#deck buying ban tag

[maceofpentacles]

Genuinely asking as a practicing pagan who only has 3 decks (2 tarot, 1 oracle) what about having so many speaks to you? How often are you doing readings/rituals and have you calculated a cost per use for your decks?

great questions tbh,, i find myself asking myself them all the time and honestly i know full well that the “addiction gene” or whatever runs in my family ((my moms an alcoholic and my dad is a chronic over spender)) and i have bpd so those 2 holding hands is not the double combo i want.

full disclosure i have ~30 decks and i have a habit of buying decks, using them for like a month or two, then deciding i don’t want them anymore which is annoying but i need to use that as a deterrent to keep myself from buying more. i’ve used it in the past to hold off from buying decks but sometimes i just slip up/have a moment/whatever you want to call it and i spend money i shouldn’t be spending

i do use all of my decks! that might be surprising tbh but i have my divination side blog @cilis-readings where i do free readings/pick a card readings/daily card pulls! so i rotate between decks very frequently for that,, but even for readings that are just for me i pull daily oracle cards from like 3-5 different decks depending on the day and i use my decks for spirit communication as well!

now the calculation question: i’ve been thinking about adding all of the decks i use up but i’m too embarrassed to do it and i feel like that’s going to trigger something in me where i say fuck it and get rid of everything out of shame😭😭 i can say that i used to be a kpop stan that would buy albums when i shouldn’t have so like i said about the addiction gene, i just traded kpop albums for tarot and oracle decks and called it a day kfkwbfkwndnw

on a serious note though, i am aware that i have a problem which is why i’m using the whole “deck buying ban” thread as a way to keep myself accountable and also maybe show other deck hoarders ((lovingly of course)) that we will survive without buying the newest, fanciest deck!

[foxilayde]

Taking a break from Thanksgiving thots to ask how you envision OTTR Leto meeting reader?? I haven’t given it much thought before this moment and now I’m desperate to hear your thoughts on the beginning of their relationship

I think about this one all the time.

You met Leto in Venice. Ocean Front Walk Venice, CA.

It gets hot in the Valley.

So hot that when you’re getting off your shift one blazing afternoon in downtown Los Angeles, the prospect of sitting in dead stop traffic on the 60 to Jurupa Valley, in your busted Honda Civic, only to go home to a stifling house with no AC…. Is anything but appealing.

So you do something unexpected. You are going to cool down, and you’re going to treat yourself while you do it. You’re going to pretend your life is ab-fab (absolutely fabulous) if only for one evening.

You take off from the parking lot of your job and instead of heading east, you go west. You stop at Neiman Marcus and you buy a dress. One that is too expensive to actually keep. So you wear it out and tuck the tags with every intention to return the next day. The dress looks amazing tho, it’ll be a shame to say farewell. It’s a classy little black cocktail thing that goes well with your plain black work shoes.

You get a little touch-up at the makeup counter to refresh your lipstick and spray on some Diptyque, and you head back to your car. You google, “open houses ocean view near me” and you take off to the coast.

You park your car a few blocks away from the listing. If the agent sees that heap, they probably won’t let you step inside. I mean this house is listed for nearly 15 million dollars. You shouldn’t even be walking down this block. You feel almost guilty for parking anywhere near this neighborhood.

There’s about 5 or six other people in the house looking around. The agent smiles at you and hands you a brochure when you enter. A glossy embossed thing listing the amenities as well as her contact information. You feel a little overdressed. The men are in tommy Bahama shirts and the women are in Lulu Lemon leggings.

You get a glass of free champagne and you help yourself to the charcuterie tray, looking around the house with appraising eyes, trying to nod your head at the bannisters and balconies like “hmm yes, maybe this will do.” Truthfully the house is beyond gorgeous. It’s ocean adjacent and has it’s own deck, pool, hot tub rooftop lounge, bedroom balcony… the kitchen is a thing of ART. The whole open concept and glass everything makes you feel so utterly out of place.

But its not like buying it was ever in the cards or the intention. the AC works, that’s all you care about, and you step outside the living room patio balcony, the ocean breeze hits your face in the most cooling fantastic sort of way. You audibly sigh and close your eyes breathing in the air. A voice from behind you startles you.

“Refreshing, isn’t it?” You nearly drop your glass, surprised by the man’s proximity.

God. He is handsome. Slick backed hair, mirrored aviators, a thousand watt smile, movie star jaw, and a dark navy suit cut, sewn, and ironed by Giorgio Armani himself. He looks like a magazine advert for Ray Bans. Now this, this is the type of man who buys a 15 million dollar home. Not you. The way he’s smiling at you now seems like… like joke or something. Like he’s laughing at you. He can smell the Honda Civic on you, can clock your shoes as Margiela knock-offs… heat creeps up your face despite the cooling breeze.

You look down at the floor and smile politely. “Excuse me” you mutter and go inside to investigate another part of the house.

You run into him again in the closet. Literally, you bump into him in the grand walk in. He’s probably going to need a closet this big for his collection of fine Italian sartorials. “Sorry” you mumble, ducking out. God he smells good.

You head back down to the kitchen to grab more cheese and crackers. Another bonus of open house crashing along with the free AC and free sparkling wine. Free food.

You’re midway through shoving another Brie covered cracker into your mouth when you see him again, in the kitchen, examining something attached to the marble countertop. His glasses are hanging from the center of his undone silk shirt. Those eyes.

You cover your cracker-full mouth and gulp. He’s so fucking cute furrowing his brow at the contraption and he spins the lever of it with one hand and smiles. He looks up at you.

“Pasta maker.” He points to it before shoving his hand back in his pocket. “You ever use one like this? It’s old school.”

You shake your head, still swallowing cracker.

“Wonder if it comes with the house…” He muses, looking up at the recessed lighting. He points up. “They all come with this now, you notice that?”

You shake your head again.

He tsks and continues, “Can’t stand it. I like something softer, y’know. These are harsh. You get up at 3 in the morning to get a glass of water and you want to kill yourself.”

You shrug and take a sip of sparkling wine. You wish you could talk to him but you can’t. You can feel yourself on the verge of saying something fucking stupid and it’s best to just not speak at all. So you look up at the recessed lighting with a curious face, trying to see the harshness, as he put it.

“Something hanging, like right over here,” he indicates over the island. “Something with yellow light. Soft, capiche?”

You smile at the word. It makes you more comfortable for some reason. “What? Like the Tiffany lampshades in the pool hall?” You offer with a smile.

He grins the most dazzling smile at you, stepping a foot closer and nodding. “Not exactly what I had in mind, but keep talking.”

“I was thinking more Venini myself.” You offer, taking another sip. He nods at you with appreciation.

“Tasteful. And soft. I’m listening.”

Your cheeks hurt from smiling at this point and you take a few steps to the living room gesturing near the sofa.

“An Arco floor lamp in the corner right here.” You submit to him, looking back over your shoulder with a wink. He chuckles.

“Took the words right out of my mouth.”

“And for the foyer,” you stride over to the front entrance, “A Sputnik. Right in the middle.”

“Gold or silver?” He asks.

“Bronze of course.” You reply with an affected air.

“How silly of me, dear.” He puts his hand over his heart.

The real estate agent makes a remark on what a gorgeous couple you are and how you just “fit the house”.

You start to protest but the man puts his arm around your shoulders and thanks the agent saying, “whatever baby wants, baby gets.” Winking at the woman and KISSING the side of your head. Which makes your face turn hot instantly.

He is… good at playing along, isn’t he. Well isn’t that what you were doing already? cosplaying as someone who could afford the house, and now you’re cosplaying a couple with this man whom you don’t even know the name of? Jesus—Just go with it, you suppose. Enjoy the pretending before you have to go back to the heat of Jurupa Valley…

“Now what about the dining room?” He asks into your ear in a deep voice, arm still over your shoulder.

“Hmmm,” You’re slowly running out of lamp styles, but you can’t let on. “How do you feel about Venetian glass, darling?”

“Inspired. Really,” he squints his eyes at the recessed lighting over the dining table. “We are in Venice after all.” He laughs with a toothy smile. “You have fine taste…” he leads.

You give him your name. He repeats it before telling you his. “Leto”

“I should have known you would have fine taste by the dress you’re wearing.” He compliments, picking up a glass of sparkling wine on the marble counter and gesturing your dress up and down.

“Thank you.” You blush. It’s not even yours. It’s on loan. You’re returning it tomorrow and you feel like a fraud.

Leto bites his bottom lip in contemplation then takes a step towards you, his hand making its way towards the nape of your neck with stern concentration on his lips. Oh fuck he’s about to kiss you. You make the split second decision to let him, closing your eyes gently, puckering your lips, holding your breath, and leaning in slightly.

But he doesn’t kiss you. You feel the slide of glossy paper down the back of your neck and the settling of it under your dress. He was tucking in the price tag of the dress for you. Jesus fucking Christ. You step back, embarrassed. He pats your arm. You cover your your brow, feeling your face get hot once again. So much for searching for that cool breeze by the coast!

Leto chuckles pleasantly. “Hey, hey, don’t be embarrassed. Happens to the best of us.”

God he’s probably giving you the benefit of the doubt. Probably thinks you just have so many new designer dresses that you innocently forgot to take the tag off… but if he had, would he have tucked it back in like he did? Or would he have just plucked it off?

“You like the house?” He asks, still jovial like the most embarrassing thing in the world didn’t just happen to you 5 seconds ago.

“It’s amazing. Perfect, really. The location, the style. It’s a dream. I have always wanted to live in Venice… the energy here is unbelievable.” You look around at the pristine grandiosity. The sun is close to setting now over the ocean and you sigh wistfully at the stunning view. “Whoever gets it is a lucky duck, I’ll tell you that.” You say, cheersing the sun itself before knocking back a sip of wine.

Leto watches you watch the lapping waves. “Let me buy it for you?”

You nearly choke on your drink. “Leto?! The house??”

Leto nearly doubles over in laughter, holding up his hand in apology, “No. No. I’m sorry, I— I meant the dress.”

Your face goes hot again. He knows! He knows you’re planning on returning it. Shit, he probably saw you pull up in your Civic!

“Please let me buy it for you. It suits you perfectly and it’d be a shame for anyone else to own it.” His eyes are so soft and kind and pretty and you almost want to cry.

“I… I can’t let you do that. It’s already on my card. I promise I won’t return it though, after that compliment, how could I?”

Leto nods. “At least let me take you out to dinner? Give you an excuse to show it off?”

Your heart nearly sinks. He’s probably the type to insist on picking you up. And he’s going to, what? Drive to the IE to do that?

“I live kind of far away…” you trail off, cringing slightly.

“I can send a car for you.”

“Leto, No, I—“

“Do you live father than a car ride? I can send a plane for you if you’d prefer?”

You laugh, but the returning stare isn’t a joking one. He’s fucking serious.

“I promise I won’t try anything funny. I just… want to pick your brain for more design ideas.” He grins and scratches the back of his neck, “It doesn’t have to be a date. Could be a business dinner? You would be my consultant…”

“Oh really? Consultant?” You cringe.

“Or it can be a date. A proper one. The best meal of your life. The Barber of Seville at the LA Operahouse, dancing, desert, a starlit walk on the beach outside my brand new house.” He grins. God what a fantastic smile.

“Sound like a 5 hour date.” You assess.

“What? You want longer? Because I will have a hot tub by the time this date rolls around and that can add up to 2 hours.”

“Two hours? Ambitious.”

“Agreed. But if done properly…” he winks and hands you a business card with his number on it. “Just think about it. I’ll be around.” He takes a deep breath, surveying the house and you, “I could stay and play house with you all day but I have a sudden urge to get ahold of my broker.” He takes your hand and kisses it.

“Nice meeting you Leto… Atreides.” You read off of his card.

“The pleasure was mine, gorgeous.”

Once he leaves, you have to go out to the balcony again for a breath of fresh air.

[sofarsofastmp3]

15 people, 15 questions!

thanks for the tag @couthbbg i can’t think of the last time i did one of these it was super fun :)

1. are you named after anyone?

no! i’m actually the only one of my siblings who doesn’t have a family connected first/middle name. and i do NOT have a complex about that

2. when was the last time you cried?

i get misty eyed once every 5-7 business hours as is my nature as a pisces, but i last properly cried on new year’s eve. it’s tradition!

3. do you have kids?

nope!

4. what sports do you play/have you played?

i played soccer for like three years as a kid and hated! it! like “cried putting my cleats on” hated soccer. but i played softball up until my freshman year of high school. i’ve been wanting to get back into hitting recently? i found a batting cage near me i just gotta go. i dabble in tennis casually but i’m not good at ALL i have a fifteen dollar racket and a dream

5. do you use sarcasm?

more than i’d like to. had a very sarcastic upbringing but it doesn’t sound good on me (inherently earnest and lame)

6. what’s the first thing you notice about people?

hair i think? especially “post” covid, it’s got to either be hair or eyes. even when someone isn’t wearing a mask it’s what i see first

7. what’s your eye color

brown, babeyy

8. scary movies or happy endings?

i like both! across all art, the two genres i consume most are weird/gory and Romantic Comedy. to have a real answer, i’ll say happy endings only because scary movies are my least favorite type of scary media. i am VERY easily startled so i’ve always hated jump scares and was actually really horror averse until college because of it

9. any talents?

i think i USED to be a solid writer, but in the last three years i’ve gotten really out of practice. i miss it. i’m really good and fast at shuffling cards! which is a fun random one. i’m also really good at guess that song? if you’re in a do or die “guess this song in ten seconds” situation i am your girl

10. where were you born?

south florida!

11. what are your hobbies?

i read a lot. i go through phases where i play a lot of solitaire. like with a physical deck of cards. lovee a puzzle! i want to try needlepoint!

12. do you have any pets?

“my dog” is technically my sisters dog but we’ve lived together for like 6 of his 9 years on this earth and i’ve cleaned poop crusties off him when he was sick. so i feel like he’s mine too. his name is kona, which people always mishear as coda (of brother bear fame) which i actually think is a better name

13. how tall are you?

much like your average nhler, i claim to be slightly taller than i am. i’m 5’6 but usually try to say i’m close to 5’7 because i’m one of the shortest people in my family. my twelve year old cousin just passed me. it’s so rough out here.

14. favorite subject in school?

english and latin! i’ve actually been wanting to get back into latin as a hobby which is maybe the most insufferable thing i could add to my list of already insufferable traits. but i miss it

15. dream job?

i want my own bookstore so bad it makes me look stupid. a store opened up like a half hour from me that’s kind of my ideal. new/used books/music AND they’ve got a cafe! i haven’t been yet but really want to go. i’m on a hard book buying ban until june with 3 pre-determined exceptions, one of those being my birthday in march (the other two being the pub dates for my most anticipated releases), so i think i may check it out as a treat to myself then!!

i think the bulk of people have done this, but if you haven’t i would love to hear what you have to say!!! :)

[three--rings]

I posted 4,302 times in 2022

That's 545 more posts than 2021!

519 posts created (12%)

3,783 posts reblogged (88%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@thebookewyrme

@summerstede

@chocolatepot

@havealittlebitofeverything

@chubsthehamster

I tagged 4,146 of my posts in 2022

Only 4% of my posts had no tags

#ofmd - 1,049 posts

#our flag means death - 907 posts

#blackbonnet - 441 posts

#kinnporsche - 222 posts

#the sandman - 136 posts

#dracula - 130 posts

#word of honor - 129 posts

#beyond evil - 127 posts

#shl - 125 posts

#山河令 - 116 posts

Longest Tag: 140 characters

#but literally i thought one of the ideas of a parliamentary system was the ability to vote parties out when they fuck your entire country up

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

For all those newly obsessed by Johnathan Harker’s Worst Business Trip Ever, I have to tell you about my favorite piece of published Dracula fanfic, The Dracula Tape by Fred Saberhagen. 

The premise is that Dracula accosts some folks in the 1970s in order to give His side of the story and it’s recorded on a tape deck. 

It’s hilarious though, because it’s basically like “Look, Johnathan Harker had No Idea what was going on.  He didn’t even speak the language, but somehow he claims to know what people were saying to him?  Cause he knows a few German words?”  And like “look I was just an innocent vampire trying to buy some property and he jumped to All Kinds of conclusions, really.”

And like it makes...a lot of good points about the novel, actually.  (Like it wasn’t ME that killed Lucy, maybe it was those experimental blood transfusions that didn’t pay any attention to BLOOD TYPE, VAN HELSING.)

So yeah, highly recommend it after you’ve read the original. 

2,090 notes - Posted May 6, 2022

#4

You know one thing that occurred to me watching Sandman so far is that someone out there is going to watch this show and be like “ugh why did they have to put so much gay shit in it, this is just typical of 21st century woke politics cluttering up everything” and not realizing this is just how the comic was in the 19fucking80s.

There’s a reason us baby queers attached so hard to it when we were in our teens, okay?

3,181 notes - Posted August 5, 2022

#3

Because I just read a few AO3 censorship related posts in a row...

I’m not sure antis and people who want to remove certain things from AO3, like any content with anyone under 18, understand WHY those of us who are Of A Certain Age, aka the people who created AO3, fight so hard on this stuff.

Like I don’t think they understand that we have LITERALLY SEEN THIS BEFORE.  People spoke up before about “child porn” aka anything involving any character under 18, or even stuff with aged up characters like an adult Harry Potter, but people assume Harry Potter is always 12 or whatever. 

And when those complaints were made ALL adult content was wiped.  FFN suddenly wouldn’t host ANY explicit fics.  No matter how healthy, how fluffy, how consensual and adult and whatever.  Just Nope.  Things were wiped from existence.  LJ randomly wiped entire blogs for being reported, banned users based on the say of Conservative Christians who shouted pedophile at the gays.

What happens when people try to remove objectionable material is that it ends with having no home for ANY explicit material.  It’s happened again on social media under SESTA and FOSTA in the name of preventing sex trafficking.  In the name of keeping smut out of the Apple store. 

Archive of Our Own was founded to be a home for content that wouldn’t be hosted elsewhere.  Where you could put something and not fear its deletion the first time someone happened upon it and reported you for whatever reason.  Where no one is going to judge whether your fic meets some subjective standard of purity, so long as it’s tagged appropriately and is legal content in the US (which all written fiction is.)

We watched so many communities destroyed, websites erased, content lost and then a new generation comes along and is like “hey let’s do this again” and we’re like NO WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU INSANE?

They’re never going to accept your gay porn about other people’s fictional characters just because you got rid of that “icky” stuff you don’t like.  You’ll still be a freak for it.  You cannot respectability politics your way out of your shame and embarrassment at being associated with something others see as dirty.  You’re going to have to grow up and just accept it.

5,135 notes - Posted August 14, 2022

#2

Okay, Gen Z, younger millennials, please tell me, are you aware of what the title Ms. means? And how to pronounce it?

Because I just listened to several young 20-somethings pronounce it Miss and talk about how it means you're not married. And...I'm feeling weird about it, considering that's the title I use.

(It means my marital status is none of your business. I use it because I'm married but I kept my maiden name so I'm not Mrs. anyone.)

18,990 notes - Posted March 11, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

You know, watching Goncharov entirely through the medium of tumblr posts shared by people I follow isn’t significantly different from how I experience a lot of media these days.

Goncharov, House of the Dragon, equally real to me.

21,706 notes - Posted November 22, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[kwaggysshardmindemporium]

I feel like explaining what went down with the latest MtG bans to my non-MtG mutuals. For some reason.

So, what is likely to be the single most controversial ban announcement in Magic the Gathering history just dropped. They banned four cards: Mana Crypt, Jeweled Lotus, Dockside Extortionist, and Nadu, Winged Wisdom.

All these bans are for the Commander format, which for our purposes if you don't play just means "the actual popular format where if some rando asks if you play Magic this is probably what they mean."

Let's start with the one that ISN'T controversial. Nadu, Winged Wisdom was a design mistake. It came out in a set aimed at one specific tournament format (Modern), immediately turned out to be both wildly overpowered, unfun to play against, and caused games to drag out into these slogs where the Nadu player is sitting there twiddling with their thumbs doing the same one or two game actions over and over again but targeting a different one of their guys. It was quickly banned in the very format that set was designed for, and that banning came with an article explaining that he was straight up a mistake and they hadn't tested the version of the card as it went to print before they had to push the set out the door. The ban yesterday was banning it in MtG's most popular format, Commander, where basically anyone who hadn't gone out of their to buy the card wanted it gone for the same reasons Modern wanted it gone. He was overpowered, but the actual problem is just if you're looking to play a one or two hour 4-player game, the Nadu player took an hour and a half of it to themself and didn't necessarily win because of it.

Now, into the controversial ones. Mana Crypt. Mana Crypt is a staple of the highest power decks in the Commander format. Many, many people have said if your deck has this card in it, it cannot possibly be below a 8 or 9/10 on the power scale. The cheapest printing of this card, before the bans, was roughly $200. It was one of the biggest gates you had to pass through to play "big kid" competitive Commander is getting one of these fuckers. This card has no in-game cost to play, and effectively reads "immediately accelerate your game plan two turns forward or more, but there's a 50/50 chance you take a trivial amount of damage every turn." It's pretty good. If you play any turn based game, you can probably guess how good skipping past the need for setting up for later more powerful turns can be. It's now banned, and has lost more than half of that price tag immediately and is still dropping. A lot of people's collections just had a chunk of their value go up in smoke. There's gonna be a LOT of people for whom this was the most valuable card they owned.

Jeweled Lotus. This card is very similar to Mana Crypt. A little more context about the Commander format: it's named that way because every deck has a "commander" that you can always play, and your gameplan is generally centered around that commander. Jeweled Lotus essentially says "play your commander specifically three turns early one time." Obviously, this is good for the same reason Mana Crypt above is good. Skipping the setup and getting straight to the action while your opponents are still getting into gear? Obviously good. It was about $100 before the ban, and is now about $40 and dropping.

And lastly, Dockside Extortionist. Dockside comes down sometime around turn 2 or 3 based on his cost to play, and basically says "when I come into play if your opponents are doing okay in their gameplan, put your gameplan ahead by about 4 turns. If your opponents are doing WELL, blast off on a jet of value so insane that you should probably quit Magic if you fumble this win." So it's both a punishment for your opponents' having dared play the game, AND good for the same reasons as the previous two cards. It was about $90 before the bans and I'll be honest I can't be bothered to check now.

These three cards were, collectively a few vertebrae in the spine of competitive Commander decklists, which probably tells you a lot of what to expect in that space: decks looking to win fast or die trying, willing to throw absolutely any card at you regardless of how much that card COSTS. There's plenty of other cards that do similar things to this, but these were three BIG deals in that space, which means that players now need to seek alternatives to fill the holes in these deck lists. High power Commander decks, as a whole, just got a LOT slower in how many turns they take to win the game on average.

And I couldn't be happier. To be clear, I own a copy of every single one of these cards besides Nadu. I have competitive Commander decks. My collection has lost value and I have had to try and figure out replacements in the decks running these cards. But forcing the foot slamming down on the gas pedal to lighten up a little bit sounds like something the game could actually use. I'm eager to see what the competitive meta looks like in the coming days. What do people gravitate towards? The meta isn't basically solved anymore. (I mean, it kind of is because the cards that actually WIN the game in the most efficient way didn't get banned, but hey they at least take longer to do it now.)

[triptuckers]

Two Homes (part 7/7) - Nikolai Lantsov

Request: no Pairing:  Nikolai Lantsov x reader Summary: after realising you can have two homes, you rush back to ravka Warnings: none Word count:  3.5K A/N: aaa the last part!! if you’ve read all of the parts I just want to say thank you so much for reading my work, it really means a lot to me! enjoy reading :) PREVIOUS PART  TAG LIST (two homes and/or all grishaverse fics): @godsofwriting@im-constantly-fangirling @ayushmitadutta @mrs-brekker15@dancingwith-sunflowers @thegirlwiththeimpala @parker-natasha @story-scribbler @romanoffstarkovs @daliareads @meiitanoia @itsnotquimey @sanktaesperanza @whymyparentscheckmyphone @aleksanderwh0r3 @ilovemarvelanne1 @marlenaisnthappy (if your name is in bold it means I couldn't tag you) add yourself to my tag lists here 

The trip back to Ravka seems to take longer than the trip to Ketterdam. You kept taking out the tiny watch you kept in your pocket, only to find out no more than a few minutes had gone by. Saints, couldn’t this boat go any faster?

While it is in the middle of the night, you can’t sleep. There’s too much energy in your body. 

On the ship, only a handful of crew members are awake, needed to make sure you were still heading toward Ravka. The rest of the people on the ship are below decks, probably fast asleep.

You’re pacing the ship, your mind running at an alarmingly speed. You think about the crows, and Ketterdam. And Nikolai and the palace. Would he be angry you left in such a hurry? Would he not accept your apology? Or worse; would he send you away? 

Technically, he could. He’s the king after all. You didn’t think he would do it, but if he wanted to, he could make sure you never set foot in the palace again. What if you traveled back to Os Alta, only to be banned from the city?

You’re so lost in thought, pacing around, you don’t see one of the crew members looking at you. Only when he speaks up, you stop pacing to look at him.

‘Hey! You!’

He’s sweating as he’s pulling on the ropes, to keep the sail in place and making sure you sail toward Os Kervo and don’t end up somewhere in Fjerda.

‘If all you’re gonna do is walk around, you might as well help. Get over here.’ he says.

Without even thinking about it, you walk over to where he’s standing. After all, he was right. You might as well help. And it might take your mind off of everything that’s going on. 

You roll up your sleeves, but keep your hood down to hide your face.

‘Grab this rope.’ he says, extending one of two ropes he’s holding to you. You firmly grip it with two hands. ‘And make sure to pull hard. Can you do that?’ he says. You nod and pull harder. 

Immediately, you feel the pull of the wind, and you plant your feet firmly on the wooden deck. For the rest of the night, you make sure the rope doesn't slip out of your hands. 

You get to talking with the other crew member who asked for your help and when you see the first rays of light and the city of Os Kervo in the distance, you realise you haven’t thought of Ketterdam or Os Alta for hours. 

The crew member tells you you can let go of the rope and once you do, you feel your muscles relax. You hand him back the rope and walk over to the edge of the ship, to look at the city slowly creeping closer.

Despite the early hour, it’s already busy on the docks. Fishermen are walking around, loading and unloading their ships. People are waiting for your ship to arrive, probably welcoming home loved ones. 

‘You ever been to Os Kervo?’

You look to your side and see the crew member. He looks young, about your age. 

‘Once.’ you truthfully say. ‘But only passing through.’

‘And today?’ he says.

‘Also passing through.’ you say.

‘Traveling to?’ he asks.

‘North.’ you say. You didn’t need him to know exactly where you’re going. 

‘Ah.’ he says. ‘What’s your name?’

‘Nina.’ you say, blurting out the first name that comes to mind.

He holds out his hand to you. ‘Nice to meet you, Nina. I hope we see each other again.’ he says.

You shake his hand. ‘Likewise.’ you say, but in your head you hope you never see him again. If he would recognise you, and the story would get out that the queen of Ravka illegally passed the True Sea, it would not be very pretty.

Thankfully, you’ve arrived at the docks and can get off the ship, quickly leaving the crew member behind. 

You walk around the city, trying to find some kind of transport so you could get to Os Alta. Normally you’d hitch a ride on a carriage, but it seems too risky. So instead, you head for the small cottages and farms on the edge of the city.

At the oldest, shabbiest looking farmhouse, you stop. You walk around the property, and spot a horse. 

You walk back to the front door and knock. It takes a while for someone to open. An old lady opens the door to you. 

You smile at her. ‘Good morning, ma’am, sorry to wake you at this hour, but I was wondering if your horse is for sale?’ you ask her. 

‘He’s not.’ she says.

‘That’s a shame.’ you say. ‘Your house looks very old. Couple of broken windows, wood rot. You could fix that with a generous amount of money, get someone from the city to help you out.’

‘I don’t have that kind of money.’ says the old lady, already moving to shut the door, but you plant your foot in front of it.

‘I can pay handsomely for the horse.’ you say. ‘I don’t think you ride anymore, do you?’

‘No, I don’t.’ she says.

You pull out a bag and shake it, making the coins inside clash against each other. 

‘You get this, I get the horse.’ you say. ‘It’s enough to fix your house.’

She eyes you suspiciously. ‘Why would you give me this much money?’ she says.

‘Because I’m in a hurry. And I need a horse.’ you say. 

‘Alright, then.’ she says. ‘Give me that money and you can fetch the horse.’

You hand the bag to her and thank her, heading around the farmhouse to the horse. He looks like a strong, healthy horse. You would be able to ride fast, cover a lot of distance. You thank the lady again, and mount the horse.

Without another look at Os Kervo, you start your journey to the palace. You ride for hours without stopping, constantly ushering your horse to go faster. Luckily, he’s a young one, and he can indeed go very fast. 

But eventually, you have to stop. Not only to give the horse some rest, but also because your stomach had been growling loudly for the past hour. And now that the sun is up, it’s getting hotter and hotter. You can feel it burning in your neck. 

You roll up your sleeves and take off your hood. When you’re riding in the fields, you could allow yourself to be a little less afraid someone might recognise you. And after all, you’re in Ravka now, not Ketterdam. You could only hope word of your absence hadn’t spread too fast throughout the country. 

You leave your horse just outside a small village. After finding a bakery, you buy some bread and water with the money you have left. The village is old and charming. Once you finish your bread, you walk back to your horse. You drink half of your water and give the other half to the horse. You then mount the horse again and take off. 

The sun is still hot in your neck but you don’t slow down. You needed to get to Os Alta as fast as you could. Sweat drips from your forehead to your neck. You still had a long way to go.

Hours later, you finally see the city of Os Alta appearing in the distance. It had since gotten colder, and it’s late in the evening. At the outskirts of the city, you leave your horse and find a place to wash up.

After washing off most of the sweat, you run your fingers through your hair and roll your sleeves down. You pull your hood further down and resume your way on foot. 

Most of Os Alta’s inhabitants had retired to pubs or their homes. A few people still walked the streets, on their way home or loudly singing songs, smelling strongly of alcohol. 

You feel relieved when you see the palace’s gates in the distance. As you approach the guard who is stationed in front of the closed gates, you lower your hood.

The cool air feels more than good after you’d kept your hood on for the biggest part of your journey. You smile as you walk up to the guard.

‘Hi.’ you say. 

He doesn’t say anything, he doesn’t even acknowledge you. This makes you frown.

‘Are you going to let me in?’ you say.

Now, he does look at you. It feels a bit weird to have him look you up and down and scan your face. 

‘No, ma’am.’ he eventually says.

‘No?’ you say. ‘What do you mean?’

‘I mean no, I am not going to let you in.’ he says.

‘Do you know who I am?’ you say, thinking he was new on the job and you hadn’t been introduced to him yet.

‘No, ma’am.’ he says.

‘I’m Y/N.’ you say. ‘Y/N Lantsov, I live at the palace.’

He raises a single eyebrow at your words. ‘And I’m the king.’ he says.

‘You don’t believe me?’ you say. ‘Go and get Nikolai or someone else to confirm it’s me.’

‘King Nikolai isn’t present at the palace at the moment.’ says the guard. ‘And how do I know you’ve not been tailored to look like the queen?’

Your mouth falls open in surprise. You knew Nikolai made sure the guard are well trained, but this seemed like he’d done too good a job at it. 

‘Saints, this is going tot take forever.’ you mumble to yourself.

‘Problem?’ says a familiar voice suddenly behind you.

You turn around and see Nikolai on his horse, accompanied by Zoya, Tamar and Tolya.

‘Nikolai.’ you say gratefully as you walk up to him. 

He smiles at you and holds out his hand for you to take, but Zoya speaks up.

‘Wait.’ she says. ‘How do we know you’re really Y/N? She left in a hurry. You could be anyone pretending to be her.’

You look at her. Zoya did have a point. You turn back to Nikolai, who is still smiling at you.

‘When was our first kiss?’ asks Nikolai.

You feel yourself blushing. Of course he would have to ask a personal question to confirm it really is you. But this felt a little too personal for your taste. 

‘Right before our wedding.’ you say softly. ‘Because I was nervous.’ 

When you look up at Nikolai he’s still smiling down at you. ‘It’s her.’ he confirms. You finally take his hand and mount his horse, sitting behind him and wrapping your arms around his waist.

The guard finally opens the gates, and you enter the palace grounds. Nikolai is silent as he heads to the stables. He doesn’t even say anything as the two of you get off his horse. 

Even during the entire walk to your shared rooms, Nikolai is quiet. You want to ask him if he’s okay, if he’s okay with you being here, but a part of you tells you he needs this walk to clear his mind. 

Once you get to your rooms and you shut the door behind you, you barely have time to turn around before Nikolai pulls you in his arms. 

You’re a bit taken back by his actions, but are quick to embrace him. You feel how Nikolai drops his head to your shoulder and shuffles even closer to you. You smile as you hold on to Nikolai.

The two of you stand like that for a while. Just holding each other, glad to be reunited. 

When Nikolai pulls back he smiles at you, and finally speaks up. ‘You came back.’ he says.

‘I did.’ you say. ‘Kaz talked some sense into me.’ 

Nikolai blinks in surprise. ‘Kaz Brekker was the one to talk sense into you?’ he says.

‘Yes. He made me realise I can have to homes.’ you say. ‘And we need to talk about that.’

‘Okay.’ says Nikolai, taking your hand and walking you back to the bed to sit down. ‘What exactly do we need to talk about? Because I can think of a few things, but I want to hear you out first.’ 

‘I thought I’d be happy once I got back to Ketterdam.’ you say. ‘And I was, for a while. It felt so good to see all of them again. And, uh, help them out every now and then.’

If Nikolai knew what you had really been doing during your life in Ketterdam, he didn’t show it. He didn’t say anything, waiting for you to continue.

‘It really felt good to be home in Ketterdam. But the more time passed, the less happy I got. I missed the palace, the life I built here, but most of all I missed you, Nikolai. Kaz was the one to tell me I can have two homes.’ you say.

Nikolai smiles at you after you finish talking. He brings your intertwined hands up and kisses your knuckles.

‘I missed you.’ he says. ‘I thought you weren’t happy here, so when you said you wanted to go to Ketterdam, I felt like I had no choice but to let you go. So I did. But I really am glad you’re back, Y/N. The palace felt a lot bigger without you in it.’

‘How boring were the meetings without me?’ you ask him.

Nikolai sighs deeply. ‘Very.’ he says. ‘I didn’t have to make sure you stayed awake, so I had no choice but to listen to every little detail they said.’ he says.

You chuckle, thinking back to the countless of times Nikolai had to keep you awake during the meetings. 

As you look at him, it’s like you’re seeing him for the first time all over again. You let your eyes roam over his face, taking in every detail. You had really missed him.

‘Nikolai?’ you say softly.

‘Yes, sweetheart?’ he says.

‘While I was in Ketterdam, I realised something else.’ you say.

‘That the food here is better?’ says Nikolai.

‘They don’t have Ketterdam waffles here.’ you point out. ‘But no.’ 

You look at him, taking your time once more to take in his face.

‘I realised that over time, all those days we spent together, I’ve grown to love you. I don’t want to leave you like I did ever again.’ you say.

You watch as Nikolai’s face breaks into a huge grin. ‘You love me?’ he says.

‘I do.’ you say. You hold up your hand, showing him the ring. ‘This should be a pretty good reminder of it.’

Nikolai grabs your face with both of his hands, pulls it towards his and smashes his lips onto yours in a passionate kiss. You can tell he’s still smiling. And when he pulls away, there’s indeed still a big and proud smile on his face.

‘I love you.’ he says. ‘I should have never let you go like that. I should have gone with you, or made sure you had reason to stay. I won’t let you leave again, Y/N, you’re my queen, and I love you.’ 

You smile, leaning in to press a kiss to both of his cheeks.

‘We can make this marriage work, Nikolai. I want to make it work. On one condition, though.’ you say.

‘Name it.’ says Nikolai.

‘I promised I would visit Ketterdam every summer.’ you say. ‘To see all of my friends and spend time with them.

‘That seems like a fair deal.’ says Nikolai. ‘Then I’ve got a condition as well.’

‘Anything.’ you say.

‘You have to accompany me on every boring meeting, otherwise I will fall asleep during every single one of them. And we go for a walk through the gardens every evening.’ he says.

‘Deal.’ you say. 

Nikolai smiles and rises from the bed, offering his hand to you. ‘Shall we go on a walk then?’ he says.

You smile and gladly accept his hand and get up. The two of you walk the familiar route to the gardens, and you can’t help but to sneak glances at him. It was already dark outside, but somehow there was still a twinkle in his eyes, and his blonde hair seemed to glow. 

‘Are you trying to remember every detail of my face by looking at me so many times, love?’ he says after a while. ‘I’m flattered, honestly. But you’re stuck with me for the rest of your life, you can spend plenty of time looking at me.’

‘I know.’ you say. ‘But I missed a few days, I’m catching up on lost time.’

Nikolai chuckles and pulls you closer, pressing a kiss to your cheek. ‘You’re truly adorable.’ he says, making you blush.

You reach the gardens and automatically walk to your favorite spot. When you sit down on the bench, you look at the familiar bush in front of you.

‘I’m on time.’ you say.

Nikolai looks at the bush as well and nods. ‘You are. David says Summers Week will most likely bloom next week.’ he says. ‘And when it does, I’ll get you a new flower, to keep with the one I got you last year.’

You turn to smile at him. ‘I can start collecting them.’ you say. ‘One for each year.’

‘One for each year.’ Nikolai repeats. ‘I really am glad you’re back, Y/N. It felt weird, not having you around. I felt like some part of me was missing. Maybe because it was.’

‘Well, I’m here now.’ you say. ‘And I don’t plan on leaving soon.’

‘Except for your summer trip to Ketterdam.’ says Nikolai.

‘Except for that trip. You should come with me, I bet they’d love to meet you some day.’ you say. 

Nikolai smiles. ‘Some of them have met me.’ he says.

You frown. ‘They have? They didn’t mention it when I was there.’ you say.

‘That’s probably because they didn’t know it was me.’ he says. ‘They also met Genya and Zoya. They were accompanying me but I wasn’t, well, me.’

‘I can’t tell if you’re messing with me or not.’ you say, suppressing a yawn.

‘Oh, darling, I’m not. One day I’ll tell you the story of Sturmhond.’ he says.

‘Sturmhond?’ you say and Nikolai nods. ‘Why not tell me now?’

‘Because you have been trying to hide your yawning since we came here, and I think it’s time you went to bed.’ says Nikolai with a chuckle.

‘You’re right, I should. It’s been a long day.’ you say. ‘I left in the middle of the night and only stopped once when I got to Ravka.’

‘You only stopped once? Saints, Y/N, how come you didn’t collapse on a bed once you got here?’ says Nikolai.

‘Because I wanted to talk to you and spend some time with you first.’ you say.

Nikolai’s features soften and he smiles at you. ‘I appreciate that. But now please let me take you back to our room before you fall asleep in the gardens.’ he says.

You get up and intertwine your fingers with his once more, and you start walking back to the palace. When you walk the halls, you run into Genya.

She looks surprised but happy to see you, as she shoots you a warm smile. You briefly let go of Nikolai’s hand to hug her. She must have noticed your tired state, because she tells you that you’d catch up tomorrow morning. 

You’re grateful when you get to your room. After taking a quick bath to scrub the sweat and dirt off of your body, you change into a comfortable night dress. When you get back to the bedroom, you see Nikolai is fidgeting with a piece of rope.

He shows you the small boat he made when you approach the bed. You smile and take it from him, placing it on your nightstand. 

The second you lay down under the covers, you feel your body already dozing off. You close your eyes and feel how Nikolai lays down on his side of the bed. You knew the bed was big enough to keep your distance, but you didn’t have to anymore.

You move closer to Nikolai, cuddling to his side. He wraps an arm around you as you lay your head on his chest. Nikolai softly traces shapes on your bare arm. 

He moves his head to kiss your forehead and mumble a very soft “goodnight, love”.

You feel yourself drifting off to sleep, a very faint smile on your lips. It feels good to be home right next to Nikolai. And you’re glad that you have two homes now. Ketterdam, with your crows. And Os Alta, with your king.

A/N: If you want to request something, make sure to read my house rules Here’s the list of characters I write for. Everything that I have written can be found on my masterlist. Please don’t repost my work, as I spend much time and effort on it!! Thank you for reading! Much love, Marit

[beelsnack]

Bad Influence - Beelsnack's 666 Follower Special!!

(Technically I'm over 666 - shoutout to the porn bots)

But seriously, holy shit, there's a lot of you. Thank you all so much for liking my stuff, and for interacting with me and sending me good vibes and all of that. I hope I can keep giving you guys quality work!!

And yes, I am a nerd and I consider 666 a milestone for a blog for a bunch of demons. No, I'm not sorry.

-----

Lucifer: He couldn’t help but wonder when the change had set in.

When the human first arrived in the Devildom, they had been humble and meek. If anyone complimented them, they deflected it with the mastery and resignation of someone who had been doing it for far longer than they should have. And if someone thanked them? You would think their entire world was dissolving around them.

But now?

He extended a gloved hand towards them as they descended the stairs. Tonight was one of the rare nights where they had the opportunity to be alone without one of his brothers tagging along, and they had been planning this date for nearly a week now. They slipped their hand in his without any of the hesitation they would have shown at first. They knew they deserved his reverence.

“You look radiant as always, my dear,” he curled his fingers around theirs as they reached the bottom step, bringing the backs of their knuckles to his lips. “Surely there is no star in the sky that could outshine you.”

They laughed - his theatrics always did amuse them. “You do have amazing taste, after all.”

He chuckled as well, guiding the two of them to the front door. “Of course. Do you think the Avatar of Pride would associate with anyone less than the best?”

“Definitely not,” the wind that came through the door when they opened it blew their hair away from their face, and Lucifer couldn’t help but preen at the fact that he had helped that quivering little animal grow into the proud swan that stood before him.

“Speaking of the best, where are we going for dinner?”

“Don’t worry, my dear,” he laughed as they made their way out into the night. “You deserve the world, and the world you shall get.”

“Unless ‘the world’ means a steak dinner, I’m not interested.”

Mammon: “Come on, don’t leave me hangin’ out here!”

The curtain covering the entrance to the changing room rustled, and Mammon heard a faint “Fine, fine, just give me a sec!” before it finally opened and out stepped the human.

Mammon always thought they looked good no matter what they were wearing, even if it was one of his old t-shirts and a pair of shorts. Actually, especially if it was one of his old t-shirts and a pair of shorts. But seeing them decked out in his fashion brand - one he had both designed and modeled - was definitely making him feel some type of way.

He let out a low whistle when they stopped in front of the chair he had seated himself in. The results of his own shopping spree were tucked haphazardly into a colorful assortment of bags at his feet, but the human had taken a bit longer than he did picking out their stuff. And damn, was he glad they did, because otherwise he wouldn’t get the chance to see them modeling his clothes.

It was a private fashion show, just for him.

The outfit itself was pretty simple. A black fitted tee beneath a cropped leather jacket, a pair of faded dark-blue skinny jeans, and a pair of black sneaks with a gold stripe going up the side. But the thing that brought the whole outfit together was the long necklace with a topaz pendent resting against their breastbone.

“Well?” they asked, giving him a spin before striking a pose before him. “What do you think?”

For a moment, he couldn’t speak. The human wearing his clothes...it was the next best thing to them walking around with “I Belong To Mammon” tattooed on their forehead.

“I, uh...I guess you...um,” he swallowed thickly. “Ya look alright, I guess.”

“That’s tsundere for ‘you look hot,’ right?” they grinned before spinning around to look in the mirror. “Man, this is a whole look! I have to have it!”

If this had been a few months ago, the human would have waffled back and forth about whether or not to buy anything. It didn’t matter how much they wanted something, it was almost like they just couldn’t do anything nice for themselves. There was being frugal, and then there was deprivation. Now, though, was completely different.

“I wonder if I should get some shades to go with?” they mumbled, looking themselves over in the mirror. “I think that would really pull it together, don’t you?”

“Just don’t go for the Ray Bans, it’s a fucking scam.”

Leviathan: "Come on, come on, come on…"

Very rarely was Levi the one watching someone else play games, unless it was a stream. And as mind-blowingly awesome it would be to watch the human stream one of his current faves, he definitely didn't want other people seeing how adorable they looked when they were focused.

They had come to him with absolute determination in their eyes, begging him to help them out. There were a limited amount of UR armor sets in the event, and they needed to get their hands on one. And, well, what kind of friend would he be if he didn't help them out?

(The fact that he already scored the armor is irrelevant.)

So, here they were, camped out in the pillow nest that they often made for themselves when gaming in his room, laser focused on the screen with Levi giving them guidance. The event level was brutal, but they were in the final hours, so it was crunch time.

"Okay, this boss is easy once you know the attack pattern. Four regular slashes, a jab, then you've got about five seconds to get behind a pillar before it uses the AOE."

"Gotcha."

Even then, it was a long battle, and they had used up most of their healing potions by the time the monster let out an anguished roar and disintegrated into a pile of bones. The human held their breath as they moved towards it to gather their loot.

"Yes!!"

They practically leaped out of the pillow nest in triumph. There, right on the top of the loot list in shimmering gold font, and the UR armor that they had been coveting.

"I got it! I got it!" they cheered. "Levi, I finally got it!"

"Hell yeah you did!" the two of them shared a crisp high five as the results of the campaign loaded on the screen. It was updating in real time, so they could watch as the final moments of the event ticked away.

Levi knew what they were looking for. Early on in the dungeon, another player had done them real dirty, sniping them from a few levels above and then taunting them over VC about how they would never get the armor now. So of course that only inspired the human to work harder, and here they were.

3...2...1

Event over. Quickly, the human scrolled up to the beginning of the list, checking the names of all the players who scored the armor.

Levi sat next to them, chewing his lip. What was that person's tag again? He didn't remember.

Suddenly, the human let out a snort that turned into a full-on giggle fit.

"They didn't get it!" they cackled like a hyena. "Serves them right, the jackass!"

Levi was pretty sure it wasn't a good idea to laugh at the misfortune of others. But, he knew better than anyone that spite was a hell of a motivator. When they had first gotten themselves isekai’d into the Devildom, they had let demons walk all over them, Levi had personally witnessed a lower-level demon shove them out of the way to get a sandwich they had been reaching for, and the human just stood there and let them take it. But they had grown to be a little more selfish, and if they wanted something, they were taking it.

And maybe, just maybe, seeing them like that turned him on just a little bit.

Satan: "You want to come and say that to my face?"

Satan stood there in stunned silence as the human spun on their heel to look the demons right in the eyes. They had their back to him, so Satan couldn't see the look on their face, but whatever it was made the two lesser demons flinch.

"Hey, come on, Human, we were just joking."

"Yeah, no need to get all worked up."

They scoffed, and Satan knew them well enough to know that they were rolling their eyes. "Is that right? So you don't think I'm a...what was it? A fleshy meat sack who thinks they can get what they want by sleeping with the strongest demons in the Devildom?"

Another flinch. Satan chuckled to himself.. Did those morons really think they wouldn't hear them? Humans might not have super-heightened senses but they weren't deaf.

A small crowd had begun gathering around them, waiting to see what would happen. It wasn't every day one of the human exchange students squared up to a demon.

"You've got some nerve," the human drew themself up to their full height - which, admittedly, was laughable compared to most demons - and crossed their arms. "What do you think Lord Diavolo would do to demons who messed with his exchange students?"

"I believe there's a special spot in the Royal Torture Chambers for such demons," Satan came to stand next to them, and the other demons downright cowered. "If I recall correctly, there's an Iron Maiden down there."

"Ooh, cool!"

"Alright, we get it!" One of the demons cried, throwing their hands up defensively. "We're sorry!"

Satan opened his mouth to spit a curse at them, but the human beat him to it. "I've got Lord Diavolo on speed dial, so start running."

The two demons turned tail and booked it down the hallway, nearly crashing into Beelzebub as he turned the corner with a sandwich hanging out of his mouth. He stood frozen for a moment before he swallowed and turned to Satan and the human.

"Were those two bothering you guys?"

Satan cast a sideways look at the human before a wicked grin spread across his face.

"They took care of it."

Asmodeus: "Well, someone's feeling bold tonight."

The door had barely shut behind the two of them before the human was pressing Asmo against it, mouthing at his neck as their hands traveled down the front of his silk blouse. He shuddered gleefully as their breath ghosted against his ear lobe.

"I can't help it," they murmured, fingers skirting just beneath the hem of his shirt. "You looked so good out there."

"I look good all the time, darling," he hummed, reaching up to grab a fistful of hair to gently pry them away from his neck.

"You looked especially good," they huffed as he let go of their hair. "Dancing like that, I could barely wait until we got home."

"Aw, sweetheart, you should have come to join me." Asmo rolled his hips in an echo of the dancing he had been doing at the club, delighting when he felt them shiver against him. "We could have put on a show that would have captivated the whole Devildom."

"I don't think the staff would appreciate it."

"They would be too busy watching to care," Asmo giggled, diving down to capture their lips in a quick and dirty kiss. "Although I can't say I'm not thrilled to be getting a private show."

Beelzebub: “Man, this place has the best barbecue!”

Dinner dates were a pretty common thing for the two of them. Over the course of the human’s stay in the Devildom, the two of them had figured out which restaurants would put up with Beel’s appetite and which would visibly freeze when the Avatar of Gluttony entered the establishment. The Hellfire Barbecue was one of the good places, probably because Beel made sure to tip really well, and one time personally went into the kitchen to tip the chef. Or, well, he tried, anyway. He ended up giving the money to the human and told them to give it to the chef because he knew if he went in there he would devour everything. But the sentiment was still there.

Beel smiled down at the human as they wiped the barbecue sauce off of their face. “You finished all of it this time.”

“Huh?” they glanced at their plate. “Oh. Yeah, I guess I did.”

“You usually don’t.”

“I was really hungry, I guess.” they grinned sheepishly.

Beel distinctly remembered the human telling him that they always tried to save some food for later. Whether it was being resourceful or because they had a weird sense of shame around eating too much, Beel didn’t know, but he had never pressed in case it was a sensitive issue. But, seeing them indulge themselves and looking genuinely full and satisfied made him happy. And was probably his main motivation for taking them out to dinner so often.

Well, that and getting his own food.

“I like watching you eat.” Beel said, waving to the owner as he passed by.

“You...like watching me eat.” the human repeated, looking somewhat confused.

“You look so happy when you eat good food,” Beel smiled. “I like seeing you happy.”

Belphegor: Oh, how the tables have tabled.

“Come on, I don’t feel like dealing with Lucifer’s lectures today.” Belphie grumbled, tugging half-heartedly on the human’s arm that was flung around his waist. “We should get up soon.”

For all of his complaining, Belphie didn’t move. If anything, he snuggled down deeper into the bed. He loved when the human agreed to have a sleepover in the attic with him. They got uninterrupted cuddle and nap time, since nobody dared to come up to the attic except Beel. And Beel was almost always welcome to join the cuddle puddle.

“Five more minutes…” the human mumbled sleepily, burying their face into Belphie’s neck. The soft, contented sigh they let out tickled, and he squirmed a little.

“Aren’t you usually the one waking me up?” Belphie nuzzled his nose against their hair.

“But it’s comfy here,” they whined. “I don’t want to get up.”

“You just don’t want to do the presentation in class today.”

“Your point?”

Belphie laughed. “Can’t say I disagree.”

“I did all the hard work anyway,” they shrugged. “We’ll make Mammon give the report.”

“Sounds like a plan to me.”

The two of them settled back down into the nest of pillows. The human had almost drifted back to sleep when Belphie brought his nose down to theirs to nuzzle them together.

“You’re cute when you’re sleepy.”

“You’re cute when you shut up and let me sleep.”

[disappearinginq]

top 5 true stories about yourself

I feel like I set myself up for this:

1. I dressed up, with my three closest horse-y friends, as the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. I went as War, given the gingery-ness, but also because I wanted to ride the Red Mare. We were dressed up in full on movie costume - masks and weapons and even the horses were decked out, and rode in tandem at one of the old battlefields where they were doing haunted hayrides/walks in the woods. They weren’t the “sexy” version, either - we looked like color coded ring wraiths. Death had a half scull mask and we painted a skeleton on her horse with glow in the dark paint. Conveniently, the humidity was up, so all of the horses (and us, I would guess) had the cool ‘steamy breath’ look going on as we came out of the shadows to chase people down (we didn’t really, we just loped along and people ran). We caused two accidents, a minor coronary event, and had a lot of people screaming the end is nigh aaaaaaaaaaaand got banned from Halloween in the town in Virginia we were in.

And not. ONE. GODDAMN. PICTURE.

2. I passed the bar exam in Virginia on a whim when I was trying to get out of work at the Navy shipyard and they told me I had to have a good excuse for needing the day off. Apparently, that meant I could legally practice law in the commonwealth if I had spent a year working in a law office. 

3. I willed my not-nephew into existence (they call me auntie, they’re technically my godchildren, but I’m not Catholic, and I have a bio sister who has no kids, so we just...roll with it). My friend told me she was expecting, and everyone told her it was going to be another girl, and I said it was going to be a boy. Even the first scan/test to find out, the doctor thought it was a girl. Nope. Boy, I demanded. I want one of each. Friend told me that’s not how it works, and BAM. SHE HAD A BOY. And the best part? That kid looks just like me. It’s awesome. If I decided to kidnap him in public, people would think he was my kid before they would believe he belonged to his biological parents. He’s huge (just like I was) for his age. His hair color is the same. Shit, he even acts the same as I did when I was his age. People who know I don’t have children look at pictures of us and ask when I had a son.

Though him being a boy did rob me of the opportunity of calling him my little Athena. C’est la vie.

4. I was declared legally dead. Twice. And not because of a medical miracle or anomaly - not medically dead. I was just legally dead. And you can’t just show up un-dead in the military and expect them to buy it. You actually have to go through a physical. More than once. I had to prove I was physically alive and it was some dumbass paperwork error, and after the second time of jumping through some bullshit hoops, I informed the Navy that if it happened a third time, I wasn’t going to correct them and I was just going to take my half-million dollar life insurance policy and go home.

5. To prove a point, I ran away for two weeks on a boat. Aircraft carriers are 4 1/2 acres of living space, and I had been on the boat longer than most people who were in charge. More importantly, I had jobs that required me to go all over, so I knew all the secret hidey holes. When we were being tasked with tagging out and working on highly energized equipment, we legally had to use the blueprints in order to determine what switches to turn off to keep us from getting electrocuted. Except the blueprints were wrong. They never matched up, and we got shocked like 6 times - with 440 volts - and got in trouble for it every time. But we weren’t allowed to not follow the blueprints, because according to our Navy Boss, it was our fault, not the blueprints. So in a fit of self-preservation fueled rage, I decided I wasn’t coming into work. Keep in mind, we were at sea, so literally, there was nowhere for me to go (except that one time I actually got flown off without them knowing about it, but...different story.) My boss knew I was on the boat somewhere. Except they couldn’t find me. I wasn’t even sleeping in my supposed rack because I had been ranked kicked out of it some days prior, and I had found my own living space at the back end of the ship where no one went and I don’t think anyone knew about, which was great because it was quiet and I had the bathroom and a room that was meant for 70 people to myself. Anyway. During the day, I hid out in the chapel. No one questioned what I was doing there. My last name lends itself to credibility in a church setting. Even the Chaplin thought I worked for him, because attached to the chapel was the library and the movie theater (yep. We had those on a Navy vessel), and I would organize the books, help check things out, provide legal counseling (other separate story). I showed up to “work” at the right hours, I sat through every service, I was practically nocturnal at this point - I had to be to avoid running into my chain of command. I used ‘illegal’ stairwells to get around that were meant for officers only, and I was a lowly enlisted - but if you carry a clipboard with you, no one questions you. Anyway - the reason of hiding in the chapel was because according to the fucking blueprints, it was on the other side of the ship, four decks down and fifty frames forward. That’s like...half a mile difference. And the doors weren’t easy to find, either, because they’d put it there by accident. You had to go either across a flight deck (BAD IDEA), come up through an officer’s stairwell, OR - you had to go down two decks, over one, back up a single stairwell and then through an improperly marked Z scuttle. The other part is that the chapel, movie theater, and library weren’t obviously in the same space - they took up three frames, and had a door that no one noticed in the back of each one. Basically - who the fuck designed this place, besides crackheads. 

Here’s where the point I was trying to prove comes in: I called the office from the library because they were threatening a court martial. The conversation went along the lines of: 

Chief: Get your ass back here or I’ll see to it your Navy career is over! Me: Promises, promises. Tell you what. If you can find me, I’ll come back to work.  Chief: Fine - where the fuck are you? Me: The library.  Chief:....we have a library? Me: Mmmmmhmmmmm.....if you check the blueprints, you’ll see exactly where I am. Come and get me, fat man. 

Three weeks later, he had to call a truce and agree to not make us use the blueprints and let us just line trace from equipment back to the power sources so we could stop getting zapped. 

[dreams-of-wings]

Impossible (6/8)

Imagine Billy Hargrove with a Mixed Race/Biracial S/O

Warnings: Racism, swearing, homophobia, homophobic slurs, mild violence, you throw hands a lot, angst.

Masterlist

You stay blocking the window sill for a bit cuz you enjoy seeing him squirm.

Honestly, he is bad at this whole climbing thing and he's struggling to not fall on his ass.

You finally let him in after he almost falls.

You're laughing your ass off while he's climbing through your window and simultaneously having a heart attack.

"It would have been less of a hassle if you used the door."

"I didn't think your parents would be happy if someome like me came knocking on their door asking for you."

You raise a brow at this, someone like him?

After a minute it occurs to you.

"Oh you mean a violent, racist, douchbag, with a reputation that surpasses the devil?"

He frowns.

Contrary to popular belief, Billy Hargrove is very self aware, and very self conscious about himself, his actions, and his self worth.

He doesn't like being an asshole but it's all he knows.

He low-key is afraid of growing up to be like his father.

Even though he has that nagging voice in the back of his mind that's telling him he's already as bad as his dad, if not worse.

He hides it all under a mask of confidence, booze, and cigarettes.

It still doesn't make his actions okay.

You snap him out of his thoughts.

"What?"

"I said my parents are out of town."

Now that he's in your room you noticed that Billy looked shaken up.

Billy Fucking Hargove, for once didn't have a scratch on him, but he looked like hell.

You question him.

It takes a while but he finally answers.

His dad got pissed at him because Max wasn't home, and he came hoping she would be here so he could drag her home.

You convince him to let you come along, because he is pissed and you know how he can get.

He caves and lets you tag along.

The next stop was Lucas' House.

Neither Max nore her son were there, but she said the kids all loved to go to Mike's house to play games.

Next stop is the Wheelers residence.

You dont know what's being said between Mrs. Wheeler and Billy, but knowing Billy and being able to read his body language- well. It takes everything in you to refrain from rolling your eyes and honking his horn (though you fail at not rolling your eyes).

I mean come on you guys are looking for Max, this is not the time to be flirting.

Fuck he went in.

You audibly groan and contemplate jacking his car to go look for his sister yourself, unfortunately he has the keys and you dont know how to hotwire a car.

Finally, he's out.

You forgive him because he comes out with a cookie in his mouth and has another one in his hand, which he gives to you.

"Hell, yes!!"

What?

Who the hell turns down food? And cookies at that. Home made cookies. And they're fresh.

Last stop was the the Byers house.

Fuck, Steve is there.

"Stay in the car."

"What? No!" Like hell you were going to let him beat up your friend.

"Stay in the fucking car!"

Steve seems both angry and hurt when he notices that you're in Billy's car.

You can't really hear what's being said, it's all muffled.

You panic a bit when Billy shoved Steve and you worry they'll start fighting.

"Shit!"

You burst out the car when you see Billy storming for the door, but stop to help Steve.

"Why the hell are you driving around with him?"

"He came to my place first, looking for Max and I offered to help him. What'd you say to piss him off?"

Steve gets mad, thinking your taking his side, and for the second time that night you find yourself rolling your eyes. "Why did you tell him you didn't know her? I tutor Max and her friends, and you babysit her friends, and you and I hang out, of course you would know her?"

You both stop arguing when you here a loud crash from inside the house.

"Damn it!" "Shit!"

You both walk in just in time to hear Billy threaten Lucas.

Fucking excuse you, Billy???

Steve decks him across the face, Billy taunts him, and this time an actual fight breaks out.

You try your best to get them both to stop fighting, but neither of them will listen to you, the voice of reason.

When Billy has Steve pinned to the floor and keeps punching him over and over again you finally get physical.

You tackle Billy off him while he's oblivious to his surroundings and use your hands and knees to pin his arms to the ground.

"What the fuck is your problem, Billy?!"

You've never seen him look at you so angrily, probably because he feels a bit betrayed.

He somehow manages to roll you both over so now your stuck underneath him.

You flinch when he draws his fist back like he's going to hit you, but the next thing you know- there's a syringe sticking out the side of his neck.

"Holy shit!"

He gets up to go after Max, but promptly falls.

Your a bit shocked by Max's outburst.

Now her, you have never seen that angry before.

When they leave, you stay behind to look after Billy and move him to couch

He isn't happy when he wakes up.

He's actually really fucking pissed.

But he's still a little groggy from sleep and the drug (mostly the drug) so it's funny.

Help this child, he thought he was getting off the couch normally, but turns out he just rolled off and onto the floor face first.

Your freaking out and laughing all at once.

Slurred, "What the fuck's so funny?!?"

He needs aspirin and water like a hangover.

He falls asleep again after you get him back onto the couch, and you fall asleep on the floor propped up against the couch in a sitting position.

You don't wake up till the kids get back (Max wakes you up).

The both of you manage to get Billy to his car. He still asleep like a log.

You go to your place, and they spend the night - Max was worried their dad would be even more angry if they woke him up, and even more so if he caught you helping Billy and Max into the house.

The next morning was very #Domestic.

With You waking up to find Max already up and looking through your cabinets for food.

Suprise, you end up making breakfast for everyone!

Max wanted chocolate chip pancakes, so chocolate chip pancakes she shall get.

No suprise, Billy wakes up while you both are making the sausages and bacon.

Full plate of eggs, bacon and sausage, and pancakes for everyone! Yay! 😀

Honestly the best morning the two of them have had for a while, but you won't catch either of them saying that outloud.

Max leaves to hang out with the others.

Billy still seems mad about the previous night.

"What, are you going to pout all morning? All day?"

"I dont pout."

"Oh I'm sorry, what would you prefer to call it- sulking? Brooding? Plotting my death?"

He tries to hide a snicker and lightly shoves you.

Going back to school the following Monday felt weird after everything that happened over the weekend.

You tried asking Steve what was up with all the drawings in Will's house, but he wouldn't budge.

Of course you tried asking Nancy and Jonathan too, but they acted like they didn't know anything.

The next few weeks were full of practice tests and prep assignments for finals.

You saw Billy less and less because you were hitting the books.

Sure he knew you were probably in the library, but after that weekend he wasn't sure how to go about interacting with you, or if he should do so anymore at all.

He kinda feels like you picked Steve over him.

He pops buy on Wednesday and almost gives you a heart attack. He's not surprised that you've been working yourself ragged, and your not surprised he hasn't even touched a text book (let's be honest, Billy doesn't strike me at the type of person to take notes in class, just pull out a pencil and paper to look like he's interested and go about his day).

Your freaking out, because finals but he doesn't flinch because you're like the smartest person he knows.

"Oh c'mon," he's managed to take your precious notes away, "You'll be fine, you're only stressing yourself out."

"Billy, I need those!"

"No you don't," He starts acting like he's reading the notes outloud, but he's getting the facts and formulas all wrong.

You correct him several times, and have actually started to chase him around the library.

Finally he closes the book after your sure you must have chased him around at least twice, "See, I told you. You don't need to study, you know this shit."

You both got kicked out of the library, again.

Billy is banned, but the librarian gives you one last chance...starting tomorrow.

You sigh in defeat, "Alright you proved your point, now give me my notebook back."

You reach for it.

"Nah," He raises it above his head so you can't reach it. Asshole.

Tommy and Carol show up and they think he's picking on you.

Neither of you sees them.

Tommy manages to snag the notebook, gives you an obnoxious laugh when you reach for it, and tosses it to Carol

"Give it back, shit face," Your mood went from playful to pissed in point zero seconds.

"What are you going to do about it, Heinz?"

Lord help you, you're about to throw hands again.

Billy snatches the book back and hands it to you, before looking at Tommy and Carol with a very stern expression.

"You idiots got anything better to do, huh?" He takes a few steps towards Tommy and for every step he takes, Tommy backs away.

Carol is distracted, which allows you to snatch your notebook back. She reaches for it again but you slap her hand away.

The message was very clear for them, so they take their leave and retreat back to wherever they came from.

Billy has lunch with you and manages to get you to skip the rest of school with him.

You don't want to miss during dead week, but the whole fiasco during your study period in the Library got you thinking- you need a break.

You also don't want the absent strike.

"You're such a goodie-two-shoes."

Peer pressure sucks.

You convince him to give you 30 minutes after the late bell rings to show up.

You go to class, set up your desk, the late bell rings, teacher calls role and marks you present. 7 minutes have passed.

You feign being ill.

It really wasn't hard. You just acted more tired than normal, threw in a couple "I have to stop what I'm doing because I have a headache," gestures. You even put your head down for a minute. You sit in the front so your body language is easy to pick up on and the teacher allows you to go to the nurses office when you ask. 12 minutes have passed.

When you get to the nurses office you throw the pass on the desk and storm into the private bathroom - closing the door behind you, before forcing yourself to dry heave. 27 minutes have passed.

You convince the nurse that it must be something you ate that's making you sick.

She gives you a pass and let's your teachers know you're sick and have gone home.

You meet Billy outside the school 30 minutes on the dot, he's surprised you actually came, and even more surprised that you lied well enough to get the teachers to excuse you for the rest of the day.

Of course you're upset when you see Tommy and Carol in the back seat, but you just roll your eyes and brush it off before climbing in shot gun.

Tommy and Carol are mocking you before you even get in.

"We didn't know the, mutt was coming along."

"How nice of you to bring something to entertain us, Billy."

Your looking at Billy through the corner of your eyes as he starts the car.

He waves you off, "Dont mind them."

You have no idea where you're going, or how long it will take so you pull out a book to read.

Before you can even open it, Carol snatches it from you, "What's the Nerd reading?!"

You roll your eyes again.

Tommy snatches it from the red head, "Stephan King. Christine."

"What's it?" Carol pipes up again, "Sappy romance novel?!"

"Wow, you both are actually uncultured, " you snatch the book away from Tommmy, "I'm impressed," and keep it out of his reach by out stretching your arm towards the dash, "Did it take all three of your brain cells to read that?"

Tommy tries to get his hands on you now, but you smack them away.

"Alright, alright!"

The three of you look surprised at Billy, "If you two don't quit your shit," he looks to the rearview mirror, "I'm kicking you out."

The rest of your ride was uneventful.

You arrive at Tommy's house.

His parents are also out of town.

But he lives in a large house with a pool and bar.

They're having an end of the year party and whoops you got dragged along.

You hadn't planned to be doing this with your time so you resort to studying more, much to Billy's behest, and Tommy and Carol's attempts to distract you.

You sit outside on a lawn chair next to the pool while they get everything prepped for the night.

Not much happens till it starts turning dark out, Billy calls you for help with something and when you leave you don't notice Carol and Tommy going for your stuff.

You can imagine your suprise when you find you stuff had been emptied into the pool.

Notebooks, text books, pencils, pens, erasers, even the book you were trying to read on the way.

You look up when you hear Carol laughing as she rounds the pool in your direction, and you see Tommy throw your bag in the pool.

"Are you fucking serious? What are you twelve?!"

Before you can react, Carol shoves you into the pool.

"And that's how you get a book worm to swim!"

You somehow manage to keep your cool, gathering your stuff and putting them on the edge of the pool away from Tommy and Carol. Though you didn't know why you bother, you can tell the ink is smeared and the pencil is faded now, only thing possibly salvageable was your pencils and your reading book, but even that was debatable.

You climb out and sit at the edge.

You feel physically uncomfortable

Your clothing is sticking to you.

And it's basically summer already so the air is hot and a little damp. You look up to see Billy storming out of the house.

"What the hell is going on?!"

"Relax, Billy, we were all just having a little fun, right?" Tommy looks at you like you're afraid of him so you're going to agree with him.

Yeah, no.

"Fuck off," you chuck your biggest text book at him.

None of them knew how well a text book could fly till it hits Tommy in the gut.

Go you! Bonus points for nailing him with the corner.

Your trying to wring the bottom of your clothes out when Tommy comes up from behind you and tries to grab you by the back of your head.

"Hey!" Billy is quickly making his way over to the both of you.

Carol tries to stop him, but she is poetically shoved to the side and subsequently falls into the pool.

You manage to elbow Tommy in the balls but the pain only makes him hold on harder.

"You little-"

He doesn't get to finish because he's promptly punched in the side of the face. You quickly back away from the edge incase Carol gets anymore funny ideas.

Billy helps you up and ushers you into the house.

"Sorry..." He sounds awkward, "About them."

You look at him with a deadpan expression, "Billy Hargrove, apologizing," you sigh with attitude, "pinch me. I must be dreaming."

He grits his jaw, "Don't you start being a smart ass with me- it's them who keep giving you crap!" He started raising his voice.

"Yeah, yet you still keep them around," you make your way over to the sink to keep wringing out your shirt and shoulder check him on the way, "Honestly, I don't even know why you keep them around- at least you have your reasons for being an asshole." You take off your shirt -much to Billy's suprise- so you can properly get rid of the water. Let's face it, a soaked shirt sticking to you like a second skin doesn't leave much to the imagination anyways, "Reasons," you turn to look at him for emphasis, "Not excuses," you turn back to the sink, "but understandable reasons nonetheless." You lay your shirt out flat on the kitchen's large counter to air dry (it's too dark and humid outside for it to dry any better outside anyways), "But they're just assholes because....because...." You sputter and shake your head, "I don't know, probably because they know they won't ever amount to anything better in their lives, so they figure they might as well tear down as many people as they can on their way to fucking nowhere."

You turn and look at him with an aggravated huff and cross your arms. Unfortunately Carol and Tommy walk in at that moment.

"You trashy mutt!"

"Stupid whore!"

"You really think, Billy's that desprit?!"

For a second you were confused. Then you remembered you didn't have a shirt on.

You roll your eyes again before throwing your still wet shirt back on.

"And what the hell Billy?! You really gonna' side with this half-breed?!"

Fuck this.

Fuck Carol.

Fuck Tommy.

And you know what? If this doesn't change, fuck Billy too. You dont need or deserve this.

You storm out the back door, gathering your things and shoving them in your dripping bag before walking around the side towards the front. Billy quickly runs out the front door to meet you outside.

"I'll take you home."

"No."

Billy calls your name and he almost sounds tired.

His tone is what makes you pause and turn around.

"Please."

You raise a brow and swallow your pride as well as your snarky comments, "Fine."

The party commences and goes on without the both of you.

Billy isn't quite sure what he enjoys more, being out and partying or enjoying a relaxing evening indoors, heavens knows he can't relax at home.

Max surprises the both of you by stopping by to visit.

The three of you hang out in your living room flipping through channels and eating popcorn.

Billy eats the least pop corn out off the three of you and opted to have some carrots and grapes less than half way through the first movie.

Billy is totally a health buff.

"Are Carol and Tommy really that bad?" Max mistakenly asked about your day.

"They have absolutely no redeeming qualities."

Max doesn't hide how she shoots a glance at her brother, 'And that fool does?' Is basically what her expression asked.

Billy glares at her from the couch opposite to hers and bites a carrot like it's her head.

You're covering your laughter with your hand.

From now on all my Imagines will be tagged by their titles, series, and parts! Hopefully this will make it easier to find a specific imagine if your looking for it. For example, anything relating to this series is tagged with "impossible", the series itself is tagged as "impossible series" and each individual part is tagged as "impossible pt.[1/2/3/etc.]"

Another example: part one is tagged as "impossible pt.1"

[forwhycas]

Love Thy Neighbor (part 10)

Long awaited (I guess), but here it is!!!!! I have no words for how fun this part was to write! Hope you enjoy:)

****************************************************************************************

“Freddie, I cannot believe you rented a yacht for a whole day…it’s a little much don’t you think?”

 He shook his head.

 “Nonsense! It’s your birthday, I’m making up for all the birthdays I wasn’t friends with you, which is 23 birthday’s I could have made have made spectacular! Ahhh yes breakfast finally, has Roger worked up your appetite?”

 “Yes actually, I’m starving, he woke me up at 4 in the morning.”

 You were watching him across the very large table filled with every breakfast essential. Fruit, toast, eggs, pancakes, sausage, muffins, coffee, tea, jam, pudding, you name it, and it was on the table.

 “Oh did he now? Did you get the cute set of lingerie? Green if I remember?”

 “Yes, did you help him with that?”

 “Oh no, dear that was all him, he was nervous it was too much he rang me at the store and everything, so I’m glad you liked it.”

You smiled at Freddie and started to fill up your plate, you started to eat when John came to sit across from you, he smiled and handed you a small box.

 “It’s not much, but I know you’ll enjoy it, Happy Birthday love.”

 You smiled and took a bite of your toast before you opened it, it was a joint wrapped with golden paper, definitely enjoyable!

 “Deaky this is perfect, just what I wanted actually, did you roll this yourself?”

 He nodded.

 “This is excellent! Thank you!”

 He nodded at you and started to eat as well. After breakfast the massive boat started to move and stopped a few miles off shore dropping its anchor.

 “I’m jumping in, someone come with me!”

 Brian was up at next to you and grabbed your hand and you both jumped, the water was cool on your already warm skin, you heard a splash nearby and Roger emerged, he swam over to you with a smirk, he was up to something. His arms were around you, and his lips were on yours in no time, before you knew it your top was off, he through it over to Brian, your arms immediately wrapped around your chest.

 “Roger! Seriously?! Brian I swear to God if you don’t return that to me!!!”

 Your legs were kicking furiously since you couldn’t use your arms. Roger was back at your side and you moved away, scared he might take your bottoms next.

 “Lacey I would love to but I’m afraid I just can’t!”

 Your started to swim to the back of the boat where the ladder was, and climbed up it, your breasts free, If the boys can be topless why can’t you be?

 “Oh my God Lacey, I was right the other night, your tits are fantastic!”

 Freddie was sun bathing and took off his sun glasses just to stare, John was also staring. You heard Roger yelling something, and saw your top fling up onto the deck. You flung it back at him and decided to lay out and get a tan, laying on your stomach. You felt Rogers hands work some sun block into your back a few minutes later, you looked to your left and saw your top next to you, he fasted it back on for you when he was done with the sun screen.

 “Not a fan of my mates seeing your tits, definitely taking you over my knee later on…”

“Roger you’re the one who took it off my body, why am I being punished for something I didn’t do?”

 He slapped your bottom, which made you giggle.

 “Hate to brake this little thing up but I also have a gift for you Lacey!”

 You sat up on your knees and Brian handed you a small bag, once you got past the tissue paper, you found a very nice pair of ray bans. Practical and stylish.

 “Thanks Brian, now I don’t have to steal Rogers!”

 You put them on and smiled up at him. He lay next to you and Rog on the towel and caught some sun for a bit.

 “Lacey! Darling come get a drink, I need you drunk by noon!”

 Roger told you he would make you one, so you stayed on your towel with Bri.

 “So what did Roger get you?”

 “A very nice camera and a bubble bath, some other things…”

 “A bubble bath?”

 “He woke me up super early in the morning and ran me a bath, it was the strangest yet sweetest thing someone has ever done….I also took your advice and opened up to him…”

 “What did you guys chat about?”

 “We both obviously have feelings for each-other, I was just hesitant to start anything because of my last relationship and how absolute shit it was, how destroyed I was, let me tell you he’s very persuasive.”

 “Are you guys together now? Because if so I just made some big money…”

 “Yes, wait money, are you making bets with John again?!”

 You slapped Brian’s arm, he laughed at you and rolled onto his back.

 “Yes? Sorry is that a yes? Didn’t hear you!”

 “Yes Brian!”

 You shouted!

 “Lacey you just scared the shit out of me! I just spilled half of the drink I just made you!”

 Brian laughed even harder, you decided to join Freddie and Rog at the little bar that was on the left side of the deck. You kissed Roger on the cheek and sat down next to Freddie.

 “You guys fucked this morning didn’t you?”

 “Well Freddie we didn’t just fall asleep naked…”

 Roger spoke as he made you another drink.

 “I’m glad you guys finally did the deed, it’s been a long time coming, which I’m sure Lacey did a lot this morning…”

 You laughed at Freddies shit joke! And he left you and Roger at the bar to go get some music playing. Rog sat down next to you and placed your drink in front of you.

 “Look at me, this is strong so sip it slowly.”

 You scrunched your eye brows and took the straw out and started to chug it.

 “Or not!”

 You finished the drink and put the glass down. Smiling at him.

 “That was great babe, can I make you a drink next?”

 “First of all please always call me babe, and secondly yes, don’t make it gross though.”

 You hopped up and went behind the bar, so many expensive bottles.

 “This whole bar could probably buy a house…why are there so many bottles of vodka? Ok, so I only know how to make one drink, hopefully you like it!”

 You opened up the mini fridge behind the bar and found some pineapple chunks. You grabbed a tall glass and filled it with ice then the pineapple, some white rum and cranberry juice, you mixed it and put it in front of him.

 “It’s a little ‘girly’ but it tastes super good!”

 He took a sip.

 “This isn’t bad but I’m not a fan of fruity drinks, you drink this and make me vodka on the rocks instead, please?”

 You found a short glass filled it with ice and looked at the five different types of vodka.

 “Rog come choose which bottle you want.”

 He hopped over the bar and bent down to look at his options, he came up again and poured it over the ice. He then poured you a shot, you went to grab it.

 “Cheers!”

 You took your shot and he took a sip of his drink, you then grabbed the drink you originally made for him and took a big sip.

 “Are you trying to get drunk quick?”

 “Well Freddie said to be drunk by noon, it’s 11, so yes, yes I am.”

 You kissed him and grabbed his hand and he layed back on the towel next to you and Brian, Freddie finally got some music going and he demanded to dance with you, you of course didn’t refuse. The whole afternoon was spent dancing and sipping on some very expensive vodka, you were drunk for most of the day till the servers showed up out of nowhere with a very nice roasted chicken and pasta salad. That sobered you up which prepared you for Freddie’s next surprise.

 “After this little boat ride back, were going out to a very nice club, my birthday present to you will be hanging in your closet.”

 “A club, as in a very crowded night club with a lot of people?”

 “Well yes, I know you don’t like crowds but with what you’ll be wearing Roger won’t leave your side all night, so nothing to worry about!”

 Rogers arm was around you, you were leaning against his chest, you looked up at him and he winked at you and kissed the side of your head. When you got back the first thing you did was check the closet in your room, sure enough a very short dress was hanging up. It looked expensive, you looked at the tag and it read Versace.

 “Freddie fucking Mercury, get your ass in here now!”

 A few seconds later and he was standing in front of you.

 “I already know what you’re going to say, but me and Marry saw it when we were out a few weeks ago and we instantly thought of you, so we bought it! Try it on for me!”

 You told him to turn around and you striped out of your bathing suit and into the dress.

 “Can you zip it up for me?”

 Freddie turned around and did so, he pushed you in front of the nearest mirror. It was a strapless, tight dress, it had black sparkles and came about down about an inch below your ass, your breasts surprisingly fit into it and showed the perfect amount of cleavage.

 “I don’t know Freddie…it’s a little much.”

 “Nonsense were all dressing up, wear those nice white chucks you have with it, I was going to get you heels but I knew you wouldn’t of worn them. You look good enough to eat, if you have the confidence to wear those very skimpy bikinis then you should have no problem wearing this dress!”

 “Ok!”

 “Well thank god, I really just want to see Rogers face when he sees you, it really shows off those curves you got!”

 He unzipped it for and told you to be ready in an hour. You immediately hopped in the shower scrubbing away the salt water and sand, shaving your legs making sure they were extra smooth, you blow dried your curls and slipped on the green thong Rog had gifted you this morning, they weren’t on for very long. You needed someone to zip up your dress and found Rog on the patio, he stopped in his tracks when he saw you.

 “You kind of took my breath away for a second, you look absolutely incredible baby!”

 You smiled, that kind of smile where your whole face just kind of lights up and you can’t help but let out a breath of excitement with it, this caused Rogers whole face to light up again.

 “Thank you. Can you zip this up for me?”

 He moved your hair to one side and zipped it up for you, giving your ass a little squeeze.

 “I have a surprise for you later.”

 “Later? Why not now?”

 “Good things come to those who wait…”

 “Well I’m impatient, Rog!”

 “Stop pouting Lacey…”

 His eyes looked to your chest then back up to your eyes.

 “Can’t we just tell Freddie that I’m not feeling well and we can stay here, alone, and just fuck everywhere in this place?”

 He laughed.

 “We can do that when we get home, I’m actually looking forward to going to this club, I hear they have dancers!”

 “Are there poles? I’ve always wanted to dance on one…”

 His eyes widened.

 “I can definitely arrange that…”

 You kissed him, for no reason at all.

 “I always catch you two kissing, I wonder when I’ll catch you two fucking…”

 “Hi Freddie, are you here to tell us it’s time to leave or here to just interrupt for no reason at all, for like the fifth time?”

 You asked sarcastically. You were annoyed since there was never really a reason for him interrupting you two.

 “Everyone is ready and a car is outside waiting to take us, please do finish your make-out sesh in the car though, I love a good show!”

 Roger winked and motioned for you two to follow him, Roger hand intertwined with yours and you followed behind them. When you got the club there was a heard of paps, you always wondered how they knew someone popular was going to be arriving, it wasn’t Freddie for once since he hasn’t been drinking and he was genuinely pissed they were here. You just didn’t like them in general, they wrote terrible articles about Queen all the time, the press just does not like the band. You were helped out by Brian and Roger was out after you, his hand guiding you by the waist in through the entrance, you went past the whole line and the bouncer let you in immediately, the flashing was loud but not as loud as what they were yelling. Roger kissed the side of your head when you got past them and he reassured you that you were ok. All the guys knew they gave you anxiety. Once inside you were guided to a VIP siting area, sectioned off with a thick red velvet rope. Your drinks were ordered and then served. And boy were they strong, two drinks was enough for you, you were swaying and moving your hips to the music, Roger looked amused and got up and pulled you to the dance floor. The music was fast but you and Roger kept up, his head dipped down to your neck you pulled him in close to grind on his thigh, you saw a flash. Fuck.

 “Hey mate this a private event, get the fuck out of here!”

 Roger had one hand on your waist and the other was pushing a random person with a his camera away from you two.

 “Let’s take a little break? Hmmmm?”

 You nodded and he led you past a door with another bouncer and through the first door on the right. When you adjusted to the lights you realized it was a medium sized room with a small circled stage in the middle, a girl was dancing on the pole that was on the stage.

 “Alright that’s enough, thank you!”

 Roger said loud enough for the girl to hear, she stopped and Roger held out some bills in one hand, and helped her down with the other, she took the money from him then left.

 “Hop up there, put on a show for me…”

 He kissed you slowly and then pushed you lightly towards the stage. You climbed up and waited for Roger to sit in the chair across from it. You put one hand on the pole and started to walk around it slowly, you heard a def leppard song start to play, you swayed your hips a bit and then let your back hit the back of the pole and your bent to your knees spreading your legs showing Roger that you were wearing the green panties he had gotten you. You winked at him and he got up from his seat and took the few steps towards you and you closed your legs, and slip onto the floor sitting down at the edge of the stage, Roger pulled at your leg wrapping it around his waist and he lifted you a bit so could get down. He went to kiss you but your hand went over his mouth.

 “Not now, later…just like that surprise.”

 You smirked, and he shook his head at you. He lead you out of the room and back to where the boys were, you had one more drink and found yourself dancing on a table with Freddie. Roger ended up getting annoyed at that and pulled you down to dance with him instead.

 “Roger are you jealous?”

 You whispered in his ear.

 “I can show just how jealous I am, if we leave…”

 You smiled up at him and nodded your head yes. His hand tugged your through the crowd and then down the hallway towards the entrance, he slowed down and intertwined his left hand with your right, you stepped outside and the paps were still there. The car was already pulling up and you two got in quickly. The care ride home was tense, but you lightened it by laying down and putting your head on his lap, his hands playing with your curls. When you were dropped off at the villa, he was almost in a dominant state of mind.

 “Did I do something to make you mad? Your tense.”

 “No, I just really want fuck you that’s all…”

 “Is that my surprise? You fucking me?”

 “Oh no, this is…”

 You were in his room sitting on the bed, and he pulled out a vibrator, it was yours and your eyes widened with panick.

 “Why the fuck do you have my vibrator? Did anyone tell you it’s rude to go through other people’s stuff?”

 “It wasn’t hard to find, it was in your bed side table, I was just curious one day…”

 “So you decided to go through my shit?”

 “Yup!”

 “Don’t smile at me like that Rog! You went through my room, that’s weird!”

 “Well this is your surprise, I also bought these…”

 He pulled out a set of hand cuffs. He was smirking at you.

 “The surprise is I’m gonna use this to get you off, then I’m gonna fuck you until your screaming my name, no one’s here so I expect you to be loud.”

 You were a little tipsy, and your only response was to giggle. Roger couldn’t help but smile at you sweetly when you did so.

 “Is something funny to you?”

 His attitude changed from sweet to sexy real quick.

 “Sorry I’m drunk and you holding my vibrator just does something to me…”

 “Up, I need that dress off of you, come on, up!”

 You hopped up and he worked the zipper down and he tugged at it, it fell to your ankles, exposing your chest. He took a step back to admire your naked skin, he trailed his hand down between you breast and reached into your underwear, his fingers going in between your already soaked lips.

 “Your body is always so responsive to my touch…on the bed now, let’s go!”

 He pushed you so you fell back and he got the hand cuffs, he cuffed your hands to the bed post and he grabbed the camera he tried to gift to you earlier.

 “Roger I swear to god, if you take any fucking pictures of me!!”

 “What are you going to do? Hm? Baby I got you cuffed, you’re not going anywhere…”

 “Rog…”

 You whined as he took a picture, you glared at him and pulled at the cuffs.

 “Your gonna hurt yourself, stop, these pictures are for me and me only, relax love…take a deep breath.”

 He was straddling you, his lips going down to your neck, your eyes closed and smile spread across your face. He bit down lightly, and trailed his lips to your nipples, tugging at them lightly with his teeth, you moaned as he did so, he reached over and grabbed the vibrator. He turned it on and it passes over your hard nipples, your back arched into him, it was a nice sensation.

 “Feels nice right?”

 You nodded your head, he trailed it down your stomach, your legs already spreading, ready for him. He closed your legs and tugged at the green thong with his teeth till they were past your thighs, he took the rest of it off with his free hand. He was now laying in between your legs and trailing your vibrator up the inside of your thighs, you moaned loudly caused Roger to laugh. He then trailed it in between your lips causing you to buck your hips a little, his other hand came to push your stomach back down.

 “Tell me, did you use this while thinking of me?”

 He circled the end of it around your clit, adding a little bit of pressure. You moaned and yelled yes.

 “Did you ever think I would be using it on you?”

 You shook your head no, and let out a sigh as he started to push it into your center slowly. Your hands grasped at the headboard and squeezed it to brace yourself.

 “Fuck Roger!”

 He pushed it in further and turned the nob causing the vibrations to get faster.

 “Oh you want more?”

 “Yes! Please Rog!”

 He took it out, you were panting and all you wanted to do was touch him.

 “Roger, please undo these, I want to touch you!”

 “You know babe I want to, but seeing such a strong woman so powerless is really turning me on, so they’ll stay there until I make you cum a few times, ok?”

 You put your head back and he pushed it all the way inside of you.

 “Is this was you wanted?”

 “Yes! Yes Roger!”

 He started to slowly pump it and out of your wet center, the muscles in your thighs tightened, your toes curled. He quickened the pace, while his hand worked it in and out of you, his lips came up to your mouth, kissing you slowly. He pulled away and you pouted.

 “I hate it when you pout, I told you I’d take you over my knee! Is that what you want, a good spanking?”

 “Yes…”

 He smiled and started to pump the vibrator deeper into you, hitting your g spot, you were crying out his name, louder and louder till you came so hard your head was spinning.

 “I didn’t say you could finish, but ok.”

 He slowly took it out and shut it off putting it aside. He flipped your body around, you grabbed onto the head board for support, your elbows resting on the pillows, you were on all fours when you felt Rogers hand start to caress your ass.

 “I’m thinking 10 will do it? Yea?”

 “Yes!”

 His hand traveled up your back and gathered your hair, he tugged at it, then he started his “punishment”, each time his hand collided with your ass it was harder and harder till you were panting from how good it felt. You were getting wetter and wetter each time. You heard him unzip his pants and you felt his dick slide against your soaked entrance.

 “I told you I wanted you on all fours, and now look at this…so pretty and submissive, you feel that? That’s what you’ve done to me.”

 He pushed into you hard.

 “Fuck, Roger, harder!”

 He gathered your hair again and buried himself in deeper as he gave you a good tug, your head flying back. He released your hair and grabbed at your hips as he pumped in and out of you fast. He started to curse.

 “Fuck your tight, don’t cum until I say so or I’ll slap this pretty little ass of yours again!”

 He slapped it once causing you to yell out his name. A few minutes later and you were holding onto the headboard for dear life as he slammed into your g spot over and over again.

 “Roger, please let me cum! I need to!”

 He left your body, and flipped you back over onto your back giving your arms a break, he pushed himself back into you and grabbed your hips, your legs wrapping around his waist, heels digging into his lower back, all you wanted to do was dig your nails into his back, leave scratches down it. The familiar feeling pooled into the pit of your stomach, you were so close. His lips were on yours as he moaned into your mouth, his head dipped down to your neck and his breath was heavy and hot against your skin, you kissed his neck and started to bite gently, his arms came up to the headboard next to yours as he gave it his all, your hips rolled around in a circular motion causing him to moan your name.

 “Fuck, Lacey!”

 Your legs were shaking and your breath was hallow, you needed to cum. Tears were slowly rolling out of the corners of your eyes as he kept slamming into your g spot over and over again.

 “Roger! Please! I’m gonna cum!”

 “Go ahead baby.”

 You did and your walls clenched around him, you screeched his name over and over again, your voice getting horse as he fucked you through your orgasm until you finished. He pulled out and you could feel his cum leaking out of you. Sweaty and out of breath Roger undid the hand cuffs and you immediately had your hands around him, grasping at his neck to pull him down to your lips. You were weak but you wanted to touch him and now you finally could, you lazily rolled on top of him, your legs feeling like jello. You kissed him softly, his arms resting on your lower back, his finger-tips slowly going back and forth swirling light circles into your skin. Sweet Roger was back. He rolled your bodies over so that he was laying on top of you, he smiled sweetly down at you and moved the hair out of your face.

 “I’m sorry I went through your stuff.”

 You chuckled.

 “That’s what you’re thinking about right now? You were just balls deep inside of me and your thinking of that?”

 He laughed.

 “I’m thinking of a lot of things, but that’s the first thing that came to mind.”

 “Well what else are you thinking?”

 “I’m thinking that was some of the best sex I have had, that you are very beautiful, and I’m exhausted but I’ll be ready to go for round 2 in a few minutes.”

 “Roger you just destroyed my legs I don’t think I can participate in round 2!”

 “Babe it’s your birthday, I’m gonna fuck you as many times as your body can handle, and I feel that it hasn’t reached its limit yet.”

 “You know Rog, I think you have better stamina than I do, because that was like a weeks-worth of sex for me right there, and your already hard, let me take care you, please?”

 He rolled over so he was on his back, you straddled him, kissing up his chest. His breath hitched and he let out a faint moan.

 “Kiss me already…”

 You pulled his hair, pulling his head back, you licked up his throat then kissed him with all you had. Your hips ground into his hard dick, his hands guided your hips at the rythem he wanted, your circled your hips. Your forehead against his, your teeth tugged at his bottom lip. You stopped your grinding and lifted your body lining his dick with your center, you sank down onto it slowly. Roger cursed and you moaned, still so sensitive from minutes before. You slowly rode him, your thighs still screaming. You picked up your pace, your hands on his chest balancing yourself. You started to slowly circle your hips as you hopped up and down on his dick.

 “Lacey! Lacey!”

 “I know I’m close to!”

 A few minutes later and Roger was bucking his hips into yours and came shortly before you did.

 “How was that?”

 “Top notch babe!”

************************************************************************************************

Hope you enjoyed!! Please like, reblog or share!;)

[ghostmartyr]

Pokémon Black 2 Randomized Nuzlocke Run [Part 7]

It is time for badge number seven.

Lesgo.

Vertex (Luxray)

Caspet (Gengar)

Nessy (Milotic)

Diego (Gardevoir)

Photon (Rayquaza)

Cerberus (Dodrio)

Squad goals.

Why won’t Unova Gyms ever just let me leave?

And apparently I’m not going through Twist Mountain? I’m getting a lift on a plane?

If that’s the case, that’s happening later. I think I’m going to get Cerberus up to level 40 in the sad death tower before I do anything else. I don’t want to have members of my team lagging consistently. You will all be useful. I will make it happen.

Also, something I haven’t mentioned yet (...I think, it’s been a while to get this far) is that Pokemon Breeders in this gen seem to be available to fight every single time you enter that route. Not like you can fight them if you want. After beating them, if you leave and go back to the route, they will do the exclamation point thing.

This is annoying.

Route 7, also known as that place before the sad death tower, has one.

It is not irritating enough to conjure up hate for. And yet.

Flash forward into the future a bit later, and we have a team where everyone’s above or at 40 except for... Photon. Photon, my friend, we’re just gonna slap the Exp. Share on you and continue with the plot. Your legendary status means me stacking the deck with levels is less important.

I can’t believe this place has a purpose in this game. Or that I get to fly in a plane (I assume, my memory on the sequel games is even worse than my memory for Black and White starting out). There’s something weird about using a plane to get around in a Pokemon game. Doesn’t feel natural.

Oh well, too bad so sad.

...Lentimas Town.

I have no memory of this place.

Hey, Bianca’s coming with us! Yay!

I really have no memory of this place, but there’s some Fire pokemon in Reversal Mountain, apparently, and also Professor Juniper reminds everyone that Black and White happened, so it makes no sense for Team Plasma to be trying to wake up a dragon; they’re all accounted for after all.

My exploits from last game mattered, you guys. They really did happen.

No, but I’m easy to please. Any time the games reference games that happened in the past for the current game, I am made a happy camper. Us and N catching a legendary dragon each is a good thing to keep in continuity.

I’m starting to maybe remember this place... maybe?

I guess we don’t stay here long, so time to not really care. I do continue to like how the setting is not an exact copy of the previous games, though. There’s a lot of repetition that comes from this being a sequel, but everything’s been thought out well enough that it really does feel like a new journey.

Now see, my question is if there’s a cave to this Reversal Mountain, and is it marked with a different title. I’m catching something very soon, but do I have the option of picking between outside Reversal Mountain and inside, or do I... perchance... get both?

It’s probably just one and I should just march into the grass.

I don’t wanna.

Ah, but it looks like I have to step through grass anyway. But there is the option of dark grass vs. normal grass.

I am too battle-weary and scarred. Normal grass.

!!!! A Normal pokemon for the normal grass! Hi Miltank! Let us be the best of friends and not roll each other into death. Photon’s the best bet for not accidentally killing the little lady (I did not check this with numbers and have no plans to).

Only while I was typing, Miltank used Bide, and I missed that, so Nessy with her excellent HP had to go out and deal with the consequences of Photon’s one attack. Nessy and Twister are taking Miltank down at a safe rate. She’s in the orange, so throwing time.

While she’s using Rollout.

Of course.

Hey, first ball! We’re Pokemon Going over here!

Her name is Bessy. Because it is.

But whoops, I need to head back to the Pokemon Center for a hot second and get her out of the Graves box. You’re not dead yet, darling.

Dark grass has Luxio.

It also leads to a strange house instead of fun cave time.

See, right there in the title. Can has pokemon?

Coool. Want to join my gang?

Nessy and Twister seem to be an okay catching combo. Let’s see if we can get it working twice in a row.

Damn it, Nessy. Your first one left him in the green. The green. Sigh.

Farewell, unnamed shark friend.

(he woulda been bruce)

Ahoy random Gigalith in the upstairs of the house with the moving furniture I can’t cap because these are stills. Sadly I’m not in the mood to deal with Sturdy, so I’m going to run from those instead of harvesting them.

Awww, there’s a Castform downstairs. Plus a Spell Tag.

Then the furniture moves and clears up a doorway. Behind which is a trainer.

I feel like a lot of the NPCs we meet in these games have very hard lives. Hello Sentret in the middle of the room. Are you keeping this one company?

Ludicolo is in the front room.

Caspet learns Dark Pulse. Bye-bye, Night Shade.

Waaaaaait. Wait. Aren’t you the ghost girl from the bridge in the last games? I remember you! Is this where you get something to do instead of just being odd? Note that it doesn’t count if it’s an event thing that needs a code or internet or special event items!

She’s looking for her parents.

And her Abra.

....Then a wild Abra shows up.

Is that scripted, or did the Randomizer just give me an amazing gift?

Weepinbell back downstairs.

I go through another door, and get a Full Heal for my trouble. With added wild Octillery. Fuck you, Octillery. You are banned from all my runs forever.

Ooooo wild Haxorus. Look at all these things I can’t have. Downstairs has a stray Riolu. The trouble I go through for a... Dusk Stone. Yeah, okay, that’s nice to have. Toxicroak is also here.

Then back upstairs, suddenly Gible. What’s this place usually supposed to have?

The second floor’s chairs have moved, so I go through one of the upstairs doors. Another trainer room. Yay. With a Mr. Mime. Yay.

I’m really sorry about your life/undeath, NPC Ghost Girl.

Oh, neat. Lunar Wing.

I have no memory of which legendary that belongs to. I want to guess Cresselia, but I don’t know if it’s even in this game. I do know it’s a gen four legendary, which would make sense for the sidequest feel of this house.

Oh wait it doesn’t matter because Randomized Nuzlocke.

...Well fine, but I’d still like to know.

That makes me feel surprisingly sad.

One last door to check out. Empty but for Golett (want) and a Rare Candy. Time to leave.

Back outside there’s an Exeggcute I wouldn’t have wanted. The normal grass has Whismur.

There was a cave after all. Ugh. I can’t believe this counts as the same route as outside. Cave and grass should get to be different.

Heeey! Bianca! Wait, before we team up and I abuse your healing for exp, I need to check the other side of the cave.

Oh. The other side of the cave has a Max Repel and that’s it. Back to Bianca, I guess. And she’s psyched for Heatran, which is a very relatable feel.

Zoroark and Tangrowth for the first encounter of the cave. I say, pretending it matters. Stoutland can also be found here. Knowing their propensity for knowing Crunch, I think maybe something not Caspet can be in the front. Photon, gain your own exp for a change.

Crawdaunt is another feature. It’s a dark, Dark cave.

I was checking to see if Cerberus can learn Acrobatics. No, but he can learn Fly. You know, that classic Dodrio usage. Fly. Which he is absolutely learning.

Aww, a wild Togepi. It’s gone now.

I love getting to wander with someone who handles the healing. It’s so nice battling without stress. Also known as grinding without needing to use up items.

Haa. See, normally you’d be right, but.

Huh. There’s a Magikarp and a Weedle through a different passage. Neat. You will not be missed. Then we come across a bizarrely gen-appropriate pair of Tympole.

Can Triple Battles not be a thing? I don’t care for them. They make me worry. Arguably I could help myself by arranging my team so I would have a good comp for whenever I fell into one, but where would the fun in that sane choice be.

Dust clouds come with Munchlax. Neato.

We’re in a legendary’s nest. They’re all like this.

...Why can you find Luxray and Ninjask here???

Ditto for Steelix and Porygon. Yay for Randomizer randomizing every single room of an area. It’s cool, but in the larger places it can be really disorienting. A male Nidoran also says hello.

I don’t know where to find the Magma Stone to get Heatran, so we’re done with Reversal Mountain, I believe. Geez I hope that’s the name of this place. I’m too lazy to check at the moment.

I have escaped!

And found a Shiny Stone. Win.

I didn’t recognize this place, then I remembered. Water. Bay. Post-game trauma. They messed with the map to keep things interesting.

What.

My curiosity is piqued.

But I want to get something random in the waves before I investigate.

Um.

Well this is awkward.

Level 39.

Photon should not be out front for this. Nessy?

Okay. Nessy gets Regice in the red. Regice knows Curse and Ancient Power. I do have a Master Ball. I can’t deny that I’m seriously tempted by it, but we’re going to try doing this like a standard trainer first.

Net Ball doesn’t work because of course it doesn’t (I just wanted to use it because Surfing), and Regice knows Superpower. Ah yes, the Regis and their. Stuff. First Ultra Ball doesn’t get anywhere. Same for second. Icy Wind is Regice’s last move.

My team has no Fire or Fighting on it. I miss having those options.

Have I been able to buy Timer Balls anywhere? Those would be nice to have right about now, as my Ultra Ball supply dwindles.

I am out of Ultra Balls.

Look, Pokemon Go legendary catching can be rough. You only get so many balls, and even if you do everything perfectly, it still might run on you.

But you don’t end up spending twenty minutes trying to catch one thing.

Seconds after I type that:

Heeeeeyo.

What do I name it, though?

Refrigerator.

That doesn’t fit.

Refriger8r.

Okay, so I have to stock up on Ultra Balls, and possibly also healing options depending on my mood when I look at the prices. Then we go see what Undella Bay and Route 14 have to offer.

The Undella Pokemon Center only has Luxury and Dive Balls. :(

My beloved Timer. Where...?

And then I bought 50 Ultra Balls.

I’m going to sell some stuff.

Okay Bay, what do you have for me?

Yeah, I can make this work.

Assuming I don’t accidentally kill it.

Thank goodness for Nessy still knowing Twister. Gottem.

His name is now Zentrotta. I think we can agree he’d be happier if I hadn’t caught him. Tragedy at its finest.

Caspet is back up front, and for now Nessy will carry the Exp. Share. She’s not had much to go up against, so she’s lagging a tad.

Aw, there’s a little Deerling on the water. Aaand it’s gone.

Hello what is this.

Indeed.

...I have questions I can’t really make myself care about enough to type.

So this guy only moves if we beat him, and before we get the chance to beat him we have to pass some game-acknowledged strength test. I probably need another badge or something. But there’s enough ground to walk back and forth, so what have you got for me, Seaside Cave?

Cool beans.

Nessy, come help not kill it.

Yay, caught.

His name is Blimperton now. Welcome to the box.

Outside, the deep water spots can be Venomoth. How pleasant.

Jelli to you too, good sir.

Huh, okay, they just give you a random Jellicent encounter here.

Game. I was just trying to speed along to the Pokemon Center. Please.

Unfezant down, Simisage down, Vertex can be in for Samurott. Level 41, so I’m. not as overleveled as I usually am except for Caspet. Caspet has reached 47 and I don’t mind her being completely overpowered.

For an update, since I think I’m pretty bad about keeping track of their levels in this: Caspet is 47, Nessy is 43, Vertex is 43, Diego is 44, Photon is 45, Cerberus is 43. Everyone is healthy and alive.

Geez I hate Triple Battles. Random trainers don’t share my feelings. This is an annoyance.

ROTATION BATTLES AREN’T THAT MUCH BETTER, OTHER RANDOM TRAINER. STOP THINKING YOU’RE SPECIAL JUST BECAUSE YOU’RE AN ACE OR A COOL OR WHATEVER THE HECK YOUR TITLE IS I DIDN’T READ IT.

And I can’t continue down through Route 14 because there’s a block of people in the way. So I guess all that’s left to do is check out what the sequel to this route has in store for me.

Last game it did not have anything I wanted.

But this time...!

Eh. I’ll catch you I guess.

Her name’s Tux now.

Meanwhile, in the dark grass...

Yep.

Wormadam, too. Such grass. Much excite.

Off up to Route 13.

New route means yet another new pokemon. ...After we fight a bunch of trainers because I care more about levels than pokemon I’m hoping to never use at the moment.

Several minutes later, the only other trainers are through grass, so let’s go!

Eyo. I don’t think I’ve had you before.

Cerberus, are you up for helping?

Well, one hit almost took half your health. So let’s say no.

Nessy!

...You know, given the amount of damage it’s doing. I think I’m going to Surf and risk fainting before it kills Nessy. Aaand... yeah. Mienshao out.

This grass also has Sandile. And Cascoon.

Nothing I have knows Cut. Languish there for all days.

That Ranger wants a Triple Battle.

Why is this route like this.

Hey, a Heatran! Bianca, guess what!

Oh so you don’t need Cut. Meh. I’m not in the mood.

Professor Juniper and Bianca say hello in town. Bianca, walk about twenty steps to the right so you can find something neat. You’ll love it, promise.

But no, it’s time to listen to an old lady talk about the Giant Chasm. I don’t wanna do that, either. I want my badges. I maybe should have taken the aquarium route to speed that along, but I don’t know if that would actually do anything.

Wait, I was spamming A. Was there a directive in there?

Hm. I sense plot ahead.

This villain understands me.

Oh cool battle time.

Russell, buddy, you run almost as much as blondie scarf from gen 4. Take a chill pill. You have won all the good big brother points you possibly could just by caring about a Purrloin this long.

So everything’s telling us to go to Opelucid. For Dragons.

Hard pass, where’s the surfer Gym? Water sounds way friendlier. I’m going to see if that one’s blocked off or not.

DAMN IT.

The janitor won’t let us pass. ;-;

Okay fine, I guess we’re heading to Opelucid. And plot, probably. The plot is of no interest to me. This is true in pretty much every single one of these games. I’m in it for the pokemon. The human with their human troubles are way less fun.

New route! What will it have for us?

I had to embrace fun when I saw one of the grass patches shaking. Our first route with a wiggly grass option! And it is...?

I’ll gladly take it!

...If I can catch it!

...Preferably without anyone dying!

I’m going to let Photon take a stab. Crunch should be super effective, but Photon doesn’t have STAB adding to it, and Metagross has rocking Defense. So this might be pathetically sad, but nothing should die.

PHOTON.

FRIEND.

NOT FOOD.

Three Ultra Balls in, I am sad.

But we get it! Huzzah!

Its name is Stormy. :)

Ouch, Caspet’s trying to learn Destiny Bond.

Caspet?

You’re not dying. This is the definition of a useless move.

What else does this here grass hold when it’s not wiggling?

ELEKID. Noooo. Why must we always pass like ships in the night... Claydol is also here.

The dark grass’ first entry is Jynx and Magikarp. Chingling is also here. Buizel too.

Cerberus has learned Drill Peck! Oh happy days!

Normal grass has Vaporeon, Huntail, and Spinda to go with what we’ve already seen.

Vertex is moving up front, and Diego is getting the Exp. Share instead of Cerberus for the time being.

Another bridge, another route.

Another set of trainers that really make me want to have a Fire type.

There’s dark grass on one side of the bridge, normal grass on the other. A pass through on my bike didn’t get anything to pop out of the dark grass, so normal grass wins the prize for this route’s catch.

Before that, there are trainer battles.

Of the Triple variety.

yay

Ooooooh. I like this. I like this a lot.

Vertex, do not murder.

Vertex follows instructions, paralyzes Vileplume, and dodges getting poisoned twice. This is why he’s allowed to live. One Ultra Ball later, and new friend acquired.

Named... Bongo.

Geez, this grass also has Mamoswine. We’re not fighting that. The water’s dark spots get Zebstrika.

Uh.

So she shoves me out.

Rude. I’m the protagonist. I go where I want.

I’m starting to rush a little since this part is getting long and I haven’t even hit the badge town, but hey! I do remember this sequence! I remembered it belonging to a different game, but A for effort, right?

Made it to Opelucid.

Since the game itself suggests via Iris to go to Route 9 first, I’m guessing I should clear up anywhere that offers trainers to fight before trying the Gym. Dragon is a pain anyway. I don’t have anything except Nessy’s Twister that’s super effective against it. I think even at the level I’m at, it should be okay, but I also think it could go incredibly badly, which I don’t want.

But before that, Route 11 didn’t force me to go through any grass, so I still have a pokemon to catch there. Let’s watch.

Huh, interesting. ...Vertex, let’s swap you out before something unfortunate happens. Though it is level 36, and he does know Crunch... Yeah, we’re going to be stupid. Magnitude 7 doesn’t do a threatening amount of damage. Yay.

She is caught, and her name shall be Winn.

Now the other side of Opelucid, after healing up.

Miltank! But we have a Miltank. Next.

I like.

Vertex. Critical hits are for trainer battles. Sigh. Farewell, Route 9. I think we could have been great together, but alas. Now to go through all the everything else to do in this route and then go finally get the seventh badge.

Hm. I think maybe I’ll just get everyone on the team up to 50, then go for it. Nice, even number.

Other things of note: I have found a Mart with Quick Balls. The world is bright. But for now, grinding. ...Against Torchic and Deerling, apparently. Maybe I want other grass. Oh, but dude. Glaceon in the dark grass. Nice. Ha, randomized and still offering super effective options outside scary gyms. Golduck and Nidorina are here, too. And Braviary and Pansage.

-winds the clock forward a few hours-

K, we’ve got folks at level 50 now. So, Drayden?

Dragons.

Cerberus is going to sit in first for a while. He’s on the fragile side, but his Attack and Speed are good, and Flying should be neutral to everything in the Gym. Same cloth as Caspet, only physical. Nessy might take over just for the comfort of tankiness, but this is where we start.

First person in the Gym has one level 46 Fraxure.

Dragons are scary.

Oh fuck you.

Fuck. That’s partially on me. If I had used Drill Peck instead of Fly, Fraxure would have been busy Dragon Dancing and would have done zero damage. But I used Fly to try to hit Fraxure hard while avoiding any of its attacks, and.

Look, the screencap’s right there.

Fuck.

Nessy’s going in, under the theory that nothing on my team is going before Dragon Dance x2 Fraxure, but Nessy’s the most likely option for surviving.

It uses Taunt so it doesn’t matter.

Great.

Great.

Cerberus, I like Dodrio. An Adamant Dodrio? Wonderful. You will be missed. Fly will be missed. Many things about this feel awful.

Bye.

Stormy is a Jolly Metagross that’s a little quick tempered.

Welcome. You’ll be given the Exp. Share while your new friends try very hard to make it through the rest of this Gym without casualties.

-drums fingers-

With Dragon Dance being a move everything in this Gym is probably going to know, I do not want to play the long game with any of the trainers. I want to go in and kill everything in one hit.

...Caspet is in front.

-hides eyes behind hands-

-gives Caspet a Spell Tag-

One trainer down as planned.

IIIIIII hate this gym.

Druddigon has Crunch. Things to keep in mind.

So now we have the most obnoxious part of this Gym. I get to choose between Rotation and Triple Battle for the next peg up it. My usual path says I do both. In case you haven’t noticed, I hate Triple Battles. Doing one is not high on my list of desired outcomes.

But I’d feel weird avoiding it. Famous last words. -sigh- Caspet, Vertex, Nessy. That’s the order. Let’s do this.

Easy part done. Rotation Battle win. Ugh.

For the sake of my sanity, I’m giving Caspet all three of my Rare Candy. Yes, I have a favorite, yes, it’s the closest thing I have to a starter. If I’m putting her so close to the chopping block, I’m going to make sure she’s fully equipped. Druddigons are surviving to attack her right now, and that’s no bueno.

Triple Battle. Weeee.

It ends in a round because Caspet wins at life. Awesome. Okay.

All that’s left is Drayden.

This guy’s face is a lot less scary when it isn’t up close.

Sooooooo. Level 46 Druddigon is first. Shadow Ball finishes it. Flygon is next. ...That one, I think I can trust to Nessy. Flygon isn’t as much about hard hits.

Level 46 again. Crunch gets a critical hit that just barely keeps Nessy in the green, Nessy uses Surf. Surf brings Flygon to a sliver of red, so I go with Surf again. Hopefully Flygon’s other moves don’t do more damage than a critical hit Crunch, or Drayden feels like healing it.

Yeah, Drayden goes with a Hyper Potion.

...Flygon’s next Crunch gets a critical hit too, what the hell.

Surf after that faints it, though. So that’s two out of three down.

Drayden’s last pokemon is Haxorus. Nessy’s too far in the red to keep in without healing, and Haxorus is high on the Dragon Dance strat list. But if Caspet can’t get it in one hit, I’m pretty confident in Haxorus’ ability to fuck Caspet up.

But I’m honestly pretty confident in Haxorus’ ability to fuck my entire team up. Caspet would be the best bet for ending it fast. ...So, you know. Caspet. Go. Go. not die.

Level 48 Haxorus. Yaaaaaaaaaaay.

CASPET YOU BEAUTIFUL GHOST.

THAT’S BADGE SEVEN.

WE’RE NOT ALL ALIVE BUT ENOUGH OF US ARE.

AND I WAS PREWARNED ABOUT GETTING TALKED TO OUTSIDE ABOUT UNOVA’S MYTHOLOGY, BUT FOR NOW THIS PART IS OVER, THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME.

[commandertheory]

Commander 2017: Overall Thoughts

Now that the set review is up and the decklists have been spoiled, I think we have all the information we need to talk about the set generally. Here are what I think the biggest successes and failures were from this year’s Commander precons.

The Successes

Tribal was a good choice for a theme

Tribal decks are an opportunity to expand the diversity of decks available in the format. There are plenty of creature types that have a common mechanic and a few dozen Commander-playable cards; for these tribes, all that’s needed to create a viable archetype are a few focused tribal effects and a decent commander that rewards you for committing to the type. I think this is a really promising vein for precon design space and I hope we see more tribal decks in the future.

Edgar and The Ur-Dragon were home runs

I think both of these commanders did a great job addressing the weaknesses of their respective tribes. Vamps have gotten a lot of lords over the years but relatively little token generation, so it was difficult to make use of those tribal bonuses until Edgar came along. The Ur-Dragon’s cost reduction effect was also very appropriate, as Dragons have historically been pretty expensive.

The Failures

Wizards was a poor choice for a tribe

I was pretty skeptical about Wizards when they were first announced as the fourth tribe, but I withheld my judgment until I could see the decklist. Now I’ve seen it, and it does nothing to address the problems inherent in using Wizards as a tribe. For starters, there wasn’t a need for it. The format already contains many individually strong Wizards, powerful tribal effects, and one commander that supports the tribe in the color with all the best Wizards. Was it necessary to make a precon solely to give Wizard tribal access to gratuitous colors? More importantly, was it worth denying a precon to a tribe that did not already have a powerful commander to support it?

Another problem with the choice of Wizards is that they don’t have a clear mechanical connection to each other. Wizards are a bit of a catch-all tribe, riding the typeline of cards as disparate in their effect as Trinket Mage, Glen Elendra Archmage, and Snapcaster Mage, and their only real commonality is their small size. Azami was able to build her deck around the fact that most Wizards don’t want to get involved in combat, but the remaining design space that cuts across most of the good Wizards is punishingly small. In contrast, Cats have an affinity for equipment, Dragons are almost always huge, expensive flyers, and Vampires tend to center on lifegain, +1/+1 counters, and sacrificing creatures. Those traits are a little easier to design commanders and decks around than “small and weak”.

Gavin Verhey, the Head Designer of Commander 2017, admits that Wizards didn’t fit the tribal mold very well:

[Wizards] gave us a more controlling deck, which gave it a unique feel, and also was a deck that could excite someone who didn't want to play a heavy tribal deck. In the end, Wizards probably feels the least tribal of the four decks (though there's still plenty of tribal, don't get me wrong!) to help make sure it was appealing to someone who just wanted to play their blue control Commander game. Good ol' blue-black-red control! 

With only four decks being released each year, I disagree with the idea of saving one of those precious few slots for players who don’t like the overall theme. It’s not like they diluted last year’s theme by making a deck for people who don’t like four-color (like me!), so why make a tribal deck for people who hate tribal?

The Cat deck is built around a weak strategy

The Cat deck’s issues are minor compared to all the problems with Wizards, but the deck is not very cohesive, since the Cat mechanics are strategically opposed to each other (and in some cases the contradiction is present on the same card). Going tall with equipment lends itself to a Voltron strategy, but most of the Cats that want you to play equipment give you rewards that encourage you to go wide with lots of small creatures (see: Kemba, Raksha, Nazahn).

Voltron aggro and token aggro are both totally viable strategies, in part because they’re both somewhat resistant to the board wipes that are common in this format: Voltron strategies always have access to the one creature that matters, and token decks tend to lose fewer cards to a board wipe because they can make a whole army with a single card. Unfortunately, Voltron and tokens don’t blend very well, and I think the fact that the Cat deck encourages you to lose out on the strength of both archetypes by running a bunch of equipment to throw on your weenies is bad design.

Arahbo kind of just compounds the problem by being unable to target himself and pumping only a single Cat instead of all your Cats; with him at the helm, you are discouraged from both dealing Commander damage with Arahbo and building up an army of Cats; you’re forced to commit to non-Voltron, non-token aggro and enjoy lower damage output and increased vulnerability to board wipes.

I don’t think there’s an easy solution to these problems; there aren’t enough Cat token generators to make a full pivot to token aggro and pure Voltron would render all your other Cats kinda unnecessary. If the Cat mechanics don’t work well in Commander, then maybe the correct answer would have been to choose a different tribe. There are plenty of creature types that are popular and also have cohesive, powerful mechanics, and R&D should have chosen the one that would lead to the best product, even if it meant the cat lovers would riot.

There were a lot of missed opportunities for reprints

I understand that reprints are limited by WotC’s desire to keep the precons in the hands of players and keep people from buying them purely for the monetary value. However, there are a few cards that fit the theme of the precons so perfectly that their omission is kind of baffling. Hunting Cheetah is a Cat that generates card advantage, making it a great fit for the Cat deck. Furthermore, the Cheetah was only printed in Portal: Three Kingdoms, which means it’s both ugly (white borders and bold text) and hard to find (its $15 price tag is almost certainly due to scarcity and not high demand). So why didn’t they reprint it?

The Dragon deck is marked by very high CMCs, which WotC tried to ameliorate by designing an eminence trigger that reduced costs. Why not go a little further and throw in Urza’s Incubator? It would fit the tribal theme and the needs of the deck perfectly. Since its omission from the precons has become public knowledge, speculators have seized the opportunity to grab up as many copies as they can, causing the only version in the Modern frame to triple in price.

Other headscratchers include the absence of Shared Animosity, Riptide Laboratory, and Patron Wizard, the latter two of which have never been printed in a Modern frame. The lack of good reprints might be an unforeseen consequence of the drop from five decks per year to 4; even though the number of new cards in Commander 2017 has stayed the same, the number of slots available for reprints dropped by over 40 cards.

Development dropped the ball on Inalla and Mairsil

Both Inalla and Mairsil have access to one-card combos, with the former using her token production to take infinite turns with Wanderwine Prophets, and the latter throwing Mirror-Mad Phantasm in jail so he can mill out and win via a Dread Returned Lab Maniac. Inalla also generates infinite mana pretty easily by doubling up Trophy Mage to find Rings of Brighthearth and Basalt Monolith, combining Ashnod’s Altar with Bloodline Necromancer or Champion creatures, et cetera, while Mairsil has plenty of two-card combos to his name, as well. 

I have no problem with combo decks in general, but I don’t think one-card combos are healthy for the format (I’ve been lobbying for Tooth and Nail and Ad Nauseam to be banned for years), and I think Development should treat precon commanders with extra care since they tend to be more popular than other commanders (according to EDHREC, 15 of the top 21 commanders of all time are precon commanders) and thus have an outsize impact on the Commander metagame. Every player who buys Arcane Wizardry is one dollar away from infinite turns, and even if most resist the temptation, the interaction is still going to create a lot of combo kills.

Eminence was not balanced between the tribes

Eminence is inherently broken because you can’t really interact with it, but the three of the four C17 commanders were able to use it effectively because the power of the effect was kept low and committing to those types was enough of a handicap that it was unlikely for the Eminence to get too far out of hand.

For example, both the Vampire and Cat Eminence triggers were worth about one mana, and there are relatively few creatures of those types in Magic; ~150 Vampires in Mardu and ~120 Cats in W/G. Consider the fact that most of those cards are limited chaff and you can see what a cost it is to be restricted to those types. So: weak ability, restrictive types, but the nature of Eminence makes those commanders powerful anyway.

The effect on the Ur-Dragon is a bit stronger (worth approximately two mana), but it’s saved from being broken for two reasons:

Most Dragons are wildly expensive (the average CMC of the ones in my Ur-Dragon list is just over 6), which limits the tempo boost you’ll get; it’s still going to take a lot of time before you’re able to cast more than one Dragon per turn.

There are only ~165 Dragons in Magic. Given that they tend to be rare or mythic rare, the average Dragon is more likely to be powerful than the average Cat or Vampire, but it’s still a pretty shallow pool.

Wizards also got a 2-mana effect, but to say it is equally powerful to the Ur-Dragon’s cost reduction is to draw false equivalence. Unlike Dragons’ high CMCs limiting the impact of the Ur-Dragon’s cost reduction, the nature of the average Wizard doesn’t make Inalla’s Eminence any weaker; in fact, the ETB triggers and activated abilities on most Wizards make a copy effect much more valuable than it would be in most tribes. Getting a second Archaeomancer or Trinket Mage represents a lot more value than knocking a mana off of your Hellkite Tyrant.

Wizards also have a huge advantage over all the other tribes in this precon: their numbers. WG Cats, WBR Vampires, and WUBRG Dragons range from 120 members to 165 members, putting a major deckbuilding restriction on those who hope to make use of the Eminence triggers for those tribes. In contrast, UBR Wizards has over FOUR HUNDRED AND SIXTY MEMBERS. Assuming Cats, Vampires and Wizards have the same ratio of limited chaff to playable cards, Wizards have a much wider array of cards to choose from when building their deck to take advantage of Inalla’s Eminence. Dragons probably have a higher proportion of playables than Wizards, but I think Wizards beats them out for sheer numbers of playables.

So basically, the tribe with the most playable cards also got the strongest Eminence ability. Somebody at Wizards seemed to realize there was an imbalance and threw a mana onto Inalla’s trigger, but that really doesn’t solve the problem. The nature of the copy ability is what gives Inalla so many free cards and (essentially) free mana, as well as a combo win condition; tacking on one more mana will briefly postpone the moment her merfolk stretches out time to land a million punches on you, but it won’t prevent it from happening.

If Wizards ever tries to bring Eminence back, I really hope that they:

Look for obvious combos. If there are any, change the damn ability.

Weigh the number of playable cards in a tribe when deciding on the power level of their bonus. Less restrictive should equal less powerful.

Weigh how much the chosen bonus matters to the tribe. Cost reduction is less powerful for an expensive tribe; copying is more powerful for a tribe with lots of ETBs.

Stick to one-mana effects, if possible. Don’t try to cheat this rule by adding on costs.

Wrapping Up

Overall, I’m pleased with most of the decks and new cards, and I really hope this set sells well so we can get more tribal offerings in the future. Quoth the Gavin:

And also, if your favorite tribe is not among these four: there's definitely enough design space and beloved tribes here that we could do this again. If you all like this, we'll almost certainly return to this well.

As far as the set’s problems go, I think some of them are more fixable than others. The Commander decks are unlikely to go back up to 5 per year, so fitting enough reprints into fewer slots may be a chronic problem going forward. However, I do think the other changes are a lot more likely; Development can easily pay closer attention to the precons (especially if they get a lot of feedback, so make sure to complain loudly to many people if somebody cheeses you with one of this year’s commanders) and Design can avoid using decks as insurance policies in case the year’s theme isn’t popular.

[onemanreviews]

Top 5 Things From Your Childhood That Are Worth More Than You Will Believe

There are some things from your childhood that are nostalgic and cause you to long for a simpler time. Then there are things from your childhood that make you nostalgic and that could have made you rich if you had only held onto them. In this list I plan to break down five things worth more than you will believe. 

#5 Black Diamond Disney VHS Tapes: These VHS Tapes may be harder to watch now because how many of us actually have VHS Players anymore, but that doesn’t mean that they don’t make you feel that sweet sweet nostalgia. One of the more notable tapes is The Little Mermaid with a now banned cover art. These tapes are sometimes listed on Ebay for upwards of $500 when in great shape. The less notable tapes are worth considerably less but they are really cool things to collect.

#4 Beanie Babies: Beanie Babies were a huge hit among children and a favorite collector item. Possibly the most notable among these is the Princess Diana Beanie Baby which I found on Ebay for an astonishing price of $30,000. Now that price tag is incredibly overblown as you can find this particular Beanie Baby for around $10 if you look around, but that doesn’t mean its not worth collecting if you enjoy them.

#3 Yugio Cards: Yugioh was a card game that came out a few years after the much more popular Pokemon, but was still a huge success in its own right. Currently a 1st Edition Legend of the Blue Eyes White Dragon booster box (which consists of 36 booster packs) routinely sells for well over $10,000. Unlike the first two on the list this product actually does sell for this much among hard core collectors. To put this into more perspective, The SDK Blue Eyes White Dragon card that came in the Kaiba Starter Deck sells in mint condition for over $2,000 alone, that one card came in a box that sold for $9.99 when they were new. 

#2 Star Wars Action Figures: Star Wars was a ground breaking movie franchise that Disney has “revived” (personal feelings aside). Whether you’re a fan or not the action figures have always been where the money is for Star Wars. If you are lucky enough to still own any retro figures from the 80′s then you may be sitting on a gold mine. The most lucrative figure in this collection would be the 1979 Boba Fett Action Figure, this figure sells for upwards of $15,000 on Ebay if its sealed and in good condition. If you can’t afford this however, Disney has partnered with Hasbro to re release the original retro figures in their Retro Collection so you can still have a slice of history at an affordable price.

#1 Pokemon Cards: I’m sure you could have guessed this was coming, how many of us didn’t collect Pokemon as kids? Pokemon has seen a bit of resurgence with the release of Pokemon Go although i’m not really sure it ever went anywhere, more likely we just forgot about it. Vintage Pokemon cards produced by Wizards of the Coast (who no longer make Pokemon cards) have skyrocketed in price over the past several years. The most expensive Pokemon products you can buy are of course the 1st Edition Base Set Booster Box that sells on Ebay for the astronomical price of $80,000. If that seems insane, most of that value can be attributed to one card. That one card is of course the 1st Edition Base Set Charizard which in gem mint condition sells alone for upwards of $55,000. I don’t know about you but I wish I had a time machine so I could go back and slap myself for not holding onto these little pieces of cardboard. 

I hope this has brought you a feeling of nostalgia and maybe inspired you to not only start collecting but check those old storage boxes, maybe you have a few hidden gems worth more than you thought. 

Thanks for stopping by and checking out the blog, leave me a message if there are any topics you would like me to cover.

ALL LINKS IN THE ARTICLE ABOVE ARE PAID AFFILIATE LINKS

Paid Affiliate Links:  Amazon Prime Trial / Twitch Prime Trial / Xbox Gift Card / PlayStation Gift Card / Nintendo Gift Card

[spellcastersjudgement]

For the number thing, possible 1 and 44 for Joey and Kaiba...? O-or 11 and 14 for Ryou and Kaiba, of course you don’t have too

OKAY SO first of all thank you for this!!! second, the reason this took so gosh darn long is because i am a long winded person and though this was supposed to be a drabble/ficlet ask thingy but i think im physically, spiritually, and emotionally incapable of writing anything thats short. please enjoy this 4500 word fluff bomb because i know i sure as hell enjoyed writing it

#1: chocolate + #44: puppy love

 This was a load of horseshit if Seto Kaiba had ever seen it. He’d lived through whatever the fuck happened to his Battle City tournament, that fucker Dartz highjacking his company, the existence of Maximillian Pegasus, and hallucinations of an ancient version of himself subservient to the Pharoah that supposedly lived in Yugi Moto’s necklace, but this—this was what brought him to his knees.

“Seto, I know you’ve got nothing better to do tonight.” Mokuba had said, and if it weren’t a phone call Seto had no doubt his little brother would be fixing him with the trademark Kaiba stare, the one he reserved for board meetings and press conferences and had inadvertently passed on to his sibling. “You’re gonna come and you’re gonna be polite and you’re gonna have a drink and you will leave no earlier than ten.”

“I have no interest in hanging out with the dweeb patrol.”

“Seto Kaiba I know where you keep your deck and if you think I won’t hold your cards hostage you are sorely mistaken.”

The CEO stopped typing his reply to the millionth email of the day at that. “Is that a threat, little brother?”

“It’s a promise. You need human interaction and if I have to be the one to socialize you, I will.”

The serious tone of his voice plus firsthand knowledge of how crafty Mokuba could be when he wanted (Seto would never forget the pancake batter in his shampoo incident) made Seto wary to call his bluff. Taking his hands off the computer leaning back in his chair, he breathed out as loudly as possible to communicate that he was not a fan of Mokuba’s demands but that he would do it anyway.

“Good, it’s settled. Remember, you don’t have to be nice, just polite.” There was too much satisfaction in his little brother’s voice and Seto could feel the smug smile through the phone.

“If you’re lucky I might be cordial.” He huffed as Mokuba hung up, his last words to not be late and for the love of god don’t wear that trenchcoat.

Presently, Seto was replaying the conversation as the car slowed to the front of Yugi’s apartment complex. In hindsight, he should’ve just moved his deck and maybe left the country until Mokuba’s annoyance wore off to avoid any pranks that would ensue, changed his phone number so no one could contact him, then reappear in a Blue-Eyes themed blaze of glory with a new tournament or the schematics for a new virtual reality game that would prove his solitude was an asset rather than a detriment.

Socialization. Mokuba and Roland were enough socialization for him, plus there were the other executives and his assistant and he answered all his emails personally. He was very well-adjusted and had plenty of human contact, the fact that most of it was through technological means notwithstanding.

“Call if you need anything, Mr. Kaiba.” Roland waved as Seto stepped out of the car.

“I need you to take me home.” Seto adjusted his tie, looking at his scowling reflection in the car window. He may have not worn the trenchcoat, but he would be damned if he didn’t go out looking like he was ready to crush whatever mere mortal dared speak to him.

“Not until ten.” Roland laughed as Seto glared. Of course he and Mokuba were co-conspirators. Fondly, Seto remembered a time when Roland would shatter under his anger. “It’s three hours, Seto. If you can last through a conference call with Pegasus you can make nice with the nerd herd—” here Roland took his hands off the wheel to emphatically do air-quotes “—long enough to appease Mokuba and maybe even enjoy yourself.”

Scandalized, Seto slammed the car door as loud as he could and whipped around, ignoring the muffled from the car. “You’re fired!” he yelled as Roland drove away, causing a woman walking her dog across the street to turn her head and fix him with a raised eyebrow.

He hadn’t even made it into the party or whatever the fuck this thing was before he felt like strangling the next person that spoke to him. This was a prime example as to why Mokuba’s plan to socialize him like a feral cat fresh from the shelter was ill-conceived and probably a torture method banned by the Genera Convention.

Why hadn’t he just moved his deck and left the country?

Thinking of how this torture would most likely buy him another sixty days of Mokuba not plotting to kill him via friendship, he squared his shoulders and steadied his breathing. Polite. Mokuba said he had to be polite, not nice or friendly and his little brother had certainly not demanded he enjoyed himself. Roland had only said that to get a rise out of him and god damn had it worked.

Apartment B23—god when was the last time he’d even set foot in an apartment? Probably when he visited Mokuba a few months ago. Seto had taken about five steps into the dorm room and promptly decided that the cramped space and plastic mattresses and general lack of anything that would provide privacy deemed it unlivable. How Mokuba lived with a roommate he would never begin to understand.

It wasn’t difficult to find Yugi’s apartment, the too-loud music a veritable death omen. Steeling himself and forcing his face into a neutral expression, he rapped on the door and waited with bated breath.

The door swung open, and Seto saw the spiky, obscenely gelled hair of his sworn rival. “Kaiba!” Yugi’s voice was so cheery and genuinely happy that Seto almost felt bad for writing off this evening as a waste of time.

Almost.

“Come on in!” Stepping out of the way so Seto could enter, Yugi hollered his arrival over the music. “Kaiba’s here, everyone!”

Seto was afraid of who “everyone” was.

“It’s so great that you could come,” Yugi was smiling and Seto found it in him to politely smile back, not a real smile but enough to appease the shorter man. “Mokuba’s already here—let’s get you a drink and join the party!”

“I’m not drinking nasty cheap beer.”

Fuck. That was not polite or cordial.

Maybe it was because he hadn’t seen Yugi in a while since Mokuba was the one who was unironically friends with their little group, but he expected the other to give him a disappointed look and lecture him on how he should be nicer and open to friendship and all that. Instead, Yugi simply laughed and beckoned Seto to follow him to the kitchen.

Well alright.

The unmistakable voices of Tristan and Duke grew louder as he ventured deeper into the apartment, which certainly meant Wheeler was lurking around some corner ready to nip at his heels like the annoying mutt he was. He had already been rude to Yugi, and though that had been met with laughter (why were all of his scathing remarks not landing today he wondered) Wheeler would certainly try and fight him—physically and/or verbally. Mokuba would not be happy with him if he couldn’t resist the temptation and Seto knew his little brother would be watching him the whole night.

He couldn’t believe his little brother now doubled as his babysitter.

“Okay, so,” Yugi opened the fridge. “There’s beer in here—obviously Tristan brought the Natty but there’s a variety in there if you want. There’s white wine too, just don’t touch the Riesling, that’s Téa’s. Mai bought some really fancy stuff I can’t pronounce—basically we have everything.”

“Thanks.” Seto said. If Mai was here then there would be at least one person he could tolerate. “You went all out, I see.”

“I had to, it’s Téa and Joey’s welcome back party.” Yugi beamed. “They flew in from New York yesterday and we haven’t seen them in person in so long we had to celebrate.”

A welcome back party? Mokuba had mentioned that Wheeler had left for whatever reason, but Seto had assumed it was a permanent situation. Why on earth would Mokuba require he go to a party in Wheeler’s honor?

“I’ll be in the living room!” Yugi made his exit, leaving Seto alone in the kitchen.

Grabbing a plastic wine glass, which is something he’d never though he’d do ever in his life, Seto went straight for the wine Mai brought as she had an above average taste in pretty much everything. Maybe if he started with the quality alcohol he could stomach drinking the shitty stuff when he got buzzed.

Pouring himself a generous glass, Seto stared at the buttery yellow color of the wine and immediately decided that if he were going to get through this night he needed to get a head start.

He would never admit this even on pain of death, but he shotgunned that wine like a frat boy during hell week, not even bothering to enjoy the taste. He then poured another, more reasonable glass and took great comfort in the fact no one would be the wiser.

“—and then—shut the fuck up Duke you don’t get to tell the story—then this shithead tells me that no open containers in the pit and I’m all ‘if you give me two fucking seconds this drink will be gone’ and he threw me out!”

Seto took a long sip of wine.

“Hey, look who’s here!” Duke cut off a very inebriated Tristan who was still trying to continue the story. “Look at that, Seto Kaiba himself drinking out a plastic glass.”

“Take a picture, Devlin.” Seto quipped.

“I just might—I’ll even tag you in it.” Duke laughed and Seto felt like he’d been robbed once again of engaging in verbal fisticuffs. “Scoot over, asshole—Kaiba you can sit here.”

“So you can spill your drink on him?” Mai said, and Kaiba was relieved to see that there was a spot next to her on the loveseat. “I saved you a spot, Seto.”

“Thank you,” he said, and he truly did mean it.

“Why do you get to call him by his first name?” Tristan took a long sip of that nasty canned shit that was closer to cat piss than beer.

“Because I don’t test his patience like you do,” Mai returned, smiling over the edge of her glass. “And I beta test all the VR technology.”

Seto surveyed the room as they traded banter over who could call him what. Mokuba wasn’t in the room, which was surprising given that there wasn’t a lot of other places to be. It did seem that there was a balcony, and Wheeler’s little sister—god rest that child’s soul for having to share genetic material with that dog—was standing out there, talking to someone he couldn’t see. Tristan, Duke, Yugi, and Bakura were all crammed onto the couch, meaning that Wheeler, Téa, and Mokuba were the only ones unaccounted for.

“I’m glad I’m not the only one that dressed up.” Mai held out her own plastic wine glass for a toast. “Yugi said it was casual but I never learned the meaning of that word.”

Seto tapped his glass against hers, the toast not as satisfying since there was no clink but he wouldn’t say no to drinking more. That first glass he’d downed was starting to make his cheeks heat up but he was not nearly buzzed enough to take the edge off.

“Téa!” Tristan called, and Seto looked over his shoulder to see her emerging from the bathroom. “Can you get me another beer pretty please?”

“I thought this was supposed to be my party.” Téa rolled her eyes in a manner Seto was actually impressed by. He remembered her as the annoying little cheerleader on the sidelines at their duels, somehow getting into every tournament despite never being invited. Maybe her time in New York had shaped her into more than a megaphone for friendship speeches.

“It is, that’s why I need more beer.” Tristan countered, pointing finger guns at her and earning him a laugh. “Thank you Téa, I love you!”

Gross. Seto drank again.

The conversation and music blended into white noise around him. Tristan and Duke were telling another story, cutting each other off every other word and being generally loud. If Seto were inclined to such things he might find it amusing. Yugi and Bakura were laughing and asking questions like their story wasn’t just a retelling of some boneheaded drunken scheme and needed elaboration and explanation. Téa came back with the beer and her own drink before settling down next to Yugi on the already cramped couch, the two of them sharing a smile before Yugi laid his arm around her shoulders and kissed her.

Oh. Gross. Seto finished his wine and tried to forget he’d witnessed that.

“Where’s our other guest of honor?” Seto asked Mai. He wasn’t sure why he was even interested in knowing. He blamed it on the alcohol.

“Outside with Mokuba and Serenity.”

Serenity. That was the sister’s name. Seto tried to remember that in case he had to talk to her later.

As if on cue, the door to the balcony slid open. Mokuba and Serenity came through first, followed by the faint smell of cigarette smoke and then Wheeler.

Holy shit. Was that really Wheeler?

“Kaiba took your spot, Joey.” Tristan said.

“Guess I’m gonna hafta sit on your lap then.” Joey was still loud as ever, with his stupid accent and stupid hair and stupid face.

What was definitely not stupid was how he looked—Seto remembered him as this gangly little fucker that was the only person in the room the same height as him and never knew his place, dressed in jeans and a t-shirt and knockoff sneakers making it look like he’d rolled out of bed seconds before leaving the house. Now, Wheeler was even taller—probably taller than Seto though he was loathe to even think about it—and he was tanned like he’d spent day after day working outside (here Seto glanced down at his hands and was smacked in the face by how pale he was), and his shoulders were broader and his he was much more muscular, the sleeves of his halfway unbuttoned gaudy Hawaiian shirt looking like they could barely contain his biceps.

The fashion could use some work. Wheeler looked like a white suburban dad in his Hawaiian shirt and jeans.

“Mai, you want anythin’ from th’ kitchen?” When the fuck had Wheeler crossed the room? Seto buried his nose in his cup and tried not to think of how he’d been appraising the mutt’s body.

“If you’re offering, you can grab the bottle I brought.” Mai held her cup out to him. “Try it, you might like it.”

“This what you and moneybags are drinkin’?”

Moneybags. Those were fighting words. Seto couldn’t help himself.

“What? Did you expect me to drink the same swill as you, mutt?”

God damn it. Now Mokuba, who had pulled up two chairs for Serenity and him to sit in, would know he’d not been “polite” or “cordial” or any variant thereupon.

The whole room interrupted in cheers and Seto was absolutely fucking floored.

“Take a drink!” Wheeler held up Mai’s wine and downed the rest of the glass, as did everyone else in the room, even Mokuba who looked like he could barely contain his laughter. “��Dere he is, same ol’ Kaiba.”

“What the fuck just happened?” Seto turned to Mai.

“When Joey found out you were coming he said we all drink whenever you call him a dog-themed insult.” Mai didn’t even try to hide her amusement. “So unless you want all of us to be absolutely hammered I would get creative.”

Slumping back into the cushions, Seto was inclined to throw a tantrum. Wheeler was supposed to return fire, not take their verbal sparring and make it into a goddamn drinking game.

Was he in the twilight zone? He had to be. This had to be a hallucination.

When Wheeler returned, he handed the bottle to Mai and made good on his promise to sit on Tristan’s lap. Seto’s head was still spinning as Mai poured him another glass so he didn’t even get to relish in Tristan pushing him onto the floor and pouncing on him, the two of them roughhousing like elementary schoolers.

“Let’s play a game!” Yugi turned down the music.

“Not Duel Monsters, a game we can all play together.” Téa added as Wheeler perked up from where he was pinned under Tristan. “This is my party too, Joey, don’t give me that look.”

“A’right, a’right. What’d you have in mind, T?” Wheeler shoved Tristan off of him and Seto tried not to think of muscles.

He couldn’t decide if he needed to drink more or stop drinking for the rest of his life.

Seto missed the discussion of what game they would play. He vaguely heard their voices but he was mostly focused on his wine and how he would never be able to show his face in public again if he kept these thoughts about Wheeler and his dumb broad shoulders and his dumb biceps and how his dumb hands looked so rough and strong and so unlike his own lily-white smooth ones.

Fuck. Seto drained his wine and set the cup firmly down. He needed to take a break and regain control over himself.

The nerd herd had decided they would play Monopoly. Seto had never played but it surely couldn’t be that difficult. Wheeler was positioned directly across from him, as if purposefully tempting Seto with the exposed skin of his chest—what had possessed that mutt to not button all the way up? Mere minutes after it had started, Seto broke his prohibition on drinking and poured himself another glass.

It was eight now. He only had to survive until ten, then he could call Roland and be spirited away.

Monopoly, as Seto soon discovered, was hell.

“I don’t understand how I’m supposed to win.” He groused. Mai’s wine was long since gone and they’d both had to move on to subpar red wine that only went down because Seto was riding the line between a strong buzz and drunk. “Anyone who gets Boardwalk is guaranteed victory.”

Bakura was the proud owner of a Boardwalk hotel. “Oh surely you can afford it, Kaiba.”

“If this were real money, then yeah, ‘course.” Seto begrudgingly handed over the money and crossed his arms tightly over his chest, well aware he resembled a child rather than the CEO of a multi-billion dollar company.

“C’mon moneybags, you can pull off the upset.” Wheeler chided him, laughing as he drank his Blue Moon, which was weirdly high quality for him. “If ya’ can’t what’ll ya’ shareholders think?”

“It’s not the same, Wheeler.” Seto had wisely refrained from dog-themed insults.

“Okay, I seriously have to pee.” Duke interrupted. “Let’s take five and then we can go back to humiliating Kaiba.”

A break sounded like a good idea. Seto regretted wearing business casual, as between the alcohol and the long sleeves he was sweltering. Extricating himself from the loveseat and gingerly stepping over Yugi and Téa, who were sitting next to each other and holding hands under the coffee table and being generally gross and affectionate, he made his way to the balcony. His legs were a bit wobbly from sitting down so long, the alcohol not helping, but he kept himself relatively composed as he slid the door open and stepped out.

It was blessedly cool outside. He closed the door behind him and stepped to the railing, leaning on it and enjoying the feeling of the night air. The last time he’d looked at the clock it was eight, and as he pulled out his phone to check it he was surprised it was a quarter to ten.

Huh. That hadn’t felt like almost two hours.

Behind him, the door opened and shut. Seto turned around to see Wheeler holding two plates, an unlit cigarette hanging out of his mouth.

Oh god.

“Yain’t eaten all night, rich boy. Here, have some cake.” Wheeler put a plate on the railing in front of him and pulled out a lighter.

“What the hell is this?”

“Never seen cake before?” Wheeler puffed on his cigarette and stabbed the cake with a plastic fork. Did Yugi not believe in real flatware?

“Of course I’ve seen cake before.” Seto contained the mutt at the end of his sentence. “Why did you bring me some? And since when the hell did you smoke?”

“I only smoke when I drink. Nothin’ compliments a night of drinkin’ like a nicotine buzz.” Wheeler smiled though a mouthful of cake and Seto wanted to reprimand him for being so uncouth but his alcohol-addled mind could only think of how disgustingly cute he looked with frosting on the corner of his mouth. “An’ to answer ya’ other question, I brought ya’ some because you and Mai been guzzling drinks all night and neither one of ya’s eaten. I ain’t cleanin’ up vomit at my own party, moneybags. Plus, Téa makes the best chocolate cake.”

Seto looked down at the confection precariously placed on the railing, eyeing it with suspicion. Had Wheeler actually done something nice for him? Now that he was looking at food, he realized he actually hadn’t eaten since breakfast this morning and it would be a good idea to eat. No other reason.

Silence fell over the balcony as Wheeler smoked his cancer stick and they ate their cake. Seto was pleasantly surprised. Wheeler hadn’t been lying about Téa’s baking abilities. Unlike Wheeler, who had shoveled in the cake like he was a prisoner on death row and it was his last meal, Seto exercised some restraint, eating in neat, careful bites.

It was strange how quiet Wheeler was being. Seto had never been within a hundred feet of the guy without the two of them berating each other, which would culminate in a duel that Seto would win and Wheeler would vow to win the next one. It was their ritual and Seto didn’t know what to make of this amicable silence between them.

Just as Seto was beginning to feel comfortable with the silence, Wheeler spoke.

“Would ya’ believe me if I said I missed ya’?”

Seto choked.

“’M gonna take that as a no.” Wheeler thumped his back and Seto tried not to think of how big the mutt’s hands were as they rested between his shoulder blades. “’Das my fault rich boy, didn’t mean t’ make ya’ choke.”

“Then what did you mean to do? Give me a heart attack perhaps?” Seto spat, violently ignoring how heat, blush heat not alcohol heat, was in his cheeks and how Wheeler’s big dumb stupid warm hand was still on his back.

“I apologized, Kaiba. Didn’t know ya’d react like that.” Wheeler was smiling, his eyes holding an indiscernible look. Seto remembered there used to be only anger when Wheeler looked his way and desperately wished this was all a cosmic joke because there were too many new variables. Seto Kaiba had two emotions: disappointment and rage. When it came to Mokuba there were more, but Wheeler was not Mokuba and he didn’t get the benefit of Seto’s emotional range. Wheeler wasn’t angry though. If Seto had to put a name to what he saw in Wheeler’s eyes it would have to be fondness.

Disgusting. The mutt couldn’t just look at him like that.

Seto thought back to how this party was a violation of the Geneva Convention.

“It’s true, though.” Wheeler continued, moving his hand to Seto’s shoulder and suddenly the night air wasn’t so cool anymore. “I did miss ya’ Kaiba.”

Did Wheeler think this was some Nicolas Sparks novel? Did Wheeler expect him to say he missed him too?

“Why are you telling me this?” Seto asked, his gut twisting, the chocolate cake threatening to come back up. What. The. Fuck. He hadn’t seen Wheeler in forever and now because he’d come back with sunkissed skin and broad shoulders and thick muscles and Seto’s emotions were threatening to get the better of him? Un-fucking-believable. It had to the be the alcohol.

“I dunno actually. I just wanted ya’ to know. Back in th’ day we’d be at each other’s throats and I missed you and ya’ snarky attitude and ya’ dumbass trenchcoat and that godawful dragon jet. There ain’t nobody quite like you Seto Kaiba.” Wheeler squeezed his shoulder and smiled and Seto felt like he was staring into the sun. Seto fought to keep his face neutral and thought about how he was going to shave Mokuba’s head in his sleep for making him come to this stupid party and making him see stupid Wheeler and have stupid fucking emotions he never should’ve had in the first place.

“Ya’ don’ have to say anythin’ back. Just wanted ya’ to know that and that I’m glad ya’ could come tonight. You’re a sight for sore eyes, Kaiba.” Wheeler dropped his hand from Seto’s shoulder and Seto desperately wished that he didn’t want to grab it and put it back. The mutt gathered their empty plates and fixed Seto with another smile. “C’mon, we got a game to finish.”

“I’ll be inside in a minute.” Seto said, angry he lacked the normal acerbic edge to his voice.

Wheeler closed the door behind him and Seto could hear muffled voices welcoming his return. What the ever loving fuck had just happened?

His phone buzzing shocked him out of his reverie. Roland was calling.

Placing the phone to his ear and leaning heavily on the balcony, Seto answered. “What?” he spat, still not happy with the man from his earlier quip.

“It’s five past ten Mr. Kaiba. You ready for me to come pick you up?”

Retrospectively, Seto should’ve known that’s what Roland was calling about. He looked over his shoulder into Yugi’s apartment, and could see they were all talking and laughing and Wheeler had Yugi in a headlock and they all looked happy. Maybe it was because of the alcohol, maybe because there seemed to be no more bad blood from days long past, maybe it was because Seto Kaiba really had nothing better to do tonight, but he wanted to go back in to Yugi’s quaint little apartment and maybe have a few more drinks and maybe try to win that godforsaken Monopoly game.

“Actually, Roland, I think I’ll stay a bit longer. You might say I’m enjoying myself.”

[sonderfulrose]

In your approaching Room d้cor project, why not look at ornamenting your indoor and outside with deluxe collection of metallic pendant lights that incredibly go with your rooms, no make any difference, regardless of whether the setting is equipped a modish, place or business furnishings and fixtures. Soccer Metropolis will host a Tri-Nations around the world rugby event next month amongst South Africa and Clean Zealand and foreseeable future area games - with the extra social benefit of drawing white rugby enthusiasts into Soweto township and boosting racial reconciliation.

Sunbrella® fabrics for POLYWOOD home furniture are offered in a variety of colors and styles. They are nevertheless remaining mistreated and warred with by their have elected government, and this has remaining the voting African nation befuddled and bamboozled. With the help of patio heaters you can be certain that you've got a great time with your close friends and spouse and children close to and with patio heaters there to conserve all of you warm and comfy through the winters. Protesters termed on the African Countrywide Congress-led authorities to ban labor brokers, who obtain lower-income relaxed staff members for enterprises. There have been and there are still men and gals who are willing to put their existence and fortune on the line just to see their people acquire total liberty and equality so extended denied them in the United Claims of The us. The South Africans are viewing conclusion up with billion dollar stadiums and a significant bill, which in the stop, remaining all lousy South Africans a lot more poor than they ended up in advance of the Entire what is the best patio furniture to buy world Cup. For the buy of home furnishings appropriate covers, there are a lot of conditions in which people believe that that they have far more chances to earn effecting by rust.

Hanover Outside Strathmere 6-Piece Fire Pit Lounge Set with Faux Stone Tile Prime is unquestionably a whole lot for folks who are planning to buy a high quality strategy. It truly is a fantastic time to scrub all mildew, moss, and dirt from your patios and deck furniture. Wood patio home furniture ought to have a protective sealant executed to it. This seals the picket from moisture calendar year round, which is primarily important all through the winter season months. But when you are taking into consideration your wants for garden home furnishings also believe that individuals occasions when you want to relax in your back garden in the sunlight. If you might be pondering to acquire minimal good quality outside patio home furnishings covers, be sure to recall individuals covers will last only number of decades. So what takes place if you really don't use an outside patio home furniture include? Most of the items they sell are of a good excellent, and comparatively a very minimal price tag tag. Maximize your outside area by deciding on an outside dining furniture set that contains a comprehensive-sized table and four to six chairs. Black Jamaica Wicker Set - Black - Cosco on the internet bargains. So ordinary South Africans could not be faulted in boasting impatiently to Mashele and Qobo — undixelela zonke izigigaba zika rhulumente ngoba ucinga ukuba bendilele yonke leminyaka?

[sirlennon]

When you might be trying to find the perfect patio home furnishings to make improvements to the good quality and consolation of your outdoor summertime dwelling, you need to have to devote in anything that will hold up around time, however even now present a snug lounging experience. Sunday Instances Editor, Hartley, say that was Africa was arrested by a big number of policemen in an operation which was evidently developed to intimidate the media. This is the largest warehouse in the U.S.A. They offer you high-quality and classy Area home furniture and equipment at a very cost-effective rate.

Sunbrella® fabrics for POLYWOOD furniture are marketed in a range of hues and types. They are however currently being mistreated and warred with by their have elected government, and this has left the voting African state befuddled and bamboozled. With the help of patio heaters you can ensure that you have a good time with your friends and family all over and with patio heaters there to retain all of you warm and at ease through the winters. Protesters known as on the African National Congress-led federal government to ban labor brokers, who locate minimal-income relaxed staff members for firms. There have been and there are however guys and females who are prepared to put their existence and fortune on the line just to see their people acquire total freedom and equality so extended denied them in the United Claims of The us. The South Africans are viewing finish up with billion dollar stadiums and a huge bill, which in the finish, remaining all lousy South Africans far more lousy than they ended up before the Environment can you wash outdoor furniture covers Cup. For the buy of home furnishings appropriate addresses, there are quite a few conditions in which people feel that they have a lot more prospects to gain effecting by rust.

Hanover Outside Strathmere 6-Piece Fire Pit Lounge Set with Faux Stone Tile Prime is certainly a ton for people who are scheduling to invest in a high-quality approach. It really is a fantastic time to scrub all mildew, moss, and dirt from your patios and deck furnishings. Wood patio furniture are entitled to a protective sealant executed to it. This seals the wood from dampness 12 months round, which is particularly important during the winter season months. But when you happen to be considering your requirements for back garden home furnishings also think all those times when you want to loosen up in your back garden in the solar. If you happen to be thinking to invest in reduced high-quality outdoor patio furnishings covers, please don't forget those people addresses will previous only several decades. So what comes about if you really don't use an outdoor patio furniture deal with? Most of the things they sell are of a good high quality, and comparatively a very minimal price tag tag. Hence, generally people choose teak pieces when they are coming to furniture get. And extra engaged customers, who shell out at least an hour a day on the site, have clocked 150 days feeding the Facebook beast in the course of the similar time. How did the ANC deal with to dupe the people of South Africa?” ask Prince Mashele and Mzukisi Qobo, the authors of a contemporary e book, The Fall of the ANC: What upcoming?