#hire card game developers

[kpissolution]

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[sportsbettingappdevelopment]

Exploring Technological Advancements in Card Game Development

Card games have been a staple of entertainment for centuries, transcending cultures and generations. From the strategic depths of poker to the cultural phenomenon of Teen Patti, these games continue to captivate players worldwide. However, as technology evolves, so too does the landscape of card game development. In this blog post, we'll delve into the technological advancements shaping the future of Teen Patti and poker game development.

Virtual Reality (VR) Integration:

One of the most significant advancements in card game development is the integration of virtual reality (VR) technology. VR allows players to immerse themselves in realistic and interactive environments, enhancing the gameplay experience like never before. For poker game developers, VR offers the opportunity to recreate the ambiance of a real-world casino, complete with lifelike avatars, dynamic interactions, and social engagement. Similarly, teen patti game developers can leverage VR to transport players to vibrant virtual settings, where they can experience the excitement of the game in a whole new dimension.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning:

AI and machine learning technologies are revolutionizing the way card games are developed and played. Poker game development companies are utilizing AI algorithms to create sophisticated opponents that adapt to players' strategies and behaviors, providing a more challenging and dynamic gaming experience. Similarly, teen patti game developers are harnessing AI to enhance the game's intelligence, enabling realistic gameplay scenarios and personalized interactions for each player. With AI-powered bots and assistants, card game developers can deliver more immersive and engaging experiences while pushing the boundaries of innovation.

Mobile Optimization:

In today's mobile-centric world, optimizing card games for mobile platforms is essential for reaching a broader audience. Poker game development companies and teen patti game developers are investing heavily in mobile optimization, ensuring that their games are seamlessly accessible across a variety of devices and screen sizes. From intuitive touch controls to responsive user interfaces, mobile-optimized card games offer players the flexibility to enjoy their favorite games anytime, anywhere. With the increasing popularity of mobile gaming, this technological advancement is poised to shape the future of card game development significantly.

Blockchain Technology:

Blockchain technology is another technological advancement that is making waves in the world of card game development. By leveraging blockchain's decentralized and transparent nature, poker game developers and teen patti game developers can create secure and tamper-proof gaming platforms, ensuring fair play and trustworthiness for players. Blockchain-based solutions also enable innovative features such as provably fair gameplay, transparent transactions, and decentralized tournaments, revolutionizing the way card games are played and experienced.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, technological advancements are reshaping the landscape of card game development, offering new possibilities and opportunities for innovation. From virtual reality and artificial intelligence to mobile optimization and blockchain technology, these advancements are transforming the way we play and experience card games like Teen Patti and poker. By embracing these technologies and collaborating with skilled poker game development company, the future of card game development is bound to be both exciting and transformative.

[gamedevelopers]

Rummy Game Development Company

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[purseowner4thequalityanimation]

SMT Boardgame Kickstarter Smells Like Suspicious Fish

There's an SMT boardgame. Curb your enthusiasm, you shouldn't back it. And if you did, lower your pledge to like a buck until they clear things up, because as it stands it seems like an incredibly suspect product.

Checking through the Kickstarter comments and Japanese Tweets about the boardgame makes the entire thing seem poorly planned at best. I'll summarize as best I can;

The designer is incredibly infamous in the boardgame community

Naoki Matsunaga, a self-described "board game sommelier", is the designer. You'll find tweets lamenting that "the board game sommelier is involved". Why is he so hated? This thread goes into detail: co_boze on twitter. Part of it is they bashed Werewolf over one game they saw of it, another is they took on a kind of public-face role for boardgames appearing on late night TV shows to talk about them in ways that annoyed boardgamers. They seem to have designed a boardgame based on "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" which ripped off Sid Sackson's 'I'm the Boss". But it's what co_boze talks about next that's really bizarre. The game was apparently banned from most board game cafes and playing spaces. Seminars where people could play the game were hosted, but the venues that hosted these seminars all closed down.

If you keep looking through comments, you start finding claims that his company does multi-level marketing (ie pyramid schemes). To be honest, I don't know if this is true. But even if it isn't, it is really not hard to find people who know of this guy and would really really really REALLY prefer he was not involved.

"Oh fuck, it's THIS guy" is not a reaction that inspires confidence

2. Questionable development and presentation issues.

A regular collaborator with Atlus recently tweeted "The use of AI in Atlus works or derivative works is stictly prohibited." He responded to a reply asking if this was about a board game.

The staff running the SMT BG Kickstarter later clarified the actual -game- wouldn't use AI graphics... but from the looks of it, the promotional materials do.

Dig that... generic metal pipe aesthetic. Nothing screams MegaTen like black plumbing to nowhere.

In totally unrelated news, a board game manufacturer recently tweeted that a Kickstarter used their name without permission, and they're not sure why.

Quote tweets on the post would suggest it was the SMT board game. The comment they are loosely referring to is this:

In a follow-up post, they do specify "The product figures will be made of PVC." and "We will be manufacturing the games in partnership with a factory in China that has a proven track record... " "Figure director Kimura Yuzuru has over 10 years of experience..." and other boring development stuff that I have no issue with. What I do have issue with is how they can say things like they're "considering" which manufacturer to use and namedropping other companies that they're unrelated with. (While I was typing this post, they posted an update that clarified the CMON issue and literally nothing else: here.)

The boardgame is being presented with machine translated English printed on the same cards as the Japanese. But the actual game will have a translator check everything.

they hire translators to localize all game content

Additionally, there was a week long radio silence on the Kickstarter. For reference, Kickstarters are normally very active with the project planners dropping updates, responding to feedback and clearing up any concerns.

Some of the concerns were "How does the game actually play?", a question that would be best answered by dropping a rulebook for people to look at, or better yet showing them an entire run of the game. The SMT BG Kickstarter has boldly chosen neither. Devs have commented the game is on Version 11 and plays well, which makes it strange that they can't share any of it with anyone else.

Actually, when you compare this to how most Kickstarters are run, it becomes very clear the SMT BG Kickstarter is, uh, kinda failing in all possible regards. The first Backer Goal is "Jack Frost Dice" at 2000 backers (not funds raised, BACKERS). Despite getting 300%(!!!) of the initial pledge needed, there are no bonuses or unlocks.

Mind, this lack of information comes after they already delayed the start to supposedly improve Backer Goals and other aspects.

There aren't a shortage of issues - it's ICREA's first boardgame (but not their first tango with SMT; they made the SMT30th Logo, for instance.) The timeline seems totally wack. The staff have been incredibly slow to respond. Cards with tiny font and two languages printed on them. Etc, etc. Maybe individually these issues wouldn't be too concerning. But all of them combined make the product seem incompetently run at best, and at worst an actual scam.

I'm hardly a big influencer in the SMT scene (my biggest contribution is when that fucking succubus gif gets 36k likes on Twitter every 5 months) but I haven't seen any English speaking sources discuss this in detail, when there really should be at least some noise about all of this. Still. if just one of you end up saving 600 bucks on what ends up being a trashfire carcrash project because of this post, then that'll have made the past 30 minutes of typing this shit worth it.

[loves1ckmoth]

TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES

Part 2 of Missions Hinderance

S1!Sevika x New Hire!Reader

Warnings ♡: fem!reader, sevikas flirts with reader, silco, vi and jinx are mentioned, pet names (doll, dolly), she's nosy

Word Count ♡: 1110

Recently, in your break time, you’ve absorbed yourself in sketching. In the past couple of days, Sevika’s arm has become your target of interest. She had gotten in a fight with some… released prisoner of Stillwater and subsequently ruined it. At first, it started with simple sketches of what it used to look like. Now, it’s full-on development sketches of what a new one would look like for her.

You’ve tried your best to keep quiet about it. You’ve tried hiding it from her whenever she peers into your office or your shoulder at the bar after work. Once she notices your wariness about it, she’s only become more interested in it. While most of that curiosity is just her nosiness, she hides it behind wanting to make sure you’re not developing anything against Silco. Once, she even tried to get the help of Jinx to swoop in and grab them for her, but the girl wasn’t interested because she had her own thing going on.

So that’s how she ends up here, glaring at you from across the Last Drop while her cards lie scattered across the table. The howling and yelping of everyone else in the bar does nothing to soothe her irritation. The bottle she had been nursing lay shattered on the floor and you remain unbothered on your stool, pencil in hand. She watches as the bartender attempts to make small talk despite your indifference.

She eyes your hair, still tied up the way she taught you only a couple of weeks before this point. “Continue your game alone, boys. I’ve got something to attend to.” Her voice boomed as she stood, making her way over to you. You’re distracted with your drink, and she smirks.

As she looms closer, you don’t seem to notice, likely passing her off as just another drunk wandering around. But when she peers over your shoulder, you jolt. You swing around to face her, hiding the papers behind you as best you can.

“Sevika!” Your voice is loud, putting on a mask of cheerfulness to hide your obvious panic. She smiles wider as a bead of sweat drops from your neck. “To what do I owe the pleasure?” She lingers for a moment, letting you panic internally before she decides to speak. “Those papers. I know Silco doesn’t pay for overtime. So what has been occupying your hands lately? You seem intent on hiding it from me.”

Your face loses its color as you try to come up with an excuse. It’s not like you’re doing anything wrong. But the idea of showing her that you paid attention to every minute detail of how she used her arm before she lost it would be embarrassing. “Just... Sketches?”

Her crooked lips form a snarky grin. You’re cornered and she’ll finally get the answer she wants. “Tell me what they are, doll.” You felt a chill crawl up your spine at her commanding voice and a flush bloom across your face. “Designs.” You murmur as you hand it over to her.

She takes them gingerly in her hand and looks them over. Extensive and intricate designs of her arm, with and without shimmer. There are at least 10 different pages of designs and tools to embed within the arm. Just over the pages, she can see you waiting for some kind of response. Whether that’s praise or admonishment, she can tell you’re eager to receive either.

“This is… interesting. How did you get these measurements?” She watches you fumble patiently as you try to explain. When you open your mouth to spout out some barely believable excuse, she raises a brow, a silent warning. “I took your arm from the scene.” You admit quietly.

She huffs a laugh and watches you look up at her through your lashes. “That’s where it had gone? I thought someone else down here took it to sell it from scraps. Or that blue brat took it for her inventions. Not that our navigator took it for herself.”

She leans forward slightly to come down to your height and get in your face. You find it more demeaning than you would’ve if she had fully bent down. “You're gonna make me a new arm, Dolly?” She teases, gently playing with your loose hair. When you offer a hesitant shrug in response, she sighs and stands back up.

“I’d rather you do it than Jinx. Janna knows what she’d do to it.” she pretends to be disinterested but watches out of the corner of her eyes as those wide, searching eyes of yours only get bigger. She’s not sure how you do it.

“Would you like me to?” You whisper back and her heart quivers. She pretends to think about it, leans back on one leg, and looks up at the roof. She huffs after a minute of making you wait. “Sure, why not? I’d like to have my arm back.”

She smirks to herself at the way your eyes light up. “Unless you’re too busy, then I’ll get Jinx to” “I’ll do it!” You shout, interrupting her. She manages to hide her smile as you rush to explain yourself. “I’ll make the arm.”

She loves to play the game and adores how you fall in place just how she needs you to. “How long will it take you to get it done? I’ll give you any materials you need if Jinx can’t.” You look over your things, eyes focused on how you’ll do it. “Maybe a couple of weeks? It requires a lot of work and there's a bunch of details to it. I can use scrap parts from that old arm. The metal can still be worked on, but I’ll have to melt parts down to make them useable again.”

She watches as you continue to ramble on before putting a hand on your shoulder. “So a couple weeks?” You flush from embarrassment and nod. “Good. I’ll see to it that Silco lessens your workload to help you get this done faster.” You smile widely, and that thumping in her chest begins again.

“Thank you, Sevika.” You say happily, and she returns to her table while you begin to furiously sketch at the bar. The men at her table whistle and jab her in the side. “Who’s the little lady?” One jeer, blowing foul cigar smoke in her face. She scowls at him and rolls her eyes.

“A coworker. Mind your own.” They continue to nag at her while going back to their game, but that subtle acceleration of her heart continues even when she's away from you, and it won't seem to go away.

Hi everyone!! I had another idea for Sevika and thought it would be cute to add this as a second part to it :3 Hope you like it ♡♡ Reblogs and likes are the most appreciated ♡

[chibigingi]

My Issue with Solas

(To which I'm going to be berated, blocked, loathed, dismissed by his fans, and that's okay because it's their right, but I gotta get this out.)

First and foremost I will openly admit that I've played most of the Dragon Age games and their DLC (exception being one of the DLCs from Dragon Age 2 involving Corphyeus and the deets on Malcom Hawke, and any DLC in Inquisition), and my enjoyment of the series, up until Veilguard, is casual. I preferred the Mass Effect series and even then I can't say that I know all the lore to consider myself a super fan.

That being said, my issue with Solas (besides some of his crazier fans who genuinely can't acknowledge any flaws or unironically say that the Veil should've came down) is the fact that they wrote him to be too powerful, too clever, and thus wrote themselves (or the ones that ended up taking over as I'm told that the development for Dread Wolf and then eventually Veilguard was... uh... a mess xD) into a corner in regards to how they can realistically combat him by making him the antagonist of the fourth game.

Much of the criticism I see from the hardcore Solas/Dragon Age lore fans usually boil down to the fact that they (the writers) nerfed him so that the heroes of the Veilguard could have a fighting chance.

"Remember when he could turn people into stone without even looking at them?"

"He could've easily subdued Varric without killing him." (Something Neve points out as well if you take her with you to the final showdown in Minrathous)

"I can't believe he'd fall for a fake dagger, they had to BS some excuse that he's concussed or say it's his arrogance that blinded him, whatever, they made him look dumb!"

All reasonable criticisms, but I think the problem lies in the fact that the writers, either his original ones or the new ones, just did themselves an oopsie and powerscaled him to the point that ANY effort to overcome him will be dismissed as 'contrived', 'unrealistic', or that they had to nerf him in order to overcome him.

Which... not really?

Think of it like this. Rook is portrayed as the anti-Solas, regardless if you play them as Blue, Red, or Purple. Whereas Solas schemes, plots ahead, plays chess with others as pawns, willing to sacrifice said pawns when necessary, Rook is literally riding by the seat of their pants and making it up as they go. When your opponent is someone who thinks he has everything figured out, the best way to combat that is to be so wild, so unpredictable, that it throws them off balance, long enough to get a few licks in.

Solas's greatest weakness in regards to Rook is that he always, always, always underestimates Rook and that Rook always does the unexpected.

Whereas Solas knew Varric would try and talk him down, he could never predict that the wild card that Varric hired was stupid enough to drop a freakin' statue on him to stop a ritual (instead of doing something conventional, like, you know... shoot at him from afar or charge boldly at him, like an idiot). ((Though, if Solas had taken the time to know Rook, especially Warden Rook, he's have probably been a little less surprised... or not, because who'd drop a large construction ontop of someone else TWICE in the span of a few months? Seriously, who even does that once, much less twice?))

Whereas Solas expects Rook to be belligerent and distrustful throughout their shared sessions in the Meditation rooms, Rook surprises him by actually listening to his advice, despite their dislike/distrust of him.

Whereas Solas expects Rook to be trapped in the Fade prison, because if someone as smart and clever and powerful as he, the Elven god of lies, deception, rebellion, blah blah blah, then an idiot like Rook who Solas clearly thinks lacks insight and introspection (a far assumption, Rook dropping a statue on him and interrupting a Ritual was literally plan A) couldn't figure it out.

Even the three (technically Five I guess) endings, Rook defeats him by doing the unexpected.

Sacrifice, he never expects Rook to have what it takes to make the sacrifice. Sure, everyone SAYS they'll do whatever it takes to save the world, but how many are actually willing to do it when the gauntlet is thrown? How many have tried to stop Solas with the good ol' 'Whatever it takes' mentality and hadn't either been defeated or chickened out when the time came?

Fight, he expects that Rook would be stupid and fight him on their own, never expecting that his companions would be willing to risk life and limb to fight for Rook (hell, even Emmrich, Mr-Always-Suggests-The-Non-Violent-Option is ready to throw hands the moment Rook says it's Clobbering time).

Trick, this is self-explanatory in that he never expects Emmrich or anyone to have made a fake dagger, nor does he expect Rook to be brazen enough to even try pulling such a trick on him. This is a guy that thought dropping a statue on him was a good idea, after all, and Rook hadn't shown signs of such deviousness before, at least not against him. Who would dare try and outDread Wolf the Dread Wolf? Rook, that's who.

Both Redemption endings, he never expects Rook to actually talk to him in the final confrontation, especially after all that he put Rook through. He's expecting Rook to be so out for blood, so determined to see him as his enemy, so determined to stop him, that the idea that he'd go through the hassle of learning about all of his regrets or finding Mythal's fragment wouldn't have crossed Rook's mind. That Rook actually believed that he was worthy of redemption, after everything he's done, to Rook, to the Inquisitor, to Mythal, to literally all of Thedas... is unexpected.

Look, I get that the writing in Veilguard, especially compared to previous games, isn't all that great. Sometimes it's just bad. I think fans had expected Solas to continue to be this all-powerful being that was always being eluded to through in-game journals and codex entries (or these feats maybe were seen in Trespasser, I don't know because I haven't played it and at this point, I kind of don't want to). I think a lot of the issues arise with expectations, whether they're reasonable expectations or not.

People expected Solas to be bested by a character that could match his wit, but instead, they get a chaotic DnD player that is literally making shit up as they go. Which... if you're a fan of Solas and wanted to maybe see him have a better outcome even though you knew he'd have to lose at the end, I can get the disappointment. Or maybe you hate Solas but are still disappointed that you couldn't really do all the terrible things you wanted to do to him (like, me... sorry, but my Inquisitor would NOT have called him 'Friend'... don't give me the option to say 'I want to stop him' if you're just going to be lazy and have it the same as the 'I want to help him' but just a little less nice). Sorry y'all didn't get the game you wanted or the game you feel the series deserves... fate conspired against us players and the developers who tried despite being given an impossible task.

Maybe I'm pessimistic, and I'll admit I have some bias against Solas anyways as I never cared for him even BEFORE the reveal in Inquisition, but I just had a feeling that the decision to have the entire series revolve around him was going to eventually bite Bioware in the butt, because once the expectations was there, the chances of them living up to said expectations was slimmer than Emmrich's waistline. Maybe with more time and resources and not having EA constantly trying to make Dragon Age something it could never be, y'all have gotten the game y'all feel the series deserve.

Or maybe y'all be bitching because there'll be something else that y'all didn't like in how he was handled. I don't know, I'm like Rook in that I don't have time for that kind of insight. I enjoyed the game, for all of its many flaws... only other Dragon Age game I played more than once was 2, and that was because I screwed up with Isabela and I hate finishing a game without a full party available to me (if it is possible and not because of the developers forcing the players to make a choice to kill, or have a character leave no matter what you do).

Anyways, TL;DR version: Rook is my precious baby and we were never going to get a version of Veilguard that would've satisfied the fans nor EA's ridiculous expectations...

[donovaneagle2098]

A Complete Encyclopedia of the Lore of Every Witcher School

This is a project I've been working on for a long time. The Witcher Schools in general have lore spread across 3 or 4 different sources, so it's very easy to find inaccurate details about each school due to a person only going off of one source without even knowing of the others. Hell, I've been guilty of this in the past. So I've gone out of my way to find every source available for the various Witcher Schools and compile it into one master post, mostly pulling from the standalone Gwent game, and the Witcher TRPG, as well as an email conversation I've had with the TRPG's writer, Cody Pondsmith. Without further ado, let's start out with the original school, the Order of Witchers.

Witcher schools are like the Clans of Skellige, subtly different, but largely united by their common ground, and that common ground is the Order of Witchers.

The Order of Witchers began as an experiment by the rogue mages Alzur and his mentor Cosimo Malaspina. They "recruited" tests subjects from orphanages, buying them from neglectful parents, or outright kidnapping street kids.

From Cosimo's Gwent Card:

"Children keep asking him for gifts. He doesn’t know why, but it really helps with finding subjects for his experiments."

The main goal of this project was to create an order of knights artificially mutated and imbued with extreme levels of magic to protect people from a world where, at the time, monsters were often literally around every corner.

The mutation experiments were grueling, and most early candidates died horribly, the girls especially, as the mutagenic compounds the mages were working with at the time were better suited for a boys physiology, and they quickly stopped trying to find a mixture that worked well with women, instead refining the more successful candidate pool to meet deadlines. Even with these refinements, however, the Witchers couldn't actually generate much in the way of magical power, at least not nearly as much as those funding the project had hoped for.

These early candidates were encouraged to stick to political neutrality, were told of their duty to protect the common people, and their sword instructor tried to encourage them to take on knightly virtues to live their lives by, though only a few candidates actually bought fully into these particular knightly ideals.

The school developed a training regimen that all later Witcher schools would put their own small twists on. They perfected the whirling sword style, practiced on the Pendulum and Gauntlet training courses. They learned the Witcher Sign magic, created by Cosimo. They were taught hunting and monster lore from experts hired from across the world, and master alchemists crafted the famous Witcher potions.

Ultimately, funding from this school would be pulled due to the Witcher candidates lack of truly powerful magic ability, and the order would start to fracture. Witchers dissatisfied with their lot in life after being forcibly mutated, and railing against the Order's enforced ideals began getting combatative with other Witchers over petty contracts. At this time, contracts were so plentiful that there was no real need to fight over them, but these dissident Witchers did so anyway out of a desire for autonomy and to be free of the Order's code, which they saw as having no practical purpose to prepare new Witchers for the road ahead, and hypocritical as it was forced on them by the mages who never cared for the Witcher's lives. This culminated in one such outspoken Witcher, Arnaghad, attacking another Witcher who poached a contract from him.

After being forced into the painful life of a Witcher, Arnaghad loathed anyone who imposed their will upon him, the Order and it's codes especially. He led an attack on the Order proper, aided by fellow Witchers who respected his defiance towards authority. Once they were beaten back, these dissidents fled to the Amell mountain range to start the next Witcher school, the School of the Bear.

The School of the Bear is one of the most misunderstood schools of them all, owing to the first major lore drop about them being largely in-universe rumors and conjecture surrounding the school, and as such I may need to go more in depth. The two major misconceptions stemming from this is the rumor about their armor, which claims that they don't bother dodging like the other Witchers and instead take blows head on (generally a bad idea, according to Geralt in the books), and the rumor about them attacking most Witchers they meet.

I contacted Cody Pondsmith, who wrote a great deal of this lore, and he mentioned that Bears do often threaten or even fight other Witchers, but in a very Skellige way, only to ward off the other Witcher from contracts they want. The Bears just want to live lives where they aren't commanded by others, and were trained especially brutally, and so will fight for what contracts they want. However they will NEVER kill another Witcher, just draw first blood (outside of duels to decide who runs the school, which occasionally turn deadly. It's unknown if Arnaghad has ever lost these duels) and if that other Witcher stands up to the Bear, they'll let them have the contract and if they meet up and work together enough even maybe become a lifelong friend.

To quote Cody himself: "I like to think of the Witcher Order as a big family in which the Bear School is the blunt, no-nonsense brother. He can be prickly and a bit of a bully sometimes but he takes his job seriously and he can be a good drinking buddy if you get to know him. Not the friendliest of people but far from evil. If you stand up to him and show him you're not afraid of him, he'll respect you."

The other rumor is also an exaggeration. The Witcher TRPG mentions that the Bear armor was designed with flexibility in mind, and while they trained to take on weaker blows with their armor and "mastery of the Quen sign", they also trained how to move quickly in their armor if they needed to dodge a fatal blow. The Bears also still trained on the gauntlet and pendulum like the other schools. Cody Pondsmith also confirmed that the Bears are just as agile as the other Witchers.

The Bears' core philosophy is almost very Lambert like, viewing Witcher's work not as a duty, or knightly virtue, but as difficult, brutal work. The only reason they stick to this work is to do a job where no one else commands them and they're left in peace. They focus only on the practical aspects of their profession, and as such discourage their students from working together in training, since Witchers work alone. As Arnaghad said, "We pass through life alone, better get used to it!" As a result, Bears are very isolated, preferring their own company to that of other Witchers, and were encouraged to value their autonomy and self care above all else. The Bears' approach to teaching was embodied as "let them better themselves through practical, dangerous trials. Survival of the fittest", embodied by final trial, that involved climbing to the top of Mt. Gorgon and back, and any who died from the cold were left "as a sobering reminder of the dangers of their trade". This resulted in the students of the school seeing things in a very callous, survival of the fittest way. Be as strong as you can, and let the perils of Witcher training and life pick off those who can't keep up. As a result, the Bears were by far the smallest Witcher school.

Despite this, the TRPG has a list of random early training events Witchers from all schools can have, and Bears could sometimes make friends amongst their fellow witchers in training just like members of every other school.

Once the new Bear students left their keep of Haern Caduch, most wouldn't return to winter there, unlike the other schools. They developed a reputation as being terrible to fight, and for being firebrands, often speaking very bluntly and quick to anger no matter who they spoke to, authority included. One such Witcher, named Gerd, was asked by a Duchess to help kill her father. He insulted her so badly he got a warrant for his death placed on him, though all the peasants he met spoke rather highly of him. As a result, Bears found it easiest to make friends amongst the similarly minded Dwarves and Gnomes of the Amell mountains, and people of the Skellige Isles. According to Cody Pondsmith, this is the main reason the Bears stayed together as a group at all. They valued autonomy above all else and so long as they functioned as a Witcher school, they were left alone and no rulers would try and command them. They also largely take their ideals of free will and apply it to others, never seeking to rule over others. They simply wish to live their lives free.

One of the original Witchers to side with Arnaghad, Ivar Evil-Eye, had extra mutations done to him by the Order of Witchers during his trial, allowing him to see into other worlds. In these visions he saw the Wild Hunt rampaging across them, conquering them. Ivar became obsessed with stopping them, and tried to kill Arnaghad to take command and lead the Bear school against the Hunt. This failed, so he and his supporters left to form the Viper School.

The Witchers of the Viper school, based in Gorthur Gvaed, were said to be the most secretive, taking contracts as both assassins and witchers. They at first dedicated themselves finding a way to stop the Wild Hunt, amassing a massive library on the subject. Fighting with an unpredictable, ambushed based variant of the Witcher fighting style, Viper Witchers employed poisons, brewed by skilled Viper alchemists, on both their swords, and a dagger in their offhand, their biggest deviation from typical Witcher combat techniques.

Vipers, for an unknown reason, eventually forgot their purpose. In his time, Letho of Gullet could only guess at why the school had been founded. Instead, they became famous for their skill at political killings, dealing with the nobility of the southern countries before Nilfgaard had even become a large-scale power.

Viper students had a different type of trial, after more grueling than typical training. Instead of any physical task like the other schools, the Viper students were given a pet at their induction to the school. And to graduate, they simply had to hunt it down and kill it, showing their lack of mercy.

While most of those who supported Ivar followed him to the Viper school, one group broke off and west east, across the Korath desert, to Zerikania, founding the School of the Manticore.

The School of the Manticore was founded by the Witcher Iwan, from the School of the Bear, following Ivar's assassination attempt on Arnaghad. They got work in the Korath desert as caravan guards, earning the attention of the Zerrikanian Queen after a deadly battle with a manticore. The Queen sponsored the Witchers of the Manticore, making them the only school to be officially backed by any government. They were experts on potions and anti-toxins, a necessity of dealing with the poisonous creatures of the Korath desert.

A unique adaptation to the monsters of the desert also had Manticore Witchers employ shields into the whirling combat of their Witcher training. Given their extra support, the Manticores held two keeps, Behelt Nar and Bailsuf Alsarea, on opposite sides of the desert, so that they might better patrol and guard those within it.

The Manticore is the final school to come from the schism Arnaghad had led. The other voices of dissent against the ideals of the Order would soon hear of these new schools and decide to break off as well to form the School of the Cat.

The School of the Cat was founded out of a response to the hatred and distrust Witchers received. They desired to be seen in a better, more respectful light. Ironically, they would end up doing the opposite. The Cat School stole away with several of the mutagens needed to make more Witchers and headed to Ebbing, and Stygga Citadel, where they would begin to experiment on human-elf children in an attempt to perfect the mutations. Its possible that the mages at this time furthered experiments on making women Witchers, but this is not confirmed yet.

Attempting to make a name for themselves, the Cats hired themselves out as spies, assassins, and mercenaries, genuinely earning them some respect from common folk for killing bandits.

In their attempts to perfect the mutations and further dull the emotions of their Witchers, the Cat school experimented harshly on a group of children that resulted in the opposite, giving these Witchers hightened emotional responses instead. These students, cast aside and left for dead, fled into the arms of a group of elves, who agreed to support them if this branch of the Cat School supported the elves' fight for freedom.

This branch, led by Gezras of Leyda, attached itself to the Dyn Marv caravan and traveled the continent, lending their services mostly to those nonhumans who could pay, while the main Cats at Stygga ended up getting assaulted by angry royals incited by their political maneuvering. This left the Dyn Marv branch as the only functional element of the School of the Cat. These Cats would train students' agility in a light, fast Elven take on Witcher fighting style, and would train their balance by making students walk a tightrope, starting low to the ground at first, but getting higher and higher each attempt.

The Cat school's breaking of Witcher neutrality and reputation for bloodlust earned Witchers such a bad name that those in the Order who most cherished their old swordmaster's knightly virtues would leave to form the School of the Griffin.

The School of the Griffin, led by Erland of Larvik, wished to truly achieve the dream of the original Order, and Gryphon, the Order's sword instructor. They traveled north to Kaer y Saren, an old fortress the Order once used, and cleansed it of the spirits of those who died in the first Witcher mutations. From there, they began a Witcher school focused on respectability and honor, believing in their knightly duties. And it worked, somewhat. The Griffins were sometimes advisors to nobility, and seen as honorable, but the prejudice against Witchers would never leave, and most would never see a Griffin Witcher as anything more than a monster playing at being a knight.

These Witchers tried their best to cushion their students against the pain of their lives on the Witcher's path, and were more brotherly than the other schools, though their knightly virtues and brotherhood were oftentimes cold comfort to Griffin students.

From the Witcher TRPG Sourcebook:

"Witcher I knew couldn’t really remember much ‘bout his past. Heh, too young to really form a lotta memories when they took him to Kaer Y Seren. Told me that the memory he did have made the mutations easier. Poor bastard clung to a memory of his pa takin’ him on a horse for a ride in the fields. Don’t know why he chose that one. Probably the only normal memory he had."

The Griffins amassed a huge library of magical knowledge, though they could only push sign magic so far, and the books were likely wasted being in a Witcher library. The library held several incredibly famous tomes on magic within, and was the envy of full mages across the Northern Realms. Despite all their efforts, they never could achieve their goal of bringing about the Order of Witcher's vision. The Griffins even had their own breaches of Witcher tradition in pursuit of their knightly heroics. An often said mantra of the Griffin school in Gwent is "To slay dragons! Tis our knightly duty!" despite dragons being largely innocent, intelligent beings who mostly wish to be left in peace.

Code Pondsmith had this to say about the Griffins:

"The Griffins stuck to the knightly traditions that the original witcher order tried to uphold. As a result it's safe to say that the Griffin school taught that monsters were the enemy of mankind and must be defeated. I don't think they would all be blindly overzealous but they wouldn't have any qualms about slaying sapient monsters if they believed it was for the good of mankind. Similarly, it's likely that they would side with humans in any conflict between monsters and humans. In a way, the Griffins' knightly virtues made them easier to manipulate than the other witcher schools. They were bound to protect humanity and thus were more likely to be convinced to hunt a monster if a local noble or alderman claimed it would be for the good of the people. This is the case with the dragons. The kingdoms and jewelers guilds of the North convinced the Griffin School that dragons were a blight upon humanity and the Griffins started slaying dragons regardless of whether all of the dragons they slew deserved it. Additionally, the knightly values might make Griffin school witchers more likely to take pity on desperate humans and work for free."

Those few Witchers remaining in the Order by now traveled to northern Kaedwyn, and started a school based on their tempered, traditionalist, and realistic view on the Order's goals. They based themselves in Kaer Morhen and dubbed themselves the School of the Wolf.

The School of the Wolf is the most famous Witcher school, known for their professionalism and efficiency. They don't kill humans like the Viper or Cat. Aren't bold or brash like the Bear, or put Knightly virtues above Witcher ideals like the Griffin. I mean, anyone reading far this knows who the Wolf Witchers are, so I'm not going to get into to much detail. They're Geralt's school. Ciri's school. While the Griffins school wasted it's energy on trying to be what Witchers were supposed to be, the Wolf set its goals on being the best they realistically could be.

They took a balanced approached to Witcher life and as such trained Witchers who were the best adjusted out of the schools, with neither the Bear's harshness nor the Griffin's egocentrism. They perfected the Witcher's style of combat, refining their swordsmanship into an incredibly graceful dance. Combined with their professional attitude and teachings that allowed Wolf Witchers to adapt very well to most situations thrown at them, Wolf Witchers were lauded all across the Continent.

With all Schools formed, the Golden Age of Witchers began, at first with the Bears and Griffins making peace. From Erland of Larvik's Journal (The TRPG's monster manual):

"Surprisingly enough the fracturing of the witcher order had lead to a more effective organization for us witchers. Spread across the Continent and each making more witchers independently, it was no longer the task of 60 or 70 witchers to patrol the entire Continent from Nilfgaard to Kovir. Each school patrolled their own path and when a Gryphon met with a Bear each knew they had their territory and any infighting wouldn’t be worth the bloodshed. We managed to broker peace and live as somewhat estranged brothers rather than bitter enemies"

Witchers at this time were seen largely as heroes, with their detractors' voices largely simmering underneath. With Witchers around to kill monsters, people felt safe and so ignored any misgivings they might have.

Witchers, no matter the school, aren't too dissimilar from each other, and so the Cintinent at large formed an overall opinion of the Witchers based on the traits they all shared. From the TRPG:

"In the heyday of witchers there were many many seperate schools, which all mutated new witchers and taught them the neccesary skills to hunt monsters and lift curses. While it’s generally agreed that there is a core set of skills required to a be a witcher, each school taught its students differently and focused on different aspects of witcher training. Thus, witchers from different schools often act differently and go about their jobs in similar but varied ways."

During this period, the Schools all would produce hundreds of Witchers (though at any given time, most schools had about 20 Witchers running the school, a handful of novices undergoing the trials, and around 30-50 Witchers on the path hunting monsters. This fluctuated from school to school. The Bear's brutal training resulted in the lowest number of Witchers amongst the schools, while the Wolves' prolific status and high success rates meant they took in more candidates and had more Witchers than the other schools), and each was their own person, With their own preferences and personality, despite the schools themselves having reputations for Witchers with only a few certain traits. For instance, the Bear Witcher Ivo of Belhaven fought like a Viper or Cat Witcher, but in personality was a perfect fit for the Bear School with how standoffish he could be. The schools kept to their own territory at first, but as time went on and contracts got ever more rare, these already thin lines fell apart and the schools stopped caring much about territories.

They also all customized their gear in different ways, usually keeping their gear in similar fashion to their school's, as its what they trained in an were used to. For example, Bear Witcher Junod of Belhaven wore what appears to be a set of Wolf School armor he had modified to fit Bear Witcher style.

Witchers also at this time experimented with signs. The Griffins obviously focused on making them more powerful, and the Bears pushed Quen to a level beyond any other school. But the most interesting case is that of Warrit, a blind Viper Witcher who used the lesser known Suppire sign as a form of echolocation.

The Golden age lasted for around 150-200 years or so, ending around 1160 when the monster populations had been hunted down enough that people's main concern stopped being the monsters, and became the Witchers themselves.

The Griffin School, refusing to share the knowledge of its library, was destroyed by jealous mages. A group of peasants and mages attacked the Wolves' keep out of nowhere. The Bears failed to destroy a powerful cabal of vampires and, when peasants rioted and came for their keep, chose to disband rather than engage in needless slaughter. The Cat's keep of Stygga is destroyed, but the Dyn Marv chapter may still be alive and well. The Manticore School failed to protect an important prince from a fire elemental, and so lost their funding and closed. The Viper refused to support the Nilfgaardian usurper and were destroyed.

If you've made it this far, holy shit, thank you! I hope you have a great day!

[junplusone]

seventeen as engineering majors

notes: hi i have nothing to say for myself except this is partially @imujings's fault and also my self indulgence so here we go (can you tell what my major is..... lol)

warnings: ehh swearing, i namedrop companies, eng jargon

-

CHOI SEUNGCHEOL - civil engineering

if you know, you know

is very proud of his program despite all the jokes (he shouldn't be) sorry im biased

"we're better than the meches"

never had to take dynamics in his LIFE omg

100% has a poster of the golden gate bridge on his wall and gets made fun of for it

is convinced one day when he's making bank and jeonghan is jobless he'll finally be vindicated

YOON JEONGHAN - mechanical engineering

did have to take dynamics & almost failed it

(he's smart, he was just too lazy to submit any of the homework that was also worth 60% of his grade)

gets salty at career fairs when most of the employers are construction companies

competing with the 24853874534 other meches for class sections

leaning into the "jack of all trades master of ????"

has a superiority complex over the aeros

HONG JOSHUA - computer engineering

should have just been a cs major tbh

compe is the bottom of the engineering food chain

but nobody has the heart to tell him that bc he's too kind

hangs out with the likes of yoon jeonghan but still never skips class

wants to create his own video game

probably got an internship at a fortune 100 company

has hella connections and WILL ask them to nepo you too bc he's that nice

WEN JUNHUI - aerospace engineering

has had enough of the lockheed martin jokes

does NOT !!! wanna work in defense he's a sustainable fuel guy

spacecraft development companies pleaseeee hire him

lets the meches have beef w him bc he dgaf what they think, but gets annoyed when they start competing w him for jobs

sidequest king (double minor in math & ecology AND he wants to try his hand at law school???? wtf)

locks in so freaking hard when he has to but is just silly otherwise - he's that student you never see studying but then they ace the exam

KWON SOONYOUNG - chemical engineering

is the one making lockheed martin jokes in front of junhui

but definitely picked cheme because someone told him he can make bombs

had to retake orgo twice but then passed inorganic chemistry with flying colors

academic wild card #1

always ends up with 8:30s bc he never wakes up on time for class registration

#1 merck worshipper pls hire him omg

LEE JIHOON - computer engineering

is at the bottom of the engineering food chain, but unlike joshua he knows & owns it

is a cs minor so it's slightly more excusable

probably has hella shit on github

definitely following more companies on linkedin than he has connections

double major in music production & plays clarinet in the pep band

you will never see him without his headphones on

JEON WONWOO - electrical engineering

actually very strongly dislikes that electrical & comp are grouped together as ece

likes the versatility of his major

probably never had a single morning class in his life

def came into college proficient in a bunch of programming languages

sits at the back of the lecture hall

never ever studies outside of his dorm bc he likes using his huge desk monitor

KIM MINGYU - biomedical engineering

so sick of every single person he meets assuming he's a premed student

has definitely accidentally broken flasks in his bio lab

was so elated when he found out orgo isn't a graduation requirement

always ALWAYS studies w a whiteboard

is one of the only guys in bme

you can always find him cooking up some food in the dorm's communal kitchen, he's always down for a conversation

LEE SEOKMIN - environmental engineering

minor in sustainability, he's an environmentally conscious sweetie pie!

the dream project groupmate

is one of like 15 people in his graduating class

wants to research water treatment technologies

"did you know using chatgpt is harmful to the environment?"

and he's right !!!!

took organic chemistry for fun and aced it even though mingyu warned him it would tank his gpa

XU MINGHAO - chemical engineering

really wants to work in the fragrance industry

always smells good, you'll never catch him lacking

another one of those people where you don't see them study ever but they still coast through classes

gets distracted when he's drawing out chemical compounds bc he tries too hard to get the lines perfect

and then starts sketching something else

second most nastiest side eye

BOO SEUNGKWAN - industrial & systems engineering

y'all know this man did not wanna do any work (jk i love my ise majors)

business admin double major & he's reaaaally good at it

everyone's jealous of the way he charms all the employers at the career fair how do u even do that like???

very intelligent but hated every calc class he had to take

always studies in the business building

nastiest side eye EVERRRRRR do not say anything stupid in front of him please he will vaporize you

CHWE HANSOL - materials science & engineering

walter white in the making

declared a chemistry minor and then never took the required classes

really enjoyed crystal chem

profs have a hard time grading his hw cause his handwriting lowkey looks like chicken scratches

the absolute chillest during finals week but nobody knows if it's because he studied way in advance or because he didn't study at all

academic wild card #2

such an 'it is what it is' guy tbh...

LEE CHAN - packaging engineering

ppl look confused when he tells them his major

is in it for the near 100% job placement

has a great time in all of his classes because they're so fun and the class size is like 8 kids

doesn't fully know what he wants to do later in life but he'll figure it out later

carpe diem kinda guy

wants to intern at a cosmetics company really really bad so he can take sample products home to his mom

let me know if u enjoyed this hehe :)

[guzhufuren]

South Korea 🇰🇷 A Guide to Some of the Best Queer Asian Shows

Full list here.

1. Love for Love's Sake inside of a video game; high school setting; healing

At the age of 29 Tae Myungha finds himself transported into a fictional video game, and now 19 years old, he meets Cha Yeowoon, who is in the darkest moment of his life. And a translucent window appears where he receives a mission — to make Cha Yeowoon happy.

iQIYI (better subtitles) or GagaOOLala

2. Semantic Error enemies to lovers; university setting

A serious programmer and a rebellious artist clash over a school project. Their animosity keeps escalating to new extremes, defined by petty pranks and feisty arguments.

Viki

3. Love Tractor farm setting; farmer/city musician

Sunyeol, a city man with zero ability to survive in the countryside, comes to his grandfather's rural home. In front of him appears Yechan, a passionate and kind young farmer. While learning about rural life and assisting with farming tasks, Sunyeol gradually finds himself drawn to Yechan's warm and straightforward nature, while Yechan helplessly falls for Sunyeol.

iQIYI

4. Our Dating Sim high school friends to lovers; office setting

After 7 years, Lee Wan meets his first love, Shin Kitae, in a gaming company. When they were best friends in high school, Lee Wan was in love with Kitae. But he ran away and disappeared after confessing his feelings to Kitae after graduation. When the two of them begin working on a new dating simulation game and get more immersed in the project, old feelings are rekindled.

Viki or GagaOOLala

5. She Makes My Heart Flutter wlw; bar setting; niece and aunt dynamic

The extroverted Gang Seol is hired by her aunt Jung at her only-women bar. Even though they are both lesbians, they seem to be worlds apart and have very different love stories.

YouTube

6. The New Employee office setting; boss/intern

Excited to be interning at a successful advertising company, Seunghyun’s enthusiasm is curbed almost immediately when he meets his incredibly handsome, yet unbelievably cold boss on the first day of work. 

Viki

7. Light On Me love triangle; high school setting

One day Tae Kyung, a high school loner, starts questioning his own judgment about human relationships and gets advise from a teacher to join the school's student council. He meets the Vice President of the council, Shin Woo, who is somewhat cold toward him. However, he also meets the super-attractive President of the council: Da On, who appears to take an instant shine to him. The beginnings of a romance appear to be in the cards for Da On and Tae Kyung, but Shin Woo does not seem to approve.

Viki

8. The Eighth Sense university setting; trauma; surfing

Ji Hyun, a new student from a peaceful rural town, struggles to adjust to the bustling city life of Seoul. He meets a senior student Jae Won, who has just completed military service. Ji Hyun joins Jae Won’s surfing club and they begin to develop feelings for each other.

Viki

9. Sing My Crush best friends to lovers; musicians

Baram learned from the painful failure of his first love that he should be cautious with his feelings. During his high school days, he met Hantae in a disastrous first encounter. But then the two strike up an unlikely and close friendship in the aftermath. Baram becomes a part of a band, while Hantae is his manager. Years later, will Baram be able to keep his crush on Hantae a secret any longer?

iQIYI

10. Love Class 2 university setting; love class; TA/student; best friends to lovers

Love story of 3 couples: - Cheerful and optimistic Lee Hyun starts following cold and aloof tutor Kim An around like a puppy. - Joo Hyuk is an older student who has a thing for his university's teaching assistant Sung Min. - Student Min Woo is stuck in a confusing romantic situation: he has a secret crush on his best friend Ma Roo.

Viki or GagaOOLala

11. Bon Appetit neighbours; secret crush; food

Doohoon, a dedicated marketing manager, finds his life monotonous, filled with nothing but work. However, his new neighbor, chef Yoonsoo, seems dedicated to transforming Dohoon's lonely days around.

iQIYI

12. Unintentional Love Story rural setting; pottery; slow burn; secret agenda

Ceramic artist Yoon Taejoon disappears from society, while Ji Wonyoung is an employee who was dismissed from a large company. Ji Wonyoung is intent on winning over the heart of Yoon Taejoon in order to get his job back as Wonyoung is the company chairman's favorite artist.

iQIYI

13. Choco Milk Shake animals turned to humans; roommates

One day, two handsome strangers enter Jung Woo's house and claim they are Choco and Milk, the reincarnation of his childhood pets, a dog and a cat. The arrival of the two embarks on a new beginning and the quest to discover love.

YouTube

14. Tinted With You hinted at polyamorous trio; period drama; time travel

A high school student gets magically transported to the feudal period. Confused by his surroundings, he encounters a banished prince and his devoted bodyguard. The three characters live together and fall in love.

Viki

15. Blueming coming of age; university setting

Cha Siwon, a college freshman majoring in film studies, does a lot to maintain his image because of his past life of unpopularity. He meets Hyeong Dawoon, a classmate of his with perfect looks, good grades, and everything at his fingertips. Siwon’s feelings of wariness for his classmate soon change into something else.

iQIYI

16. All the Liquors chef/foodie; food

Han Jiyu is an employee on the marketing team of a liquor company. Park Kihoon is a skillful chef and an owner of a famous restaurant. When Jiyu is asked to contact Kihoon’s restaurant in search of potential collaboration, he runs up against a few walls—namely, Kihoon’s flat-out refusal to sell any alcoholic drinks in his restaurant. But Jiyu is not ready to just give up.

Viki or GagaOOLala

17. Mr. Heart sports; university setting

Jin Won is a university freshman who has a talent for running marathons. Sang Ha maintains a smile despite his difficult environment. A romance drama about the love and friendship between a rising marathon star and his new pacemaker.

Viki

18. Cherry Blossoms After Winter secret crush; high school setting

Ever since his parents passed away, Haebom has been living in Taesung’s house. And now, being a 12th grader, he enters the same class as Taesung, which makes the whole situation way more awkward. Living together 24/7, Taesung and Haebom's relationship is bound to change.

Viki

19. Jun & Jun office setting; childhood friends; boss/intern

Lee Jun becomes an intern at a cosmetics firm. Here he is reunited with his childhood best friend – a highly talented (but also highly flirtatious!) general manager named Choi Jun.

Viki

20. Kissable Lips vampire/human; university setting; unhappy ending

A campus romance between Jun Ho, a vampire who is walking the path of extinction, and Min Hyun, a human with pure blood.

Viki

21.  You Make Me Dance dancing; loan shark/debtee

The story of Song Shi On who is an aspiring contemporary dancer with a broken heart because he is not receiving love from his family and of Jin HongSeok, once a keen pianist, who has given up on his dreams to pursue a lucrative but unfulfilling career of a loan shark. But spending time with Shi On changes his perspective on life, and the duo forms a close bond.

Viki

22.  To My Star celebrity/chef

Actor Kang Seo Joon was once one of South Korea's biggest and most popular stars, but after he's rocked by a public scandal he goes into hiding. In his hideout, he gets acquainted with his new roommate, a young chef who leads a modest, unassuming life. Despite having wildly different personalities, the two begin on a relationship.

Viki (S1) & Viki (S2)

23. A Breeze of Love high school friends to lovers; sports; insomnia; university setting

Do Hyun, the captain of the basketball team, is preparing for the championship. The team manager brings Dong Wook, Do Hyun's first love, to fill in for an injured teammate. Dong Wook has insomnia and can only sleep well when he is with Do Hyun.

iQIYI

24. Bump Up Business real idols as the show’s actors; idol romance; music

Eden is about to make his idol debut. His agency pairs him with an experienced idol Jihoon who used to have a scandalous past. Eden is told by the company that their music duo will be doing a Business Gay Performance – they will have a fake romance to attract fans. For the sake of his dream, Eden agrees. What kind of feelings will develop between the two of them? Featuring the members of a real kpop boyband OnlyOneOf.

GagaOOLala

---

You can watch some shows for free on the streaming websites by setting VPN to South Korea. In other cases I recommend paying for subscriptions to show appreciation and support of content in order to get more of it in the future, but if you can’t, watch on KissKH (better quality), Dramacool or get files from MkvDrama. Enjoy!  🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️

[operationbackintime]

Gary's ready to take on EBF Herbert! But can he do it alone? Which team will you help the EPF or the EBF? UPDATE: Progress on Discord Sorry for the slow posts! But the team has been hard at work creating art assets and descriptions while we get our coding team organised. In addition, the posts have been slow on here as we are mainly posting to the discord server so if you do want to keep up to date easier or chat, then please join! We will aim to get the new finalised art assets posted once their descriptions have been finalised. Character cards: The art assets in question will be revamped and we will have updated character cards for all the cast as the previous ones are either outdated or lacking in certain areas. After all, it has been four years since the last one! Furthermore, these character cards are a test for our artist to help her polish her skills for when we move on to creating the game character sprites. Currently finished Character Card Art (Without description): - EPF Aunt Arctic - A struggle XD - EBF Aunt Arctic - Description 100% - Past Aunt Arctic - Description 100% - Clover - EBF Gary - EBF Herbert - Description in review - EPF Herbert - Description in review - EBF Klutzy - Description 100% - EBF Rookie Audio: We have hired a musician to work on the games and have gathered multiple references from previous club penguin titles for them to adapt and make covers that should hopefully fit the theme of the operation. However, this is in a very early stage of development so updates on music will be slow and inconsistent. When we do have some demos to listen to, we will pick out the best ones to see if you, the community, like them. Discord: We have been talking in the Discord VC quite frequently, however not all topics are around this project. We wanted to help support the community more and have mind-mapped some ideas on what the future of the discord can hold. Such things as character competitions, votes on which features should go through and design suggestions. Currently, the only channel we have is "visual suggestion" where if you want a club penguin element hidden in the art, you can post it there! We would appreciate any 2005 - 2011 references that Club Penguin had that we may have missed. Or anything that won't cause a time anomaly! =)

[cryingpariah]

Been thinking about this meme and how funny it would be if this wasn’t just a Doflamingo thing but a widespread belief among the upper echelon of the Underworld. Like illegal weapon dealings, creating child soldiers, the whole slave trade thing? Totally normal and fair game!It’s not called the Underworld for no reason! Giving a minor alcohol though? They act like they just finished teaching Sunday School.

Like I’m just imaging them celebrating something probably horrible and some poor waiter accidentally brings Jackie a flute of champagne. She’s about to (very politely) correct the mistake, it happens often enough and she doesn’t want to be sailing around on her arrows tipsy anyway, when a half dozen loud and over exaggerated gasps cuts through the air.

“EXCUSE ME GARÇON, DON'T YOU THINK YOU SHOULD BE CARDING THAT YOUNG LADY BEFORE SUPPLYING HER WITH THE DEVIL'S DRINK?”

“NEVER IN ALL MY DAYS- WHAT KIND OF ESTABLISHMENT IS THIS?”

“Oh my, I think we may need to speak to the manager.”

“YES WE DO NEED TO SPEAK TO THE MANAGER! THE HIRING PROCESS IS CLEARLY ABYSMAL IF THEY HIRE PEVERTS TRYING TO TURN LITTLE GIRLS INTO ALCOHOLICS!”

“I’m sorry, HOW OLD YOU DO YOU PEOPLE THINK I AM?”

“Uhhhhhh 12 or something.?”

“I hope you choke Du Feld. I really do.”

“Yeah Du Feld get your shit together! She’s clearly 14!”

“Every second I spend with you people is worse than torture.”

“Awww love you too sourpuss! 💗”

“Sir Joker? Do be sure to never call me that again.”

“Jackie, head back to the ship and grab that article about the effects of illicit substances! CLEARLY these brutes need a reminder! Do you know what that champagne could do to her young developing mind?”

“Okay so alcohol is a legal substance, which you know, so I don’t know what article you’re talking about. Second, I was literally about to send the drink back-.”

(It doesn’t matter, once you get these folks started it’s damn near impossible to stop. Jackie makes sure to send the waiter back with the untouched drink, a sorry and a nice tip.)

[askagamedev]

Summer 2025 Game Development Student Internship Roundup, Part 1

Internship recruiting season has begun for some large game publishers and developers. This means that a number of internship opportunities for summer 2025 have been posted and will be collecting applicants. Internships are a great way to earn some experience in a professional environment and to get mentorship from those of us in the trenches. If you're a student and you have an interest in game development as a career, you should absolutely look into these.

If you know of any game development internships that aren't listed here, please tell me! I'll try to collect another batch when EA posts theirs as a follow-up.

Technical Artist Intern (Remote!)

Sound Design Intern (Remote!)

Game Design Intern

Game Engineering Intern

Data Analytics & Data Science Intern

Localization Production Intern

Environment Art Intern

Animation Intern

VFX Intern

3D Character Art Intern

Site Reliability Engineering Intern

Concept Artist Intern (Canada)

Animation Intern

VFX Intern

Game Engineering Intern

Technical Artist Intern

Threat Intelligence Analyst Intern

UI/UX Design Intern

User Research Intern

Computer Graphics Intern

Software Engineering Intern

Production & Project Management Intern

Concept Artist Intern (California)

World Designer Intern

3D Artist Intern

Animation Programmer Intern

Animation Technical Design Intern

Audio Design Intern

Backend Engineer Intern

Balance Design Intern

Character Artist Intern

Engine Programmer Intern

Environment Art Intern

Game Design Intern

Game Security Intern

Gameplay Programmer Intern

Gameplay Systems Engineer Intern

Salesforce Developer Intern

Software Engineer Intern

Environment Art Intern

Game Design Intern

Gameplay Programmer Intern

Tools Programmer Intern

Technical Artist Intern

Technical Character Animation Intern

Technology App Portfolio Intern

Tools Programmer Intern

Concept Artist Intern

At time of writing, Electronic Arts was performing maintenance on their recruiting site and should have new openings posted on November 12th 2024. I'll do a second round of internship opportunities once they post, along with Ubisoft and any others I missed.

Brush up your resume and focus on any game dev work you've done. Amateur game dev work counts! Tabletop game mastering counts! Amateur board and card game design counts! Making your own CCG fan sets or draft cube counts! Game jam work counts! These make a bigger difference when it comes to hiring than most other kinds of work experience.

If you need assistance with your resume/CV, cover letter, or have other questions, join our discord and ask. The server is full of experienced developers who can help review your materials and give you suggestions. I also suggest taking a look at my Game Career FAQ. There's a lot of answers in there already. Best of luck out there.

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[blubberquark]

Playtesting, Censorship, and Authenticity

I have seen some backlash against Stellar Blade for "caving to censorship". This could probably have been avoided if the developer hadn't previously made full-throated promises about his artistic vision, and if the marketing campaign hadn't released promotional images of costumes the the game. When Stellar Blade finally had to tone down some of the nudity for age ratings and console approval, some audience said they felt cheated.

I don't know how much of this outrage was real, and how much was political posturing. Probably a lot.

This happens all the time. A game is re-released, or re-mastered, the developers have to remove or tone down the edge of parts of the game that was completely fine and unremarkable when the game was released. It happened with Skullgirls, and even with certain cards in Hearthstone. In the case of Skullgirls, the backlash was kind of predictable, because Skullgirls was hardly unremarkable back then. On the one hand, because they originally crossed the line twice, the retroactive censorship wasn't unexpected. On the other hand, half the the point of the game was that it was edgy and anime and looked like it was made by Japanese people who didn't understand what you can and can't say in Europe and North America. It wasn't just gratuitous Nazis and panties, but gratuitously gratuitous Nazis and panties. It's not my cup of tea, as a player or as a developer, but I completely understand what they were going for. In the case of Hearthstone, the removal of the Succubus card/character was in all likelihood due to Chinese censorship, about age ratings on one app store or another, and then they just decided it would be easier to justify and draw less attention if they removed the card/character everywhere around the world, and it would be more profitable this way than if they made the game ages 16 and up in some parts of the world.

There have been multiple instances of politically motivated outrage against games that had hired a narrative design consultancy firm, sometimes fuelled by short, out-of-context clips of activists from these firms bragging how they managed to change the tone and direction of the game despite resistance from the developers, or explaining how they managed to influence management to hire a consultancy firm against the will of the core team.

All this taken together forms a narrative: Outside forces are deliberately pushing designers, developers, art directors, and lead writers to abandon or water down their creative vision.

I think that's misguided for two reasons: First, I think the developers of indie games are either themselves trying to make their games palatable for mass audiences, and they themselves are responsible for the political messaging or general vibes of their work. Second, game design is full of compromise. About that first point: ZA/UM were not secretly pressured manipulated to add in a bunch of politics into Disco Elysium. Concerned Ape was not browbeaten into removing realistic gore and nudity from Stardew Valley. A lot of the time, most of the time, what you see is the artistic vision of the developers, or their political stance. There is no need to conjure up conspiracies. Maybe the remaining Skullgirls developers just have gotten older and don't feel the same way about shock value like they used to.

Most indie games do not self-censor, but I would not be surprised to learn that the more popular and mainstream a game is, or the more popular a game becomes, the more likely the developers are to self-censor. This is because "true artists" that ruthlessly follow a creative vision are usually niche oddities you can download for free (itch is full of them), but also due to the dynamics of indie success. When games develop something of a following and commercial success, so that their developers keep on expanding and iterating on the game, they become more conservative. Just imagine you decide to keep working on a free game of yours that blew up, for financial reasons, instead of working on the next niche thing. If you make this decision, you are probably already motivated by growing your audience, and more likely to self-censor.

This "conservative" approach to game development is usually not about avoiding sex, violence, religion, and politics, of course. It's about making the game easier, avoiding difficult puzzles, complicated narratives, niche literary references, and all kinds of mechanics that could limit your audience. Instead of removing unpalatable elements from a game in the end, you decide to pursue mass appeal early on, and reorient your whole design around that from the ground up. I mean, if you could choose, would you rather develop the next Lunacid or the next Among Us, the next Passage, or the next Vampire Survivors?

I fear if you are following me, you will probably decide to go the starving artist route.

The second reason why you shouldn't worry that much about outside forces influencing games also has to do with game development, but less with marketing. It's fundamental to the way game design works.

Re-makes and re-releases are unusual in this regard. Most of the time, you don't see a fully formed game like Skullgirls that you can compare with a re-release, or Final Fantasy VII, or Silent Hill 2. Most of the time, you only see the final product, and perhaps, if the marketing campaign screwed up, you realise that the final product differs from the promotional material (as was the case with Watch_Dogs or No Man's Sky).

Most of the time, you don't see all the content that was developed and doesn't make it into the game. If you did, you would realise that games usually are not born out of the head of their creator fully formed and armed like Athena from the head of Zeus. Most games are developed iteratively, and although the core of the game is fixed, most mechanics, plot points, levels, and characters are subject to change. Often you only see how well something works once you implement it and try it out.

And then, you only really see how well it actually works when you let somebody playtest it. The clunkiest game mechanics and the most obtuse puzzles feel fine to you if you were the one who thought about them. The worst writing and the most convoluted plots will feel elegant because you wrote them. The only way to see what works is playtesting.

Being "true to your artistic vision" from start to finish is pretty much impossible. If you work together with people, you will struggle to communicate your ideas. This is why big productions resort to mood-boards and all kinds of adjacent junk in their production bibles, why AAA games produce so much concept art, and why games often feel like they are ripping off existing work. It's really hard to communicate to your team that you want to make a game with a certain feeling if that game does not yet exist, but it's easy to communicate that you want a game "like Doom 3" or "like Metroid Prime" or "like Proteus".

If you actually manage to communicate your artistic vision to your team down to the precise minutiae, you will hamstring your artists. You have those artists working with you so you can worry about the big picture stuff while they work on the art part. If you are rigid about your own creative vision, you leave other people no space for creativity, no space to express themselves, no leeway to make creative or design decisions.

And after all that, everything must be playtested, even the big-picture mood stuff, to see if the mood actually comes across when the players aren't already primed by the concept art and the design document and weeks of meetings. If the player doesn't know he is supposed to feel a certain mood, does the game still work?

Both the Skullgirls situation and the Stellar Blade situation are unusual, because the the tone of Skullgirls was edgy on purpose, and Skullgirls concept art had been released in 2012, and the designer of Stellar Blade had already promised not to censor all the eye candy. I think the backlash to Stellar Blade was overblown and politically motivated, and the part of the backlash to the Skullgirls re-release about sanitising their decade old concept art had a point, barely.

If you are making your own game you will quickly notice all the compromises you have to make your game, or maybe you just don't release any concept art or in-progress screenshots, maybe you don't work with other people, maybe you don't even play-test, and just upload a finished game to itch.io without ever reading the comments, like a true artist.

Once you understand that, you will understand that there is a solid core to every game design that you won't compromise on, and a surrounding malleable blob that you want to re-shape and negotiate in order to preserve the core. When you get playtesting feedback that tells you to replace the core with something else, you try to re-shape that blob in order to make the core work. When an idea of yours is not feasible, you compromise to preserve the spirit. If you are making a real-time strategy game, and somebody tells you to make it turn-based, you might ignore them, or you might entertain this feedback. It all depends on whether your core artistic vision is "real time" or "flanking the enemy and using the terrain" or "logistics and intelligence in 19th century land warfare".

The people who are the most rigid about game design are usually teenagers just learning to program. They bite off more than they can chew, and they are completely unwilling to reduce their scope. They are unable to execute on their vision in terms of development skill, unable to understand the consequences of their design choices.

If you are unable to compromise on your artistic vision, you are unlikely to realise it.

[meenafreezoid]

Some King Dice headcanons ~

Hey, so I'm back at my Cuphead phase and I re-fell in love with the Dice Man, ehehehehehe ~ After watching Casino Cups again I had some headcanons (sfw) I'd like to share, let's gooo ! This include the game, the show and Casino Cups (I see it as the official prequel of the game ehehe)

💜🎲✨️ KING DICE ✨️🎲💜

King Dice is just a pseudonym, no one knows his real name, except the Devil. But even him prefers to call him King Dice.

He is in his late thirty, at least in the game. He is a little bit younger of one or two years in the Show, and in his mid-forty in Casino Cups

He is a bisexual icon, definitely seduces both men and women, as the charming manager he is (also obviously a heart-breaker)

He is a Taurus Sun, Leo Moon and Leo Rising ~

He is terrified of getting old, and uses makeup in order to look younger. His appearance is one of his top priority.

Speaking of that, he is a morning person because he has a long beauty routine and like to take his time. This include shower, polishing his dice-head to make it shine, numerous concealers and skin-care products, a combo of eye-shadow and eye-liner, transparent gloss, sometimes blush and of course perfume, you name it.

Is also slightly muscular under his clothes, like to stay in shape <3

He never swears, he's to polite for that (except when he's very very angry)

PURPLE. Just Purple.

Everything he buy has to be purple (or gold)

Scatting is like his second language, the man express himself a lot with it. He scats out of pride, joy, stress, when he wants to calm himself down, etc.

By the way, he is a walking musical, the man is ALWAYS humming something. He even created his own band to occasionally play at the casino, after the Devil re-hired him.

He speaks multiple languages, including english of course, but also french, italian, spanish and german.

Definitely a cat and tea person (somewhat confirmed by DD)

He never had a particularly sad childhood and doesn't have trauma neither. On the contrary, he was the only child of a famous and very rich couple who built their empire on Inkwell Isle. His mother was a former actress and his father the head of a mafia organization. He grew up with everything he wanted, but his parents never paid that much attention to him. Not that they didn't love him, but they were such infatuated with each other that Dice never had a real place between them, he was secondary.

One day, another gang with whom Dice's father had a rivalty kidnapped his wife in exchange of his money. Deeply in love, he accepted, and they both ended up killed, King Dice was 15. Dice despise love and see it as a weakness because of this.

King Dice always had a mischevous side in him. Because of his parents negligence, he developped insecurities of failure and being forgotten, so his greatest wish was to surpass his parents's reputation and glory, whatever if he was feared or adored.

This is also why he is soooooo devoted to the Devil and needs his validation as his number one in the Cuphead Show, imagine being the literal Devil's Right Hand Man, who can surpass him then ?

King Dice gave birth to his pack of cards with his magic. He has them since he's a child, and considers them as his confidents and family, he's like a Lion with his tribe with them.

I like to imagine that King Dice and the Devil, since the Game's events, have a similar relationship to Snape and Dumbledore. Like, they aren't close emotionaly speaking (this is more Henchman's role), but they respect each other. King Dice is deeply loyal to the Devil and is his most trusted ally, his number one to whom he reveals every of his schemes. The Devil just has to make a hand movement and King Dice is like "Your wish is my command, boss". They act like a dark prince and his butler.

So, he has a fear of failure, uselessness and being forgotten, and see everything as a competition he has to win. This is why he killed all the Devil's finest demons in "Release the Demons", he needs constant praise and special treatment from the Devil to make up his insecurities. Because of his immaturity, the Devil was mainly annoyed by him in the Cuphead Show. That's when he gave him a second chance and created the casino that King Dice grew more close to his crueler and calculative personality from the game, and the Devil trusted him in making him his casino's manager

In a way, the Devil allowed King Dice's darkness to take over him by removing every of his human aspects : he became less emotive and goofy, not insecure anymore, etc...

Despite being close intellectually and professionally speaking, the Devil and King Dice are less about emotional discussion, unlike Henchman who acts like the Devil's confident. If the Devil ever cry in front of King Dice, he would probably be uneasy and try to be comforting but would fail miserabily : "Uuuuh... come on, man, get over it, it doesn't matter that much... ?"

Despite that, I think that when they grew closer between the Show and the Game, they started to have a sort of sexual tension and both are in denial of that. They do have some moments of intimacy when both end up blushing at each other, like when King Dice gets closer to lights up the Devil's cigar, or when they share a quick glance after a angry customer coming at them, knowing what has to be done next ~~

A bit like the Devil with Henchman, King Dice is grateful to people that are loyal to him since a long time and genuily care for him, like his little cards. King Dice is very egocentric, but that doesn't mean he is incapable of being attached. He is very protective actually.

That is a surprise to anyone, but maaan the Dice man has a beautiful voice, but he doesn't only sing jazz, or swing or showing off his lovely voice. Sometimes, when he's alone, or with his cards, he sings more emotional and soft tunes, like a lullaby.

That's it for now guys ! I hope you enjoyed it and if you want more <33

[fixfoxnox]

The Silk House (1) (AleRudy)

Summary: The Silk House is a gaming parlor and brothel that caters to both the good and bad of society. Neutral ground in the non-neutral western world, it's own Gary "Roach" Sanderson runs his business and more with more power than anyone can really fight against. It's no surprise that this center of the west see's numerous interesting characters and numerous interesting stories with it. From a Sheriff falling for the Prostitute that he hires to the danger that outlaws can pose without a gun, the Silk House only has stories to tell.

Or, a compilation of COD Cowboy AU stories :)

Today's Story: Sheriff Alejandro Vargas Gets a New Deputy

Pairing: Alejandro/Rudy

Word Count: ...let's not talk about that (14k)

Notes: A commission from the wonderful @wmdamadeof

Alejandro enjoyed the hand running across his chest. The feeling of skin against his skin, the warmth of another's touch. Between the days of constant stress and work, capturing and recapturing the same men over and over only to be forced to free them because of corrupt politicians, Alejandro needed a break.

He, like many others in the town he’d somehow found himself the sheriff of, found his break at the Silk House, the local gaming parlor and brothel. He always found himself returning to the Silk House, even when he promised himself he wouldn’t do it again, even when he told himself he had to stop. 

It was his own fault, but he’d developed a routine and the idea of breaking it tugged harshly at his heart. When he would try not to go, his hand would always itch. He needed something to do with them, whether that be flicking playing cards through his hands or burying his fingers between the thighs of one of Roach’s workers. 

Never just one of the workers, he reminded himself, his attention stolen by the man climbing into his lap. Hands moved from his bare chest to his hair, running through to tug at the knots that had formed there through the day. Always the same worker. Always the same, just like his schedule. They knew when he’d come in and Roach always made sure that his favorite was never busy, always made sure he was available to him. 

Alejandro’s schedule followed the same pattern. Wake up early to do his job, roaming the streets and watching for the usual outlaws who caused trouble for the people of the town. On a good day he’d catch one of the men and throw them behind bars, keeping them off of the streets until a bad day would hit. The bad days were when the pardons came in, the orders to release men who would be right back in his cell the next week. 

Whether it was a good day or a bad day, Alejandro’s schedule stayed the same. When the sun started to set over the horizon, he’d lock up the station and head toward the Silk House. Roach always greeted him at the front door, that small knowing smile on his lips as he invited him in with honey on his tongue and the promises of his usual spot at the poker table waiting for him. 

He’d take his seat and, within minutes, he’d be dealt into the game with a whiskey placed next to him. “On the house, Sheriff.” Roach would give him a wink and turn to leave and, just like clockwork, Alejandro would be tugging him down close enough that he could whisper out the request for his dirty not-so-secret. Roach always knew what Alejandro wanted, but he always made him ask.

Minutes later and arms would wrap around his neck, feeling along his chest as a voice that caressed his skin like silk would whisper a greeting in his ear. Those sweet hands, the ones he knew he’d later have restrained against soft pillows, they’d rub at his shoulders, slowly work the knots from his skin. Alejandro would let them as he sipped at his whiskey and played his little game, needing the comfort of those hands on him in whatever capacity they could be at the moment. 

They’d stay like that until Alejandro finished his first glass of whiskey. As soon as the glass left his lips, one of those hands would take it from him with a promise of returning with another. Alejandro hated to have the warm presence leave him, even for a moment, but the promise of what came afterwards was always worth the sudden loss. 

A whiskey glass would be set on the table and Alejandro would have a weight settled onto his lap, arms wrapped around his throat as dirty promises were whispered in his ear. Of course he was hardly able to stand it, but he’d pretend to focus on the card game, at least for a little while longer. He liked to pretend, more for himself than anyone else. 

The man in his lap, the sweet thing that he was, he’d torture him throughout the game. Between pretending to peek at other player’s cards for him and giving a little clap any time he won a hand, he would be driving Alejandro up the wall. Hands skating over his chest, dipping lower than what would ever be considered appropriate. Moving closer just so he could rock his hips against Alejandro’s offering the sweet temptation between his legs. 

Alejandro would hold out as long as he could, he would keep going until he was practically aching, his body begging him to just bend the man over the poker table and have what he came for right then and there. He wouldn’t. He knew the rules. Instead he’d pull himself from the game, collecting his wins for the night, he almost always had some sort of win, and whisper for the man against his chest to wait for him by the stairs. A hand would return to his hair, tugging for a brief moment just to pull a low growl from his throat, then the weight in his lap would be gone. 

He would finish whatever was in his whiskey glass, tossing it back in one quick move before heading to the bar where Roach would be waiting for him with that knowing smile on his face. At times, Alejandro hated that smile. Roach knew too much, it felt like he knew everything about everyone and had both the good and bad of the world backing him. Alejandro had wondered time and time again what had put the man in such a position, but he knew he’d likely never get his answer. 

He’d hand his empty glass to the bartender before tossing Roach the usual payment, a few eagles and a silver for his nights stay. Roach would make a point to count it out before giving him that knowing smile once again and telling him to have fun. Alejandro would grumble out some curse toward him, one that only made Roach’s smile grow. They knew who held the power between them. 

Then, the part of the night that always kept Alejandro returning, he’d find his mark exactly where he’d told him to be. Waiting pretty by the stairs with a hand held out to guide him up to whichever room they’d be taking for the night. Whichever room wasn’t already taken. 

That’s where Alejandro was now. In one of those rooms. 

“You look more stressed than normal, Vaquero.”

Alejandro watched with soft eyes as the man in front of him stepped away, moving carefully toward a little dresser set up in the corner. He’d always wondered what the point of the dressers was in the room, though he could assume it was to make things feel more natural. Just like the rest of the furniture in the little room. The more homy and comfortable your guests were and the more likely they’d be to return. 

“Cigarette?” Rodolfo lifted a little silver tin from the dresser. It was Alejandro’s own, pulled from the pockets of his coat before he’d tossed the thing onto the little coat rack. That was before Rodolfo had gotten his hands on him, those addicting hands that had slowly undone the buttons of his shirt to help him get more “comfortable.” 

“Please, Conejito.” He rubbed at his face and leaned back to relax into the cushion of the little love seat that Rodolfo had pushed him into.

Rudy gave a hum before sliding open the little silver tin and carefully removing one of the cigarettes from the inside. He flicked the little tin shut before setting it down in favor of picking up Alejandro’s silver lighter. He wasted no time in striding back over to Alejandro and straddling his lap, resting all of his weight against the others thighs. 

Alejandro couldn’t help himself, so he let his hands fix themselves against Rudy’s bare thighs, enjoying the feeling of the skin that had been so carefully revealed to him almost as soon as they’d stepped into the room. He admired the way the skin dipped under his hold, molding to fill his hands with Rudy. He let his eyes trail back up, meeting the knowing and amused gaze of the man above him. 

“Don’t tempt me with that look,” Alejandro warned. He used his grip on Rudy’s thighs to tug him ever closer, pulling a gasp from those pretty lips as his naked bottom half rubbed deliciously against the friction of his pants. He admired the way that Rudy’s gaze dropped, his lids lowered into something dangerous and seductive. He did always seem to enjoy Alejandro’s manhandling. 

“I’m not sure what you’re talking about, Alejo.” Rudy rolled his hips again, pulling a groan from Alejandro’s mouth and another gasp from the man above him. Alejandro gave an indignant grumble as Rudy laughed. Just the sound from the man above him had Alejandro’s chest feeling warm, heat spreading through his body and affection curling in his gut. He tried to ignore the affection in favor of the heat, but it was hard with that beaming grin on Rudy’s face. “Now then,” Rudy leaned closer and brought the cigarette up to brush against Alejandro’s lips, “let’s get you relaxed.”

Obediently, Alejandro parted his lips, allowing Rudy to bring his fingers close and slip the cigarette to rest between his lips. He couldn't help the shiver that pulled at him as Rudy let his fingers brush against his bottom lip and chin as he pulled away. The move made him want to drop the cigarette just to have a taste of the man in front of him. He resisted the urge, trying to maintain whatever he had left of his composure. 

Rudy flicked the lighter open in one smooth movement, a testament for how many times he'd done the exact move. Alejandro found himself wondering how many times the other had men pressed under him just as he was now, a cigarette waiting to be lit by his deft hands hanging from their lips. He didn't want to think about it for too long, all that it did was make hot waves of jealousy bash at his insides. Within a moment, the end of his cigarette was burning red and Rudy was flicking the lighter shut and setting it aside. Alejandro let his thoughts be pushed aside with it.

"Good?" Rudy leaned back just a bit, just enough that he could watch Alejandro pull the cigarette from his mouth and puff smoke out between them. Alejandro made sure to turn his head, determined not to be one of those assholes who would puff smoke into his face. He'd seen some of the men do it to some of the other workers, he could never imagine doing it to Rudy.

He let the cigarette rest between his lips again before squeezing at Rudy's thighs, feeling the softness and gently rocking the man against him again. "Made better by you," Alejandro spoke in a low voice, his eyes tracing along exposed skin, taking it all in and committing the man to memory. "You're quite the view, Rodolfo."

Rudy tilted his head at him as he gave another puff of the cigarette, one of his hands still clasped tight on Rudy's thigh, nearly digging in. He didn't seem to mind, so Alejandro never bothered to move his hand or loosen his grip. "Do you want just the view, Vaquero?" Hands pushed the sides of his unbuttoned shirt open further, tracing up his chest temptingly. Alejandro could only tilt his head back and give a pleased sigh at the temptation he was feeling. At the desperation that pulled at him.

One of Rudy's hands slipped up his neck to wind its way into his hair, slowly tugging at the knots in the locks and trying to undo them with a gentle touch. Alejandro let him, his eyes falling closed as the feeling of Rudy's chest pressed against his own provided him with a comforting weight. 

Alejandro would have been content just to stay like that, just to have the other man's weight pressed against his, providing him comfort for the rest of the night. That wasn't what he paid for, though. Rudy was always a stickler about giving him what he paid for, even on the nights when Alejandro had told him he just wanted to hold him, to have his warmth. And, Rudy was tempting. It was hard for Alejandro to ignore his temptation. 

"Let me help you," Rudy's voice was sweet like honey, dripping slow and thick with desire. Alejandro let himself believe the desire was real, that Rudy was doing this for a reason beyond the money that he'd paid. He needed to pretend, even if he knew it would ruin him later. Rudy's hand slipped from his hair and joined the other in trailing its way down Alejandro's chest, shifting closer and closer to the waistband of his pants. He was already hard, he was already desperate for the man above him. 

"Desperate thing," he groaned out as those hands finally reached the fabric straining around his cock. Rudy wasted no time in touching, letting his hand massage gently over Alejandro's length through the fabric of his pants. Alejandro let himself blow the smoke of his cigarette out as the thing still hung from his lips. His head was tilted back, his eyes directed to the ceiling so he didn't have to worry about disturbing Rudy with the smoke. 

He could feel the way that Rudy laughed against him, "What can I say, you make me feel as though I am starving, Alejo." Alejandro's hips bucked up into Rudy's hand at those words, a sharp sense of satisfaction shooting through him at the resulting gasp from the man above him. A pleased hum met his ears and moments later Rudy's fingers were deftly working on the buttons of his pants. "Do you want me?"

"Always," Alejandro breathed out. His voice was caught in his throat as Rudy pulled him from his pants, his hands giving slow measured strokes over his cock, spreading any precum that leaked from the tip down his shaft. It made the slide of Rudy's skin over him that much more delicious, that much more enticing. "Fuck, Conejito," he pulled the cigarette from his mouth, hardly able to focus on the sweet burning of the smoke down his throat with the sensations that Rudy was giving him, "I always want you, just like this." Another groan pulled from the back of his throat.

Rudy gave another sweet laugh before he removed one of his hands from Alejandro's cock, letting the other stay back to torture the head of his cock with sweet strokes of his thumb over the slit. His free hand carefully reached out to take the cigarette from Alejandro's hand prompting him to open his eyes and watch with delight as Rudy brought the lit cigarette up to his own lips, locking eyes with Alejandro as he did. 

A long moment passed as Rudy took a drag off of the cigarette, his eyes locked onto Alejandro's as his hand continued to work him with slow tight strokes and teasing touches over the head of his cock. After a long moment, Rudy tilted his head back, exposing the line of his throat to Alejandro's hungry eyes before blowing the smoke from his lips. 

The smoke created a low haze in Alejandro's mind, only added to by the pleasure that Rudy was giving him with his hand. He needed more from the man in his lap, he was desperate to feel and taste him. He wanted to be inside of him, to feel him squeezing around his cock and knocking the air from his lungs. "You tease," he accused, his breathing heavy as he watched Rudy take another drag from the cigarette. "Is this meant to help me relax?" He slid the hand on Rudy's thigh up, letting it trace around the line of his hip before he reached back to grab a handful of Rudy's ass.

The squeak that resulted from the sudden and harsh move was enough to pull a laugh from Alejandro's throat and soon he was leaning up to snatch the cigarette from Rudy's fingers. He could practically feel the other's smug gaze as he leaned over to toss the thing in the little glass ashtray nearby. Rudy enjoyed making Alejandro break. He always made Alejandro break. 

“How do you want me?” Rudy gave a soft sigh as Alejandro’s mouth met his chest, kissing and licking his way across naked skin before latching on to one of his nipples. He sucked at the little bud, flicking it with his tongue just to hear the resulting moan from the man above him as he did. His hand on Rudy’s ass tempted further, sliding down until he could slip his fingers far enough that they were just teasing the edge of Rudy’s hole.

He held that way for a long moment, enjoying the sweet sounds that escaped the other’s mouth and the way he was rocking back against his fingers, desperate for more of the teasing touch. Alejandro didn’t give it to him, not yet anyways. “Just like this,” he muttered, his mouth moving to Rudy’s other nipple, “ride me just like this, conejito.” 

The breathless chuckle from the man above him went straight to his cock and filled him with a warmth that he was desperate to ignore. “I should have known,” Rudy pulled away from Alejandro, clambering off of him to cross the room and retrieve a little jar of oil from the dresser where Alejandro’s things were stored, “you Vaqueros always do like a ride, don’t you?”

Alejandro could only give him a grin as he approached again, his hands extended for the little bottle of oil. He was desperate to work Rudy open and get inside of him. He was desperate to connect himself to him. He wasn’t going to get what he wanted so easily.

Rudy knocked his hands out of the way and fixed himself over Alejandro’s lap again, a teasing smile on his face as he tilted the little jar of oil over until a healthy amount was spilling over his fingers and dripping down onto Alejandro’s chest. He carefully placed the little jar into Alejandro’s hands as he watched the oil drip down his chest, moving lower and lower until it was gathering over the base of his cock. With the hand he hadn’t poured the oil on, Rudy grabbed the base of Alejandro’s cock and started to spread the oil along his shaft.

“Sit back and watch,” he leaned forward to place a soft kiss on Alejandro’s mouth, “you’re supposed to be relaxing.” His other hand snuck back to slip between his cheeks so he could finger at his own hole, teasing at himself with slicked fingers.

“How am I supposed to relax when you tease me like this?” Alejandro set aside the little jar of oil, desperate pants leaving his mouth as slow pleasure seemed to rock his lower half with the careful movements Rudy’s hand over his cock. He was practically panting, heat tearing at him as he looked over Rudy’s own body, admiring how his own cock was already leaking between them. 

He could tell the moment that Rudy worked one finger inside of himself. He could feel the hitch in breath against him and he could see the way that Rudy’s lips parted. Alejandro always enjoyed watching Rudy, he liked to see the delight that would cross the man’s face as he worked himself on his fingers or his cock. It made his own experience that much better, it allowed him to pretend that he hadn’t paid for all of this. That he hadn’t paid for that reaction. 

He slid a hand through the oil on his chest before wrapping it around Rudy’s cock. The resulting moan pulled one from his own lips and soon he was stroking Rudy in time with the hand on his own cock. If Rudy intended to torture him, Alejandro would just have to do it back. 

“Oh fuck, Alejo.” Rudy tilted his head back and Alejandro took the chance to admire the curve of his throat, his own breath ragged and hot with desire. Another moan pulled from Rudy’s chest told him that Rudy had worked another finger into himself. The resulting pants and whines had Alejandro bucking up into the hand wrapped around his cock, desperation eating at him. He loved to see Rudy like this, he loved to see him falling apart in his lap. Like an angel fallen from heaven just for him to corrupt. 

The hand on his cock moved away and soon Rudy was tilting forward to bury his face in Alejandro’s shoulder, low moans spilling from his lips as he continued to work himself with deft fingers. Alejandro took to muttering in his ear, offering praise as his hand stayed wrapped around his cock, working him in the slow rhythm that Rudy had been working him. 

“That’s it, go on, open yourself up for me, Conejito.” He leaned forward to nip at Rudy’s ear and kiss along his neck. “Feels good, huh? Makes you want my cock, doesn’t it?” He could feel Rudy nodding into his shoulder and that alone had him giving another desperate groan, his cock twitching with the pleasure that ran through him from the other’s response. “Come on now,” he moved his free hand up to slide it into Rudy’s hair and tug him away from his shoulder, “You’re supposed to be riding me.” 

Rudy’s face was a delightful pink color and his chest was practically heaving with the harsh breaths that he was taking, still he managed to tease, “So impatient, Alejo. Can’t you wait for me?”

“You make me desperate, you haunt my waking thoughts,” Alejandro tugged Rudy further onto his lap, “Do you think I can be patient when you’re all I think about?” He used his hand in Rudy’s hair to tug him closer, slotting their mouths together in a sloppy kiss. A meeting of teeth and tongues and spit that had the two moaning against the other's mouth and pressing impossibly closer, desperate for there to be no room between their bodies. 

As they kissed, Rudy slowly pulled his fingers from himself and did his best to reposition his body. Alejandro wasn’t making it easy with his roaming hands and demanding mouth. He wanted all of Rudy’s attention on him, so he had no issue with manhandling the other until his cock was pressed tight against his hole. One slight shift and he’d be inside of him. Alejandro didn’t shift, he let Rudy control the pace. 

That grew much harder to follow when Rudy sank down on him, letting the head of his cock slip inside of him. His hands gripped tight to Rudy’s hips, trying hard not to just pull the man down onto his cock or thrust his hips up inside of him. It was a game of self control and one that Rudy seemed to enjoy watching if his amused little grin was anything to go off of. Eventually, after he’d held still for just a touch too long, Alejandro swatted at his ass, enjoying the little jerk that Rudy gave in response. “Move already, Conejito, don’t make me do it for you.” 

Rudy gave a tut at his demanding words, but did as he asked and started to slowly sink further and further down on his cock. The velvet heat around his cock did nothing but make Alejandro’s head spin, the pleasure of it nearly too good for him to handle. By the time that Rudy was fully sat on his cock, Alejandro could do nothing but stare up at him with stars in his eyes and desperate little breaths puffed from between his lips. 

He thought Rudy looked beautiful all the time, but there was something special about seeing the man taking in deep breaths as he adjusted to the size of Alejandro filling him. Something about it could turn Alejandro into putty in seconds, unable to do anything but wait for Rudy to set the pace and the scene for him. For the man above him to tell him what he needed from him with his mouth or his hands or his body. 

Rudy, today, needed him to keep talking. He made that clear when he rocked his hips forward, grinding his cock against Alejandro’s stomach and moving himself around Alejandro’s cock. All before he asked in that soft voice he would occasionally use, “How is that, Alejo, good?”

“So good,” Alejandro groaned, his head tilting back against the love seat as Rudy started a slow rhythm with his hips, bouncing slowly on his cock while his hands traced along his chest, pushing his shirt open further and further so that he could scrape blunt nails wherever he so pleased. “Keep going, Rudy, fuck you feel so good.”

He used his hands to help Rudy maintain the speed he’d set, his fingers digging into those plush thighs once again. He was sure he would leave bruises but Rudy never seemed to mind when he did. In fact, he seemed to try and entice Alejandro into leaving bruises most of the time. Alejandro would never say no, not when that part of him that he tried to suppress was always screaming about leaving a mark. About letting Rudy and everyone else know who he belonged to. 

Rudy sped up his movements, causing a flood of curses and moans to leave Alejandro’s lips. Rudy licked each of them from his mouth, capturing his lips with his own in a heated and desperate kiss. They panted against the other’s lips, desperate for more as the sounds of skin slapping skin filled the air, nearly drowning out their desperate moans. Alejandro was thankful for it, hoping that it meant that Rudy couldn’t hear the words that he muttered against his lips. 

Rudy was tight around Alejandro, enough to have him twitching and squirming with desperation as they continued. Pleasure shocked up his spine and refused to subside, only building and building. Higher and higher and stronger and stronger until he couldn’t help but to fuck his hips up, meeting every fall of Rudy’s hips with a rise of his own. It only served to make things more intense, to drive his pleasure up even quicker so that he felt like every thrust might tear open his chest with how good he felt. 

“Alejo,” Rudy pulled away from him, his mouth hooked open as he continued to ride him, “talk to me, please.” Alejandro admired the haze of lust on the other man’s face, he was helpless to do anything other than fulfill his request.

“Doing so good for me,” he grunted out after a moment, “fuck you take me so well.” The resulting whine from Rudy let Alejandro know that he was close, that his words were just helping to push him toward the edge. “You were made for this, weren’t you, conejito? Just made to bounce on my cock.” 

Rudy’s hips stuttered a bit, so Alejandro picked up the pace, using his hands to help continue the rhythm that had been set as he grew closer to his own end. “You like this don’t you?” He buried his face in Rudy’s shoulder, speaking as close to his ear as he could get while his hand wrapped around Rudy’s cock, stroking him quickly, “You like taking care of me? Like helping me relax, don’t you?” He could feel Rudy nod against his shoulder, his moans picking up in volume. Alejandro knew that they both would only need one good push to send them diving over the edge. 

“You’re so good at this,” he muttered, “so perfect. Take care of me so well, conejito. You’re the only person who can help me relax.” 

Rudy gave another jerk of his hips before he was crying out, his entire body shuttering in Alejandro’s hold as he came. Alejandro followed soon after. 

“You’re leaving already?” 

Alejandro paused where he was buttoning up his shirt, a moment of guilt flooding over him. His eyes traced over to the bed, meeting the soft warm brown eyes that were watching him, an added pout making them that much more powerful. “It is morning already, conejito,” Alejandro defended himself weakly, “I don’t need to overstay my welcome.”

“You could never overstay your welcome.” Rudy sat up then, giving a long yawn as the sheet over his chest fell over his lap, only barely covering what lay beneath. Alejandro’s eyes traced over the skin for a moment, mapping out every line and curve that he could before he forced himself to look away and focus back on buttoning his shirt. 

He could hear as the bed creaked with movement, then the padding of feet on the wooden floors as they approached him. Still, he nearly jumped out of his skin when Rudy appeared in front of him and swatted his hands away to take over buttoning his shirt. They stood silently for several moments as Rudy deftly did the buttons for him before smoothing over the fabric with his hands. He stopped for a moment at the edge of Alejandro’s shirt before slowly starting to tuck the fabric into his pants for him. Alejandro’s breath hitched at the move, but the only response he received from Rudy was a slight lift of the corner of his mouth into a small smile. 

When he was finally finished, he did the buttons on Alejandro’s pants for him as well. His hands didn’t move from the waistband of his trousers, and the two stayed like that for a moment, just silent as they looked at the other. 

“You know,” Rudy started, his voice soft, “you don’t have to run every morning. Roach won’t mind if you stay longer, so long as you have my permission.” 

“Do I have your permission?” Alejandro asked, just slightly tilting his head at the other. It was new, Rudy trying to get him to stay longer. Usually he helped him dress and the two said their goodbyes. Today was different, though something in Alejandro pointed out that it had felt different for a while now. 

Rudy ran his hands up Alejandro’s chest, a small smile on his face as he did. “You do,” he answered. Alejandro tried not to let that go to his head. Most of all, he tried not to let it go to his heart. He couldn’t let himself do that, not again. 

Alejandro stepped back, turning away to gather his jacket and the rest of his things. He could feel Rudy’s eyes on him, they burned into him as he finished getting all of his things for the day. “I have to go,” he called over his shoulder, “I need to get back and change before getting to the station. Long days call for early mornings.”

“Is today a long day?” Rudy asked, slowly approaching him again.

Alejandro paused, allowing the other to wrap him up from behind. Rudy rested his head on his shoulder and, for a moment, Alejandro let himself relax against the other. “I have a bad feeling that today will certainly be one,” he answered back quietly.

“And are your bad feelings usually right?”

“Usually,” Alejandro stared forward, annoyance ticking at his chest as he remembered the last day he’d had a feeling like this, “usually, yes. I’m waiting on a letter, I imagine today is the day I’ll get it.”

Rudy didn’t ask any further questions about his work. He knew that Alejandro often came to him to relax after a hard day, not to talk it out. He never pressed and Alejandro appreciated it as much as he hated it. “Will you be back tonight?”

Alejandro turned in Rudy’s hold, moving until they were facing each other, holding each other in their arms. Something about it felt almost too intimate for Alejandro, but he wouldn’t complain about that. “Of course, conejito,” his voice was soft. Soft and quiet and holding almost too many hints at what he was currently feeling. He pulled away first. 

“Let me see you off,” Rudy offered, turning to go and grab a robe for himself. Alejandro stopped him. 

“That’s not necessary. Go back to bed, conejito.” He gave Rudy a crooked smile, “You should get your rest, I don’t know how much I’ll let you have tonight.” He stayed only long enough to watch the blush and heat spread across Rudy’s face. He ducked out the door, still riding the high that the other man always left him with as he headed toward the station, ready to start what he knew was likely to be a shitty day. 

“Well, well, well,” The voice that rang out through the tiny sheriff's office grated on Alejandro’s nerves and immediately sent his already souring mood plummeting downward, “look who’s finally back.” Alejandro ignored him and started toward his desk, dropping his hat on the empty deputy’s desk along the way. He’d never been able to get anyone to stay for long enough to have anything there. “What took you so long, Sheriff? Too busy getting your rocks off to come to work.”

“Do you ever shut the fuck up?” Alejandro practically groaned the words as we went about opening all of the windows in the office, letting natural light flood the room. He was trying to give himself something to focus on other than the glaring white envelope sitting neatly on his desk. He knew what the envelope was. 

Graves gave a low chuckle, watching him with that stupid smug grin that he always wore, even when Alejandro was arresting him. “Think there's a letter on your desk for me big man, you may wanna open that up.”

Alejandro turned to look at him before leaning over his desk. “Look at that,” he turned to look back at Graves, “Sure enough. But I don’t open my letters until after dinner. You’ll just have to wait.” He turned back to continue opening up the office, even as he could hear Graves smack the bars of his cell behind him. 

“Why do you always do this, eh?” Alejandro didn’t turn around to face the man, he just kept doing his work as though he was completely unaffected by the man behind him. “You know you have to let me out, why prolong it?”

“Because,” Alejandro moved back toward his desk and started to clear up some of the papers scattered across the top, “the longer you’re in here, the less time you have to cause trouble.”

“Oh bullshit,” Graves scoffed at him, “You and I both know that I take a couple of days of rest before I start my shit again.” There was a long pause, “Come on, keeping me here longer won’t do either of us any good. I’ll just annoy you and sitting in this cell is not good for my back.”

There was a pause as Alejandro leaned up against his desk, taking in several deep breaths as he did. He really hated to admit it, but Graves was right. They both knew that the man would take a few days break from his usual shit in town, so what really was the point in keeping him? To fill his own need to feel like he could do something to protect the town from people like this? It was pointless, in the end he’d have to let Graves free anyways. Might as well not suffer through hours more of the man’s yapping. 

He gave a deep sigh before reaching out to snatch up the cell keys from his desk and start toward Graves. “Hey, atta boy, Sheriff.” Alejandro shot him a glare but dutifully opened the cell door for him, allowing him to walk freely into the little Sheriff’s office with an over dramatic stretch into the air. “Man I really gotta stretch my legs after that, you should really invest in a bigger cell.”

Alejandro closed the cell door with a grumble, “You know where your things are. Now get the hell out of my office, pendejo.” 

“Always so eager to get rid of me,” Graves taunted. Still, he didn’t push his luck and instead moved to the little box that held all of his extra things. Alejandro watched with displeasure as he strapped his guns back to his waist and tucked a knife in beside one of them. “Alright bud,” he turned to Alejandro with a grin, “I’m off to the Silk House if you need me. I got a major hankering to be between someone’s thighs and I doubt you’re willing to spread ‘em for me.” 

Alejandro rolled his eyes and turned away from him to take a seat at his desk. “Think I’ll find that one I really like, you know, Roach’s boy with those fat fucking thighs, the bitable ones? Oh what’s his name, uhh Ru-Rudy? Rudy! Yeah him. Fuck he’s good with his mouth too.” Alejandro froze where he was, just hovering over the papers on his desk as something hot and ugly laid itself over his chest, threatening to crush his ribs with its weight. “Alright, well I’m off. See ya in a few days.” 

Alejandro didn’t move until Graves was well out of the office. He didn’t trust himself not to chase the man down the street and shoot him dead where he stood. He didn’t trust himself not to let the jealousy bubbling up in his chest consume him whole. As soon as he was sure that Graves was far enough away that he wouldn’t be able to catch back up, he stood from his desk and started to pace the room. He tugged at his hair, bared his teeth, and resisted the urge to sweep everything off of his desk. It would only leave a mess for him to clean up and that would do nothing to help his mood. 

He tried to think of anything else, he always tried to avoid thinking of what Rudy did during the day, of the other clients he knew that he took. All that it would do is send waves of jealousy through him and remind him with a slap to the face of the shit he’d gotten himself into again. 

Alejandro had never been good at separating himself from people. He’d never been good at putting a wall between himself and the people that he interacted with, he always grew attached. He’d tried, this time, he’d tried not to get attached. After a few nights with Rudy, he’d taken a night with someone else, another one of Roach’s people. A sweet little thing named James. He’d been sweet, but he hadn’t been Rudy. 

He’d tried again. He’d taken another night with James, then another one of Roach’s people, then another. He’d tried so hard, but nothing had worked, so he’d found himself crawling back to Rudy, where he’d stayed. And since then all he’d done was get more attached, fall harder and harder until he was back to the same sad fuck that he’d once been. A Sheriff in a small town who’d fallen in love with a prostitute. He was fucked, but he knew better this time. He knew what the relationship was to Rudy. He knew he was only a client, so he tucked his feelings into his chest where they would stay buried.

Or, at least, where he tried to keep them buried.

Rudy gave only a cursory knock to the wall outside of Roach’s office before stepping in through the open door, his eyes locked on to where his boss was sitting at his desk sorting through money. Likely putting together everyone’s pay for the week. All he received was a quick smile before Roach’s eyes were back down, sorting and flicking through everything quickly. 

“Hey, Rudy,” he greeted him, his voice soft, “What can I do for you?”

“Um,” Rudy didn’t know why he was so nervous, he knew that Roach would support him. Roach had always supported and helped him when it came to things like this. “I wanted to talk some more about, well about me leaving.” That pulled Roach’s attention from the money. He stared at Rudy for a long moment before motioning to one of the seats across from his desk. Rudy crossed the room in careful steps and sat in front of him. 

“When are you thinking?” Roach asked him carefully, folding his hands in front of his chest patiently.

“A few weeks,” Rudy answered. He tried to sit up straighter, tried to appear more confident in his ability to actually succeed in leaving this time. He didn’t feel confident in the slightest, but he felt like had to try.

Roach tilted his head at him, his eyes sweeping across his face. Rudy knew that the other was looking right through him. That he could see all the doubts and worries that he had about taking off again. “Alright,” his voice was still soft, “And what’s your plan?”

“Find a job,” Rudy closed in on himself a bit, he already knew what was coming next, “stay out of the business.”

“That was your plan last time too,” Roach pointed out, his voice still soft. There was a moment of silence, a nearly oppressive quiet that had Rudy feeling like an idiot. He knew that he needed to have more than that, he knew that he needed to do more if he didn’t want to end up right back on Roach’s doorstep. “Rudy,” Roach started carefully, “You know if it's the business you want out of, I can give you a job outside of what you’ve been doing. Jackson could always use help behind the bar, I can always open up a new games table-”

“No,” Rudy cut him off, “no I don’t-” He gave a sigh and leaned forward, rubbing at his face with his hands. “I don’t want to stay here the rest of my life,” he sounded more tired than he thought he should have. “I want to do something else, I need to do something else.” He looked up at Roach, “I don’t want to get stuck in this.”

“I understand,” Roach didn’t give anything away on his face, but Rudy knew the man. He knew that Roach understood better than any of the workers ever really believed that he did. He reminded himself that the other man had been where he was at one point. He’d been in his shoes but he’d been under someone else. Someone who wasn’t so willing to let him get away. He reminded himself that he didn’t want to get stuck in this life, but that Roach had. After a moment, Roach leaned back in his seat to look at him better. “You should speak to Alejandro about this.” 

“Alejandro?” Rudy’s face went a bit pink at the mention of the man. It was stupid, his crush on the Sheriff who came so often to visit him. It was juvenile. He was supposed to be a professional and yet…and yet, he’d dreamt of a life away from what he was doing now, a life where Alejandro was still involved. Where he still came around to look at him with that burning heat and adoration. “What does he have to do with this?”

The look of amusement that Roach gave him told him that the other knew what sort of thoughts he was having about his most loyal client. “Alejandro hasn’t been able to keep a deputy at the office. Ask him about the position.”

“You think he’d let me jump from sex worker to deputy?” He shook his head, watching the other with wide eyes. Sure, he enjoyed the thought of getting to do something so interesting. Of getting to spend more time around Alejandro, but that was a lot to ask of a man who paid to fuck him every night.

Roach leaned forward on his desk and met Rudy’s eyes. His lips were twitched up into that knowing smile that he always wore, the one that so often drove people crazy when they tried to question or trick him. The one that he always used right before he would scam some asshole politician out of their money or into a compromising position so that he could blackmail them later on. “I think,” he started, “that Sheriff Alejandro Vargas would let you do anything that you like.”

Rudy gaped at him for a moment, trying to figure out a way to respond to the bold statement. Trying to figure out a way to question Roach about what he knew. He never got a chance. 

“Rudy?” He turned to look toward the door, meeting Jackson’s apologetic look, “Sorry for interrupting. You’ve got a client asking for you.”

Rudy took a moment to right himself, trying to get his mind back on track before standing up from his seat. “Right, uh,” he turned to Roach, “We’ll talk more later?” Roach gave a nod, that knowing smile still on his lips. He started toward the door then, not looking back at Roach as he followed Jackson back out into the game room of the house. 

He gave a deep sigh when he spotted who had come in. Perhaps Alejandro had been right that morning, perhaps the day would not be a good one. “Want me to kick him out?” Jackson asked, crossing his arms over his chest as he glanced toward him. 

Rudy appreciated the offer, but if he planned to leave he would need what money he could get. “No,” he shook his head, “As much as I hate it, I’ll handle him.” With those words, he plastered on a fake smile and started toward his client for the day. Rudy only hoped that Philip Graves wouldn’t try to stay long.

As usual, by the time that Alejandro finished his day of work, he was absolutely fucking exhausted. Trying to run a town without a deputy to help him keep things in order was god awful and bordered on enough to just have him quitting. Unfortunately for him and fortunately for the people of the town, he loved the town too much to just leave them without any protection. 

He took several long moments to himself before leaving for the day, collapsing forward onto his desk to take in ragged breaths. He was working himself up like usual, but he tried to take solace in the fact that soon he would be wrapped up in Rudy’s arms, in the comfort of a man that he loved but knew that he shouldn’t.

With those thoughts in mind, he started his usual routine of closing up the office, everything was practically muscle memory. His mind was already waiting for him down the long street of the town, waiting with his heart in the hands of a man who didn’t even know that he held them. He felt hardly present as he shut everything down like he always did before starting on his walk toward the Silk House. 

When he arrived, he was greeted at the door by Roach as usual, only today Roach looked more than a little put out by something. “Alejandro,” the man placed his hands on his hips, “welcome.”

“Everything alright, hermano?” He tilted his head. He wasn’t used to Roach being so out of it when he greeted him. Usually he wore that aggravating knowing smile as he invited Alejandro in for his usual. Alejandro knew that Roach knew more than he let on. He knew that the man likely knew everything. He could only hope that his mood wasn’t because of that. Surely if he’d known that Alejandro had gone and fallen for another one of his workers and been bothered by it, it wouldn’t have taken him so long to show it.

Roach gave a deep sigh before reaching up to pinch at his nose. “I’m sorry Alejandro. Graves came in earlier today and requested Rudy, he still hasn’t left yet and any time his time runs up he just throws down more money before I can stop him.” Alejandro felt himself go cold. Graves was inside, likely with Rodolfo sitting on his lap like he usually would for him. He couldn’t go inside. Not when he would have to see that. 

“Ah,” his voice was quiet and he stood for a long moment. “I hope you will not hold it against me if I leave then?” He shook his head carefully, “I’m sorry I…I just can’t-”

“You don’t have to explain yourself,” Roach stopped him. “I understand. That’s why I stepped outside to tell you.” He hesitated for a moment before, “Listen, tomorrow I’m going to send Rodolfo by the station for you-”

“That isn’t necessary,” Alejandro cut him off with a shake of his head. “He is working. I don’t need anything just because I’m not allowed to hold all of his attention.” He rubbed at his face, his heart tugging painfully in his chest. He should have held Graves another day, not opened the letter or freed him and just put up with his bullshit for another day. 

“Not for that,” Roach assured him. He gave a glance around them before taking Alejandro’s arm in his own and tugging him to walk, guiding them back toward the station and Alejandro’s home. “Rudy wants to leave again.” 

Alejandro tensed. He felt for a long moment like he couldn’t breathe, like the breath had been stolen from his lungs and something was blocking him from taking more. “Oh,” he managed to choke out after a long moment. It wasn’t that Alejandro didn’t want Rudy to leave his job if he wanted to, he’d supported him the last two times that he’d decided to try it on his own, saying goodbye as he saw the man out of town. That wasn’t the issue. The issue was that he didn’t want Rudy to leave him. 

He’d always felt guilty about it. He’d felt even more guilty on those days when he’d come to the Silk House and seen that Rudy had returned, fallen back into what he knew to support himself as his other ventures had left him with nothing. He was never happy to see that Rudy had failed to get away, but he was always happy to see Rudy again. To have the man back with him. 

“Well,” he cleared his throat and tried to pretend that his heart wasn’t breaking into pieces at the thought of losing Rudy again. He tried to convince himself that it would be good for him, that it would provide him with a chance to finally get over his little crush on the man. He knew it wouldn’t work. “I’m sure he’ll do well for himself.”

Roach made a humming noise, but from the sound of it Alejandro could tell that he was unconvinced. “I want him better prepared this time,” he spoke carefully, tugging Alejandro closer to him as they walked. “I want him to have a job before he leaves this time, I want him to succeed and this time I’m not leaving it up to him to make sure it happens.”

“What does this have to do with the station?” Alejandro spoke the words carefully, still not quite sure how this all connected to him. 

“I want you to give Rudy a job.”

“What?”

Roach turned to look at him as they walked, “Give Rudy a job. Your deputy position is still open and, even if you aren’t comfortable giving him that place, though I assure you he can use a gun just as well as any of the outlaws you deal with, you can make him your secretary. I’m sure it would be helpful for you to have an extra pair of hands around.” 

“I don’t,” Alejandro stumbled over himself as Roach pulled them to a stop in the station, “Wouldn’t that be odd for him?”

“How so?” Roach asked, turning to cross his arms over his chest. “The two of you are friends, whether you became friends because you’ve been paying to fuck him or not.” Alejandro went hot at the words, an odd sense of embarrassment flooding through him. After a moment, Roach leaned forward to run his fingers across his chest, speaking in a slow and low voice. Only meant for Alejandro’s ears. “Whether you wish you could be together without the payment or not. Give him a job Alejandro, please? For me? For him?” 

Alejandro couldn’t say no. Not when it came to Rudy. Not if it meant seeing the other happy.

“You didn’t come by yesterday.” 

Alejandro looked up from his work, his eyes softening as they landed on Rudy. It was…odd to see him out of the rather revealing outfit he always wore at work, but it was nice. Something about seeing him in normal clothes, clothes that he’d likely chosen for himself and enjoyed wearing, it was somehow more enticing than the outfits that normally adorned him when Alejandro would see him. 

“Rodolfo,” he greeted carefully, his paperwork all but forgotten as he devoured the other with his eyes. “I, um,” he cleared his throat, “I did come by, actually. Roach said you already had a client and, well, I'm not interested in having anyone else to uh, to take care of me.” He could see the way that Rudy seemed to soften at his words, a small smile tugging at his lips as he stepped fully into the station, moving toward Alejandro’s desk. 

“I’ve never seen you in your element before, Vaquero.” He stopped beside him, leaning back against Alejandro’s desk. Neither of them touched, despite the fact that both of their hands were practically itching with the need to feel the other. “You look good here, like you belong.” 

“So do you,” Alejandro offered in return. The words were truthful. Rudy wasn’t some dainty little thing to be pinned down and fucked, he was rather lean and held a bit of muscle on him. It was a testament to the work he’d done on a farm before he’d run off, information he’d told to Alejandro in the dead of night as they laid against the other’s chest. Alejandro always liked to pretend in those moments that Rudy was telling him those things because he cared for him, and not because he’d asked in a display of weakness for the other to just speak to him and hold him in his arms. 

Rudy scoffed and gave a small smile, “You flatter me, Vaquero. Trying to charm me?”

“I’m serious,” Alejandro tilted his head at him. “Roach told me you know how to shoot.”

Rudy straightened up at that, biting his bottom lip for a moment before responding in a hesitant voice, “I can. I learned before I ran away.” He paused for a moment before shaking his head, “Listen I know Roach said…well, just listen. I don’t want you to just give me a job because Roach asked-”

“That’s not what this is,” Alejandro cut him off. He paused for a moment before motioning over toward the empty deputy’s desk, “I need help here. You see how stressed I’ve been, the things I’ve been dealing with on my own.” He stood from his seat then and took a step closer to Rudy, “You’re looking for a job. If you have the skills I need…there is a job for you here. With me.” 

The two were silent as Rudy met his eyes, trying to discern if this was a real offer or something that Roach had somehow blackmailed the man into. He couldn’t find anything other than a startling intensity in the other’s eyes. Something that told him that this offer was genuine. That it may have been spurred by something else, but that if Rudy could prove himself and do the job, the place would be his.

“You have a test for me?” He asked after a moment. “I won’t let you hire me just off of word of mouth. I want to prove myself. I want to earn my spot.” He wouldn’t accept charity. He never would, it was against nearly everything that he stood for. It was what had kept him stumbling back into Roach’s care over and over. He wanted to earn his own way.

“Outside,” Alejandro nodded, “A shooting test. That’s it. Everything else can be taught, I just need you to know how to shoot.” He took a step back and motioned toward a door toward the back of the station, “If you can shoot, the job is yours.”

“Well,” Rudy pushed himself from the desk and brushed past Alejandro, moving toward the back door, “I guess let me show you how well I can shoot, eh Vaquero?” 

Alejandro’s eyes traced after him, admiring the line of his body. Something in him already felt like Rudy was right where he belonged, like he naturally fit right there beside him in the same station. Working side by side. Friends, allies, partners. It felt right. 

He shook his head after a moment, trying to brush away those thoughts. He didn’t even know if Rudy could shoot, he was getting ahead of himself. He always got ahead of himself when it came to Rudy. He wasted no more time before pushing himself to follow after the other, his hat snatched up from his desk as he moved past. 

He met Rudy at the door and pushed it open, holding it so that Rudy could step past him into the heated air outside. Alejandro followed after him before taking the lead and guiding them around the edge of the station to the little makeshift shooting range. Alejandro had set it up at the beginning of his search for a deputy and every person who he’d hired, no matter how long they stayed, had run through it. 

He made quick work of setting up targets of various sizes at different distances before returning to Rudy’s side. He turned to see Rudy eyeing up several of the little glass bottles that he’d set out as targets and he felt the need to assure him. “Don’t worry, I don’t expect you to hit everything.” He pulled one of his revolvers from his belt and spun it in his hand until he could hand it over to Rudy with the handle pointed in his direction. 

Rudy didn’t hesitate to take the gun from him, or to spin it around in his own hands, following Alejandro’s example with a wink. If Alejandro felt his cock twitch in his pants at the move, he wasn’t going to say anything about it. Rudy stepped past him to get a better position and Alejandro dutifully stepped out of the way, his eyes locked onto the other man as he moved into a strong shooting stance. 

“Any particular targets you want me to hit?” That pulled Alejandro’s attention away from him and toward the targets down range. He examined his set up for a moment, making sure that everything was in place. 

“One target of each size,” he turned back to Rudy and crossed his arms over his chest. “The rest can be your choice.” 

The corners of Rudy’s mouth ticked up into a smile and Alejandro found himself unable to look away as he turned back toward the shooting range. “My choice? Sounds easy enough.” He lifted the gun and immediately Alejandro was struck by how clear it was that he’d done this before, that he was more than comfortable with the gun in his hands. 

A shot rang out, Alejandro nearly jumped at how sudden it was. Following the noise was the shattering of glass and when he turned his head, he could see that Rudy had shot one of the little bottles that he’d set out. “Fuck,” he muttered under his breath. Another shot rang out and he watched as one of the bigger targets he’d set up was knocked off of its perch with the force of a bullet hitting it. 

“Board at the back,” Rudy called his next shot out and, as the sound of another bullet being fired rang out, Alejandro could only watch as the board splintered and rocked a bit with the force of the bullet hitting it. Rudy had landed his shots. “Three more.”

Alejandro didn’t even have time to question him before three shots were fired in quick succession and, following them came the sound of breaking bottles. When the last of the broken glass settled and the echoing of the gunshots subsided, Alejandro was left staring out at four broken bottles, a knocked over box, and a board torn up by a bullet. 

“Well, Vaquero,” Rudy took careful steps toward him, drawing Alejandro’s attention back to his form as he approached, “Did I pass your test?” He stopped in front of Alejandro, spinning the gun in his hand for a moment before stopping and holding it out to him in the exact way that Alejandro had done for him. 

Alejandro was sure that he’d never wanted to kiss someone more than he had in that moment.

Working with Rodolfo Parra was hell for Alejandro. 

It wasn’t because Rudy was bad at the job, on the contrary, he took to working as Alejandro’s deputy like a fish to water. Everything seemed to come naturally to him and he was clearly enjoying the work. With his help, Alejandro had a bit of that stress that had settled on his shoulders lifted. 

Rudy had been nothing but amazing at the job. Hell, he’d even managed to get Graves to shut the fuck up when Alejandro had been forced to bring him in again, and that by itself was enough to have Alejandro trying to figure out where he could buy a gift basket or something for the man. Hell, he’d even increased Rudy’s pay just because of that little detail. 

The issue wasn’t that Rudy wasn’t good at his job. The issue was that Alejandro was still fucking in love with the man and all the time he was now spending around him only made it worse. Sure, the nights of being buried between Rudy’s thighs were gone, but in its place were days of shared meals, rides around town, and moments of comfortable silence as they worked. It was work, but it all felt so overwhelmingly domestic to Alejandro. It all felt so…right. 

The only thing missing, as his mind was so often to remind him, was the relationship aspect. Alejandro knew it wouldn’t happen. They worked together and any romance that they’d had before that had been because of the will of a few coins that Alejandro was always so eager to pay. He knew that he needed to get over the damaging crush that he’d formed on Rudy, but it was more difficult than he wanted to say. 

He’d thought time and time again about returning to the Silk House and trying to bury his shame between another worker's thighs. But it was no use. Any time he tried to think about it and soon the person in his mind would always shift to Rudy. He always came back to Rudy. It wasn’t fair to him, it wasn’t fair to Rudy, and it wouldn’t be fair to whoever he would choose. So he’d stayed away from the Silk House and he’d gone weeks off of his usual routine, all because he didn’t want it if Rudy wasn’t involved.

Alejandro locked up the front of the station, using the light of the still setting sun to guide the movement of his keys before attaching the little ring to his belt like usual. He turned around to meet Rudy, still waiting patiently behind him. 

It wasn’t unusual for Rudy to be waiting behind for him, after all the two usually walked back together, Alejandro dropping Rudy off at the little house he’d been staying in before continuing on his way to his own lonely little home. He’d taken to spending the nights on his little porch, smoking a cigarette as he nursed a glass of whiskey and tried not to think about the man who was so constantly weighing on his mind. 

Something felt different today. Alejandro had felt Rudy’s eyes on him all day, watching him in a way that sent fear rocking up his spine. He wondered if Rudy had finally seen through him. If he’d fucked something up somewhere without even realizing it. 

“Alejandro,” Rudy tilted his head at him, “I thought we might go for a drink together. If you’re willing to let me join you?”

Alejandro paused for a moment. Was that what Rudy wanted to ask? Was that why he’d been watching him all day? “I’m always willing for a drink,” he answered after a moment, “The saloon?”

“No,” Rudy shook his head, “the Silk House. I want to play a game while we drink.” 

“Oh,” Alejandro suddenly understood why Rudy had been watching him all day. After all, he didn’t know that Alejandro hadn’t been following his normal schedule, crawling his way back to the brothel for comfort in someone's arms. He didn’t know that he was the only person that Alejandro wanted to find comfort with. “I didn’t think you’d want to go back. After you left that is.”

A smile crossed Rudy’s face and he gave a small chuckle, “I appreciate the worry, Ale, but I’m on good terms with Roach. And, besides, it may be fun going as a guest.” 

“I’m not going to say no,” Alejandro motioned forward, allowing Rudy to take the lead of guiding him toward the house. He wanted to give the man the opportunity to back out if he changed his mind. “I’ll buy,” he fell into step next to Rudy and looked over to him with a smile, “I’ve got no issue paying for you.” 

Rudy gave a small laugh at that, like there was some joke that Alejandro had just told without realizing it. He didn’t question it, he just grinned at Rudy and continued the way down the street at his side, feeling like he was right where he belonged. 

When they stepped inside the Silk House, Alejandro could feel a bit of trepidation pull at his throat, rising until he felt like perhaps this was a bad idea. Standing in the entryway felt far too much like it once had, it felt far too much like he’d stumbled in after a long day of work, ready to have Rudy in his lap whispering filth into his ears. He glanced over at Rudy at the thought, but the other didn’t seem bothered in the slightest by being back. Alejandro tried to brush off his running thoughts. 

“Well, well, well,” Roach rounded the corner to look over the two of them, a grin on his face. As usual, he seemed like he knew more than either of them could imagine and, as he looked over them, Alejandro felt like he was looking through them. Like he could see what was making both of them tick in that moment. “Welcome back Sheriff,” he acknowledged Alejandro before turning to Rudy, “And welcome in for the first time, Deputy.” 

“Roach,” Rudy greeted him with a grin, “We were thinking a night of drinks and games?”

“That,” Roach motioned them to follow him with a grin, “I can do for you. First round is on us, as usual for our lovely lawmakers.” He guided them toward one of the not yet full gaming tables and allowed them to take their seats next to one another. “What’ll it be for the first round, gentlemen.”

“My usual,” Alejandro spoke flippantly, not thinking of what his words might imply, even as Roach and Rudy glanced at him with careful eyes.

Rudy took a moment to pause before, “Whiskey here as well.” 

“Two whiskey’s,” Roach gave them both a smile before he looked back to Alejandro. “And, Sheriff, when you say your usual,” he paused for a moment and Alejandro realized with a startling clarity what Roach was trying to ask him. “I could send James over, I know that you’ve taken a few nights-”

“No,” Alejandro cut him off, wincing a bit at how horrified he sounded. He refused to look over at Rudy as he continued, “No, no, uh, I just meant my usual Whiskey. Nothing else tonight.” Roach looked at him for a long moment, amusement clear to read on his face before he gave a simple nod and pushed himself toward the bar.

Neither Rudy or Alejandro said anything as they were dealt into the game. Alejandro made a point not to look at Rudy and instead focus hard on the cards that he’d been given. When Roach returned with their drinks, he tossed half of his back in one quick move, ignoring the burning of the liquor down his throat. It did nothing to wash away the horror that burned at him. 

Things were quiet for several long moments before Rudy spoke, his voice low, “You know you don’t have to do that for me, right?” 

Alejandro tensed for a moment before tilting his head toward Rudy. Of course he understood what the man meant, but it didn’t stop him from pretending. “I’m not sure what you mean, hermano?”

Rudy leaned closer to him and whispered in his ear, “The usual. Your routine. I’m not going to judge you for doing what you’ve always done, Vaquero.” Alejandro couldn’t stop the shiver that pulled down his spine at having Rudy whispering in his ear again. It wasn’t the same thing as it had once been, but it was similar enough to have him aching with the need to pull the other into his lap again.

“Why would I do that,” he cleared his throat, trying to act as normal as possible as he whispered back, “I’d much rather stay and play with you, eh Vaquero?” He could see Rudy’s eyes widen a bit as he tossed the usual nickname back at him. The lighting in the building was low, but Alejandro was sure that he could see a blush spreading across Rudy’s face before a sweet grin joined it. 

“Well then,” Rudy cleared his throat and brought his own glass up to his lips to take a sip of whiskey, “Let’s play.” 

So, Alejandro and Rudy started a new routine together. They’d spend their days together at work, doing paperwork, investigating, and arresting those who needed arrested. Then when night would come around, they’d spend their time pressed at the other’s side, sipping whiskey while playing games. 

In a way, Alejandro’s routine hadn’t changed much. The only difference was that now it was as though every moment of his day was taken up by Rudy. He would never complain about it. It only made his days better to have Rudy there. A part of him knew that he was well beyond fucked for believing that. Another part of him wanted to imagine that Rudy believed the same.

“Another hand to Rudy,” Alejandro groaned out, tossing his cards on the table. Despite his bemoaning, he had a bright grin on his face. He shook his head, “You’ve got to share your secret, I lose practically every hand to you now.”

Rudy smiled at him from over his glass of whiskey, “It’s not so hard,” he teased, “when your opponent is terrible at bluffing.” He had to pull his glass away as he nearly choked the alcohol. Alejandro’s face had pulled a nearly painful laugh from him and he couldn’t help but continue to laugh even as the other grumbled in annoyance.

“I am not terrible at bluffing,” Alejandro tried to defend himself, “I lie all the time.”

“Do you now?” Rudy was still trying to cover up his laughter as Alejandro tried fruitlessly to defend himself. “I don’t believe it.” 

“You don’t believe it,” Alejandro gaped at him, “I don’t believe that I’m a terrible liar, how’s that?” 

“You should believe him, Vaquero. You’ve never been a good liar.” The voice that cut into their conversation was sickly sweet and as it laid over Alejandro’s chest, it sent a spark of dread through him. The honeyed words forced their way down his throat to choke him in the way that it would a child. He froze. He could feel Rudy looking between him and the woman behind him, but he couldn’t bring himself to react. 

A beat passed before a soft hand landed on his chin, turning his face until he was looking in the eyes of a woman he was sure he’d never see again. She leaned close enough to share his breath, keeping herself right in his space as her fingers traced along his cheek and down his neck, threatening to pull a shiver from him.

“Alejandro,” she spoke, her voice dropped into a pout, “don’t you want to say hello to me? It’s been so long since we’ve seen each other.” 

Alejandro took in a shaky breath, feeling as though it might be stolen from him at any moment. “Valeria,” he finally acknowledged. “What are you doing back in town? I was under the impression you’d left for good.” 

Valeria scoffed and pouted at him again. She pulled back enough that she could stand at her full height, hovering over him in a way that was all too familiar to him. She pressed closer, moving until she was practically in his lap with her hands gripping his shoulders loosely. “Is that any way to greet me? You sound like you aren’t happy to have me back.” 

Before Alejandro could work himself up enough to respond, Rudy’s voice cut through. “You should step back, hmm? Roach won’t like it if you’re trying to make a move on one of his guests.” Alejandro shot a grateful look at the man, but was struck for a moment by the anger on Rudy’s face. 

“Roach is letting me stay,” Valeria responded flippantly, never even looking at Rudy. Her hands started to play with Alejandro’s hair, tugging at a few of the locks as she twirled them around her fingers. “Didn’t you miss me, Ale? You know all you have to do is ask and pay and i’ll-”

“Even if Roach is letting you stay, you can’t solicit here without a contract from him,” Rudy cut her off again. “I doubt he’s given you a contract for the night. Should I go ask him?” There was a short moment before, finally, Valeria’s attention moved away from Alejandro and to Rudy. 

She looked him up and down slowly, and an unimpressed frown tugging at her lips. “And who are you? You’ve got the information a worker would, but you certainly don’t look like one.” She turned back to Alejandro, “Who is this, eh? You replaced me?” 

“Valeria,” Alejandro started, his voice shaky. He wasn’t sure what he was planning to say, but he didn’t get a chance to reply as Rudy asked. 

“Replaced you? And who are you?” Rudy didn’t sound the least bit impressed either, and it was clear that he was matching her energy. It was almost impressive to Alejandro. He’d seen people bow to Valeria in seconds because of how forceful she could be. Rarely ever had there been someone so willing to hold their own against her.

Valeria gave a quick tut, “You’ve not told your friend about me? Oh and I thought I was so important to you Ale. That’s what you were on your knees telling me before I left.” 

Alejandro felt himself go red at the words, embarrassment flooding through him. He didn’t like to remember that moment, one of the lowest that he’d ever had. He’d been too pathetic, too naive. He knew better now. Maybe he couldn’t keep himself from falling in love again, but he could keep himself from making a fool out of himself. “That was then,” he answered quietly, “this is now.” 

Valeria stared at him for a long moment and, though she hid it well, he could see the shock in her eyes. She hadn’t expected him to say that and it was clear that she hadn’t believed that he would so openly deny her. Her eyes trailed over to Rudy for a moment before back to Alejandro.

A laugh choked up from her throat. She pushed herself away from Alejandro while still laughing. “Oh I get it now, Vaquero.” She pointed at Rudy with a grin on her face, “He’s your new favorite eh?” She gave another laugh as Alejandro sputtered at her words. “What a little pair the two of you make. A man who falls in love with his prostitutes and the prostitute stupid enough to fall in love with him as well.” 

She pointed at Rudy and Alejandro’s head whipped around to look at the man. Surely Valeria had to be wrong. There was no way that Rudy could have fallen for him. Valeria was teasing him. That’s what it had to be. Still, the downright murderous glare that Rudy was sending her way did nothing to disprove what she had claimed as the truth. 

“Valeria.” The voice that cut through the air silenced the room. Everyone knew that voice. Everyone knew to be quiet when he spoke like that. Alejandro could see Valeria’s face fall as aggravation showed clear on her body. Still, she turned around dutifully to face Roach. He was giving her a rather unimpressed look, and anyone would be able to see just from his body language that he was quite unhappy at the moment. “I was gracious enough to give you a place to stay for the night, free of charge. The least I expect is for you to avoid harassing my guests.”

“A woman has to work,” she responded, “I’m only trying to make my way.”

“You can try at the saloon down the street then,” Roach responded, “You don’t work at my house, and you do not get to try and solicit clients from me. So you’ll leave, or you’ll go up to your room and I won’t see you again until you leave in the morning.” He crossed his arms over his chest and raised an eyebrow at her, waiting for an answer.

Valeria paused for a moment, her hands clenched at her side. Finally she gave in. “I’ll see you in the morning, then.” She and Roach shared a short sour smile before she was off toward the stairs, finally leaving Alejandro and Rudy in peace. 

As soon as she was gone, Roach was stepping toward the two. “I am so sorry, gentlemen. If I had known she would do something like that I wouldn’t have invited her to stay the night.” 

“You couldn’t have known,” Rudy answered. His voice was still hard.

“Still, your drinks are on us tonight.” Roach gave them an apologetic smile, “Can I get either of you another whiskey?”

“I think I’ll call it a night,” Alejandro folded his cards on the table and pushed himself to stand on shaky legs. He couldn’t stay, not now, not after all of the embarrassment that he’d just been forced to endure. He didn’t like remembering his past with Valeria, how stupid he’d been to fall in love with her. He didn’t like to remember that he was stupid enough to fall in love with Rudy as well. 

“Me too,” Rudy agreed, folding his own cards, “Gotta make sure the Sheriff here gets home safe.” He gave a quick smile to Roach, though it was clear that he was still rather angry from the interaction with Valeria. “Thank you, though, Roach. We’ll see you tomorrow.”

Roach didn’t respond, he only gave an understanding nod before seeing them both to the door. The two stepped out into the humid night, still pressed at the other’s side. 

Neither of them said anything as they started their walk back toward their homes. Neither of them quite knew what to say to the other. So, for a majority of the walk, neither of them spoke at all. They just stayed at the other’s side and let the interaction bounce around in their minds. 

It wasn’t until they grew closer and closer to Rudy’s current little home that the silence broke. “What Valeria said, about you and her…was it true?”

Alejandro nearly tripped over himself at the words. It wasn’t a conversation that he wanted to have, in fact it was the last thing that he ever wanted to discuss with Rudy. Still, he answered. “Yes.” He hated himself for saying it, “I was in love with her. Years ago. I’m not anymore.” 

“And,” Rudy asked again after a moment, “What she implied, about me?” 

Alejandro winced, but when Rudy pulled him to a stop just outside of the entrance of his home, he knew he wouldn’t get away without answering. Rudy’s words about him being a horrible liar bounced around in his head for a few moments. He was a horrible liar. He couldn’t lie, not to Rudy. 

“I tried others,” he started carefully, “I tried not to get attached. Not to fall for you. It didn’t work.” Rudy tilted his head at him and neither of them spoke for a long moment. Alejandro felt the need to explain himself further, to let Rudy know that he didn’t expect anything from him. “Don’t worry,” he shook his head, “I’m not an idiot. I know everything that was between us, everything that happened was because I paid. I don’t expect anything.” He stood for another moment before giving Rudy a nod, “Good night, Rodolfo.”

He turned to leave, but before he could Rudy had a hand on his arm, yanking him around until they were facing one another again. Alejandro could feel his heart speed up. He wondered if Rudy was about to quit, to tell him he couldn’t work with him while knowing the truth. “You know,” Rudy let go of his arm and shuffled a bit, “I suppose she saw right through us. I guess neither of us are good at bluffing.” 

“Rudy…?”

“I think you should come inside with me, Vaquero.” Rudy stepped closer to him, moving until their bodies were pressed against one another. “I think…you should make up for the time we’ve lost.” 

Alejandro could feel his breath get caught in his throat. Rudy couldn’t mean what he thought that he did. But, it all felt so familiar. It felt just like it had on those nights when he’d get pulled upstairs to a room where he could enjoy the press of a man he shouldn’t have fallen in love with. Only…this felt more raw. More truthful. Like they both understood that this was different, that this was more. 

Alejandro met Rudy’s eyes and, slowly, his hands reached out to grab at his hips, pulling him closer. He could feel Rudy’s breath catch in his throat as he searched the other’s face for any sign that this was a joke. That he’d read the situation wrong. That this wasn’t what both of them wanted. 

“Conejito,” he started slowly, he didn’t miss the way that the others shuttered just a bit at the pet name, “what are you saying? Hmm?”

“I’m saying,” Rudy pulled him closer so he could whisper in Alejandro’s ear, “She was right. We do make quite the pair, no? A man who fell in love with his prostitute, and the prostitute stupid enough to fall back.”

And, as they were stumbling up to Rudy’s room, their hands and mouths exploring desperately, Alejandro had to agree. They did make quite the pair.