#maybe in a couple years I'll do new game plus

[mrsnancywheeler]

the lakes (4) // finnick odair x f. reader

summary: it's supposed to be over, you and Finnick are supposed to spend the rest of your lives helping each other heal. living as peacefully as possible, but the the third quarter quell throws a wrench in your domestic bliss.

previous chapter / next chapter

midnight rain

2.6k words

warnings: angst, fluff, mentions and allusions of trafficking and sexualization of reader/finnick by capitol, manipulation of someone's feelings, allusions of past break up, allusions to death/violence, playful banter, no use of y/n, UNEDITED, me trying to write peeta, trauma, allusions to mental illness, survivors guilt

𓈒⠀𓂃⠀⠀˖⠀𓇬⠀˖⠀⠀𓂃⠀𓈒

The couch in all its neon greeness had been the same over the last 6 years. With the same garishly neon blue pillows in obnoxious shapes and as you stared at it it brought back when you and Conway had anxiously sat on it. When you began nervously sucking up to him, playing his sensitive side.

“I'm worried about you." Finnick popped a grape into his mouth as he sat on one of the velvety seats at the table. Honesty was his new approach, to tell you exactly what he was thinking especially if it was about you to force you to do the same. You were only a couple hours into the morning and this was evident.

“Why, Finnick?" You sighed, not in annoyance, well maybe a little bit in annoyance, but mostly the sigh had been one of love.

“I know we've both been back before, but not as tributes. You're going to start thinking about your games again as we go through the same steps. I'm worried you won't stay grounded."

“Yeah, well, I have you and as long as I can be in your arms I'll be okay."

He nodded observing you carefully, to make sure you weren't repressing anything deep within you, but he seemed satisfied for now. “It's not just you, I'm sure we're all going to be thinking a lot about the first time we were in this position." Finnick shrugged, grabbing another handful of grapes.

“Are you gonna be able to stay grounded?" You asked, putting down the knife you were using to butter your toast.

"I've managed this long.” He smirked, leaning forward, "Plus I've got you, angel.” 

You rolled your eyes,"You're so cheesy.”

"What? So it's cheesy when I do it, but not when you do it?”

"Exactly.” You laughed. "Second day of married life and you're already catching on!”

"I'm a fast learner.” He raised his eyebrows, grinning.

The door opened and in came your escort. “Good morning, you two! Glad to see you've broken no more glasses, Finnick." She tutted, her dress was an eyesore to look at. You loved color, but her clashing bright ones made your head hurt.

“Nope, I've remembered my manners, Koalema.” 

"Well that's good! Oh look, we're so close to arrival.” She kept babbling about something probably nonsensical. Koalema, why had you never been able to recall that name? You felt bad for not remembering, but it was so hard when she was flurry of chaos and overstimulation. 

Finnick stood up and held his hand out for you, “Well here we go, angel. Be ready to put on that beloved smile and have those tears ready to spill. They love that about you." You took his hand and pulled yourself out of your seat.

“You don't need any instruction from me, always the charmer."

“Yeah, well I've had longer." The two of you prepared to greet the vultures waiting to eat up upon arrival. Standing in front of the window, hands tightly clasped together ready to gracefully swoop up your audience in their desired fantasy for the final time. 

To smile at the people who had taken everything from you and completely controlled every aspect in your life. How people saw you, your relationship with Finnick, your relationship with yourself and your body, anything that you could think of they had somehow pulled strings in it. All of your life was under their thumb and you realized the lengths you would go to stop that, what would life be like when all you had left was memories that never needed to be reopened?

              𓈒⠀𓂃⠀⠀˖⠀𓇬⠀˖⠀⠀𓂃⠀𓈒

It was beautiful. There was more food than you'd ever be able to eat and not a single scent of the salty seafood you were used to. Bright colors etched into your brain and everything was so modern, so clean. You had no idea what you'd expected, but it blew you away.

“This is where you two will be staying on our way to the Capitol! Isn't it beautiful? No expense has been spared, District 4 has a pretty good reputation of course and we'd like to keep that! So be in awe, but not so much that you forget about that." The garish woman said so cheerfully you were convinced you misheard her.

“No we wouldn't want that." Conway muttered and the woman gave him a sharp smile.

“Make yourselves at home, I do believe the two of you are very lucky and get the one, the only Finnick Odair as one of your mentors this year. Let me check on that and possibly, Odine." Her heels clicked out the room which inexplicably opened just as she stood in front of it.

Home. You'd never see home again, never swim in the comfort of its waters, see your family, lay in the warm sand. Yes, you would if you could win this, but you couldn't. And Finnick, how were you supposed to think about strategy when he would be right there?

“Are you okay?" A soft hand landed on your shoulder and Conway's deep, brown eyes spoke as much comfort as they could for you. Of course you weren't okay, how could you be? But saying that wouldn't endear him into you, so you melted into his touch.

You shook your head, closing your eyes, and sniffling. “What about you? How was your family?" 

“Well at least I'm here with you and they'll be okay, at least they have each other too." Yes, at least you had someone you knew, yet also didn't that make it more difficult? He didn't ask about your family though, maybe if you kept a tally you'd feel less guilty by the end.

“Yeah, I don't know what I'd do if I didn't have someone I trusted. I'm just so scared, Conway.” With that you'd erupted into tears and he pulled his arms around you. They weren't stiff, but weren't comforting, not that you really needed his comfort.

“It's okay, we've got each other."

You already hated yourself.

With that the automatic door slid open, but you didn't tear yourself away. You knew who it would be, but he wouldn't believe you if you jumped from him. So you slowly moved your hands to wipe your face and made your voice shake as you let out your sweetest, “Thank you."

He nodded eagerly, he didn't say of course but you could see it in his eyes. A warm, but brisk voice interrupted the moment. “Glad you've already decided to ally with each other, makes it much more difficult when the tributes won't talk to one another." Finnick’s honeycomb sweet voice finally drew your eyes to his.

“Yes, it's an easier angle to work with." A tall woman beside him agreed, you recognized her from the screens, Ondine Afron, she sounded more tired then you'd remembered.

“We’ll be your mentors, teaching you with our experience the best ways to survive, how to get sponsors, and whatever else could help." Finnick grabbed a sugar cube from the bowl by the teapot, examining it before tossing it into his mouth.

Yes and him being a mentor could throw a wrench in your plans. Conway had heard every bit of the emotional rollercoaster that had been Finnick Odair, how could you convince him you loved him instead when the man of all your affections was right there.

“Nice to meet you both." Conway said curtly, he let himself glare slightly at the other man. Usually you'd scold him for this, you weren't the type to want tension, but you needed him to trust you. So you leaned into his side, looking up at him as innocently as you could. Willingly him with every molecule to believe you and for Finnick to leave you alone enough to make your performance more outstanding.

Later that night when you'd wandered the train's halls in a nightgown with a softness like you'd never experienced before, you'd passed by Finnick who had nothing but praise for the plan we could tell you were hatching. Of course he could tell, he knew every morsel of your being. 

“You're so smart, angel, the way you came up with that in a matter of seconds. Being good on your feet like that could save you in the arena." He'd whispered, softly above the mechanical noises your brain had hyper fixated on since your arrival. 

“Don't call me that." You muttered.

He sighed, looking down, “I'm sorry. I'm just-"

“Yeah, I know."

“You know I'd do anything to keep you safe, even if I haven't always been able to tell you what and now I've failed, but here you are, I mean the way you manipulated your eyes like that was brilliant. The audience is going to be under your finger just keep doing what you're doing." Suddenly his hands were around yours, a movement so familiar it made you shudder.

“Finnick, please don't." You tugged your hands, half-heartedly, not really letting them escape his loose grip.

“I'm sorry, I know you don't understand why I hurt you, but it'll all make sense once you win this thing."

“Yeah, sure." You rolled your eyes, this was a tiring waltz between the two of you. Him claiming it was to protect you while you couldn't know from what, even now when you were on the brink of inevitable death.

“I promise." He stilled all his shifting and movements, sea green eyes boring so deeply into the depths of your heart there was no choice but to trust him. You couldn't help yourself and leaned in, delicately letting your lips graze his cheek.

“I have to go find his room. You know, do what I can." There was slight laughter behind your tone and Finnick nodded, softly smiling.

"My smart girl.” He muttered, glowing in the lamp light. I miss you, your brain screamed as you gazed at him, suddenly the tears you were trying to force up to sell your act were easier to conjure up. So you left him in the dim lights of the train car to convince Conway of how badly you needed his comfort now that you were away from home.

               𓈒⠀𓂃⠀⠀˖⠀𓇬⠀˖⠀⠀𓂃⠀𓈒

“Secret wedding is all anyone can talk about." Your designer, Cambrie, sounded like bright citrus, drinking orange juice for breakfast. “Especially those seaweed rings, so bolstering for my ideas to run their course!" She smiled, clearly full of anticipation for her idea to be revealed to you.

Truthfully you couldn't care less about it, you wanted to be back at Finnick's side. As the years passed being alone with people from the Capitol no matter who they were or what they intended nauseated you. “Oh come on, Cambrie, I'm going to die of anticipation!" You proclaimed with as much drama as you could, pouting.

"Oh you're adorable.” She clapped like you were some sort of performing dog and pinched your cheeks, actually pinched your cheeks. The infantilization made you want to retreat but that would never be an option. “Reignbaugh was going to go with a fishing net to look for Finnick to pay homage to the District of course, and similarly with you I was thinking to draw it together, but the seaweed combined to call back to the rings. Everyone will eat it up, and oh I have a lovely pearl headdress you are going to be stunning!” 

You gushed to her, but internally felt your stomach turn. This really meant she was going to try and show as much as you off as she could. Of course this turned out to be true. The outfit could have been beautiful if in reality it wasn't so dehumanizing. The seaweed running through the fishing net dress that adorned you barely covered your nipples and much of your body was clearly visible to those who stood close enough.

"And of course for the Capitol Princess.” Cambrie announced, placing her elegantly made crown, you had to admit it was beautiful. The way each pearl shined between the seaweed. Although you did think the seaweed usage was over the top, the choice of it for the rings hadn't really been significant, it was just there in a place you both loved. It was marketable though. Her and your other stylists had also gone to great effort to make your eyes look as watery as possible, even adding pearly effects to make it look like you were crying them. It was too all too much, but you oohh’d and awed which they adored you even more for. 

“Don't you look handsome." You remarked all too sarcastically as you approached Finnick and his bare chest. 

“Oh just smile and wave, angel, they're savoring the last time they'll see either of us like this.” It was lighthearted and he pressed a kiss to the side of your head, but it did comfort you. Eventually your body would simply be yours again." There she is.” He whispered, your eyes followed him to her, Katniss Everdeen.

“Well you better go make your introduction then."

“Well ladies first." He gestured, expectantly.

“No, I don't think my first introduction should be like this." You pointed up and down the outfit. "You go, it'll seem perfectly on brand for you.”

Finnick nodded, you could tell he had more he wanted to say, to lecture on but there wasn't much time. You looked around the room, toying with the fishnet nervously before you heard someone call your name and looked in the direction.

"Didn't expect you to be the type with nerves.” A voice quickly caught your attention. Peeta Mellark.

"Only at the worst times.” You grimaced, shaking your head. 

Peeta smiled, "Well I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who gets them.” 

"Oh far from it, I bet you 75% of the people in here are trying not to throw up right now.” 

“Which one's are fine then?" He stood by you observing the occupants.

“While obviously it's neither of us, I'm thinking District 11 too many years in for either of them to be worrying."

“1 & 2?"

“Bingo!" You announced, tilting your head.

“Surprised you didn't say Katniss." He remarked.

"Surprised you didn't say Finnick.” You countered.

"The thrills of pretending to not be shaking.” He shook his head with a smirk.

"Masters of that game. In fact she looks like she might just kill him now.” You tried not to laugh at how Katniss looked at Finnick who you knew was trying desperately to work his charms.

"Well, I'd best go save him then.”

"Oh, yes it would only be mildly entertaining.”

"It was nice meeting you, considering the circumstances.” Peeta exuded kindness in a way you could only aspire too, it genuinely hurt your soul.

“Yes, a mind numbing extravaganza thrown here would have been much more enjoyable, as horrendous as that is to say." 

"I only ever attended one and just from that, I ever so gravely attest to that. I better go break the two up before she attacks.”

"Oh please do, can't have him squabbling already.” Peeta smiled and soon enough Finnick was stalking back your way.

"She'll come around.” He assured before you could even open your mouth as the two of you stepped into the carriage.

"I'm sure she will. Peeta and I could feel the tension from a room away.”

"Everybody likes me.”

"I'm sure talking like that is exactly why she doesn't.” You nudged him playfully.

"Oh shut up.” He rolled his eyes.

"That's no way to talk to your wife, Mr. Odair.” 

“I apologize, Mrs. Odair." He pulled you in for a kiss just as the carriage came into the bright sunlight, the screaming proved its effectiveness to you. It was sure to leave an impact on them when they looked back on the tribute parade. 

𓈒⠀𓂃⠀⠀˖⠀𓇬⠀˖⠀⠀𓂃⠀𓈒

thank you all again for your continued reading and support, especially since I feel like this is so slow paced but there's so much I want to get in there. if you enjoyed feedback, comments, likes, reblogs are all much appreciated, as always my inbox is wide open for any thoughts y'all have! so excited for getting into the training parts and some rebellion planning in the next part. love y'all so much, thank you again 💕💋

taglist: @imaegonstargaryenswife0 @avoxrising @artsyaquarium @jennaaaaaaaaaaaa @secretsicanthideanymore @darlingsoulbeautfulthoughts @thatonegayloser616 @kybermp3 @meri-soni-meri-tamanna @ravensinthedaylight

[choccy-zefirka]

Living Bodies

Woe! 3K words of body worship with Emmrich and a plus-size Rook, who that had a horrible first time as a teen and internalized her partner's disgust, be upon ye!

Content warning for references to bullying, dubious consent during the aforementioned first time, fatphobia, and also everyone's privates being out among the Necropolis flowers :3 (They are doing it in a cute skeleton-adorned gazebo that came to me in a dream)

Dear Lottie,

I am so terribly sorry you fell sick and missed all the fun! But we did it! We actually did it, all according to plan! Sprung the trap for my "secret admirer"! And our suspicions were correct!

All those gunky little lumps of soap Papa found folded in my laundry — they were put there by the washer girl! That knife ear, the one that looks like a toad! I think her name is Len-something, but who cares? And yes, she made them herself, out of whatever goop she's gathered round the alienage — because she has a """"crush"""" on me! The cheek! As if just because I don't like boys exclusively, I'd ever give the time of day to a walking, talking potato! She isn’t even cute in that scared rabbit way, like elf girls are supposed to be!

She did come to the "date" me and the girls arranged, too, and blathered on and on about how beautiful I am (fact) and how much she likes me (yuck)... Until we had enough and pushed her into the river!!! Oh, I wish you were there with us, it was ab-so-lu-te-ly hilarious!

Say, since you are sat by the window in your chair all day, have you heard any news out on the street? From the paper criers, maybe? I want to know if Len-whatever ended up drowning.

Correspondence between two traders' daughters. 9:40 Dragon

***

Happy now, Sticks?

Did her like you told me to. All the way. What a shitshow. Lardy Lenny is even lardier naked, that's for sure. Felt like sticking my dick into a giant slug. Next time I lose this stupid game, just send me into a shem's mabari kennels with salami for a sword. That will be way less painful.

Don't know how I'll fuck normal girls no. The fat cunt ruined it for me. Think I'll be having nightmares for years after this. Told her that, and she started bawling. Didn't even look funny like she usually does in tears. Just gross.

So yeah. Enjoy, I guess.

Note from an alienage boy to his friend, attached to a crumpled set of girl's underclothes. 9:42 Dragon

***

At first, Lenore is too distracted by turning and flexing her left hand. Her wrist has been getting a little stiff lately: she probably holds her arm at an uncomfortable angle when mixing potions. No surprise, since she is self-taught. Aching joints and sleepy pin pricks are the least of her problems, really! When she was just starting out, on a work bench that was just a half-rotten plank of wood balanced on a rock in the alienage backyards, she'd splash hissing, blistering liquid all over herself, turning her forearms into pale clumps of scar tissue, like cold leftover noodles plastered sadly at the bottom of a bowl.

Maybe if she observes Emmrich more closely during their studies together, she will figure out how to position her arms properly... Ugh. She'll find any excuse to "observe" him, won't she? Well, she's allowed; they are a couple now, outlandish as it sounds!

A couple.

All at once, her mind catches up to what her ears heard after Emmrich, gentle and attentive as always — what has she done to deserve him? — pointed out her stiff wrist.

Finer points of anatomy.

Her eyes dart upwards from her hand, and she gapes across their elegantly arranged tea table. Emmrich smiles, soft yet playful, eyes half-lidded and shining in the wisp light.

There is that side of him, that confidence — decades' worth of it — that sometimes makes her, all flushed and boiling alive in unspoken greed, wish for more than just quick kisses and lingering glances and fingertips resting on knuckles, shoulders, waists, whenever they stand too close. As if all of that was not already a gift far more generous than normally granted from someone like him to someone like her.

It has been a harmless enough indulgence to entertain, she supposes. A guilty pleasure, something titillating to think about in the secret alone hours while she touches herself. Not that she does it too often; bodies like hers aren't really meant for this, she's well aware... But still, that's also something couples are allowed to do, right — imagine each other's faces in place of characters from the Randy Dowager's Gold Collection?

But here and now, with Emmrich looking at her like that, it hits her with the full force of a Venatori blood forge trampling her to the ground. A keen, panicked awareness that this is not the Randy Dowager's Gold Collection. This is real — they are real. Especially her. Too real, too heavy, suddenly suffocating under her own weight, suddenly feeling the scented air of the Memorial Gardens with every pore of her skin, so tangibly, disgustingly physical that it begins to itch.

Most of her is carefully concealed underneath her usual Veil Jumper leathers, but if Emmrich, the real, non-fantasy Emmrich, decides to explore these finer points of anatomy, if he lifts the covers and sees just how much she the opposite of that...

Oh. Oh no.

She still remembers, a decade later, how the sight of her naked body broke the first and only boy that agreed to touch her. And that was before she got most of her scars!

She can't do that to anyone else, ever again. Especially not to him, not to her most treasured friend, not to the man who has been so kind to her that she dared bother him with her clumsy attempts at romance. Because with him, she could be certain, at last, that it would not turn out to be a prank.

How can she repay him by giving him nightmares?!

"Dearest? Why are you crying? Was I... Was I too forward? Too much?"

She did not even notice when the tears came. But here they are, marring her vision, so that there are two Emmrichs circling the table, kneeling in the grass next to her. Unafraid of the stains that will be left on the pristine Nevarran satin. Clasping her hands.

"I know that not all experience attraction the same way; if you would rather not explore this side of romance, that is perfectly fine, and wonderful! Your affection has already been such a beautiful gift."

Past her, the one that clung to the shadows, beyond the welcoming golden glow of camp fires, outside the reach of a friendly embrace; the one that spoke in sparse, grunt-like words, and kept her head down, beaten more than once, and shy far, far more than twice — that her would have made a vague noise and slunk away, never to bring this up again. But Emmrich — and Manfred! — was the one who brought her out of her shell. He deserves the truth, spoken with her whole chest.

"I... I do feel that kind of attraction towards you. You are a beautiful man, inside and out, and when I am with you, I sometimes forget myself and... pretend I am beautiful too."

She draws in a long, labored breath. She needs all the air in her lungs before this next plunge — she should know, she almost drowned once.

"But I am not. Especially not... from the neck down. You may have gotten used to my face..."

She dips her head — a habitual motion by now — letting her long, side-shaved fringe fall into her eyes. There's always quite a bit to hide under her hair: the dark rivulet of a birthmark on one side, the scar and the squinty damaged eye on the other. At least now she can do alchemical experiments in a mask and protective goggles. Less of an eye sore for Emmrich, to be sure.

"But trust me... My body is much worse."

She shuts her eyes and shrinks back into her seat, momentarily losing her present, adult, more or less mature and competent self (at least when it comes to alchemy and to… saving the world?) in the sheer blood-curdling terror of being seventeen again.

"The boy who took my virginity was so appalled that he said I'd scarred him forever. This has haunted me for ten years. And the... deed itself was punishment from his friends for losing some sort of dare. Do you understand?"

She forces herself to look into his eyes, even as the unseen, tightly wound strings holding her together begin to snap, one by one.

"Being with me... in that way... it's torture. I care for you too much to ever — "

"Lenore, my darling..."

Still on his knees — and still so tall that their faces are level — Emmrich pulls her hand to his lips and covers it in kisses. First on the outer side, swift, soft, each touch a beat of velvety butterfly wings; then, long, nearly reverent, on the inner side, where her pulse hammers against her bluish-pale wrist.

"Thank you for being frank with me. And I am truly, deeply sorry that you were betrayed with... such utter cruelty, in one of your life's most vulnerable moments. That fool of a boy was not the one scarred. You were. And oh, my dearest, you are still bleeding."

She listens to him in petrified silence, still as a startled halla before a long, soundless leap away from danger. She does not mean to — she knows Emmrich better than this by now; if he is disgusted by her, he will be much more polite about it — but instinctively, she braces herself for him to recoil away, grimacing like he is about to vomit. Overwhelmed by the sheer mental image of her laid bare before him. A slug; a toad; the stuff of nightmares.

Any second now. Any second.

He never does recoil.

"I know I cannot close this wound with a few words, much as I wish I could... But, darling, please try to take them to heart nonetheless."

His eyes, fully open now, reflect so much of the Gardens' ephemeral glow that it feels like she's sinking into two pools of starlight.

"Every body is as unique, as precious, as beautiful as the soul within. We study them, we mend them, we venerate them, in life and beyond. Your body is already dear to me because it is yours... And if you were ever to open it to me, like you opened your beautiful mind, there would be no greater honor than to discover — to savor — every last inch of it."

"I..."

Lenore swallows, her head swimming. If this lofty speech were delivered by anyone else, she'd have scoffed in doubt. Does she look like someone to whom a man (or woman, or anyone) would wax poetic about the sanctity of mortal flesh? What's the catch? But it's Emmrich, her Emmrich, whose voice and touch make it so easy to... Well. Forget herself.

"I want you to. Please."

He beams at her, placing one final kiss in the middle of her palm. Like a seal for a secret pact.

"Of course, dearest. Follow me."

They both get up, leaving Manfred (who has been off chasing the see-through Fade butterflies among the headstones, bless his innocent makeshift heart) to clean up their little picnic... Or at least to amuse himself with exploring how tea cups can be neatly stacked together.

Emmrich leads her to a secluded gazebo, crowned by yet another rendition of the embracing skeletal lovers that she has seen throughout the Gardens. Its threshold is barely visible, overgrown by a rustling carpet of delicate white blossoms that heave like the softest seafoam around Lenore's ankles.

"Shroud's kiss," Emmrich muses, after plucking one fragile white cup and placing it in Lenore's hand, right over the spot he kissed. The petals feel weightless against her skin, effervescent as a melting snowflake, as if woven from the Veil itself.

"I always loved the legend around this flower. They say that it grows on lovers' graves, and that one moves closer to the Fade simply by inhaling its fragrance."

He gestures to a bench under the intricate dome of metal lace, which is also cushioned in countless white flowers. She sits down, and a pale blue barrier shimmers into place around the gazebo. Shielding them from prying eyes. Emmrich's doing — or the Gardens'? Was this a secret rendezvous nook for someone else, once? Someone who might be buried underneath? Or, knowing Nevarrans, cast into the statue at the top of the dome?

"Do you think that legend is true?" Lenore asks, momentarily unable to contain herself. The fingers of her free hand race along the tips of the blossoms, and her alchemist's mind races in tandem.

"If we could maybe extract the essential oil and run a few experiments; but oh, that would require sacrificing so many of these beautiful flowers..."

Emmrich chuckles. He has leaned over her, bringing his lips so close to hers that she can drink in his breath, a pulsating heat beginning to rise at the bottom of her stomach.

"It is true if I will it, my dear," he murmurs, and the second he closes the distance, his tongue meeting hers in a kiss deeper than any they have shared before, the air all around them erupts in a cascade of pale-green sparks. Ghostly petals glide through the air, and if Lenore truly does tumble into the Fade, it is in a part of it that is as serene and sheltered as their Lighthouse.

The fragrant breeze is like silk against her burning cheeks, caressing her, each stroke leaving her more and more light-headed. Somehow, her body stops feeling like a heavy heap of scrap metal that she has to lug around while everyone stares at her; it is hugged gently by the cushion of petals, while Emmrich, as promised, explores it with both affection and... and gratitude.

He is still kissing her, diving deep with no fear of drowning, when his gloved hand unbuckles her belt and slips past the innermost layer of her traditional elven tunic. Her insides clench at the sensation of velvety fabric against her stomach rolls, and then her chest. As if she is balancing on a precarious clifftop somewhere back among the floating ruins of Arlathan.

But that startled pang soon dissolves into sweetest bliss. Emmrich has loosened the tunic's collar, allowing her shoulder and breast to escape, out into the warm, perfumed air. How scandalous! How very like the Randy Dowager's Gold Collection! Does she... Does she actually belong in one of those stories?

He continues to trace the outlines of her half-bared form, and his fingers are soon joined by his lips, which wander away from her gasping, half-parted mouth, and keep slowly moving down, paying a tribute of little kisses to each curve, each mole, each stretch mark. With a few motions of his deft, scholar's fingers, the layers of clothing peel off her torso completely, like she herself is a blossom unfolding.

His gaze measures her, from the flaming tips of her teardrop-shaped ears to the contours of her stomach. He smiles, a languid, hazy smile.

"Thank you for letting me see you, dearest."

"Can I..."

She clears her throat, part of her still dumbstruck in disbelief that this is actually happening. That she is actually saying this — to him.

"Can I see you as well?"

"I would be delighted."

She bites her lip, unsure where to start. But, ever so helpful, he weaves his fingers through hers, and patiently directs her through unclasping first his largest bracelet, then his collar pin.

Her heart hammers in her throat when she removes his jewelry and lays it on the bench beside her. With the bulkiest pieces out of the way, the buttons on his vest and shirt go next, and each of her little conquests over the delicate buttonholes is rewarded with a kiss from Emmrich. It does not slip past her that each of those grows a little sloppier than the next, a little more intermingled with bites and short, panting breaths. It's as if... As if he's enjoying her touch as much as she enjoying his.

At long last, his shoulders are bare as well. Exhaling softly, she marvels at the way the shadows of the gazebo’s lattice sculpt his bony clavicles, and runs her hands over the bristly cloud of short silver hair on his chest, and up his throat, where the skin is more worn with years of living, experiencing, being... him.

"You are perfect," she whispers, her thumb trailing over his cheekbones. At the sound of her words, his skin radiates rosy heat, and her body responds in kind.

"As are you, my darling."

His hands are back on her chest, as hers are on his. She chokes back a sound that might be a moan, or might be a sob. He pauses his chain of tender touches, uncertain if she is distressed. But she assuages his doubts by pressing into his mouth with another kiss, and if any tears do roll down her cheeks, those are tears of relief.

He hums in contentment at the back of his throat, and his fingertips, in their endless conductor's dance, brush along the texture of Lenore's many potion splash scars. She shudders when the cold metal of his few remaining rings glides over her, and the pulse between her legs, which has been growing stronger throughout their tender exchange of touches, of admiration, teeters close to its peak.

"Emm... Emmrich?"

She resurfaces from the kiss, dizzy and emboldened by the taste of him, and fumbles about for his hands, guiding them, like he guided hers, to push down her pants. His name comes out sounding as an awkward, stumbling mix between a needy plea and a tentative question. Emmrich, she means to say. Can you... Do this?

The thing is, she has no clue how to accommodate him between her thighs, underneath the soft pillow of her stomach. The worst parts of her, as the mirror says, as the memories in her head jeer.

But he smiles at her, and lavishes her with even more kisses, while she squirms under his searching lips, both nervous and aroused. Soon enough, he finds a comfortable angle... And again, he is on his knees before her. Fully giving himself to worship.

In romance serials, the good, beautiful partner with the perfect body orgasms when they are pleasured by their equally good, beautiful, perfect lover, and merely pretends to orgasm when the bad, comically inept or tragically forced lover, always fat, sweaty, and disgusting, slams against them like a dying tusket. What happens to the fat lover in the meanwhile, tends to be left out of the picture, because theirs is not the part of the story that the reader is here for. Perhaps, when the good lovers elope together into the sunset, the bad, fat lover is left to touch themselves all alone, in shameful secret, making a point not to overindulge, just like Lenore has in the past, because that would be disgusting...

And yet here she is. With a song of short, gasping notes coaxed from her lips, as his tongue circles within her and the ghostly blooms all around them merge into a flash of blinding white light.

When the peak is reached, when the wave hits her, and she, for once, is unafraid to drown, she impulsively grabs at the hair on the back of Emmrich's head... Which she only realizes once her mind stills a little — and instantly lets go, tumbling from the realm of pleasure back into awkward, clumsily physical reality. Apologizing for hurting him, again and again.

He looks up at her in half-drunken confusion, his hair in disarray, the pearly thread of her sex glinting in the corner of his mouth.

"Darling..." he manages to slur, his breath hitching. "You did not — "

Despite herself, she glances a little further down. And, for the first time — oh, by the Maker, Mythal, whoever, she is still so clueless! — she notices the bump in his pants. The little wet spot.

Oh. Oh.

He liked that.

"I wish I knew how to use my mouth the... the same way..." she stammers bluntly, still not looking away from the straining fabric.

"That is quite all right," he mouths, carelessly unspooling the band of red around his waist.

"There will be more nights like this one."

Until you become a lich and your duties take you away from someone so small and insignificant, a stray thought, like a charge of ice magic, runs through her brain, down her throat, impaling her very heart.

Grinding her teeth slightly, she wills her mind to return to the present moment. To the here and now. To Emmrich, brought to blissful ruin by the sight and feel and taste of her innermost self. To his sweet little moans and the rhythmic, almost elegant up-and-down pumps of his jeweled fingers, as they cup around the cock he finally brought out of his pants.

She never thought that Focus on his cock, focus on his cock, Lenore! would be a little chant of reassurance. The last time she saw erect, leaking flesh before her, she would rather have focused on anything else. But who knew that intimacy could be so different... even for the likes of her?

She bends forward and sneaks in a few kisses — on his wet mouth, over the desperately thrumming vein under his jaw — before his shuddering release leaves a messy splash of evidence over the both of them. She will help wash it off, of course; she knows the best potion mixes to do that... But it won't be something shameful, something that she had to get over with, retching and doubling over, her underthings stolen as evidence that the brave hero had survived the battle with the oozing, lumpy giant slug. It's simple, and natural — something that bodies do.

Bodies that are cherished and taken care of and worshipped. Hers revealed to him, his revealed to her.

Alive, here and now. Their skeletal forebears watching over them, in kindness and understanding.

[kaija-rayne-author]

Thoughts on upcoming Veilguard AMA.

Obligatory 'I'm not an asshole' disclaimer. Feel free to jump to the cut if you've read it.

Something came to my attention. I need to make it crystal clear that I utterly love the diversity in DAV. It's fantastic. I'm also a heavily left leaning, non-binary, queer as fuck reviewer, editor, and author.

I was on media blackout while I played it. Please be safe and take care of yourselves. Arguing with incels and white supremacists is completely pointless. They sea lion worse than an actual sea lion. Your mental health is important.

Though, every single time the anti-queer brigade comes out for a new DA game, I sit there thinking 'have you bozos ever played any DA game, like, ever?' My guess is nope.

Note. None of my writing on DA, but especially DAV, is edited. This is just my off the cuff writing. I don't have the time, energy, or heart to edit them properly.

Heard there was an AMA coming up on the 4th of December.

Given how the devs weaseled out from every actually important question in every other AMA, I don't have a lot of hope that we'll get any answers as to why DAV is so bad.

I just want to know why they scrapped Joplin. It had almost everything committed fans wanted. I want to know why every single decision they made somehow managed to make the game worse. I think there was pressure from EA. But rumour has it that BioWare has always had a lot of control over the games they make.

It's probably partially EA's fault. But I think the blame for the DAV mess belongs firmly on the devs and the people who decided to fire their (often) best writing talent.

But I'm not going to go. Because of said weasely behavior.

Maybe I just have to be done with games from huge corporations. I'm playing Greedfall now and loving it. It’s an RPG from an indie studio. It's a wee step back on graphics, they reused a couple of sets, but generally, it's a very solid RPG that feels like an RPG. They aren't staying away from sticky ideas and awful behavior by people. I find that incredibly realistic. The main/player character is a diplomat, who lies like butter wouldn't melt in her mouth.

I kept expecting Rook to burst into song and bluebirds to fly out of their ass. Maybe big corporates just can't give me what I want in RPGs anymore. I want truly morally grey choices. I want sticky political shit. I want passionate Romances with happy endings. I want to feel when I play games like these. Which means I need games with solid writing, good characters, and excellent world building. It means the OST has to be good. Not something that had the dedication to it as if Zimmer scraped it off his boot. Greedfall has all that. Plus the morally grey choices.

I've usually purchased and played AAA games from bigger companies because I do like unique maps to explore, and I'm an admitted graphics slut.

But holding DAV on one hand and GREEDFALL on the other? Greedfall wins, hands down. And it's a 5 year old game that very likely didn't have the 250 million dollar budget DAV had. I haven't even finished it yet, and it still wins. I played Subnautica Below Zero just before this one. It's more survival sandbox, but has plenty of RPG elements to it. When Unknown Worlds made both Subnautica games, they were still indie.

Perhaps, after loving BG3 as much as I do (Larian is also Indie) I should've gotten the message to check out indie produced RPGs earlier.

Message received.

DAVs utterly disastrous showing... It's likely a result of late stage capitalism and Disney polluting everything, and people in charge thinking MARVEL actually has any relevance since Disney bought it. Among a lot of other things I'll probably never know about.

But those are excuses. If BioWare truly has as much control as rumoured... it's on them. All of it.

I tried watching Loki. I utterly adore Tom Hiddleston, and even he couldn't get me through that disaster.

I already picked up a few more indie RPGs in the Steam fall sale. Looking forward to exploring them.

Maybe BioWare is just too corporatized to produce anything truly good anymore. Corporations don't have any room for true creativity.

It doesn't really matter. DAV broke my heart and landed BioWare on my boycott list for several reasons I detailed in my review series. I'm just done with them.

[hockybish]

She's Done With Him

l hughes!sister au l lola hughes l masterlist l

Jack had been making more of a conscious effort to be better to Lola. He still hadn't said sorry for the years of teasing, he wouldn't even know where to begin.

But he was willing to put everything on the line with their relationship when he got a phone call from Mason about this guy named Robbie who Lola was seeing. He couldn't help it, the older protective brother came out when he heard that the douche bag was cheating on her.

"Now you're positive it was Robbie who you saw?" Jack confirmed with the Ducks' player over the phone. It was late in New Jersey and he was tired after a hard fought game.

"Yes, Jack. Even ask Z he was there too."

That was enough for him. Trying to keep his anger in check, he took the number from Mason, promising he would take care of the problem. He wasn't going to do much, maybe just give the kid a little call, and talk.

"Hi Robbie, this is Jack." He paused for a second, waiting for the man on the other end to acknowledge him, but he could heat the hesitancy when Robbie didn't answer "Hughes, Lola's older brother?"

"Oh, you're the one who hates her right?" Jack could feel him smirking through the phone, irking him even more.

"I don't hate her, you know what I don't have to explain myself to you. I know what you've been doing. The girls and the drinking? Especially when she was injured in December."

"I don't know what you're talking about. I haven't done anything wrong. I really like her." Robbie stuttered, a lame attempt at covering his tracks.

"Hm, yeah okay. Tell me was she just one of your side pieces?" Jack asked not believing a thing he was being told by this so called boyfriend. "That's what I thought."

"I didn't, I'm not"

"Break up with her"

"What"

"I said break up with her, or else"

"Or else what? There's nothing you can do to scare me"

"Robbie, there are at least four hockey teams plus countless others who will not hesitate to end you when they hear what you're doing. So break up with her or I'll let them know what you did" Jack threatened.

"You're bluffing"

"Try me. These guys can get really scary. And I'd hate for anything to happen to you."

A few days later Robbie did what Jack told him to do, he broke up with Lola. He didn't tell her why he was or that her brother was practically forcing him to. If he wanted to twist the knife even further, he could have said something. But she was already heartbroken and secretly Robbie was still a little worried Jack was going to send a goon after him.

Lola cried for a couple of days, this wasn't like when she had broken up with Matty, that was more of a mutual decision since they were going in opposite directions and they were better as friends. This break up took her by surprise, she thought they were in a good place, but apparently they weren't.

It hurt and she honestly kind of wanted Buggy her old stuffy from when she was younger. She really considered calling Jack and seeing if he still had it, but she thought better, knowing he probably would have made some snide remark about it, even though lately they had been doing better.

Lola called for an emergency sibling night with Quinn, which helped a lot, but she still swiped the bottle of tequila hidden away and found her way into her previous roommates bed.

After a week of moping around, she picked herself, brushed off the dirt and got back to her life. She worked harder in practice and even spent more time with her friends. Things were really looking up until late in the evening on February 29th.

The Ducks' had gotten in late that evening after playing in San Jose. Lola needed to make a quick run into the store to get something for Ellen that she had forget all the way back in Michigan.

Lola was only going to be a few minutes, but she spotted the one person she never really wanted to see again. She tried to ignore him the best she could, it was Robbie who walked up to her and was the one to start talking. They made pleasant small talk, but she had a nagging question she wanted to ask.

"Can I ask you something real quick? Why did you break up with me?"

"Oh Jack didn't tell you?" Robbie raised his eyebrows in feign shock. "Jack forced me to break up. He threatened that if I didn't, I was gonna get beat up."

Of course Jack had a hand it. Lola should have expected that. Jack ruins everything.

The ride back home was a little quieter. She had some things to think about before she saw her brother later that day.

After the game the Hughes clan were planning on getting dinner at a nice restaurant before Luke and Jack jetted off to the next destination. Lola was going to give them a ride. As soon as she saw Luke she gave him a hug and glared at the other one before making her move.

"What the fuck?" Jack's face stung as Lola's palm hit him on the cheek.

"You told him to break up with me? I how could you? I was happy. Why couldn't you let me be happy for once? You always mess everything up!"

"Clem you can be mad at me all you want, I was just trying to protect you."

"Don't you dare call me that. You don't have that right anymore. because I hate you. I hate you Jack." She spat in his direction.

After what seemed like years of her older brother hating her for apparent reason Lola had had enough of it and was completely done with Jack. Wanting nothing more to do with her older brother, this is when she decided to cut him out of her life, even if it meant she was going to have to cut Quinn and Luke out too.

"You don't mean that. Clem -" Jack knew he had taken it too far this time, but all he had been trying to do was protect his sister. And sometimes that made him the bad guy.

Lola gave him a look that ultimately broke his heart because he knew she meant it. She truly hated him, but he would rather her hate him, than see her with a broken heart over a guy who couldn't keep it in his pants.

"Lola. I'm sorry. Please take it back." Jack pleaded. He looked back at Luke and Quinn for help, but he was on his own with this.

"No, Jack. I mean it this time."

"Lola." She slapped him again and was getting ready to do it again. She wasn't one to hit or attack anyone, but tonight she couldn't help herself with her anger.

"Jack. I think you need to leave." Trevor pushed Lola behind him towards Jamie and Mason, putting himself in between the two siblings. Similarly Luke tried to grab ahold of jack's arm and pull him away.

The drive from the Honda Center to their shared home wasn't long, but playing a big game and the emotions from her argument took its toll and Lola fell asleep on the ride home. Mason didn't want to wake her, he opted to carry her in instead placing her in her bed and throwing her favorite blankets on top.

"Stay." Lola reached out, grabbing onto Mason's wrist, effectively stopping him in his tracks. "I don't want to be alone. Please Mason?"

The older boy obliged, he sighed crawling into the bed next to her. Lola flipped around to face him, she reached out for his face and ran her thumb across his face as they fell asleep.

[mariyekos]

Saw some great Dante art on Twitter and now my head is spinning with a new HC.

I've HC'd Dante having a scar over his chest from the Yamato+Rebellion stabbings for a while, and I've also tossed around HCs about Dante and Vergil sort of aging out of their humanity. (The tl;dr of that is their human side ages until it "dies" and they're left with their demon forms being the default, so they have to imitate a human form to look human, a la Sparda). In the art I linked above, instead of having a normal scar over his chest, he has this glowing mini-cavity/void instead.

In comes the HC-

So, when Dante is first stabbed in DMC3, the scar over his heart starts as a normal scar. Maybe over the next couple of years it lightens and looked kind of odd, but Dante chalks it up to just being a magical scar and doesn't pay that much attention to it (because he doesn't like thinking about why he has it). Then DMC 1 happens, he's stabbed by Rebellion (and Alastor) again, and the next time he sees himself shirtless in a mirror he realizes wait, the center of his chest is definitely glowing. Faintly, but glowing nonetheless.

From then on the glow would gradually increase, going from looking like skin with a glow to actually seeming like a void of light over his sternum (see the art above, plus DMC4 DT included below). The older he gets the larger the glowing portion grows, and the more intense the glow becomes (from illuminated skin to void of light). At first it freaks him out, but he eventually learns to accept it and stops caring too much.

His shirts in DMC4/5 have a little bit of a lower neckline than would work for this idea, but let's just say he'd keep his shirt zipped/buttoned up about an inch higher, and that the glow started more toward the center of his chest rather than sternum. The DT glows are pretty centered after all. After unlocking his SDT in DMC5 the glowing portion would end up high enough to not be hidden by his DMC5 shirt though. I imagine him ignoring Nero's questions on that when they meet back up for chapter 13, and that Lady and Trish already knew to some extent so they didn't bother asking. Maybe he'd eventually figure out to mask it, but it would be something he'd have to intentionally do, rather than the default.

Putting some pictures of his DT illustrating what I mean below the cut, but that's about it! The tl;dr of this one is "wouldn't it be cool if Dante's chest in his human form ended up glowing as he aged, to match his demon form?"

I'm skipping over his DMC1 triggers because they don't really match his DT in other games and don't fit into my view on this. DMC1 was the game where they were figuring things out.

DMC2-

I'll be honest, I haven't played DMC2. But looking it up Dante has 2 forms, including this one which has the glowing fissure in the chest. It's a thin cross that goes all the way up/down his chest as opposed to the thinner, deeper triggers in 4 and 5, but it's the start of the fissure designs so I'll run with it!.

DMC3-

Dante's DT is very fluid in DMC3, but doesn't have the glowing chest. His sternum is pretty prominent though. My explanation for these DTs is that Dante is younger as of DMC3, so the glow hasn't started yet because his demon side is still maturing.

DMC4-

And here's the real start of fissure/light-void chest Dante. This one also forms a cross, but the bulk of it is I'm the center of the chest, and the sort of "light-void" I imagine appearing on Dante's chest is one that would eventually grow to look like the center of this one.

DMC5-

Dante's normal DT in DMC5 has just about the same design as the DMC4 one so I'm skipping that, but his Sin Devil Trigger keeps that glowing chest look. In game the SDT is referred to as Dante's "true form," which gives this one extra points. Where his normal DT is like a glow coming out from the chest, this one is a glow within his core that's being guarded by the pieces around/over it.

[the-fiction-witch]

Let's Play P2

Media - The Maze Runner Series AU Characters - Newt Couples - Newt X Reader Rating - 18 + death / Saw movie Word Count - 2787

As I made my way to the car, I reached for the last bag of groceries. Carrying it inside, I was greeted by the familiar scene of toys, skirts, and glitter scattered everywhere in the house. As I set my heavy bags down on the spacious granite kitchen island, I took a deep breath and embarked on the familiar routine of unpacking the groceries.

"Ooh that you sweetie?" Newt called from the living room couch where he sat feeding little baby Penny,

"Yep, and I brought chocolate mini rolls," I answered,

"My god do I love you," he chuckled, "Penny, shall we go see mummy, shall we? yeah." He cooed as he took her bottle away and slowly pushed up coming to the kitchen with a bit of a wobble where the joins of his prosthetic needed adjusting again, "Hi," He smiled as we shared a soft kiss,

"Hi," I smiled back, "how's our littlest lady?"

"Little and lovely," he chuckled rubbing her nose on his,

"Good, how are the other two?"

"Lilly's bus should be here any minute, I picked up Alice from school earlier and she is in bed resting up with her tummy ache."

"Good, I'll take her up some soup in a bit," As I gently cradled little Penny in my arms, I couldn't help but shower her with soft kisses on her sweet blonde head. At that moment, the door suddenly opened, and Lilly rushed in, as she always did, throwing her bag carelessly on the stairs. Without hesitation, she made a beeline for Newt and embraced him tightly.

"Whoa, hello there. How was school?" he asked,

"Bad."

"Oh, why bad?"

"My tummy hurts," she whines,

"Ohhh, I had to pick your little sister up from school at lunch cause she wasn't feeling well,"

"Why didn't you go to the nurse Lilly?" I asked,

"I thought I would be okay till I got home,"

"Okay, well have a glass of water and go lay in bed, I'll bring you and Alice up some soup okay?"

After nodding in agreement, she gave Newt and me each a warm hug before she headed upstairs. I finished putting away the groceries and let the soup simmer on the stove, releasing its savoury aroma into the air. I then joined Newt on the sofa, where he gently rocked baby Penny in her bassinet, soothing her with a sweet lullaby.

"You think it's those fish fingers from last night?" He asked,

"Maybe, but then we'd be sick," I shrug,

"True," He nodded, "... the bread for their sandwiches maybe? we did get it reduced."

"No, I had it today I feel fine," I shrug, "Plus you picked Alice but before she ate her lunch,"

"Good point," He agreed, "Maybe there's just something going around, you've been to that school place is always sticky,"

"I know," I sighed leaning my head on his shoulder and he wrapped his arm around me, "I just worry is all,"

"Of course you're worried, you think I'm not worried about our little angels?" he chuckled, "Anything serious first call to the doctor okay?"

"Okay," I nodded giving him a small kiss,

"Good, now let's pop the telly on while dinner cooks and maybe we can have a little cuddle up in bed tonight?" he asked with a sly hopeful look in his eyes,

"Newt..." I rasied an eyebrow playfully,

He pouted, "Please."

"I'll think about it."

"Yes!" He celebrated,

He grabbed the remote and began to flip through channels as usual we didn't find much so just put the news on while we relaxed,

'Today marks the ten-year anniversary of the apprehension of the notorious serial killer Austin Ledwik, widely known as 'The Game Master.' Ledwik was responsible for orchestrating a series of horrifying and elaborate events in which unsuspecting individuals were abducted and trapped in intricately designed murder scenarios, forced to compete for their lives. Throughout his criminal career, Ledwik hosted a total of sixteen of these deadly games, resulting in a devastating death toll of over one hundred victims. His final grim spectacle, themed around Valentine's Day and dubbed the "Love Games," culminated in an unexpected victory by one of the contestants, ultimately leading to Ledwik's capture by law enforcement before he could escape-"

Newt quickly turned the TV off,

"Thank you," I smiled,

"You're welcome, not exactly something either of us need reminding," He sighed,

"Come on dinner time,"

"Umm your delicious feel-better soup, I shall take a whole bucket if you please," He cooed,

"No buckets only a bowl available today,"

"Ohh well, I suppose it'll do," After exchanging a tender kiss, I made my way to the kitchen to prepare a meal. Gathering four bowls, I carefully portioned out servings for each of the girls, as well as for Newt and myself. Abruptly, without any warning, a deafening, echoing BANG shattered the quiet, and everything around me plunged into darkness.

When I regained consciousness, I felt a shiver course through my body. As I slowly opened my eyes, I found myself sprawled on the floor of what seemed to be the dimly lit, cobweb-filled attic of an old farmhouse. To my surprise, I was surrounded by a diverse group of individuals - a young girl in a dishevelled pink dress with bright blonde hair and smudged makeup, an older man wrapped in a bulky coat, a woman sporting a long ponytail and dressed in workout clothes, and a muscular man donning a police uniform. Newt lay next to me unconscious still, and an unsettling sensation gnawed at my gut.

"Not again..." I gasped, "Newt... Newt wake up!" I begged,

"Umm?" He groaned, "Ohh bloody hell my head-" He complained before his eyes cleared, "Where the fuck are we..." He asked his tone strangely calm but deeply serious,

Slowly others began to wake we all had the same questions,

"What is this place..." The older man asked,

"AHhhhhhh I'm like so Claustrophobic! Let me out!" The blonde woman whined,

"How did we get here? Mike, what's going on?" The other woman asked the officer,

"I don't know Grace." he told her, "Who are you to?"

"Y/n and Isaac Newton," I answered,

"And you?"

"Uhh Franklin James." The older man nodded,

"Mercedes Prance," The blonde girl whined,

"Okay... okay, Officer Grace Wilson." The woman nodded,

"And Officer Mike Smith. Everyone just remains calm." Mike answered, "Anyone any idea how we got here?"

Everyone shook their heads,

"It's gonna be that game freak!" Mercedes screamed,

"That was ten years ago you dumbass!" Franklin glared at her,

"It can't be Austin Ledwik, The Guy hung himself after two weeks in prison. I know I checked the body myself." Grace explained,

"Copycat?" Mike asked,

"Well, Well, Welcome Everyone!" A voice cooed,

A TV in the corner of the room showing a very joyful man with bright blue hair,

"I know we all love a little drama but I think it's time for a little exposition!" He chuckled, "Let me introduce myself, I am 'The On Air Assassin.'" He smirked swirling on his chair,

"I think so," Grace nodded,

"Now, this is a little anniversary show to celebrate ten years of my beloved inspiration 'The Game Master' he taught me so much, and I miss him every day, to today we celebrate his legacy. In a Game, I'm calling... Revenge Six ways." He laughed,

"No... no no no." I gasped already tears flooding down my face,

Newt wrapped his arms around me even if he too was shaking,

"And what better contestants to have, Than these." He smirked, "Presenting. Officers Grace Wilson and Mike Smith! The very Officer who arrested Austin Ledwik. Franklin James! The Judge who sentenced Austin to his life sentence and his death. Mercedes Prance! The Sweet little stepdaughter who ratted Austin out during his trial. And Finally... Isaac and Y/n Newton! His last Contestants, his only survivors and the reason he was arrested."

I couldn't hold back my tears, clutching Newt tightly so afraid of what this man was going to do to us,

"Shut up her crying I can't hear him!" Franklin yelled,

"Fuck you!" Newt yelled, "You don't know... none of you went through what we did... so shut the fuck up! and let my wife cry!"

"Now, now plenty of time for that," he smirked, "There are three floors, make it through all three and you'll be allowed to leave and you'll even get a prize." He smirked, "Let's show off what you're playing for,"

The camera moved inside this dark grey room, showing an older woman in a long grey dress,

"Martha!" Franklin yelled, "My wife! Bastard has my wife!"

The camera moved again to another area where a small dog sat,

"Tiddles!" Mercedes yelled,

"Who gives a shit about your dog he has my wife!" Franklin yelled,

The camera moved again showing an officer struggling against the restraints,

"Sargent Jacobs..." Grace gasped,

"Shit-" Mike complained running a hand through his hair,

"And our final grand prize, da, da, da, da!"

The camera moved and there they were...

I crawled desperately to the screen,

"No... no no no no! MY BABIES NOOOOO!" I screamed, "Lilly! Alice! Penny!" I cried out, "Please! Don't hurt our girls! PLEASE!"

"Y/n take a breath," Grace tried to console me,

"No... no. Please give them back!" I screamed,

"They will not be harmed, and if you survive they will be returned to you." The man explained, "There is a key somewhere in this room that shall unlock the next. Let the games Begin!"

Grace and Mike dragged me away as the screen turned off,

I cried in hysterics until I saw Newt.

And my blood ran colder than I had ever known it to.

He sat there, his only motion his sharp jagged breaths that caused his shoulders to move, his eyes on the screen squarely, and they darkened. In a way I had never seen, In fifteen years of marriage I had never seen him like this. There was a rage inside him, a rage that no man, or god could stop.

"He... has... my... daughters..." His voice was cold, calm, and full of brimming rage,

"Mr Newton just try to-" Mike tried to calm him,

"HE HAS MY DAUGHTERS!" He screamed his tone animalistic, and then he began to laugh, an intense maddening laughter that filled the room, "Ohh you made two mistakes there, Mr on Air Assassin. You took my daughters. our little girls. And you showed your face... Now we both know... there's not a single chance of you getting out of here alive."

Newt got to his feet and marched to the door.

"He said there was a key to open the door!" Mercedes yelled,

But before anyone could even start looking Newt shoulder thrusted the door and it immediately busted open leading to a stairwell,

"Fuck Keys. I make my own doors." Newt glared at her,

Newt grabbed my hand and we shared a look of understanding, the same one we had shared ten years ago, we both knew we were ready to do anything, and matching him my sadness turned to rage.

We marched down those stairs like we were on military orders, we arrived at a room with a large old pizza oven,

"Revenge is a dish best served Hot some say, now let's see how much heat you can take?" The man smirked,

We didn't even say a word to each other, we searched the room and each spotted something. Newt grabbed a rusty metal pipe and I grabbed an old wooden board.

The others slowly followed but Franklin and Mercedes sheepishly stayed at the back,

Mike and Grace were completely with us, letting us go fueled by rage.

No one even checked the fire or the rules,

Mike kicked down the door and he and Grace headed out into the hallway filled with various doors, they moved through each door kicking them down and checking them,

"Clear." Grace nodded as she kicked down the last door and turned to the stairs,

Newt and I marched down the stairs and found a room with a set of keys inside a block of ice,

"Now... we uhh... we have this test where uhh ... where revenge is a dish best served cold." The man explained,

"You fucking hack!" I yelled, "At least Game Master had ideas beyond Google."

Newt went up and grabbed the ice slamming it down on the floor which broke it open,

"Keys. Get them out." He handed them to Mike,

Mike immediately went and opened the door to set them free from the house, Franklin and Mercedes ran out desperate for their freedom, Grace bolted out to the nearby road where a payphone sat to call for help,

"There's another door," I said as I saw the door leading to the basement,

"Let's get out girls." Newt nodded, breaking the door open with his pipe,

We ran down and immediately saw him.

The man from the Screen, as he desperately fumbled for a gun, holding Lilly in his arm as he cried,

"Stay the fuck away from me!" He yelled, "It wasn't meant to go like this... you were supposed to die!"

"Plans change." Newt growled, "Let her go. And I might let you live."

"How about I shoot her? I shoot all of them! I wanted death, I wanted my show but you had to go and ruin it."

"You took our daughters... did you think we would lay down and die?" I asked,

"Back away," Mike demanded as he followed us down,

"No. This is us. get the others out." Newt told him,

Mike nodded and worked to get the other hostages out,

Newt walked his pipe dragging along the floor as he walked closer without a single fear in his eyes, "Let. Her. Go. Now." He demanded,

"Or what!"

"You are nothing but a shitting imitation. A copycat. Austin was a bastard and I will curse him as he rots in the deepest pit of hell for all he did to me. My wife. And the people we used to call our friends... all of which died at his hands. You are nothing compared to him... Not even worth the foolish games you tried to make. So I will ask you again. Let her go."

"I am not an imiatation!" He screamed,

I heard the gunfire and I screamed, I grabbed Lilly by the arm and pulled her from him checking her over and finding she was okay.

"Ohh my darling," I cooed holding her close,

"Lilly's okay?" Newt asked so I nodded,

"Upstairs now," Mike called as he helped carry Penny,

"Take them," I told him leading Lilly with him as they went upstairs,

"Wha... what the fuck- how did you?" The man asked his gun shaking in his hand, he had shot Newt's leg. His Prosthetic leg.

"That's the mark your predecessor left. And you didn't even have the balls to do what he did." Newt answered, "I hope there is a hell. I really do. Becuase I'm sending you to talk with the man you adore so much. And one day... After I have lived a life with my gorgeous wife, my beautiful children, maybe even some adorable grandkids." he explained as he tossed the gun from his hands and backed him into a corner, "I'm coming for you. Both of you. And trust me You. Will. Pay." He said before hitting him with the pipe hard and fast,

Newt hit, over and over and over until nothing of the man remained by a bloody mess,

Once he slowed I wrapped my arms around him and calmed him down,

"It's okay. It's okay. It's over. It's over." I cooed,

"Let's get out of here," he nodded dropping the pipe as we headed up to meet with the others,

Newt and I sat on the grass holding our girls as tight as we could, When Mike came over sitting beside us,

"You know what happened in there?" Newt asked,

"I do." Mike nodded,

"Am I being arrested?"

"... You saved their lives. All of them." Mike nodded, "He shot himself when he saw his plans went badly."

Newt and I nodded,

So Mike patted Newt's shoulder and returned to Grace,

"You did a good thing Newt," I told him laying my head on his shoulder,

"I don't care." he shook his head, "I'd have killed all of them if I had to. For you girls. You are my world. My Everything. You. Lilly. Alice. Penny. I- I would rather die than be without you. And I mean what I said, there is no man or god that will ever take you girls from me." He said as he gave a kiss to each of our heads, "I love you, Y/n, with all my heart."

"I love you too Newt." I cooed,

"And I love you girls." He smiled,

"We love you too Daddy," Alice and Lilly both smiled giving him a big hug,

"Da-Dada..." Penny giggled,

And all of us gasped,

"Her- her first word."

"Dada." she giggled as Newt took her in his arms,

"Aww my littlest angel," He cooed,

Just as the Police pulled up to the house,

"Come on, let's get you girls safe."

[davidmariottecomics]

It's Weird Being Between Two Jobs

Hi there and happy new year! 

Title kinda says it all in this week's blog, but the strangeness of this time in my life is really settling in. 

Just because of how things worked out with leaving IDW and starting the new job, I ended up with a little under a month of free time. And the first week and some change of that was the end of the year holiday season. But the past week has been me sort of watching from the outside as people started going back to work. I did finish up some additional new hire paperwork, but that took maybe an hour total and I'm still over a week from starting the new gig. It's an odd space to be in. I'm not working for anyone--I'm not getting a paycheck (and am currently sort of living this month off of my last IDW paycheck plus paid out time-off)--but I'm also not so far removed from a gig as to be strictly freelance. 

And to be totally honest, I don't know that I really like it. I am not great at having free time. I like the idea of free time. I like the idea of having time to write for myself or relax with my hobbies. But I am not great at the latter and the former betrays the fact that even with my free time, I'm often trying to switch into work mode. Heck, at the end of the day, my starting this blog and crossposting it as a newsletter/Tumblr/Patreon is all influenced by my not being good at not at least trying to be productive with my free time. 

If you're also someone who has been working from home and especially if you've been working from home freelance, I'm sure you know all the complications of the domestic and recreational life against your job and probably are familiar with how helpful routine and scheduling is with all that. Right now, I'm freeform. I don't want to just use my old habits--the advantage of time off is specifically that I can break a 9-5 M-F format--but I feel like I don't have enough time to start building new routines. So, it's been a challenging couple of weeks. I have not done nearly as much as I think I'd like to have at this point, but I also keep needing to remind myself that I have done a number of things that were on my to-do list and that it's okay to have time off for myself. 

As such, instead of a really specific blog on something of late, let me share a couple quick bits that've been on my mind. 

The Anti-EGOT I recently finished a big relisten of season 2 of Dungeons & Daddies and in the intro to the show of one episode, Anthony Burch introduced the idea of an Anti-EGOT. I think he retroactively changed it in a later episode, but the general idea was to be a writer in four of the least respected mediums and not win an award for any of it. I believe, in the initial mention, the idea was the four mediums of choice would be video games, comic books, podcasts, and pornography (with wrestling being retroactively either added or replacing one of these, but I don't think I'm much of one to write for wrestling). Honestly, that kinda sounds like a dream to me. As I was listening to this stuff in the run-up to the new year, there was a part of me thinking "is going for the Anti-EGOT my resolution"? And I ultimately decided, no. I don't think that's a good resolution, but it is sort of my stretch goal for the year. If I can write in all those fields, get paid for it, and not win any awards (or, y'know... do) in my lifetime, I'll be pretty stoked. 

What my actual goal for the year would be is I want to try to release 6 comics. Different lengths and varieties. I'm not currently anticipating having that be like a single mini-series or whatever, but I want to try to do more in comics with what I am producing. And if I can maybe branch out into one of those other areas this year, even if it doesn't have a release for another year or more, I'd be cool with that too. 

Steamboat Willie Last year, you may've read my four part explainer about copyright! One thing that is repeatedly touched on there is the public domain and what all that means. Obviously, this year, Steamboat Willie and two other Mickey Mouse shorts entered the public domain. And it's been really interesting to watch that play out a little. It seemed like--and I know it's only been a week--most everyone got it out of their systems within the first 2-3 days of the year. A lot of that probably goes to Steamboat Willie and those early shorts not actually being all that interesting (fun, but very story-light). A lot of it goes to so much of what people would want to do with "Steamboat Willie" is either already legal because it falls under parody, is not actually meant to be sellable in any way, or was knocked out in a day. A lot of it too probably goes to how unclear what counts as public domain remains. For a character like Mickey, people have been pointing out are you using elements that were added after 1928 or treading on issues of trademark that are not copyright and are not as available. I am very curious to watch how this continues to play out this year (if it does), how things develop next year, and in the next couple of years, watch how things fall in preparation for about a decade from now when more of the early Disney catalog will be public domain (including Snow White) and other major companies start having some of their big hits become PD (like, say, Superman). 

I'm also kinda bummed to have not seen any immediate announcements/releases of new comic versions of Lady Chatterly's Lover like there were of The Great Gatsby or anything. That's the other really interesting/wild thing about this year--to me, it seems like the majority of the fuss was around the Mouse and the things that've remained popular in part due to the mouse, Peter Pan and Tigger. I have not seen nearly enough talk about One Million Cats or any of the film or music. 

Post-Twitter

The other day, Diana Sousa was asking on Bluesky (and Twitter, I guess), if Twitter is still the major non-convention way that comics editors discover new talent. And I responded as someone who is NO LONGER ON TWITTER but who is still needing to have discoverability of comics artists. I said, part of it is I am on other socials. I see new folks on Bluesky or Instagram or whatever. I also keep an eye on various databases--you don't have to be on Twitter to have access to #VisibleWomen or the Cartoonist Cooperative database or Cartoonists of Color or the Queer Cartoonist Database or the Disabled Cartoonist Database or any of these many sorts of resources. Something I didn't mention there, but will mention here is when you've got a company email address, you've often got agents of various sorts emailing you about talent, internal talent databases and/or recruiter-type folks, sharing info with other editors (and, y'know, I've in the past shared talent who I didn't have a gig for with editor friends at other companies because I thought they'd be a good fit). 

As I've mentioned before, the lack of access to talent was why I did wait so long to delete my Twitter (and also wanting to make sure I had ways of keeping up with world events and following non-comics people). But, genuinely, I am not stressing over continuing to find new people now that I've been without it for a little bit and know I've got a system.  Check Yourself for Midjourney Training Hey, speaking of my explainer on copyright and the lengths of time therein I talk about how "AI" is a tool of theft and companies trying to avoid paying artists for the use of their copyrighted works, the lawsuit against Midjourney's resulted in a list of names of "artists" they've scraped. Now, I only put "artists" in quotes because the list was made by incompetent tech bros and/or their clueless lawyers, and so there are a number of writers listed who do not particularly do art but where you can extrapolate that the artists they work with were scraped as well as companies, systems, game platforms, etc. While I understand that of course lawsuits are expensive, I do know a number of artists have been reaching out to the lawfirm of the existing suit and seeking to join the case as plaintiffs. If you're a visual artist, probably worth the time to double-check and, if you can, do something about it. 

Okay, I think that's it for this week! See ya next time! 

What I enjoyed this week: Dungeons & Daddies (Podcast), Reverse 1999 (Video Game), Nancy (Comic), Yu-Gi-Oh: Duel Links (Video Game), Baldur's Gate III (Video Game), Blank Check (Podcast), Spy x Family (Manga), How to Read Nancy (Book), Hitman 2 (Video Game), Pokemon Conceirge (Cartoon), Ted Lasso (TV show, finally started season 3), Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (Movie--can you tell I'm in a D&D mood?), The Floor (TV show), my new discord (friends can ask for access!), sending out some feeler emails for new projects and getting to do at least a little bit of writing for myself.  

New Releases this week (1/3/2024): Sonic the Hedgehog #68 (Editor)

Announcements: The Cartoonist Cooperative is still doing E-Sim cards for Gaza and at least 500 people have shown their proof of donation. You can donate a digital sim card so that residents can get access to the internet and have more functional phones and, in exchange, get some comics or a drawing or whatever else is available from the many participating artists. 

You can also give more directly. Things are obviously still very bad in Gaza as we've hit 3 full months of them being under siege. Over 20,000 Palestinians have been killed, including plenty of women and children. Israel has killed more journalists than any single conflict in my lifetime. They are attacking not just Gaza and the West Bank, but other neighboring countries. I hope the Internatioal Court of Justice can help bring this to an end, but in the meantime, the US has significant influence over the situation (between internatioal political power and the weapons and money we're sending as both a nation and that are being sent my many corporations in the US). You can call or fax or email or show up at the offices of your representatives to demand a ceasefire or to protest their inaction so far or to throw eggs at the president for participating in and encouraging a genocide. You should keep aware of actions, demonstrations, protests, and celebrations in your community too. Given the nature of the things, they often come together fairly quickly, so do exercise your due diligence. Also, of course, being informed and just giving your time to Palestinian journalists and writers is incredibly valuable. I don't tend to be a big TikTok fan, but it has proven to be one of the most reliable resources for firsthand accounts of what's happening on the ground. 

Meanwhile, Becca's got their first show of the year next weekend, 1/13 at Alesmith for a mini-con with BizBaz! Come pick up some new for 2024 stuff! Also, they've still got a little room in their schedule for this year, so get them for your comic project before it's too late! 

Finally, calling out my Patreon again as well as my webstore (final stock on basically everything there except Jimmy Squarefoot), my Kofi, and my eBay account as I am between paychecks for a while and those are other ways you can support me! 

Pic of the Week: We went to one of our favorite local restaurants, Rakitori in Hillcrest. They had a spicy cheesy tonkatsu ramen and I'm not a food picture guy usually, but I did quite like this photo and I'm actually very fortunate we ate there at the tail end of 2023, otherwise I'd have already eaten the best meal of 2024. 

[korgbelmont]

Choices Insiders July 2024

This ended up coming in earlier than usual. I must admit when I saw the email this morning, I thought "Oh yeah, forgot about that", (I was not properly awake) but then I realised it was a day early.

Anyway, let's take a look.

I get the sense that this slasher uses a different knife for each kill and that maybe he wears a pumpkin on their head.

Until a name is revealed, I am dubbing this slasher as Pumpkin Joe.

The idea of having a festival to celebrate seems... different. I'll be interested to see what kind of character the MC is as to whether it will follow the slasher genre trope of a group of teens or if it will be adult characters.

This seems like it could be used for one or two sections. One could be a flashback as to when Joe was originally caught. The other could be set when the book will be and it is the discovery of one of the victims.

The only way I could see The Deadliest Game continuing beyond the Nick Gallant mystery is if they go down the route of having a spinoff as I don't see how a second story could bring together MC, Farah, Dante, and Jun. But that's just me, I could be wrong.

I feel like we won't see anything more for Immortal Desires this year. But the wait probably won't be as long as it was for BK2 since this time it has the greenlight from the get go.

I'll be interested to see what Crimes 3 is like. Chances are it will focus on the mystery of MCs father and what really happened.

Going by this answer, I wonder if this means they've seen the backlash to the Generic body type and have decided to drop it for future books or the phase of using it is coming to an end. Only one way to find out.

They have a load of body types for custom characters that have not been used, so they could start using them as well for MCs.

Two new titles on the calendar. The first up is Bitten which could be either Vampires or Werewolves. Or perhaps both, like Michael Corvin in the Underworld films. Just because of where I associate the background on it, I wonder if it could perhaps be a historical book.

The next is Blades 3! Really looking forward to this and curious to see how it will play out given that there is the choice of three endings in BK2.

Two books on Wide Release this month. First up is Filthy Rich which I can see being next Wednesday as Hot Shot finished yesterday. Then Hearts on Fire which I could see beginning it's release in a couple of weeks once Immortal Desires 2 has finished.

Then next month we have Rivals with Benefits. I never actually got to finishing Roommates so maybe start fresh with Rivals and see what it's like.

Really interested to see what All of Us is like.

I'm glad Plus One isn't what I suspected as I originally believed it might have been another one of the those books where MC was trying to break up the couple getting married to be with one of them. Glad to be wrong on this one.

That's it on this one. Looking forward to Terrorfest once it begins it's Wide Release. I really do think this would be a good book to bring back the Nerve system from It Lives back into, but I highly doubt that will be the case.

Keep safe everyone!

[nihilnovisubsole]

oh, right, shadowbringers! i'm overdue for another ffxiv bullet point vibe check. i actually finished it a couple of weeks ago, and then my sink exploded [long story] and i wanted to chew on it for a while. it's clear that this expac is an overwhelming fan favorite, so i figured i should formulate some more intelligent thoughts about it.

part of me worries that my shadowbringers experience was colored by how badly i missed the people and places on the source. more than the aether and gods and soul transference and all that stuff, what i really took away was a sense of loneliness. the first isn't my world. its citizens are strangers to me, though i recognize on a philosophical level that i should help them. even the scions - in theory, my closest comrades - have lived for years in the blink of my eye and become very different people. when did thancred become responsible? when did the twins grow up? i wondered what other NPCs were doing without me. all i wanted was to go home.

on the other hand, i read a theory that this is the point. the story wants you to feel cut loose from everything you know. are you still a hero in an emotional vacuum? will you still put yourself on the line to do the right thing? sure, your world will be doomed if theirs falls, but that possibility seems so huge and far-off that it doesn't register in your gut. i don't think that's the writing failing to connect with me or anything. if that's the intent, it's an interesting feeling for a game to evoke.

i may have also exacerbated that feeling by keeping my actual avatar isolated on norvrandt for so long. i mentioned earlier that i play around the game's day-night cycle, running missions based on when they'll feel most immersive. that extends to maps, too: if the story says i'm stuck in a place, i stay around that place until the story carries me elsewhere. i mean, i'll dip out for wondrous tails and daily cactpot and stuff, but i don't take big story vacations to jet around eorzea. i didn't "come back" from the far east in stormblood until doma was free. that's a lot of MSQ to just spend alone with your thoughts.

there's a storytelling paradox at work: the first's problems are so large and so bad that it's smaller and more personal when you become invested in someone's plight. i expected to care a lot about liberating ala mhigo because i'm so fond of raubahn as a character, and i did. i didn't expect to feel the pity that i felt for, say, kai-shirr, or runar's unrequited crush on y'shtola. it comes on slowly and quietly.

i don't know. it's a curious story. it's a melancholy story. it's a lot more experimental than the expacs that came before it. it'd probably be worth it to new-game-plus it at some point to pay closer attention to the individual character arcs.

same goes for emet-selch. he's a curious villain. i don't sympathize with his methods, and i obviously have no romantic interest in him. but i keep mulling him over. he keeps lurking in the back of my mind, which means that his writing succeeds by virtue of being memorable.

to my mind, everything around amaurot contributes to that success. amaurot is where it all starts to come together for me. it's a beautiful, odd place - art deco in final fantasy? who knew? - and the pinnacle of the arc's surreal "this is a dream, but tangible" tone. you can tell the team wanted to go all out with the ascian reveals they'd been building up to for years. i wonder if they had fun designing it.

even if it is. i. hm. no i shan't say it

all right, i'll say it

I AM EMET-SELCH AND I AM HERE TO ASK YOU A QUESTION

there, it's out of my system. on a less ridiculous note, i finally got royce's canon armor! now i can gpose freely. i wish there were an in-engine way to pose with NPCs, but them's the breaks. who knows? maybe we'll get it eventually. it is a live service game.

[moosemarie]

¡Feliz Año Nuevo! Happy New Year !

Okay hear me out I DID draw my OCs a lot last year I just didn't POST THEM it's OKAY !!! IT'S OKAY !!!!!!!!!!!

Anyways this year I decided their party theme would be movies which.... well, I came to regret it when I realized I couldn't cop out and give them simplized fits but it's okay we love a challenge !!!!!!!!!!!!! I'll put all the movies and whatever under a read more but anyways yeah Happy New Year bye.

Kieran & Kenny - Funny Games (1997) - Kieran as Peter & Kenny as Paul

I've watched Funny Games US several times over the years, but only recently saw Funny Games '97 for the first time. Both films are great and fresh on my mind, and I feel like this was Kenny's vibe (not the murder part, just the excuse to dress up as a horror character) and Kieran is just along for the ride.

Connor & Peyton - One Cut of the Dead (2017) - Connor as Director Higurashi & Peyton as Nao

One Cut of the Dead is another movie I saw for the first time recently (just a few months ago !) and I instantly fell in love with it. I was wracking my brain for Con&Pey and eventually was just like, hey, I like this movie, let's do this. And with it debuts Peyton WITHOUT her hair dyed, which I genuinely don't think I've ever done ?? No promises it won't be dyed again next time but idk !! I like brunette Peyton.

Dani & Don - The Breakfast Club (1985) - Dani as Claire & Don as Bender

The Breakfast Club is one of my all-time faves and it felt correct that it's the movie I chose for these two. Plus, they canonically love the film. Featuring, for the first time in my life, Dani without what kinda became her signature purple. We're shaking the goddamn table or something probably. I think she looks cute as a redhead <3

Isa & Em - Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey (1991) - Isa as Bill & Em as Ted

Bill & Ted, one of my favorite franchises. How I love thee. I don't really have an explanation other than Isa & Em would ALSO love these movies and so that's canon now I love them.

Trent, Nancy, Nathan, & Cara - A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), A Christmas Story (1983), The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) - Trent as Glen, Nancy as Nancy, Nathan as Ralphie, & Cara as Columbia

Now this probably killed me the most since I tacked on TWO extra characters, who kind of got a soft launch in Nancy & Nathan's picture LAST year (Though I did post a sketch of them on my Insta a few months before that). Trent (beside Nancy) and Cara (beside Nathan) are Nancy's co-workers !! Nancy and Trent's relationship is just ? because they have beef but not really and maybe they're into one another but not really ?? Who is to say. Doesn't help that they're in a couple's costume. Cara is Kieran's little sister and she is the nice one between her and Nancy/Trent. Nathan just hates to be in that damn bunny suit but it's the life he lives and we love him for that.

Anyways that's it I love my characters bye.

[canirove]

Best friends… forever? | Chapter 13

Previous chapter | Next chapter

Masterlist

"Is that for me?"

"Yep" Fran smiles, giving Mila a red rose. "It may be too much, but I don't know, I saw a guy selling them earlier and couldn't help myself."

"I love it when people get me flowers. Thank you." Rúben always gets her a bouquet after she's won a big game. After losing it too. Rúben...

"Are ok you?" Fran asks her. "You look... I don't know. Weird. Are you sure you want to go out?"

"I do, yes" Mila says. "I need to keep my head busy and stop thinking for a while."

"May I ask what has happened?"

"I'll tell you at the restaurant."

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

"Wow."

"I know" Mila says, taking a bite of her food.

"So you are in love with your best friend, who happens to be Rúben Dias, the Manchester City player."

"I’m not in love with him. I am falling in love with him. It isn’t the same." Or that’s what she tells herself.

"And you came to that conclusion thanks to me?"

"Yeah... And I'm so sorry about it. You probably feel like I used you or something."

"Oh, it’s ok. I knew this was just a fling, that it wasn't going anywhere. Our lifestyles and the fact that we don't live in the same country, make trying something very difficult. To be honest, I'm flattered” Fran shrugs.

"Flattered? What do you mean?"

"You said you chose me because I reminded you of Rúben, and he is like... Fitness, style and career goals. And you, who know him better than anyone, found some of the things he has on me."

"That's... Weird. But ok, if it makes you happy" Mila chuckles.

"Very" Fran smiles.

"Then can we stay as friends? I wouldn't mind having someone I can visit in Sevilla."

"The doors of my house will always be open for you. But what are you going to do now? Are you going to tell Rúben?"

"Oh, no. No, no, no. Just the thought of it makes me feel this thing in my chest and... No."

"Then?"

"I don't know. We still have a couple of weeks left before the preseason starts, so I guess I'll go back to Portugal with the girls."

"You are leaving Cádiz?"

"Next week it is Eva's brother's turn to stay at the house, and he invites his friends. We have to leave" Mila shrugs.

"Then come to Murcia with me."

"What?"

"You said you've never been, right? I think I can convince Pablo to let me take you as my plus one to the wedding. If you want, of course."

"Fran, are you... Are you sure? Wouldn't it be awkward?"

"Nah" he says. "So tell me. Are you in the mood for a Spanish wedding or not?"

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

"She isn't coming?"

"Nope. She's staying with some new friends she made" Rúben says.

For the first time in years, Mila is missing their "Portuguese gang" reunion at the end of the holidays. And it doesn’t feel ok.

"New friends? Who?" Bruno asks.

"I'm not sure. She just told me that one of them invited her to his wedding."

"That's odd, isn't it? They just met, and she is going to his wedding."

"Anything to stay away from us" Diogo says. "Or from Rúben."

"Or maybe just from you, who suddenly became the annoying one" Rúben spats.

"Hey, let it be peace" Bruno says. "We are on holidays, remember? Let's try to relax and have fun."

"I don't know how we'll be able to do that with grumpy cat over here" Diogo says, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I'm not grumpy" Rúben replies.

"Of course not" Diogo snorts.

"Ok, new rule. It is forbidden to talk about Mila" Bruno says. "She doesn't exist, understood?"

"Do you think you can forget about her for a few days?" Diogo asks Rúben.

"I can" he says. But he knows that is a lie. Even when he doesn’t want to, he finds himself thinking about her. And knowing that she is at someone's wedding, definitely with the guy she was talking with on that photo, doesn't help.

"Great!" Bruno says. "Let's cheers to that, and think what we want to do next. Maybe rent a boat?"

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

"Mila, you look absolutely stunning."

"Thank you, Fran" she says, feeling her cheeks getting warm.

"I just hope they don't kick us out of the wedding."

"Why would they do that?"

"Because I'm sure you look ten times better than the bride, and today it is supposed to be her day" he says with a cheeky smile.

"Oh, shut up" she laughs, taking the arm he is offering her.

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

"That has to be the most bizarre dance of my entire life" Mila laughs, letting herself fall on a chair.

"I just can't believe that, being Portuguese and spending your summers in Spain, you didn't know about Paquito el chocolatero."

"I don't know, maybe I'm normal" she shrugs.

"If you were normal, you would have known about it" Fran laughs.

"It is just so... The moves, you know?"

"I know."

"And everyone dances. Adults, children, the grandparents... Everyone!"

"That's Paquito el chocolatero" he shrugs. "Are you having fun?"

"Lots of fun. Thank you for convincing me to come."

"It's been my pleasure. Though maybe we could... End the night with... Actual pleasure, you know?"

"Fran... Are you asking me if I want to have sex?" Mila laughs, the woman sitting on the table next to theirs giving her an outraged look.

"Just one last time. As a goodbye. To me, to the summer, to Spain..."

"Ok then" she says after thinking about it for a few seconds. She only has a couple of days left of her holidays before she has to go back to Manchester. Before she has to face Rúben and her feelings for him. And God knows how that will go. So maybe having one last wild night with this very nice and very hot guy like Eva liked calling Fran, wasn't such a bad idea.

"You sure? If you don't want to do it it's fine, I totally get it."

"I'm sure" Mila says. "Your room or mine?"

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Author’s note: In case you are curious about what “Paquito el chocolatero” is, it is a super famous Spanish song with very particular dance moves that it is played on weddings and parties in general, usually when people already are a bit tipsy 😅

The moves that made Mila go 👀 are the ones you can see here at minute 1:27 😂

[myaoiboy]

Hi I saw that you answered an ask* the other day and I wanted to know if you continued with your analysis or if you could continue. I was really interested and curious to know more about it. I really wanted to know what you had to say, seriously, I could read a bible of Death Stranding reviews!

*https://www.tumblr.com/myaoiboy/739740134244794368/death-stranding-gender-talk-you-say-count-me-in?source=share

Hi! I totally can keep talking about Death Stranding forever (I know it's a very divisive game but imo on the whole the writing is like a well-oiled machine in ways that MGS just barely started to scrape askdjfh)

For the most part I haven't talked a *ton* about it at length because the series is just getting started and I feel weird making assertions that are likely to be fully subverted within a year or two. MGS has like. well, now, 25 years of shit going on. Sequels, prequels, fanon, etc., that Death Stranding...hasn't really had time to grow into yet.

I also tend to intentionally only post for dead series because the fandoms tend to be chiller lmao

Plus the fact that I got into DS right around the time that DS2 was announced, so I'm sitting here twiddling my thumbs knowing that there's about to be more content and context that I just don't have access to yet. I already feel like there's a lot more to be learned about the first game, just from the latest trailer drop.

Honestly I think the thing that really gets me with DS is that despite the borderline insanity of the setting, to me, there's a lot of dramatic irony and meta knowledge that makes DS pretty easy to follow compared to, like, any single MGS game. Maybe I'm just the exact target audience that the writing was intended for, but most of the big reveals felt less like a sucker punch and more of a dramatic swell.

Some reasons for this (please be gentle i am taking cutscene SCs from youtube videos, they're gonna look like shit):

First of all, this is basically frame 1 of being formally introduced to Amelie, we see...this lens flare. Look familiar?

...how about now?

We are introduced to her instantly with a sign of danger. A pretty one, but a sign of danger nonetheless. The fact that it's an inverted rainbow is important! It shows up around timefall because of chiral air disturbance. We don't know that yet in-game, but if you know about how light works you know that there's something Wrong(tm) about this.

A regular lens flare shouldn't be causing an inverted rainbow if it's causing one at all. I think in this cutscene Amelie's presence is causing that inverted rainbow. Throughout the game, people come up with various theories of their own to excuse her connection to the beach. Little do they know at the time how right they are...

She's also heavily backlit, which hides her features in an unsettling manner. In fact, I really can't think of anyone else that this happens to throughout the game (if anyone knows of another example PLEASE let me know!!!)

She gets pretty damn close before that rainbow disappears, but this is where I very quickly lost my initial trust in her (as the player).

I jokingly called called this her "Fox News reporter look," but it's very much constructed in a way that made me suspicious.

Let's talk about that red dress.

I've said it before, I'll say it again: Kojima fucking LOVES using color language, especially red, blue, and gold. It's been super obvious and explicit since like 2012.

The fact that we meet her wearing a red dress is not a coincidence!!! It's a great big flashing warning sign! It says "hey, this person is going to betray you! Do Not Fucking Trust!!!"

Compare Amelie's name card to Paz's from Peace Walker:

The art styles are different, but there are a couple of main throughlines. Namely, both have an emphasis on the color red, both are young (looking) women who are lying about their identities in order to ask the main character a favor. Characters vouch for them, from trusted advisors, to the main character himself in DS. And then they try to bring about armageddon.

Basically what I'm saying is that they're both the embodiment of white woman tears a wolf in sheep's clothing, if the sheep's clothing was still dripping in blood. We (characters, and maybe the players) believe that she's on our side because we want to believe she's on our side, and because other people that we ostensibly trust tell us she's on our side, while the extremely dissonant narrative and imagery of the scene are SHAKING US BY THE SHOULDERS TELLING US TO SNAP OUT OF IT.

Add to that the fact that we kind of vaguely, through that intro cutscene post-central knot explosion, know that the beach is connected to dying somehow, and that amelie seems to be on it, doing very stereotypical little girl in horror things there, like singing nursery rhymes slowly while walking into the ocean.

So we've basically been told that Amelie is Not Good, but we have to spend the game piecing together what kind of Not Good she is. The first hint is (surprise!) also in this cutscene!

I don't recall off the top of my head if I knew at the time how heavily egyptian mythology plays into DS, but I do remember this cutscene giving me a bad gut feeling about the concept of the West.

Very few Big Concepts in these games (the West, strand(s/ing), patriotism/nationalism, etc) are only symbolic of one thing. That's also true across the board in basically all art, but I feel the need to point that out in public posts because I don't want someone to eg, think that I say something means one thing, and then back that up, and then people think that means it can't mean something else! It can (and often does) mean both! and sometimes that additional meaning is super important!

Anyways, Die Hardman refers to Amelie going West. We don't really use that phrasing much, so it stuck out to me as euphemistic. Especially since we saw her after we died, and there's so much euphemism going on from the bridges team anyways. I mean, cufflinks "symbolize our connection?" Girl, you locked me to my bed with them. You drain my blood with them to turn into weapons. Call 'em what they are.

You'll even notice in the same cutscene that Amelie says "we made it to Edge Knot City" and Sam replies with "all the way to the Pacific?" Not "all the way to the west coast," or even a single question about why she was on the/his beach.

If you know anything about egyptian mythology, you might know that west is considered the direction of death and the underworld. ancient egyptians buried dead people on the west side of the nile river. Osiris, god of death and mummification, and king of the underworld, is referred to as "foremost of the westerners" among his epithets.

So the vibe that I got instantly was "Amelie is already dead, she led her team to die, and they are basically sending Sam on a suicide mission" though I didn't realize exactly how I was right at the time.

The other big thing I recall setting off my alarm bells as the game went on was the fact that nobody you meet has ever met Amelie in person. It's a very slow reveal, especially since most people seem to see online meeting and in person meeting to be mostly the same, and we're told that she set out with bridges one. That she went west. Turns out that...also wasn't literal.

I don't remember exactly when I started wondering if *sam* had ever even met her outside of the beach, but I do remember thinking that there was something off. For a little bit my guess was that she was entirely fictional, some sort of AI (pretty influenced by all the "dead person brought back by AI/hypno bullshit ngl), or maybe that Higgs could somehow disguise himself in the Beach in ways i didn't understand yet.

But I didn't feel *worse* for being able to figure things out ahead of time, I felt clever that I could piece together all the little hints and have a good idea of what was going on. It made death stranding feel more like a coherent sci fi narrative rather than a cheesy action story that's expected to follow certain strict genre conventions.

Not that I'm saying mgs or action in general are bad, but rather that imo Death Stranding feels...more mature and confident in some ways (and also isn't bogged down by 20 years of previous work. which. i don't even like my own shit from a year ago half the time, i cannot imagine having to write within the constraints you created TWO DECADES prior kjhksjfh). Maybe it's that it feels like less of a genre subversion and has more genre utilization? dunno. Now I'm thinking too much like an english major lkajshdf

But yeah anybody who wants to talk about anything totally feel free. Or if you want to give me prompts to write about. I will always be willing to talk about things for way too long on the internet. I just don't always reply quickly because I start rambling....Like This.

[astralwhat]

charlie/aster. tree-hugging animal nerd. enjoyer of sci-fi, fantasy, the paranormal, historical fiction, and everything in between. draws stuff sometimes

other art ▪️ buy my wares ▪️ zine bash

faq ⤵️

can i use your art for [personal thing]?

as long as it wasn't commissioned by someone else, you can use any of my art for your personal icon, profile pic, header, playlist cover, dnd home game, print and tape to your wall, etc etc. please credit/link back to me whenever possible if it's something posted on the internet

can i get a tattoo of your art?

again, for my personal non-commissioned art, sure! i'd appreciate it if you leave a kofi tip or buy a little something from my shop when you can. a shout out is also appreciated if you post a pic to show off the tattoo, partly for design credit and partly because i'd like to see it :)

are you open for commissions?

maybe 👍 please email astralwhat@gmail.com with "commission" in the subject line. tell me what you have in mind and i'll let you know if it's something i can do right now

will you restock [item]?

franklin leg and terror/erebus ship pillows: nah. i might do a new ship pillow eventually, but no immediate plans. feel free to yoink the ideas and make your own; they're not super original concepts lmao

polar explorer shirts: "all well" will have another preorder campaign (probably its last) in december 2024. "make history or die trying" is available through my redbubble (and as of nov '24 has a few still in stock in my etsy) but otherwise i have no plans to do another run

prints and stickers: will probably be restocked (shop updates are usually in april and november ish), and/or is available through my redbubble shop

how do you produce your merch?

prints: i use Catprint (US based) for all of my prints and have done for many years; they're great, lots of options, no minimums, and i highly recommend if you want to get into selling prints. and remember to take advantage of their paper sample pack and free print proofing!!

stickers: i've used Stickerapp (US based) several times; their minimum quantities are higher than i usually want but the prices aren't bad and the quality is nice. mostly now i use Zap! Creatives which has lower minimums and allows for multiple designs in one order, plus i'm already getting other items from them.

pins, charms: i use also Zap! Creatives (UK based) for this; as much as i'd love to produce everything this side of the pond i really haven't found anyone comparable in the US and i've been pretty happy with them.

pillowcases, lanyards, glasses cloths: i've done through a group order organized by another artist; dm me and i will hook you up with the mailing list :)

shirts: for the first couple runs of "make history" i had them made by Huntsville AL-based screenprinter Green Pea Press, who were great to work with and i highly recommend if you're in the area. ordering, storing, and shipping lots of shirts was a bit too much for my one-man-one-room business though so i started using Print Social (UK based) which runs pre-order campaigns and then prints and fulfills everything themselves. very easy to set up, and the shirts look nice!

packaging: i get basically all my mailers from ecoenclose, glassine paper from blick, and otherwise try to reuse brown paper/cardboard/etc for inner packaging as much as possible.

will you draw [fandom] again?

[shrug emoji] it could happen. i'm still fond of everything i've done fanart for in recent years, so there's always a chance i'll return to it if struck with ideas and motivation and energy at the right time

what happened to [various original story things]?

i'm tired dude. i haven't forgotten about them i'm just Tired

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if you have a question or something to say, you can send a dm or ask here, although my response may be a little slow. for anything time-sensitive or otherwise very important, please email me at astralwhat@gmail.com

[samkat10423]

Some more lots

Didn't get much done yesterday, since I'm lazy. And the weather here has finally left the minus digits and is semi-warm. Plus - our furnace which died right at the beginning of our Artic Winter phase - was finally replaced. Took 2 weeks to get one, but it works so no more freezing our tuchus off.

Anyway, I decided to work on a beach lot to replace that one over by the Wolff house. Recurve Strand - or something like that.

This is another Lili lot that I altered. Where that scuba shop is, she had a bar and some picnic tables. I got rid of that and built the little shop. Then I placed a lifeguard chair and awning - so my stupid sims don't drown. I really don't care if they do - gets rid of the stupid gene from the DNA gene pool - but the local sims all seem to care. Inside those 3 little builds, I made them more functional - as is: I got rid of all the unnecessary crap that was inside and made them into actual changing rooms. Later on, I'll add that surf thingie that EA sold in the store, so my stupid sims can surf. And maybe some yoga mats so they can channel their inner zen. But for now, this is it.

Then I hopped over to where that Lofty Cerulean pool was. My whiney sims complained that they were breaking out in rashes whenever they took a dip - like my city council cares. The local doctors - who attended the meeting - reminded them that they could treat their rashes for an astronomical fee. All they have to do is come to the ER, but they insisted that the pool needed to be upgraded. After all of 30 minutes of deliberation - 25 of which were spent on bathroom breaks - the council came back with their answer. NO. After all - as they told them - if you can come all the way to city hall to picket and throw temper tantrums, you can walk to the town pool.

With that, they bulldozed the old lot and built some tennis courts. They did leave the old building - where they sell booze, because they can. In an effort to save some simoleons, they recycled some old street signs and made some cheap tables and chairs out of them, and used some old crates to make a bar. Plus, they used some old jars and made lights. Progress as Promised! (That's their campaign slogan).

Then I decided to get rid of that live show venue the game automatically loads. This little bar was made a gazillion years ago by someone over on MTS - before the Seasons ep. I don't think he's active anymore since he threw several rants about EA over there. Anyway, it had a fake "glass" domed roof that just let the weather in. So, I got rid of that and added a new frieze to the roof. Then I kicked out the back and sides - so I'd have room for the stage. Plus, I added that roof stuff, used some different plants and added a parking lot. Plus, I gave it some actual doors. (He just used arches).

Inside, I got rid of everything. I think the only thing I kept was the wall and floor finishes. I used Sandy's tropical bar set, then recolored dive bar counters to match it. Those totem poles I just recolored. I think they came with that Island Paradise set. Where the pool table is, there were a couple of arcade machines, but I have an arcade, so I got rid of them. Then I placed some showtime seating so sims actually watch the acts. I mostly used the Tiki sets to do this build. I'll go back in and use the invisible dance floor later to replace the game one. (I just wanted to make sure I had room for a dance floor).

Outside, I used stuff from Island Paradise for the patio. You can't see it, but there is that Late Night bubble bar - probably the only thing I kept from the original build. I also used that smaller stage for this build. I really didn't go crazy with stage decor. I have an acrobat in town, but not much else right now.

Then I went back to Agnes's house to finish taking sims into CAS. This house was built by plumbob for their updated SV save. I have always hated the original, and this one still has a modern vibe without looking totally stupid. They did get rid of the nursery inside, and replaced it with a large guest room. But I fixed that by dividing the room and adding an unfinished space with baby stuff. It's roped off using that roping from Late Night. I moved her niece into the semi-finished area. I figured Agnes was originally going to hire a live-in nanny to help with her baby, which is why the room was so large. I decided to keep the niece at the child phase instead of making her into a teen. Right now, Agnes doesn't like her much - and her father (my town acrobat) even less. But since she is an attorney, she sued for custody. And won. As in RL, simoleons talk.

[cometcactus]

greetings once again: a little update... now where are my soccer fans at? ⚽👀

hey y'all, nia here, it's been months since i posted... would you like to hear a story? not sure if this is going to last but i may be a soccer/football fan now... or at the very least feeling nostalgic for it. it's quite funny because i was never interested in soccer myself, but i do have fond memories of experiencing the world cup hype where i live, and i remember having a few soccer fans in my neighborhood. part of this story has something to do my growing interest in german culture over the past few years. i'll tell you about that as well in another time. so, i was 10 years old when germany won the world cup last time, and while i wasn't actively following the games, i did remember the 7-1 semifinal becoming a meme and hearing götze's name every so often in the news back then... (10-year-old me had almost no idea why he was in the news, lol) also, i remembered seeing those winner group photos where the all the goalkeepers wore that one (ugly but catchy) shade of green. fast forward to this year and a couple months ago i had the chance to watch the euros with my german friends. it was my first soccer watch party in years and it was my first time watching soccer with my close friends :) so as i was watching the games i noticed that along a bunch of new names in germany's team, there were a few familiar names from 10 years ago: müller and kroos (and that time i had no idea and i certainly didn't think for once that this would be their last tournament as a team) but one name stood out to me more than others: manuel neuer. 🧤 i guess my friends were all nostalgic for him since they would occasionally talk about him and recall his many achievements, joke about him a lot so that he became a bit of a meme among my friend circle, and at that point he instantly became my favorite goalkeeper. (plus, he looks super cute too...🥺)

yeah i have to admit, for a moment i may have gone crazy for him (he certainly looks older now but i kid you not, i would yell his name every time he appeared on camera during the euros, silly me) here comes the sad part though: 10 years is quite a long time in a soccer player's career, and it seems a lot of them have retired or are retiring due to their age, so it may come as a surprise for some that some of the old gang from the world cup 10 years ago were still playing in the euros. with the last players from back then - including the lovely keeper neuer himself - having announced their retirement from the german team by the time i started writing this post, the days of the world cup winners are pretty much over. god, i feel old every time i see photos of germany's world cup team this year's euros have left me with some beautiful memories, and made me a new soccer fan who's also nostalgic for the world cup champions. so, as a homage to this goalkeeper and the Weltmeister of 2014 i started a new tumblr blog where i would mostly repost german soccer stuff from the past years and maybe throw in some original content as well. @neuerstalgia - come check it out if you want ^_^ and, i said i would bring more content to my main, but i have to admit i wasn't being very productive these days. and it's not like i don't have anything to show - rather the opposite - i have been making stuff for my page but i often leave them unfinished, to the point where i just have too many drafts lying around. but i'll be a responsible citizen and finish them all 'cause i sure do have a lot of things and ideas i'd like to show to you. ���� in other words, i'll try to spend more of my time publishing content to my blog. i've got a list of what i'd like to post here, but i don't want to spoil the surprise. but i'll tell you, it's going to be interesting :D so, i end the day by listening to a german song. look forward to more posts, doodles and reblogs from me and hope you all have a pleasant evening.

[misfitclassismyfreetherapy]

Mairuma Sexuality Headcanons #2

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~ 🏳️‍🌈  Also because Pride Month 🏳️‍🌈 ~

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Crocell Kerori 💖💜💙

MY QUEEN- Caim Camui

I headcanon her as Bi. I mean I think she thought she was lesbian for like years because of Gyari but Iruma was her bi awakening. She liked Iruma for a bit. But moved on pretty fast. ( Sorry no Kerori x Iruma in my fanfic T - T ). But definitely has preference over female.

Ideas:

Although she's Bi, she is extremely bias. I think she would definitely like argue with Agares from time to time at their movie nights to say which couple individual is hotter.

She would definitely vouch for the female and then Gaap and Gyari just stand their watching their love interest argue. (I have a vibe that Gyari would vote for the MILF-)

( I hc Kerori and Agares to to be besties. I mean who doesn't at this point?)

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Shax Lied 🌸💖💜💙💎

Honestly radiates more of pan vibes than omni but whatever

I first thought he was a straight ally at first. But when I reread the manga... he doesn't only show to one gender. Then I thought he was pan , but he does shows preference to gender and does recognize so.. so I settled with omnisexual. He is not gender-blind.

⚠️ NOT MEANT TO BE OFFENSIVE TO THE PANSEXUAL PEOPLE OUT THERE ⚠️

Ideas:

Okay hear me out. Lied x Beeber. I HAVE A GOOD REASON I PROMISE-Hear me out. I'm not planning to make this ship endgame. I promise, I need this to make this ship for Lied's character development. Lied-kun angst is so underrated I had to make some.

Plus I saw a funny ass skit about a gaming couple and I want to write Lied-kun to scream at Bee-kun about not knowing how to play Devicraft. Jazz-kun and Gaap-kun just already got used to it.

( I also hc that these three play games every freaking Saturday. So they got used to Lied-kun angry mode.)

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ENDING

I want to do more but my motivation is dying so take two or leave with none /j. But seriously tho, sorry for the lost of motivation. I gave you two new headcanons and maybe I'll make a few more in the future.