#few days there’s just always so much new shit to download and it spoils my mood for even playing it skkss

[tariah23]

My friend was telling me about Arknights and how good the story was since we were talking about gacha and I told him that I’m still at the beginning of the story, sorry 🧍🏾‍♀️-

[oinkawa-bb]

first time dads!haikyuu pt.2

request: Hi! I just read your Haikyuu as first time dads and it's so cute! Would you mind writing another one with Iwaizumi, Suna, Atsumu and Osamu? I'm looking forward to seeing more of your writing. Have a nice day! -anon

note: thank u lovely anon for being my first request!!🥺❤️ i enjoyed writing this and i hope you enjoy reading it uwu <33 i really hope i did the inarizaki characters justice b/c i’ve just recently gotten to know them!! owo here is dad!iwa, suna, atsumu, osamu 

mentions/topics: pregnancy, domesticity, timeskip, female reader insert

part one (daichi, kuroo, oikawa)

part three (tsukki, akaashi, yams, kenma)

☀︎—hajime iwaizumi

iwa and you have been trying for months

and he’s been super supportive and comforting when each test comes back negative :/

but this one day, you feel different

and he’s sitting on the ground outside the bathroom door just trying to offer positive affirmations bc he’s waiting for you to finish taking the test

but when the door opens, he sees your face and just knows

you don’t even need to say anything bc he already has a HUGE grin on his face and is pulling you in for a hug

he definitely kneels down to plant kisses on your tummy

your attempts to stop him don’t work they never do

soon to be dad iwa is super protective and cautious

definitely feels most comfortable when he can hold or touch you some way when in public

he likes to place his hand gently around your waist or he’ll grip your hand if there’s crowds

sometimes he’s a little too firm in his affection, and you have remind him to lighten up to which he becomes a lil flustered

“hajime...i can’t feel my hand,,”

but when you do go into labor, he whips out this midwife-like knowledge out of nowhere

similar to daichi, iwa became super well informed by researching a lot (but just in secret, you really had no clue)

he watched videos, read through other people’s experiences, and asked a bunch of people for their input

and now he’s super helpful to you through your contractions in the car and at the hospital

he’s calm and firm, supporting you physically to the hospital and emotionally through the labor

but when iwa’s baby finally makes their appearance

he just becomes all ushy-gushy and weak with watery eyes

his hands are pressed together and placed at his mouth in awe when he finally sees you hold his child

and then when he finally gets to hold the baby,

boy oh boy

iwaizumi actually cries a lot more than either of you expected

he’s so smitten with his newborn, and he can’t stop internally & externally praising your strength for carrying and birthing his child 

like he sees you in a totally different light, and he thought it was impossible but he’s fallen even more in love with you now

and he can’t wait to take care of his new family🥺

☀︎—suna rintarou

suna definitely didn’t see this coming,,,

but nonetheless when he processes the meaning behind the bun you placed in the oven, he doesn’t feel anything but sheer excitement

suna’s actually wanted to have children with you for awhile

but he’s never admitted it out loud uwuwuwu

he holds you firmly in his arms and caresses your hair gently for a long time, and you have to ask him if everything’s ok🥺

but it’s literally because he’s lowkey tearing up and at a loss for words

after a few moments tho, he collects himself and slowly presses light kisses all over your face

“i’m just really happy.”

at night, he refuses to sleep when he knows that you’re struggling to sleep due to discomfort

so he’ll lay awake with you and mumble mindlessly about the future he sees with you until both of you doze off

sometimes he just sees you standing at the counter or something and he can’t resist bc ur just so cute!!!!

he’ll quietly come in for a back hug,,,

and he’ll place his chin on your head and his arms around your belly and close his eyes and just stand there for as long as he wants until... 

”rin.... i need to pee”

he’ll let go then probably

but when the day finally comes, his mind is literally all over the place and he’s trying to be calm on the outside

in the car, your breathing is getting heavier and sharper, and he’s lowkey a little panicked but he won’t stop reassuring you for one second

“hey, look at me, you’re okay, it’s gonna be okay”

he’s definitely in pain himself seeing you in labor,

but he’ll be by your bedside, gently holding your hand and letting you squeeze his as hard as you need to

but it’s all worth it when he gets to see his baby with his own eyes,,

when he sees you cooing softly and holding his dear child against your chest, silent tears fall out of his eyes

suna swears he’s never seen a more beautiful sight than this

☀︎—atsumu miya

atsumu comes home from an exhausting day of work, 

and right as he walks through the door, he’s whining your name, about to ramble about practice...

but then he sees a tiny pair of volleyball shoes at the front,,,

and he’s like... o w o

even though he’s tired out of his mind, his brain works quickly, and he’s connecting the dots in his head

you’re just standing there at the end of the hallway all giggly n cute

he raises his eyebrow and then his sly smile turns into a huge one as he runs up to you,

he clutches your face in his hands and is peppering kisses all over you to the point where you have to physically pry him away

basically immediately, atsumu starts using little nicknames for the baby, but they change almost every day LOL

he also definitely downloaded the pregnancy tracking app (even though? you already have one? and it’s unnecessary for him to have it too? he doesn’t care tho)

he checks it every day before work, lets you know what size the baby is, and kisses your bump aka his angel/nugget/muffin/dumpling/etc. before leaving

“y/nnnn my lil’ angel is the size of a bell pepper today”

“atsumu... i know.. i already checked”

atsumu also boasts so much when he’s sharing the news with his teammates and family members

like osamu was somewhat looking forward to being an uncle until atsumu hit him with the daily updates of your cravings and symptoms and how the baby kicked when he placed his hand on your belly and on and on

but he also just wants to make you feel hella loved and wanted during your pregnancy

he can sense that your body image and self-esteem sometimes takes a major hit

so it’s not uncommon for him to be showering you in compliments nonstop

but honestly it’s also just because he thinks ur even hotter... if that was possible....

this is embarassing but i feel like he has you saved as “hot mama” in his phone or smth

and then the day arrives, and the whole drive there, he’s going “oh shit” in his head over and over but he’s playing this cool demeanor on the outside

actually, this carries over into the hospital too, but he just decides that he’ll do whatever he can to pamper the hell out of you & make you feel less uncomfortable

upon first sight of the baby,

there’s no other words to describe how he feels other than his heart just melting on the spot. 

it’s game over for him because he knows that he’ll literally do anything for you and this precious baby now

anything. (prepare to be spoiled rotten)

☀︎—osamu miya

osamu returns from work one day,

and you’re just at the stove cooking, so he comes up behind you, snaking a hand up the bottom of your shirt to caress your bare waist while whispering his greeting in your ear

but then you wince when he touches your stomach

and he’s like “oh?”

he’s super puzzled so he intently observes you as you bite your lip and start to blush

“i was going to tell you this over dinner but i just can’t hold it in,”

osamu kind of already knows where this is headed but he watches as you reach for your back pocket and pull out a pregnancy test neatly tucked in a ziploc bag

he’s been waiting for this moment to come his whole life (osamu a sucker for domesticity imo) so he’s literally internally screaming for joy!!!

but outwardly his smile conveys it all, and he’s chuckling as he pulls you close by the waist to plant a kiss to your lips

during your pregnancy, osamu becomes overwhelmingly nurturing

it’s almost like you’re the baby ???

like he cooks even more for you and is always whipping something up asap when you mention your cravings

what if he made onigiri with the foods you crave as the filling

he does research on ways to quell nausea and discomfort and goes out to buy herbs and ingredients that would make you feel better

basically, he wants to take the best care of you possible my baby

at night, he’s going to let you use him in any way to sleep better

most of the times, you want him pressed against your back and his head nuzzling your neck

he whispers soft and sweet declarations of his love for you and the baby when he thinks you’re asleep you’re not

ok but when the day comes,,,

osamu is just so ready for the baby to arrive that he’s as cool and collected as ever

you’re definitely not tho, and he can sense it, so he’ll find every way to calm you down

meaning,,, he’ll play calming spa music in the hospital room, massage your lower back, gently repeat encouraging affirmations, etc, etc.

osamu takes care of you so well uwuwuwu

and when the baby makes an appearance, you bet osamu leaps to dad duty right away

he’s emotional but clear-minded, and he’s already mentally planning his life with you back at home with the baby🥺

he can see the future with you and this sweet baby for eternity and he’s so ready <3333

[youllneverknowrac]

Oscar Diaz-It’s a...

(MBS)

The usual sound of Oscar’s alarm clock going off at 5am woke you up, your husband sleeping through it like he always does.

“Oscar, get up.” You urge,”Turn your alarm off.”

“Hm?” He moans as he begins to stir

“Wake up, you gotta get ready for work.” You tell him as you sit up with a yawn. Always waking up with him so he can have a fresh breakfast and lunch for the day. Something your grandma use to do for your grandpa back when you lived with them.

“I’m up, I’m up.” He groans as he throws the blanket off of his body and gets up to his feet with a stretch. The alarm finally being shut off as he grabs his phone,”Let me help you.” He offers as he goes to your side and holds his hands out for you.

“Thank you.” You smile and take them, Oscar still being able to pull you up with ease, even at your large size.

“You’re welcome.” He smiles lazily, his large hands now resting on your still growing 8 month belly as you stand there in a oversized t-shirt and cotton shorts,”Is she asleep in there?”

“I think so.” You smile,”So don’t wake her up, she’s goes crazy when she hears your voice.”

“She’s already a daddy’s girl.”

“Sadly.” You joke,”Now go get in the shower, you don’t need to get to work late again.”

“Ya voy, ya voy.” He chuckles,”Just wanted to say hi to my girls.”

“You can say hi after you’re dressed and in the kitchen.” You smile, standing on your tip toes to kiss his cheek

“Yes mam.” He teases, moving around you as he heads to the en-suite.

“Don’t take forever!” You call out to him as you slip on your fuzzy slippers, being quiet as you move throughout the house so you don’t wake the sleeping boys upstairs. Turning on the overhead stove light when you reach the kitchen,”Oh, good morning to you too.” You chuckle softly to yourself as you feel the first kick of the day,”Take it easy on me yeah?” You ask the growing baby girl in as you place your hand over your stomach for a moment,”We gotta make daddy some food, so he can go make money and spoil us.” You talk softly as you move around the kitchen, frying up two eggs and a piece of toast for Oscar after starting the coffee pot. When his breakfast is on the plate waiting for him, you go ahead and get started on preparing his lunch. Oscar joining you as your packing everything into his bag a few minutes later.

“Looks good mami.” He praises as he sits down at the table, quickly digging in,”What’s for lunch?”

“Turkey sub extra onions of course, I cut up some strawberries and mango for you...and um jalapeño chips.” You tell him as you fill his thermal up with the hot coffee so he can take it to go,”I even threw in some of Angel’s Oreo’s, but don’t tell him that.”

“I won’t.” He laughs. You and him talking for a few minutes while you clean up the kitchen before he glances at the clock,”Shit, I gotta go.” He says as he gets up, popping the last piece of toast into his mouth,”Thank you mami.” He smiles as he grabs his bag and coffee,”I’ll see you tonight.”

“Be safe.” You say as you waddle over to peck his lips,”Bye.” You mumble against them.

“Bye.” He reply’s, his hand going to your belly for a moment,”Bye bebe, don’t be too hard on your mommy today.”

“She never listens to you when you tell her that.” You laugh as you walk Oscar out onto the porch, the sun beginning to rise,”She’s already flipping around in there.”

“Just like her mom, never listening to me.” He says amusingly

“Shut up.” You laugh and shove him playfully towards the stairs,”Go make my money.”

“Tan tóxica.” He says with a smirk as he lazily walks toward his truck.

“Yet you still stick around, so something’s not adding up with your statement.”

“Tóxica.” He repeats a bit slower as he unlocks his door,”What can I say? Me gusta la mala vida.”

“You’re so stupid.” You laugh,”I’m going back to bed, byeeeee.”

“Te amo!” Oscar calls out as he stands on the step rail, his head peeking out over the roof,”Me lo vas a decir?”

“I love you too!” You call out from the door with a shake of your head at his antics,”Idiot.” You laugh to yourself as you watch him fully climb into his obnoxious loud truck, his speakers blasting narcocorridos as he pulls out of the driveway,”Let’s go back to bed baby.” You tell the little bun in your oven as you lock up the front door, turning the lights back off as you make way towards your room.

“Hi mommy.” You hear Angel say as he stands on the bottom step, his long curls a mess as he stretches his arms out above his head.

“Oh my god!” You jump away from him,”You scared me.”

“Sorry mommy.” He giggles

“Why are you up baby?”

“I heard daddy’s truck go bye-bye. I came to sleep with you and sister now.”

“Are you actually going to sleep?” You ask him knowingly as you let him take your hand and lead you to the bedroom.

“Duh silly.” He reply’s

“You’re silly.” You say and you playfully kick his butt, Angel turning his head to glare at you with squinted eyes.

“Not nice.” He remarks, still holding your hand as you enter the bedroom.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” You smile as you pick him up and toss him onto the bed while he laughs, letting him crawl over to Oscar’s side before you join him.

“How’s sister?” He asks as he goes under the cover to rest his head on your belly.

“She’s still got a little bit left to grow, she’s awake if you want to talk to her.”

“Hi sissy, it’s your big brother.” You hear him talk, his little hands patting your stomach,”No, Angel not Alex.” He sighs, causing you to laugh as he holds a ‘conversation’ with her. You listen to him for a little while longer before you began to doze off, Angel stealing your phone and playing the games you had downloaded on it for him a while back.

“Mommy, mommy wake up.” Angel says about thirty minutes later as he shakes your side, instantly sitting up when you hear the crying coming from the baby monitor,”Alex is crying.”

“I’ll be right back.” You yawn as you get up, leaving the little boy by himself as you head upstairs to grab the 16 month old.

“Mama!” He babbles as he stands in his crib, his 11 teeth on full display as he grins.

“Little faker.” You scold as you go and pick him up, checking his diaper before re-joining Angel,”Can you watch him, I have to brush my teeth. Don’t let him crawl around.”

“I can do that.” The older boy reply’s as he pulls the baby into his lap,”Look, watch me play.” He tells him, struggling to hold him still with one arm. You thank him and hurry to the bathroom as you think about how much your two babies have grown in the last few months, not just them the older three boys as well. Time was flying by and as much as you missed Alex being a new born or Angel being a clingy 3 year old you couldn’t wait to finally have your baby girl in your arms. Only a few more weeks and your family would be perfectly complete.

[dabisrightnipple]

HYGGE

Tooru Oikawa x Reader

!!PLEASE DO NOT REPOST AND/OR ADD ONTO!!

TW: sh

Word Count: 2.1k

Links

hyg·ge /ˈh(y)o͞oɡə,ˈho͝oɡə/ noun a quality of coziness and comfortable conviviality that engenders a feeling of contentment or well-being (regarded as a defining characteristic of Danish culture).

a/n: Make sure to support my other platforms and leave requests in my google forum!!! I ALSO JUST RE-DOWNLOADED TUMBLR AFTER 5+ YEARS AND OMFG THIS IS ADORABLE

The red blood slowly oozed down your shaking legs onto the previously white tiles. You looked into the mirror at the marks you had just etched onto your already scar-ridden thighs, regret instantly pooling at your stomach. Looking into the mirror more, you analyzed your now, red puffy eyes and tear-stained cheeks as you slowly backed up to the white-colored walls and slid down onto the floor to give your worn-out shaken legs a break.

The pain was overtaking your body as you squeezed your eyes as tight as you could to try and ease the pain in some way, which didn't work as you hoped it would. Slowly, you came to your senses as you looked around the bathroom, seeing all the blood on the counters and discarded tissues and towels made you shiver as you thought about what would happen if he saw.

well speak of the devil... you thought as you recognized his footsteps down the hallway of the apartment complex.

You shot up and began to frantically clean up the bathroom while mumbling incoherent curses to yourself. You began by throwing all the towels and tissues into the bathtub, making a mental note to secretly wash them tonight once he falls asleep. You then proceeded to grab your razor and throw it in your long-forgotten Better Than Sex eyeshadow palette and hide it in the back of your drawer.

Then you heard it…

It was him.

Eventually, you heard the door push open causing you to go into a panic throwing stuff around in the cabinets trying to find your pack of band-aids for occasions like this.

His footsteps became louder and louder as you continued to fumble around and panic

Silence

"Y/n?" ...shit you thought to yourself as you realized there was no getting out of this.

"uhh.. yes? Do you need something?" you replied coyly

"Open up please..." He said in a melancholy voice, scared he knows what he's gonna see when you open the door.

"Okay, One second, lemme finish peeing." You replied in a hushed tone as you swiftly tried to open and put the band-aids over your cuts as quietly as possible.

"I know what you're doing Y/n, Please stop and let me in. I won't get mad I promise."

"I- yea...Plea-please don't be mad, I'm sorry I-I just-"

"I'm not mad sweetie, I just wanna make sure you're ok so I can fix you all up," Oikawa reassured with the most soothing voice he could muster.

You slowly unlocked the door handle, relishing the last few milliseconds you had before the guilt came flushing in. Not even a second after your hand left the door handle Oikawa thrust it open, careful not to hit you as he engulfed you with the most calming and welcoming hug he could give. Being careful to not hit any cuts, he maneuvered you onto his lap while leaning against the wall cradling you in his chest.

“I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I didn’t mean to, I just saw the razor and it kinda- kinda happened and I-I just couldn’t stop-” you choked out trying to keep your sobs to a minimum not wanting to hurt him anymore.

"Shhhh, Princess everything's gonna be ok, I forgive you I just hate seeing you like this. I understand this helps you feel better but trust me, princess, there are so many other great things that can take the pain away." Oikawa whispered in your ear, peppering kisses all around your ears, neck, and cheeks and finally a longer sweet kiss on your lips.

“Let's get you cleaned up, m’k! Then we can watch Area 51 and I'll make whatever you want. Deal?”

“Deal,” you whispered as your smile grew, slowly forgetting about the strenuous mental breakdown you were just experiencing moments ago.

Oikawa slowly got up, once again being cautious as to not touch any injured spots. He set you on a clean area on the counter before grabbing out the supplies he had purchased in the past for this particular situation. As Oikawa prepped the gauges and ointments you glanced over in shame, staring at the bloody tissues you failed to pick up previously as you self-reflected on your mental state and what caused you to get into this situation again. You were finally pulled out of your little world when you jolted after feeling a sharp stinging pain on your thigh. Oikawa gave you his hand to squeeze to help subside the pain.

"I'm sorry beauty I know this hurts, I just don't want it to get infected. Please let me put a little more on?" You nodded and sucked in through your teeth as you received another wave of pain while grabbing onto Oikawa's hand.

"You're doing so good princess, just a little longer."

Although you appreciated the praise you had just received from him you couldn't help but get lost in his features. you admired his deep brown locks and how they complimented his equally dark chocolate eyes, which were hyper-fixated on trying to doctor up the cuts littering your upper thighs.

Even though the wounds did hurt you, you would've gladly loved it if this day could last forever. Oikawa had always done a great deed when it came to spoiling you and treating you quite literally like a 'princess' as per his nickname. Today was different though, He's being softer, and as much as you loved his dominant side, his soft side was awfully refreshing.

"Hey, Tooru?"

"Yea?"

"I love you." Oikawa looked a bit taken back with the random use of such strong words but quickly replaced his astoundment with confidence.

"Are you sure about that Y/n~channn? Because I think I love you more~" He purred as you rolled your eyes, a smile igniting on your face while you ruffled his hair.

---------

Once Oikawa was done bandaging your cuts, he insisted on giving you a much-needed bath which definetly was something else...

"Mmmm" you moaned out as Oikawa was lathering shampoo into your h/c locks, moving his fingers around in circular motions, trying to release as much stress and tension as he could. Once he was done he hopped over to the little makeup mirror and held it up to your face revealing bunny ears on top of your head held together by the shampoo.

"Mmmm my little bunny princess~ how do you like your new ears?"

"They're lovely! I love what you did with this one Tooru." you said pointing to the left 'bunny ear' that was now deforming.

"oh shut up Y/n~chan as if you could do any better," Oikawa said as he folded his arms and looked away.

"Oh but I can," you said making a devious face.

"You wouldn't!"

"I WOULD BAHAHA!" You snorted as you smacked the bunny ears downwards, causing them both to deform.

"NOOOO Y/N~CHANNN HOW COULD YOU. MY LITTLE BUNNY PRINCESS~" he wailed as he started to wash out the shampoo as you were still laughing your ass off in the tub.

After repeating the same steps with the conditioner and about 30 minutes of you and Oikawa arguing about soapy titty pictures being better than soapy ab pictures. Oikawa finally unclogged the drain allowing you to get out while he dried you off using your favorite fluffy towel he bought for you a while back on your birthday when he turned your living room into a spa. Once you were fully dried Oikawa bundled you up into a burrito and carried you back to your guys' shared room and lightly tossed you on the California king bed as he started walking to your shared closet.

"Sit here and stay pretty for me while I get you some sexy clothes~." Oikawa purred as he entered the closet, pulling out a cream hoodie and digging through his underwear drawer to reveal old alien boxers. He loved seeing you in his clothes, especially the alien boxers that seemed to compliment your butt perfectly.

When he came back he easily slipped the cream-colored hoodie over your head and put on the boxers for you as well, making sure you didn't move a muscle. He felt the need to spoil the hell out of you tonight, especially because he believes it's his fault for not being home early enough.

If only I came home sooner...

He thought as he adjusted the boxers and stared longingly into your eyes with regret.

If only I declined Iwaizumis’ request to get food. This would have never happened...

Slowly, he got back up and leisurely walked back into the closet to change, after all, he was still in his sweaty volleyball uniform that was a bit damp from your wet hair sticking to him when he previously carried you.

He changed into an old ICS volleyball hoodie and grey sweats. He walked over to where you were on the bed ogling him as he smirked lightly before picking you up once again, guiding your legs to wrap around his waist. Being careful as to not touch any tender areas, while putting a hand under your bottom and taking long, slow strides to the living room. Setting you down with the same care, Oikawa grabbed the remote and put on Area 51 which was previously recorded from the last movie night you two shared.

"Here princess, sit tight while I get blankets and food." He muttered while walking to the kitchen.

"oh I wanna get the blankets!" you said deviously while scheming to take the best ones for yourself. But before you could even put a toe on the floor strong arms pinned you back down.

You slowly looked up only to be met with Oikawa's stern chocolate brown eyes.

"What?"

"No Princess, just stay here. I'll get the fluffy one and you can have it all to yourself." He reassured knowing exactly what was going through your head.

"But-"

"No buts, please Y/n I don't want you walking around right now." His previous loving look turned into a gloomy gaze as he looked down. Eyes meeting with the numerous white patches that littered your legs.

"Hey" you put your hand on his cheek caressing it while pulling it up to meet your now bittersweet gaze.

"I'm fine," you said as you got up only to be met with sharp pains shooting through your legs and up your spine.

"...see" You reassured, trying your best to mask your face from showing any pain.

"No" Oikawa stated sternly as he laid you down once again onto the couch.

"Please Y/n?"

"..." You gave him the silent treatment, looking away pretending to be hurt. Little did he know you were enjoying this so much. Soaking in each and every one of his sweet words, though they came off a bit harsh, he only wanted the best for you.

Damn, I'm really being spoiled... You thought as a shiver went up to your spine.

--------

The sweet aroma of popcorn and other snacks filled your senses as you looked over to see your very sexy boyfriend struggling to carry all the blankets, pillows, and food.

"Tooru! here lemme help-"

"Sit princess, I got it." He chuckled while tossing the blankets over your head and setting down the sweets on the counter, dashing back to the kitchen to grab the two monsters he purchased with Iwaizumi.

After struggling to get the blanket off, a strong hand came out and grabbed the blanket and pulled it over your head.

"Here silly," Oikawa said as your eyes met with the caffeinated drink.

"YOU DIDN'T!"

"oh, but I did." Oikawa purred with the sexiest but stupidest smile.

Your eyes glistened as you popped the tab in, drinking almost half of it in a swig.

"Sweetie, chilllll~ your gonna be up all night if you drink it that fast." He hummed, popping his open and taking a sip as well before setting both monsters onto the coffee table.

You shifted around a bit trying to get comfy in your blanket before Oikawa pulled you on top of him while grabbing the remote and pressing play. There you were, head laying on Oikawa's chest, hands wrapped around his neck. His hands were placed onto your waist fitting perfectly in the divet of your lower back. Legs intertwining with each other.

This truly was heaven.

----------

"I love you, Princess."

Oikawa muttered, lazily stroking your head. He looked at your resting body tenderly, thinking about all the little quirks he loves about you. In that very moment the world seemed to stop as the sound of the end credits became drowned out as sleep overtook you both.

[danwhobrowses]

A Personal Rant before Sword and Shield comes out

I’ve sat idly by for months, tried to weather a few negative responses but given that it’s now 6 days from release and I’m hearing that devs are getting literal death threats I’m going to put my foot down

If you’re already shitting on a game that hasn’t been released yet, you are all juvenile bitches, and I’m about to tell you why.

Before we begin, I’m not saying that you’re not allowed to dislike a game, that happens, but usually it happens after you play a game, not before.

You are viewing this game through a keyhole and judging the room and what you’re seeing is not worthy of this much hate. Let’s start with the big one Dexit: Not as Big as You Think Having No National Dex is of course not ideal, but it doesn’t ruin the game. Let’s Go has no National Dex, all it had was Alola forms and nobody whinged about it. Ruby and Sapphire didn’t have a National Dex until FRLG, and nobody whinged about it. Sun and Moon and Ultra Sun and Moon do not have a National Dex And Nobody Whinged About It Do you know why? Because it’s not actually a big deal. People who complain about it are bandwagoning because ‘Dexit’ is a meme, its name literally parodies an event in current Britain that many people don’t actually want to happen.  Now currently, the anger of Dexit is that Bulbasaur and Squirtle are not in it, which frankly is hilarious because the last wave of bitching was ‘Kanto mons are getting all the new stuff’. You wanna know how many main series versions Bulbasaur and Squirtle have not been in? Seven, only way to get them is trade and event. The other complaint is that there’s ‘only 400′ Pokémon. Remember those days where people were fine with 150? 400 is huge, in fact it’s 3 less than USUM and it’s not accounting for the Gigantamax forms Don’t let headlines fool you either, Sun and Moon had 302 Pokémon, it’s far from the ‘lowest dex number since 2003′. Do your own research with these things. Kalos’ regional dex was 151, BW2 was 300, BW 153, Sinnoh 210, RSE has 386 and GSC had 252 Don’t get me wrong, it smarts that some Pokémon isn’t there, but it’s not a dealbreaker, like let’s be honest here. For a good year and a half all your pokémon are gonna do is sit in an unused cartridge or a PC box, you’re literally whining about the fact that you can’t move your perfect IV Pokémon from one box to another. You could simply just let them stay in Let’s Go or USUM, you don’t have to use Bank or Home on continued subscription for that, so your complaints are only set on the foundation that you feel like you have to continually pay to not transfer your Pokémon, Finally, people act like these Pokémon are deleted forever, they’re not, this is for spacing to make sure this game doesn’t break down from the sheer mass of models and textures it has to maintain in a massive open world space, the local and online camping and battles. Just use the Pokémon that are there! There’s new Pokémon don’t you wanna try those? You can also look at FRLG or Emerald and consider that maybe more Pokémon will get patched in once the game proves to be stable. I don’t think you’ve noticed, but the Nintendo Switch isn’t as powerful as the other consoles out there, sometimes it runs like shit. Believe me on that one, Switch is still in a very buggy development phase. Let’s Go was kept small to test it’s capability and Sword and Shield can’t just fly in and give you all 1000 Pokémon just so one of the ones you want can be in there

You have to be much less obtuse with this, I mean this was a long time coming. You’re gonna have to live with the fact that not every Pokémon ever can be supported on one game alone. Disk, Download, Cartridge and Patch Sizes have limits in Compliance, you can’t just throw everything at it. Waah, the New Pokémon Don’t Look Good They do, you’re being petty. It happens every version, the people dislike the starter evolutions or just one in particular. Remember all the Oshawott hate? This all comes and goes because people have simply gone on the first instinct that ‘new and different is scary and should be shunned’ You’re that Simpsons meme when young Homer accuses Grandpa of not being ‘with it’ I won’t spoil to those who haven’t seen it, but I like the new starters, and some of the new Pokémon will need some growing but not every Pokémon looks good at first glance. If Mr Mime, Hypno or Gastly came out nowadays they’d be crapped on so much for lacking creativity or for looking weird. Look at Drampa as well, thing looks like Falkar from The Neverending Story, when I first saw it I thought it look weird but now I like it. You should offer these things time And actually fall back on past experience, you’re reacting like this isn’t the same thing that happens every version; the dex gets leaked, people whine about the evolutions, people get over it and accept that they overreacted. hIgH QuAlItY aNiMaTiOnS I’ve seen that video, 2 clips and you judge a whole game how classy of you? If you don’t see improvement you’re blind. You can’t shit on a game for keeping the battle animations, you can’t expect every Pokémon to move their own unique way to the exact position of the body part the opponent needs to get hit by, that’s just unrealistic. You’re also failing to equate to the new moves and all the new movesets. You have to ensure that each Pokémon is capable of calling this animation as well. The second clip in that video was Hop and Hau having the same rigging, and once again, that’s not abnormal. Rigging is not easy either, do it wrong and it sticks and deforms texture. There’s nothing wrong with Hop having one animation that matches Hau’s, you’ll probably find that many models actually have similar rigging as previous games. Because it’s not that big of a deal and it saves money, as an example look at Disney they copied hand-drawn motion and stuck a different character on them, Robin Hood’s Little John dances just like (animated, for those too young to know otherwise) Jungle Book’s Baloo The thing you’re also ignoring from that clip is the graphical improvement of Hop compared to Hau, Hau looks like a balloon with a smiley face but Hop’s face has depth and his mouth actually moves like a normal person, his clothes have far more contrast and complexity, but no just zero in on one fighting animation and one rigging that’ll surely be worth abusing a game that’s not even out... B-But Charizard I’ve already explained this before but Charizard is Leon’s main, it’s obviously going to have a Gigantamax, ergo it’s also going to be in the Dex. Does Charizard get a lot? Yes, but the reason is because Charizard is popular. One of the rarest cards is a Charizard Hologram Card, Charizard is one of the first version mascots, it is one of the most recognized Pokémon Ash has in the anime Reality of the matter is that like Pikachu, Charizard is a recognized Pokémon for all ages, it appeals to a demographic that’s not playing In Layman’s Terms: that part is not for you A reality you really need to face. Pokémon is a game for all ages, so elements of the game are not always going to be tailored to your age range. The gimmick of Dynamax and Gigantamax is for merch sales and young children because it’s got an audience there, you can’t expect the Biggest Entertainment Brand in the World to simply shut out a large fraction of its demographic just to appeal 100% to you And again, it’s not a big deal, so there’s a Charizard there, just save a Stone Edge and be done with it, if you hate Charizard so much this’ll be catharsis, but in actuality you’re complaining because it’s something to complain about Kanto are getting Everything That went down like a lead balloon didn’t it? Reminder that the first Gigantamax forms were Galar Pokémon, so you can’t really say that anymore. There are Galar forms from non-Gen I Pokémon too I assure you, but the reason Kanto gets a lot of them is because Kanto is the oldest. Let’s not pretend that other gens don’t get love either Or should I remind you of Mega Ampharos, Scizor, Heracross, Houndoom, Tyranitar, Blaziken, Gardevoir, Gallade, Mawile, Aggron, Medicham, Manectric, Banette, Absol, Garchomp, Lucario, Abomasnow, Steelix, Sceptile, Marshtomp, Sableye, Sharpedo, Camerupt, Altaria, Glalie, Salamence, Metagross, Latias, Latios, Rayquaza, Lopunny, Audino and Diancie? It’s true that the Johto starters could use something, but I don’t think they’re being purposefully ignored, perhaps the right design hasn’t come along. Rather it be done right than poorly wouldn’t you agree? The Devs Should’ve Done <Insert Thing Here> People who say this kinda stuff have no idea how a game is made. I have a First Class Bachelor’s degree in Computer Gaming and Animation Technology and I can tell you that none of the stuff you want them to do is easy. Even getting grass right is a complete hassle. You want small insights you should watch Corridor Crew react to Good and Bad VFX, they tell you about the mechanics of CGI a few times on those vids. This is what annoys me with the prior swipe at the Battle animations and rigging, even with 2 years this is a heavily massive workload and Game Freak have only recently expanded the team that work on Pokémon which makes communication much more widespread and difficult to manage, likewise they are working on other games too they are not just Pokémon, currently their next IP is why Toby Fox was able to do a bit of music for Pokémon, because he’s collaborating with them on another game. The work doesn’t stop, most of these people are overworked and still doing overtime, they bring out a good product and all it gets is ‘but it should have this’, and unless it’s a huge part of the game that’s needed to function then that’s really disrespectful Before you start critiquing on what the people making this game ‘should’ve done’ perhaps you should try to make a game yourself, because it is not easy even for pros, I call back to Toby Fox because creating Undertale took 32 Months to create, that’s 2 years and 8 months for those slow with math, it also took 3 years before it could be ported to Switch because the Engine couldn’t support the platform, Pokémon has less time to do that, greater graphical and animation quality to achieve and more characters to battle, attacks to animate and more songs to compose. Conclusion: You’re All Just Bitter I’ve already seen it happen recently but this group of people senselessly bashing something because of ridiculous demands, expectations or arguments based on a lack of understanding all combine into something I’m simply calling the ‘Bitterness Fandom’. It’s people hating for the sake of hating and trying to bring something down just because it’s been a popular force for so long, and it’s not just Pokémon that’s getting it It’s already been happening to Star Wars. The Last Jedi and Solo were great films but the Bitterness sank its fangs in and act like neither are as good as the original trilogy (like killing Snoke without knowing anything about him and Phasma before she could do anything is any different to killing Sidious and Boba Fett in Jedi or Maul in Phantom Menace and Grievous in Revenge of the Sith), a lack of awareness to reality and the desire to complain for the sake of complaining continues to infect Star Wars. We even have a thing called ‘Star Wars Fatigue’ Star Wars can’t release a film every year because of ‘Fatigue’ but Marvel can release 5 MCU films a year and nobody bats an eye. Those frustrations aside, I refuse to let the Bitterness sink in without me calling them out, because you are not Pokémon Fans. If you were you’d know that having no National Dex isn’t new, you’d know that the graphics have improved and leaks of the game happen every time, you’d know why Charizard is popular and that some features are not intended to be targeted at you Shock and Horror to the heavens above but games can’t do everything And if you’re that naive to think so then you’re clearly not doing your homework So let’s throw out an absolutely WILD suggestion shall we? Let’s decide our opinion on a game After playing it? Because shitting on something you don’t even have hands-on experience with it is a fragile pedestal to put yourself on. If we all think it’s bad then, so be it, but I sincerely doubt that is the case When my copy of Pokémon Sword gets delivered to my house I am going to enjoy it because I will not let petty and incorrect statements sway my feelings and I swear to Arceus if you think the Bitterness will bring down Pokémon that easily then you did not see the queue to the London Poké Center that had been amassing since midnight and was forced to stop taking more people when the doors opened What should matter is how you enjoy the game, play it before you judge it And honestly, don’t send death threats, why we need to tell you that is beyond me, the ones who made these games are people who have worked their asses off day in and day out to provide something you aren’t even going to play because one Pokémon isn’t in it, the irony is not lost on me when I say this but deep into the very bottom of my heart: Grow Up. If you don’t like the game, don’t play it, don’t bother people about it, we don’t need your shit here Enjoy the Game People

[themaskedwriter]

Electricity

A title - Electricity

A pairing - CEO!Thor x PA!Reader, Loki

Great - a crush on the boss. This couldn’t possibly end terribly… could it?

Accurate warnings - fluff. Fluffy, fluff, fluff.

A word count - 3k

CLUES 

The MCU actor who portrays Thor hails from the same homeland as the writer.

Song title inspo is big for this writer (and the title for this fic blew her mind as it was the very last song she downloaded)

This writer is writing Thor for the first time, but is more synonymous for Sebastian Stan’s characters and the occasional RPF. 

“Good morning, Mr Laufeyson,” you smiled from behind your desk as your boss’ brother wandered into the office, his usual Cheshire cat grin on his pale face, dark hair pushed away from his icy blue eyes and fair features with a consistent overuse of hair gel.

“Good morning, my dear,” he replied. “Is my idiot brother around?”

You scoffed a laugh, always humoured by the cheeky affection the brothers showed each other (and depending on the day, the genuine, extreme loathing). “He’s just on a conference call with Dr Selvig in London, he won’t be much longer I wouldn’t expect,” you informed him as Loki stepped away from your desk. “Can I get you a beverage?”

“No, no. No fuss required,” he insisted, letting his long, lean frame fall into one of the leather couches, hitching his heel on the coffee table before him and picking up an investment magazine, allowing you to get back to your work before you – getting a dinner reservation for your boss and newest conquest – you mean, date. His date. Argh.

Just then, Mr Odinson’s office door burst open and appeared the mammoth business giant, hands splayed on hips and playful smile on his lips. “Good afternoon, brother. Working hard or hardly working today?”

“The latter, of course,” Loki replied. “Selvig?”

“He’s doing some amazing work, one day you’ll appreciate his work on Convergence.”

“I was more impressed with his bare bottom proudly on display at Stonehenge,” Loki snipped, standing to his full height, almost of that of your boss who was as wide as he was tall – and by wide, you meant built like a brick outhouse, with crystal blue eyes, cropped blonde hair and muscles that seemed boundless one on top of the next. His suits straining over his shoulders and relieved at his waist. SPEND LESS TIME STARING AT HIM, you screamed to yourself. “That was some quality footage,” he chuckled as Thor bit back his own smile.

“Agreed, he lost his mind for a while there. But what do I owe the pleasure? Surely it’s not 5 o’clock somewhere already?”

“It well and truly is, brother. And if I remember correctly, ‘tis also your shout.”

“’Tis always my shout,” Thor muttered, rolling his eyes. “But I have plans tonight, I can’t be late,” Thor gave you a side-eye. “How are those dinner reservations going, by the way?”

“Right on that, boss,” you replied. “I’ve just confirmed with Le Coucou for 9pm. The driver will pick up Miss Carter on the way through, around 8:45pm. I’ve just emailed you the details, sir,” you reported, quickly hitting the ‘send’ button on the email and prying your eyes away from Mr Odinson, who was distracted unrolling his shirt sleeves, re-buttoning them and reaching for his jacket to slide over his shoulders.

“And what about you, darling? Can we interest you in a drink also?” Loki pondered.

Blushing, you replied, “I actually have a date,” you mumbled, shyly, dropping your eyes to the keyboard.

“A date?” Mr Odinson smiled. “With who? Do we know him?”

Turning a deeper shade of crimson, you were almost embarrassed with your answer. “It’s a blind date. My friend set us up. He’s in the army apparently.”

“An Army man,” Mr Odinson baulked slightly, checking his phone before he looked up with a wide, forced smile. “Sounds wonderful.”

Dejected, you tried to hide your disappointment at your boss’ reaction and went back to the work before you. Your date wasn’t until 8pm and you still had plenty to tie up before then as the brothers said goodnight to you and not to stay back too late.

—

Repeating the name the booking that your date had been booked under, you were both anxious and excited. You were a couple of minutes early but that was by your own admission – you needed a drink to ease your nerves before your mystery date arrived.

“I’m sorry, ma’am. There was a note left against this cancellation – Captain Rogers has been called off on an assignment and sends his regrets.”

Mortified, that was all you could think as you nodded, trying to hide your embarrassment. “Well, thank you,” you shrugged, not hurt but a little annoyed you found out you’d been stood up by the fucking maître d.

“May I get you a drink on the house?” the maître d asked, obviously feeling for you. “A nice Bordeaux red or a cocktail?” he continued, ushering you towards the dimly lit bar on the other side of the restaurant.

“It’s okay, I can pay,” you told him as he guided you to a stool at the bar.

“No, ma’am. It’s on me,” he motioned for the bartender to come over and instructed, “Whatever the lady wants, please, Jarvis.”

“Yes, sir,” Jarvis replied. “What will it be this evening, ma’am?”

“Just a glass of the house wine,” you answered, taking your phone from your handbag and trying to make yourself look less pathetic as you sat alone, stood up and only feeling marginally worse than usual.

Finding Natasha’s phone number and sending her a gentle text (scathing is what you truly wanted to send but thought better of it), you let her know that Captain Rogers had been called away and you were alone on a Friday night in New York City.

Natasha: Shit. Sorry, babe. Did you lose that reservation? I can come meet you! Clint is rolling around on the floor with the new rescue dog. I don’t stand a chance tonight.

You: No, it’s fine. I’ll just have a glass of wine and order some take out on the way home.

Putting your phone away as the glass of wine was placed before you, you thanked Jarvis and took a welcome sip. Shit, that was good. If this was the house wine, you were being spoiled.

“Any good?” a familiar voice asked you as a shadow kind of formed overhead. Looking up and spotting Mr Odinson was just adding insult to injury. This wasn’t where his date was. He took a seat with a genuine, friendly smile. “Hello, hope I’m not interrupting.”

“Of course not, sir,” you gave him a small smile.

“Where’s your date?” he asked the obvious question first, his blue eyes dancing as he ordered himself ale.

“Oh, he’s conveniently skipped the country on a mission of some sort,” you shrugged, the sting of it all starting to fade. “That’s a true first.”

“Well, he misses out,” he told you as Jarvis put his drink on the bar before him. Mr Odinson raised his glass as did you. “To Friday night’s with the boss.” You laughed as your glass joined his and he smiled again. “Are you going to stay or head out?”

“I will head home after this. It’s been a big week – shouldn’t you be thinking about Le Coucou?”

He shook his head. “No, believe it or not, I am a little too tired. My brother chewed my ear off about some family drama with our half-sister and frankly, I can’t be bothered dealing with some blonde Instagramming every aspect of our night instead of trying to enjoy it.”

“Really?”

“Really what?”

“Is that the kind of girl you were seeing?”

“I do seem have a type,” he said reluctantly. “It hasn’t worked for me though. I guess I’m just a glutton for punishment.”

“I hope you don’t mind me saying, but I always enjoyed Dr Foster.”

He gave a fond grin. “She’ll be the one that got away, I suppose,” he shrugged and took another sip. “I don’t suppose you want to stay for dinner?”

Surprised, you looked up. Sure, Mr Odinson was a great boss, and occasionally you shared a few laughs at work drinks but dining with him seemed a little… peculiar. “What, together?” you managed. Oh, yes. This should surely help this little crush you have on him.

Mr Odinson bit back a smile and leaned forward, a glint of tease in his eye. “Only if you’re happy to have dinner with the boss. I’ll pay.”

“Well, if you’re paying,” you said finally and relaxed a little as he motioned for Jarvis to get someone to get you both a table. Within a few minutes, you were at a table for two and if the candlelight made him look even better, you could cry. A bottle of expensive champagne was ordered as soon as Mr Odinson could and a terrible thought crept into your head, was this a date?!

Taking another sip of your wine, you tried to clear your head. No, of course it wasn’t. Your boss was here having drinks and coincidently, you bumped into each other. Nothing more, nothing less – it would end up a work dinner anyway with Mr Odinson travelling to the Nordic region for meetings over the few countries and you hadn’t caught up to dissect the trip with him as to yet.

“So, about next week, you’ll be flying – ” you tried.

Raising a large palm, Mr Odinson gave an amused grin. “No work tonight,” he instructed as your trap immediately snapped closed. “I’ve got the emails, I’ll be okay,” he said with a soft smile that met his cheeky, dancing eyes. You were positively swooning.

With his sudden laughter, you snapped back to reality. Oh, shit, you realised. You just sighed blissfully out loud. What kind of idiot – fuck, you were going to have to quit because of this – this crush on Mr Odinson was officially unprofessional. “I’m so sorry, Mr Odinson. I don’t know what’s coming over me.”

“It’s Thor, you can call me Thor,” he told you gently. “Have some wine, you look like you need it.”

You took a deep gulp, hoping to liquid courage will soothe your nerves. A deep breath joined it and your pulse rate felt as if it was starting to regulate.

“You okay now?”

“Think so,” you managed, voice barely above a whisper.

“Good,” Thor smiled wide as the appetisers arrived.

—

As the wine helped relax you, the evening continued a lot easier for you as it continued. The meal was divine – you were suddenly glad Captain Rogers disappeared and Thor had rescued you.

As you ordered dinner, you smiled as Thor eased in his seat. Come to think of it, you don’t think you’d ever seen him anything but cool, calm and relaxed. Incredible.

“So, what are you plans for the rest of the evening?” Thor asked, nodding for the bottle of dessert wine to be left at the table. Spying your watch, you laughed.

“Uhh, bed. This is pathetically late for me on a Friday night.”

“Could I interest you in a night cap? I know this great coffee bar uptown,” he suggested.

Coffee? It was nearly 11pm yet you found yourself saying yes, and after dessert, Thor paid the bill (with a hefty tip you also noticed) and helped you slipped into your coat, taking you lightly by the arm and into the brisk New York night. His town car stopped before you both and he ushered his driver away to open the door for you before sliding in after you. You travelled in relative silence, taking in the city and Thor scaling emails on his phone. You phone occasiaonlly dinging so you knew he was sending directives that also included you but you ignored them – at midnight, you weren’t going to action anything and nor could he blame you.

A few minutes later, the car stopped before…

“This is your building,” you frowned as Thor opened the door and let you join him on the sidewalk.

“Yeah, I have the best coffee machine in the city. Come up, you’ll see.”

At this point, Thor could say to drop your panties on the street and you would likely do it. Who were you? Were was your modesty? You weren’t that drunk. A little tipsy… but as the evening continued, you were thinking, maybe… just maybe this little crush wasn’t one-sided.

Thor offered his hand and willingly you took it. He walked you into the building where he was greeted and went to the lifts. You knew he lived in the penthouse (at last check, you remembered he may have owned this building. Or his father did. You couldn’t remember now and nor did you care). Moving to the corner, Thor did the same, giving you some space before the elevator doors opened to a dimly-lit sprawling living area with floor to ceiling windows, showing off the city.

“Jesus,” you muttered as allowed you to lead him inside. “This view is incredible.”

“Well, I can’t lay claim to that,” he teased, sliding off his jacket and heading to the open-plan kitchen where you noticed his coffee machine was and he collected a couple of espresso glasses. He went to work on the coffee and you were relieved for it – you needed it to wake you up and get out of this daydream. Here you were in the living room of your gorgeous boss Mr Odin – Thor. Thor. You watched his rolled up his sleeves, spying the leather bands that were wrapped around his enormous wrists. God bless the three-piece suit. You hated vests. But not on Thor. They were made for him.

He wandered over, two glasses in hand and nodded towards the couch. “Take a seat.”

You did as instructed and he sat beside you. “I have a confession,” Thor said after a few moments of you both sipping your coffee. You looked at him with a raised eyebrow. “And I think it will affect our professional ties.”

Oh God, he was going to fucking fire you, you realised, sitting up and putting the coffee on the side table. Shit. “Have I done something wrong?”

“You?” he smiled, shaking his head. “No, you’re a wonderful assistant. In fact, I think you’re wasted as my assistant with your potential. But this is where is gets difficult. I would love to give you a promotion of sorts, but at the same time, I don’t want to lose you from my office,” he confided. “Because I believe we work exceptionally well together.”

“I don’t know where this is going.”

“I’d like to ask you something. And you can say no,” he instructed as your heart rate increased. You could feel your whole body sweating. It certainly felt like you were in the firing line. “But for the longest time, I have harboured this little, teeny crush on you and if I follow my heart, I think it may cause problems for us at work.”

He was right, it would. Stunned, you nodded. Shit, were you getting fired?! “I think I understand.”

He nodded solemnly. “If I were to ask you out, I think you would like to say yes. But I can understand if you told me to get fucked and storm out as well. I would deserve and wholeheartedly understand that.”

Nodded, you took the coffee back to use as a distraction, resting it against your lips, hiding a little, as a shy smile appeared. He looked like he was waiting for you to say something, but little did he know your brain was blended mush and words would not seem to compute. “Oh,” was all you managed.

“Have I stepped over the line?” he asked quietly. “I understand if I have.”

“No,” you somehow replied. “I think you know that I might have feelings for you also.”

“I did not know,” he admitted. “But my brother seemed to think that maybe I was missing something that was right in front of me. Of course, Loki is also full of mischief and cannot be trusted. So he could’ve set me up to be his greatest prank,” he added meekly.

Biting back a giggle, it was almost unbelievable that this beautiful man, Thor Odinson, world-renown CEO and playboy, was opening up his heart to you and all you could think of was, “yes, Yes, YES!” so when he put his cup on the table and awaited your answer, you found your voice.

“I love my job. I thrive on how hectic it is, I enjoy ensuring your work life balance is seamless.”

“It is,” he agreed.

“And I think I’m good at what I do.”

“You’re brilliant at what you do.”

“But I need more,” you paused and he raised a curious eyebrow. “I need to know that if we take this step, it won’t ruin everything.”

“It won’t – let’s just try dinner and see how it progresses.”

You gave a gentle nod. “I’d like that, Mr – ”

“Thor.”

“Thor,” you nodded, blushing a little. “Yes.”

“This seems so formal,” Thor said with a gentle grin.

“Way too formal,” you agreed and a giggle escaped.

“Then let’s take it back a notch,” he decided. “We call it a night. When I’m back from my work trip next week, we have dinner again. I’ll even cook.”

“You cook?” you asked surprised, finding yourself standing and he followed. It felt like a good time to collect your things even if you wanted to walk directly to his bedroom.

“I’m pretty good at it – you’ll see that I’m worthy,” he joked as he followed you towards the elevator. He smiled, leaning against the wall. “I’m glad we saw each other tonight. I’m sorry that I’m travelling the next week though. I’ll miss you.”

“You’ll survive,” you teased as the elevator doors opened and Thor  laughed heartily. “Thanks for tonight, Thor. It ended up being a lot more fun that what my original plans were supposed to be.”

He chuckled. “I agree,” his giant palm raised and tenderly grasped your chin. “I had a wonderful time. I’m glad we spent the evening together.”

“Yeah,” you said and his lips gently kissed your forehead.

“I don’t want to appear obtrusive.”

“Definitely not.”

The elevator door closed without you though neither of you even noticed.

[randomk-imagines]

Still Into You

words: 1.9k

summary: it’s your anniversary with johnny so you decide to make a video collage of him 

a/n: i sobbed while writing this bc i thought about how perfect johnny would be as a boyfriend and i just really love him ok? he’s not even my bias, but i just love him a lot. he deserves the world. ok bye. enjoy (: also this is based off of this video so go watch it and enjoy sobbing like i did

You sat on top of your bed with the covers pulled over your head and your laptop in your lap. It was unhealthily close to your face as the light illuminated off your glasses into your dark room. 

You glanced at the clock in the corner of your laptop. 

3:27am.

You sighed but focused back on the task at hand. Editing this video.

To an outsider, you probably looked like a YouTuber editing their lengthy vlog, but that was far from the truth. You were actually editing something special for someone special.

You and Johnny’s anniversary was just a few days away. The two of you had been dating for three years. The best three years of your life, might you add. Of course, the two of you had gotten into some arguments, but you never failed to settle them within a day or two and it only made your relationship stronger.

Throughout the three years you’d been dating and the many years before from just being his friend, you had accumulated a plethora of videos and pictures of him on your phone. Sometimes when you were feeling down, you’d go back into your gallery and watch the videos of him goofing off in a store or laughing along to something your friends said. They never failed to lift your mood. You were actually rewatching some of them when you had gotten this idea of creating a collage of them.

You picked your favourite ones of him from your phone and got to work uploading them to your laptop and editing them down to a relatively suitable video. You were not an expert in video editing, in fact, you barely were able to figure out your laptop’s regular functions on a daily basis. You were not technologically advanced even though you really should be. However, you were determined to create a video to express how you felt towards your boyfriend and you weren’t about to back out now. Although, you could feel the sleep deprivation get to you and the harsh light from your laptop was not helping your already poor eyesight.

Truthfully, you were basically done trimming down the videos and putting them together in a relatively cohesive collage. You just needed to pick out the background music.

You scrolled through multiple playlists you had made on Spotify, but none of the songs seemed to compliment the tone of the video. It wasn’t until you had randomly clicked on a throwback playlist that you found the perfect song. You quickly downloaded it to your computer, excited at how well it fits the video.

It wasn’t until an hour later that you were finally satisfied with how the video turned out. You saved it to your computer and proceeded to pass out until the weekend was over.

-

You and Johnny were actually quite busy on the day of your anniversary so you both decided to wait until Friday to celebrate it. You were excited to show him the video, yet nervous at the same time.

He was a Film and Digital Media major after all. He even had his own YouTube channel (which you had taken some videos off of as well) which was new, yet gaining popularity quickly. His channel consisted of his daily life at university as a film major as well as videos of him and your friends hanging out, goofing around, and just being a mess in general. He had some videos dedicated to you, but he didn’t want his channel to become solely focused on his relationship, so it was more like an add on, rather than the overall theme of his channel.

You, on the other hand, were majoring in the sciences, specifically chemistry. You could solve the odd thermochemistry problems and strange-looking stoichiometry questions, yet you could hardly handle your laptop. You could barely create cool-looking excel spreadsheets without needing help from your friends. It was honestly embarrassing.

You hoped your video was at least okay...

Friday came quick and your classes flew by even quicker. You ended later than Johnny did, so as soon as you stepped out of your last class, you saw Johnny leaning against the opposite wall waiting for you. You immediately perked up when you saw him, bidding your friend goodbye as you bounded over to your boyfriend.

“Hey,” he smiled and pecked your lips. “Want to drop your stuff off at my apartment then we can go?” he asks. You nod and the two of you set off to his apartment hand in hand. 

Even after dating for three years, you were still giddy whenever the two of you held hands. It may be lame to other people, but you love it. It’s not aggressive PDA, yet you were still able to be close to him, and that’s all you needed.

-

“What’s on your mind?” you hear Johnny ask. The two of you were currently cuddled up against each other on his couch as the TV played. It was a rerun of a popular drama, but you weren’t paying attention to it. Instead, you and Johnny were talking and just catching up on what happened throughout the week. You, however, were anxious about showing Johnny the video.

You were laying on top of his chest, your cheek resting on the back of your forearm as your other hand was fiddling with a loose string on his shirt. Your legs were entangled together messily, having been shifting every once in a while. He had one arm tucked behind his head while his other was rubbing random patterns on your back as the two of you talked. 

“Nothing,” you say, it being a little muffled by your forearm. You feel the hand stop rubbing circles on your back and instead coming up to tilt your head a bit so you look at him.

“Nothing means something,” he quirks an eyebrow. You pout, knowing that he can practically read you like a book while he just smiles. 

“I just made something for you, but it kind of came out like shit even though it took forever to make,” you laugh, trying to hide your nervousness. 

“I told you that you didn’t need to do anything for me,” he tsks. 

“You got something for me!” you lightly smack his chest. He just cracks a smile. He did get you something, and it was rather nice, to be honest. 

He knows you like wearing a necklace every day, but not just any necklace. It has to mean something to you. You’re not a big jewellery girl, but necklaces aren’t high maintenance and they don’t get in the way of your daily life like bracelets do. He knows that you only wear certain jewellery so he went out and bought a necklace for you. 

It was a simple, little star necklace, but he had his initials engraved on the back. You, however, knew how much he liked to spoil you so you knew it wasn’t cheap. In fact, it was sterling silver. When he told you that, you immediately wanted him to return it. You couldn’t let him spend that much money on you, especially when he said he didn’t need anything in return!

However, he said that he wouldn’t be able to return it since he got an engraving on it, so suck it up and accept it because you’re keeping it. You reluctantly accepted it, and it was currently hanging from your neck as you propped yourself up on your forearms to pout at your boyfriend. He just laughed at you and playfully pinched your cheeks. 

You sat up all the way and reached for your backpack to take out your laptop. It was leaning right against the side of the couch so you didn’t have to get up, but you did have to turn around. You heard Johnny protest as you turned away from him. He sat up as well and as soon as you fished out your backpack, he snaked his arms around your waist to your front and pulled you back against him. Your back collided with his chest as he hooked his chin over your shoulder and sighed after settling down, content with you being so close once again.

“What’s this?” he asks when he sees you open up a file from your laptop. It loads a video and you click for it to go full screen.

“It’s just something I made...” you nervously reply. You feel him nod as he looks back to the screen. The preview picture shows him mid-laugh with the ocean behind him and the sun high in the sky. 

You angle the screen towards him so he can see it better and hit play. 

The video audio starts out soft, but it’s not long until the song starts playing. The chorus to Still Into You by Paramore blasts from your laptop speaker as a video clip of Johnny smiling and running around the beach flashes on the screen.

A series of videos of Johnny smiling and laughing, playing around, shopping, eating, working, and more, roll through as the music plays on. The entire video itself is only about a minute long, but it captures all your favourite things about him and all the memories you’ve shared with him. The video ends soon after and you realize he hadn’t spoken a word throughout the entire thing.

It makes you extremely nervous and you immediately think the worst. Does he not like it? Was this a stupid idea? Were your editing skills that bad?? You internally panic. You don’t even process he said anything until after a few moments.

“I loved it,” Johnny says softly. He was so entranced by the video that he wasn’t able to speak. Everything about it was perfect and the concept itself was so wholesome and he just loved it. The fact that you made it yourself, just for him, made the entire thing 1000x better in his opinion. 

“Really?” you ask, surprised. You turn your head to look at him and catch the tender gaze in his eyes. He sees you turn out of the corner of his eye and physically has to tear his sight away from the screen to look at you. “I wasn’t sure what to do because you’re really amazing and editing and taking videos and it’s your major and your videos always look so professional and put together and I just made this at 3am one night because I was looking back at our old videos and we’ve just been together for so long, yet I still feel the same way as I did in the beginning and like that’s crazy and weird and I don’t know. Honestly, it’s not that good and it’s really sloppy and-”

He shuts you up by pressing his lips against yours. The angle is honestly pretty awkward. He’s right behind you so you both have to stretch your necks to even look at each other and on top of that, he has to bend down to even be at your eye level, but it’s still perfect in your opinion. Everything he does is perfect.

“It’s amazing and I love it and I love you,” he smiles as he pulls away. You feel his arms tighten just the slightest as he leans down to kiss your neck. It’s really only a press of his lips on skin since he can’t wipe off the smile from his face.

“I love you too,” you giggle.

He gently leans forward to grab your laptop and sets it on the ground before turning you around in his lap so you face him again. He doesn’t waste time in kissing you fully on the lips and wrapping his arms back around your waist. 

You make a surprised squeak as you feel him lean back down to lay on the couch, bringing you down with him. 

[cephalon-artaise]

I just want to talk about, for a little bit, what exactly Warframe means to me, especially with all the recent updates and the hype for future ones going on right now. Under a ‘read more’ because uhhh it’s long.

I started playing Warframe a little more than two years ago, after seeing quite a bit of fanart for it over a period of a few months. My brother, Cephalon Seginus, downloaded it first on his relatively new gaming laptop. I followed suit, but couldn’t really play at first because my then six year old laptop just wasn’t up to the task. When I finally got a real gaming laptop, Seginus and I started playing together - and we played a lot.

It was the most fun I’d had in a game in ages. The multiplayer games I had played before included Neverwinter and World of Tanks; both games were pretty special to me, but their appeal had run out for the most part, as I found it harder and harder to enjoy them due to many issues each had. I particular, WoT had been the beginning of an important journey of recovery from depression, and it was through that game that I finally found friends I could always depend on, which was something I had long struggled to find.

Yet, it became harder to enjoy, became a game I didn’t recognize, and many of my friends had moved on from it anyway. So, when I started to get into Warframe, I learned something that really made me happy - several of those friends had moved over to playing Warframe, which meant I could continue to play with them, and enjoy their company. I played a lot for the next few months, and never felt bored or frustrated for the most part. I steadily improved, and felt proud of my accomplishments, which were so much more rewarding than anything I’d ever done in other games.

And then The Second Dream came out, and everything changed. Seginus played it first; I was too busy with my writing project (NaNoWriMo) to put aside time for it, as I had a strict schedule to follow (I wanted to hit 50k words in 15 days; there was a lot of toiling away at my computer during that month). However, he finally convinced me to play it, after I compromised with him about the writing stuff. So, I played it.

Unfortunately, some of the content had already been spoiled to me. However, the impact was still there; the cinematography, the soundtrack, the writing; everything - it hit me hard. I had never before played a game with this level of immersion. Neverwinter had an overarching plot, but over time it lost its ‘oomph’. Not Warframe. Every quest that followed gave the world more and more depth, and helped my creativity flourish.

This wasn’t just a game anymore. It was a community of generous and equally as invested people, who I could easily connect with no matter the context. I can’t stress enough how amazed I was by the willingness of other players to help and to give; it was not something I often - if ever - saw in the other two multiplayer games I had played. Yet, many times just speaking up about wants and needs, both in game and out of it, would elicit a positive response. It inspired me to do the same, and I think that’s just the spirit of the community. We’re generous, patient, and willing to help others if and when we can. I love that so much.

Oh, and the lore, the plot; some of my best characters and story building came out of this game. Dozens of operators, multiple characters from other factions, incredible in-universe stories that in turn made each new quest feel that much deeper and more personal. I feel more a part of this game than any other; it’s an intrinsic part of me and my creative side that I couldn’t imagine being without. Again, I don’t think it’s possible to understate how powerful and moving, how influential and constructive, Warframe has been to me and in my life.

July 7th, the day of TennoCon 2018, was undoubtedly the best day of my entire life. I have never been that excited about anything ever in my 21 years of living; close seconds and thirds are likely also Warframe related, if I’m being honest. I was so excited, I almost threw up. That’s never happened to me before. In my Warframe Discord chat, the whole clan was going nuts, losing their shit, and key smashing incoherently. It was amazing. We all decided we were gonna sing the Solarian work song while fighting the Corpus Obelisk, and you can bet I’m gonna cry when we do.

I don’t even know where to end - there are so many things I could go into detail about, so many things I could describe in depth on what it all means to me, but there aren’t enough words in any language to describe the sheer rawness of my emotions, nor could I spend enough time to get it all written down. I just... I love Warframe, and that’s only an understatement. I hope, thought I don’t anticipate, that this game never lets me down, and continues to fill me with joy and fulfillment. Thank you, Digital Extremes, for pulling through your lowest moments and creating this beautiful world; we’re all better for it, but especially I.

Hey thanks for coming to my TED talk; if you’ve made it this far uhhh thanks I guess? Hope it was worth the time haha. Cheers y’all.

[rainystripe]

{one-shot (?)} ROLL DEEP

pairing: Jughead Jones/Betty Cooper fandom: Riverdale 6773 words Summary/excerpt: “Merry Christmas, jo—y” he mutters to himself after securing a large bite of brownie in his mouth. It’s dark in his room during Christmas, but the darkness fades away as his phone lights up with 5 back to back messages from Betty. It doesn’t take much guessing to wonder what she’s sent.

A greeting of course, and a million colorful emoji.

Jug!

Merry Christmas

!

--

or,

Jughead Jones + Netflix and Chill= Betty Cooper?

AO3

Okay, idk where to start LOL. This is inspired by my own dumb text posts and @sweaters-and-crowns inspired me to write this out. I wrote this shit in an entire sitting until my phone was about to die. ANYWAY, a huge, HUGE thank you to @theatreofexpression, @electromagnetic-waves and @rezfaultsmoke for helping me out with this! Honestly, cannot express my gratitude enough <3

I have the option for a possible follow up chapter just in case I go along with it. But lemme know if one of you is interested in collaborating with the second one?!

lastly, Happy Holidays to everyone reading this.

Being alone wasn’t all that bad. Jughead Jones knew that perfectly well. And it’s not that he’s entirely lonely, he has friends and family.

A very spotty family at that, but there’s always a family there for him. And as of late, his choice of family isn’t one by blood in fact, his best friend and his dad are always there for him. Archie and Fred Andrews are always on call for whenever he needs anything. It’s not that Jughead is some type of beggar, because he isn’t, but when he finds that he needs the comforting warmth of familiar faces, good greasy food, and overall good times, the Andrews men are always a good choice.

It’s December 13th in late 2015 when Archie texts Jughead the password to the Netflix account that had recently Fred opened up. The red haired teen has done nothing but gush about how ‘epic’ and ‘fucking awesome’ the application was and at first Jughead doesn’t understand the hype. He’s heard of it, yeah— who hasn’t? The ads are everywhere and so are the stupid memes. Jughead also didn’t understand why he would  need an online theater since there was a perfectly working on through the Bijou and the Twilight. The later of while held glorious tin encased reels from years past. Nothing could compare to the original format of film, but alas, Jughead was born in a different era: the Digital Age.

“Netflix and Chill”

Just hearing Archie talk about the popular term makes the blue eyed teen grimace as he stuffs a chip into his mouth. Archie has been on a quest to ‘get some girls’ and as far as Jughead knew, no one was biting. He does however, know what the entirety of the football team have been ‘getting some fine ass pussy’ (according to Chuck Clayton) as of late, and the not-subtle locker confessions are always accompanied by the Netflix and Chill combo. He doesn’t quite get what the fuss is all about nor does he care. But one thing is for sure, and that is that Jughead Jones doesn’t want to “chill” with a girl while he could be watching a movie on his own.

Unless that girl was blonde, green eyed and super into movies as he was. Elizabeth Cooper was the only girl that he'd hang out with and that was law. No one else could sit with him through a movie, not even his kid sister Jellybean, as she’d talk through the entire selection of his choice and whine about his top choice films for being ‘boring’. Archie was something else, maybe he’d reconsider the ginger if he’d stop falling asleep during Inglourious Basterds. So, Betty was the perfect candidate for watching a movie or t.v series with.

There’s a strange occurrence one day when they all sit for lunch one day, the blonde plops down and immediately dips her head down to ask them something. They’re outside in the blistering cold and Archie is seated next to her while Jughead sits across from the pair. It’s a normal lunch break  until Betty asks what the meaning to ‘chilling with Netflix...or whatever’ meant.

The redhead next to her strings loudly at the wooden guitar while Jughead swears the apple juice he’s just been drinking might’ve gone up his nose. Their reactions only cause Betty’s authoritative gaze to inquire for more information and in typical Cooper fashion, the look demands answers.

“Uh, w-why do you ask, Betts?” Jughead doesn’t mean to stutter, but he does and he doesn’t know why.

Betty blinks and a blonde brow shoots up “Because... Reggie just asked me if I wanted to ‘chill and netflix’ with him.” Her fingers raise to quote her own words, confusion evident on her face. “And then his goonies started to laugh!” She huffs and purses her lips.

Both Archie and Jughead share a knowing look, one of pity from Jughead and the other of awkwardness from his best friend. While Betty picks and tears at the plastic wrapped around her straw, she mumbles in annoyance, distaste as clear as day on her face.

“Ugh. What does that mean?” she mumbles.

Archie’s chocolate eyes urge Jughead’s own icy ones and vice versa. There’s a tiny tug and pull to see who will let Betty in on the dumb trend, and Jughead finally sighs. It always felt weird to talk about anything dirty or suggestive to wholesome Betty Cooper.

“Err— well, Betty…” when he finally starts, her ears perk up and all of her attention is on the beanie clad boy. The curious look and doe eyes make him gulp.

Why did he suddenly feel bad?

“Reggie is being a dumbo as per usual, so don’t listen to anything that leaves his Colgate mouth. But, if you must know…”

The explaining happens and by the end, Betty is fuming in disgust. Archie plants a comforting hand on her back and Jughead offers up the apple on his tray that he never eats as a condolence, one which Betty gratefully pockets for her walk back home after school.

That night, when he’s lounging in tiny space of his living room, his phone rings. Homework has been finished and his backpack was ready for the next class day. Jughead was fresh out the shower and attempting to write on his laptop when the password is texted to him. He stares at his phone for a good minute and ponders if his slow internet would even entice him to download the app on the older computer. It’s not until another text comes through a few minutes later that Archie reminds him of the web browser alternative that he finally gives in and signs into the page.

Writing was sort of boring and the trailer was actually warm for once thanks to the ancient heater that rumbled to life after kicking it in frustration that cold morning. Jughead turns off the light next to him by the couch, allowing darkness to engulf the tiny trailer. The website is simple enough and he realizes that one account already has been set to be his. He snorts and smiles and proceeds to click on the lazy looking image. He doesn’t know where to start; there is an overwhelming amount of content that’s plastered on the main page.

Mean Girls, The Walking Dead, Pocahontas even. Everything is new and flashy and none of it catches his attention and after scrolling for what felt like forever, a recommendation that he recognizes greets him: Rebel Without A Cause.

“Huh, not bad Netflix, not bad at all.” He mutters.

Jughead watches the entirety of the movie and then he’s watches another, and another. He watches a total of four classic films before his eyes close on him. The laptop eventually goes to sleep and Jughead has a strange dream where he’s the main character in a noir inspired film and Betty is a spy that’s out to get him.

—

Surprisingly enough, Netflix becomes a normal part of Jughead’s daily routine. He often finds himself watching The Twilight Zone while getting ready for school. Other times, he’s sitting on the small two person table in the corner of the kitchen while blowing on the instant ramen that he's made for dinner as Nightmare on Elm Street blares through the speakers of his laptop.

He won’t admit it to anyone because he’s not one to admit to anything, but Jughead finds himself literally chilling while watching Netflix. So maybe the concept of an online Blockbuster isn’t all that bad.

The days go on, and when Christmas break finally arrives, a selection of Christmas themed movies filter through his recommended list. Most of the films that have been selected don’t interest him—sans the original Home Alone (and that one only) so Jughead settles on binging the X-Files and going against the holiday mood that the year has bestowed on the entire planet.

“Santa, kiss my ass. Hello, aliens.”

On Christmas Eve, the trio of friends spend a few hours of the afternoon at Pop’s. Betty and Archie bring gifts and spoil Jughead. While he doesn’t have any gifts to give due to his nonexistent cash flow, he does manage to scavenge enough money from under the couch and the inside of his father's truck to pay for two milkshakes.

“Aww, you didn’t have to, Juggie!” críes Betty, but the look in her eyes say otherwise. If there was a way to describe the word ‘mouthwatering’ it would be the way her jade eyes gloss over with glee at the sight of her favorite treat being placed in front of her. Beside’s, milkshakes usually mark the end of their usual meal, so it was tradition anyway.

“It’s fine, Betty. Trust me. Just enjoy it, please.” The burning embarrassment that’s filling his belly makes him squirm at his version of a gift, but alas, his friends don’t seem to care about the quality or price tag.

“Okay.” Betty pouts back, but she cracks not a second after when her finger dips to scoop up the whipped cream topping the strawberry milkshake. The shy smile on her face makes him smile in return and before he can even register what he’s doing, the maraschino cherry from Betty’s treat is being plucked away from its creamy resting place.

“Jug!” she gasps in mild horror.

A sheepish grin breaks out on Jughead after popping the cherry into his mouth.

In the end, Archie offers his which Betty gratefully accepts and chews on while glaring at the dark haired boy sitting across from her.

Betty’s gift is a new cotton sweater in a cool grey, there’s no hoodie or zipper to it, and while it’s not his usual style, it’s very comfortable and warms him up faster than the broken heater. She’s also gifts him with the annual batch of brownies prepared by her mother, ones which he looked forward to every year. The sinful double chocolate chip fudge brownies were the epitome of heaven on earth that Alice Cooper somehow made every year. It was a treat that contradicts her usual strict style of dieting and control of food for her family, but he had no complains about the brownies, and he never will— unless she changes up the recipe to be skinny. His other gift is a 40 dollar gift card to Pops which Archie swears was the best gift ever since he will be able to reload it whenever he wanted to. A suggestion which Archie throws at him that includes the pink card being reloaded by him for his birthday and the following Christmas.

He’s grateful, he really is. Money is a problem, Jughead grew up with minimal money in his life. Being poor and broke and living off used things was the norm for him. He was still too young to find a job and while his father does provide here and there (albeit rarely being home) Jughead manages.

He always manages.

The internet that runs throughout Sunnyside is a shared connection routing through one main trailer where a guy manages to get illegal access to. It’s not the fastest or the best as every trailer uses the line, but it works fine for him when he’s nestles in bed at night. Being a night owl had its perks, no one was awake when he was, which meant that the internet was free of all the traffic that usually slows it down during the day.

Midnight arrives like any other night. There’s a distant crack in the air, fireworks most likely.

“Merry Christmas, jo—y” he mutters to himself after securing a large bite of brownie in his mouth. It’s dark in his room during Christmas, but the darkness fades away as his phone lights up with 5 back to back messages from Betty. It doesn’t take much guessing to wonder what she’s sent.

A greeting of course, and a million colorful emoji.

Jug!

Merry

Christmas

!

followed by a plethora of green Christmas trees and pink hearts (oddly enough) a few reindeer, presents, bows and confetti. All which she flawlessly executes with the dramatic background effect on the messaging app which lights up with animated fireworks.

“Geez, Betty. An enigma you are.” He reckons out loud before replying with his own simple greeting.

Merry Christmas, Betty. followed by a plain thumbs up.

—

Exactly two years later, 2016 Jughead Jones would have actually laughed in the face of his present self when told that he was in a romantic relationship. A romantic relationship with a girl, not a stranger, but Elizabeth Cooper.

Jughead was sure that love wasn’t for him. Love and affection had screwed him over since the day he was conceived. His father, FP Jones was a recovering alcoholic now, but he he used to be a poor father. A gang leader, drug dealer with major issues. Gladys Jones— his mother, who knows where the hell she’d fucked off to. She claims to be in Toledo with his grandparents and younger sister Jellybean, but who knows really.

Life had gotten complex during the summer of 2017. A local golden boy had been murdered and the mystery of who did it had somehow brought Betty and himself closer together, so close in fact that Jughead realized that his feelings for her were much farther from friendly.

They had their ups and downs as any couple does. At some point he was sure that they just couldn’t work out. It was as if the universe and his cursed destiny tried to pry him from anything good in his life, but he should have known Betty.

Boy, should he have, especially when dealing with Betty and her world famous stubbornness.

Her fight and reassurance kicks him in the face, planting firmly the idea that he controls his own path and destiny. So, ever since their last breakup back during Halloween, things have been well for the young couple. So well in fact that he was sure he was permanently high.

High off Betty Cooper.

A delicious high, one which he couldn’t get enough of. Her scent, her skin, eyes nose and lips, every bit of Betty was a craving that he woke up to every morning. Jughead was still somewhat shy and awkward around her, that was who he was in personality. He wasn’t some stud who walked around oozing sex appeal and constantly grabbing his girlfriends ass while out in public. Far from it.

Behind closed doors and in the comfort of certain places, both teens found solace in each other’s arms. A comfort and warm that could brave anything the outside world brought to them. No attempt at joining his father's ex-gang could break them. Alice Cooper’s demands to leave FP’s son in Southside went on deaf ears.

Jughead muttered words of love to Betty.

“I love you...I love you.”

She’d watched in surprise at his confession, one which filled her with so much joy that she found the words to mutter them back with tears looking at her jade eyes as she inched closer with a heart crushing smile on her face.

“Jughead Jones, I love you.”

Betty was a part of him then and an even more important one now.

The warm scent of coconut wafts up his nostrils. It’s Christmas again, and this year Betty is spending it with him in the dinky trailer. It’s cold inside and neither teen have bothered to separate from each other to run out and grab the portable heater that Betty had brought along.

Betty’s lips are on his, working through a wet frenzy that makes his stomach clench in need. Their kiss is sloppy to say the least. Long have the brownies been forgotten. The fresh sweets where the reason as to why she was with him in the first place, having begged Alice to let her take the car to drop them off. Even though it was midnight now, Betty had perfectly mapped out when to ask and leave the house.

“Mm—Betty, your mom—“  Jughead muttered between kisses.

“—is asleep” she replied around a mouthful full of tongue. Feverish kisses filled the air of the cramped trailer, their mouths digging deeper into one another. Betty whimpered at the feel of Jughead’s tongue curling against her own, her hands coming down to keep her steady against the edges of the couch.

“You sure?”

“Positive, now shut up and kiss me.” She smiled into his lips. The blue eyed boy eyes crinkled in response, a mischievous smile creeping tugging at the corners of his mouth.

“If you say so.” He finished before attacking her moist lips once more. Teeth came in contact and wet sounds filled the air. The short gasps of air warmed up their faces as they continued to kiss until Betty was resting her back against the worn out cushions of the couch.

This Christmas was already starting off with a literal bang and Jughead had never been so excited for any holiday in his life.

Nimble fingers slip into midnight curls, tugging Jughead closer into her mouth. The same fingers feel good against his scalp which send a delicious sensation down his spine and across his entire body. He’s positioned himself above the blonde, making sure not to crush her by hoisting his body up by one knee in between her legs while the other hangs off the couch. Betty’s legs however, are a different story. The couch was far too small and they were both too tall. One of Betty’s legs is propped up against the headrest of the couch while the other struggles to stay curled around his hanging leg. Gravity doesn’t help and her leg is constantly dragging down before she hoists it back up into place.

Betty notes the taste on his lips and tongue, it’s sweet from the brownies and strong from the coffee he’d downed earlier. The taste is delicious and she can’t get enough and makes sure to let it be known when she curls her tongue against his own, sucking on it lightly. The action causes the deep rumble of his moan to rip through the deepest reaches of his body. It strikes her as super sexy and she moans back.

Jughead latches onto her bottom lip, knipping it softly before plucking it. Her cherry lips are engorged and plump, screaming in a lovely tint that only beckons him to return. Her chest is heaving and his hand reaches out to lift the peach colored top from her body. The tiniest brush against her skin burns him and suddenly the room is no longer freezing, but scalding hot.

Sucking in a ragged breath, Betty manages to lift the top half of her body and arms to remove her sweater, leaving her in a flower patterned lace bra. The laptop screen is still bright in front of them. Home Alone is playing in the background and the hotel scene manages to accentuate the lighting around Betty.

Jughead swallows at the mere sight of Betty’s glowing honey eyes under the effect of the screen. A sheen of gloss on her lips blinds him and he wants nothing more than to kiss her again.

He’s about to lean down when she stops with him with a warm hand on his chest.

Her usually alert eyes are blown wide and lust envelops the usually sweet girl. Her bottom lip is caught between her teeth and Jughead feels his mouth go dry.

Betty is stunning.

The swell of her breasts calls to him and he can’t get close. The periwinkle tinted bra is tight against her skin and he wonders if he can free her from it soon. Betty, however has other plans. She shoots him a shy look and avoids eye contact and she wiggles out of her skirt.

“Betty?” He whispers. Why? He doesn’t know. It’s not like there’s someone else in the trailer.

When the fabric reaches her knees, Jughead takes it as a signal to move back and give her space to watch her as she lifts her long legs in the air to dispose of the wine colored skirt.

It’s a sight, and wonderful one at that. Long creamy legs, supple thighs and matching set of underwear greet him and blue eyes watch intently as Betty bends both knees in front of her stomach. Her pink sneakers dangle in front if him as her arms reach for her knees, hugging them close to her chest. A teasing smile causes his boxers to feel tighter. Blood pumps down south and Jughead groans. The only time that he chooses to wear boxers briefs too. The strain is stifling and he feels the urge to get naked then and there.

“Betts…” He sighs in desperation. He doesn’t know why she’s huddled up or why she’s smiling at him him like that, but damn does she looks good enough to eat.

“Jug…” she copies. Her hands move from cupping her knees to roaming down her legs all while keeping her knees close. It’s a movement that baby blue eyes never stray away from.

Jughead’s eyes widen slightly, urging her on. “Yeah?”

Suddenly she’s nervous, very nervous. There’s something that she’s been wanting for a few days now, a repeat of what they first tried a week prior. An experiment that involved Jughead’s mouth. It’s hunted her, the thought and memories combined with feelings causing arousal to pool in between her legs.

She can’t help wanting to stop their act to get a dose of his mouth on her nether region, but the need is incredibly strong and her panties only become wetter by the second.

“I want you...here.” Her legs part slightly, allowing enough space for her arm to budge through her thigh to cover her sex through her underwear. Betty gulps in anticipation, wondering if Jughead will say no and if she’s ruined the moment with her request.

Their sexual history was tame, wild missionary sex with the occasional ass in the air for Betty as Jughead pounds at her from behind. Sex was new, and they’d only been experimenting for a few weeks, so introducing something new was always nerve wracking. Betty remembers how shy he’d been when she had stuffed her hand into his jeans two nights after their loss of virginity. A day after that Jughead rubbed her into an orgasm over her panties while waiting for school to start. Even then, they’d both fumbled during the entire process. A series of apologies littered the entire thing consummation.

They were wet behind the ears, yes, but that didn’t stop two hormonal teenagers from lusting after each other. Two weeks prior, Jughead managed to gather his thoughts and went down on Betty for the first time, earning him a wet nose and chin with a thigh crushing orgasm against his head from Betty all while doing it on her childhood bed. It must have been good enough to want her to ask for seconds, because his heart has leapt at her sudden request.

���Oh.” He said lightly.

Noticing his response not being as enthusiastic as she’d imagined it be, Betty’s legs slowly drop back down, embarrassment engulfing her. Again, her heart quickens and a dull ring is the only thing that she can properly register. Quickly, she moves to sit up, green eyes avoiding his. The shame in her face is obvious and Betty feels stupid for ruining the moment.

Why couldn’t she have just let nature take its course without having to interrupt it for her own selfish needs?

“You know, never mind.” A nervous laugh escapes her and Betty is moving to sit up but Jughead stops her. The boy moves in closer to her, and her legs are nudged apart. Her heart slams against her chest and Betty is blinking up at Jughead in surprise.

“It’s okay, Betty. I’ll do it...you don’t have to ask.” He adds shyly. His eyes wander to hers, locking together that it becomes hard to look away.

It was surprising that she’s asked him to repeat the act. The first time was sloppy and not how he’d imagine it to be, but he had managed to make her come and since it was never brought up again until now, Jughead had guessed she didn’t like it.

But now, his member was growing stiffer against his boxers the longer that he thought about tasting Betty again.

“Oh, I just…” her green eyes also wander off with an equally awkward look on her face, but  her focus moves to his pajama pants where a bulge was beginning to form. The red in her cheeks is adorable and Jughead suddenly leans down to kiss her, catching her off guard. Betty gasps into the kiss, opening her mouth wider for Jughead’s tongue to invade every inch. The kiss gets heated, and Jughead body pushes down against her own, making Betty lay down once again.

As they kiss, Jughead inhales deeply, enjoying the mewls that escaped Betty when taking her leg to prop back up against the headrest. His hand trails down from her knee, down the smooth skin of her inner thigh.

The continue to kiss with Betty breaking contact to shuffle closer down towards his knee, spreading her legs even wider in the process by hooking an arm under her other leg. Kisses are placed against his jaw and down the exposed skin of his neck. It’s only when her nose nuzzles his sweater does he realize that he’s still fully clothed.

Jughead shrugs off the material in a hurry, his hair becoming a mess of curls jutting in every direction, a look which makes Betty bite at the corner of her bottom lip.

He looks delicious.

Shirtless, with wild hair and a trail of dark hair that disappears into his pajama pants. Jughead makes Betty’s clit throb in need, so much so that her hand leaves her leg to cup her center instead. The fabric is moist to the touch and Betty gasps at how sensitive she feels at the simplest of pressure.

“Juggie…”

Jughead’s stormy eyes shine black under the light of the laptop screen, the shadows cast complex shadows on Jughead’s body which cause Betty to lick at her lips when trailing her eyes down his exposed chest and hips. The black band of his boxers pokes through the blue hues of the plaid pattern of his bottoms. The dip in his hips is sharp and balances out the smooth taut skin of his abdomen while his arms fill out with a strong bulk of muscle that works for his body type: not too much but enough to make her mouth water.

“Lay back Betty.”

And she does, head coming in contact with the wood skeleton of the ancient armrest. The butterflies in her stomach suddenly burst into a flurry of excitement that make her suck in a breath of anticipation. Both of her hands come to lay on her stomach, her chest rising and falling at an alarming rate.

“I’m gonna go down on you, okay?” It's not until Jughead moves slightly that Betty ss able to see how deep his eyes have darkened, the pupils of his eyes gone pitch black with a single ring of blue circling the iris. The look alone cause her walls to pulse on their own and Betty nods.

“Okay.”

The movie is long forgotten and the brownies are as cold by then. Jughead finds a spot on his stomach to lay on, its cramped on the couch. It’s one of the time where he wishes he could move them to the bed, but all that walking would ruin some of the mood.

When he’s nestled in front Betty’s spread legs, her arousal become more evident. There’s a dark patch on her panties and the fabric sticks to her folds like a second skin.

“Jug…”

He glances up at Betty, who’d eventually moved up a bit to give him space. Her blonde head now rests on the armrest, one leg still up on the head rest while the other is dangled off his couch. Betty’s green eyes were dark and glazed over in need, both her hands fisted at her hips.

“Sorry, babe.” Her arousal was strong, enticing and doing things to him. Jughead’s hand move to hover above her panty before hooking a finger right over the soaked spot to push the material to the side, exposing Betty to the cool air. She shudders at the exposure and shifts slightly. It’s still somewhat embarrassing to be so exposed, but Jughead boosts a confidence in her that she was sure she didn’t have before and she loves it.

Gulping at the sight, Jughead inches closer to Betty, the elegant slit, moist and beckoning for attention.

“You know, somehow this is better than those brownies.” He muses, smirking.

Betty’s cheeks flame up at the comment and her legs move to close before he’s reaching up to push them apart.

She’s embarrassed and rightfully so, they both have yet to stare openly at each other so intimately.

“Please” She whispers. “I want this.” Betty whines and bucks her hips, rolling them in want. The blonde patch of hair above her pink folds is always a sight to behold. It’s cute and suits her and while he didn’t understand her need to trim, Jughead decides that it is very Betty like to have and quite frankly, he doesn’t care how she looks like down there.

His fingers brush over the tougher hair, tugging at it slightly before running them down her moist lips. And in one swoop, his face is burying down on to her warm core.

Nose deep, Jughead sucks in the air around him, slowing down to breath while indulging in Betty. A shudder rips through her body and she shakes beneath him with a moan so loud that it alarms even herself. Immediately, her hands reach to grab onto anything. And Betty finds her nails digging into the back of the armrest and the cushion beneath her. Her body arches, hips rolling into her boyfriends mouth while her body twists in pleasure. The shaking never stops and Betty knows she isn’t cold.

“Ah—“ she cries out. Jughead closes his eyes, his tongue rolling up and down Betty’s folds, making sure to stop on her clit to rub circles on the bundle of nerves. She’s shaking and he smirks into her skin.

Her body hasn’t been stimulated like that, with a ravenous mouth. As it stands, the young couple are novices who only have missionary (for the most part.) sex. So, having Jughead delicately grind his soft tongue against her aching clit sends her over the moon and Betty finds that her body won’t stop shaking from excitement.

The taste is something he can’t describe. It’s unlike anything he’s tasted before, but he likes it. It’s Betty and he’s causing her to release her juices. A boost of confidence washes over him and his mouth continues to work harder. Jughead’s dark head swivels against Betty, and she blushes when she catches a glimpse of his work.

Up, down, side to side, his tongue laps through pink folds. He even comes in contact with her entrance, teasing it with a few light probes which cause her to gasp and scramble to sit up on her elbows. He’s doing something right and he continues to pleasure Betty even more.

“Ooh, like that, Juggie...oh.” Betty moans, watching Jughead’s dark head go to work on her. The view is intoxicating and it’s hard to register that the act is happening to her. The sight is in fact her underwear, her patch of blonde, all which bluntly remind her that Jughead Jones is buried nose deep in her pussy.

She tosses her head back in ecstasy the moment the sucking on her engorged clit becomes too much. The pleasure is tingling and her body is on fire. Betty’s blonde tresses have long been let loose and she runs her fingers through her hair, gripping at the scalp to control the moans that she’s too embarrassed to release and Jughead takes notice.

The sucking become quicker, matching his beating heart, a rapid motion that causes Betty to gasp loudly. Her green eyes snap down to stare at him in awe, pink lips parted. Tiny moans and ‘yes, yes’ invade his body urging him on.

The sucking become sloppy, and Jughead returns to licking her wildly while Betty grinds her sex against his mouth. Her cries are starting to become louder, the filter slowly disappearing.

“That’s it, no need to hold it in.” He pauses to urge her on. He wants to hear Betty, he wants to hear and see how badly she wants him. The strain in his boxers is unbearable and at some point Jughead finds his own hips grinding into the corners of the cushion to release some friction. The gyration against his hips against the cushion only urges him on and before both know it, his mouth back on Betty. Jughead’s hunger is amplified by the use of his tongue on Betty.

“Oh fuck—“ the sob that tears through the living room makes Jughead stop his actions. The sight of Betty riding through her orgasm is indescribable. Like an flower bud finally unraveling and blossoming, Betty is a literal description of the act. Betty gasps, her breath hitching as her body shakes and her hips snap in front of him three times. Tiny grunts explode from her shaking body and the sounds make Jughead shudder.

The scene is erotic and beautiful, better than any scene in any movie.

“Wow.” Breaths Jughead after she’s landed back down. The shaking has minimized but her thighs still twitch against the sides of his arms. Betty pushes up against the corner of the couch with a finger trapped in her teeth. Her blonde locks are a mess and cover her eyes but to Jughead, it as the sexiest thing he’s ever witnessed.

The tired smile that Betty manages blows the air right out of him.

“God, Betty. That was...stunning.” He breathes, leaning over to her and brushing the golden strands away from her face.

“Mm, you’re so good at that, Jug.” She croaks, her voice light as she struggled to catch her breath. Somehow, Betty finds the will to smirk seductively at him. Jughead groans. “You’re going to be the death of me.”

Again, all Betty can manage to do is groan and tug him down for a kiss.

“I love you, Juggie. I love you so much.” Her declaration make his heart swell, as well as his cock. He’s sure that she’s sucking on his lower lip to taste herself, and it’s made more obvious when she laps at the bottom of his lip.

“Thank you.” She’s still shaking and her stomach continues to jerk against her will and Jughead notices when his hand brushes her navel.

And Betty can taste herself, she can also smell herself which makes her stomach coil in need. She has had a mind blowing orgasm, and she wanted more. But she was sure that she couldn’t  go through another one so soon, but she finds Jughead’s hand and leads his fingers to her sensitive folds.

“You did that.” Betty whispers hotly against his ears.

Jughead sucks in a breath and nods, his voice lowering. “I did…”

“Mm.”

The silent foreplay continues and Jughead doesn’t move from his position right above Betty. He continues to rub lazily along her even slicker folds which cause her to gasp and buck her hips. Jughead loves the result that he’s caused. When he comes in contact with her swollen clit, Betty jerks and immediately grabs him by the wrists and shoots him a shy look.

“I don’t think I can do another one just yet.” Biting her lip, Betty blinks up at him and Jughead nods, leaning down to kiss her forehead.

Jughead freezes, silently cursing for kissing her there right after where he’s mouth has been.  Betty seems to notice and giggles.

“It’s okay, Jug. I’ll take a shower as soon as I get home...which I should be doing right about--“ when reaching for her phone on the coffee table, the blonde just about shoots up a foot high.

“Ohmygod.”

“Ohmygod, Jug. I gotta go! My mom's going to kill me!” Like a hurricane, Betty sprints from the couch only stopping to fix her underwear before she’s slipping the crumpled skirt back over her legs and Jughead frowns.

Really?

As confused as he is, he still manages to move out of her way. What time was it anyway? She’s been over for what? Two hours? Also, Betty had been positive that her mother would be knocked out by now.

“Betty, I’m sure your mom won’t notice—“  Betty interrupts him as soon as he starts by shoving her phone in his face. It’s 3:24 am and there are three missed calls and a text: all from ‘Momster’

“Oh shit. Betty.” Jughead’s eyes had gone wide and he moves to help her move along. He guesses that he can live with blue balls than face the wrath of Alice Cooper. After all, he can always get access to Betty when he wants to and if he asks nicely. But for now, he’s helping her by throwing the red scarf over her shoulder and wrapping it as best as he can while she retires her hair.

“She’s going to murder me. When did it become 3?” The panic is evident and he feels bad for her. If he could, he would show up to doorstep and take the verbal beating instead.

“Better yet, why is she still up?” Jughead muses. Betty stops and wonders, but shakes her head after a moment. Time was precious and Alice Cooper did not wait. Taking her bag from the single seat, she leans in and plants a kiss on his lips. “I’m sorry I couldn’t...help you out.”

Both teens move to look at his crotch and Jughead coughs. Turning at an angle to avoid the attention that his erection was receiving. It's not as bad as it was earlier, all the Alice talk ruining the mood in the end.

“It’s fine. No need to worry about me, Betts.”

Betty shoots him a sad smile, she really does feel bad. She wanted more but they had no time. So instead she makes a promise. Jughead blinks when Betty steps closer, her warm breath, ghosting over his ear.

“I’ll make it up to you. Think of it as part two to your present?” His body shudders with excitement at the thought. His body also freezes at the hand that squeezes at his cock through the thin material of his pajama bottoms.

“Be—“

Betty Cooper winks and waves before she’s out the door and running towards the station wagon parked in front of the trailer. Jughead stands there for a split second before rushing to the door, watching as the head beams light up the makeshift driveway and as Betty pulls out. She manages a wave through the window and he returns it. The station wagon peels out of Sunnyside Park, driving off into the distance.

Once she’s gone, Jughead takes a quick shower and drops into the bed in a heap of sexual frustration. He’d tried to help himself out under the cool water that the trailer managed to pump out, but he didn’t get far. A hand did not compare to Betty’s hands and lips. He can’t help the lingering arousal but the night had been fun and it turned out different than what he expected. It’s a Christmas completely different to the previous ones before and he wouldn’t have it any other way.

When he’s nestled into the warm sheets, his phone lights up.

A message from Betty.

Netflix and Chill? My house 6:40 sharp. Parents are visiting Polly.

He snorts at the term, the same term which he now remembers caused Betty to make the stinkiest face he’s ever seen. It’s not something he’d like back then, but he’s suddenly very grateful for Archie talking so much about the app that it somehow brought Betty and Jughead together for Christmas.

And besides, it’s not like they’ll be watching anything. There has to be something to distract them to set the mood. Who really watches a movie when they have a significant other anymore?

Netflix and Chill? You bet.

The phone clicks as it’s turned off and Jughead grins in the darkness, excited for the next couple of hours.

—-

merry chrystler, murry curr’mas!!

[ice-creamforbreakfast]

@goatkibble replied to your photo “We were so young and innocent before entering this museum ��#Germany...”

That is obviously a false statement if I have ever heard one :P

HOW DARE :P (....true)

@goatkibble replied to your photo “#iamclearlyunculturedasfuck #becauseidontunderstandthis #atall...”

What fresh hell is this?! Having said that, there is something about it I like...

Yeaahh I was kind of torn that way, but more on the WTF side of the fence.

@itsyuiri replied to your photo “Send help ��#art #modernart #museum #dusseldorf #germany (at K21...”

That looks so messed up :D Or as we Germans like to say "Ist das Kunst oder kann das weg?"

I translated that and it’s an excellent phrase that I’ll be stealing XD

@desiree-uk replied to your photo “Send help ��#art #modernart #museum #dusseldorf #germany (at K21...”

I'm scared!

Me too D:

@desiree-uk replied to your photo “#iamclearlyunculturedasfuck #becauseidontunderstandthis #atall...”

I don't have a dirty mind at all, but I thought I just walked into a bondage parlour or something LOL

I do and my mind went straight there lolol.

@quiddity-jones replied to your photo “Send help ��#art #modernart #museum #dusseldorf #germany (at K21...”

I'm dying here

I thought that I was going to D:

@holypiepudding replied to your photoset “Vanessa is now available at MTS!”

Ohh wcif the dress in the first pic?? ❤❤❤

If it’s not credited in the download post, it’ll be from the base game or an EP. Off of the top of my head, Island Paradise :)

@itsyuiri replied to your photo “This is the god that I pray to. #rittersport #chocolate #ritter...”

Oh wow, now I'm really craving a nice piece of Ritter Sport >.< It's been too long since I had some.

You need some :D Do itttt!

@ninjaofthepurplethings replied to your photo “Miaface #cat #miathecat #cats (at Werne An Der Lippe,...”

������

She is lovely :D

@desiree-uk replied to your photo “Miaface #cat #miathecat #cats (at Werne An Der Lippe,...”

'Does this face look happy?' :D

Hahaha, she was sweet really!

@un-reborntrip replied to your photoset “������������”

The last very great dinosaurs

Bwahaha so true! Tiny raptors!

@quiddity-jones replied to your photo “Miaface #cat #miathecat #cats (at Werne An Der Lippe,...”

The animals of Germany are having none of your shit.

So true XD

@quiddity-jones replied to your photoset “������������”

That chicken is having none of your shit

Bwahaha :D

@acquiresimoleons replied to your photoset “������������”

you have stumbled into stardew valley

Yesss it was just like that :D

@itsyuiri replied to your photoset “������������”

I was going to say, these field shots looks particularly German :D And the weather's not too shabby either these days. Seems like spring is just around the corner ����

About ten minutes after that, the sky opened, but we had a nice morning :)

@spladoum replied to your photoset “������������”

BWAK BWAK BWAK

BWAAAAAAWK!!

@treason-and-plot replied to your photoset “������������”

German cock ����

A sight for sore eyes XD

@ktarsims replied to your photo “I’m old now, so I end up in bed before 11 after a few glasses of wine...”

@ice-creamforbreakfast I passed that milestone a while ago. XD Just sayin’!

Wahahaha, mine is so far limited to wine. Spirits don’t have the same effect.

@mspoodle1 replied to your photoset “Making sims at @titosims house :D”

Fun!

It was :D

@mspoodle1 replied to your photoset “MoonMoon has claimed me��”

♥♥♥ I swear this is Coco's doppelganger!

They are quite alike :) !

@rosie-posts replied to your photoset “MoonMoon has claimed me��”

Awe - how cute :)

MoonMoon is an evil genius, but very cute <3

@acquiresimoleons replied to your photoset “MoonMoon has claimed me��”

Awww!

<3

@ninjaofthepurplethings replied to your photoset “MoonMoon has claimed me��”

D’awww! Adorable! You lucky human! ��

Apparently I am! MoonMoon hates everyone XD

@desiree-uk replied to your photoset “Making sims at @titosims house :D”

Ooh, he's lovely! So this is what you get up to when visiting other people :D

Within about an hour of getting there haha!

@simsoes replied to your photoset “Making sims at @titosims house :D”

Hope you guys are having a nice time! :D

We did! It was so good to make our friendship offline so to speak too and to meet Tito’s lovely mum (and her mum’s partner).

@nornities replied to your photoset “Making sims at @titosims house :D”

Haha, have fun! Looking forward to see more of your collabs :D

There will definitely be more collabs :D

@buckleysims replied to your photoset “Making sims at @titosims house :D”

Fun! He's so cute, too! ♥♥♥

Thank you :D

@titosims reblogged your photoset and added:

Loooook!!! :D

<3

@ninjaofthepurplethings replied to your post “Not dead, but I *am* on a train to visit @titosims!!”

Wooohooo! I am so excited for you both! ❤️x

We had such a good time!

@ninjaofthepurplethings replied to your photo “I’m old now, so I end up in bed before 11 after a few glasses of wine...”

��❤️��

:D

@titosims replied to your photo “I’m old now, so I end up in bed before 11 after a few glasses of wine...”

♥

<3

@simsoes replied to your photo “I’m old now, so I end up in bed before 11 after a few glasses of wine...”

Lol! What about passing out on the couch after 2 glasses of vino while watching a sims lp on yt.. ��cheers love! ;)

That also counts haha!

@anitmb reblogged your photo and added:

Oh please woman. That’s not old. Wait till you get...

Wahaha it’s fast approaching :D

@davidmont replied to your photo “I’m old now, so I end up in bed before 11 after a few glasses of wine...”

Omg what a beautiful woman ������

Thank you lovely <3 <3

@itsyuiri replied to your photo “I’m old now, so I end up in bed before 11 after a few glasses of wine...”

Welcome to the last-year-in-your-twenties club, whoop whoop! �� We better enjoy it while we can! And just so you know, you look magnificent!

I’m dragging it right out :P As a premature baby, I will be stretching it right to my due date ;)

@ktarsims replied to your photo “I’m old now, so I end up in bed before 11 after a few glasses of wine...”

I'm always amused when you young people talk about how old you are. xD

Dangnabbit XD

@nornities replied to your photo “I’m old now, so I end up in bed before 11 after a few glasses of wine...”

Hey, welcome - you picked the first spring day :) Funny, so close!

Yes! Maybe next time we’ll say hello :D

@alexpilgrimblog replied to your photo “I’m old now, so I end up in bed before 11 after a few glasses of wine...”

Hey, I feel just the same, I'm going to bed after a few glasses of wine.. though your'e much younger and lovely than me! ;)

<3 <3 Wine has such a creeping death effect haha!

@goatkibble replied to your photo “Sandy has a new snow jacket to stop the snow from sticking to his fur...”

Sandy is spoiled as heck! XDDD

He really is. They all are XD

[wozman23]

My 2020 in Gaming

I finished my 100th video game of the year yesterday. In a normal year that would be an embarrassing feat. By in 2020, pretty much stuck within these four walls for nearly nine months now, I'm really proud of it. The last few years, my gaming habits took a severe hit due to working too much. I was fortunate to have the finances to pick up the PlayStation VR and the Switch, but I couldn't dedicate a lot of time to them, and when I did, the joy wasn't there as much since I was often exhausted. In 2018, I still managed to get through almost 40 games, but last year that number fell to 25. There was so much I wanted to play, but I just didn't have the free time. And then 2020 dealt me a lifeline... When LA came to a halt, three and a half months into the year, I was only working on finishing Game #6. Since then, I've been on a tear. A large part of my efficiency came from two choices. In late April, I signed up for Xbox Game Pass for $1 for the first month. Then in June, the “Racial Injustice” Bundle with hundreds of PC games – about a dozen of which I really wanted to play - released on itch.io. Overall, it was a solid mix of AAA games and indie games, although I've skewed more toward indies for years now. There were big anticipated releases like The Last of Us, Part II and Doom Eternal. Splatoon 2 finally got the shrink wrap pulled off that it's been suffocating in for years. (It was fantastic, so I'm not sure why I waited so long.) There were massive games that I put dozens of hours into, like my 77 hours descending into the madness of Hades, or my 69 soaking in the world of Ghost of Tsushima, with a sizeable chunk of those hours being me just toying around with Photo Mode. (Props to the PS5 for finally telling you your playtimes via the OS.) There were dozens of small indie games that only took a few hours to complete – which is kind of my sweet spot these days. A few weighed in at just 30 minutes, like Swarm, a Steam game I found through Get Indie Gaming's Youtube channel, or Syphonia, a student project from ISART Digital that I was anticipating. There were games I replayed, like some of my favorites of all time, Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy and Alan Wake, as well as the remastered versions of Ghostbusters: The Video Game and the Crash Bandicoot and Spyro trilogies. There was great stuff I paid for, and a few awesome games that I got for free through the Epic Games Store, or via subscriptions with PlayStation Plus, Game Pass Ultimate, or the times I took advantage of free trials of Amazon Prime. And I even got hooked on an online multiplayer only game, which has only happened on a handful of occasions in the history of online play.A lot of people are going to look back on 2020 as a terrible year, but for me it's been a godsend. It's allowed me to enjoy multiple passions, with gaming being one of the biggest. Like any hobby, my gaming habits over the years have ebbed and flowed. Overall, the last generation I've been fortunate to own every major console for the first time in a generation. Yet – outside of a few phenomenal games like Horizon Zero Dawn, ASTRO BOT Rescue Mission on VR, and the other aforementioned PlayStation first party titles – overall I wasn't really impressed as much with the AAA offerings. The indie scene is only gaining ground. But with the PS5, the proper return of my all-time favorite franchise, Ratchet & Clank, and my Game Pass renewed until 2022, I'm optimistic about where gaming is headed. As for my favorite games that released this year, here's my list: 1. The Last of Us, Part II 2. Battletoads 3. CARRION 4. Hades 5. ASTRO's Playroom 6. Filament 7. Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout 8. Bugsnax 9. Ghost of Tsushima 10. Ori and the Will of the Wisps The Last of Us, Part II The original The Last of Us was my favorite game of the previous generation, as well as the most impressive game of all time. It was mind-numbingly good, so much so that I really did not want a sequel. I didn't even want to replay it. It was one of those things that just felt complete. Nothing more needed to be said, and in doing so, there would be a large risk at ruining what made it great. Slowly, Naughty Dog eroded away at me, and I began to anticipate the sequel. Right before it I even replayed the remaster of the original. Part II is one of those rare project that manages to one-up what you thought was already perfection. It's like a 30 hour blockbuster movie that just keeps ramping up in intensity. So much of what makes it special is within the design of its details: the way it presents itself, the pacing, its message. Like many, key details were spoiled by online trolls prior to launch, but it really didn't matter. This post could be just as long and be only about The Last of Us, Part II. (I still may write something up at some point.) There's just so much of it to dissect. But it's impossible to talk about without spoiling all of its magical moments. It simply offers a masterclass in game design and narrative flow. I really don't need a Part III, but should one exist, I know damn well I'll be there. Battletoads I loved the original Battletoads. I even replayed it, and beat it with the help of the Rare Replay rewind feature right after playing the new entry. It's practically impossible otherwise. When there was talk of a new game I was hyped. But when it was finally revealed, with a completely different art style, I was taken aback. Because of that, I went in to the new entry not expecting much. However, that stylistic choice is exactly what put it in the Number 2 spot in my list. The original Battletoads concept was created to ape the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and the original game felt much like the early TMNT brawlers. The new Battletoads doubles down though, expanding their empire to combat TMNT's cartoons. The game itself is a fairly straight forward 2D brawler, that looks and plays great, but the real stars are the cutscenes and the humor. It has this great Saturday morning cartoon vibe that I've never seen a game nail near as well. I don't watch a lot of the modern cartoons, but many have compared it to Rick & Morty. It's really quick, and silly, and feels exactly what a company should be aiming for if they wanted to create the next TMNT craze in the world today. Sure, the game itself is nowhere near perfect in all dimensions, but the way it tackles humor is really impressive and admirable. That's the main reason it occupies my Number 2 spot. CARRION CARRION reminds me a lot of INSIDE, typeset aside. INSIDE for me was this solid atmospheric game that at it's end became this awesome fever dream, but was over just when it was getting interesting. CARRION feels like INSIDE's spiritual successor. You play as this creepy creature, with all these grotesque tentacles, and you just run amok. It's just plain fun. Plus it's an insanely unique lifeform to play as, and there's nothing more I love than playing a game where you take on the role of some strange creature. Like many of the indie games I love, CARRION doesn't overstay its welcome. Over the few hours of its journey, it iterates, provides you with some unique challenges, they grabs its hat and coat and bids you adieu. There's nothing more I love than a game with that approach. Show me something cool. Make me play something that feels like something I've yet to experience in my over 30 years of gaming. Then get out of the way so that I can find another game that makes me feel that way. Kudos to Game Pass as well for partnering with the CARRION developers and offering the game on release day. I was looking forward to the game, but with so many games on my radar, I often simply can't get around to all of them. Had I needed to purchase CARRION, it might have had to wait in the wings for a while. I've played so many games on Game Pass this year that I may have otherwise never actually purchased, and many of them have found the ranks among my favorites from the last few years. Hades Up until now, I'd like Supergiant Games as a creative studio. I've played all of their games, and loved the artistry present in them. However, I've always felt like the gameplay was a bit lackluster. Not previously being a fan of roguelike games – although Game Pass has provided some great experiences there as well – I initially had no plans to buy Hades. But praise was unanimous, the Epic Store gave people a $10 coupon just for downloading Rocket League for free, and it was on sale for $5 off, so I scooped it up for $10. At first, I thought I had made a mistake. I wasn't really into it. But then it slowly started to sink its hooks into me. After about 30 runs, I'd finally vanquished Hades himself. And what was your reward: a brief encounter with your mother, followed by your death and cyclical return to The Underworld. And that's really where the brilliance of Hades comes in. In beating the game, you realize you have only scratched the surface. I played around 70 more runs. I got the full story from my mother. I tried out the different weapons. I played around with the perks and heat gauge. I maxed out the relationships with almost everyone. (I never got Demeter's final few dialog options to pop.) All along the way, I kept thinking, I'll quit after I do X, but then Y and Z would egg me on even further. I spent 77 hours in that world. Sometimes, with nothing to do during the day, I'd practically play all day long. No other game this year took up that much of my time. Few ever do. Not bad for a game I initially had buyers remorse for. ASTRO's Playroom I wasn't sure I was going to be able to get a PS5 at launch. I got lucky on release day thanks to the PlayStation Direct website. (Every other retailer is a giant hunk of shit, who doesn't care if they sell to an actually gaming fan or some asshole reseller.) Had I not secured an early PS5, it wasn't a big deal. Most of the games I wanted to play were coming to PS4 as well. The baked-in ASTRO's Playroom was the only exception. And there's always that extra special feeling of playing something right when it comes out. It's funny to think that the best PS5 game is given away for free with every console, but that is just the case. Much like ASTRO BOT Rescue Mission, which did wonders for showing off what PlayStation VR could do – it was my 2018 GOTY - ASTRO's Playroom shows off what the PS5 can do, primarily via the advancements of the DualSense controller and the solid state hard drive. I've never been one to care for graphics, and the PS5 will surely evolve over time, but those two details are what makes the device feel truly “next gen” so far. The way the triggers adjust tension is so wild. I really don't know how much they'll be used, but it's a cool option to have. And loading times are practically non-existent. (I've since went back to the Xbox One for a few more Game Pass releases, and loading times feel jarring.) As far as ASTRO goes, he's a terrific mascot in an age where mascot platformers aren't really a thing anymore. The experience relies heavily on nostalgia, as you collect relics of PlayStation's past. Also scattered throughout are other bots dressed up to reference other franchises. Dozens of franchises are represented, from characters like Crash, to Ratchet, to Kutaro from Puppeteer. It's really a lovely homage to PlayStation that any longtime fan will enjoy. Plus, it's a really fun game to play, with beautiful tech themed worlds, some infectious earworms, and some cool mechanics. Japan Studio has been a bit of an enigma for a while now. But the ASOBI Team is knocking it out of the park with ASTRO. ASTRO reminds me a lot of Iota from Tearaway: they're both cute mascot characters, crafted with a lot of love, from terrifically artistic games that did an excellent job of showing off new tech. I can't wait to see what ASTRO is up to next. Filament This one sat  near the top my Steam wishlist for nearly the entire year before I finally grabbed it about a week ago when it went on sale. I love a good puzzle game. Basically, you control a bot that tethers out a string-like filament that you use to interact with pillars. Sometimes you just make sure you graze the line by one; other times you loop around one. Sometimes you're simply turning a pillar on. Other times they must be linked in pairs, by color, or a specific number of times, just to name a few of the options. That's really where Filament glows. What starts of simple grows insanely complex by the end. You'll be combining mechanics in some rather brain-busting puzzle. And the game does very little to explain things to you, or help you along the way, yet it feels very inuitive. Still, many times I simply hit walls, where I was almost convinced the puzzles were impossible. In a few instances, it took a while to understand new rule sets. Eventually I solved every single puzzle without resorting to help. And it took me about 48 hours. (Granted I think my stat tracking was probably counting some idle time where I had the game running but walked away to do stuff like make a meal.) It's a surprising amount of content for a puzzle game that can easily be reduced to: solve puzzles by drawing lines. One other thing I appreciated was that I found myself taking notes and drawing things out on paper. That's a tactic I don't pull out often, but love when a game pushes me in that direction. One instance in particular even had me cut up squares of paper to piece together one of the secret text logs. By the way, I missed a ton of those logs. After completing the few I found, I did look how to unlock the rest, and some of the stuff there was absurdly complex. There's really not a lot to compare Filament to outside of The Witness. But if you like a really challenging puzzle game with a ton of content, give this one a look. Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout I don't like online multiplayer games. They rarely hold my interest. I put quite a bit of time into Rocket League, Uncharted 2, Resistance 2 Co-op, and Fat Princess, but that's been about it. And in some of those cases, the main reason I spent a good amount of time with them is because I was unemployed during their reign. Overall, I'm not one to interact with people online. And I don't like the idea of a game dictating when I play it. But when Fall Guys was included with PlayStation Plus, I liked the look of it enough to give it a try. Getting a win took a while, but after the first one, I started to become pretty consistent with my runs. Much like Hades, I thought, “I'll just play until I get the trophy for 7 wins.” Then I set my sights on 20. Then I got hooked on collecting the costumes. By the time I'd finished my first stint in Season 1, I'd reached the max Level 30 and had every trophy except for the one requiring five wins in a row. I've given up hope there. Sony says I logged 40 hours with it, which equates to a lot of rounds. One day I went back for Season 2, and enjoyed the new levels, even though I was getting eliminated since I was sight-reading them. I don't know how much time I'll be putting in with it in the future should I find gaps in my list of games. Usually with multiplayer games, the focus fades once I unlock all the trophies I can. And I'm not sure how much time I want to dedicate to becoming proficient at future season. But the fact that Fall Guys even got that much attention from me to begin with is a testament to how much fun it is. Bugsnax Bugsnax could have been a joke. The previous game from Young Horses, Octodad: Dadliest Catch was just that: a silly romp that equated to little more than just a goofy control scheme. Bugsnax was the butt of many jokes upon reveal, reaching meme status in which it became the Schrödinger's cat of games. When someone talked about it looking good, you weren't sure if they were being honest or a hipster. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I was intrigued. It's another fine example of a list of stellar games that have been given away for free with PlayStation Plus. Would I have played it otherwise? Who knows? But I'm glad I got to. It is silly, but the silliness works in unison with what turned out to be a very fun game to play. The world and its characters are weird. Everybody has a laughable name, Filbo Fiddlepie, Chandlo Funkbun, and C. Clumby Clumbernut, just to name a few. ( I wonder what the C stands for?) The Bugsnax, which are part bug, part snacks, follow suit, with the burger inspired Bunger, the french fry spider, Fryder, or the popsickle, Bobsickle. The most delightful part is when you catch one of the bugsnax and you hear them say their name from the speaker in the controller. Hearing “Weenieworm” never got old. Any sound coming from Bunger put a smile on my face. Feeding the bugnsax to the other characters was a blast as well. Certain bugsnax resulted in sheer silliness, while combinations could provide interesting fashion statements. But past all that silliness was a fun game too. You're given a few different tools to capture bugsnax, and are sent to figure out how. By the time I was reaching the end, having done all there was to do, I was sad to see it end. It was simply a joy to platinum the game, and I'd definitely be down for more Bugsnax adventures. Ghost of Tsushima I love Sucker Punch to death. Sly Cooper is one of my favorite series. On the other hand, I've never been into the world of the samurai, or watched any samurai movies. But Sucker Punch is a studio I'm happy to support, and I figured I'd be getting a good quality game, so I was in. (Plus, I had the free time. At the time, I thought it might be my gaming binge swan song as I thought we'd be coming out of this pandemic in July. Boy was I wrong!) The world of Tsushima is breathtaking. The partnership of style and graphical fidelity creates beauty in every square inch of the world. As far as the game is concerned, it what I would expect from a AAA open world game. There are main missions, and side missions, and things to upgrade, and all kinds of places to explore. It's fairly predictable in that regard, although I did enjoy some of the ways it tackled many of those side missions. The haiku system was a relaxing alternative to combat missions. Foxes and birds always encouraged me to meander from the main missions. And shrines provides some nice platforming challenges. Combat was unique, and being about to cater it to your preferred combat style was appreciated. It did wear out its welcome a bit after dozen of hours, but I appreciate its simplicity. Still, most impressive was just that living, breathing world. I spent a lot of time in photo mode. A LOT! I could easily spend an hour or two just traveling around finding beautiful vistas to tinker around with lighting and effects. In the end, most of my complaints really just boil down to the fact that it's a large AAA game, and comes with the tropes and restrictions of the territory. Otherwise, it would be higher up the list. Ori and the Will of the Wisps Ori and the Will of the Wisps is a great game, but ultimately it's just more Ori. That's not necessarily a bad thing. It just doesn't really subvert expectations. Everything that made the first game great is here too. It looks gorgeous. It's fun to traverse and explore. But looking back, it doesn't stick out as fondly in my memory as many of the other games in this list. Some of that could be the fact that it released early in the year. It was the game I was playing when the world crapped the bed. But it could also just be that I prefer the intrigue of new IP over sequels. Even so, it's hard to discredit just how well it plays and how beautiful and rich that fantasy world is. Honorable Mentions (that released this year): Carto, Lightmatter, Swarm, Symphonia, Bartlow's Dread Machine, Doom Eternal, Control's AWE Expansion Honorable Mentions (I played that released years prior): Bomb Chicken, SUPERHYPERCUBE, Dead Cells, Moonlighter, Songbird Symphony, The Messenger, JUMPGRID, ETHEREAL, Spring Falls, Unruly Heroes, Celeste, Lonely Mountains: Downhill, Splatoon 2, My Friend Pedro, A Short Hike, Future Grind, SOMOS, A Plague Tale: Innocence, The King's Bird

[next-lvl]

Majority of my followers know what Wakfu is, but not all know about the game: how many wounds it left in my heart, and everyone else’s. This post isn’t gonna be precisely explaining the wrongs that Wakfu did, I just wanted to mention that, in aftermath, it was a disaster of a game that left its most loyal players hurt, disappointed and immensely sad. I still keep meeting people who love this franchise, but can’t stand the game anymore since it’s.. Changed too much and didn’t stay enjoyable, to say mildly. I’m surrounded by, literally, traumatized veterans who look back at the good old days and shed tears. And I’ve been talking a lot about GW2 recently, not for no reason.

I want you to heal, just like I did. I mean.. I’m still hurt over Wakfu and I’ll stay this way forever, but I found a game where you can feel safe, loved, cared about. Devs in GW2 are humans who talk to us, who put smileys and memes in their posts, who hang out on reddit and ingame. This’s one of the major and striking differences between Wakfu and GW2. I’m still genuinely stunned by my own experience with customer support, I had a few troubles during my 1.5 years in GW2 and the response was not only fast and effective, it was HUMAN AND CUTE. I’m still not over it. Now that I’ve been invited to be a creative partner.. I’m still not over it too. They shower their regular players and content creators in gentle attention and kindness. I cry. During the 5+ years of being the most active and visible artist in Wakfu fandom, literally promoting it with thousands of drawings, I’ve never got a tiniest bit of official recognition. Not even a single placement on official media. When I took part in contests, I never won. Overall it’s been a one-way street. During my first 1.5 years in GW2, I’ve been noticed, picked up by the team, pampered and spoiled to the point of barely believing it’s true. That’s my personal experience, but it should indicate Anet’s general attitude towards the players. They. Do. Care.

I just wanna try and convince more ex-Wakfu players to give GW2 a shot. The two games are different in the visual and core gameplay aspects, yes, transitioning from an isometric 2D turn-based to a 3D, real-time game was somewhat harsh, but boy, how glad I am that I did it.

There’s EVEN MORE TEXT, brace yourselves. :D In GW2, I found everything that I wish was in Wakfu.

GW2 is a true sandbox. You log in, you do whatever the fuck you want. Level your first (second, 12th, 33rd, 68th) char? Grind mobs and dungeons? NO. Run around, look for events, explore, literally everything you do and everywhere you go, gives xp. You can level via crafting! Which, btw, is relevant throughout the entire game, unlike in Wakfu.

You do have dungeons of two kinds, and you CAN farm them if you want, but it’s your deliberate decision. There ARE farms in GW2, but they’re fun, if you’re not trying to get a legendary weapon in a month. I personally like running around with a bunch of random people who are there to FARM events in a specific map, but that happens once every two months.

Said legendary weapons ARE hard to get and yes, they can get you burnt out in no time if you don’t have a concept of a “long term goal”. Leggies are a prestige item, and, just like other prestige items (auras, specific minis, skins, etc), they’re meant to be your ultimate show-off item. People see you and know that you’ve been through.. A lot. BUT. Your hard-earned prestige item is to stay prestige. I assume you know relics in Wakfu? Then you must know what happened to them after a few years.

There’s no devaluing in GW2. Your trophies stay relevant and rare. Your prizes, your exclusive titles, skins, etc stay exclusive. You aren’t losing half of your wealth just because the devs decided to revamp ALL GEAR FOR THE THIRD TIME.

Speaking of the gear, the orange set you get at 80, is endgame gear. GW2 is 5 years old, so that orange gear is. People crafted it on the release and.. It stayed endgame. Yes, there’s also pink gear, which ~5% better than orange and is only needed if you do high lvl fractals or are min-maxing in raids. If you’re casual or just starting, you don’t even have to think about it. But once you craft your set, it stays relevant forever. People’s effort is never shoved up their asses.

There’s no constant carrot-on-a-stick gear upgrades. Level cap is 80 since release and will stay so. The game promotes safety and stability, that’s what attracted me. You take a 2 years break? No problem, you log in and go play. Nothing has lost its value, you don’t feel inferior, you don’t need to catch up to play with your friends.

Which reminded me: there’s a wonderfully done level downscale system. You’re a lvl 80 in a lvl 16 zone? Your stats are auto-adapted so the enemies you fought as a noob are still dangerous, and your reward (xp/gold/materials) is adapted to your true lvl. You go and play anywhere you want, and get fair rewards.

Crafting materials of all levels are also demanded and relevant. Oh yeah, you can run around for hours just gathering wood/ore, familiar to Wakfu players? It’s nice and relaxing until you meet another player. Well, in GW2 all gathering nodes are NOT shared. You see a tree? It’s your tree. That dude who runs up to it won’t steal it from you.

Oh also there’s no kill steal! Which is big, imo. You’re encouraged to play together, to help people kill stuff, to contribute to any event you see around, since everyone gets rewarded equally.

Legendary stability of GW2 servers. Lemme just say: there’s no weekly maintenance. There is. No. Downtime. Even on the big update days, you can download and play pretty safely. If there’s a hotfix, the game KINDLY WARNS YOU that you need to update and you have TWO FLIPPING HOURS to do so. Before you did that, you still can play, finish whatever you were up to.

Everything revolves around player’s happiness and convenience. There are constant quality-of-life updates. Your bags are full of crap? Here, salvage it into materials with two clicks, then deposit into your bank with two clicks (from anywhere in the world), then compact the rest of your shit. Yeah, with two clicks. x’D

There’s wonderful Fashion Wars. The game offers so much customization, and it’s taken so seriously, that it’s one of the endgame aspects. There’s 30000+ achievement points to earn, which are mostly fun and make you go out of your usual way. Dailies? You get 10 points and 2 gold for doing 3 easy tasks that take ~15 minutes.

There’s LORE. There’s fun little interactions all over the world. You just did an event? Stay here and listen, probably npcs will say/do something and start another event, logically following the previous one. The world lives and breathes. You can just walk around and observe. You’ll learn so much. And of course, there’s always a good cause to laugh. Dialogues/reactions are just hilarious sometimes.

Regarding the lore: there’s a so-called personal story which accompanies you up to lvl 80, then there’s “living world”, smaller events and single maps being rolled out every once in a while - so far there’s 2 seasons available, and 1 being “historical”, not playable anymore. In that season, they fucking crushed the main capital city. It changed forever. It was an epic event, which I missed, but watched people’s videos later. Then season 2, then HoT, then season 3, and now we’re waiting for PoF, second expansion. The updates have picked a nice pace and are frequent now.

There’s just so much to do. Just go, dive into the world and drown forever. :3c And meet me on the bottom. x’DD

GW2 feels different from Wakfu, but I found similarities for myself. It’s a sandbox after all, and later endgame has a lot of strategy. GW2 is never tank-and-spank. You just, literally, can’t facetank shit here. You gotta use your skills wisely, time your dodges, play with traits/passives until it all flows together. You’ve got a HUGE BUILD FREEDOM. There’s 9 classes, each having at least 3 defined roles, with more variations. You don’t just go ranger (oh archer it’s like a cra rite??) and do pew pew from max distance. Well, yes, you have a bow and can pew pew.. Or you can be a melee fighter, you can be a full blown healer/support.. As a ranger, yes.

I’ll be wrapping up now, I swear. GW2 is true f2p. Which of course does have a few restrictions (can’t trade or use map-chat), but you can get to 80, gear up and explore to your heart’s content before you decide to pay. I personally played for 5 months, every day, before I bought HoT.

Why’d you buy an expansion? More story, more maps, new class traits, gliding in HoT and mounts in PoF. The expansion and living world content has been constantly improving, visually, mechanically and lore/writing-wise.

Other than that, there’s a gemstore offering cosmetic and convenience items (gems can be bought for cash OR ingame gold). There are infamous rng boxes, but none of those are p2w. GW2 is oriented at the western consumer, which means, yeah, they know that we hate p2w and they’ll never do that to us.

*breathes out* I had to get that off my chest. I wanna talk about GW2 forever, but it’s exhausting to do one-on-one. :P Hopefully someone’s still reading this!

Now lemme remind you that now I have those partner links, if you use this to create a new account and play for free (for an hour or two months? w/e), or this to buy an expansion, I’ll get paid a bit. Not much, but it definitely helps!

And I was gonna write this wall of text regardlessly of the partnership one day, now I just have more incentive. x’DD Plus, we’re gonna have a beta weekend on 11-13 august, where you can preview the second expansion for free! It’s a perfect timing to write this post and try convincing you. You’ll just need a f2p account, and you’ll be given a lvl 80 boost and whatnot for that beta weekend. I’m not sure yet, but I assume you WILL. Just please register using my link above, so that I get paid for the two hours I spent on this post. :D

[robbyrise]

RANGERS REBORN.

So good it makes me wanna type away like i used to. 

Just got back from my first viewing of the Power Rangers and i’m glad to announce I am very satisfied with what was put on the big screen. Like most movies i didn’t have any crazy expectations for the film, just minor details here and there like the story going its own route to make it different and unique from the original show but still keeping true to its essence.

My only worry for this reincarnation of a great past time from my childhood would be the fact that the old shows (and even first 2 movies) were just so corny, so bad yet so good. Trust me, there are times when i come across clips and what have you, from the old shows that make me cringe when i realized how lame and corny it was. How could they possibly make this movie NOT corny? 

Why and how was i so drawn to this kind of entertainment? The power rangers taught me a sense of unity and it was probably what opened my eyes to being a part of and trusting your team (besides the Knicks). My favorite color back then was blue, so naturally Billy was my favorite ranger despite being the total opposite of his personality. 

If you’re a true fan, if you were there from the beginning till maybe the 3rd-4th generation of Rangers, and you don’t have high expectations of the new movie, you will probably find yourself feeling so much nostalgia from your childhood and it will open your eyes to how much the first group really made you appreciate the essence of wanting to become a power ranger. 

This is as far as I’ll go in regards to not spoiling anything. So if you haven’t seen it yet and plan on seeing it and don’t want me to ruin anything, stop reading here and come back later after you see it. If you don’t care and just want to keep reading because you’re bored, by all means go for it, just don’t say i didn’t warn you.

*SPOILERS*

The fact that they changed the story a little bit was already an indicator that i did the right thing in not wanting to expect anything from the movie that would impress me or even predict. Don't ask me how i remember this, but if i recall, the very first episode of the power rangers season 1 has something to do with a dumpster. Dumpster day or something. I don’t know, i just remember reading it, yes i could (somewhat) read at 5-6 years old. I remember Alpha and Zordon were already established in their ‘Command Center” and sensed Rita Repulsa’s escape from captivity. Want to know how she escaped? Go watch the original ORIGINAL intro of the series and you’ll see astronauts pushing over the lid of a genie stove top releasing the alien witch. The movie has her as a FORMER RANGER, the GREEN RANGER to be exact. Some will think it’s lame, i thought it was cool and acceptable. 

Recruiting. 

How the movie’s story pits the potential rangers together is a testament to the original series and how Zordon ordered Alpha to recruit “individuals with attitude.” The new teenagers portraying our beloved Jason, Zack, Billy, Trini, and Kimberly were all somewhat trouble makers/rebels. All of them rebels in their own right. All of them having something deep inside that could only brought out about themselves through each other, something we could really appreciate with the original rangers. 

Morphers? 

Remember it’s morphin time? And BOOM, out comes the morphers that EVERYBODY HAD AS A KID, well, almost everybody, and the rangers TRIBEAMED their transformation into rangers and the awesome theme came on and you know shit’s about to go down. I appreciate the fact that they really displayed these ‘rebels’ having a dark side to their personality and using the good inside them to be their source and spark to their armor.  Five strangers becoming friends and willing to do whatever they had to do for the greater good of their town. 

The Zeo crystals. 

I didn’t realize the importance of the crystals on the show until the Zeo rangers came about (potentially setting up a new franchise). It was referenced on the show numerous times as well. But what granted our rangers their powers were their crystals, or on the show the gold coins with their Zord animals on them.

OH, don’t worry, i’ll get to the Zords. The movie gives us a better perspective of how these teenagers with attitude came about and ‘trained’ as Rangers to defeat Rita. The show pretty much put them in suits and rangers like billy and Kim magically learned martial arts whereas Jason, Trini and Zack were already established martial artists. The new rangers were forced into training by Zordon and even Alpha. 

Backstories. 

The writers and producers did just enough to cover each character’s lives leading up to their discovery of the power coins crystal things. All well enough for them to be unique and appreciated in their own right. Billy the nerd with some loner/awkward issues who’s father disappeared (passed away perhaps?), Zack being a wild rebel with a sick mother, Jason the star jock athlete with a desire for trouble and a disappointed father, Trini (pronounced Trin-E in the move, not Treen-e like the original show) who jumped schools every year because of you guessed it, being a rebel and then Kimberly, who had personal issues ‘not being a good friend’ i guess? She was a cheerleader also vs. the Kimberly from the 90′s that was a gymnast. 

ZORDS.

Again, i’ll reiterate, there were times when I realized the old show was corny as fuck. And yes, the old Zords, while being badass in their own right, were still corny... as fuck. They were literally just remote control toys that were zoomed in on by the camera to make it seem like they were huge robots on TV. HOWEVER. If you were to fuse a real life Gundam wing with a Beast Wars transformer, you’d probably get a Zord from the new movie. The massive robot reference to crushing Bumblebee was very poetic. I’m glad i had a good crowd because they laughed and applauded that. But these new Zords? I’d say they were pretty fuckin awesome. I just personally feel like they made those corny robots toys that were on screen, cool and transformer like. Just again, in their own unique power ranger way. 

TRUE ESSENCE.

I mentioned ‘essence’ earlier in this write up and that essence is something that could only be felt if you were part of the beginning. When the original rangers, despite being so cheesy and corny, made you want to be a ranger SO BAD. The concept of the power rangers teaches us the power of unity and what the team could accomplish if they worked together. They struggled to reach the full potential of their powers, almost 2 weeks even (11 days to be exact b/c thats when Alpha calculated Rita could strike). But they did to the expense of Billy who later on was revived by Zordon as Zordon realized it wasn’t his team to lead. Remember when Zordon was about to die in the 1st Mighty Morphin Power Rangers movie? the adorably HOT Kimberly at the time said, “You’re like a father to us all.” Zordon guiding the Rangers towards the right direction to reach their potential, and giving Billy the 2nd chance to live showed qualities of just that in being a father like figure to the rangers, something he’s very accustomed to in the show and previous movies. In the old show, there were PLENTY OF TIMES when the rangers “were at their doom” at the hands of Rita and Lord Zed, but they somehow ALWAYS found a way to win. 

I’ll give you a perfect example of true essence. When the rangers and their Zords were pushed to the edge and they had to ‘hold the line’? Their struggle vs Goldar. Man... seeing the commercials I KNEW that the Mega Zord was going to be formed and it was going to kick serious ass, but the moments leading up to that they were all ready to die TOGETHER? I’m not gunna lie, i had the same feeling form up in my feels when Woody and Buzz held onto their friends at the end of Toy Story 3 before the claw saved them (shouts to swag surfer). As the cinema Gods as my witness, NO MOVIE has made me feel that way since Toy Story 3, LEGIT, until the new power rangers because I KNEW WHAT THE OUTCOME WAS and yet there i was, sitting on my seat reminding myself, “wow... i haven’t felt this urgent sorrow for ANY GROUP OF CHARACTERS since toy story 3.” And then they fall into the pit and you hear the Zords forming and i get this huge relief and burden lifted off my shoulders and i applaud with the crowd thanking God the tears forming in my eyes didn’t stream out b/c that would've been really embarrassing. But yeah, i’m applauding, the crowd is applauding and Billy has that comic relief line of Mama Zord-Mega Zord and as they try to advance the entire Zord falls over. Well fcuking done. No really, they didn’t just magically download the program to operate a “65 million year old alien robot” in a few seconds to their brains, they actually taught themselves how to operate their respective body part that was formed by their Zord. Again, unity, team work, Power Rangers... WOOOOO!!!!!!

I’m still kind of in shock at how much i actually enjoyed this movie. And i think that’s due to the fact that the crowd i watched the movie with was probably one of the better crowds i had watched a movie with since i got to Washington. Really. The movie culture here isn’t as passionate as what we have in New York but anyway back to the movie.

Alpha 5 said his signature line 2x,the black guy is actually the blue ranger and the asian is the BLACK ranger, both the pink and yellow rangers are cute & hot AF, Rita made her monster grow and said her token line as well. There weren’t any communicators, there wasn’t a bulk or skull even though i think the bully in the movie was supposed to be one of them i’m not too sure. Mid credit scene = Thomas Oliver = Power Rangers 2. Speaking of Tommy, the actor and actress who played they original Tommy and original Kimberly cameos probably had the biggest applause of the movie. Boom. Might be a little too early to bring in Lord Zedd in the 2nd movie, MAYBE hint or reference him like Rita did in regards to the Zeo crystals.

Future?

The Power Rangers have a generation of fans that first started watching and admiring them at such young age that are now PROFESSIONALS, MARRIED AND WITH KIDS. Granted, the series has gone onto bumblefuck abyss because i obviously lost track of where the TV series has gone, that old generation could show their kids what they used to watch, and be like, “That movie that’s out? That’s a remake of the ORIGINAL rangers, the founding fore fathers of what you young maggots are watching now” kind of deal. 

I AM PRAYING that this generates enough revenue and popularity that they make a nice, LONG MOVIE SERIES because THERES SO MUCH potential. Maybe something Disney could look into working a deal with Saban b/c there’s just too much to let slip away. You got franchises like Fast and the Furious that’s gone off track from how great it was before the 4th/5th movies, but could somewhat catch up to and pass GI Joe (unless they actually cross over with, wait for it...), and maybe be half as good as the Transformer series (yes, GI Joe and Transformers could crossover, because they have in the comics). I look at transformers and think thats a good goal to strive for, because movie series like James Bond, LOTR, the Matrix, and Star Wars are just at an elite level. Then I see franchises like the Underworld, Resident Evil movies (sorry, i’m just not a fan of them) and Sharknado (IDK how and why people find those movies entertaining), and it gives me hope that the Power Rangers movie reboot could just be the thing we need in the movie industry to keep it interesting unless Japan and Hollywood could work something out to bring Gundam Wing to life. 

*CUE BLOG SOUNDTRACK ENDING CREDIT AND MOVIE RATING THEME = VAN HALEN - DREAMS*

ANYWAY. 9/10 Power Rangers. I’m going to see it again. WITHOUT A DOUBT.

Off topic final thought:

Where are my movie junkies at? This is off topic but i know you’d appreciate this. I had a dream... you ready? I had a dream, that Christopher Nolan, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas all worked together to make an American interpretation of Spirited Away with a movie score composed by Hanz Zimmer. Call me crazy, but i woke up and had mixed emotions about it.

[pbandjesse]

They finally sent us the footage of our public thesis presentations! Its taking literally forever to download so hopefully I will have that posted tonight or tomorrow depending on how long it takes to put it up on youtube.

Today has been really rough on me. I had plans to get shit done and go to ballet. But I just couldn’t. I slept okay last night. Woke up. Had a little breakfast. I was going to make eggs but I just couldn’t do it. Emotionally. I hate when this happens when I cant handle cooking or eating and then the food I buy goes bad. Plus I'm going away for a few days so even more reason for my food to spoil. Annoying. But its fine. I had fruit and headed out.

I caught the bus downtown and was a bit early to the dentist. Which was fine. The secretary apologized it would be a wait but like I am always early don’t worry about me. I like having time to decompress when I show up somewhere.

It actually wasn’t much of a wait. They took me back and I talked to the hygienist. I let them know that my back tooth has been hurting and that I was glad they were fixing it today. The dentist told me I really need to get a cap put on my tooth. I said I’ll consider it. But I really don’t want to. I will probably do it this summer while I still have insurance. I just have to much stuff going on right now to even consider that. Getting the fillings is bad enough. I also let him know that the filling he did a few weeks back had a rough spot and he fixed that too.

The hygienist let me pick what to watch on the ceiling tv. I chose the food network. I literally watched 2 and a half full epsiodes of this country cooking show. That’s how long this shit took. And! We started in one room and had to move back across the hall because the air pressure wasn’t working in the first room. But that was fine.

I was getting 3 filling up on the top right of my mouth. The broken back tooth, the root canal tooth that needs a cap, and the next one. Amazing. Stupid teeth. The whole thing sucked. It was long and my mouth got tired and they gave me this little wedge for the other side of my mouth so I didn’t have to think about keeping my mouth open so much. but still. Then it started hurting and they had to put another couple needles in my face and I heard them going in which was very unsettling. But after that it was fine. Just long. And the back of my head hurt. The appointment started at 930 and we weren’t done until almost noon. My lips felt swollen and weird. But I was okay. He showed me all the pictures of my teeth when they were open which was terrifying but I loved seeing. Disgusting. But so interesting to me. I almost took a picture but I decided not to.

I left there and was going to go to savers but I just felt so tired. So I went home.

I was really hungry but my mouth wasn’t working right. Everything was to numb and I tried to eat popcorn but it wasn’t working. I texted with Jess. Then I decided to go to sleep. Hopefully the numbness would be gone once I woke up.

The nap was really good actually but when I woke up I felt like I got hit by a truck. I had hoped to sleep until 2, eat, get in my studio, and then go to ballet. And once I woke up I realized that just wasn’t going to happen. I felt miserable, my mouth was both numb and starting to hurt. My lips help like they were drooping. Its was just really uncomfortable and I was sad.

I made mashed potatoes and tried my best to just eat and pull myself together. I texted with my mom about our plans this upcoming weekend. I got our itineraries from the company. Figured out what were able to do while there. I think were going to do a special behind the scenes tour at the aquarium. Were staying at a hotel at seaworld but I don’t want to support that company so were going somewhere else. I'm excited to see my mom most of all though.

I decided I couldn’t go anywhere. I wanted to but it just wasn’t going to happen. I did work on my paper for a while. Fixed some sources, started typing up some quotes. I'm feeling really pleased about that. I'm hoping to get a draft in to Frenchy next week so I can get some editing help and advice. I also went through and checked to make sure the new bra I got looked nice under the dress I'm wearing at the event on Friday. I also decided to take off my nailpolish and go through my jewelry box. Pick out some pieces. I'm wearing a silly beaded bracelet with a frog on it right now I made at the beach with Jess.

And now I'm just resting. I had a sandwich for dinner and now I'm just looking forward to sleep. I'm hoping to wake up early tomorrow and have a good breakfast and go to work a little early. We have a thesis meeting tomorrow and I might have to fight for the spot I want my sculpture. There is rumor that someone is trying to take it out from under me. We also have a mixed class tomorrow so I will be home earlier which I'm pleased about.

I hope you all sleep well and take care of eachother.

[ecotone99]

The Spirit is Willing . . . [SF]

“Good, bad, or ugly, we have to stop somewhere.”, I tell Martin my assistant.

“Elena, I’ve seen several presentations that most of our competitors have done in the past. This is light-years ahead of them in both specs and overall zing.”, Martin responds.

“Zing?”, I question.

“Zing. The ‘It’ factor. Call it what you want. That little something extra that says ‘Trust these people with this company over the others.’”, Martin downloads the last of the presentation to the portable storage.

“OK. I��ll pick you up here 7am Monday for the ride to the station. Our shuttle to the central-core leaves 9am, that should give us enough time.”, I say, not exactly relishing the 43 hours and 5 transfers it’ll take us to reach the regional Imperial Trade offices near the galactic core. As important as this deal is to our firm (architectural and construction specs for a nanotech manufacturing complex of buildings), I dread the trip there and back even more than the actual presentation.

Leaving the office side door into another grey winter evening. The amber sun kissing the horizon as I step from the office lobby onto the street. The messenger bag strap across my opposite shoulder fighting me as I reach for the hood to pull it up against the cold mist just starting to come down.

I turn right off the main drag, taking a short-cut through an alley to knock two thirds of a block off my trip to the Larsen Street subway entrance.

Halfway down the alley, two men appeared from behind a dumpster near the rear exit of Lutang’s Chinese Restaurant. The man on the left already has a knife out, the man on the right is sweeping his jacket back to draw, I presume, a gun of some sort.

Messenger bag out of the way my hands were already free. With a simultaneous flick, my left wrist came up and removed the left mans hand (and the knife it was holding) searing it closed just behind his wrist. The man on the right drawing the gun, I pivoted down my right wrist and sliced him in half, downward diagonally from his left shoulder to his right hip. Both movements required no more effort than slicing through the air itself. I looked down to find a roman gladiator sword in my left hand, and Katana in my right. Both dripping blood.

As the two-piece man on my right fell to the ground, the man with the missing hand, now holding the bloody stump with his other hand, was running away screaming.

Well Shit. Another police report to file. And I begin to pray this won’t delay my departure Monday.

I looked down at the weapons in my hands as the blood dropped off and they flowed back and reformed into the bracelets I always wear. I’d had them for almost thirty years, and seldom give them a thought but Granddad was right, they do come in handy.

I pull a phone from my bag and begin running through excuses in my mind. Did I find the two-piece man like this? Was the severed hand already there? Do I have blood on my clothes that would contradict that story? I make up something and answer the emergency operators questions. Could I just tell them the truth? Maybe, but I’d prefer everyone didn’t know what I had, or was capable of doing.

While I’m waiting for the police/ambulance to arrive, I think back to when I first received the forearm bracelets some thirty years earlier. . .

—

I must have been what, ten? Dad was gone somewhere on a business trip and mom had taken a few days off to drive us to get his father and bring Granddad home to live with us.

“How bad is Granddad’s memory?”, I ask as I ride along.

“Not so bad.”, mom replies. “The doctors have stabilized him, it won’t get any worse from here. And it’s not so much his memory, as his ‘certainty’ of things. The doctor described it to your father and I, ‘Think of your stove at home and the last time you heated/cooked something for breakfast. Did you turn the stove off?’ ‘Sure’, your dad looked at me and shrugged. ‘You remember turning it off.’, the doctor continued, ‘And do you remember turning it off other mornings, in past months and years? See that’s where your father is. He’s got such a good memory of the long-term memories, and a slightly weak short-term memory, he can’t be certain if he’s remembering this morning when he turned off the stove, or one of those thousand other times when he turned it off. He’s not dangerous as such, he’s not going to get confused and put rat poison on his eggs instead of salt. But he might drive to the grocery, then walk into the house, leaving all the groceries to spoil in the trunk of the car for a few days. Because he remembered bringing them in and putting them away, even though that memory wasn’t from this trip to the store.’”

“So he’s moving out of the house to live with us from now on?”, I ask.

“Yes, but he’s got tons of savings and we don’t need to sell his house. So good or bad, we’ll keep it for now, in case he wants to go back for something or to just reminisce where he and mom spent the last 60 years of their lives together. I’ll head upstairs and pack up clothes he’ll need for the next few months to get us started. Why don’t you take him around the living room and into the basement. Find some keepsakes that mean the most to him, to bring to our house. Both for his familiarity and to let him know it’ll be his new home too. He’ll be staying in the spare bedroom on the other side of the kitchen/dining-room and he’s been living alone for the last seven years. We’ll have to play it by ear and see if he wants to keep to himself or join in the family room with us most of the time.”

We turn the corner of the drive, with the old willow tree I used to run to at full speed across the lawn. It’s only an hour drive from our house. I’d always enjoyed visiting him and Grandma here every few months. And the week or so we’d stay each summer.

Granddad pushes his glasses up his nose, stands, and smiles as he sees us drive up to the porch.

“Hey Pumpkin.”, he says to mom as he hugs her, “And how are you today Sprout?”, he asks of me ruffling my hair with his free hand.

“Fine Granddad. It’s a beautiful morning.”, I look out across the grass as the shimmering slivers of light through the willow leaves dance across that end of the lawn.

Having lived there twenty four of her own years, mom knows where everything is and heads upstairs to grab the suitcases and clothes.

“Lets pick some photos and things you can’t live without Granddad, to take with us.”, as he puts his hand around me and moves into the living room.

Some cardboard boxes are already there and he’s packed the family photos usually sitting over the mantle and on the piano. The one that Grandma used to play. He hands me an empty box and grabs two of his own and says, “Lets go see if there is anything downstairs that needs to come and can’t wait till later.”

We go through some old trunks. “I should really go through these on the next trip and donate what I’ll never use or never be able to wear again.”, he says, “Should have done it years ago. But it’s been hard to give them up, when it feels like I’m letting go of memories with your grandmother when I do.”

Granddad ended a career in the Imperial Military after twenty five years on a team specializing in disaster recovery reconstruction crews. (Rebuilding bridges, repairing roadways, and power infrastructure after tornado’s or earthquakes and the like.) Based on the color scheme and markings I open what must’ve been his footlocker from some of those years, to dig through.

“What’s this?”, I ask, picking up a blob of something a bit like an invisible balloon filled with red mashed potatoes. No particular form, but it is cohesive and stays together as it flows over and around my hands. Not exactly liquid, not quite as thick as mud. It looks but isn’t wet, and doesn’t stick to my hand as it flows around it. A reddish-pink slime that seemed to want to stay together.

“Ahh, that’s a MarrowBo.”, his eyes light up and I hear a strange tone in his voice I’d never heard from him. Reverence? Fear? Acceptance?

He holds out his hand and I ooze the blob into his palm.

Instantly it elongates and forms a hard Bo-staff, almost two meters long. Mostly white now with only a slight reddish tint.

He rests the lower end on the floor and while it seemed light in his hand, I’d swear it shook the foundation of the house by the smallest degree when it thudded to a rest against the concrete.

Grandfather looked the staff up and down and said, “You must have heard some of the story by now, of the Emperor and his Daughters. The great war the daughters fought with each other for control of the multi-verse. A few thousand years ago, your great-great-great- . . . Throw in a bunch more in there . . . great grandmother was one of those Daughters. One of the Sezrakeen.”, he looks over at me, “Don’t get a big-head. About thirty percent of the population descends from any one of the hundreds of daughters through one path or another.”, he looks back at the Bo, “They build great fleets of star-ships, captured and subjugated entire galaxies of people to fight their wars. Mostly out of fear of each other. Each trying to gain the upper hand, but always fighting to a draw. Time and again they reached the same point. Where the bullets, bombs, and torpedoes run out, and the lasers, phasers, and particle weapons run out of power, and it’s up to one big dumb brute to hack it out in hand to hand combat with each other. But even then, spears, staffs, and swords break. After a few hundred people are run through or sliced open, the sharpest blade and the finest steel grows dull or fails altogether when it strikes bone or armor. They needed something else. Something that would never wear down, something that would never break or dull.”

“There’s a passage from near the end of Matthew, ‘The Spirit is Willing, but the Flesh is Weak.’ But what if as one of the Sezrakeen, with your million years of life experience and your iron will, your spirit was strong enough to demand the flesh obey?”

“They had a terrifying idea how to solve the problem of the handheld weapons wearing out, and needed a large flesh eating animal to bring that idea to life. They used the power of their minds, to go back in time to the Cretaceous period, about 70 million years ago. Watched for a few hundred years to find a particularly healthy and strong family line of Tyrannosaurus Rex. When they found one that suited their purposes, they stood in front of it and . . . waited to be eaten.”

“Despite their body being consumed, they held their mind, their spirit and essence, to the original mass of their flesh and blood, as it was consumed by the T-Rex and became a part of the creature. They allowed four or five generations to pass, each T-Rex one after another bearing female young (eggs). Until finally a hundred or so years later, they had one T-Rex that was “all them”, body and mind. The bone/muscle/blood all of the animal, but the spirit, the mind, was the soul of the Sezrakeen herself. Then for the last step, using the power of her mind to rearrange chemicals and genetic structure, she changed the next offspring of that final T-Rex to be human again. When the human child was born, she held her mind locked to both positions: T-Rex the mother and human child the daughter. Drawing power in from the very sunlight and air around her, she grew the human to adult size within a few days. Then, the child killed the mother. Draining every drop of Bone Marrow from the mother T-Rex. A portion of which I hold here.”

Granddad looks into my eyes, “But it wasn’t just something she caught or killed, it WAS LITERALLY HER in every drop. About 1,500lbs worth if she was a big T-Rex. Imagine you were one of the Sezrakeen. With an inviolate, indomitable, unwavering will, demanding the flesh obey. You could command that flesh into any form your could imagine. It would never tire, never grow brittle or weak. In the form of a knife or a sword, it would never dull, just as the Sezrakeen’s spirit would never waver in its determination. Long after all the bombs and bullets and energy weapons were depleted, you could continue to hack and hammer your way through enemy soldiers by the thousands, the millions. Staffs would bend but never break. Swords would slice and never grow dull. And you could give portions of them to your Captains and Lieutenants to use on your behalf. You’d never need to ask these foot-soldiers what was happening at their location, since YOU (or a piece of you) would be there to sense for yourself. A ring, a bracelet, a staff, or sword. Infinitely reliable weapons that would never fail them as long as they themselves lived and their will held them fast and true.”

“Since the Sezrakeen were all females, I can make a few things with it, but its really more attuned to one of the women of the family every few generations.”, Granddad finishes.

He closed his eyes, and thought for a dozen seconds or so, and the Bo-Staff formed into a Katana. Still marrow and bone like in appearance, but sharper and stronger than any metal sword forged by the hands of man.

He held the handle of the Katana over to me.

I placed my hand around the grip. My hand below his and as he released it into my hand, dropping down to the hilt.

A bo again, a Katana, a dagger, changing once a second now, a Hammer, an Axe, a hatchet, a cleaver, saber, flail, tonfa, and mace. Half of the mass leaping across to my other hand, a pair of Sai’s, mated Kali escrima sticks. Every hand-held weapon my 10 year old memory had ever seen in a movie, video, or book. Many of which I couldn’t even name yet but could see in my mind’s eye. And where it took fierce concentration on his part, the marrow heard my thoughts and obeyed effortlessly. I finally paused and the sword in each hand flowed back into and around my hands, coming to rest and weaving a cross hatch pattern as forearm-bracelets covering the entire forearm, wrist to elbow, on each of my arms.

Grandad exhales, “I guess she’s going to stay with you now.”

“How long will they last?”, I ask

“They’re a living part of the Sezrakeen that made them. They’ll live, as long as she does. Likely thousands of years after you and I are both gone to dust and forgotten.”, he says.

“I’m sure they’ll come in handy for you, just as they did for me many times over the years. They can never be taken away from you and will always find they’re way back if you set them aside.”

He places his arm around my shoulders as I look at the bracelets, “Just remember, they don’t have the reddish hue only because they are bone marrow. They’ve killed and absorbed the blood of probably more people than you’ve seen in your young life so far . . . and likely have a taste for it. You’ve got to try and remember that ‘you are wearing them’ and not let ‘them wear you’.”

—-

Its been twenty seven years since that day in the basement and I’ve been attacked four times. It seems higher than the law of averages for the tame life I lead and the middle to upper class neighborhoods I tend to keep to.

Granddad is gone now so I can’t ask him, but at only thirty-seven years old, having been through four life-and-death encounters, coming out the other side with eleven deaths to my name and myself without a scratch . . . I still wonder about Granddad’s warning. If something has been leading me into these situations.

Rumor has it the Sezrakeen that started my family line lives near the Imperial offices where I’ll be in two days. I’ve been ‘wearing pieces of her’ for almost three decades, maybe I’ll finally be able to ask her in person to hear the answer . . . Am I wearing her, or is she wearing me?

submitted by /u/PhesteringSoars [link] [comments] via Blogger https://ift.tt/2UiHM0v

[beingallelite]

These days, both WWE and AEW have numerous UK talents on their roster and then you have the likes of Marty Scurll in Ring of Honor, Will Ospreay in New Japan, Nick Aldis is the NWA champion and PAC is one of the biggest independent stars in the world.

Havoc never thought he’d find his way to a major promotion with a bigtime TV deal. That’s mainly down to his hardcore style and dark character, but AEW have moved him out to America and the 35-year-old is on the bink of the ‘big time’ with the burgeoning company.

talkSPORT had the chance to talk to the Progress Wrestling legend this week and dive into all things AEW, his career and, especially, ‘blood and guts’.

Hi Jimmy! How’s life now you’re contracted to All Elite Wrestling?

Well, I’ve moved to Orlando now. I still can’t quite believe I’m living here, I have to pinch myself I’ve come to America. Why Orlando? Well, I like Disney [laughs]. A lot of my friends live here. Marty Scurll, Drake Maverick, Teegan Nox, it’s quite a big wrestling community over here at the moment and I thought I might as well go where I have lots of friends. If I moved to New York or something I’d be drinking every night and that wouldn’t end well [laughs].

Are performers like yourself a prime example of the hotbed of talent the UK has become for big promotions in the States and around the world?

When I got into wrestling when I was younger, I never imagined it would be a job. I just did it because it was fun, because I used to like watching it on TV as a kid and there wasn’t a scene in England at the time. To see it grow to the point that it is now and so many of us have jobs with big companies is great. Me especially; because of the character that I am and the way I wrestle, I never thought I’d get a full-time deal out of it. So it’s been incredible. Getting to do Double or Nothing was special and I never used to travel much with my parents as a kid, so even coming to Las Vegas for Double or Nothing, that was my first time and it was really cool.

This has just started, but I can’t see it ending anytime soon. The atmosphere backstage with The Bucks, Cody [Rhodes], Kenny [Omega]; everyone is just so cool, we’re all in this together trying to make something cool for ourselves and the fans, it’s a really awesome company to be apart of.

How did the offer from AEW come about?

I wrestled Cody a few times in the last couple of years and he was quite a big fan of mine anyway. So we spoke a couple times about me coming in and I was all for it. I think, because of my character, I’m much more theatrical than, and I’ll use inverted commas, an ‘indie wrestler’. I prefer storylines and taking my time. Like I’m really into horror movies and my degree is in film. I like doing sort of film/horror style vignettes and the kind of storylines I did in Progress, so I’m hoping that translates to TV and I think that’s what Cody saw in me – being different to everybody else.

I didn’t even think about it, I just said yes straight away. I probably should have waited a little bit [laughs]. I probably should have negotiated, but I would have been stupid to say no. I get to come to America and live my dream with a lot of friends who are doing exactly the same thing, so it’s a dream come true. Plus I can go to Disney Land whenever I want!

What do you make of the criticism from some quarters about the independent scene dying in England with NXT UK and World of Sport coming to life and now AEW grabbing talent, too?

People have been saying on Twitter or whatever that British wrestling is dying now because so many of have gone on to full-time deals. But, we made that scene. The scene was dead when we started out 10 years ago or so, guys like Zack Sabre Jr, Marty Scurll, Pete Dunne, Mark Andrews – all of those guys. We helped revitalise that scene and we did that from nothing. The fact that there’s a good base now; there’s so many good trainers now and good wrestlers coming through, I’m really proud of the scene I’ve left behind.

And hopefully I’ll get to go back to when AEW do shows in England and stuff, but I’m also excited for the young talent coming through because those guys are going to have all these awesome crowds, they don’t have to wrestle in front of five people anymore like we did. So those guys are really lucky and British fans are still some of the best in the world. I’m going to miss it, but I’m glad to be starting this new adventure.

Do you have any news about AEW coming to the UK?

Cody has said a couple of things to me about what we’re going to be doing in the UK, but that’s for Cody to talk about and release that information when he’s ready, I wouldn’t want to spoil it. There’s a lot of interest in that market right now and we’ve got myself, Darby Allin, Kip Sabian – the market is really strong and I’m looking forward to going back. It’s a really good market for AEW to go into, especially because WWE aren’t doing any big pay-per-views over there. So I’m very excited about us doing that, but no idea where it’ll be! It would be cool if we could do Fulham Stadium or something, but that would be a WrestleMania type show I would think.

I look forward to coming back when I can – they get my humour a lot more in England than they do here [laughs].

We recently saw you do a skit with your All Out opponents Joey Janela and Darby Allin featuring none other than Blink 182! How did that come about?

Being such a big music fan, I loved it. I’ve played at Download and festivals like that and live music is really my thing. If I could sing or play an instrument I would probably be a rockstar and not a wrestler, but I can’t do either, so I chose to throw myself through tables! The fact that we’re getting to do these cool stuff is a great way to grow the brand. But getting to meet Blink 182 was very cool. They were playing at the Jacksonville Jaguars stadium where we did Fight for the Fallen and after we saw the Enzo Amore/Joey Janela thing we just thought it would be very funny to do. Luckily Blink 182 were well up for it and it came off great. I know some guys who have been opening for them on their tour as well so it was nice to hang out with some friends at the same time.

What do you make of the recent comments from Vince McMahon about blood and guts? You seem the perfect guy to ask!

I think because of the blood in the Cody and Dustin match, then the Moxley/Janela match and of course me, being synonymous with a lot of blood and guts – I think it has a place. At heart, we’re performance art and a live-action stunt show kind of thing and if we’re trying to portray realness, then blood is going to be involved. The week after Vince McMahon said that line about blood and guts, they had Seth Rollins bleeding from the mouth on TV. So why is that OK and we’re not?

I think if things are done well and for a reason then I don’t see why people should be vilified for that sort of entertainment. With wrestling fans, there’s always a split. Half of the people like it, half don’t. If you don’t like it, no one is forcing you to watch it. Wrestling is a variety show, there’s a bit of something for everyone in it and just because you don’t like one aspect doesn’t mean you’d need to turn off completely.

It’s like music. I love heavy metal but some people might say ‘well heavy metal is shit,’ and I’m like ‘you can’t say that’. I don’t like R&B, but I realise there are good R&B singers. I’m not a massive fan of hip-hop, but I like Eminem and Dr. Dre. So there’s always good stuff in everything, I just think you can’t be so closed-minded.

I can’t really talk because I’ve used a lot of blood over the years, but I’ve learned that you get a better reaction when it’s for a reason.

Now that you’re in AEW, what prospects are exciting you the most?

Obviously, I want to work with Jon Moxley. We did a few shows together back in 2007, ’08, ’09 I think in Germany and we were meant to wrestle each other and it never came off, unfortunately. I’d love to do a programme with him. Chris Jericho as well, just because I’ve been such a fan of his since I was a kid! Darby Allin, too. We have tagged together a few times a couple of years ago and that’s always been fun. But, I want to do stories. I want to do progammes with people and be able to tell a story all the way through. I’m just happy to be here, but I think my creativity is how I can be used best.

Tony Khan has talked about how there may be some restrictions on TV compared to pay-per-view, how do you think those restrictions might affect you?

I always find I’m at my most creative when I’m giving restrictions. When I’m told I can’t do something it’s like ‘Ok, this is where I want to get to, how can I get there with these restrictions in place?’ I think storyline restrictions.. like, I can’t get thrown through glass or whatever, we can still be an entertaining product without having to use that sort of stuff and we want more realism.

I still remember the Chris Jericho/Kane feud years ago that started because he spilled a cup of coffee on him and then it ended with them trying to kill each other. We can find better ways into a feud than that! I’ve got ideas of what I want to do, but until I get to TV and know what I’m asked to do it’s a hard question to answer. They want creativity and they want exciting stories and I know I can help with that.

As a man who knows the UK scene like the back of his hand, who do AEW need to look at signing before someone else does?

Rampage Brown, 100 percent. I think he’s the best heavyweight in England, without a doubt. He just looks like a wrestler, he is a wrestler. Cara Noir as well, because he’s incredibly creative and his entrance is made for a high-production show. It would be awesome.

What do you think of Jon Moley’s work for New Japan right now?

The G1 this year has been incredible. Kenta coming back and all of that has been great. Obviously, I’m big friends with Will Ospreay and that so I’m a big fan of New Japan. Moxley’s stuff has been really good. It does feel like he’s been given a new lease of life after WWE and wrestling how he wants now. That’s very cool for him.

With TV not starting until October, lots of AEW talent have still been taking independent bookings. Have you enjoyed time off or are you keeping busy?

I’ve been trying to rest my body a bit because after three or four shows a week for several years, it’s a bit of a mess. I’ve generally been doing a couple of shows a week just so I don’t forget how to wrestle sort of thing. I wrestled Nick Gage recently, that was a deathmatch I never thought I’d get to do. It’s a weird dream match, but I’ve been a fan of his ever since I started so that was really cool. I’m wrestling Jessica Havoc in a couple of weeks – my American sister – so that’s going to fun and that’s just what I’ve been doing, having fun. I wrestled Nick Gage in Los Angeles and I’d never been there before so it’s a cool experience.

What can fans expect from your match at All Out?

It’s going to be carnage. That’s where the creative restrictions come into play. I’ve got loads of ideas of what I want to do, but it all depends on what we’re allowed to do in the actual building. All three of us want to steal the show so it’s going to be an interesting match, put it that way.

Finally, judging by Tony Khan’s comments on violence after Fyter Fest, do you think you’re the type of performer that will feel the weight of those comments?

Yes and no. It’s like I was saying earlier and even with comedy wrestling: some people love it and some people hate it. Now, with violence, I think it’s subjective to what you might think is too violent to what someone else might think is not too violent at all. We’ll have to have a discussion about it and as long as I can justify what I’m doing I don’t think I’ll be restricted too much. Who knows, I’m just excited for the match. I like Joey, I like Darby, I like beating them up so it’s going to be great.

AEW’s All Out goes down on August 31 and their TV show on TNT starts on October 2.