#an ice king cursor

[deklo]

i’m browsing my old tumblr account and my navigation has tabs just for dylan obrien and halsey jfncjnfcj

[midknightwritings]

Knights as shimeji buddies !!

Synopsis : Shimejis are desktop buddies that play around on the sites / apps you use and love to interact with various elements on your computer !!

What would the members of Knights be like as your little computer buddies ??

Era : N / A

Warning/s : N / A

Mentioned Character/s : G/N!Reader / Tsukasa / Leo / Izumi / Arashi / Ritsu

A/N : I felt super nostalgic when Electric Angel started playing in my playlist but all I could imagine was little chibi Knights running around in my computer LMAO

•❅───✧❅✦❅✧───❅•

Tsukasa Suou :

He’s such a thoughtful little knight !! He’ll do everything in his power to help you as best as he can !!

Do you need resources for your school paper? He’ll gladly help you search and will provide you with the most reliable sources out there !! Is your computer getting slower? Fret not !! He’ll easily get rid of anything you don’t need, especially all those files you never knew even existed in the first place !!

Tsukasa’s so soft for your attention but he’ll never admit to it… He’s your knight after all !! He’s the one that’s supposed to be serving his liege, not the other way around !! Right…?

He'll 100% melt on the spot if you pet his head or gently move him to a quiet corner if he starts to fall asleep~ Small gestures like these show how much you really care and, even when separated by a screen, you still go out of your way to treat him with kindness. He really appreciates that.

Will definitely help you organize your files and folders if your homescreen starts to get a bit too messy. This might sound like a chore but you customize the names and icons together !! Now your homescreen has a cute royal theme going on :)

If you’re forgetful, he’ll gladly remind you of any important dates or things you need to do. Of course he wants you to have fun and relax, so he’ll let you have small breaks between work, but at the same time please don't slack off !!

Tsukasa loves talking to you and hearing your voice in general !! Your voice is so soothing to him, it helps him relax and destress if he ever feels overwhelmed. You both don’t even have to talk the entire time. Just hearing the quiet mutters under your breath or humming the tune of the song you’re listening to gives the same effect to him.

You’ll have a blast when searching for recipes online. Tsukasa will excitedly give you a masterlist of different websites based on recipes for cakes, brownies, cookies, ice cream and more !! Don’t ask when he created this though… He’ll get very embarrassed…

Loves being by your side as a whole. Whether you're drawing, scrolling through social media, watching videos, or more. He loves experiencing all these things with you. [ If you’re watching something together, expect him to slowly inch his way closer to your cursor. So please place your cursor beside your dock, it’ll save him the energy and embarrassment from having to climb up to the top of your screen. ]

Always greets you when you boot up your system and will always wish you sweet dreams / a great day when you log off. Isn’t he the sweetest?

•❅───✧❅✦❅✧───❅•

Leo Tsukinaga :

Expect your screen to be filled with music notes 99.9% of the time. [ That 0.1% is reserved for the times Leo seemingly tires himself out and falls asleep. ]

Never a dull moment with this little knight !! Very active, energetic and LOVES being with you as a whole !! It doesn't matter what you do, Leo just loves being in your presence as a whole~ You give him so much inspiration !! Oh no wait... Where's his pen ?? He needs to write this melody down before it disappears forever-

When I say active, I really mean it. He will climb on the sides of your screen, move around your folders and files, close and open tabs. He’ll do it all just for the fun of it so be prepared !!

He will 100% play hide-and-seek in your folders and expect you to drop whatever you're doing and play along so good luck if you have a ton of them !!

Your playlist king but with his original songs instead !! He loves to show you his new works so please listen for a while, he composed it with you in mind <3

If he notices you overworking yourself, he’ll try and get you to take a break by doing his absolute best to distract you. [ i.e. Grabbing your cursor, opening your games, etc. ] He never nags you to do your work because he knows that you'll finish them at some point so c'mon !! Let's watch a movie together !!

Are you a musician yourself ?? WOOO BOY THIS IS A MATCH MADE IN HEAVEN !! You’ll both pull all nighters composing and writing up new lyrics !!

Leo will be a happy lil knight if you want him to sing for you. Whether if it's for your original song or a cover, he’s ecstatic !!! Completely over the moon !! Of course he’ll sing, he loves you so~much !!

If you want to learn about music, or a music program, he will definitely help guide you through it. You’ll be a master in the blink of an eye with this genius composer by your side !!

On his off days though, he’ll be more dormant, less giddy and even tries to hide from you to avoid being seen in this state. Please comfort him :( He needs to know that he’s loved and that everything will be ok.

•❅───✧❅✦❅✧───❅•

Izumi Sena :

Good luck trying to procrastinate with this knight around because he will absolutely make sure you get your work done in one go !!

The physical embodiment of those apps that lock you out of your social media or video games until you finish your work. Don’t misunderstand his actions negatively though. They may seem cruel on the outside but Izumi genuinely cares about you and knows how much you’d appreciate the free time you’ll get later. So please just bear with him for now and stop procrastinating !!

Gives you the best feedback possible for your projects [ even though they may seem quite harsh… That’s just Izumi for you… ] and his keen eye for detail helps him spot mistakes from a mile away !! Honestly this is quite helpful especially if you worked on something for so long that your eyes basically blocked out any sort of error in your work.

Always reminds you of any upcoming dates or assignments saying that he’s “going to say this only once,” before following up with more reminders later on because “it’s so~annoying that you still didn’t start when the due date is just around the corner !!”

Will go out of his way to organize your files. Every. Single. One of them. He will even go in and rename them all for you because he finds it unbearable that you have files called “ahufuhiahuifaf.ppt” or “FINAL final essay v2 (submit this one??) #5.docx” and you wonder why you can’t seem to find the version you wanted to submit huh?

If you’re the type to get fully engrossed in something when you’re on a roll, Izumi will make sure you don’t pull an all-nighter. Sleep deprivation isn’t good for your skin after all !!

The funniest commentator known to man if you’re doing online shopping. He will not hesitate to roast the outfits/products into oblivion in the best ways possible. At this point, you’re not even planning on getting anything, you just want to hear Izumi's roasts don’t you?

He may seem like a nagging mom, but he gets super flustered if you show any signs of affection. The literal personification of;

[ Pets his head. ] “What was that ?!” “Affection.” “Disgusting… Do it again.”

If you struggle with sending emails or messages to authority figures [ i.e. your boss, teachers, etc. ] Izumi will not hesitate to help you out !! He knows how the grown-up world works so he’ll guide you through it. Tips, sentence starters, professional synonyms and more; Izumi will give them all to you. He even went out of his way to write up various templates you can use for different scenarios <3 He totally didn’t do that because he doesn’t want you to worry or anything !! [ Spoiler alert : He’s secretly cheering you on. ]

Even though Izumi may seem strict, if you listen carefully, you might catch him mindlessly muttering under his breath on how much you mean to him <3 [ Don’t bring it up though, he WILL deny it… In a stuttering mess of course~ ]

•❅───✧❅✦❅✧───❅•

Arashi Narukami :

This queen is your #1 supporter !! She’s always cheering you on when you’re doing work and keeps you company from the moment you log in till the moment you log out.

She’s like Izumi but more flexible. She wants to make sure you finish your work first before you chill, doesn’t want you to stay up too late, and will always give you reminders for any important dates that are coming up. At the same time though, she still lets you take breaks in between because she knows that you’ll get your work done eventually, she just doesn’t want you to do it all the night before~

Arashi loves hanging out with you !! Especially when you watch videos, shows or movies together !! The two of you would often make up various theories, predictions or just freak out over the characters !! It’s just like a super fun sleepover !!

If you play video games, don’t be surprised if she gets a little bit competitive~ It’s all for funsies though so don’t worry !! [ I don’t recommend playing UNO or monopoly online though... For obvious reasons~ ]

On the topic of video games, she’s the best partner you could ever ask for !! You always rank #1 in multiplayer matches together. Arashi never cheats by the way !! She plays by the rules no matter what game it is, even though she can easily go into the game's code if she wanted to. She knows you want to play fair-and-square though, and respects that.

Expect a lot of “older sister” - type of teasing and doting from her like c’mon~!! You’re both practically inseparable, did you really think she’ll let you off the hook ?? She finds you absolutely adorable and would spoil you to no end !!

Arashi also adores going online shopping with you !! She recommends the best products and even lets you know about every single website that’s currently having a sale~ If she finds something that she knows you’ll like, she’ll sneak it into your basket for you <3

If you’re swamped with work, she’ll actively organize your files for you to help ease your load. She’ll also happily tutor you if you need any help and will look over your work as a fresh new set of eyes to ensure that there’s no mistakes before submission !!

Swoons and showers you with affection if you give her any yourself~ She’s especially soft for your headpats or if you make a heart from your cursor movements !!

Every time you log in, you can see her pop into your screen and wave excitedly at you !! Arashi never fails to give you good morning and good night greetings and even gives your cursor a big hug before you finally click the “shutdown” button <3

•❅───✧❅✦❅✧───❅•

Ritsu Sakuma :

Honestly, he’ll be asleep most of the time during the day. You can find him snuggled up in a small corner on your screen because your presence is comforting to him <3

At night however… This knight is much more active !! You better have finished your work during the day because Ritsu is craving for your attention and he’ll make sure he gets it !!

He will do everything in his power to distract you and honestly his efforts are quite cute. He’ll move your tabs, climb to the top of your window and minimize it, rearrange the apps on your dock. At this point, ignoring him is a futile attempt.

He actually understands if you have an important submission coming up though and will let you work. This is a long-term strategy because in his eyes, if you finish your work now, you’ll give him attention later on~

Ritsu loves when you give him headpats !! He finds them super soothing and it even lulls him to sleep sometimes. He also really appreciates the fact that you don’t bother him that much during the day [ even though you have every right to do so ] and in return, he tries his best to help you if he notices you struggling with anything.

A great planner !! As a "strategist", he helps plan out your schedules and timetables in a very detailed manner. All his timings include breaks so you don’t get burnt out easily~

He tends to be more of a watcher rather than an active participant when you work or play games because he finds your concentrated expression to be quite adorable~ Though, if you do need some help, he’ll happily give some to you !!

On the topic of video games, he will be such a tease. Ritsu’s your unofficial-official commentator and will constantly tell you to “get gud”. Even "chill" games like Minecraft aren't safe because he’ll purposefully adjust your settings without you knowing to subtly mess up your gameplay. Let's not forget that one session where he lowered the mob's volume when you were getting a glass of water so, when you came back, you constantly got blown up by Creepers from behind. Your diamonds will be missed…

You both talk a lot if you watch movies or shows together, but if you watch any vampire ones well… Safe to say Ritsu will roast it into oblivion as well. Poor Ritsu had to sit through the entirety of Twilight and no, vampires don’t sparkle in the sunlight so don’t even try to convince him otherwise !!

On the rare occasions where he’s actually awake during the day, he’s much more sluggish but will still try his best to help you as best as he can !! He expects a lot of headpats as compensation though~

[octoberland]

Okay, some spoilers here for True Detective Season 4 thus far.

I'm so enamored with this show. I haven't felt media obsession like this for a while and I'm loving it.

So Screen Crush is saying they think the whole town is hallucinating from chemicals in the water and that nothing magical is actually happening. I know how sexist this is going to sound but I feel like leave it to men to dismiss the possibility of magic in the world. Like, was Rust fucking hallucinating? I mean, I guess he could have been but it just seems so prosaic to try to completely write everything off as "real world". Like, The King in Yellow is a direct pre-cursor to Lovecraft. How can you ignore that?

So, honestly, if it all turns out to be hallucinations I'll be sorely disappointed.

But I don't think that will be the case. I think - based on what we've seen so far - that Night Country is a reference to At the Mountains of Madness. But I also think it will be an inverse of Season one in that I do think it will end on a positive note. They did find something in the ice. Something that connects all of humanity. Something that Tuttle wants to twist to serve its own end. But I think the ladies and the land and the Alaskan Natives will win.

I'm curious to see if Rust shows up. He should still be alive. I don't know how I would feel about it though. On the one hand it would be cool but on the other it could feel like fan service.

Also, yay to Evangeline being bi! Thank God they aren't both straight.

Also, also, Annie dreaming about the spiral was really interesting to me. If you go back and look you will see that Liz's son was wearing pajamas that said "dreamer" in the vision that Evangeline had. There's a lot of really nice little details like that in each episode.

Lastly, the music is SENDING ME.

[leonwifey]

[1/?] "𝑯𝑶𝑻 𝑰𝑪𝑬" — it's been hard writing papers with leon's pencil right there.

˚୨୧ genre — fluff, college au

˚୨୧ word count — 858

˚୨୧ note — this is actually an old idea i've had but was scrapped for being too long and pointless. ofc, being a lover of those two things, i wanted to revive her and make her a small series of moments because i deserve it. it's literally just a collection of back and forth y/n lover/hockey star leon kennedy + stressed y/n!!!

The score wraps up with 4-1, but Leon doesn’t feel like much of a winner. Not when your usual spot at the front is empty and you’re not waving around a poster with his baby picture plastered on it. Ignoring the urge to slump his shoulders and hit the showers quickly, he skates over to his teammates with a rather plastic shit eating grin and the rink booms with boyish roars and the harsh clacking of hockey sticks. 

You, on the other hand, are way too engrossed in the demanding senior thesis you’ve been set on completing. With your boyfriend being a year below you, you’d think he’d understand your hopes of completing your every assignment, getting a degree that doesn't even want you, and pursuing grad school. Well, you could never complain. Not when he treats you like an absolute princess despite being the campus wide crush.

Rubbing your eyes from being blinded by the piercing light of your laptop screen, you hear the door to your apartment open. “Hey, I’m back."

You swivel around in your chair to look at him in all of his wondrous and delicious glory. He definitely looks like a winner alright. You certainly take your time in drinking the way he wears his gray sweatpants and the way his hair is still slightly damp, a bit disheveled from the run to your apartment. Leon takes note of your ogling with a smirk. “You should take a picture, it’ll last longer.” He winks.

Rolling your eyes, you turn your attention back to the blinking cursor on your screen with a slouch. “Alright, superstar… How was the game?”

“We won, obviously. All thanks to me,” Leon chuckles to himself as he sets his bags into your room. “Oh, and you know that Chris guy? He was totally after me!”

“Yeah. He’s definitely a whore, babe.” You deadpan, typing and clicking away.

He drags a chair next to you with a dry laugh. “Not what I meant, but sure.” Leon watches you with a raised brow and his expression morphs into a worried one when you don’t reply. The way the crease between your brows deepens makes him sigh. “Princess.” He places a large hand on your knee, gently spinning you towards him.

"Listening.” You reply, still typing even in your awkward position. Ever so stubborn, you take the opportunity to rest your legs over his lap.

“You know, I kind of missed you at the game.” 

Your fingers cease their dutiful work and the cramps finally surge through them. Not only cramps, but the slight pang of guilt knowing that you are the ice hockey star’s absent girlfriend. The puppy eyes Leon puts on tell you everything.

His hands run up and down your legs as he waits for your response. You, who never wants to admit defeat when it comes to your at times overly smug boyfriend, lets out another hefty sigh. “Look baby... I’m really sorry I couldn’t be there,” The look Leon has on doesn’t budge and you’re already starting to run out of ideas. “You know you’re six on the rink, but number one in my heart? Right?” 

You can tell that he’s trying to stifle a laugh at your lame attempt at forgiveness. The both of you know he could never find it in him to really be upset with you. Besides, Leon knows more than well how hard you've been working. Your boyfriend will always be both your biggest fan and supporter, even when he himself is a king on the rink, unyielding and unbeatable.

He lifts your legs off of his lap gently and pads across the room to fall back onto your bed dramatically. The blonde stares at the ceiling with a pout on his lips, trying his best not to look at you. In your eyes, the boy is certainly a lost puppy.

“It’s like I hardly see you anymore, Y/n.” He mumbles, pleading eyes darting towards you. “Are you… Gonna make it up to me?”

Instantly, the bed squeaks when you practically pounce on him, making yourself comfortable on his lap. Dreamy crystalline eyes beneath you widen and you lean in close, a soft giggle from your lips brushing against his. You can’t ignore the fact you can feel his hard excitement beneath you, but you try your best to indulge him. Just for a little bit. As a form of forgiveness, you decide.

“Well, I can certainly make up for lost time.” You whisper as you feel his large hands make their way to your hips, guiding you towards giving him another kiss. A small whine escapes your lips when he tugs on your bottom lip, swiping his tongue across it after. Your fingers instantly lose themselves in his ashy blonde hair as he continues to kiss on your neck and down to your collarbones.

You pull back with a soft pant, academic responsibilities clearly abandoned. “So are you just gonna do all the work or what?”

The boy below you sends you a smile, lips shiny and swollen. "No babe, let me reward you for working so hard. You deserve it."

[nite-shay]

Sweet Dreams Dumbass ( Bakugo x Reader)

AN: Hope you like it :) Sorry for typos or misspellings. 

Idea: You sleepwalk when you're highly stressed or nervous. You just found out you’re pregnant and you're scared and unsure of how to tell your husband.

Aged up characters.

Warnings: Pregnancy, Stress/Anxiety , cussing (It’s Bakugo, that a given)

Parring: Katsuki Bakugo x Reader

Words: 1.7K

************************

There you were, sitting alone on your couch in your apartment, shocked as your doctor's words echoed through your mind. 'Congratulations, Mrs. Bakugo, you're going to be a mother.' 

You're pregnant. A child is growing inside your body. You're going to be a mother. Katsuki is going to be a father. OH GOD! 

The two of you had been married for a few years now, but the two of you never really talked about having kids. The two of you were young still, so it just... never really came up. You were open to the idea of children, particularly with the man you loved but Katsuki, on the other hand. Well, you just weren't sure… 

Most of the time, he just refers to them as 'damn little crotch goblins.'

How were you going to tell him? Would he be happy? Would he… Would he not want it? What were you going to do? You couldn't hide this from him... Not for long, at least. You need to tell him now.

You took a deep breath as you stared at the last message to him. 

'Be safe out there! I'll see you tonight. Making you something spicy ;)'

The cursor flickered on the screen as you struggled to type out the news.

You can do it. 

Just type it.

Words on the screen. It’s simple. It can be 'I have some news,' 'Guess what?', 'You are the father.' , 'The bun is in the oven,' or just the words 'You're pregnant.' 

The screen message was still blank. Come on, fingers work with me! Just put something!

Wait!

No!

No, you can't tell him like this! Not over a text! This was a new chapter in your lives, weekend plans! 

You'll call him! 

No.. wait… He's on patrol right now. You can't call him.

You'll tell him when you get him. That's the best thing to do…

Tossing your phone to the side, you sighed. He wouldn't be home for a few hours at best, so you had time. 

How were you going to tell him? How was he going to react? Would he be angry? Would he be upset? Would he hate you? Would he... leave you?

"No. No. No. You knew Katsuki. You loved him, and he loved you. He would never do that to you." You reassured yourself. 

But despite your reassurance, a small part of you couldn't help but panic at the thought of him rejecting you and your unborn child.  Your breath hitched, and you felt like the room was closing in on you. 

Calm down. Calm down. Panic isn't good. For you or... for the baby.

Distractions. That's what you need!

You stood up quickly and made your way to a closet. After some rummaging, you found the items that would give you the distraction you were looking for. You pulled out a bucket, mop, and various other cleaning tools. You couldn't worry if you're too tired to worry!

Hours later, your home was spotless, and your husband still wasn't home. Usually, he was home around 9 pm on a late shift, but it was close to midnight now. You sent a quick text to him to see if he was ok before sitting the phone on your bedside table and collapsing on your king-size bed. Which now had a fresh set of blankets, sheets, and pillow covers thank you. 

You winced as you let your body relax. There wasn't a muscle in your body that wasn't yelling at you right now. But your mission was accomplished, the screaming of your body was enough to drown out the anxiety, allowing you to give in to the comforting silence of sleep.

About two hours later…

Katsuki silently made his way through the entrance into his leaving room. He got your message the moment he got back to his office, but when you didn't respond, he figured you'd went to bed.  He sighed. He hated long nights like this when he didn't get to have dinner or even fall asleep with you. 

But that was the hero's life. Villains did have the curiosity of committing crimes at a decent hour. The fuckers.

He tossed his shoes and bag to the side before turning on the light. 

Big mistake. 

"What the fuck?" He squinted. His whole damn living room was spotless, and everything gleamed and shined. Even the cloth couch! Light shimmered off every single item in the living room, it was like walking into a disco ball.  

Damn. He wondered what could have flustered you to do this deep of a clean. It reminded him of the night before his wedding.  Well, not exactly. This was worse. At least then, he didn't feel like he needed sunglasses to navigate his own damn home. 

After turning the light back off, he stumbled his way to the hallway and towards the bedroom. Temporary blindness was a hell of a lot better than burning his eyes with the light of a thousand suns. Just as he reached your bedroom, a sound from the spare room caught his attention. 

Slowly, he raised his hand, ready to attack. He doubted anyone would be stupid enough to break into his home, but he wasn't taking any chances. Not when it came to you. He quietly made his way towards the room. The door was cracked, and a light from a lamp made it possible for him to see a shadow moving around the room. It looked to be a single person, and they didn't seem to notice his presence. 

Without warning, he threw open the door, ready to blast the intruder but stopped the second he saw you. You had a box in front of you that was full of decor items from the room.  What the hell are you doing up this late? Better question, what the hell are you doing?

He was just about to yell at you for being up so late, but he stopped himself. He was now in full view of you, but you didn't react, you simply continued with your task. He let out a sigh as he took in your appearance. Your (Y/C) eyes were glazed over and only partly open.  Despite your movements, your body seemed relaxed, and your breathing was even.

He'd seen this lax expression on your face before and a telltale sign that you weren't aware of what you were doing, that he was in front of you, or even where you were.  

"Oi." He spoke softly, not wanting to scare you. This wasn't the first time he's found you sleepwalking. He knew NOT to startle you or try to wake you up.  He tried that once, and it didn't end well. No. The best thing for him to do was to coax you back to bed without waking you. "(Y/N). Babe. It's time for bed." 

The moment you heard his voice, you stopped packing the box. "Can't," You murmured. "Have to. Get ready. For them." 

"Ready for who?" He was confused. The two of you weren't expecting any guests. Hell, if it wasn't for you, most people wouldn't even know where he lives. But why were you packing stuff up?

"Baby."

"I'm right here. You don't have to do anything for me." He took a step towards you before reaching out to you. "Come on, let's go to bed."

"No. Baby." You put your hand to your stomach. "Need to. Prepare for them. Need room." As he watched your actions, he felt his stomach drop along with his hand.

"But.. you're not pregnant.." 

"Checkup. Doctor called. 'Congratulations, Mrs. Bakugo, you're going to be a mother'"

"You're... You're pregnant.. Why didn't you call me, idiot?!" He gritted out, trying his best not to yell, but... he was just shocked. No. It was more than that. He was... happy? Scared? Pissed? Obviously, he was shocked at the news. Happy at the thought that the woman he loved was carrying his child. Scared at the mere thought that he was going to be responsible for another life. But for the moment, he was pissed. Pissed that you didn't call him when you found out! 

"Wanted to. Wanted to tell you in person. Scared." Scared? Why were you scared?

"Why are you scared?" It was taking everything in his power not to try and wake you from your slumber. He wanted to know why you were scared? Was it the doctor?? Was something wrong with.. the baby? 

"Mad at me. Not want them. Not want me." Tears formed in the corners of your eyes.  Your words iced his temper fast as he realized you were scared of him. Of tell him that you were carrying his child. He took a few deep breaths, if this had been high school him, he would have lost his temper imminently, luckily after being with you for years, he's calmed down... some. When the hell did he give you any indication that he didn't want kids? 

Now that he thought about it, the two of you never really talked about it. And well, he was himself. Expressing his actual feelings wasn't his strong suit, even to you. He did want kids, he just assumed you’d figure it out on your own. Shit. He should have talked to you about this before now. He raised his hand again before brushing his thumb against your cheek. 

"You never ever have to be scared of me. Remember that."He reached out and took your hand. "It's time for bed now. We'll talk about this in the morning. You need to rest. Our... baby.. needs rest." He stumbled over the last bit.

He led you back to the master bedroom and maneuvered you into bed. 

"Sweet dreams, dumbass." He kissed your lips lightly, watching your eye finally close. 

He immediately stripped down to his briefs. He'd deal with his clothes later. Right now, he wanted nothing more than to curl up with you. Once he was in bed, he pulled you tightly to himself. Just in case you decided more housework needed to be done. 

He knew he wouldn't sleep tonight, not with everything he just learned. But he didn’t give a shit. He grinned, burring his face against your neck.

A baby.

You’re pregnant. 

His child is growing inside of you

He’s going to be a father. 

This was the happiest moment of his life. 

Thanks for the read! If you want see the other stuff I’ve done, click the link bellow!

MasterList

[wylanvnneck]

“On a scale of one to ten, how do you feel about nachos right now?” for Jurdan, please???? 🖤🖤🖤

Humorous Prompt #6: “On a scale of one to ten, how do you feel about nachos right now?”

Fandom: TFOTA

Ship: Jurdan

Masterlist | Send me a prompt

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“He’s not really picturing a Pork Cutlet Bowl for inspiration is he?” Cardan’s wry question is more of a rhetorical one, considering the fact that they both knew the answer to it, but Jude still felt the need to reply.

“Nope.”

The two of them were lying across the couch, Jude’s head tucked under Cardan’s chin and his arm loosely slung over her denim-clad hip, both their gazes riveted to the laptop screen on the low table in front of them. Vivienne had browbeat them into promising that they would watch the anime that she’d recommended whilst she and Heather were gone for one of Oak’s school meetings and she’d even gone so far as to threaten them with locking away the mini marshmallows so they’d have to suffer through marshmallow-less hot chocolate if they didn’t comply.

Jude wouldn’t really have minded that, but Cardan had a weakness for them and she had a weakness for the adorable look that would appear on his face whenever she brought him a mug with the confections floating within it, so that’s how they’d found themselves spooning on the couch together, watching an anime about an awkward Japanese Ice Skater Yuri and his delectable Russian coach Viktor.

As much as she hated to admit it, Vivi had good taste. The animation was beautiful, almost as beautiful as Elfhame, and the storyline was adorable and interesting, with a fantastic soundtrack to go along with it. The day was warm and tranquil and it felt good to be snuggled cozily in her husband’s arms, his heartbeat pressed against her spine and their thousands of responsibilities as High King and Queen nowhere near their little bubble.

They watch Yuri skate in comfortable silence, the whole performance captivating, and in between episodes she can feel Cardan making the tiniest of shifts in his position behind her, little movements, lightly stroking her hip over the fabric of her t-shirt, leaning down to smell her hair or to place a gentle kiss on the curve of her ear that marked her mortality and each time there’s a little burst of something inside her.

They’d made it about halfway through the 12 episode long series before Cardan reaches over to pause it, reluctantly detaching his body from hers and sitting up, making her do the same, turning to face him as she sits cross-legged. He stretches his arms up in the air and her eyes follow the movement, admiring him. His dark gaze catches her doing it, his eyes glittering and a grin spreading over his face and she merely raises her eyebrows at him in response, unapologetic.

“On a scale of one to ten, how do you feel about nachos right now?” He asks, his voice light in a way that only happened when he was truly content.

She feels an answering smile curve her lips. “Eleven.”

He laughs, his raven locks flopping over his face messily and he leans forward to peck her lips before pushing himself off the couch and heading off to the kitchen. “Got it, two packets of Nachos coming right up.”

“Make sure they’re the spicy kind!” She calls out after him.

“Of course, only the best for My Queen,” comes his reply and it’s stupid, how sweet his words are.

Flopping back down on the sofa she distracts herself by studying the laptop screen, watching the seconds tick by on the clock at the bottom of the screen when silence is broken by an odd jingle, and a little square popping up at the bottom right hand corner of the screen. Written on that square is a name that makes Jude sit up straight. Taryn Duarte.

The jingle is still playing in the background but it sounds blurry, as though it was playing from somewhere far far away instead of right in front of her. Taryn. She hadn't spoken to her heavily pregnant twin sister in quite a while, and the last that she’d heard of her was that she had gone to visit Madoc and Oriana in the place where they lived in the mortal world, somewhere quite far away, thankfully. The thought of Taryn makes the subsequent feelings of anger and hurt and betrayal rise up within her, ruthlessly chasing away the contentment that had filled her just minutes ago.

Frantically, she searches for the red decline button with the cursor and attempts to click on it but she can’t quite bring herself to do it. She hates that she can’t, but thoughts of Taryn in distress whilst carrying a child, Taryn in danger and needing help flood her mind and that old protective instinct that had been instilled in her for so long compels her to click on the green accept button instead.

“Jude?” Taryn’s voice sounds the same, mixed in with surprise at seeing her twin answer the call instead of Vivi.

“Taryn.” Her throat is dry.

“I- I called because Madoc and Oriana wanted to speak to Oak, and Vivi has said they could call on this thing” she gestures at the screen, “called Skype when they wished to and they needed help to set it up.” Taryn looks the same as ever, almost a mirror image of Jude herself, except for the huge swell in her belly where Jude’s unborn niece or nephew resided. Locke’s child. That reminds her of the first time Taryn had ever betrayed her, allowing Locke to mess with her, knowing full well that he had been seeing the both of them at the same time, playing them against each other and she had let it happen. The memory makes her shutter, closing her expression and making it cold.

“Oak is at school with Vivi. Tell them to call later.” She moves the cursor and it hovers over the red button to end the call.

“Jude, I-” Her twin starts to speak.

“Don’t, Taryn. Not now. Not yet.”

She catches a glimpse of Taryn pursing her lips together and nodding imperceptibly before the call ends. Jude wasn’t ready to try and mend the bridge between them yet and she wasn’t sure if she would ever be. Her emotions are all over the place, roiling inside of her like the waves of the Undersea during a storm.

She punches the couch beneath her, hard, and the force barely makes an impact and she longs for the adrenaline rush of battle, the feeling of focused control that she gets when holding Nightfell in her hand. But Nightfell wasn’t here to help her distract herself and she was powerless against the pain.

Cardan is inordinately pleased with himself for managing to salvage two packs of spicy Nachos. It had taken quite a while for him to root them out from the back of the cupboard behind jars of condiments and Oak’s Skittles stash but he’d eventually proved victorious. Eager to return to Jude and their Yuri on Ice binge he strides into the room, nachos clutched in hand, expecting his wife to be impatiently awaiting him. Instead, the expression she turns on him when she sees him standing in the doorway is one full of anguish and the sight tears at Cardan’s excuse of a heart.

“Jude? Jude what’s wrong?” He’s by her side and wrapping his arms around her in the next moment and concern tugs at him when she simply rests her head against his neck, her breathing heavy.

“Taryn called.” Her voice is muffled against the fabric of his hoodie.

Cardan’s gaze flicks to the laptop. He’s not entirely sure how mortal devices worked, but he thinks he’s safe in making the assumption that Taryn had somehow attempted to call Vivi on her laptop and Jude had ended up answering instead. He now understands Jude’s behaviour. She and her twin had never been able to mend the differences that had erupted between them in the past few months and he doubts that his wife had been ready to speak to her twin so soon after everything that had happened.

And he definitely couldn’t blame her. Just thinking about the twin that Jude had once fought so hard to protect, from him as well, only to have her loyalty thrown back in her face by her sister’s treachery made him clutch Jude a little tighter to him. If it hadn’t been for Jude’s insistence that her pregnant twin be left alone, she would have faced punishment for her actions long before now.

“She called on behalf of Madoc and Oriana. They wanted to speak to Oak. I should have known she’d go running back to him. After all, she is his most loyal daughter.” Her words are painted with both bitterness and resignation.

He thinks carefully before starting to speak. “I know you and your sister are far from the relationship you once had and I know that it hurts you, Jude. But I also know that you are strong, unbelievably strong, and when the time is right I know you’ll make the right decision. Whether you want to try and mend your bond or move onwards, know that I will support you in whatever you choose.” He moves to press a kiss to her temple.

“How do you always know what to say?” she lets out a slow breath, pulling back to meet his gaze. “Do you think I should try talking to her?”

“I do think that you two will need to talk at some point. However, that day is not today. Come, my love, let’s not let her ruin one of our few days away from the palace. Put her out of your mind for now and have some nachos.”

“Kiss me?” Her request reminds him of a time that seemed to have been eons ago, a moment on her bed, the sheets silky beneath his drunken form looking up at her and wanting distraction, a cure. Kiss me until I am sick of it.

He gives her the distraction she needs.

She meets him halfway when he leans down to connect their lips and he moves his mouth against hers slowly but thoroughly, his heart thumping the way it always did around her. Only ever her.

Everything around them melts and they are oblivious to their surroundings as Jude’s hands card through his hair and he strokes a light path along her waist, which is why they are caught by surprise when they hear Vivi’s grinning voice sounding from the doorway.

“Alright, playtime’s over children, Oak and Heather will be here any second now and we don’t need the poor boy to see that.” She wiggles her tawny eyebrows suggestively and Jude pulls away from him, her face flushing despite her best efforts at hiding it. Ignoring the slight pang of loss at his wife moving out of his arms, he turns to give his favorite sister-in-law a mischievous grin to which she responds by rolling her cat’s eyes.

Sure enough Oak comes charging into the room seconds later and jumps right up onto the couch, wiggling between Jude and Cardan and tucking himself in next to his sister and chatting in her ears about his day at school and how he’d scored a goal at soccer practice and Jude is laughing and ruffling his chocolate hair, her agitation from earlier forgotten for now.

He watches his wife and her brother talking as he reaches for the forgotten packets of nachos from the table knowing that soon the entire family would be squished together on the couch watching movies and making hilarious commentary over snacks, and the whole thing is so domestic and comforting and it feels better than alcohol, better than drugs, better than losing himself in debauchery the way he used to. It feels like family.

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@aelinfeyreeleven945tbln I hope you like this one, Clueless Penguin™, thanks for sending in a prompt ❤

The fact that Taryn’s crimes seemed to largely go unanswered for and that she and Jude never really got closure has always niggled at me, but I have yet to read HTKOELTHS so maybe there’s something about it in there? Either ways here is some Jurdan fluff with some Jude angst mixed in. Also, the fact that Jude and Cardan watching YOI is canon still makes me squeal and if you wanna fangirl over that anime with me feel free to✨

Okay, on to tagging the lovely people on my taglist: @cupcakesandkittens, @thewickedkings, @kittkatandbooboo, @annabethjackson0001 and @fangirlprincess09

As always, please let me know if you’d like to be added to or taken off of my TFOTA taglist.

[perseusjackson-jasongrace]

Empires on the Horizon I

Jason is a CEO: Part I

Here’s my masterlist for the next part and my other stuff

i fear it might break me

then break

break

let spirit crack you open

-a letter to the king

There was something almost sinister in the whiskey-induced haze of a Manhattan skyline. The buildings nothing but dark blocks, uneven stairs.

There was something lonely about the haze too.

But Jason Grace couldn't give two shits about the blackening playground of buildings, couldn't give two shits about the incredible view from his twenty-second story window, couldn't give two shits about anything except his whiskey bottle and the burn because today could only be described as hell. Worse than hell maybe.

His son of a bitch ex-boyfriend and his son of a bitch new girlfriend, well ex-girlfriend now, had decided to christen his office. The deal he'd been working on for months didn't get legal approval, which meant everything had to be redrafted. And on top of everything his sister called to tell him she’s setting him up on a date with a quote, unquote ‘lovely girl who seems just right for him.’ He wanted to slam his phone across the room, and he would have if he didn't believe she had the supernatural abilities to know when he was pissy.

The shrill ring of said phone interrupted his anger.

"Talk to me"

"Hello Grace, you sound like shit."

"I'd sound better if you didn't fucking call me, you ass."

A laugh echoed down the phone.

"What do you want Valdez?" A smile played at Jason's lips, despite his day.

"Just wanted to check in and see how you were doing," Leo Valdez sighed, "I heard what happened with bimbo and brainless today."

He winced, "I don't know if I want to burn my office or throw them in an unmarked swamp to swim with the crocs."

"We can do both." His friend replied, conviction lacing his words.

He chuckled darkly shaking his head, "I think I'm just gonna drown myself in the good stuff tonight. I'll face the world tomorrow."

"Okay, I've sent over a tub of your favourite ice-cream. Sorry I can't be there; The lady has been raving about this theatre show for months. I'll be dead if I bail now."

"No worries Firefly, thanks for the ice-cream. Let's meet tomorrow for dinner?"

"Sure bro. I'll book us at the Labyrinth."

"Great and bring your better half!"

A laugh was the only reply before the call ended.

Jason collapsed onto the couch, folding his body into the corner of the seat and taking a large swig from the whiskey. Every time his mind wandered to the horrors of the day he drank. It took a horrifyingly short time to see the bottom of the bottle. The world blurred and tilted, swayed like young trees fighting against the wind. Tears spilled hot and fresh down his cheeks- he didn’t bother to wipe them away. Today he was allowed to cry, today he was allowed to break. It was okay, okay...

“OKAY!” He yelled, trying to untangle his legs from the blanket and wipe the drool on his mouth.

The banging at the door started up again and he cursed a blue streak. With a growl he yanked the door open, “What?”

“Well good morning to you too Mr. Grace,” A cheery-faced Hazel Levesque greeted.

“Hazel,” He sighed “Hi, sorry I- come in,”

“Everything okay Boss?”

“Had a bit of a rough day yesterday, I’m sure I smell like the inside of a whiskey bottle,”

“Uh-I don’t know if I should say anything to that,”

“Good call, I might burst into tears if you do.”

She gave him a wide-eyed look but he waved a dismissive hand, picking up the pillows he had flung in rage and the bottle he had discarded just before he crashed on his couch.

“I’m going to go shower; I’ll update you over some breakfast.”

She gave him a long look before nodding and taking up a set at the kitchen counter. He thought about explaining or offering her something to drink but his soul was exhausted; at the very least he could help himself to a shower before he had to face the world.

The water scorched his back, his forehead pressed to the cool tile. He considered himself lucky for having eaten before he got drunk, otherwise he would have spent the morning with his head in a toilet bowl. His brain pounded against his skull but the alcohol was only half to blame; crying for two hours had its fair contribution.

“Okay you can do this. You’ve gotten through a lot of shit, you can get through this.” He stared himself down in his mirror, fixed the clasp on his watch and shouldered his suit jacket.

With a deep breath he stepped out of his room, his business face firmly in place.

“Shall we grab coffee at Reedpipes, you can update me on my schedule on the way.”

“Sounds good Boss let’s go,”

And within a matter of moments they were stepping into their favourite café. Flowers bloomed in the middle of every table and ivy wrapped around the industrial fixtures above them. A bright hello sounded from the barista’s station.

“Good Morning Grover,” He smiled, at the bearded man already frantically working on their orders.

“How’s it going? I haven’t seen you in a hot minute.” Warm eyes twinkled up at him. It took immense self-control not to burst into tears.

Grover, oblivious to his turmoil prattled on, “Hazel how’s the strawberry pot coming along? Did the compos-“

Jason zoned out, the world becoming a blur of sound and moving colours. His mind hurtled him back to yesterday when he had walked into his office– oh gods it hurt to think about. The evidence of them had been everywhere. Clothes strewn on the floor, his papers and trinkets thrown like a hurricane had swept through. And they had just grinned, like they were waiting, like they planned for it. His stomach flipped, ache and regret flooding him.

“Mr Grace!” A small hand shook his shoulders.

He startled back to the present, “Sorry, sorry.”

“It’s okay” Hazel gave him a weird look, “I’ve got our coffees let’s grab a seat.”

He nodded letting her lead them to a little wooden table in the corner of the shop. Sun was just starting to filter in, and the beams caught on the subtle gold accents rimming each table. Once they had settled in across from each other she handed him his cappuccino and took a long slurp of her iced coffee before setting her intimidating golden eyes on him.

“Spill Boss.”

He sighed, running a hand down his face.

“Yesterday I went back to my office after the meeting with Titan Industries, we need to do a redraft for that by the way,”

She nodded, already tapping on her phone to diarise an appointment with the legal team.

“So I get the office and Piper and Luke–“ He gulped, steeling himself, “They decided to use my office as their playground.”

He didn’t know how to put it delicately and little Hazel shouldn’t have to hear his real thoughts on the matter which mostly sounded like ‘fucking fucks, stupid dumbass wankers’ and various other curse words

“Oh Jason,” She gasped softly, reaching out a hand to squeeze his, “I am so sorry. Why are you even coming in to work today? You should have taken the day to yourself.”

“I still have a business to run Hazel, and besides I can’t let their selfishness stop me.”

“You are allowed to be hurt Jason.”

“I know, I know. But I can be hurt this weekend, right now we need to redraft that stupid contract and I need to make some calls about the new buildings starting this week,”

“Right will add that, don’t forget we need to get your suit for the alumni dinner on Friday,”

“Ugh I forgot about that, okay just pencil that in for some time today and maybe call Drew or Silena to find out if they can have a few ready for me to try on. Also I have dinner with Valdez tonight so no calls after six thirty.”

“You got it Boss, and hey­–“ She tugged at his sleeve making sure he looked at her, “If at any point you need to stop, you let me know. And if I see you neglecting yourself like you did last time, I will book a trip to the smallest island in the middle of the damn ocean and throw you on a plane myself,”

He laughed at his fiery assistant, and gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulder, “Yes ma’am.”

***

Jason’s day wasn’t going great, but it was at least fifty times better than yesterday. All his belongings had been moved to the floor above and his tainted office was being cleaned out. He didn’t know if he wanted to go back there ever again but maybe he could convert it into a room for his employees. At least they won’t be haunted by the events that occurred. His call with Miss Arellano had gone surprisingly well even if the drafting of this stupid Titan Industries project was proving to be a real pain in the ass. He didn’t even know if it was worth it to do this much readjusting.

“Hey boss,” Hazel knocked at his door, “Frank is here to take you to your suit appointment,”

“Damn is it already four?” He frowned at his watch, “Alright give me two minutes to finish this email and then I’ll be ready. You should go home for the day.”

She snorted, “Thanks, but I got some admin to catch up on. You mind if Frank comes back to drop me off at home afterwards though?”

“No problem, you know he would be happy to do it.”

And maybe if Jason hadn’t been so distracted, he would have caught the blush his assistant was trying so hard to stop.

“Right well, let me know if you pick out a suit or if I need to reschedule. Also Mr Valdez called to confirm your reservation at the Labyrinth for seven thirty.”

“Thank you,” He gave her a brief smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes before turning his attention back to his blinking cursor.

***

“Hello ladies,” He entered the open, marbled boutique that was Aphrodite’s Armour.

“Jason!” A sweet voice squealed, coming towards him for a hug.

“Hello Silena, how are you?”

“Much better now that my favourite customer is here,”

“Aww,” Another voice pouted, “I thought I was your favourite customer?”

“Babe you don’t count,” Silena laughed, booping her fiancé on the nose.

“Well if it makes you feel any better Drew, I know she’s lying because she says that to all the customers.”

Silena gasped, smacking his arm, “I DO not.”

“Yes you do hun,” Drew laughed, “You here for your suit Mr Grace?”

“Yea it’s for the alumni dinner at SPQR University this Friday,”

“Oh yes we’ve heard a lot about this dinner. We’ve had all manner of folks come in these last few days.” Silena nodded, already making her way to the back of the store.

“I’m sure. It’s the big charity dinner where they get all the ‘successful’ alumni together and then milk us for all we’re worth.” He shook his head with a smile.

“Ah you rich people can afford it,” Drew scoffed, smirking at him over her shoulder.

“Yes I do agree,” He nodded, “Where’s my favourite of you lot?”

“Oh Charlie isn’t in. It’s Wednesday so he has to go to his sites.”

“He’ll be sad he missed you though, I think he has some project he wants to pitch.”

“Tell him to give me a call, I’m always happy to talk business.”

“Yes, although I’m sure he’ll be much happier to get down to business with you,” Drew cackled.

“And how would his two fiancées feel about that?” He raised a blonde brow.

“Quite excited,” Silena bubbled, a glitter in her eyes.

Jason let out a real laugh for the first time all day, “Sorry darlings but I don’t think I’d be much fun right now.”

Drew gave him a kiss on the cheek “Well, we’ll be here when you do.”

“Much appreciated,” He grinned.

“Okay, I think I have the perfect one!” Silena moved from behind the racks shoving a black bag into his hands, “Go try it on.”

He stumbled into the changing room and pulled out a gorgeous maroon suit. The lining was a deep blue and the detailing on the seams matched it perfectly. He knew immediately this would be a favourite of his and got confirmation when two minutes later he stepped out to gasps and applause.

“Mr Grace,” Drew’s eyes were wide.

“This is the best one yet,” Silena sighed, assessing him.

“Thank you ladies, it really is beautiful.”

“I think the wearer may be more so,” A low voice from behind them said.

Jason’s head shot up only for his gaze to land on the most exquisite person he had ever had the privilege of laying his eyes on. The beautiful stranger stood with their hands tucked in their pocket and an appreciative look on their face.

“Oh Mr Jackson we didn’t think you’d be here so early.” Silena jumped into action, ushering him through the door and out of site.

Jason was standing stock-still unable to get the image of sparkling green eyes and molten brown skin out of his head.

“Who was that?” He breathed.

Drew was pulling at his suit, synching it and marking the fabric with needles.

“Oh that was Mr Jackson, he comes in here fairly often too. It’s a wonder you haven’t met before, I’m sure you run around the same social circles, what with your fancy parties and all that,” She was mumbling around a mouth full of measuring tape.

“I’ve never seen him before in my life. Trust me I would remember a face like that.”

That got the seamstress’ attention, “Oh someone has a crush,”

“How could you not? We did see the same person, right? Tall, wonderful curly black hair, unbelievable sea green eyes, a voice like crashing waves and earth and-“

He was cut off by her laughing.

“What?” He frowned.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone fall so hard from a five second interaction.”

He blushed, looking away from her all-knowing gaze, “I’m just saying what I saw.”

“Well I’m pretty sure he’s going to the dinner on Friday so maybe you can talk to him there.”

‘He’s what?” He whipped around to look at her, eyes comically wide.

“Yea, he was telling us all about it when he came in earlier this week.”

“Oh gods, oh gods, oh gods, oh gods,” He muttered, heart racing.

“Oh don’t panic, he’s honestly one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet.” She shrugged before pulling at his arm to take the measurement, “Alright, all set to go. You can pick up the suit tomorrow afternoon or we can send it tomorrow evening?’

“Uh yea, send it.” He said distractedly, already pulling on his clothes.

Drew gave him a cheeky smile, “Goodbye Mr Grace,”

“Bye Drew, tell Silena I said bye, and tell Charlie to call me.”

He stepped into the entrance of the shop, but the beautiful man was nowhere to be found. With a final glance around he made his way into the street, ready for dinner with his friends.

“Hello Grace, glad to see you haven’t gone full hermit,”

“Hello Leo,” He snorted, “It was the ice-cream you sent last night. It gave me hope.”

“I’m glad to hear it,” His friend laughed, “How are you though, seriously?”

“I’ve seen better days, but I’ve seen worse too. I’ll get over it.”

“There is no doubt in my mind Jason Grace,” A soft reassurance floated towards them.

He smiled, pushing out of his seat, “Hello Annabeth,” He enveloped her in a hug.

“Hello my darling,” She gave him a gentle smile.

He let her go and she moved around him to give Leo a quick peck. He smiled at her with overflowing adoration and muttered a soft, “Hello love,”

“Tell us what happened?” She sat down next to her boyfriend and reached out to squeeze Jason’s hand.

So he took a deep breath and relayed the story of his nightmare yesterday. By the time he was finished the couple looked like they were ready to storm the castle and beat Luke and Piper with sledgehammers and drawing compasses.

Annabeth’s grey eyes were hard and stormy with anger, “I’m going to kill them,”

“Don’t worry babe I’m there to help.” Leo said vehemently.

Jason couldn’t help but smile at the protectiveness of his friends, “Thank you guys but I’m fine. Really.”

They gave him a dubious look, their expressions so similar it was comical. He gave them another, hopefully, reassuring smile before they launched into a discussion about work.

Both were engineers with too many degrees to count and an abundance of knowledge circling between them. It was almost scary how exquisitely their minds worked. Jason had recruited them time again for his projects– from designing the education center to building the water systems and electricity grids in the downtown area. His work helping small businesses and improving ‘run-down’ neighbourhoods would be a thousand times harder if he didn’t have them to help him in design and implementation. Annabeth, as the civil engineer, often went to sites with him and over saw a fair few of his community projects. Leo was a mechanical engineering professor at the university they all attended but he was always willing to help if need be. Jason was eternally grateful for that because he didn’t trust many others to oversee his works.

When dessert had been cleared away sometime later the three were laughing and ribbing each other like they were back in college and not big-time owners of various companies.

“Okay, okay,” Leo gasped, “No more of your stories man. Annabeth doesn’t need to know all my secrets.”

The lady in question snorted, digging her elbow into his side, “You wish you had secrets. If you can’t recall I was there for ninety percent of your dumbassery in varsity and I’m here for one hundred percent of it now.”

“You don’t know what happened on our guys nights,” Leo narrowed his cassiterite eyes at her.

“Keep telling yourself that honey,” She smirked.

Jason watched on in amusement as Leo’s face morphed into panic.

“Tell me she’s lying Grace?”

Annabeth’s smirk was wicked, “Oh yes Valdez I know about the ‘pants on fire’ situation, and the ‘jumped off a Ferris wheel situation’ and the–“

“Okay stop. How did you ever choose to date me knowing all these things?” He looked at her with some mixture of horror and wonder.

She shrugged, “I figured if you were smart enough to get a PhD and a Masters you were smart enough to know when I’ll kill you for doing something stupid.”

Jason burst out laughing, “She may be taking your space at the top of my favourite’s list Firefly.”

His friend gave him a look of disgust, “That’s just rude, we’ll see who takes your phone away next time you’re drunk on vodka,”

They all dissolved into fits of giggles after that and Jason felt his heart grow a hundred times lighter.

“Are you guys going to the dinner?”

Annabeth nodded, “I heard the university has a proposition for us this year.”

“I’m mostly excited for the mini tacos,” Leo grinned.

“You’re always excited for the tacos,” She rolled her eyes playfully.

“I can’t help it, there’s just something about them, you know?”

Jason couldn’t help but agree. They really were delicious.

“I guess I’ll see you guys there.”

“You can count on it,” Annabeth gave another of her dazzling smiles, reaching forward to rest a hand on his arm.

“And don’t worry bro I know for a fact Luke isn’t going to be there.”

“Yea I know,” He sighed, “I asked Hazel to check this morning.” They stepped into the chilly night.

“Call us if you need anything,” Leo gave him a look before pulling him in for a hug. Annabeth echoed the sentiment and gave him a kiss on the cheek. 

He watched them walk towards their car, fingers intertwined, Annabeth’s blonde curls resting against Leo’s shoulder. A flutter of ache washed through him at their closeness, their easiness. He had had that once. Until Luke had gotten greedy with his ambition. And he may have had that with Piper if she hadn’t decided to screw his ex.

His life was a mess.

Yet when he crashed into bed that night he felt more hopeful and loved than he had in a long time. He slipped into sleep with a soft smile playing on his lips.

-----------------------------------------------------

Okay what are we saying? How do we feel? GIVE ME THOUGHTS!

Tags (if you want to be added to/ taken off the tag list just let me know, all my channels of communication are open):

@lesbian-peanuts​ @leydiangelo​​ @queen-of-demons-and-hell​ @msdrpreist​ @sparkythunderstorm​ @nishlicious-01​

[morethanaprincess-a]

6, 7 & 22

Mun’s Asks: RP Edition

I’m going to answer 22 first as it’ll be the longest. Also, a disclaimer:

The question asks for five blogs I recommend to my followers. While I tried to choose five muns based on a variety of criteria, I want it to be clear that if I’m writing with you and you are not listed here, it doesn’t mean I don’t recommend you. Honestly, I could probably answer this question plenty more times with new blogs each time. The better answer to this question is to comb through my blog and see who I’m writing with, as I recommend them if we’re writing or have written threads together.

However, I tried to choose blogs/muns that really do inspire me, contribute great work and/or rph to the community, and aren’t only Danganronpa blogs. Additionally, I tried to choose blogs who have posted IC content in the past two weeks.

22. If you could recommend at least five blogs to your followers, who would they be?

Okay, here we go! Five blogs and/or muns that you should be following:

@the-taboo-king - Literally no surprise if you’ve been following me for awhile. I will always be a fan of blogs that put so much thought, time, and effort into taking a canon character and truly developing that character into their own. There’s an excellent balance between main/canon verses, AUs, aesthetics, and crack over here and if you need some writing inspiration? Just read any of their threads. Literally, any of them. Each one of my Sonia and Gundham threads pushes me to be a better writer, to develop my Sonia further from ‘safe’ canon tropes and I’m always grateful for that. These threads are just a joy to write and I’d say that if you have a Danganronpa character or verse and you’re not writing with this Gundham, you’re severely missing out.

I liked Sondam before I joined the DR RPC. Now? It’s probably my favorite DR ship for Sonia. 

@gungambled / @thawedfrost / @spiritusvendid - Because these are all the same mun, they’re all listed here. All of Kitty’s blogs deserve to be in the spotlight! Admittedly, I’m currently only writing with her Celestia at this time (Sonia and Celestia - future BFFs in the making!), but she gives each one of her muses such a unique voice and insight. Her dialogue is excellent and you really get the sense of who each one of her muses is, whether you’re familiar with the source material or not. Kitty’s also so fun to talk to OOC (possibly because we have some of the same hobbies and enjoy making crack plots about our muses)! It’s a treat when she shares mun photos, as she’s a fantastic makeup artist and cosplayer (And I always support fellow cosplayers and roleplayers, two big time-consuming hobbies!). 

@spurnedadulthood - I talk about Livi a lot over here. There’s good reason for that: Livi’s Kensuke Hibiki comes from a game and anime that aren’t too popular over here on tumblr, but with a ton of verses available, Kensuke can come pester your muse almost anywhere. And while his personality takes some getting used to (he’s. a. GREMLIN.), Livi writes him with such sincerity and devotion to his source material that, for the most part, you just have to laugh and shake your head with every response. Also? I’d never heard of the Caligula franchise before writing with Livi. It took about three RP turns for me to fire up Crunchyroll and watch the entire anime to better understand Kensuke and the Caligula verse (I’m not the greatest at those types of games, so the anime was much easier for me to digest!). It’s very rare that I’m inspired to seek out a muse’s source material if I’m unfamiliar with them, but I can attribute that to Livi’s characterizations and writing skills. I’m pretty sure Livi has more than one blog, too? An OC, I think? Anyway, if Livi’s writing a muse, follow that blog.

@trinitytalents - I admit, I am a bit picky when it comes to OC blogs. However, I really like what 7th has done with the variety of Danganronpa OCs that make up the killing game Project Trinity. With a variety of muses to choose from, 7th has made sure each one has a distinct personality, history, talent, and more, and all of them will fit right in with your Danganronpa muse or verse! I’m a bit partial to Satomi and Atsuko myself, but there’s an Ultimate Stylist Sonia needs to meet. In short, 7th brings their original creations to life so well with respect to the franchise that has inspired them and is just a fantastic example of a multi-muse OC blog. I just wish there was more art of all of the Project Trinity students!

@sadisticbloodlxst - For those who are familiar with the Diabolik Lovers franchise, you’ll know that a lot of the subjects in the games and shows are not for the faint of heart. However, this blog handles all of them with such eloquence while writing for every member of the Sakamaki and Mukami families! That’s a lot of muses with a lot of different personalities, histories, and perhaps most importantly in DL, reasons why they’re just not very nice vampires. Each character is so distinct, with writing full of emotion even when the muse themselves is determined to stay stone-faced. They’re taking a small break right now, but when they return, it’s a blog you should be reaching out to if you’re a fan of Diabolik Lovers (or dark plots, angst, nsfw, etc) at all, even just to read the various threads going on with plenty of other muses. Yes, I’m nosy and enjoy reading what all of their muses are up to! I can’t wait to keep developing Sonia’s storyline with Ruki and eventually, maybe, having her meet more of the cast.

6. What are your thoughts on the current roleplay trends on here right now?

I’m not sure what counts as a current roleplay trend, so to speak, but I’ll give this a shot:

- Google doc rules are a good thing, especially to access on mobile. I should do one myself. A lot of times I’ll get followed and I’ve only got my phone or tablet to check out a blog, and a google docs linked in mobile helps me decide much more quickly if I want to follow someone.

- Blogs and promos that focus so much on aesthetics that you cannot read the posts on their blog or you cannot find the rules/muses/info easily on the theme irk me. I’m much less likely to have the patience to move my cursor around your blog trying to find the smallest possible icon to hover over for ‘rules’ than if you have a sidebar icon that just says, plainly, ‘rules.’  My reasoning of following a blog always comes down to: do our rules/values/interests match and can I work with this mun’s writing? No matter how pretty the blog is, if I can’t work with your IC content, I’m probably not going to follow.

- Patience with replies needs to be understood more by the RPC in general. Just because memes and threads are posted doesn’t mean every mun can get to them quickly. It’s fine to ask someone after a week or so (Vacation and other hiatus reasons aside), but before that? Patience. Interact with more muns, post promos, drabble, create moodboards or song lists, or even find more muses to write. Don’t worry, people will eventually respond.

- I wish group blog promos and indie blog promos had different tags. Even in the fandom-specific promo tags. It’s irritating to try and get a promo in the appropriate tags only to have it buried by group blog promos, often mass-spammed with content that isn’t even promo content.

7. What is the one trend you miss the most that’s no longer popular or seen as much as it was before?

I’m not sure if it was just not a trend or just not as further developed, but I miss the RP days of Livejournal and Greatestjournal. A lot less weird formatting and focus on coordinating blog icons in every post. I think for OCs, icons definitely help. But for canon characters that, presumably, the person you’re writing with is familiar with, it’s tiresome to add. Especially if you’re on the tumblr app.

In general, I just miss more of the focus being on writing: developing skills, brainstorming, etc, instead of aesthetics. Whether it’s the blog style or mass-sharing aesthetic posts, I just wish it was more evenly distributed with written IC content in some places.

[nln4]

two - a sidesteps parallel universe fic

In which @ratastrofiend‘s Paris and Mikoto pair up for some wacky villain hijinks Word Count: 2442 Rating: T for team, of which there is no “eye” in. TW: eye horror, death

---

In the darkness of the secluded hallway, his armor glows bright enough that he has to crouch out of the way to avoid detection. He’s been relegated to look out duty (which he promptly grumbles about in his mind, loudly enough for you to hear) while you prepare your part of the plan - breaking into the security network of the tower that houses a treasure that he apparently needs.

How he ropes you into the plan is beyond you. It starts with a series of texts over a couple of weeks, which you oblige, since you were naturally curious. 

[>Can you look for security exploits in X Tower??]

[>Why??]

[>I’ll pay you.]

It’s not like you need money. You’re not quite as obscenely rich as he is, but you live a comfortable enough life. 

[>In ice cream. Lifetime supply.]

Fuck, he’s got your number. 

But presently, the glowing gold pulsing lights in his armor are really throwing off the dark-vision of your helmet cams and you wave him further away so you can focus on the task at hand. 

“You know, we’re supposed to be sneaking in,” you think, thankful that your powers provide a built in communications system. Frequencies can be dialed in to, conversations can be heard when spoken aloud. “You’re going to draw guards to us like moths.”  

“Look at me,” he thinks, with a gesture to the gold and white armor that adorns his body, a beacon in the darkness. “Does it look like I sneak?”

“Maybe it’s something you should consider,” you retort in your mind, quickly unscrewing a metal panel. Behind it are ports, usually meant for on-site maintenance (a poor design choice that made this mission actually possible). 

This particular panel is the closest from the rooftop entrance that you two entered and so far, the plan is working well. Sneak in, shut down security systems silently, sneak out. That’s your usual MO and the only way you would agree to his plan at all. 

“You have nanovores,” he thinks viciously, pointing to the housing cage on your wrist. “Why not actually use them? And can’t you hurry it up? The second round of guards are coming soon.” 

“First of all,” you think back, plugging in an ethernet cable into the port connected to a miniature laptop. “No one is supposed to find out we’re here, so a hole in the middle of a metal panel would be out of the question. And secondly, no, I can’t, these computer systems are slow as shit, they’re probably still running on last century’s operating system.” You’ve never quite understood how some of the world’s supposedly most valuable secrets were guarded by a computer running on decades-old software. 

…ᘛ⁐̤ᕐᐷ !! Don’t rush! the Rat King squeaks. It’s a chorus of voices, both yours and his, and behind your helmet, you grin at the fact that both sets have your back. 

“You shut up,” he thinks, pointing at the containment unit on your helmet, absolutely annoyed. 

“Don’t be mean!” 

…ᘛ⁐̤ᕐᐷ Yes, no mean!

He taps a booted foot impatiently, cursing up a storm in his head. But the back of his mind is running a series of numbers, almost like a clock ticking down; he must be keeping track of foot patterns, time schedules of when the next wave of guards are set to make their rounds. You have to shield to focus on the puzzle in front of you. 

Finally the command prompt opens, cursor blinking and you start typing.

“What, no ‘Virus Uploaded’ screen?” he jokes. 

“You know full well that’s not how it works, asshole,” you think, still typing. Your helmet helps you parse through lines of commands, making sure there are no mistakes as you work and you silently thank Dr. Mortum’s genius. 

“They’re coming,” he thinks and your vision splits, half focusing on the screen in front of you, the other half watching him shift his position into one ready for attack. 

“Give me two minutes,” you signal, holding two fingers up, almost a peace sign. 

“You have one,” he snarls in his mind, head looking back over his shoulder at you before turning the corner to dispatch the oncoming security guards. 

“Once again, not how it works!” 

But 120 long, long seconds later, your rootkit is installed and you quickly unplug cables, screw the metal panel back into place. A few feet away, he leaps into action, with the grace and precision of a hunting predator. He drags four unconscious bodies away and sends a mental blast through their minds so hard you can feel it almost rattling your brain in your skull. They’ll have a blinder of a headache tomorrow and you don’t envy them one bit. 

“Safe room,” he thinks and you nod. The rootkit lurks silently in the system already, and the first job was to record the last ten peaceful seconds and feed a loop to the CCTV cameras. Fortunately, the safe room is only one floor below and the two of you move silently down the stairs. You’re almost reminded of your old Farm days, back when you worked with the HIVE Squad. Certainly, your little ragtag mob don’t move in the same way as trained little soldiers do. The two of you move as one seamless unit, with him taking point and you keeping an eye (and a mental feeler) for anything following from behind. If just one of you can wreak enough havoc on Los Diablos on your own, two telepathic powered villains could dismantle entire regimes. 

He holds a fist up and you pause, the both of you waiting before rounding the corner to the safe room. You try to pick up any waves, any presence lurking nearby but there are none and it seems like he’s satisfied with the current situation as well since he starts down the hallway to the safe room without you. 

“Thanks for the heads up,” you think, walking fast to catch up to him, hoping your mental voice is tinged with enough sarcasm. Sometimes it doesn’t quite pick up; you’ve found that mental and physical inflections can vary. 

He doesn’t look back, merely shows you his middle finger over his shoulder and you stick out your tongue, grateful for your helmet. 

“I still saw it. We’re telepathic.” 

“Dammit.”

The HUD on your helmet shows that it’s been a good five minutes since your plan has started, which means that the next step should start any…

...second…

...now.

One floor down, your helmet picks up the sound of electronic distress noises, computers alerting their human handlers of a massive DDoS on the tower’s servers, but the attack is just a smokescreen to turn their eyes away from the security breach that’s about to happen. 

“Code?”

“875639,” you think and you watch as he takes out what appears to be an eyeball, complete with dangling optic nerve, from a compartment on his belt. 

He wiggles it teasingly at you and you grimace. “Look.” 

“Eugh!”

“It’s a Mod,” he clarifies and upon closer inspection  (the optic nerve just a connective wire), it is, and you wince at the poor sap who has lost their sight twice now. The power from his armor is enough to bring the singular Mod back to life and he holds it up to the retinal scanner. The safe door blinks green, accepting the security measures and a pneumatic hiss issues as the metal door swings open. 

For a second, your mind wavers, like a dampener being turned on too close by but you chalk it up to weird physics. Perhaps two Sidesteps are not mean to occupy the same space at the same time. You look to him to see if he notices anything but it seems like he doesn’t.

According to schematics, there should be motion detectors and alarms, but those have been turned off by the rootkit. Inside the safe is a metal briefcase and you have to wonder what it houses. Whatever it is, it’s valuable enough that he’d come all the way here to get it. 

But since he’s preoccupied with the case, you see the gun before he does and you don’t get to warn him fast enough before he lifts it. The displaced weight snaps a rope and in turn pulls the trigger, like some fucked up Rube Goldberg machine. You shove him out of the way as the bullet streaks past and bite back a curse as it pierces through the joint of where the chestplate and pauldron meet, where your suit happens to be less armored. What are the odds, you think. 

“Well, well,” a voice behind you says, with the signature click of a cocking gun. “Instead of one little mouse, I’ve caught two.” 

You recognize the slimy voice, even without seeing the person - Javier Xuan, notorious business mogul. Corrupt as they come in these parts. He has a news segment where he extols the wonders of “his” inventions that makes you turn off the television every time. 

“What do we have here?” Xuan continues. “Do you like my little trick? Old fashioned, but it works--” 

Apparently Paris is a quicker draw than you are since he yanks the gun from the rudimentary rig and fires, point blank into Xuan’s forehead. You stare in horror as the man crumples lifeless to the ground, a marionette with its strings cut. 

“Huh,” he muses coldly, staring down at Xuan’s body. “He was in his office in my world.” 

“Paris!” you think in alarm. “What have you done?” 

You look to him and his helmet may hide his face, but his thoughts are furious with rage, incoherent enough that you can’t get a handle on them. His Rat King chitters incessantly, trying to soothe him. 

Klaxons blare and lights flash red around you, and you know you’ve done your job perfectly to turn off all of the security, so there must be a separate system - sure enough, Xuan’s Modded eye pulses red in time with the flashing lights and you have to hold back a bitter laugh. A Mod with a dead man’s switch. You suppose he must have dampeners installed as well, as he escaped your mind sweep earlier. 

“You okay?” he asks, voice distorters turning it into a low growl. 

“Yeah,” you reply. There’s blood seeping into your skinsuit but you’ll live; the nanomesh weave acts like a bandage until you’ll peel it off later. You’ve had plenty worse. You’ll live to see plenty worse too. 

He crouches down and plucks out this Xuan’s modded eye as well, claws on his armor serving him well. There’s a sickening sound as he takes the trophy. 

“Sorry we didn’t see eye to eye,” Paris gloats, waving the Mods in the dead man’s face before shoving both of them into the utility compartment on his suit. 

“Paris, that’s disgusting.” 

He shoves the body further into the safe room, locking it without even a glance back, and you have to marvel at the lack of remorse at all. Just another mission complete. 

“Well then, let’s get out of here.” 

---

“Did you really have to kill him?” you ask, leaning back in the ragged computer chair in your warehouse hideout. “Now there’s going to be an investigation, and guess whose ass the Rangers are gonna go after? Me!”

“He was already dead in my world,” Paris says loftily, taking a strip of gauze from the first-aid kit for cleaning. “Might as well have a matching set. Now hold still.”

He daubs at the wound (not terribly deep but still left a good angry tear in your arm) and deftly applies antibiotic with a cotton swab. He has to sit close enough to you to treat your shoulder and from this distance, you can see stubble growing along his chin. Dark eyes gaze from under long lashes and you have to begrudgingly admit it’s a good look on him. And you think he hears you, since he smirks, the asshole. 

“Ow!” you yelp. His fingers move quickly against your skin but the ointment still stings like hell when it makes contact. 

“You big baby,” he says, signature sharp-tooth grin stretched across his mouth. “Get over it.” 

“Might I remind you that I took a bullet for you,” you grit out, fists clenched. 

“Please, it barely grazed your shoulder.” 

“Barely??” you say, indignant. “Look at it!” 

“I am looking. Of course, I’d rather play doctor in a different way,” he says, taping the gauze in place. “If you weren’t being so difficult.”

You flip him the bird with your good hand, remembering his gesture from earlier and he lightly bops you on the nose in return. You take back everything you thought earlier about him looking good because he’s as infuriating as he is handsome. 

“So, what’s in the case?” Although you think you might have an inkling, with Javier Xuan’s recent billion-dollar investment in GeniTech. 

“Something one of a kind,” he says, placing the final pieces of medical tape to secure the injury. “But I needed two.”

“So you decided to hop dimensions to get another one?” you ask, incredulous. “Will that even work?”

“Who knows. Only one way to find out.” His grin is brilliant as he looks at you, obviously pleased that his plan played out well. 

“I feel sorry for your Los Diablos,” you say dryly, sliding your hoodie on carefully and trying not to disturb your arm. 

His eyes study your shoulder, and there’s an odd, almost tender look in them. How is it that the both of you are telepaths yet it’s so difficult to tell what he’s thinking? 

“What?” you ask, and your tone is a little more caustic than you meant it to be. His eyes have moved from your shoulder to your face and you have to fight to keep from flushing. 

“You get a new scar now,” he says. “That one will be our story.” 

“Please go.” You pinch the bridge of your nose to stem off your headache. The entire mission has been a headache. “Back to your world. Now.” 

He leans down to draw eye level with you, hyena grin on his face. “Aw, I was going to kiss it better.”

“Leave!” 

He throws his head back with joyous laughter as he takes the suitcase and merrily walks to the doors but before exiting, he turns back. “Get some rest! I believe we have an ice cream date,” he says with a wink. 

“I fucking hate you,” you call as he vanishes, and you sink back into the chair, adrenaline finally running out and weariness hitting your bones all at once. 

But you smile anyways. 

[blackholeofprocrastination]

For my @asoiafrarepairs Secret Santa @oberynmartell.

I’m sorry this is so bonkers late!!! December just got away from me this year! We were paired together for our mutual House Martell love (woo), so I thought I take a stab at a seasonal happy ending for Elia. I hope you like it and have an awesome 2019! :)

Merry and Bright(Smile) 🎁

As far as holiday celebrations go, the Citadel University Hospital Staff Christmas Party is one of the more staid events on Rhaenys’ social calendar. This year, however, things are different. This year she has a very special date. Or at least she had a special date until said date disappeared in a flurry of waiters carrying trays of passed hors d'oeuvres.

Rhaenys sighs as she squints into the dimly lit cloakroom. It’s the fourth door she’s checked and she nearly turns back around, until she spots a flash of gold towards the far wall. Sure enough, there, hidden amongst the wool and tweed and fur hanging in nice orderly rows, is her mother.

“Mom? Are you alright?”

“I’m fine, sweetheart!” Elia laughs a little too brightly, waving off Rhaenys’ concern. She’s perched on a low stool, a glass of champagne clenched tightly in her hand. “I just needed some air.”

How one is supposed to get air in a stuffy cloakroom, Rhaenys is skeptical, but she doesn’t push.

Tonight was supposed to be fun. A chance not only for Rhaenys to show off her accomplished, elegant mother to all of her colleagues, but also for Elia to revisit her alma mater and the familiar faces she left behind when she started her practice in Kings Landing. Looking at her mother now, peaked and anxiously tucked away behind a row of coats, Rhaenys can’t help but think that tonight was only a mistake.

“Come on,” she says at last, offering her mother a hand up from her seat. “I could use some air too.” 

They head to an all-night diner by the wharf. The place is nothing special, but it’s kept Rhaneys in coffee on many a late night spent cramming for exams and then later coming off double shifts at the hospital. The staff’s not pushy about making her leave when she’s lingered in her booth with paperwork scattered around and her sixth cup of coffee forgotten and cold at her elbow. They don’t even bat an eye when Rhae and her mom walk in, sliding across the cheap vinyl seats of a booth in their green velvets and red floral silks. Over slices of blueberry pie topped with vanilla bean ice cream, the truth comes out.

“So all of this just to hide from an ex?”

Rhaenys knew that her mother had a life before meeting her father. Divorce and time had killed any little girl notions she might have held about a fairytale romance between her parents. Still, it’s strange to think that there could have been someone else.

“I wasn’t hiding!” her mother is quick to defend, focusing on stirring cream into her coffee. “And Baelor wasn’t…he isn’t…we were never together. Not properly.”

“But you wanted to be,” Rhaenys urges, trying to understand.

Elia sighs.

“We were in medical school together,” she says, stabbing out a bite of pie with her fork. “I was young. And I was unkind.”

Rhaenys stares at her mother incredulously from across the table. Whatever faults may be laid at Elia’s feet, unkindness could never be one of them. 

Elia won’t say more on the subject and so they finish their pie to the soft sounds of tables being cleared and Bing Crosby warbling “White Christmas” on the grainy diner speakers. 

The next morning, after seeing three patients and getting into a rather heated debate in the breakroom with some of the other residents over who finished the last of the coffee, Rhaenys conducts some very necessary internet research.

Dr. Baelor Hightower 59 Widower Father of two Senior partner at Hightower Obstetrics

Rhaenys spends the better part of an hour scrolling meticulously through the man’s Facebook page, on the lookout for red flags. Other than a photo in which the man is surrounded by a sea of pretty blondes (sisters it turns out...six of them) there are no red flags to be found. It’s like he was cut out of the pages of a Decent Dudes catalog, completing the package with somewhat greying good looks and an annoying wealth of adorable pictures with his newborn granddaughter.

Rhaenys hesitates a moment, her cursor hovering over a freshly opened email window. 

She could message Uncle Oberyn. 

He’s got all sorts of connections. She’s sure with his help she could run a full background check, really investigate for any skeletons in the closet (and maybe get to the bottom of what happened between her mother and Baelor Hightower 30 years ago). 

What Rhaenys does is so much worse. 

“I don’t know how I feel about you pimping Mom off like this.” Aegon scowls at her from the open Skype window on her computer. His face is half-hidden behind a pair of sunglasses and he’s wearing the type of garishly patterned tropical shirts made popular by dads on vacation everywhere. 

Rhaenys fights the urge to roll her eyes, and instead focuses on finishing the topcoat on her nails. As much as she misses her idiot brother, it’s probably for the best he decided to spend the holiday with Dad on his yacht in the Summer Isles. 

“It’s just a coffee date.” One that took no small amount of coaxing for Rhaenys to arrange.

“What do we even know about this guy? He could be the Sandstone Strangler, for all we know?”

“Or he could be a perfectly nice man!”

Aegon grumbles under his breath. 

“Do I look alright?” 

Elia interrupts them, hovering nervously in the threshold of Rhaenys’ tiny apartment kitchen. She’s wearing a plum colored wrap dress and a pair of knee-high black suede boots Rhaenys had insisted she borrow for the occasion. As a teenager, Rhaenys had been an unrepentant thief in her mother’s closet, poaching the perfect bag for a night out or the right earrings or wrap for a date. It’s a strange role reversal, but a welcome one just the same. 

Rhaenys lets out a low appreciative whistle.

“You look beautiful.”

Rhaenys and Elia share a smile. 

“Put some pepper spray in your purse!” Aegon’s voice calls out from her laptop speakers. “And wear a sweater!”

Elia laughs before pressing a quick kiss to Rhaenys’ temple and grabbing her coat.

“I’m off!” She waves cheerily over her shoulder. “Be back soon!”

Soon, it turns out, actually means ten hours later.

Rhaenys is eyeballs deep into a Real Housewives of Gulltown binge, the coffee table in front of the couch littered with Pentoshi takeaway containers, when Elia opens the apartment door. 

It’s only midnight. Too soon for the words ‘walk of shame’ to be bandied about, and yet, the hallmarks are all there. The hurriedly pinned up hair. The slightly rumpled dress. The goofy grin. 

“And what kind of hour do you call this, young lady?” Rhaenys deadpans. Elia’s smile slips a little.

“I’m sorry I didn’t call.”

Rhaenys shrugs it off. She hadn’t minded. Much. (True, there had been a moment when a small, stupid part of her listened to Aegon and worried their mother’s organs were being harvested but good sense won out in the end).

“Did you have a nice time?”

The smile is back, brighter than before.

“Yes.”

It’s been a long time since she’s seen her mother this happy. Rhaenys can’t help but smile back just as brightly. 

“Good.”

[deklo]

omg I just went and checked out my old tumblr I abandoned but had since 2010 and I had a customized theme and a fancy cursor set to it eeee im stealing it all

ndjcjfdjfj my new keyboard was delivered and now i’m gonna edit my blog’s html like i’m 12 years old again 😈

[mightystargazer]

2018 Readinglist

Drew Hayes Bloody Acquisitions

Drew Hayes The Fangs of Freelance Fred

Drew Hayes Second Hand Curses

Gregg Hurwitz The Rains

Gregg Hurwitz Last Chance

Dean Koontz Oddkins

David Timson Ghost Stories of an Antiquary

Kay Hooper Stealing Shadows

Kay Hooper Hiding In Shadows

Kay Hooper Out of Shadows

Kay Hooper Touching Evil

Kay Hooper Whisper of Evil

Kay Hooper Sense of Evil

Kay Hooper Hunting Fear

Kay Hooper Chill of Fear

Kay Hooper Sleeping with Fear

Kay Hooper Blood Dream

Kay Hooper Blood Sins

Kay Hooper Blood Ties

Kay Hooper Haven

Kay Hooper Hostage

Kay Hooper Haunted

Kay Hooper Fear the Dark

Kay Hooper Wait for Dark

Hunter Shea The Jersey Devil

Matt Haig The Humans

Terry Goodkind Nest

John G. Hartness Cold as Ice

John G. Hartness Into the Mystic

John Conroe God Touched

John Conroe Demon Driven

John Conroe Brutal Asset

John Conroe Black Frost

John Conroe Duel Nature

John Conroe Fallen Stars

John Conroe Executable

John Conroe Forced Ascent

John Conroe College Arcane

John Conroe God Hammer 

John Conroe Rogues

John Conroe Snake Eyes

John Conroe Winterfall

Bentley Little The House

Terry Goodkind Nest

Stephen Blackmoore Dead Things

Stephen Blackmoore Broken Souls

Stephen Blackmoore Hungry Ghosts

Peter Cawdron Alien Space Tentacle Porn

A. American Hope

Dean Koonz Richochet Joe

Sarah Lyons Fleming Until the End of the World

Sarah Lyons Fleming So Long Lollipops

Sarah Lyons Fleming And After

Sarah Lyons Fleming All the Stars in the Sky

Robert Bevan Critical Failures V

Perrin Briar Genesis Flowers

Larry Correia The Adventures of Tom Stranger

Larry Correia A Murder of Manatees

J. R. Ward Covet 

J. R. Ward Crave

J. R. Ward Envy

J. R. Ward Rapture

J. R. Ward Possession

J. R. Ward Immortal

Milo James Fowler Captain Bartholomew Quasar

James Smythe The Echo

Ian Tregillis The Mechanical

Ian Tregillis The Rising

Ian Tregillis The Liberation

Harvard Lampoon Bored of the Rings

Barry J. Hutchison Return of the Dead Guy 

Mark Tufo Demon Fallout

Mark Tufo Defeat's Victory 

Morgan Hobbes The Totally True Adventures of Gustav Gustavson

Barry J. Hutchison Dial D for Deadman

Christopher Moore Practical Demonkeeping

Christopher Moore Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove

Christopher Moore The Stupidest Angel

Richard Johnson Weekend at Vidu's

Brian Keene The Rising

Brian Keene City of the Dead

Daniel Fite The Zombie Chapters

Edward Zajac A Swift Kick in the Asteroids

Donald E. Westlake The Busy Body

Dean Koontz The Whispering Room

Christopher Moore Bloodsucking Fiends

Christopher Moore You Suck

Christopher Moore Bite Me

Sue Perkins Zoopedia

Anthology Zombies, The Recent Dead 

Anthology Zombies, More Recent Dead 

Brett J. Talley That Which Should Not Be

Christopher Moore A Dirty Job

Christopher Moore Secondhand Souls

Christopher Moore Coyote Blue

Al K. Line Hidden Spark 

Al K. Line Dead Spark 

Al K. Line Wild Spark 

Kim Stanley Robinson Icehenge

Bentley Little The Mailman

Zach Bohannon Empty Bodies

James Peters Black Swan Planet

Peter Meredith The Edge of Hell

Peter Meredith The Edge of Temptation

Gerry Griffiths The Beasts of Stoneclad Mountain

Christopher Moore Fluke Or, I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings

C.G. Mosley The Island in the Mist

C.G. Mosley Monsters in the Mist

Russell James Cavern of the Damned

Mike Bockoven FantasticLand

Michael  McBride Snowblind

Michael  McBride The Killing Grounds

Kevin Hearne Scourged

E.F. Benson's Ghost Stories

Donnie Eichar Dead Mountain

Corey Taylor A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Heaven

Viktor Zarkov Megatooth

Steven Bird Erebus

Robert Bevan 5d6 Caverns and Creatures

Richard Kadrey Suspect Zero

Keith C. Blackmore Mountain Man Prequel

Dave Jeffery Frostbite

Christopher Moore Fool

Christopher Moore The Serpent of Venice

Seth Shostak Confessions of an Alien Hunter

P. K. Hawkins Titanoboa

Matt Serafini Island Red

Christopher Moore Island of the Sequined Love Nun

Ambrose Ibsen Asylum

Ambrose Ibsen Forest

Ambrose Ibsen The Occupant

Lucas Pederson Leviathan Ghost Rig

Kara Cooney The Woman Who Would Be King

Jonathan Maberry Mars One

John J. Rust Reptilian

Greig Beck Beneath the Dark Ice

Greig Beck Dark Rising

Greig Beck This Green Hell

Greig Beck Black Mountain

Greig Beck Gorgon

Greig Beck Hammer of God

Greig Beck Kraken Rising

Michelle McNamara Ill Be Gone in the Dark

Stephen R Donaldson The Kings Justice

Jerry Dubs Imhotep

Christopher Moore Lamb The Gospel

Barry J. Hutchison Planet of the Japes´

Bentley Little The ignored

Marty Essen Time Is Irreverent

Thomas Tryon Harvest Home

Dean Koontz The Bone Farm

Dean Koontz The Crooked Staircase

Christopher Moore Sacre Bleu

Benjamin Wallace Junkers

Alex Laybourne Terror from the Deep

Christopher Golden Ararat

Alice Hoffman The Museum of Extraordinary Things

Jim Butcher Storm Front

Jim Butcher Fool Moon

Jim Butcher Grave Peril

Jim Butcher Summer Knight

Jim Butcher Death Masks

Jim Butcher Blood Rites

Jim Butcher Bombshells

Jim Butcher Proven Guilty

Jim Butcher White Night

Jim Butcher Small Favor

Jim Butcher Backup

Jim Butcher Turn Coat

Jim Butcher Changes

Jim Butcher Ghost Story

Jim Butcher Cold Days

Jim Butcher Shadowed Souls

Jim Butcher Skin Game

Jim Butcher White Night

Jim Butcher Working for Bigfoot

Stephen King The Outsider

The World of Lore Wicked Mortals

Hugh Howey I, Zombie

C. Gockel Archangel Down

C. Gockel Noa's Ark

C. Gockel Heretic

Anthology Aliens Bug Hunt

Shea Ernshaw The Wicked Deep

John F.D. Taff The Bell Witch

Adrienne Lecter Incubation

Adrienne Lecter Outbreak

Adrienne Lecter Escalation

Adrienne Lecter Extinction

Adrienne Lecter Resurgence

Adrienne Lecter Unity

Adrienne Lecter Affliction

Adrienne Lecter Catharsis

Barry J. Hutchison The Time Titan of Tomorrow

The Cabin at the End of the World

Chuck Wendig The Blue Blazes

Larry Correia Saints 

Dirk Patton Voodoo Plague

Dirk Patton Crucifixion V Plague

John Connolly Every Dead Thing

John Connolly Dark Hollow

John Connolly The Killing Kind

John Connolly The White Road

John Connolly The Black Angel

John Connolly The Unquiet

John Connolly The Reapers

John Connolly The Lovers

John Connolly The Whisperers

John Connolly The Burning Soul

John Connolly The Wrath of Angels

John Connolly The Wolf In Winter

John Connolly A Song of Shadow

John Connolly A Time Of Torment

John Connolly A Game of Ghosts

Barry J. Hutchison The King of Space Must Die

Dave Itzkoff Robin

Greig Beck The Void

Jim Butcher Furies of Calderon

Jim Butcher Academs Fury

Jim Butcher Cursors Fury

Jim Butcher Captains Fury

Jim Butcher Princeps Fury

Jim Butcher First Lords Fury

Mark Tufo Etna Station

Bentley Little The Resort

Rebecca Roanhorse Trail of Lightning

Michael Rutger The Anomaly

Scott Smith The Ruins

Zach Bohannon Empty Bodies

Zach Bohannon Adaptation 

Zach Bohannon Deliverance

Zach Bohannon Open Roads

Zach Bohannon Damnation

Zach Bohannon Revelation

Stevens, Marc First of my Kind, 2nd Edition

Peter Clines The Eerie Adventures of the Lycanthrope Robinson Crusoe

Nathan Hystad The Event

Michael Crichton Next

Graeme Reynolds High Moor

Graeme Reynolds Moonstruck

Jim C. Hines Janitors Of The Post Apocalypse

Thomas Sweterlitsch The Gone World

Michael McBride Subhuman

Jeremy Robinson The Others

Jeremy Bishop The Sentinel

James D. Prescott Extinction Code

Alan Dean Foster Relic

Bobby Adair Dusty's Diary

Adam Cesare The Con Season

Richard Kadrey Hollywood Dead

Margaret Atwood Angel Catbird

Bethany Blake Death by Chocolate Lab

Bethany Blake Dial Meow for Murder

Bethany Blake Pawprints & Predicaments

Jeff Strand The Haunted Forest Tour

Adam Cesare Tribesmen

Adrienne Lecter Exodus

Ted Dekker The Bride Collector

T.W. Piperbrook The Last Survivors

T.W. Piperbrook The Last Escape

T.W. Piperbrook The Last Humanity

T.W. Piperbrook The Last Command

T.W. Piperbrook The Last Refuge

T.W. Piperbrook The Last Conquest

T.W. Piperbrook The Ruins 1

T.W. Piperbrook The Ruins 2

T.W. Piperbrook The Ruins 3

T.W. Piperbrook The Ruins 4

T.W. Piperbrook Outage 1

T.W. Piperbrook Outage 2

T.W. Piperbrook Outage 3

T.W. Piperbrook The Reckoning

Bobby Adair Zero Day

Bobby Adair Infected

Bobby Adair Destroyer

Bobby Adair Dead Fire

Bobby Adair Torrent

Bobby Adair Bleed

Bobby Adair City of Stin

Bobby Adair Grind

Bobby Adair Sanctum

Tony Peak Signal

Steven Brust Good Guys

Stephen King & Bev Vincent Flight or Fright

Myke Cole Control Point

Myke Cole Fortress Frontier

Myke Cole Breach Zone

Graeme Reynolds Blood Moon

Michael Hodges The Invasive

Jeff Strand Dead Clown Barbecue

Echoes of Evil

Dean Koontz The Forbidden Door

James D. Prescott Extinction Countdown

Sam Sykes Humane Killer

Dan Simmons Summer of Night

Dan Simmons Children of the Night

Dan Simmons A Winter Haunting

Myke Cole Gemini Cell

Myke Cole Javelin Rain

Myke Cole Siege Line

Adam Cesare Video Night 

Deborah Sheldon Devil Dragon

Peter Meredith Generation Z

Peter Meredith The Queen of the Dead

Peter Meredith The Queen of War

Tim Powers Alternate Routes

Richard Roberts I Did NOT Give That Spider Superhuman Intelligence!

Richard Roberts Please Dont Tell My Parents Im a Supervillain

Richard Roberts Please Don't Tell My Parents I Blew Up the Moon

Richard Roberts Please Don't Tell My Parents I've Got Henchmen

Richard Roberts Please Don't Tell My Parents I Have a Nemesis

Richard Roberts Please Don't Tell My Parents You Believe Her

Michael McDowell BlackWater

Hunter Shea Mail Order Massacres

Jeff Strand Dweller 

Adam Cesare Zero Lives Remaining

Ezekiel Boone Zero Day

Ted Kosmatka Prophet of Bones

Steven L. Kent 100 Fathoms Below

Keith C. Blackmore The Missing Boatman

John Connolly Bad Men

Jeremy Robinson Forbidden Island

Chuck Wendig Under the Empyrean Sky

Chuck Wendig Blightborn

Chuck Wendig The Harvest

Shingles Audio Collection

Robert E. Howard The Horror Stories of Robert E. Howard

Paul E. Cooley The Black

Paul E. Cooley Arrival

Paul E. Cooley Outbreak

M.R. Forbes Forgotten

M.R. Forbes Forsaken

M.R. Forbes Unforgiven

Jeremy  Robinson Kronos

Jeff Strand I Have a Bad Feeling about This

Mark Tufo Whistlers

Mark Tufo Atlantis

Mark Tufo Convergence

Mark Tufo Valhalla

Laurie Forest The Black Witch

Simon R. Green

Simon R. Green Man with the Golden Torc

Simon R. Green Daemons are Forever

Simon R. Green The Spy Who Haunted Me

Simon R. Green From Hell With Love

Simon R. Green For Heaven's Eyes Only

Simon R. Green Live and Let Drood

Simon R. Green Casino Infernale

Simon R. Green Property of a Lady Faire

Simon R. Green From a Drood to a Kill

Simon R. Green Dr. DOA

Simon R. Green Moonbreaker

Simon R. Green Night Fall

Rob Dircks You're Going to Mars!

Stephen King Elevation  

Drew Hayes Pears and Perils

Alma Katsu The Hunger 

Hunter Shea One Size Eats All

Joseph Fink Alice Isn't Dead

Jonathan Mayberry Glimpse

Jack Ketchum Off Season

Jack Ketchum Offspring

Jack Ketchum The Woman

Chuck Wendig The Blue Blazes

Bobby Akart Yellowstone Hellfire

Bobby Akart Yellowstone Inferno

Laurie Forest wandfasted

Greig Beck Abyss

Barry J. Hutchison Dial D for Deadman

Barry J. Hutchison Dead Inside

Barry J. Hutchison Dead in the Water

[loadflying800]

Spongebob 3d Driving Game

Spongebob 3d Driving Game Play

Spongebob Squarepants Movie 3d Driving Game

Hang on to your SquarePants for an underwater driving adventure! Click below to visit our sponsor in a new window. There are 83 Spongebob games on Racing-Games.Com. We have chosen the best Spongebob games which you can play online for free and add new games daily, enjoy!

We just released a Feb. 5 '89 prototype of DuckTales for the NES! If you'd like to support our preservation efforts (and this wasn't cheap), please consider donating or supporting us on Patreon. Thank you!

The game is mainly the movie's plot, although, there is of course differences. The game only covers up to the Monster Filled Trench scene. Most scenes where SpongeBob and Patrick are on foot, or scenes not featuring them, are deleted. This is most likely because it is a driving game. There is also more than one crown.

Spongebob meme spongebob popsicle spongebob movie spongebob squarepants spongebob characters spongebob and patrick spongebob wallpaper spongebob ice cream spongebob.

Spongebob Bike 2 3D - Play Free Online - Flash Arcade. Games Details: Spongebob is back in the Spongebob Bike 2 3D racing game. Hop on your bike and get ready for a drive through Bikini Bottom. See how fast you can race in this underwater 3d bike game. Good luck and get to the finish line as fast as you can.

The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie 3D Game

Also known as: SpongeBob SquarePants 3-D Developers: Ezone, 3D Groove Publishers: Nick Arcade, Shockwave Platform: Windows Released internationally: 2004

This game has hidden development-related text. This game has unused graphics. This game has debugging material.

To do: Debug and cheating functions are present in GSC files, editor mentions too. Enable them if possible.

A 3D driving game based on the movie, featuring missions, crowns, repetitive voice clips, and a poorly looped version of SpongeBob Theme I.

Unused Graphics

In the minigame where you must whack the squires, there's an unseen part of their animation where they retreat. After blowing their trumpet, they just disappear.

loadingsp.t.png is an unused loading sign.

targethotsp.add.png and targetcoldsp.add.png are targets for an unknown mission. According to their filenames, the green one is 'hot' and the red one is 'cold.' objectssquirewhack.txt and objectsgoofydancing.txt use the words 'hot' and 'cold' in them, suggesting this cursor would have been used in the whack the squires and Goofy Goober minigames.

Development Text

Every GSC file begins with the directory names of a developer's computer.

The SpongeBob SquarePants series

Game Boy (Color)Legend of the Lost SpatulaWindowsOperation Krabby Patty • Employee of the Month (Demo) • Battle for Bikini Bottom • The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie Lights, Camera, Pants! • Nighty Nightmare • Bubble Rush • SpongeBob SquarePants Collapse! Krabby Quest • Typing • 3D Obstacle Odyssey • Obstacle Odyssey 2 • Atlantis SquarePantis SquareOff • Battle for Bikini Bottom RehydratedPlayStationSuperSponge (Prototypes)Adobe FlashBumper Subs • Patty Panic! • SpongeBob and Patrick: Dirty Bubble Busters • Trail of the Snail • Atlantis SquarePantis Bus Rush • Boat-o-Cross Invasion of the Lava King • Anchovy Assault • Pest of the West Showdown! • WhoBob WhatPants? • Kitchen Encounter A Log Way From Home • Plankton's Fun House • Plankton's Krusty Bottom Weekly! • Love Hurts • Fiery Tracks of Fury • Tighty Whitey Tumble • Legends of Bikini Bottom Clash of Triton • Where's Gary? • Bubble Bustin' Game • Chum is Fum • DoodlePants • SpongeSeek Pizza Toss • SpongeBob SnowPants! • Plankton's Patty Plunder • Bags Away! • Flip & Grab • Delivery DilemmaHTML5Squidward's Sizzlin' Scare • Fiery Tracks of Fury • Bikini Bottom Brawlers • Belly Bounce • Krabby Patty Crisis • SpongeBob Saves the Day!Game Boy AdvanceSuperSponge (Prototypes) • Revenge of the Flying Dutchman (Prototype) • Battle for Bikini Bottom The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie (Prototype) • Lights, Camera, Pants! • Creature from the Krusty KrabGameCube, PlayStation 2, XboxRevenge of the Flying Dutchman • Battle for Bikini Bottom (Demo) • The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie Lights, Camera, Pants! • Creature from the Krusty Krab • Atlantis SquarePantisV.SmileA Day in the Life of a SpongeNintendo DSDrawn to Life: SpongeBob SquarePants Edition • Truth or Square • Boating Bash • Surf & Skate Roadtrip Plankton's Robotic Revenge • The Yellow AvengerPlayStation PortableTruth or Square • The Yellow AvengerWiiBoating Bash • Truth or Square Plankton's Robotic Revenge • Creature from the Krusty Krab • Atlantis SquarePantisXbox 360Underpants Slam • Surf & Skate Roadtrip • Truth or Square • SpongeBob HeroPantsPlayStation 3Plankton's Robotic RevengePlayStation VitaSpongeBob HeroPantsPlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo SwitchBattle for Bikini Bottom RehydratediOSSpongeBob Moves In! • Sponge on the RunPlug & PlaySpongeBob SquarePants • The Fry Cook GamesAdobe ShockwaveThe SpongeBob SquarePants Movie 3D Game • Bubblegram Game • 3-D Pinball Panic • Flip or Flop

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The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie 3D Game

Note that I am not referring here to the much more well-known game with a very similar title, which, like this one, was also based on the first SpongeBob SquarePants movie; rather, I am referring to a far more obscure title that was released only for Microsoft Windows. The game I am discussing here is an open-world driving game in which you control SpongeBob and Patrick in the Patty Wagon; it contains an in-game Bikini Bottom that can be explored, as well as a handful of mini-games. Sadly, my memory has much faded, and today I can no longer remember with much assurance when I first discovered the game, or on what site; with regard to the former it was probably sometime in 2006, or even as early as 2005, and as for the latter, it was most likely Nick.com. Apparently, the game was developed in Adobe Shockwave, which makes sense, as I have somewhat clear memories of the playing it embedded in my Web browser (which was Internet Explorer 6, of course!), and also, I recall, of navigating to the same specific Web site each time I wanted to access it.

This game does not have a true goal or final objective, though back in the day I was definitely motivated by the desire to collect crowns in order to increase my in-game score. I remember also taking great pleasure in simply driving around the in-game Bikini Bottom, as well as in playing the mini-games, though I definitely preferred the former.

Spongebob 3d Driving Game Play

Besides collecting crowns, driving around, and playing the mini-games, another thing which I very much enjoyed was messing around with the game's mechanics. The game's physics engine has many oddities and rough edges, and oftentimes simply bumping the Patty Wagon into something would cause it to react in surprising and amusing ways; this, combined with the funny remarks that SpongeBob and Patrick would always utter when the Patty Wagon touched anything, always made me laugh and kept me entertained. In particular, I remember that if you knocked down one of the Chum Bucket signs and then proceeded to drive over it, the Patty Wagon would magically rotate 90 degrees upwards:

By far the game's most serious bug, though, was the one that caused it to crash when you drove outside the boundaries of the map. I stumbled upon it one day by chance while I was driving around and exploring, and, upon reaching the Thug Tug, decided to drive off the bow of the ship for fun. I did this multiple times, and in one instance, I actually launched the Patty Wagon so far into the air that it flew over the solid barrier that enclosed the intended drivable section of the game world, and landed in the normally inaccessible purple zone surrounding it:

I then proceeded to drive around the purple area, the entire time believing myself quite clever to have discovered a glitch within the game, before finally noticing a gray area outside of it, heading towards that, and then suddenly finding myself looking at an error message:

Spongebob Squarepants Movie 3d Driving Game

After I learned of the existence of this bug, the game actually became more entertaining in my eyes, and sometimes, when I was bored, I would deliberately drive into the gray area and crash it just for fun, each time deriving much amusement from the act.

I returned to playing The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie 3D Game a few times during the mid-2000s, but eventually I did grow bored of it, with 2007 probably being the last year of the 2000s during which I played it. For a game of its relative simplicity and crudeness it managed to keep me occupied for a surprisingly long time: I can recall with some haziness that, by the time I lost interest in this game and stopped playing it, I had accumulated something like a few thousand crowns. Although it wasn't the first game with 3D graphics that I played entirely in my Web browser (that distinction belongs to RuneScape), it was still one of the first, and the simple novelty of such an experience at the time was sufficient to hold my interest. It was also one of the first open-world video games I ever played, and though the in-game Bikini Bottom was admittedly very small and limited, exploring it was, for me as a kid in those days, nevertheless a very enjoyable and relaxing experience.

For those interested, the entire game (which is contained in a single small executable file and requires no installation) may be downloaded from the Internet Archive. (Contrary to the description provided, however, I can confirm that, in fact, it is not possible to play as Squidward, nor is there any such family mode.)

All written materials on this Web site are my own, and all are released under the Do What the Fuck You Want to Public License Version 2.

This page last modified on 2 May 2021.

[4colorrebellion]

4cr Plays - Nelly Cootalot: The Fowl Fleet (Switch)

Nelly Cootalot: The Fowl Fleet follows the titular heroine, would-be pirate and adventurer Nelly Cootalot, as she discovers a plot by the villainous Baron Widebeard. The Baron plans to kidnap a fleet of birds and use them for villainous ends. What ends? Well, I’d probably just have them pelt my enemies with... You know... Nevermind. Probably best that I’m not in charge of the birds. 

In any case, Baron Widebeard has nasty plans for those birds, and Nelly is unable to sit back and let those poor guys suffer. She follows after the Baron, sneaking her way on board a ship sailing the South Seas. The journey will take you through a pastiche of piratey nautical locations, from sunny beaches to caves full of racing aristocrats to ice-covered northern isles. 

Ready for a adventure, me mateys? Read on for my impressions of the newly-released Switch version of The Fowl Fleet.

The Fowl Fleet is a “point and click” adventure game - one that owes more than a little to LucasArts’ Monkey Island series. For those who never played one of these games, the rough idea is that these games are narrative-focused adventures, where progress is made by solving environmental puzzles. Rather than directly steering the characters, you can move a cursor around the screen, clicking on objects to examine or interact with them. 

Clicking on a space will direct Nelly to move towards the location you clicked on. If you click on an item, you can either attempt to “use” it, or just examine it. Examining gives you a basic description. Using an item will either directly impact the environment - think hitting a light switch or turning a dial - or add it to your inventory. Items in you inventory can be used on each other, or on objects in the environment. In some cases, using an item on another item will combine them into a new item - adding glue to some hair to make a toupee, for instance. 

That’s the basic idea. The two core focuses of the adventure genre are the narrative and the puzzles, and the best adventure games use each to advance the other. Great adventure games present puzzles that fit the narrative, that aren’t just there as filler. They also use the puzzles to tell stories, by giving you a reason to examine each object, and hunt through the environment for more information about the world.

Let’s bring this back to Nelly Cootalot. The Fowl Fleet does a good job of presenting both of the focuses of the genre. The writing in the game is pretty charming. The core creative force behind the game, Alasdair Beckett-King, is a stand-up comedian when not directing video games, and you can see that in the writing. I wouldn’t say that the game will leave you on the floor laughing, but the dialogue and descriptions are snappy and clever. There is a nice dry wit to it that is pretty enjoyable. The world presented in the game is also well-realized in both the writing and the puzzles. Rather than just embodying a collection of pirate genre stereotypes, The Fowl Fleet takes those stereotypes and creates a fun and funny journey out of them. 

The complexity of the adventure genre comes from the puzzles, which are often insidious. Difficulty is something that is important to discuss when talking about these games. There is a right balance point when crafting these games, between so hard that it becomes alienating, and so easy that you get bored. The Fowl Fleet does a decent job with this balance. None of the puzzles are too easy. A few left me fairly confused - I must be getting old, I’m getting sloppy with my adventure puzzles - but stopping for a minute to think usually did the trick. 

I hesitate to name examples, for fear of spoiling too much, but one basic tip I’d give is something that becomes apparent when trying to solve the very first real puzzle of the game. You need to remember to both examine AND interact with items, not just interact with them. The examination gives you the information you need to get out of that first room. Again, I know I’m being a little vague, but remember to use every tool at your disposal - examining items, combining items, and so on. Think about all the options at your disposal, and don’t be afraid to try weird things, like combining items in new ways. 

One interesting inclusion on the Switch version of The Fowl Fleet is built-in commentary from Beckett-King on the development of the game. I have really loved this feature in games like Gone Home, and it’s a welcome addition here. I would recommend saving the commentary for a second playthrough, since it spoils a lot about the puzzle design process. That said, it can also serve as an effective hint system if you get too stuck. I actually used the commentary a couple of times to figure out how to move forward. 

Adventure games are designed to work with a pointer, generally a mouse, and have had a spotty history on consoles when it comes to controls. On the Switch, you have two interaction options. There are both physical controls, and the touchscreen. I tend to not love touchscreen controls, but here I would absolutely recommend them. I started with the button controls, and found them absolutely frustrating to use. They felt utterly unresponsive. The touchscreen controls, on the other hand, are completely fine. Save yourself some frustration here, and just skip straight to the touchscreen. 

The Fowl Fleet is also quite nice in terms of presentation. The world is presented in a 2D cartoon style that is colorful, and full of personality. The characters are detailed and have some memorable designs. It’s a nice looking game, especially on the Switch tablet screen, where the colors really pop nicely. The voice acting is fairly well done as well. The creators of the game has really been advertising the fact that the cast includes Tom Baker, of Doctor Who fame. That’s reasonable and all, but the entire voice cast does a good job. 

Nelly Cootalot: The Fowl Fleet is a charming, funny, and well-crafted adventure game. While neither control option quite matches the natural feel of using a mouse to navigate, the touch screen controls work well enough to recommend giving the game a look if you want a fun adventure on the go. At about six or so hours long, Fowl Fleet doesn’t overstay its welcome, and is the perfect kind of game for a great weekend distraction. 

This review is based on a code provided by the developers.

Official Website

Nintendo eShop

[genuivity]

Rule of Thirds | Oneshot by genuivity  | READ ON:  ao3 

Fandom: Yuri!!! on Ice Pairing(s): Victor Nikiforov/Yuuri Katsuki (victuuri) Story Rating: General Audiences Genres/Tags: photographer/model au, photographer!yuuri, model!victor

(For #victuuriweek2017 - day 1: firsts, au prompt: other sports/careers)

Victor sent the camera a smirk, taunting, seductive, come and get me, and it hit Yuuri like a punch in the face. He clicked the camera a few more times than necessary, partly to hide his own blush but mostly because he was so caught off guard. There were too many attractive men in this industry. He wasn’t cut out for this. Victor winked at him, and yeah, Yuuri thought, he should’ve gone into nature photography.

Three months. Massimo Magazine spent three months planning the photoshoot with Victor Nikiforov, a world-renowned supermodel. Meanwhile, Yuuri Katsuki, professional photographer and avid Victor fan, spent the same amount of time both anticipating and dreading it.

A model of Victor Nikiforov’s caliber called for the best they could offer. He had everything a model needed: charm, poise, grace, confidence. Not to mention his natural good looks and experience. How their up-and-coming L.A.-based magazine already managed to book such a sought-after name in the modeling world sounded like a lot more negotiations, finances, and luck than Yuuri was willing to think about.  But more importantly, Victor Nikiforov was Massimo Magazine’s chance to gain more national, maybe even international, traction. This shoot was a make-or-break deal for recognition, and Yuuri would be damned if he broke it because he couldn’t keep it together in front of the object of his affections.

The setup began at five in the morning, the actual shoot at seven, because one, Victor was a busy man (his agent’s words), two, he needed time to play with his dog later (Victor’s words), and three, he apparently didn’t mind getting up at the asscrack of dawn (Yuri the intern’s words). The staff was to wait on his hand and foot, to treat him like a king. They certainly dressed him like one. He wore a large fuchsia overcoat, embellished with black cuffs and lapels and accented with gold trim. Under that was a white dress shirt and black slim-fit pants. Gold buttons and chains adorned the outfit, and gold piercings decorated the shells of his ears. They decorated the set modestly with white, magenta, and sky blue roses, letting Victor take center stage.

And he did. He commanded their attention, elegant and artful. With each passing moment, it became more difficult for Yuuri to keep his composure.  The opportunity was just as anxiety-inducing as he imagined. Just being in the same room as him was enough to make his palms sweat, and the looks he gave the camera only made it worse.

At least the noise was bearable. The only sounds were camera flashes and the photoshoot director’s voice as he gave instructions. And that was all fine and good, until the director said, “Victor, could you take off the coat and unbutton the first few buttons?”

Victor smiled, nodded, and did as he was told while Yuuri both sincerely thanked and fervently cursed the director. To flush at the sight of collarbones, collarbones, for heaven’s sake, Yuuri felt like he was back in his teen years.

Yuuri hoped no one had noticed how flustered he was, especially not Victor, and just like that the universe told him to screw off.

Victor sent the camera a smirk, taunting, seductive, come and get me, and it hit Yuuri like a punch in the face. He clicked the camera a few more times than necessary, partly to hide his own blush but mostly because he was so caught off guard. There were too many attractive men in this industry. He wasn’t cut out for this. Victor winked at him, and yeah, Yuuri thought, he should’ve gone into nature photography.

***

Three hours later, Yuuri was loading and editing images from the shoot onto his computer.

Sometimes, the model or client might join him for the editing process to give their input and decide what they need to do moving forward.

This was one of those times.

“Oh, that one has great lighting,” Victor said. He was at his side, leaning forward onto the desk with one hand on the table and the other behind Yuuri’s chair.

Yuuri kept his eyes on the screen, barely nodding to acknowledge what he said. His hand on the mouse shook, and Yuuri prayed Victor didn’t notice the cursor wobbling as well. He added basic adjustments, experimenting and modifying to keep himself from losing his mind in front of, in Yuuri’s humble opinion, the most gorgeous guy in the world.

Yuuri added a new adjustment, and Victor hummed. “Mm, I’m not sure how I feel about that filter. Also, can I have your number?”

Yuuri toggled the layer on and off. He thought it looked fine, it heightened the shadows, brightened the lights, drew attention to the angles of Victor’s face. Victor was a world-class model, not a world-class editor, and sure, Yuuri would probably drop everything in an instant to marry him, but he did not get a college degree to get schooled by—Wait.

“Wait.” Yuuri blinked up at him. “What?”

Victor leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest, eyes still trained on the screen. “Sorry. That was unprofessional of me. The filter looks good.”

Forget the filter. If Yuuri’s ears didn’t deceive him, there were more important matters. “It’s okay, but, sorry, I just- I didn’t catch that last part?” His voice grew quiet and rose at the end as he spoke.

He tapped his lips. “Ah, I asked for your number. But that was unprofessional too…”

Yuuri looked at Victor like he had grown a second head. His number? As in, the number to his personal phone? The one he used for texting and Instagram and saving pictures of Victor? No way. Surely he meant—

“I can... give you my business card?” He mumbled through it, unsure of what to say.

Victor looked thoughtful, pressing a finger to his chin. “Actually, that works for me.”

Oh. So he had meant business. He stood and fished out a card from his wallet, clumsy and graceless and shaking, much to his own horror, and handed it to him. He couldn’t muster up enough composure to look him in the eyes, so he stared at the Victor on the screen. As if that was any better; the Victor on the screen wore a roguish grin and sly eyes, exuding confidence in a resplendent outfit. He glanced back at the Victor before him, and it was the same person in the same clothes, but the expression was completely different.

“Yuuri Katsuki,” he read, tone mild. He looked at him with a small smile on his lips, eyes gentle and head tilted. “Did I pronounce that right?”

Wide-eyed, Yuuri looked up at Victor, with his soft smile and kind gaze, and found himself returning the expression. “Yes.”

Victor paused a moment, then said, “Great! Now, do you have a pen?”

“Oh, here.” Not thinking anything of it, he handed him one.

“Thank you,” he said, putting the card on the table and writing on the back. To Yuuri’s shock, he slid the card back to him with a wink.

“I must go, but it was very nice meeting you, Yuuri. Call me, okay?” And with that, he left, taking all of Yuuri’s presence of mind with him. The second Victor exited the room, he dived onto the card.

Written in quick, messy penmanship, was a phone number, followed by a winking face.

***

Three days had gone by, but Yuuri found himself still in the same sense of disbelief.

He was at a crossroads. Should he call the number? What if Victor had given him the wrong number? What if Victor had given him a prank number? And even if he did call, what would he say? What did Victor even want with him?

When he told Phichit, makeup artist and certified best friend, about it, he had jumped at the chance, taking Yuuri by the shoulders and shaking him. “You have to call him, you have to.” He made Yuuri look into his dark gray eyes. “It’s your duty, to your past self and future self and everyone who would kill to get his number. Including me.”

Meanwhile, after Yuri the intern demanded to know what had gotten into him these past few days, he was met with a disgusted look. “Block the number,” he had said. “Burn the card. Change your name, become a pig farmer in some remote, off the grid corner of who-cares-where.”

Conflicting advice, see. Granted, Yuri was probably joking, though his deadpan snark made it hard to tell. Either way, Yuuri was seriously considering it.

But after enough days of it eating up at him and much reassurance on Phichit’s part that no, Victor was not out to dupe him, but yes, he found him cute enough to give him his number, he decided to text him. He hoped for both possibilities, that Victor’s phone either could or couldn’t receive text. If it didn’t, at least he could say he tried.

When two days passed without a response, Yuuri was ready to drop it. He had spent an inordinate amount of time reading over the texts he sent, the first a simple, ‘Hello, Victor? It’s Yuuri’, the second saying, ‘The fashion photographer’, and the third saying, ‘If I have the wrong number please ignore this’. Phichit told him he sounded too impersonal, but Yuuri thought he was really putting himself out there. He even triple-texted.

When the third day came around, Yuuri received a picture from the contact he had labeled ‘Victor(?)’. He opened it, and a large, brown poodle filled the screen, looking at the camera with its tongue out.

It was followed by a text. ‘Look how happy my dog is! I’m happy too!!’

***

Three months had passed, and while Yuuri’s disbelief had died down, it was quickly replaced by a warm feeling in his chest and a bigger phone bill.

Victor and Yuuri texted often, almost daily. Victor was adamant about getting to know him, and his candid interest and natural flirtatiousness eventually got Yuuri to open up. It also helped that he sent pictures often, mostly of his dog Makkachin, but occasionally scenery or a set he was on, and once a blurry selfie he thought was artsy but too messy for Instagram. Yuuri melted. He didn’t stand a chance.

One day, Yuuri was woken up by a text at three in the morning, but its contents had shocked him into full alertness: ‘I’m going to LA in a few weeks, can I see you?’

The prospect of seeing Victor again made his fingers shake as he typed. ‘Sure, where/when?’ He thanked texting as a medium for making him sound much more collected than he really was.

They worked out a meeting at a frozen yogurt place close to where Victor had a photo session. Victor closed it out with, ‘It’s a date! <3’, and going back to sleep was a lost cause.

***

Three weeks later, they were eating frozen yogurt and hiding in a shopping mall from the bright L.A. sun.

“When I first saw you,” Victor said, taking a bite of yogurt. “I thought I was modeling with you. Really, I think you should be in front of the camera.”

Yuuri blinked at him. “I-I think you should start wearing my glasses.” There was no way he thought that. Not a chance. The day they met, Victor looked like royalty, while Yuuri looked like a raccoon who woke up on the wrong side of the dumpster.

“You underestimate yourself, Yuuri. I bet I can teach you to be a great model.” Victor said, smug.

“Or, I can teach you photography.” Two could play at this game.

“Hm, I might take you up on that.” Victor laughed. “I don’t know much about photography, but I think I can already picture us together.”

Yuuri gawked at him, bashful, and lightly hit him on the shoulder. “That was… Wow. Where did you even get that one?”

“I’m just that smooth.” After Yuuri gave him a disbelieving look, Victor said, “Google. Look up ‘pick-up lines for photographers.’”

“You’re unbelievable.”

Victor grinned. “So are you. You know, a picture is worth a thousand words, but there are no words for a picture as beautiful as you.”

Yuuri swore his frozen yogurt tasted like mozzarella, it was so cheesy. His blush deepened, and it was a while before he could think of a response. “Yeah, well, are you a model?” He started off, not able to meet his eyes. “Because you’re… super?”

He regretted the words the second they left his mouth. That was so pathetic, it made Victor’s lines sound great in comparison. But Victor didn’t seem to have the same reaction; he let out a laugh and wrapped an arm around Yuuri’s shoulder.

“Would you believe that I am a model?” His voice was elated now. “And you must be a camera, because every time I look at you, I smile.”

Okay, two could not play at this game. Google gave him too much power. “I give up.”

“Oh, it’s alright. Because now,” Victor pulled out his phone, “you’ll have to let me take a picture of us.”

“Shouldn’t I be the one taking the photos?”

“Think of it as your first lesson to me, then. How do I take a good selfie?”

They sat on a bench in the mall, posing for pictures, most ending up out of focus as Victor’s arm shook from laughter and delight. Yuuri took Victor’s phone at once and snapped the perfect image: he’s resting his head on Victor’s shoulder, hair pushed back, cheeks dusted pink, glasses perched on the bridge of his nose. Victor’s head is tilted against Yuuri’s, blue eyes crinkled up in a genuine smile.

Yuuri watched as Victor, fond and endearing, made the picture his phone background.

***

Three years passed since they met, and Yuuri had another photoshoot with Victor.

Though this time, as Victor had said, Yuuri was with him in front of the camera. They were outdoors, surrounded by white, magenta, and sky blue roses. They faced each other in black tailored suits, holding hands that featured matching gold rings.

The wedding photographer was quiet as he snapped photos of the couple, the sounds that filled the air a serene mix of birds singing, wind blowing, and camera clicking.

Yuuri leaned up to touch their foreheads together, noses brushing, and they smiled.

[ciathyzareposts]

Game 364: Morabis I: The Dungeons of Morabis (1991)

There’s some title confusion (covered later). I suppose the title is technically The Dungeons of Morabis: Morabis I: “The Dungeons of Morabis.”

         Morabis I: The Dungeons of Morabis

United States

Independently developed and released as shareware

Several versions released for DOS between 1991 and 1992

Date Started: 2 May 2020

               The CRPG world probably has more roguelike games than the player base can sensibly support, particularly when you consider that even the best examples of the genre are 1) free; and 2) replayable by design. (For those readers unfamiliar with Rogue and roguelikes, a trip to my glossary might help.) Roguelikes are almost all about mechanics; it’s not like you keep seeking out new ones for their stories. For a rogue clone to be worth playing instead of the original Rogue (1980), it has to offer something substantially new or different.          

I’m on the fence as to whether Morabis I does that. Starting with a clear base in Rogue, it makes some major and minor changes, adds some major and minor features. So far, as many of them have been bad as good. Perhaps the most notable is a quasi-“real-time” gameplay mechanic by which your turn “passes” every second unless you act quickly. One of the features of roguelikes has always been how the turn-based nature of gameplay requires you to really think, so I don’t like that this one pressures you into quick action. Second, Morabis adds bigger dungeon levels. Much bigger. It takes about 30 minutes to fully explore a level. This makes the game longer but not more challenging.            

From the Morabis Home Page, a map of a single dungeon level.

          Third, while it retains the roguelike randomization of wands, rings, scrolls, et. al. into different colors and descriptions, it doesn’t maintain consistency in those descriptions. One silver ring might be a Ring of Protection but the next is a Ring of Invisibility, or a Scroll of Identification might be described as a red scroll on one level and an ancient scroll on the next. This is the sort of idea that might sound good if you fundamentally don’t understand roguelikes. Finally, there’s a search/hidden area dynamic that would have killed the entire genre if Rogue had featured it in 1980. It would have led me to ragequit after the second level if I hadn’t been forced to write about the game for some jackass’s blog.

         Some of the facts of the game are hard to nail down. It was created by Michael S. Höenie (pronounced “Hay-Knee” according to the manual) of Salt Lake City and dedicated to his father. Depending on what web site or document you read, this game might be called Morabis, Morabis I: Quest for the Amulet of Sae’Gore, The Dungeons of Morabis: The Quest for the Amulet, or even Morabis II. Complicating matters is the fact that Höenie apparently wrote several versions between 1989 and 1992. I get the impression that at some point he felt the game had evolved enough to be a II rather than the original, but then later reversed himself. I could be wrong. It’s confusing. The manual that comes with the game titled Morabis I lists commands that are supposedly available in Morabis I but not the original Morabis, but they don’t actually work in Morabis I. Those commands include the ability to talk and transact with monsters, to cast spells, and to dig for treasure. It would be nice if they worked, if they ever did, as this version is a little poorer for their absence.

      The backstory is more elaborate than the typical roguelike but ends up being somewhat nonsensical. It tells of a peaceful land being conquered by the evil Lord Devenon, who rules from Castle Morabis. In the final battle, good King Richards is slain, and his son, now King Daniel, vows to find the legendary Scarlette Sword and Armor of Power. Cut to character creation, where the character can be named anything, and he’s questing for the Amulet of Sae’Gore (unmentioned in the backstory) in the dungeons of Morabis. If you try to back out of the dungeon on the first screen, you’re told you can’t leave until you’ve destroyed the “deamon” (misspellings are rampant in the documentation, too) Satu’Nävas. Höenie really likes his umlauts.

          After you name your character, the game rolls values for strength, dexterity, and starting vitality, then you’re sent to the first room of the first level of a 25-level dungeon. If I’ve interpreted things correctly, the dungeon levels are not randomized, although the placement of items and some monsters is. Some encounters are fixed, however; for instance, the second room is always full of ghosts that blink in and out of visibility.           

A brief character creation process.

          The game has some minor innovations that do improve upon typical roguelike gameplay. Neither you nor enemies can attack on the diagonal, so if you’re facing a roomful of foes from a doorway, only the one directly in front of you can hit. Shooting with a missile weapon brings up a targeting cursor that lets you aim at any square in range, whether it has an enemy or not, and it will strike whatever it intercepts first. Balancing this: missile weapons are a bit under-powered and you have to hit the “A” key before every melee attack–you can’t just shove your way into enemies.           

Aiming at several foes with the targeting cursor.

            There are about 35 monsters in the game. Originality is shown mostly with monster names that sound familiar but are a little different: gobnors and hobnorlins, kesthorns, ints, omnorfs, and wraglors. There are alongside more familiar snakes, spiders, ghouls, and ghosts. The monsters don’t have as many special attacks some roguelikes, but occasionally the author’s creativity surprises you. “Dust fiends” are capable of hurling little blasts of dust that cause confusion, for instance. “Ice warfs” can throw balls of ice. Dragons breathe fireballs.      Like most roguelikes, Morabis assigns a letter to objects that you pick up, including weapons, armor, rings, scrolls, wands, food, and keys. Equipping weapons shows their “to hit” and damage values, and equipping armor shows its armor class, but wearable items might be cursed, meaning you can’t take them off until you find a way to remove them. Food is necessary but plentiful. The game is based on pre-NetHack Rogue, so there’s no intrinsics and no eating of corpses to get benefits. (Corpses sometimes appear randomly as food items, but they’re only for the desperate.) There are a few original items like Wands of Invigorate Monster, Scrolls of Chlorine Blast, and Rings of Double Damage, but most are from the Rogue list. One of the things I like about the game is that when you shoot a missile or wand or the enemy fires a missile at you, an ASCII representation actually travels across the screen, round by round, until it hits. You have time to dodge out of the way of some of these attacks if you’re swift.              

“The zombie dropped a croissant” had me laughing for at least five minutes.

          The difficulty of the game is a bit different than most roguelikes. The level of both monsters and weapons scales as you travel down the levels. On the first level, you might find a sword with +4 accuracy and +9 damage or a chain mail with an AC of 10. By Level 10, you’re finding those figures i the 50s or 60s. So there’s no chance of finding a superb weapon on the first floor and keeping it for the entire game; you must continually replace.

Similarly, your strength and dexterity increase every time you level up, but these increases simply keep pace with the added difficulty of monsters as you go down. In Rogue, an orc is an orc no matter where you meet him; in Morabis, a hobnorlin is significantly more deadly on Level 12 than Level 2. In fact, no matter what level I’m on, no matter what I’m wearing for armor, any enemy seems capable of killing me if they hit me two or three times, and any enemy dies in two or three hits from me.            

As the levels increase, so does the damage multiplier.

            You have a couple of advantages. Holding down the SPACE key or “S” rapidly regenerates health. Enemies don’t leave their rooms and rarely spawn in corridors, so you can generally rest there safely. Enemies are also pretty miserable at hitting you: their blows land maybe 20% of the time. This gives you time to dart to safety if they hit you once. But most important, Morabis is a “roguelite,” lacking permadeath, allowing you to save anywhere and even saving for you as you change levels.

    Thankfully, the author didn’t get creative with commands, copying most of Rogue‘s right down to q)uaff. He actually improved on the typical roguelike when it comes to putting on and taking off objects. In Rogue and NetHack, you have separate commands for equipping and removing weapons and armor and putting on or taking off rings. In Morabis, you just open the inventory screen, highlight the item you want, and hit SPACE to equip or remove it 

            Scrolling through my inventory.

         But for every positive, there’s a negative. There’s no in-game help, for one. The screen doesn’t redraw properly, leaving artifacts all over the place. The “Call” command, which supposedly lets you rename things, doesn’t actually let you see the new names unless you drop the item. Eating poisoned or bad food increases your hunger but often doesn’t actually display it on the screen, meaning you can starve to death with no on-screen warning. An encumbrance bug forces you to occasionally drop all your items and pick them up again to reset your weight. The “more” message, which flashes at the bottom of the screen when there’s more text to show you, remains on the screen and keeps flashing even after you’ve read the text. Small things like that get to you.

            Note that there’s no “hunger” message on my character.

          But nothing is more annoying than the search issue, which is an issue on Level 1 but becomes intolerable on Level 2. On Level 1, most rooms are full of hidden doors. You have to stand in the room and hit S)earch repeatedly–maybe 10 times to be sure–to find all of them. That’s bad enough. But starting on Level 2, entire rooms and passages are concealed, requiring you to hold down the “S” or pound it repeatedly to open up the dungeon, one square at a time. Moving through the dungeon becomes an exercise of hitting “S” after practically every step. I haven’t found it yet, but if there’s a Ring of Automatic Searching, it’s the most valuable object in the game.

            Opening up the dungeon, one “S” key press at a time.

           Anyway, when you’ve come to terms with that, you discover there’s another whole class of secret door you can only find by bumping into blank walls. Another annoyance is that the “search” command never finds traps–nothing seems to–and many of the traps are extremely annoying, chief among them teleport traps which send you to a random point in an already-too-large dungeon level.

           This trap causes fireballs to shoot from all the walls around you and converge on you.

       The lack of randomization of the levels lets the developer lay out some interesting scenes and settings. Unfortunately, a lot of them are annoying and a bit unfair. A common favorite is to require the player to thread his way over a large lava pit on a narrow walkway. Accidentally walking into the lava is instant death. As you walk, traps go off and freeze you in place or you get frozen by ice balls thrown by ice warfs. While you’re froze, dust fiends on nearby platforms blast you, confusing you. While confused, you wander the wrong direction off the platform and instantly die. 

                Stuck on a lava walkway while enemies pelt me with missiles.

           Another common setup is to put a secret door at the end of a lava walkway. You sit there like a doofus, hitting s)earch round after round while you’re pelted by missiles from unseen enemies.

           A secret door appears just as I get hit with a dust blast.

          A miniboss comes up every five levels. On Level 5, it was Fennel the Fire Lark, and I faced Jahaÿ the Gobnor on Level 10. Both taunted me with textual taunts as I explored the level and neared their chambers. They’re a little bit harder than generic creatures of those types on the same level, but not overly so. Level 13 brought the game’s first dragon, guarding a pile of treasure in his lair behind him.

           My understanding is that the umlaut over the “y” signifies that the name is pronounced “Ja-ha-ee.”

I try to dodge fireblasts while getting in melee range of the dragon.

         I had hoped to win the game in one post, but in my initial six hours, I could only make it to Level 13. This is the first level that has required keys to open doors. The game gives you copious keys of different types but doesn’t require them for the first 12 levels.

            Opening the door with a key.

              Food is starting to get scarce, and I can’t seem to find the next down staircase. But I’ll keep at it, document the ending, and let you know if it offers anything new in its second half.

    Time so far: 6 hours

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