#don't @ me about the switch being handheld

[cinnamorollcrybaby]

satosugu x reader smut ?! college au (like ur SCRUMPTIOUS nanami fic!!)

also, are there any genres (or kinks / fetishes) u are uncomfortable with? aside from the obvious weird ones...

💞

Suck and Blow

Tags: Satosugu x Reader, college au, nsfw, mdni, mmf, switch sub leaning Satoru and switch dom leaning Suguru, can’t express this enough they FUCK.

Synopsis: While playing a good old college game of suck and blow, you’ve seemingly captured the attention of both Satoru and Suguru

An: Hmm, aside from the grotesque ones (age play, race play, piss/scat kink, etc.), i don’t think i have any hard boundaries. i try to be pretty flexible with my writing. i think one thing i would probably not be motivated to write would be ass play in a heterosexual relationship. nothing wrong w it! just not my cup of tea, and i’d find it hard to write. So sorry, this was kinda rushed near the end, but I needed to get it out before monstertober. Hope you enjoy!

"Hey Satoru?" Suguru's soothing voice cooed to his long-term boyfriend. Well, basically his boyfriend. They never officially put a term on their relationship, but fucking each other raw on a nightly basis is basically being boyfriends right? If you were to ask Satoru, he'd say Suguru is his husband, and they're basically married by common law.

Satoru was lounging in a recliner in the common area of the frat house. He was pressing buttons on a small handheld gaming device as he concentrated on it. "Yeah?" He responded.

"Can I talk to you about something?" Suguru asked as he walked into common area. He crossed his arms over his chest as he looked down at the white-haired male.

"Oh, you're serious." Satoru mused as he looked up at the brunette. He quickly shut off the gaming device and tossed it to the side. "C'mere." He hummed as he patted his lap for Suguru to sit down.

Geto's lips curled into a smile, and he rolled his eyes at Satoru's request. "What?" Satoru asks with a small pout as he looked up at the brunette.

Suguru takes a seat on the couch, and his hands pat on his lap. "You c'mere." He mocks. Satoru's pout immediately melts, and he hops up out of the recliner.

"You don't have to tell me twice." He hums with a smile as he sits at on his boyfriend's lap, wrapping his legs around the larger one's waist. "What is it, Sugu?"

"I was wondering about something." Geto says calmly as his fingers come up and gently card through Satoru's fluffy hair. His boyfriend leans into his touch like a needy kitten.

"Go on. You're like edging me here." Satoru laughs as he flutters his eyes shut. His long white eyelashes batting closed.

"You normally like it." Suguru smugly comments, earning a pinch from Satoru. "Okay, okay... I was just wondering... Have you thought about fucking a girl?"

Satoru's eyes immediately open as he furrows his eyebrows in utter shock and confusion. He did not know that was where Geto was going with this.

"What...? Are you saying you're straight because you take an awfully large amount of dick to be str-"

"That's not what I'm saying you idiot. I was wondering if you ever just... thought about fucking a girl? It's okay if not."

The white-haired male pondered his boyfriend's question for a minute. Had Satoru thought about it? Sure. He was a man who would really fuck whatever gender as long as he thought they were attractive and if they had a good enough personality. Is that something he should tell his boyfriend though?

"Is this a trick question? Are you going to be mad if I say yes?" He reluctantly asks, still unsure of what Geto was trying to get at here.

"I'm not going to be mad, Satoru. I asked for a reason, just please answer." Suguru reassures as he continued to play with his boyfriend's hair.

"I mean... yeah, I've thought about it, but I would never do that to you."

"Have you thought about.. fucking a girl with me?"

It was straight up embarrassing how fast Satoru got hard at the thought.

"No, I haven't... but now that you mention it, I don't think I'll ever be able to get that thought out of my head."

"I think we should do it." Suguru casually mentions as he looks into his boyfriend's eyes. "I think it'd be fun."

"How do we find someone to do that with though? I don't think I want it to be just anybody, but I don't want any of our friends to see us like that either."

*** *** ***

The frat house was filled with people. Alcoholic beverages were at every turn. A group of misfits in the corner were packing a bowl. The guys had pushes all of the common room furniture to the walls, making an open space in the living room.

Satoru was sat on the floor between Suguru's legs. The brunette was sharing a cigarette with Shoko as he lazily petted Satoru's head. The white-haired male was looking through the crowd. He was on a mission tonight.

Ever since Suguru brought up sharing a girl between them, Satoru hadn't been able to shake the thought out of his mind. All of it sounded so exciting to him, being able to have the best of both worlds? He felt like a horny teenager all over again. When Geto wasn't tending to him, he was jerking off to the sheer thought of sharing a girl with him.

Suguru was much more tamed in his desires, though he still thought about it often. He had a wet dream of him and Satoru sharing a girl one night, and that was what started this entire mess. He had never woken up to a pool of pre-cum like he did that morning after the dream.

"So anyways, that's why I want to die." Shoko finishes up her story of why she has the worst roommate ever. Geto was halfway listening, but he was mostly just bumming cigarettes of Shoko. He didn't get to smoke often, since Satoru always whined about the taste, but he indulged during parties.

As he nodded and took another drag, a figure caught his eye. He looked over towards the sea of people in the kitchen, and he saw you quietly socializing with a group of people.

You were breathtaking, and you absolutely did not go to their college.

"Shoko, who's that?" Suguru asks calmly before nodding his head towards you.

"Oh, I think that's one of Ino's friends." She answers as she sits up. "I think Ino mentioned that she recently just transferred here."

"How is Ino friends with her?" Geto immediately asks as his face twists in confusion. Ino wasn't necessarily a bad guy: looks or personality wise, but he just couldn't see a girl like you hanging out with a guy like Ino.

"Beats me." Shoko shrugs uninterestingly as she leans her head back against the couch.

Suguru gently nudged his boyfriend as he was still sat between his legs. "Look towards the kitchen." He murmurs softly.

Satoru immediately glances over towards the kitchen, making his gaze seem casual. However, once his eyes lock onto you, he immediately knows why Suguru told him to look in the kitchen.

"Her." Satoru decides. "We could share her."

*** *** ***

Why would Ino invite you to a party then not show up? Now, you're stuck awkwardly talking with his other friends about shit you don't even care about.

Transferring to a new college right at the cutoff date was the worst idea you've had in all your life. For one, you were dreadfully behind in all your classes. For two, you had no idea who anyone was besides Ino. For three, all of the good dorms had been taken, so you were stuck living in the shitty one with a leak.

Honestly, coming to this party was the second worst idea. You should be in your leaky dorm catching up on the mountain of homework piled up. You only showed up to this damn party because Ino invited you, trying to be a good friend and introduce you to people.

You set down the alcoholic beverage you had been sipping on casually for the last hour, and you decide that you're going to just go home and pretend like this didn't happen.

As you reach towards the door, you notice a tall figure step in front of you. He leans his arm above the doorframe, and he looks down at you.

"Leaving so soon?" The white-haired male spoke in a pouty tone, but he had a smirk on his face.

"Oh- um, yeah... I have homework to do." You answer awkwardly as you stare up at him. His bright blue eyes were pretty but almost eerily so. It was giving uncanny.

"It can wait just a couple more hours, can't it? The party's only just begun." He coerces as his hand slowly drops from the top of the door frame down towards you. "I'm Satoru by the way. I don't recognize you."

"I just transferred here." You quietly admit as you take his hand and tell him your name.

"This late in the semester? Sounds pretty foolish to go through all the trouble."

"You're telling me." You respond as you look towards the door again. You really should go back to your dorm and catch up with homework.

"Satoru, you're crowding her." A calm voice spoke as he approached as well. He had long dark hair and a kind, trusting smile. He was also just as tall as Satoru. "I'm sorry about him. He gets a bit excited." The calmer male explained as he placed a hand on Satoru's shoulder.

"He's alright.. I was just leaving anyways..." You respond as you move toward the door. The dark haired male gently grabbed your wrist.

"Hey- I think I recognize you from somewhere." He says as he slightly leans in as if he's inspecting your face.

"No Suguru, you got it wrong. She's a transfer." Satoru says as he also leans in with Suguru, propping himself up on the dark-haired male's shoulder. They were both leaning in closely to your personal space.

"A transfer, hm? I'm sure that's not been easy. You deserve to let loose a little." The other responds, saying all the right things to convince you to stay. "Let me get you a drink, yeah? We should be good hosts, Satoru." He says as he walks off to the kitchen, leaving you and the other behind.

"Where'd you transfer from, sweets?" Satoru asks as he subtly leads you away from the door.

"Oh, just a nearby community college." You respond as you see Geto walking back towards you two with a red solo cup in his hands. Now, you've heard all the horror stories of what can happen to vulnerable college girls at frat parties. "I don't drink, sorry." You politely decline with a smile.

"Hm? I saw you drinking earlier." Suguru says as he tilts his head to the side slightly in confusion. Shit. Busted.

"Oh sorry, what I meant to say was I don't drink drinks that are made by men."

A look of sudden understanding crosses Suguru's face. He then looks down at the drink, and he takes a huge gulp of it first. "Satoru, take a drink." He hands the cup over to the other male, and he also takes a drink out of it. "I'm sorry. The thought never crossed my mind."

Satoru hands the now almost empty cup to you, and you can't help but laugh softly. These two dorks really just almost drunk the entire drink to prove to you that nothing was in it. "Oh, what the hell." You shrug as you take the last gulp of the drink. "Thanks."

"Of course, angel." Suguru smiles in your direction.

"Ooo, do you know what we should play with our new friend?" Satoru asks with a cheeky grin as he wiggles his eyebrows up at Suguru.

*** *** ***

Before you know it, a group of people are sat in a circle around in the common area, and there's a playing card in the center. Suck or blow is a game where the players pass around a playing card using only their lips via sucking or blowing. If the card is dropped between two people, they must kiss. To heighten the fun, after the card is dropped, it is cut in half, making it harder to keep the card up on the players' lips.

"Okay, but this isn't fair. Satoru and Suguru shouldn't be allowed to sit next to each other because they're just gonna kiss every chance they get." Someone in the circle mentions as they roll their eyes.

It just now occurs to you that the two men who convinced you to stay are lovers.

"You're so right. C'mere, sweets, so we don't ruin the game for everyone else." Satoru grins as he scoots over to the side, making room for you between him and Geto. Your eyes widen slightly from his proposition as you had a weird feeling about this game.

You slowly crawl between Satoru and Suguru. They're both big men sat with their legs crossed, so their legs are just casually rubbing against yours. No matter how much you try to scrunch up you're own body, they seems to press right against you.

Your eyes follow the playing card around the circle as people are giggling and taunting each other. Faces are red, there's awkward moments of tension, and a pair of people actually end up accidentally dropping the card.

It actually seems like a pretty lighthearted game. The card is cut in half, and the game resumes. Your heart starts to thump in your chest a bit harder as the card is making it's way closer and closer to you. With the way the rotation is going, you'll have to receive the card from Satoru and pass it off to Suguru.

Seems easy enough.

Satoru leans in to some guy that's sat beside him, and they both nearly laugh. Luckily, Satoru is able to obtain the card from the guy, lightly sucking in so the card stays flush against his lips.

He turns towards you, and his eyes lock with yours. For a moment, you swear you're able to see a devilish look in his eyes before he tilts his head up and blows the card away from his lips. "Oops. I dropped it." He feigns innocence with a smirk. "What can you do?"

You feel yourself lean back slightly. Surely, this wasn't fair. It's not that you didn't want to kiss Satoru. Let's just be honest, who doesn't? But you certainly didn't want to kiss him in front of his boyfriend.

"What are you runnin' from, angel? Satoru doesn't bite too hard." Suguru encourages you as he gently nudges you forward. Your face immediately flushes, and you barely have any time to respond before Satoru cups your cheeks and pulls you into the steamiest kiss you've ever received.

This was not like the kiss those other two people shared. This was deep, intimate, and totally inappropriate. Satoru scooted off of his bottom and onto his knees as he leaned more into you, bullying his way into your mouth by biting your lower lip.

A small muffled whimper escapes your mouth as you’re almost unable to breathe. Your hands push against his shoulders, and he groans as he’s forced to separate from you.

His face is slightly flushed, and his breath is short pants. His bright blue eyes were half-lidded as he leaned back to his spot with a smirk.

Your face is also completely flushed with embarrassment. Reluctantly looking around the room, the people are giggling and whispering about you. Some of them look towards Geto waiting for his reaction. Your heart starts to thump harshly in your chest.

You place your hands behind you on the floor to get up. This is too much. What kind of kiss was that anyways? Why would he embarrass you in front of everyone?

Before you’re able to get up from your spot, Suguru wraps his hand around your wrist, and he holds you back towards him.

“Now, now, angel.” He clicks his tongue disapprovingly, and you feel your heart drop to your stomach. Thinking Suguru is about to rip you a new one for kissing his boyfriend like that, you immediately start to apologize. “What you apologizing for, hm?” He asks as he leans in dangerously close to you. “I was just going to say that if Satoru gets a taste, then so do I.”

What kind of sick prank was this?

His dark eyes flicker down to your lips, and his other hand brushes your hair away from your face before he leans in and presses a softer - more sensual kiss. His lips are smooth and delicate; the complete opposite from Satoru’s.

You feel like you’re about to explode from embarrassment, so you pull away with a whiny huff. The brunette merely chuckles are your reaction. “I could still taste him on you.” He murmurs into your ear, making your heart skip a beat.

Your palms find your face as you’re literally trying to hide from the situation. Not that you can see, but the two men were literally just grinning at you, pleased with the mess they caused.

“Alright. That was fun.” Satoru announced, denoting the end of the game.

“Maybe for you.” A guy retorted with a halfway-annoyed laugh. You could hear people shuffling around, leaving the circle they were all sat in.

Slowly, your hands leave your face, and you see most people have went back to hanging out in their own social groups; however, Satoru and Suguru stuck by your side.

“Well, it seems she’ll share a kiss with both of us. I wonder what else she might do with both of us.” Suguru mused as he propped his head up with his hand. His elbow sat on his knee as he gazed at both you and Satoru with an enamored expression.

“I- We were playing a game!” You quickly go to defend your case, but Satoru is right there to also taunt you.

“Oh, so you’d only kiss one of us if we weren’t playing a game?” Satoru asks as he also leans into you, fluttering his long white eyelashes. “Sweets, if you wanted it to be just you and I, I could tell Suguru here to give us some space.”

“What-? No, that’s not what I…”

“So, you were open to kissing both of us.” Suguru cuts you off, not letting you refute or argue.

Your face is bright red as you feel your head spinning. Both of the men were matching each other’s energy, applying pressure to you. Their dominant personalities were making it hard for you to even get a word out.

“Please- stop.” You whisper quietly as you look down at your lap, practically folding in on yourself like a hermit crab who senses danger.

Suguru shoots Satoru a quick glance, and they seem to have a silent conversation between the two of them. The brunette is the first to speak up, gently placing his hand on your shoulder.

“Hey- it’s okay. We were just teasing.” He reassures you softly as he bends his head down to try to look in your eyes to show that he’s sincere.

Satoru gently tucks a strand of hair behind your ear. “We’re sorry, sweets. We didn’t mean to overwhelm you.”

“You’re not mad at me..?” You quietly ask the two of them as they’re both doting on you with physical affection to soothe your anxiety.

“Why would we be mad, angel?” Suguru asks softly. His hand is gently rubbing on your shoulder, lightly massaging you.

“Yeah, we kissed you. Why would we be mad?” Satoru pitches in as he carefully cards his fingers through your hair.

Your heart continues to flutter a bit. Having both men tend to you emotionally and physically was rather appealing.

“I kissed you two back, and you two are…” Your voice trails off as you don’t know what type of label to place on their relationship.

“Ohhh, she’s worried about us being jealous, Sugu.” Satoru grins as his hand pats the top of your head.

“Poor thing. Allow me to let you in on a little secret.” Suguru dips his head closer to your ear, and he drops his voice to a low whisper. “Neither of us care as long as we both get to have you.”

You must’ve misheard him. Is he really just openly offering a threesome between you, him, and Satoru?

“I don’t understand…” You quietly murmur, not daring to make eye contact with either of them right now.

“Yes, you do.” Satoru interjects as he sits up a little. His hand grabs your chin and forces you to look up at him. Bright blue eyes stare into your very essence. “I think we’ve made our intentions pretty clear here, sweets. We both want you. So, you can either follow us up to the bedroom, or we can all pretend this didn’t happen, and you can go back to your dorm and play with yourself to the thought of us.”

You’re sure that if these boys keep it up, you’ll have a heart attack at some point. Your breath hitches in your throat as you try to comprehend how Satoru could be so bold. You’re truly lucky that Suguru is there to balance him out.

“You don’t have to decide right now, angel. Satoru is a bit too impatient for his own good.” Suguru speaks lowly as his hand gently caresses your back. “You can make your mind up whenever you’d like. We just want to be clear in our intentions.”

“That you want to sleep with me?” You ask as your eyes dart over to Geto.

“You make it sound so bad, love.” Suguru responds as his eyes look over your face. “It’s not just sleeping with you. It’s making you feel good. It’s sharing you between us and watching you deteriorate into that little shy mess that you let us get a glimpse of earlier.”

Satoru pinches your cheek as he still has your face cupped. “It’s about seeing how much you can take and which one of us will fold first and fill you up.”

You press your thighs together as you feel your heartbeat in your cunt. How did they make sex sound so appealing? Not that you didn’t like sex, but you never had it described to you like that.

“You like what he’s saying, angel?” Suguru muses as he leans in close to your ear. His nose brushes against your hair gently, and his warm breath ghosts your skin. “It’s okay. You want us both to fill you up. We can give you that.” His voice is so soothing as if he’s speaking a lullaby to you. His large hands trails to your inner thigh. “You just gotta give us the word, love. We’ll give you a night you’ll never forget.”

*** *** ***

So, that’s how you ended up in Satoru’s massive bedroom upstairs while the party continued on upstairs.

Suguru’s lips were on yours, practically making love to your mouth as he ran his hand through your hair. The back of your knees hit Satoru’s king sized bed as the brunette was gently coaxing you there by taking small steps forward.

His boyfriend was watching the two of you with big eyes. His hand was absentmindedly palming himself through his jeans as he admired the way you submitted to Suguru so willingly.

“Sugu…” Satoru nearly whines. If it was just the two of them in the room alone, he would be already pouting, but he has a dominant role to uphold.

The brunette gently parts from the kiss leaving you a panting mess to look over at his cute boyfriend, eagerly palming himself like an animal who couldn’t help themselves. “Such an only child.” He remarks with a smirk. “Never learned how to share properly.”

“I want to kiss her too.” Satoru huffs as he approaches the two of you. Your eyes are glued on Satoru almost out of fear. Despite how whiny he could get, he was definitely the more rougher direct one.

“Be my guest, Toru.” Suguru hums as he gently nudges you onto the bed to where your bottom is on the edge. “I wanna kiss somewhere else anyways.” His fingers hook into the waistband of your pants, and he tugs them off of you.

Satoru moves his upper body on top of yours while staying out of Suguru’s way. He’s slightly jealous that Geto is getting to taste you first, but he’s sure that he’ll get to feel you wrapped around him first. His hands pin yours above your head, and you squirm a bit, testing his grip.

“Think you can get away, sweets? Go ahead and try.” Satoru smirks as he doesn’t even have to try to hold you down. You’re no match for him, especially considering he’s a pro at contact sports.

Your squirming intensifies as Suguru’s fingers gently brush against your damp panties. “She already made a mess for us.” He muses to Satoru.

“What a slut.” The white-haired male grins before he finally gets what he came here for: a kiss. His lips devour yours in another steamy kiss as Geto starts rubbing small light circles against your clit with his thumb.

You’re completely at the mercy. Your body squirms around from the stimulation, but neither of the boys relent. Before you all went upstairs, Suguru made it clear that you had a safe word: crepe. If you uttered that word, both of them would completely stop whatever they were doing. Until then, you were fair game no matter how much you whimpered or squirmed.

The thought of it makes you try to press your thighs together as your cunt clenches around nothing, but Suguru forces your thighs apart. “Don’t hide your pretty cunt from me, angel. I don’t want to have to tie you down.”

Chills go up your spine from the thought, and you reluctantly stop trying to close your legs.

Satoru kisses bruisingly hard, gulping down each of your breaths and using your whimpers as a way to slip his tongue past your lips. His hand is still holding down both of your hands while his other starts to grope your breast.

Suguru presses chaste kisses to your core through your panties while still rubbing you. He hums with contentment as he watches your hips rise from the bed searching for more. He decides to indulge you for now, slowly sliding your panties down your legs.

“So pretty.” He murmurs as he gazes at your soaking wet cunt. His eyelids flutter shut before he leans in and ever so gently laps at your cunt, causing you to squeal into Satoru’s mouth.

The white-haired male finally relents in his kisses to gaze down at his boyfriend while he was leisurely indulging in your cunt like it was a gourmet meal. He bites back a moan as his dick is painfully hard, straining against his jeans. It’s nearly enough to make his head spin. He needs release — like now.

He unbuttons his pants before shrugging him off of him quickly. His cock has already leaked a small wet spot into his boxer briefs.

You’re too consumed with Geto’s tongue that you don’t even notice Satoru’s cock until he straddles your shoulders. Your eyes widen while looking at his size. His cock quite literally casts a shadow over your face with its massive size. His tip is an angry red color from neglect, and a bead of pre-cum sits upon the small slit.

“Oh sweets, you flatter me.” Satoru grins as he takes note of your facial expressions. The palm of his hand then gently pushes your forehead back, and he drags his length across your lips, smearing his pre-cum against your pretty mouth.

Satoru enjoys just gently rubbing his cock across your face as you give him pitiful glances and small whimpers. You try to take him into your mouth, but he won’t let you. He’s enjoying toying with you too much.

Meanwhile, Suguru is completely lost between your thighs. His jaw is almost sore from making out with your sloppy cunt, and that’s saying a lot considering he’s use to sucking dick. No matter, he continues alternating lapping at you and tongue-fucking your tight entrance. Each time his tongue thrusts inwards, he can’t help but think about how good you’re going to feel wrapped around his dick later.

Your hips try to shimmy away from him, and he takes it as a sign that you’re close. His hands grip onto your hips, preventing your escape, and his mouth then focuses strictly on your clit as he gently suckles on the small bundle of nerves.

Your mouth falls open as you gasp, and Satoru takes his chance to fill your mouth while you’re off guard. His cock immediately stuffs your mouth, muffling all of your sweet noises. Your eyes squint closed as you struggle not to immediately gag around him.

“Oh, come on. I know you can do better than that, sweets.” He taunts as he looks down at your poor struggling face. “You’re not even taking half of me.”

Your spit accumulates on his cock as he sits still for a moment, giving you just a mere second to prepare yourself. Then, he starts to rock his hips back and forth, fucking your pretty mouth while he holds you still.

“Look at me.” He demands with a small grunt.

Your eyes flutter open obediently to look up at him while he uses your throat to his heart’s content. Tears brim in your eyes, threatening to spill. Cute.

For a moment, your entire body tenses up as you gush juices against Geto’s face and chin. Your eyes slip shut as it’s almost too much to handle. The brunette continues to drink you down as if you didn’t just cum.

Satoru’s hips continue to forcefully push himself deeper into your mouth. He hates that Suguru is getting all the attention!! He gets to kiss you first He gets to taste you first. Now, he’s getting to make you cum first!

Taking his frustrations out on your poor throat, Satoru doesn’t even realize that his orgasm is rapidly approaching him until it’s almost too late. “F-fuck.” He grunts as he presses your head down harder. His tip grazes the back of your throat, causing you to gag around him. The tears slip past your cheeks.

“Yeah, gag around me, slut. That’s what you get for letting him make you cum first.” He moans as his hips stutter. He then shoves himself as deep as your throat will around, and his cock pulses between your lips as he empties himself deep in your throat.

Your cry muffles around his length as he stays seated in the back of your throat until he’s a sensitive mess. Your hand quickly comes up and hits the side of his thigh with a small whine.

With a small chuckle, he slowly gets up off of your shoulders, and Suguru had finally ceased eating you out. Your body is so tired. Taking a moment to rest in Satoru’s bed with your eyes closed, you hear clothes shuffling around.

You assumed they were maybe getting back dressed, but no, you were sorely mistaken.

“C’mere, angel. Let me hold you.” Suguru whispers softly as he crawls behind you onto the bed. Your eyes flutter open to see him completely naked, patting his lap for you.

He is (thankfully) not a big as Satoru is, but his cock is definitely fatter. You swallow harshly as your eyes wander his body.

“Listen to him, sweets.” Satoru snaps your mind back to reality as his hand gently swats at your thigh.

You slowly crawl up onto Suguru’s lap, and he turns you facing away from him. Your back lies flush against his chest. “I’ll be gentle with you. Don’t worry,” He hums softly as he pulls your shirt and bra off of you, finally discarding those pesky items.

His hand carefully adjusts his cock right between your thighs, fitting snuggly between your warm wet folds. “Mmm, feel good, angel?” He asks as his body lightly shudders from the feeling.

You weakly nod your head, and Geto starts to slowly rock his hips back and forth, coating his inches in your slick.

Satoru climbed next to you two, and he cuddles into your side before lazily catching one of your nipples into his mouth. His eyes flutter shut as he gently suckles on the sensitive bud. His hand is gently playing and rubbing on your other.

“Mnnph~ fuck..” You whimper as you lean your head back against Suguru’s shoulder. His hips continue to rock behind you, spreading your slick all over your thighs.

“Wanna see something.. ah~.. fun, angel?” Suguru asks quietly as he gently takes your hand. He slowly guides you to grabbing onto Satoru’s hair, which elicits a small whine out of him.

His blue eyes flutter open as he looks up at you pitifully while swirling his tongue around the small bundle of nerves. It seems as though he has a weak spot - his hair being pulled.

You can barely concentrate from the movement of Suguru’s hips when he makes you pull Satoru’s hair again only harder this time. The white-haired male moans around your nipple, adding vibrations to the mix of stimulation.

“Look at me, pretty boy.” Geto purrs at his boyfriend. Satoru’s eyes look up towards both yours and Geto’s faces. His eyebrows are pinched together, and he doesn’t dare stop suckling on the soft bud.

Suguru reaches down with his other hand, and he adjusts his cock right against your warm entrance. His tip bumps against the ring of muscle, causing you to whine from the sensation.

“Gonna prep her for you, okay?” Suguru mumbles to his boyfriend. The white-haired male immediately pulls away from your breast with a soft ‘pop’ noise.

“Wait no, I wann-“ Satoru’s words are futile as Suguru pushes into you with a loud groan. His head falls back against the pillow behind him. Your hands grab at the sheets with a whine as you squeeze your eyes shut. It feels like he’s trying to split you into two with his fat cock.

“Mmnn.. so, so tight.” He grunts, obviously provoking Satoru more. “Feels so good.” He adds while his hips shallowly move, pushing his tip in and out. The tight wet muscle envelopes him each time with a squelching noise.

Satoru’s eyes are as big as saucers as he watches Suguru barely pump into you. The sight of your cunt struggling to fit him and dripping juices all along his length makes him feel feral.

A huff escapes his lips as he shifts his face between your legs. “I wanted to stretch her.” He furrows his eyebrows in slight jealousy.

“Too bad. You’re just going to have to… ngh~.. watch me do it.” Suguru retorts as he pushed a couple inches deeper, allowing your gummy walls to squeeze around him.

“Oh f-fuck..! s’too much-“ You cry as your hips start to tremble. The pressure from his cock pushing deeper causes you to arch your back away from the brunette.

“Angel, I’m barely even in yet. You can do better than that.” Geto tsks disapprovingly. His hands wrap around your hips to hold them still. “Help her out, Satoru.”

The white-haired male looked up at your scrunched face as white hot pleasure and pain course through you, and he actually takes a little bit of pity on you… or maybe he just really wants a taste. Either way, he drags his tongue up Suguru’s length, licking your juices off his boyfriend. He continues to lick upward until his tongue presses against your clit.

You choke out a moan as you’re struggling to keep control over your body. It’s all so much. Your poor cunt squeezes around Suguru as Satoru continues to lap at you. As soon as you begin to adjust, Suguru pushes all the way into you, down to the hilt.

“Fuuuuck~ so good.” He groans as you clench around him so deliciously. Your juices mixing with Satoru’s saliva make it absolutely messy. The wet smacking noises fill the room as Suguru wastes no more time fucking himself into you.

Satoru’s tongue continually switches from focusing on your clit and licking up your juices from the base of Geto’s cock. He hums in pleasure as he pitifully grinds his painfully hard length into the mattress, desperate for any sort of friction.

“Sh-shit-! Satoruu~” You drawl as your hand finds his hair, but he quickly pins your wrist down, not letting you force him to submit again.

“She’s weepin’ for me, Suguru.” Satoru taunts with a hint of pride.

The brunette is lost in his own deep thrusts. He can feel his balls tightening, signaling how close he was. “Yeah? Get in here then. Make her feel good.” Suguru instructs as he pulls himself out of your wet heat, mostly to prevent himself from finishing too quickly.

You immediately whine in protest from the empty feeling, causing both of the men to chuckle at you. “Such a slut. Just needing something to fill you up, hm? You don’t care which one of us it is.” Satoru is back to his degradation as he sits up on his knees, scooting himself between both yours and Geto’s legs.

Suguru carefully tucks his cock back behind you, in between your soft pillowy cheeks. Satoru takes his opportunity and pressed himself against your entrance.

“Fuuck sweets, she’s cryin’ for me.” He groans as he bullies himself inside of you, immediately pushing all the way to the hilt, causing for you to let out a silent scream. His tip practically kisses your cervix, filling you fuller than you ever have been before. “Gotta give her what she wants.”

His thrusts were unlike Geto’s. He was rough, not giving you any time to adjust to his length before he starts pounding your pretty pussy. Your body jerks and squirms, but both of the men hold you down, making sure you can’t get away.

With each brutal thrust, your backside inadvertently grinds against Suguru’s already sensitive length. “Fuu- hnnngh~ my god.” The brunette whines behind you as his fingers dig into your hips.

You’re already a complete blabbering mess, getting completely fucked stupid in the head by the white-haired male. “Hah~… fuuuck, pleaasee.” You whimper, not even know what you’re begging for.

Satoru has your wrists pinned against Suguru’s shoulders while he slams into you. Sweat gathers on his forehead as he’s completely enamored by both yours and Geto’s spent faces. His mind plays tricks on him, convincing him that he’s miraculously fucking both of you right now.

“Whatcha beggin’ for, sweets?” He huffs as his hips push into yours, forcing your entire body up and down against his boyfriend. “Need both of us?”

Your eyes immediately widen, and you’re shaking your head quickly. “Ah, ah, I don’t hear the safe word. Suguru, I think she wants it.”

Geto pants and moans as he slowly pulls his hips back, allowing for his cock to slip between your legs. He’s painfully hard and sensitive too. “Think you can take b-both of us, angel?” He asks as he gently rubs his tip against your entrance that is already being filled by Satoru.

“N-no~! I-… I can’t.” You practically pleading as your legs are trembling from Satoru’s harsh abuse of your cunt.

“Shh, nonsense.” Suguru soothes as he brings his hand up to his mouth. He spits onto his hand and drags it along his length, lubricating himself so he can glide in. “You wanna be a good girl, don’t you?”

“Please. She’s not good for anything besides taking us.” Satoru interjects as he slowly pulls himself back until just his tip is inside, allowing Suguru the room to squeeze in.

“Poor angel, can’t even resist it, can you?” Geto mocks as he guides himself to your entrance. He slowly works his was inside. His cock was completely flush against Satoru’s, and your walls completely tighten around the both of them.

Tears fill your eyes as the pressure from both of them is almost too much. Your entire body tenses up, trying to cope with the feeling of being so full.

“Shhh, you gotta relax, darling.” Suguru murmurs into your ear. His hand reaches around and gently rubs small circles against your clit, coaxing your body to open up for them. “We’re gonna take good care of you. You need to trust us though.”

Satoru sits patiently, biting his inner cheek to prevent himself from moving. The tight feeling of your sopping cunt as well as Suguru’s cock smushed against his was nearly enough to throw him overboard. He gathers your hair carefully, and he gently moves it out of the way so he can kiss on your neck.

Suguru follows suit: kissing and biting gently on your opposite shoulder. Both of the men worked together to ease your body while Suguru slowly sunk in deeper and deeper, stretching you to your fullest. 

“Good girl..” The brunette quietly purrs in your ear. “Takin’ us both so well. Think you can take a little more?”

“Don’t call her that. This slut can barely fit us both.” Satoru grins as he wastes no more time. His hips start to roll back and forth, and his hands grabbed at the bottom of your thighs, lifting your legs up so they both could have better access.

Both of the men take turns pushing their cocks deep inside you, not giving you a single moment to rest or adjust. Your head was spinning, unable to form a coherent thought as your poor cunt was being taken by two at once.

Suguru’s clasp on your hips tightens as he rhythmically buries himself into you repeatedly. The feeling of your warm gummy walls combined with Satoru’s cock rubbing against his, creating a delicious friction was too much to handle.

“F-fuck.. I’m not gonna last too much longer.” He pants as he continues torturously rutting upwards into your sloppy wet entrance. “N-need to feel this.. mmmph.. this pussy up.”

Satoru growls lowly as he slows his pacing but makes each thrust count. Watching his boyfriend unravel underneath you was something he didn’t know he needed. He can feel himself getting close too.

But it was you who finished first. You couldn’t even warn them before your orgasm suddenly washed over you. Fluids gushed along both of them as your cunt spasmed and clenched around them.

“Did you just-“ Satoru looks down at where you two are connected to confirm it with his own eyes. “D-dirty girl, you just squirted on us.” He muses as his thrusts grow sloppier.

Suguru’s barely pumping into you before he tilts his head back. His adam’s apple bobs as he paints your insides white with a loud, needy groan.

Satoru’s legs are trembling as he keeps fucking himself into you. It’s so fucking wet from Suguru’s cum as well as your juices. The combined throbbing and clenching bring on dual sensations that have him spilling inside you as well.

“G-god fuck!” He tightens his grip on your wrists as he works his way through his orgasm.

The three of you stay in bed connected together while panting softly. The frat house is eerily quiet. Everyone must’ve went home.

“Are you alright, angel?” Suguru asks as his feather light touch grazes your tummy softly. “We didn’t hurt you, did we?”

“N-no… I’m okay.” You mutter weakly. “I don’t think I can walk back to my dorm though…”

“Good. You’re not leaving anyways.” Satoru declares with a playful smile before he snuggles into you and Suguru.

“He’s a bit clingy, but I agree. Stay here for tonight.” Suguru says, also wrapping his strong arms around you.

While the three of you slept peacefully in each other’s arms, your phone was blowing up with texts and calls from Ino who was worried sick when he showed up to the party, and you weren’t there. Oh well, you’ll just have to tell him in the morning.

[jiminiecrickets]

HONEY POT. PJM / KTH / M!READER

summary. there's something wrong with the popular kids at this small-town high school. something deeply, viscerally, hauntingly wrong...

wc. 8.8k

tags. smut | top!reader, bottom!tae, switch!jimin, jimin in skirts and heels, voyeurism, multiple orgasms, biting, spitroasting, brief daddy kink (r. receiving), gratuitous blood/gore, blood as lube (from another wound), cultism & religious fervour, cannibalism, murder

note. happy halloween!! i began this in early august to be on time, but uh, we know how that turned out :')

"—and i was like, no, that isn't how this works! i'm literally the best he's ever had, why would he ever wanna break up with me? i even bought him that stupid walkman he kept whining about and he still went and cheated on me and then tried to dump me. me! how could he?"

"well, he was already on his way to being a forty-year-old junkie who lives in a trailer park and hates life. he could've had so much with you. he'll realise how much he messed up – he'll get his karma."

"i know, i know... you're right. i just wish he could've been nicer. could've saved us both the trouble."

jimin lifts his soft dark eyes from his pink handheld mirror. he smacks his glossy lips and shuts the mirror with a clack, crossing his legs the other way and leaning back against the steps of the steel bleachers. he glances up at taehyung, who sits one step above him.

dressed in a cropped, pale pink shirt and blue jeans, taehyung fans his hot face with chunky rings on each finger, eyes lifted to the sky in a futile effort to hold back tears. jimin had already helped him redo his makeup in the bathroom, and this wasn't the first time taehyung had cried over a boy. poor thing just had too big of a heart – he wasn't made for modern boys and their vices.

jimin sucks on his teeth and sighs, turning forwards to lord over the verdant grassy field, where the senior boys are engaged in tryouts for college football teams. "don't worry, honey. we'll find the right one for you eventually. maybe try an athlete? the artsy ones are always such snobs."

"oh, they aren't all that bad, really," taehyung mumbles, patting the corners of his damp eyes lightly. "anyway, they all want you, not me. they're not into anyone who isn't a cheerleader."

"you're being silly. they just don't think you're interested – you keep rejecting them." jimin scours the field, tucking his dark hair behind his ear. a diamond stud flashes under the sun. he reaches out and touches taehyung's knee, leaning in for secrecy he doesn't need. "how about that one?"

"he called me a sour bitch. no."

"and that one?"

"he made me do all the work on a paired project and took my ninety-eight for himself. no."

jimin purses his lips, eyes flickering between their faces, warm and shining under the sun. all around, they looked quite similar – all fairly muscular, with the same lazy grins. not bad for eye-candy, he supposes, but taehyung is a romantic, which is how anyone he dates manages to bury themselves so deeply in his heart.

motion by the changing rooms on the other side of the field. jimin's eyes flick over naturally, and they widen.

strong, handsome, and, most importantly, taehyung is already looking at him.

he keeps his watchful gaze discreet, following the figure as he crosses the field and joins the coach to speak with him briefly. he is handed a football, which he tosses and spins in his hands a few times, and the coach gathers a few lounging boys to help out.

they spread out, and the tryout begins.

jimin isn't an expert on the game, only knows the basics, but he knows how to read a man – and the coach is clearly impressed by what he sees. jimin observes quietly, crossing his legs and uncrossing them, as he runs circles around the rest of the boys, leaving them far in the dust.

at last, when the boys are huffing and puffing with their hands on their heads and the cute one takes his time wandering back to the coach – after meeting jimin's eyes for a quick, sparkling second – jimin turns his head in taehyung's direction.

"what about... that one?"

taehyung huffs, pressing his knees together and resting his elbows on them. jimin doesn't mention how his gaze flicks to his shoes before meeting jimin's, almost as if he didn't want to be caught looking. he gives the footballer a once-over, then inspects his nails. "too tall."

jimin watches him push back his cuticles with his thumbnail, those thick dark lashes brushing his fine cheekbones. his prettiness makes him a honeypot for invariably bad people, and though jimin feels for him, he can't say he wants him to stop trying. everyone has their place in the world – even cheaters and liars. taehyung's relationships make it easier to weed them out for proper atonement.

"are you sure?" jimin asks carefully, tilting his head. "he looks like just your type."

"i don't have a type," taehyung sighs. "if i did, it'd make finding people that much harder."

eventually, jimin hums, and turns away to watch the tryouts.

out of sight, taehyung's shoulders slump slightly, and he exhales shakily. he nibbles on the edge of his nail as his eyes follow a figure lifting a water bottle to his lips. his sweat-shining throat bobs as he swallows rapidly, and a trickle of water escapes from the corner of his lips; it trails down his neck to soak into the collar of his shirt. he wipes it away without much thought. taehyung presses his thighs together.

suddenly, jimin turns back to him, propping his chin on his palm. his eyes are big and innocent as he asks, "hey, tae? you know that ex we were talking about earlier? i want his address."

"o-oh, um – just to make him sorry, right?"

"yeah. he will be."

taehyung swallows. "yes. okay. is it bad that i feel... that i pity him?"

jimin giggles, sweet and high like a bell. he squeezes taehyung's knee. "you're my best friend. i'm not going to let anyone get away with hurting you. you know that."

"mhm, i know. just make sure nobody sees you, alright? i don't want you getting in trouble for vandalism or something."

"oh, my charges would definitely include more than petty vandalism, but you know me – i cannot be caged!" he jumps to his feet and stretches high above his head, his shirt riding up to expose a sliver of pure, unblemished skin. the way he scrunches his nose slightly makes taehyung's heart flutter.

he exhales softly as his neck cracks, and he flashes taehyung a quick smile as he packs up his pin-studded messenger bag and slings it over his shoulder. "you can give me his address after school, but don't leave it too late. don't forget about the curfew. i have to go for now, but you make sure you take care of yourself, okay? if you feel too sad to study, i'm sure my mother would let you go home early if you asked."

taehyung hums and nods, leaning forward on the bench as jimin skips down the bleachers until his ivory pumps make a satisfying clack on the concrete base. "your nepo-baby status is really helpful sometimes, y'know?"

jimin beams, his eyes crinkling to crescents. "i know! see you around, honey. love you!"

"love you," taehyung echoes, and watches him go. his all-white outfit makes him as bright as the moon, and just as breathtaking. effortlessly, he carves a path through the crowds like moses and the red sea, perfectly oblivious to the power he wields over them all.

taehyung sighs and turns back to watch the tryouts, and that one special player right in the middle. just as he wishes you'd come and cheer him up, you glance over, grass stains on your shorts and a new bruise on your knee. as you meet his gaze, the biggest grin splits your face. you wave with your whole arm and taehyung giggles to himself, hiding his warm cheeks behind his knuckles as he lifts one shy hand.

his heart races. for you, he'll keep up this masquerade. this was a dangerous neck of the woods, and he wouldn't let anything steal you away – not even jimin.

he's waiting patiently for you at the edge of the field when you finally manage to break off from your mates. his slim fingers dance lightly over your arm, leaving goosebumps in their wake. as quickly as his touch arrives, it vanishes, his arms once more wrapped around his body like a hug.

"hey," he greets softly.

"hey yourself," you reply, amusement light on your tongue. "i saw you earlier. i hope you didn't get bored watching me chase after a ball like a dog."

he huffs. "what are you saying? dogs are cute. you were cute. i like seeing you bound across the field – you make for some especially tasty eye-candy, sweating and panting like that."

"do i, now?" you say playfully, leaning against the steel fence. he leans in too, matching your smile with a pretty, half-bitten one of his own. his lashes flutter as you tease a kiss, the tip of your nose brushing his cheek. "next thing i know, you'll be begging to lick me up."

he clicks his tongue, turning away from your almost-kiss in half-assed defiance. "tch. here i am, trying to be sweet, and you ruin it all. boys like you have only one thing on their minds."

"hey, you started it! besides, are you telling me you wouldn't wanna taste of my lollipop?" you smirk, gazing at his side profile. he's drop dead gorgeous, all full lips and big eyes, and you could easily while away your days doing nothing but admiring the symmetry of his features.

taehyung rolls his eyes, but there's no heat to it. he sniffs. "you wish. you wouldn't last long enough to enjoy the view."

you place a hand over your heart. "careful, pretty boy, or you and your mean insults could remain part of me for a long, long time. words hurt, you know?"

"what do i have to be careful for? you like me too much to do any lasting damage to me. it's nice, really. nice to know you love me – in your own, silly little way." he pokes your chest, and you catch his hand in yours and lift his knuckles to your lips. the ghost of a kiss shivers over his skin.

"silly?" you parrot, returning his hand to him with a knowing look. you rest your hip against the top of the chain-link fence, casting a glance casually over the field. "you think my acts of love are silly?"

taehyung hums, leaning over and grasping your chin. he turns your face towards him. "'sweet', then – that's probably a better word for it. none of my exes ever did what you do for me. not even close. i'm sorry, baby – please don't pout."

"i'm glaring, actually," you huff. "this is my glaring face."

"don't, you'll get wrinkles," taehyung chides. he glances around, and swiftly, like a little bird, flits up on his toes to press his lips against your cheek. in the blink of an eye, he settles back into place on his side of the fence. he sighs, and a sudden weight slumps his shoulders. you straighten, turning towards him properly.

"he noticed you," he says, his voice lower than usual. "pointed you out to me as a potential boyfriend."

the smile you were wearing drops like a stone. "he did?"

taehyung doesn't trust himself to speak; he nods instead, staring at his shoes.

"well," you say, at a loss for words. "i mean, he's tiny. what's he gonna do to me?"

his head snaps up and the intensity of his gaze catches you off-guard. "don't underestimate him. you can't. he – he can do more than hurt you. he'll ruin you.

"no, no – don't roll your eyes," he snaps. "i know, i sound paranoid, but you haven't even been here for six months. you haven't seen what i've seen." his focus flickers to your surroundings, and he seems uncomfortable even when he leans in to whisper. "please. keep away from him, don't tell anyone about us, and for the love of god, stop visiting my house after curfew. he's whip-smart – he notices it once, he'll catch on like that." he snaps his fingers. "also, we have a change of plans. mark's off the table – jimin wants him."

at that, the corners of your mouth turn down. you cross your arms. "not if i get there first."

"baby – baby, look at me. you can't risk it."

"fuck," you hiss between your teeth. you clear your throat and wipe the expression off your face, flawless neutrality taking its place. it still simmers under your skin, but it's always easier to sweep something under the rug than clean it up. "fine. i can bring a friend over tonight instead. it'll be easy enough – these sheep will follow me anywhere. we can... have him for dinner."

taehyung's eyes glimmer, the hint of a smile playing at his lips. the worry's sloughed off his shoulders for now, and that's as good as you can hope. "i've always loved your lamb steaks. i've been waiting for this – for you. i'll be at yours by seven sharp."

"wear your pretty clothes," you hum almost offhandedly as you survey your fellow students. there's not a care in the world in those empty heads. "something black – and sexy."

taehyung flicks his bangs out of his eyes. "everything i wear is sexy. you'd do well to remember that."

"yes, dear."

—

his hands shake. that oil-heat, sweat-sheen, bone-crunch. his breath rattles through his lungs like the tongue of a too-small bell.

the weight of the kitchen knife in his hand is too much – he lifts it, and it tilts forward dangerously, trembling in his red-wet palm. the silver glimmers and flickers under the yellow shed lights.

a warmth behind him, a sturdy presence – tender hands slide down his arms, tracing him from collarbone to wrist like a delicate porcelain doll. they fold around his slim fingers, big scarred knuckles too worn to be a boxer's – they wear gloves for protection.

"split the skin shallow, so you don't pierce the meat," you murmur, your breath hot against his ear. you guide his hands with your own, slowly pressing down until the pop of released pressure signifies the beginning of the cut. "all the way down, just like that... good. you slip the knife under the skin and peel it back, making a scything or slicing motion to cut the membrane. long, slow strokes to control the angle of the blade. you want the meat nice and lean."

the night is still and silent outside, not a cricket or dog to be heard. the rushing of taehyung's pulse is loud enough for them all. he can feel your excitement against him – the quickened breathing, the thudding heart, the hitched gasp when his grip tightens on the knife and steadies.

"perfect," you croon in his ear, an undercurrent of a growl echoing beneath your words. "take your time. i want your first time to be..."

you shift against him, and he feels something prod his backside. he bites down on the inside of his cheek to silence himself and takes a deep, shaky breath, pressing down with the knife. sinew and muscle part easily under the sharpened blade.

"it's easier," he whispers, barely a breath, "than i thought it would be."

"you're doing very well, but remember, i'm guiding you. you won't find a better person to teach you."

your hands are big and knowledgeable over his own, each arc of the knife steady and precise. the blood warms his skin up to the knuckles, but it pales in comparison to your own, smeared up past your wrists in a deep ruby red. a bucket by the leg of the table is full of gore, intestines wrapped around a bladder and stomach and hacked-off chunks of fat. it was a job too bloody and slippery to give to your pretty shrike.

"this will be your steak," you hum, stroking the heavy, lick-wet cut of meat almost reverentially. you press your lips to his shoulder, then to his temple. he can feel your smile against his skin. "perfect knifework. it's almost as if you've done it before."

"well, it's like you said," taehyung breathes, gently placing it in the metal bowl at the top of the table. a secondary bowl beside it is already filled with some lesser cuts of meat, which you'd done to kill time before his arrival. "there's no better person to teach me."

he turns around in your arms, carefully linking his bloodied fingers behind your head. he noses your jaw, his lips brushing over yours. the strappy black top he wears clings to him like a second skin, and the gap between it and the top of his pants reveals his toned stomach, flexing now as he presses his hips against your thigh. he whines softly as you knock his knees apart and slide your leg between his with a teasing grin.

"no need to play coy, beautiful," you purr, digging your palms into the edge of the table. "if you want it, just ask."

"but where's the fun in that?" he gasps as you nip the soft skin of his neck, canines making reds and purples bloom across his sun-kissed skin. "o-oh – y-you know you shouldn't do that, baby. not so high."

with a furrowed brow, you growl softly, slowly rocking your thigh against him. "rules, rules, rules... why does he dictate your life like this? scared of being tossed aside?"

taehyung shakes his head, his head falling back with a moan. for someone who doesn't like being marked up, he sure does make it easy. he exhales as your breath trails up his throat and over his jaw. "he's not. he doesn't."

"yet you pretend as if we've never met when he's around, and you don't say anything when he forbids you from working with your hands. he thinks you should stay clean and pretty because he likes it that way. he holds you back, and you let him."

you punctuate your words with a fist around his throat, slowly pressing in. the flush that'd dusted his chest and neck while working the knife spreads to the apples of his cheeks, sweet and shy. his breath catches, and he looks up at you through the dark forest of his lashes.

you can almost understand jimin's rules. someone as beautiful as him shouldn't need to mar his skin with stains and calluses. that he still desires it – desires to delve deep into the marrow of mortality, watch it squeeze out between his knuckles – turns your stomach, in sickness or adoration.

"i'm sorry," taehyung nearly whimpers, panting short and shallow as his blood-slick hands scramble at your shoulders and chest. his eyes are black with lust and his pulse throbs under your fingers. "i know. i just don't want to upset him. i care about him."

you don't look away when you grab one of his hands, resting over your heart. you lift his knuckles to your lips and, under the heavy haze of hunger, he watches as you wrap your lips around two of his fingers. your cheeks hollow, and your tongue swirls slowly around each joint, as if savouring more than the iron taste.

he swallows thickly as the hand around his throat shifts, less to choke and more to pull close. his heartbeat thuds at the back of his throat.

pinned between your body and the table, the tiny shed door locked behind you, he realises suddenly what it must feel like to be your prey. you have a visceral animal strength about you, muscles like steel cable wound tight, always on the brink of snapping. only the patience of a tiger in wait keeps the mask from slipping, breaking.

your canines graze his finger, held firm in the heat of your mouth. the look in your eye says it wouldn't take much to release that perfectly wound tension, to let the slick nubs of your teeth open him up.

the look in his eyes invites you to.

eventually, you pull away, a satisfied smile splitting your face. you crush your lips against his, nicking his lower lip, and he moans at the warm iron flooding his mouth. greedily, your tongue laps at the stinging cut.

"fuckin' perfect," you husk, gaze flickering down to the red smeared over his throat and jaw, then further down to the obvious bulge in his pants. you snicker. "hm. need help with that?"

"please." he reaches down, as if to undo the buttons right there and then.

you grab his wrists and tut. "sweetheart, not over our dinner. you know better than that."

he groans. "it's your fault for driving me crazy!"

in response, you just laugh and grab the bowls of steaks. it's a surprisingly light sound even though you were ready to eat him up mere moments ago. "come on, then. we've got all the good cuts already. head in and put these in the fridge; i'll deal with the carcass. i'll be quick, i promise."

"you better be," he mutters, loosening the latch on the door. "i'll kill you otherwise."

when you open the door to your bedroom, halfway through drying your hands on a tea towel, you are greeted by the sight of an angel on your bed, long slender legs spread just for you. you toss the towel onto a nearby chair and lean against the doorframe, crossing your arms. you let out a slow, appreciative wolf whistle, smirking when taehyung's eyes snap open and he bolts upright. he relaxes at the sight of you, one hand already slipping back between his thighs.

"you're not much of a gentleman, leaving me alone to entertain myself. you have to make it up to me."

"demanding little thing." you click your tongue, leaving the door open and approaching him on the bed. he leans back against the piled-up pillows, sighing softly as his fingers slip back inside himself. they do so with whorish ease, and the smoky darkness of his gaze is smug.

a challenge, then? you can do that.

your fingers glide over the back of a chair, slow and thoughtful. you drag it to the end of the bed and straighten it to face him. he shivers slightly in the warm night as you take a seat, leaning back and spreading your knees. one hand rests casually on your leg and the other props itself up on the armrest, curled in a loose fist.

he pulls his fingers out slightly. you snicker at the confusion in his flickering gaze. "what are you getting up for? i was just getting comfy."

"i—" he falters. almost indifferently, his fingers glide in and out of himself, keeping himself hard while he gathers his thoughts. "but you promised you'd fuck me tonight... killing always did rile you up, red-blooded beast that you are."

"beast?" you parrot, exaggerating a pout. "aw – and here i was, thinkin' i was more than an impressive cock to you." you run your thumb over your nails, your eyes flicking to his open legs and sticking there as he pulls his fingers out to pump his dick twice, thrice. his hand travels back down. "no. i promised no such thing. after all, you've got a date with your pretty boy tomorrow, yeah? don't want him wondering why you're so loose for him, do you?"

he whimpers softly at the mention of it. his fingers dig deeper inside him, upping the pace, and his cock pulses with need. "n-no... i-i mean, i could just say i got a bigger toy..."

"oh, no, sweetheart – if you like a man, never tell them your toy is bigger than them. 'specially them rich types. they bruise easily." you sigh softly, thumb gliding over the edge of your jawline. his twitching cock blushes under the hunger of your gaze and his hole clenches. "you'll just have to wait it out. patiently."

"but i want you." he gasps, the wet squelch of lube making everything ten times dirtier. his breath quickens and he adds a third finger, shuddering at the stretch. "ah– baby, please, i've already been doing this for ages—"

"i didn't ask you to."

"your fingers are thicker than mine," he whines, eyes growing big and ever-so-slightly teary. he's good, you'll give him that. the slight lip tremble, the shaky breaths. you could make him cry properly. he's always been a pretty crier. you wonder if his eyeliner will run.

he sinks his fingers in until the knuckle and he moans, bucking onto his fingers. "god, won't you just fuck me already? why touch yourself when you can touch me? i can see how hard you are!"

you lift your hand off the bulge in your jeans and undo your belt teasingly, thoughtfully – as if you might take him up on that tasty, tasty offer. you lean back in the chair and exhale softly as you free yourself from the confines of your underwear. your cock taps your stomach and taehyung keens, unable to tear his eyes off of it as you wrap your hand around its base, stroking shallowly.

"w-wait," he gasps, beginning to pull his fingers out, "wait, i wanna – let me—"

"no," you say sharply, movements halting. "sit back. i didn't tell you to stop."

"but i can—"

"taehyung."

he quietens, chastened but obedient. he gnaws on his lower lip as his hand returns to its rightful place. he quivers as he watches your palm smooth over your tip and slide back down, precome bubbling from the slit. he can feel his own smearing over his bare stomach, hotter than his warm skin.

instinct takes over. over and over. over and over.

he's such a good boy for you – he's wasted on a creature like jimin. then again, are you really better than him? just the same, you've denied him his basest needs. to part flesh with steel, impart bliss with lust – you've just dropped one piece of control for another.

no. you can be better. you are better.

taehyung gasps sharply as you all but lunge at him, pinning him to the bed by his throat. his golden hair haloes him on the crumpled white blankets, like a gilded apollo so gently posed against marble. he blinks slowly up at you, eyes soft with worship and dark with desire, and kisses the thumb tracing the cupid's bow of his lips, a hand curled around your wrist. the other reaches for you.

you groan softly as he pumps your cock, twisting his wrist expertly. your belt buckle clinks and he giggles, eagerly reciprocating your greed. he hooks his legs loosely around your thighs.

"and you were the one preaching patience," he hums as you lean away to tug your shirt over your head. it gets tossed into a corner without so much as a glance and taehyung flushes at the view, half-lidded gaze raking every inch of revealed skin like a man starved. "oh..."

"how many times have you seen me shirtless?"

"not enough." he grabs your hand and pulls you into him, his hands locking behind your head and tugging you into a heated kiss. "you're also not bloody enough for my liking."

without waiting for a response, his teeth clamp down in the junction between your neck and shoulder, where the meat is soft and muscle is taut.

pain blooms like a shard of ice, sudden and sharp. a decisive movement, it left no room for bruising. taehyung groans, guttural, and digs his teeth in deeper, if only to keep the wound open for longer. his fingernails print stinging crescents into your biceps and he whimpers, eyes rolling back, as you shove his head into your neck, forcing the blood down his throat.

melting heat and iron, the sharp tang dissolving into sweetness – his tongue laps at the oozing wound, the arc of his teeth imprinted forever into your skin until the white of your bones will gleam under the midday sun.

when you allow him to pull away, his eyes are black, dazed and blissful. he smiles from ear to ear, teeth red and stained down the chin and throat, and crushes his lips against yours, tangling your hair in his grip and moaning sinfully loudly. his cock throbs, crushed between your bodies, and he bucks against your shaft, the vein on the underside catching against the ridge of your tip with a shuddering bolt of pleasure.

"i'm yours! i'm yours, all yours," he whispers fervently, obsessively. his tongue swipes over his lower lip, the oily heat marking him just like a sheep bloodying the muzzle of a wolf.

he smiles. he laughs. he presses your foreheads together, his stomach slick with his orgasm, and kisses you again, this time sitting upright in your arms.

"you're good to me. so, so good to me." he leaves the print of his lips against your throat and jaw like a jealous girlfriend, your own blood a perfect valentines' red. "fuck me – please? or i could suck you off, if you're still worried about tomor—oh!"

you flip him over and pull his hips towards you, slotted perfectly between your thighs. his own shine with excess lube and you push your cock between his plush thighs, thrusting impatiently to coat it. over his shoulder, he watches, wide-eyed, as you drag a few fingers up your chest towards your shoulder – towards the red bite mark leaking down your chest.

you smear the blood on your cock. taehyung's core throbs – his back arches. he nearly screams as you yank him onto your cock, burying yourself hilt-deep in not-enough thrusts. his mouth falls open as the burn sears its way up his spine and caresses his brain. he swears he can feel you in his throat.

"fuck! fu-fuck," he burbles, crying out as you set a steady pace, your hips slapping against his ass. you push his knees together with your own and his eyes show their whites, mouth open in a perpetual moan. he buries the chants into the pillow, staining it with blood, and his knuckles whiten around fistfuls of blanket as your cock scrapes his insides so deliciously, stabbing and thudding against his prostate. "fuck, oh my god, fuckfuckfuck—!"

you click your tongue, gaze glued to the point where you meet. "you've got a mouth on you, haven't ya? should fuck you until you forget how to talk. that'll clean you right up, nice and ready for your little boytoy. would you like that, sweetheart?"

"fuck, daddy, please, yes please," he whines, letting the pillow swallow the rest of his sounds. the ricochet of skin on skin echoes loudly in the cosy bedroom, and his cock throbs as it swings between his creamy thighs. shit, you could watch the ripple of his ass until the day you died, and none of it would be wasted time. you're beginning to suspect he has a stronger hold on you than you thought.

your shoulder stings like a bolt of clarity and you growl, grabbing and pulling his hips to meet your thrusts. he whimpers at the sound. "what an obedient pup. a little eager, but i s'pose that's normal, given that tonight was your first time." you huff and slap his thigh, making him yowl and his hips jerk. "wasted, you are. such steady hands. i could use someone like you."

"y-yes, yes, use me – ah, ah – love being used! mmn—!"

"not quite what i was saying, but i'll let it slide." you slam your hips into him and he chokes on it, letting his head falls limply to the pillow. he hasn't felt your cock in so, so long – he can't believe he'd almost forgotten how good it felt, how it filled him up just right to knock his brains out. you gripped him so tightly, too, as if he might get up and leave at any time – but you should know by now that he'll always be the one running back to you, that sick glint in your eye only making him swoon harder.

you had a few bad habits, sure. a few dark fantasies. but so did taehyung. and now he had your blood in him – your essence, the purest part of you – which could never be taken away, even if the elders found out about your relationship. they could take you, but not the part of you that you'd planted deep inside him. they'd never be able to dig it all out. you were a rot to their perfectly-tended garden, and taehyung wouldn't let you be cut out so easily – not when you were so sweet on the tongue.

he licks his lips, the faint taste of what remains fluttering his heart. he'd been careless with his moans, the cries of your name like a prayer. he found so many little deaths with you, and the best ones came screaming.

suddenly, emptiness – you pull away, hand slipping out of his. you halt, stiller than the dead.

hoarsely, taehyung whispers your name, a whine on the tip of his tongue. "n-no... so close, was so close, please..." he turns around.

his heart drops like a stone.

"hello," says jimin, in a voice like silk.

"baby, put the knife down," taehyung stammers, all pleasure doused by the sight of that too-big blade pressed up against your throat. "don't."

"why should i?" he adjusts it, nicking a fine pink line beneath your ear. red beads along it like a string of pearls. "he's a killer. he must be cleansed, same as the rest."

unconsciously, taehyung wipes his mouth, as if your influence on him could be removed so easily. he can still feel the heat of it pulsing against his lips. "but he's mine."

you roll your eyes, hands open and half-raised. of all the things he could've said...

yet, it seems to give him pause. the kitchen knife almost loosens – almost. he tugs your hair roughly, punishingly, and you grunt as the blade whispers against your skin. you have half a mind to teach him a bloody hard lesson, but taehyung might not like that.

"wait!" taehyung darts forward, hand outstretched. he slumps on the bed in front of jimin, gripping the sheets. "how – how did you find us?"

"i followed your ex," jimin replies, observing the wet blood painting half of your chest. the red against your skin is rather pretty... and it's in the shape of taehyung's teeth. "this mark is good at covering his tracks. not so much for those of others."

taehyung's eyes widen. no. you promised to stay away from his ex! then again, he never did see the face of the meat he was cutting up... and you weren't one to be one-upped by the likes of jimin.

"he's not a mark," he pleads, "not officially. he could join us! how many people has he already killed? how long did it take for you to realise? you only found him because he was too rash with this one."

jimin's eyes narrow. "all that tells me is that he grew cocky and let his guard down."

"the mark was cruel to me. he did it for me," taehyung implores, his eyes earnest. "he loves me. and i love him. put down the knife. initiate him."

you frown. initiate?

for a long time, jimin says nothing. he doesn't move.

he lifts the knife. taehyung's eyes widen.

he raises his hands in surrender. he huffs and crosses his arms, drumming his fingers against his arm as he cocks a hip. his skirt and knitted vest give him the impression of a private-school kid, although the short sleeves of the dress shirt seem a touch too tight to be unaltered. he wears a shiny pair of tall, heeled mary janes, but you hadn't heard him until the knife was at your throat. odd.

"fine," he drawls, eyeing you with a slight curl to his upper lip. "you have two minutes to convince me. you're so lucky i like you, tae. wh—i mean, why do you even care? you said he wasn't your type."

"well," he searches carefully for the right words, "things change. and he fucks me the way i like it. you can't tell that from a glance."

jimin's gaze strays briefly downwards, over the shine of blood and flexing muscle. you're still hard, and when his gaze flicks up to meet yours, your lips twitch up into a smirk. you adjust your undone jeans and cross your arms.

eventually, jimin steps closer, reaching out curiously to prod at the bite mark. ruby red oozes, and he watches closely as your eyes flutter briefly shut. his tongue glides over his glossy lower lip. "hm... but he's still a killer. i don't know what makes him more useful to me alive."

it's as if a lightbulb flashes over taehyung's head.

he leans forward, resting a hand on your thigh. he tilts his head against your hip. "maybe you can... try him. see from my perspective."

"i'm not getting on my knees," jimin scowls immediately, "not for a sinner."

"but you don't mind it when i do?"

jimin opens his mouth. he closes it. he throws his hands in the air, knife waving around carelessly. "we're not the same! i'm already doing you a kindness by letting him live this long. i should be flaying him right now for tainting your body with his filth. you're supposed to be pure. unsullied."

"pure?" you repeat, scoffing. you can only stay quiet for so long. "oh, you lot are crazy-crazy. worse than me."

his eyes narrow and his knuckles whiten on the knife handle. taehyung shoves himself between you, gripping your hand in his own. "no! stop it, both of you! if you kill each other, who's gonna take care of me? i'm still hard."

he's the perfect height for you. you prop your chin on his shoulder with a lazy grin, wrapping your arms loosely around his waist. you play with his cock, making his breath stutter. "you're right as always, sweetheart... how cruel is he for cockblocking you? you deserve everything in the world and more..."

jimin's fingers twitch. taehyung bucks shallowly against you, but you keep him firmly in place as you stroke his cock, already sensitive. you kiss his neck. you haven't taken your eyes off of jimin.

he presses his thighs together as taehyung lets out a soft whimper.

"come on, sweet thing," you croon into his ear, cupping his chest and grazing his nipple. "don't you want my cock?"

gulping, he tries not to show how affected he is by the hardness pressing against his ass. "a-ah, um..."

"what was that?" you flick your wrist roughly and taehyung's eyes shoot open. blood fills his mouth from a bitten cut in his cheek.

nervously, he lifts his eyes to jimin's. his gaze is fixed on your hand and the way it engulfs taehyung's cock, flicking over his slit and grazing the veins with your nails. "i want – i w-want..."

"say it, tae."

the words come not from your lips, but jimin's. two fingers slip into taehyung's ass and he jolts with a sweet moan as you curl them.

"i want your cock," he rushes out in one breath. "fuck, i want it so bad."

"even more than your boyfriend's?" your words are sly, coated in a thick layer of faux innocence. "why?"

taehyung doesn't bother answering. you know the answer – so does jimin. he turns in your arms and cups your face in his hands, bringing you down for a desperate, hungry kiss. you thrust your fingers into his hole and he jerks, clamping down around you. you swallow his moans, pumping your fingers teasingly.

"i wonder," you drawl, kissing a trail up taehyung's neck, "if he likes watching. maybe that's why he doesn't want to date you. he wants to sit back and watch as other men ruin your pretty little body – after all, it's hard to enjoy the faces you make when preoccupied with doing all the real work."

the sharp intake of breath and the way he clenches around you tells you what you want to hear. he looks up at you with those dark, dark eyes, his breath quick and shallow, and leans into it when you sit him down on the bed with a creak. swiftly, he turns over, arching his back and wiggling his ass. he gazes back at you with huge eyes as you remove your pants. he's almost shy – though the twitching cock leaking down his thigh is anything but. red and angry, it demands attention.

you glance at jimin. the knife's still in his hand, but the thought of it seems secondary to the sight of taehyung on his hands and knees. you can hardly blame him.

from the edge of the bed, you grab the bottle of lube taehyung had brought with him. you slather a generous amount onto your cock and push a few fingers into taehyung with the remnants, exhaling softly as he pushes his hips back against your knuckles.

"my perfect boy." you scissor your fingers, then slide them out. "c'mon – don't be shy. show your dear jimin how well i stretch you out."

he glances your way sharply. you're already staring at him, grinning in the airheaded, cocky, handsome way that all popular boys seem to know intrinsically. the soft lips, the blood, the way you manoeuvre taehyung's body around yours as if he's a prop to make you look better... every jock knows that rising in the ranks means he needs to talk louder than the next guy, take up more space than the next guy, have prettier girls on his arms than the next guy. they say confidence is key, but that's only good at pool parties where nobody wants to really call anyone's bluff.

you're the only one who does it right. you're the only one with a cock to match that body.

taehyung exhales shakily as he reaches back and parts his asscheeks, fingers digging harder than necessary into the plump meat. he hides his burning face in the sheets as jimin steps closer, and his breath quickens as you tap your cock against his ass, teasing his hole with your tip.

"cute, isn't he? surprisingly sweet, too. thought he'd be more of a brat when i first saw him," you hum, casually stuffing your cock into him in one smooth movement. taehyung yelps and lets out a quivery little moan, his slick walls clenching around your thick cock. he sounds like he's trying not to cry – you sigh patiently and pet his hair before your hands return to their rightful places on his hips to pull him onto you.

his body jolts with each thrust, his muffled cries breathy and whiny. his ass ripples with the slap of your hips. on a particularly rough thrust which has him seeing stars, he whimpers out a "daddy" that has jimin's breath hitching audibly.

"good, baby," you husk, palms gliding down his body appreciatively. you slap his ass – so hard your palm stings – and he chokes, already-wobbly knees giving out beneath him. he catches himself just in time but the angle has your cock driving deeper inside him, oscillating wildly from kissing his prostate to fucking his brain out his ears.

you grab a fistful of his hair and loom over him, your lips brushing his earlobe. his spine arches when you tug roughly, his eyes rolling to show their whites as your cock throbs inside him, each thrust wet and slick. "tell him how you feel, whore," you murmur, soft but loud enough for your voice to carry. he gasps sharply at the title and his aching cock leaks like a faucet into a puddle of his own precome. he shakes his head, embarrassment hot in his core.

you tilt your head. "maybe i'll even let you suck him off."

"it f-feels good," he cries immediately. the quick, precise slapping of skin on skin echoes in the room. "i love your cock! i love tay-taking cock, love being fucked by big cocks – oh god! – 'n' yours is the biggest! love getting stretched wide on your dick, getting fucked 'til it hurts—! i-i never wanna come off, mm, i love being your cockslut – wanna be your bitch, your toy, all yours—" you bury yourself balls-deep in his guts and his mouth falls open, thick white come spurting from his tip; it's almost humiliating how you can make him finish without a single brush against his dick. he smiles, broad and wobbly. "ohhh..."

you peck his cheek, pressing against his back low and heavy like an animal. you grip his jaw. "coming already? don't go passing out on me," you chide, tilting his head in jimin's direction. "look at him. look. there we go. see how hard he is? he must like how obedient you get with me – with your daddy."

heat floods his body to the marrow. you've never used that title on yourself before – it's always been taehyung's thing, something you don't mind only because it's him. the raking burn of pleasure hurts, blooming from his cock all the way up his spine and out to his fingers and toes.

possession. it spins in taehyung's jumbled mind. you fuck him like you want to bruise your name inside him, forcing him to think of you and only you even when jimin sits on that chair in front of him, a perfectly manicured hand wrapped around his leaking length, just begging to be touched.

briefly, taehyung wonders how you might fuck jimin. he's giving you his infamous bedroom eyes, but there's an acrid darkness that taints his gaze. jealousy? inadequacy? scorn? taehyung's thighs are hot and sticky.

maybe you'd be rougher with him, tie him up and fold him in half with his legs over your shoulders. even as he distantly obeys your whispered order to open his mouth, and even as jimin slides his velvety cock between his lips, he can't stop imagining you behind jimin, manhandling him and forcing him to ride you to get off, even though jimin's such a pillow princess.

you grip taehyung's hips, sweat shining on your skin. you spread his ass and thrust deeper, smirking when he jerks forward, choking down the rest of jimin's dick and ripping a pleasured curse from his throat.

taehyung's limbs feel like jelly. he braces against jimin's hip, hooking his thumb under the hem of jimin's skirt to pin it back. as he sinks down on his cock, he chances a glance up.

rid of his little sweater vest and unbuttoned down to the navel, jimin does very little to chase his high. he meets taehyung's eyes and tilts his head slightly – he's almost perfectly still, and the only thing he does is gather his skirt in a fist. your quick, snapping pace sets taehyung's, and it's only by the blown pupils and pink-tinged cheeks that taehyung knows he's doing well.

"so," you begin, and your voice is remarkably steady. "did you come here intending to kill me?"

"please, i barely know who you are. there are others—" his breath catches, and he closes his eyes to steady himself "—others who're more deserving of atonement than you. which isn't to say i thought you a paragon of virtue – you're a handsome guy on a sports team, and sin comes to your type like moths to a flame. i knew i'd come to collect eventually, but you surprised me. congrats – not many can."

"did you watch?" you ask, patting taehyung's ass almost fondly. "he did so well with the – what did you call him? your mark? did you see how beautiful he looked, nearly orgasmic as he cut him open and warmed his hands with his blood? you must enjoy it, too – seeing the life fade from your victims' eyes. otherwise, you would've culled me the moment i took your kill."

his eyes narrow. "you're sick."

you laugh. "y'know, you and your little 'cult' aren't slick. i saw how pretty girls and guys don't shy away from the forest or the nasty parts of town because what they can do far outweighs the shard of glass a cokehead waves around. i thought it was a creative writing exercise gone crazy, something to explain the unusual disappearances around here. it was good for me, though. nobody'll raise a fuss if one more douchebag goes missing."

"i should kill you now."

"but then sweet little taehyung would be upset – you heard him." you pout. "besides, you must've liked something about me or you would've gotten rid of me as soon as i ravaged your favourite boytoy. do you have a thing for corruption? is that why you stayed, watched him come as soon as he tasted my blood? if you like, i'll let him bite the other side."

he pulls taehyung's throat down on his cock by his hair. taehyung eagerly laps up every throbbing inch he receives, nails digging into jimin's ass. he jolts and gags slightly as hot come pours down his throat without warning – his eyes flutter shut as his throat bobs, lips pressed against jimin's base.

"oh, i like you," you purr, something of a song lilting your voice. "are you as angry when you take cock, i wonder?"

"try it, i dare you."

you turn your attention to taehyung, who sits jimin's cock in his mouth like a good boy. he suckles softly, dazed and faraway. his walls are soft and hot, each gummy ridge stroking and clamping around you to pull you in as deep as possible when you finally, finally come, forcing him over the precipice as well for the nth time that night.

you pet his hair and he leans into it, moaning as you gently pull out, letting him sink into the mattress. thick come drips down his inner thigh, pooling in the dips of the bed. softly, you groan, gathering yourself and lavishing kisses upon kisses over his neck and shoulder. "what do you think, baby? should i fuck the cultist freak?"

taehyung pops off wetly, licking his lips. his chest heaves. it's hard to scoop his brain up off the floor, but the thought of the two people hottest people he knows putting on a show, all for him? "p-please..."

you raise your eyes, and meet jimin's glare with a smirk. "you heard him. don't wanna disappoint, do we?"

"you think you deserve to fuck me? after everything you've done? you don't even kill for a reason," he scoffs. "you're no better than an animal."

"what is it with you and prettyboy here thinking i'm less than human? you cower behind your righteous moral justifications when you take a life and hold me to the same standards, but animals don't have morals. i can only be one, baby, so choose."

jimin glowers.

"you've got me in a box," he admits eventually, and his expression twists as your smile turns gloating. "shut up. you can fuck me – just this once."

"those are dangerous gambling words," you tease, but lay back against the headboard, one hand behind your head and the other wrapping around the base of your cock. your absence above him makes taehyung blink – hard – before he shuffles after you like a sleepy puppy and buries his face in your shoulder.

his thighs still twitch every now and again, and he lifts his unfocussed gaze to meet jimin's. it clears, just enough, for a fat, satisfied grin to spread across his face and he shifts to spread his shaky legs, showing off the warm glazed mess between his thighs like a piece of art.

jimin's cock throbs. taehyung grins lazily, knowingly, eyes half-lidded and hungry. he slides your slick cock between the vee of his fingers and flicks his wrist. a pearl of precome beads along your slit and follows the line of a vein, gathering eventually along taehyung's slender finger.

unwise, a voice whispers in his head, regal and maternal, yet youthful.

with a sigh too breathy to be accidental, taehyung splays his fingers over his lips and tilts his head back, taking one finger at a time against his scarlet tongue to clean it. his lashes graze his cheeks. his eyes are black corridors of velvet, and he gives jimin's invisible leash a tug with a curl of his pretty fingers.

it was never that taehyung made it too hard to say no. he made it far too easy to say yes.

[rivalsforlife]

pardon me if you’re tired of discussing this but. we know aa7 is on capcom’s radar on some level. and now they’ve rereleased every game right?? they’ve finally run out of backlog material after almost yearly releases since 2019…. Not to put the clown wig and nose back on too early but do you think we’ll actually get news about, or get to see, aa7 next year?

Never tired of discussing this!! This is right around the time of year where I'd be preparing to make my yearly AA7 Speculation Post anyway so this is great timing. (TGS, my enemy, is approaching.)

So just to make sure everyone's on the same page, here's a quick recap of where we're currently at:

In November 2020 we got internal Capcom leaks which included a calendar from 2019 with the roadmap for the AA series the next couple of years. This included:

DGS1&2 collection, which I did not think was going to happen ever, releasing April-June 2021

AA7, releasing around October-December 2021, right around the 20th anniversary.

Through late 2019-mid 2022, reconsider porting 456

We got DGS1&2 (a bit later than in the plan, but by like a month), we got the 456 ports, we got bonus AAI ports, we have nothing for AA7 nearly three years after it was supposed to come out. The pandemic is an obvious feature that could contribute to its delay, but at this point with 456 ports out I think we can safely say that this was not the only cause.

Some other things that may or may not be contributing to AA7's delay include:

Yamazaki, the previous main writer for 5&6 and the AAIs, left Capcom in 2020. If he was involved in AA7 at all, that could throw a wrench into things, but I recall hearing he intended AA6 to be his last AA game (I AM STRUGGLING TO FIND THE SOURCE THOUGH SOMEONE PLEASE HELP ME), so I don't think this contributed very much. It does, however, mean that we're unsure about who the next main writer is - depending on what Takumi's up to or if they had to bring someone new on, there could be complications related to that.

I think TGAA did way better than anyone expected, which I covered in this post. It's possible that this could have shifted Capcom's priorities to porting more old games / porting to all modern consoles. It may have made people at Capcom think "damn everyone loves Takumi" so they tried to lure him back to AA7, and I have no idea how well that would have gone or if Takumi is even interested in continuing mainline AA right now. (I do think this at least contributed to the Ghost Trick ports.)

In my first ever AA7 speculation post I talked about how the ending of AA6 kind of wrote them into a corner re: how to continue with the series and which protagonist to use. I still stand by that argument even if a lot of that post aged badly.

Console ports! Previously new AA games were for whichever Nintendo handheld is out now (GBA, Nintendo DS, Nintendo 3DS). But now that the series is doing really well on all consoles, they may have decided to try to make their next mainline entry on all consoles, which would take more development time. Adding to this is that the Switch is near the end of its lifecycle with the Switch 2 (or whatever the successor will be) being announced soon - meaning that, if AA7 is coming out soon, Capcom is in the position of "do we try to squeeze this into the end of the Switch's lifecycle" (which, I'll need to find sources for this, is speculated to be some of the reasons behind why AAI2 and DGS2 sold badly when they were first released, and they can't make the same mistake thrice... right...?) or "do we try to time it with the release of the Switch 2"?

Also, a lot of this depends on how far AA7 was into development whenever it was derailed. If it was derailed from the pandemic, then according to the calendar, it would likely have still been in the prototype stage. It may be early enough that they would have had to start from scratch whenever they picked it up again. I don't work in the gaming industry so I have no idea how long it takes them to make a game or how easy it would be from what stage they're in.

One thing we can compare to is some of the comments about the recent AAI ports: in this interview, Shunsuke Nishida, the producer of the AAI collection, says that development on the collection began in 2022. He also mentions that this began once development on 456 was concluded. This leads me to believe that (contrary to my previous assumptions) 456 and AAIC were not developed concurrently (or if so, had very minimal overlap), and that the process of upscaling graphics, porting, and localization took them... about a year, maybe? So that takes time, even without taking into consideration how long it would take to come up with a new idea + write the script + the bulk of the programming that would have to be done that isn't considered with porting + probably way more than I can think of because again I do not work in the gaming industry.

There's also the question of why 456 and AAIC weren't developed concurrently. The calendar from 2020 shows that TGAA and AA7 were meant to be developed at least somewhat concurrently, and the staff from TGAA would eventually merge into working on AA7. Once again, we don't know what happened to the staff that were supposed to be working on AA7. It's possible pandemic complications meant they got shuffled onto other projects. It's possible the AA-related team is smaller now than it was in 2020, so they only have enough people to work on one project at a time. It's also possible that there's a team that was working on ports, and a team that was working on a new game, and now the "port team" is freed up to work on the "new game team".

Either way though, pretty much every interview with the staff for the 456 or AAI ports are all saying "look forward to the future of the series", which is definitely Corporate Speak, but unless they're bringing the ports of the Layton crossover (fingers crossed) that can only mean one thing. (AAI anime?) Plus, like I've discussed in this post, AA is having fantastic sales in general. They've seemingly either hired a new social media manager or changed the strategy so there is much more engagement on twitter. And AA is getting on bigger and bigger announcements - though AA trilogy ports were announced at TGS (at an AA-specific panel), TGAA duology ports were announced unceremoniously on twitter. Afterwards, 456 ports got announced at the Capcom Showcase during Summer Game Fest. And now AAI collection got announced at a Nintendo Direct, which I imagine is even more expensive, so the series must be going in a good direction for them to think that's worth it!

That's a lot of rambling for me to say I definitely think it's coming.

When are we going to see it though!!

Coming up in September is my eternal enemy Tokyo Game Show. Since AAI collection is being released at the beginning of September... it might be a bit too soon to announce a new game, but who knows. They might think it's profitable to ride the hype they're building now for AAI collection to announce a new game. Or they might let it sit for a while.

With AAIC getting announced at a Direct, I'm thinking they'll want to make AA7's announcement a) big and b) global. AA6 was announced in Famitsu, but the problem with that is that it's a mostly Japanese audience, and some interviews have been talking about how AA's global audience is particularly contributing to how big it is right now. So I'm expecting AA's next announcement to be at something major and something that will get attention from overseas audiences.

If they have been working on AA7 concurrently -- and honestly I do think there has at least been some progress on it since 2019 -- we could definitely see an announcement within the next year. I was also saying this in 2020, though, so don't take my word for it. There's been two year gaps between ports up until the AAI collection, and they seemed pretty proud about releasing 456 and AAI in the same year, so... maybe they'll want to keep it going and announce AA7 within the next year, especially if they'll have a longer announcement -> release period than they normally would for ports.

Potential candidates include:

Tokyo Game Show: As previously stated, it's very close to the AAIC release, so I don't think it's the best timing for it. I would not want my favorite AA game overshadowed by whatever the hell they're going to do with AA7. Likelihood: depends on how fast they want to follow up on the hype.

The Game Awards: is the next major gaming event, but that's already massive in terms of the type of games that get announced there, and it's expensive! Nintendo Direct is one thing since AA has always been a Nintendo-first series, but I don't think it's big enough to justify putting in a Game Awards ad. and I already have my clown wig on for persona 6 there. Likelihood: pretty low tbh

Next Year's Summer Game Fest-related Shows: I think this is the most likely, considering both the 456 collection and the AAI collection were announced around this time. For AA7 I'd say a Nintendo Direct to get lots of eyes on it, especially if AAIC sales pay off. Likelihood: pretty high!

Which leads me into my wildcard answer:

Switch 2 Announcement Stream: If Capcom decides to go in and make AA7 one of the first games for whatever the switch successor would be, it could be announced here. I regret to admit that I am a very bad gamer and only like two things, and therefore have not ever been present for one of these things to know how many games get announced as launch games for a new console, but, like, it's possible.

In the above scenario, I'm not necessarily saying that AA7 would be a Switch 2 exclusive - because I think that would be stupid after so much of the support they've gotten from the ports has been from playstation and steam - but I am definitely the kind of person who would buy a console for one video game. Shoutout to me buying a switch in part anticipating that aa7 would come out on it and that is not looking likely

Anyways, that's my speculation!! Reminder that this is mostly uninformed and that I have no knowledge of anything related to sales or marketing or video game development, and as a result of that, I have been wrong (aside from the one time I accurately predicted AAI ports as a joke) for four consecutive years.

[laora-ryn]

So I've been rotating TMAGP in my head like a rotisserie chicken and. You know what happened in one incident report, I never thought about it too hard, and it hasn't come up again?

In the Voyeur episode, after Tom arrived at the movie theater, his audio started being corrupted. But not in a way that... Really makes sense? It's just that every so often, Chester would read out "[UNINTELLIGIBLE]" instead of whatever words Tom wrote and/or said into his phone

And I'm like. Where and when and why did the distortion happen? Was it during the recording itself, because of the supernatural nature of the theater? Was it when he uploaded it to the internet? Was it when Freddy archived it? Or was it when Chester read it out?

Because we have audio of Needles, Mr. Bonzo, Lady Mowbray, and Ink5oul recorded off a modern cell phone. We have audio recorded in Ink5oul's various hunting grounds, and in Mr. Bonzo's house. Hell, we have audio recorded from Sam's phone in the Magnus Institute. It only switched to the tape recorder when they got to the archivist's office

So it's not necessarily a supernatural creature, or a place steeped in the supernatural, that's distorting it

And I don't know, maybe this is a reach, but the other time we've seen bracketed all-caps text within otherwise normal transcript stuff is with our good friend [ERROR] from episode 10

So now I'm wondering, what made Tom's incident report special? More special than RedCanary's spelunking in the ruins of the Magnus Institute? More special than universe-hopping Darrien, who very likely ran into some version of Jonathan Sims and Martin Blackwood in his therapist's office?

The distorted lines below the break, with a best guess of what might've been there:

Is it a private screening just for me? The contest didn't mention *that.* That's, [UNINTELLIGIBLE], cool, actually. I'm going to head on in... Hang on a sec.

Possibly: "uh," "really"

Snacks acquired! They're obviously short-staffed, since it was the same guy working the concession stand. I feel bad. He looks super old and they're really putting him to work. He seems in good spirits though. Okay... [UNINTELLIGIBLE] find my seat!

Possibly: "I'm gonna," "time to"

So I'm almost done with my popcorn and the film hasn't even started yet. No previews or anything... Do I go talk to the old guy? I really hate [UNINTELLIGIBLE] bother him. I'm just going to wait for now.

Possibly: "to," "having to"

So it's been a minute, and the screen is still black. I can hear what sounds like... beeping. It sounds so familiar but I can't quite place it. Medical equipment maybe? There's something [UNINTELLIGIBLE] the screen... Looks like it might be a flashback or something, handheld... looks like it was filmed on an old camcorder...

Possibly: "appearing on," ?

I know that room.... How... How did they get [UNINTELLIGIBLE] This was after the accident. Mum wanted to film it for my brothers... Dad... I... [UNINTELLIGIBLE] Wait. Who is that? In the corner of the screen, there's... _(soft, more shocked than anything)_ Who the hell is that?

All of the other breaks were inconsequential, basically. Dropped helper words, filler words, easily inferable verbs. It's just this last paragraph that we're actually missing information?

So no real... Revelations here, I guess, I just think it's weird that this is the only time we've seen this kind of thing happen and wanted to type it up??

[kassymalone]

A Little Rant about Fun

Remember fun?

Remember when you could do things just because they were fun?

It keeps coming to mind recently, and it's starting to drive me nuts.

I've always done things with my hands - I used to do art before uni destroyed my love and confidence, I write things, I cross stitch, I make models, and I do these things because I enjoy them. Unfortunately I've come to hate talking to people about my hobbies because the almost always have the same response - 'what do you do with that?'

Do I sell on Etsy? No I fucking don't, this pattern took me 15 hours to finish, do you know how much I would have to charge for it?

Do I do freelance writing? No I fucking don't, why would I want a second soul-crushing job on top of my first soul-crushing job?

Why don't I actually get published instead of wasting my time with fanfiction so I can actually make some money off it? WHY DON'T YOU DO IT IF ITS SO FUCKING EASY

I've been thinking of making a quilt recently, with patches of all my favourite things, but I don't want to talk to anyone about it because I can already hear them asking 'and what are you going to do with it? Is this your practice one before you sell them? No, don't do it that way, that's the wrong way, no-one will like it!'

(Don't get me started on the 'you're doing it wrong' crowd, gatekeepers are a different rant.)

JUST LET ME DO THINGS. NOT EVERYTHING NEEDS TO MAKE MONEY. I know we're in a cost of living crisis right now, but I've been hearing this shit since I was a teenager, twenty fucking years ago! I still remember being talked out of singing lessons when I had a little extra money because 'what would I do with it?' Well fuck, my fat ass was never going to be the next Adele, but maybe I could have just had fun doing something I enjoy, but better?!

ON A RELATED NOTE!

You know what disproportionately annoys me? When people call the Nintendo Switch a 'toy' as if it's a bad thing. Like... yes? It's a toy? I play games on it?

'But the frame rate!', 'But the graphics!', 'But it can't run XX game!' WHO FUCKING CARES.

Yes, the xbox and playstation can connect to netflix and play blue rays and cook you dinner and raise your children, but they also cost a months rent and have all these bells and whistles to distract you from the fact that they JUST FUCKING TOYS. There's nothing either of them can do that I can't do on my PC, better and cheaper, and not have to turn on five different peripherals to make it work.

'But 4K!', 'But you can see the character follicles in this new game!', 'But the horses testicles react to the weather!'

Are you not having fun? Are you not enjoying playing your game? Never once have I been in the middle of a game and thought 'I'd be enjoying this more if it had more pixels.' I'm not even against other consoles, use whatever you prefer - if you like modern real-to life graphics then more power to you, but the amount of people who act like it actually matters somehow is concerning...

Yes, the switch hardware is behind what the xbox and playstation can do... but its a toy. Nintendo has never forgotten that it makes toys, and that's why I like it. It sits on my table, connects to my other monitor. I listen to long form youtube videos while I play TOTK. If I'm feeling sassy, I play it handheld.

My niece has one. We play Pokémon together and I let her win battles because the point is to be fun.

WHICH BRINGS ME BACK TO MY POINT!

FUCK the grindset 'but how can I monetise every possible second?' bullshit, FUCK the 'taking this thing that should be fun way too seriously' bullshit.

LET PEOPLE DO THINGS JUST BECUASE THEY'RE FUN.

LET THINGS THAT ARE SUPPOSED TO BE FUN BE FUN.

And now I've used the word 'fun' so much it's lost all meaning.

Much like fun itself.

[gay-milton-quotes]

I'm Unpeeling Myself from Big Tech!

"Unpeeling" being any act you take that limits the amount of data a large tech corporation can gather from you, decreases your reliance on products of those corporations, or increases autonomy over your technology. I'm ripping the term from a line in this review by Joanna Nelius, where she writes, "People are looking for ways to peel their eyes from their smartphones like a layer of Elmer’s glue from their hand — to remove a part of themselves that really isn’t a part of themselves." It's different than "unplugging" because the goal isn't to go off the grid, or even to limit one's technology usage. The goal, instead, is to extract from the invasive, addictive, destructive capitalist vision a set of tools that are useful to YOU.

It started when I realized I don't need a smartphone. I've deleted most social media from my phone, and the stuff I still have I prefer to check on my laptop. Not all "dumb phones" (I hate this term) offer the same features, though, so I began to think on a granular level about what I need from a cell phone. Eg, not all "dumb phones" provide MMS, but my family lives 3k miles away. I wanna still talk in the groupchat.

On the more complex end, I write on my phone. I've been using Google Docs to move seamlessly from scribbled writing drafts on my phone to formatted, finished works on my computer since I was fourteen.

Except, Google Docs is useless now. I've been unable to use it since they lowered the storage capacity. The only other cloud storage writing thingy with similar functionality is Office 365, which sucks.

Could a dumb phone with a basic "notes" feature work? Maybe, but I'd have to re-type everything to get it into a formatted document. Ideally, I'd have like, a mini-laptop just for writing - something I could fit in my pocket or in a small bag, so I could bring it to work without looking like a dick - and then, in addition, a basic phone for calls/texts/GPS stuff. But does a device this specific to my use case even exist?

Yes. Yes it does.

This is a GPD Micro PC. GPD mainly sells handheld gaming machines, though this product is designed for mobile IT professionals. It's probably too chonky for a pocket, but mark my words, I will figure out how to make it work for me.

It's stupid, but this gave me a rush. I've been struggling along, tied to the bloated corpses of three gmail accounts, for years, because I needed Google Docs for my writing workflow. But now I don't. I have the power to actually tailor my tech for my life.

By this point, I was like, alright, I don't need Google Docs anymore, I don't need a smartphone, what else? Do I need Windows? No, probably not, right? I can use Linux Mint on this new guy, especially since he'll mostly be a basic writing machine. LibreOffice is less intrusive and bloated than MS Word - a better experience for free than I'd have from the paid program. If I go all the way and install Linux, I also won't have to deal with ads in my start menu, or pre-installed spyware screenshotting my activities.

In fact, if I back everything up on an external drive, I can delete my old Google Drives and switch my main computer to Linux, too! So, I finally bit the bullet and invested in an external hard drive.

This is the problem with "product ecosystems," by the way. When one part of that ecosystem - Google Docs - fails, the whole thing collapses. All the bloat and corruption you dealt with just stops being worth it, and it's easier to make a radical change to a new system. I witnessed something similar happen with comedy tech youtuber Dankpods earlier this year, except with Apple's ecosystem: he was a lifetime Apple guy - seemingly not in a worship way, but he liked their products, and was certainly in Apple's ecosystem. Then a couple things went sour for him, and now he runs Linux.

I'm doing this for personal and ideological reasons. I'm personally sick of Clippy - I mean, Copilot - peeping in to tell me how to write what I'm writing on Office 365. I abhor the idea of paying Google for a service they offered for free until recently, knowing they can flip the script at any point. And while we're talking ideology, I'm a communist, and even though this is far from a shift everyone can make, I believe that taking any available steps towards shutting Big Tech out of our lives is a net good. If all you can do is delete Instagram, or use a screentime tracker, or switch to Firefox, do it. I'm finally in a position to make this more drastic change, and I'm excited.

Get in the weeds about how you use technology. Do you need everything at your fingertips, all the time? If not, what, specifically, do you need? Is there a way that you, now or in the future, can trim out the parts you dislike? And what can you change now?

[tuliprambles]

What is your favorite series of games? Maybe it's something from your childhood that you still keep up with, like The Legend of Zelda or Final Fantasy. It's nice to have something you can look forward to every few years to bring you comfort. I wanna ask though, what about the smaller series that haven't gotten new entries in a long time. I'm sure we all have that one series that we just want to get one more game, only for it to never happen. Let's talk about that, because I think the longevity of a series has quite the impact on how people view it. I have three examples to get into.

One of my childhood favorite franchises, one that I still love to this day, is Pokemon. I still love going back to older games, I have a great time with them. As someone who has an attachment to Pokemon though, it's been disheartening watching it deteriorate over the last few years. It's no secret that every game to come out in the last decade has been very divisive. Starting around 2019 the decline in quality has been undeniable. It gets to a point where it's hard to see Pokemon as one entity spanning nearly 30 years. I can't help but see a split, where at a certain point it stopped being what I loved. I see some good Pokemon experiences on one hand and corporate messes in the other, where rushing games out for the sake of keeping the money flowing for a giant multimedia franchise is all that matters, and nobody wants that for any series the they're attached to.

The next series I wanna bring up is Klonoa. Namco so badly wanted this little guy to be their golden child and it's so weird to look back on. The original Klonoa games were a case of a great idea coming out at the wrong time. While they have a cult following now, they came out during the big push for 3D games, which all mascot platformers were switching to. These games were 2.5D and prioritized having an engaging story above everything else. Let's be honest. At the time, most people, especially kids, didn't want that.

In my opinion, Klonoa 2 is a perfect sequel, and is so emotionally impactful that it'd be really tough to follow up on it. However, even though the game bombed, Namco really wanted this to be their big mascot IP, so what did they do? They formed a dev team specifically for making Klonoa games, all of which were handheld entries, plus a console sports spinoff. I hate this, so much. These games go against everything the original games were about, by throwing out any semblance of an interesting story and completely ignoring what story was in the originals, to do whatever they wanted with a big cast of characters. Big surprise, none of these games did well, and Klonoa died off with a whimper. While I'm glad that Klonoa didn't keep getting bad games in a desperate attempt to keep it alive, this still isn't ideal. We have two wonderful games that we can look back on fondly, and then a handful of handheld games that don't feel like they belong at all. I would honestly prefer if these other games weren't made and Klonoa just went out with dignity. It wasn't selling anyway so at least the only games that we had would've been good.

Finally, I wanna bring up my favorite series of games ever made: Mother, or Earthbound in the states. This is a trilogy of games that, while not as huge as Nintendo's other IP, have quite the following! Rereleases or remakes are a topic of discussion quite often with these games. The Mother series is the passion project of Shigesato Itoi, who shares ownership of the series with Nintendo, and as such we only ever got the three games. He directed them and with Nintendo's support, made a trilogy of games that so many people love, even with the final entry never being officially released outside of Japan. After the release of Mother 3, there has been absolutely nothing for the series outside of merchandise and appearances in Super Smash Bros. To me, there is something incredibly satisfying in experiencing a series from beginning to end, and soaking in the reality that what you just experienced was the complete package, there will be nothing else. Mother 3 ends in a way where following it up would be basically impossible and I love that. I can always look back on these three games with nothing but love and admiration.

I hope what I'm saying makes sense. There's absolutely nothing wrong with ongoing series that people look forward to. I'm a big Metroid fan myself so I'd be a hypocrite if I said otherwise. My point is, we don't always need media we love to go on forever regardless of quality. With the passage of time, it's infinitely more satisfying, to me anyway, to look back on a short series where all of it meant something to you.

[littlecarnet]

Guess what was waiting for me at the post office?!

I got the Anbernac devices!

I have so much to say about them that it'll need a separate post. But these are just magical! They're everything I ever wanted in a gaming system! Its like someone reached into my head and made my dream devices a reality. They're so packed with features that I can't even list them all here.

I also got these because there's a big thing about gaming companies pushing streaming over ownership of media, and sorry, I'm not about that shit. Sure it's cool to be able to play N64 or Wii games on the Switch but you have buy a subscription to access them or risk losing them forever. There's also the plague of micro transactions coming to every damn online game now. I get they gotta make money, but I prefer a one time purchase. I will gladly pay $40 for something I can keep forever thank you. I never understood the appeal of throwing my money at something I can't keep. That goes for software, movies, and shows too, especially if the service decides to remove it for whatever reason. Like sure, thanks for removing the movie I fking bought with my hard earned cash! Ugh no! DVDs forever! I'm keeping my shit!

I will definitely buy old systems if they are affordable, I got myself a really nicely kept teal 3DS four years ago, but that was because it was under $80 at a yardsale. The prices online? They're going upwards toward $200 - $300! For used systems! No way! Scalpers are completely unhinged! For the prices they're asking, it's honestly a better investment to get a brand new system that can play almost any game ever made.

I also like how I don't need to be connected to the internet to use my new consoles. That's probably why I still love handhelds so much. I can bring them out while on break at work, waiting somewhere, and if a blizzard or monsoon hits my area, knocks off all the power...no big deal. I still have books, music, and a handheld for entertainment. And the amount of games it can hold is insane. Decades worth. Also the devices just look freaking cool. I already customized them, but I'll get pics up tonight with their own big post.

Speaking of physical media, my brother, being the shutter-bug he is, gifted me an Instax Pal as an accessory for my Instax devices, both my Instax Evo and mini printer. Two things he also gifted me last year. He figured since I want to start memory keeping again, these would be a good start. I love em! I've been printing a bunch of little photos over the past few months, and I found a mini photo album at Daiso for next year. I want to start scrapbooking again. Maybe use my photos for a zine, which I'm still struggling to find a theme for.

The Instax Pal reminds me a lot of those little keychain cameras from the 90s. I used to have one and I used it so much the button broke. XD But I loved the spontaneity of it, none of the photos were high quality and kinda blurry, giving them all a dream-like look. Which I loved. Because they reflected the way my memory looks, if that makes any sense. I had a few digi-cams in the early 00s with that same dreamy low-res look. Honestly makes me want to find them again to see what lost media they have inside.

I like how the Pal has that same appeal plus features that I wished my 90s mini cam had. It directly connects with your phone and you can control it with your phone. It has a flash which is a major upgrade from the old ones that couldn't take photos in the dark. It's USB rechargeable and has an SD card to expand the storage. Because if anyone remembers the 90s ones, once your AAA battery died, all your photos were deleted! I hated that! I'd get so paranoid if I couldn't connect it to my computer on time to transfer them! I lost a lot of memories that way. Hopefully this one will be better. I think the first place I'll take my camera to is the bonfires, I want to see how they turn out. And I don't have to use my instax film either, I could get these printed at CVS or at home on my printer too. Because while I love the nostalgic frame of a polaroid, some photos do look better if they're bigger.

I think the whole point for me is to just have physical media to touch and admire. I miss the tangiblity of objects. Maybe I'm just sentimental, just then so are a lot of people right now. There's a lot of Gen Z that are going through a kind of physical device revival and are starting to go back to CD players, MP3 players, digicams, and handhelds from their childhood. They're getting so fed up about being bleed dry by media corps with subs and paywalling, especially when they have no living wage. I get it. Even if I'm decades older than them, I totally get it.

[aghostinmyownmachine]

dbh-adjacent writing-program nonsense under the cut, a.k.a. let's talk a bit about WriteMonkey 3

I've used WriteMonkey 2 and 3 on and off for. hm. I guess it's gotta be eight or nine years now? but those instances of use have always been erratic and short lived, and I've usually returned to either Scrivener or, more frequently for many reasons, MS Word. (I also did just a ton of first-draft writing in discord back when I had an account and c/ped my writing from there into Word. near-peerless syncing between devices, appalling security practices. what can ya do 🙃)

anyway, due to ~circumstances~ I've switched to writing on a computer that isn't my writing program–filled work laptop, and so I've been experimenting with WM3 again because it's super lightweight due to plaintext markdown instead of rich text and I have a license key for it, which = fun plugins. it's also way less complicated and labor intensive to set up per project and use than, say, Scrivener. I love Scrivener! but scriv can be overwhelming and distracting when all I want to do is write, especially if I want a unique, quick-to-set-up theme (and I always do, because Aesthetic Is Everything), which is one of the reasons WM3 is so handy

in addition to the gorgeous stripped-down UI that showcases whatever background I choose (mine can be found here!), WM3 has some really neat little plugins? I don't actually use the word-frequency checker myself, but WM3's shows you where each word appears in the document via the little indicator bars to the right of the word, which. rad! (you can tell at a glance which chapters are written in whose POV based off name usage alone and I think that's neat.) also, when you click on a given word in the frequency list, it'll highlight that word throughout the document and also display all uses of it vertically over the scroll bar path. lots of nice little visual indicators of what's going on. I just really like the design, it's simple but extremely useful and intuitive

admittedly, Scrivener cannot be beat when it comes to how easily you're able to make notes in it due to its multitude of note-taking locations, plus it has internal splitscreen capabilities that make referencing a second document a breeze, so there's definitely a mental transition involved when it comes to WM3 and its single-document-at-a-time system, on top of switching to markdown-style comments/reminders. that said! being able to not only see those comments below the headings in the left-hand sidebar but also jump to them when they're clicked? stellar 10/10 would use again

finally, the repository. I <3 the repository. being able to quickly toss whatever text I'm not quite ready to delete or info I know I'll want to reference at some point in the future into the repository is great. it's a seamless process, only a couple seconds' worth of effort required, allowing my focus to stay on what I'm writing instead of distracting myself by tabbing my way through various open files to find my notes. plus the repository is searchable(!!!!!), and using it also keeps the actual text editor clean visually, especially since the right-hand sidebar can be hidden too:

hm! possibly that is a sneak preview of chapter one! who can say!

so yeah! if you're looking for a stripped-down, highly customizable, portable writing program, I absolutely recommend it. there are downsides, of course, the biggest one being no official WM3 mobile options available at present, but since the program is both portable and plaintext, you can toss it into a syncing service and access it via your handheld devices that way. it's also not open source, and you need to pay to access the truly useful plugin features. with all that said, if you don't mind fiddling around with some CSS to make everything look juuuuuuuuust right, you can get yourself a really snazzy setup with relatively little effort. but maybe that's just me—aesthetic is king and all that

[thisworldisablackhole]

Sprawl Trilogy first impressions

God damnit, Gibson really did it this time didn’t he? The man really knows how to string you along and then ghost your ass mid dinner - dipping out of the bathroom window to leave you calculating the tip on your own.

Upon writing this, I have just finished Mona Lisa Overdrive, so I’m full of post-book emotions. Mona Lisa Overdrive took me the longest to read out of the 3 books. Part of that is due to the fact that I was getting distracted and spending full days writing posts on this blog about music and other stuff, and part of it is due to the fact that it is simply the most narratively dense book in the series.

After reading all three I have to say that Neuromancer is still my favourite. It had the most satisfactory ending by far, and perhaps the most cohesive vision. Count Zero is the only entry in the series that was kind of a dud for me. Upon finishing the trilogy, I think there is still some important world building information in that book that is worth revisiting, but the semi-boring characters mixed with all the weird heady spiritual stuff just didn't click for me. Not to mention the finale was much like when you try to pop a bubble on a sheet of bubble wrap and it sort of just softly squeezes out the air without making a sound. Virek going from being on the verge of unlimited power to completely ceasing to exist within the span of a few pages just made me go... "oh.... alright then".

Many people claim that Mona Lisa Overdrive is the best, and I can see where they are coming from, but I must admit I am just not a huge fan of the multi character perspective switching that happens between every chapter. Neuromancer still had it's fair share of innate complications that come from being based in a highly technological word (and written by an author who trusts the intelligence of the reader way too much), but it had a single driving perspective that was easy to stay engaged with. Count Zero caught me off guard with it's perspective shifting right away and it took me almost half the book to really pin down all the who what and where's to a point where I felt connected to each thread. Fortunately Gibson improved on this method of writing A LOT with Mona Lisa Overdrive. Even though he upped the narrative threads from three to four, the characters felt more fleshed out and were easier to connect with.

There is still so much I don't fully understand about the story. The end of Mona Lisa Overdrive wrapped up a lot of loose ends from the previous two books while simultaneously opening a pandora's box full of new questions and theories to explore. I do feel like Gibson added a bit of unnecessary information for the pure sake of complicating the plot and throwing you off balance, but it was nonetheless fascinating. Kumiko's entire involvement in particular was a huge question mark for me. Not to say I didn't enjoy her character. I loved the interactions between Kumiko and Colin. The whole idea of a handheld maas neotek personality construct that acts as a guide/companion that only she can see was really fun, but I kept waiting for her involvement in the whole switcheroo deal to make sense and then it turned out she was never really involved in that aspect of the story in the first place.

On that note, one of the beautiful things I learned to accept about Gibson's writing is that he loves to leave the reader in the dark. There were many times where I felt like an idiot for not fully understanding what was going on, only to have Gibson drop the answers straight into my lap in the last quarter of the book. I found reading this series a lot more enjoyable when I just relaxed and went along for the ride instead of asking questions. The knowledge and context you gain by the end of the books almost beg you to read them again, and that is why I refuse to do a full in depth review until that happens. I just can't do them justice until I fully understand.

[acaplaya-musings]

Voiceplay Visuals - Jingle Bell Rock

Voiceplay weren't originally planning to release any proper full-length video for December last year (2023), just a Mini or two, as they were busy in November due to a special performance with the band Chicago. They asked their Patrons for song suggestions for Minis, and then put the three most popular suggestions into a poll for people to vote on. Jingle Bell Rock won out with 55% of the votes, but then a Patron provided a suggestion of doing it "Mean Girls style". Initially the guys were confused, (as was I when I first read the video title when the Premiere appeared) - was there some different musical styling that they weren't aware of? But they soon realised that "Mean Girls style" was referring to the iconic dance scene from the 2004 movie. And so, on the 16th of December, 2023, we got a proper video, not just a Mini, with plenty of absurdity and "Voiceplay brand of dumb", courtesy of Layne! (Layne was in charge of both the arrangement and the video, and is also co-credited for creative direction along with Tony).

Now please don't kill me, but I've never actually watched Mean Girls (*GASP*). However, I know a fair bit about it just from it being popular on Tumblr and the internet in general, and I know this specific scene in the movie quite well, as my dad and I would watch the clip of it every year in December. I have also rewatched the original scene before starting this post, because I'm gonna be doing screenshot comparisons! For one thing, this isn't a super long video, so I'm not worried about image limit, and for another, VoicePlay put a lot of effort into recreating this scene as closely as possible (albeit with some, er, aesthetic alterations 😜), so I wanna prove it, because why not!

Anyway, that's a fair bit of introductory stuff already, so I'll leave my other notes/commentary/thoughts for during the actual video talk bit. Let's get into this!

Making a shot from this little opening bit as the thumbnail was one heck of a choice ngl. Maybe they couldn't be bothered finding a better shot from the video, or maybe they just wanted to keep most of the video as a surprise for viewers, idk, but I was so confused from the thumbnail-title combo when the premiere appeared!😂

Also if you don't already know from the video description, this was all filmed on Tony's iPhone! (Doesn't mean it was all handheld though - tripods/stands for phones exist!). It was because VoicePlay were without a cameraguy for like 2-3 months, because their old one moved states.

So instead of doing any sort of "sexy santa/santa's helper" costumes like in the original, Layne decided that he and the others would be dressing up as characters from Christmas movies! Cesar as Buddy The Elf (perfect casting and also gets off easiest in the outfit department, lol), Layne as The Grinch, Geoff as Oogie Boogie (duh), and Eli as Santa/Sandy

(Also fun fact: the Oogie Boogie costume is the same one that Tony wore for his very brief appearance in VoicePlay's Kidnap The Sandy Claws video! (Also it's pretty hot to wear apparently, and Geoff had to tie his hair back to get the head/hood fitted properly, before he ended up asking for a wig cap, rip))

Also if you don't know the original scene, the original line after "but I'm always on your left!" is "that was when there were three of us, and now the tallest go in the middle", but here, the tallest (Layne/Grinchy and Geoff/Oogie Boogie) already are in the middle, so it's switched out for "now the fat one goes in the middle" (also watch for Eli's/Santa's quick surprised reaction to that line, lol)

(Also not a visual thing, but if you haven't picked up on it already, the announcer doing the "please welcome to the stage" bit is also Layne)

I know I didn't mention it in all my rambling at the start, but yes, shoutout to Adriana Arellano who is also in this video! (And blonde now!). This is her fifth full-length collaboration with the group, and second for a Christmas video! (Third if you count the Frozen 2 Medley).

Also do you recognise the set? Again? I'll say more later, but those curtains were almost definitely added in post-production I'll tell ya that!

Can't recreate the OG scene without an audience, and so we haveone! That just happens to also include the VoicePlay guys themselves! (Geoff must've been sharing his cloning machine around! 😜😆

Huldra has a video on her channel I believe saying who's who in the audience here, but they're also all credited in the description, so I'll list them here for you!

Standing up at the back: Michelle Arellano (Adriana's mum)

Back row: Eli, Ashley Jacobson (Eli's wife), Asher Jacobson (the baby that Ashley is holding; Eli's new son who was born in November last year!), Eileen McCarthy (don't know who she is), and Gayle Stein (Layne's mum).

Middle row: Franchezca Buiser (in shadow behind Cesar) (production assistant for Kathy/VoicePlay), Cyndi Stein (the blonde one behind Layne) (Layne's wife), Christina Arellano (Adriana's sister), and Adriana

And of course in the front row: Cesar, Layne, Kathy, and Geoff!

(Oh and "The Grinch" waving to Layne and him waving back (in the O.G. scene it's Gretchen waving to Jason) was definitely a cute touch)

Cyndi absolutely killed it playing Amy Poehler's part in the scene here, but wow already the similarities are stronger than I realized!

Totally the same picture! 🤣

So long as everyone had a good time, amirite? 😁

Pfft, Geoff acting shocked/scandalised, as if he hasn't done more than that in his Way Down video! 😆

Cesar is having the best time, and we love that for him honestly <3

Cyndi also really got into it! Stan! (She and Layne really are perfect for each other huh - same energies!)

Not a recreation of any bit in the original, but I love the little moment of Eileen and Gayle looking at each other in what can at best be called "great shock/surprise" 😂

Firstly, I love how they managed to include Ariana as a lead singer while still keeping with the original "plotline", by having a 'reveal' that Adriana was just lip-syncing to the boombox track, (still her vocals of course), which is revealed when it gets kicked and starts glitching.

Second of all, I love Cesar's attitude of "when in doubt, Remain Cute". Iconic 😂👌

Lol rip, had to happen! (And in the BTS video, they actually kinda show how this bit was done!)

Somehow I feel like Cyndi had the most fun out of anyone in this video shoot 😝

At this point I might as well make note of something you'd be forgiven for not immediately realizing - or perhaps not at all! And that is the fact that they're not actually on a stage! They made it look like one with the use of clever directions and camera anglings for the audience shots, but yeah no that's the same set VoicePlay used in 2022 for Christmas Don't Be Late, and the same set Geoff used that same year for Way Down, and it's totally flat! No stage!

And that's about all I have to say for Jingle Bell Rock actually! (No I'm not including the end bit - I do have some standards! 😂). That brings us up to date with VoicePlay's Christmas videos, but we're not even halfway into my 12 Days of Christmas In July miniseries! Next up, a couple of bonus VoicePlay Visuals posts, and then we'll be jumping over to Geoff's solo stuff! See you again soon!

[sheepytina]

I need to talk about these QuByte Classics releases on the Switch eShop

I've probably made it no secret that commercial emulation is something of a special interest of mine. My stance however is generally that commercial releases of classic games should offer something to justify its existence over free community efforts. Sometimes that's simply being on Switch, more usually I'd say it's enhancements and bonus material that really adds value. Something like the more recent Mega Man Legacy Collections or what Digital Eclipse is currently doing with their Gold Master series.

I played one of the QuByte Classics releases recently, specifically The Humans, and it embodies pretty much everything that could go wrong with jumping on the retro trend without really understanding retro games.

In short, it's probably the worst example of commercial emulation I've played in recent times.

(Please note: This isn't a proper review, just first impressions, as I only played it for a few minutes.)

For context, QuByte Interactive are an indie studio and publisher based in Brazil. They're one of the more prominent names in the budget digital game space. And they are a totally legit and respected company too, they just put out games of real inconsistent quality.

QuByte Classics is a collaboration with Piko Interactive, or at least so far it's been. So these releases are all of Piko's 8-bit and 16-bit catalogue, games like The Immortal and Jim Power, and cult classics like Zero Tolerance and Gourmet Warriors.

I picked The Humans since it's a game I have some familiarity with and the collection features Super NES, Game Boy and Sega Genesis/Mega Drive versions, allowing me to easily test all of those platforms at once. — The Humans, for those unaware, is a puzzle game in a similar vein to Lemmings though presented as more of a puzzle platformer, where the goal is to help the first humans survive and thrive by completing each challenge while keeping as many of your humans alive as possible.

This is less a review about the specific game however, and more about the quality of this series of releases as whole.

These releases don't tend to offer any bonus material either. Zero Tolerance does include a prototype game, but the rest of these releases are just one or two games, or multiple versions of one game, and that's it. Not even a digital owners manual.

Speaking personally, the value proposition here is already somewhat lacking for us since my partner and I already have a lot of these games in other forms, be it as Piko's Steam releases, the original cartridges (in the case of the The Humans) or brand new cartridge releases.

Whether it's enough to just simply be a way to play the games on your preferred system of choice, I'd say no. It's plainly evident that QuByte Interactive has simply jumped on the retro trend and haven't really given these games the attention they deserve.

Here's a few issues I noticed:

There's plenty of scaling options but none of them work quite right, nor do they account for the lower resolution Switch handheld screen; it seems to just target 1080p displays, so no matter what you choose, the visual presentation is pretty poor. You either get blur or you get shimmering.

There's a CRT filter that doesn't line up with the pixel grid of the games. It's also just incredibly ugly looking.

This is the big one: The performance of the various emulation engines are downright terrible, with often with highly noticeable screen tearing.

The Super NES emulation is particularly shocking. The SNES games have constant skipping and slowdown when running on Switch. It runs a bit better on other platforms but it doesn't get around all the rest of the issues.

Game Boy was also not well presented, with screen tearing and some of the typical audio accuracy issues that Game Boy emulation can have.

Sega Genesis/Mega Drive weirdly seemed to fare a lot better in that nothing in particular stood out to me. (I'd be curious to run that one through MDFourier if I had the equipment to do it.)

NES I haven't tried yet as that's not represented in the release I tried out.

The whole package is made in Unity, which I've gone on record as saying isn't bad in of itself and it can be done right, but from precedent it feels like that approach goes wrong more often than not.

I should also note that SNES and NES are presented with the wrong aspect ratio, showing as square pixels with seemingly no aspect-corrected 4:3 option.

(Technically Mega Drive shouldn't have square pixels either, with the NTSC 320-wide mode having slightly skinny pixels, but it's generally less noticeable when it's wrong.)

I haven't put input lag to the test so I have nothing to say on that front, but I wouldn't be surprised if that's also not great.

In summary, with these kind of critical issues bringing the experience down, I wouldn't say any of these QuByte classics are worth it, not even on sale. Not unless you really love the games on offer or want them on your Nintendo Switch system that badly. Or on Xbox One or PS4. But the downsides, particularly the performance on Nintendo Switch, are really not acceptable at all.

—

So I know it isn't entirely fair for me to say this about something I only played for a couple of minutes. If I were making this blog post into a video or something I'd do my due diligence to properly test these things. And I would play more than just The Humans, which due to its slow pace might not show these issues as obviously in a video.

However I think I'd like to actually use it to illustrate a more broad point about how to do these modern retro re-releases right, instead of simply bashing QuByte Interactive without anything constructive to say.

What I would have done differently is a story of its own. Maybe that warrants its own blog post another time.

[kyuohki]

Thinking about the handheld game systems I've had. So many I don't really touch anymore. Not even the Switch really leaves the dock nowadays.

But it reminded me of one that I got while I worked at Best Buy. I've got one of the "failed" Nintendo Game Boy Micros...and it's not even one that I've bought myself; technically it's a store display that we had to wear on a lanyard to showcase how convenient the system was to carry, and it had three faceplates that we could use to show how it could be "customized." I think I maybe sold...three of them while they were being pushed?? But after Nintendo discontinued it, they didn't want their display back. The whole bundle was chucked at my head for answering a question right at a Best Buy all store meeting in the wee hours before holiday rush started. (Thankfully it was underhand and I caught it; and the store manager that threw it at me took me aside after the meeting and apologized. My coworkers thought it was hilarious.)

[arkus-rhapsode]

Why do so many people love the GameCube?

So in my opinion, the best time for gaming was the sixth generation. While it didn't have the console war narratives of the fourth and seventh gens, it was an era that I don't think we'll ever see again. You had four console platforms, one of which would die this gen in the Dreamcast and another being a new hat thrown in the ring with Xbox. You had a roughly equal technological strength across each platform with some exceptions here and there. And finally you had a plethora first party games that many people still talk about to this day.

But despite all that, this gen is mostly marked by being the groundwork of what would come next. With Xbox pioneering online play and expanding it with the 360, the Playstation 2's success leading to botched launch and eventual recovery of the Playstation 3, and Nintendo choosing to no longer compete in terms of power and instead focusing on experiences you could get with their hardware with the Wii. And speaking of Nintendo, that leads me to something I've been thinking about for the past few days. Despite it being the lowest selling Nintendo console pre the Wii U and there being some jawdroppingly amazing games on the switch, there's still a reverence people have for the purple lunchbox. And even a bit of a desire to return to it.

So I ask myself why?

Well the short and most easy answer is quite simple: the kids who grew up playing games on the gamecube and have their tastes shaped by those games are now the ones participating in games media discussion through things like YouTube and IGN. As opposed to the people who grew up with the SNES who were mostly contributing to games discourse at the time. So naturally those influenced by the gamecube then are going to hold a reverence for it now and platform it as that.

But I didn't really think that covered everything. It felt a bit too easy of an answer. And I personally believe that the hand wave nature of "its nostalgia" doesn't really answer anything. Now I want the preface this, I am not a gaming historian. I am not here to impart some grand social analysis on what the gaming landscape of 2004 was like. This is more me as an individual looking into what I think of the generation that I was apart of (yes my first REAL home consoles were the Xbox and GameCube) and how its still so relevant in our current era.

After racking my brain about this for the last few days I think I've come to somewhat of an answer.

The most important thing is the games themselves. Which I think can be broken down into three core aspects.

First, there's something to be said with how these first and second party Nintendo games related to the ones being released on the GBA. Because the GBA is a whole different beast, but to summarize during that type you can see a somewhat clear distinction between the games that were coming out on the GBA by Nintendo vs the games that were coming out on the GameCube by Nintendo. If you were interested in a more traditional Mario (Super Mario Bros Advanced) or Kirby (Nightmare in Dreamland) or Metroid (Metroid Fusion) or Zelda (Oracle of Ages and Seasons) you could find all of those on a GBA. Meanwhile on the GameCube, you got something like Mario Sunshine, the second ever 3D Mario game that took Mario out of the mushroom kingdom and strapped a brand new water contraption to his back. Kirby was doing a driving game mixed with combat In Kirby's Air Ride. Metroid Prime reinvented the way Metroid could be played with an emphasis on exploring and uncovering secrets in a first person POV. And Zelda gave us another 3D Zelda after Ocarina of Time which has an art style that was brand new for the series and involved this massive sea to go out an explore.

You also had spin offs like Pokemon Colosseum, probably the first pokemon game on console with an in-depth story that is basically nothing like what we had on the handheld mainline titles. Pokemon always felt like this "place that could really exist in the real world but with fantastical creatures." Meanwhile Colosseum is JRPG AF. You're first location is a diner made out of an abandoned training the desert then you proceed to a pristine oasis city while you're dressed like a cyberpunk protagonist. Like yeah sure Orre Region is supposed to be based on Arizona, but I sure don't remember it ever looking like this the last time I visited. Then, there was something like Battalion Wars, which took the turn based strategy and sorta anime sorta western cartoony Advanced Wars and instead made an almost G.I. Joe-esque real-time strategy and third person shooter game. Some the GBA could definitely not handle. What about Double Dash? Mario Kart has basically never returned to the "two person, one kart" formula.

I know it probably sounds pretty mundane now that we live in a world with like the switch and sequels to these games, but you have to remember that at the time there really wasn't anything like it. Its probably why things like Wind Waker and Sunshine cause a bit of a love it or hate it divide. They were both a departure and yet so unique. In fact, with the switch now, we don't really get that identity distinction of handheld title vs console title anymore.

As much as the Switch is an absolute juggernaut of a seller with some incredible games. I can't very much say there has been anything really released on it that seems overtly strange or non traditional. Like, we aren't using bongos to play a Donkey Kong game with none of the country games. Switch is practically one of the most orthodox systems there is in terms of the type of franchise entries we got with Mario Odyssey and Breath of the Wild. And please note, that doesn't mean I'm saying these are bad or boring games, they're amazing. Its just that they certainly are what you'd expect out of these types of titles with some innovations.

The second big thing worth noting is also the amount of games that got people introduced to a particular Nintendo franchise of on this system. GameCube is one of those consoles that practically every franchise of Nintendo's got a new entry on. Fire Emblem Path of Radiance was the first Fire Emblem on home console outside of Japan. Along with Custom Robo. Games from the N64 like Wave Rave and 1080 got sequels. And it was the beginning of franchises that are now Nintendo staples like Pikmin and Animal Crossing (Yes I know Animal crossing is technically originally an N64 game and the gamecube is an enhanced version of that). And of course the big one that was Smash Bros Melee. While Smash 64 was by no means unsuccessful, it really is Melee that people think of when they thing of smash. Some of the most iconic stages come from here, it has one of the best opening sequences, and it expanded the roster of fighters that for some (for better or worse) people perceive as Nintendo royalty. Even going as far to make characters like Marth and Roy recognizable despite their games never being brought over.

That's also not including things like Star Fox and F-Zero which had things like story modes with full cutscenes and, in the case of Star Fox, actually taking them out of their vehicle and introducing people to the world who may just not be into that sort of vehicle only gameplay. And characters like Luigi and Wario who basically icons in their own rights, were pushed into staring roles in their own 3D games. And while I know I've focused on first and second party Nintendo games the most in this post, I do want to acknowledge that the GameCube's history third party saw Sega titles on a Nintendo platform for the first time like Sonic and Crazy Taxi. Or Metal Gear which had made its new home on Playstation had their own original entry on gamecube.

Lots of Nintendo discourse these days can be boiled down to a few key points, but biggest one of them all in my opinion is how Nintendo does make a new entry of *insert game here*. Now there are of course multiple factors for this, and the Switch does indeed have entries of some more obscure Nintendo IP, they are still sorta drowned out by this absence of certain franchises many perceive as inseparable to the brand. With many of those going MIA around the gamecube in terms of home releases.

Finally there's number three, the GameCube just had bizarre and new IP that never got a sequel. Like as much as it sounds like I'm looking at the GameCube with rose tinted glasses, its worth remembering that this was a low point for Nintendo in terms of profitability. This pushed them to do things unconviental in the first place. Like investing in a western studio to make Metroid Prime, but it also got them to work with others to make new IP. Chibi Robo was developed by skip and had practically the same Miyamoto-like charm of Mario and Pikmin. Nintendo also published two M-Rated games that they'd own, Eternal Darkness and Geist. Something that we really don't and probably will ever see.

Sure Nintendo has exclusivity to Bayonetta, but that's still mostly a Platinum thing and isn't their IP. And each console has basically introduced a new staple franchise like Wii giving us Xenoblade and the Wii U giving us Splatoon. Not to sound like I am poopooing the switch or anything, but when I think of big brand new Nintendo IP's that were released on Switch, the ones that the most notable is Arms, Snipper Clips, and Astral Chain. I understand now Nintendo is willing to let its IP to second parties so we could get something like Cadence of Hyrule or Fire Emblem Warriors, but we really haven't seen much new Nintendo IP in the seven years its been alive as opposed to the gamecube's. Not helped by the fact there's a bunch of these single entry gamecube IP still stuck on that system.

Stepping away from the software, I wanted to talk about the hardware next. Like I said at the beginning, this generation every system was roughly equal in graphical power. And while gamecube had its limits especially in terms of being able to play DVDs and its proprietary discs, you were more likely than not going to get an equal performance out of most third party games. As opposed to now where I'm pretty sure your Switch would try and fry itself it tried to play something like Elden Ring. Now Im not saying graphics are everything, Nintendo has basically made their thing good games with limited hardware and often avoid the hyper detailed immersion of Sony and Microsoft, but there was a time where you could confidently expect something third party to come to Nintendo and expect it to run as well as the others. Now if something third party comes to a Nintendo system with a version for Xbox and Playstation, its practically a dice role to see if it turns out like another Mortal Kombat 1. At this point in time I almost exclusively own two consoles of any generation, a playstation or xbox to play third party games as well as their own first party offerings, and a Nintendo for their first parties and maybe the occasionally indie title. For the most part if you only had a GameCube as a kid you were only really missing out on the competitions first parties.

And look, I think people's obsession with graphics is kinda nuts. Afterwhile, it doesn't really matter if your horse has realistic testicle physics. But its no secret that Switch being underpowered has limited the potential is games can run at. And while Im not saying it needs to compete with a PS5 in terms of power, having seven years of a system that's only really as strong as a PS3, I can see why people are very much clamoring for an upgrade.

Also on a more minor side, but this is something hardware related I do think there is a bit of a uniqueness in the controller. While the D-pad was stiff and the c stick not really utilized, outside of the wii, this has one of the most unique layouts for the face buttons. with the l and R triggers having a satisfying squeeze. when you hold them down. While the Wii blended motion controls with the nunchuck, its worth noting that it was made with someone more casual in mind. Made to play games by people usually not into games. I think we struck gold with the joy cons as a concept, which can be individual controllers are just combined for a standard controller layout and having the IR pointer built in, with the switch, but it is hard to forget what a gamecube controller feels like compared to its contemporaries. This is one I definitely chalk up to nostalgia.

But yeah, that's kinda what I thought overall. While the Switch is a great system with some stellar games, its pretty hard to deny why the GameCube is so memorable. Everything on it feels different from any other point in Nintendo history. There wasn't even a really unifying mechanic of the wii and its motion controls. Every entry feels like something familiar but also a different. I don't think we'll ever have a moment where Nintendo reinvents a franchise like with Metroid Prime. I don't think we'll ever see Nintendo release a hard M rated game with Eternal Darkness. And we might not even see new entries for some series like custom robo or chibi robo period. Now handheld franchises are basically blended together with the home console, so you'll almost always see mainline pokemon on the TV screen rather than a pokemon game made expressly for handheld and one made expressly home console. I truly is an era that if you grew up with it and even if you didn't, you'll probably never see one like it again, and man what a time was it to be a gamer.

A/N: Hi guys, Arkus here, just wanted to say thanks for reading. I know I usually don't do broad video game or console talk on this blog, but its been an idea rattling around in my head for a while that I wanted to talk about it. While I don't personally consider myself a die hard gamer, know I have other interests outside of gaming, its certainly been something I've been thinking more about since 2022. And I'd be open to doing more essay-like posts like this, after all, I said GameCube was one half of my first real home console experience. I got plenty to say about the OG Xbox as well. So if you liked it please like and have a good day.

[blookyblooky]

#08: PORTAL!!!

Our story starts in the year of our lord and savior 2005. The seniors at the DigiPen Institute of Technology have a simple-to-do (Citation needed) senior project: Make a video game. A group of 'em, Nuclear Monkey Software, decided to make a first person puzzle game called Narbacular Drop. What the hell does "Narbacular" mean? No idea, but it makes the game easy to look up. You play as Princess No-Knees. That's not her God given name (Thank God), she's just called that because she can't jump. She got trapped in a dungeon by a demon because she was late on the Hospital bill, but there's a twist - The dungeon's a sentient being called Wally, and he can create portals! And thankfully, Wally's benevolent enough to let you use that to your advantage.

The game is played uniquely from a first person perspective (Hold your applause. No, seriously, your hands will fall off and sewing them back on is not within budget). You place portals at the click of your mouse, two at a time. One has blue eyes, the other has orange. These portals are only allowed on a natural surface and won't work on artificial surfaces, like metal. There's also switches, lava turtles to help you cross that piping hot magma, and boulders that can crush you. That portal thing sounds kind of familiar, doesn't it? No? Good, it'd be REALLY bad if we got dragged kicking and screaming into court over this portal thing.

Screenshot of Narbacular Drop

The game was shown at DigiPen's career fair. In the audience was one Robin Walker, who you might know as the person behind Ricochet. 

(Wait, he's NOT known for Ricochet?)

Sorry, what I meant to say was "Who you might know as one parent of the Team Fortress franchise". He thought the display of innovative puzzle design and disability representation was marvelous and contacted Nuclear Monkey Software, offering to show their work to fellow Valve employees. When they presented the game to Valve, jolly ol ' Saint Newell rose up from his dingy folding chair, spontaneously decided that the entire team was on the nice list, and gave them the gift of having jobs working at Valve Software. Two years later, the award-winning video game Portal was born!

[Please note that Narbacular Drop is responsible for the video game Portal and not responsible for the creation of the Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device, which was created in a pursuit of making shower curtains more hygienic.]

Portal itself was sort of like a side project in the scheme of things. It had a measly ten people on board, which might not seem measly with all the solo, self-made indie devs out and about these days, but it wasn't the norm with Valve. And that's not to mention that Half-Life 2's episodes and Team Fortress 2 were in production as well. The small team resulted in a lot of design decisions geared towards smart allocation of resources. Need other characters in the narrative but don't want to model or animate another person? Make spherical robots! Don't want to make a bunch of new assets? Reuse some from another game! Want to justify the use of reusing assets from another game? Make them set in the same universe! The person behind that other universe will complain, but it's a net gain. It's enough to make a grown scientist cry. Except me. I'm too busy taking notes to cry.

Portal is also a REALLY good demonstration of Valve's usage of play tester feedback to determine what sticks and what doesn't, kind of like how we use test subjects to determine what's shippable and what should be destroyed and left to rot in a vault. You know that whole "narrative" thing? Well, that didn't really come up until the testers asked about it. The idea of having Advanced Knee Replacements to justify the lack of fall damage stems from the snotty little know-it-alls yakking about how weird it was that the protagonist was surviving falls that a man from our competing company couldn't. And let's not forget the Weighted Companion Cube, which was brought up to encourage players to bring a vital object with them to puzzles (A box in specific). It also ended up adding to the plot of the game, giving the player a revenge angle while also giving an idea as to what the final boss would play like.

It'd be foolish not to bring up how Portal released. You see, Portal was a part of Valve's "The Orange Box", a collection of older and brand new spanking new games: The older titles make up two of the games (And older is pushing it, they were still pretty young then), Half-Life 2 and Half-Life 2: Episode One. The new games were: Half-Life 2: Episode Two, Team Fortress 2, and Portal. That's right, those folks at Valve dropped three big hitters on the same day, and they even made ports for the consoles of that generation! Except the Wii. You couldn't get any of these games working on the Wii if you got the finest minds from Aperture Science and the louts from Black Mesa working on it. But enough of all that, let's talk Portal!

Portal puts you into the brain of Chell, a Aperture Science test subject that's been in stasis for quite a while.

Our ever-so stubborn, orphaned, pudgy protagonist.

She finally wakes up but doesn't even get the chance to get her bearings, for a mysterious voice (GLaDOS, or Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System) starts yapping about testing! Enticed by the idea of receiving cake (Because who isn't a little famished from stasis?), she complies, and is introduced to portal technology! After getting through all 19 chambers, Chell is rewarded with a nice freshly cooked incinerator. But she's already lost her appetite by then, so she passes, and this annoys GLaDOS, ruining her already cracking guise as an apathetic emotionless robot. After traversing through the seedy unwashed parts of the labs, Chell finally gets face-to-face with GLaDOS, who, after having her morality core incinerated, tries to kill Chell with deadly neurotoxin.

A Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System

Dying's not in her schedule, so Chell proceeds to destroy all of GLaDOS' cores, which causes the facility to blow up, leaving Chell and GLaDOS outside in the aftermath. But Chell, luckily, gets dragged back into the labs by the Party Escort Bot Luckily in a relative sense. better to die in the Aperture labs than to die in the Black Mesa-created hellhole outside.

A still image of the ending

Like the story, the gameplay itself is pretty simple, but it grows more layers over the course of the game. The Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device is our pride and joy.

The Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device (Or Portal Gun for short)

You place a blue portal, you place an orange portal. Neither specifically are an entrance or exit, whichever one you enter, you go out the other. The fun comes from the tests. A common application of the device is the use of momentum to gain the speed and height needed to reach an area. Or in the brilliantly put words of GLaDOS, "Speedy thing goes in, speedy thing goes out". And you might be asking "What the heck's stopping me from just placing a portal where I need to go?". Well, there's various materials that are, in mild terms, absolutely awful as portal conductors, gray tiled floors and metal just to name the main culprits. And that's not to bring up the other part of the tests!

See those buttons? Those are our state-of-the-art 1500 Megawatt Aperture Science Heavy Duty Super-Colliding Super Buttons! They activate something if you press stand on them, but they won't stay pressed. That's what our Weighted Storage Cubes are for, and they come in Companion flavor too!

1500 Megawatt Aperture Science Heavy Duty Super-Colliding Super Button and Weighted Storage Cube Demonstration (Cube and Button for short.)

Your best friend, the Weighted Companion Cube

Generally, you'd want to watch out for all that filthy... Goo down there in the pits. We have no idea what it is or where it came from, but we do know that it's incredibly acidic and you'll probably die in 4 seconds flat.

Goo Demonstration

Look out for our High Energy Pellets! You'll be atomized if you don't. Your job is to lead the pellets from the launchers into the portals with clever placement of Portal. Although the pellets fizzle out after a certain amount of time, as long as they keep going through a portal they'll stay active.

High Energy Pellet Demonstration

You might be asking "What's that thin, blue field of particles in front of the elevator? That's our Aperture Science Material Emancipation Grill. It disintegrates unauthorized materials like the cubes, and while it won't disintegrate your portal gun, it'll snuff out your portals.

Emancipation Grill Demonstration

And finally, there's our Turrets. It's all the matter of whoever gets the drop on who. To ensure relatability with children every turret comes with a child-like personality. And if the children wakes up and starts to cry after the turret guns down a home invader, it'll play a lullaby to placate the child!

How to NOT deal with a Turret

How to deal with a Turret

Want some extra challenge in the chambers? Try out the Challenge modes in the Bonus Maps! Don't think those make the chambers hard enough? Well why don't you try out our Advanced Chambers since you think you're such a death-defying acrobatic smartass?

The Bonus Maps menu

Speaking of smartasses, if you want more tests to go through then you can look to the internet, as smartasses all around the world have made their own map packs, which you can download you can install more bonus maps by importing any you’ve downloaded online into the game. Alternatively, some might be “sourcemods”, which you just place in the sourcemods folder (and if you don’t have one by default then you can simply make one yourself). Of course, it’d be silly if we didn’t bring up Portal: The Flash Version, notable in that it came out before the actual game itself did! It’s popular in its own right, having a lot of Portal’s obstacles, but its own puzzles which are presented in a 2D space. It was popular enough to spawn a map pack that has its levels and original obstacles put into the realm of mind blowing 3D!

Portal: The Flash Version's menu

So where is Portal now? Well, it has a sequel (which has its own set of mods and custom maps), some non-canon side games, a compilation with its sequel on Nintendo Switch, a RTX version, a appearance in a LEGO game, a GEICO commercial, a educational program, A LOT of sourcemods for that sequel released on Steam.. I’d say it’s in a good place right now. This has been a Aperture Science blogpost, and we thank you for reading all the way to the end. We hope to see you again soon!

[astrarobotica]

People like to say the Switch is aging but...

Metroid Prime Remastered gets a surprise release and there isn't a single part of me that thinks it looks old or outdated or even "last-gen".

I'm not sure why they called it a remaster. Remasters typically just have HD resolutions, higher-res textures and a few modern lighting/shader tricks. This thing is more of a remake, because it's been entirely rebuilt from the ground up. Every 3D asset is new. Every texture is new. Even character animations in cutscenes have been tweaked. Metroid Prime Remastered looks like a brand new game, even though the original came out in 2002.

I've seen a lot of people saying over the past few months that the Switch is "aging tech", people on reddit have convinced themselves that the "Super Switch" or "Switch 2" or whatever is imminent (just like the Switch Pro!). And yeah, Nintendo is probably gonna put out another console within a few years. But I don't feel like the Switch is getting too old. I'm just as excited for games coming out on it this year as I was when the console launched. I don't see this game and Tears of the Kingdom and think about how much better they could look on newer hardware. They obviously would look better, but they still look incredible on the Switch.

I think this is why Nintendo has my favorite first-party IPs; most big games over the past twenty years have been increasingly focused on hyper-realistic graphics, while Nintendo has almost always focused on art style, which translates well regardless of hardware. And I think some games benefit from hyper-realistic visuals like Red Dead Redemption 2. It's such an insanely beautiful game, but it's also a very good game in general. A lot of recent games feel like they use realistic graphics as a crutch to support bland game design. Graphical fidelity and art style are two different concepts. Good art style can age well even on limited hardware. Fallout 3 was a pretty good-looking game when it came out, fifteen years later however...

Nintendo prioritizes art style. The art style of a particular game/franchise can be adapted to whatever hardware it's being developed for and then pushed to the level of graphical fidelity the hardware can handle. Metroid Prime Remastered is an entirely rebuilt game, but it retains the exact same art style from twenty years ago. Breath of the Wild was a launch title for the Switch, but it still looks just as impressive six years later. Super Mario Odyssey, Splatoon 2/3, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Kirby and the Forgotten Kingdom (and many others)... they all look incredible on supposed "aging" hardware.

But why exactly is the Switch seemingly not good enough anymore? Well it came out after the PS4/XB1 and was already less powerful than those consoles. Now another generation of consoles have come out which are even more powerful, making the Switch seem more underpowered. People also tend to look at console generation trends, and most consoles are around for about seven years before the next one comes out. But that's an artificial reason; industry trends don't magically make the Switch outdated. The real reason is that people want a Nintendo to make a console with hardware on comparable level to other current consoles, or at least last-gen consoles at this point.

That's understandable, but is it because Nintendo games don't look good enough? No, it's because we want to play non-Switch games like Elden Ring and Cyberpunk 2077 on a handheld, in particular, one less bulky and with a better battery life than the Steam Deck, and one that still has Nintendo games on it. Sure, some Switch ports are quite bad, but we also have Doom Eternal, No Man's Sky, NieR: Automata, and plenty of others that were poorly optimized to begin with or seemingly "too much" for the Switch to handle, yet we have them, and they're amazing. There's also Xenoblade Chronicles 3, which uses very clever upsampling to produce an amazing image quality. The Witcher 3 may not look amazing on Switch, but people said it would never happen, yet here we are. That isn't to say the Switch is capable of running any game, even with clever ports and decent optimization. But it's much more capable than a lot of people give it credit for.

I bought a gaming PC in 2021, primarily for sim racing. So I don't need a PS5/XBS, but I wasn't planning on buying one even before that. The only big new game I've even played from the past year is Elden Ring. Those consoles have already been out for two years, and there's only a handful of games that can't also be bought for the previous generation. Yes, games will look and perform better on the newer consoles, but cross-generation releases have never lingered around for this long before.

Even though new generations of console will always be more powerful than the last, not many games use that extra power for much more than higher-fidelity graphics. The big issue with that is that it's a matter of diminishing returns; the jump in visual fidelity from one console generation to the next has become less and less impressive over the past twenty years. Visual detail in graphics will always get better as the hardware advances, but the closer you get to photorealism, the less there is to improve on. More polygons on-screen stops being impressive when you stop noticing the polygons. The jump from 480i to 1080p was far more noticeable than the jump from 1080p to 4K. A lot of games on newer consoles are starting to boast about 60fps, because in some cases, an increased framerate is the most noticable difference between the same game on two console generations.

Overall this trend is a bit concerning to me. Honestly, it began when the "pro" consoles came out during the last generation. The old business model feels like it's rapidly becoming obsolete, and Sony and Microsoft must feel the same way, considering how many of their first-party games they're releasing on PC these days. So it feels strange to me that the Switch is somehow too weak as the other consoles just over a generation ahead of it are running straight into a very real plateau. Metroid Prime Remastered looks just as visually impressive to me as any PS5/XBS game.

Yes, Nintendo will eventually release a new console. But we’ve reached a turning point with Sony and Microsoft where the reasons to buy their new consoles are less obvious and convincing than they’ve ever been. So maybe it's a smart strategy for Nintendo to take their time and make sure their next piece of hardware is substantially more impressive than the Switch