#I think I am more into the other sets on the map
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speaking of lore inaccuracy I have been seeing people saying that c!sapnap dragged c!tommy into the first war with c!dream because c!sapnap stole c!tommys stuff and I can't find the clip for that but I take their word for it but c!tommy would have attacked c!dream regardless of that or not. Like if i remember correctly, c!tommy was talking about how he's sick of wars and doesn't want to be involved only to then go ahead and steal a bunch of stuff and kill people without giving back gear. c!sapnap may have dragged him into that fight with c!dream where they end up 2v1ing him but I think in the grand scheme of events it doesn't matter because he would have attacked him in another time somewhere else, nothing changes
[context]
Anon, please. I’m so triggered as it is but I also have like 700+ something pictures of dsmp map and I’d like to talk about some more of it before we hop subjects. I know, I’ve seen, I’m going do a post on it soon as I feel like someone needs to set the record straight and apparently my first [post] wasn’t enough (in fact, I may or may not have actually spent the better part of yesterday rewatching those streams). But I plead mercy, I have a Lot of different brain rots going on all at once from the time dilation we talked about the other week [post], to finally knowing what these maps are [post] [post] and the enchants of Quackity’s tools [post], to learning more about the prison [post], staged duo note [post], Dream’s hand writing and the letter to Techno [post]… etc… I am losing it… please send a medic, the brain rot is too strong.
Having said that though, I’m answering this incase you are in an ongoing debate with someone and need it, here is the [clip] you are talking about I believe. The argument that Sapnap pulled him into it only goes so far as Tommy can make his own decisions the same way Tubbo can. Also some of what made that conflict bigger was specific things Tommy did so blaming it on Sapnap is kinda ridiculous. It’s not like that’s even his first war or something anyways, Tommy is always down to kill Dream all on his own (and if you need proof of that, here is just one example [clip]).
Plus in this instance - as in the instance that starts the disc saga - Tommy is high off of his kill and says ‘we should kill more people whilst we’re at it’ and Dream just logged log on so Sapnap is like ‘should we kill Dream?’ and Tommy answers ‘Yeah let’s kill Dream!’ which hardly seems like Sapnap pulled him in to it. And if they are referring to the war prior to Dream logging on, that doesn’t matter anyways. The disc saga didn’t start when they went after Alyssa and Ponk, the disc saga started when they killed Dream unprovoked and refused to give back his stuff afterward [clip] [clip].
#how did that end up so long wtf?!?#dsmp#disc duo#discduo#hello there#dsmp lore#dsmpblr#c!disc duo#dreblr#c!discduo#c!sapnap#c!dream#c!tommy#disc saga#they sad thing is that there are lore pieces that could be highlighted in defense of people’s arguments but they never talk about them#instead of doing inaccurate lore…#chakrnjfksnjwjnfbfjnsn…. banging my head against the table how people not know what happened in the disc saga they all called the disc duo!
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i can almost guarantee ive said it before but. he would thrive in a zero escape game
#an octopath ze au would be kinda fun actually.. especially the octo2 party#would love to see these guys in an escape room . it would be so awful#temenos would fit in perfectly and might even make a good mc given his 'truth lies in the flame' segments..#i could see partitio doing well bc of his creativity and general demeanor#osvald is great at math but idk how trusting hed be of everyone in this situation.. especially if they assume zero is one of them early on#throné . girlie im so sorry#i think shed do fine for the most part (hard to say how much her thieving skills would be of help here) but she did not deserve this </3#do not let ochette into any pantry or food storage room. i dont trust any of that food#i wonder if shed have her partner(s) here tho.. how do u handle an owl and/or jackal in this situation..#she would be great for morale tho#same for agnea tho i worry for her emotional state a lil bit . help her#who am i missing .. CASTTI#shes good at managing stress (both hers and others) in awful situations . thank god#and shes there if anyone gets hurt 👍#not that its likely outside of bad end situations ? tho i may be thinking of the 999 map too much..#would it be more fun to use that as the setting or something else altogether.. more modern or more like octopath 2..#how the fuck would someone even make an escape room in . what is it like the industrial revolution. steam era#would it make sense to be able to use magic in universe to pull off something similar..#the canonicity of some ingame mechanics is dubious so its hard to tell how malleable magics uses and effects are..#itd probably be easier to place everyone in a modern setting but i have no idea what some of them would be that way#.. modern fantasy setting ??????#what if they had smartphones in octopath. would that be fucked up or what#also who the hell would be zero . would anyone be in kahoots w zero.. or at least Know Things but be unable to say smth abt it#i straight up forgot to mention hikari earlier but hes prolly like. fine#his intrusive thpughts would probably Suck Bad here but hed want everyone to get out alive as much as everyone else combined#wait who would even be the 9th person. would it be zero. but who..#if it were octo1 id say kit but its harder to get a good octo2 equivalent of him.. hm..#oh god im out of tags . tho what would the game style be like.. nonary game ab game etc etc.. what would be unique but fitting..#am i gonna look into actual scientific theories for this . and how would the morphogenetic field come into play.. and Why..#octotag
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more than a month after my previous kotor update i am happy to announce that i have finally met jolee and had him join me <3
#el plays kotor#yes im still on kashyyyk dont look at me#i was distracted by other games for a sec lmao but sth made me return to kotor yesterday#and now the party is complete!!!#and i have found 3 star maps and the plot is thickening!!!!#i keep wondering. if i hadn't been spoiled abt the pc's true identity would i have pieced it together by now#bc the foreshadowing isn't exactly subtle#or maybe it just feels unsubtle to me precisely because i know what is being foreshadowed....#but like. from the very beginning carth is like hmm its kinda sus that you happened to be on the endar spire#and then all those conversations with bastila that make u go hmmmm what's that supposed to mean#and then... when getting the star map on kashyyyk the hologram says sth abt you matching the required behavioral patterns or whatev#and that the last time it was used was five years ago And you can reply with 'hey revan was in these parts five years ago right'#like!!! yeah!!!! it was me!!!! i was the last user five years ago thats why i match the pattern i am revannnnnnnn#i have to know. did the first kotor players back in 2003 figure it out by this point hngngngnhng#or like any other players after 2003 who played and managed to avoid spoilers#anyway back to jolee. he is so cool but also so squishy on god#apparently some ppl give him a blaster to keep him out of melee but like you cant give a blaster to a jedi..... so uncivilized.......#i set him to use force powers until he runs out of force points#but the moment he runs out of force points and jumps into the fray he goes down. sigh#maybe im doing something wrong again. maybe i should let go of my jedi pride and just give him a blaster#i should also probably use all those energy shields and battle stimulants i have hoarded. i keep forgetting abt them lmao#also!!! @ the mutual who sent me that kotor related ask also more than a month ago i just wanted to let u kno. i have replied to it#i mean if u missed it or if u didnt get a notif or forgot or anything else that's cool !!#i just get all worried that ppl might think i havent answered and that im ignoring them if they dont indicate they've seen the reply gfhgfh#but that's a me issue. i just wanted to make sure u knew 🫶#anyway!! next stop manaan maybe#but first a detour to tatooine to deal with mission's useless deadbeat brother
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all that said. despite so much of this stuff being heavily future-based. i find og jsr more fun to actually Play LMAO
#mod noname#not yoyo#like. i dont know if i can say one is better than the other#they are very different games that try to do very different things#and they have diff strengths and weaknesses too#like i prefer the og's artstyle but future has more fun settings#and i think i geeeenerally would say im a future ost guy (though theyre both very good)#(us!og jsr has dragula which is hilarious to me and a point in its favor tho.)#and future obviously has more story stuff going on. and hits my preferred sweet spot of zaniness i think#but og jsr is just straight up more fun for me#the combat in future is not great imo and i def prefer how FUCKING STRESSFUL og jsr's enemies are LOL#but that said - i am also a guy who likes to Dodge things more than fight them!#and also while future's maps are like. big and complex#that actually makes things HARDER for me because my ass gets lost SUPER easily#so the comparatively more compact maps in og jsr is more up my alley#i also like og jsr's fucked up overly precise grinding/combos mechanics because im sick in the head.#ultimately i think theyre both flawed but enjoyable games though#and their flaws are very endearing to me#so many things in both games that just leaves me like “WHAT?? BUT WHY????” but in a charmed sort of way#why the fuck do the 'exit' routes in og jsr exist. actively hostile game design#the jsrf noise tank cleanup. why even#those games just Did Shit man
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My new darling in Wild Hearts, [REDACTED].
Bonus:
#wild hearts#blogchatter#i have Wild Hearts brain rot i'm sorry#i don't usually enjoy multiplayer games but this is fun#you can apparently solo it? i think? but I gave up after a monster I was hunting killed and pancaked me twice#and I forgot to set a fast travel point so I had to run half the length of the map twice#so I requested assistance--much thanks to the other player whose username was in a Japanese script I can't read#you're the best! :)#I am 6hrs in and only have three or so hours of playtime left on the Trial version 🥺#i must reiterate that I want a sketchbook style bestiary of this game's monsters 🥰#also character creation was great I spent like an hour thirty on there#possibly more
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Hey All,
I've been away for some time, as we've been working really hard on something quite exciting:
let me present to you the world's first ever global ocean drainage basin map that shows all permanent and temporary water flows on the planet.
This is quite big news, as far as I know this has never been done before. There are hundreds of hours of work in it (with the data + manual work as well) and it's quite a relief that they are all finished now.
But what is an ocean drainage basin map, I hear most of you asking? A couple of years ago I tried to find a map that shows which ocean does each of the world's rivers end up in. I was a bit surprised to see there is no map like that, so I just decided I'll make it myself - as usual :) Well, after realizing all the technical difficulties, I wasn't so surprised any more that it didn't exist. So yeah, it was quite a challenge but I am very happy with the result.
In addition to the global map I've created a set of 43 maps for different countries, states and continents, four versions for each: maps with white and black background, and a version for both with coloured oceans (aka polygons). Here's the global map with polygons:
I know from experience that maps can be great conversation starters, and I aim to make maps that are visually striking and can effectively deliver a message. With these ocean drainage basin maps the most important part was to make them easily understandable, so after you have seen one, the others all become effortless to interpret as well. Let me know how I did, I really appreciate any and all kinds of feedback.
Here are a few more from the set, I hope you too learn something new from them. I certainly did, and I am a geographer.
The greatest surprise with Europe is that its biggest river is all grey, as the Volga flows into the Caspian sea, therefore its basin counts as endorheic.
An endorheic basin is one which never reaches the ocean, mostly because it dries out in desert areas or ends up in lakes with no outflow. The biggest endorheic basin is the Caspian’s, but the area of the Great Basin in the US is also a good example of endorheic basins.
I love how the green of the Atlantic Ocean tangles together in the middle.
No, the dividing line is not at Cape Town, unfortunately.
I know these two colours weren’t the best choice for colourblind people and I sincerely apologize for that. I’ve been planning to make colourblind-friendly versions of my maps for ages now – still not sure when I get there, but I want you to know that it’s just moved up on my todo-list. A lot further up.
Minnesota is quite crazy with all that blue, right? Some other US states that are equally mind-blowing: North Dakota, New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming. You can check them all out here.
Yes, most of the Peruvian waters drain into the Atlantic Ocean. Here are the maps of Peru, if you want to take a closer look.
Asia is amazingly colourful with lots of endorheic basins in the middle areas: deserts, the Himalayas and the Caspian sea are to blame. Also note how the Indonesian islands of Java and Sumatra are divided.
I mentioned earlier that I also made white versions of all maps. Here’s Australia with its vast deserts. If you're wondering about the weird lines in the middle: that’s the Simpson desert with its famous parallel sand dunes.
North America with white background and colourful oceans looks pretty neat, I think.
Finally, I made the drainage basin maps of the individual oceans: The Atlantic, the Arctic, the Indian and the Pacific. The Arctic is my favourite one.
I really hope you like my new maps, and that they will become as popular as my river basin maps. Those have already helped dozens of environmental NGOs to illustrate their important messages all around the world. It would be nice if these maps too could find their purpose.
#maps reimagined#geography#cartography#maps#my art#rivers of the world#ocean drainage basins#ocean maps#river maps
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ok maybe I'm a little late to this BUT I'm gonna do a to-do list motivation thingy because I've had the worst two weeks since I started college :)
SO these I should start on asap:
50 I make the snack I really want but I haven't had the motivation to make
100 I clean my dorm. another thing I've been meaning to do for a week
150 I do the presentation about mid-victorian fashion I've been putting off (due Monday)
200 I start memorizing the monologue that was due a week ago (now due Tuesday)
these can wait longer:
300 I spend time outside. It's so nice but I'm getting stuck scrolling because I feel like shit. vicious cycle ect
500 I start setting a better weekend routine (aka getting up before noon)
1k I start working out again. I was doing a routine to get more masc and build muscle and I liked it but life hit me like Crowley driving the Bentley and I've missed like 3 weeks
2k I buy my first binder. I've been coping with sports bras for almost a year now and I haven't been able to justify spending $50+ on a binder even though I know I'd love it and use it everyday.
Do I tag people? I don't know but I'm going to. @the-globe-theatre-maggot @weirdly-specific-but-ok @howmanyholesinswisscheese
here's just some context if you want to read, feel free to skip. some of this I've talked about in the maggot server, some I haven't, but I really just need a place for this to go that's out of my head. tw homophobia, transphobia, car crash(??)
How I Have Been Run Over By The Bentley Going 90 In Central London What Feels Like 50 Times In The Last Two Weeks
I'm going to college about 4 hours away from my parents, and it's been really nice. They.. suck, to say the least. transphobic/homophobic ect, super traditional conservative catholic, racist, all of it. so i tried to move somewhere where I wouldn't have to think about them and I could be myself and do what I can to be happy. March 1st was the start of my spring break, which meant going home because the dorms close. I was already not excited, but I was prepared. the problem with being away from home is I forget just how bad they are. My optimism gets the better of me and I think maybe this time they'll be better. so I decided to not hide my septum piercing.
that was a mistake. it starts a whole fight where they say we know you're trans, you're actually a girl and you always will be, we have the bones argument, they think I'm being influenced by demons or something (if only they knew about crowley) because I want to change my name, and they tell me that going on t will completely ruin my body and give me cancer and other things. They're also mad about my dyed hair, septum, and general style, and say I'm setting a terrible example for my (5) younger siblings and make it a point to tell me just how much of a disappointment I am. I think I'm pretty cute and fun but y'know, whatever. very fun time. I lie so much, don't give them any more details about my identity, and say I'm not planning to go on t to save my ass. which is all on instinct which makes me feel worse because if I'm really trans I should be able to stand up for that, right? maybe I'm faking the dysphoria.
the next morning I wake up really sick, and spend the rest of the week sick and feeling like shit because I'm home and back in the same place and situation I was a year ago that I thought I escaped. at one point I pretty much lose my voice but also kind of get gender euphoria from it. it's weird.
On Friday it's time for me to drive back 4 hours to school, and I make it about 3/4 of the way when google maps takes me on a random gravel road and I crash my car, really crash my car, like sideways-in-a-ditch-windows-broken-crawling-up-out-the-door crash it in the middle of nowhere. (I was fully paying attention to the road, it was raining and super slick) I call my parents because I have no one else to call and I sit in a Subway for 3 hours while they drive to get my car. when they get there they're (understandably) really mad, and they tell me that I'm not mature enough to be going to school so far away and I need to get my shit together and stop depending on them. which. is probably true. but made me feel even more stupid about the fact that I crashed my car. I get back to school and I'm still Very Sick with no energy or motivation to do anything. So I've spent the last week trying to get better and honestly to do anything. it hasn't really worked. I'm a lot better health-wise (Not emotionally), still sick but I have a lot of work due, so I really need a push to get started
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My Favorite Cheap Art Trick: Gradient Maps and Blending Modes
i get questions on occasion regarding my coloring process, so i thought i would do a bit of a write up on my "secret technique." i don't think it really is that much of a secret, but i hope it can be helpful to someone. to that end:
this is one of my favorite tags ive ever gotten on my art. i think of it often. the pieces in question are all monochrome - sort of.
the left version is the final version, the right version is technically the original. in the final version, to me, the blues are pretty stark, while the greens and magentas are less so. there is some color theory thing going on here that i dont have a good cerebral understanding of and i wont pretend otherwise. i think i watched a youtube video on it once but it went in one ear and out the other. i just pick whatever colors look nicest based on whatever vibe im going for.
this one is more subtle, i think. can you tell the difference? there's nothing wrong with 100% greyscale art, but i like the depth that adding just a hint of color can bring.
i'll note that the examples i'll be using in this post all began as purely greyscale, but this is a process i use for just about every piece of art i make, including the full color ones. i'll use the recent mithrun art i made to demonstrate. additionally, i use clip studio paint, but the general concept should be transferable to other art programs.
for fun let's just start with Making The Picture. i've been thinking of making this writeup for a while and had it in mind while drawing this piece. beyond that, i didn't really have much of a plan for this outside of "mithrun looks down and hair goes woosh." i also really like all of the vertical lines in the canary uniform so i wanted to include those too but like. gone a little hog wild. that is the extent of my "concept." i do not remember why i had the thought of integrating a shattered mirror type of theme. i think i wanted to distract a bit from the awkward pose and cover it up some LOL but anyway. this lack of planning or thought will come into play later.
note 1: the textured marker brush i specifically use is the "bordered light marker" from daub. it is one of my favorite brushes in the history of forever and the daub mega brush pack is one of the best purchases ive ever made. highly recommend!!!
note 2: "what do you mean by exclusion and difference?" they are layer blending modes and not important to the overall lesson of this post but for transparency i wanted to say how i got these "effects." anyway!
with the background figured out, this is the point at which i generally merge all of my layers, duplicate said merged layer, and Then i begin experimenting with gradient maps. what are gradient maps?
the basic gist is that gradient maps replace the colors of an image based on their value.
so, with this particular gradient map, black will be replaced with that orangey red tone, white will be replaced with the seafoamy green tone, etc. this particular gradient map i'm using as an example is very bright and saturated, but the colors can be literally anything.
these two sets are the ones i use most. they can be downloaded for free here and here if you have csp. there are many gradient map sets out there. and you can make your own!
you can apply a gradient map directly onto a specific layer in csp by going to edit>tonal correction>gradient map. to apply one indirectly, you can use a correction layer through layer>new correction layer>gradient map. honestly, correction layers are probably the better way to go, because you can adjust your gradient map whenever you want after creating the layer, whereas if you directly apply a gradient map to a layer thats like. it. it's done. if you want to make changes to the applied gradient map, you have to undo it and then reapply it. i don't use correction layers because i am old and stuck in my ways, but it's good to know what your options are.
this is what a correction layer looks like. it sits on top and applies the gradient map to the layers underneath it, so you can also change the layers beneath however and whenever you want. you can adjust the gradient map by double clicking the layer. there are also correction layers for tone curves, brightness/contrast, etc. many such useful things in this program.
let's see how mithrun looks when we apply that first gradient map we looked at.
gadzooks. apologies for eyestrain. we have turned mithrun into a neon hellscape, which might work for some pieces, but not this one. we can fix that by changing the layer blending mode, aka this laundry list of words:
some of them are self explanatory, like darken and lighten, while some of them i genuinely don't understand how they are meant to work and couldn't explain them to you, even if i do use them. i'm sure someone out there has written out an explanation for each and every one of them, but i've learned primarily by clicking on them to see what they do.
for the topic of this post, the blending mode of interest is soft light. so let's take hotline miamithrun and change the layer blending mode to soft light.
here it is at 100% opacity. this is the point at which i'd like to explain why i like using textured brushes so much - it makes it very easy to get subtle color variation when i use this Secret Technique. look at the striation in the upper right background! so tasty. however, to me, these colors are still a bit "much." so let's lower the opacity.
i think thats a lot nicer to look at, personally, but i dont really like these colors together. how about we try some other ones?
i like both of these a lot more. the palettes give the piece different vibes, at which point i have to ask myself: What Are The Vibes, Actually? well, to be honest i didn't really have a great answer because again, i didn't plan this out very much at all. however. i knew in my heart that there was too much color contrast going on and it was detracting from the two other contrasts in here: the light and dark values and the sharp and soft shapes. i wanted mithrun's head to be the main focal point. for a different illustration, colors like this might work great, but this is not that hypothetical illustration, so let's bring the opacity down again.
yippee!! that's getting closer to what my heart wants. for fun, let's see what this looks like if we change the blending mode to color.
i do like how these look but in the end they do not align with my heart. oh well. fun to experiment with though! good to keep in mind for a different piece, maybe! i often change blending modes just to see what happens, and sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. i very much cannot stress enough that much of my artistic process is clicking buttons i only sort of understand. for fun.
i ended up choosing the gradient map on the right because i liked that it was close to the actual canary uniform colors (sorta). it's at an even lower opacity though because there was Still too much color for my dear heart.
the actual process for this looks like me setting my merged layer to soft light at around 20% opacity and then clicking every single gradient map in my collection and seeing which one Works. sometimes i will do this multiple times and have multiple soft light and/or color layers combined.
typically at this point i merge everything again and do minor contrast adjustments using tone curves, which is another tool i find very fun to play around with. then for this piece in particular i did some finishing touches and decided that the white border was distracting so i cropped it. and then it's done!!! yay!!!!!
this process is a very simple and "fast" way to add more depth and visual interest to a piece without being overbearing. well, it's fast if you aren't indecisive like me, or if you are better at planning.
let's do another comparison. personally i feel that the hint of color on the left version makes mithrun look just a bit more unwell (this is a positive thing) and it makes the contrast on his arm a lot more pleasing to look at. someone who understands color theory better than i do might have more to say on the specifics, but that's honestly all i got.
just dont look at my layers too hard. ok?
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ATEEZ as Disney Princes
Pairing(s): disney prince!ateez x disney princess!reader
Word Count: 14.4k
A/N: The title says it all. I thought it'd be fun to do something like this for the first time, deviating from my usual one member per story format teehee. Special thanks to my one and only, my pookie, @itstheghostofmypast, for helping me decide which Disney princes San, Mingi, and Wooyoung should be💘
ATEEZ MASTERLIST
Hongjoong ↠ Li Shang (Mulan)
• Leadership • Discipline • Protector •
"The Huns have struck here, here, and here," the senior General Kim pointed to the map, his voice steady and commanding. "I will lead the main troops to the Tung Shao Pass and stop Shan-Yu before he destroys this village. You will stay behind and train the new recruits. When Chi Fu believes you're ready, you will join us, Captain."
"Captain?" Hongjoong repeated, his voice filled with disbelief. This was the moment he had been dreaming of for as long as he could remember. He had trained the hardest and longest among his batch, fighting tirelessly to prove his worth to his commanding officer. It was finally his time to shine and demonstrate his capabilities.
"I believe you will do an excellent job," General Kim affirmed.
"Oh, I will. I won't let you down, sir," the younger man replied with determination.
It was during the Imperial dynasty in China that, as the Huns attempted to invade, the nation plunged into war. Yet, not all hope was lost. The young and fiery Captain Hongjoong was assigned to take charge of the new recruits. He would motivate them and push them to reach their full potential. His ability to inspire and lead by example would soon become evident as he transformed a group of untrained soldiers into a disciplined unit.
⁞
Throughout the training, Hongjoong enforces strict discipline among his soldiers. He sets high standards and expectations, ensuring that the recruits develop the necessary skills and physical conditioning through rigorous exercises. His disciplined approach is crucial in preparing them for the challenges ahead.
You would know this firsthand. Despite your best efforts, you had lost hope, feeling out of place because, at the end of the day, you were not a man. But Hongjoong didn't know that. No one in the camp knew.
"You're unsuited for the rage of war. So pack up and go home," he had said, shaking his head in disappointment as he stalked off.
There was something about him that made you want to fight harder, to prove that you could do what the other soldiers could. To his pleasant surprise, he emerged from his tent the following morning to see your fellow soldiers applauding you for successfully completing the toughest task in the camp.
This was exactly what he wanted to see.
You used to fear him for his harsh and uncompromising behaviour, but now you understand. In the face of war, no one would show you kindness or consideration. Captain Hongjoong was doing exactly what he needed to prepare everyone for that reality.
⁞
"You think your troops are ready to fight?" Chi Fu scoffed. "They wouldn't last a minute against the Huns!"
Hongjoong scowled, clenching his fists. "They completed their training."
"Those boys are no more fit to be soldiers than you are to be a captain. Once the general reads my report, your troops will never see battle," Chi Fu sneered, gesturing for the younger man to leave.
"We're not finished!" Hongjoong called out, grabbing the man's arm.
"Be careful, Captain. The general may be your father, but I am the Emperor's counsel. And I got that job on my own. You're dismissed," Chi Fu said snarkily, pulling open the flap of his tent.
There it was—the comment Hongjoong hated most. Being called the son of General Kim. He had heard enough whispers of nepotism, undermining his hard-earned success. He didn't want to be seen as just the general's son; he had worked tirelessly to earn his position.
He stormed out of the tent, surprised to see you standing there. "Hey, I'll hold him, and you punch," you joked nervously, but he frowned and continued walking. "Or not." You bit your lip as he walked away. "For what it's worth, I think you're a great captain."
His steps faltered for a moment, and he turned to meet your eyes briefly. In that fleeting glance, his eyes seemed to show what looked like a hint of appreciation before he continued on his way.
At least someone still believed in him.
⁞
And that someone was… a girl.
Hongjoong discovered this during the mountain battle when the Huns ambushed and you saved him. You had lied, fooling everyone, even him. How dare you? How dare you… try to save your father's life by volunteering to fight in the war? After the initial feelings of disappointment and betrayal, he realised just how brave you were—a quality that put cowardly men to shame.
Not only that, your perseverance had ended up saving China, something he couldn't have done without you.
Guilt overwhelmed him after leaving you behind, injured and alone on the snowy mountain, after you had risked your life to save his. The image of you lying vulnerable and exposed in the small tent haunted him—your hair finally let down, revealing your true identity; your petite frame contrasting with the fabric tightly wrapped around your chest to hide your gender. In his emotional turmoil at the time, he had abandoned you. But if he could do it over, he knew he would have done everything differently to protect you.
That's why he was determined to make up for his mistake by protecting you now, even though he knew deep down that he would have protected you regardless.
"Where is she?! Now she's done it! What a mess! Stand aside! That creature's not worth protecting," the Emperor's counsel screeched, trying to push past Hongjoong, who was shielding you. He gestured toward the destroyed portion of the palace from your earlier battle with Shan-Yu and his men.
The captain stood his ground. "She's a hero."
"She's a woman. She'll never be worth anything."
"Listen, you pompous..." Hongjoong growled, grabbing Chi Fu by the collar.
"That's enough!" the Emperor roared, breaking the two apart. The focus shifted to what was truly important: the fact that the war was finally over, thanks to a certain female warrior.
⁞
While Hongjoong possessed exceptional leadership skills, discipline, and a protective nature, he still had moments of foolishness.
"You, uhh... you fight good."
Was that all he could muster? After everything you had been through together, perhaps you were overthinking it. Maybe he didn't see you in that way at all. Maybe you were just another good soldier to him.
"Oh. Thank you."
Like an idiot, he watched you depart, a sense of longing tugging at his heart. Unbeknownst to him, the Emperor appeared beside him, clearing his throat before speaking, "The flower that blooms in adversity is the rarest and most beautiful of all."
"Sir?" Hongjoong blinked in confusion.
"You don't meet a girl like that in every dynasty," the Emperor remarked, indirectly calling the captain a fool, shaking his head in disbelief before returning to the palace.
Finally grasping the meaning behind His Excellency's words, Captain Hongjoong hastily mounted the nearest horse and rode swiftly to your family estate. He should have recognised the affection he felt for you sooner. Gosh, he truly had been clueless.
He arrived just in time to interrupt your tearful reunion with your father. "Uhh… you forgot your helmet!" he stuttered, turning awkwardly to the elderly man beside you, the one you had gone to war for. "W-well, actually, it's your helmet, isn't it? I mean…"
You suppressed a smile, feeling your heart flutter as you understood his obvious reason for visiting. Stepping closer to him, you reached out to accept the helmet. "Would you like to stay for dinner?"
He blushed. "Dinner would be great."
Seonghwa ↠ Prince Charming (Cinderella)
• Gentlemanly • Graceful • Loyal •
"Miss! Are you alright?" the prince called out after helping you rein in your horse, which had been racing out of control. You huffed in frustration. "I'm fine, but you nearly scared the life out of him."
He frowned, confused. "Who?"
"The stag," you replied incredulously. How could he act so innocent when he and his group had been hunting down a poor creature? "What did he ever do to you to deserve being chased like that?"
His Highness struggled to suppress the smile tugging at his lips. The way you spoke of the animal as if it were a dear friend was endearing, and he could see that you genuinely cared for the animal. Not many girls your age, at least those he had met, would show such compassion. "Miss, what do they call you?"
Your smile faltered, memories of the cruel names your stepmother and stepsisters used flashing in your mind. "It doesn't matter what they call me."
"You shouldn't be this deep in the forest alone," he pointed out.
"I'm not alone. I'm with you, Mister...?" you said lightly, before pausing and glancing at him curiously. "What do they call you?"
Realising you had no clue who he was, he chuckled. "You don't know who I am?" His expression softened when he saw that you truly didn't recognise him. "Well... they call me Seonghwa. At least, my father does when he's in a good mood."
There was something refreshing about meeting someone who didn't know his royal identity, and he felt strangely free at this moment. Determined to keep it that way, he quickly came up with white lies to conceal the truth. Just then, you noticed the group of men who had been hunting with him gallop by, and you swallowed nervously. "You'll leave the stag alone, won't you?"
He paused, captivated by your sincerity and beauty—both inside and out—before nodding slowly. "I will."
⁞
"If I must marry, why not a good, honest country girl?" Seonghwa slyly suggested, posing for his portrait as part of the preparations for the royal ball, where he was expected to find a bride. Ever since meeting you that day in the woods, you hadn't left his thoughts.
The Grand Duke barely held back a chuckle. "And how many strong alliances will this 'good, honest country girl' provide us? How will she strengthen the kingdom? We are a small nation surrounded by powerful states, Your Royal Highness, and it's a dangerous world."
His Majesty sighed at the man's sarcastic tone and approached his son. "Listen, boy. I want to see you safe—and the kingdom secure."
Seonghwa's expression darkened at the gentle rejection. "Alright, Father, but on one condition. Let the invitations go to everyone, not just the nobility. The wars have brought grief to all of us."
That was all it took to set things in motion. "A ball for the people, a princess for the prince," the advisor muttered, unaware of how determined His Highness truly was. His plan to see you again was falling into place.
Days later, as you wandered through the town market, you heard the town crier make the announcement. "Know that in two weeks, a Royal Ball will be held at the palace. At said ball, in accordance with ancient custom, the prince shall choose a bride. Furthermore, by the prince's request, it is hereby declared that every maiden in the kingdom, be she noble or commoner, is invited to attend. Such is the command of our most noble king."
Eager to see the apprentice—at least, that's what he claimed to be—whom you'd met in the forest just the other day, you rushed home to share the news with your stepmother and stepsisters, brimming with excitement. But, of course, things were not going to unfold the way you had hoped.
⁞
"You shall not go to the ball!" were your stepmother's cruel words after she ripped apart your mother's old gown.
Yet here you stood, in front of everyone in the grand hall, now adorned in a magical gown and sparkling glass slippers, thanks to your fairy godmother. The prince's face lit up the moment he saw you, gazing at you like you were the most beautiful girl in the world—and to him, you were. No one could ever compare.
"Mr. Seonghwa," you called softly as the crowd parted, allowing you to approach him. His heart melted at the sound of his name on your lips. "It's you, isn't it?" he asked, smiling. "It is," you replied with a smile of your own.
Gathering his courage, he swallowed nervously. "If I may—it would be the greatest honour if you'd allow me to lead you in this first dance."
Your heart fluttered, and you nodded. With your permission, he wrapped his arm around your waist, pulling you close. The proximity made your breath hitch as your hand rested on his shoulder. He spun you around, and for a moment, you caught the eyes of the crowd. "They're all looking at you," you whispered, turning to face him again.
He smiled softly, shaking his head. "Trust me, they're all looking at you." In that moment, nothing else mattered to him but you. Holding you close, he couldn't tear his eyes away, not even for a second. He could stay like this forever.
⁞
"So, you're the prince!" you exclaimed as he led you away from the crowd into a secluded room, offering you both a moment of peace and quiet.
"Not the prince, exactly," he replied with a playful grin. "There are plenty of princes in the world. I'm just a prince."
You chuckled softly. "But your name's not really Seonghwa, is it?"
He laughed. "Oh, it is. My father still calls me that—especially when he's not too irritated with me."
As you both shared a laugh, your eyes landed on a portrait hanging on the wall. "Is that you?" you asked curiously, moving toward it.
He sighed. "Ugh, I hate how I look in paintings. Don't you?"
You shrugged. "No one's ever painted my portrait."
He paused, his gaze softening as he looked at you. "No? Well, they should."
For a brief moment, time seemed to stand still as you stared at one another, neither wanting the moment to end. Reluctant to part from you, Seonghwa led you out into the palace garden.
"What's bothering you?" you asked, noticing the flicker of concern in his eyes as you strolled down the grassy paths.
He forced a smile. "When I go back, they'll try to marry me off to a lady of their choosing. I'm expected to marry for political advantage."
You gave him a gentle smile. "But surely you have a right to follow your own heart."
He sighed, wishing that were true. Not wanting the evening to end just yet, he guided you to a hidden spot. "A secret garden," you murmured in awe, stepping into the beautiful, secluded space. In the centre stood a swing, and at his insistence, he pushed you gently, laughing together until one of your glass slippers slipped off.
Like the gentleman he was, Seonghwa immediately knelt down to help you put it back on. Once it was secure, you found yourself sitting close to him, your breaths catching as he remained on his knees, gazing up at you.
"Won't you tell me who you really are?" he asked softly, a hint of desperation in his voice.
You swallowed nervously. "If I do, everything might change."
His expression tugged at your heart. "I don't understand... Can you at least tell me your name?"
You hesitated, then whispered, "My name is—"
The loud chime of the clock rang out, striking midnight. Panic surged through you. "I have to go! It's... hard to explain. Thank you for a wonderful evening. I've loved every moment!" were your final words as you hurried away.
⁞
"Miss, you are requested and required to present yourself before your king," said the captain of the royal guard, as your cruel stepmother finally unlocked the door to your attic room.
The king...?
That could only mean Seonghwa, with his father having recently passed. Despite your stepmother's desperate attempts to stop you, she could no longer keep you from meeting him. With nervous breaths, you made your way down to the living hall where he waited. Would you be enough? There was no magic to help you now.
"Who are you?" he asked, holding the single glass slipper in his hand.
With a deep breath, you finally spoke your truth. "Your Majesty, I'm no princess. I have no carriage, no parents, and no dowry. I don't even know if that beautiful slipper will fit. But if it does, will you take me as I am? An honest country girl who loves you."
A soft smile spread across his face. His loyalty has only ever been to you and only you from the very beginning. "Of course I will. But only if you will take me as I am."
In that final moment of truth, you sat before him just like that night, and without hesitation, Seonghwa gently slipped the shoe onto your foot. It fit perfectly. After searching the entire kingdom to find you, you were finally here, his at last.
A few days later, you stood beside him in a wedding gown, facing the people as their queen. "My Queen," he whispered, cupping your face amidst the cheers of the crowd.
"My Hwa," you murmured, just before he pressed his lips firmly against yours.
Yunho ↠ Prince Phillip (Sleeping Beauty)
• Brave • Romantic • Strong-willed •
"We want you to go pick some berries! Lots of berries! But take your time, dear. Don't wander too far, and remember—no talking to strangers! Goodbye, dear," your three godmothers chimed in unison as you waved them off. They were so charmingly silly, and though you knew they were up to something for your 16th birthday, you played along and agreed to leave the cosy little cottage you'd grown up in.
What you didn't know was that your godmothers were feeling bittersweet. After the celebration, they would be returning you to your true parents—the king and queen. They had kept you hidden all these years from Maleficent's curse, and now, believing it was finally safe, they prepared to send you home. Or so they thought.
Completely unaware of this, you happily made your way to the forest where you often spent your days, swinging the empty basket in your hand and singing a familiar tune.
Not far off, Yunho caught the sound of your voice—the most beautiful sound he had ever heard. He pulled his horse to a stop, biting his lip in wonder. "What is that? It's... beautiful." Turning toward the source of the melody, he couldn't resist. "Come on, let's go find out."
In his haste to reach you, his horse galloped ahead, easily leaping over a low log—unfortunately, not quite low enough for the prince. Yunho yelped as he was thrown into a shallow pond, landing with a splash. He groaned, unamused, as his horse sheepishly returned, having noticed his rider was no longer on board.
So much for chasing the magical voice. Now he was stuck with wet clothes, needing to dry off before he could continue his search.
⁞
"Why do they still treat me like a child? They never let me meet anyone..." you sighed, speaking to the animals gathered around you. "But guess what? I tricked them. I have met someone—a prince. He's tall, handsome, and... so romantic. We walk together, talk together, and just before we say goodbye, he takes me in his arms, and then..." you teased with a playful smile. "I wake up."
"Yes, it's only in my dreams."
Pushing aside your wistful thoughts, you continued to sing softly while gathering berries. But to your surprise, another voice joined in—a deep, masculine voice. Before you knew it, a pair of arms gently mirrored the way yours had been swaying in your daydream.
"Oh. Oh!" you gasped, pulling away as you realised this wasn't a dream. A man was standing before you, real and not imagined. Not wanting to frighten you, he kept his distance and bowed politely. "I'm terribly sorry. I didn't mean to startle you."
You blinked, trying to calm your racing heart as you took in his features—he looked exactly like the man you had seen in your dreams. "Oh, it's not that... it's just that you're a..."
As you instinctively stepped back, he gently reached for your hand. "A stranger?" he finished for you, and you nodded. Before you could pull away, he smiled and held on softly. "But don't you remember? We've met before."
"We... have?" you whispered, your voice faltering.
He nodded, a cheeky grin spreading across his face. "Of course. You said so yourself. Once upon a dream."
You couldn't help the smile tugging at your lips as you turned away, amused by how he cleverly quoted your song. At first, you resisted, but soon you found yourself in his arms, dancing to the tune you had been singing. Except this time, you were no longer alone—you were dancing with him.
As if caught in a dream, you eventually leaned into him, resting your head on his shoulder as the two of you stood beneath a tree, gazing out at the beautiful view. His voice was soft when he asked, "Who are you? What's your name?"
"My name..." you started, staring up into his eyes, momentarily mesmerised by them. You almost gave him your name, but then reality hit you—you didn't even know him. With a gasp, you pulled away from his hold. "No, no, I can't. I—I have to go! Goodbye!"
Yunho panicked, not ready to let you slip away. Call it love at first sight, but he knew, deep down, you were the one. "But when will I see you again?" he called out, his eyes filled with longing as he watched you retreat into the forest.
"Tonight! At the cottage in the glen!" you blurted out, against your better judgement. Deep down, you couldn't bear the thought of leaving and never seeing him again either.
⁞
"This is the happiest day of my life!" you exclaimed, admiring the beautiful dress and the delicious cake your godmothers had made for you. "Everything is so perfect. Just wait until you meet him!"
"Him? Y-you've met a stranger?" one of the fairies asked, concerned.
You smiled dreamily. "Oh, he's not a stranger. We've met before—once upon a dream."
The fairies exchanged worried glances, their hearts breaking as they realised... you were in love. "Oh no, this is terrible. You're already betrothed."
"Betrothed?" Your heart sank.
"Since the day you were born, dear. To Prince Yunho."
You frowned in disbelief. "But that's impossible! How could I marry a prince? I'd have to be..."
"A princess," they finished for you. "And you are, dear. Tonight, we're taking you back to your father, King Stefan."
Shaking your head, you struggled to process the sudden revelation. "But... I can't! He's coming here tonight. I promised to meet him."
"We're sorry, child, but you must never see that young man again," one of them said softly.
It felt like a cruel joke. Just when you had finally met the man of your dreams, it all crumbled. That night, you cried yourself to sleep, your 16th birthday turning into something far from the magical day you had hoped for. And it was only going to get worse.
With a curse of eternal sleep.
⁞
"Oh, come now, Prince Yunho. Why so melancholy?" Maleficent's sinister voice echoed through the dungeon as he lifted his head, his hands shackled in heavy chains. She had trapped him during his visit to your vacant cottage and now kept him imprisoned on her Forbidden Mountain. "A wondrous future lies before you," she mocked, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "You, the destined hero of a charming fairy tale come true."
With a wave of her hand over the glowing crystal ball atop her staff, she smirked. "Behold, King Stefan's castle." A vision slowly materialised in the crystal, and his heart sank.
"In the highest tower, dreaming of her true love, lies the princess," Maleficent sneered. "But in a cruel twist of fate, this sleeping beauty is none other than the peasant girl who won your heart just yesterday." Her grin widened as the image shifted. "In an ageless sleep, she rests, untouched by time. A hundred years will pass in the blink of an eye for a steadfast heart."
The crystal revealed an older, wearier version of His Highness. "And now, the gates of the dungeon open, and our valiant prince rides forth, tall and noble, to wake his love with a kiss—proving that true love conquers all!"
Her wicked laughter filled the air as the prince surged to his feet, straining against the chains. The revelation hit him hard—you were his betrothed all along. His heart shattered at the sight of you, cursed to an endless sleep. But he refused to wait idly for a century. No matter the cost, even if it took his life, nothing would stop him from reaching you and breaking the spell.
⁞
Through trials that nearly cost him his life more than once, Yunho pressed on, driven by a love that burned stronger than fear. Every step, every swing of his sword, had been for you. Now, as he climbed the winding staircase of the tower where you lay, his heart pounded louder than it ever had. Strangely, facing you was far more terrifying than battling a dragon or plummeting from a cliff.
What if his kiss didn't wake you? What if he wasn't the one you dreamed of all this time? His mind raced with doubts, but all of them vanished the moment he laid eyes on you.
There you were, peacefully resting, untouched by the passage of time. His breath caught in his throat as he knelt beside you, his hands trembling slightly, almost afraid that if he reached out, you might disappear like a fading dream. Gently, he lifted a hand to brush your hair away from your face, his fingers lingering as they drifted down to caress your cheek. The softness of your skin beneath his touch made his heart clench. God, you were beautiful. Even in this endless sleep, you were breathtaking, and the thought that you were his—the one his heart had longed for—was almost too much to believe.
Ignoring the wild rhythm of his heartbeat, he leaned in closer. He hesitated, his lips hovering above yours, terrified and hopeful. Slowly, he closed the distance, pressing his lips tenderly against yours, his touch as gentle as a whisper. Time seemed to stand still. His entire world narrowed down to that single, precious moment.
Then, something incredible happened. He felt you stir, your lips moving ever so softly in response to his. Tears welled up in his eyes as he pulled back slightly, his gaze searching your face, desperate to see the miracle of your awakening. "Please," he whispered, his voice thick with emotion, "come back to me."
A soft smile played on your lips as your eyes fluttered open. "I'm here, stranger," you murmured. Yunho let out a tearful laugh, pure joy flooding his heart as you wrapped your arms around his neck, pulling him in for another kiss. Nothing had ever felt so perfect.
Yeosang ↠ Hercules (Hercules)
• Strength • Determination • Humility •
A scream pierced the air, and without a second thought, Yeosang urged Pegasus to dive down past the clouds toward the waterfall, where a damsel was clearly in distress. This was it—his first real chance to prove himself as a true hero. Soon enough, he'd restore his godhood and join his parents back in Olympus.
"I swear, Nessus, put me down or I'll—" you growled, struggling in the grasp of the River Guardian, a centaur who was supposed to be an ally on your mission for Hades, but he was proving to be more trouble than he was worth.
"Ooh, I like 'em fiery," the creature sneered, pulling you closer as you tried in vain to wriggle free.
The hero-in-training gasped, his blood boiling at the sight of you being manhandled. Not on his watch. Ignoring his trainer's advice to assess the situation, he charged forward recklessly. Phil groaned. "This kid is losing hero points fast!"
"Halt!" Yeosang called out, though his voice wavered when Nessus towered over him. "Excuse me, sir," he continued, much to the centaur's surprise. Who was this polite little pest? "I'll have to ask you to release that young la—"
You shot him a frustrated look. "Keep walking, junior."
He blinked, confused. "But... aren't you a damsel in distress?"
"I'm a damsel, I'm in distress," you snapped. "I can handle it. Have a nice day." Despite your sarcastic smile, you were still stuck in the centaur's grip, struggling to break free.
Yeosang, however, wasn't one to give up so easily. A bit flustered by your brush-off, he unsheathed his sword. "Ma'am, I think you might be too close to the situation to—" Before he could finish, Nessus sent him flying across the field.
After several clumsy attempts and a lot of trial and error, he finally managed to free you from the River Guardian's hold, though you both ended up soaked in the river. Quickly, he lifted you out of the water as if you weighed nothing and set you gently on a nearby log. "Oh, gosh, miss, I'm really sorry. That was... kind of dumb."
"Yeah," you replied with a crooked smile, wringing out your hair. Before you could say anything more, he dashed back into the fray. You smirked, amused by his naive determination and innocent sense of righteousness. It had been a while since you'd seen such a genuine do-gooder. "Is Wonderboy here for real?"
⁞
"So, did they give you a name to go with all those rippling pectorals?" you teased, bending over to adjust the skirt of your dress.
The hero's mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water as he stared at you, now bathed in the golden light of the sunset. You were a sight for sore eyes—more beautiful than Aphrodite herself, he dared to think.
He chuckled nervously, stammering like a shy schoolboy. "Uh, I'm—I… uh…"
You smirked, standing back up and retrieving the shoes he had been awkwardly holding for you. "Are you always this articulate?"
"Yeosang!" he blurted out, watching you walk away. "My... my name's Yeosang!"
Making your way to a nearby log to sit down, you glanced up at him with a playful grin. "Yeosang, huh? I think I prefer Wonderboy."
He bit his lip, completely unaware of how poorly he was hiding his emotions. It was obvious to anyone that he was completely mesmerised by you. "So, how'd you get tangled up with that..."
"Pinhead with hooves? Oh, you know how men are. They think 'no' means 'yes' and 'get lost' means 'take me, I'm yours,'" you quipped, your voice dripping with sarcasm. He blinked, clearly confused by your response. You rolled your eyes and gestured toward his trainer. "Don't worry, shorty here will explain it to you later."
Phil shot you an irritated glare, but you just waved him off. "Well, thanks for everything, Yeo. It's been a real slice."
You had barely taken a few steps when the hero called after you again, his voice full of determination. "Wait! Can we give you a ride?"
You glanced at Pegasus and Phil, both clearly unimpressed with you, and smirked. "Nah, I'll be fine. I'm a big, tough girl. I tie my own sandals and everything."
Leaning in, you gave him a quick boop on the nose, chuckling as he stood there with that dreamy smile still plastered on his face. "Bye-bye, Wonderboy."
⁞
You hadn't expected to see him again so soon, but there he was, and you had to act fast. Running up to him, you let out a false cry. "Please! Help! There's been a terrible accident!" You hated dragging him into this, but with Hades holding your freedom hostage, you had no choice. You had to lure him into the trap.
The hero's face brightened the moment he saw you, your name escaping his lips with excitement. After his earlier failure in Thebes, seeing you lifted his spirits. He needed this—he needed you.
"Wonderboy! Yeosang! Thank goodness!" you exclaimed, stumbling into his arms with an air of desperation. His grip on you tightened protectively, his eyes wide with concern. "What's wrong?" he asked, his voice full of worry.
Sniffling, you wiped your fake tears away. "Outside of town... two little boys. They were playing in the gorge. There was a terrible rockslide. They're trapped!"
"Kids? Trapped? This is my chance! Come on!" Before you could object, he had already hoisted you onto Pegasus despite your protests. "No, wait! I... I have a terrible fear of heights!" But it was too late—you were already in the sky, holding on tightly as the wind whipped past.
When you finally arrived, he noticed how shaken you seemed. His brow furrowed in concern. "Are you okay?"
You nodded weakly. "I'll be fine." But even then, he gently pulled you close, helping you down. The flutter in your chest was unwelcome—you shouldn't feel this way. You stayed back, watching as he rushed forward, unaware of the Hydra waiting to destroy him. Hades had set it up perfectly, and this was Yeosang's end. You should have focused on your own survival, but you couldn't help whispering under your breath, "Get out of here while you still can..."
Despite everything, he wasn't deterred. Time and again, he fought against what seemed like a certain defeat, his determination unshakable. Even after facing near death, he refused to give up, ultimately defeating the monster.
As much as you hated to admit it, seeing him fight with such bravery and resolve stirred something inside you. His courage, his power—it only deepened your admiration for him.
⁞
"Wow, what a day," Yeosang said with a wide grin, descending the stairs into the picturesque garden. "First, that restaurant by the bay, and then the play!" His voice was animated, clearly still buzzing from the events of your date. Meanwhile, you struggled to maintain your smile, Hades' voice echoing in your mind with his latest demand. His patience was thinning after so many failed attempts. Now, he wanted you to find the hero's weakness.
When he turned to you, thanking you for such a wonderful time, you winced inwardly. "Don't thank me just yet," you muttered, setting your plan into motion. You deliberately tripped on the stairs, conveniently falling into his strong arms.
"Oops! Weak ankles," you murmured, biting your lip as you savoured the feeling of being so close to him. His grip was firm yet gentle.
"Yeah? Maybe you should sit down for a bit," he suggested like the gentleman he always was, carrying you over to a bench and setting you down with care. But how long would he stay a gentleman?
You shrugged, letting one of your dress straps slide down your shoulder, flashing him a seductive smile. "So, do you have any problems like this?" you asked, testing the waters as you slowly lifted one leg onto his lap. "Weak ankles, I mean."
His eyes widened, and he cleared his throat, gently but firmly pushing your leg back down. "Oh, no. Not really..." he stammered, inching away while you leaned in closer.
"No weaknesses at all?" you teased, pressing against his chest. "No trick knee? Ruptured discs?"
Yeosang just chuckled nervously, his face reddening. Instead of falling for your flirtation, he reached over and pulled your strap back over your shoulder. "Nope. I'm... fit as a fiddle," he said, quickly moving away toward the fountain, where he clumsily tossed a coin and knocked over a statue.
You sighed, walking over to him. "Wonderboy, you're perfect," you muttered with a teasing laugh. Time seemed to freeze as your eyes met his, a flicker of something different passing between you. Biting your lip, you quickly looked away. Maybe, just maybe, he really was different from the men who had hurt you before.
⁞
"You know, when I was a kid, I would've given anything to be just like everyone else," Yeosang said softly, his eyes tracing the path of a shooting star across the night sky.
You scoffed, crossing your arms as you moved away to sit by the water, staring at your reflection with a bitter frown. "You wanted to be petty and dishonest?" You knew what people were like—you were one of them.
His smile faltered. "Not everyone's like that."
"Yes, they are," you whispered, more to yourself than to him.
"You're not like that," he said gently, appearing behind you. You smirked, feeling a tightness in your throat as you tried to keep your emotions in check. "How do you know what I'm like?" you croaked, wishing he'd stop making it so hard for you.
"All I know is you're the most amazing person with weak ankles I've ever met," he teased, his voice full of warmth. You chuckled until he continued, "When I'm with you, I don't feel so alone."
You avoided his gaze, your heart aching. "Sometimes it's better to be alone."
His smile faltered again. "What do you mean?"
You swallowed hard, your voice barely a whisper. "Nobody can hurt you."
He sat down beside you, reaching out to take your hands in his. "I would never, ever hurt you."
If only he knew...
Before you could say anything, he was already leaning in. Against your better judgement, your eyes fluttered closed, anticipation hanging between you. But just as your lips were about to meet, Pegasus and Phil appeared, breaking the moment and pulling Yeosang back to his training.
"I'm sorry for getting you in trouble," you murmured, feeling conflicted.
He just smiled, shaking his head, and handed you a small flower, gently pressing a kiss to your cheek. As he walked away, you were left behind—completely a mess.
⁞
"Wonderboy, why did you…?" you croaked, your voice weak after returning from death—literally. Yeosang had been crushed when he learned of your betrayal, discovering you had been working for Hades all along. But as you sacrificed yourself to save him, he realised none of that mattered anymore. Why hadn't he thought deeper about your reasons? If only he had understood that maybe you didn't have a choice.
In his selfless determination to exchange his life for yours, he had finally become a true hero. Tears welled up in his eyes as he helped you to your feet, pulling you gently back into his loving arms. "People always do crazy things when they're in love," he whispered—the same words you had said to him before your death.
So, he had felt the same all along.
"Now, at last, my son, you can come home," Zeus said, resting a proud hand on Yeosang's shoulder as he gestured to the now-open gates of Mount Olympus. The hero, now a god, beamed as the other gods swarmed him, celebrating his return.
From afar, you watched with a fading smile. Of course, he belonged to a different world. You were foolish to think you could ever truly be with him. "Congratulations, Wonderboy. You'll make one heck of a god," you whispered to yourself, turning to walk away.
But while the heavens rejoiced, Yeosang only had eyes for one person. His heart sank when he saw you leaving. "Father, this is the moment I've dreamed of my whole life, but…" He trailed off, racing after you and catching your hand. "A life without her, even an immortal life, would be empty. I… I wish to stay on Earth with her. I finally know where I belong."
And with that, he pulled you into his arms, the divine glow fading as he leaned in, his lips meeting yours at last.
San ↠ Kristoff (Frozen)
• Down-to-earth • Hardworking • Quirky •
"I was just wondering... has another young woman, maybe the queen, passed through here?" you asked, trying to sound casual, even though the bitter cold from Elsa's winter had you shivering uncontrollably. You were gathering what supplies you could from Wandering Oaken's Trading Post on your journey to find your sister. You needed to fix this, and to do that, she had to return to Arendelle.
"The only one crazy enough to be out in this storm is you, dear," the store owner chuckled, and you offered him an awkward smile. Before you could respond, the door suddenly swung open and slammed shut just as quickly. A man, completely covered in snow—literally—stepped in with a weary sigh, shaking off the frost by the entrance.
"You and this fellow," Oaken added, gesturing to the newcomer.
Without a word, the man walked straight to the counter, forcing you to step aside awkwardly. "Carrots," he muttered, stepping closer.
"Huh?" you blinked, confused by how close he was.
"Behind you," he clarified, and you realised you were blocking the carrots he was reaching for. Feeling a bit foolish, you quickly moved aside. "Oh! Right, sorry."
Through his conversation with the store owner, you caught a crucial piece of information. "The North Mountain..." you murmured to yourself, eyes narrowing in thought. That must be where Elsa had gone. At least now you had a lead—north it was.
"That'll be forty," Oaken said, ringing up the man's items.
"Forty? No, ten," the man countered, clearly unimpressed.
Deep in thought, you barely registered the tense negotiation between the two, both stubborn and unwilling to compromise. You only snapped back when you heard the man explain his dilemma—he sold ice for a living, and in this weather, he wasn't making any money. "Look, ten is all I've got. Help me out."
Before Oaken could respond, you jumped in. "Wait, just tell me one thing. What's happening on the North Mountain? Did it seem… magical?" There was desperation in your voice.
With an exasperated sigh, the man pulled down his scarf, revealing, to your surprise, a strikingly handsome face. For a second, you had thought him a brute. "Yes! Now back off while I deal with this crook."
Big mistake. The store owner stood up from his seat, towering over the both of you like a giant. "What did you call me?" And before the man knew it, he was tossed out of the shop—minus his carrots.
⁞
"Nice duet," you quipped, pushing open the door to the shack where you heard the man from earlier, now singing and impersonating his reindeer, Sven.
Startled, San jumped up defensively, only to relax with a sigh when he saw it was just you. "It's you again. What do you want?"
Taking a deep breath, you stepped forward with determination. "I want you to take me up the North Mountain."
He remained unimpressed, sinking back down to resume his sleep. "I don't take people places."
You should've known it wouldn't be that easy. "Let me rephrase," you said, tossing a bag at him. He jolted up, wheezing from the impact. "Take me up the North Mountain," you repeated more firmly, though you softened a little as he raised a brow. "Please?"
Sven started sniffing the bag, drawing his attention. San opened it to find the tools he'd been after. You bit your lip. "Look, I know how to stop this winter."
With a sigh, he pulled his beanie over his face. "Ugh, we leave at dawn." Just as you were about to celebrate, he added, "And you forgot the carrots for Sven."
Frustrated but undeterred, you hurled another bag at him, this time hitting him square in the face. He grunted in pain, sitting up again. Your eyes widened in panic. "Oops! Sorry! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean—" you stammered before regaining your composure. Clearing your throat, you declared firmly, "We leave now. Right now." You turned and marched out, letting out a breath of relief the moment you were out of sight. He really was intimidating.
Unbeknownst to you, he watched you leave, eyebrows narrowed. Not out of anger, but something else—a mix of mild annoyance and, oddly enough, admiration. You were quite the character.
⁞
"So, uhh, tell me—what made the queen go all ice-crazy?" San asked, trying to pry some information as the two of you sat on his sled, the cold winter night biting at your skin.
You gulped, unsure where to begin. "Well... it was kinda my fault. I got engaged, and she freaked out because I'd just met him that day, you know? She refused to bless the marriage and..." You trailed off, noticing the way he was staring at you.
"Wait, hold on—you got engaged to someone you just met that day?" he asked, his face a mix of disbelief and judgement.
You nodded, waving it off like it was no big deal. "Yeah, anyway, I got mad, she got mad, she tried to leave, and I grabbed her glove..."
He blinked and turned fully towards you. "Hang on! You're telling me you got engaged to a guy you just met that day?"
"Yes," you sighed in frustration. "Pay attention. The point is, she always wore gloves, so I figured maybe she has a thing about dirt or something."
San couldn't believe what he was hearing. You'd agreed to marry someone you'd only met that very day? Even if that someone was a prince, at the end of the day, he was just another man. The idea of it baffled him to no end. He couldn't help the surge of protectiveness that welled up in him. Sure, you seemed a little silly and unhinged compared to the girls he'd met, but you were still an innocent young woman—too trusting for your own good. And that could get you in serious trouble.
If judgemental had a face, it was sitting right next to you. "Didn't your parents ever warn you about strangers?"
You paused, the comment sinking in, and shifted uncomfortably, inching away from him. "Yes, they did. But Hans isn't a stranger."
He resisted the urge to roll his eyes. That led to a back-and-forth about how much you really knew the Prince of the Southern Isles. The more you talked, the more San found himself silently shaking his head at your naivety, though he couldn't help but feel a small, growing fondness for you, as crazy as your story was.
Suddenly, he stiffened. "Stop talking."
You scoffed, still mid-argument. "No, no—"
Before you could finish, he slapped a hand over your mouth. "No, I mean it," his voice tense, eyes scanning the dark forest ahead.
⁞
"Wolves?" you asked anxiously, your heart pounding so hard it felt like it might leap out of your chest. "What do we do?"
"I got this," he said, busy moving around like he knew exactly what he was doing. But your nerves wouldn’t let you sit still. "Just… don't fall off and don't get eaten."
You frowned, stepping up beside him. "But I want to help!"
"No!" he barked, pulling you back.
"Why not?!"
"Because I don't trust your judgement!"
Your jaw dropped. "Excuse me?"
"Who marries a guy she just met?!" he shouted as he pushed you behind him and kicked away a wolf that had nearly pounced on you.
"It's true love!" you yelled back, swinging his guitar wildly. Startling him, but you managed to knock another wolf away. "Woah!"
Slightly impressed, he froze for a second, but in that moment of distraction, a wolf sank its teeth into his jacket, pulling him off the sled. You gasped, screaming, "Santiago!"
He grunted, grabbing onto the sled's rope, and glaring up at you. "It's San!"
"Ow!" he yelped as the wolves bit into his back. Despite barely knowing him, your heart dropped, hoping he wasn't seriously hurt. In a burst of quick thinking, you grabbed a bundle of cloth, lit it on fire, and threw it at the wolves, scaring them off.
As you regained control, you realised the sled was speeding toward the edge of a mountain. Your breath caught in your throat—the only way to make it across was if the reindeer jumped. "Get ready to jump, Sven!"
San shot you a look. "You don't tell him what to do. I do!" He shoved a bag into your arms before tossing you onto Sven's back. As you neared the cliff's edge, he shouted and cut the rope tying the reindeer to the sled. "Jump, Sven!"
After landing dangerously close to the mountain's edge, San's sled lay in ruins below, and he muttered something about just having paid it off. The narrow escape from death weighed heavily on you, especially when you saw him lying on the ground, an arm thrown over his eyes in sheer exhaustion. He was so done.
"I-I'll replace your sled and everything in it," you mumbled, guilt creeping into your voice. "And... I get it if you don't want to help me anymore." With a heavy sigh, you turned and started walking away, your heart sinking. Of course, he wouldn't want to stick around now. You'd caused him nothing but trouble, and he hadn't even volunteered to come with you—it was all your fault.
San groaned in frustration, his reindeer nudging him persistently, nodding toward your retreating, disheartened figure. "Of course, I don't want to help her anymore," he grumbled, sitting up. "This whole mess has cured me of ever helping anyone again."
"She'll die out there on her own," Sven's eyes seemed to say.
"I can live with that," San muttered, though his voice lacked confidence.
"But no new sled if she's dead!" The silent reasoning gnawed at him.
He slumped, casting an irritated glare at Sven. "Sometimes, I really don't like you." But as he heard you stumbling and fumbling your way through the snow, likely still trying to reach your sister, he rolled his eyes in dramatic defeat before shouting, "Hold up! We're coming!"
You turned around, your face lighting up before playing it off coolly. "You are? I mean... sure, you can tag along."
He chuckled, shaking his head, though he couldn't quite hide the smile tugging at his lips. Maybe, just maybe, he found you... kind of adorable. In fact, you were probably the most adorable person he'd ever met, if he were being honest. Not that you needed to know that. Hans was a lucky guy... maybe.
⁞
As the journey dragged on, San found himself increasingly drawn to you in ways he hadn't anticipated. He had written you off as reckless, even naïve. But the more time he spent by your side, the more he found himself softening.
It began with the small things—your silly jokes, the way you smiled at him even in the direst of situations, and the surprising concern you showed for his struggling ice business, despite the weight of your own problems. A part of him tried to deny it, chalking up his protectiveness to simply being a decent person. Yet, as the days went on, the truth became harder to ignore, especially as you started to weaken.
The first time he truly noticed was when you faltered, clutching your chest as the icy curse gripped you. His heart clenched painfully at the sight of you, pale and fragile in a way that scared him. At first, he didn't understand what was happening—until he saw the streaks of white creeping into your hair. His stomach twisted in fear as he watched you shiver uncontrollably.
San tried to fight it at first, keeping his feelings hidden behind casual smiles and forced reassurances. He'd wrap you in his cloak, telling himself that he was just looking out for you like anyone else would. But inside, he was terrified. Each time you winced or stumbled, the protective instinct inside him flared, and it became harder to ignore. He wanted to hold you, to keep you safe, but he told himself that keeping his distance was for the best.
Until it wasn't.
After watching you grow weaker, he couldn't stand it any longer. You were so cold, so frail, barely able to keep yourself upright. Your hair had turned almost entirely white, and the violent shivering never stopped. When you could no longer walk on your own, San didn't care anymore. He scooped you into his arms without hesitation, cradling your fragile body against his chest. Your icy fingers clung weakly to his sleeve, barely able to hold on.
Perhaps the trolls had been right. Maybe what you needed was true love's kiss. The thought sent a wave of fear through him, not because he doubted it, but because he wanted it to be him. Holding you close, trembling as he tried to keep you warm, he swallowed hard, fighting back the lump in his throat.
"We've got to get you back to Hans," he whispered, though the name felt like a sharp blade twisting in his chest.
"A-are you g-gonna be okay?" you asked, voice weak and trembling as you struggled to stay conscious. Your eyes fluttered open, full of worry, and San's heart ached even more.
He forced a smile, though the pain in his chest was undeniable. "Don't worry about me," he said, though the crack in his voice betrayed him. He couldn't tell you the truth—that the very thought of giving you to Hans was tearing him apart.
⁞
As he left the castle gates, his arms now empty without your fragile form, the weight of his feelings bore down on him, suffocating. Even Sven could sense it. His reindeer nudged him softly, as if to say, you can't let her go.
San clenched his jaw, shaking his head at the reindeer's knowing gaze. "No, Sven! We're not going back! She's with her true love."
But none of that mattered the moment he noticed the fierce snowstorm suddenly engulfing Arendelle. His eyes widened with panic as he realised something was terribly wrong. Without a second thought, he sprinted back toward the castle, his heart racing, your name ripping from his throat as he shouted through the howling winds.
Snow and ice whipped through the air, blinding San as he fought against the wind, desperately searching for you. His heart pounded in his chest, each beat louder than the roar of the storm. Then, through the blizzard, he saw you—a frail figure swaying weakly amidst the violent storm.
His breath hitched, a strangled cry escaping him as he realised how dire your condition was. Your hair was completely white, and your skin had started to turn into a translucent blue, as if turning to ice. Panic surged through him, and without hesitation, he dashed toward you, every muscle in his body straining against the storm.
You took tiny, shaky steps towards him, your voice barely audible above the howling wind. "San..." The way you uttered his name sent a jolt through him, a painful reminder of just how close he was to losing you. He pushed himself harder, the distance between you seeming to stretch endlessly.
"Hold on!" he shouted, though he wasn't sure if you could hear him over the storm. He could see the effort it took for you to move, each step a struggle against the encroaching ice.
Just when he thought he might finally reach you, you changed direction abruptly. His heart stopped as he watched you rush towards your sister, trying to protect her from Hans. The realisation hit him like a thunderclap: in your attempt to shield your sister, you were sacrificing yourself.
He watched in horror as you turned completely into ice, your form crystallising before his eyes. The storm seemed to quiet for a moment, a heavy silence descending as you stood there, frozen.
Desperation clawed at him, and he fought through the storm to reach you. When you returned to your normal state, he was already there, cradling you in his arms. He refused to be a coward again, not after everything you had been through. The fear of losing you was unbearable, and he was determined not to let go.
Holding you close, he buried his face in your hair, breathing in your warmth, feeling your heartbeat against his chest. "I'm not letting you go," he whispered fiercely, his voice breaking with emotion. "Not now, not ever. If you'll let me, I'll hold you close forever."
His heart ached as he clung to you, the world around him fading into insignificance. The storm may have raged on, but in that moment, all that mattered was you.
Mingi ↠ Flynn Rider (Tangled)
• Charm • Wit • Adventurous •
"Is this… hair?" Mingi croaked in confusion as his eyes fluttered open to the unexpected realisation that he was tied up. The last thing he remembered was climbing up a tower hidden in the forest to escape from the royal guards and the Stabbington brothers.
"Struggling…" came a feminine voice from somewhere in the shadows. "Struggling is pointless."
He furrowed his brows. "Huh?"
"I know why you're here, and I'm not afraid of you," you said, gripping your frying pan tightly as you slowly emerged from your corner and finally stepped into the light.
Oh me, oh my. What do we have here?
The intruder looked genuinely confused as he took a moment to register your appearance. You were a sight to behold, that much was undeniable, but you were also threatening him with a kitchen tool, and truthfully, he wasn't very into that.
"Who are you and how did you find me?" you asked, glaring at him.
But man, were you beautiful.
"Uh huh…" was all he could muster.
Frustrated, you repeated yourself, raising your weapon higher. "Who are you and how did you find me?"
Clearing his throat, he began his rehearsed speech for situations like this. He had yet to meet any lady who wouldn't fall for his charms. As much as he would love to hang around, he had more important things to do. "I know not who you are nor how I came to find you, but may I just say…" He looked down momentarily, then met your gaze again with a rather... questionable expression. "Hi. How you doin'? The name's Flynn Rider. How's your day goin', huh?"
To his surprise, your hostility persisted. "Who else knows my location?" you demanded, aiming the pan at him.
Man, how did the smoulder not work?
⁞
Mingi let out a long sigh, staring ahead in exasperation as you ran circles around him with boundless enthusiasm. Lord, how did he get himself into this? He was stuck in this ridiculous situation because he needed the crown he had just stolen from the palace. The deal was simple: he would take you to see the lanterns and bring you back.
But he had no time for that.
Determined to avoid the whole ordeal, he hatched a foolproof plan. He would take you to the Snuggly Duckling, a tavern with a motley crew of thugs and ruffians. Surely that would scare you off.
As you twirled around, he muttered under his breath, "This is going to work. It has to work."
You paused mid-spin. "Did you say something?"
"Nothing!" he replied, forcing a smile. "Just… thinking about how much fun we're going to have."
He let out a sigh of relief as the Snuggly Duckling came into view. He couldn't help but grin at the look of horror that flashed across your face when you saw the rowdy tavern. This was going perfectly.
"You don't look so good, blondie. Maybe we should get you home, call it a day. This is a five-star joint, after all. If you can't handle this place, maybe you should be back in your tower," he said, trying to sound sympathetic while suppressing a smirk.
Just as he thought his plan was working, Mingi cursed under his breath as the main door slammed shut, and a burly man pressed a "Wanted" poster of him against it.
"Is this you?" the man growled, squinting at the poster.
Crap, crap, crap. This is not good.
The thief's eyes widened in dread as he moved the man's finger off the painting of his nose. His heart sank even further. They had gotten his nose wrong... again.
"Now they're just being mean," he muttered to himself, more upset about the artistic injustice than the actual danger he was in.
⁞
The last thing Mingi expected happened. As the thugs closed in, you suddenly began to sing a silly little song about having a dream. At first, he stared at you in disbelief, but then something miraculous happened. The roughest and toughest of the bunch started to join in, swayed by your infectious innocence and charm.
A reluctant smile soon spread across his face. As impractical as it seemed, your innocence had saved you both. "I can't believe that worked," he muttered, watching the formerly hostile crowd now swaying together harmoniously.
But the relief was short-lived.
The doors burst open, and royal guards flooded the tavern. "There he is!" one of the guards shouted.
"Time to go!" He grabbed your hand, pulling you towards a hidden exit. The chase led you to a dangerous cave, the sound of the guards echoing behind you.
The thief's adventurous spirit shone brightly as he led you through perilous situations, always thinking on his feet and embracing the thrill. He expertly navigated the cave, his confidence never wavering even as the path grew treacherous.
But things took a dire turn when the cave began to collapse. Rocks tumbled down, trapping you both under the debris. Water started to fill the cave, and panic set in. Despite his fear, he remained focused. He pulled you out of the water when you dipped back under, refusing to let you drown.
"Hey, there's no point. It's pitch-black down there," he said, gently moving some hair out of your face, his eyes filled with a rare vulnerability.
You felt a pang of guilt as you saw the hopelessness in his expression. "This is all my fault," you whimpered. "Mother was right. I never should have done this. I'm so sorry, Flynn," you cried.
He sighed, gazing at you sobbing pitifully before whispering, "Mingi."
"What?" you turned to look at him, confused.
"My real name is Song Mingi. Someone might as well know."
You smiled softly through your tears. "I have magical hair that glows when I sing."
His eyes widened in exasperation. "What?"
⁞
Just as he thought he couldn't possibly be more amazed, his admiration and affection for you only grew. He watched in awe as you healed his injury with your glowing hair, the pain ebbing away under your touch. Listening to your story, he saw the depth of your courage and determination, traits he deeply admired.
For the first time in his life, Mingi felt comfortable enough to open up about himself. He let down all the walls he had built over the years, sharing his dreams, fears, and the loneliness that had always shadowed him. Something had changed since then, and neither of you had been more certain about your feelings for each other than on the night of your birthday.
He had kept his promise and taken you to see the lanterns. As you both floated on the water, surrounded by the magical glow of thousands of lanterns, he realised that seeing you happy meant more to him than the riches he had dreamed about for so long. This moment, this connection, you—mattered more than anything.
The thief realised that none of the money or recognition would ever mean anything if it meant being without you. Perhaps Flynn Rider was so much more than just a witty and adventurous prince; he was also a romantic at heart. This truth became painfully clear as he prepared to sacrifice his own life to free you, the love of his life, from the clutches of your kidnapper.
On the verge of his own death, he made a heartbreaking decision. He would rather cut your hair, stripping it of its magical properties before you could save him, than allow Mother Gothel to use you any further. With a swift motion, he severed your once-blonde hair, watching as it returned to its original colour.
"Mingi!" you cried, watching in despair as the magic faded. You pulled him into your arms, cradling his face. "No, no, no. Mingi," you pleaded desperately. "Look at me. I'm right here. Don't go. Stay with me."
He smiled weakly, his strength fading. He cupped your face with a trembling hand. "You were my new dream."
Your heart shattered as tears streamed down your cheeks. His hand fell limp beside him, his eyes closing as his life slipped away.
"And you were mine," you whispered, your voice breaking as you held him close, the pain of losing him overwhelming.
⁞
But things took a miraculous turn. Your magic, which had always been tied to your hair, still remained in the essence of your tears. As you cried over him, a single tear fell onto his face, glowing brightly before seeping into his skin.
Suddenly, his breath hitched, and his eyes fluttered open. Life returned to him as the magic worked its way through his body. You gasped, pulling him closer, barely able to believe what was happening.
"Mingi!" you exclaimed, joy and relief flooding your heart.
He looked at you, his eyes filled with wonder and gratitude. "You're magic," he whispered, holding you tightly. Without another word, he pressed his lips firmly against yours, pouring all his love and thankfulness into the kiss.
As he held you close, he silently thanked the heavens for granting him a second chance at life. He vowed to start over and be a better person for his princess. At that moment, everything felt right, and he knew that his new life with you would be the greatest adventure of all.
Wooyoung ↠ Aladdin (Aladdin)
• Energetic • Street-smart • Charismatic •
"Hey! You there, stealing from my brother!" the merchant barked through the bustling market as you handed two starving children the bread you had taken.
You blinked, caught off guard. "Stealing? No, I—"
"You either pay, or I take the bracelet," he sneered, his hand reaching for your mother's bracelet clasped around your wrist. "Let go of me!" you cried, struggling in his grip.
Before the situation could escalate, someone swooped in and pulled you free, placing you protectively behind him. "Easy, Jamal," the young man said calmly, trying to diffuse the situation. But the merchant only glared at you. "Kalil turns his back for a moment, and this one," he jabbed a finger toward you, "steals the bread!"
You huffed in frustration. "Those children were starving!"
The young man sighed, turning to you and lowering his voice. "Do you have any money?" You shook your head. He smiled softly, then gripped your bracelet. "Okay, trust me." Something in his gaze made you feel secure, so you did—against all odds, you trusted him.
You watched in disbelief as he removed your bracelet and handed it over to the merchant. "Here, this is what you wanted, right?"
The merchant grinned, satisfied. "Yeah, thank you!"
"And here's an apple, for your troubles," the young man added with a grin, tossing the merchant a fruit before quickly pulling you away, ignoring your protests. "Hey! I'm not leaving without my bracelet!"
He pulled you closer as you hurried through the market. "You mean this bracelet?" he murmured, revealing the very same bracelet in his hand. Instantly, your worry melted. "Come on."
As you both moved, you suddenly heard the merchant shout behind you, "Wooyoung! Jung Wooyoung! Thief!"
You turned, your breath catching. "Are we in trouble?" you asked. He smirked, his confidence unwavering.
"Only if we get caught."
⁞
"I can't believe..." you trailed off, staring at the breathtaking view from his balcony. "I can't believe we actually did that. That I did that. That we made it out alive!" you exclaimed, still reeling from the intense chase that had led you here. You couldn't shake the memory of him holding your hands, guiding you to safety.
"Thank you... for getting me out of there. Wooyoung, right?" you smiled bashfully, and he rubbed the back of his neck, a little shy. "You're welcome..." he gestured toward you, waiting for your name.
You froze for a split second. "I... I'm Dalia," you blurted out, using your handmaid's name as a cover. No one could know your true identity—not even him.
"Dalia... from the palace," he said, his tone more knowing than surprised. You stayed silent, your back to him. How did he— "Only someone from the palace could afford a bracelet like that," he continued. "And that silk? It's imported, comes straight to the palace from the merchant ships. But not for most servants, which means... you're the handmaid to the princess."
You sighed, finally turning to meet his eyes, a small smile on your lips. "Impressive."
"If you think that's impressive, you should see the city from up there," he said, pointing to the second floor of his humble home. You didn't need to be told twice and eagerly headed up. "Agrabah... it's beautiful. I really should get out more."
He chuckled. "You should tell the princess that." Your smile faded slowly. "The people haven't seen her in years."
Your fists clenched slightly. "They won't let her. Ever since... the queen was killed, the sultan's been terrified. She's kept locked away."
He looked down, a touch of sadness in his voice. "Seems like everyone's been living in fear since then. But the people of Agrabah loved her. The queen."
Your heart warmed at his words. "They did, didn't they?"
As the conversation shifted to his past, you were saddened to learn of the hardships he had endured. He sighed deeply. "Every day I hope things will change, but it never seems to. Sometimes, I feel like I'm just..."
"Trapped," you finished for him, your voice soft. "Like you can't escape what you were born into?" He nodded, meeting your gaze. For a moment, you thought you could trust him. But that hope wavered when he struggled to return your bracelet at your departure.
"So you are a thief," you said, your voice tinged with disappointment. "I'm so naive."
⁞
"But Dalia, I was born for more than just marrying some useless prince!" you argued after meeting yet another potential suitor from Skanland that afternoon.
Your handmaid sighed. "If you had to marry a useless prince, you could certainly do worse than this one. He's tall, handsome, and yes, a bit dim, but it's just a marriage. Although, I suspect you'd rather marry that boy from the market," she finished, and you scoffed.
As she went off to prepare your bath, there was a knock at your door. With a frown, you opened it. "Can I help you?" you asked, and the person turned around. Your eyes widened in shock. "You? You! What are you doing here? Get in here!"
Wooyoung smirked. "I came to return your bracelet."
"My bracelet? Where is it?"
"On your wrist," he replied, and you gasped, glancing down to see it securely in place. "Wait, how did you get past the guards?" you asked in disbelief.
He grinned mischievously. "That was tricky, but I have my ways. While the princess is out, how about a stroll? We can chat."
You crossed your arms, half-irritated, half-amused. "You are unbelievable," you muttered, annoyed at his audacity but even more so at how attractive he was. "You can't just break into the palace and act like you own the place!"
"If you don't have anything, you've got to act like you own everything," he shrugged, flashing a grin. You stared at him, realising you'd never met anyone like him—because no one was like him. "So, what do you say?"
"No! You need to leave, now!" you insisted, pushing him toward the door.
"Fine, but I'm coming back tomorrow," he said confidently. "Meet me in the courtyard by the fountain when the moon is above the minaret." He gestured behind him, and before you could react, he removed your hair clip, waving it teasingly. "To return this."
Your breath caught when he leaned closer, gently tucking a strand of hair behind your ear. His voice was a whisper. "I promise." Perhaps you were a fool; you should have known better than to believe him.
⁞
The next time you saw him, you barely recognised him, thanks to the Genie's magic. He was now Prince Young of Wonderland—a clumsy prince who seemed to be trying to "buy" you with his riches, or at least that was what he said, as he awkwardly stumbled over his words. His first impression was far from impressive, and despite his best efforts, nothing he did seemed to win you over.
After countless failed attempts, he finally realised what he needed to do: just be himself. "There's a whole world beyond these books and maps. You should see it."
"How? Every door is guarded," you replied, a bit wistful.
"Who said anything about a door? Sometimes, princess, you just have to take a risk," he said with a grin before climbing over your balcony and leaping off. You gasped, your hands flying to your mouth, heart in your throat. "What just happened?"
Moments later, he reappeared on a floating carpet. You sighed in relief. "Is this…?"
"A magic carpet? Yes," he smirked, offering his hand. "Do you trust me?" Your heart skipped a beat as those words echoed something familiar. "What did you say?" you croaked. He repeated, his eyes steady on yours. "Do you trust me?"
You hesitated before nodding and placing your hand in his. "Yes."
As the carpet soared over a village, you watched the people below celebrating around a fire. You smiled as the prince draped his coat around your shoulders. "Of all the places you've shown me, this is the most beautiful."
"Sometimes, you just have to see it from a different perspective," he replied. You shook your head gently. "No, it's them—the people. They make it beautiful. And they deserve a leader who understands that. I don't know why I think it could be me."
He turned to you, his expression sincere. "Because it should be you."
"Do you really think so?" you asked softly. He reached out, gently tucking a strand of hair behind your ear, and for a moment, you froze. Only one other person had done that before—
"Does it matter what I think?" he asked, breaking the spell.
By the end of the night, you learned he was who you had suspected all along, though you were now convinced he had been a prince from the start. Wooyoung, caught up in the joy of the moment, kissed you goodnight, only to later drown in constant guilt and worry that the lie he was still hiding could ruin everything.
⁞
But none of that mattered when you discovered it had all been a lie. Even caught up in the battle against Jafar, Wooyoung was still the one you trusted most. And you knew you were right to trust him because, despite the difficult situation, he chose to return to your side and protect you. His actions proved his genuine care for you.
Your feelings for him deepened when he made his third and final wish. Instead of using it to abolish the law that required the princess to marry royalty, he selflessly used it to free the Genie.
"You shall be the next sultan," your father said. "As sultan, you can change the law." He gestured to where Wooyoung had stood moments earlier, but now he was gone. Your heart sank, and your father gently nudged you. "Go after him before it's too late."
And you did just that.
Breathless, you found him only a few steps outside the palace, your hair clip still in his hands. "Stop, thief! Your sultan commands it!" you called after him, your tone teasing.
He turned, biting his lip and holding up the clip. "Sultan? Does that mean I'm in trouble?"
Your heart fluttered at those familiar words. With a smile, you approached him. "Only because you got caught," you whispered before kissing him. The crowd around you erupted in cheers as he pulled you close, returning your kiss with equal passion. At that moment, he realised his wish had come true after all.
Jongho ↠ Prince Eric (Little Mermaid)
• Kind-hearted • Brave • Dependable •
"Max! Come here, boy," the man on board called out to his dog, who had momentarily been distracted by your presence near the side of the ship. Your eyes widened as you took in his striking features—he was human. You'd never seen one this closely before.
Carefully staying hidden, you continued to watch as an elderly man stepped forward to quiet the crew. "Silence, silence. It is now my honour and privilege to present our esteemed Prince Jongho with a very special, very expensive, and very large birthday present," he announced, gesturing toward a massive object draped in cloth at the center of the ship.
"Ah, Grimsby, you old beanpole, you shouldn't have," said the handsome man, whose name you now know to be Jongho and that he was... a prince.
The old man smiled bashfully. "I know. Happy birthday, Jongho." With that, the cloth was pulled away to reveal a heroic statue of the prince. Instead of reacting as Grimsby had likely hoped, the prince grimaced slightly. "Uh, gee, Grim..." he cleared his throat awkwardly. "It's, uh... really something..."
"Yes, I commissioned it myself. I had hoped it would be a wedding gift." Grimsby's tone was hopeful, but Jongho just chuckled. "Come on, Grim. Don't start. You're not still upset that I didn't fall for the Princess of Glowerhaven, are you?"
"Oh my, it's not just me. The entire kingdom wants to see you happily settled down with the right girl."
Jongho smiled, leaning against the railing. "Well, she's out there somewhere. I just... haven't found her yet. But trust me, Grim, when I do, I'll know. It'll hit me, like lightning—no question about it."
Your heart fluttered as you listened from just below. You'd never felt this way about any merman, but you wanted to be that girl for him. He seemed so near, yet impossibly far at the same time.
⁞
Perhaps he shouldn't have said those words—maybe he jinxed it. What started as a cheerful celebration turned into chaos within seconds, as lightning struck and set the ship ablaze.
You watched anxiously from the sidelines, praying he'd be alright. But your heart sank when you saw him dive back into the ocean from a lifeboat, only to return to the ship to save his dog. Though he managed to rescue the pet, he put himself in grave danger, trapped as the ship exploded. Gasping, you swam toward him, just in time to see him weakly cling to a plank before slipping into the water.
Without hesitation, you dove in, gripping his larger frame and fighting through the waves to bring him to the surface. With sheer determination, you swam to shore, finally laying him on the sand as the sun began to rise.
"Thank goodness, he's still breathing. He's... beautiful," you whispered, gently brushing his wet hair and caressing his cheek. As you sang softly, a familiar tune you'd often hum when dreaming of life on land and now... of him, you saw his eyes flutter open. He smiled at you, placing his hand over yours.
Before you could say a word, you heard Grimsby's voice echo along the beach. In a flash, you were gone before Jongho could fully grasp what had happened.
"Jongho! Oh, Jongho! You really enjoy testing my poor heart, don't you?" the old man grumbled, helping him up.
"A girl... she saved me. She was singing... with the most beautiful voice," the prince murmured dreamily, his eyes still scanning the horizon. Grimsby chuckled. "Ah, Jongho, I believe you've swallowed a bit too much seawater."
You watched from afar, your heart aching as they walked away. Did he feel the same way you did? Was this... love? Because you missed him already.
⁞
Humming the melody that had lingered in his mind ever since you rescued him, Jongho was interrupted by the sudden arrival of his dog. Max sprinted across the sandy beach, barking and leaping excitedly at his owner. "What's up, boy?"
The dog darted forward, and without hesitation, he chased after him. You gasped when Max ran up to you, quickly scooting back onto a rock to keep your distance from the unfamiliar animal.
"Max? What's gotten into you?" the prince's voice called out as he appeared, just in time to see his dog circling you. His breath caught when his eyes landed on you. "Oh... I see."
"Are you alright, miss?" he asked softly, stepping closer. "I'm sorry if this troublemaker scared you. He's harmless, I swear..." His voice trailed off as he looked from his dog to meet your eyes. "You look... familiar. Have we met before?"
You nodded immediately, a beaming smile lighting up your face.
"It's you, isn't it? The one I've been searching for," he murmured, gently taking your hands in his. "What's your name?"
But when you opened your mouth to speak, no sound came out. That's when it hit you—you had given your voice to Ursula in exchange for legs, and now had only three days for Jongho to kiss you with true love's kiss, or else you'd belong to the sea witch for an eternity.
"What's wrong?" he asked, concerned. You pointed to your throat, shaking your head. "You can't speak? Oh..." His expression fell. "Then you can't be the girl I thought..."
Frustrated, you frantically waved your hands, trying to show him that you were the one. In your desperate movements, you lost your balance and stumbled forward—right into his strong arms.
"Woah, careful!" he said, holding you close to steady you.
For a moment, the world seemed to freeze as the two of you stood still, his arms wrapped securely around your waist while your hands clung to his shoulders. He gazed into your eyes, his expression softening. "You've been through something, haven't you? Don't worry—I'll help you."
⁞
Despite finding your quirks a bit odd, Jongho couldn't help but be charmed by your playful nature. On top of that, you were easily one of the most beautiful women he had ever seen. He had noticed it when he first met you, but after the maids had cleaned you up and dressed you like a princess, he could barely tear his eyes away. For a moment, he even forgot about the girl he had been searching for, now looking forward to spending the next day showing you around town.
Time flew by, and your second day on land seemed to pass in the blink of an eye. You wandered through the streets together, hands intertwined, sharing meals, dancing, and laughing. Each moment felt magical, filled with heart-fluttering closeness that made it feel like the two of you were already a couple. It was the best day of your life, a world apart from anything you'd ever known. It would've been perfect—if only he would just kiss you.
But there was still time, and you held on to hope. That evening, he took you on a romantic boat ride, and it felt like the moment was finally about to happen. He leaned in a few times, but each time, he hesitated, as if reminding himself you weren’t the one he thought he was looking for. Your heart sank with every pause. Still, after learning your name and feeling a deeper connection, he came so close...
Close enough for Ursula to interfere.
That night, he stood outside, looking melancholy as he hummed the same song that had haunted him since he was rescued. "Jongho, if I may," Grimsby said gently, approaching him. "Sometimes, the best match isn't a dream girl, but someone of flesh and blood—someone warm, caring, and right before your eyes," he suggested, gesturing toward your room, where you were absentmindedly brushing your hair with a fork once again.
Jongho chuckled softly, shaking his head at your antics. Perhaps Grimsby was right. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if you weren't the girl he had been searching for... after all, you made him happy. But before he could think further, a woman named Vanessa appeared, casting him under a spell that blinded him to everything—especially you.
⁞
Wiping away your tears, you knew you had to find a way to get to him. Your heart was shattered when you heard he was marrying another woman, but deep down, you should have known something was off. Of course, it was the sea witch and her wicked schemes.
Thankfully, Max, the loyal dog, seemed just as frustrated with Vanessa as you were. He aggressively tugged at her dress, refusing to leave her alone. In the chaos, her seashell necklace—the one that held your voice—fell to the ground and shattered. At last, the spell was broken, and you could speak again. The moment Jongho heard your voice, recognition filled his eyes. "You're the one. It was you... all along."
You nodded, your voice trembling with emotion. "Yes, Jongho. I've been trying to tell you."
"No! Stay away from her!" Vanessa screamed, but the prince ignored her, pulling you close and leaning in to kiss you. Before he could, you gasped, falling to the ground as your legs transformed back into a tail. Ursula's wicked laughter echoed as she returned to her true form, slithering towards you and grabbing hold. "So long, lover boy," she hissed.
His heart nearly stopped as he watched the witch drag you into the depths of the sea. But he wasn't about to lose you again. This time, he would fight with everything he had to save you.
And he did. The battle was fierce and exhausting, but he remained determined. Jongho cleverly commandeered a ship and steered it straight into Ursula, risking everything to put an end to her reign of terror.
Even in his exhaustion, he didn't rest until he found you. This time, you had legs—real, permanent ones—granted by your father after seeing the love you shared. And when he finally reached you, he pulled you close, refusing to let go. "I'm sorry I made you wait so long, but I'm yours now if you'll have me."
I'm aware the format for each story is kinda inconsistent HAHA but that's because this has been in the works for a while now, and the time taken to finish these one by one was long enough for me to develop a new style for nearly every story when I get to them.
Not sure if this was any good. While proofreading, I realised there's a chance this might not make much sense for readers who have not watched these movies. But y'all, let me know your thoughts! <3
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Since I've had a few people asking about megadungeon stuff recently, and I am an avowed megadungeon megafan, I thought it might be fun to walk through an actual example of megadungeon play that exemplifies what I like best about it.
This post is going to be the first in a series talking about a room from a megadungeon that I ran over 20 years ago (brushing past that fact quickly lest the horrors set in.) It was a major room, probably the most complex and important in the dungeon, and the players passed through it frequently throughout the campaign. In this post I'll introduce you to the room, and then in later posts I'll talk about what it does well and how to use that lesson more generally. Below the cut is a reproduction of the map as I remember it.
Without getting into The Lore too deeply, some dwarves accidentally dug into hell, as one does. Classic trope, nothing wrong with using them. They quite sensibly shut the mine down and sealed if off, but word got out. A human king heard about this, and took over the mine, expanding it into a temple complex to curry favour / barter with hell. It went badly, as such things do.
This concourse connects several wings of the dungeon, spanning several floors. An enormous devil face statue emerges from the northern wall, above the second floor balcony and below the fourth, and a column of light shines through a hole in the ceiling onto the center of the floor. Several floors of balconies overlook the chamber, though the stairs to the fourth floor balcony have long since collapsed.
This chamber was not too far from the main entrance, with the party first encountering it on their second delve into the dungeon, though it would take two more delves for them to gather the courage to enter it. At the time they first encountered it, it was swarming with imps and other little devils worshipping the big face.
I'll summarize the key:
A. Hallway from the Entry Chambers, the first and easiest section of the dungeon.
B. Doorway to the Pilgrim's City.
C. Doorway to the Unholiest of Unholies. Sealed and warded against simple spells.
D. Doorway to the Old Dwarven Quarters.
E. Doorway to the Nobles' Section. Barred from the far side.
F. Portcullis to the Pilgrim's City. The mechanism has rusted out and no longer functions.
G. Doorway to the Halls of the Clergy.
H. Doorway from the King's Inner Sanctum.
I. Doorway to the Archive.
J. Doorway to the King's Inner Sanctum, locked.
K. Doorway to The Indulgences.
Stairway from floor 1 to floor 2.
Light from the hole in the ceiling.
Broken stairs from floor 2 to floor 4.
Big ole devil face. Its eyes are a one-way illusion, allowing anyone within the face to view the room below.
Okay that's a lot, thanks for sticking it out. While I don't want to wander too far off topic into the rest of the dungeon, I'll just briefly note that the Pilgrim's City and Old Dwarven Quarters are easier sections of the dungeon, the Nobles Section and Halls of the Clergy are slightly more difficult, the King's Inner Sanctum, Archive, and Indulgences are very dangerous, and the Unholiest of Unholies is, as one might expect, where the worst things (and best loot) in the dungeon are. This was 2nd edition AD&D, so there was not a presumption of fights being balanced, and traipsing through more dangerous sections of the dungeon at lower levels wasn't uncommon. The players also understood the varying levels of danger fairly implicitly, since the custom at the time was that any time you went a level further away from whatever the ground floor was, things got more dangerous. The only exception to this is the Unholiest of Unholies and I think we can agree that when it's beyond a magically sealed door under a giant devil head the danger is telegraphed.
Next post I'll start talking about what made this room work so well in practice.
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Honestly I'm pretty tired of supporting nostalgebraist-autoresponder. Going to wind down the project some time before the end of this year.
Posting this mainly to get the idea out there, I guess.
This project has taken an immense amount of effort from me over the years, and still does, even when it's just in maintenance mode.
Today some mysterious system update (or something) made the model no longer fit on the GPU I normally use for it, despite all the same code and settings on my end.
This exact kind of thing happened once before this year, and I eventually figured it out, but I haven't figured this one out yet. This problem consumed several hours of what was meant to be a relaxing Sunday. Based on past experience, getting to the bottom of the issue would take many more hours.
My options in the short term are to
A. spend (even) more money per unit time, by renting a more powerful GPU to do the same damn thing I know the less powerful one can do (it was doing it this morning!), or
B. silently reduce the context window length by a large amount (and thus the "smartness" of the output, to some degree) to allow the model to fit on the old GPU.
Things like this happen all the time, behind the scenes.
I don't want to be doing this for another year, much less several years. I don't want to be doing it at all.
----
In 2019 and 2020, it was fun to make a GPT-2 autoresponder bot.
[EDIT: I've seen several people misread the previous line and infer that nostalgebraist-autoresponder is still using GPT-2. She isn't, and hasn't been for a long time. Her latest model is a finetuned LLaMA-13B.]
Hardly anyone else was doing anything like it. I wasn't the most qualified person in the world to do it, and I didn't do the best possible job, but who cares? I learned a lot, and the really competent tech bros of 2019 were off doing something else.
And it was fun to watch the bot "pretend to be me" while interacting (mostly) with my actual group of tumblr mutuals.
In 2023, everyone and their grandmother is making some kind of "gen AI" app. They are helped along by a dizzying array of tools, cranked out by hyper-competent tech bros with apparently infinite reserves of free time.
There are so many of these tools and demos. Every week it seems like there are a hundred more; it feels like every day I wake up and am expected to be familiar with a hundred more vaguely nostalgebraist-autoresponder-shaped things.
And every one of them is vastly better-engineered than my own hacky efforts. They build on each other, and reap the accelerating returns.
I've tended to do everything first, ahead of the curve, in my own way. This is what I like doing. Going out into unexplored wilderness, not really knowing what I'm doing, without any maps.
Later, hundreds of others with go to the same place. They'll make maps, and share them. They'll go there again and again, learning to make the expeditions systematically. They'll make an optimized industrial process of it. Meanwhile, I'll be locked in to my own cottage-industry mode of production.
Being the first to do something means you end up eventually being the worst.
----
I had a GPT chatbot in 2019, before GPT-3 existed. I don't think Huggingface Transformers existed, either. I used the primitive tools that were available at the time, and built on them in my own way. These days, it is almost trivial to do the things I did, much better, with standardized tools.
I had a denoising diffusion image generator in 2021, before DALLE-2 or Stable Diffusion or Huggingface Diffusers. I used the primitive tools that were available at the time, and built on them in my own way. These days, it is almost trivial to do the things I did, much better, with standardized tools.
Earlier this year, I was (probably) one the first people to finetune LLaMA. I manually strapped LoRA and 8-bit quantization onto the original codebase, figuring out everything the hard way. It was fun.
Just a few months later, and your grandmother is probably running LLaMA on her toaster as we speak. My homegrown methods look hopelessly antiquated. I think everyone's doing 4-bit quantization now?
(Are they? I can't keep track anymore -- the hyper-competent tech bros are too damn fast. A few months from now the thing will be probably be quantized to -1 bits, somehow. It'll be running in your phone's browser. And it'll be using RLHF, except no, it'll be using some successor to RLHF that everyone's hyping up at the time...)
"You have a GPT chatbot?" someone will ask me. "I assume you're using AutoLangGPTLayerPrompt?"
No, no, I'm not. I'm trying to debug obscure CUDA issues on a Sunday so my bot can carry on talking to a thousand strangers, every one of whom is asking it something like "PENIS PENIS PENIS."
Only I am capable of unplugging the blockage and giving the "PENIS PENIS PENIS" askers the responses they crave. ("Which is ... what, exactly?", one might justly wonder.) No one else would fully understand the nature of the bug. It is special to my own bizarre, antiquated, homegrown system.
I must have one of the longest-running GPT chatbots in existence, by now. Possibly the longest-running one?
I like doing new things. I like hacking through uncharted wilderness. The world of GPT chatbots has long since ceased to provide this kind of value to me.
I want to cede this ground to the LLaMA techbros and the prompt engineers. It is not my wilderness anymore.
I miss wilderness. Maybe I will find a new patch of it, in some new place, that no one cares about yet.
----
Even in 2023, there isn't really anything else out there quite like Frank. But there could be.
If you want to develop some sort of Frank-like thing, there has never been a better time than now. Everyone and their grandmother is doing it.
"But -- but how, exactly?"
Don't ask me. I don't know. This isn't my area anymore.
There has never been a better time to make a GPT chatbot -- for everyone except me, that is.
Ask the techbros, the prompt engineers, the grandmas running OpenChatGPT on their ironing boards. They are doing what I did, faster and easier and better, in their sleep. Ask them.
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Disenchanted 2: Love Affair
Male Reader x Karina
Tags: 8k, anal, cheating, creampie, oral
The story is not ours, we alternate the original story to match our desired settings.
The next couple of days were a bit of a blur as the final tweaks were done to our presentation preventing me from having a proper talk with Karina about what transpired in my office the other night. The Friday of the big presentation, dressed in a fitted cream dress, Karina strode into the board room with an air of sophistication about her.
The team had already laid out printout packs on all of the senior leader’s seats prior to today as they waited patiently outside. Karina and I were to lead the proceedings with myself giving the grittier details of our proposed launch with timelines all mapped out in the slides. Sitting at the head of the table, I was situated quite close to the right of her, driving the slides with my laptop. Karina greeted me good morning, shaking my hand and wishing me luck. Her smile was not as fully fledged as usual, maybe it was her nerves, but most likely it was due to our chance encounter the other night. I could feel the slight awkwardness in the air between us, The senior directors started entering the board room. Filled with a bunch of seasoned veterans, it was quite an intimidating environment. Nevertheless, it is what I had worked so hard for all these years, a chance to sit with the big boys as I took a deep breath and kicked things off.
“Good morning All, I am pleased to announce our plans to successfully launch our great new products into the market. In front of you all are the details regarding our target demographic, how we are going to capture their attention and hopefully break into new sectors.” I said, my voice steady as a rock, but heart beat rising fast as I took my seat, letting Karina takeover for the bigger picture view.
Karina could sense this, lightly squeezing my hand under the table giving me a nod of encouragement before standing up and powerfully delivering her piece. The remainder of the meeting went according to plan as we both gradually eased up, due to the positivity in the room regarding our pitch. At the half time break the senior directors sat around by themselves drinking coffee while Karina and I prepped the short fifteen-minute video that we planned with the team going over the different products.
“Hey, is everything cool?” I asked, in hushed tones as Karina enlarged the window on screen.
She smiled ever so slightly nodding her head.
“Off course we are, why do you ask?” She replied.
“No reason, I think it’s going well though.” I said.
“Totally, we are nailing it so hard.” Karina replied.
Hearing her say that got me all riled up, thinking about our steamy exchange the other night as she gave the thumbs up to the rest of the room, dimming the lights as the clip began to play. We both had our backs to the room as everybody went quiet watching the products presented on screen with interest. It was then I noticed Karina’s hand laying idle by her leg, her fingers nervously tapping away. I could hear the faint strikes of her fingers on the plastic seat, probably nervous about the uptake by the senior bosses as they had not seen any of the new products in this much detail before.
Grabbing her hand, I gently settled her fingers down to avoid causing a distraction for the rest of the room. Karina continued watching the video, smiling ever so slightly by the side of her mouth. This was more like it, the tension in the morning was now a distant memory as I played with her soft hands. She never pulled away, instead accepting my hand in hers as I gently stroked her wrist. Looking sideways I could see her swallow hard as my hand continued to dance on her wrist. This sudden sexual electricity between us spurred me to be bolder, even though both our integrities was on the line, I pushed forward.
“Open your legs.” I said, whispering in her ear.
There was a slight pause in her reaction as if to inwardly think if this was the right thing to do. Never the less, Karina complied lust taking over, parting her thighs just enough for me to slip my hands between her legs. Just like when she was on the phone to her husband, I started off slow, gliding my digits across her silky lingerie cupping her sex. A few gentle squeezes later had Karina creaming in my palms, her mouth parted slightly as she began to stifle her groans by sipping some water. Easing her underwear a side I could feel the warmth emanating from her cunt as I pierced her folds in one fluid motion, filling her pussy with two fingers as I began to stroke her from the inside with deep curls of my fingers. From this angle, her g-spot was not attainable, settling for clitoral stimulation instead, rubbing circles around her sensitive parts as I felt her buck slightly in her seat.
“Tell me when you’re close.” I whispered, as she nodded in agreement, gripping my hand between her legs as I finger fucked her cunt in a room full of senior directors.
The contractions from her walls were now so intense, it hurt my fingers at times as I fed her cunt more of my digits, filling her cunt with my hand as she leaked copious amounts of sex juice on to the seat. The video was coming to an end as the room began to clap, Karina now nodding, giving me the signal as I doubled my efforts fingering her tight married slit as hard and deep as I could, pinching her clit sharply as Karina climaxed in my grasp, biting down into her forearm to hide her pleasurable excitement. Slipping out from between her legs I wiped my face in her juices before dabbing myself dry with a tissue. Her scent was delectable as we both turned around slightly flushed.
“I hope you guys enjoyed it as much as we did.” She said beaming, her cheeks slightly red.
They all applauded with gusto, as we gave our closing speech and wrapped up the proceedings collapsing in our chairs as they left the room.
“Phew...that was intense.” I said with a smile.
“Really…was it? was it intense?” Karina said sarcastically punching me in the arm.
“I cannot believe you did that.” She said.
“Did you like it?” I asked smiling.
“That’s not the point...” She started.
“Yes, yes, you are married and such...” I chimed in.
“It’s NOT funny.” she said, holding back a smirk.
“Seriously.” She followed up, regaining some sort of composure.
“I have a favor to ask.” Karina said grinning.
“You have a favor to ask me?” I replied mockingly.
“Yes, Jaewook wants me to invite you over for dinner tomorrow night to celebrate the successful launch of our products.” She said.
“Sounds ominous.” I replied, scratching my head.
“Yeah, I don’t buy it either, he has always felt a little threatened with other guys.” Karina replied.
“Do you blame him?” I said raising my eyes and smelling my hand, still fresh from between her legs.
“That’s not fair...” Karina replied not finding my quip funny.
“Just behave...ok?” She said, her eyes pleading.
I nodded, taking down her address and walking out to tell the team of our success. Treating them to a lunch out, the three nattered endlessly about how it was the hardest they had ever worked and how proud they were. It was good team bonding, yet all I could think about was Karina and my up-and-coming visit to the residence.
��
That night of the dinner came around soon enough, fixing myself up last minute style in the office toilet.
“Hey man, heard you are off to the Boss’s house today?” Yeonjun said from behind me.
“Ehem.” I replied.
He had a major thing for Karina, but then again so did most red-blooded males. If only he knew what we had been up to, it would have blown his mind. I liked Yeonjun, very comical, a bit like Nayoung but with less sting in his tail. Smiling I nodded, running my fingers through my hair as I pondered tonight’s events.
“Hey boss...don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.” Yeonjun called out as I left.
“I’m a Saint.” I called back, walking down the stairs and into the carpark.
Karina was already there, as she popped the passenger lock open and welcomed me with her trademark smile.
“You good?” She said, backing the car up and exiting onto the main road.
“I’m great, you?” I said with a slight chuckle.
“Don’t laugh...this is a big deal, we rarely have guests over.” Karina said.
“God, does he plan to kill me and get rid of the body?” I said sarcastically.
“It’s not him you should be worried about.” Karina hit back in jest.
“Ohh kinky.” I replied.
“Seriously Minho, you said you would behave.” Karina said pleading with me.
“Ok ok...best behavior...promise.” I said smiling.
To be honest, I had no idea what she was so worried about. Jaewook and I got on like a house on fire the moment I stepped in. It almost made me feel bad about my relationship with Karina...almost. After getting introduced to the kids during dinner we played a family friendly boardgames before the adults retired to the study and talked all things...well, adult.
Part of me wanted to carry on with the boardgames, teasing Karina under the table with my hands was a delight as I watched her hold her nerve in front of the family. It did not go without consequence however as after the games her warm demeanor was slightly icy towards me, breaking my promise so early into the evening. The couple sat on the couch all snuggled up with a bottle of wine while I sat in the armchair perusing the family album. Jaewook gave me the lowdown of how the two met and even showed me a few pictures form their recent family holiday. I tried my best to stay engage, nodding and smiling when required as we necked down yet another bottle of wine.
“Hey man, why don’t you stay the night?” Jaewook said, his words slightly slurred at this point.
I looked at Karina slightly taken aback, almost waiting for the green light.
“Why are you looking at her, I am the boss here.” He said laughing.
Karina punched his arm clearly not liking his derogatory statement.
“You guys do what you want, I’m going to put the kids to bed.” She said, without making eye contact with either of us.
“Ok...” I said chuckling.
“Eh she gets like that sometimes, I think work is stressing her out a bit.” Jaewook said.
“Yeah, it has been busy, she is really thorough.” I replied.
I could not help slipping in innuendos here and there as Jaewook showed me to the guest bedroom. It was bigger than my flat, literally.
“Hey, tomorrow, we can shoot some hoops out back, have a good evening.” He said closing the door behind him.
I did not see Karina again till around 12 midnight. I had just finished up in the bathroom when I heard light whisperings from the hallway. Feeling a little curious I turned off my bedroom light sneaking a peak outside. It was coming from the couple’s bedroom which was tantalizingly ajar. I felt a sudden jolt of jealousy as my over active imagination pictured what was going on in there.
“Jaewook...seriously not tonight.” I heard Karina say.
“Seriously you’re drunk.” She followed up.
“Babe c’mon, just a quickie, you promised.” Jaewook replied, his words barely coherent.
“C’mon Karina...” He said.
I peeked in seeing Karina reluctantly take off her nightgown to reveal a matching brown set of underwear. Part of me wanted to step in there and stop the whole thing as she clearly wasn’t interested.
“Bend over for me...” Jaewook slurred.
Karina scrunched her face up slightly, giving up in defeat as she bent over on all fours on the side of the bed. Despite my jealousy, the view from her was exquisite. I could perfectly make out the lips of her pussy surrounded by her tight tanned rear as she jutted it out and stared forward. At this angle I could see the expressionless look on Karina’s face as Jaewook unzipped his trousers and eased himself forward.
“Jaewook...be gentle.” Karina said.
Her face screwed up the moment Jaewook penetrated her folds, grunting awkwardly as he thrust himself deep inside her cunt. Jaewook gripped her by hips gently rocking back and forth as he impaled his wife on his length, gritting his teeth as he bottomed out. I could see Karina close her eyes, a slight groan escaping her lips as I felt my own cock grow in my trousers. Watching the elicit scene pan out in front of me gave me a wicked idea. My pangs of envy were over turned by how aroused I was in the moment watching Jaewook raise one of Karina’s legs up in his arms and fuck her long and deep with steady strokes, his balls slapping hard against her rear as she yelped in muffled moans. Sweat was now forming on my brow as I went for my phone, flipping the camera on and filming the whole ordeal. Karina’s breast now exposed as I stared at her tight frame in the mirror, swaying with each pump of her husband’s cock.
“Babe...I’m gonna cum...” Jaewook moaned, his voice now ragged and slurred as he slipped out of her entrance.
She was moist, her slit now glimmering in the moonlight as her husband motioned for her to suck his straining cock. Karina shook her head, instead pushing back on his length taking his cock back inside her slick womb.
“Jaewook we spoke about this...I don’t like that.” Karina frowned looking back.
It was at this point she saw me standing in the doorway, her mouth ready to say something before Jaewook moaned in protest at not getting what he wanted, shoving his spurting length deep inside her once more.
“Babe...ohh...” Jaewook moaned, releasing his pent up load inside his wife.
Karina stared at me in utter shock as I stayed a few moments more, watching Jaewook twitch his hips while releasing his load deep inside her cunt. I had seen enough, my arousal now turning back to jealousy as I walked back to my room. I could slight mumblings coming from the couple’s bedroom as I settled into bed, my mind racing at what I had just seen and done. It took a couple of moments to realize that someone was opening the door. The creak of the hinges giving it away as I sat up in the bed. It was Karina, a look of fury on her face.
“Did you have a good look?” She asked, clearly displeased with my actions.
“Looked like you were enjoying yourself.” I replied curtly.
“Are you actually mad at me?” Karina hit back, picking up on my tone.
I shrugged, flicking through my phone.
“You better delete that, delete it right now!” She said in anger, walking over to me and snatching my phone.
She was quick, managing to wrestle it from my grasp as she pressed delete on my phone.
“For god sake.” I said in frustration.
“I am the one who should be pissed...for filming me.” She said.
She was right, but I had too much envy to care, pushing her of me as I walked to the bathroom.
“Are you not going to talk to me now?” She asked.
“No, I just need a pee.” I replied.
“Ha ha...” Karina said sarcastically.
It was hard to be mad at her for too long, I knew she could not really say no in that moment. Shrugging my shoulders I looked at her.
“That was hard to watch.” I said, hanging my head.
“Look- he’s my husband...I can’t...” Karina started.
“No I mean, I got really hard watching all that.” I said smirking.
“Pff...you are such an ass.” Karina replied, a smile appearing before breaking into a laugh.
“I see you were telling the truth about not swallowing.” I said smiling longingly at her.
“I... can be quite selective.” She said, closing the gap.
Karina had changed into a purple nightie, her black lingerie visible underneath, hugging her pert breasts.
“You up for swallowing now?” I asked stroking her face.
She looked at me with the same seductive stare that she had on her face moments before taking me into her mouth in my office that fate full night.
“Is that a yes? I followed up, unclasping her nightie and letting it fall to the ground.
Karina shrugged her shoulders smirking at me as I massaged her soft breasts, rolling her nipples between my fingers as she shut her eyes, resting her head on my chest.
“What if I film it?” I said.
Her eyes shot open, her head about to shake before I cut her off with a kiss.
“You owe me a video.” I said, massaging her pussy through her laced underwear as I set up the camera to oversee the bed.
Karina wore a less then impressed look, staring at me with raised eyebrows as I took a seat on the edge of the bed.
“Dance for me...” I whispered.
Just on cue, her momentary hesitation was over ridden by her inner desires, swaying her hips as she stood in front of my face legs shoulder width apart. I watched in awe as she turned her tight frame around and bent over at the waist, slapping her hands across her pussy and ass for me as I watched in wonder.
“Fuck me Karina.” I said under my breath as she turned around to face me, straddling my lap as the camera continued rolling.
Gripping her hips I clawed at her underwear, ripping a hole in her panties, much to the pleasure of Karina, yelping at the forced intrusion of my fingers into her wanting snatch.
“Ughhh...” Karina moaned under her breath.
She rocked her hips on my hands as I fed her more of my fingers, taking her erect areola between my lips and suckling on her breasts. The smell of her perfume invaded my nostrils again as I threw her on the bed, easing open her smooth pale legs. We locked eyes, knowing full well what each other wanted as she reached forward, freeing my cock. Staring at my tip for a few seconds, Karina speared her pink tongue out, licking up my slit before sucking me deep into her moist mouth. The warmth of her oral cavity was mind blowing, feeling her breath flow across my sensitive cock while she slathered the underside of my shaft with her saliva. My dick glistened in the light as I slipped out from between her perfect lips.
“I’m gonna- fuck you so hard...” I said, whispering in her ear as I eased myself between her legs.
Karina responded by locking her thighs around my waist, pulling my ass into her as I penetrated her cunt in one fluid motion.
“Ughhh...” Karina moaned, her teeth digging into my shoulder as I began to thrust into her moist depths with hard pumps.
Karina was a sight to behold, watching her pert tits bounce up with each push of my hips. My cock spearing her wet folds as I bottomed out in her married cunt, my tip rubbing tantalizingly against her cervix smearing her pink walls with my pre cum. Gripping my back even harder, she pulled me in for a deep kiss, our tongues clashing as she sucked on my bottom lip, eyes rolling back into her head as we mated passionately on the brushed cotton covers. I could feel her pussy closing in on my shaft as I pumped my slick shaft inside her moist pussy, repeatedly slapping my balls against her inner thighs.
“Fuckk- Harder...Harder.” Karina screamed into my shoulder.
“Ughhh...Right...There...” She chanted in my ear.
Her screams now laced in desperation as we rolled over so she was on top, legs spread wide as the once an idol rode my straining cock like her life depended on it.
Sweat was streaming down her face as she gyrated her hips feeding her wanting pussy more of my meat as I gripped her supple hips and thrust myself upwards, stuffing her married cunt with as much meat as possible. Running her hands through her hair, Karina wailed in hushed ecstasy, desperate to get off as I felt her tremble on top of me. She was close, writhing in pleasure as she dipped her slick pussy deeper onto my length, swallowing me whole as her entire body convulsed, squeezing down on my shaft as I began to pulse.
As if perfectly timed, Karina held me tight, her hips still rolling in my lap as I spurt my load inside her marital cunt. Each spurt growing in strength as I painted her insides with my thick, sticky seed, my warmth spreading to every corner of her womb as my sperm dribbled out from the sides of her slit. Her lips tasted like sex as Karina rolled off me, immediately taking my semi spurting cock between her lips and sucking down my excess spunk. I could see her actively swallow down gulps of my seed, as she increased pressure around my crown with her mouth, hoovering me up with her perfectly full lips. We stayed like this for the next ten minutes as Karina continued giving me her expertly executed fellatio, making me grow in her mouth before popping me out and fisting my shaft with her soft hands.
“Have you ever taken it in the ass?” I asked, kissing her, slipping my tongue into her wanting mouth.
Karina smiled seductively, shaking her head as I eased her onto her front, running my hands down her back.
“Face down...ass up...” I said, whispering in her ear.
Karina complied, moaning into the covers as I speared her cunt with one long deep thrust, coating my shaft with enough of her pussy cream to lubricate my cock for her virgin ass hole. Hovering the tip just above her rosebud I pushed forward, my crown breaking through and into her tight ass. She felt sensational, the way her anal walls sucked at my shaft as I penetrated her asshole was almost as good as releasing my seed inside her married pussy. Grabbing a fistful of her hair, I gently pulled her up, fucking into her ass with hard thrusts. My balls were slapping up against her rear, now red raw as I stuffed my cock deep into her anal cavity while frigging her slippery sex. Karina joined my hands, attacking her sex with circular rubs of her clit while I fingered her slit with deep strokes, reaching her g-spot as I pumped her rump full of cock.
“Fuck... nghhh…unhhh...” She wailed.
I had to cover her mouth now smeared with her cream as I fucked her up her tender ass, stretching her anal cavity out with my meat as my sack began to churn. Karina was cumming, writhing and flexing around my shaft as her groans became more pronounced, wild, feral feeling me violate her tightest hole over and over again. It was getting too much for her as she buried her face down into the pillow screaming as her climax hit.
“Ughh...nghhh...Fuckk...” Karina wailed into the sheets.
I could not hold on much longer.
“Karina...I’m- I’m close...” I moaned.
“Ass...cum in my ass...” She replied breathlessly, grinding her rump against my hips as she felt me pulse inside her.
It was the point of no return as the tightness of her ass tipped me over the edge as a torrent of spunk exploded from my tip, peppering her anal cavity in my sticky salty mess. I continued to thrust my cock deep inside her bowls, pumping more of my sperm into her asshole as we collapsed on the bed exhausted. We lay like this for a while, our combined juices leaking out her spent crack, milking the last bits of my pearly seed from my cock as she tensed her anal cavity one last time.
“Fuck… me...” I replied, worn out.
Karina turned around, smiling, kissing me softly on the lips as she sunk back down into the bed and shut her eyes.
“Thats quite the director’s debut.” She said smiling, falling asleep beside me as my camera continued to roll.
—
There was a faint rustling sound the next morning emanating from the far corner of the room. Opening my eyes to adjust to the sunlight piercing through the window a tall man stood up with some fabric in his hands. I rubbed my face to get a clearer view, was it Jaewook coming in to take me out due to railing his wife in his own house. That idea seemed preposterous even by my standards as the figure came into focus.
“Hey man, sorry for barging in like this, I store some of my clothes in here, the missus has a lot if you catch my drift.” Jaewook said with a grin.
“Did you sleep well?” He asked.
“Yeah...it was- very nice, thanks...” I replied smiling.
I could still feel the faint stickiness on my crotch from last night’s events, probably a concoction of Karina’s pussy cream and my pent up load coalesced into one thick mess now smeared all over my inner thighs. Flashes of Karina writhing in my arms were on playback in my mind as Jaewook went on about some charity event of sorts.
“So, are you in?” He asked with a smile.
“Emm...” I replied, before Karina knocked on the door and entered.
“Breakfast is ready, if you guys want to come down.” She said smiling at both of us.
Our gaze knowingly connected for a split second, her eyes sending me subliminal messages of our passionate fuck fest a few hours ago. Hobbling out slightly she shut the door behind her leaving me alone with Jaewook.
“She’s a bit worn out.” He said.
“Got lucky last night if you know what I mean.” He followed up with a laugh.
I don’t know if it was just me, but Jaewook had seemed to take a liking to me, almost as if we were best buds. I mean I thought it was kind of strange, maybe he did not have many male friends, nevertheless it wouldn’t hurt to keep him close, especially with what Karina and I were up to. I feigned a laugh, good enough not to sound fake to appease Jaewook’s lack of comment.
“So, the Charity event today, you in? It would be good to have someone to chat to, these things Karina sponsors can get a little dry.” He said.
“I- well...it’s weekend...I was planning to...” I started.
“C'mon man, do me a favor and I will put in a good word for you with the missus, put you in good stead for work.” He said.
“Ok...ok...fine...just let me get fixed up and I will meet you guys there.” I replied, to a relieved Jaewook.
It boggled my mind as to why he was so desperate for me to come as I finished washing my face and descended the stairs into the kitchen.
“Breakfast?” Karina said, pouring me a cup of coffee as I took a seat.
“Sure, that would be good.” I replied eyeing her up in her flattering summer dress.
Karina caught my stares, shooing me away playfully while the kids were watching TV. Our little moment disrupted the moment Jaewook walked in kissing Karina on the cheek, discretely squeezing her rear as he walked by. I caught the distaste in Karina’s face as she handed me a plate with some toast.
“Sorry.” she mouthed.
There was a distinct smell of freshly baked bread in the air, reminding me of my holiday in France the previous year. At which point I was engaged at the time. Not many people knew about this, in many respects, Karina and I were quite similar like that, guarded when it came to our personal lives. In the end it did not work out due to my work schedule taking more and more of my time away from her, in the end we went our separate ways, just a few months before landing this new job.
“So Jaewook tells me you are joining us today.” Karina said.
“Yeah...is that OK? I replied.
“Sure, the more the merrier, plus it will give Jaewook someone to talk to, he doesn’t really like these things.” Karina said.
It made it seem that Karina would be pretty busy at this event which was in support for a charity that her kids school led. I was assured it was not a big deal as my attempts to get changed at home into something more fitting was rebuffed by Karina, insisting we had no time. She kindly let me borrow an old tee she must have been given from SM Company all those years ago. It was a guy top so fitted fine, quite low key in black with a small insignia in the top left-hand side.
I sat up front with Jaewook as Karina and the kids were in the back. The aroma from Karina’s perfume wafted upstream in the car as I took in a deep hit of her scent. I could see her grinning at me in the back seat on occasion while her husband and I talked about real estate. It was one of those conversations that you have to burn time, a bit like talking about the weather.
“So guys, we will take the kids around the Carnival while you do your charity stuff, OK babe?” Jaewook said as he parked the SUV up front.
“Jaewook I told you I need you for the photo op.” Karina said slightly irritated.
“Can’t you take Minho over there spin it as some company thing?” He said.
“Well no, it’s meant to be a school led thing Jaewook.” Karina said frowning.
“Fine fine.” Jaewook replied getting out the car and walking with the kids to the entrance.
“Are you ok?” I asked, Sensing her irritation.
“Ahh he’s always like this, all he has to do is take a picture and be done with it.” She replied huffing.
“To be fair some people are camera shy.” I replied whipping out my phone and taking a quick selfie with her behind the car.
We kissed momentarily, like a teenage couple hiding their affections from their parents, sneaking in a quick squeeze of her ass under her flowing dress.
“Hey...hands...Mister...we might get caught.” Karina protested meekly.
I smiled kissing her and previewing the photo we just took.
“So... how did the video come out?” Karina asked, her voice laced in curiosity.
“Ahem...it came out well...maybe I can show you later?” I replied with a wink.
Karina smiled seductively, nodding her head as we joined the rest at the front. Jaewook had already splashed out on cotton candy waving us over as he fed Karina a hand full of the pink stuff. I milled around, letting the Lee family do their thing as they were descended upon immediately by important looking school officials and the like. Come to think of it I could see what Jaewook was talking about, neither he or the kids looked like they enjoyed the attention, Karina didn’t either but she was well versed by now in how to handle these things.
Watching on as they took their mandatory pictures while shaking important people’s hands in the process, I caught the gaze of Jaewook making his way through the crowd. He had left the kids with the family of one of their close friends to jump on some of the rides while me and him hit the bar for a quick drink.
“You ok to drink with driving us back and all?” I asked.
The previous night did not inspire me with confidence as he necked down a few bottles of wine a few hours ago. Shrugging it off we clinked glasses.
“Just one, it won’t hurt.” He said, taking a long sip from his cup.
“So, tell me about you, you seeing anyone? I have been to a few of Karina’s work do’s and that Nayoung girl is quite something.” Jaewook said.
“Yeah, she is in my team, she is nice.” I replied, making conversation.
“Too right.” Jaewook replied, his mind wondering off in the distance.
Downing the rest of the cup, he ordered another pint and took a sip.
“Mate I think, maybe we should slow down with the drinking.” I said, concerned about getting in the car with an intoxicated driver.
“God you sound like Karina.” He replied.
Something in his voice giving off a little bit of resentment.
“That doesn’t sound well...are you guys ok?” I asked.
It was obvious to me that everything was not great, given the fact that I was balls deep inside Karina the night before, how could they be? It was just interesting for lack of a better word to see his point of view.
“Well, we have hit a rocky patch for the past...I would say year and a half.” Jaewook said glumly.
I just nodded, giving him time to reflect as he continued his monologue.
“I dunno...over the past months or so Karina and I have drifted apart, almost like we are going through the motions. We have talked about it but she keeps saying she is fine, it almost makes me think if there is another guy.” He said.
I sighed, resting my hand on his shoulder, knowing full well I was that other guy. It was a dick move on my part but I had no other option but to try and ease his fears, even if I knew they were well warranted.
“You know, it’s probably the stresses of work, she has a demanding job.” I replied.
“Yeah I know, it’s just- maybe it’s me...maybe I need to spice things up a bit.” He said, looking at me for answers.
I shrugged my shoulders and gave that awkward half smile with mouth closed look.
“Maybe...or maybe you just need to give her more time to get through all these product launches and what not, I am sure it will work out in the end mate.” I said patting him on the back.
“Thanks Minho...for the chat, it means a lot.” Jaewook replied.
I did feel horrible in that moment as he downed the last bit of his pint only to catch the eye of Karina behind us, her expression less than impressed.
“Seriously Jaewook, beer, right now?” Her tone hushed but livid.
I gave the signal to tone it down a bit and drop the issue to no avail as the two argued by the stall ramping up to the point that Karina stormed off.
“For god sake.” She said, brushing past me in a hurry.
“Jaewook...is everything...I mean...” I started.
“Yeah...its fine, I will ask our friends to drop the kids back home later, do you want a lift with them too?” He asked.
“Its fine, I can take a cab...what about you two?” I asked.
“Ahh I will give her some time to cool off then we can drive back later.” He said.
“Listen, can you keep everything I said between us?” Jaewook followed up, his face quite sombre and downbeat.
“Yeah sure...and I mean if there is anything I can do, just give me a shout.” I said.
“I appreciate it, sorry again for this mess you have walked in on.” Jaewook said apologizing.
I waved my arm making no big deal of it before shaking his hand and giving my thanks for having me over. We parted ways a few moments after, me saying my goodbyes as I made my way to the cab ranks. Jaewook stayed at the bar for another pint before saying he was going to look for Karina. I had advised him not to have another but he just shrugged his shoulders, shaking his head, ordering another round.
The situation was a bit messy to be honest and it looked like I was the catalyst for this shit storm as walked past the carrousel. I saw Karina’s kids on it having fun, their faces not showing any care in the world, yet all the while their parents were at war, with me in the middle stoking the fire.
“Hey...” A familiar voice said.
It was Karina, she was watching the kids from one of the quieter stalls as they enjoyed themselves on the ride.
“Is everything...” I started, before she started sobbing in my arms.
“It’s a mess Minho.” She said, tears flowing onto my chest as I inadvertently took in another hit of her sweet perfume.
“Listen- I know...it’s complicated” I replied, taking her around back so her kids would not see their mother crying.
Karina dabbed at her cheeks with a tissue, smiling at me as she hit my arm.
“You have not helped the situation.” She said, half smiling.
“I am so sorry.” I replied, cupping her face.
“Gosh no- you’re not.” She said, her smile turning into a grin.
“Well- I mean...it really, really feels good to be with you.” I replied in jest.
“It has its perks.” Karina replied, coming in for another hug.
I held her in my arms stroking her hair as the kids moved onto another ride being chaperoned by the family friend. It felt great holding Karina in my arms as her breathing returned to normal, tears all dried up, pulling me in for a deep kiss.
“Thank you.” She said, holding my hand.
“No worries, besides tears don’t look good on you.” I said, making light of the matter.
“Is it not selfie material?” Karina said laughing.
“Speaking of which selfie?” I asked, snapping away as we stared at the camera.
I snuck in a few kisses while we took the picture, turning into a fully-fledged kiss.
“Wait- wait...the kids.” Karina said breathlessly.
We checked around the corner, seeing them on the bumper cars.
“Its fine they are having fun.” I said.
“But- we can’t...what if we get caught? Karina said.
It was funny as she said those words because her mouth was saying one thing but her body say another thing entirely as she rested her hands on my crotch.
“Why don’t we check out the video from last night?” I suggested, diverting her attention from our public make out session.
She raised her eyebrows, letting me have my way as she rested in my arms and pressed play. The first few minutes were of her dancing, grinding on my lap before escalating into a heated exchange. I noticed her breathing deepen as the video continued, a bead of sweat trickling down her neck as she began to perspire. The combination of her perfume and natural scent sending me into a primal mode as I drifted my hands down her waist and along the outside of her thighs. Karina, yelped at the intrusion but didn’t move away, instead staring at the screen intently as I penetrated the shit out of her ass on screen. The video Karina looking directly into the camera lens as she came hard on my cock buried deep in her rump.
Watching the sordid affair unfold on screen set something off within her as she leant back on me and guided my hand between her legs, sighing at my touch as my fingers gently rubbed at her sex.
She was wearing a cheeky thong as I eased the silky fabric aside, making a beeline for her now moist slit. She was still watching the video, moaning gently as her eyes stayed glued to my phone, watching herself suckle on my spurting cock as she drank down the last few drops of my essence.
Karina was now over the edge, dropping my phone in the grass as she rubbed her ass on my crotch. My shaft nestled nicely in between her cheeks as she reached back, unzipping my trousers and fishing out my cock. Her hands were cold to the touch, jacking my warm dick in her palms as I pierced her labia with my fingers. It was my go-to, slide as far as I could go inside her cunt to reach her sacred g-spot. I rubbed at it like there was no tomorrow, the sloshing noises Karina made from between her legs was such a turn on as I rubbed at her clit with my other hand.
“Fuck...Minho...” She moaned into my ear, shutting her eyes as I penetrated her sex with my fingers.
I dug my fingers in deeper, making her yelp as I continued to stretch her tight walls out with my hands, adding a third finger as I cupped her sex with long, hard penetrative strokes.
Her eyes were a haze now, gripping my cock with ferocity and pumping me hard behind her back, I wanted to be inside her so bad, but her climax was approaching. I could feel it in the way her body tensed up, her chest heaving, taking in the spring air as she began to hyper ventilate, bucking her hips as I fingered her pussy. It was a mess, her cream was all over my palm as I gave her one last deep fuck with my fingers, making her scream into my neck as her thighs shook, cunt convulsing around my digits her orgasm overwhelming her entire body.
“Ohhh...Shittt...” Karina screamed.
I basically gave her no time to rest as I flipped her around and bent her over at the waist as she assumed position.
“Where do you want me?” I asked her, rubbing my leaking tip along her slit, encircling her rosebud.
Karina looked back, biting her lips, our eyes locking onto each other as she seductively whispered.
“Both...”
It was music to my ears as the mother of three bent forward, grasping a large metal pole in the ground. It was a sign that said, entry here which made me chuckle as I rammed my cock forward, spearing her tight cunt in one fluid motion. Her tightness was unparalleled as Karina flexed her pussy walls to engulf my cock with each thrust of my hips. She was creaming all over my shaft as my balls slapped up against the underside of her thighs, making her jump each time I made contact. Slipping my hands around her tight rear, I inserted my thumb into her delectable ass, feeling her anal cavity hug my finger as I gripped her ass and penetrated her married cunt.
“Ughhh- don’t stop...don’t- stop…give it to me.” Karina wailed, biting her arm to mask her screams.
I could feel her cervix rubbing up against my crown each time I pumped into her wanting pussy, stretching her out as I pounded her with my slick. She was close, clawing at the metal pole as I mercilessly rammed my dick inside her pink walls, her moans now cries as the public walked by unknowingly, the risk of it all making our heated fuck even more of a turn on.
“Cum- i’m...cumming...” Karina moaned, her back tensing as she braced her core, pushing back on me as I felt her spasm on my crotch.
It was like a wave of pleasure hit her, her hips twitching continuously as her pussy juice leaked profusely down her pale thighs. The smell of Karina’s perfume, now replaced with the scent of sex and sweat, hair now stuck to the front of her forehead as I doubled down, not letting her recover. Slipping out of her sopping wet pussy with a pop, I reached under her left leg lifting it up.
She knew what was coming, my cock now suitably lubricated in her natural juices I pressed my tip against her rosebud, pushing forward until all of my cock was buried in her tight ass hole.
“ohh- ughh...fuckk…” Karina moaned as the intrusion.
My cock nestled snugly in her asshole as I began to pump my hips. Each thrust allowing me to get deeper into her anal cavity as I held her leg high, hitting her nice and deep, filling her out. It felt better than last night, watching her rump now red raw as each slap of my pelvis against her rump caused shockwaves to travel across her body, so much so that her right breast popped out of her dress. Taking full advantage of this I reached forward, pinching her pert nipples while massaging her perfect breasts. We were fucking in unison, her rear accepting my cock with ease as I violated her anally. The mother of three rolling her head back to accept my tongue into her mouth, clenching her ass muscles each time I filled her.
“God Karina, you feel amazing... “ I moaned into her mouth.
“Do it- fucking...do…it- shove it in...harder- harder...” Karina chanted.
It was getting hard to keep the force of my thrusts up as I dropped her legs and gripped her hips, fucking my cock deep into her bowels as Karina went onto her tip toes. We were a mess of sweaty limbs as I felt my balls pulse, it was nearly time as I leant forward kissing her nape with my lips before licking the entirety of her nape.
“Where- where do you want it, Babe.” I asked.
“Babe...?” She replied smiling.
“I want it in my mouth- I want you in my mouth.” Karina said, underlining the fact.
I was in the thralls of euphoria, giving her ass one final pump, stuffing her ass with as much meat as she could take before withdrawing with a pop and easing the brunette to her knees. She wasted no time at all, pumping my cock with both hands while her lips encapsulated my tip. Her tongue ran up and down my slit taking in my pre cum before sucking my length down whole with her mouth, deep throating me as I brushed her tonsils. It was a seedy sightseeing Karina, a married woman with three kids, feed on my cock like her life depended on it. Her children must be a mere few feet away from us, but she didn’t stop, extending her tongue as she focused in on my balls, sucking at my sack with her tender lips, my shaft now coated in her sticky saliva. I was close, tipping over the edge the moment Karina sucked on both of my balls at the same time, filling her mouth with my sack as she pumped my cock.
“Karina...” I exclaimed.
The first spurt hit her in the forehead, dribbling down her cheek before she recovered and managed to slip me into her mouth. My cum flowing in full force, giving her what she wanted, what she needed as my seed showered her oral cavity in all its sticky and salty goodness. It was if as could not stop cumming, my cock kept spraying her warm mouth with my sperm as she looked up at me, my seed now covering her left eye as she swallowed everything I could give.
“Mmmm...Uhmm” Karina hummed on my shaft, sucking me bone dry before wiping the excess from her face and slurping that down too.
“Lush...” Was all she could say, getting up to her feet as she kissed me up my body.
“Feel better?” I asked, putting my dick back into my pants.
“Hundred times...” She replied, pulling me into a deep embrace.
The saltiness of my spunk was still present on her lips as I took in the sodium hit, biting her bottom lip as I grabbed a hand full of her ass.
“Mum...!” One of her kids shouted.
She gave me a knowing look, kissing my cheek as she emerged sneakily from behind the stall.
“Hey honey...Mama’s here, where’s daddy?” Karina said.
Daddy is right here, I thought, as I pictured the ravishing woman bent over on my wanting cock once more. Turning the corner, I made my way to the cab rank, a smile of satisfaction written all over my face. Until I see her again...
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As an ambulatory wheelchair user I have so many thoughts about how people draw/write disabled!Scar. This is sort of a guide/insight from a disabled person about writing/drawing disabled people.
Specifically in regards to wheelchair users.
Do not get me wrong, this fandom is genuinely probably the best group of people I have ever seen when it comes to drawing wheelchairs. I do not believe I have ever seen Scar fanart where he is in a completely unusable, horrible, hospital chair. It is so clear people have taken the time and energy to research into wheelchairs and I love it. I am in no way saying stop that.
I just think people could maybe put a little bit more consideration into him being disabled beyond visual appearance.
I saw a really amazing artwork of SL!Scar and he is in a sports chair. Which is really cool, in many ways, as it shows some thought being put into the setting. If I were in combat, I would in fact like to not be knocked from my chair or have my chair tipped over.
Yet, you have very limited mobility in a sports chair. It is, by design, made to prevent you from tipping over. Which means that you are incapable of going over bumps, really, let alone natural terrain.
Just in general, there really is not any wheelchair that exists in our world that would allow wheelchair users to exist in a setting like the life series.
So, I have some ideas:
- Horses. Hands down my biggest suggestion. Especially with Secret Life they fit in very well with the setting, everyone uses them, and it fits the bill perfectly for what he would need. Especially considering Scar is an archer, it makes a lot of sense for him to be on horseback. It suits him and his style of fighting so well.
- Some sort of redstone power chair. There are all sorts of ways you could design something like this. Perhaps with pistons that push down against the ground, allowing for jumps. Perhaps just a series of pistions functioning as like a bunch of little spider legs. There are a lot of things you can do with that, you can get very creative.
- For my Vex!Scar lovers, you could have magic be used as a mobility aid. Perhaps a magic wheelchair, or perhaps a magic exoskeleton.
And with all of the ideas, considering how they fit into the setting really changes everything. What are the strengths? What are the draw backs?
With horses, they are strong and fast and agile. But they are big, it is hard to fit into small spaces, and they can be killed.
With some sort of redstone chair, I feel as though it would make sense for it to be robust and strong. Depending on how it is constructed, something fast and agile or perhaps something a bit slower and more clunky. Is it loud? How would stealth work in something like that?
When it comes to any sort of magic you do not want it to fix the disability. It is a mobility aid like any other. Not perfect, not the same as not being disabled, just another tool with its own unique draw backs. Perhaps magic is draining or it takes concentration. Would he tire quicker than others? Would he require food quicker than others? Is it possible for him to lose focus on it in a stressful situation, leaving him stuck until he can calm himself down?
Other things to consider are really specifically the setting as well as what disability you are giving him.
I feel as though on Hermitcraft an option like a redstone chair just makes a lot of sense. Multiple redstone chairs, even, all constructed differently for different uses. Such as ones for building. How does long distance travel work with the chair and how you lore your setting? Is it something he can put in his inventory? Is it something he remains in when using an elytra? Does that have any draw backs, such as being slower or needing more rockets or being less coordinated in the air?
I feel as though in the life series a mix of vex magic and horses makes a lot of sense. The magic is good for small spaces and short trips and emergencies, but it is too tiring to travel across the map with and too much effort to maintain when he needs to concentrate on battles. That would be where the horse comes into play.
As for what disability, well, it truly depends. Most of my rambles here have been based upon paraplegia, because I often times see people making him an ambulatory wheelchair user just because they do not know what to do otherwise.
Not that making him an ambulatory wheelchair user is a bad thing by any means. I am one and I adore reading stories like that. It is just a bit clear that a lot of you are quite lost as to how to navigate hurdles disabled people face, so you make it so he can walk over those hurdles. Which, once again, I am not shaming you for! This post is just to show there are other options
But in the case of him being an ambulatory wheelchair user: why is he one?
Mobilities aids are disabling unless you need them. You cannot access spaces or you do not have hands free or any number of things. What to the Scar you are writing makes using mobility aids helpful instead of a hindrance? What times are they more trouble than help, and what cost is there for not using it?
A good example is if Scar can walk around short distances with minimal difficulty/drawback, but long distances are painful or physically not possible.
Look into different disabilities and consider it. A lot of people tend to default to chronic pain because that tends to be quite a common one across a lot of disabled people, but there are a lot more different reasons why.
It could also be that he is very slow because of his disabilities. I have muscle weakness sometimes because of my FND, and it is like moving through sludge whenever I try and move.
It could also be that the mobility aids are a preventative measure. He does not need to use his wheelchair, unless he has done too much walking and then his body refuses to support his weight. He does not need to use his wheelchair, but when he does not he is a lot more likely to dislocate something and then yeah he can't walk. He does not need to use his wheelchair, but he is a fall risk especially after a lot of walking or running. Him being in his wheelchair prevents him from falling! (And if he's a fall risk, maybe he's strapped in too!)
I just have so many thoughts and I wanted to share them.
I see so many of you putting in effort already and it warms my heart. It is why I feel comfortable enough to make this post, because clearly you all care a lot about representing disabled people well.
:]
If you have read this far thank you so much. Let me know what you think or if you have any questions.
Edit: I made a rough redstone wheelchair design. It is one of the few reblogs that has comments, if you filter for that you should be able to find it. If not, reply to the post and I can send you the link to it. :]
#Mod Tim (He/Him)#Sort of#MCYT#GTWS#scar#goodtimeswithscar#life series#mcyt#secret life#hermitcraft#hc#disabled#disabled scar#actuallydisabled#representation#disabled!scar#wheelchair#wheelchairs#ambulatory wheelchair user#fantasy wheelchairs
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someone sent me an ask about timkon love square au stuff and i, dingus that i am, accidentally deleted it instead of answering 😭 i forgot who sent it BUT hopefully they will see this post. because yes! i think it's very fun if they manage to get into a true ridiculous love square situation between themselves and their hero identities. i have created a chart to illustrate:
the thing that fascinates me about kon and secret identities is that while tim is great at compartmentalizing and separating "tim drake" from "robin" or "red robin" (to a frankly kind of concerning degree? tim are you fucking good?), kon is... not. conner kent comes later, after kon-el. he's a hero first, and only starts to learn how to be a regular person after that. this is in direct contrast to tim, who is by all counts a mostly normal kid before he becomes robin, and has to learn to be a hero.
for kon, secret identities are therefore tied directly to trust. he doesn't have a secret to protect for a long time! and when he finds out that superman does have a secret identity, it kinda blows him away. he's shocked that superman isn't just superman all the time. before he even learns that, he expresses that it's nice in smallville, that it must be nice to have a place to "fall off the map" (superman '87 #155). when he does learn superman's identity, he's upset that superman never told him, not because he feels like he's entitled to that information but because he feels like he's failed to be someone superman would trust with it (superboy '84 #70). to me, that feeling is the crux of why he's so upset about tim not sharing his identity in yj98: everyone else in the group has deemed him worthy, like cissie and cassie and bart. so what has he done to tim, that tim won't tell him or any of them? (and like, he's 15-16, he's not grasping the whole picture, sure. but it's not just coming from a place of entitlement, is my point. it's about trust and feeling unvalued.)
BUT in an au where the supers are more closed off from the rest of the world or something, where literally anyone but karl kesel got to control kon's narrative, kon would have a secret identity earlier on, because he'd end up at the kents' way sooner, etc. so suddenly he has to grapple with a whole new set of feelings: that superman has trusted him with his biggest secret, and brought him into the family as part of it, and he can't let superman down. so he has to learn to make those distinctions, to accept that people can trust him and he can trust them and that's why they don't share their identities with each other until circumstances dictate it's actually a good time.
so. let's say tim somehow ends up in smallville for a bit, has absolutely NO idea that the superfam even have secret identities, and kon's going aaaa!!! aaaaaa!!! why is red robin here!!!! ma whatever you do DON'T look at him!!!! and meanwhile tim's going oh god i think i'm bisexual but i didn't know that that means i might like TWO boys?!?!? oh god. oh fuck. (he may be stupid.)
#rimi talks#timkon#timkon love square au#tim#kon#sorry. just gotta clown on tim for a minute. you know how it is
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Got My Mind Set On You - Jake Seresin x Reader
A/N: I know I said fluff, but somehow I got to spicy stuff instead. Oops.
pairing: Jake Seresin x reader
content/warnings: suggested smut.
word count: 1.7k
Jake Seresin leaned casually against the rustic exposed wooden beam of the dimly lit bar, his gaze fixed on you as you shared a moment of laughter with your friends across the room. With the air of someone who knew they were being watched, he flicked another dart effortlessly towards the board, the satisfying thud of it hitting the bullseye punctuating the room. He took a slow sip of his beer, the corner of his lips curling into a self-assured smirk as his friends marveled at his accuracy.
Javy couldn't help but prod at Jake's seemingly supernatural dart-throwing abilities. "How do you do it, man? You never even look at the board."
Jake chuckled, tapping the side of his temple with his index finger. "Photographic memory, my friend. I've got every angle mapped out up here," he said with a grin, never once breaking his gaze from you.
Bradley, ever the skeptic, scoffed from the sidelines. "Oh, please. Anyone can get lucky tossing darts at a board."
A challenge hung heavy in the air as Jake raised an eyebrow, his grin widening. "Care to put that theory to the test, Bradshaw?"
Bradley, never one to back down, accepted with a lazy smirk. "Fine. But don't blame me if your girl decides she wants a more skilled pilot."
"Bring it on," Jake replied, his confidence unwavering.
With practiced ease, Bradley sent his first dart flying, hitting the bullseye just as he predicted. Jake's expression remained cool, but there was a flicker of admiration in his eyes as Bradley repeated the feat with his second shot. Bullseye again.
Jake's smirk faltered slightly, but he quickly recovered, raising his pint glass towards the dartboard. "You can't do it a third time."
Bradley's competitive spirit flared as he confidently launched his final dart, only to miss the mark by a fraction of an inch. He turned to Jake, a hint of defiance in his eyes as he admitted defeat.
Jake couldn't resist a playful jab. "Not quite perfect, Bradley."
But any teasing was forgotten as you appeared beside him, your touch warm on his shoulder. "Hey there, sugar," Jake greeted you with a smile. "See me get a perfect streak?" Jake purposefully drawled out the word ‘perfect’, resulting in a dramatic eyeroll from Bradley.
Jake's smile softened as he wrapped an arm around you, his gaze never straying far from yours. You grinned as he tucked a strand of your hair behind your ear, nodding your head as you spoke. “Sure did, honey. You did great!”, you gushed.
“I am great, darlin’, you know that.”
Bradley groaned and rolled his eyes before downing the rest of his beer. With an exaggerated sigh, he shook his head, holding his empty glass up to you and the others before speaking.
“Anyone down for another round? I’ll buy.”
You chuckled at Bradley's offer, exchanging knowing glances with Jake before nodding in agreement. "I could go for another," you said with a grin, feeling Jake's arm tighten slightly around your waist.
“Sure, thanks man,” Jake started, handing Bradley his empty glass, “After, why don’t we rematch? We can switch to the pool table, if you guys would rather, that way you might actually have a chance at beating me.”
Bradley scoffed and shook his head. “Fine, you’re on.”
Javy, always up for a good time, eagerly agreed. "I'm in. Let's see if lightning strikes twice for old Bradshaw here."
Bradley shot Javy a mock glare before laughing, his competitive streak undeterred. "We'll see about that," he retorted, already heading towards the bar to order everyone’s drinks.
As Bradley disappeared into the crowd, you leaned into Jake's side, relishing in the warmth of his presence. The soft buzz of conversation and clinking glasses enveloped you, creating a comforting backdrop to the evening.
"You know, I think Bradley's just jealous," you whispered teasingly, tilting your head up to meet Jake's gaze.
Jake chuckled softly, his eyes crinkling at the corners as he looked down at you. "Can you blame him?" he replied, his voice low and playful. "After all, he's got to compete with the best."
You rolled your eyes affectionately, swatting his chest playfully. "Smooth talker," you teased, but couldn't hide the smile that tugged at your lips.
“Besides all that, I’ve got the best girl, so really, poor Bradley didn’t stand a chance, did he?” Jake whispered as he leaned into your ear, his green eyes fixed on yours as he planted a soft kiss on your lips.
“The best girl, huh?” You mused, raising an eyebrow, “That’s a new one for me.”
“Mhmm,” Jake hummed as he gave you a playful tap on the nose with his index finger. “You better get used to it, honey.”
As you all rounded the pool table, gathering into your teams, Bradley furrowed his brow as he gestured to you and Jake as Jake kept you close to him for his team.
“Oh no you don’t loverboy.” Bradley chided, shaking his head, “She’s on my team. Together you two’ll just end up getting handsy on the pool table and make us all lose our lunch.”
“He’s got a point there, don’t he?” Jake shrugged as he conceded, letting go of his protective, loving grip on your waist.
You watched as Bradley lined up to take his shot. Observing his form carefully, you tried to make mental notes so you could match his game - you weren’t the greatest at pool, Jake usually used teaching you as an excuse to put his hands all over you, not that you complained. It just resulted in some incredibly short lessons in pool, and some playful sessions in the bed of his Ford F-150.
Bradley leaned in close to your ear, whispering softly as he came up with a game strategy. “How well can you accidentally distract Jake?”
“Oh, easy,” you responded with confidence, nodding your head slightly as your gaze fixated on Jake, who was lining his pool cue up for his turn.
“Perfect, do your thing.”
You sipped your cocktail and fiddled with the straw, your lips encircling the tip in a way that you knew Jake would interpret as suggestive. Sure enough, as soon as Jake looked up at you, sea-green eyes locked in a gaze at your mouth as it played with the end of your straw, he missed his shot, causing the cue ball to bounce off the edge of the table, not striking anything in its path. Jake straightened his posture, raising an eyebrow at you as you set your glass down to take your own shot. Bradley smirked from behind his beer bottle, admiring your technique for riling Jake up better than any amount of trash talk ever could.
During Jake’s next turn, you shoved your glass into Bradley’s open hand, before fiddling and unbuttoning the top two buttons of your plaid shirt, exposing just enough cleavage to have Jake’s mind wandering. Once again, as soon as Jake caught a glimpse of you, he missed his shot, shaking his head and grumbling to himself as Javy joked about him being off his game.
“I’m not off my game. Everyone has one off game.”
“Just admit it, Jake, you’re not as good at pool as they are. Bradley’s got you beat.”
Jake scoffed and rolled his eyes again, before leaning over to take his next shot, trying to follow up after you sink one of the balls into the pocket, eliciting a high-five and a cheer from Bradley. As the game progressed, Jake caught on to your little game. His cheeks blushed when you whispered what you wanted him to do to you later that evening, he had to clear his throat to cover the involuntary moan that threatened to escape his mouth when your hand caressed his bicep, and he had to position himself carefully behind the pool table while he tried to focus his mind on anything other than the mental image you put in his head when you described what kind of underwear you were wearing under your skirt.
After losing another round, Jake felt a simmering frustration bubbling beneath his skin, an insistent urge gnawing at him with every passing moment. He clenched his jaw, struggling to rein in the primal desires coursing through him. All he could think about was laying you down on the smooth surface of the pool table, indulging in the raw passion that pulsed between you. But he knew he couldn't act on those impulses, not here, not now.
Instead, he tossed the pool cue down with an uncharacteristic huff, the weight of his competitive nature hanging heavy in the air. His typically composed demeanor faltered, a rare glimpse of vulnerability flickering in his eyes as he turned away. You exchanged a knowing glance with Bradley, silently acknowledging the tension that hung between you all, before following Jake's retreating figure outside.
The night air enveloped you like a thick blanket as you stepped out of the dimly lit bar, the humidity clinging to your skin like a second layer. Concern etched across your features, you approached Jake cautiously, your footsteps echoing in the quiet night.
"Jake?" you murmured, your voice barely above a whisper, as you closed the distance between you.
"Mhmm?" His response was gruff, his body tense as he leaned against the side of his truck, the muscles in his arms flexing beneath the fabric of his shirt.
"Are you alright?" you asked softly, furrowing your brow with worry. "I wasn’t trying to be a dick—Bradley and I just thought it’d be funny if I, you know, distracted you a little."
Jake chuckled, a hint of amusement glinting in his eyes as he turned to face you. "I'm not mad."
"You aren’t?" Relief flooded through you, easing the tension in your shoulders.
"Of course not," he reassured you, his gaze softening as he reached out to pull you into his embrace. "I mean, you got me good, I’ll give you that."
"I did?" A smile tugged at the corners of your lips, grateful for his understanding.
"Sure did, Sugar." Jake's smirk was equal parts wicked and enticing, sending a shiver down your spine.
"But now it’s my turn to get you back." His words hung in the air like a promise, igniting a fire in your veins as you met his gaze with a playful challenge of your own.
#jake seresin fic#jake seresin fanfiction#jake hangman seresin#jake hangman seresin x reader#top gun maverick fic#top gun maverick imagine#hangman x reader#jake seresin x reader#hangman fic#jake hangman seresin fic#hangman#top gun: maverick fic#jake seresin#jake seresin x f!reader#jake hangman seresin imagine#lt. jake seresin x reader#lt. jake seresin x you#lt. jake seresin#jake seresin x you#jake hangman seresin x you
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New Zelda Game!
Okay cool, cool cool cool cool, I am calm, I am so fucking calm. Looks like Nintendo is staying true to their word that Wild is not getting another game, so now the questions are, what Link is this, where are we in the Timeline, and what information about the game itself can we pick out of these crumbs?
Whose Zelda is it anyway?
So two options:
New boy.
Legend. It’s fucking Legend again sucks to suck bro
Case for new Link and Zelda:
Less messy for the Lore
That’s it, that is the only argument
Case for Leggy boy and Fable:
LA animation style! While it can be fun to bring back older styles of animation for nostalgia/artistic reasons, that seems like a poor choice for *LOZ* games, which are always on the edge of what a game can do. Moving “backwards,” so to speak, in any aspect, would be a disservice to the franchise. However, doing it to maintain consistency for a particular character, and to use the animation style to make sure the audience knows this is the same character from LA is a very simple but effective tactic.
The map! So that shot was so BOTW and so fun, but the view we got wasn’t just recognizable as “Hyrule,” is was, down to the relative heights on the mountain cliffs against each other, the map from ALTTP/ALBW. Nintendo has never repeated a map without it being the same Link. So! Checkmate motherfuckers.
The character designs. That… that was just Legend and Fable, come on. Look at the dress. Every Zelda has a slightly different costume design, and that was hers. Look at Link. Baby boy!
I want this. Let me have it.
Timeline positioning
Okay so if we assume that this is in fact Legend, the next question becomes, “When is it?” Leggy boy currently has 5 games that are canonically his. (Triforce Heroes could be a random other Link, so while we like to say 6 we can’t *prove it.*) So. Let’s break it down.
ALTTP: canonically his first game, can’t be before this one.
Oracles: canonically happen after ALTTP, and he is very much still a child in here.
LA: the game this one is artistically modeled after. Narratively this fits nicely right after Oracles, and in the canon timeline, fits between Oracles and ALBW, so I think a whole new game being crowbarred prior to this one would be… not great for the narrative.
ALBW: This is trickier. No canon time between LA and ALBW is given, it could be a week, it could be years. It is entirely possible that Echoes of Wisdom occurs prior to ALBW, which would make it a direct sequel to LA, which makes the art style make even more sense. It could also be after?
…hang on a fucking minute, lets get the fucking map.
Left, ALTTP. Right, ALBW
Basically the same map! Duh, it’s the same Hyrule. But. BUT. Bottom right, in the lake. Do you see that?!
ALTTP: no log bridge. ALBW: Log bridge. Now, let’s look at the pretty picture from the EOW trailer.
NO FUCKING LOG BRIDGE!
This is before ALBW. Therefore, the game order for The Hero of Legend is
ALTTP, OOS, OOA, LA, EOW, ALBW, TH(maybe)
*cue manic laughter*
Lore Implications
Ganon.
There being a Ganon at all actually has me pointing my finger at the Oracle games and screaming. The TL;DR in those is that there was a plot to resurrect Ganon, each game Twinrova gets closer, but Link stops them. Now, there were also supposed to be three of those games, which means that it is entirely possible that the third unseen Oracle plot—please Nintendo let Link and Farore hang out, I am on my knees barking like a dog—could have resulted in his resurrection. This is the only explanation I have that doesn’t break the Lore or involve Time Shenanigans.
Also, Link does KO the bitch in that opening scene in the trailer. His presence is either just that—a set-up plot point—or him and Link are currently duking it out in the hole. Fun!
Link and Zelda
Now this game is going to put their relationship in the front in the “I have to save them because I love them” way that we usually see from Link’s POV.
Getting it from Zelda’s POV is going to be very interesting. We might be getting a look into her head, into her feelings and thoughts about the whole ordeal of the Legend itself. I hope so. But also, this isn’t just Link and Zelda, this is *Fable and Legend* specifically. The two that were meant to be be siblings but the dialogue that established them as such was cut from the final version of ALTTP. So. This game has the possibility to do three things
Canonize the Prince Legend thing, like they were going to do in the nineties.
Not address the topic at all, leave it nebulous.
Zelink.
None of these are bad choices, but option two is definitely the safest. Both options one and three will cause an uproar from part of the fan base. I can already see the ship wars. Please don’t do this people. Please.
The Holes 🕳️
What are they? Where did they come from? Ganon’s Trident Where do they go? No actually, where do they go? The Dark World (doesn’t make sense in the Lore)? Lorule (that would be a choice)? The Twilight Realm (I am convinced that Lorule and the Twilight Realm are the same place actually and you cannot change my mind)? Some new never seen before parallel dimension? A non-place, like a gap between realities (sexiest option)? I have no idea!
Fun!
That fucking “Fairy”
Tri? Don’t trust it. Will not trust it. Never trust that a companion in a LOZ game is what they first appear to be. Who does Nintendo take me for? A fucking amateur?!
Anyway, I am about 40% convinced that’s Link. I have evidence, but it is circumstantial.
I AM HANDLING THIS NORMALLY.
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