (oh god, google translate voice just keeps playing in my head LOLOL! help) Which, what else can be said? LOL Akashi's happy ok? Since this story is from Furihata's perspective, I really wanted to put him into the spot of being a foreigner (he speaks english and mandarin lolol just clueless in French, because Akashi is supposed to guide him). So while Cactus work her magic, being the Akashi to my Furihata. I tried to emphasis a lot on the characters expression etc, at least to indicate of what was going on....tbh even I forgot what they were saying. *just as clueless as Furi and Cactus cackling somewhere.

Everything in here is just Cactus being amazing ;w; and pure patience LOLOL!

๑ Side Characters ๑

☆Shérine ............ We butchered the original female side. Her name was Camille.... but I was sooo tempted to name it after *coouugh* :] because it's pretty. Also her hair was blond with hazel-green eyes.... yea we buried her.

Shérine wins now... Shérine is life.

Shérine will be in their wedding.

☆Jean Kirstein (of AOT) It's JEAN! ...........someone gotta tease Akashi with no filter.

(ﾉ^ヮ^)ﾉ*:・ﾟ✧ FINAL NOTES

The last section when Furihata wakes up and makes his decision, believe it or not, I was in the bus. While typing to Cactus, I was literally shaking in the bus and my eyes stung because of dust and I was in tears. I was between crying and laughing. Finished it at home ;w; Cactus was such a darling through it all.

I really had fun writing this with Cactus ;w; she's the best!!!!!!! And hopefully we'll make some crack stuff because we're hooligans like that XD.

:D BYE!

[mister-maiden]

Pikmin 3 Is a Wonderful Gem

Pikmin 3 was one of my most anticipated games for the Nintendo Switch. I didn't have the good fortune of owning a WiiU, so I never got to experience the third game for myself. After spending 60 dollars on the title, fixing myself up for a long weekend, to my surprise I beat the game in two days...but was I disappointed?

Absolutely not. 

Gameplay: Pikmin 3 forces you to take control of three captains who had crash landed on the planet of PNF-404, a planet encompassed with dangerous fauna, familiar faces, and delicious fruit. Using the captains to form smaller groups of Pikmin, you can effectively multitask across each of the diverse maps available. 

Several puzzles force you to use this feature by giving you the ability to flung captains alongside Pikmin, effectively allowing you to reach new areas both high and far. This ability is best used with small groups performing tasks across the map. Having one captain destroy a gate while another keeps charge of pikmin harvesting berries. Meanwhile you can have your final pikmin harvesting the corpses of enemies to make even more pikmin! 

In this regard, you can play in anyway you want. If you want to keep your pikmin together to keep an army of 100 so you may overpower all in your path, you are certainly free to do so..you may just be hurting a bit on time in comparison to if you divided and conquered. To add onto this, there is a familiar special ability which allows you to split your army apart into the specific elements at your disposal so you can clearly choose the best group for the job.

The objective of the game as you quickly find out is to gather as much fruit as you can to bring back to your home planet of which is having a rather serious issue: starvation. So you'll be looking in every nook and cranny for each piece of fruit you can find to juice and bring back home. 

The fruit are finite, and each gives you a specific amount of juice for fruit. Some fruits have enough juice to give you two days worth of sustenance while others barely give half. It is certainly a welcome change from the first game's finite time limit. It allows players to be rewarded for how well they are performing instead of giving them a deadline. This is a huge gripe many had with the previous installments as well as other games with a similar time limit (Dead Rising comes to mind)

Alongside the fruits, powerups lay hidden amongst the maps which give you certain abilities. I won't dive into this as not to spoil it for any of you new players, but all I'll say is it is worth it to check every corner. To retrieve these treasures, you will have to use a specific amount of pikmin for each item. You can use a bit more than the maximum per treasure to make the journey back to the ship far more quicker. During this time, I recommend traveling with your pikmin so none shall perish to the random hazards of elements and enemies that may have slugged in the way of the path. 

With a lot of multi tasking and pathing involved in this new installment, it seems the developers worked more with the pause menu. A map allows you to see the areas you have explored and seen, marking a small green blip for each creature you spot. This was done intentionally so the player would be unaware of what lay in a path and to determine their best plan of action. To walk through the shorter parh with several blips and pray they are not too dangerous, or go around. A new feature with the mapping system also works alongside how you will be controlling three captains. You can now go to your map, scroll to an area, and press where you would like your captain to walk to. This will trigger whatever captain and pikmin group you have selected to automatically path to the point you selected. This allows for large scale multitasking in which you can have two captains traveling to destinations while your third deals with an entirely different task. A very welcome development for people such as I who want to use their time as wisely as possible.

Combat is roughly the same as the previous installments: overwhelm by sheer number while also avoiding the attacks that have a potential to wipe your armies. Picking the right pikmin for each battle is crucial...but to be honest I felt like this game gave me a bit too much leniency for making mistakes. For instance, there wasn't too much punishment for throwing an incorrect pikmin at an opposite element. You can just whistle them before they perish and all will be okay. Maybe it's my new game wisdom I have earned from thousands of hours of gaming, but I don't remember pikmin 1 being so easy.

Pikmin 3 also brings back the system in which you can slay your enemies...and use their bodies as mulch to grow your garden empire upon.

Your empire is stored in a pikmin bulb! In previous games you would have several bulbs, each being a different color representing the different pikmin types. In this game, there is only one bulb which is chromatic and swirls with different colors. Although I miss the triple pikmin bulb threat and getting violent/white pikmin from the ship, this is a welcome change since it allows the player to quickly populate a group instead of wasting time going to each bulb. 

You can carry the corpses of creatures you kill with your pikmin to their bulb to create even more pikmin! It's always been my favorite part of the pikmin games because it rewards you for playing intelligently and conservatively. 

An interesting development from Pikmin 1 and 2 to this new game is the replacement of the C stick directing agility of the pikmin to a new ability which allows you to send your pikmin forward all at once with a ravenous screech of war. It's great to quickly swarm an enemy, or to feverishly collect fruits and other valuables by surrounding them. While I shall miss the previous agility to accurately create a tendril like construct with my pikmin, I absolutely love the new battle rush!

Each pikmin, as the previous games, have their own situations they are best in. Reds are best at fighting situations, when things get heated up. Yellows for digging and reaching high spaces. Blues are good at swimming...yeah. Then this game introduces two new pikmin at the cost of two of the previous types introduced in Pikmin 2. Stone pikmin and flying pink pikmin replace the fat sumowrestler purple pikmin and toxic white pikmin. Stone pikmin are best when cracking open the defences of enemies or crystal rocks found around the maps. Hell these are my second favorite pikmin because of how they attack. Rather than use their leaves utop their hard heads, they just RUN INTO the enemy as hard as they can. It's amazing. Then my favorite: pink pikmin rule the sky..though they are the weakest in combat (though never underestimate the swarm >:] ) you can have up to 100 total of a combination of the pikmin. My personal favorite is 20 of each, as something special happens as you walk with them.

Spicy berries and bombs make a return in this game. Shrouding your pikmin in a special dust created by the planet's berries gives them a special buff that lets them go mad with energy, moving quickly and hitting harder. What's important in pikmin 3 is that the berry mechanic is much different than the previous games. This game allows the process to be automated. Berries are grown back in minutes, so pikmin can constantly move back and forth from the ship to the plant to harvest more juice in comparison to the previous games where once you harvested a berry plant, it was done for the day.

Bombs allow you to do 'tons of damage'. Throwing a pikmin with a bomb makes the pikmin drop the bomb and run in terror to avoid the massive blast. These are typically used to take down the toughest of obstacles- be it wall or wild creature, nothing shall stand in your way.

These bombs allow you to go forward so you may find shortcuts to shorten your time traveling...and now the final feature I would like to mention is the time system. Each day you are given a specific amount of time to explore the map before day changes to night...and the nocturnal predators awaken from their hungry slumber to feast. Before this time, you must gather your pikmin up as they are helpless without you. If you are unable to gather all of your pikmin, at the end of the day alongside a cinematic of you leading your pikmin to safety, you will have to watch the pikmin you left behind consumed by the hungry beasts of the night...it's rather sad and I would recommend to take track of each pikmin you send out. I have heavy attachments to even these little guys and it pained me just to lose one :c...BUT!

To combat this sad ending, the developers did something wonderful and added a brand new feature to your ship. You can walk to your ship and select a massive whistle option which will attempt to call back EVERY single pikmin on the map granted they can path their way to the ship. This was such an excellent feature as I always had one or so random pikmin in each map getting caught on something random and being stuck. With this tool, it gets rid of a lot of the stress of poor npc pathing which plagued the games before. Sure the pikmin can still get caught, but now there is a proper solution.

Also: there are missions and side content to do if youd like. I enjoyed it! Certainly felt alright...but i still enjoyed the main story more. I never was a huge fan of these types of side missions...didn't really feel like Pikmin.

I also understand there are harder difficulties, but truthfully I hate having a difficulty meter review, so I typically play on normal.

VISUALS and AUDIO 

The Pikmin series has never looked so beautiful. It still holds the familiar cartoon wonders we all loved. Those small moments of captains sticking their eyes out in surprise or pikmin expressing themselves in cute little squeaks of joy or terror. The water is gorgeous, the plant life is vibrant, and the wildlife is horrifying. Seriously, the creatures in this game have never looked so revolting yet adorable at the same time. 

You can take pictures of the world with the camera feature which is nice. It gives you a complete POV from the captain's point of view which is quite hilarious to see pikmin right in front of your face. Adorable little things just staring at you both full of wonder and waiting for direction. I really don't know what else to put here since I can't describe the game by any point except cute since the game isn't about its visuals in the slightest, so I'll leave it at the game absolutely nailing what it was going for.

Overall:

I really enjoyed this game, no matter how little time it took to finish it. It was a happy gift to my childhood in which I got to experience another mouthful of happy juice. It was something I was really looking forward to and I have a certain someone out there who can attest to that. 

Nintendo did a fine job in tuning the nobs of the game in a way that made it better yet still paid respects to the previous installments. I can't explain just how quickly I was taken back to my childhood with the familiar Pikmin themesong that I could sing at any moment on the spot because of how many times I've heard it. I think we all have those sensations that bring us back to moments when we were kids...mine always seemed to be sounds and music, be it the login music of Runescape to the Pikmin themesong. I almost have tears listening to some tracks...but regardless!

Pikmin has always been one of those games I can look at and just say "yeah. that's fun". I love the ability to command troops, make friends, and explore, and this game did all three in a cutely brutal way that I can respect. While I found some disappointment in how short my journey, nothing shall ever beat my love for Nintendo's Gem that has been in my memories for years. I highly recommend you give this game a shot.

[darley1101]

Family (September 11 prompt)

A/N This is for the September prompt challenge hosted by . It is for the September 11 prompt Family. I am combining it with another request I received asking for Maxwell to purchase the MC a pregnancy test on the morning of her wedding to Liam. I thought they would make a fun combination. I hope you enjoy. Tag lists are after the story. If you would like to be added or removed just let me know in a comment or personal message. This is future canon for Broken Fairytales. I hope you enjoy!

Family

“This is ridiculous,” Karin whispered furiously as Olivia, Hana, and Madeleine herded her into the en suite off Madeleine's rooms. She tried to dig her heels into the plush carpeting, but a firm push in the middle of her back continued to propel her forward. “We're wasting time that could be spent getting ready.” Her heart skipped a beat and her stomach lurched. In a few short hours she would be re-marrying the man she loved and, her heart skipped another beat, finally be crowned Queen of Cordonia. Just one of those events would be enough to cause the nausea she had woken up to, but her friends thought otherwise. 'You missed your period,' Hana had chided, 'I know because we're on the same cycle and I had to suffer alone.' Stress had been  her response. Between planning a wedding that the whole world would be watching via attendance or television and preparing for the coronation that would come after, it was no wonder Karin was exhausted, nauseated, and missing her monthly visit for good ole Aunt Flo. Part of her wanted to say screw the whole thing. Did they really need the public wedding? According to Regina, yes. The people didn’t care that while in exile, Liam and Karin had married in private ceremony. They wanted the glitz, glam, and stability of seeing the king they had fought for marry his beloved. 

“You're being ridiculous,” Olivia countered shoving a purple and white box into her hands, and then gesturing towards the toilet. “Your throne awaits.”

“Hilarious,” Karin muttered, yanking open the package while she stomped towards the toilet. “I already told you, I'm stressed. When I get stressed I get sick to my stomach and, on occasion, I miss my period.”

“It may very well be stress,” Madeleine agreed, “but wouldn't you rather know? There's going to be alcohol served at the reception. Do you really want to worry about whether or not its safe to drink? This way we'll know if we need to substitute your champagne for apple cider.”

Annoyance shot through Karin as she set the actual test down on the counter and wiggled out of her panties. Madeleine was right, and God, Karin hated when Madeleine was right. They had moved past the pettiness that occurred during the social season and Madeleine's short lived engagement to Liam, but that didn't mean Karin liked when Madeleine was right. “I can't believe one of you actually bought a pregnancy test,” she mused, picking up the test. She poised the plastic stick between her legs, trying to concentrate on peeing. “Could someone turn on the faucet?”

“Of course,” Hana answered sweetly before turning the water on in the sink. “And we didn't buy it, Maxwell did.”

“What?” Karin sputtered, grimacing when a splash of urine hit her fingers. So gross, she thought, pulling the test out from between her legs. She set it back on the counter, wiped, and then flushed. “You had Maxwell go buy a pregnancy test? Whose genius idea was that?”

“It was mine actually,” Olivia smirked from the doorway. “He's always so eager to please and nobody will think twice about him buying one. He's such a spazz the sales clerk probably thought he bought it for himself.”

“Be nice,” Hana chided.

“It could be argued that calling him a spazz is being nice as there are far worse yet equally fitting names we could call him,” Madeleine muttered under her breathe, but Karin still heard her and shot her a dirty look. Maxwell might be a spazz, but damn it he was Karin's spazz! And he’d changed a lot since the assassinations that took place during the homecoming ball. 

“I just hope he doesn't say anything to Liam,” Hana sighed, propping her hip against the bathroom vanity. She blinked when she realized everyone, including Karin, was staring at her. “What? Everyone is thinking it. I adore him but he does have a history of speaking without thinking. Remember the UN dinner in New York?”

Wrinkling her nose, Karin washed her hands. She remembered that dinner all to well. Maxwell had started a shit storm with several dignitaries by confusing their countries. “Don't remind me,” she pleaded, turning off the faucet and drying her hands on the hand towel Madeleine handed to her. “God, you don't really think he will say anything to Liam?” No, she silently told herself. Maybe in the past he might have accidentally let it slip, but Maxwell had grown a lot. 

“With Maxwell anything is possible,” Olivia reminded. “Now, how long do we have to wait to see if Karin's carrying the next heir to the throne? The sooner she gets the heir and the spare out of the way, the happier the people will be.”

The blood drained from Karin's face, leaving her a pasty color. Having a family was something she and Liam had spoken about a great deal; how many children they wanted, what sort of parents they were going to be. Perhaps because Liam had only ever referred to their future children as, well, their children that was how Karin had come to think of them. Olivia's flippant remark, no doubt meant to be funny, had been a rude awakening to how the people of Cordonia would view their children. “That was incredibly rude,” Hana tsked, shaking her head and then looking at Karin with sympathy in her eyes. “Don't listen to her Karin. The people of Cordonia love you regardless.”

“They'll love her more if she's pregnant,” Olivia insisted. “I'm not trying to say they don't love her already, I think their adoration of the American Duchess is obvious. Things have been difficult for the monarchy, you know that. Producing the next Crown Prince will just prove the people made the right choice in demanding that Liam be re-instated at King.”

“I think you've made your point,” Hana snapped. “So lets drop it.”

Tuning out the rest of the conversation Karin focused on the test sitting face down on the counter. The instructions had said to wait 5 minutes and at least that amount of time had passed. She took a deep breath and flipped it over, her heart lodging in her throat as two distinct lines glared back at her. “Fuck me,” she whispered.

“Apparently Liam did,” Madeleine giggled and then clapped a hand over her mouth. “That was incredibly crude, my apologies. And,” she smiled cheekily, “my congratulations.”

“Oh Karin,” Hana cried, her lips tipping in a brilliant smile. “How exciting!”

“Right, exciting,” Karin whispered. She couldn't stop staring at the test, at those two little lines that added yet another title to already growing list of titles. Duchess. Wife. Queen. Mother. She was going to be a mother. Tears welled in her eyes, a smile stretched across her lips. She was going to be a mother! For the first time in her life she was going to have a family. A real family. One that couldn't be taken away from her.

Perma tag: @debramcg1106 @josieschoices @boneandfur @speedyoperarascalparty @christopher-powell @tmarie82 @blackcatkita  @hamulau @endlessly-searching-for-you @umccall71  @drakelover78 @penguininapinktuxedo @eileendannie  @stopforamoment @writtenbycandy @lizeboredom @alicars @leelee10898 @choicesfannatalie @liamxs-world @katurrade @jadedpixiescribbles @indiacater @mfackenthal @damienazariostan @choiceslife @hopefulmoonobject

Tag for Liam x MC: @lodberg @tanyaschoices @lynn1214 @jlouise88  @scarlettedragon @innerpostmentality  @flowerpowell @jamielea81 @cordoniaqueensworld @heatherfilliez @trr-fangirl @purplegreyshrimp

[farons-kokiri]

It's not controversial if it's just true and engages with media and the audience in a far more complex way than the opinions of those you're speaking of! Ngl I kinda forgot there's a side to this fandom that just hates Zelda- a character the franchise is literally named after yygeghhdhfhhrhe

I wholeheartedly agree with everything said and I don't mind being Controversial ™️ and as someone who primarily loves Zelda villains, I also love the heroes as well if not more, this includes Zelda.

I've been a tloz fan longer than I've had a public fandom presence so I want to impart a few facts from... The literal games that actually bolster this post and can serve as perhaps a convincing point for those new to the games who dont understand the deep ass lore bc nintendy hates making its older game properties available.

Hylia, as an active goddess, does not exist in any Zelda title. The whole point of Skyward Sword was that Hylia gave up her immortality and most of her god powers to be mortal. She did this to partially help Link and to possibly be able to use the triforce since it's against the triforce TOS for gods to use it. Any time she interacts with Link in SS, she does so through mediums like Fi who have been given messages to relay to Link. Even in botw it's more likely to assume the goddess statues you speak to aren't actually Hylia responding, but almost like a pre-recorded robot answering machine.

In botw the whole gimmick of Zelda struggling with her awakening and begging Hylia to help her is that she is Hylia. Hylia was never going to respond to Zelda because they're sort of the same person but not. All we know about the whole awakening process is that when Zelda does awaken, she is sometimes given memories of her previous lives (or her life as a goddess) and her divine purpose- to seal away darkness.

Zelda's divine powers do one thing and only one thing. Sealing away darkness. She cannot reassume godhood and stop the reincarnation cycle. Her powers don't even kill darkness, they just seal it. So as long as it comes back she will have to reappear to stop it. Her god powers are a one trick pony, she's a cleric who knows only one high level holy spell and that's it.

This is more nitpicky but there's a whole ass, gigantic cutscene when Link finally catches up with Zelda where she (perhaps) cries and apologizes to him for all the shit that Hylia- and her by proxy- put him through. She's completely aware of how hard this all was for Link and feels that she used him. This is where we first become aware that when the gears of fate begin to turn, Zelda is powerless to stop them.

Also, some important screen shots to sell this last point:

At a risk of being controversial: I really dont enjoy the fanon trope of making Hylia a villain. I dont claim people who do that are evil or sexist, there’s obivous writing potential there and people are allowed to explore it. I personally however find it uncomfortable, and I want to speak out in case someone else feels the same and would be relieved to not be alone.

Hylia as a character is a …fairly new addition to franchise. We first learn of her in skyward sword, a game that’s story aims to explain the reincarnation cycle’s excistence.

I think due to that, and how in botw we see the first canon story that potrays the cycle as bad, its easy for new and old fans to point at hylia and go: I dont trust this. (It doesnt help Hylia is connected to vague christian imaginary and people have their own issues with religion.)

Again I dont blame people for this, some fans are new, some are coping with religious trauma, and some just wanna explore the cool concept that is reincarnating heroes.

However, my discomfort comes from a few facts in this matter that I want to put out there for people to consider.

My first issue is that Hylia is not the person who started the issue. We know the evil force that is Demise existed before the cycle, and for some reason or another Hylia nor the other goddesses could not stop him. Hylia made her plan in order to seal demise away for good, and it didnt work. It just didn’t work.

It doesnt matter if demise cursed the reincarnation thing or if Hylia decided it’d repeat forever. The fact is that theres a malicious unquestionably evil force that a goddess tried to stop and failed.

You can dislike her plan all you want, but hindsight is 20/20 and all that—

Okay, breather, I am passionate about this but I know my opinion isnt the objective fact. Maybe Hylia could stop this cycle and try something else, maybe she is inhuman in mind and spirit and doesnt comprehend the horrors she has caused. We don’t know and you can fill these blanks as you see fit.

But uhm, this does bring me to my second opinion, which might be harder to take seriously it you’re disagreeing with this post already.

I think there’s sexism around how fans treat Zelda and Hylia, not helped at all by Nintendo’s own actions.

I see people be put off by skyward sword Zelda, perhaps writing her unemphatic and clueless of Link’s battles to find her. So much so that we ignore the fact she too was ripped from home, told she has to be someone else, and forced to drag her best friend along so the world wouldnt end. She is a victim too, but why do we forget this?

In my opinion it’s partly due to the bad writing of women Nintendo keeps doing. Zelda is written so… perfect. Nintendo refuses to aknowledge her flaws as a person and instead is like look how pretty she is, she apologises and Link forgives her, so you should too! …When, if you dont do so, it feels like you’re being manipulated or dismissed whenever she is on screen.

An issue that repeats with Hylia as well. With many Zeldas in many games.

To react to that tonal dissonance with writing Zelda/Hylia as evil is… normal, I think. I don’t blame people for feeling that way.

But,, That seems unfair to me. A female character with potential to be complex and good was failed by the writers, and now we as fans continue from that point with making her even worse.

I dont dislike fans who do this, you’re just participating in fandom the way you see fit, but I cant enjoy it, it makes me upset. These women are not evil, Link isn’t the only character being hurt deeply, and if you could please consider female characters beyond how they hurt ya boy, I’d be so relieved.

…

I’ll repeat what I said at the start, I dont claim people who do this are evil or sexist. People are having fun in fandom, and ngl demise sucks as a villain and Hylia is way more interesting to explore.

I just… I think its worth asking yourself why her. Why you don’t or do like Zelda. Engaging in things you love with an analytic eye is genuinely good for you and the media you’re enjoying.

This in no means is meant to come off as an attack, Im just requesting we look at another angle of things, maybe just to say we did.

I uh, thanks for reading.

[holdyourbreathuntilyouseelight]

Hands to Myself - Part I

Summary: After Alec comes out to his family, Jace drags Alec to an LGBT friendly strip club so he can 'expand his horizons' since he hasn't even attempted to date or meet anybody new. Alec reluctantly agrees only because he's grateful Jace is so supportive. While there, his eyes land on an intoxicating man whose body moves so fluidly Alec can't keep his eyes off of him. Once Magnus is alone with him, he, too, finds himself enraptured by the younger man.

Rating: MA

Genre: Smut, Romance, Friendship, Everyone is Human AU

Warning: Mentions of internalized homophobia

Author: dylanobrienstyler

A/N: I did my best with my very limited knowledge of what goes on in these sorts of places – sorry for any inaccuracies as I needed to improvise a lot. Title inspired from Selena Gomez' song of the same name. This will be a two-part series. Feedback of all kinds is very welcome!!

Also can be read on AO3!

Chapter One - Magnetism

"You know, we really don't have to do this."

His adoptive brother threw him a look, lips twisted in a smirk. "Oh come ON, Alec. It's been almost a month since you came out, and I have yet to see you even TRY to charm a fellow man. You need to see what you're missing!"

"Jace, do you really think I'm going to have a romantic awakening at a strip club?" Alec asked, eyebrows raised, but Jace simply scoffed.

"It's going to be fun, Alec. It won't kill you to have fun, you know."

Alec rolled his eyes and followed the blonde into the club. Pandemonium. The neon lights were lit up in the colours of the pansexual flag, and Alec swallowed before entering.

He had heard of the LGBT club, known for its wildly accepted collection of personalities, gender identities and sexualities showcased, and, of course, the fact that much of it was sans clothing. New York was a place for everyone to be included, and that club was a strong confirmation of that statement. Still, Alec had never been nor even knew much about it until Jace was showing him pictures on his phone that afternoon while shaking his arm to beg Alec to let him take him.

Alec normally would have said no, but he knew Jace was trying really hard to be supportive, and Alec appreciated his effort, especially since one half of their family certainly didn't share his enthusiasm. But Alec knew Jace wanted him to be happy, and that was enough to make Alec grumble out an agreement.

Coming back to the present, Alec passed over cover money to the bouncer, accepting the stamp on the back of his hand, before shrugging his hands into his pockets and rocking back on his heels.

It was an interesting sight – Alec hadn't been much of a bar guy, even after he turned twenty-one. He was more of a pub kind of person; sipping at a beer and eating fried foods while live music played or something equally relaxing was actually enjoyable. Here, there were a lot of sweaty, barely clad bodies writhing around and an overabundance of bright lights and synthetic fog happening.

"I really don't know if this is my scene." Alec commented to Jace, louder than he'd normally speak but it was necessary to be heard over the pumping music bursting from the speakers.

"Just give it an hour, please? If you really hate it, we'll go home after that." Jace promised.

Alec exhaled slowly but nodded, heading for the nearest bar. If he was going to stick around, he'd definitely need some alcohol.

Jace grinned as he caught on to his plan and bounded over to the bartender.

"What can I get you?" she asked, only the hint of a smile on her lips at the sight of the two men. Alec briefly wondered if she thought they were there together.

"Can I get a gin and tonic?" Alec said before Jace cut him off.

"Ignore my brother. He needs something stronger. What do you suggest?" Jace asked, settling onto one of the stools.

Alec followed his lead, sighing in defeat.

"First timer, huh?" the dark-skinned girl asked, eyebrow quirked.

"I couldn't be more obvious?" Alec grumbled, shooting a glare at Jace who simply grinned back.

"You work this job long enough, you start to be able to tell a lot from just reading people. It's a good place here though. There are worse places to debut into a strip club. There's a lot of respectful boundaries in place and it's pretty tasteful for the most part."

Alec nodded, appreciating the calming words. He had no idea what to expect and his comfort level at diving into new territory was, well, non-existent. He didn't want somewhere that put him on the spot too much.

The girl was mixing up their drinks as she spoke. "You don't have to know too much to get by here. You want to leave a tip, it's done here, but you're welcome to get closer to the stages to get a better view. Some places have you tip on stage by the dancer or to them directly – we try to keep more boundaries there for the safety of the dancers. Also, frankly, the money gets downright gross otherwise. And you'd be surprised how many people steal hardworking dancers' money when it's not heavily guarded."

Alec felt sick at the thought. He couldn't imagine working at a place like this, he just wasn't that comfortable with his body and was the opposite of charming, but he could imagine it took a lot of effort to put on your best face, expose yourself to strangers, showcase talent and whatever persona they had to adopt to perform, only to have the reward for it all be stolen.

She pushed their newly concocted drinks towards them and Jace passed over some bills. One sip and Alec struggled to swallow. It was strong all right, but the aftertaste smoothed things out. He took another drink as the bartender kept talking.

"The guy on the other side of the bar? That's Raphael." She nodded towards a surly looking man who definitely looked like a manager at a night club. It didn't seem like he ever saw the light of day with his pale, sallow complexion. "He's who you talk to if you want to book a private dance. We have secluded rooms for the occasion too, as some people don't want an audience. You're required to read and sign off on a checklist of dos and don'ts prior to him even calling up the dancer. If you violate any, you'll be kicked to the curb with no welcome back. Like I said, safety of the workers is really important here. And if you're looking for a prostitute, you'll need to head out and find a corner in the city, because even though some of the dancers do it on the side, business deals are not allowed to be made in here."

"Wow." Alec said with a surprise. He had no idea there was so much to it. He supposed that was best though. Places like this could probably get ugly fast if there weren't protocols and limitations in place. "Thank you, um…?"

"Maia." she replied.

"Alec."

"Jace." the blonde piped up from his spot, and Alec tried not to smile at his need to be included.

Maia chewed her tongue. "So, any questions, you know where I am. Otherwise try to relax a bit and enjoy yourself."

Alec nodded his thanks and swiveled on his stool to take in the club again. He took another gulp of his drink as he scanned the area.

There were multiple stages, both big and small, scattered throughout the large room. Poles were centered on some, some had other forms of props like hanging scarves for the more gymnastic types, and there were seating areas for best views but most people were standing and milling around.

The room also featured tall cubicle-like structures in a steady row, featuring one dancer in each. The costumes some wore were more adventurous than others, and Alec noted that across the wide arrange of dancers, there was a little bit of everything for everybody.

Some of the club was split with male dancers on one side and female dancers on another, whereas the cubicles featured a mix of both. Alec supposed that way everyone could find what they were looking for. There were also more masculine female types, dressed in what some would call 'butch' type wear, whereas there were also femme males, donned in make-up or even some dressed in stereotypically female clothing. And then the opposite, where there were rugged men and extremely feminine women.

Alec couldn't help his eyes from being drawn to one dancer straight ahead from his spot at the bar. He was of Asian descent, for sure, with sculpted arms grasping onto the pole as he swayed his hips in rhythm with the song playing.

There were mostly older men drooling at his feet, salt and pepper hair on some, and Alec wondered briefly if they were openly out or if some had wives or families at home. He knew he was growing up in a different time, and that these types of places didn't exist decades previous. Either way, the age contrast to the dancer to the audience made him a little queasy, but the dancer seemed pretty used to it. He was exchanging banter with a few, laughing and being coy, all the while moving sensually to the music.

Alec didn't even realize he was staring, but he was mesmerized. The man definitely had been dancing for a while, likely longer than his years as a stripper if his technique and physique were any indicator. He slipped out of the vest he had been wearing, letting it dip down his arms. He caught it in his elbows before smoothly discarding it, climbing back up the pole with his strong thighs, and he swiveled down as he sent a sly smile to his viewers.

"That's Magnus. He's been here a couple years. He's in pretty high demand around here. Both men and women fall at his feet." Maia commented, obviously catching on to his ogling and having finished with some other customers.

Alec swallowed, blushing at being caught, and decided he could not look at Jace if he wanted to have any dignity later.

Jace, thankfully, didn't tease him. Alec refused to chance a glance at him, but he hoped maybe Jace was distracted by the many beautiful women parading around.

Alec drained his glass and lifted a hand to signal his request for another. Maia hid a smile as she began getting it ready.

His eyes slid back to the dancing man, who was practically thrusting his hips as he held his arms above his head, only letting them come down to slide sensually over his bare torso and down to cup his inner thigh.

Alec took a large gulp of the drink Maia slid his way. It was going to be a long night.

Alec tried to find somebody else to watch, tried to tame his hormones down, even going so far to watch the women at one point, but his gaze betrayed him and always seemed to trail back to Magnus again.

He felt stupid for how magnetized to the man he felt. It was embarrassing how attracted he felt to him. It wasn't just his body either—the confidence the man exuded, the coy smiles he shot out at the crowd, the sight of him laughing at something somebody said… it all was enrapturing to Alec. The few times Magnus had caught him staring and sent a wink or smile his way nearly made Alec fall off his chair.

Jace sat down next to him suddenly, and Alec jerked his eyes away from the Asian man.

"Are the bathrooms here nicer than most clubs or about the same?" Alec asked dryly, sipping more of his drink. He was on his fourth and definitely feeling it, his body humming underneath his skin. It didn't help that he was using it as a distraction from wanting to cross the room to stand before Magnus and watch the magic unfold at a much closer view. But he knew that would spell disaster, since he was embarrassing himself enough from his spot at the bar.

Jace smiled wickedly, and Alec felt his stomach turn uneasily. It was not an expression that lead to nice things in the past.

"The bathroom run was a lie, actually."

Alec raised an eyebrow. "Do I want to know what you were off doing? I know you've been sexting Clary all night, but you could at least wait for the phone sex until we're home."

Jace rolled his eyes. "Thanks for assuming I'm classless. No, I was off talking to Raphael."

Alec felt his blood run cold. It wasn't only Maia who was onto his obsession with Magnus, and Alec hadn't been helping to dispute the rumor. They had passed the hour agreement long ago and he still hadn't budged from his seat, so it didn't take a genius to figure out that he didn't want to leave and there was a very good reason.

"Jace… Please tell me you called Clary to okay you booking a private dance for yourself with a stripper and not that you—"

"I booked you a private dance with Magnus." Jace said, effectively shutting his brother up, and Alec nearly puked right then. The alcohol thrashed dangerously in his stomach.

"Please tell me you're joking." Alec rasped out, clutching onto the bar for balance.

"Alec, seriously. You don't have to marry the guy. But you're clearly attracted to him and he's obviously good at what he does, hence the small fan club he has gathered around him at all times, and, frankly, watching you stare at him is getting a little old. He's been making eyes at you too."

Alec rolled his eyes at the last comment. "For god sakes, Jace, it's his job. The more he makes people feel like they're 'special', the more tips he gets. I'm not even a strip club regular and I know that's how it is."

Jace held him by the shoulders. "Can you shut up and go over to Raphael to sign off on that stupid list? We came here to have fun, right? And I know you'll have fun. More than you've had, probably, well, ever."

Alec squirmed uncomfortably under his hold. He didn't need reminding that he was as virginal as they came. He had only kissed girls in his lifetime, and that was when he was trying to deny his true identity. Since then, he hadn't met anyone openly gay let alone felt a connection with anyone. He was a rather reserved, quiet person, so relationships didn't exactly come easy even without being homosexual.

"Fine. But if you wake up dead in your sleep one of these days, don't say I didn't warn you." he mumbled as he headed over to the manager.

"That doesn't even make sense!" Jace called after him, looking far too gleeful for Alec's liking.

"Hi. Um, I'm Alec. My brother sent me." he explained, nodding towards the excited idiot.

Raphael nodded in understanding, obviously expecting him. "All right, so it's pretty clearly written out here. Maia tells me she already went over some of the basics with you for our code of conduct." Great, Maia was in on it too. Did he have no one on his blend-into-the-background side? "Private dances vary from place to place, but here at Pandemonium, you're allowed to touch the dancer. That being said, no touching private parts, no kissing and generally nothing too sexual. They are performers putting on a show for you, so show them respect and communicate if something makes you uncomfortable. Also respect that they too have a comfort level, so any kink-related suggestions may need to be left at the door if they're too radical, understand? Also, all of your clothes are to remain on at all times; this is not an orgy, so keep it in your pants, literally."

Alec felt a little stunned, and about eleven-tenths embarrassed, but he nodded. He read the paper handed to him, which was pretty much all explained verbally already, so he scrawled his signature at the bottom and handed it back to him.

"I'll go grab Magnus. Luke will lead you to the private room he will meet you in."

Alec nodded and followed an intimidating looking bouncer.

"Hey, kid?"

Alec turned back to Raphael.

A hint of his smile was on his face. "Try to relax. Magnus is good at what he does. He won't push you beyond your boundaries. Have fun."

Alec, still red and only getting redder, nodded gratefully and followed Luke to a room down a hallway he hadn't noticed before.

"You can wait in here. Magnus will meet you shortly." Luke told him. "Raphael was right. Try to relax, kid. You look like you might pass out. There aren't any cameras about to expose you or something. You can be yourself here. That's the whole point."

Alec let out a breath and followed the instructions to go inside, trying to find the strength in him to take his advice. Luke closed the door behind him.

It wasn't an overly large room, but large enough that Alec understood certain dancers could put on quite the routine. There was a black couch leaning against the wall, so he sat nervously, wondering what the hell he was going to say to the man he'd be ogling all night. He doubted Magnus was oblivious what with the few times he had made eye contact.

Alec's heart was hammering in his chest as he thought about actually being alone in a room with him, no one else to break the ice. He felt like he was bordering on a panic attack. He knew Jace meant well, but this was too much. He was too nervous and inexperienced and this was too much pressure, even with everything everyone had been saying…

Before he could bolt, the door opened, and in walked the man Alec's eyes hadn't left all night.

To make things worse, Alec practically gaped at him, since up close he was even more stunning.

His dark eyes were lined with eyeliner, accented with dark eye shadows blended together and the glitter spread down his cheeks made his face even more luminescent and angelic than before. His hair was gelled into a funky sort-of relaxed style, and Alec could see the glisten of sweat on his arms. He was fully dressed, but there weren't many layers and they left little to the imagination.

"Hello. I'm Magnus." Magnus introduced, smiling wickedly, and Alec was grateful he was sitting because he was pretty sure his knees would've given out by now.

"Alec." Alec said, hoping his voice didn't quiver as much as he thought it did.

Magnus' smile broadened, and Alec wondered stupidly if Magnus introducing himself was an invitation for him to do the same. It was probably just what people in the business did. Stated their stage name to instigate the start of the show. Here Alec was, acting like it was a blind date. Good god, could he melt into the floor already!?

Magnus crossed the room and cracked open a bottle of water. "Forgive me for asking, handsome, but first timer?"

Alec couldn't help but groan and put his head in his hands. "Does everybody who works here feel the need to point that out?"

Magnus chuckled, and Alec lifted his head, embarrassed that he was charmed by the sound. A little glow of warmth formed in his belly that he had been the one to make Magnus laugh. He had been watching others do it all night with a hint of jealousy.

"It's nothing to be ashamed of, Alexander." Alec didn't bother to correct him, too fascinated at the sight of him sipping at a bottle of water to form words. He also had a feeling Magnus had chosen his full name on purpose. "The only reason I ask is because it does change how I approach these situations. Some people, veterans to this place so to speak, come in here knowing what they want and expecting something specific. Others, like yourself, are new to the idea and need a little more guidance getting out of their shell. And there's a learning curve too, of what you want and what works for you. I've been doing this long enough that I've worked with a wide variety of experience levels, and trust me, the most important thing is just that you communicate with whatever dancer you are paired with. That means, if I do something that makes you uncomfortable, you say so, or if you'd like something altered to suit your tastes, tell me. I'm sure Raph gave you the big scaredown so you know if it's outside my comfort zone, I'll just tell you and we'll try something else that works for both of us."

Alec nodded. "That sounds… really reasonable."

His voice was working a little better now.

Magnus clapped his hands together. "Perfect! Now, shall we get started?"

Alec was grateful he was sitting on a couch since his hands gripped at the cushion for something to anchor himself too.

Don't pass out. Don't pass out. Don't pass out.

The music filled the room, and, at first, Magnus didn't watch him. He was concentrating on the pole centered in the room, and Alec watched in fascination as he hooked a leg around it and did some complicated flip.

Would whooping in appreciation be acceptable here or would that just make him look like a complete idiot?

Alec chose to remain quiet but he found his body relaxing a little as he watched Magnus move.

He was still hyped up with nerves, but maybe the alcohol was settling in his system more, or maybe Magnus' pep talk helped, but Alec found himself having an easier time staring this time around. He knew Magnus was being paid to literally do this for him, but knowing there were no witnesses outside the one putting on the show made him feel a little more at ease. Being caught ogling a man still made him feel guilty, ashamed, the internalized homophobia he was getting better at battling still rearing its ugly head at times. Now, not only was Magnus being paid to show off for him, but Alec was expected to be intoxicated. He was encouraged to fully give himself over to his desires. Well, within the code of conduct of course.

Alec found his teeth digging into his bottom lip as he watched the man move fluidly, his body rolling like a wave as his shirt settled on the floor.

With a sly smile, Magnus sidled up to him, digging a knee on one side of Alec's thigh and settling into his lap.

"This okay?" he asked quietly.

Alec couldn't speak, too shocked at how close the attractive man was to his body to form coherent words, so he nodded as Magnus properly straddled his lap. His body warmth immediately seeped into Alec's and he felt his mouth go completely dry.

Magnus continued his rolling motions, but this time his pelvis was coming in contact with Alec's, and Alec made an unintelligible sound at the friction, his eyes finding the ceiling as he tried to control his body's reaction.

"Still liking this?" Magnus murmured.

Was he trying to seduce him? His voice was so silky and smooth, Alec was surprised he didn't arrive right then.

"I-it's good. I-I'm just… y'know, trying not to be a preteen about it." he managed to choke out.

Magnus laughed, throwing his head back as it came from the depths of his belly, and the action caused his lower half to become even snugger to Alec's. Somehow, it seemed Magnus found his innocence and inexperience endearing.

"Well, the whole point is that you enjoy yourself. Are you enjoying yourself, Alexander?"

Alec nodded as Magnus flipped around so his ass was the one nudging Alec's crotch, his hand sliding up to cup the back of Alec's neck as he slid up and down his body.

Alec's breath was catching at the sensations rolling through him. His hands had found Magnus' waist to steady him, but so far, that was as adventurous as he had been.

"You're allowed to touch me, you know." Magnus teased against his ear, blowing a cool gust of air against the hot skin of his neck.

Alec, swallowing with difficulty, let his palm stroke over Magnus' toned abdomen, taking inventory of one side to the other. He grew in confidence a little as Magnus seemed to use it as encouragement to keep dancing and he let his thumb brush sensually below his belly button but well above his waistband so he wouldn't accidentally touch him where he had been formally forbidden.

Magnus leaned back, using Alec's shoulder as a rest for the back of his head as he unbuttoned his pants and let them slide off his legs. He kicked them off with a flourish, turning around to straddle him facing forwards again.

Alec closed his eyes, trying to think of unappealing things as his body was not hiding its arousal in any way, but Magnus seemed amused.

"Let yourself feel, Alexander. It would offend me if you weren't properly enjoying this." To make his point, he pointedly rubbed against Alec's erection, and the latter moaned, gasping for air at the end.

"You're going to be the death of me." Alec mumbled, hands sliding down to rest on Magnus' hips unconsciously to help guide their motion.

"I'll make sure to get off you once I'm fully nude."

Alec felt himself panic. "Um, actually, is it okay if we just stay like this? This is… already so much."

Magnus' eyes softened and he smiled. "Of course. Whatever you like."

Alec exhaled, the tension leaving his body again. He couldn't help but let his eyes find Magnus', mesmerized by the swirl of colours in his irises.

The man in his lap moved more deliberately as the song's tempo increased, and Alec felt his hips move upwards of their own accord.

Magnus leaned his forehead against his, chuckling a little under his breath. "You're certainly a breath of fresh air, Alexander."

Alec met his eyes again, finding adoration in Magnus', and without thinking, he closed the distance between them until his lips were flush to Magnus'.

It was soft despite the suddenness, Alec's lips melting against the older man's, before he wrenched back.

"Oh, god, oh god I'm so sorry." Alec whispered, feeling his eyes grow wet in humiliation. That was practically the number one rule NOT to do, and there he went, ruining everything. It was Magnus' obligation to end things now, have Alec kicked out, never to return. He already felt a pang in his heart that he wouldn't see him again. But it was his own fault. His own stupid, desperate, intoxicated fault.

He was too drunk on alcohol and arousal to stop himself from doing stupid things, so it's not like he could exactly blame Magnus or the club for having that rule in the first place…

Instead of shoving him away and bolting, Magnus seemed eerily calm. His hands rested behind Alec's neck, him still in Alec's lap, and he was moving forward to kiss him again before Alec could catch up on what was happening.

It was gentle at first, but Alec couldn't control himself. Magnus was kissing him. His hands cupped his face in his hands as he kissed him back, and he whimpered against his mouth as Magnus' hips began rolling into his again.

Alec's mouth opened to Magnus as he kissed him deeper, hips never slowing, and Alec felt himself nearing the edge.

"Magnus… I'm… I'm so close…" he whispered, muffled against his moving lips. The added sensation of Magnus' expert lips against his was heightening everything, and he knew his high was moments away.

"It's okay, Alexander. It's okay." Magnus promised softly, moving his mouth to suck on Alec's neck.

His teeth nibbled over his pulse point and that was it, he was done, the whole night had been too much.

Alec's body seized up, his back arching, as a breathy "Magnus" escaped his lips. His hips stuttered as he came endlessly in his pants, his blunt nails dragging down Magnus' bare back as he gasped through his orgasm.

He stayed in his position, boneless, trying to catch his breath. His brain was fuzzy, unable to think of words to say, like 'thank you' or something.

Would it be weird to thank him? He did give him an orgasm, but he wasn't sure what the protocol was in this situation, as he never imagined actually coming undone in front of the man.

Magnus eventually dismounted him and brushed himself off before gathering his discarded clothes to swiftly redress.

"There's a bathroom just through there if you need to clean yourself up before you head back out." he said quietly.

Alec nodded, looking down at the floor now, embarrassed that he had just climaxed in front of a virtual stranger. He knew that Magnus had probably witnessed many over his time in the business, how could he not with moves like his, but he was sure many also kept themselves in control.

The shame from before started to creep again, locking his jaw and posture. He had just experienced his first orgasm at the hands of another man, imagined scenarios from his masturbation fantasies not counting, and it was making him feel a little overwhelmed. Also given that Magnus wasn't saying much either, and he wished the ground would swallow him whole.

Alec stood and moved to leave, afraid to look at him, afraid to find the disgust he was used to being associated with his sexuality.

He felt stupid, and humiliated, and just… sick. He wanted to leave. He had to leave after this. He was pretty sure Jace would be fine with it, as this was no doubt his finale for the night as it was, but Alec wasn't even sure if he could face him. He knew he'd start questioning him about how it was, teasing him, and Alec was feeling too vulnerable to play along.

"Alexander." Magnus' voice sounded strange, and Alec couldn't help but swivel to look at him.

His eyes grew strained at the sight of him, and Alec wondered if his self-loathing was as obvious as it felt.

Magnus crossed the distance between them and pulled him into a hug. Alec was so surprised by the action that he simply froze.

"I'm proud of you." he told him quietly, patting him on the back before slipping out of the room, shooting him one last coy smile before the door closed.

Alec didn't know what to think, still too stunned to gather all his thoughts, so he headed to the bathroom to clean himself up a bit.

Once done, he met up with Jace, his thoughts buzzing loudly in his head.

Jace smiled widely at him, but, catching the look on his face, his mouth slid into a frown.

"You okay?"

Alec nodded, not meeting his eyes. "Can we go?"

"Of course." Jace said seriously, slipping his arms through his jacket sleeves. "Thanks for everything, Maia." he added to the girl.

She, too, watched Alec in concern but waved them off with a forced smile.

Alec didn't speak much on the way home, too consumed with his thoughts. He didn't know what had happened, why Magnus had started kissing him back, and then everything following only solidified his confusion. Magnus seemed distant after they broke apart too, but then he was hugging him, telling him he was proud of him, and Alec didn't know what to believe.

But he didn't know Magnus. He didn't even know what Magnus' real name was for god sakes. Strippers usually had stage names, for their protection. And his job description meant he was always putting on a show. So that meant any part of his personality, or all of it, could be nothing like the real man.

Jace was shooting him glances as they walked through the city, clearly worried about him.

"Alec?"

"Mmm?"

"Did… did something bad happen? In that room?"

Alec contemplated the question but shook his head. "No, no. It was… just… not what I was expecting, I guess." He forced a smile. "But you were right. Definitely got me out of my comfort zone tonight."

Jace stopped walking and pulled Alec's arm. "Alec, tell me the truth. Did I pressure you into this? Make you do something you didn't want to do?"

Alec's heart clenched. Of course Jace would blame himself. It was his idea in the first place and he was the one who booked the private dance. But Alec knew it wasn't anything Jace had done. As usual, it was Alec who screwed things up.

"No, Jace, it was great, honestly. The whole night. But I guess I just… didn't realize…" He didn't know how to word it, not sure how to make Jace understand. "I wasn't expecting it to be so… um, emotional, I guess?"

Emotions weren't ever something Alec was great at expressing, let alone talking about. But he wanted to make sure Jace understood that he was only in his head about things because he was processing.

"Oh."

Alec forced a smile, trying to forget about the flood of uncomfortable feelings after things had finished. "I had fun, though. I really did. Thank you for tonight."

Jace smiled genuinely now. "You're welcome. That's what best friends are for."

"And brothers." Alec added, slinging an arm around his shoulder and squeezing affectionately. "Can you imagine Mom and Dad's face if they were in there, though? THAT would've been fun."

Jace snickered, immediately up for the entertaining conversation.

Part II can be found here!

[figglypuff]

Me and Friend playing Advance Wars earlier

Friend: What if in the future Intelligent Systems told us they were going to make the best new game for either a new Fire Emblem or Advance Wars but they can only do so for one of the series?

Me: Depends on the design of each game I guess.

Friend: Fire Emblem game would similar to classic FE titles such as GotHW or Advance Wars 5 similar to the first three titles.

Me: Why must you do this to us?