#if Not MC then why MC coded hmmmm?

[touchlikethesun]

a few thoughts. one, why are they not sitting next to each other??? the only reason i will accept is that they were sitting next to each other at the beginning of the year but the teacher forced yams to move to a different seat bc they kept gossiping (shit talking) during class... and two, as if we needed more proof that tsukki is the real main character of haikyuu, here he is, in the protagonist seat doing the protagonist longing stare out the window

[solasan]

i'm greedy n would love to see all of the creation prompts for marine pls n thank u xoxo

infamous MC questions

THANK U TABBY 💙💙💙

Development: How did you come up with your character? Is their design still evolving? How do you think they might develop through the story?

oh she's definitely still evolving LOL. i'm still trying to get to grips with her, but i think i'm starting to figure her out so yay!! i'm super boring in the way i develop characters, so i just kind of started from a jumping point of 1) angsty angry ex relationship w seven 2) daisy jones but make it grunge rock 3) fun wild colour scheme LOL. marnie's a name i've been testing on a few ocs recently n this time she's stuck <3

as for how she might develop, i'm hoping she Matures Emotionally LOL. from imposter syndrome & abandonment issues poster child > queen of self-confidence and love, baby! idk what form that would take (like i think it's a development she could have if they lost botb, but also if they won) but here's hoping she doesn't alienate everyone with her pride before it happens 🤞

Voice: What does their singing voice sound like? Do you have voiceclaims(s) for them?

answered here

Lyrics: What are some songs you associate with your character? Any specific lyrics that really scream your character?

cherry bomb (joan jett & the blackhearts) is a big marnie song bc 1) i know for a fact she screams along to it in the car all the time and 2) the lyrics are just... very her vibe. allll of i hate my mom (GRLwood) is very heavily marnie-coded too LOL. all eyes on me (bo burnham) is very lyrically marnie (are you feeling nervous? are you having fun? it's almost over / it's just begun) even if the genre/style isn't anything she'd sing (tho she might listen?).

Fame: Do you think your character will enjoy fame? Do they think they will? What elements do you think they might struggle with? Do you think they’ll be happy at the end of this road?

marnie definitely wants fame; definitely feels an urge to prove herself and to also seek out people who love her, who want her around and admire her. but i think the realities of fame will prooooobably suck for her more than she thinks they will. she loves attention & admiration, but i think the fickleness of public opinion is gonna fuck w her (shes already struggling to handle this whole fight situation & reactions to it in the press as well as all the references to her relationship w seven).

also, despite how open she seems, there's a lot of stuff abt her life that she wants to keep private (what rly happened with seven, why she doesnt talk to her parents, the true extent of her partying) so having no public boundaries is..... gna be difficult for her, aha. but i think the accomplishment will help her in her way towards happiness, and she'll be proud of herself & the band for any fame/appreciation they manage to claw out?? and she absolutely will love being adored by her fans LOL so u kno there's highs and there's lows

Storybeats: If you could design one scene to happen in the story, what would it be? How would it change your character? What would make it so satisfying for the character arc?

answered here

Wild card: Tell us something about your MC! Feel free to really just roll us over with an emotional steamroller and crush the souls out of our bodies, if you’d like. (You’re also welcome to choose one of the other questions to answer!)

hmmmm. she got into music in the first place to try bonding with her dad aha :/ he had a lot of old rock records and he used to listen to them when he wasn't on assignment. even used to laugh when she sang along sometimes, which was a balm for her no one loves me heart. he kind of lost interest over the years, tho, so it never brought them together.

when she left her parents' house for the last time, she stole his rumours vinyl lol. probably that might come back to bite her on the ass legally like that is entirely possible. but it's one of her most sentimentally valuable possessions, even if she doesnt break it out often bc it makes her think of her dad :/ it's defo come on tour with them in her luggage

Seven: Do you have headcanons about their friendship and/or romantic relationship (past or future)? What do you imagine some of their best memories are? What do you think some of Seven’s favourite things about your MC were/are?

answered here

[offtopicoverload]

Not sure if this ask for your ocs is telling, but like if you’re willing would you mind sharing the ocs litg love interest? 🖊

its not at all telling, i cant do that intrigue, multiple li thing for the life of me asdhfkj

Violet’s paired with Marisol

Hazel with Priya in For Real

My fic Runaways is Lottie x MC, but I’ve never actually said the MC’s name, idk why akjsfdl Now I’m just attached to her being nameless I think

Daisy & Allegra 

I have an Erikah fic with Ivy as the MC, and spoiler, they're endgame cuz I’m predictable

Lilac’s endgame is Talia

Willow and Elisa, and they’re the best thing I’ve ever created

Sage ends up with Cherry if I ever get around to a part two for Bowl of Cherries, I just really liked my end line and cut it off on a cliff hanger lmao

Dahlia’s also with Marisol cuz I needed a different kind of MC than Violet for a oneshot

Same for Ash, they’re paired with Talia for a one shot that needed a shy MC. The premise is just Lucy trying fuck shit up, and Lilac would not let her at all sooo

Rose was in Hope Dumps Noah and is with Hope, surprise, surprise

I have Olive in a qpr with Chelsea cuz I’m in love with aro!Chelsea and Olive has such aspects vibes, idk how I didn’t see it before

Clover was only in a prompt that was like. less than 2k, but she’s with Hannah and they’re both dorks. It’s great

so then there's my unreleased MCs, Rowan would be a slowburn, childhood friends to lovers with AJ cuz its cheesy and I’ve never done it before

Briar’s in an AU that has such little to do with canon, but Yasmin is hers

Rue’ll have multiple cuz I think I’m gonna use her for a bunch, she’s pretty good for mixing and matching, but her only current endgame is Elladine cuz we were robbed of the running away after the reunion

Oakley was originally made for an AU, but I have no clue what I’m doing with them rn, but I will say that I initially planned for a bunch of LIs, one of which would have been Ibrahim with an endgame that has not been listed but is very predictable coming from me

-

Now I know this isn’t what you asked, but I kinda want to pair up my Choices MCs with LITG LIs askjsjd

Rylen - I feel like I have to say Marisol, just cuz Rylen’s actually paired with Aurora Emery from Open Heart, who’s kind of a bitch, so I’ll pair her with LITG’s standoffish counterpart

Izzy - She’s not an LI, but Vivvvvvv dudeeee. No idea why, but her and Viv would be so cute. Especially a modern Izzy would absolutely be the type to do those like colour coded journals? Yeah her and Viv would vibe so hard

Cleo - Kinda thinking Carl? Idk, they’re opposite vibes are appealing to something inside me. hmmmm

Maya - Henrik. Idk, I just feel like they’d vibe, and their combined energy? Himbo and a cinnamon roll? They’d be untouchable

Stephen - I wanna say Rohan. Just them being sweet together melts my heart and I feel like Rohan would drag him out of his shell a bit, so Rohan, end off

[zensbae]

Finding your feet again.. {Zen x mc}

Part II of "The Penthouse"

Takes place in Jumin's route, so spoilers, sweetie~

Teen - Swearing

2090-ish Words

Warnings: mentions of anxiety, mental health

~{This is my headcanon "bad-story ending" for Jumin's route, where you {the mc} leave the penthouse with Zen}~

~*~*~*~ Jumin's side of things ~*~*~*~

Entering the lobby of his apartment building, jumin feels on edge. Why is mc ignoring his texts? Deciding to dial her, the director steps straight onto the elevator, his back to the lobby, as he presses the button and begins his ascent to the top floor.

No answer, voicemail. This is unlike mc to neglect her phone this way, she always has it close by with how active she is in the chat room. He rings Jaehee.

"Yes, Mr. Han, what is it?" her soft voice answers back.

"Miss Kang, have you heard from mc recently? She won't answer my texts or my calls, I'm beginning to feel strange." Jumin admits.

Jaehee clears her throat, "No; isn't she still at your penthouse?"

"She hasn't been in the chatroom either, I left work early to come check on her. I feel complicated.." He says with a slight irritation in his voice.

"Jumin, are you all right?" The assistant asks, concern to her tone.

"Um, no- to be honest, I'm not all right. I will be in touch with you after I've seen that she's safe, until then, thank you for your concern Miss Kang, excuse me."

"Goodbye Mr. Han, I hope she's safe.."

He hangs up as the elevator reaches the top floor, doors opening to the reassuring sight of his bodyguards still posted at their stations.

"Mr. Han, sir? That was very fast." The chief bodyguard steps forward to greet him.

"I beg your pardon?" The director asks.

"Not long ago you said you were taking mc home to see that she continues her work?"

A wave of a feeling he can only describe as panic washes over Jumin Han, "Excuse me chief, I didn't inform you I was returning early from work.."

Entering his pass code urgently, he steps into the penthouse, mc's shoes are gone. Elizabeth can be heard mewing loudly from her cage in the background. He runs to the bed, no sigh of mc or her phone.

"AAIIISH!!" he hisses as he throws the blankets back sinking his weight into the bed, hands covering his face. She's gone. Quickly he gets on his security computer and pulls up CCTV footage, he rewinds the footage to where he sees mc go to the door, is that.. himself entering?

mc leaves holding the man's hand in the footage. The time on the footage makes that about 8 minutes ago.

Dialing Luciel, he bites down on his thumb nail.

"Jumin, what's up, meow?" The redhead answers by the 2nd ring.

"Luciel, now is not the time for pleasantries. My CCTV footage is acting strange, I saw a man.. resembling me, leave with mc 8mins ago on the playback feed. Only that's impossible because I just arrived here moments ago."

"Ohhhhhh?? Let me see.. hold on a sec-" 707 can be heard typing vigorously over the line, "HMmmM.. let's zoom in and get a good look, shall we?"

"You're 184cm, correct?" The hacker abruptly asks.

"That is correct."

"The man in the footage is 182cm tall.. you have a shorter doppelganger on the loose!"

A sick feeling in his gut again washes over the C&I heir, as he runs to tell the bodyguards of Luciel's findings, "Thank you for the information, Luciel. Continue searching and find out who it is, my bodyguards have begun a search in the building."

Just as he hangs up, something catches his eye.. there is a single silver hair on the floor. Upon closer inspection it is not one of Elizabeth's hairs. Clenching his jaw, he keys in Zen's number.

~*~*~*~

It's already afternoon, wow it was a long drive from Jumin's Penthouse.

Stopped at a traffic light, Zen's phone is ringing. The actor pulls his phone out of his pocket and you both see that none other than Jumin Han himself, is ringing.

Tightening your grip around his waist, slight anxiety makes its way to the forefront of your mind.

Zen returns in kind, pocketing his phone, gently caressing your hands with his, "Babe, are you hungry?"

"Yes, starving actually.." you admit to his back.

"Okay," The light turns green, he lets go of your hand and once again the motorcycle rolls forward.

Wind nipping at your arms and hair, you still feel anxious, but Zen's presence alone is comforting.

He pulls off at a barbecue place, you don't know this, but it's close to the theater he rehearses at often. You get off the bike with a hand from Zen and the two of you make your way inside the restaurant.

Seated in a back corner near a window, the actor tells the waitress he'll have his usual, winking at you as he makes a two with his fingers.

"Never in my entire acting career, did I ever think I'd be portraying that jerk." Zen sighs as he takes his hair down from the tight bun he had it in, fixing his loose locks back into a low-pony. He undoes his tie next, slinging it out of his collar, tossing it on the table. Lastly, unbuttoning the top 3 buttons on his pin-striped dress shirt, "Aaaahhh, MUCH better.."

He shifts his gaze back to you, you're looking out the window. Fixated on the street bustling with traffic outside, your hands cupping your chin.

"mc, are you all right?" He asks, eyeing your reflection in the window, "It's okay if you're not.."

You breath out a shallow sigh, "I'm better now, I just can't help but think he's going to try and take me back.."

"Jagiya, I'll worry about him when he does, for now I'm worried about you." he smiles faintly at you in your reflection.

Focusing on your own reflection, you suddenly realize how disheveled you look. Hair is frizzy and tangled, shirt collar is all bunched up under the blazer Zen loaned you. You try to straighten your shirt out atleast, taking the blazer off and sitting it beside you.

Then you finally meet the handsome actor's gaze. He's so breath-taking in person, and his eyes, wow.. they almost don't look real, deep Ruby and crimson with flecks of Amber mixed in.

"I didn't even get the chance to introduce myself, it's so nice to meet you, Zen.. I'm mc" you extend your hand to his, he takes it and gingerly encloses yours in both of his.

A warm smile crosses his lips, "It's nice to finally meet the mysterious party planner behind the screen. I'm so sorry it had to be like this;;"

Shrugging, you say, "It is what it is, I'm just glad you were there for me when I needed you.." a light hue of pink dusts your cheeks. The actor's hands are so warm, his skin soft too.

An array of raw meats thinly sliced, seafood, and vegetables make their debut at your table. Dipping sauces, side dishes of kimchi, rice, and other pickled veggies decorate the table. More plates come out for serving. This is a feast, good thing you're hungry.

Without skipping a beat, Zen begins to dress the grill with veggies, and some meats for you. "A girl has to eat," he says affectionately, flashing you his signature smile.

You smile back, "Well hurry up, cause this girl is hungry~"

~*~*~*~

A while later after you've both eaten your fill of Korean BBQ leftovers in tow, you make it back to Zen's place. Upon your arrival there is an unnervingly familiar face there to greet you both.

You glance at Zen worriedly and he squeezes your hand reassuringly, letting go to step towards the other man.

"Ah, it's Mr. CEO-in-line. What brings you here?" Zen feigns ignorance.

"I'm here to collect mc, she's important to me and I need her." Jumin says, crossing his arms and stepping toward the actor "I have to admit masquerading as me to get her was clever, but the masquerade is over, hand her to me."

"No. I can't do that, Jumin. You can't just cage her up against her will and expect everything to be okay. That isn't how this works!" Zen says shooting him a disapproving scowl

Jumin frowns, "Then I'll have to do this the hard way. Chief! Please lend me your assistance."

Chief of Jumin's security and 2 sidelining bodyguards step out from the shadows and go to grab you, but you lunge out of the way. Scurrying to your feet, you run to Zen.

The bodyguards surround the two of you.

"JUMIN!" You yell his name, shaking. "I don't want to go back with you!!"

The director falters for a moment, "Then what would you have me do, mc?"

"Go back to your penthouse, let Elizabeth out of that damn cage, and GO TALK TO SOMEONE!" You shout, your gaze piercing his.

"You're making a SERIOUS mistake if you keep going with this shitty kidnapping plan of yours," Zen barks out, you can hear his heart pounding in his close proximity.

Jumin steps back and clears his throat, "Oh my God what am I doing? Chief, hold back.. I need to think."

Stepping towards Jumin, you take a deep breath mustering up your courage to face the business man. Zen goes to reach for you but you brush away from his touch, making eye contact with a worried glance, he reads you and nods.

"I won't go back with you, but even though I haven't been with the organization that long.. I can see that you really do need help, Jumin."

Jumin meets your eyes with his own, ashamedly, "mc, I want to formally apologize for my behavior, I am truly sorry.. I'm not in my right mind, I'm under so much stress.. it's stifling and I have never felt like this."

You smile softly at the downtrodden business man, "I have a party guest confirmed to attend who specializes in dealing with emotions in a healthy way, if you want to see him?"

The director nods in agreement, "Yes that would probably be wise, please forward me his contact information." and with that Jumin straightens his tie and steps toward the actor waiting behind you.

"Zen I must also apologize to you, I put mc in an unfair position and in doing so ignored advice from you and the others. I'm truly sorry. I must also thank you for taking mc's safety more seriously than I."

Watching, you see the fire slowly extinguished in Zen's crimson eyes, he strides over to Jumin, "Ha.. I didn't expect an apology. I've known you for a long time, but I was truly worried you'd gone off the deep end."

The both of you see Jumin off with Driver Kim and the Chief bodyguard. The two other bodyguards stay behind to guard you while you're at Zen's, for his peace of mind.

Spending the rest of the evening at Zen's proves to be a therapy in itself for you. He lets you close to him so effortlessly, and it feels as if you've known him a long time. After today you are so relieved things ended this way, leading up to it you feared the worst.

When Mr. Han gets back he sends Driver Kim again for you, and you return to Rika's apartment at last to finish the planning for the party. Smiling softly to yourself as you boot up your computer you think, beyond that cool exterior Jumin Han has a beating human heart with feelings like the rest of us.

Jumin takes steps to getting the help he needs dealing with his emotions in a healthy way, he actually goes away for a while to meet experts in a foreign country. Unfortunately missing the party, and not being present very often in the chats, but it gets him out of his betrothal, as the Choi sisters are not accommodating to his mental health.

Jaehee informs you of updates on Jumin while she looks after his cat in his absence, Elizabeth the Third still manages to escape and go missing like in Zen's foresight dream, but Seven manages to find her in his own search for the hacker. You and Zen start dating shortly after the party.

A whirlwind of events to get you here, but you smile back on the tribulations that have transpired leaving you all a bit better off than you started.

~{I'd like to make one big note, I'm a softy and Jumin deserves peace and happiness, even if it's not from mc ❤️}~

originally I planned a spiral downward ending for Mr. trust fund kid, but I couldn't do him dirty like that~

[lovehugsandcandy]

Love in Color, Full Bright (Colt x MC)

A/N: This is the second part of Love in B&W; this part was inspired by @flowerpowell and @umiumichan (bad influences everywhere!). I didn’t know there was going to be a second part until they commented on the first part. Thanks, to both of you, for everything but especially for inspiring something happy.

Pairing: Colt x MC, ROD

Length: 3,450 words

Rating: N*FW (super light N*FW, more suggested than anything, but I want to be safe)

Summary: Colt has to go back to the safe deposit box.

Tags:  @deimosensblog @alegria1580  @choicesarehard @thefarrari @client-327 @moonlit-girl-wonder @going-down-downtown@soniadotalves@jolietmaraud @hazah@flowerpowell@poeticscolt @brightpinkpeppercorn @zaira-oh-zaira @powdesiree0816 @umiumichan @akrenich @sibella-plays-choices@leelee10898 @maxwellsquidsuit

Colt didn’t know if his life was ending or if it was beginning, if he would settle down and stay or yank up the roots that were tying him here and disappear into the night. All he could do right now was pull Ellie closer as she slept, softly dropping a kiss on each closed eye, on her nose, her lips, and listen to her breathe as he watched the moon move through the sky.

~~~~~

He had to leave early to make it there before it closed. Luckily, Mona had no plans and was willing to close the shop for him. If it were later in the week, he had no doubt she would tell him off and leave to go out, run the town like always. Mondays were quiet, usually, so she agreed to help him out. He knew he would need to pay for it down the line, but this errand was worth it.

He made it there 15 minutes before closing. He hadn’t come in years but still remembered the procedure, what to say, what to bring. Alone in the back room, alone with his thoughts, and this random case from his past.

His hands skated over the contents. He remembered thinking how much money there was in here; now, seven years later, he knew it wasn’t enough for the things he now needed to do, plans he now needed to make. He grabbed the smaller box, a quick check to make sure it was still in there. The ring sparkled in the light, bigger than he remembered, as if it had grown.

He shoved it in his pocket, closing the case, and left. He was going to be home late and Ellie would look at him, frown, and worry. 

He worried too.

~~~~~

The next day, he stopped his bike at the cliff, walking out to the edge, staring at the water lap at the shore. He wanted complete privacy for this call and this was the best place for it.

The phone rang once, twice, three times and finally an answer. “Hello?”

“Hi, mom.”

“Hi! How are you?” He could hear noise in the backgrounds, crowds. She was still at work.

No use dragging this out. “Ma, I gotta ask you something.”

“What?” He could hear the waver in her voice; after all the shit he pulled, she was understandably nervous.

“Did you and Pop ever wanna get married?”

“What?!?” He waited. “Colt…..”

“I just wanna know.”

She sighed, loud, and there was a loud scrape as she shifted the phone. “No. We never talked about it but we never really wanted to. Why?”

He touched the box in his pocket, careful fingers tracing the sides. “No reason. I gotta go, Ma. I’ll call you later?”

“Ok. I love you.”

“Love you too.”

He watched the waves for a while, the sun sinking down. It was beautiful here, peaceful. As the years had gone by, he had come here a lot. It was hard, at first, facing the memories, facing his past. Now, it was comforting, almost like his dad was here with him. He wondered what his dad would tell him to do.

When he got home, Ellie was sitting at her desk, massive textbook in front of her, laptop balanced in her lap.

“You’re late.” She didn’t even look up. Shit, she was annoyed.

“Sorry, baby.” He walked over to drop a kiss on her forehead as she rubbed her eyes.

“It’s ok.” She looked up at him, smiling weakly. “It’s fine, really. I just….I don’t feel great.”

He bent down to pull her into his arms, rubbing slow circles on her back. He didn’t think he could help her. He’d never been able to help any of the people he cared about. Why would now be different?

~~~~~

Wednesday found him pulling into a familiar restaurant. He walked in, past the host’s station, glancing around. It was dead, as per usual; the most successful part of his uncle’s restaurant was definitely not the food and beverage part of the establishment.

He sat at the bar, drumming his finger’s on the wood. He didn’t come here a lot but, since his uncle was one of his only family members in LA and one of the last connections he had to his dad, Colt definitely wasn’t a stranger here. He only had to wait a few minutes until Takehito emerged from the back.

He didn’t look shocked to see Colt, settling next to him at the bar.

“You wanna drink?”

Colt shook his head. “No, not today. I want info.”

“On what?” His uncle reminded him of his dad, so much that it hurt to look at him at times. Same hair, same eyes, same desire for a life of freedom, same distaste for the law.

He pulled out the box. “This was my dad’s. Who was it for?”

“Whoa.” His uncle studied the ring under the dim light of the bar. “This is quite a rock.”

“I know.”

“This was Teppei’s?”

“It was in the safe deposit box.”

“Hmmmm….”

Colt waited, looking around. The place was still empty, a lone employee sitting near the back, playing games on his phone. It was probably a boring place to be if you didn’t touch the back room deals.

“Do you know when he got it?”

“No.”

Takehito shrugged, putting the ring back. “I don’t think he bought it for anyone, no one that I knew at least. And I would have known. Maybe he won it, somewhere along the line? Payment for a car?”

Colt put the box in his pocket. He didn’t expect that Takehito would know anything, but it was a disappointment regardless.

“Maybe he meant for you to have it.”  

He tried to keep his face impassive. He did his damnedest to keep Ellie as far from his family tree as he could; it hadn’t exactly gone well the last time.

“Maybe he left it for you. Is there a reason you’re asking about it now?” Takehito turned to him, eyes probing.

He kept looking forward, covering his mouth with his hand until he he knew his face was expressionless. “Just tying up the loose ends.”

He turned to go, he had to leave, now, but an arm on his shoulder stopped him. “I actually need your help with something as well.”

Colt looked back at Takehito, the set of his eyes, the frown tugging at the corner of his mouth. Fuck. He sank back into the bar stool. “A job.”

“A job.” His uncle nodded, grimly, before starting a story about a rival pusher, a tough night, and a stray bullet hitting a friend. Colt could only nod and do what he did best.

On the way home, already late fuck, he stopped at the grocery store, rushing through the aisles. He had no idea what to buy, what she would like, what would make her feel better, but he did his best. Based on the confused look from the cashier, he wasn’t sure he succeeded.

Ellie was curled up with a book when he got home, pajamas on already. She didn’t even say anything about his lateness today but smiled weakly when he showed her what he brought.

“Can I make you some food?”

She shook her head. Colt thought she looked pale, worse than yesterday. “No, I’m fine.”

When she looked up, looked at his face, she smiled, but it was fake. She was trying not to worry him. It wasn’t working.

~~~~~

He did not want to be here, not at all. He was standing on the doorstep, coming straight here after work on Thursday, but he hadn’t knocked yet. It wasn’t nerves, it was the dread. One more deep breath and, fuck, the door opened.

“You know I can hear your motorcycle for blocks, right? Are you coming in?”

Colt hung his head. “Hi, Detective.”

Ellie’s dad stood aside, letting him into the entry way. “Where’s my daughter?”

“Home. She doesn’t know I’m here.”

Ellie’s dad fixed him with a look. They had come to an understanding, a stalemate. Colt didn’t talk about his family or the garage or his work or anything really; the only things Colt said in his presence were accolades about his daughter. In return, Ellie’s dad tolerated his existence and stopped threatening him with the business end of his service pistol. Not the greatest relationship in the world but it worked.

Colt reached into his pocket. “If I showed you something, could you tell me if it was hot?”

The detective raised his eyebrows but said nothing, letting his expression speak for him.

“It was my dad’s. He left it for me and I want to make sure it’s legit. That’s all.”

He handed over the box, watching as the detective opened it. Colt focused on not fidgeting under the glare he got. Finally, he got an answer. “All pieces this large have an ID code, in base of the setting. I can run it in the database and see what pops. Wait here.”

Colt shoved his hands into his pockets, walked slow circles around the room, looking at the pictures on the wall. Finally, Ellie’s dad returned and handed the ring box back. “Not hot, but pricey. Records show that it was designed ten years ago by a rich heir in Long Beach. Three years after that, insurance was purchased on it by your dad. It was never reported missing or stolen. I have no idea how he got his hands on it; I probably don’t want to know, but it’s not hot.”

Colt nodded, tucking it away. “Thank you.” Why would his dad get an engagement ring seven years ago? That was right when Colt moved back to LA, right when he forced himself into his dad’s life, and he would have remembered his dad talking about someone.

He turned to go, hand on the knob, when the detective spoke again. “You don’t have my blessing.”

Colt nodded and walked out the door, making sure it was firmly shut behind him and walking far enough away so only the bike would hear him mutter, “Didn’t ask.”

When he got home, Ellie was awake but already in bed. She looked exhausted and small, wearing his sweatshirt and resting on piles of pillows. He slid in to gather her in his arms, but she turned away.

“Where were you?”

He didn’t answer, could only trail his fingers down her back to circle her waist, dropping a kiss in her hair.

“Colt, if you don’t….” She stopped, hand wiping tears off her face. “If you can’t do this, you need to leave.”

He shut his eyes and pulled her closer. He didn’t know if he could do this without fucking it up and breaking everything around him. He couldn’t lie to her, couldn’t tell her it was going to be ok, could barely eke out a word, but he knew what he could do. He could show her. He kissed her neck, her shoulder, right there, that spot, slowly, deeply, until she made that sound that drove him mad; he kissed down her body, lips tongue and fingers moving, moving, and not stopping until she shuddered and cried out.

He crawled back up to the pillows and held her close, hands skating over her back, slow around her stomach, touching everywhere he could reach, until she finally fell asleep. She needed her rest.

~~~~~

The air was thick with incense and Colt couldn’t help but cough. This was the most ridiculous thing he had ever done and he had pulled a lot of stupid shit. At least this was relatively harmless; unlike most of the destructive decisions he had made, this wouldn’t end up hurting anyone.

The room was dark, dim and just fucking weird, exactly what he should have expected when he googled the highest rated occult shop in LA. There were weird crystals in a case underneath some kind of skull (a goat? the fuck?), next to some powders that he was sure he could move on the black market. He almost turned around, this was so stupid, but this was the last fear he had, the last item he needed to check off of his mental list of shit that could go wrong. He had fought through an hour of LA-traffic, lane-splitting the bike the entire way to get here, he might as well finish it.

“Hello?”

A bell chimed and a woman walked through a beaded curtain, hair wild around her face, scarfs billowing behind her. She stopped as she caught sight of him, head tilting, curious.

“What do you have for me?”

Colt started. “I’m sorry?”

“There is something you want to show me, yes?”

He took a step back, involuntarily. This just got creepy. “I do.” She waited, blinking up at him as he reached into his pocket. “Can you tell me if something is cursed?”

She laughed. She looked young, as young as him, but her laugh was that of an older woman, hardened by time and experience. He swallowed, wondering if it was too late to run for it.

“I can tell you many things.” She took the box and opened it, removing the ring with two gentle fingers. Even in the dim light of the shop, it gleamed, looking enormous in her small hands. 

She turned it back and forth, over and over, careful eyes studying it before putting it back into the box.

“It’s not cursed.”

Colt breathed out. He half expected her to say it was, as an excuse to hawk some magic “decursing” powder or some shit like that. He dropped the box in his pocket.

“You’re cursed.” He froze, the words stopping him in his tracks. It took a moment before he was able to smile, dry laugh slipping out. 

“I already knew that.”

She started again. “You’re cursed…but that doesn’t mean you curse others. That doesn’t mean those around you are cursed. Stop worrying about that. The curse on you is only on you.” He met her eye. “You are your choices, Colt. You can bring fire to those around you or you can lift them up. You can desert them or you can stand by them.”

He swallowed. “How did you know my name?”

An enigmatic smile was the only answer to his question. “Good luck to you, child.”

He watched her walk though the beaded curtain, into the back room. When he was sure he was alone, he fled.

Ellie was already asleep when he got home. He took a quick shower, rinsing the smoke and the magic off his hair, then curled next to her, resting his palm ever so lightly on her stomach. It didn’t feel any different but everything had changed. He dreamed of fire and cursed boys who became cursed men; he barely slept.

~~~~~

He woke up slowly gradually. The sun was high in the sky; thank God it was Saturday. He turned and Ellie was sitting at her desk, watching him, out of sweats for the first time all week. Shit. The look on her face, fuck; he needed to wake up for this.

“Good morning.”

“What’s wrong?”

She frowned, looking out the window. It took her a couple of moments to speak. “I just feel like I haven’t seen you. Since Sunday.”

She was right. He ducked his head.

“Listen, if you’re not in this, if you can’t do this with me, it’s ok, I get it. I was surprised too.”

“Ellie….” He wasn’t awake enough yet; she continued as if he hadn’t even tried to say anything at all.

“I know I surprised you but maybe this is what we needed to figure things out. For me to figure things out. Because I really need someone in my corner right now and it seems like it’s not gonna be you.”

Wait, what was she saying?

“I think I’m gonna go stay with my dad for a bit.”

Fuck. “No, not that!”

He followed her to the living room. He didn’t want her to leave, couldn’t stand to see her walk away. He was also admittedly worried about her dad’s access to guns; if Ellie moved home, especially after Thursday, he was a dead man. And he would absolutely deserve it. Hell, he would pull the trigger himself.

“Ellie, wait.”

“What, Colt?” Her hand was already on the door knob, tears in her eyes.

He reached for his jacket. “This isn’t how I wanted to do this.”

“This isn’t how I wanted to do this either! I’m in the middle of grad school, I want to get my PhD, the timing is awful, I get it!” She swiped at her face, angry. 

“Whoa, no, not that. I mean, yes, but that’s not what I meant.”

He didn’t even think she heard him. “It just happened and I need you to decide, Colt, in or out. Will you stand by me?”

He finally got the box out of his pocket and crossed the room, seven steps, and extended his arm to her. “This isn’t how I wanted to do this.”

She froze, staring at him. He tried to will his hand to stop shaking. It didn’t work. “What?”

“I would have done it anyways, maybe not yet, but I would have.”

Finally, she took the box, turning it over in her hands. “Is this what you’ve been doing all week?”

“That’s a really long story.”

She was still playing with the box, looking down, biting her lips. He couldn’t read her face, couldn’t tell what she was thinking.

“Ellie, what do you say?”

She still wouldn’t look up, wouldn’t catch his eye.

He waited.

“Everyone will think I’m crazy. My dad, Riya…” She still wouldn’t look up.

“Fuck them all. Fuck them all, Ellie. It’s you and me, that’s all it’s ever been for me.”

She laughed, bitterly. “It’s not just you and me, not anymore.”

“No. No, it’s not. But it is us.”

Finally, finally, fucking Christ, finally, she looked at him, tears in her eyes. “You didn’t ask me.”

“What?”

She smirked, lips twitching. “Do it right.” She handed him the box back.

He stepped closer to her, only stopping when his face was inches from hers. “Seriously?”

“Seriously.” This close, he could see the mix of colors in her eyes, brown and grey and green, all colliding into the most beautiful thing in the world. 

He kissed her cheek. “I love you.” Kissed her shoulder, arm, hand, slowly kneeling, kissing her stomach, once, twice, three times. “And I love you.”

He looked up at her sob, hand in front of her mouth, eyes glistening. Shit, he didn’t want to cry but the sight of her, smiling at him like he was worth something, tears running down her cheeks. Shit.

“Ellie, marry me.”

She started crying anew, both hands in front of her mouth now.

“Ellie, baby. Come on. Marry me?”

She was grinning, smirking over him. Fuck, he ran a criminal enterprise in the middle of LA and this girl, this girl broke him. “Colt, I was expecting a list of all of my good qualities and a poem about how happy I made you.”

“Hmmm…and a room full of rose petals and some balloons and a kitten for good measure?”

“A kitten with a ring on it’s collar?”

“Ellie, you’re allergic.”

She pulled him up by his arms to meet him into a kiss, her tears falling onto his cheeks. She pulled away, smiling, crying, laughing, with a weird hiccup in her breath that would have been annoying on anyone else but was just so freaking cute on her.

“You didn’t answer.”

“What?”

“Ellie, do it right. You didn’t answer.”

She laughed, louder, peals of joy echoing through the room. “Oh my god, you know the answer.”

He grabbed her waist, pulling her against him as she laughed and laughed, kissing down her face, her neck, starting to go lower when finally she spoke again. 

“Yes, yes, oh my God yes.”

He barely remembered putting the ring on her finger, barely remembered what she said next about weddings and planning and telling her dad. He did remember their private celebration, the multiple private celebrations, under the covers and against the desk and in the shower.

Afterwards, after their celebration had ended and they were huddled in bed together, she laced their fingers together. “Where did you get the ring?”

“I told you. Long story.” 

She pulled him into a kiss, lips soft and sweet against his. “We do have the rest of our lives together.”

He could only smile at her, bearing both his ring and his child. “We do.”

[atopearth]

Steins;Gate 0 Part 2 - Maho Ending

Guess it’s time for the find Shiina Kagari arc?😆 I wonder who is following Maho… Hmmmm I honestly don’t really see the resemblance between the girl and Kurisu, I guess it’s just the hair colour and stuff? Lol. She’s probably Kagari I guess with that hair colour lol. She looks good though🥰 Hmmm does “Kana” have real or fake amnesia~ And yep Kagari it is~ Nice to see her bond with her future mother Mayushii, I loved it when Kagari said tutturu~ back to Mayuri hahaha. I never realised Luka has a sister…. LOL at Leskinen wanting to go to the shrine to see shaman girls aka shrine priestesses hahaha. I’m surprised Suzuha went along lol. Hmmmm, Yuki wasn’t there in the lab when they got attacked by armed people trying to kidnap Kagari so I guess that woman in the rider suit was her? Not sure if I feel it was necessary for Okabe to reveal to Tennouji he knew he was a SERN Rounder but I guess we’ll see how it goes. K620 refers to The Magic Flute song written by Mozart, and the K is following the Kochel numbering system where Kochel chronologically numbered all Mozart’s pieces huh? Why’s everything related to Mozart though? Amadeus and now this? So then what would K6205 stand for? Why did Amadeus shut down? Hmmmm~

Maho Ending I’m not sure what to think of this new timeline change again, does it happen every time he ignores Kurisu lol. I feel so sorry for Faris��� butler! Faris offered Maho and Moeka a room to stay in at her place since Maho’s hotel room got ransacked by some random probably wanting the control codes to access [Kurisu] and her secret “diary” so they can control her (since even if you get control normally, if you don’t change her own space where her diary is, she’ll always know if the person is lying etc, so I guess it’s kinda like extra security to protect Amadeus), and now they’ve legit trashed the guest room lolll, they’re very comfortable haha. It’s kinda nice to know that I knew the frame problem but never knew it had such a name (AI can’t differentiate what’s normal etc, so they need simple and specific instructions, but that means you need to take into account all sorts of possibilities for them to make an action that they can follow). Btw it was such a weak excuse to make Okabe stay for this interview lol, Moeka may have issues with talking since she likes to message instead, but when she needed to talk, she usually would imo. Also, I’m starting to find Okabe’s anxiety rather…overused? It reminds me of the MC in Tate no Yuusha Nariagari/Rising of the Shield Hero, where the cause of their trauma is legitimate and heartbreaking, but the writer chose to overuse it to suit their situation, and that’s kind of how I feel towards it now; that it’s just an excuse to emphasise some things rather needlessly imo. Lmao, I sound so unsympathetic, sigh.

Anyway, It’s nice that they added the piano sonata as a BGM, Mozart’s Piano Sonata No. 11 in A major, 1st Movement really is rather peaceful, and pleasant to the ears whilst feeling kinda curious haha. I guess the fact that Kurisu and Maho started talking because of this song just makes her account name even more understandable. I have to say though, the slice of life moments have been rather…dull and lacklustre. Nae as Sergeant Clean ordering them to clean Faris’ house (at the request of Faris etc after Maho and Moeka trashed it) was rather cute though, especially with her hat lol. Kinda funny how everyone got into her “new cleaning personality’s” rhythm and would call her Nae-sama as they listened to her instructions haha. Honestly though, I’m pretty disappointed and apathetic towards this ending. It played out rather predictably, which is fine, but it honestly had no impact for me. Whether it be the reveal that Professor Reyes was behind the attacks to get Amadeus and killing anyone to get to that, or how Maho finally realised that just as she admired and respected Kurisu, so did she. It was obvious that Kurisu felt the same, and I did think it was nice that they had a sweet relationship, but at the same time, I couldn’t care less because it just wasn’t very…interesting? It’s like they dragged out this whole ending to establish something that was immediately obvious and didn’t add anything significant that made me think, yeah, that was really nice or eye opening lol. Tbh, the only things I found were kinda fun was learning about Mozart and Salieri, and seeing how friendly Maho and Moeka became. Since Moeka is who she is, and I guess that goes for Maho too lol, but yeah, it’s nice to see them be able to bond as such good friends and understand each other so well. I’m still baffled as to how careless Moeka could be to turn her back to Reyes and let Maho handle the situation when Maho obviously can’t fight even if she has a gun, and Reyes wasn’t even tied up yet, but whatever, that’s probably the least of the problems I had with this ending lol.

The ending was okay and I guess the talk she had before [Kurisu] was deleted was nice, but otherwise, quite lacklustre. I’d say the whole game so far has been rather weak and uninteresting. The characters are much more two dimensional than the previous imo, maybe because there’s so many of them now, so everyone is really just their “personalities” and nothing else, Maho is the one that’s focused on, but I’m not really into her, and it’s sometimes kinda tedious how the game relies on riding your feelings for Kurisu to really work out, so if you don’t even care for Kurisu, it can be problematic to connect with this game lol. It definitely doesn’t have the same “magic” as the original, but I guess I’ve only done one ending haha, maybe the rest will change my mind and the characters will develop better.

[hotcocosharing]

Lose To Win Chapter 9: What The Three Words Mean (Kaga’s sexy fluffy smut)

Title: Lose To Win Chapter 9 Fandom: Kiss By The Baddest Bidder & Her Love In The Force Rated: Drama, Thriller, Angst, Fluff, Smut, Mystery? MPD’s MC: Mika HIJIKATA KBTBB’s MC: Mia SAKATA Characters: Goto, Kaga, Ishigami, Soma, Ayumu, Namba, Eisuke, Soryu, Mamoru, Baba, Ota, Kirisawa Summary: Kaga’s SMUT!!! How does he REALLY FEEL about Mika’s return? Well for a man who doesn’t talk much, I hope this shed some light. Background: Another 6 months later, she was back at the Tres Spades Hotel under Eisuke’s request. (Order)

Notes:  makingastar / 111archravenue /  laili2104 / nyanwoof  Special thanks to these amazing friends, huge motivation for me to keep writing, plus my love for Kaga =P

★★★★★★★★★★★★★★ Chapter 1: The Reunion Chapter 2: RSVP Chapter 3: Recharge Chapter 4: Welcome Back Chapter 5: Decision Of A Lifetime Chapter 6: Our Story Chapter 7: Stress Release Chapter 8: Play Thing

Chapter 9: What The Three Words Mean 

“Because none of you bother to answer the fucking phones!” Kaga raises his voice as Goto picks up his suit jacket and avoids looking at him.

“What do you want?” You ask again, clearly annoyed. Playing and teasing you is one thing but barging into your place and yelling at you first thing in the morning when you still haven’t showered, ah uh no just no.

“Somebody has a class to teach.” Kaga glares at Goto who suddenly realizes how late it must be and rushes out the door after throwing you a goodbye.

“Okay, why are you still here?” You hold back a grin as you’re about to return a come back and call him clingy but you probably shouldn’t act too friendly around him, not when the status of this relationship remains unknown. If there’s no relationship at all then you sure as hell ain’t going to start one.

Kaga follows you to the bathroom and closes the door behind him. Letting out an exhausted sigh, you begin to undress. “Honestly, Kaga I’m tired and I am not in the mood to play. I just want a shower before going back to work.”

He watches quietly, with his back against the door and arms crossed. Glaring into the mirror, you ignore his satisfying grin and drop the last garment on the floor. You have no intention to tease him, he has seen it all. Rubbing bath soap with hot water hitting your back makes you feel incredibly good, maybe his piercing gazes has something to do with it as the steamy scene start to play in your head. How he cups your breasts and kisses them; how he remembers all your weak and sweet spot; how good he always makes you feel.

“Thinking of me?”

You let the water hit your face for few more seconds before turning around to see his vague figure through the glass. “Are you going to tell me why you are here or are you going to stalk me forever?”

The man chuckles and steps forward, sliding the glass door open and joins you in the cramped shower. “I have something to ask you.”

There isn’t much room left for you to take further steps back and you’ve been cornered by Kaga way too many times in the last 48 hours to even care. You simply stare at him, looking right into his eyes.

Fuck!! You miss him, so damn much!!

Caressing your cheek gently, he tucks a strand of hair behind your ear. “What you said at the coordinator last night? That three words. What did you mean?” His eyes lock with yours, ready to detect any mistruths.

“Exactly what they mean.” You reply, closing the distance. “I love you.” There is no lie, no mistakes or misunderstanding. You love him, the Hyogo Kaga you once know and the man who stands in front of you now. Nothing has changed apart from his broken heart and four lonesome years.

“You are evil, you know that.” His eyes darken, palms cupping your cheeks.

“But you love me anyway.”

“Pfff, did I say I love you?”

Wrapping your arms around his neck, you pull him closer with his nose just millimeters away. “Don’t you? Isn’t it why you’re here? Making sure that I feel the same way?”

“No.” He closes his eyes and inhales deeply. “God, you’re intoxicating.”

You smile and plant a kiss on his nose.

He’s never the romantic type and he hates the lovey dovey conversation but you are still a woman so he uses this as his code for “I love you” since he loves how you smell and how crazy you drive him, “intoxicating” seems fitting.

His thumb brushes along your cheeks, lips and jaw. Eyes heavily lidded, he looks at you, leans in and seals your lips, slotting your mouths together as water pours over. The familiar taste of his tongue and his roaming hands warm you just as much as the shower, he slides one of his thighs between your legs, groaning as you grinds your folds against him.

His cock hardens between them, your hand travel down from his neck, to his biceps, his abdomen before wrapping your hand around his manhood. You miss this feeling, his cock in your hand. Stroking, pumping, teasing, feeling his kisses against your skin as he loses control in you. Tracing your thumb up the vein on the underside of his cock, you circle his tip till he hisses and breaks away from your lips to your neck.

You pump harder.

“Fuck! Mika!” His voice echoes in the small space. His hand finds your breast, cupping it roughly. As much as you want his hands to keep doing his magic, you pull away.

Getting down on your knee, you place a gentle kiss to the tip of his dick before swirling your tongue around it. Enjoying his fullness in your mouth, you suck, hollowing out your cheeks. Swallowing as much as possible, you continue to suck up and down. Tilting your head with the tip of his cock pushes back beyond the end of your mouth, into your throat, your nose pressing against his base.

“Fuck!!! Ahhh, shit.. Stop!!!”

You pause.

“Now Mika! I need to fuck you! Right now!”

Releasing him slowly, his dick rises up against his belly, without further delay he pulls you up and lifts one of your legs up before thrusting in. The feeling of him inside you again is enough to melt you, an excited sigh escapes your lips as your bodies move in sync.

God, just how perfect this feels.

He thrusts harder, going deeper but not fast enough to make you both come. You moan, “Babe, we…. we’ve got work…”

“Seriously, woman.. you… you’re thinking.. about work right now?” He nibbles your ear and finds your clit with his free hand. “You need to be punished.”

Rubbing your sensitive clit with his palm, your moan turn into a breathless cry. “Ahhhh… Hyo… hmmmm Hyogo.. Ahhh…”

“Finally! Moan my … name… baby!!! Cum for me!”

His hips rocking harder with his hand rubbing faster, his groans and grunts joining your moan and whimper.

“Yes!!! Ahhhh!!! Fuck.. Yesss Hyogo.. please… Ahhhhh harder…!!”

He’s driving you nuts, your body shaking as orgasm hits you hard while he rides out his own. Still clenching his cock, you keep still while he slows down and pluses his release.

The room becomes quiet, so quiet. Just the sound of water falling over the two of you. He kisses your lips, sliding his shaft out of you. Resting your head against the wall, you sigh and catch your breath. With few more pumps, he cleans off his extra cum and takes the shower head to wash away any traces on you.

You watch him as he washes you, wondering if this is real. “Hyogo.”

He casually looks up like everything’s back to the way it is, you’re about to speak again but his index finger has got to your lips first.

“Shhh…. I don’t want to know. Not now. It could wait, I’ve waited long enough. Let’s wait till this case is closed then we’ll start over.”

“Start over?”

“Shhhh… Just shhhh… I love you, Mika Hijikata, that’s all you need to know.” Wiping the streaming tears from your still redden cheeks, Kaga kisses you sweetly one last time to end the morning steamy session.

Notes: This is probably my fav scene so far, sometimes, someone is simply so in sync with you. Mika and Kaga strike me as those couples who are just crazy about each other, precisely also why they drive each other away too. They seem so perfect together but could it last?

Next Chp here

[justhilarie]

Since my peeling nose mask will take a bit long time to dry and I'm not busy, I'm going to answer this whole thing as an otome romance player for two months. Haha.

1. THIS SEXY MOBSTER. UGH. Soryu Oh/Wong Tsang-Long(FUN FACT: it's his Chinese name. Read the Season 5 stories)

2. None. Hehe. I don't know why. Hmmm...

3. *we'll get to that soon. I'm broke. Hahaha*

4. My mom. She thought I was using some dating app but she was fine with it. Hahahaha. I'm 25 btw.

5. Everyday but like 2x a day.

6. Kissed by the Baddest Bidder. Haha. I was awkward with the prologue but never mind. Haha.

7. I was like is this different from Wattpad. Haha.

8. More like last time I played. Hmmm. After School Affairs. 😉

9. He looked like a bad person but he has a kind heart to others especially to Ice Dragons. He never lay a finger to innocent ones. Drama ko shet. Hahaha.

10. More like stories. Hmmmm. 14? 16?

11. Uhmmm.. I'll bring him to my parents. Char. Hahahaha.

12. Kaoru's main story in Our Two Bedroom Story. It was beautiful like he has character development on it especially when he met MC(have some tissues ready btw)

13. Not refuse but confuse if I should purchase Dawn of Age 1 and 2 on Okita Soji's route(Era of Samurai: Code of Love). Tsk. Pakyu spoilers. Huhu. He's my ultimate bae in the story.

14. MC on Metro PD: Close to You. I'm kind of related to her. She's sassy, kind and determined despite of big appetite. Hahahaha.

15. None as of the moment. Hehe.

16. Ryosuke Inui! Hihi. Despite of being called Soryu's puppy because of his thinking, he is really a thoughtful and protective henchman.

17. None as of the moment na rin. Haha.

18. Mitsunari Baba! Haha. He reminds me of my high school friends. Hahahahaha.

19. They will be concerned at first since he is a mobster but slowly they will change their impressions. Hehe. Yiiieee hahahahaha.

20. Not much but a close friend recommended me to play Mystic Messenger. I played Yoosung's route for 2 weeks.

21. Nope. Hehe.

22. Srsly? It's really difficult to choose. Huhuhuhuhu.

23. Code Name. 😊

24. This mystery cinnamon roll. Hajime Saito of Era of Samurai: Code of Love

25. Kota Igarashi of Scandal in the Spotlight. I dunno. Maybe my style? Hehe.

26. *please look at #14 answer

27. Yep. This Osaka hot-headed and funny bunny. Yutaka Tennoji of Metro PD: Close to You. He reminds me of my college one-sided love.

28. *HAHAHAHAHA

29. NOPE. HAHAHA. Every Soryu Oh biased knows. Hahahaha. Soryu sweetie, I'm so sorry. Hahahahahahaha.

30. Iori Enjo of Scandal in the Spotlight. Haha. I might kick his ass literally hey I love that dark prince too. Hahahaha.

31. I only expect a good story. Reading is one of my faves. ❤️

32. Kissed by the Baddest Bidder MC but only in Soryu's route. She changed dramatically into a kind yet tough cookie kind of mafia princess. Hehe.

33. It depends. I'm kind of freelancer but it doesn't mean I earn a lot.

34. Character check(charot. Hahaha) but I even ask for recommendations though. The last time was some ladies recommend Tennoji's route but I never regret purchasing his stories. 😍

35. Maybe?

36. Nothing. He's perfect hehe.

37. Samon of Enchanted in the Moonlight or Akiyoshi Zaizen of Our Two Bedroom Story. 😊

38. It depends on data connectivity hahaha.

39. Nope. Voltage is one of my stress relievers.

40. Yep. I read Tadanobu Nomura's POV and Eiki Yachigusa's POV on NYC Case Files from Metro PD: Close to You last night. I was crying like a baby. 😭💔

There you go people. 😉💕

Send me a Number Voltage Style.

[komyou]

Part 1: The History – A Timeline

This is part of a series describing the history, context, and technical details of the modding we've been doing resulting in this big En Masse / NA TERA commotion:

Introduction. What's all this about?

Part 1: The History – A Timeline ⬅ You're here!

Part 2: Techno Mumbo Jumbo. The technical details of how and why these mods work.

Part 3: What Can Be Done?. What do we know, and how should we address it?

Conclusion (not yet published). Obligatory closing thoughts.

Feel free to skip around to the parts that interest you.

The Setup

First, let's get our bearings. NA and EU TERA were officially released in May 2012. The level cap was 60 and you needed to purchase a subscription to play.

It wasn't long for people to start thinking about stuff like DPS meters. In July 2012, just two months later, we started seeing a rudimentary meter (forum post, YouTube link). Back then, it just looked at your screen and tried to read numbers from your combat log. Its main issue was that it needed pixel perfect samples for each digit, otherwise it would silently skip it. Suddenly, a 1 mil crit became 100k and you had no good way to see when this was happening.

Just for reference, NA TERA went F2P in February 2013.

May 2013, a full year after TERA's release, someone put up a GitHub repository for a TERA server emulator. There was a whole lot going on with reverse engineering and emulating TERA servers, but I wasn't a part of any of the communities doing that at the time, so I have no reference points aside from this repository going up.

This was pretty big, in my opinion, for a number of reasons. First, it's a public repository on GitHub. That means it's easy to find and open source. Anyone can see that code if they go looking for it. Second, it's written in a language which I find to be fairly accessible, and the author did a pretty good job of separating things nicely.

I mention the meter and the server emulator because these became the foundation for my own project. I was unhappy with that one meter. I thought we could do better. I started trying to read the combat log off the screen, but quickly decided that I wanted something much more accurate and reliable. That led me to two options: reading TERA memory, or reading TERA's network data.

Well, I've never done anything with memory reading, but we just so happen to have this open source server emulator. If we can emulate a TERA server, surely that means we know how to read what a TERA client is sending. And if we know how the server is making whatever it's sending back, we should be able to figure out how to read it too. Hmm...

Meishu Enters the Scene

Next thing you know, by January 2014 during the Wonderholme patch, I had written a TERA packet sniffer and made my own take on a DPS parser. Granted, this one was mostly just for show, but I did post about it on the forums. Not a release, just a showcase. It got plenty of praise before being hidden from the public by moderators—simply because I discussed my methods (i.e., packet sniffing).

In February 2014, I published the framework. I didn't post about it anywhere, and it's not the DPS parser itself; it's only the thing that made the DPS parser work. As mentioned, it was just a packet sniffer (the technical details are in the next section, part 2). However, I purposely omitted one major component from my repository: the cryptography code... which just so conveniently happened to exist in another project using the same programming language I was using.

A few days later, I wrote another forum post, this time analyzing character sliders. Luckily, this thread got to stay—but you can probably tell by now just how long I'd been working with this sort of stuff.

If I recall, I didn't end up doing a whole lot with the framework itself. I used that programming language since that's what the server emulator used and I could straight up copy the cryptography code, but that language wasn't my forte. Ultimately, I was mostly just having it log the decrypted packets so I could have another program analyze it.

So I thought, what the heck, this packet sniffer code is taking a lot of effort to maintain when I could just skip the middleman and do it way simpler in the language I'm very familiar with. And maybe, just maybe, instead of being stuck with only reading stuff, we might be able to modify it too. Hmmmm...

It didn't take me long. I stopped updating that GitHub project the next month, and in April 2014 I had stated that I was working on a better version.

By the end of April I was already playing with "headless clients"—bots. For instance, a priest on MT had a macro to cycle buffs while AFK in one of the alliance halls, but then got a 3-day suspension. My response? What if it only buffed when you waved?

Besides that, the only other thing I did with it was make a chat bot that would relay everything between guild chat and IRC, which was just amazing at bringing together my guild. And what with being on the roleplay server, friends and I had this thing we'd sometimes do where we'd sit around the Velika tavern and watch the RP while idling. We called it "tavern scumming". I was already having fun playing with this guild/IRC bot and figuring out this chat stuff, so I thought, why not see if we can watch tavern RP at any time? What if the bot relayed RP to a website? And so I launched tavern-scumming.

It didn't last long. People caught wind, reported the bot and site for harrassment, and had En Masse look into it. The bot account, as well as all of my accounts, got slapped with a permaban.

I appealed. I appealed it so hard. Look—I'm a very loyal player. I have the Mark I titles for MC and KNXX. I love this game and I just want to make cool stuff. If I wanted to make anything actually malicious, I would have done it long ago. My forum and tumblr posts show the opposite of ill will.

They unbanned me, but not without warnings to be careful. Actually, the only issue was with the RP chat relay, because the GM said, verbatim, "[t]he IRC transcription function is not technically against the Terms of Service, but you are responsible for the transcribed chat".

Wow, how times have changed.

After the Ban

I went somewhat quiet for a while. The new project was gamechanging. I was thinking of all sorts of stuff and seeing what I could do with it, but I also didn't want to land myself in another sticky situation like that.

A couple of months later, on June 2014, this tumblr was made along with its first post. The stuff I was showing wasn't as practical anymore, but it was still kind of neat to see.

And by September 2014 I was just fooling around at that point. Besides, that was during the Rift's Edge patch anyway, so fooling around was about all there was to do anyway.

In October 2014 I started showing off Arborean Apparel. This was super neat to make and super neat to show... but did I really want to release it? tera-proxy is ridiculously powerful on its own, and then we want to let people play dressup for free? Well, I mostly rushed to make it look pretty to show off, but I really wasn't happy with the actual code and how I was building the data, so I figured I had time to think it over.

A few days later, tera-proxy was quietly published. Again, nothing else was there. No scripts or modules or anything like that to do anything. It was just a framework—with cryptography included this time. If you ran that code on its own, nothing in your game would've changed.

Nobody really noticed, and that was perfectly fine with me.

A lot of time passed in more or less silence. I was occasionally posting neat stuff on this blog and doing a few changes here and there with tera-proxy, while only few people noticed me (who were already from the server emulation community, like the person who wrote the emulator that got me started). Most importantly, I was just having fun playing the game.

One year passed. We saw Fate of Arun, Crusades, Sky Castles, Dreadspire, Gunner, Timescape, and Stepstone Isle.

On October 2015, Gothos published their attempt at a packet sniffing DPS meter—which, by the way, just so happens to use the same encryption code that I used. And from there, both ShinraMeter and CasualMeter showed up on GitHub.

Soon after, I remade my guild chat bot, except now the hot thing was Discord. So the Discord relay got published in November 2015.

Several months later, in May 2016, we saw TeraDPS.io. Then, I believe sometime in September 2016, Moongourd took its place.

On October 2016, just before the sorc revamp, I wrote fast-fire at the request of overseas friends who play archer, ninja, and gunner.

It went from friend to friend to very competitive friend, and with DPS leaderboards now being posted online, that was starting to mean a whole lot.

Some people didn't understand what it was doing. Some people got jealous or upset.

So in December 2016, it exploded. Big time.

After It Hit the Fan

Well, I figured, since everyone either knows about or has it now, I might as well start properly supporting it.

Lots of people noticed. Lots of people wanted to not be gimped by ping. Healers and archers hailing from Europe were sending thanks—and even people here at home, where California gets the same ping as the UK.

And people wanted more. No less than four people were trying to extend fast-fire to work with pretty much all skills in general. More quality of life mods popped up too. Work on the proxy spiked in the months following the drama thanks to a number of very helpful people contributing data and suggestions.

Unfortunately, with enough time came the exploits too. And that brings us to today. April 2017.

To my knowledge, someone found a way to buy items in the emporium from a higher tier than is accessible, and also posted a screenshot of having a metric ton of credits (although it was only the clientsided display; these were not valid, spendable credits). In response, EME took down the rewards system in order to fix it.

At the same time, it was announced that the triple drop weekend would not be including Ruinous Manor due to exploits. A lot of people thought this was linked with the rewards shop exploit, but as far as I'm aware, you didn't even need the proxy to exploit RM. You could easily do it with the vanilla game. But as soon as one person mentioned "the injector", all hell broke loose.

Then the bans started happening, alongside a public statement from En Masse with a hard stance against any and all third party tools and modifications. And lots of people are not happy.

The forums are a mess, the TERA stream chat was a mess, meme images and videos on recent events are everywhere, petitions and boycott plans are being made, and the community is divided.

That's what's made me so hesitant to release things all these years. That's why I've been so quiet on this blog and never been able to deliver on release promises. I knew that if this became a big thing, it would also become a big problem.

To know exactly why the proxy can wield so much power, I'll be explaining everything going on behind the scenes in part 2: Techno Mumbo Jumbo.

Corrections:

April 29, 7:28 pm Pacific: Fixed patch eras. Made MC parse run during WH patch, not MC patch. The fooling around / FABULOUS video was from Rift's Edge patch, not WH patch.

7:33 pm: "November 2016" for the Discord relay corrected to "November 2015".

7:35 pm: Clarified the rewards system was taken down for fixes, and added a link to the triple drop news announcement.