#Single Review: Color Drain | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

elryuse · 4 months ago

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yandere Minju?

Scared To Lose You

Yandere Minju (ILLIT) X Make Reader

Minju's POV

The screech of the microphone feedback jolted me back to reality. The roar of the crowd was a dull thrum in the background, a constant drone I barely registered. The spotlight hit me, a harsh glare highlighting every bead of sweat clinging to my skin. But tonight, none of it mattered. My gaze scanned the sea of faces, a relentless search for a single point of light amidst the screaming fans.

There. Second row, just left of the giant inflatable ILLIT mascot. A familiar figure, his worn light stick held aloft like a beacon. Sunshine_Y/N. His name, a secret whispered in the dead of night, a forbidden fruit I couldn't stop myself from craving.

It started innocently enough. A fleeting glance across the stage, his smile brighter than any spotlight. Then, another concert, another performance, and there he was again. Each time, he drew me in, his unwavering support a tiny pinprick of warmth in the icy grip of idol life.

One rainy afternoon, exhausted and drained, I found myself on a fancam binge. My finger scrolled, stopping on a comment - "Sunshine_Y/N." Curiosity, a dangerous thing for a guarded heart like mine, took over. I clicked.

Fan art, glowing reviews, messages gushing about ILLIT, mostly about me. A strange flutter started in my chest. Here, in the digital world, I wasn't just Minju, the cold lead dancer. I was someone he admired, someone who sparked his sunshine.

The obsession bloomed, a poisonous flower slowly wrapping its vines around me. Hours spent scrolling his social media became a nightly ritual. I memorized his birthday, his favorite color – sunflower yellow, just like his light stick – and even his dream of learning to dance like me.

The need to know more became a consuming fire. Shame battled with a strange pull, but I found myself spilling my secret to Jisoo, our manager. "There's this fan..." I trailed off, the words catching in my throat.

Jisoo raised an eyebrow, a knowing glint in her eyes. "A special fan?"

I flushed, heat creeping up my neck. "Just... A fan, okay?"

Jisoo smiled, a predator sizing up its prey. "Leave it to me, Minju."

Days later, a manila folder landed on my table. My heart hammered a frantic tattoo against my ribs as I opened it. It was Y/n's life, meticulously documented, a violation laid bare in black and white. Shame coiled in my gut, but the knowledge was intoxicating, a forbidden fruit I couldn't resist taking a bite of.

His address, his family details, even his favorite coffee shop – all there for me to consume. This was wrong, I knew it. But the thrill of knowing everything, of having him mapped out in my mind, was too powerful to ignore.

The weekend arrived, a heavy weight settling in my stomach. Armed with a disguise – a baseball cap pulled low and oversized sunglasses – I ventured out. The address led me to a small, unassuming apartment building. My pulse quickened, a frantic drum solo against my ribs.

He opened the door, blinking in surprise. "M-minju?" he stammered, disbelief coloring his voice.

I froze, caught red-handed. Shame and a twisted sense of elation warred within me. Here he was, the object of my unhealthy obsession, standing in his own doorway.

But instead of disgust, his face lit up with a mixture of awe and excitement. He ushered me inside, bombarding me with questions about ILLIT and our upcoming comeback. Flustered, I found myself answering, enjoying the way his eyes sparkled with every word.

The sun dipped below the horizon, casting long shadows across the room. I knew I had to leave. With a hasty goodbye, I fled back to the dorm, the image of Y/n seared into my brain.

He wasn't just a fan anymore. He was mine, a secret obsession I couldn't shake. And I, Minju, the cold, aloof idol, was hopelessly addicted to the sunshine he brought into my life. An addiction I knew, with a chilling certainty, would consume me whole.

The following days were a blur of practice sessions and promotional appearances. Every spare moment was spent replaying our encounter, dissecting every smile, every word he spoke. My obsession grew, a monstrous vine snaking its way around my heart.

One night, unable to sleep, I did the unthinkable. I used the information Jisoo had gathered to find his social media accounts beyond the one he used for fan interactions. It felt like a betrayal, a violation of the fragile trust we'd built. Yet, I couldn't stop myself.

His private accounts were a window into his soul – pictures with friends, family gatherings, even a video of him clumsily attempting a dance routine.

I watched the grainy video on repeat, a twisted pleasure blooming in my gut. Here he was, the one I held on a pedestal, stumbling through the choreography I knew with every fiber of my being. A strange sense of power surged through me. He admired me, wanted to be like me, yet he was so far out of reach.

Sleep finally claimed me, the image of his clumsy dance moves morphing into a dream where he danced flawlessly beside me, his eyes locked on mine with adoration.

The following weeks felt like an eternity. Practice sessions blurred into late-night rehearsals, my focus waning, my body exhausted. My only solace was the stolen moments I spent on his social media, a guilty pleasure I couldn't shake.

One evening, amidst the chaos of a pre-comeback photoshoot, my phone buzzed. An anonymous message, a single line of text: "Lookinh forward to your performance tonight. Sunshine_Y/N."

My breath hitched. It was him, using a burner phone? A thrill shot through me, a mixture of fear and excitement. He was following me, watching me from the shadows. This secret connection, this shared knowledge, felt like a forbidden bond.

That night, as ILLIT took the stage bathed in blinding lights, I searched the crowd with renewed fervor. My eyes scanned every face, a desperate yearning clawing at my chest. But he was nowhere to be seen.

Disappointment prickled at me, a bitter aftertaste to the roaring applause that greeted our performance. Back in the dorm, exhaustion tugged at me, yet sleep refused to come. All I could think about was that message, a confirmation of his obsession that mirrored mine.

The days leading up to our comeback single's release were a whirlwind of interviews, radio appearances, and photoshoots. The pressure mounted, the weight of expectations a constant burden. Yet, amidst the chaos, Y/n's silent presence became a flickering flame, a lifeline in the storm.

Then, the single dropped. The response was overwhelming, a positive wave of online feedback and soaring music chart positions. But the only validation I craved was his.

One morning, as I scrolled through a sea of comments on ILLIT's official page, I saw it. A message from Sunshine_Y/N, bold and glowing amidst the praise. "'Obsession' is a masterpiece. You're incredible, Minju."

Tears welled up in my eyes, a mixture of relief and something more possessive. He had seen it, had heard our song, and his praise echoed in my head like a love song.

The following days turned into weeks, then months. ILLIT's popularity skyrocketed, and so did my obsession with Y/n. Jisoo, bless her calculating heart, saw the shift in me and subtly started feeding my addiction. Pictures from events we attended, details on our schedules, anything that might pique his interest.

It wasn't enough. I craved more, a connection that went beyond stolen glances and cryptic messages. One night, after a particularly grueling promotional tour, I found myself breaking down in front of Jisoo.

"I can't take it anymore, Jisoo," I confessed, my voice thick with desperation. "I need to see him, to talk to him properly."

Jisoo, calm and collected despite my outburst, offered a solution. "There's a fan meeting scheduled next month. We can arrange a… private meeting beforehand."

A spark ignited in my eyes. A chance to meet him face-to-face, away from the screaming fans? It was a risk, a potential scandal, but the desire to be near him eclipsed any fear.

The following weeks were filled with nervous anticipation and meticulous planning. Jisoo orchestrated a secret room within the venue where the fan meeting was held, ensuring our encounter would remain discreet.

The day arrived, a storm of controlled chaos. ILLIT performed, interacted with fans, signed autographs – a machine running on autopilot. But all I could think about was the secret meeting waiting for me at the end.

Finally, the last fan left, and I found myself ushered into the waiting room. My heart hammered against my ribs as the door creaked open, revealing a nervous-looking Y/n.

He froze, his eyes widening in surprise. Then, a smile erupted on his face. "Minju? Is this really… you?"

I nodded, unable to form words. Here he was, the object of my obsessive desires, standing just a few feet away. The air crackled with a strange energy, a mix of nervousness and something darker.

The following hour flew by in a blur. We talked about music, about ILLIT, about his dreams – mundane topics that somehow felt profound in this clandestine setting. As the time drew to a close, a sense of panic clawed at me. I couldn't let him leave.

Panic constricted my throat as Jisoo poked her head in, a knowing smile playing on her lips. "Time's up, Minju. We have to get you back before anyone notices."

"No!" I blurted out, the word echoing in the sterile room. Both Y/n and Jisoo stared at me, surprise etched on their faces.

Shame burned in my cheeks, but a stronger urge, a possessive need, took hold. I couldn't let him disappear back into the faceless crowd, not after this. Not after the connection we'd forged, however twisted it might be.

Taking a deep breath, I stepped towards Y/n, my voice losing its usual icy composure. "Don't listen to her," I said, my gaze locking onto his. "We still got time."

Y/n shuffled back, his eyes darting between me and the closed door. A seed of fear bloomed in his usually sunny demeanor. "M-minju, what's going on?"

The mask of professionalism I usually wore slipped completely. "This," I declared, stepping closer, my voice barely above a whisper. "This is what's going on."

Before he could react, I reached out and locked the door, the satisfying click echoing in the silence. Y/n's breath hitched, his eyes widening in terror. A flicker of satisfaction sparked in me, a dark thrill at his fear.

"Minju, why are you doing this?" he stammered, his voice trembling.

"Because I can't lose you," I confessed, the words tumbling out in a torrent. "You may not know it, Sunshine_Y/N, but you're mine now. Your admiration, your support, it all belongs to me."

Tears welled up in his eyes, a stark contrast to the cold, chilling smile that crept onto my face. "But… but I don't understand. I'm just a fan."

"Just a fan?" I scoffed, the sound laced with cruel amusement. "Oh You're so much more than that, Y/n. You're my muse, my inspiration, the sunshine that cuts through the monotony of my life."

His fear morphed into a kind of pleading. "Minju, please. This is crazy. You don't even know me."

I leaned in close, my voice dropping to a seductive purr. "Oh, but I do, Y/n. I know everything. Your favorite color, your birthday, even your dream of dancing like me."

He stumbled back, his face draining of color. "W-wait.. H-how… how do you know that?"

A cruel laugh escaped my lips. "Let's just say I have my ways."

He looked around the room, a desperate hope flickering in his eyes. But the door remained locked, a symbol of the terrifying reality that had dawned on him.

"Don't worry, Y/n," I continued, my voice soft yet laced with a dangerous edge. "You'll get used to this. You'll learn to love me, just like I love you."

His voice, barely a whisper, shattered the twisted fantasy I'd built. "You… you don't love me, Minju. This is just an obsession."

A flicker of anger ignited within me, but I quickly schooled it. "Call it what you want, Y/n," I said, my voice back to its usual icy calm. "The point is, you're mine now. And there's nothing you, or anyone else, can do about it."

I watched, a predator savoring its prey, as the light extinguished from his eyes, replaced by a chilling realization. He was trapped, a prisoner in a gilded cage built by my twisted love, a love that had morphed into a terrifying obsession.

To Be Continued

#illit #illit minju #minju illit #minju #kpop x reader #kpop #kpop x y/n #x male reader #beautiful #yandere #yandere girl #yandere blog #yandere stories #kpop yandere #obssesive #obssessed #obsession #im obssesed

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mythosidhesdollhouse · 5 months ago

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Rainbow High Littles: Indigo Bailey, Pt. 2

Hey folks, sorry it took longer than expected to get this posted (health complications, not serious just time consuming), but as promised here is the continuation of my RH Littles review (Pt.1 is here). Still feeling a bit drained from *stuff* so I'm going to keep this one fairly short and to the point...right after Krystal Jr. has finished banishing that slime daemon back to its own dimension...

...And now with that out of the way--Hair talk! (sorry for the lack of banter in this one, I'm too tired to script dialog today)

I've already seen one review claiming at least some of the Littles have polypropylene hair. Based on my examination of Indigo's braids, in her case at least I do not believe this assessment to be correct. In my opinion the evidence points to her rather having lower grade nylon hair (as referenced in @dollsahoy's excellent video on the problems with using polypropylene as a doll hair fiber). In this post we're going to take a look at how I came to this conclusion, with the help of some Shadow High girls with similarly textured hair.

First let's compare Indigo's braids to our purple QUEEN, Monique. Now, imo Monique is the gold standard for microbraids on a doll, not just just for RH/MGA but across the board. The majority of her braids are very fine, shiny, smooth to the touch, and made up of straids of multiple colors woven together. They hang quite straight, and have a nice weight to them. I say the majority because mixed into the base of multicolor braids there are a few monochrome blue and purple strands, which differ in weight and texture to the rest, being courser and slightly bulkier.

An initial side by side comparison shows that Indigo's braids look quite different than Monique's. They are mainly a solid periwinkle/lavender shade, with some strands incorporating a second, more magenta-leaning color mixed in. They feel lighter, and don't sit neatly around her head, though I attribute this at least in part to her rather chaotic rooting pattern. In texture and appearance they have more in common with Monique's blue and purple highlight strands than the bulk of her hair. Taking all this into account, I think it's safe to say these two do not share the same hair fiber.

But now let's take a look at our other braid ambassador, Pinkie. When I first got this doll I was immediately struck by how different her hair was, in both appearance and texture, from Monique's. It's both courser and duller in texture, has less complexity to the color blend (I see only two, extremely similar shades of pink), and doesn't appear to have the same weight to the fiber necessary to lie straight like Monique's does. Additionally, given their slightly crunchy feel and fact that they remain creased from her packaging months after I unboxed her, I suspect the only reason her braids lie as flat as they do is that some amount of product was added to her hair to keep them in place.

And when we compare Pinkie's braids to Indigo...this looks like a much closer match! Leaving aside the difference in color and length, the braids on these dolls look, feel, and behave in virtually identical ways. Taking everything I've observed from these comparisons into account, I feel comfortable with the conclusion that Pinkie's and Indigo's braids were made from the same fiber.

But here's the thing....MONIQUE AND PINKIE BOTH HAVE NYLON HAIR. I have never seen a single indication that a mainline Rainbow or Shadow High doll has had anything else. It might not all be the same quality of nylon, but it's nylon all the same. Just for good measure I grabbed a Skultimate Secrets MH doll (which very definitely has poly) and they don't feel the same. They just don't.

Aside from some speculation (completely unsubstantiated) that the Swim & Style budget dolls have polypropylene hair, it's never been in question that MGA has used anything other than nylon on this line, and it seems vaguely nonsensical to me to imply that they would start now. Sure I could be wrong--obviously if MGA makes an official statement confirming they've switched to poly I'll eat my words--but the detail and care that went into the design of Indigo's clothing tells me they are still trying to make a good quality product. While the target demographic and aesthetic of the brand may have changed since the soft reboot began earlier this year, I see absolutely no evidence that these are badly made dolls. Adult collectors may not like them, and yes it's a hard shift from the exemplary attention to detail we got used to when the focus of the brand was on older collectors, but that's not the same thing as them being objectively poor in quality. They're just different. It happens.

SO YEAH. That concludes my thoughts on Rainbow High Littles. I think they're fine for what they are. I like the one I got. I have no plans to buy more, but if they release other characters down the line, who knows? I for one am ready to move on from this 'controversy' and redirect my attention to other dolls I'm actually looking forward to.

#rainbow high #rainbow high littles #indigo bailey #doll reviews #doll collector #ahahahahaha 'short and to the point'#yeah I know I'm full of shit #blame the ADHD

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lacunafiction · 2 years ago

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Hello!! First of all, I offer a flower 🌷 Could you give some tips for raising the resistance stat? I want to see the consequences in my next run ☕

Hello Friend!

Thank you for the flower! In return, I give you a set of swords: ⚔.

I like how you mention 'consequences' because that is one of the achievements that directly links to something the ??? says.

A guide on how to raise resistance is below the 'read more'!

Chapter 3: When in the burning house nightmare, instantly be suspicious about what is going on rather than call out to your mom, dad, or be hopeful. You will notice a change in role after you do this.

Chapter 3: Question everything. So, it depends a bit on your choices, but Stop the water, Remove the thing from the drain, Take the seat it's your house; those choice options give you tiny bumps to the stat.

Chapter 3: Never give into the emotion until the ??? forces you. So keep picking the apathy/null options until you get a taunt. This will also unlock the worst injury in Chapter 5 when leaving the woods.

Chapter 6: Don't look at Milton's picture too closely, so stop staring at it when given the chance. I can't get into why that raises resistance rn, but it's something to think about. 👀

Chapter 8: First, you will already start to notice some differences by now in the text, but the mask now hurts your MC more due to prior choices. You should take a seat in the Host's place for max resistance.

(Again, be aware of the role changes and how the tone shifts.)

Chapter 8: Each RO route has different choice options about how the MC can accept, retaliate, and avoid contact. Getting physical and being more willing to fight back will raise your resistance some.

Chapter 8: Keep refusing to lift the lid until you can no longer do so, but also check the role, your inventory, and notice how things start to get much worse. If you want to make this scene extra creepy, in Chapter 7, say your MC has the same color eyes as their grandfather!

Chapter 11: The tree creature's mask will be especially jarring, if you followed this guide. I didn't point out all the narrative changes, since that would take up a lot of space, though this one is cool and linked to how many times you resist. The more resistance, the more horror.

Chapter 13: You can stay with your RO(s) if you want or follow after B instantly; I didn't want to punish those who wanted to spend more time with their beloved(s). But you shouldn't pick this choice: "Stay where you are. It's better this way.", which means you do need to eventually follow after B!

Chapter 13: The good news is that if you followed this guide, you should be able to beat the stat checks. How far the MC can walk along the road is directly tied to the resistance stat with increasingly harder checks; you can learn so much, if you break push yourself.

(Heck, even if the MC can walk along the road is tied to resistance, so compliant MCs might not be able to take a single step.)

The checks for the road are greater than or equal to: 55, 60, 65; with each check relating to a new section of the road and new insight!

Chapter 13: What the ??? says to you during the end will also be harsher now and remind you of all the times you were defiant. That end text changes based on all your choices throughout Book One!

I'm pretty sure I managed to touch on the high points; this stat is very fun because of how it will continue to shade the series and the tone.

I hope you have fun resisting and experiencing the consequences.😉

Please remember if you’re enjoying Fernweh, that positive reviews/ratings motivate me and help the series grow! 💚

TFS Patreon 🌲(New Patron Benefits and Pricing)

#asks #interactive fiction #fernweh saga #game mechanics #tfs spoilers #fernweh saga spoilers #who do queue think you are?

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txemrn · 2 years ago

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Pour Two Glasses

Chapter 5: "... Wake Me Up When It's Over..."

Need to catch up? Masterlist

✨ Have you checked out this teaser video yet? Pour Two Glasses Teaser✨

Word Count: 3935 (+/-)

Series Synopsis:In the midst of a violent political war, Queen Riley Rys’s life is dismantled overnight, forcing her to flee Cordonia to live in hiding as a commoner with a loyal, best friend

Series Song Inspo: “Pour Two Glasses” by the Movielife

Chapter Song Inspo: "Wake Me Up" by Tommee Profitt ft. Fleurie (Avicii cover)

Series Warnings: 🔞 For Mature Audiences Only 🔞angst; profanity; major character death; grief and mental health discussion; discussion of violence & war; alcohol use; NSFW material

A/N: Characters and some plot references belong to our friends at Pixelberry. Big projects like this often takes a village of cheerleaders, barnstormers, listeners and readers. I am so blessed to have such a supportive village--huge thanks to y'all for making this story come to life! This was not beta'd, so please excuse my errors.

A/N 2: It's been a while, so how about a quick review? *clears throat* Previously on Pour Two Glasses... Sensing her need to be close to her husband, Drake coordinates for Riley to sleep each night of Liam's Royal Wake next to his closed casket; he also gives her a necklace to wear that holds Liam's wedding ring and signet ring; Riley and Drake have a heart-to-heart, which included the intimate story of the promise Liam and Riley made to each other: a promise to "pour two glasses"; after the funeral, a member of the 'Les Combattants de la Liberté' (the same coups that shot down Liam's plane) opens fire during Liam's funeral procession in an attempt to assassinate the queen. Despite Drake's efforts, Riley is shot.

~🖤~

"Ahhh! Fuck!" Drake grimaces, holding pressure to his left arm as blood seeps violently from his fresh bullet wound. Sucking in a sharp breath from the pain, he glances to his right where he had pushed Riley down, and hopefully out of the way.

Her body lies completely still as a pool of deep rouge grows from under her petite, lifeless frame.

"Brooks?" He stretches his neck in hopes of a glimpse of her face, but the abrupt shock of sharp torment in his shoulder knocks the air from his lungs. Anxiously panting, he glances back at Riley, realizing she remains motionless to the sound of her name. “Fuck,” he mutters. “Riley!” He frantically searches for a way to get closer to her. He peers at his injured shoulder and his crimson-stained fingers, weighing the options that don't exist on borrowed time that has already expired.

He grabs the collar of his shirt, bunching up the material in his palm before biting down on it. He rolls onto his stomach, his screams of torment muffled into his makeshift gag as he gnashes his teeth. With his good arm, he army-crawls on his side, pulling himself across the pavement with his elbow. The balls of his feet push to propel him, all the while he moans in agony.

His body finally gives out from the misery. "Brooks? Brooks?" He gruffly pants. He lays flat on the ground, reaching to her sprawled out hand with his unaffected arm. He nudges against her skin, but she doesn't move. His fingers find her wrist; he feels a weak, slow pulse.

"Goddammit!" Drake cries out in pain as he sits himself up. "No–no–no… Riley!" Groaning in anguish, he single-handedly pulls her body to himself, propping her head up in his lap. He tenderly peels the blood-drenched wisps off of her cheeks and forehead. Her head suddenly lolls back, her neck extended across his thigh with her pale lips agape. "Riley!" Tears flood his eyes, "No…" Surveying her body, he notices two bullet wounds to her left shoulder near her chest.

Near her heart.

Drake turns to the other guards that are tending to a few critically wounded people in the otherwise desolate courtyard. "We need help over here!" He cradles Riley's head as he watches the color drain from her face. "Don't do this, Brooks,” he growls, “Don't you dare fucking do this.” He sobs angrily, gripping firmly to the fabric of her dress. "You can't leave me, too…"

------

A crisp gentle breeze catches her brunette waves in a delicate waltz of silk and sunshine. The softness of the evergreen grass tickles her toes as she ventures through the fragrant blooms. Somewhere amongst the fresh harvest of Cordonian rubies, a handsome melody echoes across the meadow, a deep baritone that Riley instantly recognizes.

“Liam?” Her steps begin to quicken as she searches behind the bark and the bend. “Liam?” Her voice is earnest and hungry as her widened, ocean-blue eyes survey the area for even just a glimpse of his beauty. She grips the sides of her skirt, lifting the hem to her hips as her feet become more swift amongst the uniform rows of bountiful trees.

As she approaches a knoll, a large shadow grants her body brevity from the warm sun. She brings a hand to her forehead, shielding the brightness from her eyes. She strains to make out the broad shapes and chiseled lines of the man standing before her, but she knows it's him. His eyes shimmer with the brilliance of the Mediterranean, his skin like the soft sands of Nissi.

“My love,” he smiles endearingly at her; he cups two filled wine flutes in one large hand as he extends his arm out towards her, his open palm ready to take her into his arms.

“My king,” she breathes, her heart swelling at the very presence of him. She drops her skirt. She draws closer to him as a smile brightly bubbles across her lips. It’s him; it’s really him.

But as their fingertips almost touch, Riley missteps. She trips over an imperfection in the terrain as she falls to her knees, her hands catching her on the ground. As she looks back to her husband, he is gone.

“No,” she whispers as she frantically scours the rolling hills around her. Empty. Not a single trace of life. Riley is alone. “No–no–no… Liam?” She spins wildly around, searching for him. But suddenly, she hears an ear-piercing crackle like thunder.

And then another.

A searing pain abruptly burns deep into her shoulder and chest, knocking her off her feet. The impact of the fall robs her of the air in her lungs. In a state of panic, she begins gasping for air, but the rise and fall of her chest makes her whimper, tears collecting in her eyes.

"Liam?" She tries to scream, but can only muster a rough whisper. "Someone? Please?"

Riley tries to sit up, but an intense scorch of discomfort stuns her to lay back amongst the long blades of grass. Her mouth falls open from the sensation, but only silent sobs pour from her lips.

With a trembling hand, she carefully touches her fingertips to the painful area of her chest. Biting her lip to stifle her screams, she feels a thick oozing of warm fluid escaping her shoulder, flowing between her fingertips.

Blood.

"Help," she strains, but her words falter as her eyelids fall heavier with each blink.

She hugs her body with her other arm as the breeze suddenly feels frigid against her pale skin. Her breathing becomes more rapid, each inhale growing laborious, more challenging than the last.

'Anyone?' Riley mouths as she grows still. The light in her eyes falls dim, her lashes fluttering as they begin to close.

Stillness.

Darkness.

Suddenly a large, calloused hand squeezes tightly to her petite weak fingers.

"Brooks," a deep, trembling whisper calls to her, "it–it's going to be okay, baby. Hang in there." A sense of relief rushes over her; hearing the familiar gritty voice comforts her, grounding her back with reality.

Riley can hear a soft shrill of metal on metal from squeaky wheels underneath her. She feels a light current of air swishing across her body as if she is being moved rapidly. The pungent smell of medical-grade antiseptic with the slight undertone of decay hits her nostrils, reminding her instantly of the night she had to identify her husband’s remains.

She tries to speak, but her mouth refuses to move; even her whimpers fall silent, unable to get anyone’s attention. She tries to grip onto the hand that is holding her fingers, but despite her effort, nothing moves.

As she relaxes her body, an excruciating pain suddenly penetrates through her torso, an inexplicable affliction of torment tearing through every last nerve, leaving her senseless, breathless, motionless.

An abrupt alarm of rapid analog chimes begins to whistle.

"Heart rate 152. We need to move, people…"

Riley's eyes flicker open to blurred fluorescent lights, flashing obnoxiously into her field of vision. She hears a twisted garble of concerned voices around her, but can barely make out the faces of the strangers surrounding her.

"Hang another liter of NS. Go ahead and draw up fifty of hydromorphone…"

"...BP 88/42…"

"... prep OR six…"

"... order four units of O neg…"

The swift movements around her makes her stomach turn as the searing discomfort ravages throughout her chest. She grimaces, her eyelids shutting at the furrow of her brows.

Suddenly, she feels a pinch, like a tiny sharp prick of pressure pushed into the swell of her thigh. A warming sensation follows, infiltrating through the area before finally swimming briskly through her body.

"Hydromorphone with Phenergan 25 in…"

The room begins to swirl into nothingness, the chatter falling into silence. Her hand falls limp, no longer able to feel Drake's tight grip on her fingertips. No more background noise; no more strange smells. Like falling into the deep end of the ocean, a single, high-pitched shrill rings incessantly in Riley's ears as she flails her arms and legs into the blackness. She finally clenches her eyes shut, terrified of the loneliness, terrified of the struggle, terrified of the emptiness.

Stillness.

Darkness.

Until a warm glow grazes her skin.

A gentle caress of her cheek leads to a tender stroke of a thumb across her full bottom lip.

Riley's eyes cautiously flit open.

And she gasps.

"Liam?"

------

"Sir, this is as far as you can go."

Though he understands hospital safety protocols, Drake scoffs as Riley's hand is pulled away from his grasp. An abrupt loneliness tugs at his heart as he watches the gurney rapidly wheel down the white sterile hallway. As his left arm hangs limp, Drake drags his fingers down his face, swallowing a sob. Will this be his last memory of her alive?

He feels his chest begin to dramatically rise and fall, his breathing becoming quicker as his expression contorts into remorseful anger. He was supposed to protect her. He promised her–shit, he promised Liam that he would look after her, and now Riley is fighting for her life.

As Drake's jaw trembles, a petite hand tenderly pats his unaffected shoulder. He jerks around to find a familiar raised eyebrow, her piercing jades sympathizing instantly with his downcast stare. “Liv,” he whispers, a crooked smile flashing across his lips as his face twists with emotions. “You’re… here. You’re… you're okay,” he chuckles into a choked cry.

Noticing the sincerity of his tone, Olivia Nevrakis’s typical stone-cold presence melts into something more human and warm. She smirks, holding her arms outstretched. "Come here, big guy," she snickers, waving him into her embrace. “You know that even rogue militant coups can’t get rid of me that easily.” The longtime friends squeeze each other more snuggly; though they might not always see eye-to-eye, they silently gesture in agreement that life is better together.

“Christ on a Kraken! Riley is never going to believe this.”

Drake turns towards the cheerful, flamboyant voice. He casually tosses his head to the side, his chestnut fringe cascading out of his field of vision. The corners of his mouth curl, grateful to see the youngest Beaumont brother alive and well with no obvious injuries.

"Hey, man," Drake reaches out to take Maxwell's hand, pulling him into a brotherly embrace.

"We were so worried. I thought you were dead," his breath hitches in his chest, "and–and Riley…" The young lord succumbs to his tears, unable to speak. Drake endearingly pats his friend on the back as he flashes a knowing look to Olivia.

"I'm fine, Max," Drake mutters, signaling for him to let go.

"Have you even been seen by a doctor yet?" Maxwell looks at the crimson gore, dried across the guard's once pristinely pressed suit.

"Not yet. I–" he freezes as he peers down the now empty corridor, the last place he saw her, the last place he touched her. The last place he felt her life in his own hands. A large lump forms in his throat as the horrific scene plays in his head.

The definitive cocking of the chamber of a glock; the smell of smoke and blood in the air; the unraveling of fearful screams of hopeless onlookers…

"Riley! Look out!"

He tried to shield her; he tried to protect her. He tried to save her.

Was he too late?

The queen's guard shakes his head, staggering away from his friends, willing the sting of his tears away. He already lost his very best friend almost a month ago; he can't lose Liam's wife, too.

"She's strong, Walker–" Drake stops in his tracks, turning to the fiery red head that fell into step with him walking down the hallway. He leans up against the wall, shoving a hand in his pocket as his head falls forward in anguish.

"I just… I feel so fucking guilty, ya know?” he mutters under his breath. “I was supposed to be there for Liam–I should’ve been there with him, and Riley?" He looks away, blinking away tears. “It should’ve been me–"

"No," Olivia interjects sternly. "Don't go there. You are not responsible for his death. And Riley?” She takes Drake’s face between her palms, commanding his attention to focus on her words. "She will survive this–'

"I should've been there–"

"And you were," she interrupts. "Drake, she would've been killed if you hadn't intervened when you had."

"You saved her life, man," Maxwell tearfully steps forward, holding out a cup of coffee for the guard. "She's been through a hell of a lot worse." They all chuckle knowingly with one another. "She's going to survive this," Maxwell states encouragingly as he dabs away his tears.

Olivia nods in solidarity, looking towards Drake. "She will."

Drake stares at his styrofoam coffee cup before bringing it to his lips. "She has to," he breathes before taking a sip.

"Cmon, buddy," Maxwell's mouth begins to curl as he slaps Drake on his wounded shoulder. "Let's get you checked out–"

"Ow!" Drake roars, "Limp dick motherfffff–!" Drake bites his tongue as he shields his arm.

"Oh, there he is," Olivia snickers to herself, taking a seat in the waiting room. "I was concerned he left his balls next to his snuff in the back pocket of his Wranglers."

—---

Tangled in sheets of silk, Riley cradles Liam's head against her bare chest. He kisses tender pecks along her velveteen skin, her fingers mindlessly combing through his golden waves.

Coming down from their euphoric bliss of making love, the gentle warmth of intimacy saturates the air. A soft hum escapes Riley's lungs as she is overwhelmed with the desire to cry streams of joy. To be at peace again. To feel whole again. To be herself again.

This is perfect. Too perfect. Riley had craved for weeks now to have just one more moment, one more breath with her beloved. And now…

Is this really happening?

She presses her lips into his disheveled, blond hair, breathing in his intoxicating scent. His fingertips graze across her shoulders and down the slope of her full breast, his familiar touch igniting a scattering of goosebumps across her body. But when Liam looks up at her with his hungry gaze, his crystal blue stare that rivals the Northern Lights, relief floods her senses.

I'm home.

Biting her bottom lip, Riley guides her husband up her body until he's lying face-to-face with her, their longing stares never breaking from one another. She delicately traces the angles of his jaw, the contours of his neck until finally resting her palms in the scatter of hair on his chest.

She rests her head against his body, her fingers lacing with his.

"Liam," she exhales as she listens to the rhythmic pulse of his heart. "I've missed you." Her words softly shudder against her stifled sobs, tears coursing down the curve of her nose. She nuzzles her forehead into him, wanting to be closer, deeper with him, thirsty to drink every last drop of him.

"Please tell me this is it," she flutters her eyes close, his large hands draped across her back. "Please tell me this is where our forever starts."

Feeling his piercing stare on her, Riley instantly meets his mouth in a searing kiss. She slips her tongue between his full lips as the passion continues to burn between them.

Riley guides him to lay on his back, straddling his broad physique as their tongues continue to caress in steady pulses. She nips at him, coaxing for more. Gently rocking her hips, Riley sits up on her husband, his length pushing against her slick folds. Taking his large, rugged hands in hers, they cup her peaking breasts, fondling them together.

"I love you," Riley moans into the darkness as her desire builds for her husband once more.

But then she stops.

She looks back to Liam's handsome face. And a sudden chill runs down her back.

He didn't say, 'I love you'...

"Love," Riley grips one of his hands, bringing it to her lips to kiss. "Is this okay? Are–are you okay?"

He doesn't answer.

An uncomfortable coldness floods her veins as a familiar burning sensation grows in her lower left shoulder.

"Liam?" She shakes his body. "Liam baby, please," her eyes begin to water, "please talk to me."

Riley glances around the dark room; it looks like their royal quarters, but deep in her heart, she abruptly knows she's far from home.

And far from Liam.

And like an old film reel, the fantasy around her begins to burn away, slowly at first as a blinding light pierces through the darkness.

"This… this isn't real, is it?" She trembles, bringing his hand to her heart. "Please, baby…" the room becomes stifling as Riley begins to gasp for air, her husband’s touch nothing but a phantom pain. "Please don't leave me again…"

Suddenly, Riley feels like she's choking as a soreness forms promptly in her throat.

"That's it, your majesty," the assured voice of a stranger calls out to her. "We're done with your surgery. Take some nice big breaths for us."

Riley barely peeks through her heavy eyelids, but her stormy blues are instantly met with the brazen shine of surgical spotlights. And she grimaces, discomfort etching across her delicate features.

"Good job. Take another breath."

The queen can feel something weighted and quite warm being folded across her frigid body. Suddenly, she feels soft fabric engulfing her toes, then her feet.

Where am I?

"Let's get you some Fentanyl and the rest of your Zofran for the ride, your majesty."

Abruptly to her arm, she feels a twinge of heat expanding in her veins, traveling first to her shoulder before dispersing across her body. The panic that was building in her nerves subsides as she relaxes into a subtle snore. And then into nothingness all over again.

—---

"Rise and shine, little blossom…"

Hearing the muffled, yet familiar whisper of her dear friend, Riley cautiously opens one eye. But in an instant, she closes it. Her eyebrows knit together, the burn from the bright sunlight too much for her right now.

“Max?” She croaks softly, her lips dry and cracked. “Maxwell?” She makes a small effort to move, but a sudden ache knocks her back onto her bed. She mouths the word ‘Ow’ as she slowly reaches up towards her injured shoulder with a trembling hand.

“Shhh, Riley,” Maxwell tenderly pats her arm. “I’m gonna go get someone. I’ll be right back.” With a squeeze of her fingers, Maxwell takes off to the nurse’s station.

Feeling the agonizing pulse in her left shoulder, Riley tries to open her eyes again. Everything remains a blur as her eyes dart to the glass door. Two large men stand just outside the windows like perfect statues on either side of the frame, wearing what appears to be… guard uniforms?

“Drake…?” She tries to call out, assuming he's one of the men, but the hoarseness of her voice silences her attempt as she winces at her sore throat. Where am I? She frantically peers around her bed, noticing a collection of monitors and clear bags of fluids, all attached to her body with various cords and wires.

What happened?

Riley’s head feels a bit swimmy, dizzy from the heavy medications she has been given, not to mention the anesthesia slowly dissipating from her body. She was trying to put the puzzle pieces back together, fact versus fiction. Each part played like a vignette in her memory.

Laying in bed with Liam… The airplane crash… Giving herself a progesterone shot... Sneaking into the church with Drake… Dancing at the award ceremony. Gunshots…

Had it all been a dream?

Suddenly, her eyes widen with realization, wishful-thinking blooming across her face. It was a dream. Noticing a big red button on the bed with the word ‘Nurse’, Riley frantically presses it. A jolt of hope bursts within her chest.

It was just a dream– a terrible dream– but just a dream.

The sliding glass door to her ICU room hurriedly rolls open, an older nurse with peppered short hair hurries in with Maxwell hot on her tail. “Well, well… look who’s finally awake!” She smiles kindly, her hazel gaze sparkling with genuine joy. “Your majesty, my name is Vangie, and it has been an honor to care for you through your recovery–”

“Recovery?” Riley looks to Maxwell with curiosity.

“You have two nurses that have been assigned to specifically care for you per the guard's protocol,” Maxwell informs as he takes a seat next to Riley’s bed, gently grabbing her hand. “Vangie here is your night nurse, and she has been incredible.”

Riley turns to the nurse, giving her an uncertain half grin before giving her attention back to Maxwell. “But… what is going on? Why–why am I here?”

Maxwell grips tightly to her fingers, a pensive-look crossing his features. “You’re in the hospital, Ri. You had surgery–”

“Surgery?”

“Yes, your majesty.” Vangie finishes administering medications into Riley’s IV before glancing back to her queen. “You’re quite lucky, actually. You lost a lot of blood, and it was touch-and-go our first night together, but you have pulled through nicely–” her pager suddenly beeps, a slight annoyance flashes in her eyes. “My apologies, your majesty,” she bows, “I need to take this.”

Riley gently nods, offering a soft smile before turning back to Maxwell. He sweetly leans over her, resting his elbow on her bed as he pushes away stray hairs on her face. “I’m so glad you’re finally awake. I've been so worried.”

Riley’s eyebrows furrow, an expression of confusion falls over her as she glances around the room. “Maxwell, I–” she cinches her eyes closed in frustration, “how long have I been out?”

“A good part of three days.” His words drip with worry, “They said the injuries you sustained were pretty severe, but thank God, one of the bullets missed your heart by two millimeters–”

“Bullets?”

Maxwell pauses inquisitively. “You don’t remember much, do you?”

Riley chews on her lip, shaking her head.

“That’s honestly a good thing,” he sighs heavily.

“Max,” she softly pleas, “please… tell me?”

Maxwell sits up in his chair, combing his fingers through the relaxed style of his hair. “Ri, you just woke up. I think you should get some more rest before we dive into what happened. Heck, Olivia and Drake will be back in the morning, and we can–”

“--and Liam?”

Maxwell freezes, the color draining from his face at the mention of his dear friend and king. He swallows thickly. “Wh–what about him?”

“Is he–?” She presses the heel of her hand against her forehead. “I must sound like a lunatic,” she chuckles anxiously, “but… it’s all bleeding together, these thoughts in my head spiraling and mixing reality with fantasy. I feel like when I’m awake, I’m dreaming, and when I’m dreaming, I’m awake, and–I mean, I just…” She tosses her hands on the bed, another titter escaping her throat as tears prick her eyes. “The airplane crash, the funeral, his casket… please tell me the truth.”

Maxwell’s breath hitches, causing a sobering chill to overwhelm Riley. Of all the images flashing through her mind–the morgue, champagne in the orchard, his wedding ring on a necklace–she had hopes that maybe–just maybe– the worst of them all was actually a nightmare, that maybe Maxwell can ground her back into reality, that maybe—

“My husband… ?”

A wave of sorrow pours onto Maxwell's features as his ever-optimistic expression drains. And he shakes his head.

It wasn’t a dream.

~🖤~

Tags (please let me know if you'd like to be added/removed)

PERMA

@alj4890 @ao719 @charlotteg234 @issabees @kat-tia801 @kingliam2019 @mainstreetreader @mom2000aggie @neotericthemis @nikirennie87 @peonierose @socalwriterbee @tessa-liam

ALL TRR

@3pawandme @alyshak92 @iaminlovewithtrr @lovingchoices14 @malblk21 @rubiwalker @sfb123 @twinkleallnight

POUR TWO GLASSES

@busywoman @irisk12 @walkerdrakewalker @veebug8

------

Thank you so much for your support! Every like, comment and reblog means the world to me! 🖤

#pour two glasses #the royal romance #choices fanfic #choices trr #choices the royal romance #liam rys #king liam #king liam rys #drake walker #riley brooks #liam x riley #drake x riley #liam x mc #drake x mc #maxwell beaumont #cordonia #choices fanfiction

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soliloquy-unforgotten · 11 months ago

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Final Fantasy XVI - Martyrs, Individualism, and other Review-like Stuff (Spoilers!)

As one might suppose by the title, I've recently finished Final Fantasy XVI. Playing the game I had a lot of Thoughts, which isn't uncommon, and happened to encourage me to create this little blog for me to store these thoughts for posterity. Therefore, while I'm not yet sure who this introduction is even for, at least it's over. Onwards!

I will start this by getting the easy part out, which I have prior dubbed "the Review-like Stuff" - how "good" are the game's, y'know, things. I'll be pretty direct on this paragraph: visually and musically, the game is a whole meal. The scenarios look amazing, the big magical effects look, well, big and magical (in the best way! also very colorful). I just don't dig the character design all that much, personally, but it does deliver on the sort of realistic medieval fantasy air they set out to deliver - and hey, Jill's clothes actually look like functional female fighting clothes! Progress, I suppose. And the music, of course, delivers just as well - Masayoshi Soken, not content with putting out banger after banger for Final Fantasy XIV (the critically-acclaimed MMORPG, etc) decided to grace XVI with a series of adequately epic-sounding tracks, going as far as to reference musical motifs from prior entries in the series and toss us franchise fans some delicious treats. Yum.

Alright, onto the meat of what I actually wanted to write here - the story and gameplay. I'm gonna bundle both of these up because I think they're intertwined to an extent - or at least, some of the criticism I have about the gameplay is a direct product of how they wrote the story. But I suppose I might be putting the cart before the horses here so let's take a step back.

When playing FF XVI, you control a single character - Clive Rosfield, Ifrit's Dominant and certified Chosen One. You get other companions fighting alongside you here and there, and for most of it you're also accompanied by bestest of boys Torgal, but you never get to control any of them, they have no customization in terms of equipment, and actually the effect they have on gameplay is very minor - mostly making it less annoying to fight large hordes of enemies. So much so that you also never choose who's tagging along, they just join or leave the party automatically according to the story beat.

I recall being a bit disappointed when the previous entry in the franchise, XV, came out - because I had three buddies with me for the journey but I never got to play with them, only edit their equips and perform some dual techs with them during fights. XVI seemed to double down on this departure from party member control, straying even further from the molds of a party-oriented game and coming closer to the likes of Devil May Cry, the Witcher, both of the Nier games, and so on. I should note the influence of the first I cited is quite noticeable.

"Alas, Daka, it could not be helped!", I hear you say. "For Clive is one of only eight people in the world who can freely use magic, AND even if he parties up other Dominants, he'll drain their power eventually! So it can't be helped!". Well, voice in my head who is trying to predict an argument, that's still just a narrative choice they made. Had they decided to make it a party-oriented game, they could easily have written the story in a way that doesn't have Clive strip other Dominants of their power (and even that's kind of finnicky, because Jill is still added to the party for the DLC, far after Clive absorbed her Eikon), or just strip them of the power to Prime but leave their magical ability intact. Or have his fellow party members all be non-Dominants like Gav. Or have them share Clive's power through some sort of covenant, like if he could donate them the power of any Eikons he's not currently using (you do end up with five more Eikons than you can wield in combat, after all).

All this to say that they made a very conscious choice in making Clive's journey be so solitary - he wields the power and bears the burden for it, since being magical in this setting comes with a side effect of slowly turning into stone. Even when he has his (long overdue and very awkwardly paced) romantic development with Jill, she doesn't even try to dissuade him from bearing all of the burden himself - just reassured him that she believed in him and would be by his side to the end. Kind of bold words when you're speeding your new boyfriend along the route of becoming an Ifrit-shaped piece of rock, but it sort of cements the narrative that Clive is the very special Chosen One, and it's useless to try to relieve him of his burden - best to simply give him emotional support when necessary and help in whatever ways a mere mortal can.

Eventually, the narrative reveals that what's been killing the land all along (through a drying out of all life called the Blight) is the usage of magic itself. It's been happening ever since a different race discovered magic, ages ago, in what one may call an Original Sin (!) of sorts. Clive's battle is to, ironically, amass as much of the capacity to use magic without crystals into himself as possible, to then destroy humanity's creator, who both discovered magic and gave humans the means to wield it, and finally use all this accumulated power to destroy the ("sinful") practice of magic and die in the process, overwhelmed by the weight of this feat.

So our dear protagonist is, to recap, a Chosen One, born to be the physical vessel of a godlike being, and he sacrifices himself to cleanse humanity of the sins that are plaguing them. You know who else reportedly did that? That's right, baby: it's Jesus Christ.

Did I write several paragraphs just to arrive at this allegory? Perhaps. But pointing out the symbolic connections between Clive and ol' J.C. is important to eventually arrive at my main argument regarding FFXVI and its place in the franchise: it is very Western. It is prominently influenced by an occidental zeitgeist and ideology (which are indissociable from Christianity as a cultural system of rules and values). This manifests in the narrative itself, yes, which also has a big focus on defending "free will" and rejecting what sort of amounts to what one might describe as, uh, spiritual communism; but it also manifests in the gameplay itself, which is both emblematic of this narrative (via having you control a solitary martyr upon whose shoulders solely relies success or failure), but also more literally influenced by the West - with the gameplay mechanics and quest dialogue structure more closely resembling western action RPGs than any other game in the franchise.

My intent here was not to say FFXVI doesn't have any community-oriented themes (many sidequest chains are explicitly about that), but to point out the ways in which the tone and feel of the game reflect certain staple Western values - individuality most of all - beyond the simple fact of the game's European fantasy setting. I'm also not saying that's a bad thing, just that it is a thing, and these are some of the elaborations I arrived at when I tried to ask myself questions like "why does this feel the way it does?". I'm also very particular about not saying things like "this feels or doesn't feel like a Final Fantasy game" because this is a franchise that loves nothing more than reinventing itself, and XVI was but the latest one to do just that. And for what it's worth, the game was great! I had a blast. I have my nitpicks about it but, hey, none of them was a dealbreaker.

...I do wanna have a party again for the next one though.

#video games #final fantasy xvi #ff16 #ffxvi

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doublegoblin · 2 years ago

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Word Find Tag

Thank ya @randomstupidchaos for the tag, sorry it took a couple days!

My words were: road, blue, night, dress

Snippets will be noted where they came from, I want to try and draw from my One-shots because why not?

Road: Eyeshine

Those terrestrial embers, the local stars. Magical aren’t they? You really start to notice them early in life, but you haven’t a clue what they could be. You see them in the slow fade into the night, right when the world, just start to not make as much clear sense to you anymore. Little pinpricks along the roads that whiz away the moment you know they are there. Clusters of them scampering up and around the trees; they stop for a second burning brightly and then carry on their merry ways. Uncountable shines in the dew drunk grass. Or if’n you get real lucky. Outside your window burning a hole right through the glass while dozens more stand single file along the tree line.

Blue: Harvest Season

An empty field of sullen gray crops. The landscape pitted with pockets of pustulant pools. Stagnant water thrums with verminous life. Yet all else is still. No wind dares to cross this open void. Beyond the horizon carried through feeling alone is the sad song of a long forgotten windmill. Each squeak of steel the faint heartbeat of something else. Something a time away and abandoned. A melancholic sky scabs over with fetid clouds. Peeks of asphyxiated blue. Dreams once blossomed in a fertile frenzy; they have long turned sour. Spreading from a malignant source the mind rot spreads in cancerous rebellion. The single point of pride in this blasted land is the figure who lingers in the center. Bound in coarse cloth and faith. The form of a man with feet pointed towards the sky. Slick oil escapes from the cracks and tears of his fabric. Boiling and hissing it falls towards the heavens. What better means to scare away the crows?

Night: Eyeshines

So you start to ask about these ocular fireflies. You start asking your parents, teachers, friends, and anyone else who will lend you an ear. They all say the same thing but just with different words. That they are the eyes of creatures big and small. ‘Cept for your pals who say they’re ghosts or boogiemen coming to get you. So you start asking why their eyes shine so bright. Only your teachers give you an answer you can trust. It’s because these animals have a special part of their eye that helps them see at night. Keeps ‘em from getting eaten or helps them to instead eat. You start rattling off all the eyes you’ve seen from the deer on the road to the spiders in the grass. The strangest thing though is when you ask about the big one. Their face drains of color a little and that one gets brushed aside. This explanation lights a fire in someone. Why do they glow though? Why would prey have a way to be seen by predator? Is their only means of defense to close their eyes and wait for the danger to pass? Why don’t my eyes glow? Do my eyes glow? Why do only some people’s eyes glow at night?

Dress: Rituals and Red Tape (everything else was like address or something like it)

The soft chatter of keys being pressed. The drone of a document being printed. That horrible buzz of the overhead lights. Numerous figures dressed in sharp business suits milled about the aging cubicles. I closed the door to my office and took a seat behind my desk. The monitor blinking a reminder of my performance review. Shuffling papers I found a small note, what exactly traditional meant for each board member. My skin became delicate porcelain, my face bore no features, and my hair vanished into the aether. I still hate how my joints sound, like nails on a chalkboard. Double checking everything in a mirror I was sure I had it right this time.

I'll go ahead and tag @asterhaze @melusinewrites @pixelw0rds @tailoroffates and as always anyone else

Your wordies will be: Smoke, bloody, Breakfast, Glare

#writing #writeblr #tag game #thanks for the tag #It was nice to look back at some old one offs

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sweetpeaceenthusiast · 5 days ago

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Unpack An Eco-friendly Xmases: 35 Sustainable Secret Santa Presents

Sustainable Present Concepts: Low-waste, Thoughtful, And Ideal For Minimalists

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Go With Pre-owned Products

And Ocean Bottle's are sea-riously lasting, many thanks to the brand moneying the collection of 1000 ocean-bound plastic containers for every.singlesale. Today, I'm diving into sustainable holiday present ideas that are absolutely no to low-waste, in addition to incredibly budget friendly. These presents are particularly ideal for someone who is more minimal, trying to minimize mess, or can be tricky to purchase for. Gift the joy of soft, nourished hands and a lasting touch with Myrtle & Moss Cold Cream, the best enhancement to an aware and caring holiday.

Or the old box can be a hand-made time-capsule where you and your buddy shop your much-loved things.Plus, it helps to minimize the use of single-use plastic bags, which is excellent for the setting.Our checklist of 10 zero-waste gift concepts will aid you celebrate the season in a manner that straightens with your worths.And also, they're environmentally friendly, as they lower the requirement for physical present wrapping.Consider our natural skin care products for a gift that incorporates high-end with duty.

Stasher silicone bags have a multiple-use, impermeable seal layout, made from food-grade silicone that's both risk-free for the setting and your food. These flexible bags are not simply for sandwiches; they're microwave, dishwasher, and freezer safe, making them perfect for meal prep, or storing treats on the move. Depending on your preference (or that of whoever you wish to buy a present for) you might intend to review some other brand names. We share sustainability concentrated ideas, pointers, methods, products, brands and tales concerning individuals & companies doing significant job to better our world. Meanwhile, One Tree Grown has tree planting kits where liked ones participate the activity themselves.

This individual interaction boosts the gifting experience and strengthens the bond between the provider and the recipient. As we come close to the festive season, providing presents should straighten with our worths and commitment to sustainability. That's why it's so essential that we do what we can to restrict our u

#Youtube

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kakahut · 5 months ago

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Death and Living.

I haven't written anything here for quite a long time. I didn't even remeber what I have written last time.

Life is confusing and had so much up and downs.

i can't believe I am 35, living a quite hipster life with no children, no man and a single apartment with limited savings. 2023 was tough, and 2024 is even worse, I sort of giving up the idea of looking for a full time position but do some projects on my own. Now, I have a company.

I was lucky that I always have friends who can be there for me. I really appreciate Vincent's support during the worst moment of my life and I never expectd to have a friendship like that after my 30s.

I am not happy happy, but I enjoy my life most of time and I know I am quite lucky. I honestly have very limited time thinking about men or dating as I really enjoy being around just with friends. Dating for me is draining, especially after what happened with Rob last September, I realized that my old habits die hard, my obession with "broken men" won't disappear in one day. I know I don't want them near my life anymore and I still don't know how to connect with the normal ones ( are there any out there anyway? lol) I am really more peaceful and happy to be with myself, my friends, my cats and my family.

A recent incident dragged me into old memories, Tommy died in a motocycle accident and I was the first to know in our circle. I was in shock and I almost forgot who he is and what happened between us unitl this message. All the memories I had about him starting to flow around in my head recently as I am trying to see if I can find any trace that I can feel sad.

Honestly, I don't feel a thing, for a moment, I feel he deserved it. It's his karma. Then I critisized myself of being mean as we did have good moments but then the horrible memory came back, the night he dragged me into the backdoor of a stairway trying to prevent me from telling the other girl about the entanglement we were having, the horror I felt he might hurt me eventually. The anger, the monster I was turning into after being peaceful for many years startled me. I knew I deserve better than that.

I cut off this circle immediately, I also cut off my friendship with Will because I know these are no longer good to me anymore .

I didn't realize it could be that easy as I was also feeling head to toe for a while. He was my muse, and some of his quality reminded me of Min ( they actually are very different people ) really sparkled my creativity and I felt sad that day I saw his true color because I felt I might not be able to create more work. Funny the reality was I made more work during my healing period at Vincent's apartment, I no longer draw feelings about men, I got inspiration from everything, from nature, from the understanding of myself.

I think the message of Tommy's death is a sign the universe is sending me. I knew one more piece should be made to put an end to a story, a story about illusion and expectation, a story of me chasing some shadows from the only relationship I cared in my life, I call it the PTSD of a young love syndrome.

That night, I had a dream about Min, after all these years, it was so vivid as if the past years never happened, we were still in that apartment on 1500 Walnut street, cooking and talking, felt so familar, just like old friends. He said to me " I wrote a review of each letters you sent to me" and I laughed and said " It's so you and I know you are the only person I know would do that." I woke up, looked around and knew I am back to my reality, no Min, no Philly, no Tommy, just my 2 cats cuddling next to me purring.

Life is an illusion overall, I just jumped from one to another, the bounary between reality and fantasy is always so blurry. Reading Buddhist texts are the best practise I did this year to go through hard times, it makes me more calm and stable. I have been so obssesed with the idea of love, the wanting of acceptance that I have neglected in this process, I should also be cared for.

To Tommy: I will foget you again but I will not forgive you even you were dead, you don't deserve it and you still don't deserve it.

Vincent always says that I should stop my obsession with my ex and move on and he is a bit tired of hearing my story always circling back to the same guy. I freaked out a bit when last week he mentioned his college roomate was a Korean guy from Michigan. It took me a week to ask what his name was, and he laughed and said, "I don't think you would have dated my roomate, Carol. He was a very quiet guy and he is married and have 2 children now."

All of a sudden, I felt a bit embarrased. When most of your friends are settled and focus on raising their children and in your head you were still thinking about a past illusion, I feel I was not improved and upgraded to a better version, as if I was stuck in the save level of a game over and over again. His words reminded me I should not be dragged back to past just because I enjoy the comfort it provides. 不要贪恋过去，这样我会感知不到现在，也就无法创造未来。

I rethink the idea of love. I belived even we were apart, my love should not die and if it fades away, then it is not true love. Now I was wondering, I am just enjoy the idea of it too much and the "love" didn't grow at all it was packed in an old box, it's a vintage. Most connection flows and nothing really last forever, things only can last if we put constant effort into it.

i have maintained this light connection for years because I really dont want the forget that version of myself, however, he is no longer who he was , neither am I , so this love has changed over time by itself.

I really wish Min can be happy, I might be jealous that he is happier than me now, but eventually, I deeply wish the best for him as he deserves good and healthy connection just like what I deserve.

So it's time to stay afar, wishing the best for him instead constantly remind him and myself of the past.

I don't know if I still "love" Min ( I want to love myself more first) , but I wish all the best because I really really really really care about you, and this won't die.

I really really really really really loved you with every breath I had and I tried to give you everyting I had to fullfill your void, and I would never do that for anyone else becasue it is not healthy. However, I can't deny it is romantic, innocent, and vivd that it is so beautiful. It is such a beautiful story.

So 2024, I will stop.

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gertlushgaming · 9 months ago

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Splatoon 3 Side Order DLC Review (Nintendo Switch OLED)

Splatoon 3 Side Order DLC Review, As Agent 8, you wake up to discover Inkopolis Square has been drained of colour and its residents have gone missing. Alongside a drone who claims to be Off the Hook member Pearl, ascend the floors of the Spire of Order and strengthen your abilities as you climb the tower in a single-player experience that’s designed to be replayed over and over!

Splatoon 3 Side Order DLC Review Pros:

- Gorgeous graphics. - 10.8GB download size. - Import Splatoon 2 save (optional) to get Golden Sheldon tickets, early access to a game mode and settings, and online rankings. - A character creator for you and your little sidekick. - Roguelike shooter gameplay. - Opening tutorial section. - Full gyroscope controls (optional). - 3rd person shooter gameplay. - In-game cutscenes. - Exceptional soundtrack. - Familiar controls. - Splatsville is your hub town where you can freely roam the streets, enter and use the shops, do deals, read and write messages with others and do some online play. - Controls can be inverted with sensitivity sliders. The handheld and big screen have seperate menus. - Amiibo support. - Color the floor with your ink color, transform into a squid travel faster in the ink, and replenish your ammo. - You can use the ink to climb walls, jump over obstacles, and go through fences. - The train station takes you to either Inkopolis Square or Inkopolis Plaza. - Single-player game mode. - You create a character from a list of hairstyles, eye color, eyebrows, etc. - Color the floor with your ink color, transform into a squid travel faster in the ink, and replenish your ammo. - You can use the ink to climb walls, jump over obstacles, and go through fences. - The opening part is setting up the story and scenario. - Fast loading times. - You play a character called Agent 8. - Basic tutorial pop-ups that are more of a refresher. - In-game cutscenes and character interactions. - Uses its own Squid language. - The color has been taken from Inkopolis. - Color chips can be earned after each floor is clear and give new buffs, abilities, etc, and are color-coded and you equip them in each color slot. - Damage numbers show as you shoot. - You are working your way up a tower and start at the bottom every time with a boss fight at the top. - Every floor has a set objective. - You get three lives per floor. - Enemies take damage in your ink. - Your drone partner can carry you if you fall far and whilst being held you can shoot. - Combo counter as you take people out. - Breakable objects in the game world. - Uses a cool CCTV-like camera cut at the end of a level and has hi-tech-looking ui and screens. - A floor consists of a practice dummy and a cage to take you over to the main floor, when in the cage you can't shoot but you can drop out whenever you want and fly in on your drone. - Blowing up portals within a level causes a huge ink explosion and portals spawn enemies. - Auto saves between floors. - The floors do incorporate multiplayer modes but in a solo setting so things like holding down an area and splatting everyone or shooting an antenna to move it etc. - Earn Membux from each floor after completing the objective. - Satisfying gameplay loop. - Bite-sized floor challenges. - You still get your bombs and special moves. - Works as a good way to help you with online. - Later floors will let you pick the objective and each has a difficulty assigned. - All new enemy types are called the Jelletons. - Very basic puzzle elements to floors as if you plan and work out what stuff you can make clearing a floor easier or/and faster. - The combo counter builds which can have bombs and rewards drop. - The end of the level shows the time taken. - Membux can be used to continue the floor if you lose all your lives otherwise you start the floor again from scratch. - Photo mode. - PRLZ is the main currency and is used to lower the difficulty of the spires. - The game turns into a roguelike after the opening spire run. - At the end of every run, you turn your collected color chips and Membux into PRLZ. - Spend PRLZ on your character - max lives, damage reduction, max armor, and broken armor jump. And your drone (who is Pearl) drone action slots, drone gauge Turf charge, and drone ink mine. - Over time you unlock new entries to spend your PRLZ on and can be real game changers. - Keys can be found and these are used at the lockers to get new rewards like diary entries, banners, new weapons to use, etc. - Palettes will have a weapon, most common tone (chip) secondary common tone, and abilities and bomb types. They are loadouts. - The Foyer is a huge practice area and you have access before any new run. - Floors are randomized in terms of objectives and difficulties for each objective. - Towers will have rewards at certain levels and you see them on the map after finishing a floor. - You are collecting and encountering items to fill in - the color chop collection, the Jelleton field guide, and the Dev diary. - Many rewards can be used outside of the DLC and used online. - Some cool level layouts and designs. - Hitting floor five gets you a bonus of PRLZ but then has the next run giving you 500 Membux to start with and floor 5 has a shop. - Your best run gets shown on the map every run. - Gets very addictive. - Bonus floors can appear for a bigger one-off reward. - You can spend PRLZ on the starting floor position. - End of run breakdown showing what killed you and all the chips you collected and then how many PRLZ you get after they are converted. Splatoon 3 Side Order DLC Review Cons: - You get very little info in terms of owning the DLC and where it is. - Such a slow starter with a lot of stop-start cutscenes and character interactions. - In tight spaces, you go first person and it all goes a bit weird along with not always being able to see your ink level. - The story is not front and center. - Having a level timer feels a bit redundant. - It's slow going between floors and not that snappy. - Cannot skip the cutscenes. - The game can definitely get overwhelming and that can be frustrating for new players. - You don't get all the information like you can drop early from your drown by pressing shoot at a certain angle. - Some levels are a pain as they stack the game against you but in a cheap way like shoving a load of enemies in a small space. - Hard to know what objective you are playing, just the difficulty and reward are clear with the objective just being an icon. - The game doesn't have a huge pool of modes to play. Related Post: Splatoon 3 Review (Nintendo Switch OLED) Splatoon 3 Side Order DLC. Official website. Developer: Nintendo Publisher: Nintendo Store Links – Nintendo Read the full article

#DLC #NintendoSwitch

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dreadwhoop · 1 year ago

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Reviewing the All Elite Wrestling personnel 2023 Edition (Part 2) -

PUSH -

The Most Wanted. A wrestler I look forward to seeing on TV every single time which is a rarity in AEW these days. He's incredible! Yes I imagine his lack of promo deflates a full-on title push but this is why managers were invented. Put him with CJ Perry and let him chase the TNT title. Bandido. TNT. See how effective this all sounds? His win-loss record is criminal - I would protect this guy as a serious project to develop.

Likely the prime choice to be the next AEW Champion all things considered. He's clever to protect his spot. Call it akin to Hogan or Cena or anybody politicing in the back the guy must have a silver tongue backstage. Not to bash Adam Cole once again but the moment I saw Jay White I asked out loud what was the point of Adam Cole now? We can clearly see, unlike Adam Cole, Jay White welcomes the promo battles with MJF because he wants to be considered as good and, yeah, MJF smoked him with the 'Tofu' line but you know I've seen Tofu survive a Zombie Apocalypse with only a knife so color me interested at the success he's getting.

A dark horse in AEW's future success. Transplant Jay White's goatee onto him and you've got a serious contender for future AEW Champion. Also can't speak a lick of English hence Don Callis. Nothing much more can be said. He's got size, impression, and time on his side. He isn't being made into some gimmick joke character so they must think highly on the guy. A time will come when one has to ask who people see doing well when they're not in AEW. Relatively safe and solid worker.

Aah yes a favourite of mine. Should of been everything Sammy Guevara could of been and, hopefully, more. Santana is one of AEW's most missed opportunities and it's obvious he tried to go to WWE but got rejected so could never debut on the Puerto Rico event. A shame. It's a risk to invest in him but it's worth taking if it pays off - the guy is easily able to hang with the established main eventers and future stars if he can finally detach himself from the chains of Ortiz.

I debated this one for a bit. On one hand it's frustrating how badly they've booked big men in this company. Lance Archer. Powerhouse Hobbs. Wardlow. Miro included, but Miro still gets attention because of the absurdity of his story. The right thing to do with him is to make him a chaser who keeps having obstacles put in his way. A "12 Labours of Hercules" kind of deal. Miro is a long-term push who, on his way up, can highlight other talents too.

A 11th hour success story - the BCC, JAS, and Outcasts have been insufferable drains on television time - non-story factions who pick fights which mean nothing to serve the cause of one person - Moxley, Jericho, and Saraya (dis)respectably. Put some AM Radio filters on her promos and even during the intro for the commentary, pull out a red carpet with photographers when she wins the Women's Title and have her kiss a plastic baby held by Gene Snitsky before he punts it. Have Toni Storm stalk Darby Allin thinking he's pining for the "good old days" whilst Danhausen stalks her like Nosferatu. Have Hikaru Shida do something with her Kurosawa style…it's endless…dare I say…Timeless??? People naturally knew to clap her instead of cheer. This is how you get OVER.

Would of included her last year but official roster candidates qualify so here she is now. She's someone who I can count the number of moves she does yet every move she does counts. Special mention to Brody King who has been a beacon of inspiration for her and championing her cause. She should be the next TBS Champion but not yet do it next year. All she needs is a broader moveset and she'll soar to new heights in her young career what most veterans never see at all. Great finisher. Great theme song too.

In many ways the contrast of Julia Hart in the sense of being a fantastic veteran who has always had the look of a serious competitor and the attitude of a rugged badass. AEW has always flirted with the idea of Mercedes Martinez for some time and it seems like the time has come for her to go full mercenary and take everyone and anyone out before she's out of opportunities.

Speaking of Latina latents, Thunder Rosa is due for a return and it should be a monumental one building up to feuds with Jamie Hayter (when she's ready) and Britt Baker (if she's still here). Or why not Taya too…actually where's Deeb? One of the biggest mysteries is Deeb's disappearance. Anyways Thunder Rosa is a complete flavour of work, look, and promo it's just not everyones' taste. She's been doing Vlogs so it's not like she's missing just not being used. Why?

Every year I seem to nominate at the end a former AEW Champ to get rid of so, for a change of pace, here's a former AEW Champ to push. Kenny Omega is still a viable draw when you detach him from all the stupidity associated with his personality. The Cleaner needs to find a way to make AEW's faithful more than just hanger-ons and return to being the franchise player where he can mix with any style. Keep his work inside the ring, build psychology, wrestle fundamentals, and revise his goals to humble his way without gimmicks or stipulations. Make him just WRESTLE and let time speak for it.

#aew #all elite wrestling #personal opinion

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funkyfreshb · 1 year ago

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Review - Street Fighter 6 - Hit the Streets!

Review – Street Fighter 6 – Hit the Streets! | The Funky Hut (neocities.org)

Fighting games is a difficult topic for me in many ways. I like the concept of many unique characters in a fighting game way, each character being memorable in a way and where they each play totally different. At the same time, it's really annoying when a character you want to play as plays in a way you don't like. I like playing fighting games, and I like inputting all these weird commands to perform cool actions. I suck at them though, in a way where I need to have a relatively low difficulty set when playing them. I play a lot of fighting games, but really only Killer Instinct, Smash Bros, and Capcom. Now that you have some background info on me and fighting games, let's get started.

This is a review of Street Fighter 6, Capcom's latest fighting game. However, this review only takes into account what has been made available during the first month, which is the base game, the first Fighting Pass (Early Summer Vibes), and a few other tidbits. The game is divided into three components (Fighting Grounds, Battle Hub, and World Tour), so I'll go over each of these separately. Before I do that, let's go over what you'll generally experience in the game: the stages, the roster, and the gameplay.

The stages are varied, as they usually are. Fête Foraine is visually distinct from Thunderfoot Settlement, which is visually distinct from Dhalsimer Temple, etc. The stages come in a variety of colors, though each one look a bit washed out. The focal point of the stage's background seems to be a bit foggy and therefore out of focus, making them lose a bit of clarity. Not a huge complaint, not one easily noticed during gameplay, and likely intentional to make the characters stand out more, but a nitpick if you will.

The launch roster is fairly small, coming in at 18 fighters. Including the 4 characters from the Year 1 pass, there will be at least 22 fighters in the game, which is equal to that of Street Fighter V and its first year of characters (16 + 6). However, the characters are more fleshed out than in V, plus all the other content available in game makes this roster much more bearable than it was for its predecessor. The roster at launch contains the 8 classic World Warriors, 2 New Challengers, Juri from Street Fighter IV, and 7-ish newcomers (the -ish is for Luke). The World Warriors are already a varied bunch, and the same can be said for the newcomers. Each returning character also received a redesign, each one looking great, especially Dee Jay. Overall, I would say there is not a single bad character, just some I'm less excited about. Throw in a few more for launch and it would've been perfect.

As for the gameplay, it's great. It mixes aspects from each game of the series and combines them into a sort of all-star game in terms of gameplay mechanics. You've got Supers from II, parries from III, Focus Attacks from IV, and character specific abilities from V's V-Triggers. Characters have a huge amount of depth, with tons of specials and unique attacks. EX moves have been split away from the Super meter (which is now only used for Supers), now instead being part of the Drive Gauge. With the Drive Gauge, you can perform Drive Parries where you continuously parry by holding down the buttons, Drive Impacts which stun or knock away your opponent, Drive Reversals done after blocking an enemy's attack, Drive Rush which is essentially a better dash, and Overdrive Arts which act as the game's EX moves. Every action you perform with the Drive Gauge drains it, but it can be refilled. Using all of these mechanics feels good, and it also keeps you on your toes as completely draining the Gauge will put you in a Burnout state where you cant perform these mechanics, plus you can be stunned and take more damage. A very well realized system that works very well with the rest of the gameplay, which feels like a typical if not more fluid Street Fighter otherwise, my only problem being that I keep mistaking Drive Parries for Killer Instinct 2013's Combo Breakers. I also need to mention Modern Controls, which seem great for new players, but I haven't tried them much.

Now that we've gone over the basics, let's delve into the aforementioned components, starting with Fighting Grounds. This is basically where to go for your typical Street Fighter activities, and they're each very typical in execution. From here you can access Arcade, Local VS, Online VS (Ranked, Casual, Custom), Practice, and Extreme Battles. Arcade is either 5 or 12 stages long, you can select 5 difficulties ranging from Easiest to Hardest, you can have Bonus Rounds active (destroy truck, parry basketballs (12 stages only)), and you can also have the character's story active, which consists of a few storyboard-cutscenes. Local VS is you VS a player or CPU, and you can also choose from a variety of team options (e.g 5v5, where only 1v1 is played for each). Online VS is probably the same as Local VS but online only (I haven't played this yet, not much of an online guy). Practice this time around is very fleshed out from what I've seen, with tons of character guides, combo trials, and options for frame data and the like (haven't played this either, actually). For Extreme Battles, there are several options to choose from, and you select what you want by combining an Objective with a Stage Hazard. These are just fun, if a little restricted as there are just 5 or 6 options for each category (5x5 = 25 unique combinations, but if you've played with e.g. one Objective you know what it is regardless of Stage Hazard), so I'm hoping more gets added in the future. All-in-all, Fighting Grounds offer a large selection of things to do, but maybe there's one or two things that could've been added to provide more value for the typical fighting game fan, what do I know.

Moving on to the Battle Hub, this is not too different from the Fighting Grounds in all honesty. You enter one of many servers, and here you see a ton of player created fighters, known as Avatars (more on them later) running around, and there's a chatbox so you can talk to everyone. In the middle of the Hub there is an area where you can fight with your Avatar against other players' Avatars, each one retaining their stats from World Tour (again, more later). There are various arcade cabinets placed around a large Hub, and depending on where you choose to sit, what happens is different. Sit by one inside the central circular area and you'll fight Casual matches against the other opponent who sits by that specific cabinet. On the other side of the Hub from the entrance and to the <b>right</b>, there are cabinets for Extreme Battles, which rotate their settings in some way. On the other side of the Hub from the entrance and to the <b>left</b>, there are cabinets where you can play classic Capcom games, such as Street Fighter I, II, or Alpha 2, Final Fight, Magic Sword, Puzzle Fighter II, and more, on a daily, weekly, or monthly rotation. There are other activities as well, like DJ booths, photo booths, Avatar clothing store, and Tournaments (which I haven't partaken in yet). In other words, the Battle Hub is a good component for players who enjoy interacting with others.

I'll use this portion to briefly discuss the microtransactions found in the game. You can purchase Fighter Coins, with which you can purchase colors for your characters (each character only has color 1 and 2 unlocked for their starting outfit), new Outfits, stickers to use in the BH chat, and clothes found in the BH outfit store. I haven't looked at their pricing that much, but it seems okay in comparison to other games. Not too much, but maybe could've been cheaper. Anyway, the game also contains the Fighting Pass, and you can purchase a Premium version of it with Fighter Coins. The Free version basically gives you nothing, which is typical of Battle Passes' free versions. However, by purchasing the Premium version, you can get permanent access to one of the arcade games available in the Battle Hub. That's neat, and for 250 fighter coins ($5 or so), it could be worth it, especially when factoring in whatever else you get (Avatar clothes, titles, stickers) plus the refund of 250 coins (likely to be used on the next Fighting Pass) if you complete all 30 tiers. At 15000 Kudos (bascially character EXP, used to unlock character titles or progress in Fighting Passes) required for all 30 tiers (around 10000 for the free tiers), it doesn't feel like it's too much of a time investment either, at least if you always play online. So, pretty ok so far, all things considered.

Now, it's time to discuss the elephant in the room... or demon, Gollum, or whatever else you created... World Tour. Or, well, let's go over the character creator first. In World Tour you play as your own custom Avatar. Your Avatar can be customized in basically every way. Character height, width, and depth, skin color, arm length, head size, sitting height, and more. People have created a ton of characters using this, from other Street Fighter characters like Rainbow Mika, to random ones like Hank Hill, Slenderman, Avatar (the blue guys), you name it. However your character is created, its appearance affects its gameplay. Longer arms providing longer reach and things to that effect. From playing World Tour, your Avatar can gain levels after which you gain skill points you can use to gain more stats, accessory slots, and more. You can also customize your characters clothes, with some affecting stats and/or giving various affects, some not. Finally, you can customize your Avatars fighting style in a number of different ways.

By meeting Masters in World Tour (Masters are the same characters as the main roster, like Cammy and Marisa), you unlock their style that you can apply whatever special moves you want to, if you have them unlocked and their inputs (think charge back, quarter circle, etc) don't collide (think Ryu's normals and unique attacks with Dee Jay's Air Slasher, Guile's Flash Kick, Zangief's Double Lariat, etc). Specials are unlocked from leveling a Master's style, which you do by using that style or fighting others on the street who use it. To round out this tangent on Master's before diving into World Tour, you can increase your bond with any given Master by giving them stuff. Each item gives a different amount of bond. Increasing the bond will increase their Master Assist level, where they'll come in and help you during a fight for a period of time. You also get to know them a bit. Also, if you reach 100 bond you unlock their Outfit 2. It's neat that these can be earned.

So, World Tour. It's the game's main Story Mode. You are your Avatar and you just enrolled as Luke's student, and so did this Bosch guy. After a brief introduction, you and Bosch explore the town a bit. Afterwards you two reunite with Luke, after which Bosch leaves you two behind. The rest of the story is basically finding Bosch again and finding out why he left. A very basic plot for what is essentially little more than a huge tutorial. In World Tour, you can travel to either Metro City or Nayshall, both of which act as the main hubs of the mode. You can also travel to any of the stages (they aren't much larger than their regular stage counterparts), which act as small areas to hold certain Masters and little else. In the main hubs, you can find mini-games that basically teach you timing of attacks or something similar but also earn you money, and you can also find side-quests that grant you rewards. These are also very tutorial-y, many hosted by the tutorial characters of Alice and her brothers, with only a handful of side-quests of actual substance. Seeing and getting to know Retsu was a highlight, but other than that I'd call it a Yakuza-lite. Lite A Dragon? Something along those lines. It's got the same ingredients, but they're not as fleshed out as a Like A Dragon game. The mini-games aren't that interesting and neither are the side-quests. I will say that I think fighting random thugs is about on par, of course being tailored more for traditional fighting games as opposed to a 3D beat 'em up, but it has more problems in scenarios where there are 2 or more enemies to fight against, such as getting stuck in infinite loops or getting attacked from both sides at the same time. World Tour is a good starting point, I just hope it will be updated alongside the game for the next 5 or so years SF6 will be Capcom's main fighting game. Add more side-quests, some more minigames, and maybe a proper post-game area as well (for enemies level 60+), and it might be able to stand together with some of the LAD games. As it is, it's a fun romp for however long it lasts, and I enjoyed the cameos. More of those, please.

Let's wrap this up. Street Fighter 6 is a great fighting game that can be enjoyed by basically everyone with the new Modern controls. It's got a ton of help for beginners to get into the game, such as Character Guides and World Tour. Pros can also enjoy a very complex fighting game, thanks to the depth of the Drive Gauge. Is it the best Street Fighter? Maybe. I could definitely see it lasting for the next 10 years as opposed to the 5 or so years each of IV and V lasted, especially if they update World Tour with new stuff as well (in addition to the Masters). My final message... pick up Street Fighter 6, and hit the streets!

#ffblog #thoughts #review #capcom #street fighter #sf6 #street fighter 6 #xbox series x #xbox

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madeforkids · 2 years ago

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Top 7 Best Inflatable Paddling Pools 2023

Now its summer we need to cool down and have some fun. These paddling pools are the best paddling pools you will get. So take a look at these amazing paddling pools. Not all pools are built alike and if you’re looking for something a bit more special you’ve come to the right place. Madeforkids has been digging out the best deals for paddling, dipping and swimming to bring you the best the market has to offer. 1. We chose the BestWay Fast Set swimming pool as our first choice based on its very affordable price and very easy to use. Use it right away after delivery. No hasssle to get help in setting it up. The "Fast Set Pool" provides splash around and cool down in your own backyard. Simply choose a level surface, inflate the air ring and simply fill with water and inflate the ring and soon you will have an amazing pool! This pool has a 2300 L capacity and is 2.44 M in length. 2. The first of the Bestway Power Steel pool reviews to look at entails one for this extended model. The sturdy rectangular frame comes with six supports with twelve prongs on each long side and three supports with six prongs on the short sides. A ladder can be affixed onto one of the corners. A few small ports can be found on one long side for help with getting water to pump through space. The frame is designed to handle about twelve people at a time. The water moves well within the pool thanks to the strong pump and filter. The bright blue tile print on the inside adds a classic touch that people are bound to enjoy relaxing along. Polyester and PVC are used on the side walls to keep the water on the inside. The flow drain valves make it easy for you to remove the old water from the pool and to refill it when needed. Steel frames, which help create the shape of the rectangular pool and hold the durable ‘metal tech’ pool liner in place, are locked and tightened using simple ‘T’ connectors and ‘C’ clips. U-supports, which hold the durable PVC and polyester outer wall upright, are attached using easy to connect spring-loaded pins. It’s easier than swimming with a float! Bestway pools have an integrated flow control drain valve for easy draining, which attaches to the garden hose so your pool water can be drained away from your garden – no soggy lawn. 3. This fantastic Intex pool is ideal for the back garden, with a water capacity of 439 gallons. Easy to set up, simply assemble the metal frame, fill with water and relax. This blue rectangular frame pool made from puncture resistant 3-ply material and a zinc-plated and powder-coated frame design is ready for water in 30 minutes, and includes a convenient drain plug that connects to a garden hose. With its depth and size, this swimming pool is ideal for the whole family to enjoy on a lovely summer day. 4. Impressed by the Ultra Body Pools, these Prism Body pools attribute several of the very same benefits of their top of the selection cousins but at a a lot more affordable value level. The unigue awesome blue/grey color and white trim supplies a refreshing search to enhance contemporary backyard garden decor. 5. This has a very cool mist built in to the roof that I didn't know until we built it that you connect the hose to very refreshing we are all adults size now but still love water to cool off and we have 3 blow up rings and a dog on a body board and still have room has means for a filter to run if you like but I have just been putting the chemical straight in and it's as clear as when I filled it my husband built it single handed i have brought many pools over the years this one is roomy deep enough to float looks great frame and thick material .. so much more stable then the blow up ones and of course can't pop ! from some one who once had a huge 12ft above ground one that was quick costly in running filter and very imposing on the garden. 6. Made with Bestway's trademarked Tri-Tech construction, this material features a 3 ply reinforced layering system for superior strength and durability. Complete with pool frame, ladder, pool pump, ground cloth for insulation and lawn protection and a cover to keep debris out, you have everything you need to set up and go. Quick, easy, safe and strong outdoor pool for family summer fun! 7. The Bestway 15ft Hydrium Splasher Pool Set is part of Bestway’s renowned range of strong steel-walled above ground pools that are large enough for the whole family to jump in and have a splash! GYMAX Inflatable Water Park with Slide, Pool Area, Climbing Wall and Water Gun, Bouncy Castle Bounce House Kids Activity Center, Including Carry Bag, Repairing Patches and Stake (without Air Blower) Read the full article

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thejoyofviolentmovement · 2 years ago

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New Audio: JOVM Mainstays Secret Shame Share Gorgeous New Single

New Audio: JOVM Mainstays Secret Shame Share Gorgeous New Single @ShameSecret @transmissionpr_ @dropofsunstudio

Asheville-based post-punk outfit and JOVM mainstays Secret Shame can trace their origins back to summer 2016 when Matthew (bass) and Lena (vocals) met through mutual friends. As a duo, the band released their self-titled debut EP, but they mostly stuck to hometown DIY shows. Nathan, who had released the band’s debut EP, later joined on drums and not long after, Aster joined on guitar. The…

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#Asheville NC #Color Drain #Drop of Sun Studio #New Audio #New Single #non-binary artists who kick ass #post punk #Secret Shame Color Drain #Secret Shame Dark Synthetics #Secret Shame S/T EP #Single Review #Single Review: Color Drain #Single Review: Secret Shame Color Drain

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dokifluffs · 4 years ago

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Overfeeding and Aftercare | Tendo, Himekawa, Miya Twins

Pairings: Tendo X Reader (gender neutral), Himekawa X Reader (gender neutral), Osamu X Reader X Atsumu (not romantically though) ((gender neutral))

Genre: v a m p i r e, fluffffff, fantasyyyy

Author’s Note: asdkakahd fantasyyyyy i love fantasy so much so i hope yiu all enjoy!! Happy reading!!

Warnings: blood, passing out from loss of blood

Overfeeding and Aftercare | Kenma, Bokuto, Kuroo

Tendo:

The night sky was clear with not even a cloud floating in the sky, the crisp air flowing through your slightly open window, keeping your room cool throughout the night

You could hear the outside world so clearly- the crickets in the grass, the owls hooting in their trees, occasional sounds from other students’ in their own dorms

Testing season had fallen over university and it was time for everyone to spend this next month studying their eyes out, including you

You had been stuck in your room all day, leaving your seat at your desk as sparingly as possible to use the bathroom and to eat

Your stomach grumbled for the nth time tonight just thinking about dinner with your friends that you had to miss, instead stuck with a few granola bars you had left instead

There was absolutely no time to waste and you were on a clear schedule you made for yourself to get the most out of studying yet it meant sleeping and even eating less

Your single dorm was empty, simple and plain to your liking though you wished there were more pops of color to make it actually feel more enjoyable as you stayed in here

A small pile of clothes was formed in the corner of the room right outside your closet doors, your bed unmade from this morning when you woke

Your lamp light flickered from the old bulb that was near the end of its usable life

“No, no, no, not now,” your voice frantic, eyes heavy and body begging for sleep and sustenance as the light finally went out, a large gust of wind blowing through your window, making the pages of your notebook and textbooks flip

The pale moonlight shined in onto your desk as it peeked from beyond the tall oak tree that sat right outside your window

You groaned, your voice bouncing off the painted over concrete blocks of your dorm walls that matched everyone else’s as you leaned back in your chair

It was a weird feeling- your head spinning slowly, the burning sensation in your eyes as they watered when you finally shut them, pressing the palm of your hand over your eyes and forehead to relieve all the pressures you had pent up

“You’re up quite late…” You jumped in your seat, heart skipping a beat at the sudden silky voice of Tendo in your ears

His crimson eyes glowed in the dark, his two red orbs looking directly into your tired ones as you sat up in your seat, spinning to face him

He wore an oversized uni shirt that flowed with the breeze in the room, his hair down and the ends of his red locks obscuring his vision ever so slightly

“Don’t tell me you want to become nocturnal, now~” he teased playfully as he reached down, his icy hands taking yours in his, amused hearing the way you swallowed when he touched you

He tilted his head into your hand, his skin pleasantly cold against your worn, hot one from all the writing you did to review your notes and course

“I’m just studying, Satori. Are you hungry, again?” You asked, rubbing your thumb over his cheekbone

“Always,” he mumbled into your skin as he narrowed looking down to you, bending himself down ever so slightly as your arm was stretched upward in his grasp

He lowered his head, never breaking his gaze with you as he brought his lips across your flawless skin, his mouth already salivating at the faint feeling and sound of your blood pumping through your ulnar artery in your wrist

He closed his eyes as he closed his lips around your wrist, his teeth sinking in, humming in delight at the sensation of your blood over his tongue

You let out a wince at the pinching feeling

He removed himself from your wrist, the dark liquid slowly dripping from his teeth marks as he licked his lips

“You haven’t been eating properly, Y/N,” his voice dropped as your name rolled off his tongue. “You taste different,” he said almost disappointedly yet sounded completely different

You couldn’t tell if it was the darkness in the room with the moon shining behind the leaves and branches of the tree but it seemed his eyes were glowing even brighter

“I need to make sure you take care of yourself or else my meals won’t be as enjoyable anymore~” he cooed as he licked up the blood gliding down your arm, the corners of his lips curling in enjoyment when he felt your arm tense up as his tongue dragged up your arm

You bit your lip feeling his teeth sink back into the bite he made, taking in your blood to fill his hunger

The pads of his fingers holding your hand squeezed as he held your hand, stretching it

Your breaths grew longer and deeper, your vision clouding as your eyelids grew heavier and heavier

You let out a big yawn, your body letting go

Tendo caught you in his arms as you almost collapsed to the ground from your seat, never letting your body even touch the cold tiled floor

He lapped his tongue over his bite before he let go of your wrist once again, bringing you to your bed before laying you down, joining beside you

He licked your wrist until it stopped bleeding as you caught up on some much needed rest

“You should’ve taken care of yourself more,” he playfully poked your forehead, brushing your hair with his fingers, your body naturally curling and moving impossibly closer to his to reach the cool feel of his body in your sleep

Your nose was filled with the scent of tendo, his hand holding yours as you peeked open your tired eyes, tilting your head up on your pillow to meet his red eyes

“Good morning~” he chimed happily after being awake all night since he never needed sleep ever since he became immortal. “You really needed that,” he brushed his index finger down the bridge of your nose, smiling at the way your cheek was squished into your pillow

“Today, you’re taking a break and I’m going to make sure you eat and stay hydrated properly,” he leaned forward and kissed your forehead before you let out a small “mm” before closing your eyes again, bringing your forehead to his chest, his hand resting on your back draped over your side, legs intertwined on your bed

He hummed content holding you close, imprinting the feel and shape of your body close with his, relishing in your warmth, one he hadn’t felt in a while

It was a feeling he was determined to get used to for the rest of his immortal life

Himekawa:

“Aoi, I’m here,” you shed off your raincoat and slipped out of your partially rained on shoes, calling into the darkened house, the curtains closed tightly to not let a single ounce of light in from anywhere. “Aoi?” You called into what seemed like an empty house

No movement or signs of anything or anyone

You walked carefully through the eerily dark house as rain showered over the house and entire neighborhood

“Aoi?” You knocked in his bedroom door standing ajar, creaking open with a haunting whine that made goosebumps rise over your arms

You shuffled in seeing the dark lump of his covers bundled up shift at the sound of your voice

“What’re you doing in there?” You peeked through a small opening that showed his face buried in the plush covers. “It’s time to feed, Aoi, it’s been too long.”

You tried to remove the blanket from him but was unable to budge

Ever since he changed, feeding became the thing he absolutely hated the most yet it was the one thing he needed to do

His eyes glowed bright red in the dark, no light natural or artificial could hold a candle to his eyes when they shined

He shook his head, one of the things he always did before he had to give in to feeding

He spent weeks after weeks, starving himself if it meant he didn’t have to feed on anyone or anything, most importantly, you but this also meant him gradually losing his strength

There were too many times in his early years where the hunger took over his humanity although no longer being one but what little he had left, even if he had to act like it, he wanted to keep it

This was a life he never asked for but he didn’t want a wooden stake through his heart or for his body to petrify- he didn’t want the bloodlust to consume him from the inside out again

“I know you don’t like this but you’re starving,” your voice was the calm in his storm that never went away as you brushed your fingers through his soft locks as they slid in between. “Please? I promise you won’t hurt me, you know I won’t let you.”

You could hear his quivering voice when he told you about his nightmares, seeing them so vividly at night, he could taste all the blood of those he had unintentionally drained, the horrors of what he was capable of, what he did to so many innocent people and the ones he loved most in the world

All he had left was you and he never wanted to lose you

He hesitantly sat up, the blankets falling off os his back and pooling all around his body, his fists clenched over his thighs, gaze avoiding yours

You pricked your index finger with a safety pin, bringing it to his lips

He gently took your hand in his, barely holding yours, his skin icy to the touch, it felt like as if he was standing outside during winter with nothing to keep him warm

He could feel his fangs protruding when his tongue made contact with the bead of your blood that formed on your fingertip and sucked

It was like an instant feeling when one drank water after being dehydrated for a day, however, in this case, it was hunger and thirst combined for weeks for Himekawa

Nothing had ever tasted so good in his lifetime

A shiver ran down your spine feeling his sharp teeth graze down the side of your finger, his lips ghosting over your palm before they found the soft spot in your palm, his teeth biting in and sinking into what felt like your radial artery

You winced at the pain but clamped your mouth shut, not wanting Aoi to stop because he surely would

It took a lot to get him to feed and almost nothing to get him to stop

He let the taste overcome him, all the fears he had was slowly dissipating as the black hole of hunger was taking over his mind

You blinked away, taking deep breaths as you kept yourself sitting upright, ignoring the sudden feeling of your body temperature dropping, the sudden rapid beating of your heart in your chest

You could feel your head drooping, swaying side to side as your vision blurred, the room beginning to spinning all around you

You bit into your knuckle, squeezing your eyes shut as you struggled to keep yourself conscious

He could feel all the energy and his strength returning with every ounce he consumed but fear pierced through his chest sharper than any stake when your body collapsed to the ground

His body froze seeing your unconscious body on the ground

You could hear soft whimpers in your ear, slowly becoming clearer and clearer as you slowly regained consciousness

“Y/N,” Aoi choked on his breaths with his eyes swelled and red from all the tears he cried and continued to drip off his chin. “I’m so sorry,” he sobbed, apologizing profusely as you woke, his hand automatically reaching for yours but instantly pulling back feeling the bandage he wrapped your hand in

He felt so heart broken, he wanted to disappear from existence the moment he realized you collapsed

It made him sick to his stomach despite ever being unable to feel sick

“I’m a monster,” he sunk back on his knees

“No, no, Aoi, you’re not,” you sat up, the damp towel he laid on your head falling onto his bed you laid on. “You are no monster to anyone,” you cupped his face, playfully squishing his wet cheeks, using your sleeves to wipe him dry

“You’ve been alive for centuries and who you are now is not the same person as centuries ago.” You pulled him close, peppering kisses to his forehead

“But I almost killed you.” He wanted to so badly to rip himself out of your hold so you wouldn’t have to touch him, touch someone who was supposed to love you yet almost ended your life

“But you didn’t and I’m still here and I will be til the end,” you reassured and hugged him close, pulling him to stand and making room beside you in his bed, your turn to dissipate his fears while more content that he actually fed compared to the past times

The Twins:

Ravens cawed at you, perched on the branches of the oak trees in front of the house of your best friends, Osamu and Atsumu

As soon as you knocked on their front door, it felt as if life had fast forwarded itself now that you were suddenly upstairs

This always happened whenever you came over- it was feeding time

Your eyes were always squeezed shut and it felt like the breath was taken out of your lungs whenever either of them brought you inside to wherever they planned to feed on you

“You can open your eyes,” Osamu’s voice calm and light in your ear as your feet made contact with the plush rug over the cold wooden floors

He took your hand in his, his touch icy to your warm, living skin, as he led you toward one of the lounging chairs by the fireplace as the wooden logs crackled in the flame

“About time, I’m starvin’” Atsumu pushes himself off the couch and snatching your grasp out of Osamu’s, bringing you to the couch

But Osamu didn’t let go. He was much more gentle with you than Atsumu, the more hangry of them two

Your back was pressed into Osamu’s chest with your legs stretched out, Atsumu already advancing between your legs, preferring to feed from your thighs and Osamu your neck

You had been their feeder for what felt like sll your life at this point, but it always made you squeamish

“Stop squirmin’,” Atsumu grumbled hungrily as he firmly held down your legs as he spread them, his breath tickling you before he found his spot and sunk his teeth in

You let out a small yelp, adjusting to the feeling

Osamu’s body was cool to the feel even through yours and his clothes

Unlike his brother, he was a lot gentler with you

Looping his arm from behind around your head, he gently tilted it to the side with the guidance of his fingers loosely holding your jaw

“I won’t make it hurt as bad,” he whispered into your ear, making your heart race, you wondered if he could feel or even hear it

He ghosted his lips along your shoulder and neck until he found his spot, slowly bringing his teeth to your skin and pierced through your skin like needles

Atsumu repositioned his fangs, holding your leg up, digging his fingers into your thighs that would be sure to leave bruises, biting deeper into your flesh to taste as much as he could

Osamu held one of your hands from behind, the other moving from your jaw to your eyes, tilting your head back

It felt as if Osamu’s grasp on your hand was tightening as a wave of fatigue washed through your body

The crackling sound of the fire began to echo and drift around your darkened vision from Osamu’s hand covering your eyes, your heart beat gradually slowing down until your consciousness slipped away

Osamu’s eyes opened as he removed himself from your neck, his hunger satiated, his bite clean and pressed a gauze from his pocket to your neck when he felt your body go limp in his hold

“Atsumu, stop.” He kicked his brother off of your thigh, only for the blonde one to latch back on, biting into your other thigh with ease

“I said. Stop.” Osamu pulled you closer as your crimson liquid came out of Atsumu’s messy, numerous bites

Atsumu’s hunger was insatiable after having to wait a week every single time you fed them and this time, he was worse than the last

He glared at his brother, eyes glowing bright red even with the fireplace illuminating the entire room as Osamu held you close, your body curled up in his lap as his own eyes glowing at his twin

Your mind slowly began to wake as your eyes fluttered open

You could hear your heart beating slowly in your ears as if you were asleep- yet you were awake

Your hands felt about as you laid still in a dim bedroom with the curtains closed and a small lamp on a desk in the corner of the room

“Finally awake,” Atsumu huffed

Sitting up, your arms trembled weakly holding your body up

You didn’t even notice the twin until he moved in his seat beside the bed, your nose filling with the scent of Osamu but also the scent of Atsumu

“You’ve been out for the last three hours,” he sounded almost annoyed as you leaned back and rested into the pillows, half your face pressed into the bed you assumed was Osamu’s based on the smell

“Take it easy,” he pulled the blanket a bit higher over your body with a sigh

You were dressed in a big, dark red long sleeve you assumed was Atsumu’s

“Out.” You could hear Osamu’s voice as the door opened with a thud as it hit the wall. Atsumu grumbled beneath his breath as he got up from his seat, closing the door firmly behind him

Osamu came into vision as he brought the tray with something hot sitting upon it, steam rising from it but whatever it was, it smelled delicious

He peeked his head to you as he sat in the seat Atsumu sat in moments ago, pulling the seat closer

“I’m sorry for my brother... you know how ‘tsumtsum gets when he’s hungry,” he sighed. “How do you feel?” He asked, moving the blanket down from your face ever so slightly to see more of you

“Tired like I could sleep... forever,” you yawned, the tear rolling from your eye, over the bridge of your nose to the pillows

“You need to eat, I made some soup.” Osamu helped sit you up, careful with his strength before he poured you a bowl of soup, insisting on spoor feeding you when he felt how weak you really were

The hot liquid went down your throat, the savory taste lingering on your tastebuds and fed a hunger in your stomach you weren’t even aware of until now

For the rest of the night, Osamu and Atsumu took turns looking over you, mostly Osamu, though so he could change your gauzes, making sure their bites weren’t causing injections

Though it never really seemed like it, Atsumu was grateful having you in his and his brother’s life, feeding them, continuing to come back even after all the times he over fed from you

He peeked beneath the gauze to make sure he didn’t actually hurt you as you slept, bidding the two of them farewell till next week

~~~~~ Thanks for reading! Masterlist for more! Please do not repost anywhere else!

Tags (let me know if you wanna be tagged for all my haikyuu posts): @yams046 @mazey-chan @sunboikyo00 @kara-grayson04 @fortheloveofbakugo @tsumtsumsemi @osamuonigiri @1-800-wholesome @yamagucci @realityisoftendisapointing@plantisnotplant @k-eijiakaashi @pink-panda-pancakes @differentballooncollection @osamusamusamu@therainroguefanfiction @euphorihan@turquoiselace @macaronnv @oxmaddy @mrkoala4prsdnt @curiouslilbeast @plantisnotplant@therestless101 @abcdaichi @oyasenpai @kaaidalupita @lovinnoya

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