#did you guys see the level 5 vision thing with the new game
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jobbot · 2 months ago
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hydrogen bomb vs coughing baby
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gothicprep · 8 months ago
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Does the “woke” critique ever really go beyond “this has gay people/poc/women in if they’re pushing their agenda” type stuff? Personally I don’t think I’ve heard “Mary sue” get used since Rey Starwars, everything I’ve seen lately is just foaming at the mouth when a story doesn’t exclusively center white men
there’s a version of the critique that’s just that, and there’s another version of it that’s something to the effect of “it seems like some writers use IP to tell a story *they* would like to tell, regardless of how it works in the IP”. the former one is just whiny. the second one, as far as I can tell, is probably a real critique, because i can think of examples of this being brought up where representation isn’t involved in ~the discourse~ around it at all.
this happened in like 2015 back when fallout 4 came out. if you don’t know anything about fallout, here’s the quick TL; DR. nuclear war happens. americans take shelter in vaults built by the vault-tec corporation. some of the vaults turn out to be weird social experiments set up to study human behavior. vault 95 was housed with only drug addicts and there were no drugs in the vault, except 5 years in, a massive stash of drugs would be revealed in a hidden location in the vault. the problem is that one of the logs the player can find is written by a delivery man where he says he’s delivering a shipment of jet, a fictional drug in the game that’s a weird cross between meth and jenkem, made from fumes of radiated cattle dung. but this was invented after the bombs dropped, so there was no way for a pre-war delivery man was bringing a shipment of it.
this is a problem that’s very easy to fix in a video game. just change the text in the next patch. instead, what happened was the guy who wrote that quest doubled down, and did it again when fans were pointing out the clear flaws in his logic. and the writer responded with “not interested in discussing how realistic things are in an alternate universe post-apoc game w/ talking mutants and ghouls.” and a lot of game and tech news sites backed him up on making fun of fans for daring to complain about lore inconsistencies.
and like, on some level, yeah. it’s just a story. maybe you shouldn’t take it too seriously. but part of the flip side of that is that if you stop taking it seriously, you stop consuming it. bethesda didn’t create fallout, they’re just it’s current owners. people working there might care about fallout to some extent, but when push comes to shove, they prioritize their own visions. and stuff like this is ultimately how they view it. if you’re a fan of fallout, it means something to you. that’s why you enjoy it. but to them it’s only a vehicle for their new story. if they can get away with not respecting old lore – not just to save face, but also because the old lore gets in the way of the story they want to tell – and they believe that you’ll continue consuming the product, what incentive do they have to respect the old lore.
and, how many times have you heard a story like this? how many tv shows? how many video games? how many movies has something equivalent has this happened to? people take these things seriously because they love them. when they see inconsistencies, they’re worried that the new stewards don’t actually care. and when those new stewards lash out like this, it just confirms to fans that these creatives only want to wear a skin suit of the thing that they love.
that’s the best steelman I have for that, anyway.
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mizutori-heiko · 3 years ago
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Mizutori’s bakudeku fanfiction master list [complete works]
Really really good writing by these incredible authors. In no particular order! These are all Top!Bakugou and Bottom!Deku. If A/B/O dynamics then it’s Alpha!Bakugou and Omega!Deku. Yes, I have preferences.
Canon World – until 15k
What The Fuck Did You Just Call Me? by reading_raindrop | 8,303 | Izuku starts calling him Bakugou and it pisses the explosive teen off a lot more than he thought it would.
Oh right, you were a little sh*t by SaysiWrites | 5,653 | When Midoriya Izuku gets hit by an age-reversion Quirk, the last thing anyone expected to find out is that Toddler-Izuku is a little shit. Except for one Bakugou Katsuki, who has seen this phase one too many times already. (Bonus+ the entire Little Sh*t (Kidfic) series)
Do Not Disturb by surveycorpsjean | 10,010 | Apply enough force, and something is bound to break.
And Atlas fell by supercrunch | 15,185 | They move in together, after a while. Katsuki joins Best Jeanist and Izuku trains under Gran Torino. They still take comfort in each other every day, curl up in bed and kiss and talk about how life is going. Their live are tumultuous, after all, what with villains and training and rescuing people every week. It’s nice to have something certain. At the end of a day filled with violence and adrenaline, Izuku knows he can come home to someone concrete. It’s perfect. Being a hero is scary and grueling and uncertain, but this part is just right. And then, one day, a child dies in Izuku’s arms.
be loved by bonnia | 5,403 | The kidnapping incident leaves bakugou traumatised about being touched on the back of his neck, and midoriya decides to take matters into his own hands.
Big Protein by Mysecretfanmoments | 13,683 | Bakugou Katsuki has a thriving hero career, an agent to manage his famous attitude, and absolutely zero romantic interest in anyone. With the exception of his favourite health food joint refusing to expand to his city, his life is pretty damn perfect—so why does a viral video revealing Deku's stash of dirty mags involving him and Deku together turn everything upside-down?
Chocolate cake and resin preserved flowers by Anoksun | 11,396 | Izuku loses his memories. Katsuki struggles not to lose Izuku too.
Twin Stars by theperksofbeinglarissa | 8,435 | When Deku saves a woman's life, her quirk is accidentally activated. Her quirk? She reveals a person's soulmate. A star-shaped mark appears on Midoriya's left arm... and on Bakugou's as well. Kirishima is the only one who knows that Bakugou is Midoriya's soulmate, and Bakugou isn't taking the news very well. Can the twin stars of class 1-A work out their differences and find their happy ending?
Unhealthy Fixations by Thesis | 12,522 | Izuku is an adult who knows better than to crush on his childhood bully. AND YET.
Like the Moon by osakakitty | 14,781 | Katsuki Bakugo is having constant, erotic dreams about Izuku Midoriya. He isn’t sure why, but they won’t go away. In order to make them stop, he needs to figure out what Izuku Midoriya means to him.
Worth a Second Shot by cinnabee | 13,080 | Katsuki and Izuku celebrate registering as a Hero Duo together with a big party. What could go wrong?
Like Something Out of A Shoujo Manga by Merrywetherweather | 2,971 | Deku ends up in a rather interesting quirk accident, one that triggers flag events as if he were the protagonist of an otome game.
Canon World – 15k++
Blood Moon by lalazee | 94,860 | The Thank-Fuck-We-Aren’t-Dead Sex had started then, and had never really stopped. Then came the feelings and the fights. The ego, the pride, the jealousy. And then there was Us.
The Way You Used To Do by edema_ruh | 669,463 | During a battle, Midoriya gets hit by a villain whose quirk detaches his soul from his body. Stuck in a ghost-like state, the boy enters a race against time in order to save himself from permanently dying. Much to his luck - or lack of it -, the only person who can see and talk to him in this state is no one other than Kacchan.
Just Like Breathing by MD_Daydreamer | 35,423 | Izuku got engaged. He didn't mind. If that made Uraraka happy, he could do it. He thought his life wouldn't change much.But then, Kacchan went to live in the USA.
briar roses (and hundred years of sleep) by vannral | 15,951 | In which Izuku is hit by a ‘Sleeping Beauty’ Quirk, Class 3-A tries to find his True Love and get them to kiss him, and Katsuki’s very angry about it all.
"what's your type?" by sapphicflower | 20,192 | In order to increase their popularity rankings as up and coming pro heroes, Izuku and Katsuki participate in the most popular late night talk show for hero duos - ‘Heroes Rising!’. They’re killing it, obviously, because they know each other from inside and out. Until one question stumps the two of them: “What is your hero partner’s type?”
and it was Just Right by cinnabee | 23,759 | Katsuki spends two years post-graduation in a furious one-sided competition with his childhood friend and rival's promotional photos - until they finally run into each other, and, well. You shouldn't believe everything you see in magazines. A love story about size differences.
Notice Me, Nerd by useless_donut | 40,000 | Bakugou is in love with Midoriya. He doesn’t hide it, in fact it’s so painfully obvious that the entire class of 3-A has him figured out in a matter of months (days, in some cases). Too bad Midoriya is the most oblivious motherfucker out there, and Bakugou is too damn stubborn to actually ask him out. A love story as witnessed by the class of 3-A.
in your dreams, nerd! by sapphicflower | 37,639 | In a strange and unexpected set of circumstances, Izuku and Katsuki find themselves sharing their dreams together whenever they happen to fall asleep at the same time. Being hopelessly in love with each other, they don’t mind it all that much. What better way to spend time with your crush than in a stupidly vivid dream?
Hear Me by my_name_is_Levi | 22,419 | It wasn’t as if nightmares were uncommon for the freshman class of Yuuei. They’d seen plenty of things, heard and felt and witnessed enough travesty in their lives to last them a lifetime. But Midoriya Izuku was screaming, and no one, not even Bakugo Katsuki could ignore it.
Bridges by supercrunch | 18,018 | Bakugou is signed up for a Calvin Klein modeling gig. The thing is, they really do need the money. And Katsuki's technically the leader of this bunch of morons, so he finds himself taking the job even though his pride will never recover. And even though nobody thought to tell him that he'd be working with his ex-boyfriend. You know, the cute freckled guy from high school who went and broke his heart. So, yeah. This whole situation kind of sucks.
objective truth by mamalade | 15,390 | Izuku gets hit with a truth quirk, as one does. He seems to be handling it well—until Katsuki shows up.
catharsis by dollcewrites | 15,071 | It's been six years since Izuku graduated.It's been six years since he confessed to his childhood friend; his classmate and his inspiration. It's been six years since he deleted Bakugou's number, asked his friends not to mention the name, spent every last effort of his heart turning off the TV and averting his eyes from the newspapers. It's been six, long, long years since he gave up on Katsuki Bakugou ever loving him back.
Here here, my friends and me (You are my familia) by Jeka | 128,832 | Bakugou Katsuki has made a great job of ignoring the fact that he is tragically in love with Deku, someone who could never love him like that and let's face it, he doesn't deserve. Now that he can't ignore it anymore, he has to find a way to keep his childhood friend and move on for his own sake. Or so he had thought, maybe he can have Deku, after all. Izuku has everything he always wanted in life. But suddenly he has to navigate the most important relationship in his life through different eyes.
Canon World – Jealous! 
Hands Off by SaysiWrites | 7,140 | When a new girl at school starts flirting with Bakugou, his friends quickly become invested in the idea of their friend experiencing love - even if he doesn't seem at all interested in her. What they don't see is Midoriya fuming in the background. But how can he get rid of her when they've spent so long keeping their relationship a secret?
Surfaces by surveycorpsjean | 25,225 | Katsuki has a new girlfriend, but something isn't right. As impossible as it is, Izuku can't help but wonder what it'd be like to be called Katsuki's girl.
Green-Eyed Beast by SecretKiwi | 4,721 | Everyone wants a piece of Katsuki Bakugou, but they should beware of the Green-eyed beast always lurking close behind him.
Green with Envy by Sol_Morales707 | 2,611 | Izuku Midoriya is not as innocent and pure as everyone thinks he is. The truth was he was very jealous and willing to do anything for a certain blonde.
Happy Camper by Arysa | 7,074 | Wanting a break from the stress of dealing with the rookie Pro Hero grind, a handful of students from Class A decide to go on a camping trip. Izuku's excited to relax and catch up with everyone, especially Kacchan. But, well, Kacchan's... Kacchan. And dating Kirishima.
How to stop time: kiss by Teddingtons | 31,693 | Deku finally asks Uraraka out. Everyone's supportive except Bakugou who can't even look him in the eye. Deku seeks him out after and is hit with truth.
What I Deserve by s_the_queen | 16,671 | When Izuku starts dating a student in General Studies, everyone is happy for him. She's super sweet and really caring. But something doesn't sit right with Katsuki.
Deku's Already Fucking Taken by asdfjkl129 | 20,704 | 5 times people don't realize that Deku is already in a very happy relationship and try their hand at asking him out, and then in Bakugou's unique and special style, get very firmly corrected, +1 time where no correction is needed.
His by sister_elric | 6,206 | Izuku would like to consider himself a pretty level headed individual. Sure, he had the occasional tunnel vision, especially when it came to training. And hero work. And Kacchan. But, overall, Midoriya felt as though he typically kept his cool. Well, maybe that was a stretch. But, at the very least he could understand his own emotions. So, it surprised even him when an unfamiliar emotion coursed through him as a first year approached his boyfriend, Katsuki.
Down the Red Line by MinervaHope | 7,804 | Izuku has been able to see the red strings of fate since birth. It's no surprise that his is connected to Katsuki.
Canon World – Fake Relationship Goes Wrong
how he should’ve known (and how it turned out) by vannral | 43,918 | In which Katsuki and Izuku pretend to be a couple to avoid journalists, the plan backfires magnificently because of course it does, and the act goes on. Includes feelings, pining, domestic fluff and jealousy.
Vicious by feelslikefire | 105,173 | Midoriya and Bakugou wind up in the very last position either of them thought they'd be in: Hero Partners. It's not fun, but they learn to cope. Their first big assignment together takes them undercover to infiltrate a cult, but the situation turns out far more sinister than they first thought.
What I can never tell you by Mikacrispy | 27,067 | After living in the US for 5 years, Izuku returns to take care of a concussed Bakugou who believes they're engaged. Now, Izuku has to pretend he's in a relationship with the man he's loved for most of his life, knowing that it's just a matter of time until Katsuki gets better and realizes it's all a lie.
Not-Dating by MiraChaDoodles | 14,290 | Katsuki takes Deku on a not-date to save his career, only to find himself wishing it were real.
we'll do the things that lovers do by ethereals | 29,544 | Izuku gets an invitation to Shouto's wedding and Katsuki is PISSED that he asks Kirishima to be his date (also he wasn't even fucking invited
Canon World – Friends With Benefits (?) 
Four Times Bakugou Katsuki Doesn't Intend to Sleep With Midoriya Izuku (And the One Time that He Does) by fallingraine85 | 17,601 | He hadn’t planned for any of this. He isn’t about to go delving into the ball of yarn that is Midoriya Izuku’s heart; he isn’t equipped to try and untangle and make sense of it all. He isn’t about to try to analyze how he’s feeling about all of this, either.... How many times can you repeat the same mistake?
We Wear Chains on the Weekend by surveycorpsjean | 35,086 | Well, in a day of revelations, it turns out that Izuku isn't as vanilla as Katsuki previously thought. Unfortunately, that fascinating discovery is overshadowed by Izuku's dumbassery, because he has zero concept of aftercare."Don't go to anyone else," Katsuki says, because screw it. He can do a better job anyways. Or; Katsuki finds Izuku on a bad drop.
Just for Now by Shiro_Kabocha | 48,135 | Katsuki's parents are out of town over a school break and to keep him from getting up to any shenanigans, they ask Izuku to house sit with him. What are two teenaged boys to do when left alone to their own devices? (Bonus+ the entire Just for Love series)
safe in the darkness by yoonskisses | 20,855 | Izuku and Katsuki had been meeting up secretly for months, with absolutely no feelings involved. Or so Katsuki thought at least. The dorm gossip about Ochaco and Izuku's new relationship seemed to set a spanner in the works for their arrangement.
Alternative Universe – No Quirks
Bluebird by EtherealBeing | 53,108 | Dialing a wrong number was no unusual occurrence. Everyone did it once in a while, and Katsuki was well aware of that fact. However, possessing this knowledge made it no less aggravating for him to discover — a full two minutes into his rant about his day — that he’d been venting his frustrations to a complete stranger. As if that wasn't enough, said stranger was also inexplicably determined to hear his story to its end.
Someone Borrowed by mynameis152 | 138,996 | It felt like hours that he stared at Izuku, coming to terms with the fact that a man, his childhood best friend, whom he hadn’t seen since their senior year of high school, was there in front of his very eyes. Then his brows furrowed and his jaw clenched before he uttered through gritted teeth the very name Izuku had longed to hear for years. “Deku.”
Dark Side of the Sun by Synnie | 51,598 | Staying up too late playing video games, Kirishima wasn't expecting to get an urgent call begging for help. Next thing he knew, he was letting his classmate Izuku Midoriya take refuge in his apartment - without consulting his always angry roommate.
Manage Me by Justaperson1718 | 10,756 | Izuku becomes Katsuki’s model agent.
Don't Set Your Drink Down by Crandberrycrush | 88,424 | With sudden clarity Izuku realized he had broken the first rule of going out. Never leave your drink unattended.
Livewire by pretty_rekless | 18,160 | Per Ochako's request, Izuku downloads a gay dating app in hopes to finally find a partner. Except every single one of his leads keep ghosting him or standing him up... That is until one hot, fiery blond enters the chat. Grindr/Tinder AU fic.
Drinking Watermelon by warschach | 8,906 | Katsuki works as a camp counselor, and Izuku is a boy made of summer heat and sunlight.
Precious Pet by Mikacrispy | 6,379 | When broke college student Midoriya Izuku found a job that offered lodging, food, and good pay for four hours of work each day, he thought it was too good to be true. But he called anyway. Turns out all he has to do is to be the spoiled little puppy of a rich businessman.
Our Eleven Summers by Dark_Mage_Ayumu | 34,472 | The first time Katsuki met Izuku was when he was eight. For the next eleven years, Izuku changed his life, and no one even knew. Their relationship was something they shared in secret.
sticky note crushes by ladyofsnails | 3,239 | Katsuki hates his roommate. The green-haired, freckled, artsy son of a bitch with his dumb pun t-shirts and paint-stained hands he can’t fucking keep to himself. Katsuki can’t leave a single assignment or paper out in his room because that idiot will just grab anything to draw on it. He’s like a shark that can’t stop swimming else it’ll die – he can’t stop drawing. Ever.
Don't Play Pretend by SweetSide | 10,103 | Actor AU: Deku and Bakugou get the leading roles for an upcoming TV Drama. They weren’t aware that they would be working with each other for who knows how long. It would’ve been completely fine if they weren’t exes.
97.6 FM by jamjars | 32,249 | Izuku can’t stop listening to the radio host with the deep voice who sounds like he’s stuck in 2010. It’s a harmless crush. That is until he starts calling into the show under the pseudonym Deku.
Read {between} Your Lines by greatcloudninja | 52,252 | Midoriya Izuku, up-and-coming actor, has finally hit his big break (...), Bakugou Katsuki, who has been acting for over twenty years.However, Bakugou seems to have it out for Izuku, leading to tension both on and off set. When some incriminating photos surface, the studio suggests (...): having Bakugou and Midoriya fake a relationship to get ahead of the rumors. 
I’m not looking for somebody with some superhuman gifts by PassingShadow | 5,522 | Izuku is a professional cuddler and Katsuki is his new client that’s just a little rough around the edges, and needs a natural healing touch.
Alternative Universe – Quirkless Deku
A Good Old-Fashioned Tattoo AU by lalazee | 14,437 | After their paths had split, Bakugou & Deku meet again as adults. While Bakugou begins to repent for the kid he used to be, he also starts to prove himself as he the man he is now.
Call Me a Safe Bet (I'm Betting I'm Not) by WTTTD | 10,803 | He wished he had some sort of heads up before seeing Deku again for the first time after nearly two years, looking like the essence of a lazy Sunday, smiling and surrounded with brand new, adoring friends. It was a little fitting that Katsuki burned for him so badly. (Support Department Deku)
In Which Kacchan Has a Ruff Time by OneshotPrincess | 14,511 | Bakugou Katsuki gets quirked into a dog, gets adopted by an unknowing Izuku and generally has a very rough few days full of realizations
While You Were Sleeping by Belkacaramelka (annabelleg) | 71,197 | The one where quirkless fanboy Midoriya Izuku rescues Pro Hero Todoroki Shouto, gets mistaken as his fiancé while he is in a coma, and gets caught up in the most unlikely fake engagement... until his childhood enemy and Todoroki's classmate Bakugou Katsuki tries to catch him out, and they both end up discovering a lot more about each other than they'd expected.
Let Me Assist You Personally by Seeress | 32,806 | Izuku is long-suffering Personal Assistant to #1 Pro Hero Dynamight.Dynamight can't keep a PA to save his career. They all quit crying after a few days weeks. Enter, Izuku—with enough money problems to brave the jaws of the cranky beast. Childhood friend turned glorified paid slave. Somehow it all works out. ‘Kill them with kindness’, his mom had told him once. If that were true, Bakugou Katsuki would be stone-cold dead by now.
Smile For The Camera by kurokonekokilled | 19,179 | Midnight has a cam site, home to millions of users, but one catches Katsuki's eye when he goes scrolled through it in search for something to help him release a little stress. A live stream and the best orgasm of his life later, his wallet is lighter, and he might be almost as obsessed with this Deku guy as the cam boy is with him.
Just Like The Comics by brichibi | 24,935 | Where Izuku works at a comic book shop because that’s as close to a hero as he’s gonna get, and Katsuki plays the part of heroic ex-boyfriend who is good at everything except winning Izuku back... maybe
Alternative Universe – Quirks
Get on my Level by Mikacrispy | 92,273 | Bakugou Katsuki is a Pro Hero whose boss demands him to take an intern. Midoriya Izuku is a UA student who needs an internship. When the two of them are put together, they learn about what it truly means to be a Hero and what it means to be in love.
A/B/O – Secret! Baby
Home by Emerald2402 | 87,214 | Midoriya Izuku left Japan in a rush, moving to America without a word to anyone else. But then almost 11 years later he arrives back Home and Bakugou Katsuki's Alpha is furious. Fuck that, Bakugou is furious, because Midoriya Izuku, an omega he tasted one time, has been keeping a very big, very blonde haired, green eyed secret.
Those Under the Same Stars by PerpetuallyPerturbed | 325,553 | When Katsuki Bakugo left Izuku Midoriya five years ago, he thought it was for forever. He put aside dreams and wishes of the omega to focus on his career. He was going to be the best hero, after all. He couldn't have an omega getting in his way. So when he's stopped on the streets one day by a pup begging for help for his mom, he isn't prepared to face what he gave up, and what the consequences of his actions were. (Quirkless Deku)
A/B/O – Quirks
Mark Me. Make Me Yours. by decadentbynature | 10,062 | Midoriya is the only Omega at UA and he's been hiding it well but there's one issue that threatens to expose him: his attraction to an Alpha, Bakugo. After being told to give some paperwork to Bakugo, Midoriya lets him into his dorm room and is immediately overwhelmed by his scent. Unable to help himself, he gives in to his urges, only to be discovered by Bakugo but instead of becoming enraged, Bakugo decides to give Midoriya exactly what he wants
Claim Me by ScientificallySinful (VampireGaaraCheesepuffs) | 114,449 | Being an Alpha has nothing to do with Katsuki's success as a Pro-Hero, the same way Deku's Omega status hasn't kept him from becoming Number Two. Secondary gender doesn't mean anything nowadays and “mating” is an antiquated practice. So when Izuku, his rival, asks Katsuki to Claim him in the middle of the night, there is only one logical thing to say. “What the fuck?”
Change of Plans by Mikacrispy | 185,965 | Alpha Pro Hero Bakugou Katsuki never planned to get married to some random omega but what he wants isn't an option anymore. One for All wielder Midoriya Izuku has suffered injustice too many times and doesn't plan in allowing his secondary gender to dictate how he must live his life. Falling in love was never in the plans.
Going Feral For You by ANGIE_fic | 17,977 | Bakugou has an aggression problem that might have to do with his Alpha. His job is on the line because of it. So what do you do with a pent up Alpha? Yes.Rut. (Quirkless Izuku)
i live for you, i long for you by jeonjeonggukkkkkie | 19,165 | The five times Izuku hinted he wants Katsuki to spend his next heat with him, and the one time Katsuki took the hint.
Baby's First Bloom by ContraryBee | 44,945 | Izuku blooms for Katsuki one warm day in their third year of middle school. What follows is both boys learning about themselves, their bond, and the society they live in.
As Fate Would Have It by ScientificallySinful (VampireGaaraCheesepuffs) | 88,737 | Katsuki Bakugo had plenty of reasons why he wasn't mated yet, not that he was going to explain why to just anyone. But now, Ground Zero was running out of time. If he didn't find someone soon, he'd lose his position as a Pro-Hero and he'd never get to be #1. So, when he finds out there's a male Omega recently arrested for prostitution that's headed to prison if he too doesn't get a mate…well it must be fate. (Quirkless Izuku)
A/B/O – No Quirks
Gravity by warschach | 71,477 | Izuku is back in his hometown and plenty hasn't changed much from the 8 years he was gone. Except, Katsuki Bakugou, the alpha king of their small town. He's hotter- because that's fair, right, God? -, stronger, a now-famous pro fighter, and noticeably nicer this round.Not that he cares, pfft. (Fine, he cares.)
Nine Months by greatcloudninja | 23,303 | Omega Midoriya Izuku connects with Alpha Bakugou Katsuki through an online singles ad. Izuku pays Katsuki to help him with his heat, ending up pregnant in the process. What follows is a pregnancy filled with ups and downs, but whatever hurdles come their way, they can make it through together.
The long dark by Ominous-Anonymous (Ominonymous) | 13,289 | He could have been really dangerous. He could be a fucking murderer for all he knew. But Izuku Midoriya, ever the reckless daredevil, was not thinking of that when he got into a car with a complete stranger. Completely ignoring the part where his mother always taught him to never gets into cars with alphas he didn't know...
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bumblesimagines · 4 years ago
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Part 8
Request: Yes or No
Sam and y/n had more development than y/n and Wanda lmao
~
You crossed your arms as you entered the room, glancing at the older man. You shared a look with Sam and Wanda, taking a seat in between Sam and Vision. You licked your lips, leaning towards Sam.
"What's this about?" You asked quietly, gaze flickering to Tony who sat in a corner.
"If I had to guess.. Probably about what happened in Lagos." Sam replied, glancing at Steve and Natasha. You frowned, looking at the Secretary of State.
"The world owes the Avengers an unpayable debt." He began, gaze sweeping over everyone in the room.
"You have.. Fought for us, protected us, risked your lives but while a great many people see you as heroes, there are some who would prefer the term 'vigilantes.'"
"And what word would you use, Mr. Secretary?" Natasha asked, studying the older man. You looked back at Tony Stark, making brief eye contact with him. It felt like an intervention. Or a teacher scolding their class after they made the sub cry.
"How about dangerous?" You frowned, looking forward when you heard his words.
"What would you call a group of US based enhanced individuals who routinely ignore borders and inflict their will wherever they choose and who, quite frankly, seem unconcerned about what they leave behind?" Mr. Secretary asked, looking over the small group in disappointed. You'd hate to admit it, but he had a point. The citizens of Sokovia were left to find new homes and the people of Lagos had to fix what had been destroyed. Mr. Secretary stepped to the side, looking at the screen. Videos began playing of all the times the Avengers caused destruction and most likely death. Wanda looked away, growing uncomfortable as the aftermath of the Lagos incident played. She already felt guilty enough about it. She had told you many times how she wished it would've gone differently. Steve noticed, frown deepening.
"That's enough." He called, watching the screen turn off.
"For the last few years, you've operated with unlimited power and no supervision. That's a decision the governments of the world can no longer tolerate." Mr. Secretary told them, hands clasped behind his back. You frowned, brows furrowing slightly.
"But we have a solution." Mr. Secretary took a book from his bodyguard, stepping forward and handing it to Wanda. Wanda picked it up, looking it over.
"The Sokovia Accords.. Approved by a hundred and seventeen countries." Wanda slid the book over to Rhodes so he could take a proper look at it. You looked at Mr. Secretary as he walked around the table.
"It states that the Avengers shall no longer be a private organization. Instead, they'll operate under the supervision of The United Nations Panel, only when and if that panel deems it necessary."
"That's such bullshit." You whispered. Mr. Secretary turned towards you, cocking a brow. Natasha let an amused smile slip while Sam covered up his snicker with a cough.
"The Avengers were created to make the world a safer place." Steve spoke up before he could address you.
"This is the middle ground." Mr. Secretary said, walking to the front again and facing everyone.
"The Accords will be ratified in a couple days." Steve turned towards Tony, earning a silent response.
"I'll leave you to discuss."
"And if we come to a decision you don't like?" Leave it to Natasha to say what was on everyones' minds. Mr. Secretary paused as he approached the door.
"Then you retire." He answered plainly. You watched him leave, picking up the cup of water infront of You You went to take a sip but it turned to ice before you could drink from it. With a small huff, you placed it down.
"That's new." Natasha called with a small smile, hoping to ease the tension in the room. You stood up, leaving the meeting room and heading to the lounge. The others followed, taking more comfortable seats on the couch. A debate quickly started between Rhodes and Sam while Steve looked through the Accords.
"Have you two thought about starting a debate club?" You asked, tapping the frozen water a few times before it finally turned back to normal water. Natasha let out a small snort, chuckling as she shook her head.
"I have an equation." Vision announced, stopping Rhodes and Sam. They turned towards him.
"In the eight years since Mr. Stark announced himself as Iron Man, the number of enhanced people has grown and during the same period, the number of world ending events has risen."
"So, it's Starks' fault?" You asked, leaning back in your seat with a tilted head. Tony scoffed from his spot on the couch, rolling his eyes.
"I'm saying, there might be a causality. Our very strength invites challenge, challenge insights conflict, and conflict... Breeds catastrophe. Oversight is not an idea that should be dismissed."
"I wish I understood half of what you said." You muttered softly, running your finger the leaf of a plant beside the seat. Natasha turned towards Tony, watching him.
"You're being uncharacteristic non-hyper verbal." Natasha pointed out softly as he looked at her with a deep sigh. Steve looked up from the Accords.
"It's cause he already made up his mind." Steve said, earning a small eye roll. Tony slowly sat up, rubbing the back of his head.
"Actually, I'm nursing a headache." He muttered as he stood up, walking towards the coffee machine. He poured himself some coffee and grabbed a bottle of pills before sighing and placing down a device. He showed an image of a young man.
"Oh, that's Charles Spencer, by the way. A great kid. Computer engineering degree, 3.6 GPA, had a floor level gig for the fall. He decided to spend his summer building sustainable housing for the people in Sokovia." Tony said, obviously agitated as he looked over everyone. You wondered why he now cared for the people who were injured during attacks.
"He wanted to make a difference although we'll never know cause we dropped a building on him while kicking ass." Everyone stayed silent as he spoke. You watched him take a pill, drinking it with the coffee.
"There's no decision making here. We need to be put in check. Whatever form that takes, I'm game. If we can't accept limitations, we're no better than the bad guys."
"Tony, when someone dies on your watch, you don't give up." Steve closed the Accords, looking at Tony with a frown.
"Who says we're giving up?"
"We are by not taking responsibilities for our actions. This document shifts the blame." Steve voiced his opinion, shrugging lightly.
"Steve, that is dangerously arrogant." Rhodes spoke up, shaking his head. Steve turned towards him.
"This is the United Nations we're talking about. It's not the world security counsel, it's not S.H.I.E.L.D, it's not HYDRA-"
"But it's run by people with agendas and agendas change." Steve pointed out as you rubbed your forehead, sighing softly. Both sides had good points but you sided with Steve. The team was obviously divided.
"What do you think, (Y/N)?" Vision asked, looking at you curiously. You licked your lips, gaze focusing on Tony.
"I'm curious as to why you care so much about this Charles guy. You've had, what was it? Eight years as Iron Man to care about the people who get hurt? Why now? Cause you realized one of those people could become the new you? Would you care this much about Charles if he had been a typical guy? No degree, no plans for the future, just a normal guy working a normal 9 to 5 job and just trying to make it through the week. I agree with Steve. What if something happens and they don't send us to help because it doesn't go with their agenda? People get hurt cause you've never set up a system to help after these things happen. You're a fucking billionaire, Tony. Make a company that's designed to help people get back on their feet after the Avengers bulldoze through cities." You said, legs crossing as you looked over everyone else. Steve gave a small nod, glad you were seeing his side. He checked his phone, abruptly standing and announcing he had to leave. You and the others watched him go in confusion.
"To answer your questions, I do care about normal people." Tony said, arms crossing. You let out a soft groan, leaning back in the couch.
"I'm sorry, what are you? Twelve? Didn't you turn twenty this year?" Tony cocked a brow, watching as you rolled your eyes and stood.
"Yeah, I did turn twenty. Surprised you knew considering you've never particularly liked me."
"Well, first impressions are everything and you did try impaling me with a branch."
"Maybe I should've."
"Alright, boys, let's calm down." Natasha called, placing a hand on your shoulder. You turned and walked towards the steps, heading down to your room at the facility. You entered and plopped down on the bed, running a hand through your hair. You tapped your foot on the ground, fingers going to the root bracelets in an attempt to relax. Wanda opened the door, closing it behind her and sitting beside you.
"What's wrong?" She asked softly, staring at you in concern. You weren't one to snap at others so quickly.
"There's so much going on. The Accords, my fucking powers, the sudden change in Nat and Tony, you possibly getting into trouble cause of the Lagos incident.. That could've been me." You breathed out. Wanda frowned, brows furrowing.
"No, it wouldn't have."
"I shot fire out of my hands and turned water to ice without meaning to. They're getting unpredictable." You looked at her, grip on the roots tightening. Wanda's gaze flickered to the window, making you turn. Part of the window was covered in a thin layer of ice.
"And that just proved my point."
"You're an incredible person, (N/N). Have faith in yourself. You'll gain control of them sooner or later. You have beautiful powers that could change and heal the world." Wanda pointed out gently, having you rest your head on her shoulder. She softly began to hum a lullaby. You didn't understand the words but her soft voice proved to be soothing.
"Thank you."
~~~~~~~~~~
"Why'd you call me again?" You asked, toying with the strings of your hoodie as you looked around the cafe. You had planned on taking a nap and watching a new show on Netflix but it seemed like Steve had other plans for you.
"Because I trust you and need your help." Steve replied, fixing his baseball cap as he tried avoiding eye contact with civilians.
"Really?" You asked softly. Steve nodded, offering a smile. He licked his lips, nodding to the tv. You turned, looking at the news. You really didn't have to considering what they were showing was right down the street.
"Your friend?" You looked back at Steve with a tilted head.
"We gotta find him before anyone else does." Steve said. You nodded, watching him. Steve had been desperately trying to find his friend, Bucky, since the attempt on Furys' life.
"I'll go in alone. We don't want to seem threatening or set him off by going in as a trio."
"(Y/N)? Being threatening? He can't even scare a baby!" Sam said in amusement, shooting you a playful grin.
"Right back at you, bird boy."
"I'm sorry, who here is named after the top bird of prey?" Sam asked, leaning forward slightly as Steve let out an amused sigh.
"Oh, I didn't know you were named after eagles." You responded, smiling in triumph when Sam huffed lightly.
"Come on, you two." Steve chuckled, leaving the cafe and heading down the sidewalk.
"I don't trust Stark." You told them, arms crossing. Sam glanced at you as Steve turned into an alleyway.
"Not surprised considering the little fight you two had."
"I think he had Vis keep an eye on me and Wanda. I snuck out while he was with Wanda in the kitchen." You told him, frowning.
"Firstly, I'm an adult-"
"That's questionable."
"-And secondly, he's not my dad." You took off the hoodie as Steve unlocked a car parked in the alleyway, giving Sam the duffle bag with his outfit. You looked at your phone when it buzzed, seeing texts from Clint.
Clint
Heard you had a fight with Stark
Clint
You're officially an Avenger now
You smiled softly, chuckling softly at the texts. You waited for the guys to finish changing before taking the earpiece from Steve. The apartment building had been nearby so you and Sam headed onto the roof while Steve entered.
"How well do you think this will go?" You asked Sam, looking for any sign of law enforcement.
"Wanna bet?"
"How much?" You looked at him, giving a small grin. Sam looked up at the sky for a moment, thinking it over.
"30 bucks. I bet this will go to shit and this dude will escape."
"I bet we'll get into serious shit but this dude will either come with us or get caught." You replied. Sam stuck out his hand, nodding. You shook it, chuckling softly. You turned your head, noticing movement.
"We've got company, Cap."
"They're approaching from the south." Sam added, attention focused on them. You heard Steve begin to talk to someone, watching the cars pull in and get ready. You turned your head, hearing the door to the roof open.
"Shit." You whispered, letting Sam pick you up and lift you into the air. You could hear the fight going on inside through the earpiece.
"Should we help?" You asked, glancing up at Sam.
"No clue." Sam replied, watching Bucky jump from the apartment onto the roof of another building. You noticed someone running at a high speed, jumping up onto the roof and knocking Bucky down.
"They have cat ears." You mumbled, pushing Sam's arms away.
"Deal with them." You motioned to the German police force on the roof, hoping down onto the roof. You raised your hand, a root shooting out and grabbing the strangers arm, refraining them from clawing at Bucky. Bucky turned his head, making eye contact with you. Your eyes widened when the man grabbed the root, using what felt like super strength to toss you off the roof. You quickly used a root to grab onto the side, breathing out a sigh of relief. Sam took care of a helicopter before flying by to grab you.
"Thanks." You breathed out, holding onto him as he followed the chase. Steve, Bucky, and the cat guy went into one of the tunnels. Sam flew in once there was an opening, trying to help Steve with the cat guy. You huffed when the cat guy grabbed Sam's ankle, pointing your hand at him and shooting a strong gust of air. The cat guy lost his grip monetarily but quickly grabbed on again. Bucky threw up an explosive so Sam quickly stopped, flinging the guy off him. Sam landed, walking past the rubble. You sighed, raising your hands as you and Sam were quickly surrounded by cops.
"Mom's gonna kill me." You whispered.
"That's what you're concerned about?" Sam asked, glancing at you in disbelief.
"We're getting arrested, (Y/N)!"
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iaintyourbro · 3 years ago
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The Unknown Journey Continues
Part 1
I know it's been a while... but I've been going down a rabbit hole with @starlight-samurai regarding time loops, Jenova, Minerva, and more fun. So I figured I'd try to put it into one post to get the insanity out of my head. Everything in here is based on things we've found by either going through more obscure Ultimanias, learning more about Dirge of Cerberus and trying to decipher what the hell Jenova is by putting together various sources - including other Square Enix games - and how they handled freakishly similar scenarios.
Did you know there is a companion mobile game for it that was out on the good old flip phones? Did you know there was an online mode in Dirge of Cerberus only available in Japan, but had story elements that were not in the main game?
The sad part is, there's still so much to go through...
(I've also had various discussions with @ourfinalheaven, Manu, who doesn't have Tumblr, so here is her Twitter. and Somebody's Nightmare (here is her Twitter). So I wanted to tag them here, as it's much more fun to discuss these ideas as a group, since it'll only help you build on and strengthen your own ideas.)
Please be aware, there will be Spoilers for FFVII - Almost all Compilation titles, Xenogears, and NieR Automata throughout this.
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So let's go on a journey where we explore what actually already exists in the compilation - including the idea of the whispers and timeloops - how Minerva may play into everything, and what exactly Jenova is capable of doing.
I asked Sesi if he'd ever played any of the NieR games, because he'd said something that made me wonder if they were going to take a similar approach. As a very, very quick high level summary: NieR Automata deals with a time loop type of idea. The androids will be rebooted and repeat the same things over and over again. This is broken when 2B is killed by A2 because she becomes infected with a virus. That being said, you have the option after Ending E to either erase all of your data and end the cycle OR you can try again. The Pods have a discussion, and one asks, "But won't they just do the same thing again?" and the other replies with "Maybe. But it could also be different this time."
Here's Sesi's message back to me when I asked him about this (cleaned up a bit since we were having a casual conversation over Discord):
Maybe I could just guess based comparatively on the Dirge storyline, because that was sort of SE's first flirtation with “robots and androids” since they’re all programmed and locked behind like task managers and shit that can shut them down. The story of the online mode for DoC that came out in Japan, we never got to see it, you’re basically an Android OC and you have to get to “the end of the level” and then essentially die, and a new one takes its place. This keeps happening until Weiss is essentially freed from being able to be task managed by the guys who are suppose to be able to control them and I know from tons of years with Square games that they’re verrrrry bad at differentiating their narratives they tend to just keep “ripping themselves off” so is it anything close to that?
Cuz if so I think I kinda know what you’re saying and yeah, I agree, I think with CC bringing in its poetic symbolism and LOVELESS, and DoC bringing back the cyclic nature of the lore, whispers, premonitions and future visions, proto-Materia and the perversion of this next cycle since the planet can no longer cleanse and protect itself and its will is weakening lesser and lesser to the point where it’s fate is “in a true sense of jeopardy This time essentially it’s all tied in together and sort of played as though it's a fated track; a cycle of events and something has hitched it, thus the whispers manifesting and Sephiroth's higher implied control over his destiny. Of course, even all that is just their new red herring game, but it’s definitely a part of the lore they want to play with, in order to go back and reMAKE the OG with the comp inserted from inception. Also gut punch a lot.
Time Loops
I was somewhat surprised to find out that this concept is NOT new to FFVII's universe. It's discussed in Dirge of Cerberus... probably one of the least played and least understood of the compilation. (Trying to sell a third person shooter with terrible controls to a market of mostly people used to turn-based combat wasn't going to go well.)
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On top of it, we didn't even get all of it, since online mode was never released outside of Japan, and the Dirge of Cerberus Lost Episode was on Amp'd Mobile and Verizon flip phones back in 2006. Were you around for the cell phones in 2006? I had the ones on the list, and how somebody could play a game on those blows my mind.
Square has a tendency to reuse themes from their other titles. Probably one of the most blatant is the similarities between Xenogears and Final Fantasy VII. They were both being developed at the same time and a lot of ideas that didn't make it into FFVII ended up in Xenogears.
NieR
So how does this work? In NieR (both Replicant and Automata), you play the same path multiple times. Each time, it's slightly different depending on what side quests you did your first and second playthrough, but there's also other subtle differences throughout the story. In Automata, you get to play as 2B your first playthrough and 9S for your second. They follow the same path, but you get it from his perspective the second time and it reveals a bit more of what is going on. However, even with some slight differences, the main plot points stay the same and the ending result it also the same.
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Then on your third playthrough, you wake up in the Bunker, and you're getting ready to go on a new mission. This time, though, 2B is killed and shit hits the fan. Things get crazy, you play as a new character: A2. In the end, pretty much everyone "dies", but you can choose to "reboot" and try again. You also can say you are done and let them all rest and delete your save data (the game gives you the option for both Automata and Replicant, and with Replicant, it actually leads to a new ending).
The striking thing for me is... There are certain events that will always happen, no matter what.
Fixed Points in Time
It's been years since I've watched Doctor Who, but there was something that stuck with me, and that was the fixed points in time. You can read about all of them here, but here's the basics:
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Now, of course Doctor Who goes into this with much more detail and it's a recurring theme. However, as you read through that page, you'll probably find many aspects that have been used in various JRPGs that you've played. And Doctor Who most likely pulled some of the idea from classic Science Fiction novels. Each story puts its own spin on it.
How does this relate to FFVII Remake? Well, when they say that the major plot points will stay the same, it reminds me of this. No matter what, Cloud must fall into the Sector 5 Church, the Sector 7 Plate must be dropped, Aerith and Zack both must die, and Meteor has to be summoned, to name a few. So, with a time loop, those things would still have to take place in order to prevent a complete collapse of reality (at least in how Doctor Who uses it).
Therefore, the Whispers are ensuring that the Will of the Planet is followed.
One of the major themes in FFVII is that of loss. People die and they do not come back. Yes, other FF games do allow this to happen (FFX, FFXIII, FFXV), but VII is not those games. It was written with that idea in mind, that once a person dies, they, just like in real life, are dead and cannot be brought back.
I've previously written that I think they'll make us believe we are able to change fate, but we will eventually be slammed with the reality that we can't. That is because the planet has determined that certain events are fixed points.
Xenogears
Xenogears takes a bit of a different approach to the loop idea. Instead of repeating the same time period over and over, it has the characters reincarnated, and the same outcome happens each time: Elly dies. However, each time it's different. After all, they're in various time periods, in some cases thousands of years apart.
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In all of the lives of Fei (who will have a different name in each time period) and Elly (who is always Elly/Elhaym), Elly will end up dying trying to protect Fei and the others. In one life, she is a religious figure at a totally not Catholic church, in another she's the wife of a scientist who was working to create children from nanomachines due to mass infertility issues. But she is ALWAYS with Fei, even if his name changes.
In her Mother Elhaym time, this is when Lacan (Fei) finally snaps. Though he's not fully aware of his past lives, he becomes aware, the anger consumes him, and he becomes Grahf. Fei is then reborn into the time period you play the game in.
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There's a lot to unpack with this, so I won't go into it. Grahf wants to destroy God (Deus) because he thinks if he does, then it'll stop the suffering (his suffering).
If you do want to read more about Grahf, you can do so here, but it probably won't make much sense unless you've played Xenogears up to that point... Since it's much later in the game that this is all explained.
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Lacan's desire was to stop the cycle of Elly always sacrificing herself for his sake. Though Grahf is not a perfect existence - he's not fully "The Contact", he sacrifices himself in order to let Fei move forward, and hopefully stop the cycle, by destroying the Deus system. (Elly also tries to sacrifice herself here, but Fei goes after her and stops her.)
Now, some people may think I'm saying that Cloud or somebody is going to do this in order to save Aerith or Zack (or his village or mom), but in FFVII if they do the loop method, I don't think Cloud, Tifa, Barret, and the others are aware of it. Most likely, it's only 'Sephiroth' and Aerith who are aware of it.
How this Could Be used for Final Fantasy VII
I'm stressing could because there's so many different possibilities on how they use this (if they are using this), so please, don't take this as fact. This is based on speculation based on what we know.
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A time loop is a great way to explain away the differences in the story that we've seen: Biggs being alive, Wedge living for longer than he should have, etc. Since these are not major plot changes, they can simply say that this time it'll be slightly different... but your fixed points (major plot points) will remain the same.
It's a way to pull in some of the more obscure themes from Dirge of Cerberus and also play with the LOVELESS lore.
It could all simply be a big red herring and it's really just a remake of OG, but with the compilation tied together nicely... since it works much better when it's combined and not in 50 different games, books, movies, etc.
I don't think it's a "sequel" per say, not in the way I generally perceive a sequel. It's more of a loop of the same thing. The question is, when is the loop started and what will cause it to end? When will the planet (if it even is the planet) determine that it's good enough to begin moving forward?
JENOVA, Sephiroth, Genesis, and Minerva - Oh My!
Let's be real... Genesis isn't exactly the most popular character in the FFVII Compilation... but what if they make him one of the most important to the story? //Ducks as various fruits and vegetable are thrown in my direction//
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I think what Genesis is probably most known for is his love of LOVELESS. He has the entire thing memorized and randomly says lines from it throughout Crisis Core. LOVELESS lore is still something I'm trying to grasp, so I am not going to comment much on it. Once I understand it more, I'll update this.
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...And then this happens. The secret ending for Dirge of Cerberus, where Genesis picks up Weiss. Weiss, who has now been introduced along with Nero in FFVII INTERmission and is an optional ridiculously hard boss in the Shinra battle simulator in chapter 17 of the main story. There is some lore associated with the battle sim - so if you don't plan on beating it or you just can't, you can look up the pre-battle and post-battle cut scenes on YouTube. They're very short, but interesting. (I beat this asshole last night - it's a hell of a fight.)
....To Be Continued because apparently Tumblr won't allow more than 10 images per post now.... Next will be more on JENOVA and Sephiroth along with Minerva.
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harmoni-me · 4 years ago
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hi! wanted to tell you that i absolutely love your writing skills, it’s so different from the others that i've read and it makes me feel so warm inside. keep up the good work! i'm really looking forward to seeing more
if you don’t mind, i'd like to request for a poly nagito x sweetheart reader x kokichi where they’re still in the crushing/pining stage and being confused about their sexuality. thank you, have a good day/night!💙
Phew! I finally did it! My fingers kinda hurt from typing all this haha! But I loved the request a lot! I played around with the concept you gave me as well, so it’s a story that branches out into multiple styles of writing. I do have to warn you though, goodness is this one long! But I hope you enjoy it all in the same! <3
I’m so sleepy lol 
quick trigger warning beware! : There is a scene in this where a character goes through mental hysteria that contains some panic attack like symptoms. If you are sensitive to that writing, please, skip the the fluffy scene that if used for comfort right after :) (Or just don’t read it at all, don’t worry! Harmoni understands!)
Nagito Komaeda x Sweetheart Reader x Kokichi Ouma! Pt. 1
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Also can we just talk about this gif? It makes me so happy...This artist is so good too like WHOA! Check them out! 
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“No…“
“1, 2, 3, 4-“
“NO-“
“5, 6, 7, 8!” Nagito finished, moving the silver, dog-shaped play piece across the board in rhythmic taps.
“NOOOO! BOARDWALK, NAGITO?! FUCKING BOARDWALK?!” Kokichi shrieked in a fit of rage, slamming his Panta drink onto the table, while standing up and causing an absolute fit.
Nagito was chuckling at the enraged boy, who was now standing on the kitchen counters, stomping in pure fury. Kokichi was a huge brat. A clingy, competitive, always-begging-for-something, whole-hearted brat. Though, Nagito would have to admit that he could never stay mad at Kokichi, in fact, he would have to say that he barely gets mad at him. Ever. He reminded the white-haired boy of a playful puppy, bounding and bucking happily when getting what it wants. It made Nagito’s heart melt, evaporate, then simply melt again, even when he was a cursing mess stomping on the granite countertops, getting scratches all over it.
“Woah! Nagi, that’s amazing! You got Boardwalk really early in the game, that’s so cool!” You smiled, while also laughing at Kokichi’s ferocious cursing as ambiance. Your smile drove Nagito’s attention away from the angered boy, and his heart went through overdrive once he saw your sweet smile, radiating so much contagious joy. It’s almost as if he was on a roller coaster that contained a different track each and every time he rode it. One minute, his heart would be doing loops, and the next, it excitedly go up again.
. . .
Now, this is where the problem begins. Well, the one of three problems that plague the three individuals all playing a simple game of Monopoly on a Sunday night. This is Nagito’s problem: Whenever he has an effect on Kokichi, making him oh-so-lovable in his eyes, his heart swells and fills his chest to the brim. Oh, was this feeling that was so incredibly foreign to him feel so wonderful when it dawned upon him for the first time.
Nagito could always draw the memory back within his vision in surreal detail. Kokichi and Nagito were loitering in the hallways of Hope’s peak, with the shorter purple-haired boy dragging the pale, frizzy haired boy by the hand to apparently “Conjure up the biggest most awesome-est prank Hope’s Peak has every witnesses since built into existence”. Honestly, how could Nagito say no to something that holds so much potential hope and despair, all contained in one big gift-wrapped surprise of a prank on the whole school?
After planning for a few hours, Kokichi seemed to have a fuse broken in his brain due to thinking about a truly fool-proof plan. The somewhat drowsy prankster reached into his schoolbag and pulled out two twin bottles of grape Panta, sliding one over to an unsuspecting Nagito. The purple plastic bottle bonked into Nagito’s forearm, knocking the bottle down from the force.
“Nehehe, I guess you really are the Ultimate Lucky student, huh? It just so happens I packed an extra today, Shamrock! Make it up to me sometime soon, okaaaaay?” Kokichi giggled, teasing the lanky, somewhat socially-awkward Nagito who was sitting across from him on a desk within a totally abandoned classroom. Nagito thanked the other, though, Kokichi really couldn’t respond due to being in the middle of chugging his favorite carbonated drink.
Nagito turn to his own bottle. He wasn’t the biggest fan of old-fashioned artificial grape flavored things, but it wasn’t the worst. Plus, it would be quite rude to refuse a drink from a friend, right? So the white haired boy simply picked up the bottle, and twisted the cap off, as per usual etiquette of opening a soda bottle.
Splash
It didn’t take too long until Nagito knew what was going on. The drink had exploded everywhere. The bottle of soda was basically empty by the end of the grape-geyser showcase, and poor Nagito was left drenched in purple, sticky, sugary liquid. The drink already was starting to dry into a thin, sweet crust on his skin, making the boy on a whole other level of uncomfortable. Though, it was kind of expected that Kokichi would be absolutely laughing his butt off in the moment, sounding like some sort of hysteric hyena mixed with a duckling quacking at some breadcrumbs. It was a laughable sight, no doubt, Nagito literally looked like the embodiment of a sad, wet dog.
But then Kokichi settled down after a bit, controlling his breathing from the pathetic sight. After doing so, he got up out of his seat, and knelt down to scrummage through his bag, revealing a regular branded water bottle. He then made his way over to Nagito, and without hesitation, sat himself on his soda-soaked lap.
“Aww, really going for that kicked puppy look, are you now? Well, since I’ve had all my laughing fun from this, I guess it’s only natural that I help you out, hm? Or would you rather just stay just like this? Oh, now, I wouldn’t mind it if we did…though it seems your eyes beg to differ…well in that case, let’s clean you up, shall we?” Kokichi hummed, teasing the ever living daylights out of the wet and miserable boy.
Kokichi then did something that made Nagito’s heart pound harder than it ever had before. The teasing boy reached behind his neck, untying his beloved checkered bandana. He then carefully opened the water bottle, and poured the contents onto the fabric. Once ensuring it was thoroughly soaked, Kokichi started to wash off as much of the stickiness he could. to Ruffling Nagito’s hair, from gently washing his pale cheeks, which were now sprinkled with specks of rose, and finally gliding the cloth along Nagito’s clothes and hands.
A few things in Nagito’s mind had clicked into place after Kokichi had handled him with the care equal to that of a lover. Well, ironically, Nagito had caught feelings for his tiny little prankster brat of a friend. Was it a huge surprise? Not really, based on the track that Nagito was on.
Another piece of the puzzle had snapped: Kokichi was a a guy. That was something really to think about. Never had Nagito found men attractive, but…
Finally, the last, and most worrying puzzle piece out of them all: Kokichi wasn’t the only one he has fell for. His heart has become torn in that moment, with every day becoming more of a wrestling match to the death rather than a silly tug-of-war between feelings. The other side of his heart was unsure, and fell for another person that had lifted him up through his lowest lows, supporting him like a much needed pair of crutches when having a sprained ankle.
And that person, was you.
. . .
“Ok ok ok ok ok! Listen here you little damn shamrock you!” Kokichi huffed, now sitting back on the ground, leg crossed, “You and I both know that I have Park Place, right? Right! Now, my dear little clover, I want to make a deal with you, if you will?” Kokichi smirked with evil intent clear within his irises.
“Ooo! Deals! Nagi, I think you should listen to Kichi, making profitable partnerships is pretty much his specialty.” You giggled, basically becoming Kokichi’s personal little advocate. He let out a quick “Yeah, what she said!”, causing Nagito to laugh and nod, gesturing for an explanation of the deal.
“Well, personally, my little clover, I feel like we should team up, you know? We could completely dominate over sweet our little gumdrop over there, making them drop to their knees in submission to us. You know, I have a feeling you and I both would enjoy it...” Kokichi shuffled a little closer to the platinum blonde, voice dropping, “We could rule them over together, as equals, or even make them surrender if they ever have the chance-“
“Sure! Though, you should probably get out of jail first.” Nagito chuckled, making the other boy grumble.
“OH YOU-“
“Heeeeey! I wanna join in too! It sounds like you guys are having fun and stuff, while I’m all alone…” You puffed out your cheeks, sadness dripping in your voice.
Both of the boys shot up to look at your somewhat downcast features, and oh, how it wreaked their hearts in one fell swoop.
Kokichi automatically shot up from his position, puffing out his chest in preparation for a new speech.
“O-ok! New deal! We ALL join evil forces TOGETHER, and absolutely destroy the game with all of our property, while reaping in the greedy rewards of the capitalist regime!” Kokichi loudly proclaimed, chuckling at the end of his new deal.
You gasped, “Deal! Deal! Taking over a money-based board game with my two favorite people ever will always be a yes for me!” You laughed, smiling at the thought of the three of you taking over Hollywood streets with a pose of limos, while using bags stuffed with pure cash as weapons made it ten times funnier.
Kokichi smiled, resting his hands behind his head, “Yeah! Let’s end it here and just say that we kicked so much millionaire ass that we now have control over the whole economy!”
. . .
This is the second problem, Kokichi is so undeniably confused. About what? About himself. He was sure as all hell about how he felt about you, he always went soft and squishy for you, and not to mention he would be extra clingy when it had to do with you. Headpats? Common, and always appreciated. Cuddles? Been there, done that with you.
But, then there was Nagito. Kokichi would never say this out loud, but he thought that Nagito was so…pretty. And god, Kokichi was a huge sucker for pretty people. Though, once he realized that his feelings didn’t go to just one person, that’s when he started to panic.
He had to take in multiple things at once, trying to accept it all at once, but it was just so incredibly difficult. He has spent the whole entirety of his life to perfect the art of lying, and one thing that he learned constantly manipulated his own mind and thought process, tearing it into metaphorical shreds.
In order to pull out a lie that everyone can believe, you have to lie to yourself, and proclaim your own illusion of your truth.
Did Kokichi want to believe he was immensely attracted to Nagito, who just happened to be a guy? No, he really didn’t. It wasn’t normal.
Did Kokichi want to believe that he had fallen so fucking in love with two of his closest friends? Hell no. In society, you had to pick and choose, it’s one or the god damn other.
Right?
One night, all of these feeling and thoughts rushed into the boy’s conscious all at once, building immense pressure within his head and chest. Was this a nightmare, or-
Suddenly, his throat started to close up on him, making him gasp out in agony, wheezing on the covers of his bed, tears brimming at the corners of his eyes.
Instinct kicked in within the speed of light. Kokichi shakily reached over to his phone, grasping onto it, and quickly set up a group call. Almost immediately, the two people he was panicking over had picked up.
“Hello? Kokichi? Is there anything you need?” A raspy voice rang out. It seems as if Nagito was awoken by the sudden calling.
“Yeah, Kichi? Is there anything wrong?” You softly spoke through the phone. It calmed Kokichi a little just hearing the two of you guy so worried over him.
“I-I know It’s out of the blue-“ Kokichi gasped for air “B-but can you guys please come over?”
And oh boy, did you and Nagito get there in record time.
After just a mere ten minutes, you and Nagito were outside of Kokichi’s bedroom door, and the both of you could hear the desperate hiccups and gasps of your poor friend.
The both of you had no doubts, nor questions. You just wanted the struggling boy to feel safe.
“We’re coming in.” You said, affirming your actions with light knocking on the bedroom door.
When the both of you came face to face with a Kokichi with puffy red eyes, clutching his heaving chest, and thick tears rolling down his face, it felt like the both of you just got shot in the heart, the weight of it sinking down into the stomach, emitting a feeling that could only be described as pure pity. But the two of you automatically got to work.
Sooner rather than later, You and Nagito were cuddling Kokichi from either side, supporting him, as well as being his shield for protecting his small, delicate frame from his own cruel thoughts. You had started to run your fingers through Kokichi’s hair, causing his breaths to become fuller, and not nearly as hitched. Nagito also wanted to contribute in his own way, so he decided to mindlessly draw messy shapes and squiggles into Kokichi’s side, hoping that what he was doing would be of any help.
After only a mere five minutes, Kokichi had passed out from exhaustion, but the two of you kept on doing what you were doing, wanting for the boy in-between you two to have sweet dreams about all of what he desires all night long.
Kokichi has never let go of that memory, and never will for the rest of his life, and it’s a constant reminder on how much he had lied to himself. He actually wanted the truth out of something for once in his life, and that was how long it would be in order for the loves of his life to live without restraint of societal chains. Whenever it was, he would always be ready. Always, with arms as open as the horizon.
. . .
“Why in the world are we watching Big Hero 6 again? Didn’t we watch this, like, a month ago?” Kokichi trudged from the microwave, to the plush couch, bowl of buttered popcorn in hand.
“(Y/N) wanted to watch it, is there a problem?” Nagito tilted his head, holding the remote, about to press play. You were bouncing in anticipation, because this movie was just never a disappointment.
“Hm, well, I GUESS there’s nothing wrong with it….just don’t be surprised when you hear me snoring.” Kokichi huddled up beside you, placing the bowl of popcorn on you lap.
“I deem you the popcorn peacemaker! Your job is to make sure no one’s being a pig.” Kokichi snickered, while you giggled at your new role in life.
“Nagi? You like popcorn, right? Here!” You placed the bowl on his lap, causing him to smile.
“Hey, HEY! NO! That means I have to reach my WHOLE ARM over to to Lucky boy, JUST SO I CAN GET SOME POPCO-“
“Sh sh sh! The movie is starting!” You giggled, shushing the purple haired boy, while you heard a little chuckle from the white haired boy who was next to you.
. . .
The last problem was you. Your heart bubbled up in joy whenever you where around these boys, making your face erupt like a volcano whenever something slightly suggestive is aimed at you when it has to do with either one of them. You liked both of them, a lot, and you gave everything in order for the three of you to flourish in bountiful friendship. Yeah, that’s the problem, it was friendship.
Oh, how desperately you wished that everything could be easy! If life were like an infinite rolling of crashing waves, things would be flawless, predictable even. Unfortunately, life really likes to give you the short end of the stick, and this was honestly one of the shortest sticks someone like you would have never asked for. The loving of two men, both equally, and having an intense desire to treat them as lovers. What would they do as lovers? Where would they go as lovers? The questions and possibilities are endless…
The only time where you felt as if the friendship could’ve resembled anything somewhat romantic, was a summer evening trip to the beach.
The water was the perfect temperature, the ocean was as clear as glass, and the sand didn’t burn the soles of your feet. The boy’s were in their swimming trunks, having their own little fun. Nagito was afraid of getting to deep into the ocean, so you always stayed in the shallow end, trying to capture as many tiny fishes as you could with your bare hands.
Kokichi insisted that him and Nagito bury you in sand, leaving your head poking out of a sandy little cocoon. When the sun started to set, you got some supplies that you brought, and lit the fire that the group planned to create. Everyone gathered around it, cooking hot dogs on sticks, and crafting tasty s’mores that we fed each other.
One could say that that night might be the most casual and platonic friend trip ever, but something was off.
Everyone looked at each other differently that night. When looking into their eyes, it was oddly intimate. It was like all of the stars in the night sky reflected off their eyes conveyed so much...love.
That night, you felt so adored, so cherished and cultivated to the brim of your existence. You felt something, and maybe the other boy’s did too, but that feeling has changed your life.
Thanks to these stupid boys; These stupid boys that you’ve given so much to, you don’t think you could ever love any other.
One you’ve helped get out of a terrible degradation cycle, another you’ve helped to not lie to himself, and not as much to others.
And thanks to your down to earth humility, your heart has been stolen, and it was going to stay taken by those lovely, unique boys who have helped you out of so many ditches, and so many of life’s cracks and dents. God, how could you not fall?
Their lives were precious to you, but you had no idea how they would feel about an actual relationship, so you’ve always been terrified. Petrified and paralyzed to the bone to ever think of what may happen if you were the cause of the fracture of the friendship. You didn’t want to ruin something that has taken so long to build, yet can be torn all down due to a selfish desire.
But, maybe, just maybe, if they went to you first, confessed everything that was bottled up inside, dittoed on how you felt…
Then you might just be the luckiest person to live on this earth, there’s no doubt about that.
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violet-t-9 · 4 years ago
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Check in on my (not very realistic) wish list for episode 138
1. Nobody dies in the battle against Cree, even temporarily (looking at you, squishy wizards). Everybody survives and defeats her relatively easily.
Ayyye I mean Cree was one vs. 6 basically and of course it was easy enough, I expected this. Bye Cree, I won’t really miss you... WAIT she got controlled after death?? Well, the actual Cree fight was still easy so I’m counting this. The flesh monster version also took less than like, 20 seconds in-game time to beat lol.
2. Caleb or Beau’s eye power come into play whether for them or against them during the combat (telepathy also counts).
Heyyyy Caleb and Beau could pick up on the radio! That is helpful- oh he turned Cree into a flesh monster using the eyes... oh NO everyone has eyes now except Jester and Yasha. Group telepathy could be useful?? I guess??
3. Beau and Caleb discover the third function of their eyes if there is one (besides true sight and telepathy).
Nope I have no idea. I’m assuming that seeing through illusions and dark vision are separate at this point. That’s fine considering the huge twist that almost all of them have eyes now, like hello?? Caleb also wondered if he has a fourth power now, which we still don’t know about.
4. The party gets some much needed rest, even a short one, after defeating Cree (Bonus: heroes’ feast).
Hey the time shunt thing worked! PERFECTLY! With a 30 and a 24! I love two wizards, my absolute beloved. THANKS ESSEK (and Caleb, but Essek mostly).
5. This is a long shot but still hoping for any mention/sighting of Yussa.
Thanks Caleb for mentioning Yussa! Also Beau was able to try to connect to Yussa thanks to the eyes too! What a cool moment. Also thanks everybody for agreeing to help him lol. Caleb banished him! They saved him! Yayyyyy.
6. More nightmarish body horror and screaming from the cognouza citizens (look, listen, I loved last episode okay, Matt is awesome, horror is my jam).
Yes for the intestine corridor and flesh puddles, also for Cree transformation, also for the threshold crest vault mouth opening thing and for literally everything else in this episode need I explain? As a student of science I am very much enjoying the weird physiology connections with the Cognouza.
7. They meet another member of the Somnovem who offers more information.
Jester’s Calm emotion what a queen, they did meet a Somnovem. Wow I never thought I’d find eternal love so creepy but thanks Gaudius. Gaudius is apparently against Fastidan and Culpasi, nice. Good to know that the Somnovem Omega still does not get along lol. 
8. Beau and Yasha’s PDA or power couple moments (bonus: they talk about mind control, the eyes, or feelings).
OH WOW Yasha has IDEAS about Beau wearing a red cape does she now lol, not subtle at all as expected. Get a room you guys! Not much talking can be done at this point, but nice.
9. Fjord and Jester’s conversation or domesticity (bonus: they talk about hope for the future).
“All we care about is love and unity” LMAO JESTER taking your chance to smooch as much as possible. I’m counting this moment you cannot convince me otherwise.
10. Artagan/Sprinkle comes into play/is mentioned and interaction with Jester.
Yep, they both talked (well, hissed in one case) with Jester. Artagan thought about them going to the feywild too! Fun.
11. Obligatory wish for Essek’s fancy dunamancy or magical items (Bonus: we get to see more high-damage AOE offensive spells).
Magic missile again! At least that will never miss. Sad that he can’t do AOE ever with the party around lol. ALSO THE TIME SHUNT BY THE TWO WIZARDS! The 30 from Essek (dunamancy master indeed!) and the dirty 24 from Caleb, NICE.
12. Obligatory wish for Caleb’s polymorph spell on himself or a party member.
Jester’s polymorph spell was cool too! Jestape? Japester?? I like Japester. Polymorph! Jester’s interactions are also my beloved. It’s not Caleb’s spell, so I’m not counting this one.
13. The party tracks down Lucien and tries to reach him by mentioning Molly.
Well, they attempted to track down Lucien, but really it’s the other way around. 
14. Obligatory wish for Essek’s room in the tower (it will stay until it happens).
Nope, as expected.
15. Obligatory wish for Cad being a MVP in and out of combat also for him to use decompose more on the city, I’m curious to see what happens.
That path to the grave, what a MVP move Cad. TWO TIMES! TWO TIMES! For the HDYWTDT from Veth too! I knew it, Cad is a combat genius. Also nice blight on the fleshy ceiling. Also plane shift to the fire plane! Also that curse word speech what a king.
16. Veth one-on-one RP interaction with any other party member - we had some good tag teams recently, like Veth and Beau, Veth and Yasha, Veth and Essek... I want to see more!
We don’t really have time for RP because this episode was super action-packed but we did have a bunch of nice short moments!
17. Yasha or Fjord being absolutely freaked out/creeped out by the city.
Well to be fair EVERYBODY was super creeped out, so...
18.  The empire siblings don’t get another red eye (well, hopefully this will happen if they won’t get a full rest).
Well ironically, Beau and Caleb DID NOT get another red eye during the whole party members gaining red eyes scene- Nope, Caleb got one more. Honestly, pretty excited and anxious at the same time.
19. Somebody check in on Essek’s mental/physical state because for a newbie adventurer he is doing suspiciously well - I wonder if he is just desensitized at this point.
Poor Essek was very physically hurt and also shook shook by Cree being transformed... so not entirely desensitized. He even failed the wisdom saving throw OH NO HE IS GETTING EYES ISN’T HE CALLING IT RN READ IN BOOKS I know what book is kinda associated with a wisdom save. Update: I KNEW IT, and I don’t care that nobody will believe me that I called it. Still sad that nobody really got to role play much, but I’m enjoying the action.
20. Caleb uses more fire or his customized spells (last episode’s awesome Widogast’s web of fire got me missing all his unique spells).
Disintegrate followed by CAT’S IRE HYPE and the clutch immovable object used for the first time what’s sexier than wizards NOTHING.
21. Fjord being the leader of the group in any way or just does something very impressive (go Fjord Tough).
Nice hexblade curse and triple Eldritch Blasts Fjord! Warlock powers let’s go! Also, nice counterspell! That divine smite + crit star razor oof that’s such a beautiful 80 damage. VERY impressive indeed.
22. We get to see new spells/abilities/features gained by their level-up! That will probably not come into play until a long rest, but one can hope.
MIND BLANK AT 8TH LEVEL what a perfect spell for Caleb. They got a long rest thanks to the mini Beacon! I love it. Jester and Cad showed off some spells as well!
23. Lucien physically reacting to the party’s attempts to bring up Molly’s memories/moments and showing confusion/hesitation.
Well they didn’t get to try anything really, Lucien spent most of the time doing his cool, dramatic and drawn-out villain monologue thing, also his maniac laughter scared me way more than the scream from last episode.
24. Obligatory wish for everyone to remain relatively happy and alive by the end of the episode except Cree (I have a feeling that Lucien ain’t dying this episode), and the episode ends on a terrifying cliffhanger as always.
Rip Cree, and what do you know, cliffhanger! Gosh I love this show.
Bonus:
Nice dimension door Jester, she is SO on task and such a key player in these crucial moments!! What a queen, it’s thanks to her (and Caleb, but it’s her idea first!) that they got to the crest so quickly and got rid of it. I repeat, QUEEN.
Veth’s first shot AND the final shot were awesome in terms of damage, rogues am I right?
Wow what a confrontation. I thought Lucien was all for the Somnovem but apparently he is... just super chaotic?? And wants to rule them all?? What was that all about? Lucien just gets more and more complex and I’m conflicted because now they might need to fight him, the city, or both. This is getting super complicated and I can’t wait for the next episode.
Well guys, this session made me scream in joy and also feel what it’s like to be high on adrenaline. The episodes just keep getting better and better. I literally could not care less if this is the final arc - if it is, it’s a damn good one. I love the cast so much, I love critical role so much. I wish it could be Thursday every day of the week!
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popculturebuffet · 4 years ago
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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1990 Review: Still Possesses Turtle Power After All These Years
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Cowabunga all you happy people! I freaking love the Teenage Ninja Turtles. I grew up with it from Turtles in Time, which was my first video game, to the 2003 cartoon, which I covered the first three episodes of last month, and on to present day as I re-read the idw comics after finally reading the original eastman and laird run of mirage, and impatiently waiting for Shredder’s Revenge to come out after a LONG drout of no good TMNT games. I”m a fan of these heroes four, their dynamic as a family, the endless possiblities that come from it’s long history and ablitlity to go anywhere in any genre, and the wonderful goofy shit that happens when you have a franchise about mutant turtles learning ninjitsu from a rat and fighting a dude covered in knife covered samurai armor. 
So with me finally covering the guys after almost a year last month and with a new movie set to debut at some point this year, I had the bright idea to revisit the FIRST TMNT movie after way too many years of not watching it. This movie is anear and dear to my heart: When I first started getting into the boys big as a kid with the 2003 cartoon, I badly wanted more turtles. But back then it wasn’t nearly as easy to glom onto some more of the sewer shock pizza kings: Streaming sites with all the cartoons on them weren’t all that accesable, dvd’s were expensive for the 87 cartoon, Mirage wasn’t reprinting the comics in any meaningful way and my local comic shop didn’t have any at all and I could only play the SNES when my brother had it set up on occasion like at our Grandma’s farm. 
As you probably guessed though there was one exception: the original 1990 movie, which I got at Walmart for 5 bucks and haven’t let go of since. It was one of my first dvds and is still one of my most precious. Said film hit the spot just right as like my beloved 2003 series, it was a mildly goofy but still fucking cool adaptation that stuck closer to the mirage comics, even more than the 2003 series would, while taking a few queues from the 87 series. This film is as precious to me as the 2003 series and a with a brand new movie coming up, I figured it was the exact right time to dig into this classic: what makes it still good to this day, what’s fun to point and laugh at, and how the heck Jim Henson got involved in this. So join me under the cut as I take a look at my boys first theatrical outing and why I still love watching a turtle. 
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No One Wanted To Make This: Before we get into the film itself some background. As usual I struggled a bit, but thankfully found some help in the form of this Hollywood Reporter article.  It’s a fascinating read worth your time, providing an oral history of the film from the people who worked on it. 
The film was the baby of Gary Propper, a surfer dude and road manager for the prop comic Gallagher, aka that guy who used to smash watermelons but now has instead opted to smash what little’s left of his career by being a homophobic douchenozzle. He found an ally in Showtime producer Kim Dawson who’d produced Gallagher’s special. I don’t think there will be more of an 80′s sentence than “Gallagher’s surfer dude agent wanted to make a teenage mutant ninja turtles movie”. Propper was a huge fan of the comics, and with Dawson’s help convinced Laird and Eastman to let them option it to studios. 
It may come as a shock to you but the road agent for a homophobic watermelon man and a producer at a niche cable channel wanting to make a movie based on an underground comic book about masked turtles at a time when the two most recent comic book movies were Superman IV: The Quest for Peace and Howard the Duck, did not go well. Every door in Hollywood got slammed in their face, even Fox> Even the eventual backer of the film, Golden Harvest, a hong kong action film studio, took months to convince to actually back the film. 
Things did not get easier from there: The films writer Bobby Herbeck had trouble getting a story agreed on because Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird’s working relationship had deteroiated horribly from the stress so naturally the two could not agree on a damn thing and argued with each other. Peter Laird  made a tense siutation even worse by constnatly sniping at Herbeck and feeling he was a “Hollywood outsider infringing on his vision and characters”
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Granted the script was apparently not great... but Pete still comes off as a pretnetious ass who views his weird indie comic as THE HIGHEST OF HIGH CALLINGS HOW DARE YOU SOIL IT. And continued to be kind of a prick like this throughout the rest of his time with the property. 
Thankfully the film found i’ts voice, vision and director in Steve Barron. Barron was a music video guy who knew the producers and while reluctant, eventually dove into the project rightfully thinking the film would need to be a mix of the mirage comics and 87 cartoon, keeping aprils’ reporter job, the turtles lvoe of pizza and their iconic color coding from the cartoon but adapting several stories from the comics as the backbone of the film. The guys liked barron MUCH better and things ran smoother. 
Barron also brought in one of the film’s biggest selling points and it’s most valuable asset: it’s triumphantly awesome Jim Henson costumes. Barron had worked with good old Jim on the music videos for Labyrinth, and while it took some convincing since the comics were violent as hell and that wasn’t Jim’s style, Barron eventually got him on board. This naturally doubled the budget, but given Henson’s costumes STILL hold up today and look better than the cgi used in the platinum dunes films... it was a good call. And this was brand new tech for jim, having to invent tons of new ideas and mechanisms just to make the things work, and said things still were absolute hell on the actors. Jim later ended up not liking the film for being too violent... which I find hilarious given how many muppets got eaten or blowed up real good on his show but regardless, I thank this legendary and wonderful man as without him this film WOULD NOT have worked. The costumes here look great, feel realistic, and you can’t tell the actors were dubbed much less horribly suffering in those suits. Much like Disney Land. 
The film would get picked up for distribution by New Line, and despite i’ts weird as hell origins and the long shot it had.. the film was a MASSIVE hit at the box office, owing to a combination of Batman 89 the previous year having proved comic book movies can work for audiences, the cartoon’s runaway sucess, and a massive marketing campaign. The film made it’s mark. So now we know how we got here let’s get into the film itself. 
What’s the Story Morning Glory?:
So the story for this one is largely cobbled together from some of the more notable arcs Eastman and Laird did before handing off the book to others full time as the stress of the company and the mounting tension with each other made it near impossible to work together on the book itself. 
To Save time i’m just going through what hte movie takes from the comics plot wise now to save me the trouble later:The movie takes elements from the first issue (The Turtles, Splinter and Shredder’s backstories, Shredder being fully human and the main antagonist, Shredder’s design and the final rooftop showdown that results in Shredder’s death), second and third, (April’s apartment over her dad’s old store and the turtles moving in when their home is ransacked and splinter has gone missing), the rapheal micro series (A tounge in cheek way of cashing in on the Mini-Series craze of the 80s, a one shot by modern standards and something that’s tragically been underused as an idea as only TMNT and MLP have used the idea at IDW, Raph meeting casey and their fight with one another), the return of shredder arc (One of the turtles being ambushed and mobbed by the foot and then thrown though a sky light (Leo in the comic and Raph here), the turtles being horribly outnumbered by them, Casey coming ot the rescue and metting the non-raph turtles for the first time, and them being forced to escape when the place goes up in flames), their exile to northampton (April writing in a journal, casey working on a car with one of the guys and one of hte guys looking over hteir injured brother), and finally, their triumphant return which was very loosely adapted as there are no deformed shredder clones and shredder not being dead yet in this version was not brought back by a colony of super science worms. 
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So as for how this all comes together: Our story takes place in New York: A crimewave is high with muggings mysterious. There are a ton of phantom thefts going around and at most people have been seeing teens responsibile. And the police.. are at about this level of useful:
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The only person doing something is April O’Neil, played by Judith Hoag. Hoag is easily the standout of the film, giving us a strong, confident woman with a wonderful sense of humor. She honestly might be my faviorite April O Neil, and given we’ve had some great ones with 2003, 2012 and Rise, that’s not something I say lightly. I honestly wish I’d recognized her in more stuff as she was both on Nashville and the mom in the Halloween Town films, and most recently was on the ScFy show the magicians. She’s a talented lady and i’m glad she’s still goin. 
April is a reporter for Channel 3 like the cartoon, though for some weird reason her boss from the cartoon is replaced by Charles Pennigton, played by Jay Patterson, whose currently dealing with his troubled son Danny, played by Micheal Turney. Pennington is horribly useless at both jobs: At work he tries to ease April off calling out Chief Sterns, who refuses to listen to April’s evidence gathered from japanese immigrants that the crimes resemble similar ones in japan in favor of trying to get charles to shut her up. Danny meanwhile is a member of the foot becase his dad thinks shouting out him and talking about him like he’s not there and generally being a dipstick will actually do anything to help him. 
I love the concept for the foot here. In addition to being a Ninja Violence Gang as always, they now recruit new members by finding kids without families or with troubled family lives and giving them a sense of family with the foot, and sweeting the bargin with a giant cave filled with arcade machines, a skate ramp and general late 80′s early 90′s kids goodies. Is it rediculous? Yes. Is it also clever as it gives Shredder an easy army of plausably deniable theives that he can pick the best out of to put in his elite that will be tirelessly loyal to him and him alone? Also yes. 
So April being public about this stuff gets her attacked, which naturally leads to our heroes coming in, first in the shadows and later directly when April wont’ give up on the case and Shredder sends some ninjas to go shut her up.. which he does weirdly as the guy jsut slaps her and tells her to cut it out like he’s on a domestically abusive episode of Full House. Raph saves her, and we get the turtles origin.. though weirdly they cut it in half. We get the ooze portion but Splinter’s past with Saki, Saki’s murder of his master and his master’s partern Tang Shen is left for later in the film and the fact Shredder’s saki is treated as a big twist despite the fact the biggest audience for the film would be kids... and kids would’ve been familiar with the cartoon where the giant brain monster routinely screeches out saki at the shredder. Maybe Barron just thought he was an alcoholic I don’t know. It just would’ve made more sense to have it all at once and let the audeince put it together. 
April becomes good friends with the turtles over a night of frozen pizza and camradrie, but the Splinters return home to find it ransacked, Splinter kidnapped by the foot, and are forced to Stay with april. Charles meanwhile tries to get April to backoff because he made a deal with the police to clear Danny’s record, without TELLING her any of this mind you, but I will save my rage on that little plot point for in a bit as Danny who he drug along sees the turtles and tells the Shredder. 
So we get the return of the shredder arc as Raph goes through a window, our heroes fight valiantly, and Raph’s friend Casey who he met earlier shows up, the two having bonded as all true friends do.. by beating the shit out of each other ending with raph shouting DAMNNNNNNN really big and dramatically into the sky for some reason. The Turtles and friends escape with an injured raph from April’s burning second hand store. She had a second hand store it was poorly established and only there because she had it in the comics. 
Our heroes retreat to a farm April’s grandma owned in Northampton, Massachutes, where Mirage was located at the time the original comics where they were exiled to the place were written and a location that has been a staple of the turtles ever since. The turtles slowly recover, lick their wounds, talk about who hooked up with who on gilligans island etc, before Leo connects with Splinter via meditation, who tells them to come back. Splinter also starts to connect with Danny and convinces him to swtich sides.. or at the very least squat in the boys old home. 
The boys return home, find danny, and prepare, Danny goes back and ends up giving away the Turtles are home.. but the turtles are ready and in an awesome sequence kick the fuck out of the foot squad sent for them with some well prepared steam vents. Casey goes to get splinter since Danny told them and with Danny’s help, finds him, since Danny found out they were gonna kill him. Casey beats up Tatsu, shredder’s right hand man, and they get him out. 
We get our final fight which is awesome up until the climax.. which is splinter casually tripping shredder with nunchucks and thier bloody history being kind of rushed and unsatsifying. Casey crushes shredder with a garbage truck, April gets her job back, more on that in a moment, she and casey hook up, and we end with the fucking awesome song T-U-R-T-L-E Power by partners in cryme. Seriously check it out it’s fucking triumphant. 
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The song is just good.. cheesy? Sure but that’s half the fun. It’s the gold standard for movie theme songs for them and stacks up handily with the various animated series themes.. all of which slap. Okay... ALMOST all of which slap. Fast Forwards is aggressively medicore, which is doubly suprising to me since 4kids was REALLY damn good with theme songs. It was one of the three things they were best at along with finding VERY talented voice actors and setting japan based works in america because merica dammit.  
The plot is very solid: It skilfully packed half of eastman and laird’s run on TMNT into 90 mintues while adding things like April’s job at channel 9, the way the foot recurited kids etc. The plot flows well for hte most part and apart from one annoying subplot we’ll get to never has a moment that feel unecessary or dosen’t pay off later. And the stellar plot and fun pacing of it helps boilster the characters that do work... and help paper over the ones that are so thin the’yd fall down a grate...
Our Heroes, Villains and Annoying Middle Aged Guys:
Yeahhhh character is hit and miss here. Some are rather strong, others are the bare basics for the character their adapting and most are just to serve the plot but some work some don’t,  So let’s talk about it starting with our boys:
Raph is the most fleshed out of the turtles, being the main focus of the first 2/3 of the film, and having his anger be part of what SHOULD be a character arc, learning to temper it. And while granted MOST TMNT properties do this, to the point that Rise Raph is so loveable in part because his boisterous bruiser big bro attitude is a refreshing break from the usual grumpus we get. But at the time this hadn’t been done in every version but the 87 cartoon, so exploring it was valid.. but despite saying this should be a thing htey just forget about it and the most plot relevance he gets is going thorugh a window. He dosen’t really get a resolution.. his arc just kind of stops dead for the final half and it’s one of the film’s weaker points, one I only just now noticed on this rewatch. He’s still the most entertaining. 
Leo is the weakest of the turtles. He really lacks a personality here mostly just being leader and while his spirtual side is touched on, it’s  mostly a plot device. He’s just kinda the leader because he was in the comics to the point Partners in Cryme called Raph the leader. His role in getting taken out by the foot was taken by Raph, so he just has.. nothing to do for most of the film other than gripe at raph ocasionally and say orders. He’s probably the worst Leo i’ve seen outside of Next Mutation. I prefice that because after watching Phelous’ review it’s VERY clear those four are the worst versions of the characters, and no personality is still better than either having your team do nothing or yelling at them as your personality. I chalk this up to the Mirage Leo, and the mirage turtles to a poit being kind of bland. Not TERRIBLE characters, especially for the time, but not nearly as fleshed out or individualized as they woudl be in other adpatations, and with most traits LEo DID have, like his badassery flat out gone, he’s just.. nothing here. 
Mikey and Donnie are a double act here with both sharing a brain. Interestingly instead of his normal genius character, Donnie is Mikey’s best friend and the two simply trade jokes and schtick together. The two are interchangable.. but easily the best part of the film and a lot of the most memorable gags and lines, from Ninja Kick the Damn Rabbit! to “Do you like Penicllin on your pizza”, are from them. Thier there almost entirely as comic relief but it works, with both clealry being more modled ont he 87 cartoon turtles, a move that helps lighten the mood in darker moments. Their just genuinely charming and it’s intresting to see such a diffrent version of Donnie, and other incarnations, specifically the 2003 and Rise versions, would retain the sarcastic edge. 
Splinter is splinter. That’s about it, he’s peformed well and the puppet is amazing but he gets kidnapped a half an hour in and outside of influcencing Denny, more on that in a moment, and finishing Shredder he dosen’t do much but spout exposition. He’s not bad or anything, but he’s essentially a rodent shaped plot device. He was also puppeted by Kevin CLash, aka the guy who does Elmo. So there you go. 
April on the other hand.. is truly excellent. This might be my faviorite April. Judith’s april nicely blends the cartoon and mirage versions: She has the cartoons energy and job, but the comics sheer will and casual nature. Judith just oozes personality and her April is just a joy to watch, from her breezy chemistry filled interactions with the guys to her confrntation with Chief Sterns, knowing she’ll get thrown out by the asshole. She’s confident, and even when afraid dosen’t back down to her attackers and even helps out during the sewer ambush. I mean it’s a pot on the head but still it’s neat. She’s easily the best part of the flim and the most fleshed out of the cast. The worst I can say is they kinda shove her store from the comics, Second Time Around, in there for no other reason than it was in the comics: It dosen’t come up until it’s needed for the foot’s assault on her place. But overall.. she’s just fantastic to watch. 
Speaking of fantastic to watch, Elias Koteas is fantastic as Casey. Seriously he’s only second to the 2003 version in my eyes, getting the concept of a testorone filled average guy who decided to just go out and hit people with sports equipment after watching too much A-Team.. I mean that part of it’s not in this version but it’s implied, just right. Like judith, Elias is just really funny to watch and his big scenes, showing up just in time during the foot assault on april’s place and his fight with Tatsu are some of the best parts of the film, the former taken directly from the comics. This version isn’t without problems: His friendship with Raph, his most endearing aspect and one that has been carried throughout eveyr version Casey’s important, with the only exception so far being rise and we have a movie to fix that, is absent here. HE does save the guy, but they don’t really bond or anything. In fact he disappears for about half an hour after his big fight with Raph. But... again he’s just so damn entertaining, down to his JOSEEEEEEEEEEE Conseco bats (There was a two for one sale!).
Shredder is just a LITTLE better than splinter, if only because his actor projects a true aura of menace and I feel this version had some influence on the pants crappingly terrifying 2003 version. And the idea of the foot recurting teenagers like I said is a good one: He gives them home and a cause, they give him plausably deniable backup. And his fight with the boys in the climax is really awesome... the conclusion sucks but otherwise h’es okay. Not the deepest villian, but he has enough presence to be enjoyable.
His right hand man Tatsu, whose been adapted ocasionally since this and reimaigned as Natsu in the IDW comics, a female version, is also fine. He’s your standard grimacing goon but has enough presence to work. 
So that brings us to the penningtons. Charles, april’s boss at the station and his son Danny who’s joined the foot as he feels his dad dosen’t love him. Charles..is about as interesting and likeable as a dog turd and is the worst aspect of the film. No debate there, he just sucks. He sucks so hard he’s classified as a black hole.  The film wants you to see him as a put upon wokring dad whose frustrated with his son’s increased moodiness, skipping school and crminal undertakings and just wants to help him and loves him deep down. The problem is his actor’s delivery instead of concerned.. is just pissed. He just seems pissy and upset about the whole thing and comes off like he’s only mad about Danny doing this because he’s embarassing him and not because you know, it’s bad. When confronting Danny about stealing, he dosen’t consider MAYBE he’s part of a gang or needs help, but just wonders “Why are you stealing when I give you stuff”. Because, Dipshit, sometimes kids do crimes not because they need the stuff but because they WANT to, and because they want to act the fuck out. 
The most he does for the kid is agree to try and get April to back off the police when Cheif Sterns offers to let Danny go and not put him on record in exchange for it. The problem.. is this makes him even MORE unsympathetic. While I do get wanting to help your child, I do and it’s a sucky position... he again should be sympathetic.. but he handles the thing so badly it sucks. He just tells april to ease off, with no reason given, then fires her when she SHOCKINGLY dosen’t give up taking the guy whose refusing to take her hard work seriously or actually solve the crime wave problem to task for his shitty behavior as ANY person facing a shitty, corrput cop would. She just wants to hold him acountable and get him to actually do something. He clearly knows her on a personal level too as he talks about his issues with his son freely with her, something you don’t do with an employee unless their also a friend on some level. 
He could have TOLD april what was going on. She’d be furious at Stern’s naked corrpution and prioritizing shutting her up over actually solving crimes.. and thus put at least some of that energy into shutting him down or finding a way around it, going to the papers or something like that. Even in 1990 pre-internet, there were ways to get around Sterns blackmail and expose him so someone who’d actually do the job could get the job. Instead he just comes off as a selfish coward who rather than try and fight the guy blatantly abusing his power and using Charles own son as  barganing chip, goes along with it because it’s the easier option to simply bow to him instead of TRY and stop this. And it’s not like he’s even going after a beloved public figure or someone who could hide behind his rep: Sterns was blatantly failing a crime wave, April had called him out on his failrues and coverups multiple times. The public was against sterns.. finding out he tried to blackmail the media into shutting up about him would PROBABLY end him... I only say probably not because the public wouldn’t skewer him, but because police tend to escape consequences for blatantly murdering someone on a daily basis and Andrew Cumo is STILl mayor over in new york, the same city this movie takes place, 31 years later, depsite EVERYONE asking him to resign over a long history of sexual harassment and a more recent but still horrible history of hiding death numbers. I don’t doubt people being stupid enough to ignore this or the bilaws with cops being stacked enough for him to get away with it, but just because someone gets away with a crime dosen’t mean you shoudln’t try and go after them in the first place. Fuck. Charles. Pennington. 
Danny on the other hand is FAR more interesting and I think gets way too much flack when it comes to this subplot. Unlike his dad, whose dead weight, Danny is intresting: He provides a POV character for the foot’s MO in the film of taking in wayward teens, and his character arc is pretty engaging, slowly realizing the foot dosen’t care and that hte turtles are the good guys. HIs actor does a great job and while not the biggest presence, he’s not a bad addition to clan hamaoto and I wish other adaptations would find a way to use him. The pull between doing the right thing and his found family is a good struggle. My only real issue with his plot is the moviies flawed aseop about family. It tries to contrast shredder and his using the kids blatnatly with Splinter and Charles really loving their sons. And it works with Splinter and the kids because despite being a tad strict, Splinter clearly loves his sons and works with them to help them. The problem is ENTIRELY with Charles and Danny. As I said Charles love comes off as transasctional: He either thinks he can buy it or just expects it because he shot a bunch of goop into Danny’s mom after two minutes of disapointment. It dosen’t work with them because neither option is good for Danny. His father is neglectful, chooses throwing his jounralistic integrity out the window over talking to his son or his best friend about another way, and abrasive. Danny is no saint, he does do crimes, but it’s clearly a result of a shitty upbringing and the shredder and co actually offeirng him the love he desperatly craves. Danny goes to the foot because his dad is bad at his job but the film never adresses that and just expects Danny to go back to his dad because the plot says so. Danny would HONESTLY be better off with Splinter. No really. Sure he’d have to live in the sewers.. but he did so for a few weeks in the course of the movie. He’s fine down there. Splitner actually cares about him and took an intrest to him and knows how to raise a child. Let him become the fifth turtle. An aseop about family is not a bad thing: Loaded subject that it can be given how many outright abusive families exist, i’m one of the lucky ones who dosen’t have that issue, family is an important thing and can be a source of comfort and support. But this film tells you you should love and respect someone who does not love, respect or value you because he spent a minute in your mom’s vagina and that’s not how family should work and is outright dangerous to kids in an abusive situation. Love the film otherwise but fuck this aseop skyhigh. 
Final thoughts:
Overall though.. the film is bodacious. It’s funny, well paced, has an awesome cast, and outside of a certain bald asswipe... it’s a really good superhero film. Is it the best i’ve seen? Nope. Not even close and character wise most of them are as thin as a wet paper bag covered in ranch dressing. But it’s still a fun as hell with awesome corepgraphy, a killer soundtrack, seriously the soundtrack is damn excellent and only didn’t get it’s own section because I didn’t have enough to say and some of the best effects work i’ve seen in a film in the turtle suits. If you haven’t seen it I urge you to check it out: it’s a breezy 90 minutes, it’s on hbo max and it’s a shell of a time. Will I do the next film? 
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We’ll see how this one does like wise and such, but I will be doing the rise film whenever it comes out this year. So look for that and keep possesing turtle power my dudes. If you liked this review subscirbe for more, join my patreon to keep this blog a chugging, comission a review if you have more turtle stuff you want me to cover, and comment on this. What do you think of the movie, what are your thoughts on the review, what can I do better, what other turtle stuff would you like me to cover/ Let me know and i’ll see you at hte next rainbow. 
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leechonspeeddial · 3 years ago
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Midnight Shift: Singer's Blood
Summary: Something wicked might have come to the Burger King. Either that, or someone really needs deodorant
wc: 1.7k
Read on ao3
"And just like that? I'm in your game?"
"Eh, 'just like that' is like not it, Gucci, but basically. Yeah, dude," I watched as sprite mini-me walked all over the map — a pixelated version of East Laddle's last remaining Burger King, complete with a rat king decomposing in the parking lot and Not Kevin's monster of a car covering an old blood stain.
"Call me Gucci again and I'll burn down your secret edibles stash"
"Nah, dude. The invitation for your family's gala was written in gold, and the card was imported from France. I think I'm entitled, yeah?" I rolled my eyes and cursed as the date to Alice's stupid party drew to a close. Two more days before the humans unknowingly walked into a vampire lair.  
It was cliché to say that I just wanted to be a normal kid, and there was a part of me that would be happy to explain everything I felt with the cliché. But I knew that wasn't it — spending a decade in high school made you realize how stifling normal could be. What I truly wanted was to be left alone; I was fed up of Alice treating my like one of her dolls and everyone enabling her. I was tired of having no thought that was truly for myself and Edward violating my privacy on a whim. It hurt to see Rosalie go from a doting mother to a distant figure when I no longer looked like a child, much like it hurt to see Bella see me as an extension of her beloved husband. 
Being able to hear all of them have sex only made everything much worse.
"Whatever. Just show me my final boss form. You said your roommate was hardcore into Junji Ito"
"Alright, but we only have the concept art for it, though. Abby got super pissed at us for smoking her artisanal weed, so she's not like making the sprite until we get her more, 'kay?" Straight Kevin minimized the game and navigated through his discord server. I left him to his search so I could refill my mello yello; it was always a good shift when Gay Kevin and Not Kevin were away from the store. They were objectively entertaining men, but they also got a little too intense about work here. Neither would let us blow off work in favour of our personal projects. 
Not since Wrestlemania Condimentalooza.
I slurped at my drink and absentmindedly wiped at the counter. Straight Kevin had his phone hooked to our sound system and he was blasting his playlist. His taste in music was…was one would call eclectic if one was feeling charitable – and boy, did I feel like I was making a million dollar donation. In the past hour alone, we had listened to swedish rap, some Nancy Sinatra, Blackpink, Tibetan throat singing, quebecois death metal, and Maroon 5. 
Fucking Maroon 5. 
But none of that compared to the song that was currently playing. It was less of an auditory experience, less of a musical treat, and more like being forcefully turned into a robot that was in the middle of short circuiting. Not only could you feel the beat, but you could see it too. It looked like flashing lights, and I was certain in that moment, that if it continued I would soon be able to taste sound.
And it was during that assault of my senses that I smelled it. Something unlike anything I had ever smelled before and an immeasurable sense of dread washed over me. The pit in my stomach felt like a black hole as I stood ramrod straight and saw a man I had never seen before enter the building alongside Jeremiah.
Nothing about him particularly stood out. He looked like any other white guy that just got out of the office. He was tall though, taller than anyone else here. Not unnaturally tall, mind you, but...something about his aura felt dangerous. I was on edge and no longer breathing, was this how it felt to be near il tuo cantante?
I made eye contact with the man and tried to place the smell, the flavour of it. It didn't taste enticing, if anything the rat king out back called to me more than the man did. But if this was what Bella smelled like when she was human, I had many questions for Edward.
"How's it hanging, Carrot top? Still working on that game, I see Shaggy," Jerimiah appeared oblivious of my behavior. Then again, glaring to our customers wasn't uncommon for me.
I looked away from the man and I saw Jerimiah set up a chess game on his table. Oh no.
"My man C.J. here is buying me lunch, so you can tell your anxious manager not to have a panic attack over more 'non-paying customers'"
"Nah, it's all cool, dude. Kev and Not Kev are on a supply run. Another of our suppliers dropped us like a hot potato"
"Cello beach, that's what they say, no?" Jeremiah shrugged and the man tilted his head.
"C'est la vie?" He questioned using a register of voice I had not expected. I hated it.
"Languages were never my thing. Math, now that's my jam," he dropped onto his chair and I decided I needed to clear my airways. I needed to get out of here. 
Now.
"Kev, take their order. I'm going to deal with the raccoons"
I didn't even wait for a response before I hauled ass out of there. Luckily, I had enough self control to not vampire yeet myself. 
Once outside I took a deep breath.
It was a deeply offensive smell, but at least it was a familiar one. Trash, raccoons, and decay, baby. 
Though, on second breath. Way less raccoons than last week. Significantly less. Maybe Gay Kevin had finally bested them, which shame if true. 
I leaned on the dumpster and tried to focus. It was important for me to figure out what the hell was going on, because damn if some paper pusher was the reason we left East Laddle. The Cullens would jump at the opportunity to decrease my autonomy if I ate some guy. 
Which, yeah. Murder shouldn't be taken lightly, but I'd never be able to have as much freedom as I did now.
God, it'd be fucked. They'd make me go back to school and somehow rationalize that decision as a good one. Somehow surrounding me with hundreds of humans after murdering one would make sense because they'd be there to keep an eye on me...
I was getting sidetracked again, back to the matter at hand. 
About three things I was absolutely positive. First, that man stank. Second, there was a part of me – and I didn’t know how potent that part might be – that wanted to murder him in cold blood. And third, I was deeply and irrationally terrified of him.
A trash can fell over with a loud clang and a empty jug of bleach rolled pass my feet. My eyes widened in realization – Jake had once told me that to him, the smell of vampires made his nose burn. It was an unpleasant odor that clung to everything a vampire touched. Similarly, Alice had gone on at length at how much she didn't like how the shifters smelled like.
The man didn't smell like a shifter, which only served to make me more uneasy. He clearly wasn't a vampire, his eyes were bright blue and I heard his heart beat, but my nose felt like burning back there. 
The more I stood in our nearly empty garbage zone, the more questions I had. The last time I felt this level of terror, the freaking Volturi had crossed the Atlantic to personally execute me. It was horrifying.
And exciting. This was something new and unheard of, a break from the monotony of the past 15 years. I needed to solve this mystery and I needed to do it stat. Not only because this was potentially life threatening – and I didn't mean just the vampires, whatever that man was could be a danger to the whole town – but also because the moment the Cullens found out about it, we'd be out the Minnesota, nay, the States, before I could even think to protest. 
I was so not letting the Cullens ruin this for me. This could be my Riverdale moment; Betty who? Resentment Cannibal was on the case. 
...
Ok. That was a bit cringe, but fuck it. I walked back in to the building with a mission in mind. I also washed by hands with our heavy duty soap for at least 20 seconds.
"–that incident he got kicked from kitchen duties. Which sucked, cuz CJ has some wicked knife skills," Jeremiah's voice carried to the back of the kitchen and I mentally prepared myself to go back to ground zero. 
"How didn't you notice the taste? Catfish smell so bad when you rupture their guts"
I walked to our registers just in time to see the man shrug. The chess game was still on going and they had pushed another table besides Jeremiah's to make space for the food. There was only one meal on the tray.
"You should have seen Tammy's face. She wanted to blow up so bad, but she couldn't because Susan was there," Jeremiah pitched his voice up and put on the worst British accent I had heard in my life, "'Oh, it's fine Mr. Singer. No big deal. Not a problem. Honest mistake. Happens to everyone!'" 
He took a bite from his burger before continuing. "That woman is so gone on CJ it makes her look stupid."
The man made a face while Straight Kevin laughed.
"She isn't 'gone' on me"
"'Oh Mr. Singer, is that a new coat? Did you do something new with you hair, it looks spiffing! What a nice strong man you are,'" Straight Kevin dissolved into giggles while Jeremiah kept up his imitation. "You have to tell her your taken, man. For all of our sakes"
I stepped forward to join the conversation, when my phone blew up, vibrating as if its life depended on it. I would have ignore it, but the notifications just kept coming. The three men looked back at me.
Fuck.
I fumbled as I took the phone out from my pocket and I checked the messages, all of the Cullens had send me a text and they all said the same thing.
Family emergency. Alice had a vision. Come home.
Double fuck.
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buckybarnesdollface · 5 years ago
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The Beach House
Summary: Reader is insecure about her body on a vacation with the Avengers, but a certain supersoldier shows her he thinks she’s stunning.
Warnings: Smut
           When Tony had said he was taking the team on a retreat, a private beach house in Malibu certainly hadn’t been what I’d expected. The place was enormous, with over a dozen bedrooms, a home theatre, a pool, and access to its own private beach. After what the team had been through in the past year, Tony had insisted we all deserved to spend a little time relaxing and being pampered.
           In all honesty, I felt a little out of place being here with the rest of the Avengers. I’d only been recruited six months ago, and on tenuous terms – I’d originally worked for S.H.I.E.L.D. as a Level 6 agent, although I’d started in Level 5 as a biomechanical engineer. It was my knowledge of biomechanics that landed me at the Avengers compound. The Avengers had been in need of someone familiar with the subject, and Maria Hill – who had been my commander at S.H.I.E.L.D. and whom I’d remained close with after – had recommended me to Tony Stark. He had been reluctant considering him and Maria had been on unsteady terms since he’d fired her from Stark Industries, but when I created an implant for Rhodey that meant he didn’t have to wear the braces to walk I had been eagerly welcomed onto the team.
           Since then I had assisted with things such as successfully allowing Vision to hold his human appearance even without the mind stone, helping Dr. Banner control when he changes into the Hulk, and repairing/upgrading the tech in Sergeant Barnes’ arm. My place had initially been strictly in the compound, but when Tony found out I was also trained in espionage I was sent out on a few recon missions. And although in the last six months I had created friendships with the other Avengers, I just couldn’t shake the feeling that I didn’t really belong here.
           “You do know that the whole point of bringing the team here was so that we could enjoy the sunshine, right, (Y/N)?” Tony said wryly as he walked into the kitchen to pour himself a glass of scotch. With a glass of lemonade in hand and a book tucked under my arm I had just been about to head to the den to curl up and read, which I explained to Tony. He shook his head.
           “You can read outside,” he said. “At least go sit by the pool and be around the rest of the team and act like you want to be here.”
           “I do want to be here,” I protested.
           “Then get your butt out there. I didn’t spend a fortune on this place for people to sit inside by themselves.”
           With a sigh, I allowed Tony to usher me out the patio door. Most of the team was either at the beach or in the city, but Steve and Bucky were in the pool tossing a football back and forth. I took a seat on the wicker rocking chair under the cover of a large umbrella and had just cracked open my book when I noticed that Tony was leaving.
           “Where are you going?” I accused, and he grinned.
           “Pepper is waiting for me on the beach.”
           I glared at him. “Then why did you drag me out here?”
           “Because some sun would do you good,” he replied, “and because you have to stop spending so much time alone. Now I gotta go, enjoy!”
           He waved as he disappeared down the path that led to the beach, and I was so annoyed I contemplated going back inside just out of spite. It was a beautiful day, though, and I had already settled in so I turned my attention back to my book.
           For awhile, it was nice – I read my book while in the background the guys continued their game of catch. It wasn’t as peaceful as being alone, but Steve and Bucky were the two least rowdy members of the team and I’d be lying if I said it bothered me having the two shirtless supersoldiers there. If I was going to be forced into company, at least theirs was unobtrusive and pleasant.
           It didn’t take long before more of the team returned, though. Sam came out of the house, having woken from a nap, and Natasha and Wanda had returned from shopping and had decided to come sunbathe by the pool. Suddenly I was feeling less than relaxed. With Sam thrown into the mix, Steve and Bucky’s game of catch was much louder and more aggressive. And with Nat and Wanda, who both looked like poster girls for a Playboy magazine, laying by the pool in the new bikinis they had bought I was feeling even more out of place than usual. I glanced down at the denim shorts and baggy t-shirt I wore and suddenly felt like a whale next to a couple of mermaids.
           “Sam, god dammit!” I heard Nat shout and I looked up to see that the football had landed in her lap, spraying her with water. Sam had the decency to look apologetic only for a moment before he snickered.
           “Maybe you shouldn’t sit so close to the pool if you don’t want to get wet,” he pointed out.
           “Maybe you should learn to throw a football,” Natasha retorted, tossing it back at him with a perfect spiral.
           “Those are fighting words,” Bucky taunted, and Sam grinned.
           “I propose a match. Guys against girls,” he said. “Losers cook dinner for the winners.”
           Wanda shook her head. “There’s only two of us and three of you. That’s unfair.”
           “(Y/N)!”
           Steve’s voice startled me, and I cursed internally as I looked up to see the five of them looking expectantly at me. I shook my head.
           “I’ll pass,” I said. “Football’s not really my thing, and I’m not in the mood for swimming.”
           “Oh, c’mon!” Nat said. “It’ll be fun! We can show these boneheads how it’s done.”
           “You wish,” Bucky snorted. I shook my head again.
           “Really, guys, I’m good. Maybe some other time.”
           I was hoping they’d drop it, but of course it was never that easy. “Is it that you can’t swim?” Sam asked.
           “I can swim,” I defended. In fact, I normally loved swimming. But with both Natasha and Wanda looking like goddesses in their skimpy bikinis and the three very fit guys, there was no way I was going to go put on my basic one-piece bathing suit and come back down just to feel insecure.
           “You haven’t been in the pool once since we got here, (Y/N),” Steve pointed out gently. “There’s got to be a reason.”
           “Tony said the retreat was for relaxing,” I replied, a slight bite to my tone. “Your idea of relaxing may be playing games in the pool, but mine is not.”
           Steve held up his hands in surrender and I felt bad. He truly was one of the nicest people on the team and I hadn’t meant to snap at him, but my patience had expired and I was starting to resent Tony for forcing me to be more social.
           Not knowing what else to say and feeling awkward, I got up and headed inside. I looked out the kitchen window to see that Nat and Wanda had jumped in the pool and the five of them were laughing and having fun. With a pang of jealousy, I retreated to the den with my book.
           The next day, I stood in the full-length mirror in my room and stared at my reflection. I’d put on my bathing suit – a black one-piece with a corseted neckline that showed a modest bit of cleavage. Although it did make my breasts look good, I couldn’t help but take note of everything I hated – the less-than-flat tummy, the cellulite on my thighs, the rolls that even the black material couldn’t hide…I thought of how Natasha and Wanda had looked in their bikinis, and a noise of disgust pushed its way from my throat. I peeled the bathing suit off and threw on some shorts and my old Star Wars t-shirt before making my way downstairs and out the patio door to the deck.
           It was still fairly early, the morning sun warm and the birds chirping. Most of the team was still asleep or watching TV in their pyjamas so I had the backyard to myself. I walked over to the pool and sat down on the edge, letting my bare feet dangle in the water. It was cool but not cold, just enough to feel refreshing in the Malibu heat. I tilted my head back and closed my eyes, letting the sun warm my face.
           “I…I don’t mean to intrude,” a soft voice said behind me, and I turned to find Bucky standing there with an apologetic look on his face. “Steve made breakfast; he saw you were awake and was wondering if you wanted some.”
           I blushed and ducked my head, embarrassed that he’d caught me in a vulnerable moment. “Uh, yeah, sure,” I said. “I’ll be right in.”
           Bucky nodded and then headed back inside. I waited a moment and then followed.
           Later that night, we decided to throw a party on the beach to celebrate our last night in Malibu before returning to New York and to work. A big bonfire roared on the beach, and some of the team had started a game of beach volleyball. Clint and Scott were manning the barbecue, and the guys were pounding back hamburgers and hot dogs as quickly as they could make them. I had to admit it was nice seeing the whole team so carefree and having fun. I even convinced myself to join in on a game of volleyball with Peter, Wanda and Thor, and found myself laughing as Thor tried to rein in his strength to make it a more even playing field.
           As it got dark the party only intensified, but I found myself growing tired of the prolonged social interaction. Waiting until I was sure no one would notice, I slipped away from the party and made my way back up to the house.
           At night the back deck was lit with thousands of fairy lights. I once again sat down on the edge of the pool, contemplating going for a swim while everyone else was down on the beach, but before I could get up to change into my bathing suit a shadowy figure appeared on the path. I stiffened, but when he stepped into the light and I saw it was Bucky I relaxed slightly.
           “This feels like deja-vu,” he chuckled, and I gave him a small, shy smile.
           “How come you aren’t at the party?”
           “I saw you leave. I wanted to make sure everything was alright.”
           I flushed as a weird feeling blossomed in my stomach. “I’m fine,” I assured him. “Just needed some air. I love the team, but sometimes these parties can be…”
           “A little too much?” Bucky finished for me and I nodded. He gave me a small smile before coming to sit next to me, dipping his own feet in the water. He stared down towards the beach as he spoke. “I know better than most how it feels to be overwhelmed around people,” he murmured. “I know how easy it is to isolate yourself when you’re the newest team member and you feel out of place, but trust me when I say that everyone wants nothing more than to make you feel like a part of the family. Speaking from experience, they will keep trying to include you in things until you cave and just go with it.”
           I pursed my lips and shook my head. “I don’t isolate myself –”
           “(Y/N), c’mon. If you aren’t on a mission or in your lab working, you’re off somewhere alone with your nose buried in a book.” Bucky chuckled. “I get it, it’s tough when everyone else already has a history with each other. But the team thinks you’re great. Trust me.”
           I finally turned my head towards him to find he was already looking at me. I bit my lip, my cheeks still warm.
           “When I was a part of S.H.I.E.L.D.,” I explained, “I felt like I was on an even playing field with everyone else. Sure, there were those with higher clearances than me, but we were all just human. But now…” I trailed off. “I’m surrounded by highly trained assassins and the world’s smartest people and superhumans and a god. Of course I’m going to feel out of place, I’m the least qualified to be here.”
           Bucky’s eyes widened and he shook his head. “If you were unqualified to be a part of the team, (Y/N), then Maria would have never suggested you for the job and Tony would have never recruited you. The team is lucky to have you.” He grinned and flexed his metal arm. “Besides, if it weren’t for you, I would have to go all the way to Wakanda whenever I needed maintenance on this thing. You certainly give Shuri a run for her money.”
           For what felt like the hundredth time that night I blushed. Bucky and I had been alone together on a few occasions when I was working on his arm, but this felt different. It was personal, and if I was being honest, I’d had a small crush on the supersoldier since I’d met him six months ago. I was suddenly highly aware of the fact that we were alone.
           “So this is the second time I’ve found you out here by the pool,” he pointed out after a moment of silence. “I know you like to swim, (Y/N); you use the pool at the compound all the time.”
           I shot him a confused look. “How did you –”
           “You aren’t the only one awake at ungodly hours,” he chuckled. “I have a hard time sleeping. Nightmares. I’ve seen you sneak to or from the pool on a few occasions.” He shook his head. “So why were you so reluctant to swim here? The pool here is so much nicer than the one at the compound.”
           Suddenly my throat was dry and I turned my head away from him. “If I tell you, you’ll think it’s stupid,” I mumbled.
           “I promise I won’t. Tell me, (Y/N).”
           “I just…I don’t feel comfortable around the team,” I admitted, my eyes trained on my lap. “Everyone is all so in shape. Hell, Nat and Wanda look like frigging supermodels walking around here in their bikinis. And then there’s me. I already feel like an outsider, but if I was next to them in their bikinis, I just…I couldn’t do it. It’d just make me feel worse about myself.”
           For a moment we sat in silence, but I could feel Bucky’s eyes on me. I had never told anyone about my insecurities like that before, especially not to a man as gorgeous as Bucky Barnes. When he still hadn’t spoken I began to panic, worried I’d made a mistake in opening up, but finally his soft voice broke through the silence.
           “(Y/N)…(Y/N), look at me.”
           When I didn’t move, he shifted his body towards me and then lifted his flesh hand to take my chin gently between his thumb and forefinger to direct my gaze to his. His blue eyes were soft as he looked at me.
           “Are you kidding me?” he breathed. “You wouldn’t join us in the pool because you were scared of what people would think of you in a swimsuit?”
           I frowned and pulled away from him. “You don’t get it,” I snapped. “You’re just as in shape as the rest of them, if not more so. I’m the only one on the team without abs.”
           Bucky shook his head. “Do you think you’re the only one with insecurities, doll? We’ve all got ‘em,” he said to me. “You seem to think that Natasha is so perfect, for example, but you know how much she hates that scar on her abdomen from the time I shot her.”
           I shook my head. “It’s a little scar, I don’t know why it’s such a big deal to her.”
           “And what about me? Do you know how long it took me to feel even somewhat comfortable wearing short-sleeved shirts, let alone no shirt at all, around the team? I was ashamed of my arm and I hated the scarring on my shoulder from it. A year ago, I wouldn’t have been in this pool because I always felt like everyone was staring. But you know what? I was tired of missing out on things because of my anxiety and I quickly found out that everyone on the team had better things to do than judge me about a metal arm and some scarring.”
           “I know it sounds ridiculous,” I groaned. “But it’s the way I feel. Whenever I’m around the two of them I feel like a boulder next to diamonds.”
           Bucky snorted, and I glared at him. He shook his head apologetically. “I’m sorry,” he breathed. “I’m just having a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that you think you’re any less beautiful than Natasha or Wanda.”
           “I’m not blind,” I retorted. “They have supermodel bodies. I can’t compete with that.”
           “Why do you feel like you have to? This isn’t a competition, (Y/N). Your size doesn’t determine your worth as an Avenger or as a person, so it shouldn’t matter.” He grinned before standing and tugging his t-shirt over his head. “And for what it’s worth,” he said as he tossed the shirt onto the deck, “back in my day, a woman with a body like yours drove men wild.”
           My eyes widened as I felt the blood rush to my face. “What are you doing?” I asked him.
           “Going for a swim. You gonna join me?”
           I shook my head in protest. “I’m not wearing a bathing suit…”
           “Neither am I,” he laughed. “That’s what underwear are for.” Bucky slid his shorts from his hips, leaving him in nothing but a pair of black boxer briefs. He grinned mischievously at me before jumping into the pool. “C’mon!” he called when he resurfaced.
           “Bucky, I don’t…I can’t…” I stammered, but he was already swimming over to me. He stood, his hands on the concrete on either side of my thighs as he looked up at me.
           “Come on, (Y/N),” he murmured. “Please? Just let yourself be carefree for once. If it makes you feel better, I won’t look until you’re in the pool.”
           I pursed my lips, but there was no way I could say no to him, not when he was looking at me like that with those impossibly blue eyes. Finally, I rolled my eyes and groaned.
           “Fine.” I said. “But turn around. Don’t move until I say.”
           Bucky obeyed, a grin on his face, and I stood up to yank the t-shirt over my shoulders before shimmying out of my shorts. For a minute I stood there with my arms crossed over my chest, feeling terrifyingly exposed. At least I had thought to put on my matching black lace bra and panties earlier that night. Taking a deep breath, I slipped into the water quietly, making sure the water was deep enough to come up past my chest before I spoke.
           “Okay,” I said softly, and Bucky turned. He grinned at me.
           “Was that so hard?” he teased.
           “Harder than it should have been,” I admitted, and Bucky’s grin turned into a sympathetic smile.
           “I don’t want you to ever feel insecure or uncomfortable around me, (Y/N). I’ve always got your back, okay?”
           I could only nod, at a loss for words. Hesitating, I let myself step deeper into the pool until my feet no longer reached the bottom and I had no choice but to swim. I had to admit it felt good; swimming had always been my favourite way to relax.
           “So, are you sure you don’t mind missing the party?” I asked Bucky as I swam a lap around the pool. He shook his head.
           “Nah, I’m happy where I’m at right now.”
           Warmth spread through my body, and I smiled to myself. We swam in comfortable silence for a little bit, just enjoying the peace and quiet. At one point I came up for air, pushing the hair back from my face and not realizing I’d come up in the shallow end and the water barely reached my hips. I opened my eyes and found Bucky standing a few feet away, his eyes locked on me and his jaw slack.
           Cheeks burning, I quickly dropped to my knees in the water and wrapped my arms around myself tightly, horrified. “You’re staring,” I accused in a shaky voice, and Bucky’s eyes widened as if he’d just realized what he’d done.
           “Shit, I’m sorry,” he said quickly. “I didn’t mean to, (Y/N). It’s just…you’re…”  
           He was rambling, clearly uncomfortable, and I frowned as tears stung the backs of my eyes. “I get it,” I muttered, but Bucky shook his head.
           “I don’t think you do get it, doll,” he murmured, his voice huskier than it had been before. When my brow furrowed, he took a couple of steps towards me, his tongue darting out to wet his lips. “It blows my mind just how much you don’t get it.”
           “Do you have a point to make,” I snapped weakly, “or are you just going to keep making me feel shitty about myself?”
           “You have no reason to feel shitty about yourself, (Y/N); especially not with me.” He took another step closer, then another. “You’re perfect.”
           “Wait…what?” I shook my head, confused. “Bucky, what the hell are you talking about?”
           “You, silly girl. I’m talking about you,” he murmured. “You’re beautiful. I’ve thought so since the first time I laid eyes on you, and it kills me that you don’t see it. If you could see what I see, see how absolutely stunning you are…”
           At this point my head was swimming. This was a joke; he was messing with me, knowing that I was at my most vulnerable right now.
           But Bucky wouldn’t do that – He was one of the kindest people I knew. And all I had to do was look at his eyes to know he was being sincere.
           “Why?” I whispered.
           “Why what?”
           “Why me? You could have any girl you wanted…”
           “I want you, (Y/N),” he insisted. By now he was standing in front of me, and when I wouldn’t stand he sank to his knees so we were more at eye level. “I don’t know how to say it to make you believe me, but I think you’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen and god, I would spend every day of my life making sure you knew it if you’d let me.”
           For a minute I couldn’t speak. I just stared at him, shocked as a lump formed in my throat, and then tears were spilling down my cheeks. Bucky’s eyes widened.
           “Don’t cry, doll, shit. Did I say something wrong?” he breathed. “I didn’t mean to upset you…”
           “No,” I said, shaking my head as I swiped at my tears in embarrassment. “You did nothing wrong, Bucky. I just…I keep waiting to find out this is all a joke but you’re serious, aren’t you?”
           Bucky’s face softened. “Of course I’m serious! I’ve been wanting to tell you this for months but I just never knew how.” He chuckled, his cheeks tinted a light pink. “You’ve got no idea what you do to me, doll. Walking around the compound in those leggings and your loose t-shirts, hinting at what’s underneath. You’re sexier all covered up than those other girls are in their bikinis.” He bit his lip. “Do you know how many times I’ve had to leave the gym while you’re training because of what you do to me?”
           Heat flooded my body, and if I weren’t already on my knees those words certainly would have brought me to them.
           “Bucky…”
           “I don’t want you to think I got you into the pool just so I could get you to take your clothes off,” he said quickly, looking suddenly embarrassed. “I truly did just want to help you move past your insecurities. But then I saw you and honest to god, doll, you took my breath away.”
           I ducked my head. “Not even a part of you wished I was thinner?” I asked in a quiet voice. Bucky reached out to cup my cheeks in his hands.
           “Absolutely not,” he said firmly. “I grew up in a different time, doll. One where women had curves and were desired even more for it.” His hands slid from my face to my shoulders, then down my back to rest on my waist. The contrast between the warmth of his flesh and the chill of the vibranium sent shivers through me, and he grinned. “Besides,” he murmured, “I like having something to grab onto when I’m with a woman.”
           Bucky’s fingers dug gently into the flesh of my waist and I inhaled sharply. He held my eyes and I could feel heat pooling in my stomach as I watched the blue in his eyes slowly turn black as the reflection of the fairy lights made them glitter.
           “Bucky?” I whispered breathlessly.
           “Mmm, doll?”
           “Kiss me.”
           Bucky’s grip tightened on my waist as he pulled me closer, and then he inclined his head until his lips just barely brushed over mine. He waited a few seconds, uncertain, but when my hands reached up to clasp behind his neck and pull him back to me his lips pressed against mine with more pressure. My fingers tangled in the hair at the nape of his neck, tugging gently, and Bucky groaned into my mouth, giving my tongue access to explore. I dragged it lightly over his bottom lip before touching it to his, and suddenly we were no longer on our knees. Bucky had pulled me up and lifted me into his arms, my legs straddling his waist as he carried me over to the edge of the pool. He sat me down, his body still between my legs, and kissed me with fresh vigor as his hands roamed over my thighs.
           I broke the kiss, ducking my head. Suddenly I felt too exposed and Bucky could tell because he took his hands from my thighs to instead intertwine them with my own hands.
           “(Y/N), hey,” he murmured. “It’s okay, if you don’t want to do this…”
           I shook my head. “It’s not that, I just…” I trailed off, biting my lip. The next thing I knew, Bucky was lifting my hand to lay it flat against his chest, right where flesh met metal. My eyes widened slightly and he gave me a small smile.
           “Bucky…” I whispered. I had touched the arm countless times when I was doing maintenance on it, but he had made it very clear from the beginning that no one was to touch the scars. And now here he was, encouraging me to do so.
           “It’s okay, doll,” he murmured, his voice husky. Hesitating, I ran my fingertips lightly over the puckered skin, still an angry pink even all these years later. I could feel him shiver underneath me but he didn’t move, his eyes trained on my face as I traced the jagged lines.
           “Do they still hurt?” I asked quietly, and Bucky shook his head.
           “Not really. Once in awhile I’ll get a ghost pain as a reminder of how it happened, but more than anything it’s just ugly.”
           I leaned in to press my lips softly to the scars. “Nothing about you is ugly.”
           Bucky pulled my lips back to his as his hands slid back to my thighs. “That’s the point I’m trying to make, doll,” he murmured. “I could say the same thing about you.” He slid his hands further up my thighs and I could feel my body reacting to his touch. The heat in my stomach had returned and my body shifted until I was pressed against him, my legs wrapping around his torso while he deepened the kiss. His hands moved from my thighs to my hips, fingertips gliding over my flesh and sending shivers up and down my spine.
           When his fingers reached the clasp of my bra I froze, and he pulled back from me to meet my eyes. “If you want me to stop…”
           “No, I don’t, but…right here? Bucky, we could get caught…”
           He shook his head. “Everyone’s too wrapped up in the party, no one will bother us for awhile.”
           “And if you’re wrong?”
           With a noise that could only be described as a growl, Bucky was climbing out of the pool and pulling me to my feet. Before I knew it his hands slid under my thighs and he lifted me up as if I weighed no more than a bag of flour, wrapping my legs around his waist and carrying me towards the house. Shifting my weight to one arm to open the door, his lips attacked mine as soon as we were inside. My hands tangled in his hair as our lips fought each other for dominance, and when my legs tightened around Bucky’s waist he backed into a table and knocked a vase of flowers to the floor. It shattered and Bucky disconnected his lips from mine in annoyance.
           “Shit,” he swore as I giggled.
           “You might wanna be more careful, Sergeant,” I teased. “Tony’s probably gonna get charged for that.”
           Bucky’s eyes met mine, blue irises nearly swallowed whole by his pupils. “Call me that again,” he growled, and I arched an eyebrow.
           “Sergeant?”
           “Fuck,” he groaned, his fingers digging into the flesh of my thighs as my back hit a wall. His mouth was all over me and his touch was dizzying, and I tightened my grip on his shoulders. I could feel my control fading, more quickly than it ever had with anyone else. I pulled my lips away from him with a gasp.
           “If we don’t get to a bedroom right now,” I said to him, “then someone’s gonna walk into this kitchen and get a show they aren’t expecting.”
           With a wicked smirk, Bucky made for the stairs and took them two at a time. His room was closer and we crashed through the door, lips still locked together and hands exploring hot, damp skin. Bucky kicked the door closed behind us and then set me on my feet, hands still lingering at my waist.
           “Fuck, you’re so beautiful,” he murmured huskily, and my cheeks burned. Suddenly I was shy again and my legs felt weak. I set a hand on his arm to steady myself and his grip on my waist tightened. “(Y/N), if you don’t want to do this we can stop right now,” he said in a quiet voice, his tone gentle and sincere. “I would never ask you to do something you don’t want to do.” He lifted one hand to brush a wet strand of hair out of my face, tucking it behind my ear. “All I want is for you to know how stunning I think you are.”
           My breath hitched and I looked up to meet his ocean-blue eyes. “I do want this,” I whispered. “I want you, Buck. More than anything.”
           “That’s all I needed to hear,” Bucky murmured, and then he was leaning in to kiss me. It wasn’t like the other kisses, that had been all passion and lust; no, this one was soft and sweet and fueled by pure emotion. When he slowly pulled away, he nuzzled his nose against mine affectionately before meeting my eyes.
           “It would be so easy to just ravage you right now,” he said in a low, even voice that sent shivers through my body, “but shit, doll, I want to do this right. I wanna take it slow and memorize every inch of you, have you squirming underneath me till you’re beggin’ me to stop and I’ve ruined you for all other men.”
           As he spoke his Brooklyn accent came through and that, paired with his words, sent a wave of heat crashing through my body. I couldn’t stop the whimper from escaping my mouth, and Bucky’s lips curved into a smirk.
           “That sound good, baby doll? You want it nice and slow? Want me to ruin you so I’ll be the only one to ever be able to satisfy you again?”
           I had never heard Bucky talk like this; I hadn’t even known this side of Bucky existed. He was usually so reserved, and on the occasion that he did let his guard down he was still the early twentieth-century gentleman he had been raised to be. But this…Now I was starting to understand why Steve was always saying that Bucky had been such a ladies’ man back in the day. If he’d talked like this to any woman, she would’ve been lifting her skirts for him in seconds.
           I wanted to say something witty, something along the lines of “Why don’t you use that talented tongue of yours for something else,” but in that moment my wits had completely escaped me and I was a hot, flustered mess. Instead, I barely managed to muster a breathless “Yes” as I looked up at him with half-lidded eyes. He lifted his flesh hand to run a calloused thumb over my lips. In a brief moment of bravery, I grazed his thumb with my teeth and then sucked it into my mouth, my eyes not leaving his.
           Bucky’s eyes widened. “Shit, doll,” he swore softly, and then his hands were tugging me closer until my body was flush with his. His hands moved to grip the flesh of my backside, one cold and one hot on my skin, and I moaned into his mouth as he kissed me. I could feel the outline of his manhood against my hip, solid and large, and when I shifted against it his hands on me tightened.
           He backed me up until my legs hit the bed and then he was lowering me onto the mattress, crawling up after me until his body hovered above mine. He held my eyes for the briefest of moments and then I was pulling him back into a kiss. He pressed his hips down into mine and in return I bucked up into him, craving the friction I needed to relieve the pressure building inside me.
           Bucky slid a hand underneath me to undo the clasp of my bra with deft fingers, and then he broke our kiss to trail his lips down my throat to my collarbone as he slid the damp garment from my shoulders. My nipples, hard from a combination of the cool dampness of my bra and my arousal, stood erect as my chest heaved with ragged breaths. Bucky’s eyes were pools of black in the dark room, tongue darting out to wet his lips as he drank in the sight before him.
           “Touch me,” I begged in a raspy whisper, and then his hands were on me – one cool and smooth and the other hot and rough – roaming over my curves but purposely avoiding my breasts. He finally cupped them softly, fingers kneading flesh, and when his thumbs brushed over my nipples, I arched up into him with a soft moan.
           “Such a good girl,” he murmured. “Promise I’ll take real good care of you, doll.”
           His hands slid down my body at an agonizing pace, and with them so did his mouth. He latched onto a nipple and sucked it gently into his mouth and his name left my lips in a breathless plea. He moved onto the other nipple, his hands slowly sliding further down my body. When the fingertips of his metal hand reached the waistband of my underwear he hesitated, his eyes meeting mine.
           “Tell me what you want, doll,” he murmured.
           “I want you…” I whined, but Bucky shook his head.
           “That could mean anything. I need you to tell me exactly what you want; I’m not doing anything until you do.”
           I was so strung out already and he’d barely even touched me – I wasn’t even sure I could form coherent sentences at the moment. “Your hand,” I managed to rasp, and when his flesh hand inched up my thigh I shook my head and reached out to grasp his wrist. “No. The metal one.”
           Bucky’s eyes widened. “(Y/N), I –” he choked, but I cut him off.
           “You asked what I wanted,” I pointed out, and then in a softer voice I added, “Please.”
           Blue eyes burned as his left hand slid up my thigh slowly, pushing the black lace aside and exposing the heat between my legs. He let out an almost-silent groan at the sight.
           “Already so wet for me, doll,” he whispered, voice thick with desire. His metal digits swiped through my wetness, spreading it over my folds, and I let out a shuddering whimper at the contrast of his cool fingers on my aching heat. He continued to run his fingertips through my folds, and once he was satisfied he sank one and then two fingers into me, drawing out an obscenely embarrassing moan from my lips.
           “Don’t hold back, doll,” he murmured. “I wanna hear every pretty little noise that comes out of that pretty little mouth.”
           As he spoke, Bucky flexed his fingers inside me and I cried out, back arching off the mattress. He smirked.
           “So tight, doll,” he praised. “Gonna feel so good around me when I’m inside you.”
           “Bucky…” I whimpered, and when he pulled his fingers out of me I let out an exasperated whine that set him to chuckling.
           “Don’t worry, doll, it’s only for a second,” he assured me, and then he was on his knees between my legs and tugging my damp panties from my hips. “I gotta make sure you’re good and ready for me, you’re so tight I wanna make sure I don’t hurt you.”
           I didn’t have time to respond before two thick metal digits were once again filling me up and his tongue left a hot, wet stripe up my folds to my clit. I let out a strangled gasp, hips bucking up into his face as my hands instinctively tangled in his damp hair. I tugged on the dark locks and Bucky groaned against my folds, sending vibrations through me that freshly slickened his fingers and tongue. He began to slide his metal fingers in and out of me at a steady pace, not rough but not exactly gentle either, and the feel of his fingers curling against my inner walls combined with the way his tongue drank down everything I had to offer him and his lips wrapped around my clit had me on the edge in no time. With one last hard suck my moan evolved into a strangled scream, his name falling from my lips in heated ecstasy. He brought me down with kitten licks as his fingers slowed, and then his teeth nipped the inside of my thigh affectionately before he slid up my body to kiss me languorously.
           I could taste myself on Bucky’s lips and it fueled my desire. I locked my legs around his waist, grinding my still-sensitive wet heat against the bulge in his boxer briefs. He let out a grunt and rolled his hips into mine, teeth grazing the skin of my throat.
           “No more teasing,” I said breathily. “Need you inside me…Now. Please, Buck, I can’t wait another second…”
           Not needing to be told twice, Bucky shed his boxer briefs and then his body was over mine again. I could feel his length, hot, heavy and solid against my hip, and I reached down between us to take him into my hand. Bucky let out a small hiss, and butterflies filled my stomach when I realized how large he was. Now I understood his comment about getting me ready had been more than just dirty talk. As I slid his length through my slick folds to coat it in my juices, though, I concluded that he would have no trouble; the feel of his hard cock against me was enough to have me dripping with fresh arousal.
           “(Y/N), fuck,” he said through clenched teeth, and with a demure smile I lined him up with my entrance and let go of him.
           “Ruin me, Sergeant,” I murmured, and with a purely animalistic growl Bucky sheathed himself fully in me in one slow thrust.
           We both let out long, low groans, and Bucky held himself still as I squeezed my eyes shut and adjusted to his size. The stretch of my walls around him bordered on painful, but it was overshadowed by the deliciously satisfying feeling of being so completely full of such a beautiful man. A beautiful man who was looking down at me with both undeniable adoration and feverish restraint.
           “Just tell me…just tell me when,” Bucky grunted, and I realized he had been holding his breath. Wickedly, I squeezed my walls around him and he gasped, blue eyes wide as he let out a string of curses from his kiss-swollen lips. He fixed a glare on me and shook his head. “Do that again, doll, and this is gonna be over before we’ve even had a chance to start.”
           “So start, then,” I said in exasperation, and with a glint in his eyes Bucky pulled out almost all the way only to thrust back into me with force, knocking the breath out of me. In a few thrusts I was matching Bucky’s rhythm, hands on his back pulling him as close as humanly possible to me as nails dug into flesh.
           The room quickly filled with the grunts and moans of passion, accompanied by the sound of skin on skin. Bucky’s hands slid under my thighs to lift my legs and wrap them around his waist – This new angle not only let him hit that elusive spot in me that even I often had a hard time finding, but it also had his pubic bone grinding against my clit every time he pounded into me. Within seconds this new position had me keening, and Bucky grinned down at me before nuzzling his face against my neck.
           “That feel good does it, baby girl?” he panted into my ear, every word punctuated by a calculated thrust of his unforgiving length into my yielding heat. “You got me so fucking hard, seein’ how wrecked you are underneath me. Wanna draw those pretty noises from you all night long till everyone knows how good I make you feel.”
           “Bucky…” I whined, nails biting deeper into the taut flesh of his back as he drove into me fiercely. “Buck, I’m…”
           As quick as he started, his movements stopped. I opened my mouth to protest, breathless and hopelessly strung out, but with his length still inside me he flipped us over so I was straddling his hips. In this position I could feel him even deeper inside me, something I hadn’t thought possible, and with a moan my head fell back. I could feel him chuckle beneath me, and then his hands were on my hips and he was rocking me against him slowly.
           I took over the movements, grinding my hips against his until we were both groaning in pleasure. Bucky’s hands slid up my thighs, over every curve and up to my breasts. He took them into his large hands and brushed his thumbs over my nipples, bringing a breathless moan from my lips as I arched into his touch.
           “So beautiful,” he murmured, and the softness of his tone had me opening my eyes to see that he was looking up at me with absolute adoration shining in his eyes as his thumbs traced across my breasts, still cupped in his hands. It was in that moment that I realized this had not been a heat-of-the-moment thing, nor did he intend for it to be a casual thing. This man – this beautiful, remarkable, supersoldier of a man – was as infatuated with me as I was with him. Dizzy with this revelation, I placed my palms flat on his hard chest to steady myself.
           Bucky rolled his hips up into mine gently, and then with more vigor as the seconds passed. It took no time at all for me to find myself on the edge of release. I could tell Bucky was close, too; his thrusts, which had been delivered with precision up until now, were sloppier and more erratic. I leaned down to capture his lips in a fiery kiss.
           “Come for me,” I panted, my voice barely above a whisper. “Come for me, Buck, I wanna feel you.”                      
           He let out a soft curse in what sounded like Romanian, and then one hand was on my waist pulling me onto him while he drove up into me, while his flesh hand snaked between us so he could press his thumb onto my still-sensitive bud. That did it, and with a cry I came undone. Bucky was only a few seconds longer, spilling into me with a quiet groan that sent a small wave of heat through my spent body.
           Exhausted in the best way possible, I collapsed on Bucky’s chest, and his arms wound around me to hold me closer to himself. He rolled us over so that I was more comfortably snuggled into his side, smoothing my damp hair away from my face and pressing a soft kiss to my forehead. It was like that that I fell asleep, the soft rise and fall of his chest lulling me into a peaceful slumber.
           A sharp knock on the door woke me up the next morning. Sometime through the night Bucky must have pulled the covers over us, but now I poked my head anxiously out from under the cocoon he had created. Another knock sounded, and this time I sat up and elbowed Bucky in the side. He let out a grunt in annoyance, still half-asleep, when Steve’s voice followed the knock.
           “Buck, are you awake in there? C’mon, Tony’s rounding everyone up. He wants to leave by eleven.”
           At this Bucky’s eyes opened, and he glared at the door. “I’ll be on time,” he snapped. “Worry about yourself, punk. I just have to pack.”
           Steve muttered an indistinguishable response. When Bucky was sure he was gone he rolled over to nuzzle his face against my neck, arms pulling me tight to him.
           “Mornin’, doll,” he murmured into my skin, sending a shiver through me.
           “Morning,” I replied, the feel of his lips on me temporarily making me forget we had just almost been caught. I wanted to continue where we had left off the night before, but I knew that Tony was very strict in his scheduling and the clock on Bucky’s nightstand said it was already ten-thirty. Reluctantly, I went to pull away from Bucky, but his arms around me tightened.
           “Not yet,” he mumbled, metal hand skimming over the skin of my hip and raising goosebumps. “We still have time.”
           “Buck, I still have to pack,” I protested unconvincingly. “Besides, Steve almost caught us…”
           As if on cue, more voices sounded out in the hallway. “Has anyone seen (Y/N)?” Wanda asked. “She isn’t in her room.”
           “She left the party early last night, haven’t seen her since,” Peter replied, and I cursed under my breath. As I went to sit up, Bucky’s door swung open and Steve’s large form filled the door frame. His eyes widened as he took in Bucky and I together in bed, me holding the blankets up to hide my nakedness, and then our underwear discarded on the floor. Shock quickly dissipated into a mischievous smirk, but he at least had the decency to blush. Before anyone could say anything, Sam’s voice was yelling up the stairs.
           “Yo, I think I know where (Y/N) is!” he said, glee underlining his tone as he jogged up the stairs. When he caught Steve standing in the doorway and Bucky and I in the bed with flushed cheeks, a shit-eating grin spread across his face.
           He tossed something onto the bed, and I realized it was the clothes we’d left by the pool the night before. “I figured you’d need those before you snuck back to your own room,” he said to me with a wink, and then he turned to Steve. “C’mon, Cap, let’s leave these two to get dressed.”
           Both of them fixing us with one more smirk, they shut the door and we were alone again. I buried my face in my hands with a groan, but all of a sudden I was on my back and Bucky was on top of me.
           “Well,” he murmured, “since everyone knows we might as well make a good impression.”
           I grinned up at him. “You’ve got fifteen minutes before Tony storms in here and drags us onto that quinjet by our ears,” I teased. “Think you can manage that?”
           “Oh, doll, fifteen minutes is plenty of time to let everyone know you belong to me.”
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grailfinders · 4 years ago
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Fate and Phantasms #117: Fuuma “Evil Wind” Kotarou
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Today on Fate and Phantasms, we’re bringing you the younger of the Fuuma Clan ninjas, Fuuma Kotarou! Fuuma is, well, a ninja. Strike from the shadows, weaken and confuse your enemies, and hide in plain sight with this build!
Check out his build breakdown below the cut, or his character sheet over here!
Next up: Here comes the sun!
Race and Background
We need feats more than anything else in this build, so we’re making Kotarou a Variant Human, giving him +1 to Dexterity and Intelligence. He also gets proficiency with Performance to take on the guise of people who aren’t ninjas, and the Actor feat for a boost in Charisma and to make his disguises even more effective.
Much like “being an oni”, there isn’t an explicit “ninja” background. That being said, the Criminal background is a pretty good substitute, giving you Deception and Stealth proficiencies. Surprisingly, ninja aren’t fans of the legal system.
Ability Scores
To no one’s surprise, your Dexterity is pretty high. Your sneaking and stabbing are both tied to it, after all. Your Charisma is also up there, ninjas gonna disguise. After that is your Intelligence- ninja plans are complicated, your brains have to be up to snuff. Your Constitution isn’t that high, but you don’t plan on getting hit anyway. Your clan spent a lot of time creating the perfect food and completely ignored the flavor, so your Wisdom isn’t particularly high, but we’re dumping Strength. We just don’t need it for this build.
Class Levels
1. Rogue 1: I don’t feel I like need to justify this class. Starting as a rogue gives you proficiency in Dexterity and Intelligence saves, as well as four rogue skills- Acrobatics, Intimidation, Persuasion, and Perception. Avoiding people, influencing people, influencing people, and avoiding people, respectively.
You also gain Expertise in two skills, doubling your proficiency bonus in Stealth and Performance. 
If you’re using a finesse or ranged weapon (you should be) and attacking with advantage or against a creature distracted by an ally within 5′ of them you can add your Sneak Attack damage to that attack once per turn. Finally, you learn Thieves’ Cant. It’s a language.
2. Rogue 2: Second level rogues can make Cunning Actions as their bonus actions. This allows you to Dash, Disengage, or Hide, all very important skills for a ninja.
3. Rogue 3: As you could probably guess, you’re an Assassin. This means that at level three, you learn how to Assassinate your targets. Your attacks against creatures that haven’t taken a turn this combat is made with advantage, and attacks that hit surprised creatures are automatically counted as critical hits. To further this advantage, your sneak attack grows to 2d6 bonus damage.
4. Bard 1: A good ninja can use the threat of attack just as effectively as any weapon- You know that better than anyone, and put it to good use with your Suspicious Shadow skill. As a first level bard, you gain proficiency with Sleight of Hand for some Genjutsu skill, and you can give Bardic Inspiration to your party members to sharpen their skills. You get a number of dice equal to your charisma modifier, and you regain uses on long rests.
You can also cast Spells using your Charisma to cast them. Friends allows you to frighten and deceive opponents more readily, and Message lets you send information without being overheard to party members who aren’t also rogues. For first level spells, Disguise Self helps you perfect your “totally innocent monk” disguise, Illusory Script lets you write almost indecipherable code, Color Spray can blind your enemies, and Bane further weakens their resolve. If the targets fail a charisma save (dc eight plus your proficiency bonus plus your charisma modifier), they subtract 1d4 from their attacks and subsequent saving throws for the duration of the spell.
5. Bard 2: Second level bards are Jacks of All Trades, giving you half your proficiency bonus for any skill check you’re not proficient in. You also learn a Song of Rest for more healing during short rests, and the Longstrider spell for just a bit more mobility.
6. Bard 3: If we want to put pressure on our enemies’ fighting spirit, there’s no bard better at sowing paranoia than the College of Whispers. You get Psychic Blades to turn your inspiration dice into psychic damage that you can add to your attacks once per round to make up for lost time in regards to your sneak attack. You also learn to instill Words of Terror into anyone you talk to alone for a minute or longer, forcing a wisdom save and becoming frightened of you or another creature for up to an hour if they fail. If they succeed, there’s not indication that you tried to do anything, but you can only use this feature once per short rest.
For non-magical influencing, you also get Expertise in Persuasion and Deception this level.
You also get second level spells this level, so grab Invisibility for the perfect escape/ambush.
7. Bard 4: Use your first Ability Score Improvement to become a Piercer, making your daggers slightly more consistent and giving you even deadlier critical hits.
You also learn True Strike, which might actually have a purpose if you need to assassinate someone in one blow, and Cloud of Daggers to set up traps for any guards following you after that assassination you just did.
8. Bard 5: At fifth level, your Inspiration dice grow to d8s, and you become a Font of Inspiration, giving you new inspiration to use every short rest instead of every long rest. The pressure you put on your enemies can now cause them to completely lose track of who is friend and who is foe. Enemies Abound forces a creature to select its targets at random for up to a minute after failing an intelligence save, with a chance to re-roll every time it takes damage.
9. Rogue 4: Use this ASI to round up your Dexterity and Charisma for more inspiration, more AC, stronger stabbings, and better spells. A really good level for you overall.
10. Rogue 5: As a fifth level rogue, you can use your reaction to make an Uncanny Dodge, taking half the damage from an attack. I’m not sure if you’ve looked at your health total recently, but you’ll probably want to use this one a lot.
11. Rogue 6: Use your third round of Expertise to become really really good at Acrobatics and Intimidation.
12. Rogue 7: Seventh level rogues get the coveted Evasion, letting you completely ignore damage when you pass a dexterity check and take half damage if you fail. Given the number of casters you hang around with that know fireball, this is a good pick.
13. Rogue 8: Eighth level rogues get another ASI, which will let you pick up the Mobile feat for extra movement speed, the ability to ignore difficult terrain while dashing, and an effective disengage on whatever you try to hit. The most ninja of feats.
14. Rogue 9: Ninth level assassins gain Infiltration Expertise which... isn’t really that good, even if it is flavorful. If you spend a week, you can create a new identity, as long as they aren’t already an existing person. This includes clothing, letters of introduction, and any certificates you might need for the disguise. This lasts until you give creatures an obvious reason to suspect you aren’t who you say you are.
15. Rogue 10: Use this ASI to become a Skulker, which will help you hide while lightly obscured, stay hidden if you miss with a ranged attack, and see in dim light. You don’t have darkvision, and lights would give you away, so this is the best option you’ve got.
16. Rogue 11: You now have Reliable Talent, meaning you’re guaranteed to roll a 10 or higher on any skill checks that you’re proficient in. If you haven’t noticed from all your expertises, you’re pretty good at skilling things.
17. Rogue 12: Use your last ASI to bump that Charisma up again for stronger spells, stronger persuasions, and more inspirations/psychic blades.
18. Rogue 13: Your final Assassin feature turns you into the perfect Impostor, allowing you to copy a person’s speech, writing, and behavior after observing them for three hours, and giving you advantage on any deception check you make to keep up your disguise. You probably don’t even need that advantage by this point, but why not take it anyway.
19. Rogue 14: Fourteenth level rogues gain a Blindsense, allowing you to know the location of any hidden or invisible creature within 10 feet of you. It’s not quite dark vision, but if it gets the knife into someone’s throat it’s good enough.
20. Rogue 15: Your final level gives you a Slippery Mind, giving you proficiency with Wisdom saving throws. Falling for your own illusions would be silly.
Pros:
You can do a lot of damage in one go if a sneak attack connects, and thanks to your Psychic Blades, you can make all of that psychic damage, which is extremely difficult for most creatures to resist.
You are really, really good at influencing people. You have expertise in every charisma skill, reliable talent, and ways to gain advantage on those rolls (which, by the way, are at a minimum of 26 atm.) You can be anybody, anywhere, at any time.
The same thing applies to your stealth skills as well, with a minimum of 26 in every stealth check and ways to go completely invisible, you’re only going to be seen when you want to be.
Cons:
You were only in bard for a couple levels, so you don’t have a lot of spell slots. Fortunately, most of your spells are there to complement things you can already do normally, but you’ll still have to keep the long term mission in mind at all times.
The later assassin features aren’t that good. You’re almost never going to have a spare week outside of your normal between-mission downtime, and it’s likely you won’t have three hours to burn watching some guy either. Of course this is entirely dependent on your DM, but don’t expect these to do anything in a pickup game.
You don’t have a lot of Concentration spells, but the ones you do have are a big deal, and your ability to hold onto them isn’t amazing. That being said it’s not like you’re planning on getting hit in the first place.
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korkrunchcereal · 4 years ago
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WoW Q and A
Elaborate on the Chains of Domination cinematic: Story of Anduin and Sylvanas/relationship with the jailer is foundational to Shadowlands. Anduin was dominated. Jailer needed someone like Anduin to be able to walk into Bastion and claim the key. Brief moment of Anduin gaining control in cinematic, so still in there. Chains of Domination will explain more.
When he (Anduin) walks past Uther, did Uther know what was happening or did he feel bad? Couple things going on. His hand touches his wound, made by a weapon of the maw. Uther recognized on some level that power, as well as stirring memories seeing this blonde, kingly figure. Confrontation with Sylvanas in the raid one of the biggest moments in WoW.
Moving from classic to BC while keeping a copy. Whats it going to look like for gold, items/banks. Am I going to see differences or is it two separate entities for all time? Logging in at pre patch will snap a copy of your character. There will be an option to move onto BC classic, or stay in vanilla classic. Can pay a fee and activate “clone” to put them on BC classic if you choose to stay Vanilla. Beta is around the corner. 
How will high population  numbers be handled in TBC classic? How will you handle bottlenecks, sharding, dailies etc. Recognize high population, want to make sure experience is enjoyable. Optimization improvements to help stabilize servers. Experience of rare material and multiple people going is part of the game. Willing to make targeted changes if there is particular problems. 
 Will there be more race/class combinations? Player agency and choice is major theme. Customization key, but also want to reinforce differences. Want to maintain a world that doesn’t have exact symmetry. Have gone back over the years to change things. For now, think they’ve gone about far enough. Nothing planned, but never say never.
 Surprise on Covenant armor? Based on heritage armor. Pure aesthetic, want to give players more and more options. Gameplay reasons to not tmog the entire range (warrior wearing cloth for example)
Workflow change during pandemic? Happened very suddenly. Team reached to each other to find comfort. The isolation found purpose for devs. Making Shadowlands/games help to reconnect friends and people.
Any plans to address faction imbalance? What happened to cause it? Something talked about a lot. Know there’s a very real problem, particularly high end. What caused the problem? Imbalanced in racials allowed to persist too long. At this point, don’t think racials are imbalanced. People staying Horde however due to social reasons now; compounded issue from all the way back from MoP etc. No real answer. Social issue requires social answer.
Have you ever seen a swing in either faction direction due to story elements? Across the game as a whole, faction balance is pretty good. Its raiding/high end PvE that the imbalances really emerge. Have seen faction switches/more cross faction alts in BfA for example. 
If I play BC, when I decide to play on main char and a classic era realm at 60, will I have to name change? You have your name in both places. Ensure people don’t park on names forever.
Any plans to connect more realms? Had to do survey across all populations in all realms. Essentially have to copy an entire realms database onto another. Not a flip a switch thing, lot of work. Have been able to address a large amount of the very low pop. realms. Had to pause for Shadowlands launch due to launch and Shadowlands had huge effects on server populations. Last time they connected realms was right before WoD, and realms had a LOT of queue problems. Watching and waiting for populations to go down before making the jump.
Never gonna have cross faction raids, dungeons etc? Not gonna say never. Essential to hold onto identity but...
Will our amount of Anima be increased later? Is it possible for sanctum upgrades to be account wide? Lot to collect. Hotfixed Anima drops so far. Looking for new sources of Anima for next patch. Over all looking at the costs. Cosmetics are generally account wide. Anima is designed to span the bulk of Shadowlands. 
Sire Denathrius is an eternal one and imprisoned. What will he do? Will we see him again? Best laid plans can adapt. During BfA, intended Bwonsamdi to be a one off. There, but no big deal. Once they heard the VA they went “we need more of this character”. Planned for Sire Denathrius to be there, you kill him w/e. Then heard the VA and went “this guys awesome we love him.” Changed plan to keep Sire Denathrius alive. Will find some other role for him to take. Watch fan feedback to see how community responds/gravitate to. He is in that sword, there may just be allies of him that would be interested in liberating him from the sword...
When will we see more Heritage Armor? As each one was released, got more and more excited from response/enhanced feel of the game. Working on further Heritage Armor. Some coming to near future updates, some more in the future.
Any plans to bring back the AH app? Not as you know it perse. It got turned into a lot of automation. Revamp removed app, then change of the AH. Meant to be more of a socialize thing then accumulation of gold by automated system. Recognize however convenience factor. Consider getting back into some form, but not like how it used to be.
Will there be more new character customization options for Shadowlands? None in Shadowlands. Tend to be fairly big projects. Release them when it’ll be very good for players. Lot of work to juggle. Felt like they got good feedback and support from it. Want to invest going forward when it makes sense.
What are actual requirements for flying in Shadowlands? Where can we fly? Can we fly across the realms? Shadowlands pathfinder no rep grind. Just requires completing full covenant campaign (9.0 and 9.1). Cannot fly from zone to zone. Once unlocked, alts will be able to fly freely. 
In the BC classic, will there be class tuning that would make it notably different than 2007? Broadly no. Want to keep the authentic behavior of final patch, like classic had. Seal of blood
Is there work being done on new Torghast Anima Powers for later patches? Spec specific, when can we see? WIll be done through all patches/future patches. new powers etc. As for powers working outside Torghast, keep OP nature of them inside Torghast.
Difference between passage of time in Shadowlands and in Azeroth? Salanar the Horseman in DK order hall said he was in the veil for what felt like days and it was between WoTLK and Legion. Meet characters for whom time doesn’t seem to have meaning. What is time a construct of? Order. On Azeroth, understand the passage of time because of influence of titans/order. Outside of the influence of order, time loses meaning. A lot more fluid. Shadowlands about eternities. Can have it perceived differently by different characters even going through same thing.
Bringing back 10-man content, either as different difficulty or different instances for smaller groups to tackle. All raid basically is/can be 10 man. These days its the 5 player mega dungeons that fill the role. In BC, ZA and Kara filled that niche of the smaller group doing the BIG, raid like content. Fulfills the spirit of 10 man content.
Will summoning stones be available at launch of BC or come later? Will have them at launch.
What’s Bolvar up to and where is his story going? Will he have a major role to play? One of the fun parts of Shadowlands was getting Bolvar back into the mix. We saw him be pivotal in Torghast and getting into Shadowlands. Saw there was a price to pay for visions with Torghast. He will be front and center in Chains of Domination. Good rallying figure.  
In BC, how will pvp titles be handled without battlegroups? Originally, reward was made for the best player in each battlegroup due to technical reasons. Now that they have better technology, fair way is % based, though still want to keep it small amount. 
In Stormwind, Darnassus refugees mention going back once the smoke clears. Does this mean Teldrassil can grow back and become habitable again? The damage was pretty definitive/lot of lives lost. Don’t want to reverse on a whim. The story of the souls of the Night Elves however is not yet done, nor is Tyrande’s story going into Chains of Domination and beyond.
Will fresh classic servers be added in addition to TBC servers? For the timeline of BC classic, no new classic servers. Eyes on it however for the future. Will discuss once BC launches.
How do you get the Wandering Ancient Mount? Got to have Shadowlands. Will be in 9.0.5 patch update next month (March). 
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thetreeturnedoff · 4 years ago
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alright! hyperfocus was on my side tonight so i compiled a list of all the caretakers from @hetalia-caretakers for them since people were asking for a list and one hadn’t been made yet (also side note y’all should totally go check out that blog, it’s amazing). i’m planning on updating this list as more people are added, too, and if anyone spots any mistakes here please let me know so i can fix them!
first, here’s the list of the caretakers with names and pronouns:
america - jerry (he/him), madeline/maddie (she/her)
china - zhang huijiong (they/them)
cuba - maria elena (that’s just a first name) (she/her)
england - bruce (he/him), alicia (she/her)
finland - adelaide (she/her)
france - michel (they/them)
germany & prussia - edith (she/her)
iceland - gabriel (he/him)
japan - naomi (she/her), hotaru (she/her)
latvia - agnese (she/her), twins aivars (he/him) and anita (she/her)
liechtenstein - ana (she/her)
n. italy - dante (he/him)
norway - eleanor (she/her)
romania - alina (she/her)
russia - maeve/maeves (she/her), irene (she/her)
sealand - harold (he/him)
s. italy - juno (she/her)
s. korea - jin ae (she/her)
spain - santiago (he/him)
switzerland - leila (she/her)
next, countries with unnamed caretakers:
all the micronations - (he/him)
belarus
denmark
greece - (she/her)
greece & turkey - (they/them)
sweden - (he/him)
ukraine
and for fun, some honorable mentions:
alina’s dog - anghel (she/her)
bruce’s mom who sends bruce off with cookies to give to england
jin’s cat - gilmack (he/him)
jerry’s cat - sugar (she/her)
below this i’m also putting the appearance and personality descriptions that we have because i’ve seen people talk about that before. i’m really just taking quotes and sometimes rephrasing them to make more sense here, but i’m also providing a link to the post it’s coming from so you can see the original context. because this is coming from multiple anon messages, it’s entirely possible that i’ve gotten things wrong, so if anyone (especially the creators) find anything i did get wrong i’d appreciate being corrected.
first, appearances:
adelaide (finland)
taller than finland, standing at around 5′8; hair is shoulder length and curly, and brown with blonde highlights; eyes are hazel [x]
eleanor (norway)
much shorter than norway [x]
5′9; dirty blonde hair and brown eyes [x]
gabriel (iceland)
around the same height as iceland, give or take an inch or two [x]
roughly 5′4; brunette hair and hazel eyes [x]
gilmack (jin)
fattest boy [x]
harold (sealand)
a “middle aged dude” [x]
redheaded with a relatively short style; average height, around 5′9; brown eyes; wears glasses even with decent vision to prevent his vision from deteriorating; a bit thin and lanky, but with a little muscle; visible signs of not sleeping [x]
jerry (america)
5′7.5, or roughly 172cm [x]
argentinian, but born and raised in new york; has brown eyes, black hair, and tan skin; wears glasses and has a “typical cute, tired nerd look”; very skinny and pretty underweight, but he’s just naturally like that, it has nothing to do with him not eating [x] [x]
jin ae (south korea)
short and brunette [x]
maddie (america)
young and 5′ [x]
filipino [x]
maeve (russia)
“has a death glare that makes flowers wilt” [x]
somewhere around 4′11 [x]
sugar (jerry)
grey with green eyes [x]
drawings of caretakers:
jerry
maeve, michel, jeremy, naomi, irene, and maddie
jerry and maddie (and alfred)
michel
maeve and irene
maeve and maddie
and now personalities (and some other facts):
adelaide (finland)
probably scared of finland because he sleepwalks with a gun or something [x]
"helps Finny with his Santa job every year and loves it" [x]
agnese (latvia)
started out sweet and outgoing, and now she and latvia are drinking buddies; keeps trying to keep up with drinking with latvia, despite him being immortal [x]
alina (romania)
"absolutely the snarkiest person you will ever meet"; "will absolutely bully romania into behaving, too varying degrees of effectiveness" [x]
ana (liechtenstein)
"[liechtenstein's] easy to lose due to both of them being easily distracted, so Ana's life is a constant game of hide and seek" [x]
anghel (alina)
"[alina's] main method of tracking romania" [x]
belarus’ unnamed caretaker
"flips between "oh you're angry don't worry I'll leave you alone for a bit" & "drop the knife belarus, don't play that shit with me"" [x]
denmark’s unnamed caretaker
“just as chaotic as Denmark himself” [x]
edith (germany and prussia)
super lax, and lets germany and prussia do whatever; gets into frequent trouble for not doing her job [x]
while supposedly watching prussia, she plays on her phone the whole time, loses track of him, or “helps him with whatever crime he’s trying to commit”; is definitely addicted to candy crush [x]
eleanor (norway)
"carry a spray bottle of water for when [norway] gets sassy with her"; "essentially “screw the rules you’re gonna do it no matter what I say”" [x]
gabriel (iceland)
he and eleanor are enemies because she feels like he’s too strict with iceland; he refuses to relax the rules he has for iceland [x]
"has threatened to quit because of how whiny Ice gets" [x]
has a long list of rules from both iceland’s government and norway that he enforces with iceland [x]
gilmack (jin)
laziest boy; “lives up to his name [name means roadblock]”; “will always be in front of your feet, or in the way, or be a bed hog” [x]
hotaru (japan)
actually enjoys her job, for the most part; “internally screams” around other nations because she only knows how to handle japan [x]
irene (russia)
“just rather confused” [x]
jerry (america)
probably has ptsd [x] [x]
has hit a point where he just kinda goes along with everything [x]
is aroace; is good at playing classical piano; "anxiety is through the roof, as are his caffeine levels"; "most unlucky guy in the world" [x]
gets random instances of super strength on occasion [x]
jin ae (south korea)
headstrong; “will thwap South Korea with a newspaper if he acts out“ [x]
leila (switzerland)
"sort of a pushover, but can be an amazing older sister figure when [switzerland] needs one" [x]
“not the interrupting type” [x]
maddie (america)
"made [america] back down with a single glance" [x]
is probably a black belt [x]
maeve (russia)
russia is the one scared of her; she doesn’t take russia’s shit [x]
“terrifying” [x]
“would just generally do questionable things, such as eating red red meat at 3 am with all the lights off”; actually volunteered for the job [x]
“small feral woman [who] can and will climb onto everything to get what she needs” [x]
maria elena (cuba)
"super chill, but super strong"; "Whenever Cuba and America get into a fight, she's usually the one to hold back America"; "She's a combo of the mom friend and the wine aunt" [x]
naomi (japan)
seems lazy or like she doesn’t care but actually just constantly gets lost; is always losing track of japan or getting turned around or distracted; probably pretty anxious too [x]
santiago (spain)
“stressed 24/7″; can’t really be upset with spain though [x]
really relaxed with spain as long as he’s alone, but things can get out of hand when he’s with portugal [x]
sugar (jerry)
mean to everyone but jerry; anything but sweet; also basically jerry’s emotional support animal [x]
sweden’s unnamed caretaker
can find sweden in ikea when sweden’s in there [x]
ukraine’s unnamed caretaker
just as emotional as ukraine is [x]
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praisethepizzagods · 4 years ago
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WandaVision Theory
Okay so this contains some spoilers (mostly specculation really) from wanda vision so... spoilers below cut.
We have all seen the casting for Spiderman 3 & Doctor strange 2.... It includes people like: Andrew Garfield (spiderman) Tobey Maguire (Spiderman) Xochitl Gomez (America Chavez) Ryan Reynolds (Deadpool) Tom Hiddleston (Loki) Among others.... lots of universes being mixed here guys. So I have a theory... Blame my friend for this thing being birthed she had to listen to this as it came out. Peter/Pietro (since xmen pietro is called peter, but wanda knows his as pietro) maximoff is Loki, last we saw loki he had the tesseract and was fleeing, loki is trying to find out the state of the awvengers post end game, and yeah loki likes to fuck with thor & in the comics he lovveeesss just winding people up (God of mischief ffs), so he is trying to find out what the fuck is going on, he is curious about wanda's level of powers (like she is one of the most powerful mcu characters, hes gunna be curious), wanda as we know has a town hostage and is controlling everything, this is similar to avenegrs where loki wanted to rule earth, so hes seeing if she could be of use to him/try figure out a way to get his end goal. End of wanda vision season 1 - wanda looses complete control, she snaps. She breaks the multi verse because she has been believing this pietro is her pietro but with a different face... she finds out it is loki in pietros body which causes her to loose total control and snap a rift in the multi verse OR sword cause her so much stress, vision is questionign everything/realises what wanda did (Sees the footage maybe?) or she has to watch him die again and wanda is so torn over by emotion that she looses control, pietro/loki then realises that oh fuck this is about to go down and wanda uses her powers to try control more and either knocks pietro loki back into loki for or loki shifts just before to do a reveal, he may even try and fix this and help wanda because he knows intense powers and notice she is going insane????? But this ends in her bringing in all the spidermen into the MCU. Bringing deadpool with em. Bringing america chavez with them (She lives in a paralel universe and thats where she got her powers so wanda drags her into MCU because hey, she snapped). Doc strange 2 happens which is about the multi verse. Strange appears at end of wanda vision kinda like "Oh no...." like he's seeing what is about to happen and sees wanda is about to cause he doesnt see this coming,  So doc strange 2 is now begining wanda has lost control and merged all theses universes into one - sony,fox,the new characters universe etc etc etc are now all in the MCU universe there is many spider men now (Like into the spider verse) kidna like that level of how it happens they just got ripped into this reality. In spider man 3 this is also playing a part because all the spidermen are still here (Showing this could be a long winded issue/they cant get back to their universe because wanda doesnt know how she did it, doesnt want to do it/cant do it again) Back to doc strange 3 - this movie will be directly dealing with the immediate backlash of this, the many spidermen, deadpool, america chavez all appearing, strange realising what has happened, trying to fix this, loki also there because he doesnt even know whats happened but DAMN is he interested because THIS level of power.... thats interesting to him. Loki's disney+ series happens after the multi verse of madness/during it (like loki's show is bought up in it like "lokis fucking president?!?!?!" like thats another thing thats gone wrong from wanda's melt down and destroying the multi verse, and another thing for strange to to and do damage control on. wanda cant fix this, shes now gone fully off rails, if she watches vision die twice she wont be coming back from that we know. so strange is also trying to help her on how to use her powers as she never reallllly has had training, strange might know people who can help her deal with this insane amount of power. Strange cant fix this alone he needs wanda to try and fix this, and the issue could be a permenant one ( i recon it will be permenant and all wwhat phase 4 & 5 will be about) Doctor strange 2 sees them going between thesee multi verse's they have discovered (maybe strqange & wanda, maybe strange & wong, maybe wanda and someone else who knows... but they are trying to find out how far this damage has gone End of doctor strange is them realising this isnt a quick fix, the world has gone insane as there is all these new ones, ("WHY ARE THERE 3 SPIDER MEN!" - JJJ shouts (cause hey he was in the tobey mcguire spidermen ffs we get him with this package too) spider man 3 then happens & tom holland (The spider men will be refered to by their actors names) see's that um theres another spider man??? what the??? he finds him and they all find out they are the same spider man. This movie plays out similary to into the spiderverse but they dont all go at the end of it because this is a long winded issue. But... now we have america chavez, shes just been bumbling round the MCU being a hero cause she's here.... Monica as you rememebr from wanda vision has her internal sequencing rewritten each time she goes through the hex, this gives her powers cause she has gone through the hex so much at this stage in wanda vision.... So Monica = Photon America Chavez Cassie = Stature Kate bishop = Hawkeye Tom holland = Spiderman How did kate get here and Cassie? KATE So clint stepped down, hawkeye disney+ seems to be like fractions, clints training kate (maybe his family left after end game because jfc clint is probs a wreck, or clint didnt stop so hsi wife left.... maybe they live in iowa happily who knows) Clint was going solo for a while in newyork, when he met this other hawkeye (Hey maybe kate got dragged through the multi verse or maybe she was just a great archer rich kid in newyork who saw hawkeye had fucked off after the blip (maybe she was working during the blip, but towards the end? in comics she took hawkeye mantle while clint was off beign a depressed noodle and he then found out there was 2 hawkeyes and confronted ehr and agreed to train her so maybe somehting simialr to this is what happens in hawkeye) But anyway Clints training kate in new york and yeah shes good. CASSIE Scott after end game & Hope continue being antman and the wasp, but cassie eventually takes over the suit from them (Maybe something happens in antman 3 quantamania that means neither scott or hope can use the suits any more because it will tear them apart, like hank cant use the suits because it takes too much of a toll on his body now and he wouldnt surive it really...) so cassie has taken over the suits and is now operating under the code name stature. This then begins the next arc for the avengers now they have got people powered up, and atleast 1 person from this destruction of the multi verse (America chavez) but we may have more that are discovered over the course of phase 4 that were bought through with the multi verse. So, where does this go??? The young avengers is the next big arc.... Maybe wanda (&peter maximoff? not sure how that would work as young piettro (evan peters one) was from the 80s or something in xmen so is an adult not a kid like he is in wanda vision, which adds to my this isnt pietro but loki thing) But maybe wanda is leading them, maybe not. But the multi verse cant be fixed so they have these heroes now and the avengers kinda died after end game cause tony died and steve fucked off. Sam helps train but hes off with bucky alot too doing a buddy up thing together, but as sam is the new cap he also heads up this young avengers kinda as a mentor for them. Now... right now your pronbs thinking "Morgan stark though" Morgan has a suit... but morgan is still even in 2030 (hawkeye is 2025...) morgan would only be 7..... so she isnt really old enough.... But who else had an iron man suit in the comics? who may of got dragged through the multi verse? Enter riri williams aka iron heart. That takes us up to about end of phase 5 with the rise of the young avengers & champions maybe??? Hi and thanks for coming to my ted talk
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taeken-my-heart · 5 years ago
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Pig Pen
{I wrote this ages ago, probably two years ago, I can’t even remember anymore, haha. I privated it and now I’m putting it back on for those who wanted it since I can’t find the private post -.-)
Summary: An encounter with a pig pen couldn’t possibly lead to anything sexual...could it?
Pairing: Yoongi x Reader
Genre: PWP. Don’t count on this being a regular thing, haha, this story just happened. 
Word Count: 3221
**
“Honestly, this is not at all what I was expecting.”
“I also was not expecting to land waist deep in the Vasco’s pig pen, so this is a fun surprise.” Yoongi replied sarcastically.
“This was your idea, Yoongs.” You griped, pulling yourself to the edge of the muddy pen and heaving to a stand at the fence with a loud huff.
“Um, excuse me, sneaking into the party that I distinctly remember not being invited to, was definitely your idea.” Yoongi hissed, climbing his way up beside you and frowning down at his mud covered clothing. “These are my brand new shoes!”
“Yes, but sneaking through the neighbors back yard to get there was your idea. How did you not plan for this sort of a thing?”
“I’m sorry, I wasn’t aware that they had a pig pen in the backyard of their suburban, white picket fence house. This has got to be against some kind of code.”
“Talk louder, I definitely want Mr. Vasco to find me out here covered in mud and whatever the hell else was swimming around in there.” You scowled.
“Why are you the worst person ever?” Yoongi seethed.
“You say that so often and yet you keep hanging out with me. Come on, let’s get out of here.”
Peering around the edge of the house, you booked it for the front gate, pushing your way through with mud slicked hands and into a, thankfully, deserted cul de sac that housed mostly old people and Yoongi’s family at the very corner.
The two of you had been sneaking through the back yards and across roofs and fences to get to the party being held at Jackson’s place, but now there was no way you were going to show up like this. You were most definitely covered in mud and pig crap.
“Come on,” Yoongi sighed, “let’s go to my place and we’ll get cleaned up."
**
After stepping into the garage of Yoongi’s house he ordered you to wait while he went to go get towels. You stood in the garage pouting so that when he came back he would know just how unhappy you were with him making you wait like a dog while he was allowed to go in. He returned a few minutes later in just his boxers with a towel in hand.
"I’m gonna go inside and wash off. You strip down here and put your stuff in the sink. We’ll put our clothes through the wash once we’re both clean. You know where the guest bathroom is.”
The hot water was a welcome relief as you washed the mud from your legs and arms, careful to keep your face and hair out of the spray. You’d been lucky to only land in waist deep so clean up was relatively easy. After toweling down and wrapping yourself up warm you walked back towards Yoongi’s room, pausing outside the door to knock before stepping inside.
“Don’t you knock?” Yoongi growled, pulling his boxers up and over his hips quickly and you sighed, rolling your eyes.
“It’s not like I haven’t seen you naked before. Besides, I did knock.”
“You haven’t seen me naked since we were 5; things don’t exactly look the same. Also, I don’t know how they do things on your planet, but here it’s common practice to wait until told to enter. In an effort to avoid awkward situations, much like this one."
"Is this considered awkward?” You asked, clucking your tongue in annoyance.
Yoongi glared at you before noticing you were still only wearing a towel and rubbing his eyes. “Where are your clothes, Y/N?”
“Well you see, Yoongles, when we fell into the pile of mud and pig slop I was unfortunately only wearing one set of clothing. Next time I’ll think ahead. Let me borrow something.”
Yoongi muttered something angrily before grabbing a baggy t-shirt and throwing it to you. You quickly dropped the towel, watching as Yoongi’s eyes bugged before pulling the shirt over your head and letting it drop to the middle of your thighs. “You act like you’ve never seen a naked woman before.” You chuckled at Yoongi’s pink tinted cheeks.
“I have! I’ve just never seen your naked body before.” He growled, pulling on a pair of grey sweats.
“Pretty rocking, right?” You gloated.
Yoongi rolled his eyes, cheeks burning. “Why do you always have to make things weird?”
“Why does finding my body attractive have to be weird?” You pouted, “You’re a guy, I’m a girl. It’s only natural.”
“You’re not a girl,” Yoongi insisted, “You’re my best friend. You’re automatically disqualified from the girl category.”
You scoffed, sitting on the edge of his bed and folding one leg over the other. “That’s stupid, I’m not any less of a woman just because you’re not man enough to acknowledge it. I’m a woman and have needs like everyone else.”
“What the hell is happening?” Yoongi frowned, looking at you in confusion.
"I’m just saying.“ You shrugged. "Also, that pre game may or may not be loosening my tongue a little.”
"Not once in your life has your tongue been anything less than loose so I don’t know what kind of bull you’re spewing right now.“ Yoongi scoffed and you mimicked him childishly before sprawling backwards on his bed.
Yoongi groaned, turning his face away from you and shoving his hands in the pockets of his baggy sweat pants. "Why are you laying like that? You’re not wearing any underwear so I can see everything. It’s like you're trying to tempt me or something!”
"Is it working?“ You smirked, lifting your head to look at him.
Yoongi glared at you, cheeks still a lovely hue of pink contrasting against his beautiful, lightly tanned skin. "You’re an ass, you know that?”
Despite his words he came and sat beside you, knocking your leg out of his way with his knuckles and stared at the bedroom door in question. “So, I suppose we’re not going to the party?”
You shook your head, pulling softly at the ends of your hair and chewing on your bottom lip. “I’m not wearing any pants or underwear, Yoongs,” you whispered, “I’m not exactly fit for a party.”
“I would say you’re wearing exactly what you should be wearing for a college kegger, actually.” He murmured, looking down at you, his t-shirt riding further up your legs as you huffed.
You looked at him in curiosity as his vision traveled slowly up your legs, over your torso, pausing at your breasts before landing carefully on your face. You smirked, raising an eyebrow. “Finally noticing I’m a girl?”
“Whatever.” He scoffed, looking away from you and you watched as his Adam’s apple bobbed in his throat.
“Are you nervous?” You asked, sitting up in surprise.
Yoongi looked at you, frown etched into his brow. “Why would I be nervous?”
“I don’t know,” you shrugged, “you just seem strange.”
“Well, you are just sitting on my bed in nothing but my t-shirt. You’re probably getting your butt crust all over my duvet.”
“Ew, I do not have butt crust!” You complained, smacking his shoulder, “Way to ruin a moment.”
“A moment?” He asked, looking at you.
“Sure. Kind of feels like we’re having a moment…or something.”
“Or something.” He mumbled. You hadn’t noticed how close you’d drifted to him until you could suddenly feel his breath on your cheeks. You tried not to shiver. “What’s happening right now?”
“Blame it on the alcohol.” You murmured.
“There are some bridges people shouldn’t cross.” He whispered as your face hovered right in front of his.
“Since when did you follow rules?”
Yoongi smirked before you finally took ownership of his mouth. You were probably going to regret this in the morning. While you were sure there’d always been a mutual attraction, you’d always maintained a “just friends” mantra that had been working for the two of you.
All through childhood, middle school, and high school you’d been friends. The kind that your mother called weird because 90% of the time your friendship was just the two of you insulting one another. It was a strange dynamic but it worked. You were both equally sarcastic and where Yoongi was sometimes scathing you were sassy and it just flowed.
This was a part of your relationship you’d never broached. You’d always wondered if it would happen, after all, bickering is just another level of sexual tension so you knew it could be possible to make this decision, but you certainly didn’t see it happening like this. You were definitely going to regret this tomorrow, but what the hell.
The ebb and flow of his mouth on yours, pulling you further into him like a moth to a flame. This was dangerous territory but you couldn’t stop yourself. Couldn’t stop trembling fingers from finding their way to the ends of his hair, threading through his still damp locks and tugging slightly.
You exhaled sharply as you felt a tug of his hands around your waist, pulling you into his lap, the heat of your bodies joining and causing a moan from Yoongi’s mouth to fall against your tongue. You could feel the heat traveling from the seat of his pants and into your center.
Yoongi’s fingers traced patterns on your thighs as you kissed, breath turning shallow as you smoothed your hands down his chest, resting against the strings of his sweats. His fingers dug into the flesh of your upper thighs, just below your ass and you gasped, rolling your hips into his.
Yoongi groaned, pulling away from your mouth and you quickly suctioned your lips to his neck, “What has gotten into you?” He mumbled, pulling your pelvis flush against his. You could feel the outline of his dick through his pants and you rocked against him once more.
“I think I’m ovulating.” You murmured.
“Gross.” He scoffed and you rolled our eyes, tilting his face towards yours and sucking his bottom lip into your mouth, nipping it hard.
“It’s perfectly natural, Yoongi,” you replied as he hissed, “my body is programmed this way. And right now, it’s telling me to let you fill me up.”
“You can’t say things like that.” Yoongi rasped.
“Why not?” You asked, sucking a bruise into the juncture of his neck and shoulder. He shuddered beneath you.
“Because I’ll end up busting a nut before I even get inside you.” You moaned at the thought, rolling your hips against his once more. “You know what?” Yoongi replied, his voice husky and deep, “forget this.”
Before you could ask what he meant he’d flipped you onto your back and crawled possessively over your body as he took control of your mouth, sliding his tongue against yours and grinding his hips deep into your own. You moaned, the t-shirt he’d lent you was doing nothing to restrict the sensation of his groin rubbing against your clit and you ached for more.
The feeling of his hands against your waist made you shiver and you practically yelped as he ground himself deep into you. “Get this off.” He choked, pawing at the t-shirt now hiked to the center of your abdomen and you let him tug it up and over your head before throwing it off somewhere in the distance. “Your tits are amazing.” He murmured and before you could reply he was taking your left nipple into his mouth and sucking a moan from your lungs.
“Not fair,” your complained, “why am I the only one naked?”
“Just let me enjoy this for a second, will you? Here.” He tugged his shirt off and threw it on the floor before returning to your breast and sucking blooming hues of pink and purple.
You ran your nails across his back and he hissed, growling up at you. “I hate when girls do that.”
“What the hell kind of man are you?” You moaned as he turned his attention to the next breast, pinching the nipple before running his teeth across it.
“The kind that doesn’t like to look like he got mauled by a bear.”
“You’re so annoying.” You gasped as he gave an extra hard suck to your nipple before kissing his way down your stomach.
“Says the bear.” He murmured and you shivered, his breath hitting a part of your body you never once thought your pain in the ass best friend would ever have his face right beside. Then again, this whole evening was turning out to be something completely unexpected. You blamed all the extra alcohol you’d consumed but really, you were just horny as hell and he was hot. You were way passed the point of no return so you might as well just enjoy the ride.
“What are you doing?” You asked as he positioned his face at your entrance and he scowled up at you.
“Are you seriously asking that?”
“I just didn’t peg you as such a giving lover.” You shrugged.
“We’ll see who’s being pegged.” He replied nonchalantly.
“Oh geez, did you seriously just say that?” You blinked in embarrassment and he smirked before leaning forward and licking a broad strip up your center.
“Yoongi.” You breathed, pulse picking up and you thread your fingers through his hair as he began a steady pace, pulling your clit into his mouth and sucking. You were sure he was going to make fun of the sounds you were making tomorrow morning but right now you couldn’t help it.
He set a punishing pace, to the point you thought you might cry from ecstasy when suddenly he was pulling back and you frowned down at him. “What the hell, Yoongi?”
“I can’t wait any longer.” He mumbled, hastily pushing his pants and boxers down his legs. “You got a condom?”
“What if I said I didn’t?” You asked, biting your bottom lip and Yoongi stilled, staring at you in agony.
“Please tell me you’re joking because I don’t have any.” He replied, gripping himself as he stood at the end of the bed.
“Just checking.” You smirked, leaning across the bed to grab for a condom in your earlier discarded purse.
“You’re such an ass,” Yoongi hissed, taking the condom from you and rolling it down his length. “You’re gonna pay for that.”
“Mmm, make me pay, baby.” You hummed.
He may have been a little on the gangly side, but watching his figure loom over you as he made his way up your body and kissed you deeply was incredibly exhilarating. His fingers thread through your hair, teasing your tongue with his own before pulling back and grabbing his length to guide to your entrance.
“Ready?” He asked breathily and you nodded, shivering as you felt the head slide along your entrance before he began pushing in slowly.
It had honestly been a while since you’d last had sex so the stretch burned a little. His breathing was heavy, chest making contact with your own as he continued to push slowly into you until your hips met and he stilled, looking up at you.
“Holy shit,” he breathed, “what’s happening right now?”
The two of you looked at each other and laughed. “I don’t know, but it feels good.” You said, wrapping your legs around his waist and he sunk deeper inside you with a groan.
“You feel incredible.” He panted, pulling slowly out of you before thrusting back inside and you gasped, grabbing a handful of his ass to help push him further.
“So do you.” You admitted. His hands left your hips to grip the bars of his bed frame above you and he began a steady pace; in and out, in and out, cock sliding along your walls and making you hiss. “Wow, you’re actually really good at this.”
“Why do you sound so surprised?” Yoongi frowned, thrusting in harder and you felt yourself slip up the bed, hands reaching out to hold yourself away from the bedframe.
“You’re just so small and angry, never imagined you being so aware of where the g-spot is, you know?”
“You’re honestly killing the mood right now. I can feel myself going flaccid.” He grumbled.
“Sorry, sorry.” You murmured. Yoongi resumed his pace, breathes quickening and you inhaled sharply as he prodded your favorite spot repeatedly. You had the feeling it was an accident, he didn’t seem all that aware of what he was hitting with the tip of his penis, eyes squeezed shut and chest heaving with exertion.
“You should kiss me or something, it’s weird not saying anything.”
“You’re so needy.” He complained, blinking down at you but kissing you deeply anyway. “Are you close?” He panted.
“Kind of?” You moaned as he ground against your clit in a downward motion, “If you keep doing that it won’t be long.”
“Good, because I won’t last much longer.” He moaned, picking up his pace, making sure to repeat the grinding action that had you seeing stars. You could feel the edge closing in and you continued your encouragements, breathes of his name leaving your mouth in rapid succession and suddenly you were exploding, body shivering, hips bucking as your orgasm washed over you and you felt Yoongi pick up his pace only to feel him shudder as he released inside of you and flopped heavily across your body as his orgasm overcame him.
Your fingers and toes were still tingling when you began to feel uncomfortable with Yoongi’s weight still resting on top of you. “Can you get off? You’re kind of sweaty.”
“Speak for yourself.” He replied, raising on wobbly arms and slipping out of you with a small hiss. He stood quickly, making his way to the bathroom to clean up before returning to the bed and you ran to the bathroom to pee. There was no way you were gonna get a UTI just because you let your best friend stick his dick inside you on a whim. Today might have been bad decision day, but not that bad.
After finishing your business you walked back into the bedroom to find Yoongi laying on his bed checking the messages on his phone and you began to search for his shirt. “What are you doing?” He asked, just as you’d slipped his shirt back over your head.
“I thought you’d want me to go?” You supplied. Yoongi scoffed, sitting up and grabbing your hand, pulling you down onto the mattress beside him.
“I like to cuddle after sex.” He murmured, burying his nose in the back of your hair and grabbing your boob beneath his shirt. It wasn’t even sexual either, it was like he just wanted something to hold.
“Are we gonna talk about what just happened?” You questioned as his breathing began to even out.
“What’s to talk about?” He murmured softly, “we had sex, it was good; we should do it again sometime. Let’s just figure out details tomorrow. I’m honestly exhausted so unless you’re up for round 2, which you’ll have to wait for because I’ve got a refraction time of 40 minutes, then let’s just sleep and deal with the implications tomorrow.”
“Fine by me.” You said, pulling the blankets up to your chin and dozing off. You didn’t really want to talk about it right now, anyway.
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unfinishedsentenc99 · 4 years ago
Text
I played a text-based adventure game on the dark web. I can't undo the things I did.
I spend a lot of time on reddit. I’m sure you do, too. I’m on a lot of video game subs, and in particular ones about text-based games. I’m talking games like *Zork*. I wasn’t alive when *Zork* came out, but I got really into it in high school. When I made it to college, I took an even deeper dive, playing all the sequels, all the knock-offs, and every shitty game that people had cobbled together and released online. I had to refocus a bit, adding work on top of college courses so I could afford my shoebox apartment, but eventually I came across a post called “Apartment Complex.”
Not a super promising name.
But I was bored, and it was free, and the fact that it was hosted on some weird site that I couldn’t access from regular browsers appealed to me. It added an element of mystery. So I opened a Tor browser, entered the link, and got to a profile creation page. Basic stuff: username, preferred resolution, etc. It didn’t ask for any personal info, so I kept going.
The screen went blank, then a text box opened up.
“Welcome to Apartment Complex! You have been assigned your very own apartment building to run. But this isn’t any apartment building, because the tenants are going to be experiencing some pretty scary ordeals. You get to decide what happens next. Will your tenants survive? Will you accidentally butcher them all? The power is in your hands! Are you ready? \[Y\]/\[N\]”
*Why not,* I figured. I typed in a Y. More text appeared.
“Excellent. We’ll start you off with an easy management level. You have six tenants, numbered 1-6. None of them know each other well. Enter a number to learn more about a tenant and begin to make decisions.”
I grabbed a 6-sided die off my desk and rolled it.
Three.
“3,” I typed.
“Intriguing choice! The tenant in apartment 3 is Cherie. She’s 19 and a sophomore in college. All her friends know her to be outgoing and flirty, and she brings new guys back to her apartment multiple times a week. She doesn’t want a commitment. She enjoys sex, but mostly she just likes not being alone. It’s possible it’s related to how she was repeatedly abandoned by foster parents. Tonight, she brought home a young man named Thad. She plans to have sex with Thad, and he will pressure her not to use a condom. She will say yes because she doesn’t want to scare him off. But you can help her out! Should tonight be the night she stands up to Thad and tells him she won’t sleep with him without protection at the risk of spending the night alone? \[Y\]/\[N\]”
I didn’t realize this game would be so...domestic soap opera? *Whatever,* I thought, *let’s see how this plays out.*
“Y,” I typed.
“Intriguing choice! Thad and Cherie start to get hot and heavy. When they are naked on her couch, Thad starts to try penetrating her, but Cherie stops him and says he needs to use a condom. Thad complains that it doesn’t feel as good. Cherie tells him that it’s more important that both of them are protected from STDs. She’s feeling a little tense. Thad calls her a whore and a tease and throws his clothes back on. Cherie cries as Thad goes to storm out. Unfortunately, Cherie’s door won’t open. Thad checks, and the door isn’t locked, but it refuses to open. Furious, Thad storms back to where Cherie is still laying naked on the couch, crying, and begins to scream at her. Would you like to continue making decisions for Cherie, or try another tenant? \[1\] for Cherie, \[2\] for new tenant.”
This game was weird and pretty retro, but I also found myself pretty intrigued by Cherie and Thad’s story. The clunky stories in these games had a certain charm that made them very engaging. Fuck it, lets keep going.
“1,” I typed.
“Intriguing choice! Thad continues to scream at Cherie, who can’t stop crying. She’s afraid he might hit her. Thad hasn’t decided if he will or not, but plans to let his anger and lack of concern for Cherie as a human being guide his behavior. If things continue as they are, Thad will most likely beat Cherie to the point she will need to be rushed to the emergency room. Should Thad be stopped? \[Y\]/\[N\]”
“Fuck,” I mumbled out loud to myself. “This got intense.”
“Y,” I typed.
“Intriguing choice! A ceiling tile falls off. The edge cuts across Thad’s jugular. Blood gushes everywhere. He is dead in seconds.”
“What the fuck,” I said to myself. “This game is whack.” The text continued to appear.
“Cherie is horrified. Much of the blood sprayed all over her. She’s so scared, she starts to shut down. Cherie won’t be taking any more actions for a while. Choose a tenant: \[1\], \[2\], \[4\], \[5\], \[6\]”
*Damn,* I thought. *Looks like I’m not going to finish this game with a decent score. Keep plugging away though…*
I rolled the die again. Five. I typed it in.
“Intriguing choice! The tenant in apartment 5 is Clyde. He is 35 and works at the local First State Bank. His hobbies include snowboarding, tennis, recreational murder, ‘90s sitcoms, and fishing. He’s home alone tonight after his girlfriend, Alicia, texted him and told him she was leaving him for his brother. He bought a gallon of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream, and is working his way through that and the third season of *Frasier*. He feels the itch to strangle someone. It’s been a while, and he’s trying to kick the habit, but the deep well of emotion seems to be so deep that ice cream alone can’t fill it. He’s hoping to quench the urge with a tv binge, but just as he’s settling in, he starts to smell gas. Should he investigate? \[Y\]/\[N\]”
Not investigating would be boring, so of course I typed in a Y.
“Intriguing choice! Clyde gets off the couch and follows his nose to the kitchen, where a heavy propane smell is blasting out of one of the burners. He’s familiar enough with gas leaks to know that he’s one spark away from Clyde flambé. Should Clyde leave, or keep sucking up the fumes? \[1\] Clyde leaves or \[2\] Clyde stays.”
*Seems weird to release the murdered,* I thought, *but it would be boring to just gas him to death*.
I type a 1.
“Intriguing choice! Clyde exits his apartment and heads down the stairs to the front door. When he makes it to the floor below his, he sees that the the stairs are blocked by fallen ceiling tiles. There are stairs on the opposite side of the floor. On the way, he would pass two other apartments, which would likely have phones to call the fire department to handle the gas leak. Should he stop at the first apartment \[1\], the second apartment \[2\], or take the stairs \[3\]”
“1,” I typed.
“Intriguing choice!” That was it. No more text.
“What the hell…” I said under my breath. And then there was a knock on my door.
I froze.
“Hey, anyone home?” a voice called from the other side of my door. “My name’s Clyde, I live on the floor above you. My phone isn’t working and my apartment smells like gas. Can I borrow your phone?”
I sat as still as I could, making no sound.
“Seriously, it’s an emergency. I’m pretty sure I heard some noise in there. I need help!”
On my screen, I saw more text pop up.
“Should Clyde keep trying the first apartment \[1\], try the next apartment \[2\], or take the stairs on the far end of the floor \[3\]”
As gently as I could, I pressed 2. The clack of the key sounded like a gunshot in my head.
“Whatever, asshole. I know you’re home. I hope you enjoy being a piece of shit,” Clyde said. Then I heard his footsteps go down the hall. The apartment building I’m in is new and pretty well insulated, but I could faintly hear knocking on the apartment down the hall from me. I knew a college girl lived there. Hopefully she isn’t home.
Wait.
College girl?
No, it couldn’t be.
Text started filling up my screen again.
“Clyde went to the next apartment and knocked on the door. He heard sobbing from inside. When the tenant inside didn’t open the door, he tried the knob. It turned, but the door wouldn’t budge. It looked like it was misaligned, and with the heat wave, the wood had swollen and jammed the door in place.”
Suddenly, I heard a smash from outside. I tore my eyes to look at my front door, but it was still solidly shut. The sound had come from down the hall. I looked back at my screen.
“Clyde used his shoulder to slam the door, and it popped open. He stepped in, calling to whoever was in the apartment. Walking further in, he saw a shocking sight: a man on the ground, his neck slashed open. A ceiling tile on the ground next to him. On the couch, a completely naked young woman. And, covering everything, a massive splatter of blood. Clyde grinned. Are you going to help Cherie \[leave your apartment and go to hers\] or do nothing while Clyde murders her \[1\]”
This was so messed up. I couldn’t just let someone muder my neighbor, even if I barely knew her. But I was terrified. I got up, ran to my kitchen, grabbed the biggest knife I could find, then went to my door. I took three deep breaths to steady myself, then I unlocked the door, threw it open, and ran out into the hall. I looked over to where the other apartment was, and I could see where the door had been broken in. I ran as quietly as I could over there, and when I reached the door, stopped short and stuck my head around the door frame to see what was going on.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t see what was happening from where I was. I crept in as stealthily as I could. The first thing that hit me was the bitter stench of blood. Then I got close enough to see what was happening. Cherie was on her back on the couch, Clyde leaning over her with his hands around her throat. She was scratching at him, but the blood made everything slick and it looked like her nails were sliding around more than doing damage.
I ran up to them and drove my knife straight into Clyde’s back. He roared and whirled around.
“You bastard,” he yelled, and dove at me, tackling me to the ground. He started pummeling me with his fists. There was little I could do to stop him. With each blow, I felt myself getting weaker, my vision going darker.
And then Clyde screamed.
I focused as best I could. Above Clyde, Cherie was raising the knife for another blow. She stabbed Clyde over and over until he collapsed on top of me, and then she stabbed him some more. I screamed at her to stop, to let me up, and eventually I broke through her terror. She helped me push his body off.
I threw a blanket around Cherie and then called the cops. We spent a lot of time going over our stories with them. I left out the dark web stuff because I didn’t want to get in trouble. Finally, the cops left. Cherie went to go stay with her parents and I went back to my apartment.
When I got back, words were flashing on my screen.
“Remember: Everything that happened tonight was your choice.”
And below that:
“We hope you play Apartment Complex again!”
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