#I loved writing about it too even though I'm not satisfied with the end result

[yujeong]

For a writing prompt, how about Pete and his grandmother, post-canon? It could be Vegas/Pete + Macau + Pete's grandmother as well or any combination you want ^_^

I wonder how his grandmother would react to seeing a Pete she both knows and one who has been changed. How would Pete walk the line between the truth she deserves to know and the pain he wants to preserve her from? There are so many unique tensions between them that I'd love to see you explore <3

My beautiful friend, how kind of you to send me this prompt ❤️ Pete and his relationship with his grandma has occupied my thoughts many, many times, so this is an incredible chance to explore them. You already know this, but for the rest who will read it, the following will be part of a bigger fic I intend to write someday, which I had presented briefly here: aka, Pete will be teaching Vegas boxing post-canon, despite both of their better judgements. Here, Pete's grandmother finds out about it 😌 It's a very rough draft and very incomplete, but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless 🥰 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ "Pete, dear, you're adding too many peppers." The pan made a sizzling sound when he added the fifth pepper into the mix, ignoring his grandma's comment. "Don't worry, grandma. It's fine. It's not too spicy," he said, adding another one just because. He heard a deep sigh coming from the laptop placed on the counter next to him. A smile appeared on his lips. "For you and me it isn't, but you know how the city boys are." "I know," Pete agreed, "I'm preparing this for them. Macau will be fine, he's taken this as a challenge." "That young man and his bravado," his grandma sighed again. "Sometimes, I worry he'll get himself into real trouble one day." "You and me both, grandma," Pete said and shook his head at the memories that resurfaced. It couldn't really be described as sadness, this feeling that overtook him. More like fondness mixed with melancholy. Macau had been through a lot this past year and Vegas' recklessness lately was making it worse. Not that Pete could exactly blame him for it.

"Pete, the temperature is too high, lower the heat a bit," his grandma suddenly said, snapping him out of his thoughts. It was fascinating how she could understand these things without being able to see the meal being prepared. Pete had placed the laptop at an angle that only showed his torso and the kitchen table behind him, his face hidden completely from view. If he did that on purpose, it simply couldn't be proven in any way. He slowly turned the dial to lower the temperature as he was told, then stretched his arm to grab a wooden spoon with which he started scraping the bottom of the pan, making sure the mix wouldn't get burned. "Hm, I think it's almost done, it only-" "Pete." He stopped talking. He knew that tone. He had made a mistake. "Show me your hands." Fuck. She saw the marks. "I'm cooking grandma, what-" "Stop what you're doing and show me your hands right now." He tried not showing his discomfort as he lowered the heat even more and presented his open palms to the screen. He could see his grandma's wrinkled face, her frown deep and concerning. This was going to be hell. Pete tried avoiding showing his knuckles, but it was impossible; she insisted on seeing every single part of Pete's hands. He always hated when she did that. "Have you started boxing again?" Pete was so thankful she couldn't see the expression on his face. He wasn't sure he would be able to hide the dread he was feeling as he heard the question. "It's just some light exercise, grandma," he said and hoped his voice wasn't betraying him. "Vegas just wanted to be more active and-" "Vegas made you start boxing again?" Another mistake. Pete shouldn't have mentioned Vegas at all, he was such an idiot. He hoped Vegas would understand, when he found out. "Vegas didn't make me do anything." It wasn't a lie. It had been Pete's choice. He had made a lot of those recently. "Pete," his grandma said again, but this time, instead of angry, she sounded sad. Concerned. "If you need money, maybe you could talk to Mr. Tankhun. He could give you your old job back or find you a new one." "I won't fight," Pete yelled, feeling his blood boil at the mention of his old boss. He checked himself before continuing to speak, making sure he sounded unbothered. "Grandma, I won't do any matches. I'm simply teaching Vegas some basic moves and that's it." "Show me your face." A pause. "What?" "I need to see your face, Pete." His heart was thumping in his ears. He didn't want to be seen right now. He almost said so, before an energetic Macau entered the room and addressed him. "P'Pete, what are you making? Oh hi, grandma!" He ran over to the counter and lowered his body to see her clearly. Pete could tell she wasn't happy she lost the chance to see Pete's face, but she hid her displeasure immediately and smiled brightly at Macau, asking him how his day had been so far and if he had any plans for the rest of it. Pete internally sighed and returned to his cooking, his hand trembling as he was scraping the bottom of the pan with a little more force than necessary.

[cxffecoupx]

asking to place lipstick marks on 'it'

seventeen x reader 18+, nsfw, svt down bad warnings: suggestive content, love making wc: 1.0k author's notes: such a CRAZYY thought to have, so i decided to do it :) but i cant believe it took me this long to finish writing this (read: uni is kicking my ass). anyways, wouldn't say i'm very satisfied with it, but i really hope you guys like it!! also, special thanks to @simpxxstan for giving me ideas for a few members

➼ choi seungcheol

very interested in the idea. would get so excited for this. would ask if he can select the shade of lipstick and runs to your dressing table when you agree. but most likely would end up buying a new set of lipsticks because the shade he wants 'is not there' (it's an excuse for him to buy you a new set). by the time you're able to finish your mission, you're over three rounds and he's a sweaty, moaning mess. neither of you sleep that night.

➼ yoon jeonghan

would become so smug when you suggest it?? like full on smirk on his face and just goes, "if you wanted me to fuck you, you could have just said that." but will eventually agree when he sees your boba eyes and gets excited seeing your excitement. will probably squirm and whimper because of the sensations at first, but the sex later on is crazy.

➼ hong jisoo

confused eyes. looks so adorable you end up smushing his face and kissing his lips in fondness. man is actually so clueless at first, but then ever more confused when he realizes what you meant. becomes beet red until you promise him it's just for fun and not necessary until he's okay with it, hearing which he quickly agrees cause if you're gonna have fun, why would he not indulge you? would become so adorably shy when he sees the result. makes you cum with just his fingers and mouth as thank you.

➼ moon junhui

mindblown by your idea. becomes so excited; it's like a child waiting for candy. so endeared by you that he ends up making you smooch all over his face. then he starts kissing all over your face. the lipstick marks meant for his dick end up on your faces, but neither of you could be happier than at this moment. slowly turns into a gentle love making session.

➼ kwon soonyoung

you ask him in a very usual way, but it's only after he accepts that you realize this is a great opportunity to tease him. asks if he can record it (because he's very amused by this idea) and searches for the perfect lighting and angle while you prepare. thinks he's so prepared for it, but starts shaking and pleading the moment you start kitty licking his tip. by the time you're finished, he's panting and wanting for more.

➼ jeon wonwoo

you ask him while he was gaming; he leaves the game so fast you wonder what went wrong. but then he goes and picks up a random shade of lipstick and pulls you in between his knees as he manspreads on his gaming chair. holds your hair as you work on him. hours later, the lipstick and your clothes lie forgotten by the bed.

➼ lee jihoon

wants this whole event to occur in his studio. literally agrees when you offer to come to the studio for it. he'd be acting so nonchalant but you can clearly hear his heart racing in his chest and his ears going red. also likely to voice record the whole thing with your consent to use as 'inspiration' later (will use it to get off during desperate times).

➼ lee seokmin

another one who'd get red. very shy. "woah where do you even get ideas like these?" as he goes wide-eyed and still manspreads on the couch to invite you in. goes weak in his knees when he sees you make eye contact with him as you look up from between his knees wearing a shade he considers sexy. you have to abort the mission because he ends up pushing your face few many times.

➼ kim mingyu

GIGGLY MESS. you don't understand what he's been giggling about ever since you proposed the idea, but you're currently down on your knees in front of his naked body and he just cant stop giggling??? when you ask him about it though, he says he's way too endeared by this whole task and wants you to kiss every inch of his body. so, an hour or so later, you're panting, straddling a happy mingyu who's entire body is covered with lipstick stains. time to make a new folder in your gallery.

➼ xu minghao

lowkey becomes concerned about you. he already suspected you were upto something when you approached him with a cheeky smile, but he never thought it'd be this... wild? almost instantly rejects until he sees you get down and look at him with such hopeful eyes that he cant resist. still finds it weird as you mark him, but gladly indulges you. takes photos of it (without you knowing,,, or so he thinks) because you are the artist, and he ends up liking the art a little too much.

➼ boo seungkwan

lowkey judges you first, before highkey agreeing to it. it's one of the "how dare you make stupid decisions and do them without me" moments. judgmental most of the time: "is that the shade you're choosing? it doesnt look good on my skin tone," "the lip shapes arent perfect, pucker them a little more," etc etc. after lots of advice and nagging, you finally finish the job. you get up with a satisfied smirk as you look at his pretty pink cock and his spent form.

➼ chwe vernon

deeply contemplates it. quickly nods when you say, "it's for the art" and asks for some time. leaves. comes back saying "okay, let's do it." when you ask him where he went, he goes "i had to be clean and ready." waits for you to prep for it, but almost cums then and there when he sees you naked, wearing only his favourite shade of lipstick. by the time you could finish the task, he's lost all his marbles and begs you to ride him. finishes with his cum painting your chest and stomach.

➼ lee chan

turns red as a tomato. one moment you suggest the idea, the next he has to physically pull his head outta the gutter because his thoughts escalated into something else. and no matter how hard he tries to deny that he was indeed having very mature thoughts, the blush creeping to his cheeks screams the truth. asks somewhere in between if he can mark your chest with his lipstick marks, and honestly? who are you to resist? by the end of the night, he's spent and at your mercy and you havent yet completed the task.

[mera-k1]

Hiii! Can you write about Doppo, Rosho, Kuko and Rio with breeding hc? If you havent written It yet, please? Also i love your blog!!!

hey!! ofc i can! enjoy♡♡

Breeding Hcs

Rio, Doppo, Rosho, Kuko x afab!reader

-smut, breeding, creampie

-for rio, i don't see him as someone who'd enjoy breeding unless he was absolutely ready to start a family with you. and, of course, with your consent.

-absolutely fills you to the brim with his cum honestly... the best creampie you could ask for from anyone to be honest.

-you've gotta trap him with your legs if you really want a creampie. he just obliges, letting you keep his cock buried deep inside of you as he cums. if this is what you're into then who is he to judge?

-rio wants to settle down somewhere with you, preferably without the hypnosis mics, before you both start tampering with breeding you... he wants to make sure you're both in a place to raise a child that could result of this.

-doppo can never deny your wants. whenever you say you want him to breed you, he can't help but feel as if he has to. he wants to make sure you're happy and if this is what is going to make your experience better then he'll sure as hell comply!

-it's not something he thought he'd ever really be into in general but if it gets you off then he doesn't mind giving you a creampie occasionally..

-he's more into the idea of starting a family with you when you're both ready for it. then he gets more accepting of that idea but until then, it'll be only when you ask him to.

-i think for rosho, he wants to be in the right spot before you both start tampering with breeding. what if he accidentally gets you pregnant!? the poor guy has a little too much anxiety about it so it's best to wait until he's prepared.

-sometimes he forgets if he's supposed to pull out or not.. ends up pulling out unless you make the move to keep him inside of you. it flusters him to no end because it just feels so intimate to him.

-rosho's a fan of intimacy during sex so the fact that cumming inside you feels so intimate to him makes him feels like he really was meant to be with you if you're letting him do that!

-i'm torn for kuko... on one hand, he's down for cumming inside and breeding you till you're satisfied but on the other hand he's not sure if he wants to risk anything. he'd rather be safe than regret it.

-he wants to make sure that there's little to no risk of any accidents before he agrees to breeding. it's something he's actually being careful about for once... but after that? he'll cum in you all you want and even scoop it back in with his fingers when his cum leaks out of you.

-he likes it messy so be prepared for him to fuck his cum into you until it's an absolute mess... don't worry though! kuko always makes sure to clean you up afterwards!

[jokeroutsubs]

[NEW ENG TRANSLATION] I write songs in Serbian so my grandma can understand us too: The Joker Out frontman talks about Eurovision, his origins, and Belgrade Beer Fest

original article Written by Ljubomir Radanov for Kurir.rs english translation by @moonlvster proofread by X @ klámstrákur

Even though this year's Eurovision ended a while ago, some of the participants, like the band Joker Out, are still talked about. We're referring to one of the most popular pop-rock bands in Slovenia, whose frontman, Bojan Cvjetićanin, has become a real music star. It was this great European festival that allowed his popularity to reach beyond the borders of Slovenia. Ahead of their performance at the next Belgrade Beer Fest, which will be held from the 15th until the 18th of June [2023] in Belgrade, the 24 year old of Serbian origin, otherwise a sociology graduate, talks about his Serbian origins and upcoming visit to our capital city.

This is not your first time in Belgrade?

We had our first performance at the MAC event, but this is our first concert.

What do you have planned for it?

We'll perform as long as scheduled, around an hour, plus two songs, just enough to go over the limit (laughing). We are scheduled to play for about an hour, which means we'll be able to play a good percentage of our repertoire. If the audience is quiet, we'll have to talk to them and we'll play more songs (laughing).

Will you have some time to visit Belgrade?

Unfortunately, our plan is to leave immediately, because we are to perform in Slovenia the next day. Last time, we visited commercial places, met lovely people who promised us they will show us the real Belgrade and the places that only the locals know sometime. Ask me in a year and I believe I'm going to give a much better answer.

You attracted a lot of attention with your Eurovision performance.

How satisfied are you?

Eurovision is one of the biggest festivals in Europe, maybe even in the world.

It took six months of our lives and it was like a giant school trip or a travelling circus, carried out on the most professional level. We met a lot of creative people with whom we will be able to build a career abroad. We have gained a huge amount of fans. The only thing that didn't turn out how we imagined was our result, but in the end, that's less important to us than what we achieved with the audience.

Were you pleased with the score from the Serbian jury and the audience?

I thought I was going to burst with happiness when I heard we received 12 points! It was a magical moment.

Have you stayed in contact with the Serbian representative, Luke Black?

Of course. We became friends and we will probably meet at our concert in London in July.

Did you actually lose your phone at Eurovision?

It happened after the final, at an afterparty. I left it somewhere and it ended up with another country's delegation, but I got it back two days later. Still, I enjoyed not having a phone. The day after Eurovision, everyone was writing messages and being active on social media, and I spent that time with my family and friends. It was like I was in a different universe, completely calm and relieved.

How would you explain your music in terms of genre?

In 2017, we called our music 'shagadelic rock 'n' roll', based on the movie 'Austin Powers', which we adore. Our sound is an interesting mix of ex-Yu rock and roll and British pop-rock.

Who are your idols?

The Beatles, Arctic Monkeys, and Slovenian bands such as Siddharta and Big Foot Mama, and the Balkan bands Bijelo dugme, Indexi, Idoli...

What do you listen to in terms of modern sound from these areas?

The bands Buč Kesidi, Keni Nije Mrtav... We haven't had time to listen to music in the past year, we were constantly in some kind of chaos and noise.

Where did the idea of expressing yourself in your mother tongue come from, like, for example, in the songs 'Ona' and 'Demoni', which are in Serbian?

Every time I play our songs to my family, my grandma, who is from Banja Luka, can't understand the lyrics entirely. I wanted her to be able to understand perfectly what the poet wanted to say, and that's how the songs 'Ona' and 'Demoni' came about. With the song 'Ona', we wanted to capture the essence of the band Idoli¹.

¹The band 'Idoli' was one of the most remarkable new wave bands based in Belgrade, active during the early 80's. They are considered one of the most outstanding and influential representatives of the Yugoslav rock music and their album 'Odbrana i poslednji dani' ('Defense and The Last Days') was voted as the greatest Yugoslav rock album of all time.

Your family's origins are interesting.

My mom's side is from Banja Luka and Lebane, and my dad's side is half from Ličko Petrovo Selo, and the other half from Croatia and Slovenia.

You also act and host. Do you have ambitions in acting?

I would love to act more and I would be very happy if I acted in more serious roles. I've always played characters that were similar to me and I couldn't fully surrender to the charms of this profession. In high school, I acted in theatre, and if I get the opportunity to do that again or to film a movie, I wouldn't run away from it.

How do you see yourself in ten years?

I would love for Joker Out to be an established band around Europe, to have two children, and to live a normal life.

[shakingparadigm]

Hi hi.

Hi para! I'm writing you to share some theories I got! Since you're one of my favorite blogs.

Hope to not be glogging your asks section...

Luka is an observant calculative person (other than not feeling genuine emotions and empathy like Vivinos made us understand from his behaviour towards the opponents,Hyuna's brother,Hyuna herself etc...) .He has an idea of Till's method to win. I'm talking about what he did in round 2. Then he saw a drastic change in him after Mizi went missing.And again,he knows that Ivan's death has become a trauma for everything that happend in that round. My guess is: Till will be depressed and Luka will manipulate him the same way he did with Mizi,to not let him interrupt the chosen song with another.Just to make sure he will win if he prepared one. And to see his opponents loose their minds and feel satisfied with himself and kiss...their bloody hands I guess. Something may convince Till to not die and fight. In the 7th round there may be a ''fast forward'' in which they show Mizi and Hyuna as prisoners.The aliens may have decided to let them live to obtain informations of the rebels. Till may find out that Mizi is being tortured and go to save her with a parallel similiar to IvanTill ''escape plan''... Luka's knowledge of Hyuna's presence may be a problem too. He may do a mistake and not feel in control. Prioritize Hyuna and say fuck to the Alien Stage. In result we will have a fierce Till tired of everything who clings on the hope to meet Mizi and avenge Ivan.

I'm really curious about your opinion. Please let me know!!! Oh! Do you think the 7th round will be the last? Did vivinos said something about it other than having worked on it for a long time?

It's always a pleasure to scroll and see what you post! Having said that,bye bye!

Hi!!! Hello!!! Thank you so much for this! I fold this ask gently like paper and tuck it into my heart.

This theory is genuinely so cool! I agree with a lot of it as well. Since we didn't get Hyuna and Mizi's interference in ROUND 6, we're most likely going to see it in ROUND 7, just not in the way we hoped we would. I've stated before that I didn't see a reason for them to keep Hyuna and Mizi alive if they were found, but now that you mention it... they're literally the perfect torture tools for Till and Luka. Everything lines up just a little too perfectly.

Honestly, Till finding Mizi again is also the only way I can see him regaining strength. He was actually supposed to see Mizi at the end of ROUND 6 (in the first draft, at least)! I know some people insist that Ivan's sacrifice was to shake Till out of a stupor or encourage him to fight (through anger?), but I just couldn't see it that way. In fact, it seems like his situation just worsened. Genuine rock bottom. He's lost everyone.

I think the only way Till can pick himself up again in such dire and urgent circumstances is if Mizi is involved. Everything in him would reignite in an effort to save her, to sing for her. Her absence was the reason he lost himself in the first place, so it makes sense that she's the only cure for his current predicament. If he saw her, if he knew she was alive and this was his only chance to reach her.... Till is literally going to mega-evolve LMAO. I'm not trying to downplay Ivan's sacrifice, though. I know Till is affected by it too even if he didn't love Ivan the way he loved Mizi. It would be amazing if Till's swan song was a heavy rock piece dedicated to screaming out not only his love, but all his hurt and confusion as well.

The song will no doubt be suited to Luka's taste since Till can be forced to adjust to Luka's style, but I couldn't ever see Luka adjusting to Till's. I have a feeling the song will start out slow with Till at a disadvantage, but a shift happens (Till sees Mizi) and suddenly he starts performing with an overwhelming passion.

Luka losing control because of Hyuna is an incredible thought. I do think he'd lose composure, but not exactly in the panicked way. Instead, I think he'd feel overwhelmed with some kind of intense feeling and maybe even perform in a more crazed manner if he finds out she's been caught. Now both Luka and Till have a strong reason to go all out. After seeing Mizi and Hyuna, they'd need to win. It's impossible for Luka to be an easy or "weak" opponent, and I don't think the sight of Hyuna would necessarily incapacitate his abilities. He's already seen her, after all. He knows she's still alive and that she would inevitably have come back. I feel Luka is a bit more calculated in his approach, so maybe he'd find other ways to get her in his grasp. Maybe if he won Alien Stage again, he'd be granted the privilege to choose a certain prize...

I think ROUND 7 is the last round, but definitely not the last episode (there is a possibility of the ALNST makers finally getting pissed off and throwing Hyuna and Mizi into the ring for another round, though. Not sure if it's a solid and likely possibility, but it's a possibility nothenless). There might be more to tackle regarding the Human Rebellion and the whole pet-alien conflict they seem to be setting up with the story. I believe the original Alien Stage synopsis states that the humans gather to "regain their free will and shape their destiny". We're focused on this particular season of Alien Stage for a reason, and it's most likely because it's the last. Shit hits the fan from here.

This is all just speculation though!! I'll be able to make more educated guesses once they start releasing more ROUND 7 related content. For now, they seem to be taking a well-deserved break.

Thank you for the ask anon!! This was such a wonderful idea to think about.

[birdship]

This project is unfinished and will remain that way. There are bugs. Not all endings are implemented. The ending tracker doesn't work. Images are broken. Nothing will be fixed. There's still quite a bit of content, though, so I am releasing what's here as is.

Tilted Sands is a project I started back when AI Dungeon first came out--the very early version you had to run in a Google colabs notebook. Sometime in late 2018, I think? I was a contributor at Botnik Studios at the time and I was delighted by AI Dungeon, but I knew it would never be a truly satisfying choose your own adventure generator on its own. I would argue that the modern AI Dungeon 2 and NovelAI don't fully function as such even now. That's not how AI works. It has to be guided heavily, the product has to be sculpted by human hands.

Anyway, it inspired me to use Transformer--a GPT2 predictive text writing tool--to craft a more coherent and polished but still silly and definitely AI-flavored CYOA experience. It was an ambitious project, but I was experienced with writing what I like to call "cyborg" pieces--meaning the finished product is, in a way, made by both an AI/algorithm/other bot AND a human writer. Something strange and wonderful that could not have been made by the bot alone, nor by the human writer alone. Algorithms can surprise us and trigger our creative human minds to move in directions we never would've thought to go in otherwise. To me, that's what actual AI art is: a human engaging in a creative activity like writing in a way that also includes utilizing an algorithm of some sort. The results are always fascinating, strangely insightful, and sometimes beautiful.

I worked on Tilted Sands off-and-on for a couple years, and then the entire AI landscape changed practically overnight with DALL-E and ChatGPT. And I soon realized that I cannot continue working on this project. Mainstream, corporate AI is disgustingly unethical and I don't want the predictive text writing I used to enjoy so much to be associated with "AI art". It's not. Before DALL-E and ChatGPT, there were artists and writers who made art by utilizing algorithms, neural networks, etc. Some things were perhaps in an ethical or legal grey area, but people actually did care about that. I remember discussing "would it be ethical to scrape [x]?" with other writers, and sharing databases of things like commercial advertising scripts and public domain content. I liked using mismatched databases to write things, like a corpus of tech product reviews that I used to write a song. The line between transformative art and fair use vs theft was constantly on all of our minds, because we were artists ourselves.

All of the artists and writers I knew in those days who made "cyborg art" have stopped by now. Including me.

But I poured a lot of love and thought and energy into this silly little project, and the thought of leaving it to rot on my hard drive hurt too much. It's not done, but there's a lot there--over 14,000 words, multiple endings and game over scenarios. I had so much fun with it and I wanted to complete it, but I can't. I don't want it to be associated in any way with the current "AI art" scene. It's not.

Please consider this my love letter to what technology-augmented art used to be, and what AI art could have been.

I know I'm not the only one mourning this brief but intense period from about 2014-2019 in which human creativity and developing AI technology combined organically to create an array of beautiful, stupid, silly, terrible, wonderful works of art. If you're also feeling sad and nostalgic about it, I hope you find this silly game enjoyable even in its unfinished state.

In conclusion:

Fuck capitalism, fuck what is currently called AI art, fuck ChatGPT, fuck every company taking advantage of artists and writers and other creative types by using AI.

[yourssinfullyquiche]

Night

Hello, all you beautiful people🥰 Another installment in the 4 part Gavin (s.e.x) series. Yes, I was supposed to do Afternoon and Evening first but I'm still writing Afternoon and Evening has yet to be written. So...let's just skip to Night, shall we?

This is an NSFW work, and it's also a little angsty. I had to. I was desperate for angst TW: Unprotected sex, and...nothing else. I'm so bad at this

I come out of the bathroom, fresh as a dewdrop and see Gavin against the headboard of the bed, clothed in his tee and shorts, reading papers with his glasses on. It’s never used often, those glasses. Kept in a black zipped case, it remains on the bedside table ready for use when he wants to. Rather, when he has a splitting headache after reading too much too closely. Though, there are times when he adorns those golden spectacles for the surprised glint in my eyes that leads to heat spreading to my cheeks which results in me tugging my bottom lip with my teeth. 

I have an inkling of why it’s there today because the second I emerge from my shower, his eyes meet mine immediately in a gaze that tells me he’s not OK. It’s the kind where his smile doesn’t reach his eyes. Behind that gaze is the lethargy of his recent mission that ended after a month, a sadness of which he has experienced that he’s yet to tell me. He looks like he’s about to cry driven by fear of loss. Ringed with dark circles, the reports he ought to be reading are abandoned with an unfocused mind. 

I stride towards Gavin, with a resolve of eliminating the feelings which feed into that look. He puts the papers aside and the spectacles on it, arms at his side to welcome my presence on his body. I don’t even bother changing into my pyjamas, only removing my bathrobe and tossing it onto the chair, knowing that his clothes would be strewn all over the floor. Clad only in my delicates, my legs straddle his hips. He cups my behind and pushes me up, securing me comfortably above him, levelled to his face. My hair falls encasing us in a curtain of floral vanilla scent—a secret reprieve, only the two of us share.

Our hands fiddle with our clothes—mine are gone in no time, my fingers move on to his shorts, pull it down in one go and throw it haphazardly. He’s bare and chuckling when he looks at me. “Don’t worry, the other half of my body won’t dare run away.” 

The delivery of that line should have me laughing but his voice is as empty as a hollow tree, something he tries to mask with cheekiness but fails. Though it twinges within, I don’t point it out. Instead I reciprocate with the intended cadence and smack his chest lightly, “I’ll be sure to use that line when you tear my clothes in shreds.”

He purposely averts his eyes all innocently with a satisfied smile on his face. The back of my fingers absentmindedly runs over his cheek as he tucks the spilling locks of my hair to one side. “What’s on your mind?” I ask. 

There, it’s that look again. That look in his eyes tells me he’s so afraid. He breathes heavily and pulls me closer into his warm embrace, protectively cradling the back of my head. I wait for his shaky breaths to dwindle and answer though I know it won’t come as easily. I look back at him to see his eyes glisten wistfully and then he says, “I’m so happy that you’re here with me.”

My face twists first into confusion and then understanding. I don’t pry further because that one line tells me everything I need to know. A smile forms on my face as I cup his cheeks. “There’s no place I will be than in your arms, my love.” 

The smile he gives me is loving and grateful as he brings me into his embrace once more. There’s a small lump forming in my throat, but I swallow it. There will be no tears for now, not when he needs my strength—and it comes full force as my fingers ghost over the deep lines on his body

All sizes with pains that ache my heart. I dance over the fresh gash across his sternum like they’re hot coals burning my fingers. Yes, it burns. It burns my entire being, makes my blood boil that he has to put himself through countless horrors—yes it is not deep, but the marking remains sufficiently angry to leave a scar crossing both his pecs. 

My thoughts halt when he looks at me with a pensive gaze. I remind myself that anger is not what I need now as well. I’ll not let him have the chance to comfort me, not when he’s clearly in need of some love. So, before he utters anything, I kiss lips, one he gladly sinks into. Desperate and breathless it becomes and it makes me float, taking away my mind that would eventually travel down the path of bitter horrifying stories it conjures. 

I caress his cheek with the back of my knuckles. Kiss all over his face. He chuckles as I flutter my eyelashes across his skin. I look into his eyes, tired but always exuding gentle love that sends a rush of warmth through my body. 

No words leave my lips, it only moves to join his again. Our kisses are unhurried and languid, a sweet dance. We save exploring each other’s bodies for another day, for today we yearn only for the warmth such nakedness provides. I raise and sink slowly down his cock. The chorus of sounds leave our lips at the pleasure of fullness we both feel, feeling so close to one another, the warmth that one can only feel when they’re skin to skin. 

One of his hands stays resting on my bottom and the other sneaks up to hold my nape, mine finds its way to the soft strands of his hair, and they stay put for anchor. I feel him engorged and pulsing in me. The burn of my core, the stickiness my legs feel and the incredible need to rise and slam hard into his body. I ignore all the impulse, instead we rock our bodies to a slow rhythm. Moving together and savouring the deliberate thrusts. 

Gavin’s lips caress my neck until they land at the corner of mine. “You feel so good,” he whispers against my lips, choking my sighs once more in a reverent kiss. Tonight, I let my lips take away his grief, my body take away his pain. Perhaps after, words will be shared once more, dead in the twilight wrapped around in sheets heated by the warmth of our bodies. 

The waves of pleasure crests within us yet we never hasten. I feel the usual jolt in my tummy, one look at him tells me we’re both about to fall over the cliff. “Together,” I tell him and he’s about to pull away when I stop him, clamping down. “I want it inside.” He stills, eyes wide as he stares at me for a few seconds. The question is clear. Are you sure? 

Softly he asks to confirm his thoughts, “Is that what you want or are you doing this because you think I want it?” 

I yearn, and perhaps I am doing this for him. But I don’t care. I know he’s the man I want to spend all my nights with wrapped in our sheets, the only one whose golden eyes I ache to meet when I wake. Somehow I know he needs that as well. To be so close to one another until the air we breathe diminishes. 

“I want it…,” breathlessly it dispels from my lips. 

I look at him and his eyes are glassy and dark to a deep shade of bourbon as he kisses my forehead. 

“Then come with me,” says Gavin.

We’re in one tight embrace as our bodies rock once more—a little faster, and within a few seconds we come undone in a gentle rush. I have no plans to move, to feel the emptiness that will instantly wash over—he doesn’t either when his hands stay tight around me. I feel the warmth of the duvet around my skin as we kiss goodnight and say I love yous before we drift to a slumber. 

-

A/N: Thank you for reading❤️ Updates will be quite slow since I'm working now. I had this piece in the drafts as I wrote it immediately after Morning. I waited so long only because I wanted to post it by order but the Afternoon piece is taking longer than expected. It's really out of my comfort zone, so writing it has been a slow process. To those of you reading, I appreciate your patience~

Credits to @cafekitsune for the lovely dividers😚

© YOURSSINFULLYQUICHE2023 — no part of this writing shall be plagiarised, translated or reposted in any way. Likes, reblogs and comments are always appreciated!

Taglist: @playheej@purple-cat-demon@rinharu-purple (if you want to join my taglist, please visit my blog and click the link available on my pinned post)

[mika-no-sekai-blog]

Dream of Modron

(Eris x mysterious female)

Word count: ±900

Warnings: none I think

This short Eris' drabble was inspired by @erisweek2023 prompt "Dance"

I'm very sorry for my English 🫣

This week was really busy, so I hardly managed to write this. Hopefully you'll like it despite of all the mistakes I've made.

And the hardest part of the story? The speech! I'm the last person who'd ever give any speech and it seems it's impossible for me to write one too.

Eris decided to check on preparations for upcoming Autumnal equinox's celebration. He worked on it for the past two months and now there was only 1 hour left before it starts. As he walked around the clearing where it'll be held he inspected five tall piles of dry wood prepared for bonfires.

After that he moved to the tables. Servants assured him that the tables with food and snacks made of apples, pumpkins, chestnuts and other autumn fruits and veggies, would be ready on time as the last plates and trays should arrive any minute.

Before returning to the palace to get ready himself, he also checked the decoration, podium from where he'll speak and even the stage for musicians. All seemed to be ready.

Satisfied he returned to his room to take a shower and change to already prepared clothes. Last look in the mirror and he moved to the table to go through his speech quickly one more time. As the time came closer he could hear cheerful voices from outside. The crowd started to gather. It's time.

Approaching his podium he could see people gathered around, waiting for him to start the celebration. Making sure his mask of a fearless high lord is on its place, he took his place on the podium. There was a buzz in the crowd as all eyes turned to him. Calmly Eris surveyed people in front of him. He waited until everybody was quiet. Then he cleared his throat and started.

„Welcome to the annual Autumnal equinox's festival! Last year was really hard on us. War took too many lives and we also lost our high lord, my father. But we made it. We survived. Thanks to you all our country is safe once again," he paused to look to everyone in the eye.

„Despite of everything, nature was generous to us this year too and gifted us a lot of food, fruits and vegetables," he gestured towards the full tables set up along the edges of the clearing.

„Usually we celebrate Autumn equinox to give our thanks to the nature, but this year is little bit different. Let's take advantage of this feast and celebrate our victory and life itself as well. Let the party begin!“

With last words he left his powers rumble around, setting the bonfires on fire. Crowd cheered loudly. Then priestesses on the other side of clearing took over the attention and performed their usual rituals and offerings. When spiritual part ended, musicians took up their instruments and crowd split into dancers and onlookers.

A satisfied grin settled on Eris's face as he took in the scene in front of him from his small podium. Everything went smoothly, exactly as he planned it.  Unfortunately he couldn't stay longer and enjoy the results of his hard work. There were some high lord's matters that needed his attention. He waited until he was sure people were enough distracted. But when he was about to sneak out, he noticed a girl dancing around one of the bonfires. In the moment he forgot everything else.

It wasn't her look that caught his eye even though it wasn't bad too. She had big green eyes, waist-length auburn hair, quite lovely face with few freckles on her small nose and cheeks. She was rather smaller with slim and graceful curves.

It was her dance that impressed him. Her movements were precise, confident, elegant and as wild as the flames behind her. She radiated  tremendous energy that attracted him. It reminded him of Nesta's dance just with one difference. This girl was way better. If Nesta was a queen of dance, this girl was goddess.

Before he knew, he was already strolling through the crowd, every step bringing him closer to her. He stopped few meters from her with arms crossed on chest, openly gazing at her with smirk plastered on his face. The smirk that she shamelessly reciprocated. It seemed as if she was dancing just for him making eyes on him every time she turned his way.

Biting down his lower lip he watched her for few minutes enjoying the view before joining her. She eagerly accepted his hand and together they swirled around the bonfire in a wild vortex of dance. Fire filled his veins fuelled by the warmth and flexibility of the flesh under his fingers. A wild grin spread across his face. They hadn't spoken a single word, but neither of them minded.

Eris lost track of the time and his surroundings. At that moment there was only her, the music and the fire for him. He didn't feel tiredness nor thirst or hunger. His body was drawn to hers, his lips only few centimetres from hers. Suddenly she stopped. Eris blinked and looked around.

The night turned into dawn, everybody had already left. Looking at the empty stage where musicians stood before, it was clear that the music must have stopped playing a long time ago. Only embers remained of great bonfires.

Surprised he turned back to the girl, but she was gone too. He looked around in confusion. Except of him there were only wisps of early morning mist rolling across the clearing.

He sighed. He didn't even have a chance to ask her name. Tired he returned back to the palace and crawled into the bed.

[aihoshiino]

Thanks for translating Rie’s interview, I loved reading it but one part stood out to me. Although I can say I agreed with the rest of it, I believe at some point Rie said that if it wasn’t for the stabbing, Ai wouldn’t have ever been able to say “I love you.” Though I do agree that it would have taken her longer to say it without that kind of “it’s now or never” urgency, I like to imagine that eventually Ai does end up saying it. So I’d love to hear your thoughts, if you believe Ai would eventually say “I love you” to Aqua and Ruby, and when/what non-lethal circumstances would set the stage for that?

Glad you enjoyed it!

I've always been of the same mind as Takahashi in that it's really hard for me to imagine Ai saying an 'I love you' for the first time without some big emotional catalyst. Both because this is such a huge mental roadblock for Ai as a character but also just from a narrative perspective, that confession of love is her character arc - the prologue arc as a whole is the words "Aqua, Ruby, I love you". So I think for me, I would want those words to come from a similar place of catharsis as they do in canon, even without a similarly intense setup.

I have one scenario for it in mind but it's, uh, technically also spoilers for one of my in progress OnK fics so I'll keep it under my hat for now. All I'll say in that regard is that the foundation of Ai's issues regarding love all come back to her relationship with Ayumi, so I defo think putting her in a situation where she can work on/through some of that baggage would get her in a good place to try saying it.

I DID once manage to get her to say it in an ongoing RP au in a way that really satisfied me too… it took a very long time in-universe lol but it was basically the end result of two people very slowly inching towards falling in love with each other and Ai taking a chance to open up about her insecurities and the parts of herself she hides - her 'dirty, rough edges' as she puts it in 45510 - and being met with unconditional acceptance the way she's always wanted it. That was really interesting to write because I'd always felt kind of conflicted about the idea of her saying a truthful "I love you" to anyone else before Aqua and Ruby, but in that particular context & with that build up, I was like "oh, of course she would say it". It was actually literally the first time she'd ever said a 'I love you' since I'd started writing her because I'm intentionally super picky about dropping that for hopefully self explanatory reasons so getting to write it for the first time ever was so good…

[moreteethplease]

> Play it here!

Five old men sit at the back of my church every single week after sermons and prayers. I wonder if the source of their sweat is the same as mine.

Hellfire (The Old Men At The Back Of My Church) is a short, semi-autobiographical bit of rambling made in bitsy for the Queer Wrath Game Jam. It (and parts of the devlog below) contain themes of death, suicide, homophobia, religious trauma, and implied sexism, all depicted in text only.

Devlog (and spoilers) under the cut.

This was a very easy, straightforward "game" (if it can even be called that) to make. I haven't made anything in bitsy in a solid six months and wanted to ease myself back into it with something that wasn't too hard to make work.

The events in Hellfire are generally true, but out of order, and some narrative gaps are filled with best-guesses or embellished. With that being said, the rage that fuels it is very real and the tale it tells is dear to my heart.

Writing

I started with the last two sentences of the script, then got writer's block and didn't touch it for a week. I almost thought I wouldn't finish it and would have to find a different concept.

Then, one fateful sleepless night, in the middle of a depressive episode, I wrote about 80% of the script on my phone while my spouse slept beside me. Usually depressive episodes are creative slumps for me, but this time it worked out. I finished off the script the next day without much editing. The result is a few too many run-on sentences, but I do think it works for the style of this "game", and it really does make it a "bit of rambling".

Art

By the time I was done with the script, I knew that I wanted the words to be the main focus of this "game". That meant no real gameplay beyond progressing through the script. I've done this before with You Died On A Tuesday, but even that had a minor interactive element, where you move your sprite across the page to get to the next "point". For Hellfire, I just wanted a story with pictures changing in the background. It was important to me that the pictures were always easily in view so the dialog box never blocked any of them. T make this work, the images are all on the bottom half of the screen.

I'm not sure if I'm 100% satisfied with the art for this "game". For example, the plate with the rice ladle animation is a bit too jagged and feels jarring to me, but by the time I noticed I disliked it, I had already finished putting the game together. I also am not sure about the air-conditioner animation. I asked my spouse what he thought it looked like and he said "a printer", so I might be cooked.

I'm also not sure if I like the frame where two hands slowly reach towards each other. They were originally a lot more solid, but I wanted them to be almost translucent in effect, as if they're fading away or not quite real. I tried to space out the solidness of the colour, but it always came out very uniform and looked strange. In the end, pixsy's image-to-bitsy converter got a better look than I could create myself:

Thoughts

I usually have something to say at the end of these, but I find myself at a loss for words. I've struggled with religious trauma and queer trauma for my entire life, and while I've learned to slowly heal the former, the latter has buried deep in a way that I don't really know how to heal from. I've lost so many queer friends and loved ones and I know that my government is unlikely to grant queer rights to its people in my lifetime. It's these sources of pain that make me write things like Hellfire... though hopefully my next work is a little less of a ramble.

Thank you for reading! If you’d like, you can play this not-quite-game here:

[veebs-hates-video-games]

Let's see if I can sort out what to say about Fire Emblem Engage yet, which might end up with a bit of commentary on other games in the series, which I guess is appropriate since it's basically an anniversary game. The short version is that I feel like a lot of the hate for it from The Gamers is extremely exaggerated, and even though it's not perfect it's probably my favorite Fire Emblem game at this point.

Like most people old enough to have been around at the time my main introduction to Fire Emblem was through SSBM, although in my case I didn't really care about the characters in that so much. Specifically it was the inclusion of Together We Ride in the soundtrack that got my attention. I still have an mp3 somewhere that I recorded from the game by hooking up the line out of my GameCube to the line in on my laptop.

I didn't actually play the GBA games because I never had a GBA of my own, so I started with Path of Radiance instead and have played a decent number of the games since then at least part way through. Still need to get around to Shadows of Valentia one of these days, but it'll probably be my next FE/3DS game when I do.

Up until now I'd say Awakening was my favorite of them. It was pretty satisfying mechanically without being overly complex like Fates (which was great if you really like planning everything out and min-maxing stuff, but it's all a bit much the first time through playing casually), it had a bunch of fun characters and supports, the music is frequently excellent, and the story is completely ridiculous in a fun way.

In a lot of ways Engage felt very similar to Awakening to me, which was great for me. I don't think I could convincingly argue that any other game in the series is anywhere near as fun for me in terms of gameplay. It's incredibly flexible in terms of what you can do with your units and what kinds of team compositions will work, especially on lower difficulties, but it manages to achieve that flexibility without being overly complex in an intimidating way, and a lot of the map design is excellent too.

It does a great job of encouraging you to try different things out by the way the maps are structured and enemies are placed and various different gimmicks on them and is full of moments early on that demonstrate the value of different units and abilities without directly telling you what to do. There's a lot of stuff set up in ways that don't just hand you a victory and have multiple ways to approach them, usually more than one of which makes you feel very clever for pulling something fancy off.

And the Emblem abilities that are restricted in use by being situational and on long cooldowns let them give you some truly ridiculous stuff that would be broken in any other game but feels perfect here, and it lets you do some absolutely bonkers stuff once-ish per map as a result. A lot of it gets balanced out by giving bosses multiple health bars though, which solves so many design problems and stops you from just warping a single unit there to burst them down instantly. That and sometimes having multiple bosses on the same map really forces you to use the ridiculous emblem abilities and take advantage of your whole team you've deployed a lot more often.

I know there are some people who don't love it aesthetically, and that's fine, but just on a technical level it's easily one of the best-looking games on the Switch. Seeing clips of Three Houses again after playing Engage for a while is rough. It feels like looking at a PS2 game running in an emulator, and Engage feels easily at least two full console generations ahead in terms of the tech it uses and the results they get out of it. Plus I actually love the art style too, with all the bright colors and overdesigned characters and stuff, and the combat animations are probably the best the series has ever had.

And I suppose the big thing that the most people complain about is the writing and story. You know what? They're fine. As far as I'm concerned the series has never had top tier writing (sometimes it's pretty decent like the Tellius games or Three Houses, but even those have some issues), and if that's really what I'm in the mood for I have plenty of other options for that. Just from stuff I've played this year there's been Future Redeemed, 13 Sentinels, The House in Fata Morgana, and probably some others I'm not immediately thinking of.

It's not like a story or its characters have to be super deep to be fun or interesting or serve their purpose in a piece of media either, and for me Engage managed to do that for me in the same way Awakening did. I genuinely enjoyed spending several dozen hours with a lot of the characters, and the story's a bit silly sometimes but did what it needed to to bring a bunch of random characters together and through an adventure together.

And something unprecedented for me for a Fire Emblem game (and pretty uncommon for games in general) is that I immediately wanted to play it again right after finishing. Usually I want to see more of the supports and any optional stuff I might've missed (e.g. optional recruits and stuff), but that's not enough of a motivation to play through the whole game again, especially not right away. This time though in addition to that the game mechanics are so satisfying that I wanted more of that too, especially with all the units I never really used and all the new silly build ideas I started coming up with toward the end of the game as I understood how everything worked better. I've been holding back from actually doing it yet because there's so much other stuff I'm trying to get through or finish up, but there's a pretty good chance I'll start over again at some point in the next few months, maybe after SoV and/or going back and finishing my replay of PoR I started earlier this year before getting distracted by this game.

Engage is almost definitely my favorite Fire Emblem game at this point and easily in my top five games I've played this year, probably in the top three. I think it's probably number one for gameplay, with 13 Sentinels for story and Future Redeemed for all aspects combined overall, and Unpacking is an honorable mention for general vibes.

[chartreuseian]

For the fic writer ask: 🍉, 🍭, and 🌮! :)

Hey 😊

🍉Are you a pantser or a plotter?

Hmm. More of a pantser, I'd say. At least in the beginning. Often I have an idea for a single scene or chapter that serves as the inspiration for the rest of the story and so then I just start writing towards it (or writing it). Then once the story is taking shape I'll sketch out the rest of the plot, even if it's just events or topics I need to hit to justify the ending.

But with oneshots and shorter series, 100% pantser. It often results in me discarding a large number of early drafts, but rewrites stopped scaring me a while ago (though they totally still annoy the hell out of me!!)

🍭What's been your most challenging story to write, and why?

I don't know if any particular story itself has been a challenge to write from a plot standpoint, but I really struggle with motivation to finish. If I've had the idea long enough and enough of the pieces of it have appeared in my brain, it can be a real struggle to convince myself to write it. Because if I know how each scene looks/feels and I'm satisfied with it, then I don't always feel the need to write it out to share. 🌮How do you balance the desire to write for yourself versus the desire to write for an audience?

Ugh. Good question, my dude. It's hard when the majority of what I post gets almost zero interaction which I totally understand, but like I mentioned before, fandom has changed sooo much since I started and that it can be really overwhelming to put all that time into something and have no one connect with it.

BUT! I got back into writing at the end of last year entirely for me (I was writing for at least a month and a half before I started posting again) as a way to sort of reclaim my hobbies (I write too much for work and it killed my love). So whenever I find myself getting frustrated or down about not reaching people the way I used to, I make a point of writing the next chapter/fic entirely for myself and what I want to see happen which helps, even if it does sometimes mean that the chapters end up wildly OOC and entirely too schmoopy. Because if no one is gonna read it, why not make it exactly what I am craving 😅

[merrybandofmurderers]

I love all the different ships you have! There's no limits, anyone in the lore is game! 🤩 I've seen OC x OC on your dash before, especially on wip wednesdays, and I've read a few~ Now, though... I kinda wanna know more! Are you just making them up as you go? Do they all have some (wip?) stories to go along with them?

(the Iron Bull x Sable x Fenris and Briala x Zenith are especially interesting to me... 🫣)

so i've actually like, played-played very few of my ocs. i've made all of them--and thus played the first quest--in game at least once (altho some have appearances i need to update), but long-term playtime is more sparse. i do tend to figure out my oc's personalities BY playing, so as a result, some ocs are more fleshed out than others

i've slowed down on the oc-making, but when i first started playing in,, 2018? 2019?? i just kept getting more and more ideas the more i played, and then i'd have to start over to make the next, and then the next

see, i only started playing dragon age FOR the ocs. becuz i LOVE making ocs! even for original writing, it's always been my favorite part of story-telling. and by far the best part of dragon age--and the thing that keeps me here tbqh--is the fandom aspect of sharing ocs and talking about ocs and doing oc memes and getting commissions of your ocs and making your ocs kiss your friends' ocs. ahem

anyway. i STILL haven't played dao and da2 (altho i WILL, if for no other reason than i have so many oc ideas for them), but inquisition was enough to spawn LOTS of oc concepts. um, i just counted and it looks like i've plateaued at 64 lmao (not counting kids cuz there's only a few that i'm completely decided on)

i do plan to write SOMETHING for every oc. not as involved as the pavellan or tranquil oc fics, but something. i've got a handful already in the works and several more in the planning stages

~

so i did start with the canon origins and canon romances but,, that obviously did not keep me satisfied lmao. i have certain characters selected as inquistors with others being strictly companions (atp most of my ocs are "companion ocs")

i'm not really sure how to explain this, but basically all of my ocs exist in thedas at once, with different handfuls all being part of individual worldstates. in each worldstate there is a designated inquisitor with others being companions, and that is those characters' story. but regardless of which worldstate is at the fore, the rest are still in thedas doing their thing, either related to their origin or working for the inquisition more distantly (i really need to make a spreadsheet for this)

there are some ocs though that are designated "inquisition agents" that are technically present in every worldstate even if they don't feature in the individual story. sable and zenith are two of those. they are part of a vigilante squad that travels thedas helping alienages. the other two members are jude and wren. in every iteration they end up joining the inquisition as agents

the four of them originate from the starkhaven alienage. sable (ze/they) is from another alienage that was purged and ze settled in starkhaven with wren's family. zenith (ze/zir) is the child of a ben-hassrath who gave birth in the alienage while on the run and gave zir up to an elven couple. jude (they/them) is a half-elf/half-dwarf mage, their mother being an alienage elf and their father a carta dwarf. wren (he/him) is the most normal of the lot, being your average city elf

sable is a two-handed warrior, and ze develops a romance with bull; after the inquisitor [unspecified] leaves hawke in the fade, fenris shows up, and in the process of mourning and healing, partners with the pair of them. zenith, a dual-wield rogue, first develops a romance with sera, then gets close with briala during WEWH and begins a romance with her too. jude, the group's mage, romances harding; wren, a sword and shield warrior, romances krem

~

so. that's a run-down on the oc situation and the ocs you asked about. as established, i LOVE talking about ocs, so you're welcome to ask about any that pique your interest in particular!

[tiredassmage]

@viennen wanted oc bingo for Leo and Heleda!

Leo's up first :3 And he's got a bingo!

He's way more of a blast to have and work with than I ever would've expected at the start. I think when we started the group kiddos, I was fairly recently off my run of Oliver in the smuggler story and contemplating a re-run for him to get recordings I'd missed, so I'd been pretty satisfied with what I'd gotten out of the class story and then... Leo happened along and I... I just love him, your honor.

The class story isn't exactly make or break essential to him, but I don't think any other would've produced the exact results I've gotten; not to say that it wouldn't be fun to delve into what those differences would do for him. He's one of my blorbos I could see myself running another list of class aus for, at least in my head, just to see what it might do to him. x3

Gave him the punch credit for 'made specifically for a relationship' since he's got both his sibling dynamics with Liv and the family, and also the romantic ponderings I've done for him are 90% ocs, with my in-game pickings being more just a set dressing kind of thing for the playthrough deal.

So, then of the other half of the group-edition made blorbos, Heleda:

No bingo for her (F), so maybe I'll add that to the "I'm sorry" part for her, lol. Her "I'm sorry my child" punch is less... about her backstory as Leo's is and more that I just. don't. do enough with her. And I'm still not certain I'll ever quite figure out if I want to or what that will end up looking like.

If I do, I'll likely feel essentially that I'm starting from scratch because I had... a couple ideas at the metaphorical table for her, but I wasn't particularly satisfied with how they were coming together. But she's also up there with Maltaf in 'characters I think I made too smoking good-looking' to ever want to entirely dismiss. She's unfortunately just got really stiff competition as far as being a satisfying fit in the Warrior story for me because I love, love, love what I did with Savosta, and even he I don't spend a lot of play time with (or actually writing, even though I know more about him in my head than'll ever probably make it out lol), and I don't... want to get too repetitive between the two of them, otherwise it'd just feel a bit pointless and something of a disservice to them both, y'know?

[nyxqueenofshadows]

yakuza 3 (sort of) done! thoughts under the cut cos they got quite long. they're a lot more coherent than my kiwami 2 ones cos i made them along the way rather than in a feverish mess at the end, though ofc they contain spoilers for 3 and ig gaiden??

overall thoughts, it's messy and weird and makes some Choices, but it's not a bad game, and the people who write it off as being shit are, imho, wrong. once i got into it i liked it, it introduced some great characters, had some really fun moments, and i'm gonna miss the morning glory kids (yes even riona).

if you're looking at this like when did you change the difficulty??? the bit where you have to run away from the police at millenium tower, fuck that bit so hard, none of the other chases gave me trouble but that one ughhhhh

also i neglected haruka i'm sorry

the combat is harder and more tedious, and i can see why it puts people off, but i find pulling off the combos and counters way more satisfying as a result. like, i tiger dropped lau ka long to finish that fight and it felt *so* good, way more than ending fights with heat actions or whatever has done in previous games. having said that the blocking oh jesus christ the BLOCKING

it’s the place we get the most on kashiwagi pre-y0 especially kiryu’s opinion of him (including the iconic lines about reimen) so you can’t knock it for that.

rikiya buddy i love you but wtf was that substory with natsumi. actually why is he suddenly a dick in all of his side content???? (i know he’s confrontational and that’s just how he is but idk, smth about how he is in the side content feels different). he’s rude to utabori to his face (despite kiryu repeatedly telling him not to), when he meets natsumi again he’s like yo i kept this necklace why are you in tokyo you don’t fit in here come back to okinawa with me, like ????? she clearly has a life she’s built up there (not a good one, i don’t think, but still) and they might have known each other when they were kids but we never get her side of the story on that, only rikiya’s. idk. it’s one of the first things he says to her, that’s a neon red flag if ever i’ve seen one.

also also during that entire scene in asia, kiryu watches rikiya’s reaction to the dancing the *entire* time. is that a bug of how conversations work or was that a deliberate choice or what

MACK buddy why aren't you in this game more

we had a second majima-no-nii-san! from hamazaki of all people! tho having said that i think he was being sardonic. like, he never says it again, and is generally kind of like that. he’ll use polite forms but he’s never being *polite*. lowkey obsessed with his hand on majima’s shoulder in that scene and what it says about his character and their relationship up to that point and how majima has ended up in this kind of position *again*. kiryu leaving - as it always does - fucked so many people over it’s not even funny.

some of the translations bother me. as an english script it’s for the most part pretty coherent and works well enough on its own, but in combination with the japanese it sometimes deviates in ways that change character moments or even just feel weird. like the addition of the puns in the seven mysteries substories is fun, very ace attorney, but sometimes it feels like they step too far (‘getting tight in your britches!’ for ビビった like ???? even ignoring the japanese what is that supposed to meannnnn)

specific moments i was thinking of were the really early line where taichi is like 晩ごはんまだぁ？ and they add in an unnecessary ‘i thought curry was supposed to be easy!’ in the english which then undermines later when they all sit down to eat and are like カレーだ！ like they didn’t actually know what was for dinner. another one is when kiryu leaves rikiya behind in okinawa and tells haruka that he can’t let him come (in various ways, three times). in the english they shake it up a bit by adding ‘it’s my burden to bear’ WHICH i’ll fully admit flows better and is a very kiryu thing to say but i think it shifts the tone of that scene from worry to responsibility? in a way that doesn’t feel quite right in context of the story as a whole. last one where mine calls kiryu a coward when he’s leaving after showing whatever was left of kanda in that box. again, it flows better and lines up with kiryu’s behaviour in later games but doesn’t feel quite right and i think it changes the point mine was trying to make there. there's also the minefield about how mine expresses his feelings about daigo right at the end. BUT i’m a learner this isn’t my job what do i know. they worked hard and faults aside it’s a fun read and they also had to deal with that fuck-awful section of exposition from the politician so no blame here. it’s not like the other games don’t have this, it just feels especially weird in this one to me.

i loved the little wrestling bit. it’s not perfect but it has the kind of heart and good intentions that makes those sections (and yakuza 3 as a whole) really enjoyable for me.

objectively very funny that the text you get congratulating you on all the revelations is from kaoru, and that she’s like hey your blog was very funny, go see my friend bob utsunomiya for your reward. i know it’s mostly game mechanics to make it make sense but is it not the funniest thing to imagine a. that kaoru knows a bob utsunomiya (how did they meet??? why???) and b. that on her breaks between Mystery Police Stuff she’s refreshing kiryu’s blog like what dumb shit is this idiot up to now asdfghjkl tbf his blog can’t be hard to find, it’s literally ‘day in the life of the dragon of dojima’ it’s a miracle he gets anything done ever with how bad he is at being on the downlow

standing on the morning glory beach, especially in the evening/at night and looking up at the sky while listening to the waves roll in is so calming, the first time i got to do it i stayed there for like ten minutes just chilling

some of the animation is genuinely really really good, like saki’s eyes shaking in fear or kiryu’s cheek twitch when he finds out about morning glory, or mine on finding out daigo's alive. idk how much is the work of the remaster and how much was originally there but i really like it

the last three chapters are such whiplash cos it’s like sad, sad, very sad, bulls! sad, very very sad, sad, jet! thumbs up! sad, sad, ANGRY, there is no change in the plan, sad, sad, on the roof, sad, sad, MACHO, things are gonna be fine! oh wait sad sa- please mr richardson they’re trying to have a moment -d sad sad surprise! murder! surprise! alive! done. you know?

idk if i was just hormonal or emotional but saki calling out to nakahara really got to me for some reason. her first word after years of silence was ‘dad’, and that hit me in a way i wasn’t expecting even tho i knew it was coming.

show us the akimoto/mizuki kiss, cowards

that last section was really fun to play for me (aside from that first little bit going up the first couple of floors of the hospital), the music’s great, the combat had (mostly) good pacing, the fights felt challenging in a good way, yeah i was all for it! reinforced for me how much i like mine as a character and wish we’d got to see more of him (but hey, look, if andre richardson survived the fall...?). like, the moment he realises daigo is still alive - and that he was about to kill the man he love- ahem sorry admired, so much - is seared into my brain.

[shalomniscient]

Thank you very much for the praise, Sev! I highly appreciate what you said about my headcanons. NGL, after writing my HCs and sending them through your inbox, I actually wasn't truly satisfied with what I wrote, because I felt that they were too verbose in a way. Honestly, I wanted my headcanons to be shorter and simpler than the end result, but I got carried and they became way more complicated than they needed to be. Like for example, it was simply going to be just about Cinnabar and her Friesian performing Dressage, but I felt there had to be more substance to it, so I added in stuff like her Arabian stallion Chevalier. Still though, I'm really happy that you enjoyed reading them and my apologies for the tangent there.

Yeah, Chevalier and Cocytus would definitely race around the fields and even both of them will play around with a large exercise / toy ball. Fun Fact; Cocytus was named after the frozen lake in the ninth circle of Hell: Treachery. Treachery is also Cinnabar's Libram in PTN. If you want to answer this question, what did you like most of all about my headcanons? Once again, thanks Sev and make sure to get a good night's sleep!

-🏇

honestly 🏇 anon i love the names !! names are always the hardest part of writing things for me, because it takes so long for me to settle on a name i like 😔😔😔 cocytus and chevalier are such banger names !! i love the connections between cocytus and cinna’s libram, it’s these little details that give SO much flavor to a work 😌😌😌

love your thoughts 🏇 anonnie !! and you too, make sure to sleep and eat well <333