#maybe like 1 or 2 players but not a full group

[wp100]

think i might get ksm tomorrow if i time this +5 uld

[timbit-robin-art]

i loooove your band au it's so cute!! do they have a band name? why did the O5 have a falling out and what did jean, bobby, and warren play? i'm imagining they get their first gig at harry's hideaway because he graciously allows them to set up in the corner and play as long as they don't bother anyone lol. rogue and gambit both go (rogue drives them and helps them set up, gambit goes to cheer on storm) and that's how they meet

I’m glad people enjoy my silly band idea. I unfortunately have no idea what they would call themselves, but I’m sure some ridiculous ideas were proposed from each member. I’d love to hear ideas.

Ah, the O5… I think they split up because of a combination of reasons. 1.) Worthington Senior urging Warren to return home as Worthington Industries’ heir. 2.) Jean going to a prep school so she can graduate early be the professor’s intern in mutant politics. 3.) Hank’s plans to intern at Stark Industries, which he ultimately doesn’t go through with after he transforms. Of course, there would be petty drama on the side that would further strain things, but those three would probably be the main reasons.

I think Hank looking into Stark Industries would be a big contributor because Bobby would feel betrayed. They promised to stay together, and after Bobby learned about Warren and Jean’s situations, he at least thought that he would have Hank. So, to catch Hank researching about a full time internship would really hurt.

I also think that Warren would initially do everything in his power not to return home until he learns about Jean’s plans. He thinks she’s only doing this because it’s what the professor wants, but then he learns Jean is actually really looking forward to this. I also think he’s bitter about Scott’s encouragement of Jean’s plans, because it’s splitting their group apart. And then when Bobby and Hank finally have their confrontation, he feels like trying to ignore his fate is childish and he should just give in to his father’s plans.

They all used to live at the institute together, but then Warren returned home and Jean is abroad at her prep school. It’s very tense between Scott, Hank, and Bobby, but Scott and Hank eventually making up again probably makes Bobby get over his hurt. He didn’t really take the band as seriously as the others; he just wanted to hang out with his friends. Bobby would later show up to the band’s gigs as support, and who knows… maybe Warren and Jean would, as well.

Scott played the drums, Jean was the pianist, Hank was guitar, Warren was vocals (and maybe another guitar player), and Bobby was bass.

Back to the current band set up, Gambit 100% comes to their performances, which eventually leads him to meet Rogue;

Gambit is already the band’s uncle, so it makes sense that he hits it off with the band’s new aunt. Mr. Logan found Gambit suspicious at first (and to be fair, Mr. Logan is at least 80% sure he saw Gambit pickpocket someone from across the room), but when he sees how much Gambit cares for Storm, he begrudgingly lets go of his suspicions. He still keeps a watchful eye over Gambit and Rogue’s interactions, though. Rogue’s still his child.

Bahhh, so many fun ideas with this. I think it would be really cute if other X-Men are thrown into the mix. They may not be a part of the band, but they still contribute to the chaos of the private school (I think it would be funny if Piotr was an art club member who does art for the band, and Sean was one of their sound crew guys. Any ideas for other X-Men?).

[devildomwriter]

Their First and Last Words in the OG Game

*not including text* in this list is the vert first dialogue they are given, even if it’s not in-person (such as over a call) or not fully formed words like a distant call for help*

Lucifer

First (1-1): “I will explain everything to you.”

Last (80-22): “I knew it wouldn’t stay quiet around here for long…”

Mammon

First (1-1): “Huh? Who the hell are ya? You ain’t Lucifer” or “Are ya foolin’ around? Who the hell are ya?”

*first words via call are dependent on player choice*

Last (80-22): “Nuh-uh!!”

Leviathan

First (1-7): “How about this? I vote for YOU to die, Mammon.”

Last (80-16 Hard): “AAAAAAAAH!”

Satan

First (1-2): “Hmph. At least he didn’t ignore you altogether. How do you think I feel?”

Last (80-22): “No, MC’s mine.”

Asmodeus

First (1-2): “Oh, come now. Really? You should be honored that you get to introduce such a sweet and charming little brother like me!”

Last (80-22): “Oh MC! I’ve missed you sooo sooo SOOO much!”

Beelzebub

First (1-2) “Nope, I haven’t eaten any souls…yet.”

*this dialogue is only available by choosing a specific option in the game but it is the earliest available speech he gives*

Last (80-22): “In that case, we’ll be able to see each other whenever we want from now on, huh?”

Belphegor

First (2-15) “…el…”

Last (80-22): “Right, exactly. Because MC’s mine.”

Solomon

First (2-2): “Hey, you there.”

Last (80-16 Hard): “All right, all right…fine. We’ll go to the book signing with you. Okay?”

Simeon

First (2-13): “Ah, but I notice that you didn’t deny the part about him being cute, did you?”

Last (80-16 Hard): “Anyway, I feel like maybe I’ve made a bit of progress on my personal journey now?”

Raphael

First (60-22): “I can see that, yes…”

Last (80-19): “…Have you forgotten that I’m standing right here? If you’re about to have a “moment”…don’t.”

Luke

First (2-13): “Pff, of course not! Duh! That was a put-down! An insult! He’s taunting you!”

Last (80-22): “Aww… I want to see MC too, but they aren’t leaving me enough space to get through…”

Michael

First (38-17): “Hello there, MC.”

Last (44-18): “Goodbye. Until we meet again, MC…”

Thirteen

First (65-3): “Ahahahaha!” or “Ugh, what was THAT?! Honestly, I don’t believe it!”

*her first dialogue is dependent on player choice*

Last (80-17): “No. This is my first time studying at RAD, remember? My program runs for a full year.”

Little D. No. 2

First (7-10): “Now, now, I think it’s nice to have at least one foolish character in the group you can tease. It lightens things up a little, don’t you think?”

Last (68-16 Hard): “Y-Yes sirrr…”

Mephistopheles

First (63-1): “Don’t touch that!”

Last (80-17): “It’s the same with Solomon. Your terms should be ending soon, right?”

Barbatos

First (2-13): “Huh. Whenever you make an important announcement, the demons here couldn’t care less. But rumors… they really do spread like wildfire.”

Last (80-22): “Shall I go make some tea?”

Diavolo

First (1-1): “Welcome to the devildom MC.”

Last (80-22): “Ahaha! Come on, take it easy…all of you. You’re going to suffocate MC.”

MC

First (1-1): “Where am I?”

*technically these are just thoughts but I’m counting it*

Last (80-16 Hard): “I think you’re taking it a bit too far…” or “Just don’t summon Lotan by accident, okay?” or “Now you’ve got ME bawling, too!”

*dependent on player choice*

[alpaca-clouds]

Solarpunk Game Ideas: CRPGs

Here I go on with my ideas for Indie Solarpunk games, that are not some sort of building sim or farming sim - and of course I cannot do this without mentioning CRPGs.

Mind you, despite what you might think given that over the course of the last year I have barely played anything but a certain CRPG (BG3), CRPGs are actually not really a genre of game I am super into, even though some of my favorite games are CRPGs. But as a genre in general I usually like faster paced games a lot more. It is just that when I hyperfocus on something that usually is a result of me getting obsessed with a character from it - and that is more likely to happen with a CRPG than with a metroidvania.

But how to do a Solarpunk CRPG?

The Issue:

Look, there really are not any CRPGs right now that are in any way Solarpunk. And I would argue this goes again back to the issue that people struggle with telling stories within a Solarpunk setting, as they are too set in the idea that a) Solarpunk needs to be an utopian setting (or a setting that pretends to be utopian) and b) that utopian settings will not allow for any conflict whatsoever. Additionally there is of course also the issue that most CRPGs do involve violence in form of fighting, which is what a lot of people struggle with - even though some amazing indie games like Disco Elysium have shown very well, that you can do a CRPG without a combat system.

So, let's go over some ideas for Solarpunk CRPGs.

Idea #1: Off-Brand Princess Mononoke

If you follow me for any time, you might know that to me there is no movie or piece of media that is more Solarpunk than Princess Mononoke. And thankfully we can easily build a sort of CRPG around it, either with a similar historical setting or just a fullon fantasy setting. Because remember: Solarpunk does not need to be Science Fiction!

No matter whether you go with a historical setting or just a full-on fantasy setting, the idea is fairly easy: The player character has a magical problem and they need the help of some sort of spirits. As they travel to the place of the spirit, they find out that the spirits are in a war with some group of humans, that are encroaching of the home of the spirits, because they try to access some sort of ressources, driving the spirits nearly to extinction. The player would have the choice in the end which side to join - or whether they will try to broker peace between spirits and humans.

Bonus: You'd have several choices how to play the game - but it is not a clear cut "good" and "evil", especially when the humans might have good reasons to need the ressource.

Idea #2: A SciFi Conspiracy

This idea is very much for a somewhat shorter game. Think a bit more like "Shadowrun Returns". Something that has more like 15 to 20 minutes of a runtime.

We go with the idea I brought up in one of the other ideas before: We have a Solarpunk world, that runs on mainly anarchist principles, and there are some arguments going about over some of the security mechanisms. (Anarchy can after all not properly work, if some people have weapons and others don't have - but you cannot undo the existence of weapons.) Our main character is part of some security force, that mostly are just trained to deescalate situations, but are in some cases allowed to use force.

And when a group of pro-capitalists or maybe even actual fascists start a conspiracy to take over the government, and they already have some co-conspirators in all positions. And the main characters need to navigate this with a mixture of diplomacy and violence, with the player getting a fairly good influence on how this plays out.

Idea #3: A Natural Disaster

Let me take one approach, that is inspired by one of the most Solarpunk movies, that is not by Ghibli: Misaki no Mayogai. That movie takes place after the Tohoku earthquake and is very much about mutual aid in the community.

And here is the thing: No, CRPGs do not need to have combat. So this is an idea for a CRPG without combat. We have a natural disaster of some sort. Honestly it does not matter. An earthquake, a flood, a vulcano... Can be anything. It just did destroy a lot of stuff in a big area. And the game is very much about rebuilding after this disaster, about people helping each other through mutual aid, and then building something better from it. It could feature a society going full Solarpunk if you want to (like a positive post-apocalypse) or just something getting a bit better. Build back better and such.

And if you are interested in creative Solarpunk endeavors, I would love to invite you into the Solarpunk Creatives community! :)

[buff-muffin]

Random little One piece modern AU thoughts and I guess scenes I had about mainly Luffy

1. Luffy is the best guy to take to karaoke. While he isn’t the best singer he’s also not the worst. However he sings with his whole chest and heart and will sing duets with anyone no matter how lovey or metal. His energy always brought everyone out of their shells he just has a bad habit of singing when it’s not his turn

2. I feel like in a modern AU Luffy would still be friends with a lot of the people he met in series just under different conditions. Like water 7 instead of the mayor almost being assassinated he just. Met him. Like on good terms. idk, maybe Luffy saved tyrannosaurus and now they just exchange animals pics and the occasional “hey I’m heading to insert place where should I go to eat” and Luffy just introduces the Baratie with no heads up to Zeff and Sanji and when Sanji spams the group chat freaking out he just says you’re welcome :D

3. Luffy keeps the contacts of everyone he’s met and keep them under their nicknames. Monster granny, hammock, split head ect. It’s the only way he can remember them after all. When nami had gotten nosy and decided to go through his contacts she obviously asked who tf ice pops was. Imagine her surprise when Luffy confidently answers that it’s the mayor from a few towns over.

4. In a modern AU the ASL brothers were totally still bush kids. Like. Dadan’s (probably community house) was right by the woods and they would have a similar childhood to canon with less killing wild animals. But they also a thousand fucking percent had a Nintendo Wii. Like Ace and Sabo fought tooth and NAIL for player one and Luffy was banished to player three with the dingiest controller known to man (not even the safety strap could protect that thing from getting tossed at the tv) And speaking from my own experience as a younger sibling Ace totally spent a whole summer trying to unlock every character in Mario kart.

5. Law met the straw hats in collage at 2 am when they got kicked out of a bar and he was trying to mind his own business. While they saw him in their intoxicated state and said “you’re my friend now :)” Law was genuinely worried half of them had alcohol poisoning. An hour later he found himself in one of their apartments two of them passed out. One of them throwing up. All while he makes a grilled cheese for Luffy, the so called infamous man on campus who is crying sitting on the floor cause he’s starving. Law stayed the night to make sure none of them drowned in their own vomit and like imprinted baby ducks they have not left him alone since.

6. Luffy has been going to riots and movements for years. He started going with Sabo and Ace growing up when they were teenagers and hasn’t stopped. He also never thought to mention it to any of his friends until they saw him on the news at a protest absolutely fucking SENDING a tear gas canister back at the cops

7. I kinda wanna believe while devil fruits don’t exist in modern AU the character still has quirks semi related to their fruit. Like Robin is just, double jointed everywhere and could bend her arms and fingers in all the worst ways. Luffy can either contort his body to hide in tiny places OR he has stretchy skin. It’s nothing more then party tricks but it is cool

8. Luffy was definitely a gymnastics kid. Not in like. The competing sense. But in like the, one of the adults in his life would drop him off there twice a week for an hour. Did he participate with the other children and learn how to roll? NO! He was flinging himself full speed into giant foam mats and climbing rock walls without a harness. He was a menace to society and he was only taken to blow off some energy and it WORKED. Until he was kicked out.

[bylrlve]

Warning! Potential spoilers for Stranger Things 5!

To recap, Alex received this dm on 13/2/23, seemingly confirming mileven breakup

She received this message on that day, which states that mileven are still together and happy. However it’s also instantly debunkable bc they’re absolutely not going to do the Hopper-Mike feud bs again. That is beyond clear.

On this past Tuesday, 20/2/23, she received a second message outright stating Mileven breakup.

Finally, on Wednesday, 21/2/23, she received this message full of pretty plausible statements, with mileven breakup included as fact. Interesting.

This person claims it’s all fake, with no rationale or alt info - what, is Will not important now?

Worth noting: Millie is currently doing promo for Damsels, so she’ll be out of commission re: filming for a few weeks. Early March is probably when she’ll come back, but Finn will be be busy with his Ghosbusters 2 promo.

Two conclusions:

1.) there will be no mileven scenes filmed for a few weeks. Filming schedules are very tightly planned to accommodate other actor commitments, so it doesn’t seem like this posed a massive issue. Hm.

2,) Millie will likely be doing any scenes she has with Sadie and Caleb, aka Max and Lucas, when she gets back. As this message says.

This person is probably just smart and well-informed enough to figure this out, but it’s interesting.

There has been some very intriguing activity on a stranger things set a few days ago - red UD ligthing, castle Byers.., and Will Byers. Will’s plotline for season 5 seriously looks like everything us Will stans have been dreaming of in terms of plot relevance, emotional catharsis, etc. This pic dropped yesterday, and the spoiler acc seems to have confirmed it’s Will:

Lastly,this also dropped today:

(Credit to @1987byler on twt)

Very strange framework, here. If the goal is to set up Will being rejected gently by Mike, but understood and accepted, why not focus on that? Why not have Vecna say ‘you’re afraid he’ll be disgusted by you. You’re afraid he’ll see you as the disgusting, broken boy you are’ or something like that? Elsewhere in the game, it’s being reported by players that Will is being taunted about how his friends are all ignoring him, and how Max fits into the group better than he does. This is canonically a sore spot for him - not so much the Max part, but the general point. So why not emphasise his fear of Mike’s rejection, rather than his hurt at Mike picking El over him?

Maybe because, if this is carried into s5 and we get scenes of Vecna taunting Will about Mike choosing El, it’ll be certain that Mike will indeed pick Will. Maybe this is a means of hinting that?

(Side note: at this point in the time line, El was really just a concept to Will. The one time he met her, it was for barely a minute as a delirious, dying child. By s4, it’s very clear that they’re close and loving. I’ll hear no critique of him for apparently not wanting her to come back - it’s very obviously Vecna twisting things, as he did with Max in s4 to make it seem like she actively wanted to murder Billy.)

Also worth noting: the best Mike can say about the girl he supposedly loved at first sight, after a whole week with her, is that she’s ‘cool’, ‘different’, ‘awesome’. Very lacklustre. Compare to how Lucas would describe the comatose max to a newcomer in s4.

Finally: Will quite literally utilises a never-seen memory of Mike and him in Castle Byers as his happy menory, his safe place. You know,like the Snow Ball and those other memories of good times with Lucas that Max clung to in s4?

Credit to @will80sbyers

This post by @nebulousfishgills reports Vecna saying that Will is ‘the key’, manipulating Will’s memories, and directly saying “You’ll finally matter to someone, Will.” Byler kind of has to be endgame, right? For this to make any sense as a narrative? ‘We can still be friends’ won’t cut it, not if, as the messages Alex is getting make out, Will is still so achingly in love post-time jump that he’s staying by Mike’s hospital bed after everyone else leaves and kissing his forehead (a). Not if they’re still emphasising that Mike is his safe place, his home, his light, in (technically) pre-season five promotional material.

All of this is… interesting, to say the least.

I’ll leave off by sharing the posts made by the wonderful @solgmorell on the set leak (x) and the VR byler stuff (x, y).

(a)

ETA: two of the previous dms Alex has gotten state that Will struggles with his friendships with the other party member this season due to being closeted. This game touches heavily on Will’s feeling disconnected from his friends, at least partly bc of his sexuality…. One is above, the other is here:

[live-emotion]

Live Emotion Review from 4Gamer Part 1 - Rhythm Game

Lots of new info and images.

4Gamer has released a full report detailing the gameplay experience of Live Emotion. You can see their full report in Japanese on their official website.

Part 2 - Story Part 3 - Home Screen and MiniPri

Song Selection:

Some of the initially available songs are:

My Cutie... Drive me Crazy - Lv14, Sing attribute (pink icon).

OVER THE TOP - Lv16, Sing attribute

Michibiki Hikari - Lv12, Charm attribute (yellow icon)

KIR☆MEKI EMOTION - Lv19, Sing attribute,

SONG LETTER - Lv.17, Dance attribute (blue icon)

GLORIOUS ANGELS - Lv16(?), Charm attribute

Maji Love 1000% - RAINBOW STAR ver.- Lv14, Charm attribute

QUARTET☆NIGHT - Lv.??, Sing attribute.

At the bottom left of the image are various filters and search functions for songs. On the right are details for the selected song. In this case displaying the members that sing Kirameki Emotion, buttons underneath to check your ranking (the other has kanji I cant make out, potentially 'completion rewards'), and the option to swap between MV options (detailed later).

Song Difficulty:

Each song has four difficulties; Easy, Normal, Hard, and Expert.

Each difficulty has different amounts of lanes that notes will approach on. 2 on Easy, 4 on Normal, and 6 on Hard and Expert.

The song's 'Lv' refers to how hard it is in the chosen difficulty. For example, a Lv19 song on Hard will be harder than a Lv16 song on Hard.

Music Video Options:

Shots from each group's Live Emotion Theme Song MV showcasing alternate outfits. Likely from an initial set of Normal or Rare Pieces.

Not every song has a Music Video (MV). For songs that do, you can choose between:

2D/No MV - A static stage background. Or, in Live settings, the player can set up to 7 still illustrations as the background so you can still look at your favourite idol (presumably like this Kira above?)

Normal 3D - Unknown. Possibly a static front facing camera version of the MV.

Rich 3D - Also unknown, but maybe this is the versions of the MVs we've seen so far with different camera angles.

Clearing Songs:

Clearing a song with an MV unlocks Live Viewing, allowing you to watch the MV whenever you like.

Clearing any song will also reward you with materials needed to level up Pieces, and raise the Level and Affection of Emotional Pieces used.

It will also add a stamp to a point card called the 'Music Card'. Once the Music Card is fully stamped you can unlock a new song and the Music Card will reset. There will be different amounts of stamps added to the Card depending on conditions met.

[suugarbabe]

Hellooo I'd like to request something:

So it's with George Weasley and the reader and him are classmates (so they know eachother but kindly mind their own business). The reader is muggleborn and a big fan of old muggle music (I'm thinking of maybe something from the 60s/70s like the Beatles, Pink Floyd etc. but you can choose some other if you want) and kinda has like a similiar style (don't know how to describe it, maybe like flare jeans or something?) and totally lives and loves it. But they get bullied from some idiots about it and about being muggleborn and about nobody knowing "their kind of people". So maybe one day the reader gets bullied really hard (calling names, laughing at them etc.) and George sees it and helps them and then they become really good friends and he learns a lot about muggle music and starts loving it. And then - BOOM - one day both realise that they want more than friendship but it's kinda complicated telling eachother? So all in all it's friends to lovers.

It would be cool if you write it but only if you have the time, no pressure! If you aren't able to at the moment it's completely fine ♡

Have a nice weekend (btw I really like your fanfictions)

Babes I'm not sure what more I can do, you wrote the blurb already in your request! That's freaking great, like you did it, I can add a little extra but you did this babes!

You had always thought George was the softer twin. Whereas they were both boisterous and always pranking and loud, Fred just seemed more 'in your face' where George was more observant. Maybe that's how he found himself standing up for you after a particularly nasty group of Slytherin's were bullying you.

They were calling you names, making fun of how you dress when you weren't in school attire, calling it 'old' and 'groovy' and 'ancient', calling you 'four eyes' but George had seen you before and thought your style was rather cute and that your glasses complimented your facial features. He also now had another excuse to jinx some Slytherins.

You had thanked him when he saved you, full intentions on walking off but instead he asked where you were headed and if you needed company. That was the day you spend several hours in the library, you telling him about muggle movies and music and he knows a little bit of what you're talking about since his dad works in the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Dept. at the MOM, but the way you talk about it makes it so much more interesting.

Neither of you realize you've missed dinner until Fred comes looking for him, surprised to (1) find his brother in the library and (2) find him talking to a girl he's never seen before. George makes plans to meet with you again, and you're taken aback at first, but agree to meet with him.

So you start hanging out more, start showing him your old record player that was your dad's and all the old music and George is in love with it all, telling you that he thinks it's more magical than most stuff he's experienced.

And when he asks you to the yule ball your confused, because he could ask anyone, but George has never been more sure of anything in his life.

With him being in Gryffindor and you in Ravenclaw you opted to go for golden color dress (it matched most closely with both houses and also complimented your glasses frames).

When you met George at the bottom of the Ravenclaw steps you nearly took his breath away, and it was at that moment he knew he never wanted anyone else.

George could do nothing but smile on the dance floor watching you enjoy yourself and playfully criticising wizard music, "Not to say anything bad about wizarding music, all music is great if the listener likes it, but I know quite a few muggle songs that I'd much rather listen to right now."

And George would smile and nod in agreeance while he swayed with his hands on your waist, watching your lips as you talked so enthusiastically only to be suddenly cut off by his lips on yours.

You respond immediately, hands finding trace in the hair at the base of his skull pulling him closer. And when you finally break away, both breathless, chests heaving, George just smiles and tells you to continue what you were saying, that he just had to kiss you quickly before he got to scared later.

[jamiesfootball]

Whumptober Easy Mode Edition

Day 2: Trust Issues

Going into Whumptober, I knew I wouldn't be able to fill every day's prompt. However, my discord group is doing daily discussions on each day's prompts, so my goal for the month is to at least play with the ideas and then share a little ditty about them on tumblr. If they get written in the future, great! If not, we can at least all have fun playing in the sandbox together

And then today's idea snowballed and it's actually longer than some of the fics I've posted - it's just gonna be like that sometimes. I talk a lot on discord.

So for today I have in mind an AU of the story I posted for day 1:

What if Ted had tried to reach out to Jamie after he was sent back to Manchester? What if he succeeded?

The general idea is that once Jamie leaves, Ted does keep attempting to reach out to him – at first with well-meant voicemails that Jamie reads the worst into, but then via annoyingly chipper text messages.

The problem is that the nicer Ted is, the more Jamie thinks he’s rubbing his face in it.

“Caught your game last night! I know you weren’t on the field much, but boy you made an impression on those spurs. Way to go, bud!”

To which Jamie hears Ted delighting in his severely reduced minutes, sarcastically mocking him for drawing a foul in the last ten minutes. Disguising mind games behind a facade of kindness.

He already got suckered in by that once. Look where letting people in got him. 

He has no way of knowing that Ted actually cares (except Ted insisting he does, of course). More than that, he has no idea that Ted feels guilty for him getting sent off like that without warning (Jamie doesn’t know what’s going on behind the scenes at Richmond, and Ted is taking full responsibility for the fact that Rebecca ‘misunderstood’ whether Ted wanted to keep Jamie.)

But if Ted thinks that his insistent ‘Good luck out there today!’s are going to somehow get into Jamie’s head, or even trick Jamie into giving up details about City, then he’s sorely mistaken.

In fact, Jamie’s going to take this opportunity to tell Ted exactly what he thinks of him.

So they fall into a pattern:

Ted watches all of Jamie’s matches, even the ones where he doesn’t play. He sends encouragement and cute gifs that make Jamie’s eyes roll into the back of his head.

In return, Jamie watches all of Ted’s matches and interviews. He unleashes insults. He mocks Ted’s ability as a coach and the team’s inability to score a fucking goal without him, and he never misses a chance to point out that Roy Kent is a hairy old twat past his prime.

To his horror this only makes Ted start bringing up Jamie in his interviews, talking about how impressed he is with Jamie’s performance and how he does know one thing that Pep doesn’t seem to know: that that kid’s gonna be a star one day.

(Ted doesn’t think for a second how the fuck that’s going to land for Jamie when he goes back into the dressing room. Fucking hell, Ted)

But then the thing about Manchester is that Jamie really didn’t know how good he had it at Richmond until suddenly he had to deal with his dad being around all the fucking time. And it’s absolutely eroding him, like roadkill getting dragged under the wheels of a car.

So one day he has a match where he gets to play the full ninety. Should be a good thing, right? He can finally show off, and hopefully it’ll help him shake off the weird funk he’s been in lately (trouble sleeping, trouble eating, jumpy as hell, and he can’t seem to focus on anything. Normal, but fuck it hasn't been this bad in a long time)

Instead what happens is he goes out and plays the worst 90 minutes of football he’s had all season. Possibly in his entire life.

He never stood a chance. With other players out on injury, it was a guarantee he’d play, and the opposing team came prepared for blood. 

Honestly, with the exception of one very bad moment, he wasn’t awful. Maybe 60-70% of what he’s been putting up all season. Not great, but he hasn’t had a full game with this team literally all season and his head is in a funky place and he’s stressed out.

But the match is a train wreck, and his dad lets him know it. He rips into Jamie like he’s nothing more than a wet newspaper left out overnight.

The cherry on the situation is when he gets home and checks his phone, he finds that Lasso didn’t even bother to send one of his condescending messages about how ‘great’ he played. That’s how bad he played – even lasso feels guilty taking the piss out of him.

Later that night when he’s licking his wounds and rewatching match coverage on Sky sports for the upteenth time, Jamie decides that no, actually, that’s not fucking fair. If Ted’s going to jerk him around then he needs to commit, he’s not allowed to go radio silent just because he feels bad for Jamie or he pities him or something.

He sends an absolutely scathing text message in this respect.

Meanwhile back in London, Ted also had a Bad Day. His marriage is officially dissolved, custody agreements inked and everything. He’s been antsy all day, and to make matters worse him and Beard had a– well, not a fight, exactly, but a cautioning. Beard knows that he’s been texting Jamie, trying to keep in touch with him, and he questions Ted as to whether he thinks that’s wise. He knows what sort of responses Ted gets out of Jamie, and while Ted brushes them off-

“He’s a bit feisty, but if you look past the bark, he’s not so bad. Hell if you edit out some of the profanity, he’s got some pretty good ideas for Richmond mixed in. Well, between taking pot shots at Roy, that is.”

– Beard thinks Ted is maybe letting himself be a bit of a punching bag out of misplaced guilt surrounding the circumstances of his leaving.

“Wow, you’re not mincing words today, huh?”

But between one thing and another, it all gets jumbled up Ted’s head. Later that night he has a conversation with Henry and it goes- fine. Forced. Feels like they’re just stuck in the same old pattern of Ted asking about school and then a few question about Michelle. Then it’s time for Henry’s day to start just as Ted’s is ending, and maybe he’ll pour himself a drink. Maybe he’s been drinking a bit more than he should be lately.

Mostly he feels like a scooped out person today. It’s not until he gets the text from Jamie that Ted realizes oh shoot, that’s right. Jamie had a match. He better get on that really quick.

Double-time, if the amount of acid of that text is any indication. The fact that Jamie reached out first at all is a concern in itself.

Despite what Beard accused him of (which does have some truth to it, if he’s being honest), Ted does, genuinely, enjoy talking to Jamie. He’s a sharp kid with his own point of view and a unique way of putting things together. Ted wouldn’t want to hurt Beard’s feelings by saying it, but Ted’s always learned better with a visual aid, and between watching Jamie’s matches and hearing Jamie talk unfiltered about Richmond’s performance, Ted thinks something’s finally starting to click for him when it comes to this silly little game they call football.

Or at least it’s clicked enough that when he watches the replay of Jamie’s match, his response is a very emphatic, “Oof.”

“Hey, bud. Sorry I didn’t get back to you sooner. It’s just been a long day. I just watched your match, and wooh-boy, I am sorry. I’m sure that wasn’t exactly how you were hoping your first full game back would go. You know, it’s still crazy to me that y'all actually give the credit of own goals to the player from the opposing team that did it? In hockey, we just give it to the teammate who’s the closest to the goal. Which now that I think of it, probably doesn’t make any sense either, but at least it feels more whimsical. A goal by association, you know, like just the power of somebody else’s presence being nearby was enough to turn the tide and make a difference.

“Look, I know you probably already heard all this tonight – that everyone has a bad day and one match isn’t the end of the world, even if it does feel like it at the time. But you know what, it doesn’t mean you aren’t talented. Sometimes a bad day is just a bad day; nothing for it but to sleep it off and try again next time. So chin up, alright? It’s not easy, trying to find your feet in a place where everyone else already knows what's going on, but anyone who knows you at all should know by now what you’re capable of. This was just a hiccup, nothing worth beating yourself up over. I believe in you, and I know you’ll get ‘em next time.

“Oh, and uh- sorry for the long, rambly voicemail. I know you don’t like those. I just…. I really want you to know that I hope you’re doing alright. And you can call me, too, if you ever need anything, anything at all. I’m just a phone call away.

“You have a good night now.”

Ted hangs up with a long sigh. Not his best work. Nothing he hasn’t said before, really, but he can admit to himself that his heart’s a little sore and that was probably more for himself than for Jamie.

Tomorrow, he promises, tomorrow when he's more clearheaded but no less tenderhearted, he’ll try again. Send Jamie all the usual encouragement and let the kid swat back at him.

Ted doesn’t know that approximately four hours north that Jamie’s listening to his message on repeat. That he’s biting his lower lip so hard that it’s reopened the split. That he’s trying to choke down a sob and losing. That if he presses his face any harder into the cushions, he’ll disappear.

No one told Jamie any of that. Ted’s the only one.

It was easier to brush off Ted when he couldn’t hear the sincerity in his voice. But he listens to the voicemail over and over again, until it’s burned into his brain, until it feels like a living thing in his chest scrambling to get out.

That’s when a niggling feeling of doubt starts to creep in and he starts to scroll back through their text history.

He rereads all the messages Ted has sent him the past few weeks. Caught between Jamie’s own barbwire responses are the “Good job, Jamie!”s and the, “Well done, champ!”s and the, “Well, I don’t know if that sort of feedback is necessarily gonna motivate Roy, but I´ll let him know you were thinking about him. We all really miss you, bud.”

Jamie starts to wonder what they would sound like if they were true. If they were sincere. If Ted really did mean them.

For some reason it’s that thought that finally makes the dam break.

The next two weeks pass in a blur. Ted’s not sure what changed, but after his voicemail something’s different. Usually Jamie thrills in letting Ted have the full force of his opinion, but lately the kid’s so clammed up it’s like digging for pearls. 

(From the way Beard gives him a so-so gesture when he shares his metaphor, Ted figures they’re still in not-agreement on the Jamie situation)

It’s disconcerting, this level of restraint. If he didn’t know any better, he’d swear the kid had gone shy. Not too shy, though. He’s still more than willing to tell Ted exactly where Richmond’s strategy is going wrong, although with less colorful language. No, it's mostly his responses to Ted that have taken a muted turn. The last few congratulations Ted has sent, they haven’t gotten back more than a thumbs up in response – which is the opposite of Roy’s usual thumbs down approach. Now Ted has two players that are stubbornly sticking to pictographic communication methods.

(He may not be Jamie’s coach anymore, but in every way that matters Jamie is still his player in his heart)

Ted’s still turning around the puzzle that is Jamie Tartt when the universe decides to throw him a curveball in the form of a phone call from the Mancunian devil himself.

Ted’s halfway through a greeting when Jamie cuts him off with a panicked, “You said I could call you if I ever needed something. Did you mean it?”

There’s a sense of urgency in his voice that makes the hair on the back of Ted’s neck stand up. 

“I meant it from the bottom of my heart. What’s going on? Are you okay?”

In the long pause that follows, ambient noise filters in, a severe and orderly racket that starts filling in some blanks.

Jamie inhales sharply. He sounds wrecked. “I’m in hospital. I’ve, uh. I’ve got a concussion, and they won’t let me leave without…”

He trails off. A small sniff brushes down the line, but it could just as easily be a shirtsleeve sliding across the speaker.

Ted is four hours away down in Richmond. He was on his way to practice. Later this evening, he has one of those press conferences that’s a little too shaped like a firing squad for his comfort. At lunch, he has a meeting scheduled with the scouting department. He’s spent the better part of a week trying to figure out a way to say, “I get what you’re all suggestion, but what I really want is sitting up in Manchester, warming the bench on somebody else’s roster.”

He doesn’t know when he decided he’d fight to get Jamie back, but it wouldn’t change his answer even if he did.

“I‘ll be right there.”

[i-donot-forget]

New Gen, ep 1 y 2

Finally I had time for a "little" review! I'm late but better late than never. Like many, I had my expectations and I can say that, apart from 1 point that concerns me and that I will mention later. I am pleasantly surprised with the final product.

Let's start at the beginning and I want to say that I really like that they give us a full context about Ysaline's life and her family from the very first moment, it helps me to connect with her, unlike Candy who in ep 20 I think we just meet her parents. And like Ysaline, I'm ready to make the same mistakes again and even worse (Why go for 1 boss? if you can go for 2 😏)

The animations, I don't want to leave out the animations, from the changes of expression of our character in each dialogue, to the, at first weird but then not so weird, "camera close-ups", I loved them. Thomas peeking out from the side of the screen or when a route approaches us in the moments of the dates, are an extra touch that helped me to get more into the story.

Regarding the routes and characters in general I want to say that I find them nice, it is a varied group in personalities which is what interests me the most and I want to discover who have their own groups and who are besties (the scene where they all run into Devon's office is awesome). Now with the routes, from second 1 I declared myself Jason and Thomas route, which I tried to follow but to my surprise, just following my instinct I ended up on Devon and Jason's routes…. (by the way the new Cassy/Nath) The personalities of the routes are well defined and, at least in my experience with Devon and Jason I felt "chemistry" that with the others I didn't (and that's ok, I'm not looking to fall in love with everyone).

Now talking about plots, I feel they have a lot to draw from, and although I know that showing the Cosy Bear Cafe event would be very difficult due to the personalization of each player, I don't deny that I would like to see it in NG. I don't mind that some arcs may be cliche, as long as they take risks as they have been doing in MCLLL, I want to see controversial and/or sensitive topics!

And finally… my ONLY complaint, and more than a complaint is a concern, is the issue of the points and not the PA's, no, not at all, I made a very quick calculation and it's fine. But the gems is another thing, 2 per day + 7 on the last day of the month gives us between 65 and 67, if they release 1 episode every 2 months, well that's perfect, you have 130-134 gems for the episode. What's the "but" then? I'm a sl@t and I like to have special moments with more than one route… in this case 2, if it is 1 additional scene per route and each one costs 120 gems, in an episode I would have 240… so I would have to wait DOUBLE to play an episode my way, to my taste… Is it unforgivable? Not at all, it's a detail in fact, but if someone would read this, they could lower it a little… just a little, maybe to 100 and I wouldn't feel so devastated ☹️

Other than that, and to close. New Gen was a positive surprise, you can see the love that is in the game, in terms of gameplay, graphics, animations, etc, etc. 100/10 nothing to say, excellent work. I TRUST that this quality that reflects the growth of Beemoov as a company and MCL as a franchise, will be seen in the plot, in the arcs and in the development of the routes, which after all, is the most important thing for the players.

So thanks for reading ❤️ and see you early tomorrow morning at the office…

[ro-written]

Don't Wanna Fall In Love pt. 1 - C.Y

Tags/Warnings: gn!reader, player!Yeonjun, college!AU, bestie!Wooyoung, cursing, mentions of sex (no smut though!), partying, alcohol consumption

Word Count: 2.3k

Playlist:

“No Role Modelz” by J. Cole “Don’t Wanna Fall In Love” by Kyle

Part 2

Choi Yeonjun was known around campus for a variety of reasons. He was attractive, had decent grades, and was in a well-known friend group everyone wanted to join.

And he was a player.

Everyone knew this. And yet everyone seemed to think they could change him. Lock him down in a relationship and claim him as a trophy—an easy ride into popularity at school. 

Yeonjun knew this every time he brought someone new into his apartment. But the thing was, that’s what made it so fun to him. Seeing what new tricks they would try to get him to ask them out on a proper date. The best attempt so far was cooking him a full breakfast in the morning rather than leaving altogether. That morning he sat there, ate breakfast in silence, and then gave them his signature ��sympathetic” smile, followed by his usual spiel:

“I’m not really the best boyfriend type. Honestly, I’m kind of shitty at relationships. We can be friends though! I do hope you understand.” 

It was well rehearsed after giving it to an assortment of people. Tweaked and polished to perfection. Started by giving a reason that explained his response, put the blame on him and his “shittiness” at relationships, gave them an alternative answer, and played at their sympathy. And they would eat it up every time. Admit their defeat as they walked out the door of his flat.

It was a cycle that repeated every time. And somehow, he never got tired of it.

—

You were never quite one for parties. At the risk of sounding like the “not like every other girl” trope, you just didn’t find too much enjoyment in them. Wasn’t your crowd, wasn’t your scene, but you never held it against others who did enjoy them. Your best friend, for example, was very into parties.

“Woo, I don’t know–”

“Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease,” he pleaded as he gave you his best puppy dog eyes.

Yes, Wooyoung was very into parties, and tonight would be one of the bigger ones that Yeonjun and his crew were throwing at Choi Beomgyu’s house. A celebration for the end of the first semester and surviving through finals. And your best friend was dead set on getting you to go to one party before you both left out for winter break.

“You know how I feel about those things…why can’t we just stay in and drink! I’ll even make your favorite ramen.” You tacked the last part of the sentence as a way to sweeten the deal, knowing he had a hard time saying no to your ramen. His eyebrows went up as he thought deeply about it.

“That’s a very tempting offer, I must admit,” he scratched his jaw. “But I really, really, really wanna go to this party. It’s being hosted by the Fabulous Five."

“Very stupid name.”

“Shut it.”

“I mean who calls themselves ‘the Fabulous Fi’–”

“Okay, I don’t think they call themselves that, everyone else just does,” he rolled his eyes and put his hands in the air. You laughed at his exasperated state, knowing that you could give just as much attitude as he could throw your way. 

“But that’s not the point. The point is that this party means a lot to me,” he looked you in the eye, fully serious. “And I would really like it if my best friend was there beside me.” His words struck a deep cord in you. There was turmoil going on between your head and heart. Your heart was telling you to go with and be there for your best friend, just as he is there for you in everything. Your head told you to stay back, that you would absolutely hate it there. It would all be too much for you, and you knew that.

But goddammit, Wooyoung was looking at you like a hopeful little kid right now.

“You make it sound like you’re getting married, Jung.”

“If I find the right person tonight, maybe I will,” he laughed, grabbing your hand. “Pretty please? I will do the dishes all of next week.”

With a sigh, you looked down at your hand in his and gave it a squeeze. You really did hate doing the dishes.

“Fine.”

—

It was all…quite loud.

As soon as you stepped into the house the heat from all the bodies hit you. Smoke made the air so thick you could almost chew it. The volume of the music really did a number on your ears.

You had found a stair step that wasn’t being used to sit and scroll on your phone. Wooyoung had gone off somewhere with some dark-haired boy - saying something about “I’ll be back in a bit” - and left you to your own device. 

For a while you people watched. There was a beer pong game going you found to be interesting, and afterward, a round of stack cup. You recognized a few of the players from your classes but weren’t super close to any of them. A few people went past you on the stairs up to god-knows-where, which you would shift out of the way a bit to avoid being stepped on. Some people you knew by name swung by to say hey, but that was the extent of your conversations in the midst of the chaos.

Eventually, nothing seemed all too interesting anymore, and you found yourself turning to your phone to do literally anything. You watched some videos, looked through the news a bit, texted back a friend or two, and before you knew, it only thirty minutes had gone by. You closed off your phone and hung your head, social battery depleting fast.

“You look like you could use a drink.”

A voice came from in front of you, and you looked up to find the source.

Choi Yeonjun stood right in front of you, holding out a cup of some transparent drink with an orange tint to it. Your eyes flickered from the drink up to his face, a gentle smile gracing it.

“No offense, but I don’t typically take drinks from strangers.” You gave him a light smile in order to politely decline him. He could have done anything to that drink, I don’t know him.

You knew of Yeonjun’s reputation around your school. You weren’t one to judge anyone for what they chose to do with their bodies. You’ve had a few one-night stands here and there but never made it a frequent thing. You did, however, try to go out of your way to steer clear of him and his friends out of not wanting to be caught up in any attention. Many of his escapades were pretty vocal about their time with him, and it brought them a bit of notice from your peers. You preferred to not be a similar case.

He smiled and nodded his head at your rejection, before putting the same cup to his mouth and downing the liquid. Your eyes widened a bit at how fast he took it down, before giving him another smile and looking awkwardly around at the other party-goers.

“Perhaps,” he started after a moment of silence. “I could accompany you to the kitchen. You could make your own drink, and I can properly introduce myself so we aren’t strangers anymore.” He offered a hand out to you, which you looked at for a second, wrestling your options. 

Either A: Stay here and wait till Wooyoung comes back after who knows how long…

Or B: Go grab a little drink to help make it through this night.

Grabbing his hand, you stood up from the stairs. You immediately dropped it, which caused Yeonjun to furrow his eyebrows a bit before collecting himself.

“Follow me.”

—

Your curtains brought direct sunlight into your eyes, causing you to stir a bit to shift away from the assault. You groaned as your arm came up to cover your face.

And suddenly, an arm snaked around your waist, pulling you close to a warm body next to you.

Now I’m awake.

Your head whipped to the side to see Yeonjun still asleep next to you, his pouty lips were slightly open, cheek smushed against your pillow. His black hair was splayed across the pillow, giving him a bit of bedhead. 

Eventually, your eyes trailed down his neck to his bare chest, and lower to where the blanket covered his waist down. You brought your eyes down and found you were wearing his shirt from last night, some band tee that had been oversized on him. 

Your heart was racing as you tried to place all the spotty memories in order.

Kitchen for drinks.

We were talking on a couch at some point.

More drinks, I think.

Wooyoung left out, said he wasn’t going back to the apartment tonight.

You told Yeonjun you were headed out, he wanted to walk back with you.

“Gotta make sure you’re safe.”

You invited him into your apartment to sober up a bit before he left.

So how did he get into your bed?

“Um,” his voice drew you out of the mental puzzle. You turned your head to find him looking directly at you, eyes still a bit groggy. “Hey.”

“...Hi.” You looked at him with wide eyes, certain you looked crazy. This was not how anything was supposed to go, and he needed to leave before Wooyoung got back to the apartment. If he hasn’t been back already…

“Uh, so I’m really–”

“I’m sorry Yeonjun, last night was a mistake.” You offered him a sympathetic smile, cutting him off. His mouth stayed open, lost for words, eyes widened in confusion. He was taken aback, not knowing quite how to respond. You lifted the covers, ignoring his lower half, and stood up quickly, trying to find a pair of shorts, pants, anything to cover your legs. 

“W-...It was?” He sat up and tilted his head to the side, looking vaguely like a lost puppy. You nodded your head with a tight-lipped smile.

“Yea, it’s just…I’m really not looking for anything right now. Mainly just focused on studies, you know?” You pulled out some sweatpants from a pile of clothes you had been meaning to fold. Gotta look for a shirt now.

“Right, right, me too.” His eyebrows creased as looked at you, shuffling around the room in search of something. You went to a drawer to pull out a plain black tee shirt and walked to your closet to change in.

“After I change I can go sit in the living room while you get dressed!” You said in a rushed manner from behind the door.

Yeonjun’s head was spinning. 

No one has ever kicked him out.

Mainly cause they were almost always at his place and he would gently push them out. But this time they were in your apartment, and you were pushing him out. It completely took him by surprise, especially calling last night a “mistake.”

You stepped out of the closet and walked over to the bed to hand him his shirt back. Nodding, you left the room and gently closed the door behind you, not bothering to look back for a second.

A bit down the hallway you could see Wooyoung’s door open, and you tip-toed over to it just in case he had come back and fallen asleep. Peeking your head through, your entire body felt a wave of relief from seeing his bed empty, his keys and wallet that he would usually have on his bedside table gone.

You padded your way to the kitchen, grabbed a glass, and filled it with water, letting your thoughts fly through your head while you sipped at it.

How could you have let that happen? Everyone is going to be talking about you now, and you’ll only be known as one of Yeonjun’s conquests. All eyes on you for the next week now, you’ll have to go to class, keep your head down, and immediately come back home. Maybe he won’t talk about it? He never usually talks about his rendezvous’...Unless he mentions it to his friends! Beomgyu and Kai talk quite a bit, what if–

The sound of your door opening lifted your head up to stare at the hallway that led into your kitchen and living room. You watched as Yeonjun trudged out in the clothes he had worn last night. His hair was a bit more tamed than the bedhead he had earlier. You set the glass down and took a few steps toward him, not completely knowing what to say.

“So…I have somewhere I have to be…in a few minutes…” You trailed off, hoping he’d pick up what you were implying. You still hadn’t quite figured out how to politely tell one-night stands to leave.

“Right yeah, I have to get going too, I was meeting Soobin for lunch.” He smiled, finally having somewhat composed himself while getting dressed. You nodded as your heart hammered in your chest, wanting to force him out the door before Woo did arrive and started telling everyone who was in his apartment last night. With your luck, he may be walking up to the door now.

You moved to unlock and open the door for him, peering your head outside to check for your roommate. Still gone. You didn’t bother to offer Yeonjun anything else, needing him to get out of the building. He stepped around you and out the door, and just before you closed it, he turned back around to you.

“I’ll see you later?” Something glimmered in his eyes as he said it. A warm, hopeful feeling in his chest emerged, something he hadn’t experienced in a while. Your eyes met him, eyebrows raised in surprise.

“Yeah, Yeonjun…I’ll definitely see you around.”

—

Do not repost or translate any of my work anywhere else.

All comments, reblogs, and likes are always welcome!

[verdantglow]

Hiiii, hellooooo, I saw your Homestuck au and I love it. Love your art !!! I wanna eat everysingle one of them they are so-

Ok so, I had a few questions if you don't mind like, how did Scar and Grian met? Like- how they become moirals? Aaaand what would be the quadrants between Mumbo, Scar and Grian

Aaah hi! & thank you so much! (I’ve never had someone say they wanted to eat my art, that’s such a high compliment, omg…)

So Scar & Griann. They met while playing the VR version of Flarp around mid adolescence!

Actually, the VR edition of Flarp is how all the various groups of characters know each other. When they were around 7-8 sweeps old, they all signed up for & played a VR Flarp called Third Life. After the campaign ended, they stayed in touch & over the years they’ve played four more campaigns over VR, occasionally adding in more players. (This is very odd for Flarpers & really just for trolls in general. Maintaining relationships outside of your quadrants once you’re an adult & off planet is exceedingly rare, but this group is now around 12-14 sweeps & just finished playing the Secret Life module together.) (…There might be something to be said about the complex shipping chart that has developed holding them together in some ways.) (But mostly they’re just all friends, for whatever shade & value of friendship is possible as an adult troll.)

Anyway! Back to Scar & Griann! Griann ‘accidentally’ (no one is sure how accurate that word is) led to Scar’s first death in the Third Life campaign. We can guess that either Griann really thought Scar wouldn’t die or he just is piss poor at thinking things through, ‘cause killing a sea dweller, even in a game, when you were not supposed to… Well let’s just say that Griann vowed his first life to Scar & Scar, whether by dint of being the friendliest sea dweller you’ve ever met or because he was genuinely placated by the vow, didn’t pursue revenge IRL as he was entitled to by troll custom.

(It’s important to remember here that 1. Griann is a mutant candy red blood & 2. everyone was around the age where blood colour starts showing in your eyes, making it harder to hide your hemostatus. Given Griann wasn’t a full adult, so there was just a tint of red to his irises, during the Third Life campaign most of them assumed Griann was a rustblood. & a such a low blood killing fucking royalty out of turn, frankly most of them were pretty damn shocked that Scar accepted the vow instead of killing Griann on the spot, at least in game. It was very much a defining moment for everyone’s thoughts of Scar.)

So Griann & Scar teamed up & feelings… happened. Most of the rest of the crew saw their relationship as a somewhat forced moiraillegence, Griann placating Scar for his own safety as well as that of others while voicing his desire to leave the partnership to almost anyone who’d listen. By the end of the campaign, the forced part fell off people’s estimations, as Grian obviously became closer & closer to Scar. But it still seemed like a pretty cut & dry moiraillegence, albeit a kinda dysfunctional one, given how much death & destruction Scar still enacted on everyone.

When they were asked about their fresh moiraillegence after the campaign, they both just kinda smiled & nodded, trying not to think about all the confusing vacillating make outs that happened on Monopoly Mountain. & they’ve been living in ??? ever since.

Now, Mummbo Jummbo. My favorite jade blood. (My only jade blood lol.) He & Griann have known each other since they were grubs & have always been pretty much inseparable, despite Mummbo not picking up VR Flarp until the group’s second campaign.

No one knows what the heck is going on between Griann & Mummbo. They are utterly, helplessly devoted to each other in a way that everyone speculates whether they flushed or maybe ashen or ??? Like. Scar & Griann, while they keep up the image of them being moirails, anyone who really knows them can see quadrant vacillation clear as day. That’s not too out of the ordinary. But Mummbo & Griann? Extremely odd by troll standards, particularly adult troll standards. They seem to swing between pity friends & hate friends, as many troll friends do; they just do it at an intensity & velocity that most trolls find baffling outside of quadrants.

(The truth is Mummbo’s quadrants are completely empty & he prefers it that way. Aroace king right here. If you ask if, he’ll just say that quadrants are too much fuss & confusion for him. Though it is worth noting that Mummbo’s main point of reference for what quadrants look like for a long time was whatever the fuck Griann & Scar have going on, which, is, uh, not particularly stable & frequently somewhat unhealthy. Love them though.)

Mummbo & Scar become good pity friends after being introduced by Griann post-Third Life campaign, though they also have their hate friend days. Heck there have even been a few times that others have suspected Mummbo was pitch flirting with Scar (like during the Secret Life campaign when Mummbo said, rather loudly, in public, something to the effect of ‘get good.’). But really it’s a case of the hate friendship aspect of their relationship flaring & Mummbo being utterly clueless to flirting of any kind, even when he seemingly is the one doing it.

[spaghettinoodlesworld]

The English Love Deception

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4

Jude Bellingham X Reader ft Trent Alexander Arnold

synopsis: Y/n's crush Trent sends her a wedding invitation to his wedding with the person y/n hates the most. Y/n is in a major need for a plus one and a job. Will the rich rude arrogant boy next door be of help?wc: 1988 words

warnings in this part: swearing

a/n: This is my first time writing an enemies to lovers fanfic so do tell me what do you think and if i should work on a part 2. If you have any requests do let me know.

You wake up in your dark bedroom with the only source of light being the eerie-looking full moon. Mind you your room is cute af, but now the room was greenish-dark with extremely weird vibes.

The glass door, which doubles as a window and a door to your backyard, is naked with no curtains viewing your backyard, which now seems to be some sort of a graveyard with graves of random people you don't know.

Despite the uncanny silence, all was fine until a shadow of a man limping in your backyard approaching the door/window whatever it is.

Because of your unlimited intelligence and your possession of a one-of-a-kind brain, you elegantly slid the door to your backyard because stupid you wants to see the danger.

Well, no shit you’re the character that dies first in a horror movie. The one that goes, "oh let's go check out that very creepy-looking, dusty, filled with cobwebs, desolate house with the ripped curtains cause why not it looks absolutely safe haha."

So you slid the door open and some cool vapour gushed into the room. Do you stop? hell no. You look at the dead-looking limping man who now appears to be wearing some sort of football jersey. Yup, it's a zombie what do we do ummm maybe run? you just stays there waiting for him as he moves his rotten hand towards you and says, "you know what's ridiculously tasty?"

You definitely need to stop watching these Neymar edits on TikTok 'cause now this man is not only haunting your fyp he is haunting your nightmares too.

You wake up from the dream looking at the clock to find it saying 7 pm. You have slept the whole day and the reason behind that is your man, the love of your life, the only boy you have crushed on who happened to be your best friend too has sent you an invitation to his wedding.

Trent Alexander Arnold, the Liverpool football player, was getting engaged to the person you hate the most in the entire world, Hannah Atkins.

Trent and you were neighbours and very close friends before he moved when he signed with Liverpool. You used to rant to him day and night about that ugly ass bitch Hannah whose main job in this world is to make your life a living hell by spreading rumours in our friend group and whatnot. He used to comfort you and tell you how to deal with her.

However, due to distance, the communication decreased, but your connection was still there.

That was until pretty Hannah, who somehow got her hands on a love letter you wrote to Trent that you never meant to send to him anyway.

You thought you writing a letter will help you move on from him but little did you know was it ruined everything. She sent him the letter and it ended up with him politely rejecting you and I quote, "you were like a little sister of mine whom I'll continue to support forever."

"Well I don't think you're supporting me Trent when you send me a wedding invitation letter with your name and Hannah's name together," you mumble to yourself.

He's getting married to Hannah next week. You know it's been a year since the Trent incident but you still can't help but feel betrayed by him and you can't fight the urge to slap the shit out of that Hannah.

You got up and remembered that your girls bunny and MJ are coming over and the house has close to nothing to feed the girls.

You lazily put on a random hoodie of yours and throw your hair in a messy bun because you’re not like other girls *wink*. You’re going to the grocery store across the street you down need to go all out so you won't bother to wear your contacts your glasses will suffice for now. Nothing is gonna happen anyway, right?

You leave the house and walk by your neighbours' fancy house You always can't help but stare in awe at it every time you pass by only to be interrupted by their dog who happens to hate your guts. You wonder if you happen to meet the owners of the house will they hate you too

The dog has some serious issues with you cause whenever you pass it starts going crazy and barking loudly this doesn't usually happen with other pedestrians.

You get to the store and start making your way to the snacks aisle choosing them good good chips and as you make your way back to the cart you bump into something that sends your glasses flying away.

"I'm so sorry ma'am," you hurry to say to what you assumed is a female as you without your glasses equal useless.

"ma'am? and I thought my day couldn't get any worse. Even you a monkey-looking desk think I'm a girl now," he, who turns out not to be a she, replies.

You sense that you’re getting humiliated and despite seeing nothing but a blurry tall figure you won't stop and watch your dignity getting spat at.

"what's the attitude bro? You bumped into me, my glasses fell and I apologised when it was actually your fault. If you please hand me my glasses so that I can take a clear look at the person with enough confidence to call me a monkey-looking desk"

"Listen dumbo I don't have time for this BS I got more important matters to solve like dealing with this cheater of a bitch. I have seriously had enough of the female population today," he says as he types something on his phone aggressively.

"I can see why she- I mean I can't see but I can sense the reason behind her cheating I actually pray for her mental health after dating such a man with a lack of self-respect as yourself."

"You're talking big when you don't know who you're talking to," he says with a lower tone in an obvious attempt to intimidate me.

"I don't give a damn who you are I see disrespect I say disrespect. Apparently, your girlfriend saved herself from an ugly crazy dude now it's my turn to do the same."

You tried to move away from him, but you could tell he was getting closer when you instinctively backed away until you found your back pressed to a refrigerator.

"I admire your courage," he puts your glasses on your face and said, " now do tell you do you still think I'm undeserving of the confidence I emit as you said now that Dora the explorer got her vision back?"

You look up to look him in the eyes to find him deeply staring into yours. The distance between you can be measured by a ruler literally. You were at a loss of words your eyes were busy eating him up that your brain wasn't comprehending what was happening.

You were so angry that this man who was indeed taking your breath away. If there is one thing you are not, you are not delusional. You can tell an attractive man when you see one and you admit it to yourself. You should not cower down but something about the way he was looking at you captivated you and it seems he noticed it too as a little smirk grows on his face.

"Cat got your tongue? Now that your vision is back you can't speak? Should i take off those glasses off of you for a sneaky reply?"

"All I have to do is scream and you won't like what will happen to that pretty valuable face of yours," you should try to get away safely and peacefully but the boiling blood in your veins thinks otherwise.

After he uttered those words he doesn't budge but continues to stare you down and study your features as if by doing so he will carve your picture in his brain and curse you forever. You didn't even notice that he left until someone asked if the shopping cart belongs to you.

You return back home to find your friends Bunny and MJ already inside waiting for you. They know your passcode and you trust them with your life.

"Girl, where have you been? We've been waiting for a while now," Bunny says.

"I'm so sorry guys I went to get us something to eat," you said while setting the plastic bags, "I don't think today is my day."

"I don't think any day is gonna be your day if you keep yourself locked in his place," MJ says taking the bags and opening them.

"MJ don't say it like that!" Bunny cries trying to sugarcoat MJ's usual bluntness. They complete each other and you are so thankful for having them in you life.

"so the both of you think I'm a loner with zero life and now that we received those wedding invites my life is ruined," you say as you noticed them taking out their invitation letters form their bags simultaneously.

"umm pretty much," MJ responds. "No of course not," said bunny pushing MJ as she walks to you. You know she thinks so but Bunny would never admit that to your face.

"oh god"

"More importantly, are you going or not? cause you definitely should" MJ said drawing your attention to the fact that you forgot that now you got an invitation you should respond.

"As much as I hate to but I must but there are two things stopping me now" you tell them sitting on the cough crossing your legs while open a bag of hot chips.

"which are?"

"i need a plus one," you responded. No, the invitation didn't say so but you said so.

"Do you need a plus one or do you want a plus one?" Bunny questioned reading your mind and actually knowing the answer to her question.

"I need a plus one. I can't show up to the wedding alone. My pride would never plus it'd would be a sign to Trent that I've moved on and I don't need him or his so-called support."

"What's the other problem?" MJ asked taking the bag of chips from your hand.

"I need money to buy a new dress. I hardly got some pounds to sustain day to day expenses and I won't ask my grandparents for more money they already do much."

"y/n, i told you not to quit the job. We could've went and taught that girl Hannah and her ugly friend of hers a lesson," MJ argued.

"What's done is done now help me think of ideas of a job that'll get me quick money before next week," you say as you get your notebook to write the ideas.

However, the moment you finished your sentence MJ's phone lit up.

"Trent just sent a text," she says, "It says 'Hey MJ. The boys from the English team are throwing a house reunion party at Bellingham's house in an hour. If you and the girls are free join us.'"

Both MJ and Bunny go crazy but you can't hear what they're saying. The fact that Trent didn't send the message directly to you hurt you, and as much as the thought of meeting Trent again angers you. It also warms your heart that you would actually see him sooner and not in tux with his wife next to him. Mixed feelings all over the place.

"I'm cool I don't mind," you finally tell them.

"omg omg omg we are actually doing this? Like putting the Trent scenario aside, we're meeting the English team like the actual team that played in world cup. I need to fix my make up," Bunny said walking to your vanity.

"okayyy but y/n why is the location pointing to the house next to yours? Do you live next to Bellingham as in Jude Bellingham???" MJ suddenly stood up.

"And who must that be?" you said confused. You did watch the world cup but if you're being honest you haven't watched all matches.

'OH MY GOD YOU LIVE NEXT TO WHOM?" Bunny stood too.

"I KNOW???"MJ turned to look at her.

"As much as i like the sudden uplift of the mood and i sincerely hate to be the one to ask but who is this Jude Belli-"

Before you finished your sentence, Bunny shoved her phone to your face.

"Oh hell no" hell no indeed. isn't that.?

"What? know him now?" Bunny asks.

"Um guys no but yes."

"We don't do witchcraft nor do we read minds so please do tell us," MJ replied.

How do you tell them that you made a scene with this boy, apparently an English player who now plays for Borussia Dortmund. Well, it doesn't change the fact that he is a short-tempered piece of shit an attractive one but still shit.

"This is going to be a wild night," you say as you head to your closet to find something to wear. You try to calm your nerves. you don't know what's stressing you out more meeting Trent and his soon-to- be wife if she's there or meeting the self-centered boy from the supermarket.

"Spill the tea about Jude now," MJ demanded.

You tell them the story and wait for their reactions as they were still in awe about the whole encounter thingie.

"I refuse to believe such a thing about Jude. He's an absolute gentleman. Are you sure you met the same person?" Bunny argued visibly annoyed by the scenario.

"I'll get my popcorn this is going to be fun," MJ smirked as she too started to freshen up herself.

[akatsuki-shin]

[REVIEW] スロウ・ダメージ Slow Damage

Just finished marathoning this game to get all the endings and that was a blast!

It's been a while since I last posted a review of anything, so here goes~ ^^

Note(s):

Long post ahead, may contain spoilers

This review is written by someone who is familiar with all of Nitro+Chiral's previously released BL Visual Novels (so I may make remarks on their comparison here and there)

This is my personal review; my opinion does not represent the entire audience and players of the game

SUMMARY:

In the Year 20XX, the nation of Japan has been rapidly declining to rock-bottom in the past decade, leading to a significant spike in poverty, unemployment, and crime rate.

Once known as a thriving Tokyo Waterfront City, the special administrative region of Shinkoumi fell into the hands of the yakuza Takasato Group, who ruled the city like a nation of their own.

Here lives Towa, an indolent, hedonistic young man with seemingly no goal or ambition in life. Day by day, he wastes himself away in smoke, alcohol, and — sometimes — violent sex with peers and strangers alike whenever he feels like it.

However, few knows of his true identity as "Euphoria," a genius artist known for his prominent paintings that perfectly captures a human's deepest, darkest desire.

STORY: 7/10

With 2 (two) default routes, 1 (one) locked route, and 1 (one) True Ending route, Slow Damage is different from the previous 4 (four) BL Visual Novels that has been released by Nitro+Chiral thus far, in which there is neither adventure or "greater plot" that needs to be resolved as the main body of the story.

In the previous games, we can say that the general plot overall does not change much regardless of which route we takes, save for a few in-depth details that can only be obtained in the True Ending route. For example, when playing DRAMAtical Murder, Toue will still be defeated and the Platinum Jail will still go down no matter which character's route you decide to take.

Slow Damage, however, is a game where you unravel a "puzzle" named Towa.

No route can stand on its own; you need to play all 4 (four) available routes in order to fully understand everything. There is no particular "grand goal." Maybe you'll solve someone's problem in one route, maybe you'll take down the yakuza in the other route.

The 2 (two) default routes will present you the Towa as "it is," according to your first impression on him, where he helps solve the respective Love Interest's problem by diving into their mind and unravel their inner "wounds." The locked route will dig halfway to Towa's past to show a little bit more about him prior to his current life.

But eventually, you will only be able to understand him, why he looks and acts like that, why he does the thing he does, after completing the True Ending route.

Depending on your expectation before playing the game, you may or may not be disappointed after discovering the full story. Personally speaking, I was a bit disappointed at first because I thought the plot is superficial and doesn't touch on any major subject regarding the universe where the story takes place. In the end, however, I think it's a quite solid and complete story, albeit taking a different spin from the previous games.

The plot is deep and detailed; it can really deliver some very heavy emotional issues, as well as presenting the fun and romantic sides. I personally feel the plot twists and revelations obtained in the True Ending is very cleverly wrapped. There are many small, miss-able things in the other routes that will only be explained in the True Ending.

Furthermore, if I have any complains about the previous games, it is that they tend to drop an "info dump" at some point in the story. Fortunately for me, Slow Damage is very good at distributing the information through dialogues, narration, and dividing them between scenes.

A few "minus" points from me, though...

There are some important things that do not have enough foreshadowing in the front, but suddenly becomes extremely significant in the latter part of the story. For example:

Towa and Fujieda's real names. There are no hint leading to this at all from the beginning and it doesn't really give any impact whatsoever to the whole story, either. But for some reason, the story-telling makes it look as if it is very important.

Although Fujieda himself as a character appear briefly in the other 3 (three) routes, there is next to no hints at all that connect him with Towa prior to the True Ending route. Sure, his little sister appeared in Towa's dream before, but the story-telling doesn't connect it with Fujieda before we unlock his route. Personally-speaking, while the True Ending route is overall very satisfying for me, I still feel some disconnection with Fujieda's background and motivation in the story.

Speaking of "disconnection," this is especially true for Madarame's route.

Before, when playing the default routes (Rei and Taku), we are already used to the indolent, lazy Towa and his occasional self-harming habits whenever he's craving stimulations. But in Madarame's route, you are suddenly being shoved in the face with stories about Towa's past with him out of the blue, forcing you to accept that Towa does not used to be like that.

While the latter part of Madarame's route until the ending is neatly put together, I cannot help but still feel that he is a stranger who suddenly barges into the main plot and forcefully diverts the direction of the story for no reason. It's like a skyscraper that looks majestic from the outside but actually has shallow foundation below.

I also feel that Taku's route has a massive plot hole because even though Taku is supposed to know Towa from when he was still a child, very little details are revealed in his route. Perhaps it's so that it won't clash with the secrets known only in the True Ending, but it makes Taku's route feel somewhat lackluster (especially since Towa isn't questioning about his past at all during this route).

And last but not least, I think this is the first time I'm playing a Visual Novel where you can't exactly call the endings as "Good" or "Bad."

Certainly, in the True Ending route, it's obvious to see whether the ending you get is "Good" or "Bad." But other than that, the term "Euphoria" and "Madness" ending just fit the theme so well because as f*cked up as the "Madness" ending is, Towa as the main character doesn't feel it's bad because he's simply that unhinged of a character.

CHARACTER: 10/10

Towa's character development until the very end is simply amazing. It is especially heartbreaking to see him crumble as he gradually draws closer and closer to the truth about his past. Likewise, it feels fulfilling to see him finally getting the true happy ending with a kindred soul who shares his pain.

Furthermore, as much as I'm glad that he finally finds the closure and salvation that he so deserves, I'm particularly happy that we are allowed to get a glimpse at how his sociopath mother truly felt back then. While it cannot, in any way, be used to condone what she had done to Towa and her other victims, it shows the ironic difference between her life and Towa:

Towa has friends that care about him, hence helping him to settle down and eventually come to terms with his issues. His mother, however, was a lonely soul with no one who could help her address her issues until the very end.

Putting aside my earlier "complains" about Madarame and Taku's routes, the dynamic between Towa and his Love Interests are interesting to follow because each has a unique and different approach to it. The way their romance blooms is like a refreshing breeze amidst the story full of heavy emotional and psychological traumas.

The side characters have very solid personalities and fit perfectly into the main plot with their respective roles. Truthfully, I can't really find anything to complain about regarding the characters.

GAMEPLAY: 10/10

Almost a decade after DRAMAtical Murder was released, Nitro+Chiral has really kicked up their game's quality by a whole notch.

The "Interrogation" and "Exploration" makes it super different from your traditional Visual Novel games where most of the time, the choices can be rather predictable.

Of course, I also love how the game's visual appearance change significantly before and after finishing the True Ending. The interface is pretty to look at and suits the story's theme perfectly.

ART/VISUAL: 9/10

This is probably the best-looking Visual Novel from Nitro+Chiral I've ever played.

Opinions on the art style may differ between each person, but I think we can all agree that they really pay attention to the details. Especially for major characters like Towa, even the location and degree of his injuries vary in his avatars following the situation currently taking place in the plot.

I also can't believe how detailed they draw the background, food, drinks, and objects that appear in the CGs.

That said, I feel like for a city that is described as "you can easily stumble on dead people on the street," the background art is way too pretty and clean, it doesn't really look like a declining city at all where people can die from cold and hunger.

MUSIC: 10/10

Likewise, I personally feel Slow Damage has the best music compared to the other 4 (four) games before.

The BGMs are not boring; it can really build up the atmosphere and makes you feel the tension presented on the screen.

I am especially fond of the music during romantic scene. If I have to put it into words, it gives the NSFW scenes a dash of fluff on top of the sexy that you can't help but melt with him.

SUMMARY: 9.2/10

As different as it is from the previous games released by Nitro+Chiral, Slow Damage certainly does not disappoint although there is quite a gap until this game was finally released. It's really worth the wait, and it can easily wrap you emotionally while you're playing through the story.

Furthermore, I think the current generation, especially the millennials, can really relate to the setting of which the game is taking place. Maybe not to that extreme, but the way the young generation in the game is described as overworked, exhausted, and depressed is truly a reflection of life nowadays for us. :')

I look forward to replaying this game again some other day, now that I already get all the secrets they have to offer. Perhaps it will give a different experience. <3

P.S. This isn't about the game but more about the translation/localization. I wish English publishers will pay more attention to the expressions and nuances in the original language when translating instead of just throwing whatever words that fit.

For example, in Rei's route, he says "抱きたい" which means "I want to embrace you," but they just translated it into "I want to f*ck you."

Sure, "embrace" and "f*ck" would lead to the same result, but that's not the way he was saying it. Those two words bear two completely different feelings, and this is just one among numerous other issues with the official translations.

[theofficersacademy]

A lone wooden sign stands in the sand, swaying gently in the breeze. Some of its lettering has fallen away, or maybe hasn't yet been finished: ⠀

⠀ 　　⠀⠀THIS⠀WAY⠀TO :⠀⠀𝒜⠀⠀𝒴𝐿⠀⠀𝒟⠀⠀➜

　 Preliminary sign-ups for the 2024 anniversary lore event are now live! Sign-ups will run until 11:59PM EST on July 29th. 　

Event Sign-up Instructions:

All participating muns are limited to one muse each.

Important! Our signup quiz only allows for 100 submissions per month. Out of fairness to others, please be sure which muse you're sending to the event before taking the quiz to avoid dud submissions.

This event will last the full month of August and will call for daily commitment (if not posting, then at least being present in your group's Discord channel). Those who have experienced previous lore events should expect the same level of activity. Please consider this activity commitment when deciding whether to sign up and with which muse.

We will be mixing things up a little this time compared to the past. This lore event will lean less grave than previous ones, though the focus should still be on engaging with the material and building relationships with others. Other features of this event may be different as well. We hope you enjoy it!

Important! Characters will lose in this event. When this happens, they will be removed from the main events taking place and will no longer be part of the spotlight. There will still be ways to participate and contribute, but at this point players will be expected to take responsibility for their own event experience.

If you missed the signup link above, here it is again. Please also submit your muse's inventory here. You must do both of these. 　

Frequently Asked Questions:

We like to give you the fullest picture of the event that we can without spoilers so that you know what you are agreeing to. Here are some questions we have anticipated.

What will the schedule look like for the month of August?

August 1st - 4th: Getting Situated

August 5th - 11th: Week 1

August 12th - 18th: Week 2

August 19th - 25th: Week 3

August 26th - 31st: Week 4

If I sign up now and circumstances change or I overestimated myself, can I drop?

Yes. We will try to make your muse’s exclusion as smooth as possible where necessary. It is highly encouraged to drop if you feel you can no longer contribute meaningfully to your team, as everyone is expected to contribute equally.

If I don’t sign up now but decide that I have time in August, can I join?

No. Once sign-ups close on July 29th, the event roster has been locked.

Do I have to be in the Discord server for the event?

It is required that you join the server for the duration of the event in order to coordinate with your teammates in your team channel. We will also be requiring all rolls to be made publicly with Dice Maiden. You may leave the server after the event concludes if you wish.

If I don’t sign up, what will my muse(s) do?

The Affluence mission board will be extended until the end of August. Unaffiliated characters being part of the mission task board remains a requirement.

We hope to see many of you there!

- House Leaders

[tremendousconnoisseurgardener]

Ruthless! Player

A Poppy Playtime AU.

Author’s Note: Hello everyone. Sorry if you get confused at the start of this chapter, I tried to make the Player have a dream while they were fainted. This chapter will be divided in two parts

Warnings!

This fics will have sensitive topics:

PTSD

Death

Blood

Gore

Swears

Consumption of alcohol and smoking

If you do not like any of these topics, you are free to leave. Have a nice day/night.

Chapter 2-1: Fly in A Web

**/**/1957

Player was walking through a military camp, located near the shore of a forest towards the sea. Player was a young soldier back in the day, leader of a platoon to be more exact, they were called by their superior to get a new mission. Along the path towards the tent of the Major, other soldiers could be seen relaxing or playing some cards, it even looked like they were on a vacation. Soon, Player met their superior in the tent.

“I’m here, Major.” Player saluted the, rather old, man

“Glad to see you again, soldier. I’ve got a mission for your team.” The Major explained “The mission is to infiltrate and destroy a nenemy base deep in the forest, that area contains anti-aircraft guns, it would help our air support.”

“That seems simple.”

“Nothing is simple around here. That base is full of traps, the trees have been used as camouflage for ambushes from the enemy, and many of our troops have been attacked. But, I know that your team has enough experience to complete the mission, the army would be honored by your bravery.”

“I…” Player didn’t know what to say, their entire team could win medals if they succeeded, but it could cost a lot of lives. But the persuasion of the Major got the best of them “I’ll do it Major, count on me!”

Player exit the tent and went to meet with their team. There they told about the new mission, although the thought of getting condecorations was great, the danger of the task given was very worrying.

“Uhm, Captain.” A soldier approached them, he was the second in command and a friend of Player, David Campbell. He was a rather thin individual, although physically weaker he was fast and more observant “can we talk, in private?”

David dragged you to a location far from the group

“Look, I know it’s tempting, but I don’t think it’s a good idea. I saw the bodies of the guys who tried to attack that enemy base, they were all fucked up!” He said.

“I know David, but look at the chance that we have, to be honored by the military! Not only that, but the enemy forces are getting weaker, maybe by destroying that base, it can help us do a finishing blow on the army.” Player said. David couldn’t argue with them, after all, they wouldn’t listen, something typical when they were younger.

The platoon packed their equipment to begin the mission, soon they were entering deep inside the forest, who knows what dangers they might encounter?

.

.

.

Player slowly woke up from this strange nap, they were laying on the floor of that vintage looking room, where Poppy was located.

“Ugh… why did I dream about that?” They looked around and saw that the box where Poppy was kept, is now empty. Not only that, but her voice echoed inside their head while they were passed out, telling them to *Wake Up* “Great, now another toy for me to deal with.”

They exited the room and went to the corridor. Although the place was the same, all the furniture contained in that area were all piled up and blocking Player’s path, removing those things were almost impossible for someone in that age. Player tried to find another exit, until they saw a white door at the corner of the area, it was out of place compared to all the vintage aesthetics. They opened it up and another hallway was lying ahead, they also noticed the amount of blood splattered on the ground, seemingly coming from destroyed… toys…

Player went through the corridor and saw an intersection at the end of it, a red door with a golden sign written *Ellito Ludwig* laid in front of Player, there were two different paths to take. On the left side, there was a gate which would only open when the panels with handprints were powered back, on the right side there was a large hole in the ground which was impossible to jump across.

“Well, what now?” Player looked on the ceiling of the right path and noticed a metal bar hanging on it, they shot the Gran-Pack hand which held on to the bar, although the plan was dumb, it was their only chance “here we go!” They ran as fast as they could, swinging across the sink hole and landing on the other side “that wasn’t so bad.” It seemed like a dead end, only with a Huggy Wuggy cardboard cut out, but they were able to find behind them another white door barricaded with colorful barrels.

Inside there was a key for the red door. Back to the starting place, Player opened up the red door and entered Elliot Ludwig’s office. There wasn’t much to do in there, so without much of a choice, Player tore down a poorly fastened ventilation grid and went inside the narrow space. There they got themselves inside a room with energy generators, it was clear they had to turn them on.

Just then, a box fell from a high place, the sound that caused when it crashed on the ground made Player jump in fear and quickly got their weapon ready to shoot. But got surprised when they saw the one behind the falling box, it was Poppy

“Oops! Sorry about this, I didn't mean to scare you.” Player lowered the gun seeing that she wasn't a threat.

“What are you doing up there?” They asked, Poppy was on top of a small cat walk.

“I was only trying to turn the power back on.” She revealed an outlet behind her, with that, Player was able to restore the energy back. “Uhm, I want to thank you for freeing me, I was trapped in there for so long. Now let’s go, there’s a train nearby, we need a code to access it.” The doll was entering a ventilation system

“Hey! I got some questions for you. What the hell happened here? Where 's everyone? Why was there a giant killing toy?!” Poppy was hesitant on answering those questions

“You will get those answers soon, but now, you need to help me so that I can help you. We'll meet back at the office.” Player sighed in annoyance but agreed anyway, entering back to the Same passage. Poppy entered the small ventilation system.

Back at Ludwig’s office, Player saw the doll peeking out of a small opening. “Hey, up here! I can see you~” She giggled, Player just rolled his eyes “I should be able to follow you through the fence, this way.”

Player was back at the intersection and went through the left path,where the closed gate was located. Two panels with a red and blue glowing handprint were now on, they used the Grab-Pack hands and unlocked the fence, the only obstacle on their way was a larger and seemingly bottomless hole.

“It’s bigger than I thought…” Player knew they had to swing across the pit to the other side, the problem is if they will be able to “let’s do this… I guess.” The Grab-Pack hand was tightly gripping the metal bar, Player ran towards the bottomless hole and jumped over it, swinging over the dark depths. But the hand was extended to its limit near the end of the jump, making it retract back to the Grab-Pack, thus making Player almost fall down the abyss. Luckily, they got to the other side, the landing was far from perfect, but at least they were alive “damn… i'm too old for this shit”

Player got up from the ground and continued down the path that led to another white door. Opening it up, they saw Poppy standing in front of a large hole and three big doors as well that were shut down.

“There you are!” Player approached the doll “are you going to answer my questions or what?”

“Listen… I know you are confused about all of this, but I need you to trust me-“ Poppy was cut when a pink arm stretched out of the pit and grabbed the doll, she screamed as the dark enveloped her.

“Shit!” Player looked down the dark abyss, the only way to get there is by… jumping “ohhh, the things that I do for my son.” With a deep breath, they jumped down the hole.

Their eyes were closed but soon opened when they landed on something smooth and made out of plastic, it was actually a slide. The slide brought them in front of another gate, *Game Station* was written on a sign in the shape of a little cartoon train resting right on top of the metal door. On the left there was a power station, Player promptly turned the energy back on and was able to open the gate.

There lay another hallway, in the end there was a passage locked by another metal gate, fortunately it could be opened by using the red hand on another handprint panel. But when the artificial hand was extended, something got in its way, grabbing onto the object and ripping it from the Grab-Pack.

“Oh Look! A new playmate!” The culprit, another giant toy, descended from above leaving the shadows and revealing themselves. It moved like a spider, they looked humanoid, their body was pink, hair as well, and their arms and legs stretched like bubblegum. Green eyes stared at you as the creature smiled.

Player grabbed their rifle and pointed at the creature, frantically backing away, but they didn’t get really far, since the gate was now closed again.

“Isn’t this exciting?” The creature laughed

“Where’s the doll!” Player shouted

“Miss Poppy? Well, Mommy heard that she would give the train code for you to escape. Now how is that fun?” She laughed “instead, let’s make a game out of it! The GameStation is still working, it will be just like old times.”

“I don’t like this, freak”

“If you win all three games, you will get the code. You are going to have so much fun! Head to Musical Memory and Mommy will get things started.” The creature slowly approached Player “Also. Obey the rules. Or I’ll tear you apart and eat your insides while still alive.” With a maniacal laugh, she scurried away into the shadows.

The closed gate started to open, leading Player to a gigantic room. The lights were turned on and it showed an area full of seesaws, slides and swings for the children. Player saw a cardboard cut out of the same creature that they encountered earlier, her name was written on it

“Mommy Long Legs?” The name was very interesting for Player “alright “Mommy” let’s see what you got.

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(To be continued)

Chapter 0

Chapter 1

Chapter 2-1