#I've been playing this game for 2 years and only now do i find out about this?

[rosieuv]

Just watched the 3rd Sonic film and it's so good oh my god

This definitely feels like something only Sonic fans would enjoy as the first 2 films are based on the classic Mega Drive games, which not only are the most nostalgified , but also in terms of lore are quite simple. Sonic 3 on the other hand, is based on Sonic Adventure 2, which has a much heavy lore due to the abilities of the Dreamcast making it easier to mix in story and levels. Therefore, if you're like my brother and don't know what the lore vaguely is, you won't find it as interesting. It's strange how all the clips for the trailer were in the beginning half hour though. It did make me wonder how long this film actually was and what it entailed. Either way, it's a very good film and I feel tired after leaving that cinema due to a burnout from all that action causing some kind of over-stimulation (I know that because typically I fiddle with a hair bobble but I just sat there the entire film either watching or frantically kicking my legs up and down at the fight scenes as if I couldn't go "fuck yeah this is so awesome!" in a room full of 10 year olds, then that was the next best thing to deal with the massive screen, massive speakers and my obligation to point out literally anything if a film is good).

okay spoilers here

The plot has so much action and it's great. There's no stupid plot with the other humans, which is what I was worried about considering the B plot with Sonic 2 and the Knuckles show. Instead, the B plot is focused on team Shadow, as opposed to team Sonic. In fact, the humans don't really do much this film as they have no reason to. I also find it cool how the Knuckes show ties in as the guardian of the Master Emerald is Wade (I think that's his name) and he appears for like a minute using it to play ice hockey on the roof of the police station.

The beginning scene is the best I've seen in any film. The switch between Sonic hanging out with his family and friends and having a race while Shadow just kicks the military's ass and leaves in such a badass way and then it all links with the military guys in the helicopter within the first 5 minutes as there's no time to waste and that fight at the beginning is so good that the marketing is all centred around that (to be fair, Shadow has a motorbike) and it doesn't take long to show that Shadow is very much a threat, to the point where I wasn't sure how the heroes were going to win as he was teaming up with Gerald Robotnik who has all this cool tech stuff, and Eggman was watching soap operas in the crab thing because he lost all his government funding and tech stuff in the second film and is legally dead (they never explained how he survived that but it must be some kind of chaos emerald plot armour). I love how they just showed him as even more insane then he was in the first 2 films as he descends from being a well respected scientist to hiding from the government as all he really has now is the crab so once they find out he's alive, it won't be much of a fight. It's also cool how he has the adventure 2 suit in the ending scenes with the climax.

Okay here's a list of notable things I thought were cool:

Shadow having a motorcycle

Maria actually looking like a human and not some bootleg barbie doll (I know it was 2001 but it's surreal seeing all those scenes in high definition with live action as I'm so used to seeing them as Dreamcast cutscenes with motion capture)

Maria's outfits looking more like from the 70s than the 50s as this canonically takes place in 2024 so 50 years ago would've been the 70s and not the 50s like in Adventure 2

Maria never really having last words as she exploded instead of getting shot, so it would be easier to manipulate Shadow into thinking that she would've wanted revenge as there's no way to prove that she wouldn't've (I haven't gotten 'round to playing Adventure 2 though so my knowledge of Maria comes from video essays, but I'm pretty sure Shadow was motivated by him miss-remembering her words, not by manipulation by others).

Shadow with high budget CGI

Jim Carrey coming back again (seriously, these films wouldn't be as good without him as Eggman)

Eggman dying for real at the end in a big space explosion as a sacrifice feels in character for how he was portrayed in Adventure 2

Eggman land in the VR thing

Knuckles still being well written (seriously, the writers really know what they're doing when it comes to his character)

The ambulances and police cars in the London section being actual British ambulances and police cars and not American ones (Hollywood did their research!)

Shadow's voice actor

The scene with Sonic and Shadow on the moon and all that character development

Shadow having his heelys

Tails is better in this film as he doesn't fanboy like he did in the second film (not a major point, it's quite subtle, but I like it)

The dog having subtitles for 2 gags

The blackout caused by Sonic and Shadow

Tails trying to save Sonic when he's falling into the Earth's atmosphere but failing feels more realistic, and it makes more sense how Knuckles was the one to save them both as I imagine he's probably done something like this before and Tails is like 4 or 5

The idea that the man and the woman that I can't remember their names but they're the ones from the beginning, going down the crochet rabbit hole if the main 3 leave for like 2 days is hilarious

The "Sonic getting blasted to pieces thing" in the plan was funny, especially at the laser section (can't really explain it without the clip)

the cinematic remix of that one song from Adventure 2

Wait...wasn't G.U.N mentioned in the Knuckles show? I swear it was...

In the first battle, Sonic asking Shadow "who does your highlights?" (and calling him "Hot Topic" later in the film)

The flashbacks with Maria fitting well with the rest of the film in a way that didn't feel clunky

Shadow commenting on the soap opera

That final scene with Eggman with the live stream reminded me of the broadcast where he blew up the moon in Adventure 2

The moon still gets exploded...kinda

The chao cafe (I know chaos are in the game but I'm not sure to what capacity)

The doughnut guy almost dying due to a slip up (not really cool but I like the character development it showed...and also how damn strong Shadow is that one punch blew doughnut guy into a coma. Makes you wonder how damn strong the main 3 are to still be standing after all the battles against Shadow...)

Shadow having a super form with Sonic (I know it's from the game, not sure where though)

Shadow surviving in the post credits scene made me in a happier mood when I left the cinema as I was sad he died

Sonic saying "gotta go fast!"

Okay nitpicks time (there's not gonna be many though):

The dance scene with the lasers was a bit too long

No Snapcube fandub references

It's never really explained where the crab came from or how Eggman survived

Not really explained how Gerald Robotnik got all the egg weapons too. They're not recreations as they still follow Eggman so how did he get them from the government? Was this part of the deal when he was released from prison?

Where did the Chaos Emerald go when Shadow almost died? He was in his super form.

How the hell did Shadow survive getting nuked by the explosion? I know he's strong as hell and was in his super form, but still.

How do the main 3 and Shadow breathe in space?

Agent Stone putting the full coffee cups in the bin really annoyed me like at least pour it onto the floor so the grass can drink it

I really like how Shadow was written in this film. He's not just "Edgy The Hedgy" like he's portrayed now (don't quote me on that, I haven't really been up to date on this so "now" is more like pre-renaissance) and his weakness is his own grief, which is how Sonic "defeated" him by talking to him on the Moon about not letting that grief distract him and that made him go to Sonic's side even though Sonic could've just beaten the ever loving shit out of him while he got the super form and Shadow was weakened, but he didn't because he isn't a psychopath. And some stuff I mentioned earlier like the motorcycle and the cool powers. Basically he's his Adventure 2 version but even more badass, and his Adventure 2 version was the best version and my favourite character in the franchise.

According to the Wikipedia page on it, a 4th film is in production. Personally I think this works better as a trilogy as how the hell do you top fighting a death ray that's going to blow up the Earth, in space? Also the main villain guy is dead and definitely isn't coming back because isn't Jim Carrey like 70 something now? I think it's gonna be all time travel-ly as it seems to be based around Sonic CD and that's it's main thing. In the post credits thing there was Metal Sonic (who doesn't really fit the aesthetic of the films as all the robots are egg looking things as it's set on Earth, and not space animals who got robot-y and so are a lot more colourful) and Amy Rose, who destroyed some of the robots with her hammer so it's clear she's not going to be like her flat personality in CD and be more like Tails I guess. It's hard to tell considering she only appears for like 15 seconds, but her first appearance in CD was following Sonic around while love hearts come out of her head, and then getting kidnapped, so I think her personality is going to be like her in the Sonic Boom TV show (she gives me "notable time traveller looking for someone who's important in the future" vibes). I feel like this premise works better as a TV show, with each episode being a different time period in each zone. Maybe this is just me wishing for an episodic cinematic universe Sonic TV show where it's the main 3 doing stuff on Earth and Shadow appears every now and then 'cause they have to be doing something with his character as he's shown to be at least somewhat alive in the post credits scene. I know it'll be expensive as hell to do all that CGI, but I can dream.

Yeah that's basically it. Overall: 9.7/10. Now my new favourite film. God I'm tired.

[silentstudiosyt]

I'M SORRY, WHAT???

[goblin-enjoyer]

I swear why are half the things i like/fandoms im in made of mostly younger people while the other half are mostly older people? what are the zoggin odds with that?

How it feels being 20 in a fandom with a bunch of 30-40 somethings.

VS how it feels being 20 in a fandom with a bunch of 14-17 somethings.

like am do i just have extremely odd luck with things i like or is this just what being 20 is like?

[risingsunresistance]

feels weird to not have much to post, i feel like i basically disappeared off social media compared to how i used to post but. there is simultaneously so much going on (things that are boring/heavy and not fun to post about) and nothing at all going on (i have not been able to play anything very much and havent been watching anything besides random documentaries i stumble across), leading to me having nothing to say lmao

i did finally write down a bunch of hypixel worldbuilding headcanon junk instead of having it only be word-of-mouth between me and ark lol. only 1700 words, i can do better 👍 it was literally only about admin magic, what exactly it means to "hack," what a server is, and limbo kjgfhk. i might make a big post about the limbo section one day :]

[14dayswithyou]

💖 Day 3.5 is now available! 💖

For the last couple of months, only Server Boosters had access to the 3.5 update... Buuuuut now it's available for everyone to play in the 14DWY Discord — and soon itch.io once I'm happy with the QA and state of the game — so please don't feel pressured to join unless you want to!!

The full devlog + even more screenshots are under the cut ^^

What's been added to the 3.5 version?

📺 Streamer Mode!

I've been told that it's difficult to stream and monetise age-restricted videos on YouTube and Twitch, so I added an option to remove the sexual content and strong language used in the demo.

Now y'all can invite Ren into your bed for cuddles without putting your streamer career on the line /silly /lh

This won't affect the 18+ rating or dark themes/elements of the game, however! Although Streamer Mode will prevent you from seeing any "gruesome" CGs in the future, most of the core elements of the game will still be tied to the choices and decisions you make. So you won't miss out on the overall experience by using streamer mode!!

⚙️ Custom Pronouns!

It only took me one entire year to get around to it, but you can finally choose your own preferred pronouns (or use a set of pronouns instead)... At the cost of being able to change them mid-game ^^;

Since the original pronoun screen wouldn't update until a new scene was displayed, I temporarily disabled the feature. But once I find a workaround, I'll bring it back!

💗 Choose how others perceive you!

You can now choose how the cast and narration perceive you! Originally, the narration was kept strictly gender-neutral (outside of pronouns and genitalia picked by the player), but this will soon change in future updates.

For more clarity: you don't get to choose the words specifically, but you can choose between masculine, feminine, and androgynous terms!

📋 Separate top and bottom genitalia!

You can now choose your tatas and pps separately! >:3

Alongside that, you can also choose your preferred body type!

I removed the "both" genitalia option because a few players still assumed it was an obscure version of "intersex". That wasn't my intention and I don't want to mislead anyone, so I took it out for now ^^;

I also didn't want to include a screenshot of the new genitalia choices in action (because it's NSFW), so y'all get the same character menu screen for the nth time instead lmao

📱 Relationship Screen Overhaul!

You can now change your own status for more immersion, and long-term Server Boosters will eventually be able to submit and use their own icon within the game as well!

Stalking finding your friends has now become easier by using "Buddy Maps"; a new app that allows you to see the location of all the cast members!

I want to offer players more incentive to check the relationship screen since they tend to miss the status updates, so hopefully this might help ;v;

It also says it "updates every few hours" so folks don't go overboard and check every 5 seconds to see where Ren is gdsghf (also keep in mind that he's a hacker lol)

🖤 Additional Scenes Update!

Day 2 received a brand new CG!!!!! Originally, I planned on only adding a few CGs sporadically throughout the game, but it didn't feel right to leave Day 2 so... empty... so I added a brand new CG to (hopefully) make things feel more balanced and natural!

If you decline Teo's offer on Day 3, Leon will now call and try to convince you to reconsider. However, players are still allowed to decline, and if they do, they'll reach a dead end.

After listening to feedback on itch, I changed some of the dialogue during Days 1-3 to make it seem more consistent! They're only small changes though, so it's honestly not worth looking for sdgjssga

🎶 Updated BGM and SFX!

I wanted to try out a different style of music to see if it fits the vibe of 14DWY more! The BGM features more acoustics to suit the "beachy" theme of Corland Bay, though I made a conscious effort to include piano elements as well to stay true to the original!!

I figured it'd be better to give players a live example before I make a poll (to see if they prefer the change or not) and publish it to Itch.

Some new SFX have also been added, though it's very minimal and honestly not that noticeable.

How to download and play the update?

(warning: clicking on the following links will open Discord!!) To download the Day 3.5 update, simply join the 14DWY Discord server, verify your age, and visit the "14dwy-updates" channel!

Alternatively, you can also wait until the update is publicly released on Itch to play it as well!! (It normally gets released shortly after a round of QA testing/getting feedback from the server, though I may release it earlier if I feel like it hehe ^^)

Enjoy!!

[byers-bowlcut]

I've seen people say El likes the IDEA of having a boyfriend more than she actually likes her own boyfriend, and jfc it's so true 😭 Like it's all over the show:

Season 1

She's initially attached to Mike because he's the first person to give her shelter, food, genuine human care and just,, not calling CPS immediately. Her feelings for him was born from trauma and dependency in season 1. And throughout the rest of the 3 seasons, we don't see it grow past that.

Also I think it's noticeable in S1 that:

She was uninterested when Mike tried to share his hobbies with her

She also did not seem to mind AT ALL when she questioned if Mike could be her brother. He voice is neutral and curious here, not the least bit repulsed by the thought of being siblings with Mike, like girl does not care 😭

Season 2

This season has zero onscreen moments of Mike and El actually getting to know each other further. They were separated nearly the whole season.

What we DO see:

El's attachment and dependency on Mike that was developed from S1

We also find out how El spent a year of her life watching melodramatic romance films. Many other middle schoolers might identify that relationships in real life don't work like those films. But El is fresh out of lab life, she's literally learning the world through this TV, and has now become obsessed with the IDEA of having a boyfriend/relationship just like that.

Season 3

Again, no onscreen moments of El showing interest in who Mike is as a person.

The very first scene we see of them, she's trying to get him to stop singing along to the song they're listening to. She seems to like kissing Mike. But isn't shown enjoying anything actually characteristic about him, like sharing interests with him such as music.

Hopper indicates that they don't do anything meaningful together either. We see here that before hanging out with Max, El had little sense of her own style, her hobbies, her interests- meaning spending time with Mike for months probably didn't involve many talking points did it?

Also in season 3, El dumps Mike with ZERO hesitation. Then she has the time of her life with Max. The most acknowledgment we get that she's oh so heartbroken is a small frown to Max that her and Mike aren't on best terms. And even that doesn't seem so paramount cause 1 episode later she totally dismisses Mike after he explains how Hopper threatened him. She just tells him maybe Hopper was right 😭😭

It's literally ONLY once she starts becoming in danger that she starts clinging onto him again. I feel like we've seen this film before hm.

Like where are any signs that she likes Mike as an individual, and is falling for who he really is, rather than simply being attached due to trauma, and liking the concept of doing romantic things (ie: kissing, dancing at the ball, etc.)

Season 4

This is the season it becomes the MOST OBVIOUS: El loves the concept of a happy relationship and being loved, but not really loving Mike for who he is. And bringing in Will's feelings just emphasizes this point.

To start, El continues doing all these relationship-y things that she did in the start of S3. She has Mike's name and pictures plastered all over her room. She makes a "Mike box" with his pictures decorated all over it. But the thing is: this is all sort of a façade at this point. We know she's BEEN unhappy with him for months ("From Mike! From Mike! From Mike!"). But with all these items, she's basically trying to convince herself that she's in this happy, fantasy, movie-like relationship, like she probably watched in hopper's cabin in season 2.

And then, there's the sheer difference between her and WILL in their feelings for Mike. We see it right off the bat when Mike comes to the airport: Will and El both have plans to give Mike something.

Will plans to give him a painting he worked extremely hard on. The painting is a connection of what they BOTH love: DnD, and it includes their friends who also play the game. It's very personal and immediately touches Mike. What's more is, the painting illustrates the exact qualities about Mike that Will loves: his leadership, his bravery, his guidance. This painting literally spells out to us that Will truly loves Mike for WHO HE IS.

Meanwhile, El plans on giving Mike a fun reunion date. She has the whole day planned out. And immediately: we see that what she wants to do doesn't actually takes Mike's interests and personality into consideration. You can see and hear the strain in his voice when he talks about "burritos for breakfast" 😬

You can see how he's not that relaxed at rinkomania, and nervous about skating, saying he's clumsy. He probably would've much preferred movies and playing a board game, over skating. But El has her own ideas. When she brings Mike to rinkomania, she tries to act really cool about it. She wants to impress him, wants to seem like she fits in and belongs.

Her present was never actually ABOUT Mike, and about loving Mike that she would plan this huge date for him. Her present was about her desperately wanting to have this cool date like every other normal teen girl might, with a normal boyfriend, and make it seem like they have a happy perfect relationship.

And then finally we reach their S4 fight. I find it extremely interesting how Hopper's cabin is framed in the background during their whole fight. It's almost like an indication that her desperate need to be loved by Mike stems from her trying to cope with losing Hopper and the hole left by him, that clearly did not exist when she happily dumped Mike in S3.

In their fight, when the topic of bullying comes up, Mike says he understands her, but El is quick to say he doesn't. She thinks Mike doesn't understand her, but this is just as much her not understanding HIM as well.

She doesn't get the extent of Mike's insecurities (definitely partially a result of bullying), something that Mike later divulges to WILL and not her. If the writers wanted to show us how much El understands Mike and loves him for who he is, her and Mike would work through his insecurities in their rs together, NOT through a middle man.

Overall it's pretty striking that we've never once heard El actually compliment Mike, or articulate, or even show what exactly she loves about him through four whole seasons. I mean...

Attachment to him due to trauma or grief =/= loving him for who he is.

Wanting to BE loved =/= loving him for who he is.

So really in terms of a relationship, what El ACTUALLY wants is the concept/idea of a regular boyfriend, and a happy easy relationship, all in an attempt to feel normal. And that's why we see them fall apart the way they do in season 4, and why Will is currently so involved. Because Will DOES see and love Mike for exactly who he is.

[blue-blue-blooms]

Eddie Munson Headcanons

Eddie Munson x Harrington!Reader

A/N: I'm super depressed and this is my only form of comfort these days. So, here you go! If you have any requests, send them my way! Let's make the most of my depression and write these fics.

You're Steve's younger sister and in your senior year. You've definitely ridden on Steve's coat tails and gained popularity for being a Harrington. You're top of your class, a cheerleader, and friends with the 'popular kids'.

Admittedly, you were a bit self absorbed and consumed with the illusion of popularity. You didn't have real friends, no one that you could trust and be your true self around. You think getting dragged into finding Dustin's pet demogorgon was the best thing that could've happened to you. Besides the obvious trauma of everything that happened in '85, you found real friendship.

Robin and you became attached at the hip. You regularly hung out with Nancy. You were still popular but just severely humbled. '85 knocked your ego down a few pegs. You changed.

You changed so much that you didn't even ignore Mike, Dustin and Lucas when they first started highschool! I mean, even after you saw Dustin's Weird Al shirt. You looked out for all of them.

You'd known of Eddie. You'd seen him around at school. He was always really loud, abrasive, and kind of intimidating. He'd jump on top of lunch tables, going on spiels about 'forced conforming'. He was a little odd, a little rough around the corners, but you didn't know enough about him to form an opinion.

You officially met Eddie after Dustin, Mike, and Lucas joined the Hellfire club.

They were having one of their DnD meetings and needed a ride home. You were staying late for cheer practice so you agreed to drop them home.

You'd been waiting in the parking lot when they all came rushing out, 15 minute late.

"Hey, Dingus 1, 2, and 3! I've been waiting for 15 minutes!"

Eddie and everyone else in the Hellfire club (excluding the party) looked shocked when they saw you, to say the least.

"You know Y/N?" Eddie whispered to Dustin.

"Yeah, she's one of my best friends."

"You're friends with Y/N Harrington? Queen of Hawkins? Are you aware of the fact that we exist on the opposite spectrum of the stratosphere from her?" Gareth spoke incredulously, "Are you making this shit up?"

Before Dustin could respond, they all reached where Y/N was standing.

"Y/N! These are our friends from Hellfire! This is Gareth, this is Jeff, oh and this is Eddie! He's the president." Dustin excitedly spoke.

You gave them all a smile and a shy wave, "I've heard so much about you guys! These three were really excited when they found out about your DnD club."

"Do you play?" Gareth asked, immediately being smacked on the arm by Jeff who whispered: "I highly doubt that, idiot."

You smirked slyly and said: "Oh, I used to play with these guys all the time! We've been on many adventures. Fighting demogorgons, slaying a Mind Flayer, we've done it all." Of course, this wasn't a complete lie. You hadn't ever played a DnD game. Hell, you weren't even entirely sure what it was. But you had fought monsters with them. Mike, Dustin, and Lucas looked at you with incredulous looks and rolled their eyes, nodding along with your lie.

Of course, Eddie, Gareth, and Jeff didn't know the truth. They were pretty amazed that you even knew what DnD was.

After that first meeting, you'd smile and greet the Hellfire club whenever you saw them around school.

You'd also stand up for them if any of the jocks were messing with them.

Like the time Jason had shoved Gareth in the hallway and called him a 'freak', you'd immediately smacked the back of Jason's head and told him to 'fuck off'.

This is becoming more about the Hellfire club than Eddie so let's refocus.

You realized that you and Eddie were in some of the same classes. Now that you'd officially met him, you became more aware of him. Suddenly, he was everywhere.

The first time you'd chosen to sit down next to him in class, he'd choked on the water he was drinking.

"Are you okay?"

Y-yeah, just..water..wrong pipe. What're you doing here?"

"In this class?"

"Uh-no-like here, with me, in this seat?"

Oh, I'm sorry! Do you want me to move?"

No! Sorry, that came out wrong! I just-I wasn't expecting you to interact with us...you know the whole being 'freaks' thing...it might affect the way people see you."

"I don't care how people see me. Besides, I'm also a freak. Maybe just a...closeted freak."

Eddie swore that was when he fell in love with you.

Suddenly you were hanging out with each other all the time, sitting together in class, talking in the parking lot after school, giggling over random stuff in the hallway.

The more Eddie got to know you, the more he fell in love.

He'd find dumb reasons to touch you, passing random notes with doodles in class so he could briefly touch your hand, pretending like you had an eyelash on your cheek so he could take it off, ruffling your hair jokingly, putting his arm around your shoulder so he could whisper 'top secret DnD campaign stuff' (which was obviously just an excuse).

Your relationship developed and soon you'd be over at his place learning how to play his guitar, or going through his music collection, or forcing him to do his homework.

The first time you kissed was after Eddie accidentally confessed that he liked you. He heard that you were going out on a date with some random jock from school, and it was like all his nerves went into hyperdrive and the words spilled out. He thought that you'd never talk to him again, that he'd ruined everything, but you'd simply smiled and kissed him gently.

"I like you, too."

Bonus content: Dustin cries after you two get together. Happy cries, though. Mike gags any time he sees you two even remotely close to each other, even when you're not touching.

[danieyells]

@2flowerz also asked for Lyca so

NOW WITH 100% MORE DOGGO LYCA. HE IS DEFINITELY A HUMAN AND NOT A WEREWOLF. He is trying very hard to be a human. I love him very much. . . .

Hello: (the first time the game is opened after that character is set as home screen NPC. Only happens once per day, unless the character is switched out and back.)

"...You again. Where're we going today?"

You've Got Mail: (whenever there's something in the inbox, usually Arena rewards)

"Hey, you got letters. Don't you have to read them? Oh, don't you know how?"

he understands if you can't read, man. neither can he.

Default: (requires no affinity, has no time constraints)

"You smell sweeter than usual today... Stop. Go away."

after learning that the pc is going to turn into the anomaly that cursed them any sort of 'you smell nicer than normal' feels like such a threat lmao

"You want to touch me? Fine. Ten seconds and that's it."

that is more than enough my good sir

"When I find Neros, I wanna prove I've been getting along with humans. Then he'll definitely let me live with him."

considering he related the term 'neglect play' to what Neros did to him. . .I'm not so sure. . .and if Neros was as old as he sounds like he was, I wonder if he's even still alive. . . .

"Hey! Moth-eaten Casanova! Where'd you go? I'm gonna show you my special move today."

"special move" in Japanese is 「必殺技」 or 'lethal move'/'killer technique', usually unique to a person or fighting style. Not sure if he wants to show Ed how cool he is or try and kill him lmao--

"This phone thingy they gave me keeps making noises and making me jump... Why do I gotta carry it everywhere? It's scary!"

Affinity 1: (between 5am and 11am)

"Mnn... Let me sleep... Don't touch me... Zzz..."

Affinity 2: (between 11am and 4pm)

"Laws, school regulations, anomalous law... Manners, morals, rules... How're you s'posed to remember all that?"

man i wish i could tell you. . .i've mostly got the morals in order, that's basically just 'don't do harm to others' when you get down to it. laws are about 50% 'don't do things that may endanger you or others' and 50% bullshit. the rest you're kinda on your own with.

Affinity 3: (between 4pm and 8pm)

"Urgh... My skin's crawling... Moon must be gettin' round soon..."

Affinity 4: (between 8pm and 5am)

"At first I was sad 'cause I got put in a different house to Suba, but all kinds of stuff happens here every day so it was fine."

awww he was sad because he doesn't get to see Subaru as often but he's not bored so it's alright! glad he's comfortable ;u;

Affinity 5: (between 8pm and 5am)

"H-Hey, don't come so close! Somethin' about your scent makes my stomach feel weird!"

WE'RE ONLY ON AFFINITY 5 DUDE YOU CAN'T BE CATCHING FEELINGS THIS EARLY it's probably because he's scared of girls or something lol

Affinity 6: (between 4pm and 8pm)

"I didn't do anything wrong! Those guys were saying mean stuff about me 'cause they thought I couldn't hear. All I did was yell at them."

I hate how they won't even let Lyca defend himself verbally. . . .

Affinity 7: (between 11am and 4pm)

"I don't mind classes. The teachers say cool stuff. Once I learn to read the textbooks and the notes and the blackboard it'll be perfect."

HE'S GONNA BE SUCH A GOOD STUDENT WHEN HE CAN READ???

Affinity 8: (between 4pm and 8pm)

"There was this big noise in our practical class and my ears popped out. Everyone ran away screaming. Damn it..."

wow they're cowards if the ears alone scared them. . .how're they supposed to deal with anomalies if that scared them!?

Affinity 9: (between 8pm and 5am)

"This? It's a picture book, duh. How come you don't know that when you're a human? I study with it before bed, everyone does it."

I wonder who made him a picture book of all the things he'd be learning as a first year to study with. . . . . .or maybe it's just a generic picture book lol

Affinity 10: (between 10pm and midnight)

"This blanket's not trash, it's just dirty. I can't sleep without it, so hands off."

he really loves that blanket huh. it must be one of the only things he had from his childhood or from being looked after by neros. . . .

Affinity 11: (between 5am and 11am)

"What's a "so-shul skill"?  That blond gigolo was talking about them. He said I don't have any. Is that a good thing?"

he's got social skills!! Just. . .not very human social skills!!!

Affinity 12: (between 11am and 4pm)

"I'm starving... I wanna eat Sho's food, but I can't order it without Suba... Wait, you can read, right?"

Lyca slowly realizing how many people he knows can actually read and thus can help him with placing orders for delicious foods--

Affinity 13: (between 4pm and 8pm)

"That moth-eaten Casanova's in his room all day so I tried to take him for a walk, but he locked his door and ignored me. The hell?!"

LYCA CONTINUES TO SCRATCH AT ED'S DOOR COME FOR WALKIES ED!!!!

Affinity 14: (between 5am and 11am)

"That stupid blond gigolo ran off with my blanket. I'm not done sleeping yet..."

tbf your blanket is filthy. . .and I get it, it's what you've got and it smells familiar but. . . .

Affinity 15: (between 5am and 11am)

"I can't get back to sleep... I'm gonna wake up that moth-eaten Casanova for a walk."

lyca is a dog scratching at your bedroom door with his leash in his mouth like 'yes it is time for walkies now rise human'

Affinity 16: (between 11am and 4pm)

"The teacher asked us to name an anomalous plant you can eat but when I did he said humans can't eat it. So what? I can, so I'm not wrong."

I AGREE WITH HIM HE SHOULD NOT GET THAT MARKED WRONG. if you only want a human applicable question say 'humans' not 'you.

Affinity 17: (between 10pm and midnight)

"In the last place I never knew what time it was and I pretty much just slept all day. Now I gotta get used to having a "roo-teen.""

Affinity 18: (between 8pm and 5am)

"I'm drawing. If I draw all the good stuff and bad stuff that happened every day I won't forget about it."

if he could write he'd keep a diary but since he can't write he's keeping a picture diary. . .and he's a really good artist according to his character story, so it's probably a pretty faithful recreation of whatever happened that day. i'd love to see his picture diary. . . .

Affinity 19: (between 10pm and midnight)

"Huh? The blood on my bed? ...It's nothing. Don't touch my stuff, you're gonna get your smell all over it!"

WHY IS THERE BLOOD IN YOUR BED, BUDDY. ARE YOU OKAY??? IF YOU ATE SOMETHING IN BED THAT'S FINE I JUST DON'T WANT YOU TO BE INJURED. . . .

Affinity 20: (between 5am and 11am)

"...Did you cry? Your scent is all squeezy. How come?"

smelling you sad makes him sad too so tell him why you're feeling sad and he can make the sad go away?

Affinity 21: (between 11am and 4pm)

"I wanna go to the cafeteria, but the teachers won't give me my pocket money. They said I'll get "spoiled." The hell does that mean?!"

GIVE HIM SOME MONEY SO HE CAN BUY FOOD???? HE NEEDS TO EAT????? HE'S BUSY WITH CLASS SO HE CAN'T GO ON MISSIONS YOU CAN'T JUST STARVE THE BOY????

Affinity 22: (between 4pm and 8pm)

"That moth-eaten Casanova told me humans like it if you ignore them sometimes. Something about playing hard to get? I'm gonna try it tomorrow."

I wonder if that has anything to do with Subaru's home screen chat where he wonders why Lyca hasn't messaged him back. . .he's trying to play hard to get because he thinks it'll make Subaru like him more. . . .

Affinity 23: (between 8pm and 5am)

"I'll stay here and be quiet at night, even when the moon's not round. 'Cause you're tired, aren't you? Go sleep."

even if he doesn't have to stay or even if he wants to make lots of noise, he'll stay and be quiet so it's easier for you to fall asleep. He won't be loud and you don't have to worry about him! so sleep tight!

Affinity 24: (between 10pm and midnight)

"Sleep here. Huh? Is there a law that says we can't sleep together? There's not, is there? Hurry up and lie down."

it's pretty much innocent. . .he just wants you close by. . .being able to smell you while he sleeps would probably make it easier to fall asleep. . .feel safe and familiar and everything. . . .

Affinity 25(max): (no time constraints)

"I'm gonna work hard... I'll gonna work so hard, they're gonna say I can live with humans forever..."

Lyca, despite being a werewolf, is a lot like Kaito in that he just wants to be a normal human. Except he never started as a normal human, so he has a bit further of a distance to go to become one. . .he's not a dog, he doesn't wanna be a pet or an animal or anything like that. He wants to be a person like everyone else. But it's hard when others reject him, and when everyone says they think he's too dangerous even when he hasn't done anything wrong. Other ghouls--other humans--do way worse stuff than he does, and yet he's still held to a higher standard. It's not fair. But he's working as hard as he can to catch up. . . .

Spring: (March-May) (between 5am and 11am)

"That blond gigolo tried to wash my blanket! He's never coming in my room again!"

he does not like spring cleaning--

(between 11am and 4pm)

"Lately there's flower smells everywhere, but sometimes there's one that kinda smells like you."

IT'S GONNA BE HILARIOUS IF THE ANOMALY THAT CURSED YOU HAPPENS TO LIVE IN OBSCUARY'S FOREST. . .LIKE YEAH IT'S JUST OUT THERE IT WAS ALWAYS ON CAMPUS IDK WHAT TO TELL YOU WE COULD'VE BEEN WORKING ON THIS CURE BEFORE YOU GOT IT.

(between 4pm and 8pm)

"Harurin kept nagging, so I went to the safari park. Not gonna lie...it was super fun."

I love that Lyca uses the nicknames Rui uses for some people lol and I bet he loved running around Jabberwock!!! All that fresh open air and the wildlife. . .he's a wolf at heart really and truly.

(between 8pm and 5am)

"Cherry blossom petals are super fun. They're like, whoosh, then they fall everywhere. I wish our house had some."

Summer: (June-August) (between 5am and 11am)

"Urgh... My head...it hurts... This? It's shaved ice. The blond gigolo told me to eat it so I don't get "heat eggs-aw-schun.""

oh buddy you're eating it too fast. . . . . .

(between 11am and 4pm)

"I was just in that moth-eaten Casanova's room and it was so cold I thought it was gonna snow! Is he secretly a yeti?"

okay it was only 63 degrees in there it wasn't THAT cold Lyca.

(between 4pm and 8pm)

"I'm gonna go practice swimming at Harurin's place. Can you do other stuff besides doggy paddle?"

I can't swim at all so. you are miles ahead of me my friend.

(between 8pm and 5am)

"I know I said I always wanted to do sparklers, but... you sure this's okay? I thought we're not s'posed to play with fire!"

canid instincts are kicking in--fire BAD and SCARY and DANGEROUS. ABORT MISSION.

Autumn: (September-November) (between 5am and 11am)

"I just tried to join in with some guys playing with a ball, but they said I don't know the rules and told me to go away."

THEN TEACH HIM THE RULES god they're such jerks around here.

(between 11am and 4pm)

"Blond Gigolo was makin' this massive fire near the garden just now. It smelled all burnt and sweet... Is that some kinda ritual?"

(between 4pm and 8pm)

"Finished my picture. That Romi guy who comes to the bar all the time said he wanted one, so it's for him."

Romeo does like fine things. This just goes to show how good of an artist Lyca is! I bet Romeo's gonna frame it and put it somewhere people can see lol or maybe just keep it in his room. . .that or he wants to see if he can get him to make a forgery and profit off poor Lyca--

(between 8pm and 5am)

"Moth-eaten Casanova said humans like looking at the moon... D'you get sad if you can't see it?"

Winter: (December-February) (between 5am and 11am)

"I'm gonna go play at that big ice castle after class! Huh? 'Cause playing in the snow's fun."

THE FROSTHEIMERS BETTER NOT GIVE HIM TROUBLE LET MY BOY RUN AND ROMP IN THE SNOW!!!!!!!

(between 11am and 4pm)

"Mm, I don't really feel the cold. Humans get warm when they run around too, don't they? Race you over there! "

he is having so much fun in the winter ;;;;; just running around and playing. . . .

(between 4pm and 8pm)

"My fingers have been gettin' all tingly and stiff and my hair's all crunchy! What's up with that? "

maybe playing in the snow a little too much lol--

(between 8pm and 5am)

"How d'you drink hot drinks so quick? They always burn my tongue... Huh? Dogs have sensitive tongues? I'm a wolf, not a dog..."

His birthday: (April 19th)

"Oh right, it's my birthday. Neros told me my mom wrote down the date."

Your birthday:

"It's your birthday, right? No, I only know 'cause that blond gigolo was yelling about it. ...Here's your present."

I bet he drew something really nice or found you something really cool ;3;

New Years: (January 1st)

"Hope you have a happy and prop...props... prosp...prospinous? new year... Damn it, I practiced that for ages..."

Valentine's Day: (February 14th)

"Oh, thanks. Professor Nicolas said I can't eat chocolate, so I'll give it to Casanova and Gigolo!"

why would you even risk giving him chocolate in the first place lmao. . .also in Japanese he says "I'll share with those two idiots" instead of "casanova and gigolo" lmao

White Day: (March 14th)

"This is for you. I dunno what kinda stuff human girls like, but Suba helped me pick it, so it's prob'ly fine."

Subaru knows girls' tastes is Lyca's logic I guess lmao Subaru is a lil on the femme side comparatively--

April Fool's Day: (April 1st)

"Why's everyone being so mean today?! Telling lies and laughing at me... They're all jerks...!"

please explain the day to him. . .people are mean enough to him as it is. . . .

Halloween: (October 31st)

"My ears and tail are out? I know, I'm doing it on purpose. The moth-eaten Casanova said it's okay today."

THE ONE DAY HE CAN BE HIMSELF IS HALLOWEEN BECAUSE NO ONE WILL THINK ANYTHING OF IT. . .they'll just think it's a cool costume or maybe a fox robe! And he'll get candy for it!!!

Christmas: (December 25th)

"Hey, look! When I got up this present was next to my pillow! Santa really came..."

WHO TAUGHT HIM ABOUT SANTA. . .AND WHY. . .then again Romeo said Santa's reindeer is real so. . .it probably isn't actually harmful to teach him about Santa since Santa's probably somewhat real here. . . .

Idle: (about 20 seconds without interacting with the game) (below 13 affinity)

"...I'm going for a walk."

(13 affinity and above)

"Hey, you alive? Huh, you're breathing so I guess so."

Absent: (logging in for the first time in 2 or more days?)

"How come you stopped coming? Do you hate me? It made my heart all squeezy, so don't do it again."

oh no sweetie. . .sometimes we just have to take care of things and disappear without wanting to. . .sometimes life gets in the way instead of finding away. . . . . . . .

JUST. . .SWEETEST OF SWEETHEARTS. HE'S SO CHILDISH AND ADORABLE AND SWEET AND GOOD. . .I WILL USE MY TEN SECONDS OF PETTING TIME WISELY. He really does try harder than anyone, he's so determined and I believe in him so much. I want my boy to be happy.

[bikiniarmorbattledamage]

So, naturally we had to, now the game is actually out, bingo the CENSORED outfit in Stellar Blade. Credit to HarryNinetyFour for showing all seventy-four outfits, and Kotaku for this article where they propose that Eve is at her sexiest when she's got more on.

Okay... maybe not that but...

Seriously, if you're playing to fap - this game has you covered. But it also has a few really interesting, covering outfits that seem to reflect fantasies of fashion and comfort.

The only thing that's really not present is any sort of actual military like BDUs or combat jumpsuits. That's kinda weird, even Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain let you put BDUs on Quiet.

And that bit is weird is, based on what I've seen people who've been playing the game saying - there is really a story about her being a soldier and fighting for a cause there. But you'd never know that based on the ongoing outrage.

The outrage is weird and sad

So as you can probably guess, the continuing riot of "censorship" here is pretty absurd. It's got to the point where they even bullied the Stellar Blade's X/Twitter account to un-repost the Kotaku article that praises the game.

But here's the thing, in all the years I've had to deal with brodudes doing this kind of nonsense in various online platforms etc, I have never seen one that is happy.

YouTuber Moon Channel did a two part (1, 2) series on a different drama in South Korea involving a Gacha game that dared not to be pointlessly horny, but here's the general take away.

English speaking brodudes in this situation are imagining that Stellar Blade is some sort of iconic work coming from the anti-woke wonderland where everyone is happy. The reality is:

South Korea has a deeply hierarchical society which essentially tells young people they are to obey and not to speak up

The economy and nepotism is such that unless you are born into a rich family, your employment prospects are downright depressing

Many young men in South Korea develop a lot of resentment toward women primarily because they are told that in order to enter a (heterosexual) relationship they will need to demonstrate they have the ability to be a great provider, and then are denied those opportunities by the economy and nepotism

On top of all this, the government takes a "we know whats best for you" approach to the extent that not only is porn banned but you will be expected to supply your identity information if you want to look up basic sexual educational materials

They would find it to be an absolute nightmare realm.

The reality is that in the "woke" world that brodudes fear, we'd probably see a lot more eroticism in art, including games, and it'd be of the more focused, sincere variety rather than that directed by creepy marketing guy.

All we really need to do is accept each other as people, appreciate each other's humanity and boundaries. Then we can both enjoy a sexy paradise, but also unite and deal with the assholes who keep oppressing us economically and socially.

Wouldn't that be nice?

-wincenworks

[wosoamazing]

Portugal Training Camp & Roommates

Part 4 - Fire on Fire Series

It was your first day in Portugal, meaning you were now also officially part of the team, having joined the first team training session of the year in the morning, spending the afternoon on the beach with the girls, as this wasn't an official team trip for competitions you had roommates. Leah was yours, you didn't quite know what to think of it but it couldn't be a bad thing. Right?

After dinner the team spent some time outside before all heading to their respective rooms for sleep. However you weren't asleep, and from the amount of rustling coming from Leah's bed she wasn't either. However unlike her you were still, as you laid on your back, staring at the ceiling, you couldn't get the 2 missed calls from both your parents each out of your head, they hadn't called you in years, let alone messaged, so why now? You couldn't understand, until you spoke to your Moster before dinner. She had informed you that they wanted to talk to you, apologise for what they had done, now realising that they did the wrong thing when you were younger. But you couldn't fathom the sudden change in beliefs. They had to have an ulterior motive. Leah must've realised you were awake at some stage, as you noticed her move onto her side, resting on her elbow as she brought your attention to you.

"What's wrong?" She questioned, the sudden words slightly scaring you.

"Nothing," you tried brushing her off, as if she would care about your problems.

"I can tell something is bothering you, you can just talk and I can listen if you want"

"My parents want to talk to me," you spat out, "oh," you turned to face her, mirroring her position.

"I've haven't seen or heard from them for years, the last time they contacted me was before, well, um, no it doesn't matter, but every time the have contacted me since I moved out they have thrown things at me, they even offered to buy me a penthouse apartment in New York if I quit football and did a PHD. They don't believe someone can be successful unless they like have a PHD basically. I moved out when I was almost 11. My Aunt says they are reaching out to say sorry but I find that hard to believe after all these years,"

"Why don't you just message them, ask them to come to one of our games."

"Yeah I suppose, I mean if they aren't really determined with whatever they are planning on doing they won't come, it would be time much time, effort and money otherwise," the fell into a silence before you blurted out, "They were the reason I wasn't getting played, they were paying the club money as a support under essentially a fake company, they figured if I wasn;t getting played I would fall out of love with the sport, but it clearly didn't work." "I'm sorry, that's unfair, you're a really great player, and your aunts must be good people, as you've turned out to be an amazing human," Leah started to ramble as she got anxious. You were glad there wasn't much light in the room as you felt yourself blush.

"Thank you, good night," "night," you rolled over and eventually fell asleep.

_____

The training staff decided that they were going to do fitness testing, the beep test included, you had been going for quite some time you, Lotte and Emily were the only ones currently still going, the rest of the team had either stopped or been pulled out by the medics or trainers so they didn't over do themselves.

"How?" Lotted huffed out as she doubled over trying to catch her breath, having given up, you on the other hand looked like you were still just doing a light jog.

"Okay Y/N, we're stopping you there, sit down and make sure to have plenty of water, we're also going to get you an electrolyte drink," you huffed in annoyance but complied and walked over to were Leah was sitting on the sidelines, taking a seat next to her, she lent towards you with her arms open ready for a hug.

"I don't think you want to do that, I'm like seriously sweaty," You warned her, "That performance deserves a hug, no matter how sweaty," you laughed as you lent in briefly hugging her, before moving to lie down, your legs still bent up, "you weren't wrong about being sweaty," she joked causing you to laugh "I did warn you,". 

You and Leah were alone, as she watched the rest of the team do the other tests, you were recovering lying on the grass, with a towel over your eyes to protect them from the burning sun. "How did you do that though? Are you actually fine?" Leah asked, ever so slightly concerned, she didn't want you to be overworking yourself due to being new, "I could've kept going if it wasn't so hot, or the fact that I wasn't stopped," you said and she nodded, not that you could see though, you were informed you couldn't continue testing until you had cooled down the medics not wanting to risk you getting heat stroke, however there was no way that was going to happen anytime soon, due to the scorching sun, "Can we go inside for a bit? Speed up the cooling down process," you asked her as you pulled the towel off your eyes, lifting you head slightly to look at her, "Sure," you stood up quickly, and turned to Leah who had reached her hands out for you to grab and help her up, "you haven't done any testing today, you should be the one helping me up" you joked, and she pushed you playfully once she was standing, "that's no way to treat someone who just helped you up," "oh shut up," she said as she wrapped her arm around your shoulders pulling you into her side as you walked.

_____

"I don't even know why you like playing them, they're so boring," you said as you sat down next to Leah on one of the sun loungers, you had to admit they were really strange sun loungers, as they were double ones, for some reason meaning two people had to sit on one, but it didn't matter too much as the team was close.

"They use my brain, keep me smart," she teased "Don't want you falling behind the rest of us I suppose," you teased her back, "Oh shut up, just because you duxed," you stuck your tongue out at her before pulling out your phone to message some people, until Leah managed to rope you into helping her do sudokus, you both giggled away as you spoke, before you were interrupted by Beth, "Why wasn't I invited?" she whined "We're doing sudokus," you explained, "oh ew, what movie are we watching tonight?" she asked, not getting a response.

"Beth," you both whined as you looked over to her who just shrugged her shoulders, "what?" she knew what, she just sent a message to the team asking when everyone else would be out because she felt like a third wheel with you two. Before long the whole team was outside and the movie had started, they had decided on ABBA which you didn't really like and so you quickly found yourself succumbing to your exhaustion from the day. Your eyelids opened around half an hour later and you realised you had moved closer to Leah and snuggled into her side while you slept, she had her arm out around your shoulders, "Oh sorry," you groggily spoke as you lifted your head preparing to move, "Oh, it's fine don't worry, you don't have to move if you don't want to, it's more warm like this too," she said softly smiling as her eyes stayed on the screen, you let out a small hum before placing your head back on her shoulder and quickly drifting off again.

[mo0nfairy]

Bro when they remade the game of re4, Leon made me want to just....do anything for him. He's just- so- AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH.....You know? And thinking of him as a yandere made me giggle and kicking my feet

part 2. part 3. part 4.

tw :: yandere!leon, obsessive!leon, alcohol, kidnapping, drugging blood, being chained up, insinuations of suicide.

⸺ ommgggg !!! i've been playing the game bit by bit in my free time and im actively going batshit over this man. so here are some of my thoughts……………….

you met leon during the events of RE2 in raccoon city. you ever heard of scary dog privilege? that was basically him with you the entire night. your personal bodyguard, your guard dog. he saved your life over and over and over again until you both practically lost count. however, once you both survived the night and the sun arose, you went your separate ways (much to his dismay). law enforcement and the government were attempting to track down survivors, due to their theories of them having links with umbrella. you had absolutely nothing to do with it, obvi. so, to avoid it all, you vanished. and for 6 long, insufferable years, leon has lived without you. countless therapy sessions, solace in alcohol, and numerous partners who didn’t last longer than a month, nothing could make him forget you.

now (knowing your luck), you just so happen to be one of the missing hikers the police officers speak of in the very beginning of RE4. you were taking a daily stroll through the woods to meditate before you were kidnapped and brought into the los iluminados cult. fortunately for you, you managed to evade being infected. however, you have still spent the last week in sheer misery. running from the village-folk, dodging hidden bear-traps, and scavenging for any crumbs you could consume. you can only dream of the shower you'd take after this nightmare, where you can scrub your skin of the grime, blood, and god knows whatever substances have stained your form. you did befriend a lone wolf, however, so that's a plus!

leon just so happens to be in the same area you're in, only with intentions of saving the president's daughter. he had hoped that by becoming a secret agent, he would be able to manipulate the provided resources and find you. before he knows it, leon soon wakes with a gasp, finding his hands above his head and his wrists chained together. he yanks the chain down, only to hear a quiet voice whisper "hey, quit it!" that voice. leon springs to his feet and turns to verify his suspicions, the sudden movement behind you scaring you into doing the same. he gasps your name in disbelief, before he falls into awed silence while staring at you in complete captivation. you have no fucking idea how much he missed you. all these years of searching for you, dread satiated through him at the possibility of you being dead. leon knows in his heart he would not have the strength to live if you had truly been gone forever. but now, there are no worries. the light of his entire life is alive and by his side! exactly where they belong.

on your end, however, was a complete different story. that night 6 years ago was now an entire blur. umbrella had managed to hunt you down mere days after the event, drugging you with a variety of different remedies. their efforts succeeded and had caused you to almost completely forget that night. your brain has only been able to scrutinize the blood, the death, and the groaning and screaming of undead figures around you. weekly visits with your therapist are helping you disinter forgotten pieces, but leon wasn't present in any of these newfound memories. so, when this stranger whispers your name into the air and stares at you as if you had just descended from heaven itself, you aren’t able to connect the dots.

a smile, one that could rival the sun, breaks out on the face of the mysterious blonde. tears brim in his honeyed gaze. "oh, god. you have no fucking idea how happy i am to finally see you!” holding his hands out, he takes several long strides towards you to engulf you, to where you take several steps away from him.

"who the fuck are you?" his world shatters, "how do you know me? are you the one behind this shit?" your eyes are full of confusion and uncertainty. a major contrast to the look of heroism and gratitude you gazed at him with ages ago.

without another breath, leon pulls the chain towards him, causing you to spring forward. your wrists are tied above your head and your feet are practically dangling off the floor. there are now mere inches in between you and this man. and the look of sheer horror on his face is unforgettable.

"look at me…” his eyes feel like bullets stinging into you, tears spilling down his cheeks. “it- it's me, angel! it’s leon! leon scott kennedy, i worked in the RPD that night 6 years ago.” his breath hits your face as he desperately recounts the worst night of your life. “y/n, i saved your life. and you saved mine. don't you remember?"

leon’s hand cups your face, skin hovering over yours, almost as if he were afraid to fully touch you. his face scrunches up from the sobs racking through his body.

“don’t you know how much i still love you?”

you finally have the revelation that whoever this 'leon scott kennedy' is was with you that night in raccoon city. you also conclude that you are most definitely not getting away from him so easily.

n e ways.... i went wayyyy to overboard with this, but like i said, i've been having some THOUGHTS about re4 and our golden boy. also some other characters too, hehe…………

if you'd like to see more, pls don't be afraid to send some asks in !!

[templetogavage]

Weekly Weighing (07/21/2024 to 07/27/2024)

Below are more than seven posts I enjoyed from gaining and encouraging Tumblr this week.

1. https://www.tumblr.com/whopper-t/756730410387505152

As always, we have to include a classic before and after. I love seeing a guy give up muscle gains for a gut, and @fitgainer certainly has.

2. https://www.tumblr.com/fatlardassboy/757147827261652992

@gordoguapoofficial will keeping making this roundup with posts like this. I've rewatched this one quite a few times this week.

3. https://www.tumblr.com/jack90265/756924780327927808

I can only fit one video into a text post, so I chose to grab a screenshot of this one- most of the appeal of watching @thiccgay in motion is represented by this still, in my opinion. Soft belly, played with, while chugging. This is the bread and butter of gainer content.

4. https://www.tumblr.com/zangtang/757057344001720320

Just look at the way @athlethick fills out this shirt. That is all.

5. https://www.tumblr.com/whopper-t/757106928113614848

Another before and after! @whopper-t shows off how much he's changed over 10 years, and he should be proud of what he's done. That boy turned into a man.

6. https://www.tumblr.com/gimmefictiontx/757094729711222784/would-love-to-see-you-and-another-gluttonous-hog

Sometimes the right clothing can accentuate every curve. @gimmefictiontx should wear exclusively this from now on, in my humble opinion.

7. https://www.tumblr.com/beefyrog/757106611555876864

@beefyrog takes a perfectly perfunctory belly pic and, through a combination of glasses, beard, hair, and the prop of a video game controller, manages to produce something I find incredibly hot. Well done, and definitely worth inclusion.

Bonus: @allfattenedup

This week, @allfattenedup had contending posts nearly every day of this week. He also launched an OnlyFans, as he's moving his content there going forward. I've been a fan for some time, but given both of those facts, I thought I'd give him his own, dedicated section here this week.

1. https://www.tumblr.com/allfattenedup/756653550606614528/do-guys-outside-de-gaining-community-still

A fun little anecdote about how much changes at the club when you get as fat as he has. I recommend reading it.

2. https://www.tumblr.com/allfattenedup/756744189769908224/hey-fatso-how-does-a-guy-who-used-to-be-vain-and

Anon was really having fun with this one! You see the rest of it and the response at the link.

3. https://www.tumblr.com/allfattenedup/756834717451632640

Apparently, in addition to the artistic video content, he's working on stories! Submit some prompts if you're interested.

4. https://www.tumblr.com/allfattenedup/756937472240451584

Here's his post from last week promoting his new OnlyFans. Check it out if you're interested in sampling some artfully-made gaining videos.

5. https://www.tumblr.com/allfattenedup/757015909493768192/you-undoubtedly-and-officially-have-a-fat-face

An anon ask about how it feels to have a double chin, and an honest answer- good fun.

6. https://www.tumblr.com/allfattenedup/757106563945316352/you-know-i-had-stumbled-across-a-gainer-years

I recommend clicking through to read this whole thing. Anon talks about being inspired to gain by @allfattenedup.

7. https://www.tumblr.com/allfattenedup/757208128014172160

Finally, let's close with a nice, lengthy bit of writing that describes how every moment walking around in a fat body can be enthralling for a gainer.

And that, finally, is this week's Weekly Weighing!

[wirewitchviolet]

That thing about 'the arc of history bending towards justice...'

I'm pretty sure I've gone on about this before, and I'm pretty sure I'm preaching to the choir, but I just had a well-intentioned acquaintance try to give an inspirational speech about American trans people's fears right now, and his heart was in the right place, but all his facts were wrong, in some really important ways. I feel like the perspective he has is the same one as... basically every decent person who isn't like, intimately familiar with WPATH, so please spread this around, and please if you only read one rambling history lesson from a trans person about the current state of things, make it this one.

So here's the big problem. Trans people get brought up in the mainstream media a LOT these days, but the framing is totally wrong. The impression people get is that there is presently a big push for new trans rights, where we want proper government recognition, and trans women in particular want to be able to use public women's restrooms, and play on girls-only sports teams, and a dozen other things. That is a lie you are being fed. These are all rights we ALREADY HAD, for decades. Possibly centuries depending what we're talking about specifically and where we're talking, even. The big issue right now is that a bunch of bigots just woke up one day about 10 years ago and decided that nothing else they were angling for was getting them anywhere with the general public, so hey let's make a boogieman out of this minority of a minority nobody knows the first thing about and act like all the horrors they're inflicting are just them enforcing some totally fictional status quo.

Speaking personally, I can say that The Trans Agenda in like 2014 was something like: 1- I'm gonna make a nice big pot of chili. 2- I'm gonna maybe replay some old video games from the '90s I haven't taken down off the shelf in a while. And OK maybe 3- It'd be cool if it weren't just the medical professionals who specifically specialize in trans stuff had enough of an education to know that when there's a difference in how a drug is going to effect men vs. women, it's for reasons directly tied to the levels of various hormones, or would at least trust their trans patients to know what we're talking about and not give us the wrong doses of things and maybe kill us as a result. And also like, treat us for regular things like broken arms (real example) without weirdly panicking about some prescription we're on they don't recognize.

There was absolutely not a point where some trans woman started petitioning the government or whatever to let her pee in a toilet with a little placard of a stick figure in a dress in front. We've just been doing that the whole time. Nobody's ever had a problem with that. You didn't know we were in there? OK. If I'm like at a restaurant and have to use the bathroom, I don't know how many of the other women in there have like, type O blood. I also don't care, and I think everyone would agree it was weird if I suddenly did care, and demand they post a guard out front asking to see driver's licenses. Just completely out of the blue some nutcases from the UK started foaming at the mouth and writing weird tabloid articles about their completely unfounded fears that... I don't even know. Buffalo Bill from Silence of the Lambs might put on a wig and follow them into the bathroom, dose them with chloroform, and drag them to some basement dungeon through some series of secret passages or something.

This was based on literally nothing at all, to be clear. Like, people pushing for this went and did serious research for anything even anecdotal to back them up on this, and didn't actually find anything. Then they started walking into public restrooms with cameras throwing doors open on people and going "see? See? Some creep could totally do this if we don't ban trans people from using bathrooms!" And... somehow this got traction? I figure it's because coincidentally there was this whole other thing going where people were looking at how every building had equal numbers of men's and women's rooms and saying "you know, like, 90% of people who come in here are the same gender and we end up with really long lines, what if we just took the signs down and told everyone to just use whichever?" which... when it's happening at the same time Chicken Little is ranting and raving about the boogieman wearing a cheap wig, wires got crossed? And suddenly we've got waves of legislation passing all over about who's allowed to use what bathrooms with weird standards that'd involve like DNA tests to actually enforce properly. Absurd stuff.

Meanwhile, your average trans activist at the time was just like... sitting there eating a sandwich and going "huh, they're making a TV series based on Fargo? That's an odd thing to happen out of the blue. And yeah we started going "hey, what the hell?" when this stuff started passing because like... yeah that's what you do when you see an article in the local newspaper that says you can't go to the bathroom at work or whatever without swabbing your cheek and waiting for lab results for 3 weeks first or whatever.

Same deal with sports. Major sports organizations like the Olympics have been weirdly paranoid about men pretending to be women since 1950. And there have been, to the best of my ability to research... zero men who have actually done this. And while the weird standards used for this have been used to kick a good number of women out over the years, none of those women have been trans, for what that's worth. Really, the whole gender testing thing has only ever been used for horrifying stuff like forcing women to strip in front of random creeps, or let them do "invasive internal exams" and of course so many incidents where some woman who isn't white wins at something and people move the goalposts to in some way to get her specifically banned. You may be thinking, "wait didn't I just see a whole bunch of news coverage about someone getting banned after some gender testing thing? She was trans right?" No. You're thinking of Caster Semenya. She's a woman. A cis woman. F on her birth certificate, born with standard issue female genitals, has periods, all that. People are just being weird racists there and crossing the streams with random transphobia. That and just... half-reading stories and making stuff up.

To the best of my knowledge, the total count of trans athletes who have competed in the Olympics would actually be... three nonbinary people, who so far as I can tell all competed against people with the same gender they had on their birth certificates, nothing done medically, so, nobody should have any problem there. Caitlyn Jenner, who didn't come out as a woman until like... 40 years after competing, on the men's team, and Laurel Hubbard, the first and only trans woman to compete at the Olympics as a woman, who placed... dead last, flubbing all three of her lifts.

If we just look at sports in general, OK, there WAS one big famous where a trans woman wanted to compete in a major sporting event, was banned from it, took the organizers to court over it, and the eventual ruling was there was no reason at all she shouldn't be allowed to play against other women. Renée Richards. And this was all the way back in 1976. Nearly 50 years ago now.

And of course in more recent years, again, after a bunch of random bigots just completely out of the blue started losing their minds about trans people with no prompting and started lobbying for new laws banning us from all kinds of things nobody had had a problem with us doing forever, there was Mack Beggs, a trans guy, who was forced, by one of those aforementioned baffling reactionary new laws, to compete on his high school's girl's wrestling team. He didn't want to be there, they didn't want him to be there, but the law said hey, F on your birth certificate, we're classifying you as a girl despite how clearly wrong that is. And then there's been a bunch of other weird cases like that like one state banning trans girls from playing any sports with other girls which only affected one single girl in the entire state, who was playing lacrosse on a team that wouldn't have even existed if she hadn't personally organized it.

But the point here is, trans people aren't asking for anything here. We're just standing here, and people are flipping out and banning us from doing all these things without any prompting. And hell, I THINK this one got shot down in higher courts, but when Florida got the brain worms on this and started passing all the anti-trans legislation they could think of, they actually included a ban on us just standing there! The wording was something like (and I apologize that I can't find it, search engines are useless now), "if a child can potentially see someone who was assigned male at birth who is wearing women's clothes, it's considered sexual assault."

It's important to understand what's actually going on here, both because what's going on here is just plain terrifying, but also because there is this huge segment of the population who has this weird idea that people's rights only ever get better, there's just some weird arbitrary ratcheting where you have to take a number and get in line. Like, "hey, used to be only white men could vote, then eventually the Progress bar filled enough that we let white women start voting too. Then we had to wait for it to fill up again, hey, we're ending this whole segregation of black people thing. Gotta give it another 30 years or so to fill up, now hey, gay people can get married! Don't be impatient trans folks, you just need to stay in line and wait for it to fill again for your turn!"

That's not how anything has ever actually worked. It would frankly be absolutely insane if it actually did, but like, this is an idea people get in their heads because history textbooks really like to gloss over all the stuff that makes the country look pretty bad and promote this whole "stuff is just always getting better!" vibe. But no, sometimes, things just straight up get worse for people. Ten years ago I could go to the damn bathroom, I could have social media accounts, I could access all the medications I need to live, I could safely set foot in any given state in the country... at least if I kept some witnesses around at all times to verify I was not in fact hitting on my would-be murderer in any of the black states on this map.

The problem is NOT that with Trump in power, the pause button is getting hit on trans people climbing towards some state of finally getting to be regular people. We were (largely) already there, and there's been a huge push over the past decade to strip that away from us. And Trump plus the rest of the Republican party in general have made very specific promises to make that way worse real real soon, including several things that will straight up kill a ton of us.

Like, when I'm talking about losing access to necessary medical treatments, I'm not talking about "THE SURGERY" and magic pills that give you boobs or beards. A lot of trans people are trans because there's weird medical stuff that in addition to messing with what does and doesn't grow mess with things like whether your blood flows properly and whether various organs do what they should. Just one of those many things the average person doesn't know, because everything written about us is from deranged bigots making crap up.

[thehollowwriter]

Summary: Slaving away in the bowels of Octavinelle as an anenome, Ace finds himself desperate to find a way out of his mess. Being put under the watch of a quiet Octavinelle second year thrusts an opportunity at Ace. Ace decides that, yes, Finn Clearcove would definitely be a help in this situation. It goes about as well as expected. (It does have a part 2, but I'll see how well this goes before rewriting that XD)

This is a rewrite of my first ever Finn fic, over a full year later. Please stick around to the end, I've got some special words for ya'll. (Here's the original, but pls don't look DON'T LOOK it's embarrassing/hj) Art for banner by @authoruio

Warnings: Swearing, forced labour, mentions of blood, that's about it Word count: 5239

(Pls reblog and leave a comment ❤️)

Anenome-Free Gaurauntee! (Hopefully)

Ace Trappola had fucked up. Now, this may seem unsurprising to most. Ace could never keep himself out of trouble. Whether it be running his mouth mouth or acting brashly, his actions often landed him in hot water.

This time, though, Ace had really fucked up.

The ghastly purple and blue anenome protruding from his head like some vile fungus was the bane of his existence. Not only did it look ridiculous and showcase his failures to anyone with a pair of eyes, but it turned him into a living puppet that bastard Azul could pull and contort as he pleased.

Ace was so confident when he made that contract. He never once thought he'd be kissing his freedom goodbye when he scrawled his signature onto that damning page.

Ugh, if only he'd known how many other poor souls had also made contracts and that he wouldn't have a chance. Maybe then he wouldn't be in this mess.

"Or maybe you wouldn't be in this mess if you didn't make a contract at all and asked Riddle for help or something." Yuu had said pointedly, and Ace could only groan in frustration and regret.

Now, Ace was standing in the VIP room in front of Azul's polished and tidy desk, wondering why he had been called here.

He didn't do anything wrong, did he? Floyd wasn't going to squeeze him again, was he? Oh no, anything but that, his ribs still hurt from last time-

"Don't look so terrified," Azul said, his smooth, suave voice laced with amusement. "You haven't done anything wrong. This time. But you're cutting it awfully close. I decided it would be best that I be generous and warn you that you're riding a fine line, Trappola. Your next punishment will be much harsher if you continue fighting against paying your dues. You're almost worse than the Savanaclaw anenomes."

There was a brief silence, and Ace quickly nodded, his gut tightening as he wondered what could possibly be even harsher than what was already dished out.

Azul checked his watch. "Your break ends soon. You best get going. But while I have you here, I'll let you know we're holding an event to commemorate the sports tournaments this weekend. Further details will be announced in time, but Floyd will be playing for the second year's, and Jade will be working front of house. You," Azul pointed at Ace with his cane. "Will be in the back because I can not have your abysmal attitude ruining the experience for the guests."

"Wait," Ace spluttered. "I have basketball games on the weekend too, I can't-"

"Your games are midmorning." Azul interrupted calmly. "You can work in the afternoons and evenings."

"But I'll be exhasuted-"

"Then you're lucky to be working in the kitchens and not running around for customers. Aren't I just so benevolent?" Azul's smile was stupidly smug as he spoke. "Of course, you will need someone watching you and the others while Jade and Floyd are absent. Hmm, I think Finn should be up to the task. He can keep you all in check."

"Who?" Ace blurted. Finn? Who was Finn? The name was vaguely familiar, but there were so many students in Night Raven that it could be anybody.

"Finn Clearcove. One of my second years."

As Ace eyed Azul wearily, that feeling of recognition sparked again.

Finn Clearcove. He'd heard that name before. When did-

Ah. Ace remembered now. When he and the others were helping Yuu and Grim investigate the strange freak accidents orchestrated by Savanaclaw, Finn was one of the students on their list of possible targets.

They found him in the library, reading silently in a dark corner. Ace almost couldn't believe that such a tiny, though definitely not light, guy was on their list at all. Sure, the dorm leader was small too, but he carried himself in a way that demanded respect and let you know he was powerful. This guy didn't give that vibe at all.

Their attempts at talking to Finn failed drastically as Finn's piercing eyes stared right through them, and he told them into to leave in a way that hinted at consequences if they did not listen.

Ace didn't really think about Finn after that. Finn wasn't scary, and he didn't do or say anything particularly striking, like the twins or Jack did.

Now, though, Ace's mind was running a mile a minute, trying to scrape up any other memories of Finn that may have been buried under other things weighing on his mind. Nothing.

What was Finn like? Was he as bad as the twins? Did he also relish in people's suffering? Did he play around with the emotions of others, too? ...Did he need a stepstool when getting stuff from a shelf?

Ace was drowning in these thoughts even as Azul ushered him out of the VIP room and back to work, forcing him to slave away under the watchful eyes of the twins until the skies turned dark.

Ace collapsed into bed, exhausted and woke up sluggish and filled with dread. Although he was confident in his skills, the damn anenome prevented him from practising when he wanted and left him tired and grumpy even when he did have time.

Unsurprisingly, this affected his gameplay. Cut to the aftermath of that morning's game and...they lost horribly. Sure, NRC lost a lot anyways, but even as Ace wiped sweat from his forehead and chugged down water, his heart was pounding in a mix of exertion and fury at the fact that the damn anenome made this loss worse than it ever could have been.

He made so many dumb mistakes. Mistakes a beginner would make! It pissed him off and embarrassed him to no end. And that wasn't even covering the fact that the stupid thing sticking out of his head was visible for all to see! They kept pointing and laughing at it!

Ace's mood was sour, and a storm cloud might as well have spawned above his head as he got changed and stomped to Mostro Lounge.

Somehow, Ace's heart managed to sink further when he saw just how many people were there. Not just students but families who came to watch the games. Parents, siblings, extended family, the whole place was packed to the brim.

When Ace arrived at the kitchen doors, Azul and Finn were already there, quietly conversing with each other.

Ace couldn't hear what they were saying, but he wouldn't have cared anyway because he was too busy biting back a snort at the sight of Finn. The guy was even smaller than Ace remembered, probably shorter than Epel.

Finn's face was set in a blank, unreadable expression as he quietly listened to what Azul was saying and occasionally murmured a reply. The conversation came to an end when Azul caught sight of Ace and that enraging smile spread onto his face.

"Ah, Ace, I see you're on time for once. Good." He said. "Finn, this is Ace Trappola. You'll need to keep an extra eye on him today and tomorrow, I'm afraid."

Finn nodded but didn't say anything in reply. He gazed silently at Ace with bright, light purple eyes that would make one think of an amethyst stone.

Ace met Finn's gaze and was suddenly overcome with such an overwhelming feeling of dread it startled him.

Azul must have noticed because he smirked and said, "I'm sure you'll behave, Ace." And left.

Ace didn't answer, still locked in some kind of weird staring contest with this tiny second year.

Finn suddenly turned and motioned for Ace to come inside the kitchens, where the other anenomes had already started working; preparing ingredients, cooking, washing dishes, and more.

Finn pulled a kitchen uniform from the small rack near the entrance and began putting it on, then pointed to where a Pomefiore student was frantically washing an ever growing pile of dishes consisting of both kitchen equipment and dishes from the Lounge itself.

"You're on dish duty, Mister Trappola." He said, and Ace realised this was the first time he'd ever heard him speak since the library encounter. His voice was so soft that Ace almost didn't hear it, but it was firm and commanding all the same. Sharp teeth just barely poked out from his lips. Was he like the twins?

Ace nodded and forced a smile, goosebumps rippling across the skin as he looked back at Finn. When he looked away to go and start on the dishes, the feeling of dread vanished.

Ace looked back at Finn. He caught his eyes, and while Finn gestured at him to get to work and feeling returned. Ace looked back to the dishes. The feeling vanished again.

Ace frowned. Weird.

"Get moving, Trappola!" Finn, well, it was too quiet to classify as a shout, so... called. He called, and Ace hurried to work.

Ace hated dish duty. There was always more than he could keep up with, but he didn't want anything to slip out of his hands and break, so he had to take it slower than he wanted. He was always hurried and run ragged, and then those damn twins would tell him he "missed a few spots" and make him do it all again.

Ace much preferred working front of the house, charming customers, and carrying drinks and food to and fro.

Well, at least he could see the rest of the kitchen from here since his station was at the back and out of the way. Ace found himself focusing on Finn.

For someone with such chubby fingers, Finn was nimble and efficient with knives. He wielded them with an ease and familiarity that only came from years of experience.

Though Finn was small and soft-spoken, the anenomes and other staff listened to him whenever he gave those quiet but firm commands.

Some anenomes were stubborn, but Finn's withering stare got them to shut right up. If they continued to resist, well, a harsh tug on the blue and purple monstrosities on their heads was enough pain to get them in line.

Ace wondered if he missed something because, sense of dread aside, Finn was pretty hard to take seriously with the way he strained his neck to look someone in the eyes and how he needed a step stool to grab anything a bit far off the ground and the way the buttons of his uniform seemed ready to snap right off with the way it strained against his middle.

When break came around, Ace was ready to bolt and embrace his brief moment of respite when he realised the room wasn't completely empty.

Finn remained alone in the kitchen and busied himself with making two cups of tea and a small snack.

"Pretty sure we aren't allowed to do that." Ace commented. "We have to bring our own stuff. Azul's gonna take that out of your pay, you know."

There was a long stretch of silence before Finn quietly said; "It's for Jade and Azul."

Ace furrowed his brows. "Why? Are you like their assistant or something?"

Finn didn't reply. Ace decided to take that as either a yes or a maybe. He watched Finn disappear into the VIP room, where he didn't come out until the very end of the break.

When Finn returned to start prepping for the next slew of orders, Ace found himself paying a little closer attention to him and his appearance.

Well, he didn't see anything new at first. Just the same details as before. Finn was very short, very chubby, and had curly green hair pulled back into a painfully tight bun. His eyes were like shining lilac amethyst gemstones, the colour only accentuated by the... dark circles under them.

Huh. Ace didn't notice that before. Now that he really looked, though, Finn looked really exhausted. He didn't really show it in his actions or voice, but it was prominent in his eyes.

"Work, Trappola." Finn hissed, and Ace nearly jumped out of skin. How had Finn noticed? Nevermind, he had to get to work before he got in trouble.

The rest of the night went by surpsingly quickly, the pace becoming calmer as the number of customers dwindled and the sky darkened.

At 9pm, Mostro Lounge closed its doors to customers. At 11pm, Ace was finally allowed to leave now that every bit of cutlery, crockery, and cooking utensils were cleaned and packed away, and the work surfaces and tables were wiped down, and the floor was swept and mopped until the place was sparkling clean.

Ace was the last anenome to leave, exhaustion from his game and full day of working slowing him down.

However, before he left, Ace paused at the doors when he realised Finn was still there, bringing tea to the VIP room.

"You do know that Azul's not gonna pay you overtime or give you special treatment for doing all that, right?" He called. "Your shift's over."

Finn stopped walking and glanced at Ace, his usually deadpan face crinkling to form an irritated expression. "We don't tolerate loitering, Mister Trappola. Leave."

Ace felt a sudden spike of pain at the base of his anenome and laughed nervously. "Hah, right. Yeah, I'll go. You keep doing... whatever you're trying to do." He said, backing away and out of the Lounge.

When he was out of sight, Ace heard the door to the VIP room open and close.

Just how long was Finn going to be in there this time? What was he doing in there? It didn't take an entire half-hour break to give someone tea.

...Well, going out of your way to make someone tea when you aren't obligated to is pretty nice.

Ace sighed. Poor Finn. If he wasn't an assistant or trying to gain something like Ace first thought, and instead acting out of the kindness of his heart or whatever, then the shortstack was in for a nasty surprise. Azul would take full advantage of someone like that.

The next day was Finn's second and last day of watching over Ace and the other anenomes. It passed by without incident, more or less the same as the previous one.

After Finn's time there ended, and things returned to normal, Ace found himself paying attention to his presence anytime he noticed him.

He wasn't too sure why. Maybe it was that sense of dread. It did pique Ace's curiosity. He's never experienced something like that. Maybe it was Finn's unusual dedication to the finely dressed tyrants that made Ace's life hell.

Whatever the reason, Ace's observations carried on enough for him to recognise Finn had a routine that repeated day in and day out, a routine that he rarely broke from.

Finn was always at the lounge early, before any of the other staff or anenomes arrived, either talking to Azul and the twins or beginning prep for the upcoming shift.

He worked quietly and efficiently at the bar, which seemed to be his usual workstation (how had Ace not noticed him before?), methodically mixing drinks and avoiding people's eyes. He rarely spoke aside from a passing word or two to customers and co-workers.

In his brief moments of respite, when he had nothing to make, Finn would close his eyes and listen to the live band always performing at Mostro Lounge, or gaze out the large glass wall into the sea of vibrant corals and fish with a tired, melancholy expression. Or at least, that's what Ace guessed it was, Finn's face still looked more or less the same as always.

When Finn's break came around, he would busy himself with making tea (the number of cups depended on if either of the twins were there or not), then disappear into the VIP room until his break ended.

And that wasn't all. Even when Finn didn't have a shift, Ace would occasionally spot him around. Most of his time would be spent in the VIP room if he did show up, unless there was a "client" seeing Azul.

When he left, sometimes his clothes would look just a bit ruffled, and other times, his face would look just a little pink. Weird.

Ace wouldn't dream of giving a fraction more of his time to those bastards outside of what he was forced to give. He couldn't imagine willingly going in there in his free time (that is, if Finn was willing at all), but it seemed Finn didn't stop there.

Sometimes, but very rarely, Ace would catch sight of Finn having lunch with Azul and the terror twins at the cafeteria. His plate would be piled high with food, and he'd quietly eat while the other three spoke.

Finn would join in from time to time, but he only really seemed to say a word or two. Sometimes, he'd even laugh. At least Ace assumed that's what it was, if Finn covering his mouth with his hand as his shoulders shook slightly and his eyes crinkled was anything to go by. Ace wondered what they were talking about.

It was... weird. Watching Finn. Ace couldn't for the life of him figure out if Finn was a secret addition to Octavinelle's infamous trio, or some poor soul somehow forced into the role of assistant or secretary and made to follow them around.

"Is Finn... always around those three?" Ace asked another Octavinelle student during his break, gazing at the firmly shut door to the VIP room. He wasn't a creep, he wasn't going around following Finn everywhere he went! He barely knew anything about him!

The third year he was talking to shrugged. "Not always. But Finn's been hovering around them since they arrived together in their first year. No idea what he could want with them, nor do I care.. He's a weird little creep that keeps to himself, and I'm happy with that as long as he doesn't come near me."

Ace glanced back at them to ask another question but stopped when he saw them holding their hand out expectantly.

Ace growled a curse word and dug through his pockets to slap a few madol in their hand. He didn't say anything, though. It was on him for asking something from an Octavinelle student. However, he didn't entirely regret it.

Finn Clearcove was definitely... close to Azul, Jade, and Floyd in some weird way. Ace wouldn't go so far as to say they're friends, but they weren't simply strangers or acquaintances either. Ace knew Azul would rather die than let just anyone enter the VIP room as they please. There were also a few occasions when Ace witnessed Finn sway Azul's opinion in one way or another or convince him to do something.

However, Ace swore he saw Finn with Azul's study guide once. He would have thought Finn was actually an anenome too, but the second year was very much lacking the presence of an anenome on his head.

The best guess Ace could venture was that Finn worked for those three, running around like a personal assistant making tea and everything, and being run so ragged he had eyebags.

Ace mulled over all he had learned, and then, well, an idea began to form. Would it work? He had absolutely no idea. Probably not. But it was worth a shot to get out of this hell.

Trying to convince Finn to help get rid of the anenome shouldn't end too badly... right?

***

After another gruelling half shifted at Mostro Lounge, Ace sacrificed the momentary relief that was his break to instead stop Finn before he could leave with his teatray to enter the VIP room.

Finn was busy fixing a pot of tea as always when Ace came into the kitchen.

"Hey, Finn!" Ace said, coming over to stand next to him. Finn didn't reply, simply busying himself with placing the teapot onto the silver serving tray with the teacups and their matching saucers and the milk and the sugar.

Ace frowned.

"Finn! Hello, I want to talk to you!"

Finn continued to ignore him. Ace reached out to tap his shoulder, but what whatever he was going to do or say next was interrupted by Finn suddenly grabbing his hand and wrenching it back before he could even react.

Finn clutched his wrist so tight it hurt. Ace yelped and tried to pull back, but the older boy's grasp was far stronger than expected.

Finn's eyes seemed to pierce right through him, and that horrible sense of dread came crashing down on him once more.

Ace paled. One of the reasons for Finn's placement on the list of Savanaclaw's potential targets sprang forth, finally clambering free from its place buried underneath other memories.

"He has a knack for spotting weakness."

"Mister Trappola," Finn said slowly. He didn't loosen his hold. His knuckles started turning white. "I'm busy. What do you want?"

"I, uh-" Ace swallowed before continuing, deciding his freedom was worth the shortstack's wrath. "I wanted to- to ask if you could do something for me."

Finn's expression didn't change, but there was a brief flicker of interest in those creepy, iridescent eyes. "If you want something, Azul-"

"No!" Ace snapped. Then he took a deep breath and continued again. "No. Stop with the Azul advertising! Please? I want a favour from you, Finn."

For a good few minutes, there was no reply. Ace would say Finn was in a state of disbelief, but it was impossible to tell.

Finally, Finn raised an eyebrow and looked Ace up and down, then said; "Is that so?" In a tone that almost made Ace take his words back. "Well, what do you want, then? I want to leave while the tea's still hot."

To emphasise his point, Finn gently tapped on the teapot with his pointer finger.

"Uh, right. So, you and Azul seem to hang around each other an awful lot. He must trust you quite a bit, right?" Ace said quickly, silently cursing at himself as every single word came out the entirely wrong way than intended. "Well, I mean, of course he must, you're always in that VIP roon of his and- and you've changed his mind about a few things more than once. That's quite impressive, right? A guy like him doesn't seem interested in what other people have to say, unless-"

"Get on with it, Trappola." Finn interrupted, his soft voice cutting clean through Ace's own much louder one somehow.

"Right, sorry. What I'm saying is, you and Azul have some weird situation going on, and I won't pretend to understand it at all, but I do understand enough to ask that perhaps you would have mercy on this poor freshman and convince the boss man to get rid of this anenome early..?"

Finn blinked at him, and for once, Ace could actually read his expression. Disbelief. 'Better than anger, I guess..?'

"You want me to... what?"

"Get rid of this anenome!" Ace repeated, a little louder. "I can't stand being a puppet! I want this damn thing off my head! Look, I'll even help you get out from under Azul's thumb yourself in return, just please get it off!"

Finn crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes at Ace, contemplating his words. Something... shifted in his eyes, though Ace couldn't really describe what it was.

On the inside, Finn wanted to laugh. He didn't know Ace all that well. Their interactions were few, and conversations, fewer. He didn't like Ace and didn't care to spend much more time around him than he needed to.

Now, though... now, he had an interesting opportunity presented to him, an opportunity in the form of an overworked and desperate freshman who did not seem to understand that the person he was talking to was not some sucker contorted to Azul's whims.

"Fine. I'll humour you. You want me to question my own housewarden for you, then? Me, not even the vice housewarden, asking Azul Ashengrotto to free a stubborn little first year from the terms of his own contract? The 'payment' you just offered me?" Finn made a noise that sounded far too much like a haughty scoff for Ace's liking. "That is bottom of the barrel scrap. For what you want me to do, I just might take your services for myself."

"I can do that!" Ace squawked, trying and failing not to sound as desperate as he felt. "As long as I'm not slaving away for that guy, I don't care!"

Finn regarded him with a bemused expression.

"And why would I want that?" He asked. "You slack off and put up a fight, Mister Trappola. Why would I agree to this when I could make the same deal with someone more obedient?"

"I- Well, I- I'll listen to you!'

Finn cocked his head to the side. "Can you prove it?"

"Yeah! If you just give me a chance, then I'll-"

"A trial period, then?" Finn asked, humming thoughtfully as Ace frantically nodded his head. "That's not a bad idea. How about this. I'll give you, ah, about a month. Do what I ask of you, and if you behave and meet my expectations, we'll negotiate further terms from there, and I'll see if I can convince Azul to release you. Deal?"

"D- wait. Do I have to do all that on top of my work as an anenome?"

Ah, so he wasn't that stupid, then. Finn hummed. "Yes. I won't be unreasonable, but you will be giving up more of your free time. Of course, whether it's something worth giving up is up to you."

Ace went quiet, quite an unusual thing for someone like him, as he pondered his options. Although Yuu was confident they could somehow find a way to get rid of the anenome, Ace wasn't too sure. He certainly couldn't get rid of it himself, and Jade and Floyd weren't going to help him unless a miracle happened.

The other anenomes and Octavinelle students didn't want to risk coming under fire, and his own dorm leader was a bit too enthusiastic at the idea of him suffering the consequences of his actions. The professors seemed uninterested in doing anything about Azul at all.

That just left... Finn. Ace could either A. Slave away until Azul completed his education at Night Raven, losing sleep and energy and the will to live, or B. Slave away while also doing things for Finn for one month, and if he impressed Finn enough then maybel he'd have a chance of losing his anenome and just doing stuff for Finn, who was quite notably not running an entire cafe, instead. Ace much preferred those odds, slim as they were.

Ace looked back at Finn, wincing at those piercing eyes, and nodded. "Deal."

There was a brief pause, and Ace became painfully aware of the fact that Finn still hadn't let him go.

"Uh-" Ace pulled, though it was futile against Finn's iron grip. "You can let me go now-"

Finn tightened his hold and pulled Ace down so they were eye level. "We're not leaving it at that, Mister Trappola." He hissed. "Hold still."

Ace couldn't bite down the shriek of surpise and mild pain that left him as Finn's free hand scratched at his skin with nails that seemed a little longer than they were before. A tiny droplet of blood bloomed on the surface of his skin, red against peach.

"Ow, what the hell-"

"Shut up." Finn growled. He swiped the droplet away with his pointer finger so that it stained his own skin. Then, he began to... well, Ace wasn't too sure what it was doing, but it looked like he was drawing a picture in the air.

Ace opened his mouth to ask Finn what the hell he was doing, but his mouth clicked shut as sparks of scarlet began to appear before his very eyes.

Ace watched in silent awe as Finn began to draw a circle of scarlet around the spot where he gripped Ace's wrist, then drew some weird symbols Ace couldn't recognise inside that circle

The pentragram-sigil-glyph-thing?- hovered like that, quivering. It made Ace feel a bit nauseous just looking at it.

Finn murmured something too quiet for Ace to hear, and the cursed circle thing pulsed, then disappeared.

"What..." Ace almost couldn't find his words for a moment. When Finn finally released his grip, the card soldier cradled his aching wrist . "What the hell was that?! That's no magic I've ever seen!"

"That," Finn said slowly, feeling the side of the teapot and frowning. "Is a binding. To ensure you keep your word. I don't make contracts like Azul."

"Is that some kind of second year spell I haven't heard about?" Ace's mouth was moving almost immediately. "Ugh, I knew my brother was hiding some cool kooky stuff from me-"

"No." Finn's curt response stopped Ace short and blinked at Finn.

"No?"

"No." Finn repeated. "You won't learn that here."

"Where did you learn that, then?"

Finn said nothing, and Ace, upon realising he wouldn't be getting a response, instead asked, "What does that do, exactly?"

"I just told you, it ensures you keep your word," Finn replied, tapping his pen against the teapot to reheat the now lukewarm water.

Ace furrowed his brows, tracing over the bruises Finn left on his poor wrist, red slowly turning purplish.

"What happens if... if I don't?"

Finn put his pen away and tilted his head at Ace. Then, he smiled. His teeth, still not fully visible to Ace, gleamed in the light. It was an... unnerving sight. Ace wasn't sure if he had ever seen Finn smile before. If this was his smiles really looked like then, well, he understood why.

"I don't think it'll come to that." Finn said softly. "But if it does... you'll be wishing you never spoke to me at all. Now, off you go. You've wasted enough of my time."

Ace hesitated for a moment, but the dull aching of his wrist was a good reminder to listen. He scrambled for the door, mumbling his goodbyes, and vanished into the fray of staff and customers beyond the kitchen.

He leaned against the wall in one of the furthest corners of the lounge, panting a little from his run. As he tried to calm down and tried to collect himself for the next shift that was bound to start soon, he wondered if he had perhaps made a mistake of some kind.

Unbeknownst to Ace, Azul Ashengrotto was leaning against the doors to the kitchen, smiling at Finn with that sharp smile only Azul was capable of.

"When I noticed you hadn't come, I didn't expect to find you terrorising poor Ace." He said without a hint of sympathy. "What a magnificent display, Finn. I didn't realise you finally got that binding spell right."

Finn laughed. "Hah, no. That's far too advanced for me. Papa's helped best he can, but I'm not quite there yet. Doesn't matter, though, Mister Trappola seems quite convinced it's real, and that's good enough for me. Besides, it wasn't all for show."

Finn held up the hand he'd been grasping Ace with, a large smile spreading onto his face and displaying all his teeth to his unflinching housewarden and... partner.

"I have a new voice now."

-End

...........................................

Super Special Author's Note: Over a year ago, on November 14th 2023, I wrote a story for my twst oc Finn. That's nothing too surprising, I like to write stories for my characters, after all. What did surprise me was how it all snowballed into where I am today, with so many wonderful moots and friends I never thought I'd meet, as well as their wonderful ocs I never thought I'd get to know.

It's been a pleasure to interact and draw and write with everybody, and I hope we're able to do all the more in the next coming year. Thank you everybody for caring so much about my skrunklies and getting to know me. You all mean so much to me.

Quinn <3

Tagging: @distant-velleity @br3adtoasty @rainesol @theleechyskrunkly @jovieinramshackle

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@offorestsongs @kitwasnothere @elenauaurs @boopshoops @inotonline

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@yourlocalyin @sillyfull-jua

[vivispec]

Hello there! I'm not even sure how to start. So I felt very disappointed by DA:TV, because of various reasons. Not trying to dampen the mood, I am super happy for you if you actually enjoyed the game! If you do not mind, could you list the things you liked/loved about the game? Help me see the "bright side"? Just gush a litte about it, I could use some positive input around my favourite gaming series of all time. :') thank you <3

Absolutely! For me, I think I always figured I was going to like this game, even if it wasn't my fave of all time? Trick Weekes always writes characters/quests that I like, and for me, story/characters come before anything else. I liked Andromeda, flawed as it was. Even if the gameplay was mediocre, I was certain I'd find something I'd like.

But the gameplay wasn't mediocre. It was actually really, really fun. I played Spellblade, and honestly, the gameplay might be a highpoint for me. I don't really like action gameplay, I tolerate it. I loved this, though.

The biggest thing that really sold me is the fact that the big choices in this game are difficult in a way Bioware has been trying to capture since Origins, but I don't think they've ever nailed until now (except maybe in Mass Effect). Even in Origins, when they had big choices like what to do with Connor, or how to deal with the werewolves, there was always a cop out choice. There isn't one in this game, so far as I can see. At the end of EVERY companion quest there was a choice I couldn't choose, something that made me wonder just what would've happened if I'd picked something different, and don't get me started on the endgame. The endgame was brutal :')

I love the characters, too! I do think some of the writing can get a bit campy or be a bit on the nose, I think some subtlety is lacking for certain characters especially in the beginning, but once shit hits the fan just about every companion has their gutwrenching moment. I felt for every single character in this game, during their act 2 personal quest moments. In all the other games there was at least one character I just couldn't care about, but even the ones that I thought wouldn't tickle my fancy snuck up on me. By the end, I loved all of them so much. I only wanted more.

I like Rook, too. I think I can see how their characterization might be disappointing, though. I think the key for me and my friend @sweetmage was finding the right Rook to play. We both had lots of concepts and while I plugged in the right one first, I know they struggled until they found the right one. Rook is kinda like Hawke in the way that they have a bit of personality already and a defined character path, which can get in the way of true RP. Once I stopped fighting it and let Rook be Rook, I liked the game a lot more, and I liked my character a lot more.

Then there's lore. Oh, lore. I have listened to or read every codex. I have a treasure trove of theories I keep locked in my head. All I need is a corkboard and some red string. Getting to see so many of those theories come to fruition? Things they've been teasing since Origins, that I picked up on when I was 12? Absolutely magical! Some of it I think they bungled--there's one reveal I've been waiting for for 15 years that I found in a note, not codex, on a bridge in Minrathous, no fanfare or anything--but the majority of it punched me right in the face with so much force I had to pause the game and do a little pacing. I won't get into specifics for spoiler reasons, but seeing all those little dots connect? seeing when I was right, and when I was wrong? SO euphoric for me!

A lot of the things I didn't like, too, like making the Crows less shitty--so easy to headcanon around, in ways that don't contradict canon! It's one of my favorite things to do, it feels like a puzzle to me, making everything that is for certain and everything I want fit together. That one, for instance, Zevran totally gutted all the shitty Crows, and left only the good ones :)

I will say, it's clear they were trying to wrap things up. I got the sense while playing it felt that they didn't want to leave any loose threads in case this was their last DA game, so that felt a bit rushed. But I loved it. To me it was a love letter, saying goodbye. Wrapping everything up in a nice little bow. I've always struggled to choose a favorite game in the DA series, they all do something I love so differently that I can't pinpoint one singular favorite, and I think this one is right up there for me, tied for 1st place with the other three games. Like DA2 and DAI I think it could've cooked just a little bit longer, there's a lot of potential for it to be a 9/10 game imho if they'd smoothed a couple of things out, but there's a lot in there for me to love.

Thank you so much for the question, I hope the wall of text will help you see a bit of the light haha. I don't mind that people didn't like it--that's just how it goes sometimes, and I think there are a lot of valid criticisms to be had. For me I was just super bummed that it was the only thing I was seeing online. I'm following lots of positivity now, so the occasional disenchantment is not a problem. Idk if it'll work for you, but @sweetmage was similarly disappointed until they streamed it with a friend, and then just having someone there to converse with it on really helped them to enjoy it. I hope you can find something to love in it, too!

[if-whats-new]

Meet the Team!

Who are we?

Just a few Interactive Fiction enthusiasts who love sharing their interests with the rest of the internet!

But we're also:

-=-

Heyo! I'm Aj (she/her)

I got into IF through the app called Choices way back in 2017 and since then there was no turning back. It wasn't until last year when I got into text-based IFs. A friend on tumblr reblogged 'Defiled hearts', it caught my interest and here I am deep down in the trenches of IFs.

Listing my favourites isn't an easy thing cause there are so many I love. So I will list some that have been on my mind for a while: Infamous, Press Play, College Tennis: Origin Story, Drink your Villain Juice, Golden, The Golden Rose, Our Life Now and Forever, We Wretched Creatures, TWC , The Lonely Shore, Blood Choke and Midnight Sun.

I mostly help out with finding IF news and game updates in the wild.

-=-

How you doing?!? I'm Bex (she/her) *on hiatus

I started my journey with Voltage (now Love365) and dating sims or Otome games on my PSP Vita *sheds a tear*. I honestly don't know how I came upon IF, but I fell in love with ​Our Life: Beginnings & Always around 2021?

My favourites? Hmm, currently it would be: Love and Leases, Adoriel's Tears, The Abyssal Song, Keyframes, Our Life 2 and a bunch of Kickstarters that I can't wait for!

Personally, I'm married with no kids! And I work full-time as an administrator. Boring, I know.

In regards to the Zine, I normally do the formatting. Basically taking everything the peeps have found and putting it all into the Zine. I try and write some of the Highlights and try to dabble in the Editorial (if my work doesn't get edited).

-=-

Hello!!! This is Briar! (she/her)

I am one of the interviewers!

I got into IFs this year, and boy, my eyes were opened, and I got so obsessed that I decided to write my own (The Mighty Shifter). My personal favourites are TWC, Infamous, God-Cursed, and Viatica.

I am a uni student who is studying English literature. What else...? Have an amazing day/night!

-=-

Hey, hi and hello! I'm Dion (they/he)

I started my journey into IF through Episode, but due to poor non-female MC representation, I soon began to look for something else. My friend then introduced me to text-based games through The Wayhaven Chronicles and Mind Blind. I've been going deeper down the rabbit hole since!

I'm literally majoring in interactive media. IF is my life now, send help. (/j)

Some of my favourites would be: Mind Blind, Shepherds of Haven, Reanimated Heart, Seven days in purgatory, Chronicles of Taldun: The Remainder, seekL, LLLLL (aka LATEX, LEATHER, LIPSTICK, LOVE, LUST) and a lot of the stuff DOMINO CLUB does. (There isn't only IF, but that's what I usually go for. Definitely check them out if you're into creepy indie stuff!)

I'd call myself the jack of all trades concerning the zine. As of now, my main job is to be the social media guy and to do the different exports (playable Zine, Tumblr, PDF/.txt). But I also help out with news-searching and compiling + editing stuff for the editorial, column, highlight, letter and thanks portions.

-=-

Hey all, this is Jenn (she/her)

I am a youth sports coach (fútbol, softball, basketball) based in Los Angeles. I am in the process of applying for a master’s program (Sports psychology).

I did write and code a couple of IF games but never finished. I am a perfectionist and I couldn’t publish something not up to my standards. I started reading IF a couple years ago and I couldn’t possibly name my favorite. Some of the most memorable IFs are: The Exile, TWC, Crown of Ashes and Flames, Infamous, WWC, Zombie Exodus: SH, The Golden Rose, The Fernweh Saga, and Crown of Exile. I can definitely add more…

Basic responsibilities: Scouring the internet for IF news and frequently updating our existing database. I honestly enjoy the challenge. On a good day I can find upcoming IF titles and newly released demos. It’s so exciting to find new IF because I know someone will eventually see the same potential I do in that new IF.

-=-

Ssuuuupppp, I’m Sir tuskhany (He/Him)

I am one of the lovely interviewers who’ll be asking questions, you know grilling fellow authors on their IF, WIPS and favourite characters. The usual. As to why or how I started, I gotta say its cause of books and great authors like Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson. And their respective series wheel of time and basically the whole Comsere universe. I tried following in their footsteps writing a few books of my own. But like every writer most of these ended up being WIPs I either abandoned or stopped. Still I didn’t let that stop me and started posting some of them, I am the writer of Borne of the sands a static webnovel with a few chapters and Dusk and Dawn my current ongoing project(Still a work in progress so forgive the grammatical errors. T-T).

My favourite series are the Keeper of the Day and Night, Infamous, Wayhaven Chronicles and Blood Moon.

The current story I’m working on was inspired by these however most of my inspiration came from static or interactive cyoas like the Slayers v4, Supernatural Investigator, Demigod v4, A Traveller!s Tale and Universal War. If you haven’t heard of them please give them a go they are amazing.

Have fun and stay posted!

-=-