#kinda long winded

[dragonnarrative-writes]

Transferrable Skills Part 5

Transferrable Skills Masterlist

Read on AO3

CW: Hand feeding, praise, kink negotiations, discussion of power exchange dynamics, kissing (FINALLY)

When you reach for the cardboard box on the edge of the table, he catches both of your wrists in one hand. You only resist a little bit. His other hand flicks the box open and he picks up a thick fry.

“Open,” he rumbles, pressing it to your lips. When you open your mouth, you watch his pupils dilate. He purrs as you take a bite. “Good girl.”

The rumble of his voice sends a shiver down your spine. You would let him feed you limp celery with that tone. You lean forward again, jaw dropping open.

“Should talk now,” Simon rumbles, thumb dragging over your lip as he feeds you the rest of the fry. The contact electrifies you down to your toes. You must make some kind of noise as you swallow because he smiles. “Didn’t consider I might feed you myself.”

“Okay,” you breathe, leaning into the hand cupping your cheek.

“Finished your stretches?”

The temperature in your body drops significantly. You lean away from him. “I…uh. I… didn’t.”

Simon hums a low note, hand finding your chin again without making you look into his eyes. “Hurtin’ somewhere?”

“No,” you rush to assure him. “No, I just… I was in my work clothes. And I didn’t want to do… that in front of Gaz and Soap.”

“Fair,” Simon says, drawing you forward to brush his lips over your forehead. You feel your face get hot all the way up to where they brush against you as he speaks. “You want to do them now, or later?”

The tension you barely noticed creeping into your shoulders melts away. Of course. Simon is just Simon now, not Ghost. If you aren’t comfortable doing something, he’s not going to get mad, just give you other options. He’s kept you safe, and he’ll make sure you continue to feel safe under his instruction. Even though everything is different, it’s all the same.

Tears prickle your eyes, so you squeeze them shut as you lean further into him. Suddenly, one of his arms is around your back, the one on your leg lifting you into his lap. If there’s even a grunt of effort, you don’t hear it over the way your breath gets caught in your throat. Your hands come up, automatically, to brace against his chest and one bicep before you’re folded into him like that’s the only place you ever needed to be.

And then his lips find yours.

God, how many times had you thought about kissing him? The fantasy is so muted compared to the real thing. His lips are thin and a little dry, surrounded by the barest scratch of stubble. He doesn’t coax your mouth open, just presses his lips against yours like he could do this all night. The tip of his tongue flicks out for a quick touch to your top lip, startling a sound out of you. He does it again, opening his mouth to moan into yours when you squeeze his arm in response.

When your own tongue comes out to touch the scar you’ve always admired at the corner of his mouth, he growls. “Fuck, Bambi.”

“Simon.” You barely recognize your own voice.

The hand on your thigh goes tight. It startles a gasp from you that he drinks down with a groan of is own.

He surprises you by pulling back enough to speak between kisses. “Beautiful, you know that? Thought I was hallucinating.” He tips you back a bit, taking all of your weight to scan your face. He grins as he says, “Was thinkin’ so hard abou’ you, and ‘ere you are.”

“You were thinking about me?”

“’Course, I was,” he says, leaning back into the couch. You end up resting your head against his shoulder. He sighs and kisses the top of your hair. “Missed our check in this week, ‘n you’d this big trip you were all nervous for. Didn’t get to see you off. Was lookin’ forward to gettin’ the tour of your hotel room, gettin’ y’r travel stories. ‘n then I got the call today, n’ I was cancelin’ on you again. Just about broke my ‘eart.”

“Oh.” You’re not sure what to say. You’d always kind of assumed he was indulging you, letting you ramble about your day until he could get to the good stuff, as your ex used to say. “I knew you were kind of… on call. I didn’t realize that you were saving hostages, but I knew you were busy.”

He twists a bit to look into your eyes. “Don’t like bein’ too busy to see you.”

“You just like seeing my ass,” you joke, burying your face into his neck to settle the butterflies in your stomach.

“’S a good arse,” he chuckles, shaking the meat of your thigh in his grip. “Was definitely lookin’ forward to a bit o’ skin. But if you were too tired, I jus’ wanted to ‘ear your voice, coax you through some of your stretches before bed. Speaking of…”

You roll your eyes at the significant look he gives you. The way he never forgets a command makes so much more sense now that you know what he does for a living. Your heart flutters to see the familiar way his scarred lips quirk at your sass, paired with the unfamiliar way he tweaks the skin of your hip with the gentlest pinch.

“I’ll do them later,” you concede. “I already did all my floor stretches, and I’m hungry now.”

“Good girl,” he says, patting your ass. “Should prob’ly eat before it gets cold.”

He pops open the second takeaway container to reveal your meal, a dish you had picked basically at random from the menu Gaz had showed you on his phone. It’s a lot less hand-feedable than Simon’s wrap and fries, so he lets you feed yourself, but he refuses to let you sit on the couch, even halfway. Just holds you in place while he eats one-handed, trading fries for bites of chicken adana and tipping water into your mouth every few minutes.

You’re ravenous until you’re suddenly not, halfway through your food. Simon doesn’t comment, just finishes the other half of your food while you rest against him, exhausted. Simon’s hand is still on your hip, his thumb tracing back and forth in an idle, steady pattern.

When he finishes eating, he asks, “Where’s your head at?”

“Nervous,” you say automatically. This, at least, is familiar. “’M tired, and I don’t know what you’re gonna expect of me.”

He taps three fingers on your hip, twice. “Trust me?”

“You saved my life today,” you point out.

“Tha’s work,” he dismisses. “Not workin’ now. You trust me?”

You think about it, because he always wants you to think about it before you answer. You fall back on your rules, the promises between the two of you.

“I trust you to be honest with me,” you answer, the mantra coming easy. “I trust that it’s okay to tell you if I’m not okay with something. I trust that you won’t yell at me. I trust that you’re not going to hurt or harm me on purpose to correct my behavior.”

“Very good,” he rumbles, pulling you close to press his lips against your forehead again. “I trust you to be ‘onest with me, too. Trust you’ll accept a no, when I give it. Trust that you’re not g’nna yell. An’ I trust you not to punish me if you’re upset.”

“Wow,” you say. “I never expected to hear you say that in person.”

“Never thought I’d ever ‘old you,” he replies. “An’ I’ve never folded a whats-it-called… a romper, before, neither. Interestin’ day o’ firsts.”

“It’s a jumpsuit if it’s long,” you mumble, mortified all over again that he’d had all of your stuff in his hands.

“’S impractical. Soft, though. Bet it’s real pretty on you.”

A swell of embarrassment swoops through your belly. It’s automatic to bury your face in your hands. “Don’t make fun of me.”

“None o’ tha’, now.” Simon grasps both of your wrists in one large hand again and brings them down to your chest.    He makes you look at his face with a finger under your chin. “Won’t promise I’ll never make fun, but I won’t say I think you’ll look good if I’m no’ bein’ ‘onest. Promised, yeah?”

“Trust you to be honest,” you whisper, tipping your face back into his shoulder. “Acknowledged.”

“Good girl. Three deep breaths.”

You push all of the air from your lungs, the way your therapist taught you. When you inhale, you feel his chest rise with yours. He matches you when you hold, then release the breath in a steady stream. Where the back of your hand touches his chest, you can feel his heartbeat, solid and steady as he takes the next breath with you. By the third inhale, you let your spine relax as you feel him do the same.

“Know we never planned on meeting,” he eventually rumbles. He tips you back to look down at you, then ducks down for a quick kiss. “But I’m gonna be selfish and say I’m glad you’re ‘ere. If you don’t want nothin’ else, tonight, gettin’ to ‘old you is still everythin’ I ever could’ve wanted. Honest. Acknowledge.”

“This is good. We don’t have to do anything else, and it’ll still be good,” you whisper. “Acknowledged.” You lick your lips, prop yourself up to look into his eyes, then away. “What if… What if I want to do more?”

“One step at a time,” Simon chuckles.    “Stretches first. Then we’ll see about tha’ reward I promised you, yeah?”

He brings his mouth to yours again. Your hands are freed so that he can cup your jaw so tenderly that it threatens to melt your heart, even as it electrifies you down to your toes. When you moan into his lips, he echoes you, then pulls a way to press his lips to your cheek.

“Up, Bambi. Let’s get you to the bed.”

[mikeru6]

a conversation with simon’s ghost before ralph leaves the island

(ralph has survivors guilt)

[ra-archives]

A collection of Sprint prompts from the LU Discord that I've done, varying in quality.

[witchspeka]

When Ritsu grows up he'll exclusively wear trenchcoats and one day he'll be walking down the street and see Reigen and they'll be wearing the same coat and it'll be the worst day of his life

[polybiusplayer]

Anxious habit.

[vynnyal]

Turns out Sunlit Trail isn't quite done just yet, so after all that they just send you to a dead end 😂

[clouvu]

I love them your honor

[orange-cheetah]

Makochi Townspeople Profiles

The People Who Give Makochi Town Its Colours!

Yama-jii (山じい)

An elderly man Sakura met at Café Pothos. He was grateful when Sakura let him know he'd forgotten something behind. Kotoha calls him "Yama-jii".

Satou-baachan (さとうのばあちゃん)

Sakura gave her a piggyback ride since her hips were hurting so much she couldn't stand. Jumped off Sakura's back and landed like someone from the Av*ngers.

Liquor store (酒店) - Butcher's (精肉店) - Fruit and vegetable store　(青果店)

Bakery (ベーカリー)

Taiyaki place (たい焼き店)

Monjayaki place (もんじゃ焼き店)

The People of Tonpu Shopping Street (東風商店街の人々)

The people running shops on Tonpu Shopping Street. They give Bofurin gifts from their shops like bread and fruit for protecting the town. There are also people like the owner of the liquor store, who challenges underage Sakura to a drinking match…

Granny of the first aid kit (救急箱のおばあさん)

A kind old woman who brought a first aid kit over to tend to Sakura, who had been stabbed in the leg. This became an opportunity for Sakura to start building relationships with others again.

The girl Nirei helped (楡井が助けた女性)

The girl who asked Sakura for help as Nirei was getting beaten one-sidedly by some delinquents. The reason Nirei got involved with the delinquents was to protect her from them.

Sasaki (笹城)

The junior high school student who found himself caught up with Shishitoren while chasing a shoplifter on the shopping street. Sakura and the others saved him while he was being attacked by Shishitoren.

The female student Kiryu helped (桐生が助けた女子生徒)

The girl Kiryu brought to Muscle Power. She was being harassed by some delinquents but received help from Kiryu.

Granny (おばあちゃん)

Asked Kaji and the others for help when her pet cat Risa-chan went missing. This doesn't seem to be the first time Risa-chan has run away.

Risa-chan (リサちゃん)

A cat with a pink ribbon as its defining trait. Perhaps because it was being chased by Sakura, its momentum caused it to jump into the river, but was saved by Kaji.

土屋 (Tsuchiya)

A childhood friend of Anzai who used to play with him at the park since they were little. Even now that Anzai has entered Furin High, it seems they still meet at the park of their memories.

長門 (Nagato)

Anzai's childhood friend. Mature and kind, he always went along with Anzai and Tsuchiya's recklessness. After that, the three of them went to different high schools and became separated.

[masterlist]

[enthusiastic-nimrod]

Windi Daize, local airhead and the Pink of a Weather themed magical girl team!

When I started on this group I was super preoccupied about making sure she didn't resemble the other pinks too much, and was also concerned about how I could take the concept of "wind" and make a readable design based off of it- but I feel like what I ended up going with works.

[unexpectedbrickattack]

get normaled, idiot

[httpiastri]

Paul’s hair this weekend, he’s so bbygirl 🥲

the hair is really hairing this weekend

[dykedvonte]

A Defense of Benny Gecko

Benny is more of a capable leader and person than people give him credit for.

Seeing as no one challenged his position as head Chairmen for 7 years and even then he only loses the position if he’s caught, killed or forced to leave. Yes, it’s also likely House wouldn’t have allowed him to be killed but he sure as hell would of found a way to remove him if he was causing too much unrest within The Tops power structure. Even Swank and Tommy don’t outright dislike him and more so are concerned with his recent secretive and shady behavior, emphasis on recent.

Taking all we know into consideration, Benny likely knew the future direction that he wanted to take Vegas but was so caught up in the plans to acquire Vegas that he didn’t think of how to make his dream a reality. Something he admits to in canon. I see this being used as the main argument that Benny doesn’t know what he’s doing at all but I see it more in the same vein as you can’t really plan something from nothing. The transformation of Vegas is a sensitive thing that he can’t really work on until he has it. The only reason he ran to the Fort prematurely is the Courier who was causing so much of a stir he would’ve likely been found out much faster, making all that planning for nothing if he didn’t take that chance.

Benny is careful (well a lot more careful than he is regularly depicted in fanon), the Courier being able to trace him was dumb luck on their part and his hair being noticed at the Fort is a realistically small oversight that even Caesar is disappointed in because he admits Benny got farther than he should’ve been allowed by his legionaries. The fact he can plan an ambush on the Courier or tries to quickly and concisely clean up lose ends that don’t lead back to him shows he’s not just acting on impulses or in the moment decisions. Or rather he’s quite good at thinking them out, whether they work depends on how you play really. This is all to say it’s 100% believable that Benny could lead an independent Vegas (house was basically setting him up to do that). If he had known explicitly that House was setting him up to replace him, he likely would’ve bought more time by getting in closer, learning more of the system to then flip House’s edge to his favor. Again something he was doing already but likely without the knowledge of House’s feelings on him personally.

No matter what, Vegas’ future was tied to Benny; House’s plans for him, having to get the chip and if he had somehow succeeded. It’s also interesting that of all the people vying for control of the dam/Vegas, Benny’s plans are the only ones actually oriented towards a new future, not a recreation of something long past.

[losergames]

Hey!! Curious about your new template! Could you explain exactly how to add new stats please?

hello! i'm not sure if by adding new stats you mean you want to add new variables or you want to add new stat meters? they sort of go hand in hand, but i will go over them both!

first you should be aware that sugarcube 2 uses story variables (some languages, like choicescript, use the term 'global') and temporary variables. they are differentiated by their sigils -- the dollar sign ($) for story and the underscore (_) for temporary.

when working with sugarcube 2 you need to set up all important story variables in the StoryInit passage. it is one of sugarcube's special passages and it's used for the pre-story start initialization - setting up the game variables before the player has even started playing.

the definition of what is an important variable is down to you as the developer. the StoryInit passage is for setting up story variables that will be used throughout the entire project. e.g. names, gender, pronouns, appearance, personality, skills etc.

a common way to show off your variable stats is with stat meter bars. the template uses the ChapelR Meter Macro and i highly recommend reading through the demo and documentation as well as this explanation.

here is one of the example variables set up from the template:

it is important to note that we need a $max_variable for each of the numerical stats you want to create that max out at 100%. this is especially important for the stats you want to have an 'opposing' stat, similar to choicescript.

underneath is the set up for the friendly stat meter:

the <<newmeter>> macro must be set up in the StoryInit passage, otherwise they will not work. the colours and sizing can be set to anything you want - but for the templates sakes i have used different greys.

in order to display our stat meter we need to use the <<showmeter>> macro:

it is very important to note that $friendly/ $max_friendly are encased in backticks and not regular apostrophes. in the template, you can find this in the profile passage. this is what our stat meter looks like in the rendered profile passage:

i created my own stat-title div to display the stat titles and percentages:

this is purely a stylistic choice and you do not have to copy it. but, i do find this is the easiest way to display the percentages of the stats. there is not a system or macro in twine that i'm aware of that 'creates' opposing stats (like choicescript) so we have to make one ourselves!

so, let's get into what's happening here. the 'friendly' side of the stat is simply printing the numerical value of the variable. if we were to select a choice that increased $friendly by 10, the $friendly stat would print as 60.

the 'stoic' side is printing the reverse. so if $friendly is set to 60, the print function is giving us 100 - 60 - which is 40. so - it's the 'opposing' side of the stat.

if you don't want an opposing side of the stat, like a health bar that is set between 0-100, you do not need the second <span> in the stat-title div.

in the documentation you can find that ChapelR has implemented their own way to add a stat title using the <<label>> child tag.

if we were to add the <<label>> child tag, it would look something like this:

i personally did not use the <<label>> child tag as i like having the title and percentages of the stats over the bar instead of sitting in front of/ inside it. again, it's a stylistic choice - so it's really just down to you! unfortunately with the labels, i'm not sure if there is a way to display the text without any spaces and i am not sure if there is a way to display the percentages in it either. (if anyone knows how to do that please let me know!)

you can use my examples in the template and replace the existing variables with your own! i hope that helps you a bit more :-)

i also highly recommend reading through @/larkingame's chapelr meter macro post as it's where i first learnt how to set up stat meters myself. thanks!

[neptunechromo]

cylinder hat and cherry's queer-platonic situationship <3

PLEAAAAASE go watch at the cylinder of events, its so cute and awesome and epic and coolness PLEAAAAAAAAAAAAASE

[nerosdayinanime]

midnight city(M83)

[dimonds456-art]

Maladaptive daydreaming.