#can play through the game with relative ease etc

[synthetic-rust]

eating shit and dying (i got hollow knight on my laptop so i can now play it in college; but i am not acclimatised to the keyboard movement at all)

[sleepingdeath-light]

various disney women vs no nut november hcs ; 18+

requested by ; disney anon (event)

fandom(s) ; disney animated films

fandom masterlist(s) ; main | encanto

character(s) ; julieta madrigal, lady tremaine, maleficent, mother gothel, pepa madrigal, queen elinor

warning(s) ; sexually explicit content, various characters failing the ‘no nut november’ challenge

minors and ageless blogs will be blocked

julieta madrigal

first thing’s first but julieta doesn’t see any real point in participating in a challenge like nnn — why would she want to avoid sexual intimacy with her spouse for a whole month? — but if you make a game of it, promise to substitute sexual contact with way more non-sexual intimacy, and promise to play with her then she may be convinced enough to give it a go

she absolutely succeeds, by the way — has an insultingly easy time of it, too

partly because her work as the town healer keeps her so busy, and partly because she doesn’t have a particularly high libido in the first place so she’s more than content just cuddling up with you and relaxing after a long day of cooking and chasing after the kids

so, needless to say, left to her own devices she’s not going to fail

but if you decide to call it quits before the month is up then she’s content to join you in that — after all, she only participated because it was a fun challenge you were doing as a couple, so she’s not too bothered about ‘winning’ or ‘losing’ anything

in other words: however long julieta lasts during nnn is down to how good you are at playing (or how long you can go without those talented hands of hers on and inside of you)

lady tremaine

didn’t want to participate, only decided to partake after weeks of you begging her to, will succeed with ease, and will do everything in her power to make you crumble

she wears her most flattering lingerie around the house and makes sure that you see every inch of her body that you’re not allowed to touch

she lets her hands wander more than they would normally when you’re strolling through the estate gardens or lounging side by side, only to pull away with a comment about the challenge when she notices you starting to enjoy yourself a bit too much

she drives you absolutely bonkers every chance she gets and, sadist that she is, delights in your suffering behind her facade of neutrality — it’s not even about the challenge itself anymore for her (it never was, really), it’s about pushing you to your breaking point and making you beg for her

and when you do finally snap — because she knows you won’t make it through the whole month like this — she rewards you with her full attention, turning a typical punishment into a day of indulgence while still never letting you make her finish

and, just to prove a point, she manages to go the whole month without cumming while still tending to your needs — just be warned that december will start off with a bang after all the trouble she went through at your suggestion

maleficent

she’s spent most of her life living in relative celibacy so no nut november will be a walk in the park for her, if anything the real challenge for her is finding new ways to torment you for being a brat while working around the restrictions the challenge imposes upon you both

fortunately the mistress of evil is a very creative woman and she’s able to find plenty of workarounds that, if done right, don’t involve you finishing in any way (spanking, verbal scolding, edging sessions, etc.)

unfortunately that means that unless you tap out of the challenge of your own accord (i.e. masturbate), you’re going to have to put up with being edged and denied over and over again until december comes — or you could just make a point of being on your best behaviour for thirty days instead of trying to get your girlfriend to break

… but where’s the fun in that?

mother gothel

she was the one that proposed taking part in nnn under the impression that the sex you’ll end up having on december first will be made that much better by having gone so long without release beforehand

she’s also the first one to crumble because, for all her talk of self-restraint back in september and october, gothel is absolutely fucking insatiable when it comes to you and she ends up deciding the challenge is stupid and pointless and that the two of you should give up only about… three days in…

yeah…

gothel also refuses to lose to herself (no matter how vivid her wet dreams start to get and how increasingly tempting it is to slide a hand beneath her nightdress as the days slip by) or to admit to her own lack of restraint, so she makes it her mission to break you as soon as possible instead

she traipses around your home in the skimpiest lingerie she owns, bends at wholly conspicuous angles that give you the perfect view of her ass from behind or of her tits from the front, hangs off of your body when you’re at home and presses herself as close to you as possible, speaks almost exclusively in innuendo and euphemism for a few days, and even resorts to subtly grinding herself down against you when she sits on your lap just to get you to crumble

desperate times call for desperate measures, after all

and when you do finally break and the two of you make love, you can guarantee that she’ll be teasing you for giving in — talking about how needy you are, how obsessed you are with her, and so on as if she wasn’t the one who was trying to get you into bed with her for weeks (typical)

all of that’s to say that she’s the type to go into the challenge full of bravado and confidence only to fall apart and declare the whole thing to be a stupid farse that wasn’t even worth your time in the first place — and she’ll give you such a dirty look if you propose a redo next year because she is not going through that again

pepa madrigal

at the start of the month pepa will be extremely optimistic about being able to last until december, lovingly teasing you about how she’s sure you’re going to crack first and that this will be so easy, etc.

she crumbles within the first week — maybe even on day one if you’re feeling especially evil and act particularly flirty towards her

(not-so-innocent fleeting touches to her sides and lower back when walking past her, whispering about all the things you want to do to her right against the shell of her ear, letting your hands wander when you kiss, giving her bedroom eyes when no one else is looking, etc. — she’ll be keening and writhing beneath you in no time)

… don’t ever bring this challenge up around her again in the future unless you want to deal with some absolutely terrible weather and a very huffy wife

queen elinor

elinor probably wouldn’t do this of her own accord and would only partake if you goaded her into a challenge — make it a game with a desirable enough prize at the end (like the promise of a long trip and a feast) and you’re sure to catch her interest enough for her commit to a month of complete celibacy

she absolutely hates nnn and cannot wait for december to roll around, but to her credit she does manage to last out the whole month

does not make it easy for you though, keeps teasing and goading you into giving up and letting her win whenever the two of you are alone — she may be a patient queen but she can be just as cheeky as her children when she wants to be, rest assured of that much

the second she wakes up on december first she’s jumping your bones and taking out all of her pent up frustration from the last month — and she will not be letting up until the safe word is called or she’s finally fucked herself dumb with you (at which point all she’ll want is to sleep the rest of the morning away before the promised feast will be ready for her in the evening)

[yumeka36]

Black Myth Wukong

I finally finished my (mostly) all-bosses playthrough of Black Myth Wukong. Since a lot of my favorite streamers were playing it, and it looked intriguing from the trailer, I wanted to give it a try once I had my fill of the Elden Ring DLC. It took me a month to beat the game (I only had time to play about 2-3 hours a day).

Overall, I enjoyed the game immensely. Give me a game with really cool and creative monster designs, plus pretty, scenic areas to explore, and I'm happy! The combat is really fun too - the mix of spells, melee attacks, transformations, stance styles, etc, gives you such a variety of ways to play. Plus the fact that you can respec anytime removes the pressure of committing to one build. But honestly, I kinda stuck with the same build the whole game, lol. I focused most of my skill points on health, defense, attack, Immobilize, and Pluck of Many, as well as putting all my Mind Cores into the same, plus mana. This got me through basically all of the game with relative ease. Actually, either I got overpowered or the game wasn't that difficult for me, since by mid-chapter 2, almost every boss was a first or second try victory for me. Only exceptions were the Loongs and few chapter finale bosses and secret area bosses who took a few tries more. Then there was Erlang, who took me at least 30+ tries over 3 hours and was one of the hardest bosses I've fought in any game (coming from someone who's fought every boss in Elden Ring, Sekiro, Bloodborne, and the Dark Souls trilogy). So yeah, don't want to see that guy again anytime soon.

The only time I respeced a bit was to put more points into four banes resistance against Erlang. But I was also dumb and didn't realize there was a Drink to restore Qi, which was what I really needed to get rid of his shields with the fan vessel. But I still died a few times even after figuring this out, so I think he's just a really difficult boss.

While I enjoyed the heck out of the gameplay, unfortunately I couldn't follow the story/lore well at all. Obviously this is because I know close to nothing about Journey to the West or Chinese mythology. So while I understood the basic premise of finding Wukong's relics throughout the land, everything else as far as who the characters were, what their relationship is to Wukong and each other, and why they're doing what they're doing, was totally lost to me. Even after watching a "story explained" video, it's very clear that the game is a true sequel to Journey to the West, and you're guaranteed to be lost about most things if you haven't read the book. But the fact that I still enjoyed the game despite this just shows how fun it is. If I enjoy the gameplay mechanics, not being able to follow the story isn't that big a deal to me. Also, the animated music videos between each chapter were amazing. My favorite is the one for chapter 3, which was so well choreographed but also deliciously horrifying.

Like I do with most games, I wanted to make sure I beat every boss and explored every area the game had to offer. But I also didn't want to follow a walkthrough religiously either (which is something I did in my early days of gaming with the Dark Souls games). Other than look up a boss list and where to find them, I played the game mostly blind until around chapter 4. I was upset when I realized I had missed key things in chapter 3, which was being able to fight the Apramana Bat and Rat Captain bosses, as well as attain the Auspicious Lantern curio from the Lantern Wardens (I did fight a couple of them, but then decided to avoid them once I got yeeted off the cliff, lol). So from that point on I carefully checked IGN's walkthrough as I explored each area. Thankfully those were the only two bosses I missed during the rest of my playthrough. But damn, does this game have so many hidden secrets! I can't imagine anyone finding all the bosses/secret areas without looking it up online.

I guess that's one complaint I have about the game...maybe the secrets are too secret? Like I said, I don't know how a player is expected to figure some of these things out if playing normally. Maybe some more hinting about how to access the secret bosses and areas would have been nice, even if it's just some NPC dialogue or more elaborate item descriptions. I also don't like that they hid an essential thing like armor upgrades behind a questline that's so easily missable. A couple other minor issues I had were forcing cutscenes in the middle of fights and your character being way too prone to stagger with few ways to increase Tenacity, resulting in many wasted mana and focus point attacks (why is Tenacity not part of the skill tree?) But again, these were just minor issues and took little away from my overall enjoyment.

So yeah, I highly recommend Black Myth Wukong if you like fantasy adventure games focused on boss battles and various combat styles.

[fanartbyherd]

Alright plowing onward.

To Magic

The Magic of Onward

I had a bit of a hard time with this one, in large parts with me trying to quell the urge to fix a broken magic system. I just needed to let things like the sort of ridiculously powerful Growth spell be…

I unfortunately could not resist the urge to tweak the system a bit more to my likening.

Magic,

Magic may be obsolete in the modern era, though there are still a few eccentric practitioners: weirdos, nerds, enthusiast, and superstitious folk. Some are drawn to it as a hobby, others have thrust into their lives.

one dedicated group of historians, nerds, and hobby wizards created a game.dedicated to their hobby, not able to go on adventures like in the Age of yore. They instead took all their knowledge and created a game to go on adventures in their minds. With as much historical accuracy as they could.

Like those historical reenactors , but instead of LARPing it’s role-play…

Magic is complicated, there are things with magic naturally in them, there are things that acquire magic through manipulation or by accident, and there are things that have magic for only a little while.

The ability to cast magic requires a heart spire. Not everyone has one and not all heart spiers are the same. Meaning that though while around ~75.38% of the population has a heart spire not everyone can use it for casting wizard spells. Many people have heart spiers that can’t do magic.

1.08% can perform wizard spells

.3% have psychic abilities

~ 21% have the ability to use elements to craft potions or draw power from them (aka witches)

10% can create jinxes or other specific magic

45% can use and create spell arrays (aka Warlocks)

— the magic of different individuals take on different colors combinations. For wizards usually one primary shade with two secondary shades. It’s believed that these colors reflect the Heart’s spire color. relatives tend to have the same color combinations. people with psychics, or minor abilities.( Jinxed, witches, and warlocks and etc..) usually have two colors people with no magic have one color.

- head dresses and hats of many kinds have long been used as a status symbol or identifier of a spell caster.

Wizards: are a bit self-explanatory. They are what we saw within the movie itself of onward. The staff wielding spellcasting track, making people whose job has long sense been made obsolete due to the rise of technologies that made things much simpler.

They have a list of things that they need to accomplish when performing magic

• at minimum they require a Heart spire capable of casting spells. (Heart spires are like knotted up bits of energy with in the body, everyone has this energy, but it’s not always knitted into a heart spire)

• all spells are temporary unless they have some mechanisms to renew them or a curse, curses can last for centuries, otherwise spells need to be actively maintained or have limited durations.

• spell contracts. Aka spell decrees, Conditions that need to be met in order for a spell to remain active or to be activated in the first place. a spell decree is essentially a trade, though an invisible one.

• spell posture, posture as a strange one, but essentially what is happening is that by adopting the correct posture it forms as a sort of spell contract, along with adopting certain movements allows for the heart spire of a person to flow into the magic with More ease ,so with proper posture, it allows for more complex spells to take the energy that they need to be performed. Without completely draining the wilder.

• spell elements. Few spells require elements, elements are objects containing their own innate magical qualities. They are striped and drained of their power in exchange for the magic. Sometimes spell elements are used to substitute skill or a lack of energy.

They use their heart spire in order to cast spells. After that the more complex spells they use a spell contract or a magic decree spells that require a certain condition that are met when they’re casted, and when they are being concentrated on or meant to be kept up. magic as mentioned faded away due to the difficulty to learn, but there are a few other reasons that magic is not practiced in the modern day as much as it was in the past. it was rare to begin with it’s for professional wizards, and then there was a change of taste, but also importantly, a scarcity of resources. the wood used to make staffs comes from a now endangered tree, but due to its overharvesting, can now only be found within the swamps of despair. other resources, such a spell elements, things like the Phoenix gym, have also been over harvested. Leaving very few in the modern age. Magic did not only go extinct due to lack of interest, but also due to scarcity of the supplies necessary. Certain more useful spells can no longer be performed due to the elements necessary to perform the spell have gone extinct and do not have any reliable or powerful enough substitute.

This can be seen within the movie itself having to go on such a long quest just to find a phoenix gem.

Some spell elements that had been on the brink of extinction in the past have recovered others are still rare.

Psychics: rare, unless the relegated to a similar fate, ask magic. Though not as badly most psychics find out that they are psychic within their teenage years. Some learn a little bit earlier some learn a bit later, because unlike magic abilities, we have to test the attitude for it so he can. Bility‘s tend to just kind of manifest more of the psychic severity is due to people, not desiring to train with it, and just letting it pass on as a face of their teenage years

Some psychics do, in fact, use their abilities for work, and become quite skilled in their own ways

There are five kinds of psychics

Movers- telekinesis they can move push float, manipulate objects with her mind

Knowers- telepathy can see feel sense emotions and thoughts of others. Sometimes they can turn the power around and then if you’re late such things, on the rare occasions, knowers and seers power can overlap.

Seers- clairvoyance is quite rare and hardly ever powerful. Can see experience things that will happen have happened or is happening in a different place can see intent as well.

Shapers- can change the form of things such as moving water from ice to liquid or other such things rarely powerful those some shapers are able to shape shift

Finders-dowsing can find hidden things lost. Things can find pass strengths and weaknesses. Also of water sources..

Witches; or people who are able to use raw spell elements to create elixirs, salves and concoctions called potions.

Potions are sort of notorious for haveing strange side effects and if not being outright poisons. They have somewhat weaker effects compared to wizard spells, but they are still potent magic.

Potions made by non witches will have no effect or be poisonous. Potions have a shelf life and should not be used if expired as the affects may be… strange.

Many witches made large books that collected the different potion recipes they learned throughout their lives and then gifted those to their apprentices

Particularly skilled witches can replicate what wizards do in mini. They require a wand and will draw from the magic of the element to preform spells that a wizard can do with their heart spire alone. Potions are much more useful in their regard.

Jinxes: are very short term and weak. They have to be constantly maintained in order to work.

Jinxes have mostly fallen out of use, though those that are still in circulation are those that are passed around in school yards and such, moving and existing in a similar way to nursery rhymes and folk songs, often having the meaning and intent behind them lost, and in so loosening their power. (Things like: rain rain how away come again another day, or rhymes to make pain go away) a lot of jinxes have been lost to history.

Jinxes need to have the intention put into it, it needs to take an active use of a persons heart spire. Most of the time when someone performs temporary feats of magic for someone without a regular heart spire it is a jinx. Sometimes the magic within people with no heart super gets knotted up temporarily forming a heart spier that is unwound soon after. It’s not unheard of for those who do have a natural hearts spier that is weak to become unwound leaving the individual who once had the capability of magic to no longer be capable. Though heart spier are a bit like a muscle if it is in use it’s going to get stronger and is unlikely to unwind. And if it is unwound in someone who regularly uses it, it will be so temporarily.

It’s not uncommon for witches and warlocks to sometimes be able to perform a jinx even if they normally are not capable of it

-hexes: sympathetic magic. It’s quiet and not noticeable until it is working it is used for production, just as much as it is used for harm.

Able to keep jinxes at bay or to return the magic to sender. Most hexes require a container or physical object to attach them too and store them. Needing regular upkeep. They last longer than jinxes that are more immediate in casting and effect.

It’s difficult to express just how weak and mild most jinxes and hexes are, though small things that build up over time can bring devastating results.

Curses: can be cast by Jinxes and Wizards, and not by witches, or warlocks who don’t do jinxes, despite popular belief.

Warlocks: Spell arrays the most widely available form of magic that can be learned, it’s like a mathematical equation. In terms of the magic itself it is a magical decree in a written form.

Early forms of technology used spell stays too power them, but they where replaced by circuit boards that can be made by anyone and can do more things at once.

Magic tools and items often used spell arrays to make them function, sometimes combined with innately magical things like magic woods or magic crystals. Most magic items can be reactivated from remaining dormant with just a little bit of magic from someone’s with a heart spire. Magic items can not be reactivated but those without a heart spire, and many magic items can not be used by those without a heart spire (or a weak one)

Spells

Spells have a range (5 ft [1.5 m],15 ft [1.4m],20 ft [6 m] 25ft [7.6m], 50 ft [15. 24m])

Some spells have weight limits.

Spells tend to have a color.

The film makers mentioned that they made over 100 spells for the film, unfortunately the only spells they shared are the ones that appeared in the movie, the ones that appear in deleted scenes seem to be for the most part the same spells, though some things are different like the spell that plowed snow.

Also I can’t figure out what their naming scheme for spells was, like it looks vaguely Latin-based, vaguely Spanish- based and vaguely foreign sounding, but judging by the fact that the film is American, vague foreign sounds can be a lot of things. All that to say is I attempted to give some of the spells spell sounding names, but man I couldn’t figure it out. If you have suggestions for what some of the spells could be named and I’ll probably call them that, also feel free to suggest potential spells as well, because I made a handful but no where near a hundred.

Following are spells:

-Heart spire-

Aloft elavor (levitate)

Bombastia (fire works) [use of different elements change the colors]

Blaze ( fire starter)

Push

Heat

Acid splash

Alarm

Sympathy

• instills a temporary sympathy in the target

Apathy

• stills, a sense of apathy in the target

Thaumathurgy

• mostly just spectacle, causes lights to flicker shadows to move a small gusts of air to twirl around, possibly some ominous sounds thrown in there for good measure

Dancing broom

•. A rather useful spell as it can both be used to make brooms sweep floors by themselves, but also is the smell used to make brooms fly also by wizards tends to be used on their staffs to make those fly

Dancing light

Aqulflow (move water)

Pull

Fling

Sculpt stone

Move earth

Exelin (invisible trip wire)

Upa (double jump)

Visitastail (seal wound)

• seal, superficial wounds, and dampens bruising

Iluminas

• essentially a flashlight.

Ice knife

Snow ball

Bubble blow

Ribbon dance

• summons, a magical ribbon that can be used to wrap around things or just flow freely as a distraction or to tie things up.

Rainbow

• temporary changes the colors of things as well as cast beautiful rainbows in places.

Jolt

• a small electrical current, unless aided with an element can only shock and not stun, live getting zapped on a door nob after rubbing your feet on carpet. Can still cause plenty of trouble, if an element is provided could probably act more like a taser.

Poison

• cover something in a poisonous surface

-Spell contract-

Magmora gartugan (growth)

• requires less posture than what barley believed, posture is just helpful. To magnify an object you need to magnifying your attention on it.

Exelior (invisible bridge)

Desguise spell

• changes the caster’s appearance and voice to bee that of someone or something else. To be a lie

Animate object

• causes the object to move on it’s own and can be issued commands. Range of 25 ft

Animal friendship

• causes animals to calm down and not feel threatened by the caster, though only the caster. Will often view the caster with more trust. If this trust is betrayed the spell will break.

Bridgrar invisia

• an invisible bridge that to use has to be believed in to exist

Sever

• a spell that cuts things and breaks things, not only dose it require an true intent to harm or cut (can after all be used to cut rope, vegetables or even stones) but also requires one to feel the pain it inflicts when cast onto other living creatures

Illumina

• illuminates veins and writing. Allows for the caster to read spells that are hidden, or read in the dark, the spell requires a person to close thier eyes, allowing them to still see what is illuminated but nothing else. It’s a spell that was used medically as it allowed the caster to see poisons in a person and invisible writing.

Stering (web)

• creates sticky magical thread. Either able to come out in the form of a strong thin string or in a web or net form. To create a web or string and keep it up the caster needs to perform a repetitive action. The webs disintegrate two to five minutes after the action is stoped.

Exelinalk (alarm)

• an invisible or near invisible alarm wire, it can be set up on an object of a perimeter of 30ft. When the spell has been cast the caster can not speak (asl counts though other hand jesters or shaking your head doesn’t) while the spell remains active

Grow spurt

• makes seeds sprout and plants grow, has a radious of 15 ft, while spell is cast the caster needs to “pull and push” the seed out of its shell and make it grow. (If you have ever seen my neighbor Totoro and they scene where they make the acorns sprout, that’s essentially it.) grow spurt is not a spell that ends in a same way as most spells , but it is noticeable that plants who’s growth is accelerated, by growth spurt tend to die quickly after.

Minimaro inctusan (shrink spell)

• to make something shrink you have to minimize your ideals of it

Calming aura

• to come others you have to block out that which distracts you another words you need to close your eyes entire time you do the spell.

Heal

• to heal one thing you need to put the damage onto another thing.

Illusion

•in order to create a believable lie, you have to buy into that lie as well. If truth is introduced to that lie to spell break.

Zone of quiet

• creates a place of dampened sound. But requires the caster to chew leaves

Zone of truth

• to gain the truth, you need to give the truth.

Magic writing

• writing messages and things on surface they don’t belong, or in the air, or have a message appear only to those it is meant for.

Remove water

• needs the person to move with the flow. Will pull droplets of water off things and gather them to a single place, can be used with other spells and is essentially a glorified stain remover

Prevent rot

• deprive yourself of taste

Poison breath

• for some strange reason, requires the user to hold their arms and staff above their head to the entire time.

Color change

• permentaly alters the color of something. unless the spell is interrupted or a remark on the fact that the color has change the spell will remain in effect and the color will remain that the new color.

-Posture-

Flame infurnar

Aid

• is a spell that makes movements fast and blurry. small superficial cuts and scrapes will heal from this spell, or a spectral animal will create a distraction, depending on what the situstion calls for.

Arcane eye

• allows the casters eye to see all sorts of magical things, such as the path and flow of magic, smells and sounds, or even the desires of others depending on what spell elements are used with the spell, the basic spell without elements allows the user to simply see in darkness as well as create a magical eye that can see around corners.

Wake

• wakes up a sleeping being, even if under a sleep spell, has some nasty side effects and can also be used to stay a wake when your body wants to sleep, like. magical energy drink., it can not wake those under a curse of sleeper a coma. though may wake them momentarily depending on circumstances.

Aurora lights

• projects a beautiful trail of lights, these lights can be benign and bright and colorful or if desired can burn like fire that reveals the location of invisible things

See dream

• projects the haze contents of a dream on a surface (prefibalbly a flat surface) this is a do at your own risk, because you never know what a person is dreaming of or if it will suddenly become a nightmare.

Breathe bubble

• creates a pocket of air that allows for breathing under water for up to three hours.

Stitch

• stitches and mends things together with a magical thread, once stitched together the stitchings last as if they where nonmagical.

Magic shield

• shields are weak and break easily 

Voice amplification

Cary

similar to the levitate spell but can be seeped up for longer and can hold more objects at once

Bounce

Stiffen muscles

• stiffens the muscles of a target freezing them in place for a short while

ShareVision

• shares what the caster is seeing with a few other chosen recipients, alternetively can be used to see through the eyes of an animal enchanted with the spell.

Share thoughts

• this creates a small orb of light that follows around those who are the recipients of the spell, the spell will say all surface thoughts of the caster and the recipients out loud, can be a bit embvericing but it practical for communication.

Plug leak

Gather

•a 15 ft radius, it gathers small loose objects together in a sphere that can be levitated. this spell is based on one seen in the deleted scenes

Heat metal

Cool metal

Part fog

Guiding light

-all of the above-

Voltor thunderseir (arcane Lightning)

Sleep

Awaken

Thorn wip

Arcane lock

Blight

• causes sickness and weakness and rot.

Phantom wing

•A spell that allows those with wings to regain flight they have lost or if thier wings are in working condition allows them to fly faster, the wings do not strictly speaking need to be flesh and bone. Early hang gliders and flying machines used magic wood and these spells to take flight, though when magical woods became rarer the mechanisms where switched over to something that is similar to modern day airplanes.

Fairy wing

• makes magical wings for the use of flight for those who do not have them, these wings are temporary and last only for a day, but can become permanent through use of phantom wings

Binding threads

• laso of truth, it’s a rather strange and useful spell, as depending on what spell elements are used in the spell in combination with spider silk, the spell will have different affects.

Dampen pain

• dampens pain felt by damage and pain used to keep going even when your body just want to give up. Not exactly the healthiest thing to do. 

Dampen emotion

• quiets emotions, has been used as an unhealthy coping mechanism for wizards and witches in the past but has also been used to calm individuals down to deal with a stressful situation

Dampen thoughts

• quiets thought, is designed as a way to hide from telepaths and monsters who read minds, but in the past has also been used as a way to "treat" mental illness and to keep people in a hazy mind set.

Spectral illusion

• a grand illusions that is found over a large space.

Summon guardian

• creates a spectral guardian or shield that protects a person

Grow mushrooms

• caused decomposition and mushrooms to grow, this spell can have spell elements added to it to create magic mushrooms of different kinds, like giant house sized mushrooms or ones who’s caps you can bounce on like a trampoline

Bloom

• a stronger version of the sprout smell, that causes flowers and other such plants to bloom, and grow greatly in a 50 foot area

Dancing star path

• if a castor wants to find an object or a person, and they know that person or object they can cast the spell in order to have a small trail of some thing. Usually starlight or little shining globes -Willow wisp style- light up a path to in order to find what they are looking for

Void Leeper

• allow a caster to move between shadows

Reflect

• reflects spells and attacks back at the attacker.

Reveal spiral

• a spell that reveals the color and shape of a persons heart spire. it has been used both for medical reasons to find blockages in the flow of magic as well as for wizards to reveal other wizards to take up as apprentices. the spell is not well known.

-Spell Elemental-

Visitation (phoenix gem)

• a spell that brings a dead loved one back for 24 hours and once cast can not be cast again

Telepathy (moon boom)

• copies the powers of knowers, but is temporary

Telekinesis (unicorn hair)

• essentially copies, the psychic ability of movers, but at a stronger and more powerful form than that of a normal psychic.

Tree stride (Blackbark or bog beast scales)

• allows a caster and others to walk through trees and use thier roots and branches to travel

Wall of fire (dragon scale)

Wall of ice ( red ice, berries)

• a 25 ft long 15 ft tall wall of ice. Can be made larger or smaller depending on desire and the availability of water in the area

Wall of thorns (glow, Moss)

• I guess if you’re trying to protect yourself, you can have a giant wall of thorns that keep people out of your way it’s usually about 25 ft long and 15 ft tall

Waterwalk (leviathan fin)

• walk on the water I guess it allows the person to walk or skate across water for a while. The spell tends to not work as well on rough water as it does on still water, but it is still usable.

Summon spectro beast (bone, and a bit of slime)

• summons a animal creature that is an a spectral form, that Acts as a companion, and can do tasks for the summoner

Bestow curse (any number of things depending on curse)

• really strange and uncontrollable spell.changes depending on what elements are used, but these are your typical curses do you think of in fairytales things like talking and having snails fall out of your mouth or having your ears turned into donkey, ears, or any other such kind of superficial minor thing, these courses are not permanent, unlike other court courses, and usually will only last until a certain action that cost the curse to be cast in the first place is rectified. For example, if you had a cursed cast on you because you stole someone’s apples, and the curse you would be talking backwards. You can undo the curse yourself by returning those apples that you stole or paying for them, and some other means that is satisfactory to those who controlled the curse.

Dream (Mare fur)

• targets a sleeping victim, and makes them have very pleasant dreams. These dreams can be manipulated by the caster, and can also be entered and shared by the caster.

Druid craft (blueberries)

• basically make someone really in tune with nature like I feel the ants, crawling a mile away, and I am aware of all the little things of raindrop listen, such like that. It is a spell not recommended to do if you have any kind of issue with bugs.

Elemental weapon (hell hound horn)

• temporary Lee makes a weapon bristle with elemental energy, such as a sword who’s cuts bloom with ice or a fire touched sword that burns.

Elemental weather

• changes the weather to be that of fire, ice, wind, or other such thing a weather phenomenon like a rain. Storm has to be occurring at the time for the spell to work. One wizard with a strange sense of humor is famous for constantly causing it to rain frogs.

Find Path ( Griffin talon)

• a very useful spell, for when you are lost, it will create a guiding compass of sorts, allowing you to find paths that you are familiar with. It cannot find Paths that you are unfamiliar with. Can also be used to allow others to follow your path or to find paths the others have taken for tracking.

Crown of madness (golden leaves)

• a very damaging spell it grinds an haunts the mind of those affected by it.

Dragons breath (dragon toung or fire Beatles or flame bloom)

Arcane transformation (dragon, scales, and

• A physical transformation from one creature to another.

Golem

• creates a non living protective creature made of bone, clay, stone, wood or other material.

Stink cloud (mushrooms from a shroom hog or other smelly things)

• as it says on the package, a 15 foot cloud that smells strongly

Mend broken bones

• a spell that detects broken bones and can then help the setting and healing process

Featherfall (feather)

• makes the target float and fly around. if prevents the target from falling over.

Skeleton soldiers (dragon tooth)

• essentially creates an army of undead, puppeteered soldiers, usually out of bones in skeletons quite a difficult spell to maintain and depending on the caster the they can only control anywhere from 5 to 500 skeletons does not stay consistent.

Nightmare (mare blood)

• inflicts nightmares on a sleeping target. The nightmares can either be a reoccurring ideals, and her that would fight in the person from their own mind or they can be manipulated specifically by the caster, the caster needs to smear, mayors blood on the victim, and also needs to be in a trance the entire time the nightmare is going on. also causes sleep paralysis

Ghost walk (slime)

• allow the caster to walk through walls and other solid surfaces. Temporarily, they are not able to walk through metal walls such as lead line or surfaces that are more than a few feet thick you spell is both a spell that requires a baseball contract as well as spell elemental, that’s no contract being holding your breath while the smell is active.

Transformation (dark crystal or light crystal)

• transformation that works on objects

Smokescreen.

Some examples of spell elements

- magic stones: Phoenix gem, blood stone, dragon heart stone, heart stone, gem of darkness, gem of light, prism gem, clear seer crystal, night stone, dawn crystal, sea gem, heart of the sea, fire ruby, sea sapphire, chaos emerald, smoke stone, snow flake stone, rainbow stone, rose shard stone, rain stone, sun-ray stone, moonlight stone, etc…

- magic wood: these woods are also used in creating magic staves. The best wood for this is Elmery trees who’s wood “pulses with magic in every grain.” no several kinds of trees can’t function to make usable magic staff none is as powerful or reliable as that of the Elmery tree. Wood from other is where are used in magical, contractions and objects like self playing harp and boxes with the magic falls bottom or flying self sweeping brooms. With poor quality words, some spells that require no element normally would require elements with this stuff other staff get out less power than others were not able to perform stronger spells.

Other kinds of magic wood: AlderOak (good), Resmereds (good quality), Fairy hawthorn (fair), rainbow willow (fair), Enchantment tree ( ok), Ozit wood (ok), “liveing/talking” tree wood (poor), Cloverwood (poor quality)

- creature bits: bone, dragon scales, dragons teeth, feathers, Griffon claws, eyes of newts, warts of flying hogs or mushroom hogs, hellhounds fur, unicorn mane, unicorns horn, mummified toads, frogs or salamanders, frog slime, hydra venom, dragon fly wings, spider silk, jelly from an ooze, huckpuck butter, bog beast spines, bog beast scales, sea serpents scales, sea serpent eyes, sea serpent blood, shed skin of a rainbow serpent, Beetles etc.

- plant and stuff: mushrooms, acorns, stinging nettle threads, glow berries, frost berries, fire blooms, luminous moss, blood poppy, forgetfulness flowers, moonlight Lillies, weeping willow switches, gnome chuckle mushrooms, howler mushrooms, ipper twig, golden fern, four leaf clover, five leaf clover, six leaf clover, dew pitcher plant, harpies tear mushroom, rainbow buds,(extinct) laughter dew blooms(extinct), etc.

Some examples of spell contracts (decrees)

- keeping eye contact

- belief or trust

- not telling a lie

- only telling lies or speaking nonsense

- holding breath

- chewing leaves

- balancing on one foot or balancing an object

- not speaking

- depriving oneself of a sense.

- walking backwards

- concentration or complete focus

- repetitive actions

Previous works:

Why I’m making this:

Continents, oceans and countries:

[mille-marteaux]

Touhoumon Purple (pinned post)

This is a pinned post! There is newer blog content below this point, but the rest of this post is contained beneath the Read More button.

Last update: March 19th, 2023

Documentation, downloads:

Changelog:

New documentation hub and landing page. It's included as a link to a Google Spreadsheet. While this is primarily the same as the contents of the text files, its easier on you for not having to juggle like ten tabs or whatever.

Mandatory Strength boulders have been pre-moved by default. Optional ones for items still require the HM, however.

Starters now evolve at level 30 instead of level 36. Learnset levels are adjusted for starter Chibi forms and evolved forms, including stone evolutions.

Red UFOs exchanges changed. They are now used for IV maxing NPCs near Mossdeep.

There are four NPCs with different IV spreads.

One is all 31. This is for most casual users in-game.

One is Attack 0, rest 31. This is to minimize self-damage from confusion on puppets that aren't using their Attack stat. Very min-maxy.

One is Speed 0, rest 31. This is even more niche and min-maxy than the last; the only use case for this is for purposefully slowing puppets down for Baton Pass. Gen 3 will sometimes use Baton Pass as a neutral turn switch, similar to U-Turn.

The last is Attack/Speed 0, rest 31. This is very niche and min-maxy. This is again for Baton Pass, but also minimizes confusion self-damage.

EV training NPCs in the Frontier changed. They now give 4 EVs in their listed stat per battle. This slows the process of EV training down but makes it way easier to make specialized EV spreads.

All TMs are now in Lilycove Mart, as well as the "rare" berries

Tori can now evolve into Chibi versions of the birds in the sprite

Yes, this does some absolutely ridiculous things to their movepools. blast burn mystia lets goooooooo

Tewi, Attack Tewi, and Defense Tewi can now all fully slide Attack and Defense could already slide, so this just makes it funnier. Use a Power Shard on Attack Tewi to turn her into normal Tewi, etc no advent though she can keep that movepool to herself

"Energy Ball" has, finally, been renamed to "Focus Blast"

Evolved Koishi now holds PP Up at 50% and PP Max at 5%

Reisen II buffs, finally -- Typing is now Heart/Fire -- Stats are now 65 HP, 60 ATK, 80 DEF, 130 S.ATK, 65 S.DEF, 85 Speed -- Her level-up movepool is unchanged, but she can learn a huge mess of special moves via TM now. This makes her usable if you want to, but you have to invest in her pretty heavily depending on what you may want to run -- Her primary ability is now Magnet Pull -- Gained Pickup as a secondary ability

Added another above-curve item, similar to Elder Pain and Psycho Wand -- It functions as a Quick Claw that always activates. Due to its relative ease of obtaining compared to the previous two items, there is only one way to obtain it unless playing the Sandbox version

This is actually the final update to this hack because I'm sick of binary hacking. It's tedious, slow, annoying, and things can just break. I'm tired of making multiple gigabytes of backups just because I want to change some images or text around.

This project is done! Complete, finished. There is nothing more that I can reasonably fit into this game anymore that I want to include.

I want to be done with this project.. so I am! Unless something is broken, I guess. If it literally does not function by my own fault, I'll fix it, but I'm not adding or changing anything else from this point on.

The shift to a Google Sheet is because we anticipate the current hosting, and by extension website, to go down permanently.

While backups are in place whenever a new hosting plan is picked out, this will continue to exist as a central information hub just so you don't have to thumb through multiple text files and wiki dive.

As of the time of posting this, the documentation is not 100% complete - I have yet to do level-up movesets and TM/HM compatibility, but I intend to work on that soon enough.

There are a few more things cooking right now, so stay tuned!

[askagamedev]

I'm interested in scaling of the enemies to the character level in those games that do that. In some of the open world games I play an encounter will be death until I level up (or skill up). When I do get higher level it gradually becomes more doable until eventually it is trivial. What kind of scaling mechanisms are common? Is it linear, a percentage boost/penalty compared to player, or something else?

In order to answer you question, I think it helps break down the way things work. Usually, any combat encounter in a game that has level differentials assumes certain underlying stats for the agents involved. All combat actors have some set amount of health, deals some amount of damage over time, has some specific abilities, perhaps has some defensive stats or mitigation abilities, etc. It is the difference between these values (or delta) that generally establish the relative ease or difficulty of a combat encounter. The greater the delta, the bigger the difference should feel to the player. It is by systemically adjusting these values that we can scale enemy encounters up and down as needed.

When we're considering difficulty scaling of enemies, there are a variety of things to consider - each resulting in a different kind of intended experience. It's important to recognize that scaling direction has vastly different effects on the game experience. Enemies at a significantly higher power level relative to the player can be unbeatable or they can just be challenging. That's a very different player experience than the opposite side of the spectrum, where we're considering how enemies that are often differing levels of easy or trivial. It is quite common for enemy scaling only to apply to those enemies deemed weaker than the player and not to enemies more powerful than the player.

If we don't scale anything at all, player power growth over time will naturally adjust power deltas. The natural consequence is that large power deltas will result in incredibly lopsided fights - both tougher enemies and weaker enemies. An enemy hitting for 5 damage is considered vastly different in terms of danger to a player with 10 health vs a player with 10,000 health.

In my experience, scaling enemies is primarily about keeping older content from being completely trivialized if we're still offering decent rewards there. This way, a higher level player can be incentivized to engage with the content (and obtain reasonable rewards at the same time), while those who don't want to are less aggravated while traveling through those areas. We usually do this by setting a maximum delta below the player - an enemy will never be weaker than this amount, relative to the player. That way, each enemy can present a lesser (though not completely trivial) challenge to the player, while still allowing players to traverse through that area without as much of a headache.

We sometimes set a maximum power delta above the player for higher level enemies as well. This way, players can recognize that they've entered a much more dangerous area and have an opportunity to reconsider and leave, rather than take any major penalties like death and any associated resources lost. This design choice makes the player experience a little more forgiving than an instant death might.

Some games actually do both at once by establishing a power band - enemies will never be weaker than X but will also never be stronger than Y. This way players who get significantly stronger than Y can feel like they've transcended and are now much more powerful than the older enemies. Similarly, the minimum power floor makes the area much more challenging for underleveled players, potentially leading to one-shots. Power bands are there to help establish a progression path for players. They can choose more challenging encounters if they desire, but it can help guide most players though a reasonable critical path.

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[gamelandia]

Starfield (30 hours in)

Like many others, I disappeared head long into Starfield on Friday.

That game sure is a Bethesda game. And I mean that with all the implied positives and negatives depending on your own thoughts and feelings about Oblivion, Fallout, Skyrim etc.

It's a pretty slow burn to start with, but that was okay with me. I don't often pre-order games. But the timing was right for me wanting to get lost deep within a game world, particularly a scifi one.

The fast travel system is both a huge time saver, but also diminishes the feeling of the size of the galaxy. Want to travel back to your home base but many jumps away from home. Blip! No problem, you're there in an instant. It's fortunate that load times, on PC at least where I'm playing, are short enough that flitting between locations is relatively quick. Like.. quick enough that I don't feel the lure of picking my phone up to check something.

I spent a good chunk of the early game in Jemison. I can see that in terms of design they went for a city that is grand in scale and perhaps utopian. Unfortunately, in terms of the game it's all very large expanses and bland enough that it's really easy to get lost. The surface map which should help with these sort of things is basic to the point of actually not being very useful. I eventually found some visual markers to help me remember where various shops and points of interest were, but MAAAAN, the game does not help with this.

I've been sticking to mostly the main quest line and it's been moving me along at a decent pace. I won't include any spoilers here, but it was interesting enough to keep me moving through the quest log. There's some tasks that involve collecting powers (think dragonborn in Skyrim) and there's enough of those that it's starting to get a bit repetitive. That is perhaps my fault because I'm trying to cross them all off to get them off my list and continue with the game proper. Perhaps I should just intersperse it between other things instead?

On the main quest line, I started bumping into enemies that were killing me with ease. To the point that I actually got stuck deep within a map with very low health and no med kits. I managed to drag myself back to the ship and heal up. But it's making me wonder if I need to go off to do some side quests in order to get more skills and better equipment.

During my last session I started playing around with ship customisation, mostly due to running out of storage space. It's a bit confusing but I presisted and eventually figured out how it works through trial and error. I think this might be the thing that gets me playing with base building and resource mining, since I'm assuming you'll need that stuff to build things from scratch.. but I could be wrong!

Following that train of thought I also built a basic base, initially mining iron. I've spotted that it's possible to automate the collection and delivery of resource to other places, creating a supply chain of sorts. That appeals although I'm not sure if I want to put the effort in yet.

So, overall impressions so far.... I like it, but I don't love it. And maybe that's okay? As my time with the game has increased, and I've found other places to explore, I've started enjoying it a little more. And perhaps that's a bit of a criticism of the opening hours of the game.

I'll write another one of these once I've made a bit more headway.

[hearty-silver]

Cringe. I know. But searching for someone for a platonic "Creepypasta" roleplay!

Pretty much what the title says. Now, I had this idea for a few years now, and I had a roleplay about it. But my ex-rp partner decided to cut contact about a year ago. I've been stewing over this idea for, well, not too long. But let's just say my love for Marble Hornets got rejuvenated randomly based on a few random Tik Toks that reminded me of the old days back when I was 14 and cringe.

Enough exposition! On to the plot.

So I'm kinda thinking that Tim still struggles with his mental and physiological issues. Needs his meds but loses track of them. Brian may still be an issue in Tim's life for that ✨️angst✨️. But Tim is lonely.

That's when he comes across a foster kid - Ben. Loosely based off Ben Drowned but living. Loves games, mostly Zelda, the works. He instantly falls in love with the idea of fostering Ben, because he's a teenager. Teens are less likely to be adopted so he'd give it a shot.

It'll start as relatively tense. Ben will have been "returned" so many times before, and would be hesitant on bonding with Tim. Scared, even. But with time, Ben will be very close to Tim, even call him "dad". Very slow burn (platonic).

Rules and Regulations:

- I am 22 and would prefer RPing with 18+. Even though this Roleplay will be non-sexual it still technically counts as NSFW for mental health and potential violence due to the MH nature and I will not be comfortable role-playing with minors.

- I mainly use discord. I write in Third Person. Past or present tense doesn't matter to me. My replies vary depending on the circumstances; whether it be a dialogue heavy scene, or less actions to be made, etc. I will not lie, I can be very terrible when it comes to descriptive paragraphs. That's why I prefer text-like role-playing, BUT I can do novella with relative ease. As long as you don't mind variation in responses.

- I am more comfortable playing Ben. I am searching for someone to play Tim Wright. Must have some knowledge of MH.

- I am open for shipping on the side, but my sole focus is on Ben and Tim's growing relationship as father and son.

If you've read all the way through, comment or DM "Operator" if you're interested! I'd love to hear back.

[starlitprism]

Ok, I am about to go off in what I hope to be a reasonable and nice way but I am very passionate about this so who knows. Here goes.

Ok, so I really like maps for two reasons. Preferences and need. Ok? HERE WE GO.

Firstly, I love strategy and tactics and being without a map feels a bit too much like old Final Fantasy games where everyone stands in a line, takes their turn, attacks, and there's rarely any way to really make tactical decisions based on your environment. So you might ask, why is this important?

WELL, in a fight positioning and terrain is KINDA one of the absolutely most important things one can consider in a fight (she said with her year-ish of fencing training). Furthermore, the tactical variety that terrain brings is kinda a huge part of the engagement for me. AND THIS, is the lesser reason. Consider some of these questions one could ask in a fight. How much room you have to maneuver. Is the ground even or broken up in some way. What can you see from where you are at? ALL of this matters and that's very hard to depict or make matter when everyone's position on the board is nebulously "here."

Starlitprism, you might say, but can't you and your fellow players just remember the general whereabouts of your characters? This all should be possible right?

WRONG. Which is when we get into point #2.

ADHD. I have it. Most everyone I play with has it. You think ANY SINGLE ONE OF US can keep track of the terrain, their positioning, their positioning relative to their allies, AND their positioning relative to their enemies? No. Never. Especially when it's almost all so wibbly woblly approximate that in the end it gets estimated down to "yeah you can get to them no problem." So not only does it make the field of combat so simple it makes my inner love of tactics cry, I LITERALLY cannot remember what the battlefield looks like without some reference. This is why I like getting character art so much. DESCRIPTIONS GET COMPLICATED FAST! Much easier to depict it.

NOW, that isn't to say that I need a space that is as defined as many battle maps as used in the monolith currently known as DnD. No. I don't need that. Honestly one of my favorite ways to depict a map is the Fate system's method.

So what is that like? Well it is ALSO a sort of wibbly wobbly dealio that basically is like "ok, we're fighting in the grocery store. We're dividing this between the meat section, the bakery, the aisles in the middle and the check out counters. Ok the aisles are cover that makes it very notably divided. So we can use that as cover and as a way to break line of sight. That gives stealth possibilities. The meat section and bread section has a bunch of chest high storage and display table things, so that has LESS options for that but it's still there. And the check out area largely blocks most exit if you're trying to get through what with the people and the like" and you demark all that labeling the obstacles and other points of interested. Any defining features that might matter. It can be as simple as a series of bubbles with labels, a badly drawn aisle, check out section, etc with the literal words describing them.

I did some googling and found this from here to use as an example

Source for the image below

For screen readers: The picture above depicts a a piece of paper dived into various quadrants. Some of them contain space ship minis and are otherwise empty. Some contain basic depictions of a space station, asteroids, or a moon or full on planet. There are 20 spaces in total

This demonstrates a simple map one might see in fate. Places to move. Points of interest are noted in the various spaces!. Good! Easy. Quick to write! The bare minimum needed for my ADHD brain to keep track.

I don't need anything complicated. Just... something.

So yeah, all that to say. I like tactics and boards can be an accessibility issue. That's it

So please for the love of all that is ease of use, don't throw out visuals right off the bat. It can be very helpful and interesting for all involved.

Ok that's it. I'm done.

There’s been a consistent push towards mapless play in the TTRPG space (in all but those games that lean most heavily into their tactical wargaming roots). The idea of genre emulation and trope usage has made tracking precise physical space all but obsolete in most cases . . . but I hate that. I think that there are some stories that are only at their most effective when one can see, interact with, and directly make use of their environment. There’s the obvious example of war games, but stealth games also heavily benefit from having an environment that players are able to see (or at least see a vague representation of). The visual representation of physical reality helps ground the fiction in that reality, and mapless play almost always loses that.

Do you prefer maps? Do you hate maps? Why or why not?

[unitedbydevils]

Match Review: Manchester United 3-0 Crystal Palace

Oh shit, we might ACTUALLY be back. Burnley might have been the turning point, because that was a good performance...

United at home is a solid proposition under Erik Ten Hag, blighted only by Brighton (for now) so ordinarily Palace, at our place, would be an easy game. The problem is form, fitness, and synergy. United have none of it.

Until today.

I won't say it was a clinical performance but it was highly competent, disciplined, determined, and ambitious. United looked in full control and it didn't feel like we moved out of second gear really.

Lets break down the performance, man for man:

Onana - Relatively quiet night for him but a couple of clutch saves. Did what was needed, top man. Clean sheet to boot.

Dalot - Solid at RB. Very progressive up the wing and fewer positional mistakes in defence. Unlucky not to be credited with the assist for Garnacho's opener.

Varane - The Rolls Royce continues his return from injury. A clean defensive display.

Maguire - Best defender of the night. Very sturdy performance, good positioning, and nice progression with the ball.

Amrabat - LB? What a lad. Commitment to the cause to play where needed, given our THIRD left back is out now. Not content to stay LB, he also drifted CM and even tackled someone on the RW. Epic.

Casemiro - I THINK HE MIGHT BE BACK. A goal in the 1st half, an assist in the 2nd, and generally his slightly higher positioning made for a very good "8" role. Won Man of the Match and it's hard to argue it was undeserved. Amrabat a close 2nd perhaps.

Hannibal - We have to consider the young lad a first team squad player now. He's doing what we wanted from McTominay. There's pace, strength and effort, but also guile and creativity. If ETH can curb the penchant for a booking... ooh, we have a prospect.

Mount - The man deserves a medal just for getting an assist on a corner. We don't score corners. A solid 45 for Mount who finished the half strongly. He looked dangerous in the 10 position. Might mean Bruno drops to 8 to rest Casemiro for some games and Amrabat 6...

Pellistri - Facundo Facundoooo. I love this little guy. A nippy, agile winger who plays as a winger. I don't mind wing forwards, like Rashford and Garnacho, but balance is key to a team. Pellistri offers width, attacking intent, and he pushes to the goal line and curves into the box as well as cutting back in. He's not predictable, and it offers us a dimension on the right we just don't have otherwise.

Garnacho - The kid's got that something. Some middling performances when he appeared a few games ago but very sharp today, and he was rewarded with a goal.

Martial - AM9 actually showed up. He was engaged, holding the CF line, making good link-up play with the wide men and Mount, and probably should have had that Rashford cockiness to have a few more pops at goal rather than trying to be such a team player with through-balls. Scored a great goal off a Casemiro cross.

Lindelof - Subbed on for Mount to allow him to ease back into first team football, and took over at LB oddly enough for Amrabat, who drifted into CM and allowed Casemiro to push higher. Inverted LB actually worked quite well and didn't disrupt Dalot's good game at RB, but I would not risk it against good sides. Still, very solid.

Gore - A senior debut for the teenager on his 19th birthday. Given the sales of Iqbal, Savage etc it's been frustrating to see just Garnacho coming through the academy, but Hannibal, Mainoo and now Gore are showing that Ten Hag IS willing - he just has very high standards. Gore looks solid, composed. Some might say a Steady Eddie but hey, Fletcher was an immense player for us and filled that role. Consistency and dependability are huge assets.

Evans - Jonny Evans is a red, he hates scousers. The big man back at the Theatre of Dreams, on for the last half hour to rest Varane. Comfortable finish to the match. Just needed a goal haha.

Van de Beek - A rare Donny appearance. I still believe he's surplus to requirements at United but it's obvious what his strengths and weaknesses are. People might not rate his technical abilities as anything special but as today's cameo proved, he's an intelligent player who finds pockets of space easily. Against deep block teams that's invaluable, and might prove so against lesser teams in the cup competitions.

Højlund - Another short cameo. The Dane looked alright but hardly had chance to make an impact with just 15 minutes at the end. No Bruno, Rashford, Mount or Amrabat on at the time, and a tiring Casemiro. A gentle run out to keep him ready for Saturday's rematch.

If United can beat Palace again at the weekend (and we should) then I think we can safely say we've turned a corner. We're 9th at present, just 1 point and one spot ahead of Crystal Palace. If we win... we can at best jump to 7th, but Newcastle are home to Burnley and West Ham are home to Sheffield United. Maybe upsets can happen? Maybe? The problem is Villa are home to Brighton and the upset might happen at Villa Park and keep United exactly where we are.

Still, consistency time. A lot of home games lie ahead. Lets make a run of this with the injured players returning and smash out some good results. If we can drive ourselves up the table steadily we'll see the flak at the squad and Ten Hag dissipate, and we can refocus on Top 4 and good cup runs.

Up the reds.

[innocide]

Game idea: The everything game. It’s a narrative-driven game that forces you to jump through several game genres. none of the games are overly difficult, and if they’re like, a puzzle game, it’s explained to you by some navi character or watered down so you can get past it with relative ease. the gimmick, though, is that it puts you in impossible situations or “glitches” that you can’t get past without diving deeper into the gamer genre. That’s how you traverse game genres. each “dive” takes you clear parody or straight rip of a game that was released before the current one, giving you the sense of jumping through the history of games. the games will flip between 2d and 3d regardless, so no genre is left out. You might be playing a Bioshock, and find yourself diving into the big daddy and into Doom, and from Doom diving into Space Invaders. From Portal into Monkey Island into Pacman. Each time, you return from the diving spot with some kind of modification in the world. An extra doublejump, more HP, immediate cooldown, etc. It’ll eventually feel like hacking in Nier:Automata. You dive into a subgame for an advantage in the main, proper game. The story of the game is of a child in a coma or something and their parent, who was previously indifferent to videogames and bad at them, finding themself in a wacky wonderlandian adventure all around the history of the game industry, gaining the context and general gamer sense that we’ve developed over years of experience, all in the name of saving their child. Watch as they go from that grown adult who sees “Press A to talk” on the screen and sits there inspecting the controller thoroughly like it’s a Chinese puzzlebox, and eventually learn to instinctively shoot the red barrels and to check behind the waterfall. But, throughout their journey, they’re warned not to dive more than 3 or so layers deep. As they might be trapped forever. They dip their toes in a few times going 4 layers, but it’s made clear they’re pushing the limit. Alas! Just as the parent finds their child and is about to escape with them, something goes horribly wrong! The child somehow ends up falling deep, DEEP down. And in an act of parental protection and bravery, you go several dozen layers deep to follow and save them. You find yourself rapidly diving over and over, and once you retrieve the child, go back, wrapping up every place you just dove through until you snap back to the exit, free and with a newfound understanding and appreciation for how diverse and creative and complex the art of videogames can be.

[whoknowseverythings]

Why Should we read books

There is a saying that a person lives a single life and a reader lives many ,as a books contains many life experiences (if you opt for life lesson one),reading a book based on something you like to read can be a addictive thing (any thing in excess in bad).

So why you should read a book?here what happens when you read a book:--

Mental Stimulation

stress Reduction

knowledge

Memory improvement

Stronger Analytical Thinking skills

Better Writing skills

Improves Focus and Concentration

Vocabulary Expansion

Mental Stimulation

Just like any other muscle in the body, the brain requires exercise to keep it strong and healthy,so the phrase"use it or lose it"is particularly apt when it comes to your mind.Doing puzzles and playing games such as chess(and some video games) have also been found to be helpful with cognitive stimulation.This can also be achieved just by reading a book.

Stress Reduction

No matter how much stress you have at work,in your personal relationships,or countless other issues faced in daily life,it all just slips away when you lose yourself in a great story.A well-written novel can transport you to a different world:),while an engaging article will distract you and keep you in the present moment,letting tension drain away and allowing you to relax can easily achieved by reading book.

Knowledge

Everything you read ,see or watch fills your mind with new bits of information and you never know when it might come in handy so chose your contents wisely as it will effect your future personality:).When a book is published it has been corrected and rechecked by many people so information on a book is more accurate then any Wikipedia or google searches .

Memory Improvement

When you read a book, you have to remember an assortment of characters, their backgrounds, ambitions, history, and nuances, as well as the various arcs and subplots that weave their way through every story. That’s a fair bit to remember, but brains are marvelous things and can remember these things with relative ease

Strong Analytical & Thinking Skills

Have you ever read an amazing mystery novel, and solved the mystery yourself before finishing the book? If so, you were able to put critical and analytical thinking to work by taking note of all the details provided and sorting them out to determine “whodunnit”.That same ability to analyze details also comes in handy when it comes to critiquing the plot; determining whether it was a well-written piece, if the characters were properly developed, if the story-line ran smoothly, etc.

Improves Focus and Concentration

In our internet-crazed world, attention is drawn in a million different directions at once as we multi-task through every day. When you read a book, all of your attention is focused on the story—the rest of the world just falls away, and you can immerse yourself in every fine detail you’re absorbing.

Better Writing Skills

This goes hand-in-hand with the expansion of your vocabulary: Exposure to published, well-written work has a noted effect on one’s own writing, as observing the cadence, fluidity, and writing styles of other authors will invariably influence your own work.

Vocabulary Expansion

The more you read, the more words you gain exposure to, and they’ll inevitably make their way into your everyday vocabulary. Being articulate and well-spoken is of great help in any profession, and knowing that you can speak to higher-ups with self-confidence can be an enormous boost to your self-esteem.

here are some books which i would like you to at least have a look ,i have rad them & they have changed my life for good :)

Download Free books and read more amazing post

 visit Blog

[catgirltoofies]

@foxgirltail I'm glad you asked

so! power. all games need to give the player a certain amount of power: this is in the form of options. whether or not you can jump, sprint, what weapons you can use, when you can use abilities & how often, etc. playing a game is a series of choices based on the options you have available to you. the more options you have, the more powerful the player is.

side tangent: player power is different from character power. a powerful character is not necessarily a powerful player, and vice versa.

now, soulslike games are no different, the developer gives the player a certain amount of power, a certain amount of options. many of these options are pretty simple fair: moving, attacking, defending. what makes a particular game special is what options they give outside of the "standard", OR how well they can pull off making a simple mechanic interesting. I'll use a few examples from personal experience.

first off, dark souls 1. for the most part, there's nothing special about dark souls that makes it stand out as a soulslike, except for the fact that it's so simple. your basic available mechanics are carefully distilled to be exactly right to make your character feel like a part of the carefully crafted world. there's nothing special about your character except for the fact that they are controlled by the player, giving you free choice to play how you want to. with that said, there are notable absences for player power: jumping is difficult and very rarely relevant, there's no ability to change your stats once they're assigned, there's a very limited number of high level upgrade materials. two of these are fairly balanced out; jumping is difficult, but it's also almost never relevant, so it's rarely an issue. high level upgrade materials are balanced exclusively by access to NG+, which lets you get more in the case that you want to use more than one or two weapons.

next, quickly, for comparison: dark souls 2. it's mechanically very similar to dark souls 1, at a basic level, but a number of changes drastically change the entire feel of the game. for example, the animation when opening doors and going through fog gates no longer gives immunity, meaning the otherwise helpless character is open to attack with no possible input from the player to save them until they've been attacked or the animation is finished. this takes power away from the player, making the game less fun to play.

third, staying in fromsoft land, elden ring. elden ring is fundamentally surprisingly different from dark souls 1 or 2, being significantly faster paced. however, even though the enemies are that much more dangerous, the player is given a lot more power to deal with the increased challenge. the player can jump at will, and they're given much more grace with it, where the lower half of their body is given full immunity during the jump. the player can easily change the special attacks of most of their weapons, along with freely changing weapons' damage type and scaling. in addition, they can respec their stats with relative ease.

dark souls 1 and elden ring alike succeed in giving the player the perfect amount of power for the design of the game, and this is a real testament to the skill of the developers.

so. what do i mean when i say that games should give more power to the player? well, basically exactly that: more options with how to deal with the challenges the game presents.

one easy example that i feel could benefit a lot of shooter games is the "concentration" mechanic, which temporarily slows down time to allow the player more time and slower targets to more easily deal with the challenge. many games already include this, but when they don't, it can feel jarring not having access to it. i know it's one of my minor issues with starfield (though i expect there's a power to slow down time available later)

another example is seeing enemies through walls. this gives the player more tactical information which they can use to their benefit - again, i use this starfield power a lot, and it's quite useful in the elder scrolls - while not necessarily feeling "cheap". and because it's only an option, players that don't want to use it, don't have to.

to go back to the soulslike genre, one simple option for players would be easier respeccing. i love playing around with builds, but i find it restricting to be unable to try multiple things without investing in one thing or using limited consumables. this wouldn't make the game any easier, necessarily - just give players the power to find out what kind of playstyle they have the most fun with. and if somebody wanted to use easy respeccing to give themselves an easier time by abusing elemental weaknesses at every opportunity, why not let them? they would have to go through the chore of respeccing constantly, as well as having to use different weapons or changing around the same weapon.

another very small feature which i genuinely adore and want to see more of: guidance. a toggle to show the main path to a set objective. in Skyrim it's called Clairvoyance, in fallout 4 it's VANS, in starfield it's just built into your scanner. it's available from the start in xenoblade 3. heck, even elden ring gives a vague guidance of grace. it genuinely helps, especially people like me who tend to have trouble with the layout of places, especially very vertical places.

a small one that's very rare, enemy detection information. i don't mean like the arrows and bars that show up when enemies detect you, i mean auras that show the perception of enemies. it's hard to provide an exact example because of its rarity, and the only case i know of is in dwarf fortress adventure mode, where while sneaking you can see the perception area of nearby things. most people will have a big cone in front of them and a small circle around them; animals can have very wide vision cones because of having eyes on the side of their head, and so on. this would be a lot harder to achieve outside of roguelikes, however. (with that said, I'd really like to see something like this in cataclysm)

in conclusion: i feel many games are very good but could be improved by making the player just a bit more comfortable.

games should give players more power

[ivesambrose]

Pick a gif which tugs at your heart and/or evokes a long lost memory or a dream. 💙

To book a personal reading with me DM or email me at jovescorpioreadings@gmail.com 💫

1.

2.

3.

1.

You've prayed for them, manifested them into your life. You've asked and received.

They've broken tradition in some way. Either in their family, social group/community or they will be the one who breaks your usual type.

A very good listener. Has a penetrative gaze, their facial expressions are actually very emotive. You'd actually find it fascinating.

Anytime they're stressed they'll go and take a walk or be out in nature. They gather inspiration from there as well. They value they quiet time but they also work well with others. They know several people likely but trust very few. Probably have this same set of close friends for the past several years. They don't really open up easily but their aura is comforting. Pretty non judgemental and grounded.

A leader / has latent leadership qualities in a group setting. (can have a strong Aries or Mars influence in them)

Might be into puzzles, board games, putting things together.

Experimental and changes their look often. But they pull it off brilliantly.

Looks really good in red and / or white.

Strong morals, strong sense of right and wrong. They could be going through something but it's not easily visible on their face. Could have an air rising (gemini, libra or aquarius) or can keep a poker face.

Very attractive. Since they do change their appearance often they have definitely bleached their hair at one point. Fair skin with a sun-kissed glow / tan to them. Broad - strong shoulders, narrow waist, strong legs. Might have played sports or is good at sports. This is someone who learns things relatively quick given how attentive they are.

I'm tempted to say they have daddy vibes. Yes even if they identify as female. They have the BDE.

Ambivert but leaning a little more towards the introvert side. However in social settings they do handle things well given their confidence regardless of how shy they can be. However once you get to know them they'd be very quirky and funny around you. The kind to randomly do a weird tik tok challenge but for you/close friends/cuz they felt like it and not the camera

Cinematography, cinema, editing, photography.

Well travelled, street smart and knowledgeable.

They love hoarding knowledge, you'd be surprised.

You'll meet them when you leave a place/location or situation that's been causing you stress and giving you more anxiety and repression than peace and progress. Highly likely during travel or once you've relocated to some place.

2.

Sensual. So damn sensual and captivating. They look unreal sometimes honestly it's intimidating.

Something about their voice is downright so enchanting and sexy. You can't help but feel attracted to them, it's almost annoying how drawn you feel. (possible lilith rising, could have scorpio and taurus or capricorn placements) I mean I wouldn't be surprised if they sing, have an asmr channel, are a speaker, spokesperson or representative etc

Very dreamy, rather spiritual as well. They definitely have faith in something that they feel is above them. They seem a little prone to really vivid dreams as well as nightmares. Might even be a bit clairvoyant or Clairsentient.

Secure in their business and career might own a business actually. Thing is there is a lot of goals they want to accomplish. But they're not the kind to stall it, they actively go for it. They don't care, they'll achieve it. Especially if you tell them that they can't, then they definitely will. However their ambitions aren't the shallow kind, they really do want to leave a mark or simply express themselves for how they are on the inside.

Either they look like a complete softie, care bear, mom friend or they look like a siren or what Christian Grey thought he was or they have the aura Eric Draven had in The Crow or Maleficent carries. There's no in between. They switching positions like that Ariana song.

They have the most kissable lips.

Highly likely have tattoos because they love the sensation of getting inked.

Tall, lean, Dark hair, dark eyes, beauty spots, really nice hands. Look really good in every shade of blue and green, black (definitely black) and even certain floral or geometric prints. They may also like wearing accessories a lot.

For some reason I saw a crown.

Emotional and intense, they need a creative outlet of expression or they shut down. Like, I kid you not they need to at least once completely lose themselves in something then come home and pass out on the sofa.

Expect a lot of thoughtful random gifts and display of affections from them. They're a bit possesive, I almost feel they can be a little bratty but oh when they look at you, they have eyes only for you. Talking to them is finding a best friend from a life you have no knowledge of but yet it feels right.

Sincere

Trust

Romantic

Passionate

Beach baby / loves the water. Doesn't really like the cold as much.

They may have a pet? They seem to be very good with animals.

You'd meet them when you feel really good about yourself, you'd be really feeling yourself or would have achieved something. Making travel plans or setting your next goals it might even be night. It'll feel perfect actually, right it happened at the right time. You'd be getting signs though but I feel you'd be preparing yourself for other exciting stuff to take proper note of them and boom it happens.

3.

An explorer, a seeker, a student who wants to keep learning, keep being a ray of sunshine in everyone's life.

They seek their soul family/found family or would really want a family of their own someday. Very good with kids likely or at most, very patient with different types of people.

Honestly if they were a Pokémon they'd be bulbasaur.

Regardless of their age they're very youthful, the inner child is intact.

They might dress very vintage or old school. Very laid back actually. Also something about walking barefeet on wooden floors came up. They look they belong in a old photograph / polaroid almost. I'm not getting much on their looks besides they look like they belong in a painting or old polaroid. They feel like home, they feel like laying in a field and relishing the golden hour, they feel the the type whose hand you'd hold and run off with. Red and browns are definitely their color, they pull of the muted tones really well. (almost thought of Taylor Swift's Willow music video)

Might have a strong aquarius and capricorn influence in their chart as well.

Their upbringing may not have been in the best conditions but they've worked very hard or are working very hard to improve their quality of life or give back to their family in some way. In some way they've turned their life around. They did a full 180. Crazy.

Deep voice. Warm whispers.

Honey in tea.

Carnations, lilies and red grapes.

They'd like to celebrate the little victories in their life with you. They get happy over the simple things so much, I can just feel my heart melt because of this person and their smile. They're so affectionate and kind and it's making me tear up almost. Wow.

Also they smell really nice. Flowery notes maybe?

They love touching foreheads.

Might play an instrument or paint.

Honestly, I kid you not. They feel straight out of a fantasy book. The closest characters I can think of is Westley from Princess Bride, Aurora from Maleficent and Belle from Beauty and the beast.

You'll likely meet them when you've shut out something toxic in your life. You may not even be looking for love, this might be after a break up even, you may even be escaping a situation or be away from a gathering and be around New people / faces you aren't as familiar with when this happens. Your anxiety will ease around this person. You might even had a passing thought or dream of this scenario before it happens but you'll brush off the thought thinking that isn't possible or something, then you'll be in for a surprise regardless.

[morgana-ren]

Nasty shiggy playing video games with his captive hc

Okay, you asked for it. I’m not responsible for what’s about to go down here. All the usual trigger warnings for dubcon and noncon ahead. You guys know the deal already. 

Alright, so for starters, we all know this dude is a total nerd. I know some folks don’t believe that he hangs around playing video games for hours on end pre-Kamino disaster, but for the sake of this ask and my lust, we’re going to pretend he does. 

Shigaraki is kind of a jack of all trades when it comes to gaming. His steam account has more games on it than he could possibly ever play in a lifetime, but he likes to have them regardless because he never knows where his whims are going to take him. He enjoys extreme turn based strategy for when he wants to feel intelligent (or smarter than other people at dominating), sandbox games for when he feels like running around and causing general mayhem, hack and slash for mindless slaughter, online for the rare times he feels like being cooperative, etc. Sometimes he plays those stupid shock value games that only exist to be controversial, sometimes he plays horror just to say ‘fuck you’ to the developer because he can sit through the whole thing with a straight face and steady 70 bpm. 

He’s good. He’s very good. He’s a quick thinker and gets the hang of things very quickly. There’s not very many games out there that he can’t beat with relative ease, and those ones are usually ones he just flat out doesn’t enjoy. 

When Shigaraki takes his beloved and spirits them away to his room, it’s very quickly apparent that he’s a nasty little gamer boy. If you’ve ever met a nasty little gamer boy, this adds a whole new level of terror to the “Oh God I’ve been kidnapped” factor by way of “Oh God I’ve been kidnapped by one of those guys”. 

Eventually he’s gunna get sick of you just sitting there watching him play (more accurately, desperately thinking of an escape plan while he clicks and taps away). He likes it at first because in a twisted way, he wants to impress you with his skill, but he’s a nasty little shithead who wants to watch you squirm, and the closer you are to him, the more you squirm. 

He’s not going to tease you, at least at first. He’s going to watch and see how quickly you can acclimate yourself to the situation.

 If you’re new to gaming or just don’t like it, prepare to be miserable. 

He’s a jerk. There’s no way around it. He’s going to throw you into the thick of things with your Level 1 character, not teach you shit about how to play, and when you inevitably die, he’s going to give you the side-eye and say “What do you want me to do about it? It’s not my fault you’re useless.” 

In that same breath, he won’t let you quit. He’s going to resurrect you, sure, but he’s going to make it very plain that you ‘owe’ him for every single gold he spends doing it before the level ends.

Eventually he’s going to grow bored of watching you frantically try and learn the keys and shortcuts and dying every 3 minutes like clockwork, so he’ll put on a training ground level for you.

Sounds nice, right? He’s trying? He’s not. 

He’s going to pull you over into his chair and situate you on his lap nice and inappropriate. His legs spread just so, your ass pressed firm against the crotch of his jeans so that every single time you jostle even a little bit, you can feel exactly why he wanted you there. You’re separated from his hardening cock by literally less than a centimeter of threadbare fabric and he wants you to know that. 

As you try and focus on learning just what in the hell it is you’re supposed to be doing, he’s going to be whispering in your ear the whole time, chest flush against your back and occasionally rutting his lower body into you under the guise of ‘readjusting’. 

“That’s right.” “Just like that.” “Good girl.” “Do it faster.” “See what happens when you listen to me?” “Don’t stop doing that.” “See? Isn’t this fun?” “Keep doing that and you just might live through this.”

Loading screens become the bane of your existence because not only can you see your pathetic, flushed face, but you can see the way he’s leering from behind you. That manic face of his, heavy lidded, mouth agape, eyes glazed, reeking of licentiousness and the barely corralled urge to bend you over the desk. It’s only a matter of time and you know that, but that doesn’t mean you need the reminder.

It doesn’t really matter how good your clumsy little fingers get at the controls. He’s going to belittle you regardless. Anytime you get remotely comfortable with what you’re doing, he’s going to drag you into harder and harder areas just to watch you drown in inexperience. 

Eventually he’s going to get bored of torturing you and watching you fail. As funny as it is to see how stressed out you get trying like hell to keep your head above water with him, he hasn’t forgotten the main reason be brought you here. 

He’ll pull you off his gaming chair and chuck you onto his bed, leering over you and taunting you with that playful lilt to his tone. 

“You suck at video games. Maybe you’d be better at something else.”

He’s in for a surprise if you’re a gamer yourself, though you are arguably no better off with him even if you are. 

It’s a bit of a shock to him when you take immediately to the controls like you already know what you’re doing. If you’re feeling bold, you can ask if he’ll allow you to import your character so you don’t have to start from scratch, but chances are he’s not that generous. 

Still, you’re good enough at what you’re doing to be able to keep up with him so long as you let him do most of the tanking on heavy hitter enemies. He leaves behind the powerful armor and you’re grateful, even if you know it’s not because he wants you to have it but more because he doesn’t need it himself. 

Believe it or not, he’s actually pretty psyched to have someone to play with at first. He certainly wasn’t expecting to be pleasantly surprised by kidnapping someone who is equally skilled in gaming, but it’s nice that he has something in common with you other than wanting to fuck you into the mattress. He can’t do that all the time so it’s good to know there will be something he can enjoy during the down time. 

Eventually he’s going to kick things up a notch and fight you one on one. You have pretty much no chance at winning against him with his hyper-powered character versus your brand new one, but you’ll put up one hell of a fight.

“Hey, you’re pretty good at that.” “Skilled at it huh? You probably have a lot of practice.” “Don’t let me get you on your back, now.” “Stop struggling.” “Aw, are you gunna cry?” “You look good beneath me.” “Don’t make me put you in your place.” “The way you’re playing, I’m starting to think you like it when I dominate you.” 

It’s inevitable that you’ll lose. Truth be told, you could play a lot better without his thinly veiled suggestive remarks, and you’re certain he knows that. He doesn’t miss the look on your face, filing it away for later. 

After he’s beaten you down enough, he’s going to just watch you play with unnerving intensity. It’s hard to focus when you can literally almost feel him ogling you, but you do your best. Though even as his cock is straining against his jeans, he’s still an insufferable know-it-all at gaming. You’re not sure which is more unnerving: the fact that he’s constantly bashing your build and belittling your strategy, or the fact he’s completely shameless in being openly lewd when he does it. 

Still, Tomura is a man of action, and sitting and watching doesn’t do much for him. After a bit, he’ll tell you to log out and pat the seat beside him on the messy bed. Stall all you want, but eventually you will end up doing what he wants, and you know as well as he does what’s coming next, and if you didn’t, the fact he’s undoing his zipper with that heinous smile spreading across his face would clue you in real fast. 

“You’re pretty good at games. That’s good. But I wanna see if you’re as good at other things now.”

[etceteraon]

losing heart | hjs

pairing: gamer!jisung x female reader

genre: f2l, fluff, romance, angst

warnings: slight language

word count: 10.2k

summary: after meeting and starting to date your close online friend of a few months, you start to realize that maybe you might have been better off staying online.

a/n: this is my first fic and I really hope it's enjoyable, I worked really hard on it and hope it meets any expectations. I also wanted to thank

@softbbyg0rl

for being so kind as to help me proofread this and actually help me expand upon it, I'm really thankful for their help and this probably wouldn't be half of what it is without them helping me out. I am indebted to them /j. I also had another friend help me read over this and I promised them a jeongin x reader in return, so expect that in the near future!

Video games had never been an issue for you before. You enjoyed them yourself normally, occupying yourself with various titles and genres of video games. Growing up you were known as the nerdy kid, finding interest in things that the other kids deemed ‘weird’. Really it was just that they were closed minded and couldn’t accept anything that was different or new. Anime and video games were entertaining, it didn't matter to you what other people thought about it. It was something that had helped you bond with some of your family members, and had helped you make a few friends over the years, one of them being your current boyfriend, Han Jisung.

The two of you had met online in a game you both enjoyed, Genshin Impact. Normally conversation in this game wasn’t much, just asking what the other needed and helping the other out with it. Things like domains, bosses, etc. After that was all said and done, you said your goodbyes and left, more than likely never encountering the other player ever again. When you and Jisung had met in the game however, things had gone much differently. It was only after about an hour of grinding domains that he had asked for your Discord, the two of you chatting on there for a few weeks before you both mustered up the courage to voice call. A few weeks after that, it was video calls. Only a couple months later, you two were very close friends, playing games and hanging out whenever you both had free time.

How quickly you two had clicked was a mystery to the both of you, but even your online friends were surprised at how fast you had let Han Jisung into your circle. Normally you were very particular about who you spoke to, let alone on a daily basis. Whenever you first met someone you usually spent the first few weeks getting a read on their personality and getting to know them before even thinking about actually getting close to them. It seemed Jisung had just rubbed off on you so quickly you hadn’t had a chance to actually go through your usual process.

When Jisung had suddenly brought up the idea of meeting in person just six months after first meeting each other online, it came as a shock to you, not expecting him to be the one to suggest it since you had learned he was actually an introvert despite his online persona. You had both learned that you lived relatively close to each other, having discussed where you lived previously. It was still about a two hour trip from your house though. Jisung of course had suggested he be the one to travel, but you didn’t want to cause him any more anxiety than he already had and told him you’d be more than willing to do the traveling.

A week was all it had taken for you to get on a bus and travel from your hometown to his. Jisung was texting you the entire ride there, clearly nervous with how many questions he was asking, probably wondering to himself if he should just call it all off. Your other online friends had gotten quite jealous since you hadn’t even met them yet, but you had to remind them just how much further away they were compared to him. They couldn’t argue with that. The two hour ride hadn’t felt long, your legs relieved to be standing upright as you exited the bus, holding your bag close as you looked around nervously. You had never done something like this before, and you honestly hadn’t even realized just how nervous you were up until now.

Scanning the busy sidewalk, you squinted, nibbling on your bottom lip as you struggled to focus, your heart slamming against your chest. Having to wear masks didn’t make things any easier, only being able to see the top half of people's faces really limited your ability to recognize someone you had only ever seen over the phone. After a few minutes, you had begun to wonder if Jisung had up and ditched you. Scrambling for your phone, you nearly dropped it, hissing as you unlocked it and looked over your messages with Jisung. He had said he was on his way to the bus stop a half an hour ago. It couldn’t take him that long could it?

About to call him, you walked over to the bench and sat yourself down, pressing the dial button and placing the phone up to your ear, looking around sheepishly, silently wondering if you were going to be ghosted and have to take another two hour drive home. Faintly you could hear the sound of a phone ringing, furrowing your eyebrows in confusion, you turned your attention to the source, seeing a rather short male with bleach blonde hair running towards the bus stop with a motorcycle helmet in hand. It was only moments before the male wearing all black actually reached the stop, looking around, locking eyes with you for a moment before pulling out his phone that was ringing and taking less than a second to look at the caller ID before answering.

“Y/n? I just got here- Where are you?” He questioned, nearly making you scoff into your phone’s receiver as you stood up, looking directly at him and cocking an eyebrow.

“Right in front of you.”

The slow turn and the look of realization was more than comical. Jisung’s eyes widening and then scrunching as he smiled under his mask. Hanging up the phone he slowly walked over, rubbing the back of his neck as he cleared his throat, shaking slightly with anxiety. “I uh, I’m sorry for getting here late. I kind of ran into an issue and had to do some last minute problem solving.” He explained, earning a head tilt from you. “What kind of problem?” You asked, wanting him to elaborate.

A quiet chuckle left his lips as he held up the motorcycle helmet he was holding, motioning back towards a bike that was parked on the side of the road. “I only had one. So I had to go and buy another.” You were sure your expression had matched Jisung’s from just moments before, in shock as you realized the motorcycle was his. If he was slow at realizing you were right in front of him, you were slow in realizing something much more obvious. “You never told me you drive a motorcycle…” You trailed off, Jisung nodding slowly in agreement.

“Ride a motorcycle but yeah. It never really came up and I’m not one of those people who constantly brags about riding one. It’s just a mode of transportation and happens to be cheaper than a car.” He shrugged, and honestly, you couldn’t argue with his reasoning. Clearing your throat, you shrugged your bag further up onto your shoulder, shifting your weight back and forth on your feet. “Well, I’m here. Now what?”

Jisung paused for a moment, seemingly processing your words before motioning towards his bike once more. “I figured we could go back to my place. I figured I’d order food since I’m not the best cook as you know. Almost burnt down my apartment on multiple occasions. My roommate is there, but he’s really chill. You’ve heard him every now and then on call or on mic. He normally keeps to himself, but I already told him about you coming and he doesn’t mind.” He stopped, thinking about whether or not that was everything he was wanting to say. “...Yeah. Unless you don’t feel comfortable with that of course. We can always go somewhere public and just hang out like that.” He offered, clearly not wanting to make you do anything you didn’t want to do.

“No, that sounds great.” You assured him, seeing his eyes scrunch as he smiled again, nodding happily. “Okay cool, let me just-” He stepped forward, getting alarmingly close and leaning forward. It felt as if your heart had stopped beating and the world was moving in slow motion around you. But before you could let your mind wander too far, Jisung placed the helmet he had been holding on your head, knocking you right out of your trance. “-ouch…” You mumbled, Jisung leaning back just slightly to look you in the eyes.

“Sorry, it’s kind of heavy, but it’ll keep your head intact.” He joked quietly, making sure everything was tight, locked and secure before stepping back and flipping the shield to cover your face, smirking slightly as he smacked the top of the helmet. “You good in there?”

Rolling your eyes, you flipped the shield back up to glare at him, smacking his arm as he laughed. “So you’re an ass in person too?” Jisung clicked his tongue before snapping his fingers and shooting finger guns at you. “You know it.” You were internally cringing, but before you could even think about teasing him for it, he was walking over to his bike and you had no choice but to follow, trailing behind him like a lost puppy.

You watched as he got on his bike, pulling his helmet on with ease and starting the engine, the loud sound making you flinch. If Jisung noticed this he didn’t comment on it, simply looking over at you and moving his head to the side, signaling for you to get on the bike. You had never rode one before, so this was a nerve wracking situation. What happened if you fell off? What if you got into an accident? Your mom had always told you just how dangerous motorcycles were. What if this was a bad idea?

Suddenly, Jisung was off of his bike and his hands were on your waist, lifting you up and onto the motorcycle, flipping your face shield back down before getting back on himself. He kicked the stand up so he was now balancing the bike himself. Looking back at you, he raised his voice so you could hear him over the sound of the motor. “I’d suggest you put your arms around me unless you wanna fall off.” Mean, but you knew he was just trying to tease you. You didn’t waste any time to wrap your arms securely around his waist, your head resting against his back. You swear you could feel him laugh as he flipped his face shield down, but you didn’t have any time to really think about it before he was off, riding down the streets of Incheon with you clinging to him for dear life.

The ride to his apartment felt like forever when in reality it only took a few minutes. Your grip on him hadn’t loosened in the slightest, far too afraid of falling from the motorcycle. Even after he had parked and turned off the engine, you were still sticking to him, an audible laugh leaving his lips as he took off his helmet. “You plan on letting go anytime soon?” He teased, you only shaking your head in response. He snickered before carefully prying your hands off of his waist, getting off of the bike and helping you off before taking your helmet and tilting his head slightly, noting your expression. “Was it that bad? I tried to be a little less reckless than normal.” His tone was joking, but you could tell he was genuinely concerned he had scared you.

“N-No it wasn’t that bad, just not used to it.” You assured him, stumbling slightly as you tried to take a step forward, his arms quickly reaching forward and holding you so you didn’t fall. “Jeez, we’re lucky you don’t have very far to walk.” Again with the teasing. You weren’t surprised by it though, Jisung had always been like that when you two talked. You scoffed, hanging on to his arm as you steadied yourself. “Shut up Ji. Where’s your place?” You questioned, Jisung smirking before leading you towards the building, letting you hang on to his arm without much thought. He didn’t seem bothered by it in the slightest despite having told you that physical contact made him nervous. You wondered what had changed. Carefully leading you inside and through the building, the both of you made it to his apartment, you finally letting go of him as he pulled out his keys and unlocked the door. If his roommate was home you weren’t sure why the door was locked, but you didn’t bother to question it as the door opened and Jisung motioned inside. “Ladies first.”

“When have you ever considered me a lady?” You joked, stepping into the apartment and looking around curiously, Jisung scoffing at your question as he shut the door behind the both of you. “Since always. You are one are you not?”

Shrugging, you didn’t answer his question, tugging at the straps on your bag as you walked further into the apartment. For some reason the decor didn’t really feel like it matched Jisung. After all, he had this whole e-boy/rocker look going on and you had fully expected the apartment to be messy and unorganized, but it was the complete opposite. It was clean, spotless even, and it made you wonder if he had cleaned simply because he knew you were coming to visit. Turning to look over your shoulder, Jisung smiled sheepishly, fiddling with a zipper on his leather jacket. “My roommate helped clean everything up. It doesn’t usually look like this.” He admitted, making you laugh and shake your head. “I figured as much.”

As if on cue, another male stepped out of a room in the hall, locking eyes with you and giving you a questioning look before noticing Jisung standing beside you, putting two and two together as a smile started to form on his face. “Oh, you must be Y/n-ssi.” He stated matter-of-factly, making his way down the hall towards the both of you and holding out his hand to you in greeting. You gingerly grasped his hand, smiling softly as he began to introduce himself while shaking your hand. “I’m Yang Jeongin, 01’ liner.”

Your eyes lit up at the realization that you were both the same age, “L/n Y/n, also 01’ liner.” You stated, watching as he relaxed a little realizing that he no longer needed to be so formal with you. The two of you let go of each other's hands, “Ah, well it’s nice to meet you Y/n. Jisung hyung has talked about you a lot.”

Raising an eyebrow, you glanced back at Jisung who smiled and shrugged as if to say he didn’t know what Jeongin was referring to. “I hope it was only good things.” You returned your attention to the male in front of you, watching as he chuckled and quickly nodded his head in agreement with your words. “Only good things. He’s always going on about how much he enjoys your company and how pr-”

“Yang Jeongin- '' Jisung cut him off suddenly, the younger male’s eyes widening before a mischievous smile crossed his face. The two males exchanged various expressions, you watching in confusion as they had a silent conversation with their faces. After a few moments, you cleared your throat, feeling awkward just standing between the two as they acted as if you weren’t right there. Snapping out of it, Jisung looked at you, quickly putting on a smile as he placed a hand on the small of your back, leading you towards the hall. “How about we hang out in my room, hm?”

“Wha- but I thought-” You trailed off, Jeongin following behind the two of you. “Seriously Jisung hyung? I thought we were all gonna hang out-” He mumbled, Jisung shaking his head as he practically pushed you into his room, stepping inside and shutting the door on Jeongin before the younger could hold it open. Locking it, Jisung turned to you, noticing your quizzical expression. He chuckled nervously, placing his hands in his pockets as he averted his gaze. “I just thought it might be better to hang out alone for a little while.” He stated, though his words sounded off, like he was only partly telling the truth.

You decided not to pry however, glancing at the door behind him. “What about Jeongin? He seemed upset.” Jisung shook his head, moving away from the door and closer to you. “He’ll be fine. He’s only being like that since we don’t normally have people over. After we hang out on our own for a while and go back out there he’ll forget about it.” He sounded so sure of himself that you had no reason not to believe him, nodding slowly as Jisung bit down on his bottom lip, seemingly debating something in his head.

“What’s up Ji?” You questioned, said male letting out a breathy laugh, not at all surprised that you had noticed something was going on in his head. “I uh- well I didn’t want to make it weird or anything but… I was wondering if I could give you a hug?” He sounded like he was nervous, and that suspicion was confirmed when you noticed how he was refusing to look at you, shifting back and forth on his feet. You found this cute, giggling quietly as you looked him over. You had just been practically glued to him while he was taking you back to his place on his motorcycle and now he was all shy and nervous because he wanted a hug?

Wordlessly, you crossed the remaining space between the two of you, wrapping your arms around his waist and looking up at him. Jisung tensed up slightly at your touch, remaining still for a moment before wrapping his arms around you, holding you close and resting his head on top of yours. “I made that weird didn’t I?” Snickering, you nodded, still keeping your hold on him but closing your eyes. “Just a little, but it’s fine. You make everything weird.”

An offended sound left his lips, earning a laugh from you as he pouted. “I do not make everything weird.” He mumbled, watching as you slowly pulled away and sat down on his bed, glancing around the room to actually take everything in. The decor in his room definitely made more sense, anime posters and figurines, manga, various instruments, LED lights adorning the ceiling, his gaming setup. It was all very Han Jisung. A light blush adorned Jisung’s cheeks as he cleared his throat and sat down beside you, nibbling the inside of his cheek. “Sailor Moon huh?” You teased, watching as his ears turned red with embarrassment.

“You’re gonna make me take all of this down right now I swear.” He huffed, eyeing you as you took your bag off and set it on the floor before falling back onto his bed, looking up at the ceiling and kicking your feet. “I think it’s cute. I like Sailor Moon too, she’s pretty.” You admitted, meeting his gaze to show that you were being honest.

“I mean, what’s not to like about her? She’s funny, sweet, caring, cute- plus she has a cute cat and super powers. Not only that but her outfit when she transforms is adorable. I’d wear that if I could.” You trailed off, watching as Jisung’s expression changed. You couldn’t read what it was, but there was a slight sparkle in his eyes as you spoke about his favorite anime character. “What are you thinking about?” You pondered, Jisung smiling as he snapped out of his trance, laying down beside you. “I just didn’t expect you to like Sailor Moon too. We never talked about that before so I didn’t even know you liked anime.” You considered his words before realizing that he was right, nodding slowly.

“I do. I watch it every now and then when I have time, but I grew up watching it. Dragon Ball Z, Sailor Moon, Naruto, the essentials.” The two of you talked about anime and your other interests besides gaming for a while, simply laying on Jisung’s bed as you both relaxed and spent time together, getting to know each other a little more. It was almost comical how easily you two got comfortable with each other despite having never met in person up until then. You both stayed there for about an hour before Jisung had brought up his music, asking you if you wanted to hear what he had been working on. Of course you obliged, sitting up as he grabbed his guitar and made his way back over, playing a few songs for you after getting over his initial nervousness to sing in front of you.

You praised him for how good he was at singing and playing the guitar, also mentioning just how thoughtful and beautiful his lyrics were. He turned bright red at your compliments, shaking his head as he put his guitar back, holding out his hand to you as he came back over, asking if you wanted to go out into the living room and watch some TV and order some food. Of course you agreed and took his hand, getting up and following him out of his room and into the living room where Jeongin was sitting, his eyes moving from the TV to the both of you. “Oh, are you finally gonna come out here and hang out?” You could tell he was upset, but not enough to cause his voice to sound angry.

Jisung simply nodded at his roommate, going over to the couch and scooting him over before sitting down himself and patting the empty spot beside him for you to sit. You made your way over to the two males, slowly sitting down as you looked at what Jeongin had been watching, some YouTuber playing a game you had never seen before. Looked like both of the boys were gamers, which made sense. Jisung took the remote from Jeongin, switching it from YouTube to Netflix and clicking his account before handing you the remote. “You can watch whatever you want.” He told you, pulling out his phone so he could order food, Jeongin looking over his shoulder as he mumbled to the older male what he felt like eating. You laughed quietly, shaking your head before returning your focus to the TV.

You picked out an animated movie you hadn’t seen in a while, reaching forward and setting the  TV remote down on the small table situated in front of the couch. Leaning back you noticed Jisung’s eyes glued to the TV, confused at his expression until Jeongin also looked up. “Ah, Jisung hyung watches this all the time. I think I’ve seen it at least twenty times.” He mumbled, your eyes widening as you leaned forward to grab the remote. “I can pick something else if you both have already seen this-” Jisung quickly reached forward, shaking his head as he took the remote and set it back down.

“No, it’s fine. If you want to watch it, we can watch it.” There was something different about his voice, but you couldn’t quite place what. Nodding, you went back to your previous sitting position, Jisung mumbling something you didn’t catch before handing you his phone. “What do you feel like eating?”

The three of you debated over what to eat for a while, mainly because you would suggest something, they would agree and you would go right back to asking them if they were really okay with what you had picked and then you were back to square one. Eventually you actually managed to decide on something, Jisung ordering for all three of you and then focusing on the movie. The three of you sat in silence, enjoying each other’s company. It was about halfway through the movie that the food arrived, Jeongin getting up before Jisung could, opening the door and thanking the delivery person before bringing the food in and shutting the door behind him. He quickly sorted out the food in the kitchen before bringing it all over, handing both you and Jisung yours before sitting down and starting to eat his own, not even bothering to wait or thank Jisung.

Giggling, you quietly thanked Jisung who shrugged it off, saying it wasn’t a big deal as he began to eat. The rest of the night was spent pretty much the same, the three of you watching various movies before Jeongin decided to retire for the night, saying goodnight to both you and Jisung before shutting himself in his room, leaving you and Jisung alone in the living room. Once the movie you were watching was over, Jisung cleared his throat, causing you to look over at him, feeling a little tired, but not trying to show it. Of course, it seemed like Jisung knew even with you trying to hide it, a soft smile on his lips as he slowly stood up. “You can sleep in my bed. I’ll take the couch.” Always the gentleman.

You opened your mouth to argue but he shook his head before you could, “I’m not letting you take the couch. So either you take the bed, or I end up on the floor. If you sleep on the couch I’m sleeping on the floor, so either way I’m not sleeping in my bed. Would you rather me sleep on the couch or the floor?” He didn’t give you much choice, but you knew he wasn’t bluffing. Groaning, you lifted yourself off the couch, ignoring his cheeky laugh as he led you back to his room, turning on the light and showing you where everything was in case you needed it. He then reminded you that he’d be on the couch in the event you needed him for anything, saying goodnight and giving you another hug before leaving his room and shutting the door to give you some privacy.

Everything felt like a daydream up until that point, a sigh leaving your lips now that you were alone in his bedroom. You locked the door so you could change into your nightclothes. After you had done so, you moved to unlock the door, your attention grabbed by an out of place manga just after. You walked over, picking it up and moving to put it back in its place, only for pages to fall out of it, your eyes widening when you thought you had accidentally ruined something of his, only to notice when going to pick them up that they were song lyrics and different ideas for songs. You felt like you were invading his privacy, quickly trying to stuff the pages back into the manga before your eyes fell upon your name. Furrowing your eyebrows, you couldn’t help but look over the page, eyes widening.

There was a knock on the bedroom door and before you could react Jisung was already in the room. “Sorry I forgot that I need to get my clothes-” He stopped once he caught sight of you, clearly in shock with how he simply stood there. You smiled sheepishly, placing the paper you held back into the manga and closing it. “I didn’t mean to look through it. I was going to put it up because I saw that it wasn’t where it was supposed to be and then a bunch of pages fell out.” You tried to explain, Jisung finally moved to take the manga from you, setting it back down on his desk before looking you in the eyes.

“You read it didn’t you?” His voice was calm, but you could tell by how quickly his eyes were scanning your face that he was anxious to hear your answer. Nodding, you bit down on your bottom lip, unsure of what to say or do. Jisung sighed, taking a step back and running a hand through his bleached locks, “God- I didn’t want you to find that… I meant to tell you, like actually tell you. I wanted to send you that song once I had finished it.” He mumbled, his admission making your cheeks heat up a little. So you weren’t reading too much into everything.

Reaching forward, you pulled Jisung into a hug, clearly surprising him as he squeaked in surprise. “Wh-” Before he could even finish his question, you interjected. “I like you too Ji.” It was simple, it was to the point, it was the truth.  You felt Jisung tense in your grip before relaxing completely only seconds later, pulling you closer to him as he let out a breathy chuckle. “So, I don’t need to send you that song?” He questioned, looking down at you as you smiled. “I’d still love to hear it.” Smiling, Jisung leaned down, pressing a kiss to your forehead. “I think I’ll finally be able to finish it now.”

That was how everything had started, and that was what got you here. Laying in your shared bed staring up at the ceiling as the subtle sound of clicking and the drag of a computer mouse filled the room. You weren’t sure how long you had been laying here, but it had been a while. Slowly, you turned your body to the side, seeing your boyfriend's back turned towards you, facing his monitors, headphones over his ears. You weren’t sure when was the last time the two of you had actually spent any time together. In between work and his constant gaming addiction, it seemed you were always left to occupy yourself. When you got back from your job, he was usually asleep, so you’d climb into bed with him and sleep yourself. Almost every time when you would get up, he’d either be gone or sitting at his desk and playing video games. That was when your dislike for video games began.

Today was no different it seemed, a quiet sigh leaving your lips as you reached over to your nightstand, picking up your phone and checking the time. It was late. Though you could have guessed that by how dark the room was, the LEDs on the ceiling the only thing illuminating the room. They had been Jisung’s idea, but you hadn’t objected since you figured it would be both of your living space and he ought to have some things of his own as well. You felt a sinking in your chest as you came to the realization that your fear was more than likely true. You had gone off to work that morning hoping, praying that Jisung would at least remember your birthday. But it seemed he hadn’t, far too engrossed in his video games to even notice you were awake.

Gulping, you pulled yourself off of the mattress, deciding you weren’t going to make a big scene. You left the bedroom in silence, going out to the small living room of the apartment and sitting yourself down on the couch in front of the TV. You could feel tears pricking at your eyes, but you wouldn’t let them fall. Reaching forward, you turned on the TV, figuring a distraction would help keep all of your emotions at bay. That or it would drown out the sound of you crying once you finally broke, knowing it was only a matter of time before that actually became reality. You didn’t even bother to actually pay attention to what you had put on the screen, merely turning up the volume as you pulled your knees up to your chest, lowering your head so you could no longer see.

You weren’t sure where things had gone wrong. Really, nothing had. You and Jisung had been very happy from the beginning, and you had no issues up until you both actually decided to move in together. You thought that living together would have actually made it easier on the both of you, not having to manage your work/life load as much. Trying to date while living two hours away from each other and having jobs on top of that made things harder, but now that you two were actually living in the same apartment, it felt like you actually spent less time with each other. Odd how that worked.

In the moment, you were tempted to just grab your things and leave, overwhelmed with the amount of emotions you were feeling. Anger, sadness, betrayal, loneliness… it was all just piling on. It probably didn’t help that you never expressed how you were feeling, pretending everything was just fine when you knew it wasn’t. You were just never one to create a problem, opting to just suffer than make anyone else uncomfortable or feel bad. The sound of someone knocking on the door had forced any tears that were about to fall back into your tear ducts. You knew Jisung couldn’t hear with his headphones on, so you begrudgingly picked yourself off of the sofa, sulking over to the door and prying it open, looking out with a dead expression up until your eyes met ones you hadn’t seen in months.

“Chan?” You breathed, unable to believe he was actually standing in front of your apartment. When you had moved in with Jisung, you had moved to Incheon in order to not make it hard on him. This had caused you to leave your family and friends behind, including your friend since middle school, Bang Chan. He always had impeccable timing. Beaming, Chan held out a box that held a cake in it, a present in his other hand as he tilted his head sweetly, his curls falling just slightly. “Happy birthday Y/n! Surprised you didn’t I?” He chuckled slightly, watching as you took a step back, a hand over your mouth as you tried to contain yourself.

It seemed to be just enough to send you over the edge however, tears spilling from your eyes before you could stop them, a broken sob leaving your lips as Chan’s happy expression quickly changed to one of concern. “Oh God-'' He didn’t even ask to be let in despite having never visited yours and Jisung’s apartment before, stepping in, he shut the door with his foot. It took him only seconds to find a place to set down the cake and present he held, bending down slightly as he held your arms and tried to look you in the eyes, seemingly searching them for an answer. “Y/n what’s wrong?” He had known you for so long, there was no getting out of this one.

He knew that you never cried in front of anyone unless something was really wrong. That or you had been holding in your emotions for too long. This time it happened to be both. You weren’t able to blame it on being happy to see him, he’d be able to tell you were lying immediately. God why had he decided to visit you now of all times? Sniffling, you tried your best to stop crying, shakily wiping away your tears before Chan wiped the remainder away with his thumb, arching an eyebrow as he awaited an answer.

“I-I just… God…” You fumbled over your words, not exactly sure how to explain what was going through your head to Chan. Of course, it seemed he could sense this, taking your wrist and leading you over to the couch you had previously been curled up on, sitting you both down and smiling softly. “You can take your time Y/n. I’m not gonna rush you. Just tell me what’s going on and why you’re so upset.” He always had to be so understanding and kind. You just weren’t sure if he would be as understanding and kind to your boyfriend after you told him what was bothering you. He had always been overprotective and had even tried to talk you out of moving in with Jisung in the first place.

“O-Okay well, it’s really not that big of a deal. It’s just Jisung and I haven’t been spending much time together lately. I’m just lonely and upset.” You mumbled, watching Chan’s jaw harden at the mention of Jisung, his eyes narrowing and growing dark as he tried to put the pieces together. There were things you weren’t telling him and he knew it. “Is he busy with work?” He questioned, your heart clenching. Chan really was just going to get to the root of the issue wasn’t he?

“He is sometimes…” You trailed off, nibbling on your bottom lip as you avoided Chan’s gaze. You hated it when he got angry. It was rare for him to do so, but when he did, he was terrifying. “What about other times?” His voice was cool and even, showing no signs of anger, but you knew better. You knew he was probably itching to get his hands on Jisung and in your mind you were wondering whether letting him in was a good idea.

“Well… when he gets back from work he usually sleeps or plays his games. When I get back from work he’s either at his job, sleeping or gaming. I mean, gaming is his form of stress relief so… I get it. It used to be mine so I can’t really be upset with him for that. I can’t be mad at him for sleeping or going to work either. It’s not that big of a deal.” You were making excuses for him and you knew it. But you didn’t want Chan to lose his cool. The thought was more scary than spending your birthday alone. “So he’s choosing video games over you.” Chan stated bluntly, anger creeping into his voice.

Slowly, you decided to look at him, only to see he wasn’t even looking at you now, but rather around the apartment, one of his fists clenched as he tapped his foot against the hardwood floor. You didn’t respond to his statement, so it was only a few moments before he looked you in the eyes, giving you a look that told you to correct him if he was wrong. You searched your mind for something, anything, but you came up with nothing, gulping as you slowly lowered your head, sighing shakily. “I-I guess.” You whispered, feeling your body grow cold as you admitted it to yourself aloud. Chan cleared his throat, nodding as he looked around the apartment once again. “Is he at work right now?” The silence that filled the apartment was his only indication of that, but when you looked around, unsure, he could tell that he was wrong in his assumption.

“He’s here right now isn’t he?” He scoffed, the anger he had been holding back making a swift appearance as he got to his feet. Eyes widening, you quickly grabbed onto your friend's arm, knowing he could easily overpower you and do what he wanted, but he wouldn’t. He may know you like the back of his hand, but you knew him just as well. “Chan please. Don’t make this a big thing. I’m already upset and things getting out of hand is only going to make it worse.”

“Y/n-” Chan started, looking back at you, anger fading as he looked into your eyes, knowing that ultimately he was going to do whatever it was you asked of him. “Can I just talk to him? You and I both know that you don’t deserve to be treated like this.” He bargained, only causing you to shake your head in disagreement. “You know for a fact that you won’t be able to hold yourself back if you ‘just talk to him’.” You gave him a knowing look and he simply huffed, averting his gaze. He knew you were right.

“You brought cake right? How about we just have that and hang out? That’d make me feel better.” Chan’s tension had eased slightly at your request, taking a deep breath as he nodded, deciding he was simply going to appease you since it was your birthday after all. Getting off of the couch, Chan grabbed the cake and present he had set down in a hurry, going into the kitchen and setting it down once again. You followed shortly after him, looking over as he opened the box, a soft smile gracing your lips. He had remembered your favorite color. “It’s very pretty.” You praised. Chan clicked his tongue as he opened a pack of candles, starting to place them on the top of the cake. “Of course it is, I picked it out.” He teased, causing you to roll your eyes and smack his arm. “God you’re annoying.”

Snickering he shrugged his shoulders, pulling a lighter out of his pocket and carefully lighting the candles. “Yet you still miss me. Crazy how that works.” Looks like you two were right back to how you had always been. He wasn’t wrong though, you had really missed him. Being pulled away from everything you knew just for Jisung had been hard, but it had been something you were willing to do for your relationship. One you weren’t even sure was there anymore. Pulling you from your thoughts, Chan started singing. His voice had always been amazing. After he had finished, you blew out the candles, Chan grinning and ruffling your hair before pulling out the candles and starting to search the kitchen for something to cut the cake with. “So, what did you wish for?”

He always asked that question. Every single birthday of yours without fail. You always responded with the same thing. “You know I can’t tell you that. If I tell you it won’t come true.” Laughing, Chan shook his head, amazed that you still stuck by that. “You actually think that matters?” He questioned, earning a nod from you as you opened the drawer that held your kitchen utensils, pulling out a knife and handing it to Chan who thanked you before getting to work on cutting the cake. “Have any of your wishes come true that you haven’t told anyone about?” He pondered, the question making you think back on your previous birthday wishes.

“Mmm, there have been a few actually.” Chan gave you a questioning look, pausing as he did so. “Like what? Since they’ve already happened you should be able to tell me right?” You considered it before figuring that he was probably right, pulling out two plates and forks before sitting yourself down on one of the barstools that were placed along the island in the kitchen. “For my sixteenth birthday I wished for a skateboard and I ended up getting it that day.” You stated, Chan smirking as he continued to cut the cake, shaking his head.

“Maybe because you had been bugging your parents for it for a whole year. Only to never use it despite me telling you I’d teach you how to ride it.” He added in the last part just to chastise you, placing a piece of cake on a plate before handing it to you along with a fork. “I highly doubt that had anything to do with your wish.” You rolled your eyes as you took a bite of cake, humming quietly. He had remembered your favorite flavor of cake too. Of course he had.

“You don’t have to hate on me for believing in birthday wishes just because you don’t Chan. I get it, you’re too grown up to believe in something silly and childish like birthday wishes.” You could tell he got slightly irked by your words, scoffing as he got himself a piece of cake. “That’s not even it-”

“Then what is it?” You cut him off before he could finish, tilting your head slightly as you stared at him. Chan slowly took a bite of cake, looking you in the eyes, considering his next words carefully. “None of my birthday wishes ever came true. So I stopped believing in things like that. I think it’s endearing that you still do though.” He admitted, causing you to frown. “None of them? Not one?” You questioned, Chan seeming to think back on it as he stood there in silence, looking down at the cake. “Mm, I guess there was one that came true?” He sounded unsure, but you leaned forward in your seat, smiling as you waited for him to elaborate.

“I think it was my eighth birthday? The memory is kind of foggy, but I remember wishing for another sibling. It’s kind of dumb now that I think about it, but it did come true.” He shrugged, looking back up at you as you giggled while taking another bite of cake. “I’d say that’s a pretty big wish. The stars probably just figured that wish was enough for a while.” Chan rolled his eyes, snickering as he shook his head. “Yeah sure, whatever you say Y/n.”

The two of you enjoyed each other’s presence for a while, seeming to forget about the issue at hand which was exactly what you had been wanting. Not wanting to confront it or make a big deal out of anything. Chan was helping you ignore your problems and you were more than grateful, the male stating that he wanted to watch you open the present he had got you, so you both moved from the kitchen to the living room, the TV still playing whatever it was you had put on. Gingerly, Chan set the present on your lap, waiting patiently for you to open it.

You had always gotten nervous when it came to opening gifts. You were never a fan of surprises and presents were just wrapped surprises. Slowly, you pulled the tissue paper out of the bag, peeking inside. Your eyes widened once you realized what it was he had gotten you, gasping as you practically ripped it out of the bag, looking it over with wide eyes. “Oh my god- This is so expensive Chan. You really shouldn’t have.” You pried your eyes from the present to meet his gaze, seeing just how happy he was with your reaction to the gift. “I knew you’d like it. I’m sure you’ve been eyeing it for a while now. You always do that with the new lines.” He stated, making you nod in agreement.

“I actually had this in my cart for when I could afford it. It still scares me how well you know me. I never even told you about the new line.” Chan simply shrugged, acting as if it was no big deal. “What can I say, I’m just that good.” He chuckled, already leaning back as you reached forward to smack him.

For a few hours the two of you just sat and talked, not even realizing just how late it was getting. The two of you were making up for lost time, only able to talk over the phone or text, sometimes video call depending on just how busy the two of you were. Life as a producer was busy, that was also part of the reason you were so surprised he had shown up at your front door. It was the last thing you had been expecting. Just like you hadn’t been expecting Jisung to leave your bedroom. It seemed he and Chan had noticed each other’s presence before you had even noticed Jisung, standing silently in the hallway as he looked between the two of you. You immediately turned your gaze to Chan, seeing the look that was on his face before had returned. That wasn’t good.

“Who is that-?” Jisung finally spoke, looking at you with confusion and slight fear. It was then you remembered that Jisung and Chan had never officially met, your eyes widening as you motioned over to your childhood friend. “Chan. Bang Chan. I’ve told you about him, remember? My best friend since middle school.” You explained, Jisung’s expression growing more relaxed as he slowly nodded, remembering discussing him before. “Ah, yeah. We’ve never met before.” Jisung smiled, making his way over to the couch and holding out his hand.

Chan stared at it for a moment before deciding not to be a total ass. He took his hand and shook it, gripping it tightly before paying Jisung a sickeningly sweet smile. “No we haven’t. I’m sorry for not telling you before coming over but I thought I’d surprise Y/n for her birthday.” There it was. You had been expecting him to say something, but you hadn’t been expecting him to say it right out of the gate like that. Confusion was written on Jisung’s face for a moment before his eyes widened in realization, his gaze quickly flitting to yours. “O-Oh…” It seemed he finally understood the tension coming from Chan.

Slowly you lowered your gaze, fiddling with the present Chan had gotten you. Jisung took a moment to look at it before looking to the kitchen, seeing the cake sitting on the counter. “Y/n… I’m… I-I didn’t realize…” He stammered, unsure of what to say or do. After all, there wasn’t much he could do now. “It’s fine.” You mumbled out, forcing a smile as you looked up at him, hating to see just how upset and guilty he looked. Chan on the other hand, wasn’t having it.

“Look, I know it’s our first time meeting and Y/n told me not to make a scene, so I won’t. However, it’s not fine. You should know Y/n well enough to know that she doesn’t like to voice what’s upsetting her. You may be busy with work, or stressed, or whatever, but you ignoring her for your video games is something that shouldn’t be happening. Forgetting her birthday? Don’t you think that’s a little much? Do you see the problem? Y/n shouldn’t have to beg you for attention. You should be paying attention to your girlfriend regardless of what your work life is like and if you can’t handle that, you shouldn’t be stringing her along. She doesn’t deserve that and you know it.” His words were harsh and to the point, but he got across what he wanted to. Jisung gulped, biting on his lower lip as he rubbed the back of his neck.

“You’re right.” Jisung mumbled, hanging his head. “I’ve gotten so absorbed in gaming because of stress from work, but that’s not an excuse. I should have been paying more attention to Y/n, so much more attention. I-I honestly can’t believe I forgot her birthday. I didn’t even realize just how bad I was getting… I just…” He sighed, stopping himself as he turned from Chan to look at you, taking a few steps closer before bending down slightly to look you in the eyes. “I’m so sorry Y/n. Really I am. I don’t have any excuses. How I’ve been treating you is wrong and I realize that. I promise I’ll change.” He spoke softly, searching your eyes as he apologized.

You could tell he was being genuine, seeing tears pricking at his eyes as he spoke to you. “You’d better or I’ll come right back here and take her home with me.” Chan muttered, causing you to roll your eyes at him. “Chan-” You chided, earning a sigh from him as he stood up, placing his hands in the air as a sign of defeat as he made his way into the kitchen. “Sorry, I’ll give you guys a minute.” It was clear he didn’t want to, but he would do it for you.

Sighing quietly once Chan had left the room, you looked to Jisung and patted the part of the couch Chan had just been sitting on, waiting for Jisung to take his place before sitting crisscrossed and facing him. “Ji… I’m not gonna lie and say I’m not upset. I am. I’m really upset. I had honestly thought that you would pull through and remember my birthday but you didn’t. It honestly felt like a stab to the heart. However, I’m also not going to say you’re completely at fault since I haven’t been honest and voiced how I was feeling to you. Keeping quiet and just letting things get worse was my own doing and I’m sorry I didn’t communicate with you.” You mumbled, Jisung furrowing his eyebrows and shaking his head as he reached forward, taking hold of both of your hands. “Hey, no. You’re not taking the blame for this. You shouldn’t be apologizing to me when you haven’t done anything wrong. You never once forgot anything important to me and I forgot your birthday. That’s huge and I’m gonna be apologizing for it forever. I should have realized what I was doing to you. That was my fault not yours, okay?”

You frowned, getting ready to disagree. “I’m not budging on this one. You have no reason to be apologizing to me. You know I’m right.” You didn’t, but you weren’t going to argue with him. Once Jisung saw you were done trying to blame yourself, he sighed, leaning forward and pressing a kiss to your forehead, the memory of the day you had first met in person coming back to you. “I’m really really sorry and I’m gonna make it up to you somehow, I promise.” You hummed, closing your eyes as Jisung pulled you into his chest. This was more contact than you had with him over the past few months.

“You’re making a lot of promises tonight Han Jisung.” You mumbled, wrapping your arms around him and looking up as he nodded in agreement. “I know, but I plan to keep them. I’m going to change and I’m going to make it up to you.” Smiling faintly, you hummed again, not wanting to say anything else as you rested against your boyfriend's chest, closing your eyes as you allowed yourself to relish in his presence. You hadn’t fully forgiven him, you were sure he knew that as well, but you were just glad the biggest thing was out of the way and you wouldn’t have to tiptoe around the issue anymore. The rest of it would be him regaining your trust and fulfilling his promises. “Happy birthday baby.” A quiet mumble left Jisung’s lips as he kissed the top of your head, earning a smile from you.

“Technically her birthday has already passed. It’s nearly two in the morning.” Chan suddenly cut in, causing both you and Jisung to turn and look at him, you with a glare and Jisung with a questioning gaze. “Sorry, I couldn’t help myself. I see you two have made up for the most part so uh, seeing as I traveled two hours to get here, you both mind if I crash on the couch?” You opened your mouth to speak, but Jisung beat you to it. “Sure, it actually pulls out into a bed since my old roommate comes over sometimes and crashes. I can set it up for you.” His sudden agreement surprised you, but you decided not to question it, Chan nodding as he motioned towards the door.

“Cool. My stuff’s in my car so I’ll be back.” He then left without another word, Jisung watching him go before looking back at you. “Am I sleeping on the floor then?” He questioned, causing you to roll your eyes. “Ji, when have I ever made you sleep on the couch or anything like that?”

He smiled faintly, shrugging his shoulders as he lifted himself off the couch before helping you up. “Well technically the first day we met.” Shaking your head you went to the kitchen, putting the cake and everything else away as Jisung moved things around in the living room before pulling the couch out into a bed. “You were the one that didn’t let me sleep on the couch. I was going to, but you forced me to sleep on your bed.” As Jisung was fixing the pillows, Chan walked back into the apartment, this time locking the door behind him. He set his things down by the couch, giving Jisung a sideways look when their eyes met. “What-?” Jisung trailed off, looking down at the bed before looking back up at Chan.

“Blankets?” Jisung’s eyes widened. “Oh. Oh yeah right, sorry.” He swiftly turned and walked down the hall towards the small closet that held clean blankets and pillows they kept aside. From the kitchen, you gave Chan a look that told him to knock it off, the male deciding to act like he had no idea what you were looking at him like that for. Jisung returned with blankets in hand, setting them down on the bed. “There, is this enough?” He questioned, Chan looking them over for a moment before simply nodding. “Yeah, that’s fine.” No thank you, no ounce of appreciation in his voice.

Jisung cleared his throat, nodding slowly before turning around and making his way into the kitchen where you were cleaning up and telling you that he’d do it. It took a bit of convincing, but eventually he had kicked you out of the kitchen, finishing up by himself. You huffed as you went over to Chan who was fixing his bed for the night. “You know you don’t have to be such an ass to him. He apologized.” You mumbled, keeping your voice quiet so Jisung didn’t hear. Chan sighed, straightening out the blankets before grabbing his bag and setting it on the bed, looking through his things. “I’m still pissed at him. He’s lucky I didn’t beat him into the ground. The only reason I didn’t is because you told me not to.”

“And I appreciate that, but he is still my boyfriend and I would like for you two to get along. I don’t want to have to play mediator any time you two are around each other.” There was silence for a moment before Chan sighed, nodding in agreement. “Fine. I’ll tone it down.” Smiling, you gave him a small hug, “Thank you.” You peeped, him only groaning in acknowledgement.

“Where’s your bathroom so I can change?” You showed him to the bathroom before starting back down the hall towards the kitchen, only to meet Jisung halfway, him holding your gift from Chan in his arm, folded nicely. He lifted it, smiling sheepishly. “He’s really good with gifts huh? I know you’ve been eyeing this thing since the new line came out.” You were genuinely surprised he had known that since he had been so preoccupied the last few months. Your eyebrows furrowed in confusion and he seemed to notice. “You leave your tabs open a lot on your laptop. When I wake up for work you usually leave it out, so I noticed that you were looking at it fairly often.” He explained, your eyes widening slightly. “Oh… I didn’t even realize.” You half-whispered, Jisung chuckling quietly.

“I’ll go put this up.” He smiled before brushing past you and into your room. Chan left the bathroom only moments after, changed into a t-shirt and sweatpants much like Jisung had been wearing as long as you’d been awake. “You should sleep. It’s late.” He spoke, causing you to nod before watching him make his way down the hall towards the living room. “Are you going to sleep?” You asked, knowing that he had issues sleeping, always had.

“I’m gonna try, but don’t let me keep you up. I’ll be fine out here, I’m a grown man you know.” He teased, earning a quiet laugh from you. “Okay, well thank you for everything tonight Chan. I really appreciate it.” Turning, he smiled, his signature dimple smile. “No need to thank me. I just expect you to travel two hours for my birthday now. I’ve set the bar high.”

Your playful banter went on for a while longer before you both said goodnight and you retired to your shared room with Jisung. Stepping inside you shut the door behind you, immediately noticing Jisung busy unplugging all of his gaming stuff. Your eyes widened, “Ji- This isn’t… I didn’t mean you had to-” You couldn’t even form words, Jisung turning to look back at you. “I know. I just think it would be best for me to stop completely for now. Get things back in order before I even think about introducing this back into my life. It got way out of hand and I don’t want that to happen again. So I’m prioritizing.”

“B-But that’s… don’t you think it’s too much?” Your voice was quiet, unsure as Jisung shook his head, unplugging one final cord and picking himself up off of the floor, dusting himself off. “No. Considering I’ve put you on the side burner for months now, I think it’s more than enough. Gaming will always be there, but I don’t want to lose you because of it.” Shifting uncomfortably, you picked at your fingers, unsure about the whole thing. Jisung walked over, pulling you into his arms and resting his head on top of yours. “I’m sure about this okay? So don’t worry about it.”

“Okay…” You trailed off, deciding that if it was Jisung’s decision, you didn’t have any reason to argue with him. “Okay. Well, how about we go to sleep, and since you’re off tomorrow, I can take tomorrow off, probably call in sick-- and we can go do something, just me and you? There’s a fashion show downtown I believe. You can wear your new present from Chan and you’ll be the best dressed person, along with the best looking. Then we can go out to eat, or before. Whatever you wanna do baby.” Smiling you relaxed in his grasp, “That sounds great Ji.”