#as if I wouldn't find a way to use that set after hyping it so much

[chere-indolente-plays]

Soo I might be starting a 2nd save parallel to the Au Fil du Temps/decade one... What can I say, how could I keep my grubby little hands away from 60s fashion anymore, especially with @surely-sims and @ice-creamforbreakfast taunting me like that !

Anyway I want to try out DrGluon's Rotten Berry challenge so

Meet Dr Zita Zed

...my evil scientist of a founder

[munsonsmixtapes]

Better Late Than Never

Eddie x fem!reader

Summary: a bathroom counter make out with your husband, Eddie

word count: 1k

The bathroom counter was cluttered with various makeup products and brushes that you had been using to get ready for the night. You were always so caught up in perfecting your looks that you barely even noticed when you had made such a mess until it was time to clean up. Maybe it was unfair to the person who you shared the bathroom with, but he hardly minded.

Eddie, your husband, was sitting on the counter next to your sink, watching you like he always insisted on doing any time you got ready. He claimed to find the whole process fascinating, loving the techniques you used to apply everything. He was always there to give you feedback and hype you up no matter how crazy or weird of a look you were doing. He was your number one fan no matter what.

You grabbed your eyeliner pencil that had been sitting on the counter next to Eddie and gave him a smile as you did so. The smile was returned, love clear in his eyes. He reached for your hand and brought it up to his lips, pressing a soft kiss to it before letting you have it back.

You applied the eyeliner to your upper and lower lash lines then pulled down your bottom lid to line your waterline. Eddie always found that part particularly fascinating; how it always seemed to make the whole thing come together. Especially when it all smudged after a full day of wearing it.

Maybe he liked it so much because he wished he could wear it. He wanted to, and had even wanted to ask you to help him apply it, but he could never get the guts. He had recited his vows to you in front of a whole church full of people, but couldn’t ask for a little liner? Why did it scare him so much?

You turned to him and he hadn’t realized that he had been so close until he noticed that your noses were almost touching. You could see him eyeing the pencil in your hand and knew exactly what he was wanting. You weren’t sure why he wouldn’t just come out and say it. You wouldn't have judged him. In fact, you thought that men wearing eyeliner was hot.

“Do you want some, honey?” You asked, and he just nodded.

“Please?” He asked and you moved to stand in between his legs. He grabbed hold of your waist and you took the eyeliner and slowly lifted it up to his left eye, giving him a chance to back out if he wanted to.

“Close your eyes,” You instructed and he obeyed, closing his eyes. You slowly and gently lined the top lid, rubbing it with your finger to give it the smoky look. You thought that would look the best with his eye shape and color. You then lined the bottom lid, doing the exact same thing before moving to the other eye, trying your best to make them look somewhat even.

“Waterline too?” You asked and he just furrowed his eyebrows. He wasn't up to date on the makeup terminology so he honestly had no idea what you were talking about. “Here,” you pointed to the spot on yourself and he nodded enthusiastically.

You lowered his bottom eyelid and moved as quickly as possible since it was his first time and you knew it could feel uncomfortable. You then lined his other eye then pulled back to examine your work, nodding to yourself in approval. You grabbed your mirror from your makeup bag and handed it to Eddie so he could see for himself before moving out of the way so he could get a better look.

He let out a gasp at his reflection, moving the mirror every which way to see it at different angles, his mouth agape. He couldn’t believe how good he looked, how hot. He knew that you were good at doing makeup, but you had truly outdone yourself. You made him look like the rockstars he had always looked up to, the ones he aspired to be just like. Now that he had a little taste, he was going to have to ask you to do it for him everyday.

“Darling,” he gasped again. “I look hot.” He set the mirror aside so he could see you again and beckoned you forward with his pointer finger. You stepped between his legs once again and he rested his hands on your waist, pulling you closer before wrapping his arms around you.

“I agree,” you nodded. “But I always think you’re hot.”

“Babe, do you have a crush on me?” He teased and you just rolled your eyes.

“Eddie,” you chuckled. “We’re literally married.”

“Just answer the question, y/n.” He pulled you closer to him, his lips right by your ear.

“Yes, Eds, I have a crush on you.” Sometimes he was so ridiculous, but you couldn’t help but love him. He made it so easy.

“Don’t say that too loud, my wife might hear you,” he whispered, making goosebumps rise on your arms. “Now give me some sugar.”

You pressed your lips to his in a quick peck and tried to move away, but his arms only wrapped around you tighter. You let out a laugh at how childish he was acting. He didn’t play when it came to your kisses. If he had it his way, he would have kissed you forever.

“Eddie,” you laughed. “We have to finish getting ready.”

“One kiss and I’ll let you go.” You knew there was no getting out of it, but you didn’t mind. Not at all.

“Needy,” you replied, leaning into him, wrapping your arms around his neck. His hands rubbed along your back as his face inched towards yours.

“Very.” His lips slotted between yours in a gentle kiss which was typical to expect when he had asked. Those kinds of kisses were always filled with so much love, as if he was trying to show you exactly how he felt with his lips.

His arms tightened around you as he licked into your mouth. You let out a laugh as you pulled away, Eddie trying to chase your lips as you did so.

“Eddie,” you chuckled. “We’re going to be late.” You both were supposed to be at Robin’s in twenty minutes for her birthday party and now you were definitely going to be late. She shouldn’t have been surprised, though. This was very like you and Eddie since you had become a couple all those years ago.

You had become the kind of couple who couldn’t keep their hands off each other. But only behind closed doors. When in public, the most you would do was hold hands. Over time, your entire friend group had become aware of your inability to be able to keep your hands to yourselves and made fun of you for it. It had become a joke between all of them and you had let them laugh because it had been true, after all.

“So?” He pressed another kiss to your lips. “Everyone already assumes we’re going to be late anyway. Why not take advantage?” Another kiss, this one lingering.

“Eddie, we can’t fuck right now,” you rolled your eyes.

“No one said anything about fucking, darling. I just want some kisses. Can you do that for your hubby?”

“If you never refer to yourself as my hubby ever again.”

“Consider it a deal, sugar.” He pulled you in for another kiss, taking no time to swipe his tongue along your bottom lip. You opened your mouth, letting him inside. His tongue roamed around, roughly scraping against yours. His legs wrapped around your waist, causing the two of you to be chest to chest.

Eddie leaned into you, his hands moving down your back only to go up your shirt and underneath your bra. He lifted your shirt over your head, setting it next to him before removing his own. His lips pressed to your neck then moved down to your shoulder, moving the strap of your bra to give him more access.

“So pretty,” he mumbled against your shoulder. “So so pretty.”

“You’re the pretty one,” you replied and his lips moved back up to yours.

“Let’s agree that we’re both pretty, okay?” You supposed you could agree to that. Although, you liked having the little argument about who was prettier. He was always going to win that competition.

“Sounds good,” you replied, moving your hands to his hair, pressing your lips to his once more. Your fingers pressed into his scalp as you licked into his mouth and he let out a moan as you grabbed a fistful of his hair.

“So good, baby,” he whined, his legs wrapping tighter around your waist. You backed away and he removed his legs from you. He then leapt off the counter and you took him by the hand to lead him to your shared bedroom. You were so going to be late to the party.

[biancadoes1]

FAVORITE ANON IS BACK

I didn't expect to be back so soon and to have to jump to the other side of the supporting character spectrum butttt here we are...

As we all know by now, A has made her return to the Insta grid and it was a doozy. 48 days after Luke posted his Spain photo dump, A pops out with the "Last bit of summer" which of course includes a picture of her "sunbathing and reading" on what appears to be the same balcony as Luke's from Spain. The 6 photo carousel also includes 2 photos from Cyprus. To many on the internet, this was another "launch" just like the recent London pap pictures.

This is the point where I would like to remind everyone to TAKE A MOMENT AND BREATHE BEFORE YOU REACT.

Now that you've done that, please remember the individual we are talking about. It is important to study patterns and this girl be patterning. Whenever the spotlight turns up on Nic and Luke, she always seems to jump in and tear things down and she is living up to her reputation. Let's add to the fact that Nic is getting torn down from this recent pap and press article incident so why not throw some gasoline on the flames. This is her time to SHINE.

Now I have a couple thoughts on the Spain of it all:

I think it's highly possible this trip happened in mid-late July (when the resort posted the Bridgerton themed post) and right before the birthday trip to Sorrento. It is highly likely that it was also a group trip and I'm not even saying these two were romantic on this trip (similar to my thoughts on Italy). She honestly could've just gotten into his room to take a couple pictures.

Her and her friends on a separate trip and maneuvered their way into the same (or similar) room and recreated the scene. It sounds wild and crazy and wayyyy out of the realm of reality but to be honest, I wouldn't put it past this individual.

My big question is where were any pictures that alluded to Luke being on the trip? The only picture is the balcony picture with her lying on the lounger and it doesn't even include a lot of possible items that would match the photo to being an identical match (the table settings or his underwear on the chair). If you went on a trip with your boyfriend - WHERE IS THE BOYFRIEND? Many are saying she got permission from Luke to post now but if he gave her permission and they are still together then why isn't he in the pictures?

Also, I find it convenient that she has C & S coming out of the woodwork to like and hype her up in the comments almost immediately (her and S have been almost radio silent to each other since Italy). As someone pointed out to me, the comments look like something planned in a group chat.

And to anyone who wants to say it - no I do not believe Luke is mad about Nic and Jake and is lashing out by telling A to post. If you even believe that about him, why are you in this fandom?

What do I believe? I believe we are seeing one of the final acts of a very desperate woman. She has been holding on to these pictures as her "smoking gun" to use one day when the timing is right. Nicola mentioned "Luke" and "marriage" in a Time article and she posted a picture with Luke publicly on her instagram. Once the pap photo controversy went down, A grabbed her chance and ran with it. (The irony of it all is that I think Nic's team may have let the article situation yesterday play out the way it did because they were expecting a grenade from A and she took the bait.)

In the end I will tell you the same thing about Luke that I told you about Nicola - ONLY LISTEN TO THE STORY LUKE IS TELLING YOU. The story Luke told you in his Spain post was that he was a man who was there alone and not on a romantic getaway. Don't listen to the story that psychotic side characters are trying to paint. The reason she's still around and creating this drama is because you all encouraged her all summer. Listen to Nic and listen to Luke and the rest is just noise you need to tune out.

My favorite anon is back so soon.

But I think we needed you, so much appreciated ☺️

[genericpuff]

LORE | REKINDLED EPISODE 41 - TOWER 4

< Previous episode | Next episode >

Nothing quite sets in the holiday spirit like SPOOOOKY SHIT-

Can you believe it's been a year since Rekindled actually started? The way time flies when you're having fun. I had actually forgotten I had redrawn a lot of those first few episodes when I made it an official "thing" (i.e. when I put it on an update schedule and signed my life away foreverrr /j) so tracing back when Rekindled officially 'began' had me finding old versions of those first few episodes that were oooooof bro-

Okay, but for real, Rekindled's come a long way, and it still has a long way to go still which makes me so excited. As much as those who see what I do here like to assume it's purely out of spite and hate, I really do love working on this comic, and that includes the part of the process where I revisit old episodes of LO that, even after everything, I still love. The newer seasons may be dead to me, but what it used to be has a special place in my heart, and Rekindled has really helped me explore what could have been. It's made Saturday nights a thrill for me again - I get to enjoy two whole doses of LO content now, with a fun balance of flavors that makes being a part of this community twice as fun as normal. You could say it's really rekindled my flame for LO-

A very special thanks to @banshriek, who's helped me bring Rekindled to a whole new level that wouldn't exist without them. They've been an amazing assistant and a wonderful friend and I'm so thankful to have them in my corner <3

And thank you! All of you, for following along with Rekindled, reading my essays, destroying my ask inbox, and just being an awesome community full of awesome people. I've got a busy year ahead with lots of stuff planned, from art markets and expos to plot threads in Rekindled that I'm hyped af to get to; not to mention Lore Olympus officially ends this year, meaning I'll undoubtedly have loads to talk about (which fills me with both a strange sense of excitement and dread at the same time LOL) I'm gonna try and take it all in the best spirit that I can, I wanna come out of this shit sparkling like one of Hades' diamond golf balls.

Let's make 2024 a fucking banger.

[tizeline]

Hello Tizeline. I’d like to ask you about (if it’s not too far for you in the plot you have established and if it’s not too revealing) what would be the Trios and Donnie’s reaction to their encounter with Karai and the knowledge that she is their ancestor. I imagined that Donnie might already know as he is the “only child” raised by Splinter so he might have told stories. But what would be the Trios reaction to the information of their human ancestry?

Yeah that's definitely something I still have to figure out haha. So the turtles know that they're related to Lou Jitsu, a human, but they don't exactly consider him family. So in that sense, they'd know that they technically have human ancestry , but they wouldn't feel any real connection to that ancestry. In the show it seems that ninpo and in general the connection between Hamato is more based more on relationships in the emotional sense and less on biology, considering Karai makes it very clear that April is "one of them" (the Hamato clan) despite not being related to them biologically. So with that in mind, I don't think the Drax Bros would have any mystic connection to their Hamato ancestry at first, because they don't have emotinal connection to it.

All of this is to say, by the time they'd first meet Karai (assuming I decide to follow the canon story more closely) the Drax Bros would've just started getting close to Donnie and Splinter (they decide on giving up on their conquering humanity plot after the season 1 finale). So while they've kinda started actually properly becoming part of the Hamato family at that point, they still wouldn't feel the same connection to Karai as Donnie would. He would very much be on the Gram Gram Hype Train like he is in the show, but for Raph, Leo and Mikey it would be kinda awkward I guess? Cuz, yeah sure she's their ancestor? But also literally who is she?? Does she consider them family???

This isn't set in stone yet, but I do kinda like the idea that Splinter introduces Donnie to the whole Hamato/Ninpo/etc stuff earlier in the AU than what he does in canon. Donnie would find out about Lou Jitsu being his bio dad basically immedietly from his brothers, but like in the show he wouldn't connect the dots at first that Lou Jitsu=Splinter. So basically as soon as he finds out about his secret evil family he'd run to Splinter to demand answers. "Did you know I have Long Lost Brothers?? And that they're evil?? And that they wanna kidnap me?? And that I'm related to Lou Jitsu?? Where is Lou Jitsu anyway??"

So because of that Splinter would probably just tell him his Secret Tragic Backstory way earlier. And also, because Draxum and the three Draxum Jrs might try to kidnap back the only son he has, Splinter would be a bit concerned with making sure Donnie actually has a chance to defend himself. Splinter doesn't seem to be familiar with ninpo in canon, but in the AU he's probably gonna at least know it's A Thing, he just never learned how to use it himself. Donnie'd be reluctant to learn it cuz he's all like "ew, magic, cringe", and it'd be hard if Splinter doesn't know how to use it himself so they'd have to rely on like ancient Hamato texts or something. But he would eventually start figuring it out, before he meets Karai.

[ben-talks-art]

Okay... This episode of Digital Circus almost made me cry... almost!

When I saw the first episode of this show I knew I was going to really like it, but I wasn't prepared for how much I was going to love it. This reminds me of when X-Men 97 premiered and even though we were only two episodes in I could already tell this was going to be something special.

I know it's super, super early to say this, but this might become one of my favorite shows. The way they handled this episode really worked for me in a way I haven't felt in a while.

From the very first scene things already start on a really strong note, with our main lead, Pomni, having nightmares about the worst-case scenario from the new situation she's in where she imagines herself being affected by the circus glitch and being abandoned by the rest of the cast.

This does a great job setting up her sense of isolation and how she thinks she's on her own even though they all should be on the same boat together.

This gets highlighted even more as another member of the circus, Ragatha, is seen constantly trying to show her support and getting Pomni to cheer up despite the dreadful situation they're in while Pomni herself just acts indifferent as if she had already given up on everything and everyone.

I found this characterization of hers so relatable because I also used to think for a while that my problems were mine and mine alone and that everyone trying to help me were doing that just out of obligation and not because they really cared.

For some reason it felt "safer" to just assume I couldn't count on anyone because then I wouldn't have to worry about being disappointed in anyone, after all, you can't get disappointed if you don't get your hopes up.

So imagine how hyped I got when I saw that they indirectly made Pomni realize why it's important to rely on people when they switched the roles and placed her on the position where she needed to be there for someone.

I wanted to jump and slam my desk while shouting "Perfect! Perfect! This is just perfect!!"

Everything that needed to be said was being said just in the right way, just at the right time, and with the right amount of emotion, just the right amount of seriousness and levity.

Cause here's the thing, the media often has this obnoxious tendency of portraying antisocial characters as people that need to just "Get over it."

A lot of writers enjoy lumping grumpy characters, and reserved characters, depressed characters, angry characters and all these stuff as people who just need someone to cheer them up and have them forget about their problems, as if they were babies that just need to grow up and learn to be less grumpy so they can join in with the fun alongside everyone else.

You notice that it's always a person in a bad mood + someone who's always cheerful, happy, and with a child-like joyful attitude to be their contrast or someone to call them out on their "grumpyness."

And that always bothers me because it makes it seem like they're downplaying someone's struggle or inner turmoil as if they were minor things that they latch onto to just because nobody has told them to let it go yet.

I like when stories showcase why people struggle so much to let go of this mindset, why they struggle to open up to others and find themselves cheering to their day-to-day lives again.

But I'm also aware that this is not an easy task cause it's basically asking to show someone being depressed for a good portion of your story, and if that goes on for too long or it starts diving into a too heavy of a territory, it can make it a challenge just to watch.

So yeah, I get it, it's hard to find the right balance.

To show why someone needs to overcome their personal demons, while also making it an enjoyable experience to go through.

You don't want a case like Legend Of Korra where Lin Beifong's issues were pretty much treated as a joke, but you also don't want something like the Beast Boy segments from Young Justice where every scene with him just felt the same thing for 5 or 6 episodes, even though they were realistic scenes depicting someone going through what he was dealing with and they all built up to an amazing conclusion with Black Canary... But it was still draining to go through that.

You need to find the right balance and I felt like this episode really succeeded in that. You get why Pomni feels the way she does and you get why Ragatha tries so hard to help her out and why it's important that she keeps trying even when it seems like there is no point.

I really like how Ragtha isn't just "Cheer up, Pomni! Let me show you the secret to enjoying life!", she's actually trying to be sensitive of her situation, giving her the space and time she needs, and being there for her but not forcing herself on her.

She validates Pomni's pain but also knows it's a pain that she needs to learn how to deal with, otherwise, she's just gonna miss out on her own life.

The final scene was the thing that really got me.

When Pomni finally realized that the same way she tried to help out that NPC when they were stuck, she also needs to let others help her out.

It took me so long to realize in life that I don't need to deal with everything on my own, that I had people there for me, that I'm allowed to be vulnerable and make mistakes and that the people around me who love and care about me would still be there for me.

It took way, way too long for me to realize all that, so to see that final shot of Pomni imagining herself falling just like in her dream, but this time she had trust that her friends would be there to catch her, it really hit me good.

I'm not sure how to explain it but for some reason I was really proud of her for learning such an important lesson so quickly that it took me so long to learn myself. Like, I know she's not real, she's a fictional character, but I felt an immense relief while thinking people would watch this, and learn from this, and not make the same mistakes I did.

I have no idea where this show is going, but I feel like I'm in safe hands and can't wait to see what else they're going to do and where they're going to go.

I'm very very hyped for this series!

Also, I know this makes me a monster, but this scene made me laugh. :)

[cheapshrimpysheep]

You Showed Up!

SUMMARY: How would they react to seeing you in the crowd and what might happen after the show.

CHARACTERS: Cater Diamond, Kalim Al-Asim & Lilia Vanrouge

TAGS: Fluf; GN Reader

WARNING: Possible spoilers from their SSR Pop Music T-Shirt cards lines.

WORD COUNT: An average of 440 words per character.

COMMENTS: My favourites are the Overblot students, but I want to make these things with the rest of the characters too. The SSR Pop Music T-Shirt looked to me like a good way to start. I'm thinking of making one for the basketball club too when the cards come in the eng game. I'm also thinking of making something with the event cards. Okay, stop mumbling. I hope you enjoy this one. ;)

Cater was the guitarist and vocalist.

You went with your two best friends from Heartslabyul, who were as hyped as you, alongside the Housewarden and Vice-Housewarden.

When Cater sees you in the middle of a song he's singing, his voice will almost crack for a second, but the will quickly recover his posture. he won't be able to stop smiling once he knows you're there watching him.

When he manages to get a free hand, he will look at you and make a heart with his index and thumb. While winking with a smile.

If you record and take picture for him to post on his social medias, Oh Great Seven you're the best person that could exist and somehow came to his life! He'll want to hug you and kiss you and invite you to eat with him someday, on his account! … Wait... did he invited you on a date in the middle of the hype?

He always wanted to play and sing a ballad, but with Kalim and Lilia on the same band, that wouldn't happen. If he sings on in front of you, could you film it and sent him for him to post on the social medias? And if he writes on for you, he'll tell you not to record. That one is for you and your ears only.

If you good at music and even know how to play the guitar, he will lend his to you to see what you can do. Once he sees how good you are he'll be impressed and definitely record it. Even if it's just for him. Especially if it's just for him. And he'll tell you: “Waw! That was total awesome! You should join us in the club! It’ll be even more fun with you. Us two could even make a duet one day. What do you say?” Wink wink.

If not, and (like me) you have absolutely 0 music skills, he'll ask if you'd like to try some chords on his guitar. If he has a crush on you, he'll find this an opportunity to go sit behind you put his hands on yours to show you how to put your fingers and play. If you’re left-handed, he’ll still do the same, but try his best to adapt the things to you. And if or when he gets confused by that, you'll laugh together.

Kalim was the drummer.

You went with Jamil.

When Kalim sees you in the middle of a song he'll smile like a jolly goof and wave at you with one hand. Spoiling the song for an obvious moment and clumsily back to concentrate on the drums.

Cater and Lilia will have to improvise something to pretend that it was part of the show. Cater was slightly annoyed on the inside. Lily was laughing in amusement.

Jamil will sigh and say something like “See, I told you he will be completely distracted by you. But don't get me wrong, I never said it was your fault.”

He will smile and wave at you Every Single Time there is a pause between songs. To the point that every now and then several people turn around and look at you curiously to see who he's always looking at.

Jamil will feel the need to be your bodyguard if the attention towards you keeps increasing.

Of course, there will be an after-party and you are more than invited.

If your confident in your musical skills, Kalim will invite you to play and our sing with him. He’ll let you set on front of his drums and be totally hyped by you for how good you are. “(Y/N)!!! You have to join us at the club! You’re so awesome! And we’ll have so much fun together!” Oh Gods, he’ll be so hyped it will deadly concern Jamil. “Do NOT offer (Y/N) the most expensive and beautiful instrument you can find Kalim!”

If not and (like me) you have absolutely 0 music skills, he will ask you if you'd like to learn a little of how to play the drums. He’ll let you set on front of his drums and will gladly teach you somethings. He would get behind you, pointing at where you should hit next and if he puts his hands on yours, he’ll not realise how romantic that could be.

He’ll be the happiest and proudful teacher ever, even if you completely fail at sound slightly good. “Why don’t you join the Pop Music Club anyways? We can teach you how to play. And even if you’re not that good, it doesn't matter, we'll definitely have fun together!”

“Um? If I could give you private lessons? Ha ha, sure! That will be great! Would you like to meet in Scarabia? Jamil can make your favourite dishes.”

Lilia was the bass player.

You went with the other Diasomnia students. Malleus probably offered to fly with you so you could see better. Silver couldn't fall asleep because of the extremely loud sound and was looking to the stage with his cute smile (proud son). It is humanly impossible to be more hyped and scream more than Sebek.

When Lilia sees you… oh no. He playfully smirked. He was plotting something. What have you done? Dude got crazier and crazier. He wanted to give you the best show of your life and on his head that's something a bit... extreme.

Your eardrums will only not be seriously injured because Malleus will protect them with magic. Scream vocals, he’ll definitely do those. If a bass is broken by him hitting it on the floor at the end of the concert, it will be partly your fault. Please, Lilia, don't jump into the public!

After the show he’ll ask you all what you thought of it and his performance. Either will be with Sebek on the side: That was awesome! The coolest thing ever” our with Malleus and Silver on the side: “That was… interesting indead…” Either way, he'll be happy that you had fun alongside his unconventional family.

If your confident in your musical skills and you tell Lilia, he’ll want to ear you play his bass. He'll be quite impressed by you, and star trying to convince you to join the Pop Music Club and/or convince you to let him teach you how to do scream vocals with him. If (for some reason) you'll show interest on that last one, Lilia will certainly be delighted. And the other three will be... probably desperate. For the first time, Malleus Draconia will be afraid of a human. If not, (your vocal cords will be thankful) that wouldn’t surprise Lilia, but it will start to be one of the things he uses to mess with you.

If not and (like me) you have absolutely 0 music skills, he’ll tell you that’s no problem and that he himself was like you some time ago. And, of course, ask you if you’d like to try some chords on his bass. “Would you rather a kind and easy lesson, or hard and strenuous training?” (Canon line, not mine) Let’s hope you’re a sane person and chose the first option, shall we.

You know about him saying he's good at lullabies, but you’re too afraid to ask. So, you’d ask Silver and Malleus instead just to make sure if it’s not another “I’m a great cook” thing. If they tell you that, despite everything you heard, that is true, you gain courage to ask if you could ear him sing one of those.

When he starts singing and you discover that his voice suit lullabies perfectly, you slowly start to fall asleep and maybe even end up laying your head on Lilia's shoulder. Then, he'll look at you, playfully smirking, open his mouth one more time and be desperately stopped by Silver's hand shutting him up. “Don’t, father! Not with (Y/N)!”; “Don’t you dare wake up the Child of man with your called vocal screams.” Malleus intervened.

P.S.: If you are curious to know how Lilia would sing a lullaby, look for his voice actor: Hikaru Midorikawa singing Love is a Song. ;)

AND

If you would like to read more from me, you can find it in my pinned post: INDEX

[3xdni]

'*•.¸♡𝙶𝚑𝚘𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚗'♡¸.•*'

NOT 100% PROOFREAD

Pairings: E!42 Miles x Black/Mixed Reader

☆ ★ ✮ ★ ☆

Heads up: Black-coded reader, swearing, kissing, high school age ranged, use of the 'n word, touchy miles, established relationships, toxic ex, neck holding, slight blood, slight violence

summary- you go to a party with your best friend post-breakup with your cheating boyfriend, only to see miles and end up 'thanking' him when he protects you from your ex after he presses you for ghosting him

You and your group of girls walked aimlessly down the halls of your school, chatting it up with your best friend who was rambling on about her new boyfriend. She went on and on about how fine he was and how he paid for everything she wanted.

"Girl, is this your man or your sugar daddy?" You snarked with a soft chuckle, lightly punching her arm.

"Oh god no," Y/B/N rolled her eyes and crossed her arms in disgust. " this my man for real, like we're getting married and everything!" She said smiling as you listened to the southern drawl roll off her tongue.

You and your friends couldn't stop yourselves from letting out a loud set of giggles as Y/B/N chanted throughout the halls about her delusions.

The way she talked about her new boyfriend reminded of the way you used to talk about your ex. So happy and oblivious to the asshole who you were hyping up. Always there for him when he was never there for you.

Once all of you made it to your respected lockers, Y/B/N suddenly came to a stop about her 'new husband' to give you a somewhat sad look.

"But anyway, how have you been since, ya know... the breakup?" You closed your locker with a sigh, planting your forehead against the cool metal. "I been aight I guess," you paused to look up at your best friend with an annoyed look. "but this nigga will not leave me the fuck alone!" Y/B/F let out a loud wheeze as you shut your eyes and dramatically wiped down your face with both hands.

"Ganke must still be tryna get back with you or sum?" You simply gave her a hard 'mhm' which she couldn't find more hilarious. "You know there's a party this saturday at Gwen's, you should come with me! We gon find you a new man, sis!" A couple of your other friends agreed with the idea of you going, just wanting you to have some fun.

You snickered at Y/B/N's remark. Giving it some thought, you wondered if you should make an appearance at this party. It had been awhile since you went to one and were actually able to mingle with who ever you wanted to.

Ever since you broke up with Ganke, you felt a since of new found freedom. Of course you loved and adored him when y'all were together, but you weren't stupid enough to stay with him after finding out he was texting other girls and trying to link with a mutual friend's girlfriend, miles. You rolled your eyes at the thought of him begging for you back now.

Solange chimed in from behind her locker to add that there were supposed to some many fine dudes there. Jacky gave you a firm nod to back up Solange's statement. "I bet if Miles was there you would say yes immediately." Your best friend teased and you just responded with the most lethal side eye you could muster. "Hey, don't look at me like that! You know Ian lyin'" She chuckled before finishing getting her bags completely out her locker.

Solange and Jackie were making a team effort to coax you into joining in on the party. They only wanted to see you happy, and all they knew was to dance and mingle their own problems away. They made multiple comments about how you're so young and 'We gotta enjoy it while it lasts'. Of course they wouldn't push you against your will, but a little convincing wouldn't hurt anyone.

"Girl it does not take that fuckin' long to think, come on please! We don't wanna go without you!" These poor girls were practically begging on their knees for you to attend this party with them. All you could do was look at Y/B/N with an amused smile on your face. Simply shaking your head in disbelief at your little group's excitement when you agreed to go.

‎・┆✦ʚ♡ɞ✦ ┆・

Saturday rolled around and you sat as your best friend picked out what you thought was your best outfit.

You felt excitement bubbling in your stomach as continued putting on your last accessories and shiny lip gloss. The music that blasted throughout Y/B/N's room giving you a pregame effect sorta gave you a feeling of what tonight was gonna be like. You put on your favorite perfume and body lotion. Y/B/N squealed as she exclaimed how bad you were and quickly whipped out her phone to take pictures.

As your best friend held her phone up, a notification slide onto her phone.

• Solange👽💚hey... just found out ganke's at the party.. might wanna let y/n kno!!

Y/B/N quickly turned to look at you after the disappointing news. You sighed and gave her a half assed smile. "It's cool, Ian trippin and Ian finna let it bother me either." you shrugged you shoulders which released tension from Y/B/N's own shoulders.

You sat in the back seat of the car on the way to the party. Staring through the windshield, lost in thought. 'What if Ganke was there?' multiple thoughts like this flooded into your head. 'What if he asks why haven't I been talking to him? What do I do if he tries to hurt me-' Your thoughts were immediately cut short by Jacky's pink acrylics wrapping around your hand. "Hey, it's gonna be okay, girl! We wouldn't tell you to come if we knew you wouldn't have a good time." She gave you a kind smile and you gave her the same.

You were hyped up the whole way over to the party, your best friend saying things like 'Girl you look good as fuck!' or 'You gon be taking everybody nigga'. However, when you were finally there you started to feel a little nervous. It had been a while since you were in the party scene but you knew you'd feel better once inside.

You walked through the big, glass door's of Gwen's home and it already reeked of underage drinking with an overpowering amount of horny teens. After giving your friends the green light to go dance and have some fun, you gravitated towards the kitchen. It was only slightly less crowded than the rest of the busy house.

You felt a hand grab your shoulder and felt Y/B/N yell in your ear over the loud music that she was gonna go look for her man, but she'd be back. You laughed and told her don't worry about it and you understood. After she ran of with her little boyfriend, you smelled a very familiar scent. You looked around the kitchen island you were currently leaning on and your eyes landed on you and Ganke's mutual friend, miles.

He was nose deep in his phone, ignoring the girls that would come up to him and quickly shooting down any interactions with his bluntness. You chuckled as you watched the failed attempts of even the prettiest girls in your school try to talk to miles. Making your way over to him, you hopped on the part of the counter right beside his arm.

You couldn't deny the attraction you felt for Miles, even when you were with your ex, but you could never let it be known to anyone. You had a man and he had a girl, you both were off limits. Although, Ganke couldn't understand that much. Y/B/N would always poke fun at the fact that you picked the wrong friend throughout your relationship, and you couldn't help but feel she was right.

When Miles looked up at you, you noticed how close you two actually were. Taking in how handsome he was, looking at his lashes, the diamond studded ears, his signature braids, gold chain dangling on his chest, and those pretty lips that always caught your attention, you became lost in thought.

"Yo, Y/N what's good ma?" Miles cocked his head at you with slightly surprised face. He also seemed to notice the close proximity of you two, however not moving at all. Miles always felt that there was tension between the two of you. His girlfriend wasn't shit but his mom didn't know that and liked her, so he kept her around. That was done though, so Mr.Morales started making moves. He been plotting on you for a little minute now anyway.

You gave Miles and small smile and leaned back on your palms. "Shit, I been good, how you been though? I seen you and ole girl broke up." You asked giving Miles a knowing look. He gave you an amused 'mhm' and watched as your body stretched atop the counter, paying close attention on how your thighs seamed to squish against the cold marble. Miles looked you up and down while licking his dry lips.

"Nah man, we not together no more, but what about you and yo nigga? Thought y'all was cute and shit." Miles shrugged his shoulders, obviously returning your teasing. You rolled your eyes at the comment, not really caring about the subject anymore. All that mattered was that you were single, and he was single.

"So whachu doin' here? This doesn't really seem like your scene." You asked Miles while taking a sip of the drink you had just poured. He watched intently as your lips wrapped around the side of the cup and drank from it.

"A couple of friends wanted me to come, Ian really studyin' this party though." Miles responded, taking large gulps of his own drink.

You watched Miles' adam's apple bob up and down as he drank the alcohol, causing you to shift your focus and forget that you needed to project your voice. When you tried to tell Miles that it was the same for you, you spoke in a low, quiet voice.

He looked at you for a second, trying to put together your words but ultimately failed. The boy moved increasingly close to your neck and you shivered as you felt his breath fan against your ear.

"Que dijiste bebe? I can't hear you, speak up." You could only hope that Miles wasn't aware of the effect he had on you. He just couldn't hear you over the music and loud voices, that was all. Right?

You tried to play it off with a simple 'My bad' and repeated yourself louder this time. Miles smiled at you as he backed up just a little bit so you were face to face.

Even then, Miles couldn't help himself from continuously stealing looks at your outfit. You seem to just have popped out after Ganke fucked his girl. He started paying close attention to your lips, wondering why they looked so soft, why they just looked so..good?

You and miles moved well on into good conversation, catching up on each other, a couple of flirty remarks, and the inconsistent brushing of hands against thighs, hands touching hair, and just enjoying being in each other's presence. All was well until an unwanted but familiar face came into your side vision. You continued your conversation now looking at Ganke making his way over to the two of you.

You gave an exhausted sigh and dramatic eye roll as the one person you wouldn't let ruin your night apparently make it his mission to do just that.

"Yo, What's up Miles, Y/N?" He yelled loudly over the music, attempting to dap Miles up which he ignored. Ganke put up a friendly front but you could tell he had alternative motives. You just sat and stared at the boy while Miles replied with a dry 'Yo'.

"So this what we doin now, Y/N" Ganke looked at you with a stank face, motioning to you and Miles. Mood quickly switching just as you thought would happen. "Youn wanna answer my text or calls but you can come to parties with my homeboys now?" Your ex threw his free arm up in the arm in exasperation while his other one held his drink. "My mans, you was the one that cheated, not me? Ian even tryna talk about this right now, I'm havin' fun." You explained motioning to Miles which he returned with a sly smile.

"Oh so you having fun fuckin' on my homeboys?!" Ganke started to get louder, gaining more attention from the now forming crowd. "We not homeboys my nigga, you fucked that shit all the way up for you." Miles corrected with a deadpanned face.

Ganke was obviously drunk because there was noway anybody in there right mind that would come up to you like this. You weren't necessarily scary but people knew not to disrespect you. When he attempted come stumble closer to you, Miles quickly straightened up and put himself between the two of you. Leaning back on your knees while giving him a warning.

"Aye man you need to chill out with allat, you doing way too much." You felt as if you could handle the situation yourself, but it made your attraction towards Miles grow to see him so protective. "Nah bruh, youn tell me what to do, that's my bitch-" And as soon as he let the word slip, Miles damn near knocked his tooth out.

Ganke fell to the floor with a dazed look and blood dripping from his mouth. Miles was raised by his mama, he knew not to tolerate disrespect towards women. Audible gasps and a collective 'Damn!' was heard around the kitchen.

You looked into the crowd and spotted a drunk Solange and sober Jacky rushing to the front of it. Solange let out a load, obnoxious laugh. "You just got knocked the fuck out!" Jacky laughed uncontrollably trying to steady her friend.

Your 'knight in shining armor' turned to you after spitting on the already hurt kid. He walked over to the counter and started to gather his belongings.

"Man fuck this shit, you tryna get outta here." The tall boy patted his pockets for his keys and pointed a thumb towards the door. "Yeah let's go." You quickly hopped off the counter to walk with Miles, barely sparing a glance at Ganke.

・┆✦ʚ♡ɞ✦ ┆・

10 times outta 9 I know your lyin' but 9 times outta 10 I know your tryin' to be there

You rode down the highway, windows down and 'Love Drought' by Beyoncé playing on the radio. You were lost in your thoughts about the previous events until you felt a large hand lay across your thigh. The action felt kinda familiar. Looking from out the window, to the hand, and then at Miles you couldn't help but smile and blush a bit.

You were a bit confused as to how he manage to act like he didn't just almost knock someone out. That's not to say you didn't mind the extra attention. Feeling his grip on your thigh just made your stomach turn in the right way. You wanted to talk but there was so much to say and nothing to say at the same time.

Before you could even mutter a word however, Miles broke the air. "So what's up with him, man? Why he trippin' on you so hard, ma?" His eyes stayed on the road but you knew you had his full attention. He was a somewhat responsible driver after all.

"He just got an attitude 'cuz I won't talk to him no more. Ian tryna deal with allat for real." Shrugging your shoulders, you gave Miles a side glance. Now that it was just the two of you, you couldn't help but see how good he looked in his tight black T-shirt, khaki cargo pants, and fresh pair of jays. His jewelry shined in the street lights. He just looked so damn good right now, you could practically feel yourself drooling.

"You sum special, ya know?"

"Hm? Whachu mean?"

"Nah Im just sayin, Ion go around bussin folks in they shit like that for random girls." Miles smiled with his eyes still on the road before him. You just adored the way he was showcasing his dimples off to you right now.

"But you would do it for me though." You giggled at the end of your sentence, appreciating the compliment.

"Anything for you, mi corazón " Although you knew it was a bit of an exaggeration, as this was only the beginning of y'all's relationship, you still felt comfort by his words.

Feelings grew between you two as you watched each other silently over the years. He fell in love with every little thing you did, as so did you with him. You noticed every tiny quirk and habit he had, and just thought he was so fine. It was crazy to everyone that you two didn't start dating each other instead of your ex's.

You felt his hand brush farther into you skirt and squeeze a little harder, all you could do was sigh into his touch. Miles let a deep chuckle slip from his lips and you could feel your face heat up. "Ni siquiera puedo creer que saliste con su lamentable trasero, you know you could do better right, mamas?" You squeezed your thighs slightly at the nick name, which Miles very much noticed.

Of course you didn't want to give in to him just yet, so you beat around the bush. "Yeah I guess, I mean Ion really talk to anybody though. Ian really met a lot of real niggas." You faked oblivion to Miles obvious attempt to get at you.

Suddenly turning down a back road, and driving into an empty, grass area atop a hill, Miles turned to look at you. "That's 'cuz you ain't been talkin' to me, my heart." His accent rolled off his tongue and into your heart. He couldn't help but stare into your pretty eyes, and glance at your pretty, glossed lips. They looked so plump and full, all he wanted was a little taste.

Miles grabbed you by top of your neck softly, causing you to let out a breathy 'Miles'. He couldn't help himself. You just looked so gorgeous in your little outfit tonight, he was grateful to god that he sent an angel like you to him tonight. The two of you tilted your heads in unison closing the gap between you.

Your gloss smeared across Miles' lips as he pressed into yours roughly. When he pulled you closer by your neck, you had no choose but to place a hand on his thigh to help you balance yourself. This caused him to groan which gave you an opportunity you had to take. You snaked your tongue into Miles' sweet mouth, moaning into the kiss as his grip on your neck tightens.

Miles started moving his free hand down your back and onto the cusp of your ass, giving it a firm slap. He broke away from your lips to move his face into the parts of your neck uncovered by his large, rough hand. After leaving multiple kisses, licks, and hickies on your neck, he pulled you over the middle console and onto his lap.

Miles rubbed your ass through your mini skirt, like he was touch starved. His lips returned to yours as he muttered the words "Let me treat you right, baby. Fuck these other niggas."

You just look this boy deeply in his eyes, trying not to fall for him even harder in that moment. You leaned down to plant a kiss on Miles' lips but he held you in place by your neck. "You gon' gimme an answer, pretty girl? Ian solo tratando de joderte, te necesito mala, mi hermosa.." Miles trailed off seemingly entranced by you.

You swear you could die with all the pet names he was giving you. "You gotta promise though, we gotta keep it together, baby"

"Oh we gon stay together, I promise."

[ladyravenjadethe2nd]

My MHA crossover with HxH series

This is going to be my finest work. It's very ambitious and the first two parts are already on Ao3.

The series is called If Wishes were Kisses.

There are going to be ten parts to this series in total.

The overall plot is this.

Nanika grants a wish and as a result several characters from HunterxHunter are reborn with their memories into MHA. They are reborn to aged up MHA characters.

Part One which I have called Baby Making starts the story with Kaminari who has a one night stand with Hatsume at their graduation party. Hisoka is born from these characters. This is a humor focused story with a good bit of found family. It's as wholesome as you can get with Hisoka in character. You could call it crack with plot.

We are 22 chapters and 44,127 words in. Hisoka is 3 years old and I will aim to end the story when he is in his 20s. It's going to be a long and wild ride.

Part Two which I have called Family Making starts with Momo and Shouto fighting a villain who uses his quirk to kill people, but little do they know that under certain circumstances instead of taking a life this quirk can create one. As a result Momo and Shouto are the parents of Illumi. This is a drama focused story and it begins when Hisoka is nearly 3 years old.

We have a lot of healing here. A lot of family drama and a very slow burn romance happening between Shouto and Momo.

This does not focus on petty drama. This is me taking the Todoroki family drama in one hand and the Zoldyck family drama in the other and clapping my hands together so hard that Momo manifest her own family drama.

We are 12 chapters and 27,388 words in. Illumi is 3 months old.

Note: These two stories are being written at the same time. You do not need to read both of them to understand the other. I'm trying to have Hisoka and Illumi's relationship as cannon as possible which is complex. You can read my Hisoka/Illumi head cannon here. https://www.tumblr.com/ladyravenjadethe2nd/755780079329656832/hisokaillumi

Part 3 isn't out yet, but I already have the first chapter written. It will take place when Illumi is 7 years old. This will have a new character focus and I'm leaning into making it a parody with some angst elements.

Part 4 and Part 5 will be posted at the exact same time. They will both have new characters. First chapter for part 4 is already written.

Part 4 with be a light hearted RomCom. Very funny and sweet and nothing hurts although I'm going to trick you into being sad a few times just to find out I'm lying about it.

Part 5 will be a heart wrenching dramatic Romance with a good bit of Hurt/Comfort with focus on the Comfort.

Yes this is the same romantic relationship told in two very different ways. You could read it apart from each other, but why would you want to?

Part 6 will have only 2 chapters. I will post the first one anytime after part 5 and it will be the prologue. We will get the details of how this wish came to be. The last chapter will take place after part 8 and it will be the Epilogue. I will set it up in such a way to be primed for a sequel if I chose to write one.

Part 7 will finally go into an action adventure plot. Bits of foreshowing for this will have been everywhere.

Part 8 will be a shared story between two characters. It will be sweet, but I don't want to give anything away.

Part 9 will be One shots of side characters. This will actually be amazing. I have ridiculously cool ideas for these and everyone will be shocked and awed about it. Your welcome in advance.

Part 10 is just where I'm gonna shove all the sex! There are gonna be a lot of relationships going on, but in most cases a detailed sex scene is going to take away from the story I'm trying to tell. So that's where the porn will go and I may take requests.

Here is a link to the Series. If any of this sounds interesting to you pls check it out. I've never been prouder of my work and I am very actively working on this story. I wouldn't be hyping it up this much if I had any doubt that I would finish it. Nothing short of my death will stop this from being completed.

[batsplat]

in a way valentino did himself a big disservice by undermining sete as a rider and a rival. like he pretty much erased that rivalry from his narrative and sete is now (mostly?) remembered as that one bloke that vale overtook in the last corner at jerez. like come onnn valentino now ppl think you raced against some very mid guys 😭. but that rivalry was great actually! love watching their on track battles. also it’s such a great foreshadowing for vale/marc and the marc/dovi parallels…….valentino was really doing thee most in terms of interesting feuds and narratives, always years ahead.

sadly the same anon so there are still only the 3 of us.

complete agree on everything in this ask. thanks anon it's fine if it's still just three of us. the growth will be organic I #believe. anyhow I find it funny he does this shit but it also drives me a little crazy. like... it's so obviously not self-serving... and gives you a real insight into his priorities. you see this stuff all the time... ah, sete was mid, valentino didn't rate sete (or biaggi) at all, it was such an easy rivalry for valentino which proves he competed in a weak era... terrible pr move, you'd think! such a fantastic on-track rivalry! why wouldn't you stand by it! and even if he did truly think sete was an unworthy rival, it would still be in his interest to give that man a little hype. you would genuinely be forgiven for thinking the 2004 title was basically wrapped up after welkom, which!! my man!! that's literally your best season, what are you doing!! istg you are making it HARDER to get people into what is straight up the best era racing-wise in modern motogp because half the fandom saw one clip of you calling sete mid and have based all their opinions on that. work with me you twat!!

it's also just so obviously not true. how valentino behaved over the course of that rivalry is not what you would do against someone you don't see as a serious threat. the massive reaction after sachsenring 2003, everything about that early 2004 trio of races (especially the last lap of assen), everything about his reaction to qatar, the targeted cruelty of the sepang celebrations, taking all those risks at phillip island, his panic at the idea of losing in 2005 at jerez, the ferocious determination with which he set about preventing sete from winning again for the rest of that year... sure, some of that is personal animosity post-qatar, but it's personal animosity that was in large part because valentino was spooked by sete. this was the guy who dented valentino's impeccable reputation in one-on-one duels, who actually managed to make him bleed when valentino wasn't expecting it - the first time somebody had managed to do it with anything approaching regularity at a bit of the season where it still mattered for the championship (though shout out to barros for motegi/valencia 2002). genuinely the first time it felt like somebody had valentino handled in direct duels since, y'know, 1998 harada when vale was a teenager. valentino may have fought for the title with biaggi in 2001, but in actual duels it was very one-sided. there's a pretty decent argument that sachsenring 2003 is the single wheel-to-wheel defeat that stung the most until phillip island 2015? like that fucked with him! it prompted a bigger reaction from him than any individual defeat inflicted by casey or jorge! (not that valentino ever really lost duels against jorge but that's a conversation for another day.) he was determined to NEVER fuck it again like he did at the sachsenring! he did this whole reclaiming the spirit of his teens at brno! he AGREED TO SIGN FOR YAMAHA! this was SUCH a massive turning point

he was struggling!! he was seething!! he's exceptionally good at not being a sore loser on a race to race level (always been more of an 'attack from a position of strength' type by disposition) but this is. genuinely. as close as you can run him this decade. maybe assen 2001 is the other one where the mask does slip a little. but apart from that

which objectively makes for a better rivalry! sete being that good bothered valentino, he really hated losing to him even before they were enemies! and the thing is, right, valentino is aware that great rivalries make great stories - that his opponents being strong makes him look stronger by reflected glory. he knows this! it's an own goal that he's just rolling with this tactic! it's so personal he's gonna take the reputational hit! it's night and day when you compare it with, say, the casey rivalry. basically the biggest most obvious tells valentino actually harbours personal animosity towards someone is if he a) blanks them, like just straight up ignores them unless he absolutely has to, and b) starts fucking around with his career narrative where he excludes them from his story in some way, even if at times it's to his own detriment. it's quite straightforward! that's why the moment you cut away all the noise, you can tell he never really had anything against casey - complete competitive happenstance, casey was just there. (you can also tell this how you'd be hard pressed to find anything particularly mean-spirited valentino has said about casey after, like, mid-2013, but that almost feels too simple.) valentino loves to yap and valentino loves to tell fun stories about his career. if he's not yapping with some bloke and he's not including them in his stories, you know it's something special

anyway obviously the fact that sete doesn't get rated also means a lot of people do miss the pretty glaring dovi parallels lol. like they're right there. here just again for reference:

sete never quite got valentino to a title decider, but 2004 is basically almost as close as 2017 and then 2003 is more of a title challenge than either 2018 or 2019, though 2005 isn't one at all... point is, these are broadly similar levels of threat vale and marc face at literally the same age. sete and valentino were closer on a personal level than marc and dovi ever were, but apart from that you've got two rivalries that immediately stand out because of how much more 'respectful' they were than what directly preceded it. I supposed marc does better pr for that rivalry because he doesn't dislike dovi and because it also did him a world of good to be able to point to a more 'respectful' rivalry in his resume, as a kind of 'oh look I can do that too, I'm not the problem' type thing. vale was very image conscious in the sete rivalry, but more in a 'oh I can use how image conscious the other guy is to suffocate him'. and I reckon that's one of the biggest differences between the two rivalries... because losing to sete was a real reputational hit for valentino, like that was a net negative, got the italian press calling him washed and all that shit. whereas marc and dovi... I honestly cannot recall people giving him too much grief for all the last lap duels he was losing? which is odd, in a way, but meant that broadly having dovi around was a good thing because it was almost like a built-in way of making those dominance years watchable. adds a little spice if there's always the threat marc might at least lose a last lap battle, even if unfortunately that might be the only competitive tension you're getting that season. for marc, just having the dovi battles was beneficial. for valentino, the only way he could benefit from the sete battles was by winning them

[gayuu-the-necromancer]

William Rex Route Review

Okay~ Finally, I sat down and completed William's route today morning.....till 4 am. Yes, I have no life and my opinion is....it's kinda good! Honestly, a part of me was expecting it would be a snoozefest and another part of me was like 'Don't worry, it's gonna be fine. You'll love it!"

Usually when I play an Otome game, if the game doesn't manage to impress me within the first 30 minutes, I'll just immediately uninstall it and would never download it ever again. But I have a soft corner for the Ikemen series because their games really fill up my lonely heart....anyways. I'm not gonna sit here and compare Ikemen series with Voltage games or anything. We'll only compare ikemen games with other ikemen games!

I thought that Ikegen was gonna be my fav game forever and I used to think I wouldn't love another game and its characters as much as I love Ikegen. I mean look at Yoshino, for example! Do you really think any MCs could ever beat her? She's honestly the best thing to come out of Cybird and very thankful to them that I finally got an MC I could truly love!! Since Ikegen set the bar up really high, I was hoping the next upcoming game to be even better or at least the same as Ikegen........and then we got something that I don't even wanna talk about :/

So I was skeptical about the projects after that and then we got the news about Koihana. It got me interested, but it wasn't exactly a game in the 'Ikemen series'. There is no 'ikemen' in the title. Not that I won't play, I will when it comes out when I have time. After that out of nowhere, they dropped the teaser for Ikevil and I was SHOCKED!! because I was expecting a teaser of Koihana that day. I was honestly shocked that we're actually getting two new games for the 10th anniversary. The bgm in the teaser was so good (but too bad they didn't use that bgm even once in the whole game!) and I got intrigued about the characters, how they are gonna look, the MC, what's the story about, whose the artist, MC's role blah blah blah etc etc...I was super hyped.

Then the game came out and I played. Like I said, if the game doesn't impress me within the first 30 mins, I was gonna immediately uninstall it, because what's the point in playing if you're not gonna enjoy it, right? I need that 'first impression' to be the best impression! Honestly, I wasn't expecting a gore scene IN the prologue. I thought the prologue would be nice, calming, and maybe a little bit violence here and there...BUT NO! They didn't hold back at all and I LOVED IT! It got me really excited.

I started with William's route because I was planning to translate it and was expecting a lot more gore. William's route is good..................if you can sit through at least 15 chapters without sleeping, then I guarantee you that you will enjoy it. This is also coming from a person whose fav type is not William. Let me divide William's main story into two parts, without giving as many spoilers as possible. The first 1 to 3 chapters are okay. It just gives basic info about William, his personality, and other characters....simply basic stuff. The chapters from 4 to 14, are basically filled with William and his friends doing various missions and William helping Kate to be honest with her desires. It's mainly the bonding stage and I wasn't really into it because I felt like nothing was happening. Even William and Kate's interactions were alright, didn't get me that excited at all.

The story was moving really slowly and it felt like a lot was happening but I wasn't finding anything exciting. There was no 'real' conflict for example, there is no enemy that is terrorizing the Crown. The Crown members look severely overpowered and they are killing all the butterflies without breaking a sweat. The Crown members having these abilities as the 'cursed ones' is honestly very op if you use it in the right way at the right time. There is not much hand-to-hand combat which I personally love watching and translating. But I also love that they are all working together on these missions in groups. It's not like each member is assigned a different mission. All the members have faith in each other and help out each other when doing missions. No egos are clashing, no unnecessary fights, I love that about Crown, even though they all state that they are not friends.

So In between I was thinking...."What's the real threat here? What is Kate's role? Is her role only going to be just standing around and watching people die? Because if it is, then it's very boring."

It was only after chapter 18, that I really ended up liking William's route. William after chapter 18, is one hell of a badass character. There is this certain scene in chap 19 that I really love and it really caught me off guard for a second. There are some lines said by him that I really love. I can't wait to translate that chap and the madness ending. Also, William and Kate's relationship gets really fun. It's cuter and William keeps teasing her whenever he gets a chance (reminds me of a certain other King with black hair and blue eyes who is also cursed!).

The route has some gore and creepy scenes which are really good in showing how horrifying the world actually is. There is no filter. It feels like no one is safe. I don't even know why because at some point, I thought that there is going to be a scene where Kate is also gonna be injected with drugs. I don't know why I thought something like that, maybe in the future, some golden butterfly member will kidnap and inject drugs into her or something to mess up with the male lead's mind....who knows? But it feels like Cybird is not holding back with this one.

Now, coming to Kate. As an MC, I think she's good. She's very nice, caring, understanding, and possessive (lol). I like her a lot. I feel like out of all the Ikemen series MCs, Kate is the only one that has some sort of character development. She goes from being this shy and reserved person to more lively and talkative. It's kinda cute. She gets more bold in the latter half and doesn't shy away from expressing what she wants to do. I like that. Thank god, cybird didn't end up ruining her character in an attempt to make her look pure-hearted. The only, drawback I have with her is her job as a 'fairy tale master'. Honestly, it's such a.....meh job for some reason. She doesn't really get to do much, she only has to stand at the side and watch the male leads mutilating people. It's kind of boring because she has no real goal in life. I thought her job was to find a way to break the curses of the Crown members but no, she simply writes reports that are to be submitted to the Queen. *Sighs* it's fine, I still like her though and I hope her personality doesn't change once I switch routes, or else I will be mad.

Final thoughts, not bad as the first route. I mean it's still the 'first route' and I'm sure the future routes will be crazier....especially Jude's route (I hope I don't die before that!). I feel like his route is going to be before Victor. But still, William's route did a good job in making me wanna continue playing this game, so that's a plus for me. If not, I would have uninstalled it immediately, waited for Jude route, and re-install it then.

I was thinking to start Harry's route next (not translating that btw!) but I'm restarting William's route again to get the other ending not because I'm poor and saving up gold for Harry's route, pfffttt not at all!

[vinxwatches]

fallout (2024)

WARNING: i did not finish this. i didn't want to finish this. do not read or watch if you like happy stories. do not read or watch if you like the darkness in the fallout games. this show is dark in gruesome, permanently damaging ways. fuck this. the show may fucking nail the aesthetic of fallout, it doesn't get the vibe of fallout. fallout is set in a serious world where video game characters go through a video game plots in a world that's also often goofy. an equivalence would be if the mario movie had a serious burial of Luigi half way through and he just stayed dead. a clear sign that it doesn't get it.

trigger warning: gore, dismemberment of the living and dead. the dog dies.

as a big fan of fallout 4, even fallout 76, and a letsplay of Fnv this is very hype. and the references they are putting in straight is so cool to see. and damn, that's how you start a fallout. and now jus the references, seriously the vault hallways looks straight up lifted from fallout 4 (with high definition mods)

a vault having connections with a different vault? so that either is a process of kicking people the fuck out, or the evil experiment from vault tech... probably both. also love that they don't avoid the fucked up lore that really makes fallout fallout.

oh yea, this is how you start a fallout part 2, the personal angle. kind of bummed that she doesn't start with the classic bulky 10mm. and of course there's something about the protaganists family, because this is bethesda fallout (not derogatively, just perfect adaptation)

me, out loud: "ohhh, that's the pridwin, that's so cool" if you get me to talk out loud you did good. petty power politics? how very fallout of you. "i'm bringing him home". i'm very sorry but that's not how fallout works.

also loves that bethesda continues with inclusivity. Dane is nonbinary, played by a trans actor. it's so small, it plays no role (at least i find it HIGHLY unlikely that it will. nb people are just part of reality, and so they are now (finally) entering media.

the fucking junk jet made it in?

just "the ghoul". i wonder if we'll get more info on what ghouls are. i mean i know. i've probably heard more false things then there's true stuff about ghouls to know. but if you're new to fallout i think the vault is relatively obvious, and the brotherhood is pretty well explained. but the concept of a ghoul? practivally nothing outside of them being scary, can go "feral", and are weird. but it is only the first episode.

02

it wouldn't be fallout without skeletons in strange positions and/or environmental story telling. did they use fallout sound effects for the weird man drinking water? it may not be but that is diamond city. at least based of it. it looks so fallout that i can't even remember which of the places i've had a shootout in it reminds me of, it's too many.

not a fan of living gore. like fallout game gore is fine. shooting limbs of completely mindless things? fine. but not on a person, espcially not one that's then crudely taken care of. i'm way too terrified of something happening to me, it tends to roam in my mind anyways, even more so now that i've a reason to give a shit about my body, so the dismemberment of the living... ew, please, no more. at least it doesn't stick around too long (in which case why? just to be gross?)

"cyanide was the most humane product vault tech ever made"... accurate yet horrifying.

03

oh... so that's who the ghoul is. and that, well it'll create drama, and i'm curious how close it's to the story of nuka break. haven't seen that show in too long.

me, out loud, after wondering what that monster was "oh of course it was a gulper. wait, no, those are east coast, this was west coast." not really a plothole, monsters from one side often make their way to the other. harder for a water based creature. unless the same thing evolved twice.

oh, those eyes weren't just more human then expect. that thing was human... once.

the golden rule is severely lacking. don't do onto others as you'd have them to onto you. if i was into bondage and often horney how do you think it'd treat people if the golden rule was. a good rule is "treat others how they want to be treated" or "treat others how you can reasonably expect they want to be treated". the golden rule of the wasteland is pretty accurate though: "thou shalt get sidetracked by bullshit every goddamn time". this rule is, in fact, recursive.

of course the waterchip is broken. this is fallout after all.

04

ok, no, i'm done. no dismemberment of main characters. fuck you. even if she does get it back. i'm done.

[annakie]

Never Fade Away

THIS IS A VERY LONG POST with big spoilers in both words and pictures for Cyberpunk 2077!

But it's also all my feels about a playthrough that's taken me many months and almost 300 hours to complete.

----

I played Cyberpunk 2077 on release. As I said in this "Games I played in 2021" post, which is a thing I wish I'd remembered to do every year, I loved it. That said, it probably wouldn't have cracked my top 10 or maybe even 20 favorite games ever, but I thought it was amazing, right out of the box. I ran into a couple of bugs, like couldn't complete the Delamain questline, and definitely agreed with some popular opinions about the game that parts of it didn't seem quite done, I had a couple of crashes and times I had to reload from something weird happening, but playing on PC I didn't have a lot of the problems console players did apparently.

It very much felt to me like another Andromeda situation -- another game that needed another couple of months to finish ironing a couple of bugs out but was mostly a victim of its own over-anticipaiton and overhyped-edness by the fanboys (and girls.)

That said, when I finished it I set it aside to wait for major updates before I'd pick it up again.

So last fall when it's one and only DLC, Phantom Liberty finally released, it was right around when the BG3 hype was happening so BG3 came first. But I kept having to wait for mods to update after patches dropped, so during one of these breaks I went and started playthrough #2 of Cyberpunk 2077.

My first time through I was a Nomad, so to mix it up this time I went Corpo. I really enjoyed Corpo a lot more and thought it had some much cooler interactions than Nomad ever gave me. Although, I thought the introduction and subsequent friendship with Jackie felt more natural with Nomad.

There were several goals I had going in to this playthrough.

Different origin - check.

Send Jackie's body to Mama Welles -- with no spoilers from my first run, I thought sending the body to Vik to work on first would be the most logical choice and either he could help Jackie or at least get him interred properly so Jackie's mom WOULDN'T HAVE TO BE TRAUMATIZED by her son's body just showing up. Guess that was the wrong choice and it was way too late to change once I found that out. So yeah, start things off right with Mama.

Complete the Delamain quest now that the showstopper bug a LOT of people ran into was fixed. (Didn't mention it later, but check!)

Find all the Hidden Gems

Pick a different ending.

Install cool mods to enhance things without breaking the game.

Generally, just do everything. Except maybe the Sinnerman questline. (I aborted halfway through and didn't regret it.)

Understand the main storyline in ways that had confused the hell out of me the first time around.

High quality Screenshots screenshots screenshots screenshots screenshots.

So with 1 checked off, I decided before advancing the main storyline much, I'd try to raise my fame level a bit and also just let Jackie live for awhile.

I did some research and landed on installing the Welcome to Night City mod collection. It's well researched, well maintained, the creator is really responsive, and has a Discord with a well supported community. Importantly for me, it also didn't have any "sexy" mods, just great gameplay tweaks, fixes, customizable on how much harder/easier it made the game, and added a lot of flavor and experience but felt like everything just worked in the background. Also since I have a Premium Nexus Mods experience, the install and upgrades were very, very easy. I didn't do the upgraded CyberpunkTHING experience, since it makes the game harder. I was here for a good time.

(And yes, I endorsed every mod in the collection!)

Honestly it added so many things that I'm sure there was a ton of stuff I just experienced thinking that that's just how the game was now, but it was a part of a seamlessly integrated mod collection.

I'll definitely use this mod pack again the next time I play. But also I didn't install ANY other mods really for a very long time, and I now really wish that I had. But we'll get to that.

I also installed several other graphics mods on my own, like a high-res skin for River (and the... shall we say... anti-Kendoll mod for him lol) and like, this mod (and several others from that author) that tones down the hypersexuality of the ads in the game. I realized early on that they don't bother me in-game -- it totally fits the aesthetic and tone of the game! But also I didn't want all that in screenshots that I will have rotating on my desktop for years (shoutout to DisplayFusion) and would have the possibility of like, my AC guy or my neighbors kids having to see as my Office is my living room (and my living room is the smallest bedroom of my house).

I did a lot of the gigs in Watson before advancing the main storyline so I'd have an OK character for storming stuff this time. I recently found a list of places Johnny talks in early Watson jobs to avoid doing early next time:

Side Job: Losing My Religion (where you have to free the monk from Maelstrom)

Fixer Gig: Backs Against the Wall (recover stolen medicine from veteran)

Fixer Gig: Scrolls before Swine (get the CCTV footage for the cop, only if you watch before downloading)

So you can do all NCPD hustles, the first 10 Fixer gigs and and all side jobs except Losing My Religion without losing out on any of the Johnny experience.

Leaving that there for next time. Anyway, it feels like it makes more sense to get this chance at the big gig when you have some experience, and can pretend you and Jackie were living life together a little while longer. Next playthrough -- use AMM to take some hanging out with Jackie screenshots early on.

---

Eventually I advanced the main storyline enough and finished the Heist, and was able to check #2 off my list. Loved not getting yelled at by Mama Welles this time. And felt with the added time that I had a right to be doing this -- still extremely stupid in retrospect -- gig. But it was more fun have tools to deal with the hotel guards this time.

Knowing who Takemora was and meeting Johnny again were really enhanced by knowing what the fuck was going on the second time around. Keanu really knocks it out of the park when you finally really understand the character.

Though I hate the early adversarial feeling between him and V, I get it a lot more now. Watching the relationship grow is really worth it.

---

I wasn't invited to Jackie's memorial the first time. So getting to go the second time and help repair Misty and Mama Wells' relationship was great, and I really loved getting to know Jackie better by picking out something for the funeral at his garage, and the added time with Misty.

---

I told myself I'd do a different spec than stealth-hacker. I was wrong. I still did that. I love using Contagion and Overheat to take enemies out non-lethally while crouched behind something nearby. The ones that really deserve it get a shot from Skippy later.

Yeah, as soon as lockdown was over I hightailed it down to Valentino's territory and then headed back to Watson / Japantown. I gave Skippy up as late as possible, when he was outliving his usefulness. I got him back as fast as I could, but I miss his voice. I miss his quips.

After that when I needed a weapon I mostly used the Arasaka experimental smart SMG. IDK, I just liked the feeling of stealing shit from Arasaka and using it to fuck up their own people whenever possible. But again, I didn't shoot weapons much anyway.

---

I spent so, so much time just driving around taking pictures of my cars and the amazing ways the light looked while driving through the city. I absolutely fell in love with the aesthetics of the city, every part of it, over and over again. I posted a few photosets. There are more in the queue. There are so many screenshots I didn't use.

Like, honestly out of everything I love about this game just... looking at it is maybe my favorite thing. There's so much to see, all of the time, everywhere. Your eyes can never take it all in. I'll be in a place I've been a dozen times and still find new awesome things to look at. I just can't describe how much I enjoy just... looking at this game.

I never fast travel anywhere -- except out of the Megabuilding 10 apartment. I took the metro a few times just to sit back and relax watching the scenery go by but normally I just drive everywhere.

Jackie's Arch and the Porche 911 (and its variant in the bottom screenshot) are my favorite vehicles. Bikes for maneuverability, but also likewise the Porche has better handling than a bike while still being really easy to weave through traffic in.

Night City is one of the few locations in any video game I've ever played that TRULY feels like it could be a real place. Every neighborhood is distinct. Though there are some familiar things, one Captain Caliente doesn't look like every other one. You'll see a few of the same signs around, there are some generic small building structures but where it makes sense. Yeah there's a few monolithic Arasaka buildings but of course they would be. How efficient. The megabuildings are similar, but different enough. It feels like every detail of the world was crafted so carefully. There's so much beauty even in the ugly bits.

I never want to stop looking at it, or screenshotting it. I just love the city so much.

I'm going to run out of screenshot space on this post.

---

I romanced River again. Look, I'm a basic primarily het romancer in video games. I love Judy, she's amazing, but River ticks my boxes -- the Paladin archetype who gives it all up to do the right thing even when it costs him.

I hate that he's the most undercooked of all the companions plot and time-wise. But there were some huge improvements this time. All the companions had gotten extra text message interactions. A fun little quest that added a bit more content in PL. They Really Want To Stay at Your House! And along with that, amazing mods are now available to make those things even better. (River Romanced Enhanced, the Really Want To Stay At Your House and Romance Interactions Enhanced mods)

Around the mid-point in game after seeing some amazing photosets on my desktop, I got brave and installed Appearance Mod Menu and a bunch of other pose and photomode mods that go along with it. Also some outfit mods for River. And then things really got cooking screenshot wise.

Even though it took a lot of effort to set this stuff up and to get poses to work right sometimes, I got to feel like River and my V went out and had real dates on the town.

Also sometimes... we just uh... stayed in.

There's so many photos that won't ever make it to tumblr. And so many more sets I want to take.

Well, that's what reloading old saves is for.

You'll see some of these screenshots again, or have before. I have a lot of things queued that will pop up... sometime. I like to surprise myself with my own photosets. :D

---

I finally installed the Virtual Atleir and started modding in outfits a little while after doing AMM, was trying to install things in waves as to not break too much. I got a few crashes here and there, but not as many as I was worried about, after installing stuff on top of Welcome to Night City.

I kind of regret waiting so long to do Virtual Atlier and clothing mods but also not. I think I manually collected like 95% or more of all the ingame clothing. I still stop by clothing stores but they usually have nothing new for me, or just things like... masks that I never use. There's such a huge variety of clothes already in the game that I didn't get to build a lot of outfits around pieces that I love. I made a whole post of ingame-outfits I made and love!

And there's one in the queue somewhere of modded-in outfits, too. Not even all of them.

Cyberpunk 2077 is the ultimate Dress-up my dolls and make them kiss game, and I may never stop playing that aspect of it.

---

Hey speaking of Kerry Eurodyne, I love him. And Panam. And Judy. And Vik. and Claire. And Misty. And Rogue. And the rest of Samurai (Well, I chose Denny and always will.) The only thing I don't love is how it feels like you still don't get enough time with any of them, except MAYBE Panam.

I would love to be able to space out all of their missions even more. I try to put as much space in between the companion missions as possible, but this time it backfired on me a little because i crammed Judy's stuff in way later in the game than I should have, around when I was doing Kerry's stuff. When all of the main quest and most of the side quest stuff was done. And we all know that we don't get Kerry until way too late anyway. But doing Panam's stuff happened so long ago that sometimes I'd just drive out to see the Aldecados and hang out for a day because I missed them. (And, as you can see in the River screenshot above, I "brought him along" to introduce him tot he family once or twice.)

I have a great photoset in the queue of all the main characters hanging out at the Corpo apartment together I can't wait to come up someday. Not posting a preview screenshot here.

Except I forgot Claire. It took me like an hour to set that scene up and now I'm thinking about doing it all again to include Claire.

Anyway, mostly I just want to say that aside from just loving River, I love them all and don't want to leave them behind either.

Or the Fixers. Or Reed. But we'll get to Phantom Liberty.

---

Just one more quick stop here to talk about the music.

I installed the Improved Radio Continued mod and wow it really enhanced the music experience for me.

I am a 98.7 Body Heat gal, with a flip to Pacific Dreams when Ponpon Shit or History would play, but loved about half the new music on Growl FM. It took some finagling, but Improved Radio let me make my own custom radio station with JUST the songs I wanted. So it's a mash of those three stations, without the songs I disliked. (There's one on Pacific Dreams, the REALLY long one that has the interlude of someone saying the same word over and over really slowly? That one... ughghgh) and that was amazing. There's a handful of songs from other stations I liked too, that got added in. And, I'm sorry, no Us Cracks allowed. I love them as characters, still hate their music.

What I didn't expect was to really fall in love with the music of Samurai this time around. Like, I knew I should have the first time but I didn't put effort into listening to them since metal isn't my usual vibe. But it IS my brother's, at least when we were in High School and College, so I listened to it a lot back then and there are still metal songs I do like.

So this time I put all the Samaurai songs in my playlist and holy shit I fell in love with them.

A couple of weeks ago I was driving to visit my parents IRL and the entire way up there I just listened to the Samurai songs on repeat. I'm a big fan now, thanks second playthrough.

----

So, Phantom Liberty was the big reason for the new playthrough. Let's talk about it.

I absolutely LOVE Dogtown. oh, Pacifica, but worse? Amazing. So much new stuff to see, and do. I loved exploring every nook and cranny.

It added SO MUCH to the game, I can't imagine playing the game without it. I didn't even go to there until I was like 2/3rds of the way through the rest of the content and I wish I'd spread it out EVEN MORE.

I will say that I thought some of the main quests were a bit long. I felt myself itching to get out and go do something else throughout some of the long sessions like basically having to do most of the stuff with the President in one big long chain, though it made sense. I loved those quests, though! And I think I'll like them even more on a subsequent playthrough some day.

The only part I really did not like at all in Phantom Liberty was -- ok look I made the choice to side with Reed the entire way. It's Idris fucking Elba okay, I have loved him since The Wire. And I absolutely understand why Songbird did what she did, and what she would have done if I'd have sided with her. And maybe I will next time. But this time, I was all in on Reed -- though I didn't become an Agent for the NUSA, fuck that. And I gave Songbird her final wish. Because again, fuck the NUSA.

But oh man, that last quest? With that FUCKING ROBOT following you around the base at the end, that is an instakill if it finds you? FUUUUUUCK that. It was so frustrating that I stopped playing for over a month because every time I thought about going back into the game to finish that my head wanted to explode.

Eventually I watched a couple of Youtube videos and read a couple of articles about exactly where to go and how to hide from it.

Look, I love exploring, I love taking my time, I love making sure I explore everything and miss nothing. That fucking robot harshed my gaming style so much. No regrets about cheating my way through that part. Zero. I made it through with only dying to it one more time and got the fuck out of there. I was also glad to see in the comments of the video I watched and articles I read that I was very much not alone in that opinion. I might side with Songbird at least most of the way to the end in future playthroughs JUST to never have to do that base again.

Otherwise, though, Phantom Liberty was a triumph. I want a mod that makes the Dogtown apartment not shit but also not luxury, and then I want to just stay there a long time.

----

So, I'm almost done with the game.

I installed two Hidden Gems mods that turn the easy-to-miss stuff into Fixer (and Ronald in Dogtown) quests and LOVED THEM. I wanted to see and do it all. And I did. I'm done with that. It took me many more hours of gameplay to get through all of that. Worth it.

In my playthrogh, River is waiting for me at my Megabuilding apartment to spend one more night together.

And then I'm calling Panam and having the Aldecados come help me storm Arasaka.

Last time I had Rogue help, and to be honest, I feel like that's still the right choice. Rogue helped start this. She should help end it.

But one of my goals was to do more things different. And to be honest, I hate the endings, so much.

It's not that I necessarily think there should be a happy ending for V. But I think that the game should let us help make sure other people have happier endings.

So here's the thing. V is richer than like 95% of Night City by the end of the game. She's got like six apartments, at least a dozen cars even if you don't buy many at the car store, My V still has like 8 million eddies.

I don't care what the game says.

In my game, V went to a financial lawyer.

V set up trusts with each of the Fixers, or maybe one for all of them, where they can access funds to hire mercs to help people who couldn't afford a Fixer but needs one. I'd trust most of them to use this wisely, or maybe Regina, or Rogue, or Dakota or Padre would help oversee it. At least a million eddies out there, to help those who get fucked by the system most.

V sets up a trust for Judy, so she's always got enough to get by. She sends her the best tech she's gotten her hands on to ply her trade with. Maybe a new van. Set aside some to help the Dolls.

V sends her heavy duty vehicles and Scorpion's bike to the Aldecados, along with a huge stash of weaponry and half a million or so eddies to help them stay solvent.

Misty's and Vik's rents paid up for at least a year. A vehicle each. Another 250k or so for each of them. They have room to breathe. Whatever Cyberware is laying around goes to Vik -- but if River wants a couple of pieces installed, he gets them (within reason. No cyberpsychosis for my man.)

Same for Claire. Set her up with her shop's rent paid up, and a trust, give her The Beast back, and another car of her choosing.

Kerry doesn't need much, but she gives him Johnny's outfit to remember him by. Or maybe to Rogue. What do these two giants want? Whatever it is, they can have. Split the memorabilia.

And then River.

First of all, a trust for Joss and the kids. 250k each, the kids get theirs in small chunks as they age. If there's a note on either of the trailers, it's paid off. If Joss wants to move into the city, done. Set the kids up with scholarships to the best schools they want to go to. A decent, reliable car for each of the four of them. Maybe Randy wants the Megabuilding apartment for when he's ready to live on his own again.

River gets most of what's left after all that. The Glen apartment specifically, that's where they made their best memories. There's still going to be like 4 million and a bunch of cars and property left. If V dies, it's his.

This is the closest thing to happily ever after that they can get, and in my mind it absolutely happens, at some point.

Honestly, if it were me, if I didn't know the "two years later" of it, then V would have taken the President's offer and gotten Johnny out of her head surgically and lived. The will probably would have triggered. Or knowing that the surgery could be risky she'd at least have put in a provision that a percent of it triggered so Joss, the kids, River, Judy, Claire and Panam would be taken care of.

She'd never have left River destitute and desperate to take care of the family. I can't accept it.

V would wake up maybe with less money, but her assets protected enough that even without being a Merc she'd be OK. The people she loved would be OK. River would have taken care of things, and would love her without her implants.

It'll never be happily ever after in Night City, but the people that matter most will be OK.

---

But I'm going to finish today, maybe tomorrow. I planned on it today but then I spent 4 hours writing this post and have a PF2E game tonight to DM that I need to prep for.

I installed the River's Epilogue Enhanced - Nomad Star Ending mod and.... so I'm bringing the Aldecados to Arasaka, and am going to have the happiest ending possible modded into the game. With my headcanon that a trust is waiting for him and the family. They'll be fine.

I love this game. I loved it before, I love it so much more now.

I can't wait to play it again someday.

[cherriiramen]

MY DEAR FELLOW MORSTON MOOTIES

What got you into the ship/what makes you ship these two?

I’m genuinely curious to see y’all’s different perspectives on this :3

For my story and I think I've explained this before, but I was hyping over rdr1 (since it's all that's available here, I was actually planning to go with rdr2 but since rdr1 was all I could get, I forced myself to play it and ngl i don’t regret it one bit) and I was looking for John reference images at like…. 3am, to use and draw him for the first time and then I stumbled across a fanart of him and Arthur standing side by side, not ship art. Mind you, I did NOT have any context of rdr2 at the time besides knowing there's a character called Arthur Morgan.

You see, the funny thing is this is where the confusion began. I thought to myself if rdr2 is set after rdr1, wouldn't that make John basically Arthur's great grandpa or something? How come people draw them together so often?' and then I was like ehhh maybe it's just some cool crossover between the two parts of the game, like how they do with gta maybe. I got carried away scrolling and it didn't take me too long to find the ship art of them basically making out and aHeM getting it on, and trust me I was fucking flabbergasted. You'd also leap out of your skin if you genuinely thought the most popular ship in the fandom is a guy and his great grandpa. 💀

l asked my boyfriend to explain the fuck was going on and thankfully I hadn't gone insane. At first we were weirded out by the idea (basically starting off with "isn't John married?' for ex.). And with me only going through the first five missions of rdr1, I thought to myself "nahhh this guy's straight he can't even bottom wym. Then we started sending each other random fanarts of the ship that we'd run across, until it basically became obsessive and before we even knew it, we roleplayed them over and over and over again.

And nearly two years later I'm still not okay when it comes to them 😭

They're so complicated I feel like no matter how hard you analyse them, there's even more you'll find, they're so sad and miserable and tragic and emotionally blunt/awkward but they can work under so many different circumstances and each way would lead to some emotional conclusion, it be sad or happy or literally anything

AHEM NOW THATS ALL ON MY PART HEHRJEHWK

[demonslayedher]

Things that ran through my head while watching this episode:

--The vast majority of this episode... is filler!! Ufotable can do good filler, I just forget that sometimes after how hyped I was for that Rengoku special. I've already gone on before about how the whole additional of the spider sisters' story was something that developed on existing characters, made statements on the relations between demons, and especially showed us a side of a Rui we wouldn't get through Rui's interactions with Tanjiro. It's also one of the best displays of something said multiple times throughout the series, fights between demons are pointless, if they want to kill each other it really is a matter of trapping one another in the sun.

--Also, a house like that in Japan is absolutely filled with spiders, I can promise you that.

--Giving Rui tons more family whom we don't see now, in particular younger siblings, was a choice. Though one panel in the manga implies he had a lot more, they generally look bigger than him. I question this choice for younger siblings a bit, as it seems Rui mostly wanted to be left alone with his family, so the little ones wondering off to find themselves killed by demon slayers doesn't seem likely, and if the parents' role is to protect the children then them having been killed off early on this mission when demon slayers entered the mountain doesn't seem likely, and if betraying Rui was so hard to do then them all having done so doesn't seem likely, and Rui seeing himself as the little brother--the center of the family--this whole time makes it seem like he wouldn't had wanted younger siblings unless they were the type to dote on him. What's the role of a younger sibling, in Rui's strict definitions? Were they toys to amuse him with their adoration for him, and Ufotable wanted to imply they didn't do a good enough job of this?

--Brother Spider seems to be the only one having fun playing house.

--Lack of food in those bowls was a really poignant choice to show the pointlessness of this facade.

--Mother Spider asking what Rui wants, and Rui responding that he wants to remember what family is like, sure does since he's about to remember that and be disappointed with his parents being willing to kill him. Oh, and the fact that he killed them instead.

--I really like how Rui has lost his cool, and then Giyuu just.... sweeps through with coolness.

--Also, Giyuu for sure totally has no recollection of Tanjiro at the moment, he's just another Corp member whom Giyuu has come to save, because Giyuu is kind.

--And then we have Shinobu.

--In the manga, she got right up and close and personal to freak Little Miss Spider out, but then she kept a polite distance as they conversed, leaving Sister Spider to feel the safety of open woods behind her in which she can potentially escape.

--And Ufotable was like, "no."

--"We are going to have Shinobu throw around what little weight she has, and she's going to enjoy it."

--"Also, she's a top."

--And no one stopped Ufotable, so they kept going. They gave Shinobu the pleasure of looming over someone (not an opportunity she gets often at her height), they set the scene to eerie music, and they told Hayami-san, "Yes, make her sound sweet. She's trying to be the living incarnation of her sister's memory, after all. No. Make it more twisted. More twisted. MORE TWISTED."

--Having become such a fan of KnY, and especially of Shinobu, I have come to see many layers of Shinobu's character, and looped from "she's angry" to "she's angry because she's sad" to "actually, Shinobu really is a very kind person (and that's why she's angry)" and I sort of forget how twisted she is, and how sad Kanae would be to see her turn into this kind of person. With how mature Shinobu seems compared to many of the other Pillars, I tend to forget that she does not deal with her feelings in a healthy way, nor does she actually act with much genuine kindness in moment-to-moment interactions. It's really a toss-up if she thinks she's doing a good job of imitating what Kanae would do or say any given situation, or if she knows she's being mean and takes pleasure in using empty pleasantries to do so. I'm willing to bet it's a mix, and depends on the situation.

--In any case, Shinobu, you are indeed messed up. Purposefully taking on a personality that's so different from her natural one had to have made the girls who love her feel strange and distanced, and by this time, she is almost certainly very toxic, in a literal sense. Shinobu has already put herself to death with Kanae.

--As she is one of my favorites, I have a lot of feelings about Shinobu's complexity, but I'll never forget my feelings the first time I watched this when I went from "oh, she'll be the cheerful healer character" to "oh, she's cheerful to the point of being callous" to "hmm, okay, she's kind of cute, I'm okay with Zenitsu being easily rescued this way, (I knew it was going to be way too easy though)," to...

--"Oh"

--"She's vicious."

[writerbythewater-blog]

Carlos loved the night sky. He loved sitting on the roof of his collage at night with his friends, and seeing who could point out the most constellations. It was fun even if the people in astrology class always knew the most. The group of friends would stay on the roof long past midnight just looking at the stars, and talking about the old stories and how long people used the stars. Or some nights what else might be waiting for them out there in space.

When Carlos moved to Night Vale the first month he was far too busy to stargaze. So much was happening that he couldn't find the time to look to the sky that always gave him a moment to breathe. The town was wonderful and strange in equal measure. The night Carlos got the chance to go sit on the roof of his lab to stargaze he couldn't believe what he saw.

The constellations he learned with his friends were gone, or he couldn't find them at very least. It was like he was looking at a whole new sky. There was no comfort looking at these stars he wouldn't find the patterns that brought him and his friends so much joy on those long nights. With a heavy heart he had gone back inside the lad and ran more test on the things he had been working on that day.

When he and Cecil started dating Cecil wanted to show him all the ways Night Vale was wonderful, and he did. For months Cecil was happy to plan their every outing, and all Carlos had to do was show up and be amazed at whatever his wonderful boyfriend planned. He was always amazed at the things Cecil planned for them. Night Vale had so much to offer, and Carlos was always ready to learn more about this wonderful town. It was when Cecil wanted to know more about Carlos' home that he struggled.

The first time Cecil asked Carlos what couples did for date nights where he was from Carlos smiled and said it didn't matter the Night Vale way was much better. Cecil had smiled and let it go at the time but the questions kept popping back up. Cecil wanted to learn more about Carlos just like Carlos wanted to learn about him, and really Carlos loved learning so how could he keep telling him no. So he told Cecil to meet him at his lab after the show one night.

Cecil was so happy it was all he could talk about that night on the radio. In between the segments he had to do thier little date night kept popping up. Carlos hoped his idea of a date was worth all the hype Cecil was building up. Really all he had planned was a late night picnic under the stars. He had a book with all the constellations that one of his friends had given him as a farewell gift when he left for Night Vale, and he planned on show Cecil the pictures in it. Since he couldn't find them in the vastness of Night Vale's sky the pictures would have to do.

He sent the time Cecil was on air setting up the picnic and ordering the food. Since Carlos couldn't cook to save his own life he had ordered Rico's Pizza. He had two large pizza's (just plain cheese since Cecil wanted something like Carlos would have had outside) and the angel's brought him some brownies so they had something sweet too. Along with a little bit of strawberry wine, and it was almost looking like a date he would have had in collage. Of course Carlos' dates normally took place at a park, but Carlos didn't want to risk anything happening with they were out.

Not long after the show ended Carlos saw Cecil drive up to lab. He waved from his spot on the roof before he rushed down to let Cecil in. Cecil took a moment to look around Carlos' lab. Carlos hardly ever let anyone outside of his team in here, so knew Cecil was simply curious what he might see. After Cecil had his fill of looking around he turned to Carlos. "What were you doing on the roof?" Cecil asked. "That's where I set up our date. If your done looking around down here we can go on up." Carlos answered still leaning against the wall. He didn't want to rush Cecil.

"I'm ready!" Cecil smiled rushing over to Carlos to take his hand. Carlos laughed and patted Cecil on the head.

"Alright lets go on up." Carlos said leading them onto the roof. Cecil looked around taking in everything Carlos had done. Carlos could admit he might have gone a bit over board. He had time after setting up the picnic so he had made some origami flowers, and hearts, and strung them up along the roofs railing. He had learned to make them in art class when he was little and they were the only thing that stuck from the class. He had also lit little candles around the roof too.

"Carlos this is amazing!" Cecil said spinning to face him. Carlos smiled and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Thanks. I got Rico's." Carlos said with a smile walking over to blanket.

Cecil followed and the two ate while Carlos talked about his family. He told Cecil about his brothers and sisters and their children. He talked about high school, and dates he had in the past. He talked about learning to drive and the time his mother tried to teach him to cook. When they finished eating the stars were out. Carlos laid out of the blanket and stared at them. Those unfamiliar stars. They were the stars of his new home, but unlike every other time he moved the couldn't remind him of home. Cecil laid down next to him. "Do you like stargazing?" Cecil ask taking his hand in his.

"I used to." Carlos answered looking a way from the stars to gaze at Cecil. Cecil was so much prettier than the stars anyway.

"Used to?" Cecil asked. Carlos knew he was asking what changed but didn't want to push Carlos. Carlos didn't share much and tonight he had already told Cecil so much. He knew if he didn't say anything else Cecil would just be happy with what he had said and wouldn't push for more, but he wanted to share.

"The stars are different here. I can't find any of the constellations that I love to look at. I have a book of them if you want to see them." Carlos said reaching for where he had put the book. Thankfully he didn't have to get up of let go of Cecil hand to reach it. He grabbed it putting it on his stomach in case Cecil did want to look at it.

"Oh I love constellations! What did your look like? Maybe I can help you find them!" Cecil smiled leaning up on his elbow facing Carlos. Carlos smiled at him sitting up fully, and opening the book. Cecil copied him moving so that he could easily see the book and the sky. Carlos showed Cecil all the pictures in the book and the told him the stories that went with each one. Cecil listened to each story eagerly, and Carlos was happy to see how much he seemed to like them. Cecil was a story teller at heart, and he loved to hear new ones. They were about half way though the book when Cecil yawned. It was late.

"Lets do this again tomorrow, and when we finish the book I'll show you Night Vale's constellations." Cecil promised. Carlos smiled.

"That sounds wonderful Cecil. Same time?"

"Yeah. I'll be here after the show."

The two parted ways once they got to their cars. When Carlos got to his house he looked at the sky. Perhaps stargazing with Cecil would be even better than it had been with his friends.