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red-riot-unbreakable-heart · 1 month ago

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Frisky Movie Date 💕 | Shoto x Reader

Fandom: My Hero Academia

Ship: Shoto Todoroki x AFAB Reader 💋

Genre: Smut, Fluff, Romance

Summary: You reconnect with Shoto as adults. You start to explore your mutual attraction through a series of basic dates. When Shoto takes you to the movies, the last thing your'e expecting is for things to get spicy off screen! Suddenly Shoto's giving you the star treatment in public. Turns out, he's a credit to heroes everywhere - he's determined to show you that a Pro Hero always gets the job done. TLDR: Shoto fingers you into oblivion while on a movie date and it's HOT AF! 🔥

CW: MDNI!, A18+, kissing, romance, sexual tension, spicy scenes, fingering, lemon, Smut, Dirty Talk, All characters are in their mid-twenties!

It's late evening and you're at the movies with Shoto Todoroki.

You've gone on a few dates together since reconnecting at your UA class's 10 year anniversary. You're both successful heroes in your own right - Shoto is consistently on the Top 10 Hero charts, while you prefer to operate in the shadows and off the grid. When you bumped into each other at the reunion party, the attraction between the two of you was undeniable.

Shoto in his mid twenties is...woof. He's handsome as ever - that trademark two toned hair does all the talking when he walks into a room. He's bulkier now than he was in school - he's filled out quite a bit with muscle since you last sparred with him in a UA gym.

He dresses much classier now, too...you recall days in the dorms where he would wander around in joggers and loose sweatpants. He's definitely retained a hero stylist since then. These days he dresses like old money - expensive cable knit sweaters, suit jackets and neutral leather shoes. And he always smells delicious - an interesting combination of fruit and sandalwood.

The first few dates were innocent enough - dinner at a high end restaurant (in a private room, of course. You needed to guard your identity carefully and it was imperative to your underground hero work that you not be spotted with a high profile hero like Shoto). A quiet evening outing to a museum after close. A stroll through a local park at dusk when most people had gone home for dinner.

Each date had been fun and sweet - you and Shoto have caught up and come to better understand one another's lives post graduation. You've asked questions about Shoto's hero agency, his challenges with sidekicks and administrative BS. And in turn, he's asked you to explain how you partner with detectives and the police in order to take down criminal rings throughout the city. You've talked about the state of the hero world, the gossip you've heard about your old classmates, and about your favorite foods (his being Soba).

Despite the sweet and chaste nature of your dates, sexual tension is constantly pulsing between you, staticky and sharp. You can feel it in the way he glances sideways at you when you walk side by side. It's evident in how his hugs linger a moment longer than they should, in the way that his hand brushes yours more than necessary when you sit down for dinner or coffee.

All of your interactions are above board, though. It's too soon to get physical. And you know that Shoto is a little slow on the uptake, so you assume he's going to take his time before trying to do anything *spicy* with you during a date.

Turns out...that assumption was dead wrong.

For your fourth date, Shoto takes you to a new mystery movie that's just hit the theaters. You sneak in during the previews so that no one will notice the two of you. He doesn't want to be swarmed by fangirls and you don't want your underground hero identity compromised. Sneaking around is a necessary evil when you're Pro Heros of this caliber. It also makes everything feel a bit clandestine and sexy.

You breathe in the cool dark air of the theater - there's something magical about going to the movies these days. It's so easy to stream things in your little apartment or at your agency office. There's something so fun and purposeful about setting aside time to go to a physical theater, to grab snacks and just intentionally enjoy a film with another person.

You stumble over an overturned popcorn bucket, your hero senses failing you. Shoto glances back at you and holds out an arm to brace your fall, easily slipping his hand into yours once you steady yourself. He guides you through the dark theater to the reserved seats. His hand is strong, reassuring. Strangely sexy? You wonder what those strong, supple fingers could do to you...

You refocus on the task at hand - finding your seats. Shoto locates them with ease and stows your drinks in the chair cup holders. He drops your hand unceremoniously and waits for you to plop in your seat before taking his own. You're pleased to see that the theater is fairly empty - there's no one sitting in your row and there don't appear to be any rowdy moviegoers in this particular crowd. The audience is mostly comprised of couples in their twenties and thirties. You fit right in.

You settle in, pleased that it's one of those theaters that has the fancy reclining seats. You eagerly hit the buttons and the chair hums faintly as its backrest tilts you into a slightly more comfortable position. Shoto reclines his chair to match yours, gazing up at the pre-film commercials with his usual intensity. His mismatched eyes glimmer in the cinema screen's glow and you can't help but admire how gorgeous he is.

As the previews wrap up, Shoto lifts the armrest up so that he can scooch next to you, his muscular thigh pressing flush against your own leg. You glance up at him in surprise - you definitely were not expecting him to try and cuddle you during this date. He's usually so reserved and shy!

You let yourself lean into him lightly, feeling the coolness of his right side seep through your thick sweatshirt and leggings like a refreshing mint.

"I'm excited." You whisper softly, tilting your head up so you can speak close to his ear. "I've read good reviews of this film!"

His lips ease into a smile and he nods. "I'm excited, too." He reaches down and slides his hand over your own where it rests on your thigh. A shiver runs through you at the touch. If Shoto notices, he doesn't show it.

The movie starts to roll. A half hour goes by - characters are introduced, settings are explored. A ragtag group of misfits is locked in a mansion and challenged to solve a startling mystery. You're both engrossed in the plot line (or, so you think) - when Shoto removes his hand from on top of yours and brings it to rest lightly on your upper thigh. Instantly you freeze, eyes darting down to where his large hand now rests on your leg.

You give him a sidelong look. He feels your eyes on his face and turns ever so slightly towards you, eyes widening questioningly almost as if to say "what?"

You shake your head loosely, unable to come up with a response.

What would you even say? Shoto's hand on your thigh doesn't seem particularly suspicious, and you want to be in constant contact with him anyway. He's cute and you're attracted to him and every touch he lavishes on you feels electric. You shake your head again and refocus your attention on the screen. Shoto smirks as he turns back to watch the movie as well, giving your leg a light squeeze with the pads of his fingers. You can't help the tremor that runs through your body at the delicate touch. For a moment, your brain goes off the deep end - you're craving his fingers everywhere.

You sink your attention back into the movie, interested to see how the film plays out. The plot moves forward - the characters explore the spooky mansion and the mystery deepens. You have a few theories as to how the plot might resolve, but it's still too early to tell.

You almost jump when you feel the Shoto's finger twitch at your thigh. No, not quite a twitch...more like a tap? Shoto starts to lightly tap his finger on your leg. You can't ignore the gentle beat he taps into your leggings - you haven't been touched in that particular spot in a long while. It feels both casual and intimate. You quickly glance down at his strong Pro Hero hands. You wonder if the tapping could be a nervous tic - extra energy flowing out through his finger tip.

You try to refocus on the movie, but when Shoto starts to trace soft circles into your leggings, you realize the touch is purposeful. You're not quite sure what he's trying to do, but he has your full attention as he glides his finger tips in small shapes against your leg.

He slides the finger an inch or two upwards and hits a sensitive spot on your inner thigh. You're instantly turned on - warmth radiating up your legs and straight to your cunt. You don't dare look over at him - it might break the tension. The spell. You can tell through your peripherals that Shoto is still staring straight ahead at the movie screen. There's no note in his expression to indicate that he's trying to silently seduce you.

He continues to run his fingertip featherlight back and forth across your soft leggings, moving slowly upwards. You feel yourself getting wetter with each gentle circle and pattern. It doesn't take him long to crawl his hand up to towards your pussy.

You're craving his touch on your clit now, but he's caressing everywhere but - his fingers slide up your waist, around your hips, down the dip of your the point of your inner thigh that connects to your labia...

You long to buck up your hips or to guide him to your pussy with your own hand. But you don't dare. You want to see how this plays out.

The movie plays on. And Shoto's gentle caresses continue.

After 15 minutes, you can barely sit still. You're soaking wet and your core is absolutely aching. Shoto's fingers swirl and slide down across your hip bone and ghost across the edge of your pussy lips. Tired of his teasing, you lightly shift your hips, desperate to get some friction against your tingling clit. At your sudden movement, his fingers still.

You worry that you've ruined his game, turning your head slightly to the left to gauge his reaction.

He softly turns to look back at you, his gaze locking with your own. His eyes are glazed over, boring into your own as he bites at his perfect mouth. Your eyes dart down to his mouth, drinking in the flash of white teeth sinking into his lower lip. He leans towards you slowly, closing the distance between you so he can whisper in your ear: "Can I touch you, sweetheart?"

You're suddenly intensely aware of where you are - a public place sprinkled with other couples. But the theater is dark and the movie is loud and Shoto's leg and side are pressed so closely to your own that you doubt anyone would notice if you just let him give you what you so desperately need...

You release a breath you didn't even realize you were holding, your vocal chords barely buzzing under the thick film score blasting through the theater speakers: "...yes."

That seems to be exactly what Shoto was waiting to hear. He swirls his fingers quickly to the center of your pussy, drawing the pads of his fingers up and across your cunt in the most delicious way. You try not to grind up into his fingers as he feels around for your sweet spot. When he finally locates your clit, you hiss appreciatively, a short burst of air leaving your lips before you clap your hand over your mouth to shut yourself up. You glance back at Shoto and see that he's grinning at you mischievously. It's an expression you've never seen on his face before. He looks cute and handsome and diabolical.

He pulls his hand away and you keen lowly in the back of your throat at the loss of contact. His face breaks into a grin as you make a noise he's certain only he can hear.

On the large silver screen before you, the protagonist is being chased by some sort of villain character. You're too punch drunk to remember what the movie is about anymore. What's the genre? No clue. The title? Don't care. Your pussy is soaked and throbbing and you're pretty sure you might need to ditch your ruined panties in the cinema's ladies room so you can make it home comfortably.

Your mind zooms in a thousand different directions - You're horny. Shoto is hot. Does he like you? Or does he just want to fuck you? Who cares - get your hands back on me, you Icy Hot freak! Why did he stop? Should you have pretended to ignore him - does he just like the chase? What is this movie called again? Why is the protagonist hiding in the woods? Is her underwear comfortable? Because yours is certainly not right now -

You feel Shoto's large, steady hands wrap around your hips. Before you can fully register what's happening, he's pulling you into his lap.

Jeez. Lord Almighty help me.

He pulls you towards him so that your back is flush against his chest, and his chin rests on your right shoulder. His breath is hot against the bare skin of your neck, causing ripples of goose bumps to prickle to life with each exhale of air. You feel him beneath your butt - he's unmistakably hard in those fancy pants of his. You glitter at the realization - Shoto Todoroki is hard for you. You wonder how big his dick is. You wonder how good it might feel.

Fuck.

No. No! You're in public right now. You need to cool off before someone notices you both and kicks you out of the theater for being too handsy. Or, worse - you need to cut this out before someone snaps a picture of two Pro Heroes are canoodling in a public movie theater. The press would go haywire if they found out about this.

You slowly turn your head around to see if anyone has noticed this sudden...intimate...change in position. But once again, there's no one sitting in your row. The movie theater chair backs are high enough to allot an illusion of privacy, and all of the other couples seem to be staring at the movie screen with rapt attention. The score swells as the protagonist continues to run through the woods in search of cover, and you hear audible gasps from the audience as she trips and falls over a log. People are invested in this movie. Unlike you.

"You're so beautiful, I can't seem to behave myself." Shoto whispers thickly into your ear. "I can't keep my hands off of you for some reason." He breathes in deeply. "Does your quirk have some kind of hormonal side effect?"

You want to burst out laughing - based on his tone of voice, his question is completely earnest, it's not a flirty come on.

"No, that's not how my quirk works at all Shoto. You're just horny." You say quietly, trying to keep the timber of your voice as low as humanly possibly so as not to draw attention to the way your bodies are currently configured.

"Yeah. I definitely am." He says simply, nuzzling lightly into your neck. He slides his hands up and down the sides of your legs as if to warm you up. "Did you enjoy the way I was touching you?" He says, a hint of slyness creeping into his hushed tone.

"I'm soaked through." You say, shifting uncomfortably in his lap. He sucks in a breath at those words, his own body pulsing with need. You feel his cock beneath you, heavy and getting harder by the second. You wish you were anywhere else - you wish you could hop off his lap, unzip his pants and hop on that sweet Pro Hero cock. You'd ride him through the night and well into the morning if you could.

Your mind is now a cloudy haze of hormones and longing.

"If you'd like to...maybe I could finish what I started." He says flatly, turning his head so that his lips ghost the hollow under your ear. You feel your heart beat quicken at the suggestion. Your entire body screams out yes! yes! yes!

"No. Shoto. We're in public." You hiss between your teeth as you feel his fingers dance across your legs and up towards your pussy. "What if we get caught? It's a PR nightmare waiting to happen."

Shoto says nothing. Instead, he reaches behind him and grabs his thick, corduroy jacket from where it hangs on the chair back. He quietly spreads the fabric across your lap, covering you like a blanket.

"Better?" He says softly, his fingers starting to swirl gentle circles into your thighs once more.

"Um." You gulp, taking one more look around at the theater before throwing caution to the wind. "Why the hell not?"

That's all the answer he seems to have needed. He draws a hand delicately up your inner thigh and dips towards your vulva, gently tracing circles into the comfortable fabric of your leggings. When he gets to your clit again, it's feels like magic. You wish you could moan out his name, but you're too nervous to speak. Beneath the jacket on your lap, his right hand is working wonders.

Meanwhile, he brings his left hand to his mouth, slowly sucking on his fingers.

"What are you doing?" You hiss out as he swirls his right fingers around your clothed pussy in a controlled, practiced sort of way. The impact is buttery and pleasurable in all the right ways. Your panties are dripping wet.

"You'll see." He says, distracted. You find out the answer a moment later when his fingers ghost beneath the elastic of your leggings.

"Shoto." You say warningly, still unsure about having a Rated R moment inside of a public theater.

"Trust me." Is all he says before he dips his spit covered fingers underneath the elastic bands of both your leggings and your underwear. You stifle a gasp as he slides his wet digits down, down down...swiping his dexterous fingertips across your swollen clit with practiced skill. Your whole body feels alive and electric at the contact.

He doesn't spend long playing with your clit - he has other plans for you. You feel him explore your pussy, sliding his fingers around your labia before finally dipping into your hot core.

You hear the tiniest gasp of air escape his lips as he realizes how fucking wet you are. He buries his face in the side of your neck and groans softly as he swirls his fingers into you softly. He's curling and scissoring his index and middle fingers lightly to give you a delicious feeling of stretching fullness. He feels so lovely inside of you, stirring your arousal around like thick honey. You grind up into his fingers gently, trying to flex your needy pelvic muscles in a subtle, refined sort of way (aka, you try not to look like a humping maniac in the middle of this public movie theater screening).

Shoto's fingers are the perfect mix of calloused and soft. He's got an amazing dexterity that no doubt comes from years of training in hand to hand combat. Each gentle push and pull of his fingertips makes you see stars.

You feel an orgasm building quickly as your pussy flutters and throbs around his capable digits. And honestly, it doesn't take a lot to bring you to the brink of pleasure.

Shoto continues to play with your pussy with his left hand. He drags his right slowly up your neck, letting his hand linger for a moment at your throat. There's no pressure in his touch - you just feel the weight of his palm against your windpipe. It's almost like a teasing little promise...I could choke you if you wanted me to. Your pussy pulses steadily around his fingers at the implication. After a moment, his palm travels up your throat, dips across the curve of your chin, and comes to rest snuggly across your mouth. He pulls back your face lightly, a silent command to keep quiet. This is something you've always loved about Shoto - the way he's so direct.

Ironically enough, as the film hits its climax you get closer to your own. The protagonist and the villain are having some big CGI battle, and the surround sound is LOUD. The image on the screen blurs as your eyes roll back in your head a bit, blissed out and riding high on Shoto Todoroki's fingertips. You have no fucking clue why there's a swamp monster in this movie and you don't fucking care.

Shoto takes his time working at you - his motions are gentle but precise. You huff lightly into his hand and shift needily in his lap, trying to get some friction going against his cock. You can feel him hard beneath you, his dick a welcome presence against your butt. You want him to fill you up with more than his fingers, and your hazy brain wonders what it would feel like to be stretched out by a top hero's cock. The thought sends your senses spinning.

Holy fuck you're about to cum hard.

Luckily, Shoto has been studying body language for quite some time in his hero work. He dips his lips to the shell of your ear, dragging the very tip of his tongue across the delicate cartilage before he whispers: "Cum for me, pretty girl."

He dips his head lower to plant a deep, wet kiss against the sensitive part of your neck and that's all it takes.

Theater goers and mysterious swamp monster character be damned, you're going to orgasm in the middle of this goddamn CGI fight scene if it kills you.

Your ears are ringing with the anticipation of your high - your blood is pumping through your veins a bit too fast, and you've all but forgotten to breathe. The music coming out of the surround sound speakers swells alongside the pressure in your pussy.

You cum - hard. Shoto's finger pulses in and out of you in time with your orgasm, and you take a short, shuddering breath as you ride out your pleasure. This is the wettest you've been in so long and it makes cumming feel so glorious and comfortable.

You lean your head back into him when you're finished, head falling against the hard muscle of Shoto's chest. Your body feels fizzy and warm - the kind of relaxed feeling you get when you step into a hot bath. He curls his finger inside you one last time as the aftershock of your orgasm dies down before covertly removing his hand from your panties and pants. He releases your mouth from his grasp and you breathe in the cool theater air.

Shoto's mouth finds your ear again, and he whispers one final sexy thing: "A Pro always finishes the job."

Your whole body shivers at the words.

The movie screen goes dark and the credits begin to roll. You turn your head ever so slightly so you can see half of Shoto's face through your hazy eyes. He smiles softly at you as he raises his left hand to his lips and licks your orgasm clean off of his fingers. Holy fucking shit.

Without warning, the lights flicker on and all around you. Couples stand and start to drift towards the theater's exit. You quickly scrabble up and off of Shoto's lap on shaky legs, incredulous. You can't believe you just did that.

You shiver from the shock of it all.

Shoto has managed to scoop his jacket off your lap before you get to your feet. He wraps the thick fabric around you, squeezing his palms lightly against your shivery shoulders. He pulls you in towards him, dipping his head down so that his lips meet yours. It's your first kiss with Shoto, and it's sweet and chaste and the complete opposite of whatever the hell just took place in that pleather theater chair.

You jump when you hear someone from the back of the theater say to their partner: "Is that Pro Hero Shoto!?"

Shoto flashes you a grin before he grabs your hand and you haul ass out of the emergency exit. An alarm blares to life and you cry out in shock as he tugs you along around the side of the building and towards the parking lot.

"Shoto! Shoto that's definitely illegal!" You cry out as your shoes hit the pavement. The air is crisp and chilly.

"So is fingering your girlfriend in public. So we're two for two." He laughs, so much more confident than the Shoto you knew back in school. Where did all of this charm come from?

And...hold on a second!?

"Girlfriend?" You question as a gust of wind nearly blows the corduroy jacket from your shoulders. You grasp at it desperately and manage to hold on with your free hand.

"Well yes. I figured I sealed the deal when I gave you an orgasm back there."

"Wha - ?"

"Denki told me that's how you ask someone to be your girlfriend. You pleasure them." Shoto locates his car and the two of you come to a stop as he fumbles for his keys. And boom goes the dynamite - Shoto is just as clueless as ever. He's being mislead by Denki, who clearly wanted a laugh at yours and Shoto's expense.

"Shoto." You say, pulling your hand away and pushing your arms into the jacket's sleeves to maximize comfort. "Shoto, have you ever had a girlfriend before?"

"Not formally. But I'm excited to be on this journey with you." He finds the right key and clicks open the passenger door to his expensive car. Ever the gentleman, he helps you inside and turns on your heated seat before making his way to the driver's side. He throws his key into the ignition and the engine purrs to life.

"Shoto...Kamanari was messing with you. Usually you have a conversation with someone about your relationship status before you slap a label on it. You don't just...give a girl an orgasm to lock her down."

"Oh." He turns to look at you, face stricken. "Do you not want to be my girlfriend then? Sorry, I just assumed..."

"No, no - Shoto, I want to be your girlfriend! All you had to do is ask."

"Oh thank goodness." Relief washes over his face and he slumps back in his seat. "I am not the best with these kinds of things."

"It's alright." You say, reaching across the center console to cover his hand with your own. "We can figure it all out together. And if you're half as good with your dick as you are with your fingers...well..." You grin up at him and the guy freakin blushes. Oh it is so on.

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Okayyyyy I hope you enjoyed that little Shoto one shot! We've all been fingered in a movie theater at least once in our lives, right!? So this is a totally relatable tale, right!? Right!

Feel free to check out my other Shoto-centric fics:

Kirishima gives Todoroki S*x Tips | Todoroki x Reader Fic

Shoto Discovers He Has A Daddy Kink | Shoto x Reader

Shoto's First Kiss Series: Shoto Todoroki x Reader | First Kiss ❄️🔥💋

And here's my Masterlist for good measure!

XOXO,

Red Riot Unbreakable Heart ❤️

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delirious-donna · 11 months ago

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Awake At The Witching Hour [Part Four]

story summary: Your best friend lets you crash at her place over the spring break since you have nowhere else to go. Little did you know that it isn't actually her place. Instead, it belongs to a tall (grumpy) hot guy who finds you in his apartment–her brother.

chapter summary: You can't sleep and it seems your handsome host can't either. What is there to do in the middle of the night?

pairings: Nanami Kento x female reader

warnings: NSFW, mutual masturbation (but separate, you’ll get the gist), Nanami being pent up, imaginations running wild (both Nanami and reader), cumshot, reader described as being generous and soft in body

Part Three | Series Masterlist | Part Five

The witching hour. When it is said that the veil between worlds is at its thinnest, and the power of the nefarious is at its strongest.

You weren’t entirely sure what had roused you. No sense of fear gripped your heart so you doubted it was due to some bad dream, though it had taken a moment to remember where you were.

Black velvet darkness impaired your vision at first, drowsiness adding to your inability to pick out the details of the room you were lying in. The air was pleasantly cool against your warm sleep-soaked skin. You pushed back the duvet to feel the faint breeze play across the soft squidge of your abdomen—the oversized t-shirt you wore pushed up to your chest in the disarray of a tumultuous sleep.

The events of the day unfurled in your mind’s eye like a low budget movie. It still didn’t feel real, though you well remembered the blind panic and sense of anger then irritation at being walked in on whilst bathing. No, not walked in, leapt in on. Now that you knew Nanami Kento a little better it was hard to fight the smile that rose to your lips in memory.

He seemed so different at that moment, the booming “booo” not something you would ever expect from the rigid man he had been since then. You wondered if he was a little more relaxed with his friends and loved ones. Did he even have friends?

A suspicion told you that he was the type to keep to himself, or maybe one or two close friends at most. That was relatable, and made him all the more human in your eyes. What might he be like as a boyfriend, you wondered? Attentive and loving or distant and cold? Either was possible, as well as a multitude of other attributes and combinations.

Sighing deeply, you turned onto your side and pulled the covers up to your chin now that your body had cooled from the stream of air that crept in from the ajar window. A glance at your phone told you it was late—an hour you should be asleep at—but you were annoyingly awake.

It seemed the only thing on your mind was that of the man asleep in the room next to yours. A man that didn’t want anything to do with you, a perfect stranger. Yet, you couldn’t help but wonder… couldn’t help but fantantise that he could be interested. If he were to knock on your door right now, his hazel eyes, dark pools speared with lightning, and desire evident on his cheeks you would welcome him.

Did he sleep naked? The thought of all that glorious skin bare beneath covers that matched the ones you were snuggled under sent a throb directly between your legs. You were developing a second heartbeat at an alarming rate and it was all his fault. It was ridiculous how good looking he was, and what made it worse was he didn’t seem to know it. You imagined your fingers running through his neatly parted hair and knew he would look even sexier with it all mussed. The just fucked look.

He was well built and definitely strong. Biceps didn’t bulge against shirt sleeves in the way his did if you weren’t bench pressing a decent amount regularly. That and the small home gym were more than enough to know with certainty that if he meant business, you’d be in a heap of trouble. In the best way. Your mind whispered, and you felt fiery warmth fill your cheeks.

You weren’t honestly sure when your hand had begun to stray.

The peaks of your nipples rubbed against your shirt, thumb and finger tweaking the sensitive buds and rolling them deftly until your thighs pressed together at the crave for friction. It was wrong to be thinking such lewd thoughts of your generous host—unwilling as he might have started out—but you couldn’t stop. Kento’s broad frame filled your mind, the looming shadow dwarving you enough to make you feel diminutive by comparison, and equally as thrilled.

The laboured breathing of his barreled chest hard to resist, the rise and fall evidence of a man close to the limit of his restraint and you badly wanted to reach out and touch him. Wild desire radiating from his every pore like a heady musk that you inhaled greedily, longing to become entirely intoxicated by him. Who would break first in the game of lust and longing? Regardless of the answer, there would be no loser.

This was so wrong. So stupendously wrong, not to mention, futile. A veil of madness shrouded the bed and you couldn’t stop nor did you actually wish to. In the darkest part of the night your deepest desires unfolded in perfect clarity. He ticked so many boxes and left question marks in many more. An enigma that you longed to solve. A riddle that you wanted to crow over the answer when it finally revealed itself.

Nanami Kento…

Your fingers dipped beneath the waistband of your underwear, eyes widened at the searing heat you encountered. The skin of your pubic mound was warm to the touch, but as you raked through the neatly trimmed hairs and moved closer to the heart of your sex, it increased tenfold. You might have hissed if you weren’t concerned with making any noise that could alert the object of your arousal. Wetness glided over the pads of your fingertips, sticky and abundant. It spread along your plump folds engorged with blood until your tented knees butterflied outwards and you could feel the twitching urge to toy with your clit.

What would he think of this madness? A young woman intent on masturbating to the thought of him. Would he deepen that permanently etched scowl and reprimand you? And why did even the idea of that outcome spark the ends of your nerves with raw electricity?

Speaking of the man in question, he was awake. Blinking into the darkness as if the ceiling held the answer to his current dilemma. That dilemma being the tent in his tight navy boxer briefs.

Without looking, he palmed himself and manoeuvred his cock to lie flush against his thigh. There. Now it didn’t appear like he was pitching a tent that could sleep a family of four. Instead, the heat of his erection seeped into him and roused his mind all the more.

His dreams had been a jumbled black and white mess, an indicator for the state of his mind. Sleep had found him easily, but the wrinkled and twisted covers showed that it had not been a sound slumber.

Kento puffed, grumpy and aching. He couldn’t recall the last time he wrapped his palm around himself to let off some steam. It had always seemed like a poor use of his time. Opting for cold showers to numb his swollen member, focusing on getting in a rigorous albeit begrudged workout in before the commute to work.

He baulked at the realisation he hadn’t cum in nearly six months. The last time he entertained the idea of dating even further back than that. So what was different?

You. You were something different. Smiling before he could school his features into neutrality, he surmised that your presence was fucking with more than just his routine. It was you that he thought of when he adjusted himself, trying and failing not to think of your smaller fingers around his shaft.

“What is wrong with me?”

He recalled the smile you gifted him when you parted ways for the night, how your small hand had once again reached out to lightly touch his bicep in thanks for carrying your small suitcase into the room. His cock twitched in response. Groaning, he smacked the pillow next to him over his face. If he were a dog his tail would be wagging. Not just a dog, more like a mongrel.

Kento swore your scent lingered in his room. The wafts of your perfume were stronger in the bathroom and he tried to ignore the subtle sweetness even as it infused inside his nose. Right now, it seemed to have settled into his sheets and he longed to bury his nose in the high count cotton and inhale deeply. Nothing was dissuading him from lowering the band of his briefs until he stood proudly erect.

Maybe if he satisfied the urge now, the fog that clouded his judgement would clear and all would be right again. That was what he told himself while pulling back the covers to free himself. Precum dribbled from the angry slit of his cockhead, turning the near purple tip glossy and sticky.

His thumb swiped through the mess and his hips rose instinctively. Behind his shuttered eyelids he saw you approach the bed, generous hips swaying clad in the softest satin. In truth, he couldn’t give a fuck for expensive lingerie, but it was aesthetically pleasing and this was his fantasy so why not indulge? He’d be just as happy to greet you in sweats or better yet… his shirt.

Oh fuck.

The tendons in his neck strained, head thrown back whilst he pumped himself lazily at first. Would you be shy in bed? Assertive? Would you drop your jaw to let your tongue run over the seam of his balls whilst using that quick witted mouth of yours on him?

The unknown was almost more tantalising to him than the act itself. It had been so long since the experience of working someone out appealed to him. To learn their nuances and what made them tick. More specifically, your nuances and what made you tick.

With months of denying himself under his belt, it didn’t take long for Kento to feel that familiar tingle begin at the small of his back. His balls drew tight and full, and he flushed a darker red at how easily he was ready to cum. His free hand clenched into a fist, the cotton of the sheets held tightly whilst his toes curled. A guttural groan escaped his throat before he could smother it, quickly biting his lip as spurts of hot cum lashed his quivering stomach. Warm honeyed pleasure dripped in inversion from the bottom of his spine to the base of his skull until his eyes rolled over.

Kento slowed the stroke of his hand, wringing his cock of every last drop until he was close to whimpering from the sensitivity. Panting from the far too quick ejaculation, his eyebrows pinched at the mess he had made. Streaks of milky release pooled near his navel, his hand and softening cock sticky and webbed from the moment of madness. As soon as he was certain his legs would work, he trudged into the bathroom to clean up with guilt weighing heavy in his gut.

A similar sensation burned in the pit of your stomach. Your chest heaved from the release you’d found, but it came at a price and now you were paying it.

You didn’t regret your actions but there was still a guilt associated with them. You were two unattached adults, and you couldn’t deny or sweep aside your attraction to Kento any longer, but he was Karin’s brother. He should be forbidden. You wouldn’t give oxygen to the mean voice in your head that said she deserved it for not telling you about him sooner.

The little pulsing aftershocks of your orgasm were fading, fingers sticky from how you had done your best to fuck yourself before switching to manipulating your sensitive pearl until white sparked in your vision. All the while you thought of how it would look to have his head between your thighs, his mouth on your pussy and your fingers tangled in his hair. Would he eat you sloppily or bite at the tender inside of your thighs? Would he welcome you rutting yourself against his mouth or would he hold your hips steady?

You sat up, legs wobbly when your feet fell to the floor. The bathroom wasn’t far and you needed to clean up and change your underwear. The reflection in the mirror over the sink looked hesitant despite the soft glow your skin exuded. A healthy dose of dopamine and the pump of blood circulating your body brightened you up even though it was the middle of the night, and you looked away with a troubled sigh.

The apartment was silent, your footsteps the only sound as you tiptoed barefoot into the kitchen for a glass of water before heading back to bed. Leaning your forehead against the cabinet, you listened to the rushing water for a moment or two longer than necessary before filling a glass and taking a sip. The sound masked the footsteps that approached, pausing then continuing on.

“Oh, you’re awake.”

A strangled scream caught fast in your throat, muffled by the water now rushing down the wrong way and making you cough and splutter. You whirled on the spot and came face to chest with the man you had spent the last half hour pleasuring yourself to the thought of.

Kento was bare chested—a fact your bulging eyes couldn’t believe—with a faint smattering of ash-coloured hairs decorating between his meaty pectorals and leading down towards his stomach. You didn’t dare follow it any further for fear of knowing whether it went right down to his happy trail, a fact that most definitely would see you moaning aloud.

A pair of pale blue pyjama trousers hid the rest of him and you were grateful for that. He stalled next to the kitchen island, an unreadable expression on his face, and were his ears red? It would be comical if you weren’t burning with mortification. Your heartbeat raced so thunderously that it was amazing he couldn’t hear it from across the room.

“I… couldn’t sleep,” you finally offered once you could breathe again without coughing.

His eyes seemed to search your features, whether for signs of lying or something else, you weren’t completely sure. At last, he nodded and walked closer to grab his own glass and fill it with water.

The silence was oppressive, thick and charged with an energy that bristled down Kento’s spine. “Do you need anything?”

Your head snapped around so fast he was surprised you didn’t give yourself whiplash. If he didn’t know any better he would say that warmth seemed to fill your face. The question was innocent but perhaps… no. He was trying to see things that weren’t there.

“An extra pillow. A thicker duvet.” He elaborated when you didn’t answer.

Having this casual conversation was excruciating enough given what he had just done to the image of you in his mind. It was made worse with the realisation that the reality of you was so much more appealing than his imagination could ever conjure.

The almost comically oversized t-shirt you wore dragged nearly to your knees, with the sleeves reaching well past your elbows. It kept your modesty intact and the mystery of it all made his mouth water. Discovering the curves of your body, which parts dipped and the soft rolls of your body would be hours of fun if he were given the chance, not that he would be. He idly wondered if you would look this good in one of his shirts before dismissing the thought, or trying to.

His cock twitched in his clean briefs and he cleared his throat and turned away, terrified of pitching another tent when one was not wanted nor needed. Kento didn’t need to think about how close you were, how all he had to do was reach out a hand and discover whether you would step away or approach. He couldn’t decide which outcome would be the better one.

“No, I don’t need a pillow or anything like that,” you said finally, though you left the sentence hanging because you did want something, but you couldn’t tell him that. “I’m just adjusting to sleeping in a new place, I’ll be fine.”

“Alright, but don’t hesitate if there is something I can do to help.”

You could stop looking like a damn five course meal.

The thought was in your mind so suddenly you nearly gasped, instead, masking it by taking a long gulp of water and walking towards the hallway. You needed to put some distance between you, to retreat to the relative safety of your room and chastise yourself for being no better than a lustful bunny.

With a faux smile and an appreciative nod, you turned one last time to glance at him. “Thank you, Kento.”

Kento watched you slip out of sight, back along the darkened hallway and listened to the soft snick of your bedroom closing shut. He was throbbing, a hand drifted to his crotch to hide what was growing. That was the first time you had called him by his given name, and he liked it.

What a mess, he thought whilst returning to bed. His eyes never wavered from your door until he was safely behind his own. His guts still twisted in memory of his unsavoury actions, but something more pressing was on his mind as he screwed his eyes shut and prayed for sleep.

I want to hear my name from your lips again…

#delirious writes #nanami x reader #nanami kento #nanami kento x reader #nanami smut #nanami fluff #nanami kento smut #jjk x reader #jjk smut #jjk fluff

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gguk-n · 5 months ago

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Chapter 2- Secret and Surprises

Unravelling Max's Mystery (Max Verstappen x Online Friend!Reader)

Series Masterlist

Summary- Y/N has lost out on a few of her publication dreams while juggling 2 jobs. Her crush on Max has only led to failed relationships. She dreams of one day meeting and being with Max. But Max has a girlfriend and a career she knows nothing about.

{Reader's POV}

I finally moved out from my parents's place a few years back when I decided to pursue Literature. It was a very difficult time for me but I had Max by my side. Trying to convince my parents that I want to understand the art of writing and then doing what I love was very challenging. I moved to a another city with my dream university. Even today, they detest my choices and hope that I would take my life seriously. It has been difficult but seeing them once or twice a year only has made it easy.

Max and I are still very close. I still have a crush on him; it got worse after we started video calling each other after I moved out. I wasn't about to get 'caught' talking to a guy under my parents's roof. The consequences would be disastrous. Max is still the same, slightly older, has a stubble. I still don't know his full name, but he doesn't know mine either and I don't mind keeping it that way.

Having Max as a friend has hindered quite a few relationships either because they weren't him or they were jealous of some guy I would drop everything for. He still has a horrible sleep schedule, I've scolded him a couple time, but he doesn't listen. However, he has the cutest cats, Jimmy and Sassy. They love their dad a lot; I really wanna get cats too but I'm barely keeping myself alive, I'll kill my pets.

My job pays shitty, I'm a primary school teacher and freelance editor. I had hoped that being an editor for bigger and well established authors would help me improve my writing and get my book or poems published; has yet to happen. All my clients are kind people and very understanding of my predicament. Alas, this doesn't leave me much time in the day; teaching, lesson planning, correcting papers, editing other's stories or poems, talking to Max. Max has gotten pretty good about not disappearing like he did a couple years back. I still have no clue what he does, not like he knows what I do specifically. But he said he does something along the lines of cars; I knew he loved cars. I hope his job pays him better since he moved a few years back when I was still at home. His place looks lavish, either he gets paid well or it's from the company. I will never know. He's seen the shit hole I live in, but has yet to comment on my poor living conditions. I have too much of an ego to let my parents know I am struggling; I would rather starve then let them know. All I would hear is that they were right and I should mend my mistakes. What mistakes should I mend when these were my choices and I'm happy with them.

I've compiled 20 of my poems and even wrote a book, I've sent it to so many publishers in hopes that it will get picked up. This is like my fourth or fifth time. I mean, I haven't exhausted my resources and till the day all the publications shut down I'm not giving up. I've been rejected quite a few time, sometimes at the initial stages or after first reading and preview. They make publishing a book look so easy on shows and movies. I wish it was that easy in real life, but it isn't.

Being on spring break makes it so much easier for a while, till I have to return. However, I can focus on my book and the editing gig since it pays better than teaching. There's this guy I'm editing for currently and he's so annoying. I want to stop working with him except he pays the best. The life of being chained to capitalism. I was fixing up his errors when my phone rang, it was Max on video call. We spoke on video call a lot after I moved out. He's attractive, blue eyes; truly all my weaknesses combined. When the screen popped up, he almost fell out of frame when Jimmy jumped on the phone. Max placed Jimmy on the floor. Max- Hey, Schat. Sorry about Jimmy. Y/N- Hi, honestly I would rather talk to Jimmy. (I laughed) Max- Sometimes, I think you are friends with me for my cats. Y/N- Yeah, I would've stopped being your friend had you not adopted them. Max- Wow! I'm hurt. (He placed his hand on his chest) Y/N- Stop being dramatic. I'm just living vicariously through you. Max- You should get cats too, you seem lonely. Y/N- I wish, I'll end up killing them since I'm so busy. Max- hmmm, I hope you find a companion. I did find a companion Max, every time I get a boyfriend, we break up directly or indirectly because of you I thought. Max- What happened to Finn? I thought he was smitten for you. Y/N- Yeah, things didn't work out. We both were too busy with work. In actuality, when we finally got close after months of talking and the first time we had sex I moaned out Max's name. He left immediately. I wasn't about to tell Max this. It would ruin everything, I believe. Max- What were you doing? Y/N- Editing that ass's book. Max- You know maybe, you should leave some blunders, not the most obvious ones but one's that would make him look stupid. Y/N- I wish Max, he pays me a shit ton to do my job. (I laughed bitterly) It's fine, honestly. I'll be done soon and I'll never have to see him again, hopefully, fingers crossed. Max- I hope so too. Y/N- Max, you should date someone. Instead of worrying about me. I've never seen you date anyone in all the years I've known you. Max- ahh, yeah, I'm too busy with work to do that. Y/N- If we lived closer, I would've set you up with someone. That someone being me, but he doesn't need to know that. We haven't even met yet; we never even spoke about meeting each other honestly. Max scratched his neck, shaking his head. Max- I'm good, schat. You should find someone, maybe you'll stop being cranky. Y/N- I'm not cranky, at least not with you. Max let out a deep laugh. Max- Well, I've got to go. My sister's visiting. I'll talk to you later. Y/N- Sure, say hi to Victoria for me. Bye Maxie!! Max- bye Y/N.

Talking to Max always brightened up my mood. But since, Victoria's visiting, he won't be available to talk as often. That means I'm gonna have to spend all my free time scrolling through Instagram. It's all fun and games until I'm on hour 6 of some random video on Youtube. I spent the next couple of days cooped up in my home, just to enjoy waking up late. There were still a few months still summer break and I intended on enjoying them to the fullest.

School started way to soon for my liking. Max would send pictures of Jimmy and Sassy to cheer me up. It did cheer me up. Max travelled a lot for work, I've seen quite a few hotels and I think they are 5 star hotels. So, his work place is rich rich. I wish Max would hire me, I lamented, maybe then we might meet. I've thought about meeting him but he never showed any inkling that he would like to meet me. I wasn't about to seem desperate; I would probably jump him if I did. I mean he is single, so it's fine.

When the school started after spring break, I got handed a new author to help edit her work. I spoke to her and she was very nice to talk to. The book she was writing was based off a sport. On further questioning, she told me it was Formula One. I had heard about it when my city hosted a Formula E race a couple years ago. I don't remember much because I'm not sure if they held it again but what I can tell you is that traffic got so bad, I hated leaving the house for a couple of days. I don't really see the appeal of watching people go around in a circle in fast cars. I think I would panic if I found out how fast they drove. The author asked me to do some research on the topic. I was a good student and I wanted to be of help, so I decided to spend the next couple of hours going through Formula One and their rules.

There's something I have to clear up, I have a type of blindness bias. If I'm not interested in a topic, it would be like I live under a rock. Nothing could phase me and I couldn't care less. That's how I ended up on the wikipedia article of Lewis Hamilton, Micheal Schumacher and then current champion Max Verstappen. Schumacher and Hamilton were very good, reading about them made me awe struck. What really shocked me was a guy named Max Verstappen, who looked awfully like Maxie. I've stared at Maxie more than I would like to admit, so I'm sure they look alike. As I went through the article, my heart seemed to beat harder; not sure why. I felt like this was my Maxie however I believed that Maxie would've told me if he was a Formula One driver. I had to lay my doubts to rest, so I ended up on Youtube with the search bar reading Max Verstappen. My doubts laid to rest in a place I didn't want them to; Maxie was Max Verstappen. I could recognise that voice anywhere. He talked a lot, I could recognise his voice in a crowd of people or in my sleep. All my suspicions were cemented when I saw a picture of 2 cats who looked like Jimmy and Sassy and were called by the same name. My heart was ready to jump out of my chest. Max had lied to me; but was it really lying when I never prodded him for answers. Worst of all, he had a girlfriend and a kid. That's when I felt I was lied too. How could he not tell me? I would've genuinely been happy for him. We would've celebrated his 2 championship wins. My throat felt dry and my eyes wet.

Life wasn't fair when I've been trying to get my book published while my best friend, don't even know if I can call him that, is a 2 time world driver champion. He never even told me, while he has been in Formula One almost all our friendship and karting all his life. I felt the ground slipping from under my feet. Was I that unimportant to not share such a crucial part of his life or huge accomplishment in his life? Was I even his friend? All these questions raced through my mind, while tears streamed down my cheeks. The pillow wet from my tears when my phone rang. It was Max on the other line, and for the first time in 10 years I did not answer his calls even though it rang for a 4-5 times. He finally stopped after sending me a couple of worried messages; asking how I was and where I was?

[Max was freaking out. Y/N never missed his calls, no matter the time or place. Worst of all, she didn't even reply to his messages; not after 5 minutes or 10 minutes or 20 minutes. Max didn't know where she lived, he didn't know who to call, or who to ask about her. His hair was a mess, he was pacing the room so much so, that his girlfriend’s daughter asked him what happened. He couldn't tell them, no one knew of this secret internet friend he had. Who was he supposed to contact to file a missing person's report? He tried to calm himself down and think happy thoughts but all his thoughts were Y/N]

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zeroslashsix · 8 months ago

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Following my Gambit post, I love love love the way Rogue's powers are handled in X-Men Evolution. Like Gambit, Rogue tends to have a certain set of 'roles' when she's in a show/movie: she's focused on inner torment about her powers, on being a Spicy Southern Belle, or her romantic connections. Which is to say, her stories are usually about emotions and relationships, which is fine, I love those parts of her as much the rest. But if she's not fighting, her powers are only really viewed through a lens of how she feels about them, and how they impact her ability to connect with others.

And here's X-Men Evolution, fully leaning into the fact that Rogue’s power is one of the most dangerous in the entire show. I love the s3 ep "Self-Possessed" so much because it takes the brakes off her, and really commits to the idea that stacking powers is catastrophic when you consider she can wield multiple omega-level powersets at the same time. Her main limitation is that she doesn't want other personalities in her head, she limits her power usage because she just doesn't like it, and yeah, totally fair, but Rogue could absolutely wake up one day, go through the mansion and decide to be an omega squared. X-Men Evolution is about teenagers who are still figuring out their abilities, even at the end of the series when they're a year (two years?) older. By the finale, they have more control and training, but they are absolutely still growing into adulthood and have not reached full potential.

Which is why I think "Self-Possessed" is such a fascinating look at Rogue's powers. Every iteration of Rogue imposes a time limit on her absorption, meaning that any powers she absorbs will only stay with her for a short time. But in that episode, when she's succumbing to all those personalities in her head, her time limit stops existing. She can access powers for months, maybe even years after the initial absorption. Mystique's powers couldn't have given Rogue that ability; the only way Rogue could do such a thing is if that potential already exists inside of her. This implies that when she absorbs a power, that power stays inside her as long as the personality does, and her "time limit" is just a matter of control, or lack thereof.

This seems to be backed up by the s3 finale, where Mesmero and Mystique mind control Rogue to gather powers, and Rogue proceeds to SWEEP the X-Men, Brotherhood, Acolytes, and Magneto in less than 24 hours. By the end of it, she seems fully capable of using any and all their powers at will, ignoring any sort of time limit. Mesmero can mind control others, but he can't enhance them. He cannot give someone powers they don't already possess. The only reason Rogue could do all that is because she was already capable of it, and the fact Mesmero could mind control this out of her seems to imply that Rogue's limitations are entirely self-imposed, mostly mental/emotional, or maybe a lack of experience. (Similar to the season four finale where Rogue seems to use Leech’s power better than he does, probably just because he’s a little kid and she’s an adolescent so has a better grasp on powers in general)

Like, no wonder Mystique and Destiny wanted her powers. No wonder Magneto was so thrilled to have her in the ranks in the first season. No wonder so many people in the world want to use her; she is the all-mutant, the living multi tool that can gather multitudes of power in one place and then combine them. The only reason she isn't considered omega-level is pure technicality; in terms of destruction she could actually lay down, Rogue is absolutely as dangerous as plenty of omegas. The requirements for an omega are 1) infinite power, and 2) limitless power. Rogue has the first one; she can stack an infinite number of powers. But she lacks the second; all her powers must come from the outside, and she cannot generate them herself. But if she has access to multiple omega powersets like she does in Self-Possessed, that technicality kind of stops mattering once the punches actually start flying.

Which all leads into Rogue's main emotional journey through X-Men Evolution, which is perhaps my favorite she's ever had: being used. That's why she was adopted. That's why she was raised being unable to touch, being lied to by both her moms. That's why she was taken into the Brotherhood, and it's why Mystique will never leave her alone. Extra fascinating because after the reveal in season one that Mystique is Kurt's mother, Mystique leaves Kurt completely alone for the rest of the series, while simultaneously stalking and manipulating Rogue. Why the difference? Because Kurt is not a useful tool. Not compared to Rogue. And I think Rogue sees that difference, which makes for such a juicy dynamic when Kurt is so interested in actually loving Mystique, for insisting that Rogue should forgive their mother and 'let hatred go,' because he genuinely thinks that anyone can be saved with enough love. Whereas Rogue, who has seen Mystique's 'love' up close for her whole life, is desperately trying to get away from that, with good reason.

One of the reasons I wish we’d had more seasons, or at least more episodes in the last season, is how seamlessly Rogue’s feelings about her powers flowed into her feelings around being used, her feelings around family, and being dehumanized to the point of mind-wipe by her own mother. Yes she’s sad about the no-touching thing, but that’s nothing compared to being seen as a literal object in the eyes of others, because her powers are utterly perfect—for someone else to use. Which flows into questions of bodily autonomy, of who her powers “belong to” vs. who they “should belong to.” Especially considering that Rogue is only at full power when she loses control/is under someone else’s control, which could lead someone to conclude, “Well of course Rogue should be under someone’s control, preferably mine. She’s so powerful when someone else is controlling her, and so weak when she controls herself. It’s honestly such a waste for Rogue to be her own person when she could be so much more. She needs to be used to reach her full potential.”

In a perfect world, we’d have way more X-Men Evo than we got. More seasons, more episodes, more time to explore whatever the hell Rogue had going on. And if I was allowed to pick, I would have loved to see Rogue with a character arc of self-ownership. In particular, it would be so cool to see her powers develop to the point she can have a “Self-Possessed” crisis and control it, fully aware of herself and all the powers she holds. I’d love to see her use those powers for her own benefit, on purpose, independent of both her mother and the X-Men. I’d love to see a self-serving Rogue in the XMenEvo. Not necessarily evil (though it would be a fascinating villain arc) but a Rogue who chooses selfishness as an act of rebellion. Who can use all those powers simultaneously, consciously, and disobediently. Vengeance, maybe? Or something that heightens humans’ fear of mutants? I’d love to see Rogue become inconvenient to the X-Men, at the very least, either physically or philosophically. Certainly nothing so dire as the Phoenix saga, but something that uses her powers to their fullest extent. (Damn could you imagine Rogue as the Horseman of Death if this went in the opposite direction. How fucking overpowered would Death!Rogue be, how the hell would the X-Men deal with that)

Anyways. Fanfiction is the folklore of the now or whatever. And XMenEvo was already a crazy high school AU anyway.

#x-men evolution #rogue #anna marie darkholme #fanfic #mystique #nightcrawler #kurt wagner

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supernovafics · 2 years ago

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𝐀𝐔𝐆𝐔𝐒𝐓

pairing: steve harrington x fem!reader

word count: 6.3k words

summary: in which the summer of ‘84 was both the best and worst time of your life

warnings: explicit language, underaged drinking, angst, fluff, implied smut, cheating

author’s note: second part to cardigan (but could be read out of order). i fully did not expect this to end up this long but hope y’all enjoy<33 (full “folklore” album series masterlist here!)

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

“but i can see us lost in the memory. august slipped away into a moment in time.”

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

July 19, 1984

Ten.

That was how many days in a row you and Steve had seen each other.

From the first time you two talked to one another outside of Ralph’s Sandwich Shop, his first ever words to you being, “Potato chips on a sandwich? That’s kinda weird,” and the conversation that proceeded from that somehow led you to watching a movie in the theater room at his house that same night. To now this— him spending the majority of his afternoon with you at the library, where you had been working for the past year and a half.

You wondered how long the two of you would keep the streak alive.

If it was anyone else you probably would have gotten sick of seeing them that many days in a row, but with Steve you weren’t. In fact, you looked forward to whenever you got to see him again. And maybe that feeling, the anticipation toward seeing this guy who you probably shouldn’t even be seeing this often anyway, should’ve worried you.

Whenever you thought about how easily the two of you were able to go from absolutely nothing to this— an unlikely friendship that somehow felt like you’d known each other so much longer than barely two weeks— it startled you.

Before, you had simply known of him; of course, you had, he was practically royalty at your high school. “King Steve,” a charmer, a perpetual flirter, somehow dating straight-A student Nancy Wheeler. It was the combination of those things that told you during that first conversation you had with him that you should stay away from him, but for some reason, you still said yes.

Maybe it was because the home theater he had been bragging about sounded way too tempting not to take up the offer. Or maybe it was because you liked being an idiot sometimes.

If it was the latter that was true then you still were an idiot because there you were ten days later still hanging out with him and not regretting it one bit.

“I need to bring you better games here,” Steve said. He was standing across from you on the other side of the counter.

“What’s wrong with Uno? Is it because you keep losing?” You jokingly asked, a small smile on your face as you started shuffling the deck. “Also, I’m technically working right now, so I shouldn’t even be playing any games with you.”

“There’s no one here except you and me,” He said and then gestured to the quietness that surrounded you both. “Actually, I think the only other person that’s been in here all day was that old lady who just wanted directions to the park.”

You loved your job at the library and you really didn’t mind how it was rarely busy, especially during the summer, because it meant that you could spend most of your shifts reading instead of helping someone find what they needed or reshelving books. Now the majority of your non-busy moments during your shift were spent with Steve.

“What are you doing tonight?” He asked as you began dealing the cards, because what else was there to do but play another round of Uno?

“My guess is hanging out with you,” You answered. “What’s happening?”

“Party,” He stated simply, and you realized that probably should’ve been your first guess. “Need us to be beer pong partners again.”

It had been last week, two days after you and Steve unspokenly decided that hanging out with one another would become a common occurrence, when he dragged you to a party; some too big thing at Matthew Lancaster’s lake house.

A beer pong table was set up, which was not all surprising for a high school party, and you suggested that you and Steve play and be on a team with one another. You were insanely good, practically making every shot, and Steve wasn’t too bad at playing either, which made your team pretty unstoppable. It was a random hidden talent of yours that you would only show off every once in a blue moon because you deliberately didn’t frequent parties.

“I’ve retired for the time being,” You told him. “I can’t show off my beer pong skills too often or it won’t be a cool talent anymore.”

He laughed a bit at that but still nodded. “Okay, what do you wanna do tonight instead?”

“Don’t let me stop you from going to the party.”

Steve shrugged and shook his head. “Probably wouldn’t be fun without you, anyway.”

His words confused you as much as they made you feel so happy. And you quickly pushed that “happy” feeling away because you knew just how fast it could lead to feeling other things; things that would make you look like the worst person in the world.

Once again, you wondered why you were doing this. Why were you allowing yourself to get close to him when you’d probably just look like an idiot in the end? And why had he wanted to talk to you in the first place? Those fleeting questions would hit you a lot over the past few days, but you’d quickly push them away because you didn’t want to think too hard about everything. However, this time you couldn’t force them away.

“Why?” You asked, breaking eye contact with him for the first time probably that entire afternoon. “Why… are we friends right now?”

If he was surprised or confused by the randomness of your question, he didn’t show it.

“I don’t know. I wanted to talk to you that day, so I did it,” He made the answer sound so simple. “I didn’t really expect it to turn into this friendship, but it’s nice finally having something that actually feels so easy.”

What about you and Nancy wasn’t easy?

You wanted to ask that but refrained from doing so. He probably didn’t mean her when he said that. You knew that the only reason why he was with you instead of her, and had been for the past ten days, was because she was out of town for the summer. That thought hurt a bit, knowing that you were essentially some sort of “consolation prize,” but it kept you from looking too much into things. You took everything Steve said that could be read as flirtatious with a grain of salt and forced yourself to see it as solely platonic.

And you’d rather it all be completely platonic anyway because you really liked the friendship you’d developed with him.

“You’re right. This does feel easy,” You ultimately responded, smiling at him because now that the unspoken lines were finally verbally drawn— the two of you were friends; nothing more, nothing less— you felt the tiniest bit better about it all. “But, I’m glad it does. I’m happy we’re friends.”

Steve smiled back at you. “Me too.”

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

“your back beneath the sun. wishin’ i could write my name on it.”

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

July 28, 1984

The only reason why you allowed Steve to bring you to this party was because you were a sucker for a bonfire.

And the only reason why you were currently drunk off your ass was because you couldn’t say no to a game of hide and seek, especially a drinking version of the childish game, which Steve had suggested and you quickly agreed to.

There was something about this game that made you realize that maybe your entire friendship was a game; a game of who would break first. But, that was something to think about at a different time. Or actually not at all, because thinking further about that would probably only complicate things.

It was easy to pretend that there was nothing more to you and him when you both were sober. It was also so much easier to lie to yourself that you didn’t feel anything romantic toward him and that you didn’t see that maybe he actually felt the same way too.

There was a constant back and forth happening in your mind, with you continuously telling yourself that being friends with Steve wasn’t a bad idea, even though maybe it was because it was slowly making you want something more. Sometimes it felt as if it made sense to like him; it felt obvious. The way you could talk to each other about anything and everything mixed with how constantly you two wanted to spend time together made you fall in so deep so fast.

But, you couldn’t accept or think about any of that, and the reasons why were painfully obvious.

However, with the alcohol currently clouding your brain, that felt like a slightly different story.

“Sitting behind a tree? Not your best hiding spot.”

Hearing Steve’s voice right then should’ve made you feel at least the tiniest bit upset because it meant that you lost that round of hide and seek, but you drunkenly smiled up at him.

“I wanted to be original and we’ve been playing for so long I feel like we’ve done everything else at this point. But, that was at least two minutes, though, right?”

“It was actually barely thirty seconds.”

“Oh, wow,” You said with a laugh as you extended a hand up toward him so that he could help you up. You wobbled a bit before getting your balance and then you grabbed the red solo cup in Steve’s free hand to drink the rest of what was left in it as your punishment for losing; the exact contents of the drink were unknown, but it tasted fruity.

When you were done, you handed the cup back to him and then leaned back against the tree because it somehow felt nice and you weren’t bothered by the roughness of it touching the parts of your skin that the tank top you were wearing didn’t cover.

There were a ton of people at the infamous “Lover’s Lake” because of the party, but nobody had been paying attention to you and Steve running around like five-year-olds playing hide and seek and getting severely drunk in the process.

The lopsided grin taking over Steve’s features let you know that he was just as inebriated as you were, maybe even more so because he’d been drinking a bit before you two started the game.

“Maybe we should be done with hide and seek now.”

You gave him a nod. “That sounds like a good idea.”

Things became quiet for a few moments with the two of you solely staring at each other in the darkness and ignoring the loud rowdiness of everyone else who was only a few feet away. Steve closed a bit of the distance between you both and leaned in close to you; his gaze flickered down to your lips for a hint of a second before going right back to your eyes.

If this was any other moment, your mind would be running a million miles a minute, screaming at you to not allow the inevitable to happen. But, somehow, you were actually calm.

“We can’t do that, friend,” You told him, making your voice sound as serious as possible, but you couldn’t help but smile a bit.

“I know,” He responded but still shut the final space of distance between you both, bypassing your lips and kissing your cheek instead. “That’s okay, though, right?”

The reasonable side of you was obviously telling you to say “no,” but it was hard to make yourself care enough to listen to it. “I’ll allow it.”

The three words came out so quietly, but Steve heard you. He kissed your other cheek and then your forehead and then your nose before pulling away and smiling at you.

Before he could say anything, you did the same to him; kissing both of his cheeks, his forehead, and his nose, and then pulling back to lean against the tree again. That time it was your eyes that glanced down at his lips before going back to his eyes.

You were so close to doing it, and he almost begged you to, but then you were pushing off of the tree and asking him to turn around.

“Piggyback ride to the car, please?”

“We can’t drive right now,” He said as he leaned down a bit so you could hop onto his back.

You nodded even though he couldn’t see you. “I know, but I will die if I don’t sit down.”

The walk to your car should’ve taken less than a minute, but instead, it nearly took five because, of course, the two of you got a little lost and it took way too long to realize that the first car you had walked past was yours.

“God, we’re acting like such idiots right now,” You said, laughing as Steve let you down so you could get into the car.

He laughed too as he got in on the passenger side. “Yeah, definitely not our finest moment.”

You sighed in contentment when you leaned back against the seat, immediately finding comfort in it, which definitely said a lot about how drunk and exhausted you were because you never usually found your car as super comfortable.

You turned on your side to face Steve, and as if feeling your gaze on him, he turned to look at you as well. You silently admired each other. Sometimes it felt as if a thousand things were being said in the silences you two shared with one another, things that would probably always be left unsaid.

“I really like you,” He whispered suddenly and you realized that maybe not everything silently said would be left unspoken.

You let out a small breath before closing your eyes because it felt too hard to look at him right then. “I really like you too.”

“Please let me kiss you.”

It was difficult to describe exactly what his words managed to do to you, and you tried your hardest to disregard those feelings.

“We can’t.” You shook your head, eyes still shut. “It’ll ruin everything.”

“What if that’s okay?” He said, voice still quiet.

It could’ve been easy.

To finally do what you both had desperately wanted to do for weeks at this point, but had refused to admit. And doing it at this moment instead of any other time because, with the drunken states you both were in, none of this would be remembered. Which would also mean that it didn’t really happen, right?

Your eyes finally opened and you looked at him. “Neither of us is gonna remember this conversation in the morning.”

“You’re probably right.”

“And if you did, you’d regret saying any of this,” You said, and your words were met with silence from him. You couldn’t tell if that meant that they were the truth, or instead, quite far from it.

Even in your inebriated state, you were too scared to push him further and get an answer because you were unsure which response would be worse; “Yes, I’d regret it,” or “No, I wouldn’t regret it at all.”

Before he could potentially say a version of either of those responses, you began speaking again. “I’m really tired.”

You then pulled your eyes away from him and looked straight ahead at the people that were still partying around the fire. A part of you wanted to join them, but the other part of you just wanted to fall asleep.

“Me too,” Steve said and with how long he had been quiet, you were actually surprised to hear his voice right then.

Both of you fell asleep just like that for the time being, putting an end to a conversation that would not be talked about in the morning because just as you’d both assumed, it seemed as if it had been long forgotten.

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

“salt air, and the rust on your door. i never needed anything more. whispers of ‘are you sure?’ ‘never have i ever before.’”

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

July 31, 1984

The sun had long ago set behind the trees, but you and Steve still had no plans to leave his pool anytime soon.

You swam close to him, your hands finding his shoulders and then pushing down to dunk him under the water. A laugh fell from your lips as you immediately started swimming away, but Steve’s hand quickly found your waist and pulled you back toward him.

“What was that for?” He asked, one arm still wrapped around you, causing your back to be firmly pressed against his chest, while his other hand pushed back his wet hair.

“For pushing me in the pool earlier,” You answered, only trying for a moment to wriggle out of his grasp but failing miserably so you stopped.

“That was hours ago.”

“Revenge is best when you don’t see it coming,” You said, smiling widely.

He laughed against your ear. “You’re evil.”

You attempted to pull away again but he was still holding on to you, so instead you maneuvered so you were simply facing him instead.

You were smiling up at him, and you assumed he’d match it with a smile of his own, but he didn’t. Instead, there was a certain look on his face that you couldn’t necessarily decipher. You almost asked him what was wrong, but he started speaking before you got the chance to.

“I remember the conversation we had in your car at the bonfire.”

You could feel your heart start to race a bit, not expecting things to take that turn. “Oh… You do?”

He nodded his head. “Do you?”

“I remember the whole thing,” You told him, and that was entirely true. You’d spent the past few days constantly thinking about that moment and running through every single thing that was said. You had also tried your hardest to push the memory away because it seemed as if Steve didn’t remember it.

“I don’t regret anything I said,” He told you and then a hand came up to cup your cheek. “I still really wanna kiss you.”

You were quiet for a moment, letting Steve’s words settle over you, before responding to him in a small voice. “Are you sure?”

Instead of verbally responding, he gave you the smallest of nods and closed the tiny bit of space between you both, dipping his head down and slotting his lips against yours.

All you could think at that moment was finally.

Finally, you were this close to one another.

Finally, you were kissing.

Finally, you were doing what you had wanted to do for so long.

The thing that both of you told each other and even convinced yourselves wasn’t going to happen, finally happened. And in a way, it sucked because neither of you felt bad about it, at least not bad enough to stop.

Your legs wrapped around his waist beneath the water and your arms came up to wrap around his neck, one hand finding its way into the hair at the nape of his neck.

You weren’t in the deepest part of the pool anymore so Steve was able to stand, but both of you were still almost completely submerged in the water. He walked you both over to one of the sides of the pool, pressing you back against it and deepening the kiss.

Nothing was said, and nothing needed to be said. In fact, you thought that if either of you said something, it would ruin the perfection that was that moment and harshly shove you both back to reality. A reality that told you that this was the farthest thing that should have been happening.

For the time being, with Steve against you and his lips finding that particularly sensitive part of your neck, you were happy living in this fantasy world. It was a dream that you didn’t want to wake up from, and you convinced yourself that it wouldn’t hurt too bad when you did finally have to wake up from it.

“We should…” You took a breath, biting back the moan that threatened to spill from your lips as Steve continued the assault on your neck. Your next word should’ve been “stop,” but stopping this was the absolute last thing you wanted to do. “We should go to your room.”

He finally, and sadly, pulled away from your neck and pressed a quick kiss against your lips. “That sounds like a great idea.”

You detached yourselves from one another just enough to step out of the pool and into his house, wet bodies leaving drops of water across the floor that weren’t the slightest bit cared about.

You couldn’t keep your hands off of each other.

After getting as close as you just had been, it was hard to go back to how it used to be; the friendliness and innocence that had surrounded the brief touches you two would usually share. Instead, your hand was intertwined with his as he led you up the stairs, and then his arms circled around you when you entered his room, cocooning you in the towel he’d grabbed from behind his door.

It was you that kissed him that second time.

You reached up to push his wet hair back and then leaned in, inwardly sighing in contentment. Both of his hands found your waist, causing the towel to fall and it was immediately long forgotten.

When you pulled away you took the smallest step back and simply looked at him, his pretty face and soft brown eyes that were full of nothing but adoration for you. You tried your hardest to find something within you that resembled regret or made you want to stop this, but you couldn’t. And you knew exactly what that said about you, but it was also difficult to force yourself to care about that either.

Steve eagerly brought you close to him again, which made you smile into the kiss he pulled you into. He slowly started leading you back toward his bed.

“Wait,” You said, detaching your lips from his and softly pushing him back a bit. “It would be really rude of me to lay on your bed with my bathing suit on.”

He slowly nodded and swallowed harshly as you removed your top first, letting that fall to the floor, and then going to your bottoms. “That’s very considerate of you.”

You only smiled at him and his sudden nervousness, which managed to wash away any and all of your own shyness at that moment.

His eyes met yours. “You’re so fucking pretty.”

“You’re not too bad yourself,” You whispered, reaching out to grab his hands and pull him close to you again. You were about to kiss him again, but it was then that you noticed the time on the clock that was hanging on the wall behind him. “Shit, shit.”

His eyebrows furrowed in confusion and a look of concern crossed his face. “What’s wrong?”

“The time,” You answered and then sighed as you started grabbing your bathing suit. “It’s 12:40, and if I’m not home by one, my mom will kill me and then you.”

“Your mom loves me too much to kill me,” Steve responded, grabbing a t-shirt for you to slip on too.

“Yeah, kinda weird how after only one meeting where you two barely even talked, she somehow likes you more than me now,” You said as you put on his shirt which kind of swallowed you whole but you loved it and already knew that you would never be giving it back to him.

You looked up at him and your next words came out quietly. “I’m sorry I have to ruin this right now.”

Steve shook his head at you. “It’s okay. Don’t be sorry.” Both of his hands found your hips again, squeezing softly. “We’ll pick up where we left off next time.”

You couldn’t help but smile at that. “Next time?”

“Mhm, next time,” He said, smiling back at you and nodding. “If you want there to be one?”

“I’d like that,” You responded and pressed a quick kiss against his lips.

Even as you headed back downstairs and Steve walked you to your car, kissing you for a few more minutes before you reluctantly drove away, your stomach had yet to fill with even a hint of regret or guilt.

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

“wanting was enough. for me, it was enough. to live for the hope of it all.”

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

August 12, 1984

The constant sound of something softly pinging against your window pulled your attention away from the book you were reading in your bed.

There was only one person that could've been throwing something at your window, but still, you were the tiniest bit surprised when you opened your curtains and saw Steve standing on your front lawn.

Even though seeing him was such a natural thing at this point, it made sense that you were at least a little surprised because no part of you felt secure with this “thing” you had going on with him, which was more than just a friendship but so much less than any type of actual relationship. You lived in the perpetual state that it would all abruptly end. And maybe that thought process came from you knowing that eventually, this would all have to come to an end; there weren’t that many days of summer left.

But then there was that tiny sliver of hope that maybe it all wouldn’t have to end. You kept that thought buried deep down inside of you, though.

You lifted your window. “Throwing rocks at my window? That’s very rom-com of you.”

“Sometimes I like to be cheesy,” Steve said, smiling at you.

It was a sweet, adoring smile that you shouldn’t have been on the receiving end of; it was a smile that didn’t belong to you. It was so easy to see that, but it was nearly impossible to actually do something about it and let him go.

“Can I come up?” He asked. “I promise I’ll be quiet and your mom won’t hear me.”

“She’s gone for the weekend, actually,” You told him, smiling a bit. “I’ll be down in a second.”

When you opened the front door, he was quick to greet you with a kiss before pulling you in for a hug.

After that first kiss in his pool, there was an almost immediate shift that happened. An easy shift where you’d gone from constantly telling yourselves that everything was solely platonic to finally allowing yourselves to do every little thing that deep down you both had always wanted to do. With him now always greeting you with soft kisses, and you secretly spending so many nights in his bed because his parents were never home and most of the time it was easy to make up some sort of excuse to your mom.

Something else shifted too, though. It was a shift that neither of you spoke about because you never really wanted to acknowledge what exactly your friendship had transformed into and what it really meant. Not talking about any of it was a decision that you were unsure if it was completely yours or his because it was all so unspoken.

When you thought about it hard enough though, you could see that the decision was mutual, because on both sides it was easier to pretend that none of the outside things existed. In that fairytale, he didn’t have a girlfriend, he didn’t belong to anyone else. You were his and he was solely yours.

“Tell me about this thing that your parents forced you to go to tonight,” You said as Steve kicked off his shoes by the front door and the two of you started heading up the stairs. One of his hands was intertwined with yours and there was barely an inch of space between you both. It had become really hard not to be close to one another.

“It was this big event for my dad’s job, and they always drag me to stuff like that as a way to prove to his coworkers that they’re ‘good parents.’ It was very boring,” Steve responded with a small sigh and then gave your hand a light squeeze. “It would’ve been much less painful if you came.”

He sat down on the foot of your bed when the two of you walked into your room, and the oversized t-shirt you had on as your pajamas rode up a lot as you settled yourself in his lap, knees on either side of his thighs and hands resting on his shoulders. It was an un-innocent position that, for the time being, felt quite the opposite.

“Going to something like that is something a girlfriend would do, not…” That was the first time you’d even minorly referred to Nancy, and it felt both weird and wrong. It woke you up for a second and made you falter a bit in your next words, breaking Steve’s gaze. “Not a… friend.”

One of his hands found the side of your thigh, rubbing the skin softly and trying to pull you back into this moment with him. You could feel him reading you so easily and knowing where your mind was going, and he didn’t want you to go there, and neither did you.

You didn’t want this– you and him, him and you– to break just yet.

“Um, anyway, you didn’t tell me that it would be so formal,” You said, gesturing with your head to the suit he was wearing.

Your eyes met his again and you could see the relief wash over his face because you didn’t bring up the unspoken topic. Things shifted right back to normal. Well, the normal that you two created for yourselves.

“I feel kinda ridiculous, and I hate this bow tie,” He responded, hand continuing to rub your thigh. “I should’ve probably changed before I came here but I just really wanted to see you.”

You let his words further push away any thoughts of Nancy that lingered in your mind, thoughts that finally told you that what you were doing with him was wrong.

“Stop. You look good,” You told him, your fingers playing with the bow tie for a brief moment. “Like, really good.”

“Okay, now I’m really glad that I didn’t change, then.” He smiled before leaning in to kiss you.

You only deepened the kiss in response and focused on nothing but the feeling of his mouth on yours and his hands beginning to snake underneath your shirt.

He pulled back, maneuvering things so you were sitting at the foot of the bed and he was standing. The black suit jacket he had on was the first thing to fall on the floor. You slipped your t-shirt over your head and tossed it to the side before helping him unbutton the long sleeve white shirt he had on.

His hands found your bare waist and squeezed softly. “I’m so fucking happy I’m here right now.”

“Me too,” You responded and then sighed in contentment, eyes slipping shut for a brief moment, when you felt his thumb graze over your already hard nipple.

Sometimes, usually in moments like these, it felt as if it was your sole purpose to be with him; canceling your plans just in case he’d call or show up, and meeting solely at his place, or yours, or the library.

How deeply intertwined you felt with him let you know exactly how much it would hurt when this all came to its eventual end. But then you were hit with the thought that maybe you would deserve it because you put yourself in this situation.

Steve’s hand came up to gently stroke your cheek and pull you out of your thoughts. “What are you thinking about?”

Your gaze met his as you shook your head. “Nothing important.”

But, maybe it was the most important thing.

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

“i remember thinkin' i had you.”

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

August 23, 1984

You expected to see him that night.

So maybe him unexpectedly showing up to the library– which was now busy with a bunch of kids scrambling to do their summer reading assignments– was what should have told you that everything was about to go to shit.

“Hey,” You said to him and placed the book in your hand in its rightful place on the shelf and then did the same thing with the other one you were holding. “I didn’t think I’d see you until tonight.”

Steve was quiet for a few moments too long, which made you look at him, and your eyebrows furrowed in confusion when you saw the look on his face. It was hard to exactly decipher his expression because it looked as if he was experiencing a thousand different emotions at once.

“What’s wrong?” You asked, voice quiet.

“I got a call from Nancy,” He told you, and you nearly flinched at hearing him saying her name to you for the first time ever. “She said she’s coming back tonight.”

“Oh…” Was the first thing that fell from your lips. It was the word that perfectly encompassed your initial shock at that moment. “That’s, um– That’s really, uh…” You almost said “great,” because if the circumstances were different and if things were actually normal between you two, it probably would’ve been great that his girlfriend was coming back after being gone for almost two months. But, things were far from normal and the circumstances weren’t different at all, so you were at a loss for words.

Finally, after what felt like hours of silence, but what was really probably only seconds, you said something. “I really don’t know what to say to that, honestly.”

“I’m sorry,” He said softly and pulled his eyes away from you. He looked down and ran a nervous hand through his hair. “I guess we, uh, both know what that means.”

“Say it, Steve.” You muttered. You had to hear him say the words in order for it all to be real for you. You couldn’t take all of the unspoken, reading-between-the-lines bullshit.

He was quiet for an unbearable amount of time before he finally spoke. “We can’t see each other anymore.”

From the second he kissed you in his pool nearly a month ago, you knew that those words would ultimately come. Each happy day that passed with you tangled up in his bedsheets or cuddled up on his couch laughing about nothing was leading to this moment.

It had all been so inevitable, but it still hurt harder than you had expected it to. You quickly decided to pretend as if it didn’t, though.

You nodded at him. “Okay. Got it.”

“I’m sorry. This shouldn’t– I didn’t–”

“Don’t,” You quickly shook your head, not at all wanting to hear whatever pitying thing he would say to you at that moment. “Please don’t.”

You were suddenly glad that you were at work right then because you could distract yourself from thoughts of him and everything that had just ended with the current busyness of the library. You looked away from Steve and noticed a little girl struggling to grab a book that was high on a shelf.

“It’s really chaotic here right now, and I have to actually do work for the first time probably all summer, so yeah…” You forced a small smile and then walked away from him, ignoring the words he said to you that you barely heard and couldn’t make out.

Over the next two final hours of your shift, you’d silently accepted that that brief conversation would be the last time you talked to Steve Harrington. Although there were a thousand more things that probably could’ve been said, it was okay. That ending was okay. Or at least in the long run, it would be.

So it slightly startled you when you saw him in the parking lot, leaning against the side of his car. When he noticed you, he waved.

“Have you been here this whole time?” You asked, walking toward him, but leaving a wide space of distance between you two.

“Maybe, yeah.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know…”

For the first time probably ever, he confused you.

“I just— I wish things could be different,” He ultimately said, and hearing those words simultaneously made you feel happy while also making you feel so fucking upset.

“Things can be different,” You told him as you stepped toward him, the tiniest glimmer of hope inadvertently beginning to swirl in your stomach. “We could be together.”

Your hands found his, slowly intertwining them. His gaze met yours and you let the silent conversation play out. Your eyes pleading with him to not let go of what you two had, and him looking at you so softly while also battling whatever else was going on in his mind. After a few moments, he gave your hands a quick squeeze before he let go of them.

“I love Nancy.”

Not you. Those were the words he didn’t say, but you could read between those lines a little too easily.

“I love you” was the one thing you hadn’t said to one another, but you thought that you could feel how much he loved you through each soft touch, every longing look, every plea for you to stay in his bed for just a minute longer; one minute that always turned into at least five.

Apparently, you were wrong, though.

And now you knew for certain that you were wrong about every single thing that happened that summer.

Because you knew that you felt that way toward him. You loved him.

But he didn’t love you. He didn’t want to be with you.

He loved her.

His girlfriend— the only girl he was supposed to love.

You let the feeling of regret and guilt toward everything that happened this summer crash over you like a tsunami.

“I should’ve never done this,” You said, whispering that more to yourself, than to him.

“What?” He asked, unsure of what you’d just said.

“You love her.” You said as you moved away from him. “Go be with her.”

“I’m really sorry,” You heard him say as you walked toward your car.

You didn’t say anything in response to that. Mainly because there was nothing to say, but also because you refused to talk to him any longer. And quite frankly, you never wanted to talk to him again.

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

“so much for summer love and saying ‘us.’ ‘cause you weren't mine to lose.”

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

let me know ur thoughts<333

(read “betty” here!)

#steve harrington imagine #steve harrington x reader #steve harrington fluff #steve harrington series #steve harrington x fem!reader #steve harrington x you #steve harrington x y/n #steve harrington fic #steve harrington smut #stranger things fluff #stranger things smut #stranger things series #stranger things imagine #stranger things fic

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halfmoth-halfman · 1 year ago

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My MWIII Thoughts

I’ve finally taken the time to get all of my thoughts about the new campaign together and put them in a single post. There are no spoiler tags since the game is officially releasing today/tomorrow, but everything is under the cut with a warning. I have a lot of things to say here, so I’ve tried to organize it point by point. The points I think are most important are first, and I ask that you take the time to read through them. If you want to skip to the points about characters and that death, the beginning of those sections is marked with red, but be prepared to scroll.

I watched the custscenes, with gameplay, all the way through once and I’m not doing it again. I tried to go back to specific scenes to reference in this post, but even that was a lot for me, so if my timeline in here is a little screwy don't fault me too much.

If you just want my quick, overall thoughts: This campaign was two hours of egregiously incoherent, poorly written, shoddily thrown together military propaganda, even more than the cod games usually are, and your money would be much better spent donating to help Palestine - there are links to do so in this review, marked with green, as well as boycott information, and the same donations links are also provided on this shorter post if you want to go directly to them.

(There are spoilers below, and this is long. I'm not kidding. Do not click the readmore unless you are prepared to scroll.)

Military Propaganda/Islamophobia

I spoke about this some already here and here because I felt this was an important enough topic that deserved its own post.

Call of Duty has never been has never been the game where I expected to see proper representation of the Middle East or Middle Eastern politics. It is first and foremost military propaganda. More than that it is American military propaganda. Just like with every superhero and pro-military movie post-9/11, it should be expected that you’re not going to get any kind of meaningful insight or depth when it comes to Middle Eastern storylines and characters, but there is usually more of an effort to hide the Middle East = Terrorist subtext.

To say I was shocked at how overt and blatant the Islamophobia was in this game is an understatement. We get four deaths of named characters in this game. Two of whom are Middle Eastern women, Dena and Samara, from the country Urzikstan, the fictional combination of Syria and Afghanistan and home to terrorist group Al-Qatala (real subtle, right?). Both of these women are associated with the ULF, the Urzikstan Liberation Force, Farah’s group of freedom fighters whose goal is to free their country from foreign subjugation with Samara no longer being an active member. Both of these women are introduced in this game. Both of these women are minor characters. Both of these women, Samara in particular, are trying to live their lives peacefully now that their country has been freed.

Both of these women are given deaths more brutal and more shocking than the other two deaths of two main characters in the series.

We meet Dena at the beginning of the game when we’re first re-introduced to Alex and Farah. We see her have a heartfelt reunion with Farah, and the two have a conversation while driving where Dena expresses her concerns about wanting Urzikstan to remain peaceful but assures Farah that everyone will support her. After, Dena is suddenly shot in the chest, and Farah is forced to take control of the vehicle they’re in, which ultimately flips over and we get Farah’s first death fakeout.

It’s in this cutscene that we see a lingering shot on Dena as well as her corpse being thrashed in the car as Farah tries to take control and as it flips. We are given a Middle Eastern woman showing hope for her country that the peace she has fought for will be maintained only to then watch her die for shock value and a fakeout for another character, and watch her body fly across the car as it flips. We don’t get that with either of the other two gunshot deaths in this game. Soap’s is just as sudden, but we see it coming, and there are no shots of his body being thrown about, no closer views of his face like there are with Dena. Shepherd’s is entirely off-screen and all we’re left with is a shot of him lying face down on his desk - no blood or bullet wound in sight.

Notably, the only other person we see a comparable amount of blood on in this game is Makarov, the enemy of the series.

Samara, who gets the worst death in this game, in my opinion, is a retired ULF soldier we’re introduced to on a plane. I’ll start by saying I was under the assumption this may have been the reboot replacement for No Russian, the mission in which Makarov and Co. shot up Zakhaev International Airport to frame America for terrorism in the original series, and the mission that was teased after the credits in the MW2 reboot. We get the scene of Makarov and his men at the airport before boarding the plane, which could just be a nod to the original mission. However, until there is an official reboot of the No Russian mission, I’m going to assume this was Activision’s new take on it.

In this mission, we learn that Makarov plans to use this plane bombing to frame Urzikstan, Farah and the ULF specifically. The thing is, as Big Mak and friends are in the airport preparing to board, we are shown that the ULF is already being blamed for the missile attack on Arklov Military Base from the previous mission where their missiles were stolen, capped with Konni’s chemical gas, and one was detonated. There’s even a news sequence showing that the world already thinks of the ULF as a terrorist organization, and has not-so-quietly thought that for years. That makes this upcoming scene feel not only unnecessary but like a deliberate choice made by Activision to be extra cruel to a Middle Eastern character.

We see Samara text with her family and are shown a picture of her husband and children before the man next to her begins speaking to her in Arabic. He compliments her family and, I assume as we’re not directly shown, gets the No Russian text - a text, for those who have not played the original games, meaning to not speak Russian to not tie the terrorist act they’re about to commit back to the Russians. The Traveler, as he's called, then reveals that he knows who she is, knows her family, and knows that she is a former ULF soldier and fought the Russians. He then pulls a gun on her and Makarov and Konni take the plane hostage, purposely speaking Arabic and declaring this is for Urzikstan.

We are then forced to watch as Samara fights back, but is ultimately taken to Makarov where a bomb is strapped to her chest. He gives his usual cryptic speech, and over-explains to the audience what’s happening before diving out of the plane D.B. Cooper style.

Samara is then dragged to the back of the plane by a Hijacker, where the remaining passengers are, kicking and fighting and trying to reason with him to stop. He pauses and we then get this exchange:

Hijacker: Are you a terrorist?

Samara: No…

Hijacker: You look like one.

He then puts a gun in her hands, tosses the cellphone that will let her stop the bomb, and shoves her into a crowd where we have to watch her struggle to explain what’s happening to her and that she needs the phone to a crowd of people that are either afraid of or angry with her. She is shoved to the ground by a random man, forced to fight through people trying to tackle and beat her, and, when the phone is finally within reach in the hands of a scared passenger, the plane blows up.

I want to emphasize that most of this is a cutscene. There are a few button presses for the player to try and get the phone, and you are allowed to look around and try to fight back, but that is quickly stopped, and you are forced to sit and watch through Samara’s perspective. The end result? There’s an investigation for who may have done this, and you play as Farah collecting evidence from the crash site so Makarov can’t frame the ULF. The mission succeeds, because it’s a story mission and it has to, Makarov is unable to control the narrative so people can only suspect the ULF did it but can’t prove it, and Samara…died for nothing. All of that was so people could suspect the ULF was a terrorist organization, which the game has previously gone out of its way to establish was already happening before Makarov got on that flight. This entire sequence and the mission after added nothing to the storyline other than the brutal forcing of a Middle Eastern woman to hijack a plane 9/11 style and die a death worse than two of the series’s main characters.

Two side characters, two Middle Eastern women who have never existed before this game, are put in this game solely to die in ways where their deaths are more emphasized and graphic than a character we’ve played as since the series began, and one of the main villains.

There is a genocide happening in Palestine. Islamophobia in the United States, and the West as a whole, is rising to post-9/11 heights. There is already so much propaganda being spread in an attempt to dehumanize the men, women, and children who are being murdered by Israeli forces, to justify the actions - the war crimes - of the Israeli forces. Could this be a sloppy attempt at Activision trying to mirror real-life stereotypes and how quick the media is to jump to the Arab = Bad narrative? Possibly. I don’t think it is. I think this was a deliberate change from the original No Russian mission in which America is framed for terrorism, made by an American company that makes games meant to garner interest and support in the American military, during a time when the American government is being criticized for funding and aiding an ethnic cleansing.

As slapped together as this game was, I don’t believe they couldn’t have changed the campaign in the time since the situation in Palestine escalated to this level. I firmly believe it was a purposeful choice to write that scene, to film that scene, to keep that scene.

It is blatant, it is clear, it is as in-your-face as it can possibly be. It is not something this fandom gets to ignore because they don’t like the campaign. It is not something this fandom gets to overshadow with Soap’s death as poorly written as it was. It is not something this fandom gets to stay silent about while also posting about #freepalestine.

I have never expected the best when it comes to Islamophobia from the Call of Duty games or its fandom. I’ve never expected anything beyond mildly okay. Call of Duty is military propaganda, I know. The fandom is known for its racism and it’s not getting better, I know that especially. But I don’t see how anyone, in the times we’re living in right now, would be able to look at this and not acknowledge it for what it is.

It is the purposeful brutalization of Middle Eastern characters.

It is propaganda.

It is racism.

It is Islamophobia.

It is wrong.

Engaging Critically/Acknowledging Privilege

While I may be stepping back from the CoD fandom, I understand that not everyone is going to. For some people, these games are a comfort or an escape. I’m not here to call for a boycott of Call of Duty or Activision while there are more important boycotts to be focusing on - and you can find more info on them here & here.

What I am asking, particularly of those of us in the fandom that are not being directly affected by what’s happening in Palestine, is that there is more acknowledgment of the level of privilege that we have and that people learn to engage more critically with the media they consume.

It is a privilege to play a game like Call of Duty and not have to think about the propaganda. It is a privilege (and ignorant) to say “it’s not political”, “it’s just pixels”, or “it’s not real”. It is a privilege to be able to just turn the game off and never have to think about war, and the impact of the representation of the characters, and the real-life events that these games base themselves on. And this isn’t just a CoD issue, this is something that should be considered with every piece of media you engage with.

There is no such thing as a “politics-free” book/movie/game/show. Everything carries the biases - conscious or subconscious - of the person or people who created it. There is no such thing as media or fiction not having an effect on real life, especially in a fandom for what is essentially War Crimes: The Game.

I’m going to take a quote from this post by @yeyinde.

"It’s incredibly egregious to pretend that the media you consume isn’t based, in some part, on real life or has no repercussions outside of it just being fiction. And it’s especially dishonest to say this isn’t the case within the COD fandom when people have said that the erasure of Gaz from the fandom in favour of a white character is traumatising. The portrayal of the Middle East is traumatising. The portrayal of Makarov in fiction as an uwu-sympathetic babbie is traumatising. The portrayal of the military as heroes is traumatising. These are real people expressing real emotions and bringing up important matters that impact them long after they’ve logged out of tumblr. Just because they stop being relevant to you after that does not, and SHOULD NOT, matter. Their trauma, their feelings, and their interpretations shouldn’t be ignored in favour of some catch-all excuse to limit your responsibility as a consumer to think critically about the media you’re devouring just because it has no consequences for you."

Fiction mirrors real life whether you want to admit it or not. It shows real biases, and it affects real people. Participating in fiction and the surrounding culture does not magically absolve you of consequences. It does not suddenly mean you get a free pass at things like sexism, racism, ableism, colorism, romanticization of abuse and sexual assault, etc. just because your escapist fantasies are conveniently free of people who are different from you.

It may be your fiction, but it is someone else’s non-fiction, and you do not get to decide that it isn’t or that the impact doesn’t matter because it’s about fictional characters.

I'm going to link another post from @yeyinde with another quote here.

"It’s easy to get swept up into something when you have no tangible ties to the effects of what’s being portrayed, which can lead to making dismissive or hurtful statements out of pure ignorance. My biggest gripe was the excuses being laundered out and (either unintentionally or intentionally) giving the creators a pass for what they created and the harm they caused other people to experience. Just because they did not experience the same trauma, it does not diminish its impact on others. This is a very important distinction, which I think was being missed."

Does this mean you can’t ever write or read about traumatic things, or that you can’t enjoy the CoD games ever again? No.

But I need you all to understand that you can criticize the media you enjoy. You should criticize the media you enjoy. Criticism does not mean never letting yourself enjoy a piece of media again. Criticism does not mean trying to get a character or creator “cancelled”. Criticism does not automatically equal hate.

Criticism is an act of love, and it is necessary when deconstructing and confronting biases - both yours and other people's.

Resources To Support Palestine

The lovely @moondirti provided some organizations where you can donate to support the humanitarian aid in Gaza with the note:

It's important to acknowledge that, while limited aid is being allowed through, recent negotiations have allowed your charity to reach the people of Palestine.

DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS

PALESTINE CHILDREN RELIEF FUND

UNITED MISSION FOR RELIEF – PALESTINE EMERGENCY

ANERA

Onto the actual game.

The 141

I don't know what happened during development between this game and MW2, but the relationship between the members of the 141 is severely lacking. We get the usual Soap and Ghost banter for one mission, because, let’s be real, that's what got a lot of people into the last game, but that's about it? There’s nothing new, nothing added to their relationships, and the game sticks to the same duos (Ghost/Soap & Price/Gaz) that we’ve had for the past two games. Even Soap and Ghost’s banter during the attack on Milena’s private island doesn’t have the same impact on the characters as their banter during the Alone mission in MW2. They get a few lines about Soap admiring Milena’s cars and Ghost taunting him about marrying an Oligarch, and…that’s it until the cutscene where they interrogate her.

There’s maybe a few quippy lines here and there, but overall the 141 gives off the same feeling as a group of semi-friendly co-workers that sometimes work on the same project rather than an actual team that has shed blood, sweat, and tears with each other.

This would’ve been such a great time to explore deeper into the team dynamics, show us pairings we don’t get to see as often and build on those relationships, make us really feel for these characters on a personal level. In the original series, you got a feel for every character and their team dynamics, and the player felt the impact of each death as they watched the other characters react (something I’ll talk about later). With this game, we get…what? Four men that desperately need a lozenge throwing a few sassy one-liners at each other and giving each other a harsh pat on the back like a bunch of dads at a barbecue?

I feel like so much of the heavy labor regarding the 141 in the reboot is done through fanfiction at this point because this game especially gives us barely anything to go on, and that’s such a missed opportunity on Activision’s part considering how so much of MW2’s popularity came from the relationship built between Soap and Ghost. It all just feels so hollow and surface-level; there’s no depth here, no attempt to build a connection from the player to this group as a team. In my opinion, Activision relies too heavily on the older fanbase’s connection to the original series, and the newer fanbase’s self-created characterizations, to fill in the blanks so they can leave these characters as empty and vanilla as possible in order to appeal to a broader audience.

And they’ve still somehow managed to fail at that. Speaking of failing...

Graves and Shepherd

Graves should’ve died in that fucking tank, and I will stand by that opinion even after I die. It was such a cop-out to have him live, and for him to suddenly come back with the excuse, “Well, I wasn’t in that tank, blah, blah, blah.”

This is supposed to be a game series where characters die and stay dead. The characters die. Some die heroically, some die horrifically, some die quickly, some die painfully slow, most die bloody, but they die. It’s a staple of the series, like Game of Thrones pre-season 5. I don’t know if Activision didn’t know what to do with his character, or if they realized he was semi-popular with the fans and decided to magically bring him back via deus ex remote-controlled tank, or if they were trying to “subvert expectations” and give us all a little surprise plot twist, but it sucked.

Also, no one checked the tank for a body? That seems to be something everyone has a problem doing in these games, and I don’t know what Activision thinks that does for the 141, but what it does do is make these elite military officials look incompetent as hell because their “dead” enemies keep coming back.

There was nothing different that Graves did in this game from what he did in the previous game. We get the same air support mission from him that we got last game, and really that’s it. Okay sure, he’s working with Farah now, that’s a little different, but what did he do in that mission? Give her vague instructions on where to find some GPS trackers and then give her more vague instructions on where to find the missile containers to slap the trackers on? He could’ve easily been replaced with one of Farah’s people who scouted ahead, or Alex, or a decorative cowboy hat, and the mission would have gone the exact same.

Other than that he spends the entire game hiding behind Shepherd like a scared child up until the end when he ultimately turns on Shepherd, and even that felt so blah. He faces no consequences for his (racist) actions in Las Almas other than Gaz refusing to shake his hand, he faces no consequences for betraying the 141, going so far as to lie that it even happened in front of Congress, and he gets off completely free as far as we know. There was no point to his character, no point to bringing him back, no point to him being in this game at all, and if I find the Activision employee who decided to keep him alive I will be throwing hands expeditiously.

Shepherd was…there, I guess? I’m sure he was meant to be a menacing, sly, back-stabbing character, but he came off as more irritating than anything. His rescue mission felt akin to being forced to babysit your annoying younger sibling who questions everything you do. They give you a cute little nod to the OG series with his cutscene with the 141 in the snow (because Activision has to rely on nostalgia and easter eggs since they know this game is emptier than the promises of an absentee father), but most of it is spent with Shepherd preaching about how great he is and threatening the 141 like he’s been doing the entire game. I’m sure he’s supposed to come off as clever, outsmarting the 141 and tricking them into rescuing him - this big, bad, battle-hardened General - but all of that is undercut by him getting captured to begin with.

The General Shepherd in the original series killed two of the player characters. How am I supposed to be intimidated by this nagging grandpa briskly jogging through the snow behind me in his ugly pajama jumpsuit? Even his ending is lackluster. He’s outwitted in front of Congress by Graves of all people, and then we get a cutscene where Price shoots him off-screen. That’s it. There was no satisfaction like in the original series, no triumph, no sense of vengeance, only a tired feeling of thank god I don’t have to deal with this anymore. This constant attempt at build-up in this reboot series of Shepherd being this looming figure over the 141 ends not with a bang, and not even with a whimper.

Makarov

I’m going to start this off by saying I mean absolutely no hate to Julian Kostov, Makarov’s actor, he definitely did his job.

Unfortunately, that job was playing a random Russian man that happened to have the same name as the Vladimir Makarov from the original series. He’s literally just a dude. There’s nothing particularly menacing about him, nothing that really screams Leader of an Ultranationalist group, nothing that would set him apart in a line-up of kind-of-gruff white men. I wasn’t expecting him to be some over-the-top supervillain, but he feels too normal, too regular, too everyday. Maybe that was the point Activision was trying to make - that having a villain with too-sharp features, eyebrows with in-your-face arches, and two-toned eyes is realistically too much - but it feels like they leaned too far in the opposite direction to compensate.

How am I supposed to take Makarov seriously when they gave him such big, brown, babygirl eyes? Though I realize this may be a character model issue because everyone in this game seemed to have huge doe eyes at one point or another (looking directly at you and those unblinking baby blues, Soap).

The first time we get a proper cutscene with Makarov, he shoots one of his own men – one who had questioned his plan in the rescue mission – and he gives some passionate Make Russia Great Again speech that involves a lot of big gestures, promises of showing the world “true power”, and him being weirdly touchy with one of his men. It’s not a bad scene, and I think Julian really shines here as Makarov. It’s a little in-your-face for me, but overall not a bad introduction to what is supposed to be the overarching big bad for the rest of the series. It gives you a good enough sense of danger, and just enough worry for the main crew as they get ready to go up against this guy.

Unfortunately, the rest of the game doesn’t really follow through on that. Makarov spends more time monologuing, asking his men “philosophical” questions about prisoners and guards, and cryptically foreshadowing at the 141 than he does doing…anything. We are told about all of the bad deeds he’s done. We are told how evil he is. We are told that Makarov needs to be stopped at all costs. The only problem is, we aren’t shown any of that. We see the aftermath of Verdansk, a distant explosion after Makarov has been captured, but we never see Makarov do any of that. When we do get to see Makarov, his men are doing all of the dirty work while he stands around and looks evil. It’s his men fighting and killing guards to get him out of prison, his men attacking Farah and her soldiers, his men launching missiles topped with biochemicals, his men forcing Samara to blow up a plane, his men guarding Milena and his finances. The most he does during any of these scenes is order his men around and give evil villain speeches to give the audience exposition about why he’s doing all this.

We probably see more of Makarov’s shirtless Tinder pic than we see him in action.

In the original series, we see Makarov being at the forefront of his movement, unafraid to get his hands dirty. He is part of the group that commits the massacre/terrorist attack on Zakhaev International Airport, he kills the two FSO agents protecting President Vorshevsky, he’s the one who shoots and kills Yuri, and that’s only part of what we see in-game. Sure, we’re told about his other crimes, but we’re shown enough to back up the claims that he is evil. In this game, he kills two people himself, one of them being his own soldier that I mentioned earlier, and the other being Soap (and we’ll get to that later). Two extremely lackluster deaths that are over before you get the chance to really digest them. Maybe he kills more people during the intro mission when you rescue him, but it’s during gameplay and easily missed when you’re too busy trying to fight your way out of this Arkham-esque prison. I think I could look past it if he wasn’t also present during some of the scenes where his men are carrying out his atrocities for him, but instead, Activision chose to have him in the background standing there…menacingly.

I don’t want to say Makarov was a bad villain; he was certainly better than Shepherd and Graves. I just think Activision made very strange choices with his character that resulted in him becoming this weird mishmash of an average monologuing movie villain and the micromanaging boss that stands over your shoulder, and it took a lot of the “oomph” out of his character for me.

Soap's Death

I hope whoever made this decision at Activision has to live the rest of their life constantly feeling like they have to sneeze and are never able to. What the fuck happened here? In what world did Soap’s death make any kind of sense here? This felt like they knew fans were expecting someone to die (and they already retconned the yeehaw war criminal) so they put a bunch of names in a hat and had some poor unpaid intern pick one out.

I have not been quiet about how much death I wanted in this game. I expected at least two deaths, with one of them preferably being Price. Going into this I was prepared to lose characters, and I was prepared to lose them to a heroic sacrifice, to an exhaustingly epic gunfight, to an explosion in a clocktower, to literally anything, but I was not prepared to lose a character to bad writing. And that’s what Soap’s death was. There is no build-up to it throughout the game other than a cryptic, “I’ll see you again, MacTavish.” from Makarov in a flashback scene. There’s no exploration of Soap’s character arc, his background, his family. There’s nothing.

Price and Soap try to defuse a bomb, Makarov shows up and his men overpower them, Makarov goes for the kill on Price, and instead shoots Soap when Soap tries to stop him. The entire cutscene can be summed up as A Series Of Conveniences. Makarov conveniently gets to Soap and Price just as they’re about to defuse the bomb, the officers they have with them are conveniently incompetent to stop any of Makarov’s men, Makarov’s men conveniently don’t notice Soap getting up to stop him from shooting Price, Ghost and Gaz are conveniently one second too late save Soap, and a train conveniently passes by to let Makarov make his escape. It’s over in less than a minute, and there’s little to no reaction from the surviving 141 members before the game starts shoving in your face that there’s a bomb you have to defuse that has conveniently not gone off yet and was conveniently missed in all of the gunfire.

Aside from the bullshit way it happened, the most disappointing thing here was the cutting of Soap’s arc and the lack of reaction from Price, Ghost, and Gaz. There was no growth for Soap in this game, no building of his story that would make his death feel like a satisfying conclusion. We just got the same Soap we’ve had in the rest of the series, and then he was gone. And the fact that we got absolutely nothing from the team in that moment was so…frustrating. Yeah, Ghost kneels by his body, and gives a brief, “Johnny!” but that’s…it? Price says nothing. Gaz rushes to the bomb and says nothing. After that moment in the cutscene, Ghost says and does nothing. There’s not even a hitch in their voices as they finish disarming the bomb. In Soap’s original death, we got Price screaming and begging over his body. We got to see his grief and pain and hurt at losing someone so close to him. Here we get…them standing over the body, a cut to black, and then a funeral cutscene that doesn’t feel earned full of commiserations that feel empty, hollow, and generic.

Maybe I’m too nostalgic for the Captain MacTavish we had in the original series, and the death they gave him that was impactful enough that people still talk about it to this day. Maybe there’s something meaningful here that I’m not seeing. Or maybe Activision can’t write for shit and rushed Soap’s death without a care just like they rushed this game as a quick cash grab to ride the hype of MW2.

Whatever the reason, these characters deserved far better.

Soap deserved better.

And I deserved to see a rebooted Captain MacTavish.

Gameplay

This section is going to be short because I didn’t spend money on this game to actually play it, I only watched gameplay. The general consensus seems to be that this game is nothing but glorified DMZ, and I can’t disagree with that. Supposedly, at least two of the campaign settings were ripped straight from Warzone, the Gulag and Verdansk Stadium, and I think that really shows how much of this game was slapped together because Activision wanted to hurry to release so they could capitalize off the CoD hype as much as possible. The combat is the same in every mission, the air support mission is as boring as ever, the NPC AI is all over the place, and the character models constantly shift from being really good to mobile game bad within the same cutscene.

I’m not saying I could do better, but I don’t think I could do worse. You can take that however you’d like.

The Writing/Storyline

Starting off, I’m going to say this with my whole chest:

Main story content should be in the main story, and not in optional or additional content.

Look, I don’t mind an easter egg here and there in DLC. I don’t mind the mention of a big bad in an extra, paid quest to build up hype. What I do mind is when the understanding of the main storyline of your game is dependent on things that happen in content that players are required to complete outside of the main game.

Do you know how we found out Alex was alive? An optional Raid.

Do you know how we learned Graves was a little bitch and wasn’t in the tank? An optional Raid.

Do you know how we–

You get my point. These kinds of reveals should have been in the main storyline because they pertain to the main storyline. Otherwise, you have people reacting with confusion because the main campaign was all they played, and they were left under the assumption that Alex may or may not be dead, that Graves burned in that tank in Las Almas, that Farah’s brother (Remember him? Activision doesn’t.) was alive and out there somewhere, etc, etc. It feels like they’re trying to do what Marvel does when they interweave their cinematic universe with their television shows: leave references to things only the more committed audience - the audience who will watch every show, play every game, see every movie, buy every DLC - would understand while punishing everyone else. It feels lazy on Activision’s end, and cheapens any kind of suspense they may leave us with going forward.

I wouldn’t even be surprised to see something like “Oh, Soap died and Makarov escaped at the end of the main campaign? Just kidding! They revealed in the newest Raid that Soap actually survived, and Makarov got hit by that train at the end.”

Outside of that, the whole storyline just feels unnecessary. This whole game feels unnecessary. I know there are rumors that this was meant to be a DLC for MW2 that got extended into a full game because Activision wanted more money, and if I didn’t already believe that, the writing would confirm it for me. Nothing feels fleshed out. Not the story, not the plot, not the characters. It all feels very surface-level and shallow, like more of the exact same thing we got in the last game, but somehow worse. The banter between the 141 is just not there, the tell don’t show when it comes to Makarov, the rapid POV switching, it all feels so thrown together, so last minute, like the writers had no idea what they wanted to do up until release.

One thing that really bothered me was the constant death fakeouts. It felt like every mission something awful would happen and one character would be left with their fate unknown in a dramatic cut to black as a cheap way to build suspense…only for that suspense to be immediately undercut by showing them alive in the very next cutscene. This happens with Farah (twice), Price, Alex (partially, there’s no cut to black, but there is a fakeout that he has been captured), and Laswell all within the first half of the game. At some point, it starts to get irritating and kills any and all suspense going forward. I was spoiled on Soap’s death, I knew it was coming before I watched the cutscenes, but by the time I got there, I was almost expecting Soap to show up in the next sequence without a scratch on him. Up until that point, I had stopped caring when characters were in danger because the writing led me to believe everyone was safe. There’s a way to build suspense, and every writer understands that, a majority of the time, less is more, so I don’t get how this went so unbelievably wrong.

The characterization is also so weirdly off. In what world would John “Somebody has to make the enemy scared of the dark. We get dirty, and the world stays clean.” Price not immediately take a kill shot when he has Makarov in custody? Soap was ready to kill every person he talked to in this game, so why did he let Makarov live? Why would Gaz advocate for giving Shepherd a gun after his multiple betrayals that he shows no remorse for? Why would Farah continue to begrudgingly work with Graves after learning about Las Almas? Why is Makarov over-explaining his plans to his victims?

I’m not saying I expect Shakespeare-level writing from a Call of Duty game, but I expect something better than whatever this is.

I don’t know who Activision hired for their writing team, but there are so many instances here where I almost have to believe that they may not have hired one at all.

Overall Thoughts

I wish I had a time machine so I could go back to who I was before I watched this campaign. This whole game was nothing but a DLC lazily stretched to two hours with assets taken from other games and a storyline that was slapped together using blindfolds, a dartboard, and too much alcohol. Please do not use your money to buy this game. Your money would be much better spent donating to help Palestine.

#moth talks #game got me so heated i'm using proper grammar and punctuation and shit #call of duty #modern warfare #call of duty modern warfare #modern warfare 3 #modern warfare iii #call of duty mw3 #call of duty mwiii #cod mwiii #tw: racism #tw: islamophobia

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backlogbooks · 15 days ago

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Backlogbooks Bingo Challenge - Horror Recommendations (part 1)

To the surprise of no one, I'm starting off my challenge recommendations with horror! I'm getting the publication dates off of storygraph, so if I'm wrong, I take no responsibility <3

60s

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson -- Shirley Jackson! The queen! This one is such a combination of horror and humor and then horror again, about two sisters who live alone, ostracized by their town because of their family's dark past.

70s

Harvest Home by Thomas Tryon -- A very creepy folk horror novel about a family who leaves The City to come to a Small Town in new england, getting Close to Nature. Naturally, the townspeople have some dark secrets. I loved the atmosphere in this one--the slow building of dread, and trying to piece together exactly what the Dark Secret at the center of the harvest home festival is.

Jaws by Peter Benchley -- Okay, I don't know if I can actually recommend this, because to be honest with you, the movie is so much better. But also, if you're a shark movie fiend, this is a Piece Of History. Feel free to reply and argue with me if you love this book!

Carrie by Stephen King -- This book is about Carrie, a perpetually bullied girl who has the chance to go to the prom. I'm sure you know how it goes from there--but even if you do, I recommend reading the book. It's a heartbreaking horror novel, and I really enjoyed (slash hated) the way the tension mounts as you get closer and closer to The Bad Thing

The Shining by Stephen King -- Jack Torrance has a big new job as the caretaker at the Overlook Hotel during the off-season, and there's some evil afoot! Again, I feel like you know how it goes from there, but King is really so good at building dread and tension.

80s

A Nest of Nightmares by Lisa Tuttle -- Recently rereleased in the Paperbacks from Hell line, this is a collection of horror short stories that mostly center on women, with horrors both mundane and paranormal (but an emphasis on the paranormal). These stories were so creepy to me, and I really enjoyed the way that mood built. TW for rape (I can tell you which story for sure if you want! I'll just need to double check my copy to make sure I'm not misremembering)

Misery by Stephen King - He's back again! This is actually my favorite Stephen King novel (setting aside the dark tower series to make it a fair fight). Paul Sheldon, a bestselling novelist, is taken captive by his biggest fan, Annie Wilkes. Annie is like, my favorite villain I think. I've been wanting to reread this book for years because of her <3

2000

House of Leaves by Mark Z Danielewski -- Okay recommending this book does feel a little like trying to trap someone, but I love it. So! Will Navidson's house is bigger on the inside than it is on the outside; Johnny Truant is obsessed with a book by a blind man about a film that Navidson made that doesn't exist; everyone is lost in the labyrinth, including you. Please join me in this bonkers book. Conspiracy board supplies are not included, but you're encouraged to gather them up yourself as you go.

Uzumaki by Junji Ito -- Kurouzu-cho, a small fogbound town on the coast of Japan, is haunted by spirals. This is not as metaphorical as I imagined it would be when I first picked it up! The body horror in this book is insanely good, and there are some lines/images that are going to live in my head Forever. Highly recommend if you like horror manga.

2003

Come Closer by Sara Gran -- This is a fantastic possession book--it keeps you right in her point of view as she spirals down, trying to figure out if she is in fact possessed or if there's some other break with reality. I loved the "are you possessed" quiz as a guiding structure.

2006

The Ruins by Scott Smith -- Trapped in the jungle, far from home and with no way to get help, a group of friends face an inhuman horror. This had some of the most skin crawling body horror I've seen, and I loved the development of the antagonist (don't wanna say more because spoilers!). Great survival horror. What a terrible group of people to be trapped with.

World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks -- If you love yourself some worldbuilding and zombies, check out this book! World War Z gives you vignettes about different areas of the world, and different aspects of life during a zombie apocalypse. It was a slow read for me, but I really enjoyed the details.

2007

Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill -- An old rock star buys a ghost online, because he's a dumbass (aka because he "has a thing for the macabre"), and has to go through hell to get rid of it. It's been years, but I remember being deeply creeped out by this book!

2010

Feed by Mira Grant -- More zombies! This one set twenty years after the zombie apocalypse, following two bloggers who are working to uncover a conspiracy behind the Infected. This had political thriller vibes mixed in with the horror, which kept a fast pace, and I loved the main characters. Eventually I may even finish the series!

2011

The Ritual by Adam Nevill -- Four old friends try to push aside old and new tensions for a reunion hiking trip. Since that's not working, they try to take a shortcut and end up very, very lost--and very deep in woods that have more than just animals to worry about. I held my breath through a lot of the first half of this book. Good for folk horror fans or people who want to be very afraid of every forest they walk into.

2013

Dark Tales by Shirley Jackson -- Shirley Jackson again! This one is a collection of short stories, including "The Summer People" and "Louisa, Please Come Home," which are some of my favorites. Creeping dread, domestic horror, and the question of what happens when your life takes a sudden, unexplainable turn. Definitely recommend the edition with an introduction by Ottessa Moshfegh!

2014

Through the Woods by E.M. Carroll -- A collection of short horror comics, with dark fairy tale vibes. I want to eat E.M. Carroll's art style, or at least cover my house with prints from this book.

Horrorstor by Grady Hendrix -- Have you ever had a nightmare about being trapped in an ikea? Or, sorry, Definitely Not Ikea (So We Don't Get Sued)? Are you tired of your retail job? This is the book for you! Haunted ikea: much more terrifying than I expected it to be.

The Grownup by Gillian Flynn -- This is a quick, 64 page story about a young woman who pretends to be a psychic to get by, and ends up being pulled deeper and deeper into a family's dysfunction when she promises to help rid their home of ghosts or other powerful forces.

Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer -- Horror science fiction about Area X, an unexplained phenomenon where earth is returning to "pristine nature" with a horrific twist (or many of them). Our main character, the biologist, is one of my favorite characters I've ever read. I'm actually a little insane about her. Join me!

This is really long so I'm splitting it in two! Stay tuned for 2015-2019 recommendations next week :-)

And please recommend your favorite horror books for this challenge too!

#backlogbooks bingo challenge #horror recommendations #this is so long i'm sorry #but also it was very fun to put together #horror #challenge recommendations #recommendations #please reblog i spent a lot of time on this lmao

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ilikekidsshows · 3 months ago

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Have you seen the post from descendant-of-truth analyzing the problem of ML trying to cater to 2 different audiences? I think that it makes the issues with the show make a lot more sense when we pair it together with their decision to center Marinette above all else. Plus the 2 audiences feels like a better explanation of their flaws than the 2 genres others have critiqued.

---

I think it’s both, actually, but also that we need to go deeper on both of these arguments than what I've seen. I do strongly agree that Miraculous is juggling its genres poorly and that’s why the writing is consistently so weak, but I also think there’s three genres being juggled, not two. However, I also strongly agree that some of the worst singular scenes and episodes happened specifically because the writers suddenly decided to write something aimed solely at the teens and young adults in the audience. The controversial retool, in particular, turned the show to try to appeal more to the older audience, because it addresses several of their complaints. A thing can suck for multiple reasons.

The thing about combining genres is that it’s not actually that hard to do when you have specific scenes dedicated for the different genres and stay consistent on what your main genre is, romance scenes, for one, rarely get in the way of the action in an action movie, unless the out-of-place romancing is meant to be a joke because of the mood whiplash. However, Miraculous doesn’t do this. Miraculous’ genres overlap constantly, which makes the writers’ end results clash so terribly with the show itself. The thing about the magical girl warrior and superhero genres is that they have very different conventions from each other, and then we also have the school drama genre slowly rising up to eclipse these other two in importance as the show goes on.

Miraculous is, first and foremost, a superhero show with the aesthetics of a magical girl warrior show. This is what the concept, marketing and merchandise focuses on. We have cute magical creature mascots, the heroes get transformation trinkets, there’s a lot of focus on the transformation sequences, and the heroes’ get signature moves/spells that are triggered most often with some more carefully crafted stock animation. But Miraculous is part of the “Zag Heroes” branding, and our heroes are treated as no different from the heroes who just put on costumes in-universe. The Akuma victims are literally called “villains”, as in, supervillains. There’s a lot of focus on what the public thinks about the heroes and there's a bunch of secret identity hijinks.

However, it’s specifically when Miraculous tries to be more like a magical girl show in terms of storytelling that it ruins Miraculous as a superhero show. I have said, for years, repeatedly, that a superhero franchise relies heavily on having a “rogues gallery”, a collection of different villains, for longevity, but magical girl shows typically have one threat per season/series who turns innocent bystanders into temporary foes, and Miraculous decides to do the latter. Miraculous has the weakest rogues gallery of any superhero franchise I’ve seen and that’s a bad thing. Any toys of Akumas aren’t going to sell very well, because they only show up once per season or have only one appearance period, so toy companies aren’t going to be interested in making many toys of characters with weak marketing, which means kids can’t easily recreate the episodes when they play.

Superhero shows also, like, tend to give top billing to its protagonists. So, it’s the classic: “why is the show called ‘The Adventures of Ladybug and Cat Noir’ if Cat Noir is just a side character?” complaint, but framed in a way where we very clearly see what the issue is. A comic book called ‘Batman and Robin’ is about Batman and Robin, if it’s a Batman solo book, it only has Batman’s name in the title. Superhero series are also really comfortable with sharing the spotlight with other characters. Because even Batman solo series often have storylines where Robin or some other character shows up to be important, sometimes more important than Batman even. Some of the most popular superhero titles are about teams of heroes. In fact, X-Men has often been Marvel’s best-selling book and the same is true for DC with Teen Titans. It is also notable that giving one team member superior status over the others is a sure way to turn the fans on you for favoritism, so equal billing with different stories focusing on different team members is the standard.

Magical girl shows, on the other hand, are far more often about a singular main girl. Even when there’s a whole team of girls who get focus episodes on occasion, you can always spot a “main girl” in the cast, who is the protagonist and will show up in every episode and will often get some kind of purification/healing power to justify that. This relegates the other team members, naturally, but it’s a genre staple. You can see from this description that Miraculous is using a magical girl warrior genre approach to its team building, which will rub any superhero fans in the audience the wrong way, and has only showcased the writers’ favoritism towards Marinette more the more inconsequential teammates we got.

The school drama genre, ala Dork Diaries, however, has been growing into this black hole that’s swallowing both of the conflicting action genres. (Middle) school drama is the genre where petty, inconsequential nonsense like whether or not your classmate’s preschooler brother thinks you’re cringe is worth an entire episode’s plot. School drama is the genre in which “I won’t be able to see my crush for the rest of the school trip, everything is over!” is an acceptable darkest hour moment for a movie. And, if you look at the retooled seasons, you can see how school drama conventions are taking over the show and sidelining both the superhero and magical girl warrior genres.

In seasons 1-3, we got one episode about class presidency, where the whole thing is treated as wacky hijinks, and which was framed together with the villain of the week being involved in a different election, with the superhero conflict getting directly tied into the school conflict in the end by Marinette’s quick thinking in a dangerous situation winning over her classmates’ trust (a trope common for teen superhero shows). In season 5, we get several episodes building up and dealing with the end of the school year, like arranging school parties, class presidency re-elections, and filling out applications for study programs. All of these plots are played far more seriously this time around and with the civilian conflicts resolved in ways that humiliate Marinette’s school rivals (a trope common to school drama stories).

However, as I stated before, most of Miraculous’ most controversial moments are because the writers wanted to address the older audience. ‘Simpleman’, the third most-hated Miraculous episode (used to be second until the S5 finale eclipsed the recap episode in terms of lowest-ranked episode), is about the writers talking about the thought process behind the show to fans that they think just don’t “get it”. The retool that I think ruined the somewhat working system the show had going, raised the rating (slightly) to appeal more to the older fans, and, before the actual release of season 4, there were comments from the creative team about the plot being more linear now with watch order actually mattering. Continuous plots are something that notably appeal to older fans and what the older fans had been asking for online as well.

We also moved focus away from kiddie superhero action to personal drama. Instead of the heroes having fun saving the day and having endless time for wacky hijinks as civilians, Marinette is constantly whining about how being Ladybug is ruining her life. Deconstructing superheroes is something that the industry constantly tries to sell as a more “mature” take on superheroes. Speaking of those wacky hijinks, suddenly none of the classmates have anything silly kids would be interested in going on, everyone is just shipping the main ship so that the older shipper audience can project onto them, because we all know older audiences only care about shipping (sarcasm).

There are also all these deflections directed at the older fans who criticized the original show. Marinette stops “stalking” Adrien, well, most of the time at least. In fact, Marinette’s stalking was caused by Chloé traumatizing her so badly in the past it drove her into mental instability, so it’s totally not her fault and the audience should just let it go. Speaking of Chloé, she was born evil, so stop asking about her redemption arc. Cat Noir apologizes for flirting with Ladybug and just easily stops having feelings for her, despite Astruc earlier going on a several Tweets long ramble about how we can’t help how we feel when people were asking him about Marinette’s tendency to fall for any guy who prioritizes appeasing her emotions, because we gotta address the sexual harassment allegations. We even get Marinette begrudgingly acknowledging that she used to stalk Adrien while falsely insisting she never does that anymore and was more justified than anyone else.

All the classmates turning into Adrinette shippers is also something that’s clearly for the sake of appealing to fans who only care about the romance in the show, whether they exist or not. Let me tell you, preschoolers are not interested in romance stories, they think kissing is funny and makes for a funny show. So the turn into having almost all the characters constantly talk about Marinette and Adrien’s relationship just feels like ship bait written by people who have no idea what ship bait is. Also, the twist that Adrien fell in love with Marinette in the widely ridiculed ‘Puppeteer 2’ episode is absolutely moronic and only happened to be “surprising” as a reaction to so many fans hating the episode to begin with.

All the weird plot developments are just copied from tumblr blogs of older fans of the show too. The whole “love-square reversal” that led to absolutely nothing interesting is a thing the fandom has been bringing up as a way to “develop” the romance arc for years, and would you look how that was their go-to-idea when they started to devote more and more focus to the lovesquare. Similarly, the SentiAdrien concept originated from tumblr fan theories and was implemented in a way that was clearly directed at people who’d read all those same theory posts that the writers had, with everyone else, especially kids, in the audience being confused.

The issue here is, of course, that Miraculous' targeted audience is still small children, the kids who will want the toys, the costumes and the Miraculous themed bedsheets. So the show's general approach to all of this "deeper" stuff is played for laughs, dropped before the audience can dwell on it or to present it as an interpretative theatre performance where the visuals are meant to entertain the kids and none of the characters address the horror of the revelations in the play so that the supposedly deeper elements of the show remain mere implications. And these implications don't really affect anything in the show as-is. They're only there for the older fans to discuss amongst themselves. It's like they writers are doing the narrative equivalent of dangling keys but it's directed at teens and adults instead of the usual small children.

#ml critical #dats chats

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downtroddendeity · 11 months ago

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@turnkeyassurance saw your tags and figured I'd take the opportunity to pause my descent into madness to give my more sober opinions on the Ni no Kuni franchise, lol. (Warning: I am a humongous JRPG nerd)

The NNK games are really odd ducks, quality-wise. You can call either one a good game or a bad game and call either one better than the other, and any combination of those opinions can be something I think is entirely justified. Both of them have things they do remarkably well and also serious, profound, deal-breaking flaws, and the really weird thing is that there's almost no overlap between those two lists for the two games. What clicks and doesn't about both of them is going to be deeply individual.

What Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch does, with resounding success, is Vibes. It sets out at every single step with the goal of being a playable Ghibli movie, and it sticks to that principle. It's all about beautiful, cel-shaded whimsy. It's a game for people who want to feel like they're wandering through the meadows in the movie version of Howl's Moving Castle. There are lots of puns, and you can befriend all the random encounter monsters and feed them ice cream.

But that's also its Achilles' heel: because it's dedicated entirely to imitation, it has trouble bringing things to the table that are really its own. It has the visual and narrative aesthetics of Hayao Miyazaki's films, but it doesn't have the raw emotion at the heart of them. And as a game, its mechanics combine the clunkiest features of menu-based combat and action RPGs, and while everything about the Pokemon-esque mechanics seems designed to encourage players to collect and experiment with them, the balancing turns attempting to do that into a miserable grindy nightmare.

The other problem is that it... isn't actually the first Ni no Kuni game. Wrath of the White Witch is, in fact, a remake of the Nintendo DS game Ni no Kuni: Dominion of the Dark Djinn, which was never released outside Japan. The reason for this is pretty easy to explain, because DDD had another gimmick besides its aesthetics: it came with a real-life physical copy of the wizard spellbook, and the player had to look things up in it and draw sigils on the DS touchscreen to cast spells. So, we've got a high-effort remake that had to completely cut the central mechanic... and which also expanded the plot so that the original main villain was no longer the primary antagonist. This results in a game with what is very clearly a final dungeon and very clearly a final boss and very clearly a resolution to the story, which suddenly has a completely different plot dropped on it like a fucking anvil that it expects you to be just as invested in even though it hasn't had anything like the same level of buildup.

And ironically, this is almost the exact opposite of the biggest problem with Ni no Kuni 2: Revenant Kingdom, a.k.a. the one with my new blorbo, the President of the United Union of Eagleland. 2 is an effort to try to cement an identity for the series that can be its own, rather than requiring them to depend indefinitely on borrowed Miyazaki nostalgia. It just has the teeny-tiny, itsy-bitsy problem that at some point in development it had a budget shortfall so bad that you can finish the game without ever realizing that there is a continent-sized crashed interdimensional spaceship on the world map.

This game has had a machete taken to it. Don't get me wrong, I genuinely respect the work they did to make what they could with what they had, but you can see the signs of massive scope cuts to literally every aspect of the game. The back half of the game has almost exclusively recycled enemy and environment assets; voice acting has been trimmed down to canned voice clips; the catboy protagonist's ears and tail are barely animated; one minigame was so inadequately playtested that a level 16 mission is massively harder than level 50 ones; and while whatever restructuring they had to do to the main plot still left the final version with a more solid and coherent central arc than WWW in my opinion, it also left a lot of truly gaping plot holes, like oh, I don't know, why the President of the United States got turned into a 19-year-old.

Literally, they just. Entirely forgot to explain that. Half the DLC is just the writers scrambling to fix stuff like that and add a bunch of character development that should have been in the base game.

However, despite all this, I personally enjoyed NNK2 more than NNK1 unironically, not just for Rolandposting reasons. Compared to the first one, it plays much more smoothly as a straight action RPG, and while it can't provide the same knock-your-socks-off aesthetic cohesion, to me it seemed a lot more heartfelt- that is, like a game that was made because people had a story they wanted to tell.

But, well, we wouldn't be here if it wasn't for the non-unironic reasons, because the story they really, genuinely wanted to tell was about a magical catboy growing up and learning to become a leader, and somehow, miraculously, they really thought that was the story I was here for too when they opened the game with the President of the United States being isekaied by Nuke-kun.

Sorry, guys, I have a crippling addiction to dramatic irony and my day job is tech work in local politics, you could not have more laser-targeted this at making me specifically laugh my ass off if you tried.

#turnkeyassurance #reply #gameblogging #/#//#ni no kuni #ni no kuni 2

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sailorsenshishitposter · 4 months ago

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Jujutsu Kaisen Halloween Edition

⚠️Warning for spoilers so if you haven't finished the series then take that into consideration. This was originally written in two parts but I will be combining them into one long post. I hope you enjoy!

"Do you have any idea what time it is Itadori?"

"C'mon Fushiguro, you said you would spend Halloween with me and Kugisaki!"

Megumi rubbed at his eyelids and yawned. "Did you really need to wake me up at 5:00 AM though?"

"Oh yeah, about that. You know how Gojo sensei is when it comes to candy. He's all, 'IT'S FIRST COME, FIRST SERVED!'. I just figured you would want some before the entire schools stock is gone."

"...Save me some dark chocolate."

__________

"All right, so what's the plan for today?"

"I thought about having a horror movie marathon-"

"It's not that stupid earthworm crap is it?"

"N-no Kugisaki!"

Yuji let a single tear fall as he slipped the complete human earthworm DVD boxset into the garbage bin.

"I'll come back for you, I promise!" He whispered.

"Who are you talking to Itadori?"

"Huh? No one! Well I guess we better start coming up with some ideas if movies are out."

"I've got one!"

"It better not be what I'm thinking Kugisaki!"

"Chill out Fushiguro! No need to act like a grumpy old man all the time, it gives you more wrinkles."

Megumi sighed. "Fine. Let's hear it."

"We go to the graveyar-"

"NO!"

"Hey, I wasn't finished yet! Itadori!"

"Let's just listen to what she has to say Fushiguro..."

...

"As I was saying! We visit a graveyard."

"Why do you want to go to a cemetery!?"

"Because I can bring a Luigi board and talk to spirits with it."

"I think it's called a weegee board Kugisaki..."

"I swear, you're both idiots!"

__________

Mahito was now past the entrance to Jujutsu High, Geto/AKA/Kenjaku needing him to do so for who knows what. The curse then looked down at the list the strange man had given him. "Too bad there's no pictures. It sucks being illiterate!"

Just then someone walked past him. He kind of looked like a gorrila and after looking around he wasn't sure if it was a part of the man's costume or just his natural appearance. "Truly a costume worthy of being in the contest! Brother, you must join us!"

Todo then began dragging Mahito by the arm. "STOP! TAKE YOUR STINKING PAWS OFF ME, YOU DAMN, DIRTY APE!"

"But Brother! Everyone must see the wonderful Frankenstein costume you've created!"

"HELP! SOMEONE JUST EXORCISE ME ALREADY!"

Maki and Mai watched the situation unfold.

"Do you think we should help the new guy?"

"Nah. Besides, we don't want anyone to ruin our chance of winning the costume contest!"

They were both dressed up as the little twin stars. "Just so you know, if the pink doesn't come out of my hair I'm going to leave you to die alone Mai."

"I just regret not eating you in the womb when I had the chance..."

__________

"Are we there yet Fushiguro?"

"Yeah, are we there yet?"

"Will the two of you shut up before I tear my ears off- oh, look we're here."

Yuji then knocked on the gate. "I think it's stuck..."

"It needs a key Itad-"

Nobara then smashed it with her hammer and created an opening. She then fashioned her arm outwards. "Ladies first."

__________

"PRINCIPAL YAGA, DISQUALIFY HIM, THAT'S CHEATING!"

"What is it now Satoru?"

Gojo then pointed to a perfectly cut jack o'lantern. "IT'S NOT FAIR! EVERYONE ELSE IS USING THEIR HANDS AND SUKUNA IS USING CLEAVE!"

"I don't believe the contest ever specifically said no using cursed techniques brat!"

"Satoru..."

"HE RUINED MY PUMPKIN!"

Gojos pumpkin looked worse than Hanami's remains, all squashed with it's insides spilling out.

"Honestly, that idiot can't even hollow out a pumpkin yet he holds Hollow Purple?"

Yaga began to rub his temples. "Satoru, how many times have I told you-"

"SEND HIM TO PRINCIPAL YAGA'S OFFICE AND HAVE HIM EXPELLED!"

"THAT'S IT SATORU, YOU'RE OUT OF THE CONTEST!"

"WHAT!?"

"You heard me! Now go somewhere else before I decided to give you a months worth of detention!"

Sukuna and Uraume snickered as Gojo mumbled something under his breath and began to walk away.

"I told you that switching out his pumpkin for a rotten one would work."

"Yes, you are so smart, Master Sukuna!"

...

"Do you wanna make out?"

"Let us do it on that bastards bed!"

"And that Uraume is why you're my special!"

__________

"Who should we call?"

"Lets try your parents Itadori!"

"You know I'm fine with not knowing about them Kugisaki..."

Nobara then put her hand on the planchette. "Am I speaking with Itadori's mom?"

...

"Kugisaki..."

"Wait! Let me try it one more time! Hello, is this Itadori's father I'm speaking with?"

"It didn't move..."

"Thats weird! Maybe the line for ghosts is on hold or something?"

"Give me that you idiot! I'll show the two of you how fake this all is!

"Megumi then set up the ouija board and put his hand on the planchette. "Am I speaking with my worthless father!?"

His hand then moved over to yes.

"WHAT THE FUCK!"

"HOLY SHIT, IT ACTUALLY WORKS!"

"NO, NO, NO! THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING!"

...

"Let's burn it and never speak of this again!"

__________

"What should we do now?"

Suddenly they heard a loud noise.

"Let's go check it out!"

They ran down the corridor but nothing could have prepared them for the grisly sight. "GOJO SENSEI!? WHAT'S WRONG!?"

The strongest was now reduced to projectile vomiting like a toddler."

Sorry guys! Didn't meant to frighten you but I think I'm cursed."

In his hand was one of the human earthworm DVD's. Megumi and Nobara began to eye Yuji suspiciously.

"I found this movie in the trash and I was fine one minute and then the next thing I know, there's worm people attached from mouth to anus. Someone better call poor Ijichi since I'm not cleaning this up!"

Kugisaki then whispered to Itadori. "Were you going to actually make us watch this!?"

"Not that one! There's romance in these, I swear!"

Gojo puked into the garbage can and then wiped his mouth. "Sorry guys, I think I'm going to head to my room and get some rest. By the way, if you don't mention this to anyone, there's a nice big bag of candy with your names on it! Scratch that actually, it has Utahime's name on it but what she doesn't know won't hurt her."

...

"Really Itadori?"

"They were on sale..."

__________

"Either my sugar high is inducing hallucinations or I'm hearing something strange... Wait, why is it coming from my room!"

Gojo rushed down the hall only to find out that he couldn't enter. "How is my door locked? And why is there a sock on the doorknob?"

He then pressed his ear to the door.

"OH YES SUKUNA SAMA! GIVE ME THAT MALEVOLENT MEAT!"

"WHAT THE FUCK!? HOLLOW PURPLE!"

The door was now reduced to splinters, leaving Gojo's six eyes to see all the horror. "OH GOD! WHERE'S MY BLINDFOLD!?"

"Do you mind? I'm kind of in the middle of something important right now."

"GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY ROOM SUKUNA!"

__________

"And today's winner of the contest is- Hey kid, what's your name again?"

"Uhhh..."

"Well Uhhh, congratulations, you've won first prize for your Frankenstien cosplay! Here's trophy!" Mahito began to sniffle.

"GOD DAMN IT!" Maki snapped her weapon, breaking it in two.

"Wow,.... I've never won at anything before!"

"You amaze me once again brother! Yet I must ask you, how did you make your costume?"

"What are you talking about? I keep telling you this is my skin!"

Gasps emerged from the crowd.

"I'm sorry to have to do this Uhhh but you're disqualified for not having a costume. I'm afraid I'm going to need to take this back..."

Mahito then ran away like a sulking child.

"Brother! Wait, come back!"

"Alright folks, sorry about that. We'll now be handing out first prize to the runner up!"

Maki and Mai finally stopped strangling each other. "It seems like we still have a chance at winning!"

"And first place now goes to Muta Kokichi for his stunning costuming of Eva unit-00!"

The twins looked at each other. "Do you know who that is?"

"No, can't say it sounds familiar..."

Just then a giant robot parked itself next to the stadium. The hatch opened and out came a sickly boy being pushed in a wheelchair.

"WAIT, WHY IS MECHAMARU HERE!?"

The crowd then broke out into cheers. "He's so brave!"

"Thank you all but I cannot accept this award."

"Thank God!"

"Because I'm giving it to my wonderful Miwa!"

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?"

__________

"What's taking Mahito so long?"

Jogo smoked his pipe while he talked to Geto/AKA/Kenjaku. "I'm not sure. Maybe it would be best if one you checked up on him."

The curse grunted. "Can't you see I'm in the middle of babysitting Dagon?"

"What about Hanami then? Oh wait, that didn't go so well the last time did it?"

The man got up and stretched. "I suppose I'll be on my way then."

Kenjaku then exited through the door. It was time to put the moves on Hanami.

".ogoJ uoy ees ot ecin s'tI"

"What are you saying? Look, nevermind. I picked these flowers for you..."

".ogoJ"

"It is said that humans believe certain flowers hold different meanings-"

"!ogoJ"

"And roses are said to symbolize-"

"!OGOJ"

"WHAT!?"

Hanami then communicated telepathically. "Dagon is drowning..."

"This isn't about him- Wait, how is he drowning!?"

"Where's that damn monk kid when you need them!?" Jogo then set the temperature so high that the water evaporated into steam. He then went to check on said curse. Dagon was now flapping like a fish.

"He's alright, just a little bit crispy."

Hanami then used their powers to restore the water and gently placed Dagon back in.

"Did you really think that destroying the homes of rose bushes would make me happy?"

"... I can always plant some more."

"You better!" __________

Gojo was now forcing poor Ijichi to clean his room, top to bottom. "And it better be spotless when I get back! I don't want to see a trace of curse "residue" if you know what I mean!"

He then lit a match and set his bed on fire. "By the way, I need a new bed."

Gojo then walked off while Ijichi began to cry. "I don't get paid enough for this job! Nanami was right. Jujutsu sorcerers really are shit!"

__________

Kenjaku was now inside the school. He walked around until he heard whimpering coming from the forest. "Ah, there you are Mahito!"

The curse was now trembling. "G-go-gor-"

"What exactly are you trying to tell me?"

"GO-GORILLA!"

Kenjaku turned around only to be faced by Todo. "There you are brother! I didn't know you were with Geto. If you don't mind sir, I'm going to take this one into the infirmary. Little bro doesn't seem to be feeling too well after losing the costume contest."

Kenny raised an eyebrow at Mahito. "Thank you but I'll take it from here. I know enough about the body to treat symptoms."

"That's wonderful! But when did you start learning? I wasn't aware that you could use reverse cursed technique?"

"... Shoko... I've been stopping by the lab every now and then..."

The teeth in Kenjaku's brain were grinding. 'Please buy it!'

"Well it seems you have everything handled here so I will leave it to you!"

They both waited until Todo was out of sight. "I want a good explanation and I want it now!" __________

"What are you doing Master Sukuna?"

"Just trying to see if a certain little spell works. I've heard that humans can summon the dead from a mirror. This should be quite the entertaining night."

"What are we doing in the boys bathroom my lord?"

"Would you turn off the lights for me? Thanks. Now follow after me and repeat this name three times! Fushiguro Toji, Fushigro Toji, Fushiguro Toji!"

"... What the hell?"

"Good evening, Mr. Fushiguro! My associate and I are interested in causing some mayhem and would like to know if you'd like to assist us!"

"Where's Gojo?"

"I don't see why that matter-"

"WHERE IS THAT ASSHOLE!"

"Well it seems like we've made a new friend Uraume! Right now you are inside Jujutsu Tech and Gojo Satoru is somewhere here on campus!"

"I need to egg that punks place for ruining my house on Halloween! Do you have any idea how annoying it is to try and remove all that toilet paper!? I don't have time for that! I've got children to neglect and teenagers to kill for money!"

"I'm afraid we already trashed his room earlier but there's still time to squeeze in some petty revenge!"

"Well, thanks for your help. I'll put in the good word with Gege and see if he can set you up some place nice in the next life. Now if you don't mind me, I'm off to go kill that Gojo brat!"

"What have you done master?"

"What we've done Uraume, what WE'VE done!" __________

"And I don't want anyone seeing you escape! You've already caused enough of a mess. Now get out of my sight!"

"Suguru, is that you!?"

Kenjaku nervously turned his head around. "...Satoru?"

"There you are! Hey what happened to your forehead?"

"...It's part of my costume."

"I thought that you were going as a sexy nurse this year?"

"...I suppose I can be both..."

"Well I got my matching patient outfit so that works for me! Now let's go get ready for tonight!"

Kenjaku sighed. 'Why me!?" __________

"Everyone got their costumes?"

"Itadori, we're too young to go trick or treating! Besides, I don't even have a costume."

"Well it's a good thing that I brought you one just in case!" Yuji then threw the costume to Megumi.

"Why do you have an outfit of Gojo?"

"Oops, wrong one. That's meant for Okkotsu! Here's yours!"

Megumi then looked at the contents of the bag. "No. I refuse!"

"But you promised to spend Halloween with us!"

"Fine... Anyway what are you supposed to be Kugisaki?"

"A pirate!"

"You can't just wear an eye patch and say that's your costume!"

"Yes I can! I'm broke and from the countryside, I'm not rich like you!"

"Doesn't Gojo sensei give us spending money?"

"I'm not changing my costume! Besides, it's too late!"

"She makes a point Fushiguro."

"Whatever. And just what are you supposed to be?"

"What does it look like?"

"You look like a samurai cosplayer that got lost from the convention so I'm going to say Oda Nobunaga."

"Do you even know who that is Kugisaki?"

"Of course I do Fushiguro! Isn't he the head of Nintendo?"

"How did you pass history class? Anyway what are you supposed to be Itadori?"

"Kurosaki Ichigo from Bleach..."

"Why are you dressing up as a chemical product?"

"You're hopeless Kugisaki..." __________

"Hello Nurse!"

'I can't wait to kill this idiot!'

"Thanks Satoru. But it seems a bit too small, don't you think?"

"Hey, you're the one that ordered the costume, not me. I can't help it if you gained a few more pounds from swallowing curses!"

"Right..."

"Anyway let's go trick or treating!"

"Excuse me!?"

"You heard me! Besides, I need to stock up on candy!"

"Don't you have enough...?"

"Yeah well I threw it all up earlier!"

"Wait, what-"

"Let's hurry before all the good houses are empty!" __________

"Trick-or-Trea- Wait, is that Nanami sensei?"

"Nice to see you all. I trust that you're not getting into trouble tonight? We don't want another event like Shibuya..."

"You're not our mom Nanami! And why do you look like a burn victim?"

"That's rude Kugisaki..."

"It's my costume..."

"No offense, but you don't seem like the kind of person that enjoys Halloween..."

"You're right, I don't. But my friend insisted on it..."

"Are there trick or treaters- ... Aren't you guys a bit old to be doing this...?"

"I told you Itadori!"

"Hey! Why is Phoenix Wright screwing us over!?"

"My name is Higuruma Hiromi young lady and I happen to be a lawyer!"

"Nanami sensei, why are you guys even celebrating tonight?"

"We aren't."

"Huh?"

"We're doing our taxes together."

"What a bunch of losers!"

"Excuse me young lady but I didn't catch your name?"

"It's Kugisaki Nobara and you better remember it!"

"Kugisaki!"

"Now, now boys, it seems I've forgotten to hand out your gifts. Here."

"Wow! These are the good chocolate bars Fushiguro!"

"And as for you Kugisaki, please take this."

Nobara eyed the packaged and then took it. "What ever."

"Have a happy Halloween kids!"

...

"You didn't give her candy, did you?"

"If you don't mind me, I'm going to go have a nice soak in the tub with my clothes on!" __________

A poor old woman was alerted to loud knocking outside her door.

"Yes...?"

It was dark and her vision wasn't what it used to be but she somehow managed to turn the porch light on.

"Trick-Or-Treat-"

"I'm so sorry boys but I'm afraid that I'm all out of candy-"

"LET ME FINISH! As I was saying, Trick-or-Treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat!"

"I told you I'm all out of-"

"I'LL EGG YOUR HOUSE GRANNY! THEY DON'T CALL ME THE STRONGEST FOR NOTHING!"

"So sorry, my feeble old mind can't keep up sometimes. I just remembered where I keep my spare candy..."

"Hurry it up old lady, I've got other houses to hit up!"

"Here you go. Remember to savour every bite!"

"Yeah, yeah, thanks I guess?"

Geto/Nurse Kenny and Gojo then walked away from the property. "That women definitely put a razor blade in there..."

"What are you talking about Suguru- ACK! Good thing I had my infinity on..."

"Let's just try to avoid causing more trouble hmm?"

"I guess you're right- WAIT IS THAT A HOMELESS MAN! Stand in front of me so he doesn't rob me of my sweets!"

"You're being ridiculous Satoru!"

"Did you just say Satoru? As in 'Gojo Satoru'!?"

"HOW IS TOJI HERE!?"

"Ask Gege. Anyway it's time for revenge!"

"WAIT, WAIT, I CAN-"

Toji then took his worm out. "LOOK AT IT!"

"STOP! PLEASE, I BEG YOU!"

"No can do. You've been a bad influence on my son and I intended to raise him from now on!"

Gojo began to have flashbacks to the human earthworm and was now puking once again. He then began to levitate but instead of being enlightened, it just resembled that scene from the exorcist.

"You have no idea how greatful I am to you..."

Toji then began to stroll off. "Now, it's time to find my son. What was his name. Meg-, Mega, Megaman? No that's not right! Megamind? Oh well, it will come to me when I teach him how to properly gamble with Hakari!"

"Not so fast!"

"Hey Sukuna!"

"Kenjaku!? Actually, nevermind, I'm not even going to ask. I swear this guy does the grossest things!"

"The two of you know each other?"

"Unfortunately..."

"Being a woman can be more enjoyable than you'd think. For instance, did you know the clitoris-"

"What the fuck!?"

"Sorry about him. He's always been like that. Anyway you've proved your usefullnes to me but I no longer need you for my plan to advance."

"Plans?"

"If I tell you, you'll just get mad and is that really how you want to go out?"

"Hey, if I'm going back the afterlife I at least want to know what for!"

"I want your sons body."

"What the hell!?"

"Not in that kind of way. I'm faithfully commited to my chef."

"I guess that makes things a little easier..."

"Any last requests?"

"Teach my boy how to gamble and go into thousands of dollars in debt."

"Tempting but no. He'll get to learn the best poems and become the top Floriculturists in Japan!"

"...You son of a bitch!"

"Mahoraga will also fill in to be his step father. Uraume, you may kill him now."

"As you wish Master!"

"At least don't turn me into an apple-"

"Impressive. You pierced right through his brainstem."

"Let us find the Fushiguro child." __________

"I think we should split up for a bit to get more candy!"

"Let's meet back here in half an hour."

Megumi was now alone and began to walk down the street. Eventually the houses were starting to disappear and the street lights were far and too few. "I guess I better summon Divine dog Totality... Here boy! Who's a good dog? You are!"

"Woof!"

"No one can no about this! Anyway I need you to help me find houses with candy... Honestly, I wish I never agreed to this stupid event!" Yuji had ordered a costume of Aki from Chainsaw Man but the order got messed up and he ended up with some girls little red riding hood outfit. He was going to destroy all the photos that Kugisaki took.

"I see a cabin up there! Let's just get this over with so I can go home!" Megumi then knocked on the door.

"Good evening... May I help you...?" The stranger looked like an androgynous albino wearing a kimono.

'And I thought my costume was weird...'

"I'm looking for some candy. It's a long story but my question is do you have any?"

"Why of course! Please, won't you come in?"

"...Don't I know you from somewhere?"

"Do you want the candy or not!"

"Alright, fine."

...

"Here you are. My world famous finger sandwiches!"

"I thought you said you had candy? Actually, whatever, I'm desperate to go back with something. Thanks."

Megumi tried to grab some but Uraume snatched the plate away. "Please, you must try some! They are to die for!"

"To be honest, you're creeping me out, but if I eat one of these will you let me leave?"

"Yes."

"Alright then." Megumi then fell unconscious and slammed into the table.

"That was... easier than expected..."

"I know right? What does that idiot Gojo bother to teach them anyway? Wait, what is this kid wearing?"

Uraume then checked the tag. "I believe it is a little red riding hood my lord."

"The things that pass for fashion these days. Uraume, bring me my women's kimono."

"Yes Master!" __________

"I can't believe it!"

"What's wrong Kugisaki?"

"You remember that jackass we ran into earlier? It turns out that what he gave me was a referral card for a therapy session!"

"Honestly, you kind of deserved it..."

"Well, what'd you get?"

"I ran into this guy that looked like he was a Jojo character or something? He gave me free coupons for some reason. Here, have one."

"Why are these blank?"

"Huh?"

"Oh, your back Fushiguro."

"Hey, what happened to your costume? And why do you look like Sukuna?"

"...I thought if I mimicked his appearance then it would spite him..."

"I guess that makes sense. Hey, did you bring any candy?"

"Oh no, I uh forgot..."

"Too bad- Huh, what happened here?"

There was some vomit on the ground but other than that there was two giant bags full of candy.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"We can't just steal Kugisaki!"

"Who the hell is gonna call on us?"

"The ghostbusters?"

"Itadori, you just look away and you don't have to be involved while I haul all the goodies back."

"Alright..."

"Disgusting! Why can't the two of you be normal!?" __________

"Ow, where am I?"

"You're in the infirmary."

"Shoko... What's going on? Where's Suguru?"

"Oh, you mean this guy?"

Sitting next to her was Kenjaku tied up with duct tape over his mouth.

"Mmm, I want my nurse to treat me!"

"That's not Suguru..."

"What are you talking about?"

"We found this guy trying to haul your corpse into the river. Frankly, we don't even know who he is. Geto Suguru has been dead for years!"

"If that's not my pookie then who is it!"

"Let's find out, shall we?" Shoko then began to remove the stiches and unscrew the top base of the head off.

"KENJAKU!?"

"And I would have gotten away with it if it wasn't for your meddlesome friends!"

"Well that takes care of everything-"

"Wait! Where the hell is my candy!?"

"We didn't find any candy at the crime scene..."

"WHERE IS IT!?"

"Try to calm down-"

"I CAN'T! DON'T YOU REALIZE HOW BADLY I NEED THIS!? I ONLY GET THREE HOURS OF SLEEP!"

"You're going to give yourself diabetes!"

"DON'T CARE! I"LL JUST USE REVERSE CURSED TECHNIQUE!"

"GOJO, COME BACK!" __________

"GUYS, WE HAVE AN EMERGENCY! WE NEED TO FIND MY CAN-"

Gojo was greeted to the sight of Yuji and Nobara chowing down on sweets like it was their last meal.

"YOU TRAITORS!"

"Look, we can explain-"

"I need the three of you to step away from the food!"

"Megumi? Why are you acting like this? You were always such a sweet boy like your adoptive father!"

"I'm not Fushiguro you fool! Haven't you noticed the four eyes or the tattoos!?"

"To be honest, I thought it was just part of his costume sensei..."

"Me too-"

"Enough! Now back away from treats!"

"What could a curse like you possibly want with my sweets!"

"I was an unwanted child. I was starving so I resorted to eating my brother in the womb! I need all the nourishment I can get! Besides, Halloween is the one day of the year where you can't be judged for having for eyes, four arms and two tounges!"

"Womp, womp!"

"YOU WANT TO FIGHT ME LIKE A MAN!?"

"Here's a better idea! I'm going to eat my candy and watch you cry like a baby!"

"We'll see about that!" Sukuna then incarnated into his true form.

"More hands means more candy!" He then used his stomach tongue to scoop up a large portion of food.

"That's cheating- WHY AM I GETTING SO MANY RAZOR BLADES!?"

"If you don't want them then it just means more iron for me!" __________

"Ugh, my stomach hurts Shoko..."

"Serves you right!"

"At least I'm fine-" Sukuna's stomach then puked all over his lower half.

"Haha- Ow!"

"Sit still would you?"

...

"Here are your results. You both need major dental work."

"WHAT!?"

"Let me finish would you? Sukuna's teeth are in bad shape due to there being no toothpaste in the Heian era."

"What the hell is a toothpaste?"

"And you Gojo, have so many cavities that it looks like you'll need dentures!"

"BUT I'VE BEEN USING REVERSE CURSED TECHNIQUE!?"

"Yes well that still isn't a substitute for brushing your teeth twice a day!"

"TWICE!?"

"In your case I would say ten times a day..."

"Looks like my teeth were the strongest after all-" Just then every tooth but one in the front fell out of Sukuna's mouth.

"Holy shit, it's Thukuna!"

"ARE YOU THUCKING KIDDING ME!?"

25 notes · View notes

amethystina · 25 days ago

Note

Hi there! I don’t know if you’ve ever answered something like this before, but since you have such great writing skills and a nice taste (and by nice I mean similar to mine lol) in ships, I was wondering what your favorite books are (top 5, maybe?).

And since your latest ships seem to have a pattern, are there any books you’ve read that feature similar dynamics?

That being said, with the ending of The Right Set of Circumstances and Who Holds the Devil being far from concluded, I’m really looking forward to A New Dawn or anything Gahan-related.

Hope you’re feeling a little better! Congrats on your skills; I really appreciate them.

I have not answered a question like this before, no. But, as a librarian, I am of course delighted to do so! Reading is one of my biggest hobbies and I make sure to read at least 20 books a year. It has been a tradition for the last nine-ten years or so (and that's not counting any of the fanfics I might partake in as well).

I just think that, as a writer, it's important to have input as well as output. A writer who doesn't read may be perfectly servicable, but they will stagnate sooner or later. They might be creative enough not to run out of ideas, but they'll be stuck with the same vocabulary and understanding of whatever language they're writing in for the rest of their career. So, to me, reading is vital in keeping my writing engaging and exciting. And it's especially important for someone like me who's writing in a language that's not my native tongue. If I didn't read copious amounts, I wouldn't know even half of the words currently in my vocabulary — let alone how to use them.

But, with that said, I'm terrible at listing my favourite books. Not because I don't have favourites — I most certainly do — but because I have a hard time listing things. I can't accurately compare many of the books I've read because they're from so many different genres and have offered me wildly different experiences. It's the same with movies, TV shows, and practically everything else I like. It's incredibly rare for me to be able to definitively say which ones are my Top 5. It's just not something my brain is capable of doing, it seems, unless it's narrowed down to a small enough scope that I can see the full picture.

Another thing about the books I read is that they don't always match what I write. Some of the books I love the most aren't even close to what I, myself, want to write. And I've found that, with books, I focus less on the tropes and dynamics than, say, what joy they bring me or what they can teach me about writing. Basically, what I'm trying to say is that while several of my ships have a pattern (I am, apparently, into age differences? Who knew?) the books I like do not. Or not to the same degree, I guess? There are some that come kind of close that I can pick out from my pile of favourites, sure, but they're not the majority. I think I'm just more broad in my tastes in books than I am in my taste of ships and haven't made an effort — nor do I want — to try and combine the two.

BUT YEAH. With that very long explanation out of the way, here are a couple of books that are important to me for one reason or another. They're not ranked, nor are they flawless pieces of literature — and not everyone will like them — but they gave me something and that's what matters to me.

Luck in the Shadows by Lynn Flewelling — If someone asked me for my favourite fantasy series, nine times out of ten, this would be my answer. I found this at a point in my life when I was dying for an engaging fantasy epic and this delivered in every single way that I wanted. It's complex, has great world-building, lovely characters, is full of intrigue, and is also gay. What's not to love? I absolutely devoured the first three books in this series. That said, it features some heavy themes and I haven't actually read all of the books yet so I can't guarantee that it stays good all the way through. But based on what I've read so far? Fucking outstanding.

Red Leaves by Thomas H. Cook — By no means the best book I've ever read, but it taught me a lot about unreliable narrators, characterisation, how to pace and angle a story, and how important words actually are when writing. How certain choices can affect not just the story you're telling, but the emotions of the reader. This book focuses on a man whose teenage son is suspected of having kidnapped a little girl and just what that does to his view of his son, their relationship, and himself as a father. It's truly fascinating with a focus on the psychological that I truly enjoy. It also taught me a thing or two about gut-punching twists. So there's that.

Days Without End by Sebastian Barry — This book is an Experience. And I mean that in the best way possible. This book isn't for everyone since it's slow and ambling and not the easiest to read, but dear LORD is it amazing. Never, in my entire life, have I read a book so atmospheric. I shit you not when I say that I had to read it with an accent to get the syntax and rhythm of the sentences right. It is pitch-perfect. And crafted so meticulously that my head kind of spins when I think about it. This was the book that made me see how important rhythm, cadence, and word choices are because they can, in fact, influence the reading experience to the point where it feels like the author is taking you by the hand and gently guiding you down the path of the story. And that's something I've tried to incorporate in my own writing, to the best of my abilities. A tip from my wife: If this book feels difficult in text format, read it on audiobook instead since, at least in the version she listened to, the narrator had the correct accent which made the whole thing a lot easier.

Blood Harvest by Sharon J. Bolton — The book that has probably scared me the most in my entire life. And it's not even a horror? But, again, it's all about the atmosphere and the fact that some of the sections are told from the POV of a young boy and you can't really be sure if he's a reliable narrator but if he is then what the ever-loving fuck is going on in this town? That's scarier than ghosts to me. Very eerie, well-crafted, and with the bonus of a disabled main character. But it does also feature quite heavy and disturbing subjects (child sexual abuse, to name one) so please be careful.

The Good Son by Jeong You-Jeong — This is a slow, claustrophobic, and ambling descent into insanity and I absolutely love it. The focus is on the characters, their relationships, and the slow unravelling of both. As with most Korean literature, it's very contained and direct, without too much flowery language, and I think that definitely works in its favour. The steady growing unease and tension are exquisite and I appreciate the focus that's put on the main character's thoughts, actions, and behaviour. It's exactly the kind of thing you'd expect me to enjoy if you've read my fanfics. Also, incidentally, Yo Han is going to recommend this book to Ga On in The Devil's Due (if I ever get to writing it) because Yo Han is a fucking menace who loves to push Ga On's buttons and twist his perception. You'll understand what I mean if you read it.

The Circle by Mats Strandberg and Sara Bergmark Elfgren — This is a Swedish young adult series that is so good but also so unnerving. Because it doesn't shy away from difficult subjects and knows how to ramp up the tension and suspense in a way that's truly masterful. I also appreciate that it's very female-focused and that the characters are far from flawless. Some of their actions are outright problematic, even abhorrent. But the beauty of this series is that that's the point. They're supposed to be flawed and they're supposed to make the wrong decisions — because they're human. This book is about a group of human teenage girls put in an extraordinary situation and, as you might expect, the results may vary. I truly recommend it to people who want to learn a bit more about flawed characters and, again, unreliable narrators.

___

Those are all books that have influenced my writing but if you want a list more focused on romance of the M/M variety (which, admittedly, is what I read the most) where at least some lean towards the same dynamics I have for my ships, here are some favourites. The majority of them are of the historical or fantasy variety because that's just where my heart truly lies. I know that doesn't show in my own writing, but that has more to do with my own performance anxiety than anything else, I think. I haven't really dared to dabble too much in those genres.

And so, without further ado:

The Gentle Art of Fortune Hunting by K.J. Charles — Or just books by K. J. Charles in general, I guess? They're delightful, down-to-earth, and easy to read. The characters feel like actual people and not everyone is drop-dead gorgeous all the time. I've been reading a lot of her works lately because they give me just what I want and bring me a lot of comfort.

The Soldier's Scoundrel by Cat Sebastian — Or, again, just books by Cat Sebastian in general. She, too, has a very nice grasp on characters, tone, and can build a really nice story that's not dependent on unnecessary drama. They're comfortable and nice and I love them.

The Ghost Wore Yellow Socks by Josh Lanyon — Another writer whose works I really enjoy, though the focus here is usually contemporary suspense and murder mysteries. Of the kind that manages to feel urgent and tense but without turning dark and gory — which I appreciate. Also, Josh Lanyon has perfected dry, sarcastic humour into an art. One I am very jealous of, not going to lie.

The Capital by A. H. Lee — I ploughed through this series. Like, I don't even know what happened? It's a fantasy story with intrigue and necromancy and amazing characters and magic and lovely world-building. This, for example, is one of the few books I've read where the social issues of LGBTQIA+ rights are touched upon in a fantasy setting. I really liked that. I'm probably going to re-read this series during 2025.

Kill Game by Cordelia Kingsbridge — This is another contemporary series about a serial killer and the cops who hunt said serial killer. So this is a bit darker but, boy, is it a ride. The series is a bit of a slow burn that bleeds into established relationship as it progresses and I just love that shit. Also, it took me until, like, book four (of five) before I could pinpoint who the killer was which is really impressive. Usually, I can do so within the first third of a story. It did drag at times, but the time you get to spend getting to know the characters makes up for that, I think.

Peter Darling by Austin Chant — I adore this book. It's a delicious, wonderful enemies-to-lovers that honestly made me go a little feral. But in a soft way, if that's possible? This book made me feel creative and excited and I was so invested in the characters and the slow build of attraction and awareness between them. I felt high after I finished it. I don't know if anyone else will feel that way (I might just have been very excited that day xD) but it worked really well for me. Highly recommend.

___

And there you have it! Because I can't miss an opportunity to talk about books, I guess xD (and give you more than you asked for)

But please remember to look up triggers and such before you read! I admit that I didn't try to list them all here, mainly because I don't know what people will find triggering so I'd probably miss some even if I tried.

As for my own writing, I hope to finish a couple of projects during 2025, A New Dawn definitely being one of them. Hopefully also some of the shorter Gahan projects I have, plus some older fics I have lying around for other fandoms that I just haven't been able to complete yet. Having too many projects makes me restless and while the easiest solution would be to dump some of them, I don't have the heart to do that when there's just another chapter or two to go.

So yeah. Next year will hopefully involve me finishing a couple of projects, especially old ones I should have completed long ago.

Wish me luck!

#Amethystina Replies #Anonymous #My krypronite #(or one of them I should say)#I just love books and reading okay?#I learn so much through what I read #Watching how other people write is so fascinating to me #And I have no doubt in my mind that it's one of the reasons people think I write so well #I truly think that reading makes you a better writer #And while I know it might be an unpopular opinion #I do mean reading other things than fanfics #Fanfics are great make no mistake #(I am currently on the biggest fanfic binge I've been on in YEARS)#But there are things they can't teach you #Like how to actually build a character and convey their personality #Because usually there's at least a surface-level agreement of who the characters are before you even start reading a fanfic #So you can take shortcuts #It's just not the same #I truly recommend reading at least a couple of books too #Not necessarily traditionally published #But just other things than fanfics

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