#i NEED to play kingdom again tho that game is so fun

[scootarooni]

i have a pc so ive been replaying mysims YIPPIE!!!!!!!!!!!

[ganondoodle]

still thinking about how even just the decision to basically act like the shiekah tech never existed is just ... so baffling to me

bc again you could have done all the sonau tech does with shiekah instead, and they were perfect to be explored more in a sequel, why wouldnt you grasp that potential, the literal building blocks for more??

if you are that tired of shiekah tech .. dont make it a fuckign sequel to the game prominently featuring it???? totk doesnt take place generations after botw in which things could have changed drastically, its just a few years afterwards??

you want to reuse the map and get rid of shiekah tech? ok fine take LINK into the past then and the focus is for you to find a way to return; do some neat twist where its revealed that link was the one who sealed gan bc he couldnt defeat him without zelda or something if you dare (they wouldnt)

want less work than that and still reuse the map and get rid of shiekah tech AND reuse characters? ok then make it some alternate universe thingy like majoras mask in which everythign is the same but also isnt, its weird and creepy how characters you thoguht you knew suddendly dont act like themselves, shiekah tech doesnt exist, malice is now miasma, etc, it would give reason to why you feel so much like something about this world is familiar yet also very wrong

as far as im aware every "sequel" we have had so far were either generations apart from the first one, some alternate universe or a different location altogether- in all of which its plausible that things are different, things seem weirdly familiar but also wrong, or that another continent just works different from hyrule

but totk does none of that, its supposedly just a few years after the first game, same world same character, but its BUILT like some strange jumbled mess of stuff from botw and new stuff out of nowhere that just .. doesnt fit, but feeling a strange sense of otherness, a déja vu of something you know but it acts off, like an imposter, thats NOT intentional and it shows, its a mess of botw stuff, from stuff that people missed from the old games and entirely new stuff; i dont doubt it CAN work but the way it turned out is like a mix of 3 different puzzles forced together and being told 'see it fits!' even tho you can clearly see the pieces dont look right in these places

again it feels like a sequel that desperately wants you to forget the first game happened, that anythign from it mattered at all

and that isnt really ... the sense of a sequel? why insist on it being one when it only creates problems? is it marketing?? just like it was marketing to call age of calamity a telling of what happened before botw but then it wasnt that at all and that is still the sole reason why i dislike it? bc i was lied to? totk is like 10000 times worse than that, its a main title and doesnt even have the excuse of yeah its basically an excuse to play all your fav characters in fun ways and the game beign well aware that being its main appeal; what is totk appeal? a toybox with botw aestethic and none of the flavor?

(on a sidenote; the sonau tech doesnt even .. matter? in botw at least calamity ganon was made of shiekah tech parts and him overtaking other tech is a big point, the sonau tech doesnt serve anything but .. idk minerus useless mech? gan doesnt even aknowledge it, he doesnt care, all it is is toys for the player, not link, but the player. the monsters mining the tech materials? what for? gan doesnt give a damn and they dont work for the yiga either??)

i said it before but it gives me the feeling that the way botw invited you to theorize, to look beneath the surface, the way it intrigued you and laid the groundwork for so many interesting things without denying anything.. was accidental? or perhaps put in the game without the directors noticing? i cant stop thinking about them saying sth like "after botw zelda wondered if the kingdom of hyrule needed to keep existing the way it had been before the calamity, but then totk happens" bc it just feels like they realized too late that botw naturally led into questioning the status quo and they scrambled to fit it back into a flat and boring road we have seen so many times before (or even worse really) with totk

zeldas character naturally leads into her questioning and reexamine their history and set of rules? we gotta teach her a lesson of why she is importante god given monarchy girl that has to keep it bc what if evil brown man shows up again for no reason

maybe im grasping at straws here but looking at it this way the sonau .. make more "sense"; the shiekah were a group that was under the rule of the royal family, and misstreated before (oh no look soemthing interesting) so they dont lend themselves well to be used for teaching zelda that lesson- the sonau however are tailored really to be just that; they are a supposedly godly race from the literal sky that founded this version of hyrule, that had tech even more advanced and better than the shiekah, she gets put in the past to meet the perfect god king of goodness personally, also his very fridgy wifey that zelda later replaces in a way, shes put there and treated like family and then gets to see just how evil that evil big man from the desert is, sonia is falcon-punched to death solely so zelda can feel obligated to take over her role, have her new, better 'family' hurt by gan; similarly so raurus sacrifice, look what a noble and good king he is, he payed the ultimate price to lock that evil man away, now zelda you cannot let their sacrifice go to waste, rebuild that divinely good kingdom like it was!!

and even though they go so much out of their way to put the cart back onto the rails of black and white-good and evil in an even flatter way than the old games, it still doesnt feel right, at least to me, it still feels like zelda shouldnt have gone along with all of that, it feels like even her character from botw was walked back entirely, except for the intro, it made her feel like a stranger to me-

because this is a sequel, i know this zelda, she wouldnt act like that after all that shes been through, this feels ... off

and it all just insulting to anyone who cared about botw more than surface level, or the zelda lore in general, i dont even care much about the timeline, but theres alot of lore and themes beyond it that felt ignored, especially so given that .. its a damn sequel, non AU, not generations apart, directly part 2-

but its not.

it even feels very "corporate", put zelda in a dress again, people liked that, put crazy abilities in the game to flashbang people with how insane it is even if its not the best for the gameplay or the story, put a new asthetic into it out of nowhere bc its 'new' and act like its been there the whole time, put gan in there bc people miss him and find him sexy even if his role is just as flat as that of an evil cloud monster-

*sigh*

you know, i saw a post that said aoc was like a bad fanfic (affectionate) and totk was like a bad fanfic (derogatory) and tbh thats like one of the best comparisons/summaries i have seen ..

[azelfandquilava]

Unhinged Azure Gleam RW ideas

Alright, FE3H musing time again.

I've been floating a bunch of ideas for a hypothetical rewrite of Azure Gleam. Trying to summarise it in neat paragraph is proving harder for me than I thought it would so I'll just bullet-point drop all the ideas I had in rough chronological order:

Keeping a big focus on Dimitri's viewpoint of "Reform Over Revolution". In the official game, this is brought up a few times early on but basically dropped just as soon as the Western Lords arc wraps and the mindcontrol nonsense begins.

Cleobulus is the end villain, usurping Thales as leader of the Agarthans. Her tactics end up being much more chaotic and violent but with a greater cost to TWSITD's numbers. Odesse would act as her version of Myson, Kronya would also be given a bit more prominence (cuz who doesn't wanna see Agarthan Girlies having a bit of fun?)

In keeping with this, I really want to explore the idea of Dimitri and Edelgard forming a truce to take down TWSITD. It'll take some contriveances admittedly, but hear me out.

I'd keep Part 1's layout and premise roughly the same but with a lot of specifics changed. I��m juggling whether to keep Rufus alive for longer, or to just make Kleinman more prominent later on in his place.

The Western Lords are given more explanation of their motives for betraying Lambert, the specifics of his supposed reforms are explored more instead of just aluded to. Even if its a retread of the case with Ionius and the Insurrection of the Seven, that'd be better than the complete nothingness we get of it in the final game par Viscount Elidure's one line about the subject.

Rather than dying in Elidure’s territory like she does in the official route, Cleobulus retreats to Arianrhod where a three-way battle between in the invading Empire led by Edelgard, the remnants of the Western Lords (represented primarily by Count Rowe here, still being kept on a leash by Cleobulus) and Dimitri’s pursuing forces ensues.

The Western Coalition would be snuffed out here, with them no longer of use to her Cleobulus finally ditches her Cornelia skinsuit.

During the fighting Edelgard is badly wounded, prompting Thales to try his "mind-control" ploy from the official game (or maybe he's just going for the kill here, whatever works best). He is stopped by Hubert, who is mortally wounded in a vicious exchange covering Edelgard and the Empire's retreat. This would effectively be a mirror of Ingrid's death in Scarlet Blaze, but with a much bigger impact on the Empire's military capabilities.

Thales himself is badly injured and warps away, leaving him exhausted. Cleobulus uses this as an oppurtunity to finish the old man off and claim leadership of the Agarthans.

From here the Empire is left to lick its wounds, as a much more violent version of Ludwig's attempted coup from Scarlet Blaze occurs. Likewise the Kingdom is suddenly hit with more Slithery nonsense as Dimitri tries to recover following the Western Coalition's sabotage.

That's roughly where I got to, but I do have a few more ideas that I'm not sure where to fit/or if they'd work but here we go:

Rhea is pretty much a non-presence in Azure Gleam as is, apart from popping up for expo at a few points she doesn't really do much for the majority of it. I'm floating the idea of her being kidnapped by Cleobulus during Part 2 with the intent of bodysnatching her/using her blood for Slithery reasons. There's a risk with this tho in that I'd basically be changing the Route Damsel from Edelgard to Rhea. That said I do think Rhea needs to be moved out of the way for the potential truce to even remotely work.

Claude's the odd factor here as I'm not sure how exactly I wanna have him play out here. Both of Dimitri's routes handle the Alliance quite lazily imo as both times they end up siding with him, granted AG doesn't just have Claude give the entire faction to him but still.

Thats all I can muster typing up atm. I'll leave ya with a cool drawing of Cleobulus holding Thales' cut sword just to convey the idea of an Agarthan Girlboss end-villain (credit to @card-queen for the art). Please feel free to poke holes in my ideas or offer any suggestions of your own for this silliness.

[lovely-english-rose]

Hi Hunter, I actually bought Fates Conquest recently! I had never actually played it since I hadn't finished Awakening when it came out. It also looks like it released right around the time I got into Dishonored, so it makes sense that I didn't prioritize Fire Emblem. I finished Awakening last year, though, so with the closure of the eShop I figured it was time to get Fates. Anyway, I don't think I'm going to prioritize it for now since I really do need to play Three Hopes before Tears of the Kingdom releases, but! I did quite enjoy playing up to the route split! The soundtrack is nice, I like the introduction of daggers and shurikens, and the characters so far are likeable! Once I'm able to pick it up again I'm looking forward to learning more about the characters. I've only seen, like, a few of Xander's, Odin's, Laslow's, and Mozu's supports, so a lot of 'em are a bit of a mystery to me despite absorbing some knowledge from you, fics, and a few YouTube challenge playthroughs over time.

I am attaching a poor quality picture of my Corrin to this.

Ooooh i hope you have a great time with it when you get around to it!! Conquest can be challenging, but its great and fun to play ^^ and im glad to hear you've enjoyed what you have played so far! There's so much to love about the game! The music is so beautiful, i love listening to it while doing other things. I sorely miss the gag weapons and non gender locked classes </3 . The games really knew when to have fun and when to take itself seriously. And yeah! The whole cast is great imo, lots of likeable and interesting characters. I hope you have a good time getting to know them better when you play again! And your Corrin is very cute!!

Omg and speaking of finishing games before totk release, im hoping to get engage before then and ideally finish, because once totk comes out im dropping all other games lol. Im looking forward to playing it tho! Ive heard good things about it, and that its more in the same vein as fates, so that is very promising to me ;w;

[fonulyn]

if my kind of games is stardew valley and animal crossing and the sims, what are the odds that i will enjoy the zelda games? i have a hard time deciding if it could be a thing i could enjoy or if it's just fomo because everyone is talking about it

i honestly have never played stardew valley or animal crossing at all, not even for a minute, so i'm not entirely sure how they are. i know the general gist but not much else. (I do love the sims i have spent like... a truly embarrassing amount of hours on sims3)

they're not exactly the same "genre", as far as i'm aware. in Zelda you do need to save the kingdom and fight big scary monsters doing so. but at the same time, both botw and totk have an open world and a lot to do that isn't just fighting monsters. i spent like half an hour today in totk just picking apples :'D the shrines are basically puzzles to figure out, and some of the quests are very low pressure fun little things.

BUT at the same time a moblin might jump out from behind a nearby rock and set you on fire at any moment so 😅 and if you wanna actually beat the game it does require a decent amount of fighting monsters and some of them are hard. (ironically the main boss is rarely the hardest one tho lol) you can spend a lot of the time just running away from them and picking mushrooms but at some point they gotta be dealt with.

then again i have set my sim on fire multiple times and panicked so.

i'm sorry this is a very useless answer but i really don't know? personally i like a wide variety of different games so it's kinda easy to jump from one thing to another. but like i said i never played two of the games you mentioned so idk how informed i even am.

does anyone else have good advice for the anon?

[whispersxwhimpers]

of course!! id love to take you, and that's so true actually oml. the moon is always gorgeous !!

i'm glad that it explains that :0 that's actually really adorable? oh my god i love that sm 😭 i used to have a couple fish as a kid, but... as with any kid, they didn't last very long LMAO it didn't help that they were those carnival goldfish either, it was so sad TT i'd kill to get fish again sometime honestly. do you have any pets right now?

ooh a lot of anime i see!! harley quinn being your favorite is fair, i have the fattest crush on her oml 😭 and agreed about her and ivy!! your love for water types is so valid, and vulpix and the eeveelutions are some of my favorites as well ^^

my interests? hm, the only anime i really like is my hero academia and pokemon, i also really like arcane and scooby doo... oh subnautica!! i love subnautica, stardew valley, fortnite, minecraft, umm... gosh i'm way more into games than tv, so i'm racking my brain for tv shows i've seen and loved 😭 oh!! helluva boss! i love helluva boss, i really can't think of anything else that isn't a game... you named more tv shows, so i'm not sure if i should be naming them too?

honey, you had me caught from the moment i saw your eyes, but if you wanna sing for me too i won't complain~

– 🩶

When are we going? 🤪

Awww!! I hope you get a fishy again soon!! I do! I have 2 cats! 🥰 My sub/best friend who lives with me has 3 cats and a dog haha 😂 I love them all so much. I'm very bonded with one of my cats Xiao, she loves to climb on my shoulders and lay there 🥰 I tell her all the time "Pspsps, don't tell the others, but you're my favorite!" 😂😂😂

Harley Quinn is so gorgeous haha, so is Pammy 🥰 Who are some of your favorite Pokémon? 😊

Oooo I love Scooby Doo! Also I've been meaning to watch My Hero, I heard a favorite of mine died recently and I've been torn up about it.

I love Minecraft and Fortnite! I don't game much as I used to, but I'd play those, Genshin Impact, Apex Legends, Fall Guys, Among US, and whatever story based game I'd wanna play at the time. I really love Kingdom Hearts, Life Is Strange, and Tekken. Jackbox games are also super fun if you have the right crowd haha!

I've been meaning to watch Helluva Boss ;-; I need to catch up on so much, I'm an alien hahaha

You could name off anything you like 😊 even if your thing is sniffing crayons, I'd tell you to go off hahaha, lemme know how dandelion smells 😂😂😂

Hehehe I do like to sing, even tho I can't 😂😂😂 especially when I clean

[asoulofatlantis]

Games I currently "own" digitally Part 3

So this is GoG... mostly "old" games that either I or my Dad have been playing when I was a child. My Dad actually had that one "Leisure sweet Larry Game that I actually finished" and I wanted it again so badly that I bought the bundle set even tho I do not like to play any of his other games ^^' (As you can see on Steam I did buy his newer game but it is just... not my game. Playing it - as most of the games here - is really just for nostalgia...)

Do not ask about "Hunnie Pop" I do not know what I was thinking ^^'

My Dad played "Biing" when I was a child and sometimes I played it too because I didn't understand why the woman were having big brests and always naked at all anyway... and I rebought it because I sucked at the game so much back then and I was sure THIS TIME I will get it - spoiler: I did not! XD

BTW in my eyes, Sim City 3000 was the best Sim City.

Anyway: This is my EA-Account:

It looks like I only own Sims 4 the original game but I own A LOT of Addons and Kits and Game-Play-Packs or however all this stuff is called these days. 59 to be exact XD I also owned ALL of them back in the day for Sims 1, 2 and 3.

What you also need to know: This is not the real "Need for Speed most wanted" the original was unmatched and so I never actually played whatever this game is, even tho I bought it ^^'

I also like to mention that I managed to finish "Dead in Bermuda" in one go without anyone dying by pure utter accident XD

Now you get a look at my Steam Wishlist:

I WILL get "Metaphor" soon one way or another because a lot of people like that game and its getting harder to avoid Spoiler at this point and I kind of want to play it blind. I am waiting for the next big sale at the end of November tho and hope it might maybe a little bit on sale by then ^^'

I also would like to get all 3 Kingdom Hearts Games in that Sale but my Budget is small and Square Enix does not like to give huge sales to their big titles no matter how old they are ^^'

"Coral Island" is supposed to get a "Wohoo" - Update so I probably should get it eventually at some point ^^' But I am not in a rush. There can only be so much Farming Games on my list of games still to play or to finish.

I REALLY should play "NEO TWEWY" at some point but I want to play the original here first and its so hard to do. Because the Final Remix Version is only out on Switch and I do have it there and I should play it there because the controls on the Emulator (that is not there anymore anyway...) just suck but how to make and post screenshots now that it can not even access Twitter anymore? It would be such a shore to get the screenshots to my computer or at least phone... but I feel like do to its mechanics hoping for the game ever to come out on PC is pointless.

I was looking forward to "Reynatis" but I've heard it turned out to be really bad... so I guess it can wait.

Fun Fact: I loved "Black and White" and I was hoping they would bring it out on EA-Store or Steam or even GoG but they never did so I was looking forward to Fata Deum but they are very silent there and just postponed the release to next year so I am not sure if it will ever really come out...

Not high on my list. I am not in a rush to play the Ys Games but I think I will one day.

"Romance SaGa 2"? I never played 1 to begin with, but I thought that SOME DAY I might try this one out at least. But once again, I am not in a rush here.

So... that was the list of the games I am currently owning and/or wishing for. If Steam still exists by then, we do that again in 10 years. ALSO let's see how many more Sims4-Addons I have added by then XD

And then we will also check out how many of the games I still needed to play or finish I REALLY did end up playing and finishing ^^'

[ditzydreamsss]

hello everyone

im gonna rate judge slash talk about every game i have on my phone becauseeeeeeeeeeeeee im procrastinating

1: Cookie Run Kingdom i first downloaded it around the time the sonic event was ending. but i took a really long break then came back so my team isnt as strong as it could've been :[

2: Cookierun: Tower of Advantures ngl i played it for an hour when it first came out and i've been afraid of the storage it'll take up ever since. (i havent opened it in a while=needs BIIIIIIIG update)

3: Cookiezrun Puzzle World im on level 312

4: Good Pizza, Great Pizza I forgot this game existed. i played it SO MUCH when i was camping with a lot of people this one time and completely forgot about it after

5: 2048 ngl this game is probably why i almost failed science last year (was playing unblocked version of this on my chromebook & wasnt paying attention)

6: Orbia another game i played a lot during that camping trip with a heck ton of people. stats (for mountains) progress: 9.7% (level 196) fails: 867 play time: 3h 59min dashes in a row: 80

7: Roblox i play creatures of sonaria. thats about it (also adopt me for nostalgia's sake also if you ignore everything ever it's a pretty chill game :D)

8: Titian Uprising the httyd game. its fun ig im stuck right now tho

9: Animal crossing pocket camp why do i have this i havent even opened the app once

10: Dash Tag yes i played animal jam for years before im semi-quitted atm i play this when i have nothing else to play

11: 좀비고 (Zombie Highschool) first school life game i played. i havent tried the magic high school one yet. i stick to School Life cause the 판정 for hits in wonky and i rage quit multiple times

12: Flappy Dragon i forget this exists half of the time. chill game

Now entering: rhythm games category

13: Hatsune Miku: Colorful Stage i hate this game sm i'd give it a 10/10 (theres been touch issues. its probably my phone though)

14: Arcaea interesting gaming experience. i suck at it

15: Phigros PHIGROS IS SO FUN AND I LOVE IT SM ITS SO ENTERTANING AND FUN ALL THE TIME THE NOTES GO WHOOSH AND BOOM AND SWOOP AND

16: Lanota I love it a lot but i havent played much cause i dont have the paid version

17: Paradigm: Reboot bro why are there notes coming from sideways WTF BRO WHY ARE THERE NOTES COMING FROM THE FUCKING CEILING

18: Voez i only played Cereberus in there. it's good game. combination of phigros and rizline kinda

19: Milthm wtf is going on where are did the judgement line (bubbles??) go what what what

20: Deemo i like the story :D its really chill. if you like piano music and also rhythm games then go play this.

21: Rizline i love it sm. i dont have full version :(

22: P.Muse my eyes died (flashing lights warning if you ever play this)

23: RhythmStar i have it just cause i like the remixed classical music into more rhythm game-y hyper music. gameplay is boring asf

24: KALPA havent touched it yet

25: Gadvia also havent touched it yet

26: MUSYNX also also havent touched it yet

gj, you escaped the rhythm gaming area!

27: Pokemon Quest it's chill. frustrating at times. i like pokemon. pokemon is my childhood. i love pokemon. i miss ketchup pack.

28: pokemon go when im outside. me when i touch grass (LIE. I WALK AROUND MY TINY APARTMENT IN CIRCLES)

29: Finch great self-care app! if you ever need a place to rant, that's the place.

30: Voidpet Garden i love the lil critters

31: I Love Hue when i have nothing, absolutely NOTHING to do

32: Tap Tap Fish i needed an afk game.

33: Bricky Boy repetitive, but if you need a quick game then yeah.

34: Zen Koi 2 very chill fish game.

35: Cardcaptor Sakura: Memory Key so. i also grew up on ccs (not as much as pokemon however. nothing can live up to what pokemon was to me.) so i was really hyped and happy when it was announced there would be a ccs game after the fandom being dead for 2ish 3ish years. my opinion? if you don't know cardcaptor sakura, you probably 99% wouldn't play it. but then again, it is early.

36: D....d..... Duolingo p..plea.....please......... dont burn my house down

[relativelynormalgameshow]

Super Mario Odyssey (2017) Review

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I wrote this review in January of 2023. But it's a good starter to put out here!

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Just finished the main game of SMO (I still have the challenges and all the different moons available after you finish the game for the first time.) It’s a game I am absolutely conflicted about. So I have to break my review into sub-points.

1) Story

Honestly the story of SMO is probably my most favourite one from a Mario game. I still love Sunshine to the bottom of my heart, but this story is just so clever and funny.

Basically, princess Peach has been kidnapped again and you have to save her. But this time, you have to save her from a wedding with Bowser. And that’s genius.

Also, I love how the story progresses with Bowser going through different kingdoms in search of the wedding necessities, like getting a cake, getting a soup, a bouquet of flowers etc. Basically you are tailing him through his wedding preparations and it’s honestly so clever and funny that I can’t but love this part.|| Not to mention that at the end *(Spoiler for the absolute finale, but like... it's a game from 2017)* You interrupt the wedding he has with Peach on the moon and you have to beat Bowser, you both fight in those fancy white wedding suits which just makes the fight fancy as hell and it ends with the best possible joke of Peach just friendzoning both of them when they are absolutely annoying with fighting over her.

The whole ending of the game is story-wise an absolute masterpiece and I was laughing on the absurdity and pure comedy of it the whole time.

2) Gameplay

Here my first gripes comes tho. As many stated, Mario Odyssey has absolutely insane level of movement. The amount of tricks Mario can perform is stunning. BUT. Together with that comes quite a steep learning curve to know all of it.

Most of the stuff is really needed just if you want to 100% the game or if you are a speedrunner, but it’s still something that is quite delicate and precise if you want to learn it and I don’t know how to feel about it. While playing the game, you are often restricted from using those fancy tricks as you need to use the captures – new mechanic of SMO, where you throw your companion Cappy onto something, and you can control it – and those captures have their own unique moves. While it can be fun to play as bullet bill to smash through some walls, or to play as a hammer brother who instead of hammers now throws pans to get through blocks of cheese, it can get quite annoying in the later parts as those captures don’t have as precise movement as Mario.

A fine addition to the gameplay are 2D challenges. Often you can find a pixelated green tube in the world, which transports you to a classic Mario 2D world where you have to complete some challenge to get a moon. It’s fun most of the times as those levels are unique and often they are integrated in the world itself. (For example rocks fall from the wall and reveal the level being hidden on a side of the cliff you were parkouring around) It’s also a fun break from the chaotic precision of the 3D world you play in. The level design compliments this with presenting you with challenges to use the whole potential of Cappy. I can’t say something would fall flat here, but honestly thanks to the captures, even the fun sandbox adventure that Mario Odyssey is can be **EXTREMELY** frustrating. And the moments when you enjoy the hell out of it and when you want to rage-quit the game can shift between each other at record speed.

3) Locations

When I bit into the theme of level design, I can get to locations, which is probably where Odyssey shines and falls the most.

Some of the kingdoms are absolutely gorgeous, fun to go through, and they present a fair amount of challenge and chill exploration. While others are the Anor Londo of this game. Bullshit of a level design combined with absolutely awful precision challenges that just makes you want to rip your hair out of your own head.

There are cleverly designed worlds. Each of the kingdom is different, has different enemies, vibe, challenges and all. And basically all of them are a sight to behold. My biggest gripe is tho, that in every kingdom you need to collect a certain amount of moons. And in the WORST KINGDOMS you need the most of them! Why game!? Why do you have to torture us so much!? But the kingdoms that I really hated to the bone were like... three? Other than that they were “okay” at worst. 

Absolute pinnacle of the game is the Metro Kingdom, or as it is called, the DK City.

- I LOVE THAT LOCATION! -

Honestly? Its chaotic and busy as hell as its center of the large city. But damn do the details and usage of different things here help. Question blocks as traffic lights, the jazz music from the street musicians all over, different construction sites, zipping up and down on the skyscrapers. Not to mention that you are introduced to this city when its night, its raining and the city is overrun with enemies. You basically come into fu*kin Gotham city, only to kill the boss and come back into a prosperous colourful Marvel New York. Not to mention the BEST part of the game and probably one of the moments that will get on my “Top moments in videogames” list happens here. Basically you get a quest of finding 4 musicians for the festival. When you do, the festival starts and its absolute masterpiece as you take part in it and it whole takes a place in a 2D level inspired by the OG Donkey Kong arcade. It even ends with the last screen looking like the old level with the pink frames and barells. I love the hell out of it. Not to mention that through all of this you hear the absolute banger of soundtrack that is “Jump Up Superstar” Chills. Literal chills.

4) Bosses

Honestly I really enjoyed like... 2? Maybe 3 of the many bosses in Odyssey. The game pulls a heavy DMC4 on you with repeating bosses. (You fight the Broodals like 2-3 times each and even if they can be fun for the first time each, it gets very quickly annoying and repetitive.)

Pinnacle of boss battles here are probably the ruined dragon, who was fun and I honestly didn’t expect Mario to go fight a fu*kin Darkeater Midir. Shame the rest of Ruined Kingdom is basically just the boss arena and the bridge leading to it. This is the biggest wasted potential of SMO.

The boss of Metro kingdom is also quite good as the way to get to him is extremely fun and the bossfight itself is creative and enjoyable.

But Bowser battles? There are two of them. Both of them same. Both of them quite difficult as he has all kind of random bullshit, that he throws at you. But damn they were fun.

Absolutely frustrating. I wanted to throw the switch away. But I enjoyed the hell out of them.

Also Bowser without the hat, when he has his hair slicked aside?

I simp for that bitch.

He looks absolutely hot in the white suit with his hair like this. More on that later.

5) Audio

I must say that audio of this game is pretty solid.

Both the sound effects and soundtrack are great. I already mention the absolute banger that is Jump up superstar, but every level has this soundtrack that make you vibe to its kingdom and to just get you going. There are a lot of familiar sound effects, the most noteable being when you finish the game, get into the Mushroom Kingdom and you can go through the different challenges to which you have to get in the old-school Mario 64 fashion. Through a painting. It has the visual and sound design of exactly how it is in M64.

So for those who played it it’s a fine ride on the nostalgia wave.

6) Lewd and Waifu potential?

Basically anything here can be lewded. From Yoshi to Goombas. But mind you, most of them are !!!QUESTIONABLE!!! 

You could probably lewd the Broodal girl with fu*kin bombs in her hair, if you are into some bunny furry stuff.  And you could find some acceptable fanarts on the good ol’ R34 as well...

In terms of Waifu aspect... she seems a bit psycho, BUT she’s loyal.

Of course then there is Peach if she gets you going, for my tastes she is a bit too plain and I generally do not like her in any Mario game. (This bit heavily changed in Mario Bros Movie from 2023 tho) In terms of Waifu potential, idk man, if you have a princess, who probably has unlimited resources that she could use for some guards, but she is constantly being “kidnapped” by this big bad boy... she probably does that because it gets her wet.

Great if you are into cuckold since this bi*ch already has her bull that is okay with cucking anyone who would get near Peach. Be it Toad or Mario.

You then got Pauline. The OG Waifu you could say as she is the woman you are saving from Donkey Kong in the old arcade game. Her huge plus are the dress you can see her in this game and the fancy suit she wears as a mayor. Both hot as f*ck.

Waifu aspect? She is a mature woman, which is always a plus. She is a mayor so she has a stable job. She knows how to direct stuff in her life. She is skilled, ambitious and probably a strong leader as people of the DK city love her. She also isn’t just strict, so she knows what fun is and she can sing, which can be a plus to some.

(But no one from Mario franchise can beat Rosaline from Galaxy, so shame)

And of course its the cherry on top.

The criminal mastermind, King Koopa himself, Bowser.

He is just a spiky turtle in other games. But here, dressed in the fancy white suit, he is a proper mafia capo. I love how he is portrayed here. And as I mentioned before. I AM DROOLING over him with his “hair” combed aside. He doesn’t just look like a snack.

He is a full course meal.

The dominant energy that shines from him is immesureable. Christian Grey should learn a thing or two from him. 

7) Summary?

I am still conflicted how I feel about this game.

I would probably give that 7/10

It wasn’t a complete disaster, but there is a lot of frustration for me personally behind this game. There are things thanks to which I can overlook it, as is the fun story, the amazing level design and the soundtrack

I will for sure go back to the game. There is a lot I didn’t yet explored. Maybe I will even give the game a new playthrough in the future, but it couldn’t beat the nostalgia factor of Mario Sunshine so that game still stands tall above Mario Odyssey.

But would I recommend the game?

- Yes.

If you can take the frustration, that game is a solid experience that plays well in handheld and in docked mode. I mostly played it in handheld and I think it’s the perfect title for such play. 

[omitheworld]

week 1 of july

monday

IT'S SO HOT OH MY GOD, i'm from the ph so it's supposed to be rainy here,,,, AND IN THE MIDDLE OF JULY ????? THIS IS SO HATEFUL. i need to clean my room tho...

played valo and i still have a love/hate relationship wid this game

tuesday

whelp i guess i'm joining a vb league at the end of july then ....

played valo again and i might main neon fr

wednesday

started watching "the summer i turned pretty" and honestly, I'M SEATED. GIRLLLLL i can't even pick who the right man for u either ;-; (i still vote for cam tho THAT'S MY GREEN FLAG MAN !!)

finished it. LOVED IT, BELLY GIRL SET YOUR PRIORITIES STRAIGHT DAMN

thursday

IT'S SO HOT OH MY GOD I CAN'T EVEN

i srsly need a fucking pc !!!!!!!!! I CAN'T PLAY WITH 30 FPS ANYMORE ON VALO

friday

fixed my settings and now i can play with 60fps heheheheh !!!!

SPEAK NOW TV IS OUTTTTTTTTTT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THIS IS MY FAV ALBUM OF TAYLOR BTW

watched the midnight screening of insidious, i'd give it a 7/10 tbh the story is good ngl it's well written for the ending of the insidious universe or wtv u call it

saturday

went to enchanted kingdom with my friends !!!!!!!!!! love them so much <33

this day is full of fun and joy, i literally died as i got home, it was fulfilling nonetheless

[arlecchno]

laughs in currently on summer break ,,,,,,

speaking of that tho , ive been busying myself by playing video games so much LMAO me and my silly visual novel names ( because im too lazy to play anything that needs me to put actual effort into it hahahhahahaha - )

SO THE STORY RIGHT - its a think me and my friend have been workin on since like the end of 2021 n its like set in a royal fantasy like au , fantasy monsters are something that havent been brought up in the discussion but we have cool magic stuff LOL . the most stuff thats defined is the very basic plot idea , the MCs r named Ashe Najimek ( prince , any pronouns ) , Rin Vasilios ( princess , she/her ) , and Kiole Soubaki ( king , he/him ) . dont question ANY of these last names because najimeks is just a keyboard smash and the rest were chosen by my friend they have no significant whatsoever LOL . aaaanyways , rin and ashe are basically from this mainland where all the kingdoms are secretly feuding with eachother but in order to maintain peace for the citizens they wont start an actual war . basically its every kingdom for themselves except for their silly trading systems . ashe and rins kingdoms are like at eachothers throats now since ashe and rin were born with the most magical power their lands have ever seen and its that trope where “child gets born into power and parents use them for own benefit causing child to rebel” yada yada but WUH OH WHATS THAT IS THAT 🫢🫢😨😱 GASP ANGST ?!?????!???? yeah lets go were tormenting our characters today baby ‼️‼️ the full book will go into the struggles of rin and ashe and how they end up as a result of how they take their circumstances . and how they become friends bc of those circumstances . lovely friendship . oh and theres two others that are their guards . Sio and Erza Eztli . theyre twins n stuff . THEY WILL GET DEVELOPMENT TOO WE JUST SHANT SPEAK OF IT NOW . im planning to make them long lost siblings tho lmao ! omg ive gone on such a long rant and i still havent talked about kiole . anyways so kiole is the token mentor character which i will not go into detail because SPOILERS MAYBE . he rules the edgy edgy kingdom of DEATH AND DARKNESS and all the other kingdoms have kinda outcasted his so nobody knows the fucker outside of whispers from the shadowed souls themselves MUAHAHAHAH - ahem anyways .

HERE ARE OUR MCSSS i love them awaaaaaaa

GOSH THO GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR SCHOOL STUFF THAT SOUNDS LIKE SO MUCH BYE 😭😭😭

i also JUST read chapter 5 recently and like …

( for context my friends name / nickname is roof )

ANYWAYS THATS IT FOR NOW CYA LATTEEEERRR !!!!

RAHHHHH HELLO TO YOUUUU!!!! hope you're enjoying your summer break 🫂

AND YOUR STORY TOO!!!!!!! that sounds so interesting already and ROYAL FANTASY AU⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️ SIGN ME TF UP BRO I LIVEEE FOR FANTASY AUS bro you got me hooked with the storyline and characters already and it's still in the works 🤞🤞 their last names are soooo creative too like even if they're a keyboard smash or whatever,,,, still so intriguing like yes sign me up AGAIN!!!! wish my keyboard makes up random and cool last names lmao

THE MCS...... please let me touch their hair i swear they've GOT to have the most silkiest hair in their kingdoms like excuse me let me bow down to them and ask them for tips and tricks 😞🙏

thank you hehe school is.... yeah whatever school's been the same for me but i thrive to live up to the day asphodelus finally ends LOL i need to get that series done before i'm even more burnt out

LMAO YOUR FRIEND'S NICKNAME BEING ROOF IS GOLD 😭 fun fact i was literally like brain dead trying to figure out some bad humour to insert in those lines but somehow ended up with that... (may or may not be a bit of a self insert because i totally don't stare at my own ceiling and wished i was the ceiling instead hahaha definitely haven't.... ever.....)

HOPE YOU'RE DOING WELL THESE DAYS AND I'LL CYA LATER TOOOO💌💌

[thegeminisage]

ok so. just thinking outloud here. my Dream for many years now has been to stream Every Single Zelda Game* but i have run into the following logistical issues:

torn on whether or not i should simply start at a link to the past. love and light and ALL due respect, the original legend of zelda (1986 hallowed be her name) and zelda ii adventures of link (derogatory) are maybe not my favorite games. i have played and beaten the original loz once already and while it was fine (she's aged! it's fine!) i feel no real need to go back and do it again. adventures of link is my mortal enemy which i have attempted and given up on many times. i do not think it would be fun to watch me play either of those games. unfortunately if i skip them then i can't say i have streamed every zelda, and also we miss two cool bits of lore (it's dangerous to go alone + dark link).

torn on whether or not i should do them in chronological order. originally, i wanted to, but i know everyone on gods green earth wants to see ocarina of time the most, as is right and just, and obviously i wanna stream that one the most, tho i technically never needed the capture card to do so. so maybe i should start with that one and just do them in whatever order?? added complication to streaming order is:

torn on whether or not i should stream tears of the kingdom aka botw2 my beloved. obviously it will come out WAY before i can finish Every zelda game. have not decided if i wanna stream my first playthrough of that or not...i feel like, much like the deltarune ch2 stream, everyone else will be too busy playing their own copy to watch me do mine. i mostly streamed it so i would have a recording because i like being able to remember my first playthrough of things. while this was feasible for an 8-hour deltarune chapter i have more doubts about streaming the ENTIRE 60+ hour experience (100+ HOURS?!) of totk. if i DO stream it, that will definitely be doing the games out of order. if i DON'T stream it, and i want to stream Every zelda game, i will have to go back and replay it specifically for a stream. i don't want to have to erase my file to do that...also, i noticed that with breath of the wild, after i had already seen everything, it wasn't quite as fun? some of the magic was gone? and i have a feeling totk will be similar. and it's not as much fun to watch someone stream something they've already played before. so ?!?!?! i don't know what i want to doooo

anyway, these are my problems. i only know of like 3-4 people who may enjoy watching me stream zelda so if any of you or anyone else who wants to see it weighs in i would be thrilled, but no pressure because i also have to sit with it and angst over it for awhile probably

*for reference, Every Zelda in (mostly) chronological order is:

the legend of zelda, zelda ii adventure of link, a link to the past, link's awakening (all of these on switch, i wanna do the updated remakes where i can), ocarina of time, majora's mask (emulated 3DS versions), oracle of ages, oracle of seasons (also emulated), four swords (assuming i can get my hands on the single-player anniversary edition, which would HAVE to be emulated), wind waker (hd version on wii u), four swords adventures (likely emulated; i don't think my capture card can do gcn), minish cap (emulated), twilight princess (wii u hd), link's crossbow training (wii), phantom hourglass, spirit tracks (both emulated), skyward sword (hd switch), a link between worlds, tri force heroes (both emulated), hyrule warriors (switch definitive version), cadence of hyrule, breath of the wild, hyrule warriors age of calamity, and tears of the kingdom (all natively on switch). that's mooostly in order (i jiggled around a few so i could play games in a series/on the same console one after the other) and skipping only the cdi games (you couldn't pay me) and the tingle games (ditto, also they're japanese only and i can't read japanese). that's a grand total of TWENTY-FOUR GAMES. some verrry rough math gives me about 700-725 hours of play and that's probably going to shoot past 800 once we add totk to the list. if i streamed four hours a week (and actually it would probably be more sometimes less sometimes) it would take me almost three years to get finished LOL

YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[flamboyant-king]

they just announced that they're officially supporting NFT's, so uh. about them ocs of yours 👀

YEAH I SAW AND THAT REALLY EFFED UP MY DAY

I made an “announcement” on twitter about how imma be drawing my OCs more. So youll be seeing em here too. (Also cloveling is their own entity now. Buy my original little guy plushies for $69.99)

Time to join a new fandom known as “King’s OCs” can I get a HOOOOOYEEAA

[sifuhotthem]

Okay! Light hearted headcanons about what happened after The Rise Of Kyoshi:

- [ ] Kyoshi swears to Kirima and Wong that they would never be so little in touch again, as between two the books. They also move their general quarter to Jianzhu’s maison so most of the time the Company lives together.

- [ ] Some weeks after Yun’s death, when almost everyone of Kyoshi’s team avatar is in her mansion recovering, she decided to invite Nyahitha too. She had the chance to tell Hei Ran the truth about Kuruk’s hidden life and to whiteness how deeply scarred Kuruk friends still were: and the poor sage had it the worst, living in the wreckage of the world, alone. It’s also Kuruk that asked her to take care of him: I hc that they loved each other, but never got actually together; their bond was something odder than the norm, as their task was: love was wide and infinite for Kuruk, who loved Hei Ran, Nyathitha, few women and men around the world and most of all Ummi. But Nyathitha, he was the one he shared everything with, the one he didn’t need to hide from. And our fruity Nyahitha never stopped loving Kuruk. So he also ends up living with Kyoshi and her team, becoming Kyoshi’s spiritual guide and parental figure: she learns to rely more and more on him and he finally found a new purpose. They basically have that uncle niece relationship as you see often in movies: the serious, sarcastic and tired of the world man and the kid with anger issue (Logan, basically). And from time to time Kuruk takes over and the two of them would play pai sho: the first time Nyahitha saw Kuruk again he started crying like a baby. Giving his edonistic and fraudly habits he gets along very well with Atuat and also with Kirima and Wong, but he never takes the oaths because he is still “a respectable sage”: still he plans with them one of two things. Hei Ran, once she is told the truth, sincerely apologizes to Nyathitha, but the two never totally grow into each other. Jinpa, on the other hand, becomes very fond of him, of his knowledge of the spirits world and his capacity to go out of the norm: eventually he introduces him to the White Lotus elders. There he fell in love again, in his 60, with a kind and smart earth kingdom man. They spend their life together and Nyathitha died he was as happy as he never hoped he could be again. Thanks to Kuruk, thanks to Kyoshi.

- [ ] Kyoshi develops a great relationship with Kuruk and takes really seriously his advices. Kyoshi also makes sure his legacy is well preserved, his honor restored; and Kuruk finally feels like his fight was worth it.

- [ ] Once they’re old and far from their daofei adventures, Kirima and Wong decides to get married. They loved each for a very long time as friends and sworn allies and fooled around for so many years: eventually, they think it would be fun to make their friends throw a party for two old bandits and they’re all rich, so why deprive themselves of all of those potential gifts?

- [ ] Atuat teaches Kirima healing, but she refuses to learn fighting: she doesn’t need it, she is better than those misogynist even accepting their game; whatever they do, she’s always one step further.

- [ ] Kyoshi’s team avatar is what they would call “the disgrace of Earth Kingdom ball rooms”: 3 queer couples (Rangi and Kyoshi, Hei Ran and Atuat, Nyathitha and his Earth Kingdom husband), three kitch daofeis, a wild monk, Auntie Mui (they often take her, just to piss of courts) and a spirit fox. Governator Te, tho, is always delightful to see them (once he is assured they won’t hurt him: the first time he recognized Lao Ge he passed out).

- [ ] Kyoshi lets the Flying Opera Company organise whatever operation they want, but being companions of the avatar naturally affected their behaviour. They go from criminals, to vigilantes (but still scam Ba Sing Se nobles every time they have the possibility).

[rei-does-stuff]

More oc lore dump!

Zeno Synclair!

Zeno is a sadistic man who is the main man in charge of interrogating criminals or anyone really who poses a threat to the sky kingdom,

He’s the man who brings Basil into custody (Basically the Azalea squad go to the sky kingdom, and Basil realizing that Abbigale is there and that this could be her chance to talk to her and her desire to get away from Charlotte as she becomes increasingly more unstable she lets herself be captured by the military and be arrested, which leads to Charlotte trying to get her back which causes a lot of conflict) Zeno put her into solitary confinement, limiting her access to food and water all so he could get any sliver of information on Azalea and his whole plan. He wanted to do worse but Nix was able to convince the rest of military to make him tone things down. Nix had always been the one who oppressed his cruel methods, but once she left he basically did whatever he wanted, to great success as he always got a confession. His cruelty becomes the source of conflict, especially with Nix and Abbigale trying to get him to yk STOP basically torturing Basil

Some quotes!

“Listen Nix, y’know why I’m here? I’m here to get that little girl to confess to whatever crime she committed. By whatever means necessary because that’s my job. I’m here because my methods work! She’s lucky because I wanted to do much worse but because of you we have to do things the slow way.”

“Oh my GOD, she’s annoying. ‘Waa! Waa! I didn’t do anything! Here’s my life story so you’ll feel bad about me and let me go!!’ No one CARES! God I’m gonna pop a blood vessel if I have hear this crap any longer! Someone duct tape her mouth or something, she’s driving me crazy.”

“You wanna go home? Well that can be arranged, you can go home, live your life as it was before! All you gotta do is tell us all about you and your little friends! C’mon everyone loves a rat, you don’t wanna be stuck in here any longer right?”

“Listen darlin’ a little birdie told me that a little blue teifling was looking for you. And you seem to care about her a lot, *don’t you?* so I’m gonna strike you a deal, you tell us everything you know, or I find her and make you tell me. ‘*you wouldn’t do that’* Wanna bet? I’ll have her begging and screaming for help if needed, I’ll give a slow painful death, in front of you even. We only wanna help dear, don’t make me take things to the extreme.”

He become central antagonist, alongside Violet (as she has a sorta of personal relationship with him I’m still working on it tho) I also imagine he tries to stop Null’s whole “I’m gonna bring god back into the sky kingdom” thing, as well

I actually have like a scene in mind for that, so basically he finds out that Null cares for Rana and uses that to his advantage, he threatens to kill her,

“Let’s play a game! Russian roulette seems fun! There’s 6 bullets in the chamber! 5 of them are tranq bullets, one is lethal, if you don’t abide by my demands well…I’m sure you’ll know what’ll happen.” Now in reality the gun is only filled with tranqs since a big part of his character is that he doesn’t kill people. He will hurt and torture others to his hearts content but he will never kill anyone. But Null doesn’t know that. Null refuses to give in, which causes Rana to get tranq’d

“One bullet down, 20% chance this one will kill her. You have 5 seconds before I shoot again.” And this time Null agrees, or something like that I’m still working it out

He did work with Null when they were Teivel, and he worked with Rana b4 hand too, but HE HAS NO QUAMS doing whatever he can for his job, anything shy of murder is a-okay in his books

Basically it’s like

Zeno: Murder is bad and wrong and only evil people do it

Nix: YOU LITERALLY TORTURE PEOPLE FOR A LIVING

Zeno: Yeah but I don’t kill them???? So its okay???

Nix: NO—

[leggomylino]

Roses Are Red | Bang Chan

Genre: fluff, a little (ridiculous) drama, and a whole lot of crack

Pairing: Bang Chan x princess!reader

Au: royal / fantasy au

Word Count: ~11.2k

Warning(s): some censored language…?, author rambling on and on, some underdeveloped plot what can I say this is mostly for laughs and giggles

Summary: Royal Gardener Christopher Bang only ever wanted to make music all his life, but being orphaned due to a senseless war against the Fire Nation left him at the hands of the kingdom to decide his fate. When tending to some of the many royal roses one day, he happened upon the kingdom’s princess, Y/n, and love at first sight was quite the understatement. However, what they are both unaware of is that she may already be betrothed to another…

A/n: Requested by @hanniiesuckle17​ | Masterlist linked down below and in bio!!!

Tag List: @hanniiesuckle17​ / @distrikt9​ / @hanstagrams​ / @hyunsunq​ / @smolboiseavey​ / @jisungsjheekies​ / @iluvlix​ / @straycozy​ / @stay-nctzen​ (Let me know if you’d like to be added! Comment, ask, or DM me! <3)

ღ Stray Kids M.List | M.List ღ

~ꕥꕥꕥ~

Howdy y’all

It’s been a while since I’ve written anything in this format…

I know many of you are still waiting for me to finish light switch and let me tell you it IS still...under construction ._.”

I can’t stay loyal to one story at a time and life gets hectic ya dig?

...But I promise that EVENTUALLY MAYBE SOMETIME SOON I’ll get around to carving the second half of it

N E way let’s get this ball rolling! ->

So once upon a time in a far away land…

...Did you just roll your eyes or yawn? >:(( Don’t do that this is totally exciting

Okay so once upon a time in a far away land

There was a princess named Y/n <3 yes, that would be you, sis

She was the cream of the crop, the bees knees, the peanut butter to everyone’s jelly

...Well maybe like 90% of the jelly

There’s always gonna be haters or skeptics nothing we can do about that ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Anyway you were basically loved by almost everyone in the kingdom, for your kindness, hospitality, forthcomingness, honesty, bravery, generosity, and sophistication

Also, you were quite beautiful <3 like now teehee

But there was only one problem

Besides the fact that 10% of the jelly jar had peanut butter lodged in their brain

And that was that your father, the king, refused to let you go outside. Like ever. The only time you saw the sun and felt the wind through your hair was from your highest-Rapunzel-tower window, during required festival appearances or during emergency evacuations because THE FIRE NATION WAS ATTACKING!!!! 🔥 (╯°□°)╯🔥🔥🔥

This, however, rarely happened...er, maybe just once, but it was a false alarm because your half-brother Felix had stayed up too late playing video games (YES there is technology in this medieval au sorry not sorry) and he was just...seeing things

He’d been really stressed because his mother, your actually kind and not at all wicked stepmother, had been lowkey pressuring him to find a lovely princess consort or young fletching maiden

He didn’t necessarily have a problem with that, except for the fact that the whole thing was a huge problem that was stressing him out...marriage??? What was that again??? He kinda just wanted to run around the forest practicing archery with his friends, Dark Knight Changbin and Court Jester Jisung (read: pizza and video games)

BUT THIS WASN’T ABOUT HIM, THIS STORY IS ABOUT YOU (ง'̀-'́)ง

...Which is what I was getting at

You see

Felix was a great brother regardless of his mistake of screaming about a false Fire Nation attack and throwing you out of bed at 4 am

Besides being fun and great support/company, he also had this...friend...

A boy named Christopher Bang (♥‿♥)

He often went by Bang Chan tho, and he was ALSO your kingdom’s royal gardener

You know this because you often enjoyed watching him tend to the roses outside your tower, and occasionally would hide in the closet when you were SUPPOSED to be at violin lessons but instead dressed Felix up as your stunt double to spy while Chan watered and changed out the soil of the daffodils in your room

Daffodils were your favorite flower next to tulips and cherry blossoms and sunflowers

And 

Almost every other flower in existence that Chan had anything to do with (♥‿♥)

...What could you say, you were hopelessly in love

But he didn’t know that

And the odd thing was

He felt the very same way about you

~ꕥꕥꕥ~

Can we finally get to some real-time story now?

Okay well

Channie’s pov now here y’all

Bang Chan had been the castle gardener for what felt like eons

His parents had disappeared to fight in the war with the Fire Nation and never came back…

:(((

So from a young age, before he was old enough to count, his mom and dad entrusted him to kingdom’s orphanage with care

The local nuns raised him well, and blessed him many times over

He grew up with two best friends there -> a shy boy named Han Jisung and a more confident one named Seo Changbin

The three of them were transferred to work under the kingdom after the local coming-of-age ceremony given to all children when they turn 15

And I totally didn’t steal half of that from an anime or anything...well, just a bit; 25%

So the three of them were whisked off to be given roles of their own to fulfill in order to contribute to society

Changbin was given the title of Dark Knight for his bravery and supreme combat skills

Jisung was awarded the title of Court Jester due to the fact he always made everyone laugh, despite his naturally shy and more introverted demeanor

And Bang Chan, as he preferred to be called, was granted the title of gardener...because...well, they actually denied his musician application, believe it or not

Now, before you get mad

I KNOW, RIGHT?!?!

ARE THESE GUYS FOOLS OR SOMETHING???

WHO WOULD DENY SUCH A TALENTED--

...Well, they were ignorant buffoons, unfortunately (｡•́︿•̀｡)

So he was forever stuck as a royal gardener because, he worked hard, the court knew it, and their predecessor gardener at the time was kidnapped by the Fire Nation

No one knows why and it’s not important (sorry random garden dude)

He’s okay though...we think

Anyway

So Bang Chan fit the role

And now at 23, to this day he still fit the role

It was the same mundane routine every day

W a t e r  t h e  p l a n t s

C u t  t h e  v e g e t a b l e s

S n i p  t h e  t h o r n s

T r i m  t h e  v i n e s 

C h a n g e  t h e  s o i l

U G H ! ! !

It got to be downright tedious and vexing repeating the same routine like a Zombie by Day6

Which is the song he often hummed with a lull in his eyes as he w a t e r e d and c u t and s n i p p e d and t r i m m e d

And c h a n g e d eua;bhuisahfvirs WAIT A SECOND

(Oh, we’re backing up to age 16 for a sec)

He’s outside the tallest tower s n i p p i n g the thorns on another rose bush when

He looks up to see what time of day it is and stretch his aching back

And he sees

Up in the window

A g i r l ? ? ?

……

Who is she

She’s GORGEOUS

WOW

HE HAS TO SQUINT BUT HE’S STILL GOT 20/20 VISION AND HE KNOWS A CUTE GIRL WHEN HE SEES ONE

HE’S GOT TEENAGE BOY RADAR

Wowza

She’s h o t 🥵🥵

Like the sun beating down on his face right now

Hot hot

Bruuuuuuuuuuuh--

OUCH! The thorns…

He can’t be getting lost in the waking daydream glancing out her window above him, he’s got a job to do

Flashforward to a few days later, when he makes an excuse to go back to Tower C and tend to the roses that don’t need tending to

She’s not there :((

Darn

He looks left and right before burying himself into the bushes so he can wait and see if she shows up

But this poor boy is so overworked that he falls asleep

Poor guy needed a nap anyway 😔😔

He’s having a peaceful dreamless sleep when a song enters his mind

It’s actually a song he wrote, when he applied to be a castle musician

He wakes to hearing the song above him

The sweet, sweet melody just wafting daintily through the air

It’s coming from somewhere above him

...But he’s snagged in the thorn bush and can’t get out 🗿💧

O o p s 

Rip

Maybe the bushes did need some work after all--

By the time he rips himself out and basically lost half of his shirt in the process, the song is almost over, coming to a soft decrescendo into a gentle pianissimo

That’s fancy music talk for slowly growing softer and more quiet and ending with a soft, maybe slightly breathy tone

Thankfully it’s cloudy that day so he doesn’t have to squint this time

And BOY IS HE GLAD ABOUT THAT BECAUSE GOOD GRAVY

IT’S HER AGAIN

THE LOVELY MAIDEN HE SAW TWO DAYS AGO

WHO IS SHE?!?!

“Oh, that’s Princess Y/n.”

JISUNG?!?! WHERE DID YOU COME FROM

Boy deadass just pops out of a rose bush like a weasel 🗿💧 what the what

His court jester hat has a few loose thorns in it, and it’s fallen askew to cover half of his face

“...That’s Princess Y/n?” Chan askes, totally in awe

You have such a lovely voice

And he’s bewildered as to how you know his song, seeing as it was a confidential piece he only played for a private group of royals once when auditioning

Jisung just nods, fixing his hat only to have a few of the bells bounce around and whop him in the face

One jingled all the way right into his eye…

But he carries on unaffected; must be used to it <_<

“Yeah, her dad is a total overbearing crazy-protective psycho. ...Well, maybe not psycho, but...he’s crazy protective of his daughter. He’s scared if she takes one step outside, some Fire Nation goon is gonna come popping out of a bush like Team Rocket in almost every old school pokemon episode and kidnap her like Pikachu.”

“...I thought Pikachu always got away.”

“...Oh yeah. 🤔 Bad example then.”

“You are a bad example.”

“Oh yeah?! Well you’re...a good example!”

“...Jisung that was a compliment. And thank you.”

“.........”

...Moving on

“What can you tell me about her?”

“OOOOOOO...Why? You got a crush on her, bro?”

“...I’m just...curious why the king would wanna keep her locked away in a tower like a Christian Anderson tale.”

Jisung sighs and places his hands on his hips like a lecturing mother. “Are you serious? I just told you, His Majesty is crazy overprotective of his only daughter...also, wouldn’t you wanna keep a beauty like that locked away if she were your daughter???”

Chan gives him a disgusted look. “No? Because I’m not an insecure psychopath?? Everyone deserves to be happy and free…” He glances up to the tower. “That can’t be healthy being held prisoner in a giant dungeon like that.”

“True, true...I’d still keep her locked away, though.”

“Jisung!!! Seriously?!”

“WHAT?” (ง'̀-'́)ง “I KNOW HOW TEENAGE BOYS ARE!!! THEY’RE GONNA CATCH THESE HANDS BEFORE I LET ONE OF THEIR GRUBBY LITTLE--”

Chan clamps his hand over his friend’s mouth. “I’m gonna stop you right there. Goodbye, Jisung.”

He looks at you one last time, marveling at your beauty with a hint of pity in his eyes before walking away

~ꕥꕥꕥ~

You hadn’t noticed that day, seven years ago, being too lost in a daydream over whether you wanted tea or a nice iced latte with your lunch...despite how loud they were being

It was one of the few enjoyments of your day

One the few things you got to look forward to: choosing what to have for a meal

Choosing what to wear that was within your parent’s standards

Choosing whether you wanted to wile away the hours reading a book or watching Royal TV or scribbling some poorly drawn comics of what your life COULD be like were you NOT a princess with an overbearing father…

S i g h

You’re hanging upside down on your giant canopy bed in a very unladylike fashion when Felix enters the room. You must have not heard him knock, and he’s like

😳😳💧

To which you “oop-” and quickly throw yourself over in an upright position

“...Sorry you had to see that.”

“It’s fine.” He laughs a bit and closes the door behind him. “So, whatcha up to?”

“......”

Did he have to ask you that? The question sort of burned. What were you supposed to do??? “Just...chillin.”

“Like a villain?”

“In the...millen.”

He laughed at your attempt to carry out the rhyme. “What’s a millen?”

You shrugged. He sat down at the dining table you normally ate at, crossing his feet over the table. “Well, I’ll do you one better. I came to ask if you’d like to accompany me to--”

“WHERE?!?!?!”

\(ಠAಠ)/

You’re right there in his face, shaking his shoulders before he can get another word out.

Felix, wanting to take you OUT OF THE PALACE?!??!?!?!?

THAT WAS HUGE

THIS WAS HUGE

OMGRAVY WHAT WOULD YOU WEAR?!

YOU DIDN’T EVEN CARE WHERE YOU WERE GOING, JUST THE FACT THAT YOU WERE GETTING OUT OF THE HOUSE WAS ENOUGH

...You should still probably let him finish, though

Felix (@-@) <- was dizzy for a moment, but once he got his head back on straight, he explained that he’d ask your father if the two of you could go shopping together-- just for a few hours

Felix was the sweetest brother ;-; the sweetest BOY ಥ_ಥ

You were going to have so much fun browsing the shops that you’d only ever read about in novels and seen on TV

The two of you would get popcorn and ice cream and feed the pigeons and do rain dances around the park fountain

And you’d come back with so many souvenirs and nostalgic timepieces from your little journey (╥﹏╥)

It was going to be the BEST. DAY. EVER!

*insert that Spongebob episode here*

……

Or not

Because

Shortly after the two of you skipped hand-in-hand like Hansel and Gretel down to the Royal Throne room

Your father gave the two of you a big fat N O

Jerk…

His booming voice declared, “NO BEAUTIFUL DAUGHTER OF MINE WILL BE SEEN BILLOWING ABOUT THE CITY STREETS!!! That’s like asking to be kidnapped and used as a means of war!!!”

UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUASDFGHJKL;;SVBU;IABV;SIFABVIFARHVS

HE DIDN’T UNDERSTAND ANYTHING BUT WAR AND TAXES!!! IT WAS SO ANNOYING!!!

So, the two of you are forced back to your room alone…

And Felix comforts you and apologizes a thousand times over, words that should coming out of your father’s mouth instead

~ꕥꕥꕥ~

~LATER THAT DAY~

Well, it’s more like evening now

The sun is setting comfortably over the horizon

And Felix has just returned from his shopping trip without you 😔😔

Now before you get angry and call him a traitor, he actually had a fit and refused to go

He even came close to knocking over a table

But that wouldn’t be very gentlemanly and his mother was present

It was his mother that insisted he had to go in order to make a required public appearance for the kingdom and “hopefully find a lady that spotted his fancy” or whatever

Yeah, Felix rolled his eyes too

But he had no choice ://

If it makes you feel any better, he didn’t enjoy himself at all

He spent the whole time thinking about you and looking wistfully at the palace in the distance, to the tower you were most likely glaring wistfully back from

He was now tromping tired princely feet up the winding steps to at least give you a nice gift he’d brought back for you, and some flowers he’d gotten from a recently opened flower shop called Christopher’s Garden

A very nice not-yet-elderly couple ran the shop in honor of their lost son, who they hadn’t heard from since they returned from war

The story was quite sad and bittersweet

……

Shhh we’ll get there later it’s called foreshadowing（∩‿∩）

He’s about three-quarters of the way there when he’s suddenly ambushed by-- you guessed it-- Team Rocket!1!1

Jk it’s Jisung and Changbin

They’re the new Jessie and James of this story except they’re actually good

“Felix!!!”

“SH*T!!!”

Oop

They nearly gave him a heart attack!!! >A<

He almost beats them with the flowers, too, until he remembers last minute they’re for you

“WHAT DO YOU WANT NEVER DO THAT AGAIN”

“I CAN’T MAKE ANY PROMISES BUT WE NEED TO TALK TO YOU ABOUT SOMETHING”

“WHAT IS IT”

Changbin sighs in his heavy, overzealous knightly gear. “Maybe the two of you can keep it down before you wake the princess?”

Felix shrugs. “Eh, Y/n is always up at this hour. She’s actually a night owl, but don’t tell the king that. Or her teachers.”

Bin smirks. “Noted--”

<_<

Felix has to smack him, which is a hard two second decision but you’re his sister and family comes first 😔😔 But he makes it up by giving Bin a flower, which he awkwardly accepts

“So what was it you wanted to tell me?”

Jisung nods his jingle bell hat all over the place like a bobblehead. “Yeah, okay, so-- check this out!”

He jumps a few steps ahead so he can have room to put on a one-man show. Changbin groans and crosses his arms, while Felix eyes him curiously

“I have this friend, right? Well, we do, actually! Me and Changbin!”

The Dark Knight tilts his head. “You mean Chan?”

“YEA-- I mean, yeah!” He starts bouncing around, mining walking around the garden surrounding the palace walls. “So...I never told you this, but a few years ago...more like seven, I was going for a walk when I spotted him outside the princess’ tower! And I stopped and went ten-thousand stealth mode!”

He mimes diving into the bushes. Changbin rolls his eyes.

“He’d totally fallen asleep in the rose bushes, so I--”

“Could you maybe not talk like you’re twelve?”

“......”

Before the two can start quarreling like a couple of twelve year olds, Felix takes on a responsible air, stepping between them

“Hang on...your friend? Was loitering outside my sister’s room?”

Jisung pops his head over Changbin, which really isn’t that hard. “Yeah, he’s the royal gardener! But like, I don’t think the roses needed tending to that day...and after I revealed myself, he was asking a LOT-- well a few...questions about her. Hint hint, my boy’s in love.”

“Love?”

“Love, bro. Like the real sappy stuff.”

“...Love.”

“...Yes.”

“Your friend. Is in love with my sister.”

“...That would be what I just told you, yes.”

“...Wait. Chan as in, Bang Chan? ...OUR friend Chan?!”

“That’s him!”

“Okay okay hold on,” Changbin waves his arms through the air. “Love is a strong word...and this is Chan we’re talking about. He loves just about everybody. He’s nice and empathetic to everyone. Just last week I had to turn away two maids and a palace chef who’d gotten the same mixed signals.”

Jisung shrugs. “Yeah, well…”

“Also this was seven years ago?!”

“...Yeah…”

Changbin deadpans. “So you got me all hyped about jumping Felix for some love story that probably isn’t even real. Seven years is a long time, Jisung. He may have forgotten about her already-- NOT THAT SHE’S SOMEONE TO BE FORGOTTEN.”

He had to finish that last sentence real quick from the look Felix was giving him. The boy sighs, shifting his gifts into one arm so he can run a small hand through his wind-blown hair. “...This is kind of crazy Jisung, even for you. Why are you bringing this up now of all times?”

“...Well…”

👉👈

“I overheard a royal meeting I shouldn’t have about an hour ago...and your dad was talking about having Y/n engaged.”

“What?!?”

“To the Fire Nation king.”

“WHAT?!?!”

“People often refer to him as Zuko, for reasons unknown, but his real name is Minho.”

“.........”

With fever and a newfound energy, Felix tries bursting up the steps to your room. But unfortunately, Team Rocket stops him.

“MOVE! I have to talk to Y/n about this!!!”

“Hang on! The whole reason I brought up my homeboy in the first place was to maybe stop this suspiciously dangerous and shady deal! If Y/n has already fallen in love with someone else, maybe the king will have a change of heart!!!”

Felix groans, glaring harshly in a manner that isn’t really like him. “Han, her father keeps her locked away in a plush-tailored dungeon and refuses to let her go outside, not even on a short shopping trip with her own brother. He doesn’t want her to be seen, and he certainly doesn’t want her falling in love.”

“Well--!” Han balls his hands into fists. “I WAS TRYING OKAY?! I LIKE Y/N TOO, SHE’S A TIMEPIECE GAL WHEN I’M ACTUALLY ALLOWED TO BE WITHIN TEN FEET OF HER!!!”

“Dang…” Changbin groans. “So you don’t think I’ll be able to ask her out this weekend?”

“......” “......”

The glare he gets from both men is a definite no

~ꕥꕥꕥ~

So what are we to do about a situation like this?

Well I’m glad you asked because we’re about to find out

IRONICALLY right at that moment, you were supposed to be in a late-running math session on how taxing the economy works but 

Instead you were blissfully hidden in the closet, watching Chan plant a newly discovered breed of roses on your balcony the author forgot to mention you even had

It was an indoor balcony of sorts; fenced in with mesh and curtains to keep the bugs and trespassers out

There was a cute little garden table with comfy chairs and a small bookshelf

As well as a mini bar and even a small stereo system B))

You’re the princess sis

This was your world since you weren’t allowed to experience the real one

To explain, you had a window right next to it that you often looked out, since your balcony was more or less closed off…

Hopefully that makes sense ._.”

Alright anyhoo

So Chan is planting some gorgeous purple roses that only ever existed in Animal Crossing until now

The most lusciously soft and purpley purple that ever was and ever would be

And here’s you, hunkered down in the closet like a stalker spying on him with one eye and a slit through the cracked door

 WHEN ALL OF A SUDDEN

Bang!

The door flies open!

A wild Felix appears!1!1

Uh-oh

He’s probably looking for you, but given the equally wild look on his face

He’s probably not aware of Chan’s job, coming in to tend to your plants when you’re scheduled to be absent

Wait they’re friends right

So he isn’t gonna kill him...right?!

Or does this mean he was gonna kill him that much more?!

OH NO

FELIX NO PLS

You’re holding your breath and waiting for the right moment to pounce and topple your half-brother to the floor when apprehensively

He checks his surroundings quickly before shutting the door behind him

……

What the what is this about--

“We need to talk,” Felix starts, pacing to the dining table where he usually sits. Chan freezes, blinking a few times into the roses and the air above them before turning a blank stare the prince’s way.

“Okay,” he states back, “what’s on your mind?”

“About Y/n…”

About you?

“Princess Y/n? What about?”

Yes, what about you?

“...Jisung…” he sighs. “Look, I know it’s been a while since we’ve talked. Let me start by apologizing about that.”

“Oh, no need to apologize. You’re the prince, and I’m the gardener. We’re both quite busy with our—“

“Jisung told me you like Y/n.”

………

…………

……………

I’m s o r r y

WhAT WAS THAT

WHAT DID HE JUST SAY?!

Okay okay hold up

Han Jisung was the court clown and notorious for pranks and lying his ass off

Surely this was just a (albeit cruel) joke…

...Right?!

…

Bang Chan’s ears are turning red

Redder than the roses outside your window

He’s biting his lip, like he wants to say something, but is trying hard to suppress said something

His hands are clenched down into the dirt…

“...Well?” asks Felix. “Is it true?”

“...It’s…”

!!!

WHAT WHAT IT’S WHAT

TELL ME FLOWER BOY WHAT IS IT

SPILL THE BEANS ALREADY

Haha get it…

Beans……

Like seeds……..

...Anyway

“......”

He nods, softly, barely. Bang Chan nods his approval at Felix’s proposed statement.

Is this even real right now…?

Is this allowed?! 😩

Instead of jumping the guy like you thought he would, Felix instead smiles, so brightly it would be enough to scare off the Fire Nation and save thousands of lives

“Oh wow. Oh f*ck. You like my sister. This is...shouldn’t I be mad right now?”

He begins to pace

“...But I’m not. I’m genuinely okay with this. Better than okay. It’s...weird.”

“Probably because Y/n may be saved from marrying Prince Hellhole of the Underworld now.”

The two of them (and you still in the closet) jump at the sound of a new voice wafting in from the ceiling. Looking up, a set of bells can be seen hanging out if the air vent

...Has that always been there?!

Oh my gravy what if Han Jisung has spied on you before

What if someone else has?!

EW

Felix scowls angrily at the vent before lifting a pen off your desk and throwing it with surprisingly good accuracy

It must have hit something because next thing you know Jisung is saying “ow!” and climbing down at the Prince’s demand

“What the hell were you doing up there?!”

“Detective work.”

“You’re banned from doing detective work anywhere near this room.”

“What about Changbin?”

“What?!”

“Oh uhhh...nothing.”

The clanking of heavy armor trying to escape travels across the ceiling…

And Felix huffs.

“CHANGBIN I KNOW THAT’S YOU.”

~~~

So I’m gonna do a mini skip right here to get the ball rolling

After Bin is dragged down and everyone (minus you) is accounted for

The four guys are sitting around your dining table, a sinister(?) plot coming to notion

“Okay,” Felix begins, “So what we know is, according to what Jisung overheard, this arms race war of sorts against the Fire Nation is coming to a rock and a hard place for both sides. And to resolve this issue, it would appear that Y/n is being offered as a bargaining chip. A wedding to unite the two kingdoms.”

…… 

Everyone is pretty silent

You included, not that you can say anything at the moment…

But just because you’re silent on the outside doesn’t mean you don’t have a million thoughts racing through your head

Let’s get to the most pressing one that’d likely catch your attention first: MARRIAGE?!?!

With whom?!?!

How dare some old geezers try and pawn you off without your permission?! To the enemy?!? To a man you didn’t even know?!?!

WHAT IF HE WAS REALLY OLD

OR GROSS

OR BOTH

OR WHAT IF--

Han suddenly has something to say

Then again when does the boy not

He lunges across the table to grasp at Chan’s hands. “PLEASE, YOU HAVE TO MARRY THE PRINCESS SO SHE WON’T BE SENT AWAY AND I CAN STOP AWKWARDLY CATCHING YOU SPYING ON HER OUTSIDE!!!”

!!!

OH UH

WHA?!

Chan’s ears are turning red again. He’s got a brow quirked like he doesn’t know what Jisung is talking about, but averts his gaze all the same in a guilty manner

Felix is tapping his fingers against his forearm in an attempt to ignore that confession

And Changbin is just sitting next to Chan half confused and half annoyed

“I- I can’t just… Jisung what you’re asking is…”

“It’s too much,” Bin cuts in. “Jisung you can’t just ask someone, much less tell them, to marry a person they have a far-longing crush on, but really know nothing about. They’ve never even spoken to each other before, I can assume, and you’re telling them to spend the rest of their lives in a commitment? That’s intense.”

Jisung pouts. “Yeah, but…!”

“What if we just faked a marriage?”

Three stunned faces (four if we’re counting you) turn eyes upon the eldest and only prince. He smiles warmly, sending a warily comforting shiver down your spine that you have trouble placing as good or bad.

“What do you mean?” Changbin asks.

“I doubt the king is going to accept Y/n’s wishes in all of this, so we can’t just have her or Chan ask to be wed. But if they’re already married…”

Jisung’s face lights up. “Then there’s nothing the king or Fire Nation fools can do about it!!! That’s BRILLIA--”

“But it would just be a ruse. We’ll have a fake license made, and I can supply the rings. I’ve got plenty of underground connections~”

You’re looking at Chan’s face to see what he thinks of all this, but unfortunately his back is to you, and Changbin is blocking 90% of your view…

You can, however, see that his ears are still a flushed scarlet, as well as the base of his neck

“Would you be okay with that?”

He jumps. Felix and the others blink expectantly. 

“...Huh?”

“...Are you okay with being my sister’s fake husband for a few hours?”

It’s gotta be the awkwardest question you’ve ever heard coming out of your brother’s mouth, but then…

“Yeah. If it’ll protect Y/n...let’s do it.”

……

It’s the first time you’ve heard him not refer to you as the princess, but rather, just yourself

~ꕥꕥꕥ~

OKAY WE’RE GONNA TRY AND START CRAMMING THINGS WITHOUT CRAMMING TOO MUCH BECAUSE HNNNNN I DON’T WANT THIS TO BE TOO LONG AND DRAWN OUT ಥ_ಥ

SO ON THAT NOTE

Meanwhile in a diabolical castle not too far away but still kinda far 

(͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)⊃━━☆ﾟ.*･｡ﾟ

We’ve got an evil firelord named Zuko over here

But he’s not really evil :(( In fact he’s not evil at all!!!

His name isn’t even Zuko it’s Minho

And he’s just kinda mean is all…

Just a smidge | |

“My Lord Zuko!!!” An attendant bows, groveling at the steps to the throne

He’s some weird guy with an eyepatch

Not important but  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The Fire King growls, swirling a glass of something strong

“I told you that’s not my name,” he states, tossing the glass after a single gulp. Dang. Intense.

The attendant :((, covering his face like a scared manchild. “PLEASE FORGIVE ME YOUR GRACE!!!”

Minho rolls his eyes. “If I do, will you man up and give me the details on the Nation of (Your Kingdom Name Here)?”

“Oh, yes, yes! Thank you, sire!!!”

“...S u r e.” He blinks a few times, only sparing the slightest hint of a smile when one of the three cats wandering the kingdom jumps onto his lap. “Well? Get on with it.”

“Yes, sire, right away!” Patchy pulls out an enormously large scroll that should NOT have been able to fit in his pocket similar to the mechanics of Animal Crossing (seriously how is it you’re able to fit a giant whale into your pocket and like a freaking tarantula and a hive of wasps like idk about you sis but I would NOT be putting those things in my pocket-) “It would appear that the Princess of (Nation) has given her consent to marry His Royal Highness of the Tallest Order Fire Nation King Zu-- ...L-Lee Minho of the Tallest Order of the Nation of Fire and All Things Cat Related.”

Minho is nodding, a pleasant smirk on his face. Things were just going swimmingly for him. “Perfect. Just as I thought they would. Seungmin? Jeongin?”

From the shadows, two boys stepped forward. “Yes, Your Grace?”

“Please plan my arrival to the Nation of (Your Nation) at once. I’d like to arrive no later than the end of the week.”

“...Sire, with all due respect…” Seungmin swallows. “That’s in two days. Normally, I’d have to send a carrier pigeon to customs since you banned technology after that one disapproving cat commercial, and as you know, your cats are constantly eating both the birds and the notes…”

“......”

“......”

Minho shrugs. “And? So? Just write a new note and buy more birds. There’s no time to waste!”

Seungmin and Jeongin share a look. Arguing against the King would be suicide, so…

“...Yes, Your Unreasonable Grace.”

“Grea-- wait what?”

Comically, they both vanish before any more words can be said.

~ꕥꕥꕥ~

Moving right along here

That night, after the sun has fully set and you’re getting ready to tuck yourself into bed

There’s a strange sound coming from the window…

. . .

Creepy but probably nothing

It’s just the wind, right?

You choose to ignore it and continue organizing the pillows (and dolls?) on your bed in a fashion that suits your fancy when

Tap Tap Tap

. . .

It’s either an incredible coincidence that wind can tap in such a rhythmic fashion, and not so sporadically, or…

There’s someone at the window

...No, really

SOMEONE IS OUTSIDE SIS

THERE’S A FREAKY LOOKIN’ SHADOW RIGHT THERE

On the twelfth floor tho?!

…

Should you answer it

Survey says no

Are you going to?

The stars say yes

BUT FIRST WE MUST ARM OURSELVES BC WE AREN’T TOTAL DUMDUMS 😩

You grab an ornate candlestick from your nightstand and start heading that way

Slowly, carefully, one foot at a time

The closer you get, the more prominent the shadow outside the window becomes…

It almost looks kinda like…

...A tumbleweed? A scarecrow???

……… 

You’re scared

SOMEONE COMING THIS HIGH MUST BE SKILLED AND DETERMINED AND HAS TO KNOW IT’S YOU OR MAYBE IT’S A THIEF THAT--

“Princess? Princess Y/n?”

!!!

Gasp you know that voice

It’s… …

Without a moment to lose you ditch the candlestick and unlock the hinges, tossing the windows open to…

Watch your beloved…

...Almost fall and crack his head open ._.”

Chan is laughing nervously hanging onto the windowsill with a faint pink mark on his cheek from where the window popped him

You cry out nervously and with an effort on both parts, manage to hoist him inside

Where he clichely falls on top of you 🌚🌚 Teehee 🥴

You can feel the heat rising to your face and swirling around your head that’s already been spinning with thoughts for a while now

And Chan, catching his breath over you, practically mirrors that reaction

I Am You

I see me in you--

Okay sorry

Chan laughs the whole thing off and rolls himself off like Nishinoya performing his famous Rolling Thunder, and helps you up while profusely asking if you’re alright, if you need to sit down, you should probably sit down, oh I’m so sorry Felix told me you stayed up late so--

Ah wait

“He told you that? When?”

You’re now sitting on the side of your bed, and Chan is standing a few feet away with windblown hair that could easily be mistaken for a tumbleweed through the dead of night

The fact that you’re staring at it makes him a little self conscious, but really you were just thinking about how cute he looks

“Uh, he told me a few hours ago. We were just...chatting, and um…”

……

He cuts himself off and sighs into his hands

“I’m so sorry. You probably don’t even know who I am.”

“I do.”

“You do?”

“I do.” You smile. “You’re the gardener. Your name is…” You blush. “Christopher Bang. You take care of the roses at the base of the tower and you planted the purple ones on my balcony today. You’re also a friend of my brother’s.”

“Wow, okay yeah.” He smiles back. Seeing him smiling at you while acknowledging the other, the faint flicker of candlelight (Felix broke your lamp during a karate stunt to make you laugh)...it’s almost too much to handle. “That would sort of explain why you let an absolute stranger into your bedroom at night.”

………

Oop

He had a point there

Blame the author sis she’s got three other WIPs rn and wanted to get this done while doing a semi-decent job (｡•́︿•̀｡)💧

“I-I just...have a strong sense of adventure,” you lied. Kinda. Reality was, you really WERE longing for a chance to explore and have just a little excitement in your life instead of the same boring gray stone walls each and every day

Lucky for you, that’s exactly what Chan was here for

The next thing you see is his hand in your face (a still-respectable distance away), offering you quite the gentlemanly smile. He managed to fix that windblown hair of his in the seconds you spent spaced out over your longing to leave this place

“Come on. I actually came here to ask if you’d like to go somewhere with me.”

~~~

A little disclosure here

Normally, you should never, EVER let someone you don’t really know into your home (much less your bedroom) late at night, and you certainly should not agree to go somewhere with them

This is just common knowledge, I know

But, for crack, time, and in the spirit of classic fairytales, I’m going to allow it to happen :)))

~~~

AND SO, Y/n chooses to defy common sense, and takes the hand of the boy she really likes (▰˘◡˘▰)

~ꕥꕥꕥ~

To make things slightly less weird and insanely unnatural, Chan gives you a note from Felix. It’s got his secret seal of approval that he only uses when addressing letters to you, one that only the two of you know about, so it’s gotta be legit and valid

🙄🙄

Just pretend it makes things A LITTLE bit better for me, okay?

“Author do you know how illogical this all is and that, like, ANYONE could figure out--”

YEAH OKAY JUST GO WITH IT PLS 😩😩

The note says:

𝒟𝑒𝒶𝓇𝑒𝓈𝓉 𝒴/𝓃, 𝒴𝑒𝑒𝓉! 𝒴𝑜𝓊 𝒸𝒶𝓃 𝓉𝓇𝓊𝓈𝓉 𝓂𝓎 𝓂𝒶𝓃 𝒞𝒽𝒶𝓃, 𝐼 𝓀𝓃𝑜𝓌 𝓎𝑜𝓊'𝓋𝑒 𝓁𝒾𝓀𝑒𝒹 𝒽𝒾𝓂 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝒶 𝓌𝒽𝒾𝓁𝑒 ;) 𝐼 𝒹𝒾𝒹 𝓈𝑜𝓂𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓃𝓀𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒶𝒻𝓉𝑒𝓇 𝒶 𝒸𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓅𝓊𝓉 𝓉𝓌𝑜 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓉𝓌𝑜 𝓉𝑜𝑔𝑒𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇...𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓌𝑒𝓇𝑒 𝓈𝓉𝒶𝓇𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒶𝓉, 𝓌𝑒𝓁𝓁, 𝓅𝑒𝓇𝓈𝑜𝓃...𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝒶𝓁𝓁 𝓉𝒽𝑜𝓈𝑒 𝓉𝒾𝓂𝑒𝓈 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓈𝓅𝒶𝒸𝑒𝒹 𝑜𝓊𝓉 𝑜𝓃 𝓂𝑒. 𝐼𝓉 𝓌𝒶𝓈 𝒷𝑒𝒸𝒶𝓊𝓈𝑒 𝑜𝒻 𝒽𝒾𝓂, 𝓇𝒾𝑔𝒽𝓉? 𝒴𝑜𝓊 𝓌𝑒𝓇𝑒 𝓁𝑜𝑜𝓀𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒶𝓉 𝓂𝓎 𝒷𝑜𝓎 𝒽𝑒𝓇𝑒. 𝐼'𝓋𝑒 𝑔𝒾𝓋𝑒𝓃 𝒽𝒾𝓂 𝓂𝓎 𝒷𝓁𝑒𝓈𝓈𝒾𝓃𝑔, 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓃𝑜𝓌 𝐼'𝓂 𝑔𝒾𝓋𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒾𝓉 𝓉𝑜 𝓎𝑜𝓊. 𝒢𝑜 𝒽𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝒶 𝓃𝒾𝒸𝑒 𝓉𝒾𝓂𝑒, 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓌𝒶𝓎 𝓃𝑜𝓃𝑒 𝑜𝒻 𝓊𝓈 𝒾𝓃𝓈𝒾𝒹𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓅𝒶𝓁𝒶𝒸𝑒 𝒸𝑜𝓊𝓁𝒹 𝓅𝓇𝑜𝓋𝒾𝒹𝑒 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝓎𝑜𝓊. 𝒫.𝒮. - 𝒯𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝒷𝒾𝓉 𝒾𝓈 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝒞𝒽𝒶𝓃, 𝓈𝑜 𝓈𝓉𝑜𝓅 𝓇𝑒𝒶𝒹𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒽𝑒𝓇𝑒, 𝒴/𝓃!

𝒜𝓁𝓇𝒾𝑔𝒽𝓉 𝓂𝒶𝓃, 𝓃𝑜 𝒽𝒶𝓇𝒹 𝒻𝑒𝑒𝓁𝒾𝓃𝑔𝓈, 𝒷𝓊𝓉 𝐼 𝑔𝑜𝓉𝓉𝒶 𝒹𝑜 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝒷𝒾𝓉. 𝒴/𝓃 𝒷𝑒𝓉𝓉𝑒𝓇 𝒷𝑒 𝒷𝒶𝒸𝓀 𝒽𝑜𝓂𝑒 𝓊𝓃𝒽𝒶𝓇𝓂𝑒𝒹 𝓊𝓃𝓉𝑜𝓊𝒸𝒽𝑒𝒹 𝓊𝓃𝓈𝒸𝒶𝓉𝒽𝑒𝒹 𝓃𝑜𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓁𝑒𝓈𝓈 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓃 𝒽𝒶𝓅𝓅𝓎 𝒷𝓎 𝓃𝑜 𝓁𝒶𝓉𝑒𝓇 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓃 𝓂𝒾𝒹𝓃𝒾𝑔𝒽𝓉 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝐼 𝒷𝑒𝓉𝓉𝑒𝓇 𝓃𝑜𝓉 𝒻𝒾𝓃𝒹 𝑜𝓊𝓉 𝒶𝒷𝑜𝓊𝓉 𝒶𝓃𝓎 𝒻𝓊𝓃𝓃𝓎 𝒷𝓊𝓈𝒾𝓃𝑒𝓈𝓈 𝑔𝑜𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝑜𝓃 𝑒𝒾𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇. 𝐵𝓊𝓉 𝓂𝑜𝓈𝓉 𝒾𝓂𝓅𝑜𝓇𝓉𝒶𝓃𝓉𝓁𝓎, 𝒽𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝒶 𝓃𝒾𝒸𝑒 𝓉𝒾𝓂𝑒. :)

-- 𝒲𝒾𝓉𝒽 𝓂𝓊𝒸𝒽 𝒹𝒾𝓈𝓂𝒶𝓎 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓈𝓉𝓇𝒶𝓃𝑔𝑒𝓁𝓎 𝑜𝓀𝒶𝓎 𝒽𝒶𝓅𝓅𝒾𝓃𝑒𝓈𝓈, 𝐹𝑒𝓁𝒾𝓍 (ℱ )

...Well, there you had it

Now, onto the date! …

WAIT DID THIS COUNT AS A DATE?!

uHHHHHH

ಥ_ಥ 💧

IDK SIS JUST GO WITH IT FOR NOW, GO GO GO!

Chan is about to take your hand and wisk you out the window like Rapunzel or some Romeo and Juliet au (hey btw??? That ain’t a bad idea someone request this from me)

He nearly forgets about the height difference and the fact that he don’t have any rope or long flowing locks to grab onto to :D so instead the two of you opt for an idea that comes to you after nearly tearing your room apart to look for rope:

THE AIR VENT!!!

You have to move some furniture around but it’s not like anyone is gonna come into your room or find out about you missing anyway

Reader: “Chan came into my room tho--”

SHHHHH THAT’S DIFFERENT IT’S CALLED PLOT CONTINUATION

Now

After getting lost for approximately ten minutes in the winding air ducts, Chan manages to get his poor sleep deprived brain together and leads you down the right path, coming to a purifying viel(?) he knocks out of the way to kick the door open to outside

AND THEN

IT’S THE MOST GLORIOUS AND MAGICAL THING

IT’S

（ つ﹏╰）

SIS IT’S OUTSIDE

IT’S THE OUTSIDE WORLD

YOU DID IT--

……

You can’t do it

Chan jumps out easily onto the grass to some East side of the palace, but you just sit there, hunkered down in the opening space of the vent

Just staring at it

The grass

The trees

The tumbleweed that is Chan’s hair blow by

It’s almost too much…

Your body won’t move. You’ve been locked away in the palace for so long now...something inside of you is telling you it’s morally wrong to change that now.

“Hey wait author I have a question”

I’m kinda in the middle of telling a semi-deep part of the story but okay sure

“If Chan and I were on the twelfth floor how is it that we made it to the--”

SHHHHH AGAIN JUST HUMOR ME AND DON’T OVERTHINK THINGS

Chan is watching you with some sort of softness in his eyes illuminated by starlight. He holds his hands out to you.

“It’s okay. If you need me to, I can carry you for as long as I’m able.”

…

But you refuse

You need to cross this bridge

And then you need to burn it 🔥

NO GOING BACK SIS

NO GOING BACK 😤😤

...Except you’re always open for an excuse to be close to Chan so 🤪💓

You jump in his arms without much of a second thought, and without thinking he spins you around, and a moment later

Both of your slippered feet hit the ground below

Soft earth enveloping your heels

Blades of grass tickling your skin

It’s so WEIRD BUT

It’s a good kind of weird

A kind of weird you’d love to get used to

Hand in hand the two of you slip off after that, out into that starry starry night that looks like a Van Gogh painting

It’s beautiful and blurred yet sharp and soft yet bright and you feel like queen of the world as you’re running through Central Park, riding on Chan’s shoulders

Dancing around the center fountain

Nearly blowing your cover when a racoon runs by

It’d be kinda bad if someone saw you, much less recognized who you were 😅

The two of you lay on the hillside, where Chan makes up stories about the stars and you smile at the sound of his voice, and the feeling of wildflowers against your cheek

You’re so enthralled that you scarcely notice when his voice trails off as he’s watching you, admiring your beauty as he often has in days gone by, only this time it’s up close and nearly surreal

The girl of his dreams lying in a bed of flowers

Not palace-tainted ones either -> wildflowers, flowers that are free to billow any way the wind takes them

And the moonlight casting perfectly angular shadows over your body

He has to get a hold of himself and tear himself away with a sharp breath

……

But he’s adding the image to a memory in his heart, that’s for sure

He takes a moment to mull over it a few more times before dusting himself off, standing, and reaching out to you. Something you also want to get used to other than being in the Great Outdoors. “Come on,” he says, “We’ve almost used up all our time, and I haven’t even been able to show you the town yet.”

SHOPPING~! (っ◔◡◔)っ ♥

...Ah wait it was night time 😔 You’d have to settle for just seeing the sights and playing pretend

“We’re gonna do something called window shopping.”

“Window shopping?” You ask, taking your first steps down main street. “What’s that?”

Surprisingly, there were a few stragglers still out and about at this hour, so you had to keep your head down and wander as seamlessly as possible off to the side of the road.

“Window shopping is when you wander around a shopping district just to look at the stuff on display. You shop with your eyes and pick out things you like.”

That sounded kinda fun

Of course anything with Chan sounded like a good time to you (♥‿♥)

And so, still hand in hand, the two of you quietly walked the cobblestone streets, examining clothes and trinkets in the large glass windows of stores and commenting lightly on things you liked/disliked

And, over a short span of time, you felt a gentle shift as Chan entwined his fingers with yours

ƪ(˘⌣˘)┐ ƪ(˘⌣˘)ʃ ┌(˘⌣˘)ʃ

You wander the streets for a while longer, taking a left here, a right there, when after pacing a little ways down a side street connecting to a sleepy neighborhood, Chan stops quite abruptly

His arms and posture is rigid af, so it almost yanks you back a bit, and a little startled you look up to see what it is he’s gawking at

…

It’s a flower shop

And the big sign across the roof’s edge says, “Christopher’s Garden”

~ꕥꕥꕥ~

Christopher’s Garden was the name Chan’s parents had wanted to name the flower shop the two of them had dreamed of opening together

Chan knows this because of the letters he’d receive at the orphanage during the war

The last letter he received was when he was eleven years old; a simple “hello we miss you” update with a miniature bouquet of pressed wildflowers

Flowers he still kept in his small room at the palace, tapped to the inside of the box where all his letters are stored

Faintly, he reaches out towards the sign, like it’s the only thing around him; suddenly there is no village, no night time, and there almost isn’t a Y/n either

Not that you aren’t important…

He just simply can’t believe that…

…

This couldn’t be real, it had to be a coincidence

A cruel one, but still

A coincidence nonetheless

And he’d continue to think that had he not lowered his hand, and found the face of an older man staring back at him

A man with burn marks on his cheeks and the scars of war apparent in both his features and his eyes

He has to grip the doorway to keep himself from falling backward

For it may have been many years, but he could never forget the face of his own son; not even after time had aged him

The parental spark was just there, a father’s intuition

…… 

As if seeming to understand, Y/n lets him go

She retreats stage left, one, two paces

And watches with heartfelt joy as the two men embrace somberly beneath the moonlight.

~ꕥꕥꕥ~

You wanted to stay and watch

You really really did

You wanted to be that support beam for Chan, but

In a way, you also didn’t want to intrude on such an important family moment

...And you were more or less due back at midnight 🙄 Cinderella much?

You’re racing along the alleyways right now

Slippers puffing a muffled breath with each step along the pavement

Buildings casting shadows and jagged shapes of light along the way

A random cloth you borrowed from behind a grocery masking your head

You found it lying over some crates of produce; and you may or may not have borrowed a few plums for the road, too…

...You’d have someone pay them back with interest 🤷

You probably should have told Chan you were heading back, but

He needed his family, right?

This was really important to him, you could tell he obviously hadn’t seen his dad, uncle, or whoever that man was back there in a while

You could catch him up later, right?

He’d probably spend the night there and be back by morning or mid-afternoon

You’re just now reaching a fork in the road

You could keep going straight or make a slanted right venturing toward the front gate, which connects the pastures of hills (making up Central Park) to the palace

……

It would probably be better to stick the backways, but you didn’t know the area that well…

If you went back into civilization, although it was after curfew and despite your disguise, someone may still spot you

What to do what to do what to--

“So you’re the Princess of (Kingdom Name).”

!!!

Did

Did someone just--

ARE THEY TALKING TO YOU?!?

RUN?!

DO WE RUN ...

“You don’t have to be frightened.” the voice says, stepping closer. “I’m here to take you home.”

……...

🚩🚩🚩

:)))))))) 

Yes okay now we RUN 🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️💨

You make a break for it down the straight path, letting your veil fly away from your body and temporarily blind whoever’s following you

You also make good use of those plums you stole, tossing them like bombs over your shoulder

“Argh--! Dang it, sh*t, I can’t sEE--” Your pursuers flail about before shredding the cloth to bits, whipping the fruit off their faces. “AFTER HER!!!”

!!!!!!

DID HE JUST SAY--?!

HHHHHHHHHHHH

The sound of heavy metal clanging against cobblestone bounces off the space behind you as you’re pounding, scrambling, flinging yourself in a zigzag pattern in case someone is trying to snipe you

IT’S WHAT ALL THE RIDICULOUS HEROES IN MOVIES DO, OKAY?!

IT’S MORE OR LESS EFFECTIVE

But alas there are so many boxes and wheelbarrows and junk in the way...

MOVE FASTER YOU CAN HEAR THEM GAINING ON YOU

But wait who even is “them” anyway???

Do you even need to know?! It was probably some councilman your stepmother or  father pissed off

You’d seen it all on TV and read plenty of horror stories in books to know there were endless reasons why someone would be targeting you for vengeance

...And, also…

……

Blast it all

You could hear your father’s voice echoing:

“NO BEAUTIFUL DAUGHTER OF MINE WILL BE SEEN BILLOWING ABOUT THE CITY STREETS!!! That’s like asking to be kidnapped and used as a means of war!!!”

“A means of war!!!”

“A means of war!!!”

…………………………………...g u l p 

ಥ_ಥ

YOU JUST WANTED TO HAVE A GOOD TIME OKAY

THAT’S ALL

GIRLS JUST WANNA HAVE FUN 😩😩

HE SHOULD TRY SITTING ON HIS ASS DAY IN AND DAY OUT IT’S MIND-NUMBINGLY BORING 🔥🔥🔥

But boy were you getting your fill of excitement now

If you could just make it back to the palace, maybe you could use this as an excuse

Say you were kidnapped and made a grand escape

...It wasn’t a TOTAL lie…

“Oh Princess~ Princess Y/n, slow down, won’t you please?!”

LIBSDIBVISAFBILSFIL

NOT ON YOUR LIFE BUDDY 🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️💨

WE AIN’T ABOUT TO DIE

GOTTA

HURRYYYYYYY

~ t r i p ! ~

Oh-- ...

THUD

Owowowowow… (｡>︿<｡)💧

………………

……………………………

ಠ_ಠ

You slowly look up to the enemy

(͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) ❤️ “Guess who? ...Oh, wait, we’ve never met before.”

………………..

Crap.

~ꕥꕥꕥ~

The plan was going to be very simple: swoop in, rescue the princess, and take her back home to appease to the King and speed up the royal wedding of the century

Unfortunately, nothing was ever simple in the Fire Nation

That and, well, Minho had spies everywhere

He’d seen your photograph

He knew what you looked like

And when one of his minion’s squeaked saying they spotted a certain soon-to-be-and-technically-already-so engaged princess and coming-soon queen of the Fire Nation running around after hours with another man, well

He just couldn’t have that

It simply wasn’t allowed

The king had promised him your hand

And that’s exactly what he was going to get

“Tie her wrists tighter. Yes. Now a little closer to the left…”

He smiles at you from inside the back of the carriage. He was about to make this go his way faster than he could have hoped for.

He leans forward, now dressed in some ridiculous royal garb festive with plated armor and flapping ribbons, patting your knee with smooth-lined fingers that shouldn’t belong to someone ruling the Fire Nation. And he knows this, too. He was and still is the youngest king to ever hold the throne. “Don’t worry, Princess, I simply wish to escort you home. This is, however, a pleasant time for us to get acquainted. Since I will become your husband in the next twenty-four to forty-eight hours.”

To this, the Princess of (Your Castle) makes some sort of a scoffing remark beneath her cloth-covered mouth and fidgets herself away, as far back against the plush carriage interior as she can. Even beneath the pale moonlight and faint swaying torchlight outside, bobbing in the hands of soldiers, he can see the scowl of disapproval and hatred on her face.

That would have to change real’ fast. No way he was tolerating a disobedient bride for long.

A rapping comes from outside the window. Carefully, Minho opens the small glass door, pulling the curtain aside along with it. “What is it?”

Seungmin’s face appears in the open space. “We may have a problem. Two, actually.”

“Yes, yes, what are they?”

His first attendant licks his lips nervously. “Well for starters, Jeongin is going to have a mental breakdown if Doongi scratches his face one more time. Your pets--”

“My family.”

“...Your family is getting antsy being cooped up in the carriage for so long.”

A hissing can be heard in the distance, followed by Jeongin’s muffled scream. Minho sighs.

“Fine, Fine…” He glances tentatively at his soon-to-be bride. “We’ll stop at the next fork in the road and switch passengers. I will ride with the children and Jeongin can accompany Princess Y/n until we arrive.” 

“Very good, Your Majesty.”

Minho makes a face, suddenly. “...It shouldn’t be long now, yes?” ((After all, you and Chan did WALK into town.)) “What’s taking so long? How much farther?”

Seungmin looks a bit grave. “...That’s...the other thing I wished to speak to you about.”

“???”

~ꕥꕥꕥ~

You can hear the shouting from your new location inside a smaller (yet still quite plush and fancy) carriage that’s covered in cat fur...and a pitiful attendant with a bloodied face

“So we’ve been traveling in circles this whole TIME?!?!”

Oof

That kind of anger didn’t bode well for whoever’s plan this was

“Ahh…we’re so sorry, Your Majesty! But the guard won’t let us through! They refused to take us seriously when we proclaimed to be the Fire Nation escorting the Princess home…”

The Fire King let out a groan.

You zoom your attention on the boy before you, holding a dampened cloth of alcohol to his face and hissing as it makes contact with several wounds. Poor guy is young, and he couldn’t be too much younger than you. Give or take three to four years.

“M-mm-m, mm mm-mm mm m.”

He looks at you like you’re speaking in tongues. Which, quite frankly, you may as well be. “...What?”

“Mm mmm, m-mm-m, mm mm-mm mm m!”

“.........”

Peering left and then right, he makes sure both curtains are closed before leaning forward and pulling down the cloth over your face. You cough a bit, spitting out pieces of string and fabric and the dry taste in your mouth. “...”

“......” Jeongin seems to be admiring you in a new sort of light. It’s a bit weird, but flattering. “Um, what was it that you tried to say?”

You look him dead in the eye, which is somewhat hard to do, but your anger helps you manage. Jeongin winces backward, something twitching in his mind. “I said, if I were you, I would blow this joint.”

“.........” Jeongin glances down at his shoes, staring hard at the laces. He seems to be taking your words quite seriously, though you’d half meant them as a joke. “...I’m in no position to do such a thing. Just thinking about it is treason.”

“Treason? For having thoughts? You don’t have any mind readers in your country, do you?”

Slowly, he shakes his head no. It was kinda cute how seriously he was taking your words...and a bit sad, too. “No, we don’t dwell in psychics or anything supernatural. But the author of this story has been kinda thinking about making a supernatural au for some time now--”

“Huh?”

“Hmm?”

“.........”

A rapping comes at the carriage door. Jeongin acknowledges it with a nod. “...Never mind.” He opens the window. There, again, was Seungmin’s floating head alongside a ball of fire.

“His Majesty Pain-in-the-Ass is being difficult again. Imagine that. He wants us to make camp and then plans on playing the martyr card come tomorrow morning.”

“...He expects us to camp out in the woods?”

“That’s the order.”

Jeongin groans. He leans back in his seat, tossing the rag down in frustration. “...Maybe I really should consider running away…are you hiring, by chance?”

It was meant to be a joke. But you take it all too seriously.

“Why, yes, actually, I am.” :))))))))))

“....................”

~ꕥꕥꕥ~

And so that is how you have now ended up here

In front of a roaring fire

All comfy cozy in the new fleece pajamas Jeongin and Seungmin sewed for you out of one of Minho’s extra capes and some “spare” fabrics

Sipping some freshly pressed apple juice and flipping through King Minho’s edition of Royalty Daily

Seungmin, to your left, is fashioning you a new pair of slippers that you can wear both indoors and out and will feel as if you never stepped out of bed

And Jeongin, to your right, slowly moving an electric fan around your face, in a pleasant manner that wasn’t at all distracting

It was glorious, really ٩(˘◡˘)۶

You never imagined being so relaxed in an enemy camp held hostage, even if you were a Princess…

...The only thing sour was the sour look of King Minho brooding at the other side of the fire.

“What is the meaning of this?” he hisses, eyes flitting back and forth between his two former attendants and you in-between. “Why aren’t the two of you doing your normal duties?”

“We are doing our normal duties,” Seungmin explains, snipping the thread he was working with.

“No, you’re not.”

“Yes, we are.”

“Are you defying me right now?!”

Minnie scoffs. “Defying? You? Wouldn’t dream of it, Sire.”

“......” Minho dramatically rose from his seat, snatching a slipper off the boy’s lap. “Then what is the meaning of this,” he demands, shaking it about. You notice from a new angle of lighting the cute white polka dots patterned along dark pink fabric. Adorable. “Why are you...restyling my slippers?!”

Seungmin gives a reputable glare, snatching the slipper right back in the sassiest way possible, and dusts it carefully, as if it were tainted by the mere touch of another. “These are not for you, dear King. They are for My Lady, Princess Y/n.”

O-O

Now surely you can imagine, the look on Minho’s face is not a good one. “They’re… They… Y-Your whAT?!?!”

“SHHHHHHH!!!” Jeongin chimes. “Lord Zuko, you must keep your voice down! The Princess is trying to read, and she has sensitive hearing!” >:((

“.........”

(✿︶‿︶)

*Sluuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuurp*

You sip that apple juice like it’s the sweetest tonic out there

And Minho, stunned, can only watch...until he throws down his foot and starts having an unroyaly absurd hissy fit

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOUR PRINCESS?! SHE’S MY BRIDE, AND THE HOSTAGE!!! And what do you think the two of you are doing?! What are you saying?!? Have you...are you telling me you switched sides?!?!”

“Well…”

“We aren’t telling you, we were hoping you’d get the memo by watching.”

!? “ARRRGH!!!”

._____.

The three of you watch with second-hand embarrassment, along with a couple of nearby guards, until

The King has to pause mid-fit

For a rustling in the bushes pulls his attention aside-- along with the others.

Minho seems to gain his composure surprisingly quickly. With serious glint in his eyes, he pulls his sword, in unison with the surrounding army he’d brought.

Behind you, Jeongin respectfully pulls you close, Seungmin brandishing his own blade and standing protectively before you.

You’re confused, almost, at how high the tension had magically become

You can feel Jeongin’s heartbeat against you back, and the silence amid the rustle is deafening

A single bead of sweat rolls down your neck…

And then evaporates when a field mouse screeches at the glinting of sharp metal objects and flees. 🗿💧

“Oh...false alarm…” the Fire King sighs. His army groans, reupholstering their swords and spears

And then jump in surprise at the ambush that comes after

~ꕥꕥꕥ~

I know we’re 🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️ flying through this story kinda fast now but just hang tight

Cause a few familiar faces had come to save the day B))

Familiar faces known as Sir Changbin, Newly-awarded Knight Jisung, and brother who loved you a little too much, Felix

The way your brother’s sword clashed with Minho’s as your new attendants hurried you into the awaiting cart was a sight to behold

And you could still hear the screams of startled men even now :(((

Luckily Felix held a philosophy unlike your father to not cause any permanent damage at all costs, so no casualties occurred; just a lot of smoke-bombing and a few cuts and bruises

Then there was Jisung, who had to hang on to the roof bc he went flying during the ambush and landed in a tree and there just wasn’t enough time to get him inside so Changbin had to snap a branch and let him fall on top...but

You know

No casualties :))))

“Are you okay?!?!” Felix is demanding, checking you face, your neck, your hands. You sigh and shake your head, which at first he takes as a no and has a small panic attack but you give him a little shove followed by a hug

“I’m fine. I’m sorry I was gone for so long...but thank you for saving me.” <3

Felix hugs you back, though a grim look resides on his face. “I’m gonna have a serious talk with Chan. I can’t believe he just left you out in the city-- or the forest-- to find your own way home in the dead of night when you’ve scarcely left the palace before!”

!!!

You jump back, startling him a bit. “Chan didn’t leave me! Please...don’t be mad at him.”

“Wha?” He lists his head. “Then what happened?”

“......” Oops. “I...I left him. I thought I could make it back on my own.”

His arms cross. “And what the heck made you think that?”

>:((((((((

At this, you almost felt a sense of defiance. Almost.

Felix didn’t think you could make it on your own?! You?!? A twenty-something year old young woman?!?!?

...Well he was right because you had absolutely no sense of direction except where the shampoo was in your royal bathroom 😔

BUT HE DIDN’T HAVE TO RUB IT IN Y’KNOW?!?!

“I--!”

“You? Yes?”

“......”

“......”

“......” Sigh. “Okay, okay, I’ll tell you...but first you have to let my friends go.”

The screen pans over to Seungmin and Jeongin, tied back to back with apples shoved in their mouths. Seungmin stared a hole into Felix’s head while Jeongin was actually making some decent progress getting a bite out of the apple to free himself...until some juice went down the wrong pipe and he started choking.

“RhUK--!!!”

“Your friends?” The prince huffs. “These are the Fire Lord’s attendants. I’ve met them on two occasions in the past. Trust me, they aren’t your...friends.”

You stamp your foot, to which everyone comically flinched. Outside, Han howled at the branches slapping him in the face and the dust in his eyes. “They work for me now, and they’re my friends!!! 😤😤 So let them go right now or I’ll push them out and roll out of here right beside them!”

“!!!”

Felix couldn’t have this, so

He gets to untying, and once freed, the four of you sit on the empty cart floor: you and your attendants on one side, Felix on the other. He exchanges a few words with Changbin up front and Han still on the roof before settling down for your story

“We should be arriving to the west gates shortly. Also, Han is fine, so don’t worry about him. Tell me everything that happened.”

You do. You start from the beginning, with Chan, and the wonderful time the two of you shared. Then you tell him about the village, and how lovely window shopping was, and the moment that all came to a halt. You explain Christopher’s Garden, the aging man who sleepily walked out the front door, the exchange that occurred between him and Chan...the way they embraced. You’d felt so happy but out of place, you decided to venture off and give them the privacy they very much deserved.

Then you come around to Minho. How you’d tried to run, but only made it so far thanks to your new mortal enemy, rocks. You’d become a hostage, and you quickly rush through the rival king’s evil(?) plan to lie his way to victory.

And, of course, you mention the proud and wise decision of his most loyal and trusted adversaries switching sides and how good you are at making friends (ღ˘⌣˘)♥ so that happened

By the time you get through the whole (short? Not really) story, the six of you have arrived at (Castle’s) West Gate.

~ꕥꕥꕥ~

M E A N W H I L E

In the past tense bc the author’s random switching is a meme

A certain evil(?) king named Minho was angry

You can understand, right?

I mean, his future bride had escaped, his former friends(?) betrayed him, and he got his ass beat pretty flawlessly by some punk prince who didn’t even injure him that badly...ON PURPOSE

This was a DISASTER

A TOTAL NIGHTMARE

😭😭😭

SCREW THIS HE WAS GOING TO BE VICTORIOUS WITH CHAMPAGNE POURING OVER US AND ALL HIS FRIENDS AND HE WOULD BE GLORIOUS NO MATTER WHAT

In fact, he was following the trail with a few uninjured guards as he spoke

“Keep following the tracks,” he demanded from the window of his carriage. Doongi, Soongi, and Dori all meowed in agreement. “I want those fools hand-tied and the princess back in her station before the sun rises. Is that clear?”

“Crystal, Sir!!!” They all cried. Minho scoffed, closing the window and falling back exhaustively in his seat

He messaged his temples...since Jeongin wasn’t there to do it for him

How did this happen?

How could he lose?

How could he let you and the others just escape like that...and fall for such a subtle, dumb trick?

Also…...there was the matter of his childish behavior from before

In front of the princess, his future wife

His friends

His army

……

That really hadn’t been like him at all

He just...was so stressed lately

And exhausted

Did he mention exhausted?

What time was it, like, 1 am???

That might be fine for you, but normally this king had his ass under covers by 11 pm

He could scarcely keep his eyes open were it not for all the rocks and potholes and--

…

And the curious young man that just stumbled out into the road.

Minho leaned forward, staring through the open front window, squinting in the darkness to make out a face; was that one of the boys? Was that Seungmin, or Jeongin perhaps?

It certainly didn’t sound like it-- the sap was calling out a name, and seemed to be dressed in tattered old clothes. Probably a peasant looking for his lost sheep or dog.

But then his men pulled the carriage closer, since that previous battle had spooked all the horses away, and Minho was able to make out a name: “Y/n!!! Princess, say, “here I am!!!””

…………

(͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Gottem.

~ꕥꕥꕥ~

To be continued...maybe.

ღ Stray Kids M.List | M.List ღ