#YOU DA BEST NEVER DOUBT

[benevolentbones]

gideondaughter!reader and spencer first time talking when the team goes to dinner and spencer is just a mess talking to her

thank you sm for the request!! hope you enjoy<3 requests are still open i’ll be working through them!

kids table | spencer reid x gideon!reader part 1

part 2

warnings: mentions of alcohol, light flirting.

word count: 1.5k

summary: it’s gideon’s birthday dinner and the team are here to celebrate.

“are you sure he booked it for 8:30?” jj hummed, holding her clutch purse close to her sage green maxi dress.

“yes. gideon party of nine at mastro’s, 8:30pm.” spencer recalled, having the time and place drilled into his mind in fear of being late.

“party of nine? but there’s only eight of us?” elle’s brows contorted, she counted everyone in the room. jj, morgan, reid, garcia, hotch, prentiss, herself and then gideon who was yet to show, that was only eight.

“maybe he’s bringing a date?” penelope chuckled, her hands smoothing down the hem of her fitted pencil dress.

“gideon? with a date? i highly doubt that.” morgan snickered, leaning against garcia.

the group of agents waited rather impatiently for gideon to arrive to the restaurant. all adorned in their best dress for the awaited man of the hours birthday dinner.

hotch sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose with his pointer finger and thumb.

“it’s only 8:25, he will be here.” he muttered out.

spencer began to fumble with his hands, he would class himself as a fairly patient man, the only thing on his mind currently was who the mystery ninth guest could be. he didn’t like not knowing things, it was part of being a profiler he guessed.

the doors to the dimly lit restaurant swung open, jason gideon walking in full stride with a grin on his face. he wore a navy blue suit jacket paired with his signature chinos.

“finally you’re here, they’ve been complaining for the last ten minutes.” prentiss sighed, placing a hand on her hip.

“its not even 8:30, i said i would be on time- but y/n here couldn’t find the shoes she wanted to wear.” gideon let out a small chuckle as a figure walked through the doors behind him.

a girl, roughly in her early twenties stood beside gideon. her hands clamped together in front of her, a black satin dress adorned her figure, hugging her nicely, which she paired with matching black heels.

“well i found them in the end, dad.” she mumbled out, greeting the group with a small smile.

half the team stood there it awe, mouths gaped and eyes locked on the latest arrivals.

“you clean up nice, jason.” hotch nodded towards the older man, then turning his sights on you.

“beautiful as ever.” he smiled, which he rarely did, and leaned over to give you a hug.

“thanks uncle aaron.” you grinned back, embracing his warm hug.

“i’m sorry you need to catch us up real quick- dad? uncle?” morgan titled his head like a confused puppy.

“i didn’t realise you’d have trouble putting two and two together, morgan. this is my daughter, y/n.” gideon mused, ushering you further into the room.

you held out your hand, derek quickly took it in his, giving it a small shake, cogs in his mind still visibly turning.

“and aaron isn’t actually my uncle- he just acts like it.” you pulled your hand back, returning it to your side.

gideon quickly introduced you to the rest of the team, everyone seeming to come to terms with the fact gideon had a ‘secret’ daughter that he never once brought up.

all the while spencer stood, hands glued to his sides as he eyed you. he had never seen someone so perfect, the way the dress hung from your frame, the way you politely greeted every member of the team.

when gideon had finally reached him to introduce y/n to him, he was caught off guard.

“reid, meet my daughter y/n, im sure it’s not as hard for you to understand.” gideon hummed, making a dig at morgan who had migrated with the group to where the table was set up.

unlike the others, you kept your hand to yourself, but shot spencer a sweet smile.

“it’s really nice to meet you dr. reid- my dad has told me so much about you, i know you’re not big on handshakes.”

spencer’s heart was practically doing backflips at this point. he was completely enamoured by you.

“really nice- to meet you too.” he managed to stutter out.

gideon internally rolled his eyes, knowing exactly what was happening.

“how about we sit down and look at the menu.” he began to usher his daughter towards the table, spencer following quick at his heels.

by the time the three of them had reached where the table set for nine was, the rest of the team were sat, eagerly awaiting them. the only free spaces were at either end of the rectangular table, and an extra place next to the end seat.

“hey gideon come look at this” jj beckoned the older man over, to the head of the table. he briefly turned back to his daughter, before he could utter a word she nodded, knowing that she wouldn’t be sitting with him.

“guess we can sit down at the end together.” you affirmed, shuffling to the free seats with spencer by your side.

once seated, everyone began flipping through the menu, all besides spencer who’s gaze every so often flickered over to the girl beside him, who seemed deep in thought about what she was going to order.

“what are you going to get?” she asked, attempting to make quiet conversation with the man at her side.

spencer hummed, he had researched the restaurant before hand noting all of the dishes he might like.

“the uh- the pasta, i think.” he paused for a moment. “what about you?” he cursed the heat that rose to his face, lifting his hand to loosen the dark purple tie around his neck.

you smiled, still scanning the menu, taking glimpses of spencer in his flustered state.

you had heard many things about most of the team throughout your fathers years of working with them, and when he finally allowed you to meet them, you were most excited to meet spencer.

“i might have that too, it sounds good.”

a few hours had past since everyone had sat down, everyone had finished eating and were now onto their fourth round of drinks, all besides you and spencer.

everyone was deep in conversation about a case from a few years back, obviously you had no clue what they were talking about.

you turned to spencer, who seemed to have gotten more comfortable being in such close proximity to you.

“i swear it feels like we are sitting at the kids table at a christmas dinner.” you giggled to yourself.

“i know right- it’s it’s like we aren’t even here.” spencer returned the chuckle, his heart beating a little faster.

“how are you enjoying the night- i hope im not boring you too much, if you want to join the rest of them feel free.” you mumbled out, eyes migrating to your hands that you had placed on your lap.

“no no- i like it here, i like you- i mean i like being with you i-“ spencer fumbled on his words, causing you to smile. god he was a complete mess.

you reached a hand over, placing it on spencer’s forearm. he could swear his skin felt like it was burning from your touch.

“i like being with you too, spencer.” you whispered out, a soft pink blush dusting your cheeks.

his hazel eyes locked with yours, and he felt his breath hitch in his throat. he was partly confused as to why someone like you had enjoyed his awkwardness and rambling.

to say he had little experience talking to women in more than a friendly way, was an understatement.

he was completely out of his depth, and the fact that your father, his boss, sat at the other end of the table made things a little more awkward for him.

“you look really-good tonight, by the way.” he managed to mumble out, without sounding like a complete idiot.

this caused your face to flush, darting your eyes away from him briefly.

“thank you spencer.”

“would you maybe want to-“ before he could continue, gideon had stood up from the table, all eyes were on him.

“lets go y/n, your old man is getting too tired for this.” he joked.

“oh right-“ you stood up quickly brushing off your dress, you did a small lap of the table thanking everyone for the lovely evening and telling them it was great to meet them.

you then followed gideon out of the room, all remaining eyes were now on spencer who slumped down into his chair.

“that’s rough man, you had all night and didn’t even ask her out.” morgan shook his head lightly, feeling somewhat bad for the boy genius.

before spencer could say anything, he watched you dart back into the room, a piece of paper in your grasp. you quickly placed it in spencer’s hand before pressing a light peck to his cheek and running off out of the restaurant again.

the now flustered brunette un crumpled the paper, scanning the scribbled words.

thanks for talking all night, id love to go out with you sometime x

555-555-555 - y/n

“never mind- atta boy!”

[bluerosefox]

Invites

"OMA, kill meeeee" Ellie, aka Wrath complained as she allowed her head to 'thunk' on the cafeteria table in the Watchtower she phased into in order to sit in next to a boy dressed in red, yellow, and green.

"Aren't you already halfway there?" Came Robin's response as he took a drink of his water, eyeing his teammate with a raised eyebrow, though it was difficult to tell with his mask in place.

"OMA?" Asked Superboy on the other side of the boy.

"Shush you." She said towards Robin before answering Superboy "Oh my Ancients, it's like OMG but like for us ghosties."

"Tt" "Oh!" Came both their responses.

"So..." began Superboy after a few minutes of silence between them as he looked at Ellie like a confused puppy "Why?"

Ellie groaned and just stayed slumped on the table as she said "Da's dumb Observants council is hosting another dumb ball to try to get him or me hitched again, and like always I'm forced to attend because I'm Da's heir. We both hate it with a passion, most are just stuck up, power hungry, social climbers trying to get into our pants for the royal titles... Espcially if they become our Forevermores."

"Tt, why not just get rid of them? Or simply have your Father dismiss the ball." Robin said, his eye twitching in annoyance just at the thought of it. A ball sounded even more annoying than the gala parties he is made to go to.

"Sounds stressful... Also Forevermores?" Superboy asked, he was always curious of Ellie and her ghost culture but never knew what could be asked or not, he had been warned to never ask how a ghost died after all and that question is normally asked in every ghost hunter video on the internet.

"Forevermores is our term for the ONE. The one and only we will ever be with. Till our final end takes us we are always to be with them only. We are core creatures and bonding on that level is like sacred, we don't rush into bonding like that though. But everyone in the Realms hopes to be either become mine or Da's. And the ball is their best chance at meeting us on neutral grounds." Ellie explained as best as she could for Jon, it was hard trying to explain the type of level a Forevermore was "And to answer you Robin, Da can't. The Observants, despite how annoying they can get with their dumb demands, are part of the system council for the Realms, they're sadly needed to keep things in check hence their name. Da and his friends are still trying to find a loophole to get rid of them though. They were only created when they put Tyrant King to sleep and they still sadly have some backings from other powerful ghosts in the Realms, even an Ancient or two and in order to fully dismiss them we need all Ancients on board. And the ball keeps a lot of ghosts, especially the more powerful ones, errr I guess happy? Most just use it to gossip on neutral grounds, others just like to dance, network, or other junk like that. Basically, when it's not about them trying to get mine or Da's hand in ghost marriage, it's fun so Da can't dismiss it, it'll ruffle to many feathers."

"Wow..." "Tt." Were the response from her teammates.

"Yeah. Da really isn't happy because someone suggested inviting powerful people from a few Mortal Realms this time. Somehow it got approved. So... here." She said as she reached into her own chest, phasing her hand in, and pulled out two green envelopes and placed them on the table in front of them. Both boys stared in surprise to see their names written in dark purple ink and the stylized DP on it.

"CW let me invite you guys personally. Everyone else should be getting theirs in about a few minutes complete with a blaze of green fire and spooky vibes." Ellie said with a strained smile, both happy to invite them but also dreading the questions she'll no doubt have to answer once the invites were sent.

[thehorrorgirlstyles]

Opposites attract

Part 1

Eddie Munson x fem!reader

Find P2 Here!

Warnings: 18+ smut, male masturbation, degradation!kink, pet names, cussing, squirting, little bit of praise!kink, derogatory words, harassment, bullying, public sex, some breeding kink, dry humping

Minors don’t interact!

Summary: You are the queen of Hawkins high, being a cheerleader and dating the football captain Jason, however after spending time with the dungeon master and getting to know just how attractive he is, while Jason shows his true colors one night, your love for the blonde slowly starts to fade away and is replaced by an ache needing to be relieved by Eddie “the freak” Munson…

——————————————————————————

Jason was the love of your life or at least that’s what you told yourself. I mean he was your first everything, boyfriend, v-card, kiss, etc… You loved him and he loved you, you couldn’t be happier, or at least you thought. One night, while your mom and dad where gone on a business trip, you and Jason were laying on your queen size bed in your obnoxiously pink room, while Kate Bush played faintly in the back room of your room, when he decided to express his hatred for the brown haired freak.

“I just don’t get what your problem is with Eddie Jason, he seems nice”. You say as you look into his eyes. “Are you serious y/n, he’s a freak that leads a cult into worshiping the devil!” He looks at you like you’ve just grown two heads. “Jason listen to me… when I talked to Eddie the other da-” He interrupts you, “Talked to him, y/n you can’t be serious, I told you to stay away from him, he’s dangerous.” “Eddie may be different but he’s not dangerous” You look at him as he stares at you in disbelief. “Babe as your boyfriend I’m telling you to stay away from him… don’t talk to him, don’t stand up for him, don’t even look at him… I’m serious y/n”. You’ve never been scared of Jason before but the look in his eyes makes you worry, he must noticed this because he continues, “I’m sorry I just wanna keep you safe, I don’t want anything bad happening to you”. You seriously doubt Eddie would do anything to hurt you, but you stay quiet and nod you head, while giving a small smile to your boyfriend, you just want this conversation to be over with.

On Monday morning, while getting dressed for school you think back to how mad your boyfriend got because of Eddie, but you brush it off because like he said, he just wants to protect you, he doesn’t want you getting hurt or anything bad to happen to you.

When you hop into his car he gives you a quick peck on the lips and heads off to school, not even mentioning the conversation you two had earlier that night.

After you arrive to school Jason gives you a hug and heads off to class, in pursuit of finding his basketball friends. You look around for your best friend Robin but can’t seem to find her in the crowd, so you head to the bathrooms to freshen up before going back out. Just as you reach the bathrooms, you collide with a tall figure. “Oh my god, I’m so sorry, I didn’t see where I was going”. You apologize without looking up. “It’s alright sweetheart, I should’ve been more careful”. You recognize the voice instantly and look up to see Eddie staring back at you with a small grin. “Oh hey Eddie, how’ve you been” you smile back. “Oh you know same old same old, still rounding up kids for my devil worshiping cult, in fact we just found a great candidate for our sacrifice tomorrow”. “Oh really” you play along chuckling. “Yup she’s a sweetheart” he smiles at you. You open your mouth to respond, but you hear someone calling your name. You turn around to be met with a not so pleased Jason. “Oh umm Jason I was jus-” he cuts you off again, “What the fuck are you doing to my girl” he seethes at Eddie, while pulling you away from him by your arm. “Oh nothing just turning the queen over to the dark side” he just smiles at Jason’s anger. Jason however doesn’t seem to appreciate it, as he grips Eddie’s shirt by the collar, “Stay the fuck away from her you freak” he spits in Eddie’s face. “Don’t go near her ever again” Eddie just grins at this, “Wouldn’t dream of it”. Jason finally lets Eddie go and turns back around to you. You notice the way his eyes are dark, burning with anger. He grips your arm and basically drags you around the corner. When he gets to a secluded area he pushes you up against the wall, “Remember that chat we had yesterday” all you can do is nod, to scared to say anything. “If you remember then why were you talking to him y/n” the way he says your name makes you want to get away from him, after a while you don’t say anything, so he bangs his fist against the wall right next to your head, “SPEAK TO ME WHEN I’M TALKING TO YOU!” He yells. You flinch in shock, Jason has never dared to raise his voice at you before, “WHY THE FUCK WERE YOU AND MUNSON TALKING!” You close your eyes and breathe, was Jason really yelling at you right now, was he really this pissed about a conversation, you and Eddie didn’t even exchange that many words, why was he so freaking pissed, “I’m sorry… it won’t happen again”. You open your eyes and look at him, he seems to have calmed down. “Alright, I-I just want you to be safe baby, that’s all I want” he hugs you against the wall and you’d think that you’d feel safe anywhere else than in his arms.

The next day you forget about the encounter with Jason and go on with your day like normal, going to English class with Robin, doing your cheer routine with Chrissy, during cheer practice, having lunch with your boyfriend, and having physics with Eddie Munson… wait having physics with Munson. As you round the corner for your physics class, you start to grow worry. The teacher recently paired the students up to work on a project and you, of course, got paired to be with Eddie. At first you thought it would be a fun experience, getting to know more about the metal head, but now, after Jason’s warning yesterday, you were terrified. Of course you liked Eddie, I mean you two got on quick a lot, considering how you were you and he was he, but Jason made you distance yourself from a potential friend and you didn’t want to find out what would happen if you were to break the distancing, for your sake and his. When you got to the door, you could see Eddie writing something down in his notes, probably working on his new campaign, you smiled at the thought. You were about to go and sit next to him, when Jason’s voice repeated in your head, so instead you decided to skip, it was the last period of the day anyways.

When you got home, you sat on your bed and wondered what things would be like if Jason wasn’t your boyfriend. You couldn’t imagine life without him, but with the way he was starting to act, it made you scared and a girl should never be scared of the one that’s supposed to love you the most, but maybe that’s it, maybe Jason loves you too much.

Friday comes around and everything has gone back to normal, except for the fact that you haven’t been attending your last period class. You know you owe Eddie and explanation, I mean he is trying to graduate this year and so are you, so you make your way to the place you know he will be.

When you get to the door, where hellfire is held, you pause, should you really be doing this, if Jason found out, you don’t even wanna think about it, but then you think about Eddie and about how nice he’s been too you, how funny and sarcastic he can be in class, how he always asks for your help on assignments, how he isn’t afraid to speak his mind, and how he doesn’t let anyone speak bad about you, not even his club members. Eddie has been nothing but kind to you and here you are blowing him off because of your possessive boyfriend, so to hell with what he cares, you are going to apologize to Eddie. Just as your about to open the door Jason walks down the hall with Patrick and chance. You mentally scream, if he saw you standing outside the hellfire door, you wouldn’t hear the end of it, so you open the door and run inside without looking back.

You hold your breathe as you hear them pass by and exhale with relief. “Umm hello” your head shoots up at the voice, Dustin you believe his name is speaks, “We’re kind of in the middle of a game here” he looks at you. You look around the room, realizing everyone stoped what there doing to look at you. You blush, you didn’t even consider to think that Eddie would be having a campaign going, “Oh right, I’m sorry” you go to leave, wanting to be gone, this was so embarrassing. As you go to turn the knob, Eddie speaks up, “Wait” you turn around and look into his eyes, he stares back and clears his throat, “Uh did you need something… what did you want” you look at him silently praying that he’ll take the hint that you want to talk in private. He looks back at you and then at his friends, “Give me five minutes” in says to them, you hear them all groan in protest, but he’s already up and out of his throne, as he calls it.

When you go out the room you start to realize how nervous you are. Eddie looks at you patiently waiting for you to speak. “I just wanted to come and apologize to you for not showing up to class… I know how much you want to, how hard your trying to graduate this year and me not being there isn’t helping, since we have to work on it together and all”you look up at him and he smiles at you. “It’s not your fault, it’s alright y/n, however I do miss you, physics is so boring without you there to laugh at my god awful jokes” you chuckle with him, god did you miss those jokes. “I’ll be there tomorrow and we can get right back to it” you make up your mind, Jason doesn’t have the right to tell you who you can’t and can speak to, he would just have to deal with it you decide. “Great I can’t wait sweetheart” he grins at you and you smile back blushing. Finally things are actually back to normal. Eddie bids you farewell and goes back to hellfire, you turn around and go to leave school. Just as you turn around and walk a little to the front doors, you see your boyfriend standing there with his arms crossed. You gulp, did he just get here or was he standing there for a long time, how much of that did he see? Telling by the look on his face, he saw all of it…

[miniaturesuitgladiator]

Batfam x Neglected mortal

Kombat reader

Lucid dreams III

Notes: this is part three to lucid dreams.

Warnings: child neglecting

___________________________________________

In the wise words of leonardo Da Vinci 'tears come from the heart and not the brain.' And in this very moment ,you know his words are true.

Because you know your strong... your minds strong. You've tested your mind and you know you could take anything on mentally...... So why were your eyes filling up with tears?

It must have been your heart. You've never tested or trained your heart. How could you? It's simply impossible. But still you blame yourself for the stupid decisions of your heart.

Your not supposed to cry. And it shames you to think -no it's not to think anymore this is happening. You are about to cry. And over something as stupid as words.

You search your grandfather's eyes for any sign of doubt or pity. But you find none. And sadly that only makes your eyes tear up more.

His words are simple. And to anyone else they probably wouldn't mean much. But to you? To you they mean the world.

How long has been since you've cried? You can't quite remember. But it's been years. And you swore you'd never cry agian. But here you are breaking your promise to something as dumb as words.

But you cant bring yourself to worry about that stupid promise you made. Atleast Not right now. Not when your grandfather says the words you've always wanted to hear.

'Your no monster my child. Only human. ' He says. The words are simple and direct. So why are your eyes filling up with tears? You can't look at him. You just can't. So you look at the ground ,or in your case the roof of the building your standing on...

Your jaw is clenched so tight and your hands are bawled into fist. Your eyes close on instinct ,trying to keep your tears from falling.

"You mean it?" You say. And God's ! Why do you sound so pathetic... why do you sound like you're begging for him to say yes. But then again....you are silently begging him to say yes.

But your prayer doesn't last long before he speaks up. "I do." He says. And you can tell he means it. And your chest finally stops feeling so heavy but your eyes well up with more tears..

Before you even know what you're doing you envelop him in a hug. And his hands wrap around you almost awkwardly. Because it is awkward. You've never hugged your grandfather. And he's never hugged you. But right now this hug is necessary. Both of you know that....

Although the hug is slightly awkward it's the best hug you've ever had. And suddenly you forget your mistakes and your worries ,and you feel at peace.....

As a single tear rolls down your cheek, falls unto your grandfathers jacket you don't wipe it away. Instead you let it fall.

And for some odd reason that brings your grandfather at peace.

You don't seem to notice but your grandfather's chest isn't as heavy either. And maybe you were to distracted watching your own tear fall onto his jacket that you didn't feel his tear fall onto your jacket. But it did.

And just as you wipe your eyes he wipes his. Your the first to pull back and your grandfather follows your action. As you step back your grandfather's eyes look into yours.

And you feel like your under a microscope. You probably are. You know your grandfathers eyes always find what they're looking for. You just hope he's looking for something good.

You sigh and suddenly the air isn't as tense as it was moments ago. "Thank you grandfather. " You say and your voice comes out shaky.

But your grandfather doesn't seem to care about the shaky tone of your voice. "Lets get you home. My child. " He says and you catch it. His voice is just as shaky as yours. And you almost want to smile. But you don't.

Walking back to the Wayne manor neither of you speak. It's a long walk but neither of you seem to mind. As you finally reach the gate you turn to look at him.

" you should come in grandfather. It's been a while since you've seen mother." You say and it's probably crazy to ask that since it is 2 am. But your words are true. It has been a while since he's seen your mother.

" perhaps another day." He says as he looks at the big gate. "She's still your daughter..." You say and you mean no disrespect and you hope he knows that.

" I know...but she's changed. I don't recognize her. And that scares me more than death." He says. And you understand. She has changed. And nomatter how many times you try to remind yourself that she's your mother. Your heart refuses to believe it.

You nod and quickly climb over the huge gate. Once over the gate you turn to look at your grandfather. "Goodnight grandfather." You say.

"Goodnight child." He says. As you walk back to the manor you know he's watching you. Watching to make sure you get home safely. Like he always does. And that makes you happy. Because atleast someone cares......

Finally reaching the manor you climb up the tree by your room and into your bedroom window. Your room looks the same as it did when you left it. And it doesn't seem like anyone noticed that you left. You lay on the bed and sigh. It's 3am now. They should be coming home from patrol any minute now.

But your thoughts don't stay on them for to long. Instead your mind goes to your mother. Why has she changed so much? Why doesn't she care anymore? Those thoughts are always on your mind. And more often then not they keep you up at night.

Before you know it an hour passed and it's 4 am. And just like clock work you hear your mother open Damians bedroom door. Next is Tim's. Then Dicks. And last is Jason's.

She's done this every night to ensure that there okay. That their in their room asleep like they are supposed to be.

But she doesn't do this for you. Atleast Not anymore. And as much as you don't want to admit it. It hurts. Because she did that for you first.

She used to check up on you every night. She used to make sure you were sleeping alright before ,not them. But now? Now it's seems she has forgotten you. And that?

That hurts like hell.

After what seems like eternity you close your eyes and finally fall asleep. Waking up the next day you see that it's snowing. You loved it when it snowed. And even though you feel like shit the snow brings a smile to your face ,because snow was undeniably beautiful and pure.

You go through your daily routine with showering and brushing your teeth. Checking the time it's still early only 7am. And you don't have school today or training. There's really no need for you to be up this early. You know probably no one else is. But you doubt you could fall back asleep even if your tried.

So instead you head to the kitchen and you can already smell what Alfred's cooking. You greet him with a smile and he smiles back.

"Morning Alfed." You say and he responds like he always does. "Goodmorning miss Wayne."

You hate it when he calls you that. You aren't a Wayne and you'll never be one. Still you keep that to yourself. You walk past the kitchen and into the big living room decideding to just read a book.

You'd normally read a book with jason. But you still don't have the guts to see him. He's wrapped in bandages from head to toe. And you know he's in pain. He's asked to see you multiple times and you refused. How could you see him? It was your fault for him getting taken by the joker. Atleast that's what you believe.

Sitting on the huge couch you begin reading. It was peaceful for a while then you hear the others wake up. They all come down together. Dick and Tim smiling and your mother and bruce talking while damian seems like he's in a bad mood. But then again when isn't the ten year old in a bad mood... Jason's not with them. He's probably still in his room.

It's harder for him to wake up and get ready now. But he still refuses to want help.

You notice how damian sits on the couch beside you and gives you a glare. But you ignore it like you always do.

But to your surprise he doesn't stay silent and judge like he usually does. He actually speaks up. "Have you seen Jason yet? He's already asked to see five times." His words are sharp and you can practically feel the discomfort of his words.

But still you ignore it and instead play the nice big sister role. Like you always do.

" No I haven't. Is he alright? " Your words are soft like they always are. They aren't mean or rude like his.

" perfaps if you weren't such a coward you'd see for yourself. " He says. And suddenly the room isn't as happy as it was moments ago.

But your mother or bruce doesn't stop him or correct him on his use of words. And its almost like they're encouraging him.

You sigh and stare into his emerald green eyes. You can see how much hate they hold for you. Always for you. And you don't seem to understand it. You don't understand why he hates you so much.

Biting your tongue you say something sweet as usual. "I haven't had the time." Your words are smooth and they leave no trail of hate or discomfort in the room unlike his.

"Doing what? School is out ,and your banned from patrol. Nothing your doing is of any use. So what exactly are you doing?" He asks. And your mouth goes dry because for once you don't have a nice big sister comment.

No, all you have is hatred in your thoughts for the boy infront of you. Knowing you can't say any of your thoughts you stay silent and stare into his cold eyes.

And after what feels like eternity of silence your mother breaks the awkward tension. "That's enough from both of you." She says sternly and you want to scoff and say what your really thinking but you don't. Like always.

You nod obediently and damian does the same. But his words hang heavy in the air. Because they're true. Everyone knows his words are true. You truly haven't been doing anything.

But you can't face jason. You just can't. An though it hurts to admit it. You're simply too weak....

Snapping you out of your thoughts damian begins speaking again. " stop being pathetic and go see him." He whispers just loud enough for you to hear. Everyone in the room continues doing what their doing not hearing what he had said.

And sure he's said meaner things and you've always let his words go. You've never held a grudge or said anything rude back. But this time he's hit a nerve ,and it feels like it's physically hurting you. So you don't bite your tongue like you usually do. Instead? Instead you say the words you've always wanted to say to him.

" Me? Pathetic?," You scoff and roll your eyes and you can tell he's listening Intently to your every word.

" You're Pathetic. Your the one who can't make friends. Your the one that never fits in.. You're the one that'll only ever be seen as a mistake as part of infidelity. So don't think your above anyone damian because your not." You whisper back and your words are sharp and you can tell they sting him right in his heart.

You desperately want to smile but he's only ten and that would be wrong ,right? You've never talked back to him or said anything rude so you can easily tell how much your words shock him. Because their true. And yes your words are a bit hypocritical because you are a mistake too but in this moment? In this moment you win.

His eyes narrow and he wants to something back but he doesn't have the words. He's simply to stunned to speak. And you smile. Is it wrong for smiling? Probably. Do you care? Absolutely not.

You watch as he tries to must up what he's gonna say. But he can't and it feels amazing.

Sadly this feeling only last for a moment before damian like always gets the win.

His eyes fill up with tears. And you can't quite tell if it's fake or not. But regardless of if it's fake or real tears you know you're screwed. Because he is only ten.

'Well shit.' You think to yourself and it's not long before your mother notices the tears. "What did you say!" You mother says looking at you.

She's angry as usual and you want to say something back but that'll only make things worse. So you stay silent and look back at damian.

Damians now looking at your mother and tears roll down his face. Its real tears too. You are definitely screwed.....

Your words come out shaky but they need to be said. " so what he can say whatever he wants to me ,but I have to stay silent? " and your mother looks at you like you have three heads. And you realize that's what she expects you to do.

'Hell no' You think to yourself.

This ends today.

___________________________________________

Thanks for reading!!

Taglist: @dhanyasri , @kore-of-the-underworld , @i-adorehannah , @plsfckmedxddy , @phoenixgurl030

[cy-cyborg]

It's been confirmed that there are 3 amputees in the main cast of Dragon Age: the veilguard - Neve (leg amputee), Bellara (arm amputee) and your inquisitor (arm amputee). So as an amputee myself, here are some things I'd like to see.

Note: these aren't predictions, just things I'd really like to be included.

The inquisitor doesn't use a prosthetic (I already talked about this in its own post but with 3 amputees, and 2 of them already being shown to use prosthetics that, lets be honest, do look like "perfect replacement" prosthetics, it would be nice to see at least one who doesn't)

We will get to customise our inquisitor in chatacter creation, so I would love, if they do use a prosthetic, for there to be some customisability to it (im not holding my breath there but still).

Neve and Bellara's prosthetics aren't perfect prosthetics, and they are actually acknowledged as being disabled while still being active members of your party.

There's some kind of party banter between Neve and Bellara about some of the downsides/problems with their prosthetics, not necessarily in a "poor them" way, but in a "ugh, don't you just hate it when you can't get the stupid thing on in the morning" kind of way.

I get a kind of jokey/adventurous vibe from Bellara, I hope they aren't affraid to let her use her prosthetic for pranks or jokes. I don't think neve would, but I can see bellara having a blast with it.

I hope the prosthetics come off during down time. No amputee wears their prosthetics 24/7, it's uncomfortable, and they get heavy and sore after using them all day.

I hope we see Neve express some frustration or see her alter her walk animation on rough terrain. It's hard to get a clear look because the trailers she's been shown in are so dark, but her foot doesn't look articulated, which is going to change how she walks, even just a little bit.

I hope the prosthetics don't break - this is a trope I'm starting to notice more and more, where someone has a perfect prosthetic that is only not a perfect replacement when it breaks, usually for plot reasons, at which point the character in question is forced out of the action until its fixed. DA has forced companions out of your party for story reasons before (e.g. solas after you free his spirit friend and he needs to cool off) so I can see this being used for plot, and I really hope it's not.

The inquisitor, Neve and Bellara compair prosthetists (the maker of the prosthetic) and maker techniques.

I really doubt they'll do this but I'd love it if random NPC's approach you if you have any of the amputees in your party to ask what happened and/or make weird comments at them ("but cy, that would be so annoying and inconvenient!" That's the point. So many people do that to irl amputees, and it's never at a convenient or even safe time, and I've never seen it happen in media. A game is arguably the best place to have it happen, in, say, a random event similar to the ones that could happen in origins)

In that same vein, I'd love to see a scene where someone approaches the inquisitor to call them an inspiration- you and the inquisitor assume it's for, you know, beating corripheus (I know I spelled it wrong lol) and saving the world, but it's revealed the chatacter has no idea who the hell the inquisitor is and just means it's inspiring that they're out in public "like that" - referring to their arm. This also happens to me all the time, and you can't tell me some snooty orlesean or tevinter noble wouldn't make those back-handed compliments, lol. You also can't convince me that any version of the inquisitor would just accept that

I hope none of the chatacters are used as inspiration porn ("don't you worry Rook! I can still pull my own weight on the team despite being an amputee, you just have to give me a chance to prove myself!")

At least one of the chatacter's stories of how they lost their limb is left untold in game (we don't always need to know how it happened if it's not relevent to the plot).

Like I said, these aren't predictions, just my hopes. I wouldn't hold my breath for any of these to be honest (bioware has not been the best in term of disability rep in the past) but A lot of them wouldn't be hard to implement and could take the representation from hardly even acknowledging their disability to something actually pretty decent disability rep-wise. It's also pretty rare to have so many characters with the same kind of disability in the cast of such a mainstream piece of media, and I really, really hope they do something with that because you can have a lot of fun with that.

[bountydroid]

Darlin' pt 11

pt 1 / pt 2 / pt 3 / pt 4 / pt 5 / pt 6 / pt 7 (SMUT) / pt 9 / pt 10 (SMUT)

Cooper Howard/The Ghoul x reader

Description: Cooper exposes his jealous side as they find out Moldaver’s location.

TW: swearing, canon typical violence, slut shaming?

I woke up in the morning sprawled across Cooper with a wide smile on my face. He looked so content when he slept, like all the things that had hurt him over the years had never happened. I wonder what he looked like before he turned ghoul. I imagined how handsome he probably was because even after ghoulification, he was still stunning. He must have felt my stare as he slowly opened his eyes and turned his head towards me.

"Mornin', sugar." He mumbled out before yawning. 

"Mornin', Coop," I responded, smiling at him before kissing him on the head. "Ready to head out?" 

And so, another hike started. I hoped once we found Moldaver we could maybe take a couple of days' break. Honestly, I had no idea how I kept walking after weeks of nonstop hiking, it felt like my legs were going to fall off.

Eventually, we happened upon another town, bustling with life. I didn't try to hide the smile on my face as we squeezed our way through the crowds. I tightly fisted Cooper's tattered duster jacket to make sure we didn't get separated. As usual, he was quiet, he wasn't used to sharing his plans with anyone.

As we approached a small bar, he finally spoke with a stern look on his face. "Stay close, darlin'."

I gave him a small smile in response and happily nodded my head. We slowly entered the tavern, trying our best not to turn any heads. I had no idea if ghouls were welcome here, but considering our past experiences I highly doubted it. As he headed to the bar I let go of his jacket, mesmerized by all the different people I was seeing. Maybe someday I could convince Cooper to stay awhile in a town like this.

"Well, hello beautiful." I heard a voice from behind me. I turned around to see a tall, skinny man with shaggy brunette hair and dark brown eyes.

I hesitated. My first instinct was to tell him to fuck off, but maybe I could get some information out of him so I gave him an award-winning smile before responding. "Hello. Maybe you can help me? I am trying to find out where I can find someone named Moldaver." I batted my eyelashes at him, giving him my best doe-eyed expression.

His eyebrows shot up in surprise as her name rolled off my tongue. He briefly looked me up and down as if trying to ascertain if I was friend or foe. After a brief pause, he asked, "You lookin' da join er?"

I nodded quickly, trying to hide the fact that I had no idea what I was talking about.

"Well," He continued. "Today is ya lucky day. I could take ya to er. We are real close." He boasted. The lie about their relationship was clear on his tongue.

"That's amazing!" I faked amazement, trying to milk his attraction for more information. "Where is she?"

"In da hills." He continued to spill information like a fountain without a second thought. "My name is Roofus, by the way."

I hummed for a moment before responding, "Nice to meet ya." I mumbled while looking around for Cooper. Our eyes finally locked as I found him leaning back against the bar. His arms were crossed and his hat was tilted down, I could barely see his eyes peeking out from behind it. Anger radiated from his form, causing those around him to instinctively find somewhere else to stand. I gulped nervously as I took him in.

"Hey-" Roofus waved his hand in front of my face, catching my attention again. 'That guy scarin' ya?"

'No." I answered quickly. The last thing I needed was for this guy to confront Cooper, but he seemed to have a mind of his own.

Puffing up his chest as he started to make his way towards Cooper's imposing figure and ignored my pleas to stop. "Don't ya worry sweetheart, I'll get rid of  im’."

I gave Cooper a nervous glance as I saw him straighten his back and move his hand to rest on his gun belt, suspiciously close to the gun itself.

"Hey. Ya scaring my lady." Roofus accused Cooper confidently. 

"Your lady?" Cooper laughed loudly at the thought. "She ain't yours."

"This is Roofus," I said quickly, interrupting their conversation. "And Roofus, this man is my friend." I made sure not to say Cooper's name, knowing how protective he was of it. However, this just seemed to piss Cooper off more.

"Your friend?" Roofus asked, surprise clear on his face. 

"Roofus, huh? Stupid name." Cooper sneered.

Roofus prickled with anger, but before he could start yelling at the ghoul in front of him, Cooper interrupted him. “See, I heard somethin’ about a Roofus while at the bar here. Said your movin’ some cargo.” Roofus’ anger switched to confusion at Cooper’s words. “Movin’ cargo for Moldaver.” Cooper finished as he stepped closer.

At the mention of Moldaver, Roofus looked back at my nervous form. “Who da hell are ya people?”

“People you should be afraid of.” Cooper growled. “Now, you are gonna tell me how to find Moldaver, or I’ll rip your guts out.”

Roofus’ hand move instinctively over his coat pocket and the noise of crumpling paper was heard underneath, “I ain’t telling ya shit, ghoul.”

Cooper hummed, his venom turning to amusement as Roofus unknowingly gave him the information he needed. Her location was on that paper in his jacket. “Have it your way.” Cooper said before a gunshot rang out in the busy tavern. I squealed in surprise as Roofus’ body hit the ground. The room went quiet as Cooper belt down to pull out the letter from the dead man’s pocket. I looked around nervously as all eyes were on us.

“Cooper,” I whispered.

Ignoring me, Cooper stood back up eyeing the paper. “Damn.” He mumbled as he studied the hole in it before folding it and sticking it into his jacket pocket.

“Cooper.” I hissed loudly as I saw some people start to get up from their seats, anger clear on their faces.

“Don’t get your panties in a bunch, boys.” Cooper said looking up at the angry men. “Just a bit o’ business, and I got none with you.”

“You better get the hell out of here, ghoul.” One of the men growled before spitting on the ground in front of us.

I knew this would piss Cooper off, so I quickly grabbed his hand and started dragging him to the door. He ripped his hand from my grasp but continued following close behind me. When we finally made it out of the village, I released a breath I didn’t know I was holding. However, before I could register what was happening, Cooper roughly grabbed at my shirt collar pulling me close to him. “What the hell was that?” Cooper growled, staring down at me angrily. “Flirting with other men in front of me? Acting like a slut?”

I squeaked in surprise. Never in a million years did I think he would ever speak to me this way. “Coop, I was just tryin’ to help.” I pleaded, but he wasn’t listening.

“You are MY slut. You understand me? No one else can touch you. No one else can even fuckin’ look at you.” He ranted as one of his fists flew to the hair on the back of my head, tugging harshly.

I gasped loudly at his actions. I never took him for the jealous type, but here he was completely overtaken by it, and much to my surprise I liked it. I pressed my thighs together while I complied, “Yes Coop, I am your slut. Only yours.”

This seemed to appease him as his grip loosened on the back of my head as he pressed his body against mine. “Good,” He hummed. “Never do that again.”

“I wont. I wont ever.” I responded as my hands trailed up his chest and cupped his face softly. “I’m sorry I upset you.”

He studied my face for a moment before pulling away with a grunt. It was clear he was still angry with me. I watched intently as he pulled out the letter from Roofus and read it. I didn’t know it was possible, but his face soured even more.

“Well I’ll be damned.” Cooper mumbled. “I shot right through the damn location.” He said sighing.

“Roofus was the son of an old friend of mine.” He said before looking up at me. “Let’s pay him a visit.”

-

It didn’t take us long to find the man’s house. As we entered, however, only a little girl was home.

“Well, hello darlin’. Your daddy home?” Cooper asked nicely.

The girl just shook her head in response. Much to our surprise she didn’t seem scared of us. She just stared up at us with a blank expression.

“What is your name, sweetie?” I asked as I bent down to her level.

“Sandra.” The small girl replied.

“I’m an old friend of your daddy,” Cooper said while looking around the small home. “When will he be home?”

“Soon, it’s almost dinner time.” Sandra responded.

At the mention of dinner, my stomach gurgled. My face reddened with embarrassment as I looked down at my feet. “Well, my girl and I have traveled a long way so why don’t you get us some dinner too?” Cooper said while putting a hand on my shoulder.

The girl just nodded in response before heading to the kitchen. I slowly stood up from the ground, giving Cooper a sheepish expression before looking around the home. It was a nice little place. The walls were covered with wood panels and metal sheets, but it was homey, much nicer than the one I grew up in.

As if he could sense my thoughts, Cooper asked, “Remind you of home?”

“This ain’t nothin’ like my home.” I responded quickly as I studied the shelf on the wall. “Much nicer.”

He hummed quietly before sitting down at the table and placing his hat down next to him. I waited there in silence for a bit, the only noises to be heard was from Sandra puttering in the kitchen. “What are you gonna do?” I asked as I sat down at the table next to him.

He studied my face for a moment before responding, “Depends on them, darlin’.” I just nodded while I picked at my fingers. I understood what he meant. Whether he would kill them or not depended on if they complied or not. A feeling of dread settled in my stomach as I thought of Sandra.

Before I could say anything, Sandra returned with two plates of dinner. I looked up at her in surprise at the contents. Wonderful smelling meats graced the plate in from of me, brahman maybe? And definitely some chicken. “Thank you, Sandra!” I said excitedly as I grabbed the silverware from her hands. I can’t even remember the last time I had a meal that looked this good.

Sandra didn’t respond, instead disappearing back into the kitchen quietly. I quickly started cutting up the meat, a grin plastered over my face. I heard Cooper chuckle next to me, no doubt amused at my excitement, but I paid him no mind. He slowly followed suit, cutting up his meat slowly as he watched me. As the brahman hit my tongue I moaned with happiness. After weeks of iguana and jerky, this felt like a meal fit for a king.

The door swung open as a man and a young boy entered the building, a look of confusion on their faces. I ignored them as I continued to eat happily. I trusted Cooper to handle it, but he stayed quiet as well, just staring at the man and slowly bringing the meat to his mouth.

“Sandra?” The man called out only to be greeted with silence. I looked up at him and then over to Cooper who was maintaining eye contact with him. Before he could call out again, Sandra’s footsteps could be heard as she entered the room with two glasses of water in her hands. She quietly put them on the table. Her father visibly deflated with relief at the sight of her.

“Thank you, darlin’.” Cooper said to her before looking back up at the father, “Oh, wait. You thought?...” Cooper said smirking as he held up a piece of meat on his fork. “Come on now.” He said laughing.

“Sandra, wait outside.” The man said, his voice wavering with fear. The girl quickly did as she was told.

“Lead farmin’, huh?” Cooper said, continuing the conversation. “Why, hell, I probably still got some of your lead in me somewhere. But today, I am just lookin’ for information.”

“I’ll tell you anything, as long as you leave us in peace.” The man said. I could tell he was trying to act confident, but his voice continued to waver.

“Say, am I out of date, or did I hear you had three kids?” Cooper asked as he pulled out the letter from his jacket.

“I had an older son, but he’s gone. He took up with that madwoman in the hills two years ago. We haven’t heard from him since.” The man explained.

Cooper smirked as he looked down at the letter, “There’s always some new little faction, ain’t there? Brand new team of believers with their own dumbass ideas about how they gonna save the world. What did you say the name of your eldest was? Was it Roofus?” At the mention of Roofus’s name I instinctively winced, remembering how mad Cooper was at me for talking to him. This didn’t go unnoticed as Cooper’s eyes flickered towards me for a second before returning to the man.

“I didn’t say-“ The man started to respond.

“That must make you Tommy.” Cooper interrupted.

The man looked over at his son before angrily asking, “What did you do? What is that envelope?”

“Well, you see, daddy-o, from what I can tell…” Cooper says clearing his throat. “… Old Roofus got Tommy here mixed up with that madwoman, too. Now according to this. Roofus sent Tommy a stash of caps to pay a courier for the safe transport of an Enclave defector, to that very same madwoman in the hills. Moldaver.” Cooper explained with a smirk plastered across his face.

“Now the problem is, by the time I got this letter off your brother,” Cooper said addressing Tommy, “It was a little bit hard to read.” Cooper held up the letter, peaking his eye through the bullet hole. “For some reason I can’t make out her location.” He looked back over at the father before saying “You really should’ve taught your boy to not play with toys that aren’t his. Maybe you’d still have two sons. Now you give me that location, and I’ll be on my way.”

The man and his son looked at each other before Tommy said, “I’m sorry.”

“Tell him, son. Just tell him.” The father pleaded.

“I didn’t want to spend my life digging through dirt.” Tommy explained. “I want to build something, and we have the chance-“

“Tell him what he wants to know or else he’s gonna kill us all!” His father yelled, interrupting him. “Including your little sister.”

Tommy stared Cooper down. “Huh.” Cooper hummed, surprised by this turn of events. I had stopped eating at this point, my attention turned fully to the men in front of us.

“You should tell him.” I said softly, giving the boy a reassuring look. “Listen to your father.”

Tommy looked between me and Cooper before surrendering. “She’s… she’s at the Observatory.”

“Now please, leave us.” The father pleaded.

Cooper sighed deeply before saying, “So, what you think, Tommy? Am I really walking out of here today, or are you gonna draw on me for what I did to your big brother?”

Tommy’s eyes darkened at Cooper’s words as rage filled his expression.

“He won’t.” The father responded.

“Maybe not today, but someday.” Cooper said, eyes never leaving Tommy. Understanding the threat Tommy reached for the shotgun next to him, but he was too slow. Before I even realized what was happening, Tommy was on the ground, a gunshot through his chest.

“Tommy!” His father yelled as he crouched down over his son’s body.

Cooper stood up and slowly started to collect his things, signaling me to follow. As we passed by the father, I gave him a sad expression but said nothing.

This was just how the Wasteland worked. Kill or be killed.

Tag list: @bruhidkjustwannaread @msrawog @valdemarismynonbinarylove @whizbang-cap @topiramateagreeable 

@sitkafay @lightan117 @eykismyfav @ajeff855 @madelinealexandra

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@sarahmclean15 @thebumbqueen @i-just-like-to-read

[absolutebl]

Top 10 Great BLs That Are REALLY hard to find (but worth tracking down)

You may want to go hunting anyway!

Seven Days

Seven Days: Monday-Thursday

Seven Days: Friday-Sunday

Japan 2015

Never doubt my ability to recommend this show. One of the best live action yaois ever made, with perfectly structured angst, fantastic characters and acting, and no problematic tropes (rare in Japanese BL). The leads have excellent chemistry although it’s low heat there’s still some really cute mutual kisses.

Cherry Magic AKA 30-sai made Dotei Da to Mahotsukai ni Nareru rashii

Japan 2020

The sweetest fluffiest magical realism BL, packaged as a pinning office romance, very low heat (practically chaste) but the cutest. It’s truly great.

Cherry Magic Thailand

Thai 2024

A soft charming warm hug of a show about crushes and mind reading and self worth, with no-fuss execution from a consummate team and an OG lead pair proving why they remain eternal and deserve to grow up. Look, here’s the thing, Cherry Magic is a great Thai BL in its own right not comparing it to any other iteration. But even when I do compare (and I've seen all the Cherries and read the manga) it still stands. I personally like it slightly better than the Japanese live action, but I think that’s because I just really like Thai BL and I LOVE TayNew. Also all the kissing was both present and better than any other iteration. As it should be from Thailand.

I Feel You Linger in the Air

Thai 2023

IFYLITA is an exquisite BL, from filming techniques to narrative framework (much like Until We Meet Again). Steeped in history and family drama it edges into lakorn (but no as much as To Sir With Love and with way less scenery chewing). This is an elegant and classy BL... from Thailand which normally doesn't even try for classy. The main couple (both as a pair and individuals) were excellent, particularly Bright (Yai) whose eye-work acting style is a personal favorite of mine. Pity about the ending. Oh it wasn’t that sad but it wasn’t good either. This show could easily have earned a 10/10 from me except that it fumbled the… erm… balls in the final quarter. Argh. Whatever.

All about the ecstasy and the agony here.

Restart After Come Back Home AKA Risutato wa tadaima no ato de

Japan 2020

Atmospheric study in rural Japan meets complex family dynamics built on a romance framework of city boy meets country boy, grumpy/sunshine. It’s beautiful and icy sweet. Slow moving in places but ultimately worth the patience, low heat, low angst, and stunning.

Given

Japan 2021

Boy joins band, falls in love with other boy. The singing is terrible, fast forward through that but with the possible exception of the hair styles, this BL could have been made in 2015 and no one would be surprised. As such, it wasn’t ground breaking, but it didn’t disappoint either.

Make a Wish

Thai 2023

A doctor who can see the dead strikes a bargain with a wish-granting irreverent tree angel - naturally they fall in love (from Sammon: Manner of Death & Triage). Stars Fluke Natouch opposite not-Ohm, but who tf cares because Fluke has chemistry with everybody. Once again the Thai afterlife is incredibly bureaucratic but I enjoyed the premise and the unfolding of the story (it’s not predictable but still satisfying and with nice little twist). I like that the doctor is just gay AF - fag hag bestie and all the swagger. The cast is excellent even if the comedic stylings are a bit overblown and tonally off. It had sad parts and did make me cry but is ultimately happy with a great sex scene, good smiley kisses, and all the agency. Definitely recommended.

2 Moons The Ambassador AKA 2 Moons 3

Thai 2022

A Thai pulp that felt like it came out 5 yrs prior, with many of the flaws inherent to that time and studio system, including manufactured angst and convoluted plot, but an ultimately sweet main couple that (as a pairing) feels a bit more modern and satisfying to watch than they started out. This will probably go down in history as one of the few BLs where I genuinely didn’t care about any of the side couples. All that said, I find this show oddly appealing and rewatchable and I have no excuses for that except, I enjoyed it probably more than it deserved. Nostalgia & d**k, it's what's for dinner.

I Want to See Only You AKA Kimi no Koto Dake Mite Itai

Japan 2022

This is a beautiful well acted piece of cinema, about two boys who are opposite personalities and grew up together. Gifted and serious Sakura pines after outgoing eccentric manic pixie dream boy, Yuma. It is very pretty and this is the kind of atmospheric elegantly performed BL that only really comes from Japan (complete with dead fish kisses - what you though Korea invented them? oh no). If you want something stylish, this is it.

Triage

Thai 2022

BL does Groundhog Day featuring a doctor stuck in a time loop who must save a poor little rich boy from death by seducing the stuffing out of him, then PLOT TWIST, poor little rich boy must do the same for the doctor! Unfortunately... stuffing keeps leaking. I thought the plot was engaging if a little redundant and occasionally exhausting. The pairs were all well done, low heat but with decent chemistry and the support characters were likable (or unlikable, as required). If anything, the romance arc detracted and distracted from the main plot, but that doesn't stop this from being a genuinely good show.

HONORABLE MENTION

Great Men Academy

Thai 2019

Bodyswap involving unicorns turning a teenage girl into a boy makes this questionable as a BL (because, ya know, gender). But the fact remains that James is killer in the lead, and I (who do not like bodyswap) loved this damn show. Look, there is actual plot, hotties at boarding school, "bully the one you love" trope, some weird VR shit, very bad CGI, and yes, the boys end up together... whether they boys or not, so to speak.

Some of these shows may appear on a smaller streaming service, like WeTV, or they may be on a legal platform in your territory. I hope it goes without saying you should check there first.

(source)

This list updated Spring 2024, not responsible for cool stuff that went missing (or was added to a platform) after that date.

It's it last in a series the rest of which are:

[amywritesthings]

hiii! for the hallosleepover, can I get jean x reader + enemies to lovers who unintentionally wear a couple’s costume to a Halloween party? 🥺

hallo-sleepover '24!

hello, anon! thank you for sending this in. i've never written jean as a main character before, so let's see how this goes, yeah?

saving horses, matching costumes.

pairing: jean kirstein x f!reader word count: 1.1k+ warnings: halloween party mishaps, miscommunication, enemies to kinda lovers, fluffy, banter, jean is a cowboy bc of the s4 mullet i dont make the rules credit: dividers by @saradika-graphics

read on ao3.

“Oh, you have to be joking.”

The complaint comes out of your mouth faster than you can stop it.

As much as you hate that your eyes lock onto Jean Kirstein every time he walks into a room (a sixth sense, if you will, after putting up with him throughout college and beyond) you’re glad it’s you who spotted him first.

You’d never hear the end of it if it’d been Sasha, who’s busy shoveling yet another candy apple in her mouth like she’s discovered the wonders of life — while dressed in a cozy yet outrageous inflatable cow costume.

Be friends! she says. 

(As fucking if.)

He likes you, but he thinks you hate him! she claims.

(False. He hated you first, so you hated him second.)

This year’s costume had been a panicked choice when Sasha reminded you of Mikasa’s costume party a mere twelve hours ago.

Scrambling through your closet before work, the outfit basically built itself: a pink hat, some old cowboy boots, jeans and a denim vest and ta-da—

A cowgirl!

To be fair, you thought Sasha changed her outfit to a silly cow to match you when you texted her the outfit a few hours before the party.

The foreboding dots, however, are connecting in real time:

Jean walks into the house with a bandana tied around his neck, a deep brown hat, a half-buttoned white shirt, and fringed chaps. 

He holds the door open, waiting for someone else.

Behind him waddles in Connie, dressed identically to Sasha as an inflatable cow. He sandwiches the puffy middle through the door before jumping out like a bursting star to greet the people mingling at the front of the house.

This?

This was an ambush.

“Whassajo?” Sasha slurs, cheeks puffed with food. She turns on a heel towards you, not in the least aware of her bulky surroundings.

But before you can answer, she recognizes the two walking through the front door, lights up and flings a hand to the sky. 

“Connie!”

Sharing the same brain cell, the man in question pauses, posing in his cow costume, before pointing at his wonder twin. He lets out a battle cry and rushes over the best an inflatable costumed-person can.

Of course that gets Jean’s attention, his eyes searching the crowd until they land on you, and the drop of his smile confronts the uncomfortable truth:

You’re the only cowgirl at the party, and as far as you can see, he’s the only cowboy.

God.

Damn.

It.

“Yoooo, you matched us!” Connie yelps, slinging a puffy arm around Sasha.

“For the record I didn’t try to, but I also didn’t know you both had matching cow costumes,” you state, trying to make it abundantly clear that this? Not your idea.

“Oh, these ol’ things were a last minute thing,” Sasha states once she’s swallowed her food, grinning ear to ear. “And they were on sale at Spirit, so—”

Jean cautiously makes his way over to your little corner of the party with his hands shoved into his jean pockets.

Either the lighting is making his face red as a tomato or he’s genuinely as embarrassed to be wearing a matching costume with you.

He mumbles a greeting, keeping his chin down.

The Monster Mash plays for the fourth time from the speakers — no doubt a takeover from Yeager, wherever he’s hiding at this party.

Connie pipes up after a minute, letting go of his partner in crime. “Where’d you get one of those, anyway? I want apples.”

“Kitchen,” Sasha states, looping her inflatable arm around his. “C’mon, to the promise land we go.”

Like clockwork, they leave.

They fucking leave you — and Jean, for that matter, because he still stands across from you with his head down and hands in his pockets. His mullet is neatly combed under the hat, stubble grown out for the occasion.

(He looks good, but you don’t have to admit it.)

“...so.” Jean speaks, though it’s barely audible. “This is a thing.”

“Yep.”

“Designed for us to get along?”

“Probably.”

“Sasha told me to go as a cowboy.”

“Probably after I told her I was going as a cowgirl.”

“At least we’re not wearing the same colored hat and stuff, right?” he tries to joke, shuffling his boot to poke at one of the plastic pumpkins lining the room. “Because that would’ve been really damn freaky.”

After acknowledging his statement with a grunt, silence meets you.

For a moment, you wonder if maybe that’s the end of the conversation.

This presumed couple’s costume will be a mere coincidence and no one will think otherwise and the night will go on its merry drunken little—

“Sorry.”

The word surprises you to the point of looking his way, but before you can, he’s already sliding closer to talk directly to you.

“Okay. Hear me out, alright?”

Your brows slide up your forehead. “Hear you… out?”

“It…”

Trailing off, Jean scrunches his nose and takes the hat off his head to smooth back his hair.

“Ah, fuck, just let me get this out one time and one time only and if it’s a shitty idea? We’ll pretend it never happened.”

“Uh—”

“What if tonight’s a truce?” he interrupts, gesturing between your denim-and-pleather-clad bodies. “Whatever beef we have with each other could be fixed or something.”

You open your mouth to speak, but Jean keeps going.

“Because I don’t hate you. Connie says you think I hate you, or something, and I don’t really know why you would ever think I—”

“I thought it because you hated me… first,” you try to remind him, tilting your head in confusion. “You literally declared it freshman year in front of—”

“I didn’t actually hate you!” he whisper-shouts over the mouth, conveying his emotion without the outburst. “I didn’t. Seriously. I said some stupid shit to get Yeager off my damn back about you and I regretted it as soon as I said it—”

“What?”

“I just want a chance, okay?”

Finally, with his hands flexed before you, Jean seems to get to the point of his ramble.

Squeezing his eyes shut for a brief second, he exhales and softens in defeat.

“One chance — to show you I’m not some sort of douchebag because I got tongue-tied years ago. I’m not that moron anymore. Just… let me get you a drink or water or something, and I’ll fix it. And if I still suck to you, then at least I’ll have said my peace.”

For what feels like ages, you simply stare at him.

He stares back as the party lights twinkle like a halo over his cowboy hat, eyes rounded and pleading.

As much as you hate to say it, you’re intrigued.

Jean’s right: it’s been years.

Why hold an arbitrary grudge if it was genuinely an accident?

“...fine,” you relent. “But just one.”

Relief floods his expression, and he sheepishly tips his hat to you. “Yes, ma’am, just one.”

[theunholybastard]

Kinktober: October 10th - Voyeurism (Cardinal Copia x Gender-Neutral!Reader)

Tags: Voyeurism, Dub-Con, Mutual Masterbation, Getting Caught, Scent Kink (If You Squint), Copia Is PATHETIC, 2nd Person POV

Cardinal Copia Emeritus; Your closest friend and confidant within the walls of the Ministry. He never imagined he could think of you like this, but after tonight, he fears he will not be able to go a single day without envisioning your nude body spread out for him.

This wasn't supposed to have happened. He had previously cancelled your hang-out plans, too caught up with the never-ending demands of the Clergy. But after pulling a few strings, he was able to break away from his duties early, and excitedly decided to go and surprise you. Unlocking the door to your chambers, (because you were ever so kind and generous enough to give him a spare key) he entered, ready to hit you with a flourish and a 'ta-da!' His words caught in his throat before he could utter them, realizing you were nowhere to be found. He didn't understand. You said you'd be home tonight.

Just then, he heard some noises coming from the other side of your bedroom door. Oh, you must've been in there! Maybe you had been sleeping? Listening closer, the noises sounded almost like a muffled sob. Oh no, were you crying in there? His heart broke at the thought, his dearest companion, sobbing their heart out without anyone to provide them comfort. It's awfully lucky that he was here now, to hold you close and rub your back soothingly.

He slowly cracks open the door, not wishing to startle you by just barging in. His softened, concerned gaze turns quickly into one of shock, mismatched eyes bulging and jaw slack as he sees you sprawled out on your bed, completely bare and a hand between your legs. You hadn't noticed him, eyes shut and lost in the sensations of self-pleasure. His first thought was to close the door and run out of your chambers, coming back at a later time and forgetting that this had ever happened. That's what he should do, certainly; But he couldn't. All he could do was stand there, white eye peeking through the crack, watching it all unfold.

At first he convinced himself the only reason he didn't look away and leave immediately was because he was in shock, physically unable to move himself from the scene. But as blood swiftly started to rush down south to his cock, he knew he couldn't lie to himself any longer. In all the years he's known you, he's never thought of you this way. He never thought he did, at least. The way he would shiver when your skin accidentally grazed his, the way he would forget how to speak when you looked him in the eyes, and not to mention the way his heart always skipped a beat when you stick your tongue out for unholy communion; he started to piece things together.

The more he heard your sweet sounds, the more aggressively his cock twitched underneath his pants, the head of his cock no doubt as red and angry as the cassock he was wearing. His throat tensed, having to put a gloved hand over his mouth to prevent him from letting out a strangled grunt. He shouldn't. He really fucking shouldn't. He can't! But his free hand seems to have a mind of its own, already fisting his clothed erection before he could even attempt to talk himself out of it.

He felt sick. There he stood, palming himself over the sight of his best friend masturbating. His best friend, who was blissfully unaware of the pervert stroking himself on the other side of their door. You trusted him, and yet here he was, defiling your image with every stroke of his manhood. Surely, you'd be horrified if you knew. He only wished that his guilt was enough to stop him. He felt sick, yes indeed, but he also felt so, so fucking good.

Copia continued to rub his length stealthily, still unable to find the confidence to take it out of his trousers and stroke unabashedly. He prayed to Lucifer below that you didn't hear his heavy breathing over the sounds of your moans. He was never very good at keeping quiet. But you couldn't find out. He couldn't let you see him like this. You'd hate him, he's sure of it.

Little did he know, you had already spotted him. It caught you off guard at first, but before you could react by covering yourself in embarrassment, you noticed the lust in his eyes, his hand moving up and down over the sizable bulge in his pants. He hadn't noticed you caught a glimpse of him. It only heightened your arousal. You could have some fun with this, you thought, and continued to rub yourself at a faster pace, putting on a show for him. Moaning louder, writhing around, spreading your legs to give him a better view of your sex. Still, it's not enough.

Without any shift in your demeanour, you turned your head to the door, making eye contact with Copia. He froze, still as a statue, as if you wouldn't be able to see him as long as you didn't detect movement. "You're more than welcome to take your cock out, Cardinal. I'd hate for you to end up making a mess in those nice, tight pants of yours..." You say bluntly, and then go back to what you were doing as if nothing happened. Copia was dumbfounded. You knew? And you didn't care? In fact, you seemed to enjoy him watching? Fuck, he had to get his cock out now before he creamed in his pants.

Now that he knew you were aware of his presence, there was no more reason to be shy. He undoes his pants and jerks himself, trying to match your pace. He pushes the door a little further open to get a better look at you, and when he grows bold enough, he enters your room entirely, standing at the corner of your bed. Hell, what he wouldn't give to touch you right now. But no, you haven't given him permission, and he's lucky enough to have you be okay with this. Maybe one day he can feel you, he wishes. Besides, there's something so oddly hot about just watching you come undone by your own hand.

"Mmm, you enjoying the show, Cardinal?" You tease seductively, biting your lip, your eyes rolling back as jolts of pleasure rush towards your groin, growing dangerously close to reaching your sweet release. Copia nods dumbly, whining and whimpering unashamedly. Heavy blobs of pre-cum hit the floor as they flow from his pulsing cock. He needed to see you cum. He could only imagine what it would be like to see you cum from his cock.

He was so close to you, so close he could just reach out and take you if he had the balls to do so. The proximity was driving him insane, seeing every inch of your divine self, the intoxicating smell of your sweat and arousal in the air, so pungent it had him drooling. The moment you came, he had no choice but to follow suit, his body violently yanking an orgasm from him, knees buckling at the force. Coming down from his high, the two of you panting and heaving in sync, he focused his half-lidded eyes on you once again.

Belial, and he thought you were beautiful before. But looking at you, glowing in the aftermath of your orgasm, it's as if you were a blessing from Lucifer himself. Oh, how badly he wanted to lick you clean of your cum, to taste you on his tongue would grant him the greatest joy this world has to offer. The clarity of what had just occurred hit you both swiftly, staring at each other in uncomfortable silence, neither of you knowing what to say. You were the first to speak, after what felt like forever.

"So, uh... are we gonna talk about what just happened?" You ask unsteadily. Copia gulps somewhat comically, awkwardly stuffing his dick back in his pants. "I'm sorry." His voice quivers, the poor guy nearly in tears. "It wasn't right of me to barge in. It wasn't right of me to... to... I'm a terrible friend." You laugh. His head snaps up in confusion, giving you a look as if to ask, 'what's so funny?'

"Copia, I was touching myself to the thought of you long before you came in here. I'm a bad friend, too." Copia raises an eyebrow in surprise. He would've laughed too, if he wasn't so wracked with nerves. "So... what now?" He asks. "I mean, eh... what are we?" You chuckled once again at the absurdity of the situation. One would expect to hear that question coming from a teenage girl, not a 50 year old Cardinal of a satanic church.

"Well," you sigh, tossing him a towel for him to clean up the semen splattered across the hard-wood flooring. "We have the whole afternoon to figure that out."

-

[vashtijoy]

So the conversation you can have with Futaba in the attic after the interrogation room has always bothered me, she says something along the lines of "You weren't the only one risking your life, y'know? Everyone else was in danger too."

Which... Is a weird thing to say to your best friend/brother figure after he risked getting shot in the head and beaten to a pulp underneath the police station. It just comes off as creating a problem that didn't exist...

Nobody thought the other thieves weren't in danger, No one said that they didn't have it rough.

Just seems like an out of pocket thing to say in that situation. Which makes me wonder if it was yet another translation boo-boo. I don't know for sure, I'm going to keep looking into how I could translate it.

Does this stick out as weird to you? Or is it just me?

Hi, anon, thanks for your question! The immediate answer is that Futaba qualifies that statement a little in Japanese:

Futaba わたしも、みんなも、こう見えて 、わりと体張ってたんだぜ。 watashi mo, minna mo, kou miete, wari to karada hatteta n da ze It may not have looked like it, but everyone else was risking their lives too. [lit. I and the others, despite how it looks, were risking our lives a bit too.]

(Incidentally, note her ze there—a very masculine particle which Futaba is fond of, which goes well with her rather rough and ad hoc speech.)

That wari to means "relatively"; "kind of", or "sort of". "We were all in a bit of a pickle too." As she goes on to emphasise, while Ren was in the most danger, everyone else was in some danger:

Futaba ま、命賭けでホントの逮捕までされた{F1 82}が一番がんばったのは、間違いないけどさ。 ma, inochi kake de honto no taiho made sareta <Ren> ga ichiban ganbatta no wa, machigai nai kedo sa Though there's no doubt you were the most at risk. I mean, you actually got arrested. [lit. but you, Ren, who bet your life and went so far as to get arrested for real, did the most, there's no doubt about that.]

Somewhere along the line Futaba's "you gambled with your life and even got arrested in real life!" has turned into the rather understated "you actually got arrested"—which again contributes to her seeming to understate what Ren endured. Her "you did the most" is 頑張る ganbaru, a word most anime types know very well—it means to give it your all, to keep at it, to persist, to be tenacious; to fight against all odds. "You gave it everything, you bet your life, you got arrested!"

Don't forget that, while Futaba is ICly speaking to Ren, she's also performing exposition here. We, the audience, are the ones who should not forget that all the PTs were in danger. It's a bit clumsy, but what can you do.

I do think this exchange of Futaba's has to be taken together with the immediate followup section, which is all about what the PTs had to do—the events of the 11/20 cinematic, after Ren's arrest:

Futaba: Well, since the rest of us didn't get captured, we had to act. Futaba: We had to pretend we never wanted you to get arrested… Pretend the suicide news was a real shock… Futaba: Basically, we had to act like we didn't know anything, 24/7.

acting vs acting

I'm going to highlight the first line of this one, since it contains an error:

(Doesn't she look pleased, all of a sudden? It doesn't quite match the tone of the English—but goes very well with her pride over their little one-act play.)

Futaba 捕まらなかったわたしらの、一番のシゴトは『芝居』だ。 tsukamaranakatta watashira no, ichiban no shigoto wa "shibai" da Well, since the rest of us didn't get captured, we had to act. [lit. the main task of the rest of us, who were not arrested, was "acting".]

Do you see the confusion? The localisation has Futaba say, "we had to act"—that is, in English, "we had to do something". But the intention of the line is "we had to act our parts"—that is, they had to put on a play or a drama! They had to engage in the craft of acting!

This exact error crops up in at least one other place, with Akechi in Shido's Palace:

Akechi 学業に励み、優等生を演じ、正義の名探偵として、名を上げた。 gakugyou ni hagemi, yuutousei o enji, seigi no meitantei toshite, na o ageta I devoted myself to my studies, acted as an honor student, and made my name as an ace detective. [lit. I devoted myself to my studies, played the part of an honor student, and made my name as an ace detective of justice.]

See the error? The Japanese words are different, but the translator, again, didn't know how the verb "to act" works in speech. So Akechi just sounds like he's saying "I acted like an honor student"—his emphasis that this was a performance is lost.

Lastly, there's no doubt the other PTs were in genuine danger. Witness Shido's order to take the rest of them out next, earlier on 11/21—which Akechi evades:

revision history

Click here for the latest version.

v1.0 (2024/11/03)—first posted.

[omgwhatchloe]

MODERN AU RDR2 CHARACTERS GETTING BROKEN UP WITH:

arthur

-he is always expecting something serious with his relationships no matter his age so he is DEVASTATED

-spirals into thinking hes completely unloveable and just hates himself

-makes up a million reasons why it was all his fault

-will not date again.

sean

-immediately looks for a rebound

-just gets annoyed at the situation until he finds some other girl to talk too

-until lenny and him temporarily broke up.

-he was absolutely broken, he locked himself in his room, drained his bank account on uber eats, gained 20 pounds, dyed his hair, shaved it off, and pretended on social media that he killed himself (his da called everyone in the gang crying and yelling at them to check if he was alive)

john

-very likely he had no idea the person who broke up with him actually saw them as being together together because he did not (bastard)

-only disappointed for a minute before going to the club

-ofc when abigail left him he did a similar thing to arthur, except started to rent the house she’d been wanting and get an actual job

-begged to see jack and abigail kept telling him it wasnt her that wouldn’t let jack see him, it was jack not wanting to go

mary-beth

-absolutely heartbroken over every SCUMBAG she falls in love with (they all cheat on her)

-lives on the bathroom floor crying until someone comes to get her

-cheers up when karen says she’ll burn his house down

-opens snapchat and obsesses over another boy on her quick add

lenny

-tries to force himself to move on by pretending he was never with anyone in the first place

-secretly stalks their social media because he cannot get over them

-fights with himself not to go back to them at the same time as doubting ever reason he left them

-only left sean because of drunk arthur convincing him too

karen

-immediately starts making posts to make them jealous, pretending shes on dates and living her best life

-finds their stuff and BURNS IT in their garden

-immediately goes on a bender to try convince herself life is better single

-will get absolutely furious over their new partners despite being ‘over it’ in a week

molly

-becomes a stalker.

-goes almost delusional in a mix of convincing herself shes worthless to she deserves everything and they should die

-making sure they havent found anyone else by following them around (cue restraining order)

-gets drunk and completely fucks up her hair

charles

-absolutely no crazy business, he just becomes very depressed

-reinforces his entire idea of the fact he was made to be alone

-never ever wants to date anyone again

-well no crazy business until he gets drunk and starts messaging them desperate to know what he did wrong

micah

-kidnaps them.

-back to jail he goes

abigail

-a complete mix of being furious and being respectful

-one minute she “understands” the next shes trying to get them fired

-shes pretty mature in the end and forces herself to move on

-cries while deleting pictures of them together

javier

-the messiest, bitchiest ex you could ever have

-spills all their secrets on his snapchat story then promptly throws up when they do the same

-announces the breakup by scribbling their faces out on pictures and re-posting them

-calls them names to every single gang member

-dms them on several different accounts calling them a traitorous cunt (he cheated 3 times)

[monotonesmile]

Jaime Reyes x reader

Like the story can be like Jaime trying to surprise his girlfriend, the reader on their anniversary

Mission Failed…Successfully?

Jaime Reyes X Fem!Reader

[Word Count: 1,428]

——————————————————

Jaime is doing his best to cook his girlfriend’s favorite meal but he’s never been the best cook, despite his mother trying to help him. He’s in a mild panic, he wants their anniversary to be perfect because he loves his girlfriend a lot, but the damn bug on his back is continuing to make his life hell by just straight up insulting his capabilities to not only cook but also as a boyfriend, well, “mate” as Khaji-Da calls them.

“You are horrible at this, Jaime Reyes,” Khaji-Da states bluntly from within his mind, once again insulting the boy. “You have an hour before your mate arrives and you have accomplished nothing in the day you’ve had to prepare.”

Jaime groans at Khaji-Da’s words, tossing another failed attempt at the dish into the trash, his hair is a mess and his hoodie is covered in stains, plus, the kitchen is a mess due to his many failed attempts at cooking. He sits down in one of the kitchen chairs, head in his hands, he just wants this day to be perfect but he’s failed at that too.

“You’re an asshole, Khaji-Da…” Jaime mutters into his hands before running a hand through his hair as he slouches down in the chair, what does he do now? She’ll be here in an hour, less than an hour now, and he’s a mess.

“Get up, why are you just giving up now? Find something else your mate enjoys.” Khaji-Da encourages from within his mind, he doubts she just enjoys food, Jaime just has to try and think of something else she’ll enjoy.

“What else?” Jaime murmurs to himself, going over ideas in his head. So cooking something is out of the question, so maybe they can go out to eat? It’d be a bit more expensive but it should work, maybe they can watch a movie afterwards too! Just where do they go out to eat and what movie should they watch?

“Your mate enjoys that cafe downtown, take her there, Jaime Reyes.” Khaji-Da suggests with a very obvious amount of annoyance in his tone, mainly because he can’t believe Jaime forgot such simple things about his own girlfriend.

How in the world did he forget that? Well, at least he has a somewhat decent plan, take her to the little cafe downtown, then come home and watch a movie! It’s not as perfect as he would like, which does hurt slightly, because he doesn’t know how she’ll feel about this, but it’s the best thing he’s got. Now he just needs to get ready…mainly taking a shower and getting a new shirt.

“Right…my clothes.” Jaime mutters, looking down at his stained hoodie and shirt. He will have to take a shower before she arrives at his house, then he can freshen up and hopefully look a little better than he does now when they go out.

He sighs, getting up from the chair, grimacing at the mess that’s in the kitchen before slowly walking out of the kitchen, he’ll clean up later, he has a date.

————————————————

Jaime is drying his hair with a towel after his shower, in a rush because his girlfriend will be here soon, and Khaji-Da is not helping him, telling him to hurry up and just rush so he’s not late or unprepared when she gets here.

He grumbles to himself while the bug on his back continues to pester him, throwing on a black shirt and jeans, he quickly grabs a clean hoodie, zipping it up halfway as a knock on his door echoed through his room.

“I’m coming, hold on!” Jaime stumbles over himself before righting himself before opening his bedroom door to find his girlfriend smirking and trying not to laugh, clearly, she had heard his stumbling.

“What, did I interrupt something, Jaime?” She chuckles, a small grin on her face as she covers her mouth slightly to hide her giggles, her words are lighthearted though, she’s teasing him. She gives him a hug though, just wanting to hug him cause she could.

“No, uh, I thought maybe we’d head down to the cafe downtown…” Jaime chuckles, hugging her back with a small smile, a soft blush on his cheeks, when he releases her, he rubs the back of his neck awkwardly with a small grin.

“Alrighty then, let’s go, buggy.” She smiles happily, taking his hand into hers, pulling him along with her as they head out of his house.

“Always gotta call me that…” Jaime muttered to himself with a small, adoring smile as she grabbed his hand, he heard a small laugh come from her as they walked down the sidewalk.

“Simp.” Khaji-Da states really bluntly in his mind. It definitely caught Jaime off guard but when he pushed to know where the scarab learned that from the only response he got was, “The Impulse.”, which made Jaime groan quietly to himself, his grip on her hand tightened slightly.

The two walk along the sidewalk, talking and laughing together while holding hands, it’s an adorable sight to see, they’re absolutely in love, Jaime blushing softly when she chuckles at something he says, Khaji-Da is oddly quiet while they walk, as if letting them have their little loving moment without interruption.

Soon, the small cozy cafe comes into view as they turn the corner. It's a cute cafe, the building is similar to the cottagecore style many like. She smiles as she pulls Jaime along with her, who is smiling as he watches her light up at the sight of her favorite cafe.

Once they enter the smell of freshly made coffee invades their senses, it’s a comforting scent, making the already soft environment even more appealing to the young couple. The sound of quiet music fills their ears as they walk over to the cashier, hand in hand, ordering their usuals whenever they come here to hang out. After they get their orders they wander over to a small table, sitting down as they continue their conversation, both adorned with soft smiles and loving eyes.

As they say, time flies when you’re having fun. The two had gotten so into their time together that they hadn’t noticed the dark clouds rolling over the town until they had gotten up to leave, the sound of rain hitting the windows drowns out the quiet music inside the quaint cafe.

“Oh, it’s raining…” She murmurs, looking up at the sky as she holds her hand out, letting the rain hit the palm of her hand.

Due to neither of them expecting rain, none bothered to bring an umbrella, they’ll have to walk back to his place through the rain unfortunately. Yet, she doesn’t seem to be upset, still smiling as they head out of the cafe and into the rain. Jaime is still holding her hand, feeling bad that they’re both getting soaked from the rain after having such a fun time at the cafe but seeing her smiling still makes his heart just a bit warmer, a small smile spreading onto his face.

————————————————

“Ah…I’m sorry if this wasn’t what you thought our anniversary would be like…” Jaime mutters sheepishly as he unlocks the front door of his family’s house, letting themselves inside. He helps her with her now very soaked coat, placing it off to the side so it can dry. “If you want, you can borrow some of my clothes so you’re not just wearing wet clothes.” He blushed slightly when he offered his clothes to her.

“It was perfect, Jaime, I love just being with you, I had a great time…” She smiles softly at him, reassuring his worries as she brushes some of his wet hair from his face, leaning forward to give him a chaste kiss on his wet lips. “And I’ll be taking that offer of dry clothes by the way.” She chuckles as pulls away, walking up the stairs to head to his room to pillage his closet for one of his hoodies.

The chaste kiss made his blush grow darker as he watched her walk off with the most dorky and loving expression he’s ever made towards anyone.

“She’s too good for you, Jaime Reyes.” Khaji-Da mumbles from within his mind after a moment, breaking his oddly long silence, noticing how the short kiss made Jaime smile and his worries melted away, as well as how it made his heart rate spike.

“Shut up, dude.” Jaime sighs before going to join his girlfriend so they can watch that movie he suggested back at the cafe.

——————————————————

(IM SO SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG! I GOT WRITERS BLOCK IN THE MIDDLE OF WRITING, I HOPE THIS IS STILL OF DECENT QUALITY FOR YOU!!!)

[gayozpin]

An Observation on Current Jaime and Confiding in People

The beautiful thing about Jaime Reyes? He's no stranger to opening up and being honest with how he feels.

Oh the wonders of growing up in a healthy and loving household!

But it is interesting to see that recently, as the weight of Jaime's responsibilities and actions increases, as things continue to change, we see Jaime withdraw into himself more and more and needing to be promoted by others to open up.

And see, the impulse is to be like, “Well Jaime has always talked to his family in the original run, he should always be open and honest with them," which yes! Jaime never was and still isn't a closed off person. Like ask him how he's feeling and he'll most likely open up.

BUT I personally enjoy the idea that as Jaime falls deeper and deeper into this life of heroing, as he gets older, it becomes more difficult to talk about certain things without being afraid that his friends and family will see him differently. Perhaps he feels like he has to “grow up" now and stand on his own, instead of allowing himself to lean on others, like you would as a child when things got scary or confusing and you would look to your guardian for help.

It can take time to realize that yes, even as an adult, you ARE allowed to seek support and lean on others when things get tough, but striking the balance of being independent and knowing when you need help takes time and a lot of self exploration. And well, Jaime's still young! And honestly experiencing SO MUCH at once.

So when it was revealed that Jaime hadn't told his parents yet about what happened to the Blood Scarab:

It was both, surprising and NOT surprising. Like not only is that NOT the kind of conversation you can have over the phone, but it's a stomach churning thing to reveal. It's the kind of thing that makes your blood run cold because YOU KNOW your parents. You know their beliefs. And while Bianca and Alberto would never stop loving Jaime or shame him for what happened...

... it's likely difficult for Jaime to see this. He's probably deeply afraid that his family will see him differently. That they'll be disappointed or worse, be afraid of him.

Because how can their heroic son do such a thing? When he would NEVER compromise his beliefs? ... Right?

He's probably scared, despite being assured time and time again that they'll always love him, he can always come to them for anything, and he'll always be their son above all else. That they know Jaime is a good person. Alberto and Bianca understand the nature of making mistakes, and what matters is that you tried your best, and what you do after.

And perhaps to those reading this, it would be considered OOC for Jaime to be afraid of his parents' reactions. Bianca and Alberto have never done anything to make Jaime doubt for a second that they would ever stop loving him, yet emotions can be illogical and I would say that Jaime is probably afraid of the weight of this revelation.

Because the reality is that it's not an easy pill to swallow. Killing the Blood Scarab when there could have been another way? Learning that there is no way to control Khaji Da because they aren't a thing, but a living being with their own impulses and fears?

God, who the hell WOULDN'T be afraid of sharing something so haunting that it could potentially shift how someone sees you?? ESPECIALLY when it's your parents who you love and look up to. Like you don't want to let them down, y'know?

And so as Jaime sinks deeper and deeper into this life, as he's faced with crazier enemies and even more difficult situations, it's probably going to get even harder for Jaime to talk about these things with his family.

BUT, I don't think Jaime will ever fully shut out his loved ones because he is too loved and cared about for his family to allow it. They know him, and they can tell when something is wrong. They might have to poke and prod, but it doesn't take much for Jaime to open up. And Jaime loves his family and friends too much to lose them. It may take some time for Jaime to work through this fear, but with support, he'll find the courage to seek support!

So yeah! I love that Jaime is both willing to go to people and talk about how he's feeling, while also having the cat-like tendency to slink away when it's something REALLY difficult or painful to talk about. Like most people haha!

And that's the post! If you have read this far, thank you so much for reading!! I appreciate it! ♡

[toyboxterror]

A Shrimpful Problem

Pairing: Shin Asakura/Reader (Romantic)

Contains: Gender neutral reader (no pronouns used), pre-relationship, bad grammars, this is made in a rush. seriously. lol sorry.

Summary: You, Lu, and Shin went to a place to eat together during your break from the shift at the store. (Thank you @jasminerva for helping me out! You are da best)

"Lu, that's mine! Give it back!"

"Fine."

"Don't spit it to my plate! That's gross!"

They always argue with each other whenever you three eat together. The place you're at sells the best fried shrimps. To you anyway. It's your favorite dish in this place. You love how they season and cook them. But at this moment, your friends were fighting over a bowl of your beloved fried shrimps.

Lu shrugged at him as she chewed her food beside you. "Sorry, I thought you didn't want it." She said unapologetically.

"Why wouldn't I want it? It's on my plate." Shin responded and gestured towards his meal, clearly irritated by the girl's act. He thought he could protect his food more properly this time by sitting across from her, but her movement was too fast for him to stop her.

"It looks like you're putting it aside, so I just assumed you didn't want it."

"You...!"

Even though they argue like children a lot, you know that they care about each other deeply as a family. You shook your head and smiled at them.

You glanced into the bowl where you thought your favorite shrimps were in, trying to get more onto your plate before your friends ate them all. But you found none.

Ah.

You were too late. But it's fine, it's not a big deal. It's just shrimps. You're happy that you get to share your favorite dish with your friends, and they're enjoying them as much as you do.

Before you continued to eat your shrimpless meal, a pair of chopsticks came to your view and put two of your beloved tasty yummiest shrimps on your plate. You looked up to Shin, who gave all of his shrimps to you and just continued to eat his own food in silence without sparing a glance at you, as if he didn't do anything.

You were confused on why he did that. After all, you never said anything about wanting them directly to him. When you think about it, this isn't the first time you felt like this around him. In fact, you're confident this has happened many times before.

He lend you an umbrella when it was pouring outside once, and you hadn't told him that you forgot to bring your folded one. He also bought you a keychain of your favorite character from your favorite series that you're embarrassed to tell a single damn soul, yet he knew you liked them. And many, many more similar events that will be too long to list them all.

It was... creepy. And reaaaally weird. It's almost like he's... able to read your mind.

Ding!

Shin freezed up and coughed, shifting uncomfortably across you. A few beads of cold sweats started forming on his forehead as he tried to eat his food nonchalantly. Thankfully, you didn't notice.

You mentally shook your head. You found your own thoughts ridiculous and decided to shrugged them off. You sounded crazy and you doubt such things exist in the first place, it made you sound like you're in some kind of a Shonen manga. Besides, you don't really mind it. You find his gestures and willing to look out for you really sweet. (Shin relaxed his body and let out a sight of relief. Lu noticed while you were busy with your own thoughts, she raised a brow as she's curious about what he caught with his esper ability.)

You guiltily thanked him, feeling bad for having his shrimps even though he gave them to you, "Thanks, but you don't have to... I already ate them many times before. I want you and Lu to enjoy them."

The blond smiled slightly at you, "It's not a problem. No big deal."

The table was quiet and peaceful for once. Lu looked at Shin, then back at you, then at Shin again, then back at you, then looked down to her plate where she put her hoard of fried shrimps on. She pouted in annoyance, thinking about how good it would be if she's holding a glass bottle of beer right now.

"You two need to date already so you can stop using me as an excuse to hang out together and force me to thirdwheel and watch you grossly flirt with each other."

You looked at Lu in shock with wide eyes and felt your cheeks heating up. You never told Lu about your feelings. There's no way she knew (She did, you were bad at hiding it). Surely she was just teasing... Right? And to think Shin is feeling the same way as you... That can't be true-

Before you can finish your thoughts, you heard a clatter beside you and saw Shin choking on his food and dropped his chopsticks on the table. He glared at Lu, who was looking at him smugly. She's clearly enjoying his reactions.

"I'M GOING TO FIGHT YOU!!!"

"Keep it down, you two! People are looking at us!"

You spend the rest of your afternoon trying to calm your companions down and holding Shin back until the owner of the restaurant had enough and banned the three of you.

You wiped your non-existent tears with your hand as you bid your last farewell to your favorite dish, as this was the last time you're able to set your foot into the restaurant.

You looked at Shin, who was still in the middle of arguing with Lu. Although they already moved past from what happened earlier, they were now arguing about whose duty to clean the windows for the day. You were confused about his outburst, trying to think of the reason why he would overreact to Lu's "accusation." Did he hate you that much to be seen together with you...?

Ding!

He snapped his head towards you with wide eyes and grabbed your shoulder with a tight grip in panic. "NO!" He suddenly yelled, surprising both you and Lu.

You looked at each other for a moment in awkward silence. You glanced at the red haired girl, hoping she might know what's happening, but she was as clueless as you. She just stared at the both of you, quietly sipping on her drink in hand that she grabbed from the restaurant, as if she's watching a cheesy romcom K-Drama on TV.

He realized what he did and loosened his grip. "Um..." His eyes wandered away nervously, avoiding your gaze as he tried to think of his next words carefully. His hand still didn't let go of you.

You looked at him in concern, "Shin, are you okay? Seriously, you've been on edge since we're at the restaurant."

He shook his head. He finally gave your shoulder some awkward pats and stammered, "I-I meant to say; no! Don't be sad... I know you love how they cooked their shrimps. I'm not that good with cooking, b-but I can find their recipes and cook for you!"

You blinked at him. It's your turn to stare at him in silent, and it made him a little uneasy. You burst out laughing, "Is that all you want to say to me? I will be more than happy to eat your cooking! I look forward to it, Shin. Thank you." You smiled warmly at him, happy that what he said proved your thoughts about him hating you wrong.

His cheeks flushed in pink at the sight of your happy face. He watched you turn around to catch up with Lu and wrapped your arm around her shoulders in a friendly manner, asking if she had already seen the movie you recommended to her yesterday on your way back to the Sakamoto's Store. Once again, he let out a sigh of relief and smiled before catching up with the two of you.

You may not be able to go back to your favorite restaurant, but you're happy that you get to share your favorite meal with your friends.

[natimiles]

CONGWATUWATIONS NATI ON DA FOLLOWER MILESTONE U DA BEST (I can't believe i can't add clown cat here smh not having media attatched to asks AHAHA) GIMME JUDE AND FINGERTIPS PLEASEY PLEASE

THAAAANK YOOOUUUU! 🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍 The cat was here and he’s in my heart 🤍🤍🤍

Now have your man being soft. I hope it breaks you (affectionate)

Jude + Fingertips

Words: 394

Tags: swearing; established relationship; no pronouns for reader.

It was an uncharacteristically quiet night. Jude didn’t have any missions or work, and you didn’t have any overdue reports to finish. You two hopped under the covers and he pulled you close. His hand automatically went to your head, caressing you while his blunt nails gently scratched your scalp. You sighed contentedly, and he closed his eyes, enjoying the peaceful moment.

Until he noticed you stirring and heard a thoughtful low hum leaving you. He learned not to ask; you’d say what you wanted as soon as you were ready. And he only had to wait a few seconds.

“Jude…” you called, uncertain.

“Yes, princess?”

“Do you... love me?”

“The fuck kinda question is that?” He pulled back to look into your eyes, a frown on his face. “‘Course I love ya”

“I... was just thinking…” You averted your eyes, looking down at your fingers absentmindedly fiddling with his shirt.

“I know,” he sighed, his hand going back to play with your hair.

He really did. Jude knew what it was like to have your mind plagued with doubtful thoughts. He’d be lying if he said he never had them, that he never thought you’d be better off with someone else; someone less dangerous who wouldn’t put you in harm’s way just because they loved you. But he was also a little selfish, and he knew he’d never give you up for anything in this world.

“Gimme yer left hand,” he asked in a whisper, holding out his hand between you.

You frowned in confusion and placed your hand over his. Jude smirked, and you didn’t even have time to ask what he was going to do; the next second he brought it close to his lips and bit your ring finger.

“Jude…!” You yelped but didn’t move.

Jude looked proudly at the mark around your finger and then right into your eyes, watching your reactions, amused by how speechless you seemed to be. His lips curved into a smile dedicated only to you, and he began to place soft kisses on your fingertips, starting with your ring finger and slowly making his way to every other one. You could only watch, mesmerized by the gentleness of his touch, the warmth of his love filling your heart.

“For now, I can make ya this promise. One for us, if that’s enough.”

“It’s perfect.”

Beneath The Milky Twilight ♥ Event Masterlist

[thingsidrawgohere]

I just finished my first run of DA4 and let me say- I probably got my money's worth. If one wants to view the experience via a purely mercantile lens. I found many bits of cheese and touched the insides of many angry creatures. But if one wishes to frame the thing as Art- Hell, if one wants to solely discuss it as the Fourth in a series of lore-dense, narrative RPGs, then, Cousin, We've Got Problems. Three interconnected niggling ideas that kinda all lead to the conclusion- for me, at least- that modern design practices simply do not trust the player. News flash, right?

Anyways, I think I'm going to have some thoughts on this subject to avoid other thoughts, thank you.

Full-Throated Spoilers Beyond. And a lot of them. It's long.

Idea 1: DA2 is my favorite of the series. That's not the problem; it's the setup. I know what I'm about and it's interesting characters interacting over time. Flawed characters. Abrasive, opinionated, STUPID ASS ANDERS characters. The story was scaled well for a handful of total losers and it was political. The most humanly political of all the games, I think. That's a very low bar, particularly for AAA, but it felt better to stand in a street, to be personally effected by events, than to look at a literal map of icons and notes and distant decisions as in DA3. It's important, I think, for DA to be about Being, Getting Dirty. You aren't a king. You shouldn't be.

Side Note 1: DA2 is a fucking miracle. The old gag that FO New Vegas, blessed be, was made in 18 months is trotted out to display Can-Do Attitude and DEEPLY unethical labor practices. DA2 got less time, fewer reusable assets (due to a different art style), and had to rebuild most of the engine. A. Miracle.

DA4, on the other hand, has a series of supportive, well-adapted people who have all worked very hard on themselves in therapy and know all the fucking right words to say. They chat with one another with kindness and sober fondness. In the One Instance of interpersonal friction, it is resolved with grace and speed. I find this Horrid. They fucking forgot to give these people negative traits. It's likability slurry. They experience no hard growth, hold no horseshit ideas, suffer no lingering doubts. It's not only unnatural but it's lifeless. It becomes Written. I can see the fucking author waving at me. I've got a note from my run that reads 'Rook told the man who is forcibly living inside his head "Thank you sharing that" and I want to scream.'

And that would be bad enough except the ideas are there. You've got a reluctant father story. Someone trapped between two cultures. A older man, already terrified of aging, of death, taking a Much Younger lover. That's Fucking Meat. I can see the writers straining against something but what they deliver is still person-shaped missed opportunities that repeat, that repeat, that repeat. It's So Frustrating. There's flashes of Good Writing. Of good character beats. But Also- from my notes, a character had just held her brother as he died, inexplicably for a second time, and Rook gives her a little pep talk that ends with him asking "You good?"

And the fucking woman says "I'm good" in response. She seemed to mean it.

How does one- react to that as a viewer? I told a man who wanted to be a lich more than anything to Not and he was cool with it. He never brought up being a lich again. He wasn't even upset. I let a man's city die and he's like I Get It, Bro. No Harsh Vibes. It rings hollow.

Talking over Solas' memories, collectively pulling out the meaning behind them- that was some of the best characters-interacting writing in the whole thing. And it's HOURS into the game. A shame.

Side Note 2: A lot of a loved-one death as motivation in this old refrigerator. If you get a name and one line, Oh Boy Brother, you are prolly gonna die bad. Lazy.

If I'm going to talk about Emmrich, let's talk about his romance. I honestly thought it was bugged. I Am playing through another run as a comparative but Wow. Larian and BG3 absolutely reconfigured what's acceptable in these types of story beats. This particular romance felt regressive, in a sense. Like a last minute addition. The very definition of love coins. No charisma or honest affection between the characters. Nothing allowed to percolate (more on that in a second). Just- now you are ROMANCED. Which means on the Blue Moon instance he has anything to say regarding being in a relationship, the best you can get is a 'dearest' at the end of a sentence. I was Excited by the idea of Emmrich really struggling with a May/December situation but he Doesn't. He has a few lines implying that he Could but it leads nowhere.

And they fuck in a coffin (???) and it's not even hot (!!!). Unforgivable. Double Unforgivable. I heard there was spice in this game? This is baking soda.

Related, a few lines awkwardly dodged the question of Emmrich's previous relationships and I have an inkling, without experiencing the other romances, that this is the world's largest case of gun-shy after the backlash with DA3's non-playersexual romances. This man can not be confirmed to be Anything but Into Rook, whatever they might be. There was also a throwaway line with Taash how she prefers women and that's as much as I saw of explicit preferences. I don't envy anyone trying to address the rabidity of fandom but it feels like unnecessary acrobatics.

Side Oh No: It's so bad that I'm honestly thinking of doing a fixit fic regarding the romance/character writing. And God, I can't right now. I have to finish my other project first.

Idea 2: The pacing. That's what ruins so much. There was a scene of a gnarled, fucked-up gate, torn from its hinges. And my guy says "Something Big must have torn apart that gate" all ominous, building a sense of- Nope. The very big darkspawn is standing ten feet away on the other side. I hadn't even swung the camera around the hall to see it before my guy goes "That big darkspawn must have torn apart the gate!"

Yes, I know there's an issue in open world games these days wherein devs are allergic to a player's millisecond of not knowing where to go but this feels applicable across the whole game. A problem isn't allowed to fester. It is brought to attention and then swiftly dealt with. If there's a locked door, a difficult decision, a feeling beyond Protestant determination, it will be dealt with, Post Fucking Haste. It's like the game doesn't trust the player to hold tension.

This happens not just in barks or small set pieces. Whole arcs work this way. Like Harding's longterm personal quest. She gets a handful of lines about feeling vaguely angry or perhaps thinking she Should be More angry about Lore Dump Retcon and then at her culmination, she's fighting her own anger. A vicious, hot, searing thing- and it wasn't earned. At all. There was room to telegraph this theme, bury it in the dirt to let grow roots. They didn't. One Line was given about her people pleasing tendencies And she's not really shown to be people pleasing to her own detriment. This is Chekhov's Gun in running shoes. It doesn't work. It feels like it comes out of left field.

Hell, there was a mission that was like SURVIVE IF YOU CAN and it was like- literally a long hallway. The Pacing is all Off.

Idea 3: I don't like that I must do this but DA4 doesn't understand its own flavor. The One Thing you Cannot Do is have Minrathous, the city of slaves and blood mages, seem nice. Particularly in the poor parts of town. You Cannot have the Crows be a lovely dovey band of scamps. You Cannot have the Blight be reversible. You Cannot CANNOT say "elves have it pretty good" as my Elvish Rook said with his face flaps. No. NO. You Cannot side-step the politics of this setting. These are the bones on which these characters are hung. To lessen the world is to lessen, to decomplexify them.

You know what my elf didn't hear in the town that canonically trades in bodies that look his? Knife ear. Eh to fantasy slurs but my point is no one said a cross word to my guy. The Qunari living in the town that had been warring with the Qunari for Centuries seemed totes fine. There were no alienages. There were no proper templars- even from other regions. No Mage Circles. No mage issues at all. Hardly anything whatsoever regarding the Chantry or Andrastianism, even as the game takes place in the Super Anti-Pope town. I had a literal demon-possessed man in my party and the world did not react.

I had a friend describe this Thedas as feeling smoothed out and Yeah. It feels like all the nasty bumps have been deemed undesirable. I don't know what to make of it. Is this simply taking the world in a different direction? Is it a mandate to tone down the unpleasantness, for sales? A shift in design ethos? Is this a sign of a very troubled project as it was with Andromeda?

I don't know. Is this still a Dragon Age game without its politics? There's enough here for me to wonder if Bioware is even Bioware anymore. There's a TREMENDOUS amount of work, of skill in DA4. Just Absurd. The environments are thick, Thicc. But work alone is not a virtue. Have we ship of Theseus'd so far that the people- the real people, not the logos- who have interests aligned with what made DA1 special are no longer there? Something went wrong with this project, narratively. Something I don't know how to fix without addressing basement level assumptions I'm clearly not privy to. I hope they can.

Final Thoughts: Game development is a fucking hole into which one pours one's relationships, time, and health, physical, mental both. It gives satisfaction very rarely. They shipped. In that way, huge success. It's not even, fundamentally, a 'bad game'. But it is a victim of a modern philosophy of pre-chewed ideas and player distrust. VGs are ultimately a business and, in these last few years, there's been a unimaginable devastation to the workers in the industry- even as the money flows ever upward. The desire to sell well has morphed into a NEED to sell well, even among the 'kept' studios. Big studios, Grand Dame Studios sitting on top of past critical and financial successes, been killed by their overlords recently. No one is safe. It's suddenly quite dangerous for large studios to make anything remotely niche, remotely unclear and Bioware has both Andromeda And Anthem under its belt. They're probably feeling the pinch. They needed a hit and hits, these days, are increasingly smooth. And DA4 is very smooth.

That's just my feeling on the matter. I'll see what a second run yields.

Smaller thoughts:

I don't care about the combat but that was- odd. The illusion of depth with all the skill trees and types of damage and subsystems of attack- all boiling down to a one button push. It's odd. I played rogue on PC so perhaps it's different for other classes, on console. But I pressed the button at the man and when I got a halo, I pressed another button and then pressed the first button again. No matter where I was on the skill tree, it never changed, never felt different. I don't know. It felt. Odd?

There was a Honest To God "It's quiet- Too quiet" and it just Happened. I would have pulled out every one of my teeth to avoid that. I get the jokey-okey but fuck, man.

Where's the chest hair? WHERE? Body hair? ANYTHING? Davrin has plastic chest. It's freaky.

Gloom Howler Gloom Howler Gloom Howler. Frankly, that whole storyline had a large gulg of the farcical. I laughed my ass entirely off when, upon her defeat, the Gloom Howler said "I'm sorry" and took a nap so hard that the scene wiped to 'some time later'. That was insane editing. PACING. And- naming. Gloom Howler. Gloom. Howler.

Teeth. Dear God, the teeth.

The devs were in a real pickle here, no doubt. My great sympathies. There's an Overwhelming abundance of world states that DA3 could have left on the board and I understand the balancing act between acknowledging the events of older games and staying generic enough DA4 could apply to All of them. Is Cassandra the White Divine? Or is Leliana? It's a nightmare of choices. Any of the people that Could be Divine can not be mentioned without lore issues. Who's on the throne in Orlais? Ferelden? Where's beloved so-and-so? Dorian canonically did return to Minrathous so he can 'safely' appear in game- but he fucking can't talk about Iron Bull, who may or may not be alive. Isabela canonically goes back to piracy but she can't talk about events in Kirkwall because she may not have been there for them. Oof. That's not a lot you are Allowed to acknowledge. The Poor Bastards.

Watched a braid slip off a person's shoulder, organically, as they were talking. Started at the bottom and look where we're at, technologically. And speaking on the technical, a lot of textures didn't load right. For the entire game, my guy's left shoulder armour thing had a much lower rez texture than the rest. Three hard crashes, which isn't the worst. One Wonderful mission wherein Lucanis' hair and his knives were the only bits of him to render.

I'm not touching the non-binary storyline. It was clunky, for sure, but the greatest sin was using Our words. There is canonical words for NGC/NB people in fiction and to not use them shows a fundamental distrust towards the source material and the players both. It's the linguistic version of the quest marker or the barks telling you where to go.

I still don't know how I feel about the dead Varric twist. Feels goofball but he got to hang out in his little pajamas. I wish I was in little pajamas.

Solas was pretty fucking tight but I think a lot of that was due to his VA. Something about the voice direction, in general, felt- flat? But old Solas was doing it good.

Ending. God, I get it. People are tired and satisfying endings are hard. And DLC exists, more cynically. But Hells Bells, I'm getting to the point wherein even the slideshow is annoying. Give me a fucking Ending to the Choice Game. Don't you fucking 'Spider-Man Will Return' at me, you bastard. I'm a child of fucking god.

Yes, I got the secret ending. I know. That was Also bullshit.

I feel better getting that all out of my system. Thank you for sharing that.