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daryltwdixon · 3 days ago

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also do u have advice for writing smut?! i really really want to make one and have a draft but i’m so so bad at describing the actual act as well as the build up towards it— like i know what plot i want to do and have a solid beginning typed out but it’s just so difficult going past that considering i’m so inexperienced with writing 🥲 thank uuu

First of all, it means so much to me that you trust me for writing advice! I am not a professional nor do I think I write smut as well as some of my fellow writers on here, but here is what I will tell you:

warnings: this post is nsfw below the cut

I think smut can be super overwhelming and hard to write well! Bringing a person into the sexual experience is tricky because there’s a fine line between “okay, now they’re fuckin’” and “oh my god, I feel everything they’re feeling, and it’s like I’m really there with them.”

One piece of advice I read once that really helped was to remember the five senses in writing. I find this especially important in smut!I

I kinda went off the deep end here cause you really got me thinking 🤓

Touch

What does their skin feel like? What does the reader’s skin feel like? What sensations run through the body?

Is he warm? Do his hands feel rough with callouses, or does he run smoother knuckles down my face as he caresses me?

Do I get goosebumps when he kisses my neck? What does his tongue feel like when he soothes the feeling of his teeth on my flesh?

Is he hot and sweaty, desperate? Or is this slow, gentle, and warm?

As someone who has had sex before, I often try to remember what something felt like when it was especially good—the way my thighs shake after coming down from an orgasm, how flushed my cheeks get, the ache in my muscles after being held just right.

Joel's hands are rough, broad, his fingers spanning the width of your ribs as he pulls you closer. There’s heat radiating off him, the kind that seeps into your skin, prickling up your spine. His palm drags down, calloused fingertips catching on the soft skin of your waist, like he’s memorizing the feel of you.

Taste

This one is easy to forget but can seriously pull the reader into the moment.

When I kiss Joel, I taste whiskey or coffee on his tongue, the salt of sweat lingering on his upper lip from a long day.

When I kiss Daryl, I taste cigarettes, maybe even something metallic—he’s always biting the inside of his cheek.

When I kiss their neck, is it salty with sweat? Or do I faintly taste the Irish Spring soap they used last night?

Taste changes depending on placement—a dick in the mouth is gonna taste much more heady, salty, depending on cleanliness. Both of them would taste so masculine (imo, hot as hell) but in different ways.

Daryl's mouth is cigarettes and salt, the dull lingering taste of cheap beer still clinging to his tongue. When you kiss him deeper, there’s something rough beneath it, something metallic from all the times you saw him biting at his own lip, the taste of sweat and sun. He groans low in his throat, his fingers tightening at your waist, and when he pulls back, you can still taste the smoke, the heat, the grit of him.

Smell

This ties into taste, because our nose and mouths are often linked together to create one sense. Smell is also linked HEAVILY to memory, emotions, and attraction.

Instead of listing smells, describe how they affect the character. Does it make their stomach tighten? Does it trigger a memory? Does it make them dizzy with want?Layer smells together for realism.

Sweat doesn’t just smell like salt—it might mix with leather, gunpowder, or something more personal.

Use scent changes to track pacing—sweat, heat, breath, the lingering smell of sex afterward.

As you lean in, you catch the distinct smell of him, of your Joel. Warm skin, sun-baked sweat, and the lingering scent of sawdust and earth, it's enough to make your head spin with desire. He carries the scent of wood and sweat, the byproduct of long hours fixing fences, moving supplies, hauling weight over his shoulder. His shirt holds onto the faintest trace of laundry soap, worn thin from too many washes, but beneath it all is him—something clean, masculine, steady.

Sight

Of course, this is a big part of explaining smut. Sight gives the reader something to follow in a scene. It’s about body language, micro-expressions, the way desire changes someone’s face.

Don’t just say what the character looks like—show how they react. A character’s body tells a story. How their chest rises, how their hands shake, how their eyes darken.

Make use of focus. What’s the reader paying attention to? A clenched jaw, the way their partner’s fingers dig into their skin, the way their body tightens before they moan?

Daryl’s mouth is kiss-bruised, swollen from where you’ve been biting at his lips. His hair clings to his forehead, damp with sweat, his cheeks flushed, but his eyes—his eyes are locked onto yours, dark, sharp, hungry. His hands are gripping you too tight, like he’s afraid you’ll disappear, but when you roll your hips, his head tilts back, his throat bobbing as he lets out a breathless, wrecked moan.

Sound

other than dirty talk (of course my personal fave) what kind of sounds are we making?

Think about sound variety. It’s not just moans—it’s grunts, gasps, growls, the rustling of sheets, the creak of a bed, the hitched breath between words.

Use sound to show loss of control. We know Joel and Daryl are pretty stoic, quiet men. So when they start out just breathy and quiet but then eventually they make noises like whimpers, curses, groans and growling. Whewwwwwyyyyyy

Dirty talk is sound too. Think about how it’s said—breathy? Rough? Stuttered? Is their voice cracking?

He’s not loud. Not at first. But you feel every sound he makes—the way his breath stutters, the way his chest shakeswith every exhale. When you drag your nails down his back, his jaw clenches, his hips jerking up involuntarily. He growls, deep and low, his voice gravelly as he mutters, “That what you want, darlin’?” But when you clench around him, slow and teasing, he finally breaks—a wrecked, shaky groan, his head dropping forward, his forehead pressing against yours as he grits out, “Fuck.”

HOWEVER. Adding descriptive words like these only make sense if you have reasoning for them. What emotions do they tie to the experience for the reader x Joel/Daryl? Just like in any fic, sensory details in smut should serve a purpose beyond just making the scene feel “hot.” It’s not enough to describe touch, taste, and sound for the sake of it—those sensations should be tied directly to the characters, their emotions, and the tension between them.

For characters like Joel and Daryl, who aren’t overtly expressive or traditionally romantic, the way they touch, react, and move says more than words ever could. What they do, how they do it, and what they don’t do all carry weight. Sensory details should showcase their personalities, their dynamic with the other person, and the emotional undercurrent beneath the physical act.

Joel isn’t someone who spouts flowery praise or gets lost in the moment—he’s gruff, restrained, but deeply physical. His touch is deliberate, heavy, his body language always saying more than his words do.

Instead of just describing how he grips her hips, think about what that grip means—is he steadying himself, like he doesn’t want to lose control? Or is it possessive, grounding, a silent way of saying you’re mine because he won’t let himself say it out loud?

Daryl is rough around the edges, but there’s a quiet intensity to him. He doesn’t have the same verbal restraint as Joel (though I’d argue they are similar) but he’s gruff, hesitant in his own way, always balancing between rough and careful because he doesn’t always trust himself with softness. (Cries into pillow)

The way he tugs you closer isn’t just about proximity—it’s about need, about how he doesn’t always ask for things, but right now, he’s taking what he wants.

Smut isn’t just about bodies meeting—it’s about what’s being said without words. Whether it’s slow and reverent, rough and frantic, or taunting and full of defiance, the way they touch, hesitate, take, or surrender is what makes it feel real. The physical act is important, but the reason behind it is what makes it linger.

Whewyyyyy anon! Hope this got your gears turning and inspires some good smut!!! Love you!!

#ask daryltwdixon #writing advice #writing prompts #smut #writing smut #the walking dead #the last of us #Joel miller x you #Daryl Dixon x you

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rubylace · 12 hours ago

Text

PART 1. FIRST SUMMERS

m.list

pairing: musician!jay x reader (f) updated hybe idols . yeonjun txt, yunjin lsrfm, nagyung fromis9

genre: coming-of-age, new adult, personal growth, sexual tension, fams dynamic, lovehate

wordcount: 37k (the longest I've ever made istg)

warning: harsh words

a/n: I'm using his real identity, to stay realistic bc it also has to do with his favorite lover - guitar. so don't put it to heart the bad side fyi I dare not be jealous ok love ya 𖹭

A car nearly hit you as you practically floated across the street in a daze after leaving the attorney's office. All these years, you’d tried so hard not to think about him. Now, he was all you could think about. Flashes of him invaded your mind. His dark hair, his laughter, the strum of his guitar, the deep sadness and disappointment in his gorgeous eyes the last time you saw him 9 years ago.

You was never supposed to face him again, let alone own a house with him. Living with Jay was not an option, even if just for the summer. It was probably more like there wasn’t a chance in hell that Jay was going to agree to share a house with you. Whether you liked it or not, though, the beach house in Newport was common property now. Not yours. Not his. Fifty-fifty.

“What the hell was Ameryn thinking?” You’d always known she cared deeply about him, but there was no way you could have predicted the extent of her generosity. He wasn’t even related to you, but she’d always thought of him as her grandson. You picked up your phone and scrolled down to Nagyung’s name. When she picked up, you let out a sigh of relief.

“Where are you?” you asked.

“On the west side. Why?”

“Can you meet up? I really need to talk to someone.”

“Are you okay?”

Your mind went blank before slowly filling again with fragmented thoughts of Jay. Your chest tightened. He hated you. You’d avoided him for so long, but you was really going to have to face him now. Nagyung’s voice snapped you out of your thoughts.

“Are you still there?”

“Yeah. Everything’s fine, where are you again?”

“Meet me at the falafel place. We’ll have an early dinner and talk about whatever is going on.”

“Okay. See you in ten.”

Nagyung was a fairly new friend, so she knew little about your childhood or teen years. You taught together at a local charter school in Providence. You had taken today off to meet with your grandmother’s attorney, the smell of cumin and dried mint saturated the air inside of the fast food Nagyung waved from a corner booth, a piled-high styrofoam container of tahini covered chicken kabobs and rice already planted in front of her.

“You’re not gonna get anything to eat?” she asked with her mouth full, a dollop of yogurt sauce coated the side of her mouth.

“No. I’m not hungry. Maybe I’ll take something to go on the way out. I just needed to talk.”

“What is going on?” your throat felt parched.

“Actually, I need something to drink first. Hang on.” The room felt like it was swaying as you made your way to the refrigerator by the counter and returning from purchasing a bottle of water, you sat down and let out a deep breath. “I got some pretty crazy news today at the lawyer's office.”

“Okay…”

“So, obviously you know I went there because my grandmother passed away a month ago.”

“Yes.”

“I was just meeting with the attorney to go over her estate turns out she left me all of her jewelry and half of her summer house on Aquidneck Island.”

“What? The beautiful house in that picture on your desk?”

“Yeah. That’s the one. We’d always go there a lot in the summer when I was younger, but in recent years, she’d rented it out. The property had been in her family for generations. It’s older, but it’s beautiful and overlooks the water.”

“Y/n, that’s amazing. Why do you seem so upset?”

“Well…she left the other half to a guy named Jay Park.”

“Who is that?”

“He was just a boy I grew up with. My Ameryn took care of him while his parents worked. Jay’s house was on one side, mine was on the other, and Ameryn’s was in the middle.”

“So, he was kind of like a brother to you?”

“We were close for many years.”

“From the look on your face, I get the feeling that something changed?”

“You’d be right.”

“What happened?”

There was no way you could handle rehashing it all. Today had already been too much for you to absorb. You would give her a shorter version.

“Basically, I found out he was keeping something from me. And I freaked out. I’d rather not get into it. But let’s just say I was fifteen at the time and having a really hard time handling my hormones and my issues with my mother. I made a rash decision to move away and live with my dad.”

Swallowing the pain, you said, “I left everything behind in Providence and moved to New Hampshire.”

Thankfully, Nagyung didn’t pry as to what the secret was. That wasn’t the issue you needed to talk about today. It was more important for her to help you figure out your next step than for you to be opening old wounds.

“So, you basically ran away from it all rather than dealing with it.”

“Yeah. Ran away from my problems…and from Jay.”

“You haven’t spoken to him since?”

“After I left, there were several months where there was no contact. I felt so guilty about the way I handled things. I did eventually try to see him and apologize once I came to my senses, but by then it was too late. He didn’t want to see me or talk to me..”

“..I can’t say I blamed him. He’d moved on, got in with a different crowd and then eventually moved to New York soon after graduating high school. We just completely lost touch, but he stayed in contact with Ameryn apparently. She was like a second mom to him.”

“Do you know what’s become of him?”

“I haven’t looked him up. I’ve always been too scared to find out.”

“Well, we need to take care of that right now.” She put down her fork and dug inside her purse for her phone.

“Whoa? what are you doing?”

“You know I’m a self-proclaimed professional stalker.”

Nagyung smiled. “I’m looking him up on Insta. Jay Park, you said his name was? And he lives in NYC?”

Covering your eyes. “I can’t look. I won’t look. There are probably hundreds of guys named Jay Park out there anyway. You probably won’t find him.”

“What does he look like?”

“The last time I saw him, he was 16, so I’m sure he doesn’t look the same. He has messy hair, though.”

He was really cute. You can still see his face like it was yesterday. You could never forget it. Nagyung was reading aloud information for the different Jay popping up on Instagram. Nothing stood out until she said, “Jay Park, New York, musician at BAM Acoustic Guitar.”

Your heart dropped, and to your surprise, you could feel tears trying to fight their way through your eyelids. The emotions rising to the surface so fast were unsettling.

It was as if he’d come back from the dead. “What did you just say? Works where?”

“Just In Time Acoustic Guitar? Is that him?” The words wouldn’t come out, so you stayed silent, pondering the name it was the same one he’d always used even as a kid playing guitar on your street corner.

“That’s him,” you finally conceded.

“Oh my God, Y/n!”

Your heart started to pound faster. “What?”

“This guy is…”

“What? Tell me,” you practically yelled before downing the rest of your water.

“He’s gorgeous. Absolutely freaking gorgeous.” Covering your face, you said, “Please don’t tell me that.”

“Take a look.”

“I can’t.”

Before you could refuse again, Nagyung shoved the phone in front of your face. It shook in your hands as you took it. From what you could see in the one photo, he was beautiful just like you remembered, but at the same time, really different. Grown up.

He was wearing a gray beanie and had a fair amount of chin scruff that he was never able to grow when you knew him. In the profile pic, he was leaning into a guitar and looked like he was about to sing into a microphone. The look on his face was intense and gave you the chills. When you went to click on the other photos, it wouldn’t let you in because his profile was set to private.

Nagyung reached out for the phone. “He’s a musician?”

“I guess so,” you said, handing it back to her.

You muttered to yourself. ‘He used to write songs for me.’

“Are you going to contact him?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“I guess I don’t even know what to say to him. Whatever is meant to happen will happen. I’ll end up having to talk to him eventually. I’m just not gonna be the one to make the first move.”

“How exactly is this housing arrangement going to work anyway?”

“Well, the attorney gave me a set of keys and told me that another set was sent to Jay. Both of our names will be on the deed. Ameryn also set aside some money to be used for house repairs and maintenance to the property during the off season. I’m assuming he’s been made aware of all of the same info.”

“You don’t want to sell the house, right?”

“No way. There are too many memories, and it meant so much to Ameryn. I’m going to use it this summer and then maybe eventually rent it out if he agrees to it.”

“So, you have no idea how he plans to use his half? You’re just going to show up there in a few weeks, and if he’s there, he’s there, and if he’s not, he’s not?”

“Pretty much.”

“Oh, this is going to be interesting.”

*****

At 24, you was single again and starting a new life in Newport for the summer. Your teaching job in Providence afforded you summers off. Your hope was to find a temporary job for the season, but for now, you just wanted to enjoy a few weeks of relaxation.

Returning from downtown Newport with your bag of crustaceans one night, you noticed that the front door to the house was wide open.

“Did I forget to lock it? Was it the wind?” your heartbeat accelerated when you entered the kitchen to find a tall, leggy chick with short, cropped platinum blonde hair. She looked was stocking the cabinets. You cleared your throat.

“Hello?” She turned around before covering her chest.

“Oh my god. You scared me.”

Walking over to you smiling, she held out her hand. “I’m Yunjin”

With fine features, high cheekbones and that pixie cut, Yunjin could have been a model. You was the complete opposite from her physically with your long and dark hair, and curvy figure.

“I’m Y/n. Who are you?”

“I’m Jay's girlfriend.”

“Oh…I see. Where is he?”

“He just went to the market and the liquor store.”

“How long have you been here?”

“We just arrived about an hour ago.”

“How long are you staying?”

“Not sure really. We’re just gonna see where the summer takes us. Neither of us were expecting this development..you know, the house.”

“Yeah, I know.” You looked down at the French-manicured toes peeking out of her heels.

“Do you work?”

“I’m an actress, actually on Broadway. Off Broadway for now. I’m in between jobs, but I’ll probably be going back and forth to New York for auditions. What do you do?”

“I’m a middle school teacher. So, I get the summers off.”

“Oh, that’s really cool.”

“Yeah. It’s fun.”

“Where does Jay work?”

“He works from home right now. He sells software. He can work from anywhere. He also performs. You know he’s a musician, right?”

“Actually, I don’t know much about him anymore.”

“What happened between you two anyway? If you don’t mind my asking.”

“He’s never told you anything about me?”

“Just that you grew up together and that you’re Mrs. A’s granddaughter. Honestly, he never mentioned you at all until we got that letter from the attorney.”

Even that was expected, it made you sad. “That’s no surprise.”

“Why do you say that?”

“It’s kind of a long story.”

“Did you guys ever date?”

“No. It was nothing like that. We were just good friends, but we drifted apart after I moved away.”

“I see. This whole thing is a little weird, right? I mean, inheriting a house like this out of nowhere?”

“Well, my grandma was very generous, and she loved Jay very much. My mom is her only child, and she loved Jay like a grandson, so—”

“Your grandma left the house to you and not your mom?”

“Mom and her had a bit of a falling out some years ago. Thankfully, they made amends before she died, but things were never really the same again.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Thanks.”

Yunjin opened her arms to pull you into a casual hug. “Well, I really hope we can be friends. It will be nice to have a girl around to shop with, check out the island.”

“Yeah. That’d be nice.”

“I hope you’ll have dinner with us tonight?” You wasn’t ready to face him. You needed to make up a story and get out of here. “Actually, probably not tonight. I’d better be leaving.”

“That’s what you’re good at, isn’t it?” a deep voice you hardly recognized interrupted you from behind.

“What’s that?” you asked, swallowing nervously and refusing to turn around to look at him.

“Leaving,” he said louder. “That’s what you’re good at.”

Your breathing was ragged, but it was when you turned around that you nearly lost it. Jay was standing in front of you, and you swear it was like the boy you’d left behind had been swallowed up by a lean mass of muscle.

He just looked so different from what you remembered years ago. The anger on his face was transparent and somehow made him even more incredibly hot. It just would have been better if it weren’t directed toward you. His skin was a beautiful shade of bronze that complemented the natural golden streaks in his dark hair.

The smooth face you remembered was now rough. A rope and barb wire tattoo wrapped around his bicep. He was wearing camouflage cargo shorts with a tight white ribbed tank that hugged his chiseled chest. An indeterminate amount of time passed as you just took him in. Even though you was too stunned to say anything, your heart was screaming.

You knew deep down your reaction wasn’t just because of your physical attraction to him. It was because despite all of the changes, one thing had stayed exactly the same. His eyes. They reflected the same hurt that you remembered from the very last time you saw him. His name finally managed to roll off your tongue. “Jay…”

“Yes.” The deep, throaty sound of his voice vibrated through you.

“I wasn’t sure if you were ever going to show up.”

“Why wouldn’t I have?” he sneered.

“Well, I thought maybe you were avoiding me.”

“You’ve overestimated your significance to me. Of course, I was going to come. This is half my house.”

His words stung. “I didn’t say it wasn’t. It’s just, I hadn’t heard anything from you.”

“Interesting how that goes.”

Clearly uncomfortable with the sparring, Yunjin cleared her throat. “I was just asking Y/n if she wanted to have dinner with us tonight. Maybe you guys can catch up.”

“Apparently, she already has plans.” You turned to him.

“Why do you say that?”

“Oh, I don’t know, because you’re holding a bag that smells like dirty snatch?”

“It’s fresh seafood.”

“Doesn’t smell very fresh to me.”

“God. We haven’t seen each other in five years, and this is how you act?”

You turned to Yunjin. “Is he always this rude?” Before she could answer, he cracked, “I guess you bring it out in me.”

“You think Ameryn would be happy right now with your attitude? Something tells me she didn’t leave us this house so that we could fight with each other.”

“She left us both this house because we each meant something to her that doesn’t mean we have to mean anything to each other. Anyway, if you cared so much about what she thought maybe you shouldn’t have run away.”

“That’s a low blow.”

“The truth hurts, I guess.”

“I tried to contact you, Jay. I–”

“I’m not talking about this now, Y/n.” He said, speaking through gritted teeth. “It’s old news.”

It was unnerving to hear him to calling the name like that. Aside from the very first day you’d met, he’d always called you Patch or Patchy. Hearing your name come out of his mouth felt like a slap in the face for some reason, like he was trying to emphasize how much you’d grown apart.

Jay went from hot to cold as he shut down, heading back outside to retrieve the groceries from his car but not before slamming the door behind him. You shuddered, looking over at Yunjin whose eyeballs were moving back and forth from side to side in confusion. “Well, that was a nice start,” you joked.

“I don’t know what to say. I’ve never seen him act like that toward anyone to be honest. I’m really sorry.”

“It’s not your fault. Believe it or not, I probably deserve it.”

The only thing worse than the rude reception he’d given you was his blatantly ignoring you during dinner and for the rest of that night. That hurt more than anything he could have ever said to you. You thought the evening was horrible, lack of sleep assured that the next morning was even worse. Apparently, Jay found a way to take out his anger by taking it out on Yunjin.

Let’s just say playing guitar wasn’t the only talent he’d fully developed over time. Yunjin's moaning in the middle of the night as Jay pounded into her woke you up in the middle of the night. The walls literally shook, it was impossible to go back to sleep after that.

You tossed and turned your thoughts alternating between rehashing Jay's words to you from earlier to imagining what that scene in the other room actually looked like.

You used the opportunity to admire his stature and the flawless skin of his defined, shirtless back. Black gym pants hugged his beautifully round a**. You never realized how incredible his a** was. Your physical attraction to him really irked me under the circumstances, but that didn’t stop you from checking him out.

Squinting, you unsuccessfully tried to figure out what it was. He startled you when he suddenly turned around and met you with an incendiary stare. “Do you always ogle people when you think they can’t see you?”

You swallowed the lump in your throat. “How did you know I was standing here?”

“I could see your reflection in the window, genius.”

“You didn’t even flinch. I didn’t think you noticed me.”

“Clearly.”

“Are you trying to make me hate you or something? Because you’re doing a pretty damn good job.”

Jay didn’t answer your question. Instead, he just turned back around toward the window.

“Why do you do that?” you asked.

“Do what?”

“Say things to piss me off then shut down?”

He continued to speak to the window, “Would you rather I just continue to piss you off? I’m trying to get my anger in check with you, Y/n. You should be happy I know when to stop unlike some people.”

“Will you at least look at me when you’re talking to me?”

He turned around and walked toward me slowly then leaned his face in. You could feel his words on my lips when he asked, “Is this better? You’d rather me in your face like this?” you could practically taste his breath.

Your entire body felt weak from the close contact, so you backed away. “I didn’t think so,” he snarled. You walked over to the refrigerator and opened it, pretending to look for something. It annoyed you that your peaceful mornings were a thing of the past.

“You always get up this early?” you asked.

“I’m a morning person.”

“I can see that so bright and cheery,” you said, sarcastically.

“Some of us need sleep, though.”

“I slept just fine last night.”

“Oh, I know after you traumatized me. You must have passed out after all that screwing could you two have been any louder last night?”

“Well, excuse me. If I can’t f*ck in my own house where do you expect me to do it?”

“I didn’t say you couldn’t do it. Just be more respectful.”

“Define respect.”

“Doing it quietly.”

“Sorry. I don’t f*ck quietly.”

As much as you hated that answer, you somehow felt that those words would be repeating in your head later tonight.

“Forget it. Clearly, you don’t know the meaning of respect.”

“Respect you? Why? Because you’re not getting laid? Why don’t you hook up with some salty dude down at the dock? Maybe then you won’t care so much about other people’s business.”

“Salty dude?”

“Yeah. You know, the guys that live on the boats the ones who sell you that nasty fish you were eating last night.”

You just shook your head and rolled your eyes, refusing to dignify that comment with a response. He surprised you when he suddenly lifted the carafe. “Want some coffee?”

“Now you’re being nice?”

“No, I just figured you’re sticking around for some reason. It must be the coffee.”

“This is my kitchen.”

He winked. “Our kitchen.” Grabbing two mugs from the cabinet, he asked, “How do you take yours?”

“Cream and sugar.”

“I’ll take care of it while you go put on a bra.”

You looked down at your b**bs which were hanging freely beneath your white t-shirt not expecting to run into him this early, you hadn’t thought to put one on. Too embarrassed to acknowledge the fact that he’d noticed, you went back to your room and got dressed when you returned he was back at the window drinking his coffee.

“Is this better?” you asked, referring to your dress. He turned around and gave you a once over.

“Define better. If better means I can’t see your tits anymore…yes, it’s better. If better, means you look better, that’s debatable.”

“What’s wrong with this?”

“It looks like you sewed it yourself.”

“Actually, it’s from one of the shops on the island. It is handmade.”

“Out of a potato sack?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Maybe?”

He snickered. “Your coffee’s on the counter, raggedy ann.”

Your inclination was to try to come up with a comeback but then you realized that was probably what he wanted, you needed to kill him with kindness instead of showing your anger. “Thank you. That was nice of you to make it for me.”

You took a sip and immediately spit it out. “What did you put in this? It’s so strong!”

Instead of answering you, he just started to crack up. His laughter resonated through the kitchen and as much as you hated that it was at your expense, it was the first time he’d laughed. It took you back in time for a moment and served as the only real reminder that the smoking hot a**hole in front of you used to be your bestfriend.

“You don’t like it?”

“It’s a bit strong. What is it?”

“It’s coffee fusion, actually.”

“What does that even mean?”

Jay sauntered over to the cabinet and took out a can and a package. “It’s my own recipe. Cuban coffee mixed with this one.” He pointed to the black packaging that had a white skull and crossbones on it.

“What the hell is that?”

“It’s coffee. I order it online. Nothing else is caffeinated enough for me.”

“That’s why you wanted to serve it to me, wasn’t it? You knew I’d hate this concoction.”

He simply let out that raspy laugh of his again, except this time, he was laughing way harder than before. Yunjin entered the kitchen, wearing a long black t-shirt that must have been the one he wasn’t wearing.

“What’s so funny?” Jay's mischievous eyes peeked from behind his mug.

He snickered. “We were just having coffee.”

Yunjin shook her head. “You didn’t drink his mud, did you? I don’t know how he likes that stuff.” You reminded yourself of your plan to kill him with kindness. Taking another sip of the coffee, you nodded.

“Actually, at first taste, it was pretty strong, but I actually think I really like it.” It was disgusting.

“You’d better be careful. That sh*t is potent. Jay is immune to it, but the one and only time I drank it, it kept me up for like four days.”

Jay laughing. “Apparently, we kept Y/n up last night.”

Yunjin turned to you. “Oh, sh*t. I’m sorry.”

Shrugging, you said, “It’s no big deal. I got used to it after a while.”

“Was that when you decided you wished you could join in?” he cracked.

You wasn't going to respond to that. The more you looked over at his smug expression, the more determined yoi became to finish the entire damn mug of coffee to spite him. “I’m really surprised at how much I’m actually liking this,” lied.

Yunjin chose to ignore Jay's earlier comment. “What do you say after breakfast we head to town, Y/n? I’d love it if you could show me around the island.”

“Alright. That would be nice.”

She walked over to him and wrapped her arm around his waist. “You want to come with us, babe?”

Jay said before finishing off the last of his coffee and putting the cup in the sink. “No. I have sh*t to do,”

“Okay. Just the girls then.”

The coffee had turned you into a spaz. As Yunjin and you walked around Newport that morning, she kept having to tell you to slow down. Apparently, in her heels, she couldn’t keep up with you. At one point later in the afternoon, you stopped to rest your legs. Yunjin and you sat on a wooden bench overlooking the dozens of docked sailboats as the sun shined over the water.

“So, how did you and Jay meet?” you asked.

“I was in the audience at this club called Showbox in Seattle, Jay was performing there that night. He was eyeing me the whole time he was singing and after the show, he came to find me. When he said he was thinking of me while he was singing the last song, I nearly died. We’ve been inseparable since.”

Your face felt hot. You wasn’t willing to admit to yourself that it was jealousy. The thought of them connecting so intimately while he was in the middle of performing made you uncomfortable for some reason. Maybe because it reminded you of the songs he used to write for you. You’d think nothing would bother you after having to endure their f*cking last night.

“What kind of music does he play now?”

“Well, he does some covers of artists like Drake, but he also writes a lot of original stuff. He mostly plays clubs, but his manager has been trying to get him a music deal. Of course, the girls all go crazy over him. That part has taken some getting used to for me.”

“I’m sure it’s hard.”

“Yeah. Big time.” She tilted her head. “What about you? No boyfriend?”

“I just got out of a relationship.” You confide in her as if she were just a normal friend to you.

On the way home, you passed Yeonjun’s on the Beach, a restaurant that was known for live music at night and really good food. A sign out front read, Temporary Summer Help Wanted. Since there was a university just over the bridge, a lot of the students went home in the summer, leaving some of the local restaurants in need of temporary wait staff. You stopped short in front of the entrance.

“Do you mind if I go in and inquire about this?”

“Sure. I’d actually like to check it out, too.”

Both Yunjin and you had waitressing experience so you sat down and filled out applications, by the time you walked out of there, we each had a job. The manager basically told you could work any night you wanted. The extra money and flexibility was impossible to pass up, Yunjin was particularly happy that he’d told her it was no problem if she had to suddenly cancel a shift in the event she got called back to Manhattan for an audition. You were each going to start tomorrow.

That night, Yunjin thought you should celebrate new jobs over dinner and drinks on the upper deck back at the house. It hadn’t dawned on you how peaceful being away from Jay all day had been. When you walked in the door, butterflies started to swarm in your stomach again as soon as you smelled his cologne.

Jay was standing in the kitchen drinking a beer when Yunjin ran over to him and wrapped her arms around his neck. Jay was tall over six feet but Serim wasn’t that much shorter than him. Next to both of them, you was basically a midget. He cleaned up nice, Jay had changed out of his camouflage shorts from earlier into dark jeans and a gray shirt with black stripes that hugged his chest. He’d done something to his hair that you couldn’t pinpoint. She ran her fingers through his hair then kissed him.

“I missed you. Guess what? We both got jobs at this restaurant on the beach.”

“Did you tell them you could get called back to New York anytime?”

“The guy said it didn’t matter. He said I could basically just work whenever I want.”

“Really. That sounds a bit shady to me. But whatever. You sure he doesn’t just want in your pants, Serim?”

“He said the same thing to me,” you interrupted.

“Well, then it can’t be that.”

It took you a bit to realize that he’d just insulted you. Yunjin intercepted before you could muster up a comeback.

“It’s mild out. How about we all have dinner on the upstairs deck tonight. We could barbecue that steak I have marinating in the fridge.”

You didn’t have the heart to tell her you don’t like red meat, so you just kept quiet. He would probably think you was looking for an excuse not to have dinner with them. Kill him with kindness. “I’m not that great of a cook, but I can make a big salad.”

Jay smacked the counter. “Great. I’ll start the grill while Y/n tosses her big salad.” He started to walk outside when you yelled after him.

“You know what Ameryn would say to you right now? She’d tell you to go wash your dirty mouth out with soap.”

He turned around and lifted his brow. “Soap wouldn’t cut it.”

After chopping up lettuce, carrots, red onion, tomatoes and cucumbers, you dressed the salad with homemade honey mustard vinaigrette. You carried it upstairs where Jay and her were already sitting down at the table. She had poured three glasses of merlot, and Jay was sipping one as he looked over at the waves, which were rough tonight.

Once you started eating, Jay wouldn’t look at you or make conversation. You filled your plate with salad and bread, and it took a while before anyone noticed that you wasn’t eating anything else. Yunjin’s mouth was full when she said, “You didn’t even touch the steak.”

“I don’t really like to eat meat.”

Jay chuckled. “Is that why you can’t find a man?”

You dropped your fork. “You’re a prick seriously I don’t recognize you anymore, how were we ever best friends?”

“I used to ask myself that all the time before I stopped giving a sh*t.”

You got up from the table and went downstairs. Leaning against the kitchen counter, Yunjin in and out slowly to calm yourself down, she came up quietly behind you.

“I really don’t get what’s going on between you two or why he refuses to talk about it.”

“Are you sure you guys never dated?”

“I told you, Yunjin. It wasn’t anything like that.”

“Will you tell me what happened?”

“I think he should be the one to explain it to you. Honestly, I don’t know. Anything that happened before that is irrelevant now. He’s pissed because of how I handled something or just running away, that's how i survive. Let’s just go back upstairs and try to have a nice dinner.”

Back on the upper deck, Jay was stone-faced, pouring more wine into his glass. A part of you wanted to slap him across the face, but another part felt guilty that you had caused so much anger in him. He said he didn’t care, but you refused to believe he would be acting up like this if he didn’t.

You touched his arm. “Will you just talk to me?”

He whipped his arm away. “I’m over it. I’m not talking about anything.”

“Will you do it for Ameryn?”

His head flipped up, and his eyes darkened. “Stop f*cking bringing her into this. Your grandma was a wonderful woman. She was the mother I never had. She never turned her back on me like pretty much everyone else in my life. This house is a representation of your mom, which is why I’m here.”

“I’m not here because of you. You want me to talk, but what you don’t seem to understand is that I don’t have anything to say about anything that happened almost a decade ago. I’ve erased it all. It’s too late, Y/n. I don’t care if you and Yunjin become friends, alright? But don’t bother trying to get through to me because we’re not gonna be friends,”

“..you put me in a sh*t mood, and I don’t want to spend this whole summer in a sh*t mood. We’re roommates. Nothing more. Stop pretending there is something more to it. Stop pretending to like the goddamn coffee. Stop pretending everything is just great. Cut the sh*t and see things for what they are. We don’t mean anything to each other.”

He got up and took his plate. “I’m done, Yunjin. I’ll see you in the room.”

Yunjin and you sat in silence, listening to nothing but the sound of the waves crashing beneath you. “I’m so sorry, Y/n.”

“Please. Don’t, okay? He’s right. Sometimes, you can’t fix things.” Despite the complacent words that had come out of your mouth, a tear fell down your cheek.

taglist: @rikizm @sumzysworld @xylatox @morganaawriterr

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enbypotat53 · 3 days ago

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(SPOILERS FOR TNM6!)

Holy fucking shit. Two years of waiting was so worth it. I'm not even kidding I have been sobbing and shaking for the past half an hour.

I have way too many screenshots so I'll try to condense it but FIRST OFF LOOK AT THESE CUTIE PATOOTIES??? Oh my god realising that this was a year onward from the murders was like a knife to the chest; seeing Tophat and Sketchpad living together and ACTUALLY HAPPY FOR ONCE?? AUGHHH I LOVE THEM 💔

I'm not joking when I say I went back and screenshotted almost every scene GPS was in, but I'll include this one when talking about the memories because GPS hiding behind the couch is SO damn cute 💙

And. Oh. Oh my god. My fucking heart. They care SO much about Tophat and Folder, and the new song?? PEAK. Average TNM W. Seeing all of the adorable moments of these three together?? Heals the soul, but it's SO bittersweet knowing they'll never see eachother again. I'm ABSOLUTELY redrawing some of these, they're too cute not to :,3

Okay but THEY ARE SO IN LOVE?? THEY. AJDJFJFJFJ THEY ARE SO IN LOVE. I. WORDS CANNOT EXPRESS. HOW IN LOVE THEY ARE. GOD. PLEASE ALLEN JUST. LET THEM BE HAPPY FOR ONCE. P L E A S E.

"You just.. wouldn't get the full picture. It's the same with memories for me. Would it still be me.. even if I was missing a few bad ones?"

This is.. genuinely such a fantastic line. GPS has always been my favourite character, but.. damn. The idea that even bad memories hold value because they're still memories; still a part of you, and still might contain the people you love most? They're genuinely such a well-written character, and it's plain to see just how much they care for their friends. And they have a point! Memories shape you, good and bad. As much as the bad ones hurt, it can also help to learn from them in order to make more good ones in the future. And it seems Sketchpad and Tophat did just that.

God. Codey's betrayal was definitely forseeable, but it still hurts. The "I'm just following my programming" line gives me similar vibes to Speech Bubble and Spraypaint in a way; everyone has their part to play, even if (in Codey and Binary's case) it's a harmful one. I'm glad they did the right thing in the end, though. And Binary for SURE gives me Airy vibes, I both adore and despise them and to be honest that's EXACTLY what I could've hoped for in an antagonist. They're GREAT.

Wait a sec..

Binary..

OH I GET THE JOKE IT'S BECAUSE GPS IS NONBI-

Oh.

OH.

Hear that sound? That's the sound of me wailing in agony as my heart shatters into a million pieces.

"This is.. really it.. huh?" THEY SOUND SO SCARED?? God this entire episode I wanted to give them a huge hug and a slice of cake and to tell them that everything would be okay, my hEART. This entire scene broke me, the fear in their eyes and voice hurt so much to hear, my BABY HE'S BEEN THROUGH SO MUCH 💔

And just. This. Entire scene. I cannot tell you how fucking PERFECT of an ending this was. The fact that Tophat was the last thing GPS thought of before he died? The happiest moment they could think of was their high school prom dance, spending it with the person they love most? One final memory to end it all, and it was the most important one in their life. I've said this before but god. They're so in love. It's genuinely gutwrenching watching this scene; they're so happy yet this moment is so fleeting. Knowing how temporary it was and how everything ended makes it worse. Tophat moved on, maybe not fully but at least he's happier. GPS on the other hand? They're stuck reliving memories of people they can NEVER see again; people they hurt.

It's bittersweet as hell, and honestly kind of a perfect juxtaposition to the puzzle scene. Then, they relived bad memories, yet still seemed happy. Now, they're re-experiencing a moment that should fill them with joy, and yet...

Nothing lasts forever.

The ending song being a response to Imaginary Friend, too? Perfection. 💙

Thank you, Nightly Manor. Thank you, Allen. This series was fucking phenominal, and the wait was worth every second. My heart is in tatters but good lord I wouldn't have it any other way. Now it's time to redraw some scenes and try not to cry any harder than I already am! :,D 👍💙

#the nightly manor #the nightly manor spoilers #tophat tnm #gps tnm #sketchpad tnm #folder tnm #spraypaint tnm #codey tnm #binary tnm #rei rambles

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lilysworldofjoy · 2 days ago

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"Just admit it!" (Dandy's World tickle fic)

A/N: No Lee Rudie fics? I'll fix that, thank you very much (my motivation to write fics at almost fucking midnight is wild—)

Him combo'd with ler Bobette have been gyrating in my mind since.. a long time, so uh... Yeah. Also, look out for mentioned/implied Lee Bobette and Lee Ginger

Keep in mind, just cuz it's not Christmas doesn't mean I'll stop rudieposting... heh...

Plot: Bobette is trying to get toy ideas, so she goes to ask Rudie. That's where she makes a... rather interesting discovery—and decides to exploit the living hell out of it.

~🦌🎁~

It was a snowy day outside Gardenview. Of course it was, it's December after all. The month of the holidays!

Inside, Bobette was walking hurriedly around the area with a large box that had some toys inside. Her dog, Coal, was asleep next to the peppermint chair she usually sits on.

She places these toys on the table nearby. "Phew!" The bauble put her hands on her hips and said, "A job well done! Now... what do I make this time?" Bobette asked herself.

She asked Ginger. Maybe she should make a toy oven, the cookie says. That wouldn't end well, the bauble thought. So despite the measures that would be taken, that idea was scrapped.

Ginger is a good friend, of course! She's just a tad bit worse at ideas than everyone else, and that's why she's not asked frequently.

Or maybe... a toy sleigh! That can work! But... she tried to make that many a time, and no matter what, nothing just sparked her eye in the right way. So it was scrapped too, but one day, it would be a reality.

Bobette had an idea, maybe she can make her friends suggest some toys! So she headed off to the place where she knew she would get some really good ideas for them.

Rudie was untangling the Christmas lights from his body.... again. They shone as he removed them, the lights as bright as his nose. Of course, his peppermint-looking antlers stood out as always. He was almost done with that, and that's when Bobette entered his room.

"Rudieee! Hellooo!"

"Oh hi Bobette! Did you know it's Christmas?", the reindeer asked as the Christmas lights finally fell off of him, practically glowing bright with excitement.

"Of course I did, silly." She said, smiling. "Any good ideas you got?"

He knew the drill, practically giggling to himself as his tail wagged and he said "Oh boy.."

"How about a rocket, or a doll? A bicycle! A unicycle, even! Oh, oh! What about—" Bobette took notes fast, watching as Rudie kept on talking about toys she should craft, like a yo-yo, or maybe even some building blocks.

"Okay, that's enough! Thanks Rudie!", she said, giggling as she did the reflex thing: giving his side a playful poke, causing a flinch and a muffled squeal to exit his mouth. The reindeer swore a shiver ran down his spine.

Wait. Did she see (or hear) that correctly? Or was she just imagining things? The bauble decided to try again, but in a panic the reindeer slapped her hand away. He didn't mean to hurt her, but he was too embarrassed to state something about it.

"D-Don't do that! It's... It..." Rudie hesitated to finish his words, his ears going lower, and his face going a shade of red, though not as bright as his own nose. Said nose flickered slightly as he said this, akin to a broken LED light.

Bobette started to register this. Carefully. Methodically. In a calculating way, even. And then, the cogs in her head started to spin. And once realization dawned, she smirked.

...Oh no.

Oh NO.

But to her, it was oh YES.

There has got to be a way to avoid this fate for himself, the reindeer thought. There simply has to be!

If the bauble gets the gist even once, he's as good as done. But too bad for him, she almost instantly got the gist.

After all the times she was wrecked by him. After every ticklish piece of torment both she and Ginger had to endure. After all those days, it was finally her time to shine. It was finally payback time.

And it was about to be glorious.

Too bad for him, because his ticklishness?

Hoo boy.

Her smirk simply stayed in her face as she giggled. "You think I didn't notice? The fact it tickles?~"

"Uh... uhm..." The reindeer looked back at the closed door, and put his hands up in defense. "L-Listen Bobby," He said his voice shaking as he managed a shaky smile, "we can talk about thi—"

"Oho, there's no talking now." The bauble would rub her hands together and wiggle her fingers with a wide, menacing smirk. "Hope you're readyyy...~" she stated in a sing-song tone that made him panic.

Rudie stepped back, going against a wall. He tried to dodge every tickly attack, but Bobette didn't give up till she finally got him., right on the stomach.

"Pff—"

It was a matter of seconds before he was a giggling mess, flailing on the floor. "AHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"Gotcha! Now to amp this up~" The bauble did her tickles in a more fast manner, causing his legs to kick, he struggled to get out of her grasp. But she was strong, capable of making sure he stays. Plus, his laughter was adorable. She couldn't stop now after making this discovery!

"NAHAHAHAHAH! AHAHAHAHAHA!"

"Now now. Stop moving, or I'll getcha on your melt spot~", she said as her fingers started hovering over to his hooves, but not going there instantly. "These cute little hoovesies right here~"

That's what she thought. And somehow, she was right. The mere mention of... THAT place made him squirm even more. "NOHO, WAHAIT! I'M SOHORRY!" *snort* "PLEHEASE!" *snort*

Bobette froze the second he let that out. Was she hearing things right or was that a...?!

"Oh my gosh." She smiled as her eyes shone. "You snort?! Ooh, like a little piggy! That's SO cute!"

That immediately made the bauble want to tickle the reindeer more. Oh, did Rudie want to sink into the ground and dissapear upon hearing that.

And just like that, she buried herself on his stomach and did a raspberry right there. The reindeer did nothing but let out a loud shriek.

"NOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO!!" *snort* "STAHAHAHAHAP!!"

But Bobette simply went to town, her fingers now circling Rudie's sides and not seeming to stop anytime soon. His legs kicked like their lives depended on it as she continued to tickle him.

"Uh uh uh. I'll only do that if you say it~", she responded to his pleas in a singsong tone, making him redder than his own nose in a matter of seconds.

"SAHAY WHAHAT?!"

And that's when she dropped the bomb, said bomb making him metaphorically explode.

"Just admit it! You're a ticklish reindeer~"

No.

Hell no.

No way he's saying THAT.

"NOHOHOHO—" *snort* "IHI'M NOHOHOHOT!"

"Resistant, eh? Let's see how you react to THIS!~"

The bauble simply grabbed one of his legs and tickled one of the hooves. Let's just say he was gone, for that? That was the final straw.

The squeal that exited him was shrill, loud, and caused him to desperately bang his fist against the ground.

"NAHAHAHAHAHAH—" *snort* "NOT THEHERE! PLEHEHEHASEE!"

"Aww, what's wrong?~ Did I find your melt spot?~"

Rudie just squealed. Then Bobette got an idea, she got down, and did one raspberry on his stomach as she went to town on his hypersensitive hoof.

"OKAHAY! OKAHAY! IHI'M A TIHICKLISH REINDEER!! HAHAPPY?!"

"There we go." She smiles. "I'll just do it for.... A bit longer~ Your laugh is already cute on its own, but it's WAY cuter than before when I go here~"

"NOOOOOOOOHOHOHO!!"

After about five more minutes (which felt like HOURS for Rudie), Bobette finally stopped, letting him catch his breath for once.

"Hmpf... yohou're.. soho... mehehean..." He said in residual giggles, hating how mean she was when it was him. Like a whole different breed of toon when it came to him. She only smirked and said,

"Well, I'm just being nice!"

But deep down, the bauble was so excited she thought, ("Ginger HAS to know about this!")

If the cookie got word, he was beyond done, and we all know what that means: his reign was going to end very, very soon.

And he just hopes that day NEVER comes.

But Bobette? She and Ginger wanted exactly that and more.

Much, MUCH more.

~🦌🎁~

A/N #2: BOY did I cook with this one. I love revenge tickles, ain't nothing better than revenge tickles

#ler!bobette #lee!rudie #dandy's world tickles #sfw tickle community #sfw interaction only #tickle fic #lily's stories

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lunarruled · 3 days ago

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No his outie wasn't still him, Kyleigh could argue about that for the rest of her life but right now she just didn't want to. When it was just the two of them like this, even though she was all messed up, it was the happiest time of her day. When she got to see a glimpse of who Mark was and she allowed him the same. Just as he trusted her she trusted him and she wondered if he knew what that meant. Human trust was one thing, but to have a monster trust you with their vulnerable side? That was like God trusting you to run Heaven for a few days while He took some time off. She even allowed him to tend to her wounds, something only a mate was allowed the honor of. Not to say that he was that for her, she would have felt that feeling wouldn't she? The one her aunt had talked about when describing how she felt about Uncle Tony. Was it different for her because she was only half lycan? Wait, why the hell was she even thinking about that right now?

Their sacred time together was coming to an end. Kyleigh knew as soon as they arrived back at the office she would be whisked away to a proper doctor and Mark would have to go do paperwork or whatever else it was he did. Then he would go home and forget the entire day. Damnit why did he have to do that stupid shit? Didn't humans go to therapy or develop drinking problems to deal with their grief? A flash of anger erupted inside Kyleigh but the human side of her buried it back down, too greedy for a few more precious moments with Mark.

"You better or else I'll come and hunt you down in the middle of the night." She half joked, knowing full well she wasn't going anywhere that night but to rest in that god aweful bed they would put her in to heal. Maybe this time they would leave her something real to eat instead of that protein bar and a bottle of water. No wonder she always hated going there!

And while she shared the same sentiment about having to get up and part ways, Kyleigh knew it was how it had to be. Getting too close was not only bad for work but it was bad for Mark. He knew what she was and how damn weird she could be, but he didn't know what her getting attached to him could do. How she would never be able to care for someone else, how no one would ever come close to him. How incredibly psycho she would go if something were to happen to him, how broken she would be should he die.

His question thankfully broke her free from the downward spiral she was heading into and she laughed. "Yeah man, I'm good. But thank you. No one's cared this much about me since…. well since I was a kid. You gonna be okay?"

Of course she was going to ask him that. Forever the worrier about someone else. She could heal by the next morning even if the memories would never leave her alone. A few moments later she felt the truck roll to a complete stop and let out a sigh. It was time. Pushing herself to her feet Kyleigh swayed a bit, her hands immediately clutching onto Mark's arms for support.

"I'm okay, I swear." Her voice was soft as she dared to glance up at him, wanting to freeze time for just a few more minutes with her silly, broken human.

I'm the protector, Kyleigh said, and Mark's lips curved into a smile despite himself. He knew he was lucky this way-- Kyleigh was only ever this kind when it was the two of them, he felt-- but it didn't stop him from feeling honoured all the same that she would say such a thing. There was a clear power balance between them; once upon a time, Mark might have even resented Kyleigh for her ability to be whole, and that she could even go out into the world at all. But that he could be so disposable and she could still care about his well-being was the most important fact of all.

There wasn't a lot of good in Mark's limited little life. Kyleigh was one of the very few pieces that were.

"I do get the idea," he promised. "I trust you, Kyleigh."

"And, well, bellybutton or not... you know my outie is still me."

(Somewhere in the back of his mind, he thought that if Kyleigh's wolf had to eat him to live, it wouldn't be a half-bad way to go.)

Then, as they were spoken to, the bubble Mark felt housing them suddenly burst, and he lifted his head with a more poignant awareness that he was supposed to be working.

"Shit." Despite the rumble and sway of the truck container, Mark got to his feet without a single hint of losing his footing. "I haven't finished cleaning up..." The hand that had been on Kyleigh's knee slipped away quietly along with it, moving instead to grab the first-aid kit off the floor and return it to its compartment.

"Are you, uh, gonna be good to walk?"

The moment the truck was parked, Mark would have to lead Kyleigh to the doctor's so she could get a proper once over. The thought of separating from her once she was dropped off twisted his stomach, but he knew better than to try and fight protocol.

#☾ macrodatum #☾ v: Lost Cause #☾ (Location: Kier PE)#☾ c: Mark Scout #☾ members of the pack; family (Mark)#☾ yeah we don't have the streaming service here #☾ but I will sail all the seas like it's Napster days to watch it lol #☾ *gasps in lycan drama over this thread*

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silverselfshippingchaos · 2 years ago

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no way in hell i've got it bad for another damn f.ire e.mblem character.

#okay maybe there's a way in hell i have it bad for-#ahem #i just. yeah. i dont even know why or how this happening. i played his game years ago. yeah sure i thought he was hot but that was all!!!!#and then. all of a sudden. i remember his existence. and now i can't stop thinking about him???#... or what it would feel like to be in his arms #god freaking damnit-#ash rambles 💚

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mycological-mariner · 10 days ago

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Cool so I get to start training in a forge and welding and steam engine maintenance and fitting on weekends

#it’s.#okay.#it’s still Setting In but. I personally wanna ask the guy why #like ‘hey you SAW my list of medical conditions right? you know about the heart disease and seizures and physical mobility issues RIGHT?#I mean hell yes. I can’t wait bc i can work up to working on ships. people who have historical engineering skills are needed Bad on ships #at least the ones I wanna sail (tall ships my beloveds)#but I do love trains too. a lot. I like knowing How Things Make Other Things Do The Thing. it pleases me #ships and sailing always my first love #but the choo choo…#I got the email today from the manager and I’m way the hell out of town atm BUT!!#hey if I can survive America heat I can survive a welding shop. I think. we’ll see how long I last #tbh I think they said yeah bc they’re so desperate for volunteers and people willing to learn on the job #(it’s basically an internship tbh. unpaid apprenticeship)#so he looked at my medical issues and went ‘well if you die or get maimed. well. we’ll see what happens. you have two hands so that’s good’#no but honestly I am very very VERY excited #it’ll only be one MAYBE two weekends each month and they do have rooms on site for staff and volunteers who travel #(I doubt I’ll need them I know a guy 20 minutes away from the place who’ll let me crash)#so it’s not strenuous or biting into my already busy week #(being on a committee is fun….. *sobs in someone forgot to take minutes at last meeting*#anyways #this story is still developing #FINGERS CROSSED everything goes smoothly #even if I just did a Saturday….#I can work on ships………..#I COULD POSSIBLY GAIN ENOUGH EXPERIENCE TO JUSTIFY VOLUNTEERING ON A SHIP #AAAAH #(I do love a forge though… I can’t WAIT to try blacksmithing… even as an assistant/trainee/‘adaptable helper’)#yes I’m absolutely using ‘adaptable helper’ in this instance because. lol.#OKAY BUT IM SO EXCITED AND SO NERVOUS I REALLY WANT THIS TO GO THROUGH #soon as im back in the country im gonna try and nail down some dates

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bitegore · 1 day ago

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# oh??? that also sounds so cool!!!!!, Ik for a fact that I'd play the hell out of smth like that, even tho I'm awful at combat, actually I think that'd only elevate the experience with the helplessness, anyway!!#that sounds like it'd do such a good feeling of unease and terror before the switch, and that switch would bring such an interesting crash of absolute panic down on the player when they're already in such high alert, jdgftsgbjdgduv, yeah very interesting very horrifying!!! (tags modified slightly to be a little easier to read)

Grabbing you. Talk about evil game design with me. Hi. You get it.

This is ofc one of my awful evil very-bad-no-good ocs, so I obviously know what her deal is, but the thing about the.

Well actually let me start at the beginning.

(also GOD DAMN this got wordy, so here's a cut.)

In its purely joke-level form, this started as a sort of mean-spirited jab at the spectre of the "I wish this game was in an alpine village rescuing my neighbors' cats" school of thought, which I was kind of unfairly conflating with Stardew Valley, which i was also unfairly conflating with Animal Crossing. At the time I was so sick I thought animating would be easier than drawing, so we're clear. I know those are three different games with only some vague crossover and not one coherent concept when I'm not sick, I promise, and also I don't even have anything against either of the actual games lmao. But conceptually, the idea was that - well, Erica has the demure pretty girl thing down, that's part of her character concept, that she looks like a demure pretty girl exactly as long as it takes for you to write her off as "not a threat" and then she kills you. So I was thinking to myself that it would be really funny to put Erica in a game that looked like a cozy resource management sim, and then just let her start wreaking havoc 3/4ths of the way through the game.

(That has been its own idea since forever - that most of my OCs work pretty okay as deuteragonists or primary villains, but Erica would be incapable of not coming off like a very boring side character until a late-game twist where she suddenly reveals herself to have been orchestrating all manner of problems and nursing some awful grudges behind a pleasant facade.)

Anyway the construction I came up with first was: resource management & character-driven dating sim, but then at some point, Erica starts killing characters and then she kills you and skips town. The only kind of combat system I like playing is the soulsborne-style kind that requires you to pay a lot of close attention to timing and spacing, so that's the kind of combat I was imagining. And. Well, like you said, I sure thought that it would be fun to play, actually, too.

So I settled on some mechanics.

The first part of the game is riffing very closely off games like Stardew Valley and Harvest Moon, where you have a farm, and you grow your crops and raise some animals, and then you take them into town and trade them for money and maybe points with some of the NPCs you get to interact with. You have an enemy set up - Erica's dad, petty nobility and autocrat of the town who no one likes - who will send saboteurs your way and try to price you out, but you can scare them off. There's a tutorial character (tall redhead with red sunglasses who doesn't talk much and spends most of the game writing in a notebook or making graphs; if you know my OCs you might have an idea who that is but don't worry about it!) who gives you the farm and all but demands you get into some sort of conflict with this petty noble, helps you set things up, and then generally goes about ignoring everyone and reading books while sitting around so you can click on him for tooltips if you want reminders of how the controls work. There's also a weird monster in the forest you keep hearing about and sometimes see the eyes of. Most if not all of the NPCs are neutral-to-friendly outside your established enemies, i keep going back and forth on if there should be any explicit Not-Affiliated-I-Just-Don't-Like-Outsiders characters but like there's enough going on and I want the players to get to at least the middle.

That's because, at some point about halfway through the "growing season", Erica's brother disappears off the face of the earth. The bad guy sends his cronies to run about town for a while asking the NPCs if they know anything, but the NPCs openly love you and kind of hate him, so you hear about it basically when he sends someone to your door with an apology and a letter asking you to look into it, because he cares more about his son than he does about keeping his economic stranglehold over the town or whatever. You can, like, turn this down, but if you don't, you get access to a second part of the game: PUZZLES!

(This is because the entire game is a puzzle, but we haven't gotten there yet. Kind of thing you're supposed to solve on the second playthrough.)

Anyway, Erica's brother is the first to die, but not the last. Next up is the post officer, so news can't leave town. Very scary. Then NPCs start dropping like flies but in an order that doesn't matter because I'm not introducing all of my cast here. But what you get to do is go to the scene of their (either last sighting or grisly murder), and there you get to get two pieces of "information" (old notes, 'this looks like zyx's handwriting', footprints that don't match a certain kind of shoe, etc) spelled out for you by clicking on the right items, and one puzzle you have to solve - like a cryptogram or figuring out what the code to a safe is with a note written over it - to get a third piece of information. You also get a list of 20 scenarios that might have happened, or a list of live NPCs you could blame for the murder. You have to match the right scenario to the right murder, and if you get it wrong, you only lose access to that scenario but it doesn't tell you what the correct one was, only that you were wrong, because I want to force you to do the other thing instead. Which is - if you think you know who did it, you can confront them. It'll only hurt your relationship a little, unless you're right about who it is, in which case Erica goes and does what you see above and then she KILLS YOU!!!!!!!! >:3

Well, not necessarily.

It's the kind of game where you're supposed to want to build up a relationship with the characters (so you care about them turning up dead and want to stop it from happening and all) so Erica is another character you can have conversations with, and stuff. She's actually positioned to be relatively important - she'll give you insider information if she likes you on her dad's business ventures, and she's romanceable! (But watch out.) This means that it would only be fair if I added a secret option where like.

Okay. Erica's deal is that she wants to look defanged, so that when she starts killing people, no one thinks it could possibly be her. So she watches her words, and she watches her mannerisms. Underneath that, she is a seething bloodthirsty person who hates almost everyone around her, has a ledger of slights a million incidences long she intends to repay tenfold in blood for everyone around her, and she also has the means to carry it out. What she doesn't have is a way to get away with it without someone pointing out that she did all this and it following her around. Which means: she is absolutely playing a particular role. But if you encourage her to get mean and bloodthirsty, she'll decide you like her mean and bloodthirsty because you are mean and bloodthirsty, which means... well, maybe you can be an accomplice and not a total 100% murder victim or nothing. So like. If you went the "man Erica your dad kinda sucks I think I want to kill him" route and didn't try to romance her!!!!!!!!!!!! then she'll invite you to go kill everyone in town with her actually. That's a different thing, this is long enough so I won't get into the mechanics of that one but it's a crowd rush (obviously) and designed to be a lot less Extremely Fuckhard.

But like, normalstyle, first she goes "wow omg that's such a hurtful thing to say! what's your problem :( my fucking brother is dead and you said i did it? what's WRONG with you? LOL SIKE yeah i did that shit and it was awesome. and im going to gut you like a fucking fish now" and then she hard-cut drags ydou into soulsborne-style boss combat.

She's got three phases! Uh... let me just copy-paste from my working document for this, actually, it's easier than describing it all casual. Please ignore the all-caps.

PHASE I: SPEED She is INVARIABLY FASTER THAN YOU. She has a small handful of common melee attacks that involve darting and lunging toward you. She has two less-common melee attacks where she comes close and stabs at you multiple times for combo damage, but does not block or defend herself, opening herself up to attack and knockback, which she is susceptible to. She has one rare melee where she feints and then hits you with the stick of her cane, dealing a mild bludgeoning damage but inflicting knockback, and then following up with her knife while you are dazed, dealing combo damage again. She has a dodge that triggers randomly. This phase lasts until her health is at 50%, and then the animation and then second phase is triggered. PHASE-CHANGE ANIMATION: MUH EPIC KNIFETOSS ERICA stops to inform you that she's kind of impressed, actually, she thought you'd be mincemeat by now. She then throws her knife aside, and switches her grip on her cane so that she can swing it like a bat. She does not have I-frames during this time, so she can straight up just be whacked at here. PHASE II: HAMMERTIME ERICA uses her cane as a WAR HAMMER (large, slow, blunt weapon) to deal HEAVY DAMAGE and DEBUFFS slowly. She is about half as fast as you. She has a most common melee attack that is just whacking you with her hammer. This STUNLOCKS you after a KNOCKBACK. She has a less common melee of sweeping you with the butt of her hammer, which deals KNOCKBACK, and then bringing the hammer down on you while you're stumbling in a twofer. This STUNLOCKS you. She has a least-common ranged attack that only triggers like, once per every fifteen minutes or something, where she just straight up kicks something off the ground in your direction. This is homing and cannot be dodged. It deals some minor damage but is mostly just a random thing to bother you with if you're playing ridiculously cautious. She has no dodge here. This phase lasts until her health reaches zero. PHASE-CHANGE ANIMATION: WELL NOW YOU'VE DONE IT ERICA gets annoyed and flings her hammer down, but before you can react, she is shapeshifting into her fox form. This one DOES have I-frames for coding reasons.

PHASE III: HEY GUESS WHAT IDIOT IM NOT A VAMPIRE AFTER ALL! ERICA turns into her FOX FORM, the STRANGE FOREST BEAST! This comes with a SECOND HEALTH BAR about the same size as the first, but ERICA's RESILIENCE is higher! She uses her FOX FORM as her weapon (unarmed melee is the fastest kind of weapon and she has teeth. which are basically blades). She has multiple hand grapples. She has multiple swats that deal KNOCKBACK (no stunlock). If you're really bad at dodging, she can pounce on you with both hands, which deals DEVASTATING DAMAGE, STUNLOCK, and KNOCKDOWN (not KNOCKBACK, which is a stumbling); this comes with a short period where she holds still, laughing, and you can attack her if you want. She has a mouth grapple that allows you to cheese her by utilizing the last couple seconds you have mobility to stab her through the mouth; this is very hard. The grapple deals DEVASTATING DAMAGE and inflicts BLOOD LOSS, a mechanic that only appears for this boss fight and saps your health. She can bite normalstyle, which deal HEAVY DAMAGE. She moves VERY QUICKLY because she moves at the regular speed she walks at but she is now about 5x the size of her usual sprite, which means she covers ground much faster - and she's FAST in her first phase. You have to know WHERE she's going by LEARNING HER ATTACKS or you are just FUCKED fucked. At the end of this phase, if you beat her, Erica laughs, and then collapses to the ground. WINNING the fight on the first run triggers an ANIMATION: Erica, laying down, says "Wow. I really underestimated you. You and I, we must be more alike than I thought. Fair's fair, I guess. Should've done my homework." Then she coughs and slumps. As soon as the camera is pointed away from her, there's a rustling sound, her laugh sounds, and when you turn back, she's just gone. WINNING the fight AFTER the first run triggers a different ANIMATION: ERICA, laying down, says "Ah... you've - oh, you've beaten me. Woe is me... took you long enough, but truly, I have been bested," and then she more dramatically coughs and slumps. As soon as the camera is pointed away from her, a voice line plays - she says "Sike! You don't have it in you!" and when you turn around, she's just gone.

So you see. She's kind of mean once the jig is up. She's not like that before this. But also like, even if you win you don't win. On account of this isn't the end.

Also if you don't guess that she's killing people, or you just fully ignore the entire mystery (you can get involved after the first invitation!), there's a different thing that happens. One day you come into town and everything is just on fire, and also Erica is covered in blood (see: above LOL) and holding a knife. my girl is killing people. no longer up for debate. When she sees you, unless you were doing the secret pro-murder route (which means you have to succeed at a conversation first and if you answer the wrong way she does still try to kill you) she just goes to try and kill you pretty much instantly. If you win at the conversation you get to kill everyone with her again. But either way, at the end of this one, there's still nothing to do, really. Except go home.

So you go home. Your tutorial guy is still there. He's still not talking to you. Your farm is just on fucking fire though. If you click on him, the usual tips menu is replaced with text that says something along the lines of "Tips: LOL".

There's a-- it's not a cutscene because you CAN technically interrupt by attacking them if you want, it's just a terrible plan because you'll aggro them both at once. But Erica shows up and it's basically a cutscene. She and your fucking tutorial guy (he's 'the redheaded man' on account of he never tells you a name lmfao) have a conversation that makes it very clear they were working together this entire time. Like, here's a piece of that exchange:

ERICA: You were right about schemes, turns out. ERICA: They're so rewarding to finish. THE REDHEADED MAN: Nothing like knocking down the dominos, huh? ERICA: Mm... I don't think I'd say dominos. It's too juicy. ERICA: Bringing a real mean plan into fruition. THE REDHEADED MAN: Fruit, huh. ERICA: You nurture it, watch it grow, and then when you taste it... ERICA: ...It's the sweetest thing in the world. THE REDHEAEDED MAN: You're wasted on murder. You could be a poet. ERICA: I'm multifaceted. I can do both.

Then at the end of this they agree that you're like, a perfect patsy, and fuck off to go travel the world now that someone else is going to stand accused of all their murders, since you're a stranger from out of town who showed up, openly had a conflict with the guy who ran the town, and then there were ~all those murders~. Anyway, roll credits!

Then like. There's a second thing I was thinking about and... well, honestly, almost definitely want to keep because it would be a little miserable otherwise. Which is that you can just swing a weapon at anyone at any time, but the game won't like, prompt that basically ever unless someone starts it. That's because unless you swing it at Erica or one of the enemy characters, nothing happens and they just go "[player name], what was that for? ow!" or something.

With one other exception. Which is the tutorial character, our late-game turncoat.

If you swing on THE REDHEADED MAN, he dodges and takes off his glasses. This triggers one of the only directly-triggerable voice lines. THE REDHEADED MAN: I assume that that was an accident. If you swing on THE REDHEADED MAN a second time, he dodges again and throws his hair out of his face. This triggers another voice line. THE REDHEADED MAN: What are you doing, [PLAYER]? If you swing on THE REDHEADED MAN a third time, you can actually hit him, revealing the health bar. It is fucking ridiculously huge (actually, the same amount of health as ERICA, but visible all on one bar). THE REDHEADED MAN: Are you fucking stupid, or are you smarter than I think you are? THE REDHEADED MAN: I guess we'll find out, hm? This will trigger the SECRET HAVEN FIGHT.

yeah okay that tells you his name, this is my oc Haven. in the actual story with him and Erica they DO work together to kill everyone in Erica's hometown, starting with her family but certainly not ending there; they don't quite do it like this though. Also of note is that this is the only character in the entire game who swears, because I think it's funny to have a marker on the game for profanity but it's for a route that only happens if you do something that the game doesn't tell you to do.

Anyway I haven't ironed all the mechanics of this fight out yet because I'm not sure how to make the character work while also making the fight, like... theoretically beatable. me when i have a character who likes to use mind control to tell people to hold still so he can disembowel them and then i need to make you fight them and have some way to win:

But that's what I got.

And i can't even lie. If this was a game someone else made and I could get through the resource management part without getting horribly bored I'd have such a good time with the rest of it. As long as I get the combat system right anyway.

also of note is that there's wolves who will steal your livestock and troublemakers who will steal your crops on top of the saboteurs and you can get in scuffles with them all if you want, also that there are ghost stories you can collect that are all actually about erica in her guise as The Scary Forest Monster Fox or haven/tutorial guy in weird costumes breaking into people's houses at night, there's a polyam grocer couple that wants you to be their third super badly and will bribe you for it, there is an anachronous lesbian biker gang, and you can get 'chaos jobs' that you can pick up that occasionally include 'break a window in xyz's house and we'll give you twenty bucks'. also that our tutorial guy can't be prompted to speak but, if you spend a lot of time around certain characters, has rare voice lines that trigger *eventually* that are like. mild catty insults except for erica. who he likes so he says something complimentary instead. I have a lot of things going on here.

Dont worry about it!

Stardew Valley-inspired Erica animation, drawn sometime in January while I was sick as a dog. This took ages, and all because I wanted to animate the bloodstains moving properly. The framerate isn't even quite right lol.

#hi everyone im talking to the person whose tags these are BUT you can jump in if you want.#anyway you can see why this is a back-burner 'not for a long time' project.#also most likely it won't be 2d when i finally do it. mostly so the fight stuff will be easier.

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