#is this a fictional game? yes. do i play it to escape the fact that my actual life is trash ? yes. but damn let me represent my body type

[multiwreckedmess]

Kinktober Day 22

Prompt: Intercrural (Thighs) Pairing: exboyfriend!Yunho x fem!reader   WC: 1.4k Summary: It’s not cheating. He swears it’s not cheating. Neither of you are cheating. And he’s an expert. This is a work of fiction, it does not represent Yunho or any Ateez member. On top of this it is an 18+ work. For my comfort and boundaries please if you are under age do not interact with this. I feel the need especially with “rougher” prompts like this to put the disclaimer - fanfic should NOT ever be used as a guide to relationships or sex. ESPECIALLY SEX. Again, it’s fiction. Stuff gets glossed over for the sake of a good story. Please PLEASE please again, not fact, not a guide, just a fantasy. Additional TW/CW below the cut.

TW/CW: DUBIOUS CONSENT (reader doesn’t say yes but also doesn’t say no). Cheating, bodily fluids, dry humping, wet humping, gets real close to “just the tip” territory. no penetration. cumming in underwear. reader is called “princess” and “babe”. yunho is kinda a shitty person in this.

Once a cheater always a cheater.

 Yunho finds you in the kitchen. It’s an old habit. An old habit he’s willing to exploit. Scrubbing away at the pile of dishes you don’t even look up, the rushing faucet and din from the living room covering his footsteps. The second you were overwhelmed you’d retreat here, a safe place to hide while your boyfriend entertained the guests. Mostly his guests. Not your guests, Yunho makes the careful distinction to himself. You’d even do this at your friend houses if you needed.  “Princess,” he whispers low in your ear.  Silverware clatters against the metal basin as you drop it, spinning, back flat to the tile. A team scores in the background, whoops and hollers covering the lesser chaos in the sink.  “Yunho, you can’t be here, with me, like that.” You lean back and away, nearly toppling into the running water.

 “He hasn’t complimented you enough tonight, Princess,” Yunho’s hushed tone is silky smooth, leaving a trail of goosebumps down your arms. “Not enough for me, anyway. Has he even said anything tonight after all the time you spent getting his little party ready? I know he didn’t do it. He’s not the finger food type, more of a pizza and beer kind of man.”  “No-” you stutter and sigh. The excuses fight over themselves on your tongue, unwilling to be the first to be lamely bleated out from your fumbling lips.  “Someone should say it then.”  You turn your back to him to hide your expression. Yunho knew you too well. You couldn’t look him in the eyes when he pulled this sort of thing. This toxic messy game he liked to play, that you indulged in masochistically. As if your relationship had ever been anything but messy. That’s how you knew the second he started on his promises if you looked him in the eyes it would be all over for you.

 Two long arms wrap around your middle, large hands holding your hips ever so slightly. Your back is buffeted by a fuzzy sweater and wide shoulders. “You can’t do that here!” Your hushed exclamation protests too hard to be real. You were never a good actress.  “Only here?”  “Yunho! I’m-if people see they might think-”  “That you’re cheating? But I’m just helping you with the dishes,” you can almost hear the cheeky grin in his tone as he grinds into the cleft of your ass. “Come on Princess, you know how much I love helping.”  The fabric of your skirt starts hitching higher and higher, exposing the tops of your gartered thigh high stockings. The bulge in his pants bumps against you, still as large as you remember.  A zip, a singular telltale zip. Another cheer from the living room.  “Are you going to fuck me?” You ask half hoping, half dreading.  “That’d be cheating, Princess. As you said you’re spoken for again, for now.” His length brushes against the ridges of your lace panties, the tug of fabric tingling your clit. “And you wouldn’t want to cheat would you? You’re a good girl.”  “You would.”  The puff of air that escapes his nostrils tickles the back of your ear. You squirm. “You’re right. I would.” Yunho replies. Goosebumps cover your arms, it’s wrong. It’s so wrong. You bite the insides of your cheeks as you feel him slip between the soft tops of your inner thighs. The tip of his cock pokes out of the other side of your thighs, cool air contrasting with the heat of your body. Your thighs grow more slick as the leaking precum smears between them, lubricating each drag.

 The water still runs into the sink, thundering louder than your heart.  “I can’t,” you whisper meakly, more to yourself than to him. Knees knocking into eachother the tops of your thighs press into the cupboard doors. Your cunt throbs shamelessly in your panties, slowly soaking through the fabric. The slight bunching of the lace pulling up into your slit only serves to frustrate you.  Yunho curls over you, hot breath fanning over your collarbone as his chin rests on your shoulder. “You really think he’ll care about this matching set you’ve put on? Will he even look at you long enough to notice it? No. I bet he fucks you blindly without a single fucking thought in that empty skull of his.” The snear in his voice is unmistakable. Long fingers pull your panties down just enough to wrap around him, holding him close to your slit as he continues to grind against you. Finally he’s close enough to brush against your clit occasionally with a well angled thrust. “Bet he wouldn’t even notice if your panties were full of cum already.”  “Yuyu,” voice airy and distant, you push your ass back into him. It’s to push him away, you try to rationalize, It’s to give yourself some space. It’s definitely not to encourage him. It’s not to better angle yourself to align with him. “I’m not a cheater.”  Another cheer from the living room goes unnoticed by the both of you.  “Not if it doesn’t go in, Princess.” Yunho chuckles low in his throat. “And you wouldn’t want to ruin that good girl image would you? Not with a guy like me. No matter how much your princess parts might ache for it.”  His mock sympathy has you biting back moans. Knuckles white as you grip the edge of the sink harder, slipping on the metal. Large hands holding you in place as he uses you, sandwiched between your puffy slick heat and the cool damp lace of your underwear. The ridges and veins of his shaft tease your oversensitive pussy. He’s right, it’s been too long since someone else made you cum. Burning need courses in your blood, boiling your insides.

 The tip catches dangerously on your entrance, both of you gasping as he threatens to breach that tiny caveat he’d established. Part of you wishes he would. You want him to press forward, bully his cock that much farther in. Fill you like he used to. Damn the consequences, damn you.  His knowing chuckle, warm breath fanning over your ear, jolts you from your wild fantasy. Yunho knows. He knows he never really could leave you. Hips circling with yours, you’re on the precipice of something neither of you can take back. Or maybe it was already too late. Your heart thuds and head spins. For a second you consider doing it yourself as he leaks a steady stream of precum into your eager walls. Your hips even test it, backing slightly farther against him, the tense ring of muscle flexing just enough to prevent a larger mistake than you were already making.  “I wonder if you still feel like me or if he’s managed to take that from me too.”  You half expect him to end with a long smooth thrust into your walls, stretching you around him while the water in the sink runs cold. Instead he slips down again, hands squeezing your thighs tighter as he chases his high. Its just enough stimulation to tease you, have you hot from more than just the steamy water. The cover of dishes long forgotten you brace yourself on the sink. Hell would be cooler than this. His pace accelerates as his fingers find your clit through the soaked fabric of your underwear. Sticking to you he circles and circles as your thighs clench.   “Can you feel what you do to me princess? Take some responsibility.”  “Fuck you.”   Your breath catches on the last word, cumming quietly as he presses both of your hips into the side of the counter. Shame floods your face as you feel his teeth graze the skin of your neck. It’s not enough to leave a mark but enough to leave a mental impression. An invisible white hot brand burned into the nape of your neck.   Yunho mouths wet open kisses in the same spot as hot sticky cum spills into your underwear, coating the outside of your sex and leaking into the inside of your skirt. Panting, his breath catches with each refractory twitch of his cock. The insides of your thighs clean him as he pulls from you, tucking back into his pants as if nothing had happened.  “BABE! HUN? BEER ME.”  “I gotchu bro,” Yunho yells back, nonchalantly popping the cap off a bottle on the counter. You can barely look him in the face as he turns to leave the kitchen with a wink.

Good god i like writing yunho as actual trash. i feel like the hotter and nicer the guy is as an idol the more i just want to write the polar opposite for them.

[a-998h]

Aska nd ye shall receive!!!!!

SAGau idea!

Reader almost always plays on co-op since they unlocked it alongside their three friends at scheduled intervals when they all have the time.

Said reader can also code, and to make up for the fact that not all their friends can buy or pirate (cuz of lack of cash or storage) games they have, they make mods they add in, then add out, alongside lots of solo beta testing.

(if this isn't possible IRL, suspend your disbelief)

Also theres no NSFW in this ask or being requested it's just jokes a la "3AM challenge gone wrong! Gone sexual"

also there's one implication of catholic trauma

plus capital letters

Sorry if anything makes no sense

Anyways—

===============

The Backrooms

*insert law & order audio*

Reader, playing Aether. "I added the Backrooms."

The Kaeya Main "Oh God."

The Childe Main "You added the what??"

"Same." «== they're playing and want to adopt Ferminent

"The Backrooms, this fictional idea that even an infant hitting their elbow wrong has the .000001% chance of—this is not mathematically accurate—teleporting you to this uncanny infinite realm, and the only way out is to somehow repeat what got you in there. And I don't think doing either on purpose is humanly feasibly."

"I understood none of that but okay." The four laughing ensued.

"okay but" wheezing "how— how are we gonna get in if you can't do it on purpose??"

"yeah that sounded like a little bit like an oversight."

"a LiTtLe BiT"

"literally just click that button that wasn't on the screen before."

"oh "

pop!

"oooh god. I'm getting catholic flashbacks!"

"oh shit you okay? Do you need a break or—"

"no. No I'm good"

"oh good"

"Any monsters to worry about?"

"yes." They all start laughing "Unless it's bugged in co-op because I only play tested this on single player!"

"backrooms gone wrong! We died! Gone sexual!"

"cops called!" "sixty nine hospitalized!"

"no!" Laughing continues and as it dies down: "we're escaping the backrooms, and I'm using the version with clues to reaching the next levels so we're not stuck here all day."

"so are you gonna help us oooorrrr . . . "

"you're alone, I'm gonna be following you around as you screw around!" The dying laugher peaks again

"you put us in this mess!" "you allowed me too!!!"

And then the loudest inhumane scream ensued, alongside theirs as they scattered.

"Kane pixels monster is real! Is this the Kane pixel backrooms? Oh good we're all fucked!!"

"and the wikidot!" Now only reader was laughing

"are you speaking a different DIALECT?!"

"pretty much" gasp "it's chasing meee!!"

"you deserve it! Daaance deluded puppeteer daaance!!" And then the reader ran in their direction from behind "you used me as a meat shield!"

"to demonstrate we all get four lives! If we die a fifth time, we start at the first level again, repeat!"

"yeah that reassures me" they say sarcastically, now controlling Zhongli "wait first level—?"

"there's arrows on the walls" "tell me where, I'm gonna carry this team"

==========

"What the heeellll, I can't even see any damage on the monsters" "you can't kill what cannot be killed"

"oh crap." Dies. Xiao takes Zhongli's place

"disorder? In MY backrooms??"

"it's more likely thank you think!"

=================

"Since when did you change from Kaeya to Ayato?"

"since when did you die all the way back to Freminet?"

"I didn't I got gooood!!" Spinning circled around them "Aahh!! Friendly fire! Friendly fire!"

Freminet is replaced with Gaming "I literally hate you"

"I love you too <3 AAAAAA—"

================

"guys help! I clipped into the walls!"

"you reap what you soooowww, fucker!" A sword strikes them "AAHHH!!"

================

"I think this is what the abyss feels like"

"I think that's an insult" "you've never been in there"

===many deaths & respawns later===

"you're a monster you know that right"

Giggling, "yes yes yes!!"

"we should do that again" "as the one with arthritis from carrying you idiots, I veto it."

"veto denied :D"

The Wither Storm

Playing Kokomi "what is it this time"

"Wither Storm :)" Reader, playing Fischl looks up at them

Playing Xinyan "uh oh"

Eula "on a scale of one to backrooms, how difficult will this one be?" "Collateral damage"

"and that's ignoring the proximity voice chat!"

Fast paced breathing "oh thank God that wasn't a thing in the Backrooms, we were just using discord"

"yeah it's a shaaaame"

"wait, we couldn't lay a finger in the Backrooms"

"you can kill the wither storm and still engage in friendly fire"

"thank goodness!!"

"so what's in store?"

"I'm gonna teleport us to another plane—because we don't want Teyvat harmed in the process—and we're gonna summon the wither storm and kill it."

"let's do it blind."

"yeeeesss!!!"

"did we not learn from the backrooms???"

"no we did not!"

"blind it is! Let's go!"

"wait—!"

===============

The Wither Storm is summoned! And like a standard wither simple shoots out skulls that destroys where it hits and inflicts withering on any living being.

"WHAT THE HEEELLLL???"

"LOOK WHAT YOU DID!"

"guys get building materials—!" Xinyan is replaced with Lisa who is far, far away from where the death was "And I withered away. And I'm away from everyone

"wow, I can't hear anyone!"

===============

Beamed up by the Wither Storm: "guys help"

"one I barely heard you, scream next time, two it's already to late for you." Eula is them eaten in one piece by one of the storm's mouths

"oh my fucking god it has a halo . . . It has like four of them" Looking up, far away from the group with Yae Miko, running away after a head faces their way

Far far away, Kaeya takes Eula's place in the plane

(Google image "crackers wither storm" to get what I mean in the last paragraph)

===============

"bestie!!" Reader controlling Hu Tao walks up a small hill

"Oh my God! Bestie!" Another Hu Tao looks in their ideection, they run towards each other "regroup! Regroup! We gotta regroup cuz the next phase is gonna begin!"

===============

"we did all that work and never even got a nether star" Sitting down with Heizou

"says who?" Back with Fischl ":O"

"the inventory . . . " They habitually jump with Kazuha

"oh, what's this I see?" sticking to Hu Tao after the Wither Storm

"who wants to read the description?" By now everyone opened their inventory to find a fourth of a white, purple tinted four-pointed star

"As testament to your suffering, a piece of the Nether Star joins you growing treasury!! A Devastation reduced to a mere chapter in your life"

"look, I get that after we're done you just remove the mod forever and leave it to gather dust, but at least, at least let us keep this even after removing the Wither Storm mod."

"and let us make a beacon while your at it!"

"sure why the hell not!"

"what the hell is a beacon and will I want in?"

"you all will!!"

"yes we do!"

"you don't even know what it does!x

"and neither do you!"

===============

Personally I imagine that Teyvat is a bit split on this.

On one hand, their Grace is far too happy with their friends who Teyvat deems as fellow Creators they play around with and they're playing around with their divine powers.

On the other hand, making mods and bug testing is time consuming and both of these take attention their Grace could be giving them instead.

They've heard plenty times the Creator complain about their world's spaghetti code, the Reader has cursed the creator—"who the hell made this?"—many times and Teyvatians interpret this as either the Creator having lost their memories or an act of self-hatred or a blend of both.

It doesn't help how Reader curses themselves whenever they find an error in their own code

Though I wonder the thoughts of Vessels from four worlds being used for four gods to meet in scheduled meetings either during normal gameplay or modded gameplay.

No but imagine some vessels doing things their code supposedly shouldn't allowed but it gets brushed off as a mod glitch 😭 lmao, like say, Kaeya muttering "Cataclysm . . ." To himself during the Wither Storm and only barely not being noticed

BRO WHAT WILL LIKE KHAENRI'AH PEOPLE AND ARCHONS AND OTHERS THINK WHEN THEY SEE THE NETHER STAR FRAGMENTS FORM A FOUR-POINTED STAR TOGETHER AKA THE NETHER STAR WHICH IN TEYVAT THE FOUR POINTED STAR IS THE SYMBOL OF KHAENRI'AH?

That's all I have in me today

feel free, not but pressured, to add your own ideas, add onto my ideas, etcetera, etcetera as you please, you got my absolute blessing

take your time as needed

Hope your having a good day!!

Thank you for sending me this.

This is awesome on its own and it must be shared.

But seriously, you're right. Teyvat wants you to be happy, but only with them. So they come up with a plan.

They're going to not work and basically annoy your friends off the game. They know I'll make you sad, but you have them to make you feel better.

If you friends are extra stubborn, then more extreme measures are but in place. Like bugging out, not ascending but taking the materials, and stuff like that.

Eventually when your friends quit the game, you go back to solo mode. Now you spend your time with them. While it makes them sad to see you upset about being able to play with your friends anymore, they'll be your new friends and be the best characters they can for you.

After, you'll be with them soon.

[jurakan]

Is there a Fun Fact for me this Friday?

I didn't see this until Saturday, so this is queued up to be the one Fun Fact answered this week--I am out of town after all. So! Today You Learned about the peryton!

See, the peryton, a 'mythological' creature, a deer with the wings and sometimes rear legs of a bird. It's growing in popularity in fantasy fiction and role-playing games--for instance, they appear in the Fablehaven series, as something the dragons of Wyrmroost prey on, I think?

Here's the interesting thing: they're not actually mythological creatures. While yes, in history, winged deer do appear in heraldry every now and then, the term 'peryton' wasn't historical, and as far as I know there are no stories about them in any tradition of folklore or myth.

So where did this come from? Easy: Jorge Luis Borges, the Argentine writer. In his Book of Imaginary Beings, alongside actual mythical creatures, he put the peryton in there, along with a fake history he claimed he got from a medieval document. According to him, they're native to Atlantis, but were able to escape because they could fly.

Interesting backstory considering he made them up!

So! Perytons! Mythological creatures! Except kinda not. They're still pretty cool, though.

[kianji]

So since BioWare (and possibly other studios) have finally gotten the message that fans will appreciate pansexual characters who can romance anyone no matter gender, race or sex (unless there’s a valid reason in their backstory for them to NOT chose to romance someone) can we eventually see an option for polyamory?

And before anyone brings up the “not EvErYoNe Is PaNsExUaL” argument, I would like to remind you that this post is specifically talking about a group of (very well drawn and animated) piXELS THAT ARE NOT REAL PEOPLE AND THAT I AM IN NO WAY SHAPE OR FORM IMPLYING THAT IT WORK THAT WAY IN REAL LIFE.

Again.

This is a cluster of PIXELS that someone animated, input a code, and is a completely FICTIONAL WORK that has no real impact against the world outside of the game. It’s meant to be fun and enjoyable and an escape. If you can’t learn to separate the two you’ve got bigger problems to be concerned about.

We briefly see the potential in DAO with Zevran and Isabela in The Pearl and from research there’s apparently a full blown polyamory option in Hades with Megaera and Thanatos.

Not that I can speak on quality of the romance as I haven’t played the game, but for it to be an option to fully romance two characters, at the same time, and both accept the romance without issue is fantastic no matter the execution. At least at this point.

Personally I think it’s be an amazing addition as an OPTION for someone who WANTS TO PURSUE SUCH A THING. If you don’t like it or aren’t interested it WOULDN’T PERTAIN TO YOU AND COULD BE SKIPPED JUST LIKE ANY OTHER OPTION YOU AREN’T INTERESTED IN. Hence why it is an OPTION NOT A REQUIREMENT.

Are there mods out there that allow you to romance more than one character?

Yes.

But I don’t want to have to download a mod especially when (as well written as the mod may be) it likely doesn’t change dialogue, or other character interactions with one another meaning it isn’t REALLY what I’m meaning when I talk about a polyamorous relationship. Not to mention the fact that not everyone CAN download a mod.

I just think it would be nifty to be able to have that choice. To romance more than one person and at the least be ameniable to it. On that same note it would also be nice if there was an option to also have they also romance each other. Some characters when not romance by the player will seek out others anyways. It wouldn’t necessarily be that much of a difficult notion for some to be interested in BOTH.

In the wise words of a girl in an Old El Paso commercial, ¿Por qué no los dos?

Should it necessarily be an option for every character?

No.

That wouldn’t make sense in a number of situations varying from the way a character is written to a characters backstory and history, to their beliefs and involvement with certain organizations.

Could it work for certain characters?

Without question.

Fenris, Isabela and Hawke in DA2 would have been a perfect example in a BioWare game for an opportunity for a polyamorous relationship. I’m sure there are plenty of other pairings and games that the same can be said for.

It would be a good way to give representation to something that many people honestly still think of as taboo or only in a strictly sexual manner. And while polyamory in a sexual manner isn’t a dirty or bad thing, it would be nice to see it in an almost domestic type of situation as well, I guess you could call it for my lack of better way to explain it.

Side note: apparently Baldur’s Gate 3 apparently has a few options for polyamory but as I also have not yet played BG3 (NO SPOILERS IT IS ON MY LIST OF GAMES TO PLAY AS SOON AS I FINISH DRAGON AGE) I also can’t attest to what is truly included with their devotion of a polyamorous relationship.

Apparently a character you meet in Act 3 will ask you out when you meet and depending upon who your other or “main” LI is they will be open to the idea or support it. Others will allow it but not be pleased and the rest are completely against the notion (WHICH IS FINE AND A REALLY A GOOD THING AS IT DOESNT MAKE SENSE FOR EVERYONE TO JUST BE ALRIGHT WITH IT). However it truly is a nice touch for someone who wants that.

[dontforgetoctober3rd]

He Is

(A timeskip Bridgerton/HOTDish fanfic)

Pairing: Aemond Targaryen X Philomena Finch (faceclaim for Philomena will be the amazing Taylor Richardson, who plays Bridget in The Gilded Age!)

Word Count: 2800ish

Cheesiness: Off the charts, cheesier than the state of Wisconsin

Summary: Just as her mother Philippa predicted: Philomena Finch is a writer.

But Philomena is disappointed that none of the men in real life live up to the fictional ones she reads and writes about. None of them until Aemond Targaryen, that is.

Author's Note: This fic is a somewhat convoluted, three-way crossover (kinda???) because it obviously has elements of the Bridgerton universe but also the HOTD/GOT universe, with mentions of the Skyrim video game lore! Basically, Philomena writes what we know in this world as Skyrim but in a book form and Aemond is the author of what we know as Game of Thrones in this fic. Get it? Alrighty. Also, yes, the fic title is yet another Ghost song big whoop I love them ok?!

Dividers: @cafekitsune

GIF Credits: In the gifs themselves, I used the gif search function

The first time Philomena Finch knew she didn’t fit in with The Ton of London high society was in boarding school at age 12, when the teacher asked each girl to come to the front of the class and share what their goals in life were.

“I want to start a charity for orphans,” came one of the replies.

“My goal is to throw the most glamorous balls anyone has ever seen!” another girl said.

“I will tutor respectable young ladies on how to speak French,” yet another said.

On and on the answers came, but they all had one thing in common: before telling what their goals were, they all prefaced their statements with “After I marry-”

Philomena knew she wasn’t going to marry then and she knew it still now, at age 19.  It's not that she didn’t want a husband, she just had always known that the type of man she desired to be with was not to be found outside the books she read or little stories she would write. The kind of husband she wanted had to be amazing and handsome and approve without question whatever she wanted to do in life.  The years had taught her she would not find him in the real world and she accepted as her fate that she was to remain unwed, as if it were a commonly given fact like any other.  Her parents’ and aunts’ marriages were simply lovely anomalies in the humdrum, rigid world of the english Ton.  The way of things would not change.

The sky was blue, grass was green, taxes were to be paid and Philomena Finch was destined to die alone.

That being the case, she preferred to fully throw herself into writing, which her parents wholeheartedly supported. 

 “The world is changing!” her father had informed her, contrary to what she herself believed. “Women hardly have a need for husbands like they did before and besides, how else could we survive the monotony of life without stories to read?.” 

Her mother agreed as well and for that Philomena was so grateful, as her own grandmother constantly moaned about having a spinster in the family and her well-meaning Aunt Prudence put the famous Violet Bridgerton to shame with the amount of gentlemen she sent her way at balls. 

It was relentless, so the minute Philomena would get home and dress for bed,  she went straight to her writing desk instead to create worlds she could escape to. Every time she sat to write she thanked her lucky stars that she had a mother and father who bought her all the quills, ink and paper she wanted.

 In fact, she was working on a story she hoped to publish soon but it was rather gruesome…and violent. Recent inspiration had hit her about two years ago after the country of Valyria had ceased its war with England and everyone had seen the new, foreign aristocracy trickling into London to break bread with new allies.  

Before the war, stories had floated around of beautiful white-haired men and women, but to see them in person?  Everyone in society clamored to be near them, to win their favor and possibly their love in some cases.  Philomena thought they were otherworldly. It was as if there existed a version of the Bridgertons that was fifty times as popular and a hundred times as good-looking.  Being near them felt practically magical. 

Certainly too magical for an ordinary, plain English girl like herself.  She knew this because only last season the one time Aunt Prudence had managed to snag a Valyrian Lord at a ball to bring to her, practically elbowing away other girls from him (a Daemon Targaryen, she remembered) the conversation had remained one sided.

  Lord Targaryen seemed incredibly disinterested and practically fled as he excused himself after hardly saying more than ten words the entire time.  “I must find my brother, pardon me.” Daemon had told her as he walked away. 

  The only type of men in reality that seemed to interest her…had zero interest in return. 

So Philomena dealt with her increasing feelings of inadequacy with writing, as always, and got to work.  A world of dragons and magic, of elves and warriors. Not at all what a typical lady would read, let alone write! 

The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim, she called it and she finally had about two thirds of the story written to show her parents before the new season got going. She had anticipated horror from them both, but they had been utterly enthralled by the story and wanted to know more. 

“Oh, please tell me Ulfric Stormcloak wins!! I need to know!” her father had begged.

Her mother was of a different opinion. “I do hope he gets executed by the Dragonborn! Preferably while Elisif The Fair watches! It's what he deserves after killing her husband! Hmph!”

Aunt Prudence was a fan of the character Maven Blackbriar, and positively preened when Philomena told her she had based the character off of her. “I do have a knack for finances and running my family well,” she had said with a smile at tea one day.

“Like no other, my love.” Uncle Harry was quick to put in. 

The most help had come from, surprisingly, her uptight grandmother Portia. She had dropped by for luncheon one day and insisted on seeing this story her daughters had been ‘blathering about’.

“I do wish you would concentrate on finding a husband instead of that scribbling…,” she had began, after receiving the hefty manuscript from Philomena in the parlor and having read through it for a few minutes. “-but if you must insist on continuing with it, then you might see about getting some assistance in trying to publish from your uncle Colin and Aunt Penelope, after their return from Germany.  No doubt they’ll go straight to the Viscount Bridgerton, who will then reach out to his contacts and ensure you have a chance at this little story of yours getting printed into an actual book. Maybe.”

Philomena was ecstatic.  Writing was her greatest passion, it was what brought her the most joy, and now there was a chance that hundreds (possibly thousands!) of people would read her work and feel that same joy. Who needed a husband?

The latest season started as the last few had: everyone shamelessly fighting to get a hold of a Valyrian lord or lady.  Or one of their lesser family members, but the objective remained the same for the Ton, which was to align themselves with a wealthy Valyrian family.

Philomena mostly avoided the season these days, as she was busy trying to publish her novel (which had turned into a several novel series, as her publisher had suggested because the story was so long).

A few weeks in, all of London high society received quite a shock: Daemon Targaryen had brought his nephew Aemond.  He was badly scarred on one side of his face, a patch covering the missing eye.  Rumor had it the Targaryens were  so rich, a sapphire was put in.  

What would have spelled doom for the prospects of a normal Englishman, however,  did nothing to cause Aemond to be seen as lesser by the Ton.  The loss of an eye didn’t deter daughters and their mamas in the least.  Aemond Targaryen was rich, beautiful and available.  

All were determined to secure the position of being his wife but that determination was soon snuffed out. 

 To the dismay of every marriage-minded mama, Daemon proclaimed to the queen herself that Aemond had already selected his future wife when she asked why he had brought his nephew along this time.  The surprises didn’t stop there, for soon after Prudence Dankworth and her husband arrived, Daemon and Aemond were witnessed by all approaching them and engaging in what seemed like a long and animated conversation. 

Lady Danbury gleefully suggested to Lady Kate Bridgerton that the gossip rags would soon be printing headlines about a very lucky match indeed, for no Valyrian had yet married anyone of English descent. 

Philomena could hardly believe it.  Aemond Targaryen was sitting across from her in the Finch  family parlor.

She had been in her father’s office minutes ago (which he had generously surrendered to her for the duration of however long it took to get Skyrim published) when she had heard a huge commotion near their front door and someone rapidly running (stomping, more like) to the office.

It had been Aunt Prudence, out of breath and slightly disheveled.  The maids didn’t even bother to try to announce her as they caught up and turned to leave just as quick. “Wash that ink off your hands and let down that bloody hair!” Aunt Prudence hissed. “And put on your best dress.  You are to have a special caller today!”

"In the evening?!" Philomena had said in disbelief. "The sun is about to set! I have candles already lit, for goodness' sake. Who calls at this hour?!"

"NEVER YOU MIND!" Prudence had all but shrieked. "Ready yourself!"

So Philomena had.  She was not really expecting anything to come of this visit but no sooner had she sat at the couch adjusting her hair than the maids were announcing the arrival of one Aemond Targaryen.  

Now here they both were.  Philomena’s parents were out but Aunt Prudence remained to chaperone. She tucked herself as far away as possible near a window with a large lamp lit nearby, pretending to read so as to try to give them some privacy.

  Courteous introductions were made, stiff small talk attempted.  Aunt Prudence made a show of loudly flipping pages to fill the silence, so that the young couple might feel like they were being thoroughly ignored and perhaps open up to each other more.

Philomena did not know what she was supposed to do.  

She felt clumsy and ugly next to Aemond, whose hair seemed to sparkle in the candlelight and whose face looked like it was carved by the most expert of artisans.  His magnificently sculpted jaw tempted her so, she struggled to keep her eyes from simply staring at it the entire time.  

Her own hair was slightly frizzy from having been rapidly combed, wisps of it escaping in front of her ears. It was a rusty, orange color.  Not the beautiful, brilliant red that her mother had.  Certainly nowhere near the gorgeous silver of Aemond’s hair.  How she longed to touch it! To smell it! God must be mocking her, because she had also heard he was an avid writer. Simply put, he was perfect for her.  Too perfect.

Desperate to take her mind off of gawking at him so that he wouldn’t think her a lunatic, she hurriedly offered him some biscuits, which he politely refused. 

“The last thing I wish to be is overzealous, but,” Aemond began. “My uncle has told me about you.  His contacts in publishing say that you are working on…quite a story.”

Philomena frantically looked to her Aunt, who quickly mimed what looked like…writing on paper? 

Show him your book!  What you have been working on! Show him Skyrim!

The scene in the parlor was quite comical.  

Aemond could clearly see Prudence Dankworth furiously miming to her niece and yet she continued with it as though he wasn’t present.  It almost made him laugh but he did not wish to ruin his chances.

Philomena Finch was not everything his uncle had said.  She was so much more.

She had the most alluring, fire-colored hair.  Her face was the perfect shape, with full cheeks and deep brown eyes.  Keeping his one functioning eye on her face was a monumental task, as he longed to slowly drag it over her seductive body. 

Best of all…he had clearly just caught her as she was working on her writing.  Aemond could still see a few spots of ink she hadn’t managed to wash off.  

Aemond let himself think for a moment, gazing at Philomena as she “communicated” with her aunt.  

Writing was his passion.  It soothed him and gave him strength, especially when he had lost his eye.  It was everything to him.  To find a woman who shared his dreams…it was too good to pass up. 

“With writing, you can create anything from nothing, like a god.” his Uncle Daemon had told him once, when he had spiraled into doubting himself again.  “It is your gift, nephew.  Don’t throw it away.  For anyone.  If your future wife truly loves you, she will love all of you.  Do not stop your writing.” 

So Aemond hadn’t.  

He had cultivated it and was on the cusp of publishing his first work, A Game of Thrones. A great deal of people had been disgusted with it…but an equal number had loved it, likening it to a Shakespearean work. His uncle had friends who worked in the book writing world and he told him there was a somewhat similarly violent story in England, also with dragons, about to be published.  It was written by a lady. 

Aemond had begged for a copy of at least a few chapters to read it.  Obtaining it wasn’t difficult for him, being already an author about to release his own book.  

He loved everything about the story. 

Everything the characters felt, he felt.  Really, the similarities stopped at the dragons.  

He longed to walk in the world of Skyrim. To see the babbling brooks of Whiterun.  To wander through caves, fighting his way against hordes of Falmer. Everytime he reread his copy of Philomena’s beginning chapters, he lost track of time.

To have created such a universe…if she could only feel a fraction of that passion for him, as a husband, he would be the happiest man alive.  He knew it. 

His heart was already hers.  It was just a matter of letting her know it. 

“Marry me.” Aemond said, coming out of his thoughts.  Zero hesitation.  Matter of factly. 

Philomena felt like her heart was sliding into her throat as her head snapped to look at him.  Aunt Prudence audibly gasped. 

“Marry me.” Aemond repeated. “We belong together.”

He would be miserable married to her, she just knew it.  If they married, she knew she would love him…how she could possibly love a man that wouldn’t love her back she didn’t know but that was what she felt.  

He would grow to eventually hate her and still she would love him, like a fool. He would try to change her and when she refused, loving him the entire time,  he would hate her.  And it would break her heart.  So that was not going to happen.  It could not happen, because she would not let it. “I don’t know you!” Philomena cried.

“We will get to know each other over the years.” Aemond said, taking her hand. She did not remove it but continued to protest.

“I detest going to balls.” 

“I do as well. I prefer to write.”

“My aunts are a lot to deal with.”

“As is my uncle Daemon.”

“My family is nowhere near as wealthy as yours.”

“No matter.  I stand to inherit more than enough money for the both of us.”

“Well, I often argue.  It’s not my intention but it happens a great deal.” Philomena persisted.

“Husbands and wives will argue.  It's the way of things.” he shrugged, still holding onto her hand.

“I often write very depraved scenes.  I have a few more horrid bits to add to Skyrim.” 

“Did you know incest is featured prominently as a storyline in my own book?”

Undeterred, Philomena barreled on, Aunt Prudence watching in shock from her corner.

“I do not want to have children right away.”

“We have various useful contraceptive methods I can get for you.”

“I often get up at night to write.”

“One cannot control when the muse calls upon you. It’s good to work when you get the inspiration for it.”

“I want to travel.”

“I want the same.  We can go wherever you like first.”

“If any of your family were to insult me, I will not just take it.”

“Understandable.  I love them with all my heart but family can be quite insufferable at times.”

Out of options, Philomena didn't care how pathetic she sounded when she said it but it had to be said. “I am not…as beautiful as you.”

“I do not know what to say to ...that.” Aemond said, rubbing her hand gently.  “Other than youre wrong.  So very wrong.”

Philomena was silent. For once, she did not have words, either on paper or to speak.  What Aemond asked next felt like a dream. Prudence had long since dropped all pretense of reading her book and was watching, jaw dropped.

“May I touch your hair?” he asked.

“I- we are not even betrothed!”

“Aren’t we?”

“Yes…? I suppose...?” she whispered, her own eyes boring into his one.

“Excellent! I’ve been dying to to touch your hair since my uncle told me the color. No one has such a color in Valyria.”

“Very well.” Philomena said with a smile.  “I am right, though.”

Aemond looked puzzled. “Right about what?”

“You are more beautiful than me!” 

He fiddled with her hair, blushing.  “Lies.”

“I would not lie to you!” 

“Arguing with me already?

Prudence Dankworth could contain herself no longer. 

Loudly declaring her congratulations, she ran to hug her niece while Aemond Targaryen finally burst out laughing.

[bagelrites]

Have you ever had a fanfiction idea you knew was great but didn't have the time/courage/patience to write ? What would be the backbones of it and what scene in particular would you still like to see written one day ?

So my problem is that when I think of a fan fiction idea even if I have 20 other wips I still somehow think I will do it someday. There is one big fic idea that I had that I have pretty much given up on though, and that's the Squid Game AU. Obviously I thought of it when the DTeam were playing in the Squid Game tournament, and the premise would be that George and Sapnap are contestants who very early on become friends and form an alliance, and Dream is a guard who keeps somehow ending up in situations where he has to talk to George, and they start falling in love. There'd be a lot of complicated feelings, but in the end George escapes with Dream because in that final game he doesn't actually get shot when he loses (I think Dream would have gotten some of the other guards on his side,) but he plays dead until the field is cleared and then Dream comes and whisks him away and they escape on a boat together. George is kind of sad about leaving Sapnap behind, but he has a feeling he's going to win, and he's right of course.

I don't think I'll write more or a shortened version or anything one day. I had so little of it written, in fact, I could actually share everything I wrote here right now, so I'll put it below the cut :)

This was the opening:

George liked the blue hue of his jumper. He’d been told it was turquoise, actually, but it looked a grayish blue to him, cool and muted, like the still face of a lake reflecting the sky. The white stripes could be clouds, perhaps. The numbers over his heart the ripples of a fish flipping from the water, or perhaps the pearly feathers of an egret in flight.

And yes, technically it was a prisoner’s uniform, but George felt it was important to find comforts even—or perhaps especially—in circumstances such as these.

The dormitory was spacious, in its own way. The beds were stacked three layers high, but the mattresses weren’t terribly thin, and there was a wealth of free space opposite the bunks, plenty of room for all two hundred competitors to mingle together, or else find some corner to sulk in alone. The white walls were bright, too, and the ceilings were high.

George supposed if this was the room he was destined to sleep his last night in, at least it was clean and airy. Better than rotting away in a cramped prison cell, right?

He rolled from his side onto his back, staring up at the cross-beams holding up the mattress above him. It had been about an hour or so since they let the competitors into the dorm, and so far there was no word as to when the games would begin. George had been trying to nap in his bunk to wait it out, but everyone else was being far too talkative, and the din of voices kept him awake. Finally, he got antsy enough to get up, deciding to take a stroll around the room and scope out his competitors.

Not that he really thought it would help him win. He didn’t quite plan to do that. Didn't see the point in trying, if he was honest. If he won, he won. If he didn’t…

Then I had a few scenes of dialogue jotted down. First George teasing Dream:

“Why did you say that?”

“Say what?”

“That you trust me.”

“Oh. I don’t know. You’re fun to mess with.”

Dream looked away.

“George, you don’t even know me.”

“You could change that.”

“George—” Dream sputtered, and George giggled. He sounded so cute when he was flustered.

“You’re already talking to me. That’s a step in the right direction.”

Dream froze, and didn’t make any reply. George wished he could see behind his mask, see if he was angry, or scared, or just flushed from embarrassment. He was betting on the latter. “Oh, now you’re all quiet.”

And then here's George seeing Dream's face for the first time:

“Wow, you’re—” George paused, face flushing. “Nothing.”

“I’m nothing?” Dream chuckled.

“No, I mean—I mean you’re, um…” his mind raced for the right word, the least embarrassing word. “Handsome?”

“Oh, I am?” Dream leaned closer, smirking, and George covered his face with his hands.

“No, I meant hot! You’re hot!” he said, muffled into his palms.

Dream just laughed, the sound light and lovely and adoring, and George melted under the warmth of it.

And finally some George + Sapnap dialogue:

“Why do you think you’re gonna win?”

“Because I have to. I have to think it,” Sapnap said. “If I don’t think I can win, then I know I’ll die. You know?” 

George hummed.

“I think you might actually do it.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, I don’t know. I just… have this feeling that you’re gonna go all the way,” George said.

“Well, then I want you to go all the way with me.”

George smiled and couldn’t help snickering a little at that.

“What? I mean it.”

“Oh, c’mon. You know what that sounded like.”

[ravencromwell]

For the character ask game, Athos Dane: 7, 10, and 20.

7. A quote of them you remember: "No one suffers as beautifully as you." And before everyone starts laughing at my terrible cliche—it is terribly cliched, I would pair it with "My plaything is dead". The no one suffers as beautifully as you comes just after Athos's interlude with Beloc where Beloc tried, and did real damn good for a teenager, to be defiant, but eventually answered Athos's questions about his name etc. without yet having the Soul Seal on. Contrast this to Athos's "Sing for me, Holland" in ACOL, which Holland refuses to do.

Yes, Beloc is undoubtedly fun, but fundamentally, he knows how this game is going to go. The fact that Holland still has defiance, after seven years, seems to just fucking enthrall Athos. He makes Holland fill the blood goblets partially just to fuck with Kell, but also for that flicker of rage and humiliation Kell notices as being so out of character. Fundamentally, he doesn't know when Holland will give him the last scrap of power, and that's what keeps him coming back.

But any love or fascination or what have you is utterly gone once Holland is no longer a spectacle: my plaything, he says, in his own pov while talking to his sister. He feels "annoyance at his servant's incompetence" The one time he mentions Holland by name, it's to tell Kell how he and Holland are fundamentally flawed when compared to Athos.

Everything this man did for seven fucking years around Holland was either about furthering his goals or getting some kind of reaction, be it in his choice of conversation topics or experiment subjects.

Holland has a line that is so fucking sad to me in that context in ACOL where he says he never screamed if he could help it, out of the quixotic hope if Athos didn't get a reaction, he'd just kill him already. There's something so fucking tragic I don't have words for the fact that Holland's refusal to stop being a person, at least in small ways, and even the ways he tried to provoke Athos, were so much of what made him interesting enough to never let fade into the background as a particularly useful pair of hands. Because as we see with essentially sending Beloc out as canon fodder, and again with the dismissive "my plaything" comment after Holland's dead, once there's no longer potential for interesting power dynamics, he's bored moving on. 

10. Describe the character in one sentence.: "Intelligence has never tempered my desire. It merely ensures I take what I wish without consequence."—Athos Dane, to his hypothetical biographer, poor bastard.

20. A weird headcanon:

He may have learned to read on the coast primarily to sniff out magic, but when he arrives at the castle, he finds he quite enjoys books outside of magic. Vortalis was a military histories fan, which Athos "journey of the battle" absolutely fucking devours for the play by play.

Astrid likes the White London version of Caesar: careful, methodical, only moving when the field was to his advantage.

Athos, though, it's the underdogs. The White London Hannibal bringing his elephants in what everyone called folly; the Lord Caradoc/Caratacus resisting a much larger force. Just _immensely his jam.

And once he got started, he wanted more of anything Holland thought might rouse his interest. I don't think the Danes had any _reason to go to Grey London, but I suspect that by God, if the Mareshes Antari could go, they sent Holland there on the semiregular (I will play with the toys, too!) One of the things Grey had neither Red nor White did was a thriving fiction culture. And if you're one Holland Vosijk, who wants to be able to bring back some escapism for yourself, you'd better be prepared to bring back gifts.

Which leads me to: Athos Dane, sometime Shakespeare fan and more often critic.

1. Huge, huge fucking fan of Iago. Iago knows how to properly manipulate some people. (Except of course, as is the problem with so many people, he got squeamish in the end. If he had killed the messengers from Venice when they found him in the alley, he would never have needed to kill his wife and certainly never have been tortured and executed. But Iago pre–Othello Act Five: _spectacular.

2. Huge Richard III fan—likes all the histories, honestly. But that "winter of our discontent" monologue: gets him _every time. Richard, now there's a man who knows how to embrace being hated. (Though that he cares at all about fool's opinion of him just demonstrates he lacked an Astrid. Without that one person for unconditional affection and non-judgment, he could only embrace it so far.

3. Hamlet completely cracks him up in an awful way. Or rather, the ways in which Holland and Hamlet's desire for revenge mirror one another. "You thought you were Hamlet, coming down that hall and did not understand we were not his foolish uncle!"

4. The rest of it: Romeo and Juliet, the comedies, most of the other tragedies, just _trash. Characters too weak to dominate the way they should or unrealistic ("blood never denies blood what they want" he says of the Capulets etc. smiling beatifically at Astrid.

5. Astrid has the copy of Titus Andronicus. Major Queen Tamora fangirl "We shall serve the Arnesians their royals in pie," Athos says, when Astrid sighs over missing their opportunity with Holland.

Athos is very theatrical, has a multitude of ideas for how to stage the Shakespeare sets with magic when they take Arnes, and is very keen to read other plays.

[blazehedgehog]

What was the internet fandom's reaction to Sonic Adventure 2 back in the early 2000s?

I can only speak to my personal perspective, which is that most of the people I know really liked it, but a select few of us (yes, including me) were upset because something was lost in the transition from SA1 to SA2.

Sonic Adventure is a much clearer continuation of the Sonic 3 storyline. Sonic Adventure 2 is, too, but it hides that fact maybe a little too well. Sonic Adventure 2 is also a lot more streamlined than Sonic Adventure -- no adventure fields, and each character's traits are much more pronounced. They feel much more specialized. Sonic is only good at running (through levels that were basically just Speed Highway on repeat). Knuckles is only good at hunting. Tails is only good at shooting. Things like that.

There was also a pretty significant debate over the story and characters. There was a large argument where our side proposed that Sonic Adventure 2 felt "soulless." It leaned a lot more heavily on science fiction and anime tropes.

I specifically remember comparing Shadow the Hedgehog to a trope you often see in characters like Sephiroth from Final Fantasy VII. The tortured science experiment reflecting on the nature of their own existence. Rouge, too, was a generically sexy jewel thief.

Compared to Sonic Adventure's grand finale of The Angel Island Saga, it lacked the depth and impact of something like Perfect Chaos and Tikal. Sonic Adventure felt more like a Sonic game should, whereas Sonic Adventure 2 was something new, different, and decidedly more flavorless. Less a story than a collection of stereotypes and gimmicks.

Two things I remember very clearly during the long, ongoing debates this game spawned were specific replies to something a friend of mine said in response to me being utterly unfair to Sonic Adventure 2:

"So now you don't like playing it? Weren't you the guy who spent over 4 solid hours playing just City Escape in The Trial on the first day you had it?"

Which was in response to me complaining about how much more narrow and linear the stages were for Sonic now, and how that was inferior to Sonic Adventure's more evenly-paced level design. To further the point, I'd even paid money for the Sonic Adventure 2 Trial, ordering it for like $5 off of Ebay so I wouldn't have to spend full price on Phantasy Star Online. May have actually been the first thing I ever bought on Ebay.

"And who said you get to decide what Sonic the Hedgehog is? At least they're not just copying Super Mario 64 like everyone else."

Proving that perhaps some things never change with me, I guess. I had used the "Sonic Adventure 2 is soulless" argument to suggest it did not feel like a Sonic game anymore.

In retrospect, these were some pretty knock-down, drag-out arguments. I'm still friends with some (maybe even most) of those people, and I remember the context of some of these things getting pretty heated in ways I'd never dream of nowadays.

For the safety of my well being, I would like to point out that I have obviously come around on Sonic Adventure 2 more since those days. I would still consider my feelings "complicated", but I can, and do, enjoy the game much more now than I used to.

I'd, uh, "finished" school (in a matter of speaking) by the time Sonic Adventure 2 came out, so I don't really have any nuanced view on how the game was received in the real world, outside of the two main friend groups I was hanging with at the time. I think by the time previews were coming out and the cast kept getting bigger, and bigger, and bigger, there was some sneering -- Sonic's spotlight being "too crowded" was a major concern back then, and Sonic Adventure 2 only made it worse.

I was just talking about this with a friend, but Penny-Arcade used to do this Game of the Year thing called the "We're Right Awards." And for 2001 that year, Gabe gave Sonic Adventure 2 an award:

"Best Sonic Game Where You Do Not Play As Sonic"

I suppose it's fallen out of favor now, but there used to be a memetic shorthand for this and it was called "Sonic's Shitty Friends." Everybody called them that. When pressed, they'd say Tails and Knuckles were fine, but beyond that, the wider world at large didn't want to have anything to do with Amy, or Big, or Shadow, or Rouge, or Gamma, or Omega, or Vector, or Charmy, or Espio, or Cream, or Silver, or Blaze, so on and so forth. You get the idea.

Though it was a problem in Sonic Adventure, it really started to catalyze in Sonic Adventure 2. Every game people would complain about it, and every game the cast would just get bigger. Three playable characters. Six. Twelve.

And specifically for Sonic Adventure 2, most tended to agree that only really Sonic and Shadow were fun. The mechs were slow and clumsy, and the hunting stages were deliberately made significantly more tedious.

Then there was us, also saying the game simply felt soulless. It lacked the heart of Sonic Adventure, trading it for edgelord science fiction. A game that was, at one point, maybe even supposed to have swearing in it. A Sonic game! With swearing! It boggles the mind.

[k0kichiimagines]

Hello! Can I request ray/saeran being in love with MC while she is with 7?

yes yes! i took some inspiration from the bad ending where ray starts questioning if you've been playing 'his version' of the game,

also first fan fiction post of the year hehe happy new year everyone <3

ray x reader / seven x reader

[Heat lightening]

"there's nothing i can do, not much i can change. i give it up to you. i surrender"

cws : none; angst no happy ending / one sided love

"Why does it always crash when Seven's around?" your voice is frustrated - you'd taken a fondness to hacker, regardless of Ray's attempt to warn you his route would only hurt you. You'd be prepared to face the angst even for just a moment more of his sweet words - but it seemed the game would glitch and freeze, or Ray would conveniently have to come to do reports mid conversation. Were the warnings just covers for the route not being complete?

"Does it? It must be because that AI is the worst of the lot, he's filled with so many bugs he's caused nothing but trouble for me... of course you can chose who you'd want, but I'd advise a different route."

"Hmm... but I like Seven, it'd be a shame to give up just over a few bugs, don't you think?" He seemed to stiffen at your words, searching for something to say.

See, his excuses had worked, they'd all made sense even if they were a bit suspicious - but upon learning the AIs were in fact actual people, and this was an actual party you were planning, and you were also now surprise kidnapped by a cult, the excuses didn't work anymore. All he'd say was 'Seven is a traitor' ,'He's a liar' and 'He's a danger to the Mint Eye.'

From what you'd gathered... what you'd suspected... was Ray was being manipulated, controlled, hurt buy the 'saviour' of this nightmare. And if that was the case, then surely that only meant Seven wasn't the heartless evil you'd been told. Surely it meant... his words were true? You cared for Ray, perhaps not in the way you suspected he was starting to care for you, you didn't blush around him, your thoughts were platonic - but that doesn't mean you love him any less. Just different. You still want him free. But how could accomplish such a task? V was trying... what could you do that was any more? The man seemed too focused on desperately trying to get you to love him not Seven, love him, love anyone not Seven, please not Seven. Ray was crying, pleading, calm only when your hands were soft on his shoulders - only for his heart to shatter over and over again whenever you called him nothing more then a friend.

And he'd come night after night as though one day you'd change your mind, fall into his arm with the sparkle in your eyes he only saw when he was mentioned. Your words about escaping fell on deaf ears, went through a man who couldn't care less what he went through if he could only hold you once. He was sorry, sorry he lied, sorry he wasn't enough - he'll change everything, anything, please, please, please.

Saeran wasn't as kind. He shut down the messenger the second the party was cancelled - you didn't need to speak to them anymore. Seven was frantically trying to get through to you, setting up rooms after rooms that he tried to hide from Saeran's merciless attacks - never getting more then a few words out before Saeran shut it down, teasingly letting you both think that just for a second it would work.

"He took everything from me, he was always better then me. It's not fair, it's not fair! You're my toy! Mine! Mine, mine, mine!"

Day after day passed, nothing more then a blur of events. Had it been a week? Three days? A few minutes? Time meant nothing to you anymore.

707: ive found a way to send a message he can't see... but only one!! pls follow the link!! trust me and download it!! pls pls pls!!

And then you had a chatroom again. Well... it was just the two of you. He could add the rest... but... wasn't it nice to have the online equivalent of some alone time? He'd pass your messages on the others if you had any.

Oh? Was that your selfie? He thought you were even cuter then he'd pictured you. Are you embarrassed? Gahh, he can't handle it.

All the teasing from the members came to your mind, all the 'ohhh Seven likes you!!' from Yoosung, 'he's a man!! be careful!! from Zen.

707: imma dangerous guy... you shouldn't fall for someone like me lol

(name): im already in a dangerous situation, arent it?

707: lololol

707: true...

707: do i need to be ur prince in shining armour to come save u?

(name): saved with a true loves kiss!

707: ki

707: kiss?!

(name): its the only way to truly save me

707: ah, then i'll have to do it. you know. to save you.

Your mood rose, Saeran hated it and snatched your phone again and again, unaware Seven was sure to keep the app hidden unless he activated it, calling you before hand and with a whole system to shut it off in a second if Saeran came barging in - code words, secret clues, it was all hidden and neat,

But then he slipped up.

You two were never at pet names. Not seriously. The sudden accidental 'Darling' in one of his what Saeran now understood as fake attempts at contacting you felt like a slap to the face. Could it have been a joke? But in such a seemingly serious message... He looked back, he saw the switch, the one night he hadn't noticed anything and suddenly you were happier and Seven was trying less.

Saeran: You two think you're so clever, huh?! Using private chatrooms.

Saeran: just you wait...

Saeran: i'll take your phone myself.

Saeran: sit lonely in that room and do nothing but wait for me. i'll even install a speaker system, you can talk to me through that hehehe

Saeran: say goodbye to your lover boy.

He through his phone after sending that last message, ignoring the cracking of the screen as he yelled into the palms of his hands. He couldn't admit why this angered him so much, if he thought he would have to admit - so he didn't think. He sat there in silence, no sound beyond his shaken breaths.

Darling.

If he were to head to your room he'd break down again, he'd yell and fall crying at your feet, he'd forget the phone and run, it would the catalyst to you leaving. To him having to accept the one simple fact : you didn't romantically love him.

Perhaps he knew this. Subconsciously. Perhaps consciously.

Perhaps he went to you anyway,

[alwayshappyhoursomewhere]

doing the tagging game as a new post because the other was starting to get too long

thanks for the tag @friedricenietzsche ! I love these tagging things

nickname: don’t really have one irl, used to go by hoshi in fandom back in the day when I actually interacted with people beyond tumblr tags

height: 166 cm

last thing i googled: 'restless synonym’ (yes I am using this to procrastinate on fic editing)

song stuck in my head: Lost and Gravity are currently ~battling for dominance~ (like tongues…). I just checked spotify stats and they’re my #1 and #3 most played songs EVER. Despite having made it into my playlists only… one month ago? YES YES I KNOW

number of followers: a couple hundreds but mostly inactive users from a decade ago (hello dead tumblrs!)

dream job: whatever it is that would allow me to live in the countryside and focus on learning/making traditional crafts

wearing: a blanket (sorry it’s 2 am I’m in bed)

a book/movie that summarises you: I read books (well, fiction) to escape from reality, so none? But I would say The Neverending Story if only because my childhood was defined by that book and I very much identified with Bastian.

favourite songs: how does one even narrow this down? I’m going with the whole Rent (broadway) ost because reasons. And oddly specific but adam lambert’s cover of believe because he makes you FEEL the song down to the very atoms your cells are made of.

aesthetic: (aspiration) cottagecore/solarpunk; (reality) anything that makes me look professional enough for my job/slob in the weekends

favorite authors: neil gaiman, terry pratchett, ursula k le guin, diana wynne jones

random fact: I am a hobby potter

tagging: if you see this feel free to do it! random tagging @nyxneon @volchitsa-of-winterfell @joelleity @asteriis @feelsdemandtobefelt

but pls feel free to ignore this if tag games are not your thing

[mobiletextgamesaremakingmebroke]

Game Recommendations likes Duskwood

I'm sure there are others like myself looking games similar to Duskwood to play. So I thought I'd play some and give you my thoughts. If you have suggestions let me know. I'll update this from time to time. This was last updated on January 28th of 2023.

Completed:

The Healing

Pros:

Players really got to know the core characters, and I felt it was pretty immersive.

I personally am tired of the 'swap and make 3' (aka candy crush) like games, so I liked the minigames used for 'hacking.

Pretty clever puzzles

If you like dark this does get a bit dark

What's scarier than one masked killer? Three.

For premium, I loved breaking the fourth wall and talking to the authors. Great fun.

Multiple endings. I believe there is a good, a neutral, and a bad end.

Your choices matter, even when they may not seem to.

Cons:

So. Many. Characters! It was hard for me to remember who was who and with each character came a lot of info.

Considering so many characters, I felt like only Andreas/Zoe were romanceable.

I was unable to save everyone, which makes me sad. However, that does make the fight more personal.

Would I recommend/Recommend buying premium?

Absolutely recommend playing. If you want 4th wall breaking dialogue yes premium's worth it, if not then I wouldn't recommend buying. I don't recall premium coming up any other time really.

Blue Orchid

Pros:

I like the puzzles and the 'minigames' in this one. They show you a photo and you solve the puzzle based on it, or you find the important things.

If there's a puzzle your struggling to figure out, no worries. The groups on your side and after a bit they'll figure it out. They provide hints too.

Small cast, and I quite liked the characters. There is no romance, but there's very little time for such thing.

There's more I really liked, but I'd spoil too much so I'll say this. I was not expecting the plot twist at the end of chapter 1 and into chapter 2. The game did a great job keeping me on my toes.

As you can imagine I found the plot really engaging, and interesting.

Depending on your preference, the game isn't actually all that long. I got most of it finished in a single evening.

Cons:

Ticket system. Most of your dialogue options require a ticket. So you have the option to pay for more, or watch free ads. Takes about 20 minutes for tickets to refresh.

This one is not a murder mystery situation. So if you're expecting to uncover the identity of a killer, this isn't for you. It's a bit more complicated of a plot to explain without some massive spoilers. Let me just say, it's more science fiction than crime.

First chapter alone would probably make people want to stop, I do recommend continuing. I don't want to spoil too much though.

Personally, I don't like when characters are my allies, then not, then they are, then they're not again. Let me just say, got a few emotions I need to work through on who I should have trusted/liked at the end.

You don't really develop much of a bond with the characters like in the Healing or Duskwood. In fact you really only learn the back story of two characters, and those are the two I'm most confused about.

Would I recommend/Recommend buying premium?

Absolutely recommend playing. I found it very fun, and a decent short game. As for buying premium? I don't think it's worth it. No special dialogue or anything. It's just 10usd for unlimited tickets. I can just "watch" a bunch of ads.

Currently Playing:

Somewhere- The Vault Papers

Thoughts thus far: (I'm not very far in this game)

Unlike the other games, this one doesn't look like a phone interface. It's more monotone in color and blocky.

The game will be put on hold from anywhere from minutes to hours so the characters in it can do something. Can be a bit annoying.

I haven't encountered any minigames yet. Just been directing 'Cat' on how to escape danger.

The term Crop Corp made me laugh.

Then it went downhill again.

I hate Cat. She acts in a way that makes it VERY hard for me to like her.

Honest opinion, I'm annoyed by the waiting only to not have dialogue options. Personally not a huge fan thus far and from what I've read from the developer's replies to bad reviews, not going great.

Scriptic: Interactive Dramas

Thoughts thus far: (Completed one of the first episodes)

Multiple chapters, multiple episodes

Oh my gosh I'm getting Layton Brothers Mystery Room vibes. I'm hyped

I have to pay for the next chapter of a case :,D

You play as a detective who is the 'behind the phone' guy. You contact the on the ground men, the lab, and intelligence.

You can interrogate suspects and decide on if you arrest them or not.

Honestly, very good chapter 1, holy cow I am very tempted to buy the next chapter of the 'redman' case

I have discovered there are free seasons.

Recommended

The Seven, aka The Healing's prequels.

[ko-ski]

✧ ▬▭▬ ▬▭ ✦✧✦ ▬▭▬ ▬▭▬

𝙲𝚎𝚕𝚎𝚋𝚛𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝙻𝚒𝚝𝚝𝚕𝚎 𝚂𝚞𝚌𝚌𝚎𝚜𝚜𝚎𝚜!

Hello and ladies and gents you might be wondering today who's the person writing this very charming and awesome blog that you see right now? Well to satiate your oh so loving curiosity I shall introduce myself right here and right now! My name is John Gabriel S. Balcorta the person behind this blog, you might be wondering who am I? The thing is I'll get to that later first of all I am the writer of this blog I introduced my name up there and my goal here today is to tell you about my life and maybe help out with yours! Anyways, once again I'm John Gabriel S. Balcorta a 16 year old guy getting by school with mediocre grades but, with a personality that slays. My hobbies include reading and playing games with other people. The genres of books I like the best are fiction, fan-fiction and horror genres and that's pretty much a brief introduction of me except for the fact that I'm a Filipino who's studying to become a successful lawyer in the future who has an obssession I mean OBSSESSION with cute cats and becoming one of the best lawyers in the world! Now enough about me I'm here today to say how I've felt and been in the couple of months because, that's what you're here for anyway right?

During the past months and years I have been honestly struggling in the fields of my studies because most of the time I burn myself out and start short circuiting to the point where I have thoughts on I don't want to go to school anymore or like I don't wanna do my activities and Ect. I know life has its ups and downs and everyone has their own way to cope with it but, I wanted to start this out and say what's been on my mind in the past couple months or years or so. The past months may have been hectic but it has been fun as well because, having events like intramurals, foundation day, Christmas party and more is bound to give you some happy memories with your friends and possibly families! The life inside my house is a very satisfying and happy one and I have no qualms no complaints about it. We are all happy inside the house and have unity together to support each other when times are dire or hard. When my birthday came up on January 11 I had one of the best times of my life as I had fun with my friends eating wings and getting late to school because, when my birthday had happened it was a school day, don't tell anyone this but we smuggled a couple of wings while we're at it. The days, months and years I've been in school is fun but, very hectic as well as the experiences I have in school may not be all sunshine and rainbows as people expect it to be. The feelings and how am I in school is mixed as yes I do have fun with my friends in school but, sometimes there's a lot of activities where I as a person can't handle them and it really stresses me out that I can't do them on time nor can I pass them on deadline. The things I try to do I end up losing motivation on doing and I can't focus on what I want to do going forward. So in conclusion on how I am... I am doing perfectly fine and everything is great but, sometimes life can get out of hand and we need some people or some thing to help ground ourselves back to reality even if we like it or not because, that's just life and hope or courage is what fuels us to keep on going, to keep on striving for something greater.

Hope is a means for escape

Hope is something that comes late

Never present, Always there

Like someone who always cares

✧ ▬▭▬ ▬▭ ✦✧✦ ▬▭▬ ▬▭▬

[beatrice-otter]

Yes, people do use fiction to escape, and I don’t believe all fiction needs to be moral, and I’m not saying people who enjoy that sort of escapism are bad people or that they should stop playing that game.

However, there are two factors to consider.

1) There are absolutely people who believe that some groups are subhuman and killing them is good; and there are people who believe that some groups are subhuman and that while killing isn’t good, killing those people isn’t very bad. Some of those people play TTRPGs. And because overt bigotry is often socially dispproved of, they don’t always say stuff like that out loud. How well do you know your gaming partners? Would you be comfortable playing that game with someone who thought “some people are subhuman and killing them doesn’t matter” wasn’t just a fun way to facilitate combat mechanics, but true in real life as well?

2) A fantasy game filled with naturally-evil-and-subhuman characters you can kill without a thought may be escapism for you, but for people who belong to groups that have been subjected to that in real life, it’s not an escape from the issues of the real world. It is, in fact, asking them to deal in fantasy with the issues facing them in the real world ... and to play a game that explicitly believes the people who hurt them are right to do so. And no, not every member of a marginalized group is going to have a problem with it, but a lot of them do. The whole reason this is even a discussion is because marginalized people have been trying to explain this for decades, and people are only now listening.

If there were equally-popular TTRPGs that didn’t depend on “some people are naturally evil and subhuman” for the game to work, it wouldn’t be as much of an issue. But the fact that the main game in TTRPGs--the one people play the most, the one that is the only game a lot of gamers know, the one that is treated as the default that people just have to know and play at least occasionally if they’re going to participate in the hobby--is actively alienating to a lot of marginalized people is a problem. The problem is not individual games played by individual gamers. The problem is not individual peoples’ preferences for what type of escapism they like in their games. The problem is that, when all those individual preferences and games get added up, it creates a system that is at best indifferent to and at worst actively hostile to marginalized people.

Regarding the DnD Orc posts:

What would be a less problematic way of describing a fantasy “race”/“species” that is meant to be “evil” and “vile”, (because maybe they were created by a evil deity to cause havoc etc).

#honestQuestion

you're positing an inherently paradoxical project mate. "how do i construct a fictional Type of Person who is ontologically evil, whose murder is prima facie acceptable or even laudable, while unimpacted by the titanic weight of historical discourses that did the exact same rhetorical work in service of real-world violences?" -- the answer is that you've invented an impossible task!

there is no fantasy of uncomplicated and meritorious ethnic violence that is neatly separable from the historical context those fantasies are produced in. that's just the way it is. genuinely, i feel compelled to ask--not because i want to hear the answer, but because i want you and others to think about this--why is this a fantasy you’re so desperate to salvage?

[literal-comments]

Hello, hello, hello! :)

I am so happy to finally start a blog that is specifically for discussion about the books I am reading. I sincerely hope that other readers will also enjoy my commentaries and ramblings here.

About me:

I have a form of autism that was once called “Asperger’s Syndrome”, I have an anxiety disorder and a depressive disorder.

Name: Sierra

Gender/Pronouns: Female/She/Her

Age: Well, I’m quite a bit older than 18, so beware, I may post some NSFW content sometimes.

Birthday: November 9th (I’m a Scorpion. That means I seriously love my pumpkins, leaves, candycorn, haunted houses and scary movies!)

Favorite people: Walter E. Disney, Timothy William Burton, Jim Henson, Osamu Tezuka and Satoshi Taijiri (because I wanna be the very best, like no one ever was~)

Main fandoms: Beetlejuice, Tim Burton, Disney, Labyrinth, The Dark Crystal, My Little Pony, IT, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

Favorite movie: Edward Scissorhands

Favorite Disney film: Lilo & Stitch

Favorite Disney Parks Ride: The Haunted Mansion

Hobbies: I do cartoon art, I read, I write fiction and poetry, I make bracelets and I play video games.

Favorite video games/game series: Pokémon, Harvest Moon, Farming Simulator, House Flipper, Sims, Planet Zoo, Planet Coaster, The Isle, Saurian and Kingdom Hearts

Favorite books/series: Harry Potter, Inheritance Cycle, Redwall, Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children, Beatrix Potter’s Tales

Special interests in nonfiction: Science, Biology, Zoology, Paleontology, Halloween History, Horror History, The American Circus, Clowns, Bears, Elephants, Cats, Birds, World History, Mythology (arguably also fiction), the Titanic (I did not escape being a “90s girl”, obviously), film making, herbology, paranormal sciences, psychology, human health and generally how to take care of any animal or plant.

Reading Genres: Nonfiction, fantasy, sci-fi, horror, comedy and romance. Yes, sci-fi includes Steampunk for me.

Side note about reading genres: I am really weird with my romance reading. I won’t read Fifty Shades of Gray but will read Beauty and the Beast or Warm Bodies. I think I like at least one person in the relationship to be nonhuman.

If I post about nonfiction, it might mostly just be straight up facts that I found interesting.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own rights to any portion of any book that is reproduced on my blog. I am simply using the quotes under the Fair Use Act, which is to inform and educate others who read my posts.

[authoralexharvey]

Writeblr Introduction

The Cat

I am a two-time published speculative fiction writer and mountain of incomprehensible goo living in the PNW. When I'm not being paid to talk about your car's extended warranty (sell insurance), I am researching whatever interests me, reading from my arsenal of books, or playing video games. You can reach me by howling into the woods when you're alone at night. Some fun facts about me:

I was nearly devoured by red ants when I was 2

I'm a devout Hellenic Polytheist. You can read more on that at @cosmina-miki

I'm nonbinary (they/them pronouns) and bisexual, and just about every single character I write is queer in some way.

I've been writing since I was six years old. The first thing I ever wrote was World of Warcraft fanfiction of my parents' characters. Yes, really.

I come from a family of gamers. This includes the guy who helped make me, who has credits in GURPS sourcebooks.

I recently quit my four-year job at [insert International Hardware Store Company here] and a bitch has been thriving ever since.

I'm engaged to be married in 13 months. Our wedding is Pokémon Mystery Dungeon-themed.

The day WTTV got published, I got to read it at a local pride festival talent show. Said talent show was run by (and featured a performance from) Eric Millegan, who played Dr. Zack Addy in Bones.

The Comma

I have a lot of projects in a wide variety of genres. The below list is not complete, just the most important works in my collection:

The Temple on Cicaro Hill (#ttoch, #muirenn) - Dark fantasy short story about a living goddexx, Muirenn, who grows up in and eventually escapes from Their cult. Published in Myths, Legends, and Dreams, A Worldsmyths Anthology.

Within These Twisted Vines (#maenads) - Urban fantasy short story about Macy Floros, a Dionysian devotee who will do anything to get Isabella, her missing best friend, back. Published in Darkness and Moonlight, a Worldsmyths Anthology. Also available by itself.

A Sharper, More Lasting Pain (#asmlp) - Sapphic fantasy dark academia novel about a living, corrupting magic system, two lovers at a magical college, and the destruction their college has covered up.

Those Who Emerge from Ashes (#twefa) - Dark fantasy novel about a goddess, a priest in a cult, and a runaway who find their lives deeply entangled with the help of an 800-year old living corpse.

A complete list of my works and where to find them is here

I also have a website

I swear I've done one of these before, but I can't find it and I'm sure it needed updating, anyhow.

[simpingandprocrastinating]

There's something I've wanted to get off my chest for a while now. I also know there will be people who will disagree with what I'm gonna say and that's alright.

I've been on Tumblr for a little while now and I've seen it happen on multiple occasions. Bloggers getting harassed because they have different ideas about something.

This involves Self-ship, shipping characters with OC's, pro-shipping, writing dark content, etc.

Harassment is never okay guys! Never ever!

Yes, you may have an opinion about something, but let's not play moral compass because you think it's your responsibility to do so.

When it comes to claiming characters and sending hate to others because you think the character belongs to you. Please just be kind to one another. You're living on a planet with almost 8 billion other people.

Also, 2D is still 2D. We shouldn't forget this. Many of us want to escape life by self-shipping or creating stories around OCs. I do it too! But we still have to keep in mind this isn't real life.

I think it's worrisome to see people sending each other hate over subjects like this.

You write dark content? That's fine!

You Self/OC-ship? That's fine!

You pro-ship? That's fine!

And you know why? Because it's fiction. Don't tell me supporting this means you're a bad person. Again, fiction is fiction.

Dark content

Some people enjoy reading or writing dark content. This doesn't mean they are horrible people.

You need to keep in mind people have their own preferences and this doesn't mean they encourage certain behavior!

Writing about triggering things helps some people cope with trauma. Apart from this many books from popular writers we know write about stuff like this.

Let's take The Hunger Games as an example. We all know that these books involve killing, but does that make Suzanne Collins someone who encourages killing others? Not at all.

So many manga display horrific things. Jojo's Bizarre Adventure displays animal abuse, but does that make Hirohiko Araki an animal abuser? Not at all.

This is where we distinguish fiction from reality.

Writing about minors

This is a sensitive thing under people these days, oh I know. It still doesn't fail to amaze me to this day.

Guys let's be clear about something. Love doesn't know age! Many of you will disagree, I'm aware, but let's talk about shipping 'underage' characters.

What is age? We all age, duh.

Biologically seen a person's brain is fully grown at the age of 25. But why do we say a person is an adult when they turn 18?

This is society's way of drawing the line for things like, getting your driver's license, buying alcohol or cigarettes, etc. Can a person make the right decision at 16, 18, or 25? Well, that's different for every person. Some people are very mature at 16, and some are still not at 25. Keep this in mind while reading the next part.

Shipping a 16-year-old with an 18-year-old? That's a two-year age gap. But just because society labels 18 as the adult age, it's wrong? Age doesn't mean shit when you look at the facts around the development of human bodies. Some people tend to forget that.

Meanwhile, kids get their virginity taken at 12 years old. Those same kids make a problem of shipping 'minors' with a character 2 to 4 years older than them.

The bottom line is, let's not play moral compass. Don't go on TikTok or whatever to gang up on people. It's just wrong.

There are many more things I'd like to say, but I think this is the most important part. Seeing bloggers leave Tumblr because of this is just sad. The extreme toxicity within some fandoms is just alarming, and that's why I'm addressing this.

Just be respectful even if you don't agree. Not everyone has to share the same opinion!