#anyway //looks at nxx team. whos it gonna be?

[actualbird]

UHM HELLO!! idk how to use tumblr tbh and im awkward so this is gonna be. uh. yeah HOW DO YOU GO BACK TO ANOTHER LINE - moving on. i love ur polynxx hcs soooo so much please i need more more more 🤲🤲

wahhh, hello and welcome to tumblr :D!!! im so glad i enjoy my nxx polycule stuff hehe and it's been a While since ive written for them (be it for fic or hcs) so this ask came at a lovely time. without further ado, here's some:

the nxx polycule date permutation hcs

due to everybody's schedules being immensely packed all the time, all 5 of them cant go out on dates/get-togethers very often with everybody in attendance. like, when theyre All together it's often for NXX Work OR they save it for special occasions (ex. christmas, new years, any of the team's bdays)

that being said, the Top 1 most common not-everybody date permutations are: artem + mc + luke, and then marius + vyn

-

artem + mc + luke can meet up often and easily because artem and mc work at the same place (so they can quickly figure out when their schedules align, quickly meet up), AND all three of them LIVE IN THE SAME STELLIS CITY DISTRICT!!!

they all live in South Stellis (mc's address was mentioned in The Birth of Stellis | Tears of Themis "Behind The Scenes" Episode, and artem's and luke's can be seen easily in the Stellis Explore function) so i can imagine just like

artem and mc finishing up with work and wanting to go out to dinner together and both of them independently and intuitively understanding that on the drive to the restaurant, they should go pick up luke because if left to his own devices he'll probably only chips and a stale salad for dinner.

mc shoots luke a quick text like "let's have dinner! artem's treat!" 5 minutes prior to them arriving at his shop, and luke panics trying to find something nice to wear because if it's Artem's Treat then that means the restaurant is gonna be QUITE UPSCALE AND FANCY and he doesnt want to look like their boyfriend who they picked off the street from a dumpster because earlier today he had just so happened to be tailing a lead for a case that sent him into the forest so hes all muddy. but hes only got like two (2) sweaters that he himself finds viable for a Fancy Restaurant Date

so when mc and artem arrive to pick him up, hes wearing the blocky xmas partyland sweater. at which mc visibly winces at and at which artem internally winces at

but they all go out for a nice dinner out anyway

-

MEANWHILE, marius + vyn's homes are in completely different stellis city districts: orchideshine and long beach, hemingway heights respectively. and the Stellis Explore function seems to posit these two locations as pretty far-ish away from each other, yeah, BUT....

marius' PERSONAL STUDIO is right in the same neighborhood as vyn's place

i assume marius' personal studio is in this area because another thing thats in hemingway heights (that's just not mentioned in the Stellis Explore function) is Stellis University, where marius is taking his masters. so right after his classes, he can drop by his studio and destress before heading over to the CBD for work

ORRRR HE CAN DROP BY VYN'S PLACE UNANNOUNCED AND SWEEP HIM OFF HIS FEET FOR AN IMPROMPTU DATE

marius has mastered this art. he comes to learn vyn's schedule at the university, at the research center, and at his home so that he only shows up when vyn isnt busy and is most likely to actually say yes to an impromptu fancy lunch

and vyn acts like hes Bothered but he really isnt, especially when marius has the money to treat him out to the High End Pastry Places that even vyn "pastry master" richter can appreciate

basically it goes

marius, yelling on vyn's yard: hey vyn! let's go out on a date!

vyn: get off my yard

marius: PLLEEEAAASSSEEEE, i'll take you to that bougie place you like!

vyn: fine (secretly pleased to be spoiled)

-

that being said, while these are the most common date permutations due to the simple reason of proximity, they all still find time to meet up in different permutations and all together

vyn appreciates luke taking him out on dates to more simple places, like a family owned diner or a hole in the wall ramen place. while it's not his usual kind of place, he enjoys the food and seeing luke light up talking about the memories hes had in this particular establishment ("one time, i ate here immediately after a mission and i was still bleeding out!!" "....please take care of all open wounds before you have ramen")

marius and luke and mc often meet up online and video call to game together. sometimes artem will join in on the call, despite not being much of a gamer himself, but he just likes hearing their voices and enthusiasm and yelling in the background while he cooks or works

ARTEM AND VYN GO TO THE FARMER'S MARKET TOGETHER. theyre both culinary Geniuses after all, and together they are extremely picky about produce and honey and handicrafts like an old married couple

and of course, they all get together every once in a while when their schedules permit and have a lovely time and enjoy each other's company

-

bonus, what kind of dates each of their residences are best for

artem's residence: best for full-team dinners and movie marathons in his home theatre

mc's residence: best for cozy afternoons because her place is so homey!!

vyn's residence: best for full-team outdoor brunches and tea times and also if you want a touch of nature relaxing in his garden

marius' residence: best for THAT WALK-IN WINE CELLAR and also movie marathons because have you seen the wall-mounted flat screen TV in his bedroom??? phew

luke's residence: best for uhhh...if you wanna slip on stray files on the floor or stub your toe on his palette bedframe? JHFKJ JUST KIDDING, best for in-person gaming hangouts

[samsspambox]

i finished chapter 8 and i have tHOUGHTS!!!

spoilers under the cut

aaaAAAAAAA THIS WAS SO INTERESTING!!! i really liked the red herring they tossed of Rio being the killer but then finding out Lowie actually orchestrated it,,, damn

anyway from the top!

VYN LORE ACTIVATE!!! Holy shit i genuinely didn't think he would've carried reminders of his fam (mainly the crest) but i can see why. like sure, he doesn't wanna be part of the de Haspran house, but also he's cherry picking?? like okay his dad has his own agenda (making him look good so that when he does inherit the duke title he has a good deed under his belt) but he's using his position for his own advantage which yeah, stick it to the man vyn, but also daddy de haspran isn't gonna be there forever and him cherry picking is gonna come bite him in the ass

also i don't have the sc but artem being like 'oh can you keep her safe' man if your peepaw ass doesn't shut up rn 💀😂 i love the irony in artem being protective

TINKER LUKE TINKER LUKE!!! we were robbed of all the cool gadgets luke made MC this round!!! where's my lipstick taser luke pearce!!!

mood, mc. absolute mood.

LUKE AND WECHSLER TEAM UP!!! sure it failed at the end bc of the explosions but hOW COOL WAS THAT!! THEY SUNK INTO THE SHADOWS WITHOUT PROMPTING!! that was so cool forget luke v wechsler, i wanna see them kicking ass together!

pLEASE!!!! team that roasts together, stays together!! (tho i'm really glad that even Baldr has a fucking moral code. props to howard for putting on his big boy pants on)

hello who the hell are you?! but also thank you for giving the old man a name (which i promptly forgot after seeing you) but dO NOT DISTRACT ME WITH YOUR LOOKS I GOTTA THINK!

before this it stated something that caught my attention. that someone else was researching the nxx drug. see, i think it'd be crimson biotech, the corporation we've heard about but only in passing when the NXX drug was first introduced. it's a perfect set up now that Herison (and Turner) are out of the play by both health issues and credibility after the trial. it's the bigger big bad compared to the small fry that was herison.

and yeah!! those are the initial thoughts i have (i'm sure i'll think of more when i process and put all the key points im thinking about on my lil map LMAO) but tHIS WAS SUCH A GOOD CHAPTER!!! i'm so excited for the next chapter (which is a luke centric chapter if i'm getting my pattern right and wOW DOES THIS PLAY INTO HIS ILLNESS HOLY SHIT!!) and yeah! the end! :D

[actualbird]

once in high school i was going through a Stressful Time so in my thermos, i dumped two sachets of instant coffee into water just meant for one sachet, thus making a very concentrated Potion Of Make Me Palpitate. and it did exactly that cuz i drank the whole thing in the morning before class started and by the third, i had gotten the Tremblies in my hands and also my organs. several, idk, thats rlly how it felt. at this Stressful Time, i was also (stupidly, so stupidly, dont do this) self medicating what i would later learn were symptoms of anxiety with paracetamol cuz it would make me a bit drowsy and thus calm me down. obviously, my terrible potion exacerbated the symptoms so much that i thought it would be a good idea (it wasnt) to just down 3 paracetamol all at once bc i rlly felt like my soul was in the pear wiggler thanks. i thought the paracetamol would cancel out the potion

it didnt. thus follows a terrible but very interesting school day where everything was so fast but also frozen at the same time. yknow when a thing is vibrating so fast that it looks static and still? yeah. thats a sensation that i felt for roughly 6 hours

anyway, never do this ever ever ever but also im now glad i went thru it because how it felt is seared into my mind and im SOOOOOO USING THAT FOR FANFIC WHERE LIKE, terrible poison or fucky drugs is involved

[actualbird]

hey, who made the NXX logo? 

this is the NXX logo ingame in the NXX HQ meeting room projected into the room for some?? reason???? (thank you @surely-galena​​ for pointing this out in this post. now that ive seen it, it endlessly perplexes me)

but yes, i bring this up cuz like. while this looks to be a simple enough logo, No Logo Is Ever As Simple As It Seems. every logo on earth was wrought into this world by a graphic designer. i am not a graphic designer but i work in advertising with graphic designers on branding projects and logo design is tough work!!!!! even when it seems simple, that simplicity was BY (MORE OFTEN THAN NOT, EXCRUCIATING) DESIGN!!

so somebody had to have made this logo for the team. the Team Logo

but this team is top secret, highly confidential. so they couldnt have just hired anybody. 

and i assume that this logo was set up early in the nxx team days, during the OG NXX Team where the members were only neil, vyn, and giann

and giann? well. he knows an artist

but that artist isnt on the team (yet)

and thus i present to you a speculative excerpt from a video call that happened circa marius’ florence days where giann commissions his brother

marius: and....i get no info on what this project is???? at all?? what the fuck? u do kno that a good logo needs Context, right? giann: the context is. Serious. Sleek. Cool. marius: wow, that helps a lot, as if there arent 938492349328 things that are also serious, sleek, and cool in this world giann: juST PUT THE LETTERS N AND X IN THERE SOMEWHERE marius, playing it up: FOR SHAME!!! YOURE SHOWING SUCH DISRESPECT FOR VISUAL CREATIVES, HMPH!!

heres another thing that comes with logos and branding: brand books. i also had to work on these at my job and brand books can get long as hell, depending on how strict the branding is gonna be. itll include everything from letter kerning, the protected areas around the logo, the maximum reduction size, the primary typeface and secondary typeface, the COLORS, etc.

and marius doesnt seem the type to half ass anything, so he makes a brand book

and hes lovingly passive aggressive in it

and thus the preface in the brand book goes:

"This book will serve as a guide in using the brand identity. It must be closely followed to ensure that the brand is presented correctly and clearly across all communications despite the fact that the one who commissioned the artist was doing the bare minimum of what could be considered communication on this project. [...]

neil and vyn read over this (while giann has his face in his hands) and briefly wonder who the hell giann commissioned for the logo and branding before shrugging and moving on cuz theyve all got more important stuff to be thinking about

anyway, once marius is brought onto the nxx team, he walks into HQ and sees his logo projected in the room is like “giann, you motherfucker....”

[actualbird]

n/s//f///w text and crossposted from a long thread i made on twitter this morning HAHA

i think vyn should be a size queen also i made up a full plot for vyn/artem smut but artem is the one fucking vyn cuz god, why havent i seen that iteration in vyntem fic yet, understndable but listen listen

wc: 948

ok so the nxx team go on team building grp vacay at a (pax owned ofc) beach resort, dont think about it too much, i just want a beach setting. and vyn just so happened to learn that artem wing is hung as fuck.

tho How is smthng im still on the fence with. but funniest route in my brain is that marius accidentally walked in on artem changing and was like "yo, huge dick, dude! //thumbs up" and artem screams and throws him out and marius proceeds to tell the rest of the team "yo, artem has a huge dick! //thumbs up" which piques vyn's interest.

and vyn is Not a shallow person, thank you very much. he just enjoys indulgence. he indulges in the not-so-simple pleasures of life like french pastries and getting railed to the high heavens.

this + the fact that his an artem's relationship is Certainly Hurtling Towards Something (theyre not yet dating, not even in the GENERAL SPHERE OF ANYWHERE NEAR THAT, their snappy tension at each other is just getting way more heated. like a plot, every interaction thickens like a soup. a sexy soup) results in vyn making the decision to embark on a Seduction.

and he makes a Plan. he Planned this. he is gonna be subtle and coy and it's very strategic, u see. in typical vyn fashion, he is going about this with the goal of having the upper hand the entire time by orchestrating many scenes that Just so happen to have vyn lounging around Wet in the general proximity of artem who has eyes.

and for all that artem is a dolt when it comes to reading the room or reading between the lines, vyn employs that Clear Forwardness thats still skirting the edges, the BECKONING VIBES OF IT ALL.

tho unlike how he does that w mc, vyn is still, deep down, an asshole towards artem. mutual asshole-ry. that doesnt magically change cuz vyn wants artem's kickstand dick.

itll be like

"artem, whatever are you standing around there for lost in thought? too uptight to enjoy urself, heh?"

or "artem, make urself useful for once, i cannot reach this part between my shoulders to apply sunscreen" with a well placed soft moan when artem presses down on the skin there

aka flirting thats just this bizarre mix of LOOK IM SO FUCKABLE and also I STILL DONT LIKE U.

vyn is going to examine this later w his audio recorder to unpack the contradiction of his desire and supposed dislike, but feelings later, fucking NOW.

(meanwhile, a few feet away on the beach where vyn and artem are doing whatever the hell this is, 3 ppl watch...

luke: this...is excruciating

marius: it's takinG FOREVER

mc: HUSH, let em do their intricate rituals)

anyway, vyn expects all this to percolate with artem stiffly and shyly approaching him eventually. and then vyn can work his magic of "oh if you are so high strung lately, i ~suppose~ there is a solution that helps both of us" and artem gets to fuck away all the tension vyn has been purposefully stoking, and vyn gets to enjoy seeing and feeling however goddamn huge artem's cock is.

a perfect plan, everything carefully built up to have an inevitable conclusion

but vyn miscalculated just how much he had affected artem

vyn was banking on artem's repression shtick making him desperate yet easy to handle. that is not what happens. artem does Not shyly approach vyn, he loudly knocks on the door of vyn's hotel room to confront vyn about What The Fuck All This Is and vyn opens the door is only in a towel cuz hes committing to the bit

and artem just snaps.

the bedrock of animosity of their general relationship combined with vyn OBVIOUSLY playing around with him this whole week combined with a dash Maybe Actually Feelings That Means Artem Is Into Vyn As Well, More Than Just Attracted To Him But Also Truly Into Him As A Person (artem is confounded about this, make no mistake about that) heightening everything means that artem, for all his inexperience driven hesitation, just

throws vyn onto the bed

vyn, alarmed and SO turned on but trying to get ahold of the situation again: well, seems i was right. all it took were a handful of tame displays you probably saw as obscene, this was all according to my plan---

artem, on top of vyn: Stop. Talking.

vyn, feeling artem's erection pressed against him and Wow, That's A Huge Fucking Dick: //stops talking

(meanwhile, in the neighboring room while thuds against the wall from vyntem room start happening, mcmarluke plays bingo

marius: eyy ticked off "headboard hitting the wall"

luke: none of us have a square for artem growing a spine tho, didnt expect that

mc: sounds like vyn didnt either)

anyhoo, vyn gets railed. eventually, his front of All This Going According To Plan shatters cuz while artem is going at this for the first time, big dick still goes a long way (literally, like, it reaches deep and vyn loves it) and then maybe some feelings talk happens during afterglow and a soft armistice on hating each other is drawn, which then can lead into a date maybe with some semblance of romance

the end <3

[actualbird]

Hope you're doing well! ♥️

So I have a confession to make: I haven't played ToT for a whole week now. I'm kinda scared to go back in because of the new event, (the Christmas one) because I'm afraid I won't finish it in time but at the same time I don't want to miss out on it so I have just been sitting in this limbo.

I think I maybe burned out because I finished everything? So the only thing I looked forward to were the events (some of the events were brilliant, some not so much) and in my opinion, they aren't spaced apart enough for me to enjoy them. I play this game for the story so when there isn't much of it, it's hard to just even log in daily - keeping in mind I haven't missed a single day since I got the game.

I really hope we get new main and character stories soon because I can't see myself being interested enough?

I'm genuinely lost because I absolutely love this game!

I don't know, these are just my ramblings.

I'm 👌 this close to sending you angst about Luke dumping Marius and Aaron accidentally telling the NXX team about Luke's condition 😅

P.S. The recent Artem fic - first of all, how dare you make me tear up again? Secondly, I can imagine Artem grading himself after the appointments, like: Oh, the therapists didn't like what I said, I get an F!

LIKE NO! YOU CAN'T WIN OR LOSE THERAPY, YOU DUM DUM!

I just want to hug him! ♥️

Okay, that was a lot! Please take care! 🌺

hullo, hibiscus!!! i hope ur doing well too :DDD

ooooohhh i can relate to this sentiment!! i havent stopped playing but i deffo feel a big mood at "events coming in too fast to enjoy them" like yep yep. im STILL processing luke bday and now theres xmas partyland!! before that, i was STILL processing symphony of the night and then RRG part 1 happened gbsdjkgsd

tho if it's any consolation, the current event Xmas Partyland doesnt have any event plot like Symphony of the Night or RRG. it's just a boardgame thing, like Summer Breeze!!!

also not sure if i u kno but it seems tot wants the global server to catch up to the cn server (i talk about it here and here) so that global wont stay 1 year behind cn server forever. this has pros (more stuff at a faster pace) but also cons (MORE STUFF AT A FASTER PACE, IT'S HARD TO KEEP UP, also it's fuckin up some of the relationship development espeeeeecially mc and marius hoo boy)

based on the cn server, we should be getting the Personal Story 3 AND Main Story 6 installments in February of next year, 2022 (the pvs for them for the cn server was released at that time, 2021), but again, with how tot wants global to catch up, who knows if we're gonna get it earlier.

i'd REALLY LOVE IT EARLIER. i want the main and personal stuff earlier and the events a liiiiittle bit more spaced out bc tbh, i can only write so much so fast to respond to it all HAHA (im enjoying myself, yes, but im close to collapsing at the end of every day so UH)

anyway, if ur excited for more story already, i guess one solution is to watch/read translation of cn server content!!! ofc only if u want, i used to be somebody who didnt want Any Future Spoilers At All, but then luke pearce happened and now im in shambles, i know what happens in future personal story, im in pain SO MUCH PAIN BUT ALSO it rlly bolstered my excitement a bunch, if that makes sense?

sdkjfsbkjBJKSD LMAO AT THE ANGST, HIBISCUS. as always, im very open to receiving angst hcs OwO.....just be prepared for me to find some kinda way to give it a hopeful happy ending HAHA, i have trouble accepting bad endings, when it comes to love....

thank you for reading "designed to send mixed signals, one image made up of different pixels" :DDDD!! sorry for the tears tho skjfbkjBK AND UR RIGHT. YEAH. THATS AN ARTEM THING TO DO (and also something i did back when i was having therapy, OOPSIE DOODLE)

artem: can i see the grading rubrics for this?

dr reyes: artem, this is therapy. there are no grading rubrics.

artem: oh. oh no. what do i do now, then?

dr reyes: love yourself, ideally, but we'll get there.

take care as well, hibiscus!!!!!