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snazzy-suit · 9 months ago

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LLoG Progress Update!

Oh dang, it's almost April already?! January went on seemingly forever, February passed pretty normally, and March lasted, like, a week. Time is soup.

Anyway, I'm unfortunately a little behind schedule, though not by much! I was hoping to start posting the new chapters by the end of March, but they're not quite ready yet. I still have some editing and continuity checks to do, but the good news is, everything is completely written! 🎉

...and it's even longer than I anticipated 😭 As of now, before editing is complete, the total word count for all the upcoming chapters is 50,700.

50,700!

52,175 if I count the missing scene!

The last arc of what was SUPPOSED to be a short story turned into novel-length madness. Unbelievable! Why am I like this??

Here's where everything stands as of now:

Chapter 5.4 - Complete. Awaiting final continuity check. Word count: 8,220

Chapter 5.5 - Complete. Awaiting final continuity check. Word count: 7,104

Chapter 5.6 - Draft Complete. Undergoing edits. Current word count: 5,580

Chapter 5.7 - Draft Complete. Undergoing edits. Current word count: 8,097

Chapter 5.8 - Draft Complete. Undergoing edits. Current word count: 8,258

Chapter 5.9 - Draft Complete. Awaiting review. Current word count: 6,760

Chapter 5.10 - Draft Complete. Awaiting review. Current word count: 6,681

Some additional notes/tidbits:

Missing Scene - Takes place between the end of chapter 5.6 and about halfway through chapter 5.9. I couldn't figure out a way to include this that didn't feel jarring. If I like it enough, I'll post it separately from the main story. Current word count: 1,475

Chapter 5.7 is a flashback that was originally going to take place about halfway through chapter 5.6, but as you can see based on the word count, it got away from me. ^^' I decided to turn it into a separate chapter as a sort of "breather" between 5.6 and 5.8. I really enjoyed writing it, but there's a chance I may have to cut it from the main story if I feel it's too disrupting. If this is the case, I'll post it separately as another missing scene.

Chapter 5.4 is my white whale. It's undergone the most rewrites and is largely responsible for the long hiatus. I've found it's one of my least favorite chapters in this particular story and at this point I don't know if it's actually bad or if I'm just sick of looking at it 🫠

My disgruntled feelings for chapter 5.6 (the first half, anyway) rival that of chapter 5.4, which is unfortunate, because this chapter is supposed to be "The Big Reveal". Am I over-explaining things? Is this too vague? These are the questions I struggled with in this chapter and I don't know if I'll ever be satisfied with the results.

I never start a chapter knowing how long it's going to be. I just create an outline and go. As long as I check off all the major points in a satisfactory manner, I don't care if the chapter is 1,000 words or 8,000 words. That said, I try to avoid going over 10,000 words for any one chapter so as to not overwhelm readers (and myself) with a bunch of Things in a single sitting. So! When chapter 5.8 started cresting 15,000 words I was like "oh no" and immediately searched for a good spot to split it in two.

That's all I got for now! We're almost there, folks!

Tl;dr - if I don't start posting chapters by the end of April, feel free to shame me with an "L" in my DMs lol 🙈

#LLoG AU #story update #haha wow what a mess #but hopefully it will be worth it!#suit speaks

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gasha40k · 1 year ago

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I’ve been reading a lot of 40k fiction in between painting recently, and I’ve gotten a good bit of progress done on both. I’ll start with a little reading update.

Horus Rising

False Gods

Galaxy in Flames

Flight of the Eisenstein

Fulgrim

First Heretic

Know No Fear

Butcher’s Nails

Betrayer

Wrath of Khârn

Khârn: Eightfold Path

I finished Betrayer just a couple days ago, and holy shit. What an incredible book. I am a strong Khârn stan (Argel Tal, too) and I am more convinced than ever that I’m a World Eaters gamer.

I plan to read the three (or four) Unremembered Empire books before I loop back to A Thousand Sons to read the “main” Heresy storyline through to Slaves to Darkness, and eventually Siege of Terra. But for now, I’m making a little detour through all of the books that Khârn takes center stage for, so that I can satiate the hyperfixation and figure out what he’s up to in the 42nd Millennium. I also plan to finish most of the World Eaters books, as that was the whole reason that I started reading the Heresy in the first place.

Betrayer is by far my favorite Warhammer novel. Fulgrim was my top for a while—I may be a closeted Emperor’s Children enjoyer, don’t tell Blood Daddy—but man. Betrayer blew it out of the fucking water. What an incredible ending to an incredible trilogy. My biggest takeaways were as follows: nobody fucking likes Angron, and Khârn is my favorite guy ever. Enough gushing, though. Time for painting stuff.

The second Ultramarine I’ve ever painted, weirdly enough. My first Ultramarine was my first model, so my second being a keychain-corpse for a new army is weirdly sentimental

Since we’re on the topic of Khorne, I finished up the torso of my old school Daemon Prince. I’m exceptionally proud of this! I think the shading and blending is maybe some of my best, most advanced painting yet, and I pulled out just about every technique that I know for this thing. I even did a little drybrushing on the Necron skull. Here’s to hoping I can maintain this level of quality across the other pieces of this mini once I get some more primer.

Getting some good use out of my technicals, and finally utilizing my skull box

Still on Khorne, here’s some more progress on those Bloodletters from last post. They’re just about done, complete with horn blending and everything. I’m planning on doing flaming blades for them, but I’ll have to buy some more paints before I tackle that. I’ve got a handful more of primed and based Bloodletters, so they’ll probably be my backup easy paint for a while. The bases are simple and easy to make, but decently visually effective, which I think is good and fitting for such a massed unit.

Next up, I decided to give highlighting a go with one of my newer Thunderbearers, since I’m trying to boost my painting technique all around. This is definitely my best highlighting work yet, certainly leagues ahead of my first try from last year. I think he looks pretty clean!

I’m also experimenting with new photography backgrounds since I got kinda sick of having pasta or hamster cage cleaner or whatever the fuck in the background of my poorly lit update pictures. Think I may have stumbled upon a good method for backgrounds.

I love you, empty white void

Last but certainly not least, I finished up the first bike for my lone Outrider Squad. I’m really happy with him, as well. The hardest part of painting these dudes is definitely base painting. They just have a lot of ground to cover with your brush so they absolutely devour paint, but it’s cool cause I finally finished him up after like, actual months of sitting half-painted in my vehicles box. I’m a particular fan of the little white lens glare in the top left of his eye. I just think it’s neat.

This unit is gonna be mad satisfying to finish, and I can’t wait to get more work done. In the meantime, I’m chugging away at my first 5-man Berzerker squad, including their bases, which are gonna be pretty unique. They’re like, black mountainous rocks littered with skulls and blood-stained snow. Alongside that, I’ve also been stripping my Custodes, so I’ll have a bit of an update about that next time, too.

#warhammer 40k #miniatures #painting #book club #adeptus astartes #chaos #thunderbearers #world eaters #khorne daemons

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neonscandal · 2 years ago

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Manga With Me: JJK Crackpot Theories (But Maybe Not) Rapid Fire Edition

I have had a lot of thoughts lately without any time to properly articulate them so let’s start the new year off with a shotgun blast of my least founded hot takes because, why not? Some of them might have some context clues but others might just be ideas I know I’ll never use for fanfics so, now, we all have to suffer. Enjoy my “What Ifs” and weigh in with your own. 👇🏾

⚠️ Spoiler warning: as these are rapid fire takes, covers info through current chapter of 209 and JJK0.

Nobara isn’t dead, Megumi was just paying Yuji back with his vagueness.

I just think it would be such an unhinged turn of events for Nobara to be largely okay but Megumi played the long game because how dare Yuji go along with Gojo’s half baked plan and force him to feel things for a sustained period of time?? Like, no real benefit to the plot in concealing her status except as a prank. I feel like Akutami would totally pull something like that too just for the sake of trolling. But if she came back as a critical plot point!? Even better, she deserved more shine. We also haven't seen a satisfying end to Nobara's need to reunite with Saori so I won't confirm her death until it's conveyed explicitly.

We haven't seen the best side of Miwa

I maintain the Akutami has been pretty good about tying in even the slightest of details (okay bit of dickriding here, I know). I've written about the fact that Miwa may not have such humble origins but I believe the last time we saw Miwa sets her up for a big awakening as well. The Tokyo and Kyoto schools differ in many ways as the latter tends to toe the more traditional line in agreement with the reigning jujutsu elders. Yaga, an indicator of the Tokyo school's tendency toward progressiveness, was considered odd with his cursed puppets and this eccentricity is foundational to those who work and attend the Tokyo school.

During Yuta's introduction, Maki makes it a point to mention that the weak always gather in packs, sorcerers and curses. We see countless times that Kyoto school executes as a pack, whether that is during the Goodwill Event or even when going after Kenjaku!Geto. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Gojo presses his students to go on missions appropriate for sorcerers of his caliber unsupervised. Where the elders and Kyoto seem to be intent on pacification and predictable power scaling, Tokyo is home to those the established order would consider abominations and would rather see gone. Those too weird (Yuji, Panda, Maki, the third years, I believe even Inumaki is a bit of an outcast) or those too powerful to control (Gojo, Yuta). So, the last time we saw little old Miwa... why was she alone? Because her powered up debut is loading. ✨

Megumi will be the one to exorcise Sukuna.

This is perhaps the rawest of theories considering. But Megumi’s technique requires him to summon and effectively exorcise a different animal curse in order to successfully wield it. We saw the eldritch horror he summoned as a final “fuck you” before Sukuna intervened and saved him (seriously, what was that?). So what if Megumi, in the end has the power to exorcise and wield Sukuna (a la Rika to Yuta)? Like... is this the best case scenario to save our sunshine boy, Yuji? This theory is held together by silly string but I am going to stake it on the fact that we were given the hopeless backstory of Gojo and Geto as how things had gone wrong. As the reader, should we not expect that that new iteration of this dynamic would prove to be more victorious? I'm just holding out hope. *weeps in Itafushi*

Megumi is an integral piece of the future of jujutsu and emotional damage is in the forecast

In many ways, this is already apparent. Gojo, following Toji's last directive, plucked Megumi and Tsumiki from their lives alone knowing the value of Megumi's technique and birthright. In cultivating Megumi's talent, we find out that centuries ago their ancestors were powerful enough to fight one another and we already know Gojo is OP. Megumi, unsure of himself and still developing will be a force to be reckoned with. We've seen it in glimpses already. This potential is something that Sukuna also covets which speaks volumes. We've seen with Gojo’s origin story (and Spider-Man) that great power leads to great responsibility. End game, I believe Megumi will be tasked with exorcising or killing Yuji out of necessity. But, if things in the box go horrendously wrong, I also think he'll be responsible for putting Gojo down. Hell, it might simply come down to a painful choice between Yuji and Gojo and we’ve already seen that Megumi trends toward Yuji’s preservation. I won’t say current events put a decision between Yuji or Tsumiki but 👀

Worse, I fear there will be a reckoning when he realizes he didn't have the full story behind what went down between Gojo and Toji. Either way, Gojo has cast Megumi as his equal and so has Akutami. Historically, this has ended tragically and Gojo's heart would simply be torn asunder to be undone by his own beloved protege.

Toji isn’t actually as much of a piece of shit.

This isn’t actually a plot development. I think we, as the readers, are meant to contextualize a few things to comprehend what may come to light about him. 1. He named Megumi “blessing” which leads me to believe that, while he was demonstrably awful, Megumi’s birth could have been a turning point. Tbh I think something happened to Megumi’s mom (well before Toji met Tsumiki’s mom) which sent him back down the spiral of being a degenerate and ultimately selling off his kid. I wonder how much the elders may have had to do with her death. Whether those be the Zenin or Jujutsu elders is really up in the air. 2. Akutami, in interviews, implied that Gojo wasn’t really a monogamous person in that they couldn’t see him settling down with one woman. Mind you, they then slowly reveal the deeper connection to Geto which fills in some gaps to what I'm considering a deliberate misdirection. So I’m wondering if the implication about Toji being a broke ass bum, while valid, has additional context yet to be seen.

Yuji hasn't seen the last of Yuko Ozawa

Again, this is a raw ass theory considering, I can't even lie and call it half baked. But wouldn't it be crazy if Yuko makes it to the end fight, perhaps similarly motivated as Kurusu with some cursed entity within her seeking Sukuna's head but she'll retain an affinity toward Yuji or something? Like why introduce her and that precious history with Yuji if she's not going to boomerang back into the story? Even if all she'll be is sentimental cannon fodder (I'm looking at you Junpei).

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crystalelemental · 10 months ago

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I have finished all of the Final Fantasy Pixel Remasters. That was pretty fun! Honest to god my initial reaction is to replay some of them immediately but I should probably put some distance on that. No promises. The last time I played most of these was...the GBA/DS remakes. So a while ago. Thoughts on each below.

Final Fantasy 1 Easily my favorite iteration of the game. I'm going to be honest with you, FF1 doesn't have a ton in its favor, but the game is simplified enough that, with the new mechanics, I can turn off all encounters, hit 4x EXP, just do boss fights, trapped chests, and forced encounters, and be done with the game in like 3 hours. If I'm ever just craving a quick thing, this is as quick as it gets, with none of the frustration.

Yeah, I'm gonna be honest, this is a common theme so to avoid repeating myself I'll say it once here: random encounters suck. It's why FF12 has been my favorite since it came out; I can just see where enemies are and explore how I wish, without getting bombarded by bullshit and back attacks and whatever else is going on. Turning those off as needed is divine. The tradeoff is that for some games, you then lose sense of progression and what level you are "supposed" to be at for what you're doing, and in those situations the 4x EXP is nice for quick grinding to catch you up. I will admit, however, that this can completely break the flow of the game, so I did try to keep encounters on at all times for most games, but I am more than satisfied going "fuck I'm lost again" and just turning off encounters for a minute while I get my bearings. This game just doesn't broadly appeal beyond its quick nature, so I'm more than satisfied just doing the boss run.

Final Fantasy 2 To avoid talking about the random chance level ups, I'm instead going to talk about two other things that make this my least favorite in the set: dungeon layout, and why you can't let me have things.

Dungeon layout is the fair criticism. Dungeons are overly complex and a pain in my ass to navigate. This is another I eventually broke and just turned off encounters while exploring, just because it was too many of them. Get the fuck out of my face, man, I'm trying to backtrack seven different staircases. Also the rooms. Almost all of them are empty, but you gotta check in case there's treasure, but if it is empty enjoy higher encounter rates for no real reason other than punishing your curiosity, you fool. It's just an overall frustrating experience with the randomness of stat boosts, and the pitifully slow grind of leveling spells.

The other is my own fault. Yeah, if there's one thing I remembered about this game from the Dawn of Souls era, it was the post-game heaven dungeon where you start as Minwu, and really want to be prepared. Early Mysidia felt like a must, and I decided fuck it, I remember how to do this, and prepared myself accordingly. Long story short, don't do this. You'll set yourself up for a position of being wildly overpowered the entire game, especially if you're an idiot, break after directions were given, forget where you're going and wind up going north to another high level area that gets you even more powerful, and now the whole thing is shot to shit. I like sequence breaking games, but I feel like this one is way more severe with any understanding of what you can get away with. And I will always optimize the fun out of my experience. Never let me do things.

Final Fantasy 3 This was my favorite experience. I played damn near the entire game without even touching the toggle for encounters. FF3 is a ton of fun. I enjoy getting to mess with customization options like the classes, and the lack of JP (ABP, whatever) makes it a lot more fluid. Sure, there's job level, but job level amounts to nothing. It's minor increases for the longer you work as that class, and it's nice but insubstantial. Which means it's fluid and engaging, because I can fun around and never find out anything too bad. Which is what I want; free flowing experimentation. I understand the original had some kind of penalty for job switching too often? Glad they got rid of that garbage.

If there's any strikes against it, it's class balance and the final dungeon. Crystal Tower into World of Darkness is like a 2+ hour affair, without save points, and Autosave doesn't carry over if you turn the game off. Do not do as I did and go in like an hour and a half before your usual winding down before bed time. You will not make it. Class balance is a bit of a mixed bag.

On the one hand, compared to 5, 3's classes tend to overlap a lot. The Earth Crystal is literally nothing but pure upgrades on early classes. Black/White Mage become Wizards gaining better offensive stats and more spell slots for higher tier spells, while Summoner is just Evoker with competence. Knight is just Fighter but better. Black Belt is just Monk but better. As a result, it distills into only a handful of meaningful distinctions anyway, with a couple offshoot classes that...suck. They suck. Ranger has no good weapons for late-game, Geomancer is a great mage alternative until endgame when everything's single-target, I have no idea what the point of Scholar is but I don't agree with it. I don't consider this a truly hideous detriment, but it lacks the same level of shenanigans 5 gets up to.

Final Fantasy 4 Fun fact: before 12 came out, this was my favorite, because I found it easy enough to be engaging, including the GBA superdungeon which was the only one I could beat, and Rydia was my baby child favorite. That last part is still true. The thing I didn't seem to remember is how...weird the story actually was. Like it's not particularly great. I don't think it's terrible, but it's not great. Mostly Kain's whole deal irritates me now.

But it is still fun! I think it's a much different experience. The moon still took forever to explore, but thanks to save points actually existing, you can break between things. Boss fights feel appropriately more difficult than most random encounters, with a decent number of gimmick bosses that require a bit more know-how to handle, and a few dungeons you can do out of sequence in the underground if you're ambitious. I think it's a very simple game to understand, with a pretty clear-cut approach to success. That said, there's like no customization. Characters are as they are, there's really nothing to consider aside from level. And your party is set, so there's no variation on what you can do.

Final Fantasy 5 5 was another really fun experience, though I cushion that with a major caveat. 5 was fun because of the toggle for 4x ABP, which made leveling jobs to find out what they did actually tolerable. Without this, job levels are unbearably hard to level up, with no indication of what you actually learn per level, that you may as well be shooting in the dark.

See, the fun of 5 is that you have your class, and you have one extra ability slot, taken from other class skills unlocked by leveling them up. For magic classes, that's "Magic Type Lv X," up to 6, where you can cast everything in that category. For physical classes, this is usually some form of "Equip my weapon type," alongside generalist skills. Some are better than others, and some are action commands that are much, much stronger, and are the basis for making really strong outcomes.

This is why I don't love the system as much as 3. To find out what you even have access to, you're made to slog through the physical classes to find out what other skills they're offering. Which takes somewhere around literally forever. Bosses will hand you like 5BP, for classes that need like 700 to max. If you don't know in advance where the good stuff is, there's a chance you've walked into options you don't need.

Granted, 5 is lax enough broadly that you can still make use of classes. Unlike 3's direct upgrades over time, 5 gives you almost all classes early, and all of them have interesting options for utility. So you can make use of anything. I think for my completionist ass, I'm looking at Omega and Shinryu and going fuck dude, how are you supposed to beat that without foreknowledge of some of the skills available? Wildly over-leveling? In a game with fairly poor EXP yields where I think I ended at around level 40? Not happening. Otherwise, the class imbalance isn't too bad, and is in some cases hysterical. You know there's a setting to toggle 4x gil received? Zeninagi on Samurai was already an instant-kill button half the time, and now you've made it a free action. Meanwhile summon magic late game feels kinda garbage. Flare and Holy outdamaged Bahamut no problem. It is really funny to see this reversal from 4. From Rydia's summons being bad all game because they're just overpriced spells on your Black Mage but endgame Bahamut being defining, to excellent low-cost AoE spells with good damage early and mid-game into kinda useless by endgame. It's just funny to see systems like these change over time, and how they try to adjust for balance.

I do think this was a surprisingly strong story and cast, too. I only remembered it being kinda goofy compared to the others as a kid, but having re-visited, I think it's a lot more earnest and impactful than I gave it credit for.

Final Fantasy 6 I'll be honest, it's very good, but depending on my mood, I'd say I like 3 and 5 better. I like being able to customize, and I think I actually like FF5's cast and story better than 6.

6 succeeds on being competent at everything, even if it's not the strongest in everything. Its story is well told and it sticks to its general themes of love and loss, and finding meaning in a bleak world. But I also think 5 did the "Defeat Nihilism through the Power of Connection" thing with a more diverse cast and emphasis on friendships and general human spirit, while 6 seems to focus more on romance and family in a way that makes a lot of character histories sound very same-y, in that a big chunk is "and then they died." There's a bit of customization, as far as selecting which members to bring along and how you distribute magicite for learning magic, but nowhere near the level of complexity you can find in 5. I'd also say the AP system in 6 is wildly slow, but at least there it's more concentrated to "just learn the spells you need" and you actually know exactly what you're signing up for. Though I personally don't care for making decisions between good spells or good stats early on, my min-maxing ass is bad with these kinds of things. I know it's a problem.

I do think it has an inverse problem to 5, where the random encounters feel devastating in several locations, but only one boss ever gave me any difficulty, and it was because I was suffering from success (It was the tunnel digger in Locke's route early game; turns out if you have the Hermes Sandals on him or Celes the Runic timing gets thrown off and it cooks you, but without that it's super easily won; my bad but for stupid reasons, I feel). Almost every game over was due to back attacks, which are damn near constant in this game. Some areas I counted and literally had more sneak attacks on me than regular encounters. Meanwhile, bosses go down like sacks of shit, because magic is hysterically overpowered. Yeah yeah, Kefka's god now or whatever, but can he survive Relm Dualcasting Flare for max damage twice per round? No, he's just going to eat shit from this level 40 ten-year-old? Radical. This may be personal preference, but if FF1's blurb wasn't an indication, I much prefer "easy encounters, difficult bosses." Ideally, no encounters. Just ping-pong me from boss to boss. I feel like I could actually do that in 6 if it wasn't for AP needed to learn spells.

Future Plans I'm thinking of getting 7 and 9 if they ever go on sale again. I really don't want to play 8. I remember playing 8, my wife had commented on it being a formative game for her so I played it long, long ago before we were even dating, but it was so bad I can't do it again. 10 I'm on the fence about, because I do like the gameplay for 10, but we tried watching a playthrough of 10 and she couldn't stand it so maybe not. My laptop is dying, and so is my wife's, so we've tossed around finally getting a proper PC that can like...play games and shit. So who knows, maybe I'll finally play past 12 in this series. Miracles do happen.

#final fantasy pixel remaster

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lordmayokcorner · 2 years ago

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aespa My World - Album Review

-- image: euphoriazine --

After what feels like a lifetime, SM Entertainment’s aespa has finally dropped their new mini album My World. The group released a whopping 4 prereleases, always a red flag in my opinion. That said, I think that this EP has the potential to be a big hit among fans. This is a pretty noticeable departure from their original sound, but I see it as a good thing. Despite my bias being Ningning, we all have to admit that Blonde Karina is a massive slay.

I’ll listen to each song 3 times and rate them afterward. Each song will be rated on a scale of 1-10 with 5 being completely neutral, 1 being my least favorite song, and 10 being the best songs ever. Please take my rating with a grain of salt, my goal is to be honest, no hate :)

Welcome To MY World (feat. nævis) - 8

First off, is that vocaloid I hear? Something similar nonetheless. We start off with a somewhat ominous but sweet guitar riff. When the refrain hits, the bass is incredible and super smooth. Ningning is killing it on the refrain! (or chorus depending on how you see it). As the song progresses, it continuously builds to hit harder and harder, adding drums, strings, more bass, synths, harmonies, backups, and the vocaloid-esque nævis lines. In the verses the autotune is quite excessive, but the chorus sounds more tasteful to me. That said, I still love this song!

Spicy - 9

This song has much more power than the previous. The sound design of the synth bass is seriously impressive and pleasing to the ear. The production is done by Moonshine, an absolute beast in the kpop scene. Peek-A-Boo, Naughty, and Forever 1, just to name a few. The rap in the verse feels like a cross between the Irene rap in Dumb Dumb and Robyn’s Konichiwa B*tches. The chorus slaps. So. Hard. All the pitch sliding in the vocals and synths gives this song a jazzy, danceable feel. There are elements of Illusion, but other than that it’s a new sound for aespa.

Salty & Sweet - 7.5

This song continues the trend of excellent sound design in the bass. The vocal processing is also quite nice. The master is a little quiet compared to the other songs which is a bit disappointing, but if you turn up the volume it’s just fine. This one reminds me a bit of Savage, and both of them aren’t exactly revolutionary, though I do prefer this song. The production is super satisfying, perhaps even more than Spicy, but the songwriting could use some work. A hard-hitting funky track that can be a little boring if you aren’t really focusing on the sounds.

Thirsty - 6

They’re going for a Red Velvet style R&B track here. It’s debatable whether or not they pull it off. I personally don’t think aespa is made for this style, but it does sound pretty good. Once again, heavy autotune that at times is distracting. I don’t think aespa really needs as much autotune as SM gives them! The production is also not quite as exquisite as the previous 3 tracks. I’m a sucker for this style though, being as much of a Reveluv as I am.

I’m Unhappy - 7

Another R&B feel to this song. Aespa is really bringing the groove in this EP, I must say. I love the vocals, particularly in the chorus, my God! Everything besides the chorus doesn’t really stand out to me as much however. The rap parts aren’t that impressive, but that’s not necessarily the goal. The slight vocal fry and growl in the “I’m unhappy” just adds to the aggressively cool sound of the song. I think that Giselle and Karina in particular absolutely nail it. Thumbs up aespa 👍

‘Til We Meet Again - 5

The song begins with some beautiful bells, strings, and soft vocals. The acoustic guitar that enters afterward isn’t exactly for me though. The chorus cements this song as a power ballad. There’s nothing wrong with this song, I just don’t really see anything that notable in it. It’s a decent song, it just happens to be extremely similar to almost every end song ballad in kpop. I feel like there would be better ways to end this album, but this isn’t necessarily a bad way to do it.

Final Thoughts

This must be the 10th time I’ve mentioned groove in this review, but this comeback really embodies the word. I certainly think this is a good direction for aespa. I like their older concepts too, but I think progressing as a group is very important. In my eyes, if they keep reinventing and developing their sound, they possibly have the ability to overtake groups with more defined, static sounds such as Blackpink, who they are often accused of imitating. That however is a whole other debate. I found this album to be generally impressive, particularly on the production side. SM undeniably has the best producers of the big 3, at least from my opinion as an amateur producer and sound designer. I give this album an overall score of 7, with my favorite song being the banger that is Spicy, the title track. Thank you for reading, let me know what your thoughts are on any of this!

- Maya

#album review #aespa #kpop gg #aespa girls #music review #music reaction #new release #kpop album

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firefromthegodspro · 6 months ago

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Final Game Jam Dev Log: It seems we have reached... an end

Greetings, greetings, fair Tumblr. Tis I, local crackpot wizard Fire. It's currently 2:30 in the morning, and as I type this part of the post, Messier Mystes' prototype is uploading to Itch.io for submission into the Jam!

It's admittedly not... great, I did run out of time to get it to a point I wanted. But it is at the very least functional. Lacking cutscenes, balance, and quality. But functional.

Safe to say, this is the farthest I've gotten on a creative project not meant for a class, so I'm both relieved I managed to finish something (I am literally that one Jimmy Neutron villain IRL), and disappointed I couldn't even polish the vertical slice I made.

So before we talk about the bad, let's talk about the good!

I've literally never made a game before, so just the fact I did this is an accomplishment to me. Like genuinely. I was given RPG Maker MV in high school as a gift, and I've never been able to sit down and release something playable, so this was insanely satisfying! Even if I don't win anything or I get bad reviews, I'm just happy to be here.

Additionally, as scuffed as my Timetable system is, the fact I managed to make a semi-functional one abusing If/Else statements, Common Events, and Variables makes me proud. I problem solved, and while it is basic I think it's somewhat creative for my first foray into the engine.

Now onto the "what I'm disappointed about" section.

I am extremely disappointed that I didn't budget my time well at all. I really should've either chosen a smaller scope, or focused hard on a vertical slice, but I didn't manage to. It led to me cutting a lot of corners in the final hour, and I'm unhappy with it. It kinda sucks to me I didn't manage to even implement music or cutscenes properly, but its whatever.

Enjoy this Rouxls Kaard gif as a line break.

SO! What are my plans for the future?

Well, near future, I'm taking a couple days and binging both FGO and Tsukihime. I managed to NP2 Arc on the Anniversary banner, so I feel obligated to consume her route in the VN as quickly as possible. I haven't exactly been only game devving, but I do wanna take a couple days and let my creative juices refill.

I'm bone dry, man!

Secondly, in the slightly less-near future, I need to focus on my novel. I've let Quest for the Sacred Sword fall by the wayside, and I wanna get more progress put into that before I hop back onto Messier.

But never fear! My middling Dev Blogs and game development talents will return.

In terms of what's in store for the future, obviously things like adding cutscenes... adding the Social Link-type mechanic, and all of that is on the docket. But I also need to redesign my dungeons to meet my initial vision for them. Additionally, while I might stick with the ad hoc bootleg Timekeeping system, I definitely want to refine it a bit more if I don't outright replace it.

I also need to seriously overhaul my spell list. I have a perfectly fine basic outline, but as I implemented it I realized I forgot to focus on where the spells would fall in the level tree...

Yeah, again, I've never really done this before.

So revamping that is a must.

I also need to improve my map designs. I have some pretty basic ones, but improvements can always be made, and I want to make them.

That all being said, I'll still be posting here, just not Game Dev stuff. Probably more random thoughts, novel updates, or random garbage essays I come up with about my hyper fixations. The Wordpress (with a total of 1 post) is going to go silent for now, and will return when important updates exist. I'm still going to be working on Messier slowly in the background, but I won't really talk about it until I have something significant to show off.

Whelp, as of this line its just shy of 2:50 and I have to be up at 8 for work. The game's uploaded and submitted by now, so I'm going to go crash.

Walking the path of heaven to rule over everything.

-Fire

#game development #rpg maker #game design #messier mystes #development update #game jam #final update

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smokeybrandreviews · 1 year ago

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Sail Away

Man, it has been a clean minute since I've had the opportunity to post consistently. The tail end of this year has been absolutely ridiculous. Life comes at you fast and i have been run over (figuratively and quite literally, twice), so i can't tell you how happy i am to see 2023 give way to 2024. New year, new me, as they say. But, before we progress into the future, i wanted to at least tie up some loose ends here and there, starting with my grand adventure through Azur Lane. Contrary to my radio silence here, I've been pretty active on my weirdly chosen Gacha experience and have made quite a bit of progress since my last check in. I believe the last update i made was about two months ago and, in a gacha game, that's an eternity so, here i am, making up for that long ass gap in time. This is going to be a big one, so bear with me.

Anemia

This year has been kind of an Iron Blood drought and i hate. I am a KMS main and the lack of more Kraut girls has been hard. I appreciate what we did get, particularly the new Priority boats and Bismarck Zwei, but coming of last year where we were lousy with German content, this year was kind of a letdown. Still, I certainly capitalized on what was available, particularly grinding out those PR6 ships with fervor. I did notice coming up with Blueprints for those ships, after they were initially completed, has been like pulling eye teeth but i have made solid progress on that front. Felix Schultz and Hindenburg were completed fairly quickly and i was even able to stack up enough Blueprints to hit Felix with a Fate Simulation but i am SO far off of that for Hindy. Bro, these Rainbow PR blueprints are a CHORE to grind! I've been chasing Hindy's for months! The second she was completed, they just disappeared! It's like the game is forcing me to try and construct the other boats but, like, i don't wanna? I just want my goddamn Krauts to be the best they can be. Speaking of Fate Simulations...

Push It To The Limit

Friedrich Der Grosse got one! Why the f*ck would you buff this powerhouse any further? I think this happened super early in the year but i can't remember. Obviously, i had the Blueprints to make this happen and i, for sure, pulled that trigger immediately. Fried was already a mainstay in my dock as she was before but after that unlock? Man, you'd be hard pressed to find a better ship to lead your KMS fleet. The Fate Simulation drops this year have been very interesting. Like, Fried got one early on, but then Prinz Rupprecht got one, too. We're talking a PR2 ship, followed relatively closely by a PR5? Like, Ruppie got hers before Aegir. How does that math work? WHY did the math work out like that? Aegir is a f*cking monster, but so is Fried, so if you're going to buff her, why not the other? I'm not complaining, i mean, i really am, but petulance aside, what since does this make? One Decisive per Faction a year or something? Shenanigans, sir, shenanigans.

Ultra Light Beams

We had two Rerun events this year which allowed me to net two of the three missing UR ships i needed. I was able to pop both New Jersey and, more importantly, Shima-f*cking-zake! Bro, I've been chasing that rabbit since her initial run two years ago and finally - FINALLY - added her to my Sakura Empire dock. I cannot stress to you how satisfying it was when that reveal cut to her little intro animation. This sense of accomplishment just washed all over me. Actually, in hindsight, this has been the year of the UR. We had those Reruns, but we also got Unzen, Bismarck Zwei, Yorktown II (kind of), and Implacable, were all released this year. Obviously, i ran those Banners hard and popped them all but Manjuu didn't stop there. The current event, Light-Chasing Sea of Stars, is offering two UR entries for Eagle Union! I already rolled enough of the first, Guam, to fully Limit Break her. all that's left now is to grind out enough of those f*cking Bunbun UR Vouchers, to buy Laffey II. Considering I'm still chasing the ghosts of Vanguard and Kronshtadt, there's no way I'm going to miss the opportunity to add Laffey the 2nd in her native Event. Also, i miscounted the men. I was missing four URs initially. Thank god for the Lite Rerun.

Horrors of the Deep

I have to say, that Tempesta dock got a huge biff out of nowhere this year. I thought it was just going to be Royal Fortune as a one off. Apparently, that was never the case. We got an entire Fleet of eldritch nightmares. These weird ass ghost ships got a whole as event unto themselves, filled with cannonballs and tentacles. That Tempesta and the Fountain of Youth minor event was quite interesting. I actually went into it rather haphazardly. I had no intention of actually completing it, i just wanted to pop Golden Hind. Ended up kind of completing the entire banner. As of right now, i have every available Tempesta ship and it feels odd? I never use them but they have become my third favorite Fleet in the game, based strictly on aesthetic. I'm particularly fond of Mary Celeste, Golden Hind, and Sao Martinho. Obviously, Royal Fortune, Adventure Galley, and Whydah, also chart up there but those first three? Yeah, i can count them in the upper ranks of my favorite ships, which almost exclusively consists of Iron Blood boats. I might, if i have time later, properly raise that Fleet up but i kind of feel like i have enough to do at the moment.

Spoils of War

I've been playing Azur Lane for about three years now and, for the first time ever, i maxed out both oil and coins. I didn't even know coins had a cap. It was weird not being able to disassemble gear because i had too much cash. To be perfectly honest with you, i rarely have less than around four hundred thousand coins at any given time, mostly because the sh*t available for purchase with them, sucks. Who buys Blue Tech Boxes? Why would anyone invest in that? I mean, i get it, if you're brand new, you need all the equipment you can get but for someone like? Someone who stays gilded? Yeah, that's ridiculous. I ended up have in to cash out the entire shop, related it, and cash it out again, just to lose enough coin in order to continue the grind. All in all, even though the Events were kind of few and far in between, I had a pretty solid time with my money pit of a Gacha game. Azur Lane didn't come with the heat like last year but it was still a solid adventure worth giving a proper goodbye. 2024, you were definitely a mixed bag for me on those high seas but you were totally worth it in the end. Here's to the future and, hopefully, a few more UR Reruns and a couple more Iron Blood Carriers. Maybe combine the two and give me a goddamn Rainbow Kraut Carrier!

#Azur Lane

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smokeybrand · 1 year ago

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Sail Away

Anemia

Push It To The Limit

Ultra Light Beams

Horrors of the Deep

Spoils of War

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hyperobsession · 1 year ago

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Just read last published chapters of Komi Can't Communicate so here I am to scream my opinions into the void.

Firstly it is still ongoing so now I'm in waiting game with yet another manga.

Secondly great rom-com/coming-of-age story. The social anxiety of main and some supporting characters is described in such fine detail that you will find yourself in at least few of the situations shown in the manga. Character progression can be easily seen on the whole cast ,most clearly on Komi. And second main character Tadano is really relatable, mainly because he speaks about his emotion more than Komi. (Spoilers!) Both love triangles that happened so far were great. In first Tadano finally built up courage to confess to Komi (after 300 chapters! 💀) with help of the Mangabi's confession to him. And I personally related a bit too much with Kawai in some parts of second love triangle (Tadano and Komi are the rest of the triangle again). Most satisfying part of the manga is how Komi's and Tadano's relationship is advancing and how Komi can speak longer and with more people. And the 100 friends goal is pretty precise teller of Komi's goal and how close she is to it. Supporting cast is really numerous (because of the 100 friends goal) and I feel that mostly they are really interesting and fleshed out characters (maybe not the last few but that did not have enough pagetime). For example Katai is simple yet interesting character with similar problem as Komi but with very different outcomes of the noncommunication because of he looks a lot different than Komi. Manga in some chapters focuses on other people like Komi's brother or Mangabi's new relationship but it always circles back to the main pair in the next one. (Spoilers end!)

So all in all great reading, I would recommend this to all fans of rom-coms or coming-of-age stories. It really soothes the soul. Although it can shove romantic failings of the readers right into their face. I can't wait for the ending.

#komi can't communicate #manga #opinions of the obsessed one #oooo

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futuresconnected · 1 year ago

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Dec. 17th 2023: Yakuza Kiwami and Granblue Fantasy Versus

Happy Sunday everyone, and welcome to my inaugural journal entry in this project! Lets get into it.

First up! Over the last few weeks I have been playing through Yakuza Kiwami, the 2016 remake of 2005's Yakuza by Ryu Ga Gotoku Studios. I am still very much new to this franchise, but by the nature of being in and around many internet spaces that talk about Japanese games, I have come to know Kazama Kiryu (the main character of most of these games) as if he were a friend of my own.

I played the 7th game in the series, Like A Dragon, back when it came out in 2020, having played at that point half of Yakuza 0 in 2018 and enjoying my time with it even if I fell off and only just recently went back to it. I loved my time with Like a Dragon, and felt that despite a lot of the growing pains of that franchise moving from action-based to turn-based gameplay, RGG really had something on their hands with their new protagonist and game structure. However, I sure was missing a LOT of context, half-remembering playthroughs of Yakuza 4 watched on Youtube and the half-explained recaps of the other games that game provided. With that, I am endeavoring to make my way through this series before I play the upcoming Infinite Wealth. I have absolutely no aspirations to do it all before that game comes out, I think trying to shove six relatively similar games into a few months would be a fools errand, but I am setting a goal for myself to try and get through them all in the next year.

So after finally finishing my 5-year (on and off) playthrough of Yakuza 0 recently, I kept the momentum up and immediately booted up Kiwami. Without knowing much of what has been changed or updated from its original incarnation, my main thoughts at this point are that I am enjoying the combat in the game more than I expected, but I find that this game has a bit less of the heart of 0, at least as far as the substories are concerned. I feel that there were more memorable side characters and side plots in that game than in this one, while the main plot is still full of that same deeply dramatic goodness that I found in 0 and Like A Dragon.

However there are still some heavy hitters to be found in the side cast! The one that has been sticking in my mind strongly is the story of Rina, one of the cabaret club girls that Kiryu can "date" in this game. Rina comes out the gate swinging by letting Kiryu know that the main reason she took the job of cabaret hostess is because she's gay and gets to spend all her time surrounded by cute girls, while Kiryu (friend to all) is a bit confused but ultimately enjoys helping her sort out the joys and frustrations that she experiences as she tries her best to put herself out there and date some ladies.

Her story really gets to the heart of what I have enjoyed about these games so much, and what makes Kiryu such a fun character to play. For as much time as he spends in the criminal underworld avoiding death at every turn, he's just as happy to make a new connection and do his best to help them get (or keep) their life on track as best he can. (Its also very funny that despite the above screenshot, you do get a gravure video of her as a reward at the end anyway, video games!)

My main other thoughts on this game are that I'm enjoying finding Majima around the city and beating him up, and the character progression feels pretty good once you get the ball rolling on new Heat Moves, more health and meter, and all that good stuff. I think I still feel that the combat in these games is distinctly OK, especially when I've played plenty of other combat-based RPGs that felt much tighter, more intuitive, and satisfying to pull off. However, seeing Kiryu absolutely beat the shit out of someone in a new way when you get a new Heat Move is always going to be fun, that ain't going away.

I'm a bit over halfway done with the main plot of the game, sitting in chapter 8 of 12 or so, and I'm certainly not going to try and go for full completion, but I plan to hit up the Pocket Circuit and do more of those quests, as well as getting more of the Dragon Style moves back from Majima's old mentor in West Park, so please look forward to my continuing adventures in this game.

FGC Corner!

I'll be wrapping up each week with a brief look at how things are going in my journey to be a competent player of Fighting games.

As we speak I am a Plat 3 Cammy in Street Fighter 6, the result of months of hard work and daily play, and I can see the path ahead of me to keep up that grind. The goal is to get to Diamond and eventually Master Ranks, and attend my first National Major at Combo Breaker 2024.

But for now there's a new guy on the scene, and his name is Siegfried.

This guy has everything I want, which is mostly heavy armor and a big-ass sword to swing around! I've been greatly enjoying Granblue Fantasy Versus Rising, and can already feel that this is gonna be a game i'm gonna devote some serious time to. I'm gonna start by learning Siegfried here, and also want to spend some time learning Cagliostro and Narmaya, two other characters that are in new archetypes for me. It's a real saucy game, and I can't wait to see how it develops!

That's all for now, thanks for reading through this. Let me know if you have any thoughts you'd like to share, and I'll see you next week!

#futuresconnected #dec 2023 #ryu ga gotoku #kazuma kiryu #granblue versus

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mikroaaurora · 2 years ago

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wassup 2023

_____________________

Wow its almost been a year since I’ve written here which i guess means that i haven’t been doing too bad to have needed an outlet to write on or maybe it’s just that i rather burden my friends with my issues, but 2022 was definitely a year for me.

Honestly its crazy because it doesn’t feel like I’ve done much in the past year but looking back on it now I think I’ve achieved quite a bit I could say, and grown a lot as a person (at least I hope).

I feel like I should start this with a list of new year resolutions then get into reflecting about my year but maybe I’ll change it up and look back first.

So damn where do I begin, i started the year off feeling miserable I guess (remember that dance group that I mentioned being kicked out of) yeah, it took a toll on me much more than I would have liked it to. I was stuck in a place where i grieved my old friends, grieved dance and everything in between. I was torn between going back to dance with a different studio or just giving up and calling it quits after about 16 years of doing this. But unfortunately as much as I wanted to leave dance it didn’t want to leave me, I always caught myself dancing along to music, still practicing choreos in my head, it would not go, I couldn’t stop it, and it annoyed me because for something that used to bring me so much joy only made me sad because as much as I wanted to dance with others, as much as my friends convinced me to join another group, I just wanted to be dancing with my old friends again. And to be honest I did join a dance project with others, it was fun! I made some really good friends and although it was tough mentally and physically I was very happy with the end result and very proud of me and my team.

Unfortunately, I still wasn’t satisfied, it didn’t feel the same and I had to tell myself that it wasn’t even going to feel the same. I wanted to go back to my old dance crew but I knew how much I hated the leaders, how awkward it would be between us, how most of my close friends has already left, or how it would bring back all of the stress and complications that I had in the first place, I just wouldn’t feel happy I guess, and so I had to keep reminding myself that (also the fact that I continuously shit talked the studio so much I feel like my friends would laugh at me if I ended up going back despite my hate love relationship lol).

Anyways it took me months of trying to convince myself and moving past this to finally and I mean FINALLY be happy with where I am. It was tough and I was very mentally distressed but now I can proudly say I’m a dance teacher at a studio I love and I have great friends around me and have officially lead my own first project! it’s kinda surreal and makes me a little emotional to think of how years ago I was struggling so much to even just audition to get into a group and now I’m a teacher? Crazy! I’ve also started to notice a lot of progression within my dance abilities which is making me excited and motivated to keep pushing, I also found the courage to post on Instagram and tiktok wow since an old friend who’s pretty popular within the dance community encouraged me to.

Okay enough talk about dance, some other things that really made my 2022 was starting a new job midway into the year and making really good friends! (I feel like we’re too close to call colleagues haha) The job itself is bearable I guess, it’s the toughest job I’ve worked but the people there are making me able to put up with it I guess.

I guess I also just started being more positive, and had a more positive outlook on life, I started feeling excited for things more often and would try my best to go out more and experience more things and so I guess you could say 2022 was a learning year for me.

So new years resolutions damn I feel like I have the same few every year but I’m hoping (god please I really am) that I’ll be able to fulfill them this year. Mhm here we are:

workout consistently!

spend less time on social media

stop caring about people that treat you badly!! let go of them for good !!

be my own person, don’t spend so much time trying to be someone else

be serious in learning italian

save save save money !!

care more about my appearance lol

study hard !!

self motivation

explore different genres of music

outside more

start drawing again >>> webtoon?

All of these are pretty much self explanatory but I really want to focus on being my own person! For the longest time I’ve spent so much of my energy looking at others and comparing myself? Trying to look like others, I mean not to a big extent but just wishing I looked like that person, wishing I lived like someone else and I feel like I’ve already started to move past that the past few months because I’m doing thinks that I want to do, that make me happy. I just want to be my own person, look at my features and go “how can I enhance myself” figure out my own style (which is still getting there) and just not have to think about looking and living like someone else. I want to be truthful to myself.

#motivation #homebody #journal #productive #art

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snake-and-mouse · 2 years ago

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Hey, I see that you really love kimchay as a ship and I was just wondering what makes them so great to you. I'll be honest, out of all the ships on KP, they interest me the least and I'd love to be more invested in them. What's their appeal to you? (maybe it'll convince me to get more into them)

Hmmmm okay so this one takes some thought, and buckle down because it's going to get loooong and rambley lmao. For one let's start by saying I do not honestly think they are the best ship in the show, I do not talk about them the most and come up with more meta about them because I like them more than kinnporsche or vegaspete. When it comes down to it, I think I engage with them more because I'm more interested in how they actually develop and more invested in how they end, as well as the message their story tells. Which, yes is a little confusing as a distinction to make lol.

With kinnporsche and vegaspete, I usually come away from each new episode with an overall feeling of being satisfied with how they are progressing that doesn't particularly inspire the kind of fandom brainrot I have for kimchay. And, this may sound a little heartless, but quite honestly from a writing point of view I would have no objections to kinnporsche or vegaspete having an unhappy ending. In fact there were a few times where blatantly said I think Kinn dying would be a satisfying end to his storyline. Like yes it would emotionally cripple me 😂 I would mourn like Vegas with his fucking hedgehogs if any one on the main couples died or even if they broke up. But from a writing standpoint, it would not be a bad choice and I would respect it, and I really do tend to try and watch these shows with the mindset of both a fan and an author.

Kimchay tho? I've said from the beginning that this is a particular kind of narrative that seems so purposefully set apart from the rest of the story, so well positioned as this almost mirror world to the rest of the plot, that I both never know where it's going and am also so sure that the only satisfying ending could be a happy one. Mostly because Porchay, like I love Kim but most of the reasons I am obsessed with this ship are because Porchay is a very specific archetype of character that drives me insane.

I've compared him to Lan Sizhui from mdzs before, and it's pretty accurate, the child born into a dark environment who is both innocent and sheltered and yet intrinsically shaped by the tragic events of his life, his happy demeanor only one side of a coin, the other being a heartbreaking sadness and an untapped strength that the narrative is pushing him to finally use. Porchay is a cringey adorable inexperienced teenager, yes. But he is only just that if you only give him the briefest of passing thoughts.

Enter Kim, and as many wattpad y/n jokes as I've made, what Porchay has with Kim is in my opinion anything but a celebrity crush. Well, obviously it starts as that, but even then. Porchay gets his first interaction with Kim because he is someone who sees the details, the little things. He's not just another fanboy, he's studied Wik's music and videos like he's tried to get down to the marrow of how he ticks. And they have him say from the very first tutoring session, he's not just here for Wik, he's here for every side of Kim that he's willing to show. And he toes this perfect line between saying what he wants and never breaking Kim's boundaries and the growing comfort he gets around the teen. And you can see Kim completely falls for it. He's got practiced aloofness down to a fucking art, and yet we see it crack and show genuine amusement and fondness over and over again.

And with the later episodes we can see how big of a deal that is, because literally the only other time we see Kim lose his control is when he's angry. In my opinion, giving into positive emotions is a much bigger tell than giving into anger. Kim not being able to resist kissing Porchay says way more than him being willing to shoot someone for him, and this is also a message the narrative itself tells us.

Take kinnporsche for example. For them, the moments that mattered were the ones they gave into being soft, being tender, being open with each other. Stolen kisses, wandering hands, harsh words becoming private whispers. These were the moments that were ultimately rewarded. Kinnporsche is a show that says violence and pain can be your life but you can still find meaning in allowing in love and kindness. And it's why I really really believe kimchay can't have an unhappy ending, because this is not a show that punishes people for being like Porchay, it's a show that says the choices he's made are how you find hope.

So. Because I have to stop talking at some point. Kimchay. A story about a young man who was raised by his brother to be a kind, honest, loving person, who always reaches for what he wants and pushes the man he is falling in love with to open up and give into tenderness and honesty, while Kim fights every step and tries to remain the cold cruel person the world made him into. That is the story I am obsessed with, and why I love these two.

#kinnporsche #kinnporsche the series #kimchay

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snow-in-the-desert · 4 years ago

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Dramione Recommendations

Ok so, 2020 has been A LOT but on a personal note one of the most surprising things to happen was me discovering Dramione fanfiction and becoming unashamedly obsessed with it. I really didn’t see that coming but I’m here now and I’m here to stay.

I think I started reading in the Dramione fandom around mid July last year?? (In all honesty I’ve lost any true sense of time’s progression at this point so I could be well off the mark with that) And I’ve decided to compile a list of all my favourite fics I’ve read so far. Why? I really just want to gush over all the amazing writers I have found through this fandom because y’all deserve it.

Side note: If any of the authors actually sees this post just dm so I can buy you coffee or post you writing supplies or something idk I feel like that’s the least I can do for all your amazing work x

Remain Nameless by @heyjude19-writing

Ok I have to start with RN because this fic is pretty much the sole reason I decided to create an account with A03 or a tumblr or just decided to get involved with this fandom at all.

I headcannon this story hard. But I think even if you aren’t a fan of Dramione you should just read this because it is so unbelievably good and well written and poignant and Draco’s sarcastic personality in this is truly a thing of beauty in this - I relate to his inner monologue’s on a deep personal level.

I could rave about this story any time, any day of the week, just ask me. In fact, maybe I’ll just start a HeyJude19 fan club to fulfill that urge.

There are so many elements that I love but for the sake of brevity, RN is a beautifully told story of Draco and Hermione finding love and healing in a post-war HP setting. Heyjude19 had the very special ability of making me want to simulatenously laugh, cry and swoon with the power of her words. Just stop what you are doing and go read it now if you havent already, ok?

I also really enjoyed reading Bells on a Hill, Beers, Potions and Unwise Notions and A Shift in Focus, if you are looking for smaller fics, definitely give these a go. They are all funny and heartfelt stoires that will make your tippy toes wriggle with glee.

The Rights and Wrongs Series by @lovesbitca8

The Right Thing To Do, All The Wrong Things and The Auction are the holy trinity of Dramione writing. I have christened it thus, so mote it be. And frankly I’m not interested in any other opinion than that one, thank you very much!

After reading this series I don’t think I’ll be able to look back on the orginal HP books without thinking of Hermione’s and Draco’s memories of their time at Hogwarts in these fics as anything other than strictly cannon.

So many things to love about this series but I think one of the major highlights was Hermione and Draco’s use of occlumency. LoveBitca8 created such beautiful visuals with how occlumency works as a magical practice and seeing Draco and Hermione so devoted to eachother to the point of safeguarding their inner most feelings to protect eachother was unbelievably romantic and poetic.

Also the smut is divine ;)

Manacled by @senlinyu

My heart will never be the same after reading this story. Like I actually can’t think about this fic without getting a lump at the back of my throat. I have never felt so emotionally ruined after reading anything, compared to the likes of this fic. Just please, please read it. To badly quote HP, reading Manacled will make you suffer but you’re going to be happy about it.

The flashbacks are a rollercoaster in of themselves but the way Hermione inadvertently refers to them when she is still in a state of memory loss was so heartbreaking to read. My heart still aches for them both. Also its a truly satisfying to see Draco and Hermione written in a way were they are both so fiercly protective of one another. They make my insides go soft.

I also really enjoyed Snow Fall, Now Is A Gift and All You Want by the author but to be honest anything written by Senlinyu is always thoroughly enjoyable and worth a look.

The Erised Effect by @adaprix

Ada is QUEEN of dramione smut but ‘The Erised Effect’ is top tier. Its equal parts funny, romantic, sentimental and oh so sexy. Ada really knows how to build and build on sexual tension and doesn’t disappoint on the final delivery. I’m a big admirer of her writing style and just veraciously read whatever she posts but ‘The Erised Effect’ is just golden. A must read. (Also Pansy’s sexual fantasy in this story is a visual I don’t think I’ll ever be able to remove from my brain so thanks for that Ada)

Also quick side note: Adaprix’ stories were the first I read when I was looking into this fandom and it was enough to get me hooked on the pairing from the get go so I have that to thank Ada for too. I remember devouring all the stories she had posted to A03 and when I was done I was like... now what am I supposed to do with my life?? And that’s basically when I began to look deeper into the fandom and thus the course of my life in 2020 changed for the better.

Some other stories I love by her are Break for Me, All My Sins, The Big 4-0, The Fucklust Series and The Flat in Bath.

Clean by @olivieblake

This 6th Year AU where Draco and Hermione work together on a class assignment and end up falling in love had me feeling all kinds of ways when I read it. I almost don’t know where to start but I think one of the stand out things for me was how immersed I felt in reading it.

Hogwarts is captured really well, you get a good sense of class atmospheres, character nuances and behind the scenes of events that happen in HBP but from a Draco and Hermione’s perspectives. It’s well executed and intricate tapestry of a fic. With an excellent plot twist ending!

Also Hermione and Draco’s relationship in this is equal parts fluffy and smutty and it just ticks all the right boxes that you want to see for those characters ;)

Breath Mints / Battle Scars by @onyx-and-elm

The angst in this one is just *chef’s kiss*

God I love this fic. The way Draco is portrayed is very true to his defensive and tetchy character in the original books but he is also given so much more depth. The way his diary entries are written are just so well executed. It’s a true testament to the author’s creative writing skill. And I LOVE how even though Draco is clearly in such a messed up place, he still has a basic level of self respect and dignity that he won’t tolerate being used or undervalued in his relationship with Hermione.

Yep, I really love Draco’s characterisation in this one if you can’t tell. But Hermione is also well written too. Her stuggles and trauma of returning to Hogwarts after war is described in a believable and grounded way. And my heart definitely ached for them both. I just wanted to wrap the pair of them in a big fuzzy blanket and tell them that everything will be alright.

WANDS OUT! by @persephonestone

This murder mystery / Dramione / Theo x Harry / AU crossover is everything I didn’t know I wanted until I read it. I felt like I was picked up and plonked right into an alternative dimension where all the characters of HP are just living it up in an Agatha Christie novel.

It’s a funny and clever story that I found refreshing to read amongst all the other fanfics that are usually cemented in the HP timeline or universe. Theodore Nott in this fic is perfection he should be written like this in every fic from now on in my opinion. I couldn’t stop giggling any time he had a scene in the story.

And the ‘only one bed’ trope in this fic is 10/10. I don’t want to give spoilers but ohmygod. It hits all the right notes.

The One With Technical Difficulties by cassielassie

Cassielassie has an excellent three part series of Dramone called ‘The One with...” but I have to give special credit to this story in particular for one main reason. ELEVATOR TROPES. I can’t get enough of em. I think I have my early childhood viewings of NCIS to thank for my obsession with elevator tropes they just do something to me that simply cannot be explained with mere words. The palpable sexual tension of being in a broken down elevator with an ‘enemies to lovers’ pairing, a heated arguement breaks out followed by a discovery of mutual feelings and a romantic embrace...

Eugh. It gets me everytime. And this fic is no exception. I loved it for all the reasons I’ve already stated above but also for the attention to detail in Draco and Hermione’s careers makes this one particularly immersive. The dynamics between them established in this one-shot are convincingly portrayed and the chemistry between them is so undeniably hot.

The Light is No Mystery by @masterofinfinities

Yooo if you want to read a dramione fic that is a deep dive into Pureblood culture and Post-War recovery but is also a perfect allegory for discrimination and today’s political landscape of moral grandstanding for votes then look no further than this one.

This story has a bit of everything. Intrigue, mystery, ptsd and recovery, enemies to lovers / secret relationship, government conspiracy and humour, to name a few. I eargerly await every update to this story and am anxious to know how it ends!

The Eagle’s Nest by HeartOfAspen

Finally! A fic that gives me the Ravenclaw representation I crave. I think I could recommend this fic on the lore depicted of Ravenclaw house alone. ‘The Stacks’ and Rowena Ravenclaw’s own ‘come and go room’ are just such cool details that I could see being real in the HP universe.

This fic is so cosy and makes me feel like I’m just popping back into Hogwarts for another year. You get to see all the usuals like prof. Mcgongall, Nearly headless Nick, PEEVES, Hagrid, as well as learn more about minor characters from the other school houses. The story follows Hermione going to her day to day classes and there are interesting concepts about magic and alchemy that are explored.

Draco and Hermione’s relationship in this one is of course very fluffy and heartfelt. But it’s the attention to detail that really makes this fic outstanding and the experience of reading it feels fleshed out and true to HP universe.

A shorter fic by HeartofAspen that I recommend is one called Set in Stone, it has an adventurous, Indianna Jones vibe to it, that I am so down for.

Teachable Moments by @purplesugarquills

In this fic Hermione is an innocent little virgin determined to learn everything about sex. And Draco Malfoy is her tutor. If that isn’t enough to get you on board then I don’t know what is. Both Heartfelt and Steamy. PurpleSugarQuills writes smut so well but it’s the progression of their growing attachment and the nervous treading of new uncharted waters of romantic relationships for both of them that just adds a whole other level of feels to the story. Also chapter 9 is like reading poetry - its so good. Eugh just give it a read if you haven’t already.

Les Pèlerins by @pacific-rimbaud

This story is high art. It’s transcendent. Reading this story feels like the emotional equivalent of standing around a hundred glowing fairy lights, sipping hot cocoa and being wrapped in the loving embrace of a s/o. I can’t speak my praises highly enough or even become passably coherent in my words when I try to articulate a review.

From the very first paragraph I felt like I was just whisked away on a Parisian holiday and I’ve never even bloody been to Paris but damn it if this story didn’t make me feel like I was there. The writing style is just so tactile and intense it’s like I could feel the cold winter air brush against me as I read it. Eugh I just completely fell in love with the story and the writer.

New Year’s resolution. Read everything PacificRimbaud has ever posted online.

#This post is the online equivalent of me thrusting a pile of books into your hands and poking at you until you every single one #A behaviour I may or may not already be prone to #dramione #fanfiction #fanfic recommendations #I think I may have missed a few but I think I'll try to make a habit of gushing over new writers as I find them #Doing this just satisfies a deep inner urge in me to just compliment the everloving shit out of writers #who made my life a little more bearable with their words

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intoxicatedeuphoria · 3 years ago

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Tears of Themis Speculations: Beyond Chapter 8

Just finished re-reading the Main Story from Chapter 1 to 8 and I am once again blown away by MHY’s storytelling. In hindsight, the Chekhov’s guns (yes, there are A LOT!) were cleverly written into the dialogues and integrated in the character designs. It is possible to solve SOME of the mysteries if you carefully follow the clues that were spread throughout the chapters.

Chapter 8, in particular, is really, really good. There's no boring or wasted scene AT ALL. Everything is relevant to either the chapter’s case or the overarching plot. It is such a satisfying read because it gives a feeling of closure, but at the same time, it introduces new mysteries to be solved. It feels like a season finale tbh. We’ll probably enter a new arc in Chapter 9.

More raving and ranting about Chapter 8 and the overall plot under the cut. I’m writing my questions and theories here so I have something to refer to once new chapters are released :)

SPOILER WARNING FOR MAIN STORY CHAPTERS 7 AND 8!!!

(Content not yet available on global server at the time of writing.)

Hands down, Chapter 8 is the best, and not just because it's a Vyn-centric chapter! I cried so hard over the NPCs’ story :( The plot is THAT good and the pacing is just right. I can’t recall a dull moment in the chapter, and there are 17 story parts, including the final trial!! Chapter 7 is great because of its plot twists and Marius was very cunning in it so it was amusing, but it can’t beat the thrill from reading Chapter 8 imo.

I think we might get a Svart arc since at the end of Chapter 8, the NXX team agreed that they've pretty much exhausted the Heirson-related clues located in Stellis City. They found out that the sample that Artem got from Jovi Vance (sent to him by Simon Bloodworth, the presumed dead Materials Director of Heirson) is a drug that contains NXX. This drug is more developed/sophisticated than the sample that Xiao Ren (no English name yet; Heirson’s lead researcher for the NXX-based “elixir of life”) gave them from the Heirson’s lab near the Opaline Village. They all reached the conclusion that there may be some other entity out there that’s secretly conducting research and development of NXX-based drugs and it looks like their progress is more advanced than Heirson’s.

Here are the some of the remaining leads (at least afaik) at the end of Chapter 8 along with my own speculations/theories:

#1. Simon Bloodworth: truly dead or still alive? He’s presumed dead, but his body was never found. He was the one distributing the NXX raw material in Stellis City after stealing some from the stocks procured by Tyson Turner (Heirson CEO) and Xiao Ren in the auction on Pluto.

How did Simon get the more sophisticated NXX drug and where did he get it from? Tracing Simon’s actions from the past few years may reveal the NXX distribution route from the source to Stellis City. Another point: why did he send the sample to Jovi Vance who claimed he never met the dead man? The answer to the second question is likely related to how and why Tyson suddenly became critically ill with gastric cancer.

#2. The illegal NXX trade on the Pluto cruise ship According to the transactions record/accounting book in the dead Svartian "art" (but really NXX raw material) dealer's room, it has been sold to quite a number of people for some time already. Selling art pieces is their front since there has to be a "legal" exchange of goods and currency that they can show if something happens, which is probably why participation in the auction onboard Pluto was necessary. In this way, they can legally argue that the onboard auction house is "clean" and no shady business is going on.

Now, all of these beg the question: where did the Svartian dealer get his stocks of the NXX raw material in the first place? Since this illegal trade has been going on for years already, there must be a constant source with a stable supply of NXX somewhere – could it be Svart? The fact that the product is sold by a Svart-national on a cruise ship owned by a nobleman from Svart is very suspicious.

#3. The connection between the NXX raw material trade and the Svart Royal Family We already know that a member of the Svart Royal Family owns Pluto from Vyn’s briefing at the beginning of Chapter 8. It was also revealed that the King is the supreme head of the Church of Svart so the latter may be involved in this nasty business, too. Does this mean the sale of NXX raw material has the Royal Family's/Church's "blessing" and/or “protection” because the trade has been going on onboard Pluto for years already?

Vyn received the special invitation to join the Pluto luxury cruise from his father because the latter wanted to investigate the auction on board after getting a tip. It seems like Duke Haspran is on a mission to uncover whatever it is the Svart Royal Family and the Church of Svart are secretly up to. Could this be related to why Vyn is in Stellis? OR maybe why he joined Giann von Hagen and Neil Hume to establish the NXX investigation team?

#4. The laboratory where Jerome Adams et al. are working We still have no idea where Jerome and his boss are working from. We know that Jerome has been in contact with Tyson and the latter wanted to take down “that investigation team” as seen in the opening scene of Chapter 5 (Part I). Xiao Ren from Heirson’s Opaline Village lab didn’t recognize Jerome when they met onboard on Pluto so they might be working for different organizations, although Jerome knew who Xiao Ren was. Jerome might be with either Crimson Biotech or Pax Pharmaceuticals (tho I am more inclined towards the former)... or another subsidiary of Heirson perhaps?

#5. The new character decked in a red suit A new character appeared in the final scene of Chapter 8, where he conversed with Jerome and his boss in the unknown laboratory. He seemed to know what Jerome did onboard Pluto, and was aware of the research they were conducting.

My guess is he’s affiliated with Crimson Biotech, probably its founder, Christopher Cromwell, who is mentioned in the Big Data Lab entry for Crimson Biotech Ltd (see below). If this were the case, then he could be involved in the international NXX trade since “the Cromwell family has been gradually shifting business abroad for the past decades” and Crimson Biotech is one of the two big companies, along with Pax Pharmaceuticals, who had access to NXX before it was banned 25 years ago due its dangerous effects on humans. It would’ve been easy to get away with it because the records of all the collected samples of NXX were lost in “the war” (mentioned by Vyn during MC’s briefing in Chapter 5 Part I). Also, there are very few organizations and institutions that have the technology to detect NXX. If we are to believe Marius’ claim that Pax has nothing to do with the illegal NXX trade and drug development, then it could be Crimson... or maybe some other international entity that is involved.

I really hope there will be a Svart arc (or at least a chapter) because I want to see Vyn and Rosa/MC working closely with his father T__T Also, I want to know Vyn’s real reason for moving to Stellis and joining the original NXX team. How and where did he meet Giann? What were the meetings like with the founding members? I WANT SOME ANSWERS!! I’m looking forward to the day I return to this post to check which theories I got right ^__^

#tears of themis #tears of themis spoilers #tears of themis speculations #tears of themis rambling #luke pearce #artem wing #vyn richter #marius von hagen #xia yan #zuo ran #mo yi #lu jinghe #tot spoilers

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gwynrielsupremacist · 3 years ago

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TWISTER

suggested by: @imsointobooks

Read at AO3

Gwyn knew her friends were doing it on purpose.

She fucking knew it.

Gwyn, Nesta, and Emerie had been friends since they'd seen each other in preschool. Since then, no one thought of those three separately, they were a formidable trio.

Her companions knew that if they attacked one, you attacked all three.

They had decided to go to self defense classes because, honestly, the world sucks and you have to be prepared for anything.

And everything had gone great, they had signed up for classes. The problem was when they came to those classes and saw their coaches.

Damn.

Coaches weren't supposed to be that fucking good.

The first classes had gone well, they had been more destined to know each other than to anything else.

The problem was that it was impossible to try to pay attention to the exercises if your coach was that hot.

There were two of them, Cassian and Azriel. Apparently, the two had been thrown out of theie house as soon as they turned 18, and the best they did was fight, so they started a self-defense class.

Gwyn thought she remembered being told they boxed.

Well, that explained how they could have so many muscles.

Nesta said they even had muscle in their muscles, which was greeted with a laugh from the three friends.

But Nesta was not wrong.

According to her, she and Cassian knew each other before, having met at a party and, according to Nesta, she was sure they had slept.

She didn't know when or where, but she was sure of it.

And they hadn't been slow to go back to bed. Specifically, it had taken two months to get into each other's bed.

Gwyn didn't care about that, in fact, she liked Cassian, and loved that her friend was happy with him.

The problem was when she saw Azriel.

She was sure that Azriel was not interested in her.

But, Gwyn was interested in him.

And she was afraid of being friendzoned.

They were friends, talking to him almost daily, seeing each other four times a week for self-defense classes, and sometimes he even had invited her out to have a drink, but nothing more.

She had been that way for almost a year and a half.

And honestly, Gwyn couldn't take it anymore.

That day, she was assured that she was going to propose to Azriel. She might invite him for a drink, or she might ask Nesta and Emerie to help her have a moment alone with him.

They had stayed at Cassian's apartment, which had become Nesta's part-time house, since she spent more time there than at hers. The five of them had decided to have a party, with a lot of food, a lot of laughter, and a lot of alcohol.

And as much as her friends cheered her on, she knew that she wasn't going to make any progress with Azriel.

They flirted quite a bit, yes. In the relationship they had, flirting and bantering was never lacking.

But Gwyn didn't know if they were joking or if he was really interested in her.

Although, that man was never going to be interested in her.

Those were Gwyn's thoughts as she got ready in Nesta's rented house, alongside Emerie, who was putting on a good deal of mascara and lipgloss.

"In the end you go with Mor after being with the boys?" Nesta asked Emerie, while putting on tight black pants and a crop top, accentuating her full, round breasts. Emerie said no, searching in the wardrobe a dress she could wear that night.

She wished she had that body. She did not like her own, she seemed completely undesirable, with so many freckles, so few curves ...

"Gwyn, if you're thinking again that you don't like your body, I swear I'll hit you with the 24-centimeter heels." Nesta threatened, holding some gorgeous black party heels in her hand.

"Are you going to wear those? You'll fall in the middle of the sidewalk… ”Gwyn advised, putting on some blue eyeshadow, accentuating her teal eyes, the only aspect of her features that she loved.

"No, I'm going to take these to give you the hell out of you if you keep thinking you're not pretty." Nesta protested, dropping her heels with a crash. She heard Emerie curse when her eyeliner moved from the bump of her heels. Emerie shot Nesta a nasty look as she reached for some make-up remover wipes and brushed off the hideous part of the eyeliner.

Gwyn avoided answering, getting up from the chair she had been sitting in for at least 15 minutes to go to the closet, opening it with a huff when she saw that she had nothing to wear.

"Do you want me to lend you my miniskirt? I think I have one that is too small for me, it may take you..." Emerie proposed, smiling when she felt satisfied with her eyeliner.

Gwyn denied, rummaging through the hangers until she found baggy jeans and a white blouse that revealed much of her collarbones and the curve of her breasts.

Glad, she undressed in the middle of the room, looking for the strap to adjust the jeans.

"Today are you going to say something to Azriel or are we going to return to the same vicious circle of 'Hello, I like you very much and it is obvious that you like me too, but since we are both assholes, we don't realize it?'"

"He doesn't like me. Also, he didn't like one of the girls in our college class? What was that girl's name ...? " Gwyn thought aloud, not remembering the name of that lucky girl who had gotten the attention of the handsome Azriel.

"The day he eats your mouth we are going to pretend to be surprised." Emerie mused, picking up her purse and hanging it over her shoulder, adjusting her gold dress snugly, ready to step out of it.

Gwyn rolled her eyes, but a spark of hope began to glow inside her.

Maybe today was the day ...

Arriving at Cassian and Azriel's loft, they stood waiting in the entryway, the cool summer air cooling their already sweaty bodies.

Suddenly she heard passing, the door opening and coming out Cassian, in a T-shirt and jeans.

Smiling, he gave Nesta a tender kiss on her lips, and then smiled at the other two.

Emerie and Gwyn smiled back at him, but the latter was a lot busier looking for the other trainer.

Cassian grinned: "Looking for something, Gwynnie, or someone?"

Gwyn snorted grumpily: "Azriel wasn't coming?"

Cassian nodded, letting the three girls enter the loft to close the door to possible bugs on the street: “He's finishing his shower. We had a much longer boxing session than usual. "

Gwyn hummed, looking around the great house they had.

In sight was the living room, two immense sofas separated by a table, the television placed on the wall, televising some soccer game.

Suddenly, Gwyn heard a door open, and Azriel came out, flushed from the heat of the bathroom, already dressed in a T-shirt and sweatpants.

Making sure he didn't see her, she glanced over at him.

Hell, the shirt had stuck to his abs, giving her a very good view of what he had hidden there.

Gwyn shyly approached her coach, and when she was almost an inch from him, she gently touched his back, causing him to turn.

Az's face lit up at the sight of her: “Gwyn. I thought you weren't coming today."

Gwyn frowned, smiling: "Why wouldn't I come?"

Azriel led her into the living room, where Nesta, Cassian, and Emerie were already attacking the bowls of food that were on the head table to one side of the sofas.

“I thought Cassian had told me you had theater class. Apparently, I got it wrong. "

Gwyn nodded, almost drooling at how good all that food smelled and looked.

She grabbed an elongated bag with a foreign substance inside, and while she took a bite, she asked him, politely: "How are you doing your final college work?"

Azriel was a senior in veterinary college, and he had a final work to do on it.

Azriel sighed, earning a smile from Gwyn: “Fatal, I can't find any information anywhere and besides, I only have three weeks left to deliver it. Right now I should be upstairs, looking for information."

"I can help you find information, I am quite good at that aspect of doing work."

Azriel smiled at her, grateful, but she thought she saw, before he went to where his brother was, that the gaze had rested for a few seconds on her lips.

She quickly shook her head, dismissing that possibility. It must have been an optical effect. Yes, it must have been that.

She walked over to where everyone was, sitting next to Emerie and Cassian, Azriel finding himself in front of her.

"How are you doing your first year of university?" Cassian asked, eating a slice of vegetable pizza.

Nesta looked at him in disgust, grabbing a slice of pizza with extra cheese and barbecue sauce: "That pizza should be off-limits."

Cassian looked at her, disappointed: “This good one! Taste it.” He asked, bringing it closer to Nesta's mouth.

Nesta chewed it, made a disgusted face, and took a good bite out of her portion, while she chewed, saying, “This is good. Not that vegetable crap. Pizza is supposed to make you fat, not lose weight."

Emerie supported her, but decided to grab a burrito, passing one to Gwyn, which she gladly accepted.

And so it was for most of the night, talking and teasing each other, until the moment came when the food disappeared, leaving room for the bottles of alcohol.

Gwyn wasn't used to drink, so she got a shot of piña colada, one of the few licors she loved, while Nesta held a bottle of vodka caramel, which she shared with Emerie.

"We have to do something. It's still twelve o'clock and no one is sleepy, right? "

Everyone denied, even the black cat that had magically appeared in Azriel's arms.

Gwyn looked at him in shock, pointing, "Have you adopted a cat?"

Azriel nodded, stroking the feline: “He appeared at the veterinary clinic where I practice. They asked the students if anyone wanted to keep it and, well, I always wanted a pet so… I kept it. " He said, smiling.

Emerie asked to hold the cat, holding it carefully, while she stroked his head lovingly.

"Is beautiful. What's it called?"

"Black cat." Cassian replied, proud of himself, as he continued: “If I am going to allow a pet in my loft, at least it will be called what I want, so it is called 'Black cat'.

Gwyn looked at Azriel, confused and amused.

Azriel grinned, picking up the cat that Emerie offered him.

Gwyn looked at Nesta, discovering that she had disappeared at any moment.

She looked at Cassian, asking, "Where is Nesta?"

He looked up the stairs, frowning: "She said she was going to find a game to play together."

Gwyn made a sound of assent, suddenly watching her golden-brown hair flutter as she came down the stairs, a giant box in her arms.

Cassian cursed, leaping up to help her girlfriend get things down, while whispering something in Cassian's ear, both of them grinning mischievously.

The game couldn't be seen from that position, but she saw Azriel look dangerously at Cassian, who couldn't stop smirking.

When Nes put the box down, the name of the game came out.

Twister.

Emerie looked amused at her friend, while Gwyn glared at her.

Those two had ganged up on her.

Nesta took out the cloth from inside the box, as well as the little wheel with the different colors and positions in it.

Emerie got up, dragging Gwyn, whom she no longer found the game amusing.

“Emerie, Cassian, Gwyn and Azriel, you guys play. I'll be the one spinning the wheel. " She announced as she dropped the fabric to the floor, smoothing it out.

Gwyn glanced at Nesta, promising imminent death, but she did nothing but laugh, kindly asking Gwyn to stand in her place.

"Okay, whoever falls loses." Nesta warned, supervising everyone to get in their places.

Satisfied, she began spinning the roulette wheel.

"Cassian, right hand in red."

Cassian made a rather pathetic attempt to get to the red, deciding to go down when it was obvious he was failing at purpose.

"Cassian, disqualified!" Nesta yelled with a mischievous smile.

To which Cassian replied, shrugging his shoulders: "Wow, I'm really bad at these things." He mocked up, sitting next to his girlfriend.

Nesta turned the roulette wheel again.

"Emerie, right foot in yellow."

Emerie did.

"Gwyn. Left hand in red. " Gwyn could be pretty sure she hadn't moved the spinner, but she let her be, putting her hand up.

Cassian spun the wheel: "Az, right hand in green."

And so they continued, until Emerie lost, crashing down on top of Gwyn.

It was all laughter until Gwyn and Azriel were left alone.

And, although Gwyn thought she would be fucking uncomfortable, her instinct urged her to fight, she couldn't let that man win.

So she played, the flexibility helping her in many moments.

Until her winning instinct faded, realizing what position she and Azriel were in.

Gwyn had both hands extended, while her feet were together, but she had Azriel down, and she knew her breasts were fucking close to his face.

And the bastard laughed.

She looked at him, enraged and embarrassed.

She felt a wave of pleasure run through her body when he winked at her.

"Hiii, Earth calling Gwyn, left foot to green." Nesta mocked, grinning.

Getting into a much more comfortable posture, she moved, her lips forming a mocking smile, a good 12 inches away from Azriel.

"Azriel, right hand to yellow."

Azriel ran his hand from green to yellow, staying quite close to her left foot.

Looking defiantly at Azriel, she made the next four or five moves, she wasn't sure.

Of course, she couldn't be sure since Azriel, in some way she couldn't understand, was underneath her, while Gwyn was straddling his hips.

Azriel grinned, listening carefully to the next position.

"Azriel, right foot to blue."

He had smirked, while she tilted her head, not understanding what the hell had made to smile like that, until, when he was lifting his foot, he raised his pelvis minimally, making his crotch crash against the parts more intimate of her.

She almost felt faint as that prominent bulge passed through her core, teasing.

Looking at Azriel with a strong blush on her features, she heard Nesta's next command.

"Gwyn, left hand to red."

Gwyn swore she had heard a chuckle as she said that.

Fuck.

She couldn't believe that she had to put that fucking hand in that fucking color.

Stretching out as far as she could, she placed her hand on the blue panel, but she had a serious little problem with that position.

Now her breasts were, no doubt, practically on top of Azriel's face.

And, although Azriel wore a somewhat embarrassed grin, it was suppressed by the bright eyes of mockery and pleasure.

She knew her own eyes must be that way.

"Azriel, left hand to green." Emerie laughed.

Those little bastards were going to pay for it.

As soon as she took care of the overwhelming lust and pleasure she felt in those moments, her clit pulsing dangerously close to his cock, they'll pay for it.

Azriel waved his hand, and suddenly both mouths were less than an inch apart.

Their breaths were paralyzed at that very moment.

Damn, what lips the very asshole had.

They were red from having licked them so much during the night.

They seemed to share thoughts right then and there as Azriel lowered his gaze from her eyes to her lips, licking his slowly.

Her core tightened, noticing how her panties got soaked little by little.

Gwyn, feeling daring, lowered her eyes to his lips, biting her bottom lip.

What tension. She was using all of her damn self-control not to kiss him, at least not in front of all of them.

Gwyn frowned suddenly, suspicious of those three.

Turning quickly, she watched as Emerie ate popcorn from a bucket, while Nesta and Cassian appeared to be enjoying a romantic comedy.

Hint: the rom-com was Azriel and her.

In addition, the roulette that it decided where to put each person's hands and legs was nowhere to be found.

Realizing her terrible deception, she jumped up from Azriel's lap, pointing her finger at Nesta: "You little son of a bitch! You weren't using the roulette wheel!"

Laughing slightly, Emerie replied, "She hasn't used it since I've stopped playing." She scooped a bunch of popcorn into her mouth before handing the bucket to Nesta.

Gwyn stared at her incredulously, Nesta saying, smirking: I thought you'd find out sooner."

At the same time, she felt betrayed and grateful.

Well, she had discovered that Azriel wanted her. At least it was something.

She noticed how Azriel approached her silently, and she would have expected him to place beside her, wrapping his arms around her shoulders as he normally did with her, or saying something to ease the sexual tension that had been there.

However, he got dangerously close to her earlobe, licking it with the tip of his tongue and then tugging at it, whispering seductively, "Are you ready for round 2?"

TAG LIST (tell me if you want to be tagged/removed): @bookish-isha @imsointobooks @shisingh @feyretale @niaacotar @flora-shadowshine @tealnymph24 @trashforazriel @hlizr50 @meher-sumedha @heyovivi @positivewitch @greywarens-magician @sageofthegalaxy @valkygwyn @verifiefangirl @verifiefangirl-mainblog @snickerdoodlechittybangbang @genya-berdara @katekatpattywack @ddsworldofbooks @secretlovelybeauty @starbornsinger

#gwynriel #gwynriel oneshot #a prompt? maybe #part 2? maybe 😋#azriel #gwyn #valkyrie #acosf

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