#i see lots of them switching up now like i'm glad but i never forget

[sugadolly]

i think it's funny how a lot of people hated the reed richards casting because they thought pedro looked "old" as they based it off on pictures of a 56 year old character in an apocalypse dealing with heavy grief like of course he's going to look like that. actors are capable of changing how they look. THEY'RE ACTORS!

and saying he just doesn't give off the vibes of a nerdy scientist - says the person who hasn't watched his other projects besides the mandalorian and the last of us

[crdteezv]

Frat House - Ten Ver.

DISCLAIMER (important): This is a continuation of a frat boy series - for all the Wayv members! You should read the prologue here first so everything can make more sense. You can also choose the other members here or at the end if you are interested in seeing someone else!

Paring: !best friend to lovers! frat boy! Ten x afab! reader

Genre: college! au, frat! au, smut

Synopsis: You continue playing an interesting game of Spin the Bottle/Truth or Dare with Ten and his friends. You were dared to spend the night with one of them. When the bottle was spun, it landed on Ten. You wondered what type of things you and him were about to get into tonight…

Warnings: smut. !pleasure dom! ten, dirty talk, teasing, fingering, dacryphilia, switch! reader (Ten is dom leaning), slight sadism/masochism, choking, oral (giving/receiving), unprotected sex

Word Count: 4.3k words

After Hendery spun the bottle, it landed on Ten.

You instantly felt a pang of relief in your chest. You were relieved on the one hand since it landed on your best friend, and you felt the most comfortable around him. On the other hand, he has been flirting with you a lot more than usual. You also DID just make out with him in front of everyone not too long ago. 

“Oh, why don’t you look at that darling? You get to spend the night with me. This will be interesting.”

You don’t know why, but you start to become nervous. He’s never made you feel this way until now. 

“Well, I’m glad it's you and not Hendery. Now, let’s go to your room – I’m starting to get pretty tired.”

He nodded and extended his hand so you could hold it as he led you upstairs into his room. 

The others, truthfully, were a little sad they didn’t get chosen.

Hendery was the worst out of them all. 

His mind is going crazy thinking about how Ten is probably going to fuck you stupid tonight. A part of him kind of wished the bottle landed on him instead.

“Hey man, better luck next time! We know how much you wanted it to land on you. But it was based on pure luck at the end of the day.” Yangyang said as he tried to console Hendery.

“Fuck off. I don’t even care about it anymore. I hope she falls asleep way before Ten tries to pull any moves on her. I'm going to bed too, good night.”

He marched up into his room and slammed the door. Everyone in the house knew he wasn’t happy about this right now. 

He is practically the reason why this is all happening. He was the one who came up with the dare in the first place. 

“Damn, I think he is actually pissed off about all this,” Winwin said.

“I mean yeah dude, you couldn't tell how obvious it was that he liked her?” Yangyang said.

Everyone knew that Hendery had a crush on you. However, deep down he always knew Ten was going to be by your side no matter what. After tonight, he gave up any chances he had with you.

 He wondered what was going on between the two of you right now…

You entered Ten’s room and it was the same as always. 

It was dimly lit because he never really liked his room to be too bright. His room has a lot of earthy tones and he has a couple of plants. 

You plopped yourself onto his bed. You lay out on your stomach and you can feel Ten staring down at you. He was practically examining your whole body at this point. However, you didn’t notice since you were on your phone. You were checking to see if you got any new messages and you saw Renjun was blowing up your phone. 

He was at the party that Ten had mentioned to you before. He sent you a whole bunch of videos of what was going on at the party. It was videos of Johnny and Haechan fucking it up on the dance floor. You can tell they were super drunk because they kept on falling over. You started laughing at your screen, making Ten divert his attention to you.

“Hey, what are you watching that has you laughing like that?”

“Look at what Renjun just sent me.”

You showed him the video and he started laughing too. 

“Johnny is too much- why is he dancing on the table now?”

“I always forget you and Renjun were pretty close. Do you guys talk often?”

“Not as much as we used to. We call from time to time and vent to each other. He is a pretty good person to talk to. But we haven’t hung out with each other for a while now.”

You saw Ten’s face start to change a little bit when you were saying that. He forgot that before you two were friends, you were close to Renjun during high school. He was your best friend at the time and you would hang out a lot after school. Ever since you met Ten, you and Renjun don’t hang out as often anymore.

“Mhmm very interesting. Also, if you want me to sleep on the couch downstairs, I will. I don’t want to make you feel uncomfortable or anything. I just wanted to see the look on Hendery's face when he saw me leaving with you.” 

You flipped onto your back and leaned on the bed with your elbows.

“It's ok! I don’t mind.”

“Are you sure? You don’t usually spend the night here when we hang out.”

“I'm sure, and remember that one time after Jaemin's birthday party I spent the night here because I was too drunk to go home?”

“Oh yeah, I remember! You were such a mess that night. I was practically your babysitter.”

“Oh shut up. I wasn’t even that wasted. Also, come in the bed with me. It feels weird having you standing up and looking down at me like that.”

He had this patronizing look on his face. It looked like he was about to do something crazy.

He started walking towards you with that same look he gave you before. Almost as if he was hungry for you.

He suddenly grabbed your chin and tilted it upwards him and said,

“Aww what’s wrong baby? Am I already making you nervous?”

You started to feel hot all over again. His words alone have been driving you insane all night. The more he talks down to you like this, the more it's starting to get to you.

“Umm no it’s just… I’m not used to looking up at you from this angle. It’s kind of intimidating, you know?” You said in a shaky tone.

He sees right through you. 

Ten knows that his words are already getting to you - and he’s loving every second of it. He always loved teasing you, even if it was for the simplest things. He loves seeing you get flustered for him… and it honestly just turns him on.

“Don’t play coy with me, sweetheart. I know you secretly like me like this.”

Ten began to lean down onto the bed, encaging you between his arms. He leaned down and whispered in your ear.

“Just admit it, baby, you like the way I make you feel.” 

He started to kiss behind your ear and then down to your neck.

“You like seeing me become crazy for you.”

He was right. 

You've been wanting him since you started to become best friends. At first, you just thought he was really cool and you wanted to constantly be around him. 

But there were times when he would mention being with other girls and it would make you feel some type of way. The idea of him being with someone else always made you feel a little�� jealous?

But now he is on top of you, basically ready to devour you. Who are you to deny his advances?

“You know what? Yeah, you’re right. I have been wanting this for a while now. A part of me was excited when I saw the bottle land on you.”

Ten was a little taken aback by your response, but regardless he was relieved to know that you both wanted the same thing.

“Mhmm, good girl. I’m glad you’re willing to admit it now. Now then, shall we get started?”

“With what?”

“With me fucking you, of course. Don’t tell me you’re getting tired of me now. You said so yourself, you’ve been wanting to do this for a long time.”

You guys were face to face at this point. 

“I'm all yours now sweetheart. I belong to you. Now, what do you want me-”

You leaned into his face and started kissing him. This time it felt different, there was more passion behind it. 

You both started to press your foreheads against each other. Things started to get more intimate. The room started to feel warm as you both were gasping for air from how intense you were making out.

You began to whimper and moan from all the sexual tension that had been building up for hours. You felt horny the moment Hendery dared Ten to kiss you during the spin-the-bottle game. 

He began to touch all over your body, starting with your chest. He wanted to see what you looked like under your crop top — and started to remove it. You had a lacy black bra on.

“Aww baby, it looks like you were ready to get fuck tonight huh?”

Your face started to heat up from embarrassment after hearing him say that.

“It’s ok darling, I know you can’t help being such a slut. The whole night everyone couldn’t stop staring at your amazing body.”

He pulled down the straps of your bra and started looking directly at your chest. 

“I, for one, couldn’t stop looking at your beautiful tits all night.”

Hearing him praise and worship your body was sending you into euphoria. You didn’t want this moment to end at all.

He began to lick and suck on one of your boobs. You let out a moan that was a little too loud.

“Shhh baby, you don’t want to wake up the others, don’t you?” 

He started groping the other boob with his other hand. He was pinching and twisting your nipple around. You were loving every second of it.

“I bet you want them to hear how fucking good I’m making you feel right now.”

He started sucking on your tits more intensely and even started nibbling on your nipple.

“You’re so fucking pathetic you know that?”

Hearing him use such degrading words on you was sending you into orbit. You never knew he could be so rough – that alone is making you wetter by the second.

He moved onto the other boob and was twisting on the one he abandoned with his fingers, spit still glistening on it. All of this is turning you on so much. The combination of his dirty talk and playing with your tits made you become a mess under him.

 “I bet you like this a lot, huh darling?”

He said that with such lust that it made you shiver. You began to press your legs together to create some sort of friction. He noticed and wasn’t pleased by it. He popped your boob out of his mouth and stopped what he was doing.

You whine from not feeling stimulated anymore.

“Mhmm, love, in order for this to work, you gotta let me take control, ok?”

You started to become more impatient - just wanting him to fuck you already. 

However, Ten was having way too much fun with you and wanted to tease you some more. He reached down between your shorts. You let out a whimper from being touched in your intimate area all of a sudden – and started to move up against him.

He wasn’t pleased by that and took his hand out of your shorts. 

You threw your head back from frustration. “Please... stop teasing and just fuck me already. I don’t know how long I can wait anymore.”

Ten gave you a little smirk and looked down at you. In his eyes, all he sees is you becoming such a desperate mess for him. He is just getting hard from seeing you like this. He had never seen you in such a needy state - and it was all for him.

“Aww baby, you look so cute being all pathetic for me. You drive me so fucking crazy when you beg for me like that.” He said breathily.

He finally took off your shorts and left you in your black lacy panties. You were wearing a matching set and Ten took note of that.

“Wow darling, you really were ready to get fucked like a slut tonight huh? Who would’ve known that you’re such a dirty girl.”

You felt so needy around him. He makes you feel so weak, and it was just turning you so much. 

He looked down at your underwear and saw the wet spot that had formed. He let out a chuckle and said in a flirty tone,

“Aww, princess, how long have you been wet for me? Don’t tell me it was during the game…”

You were too embarrassed to say anything, so you just nodded your head in confirmation.

Ten slapped your clothed cunt and you let out the loudest moan of the night. 

“Come on baby, you know that’s not going to fly with me. Use your words like a good girl for me ok?”

He was so stern about it. He was rubbing your clit over your panties, teasing you even more.

“I'm sorry, yes, I've been feeling this way since you kissed me in front of everyone!”

He is enjoying every second of this. He loved seeing you melt for him. 

“Oh is that so?”

He started to peel down your panties. He took his shirt off in the process. You stare at the bare upper half of his body. You can see all of his tattoos and slim figure.

“If that’s the case, sweetheart, how about you be good for me and make some noise as I eat your pussy?”

That right there did it for you.

You complied with his demands and spread your legs open. He grabbed your thighs with his hands and started kissing them. He kept eye contact with you the whole time. One thing you noticed about him is that no matter what, he will always have his eyes locked on you. 

He had such lust in his eyes as he began to mark and bite up your thighs. He slowly started moving down to your pussy. 

He began sucking and lapping at your cunt. He was devouring you like it was his last meal. He pushed your legs back onto your chest and started licking all over your pussy. Your legs started to shake from all the pleasure you were feeling. No one has ever made you feel this good. In that moment you knew he was the best out of anyone you’ve been with in the past. 

You start to pull on his hair forcefully and he starts whimpering into your drenched pussy. That made you even more horny. He started sucking on your clit aggressively and your eyes started rolling back into your head. He pulled away from your pussy and slapped it harder than before.

“Hey princess, you better keep your eyes on me.”

“It’s hard when you make me feel this good-”

He slapped your pussy a few times and you started whimpering, letting out a couple of tears in the process. 

Something about that made his dick twitch. 

“Aww, don’t tell me you can’t handle this. Do you want me to stop?” he said in a playful tone.

You hated how desperate he made you feel. 

You shook your head no and he hit your pussy one more time and said,

“Mhmm, don’t forget you’re supposed to use your words, remember? Now I want you to beg for me to put my fingers in you.”

He was driving you insane. All you wanted was for him to be buried inside of you.

“Please, I'm sorry… just do it already.”

He slapped your aching pussy again.

“You want me to do what exactly?”

You were at the point where you didn’t care what you were saying. You just wanted Ten so bad in this moment.

“...For you to use your fingers on me.”

He had this cocky look on his face like he knew he had won this battle. He let out a chuckle and replied,

“Mhmm that’s it, baby, I like it when you’re obedient for me. Let me just-”

Ten started ramming his fingers deep into your pussy. You let out a gasp for air and started gripping the sheets. He was fucking into you with his middle and ring finger. 

He couldn’t take it anymore.

He started sucking on your clit again. While doing all this, he stared to pull down his pants and boxers. Dick out, he started pumping it with his free hand. Pleasuring you made Ten undeniably hard. He couldn’t resist the urge to stroke his cock amidst all your moans. 

He had been waiting for this day to come.

He had always imagined what your pretty moans would sound like. He has gotten off to the thought of you touching yourself. He didn’t care if he was being perverted.  All he ever wanted to do is fuck you. 

You began to squeeze your thighs around his head. You were practically crushing him but that just made him start to moan from pleasure. He noticed that you were starting to get close and he started going faster.

“Mhmm that's right baby, cum for me.”

You were at your breaking point and couldn’t hold back anymore. You came all over his face and he licked up every drop from your cunt. 

He was still stroking his dick and you decided that it was your turn to make him feel good. You told him to sit at the edge of the bed & he moved to fulfill your demand.

You got down onto your knees and started to pump his dick with your hand. He groaned from frustration from being pent up for this long. The lustful look in your eyes was as if you were feral for him. You put his length into your mouth and started bobbing your head up and down. 

He threw his head back from all the pleasure he was receiving. He started panting and whimpering from how good you were making him feel. Who would’ve known he was this vocal?

It was kind of hot to you... 

You started to use both of your hands at the base of his dick, while simultaneously sucking on his tip. 

“Fuck….princess slow down…. I'm going to cum at this rate-”

You took your mouth off of him and he whined, even having just complained about not being able to handle it.

“Beg me to stop then.” You stated confidently.

The look on his face was priceless. He was shocked at how you just suddenly took charge. This was truly a first for him.

“Aww, don’t look so shocked now, baby. I'm only just getting started.”

You removed your hands off his member and shoved your face down onto him again. He let out a high-pitched moan. It was so loud you were certain that the others had to have heard him from downstairs. You liked making him feel this way for you. 

He starts biting his lips to conceal all the sinful noises he was making. He even moved his head away from you because he started feeling embarrassed.  You decided to tease him for being shy and remove yourself from his dick. He began to whine in frustration at not being stimulated. You had this patronizing look on your face and recited the same words he had said to you before.

“You have to keep those eyes on me if you want me to make you feel good ok? Also, don’t hold back on those pathetic moans of yours, I love all the sounds you make for me.”

Hearing those words being directed back at him was sending shivers down his spine. He started to feel a mix of nervousness and excitement. He really liked seeing this side of you. 

“I'm sorry, it won’t happen again. Can you please keep going?”

You nodded your head and went back to sucking his cock. His eyes start to roll to the back of his head from feeling you around him again. He started moaning even louder than before, all the while keeping eye contact with you. 

You were loving every second of this.

He was gripping hard into the sheets and didn’t want you to ever stop. He fantasized about this so many times - now that it was happening, he couldn’t believe it. It was rare for someone to get him in such a pathetic state. He is normally the one who is in control, and rarely the one to submit. But now, you have him wrapped around your finger and he just didn’t want to let go.  He finds it very exhilarating that you can make him feel this way.

He grabbed your hair in his hands and pulled you down onto him. You started to gag a little bit, not being able to handle this any longer .

He had a smirk on his face.

“Oh, it seems you're starting to struggle now, huh darling?”

You hated that he was right.

It was starting to get harder for you, as you were at your limit.

His face morphed into one of arrogance. He was looking down at you as if you were beneath him.

His gaze alone made you want to go right back to being a mess for him. You looked up at him with teary eyes and he started laughing condescendingly. He was enjoying every second of this.

“You’re so pathetic for me. You can’t even handle being in charge for that long – and to be honest…”

He leaned down and whispered,

“I can’t wait to fuck the shit out of you.”

Something about him saying that started to make you feel wet all over again. You were reaching your limit. 

“As a matter of fact-”

He pulled your mouth off him and threw you on the bed, climbing on top of you. You close your legs together by instinct and he said in response to your actions,

“Spread those pretty legs for me and let me fuck you.”

You nodded and he gripped your thighs and rammed his dick inside of you. You started whimpering and moaning so loud to the point where you were sure everyone in the house could hear you. But that didn’t matter to you anymore. Ten was too deep inside of you for you to care about it now. 

He was fucking you with slow and deep strokes. You were gripping the sheets of the bed, not wanting him to stop. He was making you see stars at this point, and you were lost in your own world.

“Aww yeah, baby? You wanted my dick this fucking bad? You’re practically leaking everywhere for me.”

You look down and see that his lower abdomen is wet from your juices. He was reaching you in places that had never been reached before. 

“Fuck yes… you make me feel so good. Please don’t stop…” You were babbling at this point.

He loved it when you begged so desperately for him. It looked like he found your special spot, as you let out a moan that was practically a scream. 

He started laughing at you with such a cocky look on his face - and began hitting that spot more aggressively than before. He even started choking you lightly, which made you become even more wet for him.

You both were at your breaking point. 

“Mhmm that's it, sweetheart, scream my name so everyone knows I’m the only one that can make you feel this good.”

You started moaning his name and for him to go faster. You were both at the edge of release. 

“Ten…. I’m about to….”

He kneeled into your ear and said “Alright, be good for me darling and cum ok? I'm close too…. fuck — you feel so good around me.”

You both were reaching your limits, and he went down for one last kiss, and you both finished at the same time. He rode his orgasm out inside of you, never pulling out. 

He laid down on the bed and pulled your face onto his chest. 

You both were reflecting on what just had transpired. You felt satisfied and okay with everything. To you, that was the best anyone has ever fucked you before. You were wondering what was going on in his pretty little head. 

You both just cuddled and lay in silence. Breaking the silence, he said,

“Hey, are you ok? I wasn’t being too rough with you or anything right? If you don’t want to do this again, I-”

You kissed him on the lips to stop him from continuing.

“Ten, it’s okay and you were amazing honestly. I’m all for doing it again with you in the future if you’re up for it as well.”

He let out a sigh of relief. 

“Well, that's good to hear. To be honest, I’ve been wanting to do this with you ever since we became close.”

He kissed you on your forehead and hugged you tight in his arms.

“Hey um… do you think the others heard us?” You ask tentatively.

“Oh yeah for sure, I mean did you hear yourself? You practically kept on begging me to fuck you.”

“Stop, this is so embarrassing. Now everyone knows our business I guess.”

He leaned forward and whispered in your ear,

“Let’s be honest here baby, you don’t give a fuck if they heard us.”

Your heart skipped and beat when he said that. You hated how he was right. A part of you was subconsciously being loud on purpose so the others could hear your moans. You even wondered if any of them had gotten off to all the noises you were making. 

“Shut up, you know nothing.” You retorted.

He let out a chuckle and said, 

“Now, you stay right there and I’ll get you some water. Do you want ice cream too? I think we still have some in the freezer.”

“Yeah, sure why not!”

He gave you a quick kiss on the lips, more romantic this time, and went to the kitchen to get everything for you.

You guys spent the rest of the night sharing ice cream and watching movies.

**AUTHOR NOTES** If you want to see what would happen if the bottle landed on a different member, choose here: [KUN] [WINWIN] [HENDERY] [XIAOJUN] [YANGYANG] 

[avengedbiologist]

Thunderbirds 80s style

So turns out my 80s phase I've been having has brought me back to tbirds so here's my 80s au. Info under cut x

Firstly I ain't taking criticism, these designs feel right 2 me and so do the song choices. Sorry there isn't more diversity in the music tastes these r literally just from bands I know.

Gordon-

Kiefer Sutherland (specifically him in the movie 1969 with his longer hair) and George michael r my inspo for him, I mean the hair is the main inspo but the vibes from both of them R verryyy Gordon to me. He dresses very typical 80s he's a big big fan of denim.

His playlist:

His favourite bands are Wham and Cinderella, being a big George Michael fan in general. His favourite album is night songs by Cinderella. Not sure why Cinderella is his fave but it feels right ☝️ (everyone listen to Cinderella xxx)

Him and Alan being the lame duo they are, were Wham for Halloween.

Alan-

Alex Winter for this guy, probably because of bill and ted (definitely because of bill and ted and also nose 👃) and I can genuinely get behind Alan having curly hair. Despite this he has long hair in this cause he's a trendy fella, and if I didn't give any of them long hair I would be a fraud and a fake to the 80s cause. He switches his style a lot but he has a lot of inspo from rock bands.

His playlist:

(I am definitely not projecting) (okay maybe I am, be glad my favourite KIX song is from the 90s)

I feel he is more rebellious (very 04 Alan me thinks) so he tends to lean more to the rebellious type music (big glam rock fan) his favourite band is and will forever be KIX, he has seen them live like 50 times. And his favourite album is Midnite Dynamite by KIX. Listen to KIX and u will get it (or not idk).

Scott-

I'm blaming @knyee because of their Tom Selleck thoughts 😩. Older Scott very Tom Selleck, younger Scott very Tommy Lee, and Jason patric is just there cause he's a guy with brown hair and blue eyes, any 70/80s person with brown hair is Scott to me (could Eddie Van Halen be the next Scott Tracy 😮).

His playlist:

I feel Scott's tryna be more cool but hes not as deep with his music as say Alan or Kayo. So he's a very, whatevers popular kinda guy. Big Bon Jovi fan, his favourite album is Bon Jovi, slippery when wet. And he's a big fan of older stuff as well, big Kinks fan.

Ugly ass fashion as per w Scott, I mean it's not bad it's just,,, very Scott 🧍‍♀️.

Virgil-

Now I am about to be controversial,,, I genuinely forget Virgil exists. Like who is he,, U tell me ? So this made someone that vibes w him very hard to find. So this may be weird to people, this may not fit as well as the others, but if U ignore the hair I hope U can see my vision. Paul Stanley. Look at his eyebrows, look at his cheek bones then get back to me Kay x.

His playlist:

Virgil's cool af what can I say, he does like older songs too but alas I didn't focus on them. Tho this au of the Tracy family has no specific like version (weather it's tag tos or 04, tho with me it's never TAG do not speak to me about TAG Alan xx) I will say this, TAG Virgil is a Metallica fan, I get he does classical music but he can do that,, and like Metallica, cause guess what,, he's cool as shit. Despite this is fave album is Lick it up by kiss.

Don't ask me how to dress virgil, I just put him in green and call it a day.

My fun fact about Virgil is his gay awakening was Slash from guns n roses.

John-

Again don't know shit about John, not do I care for him but if I make him look like Billy Idol I begin to care. I'll tell U sommat not only is this inspo, Billy is like a face claim for me, Ur telling me that's not John Tracy. Is Billy wasn't cool af he would be John Tracy. And as well as looking like Billy idol he is a fan of Billy idol, his fave album being Billy idol by (U guessed it) billy idol.

His playlist:

(R we starting to see my love for lost boys, cause if not just wait till kayo xx)

Rolling stones yeah pretty sick, time in a bottle is out there compared to the others but John's an all over guy I think.

Kayo-

Oh look, Jami Gertz, lost boys reference, what a shock.

Kayos cool, like just look at her, holding hands with penny (women in love what can I say) originally her like fave album was gonna be Kill em' all by Metallica but Kayos here for the girls so her fave Album is Vixen by Vixen. Corker of an album (everyone listen to it x)

Her playlist:

I fear Joan Jett would also be on her playlist but idk man. Kayos just like quirked up but in a fun way, she does try to listen to a lot of female artists. She likes spooky music and old music. If I was doing a 90s or later au she would be a fan of the song 'Living dead girl' by Rob Zombie.

She's a lost boys fan (not projecting) and loves horror films and she takes John to see em, only cause Penny does not like horror films.

Penelope:

Janet Gardner (from Vixen) is her celeb inspo, tho I fear there's a lot of blonde 80s celebs that would work, but why go for Madonna when Janet's right there, and her hair is taller. If Penny doesn't have tall hair that ain't Penny.

Her playlist:

Big big big Stacey Q fan, her fave album is Stacey Q better than heaven. Penny is a big fan of 60s music as well, loving Erma Franklin, he favourite song being her cover of 'Hold on I'm comin''. She loves Daughters of Eve, their song 'Hey lover' is her and Kayos 'song'.

She has seen Stacey Q live many times and has (lovingly) dragged Kayo to them. Kayo is also a bit of a fan. They both like a lot of each other's music, if they find a new band or an artist they like has released a new song they always try to listen to it for the first time together.

I am realising now I didn't write Penny's fave films which are: Heathers, Labyrinth and Hairspray.

This is a long ass post oopsies, hope U enjoy my nonsense x

[thal-ent]

Zuza belongs to @soupedepates , Pelagia Klara Cernunnos Mi'Arach and Jakub to @corneille-but-not-the-author and Hanko to @noa-de-cajou (all only mentionned, and warning for some heavy angst lol)

I'm the last one.

It's a weird thing to think, when I've had children, and met people who should have been able to leave at least a little longer than me. But I'm the one still here, sitting on the roots of a tree I saw sprouting centuries ago. What was once a city I defended to protect the people I'll forever call my family is now the World Tree.

The cards are not helping me a lot, as they are. The ten of stars is telling me about transformation, regenration, taking some time. But the eight of crown and the Pest are talking about the worst, about being stuck and being at the end.

But the Pest allows me to see Zuza's face, on it. I wish I had been able to tell her more, her who, like the card says to do, kept coming back, kept being stronger.

I look up to the night sky. I almost can't see it, but it's not a bad thing. As much as I owe Star, I'm glad that right now I am allowed to be alone. I know Cernunnos and my sister understand, from where they are in the Tree.

I pull three more cards, leave the ones from before in front of me. The as of crown tells me about financial stability, about security, when i've left the troupe i've helped to create so long ago. The knight of shards is telling me about love and romantism, when all my loves are deep below the earth and hopefully where they finally get the rest from what our lives made us do. Finally, as if to mock me, the two of crown tell me of regrets and instability.

Have I made a mistake, all those years ago ? I didn't know the consequences of using the dagger's powers, allowing Jan's last gift to keep me alive far longer than any elf should.

I feel a breath, next to me, and turn almost expecting Mi'Arach to be here. I miss her, when she's technically alive and well. Like I miss our sister and her wife - Klara became my sister too after so many years. I miss the travelling homes, being able to switch which bed to use when we wanted to. I miss Pelagia and her snark, the glint in her eyes she gained after the years. I miss Sigi, her quiet support and understanding smiles. I miss my children, all of them, who died before me.

I try not to cry, as I lay three more cards. I sob, when the ten of scepters reveals itself to me. The card of New beginnings but also of emotionnal pain. I sniffle at the arrogant face of the knight of stars, telling me of my own and the violence I'm all too aware I'm capable of. But its king makes me break, as it tells me of my selfishness.

I miss them, and yet it is because I made a promise I can't join them yet.

The weight of the crown and the scepter are heavy, in my bag. I never dared to put the first on my head and the second is still cracked. The earring and tarot are always on me, I could never let them go.

I'm the last one. And for as long as this promise is unkept I'll stay alive, for the man who trusted a young elf who was cut from his people.

I clean up the cards, look at the two that almost fall to the ground. The Dancer and the God in the Stars are facing my eyes, two of the people I've loved dearly. I smile, my eyes red. I leave a kiss on each card, faces I almost forget until they find me again.

I'm the last one, and one day I won't be again.

[miradanii]

MTMTE/LOST LIGHT First Time Read

Short time text text because it's 4am. I had to finish it...The Lost Light was short and I had 4 chapters left. Had heat exhaustion twice in one week, lack of sleep for days but I couldn't help but finish just so I can go back and reread parts I didn't understand/have an excuse to finally look up this comic without massive spoilers.

I had never read a lot of long ass comics. But wow have I just had a wild ride. I think it took maybe two and half months to read this? Maybe more. One of the few things I had difficulty with reading but pushed through because how captivated I was with the story and its insane cast of characters. I have tons of new favorites I will now create powerpoint slides to present to my friends now on how much I've enjoyed my time with them.

I am so thankful for the internet due to these comics being out of print. And my past self just happening to own volume 1 of Dark Cybertron and never donating it despite not fully understanding what it was until this year. I hope these comics get reprinted one day but I guess for now I'll hunt down copies because I think I want to do these comics a service by having physical copies...

Anyways I 100% recommend this series as a first time reader for reading any Transformers comics. It was pretty difficult at first but I got the hang of it for a while. Not sure it helped that I was already familiar with a lot of the characters already like Rodimus, Megatron, ect. ect. ect.

Here's a link to a reddit post about the order for reading MTMTE/Lost Light. Though, when you come to Dark Cybertron it comes it two volumes so you don't have to switch between MTMTE and RID issues. Like I said I have the physical copy for Volume 1 of Dark Cybertron but mistakenly went back to reading MTMTE and had not realized the issues were alternating.

The reddit post mentions it but I was dumb and didn't fully read it. I just kinda kept going to the next page with a jarring lack of information thinking a lot of stuff was happening off screen.

Immediate ending spoiler nonsense thoughts down below:

Yeah the ending note made me tear up. I am in the mist of consuming a lot of Transformers Media before Transformers One comes out...I had decided to read MTMTE because I think I wanted something that I felt when I watched Transformers Prime. More detail in the characters. I think I flipped when I found out Ratchet who I've seen 3 iterations of on tv has a love interest. Megatron and Optimus have like....just...yeah it's gay. Unhinge divorced but never married gay interactions, then there's more gay, then idk I just started learning more and more about it all from just doing research all for a powerpoint party I hosted and because it was my birthday I was able to go up to 45 minutes due to birthday privileges.

Like I can go from liking Megop to MiniMegs? Is that the ship name? Idk it's almost 5am. But it's not even about pairings at this point, I'm going on an insane fucking adventure. I'm reading this shit in a King's Hawaiian parking lot now being part of my core memory. Actually that part does have a pairing. I'm seeing this:

I went through emotional toil in a restaurant parking lot with my friends to see and not understand the shock I'm having after I get out of the car.

I understand the flowers. That's a fuck ton.

I technically got spoiled about who Rung actually was but it had been so long I actually was STILL shocked when I found out at around 3am. Though...I didn't know he fucking died. Guys he fucking died. I think he came back or its one of his children idk man he fucking died and there's a character with a very similar color palette to him in Cyberverse.

On a random note I guess they weren't that close but Im surprised there wasn't a conversation between Nautica and Chromedome about forgetting Skids in a sense of grief. And it just kinda happened to her...Though I am glad she was still prioritizing Velocity.

Okay so Terminus just dies off screen and Megatron never finds out that he gave him the wrong location?? Damn. But I guess it was no hard feelings when he reunited with the Lost Light so that's all fine and dandy.

This is the one of the few stories where I am proud bullshit with no further explanation reunites tragic lovers. This series lets me live. I mean there was a very simple explanation why Tailgate didn't fade away from Cyclonus' arms but when that moment happened I was like yeah fuck it let them be happy. Of course Kaput was gonna go Kaput but rip can't believe it had to get Tailgate involved.

Ah Anode and Lug were cute! I think it took me a bit to warm up to them but I think I start to like characters when they start having fun dynamics with the rest of the cast. Anode and Swerve pranking each other on the shrinking ship with all hell breaking loose with the rest of the Rod Squad is just...yeah that whole chapter was paced so well.

Okay Whirl didn't just win me over, he snatched my heart and made a clock out of it with his lil pincers. I love this fella. He's such a homie. Top 10 in my list of characters with best character growth.

Okay okay...so the ending right...I knew Ratchet died in the end. Or a portion of the end. But it still caught me off guard. Not to mention I thought Tailgate had died in the end too. I mean it was technically true. But still...ouch. I saw the panel with the Rodimus Star and thought it was so dumb. Had no idea that it was so much more impactful than I thought. Legit before knowing the context I thought Rodimus didn't want to give his most inner energon and gave a Rodimus Star instead. Oops.

I've seen panels of Minimus and Megatron interact and had no idea that it was from the final issue.

5:31am

This series has given me a small portion of joy I couldn't feel for the past few months without it. A boost in creativity and expanding a range of wow that's a lot of fucking insane shit that can happen and still be fun huh?

[fruit-salad-ship]

Ok now I can't help but imagine Plum having a rough day, coming back home and seeing that old bangle, and just going over to Peach and hugging her tight. "What's wrong, Plum?" "I'm just really glad you're here."

Do you think it hurt? To turn up at your new job and see that person who walked out of your life, for at that point in time, reasons unknown. Missy recognised peach instantly, and peach knew her too, behaviour never changed. But she didn’t recognise plum, not anymore, and honestly the ranger hardly recognised her either, what happened? She use to be so small.

The sting of realising you work for her, you’re a member of staff to someone who wrote to you, and only you, that maybe there was a chance to be friends once upon a time. Peach remembers how she left things, doesn’t bring it up. That was a long time ago now, people change. In her mind there was no way that’d be fixed, her dumb teenage brain to leave behind a sorry wouldn’t have been enough to fix her awful behaviour back then.

But they worked, and the rivalry returned and their competitive nature grew once more into something that brought them both motivation and joy.

There would have been a night, maybe a staff party or something where it’s brought up. Plums brave or drunk enough to laugh about it, show her the stupid broken bangle she uses to mark her current page in any book she’s currently enjoying. 10 years later, still got it. She can’t even explain why, just didn’t have the heart to throw it out. Wore it until it snapped. Peach gives a genuine apology, no note, actual words, and sure it’s awkward and she’s clearly beat herself up about it for years, but at least they’re working it out. No hard feelings, both girls feel like it kind of…changed them, for the better mostly. Though they admit they always kind of missed the old days, recalling that one time plum punched peach square in the jaw, or the mission where they both ended up in a muddy ditch because of their failed plan. It’s nice to laugh together again, for real.

You just know plum teases peach for being her first kiss, the joke is there ready for the taking, and both find it plenty amusing. Peach admits she totally sniffed out another gay then and there, kind of impressed she managed it. Sixth sense or something.

Plum can’t help but mention how much peach has changed, calmer, more level headed, actually fun to be around, not just a ball of rage.

Grey spots them just away from the party talking, leaves them to it, they need this, they need to fix that past and move forward, and honestly it’s nice to see peach so engaged in improving with plum around, the ranger makes her work smarter.

So yeah, by the time they’re at that point, where plums had that crap day. Nothings gone right, but that broken trinket she touches almost every day to mark where she’s at in her journal or take note of her page in her research is a reminder that she’s strong, she can handle it. Be like peach, be tough, push through the hard days. Lord knows she’s had to before.

Gets home and there’s that big dope, gone are the days where they’d fight endlessly. Peach turns and smiles in the apron, busy making dinner, half the Pokemon in the house run to greet the ranger. She is home, she is loved. Peach sees she’s looking tired, switched from contacts to glasses, must have been a long day.

“C’mere killer.” One open arm gesturing for plum to come over, putting her bag down on the table as she moves. It’s small and dumb, but the little things really mean a lot after days like today. She gets bundled in one strong arm, hugged tight, both her arms up around peach’s neck just buried in her. “Grey said you’ve had a long one, thought I’d make your favourite tonight. Want to talk about it?”

A million miles from the peach she studied with for that brief year.

“No I just want to forget about it. I’m just really glad you’re here.” A sentence that peach doesn’t fully get but there’s a lot behind it.

“I’ll always be here you dope.” A response plum believes fully. She’s not about to lose this one a second time.

[c7thetumbler]

Quick Game Reviews: April through July 2024

I fell behind and now I wanna catch up. Also, I have not installed illustrator on my new computer yet, so no new banner for you

Backloggery launched their site remake, which is the website I use to track my games. If you haven't checked it out yet, here's my page: https://backloggery.com/c7_the_epic

Unpacking (Steam)

Logo is from the Steam Page

I actually played this one at the end of March but forgot. That's not an indictment in anyway on this game, I actually quite enjoyed it. I'm just forgetful AF.

This is an organization game with a plot where you follow the life of the person whom is moving throughout their years and help them unpack during these moves. You don't directly hear much about their story, however through the clues as to where they moved and what items continue or are left behind they manage to convey a really compelling narrative.

As someone who has gone through several moves myself, including some of the same move scenarios in the story, this one really resonated with me. The gameplay is fun if you like puzzles with multiple solutions and the aesthetics of decorating, but I found myself constantly wanting to open the next box to see what items made it or move onto the next stage so I could learn more. There's not much replay value to someone like me, but I'd still recommend it myself.

Mario Golf (Switch NSO GBC)

Screenshot from my Switch

This was one I had as a kid and decided to revisit, since even though I was really bad at video game golf, this game has a lot of charm. The world around golf, with challenges, secrets, and a level up system that adds to it all and makes it feel like even failure is progression.

That being said, this game is hard. I'm glad I played it with the NSO rewind and save states; I never would've beaten this normally and it still took me a long time. Like the Game & Watch Gallery games, it has a lot of really great visuals that are iconic for the GBC era. Unlike Game & Watch Gallery however, you can beat the game without ever interacting with any Mario characters! They don't show up until you've done everything in the main world, and then suddenly you get an invite letter that takes you to Peach's castle where you can participate in a final tournament with the Mario gang.

The charm and effort put into this game makes it an iconic entry in Nintendo's history, however don't go into this if you don't already like video game golf or expecting a lot of Mario specifically.

Seal World (Steam)

Screenshot is from the promotional screenshots on their steam page

My steam wishlist has a lot of Indie 3D platformers on it, so occasionally I check it and something goes on sale and I pick it up. This game looked very silly but cute, something that could've had a lot of love underneath it like Lil Gator Game.

This is however a pretty straight-forward game. Not really any challenge or depth with its platforming, the collectibles are for the most part pretty easy to find, and it's a very linear experience. Really its draw is it's humor, which is fine but gets pretty stale by the end. It's not a long game by any means, and while it's not a bad game I can't say I'd recommend it as anything more than a silly experience for a couple hours at most.

OpenRCT2 (PC Download, requires owning RCT/RCT2)

Logo from their fandom wiki

Youtube recommended a Roller Coaster Tycoon expert (MarcelVos) who releases incredibly in-depth video about mechanics and challenges in the original Roller Coaster Tycoon games and it made me want to revisit them. I didn't spend a whole lot of time with it (only beat the first round of scenarios for each) but it was very fun to look at it with improved features and a new light on the mechanics that make the game a lot less stressful.

OpenRCT2 streamlines both games to play better on modern PCs and fixes a number of bugs, as well as offering improvements on the number of guests, options for scenarios unlocks, and a scenario loader/maker as well. Plugins also allow you to change the game more to your liking, ie if you're like me and have played scenarios dozens of times over your life you don't really want to worry about micromanaging things to ensure the money flow optimally enough to do the things you want to do. For that, there's plugins that automatically adjust price based on the scenario and the best you can offer, adjusting for variables like ride age and park value.

If you've not played the original RCT games or haven't played in a long time, I'd give this one a shot! Marcel Vos is also a great watch on the side as well, really opens your eyes on some of the deeper ways that the game worked that were a complete mystery to me when I played them originally. Mainly that mowing grass does absolutely nothing, and that Security Guards ain't worth it.

Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door (Switch)

Screenshot from my Switch

I was so excited to replay this one! I was definitely one of the people who pointed at the screen and gasped when this was announced, and I picked this one up right away.

As a remaster, this game is great! The additional reactions, back sprites, and new/altered music really helps bring it all together more than the GC release ever could.

If you've never played TTYD, it's the best Paper Mario and you should go pick it up!

For those who haven't played in a while and don't have access to a way of playing it and want to, this is also pretty good!

What I'm going to go into now is what I wish the remake addressed, fixed, or added to. One of the biggest problems with the original, the massive amount of backtracking, hasn't really been solved in any meaningful way. They were definitely aware of it as they have changed part of Rogueport underground to allow for more easier transport between different hubs in the chapters. This existed already in the original, but has been streamlined to have more pipes in a single room to fix it. The rest of the backtracking the game was known for however is still there.

One solution would've been to bring back spinning from the original Paper Mario, as the ability to move pretty quickly and in a way that was more interactive did a lot to cover the backtracking in that game. Being able to take on more than one trouble at once would also help, maybe expanding how shops work so that common items that are able to be ordered from any shop. There are just some parts that are built into it that were made to pad it with backtracking, like Chapter 4 and the start of Chapter 7.

Speaking of chapter 4 though, I am so happy they finally made Vivian actually trans rather than shy away from it. It makes her story really come together in a way that I feel robbed for not having this in the original 20 years ago. The whole chapter is about identity, and centers Vivian and her struggle with her sisters that's been going on since the first chapter. It also really paints Beldam as a much more evil character than she was in the original. Ultimately this was a great update and I'm very happy they did it.

As for actual new content... As far as I can tell there's not much. An extra recipe to address a weird thing from the original, and 2 optional bosses. Both are nice, but even SMRPG added a lot of cool things post-game and I would've liked to have seen that in this remake.

Ultimately, I'm glad I picked this game up again and it's a lot of fun, but the backtracking and stretching of existing sections really grates on you in the modern day. I would've liked to have seen a few more updates that tried to fix that.

Rusty's Retirement (Steam)

That's just a screenshot of a golden pumpkin from my farm. It grew before the update where you could harvest them.

I had a weird obsession with this one for a couple weeks. Like this isn't supposed to be a game you focus on optimizing, but one you have on the side that you can progress in and make your own. Boy was I focusing hard on getting all the achievements and making everything perfectly optimized.

That's not to say I don't like it. Just that my brain is wired to want to hyperfixate and optimize even things not designed to be actively cared about, and then weeks later discarded and never thought of again. Wonder if there's something to that.

... Anyway, The game is a fun distraction, but if your brain is wired similarly to mine and you need to focus on it and optimizations, you can easily pass on it. You can do pretty stuff with it, but that always comes at the expense of space that you could use to grow more plants ore place more automation. To me, it's like how I spend hours on end figuring out how to automate craft-ables and macros in FFXIV and then leave it running and crafting while I do other things.

Modern Modern Chef (itch.io)

Picture from the itch page linked above

This one's a treat! I love the Game & Watch Gallery games as they added in a lot of cute Mario sprites and interactions, more context for what were previously the black/white Game and watch games. This is a fan-game made with Hand-drawn graphics that shows a specific minigame, Chef from Game & Watch Gallery 2 (the only one I owned as a kid), a lot of new love.

This is a great recreation of that recreation! A lot of effort was put into recreating the mechanics almost-perfectly, and even though the game is simple there's a lot of depth in timing and interactions with Yoshi that gets explained and fleshed out in this remake. The "Modern Modern" version isn't particularly for me; I'm pretty bad at timing the flip, but it was a blast playing the game again and seeing the little easter eggs.

I highly recommend giving this mini-game a try! It won't be a long experience, but it's fun nonetheless.

Honestly, Nintendo should hire this man and should release all the Game & Watch gallery games like this. Would make a nice collection.

Cavern of Dreams (Steam)

Image from the preview screenshots on their Steam Page

Another 3D platformer, but unlike Seal World this one takes it mechanics seriously. Definitely Inspired by both Spyro and Banjo-Kazooie, you play as a small dragon collecting his siblings (dragon eggs) and a number of other collectibles as you get a few new abilities and travel further into some strange worlds.

Aesthetically it owns that N64 sharp polygons and Banjo-Kazooie esque characters, with the second non-hub world even being a flying Clanker from Clanker's Cavern. It's definitely pretty within that aesthetic, with its later levels adopting a more unsettling (in a good way) wild aesthetic.

Mechanically, the movement is pretty standard for the most part. You get a jump, you can double jump for slightly more height, and you can roll to gain momentum and cross large gaps and I'm sure that leads to some wild speedrunning tech. Rolling around definitely helps cut the rather slow pace your character normally walks at.

This is a pretty decent game! The platforming puzzles and challenges were pretty straightforward, with some strange exceptions where you need to search a desert for a single egg or some placement puzzles that took some looking up. I'd definitely recommend it if you're craving a simple 3D collectathon to scratch that itch.

Dead Estate: Axe to Grind + Assignment Anya (Steam)

Image from the wiki

I finally hopped back onto Dead Estate after putting it down for the better part of a year, so I had two updates to catch up on. To be clear: these updates are free, adding a large amount of content to an already very fulfilling base game.

Axe to Grind adds in a new character, Axel, who was starring in a zombie film set in the mansion before everything went south and he had to flee to a secret hideout before going through the mansion now filled with real zombies and monsters. He uses axes, which can be charged and thrown, and that hideout gives him some bonus items at the start of each floor. His gameplay isn't too different, and indeed the update mostly is just him + his curses + some balancing changes. It's all still fun, but not much new in terms of content.

Assignment Anya on the otherhand took it to a new, different level. In terms of additions to existing gameplay, You now have a "challenge" mode, where each character has a set of restrictions and must complete some form of challenge or un in order to win. These can be quite difficult, but are for the most part a lot of fun and a welcome addition.

The real meat of this update is in the Assignment Anya sidestory, where you play as one of the extra's in the movie from Axel's side-story and find yourself in a zombie mask surrounded by real zombies and no weapons. Anya doesn't have the ability to jump or attack, and the mansion now has a set layout with maps and puzzles strewn across it like a Resident Evil game. You must progress and solve the puzzles with limited health and inventory space to ration, solving some of the mysteries of the place and finally escaping the horrors within it. At the end, you're graded based on how long you took and how many times you had to heal, as it's possible to beat the story in half an hour or less without getting damaged once you know it.

It's a lot of fun your first go around, but unfortunately lacks the replay value I enjoy out of the rest of the game. Trying to optimize for time without a guide is a very long and tedious endeavor, made all the more frustrating because healing takes off from your final rank and achievements so you have to be extremely patient and well practiced to get the good ranks. That being said, it was a welcome change of pace and very interesting twist on the story which at this point players are intimately familiar with.

I still highly recommend giving Dead Estate a try

Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail (PC)

Pic from the steam page because all my screenshots that are funny with my WoL contain spoilers

Took a while to get back into the swing of things and actually focus down on this expansion, but I eventually got into the groove of it. I'll go from a story perspective first without trying to go too hard on spoilers.

I'll start positive as well: they had an incredibly hard act to follow given that the Shadowbringers/Endwalker story combo both unified and resolved FFXIV's storyline in a way that, while a little convoluted, was incredibly well done and brought tears to my eyes. This story had to then take the WoL (your character) to a whole new land where the stakes by necessity are much lower than they ever could've been in EW, and honestly I think they did a pretty good job. The story has you following Wuk Lamat on her journey to complete her father's (the kings') challenges while competing with her brothers and a challenger that one of the societies in Tural sees as the chosen ruler to the throne. They clearly took a lot of time to define these different societies and cultures within Tural, going from the long histories of each of the peoples on the continent to even focusing on the importance of how their food is supplied, flavored, and the political issues associated with that. This is something they struggled with a LOT in this games history, and I think they nailed it with grace here.

In the back half of the expansion, things take a turn into the high stakes you're much more used to, and uses your newfound familiarity with the peoples of Tural to contrast again that of their "foes". The villains can get comically evil, but that's not really a huge deal in my mind. My biggest "problem" is that when the biggest bad is revealed, they spend a lot of time explaining why they're doing what they're doing and Wuk Lamat spends a long time making it very clear that we as the player should understand the big bad has very good reasons for doing what they're doing. And then never condemns them for doing it, which given the stakes is like, not a great message to end on. Even through the end of 7.0, Wuk Lamat continues to yell "you're a good person" at them when they're actively trying to execute their huge, inarguably evil plan. This could've been really easily remedied with some dialog tweaks, but the devotion to making it clear that Wuk Lamat didn't think the big bad was evil while leaving the condemnation unsaid is a bit of a mistake, in my mind.

Gameplay wise, it's just about the same old FFXIV I remember. I appreciate the new trend of allowing you to run the MSQ dungeons with NPCs that are with you on your journey at the time continuing, and even being expanded to trials. Classes continue to get more and more streamlined, with my preferred class (Monk) continuing to get less complicated and more deterministic with each patch. I don't really like that trend; I do appreciate when classes feel distinct from one another and can even fall into other roles in dire situations, and while yes some abilities and classes could use less buttons, restricting all of them to have a near-identical burst windows and movements within roles is very limiting. I liked being able to off-tank as Monk for a little while, now it's missing its buff and DoT maintenance as well and it just feels like a faster Dragoon.

FFXIV is also showing its age here. A few years ago when I first started I was mildly annoyed but fine with the gameplay essentially being "travel from point A to B and watch a lot of cutsenes for 8 hours and we'll give you enough EXP to do the dungeons", but I didn't get to the first Dungeon in Dawntrail for like 3 days of playing the game and reading all the dialogue. And dungeons are like 30 min to an hour if you bring in the NPCs. That's really just the gameplay loop: run around from quest marker to quest marker, cutscene to cutscene, until the game graces you with one of only a few instances, dungeons, or trials and you get to repeat another few hours of quest marker chasing.

FFXIV is a big game with a lot of very entertaining content to do, but for a big expansion that adds a lot of areas there isn't a lot of like crazy new and fun things to do. All of the things like Hunts, Fates, Role Quests, Side Quests, Leves etc are all still there and added in for the level 91-100 range, but it all feels the same despite how good some of the stories in there are. To me, the game really shines when they try and do something really unique and new with their new stuff, like Bozja, Eureka, The First's whole aesthetic, and even the recent variant dungeons, but all the new content here just feels like the old MSQ content with not a lot of gameplay variation in it. Dungeons are all corridors because they're run in daily roulettes and need to be queued for, so that can't be interesting or else people will be frustrated at each other for not going the optimal path. Once you get to the new City and Sub-city you can immediately identify all of the same things present in every other expansion's equivalent to those and where you know you'll spend the next 2 years grinding out materials for to most optimally interact with your retainers and shopkeepers.

Basically despite how pretty the new areas are, how well written its setting and stories are, and how focused the design of the content is, it falls short of what I was hoping for as an experience in the expansion. I'm optimistic that the patches will bring their more unique content I'm a fan of, but it feels weird to wait for that after completing a brand new expansion. I highly recommend giving FFXIV a shot because it's a great game, however if you grew tired of the gameplay by the end of EndWalker you'll be in for more of the same here. My perspective is not one of a hardcore player though, and I understand that's a huge component of MMOs like these.

As for my personal expansion tierlist:

ShB > EW > DT > HW > StB > ARR

Metroid: Zero Mission (NSO, GBA)

Screenshot from my Switch

This is the only Metroid game I hadn't played-

wait, Prime Pinball and Federation Force. Dang.

Okay well the biggest one I haven't played. It's weird because while I enjoy a Metroid game I don't feel like as attached to the series as a lot of people are. That being said, I know this is one of the best ones in a series filled with bests so I was overdue for giving it a try.

This game "modernized" the original Metroid NES game into a much more approachable version with cutscenes, a better map and UI systems, and a lot of improvements found in Fusion as well. It's a very good game! A great entry point into the series if for some reason Super Metroid wasn't for you.

The challenge is still there but not in a way that makes you feel stuck or confused, the cutscenes are great, and the bonus content added onto the original story is definitely welcome. I'm glad I finally got a chance to pick this up, and I feel like it's usurped Fusion as my favorite 2D Metroid. And I'm aware about how much that last sentence invalidates my Metroid opinions.

Super Princess Peach (Nintendo DS)

Art from Nintendo's Website

This one's one I've always wanted to play for years, even though at the time I passed it by because it was a "girls game." My sister actually got it for me for my birthday, and I was finally able to play through it all. It's pretty fun!

Just a little bit of history on this one: this is one of the few Games Nintendo likes to pretend doesn't really exist for some reason. I can guess as to why; in a world where not falling into gender stereotypes is important, having the only game until very recently led by one of like 3 female characters in your top franchise be based around getting superpowers from her emotions is not a great look. From that perspective they actually could've flipped it around and made it a very powerful story in retrospect. The message shouldn't be able to be construed as "girls are emotional and that's Peach's thing" but rather be clearly about being able to express and handle your emotions in a positive way. This could've been done both figuratively through the plot, or literally through the platforming.

Instead it's a story about Perry, the parasol Peach carries, and how weird it is that he's a powerful umbrella. And then you beat Bowser. Peach isn't really even "present" in the story; she could've swapped places with Mario and it would be an identical game about saving Princess Peach but with weird new emotion abilities. Peach doesn't really say a word or even react to Perry in the few cutscenes there are, which is a shame. Hell, even the emotion abilities could've been something else entirely, like just normal elemental abilities, and it would've been the same story. Because of that, it's very easy to come to the conclusion that they were workshopping ideas and were like "Girls are emotional, and the protagonist is a girl, so she has emotion powers."

But also, it's a really fun and pretty game so they should've made it available digitally somehow anyway. At least when 3DS and WiiU were around and DS games were easily emulated.

I digress though. I really liked this game and recommend it for fans of games like Yoshi's Island. Beating it requires getting every Toad, so be prepared for that, but there's a lot of bonus levels and content as well that make it a good time. You can definitely tell it wasn't made by Mario's typical team but by the Starfy team though; there's a few "guess the door/pipe" and similar design tedious choices that would not fly in games made by the usual teams.

Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition (Switch)

Screenshot from my own Switch

I got a bone to pick with this one. But I'll try and compliment sandwich it.

To start: I love the premise. They did a really good job of getting that 80s aesthetic for the games while making the challenges fun and user experience approachable for people who are not intimately familiar which each of the 13 games.

The unfortunate part is: NES Remix 1+2 did this with more games and had more creative gameplay to it. This game costs $30, and what you're getting for that is ~150 challenges spread across those 13 NES games. That sound like a decent amount, but when you begin unlocking them you start to realize that a lot of these challenges are very short or contained in hard challenges later down the line. Additionally, you will likely only be playing the start of the games contained within; the entire NES games are not included and playable. The "exception" is that the NES Donkey Kong Legend challenge is to win all 3 stages, and the SMB challenge has you beating the entire game via warp zones. The rest of the legend challenges usually are "Beat a single level/dungeon."

The championship mode is cool, and it's fun to see how your stats rank with other players and even within your birthyear, but there just is not enough to go on here. These games are all available via NSO, the normal version, and I have personally purchased versions of each of these games at least 4 times over the years so it's kind of a scummy move to be like "Pay for them with slight modernization again". Nintendo seems to perpetually not understand that while their NES games were culturally valuable, their monetary value is 0 given how readily available they are, even if you repackage them as challenges.

Also 13 games isn't even that many, and there's some glaring omissions. Mario Bros, Punch-Out, Donkey Kong Jr, Clu Clu Land, and Wrecking Crew are all conspicuously absent, and while I understand that puzzle games like Wario's Woods, Dr. Mario, and Yoshi wouldn't have good challenges to them, it would make sense to have them fully integrated with high scores to compare and contrast with friends on leaderboards.

So I don't think it's worth your money, despite how addicting and nostalgic it is. It's repackaging games that you likely already have access to legally with a nice skinner box challenge UI over it. Now, I have two suggestions that would make this game worth it.

All 13 games should be fully playable within this game, and have leaderboards or time trials associated with them. Additionally, other games that don't do well for arcade-style challenges should be included as bonus content.

This game has built in glitch detection, so if anyone uses infinite points glitches, they can flash "Strategy not allowed" on screen and void your score if you go for those, or even have an "advanced strategy" toggle that separates those runs. To allow for easier practice, you could also have your normal NSO functions like save states and rewind that are only usable when not in challenge mode.

There are a few benefits to doing it this way, one would be you now have access to these games without needing an NSO subscription and can participate in the challenges locally. Another is it could breathe life into these games, and allow official leaderboards for games that are still speedrun to this day. I don't know if I'd call that a $30 value still, but it'd definitely be closer to worth it

2. This is free with your NSO subscription, similar to Super Mario Bros. 35 and F-Zero 99

This just makes the most sense to me. Without the NES games themselves included, the sole purpose of this is the online leaderboards and self-contained tournaments mode, which means that while you can play it offline, there's not really a point to. This would make it good supplemental content to the NES game library NSO subscribers already have access to. This option makes the most sense to me, as this game honestly feels like that was designed to be that way in the first place. The main menu always flashing the current week's challenges and your progress feels identical to the style F-Zero 99 has, and the ability to buy more challenges and avatars with in-game coins feels like the kind of padding you'd put in a free game. It would also make it more reasonable to update with new challenges or even additional games, as now it's not behind a paywall. Erm, new paywall.

And to end this compliment sandwich, I really like the variety of avatars and coin bonuses that added in, it feels very satisfying to my collectable crunched brain.

[angelicyoongie]

MAGGYYYYY

RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

(please excuse my late rant about your latest Lovesick chapter, but I finally have some time to breathe and read)

The WHOLE chapter had me so feral DUGFSODFFDU like I was immediately shocked at the beginning when the MC was in absolute pain and I did feel a little bad upon discovering that Yoongi and Taehyung went out of their way to get a nice Christmas tree :( (but that still doesn't excuse them!!) I was glad to see more interaction between the MC and Jin and Hobi! I am also VERY excited for what will happen between them next chapter 👀👀👀

BUT OHHH BOY THE SMUTTT 🥵🥵🥵🥵

Can I just start off with how beautifully you write smut??? Like, not many writers have the same capacity to write it as fluidly and as ardently as you do! I could feel the tension and heat projecting from the scene and was absolutely immersed in all of it! The lines "Can't stop thinking about how good you'd look choking on our cocks," "...we're going to make you come so much you forget your own name," "Can I fuck you? Is that alright?," and "I'm going to take such good care of you, Y/n, promise" had me in an absolute CHOKEHOLDDDDD, I COULDN'T BREATHE OUFSDFOFGD (therewerealsosomanymorelinesbutthatwouldjustbecopyingandpastingyourentirechapter)

Also the fact that Jimin came prepared and brought condoms to the cabin had me chuckling LOL

I was so excited to see Tannie!! Finally, something to break the monotony for the MC and give a spark of hope :') Even then, I was really hoping for SOME understanding from the boys regarding the lovesick theory, but, like you mentioned in an earlier ask, it's too early for them too hear that right now. I hate to say it, but MC might need to wait a couple months (or years??) for them to finally come to their senses and realize how concerning their behavior has been. I still have hope for the MC's freedom!!!

That aside, Maggy, I hope you are staying as happy and healthy as can be and take as much time as you need for the next chapter! I am sure many readers, myself included, are more than willing to wait for whatever more you have in store for us. Can't wait for the finale of Lovesick!! 💜💜💜💜💜💜💜

K

omg no worries, i hope you're doing well! 🥺

i gotta switch it up a little bit every now and then, lol! keep u guys on your toes 😌 taegi did try to do something sweet so i do feel a little bad for them sdhsjk. i think you're really going to enjoy the next chapter if you're looking forward to 2seok and the mc together, hehe 👀

AAAAA thank you so much!! 😭 it's funny because writing smut is such a struggle for me, it just never seems to get easier lmao. but it means a lot that you think it's still good regardless!!

it had to be him 💀

tannie is just the bestest boy and he's doing wonders for the mc's mental health for sure! yeah, it would've been great if they had shown some understanding but it's simply just too early :( they have had good progress so far but there's still quite bit to go, so i don't think months to years is an unreasonable timeline 😬

thank you so much K, you're so sweet to me and i always love reading your comments!! 💖 they mean the world to me 🥺💖 i hope you'll enjoy the final chapter tomorrow as well!!

[quicksilverdrabbles]

Kaidan: *sitting at the edge of the cliff the team is camped at, staring at the stars and auroras*

Saturn: *climbing out of the tent, staggering to her feet with a large yawn* Mn... Hm? *stops, seeing Kaidan sitting at the ledge, and walks over to sit next to him* Rough night?

Kaidan: *jumps* Gods- How are you so big but so quiet?

Saturn: Heheh. Lots of practice. Can't sleep?

Kaidan: ... I was, uh, just.. keeping watch.

Saturn: Riiiiight. Well, I think you've kept watch long enough. Lemme take next shift.

Kaidan: .. That won't be necessary.

Saturn: 'Cause you can't sleep, right?

Kaidan: Damn it.

Saturn: Gotcha. *giggles, nudging him gently* Septim for your thoughts?

Kaidan: ...

Saturn: ... *frowns, recognizing the look on his face* Thalmor?

Kaidan: ... Kind of.

Saturn: Mm..

Kaidan: It's hard to forget, you know? Easy to pretend like it doesn't bother me as much as it should, but the second I'm alone with my thoughts, I can't.. It's the only thing I can think about.

Saturn: I hear that. *sighs, shifting so her knees are curled to her chest* .. Does it bother you, travelling with so many High Elves after what happened? Me, Nebarra, Taliesin and Caryalind?

Kaidan: ... It was harder with Taliesin and Caryalind, I think. It still is. I feel like I can't fully trust them, or let my guard down around them. Or something.. bad will happen. *turns to face Saturn, still avoiding eye contact* .. It's easier with you, though. You saved me. And I know you're not anything like the Thalmor. You were never one of them.

Saturn: *eyes widen, displaying shock, but hiding fear* ... I'm.. glad you trust me. I don't ever want.. to do anything that would hurt you. *closes her eyes, taking a deep breath with a conflicted frown* .. Do you want to talk about it? It might help.

Kaidan: ... Nah. Not right now, anyways. Think I need to collect my thoughts a bit before I can talk about it with a clear head.

Saturn: Take all the time you need.

Kaidan: Yeah? Think I'll take you up on your offer of switching shifts, though. *chuckles, nudging her in revenge and getting to his feet* .. And, uh. Thank you. For listening. Good night, Saturn. *turns and goes back into the tent, climbing into his bedroll and falling a sleep pretty quickly, soothed by Saturn's comfort*

Saturn: ... *groans, falling onto her back and slapping a hand to her forehead* Dammit.. *opens her eyes, staring at the stars above her with a frown* ... It's so easy to pretend..

...

Saturn: I almost forgot he doesn't know.

[tracerleo]

Letter from Theron:

I love those in game messages we get and I use a lot of them for reference and to enhance the story dialogue.

Excerpt from “I do it for you.”

______________________________

3630bby Umbara

Imperial Space

__________________

Borias,

I really wish that I could come back, but I have too much that needs to be done. I would love to take that vacation that I always talked about, go somewhere far away from all this war and death. Just the two of us. It's a great fantasy, but the reality is much harder to swallow.

It feels like iv'e fought for peace all of my life, but for as long as I can remember, no matter what, nothing has turned out as I planned. Everyone always lets me down in the end. The Jedi, the Republic, my parents, even the Alliance. This endless war for power....it needs to stop. I'm so tired of fighting, and Iv'e finally found a way to stop it. Please know that everything iv'e done has been for the good of us all.

I don't expect you to understand. In fact, i'm sure this will really upset you. But I really need you to know, no matter how this all turns out, I LOVE YOU. I always have, and always will, Ever since the moment I first saw you on that halo in Manaan. You stole my heart and I will never forget you.

Always, forever

Theron

Theron sat on his bed on the shuttle. He put the data-pad down.

Tears rolled down his brown cheeks. He had finally lost it. He was glad that Borias couldn't see him cry.

He had to hold himself together, he thought. This mission has to be completed and I need to stay strong.

Borias had his emotions all mixed up. It had been that way right from the start.

His stomach was tied in knots, he had trouble sleeping, and he couldn't stop thinking about Borias.

He was never good with relationships, but Borias had changed him and his way of looking at things. He had always been an optimist and a fool in matters of love.

He sighed. He really did love Borias. The Sith Lord had left a serious mark on him and changed his life. But now, he needed to concentrate on the task at hand.

He needed to focus, and the Commander of the Alliance, the Sith Lord and former Emperor's wrath was a big distraction for him.

He couldn't know what I was about to do, he thought. He would have tried to talk me out of it, for sure.

This was like his old S.I.S. days when he had to lie and deceive people constantly. Keeping secrets, hiding from everyone, even those he cared about. But it had to be done, the Alliance needed to die.

His data pad rang. He reached for it to answer the message.

It read:

Agent Shan,

We have discussed it in detail, and we have decided that it would be beneficial for you to join us. We weren't sure, given your current affinity with the Alliance, but with everything that has conspired thus far, we figured that having you work with us would fix your current chaotic situation within your ranks. We hope to speak with you further as soon as you are able. Welcome to the fold.

Grand Master Treveyr, Order of the six

He let out a hard sigh, then flicked the switch on the console of the flight panel.

Moments later , a bone masked figure appeared on the holo-communicator.

“ I held up my end of the bargain..” Theron said firmly, looking at the bone, masked figure in front of him. “now it’s your turn .”

The hooded figure on the halo glared at him under his bone mask.

“Trust in us agent Shan. all will be well. the order of Zildrog will prevail.”

It better, Theron thought, as he cut off the transmission with the priest of Zildrog.

Theron stared out into space. it better work. too much is at stake. it’s killing me that I had to lie to everyone and betray their trust, but I didn’t see any other way. he let out another heavy sigh.

I really wish that there was a way I could have done this better, he thought. damn it! he pounded his fist on the console of the shuttle. he covered his face with the other hand. at least I got to say goodbye to Borias. Sadly, we couldn’t speak on Copero, but I had to keep up appearances for all this to work out. I don’t know how long this will take, and I am not sure if I’ll be successful. Vlass was a big help. I hope he’s okay...

he grumbled. I’m not sure how long I can do this though. Borias must think the worst after Copero. He sobbed softly, tears slipping down his tanned cheeks. his hands shook, his breath coming short bursts. this just makes it harder, he thought. if Borias had killed me on Umbara, or stayed angry with me, I might have an easier time doing what I need to do, but I know he forgives me. I saw it in his eyes when I left Copero. He knows the truth.

he let out a heavy sigh, then punched the controls to head out into imperial space...

[taegularities]

ive just finished reading a book that shattered my heart into infinite pieces and i am not even joking a bit. i knew that the book was as good once i started crying and tears never stopped. i think 70% of that book was me crying. now i have swollen eyelids lol. i never cried so much over something since i watched Hachiko the movie. like real sob, sounds coming out from my mouth, the real hurting package thing :(

now i need another book as beautiful as this one. and i don’t think i would recovered from this one yet. she even mentionned one direction’s songs to describe the relationship between the two mc. i am fucking torn. oh btw the book is « a thousand boy kisses » by Tillie Cole. have you ever heard about it?

have you any recommendations? also i am debating myself to buy a kindle. although i do like the idea of paper book, idk. i spend most of my nights reading ff to be honest but since last month i can’t find any that is why i switch back to « real » book again. although i think i missed a lot of your series too i have to read them.

that made me think, is there any books that made you to start writing? how did you find telling yourself that you wanted to write? would you considered it as an hobbie or a passion? pardon me if you had already answered those questions in the past too. in that book i’ve read, author was talking a lot about passion and made me realize that besides piano - i am unfortunately not really into it anymore - i don’t have any. like isn’t it beautiful to say that we had something to hold on, to escape? i miss that..

i talked a lot today lol i am so sorry. oh and if any of your followers as any book recommandations (not ff too), i take!!! 🤎

oh gosh, babe.. have you recovered from it yet? i know that feeling so well. some stories just stay with us and are hard, if not impossible to forget. i know it hurts, but i'm also glad you found a book you could enjoy the way you did. i haven't heard of it, by the way! but just googled it, and it sounds beautiful. soulmate au :(

i wish i could rec stories, but i think it's genuinely been years since i read a proper book. i know 'me before you' and its sequel made me cry :') definitely get that kindle if you've been reading a lot these days! i do prefer paperback, too, but i get the appeal of an e-book.

yeah, honestly, that's gonna sound extremely mainstream, but books that made me write were john green's stories, the novel 'every day' by david levithan and (okay, don't laugh pls lol), but ed sheeran's songs. there's beauty in all those – a lot of talk of love and the stars, of soft and sweet things. which is probably why my writing ended up the way it is today? but i've always written tbh… i enjoyed reading and at some point, i started a random ass story back when i was 13 or so (it was horrible) and then wrote my first stuff in english when i started this blog. i wanted to try it out. play with words, see if i'm any good at it? and yeah, now i'm kinda in love with it and trying to be better every day <3 so i'd say it's both a hobby and a passion. truly an activity i enjoy the most.

it's beautiful to have something like this, true. i hope you find your passion, too <3 and tbh, i'm so grateful you asked all that? bc i love talking about these things.. like what, you're actually interested in me and getting to know me?? i'll blush lol :') love you <3

[federthenotsogreat]

Oh wow, it's May 7th already!

As some of you might know, today is a pretty important day for me! Exactly four years ago I beat my first ever Mario and Luigi game, and the memory of that particular day has stuck with me ever since.

I really wanna write down some thoughts as it's tradition for me, but regardless if you decide to read them or not, please know that I appreciate you. Every single one of you.

Where do I even begin...

Four years ago, on May 7th 2019, I beat Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga + Bowser's Minions for the very first time, and just like on March 13th, something about me changed that day.

The final battle against Cackletta's soul is something I will never forget. From the moment I first saw it on YouTube I was absolutely obsessed with it, and I don't use the word obsession lightly. This fight is what made me fall in love with M&L, something about it intrigued me, fascinated me. And yet when the time came, I couldn't do it. I couldn't bring myself to finish the battle. If it was due to empathy for my favorite character, or because I didn't want the game to end is still unclear to me.

But after some days of switching off my 3DS everytime I got close to finishing the battle, I finally decided to take on the fight properly. And what a fight that was.

In the end I killed Cackletta on my fourth try. It was weird seeing the credits roll. I never thought that I would actually get to play the game in the first place, and now I had finished it.

The next morning I checked the date, and I haven't forgotten it since. Not a day goes by where I don't think about that battle. I still remember everything so vividly.

It's weird to think back to a time where I hadn't beaten Superstar Saga yet. That game is such an important part of my life, yet there existed a time where I hadn't even finished it. And I can't even say if I'm glad that I did. May 7th did a lot for me in ways that I can't describe, and that a lot of people won't understand. It opened up new chapter of my life I think, in positive as well as in negative ways.

In the end I think a part of myself is grateful for what that day did for me. It helped me develop as a person, helped me figure out so many things about my life. It might sound weird to some, but I feel like it showed me who I am as a human being.

That being said, I want to thank everyone who has been a part of my little journey of self discovery. You all mean the world to me, and I am truly thankful that I got to have people like you in my life.

Thank you.

[two-calicos-in-a-trenchcoat]

Im really enjoying tears of the kingdom so far. I'm at the first temple now and holy fuck was it a pain in the ass to get to.

I keep forgetting what abilities I have available to me tho which was not a problem I ever had with botw lol. Fully forgot I could make my own weapons for most of the day. I keep wishing I could use revalis gale for things when I could be using ascend (tho getting to the current temple helped a lot)

My biggest complaint is the UI for switching abilities. The UI in botw was much easier to navigate on the fly for me. I keep choosing the completely wrong thing cuz im trying to just quickly scroll through them which I can't do lol.

I appreciate that the landscape of hyrule itself is a bit different but still the same enough that I can figure out where I am without the map. I do miss all the dead guardians tho. They were a pretty big landmark that I paid a lot of attention to cuz....I had to make sure they weren't going to wake up and start shooting at me. And I get a little turned around without them and the sheikah shrines. I get why they DIDNT just stick the new shrines in the same places as the sheikah ones but the spaces where they used to be look so weird and empty now. Especially the one in Rito village.

Also!!! So many new puzzles!!! That was one of my favorite things in botw and I was worried they either wouldn't include them or would just have more of the same but theres so many good ones. I like the ones where you help put up the Hudson construction signs a lot. I like that they kept some of the korok puzzles the same. The helping traveling koroks find their friends is kind of annoying tho lol. Most of them have been going the way I need to go anyway but one was super far out so I marked it for later.

They keep mentioning the chief of the sheikah tribe but not saying who it is and im pretty sure its paya. Like I dont know that for a fact but if its not impa and its not purah or robbie then its gotta be paya right?

Also also also another thing I'm enjoying is seeing all the kids again. All of these children have almost surpassed link in height and its hitting close to home lmao. I'm excited to go to kakoriko and see Koko and her sister again.

The game feels a little more fast paced than botw. Which in some ways is good cuz I wanna figure out what's going on with zelda but botw just felt very chill. Far less plotty stuff going on in botw. Like im glad it's not the same cuz it would be very boring otherwise and also kinda pointless but since I was literally just playing botw the night before I got totk all the changes to hyrule feel SO sudden and its weird and a little jarring. Also its weird talking to npcs who I remember from botw cuz none of them remember link at all if they werent significant to the plot in anyway.

Also its super weird that no one in hateno besides symin knows who link is. Like. Excuse me I have a house right on the other side of that bridge behind the cube houses I am NOT a tourist, thank you. I need more backstory there. Like zeldas been here and link has supposedly been with her a lot. Everyone in the village knows zelda. But none of them recognize link. "Our village used to be known for its vegetables" I KNOW. I used to purchase them from you ALL THE TIME.

*goes into the dye shop* "ohhh a new customer" SAYGE IVE BEEN HERE SO MANY TIMES. YOU HAVE DYED SO MANY ITEMS OF CLOTHING FOR ME.

"I've never seen you around here before" I WAS HERE LAST WEEK

[space-specs]

I, T and X <333

Thanks for the ask bestie, this was very fun!!

I - Has tumblr caused you to stop liking any fandoms, if so, which and why

BBC Sherlock. I really wanted to watch this show when it was all over tumblr and all my friends were watching it back in like 2014, but I never got around to it. Eventually, people stepped back and were like "actually, so much about this show sucks so much", and I was just kinda glad I'd never actually watched it yet and now I won't. If I want Sherlock content, tbh, I'll probably just rewatch "Elementary, Dear Data" from Star Trek: TNG. Or finally finish the Enola Holmes stuff.

T - Do you have any hard and fast headcanons that you will die defending, about anything at all (gender identity, sexual or romantic orientation, extended family, sexual preferences like top/bottom/switch, relationship with poetry, seriously anything)

Duke Thomas cannot make direct eye contact with people. It gives him a splitting headache. Since eyes both absorb and reflect light, looking directly at someone's eyes creates a sort of feedback loop of light beams for him.

Cass is, in all actuality, older than Jason. However, because there is some ambiguity about her precise age, both of them frequently insist they are the older sibling of the two. They could very easily confirm who is older; they both refuse because they don't want to be wrong.

Steph is more of the common sense in the batfam than people give her credit for. Don't get me wrong, she is far from normal (she is vigilante, she grew up in Gotham), but she is the one with the wherewithal to, idk, solve her problems by actually talking to people. She's clever and witty and quick on her feet and actually some really good and really practical people skills.

Duke and Jason are both functionally immortal for different reasons. (Also, they are good brothers and DC needs to bring back the two of them getting to interact).

Tim doesn't call Bruce "dad" and probably never will. Not because he doesn't see Bruce as his parent, but because "dad" has some very complex connotations for him and he doesn't want to apply those to Bruce. More specifically, because good batdad is canon to me, Bruce is better than what "dad" means to him. (It’s also important to me that Jack does try to be a father to Tim and does love him. But loving your kid is not always enough. Sometimes you still hurt them).

There's definitely something I'm forgetting that I'm even more die hard about, but this is already more than I intended on writing for this one 😂 needless to say this is a fun question. (Also maybe putting this out will kickstart me writing the fics I have planned based on 3 of these)

X - top 5-10 characters who are yoUR PRECIOUS BABIES AND YOU WILL DIE DEFENDING THEM

Tried very hard not to just put every single batkid on this list but know that I would go to war for any of them I love them all so much.

In no particular order

1. Jason Todd -- listen, do I think his philosophy on crime should be applied to the real world? No, absolutely not. Has he done anything wrong ever? Also no.

2. Duke Thomas (bonus: the whole We Are Robin crew) -- if you hate Duke Thomas, meet me in Denny's parking lot. Something is clearly wrong with you and I will right it via blunt force trauma /j.

3. Tim Drake -- Catch me untangling the mess that is his fanon and canon characterizations and weaving a beautiful tapestry out of it. I see so many wrong interpretations about him and I am tired. Very carefully sorting out what should and shouldn't be kept from both fanon and canon every time I write him.

4. Cassandra Cain -- she has done nothing wrong ever and she deserves to be Batman. my favorite weirdgirl ever <3

5. Trevor Belmont -- my wife /p just introduced me to Castlevania and I did not expect to love it this much. Trevor is my babygirl and I would die for him.

6. Sypha -- I love her soooo much and I am dreading any potential romantic arcs to come about since she's the female lead because I really don't think she needs it. Please let her be cool af and single and not ruined in favor of the inevitable contrived romance, oh god.

7. Rise!Mikey -- I started my dive into tmnt content with Rise and then I tried to go back and watch 2012 because people said it was also good but they were so mean to Mikey 😭 I couldn't do it. He is like a squeaky toy to me.

8. Rise!Donnie -- I am captivated by his autism swag. Enough said. (Him and Mikey as a brother duo is so precious to me).

9. Razer -- Watch Green Lantern: The Animated Series if you haven't already. Do it. I promise you will not regret it. I won't say anything because spoilers but I have so much to say.

10. Talia al Ghul -- I am taking a knife to canon and carving out the parts I don't like because she is a good mom, goddammit!

Bonus: Koriand'r. I haven't read enough comics to know much about her, but I respect woman juice everyday for my favorite 6+ ft buff alien woman. (She should get to be huge and strong and I will fight for that).

[bg-sparrow]

7,8,15,18 for fanfiction writer ask!

The wonderful @mangotortoise always indulges me on these FanFiction Writer Asks 🥰 Thank you for being an enabler (and curious about my process lol)!

7. When is your preferred time to write?

I don't really have one! Because I'm so scatterbrained, I write the moment an idea strikes if I can, even if it's just texting myself a few lines of dialogue I don't want to forget. Being a working mom doesn't leave much time aside from evenings/ late nights/ weekends, but when I get those Saturdays that I can wake up, park myself at my computer, and just go all day between switching laundry and loading the dishwasher, I love those days. I'm also really excited to write after I write loose scenes/ notes in my notebook because I end up expanding on them so much in the Word document effortlessly!

8. Where do you take your inspiration from?

Obviously, as fanfic writers, we're inspired by the source material, but my motivations beyond that vary by story. I'll stick to my BttF ones here.

For the Time Circuits Series, it wasn't born out of "I want to make a quality MartyOC across the trilogy" (even though that was ultimately my goal). I watched these films growing up with my dad a lot, and the idea of giving Doc a daughter and exploring that father-daughter relationship was my initial motivation before I even realized I wanted to rewrite the series years later.

Once Upon a Time in the West was at first a "stuck in 1885" AU for Cowboyvember, but after years of working on the T-rated trilogy rewrite, I wanted to try my hand at branching out into topics I'd never written about (depression, sexuality, etc). I was motivated to get a little grittier, and as someone who you could easily call modest, I wanted to see what I was capable of beyond the T rating. And I feel like I finally have enough life experience to give an accurate voice to these topics.

15. If you write OCs, how do you decide on their names?

Well, that depends! I enjoy the repetition and echoing in the BttF trilogy a lot, so it made sense that Doc's daughter is Emma (since he's Emmett). She just never had another name to me. Her middle name is "Jean", and at the time I decided that, I think I'd just reread Harry Potter, and "Jean" is Hermione's middle name. It's also an 80s nod to "Billie Jean".

Emma's mother is Dolores - because "DeLorean". And I think that plays a bit of a personal role in Doc choosing the DeLorean aside from all the science hoo-ha.

Clarence Livingston in There Are No Roads was the son of the cabinet maker in 1885. The cabinet maker's sign says "T. Livingston", and as Clarence was sort of the love interest in that story for Emma, his name became the male version of "Clara." So we have "Emmett and Clara" and "Emma and Clarence", and it makes me happy lol.

Other OCs I've created, it's a matter of making sure they're period-appropriate and a lot of "screen testing" -- saying the name out loud in dialogue, seeing how it fits against the canon names, etc. It's just like naming a child, honestly! It has to sound right and feel right. How do the canon characters feel meeting someone with this name? What nicknames/ pet names come out of it? Does the OC LIKE their name?

18. Do you have any abandoned WIPs? What made you abandon them?

Boy, I'm glad I'm being asked this now as opposed to two years ago! For the last ten years, I always wanted to come back and finish my stories, and I'm happy to say that I've completed two since I returned to writing in 2021: Principles of Compromise I left hanging for eight years, and Where You're Going (Time Circuits #1) I left hanging for three years.

I still have one I know I want to finish for the National Treasure fandom. I wrote a successful RileyOC story there in high school titled Another Clue, and I burned out halfway through writing the sequel to it titled One More Clue (but I still have all the notes to continue and finish it)! Perhaps now, with the new National Treasure TV show coming out on Disney+, it's a good time to hunker down and finish One More Clue (even though I'm totally going to have to spruce up Another Clue first because I've grown too much as a writer to leave it as-is before posting it to AO3).

I loathe getting so invested in an unfinished story, so I've tried to make it my mission to have the story finished/ an ending decided when I commit to posting a story. I don't want to make people disappointed like that. It's frustrating. So I'm trying to make good on it by finishing all my WIPs now!

Thanks again for the ask! I'm always open to more!! Have a great day!

[shhhhhiminsidesaitamascloset]

Personal Vent

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I didnt think a long time friend would block me on tumblr or at all. I admit, i was a bit upset and just thought their cold response online was because they were busy playing video games atm.

i went to go share my new fic w/ them and found out they blocked me. So it was what i thought. They genuinely didnt care or was annoyed i guess. Im not gonna ask somebody to speak to them or wonder why they blocked me. Or think that this aquaintance was built on something nefarious.

But im just going to take it in stride and not worry too much about it. Im just glad they werent my only friend and that i didnt heavily depend on them. People acting funny nowadays anyway and life is too short. People are just willing to snuff the light out of people with good intentions, and some are jealous. Some fail to see the good in people that are different. Or theyre just fickle for any reason.

If i'm your friend, we may disagree on things or run in different circles, but im not going to be petty and block you. im petty with strangers i dont agree with or dont know. But no matter how much we disagree i'm not gonna be petty with you if i think youre a cool person. Though maybe this is a teaching moment.

Maybe this is telling me to be more kind and not block people??? But unless we were friends beforehand i wont block you. Im still not going to care too much because the world is too envious and fickle nowadays. If i only got like two online friends then ok. If they betray me then i know that i wasnt meant to befriend others in this life or world. And i guess thats ok.

I was told long ago that i had to accept that not everyone would like me. I was told in church that the world will reject me. So its a soul crushing admission to someone who always wanted friends and a best friend. But im ok if God and Jesus are my besties at this point. If thats how it is, then thats how it is.

But if anybody is nosy and read it up to now, cherish the people in your life online or irl. You never know how important that friendship is to them and how much theyre willing to put up with to be your friend. If theyre a ride or die like me that is forgiving as i am and looks past the negatives. Do not take that person for granted.

Stop taking friendships for granted in general. Because for years i thought i had to change for people. When it was never me who was the problem. A lot of people in my life didnt care and were too fickle. they were jealous. They refused to see me for who i was! And im tired of trying to prove myself to people who are selfish and only care about themselves.

crying! getting rsd because they refuse to text me back! putting up with what felt like abuse and neglect. Im freeing myself for forgiving those who have treated me less than. forgiving people who were jealous or didnt like how i shined my light. i never tried to commit unalive because of how people treated me and im still here watching this world go to crap because too many people pull the "woe is me" crap and only care about themselves.

too many people blame God but dont realize they perpetuate their own demise. they see anything with a semblance of good and assume its bad. Forgetting that i was even a proshipper at one point in my life. i was pro lgbtq+. i was all that s*** even a feminist! Yet when i switch teams and go my own path im bad for it!

If yall think im some horrible person for standing by what i believe even though ive always been first and foremost a lover! not a hater! Then some of you need to reevaluate yourselves and look in the mirror. I know im not perfect! I never was and neither were yall! At least im aware to admit that with my whole chest!

But like i said imma stop blaming people for my issues. Imma stop getting sad when i get rejected. Imma stop worrying why nobody will text me back. if yall fickle like that then maybe its a good thing you left. Maybe this was for both of us to move on. Ive lost alot over the years. i struggle. But im refusing to let anyone take my shine away from me. no more.

you never know loss or rejection until it happens to you. and too many of yall go around like your loner status is bulls*** and that you have more people in your life than you like to admit. or act as if you dont need people to talk to. Either youre very priveledged or miserable pretending to be ok. Especially (lemme just say it) if you dont have God or Jesus in your life.

You try to go for inclusion then ostracize people you have your own bias or prejudices against. Liars and hypocrites! Then i cant speak my mind because its wrong to believe something "my oppressors" believed. Its not the religion its the people! Its not the race its the people! When you take away politics, race, sexual orientation, disability, gender, etc. Its the person. Its the people who hate. The individual person. And hate isnt exclusive to people who oppress you. You and your community can hate too. You just dress it up as ✨️prejudice✨️ you cant fight fire w fire. You can put evil against evil!

Yet here i am. I'm willing to put all that aside. Im willing to get slapped, neglected, spat on, and abused to learn the true meaning of forgiveness and what it means to forgive. what it means to turn the other cheek and rise above hate and evil. Like after all after we die none of this trivial mess will matter at all. And if yall are sick of injustices, sick of how people treat each other, sick of the evil bulls***. Then why not rise above it and do better?

Also self reflection is a good thing. When you start wanting to live life with better principles and a better heart its always a good thing! and the best thing to learn from all this is that you'll never know if your friends are on opposing sides until you bring up stuff like politics and religion. Stop making that your identity and talk about your favorite shows and anime. gravitate to likeminded people. And learn to agree to disagree or walk away.

But with me im just built different. I'll befriend anyone until they talk about hate for something or blaspheming God. Even then im patient because im aware not everyone thinks like me. And im constantly misunderstood. Even though i could go for others who think like me, im willing to befriend people that dont agree with me and show them the most love. Some i wouldnt like to interact with but i'll still love from a distance.

Love is suppose to conquer all right? thats what its all about? So i'll do that. i'll love. i'll forgive even people who wrong me. I'll never stop trying to be the best version of me. this planet can suck an egg if it thinks im going to crumble and become bitter. im going to be that annoying positive person from now on. Because insurance companies dont care about getting me therapy and i still know a bit about cognitive behavioral therapy to know that with christianity it can work. By God it will.

Yall are not going to make me bitter and sad like yall. im sorry. I actually wanna live and go somewhere where im not suffering. And im not a masochist. I got too much to live for. Your feelings about me dont dictate me or my life.

i love you, i hope things work out for you, i wish the best for you. And take care of yourself! I hope someday you'll come to the realization i came to and treat people even the ones you hate. With love, compassion, and understanding. And i hope you'll find happiness and freedom from being the way you are now.