#and i find more things to be insane about everytime i read it again

[sheila--e]

re reading my beastars volume once more. hi guys can you pls pls read beastars. even if its just the first few chapters. please...

[jwonsoon]

Enhypen's reactions to you being super talkative when they're tired ⋆.˚ ᶻ 𝗓 𐰁 .ᐟ

☾ a/n: It has been a minute !!! Me and bff have been so so busy since it's our final semester of high school. But I am here to provide for my delusional folk <3 I honestly wrote this on a whim because I've been feeling extra insane lately with all the work I have to do so ignore any stupid mistakes I make in this. I want to post more on here for sure, senior year is coming to a close soon and me and bff are moving into a new university together so hopefully we'll have time for more posts. Okay enough yapping, go read! pairings: enhypen x g/n reader genre: fluff

cw: kissing (nothing crazy dw), ignore grammatical errors!

JUNGWON

He doesn’t care if his life is on the line, the last thing he’s going to do is make you feel rushed when you’re talking about something you’re genuinely interested in. 

He finds you SO cute when you’re mumbling about something that you enjoy !! He gazes at you with his boba eyes nodding along to everything you say 

“Oh my god sorry I’m talking so much” you say to him embarrassed at how comfortable you’ve gotten in his presence and how he’s probably so tired 

He’ll immediately shake his head no and tell you “keep talking i love listening to you” 

Because he’s tired he pulls you into a hug and plays with your hair while you talk. 

His sign that he’s tired is when he gets really touchy. Like he is all of a sudden kissing your forehead and playing with your cheeks which is usually a sign for you to call it a day… 

JAKE

We all know this guy cannot for the life of him control his sleepiness but he loves you so he makes his adjustments

Its a shame but this guy is NOT !!! LISTENING !!! 

He’s cuddling you and you’re yapping away he’s going to nuzzle his face in the crook of your neck and just keep going “mhm, i see” 

You notice that he isn’t listening so you ask a question to throw him off and he responds with “yeah totally” making you chuckle. 

He looks up flustered realizing he just admitted to not paying attention to you. 

“Sorryyyyy!!!!” He pouts leaning to kiss you.

“Im listening I just need a minute” he spends that “minute” sleeping on your arm and then he sits up shaking his head like a puppy trying to wake himself up. 

Claps, sits up, “Okay! talk! I’m up.” 

HEESEUNG

He’s always up fighting his sleep to play video games anyway so he’s the most prepared in situations like these 

If he notices your in a particularly chatty mood and he’s sleepy, he will drag both of you out of bed and make sure you’re sitting up so that he isn’t prone to falling asleep on accident 

You’re talking and talking and he is giving the same exact energy back!! he will laugh and giggle at everything 

When he’s really getting tired he yawns out loud and goes “baby.. im a bit sleepy.. actually no no keep going, just come here” 

He’ll open his arms wide for you to lay on his chest while you talk 

You notice his eyes are closed so you stop and start getting up only for him to pull you back down and say “just stay here, i like listening to your pretty voice” 

SUNGHOON

He is so in love with you. it is PATHETIC! 

He is so sleepy too and looks insanely cuddly so whenever you are talkative you lay facing him and talk his ear off while hugging him 

He is way too in love to tell you that you need to please shut up because he is SO TIRED so instead he kisses you to ease his tiredness away 

“That girl” —kiss “is so” —kiss “annoying” —kiss 

“Hoon stopp” to which he kisses you again, mumbling against your lips “I’m listening baby” 

SUNOO

No matter how tired he is it fades away when hes with you 

You’re always spilling the latest gossip to Sunoo and he eats it up everytime. 

“She actually has something against me” you say to which Sunoo responds “how could anyone hate this cute face” pinching your cheeks 

You brush his hand away and jokingly roll your eyes and thats all it takes for his cuteness aggression to launch through the roof 

He is all of a sudden squeezing you tight going “Why are you so cute you’re just so cute you’re so cute” 

He is literally holding you shaking your shoulders while smiling so big going “No tell me!!! why are you so cute??” 

“Sunoo you’re scaring me” you say to which he responds “Good! I’m pissed off you’re perfect.” 

You guys will literally spend the whole night talking, Sunoo literally forgot that he was tired in your presence 

JAY

He is half asleep walking through the door 

But! that doesn’t stop him from at least pretending to listen to you 

As he’s putting his stuff down you are following him around talking about the ending of the show that you just watched 

Hes humming in response and smiling to himself 

He stops suddenly turns to face you pulling you in for a hug “Baby I’m so tired today i dont know why….” sighing into your arms 

He didn’t want to explicitly say to you please shut up but it was definitely a sign to you to take it down a notch 

He’d look down to kiss you on the lips and say “Let’s talk in bed hm?” 

When you guys are in bed he lets you lay on his chest and he says “Now tell me all about that show you were talking about” 

He will listen to you, or at least try to, but with his fingers playing with your hair you are slowly lulled to sleep.

He'll look at you, smile, kiss your forehead and you will wake up confused as to how he shut you up so quickly.

NI-KI

Riki is definitely a little more honest but thats what you love about him!

“I can see all your teeth babe, what’s got you cheesing?” he says to you as he sits down on the bed 

“I have so much to tell you!” you say to him patting the space beside you for him to come and lay in. 

“And I have so much sleep to catch up on!” He says mockingly as he lays down next to you. You pout to which he kisses you and says “Go on, talk my ear off” 

You start going off on a tangent and he is just looking at you with a boxy smile on his face and laughing at how your facial expressions are so dramatic in comparison to the light hearted story you’re telling 

He stares at you with glistening eyes after his 40th yawn in a row 

“You know you talk too much, right? It’s a good thing you’re cute” he would say pulling you into a hug 

“That’s rude! and I wasn’t don—” you are interrupted by a kiss on the lips 

“I promise to listen all day tomorrow, okay? Let’s sleep now?” He says rubbing circles on your back, with his eyes already closed.

[ssseashell]

little stupid Newtmas WIP i was working on in July but then just gave up, here’s the first scene anyways (college AU, what a surprise)

When Newt heard that voice — that annoying, croaky, but loud voice — he felt like he was about to go insane.

It was always the same voice. Everytime he came to the campus’ library, he heard it just around the bookshelf from the table he usually sat on. It felt as if someone had to be mocking him, because why did that boy have to be in the library everytime Newt felt like studying there?

“Yeah, Min, don’t worry. I’ll- Oh, please, you really think I’m not capable of finding a specific book?”

Newt had never seen the boy's face, always hidden behind the bookshelf. But he knew the voice belonged to a boy and, oh, he couldn’t forget it even if he tried to.

“Alright, give me five minutes and I’ll go… Wait, what were you saying about Winston?”

He couldn’t believe it. How could someone be so rude to speak on the phone in the middle of a library? Newt looked around. Okay, there was no one sitting on the other tables, but still, that boy was disturbing him. It was enough to be rude.

And it wasn’t as if that was the first time he did that, Newt added to himself. Maybe someone should say something about it.

But there wasn’t anyone else there, no one else to feel annoyed by it.

Newt sighed, accepting that maybe he could live with it. He looked down at the open book in front of him and continued to read it.

When he heard it again. This time, it was extra loud.

“No way, dude!”

He snapped.

“Can you please get off your phone or get the fuck out?” He tried to show his annoyance with every word, and asked it as loud as possible so anyone behind the bookshelf would hear it.

Then, the voice was quiet again, but in its place, a head popped out from behind the shelves.

The face of a confused brunet boy appeared from nowhere, and Newt looked at him like he could light the boy on fire just with his mind.

“Oops, I’m sorry. Didn’t see you there.” The boy said, and Newt tried hard not to roll his eyes when he lifted the phone to his ear once more. “Minho, I’ll call you back.”

After the head, a body appeared from the shelves, and Newt looked at him.

The guy was maybe a bit shorter than him, Newt couldn’t tell very much by his position on the chair, but he noticed how well-built he was even with a hoodie on. He also wore a pair of light blue jeans and black sneakers.

He spent more time taking a look at the boy’s face. He had coffee almond eyes, a thin nose with some freckles here and there, and red tinted lips. His dark hair was short but clearly messy in its own way, like the boy had an urge to run his hands on it every so often. Newt didn’t know why he noticed that.

“Even if you didn’t, this is a library.” He said, crossing his arms on his chest. “You shouldn't be on your phone here.” It was as if he was teaching a little kid some basic good manners.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” The other said, fidgeting with his phone between his hands.

Then, he stared at Newt, as if waiting for something else. Newt sighed.

“So?”

“What are you studying over there?” Asked the stranger, looking from Newt’s face to his book on the table.

Newt held down his laugh. What did this boy want with him? He shrugged, lifting an eyebrow. “It’s none of your business.”

The grin on the boy’s lips revealed he didn’t get offended by that, even if he murmured an “ouch”. The impatience inside Newt was starting to grow stronger. Couldn’t a lad just study in peace?!

Newt leaned on the chair, looking directly into the boy’s playful eyes. “Look, if you don’t have anything to do here, please leave me alone.”

The grin on the redish lips just grew wider, and Newt had to admit he wasn’t expecting the next thing he heard: “Will you at least give me your name?”

His chin could’ve touched the table. But it didn’t. Newt wouldn’t give that slinthead of a guy the satisfaction of knowing he let Newt out of words.

Whoever was mocking Newt, they could stop it now, because they did it. Because Newt really wanted to get up and strangle that boy until no smirk was left on his lips. He felt his cheeks burn.

“What? No!” Was all he managed to say, brows furrowed, lips snapped into a thin line.

And the boy chuckled. He chuckled and turned around, but not before saying “See you around” and disappearing again behind the books.

[pumpkinsy0]

fuck it, more Purly Haitian vacation thoughts:

On the first day, Ponyboy got sunburnt to all hell. Yeah he was made fun of for it, but whatever they gave him wasn't regular aloe, it was better.

Runs out of clean clothes (he didn't have much to pack anyway) so he makes due with the clothes given to him (and insisted he keep and bring to america)

Curly jokes he'd look cute in a karabela. Pony doesn't know what that is and just rolls his eyes.

Sandals! Everyone wears them. Ponyboy watches fondly as Curly's aunt weaves him a pair, asking him if he likes the color purple, which he responds "Wi Matènèl." Just like Curly taught him.

The mornings come early and while Curly would love nothing more than to lay in bed all day with Pony, he does want to wake up early and take him for scooter rides. Ponyboy holds on to him tightly as they weave around corners. Curly is in heaven.

Ponyboy is interested in the literature and art of Haiti and loves the bright colors of the homes. He loves their cheap art galleries and after dinner he's read to in Kreyole first and then English second because he wants to try and learn what stories are being told to him.

Darry has asked him to call if possible. There's only one phone avaliable and it's at "the big house." it costs a lot of money to call but The Shepards don't bat an eye giving him the coins he needs to tell his brother he's okay and what his day was like.

Curly avoids all questions asked to him about family back in America. He can't stomach the thought that his relatives think he's living it up and couldn't be further from the truth.

He hates America. Hates the racism. Hates their stupid laws. He hates how their mother left this beautiful place to chase a man that doesn't give a hang about them.

Curly needs a cigarette. On the porch, he pauses:

Ponyboy is given a pretty red and yellow choublack flower crown (cause it's still the 60s) and is out on the street with a bunch of Curly's younger cousins who ask him to draw on the sidewalks with them. Ponyboy never got the opportunity to be a big brother, so it's all fun and games with him. It's lightly raining, a sunshine shower. Ponyboy is smiling, laughing and singing along to some child's song, slightly butchering the words.

Curly is whipped at the sight.

i JUST woke up to this absolute GEM of an ask im going insane im like a dog with zoomies after a shower another BANGER anon ask about haiti omg

AND AND I WANNA ADD MORE THOUGHTS☝🏽☝🏽☝🏽☝🏽

•the shepards has family in the countryside of haiti, and they have a fucking donkey and that thing would nibble on ponys shirt everytime he came near and it was ALWAYS him and him alone like dude???fuck of?????

•pony would LOVE ti kawòl (its this ice cream in a bag thing, comes in different flavors) but he likes it when its melted so he literally WAITS till its a liquid again, pokes a hole in the bag and drinks it and curly, tim, angela, and their family think hes so WEIRD for that

•curlys aunt is always making malta ak lèt (just means malta and milk) and its curly, pony, and the younger cousins fault that its always gone within a few days like my god

•theres a good chunk of reptiles in haiti and curly used to spend his time catching the fuckers when he still used to live in haiti, and ik he took pony to the best places he would find em, however outside of that sometimes pony would find them on accident and his body would take a ss

•kite flying is pretty important, i think pony and curly should be allowed to make their own cool looking kite at least once

•tim and curly were def stealing cool looking plates from their aunts and was forcing pony to be apart of it, he was a mess trying to keep it together

•OHOH sometimes they would have to ride tap taps (just look it up im WAY to lazy to explain it) and pony was a bit nervous bc theres rlly no specific individual seats and no seatbelts, so curly would hold onto him to make him feel safer so gay

•pony def accidentally got some mannerisms from his time there, this is more of a “if u get it u get it” thing, but if yknow that look ur haitian elder gives u when they catch u doin some stupid shit and they just stand there w their hands crossed???yea pony started doing that LMAOOO

•angela made pony this bracelet w seashells, she was makin em w her fav aunt :3

•the whole family went to the beach and curly hit pony w a wet sandbl and IMMEDIATELY fell and got a cut on his knee by a seashell and i promise u, when there was a collective sound of “gade” (means look in creole) in a ‘well thats your karma’ way, i mean it

•pony and curly both have to share a place on the couch to sleep on so they r just all up on each other by the time 4am rolls around

•curly has this scarf thats used in haitian folklore dances and he is NOT using it to dance, hes using it to pull pony in by the neck or hips, i can feel it trust me on this

•one of the shepards family members is a snack vendor, like the kinds w the snack cart right outside schools, and they would always get free snacks, in return they helped w the homemade snacks they sold, but that goes as well as it can w pony and curly making food, they r NOT allowed to make fresco again

•curly would climb treats for fruits pony wanted he def would

•pony brought the gang lil souvenirs :P

[rocksibblingsau]

The fact that in real life Funk is a sub-genre/borned from R&B and in the troll universe is (implied to be) the opposite makes choosing music for the Funk tribe and assigning irl music to a troll's genre so weird and confusing.

Lets not even start with how Jazz and its different genres, Blues, Disco, Gospel, Soul and others would get mixed into this. It's already difficult to draw a hard line between them in real life since a lot of these genres originated from one another, influence each other and overlap quite often and are even sometimes fully grouped together (R&B been both its on genre, but also the grouping of Blues and Rhythm). It feels wrong to just completely mix them together into Funk or say they are a sub-genre of Funk because how different, nuanced and big each of these genres can be (and how many of them are older than Funk itself), but them being one of the main tribes and R&B already been a sub-genre of Funk in universe doesn't help.

Which leads to the question of again, we're does this leave Jazz? It has many roots in Blues and some jazz sub-genres are often group together with R&B and Gospel (forming the "genre" of Soul music), but most of Jazz can be and IS very different from Soul and Funk. And that is not even mentioning how heavily Jazz influenced Hip-Hop, R&B and even Funk. I think Im having a stroke...

Anyways, it seems that the lesson today is that even though the Troll Tribes are a fun and creative idea it also really simplifies and separates the topic of music genres abd music history, something thats famously complex and interconnected. I didn't even mentioned genres like Rock, Techno, Rock-and-Roll and others that were also pioneered by black american communities and were influenced/influential and share similarities to Jazz, Funk, Blues and R&B.

Aka.: Music genres in real life doesn't exist in a vacuum and wasn't born out of thin air, but they did in the Trolls universe so let's not think so hard about it and just roll with it for the sake of all of our sanities.

(This rant/discussion was born out of me finding a brazillian jazz and soul song that really fitted Funk Branch and researching the history of black-american genres for two hours just to make it make sense some what because I obviously wasn't giving such a good song to fucking Chaz. Anyways the song is De Ontem by Liniker, it's really good and I recommend it a lot - for Branch and in general - even if the translation I found on google was quite bad. If you plan to listen to it, I can write and send you a somewhat better one if you want)

Anyhow, sorry for the insanely long ask. If you take a shot for everytime a mention a music genre, you would quite literally die before the ask was over. Thank you for reading <3

That's kind of a thing with music irl yeah, the genres are messy and almost every song when you look it up has at least two genres it's accredited to. I think part of the point of the movie is that it's hard to stay confined to a single genre and all genres take influence from each other and are born from each other. Pop and Rock were born from the same thing, they just split in different directions.

I take the irl genres of songs as a suggestion. If something seems more like it'd be the Funk Trolls vibe, then it's their music.

[thatwritterbeach]

So About that Alley .4

Jason Todd x ofc Alex

Dc masterlist ALL OTHER PARTS FOUND HERE

Unedited***Also I swear Tumblr is messing up my spelling on purpose cuz everytime I re-read something I know I fixed it's wrong again

Alex: short, curvy, red hair, green eyes, redheads go through pain meds way faster than normal people to the point I personally don't even take them, it's a joke, they last 30 min at best

Summary: Alex finds out her bf is red hood, after she spills some not so great secrets to the masked man while stitching him up.

Warnings: Vaginismus* angst, sexual assault, self-harm, depression, drug use by Alex, violence, cursing, NSFW, smut, thigh riding, vaginal fingering, guided masturbation?, p in v (not overly described), pain during s*x, hiding said pain, hickeys?, self-hate, insecurities, eating disorder, weight loss

A/N: I do not own dc booho

sorry ya'll I did not mean to release the last part, it was gonna be longer so here's this one at top speed

Arriving at a huge menacing manor, the Wayne manor, in your pajamas on the back of a motorcycle while the driver is decked out in bright right flannel is...odd. Jason held the bike steady while she wiggled off then he engaged the kickstand and lifted himself off with ease. Alfred met them at the door and took her gear and Jay's helmet.

"Everyone is in the dining room, master Jason."

"Thanks, Alfred." Alex, unsure what to do gave him a thankful nod and clung to Jason as he led them through the maze of insanity.

"I don't think I can do this Jay," sh whispered, slinging the large bag she carried further up on her shoulder.

"Of course, you can," he assured her pulling her further into his side. They entered what she would calla dining hall where everyone was already sat, having what appeared to be a heated argument.

"I win the bet, cuz I said she was real," Tim yelled.

"No, I win for being right about how long it would take him to bring her here," Dick said back throwing a chunk of bread at him.

"Boys!" Bruce tried in vain.

"I win-" Damian began but was cut of by Jason's two finger whistle. All eyes shot to the door where Alex was very busy faking confidence, moved away from Jay, shoulders back, head up. Bruce was in a suit much to her embarrassment but Dick was in sweats and a long sleeved shirt, Tim wore something similar, and Damian was in a matching silk set that probably cost more than her entire wardrobe but he was participating.

"Tt she's small," Damian scowled.

"I think you mean short, like you pipsqueak," she snarked back before Jason could get after the demon spawn.

"Hhhmf," he replied raising his chin to the side in a holyer than though manner.

"Play nice, Damian," Bruce commanded softly rising from the table to greet her. Mentally freaking out, knowing what was coming she hesitated in her step to meet his outstreched hand.

"Not a friend of Dick's then," he accused, scowling down at her superman shirt.

"I didn't know if you were aware Jason was alive." She lied her ass off. She just recently found out he was Robin so of course she couldn't have told Batman anything other than a lie. Jason caught the inconstancy and frowned.

"What are you talking about," Dick asked joining their little group.

"Caught this one in an alley with a dealer last night, said she knew you, as Robin, Wing and Dick."

"How did you-" He turned an accusing eye on Jason who lifted his hands in defense.

"I've known for years dude, chill. It's not that hard to figure out, the suspiciously large and rich family is the suspiciously large and tech happy hero group."

"So you know everyone?"

"Yep, Superman and everyone too. "

"Dang," Tim jumped in from his seat.

"Why were you in an alley with a dealer," Jason asked what everyone was thinking.

"Getting information before some dude in a cape messed it up." Another lie.

"info on what?"

"His supplier."

"That's my job." She shrugged and moved past everyone to the table.

"I come barring gifts," she said setting the bag on the table to pull things out. "For Dick, a signed copy of (insert circus memorabilia here), for Tim, something to help you sleep and some very strong tea to help with that caffeine addiction. Damian, a travel sized chess board, we can play sometime if you like."

"Thanks," came the collective reply. Jason was still giving her the ' we will talk about this at home look' but she was ignoring him as she sat. After a surprisingly painless dinner with Damian only insulting her three times, Jason standing with a knife in hand, and Dick calming everyone back down they managed to make it to dessert.

"None for me," she told Alfred quietly as he started to place a bowl of some fancy pastries in front of her. She'd already subtly inquired on the carb count of the food which he answered with a slight brow raise.

"You feeling ok," Jason asked from beside her happily munching on his and her portion of sugar.

"Fine," she replied with a soft smile reaching past her full wine glass for water. She never drank and certainly not when she knew she was going to have to drug herself the second they walked into her apartment.

"If you don't like red we have white," Dick said, gesturing to her glass.

"I don't drink."

"Oh, master Jason didn't tell me."

"Sorry, must have slipped my mind." Like hell, he had no idea she didn't drink, he's never seen her drink but just assumed...what he wasn't sure but not that she didn't drink. Dessert done they moved to the 'sitting room' with some sodas, and Alfred plated soft soft music in the background.

"care to test your new board," she asked Damian.

"Tt, like you would be a worthy opponent."

"It's ok if you're too chicken, I get it, I'm intimidating." she said flexing her muscles. With an eye roll he sat cross legged on the floor and began setting up the pieces. She mirrored his pose and set up her side. off to the side where she couldn't see Jason moved his head to indicate to Dick he needed a word and the two moved off without a sound.

"Thanks for the clothes," Jason started, crossing his arms and leaning back against the wall of the long hallway they were in.

"No problem, did she seem more relaxed?"

"Better than expected."

"So what was it you wanted to ask me that couldn't be texted?"

"When I...died, were you sad?"

"What the hell kind of question is that, Jason, of course, I was a wreck. What's going on, are you ok?"

"I am."

"But you don't think she is," he stated.

"I think she'd lying about when she found out I was hood. Three weeks ago I got so beat up from a fight I knew I wouldn't make it anywhere else so I broke into her apartment, key work broke, I had to shatter a window she was pissed. And she found me passed out in the bathroom, and started stitching me up-"

"Dude," he whisper yelled.

"Let me finish. She was talking to me like I was redhood not like she knew it was me, she was asking for advice."

"On what?"

"How to tell her boyfriend she couldn't have sex, because she was," he paused and pulled Dick closer to him to whisper the next part," assaulted when she was younger and it makes it horribly painful."

"No, did she tell you who?"

"He's dead."

"Good."

"She also said she cuts herself," again the smallest whisper.

"Why would she tell him and not you?"

"The next day she said she knew I was hood all along and she was playing a sick joke to get back at me for breaking her window and lying."

"Rude but seems fair."

"Then she initiated sex. Just pulled me into the bedroom and-"

"I don't wanna hear this,"Dick whines shaking his head to clear the image.

"We've had sex everyday twice for three weeks in a row," he said exasperated.

"That's..."

"A lot, it's a lot so either she has insane drive or..."

"She's expertly distracting you," he finished for him.

"I haven't seen any scars or fresh cuts, but I know she's damn good at makeup she's always perfectly covered my scar," he said pointing to his cheek, where it wasn't even visible in the low light.

"So hide her makeup."

"I've thought about it but I don't want to tip her off, or make her panic."

"So you want my help?"

"I think," deep breath," I think I can't do this alone, I can't watch her 24/7 and be there when she might need me."

"Do you want her to move in here?"

"God no, she'd kill me. Maybe now that you've all met you could invite her over, or stop by 'randomly' when I'm out."

"I'm in bloodhaven now, I can't just-"

"I know, I know, but you're here like every other weekend and that'll have to be enough. Maybe the demon spawn would agree to watch her."

"Tt, she's not your pet, Todd," came an irritated voice next to them.

"How much did you hear?"

"Just that she'd kill you." Eye roll.

"She's not well, demon spawn, and I worry about her safety," Jason ground out trying to keep his voice down.

"You think she hurts herself, what insanity, even for you, Todd."

"Look, kid-"

"Don't start. Damian, you seem to tolerate her enough not to kill her, a win if you ask me, and she needs company while Jason is out. You really can't stop by once a week for chess?"

"As a favor to her, not either of you," he agreed, turning to leave the imbeciles.

Eventually making their way back into the room the boys were shocked to find Alex, still on the floor, body pointed to the tv playing a racing game with Tim. Single handing the controller she expertly steered around the corners and used her other hand to play Damian at chess, eye dancing back and forth, and maintaining a conversation with Bruce.

"What the fuck," Jason exclaimed.

"I used to do this all the time, well not this, but multitasking, it's been so long since I've gotten to use my brain," she said with such glee.

"Are you saying I dumb you down?" There was no real hurt in voice, just un-subtle awe.

"Love you too." She replied and went back to talking to Bruce about...politics? She was talking politics with the vigilante billionaire and it was civil! The game ended, with Alex in 1st and Tim hung his head in shame but ultimately leaned over to shake her hand.

"Tt, so incompetent she beat you one handed," Damian accused.

"Tough talk for somebody that just set me up to take four pieces," she tsked back at him.

"Shit," Damian muttered uncharacteristically.

"Language," Dick said with a laugh.

"Boop, boop, boop," Alex sang as she hopped a single checker around the board taking the last of Damian's pieces.

"I suppose you're competent."

"Why thank you," she mock bowed. "Care to try your luck," she directed at Dick who was leaning on the arm of a large comfy looking chair.

"Why not, you gonna play Tim and Damian at the same time to at least give me a small chance?"

"If you want?" He nodded so she helped Damian set up a second board of checkers just a few inches from the first so she wouldn't have to move. Dick shrank practically had to fold himself to fit on the floor and only slightly invaded Damian's space, not on purpose.

Again she won on all fronts and Jason was practically buzzing with pride.

"You never told me you were smart!" At the look she sent him he waved his hands quickly. "No wait! Not how I meant it, of course you're smart."

"Such a way with words," she praised helping clean up the games.

"Are you leaving," Tim whined.

"I gotta work tomorrow, sorry kiddo."

"I'm like a year younger than Jason."

"A small child," Dick said wiping a fake tear.

"But a small boy," Jason reiterated.

"Hardly out of a booster seat," Bruce joined.

"It was only yesterday I was helping you into a chair master Tim."

"I hate you all."

"Aww, he loves us," Alex cooed reaching over to pinch his cheek," and fyi I'm two years older than Jason."

"Practically a cougar, I felt hunted when she asked me out."

"Yeah, why did I do that again?"

"You got me," Dick seriously stated.

"Tt, she would never chase you Todd, I bet you had to beg for this lovely creature."

"What he said," she agreed pulling Damian into a crushing hug resting her chin on his shoulder since the were the same height. Everyone held their breath expecting a fight but he looped his arms around her and squeezed back, just for a second before wiggling away from her in over-exaggerated disgust.

"I demand a rematch this Thursday," he said curtly and left the room.

"Thank you for coming," Bruce said shaking her hand in an awkward manner.

"Come visit anytime," Dick said pulling her into a hug, and extra long one just to make Jason's eye twitch.

"Let me know when you're online," Tim softly demanded with a hug.

"I don't have any online games, still use my old GameCube and Wii."

"That's cool."

Finally making it out the door she resisted the urge to exhale in relief. Wary of Jason getting concerned.

"That went well," he remarked upon entering her apartment.

"It did," she said softly faking a yawn in hopes of him heading back to his place or insisting they turn in. He went back and forth between their apartments, needing to keep a space for all his gear.

"So about that alley?"

"Not tonight, please."

"Why were you out at all?"

"Red hood is big and scary and gets what he wants with fear yes?"

"I guess?"

"So, short redhead come around asking what you sell and for how much what do you assume."

"That you aren't a threat," he conceded with a scowl.

"so if the short none-threat asks innocent sounding questions like. I may need some tomorrow where are you gonna be, my friend wants to buy but can't leave his place any chance you make house calls. I'm looking for a side job any chance I can meet the boss for an interview?"

"You didn't."

"I did, maybe, he's getting back with me." Lie lie lie.

"I'm going."

"You are not, if they even think I've been tailed you might as well shoot me yourself, I can handle it, if I can't I know how to get in touch. Now please let's go to bed." The whine in her tone made him cave, for now. Thanking her lucky stars he was tired and they skipped the sex she fell into the deepest sleep she'd had in months.

8-10-24 see masterlist for more

[definitelynotshouting]

the hashtag about the life series making you anxious while its ongoing is so real btw

OKAY! so my friend and i have been talking about the scarian dynamics in the life series for a while and while a lot of it REALLY hurts me (i have a very weak angst heart) ive discovered some aspects about this current dynamic that im absolutely chewing on.

SO! In limited life there was a family dynamic where Scar was the son of Cleo and Etho, and i can still see that playing out in secret life! Allow me to explain:

In the most recent episode Scar had to do the opposite of what everyone told him to do, so when grian asked him if he wanted to team, his response was very weird and "avoid"ey. Grian brought up MULTIPLE TIME in his video how "scar got really weird about teaming with me" (which to me totally reads as Grian overthinking the situation and thinking Scar doesnt like him anymore)

So anyway, Grian asks to use the enchanter and Scar says that Etho has it and he trusts Etho with it because "Etho is honest". Grian goes to Etho and Cleo and asks to use the enchanter only to find out that its NOT scar's enchanter. Etho says something along the lines of "well I dont know why Scar thinks hes in charge of our enchanter but yes we do have one" which TOTALLY sounded to me like a parent who's adult child feels a sense of entitlement to things they share with their parents (Ex. an adult child calling their parent's car theirs even though they share it).

Etho lets Grian use the enchanter and starts asking him how he's been and if hes been making any friends and the WHOLE interaction between Grian, Cleo, and Etho feels like parents trying to make conversation with their son's ex or something

AND THEN CLEO AND ETHO TELL GRIAN THEY HAVE MORE THAN ENOUGH SPACE IN THEIR HOUSE AND THAT HE CAN STAY WITH THEM IF HE WANTS BECAUSE HES TALKING ABOUT HOW HES ALL ALONE AND HE HATES WHERE HES LIVING AND AND AND AAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Grian also brings up how he asked to be friends with Scar and "he got really strange about it.." and Etho went "yep that sounds about right" and Cleo agreed- WHICH SOUNDS LIKE PARENTS BEING LIKE "oh we know our son still loves his ex and everytime he talks about their interactions its awkward" LIKE THEY KNOW THAT ITS SO AWKWARD BETWEEN GRIAN AND SCAR AND THEYRE AAAAAAAAH

anyway the whole interaction to me seems like Scar's parents trying to welcome Grian back into their lives as part of the family in the hopes of setting the two of them up again because they love them both and can see how silly theyre being with all this miscommunication

do you hear me screaming

-Binge Reader

WOXNWKDNWKDNEKDNKWJDKEK WHEEEEEEEZE oh my gods i heard some stuff abt the scarian interactions this last episode and that grian teamed up with cletho but AKBDWKDNKADKSK THATS SO FUNNY HELP,,,,,,, "that sounds about right" ETHO WHAT ARE YOU TELLINGG USSSSSSSS ‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️ /SILLY

This is hysterical thank u for telling me abt whats going on AKDNQKSNWKSJDBWKS gods,,,,, i cant wait to hear abt what happens next week this is insane

[fbfh]

Writing quick drabbles about the obscure blorbos I kept forgetting to write about 2/4

Tw for mentions of pregnancy/pregnant reader, also afab reader

got mega brain rot about Latrelle from on my block literally out of nowhere for like two days straight so uh. specifically dad!latrelle. you've had an on and off relationship for years, snce you were teens. you've gotten him out of trouble more times than either of you could count, and everytime he asks you why you keep sticng your neck out for him, you tell him the same thing. I care about you. You don't deserve that. I don't want bad things to happen to you. it cuts him to the quick every time. he thinks you're the best thing to happen to him, and even through your rough patches, he doesn't want to lose you, doesn't want you to be with anyone else. so you keep finding your way back to each other. you think it's over for good when you move away for college, until one day he shows up on your doorstep. he tried to live withuot you, he really did, but he can't. he tried to move on, he dated around and bounced from hookup to hookup but each time it only confirmed that he wants you. you got pregnant with your first child not long after, and had your second after you graduated. The girls have your attitude and their dad's smile, and you both love them more than you knew was possible. when you were pregnant with your first, you had a really serious conversation with Latrelle about how you wanted to prioritize being able to parent your kid together over anything else, especially after seeing how much damage having inconsistent or unharmonious parents can cause. You've seen it in your friends, in Latrelle, maybe even in yourself. Because of that you insist you shouldn't pursue a relationship with each other, you shouldn't take that risk when you've been so on and off in the past. Kids need consistency. Latrelle respects that, he respects every boundary you set, but that doesn't mean he's ever stopped loving you or is ever going to. He doesn't even have to say it, you can see it on his face all the time. Your daughters third birthday is when you finally crack, falling into his arms after he rescues you from your insane extended family and protects your daughter from overhearing your grandmother say some really unkind things about you. He’s such an amazing dad to your little girl, she looks up to him so much and he deserves every bit of it. You think you might be able to move on from your night together, you might be able to ignore the way his gaze lingers, the way everything down to his body language tells you he needs you, he desires you more than anything. When you find out you're pregnant again, it feels like the biggest most obvious sign you've ever gotten. You had been safe, you had been on birth control both times you got pregnant, and you realize you can't fight your feelings anymore. You told Latrelle you didn't want him to be with anyone else when you first got together, and he dropped everyone else he'd been talking to without a second thought. You told him kids need consistency, and he’s been consistent, showing up for everything, reading bedtime stories, picking her up from daycare, doing her hair and painting her nails and having tea parties. Your friends have been pushing you together since they met him, telling you if he wanted to he would, and Latrelle does. All of this culminates into you texting him to come over, that you need to talk. Once your daughter is in bed and asleep, you have one of the most important conversations of both your lives. You tell him there are three things you need to tell him: your sink is leaking again, you're pregnant again, and you think you're in love with him again. By morning, your sink is fixed, and your daughter is over the moon to find out that she's getting a sister and both parents permanently under one roof for Christmas.

[heckthis-heckallofthis]

Random headcanons I think of sometimes (Oops! All Friends spinoff)

Dendritic cell doesn't get his cytokine material himself, he employs the M cells in the bars to capture the most horrendous images of immune cells while they're all intoxicated (he wears a feather boa when he's activated <3)

Canon but I don't think a lot of people know, he has good voice acting skills with his singing + narration being pretty good

Leaves his plushies everywhere. Gave one to M cell to see if it'd cheer him up, it did because M cell was happy he tried helping him. Dendritic cell thought it was just because of the cuteness and purity of the lactic acid bacterium

He visits M cell so much, every time M cell rings up the dendritic cells for antigen presentation it's always our beloved Dendritick cell that comes to his bar to get it

Dendritic cell also started out absolutely terrified of bacteria, had to practice very hard with antigen presentation

There is written fiction of the neutrophils, probably a lot of BL let's be real

There is a popular book that is like Twilight but with those weirdos

All neutrophils except for 2145 have colored hair and eyes, I will not elaborate

More of a general thing rather than only friends, but neutrophils definitely have sharper teeth compared to non phagocyte cells

2145 goes to work everyday even on his off days, it's for a free lunch

2145 eats the body of cells right in front of other cells without thinking of the implications, he is enjoying the snack.

His favorite past time is listening to 1235 talk about her day, she is like a radio for him

3033 doesn't have a single creative bone in his body, you ask him to draw something and it barely even looks like what you wanted. He wears all white all the time because he doesn't know what outfits look good with what color, it's terrible.

Squad Leader would kill himself if he knew, but 3033 dislikes him. It's not for any particular reason, they just don't mesh well. It's okay since Squad Leader doesn't bother 3033 a lot anyways

Canon but I never realized this in 3 years of reading this manga: 3033 doesn't wear his knife straps on his legs if it isn't necessary to use those knives, only wears them when he needs to fight something dangerous.

M cell low-key has trouble eating enough because of his depression. You can directly counter this by getting him foods that expire within a day or two, he hates wasting food so he eats it before it expires.

Actually canon again but I need more people to know: M cell can make balloon animals

The fact that M cell has a lot of random skills in general, I wouldn't he surprised if he knew how to make stained glass art or could do wood carving

Cross reads the smuttiest, most vile BL stories as a past time. If you find his stash he will go insane.

He also enjoys talking to 1235 about squad leader (and then later on about 3033, girl talk)

1235 befriends so many immune cells because just like AE3803 from Main, she is a danger magnet. Everytime she is saved from an immune cell she makes small talk with them no matter how introverted they are (see 2145, NK and Eosinophil)

Helper T cell doesn't remember anything from his thymus days because it was so traumatizing he just blocks out those memories. It's not that he doesn't recognize Squad Leader, it's that his mind won't let him remember.

Squad Leader physically cannot hit another cell without orders, he can hit HT because Squad Leader is filled with so much rage every time he sees HT he just gains the strength to do it.

Also a general HC but I think Reg T cells in general have major face blindness. Unless you're someone close to them they will not recognize you once you do a change of clothes, but it's okay, as long as you still have the right receptors for the body they will protect you.

Eosinophil regularly visits M cell's bar because not only is it good practice for her with minimal casualties (poor M cell) but also it's an unpopular bar so she doesn't need to be so anxious.

B cell tried to hit on Eosinophil exactly once (1) and stopped because she exploded from anxiety and B cell thought she hated him so much she'd rather explode than talk to him

B cell and M cell don't like each other a lot, M cell thinks he's too loud, and B cell thinks he's too much of a downer. Partly the reason why Memory cell visited his bar alone without B cell

If you put NK and Eosinophil in the same room alone, they would just not talk. No conversation between those two. NK thinks Eos is judging her but Eos thinks NK doesn't like her and doesn't want to talk to her.

B cell and Mast cell get along surprisingly well (ignore how in canon Mast cell says he'll never talk to him again if he insults his gacha game girlies again), B cell talks about the pretty cells he sees regularly on the job while Mast cell show him his anime girls. Mutual respect until B cell is like "Well I prefer girls you can actually touch in the real world" in which Mast cell will tell him to shut up

[petruchio]

I'm loving the love that the "If what, Katniss?" line is getting!! I still feel butterflies everytime I read that.

And like, maybe it's late and I'm going a little insane but, throughout the series it's mostly Peeta being open about his affections towards Katniss and waiting (that's definitely the wrong word for this but I can't find the right one) for her to allow him to get closer. To want him to get closer. His earnestness is, in many ways, what keeps both of them alive for so long

I think it was @rosegardeninwinter that, a few months ago, talked about how Peeta always waits for Katniss to initiate affection first. He usually follows her lead, what she's comfortable with, what they agreed to, etc

Again, maybe I'm insane because of the late hour but like: isn't that what makes him start to slowly come back in Mockingjay? Like. He is "waiting" for Katniss to lead the way again, to show him what he used to do, to remind him of himself.

And then, right before the "you're a painter, you're a baker" line she's desperate. She wants to tell Peeta "everything about himself, about who I am, and about how we both ended up here" (I don't have an English version on hand so it may be a little different but anyways)

And later she immediately trashes around in her mind at the mere Idea of killing him.

She kisses him "don't let him take you from me".

"Stay with me".  "Always." And his eyes return to a state of normalcy

Am I reading too much into it?

YES!! one of peeta’s many dream boyfriend traits that often gets lost in his PALE IMITATORS is that he is just like, genuinely respectful. sure, he has a crush on katniss and he thinks she’s great and all (she is! dont we all love her!) but he also respects her boundaries (WHEN SHE SETS THEM) and makes it clear that he respects her more as a person than he does as an object of love.

one of my favorite peeta scenes is his apology in the beginning of catching fire — bc again to return to our discussion from earlier, he honestly DOES know to some extent that katniss wasn’t faking the whole romance. but he’s hurt by a combination of her claiming that she was, of her thinking he was dumb enough to fall for it, and her keeping secrets from him. (all valid!) yet he STILL goes out of his way to apologize and propose that they just try being friends, bc he values her in his life as a *human being* and wants to be close to her again without the confusion and complications of their “star crossed lovers” bit. LIKE come on! he’s a dream.

i’m intrigued by the idea that he’s “waiting” for her in mj — bc i feel like it’s a bit of yes and no. i think you’re right that a lot of what jump starts his fighting his way back to her are moments when katniss lets him back in: the painter moment, the always kiss, etc. like — when he first arrives back and she’s cold to him and she says “everyone says i loved you” but STILL refuses to admit it could be true, he makes no effort to refute that or to be kind to her. so in that way yes, he is waiting for her to open back up — it’s haymitch saying “peeta would never treat you this way” that triggers katniss to start softening to him, and you’re right that’s when he starts to come back to himself. and then she escalates things from there — the real or not real scene, touching his hair, the kiss.

but i also think peeta is trying to fight back on his own terms! like how he frosts finnick and annie’s cake or his “valuable asset” joke in mj when katniss notices him sounding like his old self. i think a big part of what makes peeta’s recovery so spectacular is that he does it at all, and i think a big part of that is HIM — his refusal to be a “piece in the games.” but then to your point… it’s what katniss reminds him of in the “don’t let him take you from me” line. so it’s both — but that’s very *them* — they’re helping each other, they’re inspiring each other, they’re building a future TOGETHER and that’s what makes them so special. ugh they have my whole heart forever!!!

[drdtfuitgumies]

season 1 summary: may 2024

i've hit 30 situations! this summary is mainly for my personal documentation (i like documenting stuff), but i thought i'd post this in the blog too just in case anyone else was interested!

STATISTICS

to the surprise of absolutely no one, whit got first place, appearing eight times throughout may 2024! however, his first place is because of a technicality, since i counted the pinned post for this season. otherwise he'd tie with second place and our recently crowned "invasive species", arei, who appeared seven times. i know i encouraged you people to let her commit crimes, but it appears i have underestimated the fandom because there's STILL people telling her to steal even MORE stuff in the inbox. third place is charles, appearing five times, three of which happened in the span of five days. bullying him (and making arei and whit bully him) is really fun though!

also, i think now is a good time to talk about how i "plan" out the situations. i try to draw at least one situation a day as a "warmup" before i draw... Other Stuff, and i try to stock up at least a week's worth of doodles, just in case i become unavailable for whatever reason. i also try my Absolute Best to ensure that everyone* appears at least twice a month, whether by picking requests wildly out of order or taking matters to my own hands through the original situations, though a bias for whit really can't be avoided...

*mai and monotv are excluded from this "rule", though i bring out monotv often when i need a casualty. take arei and whit stacking things and arei and j playing mario kart, for example!

PERSONAL FAVORITES (in chronological order)

1) Motivational words from Min

I still consider this one of my greatest creations in my mortal life. maybe i should reblog this on main everytime i procrastinate on something. i'm sure there will be always someone who needs the encouragement

2) Charles holds Eden's yuri manga hostage

this headcanon sucker punched me on what was a normal afternoon, but i'm glad i realized it to this world... even though i barely read new stuff in the first place, let alone yuri. maybe one day i'll find something that caters to my oddly specific tastes, but for now i'll enjoy the yaoi vs yuri memes from afar and let those more qualified than me to verify how true himejoshi eden and himedanshi charles are

3) A regular "PMD Club" meeting

i am an autotroph and need to create one oddly specific self-indulgent situation per month to sustain myself and the joy i have for drawing. i promise this Will happen again. i might even outright sneak in some of my aus, out of context...!

4) Arei steals Charles' goggles

it really says a lot about me as a person that my personal favorites are mostly unserious shitposts, but i've been meaning to draw arei bullying charles with the nerd emoji since... a few months ago, i think? some of the situations are prompts i've always wanted to draw, but am too lazy to do in my "proper" style

THE POWER OF HINDSIGHT

sometimes i think of adding punchlines in the situations, or fix errors after i've put them in the queue, but forget to actually. do them.

after arei stole david's hairclips, emovid's debut would've been something along the lines of arei freeing him from his stage persona by taking away his hairclips. but i forgor.

monotv's body had the wrong colors this one time, but i have since decided that arei got paid by the real monotv to murder a bootleg / defect monotv

as i've mentioned in the tags, teruko on a llama at the machu picchu was supposed to be posted in ace yaps and levi listens' place, but i did an Oopsie and forgot to adjust the queue properly. out of the ~10 posts i had queued up that time, i got insanely lucky that the teruko doodle was the one that got delayed, since i forgot to draw her bandage. ultimate lucky student moment

also as i've mentioned in the tags, if my wii was still working i would've attempted to recreate an actual screenshot of j and arei playing mario kart wii

arei would've have had more time to steal even more things before i put her in jail, but i decided to give her a break this month. i assure you, she will return with a Vengeance.

OTHER REMARKS

i've gotten so, so used to drawing whit and arei. i haven't quite gotten the hang of everyone else yet, though i can draw xander, eden, and charles pretty consistently. hardest to draw is hu, but that's mainly because i can't draw straight hair

i kinda wanna add a subtle pattern to the background…? even just a grid would be fine. also thinking of changing the background color every now and then

i'd like to make an animation one day. it's definitely going to be a shitpost and a very unserious situation, but i'd like to make an animation one day

i expected struggling to catch up with requests, but i genuinely didn't expect about two new requests a day?? i really thought i had to pad out the days with more of my original situations, but i'm actually glad i have such a big selection of requests with a decent variety. Aside from arei's many, many crimes.

if you're still here... thank you so, so much! for reading until the end and entertaining my side project! i've never been a particularly "active" artist and tend to lurk more often than not, but seeing the same people regularly come and leave little comments in their reblogs does something to my heart that i didn't think could ever happen. even seeing new people excites me, because i think this is the smallest fandom i've ever been in? i hope i can keep this blog going…!

[bluehouryoongi]

BITE ME- 2: The Party

Pairing: Jake x Female Reader

Genre: Vampire Enhypen and Human Reader College Strangers to Friends to Lovers!AU

Synopsis: Set in present-day Pacific Northwest US. Y/n in a college student, and keeps to herself. One day, she has strange encounters with two statuesque men, one of which invites her to a party (at their mansion ofc) where she drunkenly confesses that she can't pay her rent. Vast and highly believable events ensue, leading to her live with 7 a-little-too-perfect guys. That's all you need to know.

← Masterlist – Next→

When I walk in the door of my apartment I see that mail has been dropped off. On the top is an envelope that reads *URGENT RENT NOTICE* Shit. It’s due again already? There’s no way I have enough. With all of my classes, I barely have time to pick up shifts at the bookstore. I do as much as I can, but clearly it is not enough. I wouldn’t have this problem if I could have a few roommates…I haven’t been able to find any that would work, though. Everytime I meet up with someone, it is clear that their definition of sharing chores and keeping the apartment in order are VERY different from mine. Do I have a problem? maybe…slightly…I just like to keep things clean. When they are not clean I get panicked, and start sweating and breathing heavily. I know I should just suck it up and get roommates no matter what state they keep their rooms in. The alternative is having to go and live back at home…which is hours away. Not exactly a daily commute distance. I sigh heavily, because this is the last thing I need to be worrying about right now. The semester is ramping up, and my classes are keeping me extremely busy. I hardly have time to eat.

My mind shifts to the party I agreed to go to tomorrow. Now, I am considering that it’s not such a good idea. What was I thinking? I don’t have time to go to parties, I have papers to write! Something about Jake though… it draws me in. Sunoo, too. Even after the short interactions we had I am intrigued and want to know more. They have eyes that make me forget who I am, and what I was thinking. I shake away the thought. I will just reevaluate tomorrow. Right now, I have two papers due that require all of my attention.

Before that, though, I need to spill all of this to Gracie. She knows better than anyone that I rarely have information to gossip about boys. I pull up her contact and hit facetime. She answers immediately.

“Hiiii” She says

“Hi. So. Super weird day.”

“Oh? Tell me more. Did a goose chase you to your car again?”

She will never let me live that down. “No, actually. This has to do with the statues.”

“SPILL!” She practically yells

“Okay, okay… so I ran into Jake today. Like actually rammed into him because I wasn’t looking in front of me because of the rain. Then he gave me his umbrella. Before you ask, yes, he is perfect up close”

She squeals. I’m smiling, too, because this is the most excitement I have had all semester. “Then at work Sunoo comes in and just like, lounges up against the front desk. He doesn’t even look around the store, he just kinda…stared at me? I don’t know. Then he invited me to a party that’s happening at their house tomorrow, and for some reason I said I would go.”

“Oh. My. God.”

“I know.”

“This is insane!!!! Wait, do you think he knows who you are? Do you think he planned to invite you specifically and that’s why he came into the store? What will you wear?!”

For the next hour we go over the interactions multiple times. If there's one thing we are gonna do, it’s overanalyze. I hang up the phone feeling winded from laughing so much. I am actually looking forward to tomorrow now, just thinking about relaying the entire experience back to her the next day. Once I have settled down I realize it is almost midnight and I need to get to homework.

I sit at my desk, put on my classical music playlist, and get to work. Hours later as I lay in bed, I think about my interactions with the two mysterious boys. Why can’t I shake the feeling that I want to know them more? –

I am looking at my closet and quickly realize I have nothing that works to go to this party. Judging by Sunoos clothes yesterday, which was (likely luxury) black straight leg pants, a tastefully oversized sweater, and a long jacket over the top, I can imagine his party outfit will be just as impressive. I try to remember what Jake was wearing and my memory falls short. I was so focused on the fact that he was actually in front of me that I did not take the time to assess his fashion choices. I smile to myself, thinking about the umbrella he gave me. Chivalry is not dead, I guess.

Okay, back to business. I rifle through my closet, and end up deciding to try and replicate what Sunoo wore. Is that weird? I mean, my version looks very different. I end up choosing a pair of straight leg black pants, a dark red corset-style top (something in me decided to buy it months ago and I have never had an opportunity to wear it out), and of course I throw on a chunky knit cardigan on top. Because I may be going to a party, but I am still me.

I opt to keep my hair as-is, mostly because I don’t know how to do anything else. It’s getting longer, probably the longest it's been since high school, hitting just past my shoulders. For makeup, I do a simple winged eyeliner, with lots of blush on my cheeks. Looking at my reflection, I think damn, okay. I did that.

I decide to just wear my sneakers, because I'm not like other girls.

In reality, it is just all I have and I doubt anyone will look at my feet at a party. I check the time, my phone reading 8:36pm. I take a deep breath, grab my purse, and head out the door.

The drive takes about 15 minutes; their house is a little out of the way. I don’t know what to expect as I turn onto a long driveway. I have heard people talk at school, saying that the boys live in a mansion or a castle. I never thought that would be literally true until it is right in front of me.

Wow. This place is massive. I don’t find myself around mansions…ever, actually so I can’t really judge. All I know is the expansive modern/minimalist house is very large, and very nice. Warm lighting spills from inside, and I can’t help but think about how inviting it looks. Something about the persona and reputation of the boys had me expecting it to look cold and dark, but I am quickly realizing I might be reading too many gothic novels.

I find a place to park and take a deep breath. This is WAY outside of my comfort zone. I don’t have many friends, which is how I like it. College people are a lot of work. My mom tells me I'm an old soul because I spend my weekends at a book club with women 50 years and older. It is just easier that way. There is no drama, no misunderstanding, and no unrealistic expectations.

Something about Sunoo made me want to do what he said. Not in a demanding sort of way, just in that something about our personalities just clicked. I think I might have a chance of making a friend my age after all.

–

I can hear the noise of lots of people inside. I am thoroughly intimidated, but I am already here so, fuck it. I open the front door- because I won’t be the person who knocks at a party. I have some sense. I walk in, squeezing past crowds of people. Loud music blares, although I don’t know from where. There must be speakers all throughout this house with how much it is projecting.

A makeshift dance floor has formed, with a few too many people grinding than I want to make eye contact with. As I try and make a beeline out of that area, I feel myself trip on someone's foot. Great. Before I can fully flail and make a fool of myself, I feel arms grab a hold of my wrists and steady me.

I look up and make eye contact with my savior. I am met with deeply brown eyes, long eyelashes, an absurdly chiseled jawline, and tastefully thick eyebrows.

“You okay?” I read his lips, but I can’t hear him over the loud music.

I nod my head in response, and realize I am just as much clutching to his wrists as he is mine. To be honest, I have no idea how much time passes as we stand there, holding wrists and looking into each other's eyes like we are in some romance movie.

Our contact is broken, but only for him to lightly grab hold of my shoulders and bring me closer to him. So close that I no longer can see his face and only feel his breathe on my ear as he says:

“That was definitely my foot you tripped on. I’m sorry.”

I shift so that it is my mouth almost touching his ear in order to respond by saying:

“It could have been anyone. We are packed like sardines in here and I wasn’t exactly paying attention to whose feet were where.” I smile, which I know he can feel because I can see goosebumps form on his porcelain neck.

I lean back, so we are facing each other again. This much eye contact would normally make me squirm, but I am surprisingly keeping my cool. Although I have never met him, I recognize as being one of the guys who lives here. There is perfection about him that can be only described as ethereal. Like a statue.

Okay. Let me not gawk at him.

I clear my throat and look around me. Trying to not make it obvious that I don’t know where to take this conversation.

When I look back at him, there is a ghost of a smile on his lips.

He leans in again, his scent invading my headspace. It's all woody and masculine, but not heavy on the cologne. I can’t help but swoon a little bit.

“I’m Sunghoon,” he says. “And you look like you could use a drink.”

“Yes.” I reply. “I’m y/n.”

The smile, or maybe I should say half smile, stays. I can’t help but notice it falters for just a half second, though.

He grabs a hold of my hand and starts leading me through the crowd before I can overthink that split change in expression. At least I don’t have to worry about tripping over anyone’s toes, the crowd parts for Sunghoon effortlessly. We approach a bar- yes an actual bar. In the house. Money never ceases to amaze me.

Manning the booth is a tall, dark haired, (almost equally to Sunghoon) chiseled individual. I notice there is more of a point to his face, and his expression stays hard. When Sunghoon approaches, he nods in silent recognition. His eyes shift to me, and there lies a question in his eyes. No doubt wondering who I am, and why I am glued to Sunghoon’s side. I am not intentionally staying so close, it just so happens that it's hard to keep a distance when there are so many people packed in a room. Not that I’m complaining. There’s a safety I can’t explain standing with him.

Sunghoon walks behind the bar like he owns the place. Which, I guess he kind of does.

They each have an energy about them that is so magnetizing I just can’t seem to pull away, nor do I want to. He looks over to me, grinning, and I melt. I am no better than the gossiping girls who fawn over the elusive statue boys. He hands me a reddish pink drink in a glass. I look around to the others around me. Everyone else is holding red solo cups, which is what I expected as well. But no, I have an ice- cold crystal glass in my hands. I almost hold it with both hands just to be cautious. I take a small sip to find a very strong vodka cranberry. I don’t drink often, so I know I will have to nurse this one drink all night in order to not regret all my choices.

Sunghoon rejoins me at my side, holding an identical glass. A comfortable silence surrounds the two of us as we stand on the outskirts of the thick crowd of partiers.

“y/n.” I can feel his breath on my ear, shivers running through my body.

“Hm?” I reply, turning to face him again.

“You’ve never come to our parties before.” It’s not a question.

“No, I haven’t. How did you know?”

“You are clearly not comfortable here. Plus I would have known.” He doesn’t elaborate just how he would have known.

“Hm.” I say again. Why do I keep humming? My mind is swimming with thoughts and completely blank simultaneously.

Just before he can say another word, I feel someone grab both my shoulders.

“You came!!” Sunoo. I take a relaxed breath.

“Hi!” I say and turn to face him.

He wraps me in a hug. I’m a little stiff, as I would not have expected this level of affection, however I lean into it. It’s nice.

“I didn’t think you would actually show. You look hot by the way. All the right choices.” I feel triumphant.

“Thank you,” I say with a smile. I don’t know when we became such good friends, but I am not mad about it. I haven’t felt this kind of friendship in…years.

“Do you dance?” he asks, “Please come dance”

How could I say no? With the twinkle in his eye, I could never.

“Sure, yeah, let's do it!”

I feel additionally much more open to the idea of dancing with Sunoo after that strong ass drink Sunghoon gave me. Why on earth wouldn’t I want to dance?

Kesha is blaring through the speakers, and I yell to Sunoo who has started to drag me out to the middle of the dancefloor, “This is my shit!!”

Was it? Who cares, I felt free, and you bet your ass I was about to jump around to “blow” by Kesha.

Before I can think deeply of it, I look back to Sunghoon. He is leaning against the wall, watching. His glass is empty now, that same light grin on his lips. His lips. They look so good. Should I tell him? I definitely drank too much of my Vodka cranberry in an effort to do something with myself while just standing there next to Sunghoon. It was the party equivalent to twiddling my thumbs.

Before I could finish that thought about whether or not I should tell Sunghoon just how good he looks (which I definitely should not), Sunoo and I are jumping around on the dance floor. I don’t know what comes over me, and yet I am moving my body in ways I never have before.

I feel Sunoo’s body tight next to mine, jumping and shaking and laughing. I haven’t had this much fun…ever.

We are holding hands, singing in each other's faces, and thoroughly getting into it. When I can feel my hair sticking to my face from sweat, I know it's time I find some water.

I mouth “water!” to Sunoo, who nods in agreement and takes my hand. We walk back to the bar, laughing and singing the current song. The guy behind the bar, (was he this handsome before, or did he get handsome-er?) shakes his head, clearly this not being the first time he’s seen Sunoo like this.

“Water please, Jay!!” Sunoo yells. Jay. So that’s his name. “Make it ICY!”

Jay hands us our waters, this time in red cups, and adds “ICE water, your majesty” and adds in a little bow, clearly joking. So he’s funny. I like him.

Right now, I like everything. Why don’t I drink more often?

Sunoo leads me to a quiet corner. I think it's a separate room, or maybe a hallway. I don’t know. Things are fuzzy.

I sink to the floor, to which Sunoo follows suit.

“Your house…is massive.” I say. No shit.

He laughs. “Yeah. Too big for its own good.”

I just smile. “I'm jealous” I say, getting far too close to his face.

He looks at me, more serious this time. “Where are you living, anyway?”

“Hmm…like 15 minutes from here? Close to campus. It’s a tiny apartment. Not for long, though”

“You’re moving?” I think I see a look of concern on his face, but it’s gone faster than it came.

“Maybe? I might be forced to. I got another letter today telling me to pay my rent, in Big. Bold. Letters.” Why am I saying all this? Why can’t I stop? Oh god, I am going to say more. “The problem is…I don’t have the money” I’m slurring some of my words.

“You can’t pay your rent?” Now he definitely sounds concerned.

Oh no, I can’t have him feeling bad for me. Not when we just met and now I am trauma dumping on him.

“Well, no, not technically. I just need to get some roommates? The problem is… I can’t find…any…they are all so dirty and so much drama. I can’t do it. I would rather move back home.”

“Where is home?” He asks, so gently.

“About…6 hours away? Give or take?” I don’t know how I would be able to stay in school if I had to move back home. My dream has always been to come to college, and I can feel it slipping away. My eyes start to pool.

I cannot cry to Sunoo right now. Before I can get up and pretend this conversation ever happened, he says, “We have lots of extra rooms.”

I’m confused. Is he just saying that to flaunt how big their house is? He doesn’t seem like the type, but I don’t know him, not really. I don’t say anything.

“I could talk to the boys.” He says, as if this clarifies anything.

Because I am drunk, and filter be damned, I reply, “I’m sorry…what? What are you saying?”

He chuckles. “You could stay in one of our rooms. We have plenty, many more than we could ever need. I’ll talk to the boys.”

This is insane. “No…no, I could never ask you to do that. I hope you don’t think I- I didn’t say all that just for you to offer…i’m fine.” my response comes out choppy and I am moving my hands around far too much, but I can’t help it. I could never accept something like this. Especially not from him, who I literally just met.

“Shhhh. I’m not saying they will say yes. I’m just saying I'll ask them. Okay?”

And because I literally cannot say no to this man (seriously is he magic or something?) I just nod slowly, and then weakly say “okay.”

He smiles, satisfied, and stands up. Clearly he has not drunk as much as me, or just has a higher tolerance. I, however, get up slowly using the wall the whole way up to stabilize. My head is spinning. It’s about time I call it a night. I follow Sunoo back into the party chaos.

“I think…I need to go home.” I tell him.

“Okay, did you drive here? You definitely cannot drive home.” Shit. I forgot.

“Um…yeah I did. Maybe I could Uber?” I should never have drank. I’m supposed to be saving money, not spending it on an Uber ride home from a party. I needed to loosen up, though, and I somehow can’t feel bad for all the fun I had tonight.

“Wait here…I’ll be right back.” He says and disappears into the crowd. How does he move so quickly? I swear he just disappeared in front of my eyes. Wow, I’m a lightweight. Noted.

I lean up against the wall, just watching the crowd. I have no idea where Sunoo went off to, but I don’t have it in me to think deeply about it. I lightly shut my eyes when I feel the presence of someone right in front of me. Sunoo’s back, and he brought someone.

“You know Jake, right?” He asks me. This wakes me right up, and I straighten up and clear my throat. I think I even attempt to fix my hair.

“Um…yeah. I think…I’ve met him before…” Or literally yesterday. Or took a class with him last semester. Or have seen him around and watched him from afar a few too many times. None of these things I say.

“Hi,” he says, doing a little wave. Wow, he's cute.

“Hi” I say, and smile lightly.

“Jake is going to drive you home. Okay? He hasn’t drank tonight. I was going to ask Hoon but he’s already four drinks deep.” Is Sunoo my guardian angel or something? He’s being so kind, and I don’t know why. I appreciate it, but it's unexpected with the cold exterior all of the statue boys have. It’s a nice surprise.

“Oh…that’s okay! I can just order an Uber or something! Really, don’t worry about it.” I reply.

“I don’t mind.” Jake replies. He doesn’t sound annoyed, which is good. I don’t have the energy to argue any more about it, so I reply,

“Thank you, really. I’ll repay you somehow” I’m not sure how, but surely there’s something I can do for him.

He just grins and turns, expecting me to follow, which I do. We weave through bodies to go into another unknown hallway. The sounds of the party are distant now, but we still don’t say anything. He opens a door, leading to a garage. We are met with a long row of cars, all of which look brand new and expensive. Jake walks over to a small black Porsche and opens the passenger side door, gesturing for me to get in, which I do.

“Thanks.” I say. The car smells amazing. I can’t quite place it but it's my kryptonite…clean. It sounds weird, but something being clean is quite possibly the best thing ever to me. I close my eyes and take a deep breath in. Jake gets into the driver's seat. I try not to stare but…he’s wearing a black t-shirt, and it fits in all the right places. He isn’t exactly bulky, but it's clear he is strong. Veins gently protrude from his arm, running down to his hands. Okay, I’m definitely staring. The man is beautiful, with skin that looks like glass. How is that even possible?

I look up to his face, where he is staring at me. He noticed me checking him out. Yikes, I will lie awake thinking about that fact later. He doesn’t look disgusted, though. He actually looks almost…amused? I’m reminded by the fact that he is ogled by every other girl at the University. This is not a rare occurrence for him, and he probably expects no less.

I look away, suddenly finding my hands very interesting. He turns on the car, and looks behind him as he backs the car out of the garage. Thank god for the radio, which breaks the silence. As we settle into the drive, I try to focus on the music rather than the very beautiful and large man next to me.

He clears his throat. “Uh, what’s your address?” he asks. Oh right, of course he wouldn’t just know where I live. I tell him, and he nods his head like he knows where he’s going. He doesn’t plug it into maps. Confident.

“Are you taking any other literature courses this semester?” I ask, genuinely curious.

“What?” Oh my god, does he not remember that we took a class together?

It’s okay, it’s fine. Let’s be confident. No going back, now. “We took the same Romanticism Literature class last semester. You might not have seen me… I only talked a few times…” Or every class. I was one of those people who would raise my hand when no one else would, which just happened to be just about every class. Other than when Jake chimed in.

“Oh yeah, I remember you. No actually, I’m not taking any literature courses. I wanted to, it just didn’t really fit with my schedule.”

“I hate when that happens” I reply.

“What about you?” He asks

“Oh, yeah I am taking a few. I am an English Lit major so it’s kind of required”

He chuckles lightly at this, which makes me feel like I won the lottery. I steal a look over to him to see if I can catch a glimpse of his smile. It’s gone before I could, back to the ever-stoic Jake.

We fall into another silence, though this time much more comfortable. Before I know it, we pull into the parking lot of my apartment complex. It just now occurs to me that we simply left my car back at their house.

“Thank you so much, really. I appreciate it a lot. I don’t drink much, so I guess I didn’t realize I’m that much of a lightweight.”

He shakes his head, “no problem, glad you got home safe.”

“Should I…come pick up my car tomorrow?” This is awkward.

“Will you be on campus tomorrow?” he asks.

“Yeah, I was planning on being in the library for a while, why?”

“I can just meet you on campus and drive you back to my place. From there you can take your car.” Wow, how are they all so generous?

“That’s perfect. Thank you so much, I’m sorry to put so much trouble on you”

He looks right into my eyes, and I would lie if I pretended my heart didn’t squeeze at his brown eyes. “It's no trouble. I'll find you tomorrow.”

“Great.” I reply. I unbuckle and start to get out of the car, but he grabs my wrist. I turn to face him again, but he says first;

“Drink some water, and take some medicine. You’ll thank me tomorrow.” His eyes are so kind, I could look into them forever. I almost just do, but then I remember this is reality and not my dream world. So I just smile, tight-lipped, and get out of the car.

The cool air is a nice change, as I notice how warm my cheeks got in Jake’s presence. It might be the alcohol, right?

[mad-rdr]

August Reads

6 books this month!

The Kingdom of Copper by S. A. Chakraborty (★ ★ ★ ★/5): If I could summarize this book in one sentence it would be: a war where neither side is right and everyone dies. If you can’t tell, this book was INSANE. There was so much happening the entire time and everytime I thought my opinions on a character were certain, they did something that completely changed my mind again. There were so many loyalty changes and assassination attempts and self-righteous speeches. My only complaint is that I feel because there are so many characters to keep track of and develop, there’s not really any huge character arcs that should have happened.

The Duchess War by Courtney Milan (★ ★ ★/5): cute and basic regency-era romance. Gotta love a revolutionary duke who realizes he's unmatched when it comes to the woman he loves

Leather & Lark by Brynne Weaver (★ ★ ★/5): Butcher & Blackbird works because it's one of a kind and this sequel is obviously trying to capitalize on that success. Not to say this book wasn't enjoyable, it just wasn't as fun as the first one. The whole fake marriage thing barely makes sense, I really don't get why Lark would bother to try and save Lochlan's life. But anyways, cheers to enemies to lovers ig

Icebreaker by Hannah Grace (★ ★/5): While not a good book (which I knew going in), I was finding it relatively entertaining until the last 20% of the book. Anastasia is honestly so annoying and Nathan gets gross and controlling towards the end. The conflict with Aaron was incredibly drawn out and super repetitive and don’t even get me started on her being pregnant in the epilogue. Anyways- it was fun till it kinda wasn’t but eh, I wasn’t expecting quality.

Raven Rock by Nichole Louise (★ ★ ★ ★/5): A historical fiction book placed right in the heart of the American Revolution, it explains the origins of the legend of the Headless Horseman. And let me just say, wow. It started off a little slow, but by halfway through I was fully engaged in the story. Wolfram was such a compelling character, with his internal conflict regarding his uncle, a man who had been like a father to him, and his ruthlessness during the war. He defies him and ends up saving a child from a burning building, becoming a traitor in the process. His time in Sleepy Hollow with Hulda (resident healer that is seen as a witch and therefore outcasted) was so fun to read about and makes the tragedy of it all that more devastating. I am glad that Wolfram got his revenge against his uncle for not only killing his father but also killing him. I like to think Hulda and Wolfram are haunting Raven Rock together and have found each other in their afterlives. This truly was such a great read and I’m glad I pick led it up. Shoutout to Herkules, the best horse companion a man could have.

The Empire of Gold by S. A. Chakraborty (★ ★ ★ ★ ★/5): I take back everything I said in the last book about there being too many characters to give them proper arcs. This series finale proved me wrong and I am so, so glad. This series has only gotten better with each book and this was definitely the best one. Nahri and Ali cross the world, find allies in ancient beings, come into new powers, discover family secrets, overthrow a mass murderer, and are rebuilding Daevabad from the ground up. They are such a fun pair and I’m truly glad they’ve found their way back to each other. For Dara, I just feel an immense sadness for him. His story is a tragedy and so nuanced and complex- the author did a really good job of handling it and giving him a fitting ending. There’s so much more I could talk about but just know that this was such a good ending and, in one way or another, everyone is working towards their own peace.

[darlingpwease]

Reader name now please :)) /j that's insane tho, I've read TGCF and SVSSS, and I've recently started reading MDZS. SVSSS is my favorite tho, but Mo Xiang Tong Xiu's works are amazing omgomg– There's very little content of them here on tumblr so it was like a blessing (no pun intended) when I saw you upload content for it!! You never cease to surprise me that's for sure /t /pos

I know damn well that I'd worship him so much that I'll challenge Hua Cheng 🛐🛐 I wanna cherish him and love him loads n loads– and even when you don't remember him, everytime you see him again you can't help but feel a tug towards him, a need, a crave,, and it drives you crazy, but when you find out he feels the same you can help but be blissfully happy about it. How no matter how many lifetimes you go through, you always remain his most loyal follower <333

-panna cotta

no<3 I know your fox habits, I won't fall for them again to let you escape~ /t /hj /pos she's my precious little thing~ she was very shy, but she wrote huge texts and was very deeply interested in asian mythology and elements of culture. I still remember how we discussed about the SVSSS and Luo Binghe & unhealthy dynamic.

I,,,, won't deny that I know the plot a little and spoilers, but I can't sit down and read it completely, it's much more interesting for me to read synopses, theories and headcanons than the original<///3

I mean, then why don't I see anything about it from you? huh? I caught you by your fox tail, didn't I? <333 /t /nsrs But seriously, I don't know, it's not that I've ever been passionate about these novels, but after I started hanging out with ai all the time... maybe I've become weaker towards them😔😔😔

I love you too, dear, I was also surprised when I saw that you even know about this novel,,,, although I probably shouldn't have, considering how much I talk to you and how little I know, because you just don't talk🙄🙄🙄 /t /j /nsrs

yes!!! yes, yes, Hua Cheng, you're cute and pretty, and you've done a good job and you're a good boy, now move away, I want to kiss this prettiest hubby<3333

whenever you see red earrings, dark hair, white clothes, gentle smiles, flowers, hear about the Gods and catch yourself thinking that your lover should definitely dance beautifully and do calligraphy, although it's not that you have someone who taught you such preferences or something like that — you just always knew that your lover is a picky eater, that he does not know how to cook well, that he loves flowers, that he believes that he can make people happy and will be ready to follow you to heaven and descend into the world of demons, just like you for him. even if he is naive and idealistic, believing that everything can be easily solved, loved and spoiled by everyone around, you loved him even before you met him, and you knew that it would be mutual, necessarily mutual. it doesn't matter what he looks like, it doesn't matter how you look, after all, this is your common tao of "loving each other" — at least that's what he tells you, gently kissing your face, whispering that you've already seen each other, you already know each other, while his thin fingers squeeze yours, intertwining just as your destinies are intertwined.

so gentle and loving when he clings to you, finally having the opportunity to hug you and cuddle, kiss, touch, love, knowing that nothing else is burdening either you or him, and seeing that you are as much the most devoted follower for him as he is for you, always knowing God about which no one taught you.

of course, you may be confused or confused, hearing that he is a God, knowing that the Gods cannot descend, but he does not regret it at all, in blind despair, clinging to you, kissing, feeling how the bitterness fills him when you do not look so absorbed in him, already wondering rather why he is so familiar do you know why this gentle smile and eyes full of adoration fill you with longing and sorrow that you could not live in past lives, still carrying a traumatic experience, and Xie Lian understands why you react this way, he understands everything, he's not as selfish and ignoring as before, but he can't help distracting you with petting and cuddling to you like a puppy, as before, and you feel a strange bitter joy seeing him trying to shrink into a hot lump on your chest, hiding his face like he did before. you know he's done this before.

but you can't remember when.

I look at him and think, "he's so cute. and so innocent. and so pretty. I want. I want to make him suffer or corrupt. or both. yes, both are good."

[asaxophony]

So finished the Final Shape campaign, or idk? act 1 or whatever. putting my thoughts on it below a read more to avoid spoilers. So spoliers ahead you've been warned.

I am of course going to mention the $100 dlc. I'm going to do this everytime. I'm never going to shut up about how much I hate the seasonal activities/fomo shit, it's why I stopped playing in between lightfall/final shape. I could write an entire fucking dissertation on it. I don't like it, I think it's a poor way to write a developing story. Not that I don't understand the content drip model and the reasoning behind it, I dislike it and I don't think they always do it well. I don't like when games become a chore. I shouldn't end up resent playing to stay up with the fomo. That's all for another post. Just know, I disliked Lightfall. I wrote an entire thing on Lightfall as well, where I went over similar points, I'm not going to rehash them. You can find it here: [link]

The servers never work the 1st day, surprising absolutely no one. it's not worth complaining about. Moving on.

Section i. MECHANICS + PUZZLES + BOSSES

These made and broke the campaign for me so. The 1st thing I'm going to talk about is mechanics.

First lets talk about the...sort of puzzle mechanics? If you count being able to identify shapes a puzzle. The dials were a fun, novel experience, maybe a bit tedious but they only show up once for some reason? And then oh look! We get to find and shoot shapes and then we got to kill enemies to find shapes and run through them. Weird it's almost like I've done this 5 billion times before in the last two raids. Now don't get me wrong, Vow is my favourite raid and I was very excited to see more symbols. But I was hoping we would do a little bit more than kill enemies to find symbol than run through it, especially bc vow had more interesting mechanics involved with the symbols. I also kind of lost interest when I realized it was only 4 new symbols and that we'd only be killing enemies and running through things. Over. And over. And over again. But whatever I like identifying shapes and giving them funny names.

And we got our acorns and balls of light back from Root. Maybe because I've done Root so many fucking times grinding nez for his exotic and I had so many abysmal runs getting people through it for the first time. But I really hate those orbs and acorns. Maybe it's because I'm always the runner? Suffice to say, seeing those acorns and balls triggers a deep seated dread into my entire being. I see them and I just know whatever is about to happen is going to be annoying. And I was not wrong. The mote sections were passable, it was a fun mechanic in Prophecy I won't really complain about them. I liked the aegis turning some to light and others to dark. But oh dear god, the rest of the mechanics with the acorns were horrific. That poison debuff? Evil. But whatever shooting acorns to get a buff to avoid a debuff and or an attack that will kill me. Familiar.

I personally would've preferred some newer mechanics. Not like I don't understand the thematic callback or anything but it just would've been nice. Perhaps more dials? If you've never done the raids and these were new and exciting mechanics to you, I do envy your ability to look at balls and acorns with awe and excitement instead of going oh these fucking things again? But if you liked looking at symbols, killing enemies to look at symbols and looking for symbols and running through them, Vow is right there. And you get to memorize 21 more of them! And give them funny names! Who doesn't want to play with people who's ability to use words to describe visuals is somehow worse than your average elementary student's! And if for whatever insane reason you liked running to acorns and shooting them to not wipe and die, Root is also there but you will have a worse time. Anyway go do Vow. Go lfg it right now.

AAAAnnnd onto the bosses where all of these fun mechanics combine into their own special kind of hell if you're playing the legendary campaign and a little bit less hell if you're playing normal.

When you're designing a boss encounter, there's some criteria involving the context in which the boss is functioning. In what type of content is the boss fight? Casual, campaign, end-game skill level, a raid? A strike? A dungeon? No one wants a bullet sponge but It's acceptable for a raid boss to be one. It's the raid boss. It's an end game bad guy. There's 6 of you. But if you're in a strike? Where people don't normally coordinate OR communicate? Things can't be that hard. Dungeons, a little bit more high tier. The campaign though? Something that needs to be able to completed on solo, having encounters taking the length of a raid boss gets tedious and boring very fast.

Bungie designs their boss encounters in 3 ways:

The Open Health Bar. You never have to stop shooting the boss, it's always damageable. This leads to power creep causing your strike team of 3 to insta one shot strike bosses such as the servitor from the prison of elders.

The Damage Gate. Everyone's favorite. Once this boss reaches a certain damage threshold, it becomes immune or leaves the arena. A mechanic or add phase must be completed before it returns. Commonly seen on strike boss. Occasionally a damage gated boss can be pushed past the damage gate if enough concentrated dps is given out, this usually bugs out the boss bc you're reaching multiple thresholds at once and causing multiple mechanic phases to trigger. A great example is the hobgoblin boss in the former prymidion strike, who would be in its immune phase but also in it's final phase at the same time where it teleports around and kills you. This is of course more from power creep, and could be avoided by adjusting light level entering an activity etc.

Timed DPS. A mechanic must be completed to get a specific limited time period to dps. This leads to highly concentrated and coordinated dps. Every raid boss ever. High dps is rewarded by having no damage gates ie. single phasing/two phasing a raid boss. Damage gates may be present due to final stands or implemented by players using specific strategies.

This campaign consisted purely of damage gated bosses for the most part. Some of them, once you had the initial shield/immune off were free game but I can only think of one encounter where that happened. Which....is also bad. For me, all of the bosses just blur completely together. The ones that stand out? Zavala's cabin and the final Witness fight. There's...the ogre. The knight who I only remember because he was the one boss who wasn't damage gated, The fanatic. Was there another ogre? That's like all I can remember, which considering I was stuck on some of them for like an hour or so is uhh hm. I guess also the tormentors but they don't really have mechanics that aren't "run in a circle and take pot shots". So all the bosses (besides the tormentors) share this, I am immune you must kill something, perform some mechanic to unshield me where then you can damage me, but also I am damage gated so you will always have to do it more than once.

Each damage gate may have different mechanics but all of them involved killing something to get the aegis to drop. Where you'd do the same thing (shoot the barrier). Sometimes the adds you had to kill to get the thing to drop to break the bosses shield were also immune and you had to break THEIR shield. How fun interesting and varied. Occasionally you had to kill things to get symbols to look at to get the shield to drop instead of just killing subjugators. At least I can say the bosses where you had to teleport to go somewhere were like slightly more interesting encounters? I felt like I was doing busy work in there.

Honestly the best I can chalk it up to was. It felt bit like I was doing seasonal content. Go do a mission, fight a boss that uses the mechanics just little bit different, come back to camp talk to everyone to get the next step, go back out there to kill another boss that has the same mechanics.

So I found most of the the boss encounters fairly lack luster. I never really had a "Wow" moment (even on the final encounter. Oh look subjugators again!). I think not developing unique bosses added to this. They were all reskins or things I've killed 5 thousand times before. Like we did get new enemies not like a lot of them but they were there. Why wasn't one of the bosses like a giant grim or something. Or one of those horrible hive knife creatures. Why not reskin the doggies into something knew and make a giant one one of the bosses? I don't know. Like especially after Savuthan's bossfight. I mean that shit was intense.

While playing Legendary I also encountered a few run ending bugs, such as the tormentors somehow grabbing you without touching you and leaving you suppressed and stuck only able to spin in a circle while several feet away from it. Which was such a fun way to eat a rez token. Also the dying light counters being extremely fucked up. We'd have the counters start at like 3 seconds for no discernible reason, leading to a wipe when there were still rez tokens.

The Final Encounter (I never want to see an acorn again)

It wasn't great. It sucked on normal. It sucked worse on legendary. Also the witness kept bugging out and getting stuck in the center. I've never had to google how to solve a campaign boss fight in destiny but I had to here! When you pick up the aegis and your ghost shouts, use the light! It never occurred to me there'd be light elsewhere in the arena. This is because in prior usage of the aegis voice lines suggested using it's light to do things and such which made me connect the light to the aegis (the aegis is light, use the light) and also no other boss fight or any other encounter in the campaign had us charge our light with the light fissures. Yeah we communed with it once to get a super but again once and it was to communicate with the traveler and I suppose there's prior story stuff that involved standing in wells of light but that's vaulted now so hey it doesn't count. We also never used it in context of the aegis. I realized after I did it correctly that a waypoint pops up, but it literally only popped up for me once. This could've like very easily been avoided by including like the ghost mentioning light fissures or light pooling up. Or seeing light fissures in that spot as you walk into the arena. But whatever! Sure introduce a new mechanic with a three word voice cue and nothing else. And I know what you're thinking, you didn't look around the arena when you had the aegis? No! I didn't think I had to! I also never realized how bad the field of view is on Destiny until I was playing games with adjustable fields of view. You are so fucking zoomed in. There was no way I was seeing it unless I was actively walking, looking or running around, which I didn't think I needed to do because it was a raid wide. I was mostly looking at the Witness thinking I had to time the shield at the correct cast time. Anyway the final encounter was hellish I never want to back in there again thanks for coming to my TEDtalk.

Section ii. PRISMATIC

Perhaps I'd like it more if I didn't need it to make enemies not immune. Who knows. I think I honest to god would've preferred just an actual new super.

Overall, felt underwhelming to me. I liked the mixing and matching but it was fairly restricted considering you need to find aspects etc in the campaign, some are just locked by default so you can only mix and match so much. Some really good synergy with other builds. I can say for hunter the healing options were fairly limited, if I didn't feel like I needed to keep it on for the prismatic enemies I would've kept my golden gun build or used my void survival one. New blade dancer is....javelin throw the second? I would've preferred a roaming version, or well I mean you can fire it off more than once I guess so its sort of roaming. Who am I kidding, I just want the old one back, do you have any idea how gross I was in crucible with that thing? We'll see how it does with exotics. Will probably good in pvp at least.

Section iii. DESIGNS + VISUALS

Bungie is once again good at designing things, yay! Even if a lot of it is reused assets.

And I know everyone's like yaaaay new area! And the new area is very nice and pretty and has some really interesting unique designs and forms, I would've liked to see....less reused assets? The whole reflection of the outside thing is. It's fine. And I mean knew it was coming from all of the developer sneak peeks and what not. It just would've been nice to have some more alien-esque areas that were perhaps more weird and traveler-esque like the Root of Nightmare plants and such. I really liked the plant life aspects and a lot of the Witness/Pyramid ship areas were killer, I LOVED the ahamkara strike. I just think they should've gone weirder AND creepier.

As usual cohesive visual designs. Would've actually preferred less pre-rendered cutscenes. A lot of them were very jarring and took me out of the game quite a bit. It was pretty frustrating to see our guardian come upon scenes, people, characters etc and then have them just missing in the cutscene? It never really felt like anything was happening to our guardian some of times. Also what the FUCK is the point of having killer fashion when my guardian doesn't show up in any cutscenes so I can take screenshots of them!!??? >:(

I already talked about enemy designs. Could've been more of them. Meh. I do like horrible blade hive creatures. Extremely creepy.

Section iiii. STORY

Overall good, much better than lightfall.

Not a lot to complain about besides Cayde obvi. But meh he has some stupid annoying one liners, the unnecessary comment about Eris that I guess Bungie was like well he needs to make at least one mean comment about Eris or else he's not Cayde despite idk the only reason we're in the Final Shape moment is from things Eris has done in the seasonal stories. I will coincide he has some good story moments that don't make me hate him (as much). Zavala has a fantastic story arch. Targe was great. Loved the infighting between the vanguard. Crow is as usual a hit or miss for me. He never really bothers me. I don't always like his one-liners with Cayde. LOVED LOVED the big titty statues finally becoming relevant. Loved that entire thing. race of big titty aliens apparently. I think it would've been a little bit more impactful if in the final encounter they let the guardian just go ham smashing those statues. Loved the Micah introduction. The hunters are winning in this expansion. Yeah not really a lot for me to super talk about here, they definitely had a strong story, I am excited to see where it goes. Loved the unique hunter based lines you got from Crow and Cayde. In tears over our ghost. I will say I did miss having Eris' and the Drifters inputs on things. I also am again not fond of the lack of guardian in the cutscenes it just again took me out of story, I feel a little bit of a struggle to feel apart of the story.

So act 1 thoughts complete, there's probably more gameplay wise I'll touch on especially in relation to prismatic. We'll see how it goes from there. Excited to do the raid.

Think before you leave an annoying overly aggressive or passive aggressive rant in response. Thanks <3

[iricathel]

just how much are you willing to read about why ruki is the perfect match— i mean rukina is the ship ever and the more i read their interactions the more i find myself nodding along like yeah they’re meant for each other they should get married this instant. wait. they did dfgdfg so i’ll save you the trouble of talking endlessly about the reasons they just click together because i’m sure you know about those already (a future long ass ask maybe? 🙏)

shuu — i think this one would be fun because they strike me as partners in crime. at least a bit. i think shuu would enjoy irina’s attitude and strength and maybe irina might like digging into what shuu’s actual personality is, facade aside. don’t ask me why but i sense some strong magnetism here. hottest blondes in the area, people move aside to stare at them (i at least would)

reiji — i really am not being that original but. hear me out. people that can ruin your self esteem and bring you down to your knees however you wanna take that one. i think reiji can work really great with someone that is both capable and incredibly smart but isn’t afraid to speak their mind. irina’s balance between not letting people step on her while still managing to keep everything under control… a ship filled with political and romantic intrigue (?) also pls reiji would go insane with someone that is both fancy and playful and damn. irina could tease the heck out of him, i’m calling this a win on society

lina ily sorry for the spam <3

Omg Kuu ily so so so so much wtf this is so sweet 😭

— Talking about Rukina, ofc I have my own opinions about their ship since I made them interact not only here, but for YEARS with different people and different sites and it's wild for me how even if the "admin" changes, they still have that magnetism no matter what (and also there's a reason why it's my fav ship sjsjsjsjsj). But ofc I have mostly my view and Ruki's admin too, I'm always glad to read people's opinions about their ship and how they feel them work together since it can open our eyes¿? Like maybe there's something we don't see but it's so obvious for others— So my askbox is always open for all kind of rants everytime you want 😤

— I'll try to save my analysis for the match-making post sjsjsjsjsjsj

It's right that for both Irina and Shuu it will be intriguing to meet each other, since one will feed the other's curiosity — Not to say that also Shuu will enjoy fr teasing Irina. I can also tell as both are candidates for their own clan's throne it would be crazy af if they marry bc imagine all that power??

But I don't wanna break it too much, but even if they can start so well, I think there would be a divorce so fast too sjsjsjsjsjsj But I will talk deeply about this in another post since canonly Irina knows both Shuu and Reiji

— It's funny to me see some people seeing Reiji as a good partner and the arguments are so good tbh, but if you look at it separately.

Reiji with Irina is one of the most problematic ships she could ever have and that's bc the beginning of their relationship is so tense and polemic even they feel uncomfortable with each other's presence bc they snap their traumas. Like they just need to look superficially to each other and they travel again to their childhood to revive their traumas again and over again

+ I feel like Reiji would see Irina as a disgusting woman bc even if our girl is a fancy, elegant woman with some manners, she's clearly not the perfect woman in his eyes either. And that's a problem for both ngl

BUT(T) NOW I SAY AGAIN, I WILL TALK DEEPER ABOUT EVERY GOOD AND BAD POINT FOR EVERY MATCH IN ANOTHER POST probably in a week

Again thank you so much Kuu for writing this bc I also love to see how people pay so much attention to my ships/character that they can tell things I never talked about before here 😭😭