#i spent another 9 hours playing persona 4....

[ponuchuu]

do yall like the persona 5 (royal)

[startselectscreen]

My Game of the Year 2022

10. Old World

From the developers of Civilization 4, comes this one which compassess how addictive and fun that game was and multiply the number of hours spent playing this game. It meets Civilization with Crusader Kings with its heritage tree, having some political aspect to it.

9. Pokemon Scarlet/Violet

Another Pokemon game that I’m interested in, its a shame that the framerate chugs throughout the game, performance wise but man I still love Pokemon. I do find it weird that the mount that they give us looks like a bike with a Pokemon living in it and Pokemon centers are like sizable kiosks that contain a center, a shop where you can buy items and ™ shop where you acquire crafting items from defeated Pokemon and League Points . Anyways, the UI like Archeus is clean and simple and the open world aspect is atmospheric. I do love that you can do gyms at any order since it scales with your level. Titan hunting and raid bases from Team Star is fine, each to its own right. These two new features at the start feels frustrating due to its difficulty with Titans and Raid bosses having life bars and with titans you live to defeat them twice, granted later on it's pretty easy to defeat them.  The terastablize feature is like from Sword which can use to empower your Pokemon but you can only use it once and it recharges when you go to the Pokecenter. 

8. Tunic

Tunic manages to exceed my expectations, the exploration and music does a great job to immerse yourself into this game. Even if there’s not much of a story, it just compels the player on its other aspects of enjoying this game. It may be an insult or compliment to compare this to Zelda or any Souls game but the spirit of this game is really Zelda-like and Tunic was once called “Zelda like a Fox” before the game came out. To that end, this game is a wonderful and enjoyable experience to had by all

7. WoW Wrath of the Lich King Classic

This expansion of a well-loved MMO is considered my favourite, it basically continues where we left off in Warcraft 3 and its expansion, The Frozen Throne and focuses on the Lich King and your journey to Northrend. The leveling can take awhile to cap but the quests and the scenarios as you progress with leveling is interesting and while you still get that same old pop culture reference that Blizzard’s been keen on doing, it is still enjoyable to the very least.

6. Pokemon Legends Arceus

Arceus is still an enjoyable game withstanding its core frustrations, the game is like a open world Safari Zone from its base games but no movement restrictions required. It’s fun trying to catch more Pokemon to achieve more research tasks and getting more stars that your Pokemon will obey you at any level. Being a standalone game, it feels like a breath of fresh air to just catch Pokemons like its slogan.

5. Persona 5 Royal (PC/XBS/X)

This port of a game that came out a few years ago is now on recent consoles is very fun indeed. You play as a character nicknamed Joker, part of the Phantom Thieves which is a group of students who steal hearts or change their ways by staging grand heists and taking their most prized treasures. As a JRPG, much like its previous game is fun, tons of Social Links/Confidants to Max out that will help level your Personas with its interesting parde of characters that you’ll get to love and enjoy.  The palaces where you infiltrate are kinda difficult with a lot of backtracking through simple puzzles tends to be annoying but its satisfying in its own right.

4. God of War Ragnarok

I wasn’t sure to add this on my list since I didn’t complete this game but the hours spent playing this warrant it. It just amazes me how fun this action game really is. I mean, sure there aren't many subtle changes since the previous game but it is still enjoyable with Kratos just hurting a bunch of his enemies. Just beating the living shit out of mythical creatures and Gods is so satisfying when played right.

3. Sifu

Sifu is basically a love-letter to movies featuring martial arts, it’s not intended on its accuracy on what it portrays, it's a kung-fu game that a French studio, Slowmo had made. The story starts as a simple revenge tale, your “sifu” (master) gets killed before your eyes and you get revenge by finding those who killed him. The certain vibe of this game feels cool through the techno beats of the club to the first stage and the museum level where it becomes that scene from “OldBoy”. It is a fun yet challenging beat-them-up that makes you think twice before playing. The combat is difficult and what keeps the momentum coming is how you learn from each mistake, everytime you either age up to giving up and doing it all over again. It sure is a love letter to kung -fu movies but disappointing is the voice acting not being authentic. It was also criticized by its Chinese aesthetic as some complained about its accuracy but it doesn’t seem intended to be it. Each level is unique in its own way and it just gives a vibrant and rich experience. 

2. Weird West

Coming from the makers of Dishonored, raised my eyebrow, as a top-down Wild West fantasy shooter. It was tempting at first to dismiss the game, it felt terrible and the controls and the camera felt flimsy at best but as I continued on playing it, I had a blast. This game is very underrated, few had played this game and talked about it but there’s alot to talk about with this game.

1. Triangle Strategy

Triangle Strategy plays out like a traditional tactics game, it lays out like a grid-based RPG that familiarizes a mix of tactical strategy and role playing aspects into a pretty aesthetic. To call this similar to Final Fantasy Tactics is a disservice to how unique a tactics game this is. To that end, it is nice to play another one of these games and plus its replayability entices you into playing it even after you have beaten the game which is 50 hours long. Fans of the genre should seriously get this game, whether you like Final Fantasy Tactics, Fire Emblem or any tactics game similar to this, the game mixes a grid, tactical base strategy with great roleplaying aspects provided to its fullest extent. Artdink really outdid themselves with this game, it is just incredible. Withstanding the visual graphics, it is recommended to everyone who is looking for a tactics game or any game at all that contains role-playing elements to it. Plus the game is basically Game of Thrones in a tactical, JRPG.

[bangtangalicious]

death valley (m) | part 8

summary: welcome to death valley. once you’re in, there’s no telling whether you’ll make it out alive. a summer internship turns wild with blurry nights of dangerous men, dirty money, and extremely hot sex. you soon get caught in a savage game of greed, power and obsession, only to find out that you are the grand prize

pairing: ot7 x f.reader smut ft: jin x reader, jungkook x reader, taehyung x reader

genre: smut. yandere. mystery. thriller. gang!au rockstar!au fightclub!au

wordcount: 9.0k

warnings: reader discretion advised. rough sex, physical roughness, sadism kink, pain kink, breast play, fingering, elevator sex (semipublic), praise kink, dirty talk, unrealistic endurance (this is one day LMAO), attempted fire play, bondage, guns, attempted shootings, knife play if you squint, spanking, degradation (name calling, slut shaming, being really mean lolol thanks jin), crying kink? lot of crying, toxic and manipulative behaviors, jin steps on you so there’s that, character death, heavy drug use, paranoia/fear, voyeurism, sex while intoxicated, me trying to put some humor where i can, sweet dom!jungkook, wild dom!jin, and a sprinkle of dom!taehyung ;) ALSO eyebrowpiercing!jungkook. very important. 

a/n: s/o soowoozoo!bts for being my inspo. 

part 0 | part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | part 4 | part 5 | part 6 | part 7 | part 8 | part 9 | part 10 | part 11 | series navi | masterlist |

F L A S H F O R W A R D--

Goosebumps spread across your skin as the silence set in. The room was chilly, air conditioner buzzing in contrast to the slick humidity of the summer night waiting for you outside. The white light made your eyes ache, the walls were plain, dry, empty.

You stared blankly at the table in front of you. The sound of the pen scratching paper made you ache, remembering kinder days when you and Hobi would be goofing around and writing songs. How did you get here? How did you let this happen?

The previous night, you had dreamt of being at a concert, somewhere far from Death Valley. Losing yourself to music and molly, a soft pair of hands on your hips as you danced the night away, singing at the top of your lungs. Those same hands wrapping around your waist, nose tracing behind your ear to whisper to you how pretty you were. How hot you looked and how badly he wanted to tear your clothes off with his teeth. 

You allowing him to pick you up so easily, take you back to his car where you scrambled into the back seat. Like children. The first kiss was magic, you were glued to him and could barely move on. He wouldn’t leave you for a second, he wouldn’t let you breathe. Your lips were hot on each other, soft moans and giggles. Swallowed smiles as you drank one another in, bodies like waves crashing against each other.

Hands wandering until he had you where he wanted. Where you wanted. He loved you down so incredibly good. How he was able to tear you apart while still being so sweet, you could barely even fathom. His teeth dug into the flesh of your breasts, fingers hooking around your panties. 

His tongue ravished your figure. There was no part of you left untouched, no part of you that wasn’t completely ablaze with arousal. You would arch your neck back as he lapped away at the sweetness dripping between your legs, your hands combing through his wavy black hair.

His tongue knew where to go, he knew how you liked it, and your fist clenched as he fucked you with his mouth through and through. He always made sure you came first. Always. Every single time.

Whether you had mere minutes or long hours, he loved the way you tasted, making sure you knew that at every chance he got. Sloppy wet kisses traveled up your stomach to your chest, up your neck, hands caressing your ass, scratching your back, holding you close for a moment. 

You were whisked away into heaven, just briefly, as his thick cock would push into you. Your pussy pulling him in, wanting to feel the familiar but oh so incredible stretch that only he gave you. 

Taehyung. You sobbed as he fucked you, allowing him to kiss the glossy tears off of your cheeks as he rolled his hips, angling so perfectly to nudge deep within you. His sinister grin, his giggles, his chaos. You were in the hands of disaster but you never felt more safe. 

Why are you crying dumbass? He would find your state amusing, continuing to fuck you, thrusts long and smooth. Quick, but slow enough for you to savor each second. Your whining lost behind the wet sound of your bodies colliding.

Where are you? Are you watching this right now? You’re not really dead are you?

Stroking your cheek, he leaned down to whisper against your mouth. The words he would keep on saying, echoing back to you. Play along. I won’t hurt you.

What exactly you were playing, you were unsure. 

“Look at me” Your eyes darted up to meet Jin’s deceivingly innocent eyes. “I’m gonna ask you again, did you kill Kim Taehyung?” 

You gulped, sweat collecting onto the cold handcuffs around your wrists. Jin glanced at the mirrored wall, before letting out a heavy sigh. 

“It appears that Kim Taehyung was murdered about two hours before the party. We found your gun near the body.” Jin holds up the custom weapon Yoongi had given that was unmistakably yours. “Where were you at that time?” You felt your eyes getting heavy.

“I was” You lips were chapped, mouth clammy with a bitter taste. You looked him dead in the eye, stomach sickened by the amusement glistening within them as you struggled with your response. You knew he was getting a kick out of it. You wanted to spit on his face. You wanted to slap him, to scream, to flip the table and break out of the windowless room that caged you.

“I was with...y..” Jin smirked, leaning back. You cleared your throat, mind running a mile a minute.

“With who Y/n?”

You glared at him. He was treating this as some sort of role play. You felt queasy at the thought. Someone was dead. Dead. 

“You. I was with you”

F L A S H B A C K--

The morning rays slid through the expansive glass wall of the hotel room, causing Yoongi’s eyes to flinch, squinting as they opened and took in the day that presented itself. He sighed heavily, the weight of the previous night still on his mind. You were still asleep, but he could see through the chaffing beneath your wrists that you were not comfortable. He took the leash and fastened it to the headboard, ensuring you had no escape. 

Grabbing his keys, Yoongi quickly got dressed in a white hoodie and left the room. He needed to find out the truth for himself. He couldn’t afford to have you lying to him already. 

It was so frustrating to him that you couldn’t just be honest with him. He had been immensely open with you even if he was not proud of what he had to share. Why would you hide things? Hadn’t he proven himself to you? Hadn’t he done everything to win your heart?

Yoongi sighed. His anger issues were core to his being. It was part of his true self, but he had spent years trying to become someone you would fall in love with. All he wanted to do was make home in your heart, but no matter how many of your suitors he ended up threatening, beating to a pulp, and forcing them to bail on you, there was nothing in his power that could tear down that goddamn Park Jimin poster on your bedroom wall.

There was nothing he could do to stop you from writing small fantasies in your journal that you kept stashed in your bedside drawer. 

Yoongi would be lying if he said he didn’t come close to killing Jimin multiple times before. But he realized that would not have delivered him a solution. If Jimin died, you would mourn. You would still harbor that love for him and never have an opportunity to see what he really was. It was because of this Yoongi, with Taehyung’s helpful insight, had orchestrated a way to destroy Jimin in your eyes. 

Jimin was then introduced to Yoongi’s two weapons of destruction, Taehyung and cocaine. Yoongi worked hard to build himself up as a successful music producer. He had to be better than Jimin, had to make sure he could offer you everything Jimin could and more. 

To his surprise, you did move on from Jimin, at least the reality of him. But this fantasy of who he used to be remained pinned to your heart. After Jimin quit music, the mention of his name would still cause you to blush and smile. It made Yoongi want to throw up.

You had to see for yourself. Yoongi learned what it was that attracted you to Jimin and embodied just that. You liked that you had to chase him, you liked that he didn’t give a shit about you. You liked that he never noticed you and you had to pine for his attention. You liked that he was dedicated to his music, you liked the lifestyle he was associated with. You liked his lack of emotion and fantasized of him showing his true colors to you and only you, a sensitive, sweet, charming guy. Anger was not a part of this persona at all. 

When he felt like he had driven Jimin crazy enough with the drugs, he decided to plant rumors on stan twitter that Jimin would be signing with his label. Using his personal relationship with the singer, he was able to sign him on. He conveniently then offered you a summer internship, knowing full well you would be coming for one reason alone. Park Jimin.

Yoongi wanted you to fall straight into his arms. He rented out every available apartment for the months you were searching for a place to live, forcing you to reside in his building. He wanted to win you over naturally. He wanted you to work with Jimin, hook up with Jimin, and end up loathing him. Loving Yoongi instead. 

Jimin’s gang activity was getting on Yoongi’s nerves. Taehyung told him Jimin was in Death Valley, that you saw Jimin at Death Valley. When Yoongi heard from you, not Taehyung, that you had been kidnapped, along with Namjoon nonetheless, Yoongi had enough. He was used to giving Taehyung plenty of unsupervised jurisdiction, so Jimin’s accident was not a surprise to him. 

But you sympathized with Jimin, which was not what he wanted. He then decided to take things into his own hands, threatening Seokjin into throwing the fight to leech Jimin of every cent he had. He broke into your apartment, fucking everything up so that you had no choice but to come to him. To need him. 

And when Jin didn’t lose, he had no choice but to reveal to you who he was. Even after all his honestly, all his trust, you still lied to him. 

Yoongi was furious. He arrived at Death Valley, using the front entrance. Pulling a mask over his face, he barged in, surveying the silence as a sign that the bar was empty. Through the kitchen he arrive at the back storage room, accessible only by key, where all of the surveillance had been set up years ago. 

Monitors were spread across the wall, but Yoongi’s eyes narrowed in at one that was coming up with no feed. Your apartment. Someone had fucked with the cameras. Yoongi types away at the main monitor, enlarging your apartment footage and reeling back to find the moment the device was destroyed.

He sees Taehyung, whispering something to you. Next thing he knows the stream is blank. He grits his teeth, as all the pieces fall into place. He was a fool. How could he have been so blind? Taehyung must be in love with you. He must have, after watching you for so many years. Yoongi scowled at the thought of the ways Taehyung may have seen you, naked, vulnerable, ways that only he should. 

He had trusted Taehyung. Taehyung had only ever shown interest in money and Yoongi thought that was enough. Taehyung must have fucked you over and over again once the cameras were dead. What a whore. It made sense then that he had cut the line through his branding on you. He was the only one who could have. He had access to you and he was psychotic! He must have forced you to lie. You wouldn’t ever hide anything from Yoongi, no, Yoongi was the man of your dreams. You felt grateful that you had him, didn’t you?

He tilted his head, cracking his knuckles before he punched the glass screen, causing the feed to go haywire and sparks to erupt. Kim Taehyung. You are dead to me.

Yoongi growled lowly before picking up his phone. “It’s me. I need to see you. Now” 

-

Hobi kept his hand on the small of your back as he led you down to the hotel bar. The two of you nodded politely at the staff members who were busily preparing for the big event. The bar was empty aside for a few guests enjoying their brunch-time mimosas.

Hobi couldn’t really revel in the fact that the two of you were getting drinks together, almost like a date. His mind was too caught up in the initial shock he felt when he saw you tied up in his boss’ bedroom. He felt upset, but moreso he felt violated. He wondered if you were getting taken advantage of. Did he promise you a promotion? Was he manipulating you?

Punishing someone like that, Hobi was never one to kink shame, but it seemed a bit much. The name burned into your skin did nothing to ease his concern. Someone who was possessive, violent, impulsive. It reminded him of...

Hobi didn’t know. He didn’t know who gave him orders. He really didn’t care once the cash rolled in, but it began hitting too close to home. He wasn’t thrilled about hurting Namjoon, but two duffel bags of cash were enough for him to momentarily set aside his morals. 

“What should I get?” You surveyed the small menu of cocktails. “What’s gonna fuck me up the fastest?”

Hobi snorted, “Tequila” He twirled your hair as your gaze remained glued to the menu. The thought of you being in danger upset him greatly “Y/n...when did Yoongi brand you?" You called the bartender ordering a line of shots to which the they glanced at the clock before giving you a weird look.

“The night of the rematch” You told him, reacting before you realized what you had said. Your lip tucked between your teeth as you tried to conjure an excuse. A row of shot glasses was placed in front of you. You took one, gulping it down before letting out a heavy sigh. The bitterness burned down your throat. You basked as the liquid hit your mind, easing you slightly.

“Yoongi was at the fight?” Hobi recalled the wild night that the three of you had been at Death Valley. It was the first time he ever saw the man giving him orders. The man was tall, broad, had dark hair and wore dark clothes, face covered in a mask. Could it have been...Yoongi?

“Y/n!” The two of you turned to see Jungkook approaching the bar. He had changed his hair, the blue swapped for a short black cut, and you couldn’t help but double take at his new eyebrow piercing. 

You downed another shot, glancing at Hobi who had raised his eyebrows seeing the drug dealer. Jungkook gave you a light hug, waving timidly to Hobi. You smirked, another shot down the hatch. “Easyyyy Y/n” He placed a hand on your back as he slid into the seat next to you.

“The fuck are you doing here?” Hobi sneered. Jungkook rolled his eyes, used to the condescending treatment of gang members. "Didn’t you get stabbed or something?”

“I did!” Jungkook grinned, “In fact, that’s exactly why I’m here. I think I figured out who Mr. Bossman is, and I wanna fucking kill him”

Hobi rolled his eyes, “Oh really”

“Kim Seok-motherfucking-Jin baby. He stabbed me. He’s the one who showed up and threatened me to move out of Y/n’s apartment, so he’s probably also the one who called for the kidnapping. And he might have called for Jimin’s accident. It makes so much fucking sense”

Jin did what? There was not enough alcohol in your veins to act like you didn’t fully understand what he had just said. Jin had Jungkook move out? It wasn’t impossible. And that’s what scared you. You blinked at Jungkook incredulously, “But he’s literally a police officer”

Jungkook’s grin widened, “Exactly! It’s fucking brilliant. He’s a cop, he fights for the other side. He wins no matter what and can never get caught. No one would ever suspect him. Winning despite being threatened? Who threatened him huh? It’s a fucking ploy. You’re not dead and neither is he I bet. Kingpin. Boom”

You felt sick, knowing that Yoongi was not the only person you needed to be worried about. It was almost funny how blatantly misinformed Jungkook was. “Wow you guys are idiots.” You muttered under your breath, taking another shot before coughing roughly. Should I tell them? Why did Jin lie? Is this even the truth? Jin always tried to pin things on Jungkook, but you defended him. Hearing his words now made your head spin. He’s lying. Jungkook is lying. You wanted to scream, frustration flooding through your veins as you clenched your fists.

“I’m gonna tell Jimin and Taehyung what I know. They will give me so much money dude.” Jungkook chuckled, “And then they’d kill him, oh God finally”

Hobi pursed his lips, mouth feeling dry as he reflected on Jin’s eerie words before he shot him in the leg. He didn’t know where Jin was anymore, handing him off to be taken somewhere. It didn’t make sense. His orders were to seize Jin if Jin won the fight. Why place an order like that all? Why do any of this?

“Y/n, come with me.” Jungkook tugged at the sleeve of the oversized Nirvana shirt you had thrown on after your shower session with Hobi. You giggled, the thought of Taehyung coming into your slowed thoughts like a hurricane, tearing up any understanding you thought you had of the situation. There was only one thing you believed. Only one thing you knew with full certainty and it was all you could hold onto.

“Oh my goodness it’s Yoongi. It’s Yoongi. It’s always been Yoongi” The words spilled from your lips like the tequila that dripped down the side of your lips as you took yet another shot, giggling like a ditz. Jungkook and Hobi exchanged confused looks with each other, only making you laugh more. “I would fucking know okay!” Your laughs grew loud, “I was locked up in his fucking apartment and where the hell were all of you huh? Dumb fucking idiots!” You buckled over, laughing into Jungkook’s chest.

“Jungkook” Hobi sighed, “I gotta get back to work. Can you get her sober please?” Jungkook nodded. He held your waist tightly helping you stand, walking with you carefully to the hotel elevator.

The laughter wouldn’t stop. Passerbys shot the two of you dirty looks as Jungkook pulled you into the elevator easily. Through it’s glass walls you could see the midday skyline, where outside people hustled through life as if everything were normal. Must be fucking nice. “Y/n” Your laughs began to choke in your throat, turning instead to the sobs you tried to suppress with whatever will you had left. 

Jungkook placed his soft lips on your shoulder. Hands sliding onto your waist as he peered at you curiously, “Y/n, is everything okay?”

You shook your head, the elevator door closed as tears began forming in your eyes. Your voice croaked, “I’m dead. He’s gonna kill me. T..taehyung is gonna kill me. I...I know he will. He’s everywhere. Everywhere.” You looked around frantically, suddenly feeling hyperaware of the security cameras littered throughout the public space. “I wasn’t supposed to tell anyone...I” You hiccuped. Jungkook pulled you into a tight hug.

“It’s okay ssh” He stroked his thumbs them across your cheeks, cupping your face affectionately. “I’m here aren’t I?” You sniffled, nodding lightly. “I got you okay. No one is gonna hurt you”

You stared into his kind brown eyes. You did not trust him, your entire body was screaming at you not to trust him. His fingers danced down your figure, freely gliding over your heaving chest, desperately trying to breathe with the fear that choked you from within.

You blinked at him, eyes glancing down at his pouty lips before finding his eyes again. “Y/n” Jungkook whispered, barely inches from your lips. “I won’t let anyone hurt you okay. I promise”

Fat tears rolled down your face at his words. Jungkook clicked his tongue, cooing at you as he continued to wipe away your hears. “Oh you poor thing” He held you to his chest, kissing the top of your head, before tilting your face up to his. 

He leaned in, eyes fluttering shut as his lips landed on yours, swallowing you into him. The taste of tequila was evident on your lips as he kissed you softly, and you allowed yourself to surrender to his warm touch.

You felt heat pooling in your chest as his fingers trailed up your legs. He traced circles into the inside of your thighs, letting his fingers tease the edge of your shorts. 

“Jungkook” You inhaled sharply, his hot breath tickling your neck as you tilted your head back. He licked his lips before sloppily latching onto your collarbone, sucking down to litter your skin with wet kisses as his fingers slid down your shorts, just barely so that he could roll his hips into you.

He pushed you back against the glass, fingers trailing across your bare thighs before sliding beneath your panties. Jungkook ran a finger over your clothed folds, making you clench down. 

“Y/n” His voice sounded equally as desperate as yours, barely audible over the sound of his heavy breathing. “Fuck I missed you” You gasped as his fingers slid under the fabric. He pushed a finger in, allowing your tight cunt to accustom to it before adding another finger not long after. 

His other hand slid beneath your shirt, pushing your bra up so he could run his thumb over your nipples, his touch featherlight, leaving you breathless. You rolled your eyes back in pleasure, bucking your hips up as he slowly pumped you with his fingers.

“That’s it baby, just like that” He whispered, lips pressing into your neck. You let out a shaky moan as his fingers quickened, pumping in and out of you as you latched onto his shoulders. “Look at me. Look right at me baby”

He brought his lips over yours, just brushing them across your skin so he could gaze deep into your eyes as you fucked yourself onto his fingers. You cried out his name as the friction began to overwhelm you. His fingers easing you right where you needed them, pleasure searing through you as he watched your every move.

"So good for me” He pulled his fingers out, doused in your sticky arousal before he placed them into his own mouth. Your eyes widen as he licked of every last bit of you and smiles. “You taste so fucking good baby”

He kisses you again, harsher this time as his hips roll against you. Your fingers grip his hair as he pulls down his sweats, allowing his cock to spring out. 

“You want my cock?” He ran his tongue over your lips, tugging at them slightly as he stroked his cock. You could feel his hand moving between your legs. “You want my big cock in your little pussy?”

You gulped, nodding as Jungkook looked down, lining his tip against your folds, pushing in only slightly before meeting your eyes again. “So warm and wet for me, fuck” He pushed in further, groaning as you spread your thighs wider, allowing him to thrust as deep as he could. He stilled briefly, kissing you again “You take me so well baby fuck. So fucking tight for me. My pretty baby” He stroked your face, thumb pushing into your mouth slightly.

“Does it feel good?” He mumbled, pulling out just slightly before rolling his hips back into you. He picked up a rhythm, fucking you deep and slow, hands clawing at your breasts.

“Yeah...feels really good” Your eyes fell shut, enjoying the fulfilling pleasure of his movements. He pulled your shirt up, burying his face between your breasts as he continued to fuck up into you. 

“Mmm yeah I bet” He pushed your bra up, allowing his fingers to pinch you nipples. He took one into his mouth, wrapping his tongue around the small bud as he began to suckle you, looking up to your face and enjoying your reactions. “You’re so fucking pretty you know that right?” He sucked on your breast harshly before leaving it with a soft kiss and moving onto the other. “So perfect for me”

His thrusts quickened, driving you up the wall as his hands fell to your hips. You burying your face in the crook of his neck as you felt your high approaching. “Jungkook...I’m...”

“Yeah?” Jungkook’s voice was raspy with lust, “You wanna cum baby? Cum for me baby, cum all over my cock, wanna hear you make those pretty little moans when you cum”

You cried out with every thrust as he pushed you over the edge, and you felt your pussy burst with pleasure as you came, the sloppy sounds of your arousal echoing through the small space. Jungkook groaned as the hot liquid covered his cock, allowing him to slide in and out of you with ease. 

“There you go. Good girl. Good fucking girl, just like that” He gasped, feeling his cock twitch slightly, buried deep in your cunt, “Want me to cum inside you baby?” You nodded, whining slightly, “Yeah? You want it baby? Huh?” Jungkook’s hips thrust furiously at you, and he cupped your face, bringing his forehead against yours so he could look into your eyes as he came. “Want my cum? Want me to fill you up baby?”

“Yeah. I want it. Jungkook please,” Your whiny voice was enough to have him spurting through you.

“Holy fuck” Jungkook buckled over, holding you tight as cum shot out of him, filling you up and leaking out onto the floor.

He pulled out of you quickly, pulling up his sweats while you fixed your own clothes. Sweat painted his forehead as he looked at you, panting with a big smile on his cute face.

“I missed that” He confessed, pulling you back into him by the waist. He knelt down and pressed his lips on yours, letting his hands slide to your ass and squeeze them softly. 

You heard a familiar ring as the elevator door reached it’s destination. You jumped away from Jungkook, unable to get far as the strong boy’s hold on you remained steady. 

"I see stabbing you once didn’t really drive home the message huh Mr. Jeon Jungkook” 

You felt goosebumps spread as you heard the sinister tone of Jin’s voice. He stood leaning against the elevator as if he had been waiting for you, twirling his knife around aimlessly between his fingers. “Too bad, I unfortunately can’t kill you yet” He turned to you and winked, “Both of you come with me”

-

Sweat trickled down from Namjoon’s neck, his eyes glued to the tattered punching bag in front of him. His muscles were still sore, bruises still spattered across his bare chest. He didn’t care. He was sick of feeling helpless. Under the dim lights of the boxing gym, he pushed himself, another hit, more force, ignoring the pain shooting through his limbs with every strike.

“Don’t overdo it” Namjoon rolled his eyes at the sound of the familiar voice. “Last thing you want is to get injured again” He turned to the sound of loafers echoing across the concrete floor.

“What do you want Yoongi?” Namjoon sneered. The producer smirked slightly, patting the punching bag playfully before pacing around Namjoon.

“I’m gonna kill Taehyung, and I know Jimin is gonna break hell. I need you to protect Y/n for me. Can I trust you, Namjoon?” His voice was stern.

“Man, fuck you Yoongi” Namjoon groaned, “I put my life on the line for you constantly and you still have to fucking ask? Promise me. I want out after this. Promise me a record deal”

Yoongi shrugged, “Okay fine. I’ll sign you. Don’t let her out of your sight.” Yoongi inhaled sharply, “And I swear to God Namjoon if you even think about touching her, you’re dead to me. And I will know if you do.”

Namjoon rolled his eyes, lips parted, desperately trying to catch his breath. “Yeah okay. Just get me my fucking record deal”

Yoongi pursed his lips, pulling out his phone and handing it to Namjoon. “Paperwork is ready. You have one job. Don’t fuck up again” Namjoon clenched his fist as Yoongi chuckled in amusement. “I have some business I need to deal with personally. Keep her safe Namjoon, please”

-

You gagged, a puke-ish feeling clogging your throat as you coughed out. Your head was throbbing with pain as you squinted against the gleaming lights from the chandelier above your head. Glancing around, you realized you were back at Jungkook’s place, large dark wooden floors adding to the ambiance that just screamed rich in your face. The plushness of his large bed evident beneath you. 

You get up slightly, peering across the room where you see Jin handing a large duffel bag to Jungkook, whispering something into his ear. Jungkook nods eagerly, shaking Jin’s hand before exiting. He turns back to you, smiling as he realizes you are awake.

“Hey party girl. Recovered from our little day drinking session have we?” Jin chuckled. You scowl, searching around you as your throat desperately demanded water. Jin handed you a glass. “I just got Jungkook caught up, but you and I need to have a little talk” 

You exhaled before emptying the entire glass down your throat. “I know everything” You scoffed in spite, “I know everything you did, you fucking maniac”

Jin smiled wide at the term, “I know. Jungkook told me you think I was behind all of the stuff that’s been going on, stabbing him and kidnapping you. I mean,” Jin laughed, a tinge of condescendence in his voice, “You don’t actually believe that do you? Like, seriously how dumb are these guys. At least you’re smart”

You frowned at his tone, unsure of how to respond. Jin raised his eyebrows at your silence before continuing, “Oh come on Y/n. Use that little brain of yours hm? What the hell would I be gaining from all this? It was Taehyung.”

He extended you a hand, helping you out of the bed and pulling you up to stand before him, “What did he tell you huh? That he’s Yoongi’s friend or some shit? Taehyung doesn’t give a fuck about Yoongi. And I know you know about him screwing over Jimin. He’s trying to take over both gangs, not just Jimin’s, and he’s been lying to you this whole time.”

The bargaining chip. “What do you mean?” You followed the flat echoes of his footsteps down the hallway into the same office that you had Jimin tied up only a few days ago. You suppressed a smile as you noticed the curtains were still torn.

“He’s distracting Jimin and Yoongi with you. He wants them to get up against each other so that he can sway the gang loyalties towards him by showing that their leaders priorities are off. Look here” Jin motioned towards a laptop on the large desk, playing security footage of what appeared to be Death Valley’s parking lot, where people were loading bags of cash into what could have been Taehyung’s car. “He’s robbing them. And you know what else Y/n? When he’s done with all of this, he’s gonna kill them both.” 

No. No way. Betrayal stung you as you process Jin’s words, “You’re just a pawn in his game. You were bait. He just needed to you get Jimin and Yoongi to fight amongst each other. And you let him, didn’t you?” Jin chuckled, patting your cheek. “I know he kept telling you that you could trust him. That he wouldn’t hurt you. It was bullshit Y/n. This man only cares about one thing. Himself”

You thought back to the first night you laid your eyes on him, back when his hair was a faded green, his sweaty tan skin contrasting his dark leather jacket. The look of familiarity in his eyes and the gleam from his diamond studded watch. You were a fool. He strung you along.

“Where is he?” You growled, “I wanna hear it from him. I wanna ask him myself”

“Absolutely. In fact, if you’re up for it, I was wondering if you would be down to do another little mission for me” Jin winked at you. You scowled, folding your arms over your chest, “If we don’t kill him first, he’s planning on killing Yoongi tonight before the party. I know because I got him to let me in on his little coup” Your heart dropped, “You don’t want that do you?”

"No” You blurted. 

“So let’s kill him first. Come on, let’s go get you dolled up for this party”

As you left the office, you couldn’t help but notice a familiar figure standing at the other end of the hallway.

Namjoon? Your eyes locked with his. He pressed a finger to his lips before pointing at Jin and shaking his head. What is he trying to say. Namjoon seemed to have a warning look in his eyes. You simply shrugged at him, before running down the hall to catch up with Jin.

Namjoon exhaled, watching from a window as Jin and you drove off, likely heading to the hotel. Looking at his palm he saw the way his nails left imprints in his skin from how hard he was clenching his fists. Namjoon wasn’t necessarily a fan of Taehyung, but he knew a thing or two about him from Yoongi. Taehyung would never kill people. He was averse to it for some reason, Namjoon always thought it was ironic for him to be a gangster given that quality. Taehyung could torture anyone, threaten anyone, but he didn’t have it in him to take a life. 

Which meant that Jin was lying to you. Namjoon never liked Jin. Even aside from all the hits he had taken from the strong man, he always felt something was off about the guy. He feels uneasy about what he had just seen transpire, and decided to go find Yoongi. 

-

“Do you want some coke?” You were in the middle of washing your face when Jin walked in with a bag of powder. “I could use a hit, I don’t know about you”

“Oh hell yes. Thank you” He poured out a line on the bathroom counter using a quarter, watching with a small chuckle as you inhaled the drug, nose pressed against the cool marble. You sighed, wiping your nose and flashing a big grin in the mirror “Damn. I needed that. I didn’t know that you use”

Jin bit back a smirk, “I do.” He poured another line on the same place, this time taking a hit himself. “A lot”

“Oh. Officer Jin is a druggie like the rest of us huh” You teased. Jin poured himself a gin martini, taking a sip, eyes alight with amusement. “Does that turn you on ever? Do you ever have a hottie cuffed up and they’re like please Officer does that..you know..turn you on?”

Jin’s eyes widened at you “Not any hottie, no. Now if I had you cuffed up saying that” He chuckled, pulling you to him by the waist “That’s a whole other story” You pushed him away playfully.

“What?” Jin said mockingly, “Don’t remember that night where I gave you the best orgasm of your life?” His traced his lips up your jaw, and you could feel his smile against you.

“Wow. Cocky are we?” You raised your eyebrows. “I’ve had some pretty good sex in my life. Hard to say if that was the best”

Suddenly, Jin pulled his knife from his back pocket, glancing in the mirror as he traced the blade across your neck just enough for you to feel the sharp cold metal glide on your skin, pinching without actually making you bleed. “Don’t even lie. You loved fucking me. Don’t you remember? How fucking wet you were?” His breath was hot against your lips, but it was the look in his eyes that had you weak in the knees. 

Taking his knife, he slit clean down your shirt, tearing it off of you to reveal your bare chest. “On the floor slut” His whispered, flirty demeanor now shifted into something dark. Something feral.

You gulped, taking care to slide your bottoms off, not wanting him to slice them up before lowering yourself down onto the tiled bathroom floor. 

Jin set the knife aside, pulling out his lighter and setting in on the counter before shedding his own clothes, even he kicking off his shoes. He lifted his foot, and you watched with a curious gaze as he placed his foot on your chest. He kept the weight off of you, much to your relief, and you couldn’t help but feel absolutely filthy as he rolled your breasts under the sole of his foot. You had never done anything like this. It seemed so dirty, but felt so good. 

“Oh my god Jin” You gasped as he switched onto his other leg, taking his foot and shoving it into your mouth, watching in amusement as you gagged over his toes.

“Look at you. On the fucking floor. Naked little whore. Letting me do whatever I fucking want.” He removed his foot from your mouth, letting you catch your breath before you looked up at him with quivering eyes.

He felt blood rush to his cock at your expression. Licking his lips, knelt down, climbing over you to gently trail his fingers where his foot had been moments ago.

“And you love it” He sneered, letting his nails dig into your breast, “You love the pain don’t you you fucking slut?” When you didn’t answer he grabbed your jaw, pushing his fingers into the edge of your mouth. “I asked you a fucking question”

“Y...yes” You exhaled. You felt his fingers tease your clit, teeth tugging on your lobe as he laughed darkly.

Jin reached for the martini glass “Turn over” He growled. You found yourself with your breasts pressed flat against the floor, Jin’s cock pressing into your ass. You gasped as he poured the drink onto your back. “This is gonna burn. And you’re gonna take it like a good girl. I know you are, you let Yoongi do it so I can too”

“Wait what” Jin pressed your face down with one hand while the other grabbed his lighter, “Jin. Hold on.” Your voice rose in fear, which only turned Jin on more. He watched as you writhed under him, trying desperately to get away. “Jin seriously. That’s not funny”

“Shhh. You can take it” He cooed, flicking the flame on he slowly lowered it to your skin, bringing it nearer and nearer to the doused skin. You yelped as you began to feel the concentrated heat. Your entire body was petrified. “Enjoy it baby. You like it. You love it. You let Yoongi do it so why can’t I?”

“Jin. It’s not you, I'm just not ready for something like this please” Jin cocked his head aside in irritation, stopping the lighter before it actually touched you and tossing it aside. “I didn’t let Yoongi brand me he just did.”

Jin stilled momentarily. “And you still love him? Even though he did that?”

You didn’t answer. That alone was enough for Jin to rage. He slammed your face back down, the blow giving you a dizzying sensation that hat you getting wetter by the second. 

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” He growled, “How can you love someone like that?” He pulled your face up, bending you back until you were flush against his chest. “I don’t want any of them touching you again. You understand me?” He let go, giving you whiplash as you fell back to the floor. “Ass up. Now” He spanked your ass hard, causing you to yelp. The stinging pain vibrated to your core. You couldn’t help but love every second of it. 

Jin knew that you were scared of him, he could feel it. He could also see the way your thighs would clench whenever he did anything to you. You were his favorite drug. He was going to ruin you.

He grabbed his belt from the pile of clothes on the side, “Hands under” He demanded, rolling his lip through his teeth as you obeyed him right away. He took the belt tying your wrists to your knees under you.

He took a moment to admire his work, your shivering body all his for the taking. You had no where to run. He had you now. “Who gives it to you the best him?” Pulling you towards him by your thighs, he didn’t care that your knees would burn against the smooth tile as he lined his cock up with your folds. He spat down, a glob of saliva landing on your ass before he used his cock head to rub it all over you. He could hear your shaky breath, your whiny moans that made him want to fuck you even more. 

He slapped his palm  onto the curve of your ass, bending over your to growl into your ear “Filthy whore. You disgust me. You let them all just do whatever they want to you, don’t you have any fucking self respect?” He could see his words were hitting close to home. You pursed your trembling lips as Jin smacked you again in the same place. 

“When will you fucking learn huh? This pussy” He reached his hand to harshly cup your cunt, shoving two fingers inside you without warning. “This pussy belongs to me. You’re mine. My cockslut whore” Taking his fingers out, he shoved them into your mouth “You taste that? That how desperate your needy little cunt is for me”

Your legs were strung together, making it all the more painful when he finally began to push his cock inside you, using his fingers to scissor you open so that he could get deep inside you. His length pushed against your tight walls, your cries and curses only motivating Jin to push further. 

“Who owns this cunt huh?” Jin pulled your hips back, burning your knees each time as he pulled you on and off his cock. Your ass slammed into him with each blow. 

“You do. Holy fuck, you do” You gasped, practically screaming as your whole body ached with pain and pleasure. 

“That’s right baby” He pinched your clit, making you yelp as he flicked at it, pounding into your relentlessly. 

“J..Jin” You mumbled, lips still half pressed on the floor, “Jin please. Feels good” Jin scoffed, “Gonna cum...gonna cum” You inhaled loudly as you felt your high approaching. Your eyes clenched shut as he edged you closer and closer, fingers furiously attacking your clit until he stopped.

You let out a loud sob as Jin yanked you up by your neck “You really thought I would let you cum whore?” His grip tightened, cock twitching at the way your voice sounded choking, the water streaming from your eyes and the drool at the edge of your lips. He kissed you, licking it all up in the process.  

“Look in the mirror. Look at how pathetic you are. I want you to remember the only person who’s ever gonna let you feel this good” You looked at your reflection, seeing only your faces and the way Jin’s nails dug into your neck. He pushed you forward so that your chin was on the countertop. You coughed out, watching as he resumed his thrusts, punishing your clit with the jarring movements of his fingers. 

You screamed, pleasure crashing over you in a wave of tantalizing heat. You gushed onto his cock, tears falling from your eyes due to how overwhelming the sensation was. Jin continued to whisper filth right into your ears but you could no longer hear anything. Your vision became hazy, not minding the blow when Jin shoved you back onto the floor and pounded you to his own release.

On the other side of the wall, Namjoon leaned his head back and sighed, glancing down to see his cock in his hands, now completely covered in cum.

-

Taehyung chewed on his gum nonchalantly as he paced around the luxurious hotel, checking out all the fun features. The pool deck was nice, the lobby exquisite, and his favorite part, the cafe, smelt delicious. 

Yoongi had asked to meet him in his suite. On his way there he ran into you, and you knocked his breath away. He always thought you were beautiful, but tonight you looked elegant. It was such a surprising contrast to your usual getup, but you looked amazing. He was about to tell you just that when he finally registered the hurt look in your eyes.

“You liar” You slapped him with everything you had. Taehyung backed away in surprise. “How could you use me like that? Over and over again. I trusted you. You were really the only one I thought had my back. Without a fucking doubt” You lunged towards him for another hit but Taehyung held your wrist firmly.

“What are you talking about? When did I use you?” Taehyung looked around frantically, “Calm down okay, let’s go somewhere and talk this through.” Your eyes flared in anger. 

“Don’t fucking tell me to calm down! You’re gonna kill them!” You screamed. Taehyung squinted, noticing the slight redness in your eyes. He sighed in understanding, pulling you by the wrist into a corridor. 

“Y/n. Breathe. Tell me what’s going on” Taehyung attempted to calm you down but you were enraged. “And what the fuck are you on?”

Admittedly, you and Jin had ended up doing many more lines of coke, perhaps even molly, you were no longer sure, but you washed it down with the bottle of gin, finding it unprecedentedly hilarious that Jin liked to drink gin martinis. 

“You used me! To fuck with Jimin! And Yoongi! You lied to me! Everything you said was a fucking lie, everything you did, every stupid word that came out of your stupid mouth was a lie! You just want power. You’re selfish, and...and...you’re gonna KILL them” A dramatic gasp left your lips, Taehyung almost laughed, “You’re gonna kill Yoongi. I...I can’t let you do that”

You pulled out your gun, cocking it and pressing it against Taehyung’s chest. He instantly put his hands up. “Y/n. Y/n stop. That’s not true okay you’re not thinking straight. Don’t do something you’ll regret”

Your hands trembled around the gun “You’ll kill them. You’ll kill them both...I can’t let you do that”

“Hold on!”

Too late. You pulled the trigger.

-

Hobi wandered through the parking lot looking for his car. His eyes narrowed on a familiar vehicle, thinking back to when he had loaded the drug money from the last fight. 

So. Is that guy Yoongi then? The one I kept seeing? Hobi wandered over to the car. Peering inside the passenger window, his eyes locked on a small item on the floor of the car. He squinted to read it, it appeared to be some sort of credit card.

He stepped back, realizing what the name on the card was. He glanced around before taking the end of his gun and ramming it into the door handle. The door creaked open, allowing Hobi to swipe the card up. He slid it into his pocket, before hurriedly returning to the hotel. 

-

Namjoon’s eyes widened as he watched you pull a gun out on Taehyung. He had been thoroughly entertained as you yelled and slapped him, knowing full well that you were high out of your mind. 

Namjoon couldn’t understand Jin’s plan at all. He had eavesdropped on everything so far, as per Yoongi’s orders. Why would Jin ask you to kill Taehyung, why wouldn’t he just do it himself? He knew you would hate yourself if you actually killed him. 

He had also been thoroughly disappointed at how easily Jungkook had bought into Jin’s agenda as well. The things people do for money. Namjoon sighed, realizing that he was pretty much acting on similar motivations. 

You were ready to pull the trigger, and Namjoon was almost certain you wouldn’t do it, until he saw your finger begin to curl. He ran towards the corridor as fast as he could.

“Hold on!” He yelled, but it was too late. Taehyung’s eyes flew shut.

Namjoon blinked, not hearing the familiar gunshot sound. You looked equally confused, glancing down the barrel of your gun. Taehyung let out a shaky sigh of relief, sliding down the wall.

“It...was a blank” You mumbled. Namjoon rushed to your side, pulling you away from Taehyung. “What the...what was I just about to do?” His heart clenched as your lips parted in shock.

“Taehyung are you okay?” Namjoon asked. Taehyung nodded, clearly shaken up but managing to get a hold of himself. 

“What the fuck is going on?” He growled, “Who gave her a gun? And who gave her drugs while she had a gun? Fucking hell”

Namjoon stroked your back as you let the gun drop to the floor, the weight of your actions finally hitting you. 

“I’m so sorry. Taehyung I...” You looked into his eyes. Those eyes that always left you questioning what was really going on in that pretty head of his. 

“Yeah. Jin fucking fed her some interesting stories about how you’re using her. At least I hope they’re just stories” Namjoon peered at him. “I’m Namjoon by the way, we haven’t officially met”

Taehyung shook his hand “Hi Namjoon. I heard you make pretty decent music” He chuckled ironically, “Y/n, I need you to tell me everything Jin said. There’s been some sort of misunderstanding, I promise you I wasn’t taking advantage of you.”

Namjoon made a face, exchanging a glance with you as you nodded slowly. Namjoon was not entirely sure he should believe Taehyung. He supposed it wouldn’t matter, when he knew that Yoongi was planning to kill Taehyung anyways. The more information he had, the better he could at least keep you out of trouble. 

P R E S E N T  D A Y--

Security escorted you and Jimin out immediately as the media broke into a frenzy trying to figure out what had happened. You had hoped your acting skills had convinced him. 

After Taehyung sobered you up slightly, the three of you had sat and schemed. Using everything the three of you knew, you were able to figure out that it really was Jin behind Jimin’s accident, your and Namjoon’s kidnapping, as well as Jungkook’s attempted murder. He was able to do all of this using Hobi’s help, but Hobi seemed not to know that he was receiving orders from Jin.

The question remained how and why. 

“I know you’re not going to believe me. So I have proof” Taehyung pulled his phone out, pulling up a recording of Jin tied up somewhere.

All I ask, is that when the dust settles, Y/n is mine. And I get to kill them. My way

You felt queasy seeing his earnest expression through the film. Namjoon’s jaw clenched, recognizing crazy when he saw it, wishing he could have knocked the guy’s brains out beforehand.

“Listen to me. This guy is dangerous. I don’t really understand why he’s doing all of this. He said he wanted to help me, but clearly there’s some other motive here. Otherwise he wouldn’t go behind my back.” Taehyung muttered.

“The only way to know what he wants is to see what he does next” Namjoon pitched in. 

You glanced between the two men, feeling weirdly relieved that you finally had some solid answers. Having Namjoon by your side after so long was the best thing you could ask for at the moment, and you clung to him, hands wrapped around his arm tightly. He thought it was cute.

“Let me fake my death. Let’s see what he does.”

The drivers took you and Jimin to the precinct. You looked around for Namjoon but he was nowhere to be seen. Your eyes met Jin’s briefly as he signed some paperwork. He winked at you.

“Can I have the body taken to get an autopsy report please?” You weren’t phased by this. Taehyung had said he had enough contacts to make it truly believable that he had died. Jimin’s face was void of emotion as he watched the stretcher go past with the body on it.

You left the hold on his hand, your blood running cold as the body nears you. It was loosely covered with a white sheet, but the arm hung out limply from the sight.

That watch. That’s his watch.

Jimin pressed his lips to the top of your head, sliding his arm around your shoulders to pull you closer to him “You okay babe?” 

“I...no yeah, I’m just shocked” You stammered. You looked up at him, allowing him to place a loving kiss on your lips.

Jimin felt for you, he really did. He himself was generally an emotional person, it was not something he ever tried to hide. But he always felt like his emotional energy was valuable. He didn’t feel the need to cry. Not for Taehyung.

Jimin stroked your back softly, “It’s scary, I know. I know baby, but don’t worry” He licked his lips, eyes briefly meeting Hobi’s from across the room. Hobi gave him a knowing look.

“Don’t worry. It’ll all be over soon”

ᐊ——[ previous ] series navi | masterlist | [ next ]——ᐅ

a/n: WOOHOOO. the fun is really gonna start now. did you miss yoongi? don’t worry, he’ll be back. drop your theories in my asks! who killed taehyung? what’s jin’s deal? 

smut pairs are up for next week! poor oc, she really needs to eat some food. yikes.

see you then & thanks for reading <3 happy juneteenth! 

taglist: @imluckybitches @gee-nee @missseoulite @hcneybees @kooookie​ @queenmasterxx @crustycaitlin @virgo-and-libra @un2-verse @winter-melontea @equivocacies​ @infernal-alpaca @shrimpmsg @meowmeowyoongles @rjsmochii @liltangerined @littlrmills14-blog @issysor @arandomblackgirl @adoringinsanity @giadalin @jeontier @kaithezaftig @jinssexytoe @nonnis97@minyoongiboongi @happygirl62304 @just-me-and-myselfs @purplepebbles @channiespup @lilacdreams-00 @kianam @thmrdrs @kpoppin-mel @namjooningelsewhere @lolzerss @planetsope @ohmykim @xyahrinx @bangtan-army @you-are-my-wind

[videogame1up]

Ranking Smash DLC based on my own excitement (The definitive list)

12-Terry

I don't especially like fighting games, and I don't like playing as Ken or Ryu also doesn't help I had never heard of Terry or his game. I couldn't care less about Terry being in smash

11-Byleth

I like Fire Emblem, I hadn't played three houses when Byleth was announced but when I did I enjoyed the game. The problem with Byleth is that 8 Fire Emblem reps is just a bit too much, I think everyone would have been happier with literally anyone else making it in over Byleth

10-Min Min

All I'm saying is that there's a mummy looking dude in Arms that we could have gotten. Min Min looked unique, that's where my excitement capped at for her

9-Piranha plant

"Lol, okay"-Me when Piranha plant was announced

8-Kazuya

"But you said you don't care about fighting games and that's why Terry was at the bottom of the list" That is true, but I've also heard of Tekken, also he looked fun to play as to me, and he is.

7-Pyra/Mythra

I play as Pyra and Mythra for the story. Also her moveset looked unique and fun and i liked the stage she came with.

6-Joker

Also the first DLC that people got excited over (No disrespect to Piranha plant outside it's fairly low ranking) Persona crosses over to Smash? I didn't see that coming, did you? Joker was a great starting place for DLC, not the most hype character we will end up getting but a pretty exciting starting point none the less.

5-Hero

With how long running and significant of a series Dragon Quest is, it's really no surprise to see Hero make his way in. Fun fact, in Japan the newest Dragon Quest games are sold on weekends, because so many kids would skip school on the launch of a new Dragon Quest game. I'm kinda of a sucker for sword fighters, i like seeing new sword fighters added in smash (Don't tell the smash community i said that though) Hero looked like a fun sword user, with plenty of alt costumes to please fans, and a really unique down B, whether or not i like Heroes Command menu he can pop up, is for another list.

4- Steve

I think, like many people i got a lot of fond memories with Minecraft over the years. In High school i remember a friend getting so mad at another one of our friends because he went in and destroyed the wall he had spent the better part of an afternoon building, in college me and two of my roommates set up our own server, open our bedroom doors and yell at one another as we were playing, to this day i still play online with a couple of friends from time to time, Smash Ultimate is a celebration of gaming as a whole, Minecraft is the also the best selling video game of all time, seeing his inclusion felt like a fever dream and a no brainier at the same time

3-Sephiroth

"I really want Sephiroth in"-a friend

"Idk i don't see it happening, that would be really cool but probably not for ultimate"

2-Banjo and Kazooie

I'm going to be completely honest with everyone for a second, i actually don't care for Banjo and Kazooie, i beat the game from start to finish, i just did not love it. So why was i more excited for Banjo than pretty much everyone else? Because while i didn't love the game, i did love that music, i also liked the design for Banjo and Kazooie and viewed them as a great fit for smash. Banjo would have likely been in back in Melee or Brawl had Rare not been bought up by Microsoft, i also knew the overwhelming fan support that Banjo had online, I'll be honest it was hard not getting swept up and excited for Banjo and Kazooie finally making their way back home.

1- Sora

I made this list because I wanted to discuss how excited for Sora i am and how deeply sad i am that there's going to be no Utada Hikaru singing simple and Clean as Sora destroys what he thinks is a heartless but is really just Mr.Game and watch. To say I'm excited for Sora being in smash really just does not do it justice. That first Kingdom hearts game is a real contender for favorite game of all time, I've attempted a speed run (I wanna say i can beat that first game in under 5 hours) Sora was a character I would have loved to see make it, but with Disney I really didn't think we would get Sora, also the DLC had been getting a lot of love from Square and i fee like Sora was really pushing our luck. BUT NOPE HE FUCKING MADE IT IN BITCHES.

WHEN YOU WALK AWAY YOU DON'T HEAR ME SAY PLEASE OH BABY DON'T GO SIMPLE AND CLEAN IS THE WAY THAT YOU'RE MAKING ME FEEL TONIGHT IT'S HARD TO LET IT GO

YOU'RE GIVING ME TOO MANY THINGS LATELY YOU'RE ALL I NEED

With 12 characters making their way in i know my list won't be exact same as yours, i would love to hear who were you excited for? Who did you not care for? Was it Terry?

[xoxo-teddybear]

Oh, The Lies You Tell - Bakugou Katsuki - pt.4

Bakugou x f!reader

Warnings: angst, trauma, abuse, betrayal, fluff, slice of life, smut, cursing, manipulation, possible spoilers, physical harm, 18+

BAKUGOU’S MASTERLIST

Ep. Warnings: cursing, small angst

Summary: after getting caught by dabi, Y/N’s been extra cautious ESPECIALLY with Bakugou. She’s still trying to figure out her feelings about..well, EVERYTHING and so to cope, she blocks out everything and isolates.

Pt.1 Pt.2 P.3 P.4 Pt.5 Pt.6 Pt.7 Pt.8 Pt.9

A/N: Kinda short, Sorry :P

Bakugou’s POV

After spending all that time with Y/N, I could definitely say I like her. Like...LIKE HER like her. She’s..amazing. She has to be one of the top fighters in our class, she’s beautiful and has an incredible body. Her voice is like honey and she has this smile..that’s just..wow. Besides her physical, her as a person is incredible. She’s a good listener, she’s so open minded, she’s respectfully honest, and she brings out the better me.

I’ll admit, I’m pretty strict on following rules. I need to make a good name for myself out in the hero world. But Y/N has a delinquent past. She teaches me to risk it with the stupid rules and just enjoy life as a teen. Not only that, but considering she’s a little rebel herself, she can get out of hand sometimes. So she has me to keep her from going over the cliff. We’re a perfect balance for each other.

.....We’re perfect for each other.

No one’s POV

The morning after your little rendezvou with Bakugou, you woke up in heartache. You were so confused on why. Was it because you were something you’re not to everyone? Was it because you were doing this for the league more than for yourself? But you weren’t dumb. You knew the answer. Or rather, answers. Firstly, it’s because you knew you weren’t enjoying yourself by going through with this plan. It didnt feel right. Second, Bakugou. As scared as you were to admit it..you liked him. You really liked him.

That fact terrified you. You didn’t grow up around love. You grew up around hatred, bloodshed, violence, and fear. For your entire life, everything was all about survival. Even when you had a “steady” home with the league. But Bakugou came into the picture and threw you off. With him, he gave you a sense of security and peace. A warm feeling inside your heart that became more addicting than any drug. Yes, you enjoyed it but at the same time, it confused you. You weren’t sure how to deal with these emotions. You weren’t even sure if you deserved to be blessed with these emotions. With Katsuki.

You were and are a villain. You are the high ranking villain, Titania, and you are on a mission to take down UA from the inside. You were a villain, and you knew your place. A killer, a criminal, a thief, a menace like you didn’t deserve these feelings of..love. You didn’t even know how to handle them. So you did what you thought was best no matter how bad it hurt you.

When you walked into the hallway that your dorm opens up to, you were gifted with the surprise of Katsuki being there, waiting for you.

“Hey Princess,” he began but looked down to your side. “Princess and Rumor.” He said as he chuckled and petted Rumor’s head. Rumor smiled up at the familiar blonde and barked in happiness. Those two got along so well. “So I was thinking we could walk to class together.”

“Sorry...but..no. Come Rumor.” You said and turned away as you cringed at yourself in regret. Rumor followed you, along with Bakugou.

“Heh..sure princess. Try again.” He said thinking you were just messing around. Except, you didn’t answer him. You just kept walking with a blank look on your face, as if he wasn’t even around. Your entire persona was just..off? No playful remarks, no sass or attitude, no teasing mannerisms. It wasn’t you. “Hey, Y/N.”

He tried to put his hand on your shoulder but you sped up and walked out the doors with Rumor leaving Bakugou in confusion and hurt.

‘Did I do something wrong?’ Bakugou released a quiet whine to your behavior and just shook his head and continued to walk to school.

When he arrived in the class, you had already been seated. Thankfully, your desk was next to his so he could try speaking to you then. He firstly walked to you and tried getting some sort of conversation out of you.

“So..what do you think is gonna happen today?” He asked. Even he thought it was a pathetic question but at least it was something.

“Not sure.” You blatantly replied.

“Oh...okay well, uh, Shitty hair and I were planning on getting a workout in later, do you wanna join us?” He asked again.

“I’ll be training with Rumor today and thats all.” You said.

“Nice....you uh, mind if we join you?”

“No.”

“Uh....okay. Cool...........Y/N, listen I-“

“Take your seat Bakugou. Class is starting.” Mr. Aizawa said. Bakugou reluctantly took his seat but not before looking towards you with desperate eyes for at least something more than what you were giving him. But nothing came.

Class went on and Bakugou tried to focus as best as he could, but with the girl he was falling for completely brushing him off, he was in a silent frenzy. Bakugou and you had a thing during class hours. When you guys were dying to talk to each other, you would pass little notes to each other’s desks and continue with that. So he did his usual notes with you and passed one your way. It’s said ‘are you doing okay, Princess?’ But when he tossed it onto your desk, you left the crumpled piece of paper there as you continued listening to Mr. Aizawa.

Since you didn’t reply, he sent another one your way. This time, making sure it hit you a little bit to get your attention but once again, nothing.

‘Wtf’ Bakugou thought. He assumed you were just having a bad morning so even though it hurt him, he left you alone to cool off. I mean, it’s not like he was the only one you weren’t speaking to. You were practically ignoring everybody’s existence.

Lunch rush came and Bakugou was a little relieved. Y/N always say next to him no matter what happened. Even on those quiet days where she didn’t speak a lot during that time, he was glad she was still there and would occasionally join in on the conversation just like he did. But you didn’t come this time. Bakugou waited and when he finally saw you walking towards the table, he smiled and spoke.

“Hey Princess! About time you-“ but before he could continue, you kept your head straight and kept walking, not even sparring the table a glance. He watched you walk on and sit at a lonely table. No one was there. It was just you and Rumor. Bakugou stared from afar and after waiting for a few minutes and giving you multiple concerned stares every now and then, he finally got up to walk to you. Before he could even leave his seat though, Kirishima held him back.

“Don’t man, give her some time. She needs a break.” Kirishima said.

“From what exactly? If you know something, you should tell me now! Cuz if there’s something messing with her, tell me so I can kill it.” Bakugou replied. He was a little hurt thinking that you told Kirishima your problems and not him but he was really more concerned with what’s bugging you. What the hell was bothering you so much? Whatever it was, he’ll make sure it stops.

“I don’t know what’s wrong with her, but it’s obvious she doesn’t wanna speak to anyone right now. Just let her stick by Rumor and be at peace for the day. Or at least until she’s feeling better.” Kirishima explained. And Bakugou knew he was right, so with a stubborn groan he sat back down and just continued to stare.

The day went on and Bakugou let you be. But it was definitely killing him on the inside. He struggled to hold himself back whenever he saw you in a room but he did restrain himself. Once in the common rooms, he noticed you didn’t even bother to stay for a minute. You went straight to your dorm even though Rumor stayed to play with Kaminari and Sero. You spent all day in there and only opened the door to Rumor. When you finally came out, it was to grab a plate of dinner for you and Rumor. You didn’t even stay to eat, you brought the food to you room and that was the last time Bakugou saw you that day. This whole thing was killing him, but what he didn’t know was that from the privacy of your room, your own tears fell much heavier than Bakugou’s.

When Y/N entered her dorm room and placed the plates of food on her table side, she sat on the side of the bed with her head hanging low, casting a shadow to fall over her face. She gripped her bed sheets and she held back sobs. Her teeth grinding against each other in frustration as her eyes squeezed shut to attemp to stop the flooding tears but to no avail. As her hiccups left her voice, Rumor came to place his head on her lap to calm her down. She placed one hand over her mouth to silence herself and calm down as she rubbed Rumor’s soft fur. She eventually gave in and sat on the floor, hugging and holding onto the giant wolf-dog.

“T-This isn’t our place Rumor...this isn’t where we belong. We’re v-villains....we don’t deserve the good they’re giv-ing us.” You sobbed out as you cried into his side.

“I d-don’t belong here!” You cried out. You sobbed into your mattress as Rumor waited for you on the side. He didn’t know what to do with his best friend being so distraught. Your continuous sobs went on for a few hours into the night. Rumor stayed right by your side through it all. The silence that filled your room was so loud and head ringing, it was almost torture. In a quiet voice, you whispered only to remind yourself a fact that Dabi had told you.

“I don’t deserve him.”

——————————————————————————

“ARGHHH!” Bakugou screamed as he snapped his pencil in anger. Y/N and Rumor just walked passed the group and went to Y/N’s dorm in silence. The Bakusquad looked at the ash blonde in concern. They knew how this boy felt. Y/N’s been avoiding him like the plague and Bakugou can’t get her off his mind.

When you completely ignored his presence, it put Bakugou into a state of sadness. Whenever he tried to talk to you, he was given brief answers followed with your dismissal. He tried doing favors for you, making time to hang out again, and asked to train with you which resulted in him getting rejected each time. It was driving him mad and he just wanted to be around you again.

“I still don’t get why the hell she’s acting like this! When we hung out, everything was perfect! What the fuck is going on with her?!” He shouted in anger. When Y/N is around, Bakugou gets this warm feeling inside that he’s learned to love. Now the girl is never around and he’s bursting in anger at every little thing. Can you blame him? He’s kind of hurt. The girl he’s in like with doesn’t even acknowledge him when she passes by anymore. He misses you. A lot.

“Well why don’t you ask her?” Kirishima questioned.

“Because I-.........actually, that’s a good idea.” Bakugou said as he dropped everything to run up to your dorm and talk. How could he have been so dumb? Listening to Shitty hair. All that hair dye is messing with his brain and local advice. He couldn’t believe he had really left you alone in pain for a whole day. Now, he was gonna get to the bottom of this one way or another. When he made it there, he began banging on your door without even giving it a second thought.

“Y/N! Open up, c’mon! I know you’re in there.” He said on the other side. In the comfort of your bed you poked your head out of the covers and reluctantly got out. You knew he wouldn’t stop till he got his answers. So you went to open the door and put on the best smile you could.

“Hi Katsuki,” you said with a huff. “Look, I’ve been having a really bad headache so if you don’t mind-“

“Nope,” he interrupted and just pushed open the door to get inside. How charming. He walked in and you just rolled your eyes and sighed. You shut the door and turned to him. “You can’t lie to me about some headache Y/N, I know it’s not the truth. You’ve been avoiding me and I wanna know why.”

“It’s nothing personal, I just..needed some time.” You said, looking everywhere but at him. A silence entered the room. Not the comforting silence it usually is with you two, more of the nervous kind. Bakugou thought about what he would say next..he didn’t even know if it was okay to say. But he did it anyway.

“Is it...me? Did I do something wrong?” You looked at him with a shocked face as he continued, “‘cuz if it was me, then... I’m sorry. I’m new to this whole..whatever we have going on, but I’m really trying here and I-...I don’t know, I thought that night we went out was pretty good, but I can do better if you jus-“

“Katsuki, hey no, stop that,” you said as you walked up to him. “This has nothing to do with you messing up or anything. That night was amazing, you are amazing, and everything that’s happened between us so far has been..amazing.” You confessed.

“So then...why? Why all the distance? Why do you avoid me?....what happened?” Bakugou asked as he got closer. If something was wrong, he genuinely wanted to help you out of it. You just laughed a little before you spoke, realizing how cliche you were gonna sound.

“Look, it’s not you, it’s me. I’ve just been going through something..life changing, and I don’t really know who I am yet. I just..needed a break from everything. Especially you.” You said as you looked him in his eyes.

“Especially me? Why?” He asked. The amount of nerves that hit you all at once was ridiculous. You could confess right here right now and rip off the bandaid. Or you could lie your way out and save yourself the embarrassment. You bit your lip and tilted your head towards the ceiling for a second in exhaustion before speaking.

“Because.....Ugh! I like you, all right? A lot. You..you’re really cute, and fun, and there’s just all these amazing things about you annddd..” as you spoke you looked at his face and he started to grow a small smile as he looked at you with that cocky look and a slightly raised brow, “stop doing that!” You said and smacked his shoulder.

“Ow, what?” He laughed out. “Stop doing what?”

“That! That stupid face that you do when you look at me with that smile and face when you just...and..you....you just-.....Umm..uh..” you trailed off from your sentence as Bakugou leaned down into your face, resting his forehead on yours.

“And..?” He asked.

“And...and no free compliments!” You said as you pushed his shoulder and turned to your side. He chuckled at the way you pouted and crossed your arms. “Look, we’ve established that I like you Katsuki,”

“Keep going, I like what I’m hearing,” he said with a grin and his hands in his pockets.

“And that’s the problem.”

“Okay, stop. I don’t like it anymore.” He said and looked to the side with a grouchy face. You laughed and walked up to him and pulled at his arms.

“No, seriously,” you said with a laugh, “I like you, but that’s the problem. Where I’m from...it’s..different. I never really got to explore emotions like this..so..I don’t really know how to handle them. It’s confusing. I just thought, if I isolated and took some time to myself, they would go away...but they haven’t. They’re still here, they’re still strong, and I still don’t know what to do.” You said with a heavy breath. The weight finally came off of your chest after your confession but something was still poking at you and you weren’t sure what. You didn’t let it bother you for too long though, you finally felt like you could breath again.

“So..what? You’re emotionally constipated? ‘Cuz if That’s the case, then I’m the same way, princess. We must come from the same place.” He joked.

“Oh no we don’t. If anything......it’s almost like we’re from two different worlds,” you said with a slightly sad demeanor that Bakugou detected. He picked you up, sat on your bed and got comfortable while placing you on his lap.

“So then explain. Talk. Tell me about this ‘different world’ you claim you’re from, princess.” He said with air quotes as he kept one arm snug around your waist.

“I can’t,” you sighed and looked down at your hands in your lap, “if I told you everything, I know for a fact you’d just drop me outta your life...I know it’s selfish but I don’t know if I could honestly handle that,” you quietly said. Bakugou tilted your head so you were facing him.

“Nothing you say could ever make me want to get rid of you..I promise.....something about you just..makes me need to have you around.” He said caressing your cheek. You both stared at each other, enjoying the warmth you both radiated. The atmosphere changed into something some would call love, and if this was what it was, you didn’t want it to stop. It became something so comforting and addicting the both of you didn’t want to lose it.

Once again, the world around you fell away, as you and Bakugou became the only two people in the world again. He leaned in closer, and you mimicked his actions, until the soft feeling of his lips pressed against yours. Fireworks went off in your head as you met in the middle in the softest way, and what started as a passionate kiss turned into a sweet makeout. Your lips danced across one another and you both could savor the taste you were experiencing. While the flavor of caramel and spice came onto you, the delicious taste of strawberries and scent of vanilla invaded Bakugou’s senses. He adored the way you tasted and craved it even more after every second. When you both finally separated, you stared at each other with starry eyes and heavy breaths as you leaned against each other in a loving way. Blush adorned both your faces as the comforting silence filled the air once again. Bakugou was the first to speak.

“Y/N...whatever it is you need..assistance, time, comfort, I’ll always provide. Just please don’t push me away ‘cuz I won’t go.” He said with his head against yours.

“Yeah..heh, I believe you,” you softly said. Bakugou pulled your head down to lean against his shoulder as you cuddled into him, enjoying the moment. Until you realized, you might just have to tell him everything. Bakugou seemed to sense your little nerve and settled you down. He kissed the crown of your head before speaking.

“Tell me everything when you’re ready, princess.” He said. You felt tears of joy fill your eyes, but you didn’t let them fall. You just reveled in the comfort and love Bakugou was giving you. Love. How amazing. Something many people had told you, you didn’t deserve. But Bakugou came in and changed all of that for you. He came into the darkness and provided the small amount of light you needed. You were so thankful for him. You smiled before speaking in a sweet voice of appreciation.

“Okay.”

[emilsan]

Game List - PC Launchers (not Steam) + Emulation

Below is the list and overview of my games on PC Launchers (non-Steam) and emulation.

Completed – finished the story or played enough to consider the game completed. For example, if it’s an action-heavy and not a very story-oriented game, I may or may not play it to the end credits. If it's something without an explicit ending, I'll consider it beaten when I get tired playing it and if the game is very story-driven, I’d need to see the entire story.​

Mastered – achieved something that grants a “mastered” status. For example, spent more than 100 hours, played at numerous points of my life, collected all trophies or achievements, et cetera.​

Dropped – I tend to avoid dropping games but there might be some which I will want to keep for one reason or another despite having negative views or just not willing to complete them properly. They will have a “Dropped” status.​

No status – yet to play or haven’t finished yet but intend to.

Ratings

10 out of 10 - very important to me on a personal level.

9 out of 10 - this game excels at what it's trying to be, impressed me a lot.

8 out of 10 - just a very good game.

7 out of 10 - good, though could have been better.

6 out of 10 - decent experience but I expected a lot more.

Console titles emulated on PC, launchers (Epic Games, RGL, etc.) running natively.

PlayStation 2​

Ar tonelico: Melody of Elemia Undub

Ar tonelico II: Melody of Metafalica Undub

Baroque​ Undub

Berserk: Millennium Falcon Hen Seima Senki no Shou English-patched​

Castlevania: Lament of Innocence

.hack//fragment

.hack Infection vol. 1​

.hack Mutation vol. 2​

.hack Outbreak vol. 3​

.hack Quarantine vol. 4

Dark Cloud 2​ Undub

If like a lot, consider the first.

Dead or Alive 2: Hardcore

Drakengard / Drag-On Dragoon​ Undub​

Drakengard 2 / Drag-On Dragoon 2​ Undub

Dynasty Warriors 6 Undub

Out of curiosity. If like, consider older PS2 entries.

Dynasty Warriors: Gundam

Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 2

Eternal Poison Undub

Eternal Ring

Galerian's Ash

If like, check out the PS1 prequel.

Grimgrimoire 

Growlanser: Heritage of War

If like, play the rest of Growlanser.

ICO​ 5+ hours, 2018​. 7/10

ICO was interesting to play. It’s a platformer by Fumiko Ueda, and it has the kind of grim story you’d expect to see in his games. The presentation is great and platforming/puzzle mechanics feel fun. At some point I got stuck on some moment and couldn’t progress, so maybe I will finish the game later.​​

Kuon

King's Field: The Ancient City Undub

King's Field IV

Magna Carta: Tears of Blood

Puyo Pop Fever 2 Fan-translated

Romancing SaGa: Minstrel Song

Rogue Galaxy Undub

Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love Undub

Samurai Warriors 2 Xtreme Legends Undub

If like a lot, consider other older entries.

Seiken Densetsu IV: Dawn of Mana Undub

Shadow Hearts: From the New World Undub

If like a lot, play the rest of Shadow Hearts.

Shadow Tower Abyss English-patched

If like, look at King's Field and previous Shadow Tower.

Shining Force EXA Undub

Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner - Raidou Kuzunoha vs. the Soulless Army

Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner 2 - Raidou Kuzunoha vs. King Abaddon

Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga Undub

Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga 2 Undub

Shin Megami Tensei – Persona 3 FES​ Undub + music modification​ May continue, 20+ hours, 2018. 8/10

I went into Persona 3 shortly after finishing Persona 5. I played it a few times (one on PS3, then on PS2 emulator undubbed) and I never finished it… but I still think it’s a great game. ​​

Soul Nomad & the World Eaters

SoulCalibur III

Silent Hill 2, 3

And look at 4, other.

Star Ocean: Till the End of Time Undub

Stella Deus: The Gate of Eternity Undub

Suikoden III

Suikoden IV Undub

Suikoden V Undub

Suikoden Tactics Undub

Tales of Destiny: Director's Cut Fan-translated

Tales of Destiny 2 Fan-translated

Tales of Legendia Undub

Trapt

Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria​ Undub

Xenosaga Episode I: Der Wille zur Macht Undub

Xenosaga Episode II: Jenseits von Gut und Böse Undub

Xenosaga Episode III: Also Sprach Zarathustra Undub

Warriors Orochi Undub

Warriors Orochi 2 Undub

Wild Arms 5

If like, maybe previous

Zill O'll Infinite 

Waiting for full English patch

PlayStation 3

Ar tonelico Qoga Knell of Ar Ciel Undub

Asura’s Wrath​ Digital + DLC (Xbox360 license). Completed, 10-20 hours, June 2018.

Disgaea D2 A Brighter Darkness

Disgaea 3: Absence of Detention Completed, 10-15 hours, 2019-2020. 6/10

Drakengard 3 / DRAG-ON 3

Dynasty Warriors: Gundam

Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 2

Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 3

Dynasty Warriors: Gundam Reborn

Eternal Sonata / Trusty Bell: Chopin's Dream

Enchanted Arms Undub

Metal Gear Solid HD Collection + Peace Walker (PS3)

Red Dead Redemption

Soulcalibur IV

Soulcalibur V

Tales of Graces F Undub

Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World Undub

Tales of Xillia Undub

Tales of Xillia 2 Undub

Xbox Game Pass

Celeste​

Fable III​ (not available on digital platforms, except Xbox Gamepass Ultimate streaming)​ Completed, 20-30 hours, before 2014​. 8/10

Fable III is a one-of-a-kind Western RPG, and not just because of its unique British aesthetics but also because of the gameplay. You can become friends, lovers, foes with any of the NPC in the game, interact with them, get married, live together and more. On top of that, the game has plenty of unique content such as mini-games, its own economy system, choices which affect the story. ​ ​ I think that choices are the core element of RPG games and for some reason (cost of development?) JRPG and Western RPG tend to avoid them, and even companies which used to be the frontrunners of choice in games have moved away or don’t focus on them as much anymore.​ ​ It’s unfortunate that Fable has such a troubled fate as a franchise and ceased to exist after the third game. Hopefully, the new Fable will not be cancelled and I’m curious to see how it will turn out.​

GUILTY GEAR STRIVE

Available on Game Pass in 2023.

Life is Strange True Colors

If like, maybe Tell Me Why or other LiS.

Epic Games Store

​NIOH: The Complete Edition (favor PS4 version but keeping EGS for better framerate and graphics)Mastered, 103 hours, 2019. 9/10

One of my first platinum trophies was achieved in Nioh. I liked the game so much that I wanted to get all the trophies and the platinum.​

The best thing about Nioh is perhaps the atmosphere. It’s an interesting mix of historical Japan with mythology and supernatural yokai. The bosses and enemies were all impressive in their own right and felt challenging but fair. The skill system adds a lot of depth to the combat and feels rewarding to learn, the game is essentially a constant learning experience.​

Another part of Nioh I liked was its story. William is a foreigner in Japan who speaks English while all of the other characters (except villain) are using Japanese. The language barrier feels fresh and as the player, you’re put into the same role as William who learns more about Japan in his journey.​ ​

Nioh is one of my favorite games ever made and it almost reaches the level of quality set by the FromSoftware Souls games. Even though Nioh takes a lot of inspiration from Souls, it always feels original and not borrowed like every other Souls-like tends to be.​ ​

I’ve played Nioh 2 and found it to be nowhere near as good as Nioh 1: the story was nowhere near as good, fighting felt too overwhelming and overstuffed, built around grind and the gamedesign was way too similar and seems like it did not evolve one bit after Nioh 1. So, Nioh remains my favorite part of the franchise and I see Nioh 2 as the “add-on content” or “post-game”.​ ​

Shenmue III

Yoku’s Island Express​ EGS - performance, Switch - portability. Completed, 2020, 5 hours. 6/10

Yoku’s Island Express is a mix of a platformer and pinball game. In order to progress through the areas, you need to collect enough points and you do that by performing pinball jumps. The visual style is unique, the game has a distinct atmosphere and the pinball inspiration is executed well.

Wii and Wii U

Arc Rise Fantasia

Depending on whether there is a functional control scheme.

Super Mario 3D World (succeeded by Switch remaster) Completed,

The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD​

Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon​ Completed, 10-20 hours​, 2020. 10/10

Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon is a very unique game about loneliness and life after trauma. It has one of the best atmospheres in games I’ve seen. The game is very important to me personally.​

Metroid Prime 3: Corruption

Would also like Metroid Other M if there’s a config for wiimote

GOG Galaxy (CD Project Red)​

Deus Ex

Ghostrunner Completed, 5-10 hours, 202​1. 7/10​

Gwent: The Witcher Card Game / Gwint: Wiedzminska Gra Karciana​​ Mastered, 300+ hours, 2016​. 7/10

I really enjoyed Gwent in its beta/alpha test moments. I spent more than 300 hours just playing it and it was my first computer card game. After the launch on mobiles, I felt like the game was too streamlined and became too similar to Hearthstone in a bad way, as opposed to being a mix of all card games and leaning more towards Yu-Gi-Oh. ​

Mafia: The City of Lost Heaven

Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance

No Man’s Sky

Thief Gold, Thief II, Thief: Deadly Shadows

Wiedźmin 1: Edycja Rozszerzona / The Witcher: Enhanced Edition​ (GOG Galaxy)​ Mastered, 30+ hours, before 2015​. 7/10

The Witcher 1 was one of my first RPG. I’m lucky to have played it after the updates in the “Enhanced Edition” form. And I say “lucky” because CDPR games are known for being buggy on release, which makes me wonder how buggy was The Witcher 1 since it was their first game ever made. ​ ​ In anyway, I liked the atmosphere of TW1, more Slavic lore and mythology compared to TW2 and TW3, more choices and a decent storyline, soundtrack and Polish voice-actors.​ The only major issue with the game is its combat, of course but it didn’t feel bad to me back when I played the game.​

Wiedzmin 2: Zabójcy królów / The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings​ (GOG Galaxy)​ Mastered, 50+ hours, before 2016​. 8/10

The Witcher 2 was a step in the right direction for CDPR – the presentation was much better than the first game, quests were even more carefully written and the system of choices and impact on the story is still one of the best ones I’ve seen in modern games. At some point in the story, depending on your choices, the game will present you with an entirely new chapter, one which cannot be accessed unless you replay the game from the beginning and make a different choice. I wish more RPG were doing that since (for me, at least) choice means “role-play” and indicates that the game is actually an RPG. ​ ​ To this day TW2 remains a very good RPG. In some ways I actually like it more than the third Witcher.​

Wiedzmin 3: Dziki Gon / The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt GOTY Edition​ (GOG Galaxy)​ Completed, 25+ hours, 2016​. 8/10

Even though I like The Witcher 3 less than the second game, I can’t argue against how well the third is made and how much it advanced the franchise forward, earning world-wide success and recognition. It honestly makes me wonder if TW3 was just lucky, being released in a time when nearly every other popular Western RPG franchise was “resting” or had some issues.​

Ys Origin

Ys Seven

Ys: the Oath in Felghana

Zwei: The Arges Adventure

Ubisoft Connect (Uplay)

Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood​​ Mastered, 50+ hours, before 2014​. 8/10

I’ve done absolutely everything there was to do in Brotherhood and loved every second of it. The setting of Rome was brilliant, the gameplay had a lot of depth and variation and the story was enjoyable, even if I wasn’t a fan of the main character. ​

Assassin’s Creed II​​ May continue, 5-10 hours, before 2014​. 7/10

I haven’t played that much of Assassin’s Creed II. The game came out at a time when I couldn’t afford licensed game, so I had to go for a pirated copy… which didn’t work out. At that time Ubisoft had implemented a piracy-protection tool which forces all players to connect to the Internet, otherwise you can’t play the game, and at that time I couldn’t play the game.​ Many years later I tried playing it and I spent 5-10 hours doing that. It wasn’t as impressive. My guess is that I didn’t like AC II as much because of how much time I spent in AC Brotherhood, so a lot of the innovations and new mechanics brought by the second game didn’t impress me that much. Still, I want to keep it in my library and maybe finish properly one day. ​

Assassin’s Creed: Unity​​ Dropped, 2016, 5-15 hours​. 4/10

This is definitely one of the weakest Assassin’s Creed games ever made. I thought the story and characters were fine, Paris was nicely detailed but everything else was just poorly made. The missions were boring and repetitive, pacing was poor, the AI was dull and the online component were poorly implemented. It was ridiculous seeing yellow-colored assassins not noticed in public but that’s what you’d see in the game. And if that’s not enough, Unity was also a major technical mess on consoles and PC. ​ I’ve decided to keep Unity despite disliking it since I like Paris and the way it is shown in the game.​

Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey – Gold Edition​​ Completed, 50+ hours, 2020. 8/10

At first, I was avoiding this game. I’m not exactly sure why I was avoiding it, maybe the Internet’s hate towards any AC game that isn’t about Ezio or Desmond influenced me, I’m not sure… Regardless, eventually I started playing it and after a few hours I started falling in love with AC Odyssey. The world was beautifully made, main heroine was very unique and became one of my favorite female protagonists in games and the new gameplay systems introduced in AC Origins were tuned in to a very good state. ​ Some of the issues I’ve had were: a) unbeatable bosses and the whole thing with level cap. I played after it was all patched but sometimes the balance and the whole mess with “you can’t fight this enemy unless you get to their level” was quite annoying; b) the “present time” storyline with Abstergo was very annoying and I never want to experience it again; c) some of the animations could have been better and the game still didn’t improve the horse riding despite being released 8 years after Red Dead Redemption 1.​ AC Odyssey has some issues but once you get into the game, a lot of them just don’t matter anymore. And the fantastic main heroine, good story, Greece and the usual charm of Assassin’s Creed bring it up to be one of my favorite AC games.​

Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate​​ Mastered, 20-50 hours, 2016​. 8/10

I’m hesitant naming my favorite Assassin’s Creed game just because I like both Syndicate and Odyssey that much. I loved the story in Syndicate a lot, I loved exploring London and the gameplay was quite nice, too. AC Syndicate is one of the very few games in which I genuinely wanted to get all of the trophies, just to see every part of the city and do all the missions.​

South Park: The Stick of Truth

South Park: The Fractured But Whole

Rockstar Games Launcher​​

Red Dead Redemption 2 – Special Edition​​ Completed, 72 hours,  2018​. 10/10

After the fantastic Red Dead Redemption 1, I thought it was impossible to make a sequel which will be as good. Rockstar Games managed to not only reach the quality of the first game but surpass it on every aspect you can think of.​ The game is a prequel set some time before the events of RDR 1. It tells the story of a gang in which John Marston (protagonist of the first game) used to be. Story of RDR II manages to show a different side of John Marston and the writers were brave enough to go for a completely different main character… who ended up being more interesting to follow than John (which is something I couldn’t imagine the first time I saw Arthur Morgan in the trailer). ​ Every mission in Red Dead Redemption II is handcrafted, all 70 hours of my playthrough I never felt like I’m doing the same thing and the story is quite lengthy with a great amount of cutscenes, the execution of which can easily rival many of the Western film classics.​ Red Dead Redemption II is one of the best games ever made.​

Max Payne 3​​ Completed, 10-20 hours, before 2015​. 10/10

Absolutely fantastic and one of my favorite games made by Rockstar Games. Perfect combat, bold storytelling, impressive cutscenes, memorable music, technical excellence – Max Payne 3 has everything. MP3 is a noir game but unlike many other noir films and games, it doesn’t just slap black and white color palette. The game takes place in sunny Brazil (and other locations) and manages to create this rich dark atmosphere of noir without using some of the cliché of noir genre.​ ​Max Payne 3 is one of my favorite games to date with a story unlike any other.  ​

BattleNET

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2019 No license, Mastered, 2020, 50+ hours, 8/10

Much like Battlefield 1 is my favorite "grand scale" online shooter, Modern Warfare 2019 is my favorite "smaller scale". The gunplay is very satisfying, the game has a near perfect shooter loop and mechanics that combine the classic "run and gun" of Call of Duty and a more grounded, heavy handling from Battlefield.

The only few things that did bother me while playing Modern Warfare 2019 were the obnoxious hyper-masculine finishing animations, dialogue (I had to turn off the voice-acting to not be annoyed by it) and very tasteless and out of place collaborations (like the one they did with Godzilla, out of all things, or some horror movies).

Overall, Modern Warfare 2019 is worth playing if you can look past its obnoxious hypermasculinity and just pay attention to the gameplay.

Diablo II: Resurrected

Hearthstone Completed, 50+ hours, 2021, 8/10.

Hearthstone is easily the most presentable and easy to learn card game around. Despite being free-to-play, you don't need to spend money on it to have fun, so that is a plus.

The game is set in the World of Warcraft universe, so it carries over all the colorful and interesting characters from WoW. Since WoW isn't very heavy on the story, I actually think Hearthstone has a better narrative than WoW.

Hearthstone may not have the technical quality and depth of Yu-Gi-Oh nor the invetiveness and edge of Gwent but the colorful visuals, laid-back gameplay and a fantastic (for a card game) story make it one of the best digital card games.

Heroes of the Storm​​ Completed, 2020, 15-20 hours​. 6/10

Heroes of the Storm has all the unique characters from Blizzard games. RTS and MOBA aren't something I feel interested in at all but I thought the gameplay here is easy to learn and has enough depth, challenge.

Community in HotS is more toxic than you can imagine but it is easy to turn off the chat and all communication for a better experience.

Overwatch​ Mastered, 50+ hours, 2017-2018​. 8/10

Overwatch's biggest strength is that it wasn't afraid to talk about representation in gaming and create characters that would be memorable and inspirational. Not just that, Overwatch plays great and is excellent in almost every way.

I do wish Overwatch would had some story content, though.

World of Warcraft: Classic and Retail​​ Completed, 30+ hours, 2020​. 7/10

There's something very immersive and satisfying about just playing World of Warcraft. Though the game is mostly a collection of very small stories, the sound, atmosphere, visuals and the masterful execution make it fun to play even 18 years later since its release (2004).

The game did age, unfortunately, and the lack of a strong narrative really brings it down. WoW has everything to be the epic saga that is Final Fantasy XIV but it seems the developers have no will to attempt that.

With that said, World of Warcraft is an experience and something worth to see. I tend to prefer Classic WoW because it feels more atmospheric but Retail has its good sides, too. Perhaps eventually there will be WoW 2 that combines the strengths of both?

EA Origin

Alice Madness Returns No license

Battlefield 1​​ Mastered, 170+ hours, 2017​-2022. 8/10

Battlefield 1 is one of my favorite first-person shooters focused on multiplayer. I like how the game goes for a more grounded and serious portrayal of war and keeps reminding people that wars aren’t as fun as entertainment and fiction, and veterans’ stories make them out to be – war means death and that is a topic that video games don’t do often.​ The multiplayer is very well made, and I feel like every weapon is balanced nicely; the game encourages you to assign or follow orders and not just play “deathmatch on a big map”. Speaking of maps, they’re all memorable. Shooting feels right and challenging but not as complicated as previous Battlefield games.​ I think Battlefield 1 managed to make the right choices in almost every aspect of its gamedesign - the game feels modern, it takes the best things from its main competitor (Call of Duty) while retaining the old Battlefield formula of large-scale conflicts and team-work. The graphics are impressive and each map has its own atmosphere.​ Absolutely my favorite multiplayer shooter to date.

Battlefield V Mastered, 15+ hours, 2020-2022, 6/10

With Battlefield V, Dice (developers of the game) were trying to make the franchise more profitable and prepare it for extensive monetization that can be seen in Battlefield 2042. Naturally, the quality and quantity were both put on lower priorities. Even though V uses a lot of the programming and ideas from Battlefield 1, it still manages to make the entire experience much less engaging.

Now, I'm not saying Battlefield V isn't fun to play. The maps are still beautiful (though, severely lacking the identity that matches BF1), the 64 player Conquest mode is fun and the weapons, shooting are satisfying. The biggest problem here is that Dice has damaged the dynamic of classes and simply didn't provide enough content.

This could have been a lot better but as it is, BF V is not as bad as BF 2042, so at least there is that. There's some fun to be had here.

Dragon Age II Completed, 20+ hours, before 2015. 7/10

While the game is lacking visual quality, dungeon/map variety, I thought the story was quite good and in many ways to me this is the best Dragon Age out of all three games. Despite its noticeable problems, everything comes together into a satisfying and memorable game with unique and believable characters (something BioWare is so good at) and a true RPG freedom of making decisions, falling in love, making friends or enemies.

Dragon Age Inquisition: GOTY Edition

Fe Completed, 6 hours, December 2019, 7/10

Fe is about a little fluffy creature that tries to understand the world it found itself in. As you explore the home-forest of Fe, you learn more about the terrifying Silent Ones, you'll communicate with the other inhabitants of the forest, run and jump and learn more about their and perhaps our world...

Fe is pretty vague about its story but I think it has a much stronger message than most vague games I've played. The gameplay is a mix of an immersive adventure game and platformer.

My only issue with Fe is that it lacks some polish in giving the player directions and perhaps having gameplay variety. Other than that, it's a cute platformer with a very memorable visual style.

Mass Effect​​ Mastered, more than 50 hours, before 2014​. 8/10

There were sci-fi games prior to Mass Effect, there were also RPG games where you could make an impact on the story and there were, of course, plenty of shooters set in space. What makes Mass Effect so monumental is that it wasn't just another game where you shoot aliens for 20 hours and forget it. Mass Effect 1 was the first part of the ME trilogy in which every choice mattered and the adventure was personal and memorable.

Perhaps the biggest strength of Mass Effect is its world-building. Everything makes sense, feels organic and believable. And though the shooting needed refinement it received in the future installments and the main antagonist and conflict scale were somewhat... introductionary, the game is still among the best RPG I can think of.

Mass Effect 2​ DLC Bundle​ Mastered, more than 100 hours, before 2014​. 10/10

I’ve completed Mass Effect 2 from start to finish more than 20 times and I felt like each playthrough was mine. ​There are few games that have attempted to take this

​​Mass Effect 3​ DLC Bundle​ Completed,  before 2016, 15-20 hours​. 8/10

Mass Effect 3 released in the time when Electronic Arts was negatively impacting the developers with demands to add multiplayer, microtransactions and turn games into service. Mass Effect was not the only franchise that got hurt because of that. Dragon Age, Battlefield, Dead Space – these franchises and more had a very hard time adjusting to the new demands of the publisher. As a result, Mass Effect 3 (despite having great talent and potential) turned out nowhere near as good as Mass Effect 2 and nowhere near as passionate and striking as the first one. ​ A lot of the choices made in Mass Effect 1 and 2 don’t end up changing much in the third game, many of the fan-favorite characters are reduced to a small appearance and often make you feel like the decisions you’ve taken were pointless. And on top of that, the pre-DLC story does not provide enough of a closure. Without the DLC, the game doesn’t deserve more than 7 out of 10. Thankfully, the downloadable content sets things right, gives more personal moments for the characters of the first two games and improves the ending as much as possible. ​ The gameplay suffered, too. Similar to Dead Space 3, Mass Effect 3 combat just doesn’t feel as good as it used to in the second installment of each franchise and the online/co-op is intrusive, takes away from the experience especially if you play when the servers aren’t active.​ Mass Effect 3 had a nearly impossible task – it was supposed to resolve a conflict set up by two games which ideally would take more than one game to explore fully; it was supposed to be better than ME2 which I consider my favorite Western RPG of all time – unfortunately, Bioware could not make the game they wanted to make. That said, Mass Effect 3 still ended up being quite good. The DLC improve the experience and I’m sure if developers had not been forced to do multiplayer and had another year of development, maybe even waiting until PS4/Xbox One generation… then the game would have been perfect.

Mass Effect: Legendary Edition

GameCube

Metroid Prime​

Metroid Prime​ 2

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door

Pikmin​

Pikmin​ 2

Soulcalibur II

Nintendo 64

Yoshi's Story

Paper Mario 64

[rpgmgames]

February’s Featured Game: Ressurflection

DEVELOPER(S): charlottezxz ENGINE: RPG Maker MV GENRE: Fantasy, Cartoon, RPG WARNINGS: Paranoia, fear and tension, mild swearing and blood. SUMMARY: Ressurflection is a Fantasy/cartoon RPG set in the fictional universe of the Arbvar and taking center stage primarily at the coastal city of ‘Horizon Bluff’. Its story and game play are heavily character driven, with its narrative divided into two parallels told both within and outside the mirror itself. Ressurflection’s core themes draw from our inevitability of fearing death, and that at some point or another, we all must accept it, and to treasure what’s really important in the time that we have.

Our Interview With The Dev Team Below The Cut!

Introduce yourself! *charlottezxz: Hiya this is Charlotte, lead game developer for Ressurflection! I’m some silly, overactive drawing monkey who works a lot with Narrow on Ressurflection! I’m always sketching and conceptualizing monster bois, taking a lot of inspiration from various games, primarily monster hunter! I’ve had avid interest in the Indie scene for a while now and a lot of the great friends I've made have been due to it and a lot of my recent favorite games have come from it! I would have had Narrow say a few things here but he’s hiding in a corner somewhere!

What is your project about? What inspired you to create this game initially? *charlottezxz: Ressurflection started out as what can be described as two separate stories. Myself and Narrow wrote our own stories and every so often we swapped over ideas or combined them together with each other. One day I said to ourselves ‘You know what? This could work quite well as a game rather than just a story’ so eventually Ressurflection was conceived, around the idea of a mythical mirror capable ‘Ressurflection’ the title of the game. We’ve gone through quite a few iterations of the story before it came to its current form and to be honest if we even showed or compared them side by side they’d be pretty unrecognizable as the same thing except for certain characters, locations and the mirror itself to identify its primordial form having any kind of ancestral relevance to how it is today. As for what Ressurflection is about, I think our synopsis can get that across quite nicely! ‘Horizon Bluff has always annually held its ‘Legend of the Wyvern Glass’ festivities. The Wyvern glass was a long lost mythical mirror, once fabled for its power of ‘Ressurflection’ and coveted by a kingdom now all but gone. That is quick to change however with the arrival of the Roulette Runner’s circus to the coastal city of Horizon Bluff. Trouble is soon to set in motion not just the kingdom’s sudden reappearance but the entrapment of one of their own acrobats within the mirror silver. Yet things are soon to worsen...with the spread of a purple ‘corruption’ across the city and the fact that our most unfortunate trouper is far from alone within the mirror, finding himself at the mercy of its ‘Mirror Maiden’. > The apparent all powerful manipulator of its realm…’

How long have you been working on your project? *charlottezxz: Conceptually we have been working on it for 4 years which is hard to even fathom, however that’s more tinkering around the idea for the story and conceiving it as we learnt the engine. The blog itself is hitting its 4th birthday in February! Ressuflection’s development went on as i attended university, so its always been a side lined hobby of ours.Steam says 108 days worth of hours in the engine and most of the game progress other than concepts has been done in 2019. So I could say 4 years for the ideas/stories and concepts and a year of that for actual game making!

Did any other games or media influence aspects of your project? *charlottezxz: We each have our own inspirations, Lost Odyssey, Final Fantasy 9, Xenoblade Chronicles, Monster hunter and many older PSX titles such as Medievil, Tomba and Heart of darkness are great influences and inspirations to me personally. The dark, dangerous environments of Heart of darkness contrasted by some innocent characters, the monster designs in capcom’s franchise and the storytelling and themes with a cinematic approach to cut scenes found in some of FF9, Xenoblade and Lost odyssey, a lost game stuck in the recess of the xbox 360. There are many more but these spring to mind first and foremost. Narrow himself draws inspiration from games such as Earthbound, the Persona series and FF10!

Have you come across any challenges during development? How have you overcome or worked around them? *charlottezxz: We started the project in VX ace to begin with, until MV released. It was in Ace that I experimented learning RPG maker and in the early days of MV too. Although before Ressurflection’s time i also dabbled a bit in XP. MV seemed more in line for what we wanted, as i really wanted to try animating beyond SV sheets and do more, with Java being a bit more flexible and the scope of it being able to allow dragon bones later. However it hasn’t been without its hiccups! Part of that is the sheer amount of time you underestimate games and certain elements to take in their development. That and everything that comes with it, streamlining, trimming the fat...in the past week alone i spent days optimizing pictures, sounds and music in the game to cut down the staggering file sizes they were. So far they have retained their form without being as costly on the MB! Since I do the vast majority of the game development myself, everything takes a lot longer to develop. You underestimate all the little things to consider and that you may need later. By the end of development, I hope to have the vast majority of the game consist of custom assets and be able to truly call it something that is ours. Though that path is long ahead we won’t stray too far from it.

Have any aspects of your project changed over time? How does your current project differ from your initial concept? *charlottezxz: The game itself has always been a story-driven RPG at its heart, although certain game mechanics have been scaled down or developed further from puzzles to battle flow. As mentioned previously, the story has changed considerably which changed the direction of the overall narrative and gameplay as a whole. Certain characters and scenarios have been culled completely too. At its start the story wasn’t as heartfelt nor was the scope of the story all that big - Oh and the game had a time limit, a bit like Majora’s Mask! But it is a lot more meaningful now and we hope that you will enjoy it when the time comes.

What was your team like at the beginning? How did people join the team? If you don’t have a team, do you wish you had one or do you prefer working alone? *charlottezxz: It has been just myself and Narrow for the majority of the development but we reached a point where we wanted to reach out to find a musician for our game. We eventually came across Geoff who has done the majority of our music up until recently. However we have had friends help and contribute along the way such as Harry helping sprite some NPCs for me, Bart helping formulate and do some math balancing, Vaijack has also contributed to music making him our second musical boi and more on the way, our preliminary demo testers( it would take a little to list them all) and more peeps i’ll be sure to credit!

What is the best part of developing a game? *charlottezxz: For me it has to be conceptualising all the little ideas we have and bringing them all into being. This is especially so for any monster and character bois! I spend a lot of time visualizing and planning the design of areas, locales and creatures. Would this thing live here? Why would it be this way? If this is a historical town wouldn’t it have x and x? Then when we ultimately put it together, and all the pieces of the puzzle line into place and then you can just...experience, the final thing, that for me is the best part in developing our game for me.

Do you find yourself playing other RPG Maker games to see what you can do with the engine, or do you prefer to do your own thing? *charlottezxz: I learn best by doing, so more often than not I just dive into things, including the engine blind and tussle around with it. It’s a silly way of doing it, but I've often found myself learning more that way than following tutorials. Although in any game I've played, RPG maker or not, i do like to ponder and deconstruct scenes within them. The Witch's house, Pocket Mirror, Dreaming Mary, Mad fathers and Ib are all wonderful games that are great to learn from, dissect and understand what makes and made them tick. This applies across any game I've played or intend to play! I look at game making as one giant puzzle with lots of intricate little details that need to be solved, it’s more fun and engaging that way!

Which character in your game do you relate to the most and why? (Alternatively: Who is your favorite character and why?) *charlottezxz: There’s some characters I like a great deal, but i can’t talk about as it would be spoilers to the plot, that and it’s hard to pick any overall favorites. Charm comes across as a fun character to write for as she’s quite witty and sarcastic, the kind of dialogue that comes a bit too naturally to me. She’s a budding magical prodigy of the circus under the tutelage of Jerine. She bigs herself up a lot but isn’t quite ready to deal with the problems of the adult world just yet, as much as she strives to get into it. Then there’s the likes of Ashley as well, she’s the loudest circus member and a close friend to Zakai, its ringmaster. She’s a super hard working down to earth country girl who isn’t afraid to get her hands dirty and jump into the thick of things. Honestly I love all the cast, but there’s those two for now!

Looking back now, is there anything that regret/wish you had done differently? *charlottezxz: I would say ideally we should have had all our ducks in a row before we dove into development. My development style is very messy, especially since when we started development we had a lot of learning ahead of us. That combined with focusing on a lot of coursework and real life things meant I often forgot how we made things for consistency. This has improved considerably since i started getting more organised now, keeping lists and things tabbed for reference. My desk has bits of paper kept with it with information I need to retain. I forget far too many things for my own good, but now I'm taking better count measures! I would advise anyone to keep tabs of important information about your game such as consistent sprite style sizes, resolution size, x and y positions of certain things and important variables and switches.

Do you plan to explore the game’s universe and characters further in subsequent projects, or leave it as-is? *charlottezxz: There’s a few ideas bounced about to do side stories for some of the cast of characters in the circus, such as before they became one and the origins of how certain members joined the circus essentially the ‘First Stringers’ and ‘Second stringers’, these being those that joined afterwards. These would be great to do as small little episodes added onto the game post development, but currently they are just ideas and won’t be given too much thought until the game is either done or close to fruition.

What do you most look forward to upon finishing the game? *charlottezxz: My most hopeful thought is for people to enjoy the game and have as much fun and interest in it as myself and Narrow have had in creating it. It’s the kind of game we want to make and hope that the characters and story chime with people enough for people to see the journey through to its end! It’s a big scope of a project but i have endless enthusiasm for it, no matter how long it takes it will get out there at some point!

Is there something you’re afraid of concerning the development or the release of your game? *charlottezxz: That the games story and overall feel doesn’t quite hit the right notes, it's always a little back concern. From a technical perspective I would say that the game might have some oversighted bugs or critical crashes that slip under the radar or not run as smoothly on other PCs on release. We will do our best to optimise the game as much as possible for MV and squash those pesky bugs during testing, but it is on our minds often as a niggling fear.

Do you have any advice for upcoming devs? *charlottezxz: Gut everything from the base project that you know you most definitely will not be needing and give all your files smart tags and naming conventions. It would be great if MV allowed for sub folders, but it does not so naming your files smartly is key to finding what you need. Any of these files you know you will use often in certain ways, make them common events and call for those in events and cut scenes. This saves you mass editing them later. With naming conventions this could be Actor_1_Hurt or Chapter_1_NPC. Anything you want at the top of the list name it with _ to begin with. The bigger our project gets, the more important this has become for us and we hope it serves other inspiring devs well all the same.

Question from last month's featured dev @rojisroomrpg: How do you keep yourself happy and healthy when making your game? *charlottezxz: I’m normally a happy-go-lucky person, so I'm rarely not happy when working on Ressurflection. It's the happy little hobby I devote most of my spare time to. However, recently i would say my hands, wrists and neck have been hurting from spending a little too much time drawing assets and pieces for the game. Taking more breaks and spreading that time with other activities in between has helped to ease that pain and i would like to advise any dev to do so for their own health, including always having one or two bottles of juice, water or whatever beverage always at hand to sip at as you dev away!

We mods would like to thank charlottezxz for agreeing to our interview! We believe that featuring the developer and their creative process is just as important as featuring the final product. Hopefully this Q&A segment has been an entertaining and insightful experience for everyone involved!

Remember to check out Ressurflection if you haven’t already! See you next month! 

- Mods Gold & Platinum

[rainbowkittyblossomwings]

So I don’t want to get into a huge retrospective of how 2020 was for me, because it’s personal and I think we can all agree things have been bad. So instead I’d like to talk about great video games I got into in 2020!!! These games didn’t necessarily come out in 2020 just things I discovered and I’d like to talk about my top 10 faves

1.       The first best video game I discovered in 2020 is the entire Trails Series (I played all of them in 2020, cold steel, ao, zero, and Sky). Initially I played Cold Steel 1 because my friend told me it was like “Playing Code Geass the anime”. The story was pretty easy to get into of a guy going to military school and you’re placed in the special class for commoners and nobles when there’s a huge class divide in your country. From there it had some basic anime tropes like a dating simulator like thing and various cliched characters, like the tsundere, the guy who’s trying to get everybody to work, the music kid, and the noble, you know?

But Cold Steel wasn’t cliché in the least bit. I played it after surgery recovery so I was in a lot of pain and out of my mind, but each character had depth, the entire world was fleshed out and after each game more of the story and the villains were revealed, secret robot technologies were given to the main characters and they slowly became more and more powerful after that.

I wanted to know more and more about the world so I played the first series trails in the sky and the Japanese only series, Zero and Ao, and they were even better. Not only that but in this JRPG there were canon gay characters that had traits to their character besides “I’m gay.” There were a lot of lesbians for me to pick and choose between as faves.

Not only that but I find none dating sim video games difficult cuz I get easily frustrated and rage quit. Cold Steel was turn based combat and never made me feel like rage quitting because they had a function called “Retry but easier” where if you died you could start the same battle but make it easier. That made it so I only had to die five or so times on things I was really stuck on and then I could move on with the story. And the game never felt like a grind fest and I could make the game faster in combat.

This series I may have discovered in 2020 but it’s become just as beloved to me as any other series. It’s one of my faves.

2.       My second favorite game in 2020 was 13 sentinels : Aegis Rim. I love time travel so much and everytime a new time travel anime or game comes out I get super excited. Aegis Rim was a game that had all sorts of cool tropes, like time travel, memory loss, androids, different realities, and psychic dreams and it just sounded cool. Not only that but there were 13 different protagonists to play and I had seen it reviewed in LGBT+ articles, saying it had a canon gay character and a canon nonbinary character! It was a very fun game and part of the story followed a point and click formula and the other half followed a kinda strategy blowing up giant robot monsters formula, and I enjoyed it. Also the music and the art was amazing.

3.       The House in Fata Morgana was my third favorite game I discovered in 2020!!! It was a visual novel I had gotten in 2019 but never started because “They didn’t have anime eyes so IDK if it’ll be interesting.” I had seen a lot of horror visual novel people review it though with stellar reviews. I ended up playing it when I was sick and man was it an amazing story. It gave me a lot of respect for people who write short stories that wrap up nicely, and a lot  of the characters were flawed but I really enjoyed reading their stories.  The story was pretty basic in the beginning of a maid telling you several different stories of the previous owners of the mansion she worked in, and the tragedies that befell them throughout her time there, and I really liked the sort of tragedy feel. One of the stories reminded me of Greek tragedies like Oedipus, and as the story got deeper and deeper and connected plot threads of the previous owners it became very cool. Also the game was very LGBT+ friendly with trans and bi characters and possibly an aro character too???

4.       Hades was my fourth favorite game in 2020!!! A lot of people have already talked about Hades before and what it’s about but I’d like to talk about why I liked it. As mentioned before I have a problem with video games that rely on skill. I get so frustrated that I either start yelling or crying because I don’t believe that the muscle memory will ever get into me or that I’ll ever be good enough to get past the hard part. It’s incredibly distressing and it makes me feel bad because I’m like “why can’t I do a simple thing other people can easily do?” Hades is one of the few games that taught me that eventually I will succeed, and the muscle memory will come to me. As you probably know Hades has god mode which increases your damage resistance every time you loose. I got to the max god mode very quickly of 80% and for about 10 runs even that wasn’t enough to beat the first boss and I was incredibly frustrated. I was like “they should have raised it to 90% cuz if even their worst players couldn’t beat the boss on easy mode then they’re missing out.” But as people have probably told you, Hades rewards failure. Each run you learn a bit more and get better skills and friendships with people due to grinding. And eventually I stuck to it and beat the first boss, and then all the other bosses. The muscle memory finally hit and I beat Hades and got the true ending and I’m really glad the developers made it accessible enough that even the worst players could beat it and I’m glad they rewarded failure.

5.       My next favorite is Chaos;Child, which wasn’t made in 2020, but I did discover it in 2020. It’s another horror visual novel but by the people who did Steins;Gate. I absolutely adore Steins;Gate because of the time travel so I was curious about the other games in the series. Everyone said Chaos;Child was the murder mystery of what Steins;Gate did to time travel and they were right. It was a psychic murder mystery story and although it was very gorey it was very fun and I really liked the characters

6.       Sixth favorite was Café Enchante a new otome dating sim released in 2020! You run a coffeshop for monsters basically and I adored it!!! I was a little worried before I got it that it would be boring because what kind of plot can you make in a coffeeshop? But it was very cute and I loved the monsters and the lore. Despite my misunderstanding the entire game did not take place in the coffeeshop and instead went into various monster worlds and expanded on the lore of each world in each route. The art was wonderful and I just love fake monster lore about Fae and beasts and angels and stuff and it was just a wonderful game and is one of my new fave otome titles.

7.       I played Ai: the somnium files in 2020! I knew it would be a favorite of the year because it was made by the same people who did the zero escape series. It had a very different tone of the zero escape series of course, instead of being about psychics it’s about the inner workings of the mind. You play a detective going into people’s psyche’s to try to catch a murderer basically. It reminded me a lot of ID;invaded an anime that I think came out this year? Anyway it was a cool story and I liked the graphics but I did not like the timed missions. Without a guide I would have died.

8.       The dark horse of 2020 was Untitled Goose Game. I did not expect to get it but my friend gifted to me and I hadn’t played it yet. And as everyone can tell you it’s just a fun time harassing people as a goose. It has 2 player mode so my sister and I played it together and it was great. I liked feeling like grand theft robbers and saying “BOOK IT” as we stole people’s stuff.

9.       My ninth favorite game I played in 2020 was Little Busters! It’s by the same people who did Clannad so I knew I would be crying by the end. Clannad’s team is known for their great story telling and heart wrenching characters. It’s about a team of friends who start a baseball team and then it gets sad and time loop-y from there. I played Clannad too in 2020 but it was a little too homophobic for me to let it make it to this list and I don’t remember any homophobia in little busters, so little busters gets its spot.

10.   Finally we get to Persona 5 Royal. I didn’t play much of the original persona 5 besides at my friends apartment so I was able to finally have a copy of this game on my own!!! I loved the idea of going into mean people’s minds and changing their hearts so they could understand the wrong that they did, it was just a good concept. I also loved that Persona 5 royal added a safety mode so you can loose and yet not die. It was a great game of 2020 and it only makes it so low because I spent way too many hours on it (135) and it was a great amazing game that I loved and enjoy talking about but would not replay because it’s just so long and I’m not quite sure what would be different on  replay. Also I’m sad that you can’t date the boys because I love them. They are good beans. Either way though I’d recommend it if you haven’t played before and it was very fun, and still one of the best games of 2020.

If you want me to talk about any of these games in more depth instead of just a short review tell me!!!

[recentanimenews]

FEATURE: How Much Has Kazuya Spent On Dates So Far?

  Desperate times call for desperate measures, and for college student Kinoshita Kazuya, those desperate measures included stumbling onto a rental dating service app and booking a "date" with a rental girlfriend after being dumped by his lady love and left heartbroken. One thing eventually leads to another and Kazuya constantly finds himself lying to his friends and family about having a sweetheart, but when in actuality, Chizuru Mizuhara is just a rental girlfriend. Not only has Kazuya's lie become chaotic and way out of control, but it's also become an EXPENSIVE lie to keep up with. Chizuru has to maintain her job's reputation and professionalism, and although she's doing Kazuya a solid, those dates aren't free. Let's check out just how much Kazuya is burning a hole in his pocket.

In Episode 1 "Rent-a-Girlfriend," Kazuya is so heartbroken from being dumped, he decides to book a date with a rental girlfriend. According to the app, the base fee per hour is 5,000 yen, roughly $48, but we don't get much more information about any other fees at that point. On their first date, Kazuya and Chizuru go to a cafe and aquarium, and it's at the cafe Chizuru requests payment and we see Kazuya hand Chizuru four 10,000 yen bills which roughly equals $383. The date goes on and seems to be going well until Kazuya reads Chizuru's reviews and realizes his date wasn't so special.

  Kazuya decides to book a second date out of spite. While Kazuya pays Chizuru upfront like the previous date, we don't really see just how much Kazuya is paying this time around, but seeing as both dates are essentially the same, taking place at the same cafe and aquarium, I'd reasonably think Kazuya spent about the same amount of money, $383 for his second date as well.

  In Episode 2 "Ex-Girlfriend and Girlfriend," Kazuya's grandmother wants him and Chizuru to visit her at the hospital weekly. Because Kazuya isn't ready to reveal the secret just yet, he and Chizuru come to an agreement that Kazuya can rent Chizuru for one hour every week. As they get ready to go on their first scheduled "date," Chizuru hits Kazuya with a 12,000 yen bill plus taxes, which just about equals $115. The receipt also offers some insight into how the service fees are broken down. For this date, in particular, Kazuya is paying the base fee which is the hourly fee of 5,000 yen (about $48). Kazuya is also charged a 2,000 yen (about $19) transportation fee, and a 5,000 yen (about $48) choice fee, also known as a nomination or selection fee. The choice fee is charged when clients want to select a specific "girlfriend" to go out with.

  This next date was going well and just about wrapping up when Kazuya and Chizuru run into Kazuya's friends Kibe and Kuribayashi. In a panic, Kazuya introduces Chizuru as his girlfriend, and in order to keep his secret under wraps, Chizuru continues on with the date business as usual. This little panic move came at a cost though, and Kazuya ended up paying 17,000 yen, or roughly $163 in extension fees. Yikes!

  By Episode 4 "Friend and Girlfriend," keeping up this fake girlfriend charade was really starting to take a toll on Kazuya, both mentally and financially, but what better way to take his mind off of the whole situation than going to the beach with his friends? The day was going great until Kazuya runs into Chizuru — who was disguising herself as her college persona, Ichinose — and after a close run-in with Mami almost discovering Chizuru's alter ego, Kazuya now finds himself at the beach with his "girlfriend." This date was completely unscheduled, but as I previously said, desperate times call for desperate measures, and 25,000 yen or roughly $240 later as calculated by Kazuya, he was able to keep his secret safe.

  By Episode 6, "Girlfriend and Girlfriend," Kazuya has already attempted to try and set the record straight and "break up" with Chizuru so they could both move on. But of course, the situation was never that easy, and Kazuya and Chizuru make an arrangement where they can keep pretend dating so long as Kazuya adheres to some rules ... which include payment.

  After reintroducing their relationship to Kazuya's friends, Kazuya receives a bill for 17,900 yen or just about $172 plus taxes. This bill was broken down as 5,000 yen (about $48) for 2 hours, a 5,000 yen (about $48) choice fee, a 2,000 yen (about $19) transportation fee, and a 900 yen (about $9) food and beverage charge. The 900 yen food and beverage charge is something to make note of since in addition to all the standard service fees, the client also pays for everything while on the date ... everything! Those additional expenditures aren't included in the service price and so, depending on the date, that can add up really quickly.

  It's not long after Kazuya and Chizuru re-establish their "relationship" that they already find themselves scheduling their next date. After Kazuya and Chizuru run into Kazuya's friend Kuribayashi, they find themselves preparing their sports gear as Kuribayashi sets up a double date with them and his girlfriend, Ruka to go bouldering. The cost of this date is not exactly clear. The date itself seemed fairly average with no crazy transportation fees or extended hours, so I don't think it was one of the more expensive bills Kazuya picked up, but again, it's difficult to confirm just how much this date set him back.

  It may be the New Year by Episode 9 "Lies and Girlfriend," but there's nothing new when it comes to Kazuya and Chizuru's "relationship." This episode starts off with Kazuya and Chizuru on a casual cafe date, and like the double date with Kuri and Ruka, the price of this date is not clearly stated. Because this is a cafe date, I was able to compare this date with the previously established 17,900 yen or $172 cafe date. Seeing as Chizuru was drinking coffee, it felt reasonable to include the 900 yen (about $9) food and beverage fee in the total. Later on, Kazuya's family sets up a trip to visit a shrine and eat dinner for the New Year. In order to keep up with the image, Chizuru agrees to accompany Kazuya on the trip. Again, like the bouldering date and the previously mentioned cafe outing, the official cost of this trip isn't really known. However, Kazuya does mention this trip would be about half of a day. I can only assume the price would be much higher seeing as the date extends multiple hours and there could be some extra charges for food and shrine souvenirs.

    The money's starting to add up and with Kazuya only having so much cash to start with, he needed to find a job if he wanted to keep this scam going. In Episode 10 "Friend's Girlfriend," Kazuya receives his first paycheck. Based on the manga, Kazuya was left with 40,000 yen (about $383) after paying all the bills. So how does Kazuya choose to spend the rest of that sweet, sweet paper? Well, scheduling a "date" with Chizuru is definitely on the table, but after seeing how badly his friend Kuribayashi is feeling after being ousted by Ruka revealing he rented her, Kazuya decides to share his own secret with Kuri by setting him up on a date with Chizuru. Considering Kazuya was wondering what to spend the rest of his paycheck on, and the fact Kazuya set up the date at an amusement park, which requires ticket costs among other things, it makes sense the whole 40,000 yen which equals just about $383 would be spent. So how much money has Kazuya spent to keep up this rouse exactly? Based on what the anime shows us, I could plausibly conclude Kazuya spent a little more than $2,000 on all these dates. But this total really only sums up the standard service fees from the dates we see, not really any of the extra expenses that come while on the date. When you take into account all of the taxes, all the extra costs spent on whatever activities the date called for, and the fact Chizuru has been playing the role of Kazuya's girlfriend for about a year as we found out in Episode 12 "Confession and Girlfriend," the actual amount must be SO much more!

  How much money do you think Kazuya has spent so far? Let us know in the comments!

      Pro hero Veronica Valencia is an anime-loving hot sauce enthusiast! You can follow more of her work as a host, writer, and producer on Twitter and Instagram.

  Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features!

By: Veronica Valencia

[kpop-rambles]

Goodbye 2019. Hello 2020.

To celebrate the new year - which a lot of people are celebrating right now, I’m sure, unfortunately not me yet - I decided to create this post. I don’t know how to explain it but if you like kpop, keep reading!

My Top 3 Songs of 2019

1. SKZ - Miroh

This song got me into my now ult group, Stray Kids. Those 9 boys have honestly made this year 10x better for me. Chan’s VLives definitely helped me when I was upset, and the members made me feel emotions by their side. I’m so glad that add of Miroh appeared and I chose to watch it because I may have not gotten into Stray Kids without it. 

2. ATEEZ - Wave

Again, another song that got me into the group. I heard the song in a video where they played huge jenga at Kcon... I think? Anyways, this song is another banger and you completely fall in love with it first listen. You won’t regret listening to this.

3. TWICE - Fancy

I got into TWICE when they released YES OR YES, but FANCY is the song that you can’t not fall in love with. I did on my 2nd listen and man, if you’re saying you didn’t learn the dance and bopped to this song, you are LYING because- let’s be honest - everyone said FANCY SOTY. 

Groups I began stanning in 2019 its felt like forever tho

Stray Kids - March 26th. You think I would forget? 

ATEEZ - August 18th. Another date I remember, because I spent a good 2 hours getting to memorize the members name and faces. Was so happy when I finally did it. 

iKON - Honestly, I was more of a Double B stan since January until Hanbin left. I loved their songs but I never got to know the rest of the members, except for Jinhwan. 

ChungHa - Snapping dragged me in. That’s all I gotta say. Although, ngl, Gotta Go was something I always tried to dance to. 

KARD - Again, Bomb Bomb just pulled me into the fandom. The rest of their discography made me stay. I sang along to Bomb Bomb everyday for a good 3 months. It was honestly EVERYTHING to me and then Dumb Litty came and stole my heart and KARD did it AGAIN.

Mamamoo - gogobebe. Do I really need to say anything else?

GOT7 - I’m pretty sure I got into them because, well everyone knows GOT7. They’re a name everyone knows if you like kpop, so I just wanted to get into them. Eclipse and You Calling My Name are songs I’ll dance and singalong to in the right mood and right part of the song. But their personalities dragged me in. I’m pretty sure BamBam also attracted me when he was on Stray Kids reality show. 

Day6 - Time Of Our Life. I decided to listen to it because Seungmin of Stray Kids was a big fan of them and I was like, it shouldn’t hurt to try. Seungmin made me want to watch and Day6 made me want to stay. They don’t make ANY bad songs. 

Everglow - March 18. Listened to Bon Bon Chocolat when it came out, and I was honestly scared ppl were gonna sleep on them cause ITZY debuted a month before. Fortunately, everyone noticed their talent. 

BigBang - I dunno just listened to one of their songs. And, of course, I fell in love. Too late to stan them while they were active, but I’m expecting something in 2020... just saaying.

NCT - All of the subunits. Honestly there were so many of them, I spent time taking tests to tell them apart. The struggle to stan these boys. Instantly fell in with the Dreamies. And then I found out they weren’t a fixed unit... My heart shattered. It’s still breaking because 4 OF THEM ARE LEAVING. or left. I dunno. 

Tomorrow by Together - They were probably the most anticipated group of this year. I remember ppl hyping them up in October of 2018! Predebut stan right here. (I just remembered that I thought the preview of each member was coming out in age order and thinking that Beomgyu was the youngest. And I was just like WHERE IS HEUNINGKAI FROM?!?!)

ITZY - remember when everyone thought that itzy’s debut was rushed because info about them was leaked. yeah, i forgot too. anyways, again I was a predebut stan. 

(G)- idle - i always listened to their title tracks and I began stanning them during Queendom after their Fire cover im listening to 2ne1 2015 mama fire performance rn lol.... omg bom’s han cover just started playing. spotify is watching me guys.

Somi - Birthday was a bop. fight me. outfits sucked, gotta agree with that opinion I didn’t rlly know much about IOI but I started stanning because Jenchu were fangirling to it i mean jennie twerked for it!

Jimin Park - I’m out here still streaming STAY BEAUTIFUL. honestly she’s so loveable. her personality and her voice are everything. how can you not like her

My Top 5 Groups of the Year

1. STRAY KIDS - A lot of the reasons I luv them are the same as ATEEZ. That’s why ateez are close to being my number one, but honestly these 9 boys are everything to me. 9 or NONE FOREVER. They have been through so much this year and I hope they STAY strong for 2020. In their 2020 seasons greeting they announced a full album next year, so I’m ready to follow these boys on their journey no matter how many stay or leave. I’m a STAY for a reason. 

2. ATEEZ - PERSONALITY. I’m also a sucker for groups that shove their love for each other in your face. 8 makes 1 team, y’know? Hongjoong and Mingi are amazing rappers, Jongho, Wooyoung and San’s vocals tho, Yunho and Seonghwa’s deep voices are the death of me, and Yeosang dancing. They’re talented and luvable and that’s all I need for an ult group. also all their songs are bops

3. Mamamoo - Honestly would’ve tied with Twice but these I’m a sucker for them as ppl as well, and I need that to luv a group. they ain’t fake, they slap information in your face and they are POWERFUL WOMAN. (Not saying twice aren’t ofcourse) And these girls vocals are on POINT. Moonbyul is rapper material, but have you heard the girl song? What an angel. Their songs are all slaps, especially the most recent ones. 

4. TWICE - This was their year? yes or yes. Fancy soty. Feel Special was a great title track, don’t get me wrong, bUT HAVE YOU HEARD THE FULL ALBUM. Every song is my AMAZING. omg rainbow is playing

5. NCT DREAM - These boys stole my heart, I only stanned nct because of them. Honestly seeing the 00 line leave breaks my heart.

My Top 5 girl group and boy group songs

gg songs were honestly so hard to pick, they thrived and SO many good songs were made in 2019. But here is my list. 

1. Fancy - soty

2. Hip - this song was everything from the choreo to the song itself to the girls energy performing it

3. Psycho - came out like last week but it’s in everyone's top 10 of this year. Beautiful song that won’t get outta my head. getwellsoonwendy.

4.Violeta - this is another song that won’t get out of my head. honestly none of these songs will. ok so the final dance part after the drop of violeta pisses me off because the dance could is so powerful and that part comes and it’s such a disappointment but it’s the only part I can do so i shouldn't complain  but the song itself is very catchy. I don’t want these girls to disband even if the votes were rigged because they make a good group and sing bangers. i don't want them to leeeave.

5.Lion - the song is just so powerful. other songs they’ve made are good, but the chorus is usually a disappointment because the pre chorus is so good but EVERYTHING is great about Lion. Didn’t like it at first for some reason, i dunno why, but once you give it a few more listens you’ll fall in love. 

Now onto the boy groups. They made quite a few bangers this year as well.

1. Miroh - It’s my no.1 of the year. watchu expect?

2. Wave - and this is my no.2. Again, what else would I put here?

3. Run Away - what. a. bop. still can’t get out of my head. Crown was a disappointment to me after 1000 listens but not Run Away. A bonus is the Harry Potter references. With that I just was head over heels in love. Txt didn’t fail to disappoint with their comeback even if it was pushed back. 

4. Boom - This song made me fall in love with the talent that NCT DREAM holds despite being so young. Sang along for a few months. Actually, it’s still in my head. 

5. Make It Right - I was doing title tracks for all these but then I realised there has to be an exception because I just really like this song, especially the one featuring Lauv. Boy with luv wasn’t it for me but every other song on Persona is a straight up masterpiece (ok an exaggeration but u get what i mean)

Now onto the soloists (they’re all female, sry not sry)

1. Chica - I was debating whether to put Snapping or this but decided with Chica. Honestly the vocals, the song, the dance, the MESSAGE, is everything. I love it, it empowers woman, it makes ME feel good, and it’s what some people really need sometimes. So, thank you ChungHa. 

2. Gotta Go - another bop by our queen ChungHa, she really ruled this year. I didn’t stan her when it came out but that doesn’t mean I didn’t do the ‘deulshi’ part whenever I heard it. iconic.

3. Twit - Again another iconic bop from this year. (i thought this masterpiece came out last year, i dunno why but it just is so 2018 for some reason? I dunno) Hwasa’s solo debut really was everything. So was Moonbyul’s which unfortunately didn't make it on the list but I would say it’s in between 5th to 7th for me. 

4. Stay Beautiful - Such a beautiful song, it was a shame Jamie had to leave but she left JYP saying that they lost smth PRECIOUS and they would regret it and she conveyed all that in one song without hinting at it. So many quote worthy lyrics were in the song and it just bring up my mood and my standard for vocals. Don’t sleep on this girl, y’all. 

5. Birthday - the song brought out mixed reactions from everyone but i LOVED IT. It did get a bit old but it’s still something you’ll find me singing along to every now and then. 

ARTISTS THAT STOOD OUT TO ME THIS YEAR 

1. Bang Chan of Stray Kids. I love him. He’s such a great leader, he’s a loveable person, he’s all rounded and he fucks up sometimes but he acknowledges it and fixes it. He went through so much shit this year and he deserves so much more. I, along with many other STAYs are gonna make 2020 a better year for him and all of his group. Stay strong Chan! But besides his personality his stage presence, his rapping, his singing, his producing, his energy, his personality, it all made him someone who was always on my mind. 

2. Yeonjun of Tomorrow x Together. He’s also very well rounded and he really stands out to me from all the other 4th gens. Whenever I see a performance by TXT he always grabs my attention even when he’s not the main focus. I love his dancing, it’s very eye catching to me, along with his stage presence. He never loses his energy on stage and I expect a lot from him in 2020! His rapping and singing are amazing as well, especially for a rookie. Also when they first debuted he cried a lot, which was very heartwarming to me because idols showing emotion other than happy is something I appreciate, because it lets me remember they’re human too.

3. Seulgi of Red Velvet. She’s, again, very well rounded. I’m not really a Reveluv, but Wendy and Seulgi are vocalists who really stand out to me so those to kind of make me want to listen to Red Velvet’s songs. She’s an amazing vocalist, like words can’t express how much a love this woman's voice. Her stage presence is amazing as well, she’s just a really good performer imo.

4. Jihyo and Nayeon of TWICE. First of all I really like their personality and how powerful they are. Honestly a wink from them and I’m falling of my chair. Secondly, I don’t know if anyone's noticed but I really like powerful female vocals, and these two have extremely POWERFUL vocals. Have you heard them sing? Just... POWERFUL, that’s all I can really say to describe their voices. 

5. Mingi and Hongjoong of ATEEZ. They are rapper that are gonna blow away the whole industry with 3racha, I mean they already have. Did y’all see their performance in MAMA. The RAWEST vocals I heard that whole show. They were obviously not lip syncing, you could hear Mingi panting and he didn’t rap a whole line, and I LOVE that because it is RAW and we need more raw vocals or atleast breaths heard when the artists are dancing because it makes the performance more REAL. also stage presence is amazing from these two, they really know how to hype up a crowd. 

ROOKIE GROUPS I EXPECT A LOT FROM NEXT YEAR

sorry my expectations are high for them, but they have stood out tome so much and i couldn’t stand to see them flop. 

1. TOMORROW X TOGETHER - they’ve been on this list quite a lot, and I really appreciate their individual talents along with them as a group. I REALLY want to see them improve and grow more next year because they were really pushed this year, being BTS’s juniors. I’m sure they were really stressed but I want them to become TOMORROW BY TOGETHER not BTS’s juniors. Probably won’t happen in a year but hopefully in the next decade.

2. ITZY - another group really known for theing the juniors of TWICE this time. The title tracks they released so far have all been listen to it the first time, you don;t like it, but listen to it the 2nd time and it’s stuck in your head for the next 7 months. Honestly if they keep going like this, it would be like a ITZY thing, and I honestly wouldn’t mind. 

3. EVERGLOW - i think everyone just saw bon bon chocolat, gave it a listen, and loved it. but i also heard it was produced by someone who helped produce Crown by TXT and Spring Day by BTS, so there’s another reason ppl may have liked it so much. Adios wasn’t a disappointment at all.  Of course, I would also love it if Everglow kept up the “nanana” thing in each of their title tracks.

4. ATEEZ - I don’t think they’ll flop at all next year. I know they just had their 1st year anniversary, but I wouldn’t mind a full album... either way, Imma stick with them because they’ve only released that good shit so far and I’m honestly expecting a somewhat mediocre song at least once in their career next year. Not expecting it though. 

5. ONEUS - I haven’t’t talked about them yet but all of oneus’s title tracks are absolute gold. I am a mess for Valkyrie, Twilight AND Lit. They’re all just AMAZING songs. I mean, what did we expect from Mamamoo’s juniors but. They are REALLY good. Just go listen to all their title tracks rn. 

And finally, wishes for 2020

- Of course, Wendy to recover after her tragic incident at SBS. Again, I hope she recovers well

- Mina to come back from her hiatus, only if she’s ready to, of course

- BLACKPINK FULL ALBUM. ROSE SOLO. PLEASE.

- Of course, 4th gen to thrive along with 3rd gen and 2nd gen groups

- A full album from stray kids (which was confirmed) and again, maybe for ATEEZ? just maybe? 

- More attention for Mamamoo. They are underrated queens. 

- Less hate for Tomorrow By Together. People bash them just because they’re BTS’s juniors. they would be praised a less but definitely not doubted way more if they weren’t under Bighit. Yeah, they get luxuries other groups won’t but that doesn’t mean people should degrade them for it. 

And with that

I wish everyone a Happy New Year. May your next decade be filled with happiness and joy! omg fancy started playing

also i didn’t have time to properly edit this. then again i am a rambling blog, so what are you expecting?

[pi-cat000]

MSA time travel idea (part 27)

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, Vivi POV, 8, 9, 10, Lewis POV, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, Lance POV 18, 19, Lewis POV 2, 21 , 22, Vivi POV 2, 24, 25  Lewis POV 3

Part 28: here

MYSTERY POV

  Mystery watches his youngest charge, Vivi Yukino, strangle her new vehicle's steering wheel and is disproportionately concerned. Human emotional drama is an unfortunately common occurrence and, in his experience, rarely leads to any significant long-term consequences. Usually, its effects are fleeting and far beneath his interests.

  When had that changed?

  Mystery resists an inclination to climb onto Vivi's lap least he risks distracting her and causing an accident. Instead, he watches, somewhat at a loss, while she glares at the road, tense and obviously worried for her missing friend's wellbeing. The lack of room in the compact truck cab has Mystery squashed between the two humans, giving him a good view of both as they stew in silence, discontent rolling off them in angry waves. Lewis, equally upset by their third member's sudden departure, is staring obsessively at the note Arthur had left behind. Not a habit which denotes a healthy mindset from what Mystery understands. Fortunately, he does not have to worry about distracting Lewis, and he leans his full weight into the other. His leaning gets him a scratch on the head but nothing more. An internal sigh and a minor physical huff of exasperation. There is not a lot a dog can do in these situations aside from offer small comforts. The movement does have the additional desired effect of catching Vivi's attention. Her eyes flick in their direction. A few minutes later and they are pulling into a gas station.

  "Lewis. It's your turn to drive," Vivi orders, bringing the truck to a stop next to the appropriate pump. Lewis hastily hides the note and Mystery wonders who he thinks he is fooling with the action.

  "Sure. Sorry. Didn't realise we'd been on the road for so long. I would have offered sooner." There is some shuffling while everyone clambers onto solid ground, Vivi waving away the apology.

  "Don't worry about it. I kind of like it. It feels like I'm driving a tractor around with how high up it is. You know, when compared to the van."

  She holds the door for Mystery to exit. There is a convenient patch of grass adjacent to the gas station, and he knows what she wants of him. One of the few downsides to this dog form is the prerequisite that the humans meet his dog needs. At times such as these, he wishes that the youngest Yukino were aware of his true nature to save her from the additional, unneeded pressure. Luckily, Mystery is probably the best, most well-behaved, dog in existence because he's done and jumping back into the truck before Lewis has finished refuelling.

  "Where are you going?" Lewis asks after Vivi, catching her sleeve when she shuts the door on him and turns towards the gas station's attached burger stand. Mystery watches the humans share their small affectionate touches through the closed cab window. There has been a significant increase in this touchy-feely behaviour. Another indicator that all is not well.

  "I'm just grabbing breakfast. Lunch. Or whatever," Vivi answers, walking backward a few steps, "You keep filling her up. I'll get the grub."

  Lewis nods, "Don't get me anything with meat."

  "You're paranoid," Vivi snorts, moving away.

  "If you worked in a diner you'd be paranoid too. Not everyone is as clean as my parents," Lewis calls at her retreating form.

  "Give a wave when you're done so I can pay for the gas as well," Is Vivi light response. Mystery observes Lewis's dementor deflate the moment Vivi is out of sight. The tall human is staring blankly at the petrol pump, mind obviously far from the task. Mystery places his paws near the window ledge, drawing close to the glass to get a better view. He does not believe he has ever seen the human in such a melancholic state, slumped and drooping. Concerning.

  Ding. The pump clicks off, and Lewis does not seem to notice. Mystery, after another mental sigh, gives a loud yip to catch attention. Honestly, these human emotional states seemed to be as much a hindrance as they were a benefit. 

  Vivi returns not moments later with several packets of fries and three burgers, of which he is fed several meat paddies. All his dog food is gone with the van. It's not a terrible loss, dog food being a close contender for the worst part of being a dog.  

  As they return to the highway, Mystery can't help but admit that, as much as would criticise humans for their erratic and illogical behaviour, this disturbance has affected him in ways he could not have anticipated. When had Mystery lost that impartial distance, carefully cultivated and maintained over decades of human interactions? When had he started to care for the humans he had long sworn himself to? It has crept upon him like the summer fading slowly to autumn. All those blissful years spent pretending to be a dog and getting showed with attention and affection has blinded him to winters approach. This sense of attachment and concern is more binding than any oath.

  Of course, like many of his failures, it is only after the fact and long past the point of return, that he realises his blunder. Mystery cannot deny that he has grown to care. He cares not only for Vivi, a quirk he can attribute to duty, but also for her friends to which he has no obligation. Not only does he care, he cares immensely, about both their physical and emotional wellbeing. It is a grave misstep for a being of his longevity.

  Nevertheless, there is nothing to be done now but proceed according to his new priorities. It is a shame that he had not fully realised these priorities before Arthur's flight. Mystery, being the only one to have reason to suspect supernatural foul play, could have perhaps acted to prevent it. After Arthur's bright golden aura had simultaneously doubled in strength while also dulling in colour overnight, Mystery had been on the lookout for some form of interference. The sudden reduction of loving pets, riveting games of fetch-the-stick, and instances of Arthur chattering at him about his current interests,  also pointed towards Arthur having realised Mystery's secret. An unfortunate encounter with another being like himself fit somewhat in explaining the sudden aversion to all things supernatural.

  Mystery has been biding his time while he worked to discover the extent of the human's new knowledge. He had planned on pulling Arthur aside to offer an explanation, belay any understandable fear, and perhaps find a cause behind his changing aura. Now it is too late, and Mystery is left hoping that Arthur's abrupt exit is a result of human silliness and not something more sinister.

  "Viv, can you pull up a map to the hospital. I think that's the sign for the exit," Lewis's deeper voice breaks the silence which has been sitting about them like an itchy blanket for the past several hours. A quick glance at Vivi's watch tells Mystery that it is almost 5 pm and they have been on the road for almost four hours since their last stop. His dog body has gone stiff with disuse. Usually, he would play up his dog persona and whine for a break. Today, he lets the façade rest, if only minimally.

  "Oh yeah. Sure," Vivi pulls out her phone and begins typing, "We've been past the hospital a load of times. It's in the middle of town on the far side of Milton High. Near the university and that new research centre."

  As she talks, she pulls up the map, and, finding no space for on the cab's cramped dashboard, holds it out for Lewis to see.

  "I know," Lewis's eyes flicker to the phone and back to the road. The indicator for the turn signal is flipped on. "But I don't think I've ever actually been to the hospital. And this truck is harder to drive than the van, so there's more risk of me taking a wrong turn and getting lost."  

  Vivi nods in agreement, exhaling, propping up her arm so she can continue to hold the phone for Lewis, "You know, I bet this truck is close to the same weight as the van when you add up all the crap we carry around, but the van handles a million times smoother. Wonder why that is?"

  "Arthur does work on it obsessively. Maybe that has something to do with it?" Lewis points out before lapsing into silence his face pinched up in that strained way it does when he thinks of something unpleasant. Silence once again falls over the group.

  A traffic jam only servers to sour already frayed nerves, making Vivi jitterily and irritable and Lewis increasingly dourer. Thankfully, the negative vibes put out by the humans mostly disperses upon Vivi pointing out their destination fast approaching on the horizon. The pick-up truck, being too long for any of the hospital's provided parking, means they are forced to circle the block several times over. They find a rest space outdoors, and a five-minute walk from their destination. Mystery watches in slight bewilderment as the humans take exemptional offence to the setback. More erratic human behaviour. Concerning.

  The sooner they find their third member, the sooner all his charges can re-establish an equilibrium amongst each other, allowing his own worry and concern to abate. Then- after seeing to whatever supernatural force is interfering with Arthur-he can begin restoring his distance. As much as Mystery has adored watching this small group grow into a family unit, building their positive emotional bonds and being included among them, these erratically negative mood shifts are a harsh reminder that humans are as fickle as they are short-lived.

  Mystery releases a tiered snuff, allowing Vivi to carry him against her chest, to hasten the crossing of several intersections all crawling with various forms of transport. Humans did have a tendency towards packing themselves onto smaller and smaller plots of land.  

  "Excuse me! Mam! Madam!"

  Their entry into the hospital is barred by a thin man in uniform grey. The stranger steps suddenly into Vivi's path and Mystery has half a mind to growl in annoyance.

  "There are no animals allowed in the hospital. You'll have to leave the dog outside."

  "What," Vivi almost barges straight into the stranger, and Mystery feels her grip tighten slightly in irritation, "Crap. Right. Forgot about that."

  She swears again under her breath. Once again, Mystery is reminded of this form's disadvantages. Like the now fretting Vivi, he too forgets that dogs are often not welcome into human buildings.

  "You go ahead," Vivi is speaking to Lewis, who hovers to the side, "I'll take Mystery back to the truck."

  "You're sure?"

  "Yeah. Go find Arthur. That's more important. This should only take me ten minutes."

  When Lewis hesitates for a second too long she continues with a sympathetic hum, "I'll probably beat you to the room anyway, even with a head start. Hospitals are like mazes and your sense of direction is terrible."  

  A disgruntled but amused frown follows the joke. Lewis protests briefly, "That's a bit unfair. I only got lost once," turning. He continues into the building while Vivi spins, a few choice words of discontent directed at the still staring security guard, and powerwalks back in the direction they'd just come. They cut across several roads, dodging people and cars alike.

  It is not until they are back at the pick-up truck, Vivi having placed him on the ground so she can retrieve keys, that Mystery smells the tangy scent of a human who has had dealings with creatures not of this plane. A quick glance around and it is easy to spot the offending person. The man's aura is warped and stained in several places, and he's watching Vivi from several paces away. Mystery immediately lets out a small growl to alert Vivi to the potential danger. Usually, he would ignore such tainted humans, their presence, while not common, is hardly strange. Humans had an unfortunate tendency towards messing around with forces beyond their understanding. Today, with all the drama, he is on edge.

  Vivi's attention snaps to him and then to their surroundings in search of his enacted distress. The man, wearing a scuffed leather jacket and donning an aggressive expression, pushes himself forward upon their combined attention. Mystery notes the wrappings and sling, holding one arm secured, signalling severe injury.  The smell of blood and infection confirms his suspicion. With a significant amount of facial bruising, this man is looking awfully mangled in Mystery's expert opinion.

  "Hey. You got a moment?" The beat-up human asks in a gruff voice. Mystery growls from down by Vivi's feet to discourage any potential aggression. The action gets him a quick once over and nothing more.

  "Saw you arrive with that dude in purple, spotin the purple hair-do. He doesn't work at that weird-ass diner in Tempo, does he? Called 'Pepper and salt' or whatever."

  "Do I know you?" Vivi asks shorty, putting both hands on her hips, glaring.

  The action gets a grunted, "No. But you might know the guy I'm after.  Goes by the name of Arthur. That ring any bells?"

NOTE: Guess which character it is! Just kidding, there's only one supporting character left alive at this point (unless you count Claire the receptionist) so not a huge pool to guess from. Note to self: introduce larger supporting cast in early chapters.   Anyway, thanks for the comments on the last part it was genuinely encouraging to see people enjoying sections with heavier character introspection. I wasn't sure about this Mystery POV, so thanks again for giving me the push needed to finish it off.   On a somewhat related note, sorry about the wait between parts, it's that time of the semester where everything is due, so updates on this fic are going to be super slow for the next few months.  Trust me when I say that I'd pick writing fanfiction over work, essays and exam study any day of the week :(

Part 28: here

[fanficnewbie]

“Fighting for Forever” - Chapter Five: Open Heart FanFic

This is my first story/series. The first 5 chapters are adaptations from the first 4 parts of “A Weekend with Dr. Ramsey” series with permission from @alwaysmychoices and then I continue my own original work in chapters 6-14.

I start this adapted storyline during Chapter 15 of the original OH series. There is a bit of AU, where I play around with the storyline a bit and insert two days between MC leaving the country club and returning to her apartment to find Landry packing. Some situations have been changed to keep with the original vision of @alwaysmychoices and make the story work in the direction I wanted it to go. However, I find my way back to the original in Chapters 6-8 and then move on past the ending of Book One during chapters 9-14.

My MC is female, Francesca Houseman, who has only had eyes for Ethan Ramsey from day one.

FULL SERIES

Chapter Five: “Afterglow” (adapted from “In the Morning Light”) 

4275 words

In this entry, from Chapter 15, we create the morning after Ethan and MC consummate their relationship - before she finds Landry packing boxes in her apartment.

(NSFW)

The sun dawned on Boston ray by ray and slowly brightened Ethan Ramsey’s apartment. It began with a stray beam of light breaking through the barriers of the master bedroom’s curtains, the first sign that night had transformed to morning, but soon, the bedroom was enveloped and illuminated the two stray souls who had found paradise under the cloak of the previous night’s moon.

Ethan woke first, unable to ignore the morning sunrise invading his bedroom.

A few months ago, the abundant natural light had been his primary attraction to this apartment. With only thin curtains to separate him from the Boston skyline, it was impossible for Ethan to sleep beyond his first alarm, and he lived much of his life under the shroud of twilight. By the time the rest of the world was waking up and making their first cup of coffee, Ethan was already in his office with piles of work to accomplish.

But after leaving Edenbrook, his purposeful manipulations were a constant reminder that life had changed. During his first post-Edenbrook hangover, he’d cursed everything – the sun, the curtains, the window, and himself – but never fixed it. He felt like upgrading his window dressings would be letting him off the hook, and Ethan Ramsey was always more than ready to punish himself for perceived misdoings.

This morning, however, as he watched Francesca bathed in the beaming sunlight, he didn’t feel like it would be so terrible to change his bedroom’s furnishings. Rather, it felt like a step in a new direction. It felt like he was on the cusp of a new world and different priorities. It felt like...fully letting her into his life.

Ethan’s chest constricted at the very thought. He was overwhelmed by how suddenly it was easy to imagine welcoming her into his world. Despite months of actively opposing her, she’d met the challenge and broken down all of his barriers to claim his heart. He always knew that, if he finally let her in, he could never go back. And now that she was here in his bed, he couldn’t fathom keeping her at arm’s length ever again.

The idea terrified him.

Until Francesca arrived, Ethan had been a god among men. Medicine was a game, and he always won. He tackled insurmountable obstacles like others approached a crossword puzzle. Personal relationships were insignificant in a life that revolved around his patients. Ethan Ramsey made a deal with the devil, winning success and prestige while losing a life outside of Edenbrook’s doors.

Then Francesca Houseman happened right as it all took a sharp turn. Life had quickly and inexplicably brought Ethan Ramsey to his knees; challenging his identity as a curer and rendering him useless to his loved one’s suffering. Yet, through it all, she was there. She was always there, even when he didn’t want her to be. She didn’t shy away from his ill temper or stony glares, and through it all, he was acutely aware of how he didn’t deserve her.

Ethan watched her sleep beside him in silent admiration. He had seen the tension she’d carried on her shoulders since Mrs. Martinez’s death, especially the permanent crinkle between her eyebrows that he recognized from his own reflection. But in slumber, her delicate features were soft now, she seemed at peace and Ethan almost felt as if he was witnessing something not meant for his eyes. He’d never felt the division between Francesca and Dr. Houseman so fiercely as he did this morning. Dr. Houseman was weighed down with the responsibility of saving lives and protecting patients, but Francesca was the woman who spent hours cuddling with his dog. It was a strange sensation as he acknowledged the contrast between her personal and professional personas while reconciling these differences into one figure.

Francesca stirred as the light attempted to disrupt her peaceful sleep. With eyebrows knit in frustration, she let out a sleepy “humph” as she tried to escape the sun in her half-asleep state, and inched closer to Ethan, burying her face in his chest to hide from the morning.

Ethan chuckled, his arms instinctively wrapping around her and gently smoothing her wild curls.

“Why the fuck is it so bright in here?” Francesca’s words were garbled and full of sleep.

“It’s morning,” Ethan whispered in return, and he could feel Francesca’s features twist in distaste against his chest.

“Hmph,” she mumbled again, discontent and hugging him closer as if it could bring back the night.

When Francesca fell asleep in Ethan Ramsey’s arms, she never wanted to wake up. She wanted to live in the precarious state of euphoria when she’d been so close to him. Even with his whispered promise to stay, she was burdened with the expectation that he would do what he always did and pull away. They’d crossed a line, and she was afraid to peek at what was on the other side.

“How is anyone supposed to sleep like this?” Francesca whined, earning another of Ethan’s chuckles. Her grip on the man beside her didn’t dare lessen. She held onto him – and their night together – like a raft in the middle of the ocean. Francesca knew what happened last night. She knew what they said, what they felt, and what they did. But this morning was a mystery, one that had the power to dash all of her hopes.

“If you can’t block the sun, you can’t ignore the alarm clock,” Ethan repeated his former philosophy for his former student and wondered if he would have taught her that if their relationship had not always hung on the balance of professional and passionate. When he campaigned for Francesca to join Edenbrook’s residency, he recognized the potential in her that he could mold into excellence. Without their intense feelings for one another, would he have been able to reform her lifestyle to emulate his, or was she always destined to change him?

Francesca carefully pulled away from his warm, muscular chest just enough to look up at him, confounded enough by his statement to break her hold by a few precious inches. 

“You designed your bedroom to make sure you’d make it to work early?” Francesca repeated, trying her best not to smile.

“I’m not sure I would phrase it like that, but I suppose I did,” Ethan confirmed, amused by her apparent interest.

Francesca bit on her lower lip, trying hard to hold it in before the giggle finally escaped, “That might be the most ‘Ethan Ramsey’ thing I’ve ever heard.”

“There are other ‘Ethan Ramsey’ things?” Ethan challenged her, pushing her hair behind her ear so he could see her sassy smile better. Without her saying a word, he already knew that she was about to be a smart-ass, and he found himself looking forward to it.

“Mmmhmm,” Francesca hummed.

“Like?” Ethan prompted.

“Like reading a book about doctors on social media, when you’re a doctor with no presence on social media,” Francesca’s eyes sparkled with mischief, “Well that one is mine but if you want to hear the things I’ve heard about you, they’re much more interesting.”

Ethan took the bait, “And what have you heard about me?” 

“Let’s see…” Francesca pondered aloud, resting her chin on his chest, “During my first week, I was walking through the halls when a resident said, ‘I can’t decide if I should focus on his ass or the fact that he’s a total ass.’”

Ethan’s eyes visibly widened, though he attempted to maintain an air of disinterest, and it made Francesca laugh.

“Or the nurse who said that you were the world’s only living heart donor...”

“You found that funny?” his breath was hot against her skin, his stubble so close that it threatened to scratch her skin. Francesca sucked in her breath, suddenly overwhelmed by how close she held this man.

“No” she chided, “I found it hilarious.” She swallowed hard when she found the heat in his now narrowed gaze. She hadn’t given him the nickname of “Dr. McSexy” lightly, but holy shit, she never imagined how truly hot Dr. Ramsey could be.

“There’s one about your dick, I think…” Francesca teased him and quickly found the outrage she was hoping for.

“That’s completely inappropria –“ Ethan’s voice raised, he was prepared to talk about how unprofessional such talk would be in the workplace, but Francesca cut him off with a kiss.

“A joke,” Francesca finished for him, whispering against his lips before adding, “But I think you may be just past your prime to fully appreciate a dirty joke.”

Ethan raised an eyebrow, “Are you calling me old, Francesca?”

Her body flushed; she never imagined that anyone could make her own name sound that indecent.

“If I was, what would you do about it?” Francesca’s words were breathless now. She didn’t just want to know what he would do. She needed to feel it, to feel him.

“I’d tell you that’s not a nice thing to say, and then I might have to show you why…” Ethan’s voice was so close to her as his hand released her waist and snaked up her back, his strong fingers tangling in her hair to hold her head steady as she looked back at him. Ethan felt intoxicated by the glint in her eyes and the obvious need in her heated stare.

Right then, he knew he’d been right all along. The second he let Francesca in, he could never let her go.

“Are you offering to punish me, Dr. Ramsey?” Francesca’s eyes lingered on his lips, and he smirked softly.

Ethan’s lips were so close that Francesca couldn’t think of anything but their proximity. Her arms looped around his neck, running her fingers through his bedhead. She could still smell the faint memory of his cologne, and heat pooled in her core as she spotted the tiny bruise on his neck – her mark.

Ethan tilted her head, his lips brushed across her neck. His stubble deliciously scratched at her skin, and she instantly craned her neck to give him more access. His kisses were soft and careful, just enough that she wanted more, but in fairness, Francesca always wanted more of him.

His hands, however, had the freedom to explore every inch of her body. Goosebumps followed his tender touch. His hand roamed her back, working their way to her ass and then down her inner thighs. When he found the moisture between her thighs, his touch became lighter and more purposeful, and Francesca wriggled with desire as she moved her hips closer to his hand.

“Impatient, are we?” Ethan chuckled into her neck, watching as her body flushed with the internal heat spreading through her limbs.

“For you, always,” Francesca admitted.

“Last night, I told you that patience is a virtue,” Ethan reminded her as he gently rolled her on her back. Propping himself up on his elbows, Ethan’s fingertips returning to her body, grazing her navel and then moving lower and lower and just so close. Francesca swallowed again as she moved her thighs back apart, and she insisted she could feel the experience in his strong hands.

“I guess you’ll have to remind me,” Francesca whimpered, biting on her lower lip as her yearning mounted.

Ethan felt his body respond to her invitation, suddenly so affected by this woman that he didn’t care if they ever left this bed at all. Still, that didn’t mean he stopped teasing her. He took his sweet time to reach her core before his thumb finally grazed the sweet spot. She gasped at the sensation, already sensitized to the feeling of being with him - already so attuned to him.

Watching her react was enough to give any man an ego, and Ethan felt powerful as he recognized the control his touch had over her. She nearly lost it when he finally applied more pressure, just enough as he circled her sensitive nub. Ethan then extended his index finger, slowly sliding it inside her, and her delicious little gasp against his lips made him groan. He watched as she finally did fall apart at his continued caresses, her whole body vibrating, lips parted and eyes closed as she whimpered and squirmed in euphoric bliss. Then Francesca looked up at him as she slung an arm around his neck, pulling him to her kiss.“Mmm, Ethan, please,” Francesca whimpered, “I need you.”

And Ethan could never imagine turning her down ever again.

“Is that a command?” Ethan whispered, gently biting on her lower lip as he moved his hand away from her.

“Yes,” Francesca affirmed, taking his hand licking her taste off his finger, and his expression morphed into that of shameless awe.

Ethan’s unapologetic grip on her hips made her skin pulse with desire as he placed her exactly where he wanted her. Moving between her, he kissed along her neck as his length slowly filled her. Francesca’s body seemed to melt into his at the sensation, murmuring “oh fuck” as the pleasure settled over her again. She was delirious with the feeling and clung onto him with desire.

Francesca was love drunk, and she enjoyed every moment.

Ethan was lost in this woman as he moved against her, and he was determined to claim her in every way. She relished the feeling of his stubble on her skin and silently prayed that he would never shave. With each thrust, heat and desire pooled in their cores, and they savored every second. Francesca’s spine arched as the pleasure surged in sync with her eagerness to be closer to him.

“Ethan…” On her lips, his name was a whisper, praise, and warning. She was so close that all she could think about was him… them, and how much she never wanted to leave this moment. “It’s so good, oh god, I’m going to…,” she gasped as her body tightened around him, her fingers wrapped in his hair as she neared the edge and Ethan buried himself in her touch as his pace increased.

And then it was just too much. They burned too bright, too fast, too perfect. Francesca fell into her climax, deeply submerged in satisfaction and relief. Ethan fell over with her, savoring her sounds of ecstasy.  

And for a minute, they stayed together as the all-consuming orgasms subsided. Francesca’s tug on Ethan’s hair went limp as she slowly pushed his hair out of his face, gazing up at him with a look he couldn’t quite identify, but somehow, he knew her expression mirrored his. Instead of letting her go, Ethan’s arms wrapped around her waist and pulled her closer as he settled back to the bed.

“Still want to call me old?” Ethan’s laugh was hoarse with the effort he’d just given, much to Francesca’s amusement.

“If that’s what happens, I’ll never stop calling you old,” Francesca laughed, nuzzling into his chest as he lazily drew patterns into her skin with his fingertips.

How could Ethan not kiss her after that?

In fact, Ethan’s list of scenarios worth kissing Francesca over had grown exponentially overnight, and it was increasingly difficult to think of when he shouldn’t hold her close. He felt like an addict to her affection, Ethan doubted that anyone other than Francesca could ever make him feel this way and he wondered if he’d even recognize the man in the mirror again.

Neither of them was sure how long they stayed in tangled in his sheets, whispering pillow talk and enjoying each other’s proximity, but eventually, they decided to leave the sanctuary of Ethan’s bed to freshen up and face the morning.

Still high with their post-orgasmic bliss, they took their time in the large space of his walk-in shower, testing out the temperature as they shared the hot water. It was almost strange how close they felt. Even being a few steps away felt foreign, and they elected to avoid it as much as possible. As they washed each other, they admired their handiwork with the various bruises and scratches on each other’s body.

Francesca’s fingertips ran along the scratches on Ethan’s back, somewhat embarrassed by how emphatic she’d been, “Does that hurt?”

Ethan raised an eyebrow, casting a casual glance at his shoulder as he shook his head, “I’ll survive a few scratches, Rookie.”

Francesca threw a relaxed glare his way and kissed his shoulder as if apologizing to the scratches.

“I enjoyed everything you did last night,” Ethan turned to face her, the water running down his body, and for a moment, Francesca couldn’t help but stare.

“Even throwing a pillow at you and telling you to go fuck yourself?” Francesca asked sarcastically. 

Even though she brought it up as a joke now, she’d meant every single word she’d said, and given the opportunity, she’d say them again. She cared deeply for Ethan but still feared the trap of being his plaything, something for him to pull close and then cast aside. She feared his intimacy and commitment issues, and she doubted either of those would magically disappear because they’d had mind-blowing sex. There was a reason she needed liquid courage to say all that she did. Under his gaze, she was more than vulnerable, she was exposed. She’d given him everything, reserving only three words, and was otherwise at his mercy.

“You were right,” Ethan conceded. He wanted to tell her everything he felt, but a barrier remained and the words refused to leave his mouth. So he kissed her forehead and offered acknowledgement instead, “I was being an asshole.”

Francesca smiled softly, leaning into him as she murmured, “When are you not being an asshole?”

If anyone else had said that he would have been irate, but it wasn’t just anybody, it was Francesca. 

And for her, he laughed.

That morning, she finally got her hands on the embarrassing t-shirt she’d been envisioning since the previous day. Ethan couldn’t understand her fascination with some branded, absurd t-shirt given to him to publicize a race he’d participated in years ago, but he acknowledged the apparent happiness in her eyes when she shimmied into it.

The words had nearly faded away, but Francesca could still make out the orange scribble of “Turkey Trot 10K 2015” as well as a cartoon turkey dancing on the breast pocket. It was soft from years of washes, despite spending ages forgotten in the back of Ethan’s closet. Had he even remembered its existence, he would have donated it years ago, but as he watched her parading around in it now, he was happy he’d almost forgotten about it.

Stifling his smirk, he started to make coffee and watched out of the corner of his eye as Francesca disappeared into his living room. When she returned, Jenner was in her arms, and he arguably looked more enamored than Francesca did.

“So, are you just a fan of ridiculous t-shirts, or do you specifically enjoy cartoon turkeys?” Ethan couldn’t help himself. He had to know why she’d been so eager to sport the holiday shirt, and as he turned back to look at her and wait for his response, he was reminded that, even in something as comical as a “Turkey Trot” t-shirt, she was still so beautiful.

Francesca laughed, rubbing behind Jenner’s ears as she considered the question.

It wasn’t that it was just a ridiculous shirt. It was his ridiculous shirt. It was a part of him that few had ever seen before. It was an element of his life beyond Edenbrook. It helped form the fabric of the man that existed outside of his career. It was so uniquely Ethan and so different from “Dr. Ramsey.” It was another peek at the kaleidoscope of the man she was enamored with.

“I don’t know,” she shrugged, laughing softly to herself, “it’s just…”

She almost finished with, “you”. But instead, she played it nonchalantly, “I find them funny.”

Ethan knew there was something behind that casual smile, and he almost pressed her. But then the coffee was finished brewing and he decided to let her hold onto her secret.

The warm, familiar smell of coffee brought a smile to Francesca’s lips as he offered her a mug. They were talking about something unmemorable, but Ethan would never forget the way she laughed when he said something funny. It was true happiness but as their cups drained and the clock continued to tick, it was all slipping from their fingers.

Francesca wanted to hide away in this innocent Eden for the rest of her life. Free of external pressure, they existed in their true forms here. They were two people standing at the beginning of something real and exciting, and they were left alone to their skipped heartbeats and tender touches. They weren’t outcast doctors, they were just people. And as their professional lives went to hell, they’d found a new heaven with each other.

But the morning had started to recede and Francesca had to leave.

Ethan helped look for her jeans, finding them crumbled under the couch. They found her shoes nearby, and in his bedroom, her bra and panties had fallen under his bed. Her shirt that she had washed and discarded the previous morning was still in his guest room, but she continued to wear his t-shirt instead. Ethan had re-charged her cellphone, and she found a series of texts from her friends, wondering where the hell she was after she’d sent them a vague message the day before assuring them that she was fine and staying with a friend for a while. 

She was still scrolling through their group chat when she noticed that Sienna had sent a reminder about their early afternoon roomie brunch, and Francesca’s heart sunk with the realization that her departure from Ethan’s apartment was sooner than expected. She responded that she’d meet them there – knowing she’d have to stop by her apartment first and at the very least, change clothes.

“I’ll walk you home,” Ethan told Francesca as he collected Jenner’s leash, trying to hide the gesture under the guise of taking his dog for a walk. In truth, he just didn’t want to let her go yet.

Francesca raised an eyebrow at his statement because that’s what it was – a statement, not an offer. He was walking her home. Still, she felt the need to test him. 

“You don’t have to,” Francesca smiled, scratching Jenner under his chin as Ethan prepared him for the walk. Curious if he’d take the out she’d just given him.

“I know,” Ethan answered simply as he collected their keys, and with a kiss on the side of Francesca’s head, they were off.

Boston’s energy had lulled into a peaceful Sunday morning. Couples and families milled through the streets, passing them in favor of nearby farmers markets and parks, and a soft breeze carried them through the sunny day. Francesca and Ethan, both being workaholics, lived close to Edenbrook, and therefore each other. It was a pleasant walk that was far too short for either of their liking.

Feeling it all fade away, she gathered her resolve and asked tentatively, “Are you doing anything tonight?” Biting on her inner cheek, Francesca turned her eyes to Ethan. Despite everything, she was still terrified that she’d somehow misinterpreted their closeness and everything that had happened in the last two days. She held her breath as she anticipated another rejection.

“Francesca…” Ethan squeezed her hand, which had somehow found its way to his in their walk, “You should be preparing for your hearing.”

The Ethics Hearing. She closed her eyes against the reminder that her entire future was held in the balance of a rigged hearing, and she was doomed to anticipate it, teetering between naive hope and realistic fears.

Opening her eyes she stared straight ahead, trying to imagine how it would all go, then she muttered, “I don’t know how much I can prepare when Declan has already bought half the panel.” 

“Rookie,” Ethan stopped suddenly, his hand pulling Francesca to him. As much as she tried to avoid his bright blue eyes, he made her look at him, her cheek in his hand as he told her, “You did what you did for the good of a patient. No matter what happens, you’re a good doctor. What did I tell you last night? You owe it to yourself and your patients to give it your all. Fuck Declan.”

Francesca nodded as she absorbed his words, slightly surprised to hear him use the strong language that was so effortless for her, “You’re right.”

“I’m always right,” Ethan’s smile was so infectious that, through her pain and doubt, Francesca laughed.

“Sure,” Francesca rolled her eyes.

“I wrote the textbook you studied,” Ethan bragged, making Francesca laugh even harder as she began to walk again.

“Wow, a genius who still maintains humility. You’re a first in human history,” Francesca mocked him.

“My humility is exceptional,” Ethan played along, knowing he’d do just about anything to make her laugh.

When they reached Francesca’s building, they knew they’d reached the end of the road, but Francesca was still smiling so bright at him. Her confidence in this, whatever it was, growing.

“To clarify, I’m definitely coming over tonight though, right?” she challenged.

He should have told her to stay home and prepare, but who was he to say no?

“Definitely,” Ethan agreed. “I suppose I’ll just have to help you prep.”

Francesca smiled, he was offering support again, without provocation, and for now, it was more than she could ask for. She leaned in, pressing a soft kiss to his lips before parting ways. As she reached the front door to her building, she waved, “Goodbye Ethan.”

He returned the gesture, “Goodbye, Rookie.”

CHAPTER SIX

[not-a-space-alien]

Into the Unknown, Part 14:  No Refunds or Exchanges

Prologue | Dramatis Personae | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13

Series masterpost

On AO3

Well, it’s all well and good to be hopeful.  Hope is the first step to solving your problems.  But unfortunately, the second step is usually some variation of actually doing something to solve your problem, avenues for which Crowley had precisely zero available.  

Crowley spent a good amount of time slithering forward in search of a way out of the Pit.  Then he had a good session of sniffing about and investigating, then a spate of time spent roving and wandering.

He had heat pits as a snake, of course, but they weren’t helpful.  The entire place was hot, glowing in his UV vision like a blazing supernova.  He had to turn it off after a while to avoid the sensory overload.

His tongue flicking out and tasting the air provided an overwhelming array of scents, all jumbled up on one another, an unread story with a thousand layers on top of one another like a hellish lasagna.  He occasionally caught scent of someone nearby, sensing a shift in the air, the vibration of footsteps against his scaly belly, snaking towards it in a predatory way, but unable to reach anyone before they ran off. He called out for them to wait, always, but they never did.  They moved at the edges of his periphery like the ghosts of timid rodents.

Crowley coiled up, considering changing back into his human form.  The forked tongue was useful for now, and there was something comforting about being in his original shape.

The soft tmp tmp tmp of footsteps sounded in the pitch-black.

“Hello?” said Crowley, periscoping up.  “Don’t run away!  Please!”

There was suddenly a bright light, the light of the innermost layer of Hell.  Crowley would have slammed his eyes shut had he had eyelids.

He felt a hand on him, clamping on his neck, and dragging him out.

The light of Hell’s throne room felt like the piercing brightness of Heaven after the darkness of the Pit; it took several moments for Crowley’s vision to adjust so he could see:

Satan was holding him, his coils looped around the length of her arm and squeezing as a panicked reflex.  Behind her was the archdemon Vycra; her face bore a gnarly set of fresh talon marks, and she looked chastised and cowed.

Crowley stood statue-still like a panicked deer as Satan lifted him up to meet his eyes.  “What’s so special about you?” she demanded.

He flicked his tongue out.

“You must know something,” said Satan.  “Some information they need.  Or some ability you’ve kept hidden from me.  Whatever it is, they can’t want you for anything good.”

Crowley’s muscular coils slid along her arm, pulsing with enough force to crush lesser beings to death.  He let out a hiss like a tea kettle.

“Maybe if you tell me, things will go a lot easier for you.”

“What are you talking about?” Crowley croaked.

“Someone wants you very, very badly,” she said.  “And I can’t imagine why.  But I intend to find out.”

********************************************

The group dawdled and bickered about what their next step should be while they waited to be contacted again by Hell.  Which finally happened about an hour later, a message to tell them to meet Satan in the same spot as before, at sunrise the next morning.

The delay was unnerving.  Their precious time in this universe before having to return was burning up.  Three days and two nights it had been, and at sunup when Satan wanted to meet they would begin eating into their third day. They were due back at 7PM, which meant that, if anything in this trade-off went wrong, they would only have about 12 hours to scrape up some alternate plan.

They sent down to Hell a very polite request to meet earlier, which was summarily and unambiguously rejected.

So they flocked together in the eaves of the church like bats huddled up, trying to get some anxious rest while they prepared themselves.

Uriel kept the Book of Life cradled in her wings.  Aziraphale caught her in the middle of the night reading it; it was open to Lucifer’s page, and she caressed it gently, as though comforting a lost loved one.

The morning of the third and final day in this universe came soon enough.

They had decided Aziraphale should appear again, but the previous encounter with Vycra made them hesitant to risk Aziraphale’s physical safety in the same way, so at least one of the higher-ranking members of the group would go with him.

If they all stood there waiting for Satan to show up, they figured Satan would probably suspect (rightly) that it was a trap, get suspicious, and call it off.  Seeing Uriel and Victoria would be a tip off that something very strange was happening and would probably shift the focus of the meeting towards the fact that their un-fallen doppelgangers somehow existed, and who knew how they would react to that?

Again, they were caught up in the unpredictability….They would have been able to have some kind of idea what to expect in their home universe, but this Satan was new, a different animal entirely.  And they had to figure out how to outsmart her, to double-cross and walk away with both Crowley and the Book of Life, unless they wanted to let this universe burn down behind them when they left.

But how to finagle it so they had the upper hand?  What if Satan brought four archdemons with her and matched their firepower?  What if this meeting turned into a battle?  What if she concocted up a way to thwart their attempts to keep both Crowley and the Book of Life, or worse, keep them both herself?  What if she got wind it was a trap and slaughtered Crowley before they could get him?

That led Aziraphale to visions of his beloved being slain as a consequence of their attempts to play dirty, and it sent spikes of anxiety through him. He was tempted to actually give over the Book of Life and let this universe fall to ruin as long as it meant he would get Crowley back safely.

But the others wouldn’t let him, because they at least had some sense of propriety remaining, and he was shocked to discover that was probably the only thing holding him back from such a selfish action.

They eventually decided it had to be Maltha to stand by Aziraphale and assure his safety.  It couldn’t be Victoria or Uriel, and Mykas would probably be troublesome as well. They decided the best course of action would be to mask Maltha’s aura with the angel dust spell.  This would obscure her identity and make it difficult to tell if she was an angel or a demon.  This would likely be better than being up-front about a demon and an angel working together, because that kind of thing was still scandalous and unheard of in this place, and the revelation would, again, draw an unpredictable response from Satan.

All they had to do was get Crowley close enough that they could grab him. Aziraphale would have the Book of Life, and Maltha would be next to him.  They would say whatever outlandish thing they had to in order to get Crowley within snatching distance.  Aziraphale would drop the Book, grab Crowley, and Maltha would fend off any resistance until Mykas, Victoria, Uriel, and Ramial arrived for backup.

They would, they assumed, be able to overpower Satan and whoever she brought as backup.  That was a big assumption.  And they only had to grab Crowley and the Book and then run away; they didn’t have to win the battle, just hold their own. It might, just might work.

Creating the angel dust for Maltha unfortunately required quite a good deal of feathers, which were taken from Aziraphale, Ramial, Victoria, and Uriel. Maltha healed the poor plucked sods because they had taken so many feathers it was doubtful they would be able to fly, but it was still a quite unpleasant experience.

They didn’t have all the ingredients they would need to make the drinkable version of the spell, so they hastily put together the dust version and sprinkled it on her.  They ended up needing to go back and make more, and even then it just barely covered her entirely.  The sun was rising by the time they finished and got into position.

The dead grass crunched under their feet as they took up position, the exact same place Aziraphale had stood last time.  The others were far enough away to not be felt, to preserve the element of surprise, and it unnerved Aziraphale that their backup was so far away.

But he had seen how fast Mykas was capable of moving.  And he had Maltha by his side now, and frankly, Aziraphale had been pretty thoroughly convinced by now of Maltha’s ability to get away with pretty much whatever she wanted, even moreso than him.  Aziraphale and Maltha both had flare guns, which they would set off to let the others know to rush over.

So there Aziraphale stood, the hefty Book of Life in his arms, with Maltha and her masked aura hovering behind his shoulder.  He didn’t dare pray; he didn’t know what might happen.

A towering inferno of flames and billowing white smoke erupted in the distance, and winged figures could be seen in the flames.

“Here we go,” said Maltha.

Leading the way was Vycra, bearing fresh wounds on her face, likely the result of talking back earlier.  Behind her, snuffling across the dry bracken was this universe’s version of the archdemon Mykas, a bearish figure crisscrossed with scars and looking incapable of more than the most bestial instincts.  A chain around his neck led to the hand of—

Satan.  She had a skeletal frame and awful, terrible wings full of eyes.  And in the other hand she held a sack, which writhed faintly.

Aziraphale eyed the sack hungrily, desperate.  He knew what was in it.  Despite the circumstances, he managed a small laugh.  “They just brought him in a pillow case.”

Satan stopped within shouting distance, Mykas on her right, Vycra to her left.  Satan, and two archdemons.  They might be able to win, if the others could get here quickly enough.  A sneer crossed Satan’s face.  “And who exactly might this be, principality?”

“An escort to ensure you play fair,” said Aziraphale darkly.  “Considering what you tried to pull last time.”

Satan’s faced crunched into hatred.  “What kind of angel is this?  What’s wrong with her aura?”

“Don’t worry about her,” said Aziraphale.  “Do you have him?”

Satan reached into the bag and pulled out a black and red snake, hand firmly behind his jaw and out of biting distance.  She dropped the sack and held him up, his thick body coiling around her arm.

The panic in his eyes and frantic movements of his serpentine body broke Aziraphale’s heart.  Crowley writhed and made eye contact with Aziraphale.  Still, he trembled.

Aziraphale thought that he needed a way to signal to Crowley that this was his Aziraphale, not the other one who had tried to kill him.  So he very subtly spread his fingers, lifting his ring-finger up slightly to draw Crowley’s attention to the golden band there.

Crowley’s eyes wheeled about in his head, and he snapped at Satan, trying to bite her hand.  It was unfortunately a futile gesture, but the renewed attempts at escape made Aziraphale think Crowley had gotten the message.

“This creature is what you want, isn’t it?” said Satan.

“Yes,” said Aziraphale.  “Let him go.”

“Not yet,” said Satan.  Crowley’s sides heaved, expelling a fearsome hiss.  “First, I demand an explanation.  Something very strange is going on.  Who is this ‘archangel’ next to you, and for what purpose do you demand this demon, that you would trade Heaven’s most holy artifact for him?”

Maltha’s hand grabbed the collar of Aziraphale’s shirt, and it was only then that he realised he had started forward to pummel Satan’s face in.  “Patience,” Maltha hissed.

“That is none of your concern,” Aziraphale yelled.  “You agreed to the trade, now let’s trade.”

All she had to do was put Crowley down, Aziraphale thought.  Just put him down, and he could slither far enough away for them to reach him before Satan could retrieve him.  As it was, she had a death grip on him, and there was no way to snatch him without risking retaliation.

Just put him down.

“Put him down,” Aziraphale said.  “And we’ll get on with it.”

Satan narrowed her eyes at him.

Vycra drew her sword, laying it across Crowley’s neck.  “Let me rephrase this,” said Satan.  “This demon must be of some considerable value to you, and I stand to lose nothing.  So if you wish to re—”

She was interrupted by an ear-splitting blast from a horn, and all heads looked up to see the sky parting, Heavenly warriors pouring out, led by Kris.

Maltha hissed.  From Satan’s side, Mykas barked and snarled viciously.

“Villain!” Kris’s voice boomed.  “I knew you were up to no good.  You intend to hand the Book of Life over to the Adversary.”

“I knew this was a trap,” Satan shrieked.  “Vycra, take him back down.  They won’t trick us out of our leverage so easily.”

This was the point at which Aziraphale dropped the Book of Life, which landed with an Earth-shaking thud to the gasps of all present, and sprinted with all his force to bridge the gap between them.  He had killed Satan once, and he was prepared to do it again, and now that he had Crowley in his sight he wouldn’t let him out of it again for anything.

The sky disgorged an impressive amount of angels.  Maltha set off the signal for their reinforcements to come and snatched the Book of Life of the ground.  Satan dropped Mykas’s chain, releasing him.  Aziraphale pumped his wings and rocketed at Satan, who was handing Crowley to Vycra.

Aziraphale drew his sword.

Vycra also drew hers.

Aziraphale’s lunge at Satan was easily deflected with a sneer and a wave of her arm, sending him careening into Vycra and landing heavily at her feet.

Vycra lifted her sword to ram Aziraphale through.

This diverted her attention away from the serpent in her hand, briefly, just long enough for him to twist and spit venom in her face.

It splattered on her cheek and hit her left eye.  She recoiled, screaming, but she dropped her sword instead of Crowley.  Whatever damnable reflex was responsible for it, she dropped her sword instead of him, holding onto him like her life depended on it.

Aziraphale stood to try and wrestle Crowley off of her, but she kicked him square in the chest and flung him back.  Crowley erupted into a stream of hisses, flicking venom everywhere, but she had pointed him away from her face by this point.

“I told you to take him and go,” Satan growled.

Vycra’s gaze—one good eye, one swamped with black, crawling venom—went from Satan to Aziraphale, then she turned and spread her wings.

“No!” Aziraphale shouted.

Vycra kicked off into the air, Crowley still coiled around her arm, zigzagging around the descending heavenly forces and veering out of their path. Aziraphale leapt up to follow, unsuccessfully trying to grab onto her ankles before she got out of reach.

Vycra was a much stronger flier than he was, and it was obvious from the moment she took off he wouldn’t be able to catch up to her, but that didn’t stop him from trying.  She rocketed up into a cloud bank out of sight, and Aziraphale followed, breaking through the mist.  The sounds of the freshly started battle below faded with distance.

Aziraphale exited the cloud into an empty sky, panting and wheeling around to try and find them.  There. He spotted the archdemon diving towards the ground, where a portal to the underworld had opened up to admit her.

“No you don’t!” said Aziraphale.  He tucked in his wings and dived.  He could faintly see the serpentine figure in Vycra’s grasp writhing and struggling as they plummeted.

The portal swallowed Vycra up.

Please, Aziraphale thought, stay open just two seconds longer.

It had begun to close by the time Aziraphale reached it, but he was able to tuck and roll to fit through it.

He hit something hard and felt his nose break, his vision filled with white blurs as he tumbled over.  He finally lay motionless on the ground for a moment, his head ringing, then sat up as quickly as he could, vision spinning.

He had made it through the portal, all right, into the infernal dimension, but he hadn’t made it past the gate.  In front of him loomed a massive white stone door patterned with an eye set into a cave wall, firmly closed.  The blood smear on it told Aziraphale he had collided face-first into it.

He wiped the blood with his sleeve, springing to his feet.  Vycra must have gone inside already, somehow. Aziraphale marched around, but the little antechamber was empty, and there was nowhere they could be hiding.

Aziraphale’s heart sank as his brain began to process the fact that he had failed.  He jogged around, looking vainly for some sign that he was wrong, but the only logical conclusion was that Vycra had gone in and someone had managed to close the gate with impeccable timing to lock him out.

He marched up to the door, huffing, and knocked on it.  The eye on the door shifted to look at him.

“Let me in!” he demanded.

The eye blinked.

“I demand you let me in.”

“No,” said a voice, and the eye closed.

Aziraphale beat at the gate and yelled till he was hoarse.  Then, he sunk dejectedly down into a siting position with his back against the gate.

Now this was a predicament, wasn’t it?  What was there left to do?  They were basically back to square one.  Aziraphale’s instinct was to march in and resort to force….but he couldn’t very well do that alone.  Could he?

Tears sprung to his eyes.

No, he couldn’t even get past the gates.  He had failed.  He was a failure.

Wait a minute.  Crowley was still in danger, and Aziraphale was sitting around crying?  When had that ever accomplished anything?  There would be time to feel miserable later.  For now, he had to put his anger aside and act smartly…something he hadn’t traditionally been very good at.

The first step would be to regroup…Except he had left the rest of his party in the middle of a huge battle with Heaven.  His mouth felt dry thinking about it.  Maybe there wouldn’t be anyone else to help him when he got back.

Surely they all had good enough survival instincts to get out of there alive?

Yes.  He had to trust them.  Now he just had to regroup with them.

Except…

This Hell did not have a static exit like the Hell in their home universe had. The antechamber he found himself in was just a smooth unbroken cave.  The only exit was the stone door behind him, which remained firmly shut.

“Oh bugger,” he said.

The only way to leave must be through the same kind of magic used to access it in the first place.  Aziraphale patted his pockets, trying to gauge whether or not he had the spell ingredients necessary to concoct such a ritual.

He thought again about the Heavenly armies pouring down onto Satan’s head. No way Hell would win that fight. Satan would probably be retreating soon, so he’d better hurry before she showed up.

Unless…?  Maybe he could hide and then when the gates opened, sneak in?  That seemed incredibly dangerous, and very foolish.  Maltha, or Mykas, or even Uriel would probably be able to figure out a way to get through the gates; the opportunity to get in wasn’t so rare he needed to risk going in alone.

He got out a piece of chalk and started drawing a circle he supposed might get him back up to Earth.  He laid out the ingredients in his pockets and frowned as he noticed he was short on the prerequisite amount of sulfur needed. Best to try it anyway.

Aziraphale mixed everything together and laid it out, lighting the candles and saying the incantation.  The candles fizzled out, but nothing happened.

“Hmm,” said Aziraphale.

A portal zoomed open in the wall.

“Ah, there we go,” said Aziraphale, paying no mind to the fact that it decidedly hadn’t come from his spell.

Maltha’s head peeked in.  She had a volley of fresh claw marks scored down her face and leading into her neck. “Aziraphale,” she hissed.  “Get out here.  Satan is coming.”

“Is everyone else here too?” said Aziraphale.  “They must’ve gotten not too far, I was thinking we could—”

“She called for reinforcements,” Maltha said tightly.  “You will die.  Get the fuck out here.”

Aziraphale, chastised, stepped out without further argument.

Maltha grabbed his belt to haul him out faster.  He found himself on the roof of the church they had convened at earlier.  The portal to Hell closed behind him.

In the distance, where the sky had been rent to produce Heaven’s armies, the two forces could be seen retreating to their respective strongholds. Satan’s escort had swelled to include an arm of cavalry mounted on Hellhorses, and Azirpahale could sense the presence of at least three archdemons that definitely hadn’t been there before.  The fiery hooves of the horses and the miscellaneous flames on the infantry glowed faintly in the darkness of the black gate swallowing them up.

Maltha was right, Aziraphale would have been trampled.  He tugged at his collar, sweating.  He looked to Maltha, who had plopped herself down tiredly on the roof shingles.  Besides the injury on her face, it looked like most of the feathers on her right wing had been torn off, as well as a few injuries to her arms and torso that had been partially healed.

He looked around.  Mykas was lying out, whining faintly under a crisscross of lacerations from holy weapons on his snout and all over his body.  Victoria had lost her left arm, which had been lopped off just above the elbow and cauterised with infernal fire, by the looks of it.  Poor Ramial was sitting on a pipe with a leg injury that looked like it would make her unable to stand.

Only Uriel, sitting on the edge of the roof with the Book of Life on her lap, was uninjured.

“What happened?” Aziraphale asked.

“They weren’t quite sure what to make of us,” said Victoria with a pained smile. “So we got attacked by both sides.”

Aziraphale sat down heavily, his head in his hands.

“I don’t suppose you managed to catch up to Vycra?” said Uriel.

“No, of course I didn’t,” Aziraphale snapped.  “Don’t be stupid.”

Uriel turned red.

“I see you managed to get away with your precious Book, though,” Aziraphale fumed.  “For all the good it does us.”

“Aziraphale, I gave the Book of Life to Uriel and told her to run to keep Heaven from getting it again,” said Maltha.  “It’s our best leverage over Satan right now.  She still clearly wants it.”

She was right, but that didn’t mean Aziraphale had to be polite.  He glowered without apologising.

“All right,” said Victoria, still breathing heavily.  “So that was a failure.  But we all made it out alive, and we’ve still got the Book, and there’s still time.  We’ve got…” She struggled to count on her fingers with only one hand.  “…eight hours left.”

“Eight hours…”  Aziraphale grappled with a hard dilemma:  if the time came and went, would he go back home and try to think of an alternate plan? …Or would he stay here in this universe, even if it meant being trapped, to try and get Crowley back?

Maltha exhaustedly leaned onto a gargoyle for support, running her hands up and down her injuries.  “All right. There’s no way around it.  I was really hoping there was, but there isn’t. The time for clever plans and bargaining is over.  We have to stop pissing around.”

“Full-frontal assault,” said Mykas.

Victoria nodded.  “Then let’s go.”

[the-concept-fountain]

What are your other favorite games?

OKAY! I have dozens upon dozens of games that bring me joy, and that have inspired/influenced my life as a whole, honestly I could ramble on for days, but I will share my top 11 in no particular order. Besides the top 3 hehe ;)

11. Dokapon Kingdom

I was into Dokapon before everyone decided it was cool to play Dokapon Kingdom, but this game is just a blast to invest time into! I have played many campaigns, and each one is a drastically different story from the last. Easily one of my favorite games of all time, blast to play and I am always looking for a reason to play.

10. Splatoon

I won’t lie, when I first saw Splatoon come out, I had no interest in it. I completely brushed it off and thought nothing of it. But then my brothers would end up getting it, and OH BOY. I feel head over heels for this game, I am in love with the sense of style the series has, I am captivated by the cool mechanics, and I bump the soundtrack in my dorm. My fashion style has changed to try and match this game! I can’t get enough of it, and I have invested hours upon hours playing matches.

9. Fire Emblem Blazing Sword

I was not a fire emblem fan, at all. I played Awakening and was mildly interested in the series, but this game put Fire Emblem on the map for me. I am sucker for the sprites in this game, having all of my units feel unique and have some type of a persona. The game play is addicting to me, and feeling of seeing my favorite characters develop into powerhouses is like no other.

8. Cave Story

I have been waiting 11 years to play CaveStory, I originally got a taste of this game on the demo off the wii shop channel. But me being forgetful, I never sought after it despite buying many other games off the wii shop channel. That would change in 2018, and I felt like I have been missing out. The story, the music, the easy to pick up hard to master gameplay, GOING THROUGH HELL! I have died many times in this game, and it always keeps me coming back for more. Everyone should play CaveStory at least once!

7. Celeste 

Now unlike CaveStory, the moment I saw Celeste I knew this game was going to be fantastic! Before the game was released I would jam out to the bits of the soundtrack online, and the moment it landed on the eshop I snagged it up. Its similar to Cavestory in gameplay being easy to pick up but hard to master, but the story. I can’t spoil anything but I cried alot while playing this game, and it inspires me to bring together the good and the bad I see inside myself. It helps that the soundtrack is perfectly atmospheric, I think it is criminal if you haven’t given Celeste a chance!  

6. Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus R

Spoilers, but this is the only fighting game I have on this list, they are all great but this game will hold a special place in my heart. Guilty Gear is an anime, air-dashing fighter that has exquisite game design. I wish I could FD in all fighting games period, but alas I can not. This is the first game that I got my behind handed to me on a daily basis, all my late bus rides home were spent playing this game and coming to terms that I did not understand this game. I sucked at this game, but getting my ass kicked just to slowly grow and become a beast with my main Ky Kiske is the kind of determination that will never leave me. 

5. Mother 3

Please go play Mother 3, it is a fantastic game with an even better story. I know from friends that the gameplay isn’t the best thing in the world, but I think it keeps things entertaining enough to most rpgs. This is a game you have to play with sound on, the sound design and soundtrack is fucking great. There were many tears that fell on my keyboard due to this masterpiece which is why I can’t say too much but I got attached.

4. Xenoblade Chronicles

I still remember the day Shulk got announced for Smash for Wii U/3DS and everyone look at me like I was a crazy person for knowing who he was. Xenoblade has consumed many days of my life, just mindlessly exploring the gorgeous landscapes, and getting engulfed into this tightly crafted story about a guy who has the power to change the future. Which would lead me to take my own future into my own hands and where I want it to go. 

3. GitarooMan 

If any of you know even remotely what Gitarooman is, please message me because no one realizes this game exists. This is another case of me thinking lowly of a game until falling madly in love with it. GitarooMan has these wonderful little themes and a little story that just work in harmony with one another, despite being a short rhythm game. U-1 journey from his humble start to his satisfying ending resonates with me, and inspires me. It also helps that the gameplay and the music feel great to play and listen too

2. The Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks

This was my first Zelda game, and the only game I have ever 100% completed everything. I originally gave this game to my best friend as a birthday gift, to only get the game myself two days later. I think the train is adorable, the story is great, the spirit flute can go burn in a fire, and I remember the feeling of satisfaction of figuring out a puzzle that halted my progress. This game would give me the courage to face my fears while I was younger, and always serves as a reminder that I can’t do everything on my own sometimes.

1. Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Red Rescue Team

Not the first video-game I ever played, not even my first Pokemon game, but this would be the first videogame I would beat and the first to make me cry. I have created many rescue teams, each with their own team names and mottoes, all of them being unique and rewarding with their experiences. My sense of adventure was created from this game, going out just for the sake of getting lost and figuring what was out in the unknown. Always having my partner, alongside my team. to keep me grounded, to support my goals, and to go on adventures with. This game is a part of the core that makes me who I am today, and there isn’t a day that goes by where I am not searching for my next partner and to lend a helping hand to someone in need

[tiger--wolf]

9, 23, 48, 58 😁✌🏻

Yaass, more asks! Thank you Betty <3

Most regrettable purchase? Already answered this one buuut if I had to say another purchase I guess it would be my PS vr headset. It just doesn’t have many interesting games available for it and doesn’t get used as much as I’d like. Tbh now that I have my gaming PC I wish I could invest in a headset for that instead.

The game that you’ve logged the most hours into? Oooooh dear... that’s a good question. One that I can’t answer with confidence lmao. Kingdom hearts ate up a lot of my time when i got into the series. And when I say a lot i mean A LOT. Recently thought it’s been DMC for sure. Apparently i’ve spent over a hundred hours on the HD collection alone (without even touching 2 lmao). Add the play times of the other games as well along with the PS 4 versions and... well... i’m sure you get the picture.

How long does it take your to customize your player character? Longer than actually playing the game XD in all seriousness though, i can spend hours on any kind of customization screen. Character, vehicle, weapons... What’s that? The big bad’s about to blow up an entire city? Yeah alright cool, but have you considered a new hairstyle.... three hours later

If you can only play 3 games for the rest of your life, which ones do you pick? 

How about.. I don’t do that... Oh god, do I really have to??? Hngggggh okay! Okami, Kingdom hearts 3 and DMC 3 (I’M SORRY PERSONA 5 I STILL LOVE YOU! ; A ; )

[squiishiichaos]

How I Would Revise KH3

I’ve seen quite a few of these going around since the game was released, and I thought of waiting to release it, but  since it’s already written--these are just some ideas from one writer to the fandom of changes I, personally, would’ve made in order to make KH3 more epic than it turned out to be. 

Please Note: SPOILERS UNDER THE CUT

1.  I’m sure a lot of people took issue with the teasing Sora took early on from his friends, not to mention the scolding he got from Yen Sid, but it actually sets up nice for scenes later on, explains the Odd Behavior of the Organization toward Sora in this game, and really could’ve been used for some great character and relationship development. 

Because after being almost Norted in 3Ds, I believe our Golden Boy would likely have some issues he needs to work through.  Beyond getting back all of his main character super powers and becoming the next New True Keyblade Master, he almost became one of the Organization.   That has to be a hit for someone who has spent the last 9 games practically the poster boy for Guardian of Light. 

Having him feel self-doubt and evolving that for the fights later on in the game would have made him feel less flat as a protagonist. 

Especially when we have Marluxia and Larxene showing up everywhere, basically ignoring him like a flea, and telling him, “we’re not here for you.”  After all the threat he’s posed to them--after knowing he’s part of the many lights gathering for their clash at the final battle--you’d imagine that they’d be more inclined to engage him and give him a better reason to fight than, “oh, these princesses here may be made of Light, we’re not really sure and we’re kinda just seeing how it goes down.”

Have Sora feel the impact of those interactions.  Like, “I’m not even worth their time,” level impact. Hell, have a scene in the gummi ship post world, calling up Kairi on his new phone, saying, “Hey!” And have her immediately dropping the smile she got, putting on a face and asking, “Sora, what’s wrong?”  When he tries to say, “I’m fine!” and dismiss it, have her tell him he’s not.  Say, “you wouldn’t be calling me if you were.”   

Have Sora try to call Riku and not be able to get ahold of him.  Just dialing and dialing and dialing, and him feeling neglected and abandoned.  Have Kairi speak to Riku on the phone, because it just so happens to be during one of their breaks in the Dark Realm, and her discussing Sora’s odd behavior.  Make them care, damn you!

*AHEM* Moving on...

2. Riku & Mickey save Aqua early on.  Like, I’m talking Prologue level, KHII.9 early on. 

In the realm of darkness, when they run into the Demon tide, after Riku escapes because of his Replica and Mickey gets trounced, have Aqua appear as the master of those Heartless. 

Since Mickey is hurt, Riku fights in his place and gets walloped after a short playable fight where you get her to half-lifebar and it ends.

As Aqua goes to finish him off--because new keyblades are hard--Mickey shouts out, “Aqua, don’t!  Think of your friends!”

As Aqua gives her monologue about being abandoned and forgotten and alone, have him go, “No one’s forgotten you!  Ven and Terra still need you!” 

“Need me?  Where were they when I needed them?!  Where were you?!  You don’t know what this pain I feel is like--to be forgotten and dismissed--none of you do!” 

Then have Riku chime in, “I do.”  As he stands up and readies his keyblade for another battle, have him stare her down and say, “I once gave up everyone I cared about for Darkness, and I struggle every day to keep it at bay.  But in every darkness, there’s an even stronger light. If you won’t fight the darkness yourself, then I’ll fight it for you!” 

After you finish the initial battle, instead of immediately getting back her light, the duo subdues her and they bring her back to the realm of light. 

Have a Futaba (obligatory Persona 5 reference, sorry) moment for Aqua.  Let her ascent back to Light mean something!

At first, she feels like she failed Ventus and Terra.   Nothing anyone says can help that.  And they all are trying to get ahold of Sora, but he’s busy and he needs to be there!   When he finally answers his phone in the gummiship, Riku tells him the good news and he hops back to the Tower. 

When he arrives, Ven’s heart reacts to Aqua and she immediately reacts.  But Mickey, Axel and Kairi don’t know.  They’re still riding on the moment Aqua smiled for the first time because she found out that Kairi was okay!  That she’d done something right!  Maybe she wasn’t a failure?

But then Sora walks in, and she does not trust him.  He looks like Vanitas and that face haunts her.  After all that darkness, she can’t see him--she only sees those glowing yellow eyes and that sardonic smirk, and it takes all of them holding her back to keep her from casting anything more than a measly couple of low level spells at him before they all tell her it’s okay!  That it’s Sora, the key to Ventus’s awakening.

And Aqua goes up to him, and they’re both apprehensive, but eventually she takes a nice long look, sees through the mirage and smiles, tearfully, at him. 

They agree to go help Ventus while Mickey and Riku stay behind to help train Kairi and Axel.

****Before we continue, I need to make a minor addendum here.  

No Hyperbolic Time Island bullshit for Kairi and Axel.  

They are on the fucking ropes to get ready for this shit.  Thrown into the literal fucking fire, training day in and day out every second of every day to get ready for the throw down they’re now part of.  

Every previous cutscene of them is more emotional because they’re exhausted, slouching against a rock, a wall, a chair, a fucking bed!  They don’t even know what time it is, but they’re sitting there, chatting away and crying because this is the hardest they have worked in ages, and they don’t know if they can do it anymore.  Merlin is merciless.  Yen Sid is biting.  They are on a crunch and there is no time for playing around!  

****Make those scenes so much better for everyone.  They were wonderful, their interactions, but make them real, fuckers!  This is a warzone, and this isn’t DBZ!

*AHEM*

3.  Aqua awakens Ventus. 

After her and Sora find Ven, they begin a ritual of waking, but Vanitas feels Ventus’s heart pulsating inside Sora and he attacks.  Sora tells Aqua to keep reaching for the connection while he holds him off. 

Obviously, Sora gets his ass kicked.  Absolutely destroyed. 

Aqua steps in to protect Sora/Ven, and kicks the ever loving shit of Vanitas, but then he fakes his defeat and sneaks up on them as they rush to finish the waking. 

As Vanitas goes to strike Aqua, the last vestige of Ven inside Sora commands the teen around and gives him one deciding blow before his heart exits Sora and leaves for its home.  Vanitas--knowing he’s finished here--leaves, promising them the fight of their lives come their next meeting. 

Ventus awakens and him and Aqua share a cute scene where Aqua tells him she’s sorry for being late and failing to protect him.  Ventus is just like, “Aqua...it’s alright.  You saved me, and now, we can find Terra together!”

Sora breaks the mood when he swoops in, and Ventus goes apeshit (because it was his heart reacting, not his actual conscious >.>)!  Fucking pulls out his keyblade, ready to put down Vanitas for the last time, but Aqua is like, whoa, it’s just Sora!  He’s been keeping you safe in his heart this whole time!

And Sora, confused, is like...the fuck?

So, Aqua suggests he go back alone and they’ll follow along soon enough.

4.  Back at the tower, Riku asks Sora how it went, and Sora recounts his near death experience at the hands of Ventus while Riku is like, Darkness plays tricks on people, as does sleep.  Give them time, they’ll pull through. 

5. Now, with 2 out of 3 found, Roxas and Namine (and Xion) still missing, it is crunch time, people!   So, I had a few playable options I thought up.

First off: Yen Sid’s tower becomes a hub world.  If you leave the hub, you can fly off as Sora to do the Disney worlds and restore balance and peace while he continues to level up his Main Character Plot Armor Powers.

Second Choice:  You can choose to bring Riku or Mickey with you on these missions, but they’re just kinda there as links.  Like, the Sora, Donald and Goofy screen time should not be revoked, so they’re kind of just finisher commands that show up randomly while the 2 of them are doing recon on the Organization. 

Third Choice: You can play as Kairi and Axel and spend ludicrous hours trying to beat Aqua and Ventus while running for your goddamn life at Yen Sid’s tower.   Legitimately, I’m talking, Beginning of Birth By Sleep and KH1 style battles.  You get a potion or something if you win, and you can kick ass as everyone’s 2 favorite Redheads.  *BONUS* Kairi finally gets to be a badass.

6. Once all the remaining Disney worlds are complete, we get to the FINAL PART: 

7. PREPARATION TIME, BABY!

For starters, Nomura, show them, ya know, actually preparing!

Ven and Aqua, sweating, clearly having just finished sparring or practicing magic and shit, talk about Terra and have their Wayfinder Moment.  I liked their dialogue choices here, so, keep those the same, just make it feel more excited and build the anticipation!

Axel sits on his tower, his new clothes beside him as he contemplates the fact he’s almost earned them.  Saix shows up and that all happens, with Axel calling his keyblade on him, and Saix being like, “Yeah, okay, save it for the morning, when you’re at your best.”  With a sidelong look at the suitcase he’s clearly ignoring. 

Donald and Goofy practice together, and the King arrives to commend them on all their hard work.  To be honest, I don’t even remember if there’s a scene between the three of them here, and if there is, cool!  If not, then, shit, put one in.  

Now.  The big shit. 

The Destiny Trio.

We cut to them all sparring on the shores of Destiny Islands.  Kairi has learned a thing or two from Aqua, but she also packs a real punch.  Riku utilizes his dark flare and other like abilities to enhance their light and build resistance to such attacks--teach them how to prepare.   Sora is his normal badass self, dodging, attacking, and being a good sport.   Mind you, this probably all devolves at some point into a fucking hysterical mess when Kairi drenches the boys with Waterza (which she just learned, the badass), and Sora tackles her into the Ocean as payback while Riku tries really, really hard not to die of laughter. 

After they’ve recovered, Riku excuses himself to sit on the beach so he can have his little chat with Repliku while Kairi and Sora go over to the tree and talk.   

When Kairi grabs the Paopu fruit, it’s just one--because it says share a paopu fruit, not two, you dipshits--and Sora was about to reach for it, too.  The two share a smile as they’re like, “This way, no matter what happens tomorrow, we’ll always have each other.”  

They share it, and then Riku--who is a fucking ninja, apparently--shows up and places a hand on both of their shoulders like, “It’s about fucking time.”   Sora and Kairi share a impish little smile and together, they hold up the shared Paopu to him.  He’s at first taken aback, but he softly smiles and the SCENE ENDS!

8. In the Keyblade Graveyard (I swear I’m almost done), here are the changes I’d make.

First off, when everyone is attacked and whisked off and Sora finally gets that moment where the self-doubt reaches its final form, have him, I dunno, react to losing his friends before Kairi!  Like, calling out names and reaching for them and growing increasingly terrified!   Especially after he just watched all his friends get wrecked by Terranort. 

I would completely erase the Final World Bullshit, because it felt like they just put it in there as a way to explain the fact Sora’s story was coming to an end and Kairi heart stuff when they didn’t know how else to do it, and that just felt sad.  BUT IF I MUST KEEP IT TO MAKE YOU HAPPY, then I propose that you don’t talk to Namine in the land of the Dead.  You instead talk to Chirithy and Strelitzia or whoever the fuck the other chick was, and then you gather yourself together and Sora tells Chirithy, “my friends are calling me back!  I have to go help them!”  While Digimon’s Kairi is like, “yeah, cool, but if you die again, ain’t no one coming up here to save you, dude, so don’t be fucking stupid.”

Since Riku has natural resistance to Darkness (thanks to his backstory) and Kairi is apparently God in this game, Sora only saves Donald and Goofy while they save Ventus, Aqua, Axel and Mickey separately.   Then, together, the whole group goes back to the graveyard, and instead of going through fucking time travel paradoxes that make no goddamn sense, Nomura, the characters regroup and are like, “okay, now, it’s time for the final showdown!”

9. The Gauntlet of Endless Cutscenes

Riku beats up fake Riku himself without Sora, but Sora shows up in the end to help hold off Xigbar while Repliku tears fake Riku apart for the whole Namine scene.  Sora is like, “you good, bro?” and Riku’s like, “Sure, gonna go kill Ansem,” and they part ways. 

Aqua and Ventus beat up Terranort themselves.  They are the ones who release his soul back to his body as Sora arrives to provide backup against Vanitas.   Terra, Ven and Aqua fight Vanitas while they tell Sora to go assist the others. 

Axel and Kairi fight together--for real, though.

Give these 2 badass Redheads the chance to kick some serious ass against Xion and Saix.

Sora arrives and they’re both worn out because they’re new to this and keyblades are hard, so he wards off Xion until Saix does his thing, then the rest is PRETTY MUCH THE SAME, except Kairi doesn’t get kidnapped. 

Because Roxas, Xion, and Sora stop that shit in their tracks (because I want Kairi to be the Touched by Fire badass she always deserved to be, dammit), but when they fail, Kairi swings at him and Xemnas does his teleportation bullshit and knocks her out because, goddammit, she did her best!

Xion and Roxas tell Sora to go while they beat down Saix, and then there’s the Sea Salt trio’s reunion. 

Sora goes to Riku and Mickey (I skipped him because Mickey needs no one’s help, and I would assume Sora went there first to help him and he was like, “the fuck?  I don’t need you!  Go assist everyone else, ya dunce!”), and when he tells them that Xemnas took Kairi, Riku chastises him for his sloppiness. 

Together, they defeat Ansem, Xemnas and Young Xehanort, after which, when Xehanort pulls out Kairi, we get a blast to the past of BBS while the 3 of them try to get her back without delay.  But, Xehanort uses his newly forged no name keys to hold them off while he imbues Kairi with a piece of himself for the final showdown (Because I think DarkKairi is the only way you can kill her and it be okay.  Also, they did hint at the whole princesses of light choose the light bullshit in the Disney worlds, so fuck it, if Nomura can’t keep his canon right, fuck you, I don’t have to keep it right, either, so there.)

This leads to Sora refusing to fight another of his friends, because he has done enough of that in this revised version, and dammit, he can’t do it again!  So, Riku does it for him, because he won’t let anyone else he cares about fall to the darkness. 

But he gets his ass handed to him.  Sora, seeing this, has to fight.  Like the Brother My Brother scene from Pokemon the First Movie (may it rest in peace).  

After the ensuing melee forges the final key--because who the fuck needs Xehanort, am I right?--Xehanort (hah) goes to put an end to Riku and Sora, but Kairi steps in and protects them, sacrificing herself in the process.   

Devastated, Sora goes after Xehanort while Riku stays behind with the other warriors to stop Kingdom Hearts. 

Shit pans out as seen, and after the final battle, Sora mourns Kairi and says he’s gonna go find her.  Shit pans out as seen and Riku still tells them to let him go, but he also leaves him with a snarky, “and if you get lost again, I’ll just pull you out like I always do,” roll of the eyes and everything. 

BRO HUGS FOR EVERYONE!

10.  Okay, so the Ending. 

Everything is the same, except that Kairi and Sora both disappear as Riku leaves the others behind on the beach to go see them.  Leaning against the branch they sat on, he picks up a fallen paopu, looks off into the distance and there’s a glimmer in his eye before the screen

Cuts

To 

Black

ROLL CREDITS!