#and my boss was like what the fuck that survivability is so low?? did you count the spicebush and dogwood stakes??

[thedisablednaturalist]

I gotta sleep but my migraine finally fucked off and now im full of anxiety that its going to come back. I work tomorrow but my flare up still hasn't ended. Honestly I feel like this whole past week has been a massive flare up.

[diamonddaze01]

Pairing: lawyer! lsm x engineer! reader | wc: 1.2k a/n: inspired by that one scene from In the Soop where he doesn’t let anyone sleep until they all say “I love you” back to him // dk come here i’ll tell you i love you every minute of every day i swear // 

[23:34] Seokmin’s body feels like a heater tonight, and it’s welcomed - the wind outside is biting. Even under the fuzzy comforter, the chill of the winter night seeps into your bedroom,  but pressed against him, it’s barely noticeable. You’re curled up next to him, head on his chest, legs intertwined, as he absentmindedly cards his fingers through your hair. 

You can feel how tired he is—his chest rises and falls with a deep, steady rhythm, almost lulling you to sleep. You shift slightly, nestling closer to his side, chasing the warmth of his skin. It’s strange how your workdays slow down during this season, while his become a grind of endless hours and stress. You run your fingers lightly over his arm, feeling the tension coiling through his muscles. The silence in the room makes you drowsy, but when he sighs for the fourth time in what seems like 2 minutes, you feel wide awake - he won’t sleep until he’s less stressed (and you know that if he can’t sleep, you won’t be able to sleep either). 

“How was your day?” you ask, breaking the quiet. It’s a simple question, but one you know he needs to hear—it’s like he always feels lighter when he talks about it. He hums before answering, and as he talks, your hand moves from where it rests on his chest, tracing small patterns over his skin through the fabric of his shirt. You shift slightly, and Seokmin’s arms tighten as you settle. 

“Long,” he breathes, the word heavy with exhaustion. “Client meetings, traffic. I barely had time to eat.” His fingers pause briefly in your hair before continuing, almost absentmindedly. “But I survived.”

You smile against his chest, the sound of his heartbeat steady in your ear. “I didn’t do much—just paperwork. It’s weird when my days are quiet, and yours are so chaotic.”

“Lucky,” he murmurs, voice low. “Switch with me next time.” 

“You wouldn’t last a day,” you tease, earning a soft chuckle from him. “At least you’re home now.”

“Yeah.” His voice is soft as he presses a kiss into your hair. “And with you.” He had dragged himself into your bedroom well past 10, barely stopping to give you a kiss hello before he collapsed into the fluffy pillows with a groan. You’d shrieked about getting the pillows wet from the snow on his coat, and had all but dragged him into the closet to force him to change into the matching pajama set you had bought him as a gag present last Christmas.

(Jokes on you, though, he had cackled with laughter when he saw the silly reindeer print, and had vowed to wear it at every given opportunity.)

You didn’t have the heart to nag him about a shower—his eyes were half-closed, dark circles etched deep from the long day. Instead, you just guided him back to bed, slipping under the covers with him as he immediately wrapped himself around you like a blanket.

Seokmin lets out a contented sigh as he holds you closer, both of you falling into an easy rhythm. “How about you? What did Sheila do to you today?”

Your boss’ name sends an involuntary shiver down your spine as you groan, flopping onto your back in a sudden burst of energy. “First off,” you grumble, “no saying the she-devil’s name in our bed, or no sex for a week.” 

Seokmin rolls onto his side to face you, propping his head up with his arm as he raises the other in mock surrender. “That bad, huh?” 

“Five emails, all passive aggressive as fuck, CC’d to the entire team, before lunch,” you pout, and he barks out an incredulous laugh. He shifts closer and pulls you into his chest in an effort to placate you, and any fight you had left in you fizzles out. 

“D’you think she gets a raise every time she makes the whole team miserable?” he murmurs into your hair, and you reward him with a sleepy smile as you lean up to kiss his jaw. 

“Mm,” you agree softly. Goosebumps erupt on his flesh when your breath hits his neck as you continue to talk. “If passive-aggressiveness was a job requirement, she’d be employee of the month.” 

His quiet laughter rumbles beneath you as he shifts again, repositioning so you’re both more comfortably entangled. You’ve been changing positions all night, trying to find that perfect spot, and somehow you always end up curled into him, seeking out his warmth. Despite the cold room, you feel cocooned by the heat between you, your bodies naturally gravitating towards each other.

For a while, neither of you speaks. The silence feels comforting, a kind of unspoken understanding that stretches between you. Even when the conversation dies down, it’s easy to just be with him. No need for words or grand gestures—just the simple, quiet connection of being close after a long day apart.

(Although, you muse silently, the time that he brought home a huge bouquet of flowers and a new charm for your charm bracelet when your company went public was nice.

 “They didn’t have the exact one I wanted,” he had confessed, attaching a silver heart embellished with a doctor’s caduceus to the many other charms he’d given you over the years. “But your product will help so many people, just like doctors do.”  

Grand gestures were unnecessary, but maybe it was time to buy him a new pair of funny pajamas. He’d been working himself into the ground)

It’s you who breaks the silence again, sighing softly. “I missed you.”

Seokmin hums in agreement, pressing a kiss to the top of your head. “I missed you, too. The long days are always worth it if you’re at the end of them.” His voice is low, tender.

His hand lazily traces circles on your back, and you let out a small breath, finally feeling the weight of the day slip away in his embrace. You shift once more, now face-to-face with him, your noses almost touching. He’s staring at you, a tired but affectionate smile tugging at his lips.

“I love you,” he murmurs, his voice a soft whisper. 

You smile sleepily, eyes half-closed. “Me too.”

He stills, pulling back just enough to fix you with a dramatic pout. “That’s not what I said.”

You crack an eye open, met with his mock-serious expression. “But I do love you.”

“No, no. You have to say it back.” His brows furrow as he feigns hurt, the whine in his voice unmistakable. “Properly.”

You bite back a laugh, rolling your eyes playfully as you nuzzle into his chest. “Goodnight, Seokmin.”

He lets out a groan, clearly dissatisfied with your response, and buries his face in the crook of your neck, mumbling something about ‘unfair treatment’ and ‘I can’t believe you don’t love me.’ You shift your arms around him, tugging him closer, feeling the warmth of his breath against your skin.

“Fine, fine,” you say, finally giving in as you press a soft kiss to his cheek. “I love you, Seokmin.”

He grins against your shoulder, his hold on you relaxing. “Goodnight, love.”

[milkypompon]

pairing: Nathan Bateman x F!Reader

summary: Did you wake up in your boss' bed after a night together? Oops...

content: Fluff, morning after, talks of sex, sprinkles of smut

wc: 642

a/n: I am balls deep into Nathan Bateman... I'm rewatching Ex Machina and couldn't help but write for this pathetically genius man.

Main Masterlist

–

The bed underneath you was plush… too soft even.

You roll around in the sheets and still haven’t fallen off the single-sized mattress.

Oh, fuck. 

This was a king-sized mattress. 

And it wasn’t yours for that matter.

“You going to piss on my pillows next? C’mon, finish marking your territory.” A lilt of amusement hidden behind the gruff smirk catches you off-guard.

“I already did last night.” You throw said pillows at Nathan, he sidessteps each one. “Where’d you put my phone?”

Nathan chuckles and leans against the door frame, a towel wrapped low on his waist – freshly bathed with water droplets clinging to his chest. 

You knew that you’d be caught staring anyway, so you didn’t bother being discreet about it.

“Are you gonna take pictures to use as references for solo sessions?” He pushes up his glasses, making a show of it with his fingers. 

You rub the sleep out of your eyes, ineffectively stopping last night’s memories from seeping in. Those deliciously thick digits that plugged his cum back into your cunt, threatening to spill out to his annoyance. 

“Just give it back, Bateman. You and I got shit to do.”

Nathan pouts.

He fucking pouts.

You almost feel bad for wanting to leave but reality gave you a cold-wash of “you just slept with your boss”. 

“Quit thinking so hard, you’re gonna fry your brain.” He fishes your phone from god knows where because he certainly didn’t have pockets sewn into the towel.

“Was that between your ass cheeks?”

He tosses your phone back. “A magician never reveals his secrets.”

The view is “not safe for work” to say the least. 

Your bare back is pressed against the bed, your stiffening nipples exposed to the cool air. The only thing covering you up right now was the thin sheet splayed across your pussy. (Damn rich people and their attraction to minimalism). 

But there was no point of decency now. He’d seen you on your knees and against the wall. 

There were a few places he’s yet to take you like his annoyingly neat desk that you wanted to mess up just for the sake of musing his workspace.

He said it’d be like straight out of a badly written porno. “Hot, billionaire boss fucks ditzy, sexy assistant on his desk during work hours.”

You rolled your eyes. “You sure the title shouldn’t be ‘assistant finds out her boss is actually the owner of PornHub’? How the hell did you come up with it so fast?”

His sweatpants were past his knees but he was rudely interrupted by a call with the board before he could pull your panties off. 

“Alright, sir. You’ve got a long day today.” You open up the Teams app, listing off his daily meetings. 

He plucks your phone and settles your head into the crook of his neck. “I knew you’d do this, pretending like it didn’t happen.”

“I can’t believe I slept with you.”

“I know, I was there.” 

You can’t help it when the corners of your lips curl at his stupid remark.

Nathan beams at drawing out a reaction. “Oh? Is that a smile I see?”

“No, you idiot.” You’re full-on grinning now, cheesing and all.

“Quit worrying about your pretty head, babe. You’re already working full-time at the facility, no one’s gonna know what you’re doing here. Besides, my dick is just a bonus.”

“Is your dick equivalent to a bar of gold? Because I’m gonna need that extra money once I get fired.”

“Now you’re just giving me ideas. Imagine that! A golden dildo molded from my cock.” He strokes his beard. “A true Midas’ touch.” 

You crane over to him, nudging your nose against his. “I’d never survive a day in your mind.”

“Well, you made it through a night with me, so I think it’s fair game.”

I'd love to hear your thoughts and my inbox is always open for requests or if you want to chat!

[tachimichishrine]

"sap"

⫭◦ପଓ◦⫬

tachihara machizou x fem! hirotsu's daughter! reader

warnings: nsfw ; shower sex ; oral (receiving); masturbation (m); cursing ; bondage; fluff to smut ; idk how to write warnings; unedited ill do that later

being a part of the black lizard had its fun, but some days were boring, like today; tachihara slumped his body against the wall as he stole glances at hirotsu, who seemed just as disinterested.

"cigarette?" the old man offered, placing one in his mouth and lighting it while gunshots rang out in the background. some small rival organization - even rival was a generous word - had "forgotten" to pay back the port mafia. one warning was given and they were told to go fuck themselves, so the black lizard battalion was called. apparently, this organization had some kind of powerful ability users as executives, but whoever they were, they didn't show up for the slaughter.

grunts, low level thugs and anyone else got caught in the crossfire. both mafia members watched the wall of suits fire off enough gunshots to fill up the night sky if bullets were stars.

"i still don't get why we gotta be here for this," tachihara grumbled, taking the offer and placing the plume of smoke to his lips. "seems like they just talk a whole lot of shit."

"it's never wrong to be cautious," the senior member retorted. he puckered his lips and made a ring of grey that floated listlessly in the atmosphere alongside the smell of blood. "the boss specifically warned me about a dangerous woman who could wipe out our troops in one shot."

lips curled around the cigarette, sucked on the nicotine and exhaled pure sarcasm. "yeah, well looks like she's a real pain in our asses."

a few moments passed in silence - or rather, with only white noise echoing in the abandoned warehouse, white noise being a steady stream of gunshots. it was music to both their ears - and surely enough, no one showed up. every thug had enough bullet holes in them to make the notion that a single one survived laughable. tachihara pressed his forearm to the wall and pushed himself off, stretching dramatically with a sigh.

before he could complain again about how lame this mission was, the wall exploded.

not so much an "explosion" as a deformation. it was pushed back, and tachihara barely had the time to react before a giant hole was pierced and a woman came out.

"well, fuck," she glanced at the sea of corpses on the ground, then back at tachihara with a playful smirk. "I guess you're the mafia shithead who I was just told I gotta put down. sucks that I got here late though; if you hadn't killed all my subordinates, I might've let you live, pretty boy."

she looked young, too young to be an executive. despite this, she walked with the kind of confidence that got his skin crawling in anticipation. finally, this night gets more interesting.

he pulled his guns out of their holsters and pointed them straight at her face, mimicking her expression. "you're shit out of luck, lady, 'cause I'm gonna-"

"[_____]?"

hirotsu, who had been briefly blown out of the way, came walking back in with a look of shock on his face. the redhead rolled his eyes; he didn't care whether or not the old man knew this lady, he was going to blow her brains out.

only, as his gaze reverted back onto her, she had the same expression as hirotsu did.

in fact, she was blushing, embarrassed like a schoolgirl who'd gotten caught.

"...dad?!"

what the fuck?

tachihara felt his hands lower a little as he took in the situation, and his eyes just kept darting to his superior, then to his enemy. shellshocked isn't the right word, they were looking at each other like neither had a clue what to say.

"shouldn't you be in school?!"

"dad, since when are you in the fucking mafia?!"

"language!"

the woman dropped her gun, groaning with her face in her hands, muttering to herself. "great, this is great. what the hell?! I knew you did shady business, but I didn't think-"

"is this where your university fund money has gone?" the mafioso's face was red too, from what could only be guessed to be anger mixed in with shame and shock.

"no, I'm still in class, I just... hey, don't distract me, old man. why didn't you tell me you were in the port mafia?"

"why didn't you tell me you were a gangster?!"

"because it's none of your business!"

tachihara's presence grew smaller and smaller as he watched the whole debate happen. it was awkward in a manner he couldn't describe, as he felt not only that he was intruding, but that this was definitely not something he should be listening to. he tucked his guns away, mostly out of respect for hirotsu and the fact that he wasn't about to shoot what appeared to be his daughter.

a few moments later they were hugging.

"sorry dad," she muttered as she pulled away from the embrace. "if I had known, I would've told you..."

"it's alright, but you shouldn't keep things like these from me, [_____]."

sighing, the woman chuckled nervously then promised she wouldn't. she crossed her arms and leaned her back against the deformed wall, then took a look around. she seemed to suddenly notice that tachihara was still there.

"well..." she looked at him then giggled a little, likely embarrassed about the whole situation. "I guess I'm not gonna kill you after all, huh?"

he didn't know what to say, because what is there to say? obviously, this conflict couldn't go anywhere further. thankfully, hirotsu intervened. "what will you tell your superiors?"

"no idea. they just called me to ask me to return to base to protect all of these hopeless fuckers-"

"language."

her eyes rolled. "dad, I'm not 5, I can swear. pretty boy here agrees, don't you, red?"

it took tachihara a moment to realize she was talking about him. once again, his mouth opened but his boss was quicker to respond.

"do you throw yourself at all men like this, [_____]? I thought I raised you better than that."

ignoring his comment with a wave of her hand in the air as though swatting away a fly, she continued. "as I was saying, they just called me. I could technically tell them that I got here too late and the culprits were gone, but I don't think that would bode well with the news that they just lost 90% of their entry-level grunts."

slightly annoyed, the tuffs of grey hair nodded. "you're right, they won't. what's your plan, then?"

a shrug and a pursing of lips. "no clue. you sure I can't just kill red and bring his body to-"

"why don't you just join the port mafia?"

the suggestion came from the one who had barely spoken all night. of course, he didn't think hirotsu would actually let him be used as a scapegoat, but all this banter felt useless. "since your organization is dead in the water anyways. if you just leave, they'll kill you as their final act, but if you join the mafia, you'll have protection."

another shrug. "he's not wrong," she said, "plus, I could just work with you."

hirotsu wanted to protest, but logically, they were both right. despite not wanting his daughter to get involved, he had faith in the mafia like no other member, and was loyal to no ends.

and that's how hirotsu [_____] found herself a member of the black lizard.

her father hated it, of course. the only people who knew they were related was tachihara and gin, the latter picking up on it after a while of noticing them bickering like they had a past.

over time, tachihara got snippets of the story. it seems like at some point, the old man had some sort of relationship with a woman who didn't know he was in the port mafia. time progressed, and they drifted apart. 5 years later, he saw her again with a child's hand in her own.

it was the only time hirotsu had ever requested time off from the mafia.

it was awkward, his former lover telling him that she didn't think he needed to know about it because she wanted to raise the child herself. however, that's not the kind of man he was, let alone the kind of man he'd ever been. it started by asking her name, then he wanted to be properly introduced to her. after a few years, he would have coffee with his partially estranged daughter every other month. he often sent money, which was never used out of pride. when [_____] decided to pursue her studies, she found the stash of cash her mother had been hiding and decided she didn't care for pride. apparently, she was jumped when getting home after a long day of lectures, and her use of her ability got people talking. before she knew it, she was being recruited to the underground for enough money to set her for life.

it took several years for her relationship with hirotsu to improve, but there seemed to be some kind of mutual respect between father and daughter.

not in the mafia.

"dad, I'm not going to do something just because you-"

"I'm your superior, [_____], you can't give me attitude like a teenager. and don't call me dad in these settings."

tachihara thought it was funny. she seemed to like innocently getting on her dad's nerves, and she often used him to do it. she'd get bold some nights and flirt with him right in front of the old man's face. tachihara would feel guilty if he didn't think it was fucking hilarious.

on this particular evening, she didn't seem to have anything better to do than pester him and do her absolute best to get on his nerves.

"so you're saying you've never seen him drunk? not even once?" she giggled, sitting on the table as he tried to write his report for their last mission. her feet were swinging and the table would shake with every swing of her legs, and it was getting harder and harder to concentrate.

"no, look, can you just shut the fuck up for a second so I can write this?" he nearly snapped the pencil in half. her smirk only grew at the sight of him being frustrated. "do you really have nothing better to do with your time?"

"nahh." her chest vibrated with a playful chuckle. she tilted her head at him, then slammed her hand onto the pile of papers he was trying to fill in. "this is lame, paperwork isn't for our kind. c'mon, don't tell me this isn't boring you out of your mind, red. let's go do something else."

one fleeting thought of 'fuck it', and suddenly they were at a bar, downing shots like they were on a mission.

"I bet... you couldn't handle 3 more," she slurred, liquid swirling around dangerously close to the rim of the glass, threatening to spill over. somehow, her shit eating grin was unaffected by the liquor; if anything, she'd gotten worse. her fingers would settle on his thighs grip too tight and too far up, the tips of her shoes would play footsie with him, and she straight-up tried to kiss him a few times. she couldn't handle her drinks very well, and he had only now realized what a stupid decision it was to take her up on her offer.

"that's enough for the whole month, [_____]," he rolled his eyes with his signature scoff, and grabbed her wrist to push it away from where she was teasing at. "you need to go home."

"are you finally gonna take me home, pretty boy?" she tried to lean in again, and he scooted backwards. flirting with his boss' daughter for fun was one thing, but something about her demeanor tonight seemed serious. he just hoped she was too drunk to remember the blush dusting his cheekbones.

"I am going to call you a cab." he enunciated every word clearly so she understood it, but as soon as his hand reached into his pocket, she placed hers on top to stop him.

the look in her eyes looked completely sober.

"I'm serious," she whispered, and he could practically feel her gaze on his lips. her eyes darted back up to his own, but before she could say something else that would confuse him further, she seemed to realize her words and her entire face flushed a deeper colour.

she stammered something incomprehensible, threw way too much cash onto the table and walked (if you can call it that) outside. tachihara didn't know what to do, so he just watched her go. she'll probably be fine. probably.

he didn't know why his face felt so hot and his cheeks hurt from a subtle smile.

weeks later, and they'd made a tradition of skipping out on reports to go do something, anything except what they were supposed to do. walking along abandoned streets at night in hopes of picking up a fight, or going to a bar and picking someone for the other to take in a fistfight. a lot of it involved fighting. all of it, really. they'd show up to work the next day littered in matching bruises, and hirotsu's face would glow red and he'd have to excuse himself. giggling like children who knew exactly what they were doing.

tonight, tachihara got knocked out by a man twice his size, and it took her using her ability to get him to back off her partner in crime. she dragged him to her apartment to put some ice on it.

"that was really funny," she teased, tossing him a bag of assorted frozen items to place on his temple, which took the brunt of it. "I though you were really a goner for a second, there."

"ha, ha." the sarcasm was dry, but he'd be lying if he said he didn't enjoy the thrill of seeing his life flash before his eyes. "I would've liked to see you try."

"an ambulance had to pick up the guy after I was done with him," she retorted, sitting on the sofa next to him with her feet up on the armrest. "actually, I've been meaning to ask you something."

a sigh in response. he took off the frozen bag from his skin and set it on the table, then looked at her. she winced.

"that's gonna need stitches, tachi," she remarked, then thought for a little bit. "I have glue somewhere, we can use that for now then have the port mafia medic fix it tomorrow, yeah?"

she didn't wait for a response, disappeared and reappeared after a string of curses thrown at herself for not being organized enough to know where she puts things. she had what was possibly medical glue but also possibly craft glue in her hands, and she glared at him. "lay down, dr. [_____] is here to save the day."

he quirked up a brow, then quickly relaxed his face after realizing the pain that was brought on by doing that. "weren't you drunk earlier tonight?"

"greatness knows not the bounds of liquor."

"what the fuck does that mean?"

she only giggled, then sat next to his head as she pinched together the skin and tried to apply the glue. her hands were shaking and it was clear she had no idea what she was doing, but tachihara prayed she was doing more good than harm. although, who knows.

"ow, ow, take it fucking easy," he grit his teeth together as she manhandled his injury. he could've sworn he saw her grinning at his pain.

"calm down princess, I'm done," she raised her hands in a sign of innocence, then took a closer look at her work.

tachihara watched in slow motion as her gaze moved further and further up his face.

"is... is your hair dyed?"

the room went dead silent. he had no idea what to respond, and for the first time since he joined the mafia, he felt stupid for letting his guard down. how did he forget to retouch his roots and then let someone get so close? how-

"you'd look really cute with black hair."

...what?

"that's your natural hair colour, right?" she kept going, raking her fingertips through his hair. "man, I feel lied to, I called you red for so long. why'd you dye it?"

"because I fuckin' felt like it," he grumbled out, having no other response. he felt such relief when she just giggled to his answer.

"fair enough. red was definitely the right colour, though. you'd look like shit if you went blonde."

he was so glad she let it go. he tried to sit upright, his head still throbbing from the pain, but she just looked at him curiously.

"I'll get you another mystery frozen item from the freezer," she laughed, getting up and rummaging through her kitchen. even with her face in the door of the fridge, she spoke, "I still haven't asked you my question from before, by the way. I just wanted to know how you got into the mafia."

out of one tight situation and into another.

he considered it; he considered it long and hard, way before she'd ever even asked the question. most of the time, if anyone asks, he'd just say it was none of their business. but he couldn't get away with that kind of response with her.

so, he told the truth.

"my... my brother joined the army during the great war. I just... I hated being compared to him by my family, so I wanted to get as far away as possible from his path, and ended up at the mafia. nothing much to it."

at least, part of the truth.

she pulled her face out of the fridge, looking at his expression for a moment. she tossed him another frozen bag and quickly sat back at his side.

"that sucks. was dying your hair also part of your rebellious phase?"

his nostrils flared at her teasing and he rolled his eyes, barely holding back a grin. "shut up."

laughing, she moved her body closer to his and put a hand on his delicately. "seriously, though, sorry to hear that your family didn't treat you right. I mean... I don't have that with my parents, but I know that it's tough being compared with someone else. but I don't know how that would apply to you. you're literally who I wanted to grow up to be."

he put down the ice pack because clearly it was affecting his hearing.

"like... I dunno. you're a badass who doesn't take shit from anybody. I mean, sure, you get your ass handed to you in bar fights and you don't have an ability, but so what? dad respects you, and so do I. not really sure how your brother compares to that."

this time, there wasn't anything to hide the stupid expression on his face. he just looked at her blankly like he'd never received a compliment in his life, which made her laugh even more.

"man, you really do have self-esteem issues, dontcha? if I had known you couldn't handle compliments, I would've said this ages ago. anyways," she got up, again, and stretched out her back, "don't worry about it, let's pretend that conversation ended there. so, are we dying your hair at your place or mine? because I don't have any dye and the store closes soon if we're gonna go buy some."

his mind could barely keep up with the way she was jumping from topic to topic. in the end, he just pushed his confession and her response to the back of his mind, and got up as well with a shrug. "my place, then. but you don't need to-"

"nonsense! I've been wanting to try to dye someone else's hair forever. plus, you're my partner in crime, I can't let anyone see that you're a big fat liar of a redhead."

her laugh felt so comforting to him. he felt like he was floating out of her apartment, out onto the street and all the way back to his own. his mind was just a blur (maybe it was from a concussion from the blow?) and in no time, he found himself sitting down with his head in between her thighs, gloved fingers massaging his scalp.

"okay, so the instructions say to rinse off and you're good!" she beamed, looking at her work proudly. "no need to thank me, by the way. despite my professional work, this one's on the house."

he chuckled, getting up and being careful not to get anything to touch the stained hair. "fine, then I won't thank you. I could've done this myself too, but you insisted, so if anything I should be charging you money."

shaking her head aggressively, she placed a finger on his lips while attempting to look solemn. "in that case, let us never speak of this again."

a few more minutes, and he was in the shower, the excess red streaming down from the water and making a puddle at his feet. she kept talking to him, loudly, from the other side of the door.

"how's it going so far?"

"it's almost all out, just be patient, damn," he laughed back, the final bits of red coming out of his hair until all the water that went through his hair came out clear. he turned off the faucet, and the stream stopped. he had barely dried his hair and wrapped a towel around his hips before he saw the door open.

"[_____], what the fuck-"

"sh, I want to see how it came out," she strolled right up to him and grabbed his face with one hand, tilting it in different directions to see all angles of his wet hair. as if he wasn't nearly naked right now. as if this was perfectly normal. "it looks good, but it's still wet so the colour doesn't show fully yet, right?"

he grabbed her hand and pulled it off of his face, looking at her seriously. "[_____], don't play dumb, you-"

"... saw an opportunity to see you shirtless, and I took it," she shot him a grin. then she suddenly seemed to get a little sad as she shook her head. "sorry, that isn't funny. um... I'll wait outside."

he watched her walk out just as quickly as she walked in. he slipped on his clothes quickly, then walked out to go find her standing at the entrance, putting on her shoes. ready to leave.

"hey, what are you..."

she cut him off, not even maintaining eye contact as she slipped her heel downwards and tied up the shoelaces. "look, tachi, I'm sorry. I just get excited sometimes and forget you don't feel the same way."

"what the fuck do you mean, don't feel the same way?"

now, her gaze met his. she looked confused. "I told you, weeks ago, that I was serious about the flirting. I even tried to kiss you, and kept dodging, so I got the message. it's fine, I get it. boss' daughter, or maybe I'm just not your type or whatever, but it's okay. I don't mind, I'm getting over it."

"holy fuck, [_____], you were drunk when you said that and I thought you were..."

he couldn't finish his thought. it was hard not to notice the hope in her eyes as she seemed to realize that he hadn't actually said no yet.

so, he said yes.

she kicked off her shoes hastily as his hands went to her waist and he pushed her back against the wall, lips eagerly devouring hers. her head slammed backwards, but her hips were pushed forwards to meet his own. her hands on his chest; one of his on her waist while the other secured itself at the base of her neck, pulling her in closer.

it was hot sweaty and fast, and they ended up back in the shower. he didn't expect her hands to roam the way they did, but she'd managed to have his entire chest coated in her touch before they even made it inside.

she murmured his name into his lips, and he responded by biting her lower lip harder. her fingertips were now on his back, his tight frame feeling warm and so right as it grinded on hers. her thigh went up to his side, and tachihara realized just how much she wanted him. fuck. he couldn't believe he waited so long for this for no reason.

he dropped down to his knees. as soon as she saw him look up, her thighs clenched together and he could feel them shaking in anticipation. he threw one leg over his shoulder and his breath barely hit her pussy before he was eating her out like a man starved.

and she was so damn loud. every flick of his tongue on her clit, every time he sucked on her lips, every thrust of his fingers inside of her, she seemed to get more vocal. at first, it was just curses, mumbling fuck like it was the only word left in her vocabulary. then his name. he'd never heard her say it like that before; she'd called him tachi sometimes, but never michizou. just the sound had him dragging his free hand from her ass down to his erection, palming himself as she kept moaning out for him. it was worse when she'd roll out the praises. fuck you feel so good... michizou, hngg... fuck keep doing it like that, you're so perfect... and she'd gasp as he sucked on her needy pussy and tell him how perfect he felt inside of her all over again.

he couldn't even handle getting her to climax before he lost control. his face was still buried between her legs, but he couldn't concentrate on the way her hips would grind on his face anymore. he needed relief and he needed it fast. she glanced down to find him pounding himself, and her hand at the back of his head gripped down on his hair and yanked him upwards. back on his feet, she brought his lips back to her own before briefly pulling away, spitting in her hand and taking his cock in it.

his forehead was pressed up against hers, but he was having trouble maintaining the kiss through broken moans and grunts. he'd try to bite his lower lip to muffle a whimper, but every time he did, she would just pump him harder until it was impossible to muffle the sounds he was making. every scream from his lips drove her pace to the next gear until he was coming undone under the soft drizzle of hot water droplets, washing down his cum from her stomach.

she took it slower, gentler as he felt so fucking raw from falling apart so fast under her touch. she let go of him and placed his cock between her thighs and pressed them together, letting him rock his hips and fuck them as she kisses him again. her lips get rougher, as she goes from peppering his jawline with love to nibbling on his earlobe to piercing his skin and leaving marks on his neck that won't go away anytime soon. he arcs his neck backwards, tilting his chin upwards to give her better access as she gets greedier and greedier, taste of his flesh intoxicating her.

"michizou..." she sighed into his skin, then brought his face back up to her level, one hand in his hair and the other positioned on his abdomen as her thighs are glistening from the hot water vapor of the shower, her arousal trickling down and the pre-cum already leaking out his tip. "fuck, michizou, your body... you're so gorgeous, I just want to wreck you until you forget your own fucking name." her words weren't particularly sultry or pretty, but the way she was murmuring it into another kiss got him hard all over again.

"baby, can we... bedroom..." the ask barely left her lips before his hands went onto her hips, lifting her up a little bit as they stumbled out of the shower, barely wiped themselves dry with the towels and connected their mouths again as he pulled her to his room. she backed him inside then pushed his shoulders, his back bouncing on the mattress as he realized this was the first time he was seeing her, fully bare in front of him, in his bedroom. just the sight of her perky tits and curves got saliva pooling under his tongue and eyes scanning her hungrily.

she turned her head around, looking in his room for a few moments before opening drawers and boxes like she was in a hurry to locate something. he shot her a look.

"[_____], what are you..."

she pulled out two belts from a drawer with a grin on her lips.

fuck.

she murmured something about not needing to do this if he didn't want to as she climbed on top of him and kissed him gently, but he just rutted his hips upwards in a desperate motion to show her just how much he wanted her.

in one motion, his wrists were tied together with the first belt and pinned above his head. in another, he was biting down on worn leather and a makeshift gag was soaking up all the drool he couldn't control. that was the point: he couldn't control anything. and it felt so fucking amazing.

she kept stealing glances at him as she checked to make sure he was still on board, and when he gave her a slow nod, she flipped him onto his stomach and secured his hips under her own, legs spread out over his ass.

with only her hips, she pushed him downwards so that his dick pushed up against the sheets and the mattress. she knew it wasn't enough to do anything but edge him until he went mad, and no matter how much the bed was shaking and the frame was creaking, it wouldn't be as good as what he felt fucking her thighs. but the view was so damn pretty: his face drowning messily in the sheets, mouth gagged and wrists tied together. she grabbed a handful of his wet hair and yanked him back as she grinded slowly on his ass, dripping lustfully onto him.

it was fun edging him, but the muffled whimpers signaled he was desperate. giving into his desires, she plunged her hand between his parted legs and gripped onto his cock which was humping the mattress. she just held him with a hard grip, and he did all the work for himself, thrusting his hips as well as he could while pinned down by her weight and restrained. tears were prickling at the corners of his eyes. he wanted to tell her how badly he needed her, but the damn gag was turning his pleas into muffled whimpers and moans.

she finally let him out from under her body and flipped him onto his back, but not before stealing in a smack on his ass, which was now coated in her pussy's tears.

"want me to fuck you, baby?" she murmured with a smirk, leaning down to let her lips brush up against the shell of his ear. "is that what you wanna say?"

he nodded hastily, no more shame as now the only thing he could feel was the need for her tight pussy around him. she loosened the gag, then slid it off of his mouth in order to kiss him again. "I wanna hear you. I wanna hear your pretty voice telling me how good I'm fucking your cock, yeah? can you do that for me, michi?"

he couldn't even respond as she lowered herself onto him and dragged a long moan from deep within his lungs, which were on fire. he could barely breathe, he could barely think. all he could do was what she told him and jut his hips upwards to hit her as deep as possible. all the control she had and she couldn't help but curl her toes and dig her fingernails into his shoulders as he screamed out her name and groaned with every thrust. his eyes squeezed shut as he let the feeling wash over him, but they didn't stay that way for long as they locked onto her tits, which were bouncing up and down with her on him, not to mention her face was hot and her hair was still wet from the shower.

it was too much, too fast, despite the slow build up she forced him to endure, suddenly he found himself choking as he tried to tell her that he was close. she was first; walls collapsed around him and she exhaled a thready verse of his name. she finally let him pull out at the last minute, and he came all over himself, stomach coated in the warm sticky liquid. her chest rose and fell with every heavy breath as she watched him, then unfastened the restraints around his wrists.

he wiped his stomach clean with one of the sheets and tossed it somewhere in the corner, a problem for tomorrow, then slipped under the rest of them.

she shot him a hesitant look. "do you want... can I stay?"

he grabbed her wrist and pulled her body onto his, then pressed a lazy kiss on her forehead. "always."

"sap," she teased, snuggling into his warmth and wrapping her arms around his waist. "my dad is gonna go fucking feral when he hears about this."

a gentle chuckle. "isn't that what you've been tryin' to do ever since day 1?"

"shut up, sap," she grumbled into his chest, eyes fluttering shut as she remembers his hair then fluffs it. she craned her neck upwards to get a better look, and smiled softly. "the dye turned out well."

"next time, I'll let the colour grow out," he whispered, dreamy amber eyes looking at her through low eyelids, "since you said it would look cute."

"sap!" she cried out again dramatically, then kissed him slowly again before looking at his face again. "I really did mean it, by the way. when I said that you're perfect to me."

he blushed; somehow, that was what brought the most colour to his face all night. still, he was without a response. he just slid his fingers up her back and pulled her closer. he buried his nose in the top of her head before he thought of a response. "sap."

"shut up."

they giggled and fell asleep in a world where everything was right.

[ilovespec]

Introduction of a lamb to a wolf

Slighty yandere Spec × GN ! reader.

I wrote it anyway!! YAPIIIEEEEI

9579 words

The year is 2018. Tokyo.

Your name is Y/N Y/L. You are a successful journalist working for a popular agency. Your days are always routine, but sometimes there are exceptions. As it is, most of the time, your days are pretty monotonous. Getting up early , going to work , searching for information , writing articles. The road home , and then sleep, and so on almost every day... But sometimes, there were interesting cases, because of which you almost have gray hair in your (your age) years. But because of this, you were always ready for anything and almost not afraid! And now, as you thought it was the most ordinary routine day, you got up as usual, brushed your teeth, quickly rinsed in the shower and after eating, went to work. But as soon as you came to your "favorite" job, you were immediately called to your boss.

- The boss : You know why I called you, don't you?

- You: Uh... No, I don't think so... I've been working well lately.. And I didn't make any mistakes -

Your boss throws a fresh newspaper in your face, with the headline - "THE FIVE DEATH ROW CONVICTIONS IN TOKYO!!! "And under the headline there were portraits of five men... They all radiated danger... But one portrait scared you, and made goosebumps run down your back especially strongly...He was a tanned, bald man. With a grin on his face. His name was Spec.

- The Boss: FIND ME INFORMATION ABOUT ONE OF THESE FIVE , I- uh , PEOPLE NEED A SENSATION !!!

You nod dejectedly , take your camera , put your free hand in your pocket and go to the "adventure meeting" on your ass...

｡･:*:･ﾟ’☆

You've been driving around the city in your car for a couple of hours now.. There was nothing! Which is quite expected. Surely escaped murderers , who were even more sentenced to death, will not wander around the city and explore the sights? I doubt it. Maybe they're laying low, or something like that... You looked at the sky... Such a beautiful sunset.. You have already raised your camera to take a picture of this beautiful view, when suddenly you look down and see such a picture... On the ground A beaten boy (Baki) is lying, a severed hand is pressed to his face AND HE IS BEING BEATEN BY ONE OF THE ESCAPED PRISONERS!!! " *drum roll " who is it ??? The correct answer is all the most true fans of Baki, this is the best waifu of all time - Spec!!! His cheeks are shot through, and he is dressed in the costume of a South American priest... You expected he to be "a little bit smaller.".. And in real life, even from afar, it is huge.. And how did he even find such a huge outfit.. Did he sew 2-3 priests to make it??🤨🤨 Who knows. You took several photos at once, but forgot to turn off the flash... And here are the promised ass adventures... Spec immediately turned around and looked right at you, grinning like some kind of huge predator... You hit the gas right away, leaving... BUT FUCK!!! ABRUPTLY, YOUR CAR SHUDDERED AND STOPPED!!! This is still our waifu - Spec 🛐🛐🛐 He just grabbed your car and stopped it, and then HE OPENED THE DOOR OF YOUR CAR WITH ONE SHARP MOVEMENT OF HIS HAND, AND BENT SLIGHTLY OVER YOU!!! Close , he is even more huge, terrifying and muscular (I'm sure that up close his big, muscular bubs are even bigger- OH, sorry to think out loud, let's continue) He loomed over you like a wall, and grinned at your nervous , frightened face. While you're shaking and trying to come up with an excuse TO AT LEAST SURVIVE!!!

- Spec : oohhh...Who do I see here?.. What a cute lamb~ Did you take a picture of me because you thought I looked cool or cute? ~

You, sweating nervously , trembling and pressing into your car seat, prayed to all the gods , and somehow answered

- You: No... No, no.. ha.... I have a little problem with my eyesight... That's why I didn't notice you, I'm sorry.. I'm dumb.. Uh.... Well... I actually took pictures of this beautiful view.. Haha... ha..

You somehow squeezed out these words, and barely smiled, through fear and the desire to live. And Spec giggled like a giant child, and hearing the sounds of a police siren a few milliseconds he leaned as close to you as possible , and with his huge palm ruffled your soft hair , turning it into a mess and leaving for the police , he finally told you

- Spec : I will definitely see you again, adorable doll !

And you, in shock, sat in your driver's seat for a couple more minutes, with disheveled hair and looked into everything , thinking about how stupid your recent act was, closed the car door and drove home. Wash it all down with beer and make a new article about recent events..

｡･:*:･ﾟ’☆

You were sitting in a "family" cafe (a family cafe, as far as I read and saw in travel blogs something like this: grandma cooks food, mother delivers food, and children wash dishes, etc..) and came up with a title for the finished article... "An escaped psychopathic murderer attacked a boy"...? "an escaped murderer in a priest's costume committed an attack"...? You wondered for a long time until someone touched you on the shoulder.

- cute waitress: Excuse me.. We're already closing, so could you leave..?

You calmly nod, put your laptop in your bag and leave. You walk calmly to your house, humming something to yourself and looking at your feet. Suddenly you hear someone calling out to you... And you're surrounded by something like a biker gang.

- Biker 1 : Hey ... Shall we take a ride? ~

They smell so strongly of alcohol... Which makes me feel sick.. You shake your head negatively and try to leave as they are already jumping off their Bikes, and a couple have already taken out knives and moved towards you. Someone grabbed you from behind so you wouldn't move.

- Biker 2 : Come on guys, take off these clothes-....! LET'S GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!!!!

each of them immediately got on their bikes and drove away so that you could smell the burnt rubber...A HUGE shadow hung over you, and you heard, unfortunately, a familiar voice and the smell of cigarette smoke.

- Spec: Doll, you better not go out so late. Ah~ It's good that I walked through this beautiful area, and I came up on time.

You turn around , and already you automatically jump back in surprise , still slightly afraid of Spec , but less strongly. And you see that Spec is standing behind you as if nothing had happened, and smoking with a smirk looking at you.

- You: eh...?! I thought you were arrested.. You ran away ???!!?

Spec burst out laughing, and with a grin bent down to your eye level (for this he had to bend almost twice)

- Spec : No, I'm just walking around this area, as I said, it's just so peaceful here.

You nod knowingly, and Spec leans against the nearest wall, still smoking.

- You: Uh... I'm sorry for asking this, but why did you come to Tokyo ...? 🤨🤨

- Spec : Bhahaha!! For what? I came here to taste defeat, doll~

He spoke with some pride , grinning even wider and watching your reaction. Meanwhile , you 're thinking a little puzzled .

- You : sorry, just thinking out loud... But, do you want to lose, because for too long you have been the coolest and strongest, and you want new events in life ...?

Spec raises an eyebrow in surprise, clearly slightly shocked that someone other than professional fighters can understand him, and soon smiles broadly, with a cigarette in his mouth and pats you on the shoulder, nodding.

- You: Well... I have to go home, otherwise the article won't write itself, huh..good night to you..!

You wave your hand at him with an awkward smile, and turn around and run away to your home, and Spec looks at your back, thinking "why is such a cute lamb still lonely...Maybe I'll make some "changes" in her life too, heheh.."

｡･:*:･ﾟ’☆

After your meeting with Spec, your life went on as usual, you continued to work... I wrote articles.. Sometimes I drank at home after work... But, to all this, a strange feeling has arisen in you .. It's like someone is watching you day and night.. Even when you changed your apartment.. House.. And even the housing area, you still felt like you were being watched... And even, sometimes your little trinkets went missing ! Perhaps you are winding yourself up as recently Several shocking events happened at once... And these things are just in the laundry basket, or somewhere else... You can't have such an inconspicuous stalker, can you....?

｡･:*:･ﾟ’☆

One night, you were sleeping as usual... Hugging your dakimakura with your beloved (2-d man or 2-d woman, I do not know what your tastes are... But I would like a dakimakura with Spec or with Lisa Lisa from JJBA \_(ツ)_/) as usual, you didn't dream anything/ had some dreams, and you just slept... Well, what could possibly go wrong?! But you're awake. From the smell of food, and from the fact that your dakimakura is being torn out of your hands and thrown aside. You wake up right away, because who dared to do such a thing?! And you already see your "friend" Spec. He's sitting on the edge of your bed, and there's a slightly offended expression on his face , and he 's clutching a package from some 24/7 restaurant in his free hand , which smelled very good. And with his free hand he is... He grabbed your face , pulling you closer to him.

- Spec in a clearly deliberately offended tone: Doll... Why do you need this "pillow" if you have me?? ;)

He pulled you towards him, clearly ignoring that you were squirming, twitching, and trying to call for help. And slightly lifting up the bag of food , he says .

- Spec : heeyyy ~ My dear lamb, let's put aside these indignations of yours, and eat steamed buns? And I bet I'm a lot better than that "pillow" of yours that you hug every night~

THE END!!!!

I'm sorry if it turned out too badly, this is the first time I'm writing something based on the original character, if you didn't like it very much, throw slippers at me. Well, or tanks , which is convenient for you. Thank you so much for reading >3 I will be grateful for the assessment and constructive criticism in the comments >3< I love you all 💋💋

[winns-stuff]

LO RANT:

This is from the fastpass preview that I stumbled across but genuinely nobody gives a flying fuck about Hades. Out of everything that this comic has disrespected Leuce with the most insulting out of all of them has to be her lowering her standards for an absolute man child like Hades, there’s nothing inherently attractive about him and the only reason Persephone is so infatuated with him is because of the fact that she’s literally 19 FOREVER and her brain is too underdeveloped to get better taste. But to sit up here and say that Leuce is just so incredibly desperate for Hades of all people when she’s so desired and sought after that the king of all gods deemed her worthy of marrying his brother is absolutely incredibly insulting. If this was realistic no one would be scared of Persephone’s pick me ass, I’m so sick and tired of Lore Olympus making every woman make an absolute fool of themselves over someone as low as Hades, literally any guy would be more worthy than fucking Hades like come on man are you serious?

Anyways, I’m just so over the mistreatment of the nymphs and I’m over people calling this a girl boss move. The fans love to sit up here and say that this is women supporting women but brutalizing women of a lower class and making fun of their mistreatment isn’t something we should deem feminist worthy. Like genuinely why the fuck is anyone applauding this shit? The fact that nymphs are at the gods’ mercy and they’re constantly being degraded, insulted, and abused by the upper class just for existing is sick. I can’t even say that it’s because of greek mythology since the nymphs were at least respected, like you knew the difference between them and their power but they weren’t treated like disposable waste like the nymphs in LO are. The nymphs have to be the only characters in the comic who deserve nothing but love and support from everyone since every chapter seems like a dig at them and it’s getting really awful to watch.

Another thing is the title of the episode. Are you fucking delirious? Leuce is a homewrecker?? How?? Homewrecking is blaming someone for a breakup of either a marriage or relationship because they engaged into an AFFAIR or other things in that matter with the member of the relationship. Unless Rachel is saying that because of Leuce they’re finally breaking up I don’t ever wanna hear about homewrecking ever from Lore Olympus trying to describe a character like that. Quite literally the only legitimate homewrecker in this entire series is Persephone’s ass and no one gives a fuck because the way she did it was “cute” and “pure”, she’s your little cinnamon roll while everyone else who does the exact same thing are evil witches. Which brings up my main point, Leuce barely poses a damn threat this woman is as small as a mouse and not up to anything nefarious, instead of focusing on KRONOS possibly coming back and taking over your ENTIRE kingdom that you’ve only ruled over for a few days you’re worried about some poor confused woman who got led on by your cheating ass husband while you were away. The major reaction is cringe and laughable, you don’t feel angry towards people disrespecting you or stomping on your values but as soon as it’s something with Hades you’re suddenly the biggest bad guy ever, give me a damn tissue. It’s truly sad that this is giving me more of a reason to believe that Persephone has no personality outside of being a “soft wife”, like where are your morals? What the hell do you stand for if you allow shit like this to happen.

This is why I get so angry and upset with Lore Olympus as a whole it’s upsetting seeing this insufferable main character do the most hypocritical shit that another character got dragged through the mud over yet we’re all supposed to clap our hands and put them on the highest pedestals. The fans don’t make it any better either because they survive off of stuff like that, that’s quite literally all they do all the damn time. They just eat up every little thing Persephone or any of the main cast does and enables this shitty behavior to continue because I swear if there was a time where Rachel decided to do something in her story that a massive amount of the fans hated she would never implement it into her story again, but since everyone absolutely loves these two women idiotically fighting over a pathetic man she keeps this stereotype around every other season.

Moral of the story is stop taking the dignity of these women and stop using them as some sort of cover up for your main character being incredibly boring and bland because I know the only reason for Lore Olympus’ demonization of Leuce is because they needed to prove how “much better” Persephone is. How about Persephone takes her red eyes and shove it in the faces of those who actually fucking deserve it instead of acting cowardly and only using it against nymphs because “they’re beneath you” since I have yet to see her have an actual backbone towards anyone deserving of this shit.

[mizzmellos]

What's your Rod Ross headcanons?

YAAAAAAAAY ANON I really wanted to repost this from my old blog so thank you for literally reading my mind and giving me the chance xoxo gift wrapped for you with a bow on top MWAH

+ I mean… we all know Mello joined Rod’s gang by bringing him the head of a rival boss. But I’m pretty sure he did it… literally. How else would a gang full of 6′4″ dudes with Uzis ever take him seriously?? I love imagining him arranging an ingenious meeting with Rod one day, like, Mello somehow tricking him into talking with him, and telling him like… “so I heard you were trying to take this dude out, I can do it for you, ya know. lmao not bragging.” and Rod takes one look at him and just starts laughing his ass off. “Kid (which is what he calls Mello, btw)… I’ve lost six men to trying already, and their balls had already dropped.” Then Jose throws his ass into the street. A week later, Mello shows up at the front door of their HQ (how did he find us??? Kal gasps audibly, knowing Rod is going to kick his ass for this because everything is Kal’s fault) with a bloody pillowcase (because gift wrapping is NOT appreciated by any of those no-taste mafiosos…) and says “happy birthday, I work for you now. You’re welcome.”

+So you know that panel where Mello is sitting on the couch back perched behind Rod’s shoulder? Not a headcanon, just wanted you to think about it. :’) Here's another one btw:

+Their relationship actually has a somewhat solid basis of trust and respect. Even though Rod is an absolute maniac sometimes and would gouge your eyes out without a second thought, he’s incredibly intelligent--

PSA: READ HIS PROFILE IN VOLUME 13 YOU GOONS…. HE’S NOT JUST A BRUTE LMAO I HATE IT WHEN PPL WRITE HIM DUMB HE. IS. NOT. DUMB. he is smarter than most of the Japanese task force and of equal intelligence to lots of the ppl working with L such as Wedy, Matt… he survived a great many years of Kira eliminating criminals so he was smart and good at keeping a low profile until Mello came and fucked everything up.

--and Mello respects him for that. Even though Mello is a prissy little bitch that really only cares about what he cares about, Rod's like... well, he’s kind of a genius and his ideas have worked out in the past. And he’s pretty scary. They both like that about each other. Just generally being able to intimidate the shit out of ANYBODY that would dare look their way.

+Rod is probably pretty outwardly homophobic, and ribs Mello for being effeminate. While he doesn't ever let it go too far, he'll chime in around other members of the mafia. Both of them are secretly a little terrified of anybody finding out that they fuck around once and a while. But that's part of the thrill yk? Whenever anybody’s around, Rod always has a hooker on his leg and tries not to pay Mello any mind. But once they’re alone, Mello thinks it’s funny to bring it up.

+Speaking of letting it go too far, Rod allows any amount of verbal abuse, but has broken up more than a couple fistfights Mello’s gotten himself into with other members of the gang by “running that goddamn big mouth of his all the fuckin’ time.”

+While Rod normally backs Mello 110%, as his infallible plans have done nothing but provide a multitude of viable cash flows and absolute territorial dominance, when they have their disagreements (which get.. heated, to say the least), Mello will totally get physical. Rod finds this hilarious, considering he could literally break his neck with one hand. Anyway Rod only fought back once, when he was in a particularly bad mood, and Mello had to show up the next day skulking around with a black eye and fat lip, his lisp way worse than usual. It was the only time after Mello showed up until the day of his death that Kal actually experienced any degree of human happiness. Btw poor Kal. Read the dude's profile in HTR13 if you want a laugh. #AnneofGreenGables

+Mello was actually really surprised by how soft Rod’s scalp is. He totally oils it and his head always smells like aftershave and stale cigar smoke.

+In fact, in addition to both being super scary, they’re both super vain LOL I bet they both get their backs waxed after a long day clothes-shopping… and they both spend forever putting lotion on after their three-hour bubble baths… they spend all morning in front of the mirror while Rod shaves that WHACK design onto his face and Mello does his makeup… neither of them even looks at the other when they’re having sex because they’re too busy American Psycho-ing themselves in the mirrors they have surrounding their bed.

+They both LOVE zebra-print. Tacky fucks.

[fictionfixations]

trying to beat olivine boss

hi this is another post regarding bosses dhjwauidhsauidh

all i understand is guard guard guard until turn 10 where he can take damage again??

and i dont know if using all ults at once even works cause i never survive that long and doing 4 ults doesnt do anything

like okay so i switched morvay in cause i kept having 1 character who keeps dying and i dont have any of the lil gifts so i cant raise intimacy yet

i last to turn 3 where i get morvay's ult, maid dante's, and idol blade

im following a guide and im supposed to use an ult anyway and i understand that cause if i dont do anything i die

if i activate just dante's ult (cause morvay is REALLY low so trying to get attention off of him) he dies

if i do morvay's ult he dies (he gives himself like a shield so ive been using it when hes really low to where he dies next turn if nothing is done but it also means boss is taunted so hes fucked)

if i do dante and morvay's ult. i survive but it goes into next turn with everyone alive (3/5 ults active) which seems to be the play until he fucking kills 3/5 of my team what the fuck. me when i finally write down what i tested and thinking huh i dont remember what this does then gets fucked trying it again.

if i do dante and idol (because it says to not do morvays yet??) idol dies cause no guarding

oh yeah i also have olivine in slot 5 because they dont get damage taken. i tried seeing if space blade did anything but i dont think he does any healing in damage? i think he just makes you do more damage?? i cant remember i forgor but that doesnt work and olivines hp is squishy so he'd die anyway

what seems to be the best course of action for me is to get morvay's intimacy up and also get his level up probably because hes like lvl 51 while everyone else is like 58 so hes less squishy and pray he wont die as easily that way?? idk im still facing a coin shortage so its slow and steady progress

supposedly you need a dark element ult to break like his shield when doing all ult(?) but idk how accurate that is and also does it need to be an ult that attacks?? cause space blade is dark element i think but his ult affects teammates not boss

hHHh okay so i did dante morvay ult. survived till next turn. if i dont do anything next turn 3/5 gets wiped out. i did space blaed's ult to heal everyone. morvay and space blade is dead. im gonna retry

dante morvay ult but olivine ult this time

i think ive gotten this far before but idk wtf the pattern is cause im just attacking like normal and then out of nowhere team gets fucked by an attack

good to know if i accidentally guard olivine once instead of attack (heal) each turn morvay dies 💀

ok i did olivine ult

MORVAYS DEAD ?!?!?!?!? tf do i do both olivine and space blade ult??

okay so order of plan is Dante Morvay ult next turn olivine ult. but if i just do that morvay dies anyway so then olivine and space blade ult so then space blade dies.

..idk im stumped all i can think is give morvay more hp make him less squishy.

i mean maybe its on me for giving up everytime a character dies and i should keep going but also i have and i kept getting my team wiped so 🤷

my first instinct with bosses is to fucking panic

but i feel like im getting more in the groove and getting better at experimenting to see what works

i think its because i bullshitted through the fight with rin and then kept bullshitting😭😭😭

[soft-serve-soymilk]

Boss fights in RPGs that give me war flashbacks

Dolphin made a really insightful and meaningful post on her side blog that was really telling and vulnerable of her :) I’m going to do the same thing but in a completely different fashion :P

Ansem, Seeker of Darkness (KH1) Back in the day (2019), I didn’t own the PS4. I played the entirety of the Kingdom Hearts series in the living room after school before my dad came home, right on the big screen. Or sometimes I got a couple of hours on the weekend. This gave me limited time and not very much privacy (but awesome sound which probably contributed to my audiophile tendencies 😅). Anyways this was problematic when I became stuck at certain sections,, namely this bitch. Because I do NOT want to be made fun of for struggling, or berated for the repetitive soundtrack. I woke up at ✨ 4 am ✨ to have time to myself to beat this motherfucker. 4 am. That was the lengths I was willing to go. Obviously it meant the sound was really quiet (if non-existent) but I still finished the game like 6:15 😅

Roxas (KH2) It took a solid nine attempts here. Yup. Nine tries. This is still the record number of attempts on a single boss fight. I was so flooded with dopamine that I had to go laugh it out in the kitchen so I could feel sad for the following cutscene 😂😂😂 This was when I was in my era of feeling bad that I couldn’t cry/empathise with a lot of media (thanks dad), so I tried to force myself to feel sad for a lot of things. I thought if I made enough of a :( face, I could trick myself into feeling things 😂 Anyways Roxas is an iconic example of my infamous awfulness at 1 vs 1 fights.

[Redacted] (Xenoblade Chronicles 1) Censored for spoilers but it’s the final boss. Another one I got up at 4 am for, to do it on a docked switch on the big screen <3 Didn’t take nearly as many attempts as Ansem, but I was still punished for being underleveled <3

Heldalf (Tales of Zestiria) Speaking of being punished for being underleveled, here’s a great example! :D First phase was simply impossible to survive with my tragically low skill level (and level in general, I start skipping fights a lot at the end of games because I get bored 😐 My intentions for YHNN are to make an endgame where this doesn’t happen) I didn’t fight a SINGLE ENEMY outside of those four minibosses in the final area :P Holy potions are mistake for people like me. Here’s a secret: I actually lowered the difficulty to beat him

Tiamat (Tales of Zestiria) War flashbacks but in a good way. I’m still impressed I was able to concentrate on whittling its health down FOR 40 MINUTES STRAIGHT. Thank god Rising Up is a great song or I would’ve died from insanity 😂😅. I think the only time I spent more than 40 minutes on a single round of a boss fight was when I attempted Kuni-no-sagiri in Persona 4 for the first time. That took an hour. Yes, in both cases, that is the degree of underleveled we are talking about. I have a serious problem with motivating myself to fight, games where you can modify exp yield without sacrificing difficulty are such a boon to me 😭

Shadow Okumura (Persona 5 Royal) You know your game design is fucked when making the difficulty MERCILESS makes the fight easier. I was actually called in to beat this one by my dad. I spent 2 hours grinding up his levels first to attempt this even 😭 And then I went to the velvet room to fix his atrocious persona situation (he BARELY fused and it showed). Relying on the DLC personas felt bad but I did what needed to be done 🫡 (I REALLY needed that maeigaon) I actually scrawled all the weaknesses of each phase on my hand to make it easier on each subsequent attempt 😭 Fuck the arbitrary time limit fr

[hamable]

ALRIGHT GANG! BIG MENTOPOLIS POST EPISODE FOUR THEORY/TIMELINE

Conrad shuffles the paper to bring the Packet to Impelda’s attention. Imelda Pulse steals the packet that was supposed to be delivered to the boss’s desk EOD.

Elias has been revealed to be one that thinks ahead, so he’d know that with something this classified, any sign of him waivering, and he won’t be allowed out of the building.

He’s been taking copper supplements knowing the likelihood that if he makes a move to stop the psychometer research, he’ll be psychometered. As of right now, the psychometer functions as a mind reader, the research packet had information on how to make it a mind changer.

Either the higher ups get the info from the packet or from Elias’s mind directly. Elias must know this. It’s not confirmed he destroyed the packet but it’s my belief that he must’ve. If nothing else, hid it extremely well.

This is all happening in a matter of minutes. He steals the packet, destroys or hides it, and equips a grappling hook. Why? He’s not leaving this building alive, not before getting psychometered and maybe not after, the boss wouldn’t risk that loose string.

He meets the boss. The psychometer goes off. Two things happen at once.

Norrell Ogical is murdered by Logic, who is currently unaccounted for in Mentopolis, as the mayor is a fraud, but logics presence is clearly palpable throughout the city. Logic takes over the board to force Elias to jump out the window.

The psychometer goes off, destroys the keyhole and has entered Elias’s mind.

Regardless of how preplanned jumping out the window is, even if it was the only logical option left, it is a fundamentally illogical thing to do. Every instinct in the brain would be trying to stop you from doing it, and it only makes sense to logic, who plans to do it for Elias’s survival. Logic would have to get up to and take out some heavy hitters in order to take control of the panel in that moment. Hence, they’d have to kill Norrell Ogical.

Given that Freeze has been pretending to be Leon Logic for some extended period of time, that leaves the question of if Freeze usurped Logic (unlikely, freeze is not a man of action) or if Logic has gone more vigilante, taking care of what needs to be done under the guise of something else. The question is, what would that something else be? Is Elias only able to make Logical decisions under the guise of something else? Could Logic be working with Fawn, attempting to maintain a low profile at the company while bidding their time to put an end to the psychometer?

Conrad stated that Logic knew them, which is how they knew the Freeze was a fraud. But how long has Freeze been acting as logic? When did Conrad and logic meet, and what beef would they have? Because I don’t know if logic would blame Conrad for the ice skate accident. The Four Fs would, but logical would, I would hope, be more logical about it. And it doesn’t sound like Freeze has been in power since the ice skating incident, or else he’d know Conrad.

What really sells Logic working behind the scenes for me is the copper supplements. Obv Elias’s conscience is worried about the psychometer. That waivering faith is on his radar, no matter how small. Logically, if he were to change his mind, or even seem like he was unsure of the project, his bosses would have no reservations about using it on him. He knows this. He’s prepared for it. That, and bringing the grappling hook. It’s more of a snap decision, but proveabley NOT an impulsive one.

Oh one other thing. Logic is likely a key holder, likely even part of the Ogical family (heartbreaking). I bet a lot of the behind the scenes work has been at the board at olblongata station with Fawn. Fuck, is logical posing as someone we met? Fuckkkk if Wilton gets revealed as Logic I’m gonna bite someone.

This is my favorite type of story, I’m thriving rn.

TLDR: logic killed Norrell Ogical, it’s possible that Logic has been working undercover/vigilante for some time, we’ve yet to meet them. Freeze has been impersonating them as we know, possibly in cahoots (or too scared to say no hehe). Logic may also be working with Fawn, since it seems Elias will not allow Logic to rule his thoughts, but as Logic clearly still has a strong presence throughout the city, logic could be working with fawn to keep a low profile and bide Elias’s time as they work to end the psychometer project.

[mari-m-rose]

Life update (?)

Hi! It's been a while since I did one of these. I still remember about how writing these would make me feel better, whether they were read by someone or not. Still, thank you in advance to whomever reads this, I appreciate your care/curiosity towards me. Wishing you happiness and success from the bottom of my heart. So, what has been going on with me.

So many things it's overwhelming. Everyday is. Especially when I remember all that has happened in the past few years. Probably because it's been hard to process? Both the good and the bad, all it's hard to process. Not like I process stuff easily, the opposite in fact. Tbh I don't even remember much of what I did during 2019... was I still active here during 2018? Bearly right? I think I got a new job in 2019 which was a cool job, or so I used to think... I remember the beginning of 2020 because I was so fucking happy in January-February during 2020. I was enjoying myself at work, I had a stable relationship with my partner as usual, I was engaged and about to get my own apartment. I was excited about my life which is something that never happens to me xD. And well, before covxd happened I actually got hit by a car... It was at low speed but it still wasn't nice. Listen, never do what I did. If you get hit by a car and you realize you can walk, do not go straight to work by scooter. Actually report the person who did it, call in sick, go to the hospital. Try not to shut down and just go to work normally. Short story: by lunch I couldn't stand up from my seat. I actually almost cried when I had to at the end of the day to go home because it hurt like a bxtch. I sort of healed? Actually it has been 3 years and I still feel something in my leg ahaha. Never be like me, love yourself. Covxd exploded not much after I "healed" and it ruined all my plans. No wedding, no apartment, I actually had to quit my job cause my bosses got so toxic I got depressed like never before. I was now trapped more than ever at my parents' house and the hope of leaving it soon was almost non-existant. I know it was hard for everyone and I hope that you all ended up surviving it just fine. Thankfully on my end everyone survived even tho my dad was always at risk cause he was forced to go to work despite it all. Since I didn't go through any tragic event, I am fortunate enough to appreciate that at least I spent a lot of time with my parents and cat, very important since I wanted to leave the house the next year. I got married in 2021 even tho covxd was still around, risking it all. Naturally it was a small event because of it. I actually just wanted to move out. My parents are very old-fashioned and they were not gonna be happy, so to say, if I left before marriage. Thankfully my husband did want to marry me so it worked out, but was it stressing... I just suck at events like that but yeah I finally got married and moved out. And the most amazing time of my whole life began. It was honestly magical. I was so happy I felt like I was living an actual dream. The moments in my life at that time felt eternal in a good way, there was warmth and love, pure happiness. I didn't know life could be like that. My relationship with my family fixed really quick after I moved out. Now we get along fine and I'm very thankful I get to experience this before I imminently lose my parents to time. I'm a very fortunate person. But this happiness soon ended cause I'm...dummy? I'm mentally ill and I'm not used to being happy. So I started to get massive anxiety about some upcoming event ruining all my life. I still dread this, even tho it doesn't arrive yet. Something bad actually happened tho... I lost my cat in 2022. I...probably will never not miss her, she was the one who kept me sane at home for 16 years. My most beloved baby...I just hope she's around somewhere. Uhm let's try not to cry while I write this... Btw did I mention I'm still unemployed and very ashamed of it? I do housewifey things, I do help with family business and have commissions from time to time but most of the time I'm not that active. That also is eating me alive. My husband is very chill about it but I'm not happy with myself, tho I can feel like little by little I want to change this, ...I wish I wasn't that stressed about the idea of still working in graphic design. What happened in my past job was a bit like my last bit of energy for it...

I really want to like open a patreon or a youtube channel idk, I always say this but its hard to start.. Aside this anxiety I'm also currently without passion...without fandom, without OTP, without a spark that motivates me to draw. It has been annoying cause this is happening since like 3 years ago. I hate this fr. Being without an art community has been hard but you know what? Being in one was also hard. I had major fall offs with a lot of my friends. We either fought a lot and took our distances or were involved in disgusting drama, others really mistreated me till the point I ended up feeling I didn't want to make new friends ever again. I isolated myself, this ofc didn't help my "art block" or mental health. Now at 32 yo, how am I supposed to like engage in a fandom or art community? I geniuinly don't know how. Also it's full of kiddies. No offense towards you babies but, I'm a grown ass lady. I feel so much like I don't belong...BUT I still want to belong. Not with the teens ofc but.... is there any discord server for old ladies like me? If there's a quiet place for "art grandmas" xD, hit me up. I am opened up to hang out but also ngl, I'm so awkward. New discord server I join is like another one I will never speak in. Idk what to do tbh. I just want to be excited about a fandom or art again. Anyways thanks for reading this text about me. I hope you are doing fine. I also hope you enjoy my art, even tho I hardly update, I'm trying to do my best. I'm most active on instagram (mari_m_rose) and X (aka former twitter, same as ig). I still love sinja and remain somewhat knowledgable about Magi. So if u wanna send asks about anything related to those or myself, I will be happy to answer! Hugs and kissus.

[thedawningofthehour]

Oh my god, Mikeyyyy my little orange boy. You deserve better.

As soon as Leo heard that there is a possibility that Donnie might not get his memories back he became the representation of almost every reader; I hear you Leo, but please listen to Mikey! I just hope, HOPE, that nothing the fam does ruins Mikey's progress.

Who knew Donnie's autistic teenage brain would be the key to Draxum's downfall. Although does that mean the idea of Donnie getting his memories back through a super emotional rock ballad is out of the question?

Xever, please stop being transphobic.

Poor Tigerclaw, hopefully his affection will carry over when Donnie gets his memories back. I wonder, what did he do in this continuity to make Alopex hate him? In the show, Alopex blames Tigerclaw because he always made the decisions saying he knew what was best for both of them, besides killing their parents. If Alopex ever appears in the fic I can easily see her helping the fam, and hating Draxum because of his arguments that he knows best.

You mean like with Pearl in the SU movie? I mean, that's not how it's gonna go, but that song is iconic.

I kind of saw it as more misogynistic than anything. Would Xever be transphobic? 'Googles some stuff about gay rights in Brazil' Oh, they're actually at the top of the list when it comes to LGBT rights. Good for them!

But, and I'm just reading from the Wikipedia page, it seems like this extends more just to the LGB part, and a lot of transgender people end up in the sex industry because they can't get work elsewhere. Attitudes have been changing in the last few years, but it's 2020 in the story and Xever has been living in the U.S. for a few years, so he wouldn't have been around for that. The murder rate for LGBT individuals is very high in Brazil-but the murder rate in Brazil is high in general right now, so that's probably more of a reflection of the political unrest going on right now than attitudes towards gay people.

Now I'm really thinking about Xever's backstory and how it would have influenced his perceptions. He grew up poor, mostly out on the streets getting involved in crime and gang activity from a young age, and while he's definitely smart he's very undereducated. How progressive are Brazilian gangs? Would he feel some sort of kinship and mutual respect for trans people selling themselves on the street, because he's also doing what he needs to do to survive? Or would he look down on them because "at least I didn't stoop to that."

And he has lived in the U.S. for a bit-but again, he's mostly hung around gangs. And I am so totally here for women's wrongs and queer mob bosses, but gangs in the U.S. are generally pretty misogynistic and homophobic. Not that people can't break out of the mindsets they've been immersed in most of their lives, but like-people need resources to do that. Xever has like a sixth grade education that was probably not very good to begin with (impoverished school with low budget, crowded unruly classes, poor attendance and didn't pay much attention when he did go because he was a hungry kid who had bigger priorities) and he's lived life in survival mode for a long, long time. He probably doesn't think about that kind of stuff and doesn't really have the tools to refute what he's been indoctrinated with. This is why cutting education is fascism 101, by the way-it makes it way easier to indoctrinate people with bullshit.

(fuck, this got off the rails)

I still haven't made a concrete decision on Alopex. I'm pretty sure she's going to appear, but I haven't nailed down a definite backstory for them yet and I haven't decided if they'll reconcile. He didn't kill their parents here though-he never returned home after they were kidnapped. He didn't know if his family was still alive or if they would accept him, and he decided that he would rather just never know.

[space-blue]

Trick or treat!

Poor anon... Let me beam you 90% of the first chapter of an original story I worked on years ago and never finished.

Phobia

Did you ever wonder if you could spend a day without drinking? Even if you were thirsty, to just stay locked in your room, and hope that "thirty days without food, three days without water" weren't an urban myth?

I have, of course, as a sort of intellectual exercise. Like wondering whether you'd rather die of thirst or hunger; such merry thoughts usually triggered by some piece of sensational news about people surviving against all odds, trapped under buildings, licking wet concrete for weeks.

Never had I considered it as seriously as that morning, sitting on the edge of my bed, head bobbing on the knees I'd gathered in my arms. My bare feet drummed a matching rhythm, following the erratic patterns of my anguished thoughts. I had already given up on the morning's plans of course. Why worry about jogging or work when I wasn't sure I'd get a glass to drink. Or a thing to eat. Or an access to the toilet, either.

I cursed myself for keeping my room so tidy. I rolled back across my bed, tumbling in my duvet like this was some slumber party. But there were no half eaten meals, no bags of chips or popcorn, no bottles or glasses laying around, half full or half empty. No one either, to hit me with a pillow—let alone open the door for me.

I sat back up, starring at this hideous obstacle in the wall, this repulsive thing I could barely stand to look at. The idea of touching it, opening it and being confronted with what may lay behind made my stomach lurch and my body break in a sweat.

A fucking door.

How did I not see it coming? The endless question. As if I could plan for everything. I reached for my phone, checking for messages. Answers to my desperate cries for help.

Nothing yet. I'm no sexy princess to be delivered out of my dungeon, for sure, but at least Virgil would help. He'd come for me—not on a white horse but in a white sedan. And if he found my desiccated corpse, I knew he'd get some epic line carved on my tombstone. Something witty like "Finally got a phobia of living".

I laughed at the ceiling and, for lack of a better thing to do, started reviewing the series of events that had led me here, trapped in my own bedroom by a paralysing fear of its door.

It all started two years ago. I'd scored a great job, working a management desk in a brand new animation studio based in London. I loved what we did there, but work was slowly turning into hell because of commute. I simply couldn't afford rent anywhere near my work—could barely afford to breathe and eat, actually; fuck London.

And you see, I had a crippling phobia of trains and cars... and buses, subways, trams—basically anything that had me inside a metal box travelling at great speeds. I insisted on riding my bicycle everywhere. You can imagine how things got, between the woeful weather, the waste of a time I didn't have, the lack of sleep snowballing into absences, sick days and increasingly sloppy work... Within a year it was a toss up as to what would get me first, between my boss waving a P45 or a car clipping my wheel.

I needed to act, and fast. That wrote off drawn out therapy, so I got an appointment with a hypnotist. I didn't really know what to expect. I'd heard about them from a concerned friend who'd seen some tv show about them. Third hand information at best, yet my GP confirmed hypnosis was an option and gave me a reference to a private hypnotherapist in Whitechapel who'd only set me back one third of my rent a pop.

I went in with low expectations and high hopes. I can't stress enough how pleased I was to walk out of that first session entirely cured. My fear, the entire gut reaction, the physical distress at the very idea of being trapped in a car, was gone. The poor hypnotherapist was so taken aback, she scheduled a second appointment later in the same week and asked me to try and sit in an unmoving car before then and report how that felt.

I went home in a taxi, crying my eyes out in happiness, thinking there would never be another session.

It lasted for a few days. Retrospectively, I think I just failed to find the proper triggers.

My first fright, I was getting to the subway entrance and froze. I found myself taken by nausea, feet glued to the steps. An all too familiar cocktail of feelings. I could not bring myself to go underground. It was like it would swallow me. Like it was a hole, not a tunnel. An anthill, swarming with sweaty hordes of people who didn't seem to notice how close the walls were, how dense the air... Everything screamed danger at me, every sense on high alert, except for my knees, ready to go to sleep.

Do you know someone who has a phobia of planes? People always talk those poor folk down.

"Hey, planes are safe!"

"One in a million chances!"

"It's more dangerous to take the bus across town, or to cross the street!"

Does it make a difference to them? Of course not. You can be perfectly reasonable about the object of your phobia. You can know for certain that it is safe, and yet remain utterly terrified of it. It's a gut feeling, a horror without sense or reason. Of course a frog can't eat you. Of course a house spider as large as a finger nail is more scared of you than you of her, and she couldn't even pierce your skin if she tried to bite you. As harmless as a mayfly, yet you climb up the curtains and wail.

It's really insulting, to have someone laugh at you as if your logic were what's at fault. It's not, it's some deep, poorly wired connection in your brain, wherever it breeds mortal fear.

And if people try to cure plane-phobia folks with hard Facts and Logic, just imagine how they react to a grown man shreaking in the supermarket aisle, suddenly discovering himself a phobia of tuna cans?

Yes, that happened too. The day after the underground fear. And yes, I knew that cans—of tuna or otherwise—wouldn't hurt me. But it was terrifying. I didn't see it coming, I had grabbed it while fumbling with my shopping list. When I saw it and the fear locked into place...

Yet the next day I could open my kitchen cupboard and grab any can I wanted.

The phobia, I slowly came to realise, was jumping to some new, unknown objects every day. It left me wondering where I'd be, next time something caught me off guard. I woke up stressed, tensed for the day ahead. I went to bed fighting sleep, my dreams often plagued by whatever thing or concept had scared me all day.

Fear and anguish and tuna cans.

Now featuring doorknobs as well.

The hypnotherapist had been eager to believe me. It was easier for her to accept something was wrong with my head than to believe she could cure me my phobia in a single session. Her recommendations sent me down a string of doctors, all more academic than the next. I quit my job when it became clear I couldn't hold it. My girlfriend left me the day after I woke up screaming at the sight of her in my bed and ran to lock myself in the bathroom.

Phobia of women is a thing. It's called gynophobia and it's stupid.

Eventually, I moved to Edinburgh, Scotland. I got a flat and a stipend for working with the University there. With Virgil and his team at the neuroscience department. Malcolm Evans became M. E. in all papers on my rather... unique condition.

The man whose deep sleep cycles resets his phobia! The man with gremlins for brains. That was me. That had become my life. To be prodded and tested and written about. Paraded at talks and flown about the world, put under and medicated and cat-scanned and ultra-sounded and punctured and dressed up in more electrodes wires than a Christmas tree with fairylights.

[freebooter4ever]

i actually have another story related to this that kind of...i dont know...shows the difference between what im used to and now. while i was working in computer science education i was an art director - and had to defer to the professors in programming and curriculum -  for the most part i had final say on anything art quality related.

so nick shows up in pittsburgh - ski season was over with and he decided to lend his carpentry skills to theater tech work. and somehow through the theater he was employed at, he got talked into being set director for a local high school play on the side. and then, because i was madly in love with him and wanted to spend every second together like a total idiot, i got roped into helping him paint everything.

so while i was writing a textbook by day - creating the models/joint systems AND planning how they can illustrate introductory programming concepts -  i was also spending my nights from like midnight to 4am painting the sets nick was building. for like two weeks or something. i was dying, but i was very happy about it.

anyway one night instead of us being there alone the actual Art Director of the show was there doing whatever it is she did. and she was watching me paint some stone walls. and she was like ‘thats too much color stones are grey’. and i just looked at her with my two hours of sleep death stare and informed her that this was the underpainting. and nick was sitting over there smirking at us like the smug asshole he is because he already knew me too well by then and he knew exactly who was going to win this battle. At that point he’d also spent enough time making out hanging out with me in my office that he'd seen me do this base layer / top layer painting on digital sets.

because a few things: this is for stage so if you’re going to have colored lights you want to give even gray objects some color to catch it. two, if the lights are going to be bright you’re going to have to compensate a little - you can see this in every dsnylnd ride ever. three - i told her the truth that the initial underpainting was literally an underpainting and the teal tinted gray wash going on top was going to blend all the colors together. This is how you get the illusion of flat objects being three deminsional. Those of us who have worked on low poly games know this ALL TOO WELL. PLEASE lady i do this everyday on 3D computer models its the same fucking concept. i didnt say all this. i just fucking did it. cause i was a volunteer working till 4am what could she do. Kick me out? Haha.

so yeah i won that argument and when the play opened everybody commented on how great the sets looked.

BUT WHAT IM SAYING is that the people who aren’t actually doing the work and are only judging the finished project really REALLY shouldnt be able to have any say at certain stages. they should just trust that the person who has already previously demonstrated the ability to do this shit can do it again. and thats why we have concept art. to determine the direction that the working artist can then formulate a way to reach. and then the person who directed the concept can look at the finished product and be happy. but thats not how it works because they like to be in control \o/

Sometimes i wonder if i actually would have survived working at the studios during the golden age of ani*ma*tion (Besides my being female). Cause like walt was known to be a very micro managing boss - its why the whole place fell apart after his death for a while there. The artists used to ask if walt was in his ‘bear suit’ that day so they'd know in advance if he was going to rip their heads off in critique. And one artist looking for a job actually walked in and told walt that ‘[walts] job is the only job worth having around here’. Who knows. I feel too young to be so disillusioned by this town already.

[dumbsack]

[PART 2 OF THE NO CLASS CHANGE CHALLENGE]

Oh whoops, I forgot to say what order I tackled the Benevodons. Let me get on that tangent real quick before talking about Zable Fahr.

1. Dolan

2. Dangaard

3. Lightgazer

4. Mispolm

5. Xan Bie

6. Land Umber

7. Fiegmund.

I decided to tackle Dolan first because the enemies in Chartmoon are absolutely relentless, plus he doesn't have a weakness. It went fine. Spiral Moon caused no problems. I then picked Dangaard because the four phases of its fight made me nervous... But that went fine, too. Just had to resaber and buff up and whack it to death. Lightgazer was next, again, because I had nothing to hit its weakness with. For the rest of them, it really didn't matter what order I chose, I just saved the simpler Benevodons with weaknesses for later.

I will note that neither Duran nor Kevin succumbed to Land Umber's Stone Cloud's petrifying properties. I was under the impression it was 100%, but I guess not.

Onto Zable Fahr...

Okay, not all of Crystal Desert/Dragonsmaw was a nightmare, but I would say it's definitely where I spent l most of my time during the challenge by far.

As long as I avoided Nightblades, it wasn't... the worst. But, if they got the drop on the party with a Split Image Slice, it was GG. Thank the goddess for savestates!

Ah, Zable Fahr. Strangely a comforting sight in this challenge. As explained in part one, by the default, ??? Seeds grant you class change items from the characters' light classes. These items can be pretty useful! I specifically farmed up ??? seeds to get a few Paladin's Tags for multi target Holy Saber for this fight. Radical. Yep, even Southern Slice was just a scratch on the fellas. Moving on.

Same for DSK. I also farmed a slime eye and bee eye to use on him, otherwise my idiots would not have survived his techs. He did hit hard still, don't get me wrong, but it was manageable without much trouble.

So, after running from enemies in Dragonsmaw like crazy and owning the three mini bosses, there was a room I was dreading the most... And for good reason.

No no. Oh my God. The enemies wouldn't stop coming, and you literally can't run. I had to restock healing supplies between rounds in order to make it through this. Without doing that, the challenge probably would have ended here, honestly. This place is just RIDICULOUS. High Wizards, Dark Knights, those green boulder eye things that give me the CREEPS. Awful. Terrible.

However...

My reward for that atrocious room was using 3 Matango oils to completely own this fucking scumbag. That's right. Had I not gotten my Matango oils earlier, I probably would have had to do the challenge all over again, or prayed for some lucky drops from magic seeds. Still, his spells didn't even hurt, but they were quite frequent.

(Lmao. What a little bitch. "I committed war crimes but woe is me a bloo bloo bloo." Shut up, dickhead.)

At last, it was down to the Dragon Lord.

Hoo boy. Awkward. Yeah, attempt one didn't go so hot. I had farmed two Shadow Zero eyes to decrease his stats at different points in the battle. When he gets low, he uses Power Up and Protect, making your attacks next to useless, even with buffs. But, once I used the second eye, he buffed up again. That FUCKING turd. I ran out of healing items soon after... Feeling defeated, I went to bed and went to work the next day.

I needed to brainstorm some things before trying again.

Throughout this challenge, I had forgotten Moon Coins existed. They decrease enemy HP, including bosses, by 1/5. 1/5! DL has 55000 HP! For reference, DSK has 18000 and CW 15000, and Kevin and Duran can hit about 200ish damage with their techs. That would take him down to 44000 HP in an instant. I couldn't pass it up, even though the ring menu was pretty tight. Thankfully, there were still monsters in Duskmoon Forest, so I got a moon coin from there. I also farmed up more ??? Seeds so I could get some Liege's Tags for more multi target healing.

If that all failed, then I had a backup plan.

You see, Kevin is glitchy. Very, very, very glitchy. I'm not sure if anybody play tested him in the original or remake to be frank with you. In certain parts of the game, if you activate his beast form then fly away on Flammie while still transformed, you'll keep the damage buff.

You can repeat this over and over again until Kevin is hitting 999's with his normal attacks. However, I felt that defeated the purpose, so I didn't want to use it at all if I didn't have to.

With that in mind, time for attempt two.

It was going well... Until...

cock.

I forgot my damn hammer to undo Moogling. Ffffuck.

Well, onto attempt 3.

For attempt 3, I had a theory. If I used a Spectre eye— which casts Anti magic... That would delete his buffs, right?

Wrong! It doesn't do that. It only clears enemy sabers and probably does something else, but I don't know what.

So, I had to do something scummier. I waited. I simply kept hitting the Dragon Lord with my piddly Polly prissy pants damage until he went into another elemental phase. When he did... Bam! That's when I hit him with the other shadow zero eye... with no buffs to undo the debuffs in sight to boot!

This was it. This was the attempt. The music was swelling. I could feel the end coming. I just needed to keep attacking and healing... Then, on my final healing item, a honey elixir...

The screen flickered. This asshole exploded.

I had emerged victorious! Woo! I beat the stupid game without class changing! I didn't even have to do the Kevin exploit!

Yeehaw! Roll the ending...

... What, are you surprised by me posting this?

Anyway... would I recommend this challenge to anybody else? Haha, no. The fun of SD3 is its unabashed jankiness, stupid ass storyline held together by duct tape and chewed gum, pure heart, and the ability to mix and match characters and classes as you see fit. Definitely class change the moment you can. You'll have more fun that way, trust me.

In the end, the challenge came down to clever usage of in-game items, and maybe a pinch of luck. If, for whatever reason, you want to try this challenge, anyway? Well, go for it! Maybe you can try it on a different route? Maybe you know something I don't know?

...

Hmm, am I forgetting something...

...

Aaaaaaaaa-

[crowcryptid]

spoilers for ac6 below :3

I just finished new game + and it’s obvious that they intended for you to do the fires route first and then do the liberator route.

Cause the new content is almost entirely about helping the RLF.

I did it backwards so it’s like. “Im helping! I’m being helpful! Ok now that I’ve given them false hope time to burn them to a crisp lol get trolled”

Don’t talk to me about Rusty that’s Not Real trust me in both endings he just um.. he just runs away it’s fine. :]

Ayres fight is SUCH bs oh my god. It just sucks to see the enemy dodge the second you press anything. I thought the chapter 4 boss was bad with the input reading, but she’s even worse. It only took me 3 tries but I got so close on the first 2 tries and died cause I couldn’t land ANYTHING once she got to like 10% health. Any other boss would have died but she perfect dodged literally everything and I died 5 seconds later. Even my assault armor didn’t do anything cause she would dodge out of it every single time.

I didn’t feel like spending an hour or two on it so I switched to zims. She just dodges like 90% of your attacks once she starts flying around. The shotgun spread is pretty much the only reason I was able to hit her with them. Didn’t even bother trying to melee her, I just used the 10 count missiles launchers and hoped for the best. But nothing survives the dual zim. Nothing.

I somehow managed to pick the harder missions every time in my first run. This one was so much easier. I did die once to the chap 4 boss though. Fuck that thing. Fuck those wheels too. I grabbed every log and part so I had to deal with them. They actually managed to kill me so I had to do that twice.

I can’t believe how much easier Walter is as a final boss. I definitely didn’t get to hear all his dialogue. It’s actually kind of sad that he’s so weak.

I guess to make up for the weak final boss you’ve got Chatty/Carla and Snail. I thought they were VERY annoying, but my first playthrough build was a slow quad leg so I could never dodge anything and that’s probably why I found those fights so annoying. Key word here is annoying, not so much input reading bs. Just spammy heavy hitting attacks + my slow giant mech meant I was getting melted.

The stuff they throw at you in the fires route is nothin. Didn’t even use 2 repair kits on those levels. But then it’s made up for by.. an annoying boss. So take your pick.

Liberator > Fires for me.

I still think the hardest thing in the game (so far) was Michigan. Mainly because of ammo. That’s the only mission I ever ran out of all ammo on, during multiple attempts. Finishing by punching while being so low on health was stressful. That’s also when I learned that punching has a cooldown meter?? Why?

All throughout new game + I used Walters armor with some high accuracy arms so I was a lot faster than my first run. Switched between machine guns, various pistols, and various rifles, except for the end where I said fuck it we Zimming. I mainly used the medium weight and heavy weight plain old lock on missiles and various melee weapons for my back slots. Everything else just seems too inconsistent, and multi lock deals with all the fodder to save ammo. I really wish the guns in this had more ammo. The pistols really need more shots. I think the energy pistols and needle guns ended up being my favorite, somehow. Also I really liked the basically lightsaber weapon u get but it was not useful for most bosses so I didn’t use it as much as I wanted to.

New game ++ begins now. I didn’t have this one spoiled for me so yay

Idk if I will have the strength to S rank every level. Some levels seem very tedious. Idk how tight the time limits are though. That’s what worries me. I’m bad at going fast against bosses.