#once the unveil tracks start dropping…

[beehop]

stray kids have discovered the most stressful and overwhelming way to come back i think

[criminally-chill]

Shadows unveiled

Emily Prentiss x army! OC

This is my first fanfiction so please be nice

———————————

The BAU team was deep into the final stages of tracking down their unsub, a former special forces soldier turned serial killer with ties to international crime syndicates. His movements were precise, his attacks calculated, and the case had taken the team into murky international waters. They needed help—someone who understood how this man operated.

That’s why Emily had called Alex Miller, her wife, to assist. Normally, Alex worked in black ops, still active and often vanishing into missions that took her all over the world. But when Emily had reached out, knowing they were at a dead end, Alex had dropped everything to help. Though their relationship was a secret, their work together had always been seamless, even when no one else knew.

Introduced to the team as a covert operations specialist, Alex had already spent a day helping them narrow down the unsub’s location. Now, the team was ready to move in. For once, Alex wouldn’t just be advising from the sidelines. This time, she was going into the field with them—a rare chance for Emily and Alex to work side by side.

Emily couldn’t help but steal glances at Alex as they loaded up in the SUVs, heading out toward an abandoned military facility where they believed the unsub was holed up. Alex was dressed for combat—black tactical gear that blended perfectly with the rest of the team, her movements so smooth that even her prosthetic leg, the result of a past mission, was hardly noticeable. It was moments like these that Emily was reminded of just how skilled and deadly her wife was, though she also knew the softer side—the side that no one else got to see.

The team moved silently through the facility, their weapons drawn, the tension thick in the air. Alex was up front, alongside Rossi, Reid, and Emily. Despite the weight of the case, there was a strange comfort in having Alex by her side. It wasn’t often they got to work together like this, and Emily could feel her heartbeat steadying in sync with Alex’s presence.

"Got eyes on the target," Alex whispered into her comms, peering around a corner and spotting the unsub just ahead. "He’s armed—military-grade weapons."

Rossi nodded, signaling for the team to spread out and take their positions. As the team began to close in, Alex glanced briefly at Emily, their eyes locking for a split second. It was a silent communication they had perfected over the years. They didn’t need words to understand each other, even in the middle of a takedown.

Alex took point, leading the charge into the room. The unsub, clearly aware that he was being surrounded, turned on them, raising his weapon. Shots rang out, and the team scattered behind cover. Emily’s heart lurched as she watched Alex, her movements precise as she returned fire, keeping the unsub pinned down.

"Stay low!" Alex shouted to the rest of the team as they advanced, using her training to outmaneuver the unsub. Emily and JJ moved in from the left while Rossi and Reid flanked from the right.

Alex was the first to engage the unsub directly, disarming him with a fluid motion that spoke to years of black ops experience. He swung at her wildly, but she blocked his attack with her prosthetic leg, using it to her advantage. She twisted his arm behind his back, forcing him to the ground with a strength that seemed almost effortless.

“Stay down!” she ordered, pressing him to the floor as the rest of the team moved in to cuff him.

Emily couldn’t help but feel a surge of pride watching Alex handle the situation so flawlessly. Her heart was still pounding from the intensity of the takedown, but she knew it would’ve gone far worse if Alex hadn’t been there. The unsub was dangerous, highly trained, and yet Alex had made it look easy.

Once the unsub was secured, the team took a collective breath. The tension in the air started to ease as they realized the threat was neutralized.

“Nice work, Miller,” Rossi said, giving Alex a nod of approval. “You’ve got some serious skills.”

Alex smirked, brushing a strand of hair out of her face. “I’ve had a lot of practice.”

“Remind me not to get on your bad side,” JJ added, half-joking as she secured the suspect.

Alex glanced over at Emily, and though their gazes only held for a moment, the unspoken bond between them was clear. Emily felt the familiar tug in her chest, the knowledge that this incredible woman was hers—and that, for once, they’d be going home together at the end of it all.

Back at the BAU office, the team wrapped up their reports while the unsub was processed for interrogation. Everyone was exhausted, but the sense of accomplishment hung in the air. Emily leaned back in her chair, feeling the familiar buzz of adrenaline start to fade.

Alex appeared at the doorway of her office, arms crossed as she leaned against the frame, her tactical gear now slightly scuffed from the takedown. “Ready to head out?” she asked, her voice low so the others wouldn’t overhear.

Emily glanced around, making sure no one was paying attention, then stood and walked over to her wife. “Absolutely. I’ve been ready for days.”

Alex smiled softly. “Then let’s get out of here.”

As they headed for the exit, they ran into the team in the bullpen, who were making last-minute plans to grab drinks at their usual bar.

“Hey, you guys coming?” JJ asked, throwing a look between Emily and Alex.

“Not tonight,” Emily said, shaking her head with a small smile. “I think I’m going to head home.”

JJ raised an eyebrow, but her smile widened. “Alright. Don’t be stranger Alex”

As Emily and Alex made their way out of the building, Emily couldn’t help but feel a sense of peace she hadn’t felt in a long time. Alex wasn’t disappearing into the night, off to some unknown mission. This time, they were heading home together.

The drive back to their apartment was quiet, the tension from the day slowly unraveling. They didn’t need to fill the silence with words—just being together was enough. When they finally stepped inside their apartment, it felt like the weight of the world lifted off their shoulders.

Alex dropped her keys on the counter and turned to Emily, pulling her into a tight embrace. “We did good today,” she murmured, pressing a kiss to Emily’s forehead.

Emily melted into her touch. “Yeah, we did. But I’m really glad you’re staying home this time.”

Alex smiled, her fingers brushing through Emily’s hair. “I’m home more than you think. I might vanish for missions, but you’re still my home.”

Emily sighed, resting her head against Alex’s shoulder. “I like the sound of that.”

They settled into the couch, Alex’s arm wrapped around Emily as they relaxed for the first time in what felt like forever. The adrenaline from the takedown was finally gone, replaced by a calm sense of contentment. For the first time in a while, they didn’t have to worry about what tomorrow might bring. Alex wasn’t vanishing into another mission, and Emily wasn’t drowning in another case.

They had each other. And for tonight, that was all that mattered.

[itsjustbell]

Set in Stone

Prologue

Viktor x artist!reader (reader is low-key a self insert but aren't they all?)

Summary: To commemorate the success and completion of the Hex Gates, Councilor Merdarda has decided to commission an up-and-coming artist to sculpt a statue of Jayce and Viktor.

Warnings: none

A sea of shuttering lights blinded Viktor almost completely as he struggled to maintain his best attempt at a “winning smile”. The urge to turn away and shield himself from the cameras was strong, but he fought against it. He didn’t want to be confronted with his scrunched up visage in the newspaper tomorrow:  “Co-founder of Hextech shown sneering at unveiling of the new Hexgates.” Jayce would never let him live that down if he became the new shining headline for Piltover’s press. This was supposed to be a joyous occasion for the two of them. The news of the new gates would surely bring in a lot more investors, which meant more funding, which meant better equipment and more amenities to further their research. Gods forbid history look back at him as being disgruntled– no, ungrateful, at the event of their success. So Viktor smiled and waved against the onslaught of camera flash. 

It seemed years before Councilor Merdarda appeared once more in all her gilded glory to say a few words before leading them offstage. Viktor’s face immediately dropped as soon as they were out of sight. His cheeks hurt immensely, even more so as he tried to wrangle them back into some state of normality. 

“I was starting to think my face would become paralyzed,” He said, holding his jaw. Jayce clapped his shoulder with a hearty laugh. 

“It’s a sign you should smile more then!” Viktor rolled his eyes, a more natural smiling snaking its way onto his face. He didn’t expect Merdarda to comment as well. 

“Perhaps you should,” She chimed, “I imagine the press will be swarming you both for a while after this.” 

She stopped in her tracks as some assistant of hers gave her a clipboard of papers to look at. She flipped through them half-heartedly before giving her signature and handing them back. 

“Not to mention, there’ll be a lot more ‘smiling and waving’ at tonight’s gala. I do hope you’ll both be joining us. It’s in your honor, after all.” 

If her tone was anything to go by, the two didn’t have much of a choice. He hoped his discontent wasn’t obvious on his face. Parties were never his forte, let alone the formal, lavish ones that the councilor seemed to enjoy. Jayce looked at him knowingly. 

“This’ll be good for us, Vik, relax.”  He wished he could share in Jayce’s optimism. 

“Good indeed, there’ll be investors from all over and enough food and drink to fill your… tiny scholar stomachs for the next month,” she added, “I’m sure you’ll find a way to enjoy yourselves.” 

“Well, if we can get more funding, I’m sure this night will prove worthwhile,” Viktor sighed. He supposed he might as well make the most of the night. It wasn’t often that one got invited to one of these after all, let alone had one hosted in their honor, as much as he despised them. 

“It’s all business with you, isn’t it?” Merdarda remarked. Viktor shrugged. Jayce chuckled almost awkwardly next to him. 

“We’ll be there. Thank you again, councilor.” 

“Please, just Mel is fine, we’ll be working together more I presume after all. No need for formalities.” She smiled. 

Viktor had an inkling that was directed more so at Jayce than himself. He didn’t like the idea of getting ‘chummy’ with Piltover elites.

Her gaze pricked up at the sound of her name being called. 

“Duty calls,” she said, dusting her dress. “See you boys later.” 

And with a lingering hand on Jayce’s shoulder, she was gone. 

It was going to be a long night. 

- ⧫⧫⧫ -

Viktor tugged on the collar of his shirt absentmindedly. Combined with the overwhelming crowd of people, laughing and boozing, it felt suffocating. He’d long since tuned out of the conversation Jayce was having with some potential investor, mind wandering instead to how many tiles were on the floor or how feathers seemed to have reached the height of fashion amongst the higher echelons of society. 

He didn’t mind at all letting Jayce take control of the conversation. Even though he was chided for being all “business”, Jayce seemed to be a natural at it. He supposed his familial background had something to do with that. Besides, all the investors seemed to gravitate naturally to Jayce anyway. Once he said his little introductory spiel about what Hextech had to offer, they seemed to forget he was even there… he tried not to think too much about how his own background played into that. 

He didn’t care much for the opinions of uppity politicians, anyway. If they didn’t want to talk to him, fine. He was happy enough to use Jayce as a social buffer whilst he sipped glasses of whatever sparkling wine the waiters walked by with. Merdarda hadn’t lied, the refreshments indeed flowed freely and the hors d’oeuvres were impeccably plentiful. Oh, speak of the devil—

“Apologies, Mr. Windsor. Do you mind if I steal these two for a moment?” 

And there she was, dressed in shimmering black. It seemed the feather trend had reached even to her. Her gown reminded him of the crows he used to see on the outer parts of Zaun, where the smog was not as thick, with their almost oil slickened iridescence. He was sure Jayce was enjoying the view it provided of her bosom. From the corner of his eye, it almost seemed like this Windsor fellow was as well. 

Not one to argue with a councilor, Mr. Windsor didn’t have any problem making himself scarce. 

“You needed something?” Jayce asked. Viktor noted how his chest puffed slightly now that she had her attention on them. 

“I have someone I want you both to meet.” She said, already walking into the crowd. 

Soon, Viktor found himself standing at the entrance of one of the many balconies that lined the upper floors of the building. Leaning on its railing was a young woman, who’s clothes, though elegant, seemed simple when compared to the extravagance of those in the main ballroom. It was almost refreshing to see a lack of feathers. 

Merdarda tapped you on the arm to get your attention, before corralling you towards them with an arm behind your back. 

“I’d like you to meet the talented Madam Brisbois,” She beamed at the young lady. “She works in the Art and Design branch of the academy. I’ve decided to put her skills to use.” Viktor exchanged a look with Jayce. 

“I wasn’t aware the academy even had an Art branch,” Jayce said. 

“I-it’s a very small branch,” you said with a quiet laugh. Merdarda hummed in amusement. 

“To commemorate the success of the gates, I’ve commissioned her to craft a statue of you two to be placed in the academy.” 

A statue? That was a first. 

“Oh wow, thank you, Mel, I don’t know what to say.” Jayce said.

“Yes, it is… far too kind of you, Councilor,” 

“Oh please, you act as if you boys haven’t made history!” She laughed. “I’ll be leaving you to discuss details, I have other matters to attend to now.”

Of course, she did.  

…

“So,” Jayce began. “How do these things usually go?” 

You chuckled awkwardly, “Well to begin, I’d like to… shadow you while you work if that’s alright— to help understand how you two interact.” 

Jayce looked at him. He shrugged. He couldn’t really find any reason against it. 

“I don’t see why not, though I can’t guarantee there’ll be anything interesting happening.” 

“Yes, you’ve caught us at a bit of a lull in work. We’ll mostly be working out the next steps for Hextech.” Viktor added. You waved a hand in the air as if to dissuade worry. 

“Just getting the chance to work with you is more than interesting enough. I still can’t believe the Councilor has even asked me to do this!” You laughed nervously, before clearing your voice. 

“Sorry, um, where are my manners?” You held out a hand for them to shake. “I look forward to working with you— or well your likenesses that is.” 

For the first time of the night, Viktor found himself laughing as well. Even if it was more of a short puff of air than anything else. Jayce clasped your hand loudly with a firm shake. “We look forward to working with you, too. I’ve never worked with an artist before.” 

“Yes,” Viktor said, shifting his weight on his cane. “ It’ll be interesting to see how this turns out.” 

Interesting indeed. 

[xb-squaredx]

Gaming in 2022: A Look Back

With another year behind us, many have a lot to look forward to, especially in the realm of gaming. That said, it’s also important to take stock of just what happened last year. While it’s taken me a bit of time to get this out there (December was a pretty crazy month), it’s time to look back on gaming in 2022, from the highs to the lows and everything in between. Some interesting trends, drama and surprise comebacks are in store for us so let’s get started!

THE BIG THREE (AND EVERYONE ELSE)

Let’s start with a quick recap of the highlights for some of the biggest companies in the gaming sphere. First, the Big N: Nintendo had a pretty interesting year. The Switch continues to sell well, currently sitting at 114 million units sold, with it now working on overcoming the strong sales of their most successful handheld consoles. Despite loud cries for a Switch successor, sales haven’t really slowed down. In fact, at multiple points this year Nintendo made headlines for strong sales, with the much awaited Splatoon 3 breaking records for the best Japanese launch ever, just a few years after Animal Crossing: New Horizons crashed past the previous record. And just a few months later Pokémon Scarlet and Violet threatened that record as well. Overall, strong sales for many games and some mostly well-received titles too. It was a year for trilogies as we saw the release of Xenoblade Chronicles 3, Splatoon 3 and Bayonetta 3 within quick succession of each other, not to mention Kirby and the Forgotten Land as a strong debut for the pink puffball’s first fully 3D outing. That said, other titles weren’t as warmly received: Nintendo Switch Sports and Mario Strikers: Battle League have a somewhat lukewarm reception, receiving criticism for lacking content that would be rectified with free updates throughout the year. As far as big reveals, the long-awaited sequel to Breath of the Wild was fully unveiled as Tears of the Kingdom, though would be delayed into May of 2023. Adding to this, in a bit of a swerve Nintendo would reveal a two year plan of DLC tracks for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, on top of reveals like Fire Emblem: Engage and Pikmin 4 slated for 2023. One of the most talked about gaming topics in 2022 however was the full unveiling of the Super Mario Movie. While the casting of Chris Pratt as Mario still draws criticism, once full trailers were out showcasing the rest of the cast and gorgeous visuals the overall perception of the movie has become quite positive as it approaches a 2023 release as well. A busy year for Nintendo, with plenty still on their plate moving into the new year.

Microsoft’s efforts this year have been fairly mixed. On the software front, they didn’t really bring much to the field this past year, something they’ve acknowledged themselves. Outside of some smaller, more narrative-driven games like Pentiment or Immortality the bigger IPs currently tied to Xbox are very quiet. Games like Everwild or Hellblade 2 seem a ways off, with other large titles like Starfield delayed into 2023. On top of that, the overall reception to Halo Infinite continues to be mixed for such a tent pole release. Various updates like co-op or the Forge were constantly delayed, with split-screen co-op, a mainstay for the series, having been dropped entirely. Really, the biggest news out of Xbox this year was Microsoft shocking the industry with the attempted acquisition of Activision and Blizzard. While negotiations are ongoing, with the FTC getting involved at points, there has been much discussion generated about the potential purchase. Microsoft has had some pretty wild arguments as they attempt to paint buying up a gigantic company right off the heels of buying another giant company with Bethesda as necessary to compete with the likes of Sony, though the current heads of the FTC don’t seem to be buying them. Hard to tell where the news will go from here, but it was definitely one of the biggest stories to come out of gaming in 2022.

Lastly from the big three we have Sony, which also had a somewhat slower year. When it comes to large, first-party releases they were spread fairly thin. Horizon: Forbidden West came early in the year, though all discussion on it seemed to be snuffed out just weeks later with the release of Elden Ring, Fromsoftware’s latest smash hit. While we would see releases like the Last of Us remake later in the year, discussion didn’t really pick up again until the proper release of GOTY contender God of War: Ragnarok. Two prestige games to bookend the year isn’t too shabby for Sony, on top of their continued efforts to make certain first-party games available on PC, such as the first Horizon game, 2018’s God of War, the Uncharted series and now one of the few true PS5 exclusives in Returnal. On that note, it would seem that 2022 is the last major year for cross-gen games, which has somewhat contributed to the latest console generation’s rather sluggish start (but hey, a global pandemic on top of several other issues will do that). As the year went on however, it does seem as if PlayStation 5 consoles are becoming slightly easier to acquire and sales are generally on a positive turn, at roughly 30 million consoles sold at the end of 2022. As a response to Microsoft’s continued bids to acquire studios, Sony has also announced a plan to purchase Bungie, likely in a bid to have them craft a first-party multiplayer title to compete with the likes of Halo, Bungie’s former claim-to-fame, or even their own efforts with the Destiny series. Sony also caught flack for their VR support this year, revealing not only the hefty price tag on the PlayStation VR 2, but that it would not be compatible at all with the previous VR system. For the big movers and shakers of the industry we’re definitely seeing the ongoing aftershocks of the COVID-19 pandemic, with delays and dry spells, not to mention supply issues, though it does seem that stability is on the horizon.

For the smaller developers out there, there’s definitely some good and bad spread around. Fromsoftware finally released the long-awaited Elden Ring and created a smash hit the likes of which the company hasn’t seen before, selling over 17 million copies by 2022’s end. In addition to winning Game of the Year from The Game Awards, they also dropped a full reveal trailer for their next project, Armored Core VI: Flames of Rubicon, which delighted many long-time fans. While many have argued over just how successful the company has been in recent years, some still calling them a rather niche developer, Elden Ring’s success seems to have cemented Fromsoftware as among the most prominent Japanese developers, and all eyes will be on their future work.

Square Enix had a somewhat rocky year. While further details on the likes of Final Fantasy XVI, as well as the next installment in the Final Fantasy VII “remake” were real highlights, alongside the reveal of Kingdom Hearts 4, a number of smaller titles released throughout the year were more mixed. The strategy game The Diofield Chronicle, the action RPG Valkyrie Elysium and farm sim Harvestella had a so-so reception, but then there were more acclaimed titles like the Live A Live and Crisis Core remakes, as well as Strange of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin. But the year started with quite the one-two punch of Babylon’s Fall and Chocobo GP, both lambasted by critics and players alike. The former was seen as a disappointing action MMO, with the latter being a greedy live service racing game that held back what could have otherwise been a welcome remake of the older Chocobo racing games. But far and away the biggest story coming out of Square Enix was selling off their western studios to Embracer, and not long after the sale Embracer would close down what was once Square Enix Montreal. For one of the more prominent developers out there, it was quite the spotty track record this year.

When it comes to third-party consoles or gaming platforms, we saw the death of one and rise of another. Google’s Stadia, a cloud-gaming service, was formally shut down, though customers were refunded all purchases, so there’s that! Elsewhere, Valve released the Steam Deck, effectively a portable gaming PC to mostly positive reception. While likely not going to overtake the Switch anytime soon, it stands as a viable alternative for gamers that want more portability with much better specs. All things told, the industry has had its fair share of ups and downs, but it continues onwards, and as a result there are some interesting trends coming out of the year.

A NEW ERA OF FIGHTING GAMES, THE REVIVAL OF HORROR AND…SONIC IS GOOD AGAIN?

We’ll start with my personal bias and once again dive into the world of fighting games. Generally speaking, things have been on the upturn for the fighting game genre. The pandemic finally forced Japanese developers to recognize the importance of quality netcode and we have been hit with multiple announcements of retrofitting the netcode into older titles, and even more current titles. Arc System Work’s entire modern catalogue has either had rollback added or will be added in the near future, while enjoying continued success with Guilty Gear Strive on top of the release of DNF Duel. Strive’s DLC also ended up getting quite a bit of attention throughout the year, with the release of Testament, a nonbinary character and fan-favorite Bridget, who has come out as transsexual in this new installment, many praising ArcSys for their portrayal (mostly). SNK isn’t far behind, releasing King of Fighters XV to great acclaim, with it boasting quality netcode, on top of them announcing the implementation of rollback for the most recent Samurai Shodown game as well as announcing a new Garou game to end the year on a bang. After the mixed reception to the previous entry, the proper unveiling of Street Fighter 6 has been extremely well received. The updated visuals, warmly-received newcomers to the roster, impressive online and a bevy of single-player offerings has many hyping this up as perhaps the best Street Fighter yet, due out in June 2023. Namco fully unveiled Tekken 8, and while concrete details are still unknown, many praised the updated visuals and hope the game’s netcode will be up to snuff with the competition. We also saw the release of MultiVersus from Warner Bros. A platform fighter starring a gaggle of characters from various IPs under WB’s control, it managed to make massive waves as the open beta hit, becoming the best-selling game in July with over 10 million downloads in that first month alone. Being a successful free-to-play game certainly gives other full-priced fighting games some pause, though it remains to be seen if this success might impact the genre in a greater capacity. Still though, things are looking good for fighting game fans, but they’re not the only genre fans eating well.

Horror fans have had their ups and downs, though in recent times the genre has seen a resurgence of sorts, and not just from smaller indie games this time either! Fans were hit with a double-whammy of reveals for the long-rumored Resident Evil 4 remake, alongside a Silent Hill 2 remake. In addition to confirming an Alan Wake remake, Remedy would also confirm work on Alan Wake 2.  In an ironic twist, EA has also prepared a Dead Space remake launching just a few months after the spiritual successor The Callisto Protocol. That said, there were still some smaller developers out there that deserve some spotlight, and late in the year horror fans were suddenly gifted with Signalis, a stylish throwback to classic horror games that has been very well received.

Something that might be a bit of a coincidence this year was a number of people from the game industry sharing their insights with pivots into the likes of podcasts, and YouTube videos. Industry legend Hideo Kojima is starting his own podcast, while former employees from Nintendo of America, Kit and Krysta, launched their own podcast and shed some lights on the inner workings of Nintendo. Probably the most interesting of all though was Masahiro Sakurai, the man behind Kirby, Super Smash Bros. and Kid Icarus Uprising becoming a YouTuber as he has entered “semi-retirement.” His YouTube channel boasts surprisingly high production values as he offers up a variety of game development tips, tricks and insights delivered in entertaining, concise videos at no cost. That certainly wasn’t on my Bingo card for this year.

We can keep the positivity going strong here, as 2022 was a fairly good year for adaptations of games for the most part. While there were some panned ones, such as the Uncharted movie, the Netflix Resident Evil series, and the live-action Halo series, this was also a year that gave us some solid animated adaptations. Arcane was seen by many as a fantastic look into the world of League of Legends, with amazing animation and an emotional tale that had people excited for more in that game’s world. Netflix’s Cuphead animated show also received a warm reception from fans for paying tribute to classic animation and giving players the chance to see a different side of the quirky cartoon cast. Something that caught everyone off-guard was the runaway success that was Cyberpunk Edgerunners. While tying in with the CD Projekt Red video game, this also draws from THAT game’s inspiration, the Cyberpunk tabletop game. Animated by Trigger, Edgerunners had praise heaped upon it for the stylish animation, emotional gut punches in the story and embodying the style and flair of the cyberpunk genre even better than the game did. It was so successful it had a pretty large impact on the game’s sales as well. There was also the second Sonic movie…and speaking of…

So, Sonic has had it pretty rough for a while now, we can agree on that right? A punching bag to the gaming population at large, he hasn’t been seen in a positive light by anyone but the most diehard fans in quite some time, and yet 2022 seems like it might just be the start of a redemption arc for the blue blur. While the first movie was successful, the second movie in particular did quite well with a third movie already green lit, on top of a separate Knuckles series on the Paramount+ app. Elsewhere on the animation scene the Netflix show, Sonic Prime, has been mostly well-received for its energetic animation and interesting premise, though we only have a scant few episodes to judge it right now. The IDW comics have received praise for quite a while now, but the real test was the release of the first major Sonic game in years: Sonic Frontiers. While opinions are somewhat split, the overall consensus has been positive. Most consider the game a step in the right direction for the series in terms of tone and storytelling, the plot itself penned by IDW comic writer Ian Flynn. The open world…or rather “open zone” gameplay has mostly been well-received with particular praise given to Sonic’s control. The soundtrack also goes pretty hard too, just to give my own two cents. For the first time in a while, Sonic has a lot of positivity surrounding him and it’s great to see the underdog come out on top for once.

THE BIGGEST HITS AND MISSES OF 2022

If we’re talking underdogs though, indies are always struggling against the bigger dogs in the industry, so it was quite cathartic to see one of the more successful sleeper hits of the year come from one person. Luca Galante, also known as poncle, published Vampire Survivors in early access in late 2021 and the game truly blew up in 2022. A shoot ‘em up where players maneuver through waves of enemies as their character attacks automatically, the game boasted a roguelike design with random power ups and such strewn about to make every run of the game unique, alongside a consistent dopamine hit of new weapons, power ups, and synergies to continuously experiment with. While the overall presentation is a bit cheap, the game itself is quite cheap, with strong word of mouth allowing it to become of one of the best success stories of the year, inspiring a number of imitators in the short time it’s been out.

When people look back on 2022, there are quite a few games that managed to stand out in one way or another. Elden Ring certainly is among the biggest winners of the year with tons of acclaim and sales success, there are the big aforementioned Sony prestige games with Horizon and God of War, Nintendo’s three-hit combo of trilogies with Bayonetta, Splatoon and Xenoblade, on top of a few other notable games from smaller developers. Asobo Studio’s A Plague’s Tale: Requiem and Bluetail Studio’s Stray managed to garner quite a bit of attention. The former continues from the previous A Plague’s Tale’s brutal and unnerving rat-based horror and for Stray…well, who wouldn’t want to play as a cute cat in a robotic, post-apocalyptic setting? There’s honestly a huge amount of games that came out last year that deserve tons of attention. Beat ‘em ups got a fair share of play with River City Girls 2, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge and Sifu. The former two build off of classic 2D beat ‘em ups and have some gorgeous pixel art, while Sifu embodies the style and flow of martial arts movies, with the added twist of your character aging with every death and giving players a hard limit to how many times they can die before having to start from scratch. I wish I could list every single notable release, but there’s only so much time I could use to spotlight them all.

Not every game is perfect, or for everyone, but a good many games this year got raked through the coals from fans and critics alike for a variety of reasons. Considering the ongoing allegations from Activision-Blizzard, not to mention the potential Microsoft buyout, is it any surprise that the release of Overwatch 2 would generate such controversy? For starters, many weren’t exactly on board with the game’s seemingly minor changes to aesthetics and the paltry amount of new heroes at launch. Overwatch 2 changed gears to a live-service model complete with a battle pass that forces players to grind to obscene amounts to unlock new heroes to play as, and at launch received flack over the requirement of a phone number for voice chat that actually locked out certain players if they weren’t on specific plans. The fact that the original game was absorbed into Overwatch 2 and is no longer playable also didn’t go over well. Of course that isn’t to say the game didn’t do well though, so it goes to show how even massive controversy can’t really keep people from their favorite games.

Similar flack was levied at Gotham Knights, a co-op action game set in the Batman universe that was lambasted by many for an overly repetitive, grindy design that was very likely going to follow in the footsteps of the Square Enix Avengers game that crashed and burned awhile back, though any live-service elements were stripped out of this one. The Saint’s Row reboot, however, not only got lambasted by longtime fans of the series, but the sales apparently weren’t all that impressive and developer Volition isn’t in the best straits at the moment. Despite riding high on the hype of being a true Dead Space spiritual successor, The Callisto Protocol was seen as a disappointment by survival horror fans for the game’s strange focus on melee combat, as well as a subpar PC release. Probably the most overtly reviled game this year, at least on social media, was High on Life, a first person shooter by Squach Games. While by itself a competent FPS with some neat combat and puzzles, for many the kiss of death was the heavy involvement from Justin Roiland. Even BEFORE all of the drama with Roiland’s sexual abuse scandal, many had grown tired of the same voice Roiland put on for many characters as well as the rambling, improv-heavy dialogue…though it still seemed to do quite well on Game Pass so…make of that what you will.

BAYONETTA BOYCOTTS, BROKEN BACKS AT TWITCH CON, AND CONTINUED CORPORATE KERFUFFLES

While Nintendo largely skates by with games that are, at worst, a bit disappointing, they managed to find themselves in quite a few controversies this year. While the release of Bayonetta 3 should have been a welcome one for longtime fans who could finally play the game after a lengthy wait from the first announcement, mere weeks before release Helena Taylor, the former voice of the titular character, took to Twitter and called for a boycott of the game. She alleged that she had been offered a mere $4000 for her voice work on the game and she had argued for a fair wage only to be rejected. While further investigation would show she wasn’t being entirely truthful, the debacle ended up making Bayonetta 3 a catalyst for extended talk about how voice actors are often undervalued by multiple industries. The game’s release itself generated some complaints levied at its ending as well, though nothing nearly as big as the VA controversy. Considering Platinum also launched Babylon’s Fall this year, a game that crashed and burned almost immediately after and will be shut down not long from now, it’s been an off year for them. Then there was the launch of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. You would think one of the most profitable franchises of all time would have something approaching quality control and yet the release of the latest generation of Pokémon games resulted in this game joining the likes of Cyberpunk 2077, and the GTA Trilogy in what is becoming a trend: releasing highly buggy, borderline broken games right at the end of the year. The game’s poor performance in the open world, alongside various visual and audio bugs made the rounds on social media, with many once again questioning why such a prolific series would allow games to release in such a state. Despite that, many felt the games were among the most fun in the franchise in a good long while, praising the open-world approach, which softened the blow somewhat.

Then, just as the year was about at its end, Nintendo once again drew the ire of the Super Smash Bros. competitive scene. After partnering with Panda Global last year, many had hoped this was the start of Nintendo working well with eSports and competitive Smash, but the cancellation of non-Panda events, including the Smash World Tour opened old wounds. The Panda CEO, Alan Bunney, would step down but that hasn’t stopped roughly 80% of Panda’s signed players from leaving the company in protest. Panda allegedly got Nintendo involved in closing these other events down, seemingly eyeing a monopoly and as it stands 2023 is likely to be a very rocky year for the Smash scene, and serves as a stern warning to others in the fighting game community about the dangers of working with corporations on their terms.

Outside of some games being of lower quality though, the industry at large, like anything else, still has some unsavory dealings that sprang up throughout the year. Admittedly the year was off to a good start, with Riot forced to pay up as a result of their sexual harassment case. Sadly, comeuppance like that wouldn’t exactly last. Hard to pick where to start here, really. Rooster Teeth, an entertainment company with roots in the gaming industry, is no stranger to controversy but in October of this year a former employee alleged mistreatment at the company on a number of grounds that Rooster Teeth itself acknowledged in a response, claiming that they would do better, though I suppose old habits die hard.

Twitch Con was the subject of some controversy during the event in October. A ball pit ended up being the site of multiple injuries by attendees, the foam bits used to fill it not being very deep and solid concrete found underneath. One attendee, Adriana Chechik, broke her back in two places, the tweet showing this going viral and putting eyes on Twitch Con’s lack of safety precautions. Seeing as Twitch also changed up the revenue sharing with creators, going from a 70/30 split to 50/50, they aren’t exactly gaining any fans at current.

Late last year to the surprise of many G4TV returned to television. A revival of the gaming-centered channel, featuring a number of new and old talents attempting to reclaim that magic from the early 2000s sadly closed its doors late this year. The news itself went out in a tweet that ended up being the first time many members of G4, such as Jirard the Completionist, would find out they were losing their job. While G4 was once a big deal in the gaming scene, I think this revival showcased just how much the landscape in gaming media and journalism has changed. As disappointing as it is to see the channel fail once again, at least you got Scott the Woz episodes on cable for about a year so…n-no that doesn’t really seem worth it at all, does it?

The man who is often credited as the creator of Sonic, Yuji Naka, ended up in the news several times this year, and in the process has lost much of his once lauded reputation. Following the disastrous release of Balan Wonderworld back in 2021, Naka made headlines as he addressed some behind the scenes drama regarding the game’s development. He claims he was shut out of development and his vision was not fully respected or realized with the game, laying the blame solely at the feet of Square Enix and Arzest, who assisted with development. However, later in the year he would be hit with not one but TWO different arrests over insider trading so…maybe he’s not exactly squeaky clean either.

(Photo credit to gamepressure.com)

Perhaps the most unfortunate bit of business this year has come from ZA/UM, the developers behind the acclaimed narrative game Disco Elysium. The ZA/UM Cultural Association, separate from the development studio, was disbanded last year and three of the leads behind Disco Elysium were ousted from the company. There have been accusations that the current leadership ousted them under false pretenses and as it stands now, the original creators of the Disco Elysium game are suing the company. Taking a game that was lauded for its iconic artwork and writing, a deeply satirical tale that took shots at politics of all kinds, and seeing unchecked corporate greed ousting the creative leads that gave that game the special sauce that led to such acclaim is saddening. At the moment it is unclear just how things might shake out with court proceedings and if any other accusations might be unearthed, but going into 2023 it isn’t exactly boding well for the in-development sequel.

On a somewhat lighter note, 2023 had some surprising leaks and resurfaced projects hit mainstream attention. An older version of the infamous Duke Nukem Forever was found, hot off the heels of a leaked copy of the cancelled Rayman 4. Considering how hard it can be to find these pieces of gaming history, if nothing else these are interesting finds. That said, there was an extremely substantial leak from Rockstar from the still in development Grand Theft Auto 6 game that garnered the most attention this year. It just might be the biggest leak of a high profile game at the moment, and quite a lot of discussions stemmed from it. Some complained about having a female lead, others criticized the game’s visuals…despite said game not having a set release and judging it solely off of footage from in-development builds that are not meant for the public eye. If nothing else, it likely made things even more difficult for the developers and someone likely lost their job from this if nothing else. With remote working becoming a bit more of a standard as the pandemic lingers on, it’s likely that proper security practices will have to be updated to adapt to the new development environment.

IN CONCLUSION

Whew! A lot can happen in a year, who would have guessed?! It’s a lot of work combing through all kinds of articles, podcasts and social media posts as I curate topics for discussion but I find it a labor of love for this industry and the games that are birthed from it. Remembering the big news stories of the year, the biggest games and the most notable flops…it all helps to put things more into perspective. Sometimes you can see new stories and the biggest titles of the year coming far in advance. Elden Ring was always going to be big, for example. But then there are the surprises of the year: Vampire Survivors coming from out of nowhere and garnering huge success, for one. Sonic’s redemption arc isn’t something I was counting on this year but it’s a welcome surprise nonetheless. While a LOT of bad can still be found in this industry, it’s important to take that alongside the triumphs. Gaming has really never been bigger than it is now. The Game Awards accrues more viewers than the Oscars, and while it’s been off to a slow start, a big shiny console generation is really starting to kick off. We have big games to look forward to, and plenty of surprises are surely in store. I try to stay positive and while I ended on a bit of a downer this year (again), it’s clear the industry will continue to move forward. 2022 was a solid year with some really big games, and 2023 is shaping up to surpass it in some regards with some highly anticipated titles. We have the next Zelda and Final Fantasy titles to look forward to, Starfield might actually exist and get to be a thing, and that’s just the stuff we already know about! I have no doubt there’s controversies and seedy dealings that will be brought to light this year, like any other year, but the fact that more noise is being made about better work environments at all is comforting to me. People aren’t just sitting down and taking it, and ultimately we all continue to move forward, doing our best to ensure tomorrow is a bit better than the day before. Let’s hope 2023 can be a better year.

-B

[fyboynextdoor]

BOYNEXTDOOR UNVEILS FIRST PERFORMANCE OF NEW SONG 'PARENTS NOT ALLOWED'—PACKED WITH DISTINCT VIBES

BOYNEXTDOOR Unveils First-Ever Performance of Pre-release Track 'Parents Not Allowed.' BOYNEXTDOOR (SungHo, Riwoo, Myung Jae Hyun, Taesan, Lee Han, Woonhak) appeared as the main stars of the fifth episode of Mnet's 'MY ARTI FILM,' which aired on September 3 at 9 PM. They showcased a unique new content, blending acting and performance as experimental subjects in a space research lab. On this day, BOYNEXTDOOR captured significant attention by revealing the full choreography for their newly pre-released track, "Parents Not Allowed," for the first time. The members, portrayed as being trapped in a laboratory, donned military-style outfits and kicked off the performance with rebellious gazes. As they circled around freely to the lyrics, "Let's all hang out, take a lap around the neighborhood," they hinted at a sense of rebellion, exuding a hip and energetic vibe throughout the performance with their distinctive gestures. On this day, BOYNEXTDOOR captured significant attention by revealing the full choreography for their newly pre-released track, "Parents Not Allowed," for the first time. The members, portrayed as being trapped in a laboratory, dressed in military-style outfits and kicked off the performance with rebellious gazes. As they circled around freely to the lyrics, "Let's all hang out, take a lap around the neighborhood," they hinted at a sense of rebellion, exuding a hip and energetic vibe throughout the performance with their distinctive gestures. Once they broke free from the lab, the members infiltrated the research facility that had been monitoring them, intensifying their performance by dramatically scattering stacks of documents. The scene where they flee the facility as alarms blare added a thrilling rush, leaving viewers exhilarated. The steady and convincing acting showcased in 'MY ARTI FILM' also drew attention. The members portrayed experimental subjects under the character played by Ha Seokjin, whom they referred to as "Dad," clinging to the hope of reaching an ideal world they called "New World." Despite their oppressive circumstances, they conveyed the blossoming of friendship through pure and innocent expressions, evoking a sense of sympathy from the viewers. When the members discovered the lab's plan to discard them, they effectively captured the complex emotions of seriousness and betrayal, heightening the immersion even within the short runtime. "Parents Not Allowed" is the pre-release track from BOYNEXTDOOR's upcoming mini album, '19.99,' set to drop on the 9th. This hip-hop song, potraying a nighttime escapade one would rather keep from their parents, has garnered enthusiastic responses with its relatable lyrics and a music video brimming with "MZ" energy. Starting on the 5th with Mnet's 'M Countdown,' they will be showcasing the track on music shows throughout the week. Having warmed up the comeback atmosphere with "Parents Not Allowed," BOYNEXTDOOR is set to kick off their full-fledged activities with the title track "Nice Guy" from their new release on the 9th. "Nice Guy" offers a different charm from the pre-release track, featuring a broad appeal that makes it easily accessible to everyone.

REPORTED BY HWANG HYE-JIN ON NEWSEN NAVER [TRANS: bndwiki]

[apricusnights]

Chapter Twelve: Heist Of A Lifetime.

Location: Ciar Tower, Aurora Vale.

Lydia: "Hello Apricus! Lydia Reliford here for Apricus News. As you can see, we're here at the newly remodeled Ciar Tower which is playing host to what some are calling the most important art exhibit in recent memory!"

"Everyone who is everyone is here tonight! We have members of the council, Mayor Lowell, representatives of world leaders, celebrities, and all sorts of movers and shakers!"

"We've got plenty of law enforcement providing security. From the PWSB, to the Navy, to Ciar Security. I've even been told that some bounty hunters have been hired to help protect these priceless works of art! Speaking of, I'm getting word that a painting from Réunion is about to be unveiled."

"This painting come from an artist who..."

The crowd suddenly gasps as the unveiling takes place but instead of the promised work of art, a large "replica" made out of macaroni is revealed.

Jasper and Mel at the same time: "Fuck.."

Van: "Oh great, barely even started and this is turning into a shit show. Alright, remember what the captain said. We're here to help prevent this from getting any worse. Spread out and offer assistance where it's needed."

Nerys: "I'll be helping coordinate. Keep the guests from panicking and we'll get through this."

Kash and Russ are making their way through the crowd, both wearing disguises. Kash stops for a moment directly behind Van.

Kash: "Hi Van."

Van: "Hey."

Van suddenly realizes he recognizes the voice and quickly turns but doesn't see Kash.

Van: "There's no way.."

Nerys: "What?"

Van: "Nothing.."

Stephanie's voice is heard coming from the speakers.

Stephanie: "Attention everyone. The building is currently on lockdown for security reasons. We ask that you all remain calm and co-operate with any law enforcement officers who make requests of you. Please proceed through the nearest security checkpoint to be cleared. We ask that you report anything suspicious. If we all work together, we should be able to get through this quickly."

Location: Outside Ciar Tower, Aurora Vale.

White Rabbit agent: "Something is going on, they put the building on lockdown."

White Rabbit (Queen) via radio: "Well we can't have that now, can we? Kill the power for as long as you can."

The White Rabbit agent activates a small spider like robot that scurries through the crowd gathered outside before entering through an air vent and heading inside the building. It makes its way to one of the security checkpoints and plugs into a console.

White Rabbit agent: "Good to go, little fella will knock the power out temporarily. We got other problems though; I'm tracking a huge PWSB response headed this way."

White Rabbit (Queen): "Kill the power. As for the PWSB, I have someone taking care of that. Once you're finished, get out of there."

It only takes a few seconds for the spider robot to hack through the systems and access the power grid. Floor by floor the power begins to turn off. By the time the robot is found and destroyed it's too late.

Location: Aurora Vale.

Several PWSB vehicles entered the district accompanied by Apricus PD squad cars. Sirens blared as they made their way toward Ciar tower.

"This is Delta Squad leader checking in. We are in sight of Ciar Tower. Preparing to...what the hell is that?"

The communication was cut off as an individual wearing power armor stepped into the middle of the street with a weapon in each hand. A rocket was fired from one and struck a PWSB vehicle, sending it spinning into one of the squad cars and causing both to crash.

The secondary weapon launched several grenades which exploded along the street, sending several other vehicles flying. The surviving officers attempted to crawl from the wreckage as the individual approached.

With the press of a button one weapon reconfigured itself into something resembling a bolt gun. Before he could take aim though he was struck by a speeding PWSB vehicle, dropping his weapons before being pinned against the wall of a building.

Oct wasted no time in kicking the vehicle's door off and making his way over to other armor user. The other man locked eyes with Oct before slamming his fist down and pushing the car away, apparently having suffered little to no damage.

The two men squared off. The other man removed yet another weapon from a makeshift holster and revved it before swinging the chainsword toward Oct. Oct however was able to avoid the swing and in one swift motion activated his own chainsword. Something he'd have to thank the Bureau lab rats for later. This only caused the other man to laugh.

Oct: "Alright chucklefuck, who the hell are you?"

???: "I've been called many things, but I suppose "Betrayer" will do for this moment in time.."

Oct: "Betrayer of what.." He wasn't able to finish he thought, instead having to use his sword to block the Betrayer's. Sparks flying everywhere before the two men were driven back from each other. It only took a few seconds before each charged at each other again..

Location: Ciar Tower, Aurora Vale.

Andrasta: "What the hell do you mean the power got knocked out to the entire building? That's not possible, I should know, I made every system in this fucking building."

"Alright alright listen, tell security to try and stop people from leaving the building. We can't risk anyone getting out that stole that painting. You two, come with me and bring that robot you found. We're going down to the generators."

Location: Upper floors, Ciar Tower.

King of Hearts: "Cute trick with the power moth boy, but did you really think you could outsmart me?"

Antoine: "Why do you think I hadn't left yet? Well, besides wanting to grab a few trinkets off the unsuspecting crowd."

King: "Back to pickpocketing huh? Thought you moved on from that."

Antoine: "Let me finish! The reason I hadn't left was because I wanted to see how long it took you to find me. And to see how long it takes you to realize I'm always three steps ahead." Flipping out of the way as Mel appeared from behind and attempted to restrain him.

Mel: "Antoine stop it! You know damn well if that goes missing the council is going to be furious with Apricus! You're risking global conflict with your pettiness."

Antoine: "Pettiness? No. There will be no global conflict. You see eventually I'll return the painting to the council, they'll never know who stole it..until of course word gets out about the fabled King of Hearts making an appearance."

King: "So this is still about me huh? Sounds a lot like pettiness.."

Antoine: "I am NOT petty! You took her away from us! The council needs her!"

Mel: "Antoine.."

King: "Here I thought we might have worked this out...are you still just a child?"

Antoine: "Maybe I learned a few things you didn't want me to know old man.."

Mel: "Antoine, who've you been talking to.."

Antoine: "Maybe if your boyfriend is clever enough, he can figure it out!" Dropping several smoke pellets before fleeing.

Mel: "He's heading to the roof! Follow him up the stairs, I'll try and cut him off!"

The King of Hearts pursued Antoine as Mel broke open a window and launched a grappling device up several floors.

Location: Exhibit room, Ciar Tower.

Kash: "Think we got enough? We're pretty loaded up!"

Russ: "Yeah, besides the boss said not to take everything. Gotta spread the wealth."

Kash: "Yeah but I mean, those Viking dorks had some super cool stuff! I'm keepin this axe."

Russ: "You don't even know how to use that.."

Kash: "Yeah but it reminds me of that one comic, Morely Vs. The World Serpent!"

Russ: "Fine whatever, grab a few of the jewels from Nivis and we'll head out. She's already in the system and I can have her flip the power back on whenever."

Kash: "Russ!" Pointing at a large Morely statue outside the Tacos 'N More in the lobby.

Russ: "Well, we can't leave without the Big M now can we.."

Meanwhile on the other side of the room, an individual wearing a hooded jacket snatched up several small statues from a case before grabbing what looked to be a map stitched on a tapestry. Their face seemed distorted by cloaking tech.

Location: Generator Room, Ciar Tower.

Andrasta: "This is insane...it's like something is blocking me from getting things running. As in actively blocking me. The tech in the spider robot wasn't THAT advanced. Someone or something is in the system..and is fighting me..."

Location: Aurora Vale.

Oct and the Betrayer were battling through the streets, sending crowds fleeing. Several people however stood around gawking and attempting to record the fight on their aShines.

The Betrayer landed a strike that broke Oct's chainsword but in the process seemed to damage his own. Both men discarded their weapons and opted for hand to hand. Well, power armor against power armor. Unfortunately for Oct, the Betrayer's armor was much more durable.

Still, Oct wasn't willing to give up and through sheer force of will managed to break off a section of the Betrayer's armor, sending him stumbling backwards. The Betrayer noticed a small light on his communication device go off.

Betrayer: "As much as I'd enjoy staying here and tearing you apart like the others, I have prior engagements."

Oct: "The others?"

The Betrayer smirked and turned, chucking an explosive device into one of the small stores near where they had been fighting. A timer started to tick down as Oct noticed the people inside.

Oct had no choice but to disengage from the fight, rushing into the store and grabbing the civilians. He was barely able to get everyone out and shield them as the explosive went off. When he was finally able to look around, the Betrayer was nowhere to be found.

Location: Roof, Ciar Tower.

Antoine burst through the doorway and on to the roof. He hadn't however expected his sister to be waiting for him. Mel tripped him and in one swift motion managed to grab the rolled-up painting from his pack.

Mel: "Give it up Antoine, we can talk about this back home.."

King: "So..many stairs.."

Antoine: "You're out of shape old man. As for that, are you going to turn me in sister?"

Mel: "Of course not, I'm just going to return this.."

Antoine: "Fine by me, that one wasn't even my favorite.."

Mel: "Antoine, what did you do.."

Antoine smiled and backed up to the edge of the roof before giving a salute and stepping off. A moment later he was seen gliding down on a pair of what looked like moth wings.

King: "I need to upgrade my costume.."

Mel: "Come on, we have to drop this off and get out of here.."

Location: Upper floors, Ciar Tower.

Van: "I KNEW you two idiots were going to be here!"

Van had managed to corner Kash and Russ on one of the upper floors after he spotted the two lugging a Morely statue up the stairs.

Russ: "Maybe, but I KNEW that you KNEW we were going to be here, and I was already prepared!"

Kash: "You were?"

Russ: "Yes, now do the thing!"

Kash and Russ placed the Morely statue down. Kash heads over to the window that Mel broke earlier and shoots a zipline of sorts out, attaching it to another building.

Van: "You think I'm just going to stand here and let you go?"

Russ: "Of course not.." Pressing a button on his aShine which activated firebombs planted in various trashcans through the building.

"Do it."

Something in the Ciar Tower system activated and switched the power back on which automatically activated the fire suppression system and sprinklers.

Van: "That's it?"

Kash: "Nope! Wanna see a trick?" Kash's power activated, and he was able to manipulate the water pouring down, sending it in a burst that knocked Van backwards and down the stairs on a sort of twisted water slide.

Kash and Russ attached the Morely statue to the zipline and rode with it till they were across the train tracks. Just in time to detach and land on top of one of the cargo cars. A short distance away they were met by what seemed to be an unmanned helicopter which lowered cables down. Kash, Russ, and the Morely statue were pulled up and the chopper flew off into the distance.

Location: Lower Docks.

The hooded individual made his way down to where one of the drop points were indicated on his aShine. He pulled his hood down and deactivated the cloaking device before dropping the bag of stolen goods into the container.

A small screen popped up.

"Well done, now tell us...what do you desire?"

Sunil reached down and typed out an answer...

Location: Aurora Vale.

Lydia: "Good evening Apricus. Lydia Reliford here with Apricus News. As you know by now, a series of events have taken place during the art exhibit which resulted in severe property damage and several stolen works of art. Luckily one of the more valuable paintings was recovered and left in the lobby."

"Unfortunately, several things are still missing which may result in even more strained relationships with neighboring kingdoms. Authorities will be out in full force and the council has promised to locate every single missing work of art no matter how small."

"If you have any information at all you are urged to contact the PWSB, or the Apricus PD. Remember, every bit of information helps."

Static

"WaR iS InEvItAbLe"

Static

Lydia: "For ongoing coverage, please visit the Apricus News website. We'll be sure to update you with any breaking news. Have a good night, everyone."

Static

Static

"Coming up next, your local weather forecast."

[shopperbuild01]

Ecommerce for Everyone: How Online Store Builders Make It Easy

The dream of owning your own business has never been more attainable. But for many, the idea of launching an online store can feel intimidating. Complex coding, expensive web development, and intricate inventory management might conjure up images of a tech-savvy team hunched over keyboards. Thankfully, this is no longer the reality.

Enter the age of online store builders. These user-friendly platforms have democratized ecommerce, making it possible for anyone with a passion and a product to set up a thriving online store.

No Coding? No Problem!

One of the biggest hurdles for aspiring online entrepreneurs is the technical barrier. Traditional website development often requires coding knowledge, a skill that can take years to master.  Online store builders eliminate this barrier entirely. Their drag-and-drop interfaces and pre-built templates allow anyone, regardless of technical expertise, to create a beautiful and functional online store.

Building Your Dream Store, Step-by-Step

Online store builders guide you through the entire process, making it easy to set up your store and showcase your products. Here's a simplified breakdown:

Choose Your Platform: Numerous online store builders cater to different needs and budgets. Research and select the one that best suits your business goals.

Pick a Template: Most platforms offer a variety of pre-designed templates optimized for different industries. You can customize these templates to reflect your brand identity.

Add Your Products: Upload high-quality images, detailed descriptions, and set competitive prices for your products.

Set Up Payment Processing: Integrate secure payment gateways to accept various payment methods, ensuring a smooth checkout experience for your customers.

Choose Shipping Options: Configure shipping rates and delivery options based on your location, product weight, and customer preferences.

Launch Your Store: Once everything is set up and tested, it's time to unveil your online store to the world!

Beyond the Basics: Functionality at Your Fingertips

Online store builders offer a surprising amount of functionality beyond just creating a storefront. Here are some features that make managing your online business a breeze:

Inventory Management: Track your stock levels, receive low-stock alerts, and manage product variations conveniently.

Marketing Tools: Leverage built-in email marketing tools, social media integration, and SEO optimization features to reach new customers.

Analytics & Reporting: Gain valuable insights into customer behavior, website traffic, and sales performance to make data-driven decisions.

Customer Management: Manage customer accounts, process orders, and respond to inquiries efficiently through a centralized platform.

Focus on What Matters: Your Business

By removing the technical hurdles, online store builders allow you to focus on what truly matters: your business. You can invest your time and energy into curating a unique product selection, crafting compelling product descriptions, and building strong customer relationships. Whether you're a seasoned entrepreneur or just starting out, these platforms empower you to:

Turn your passion into profit: Share your unique creations or source in-demand products to build a thriving online business.

Test the market: Launch your store with minimal investment and see how your products resonate with your target audience.

Scale with ease: As your business grows, your online store builder can scale with you, accommodating an expanding product range and increased customer traffic.

The Future of Ecommerce is Inclusive

Online store builders are democratizing the world of ecommerce, making it accessible to everyone.  With the right platform and dedication, anyone can turn their entrepreneurial vision into a reality.

Ready to build your online store? Shopperbuild offers a user-friendly platform packed with powerful features to help you launch and manage your dream business. Explore our wide range of templates, secure payment processing options, and built-in marketing tools to get started today.

[motorfestgames2023]

The Crew: Motorfest - Igniting the Racing Scene in Hawaii

The Crew: Motorfest is like totally lit, you know? It's not about its success, but more about how it's following the same vibes as Forza Horizon. They've jacked all the dope stuff from Forza Horizon, from the menu setup to the intro, the banging music choices, and the storytelling style, down to the types of races and the actual gameplay itself. It's like, if a game series is fire, it's gonna get copied, and that's cool, but it's not getting a high score from them. Anyway, it's awesome that PlayStation players finally get a similar game to vibe with.

Hawaii is where the biggest motor fest in the world goes down, with all the different races and scenes, from lush jungles to chill volcanoes, crazy cities, and untouched beaches. All those spots are gonna get messed up by racers doing their thing, whether it's off-road, on the streets, or at the tracks. And it doesn't matter if you're into cars, bikes, boats, or planes; they got it all, and that's just the beginning of what's in store in The Crew Motorfest, which they've been hyping up. It had to step up its game and give us a map that's as rad as the one in The Crew 2, which had a "condensed" version of the whole United States we could explore coast to coast, with all the iconic spots. Hawaii, while wild and diverse, doesn't have the same pull, like no Las Vegas to hit up, but it makes up for it with a massive landmass, with different vibes in every corner. Plus, thanks to the new consoles like the PS5, the visuals are next level, with stuff to smash everywhere, and the graphics are insane especially the lighting. So, if you're looking to enhance your gaming experience, you might want to consider where to buy PS5 games.

Adrenaline Rush: The Ultimate Racing Experience on the Island

Inside the island, there are all these mini-games, just like the rival game. You got stuff like speed limits and photo ops. They even brought in this Slalom thing where you have to zigzag through points in a set area, which sounds hella fun. And there's a whole section for Formula cars that you can race on tracks. Aside from cars, boats, and planes, these Formula rides are a blast, with even pit stops. It's more arcade-style, not the hardcore sim stuff like Formula 1 games. They even threw in some Red Bull vehicles from back in the day. The real deal for a racing game is how the cars drive, right? Before, The Crew didn't do it for them, and they thought the driving in lots of Ubisoft games, like Watch Dogs 2 and Legion, was whack. So, they were mad skeptical about this game, wondering if it would be worth it to buy PS5 games like this. Like, more biased than cautious, for real.

Customization and Legend Points: Unveiling Motorfest's Personalization Features

Now, let's talk about customization in Motorfest. First off, you get to pick a character, but it's kinda meh, not much to work with, so they didn't even bother making a character that looks like them. But you can customize your character's drip a bit, from gloves to shades. They also have animations for posing and celebrating, but here's the kicker – once you pick your starting gear at the beginning, you gotta spend in-game bucks or real cash for the rest. When it comes to the money stuff, they've been grinding for over a dozen hours and haven't felt the pressure to drop real dollars. What's more important than looks is those Legend Points (LPs). You earn 'em by playing, like when you're looking to buy PS5 games, and can use 'em to unlock perks like more nitro power or better drifting. LPs let you flex your style beyond just clothes, ya feel?

[gamesgate23]

Unleash Your Ride: Embark on Free Roam Adventures in Ride 5!

Vibing in Ride 5, where you can buy PS5 games, is the Free Roam mode, giving players the ultimate power to cruise through the game world on their terms. Imagine this: You're not confined by any pesky objectives or limits, just you and the open road. This mode isn't just about flexing your skills, it's about embracing the chill vibes and immersing yourself in the virtual wind rushing past. Saddle up on any bike you fancy, from sleek speedsters to rugged beasts, and hit the digital asphalt. As you roam wherever the pixels lead, you're not just having a blast – you're leveling up your expertise. No need for walkthroughs here, you're becoming one with the tracks, unveiling the enigmatic Easter eggs hidden in plain sight. So, whether you're an adrenaline junkie seeking the next ramp to conquer, or a serene seeker hunting secret spots, Free Roam mode hooks you up with the ticket to ride, your way.

Once you've nailed how to hop into Free Roam mode straight from the main menu, it's like diving into a whole new realm of biking awesomeness. You can also enhance your gaming experience by checking out where to buy PS5 games. Grip the left stick to cruise with your bike through this virtual wonderland, while the right stick lets you peek around every corner like a total boss. Don't sleep on the d-pad either – that's your ticket to switching up the camera angles and finding that perfect cinematic vibe. Now, picture this: you're in Free Roam mode, and the world's your oyster, my friend. You've got this buffet of options at your fingertips, ready to be devoured. Start by embarking on a world tour through Ride 5's diverse landscapes – city vibes, countryside serenity, and those heart-pounding mountain trails, they're all yours to conquer. But wait, there's more! Ever wanted to snap those epic moments to share with your crew? That's where Photo mode swoops in. Capture those jaw-dropping screenshots while you're mid-air, mid-drift, or just mid-vibe. Think you're fast? Test your mettle against time itself by setting up a time trial, smashing your records like a digital daredevil on your quest to buy PS5 games.

And don't even get me started on the camaraderie – you can throw down the gauntlet and summon your pals to join the ride. It's mano-a-mano, pedal-to-the-metal showdowns as you race head-to-head, all while soaking in the pixelated panoramas. So, whether you're seeking some chill moments or need to buff up those mad skills before the big leagues, Free Roam mode is your golden ticket. It's like a chillax paradise that doubles up as a training dojo, ready to whip you into the ultimate two-wheeled maestro.

Check out these pro tips to make the most of your Free Roam experience in Ride 5:

First off, don't feel the need to speed! Free Roam mode is all about soaking in the vibes and cruising through different spots. No need to rush – take it slow and let the scenery sink in. But hey, don't forget to snap those epic moments using Photo mode! It's like freezing time and capturing your favorite views. Whether it's a sunset behind the mountains or your sick custom ride, immortalize it with a screenshot. Feeling a bit competitive? Time to level up the excitement! Set up your personal time trial and push your limits. Or if you're all about squad goals, throw down the challenge to your pals for an epic race showdown. The virtual asphalt is yours to conquer. Above all, remember: it's all about having a blast. Free Roam mode is your chill paradise within the game. So kick back, embrace the zen, and let the good times roll.

[cryptidsncurios]

Her silence was his cue to begin.

The only question was, where to begin?

What details did she need to know---what secrets did he need to unveil?

Not all of them, of course---that wasn’t in his nature, and he’d be damned---kicking and screaming into the Pit---if he had to reveal all the wounds he had suffered over these many centuries.

...At least, not at the moment.

But there was one---one secret to be revealed, right now, and so he would begin presenting the context necessary from what he deemed appropriately “the start.”

Once he had situated himself on the couch---a heavy heft of his weight which caused the springs to creak in protest, he rewound his mind back, and commenced recounting the events:

“Dude’s name was Xehanort,” and already he had to resist the urge to massage his temples in exhaustion. “Dunno if Mister-Doctor-Vexen ever mentioned the name to ya, but he was the one that started all those dumbass crusades that kept totin’ my ass around, havin’ to keep track of where he was goin’ and what he was doin’.”

He wouldn’t exactly share why---the existence of the Master and all that nonsense was a tale best kept under wraps.

“So basically, he got this big idea to use these doppelgänger things that Vexen had concocted to make like, this supernatural army based on his genetic material---and he’d already made three of ‘em, just to make sure it’d work---and then he’d like, war with humanity and all that.

“Well Vexen, he wasn’t too keen on that idea, using his creations for these malevolent purposes, and joined an already-dissatisfied posse from Xehanort’s pack---myself included---to put a stop to this bullshit.”

This was where he would take a swig of his whiskey, if he’d poured himself a glass. Too late for metaphorical punctuation now, he supposed.

“For the most part, the plan was successful, blowin’ up all those mannequins to smithereens. Xehanort and his kin put up a fight, but were outnumbered and forced to vanish off the map, buuut it wasn’t without some mishaphs---” and he touched his cheek, fingertips brushing over the discolored flesh of the jagged scar there. “And lemme tell ya, any type of head or face injury bleeds like a bitch, and this particular one really got that stuff everywhere. I mean, that gash actually took a hot second to heal---”

Then a sigh---preparation for the drop.

“Well, I fucked the hell off after that. I was done with babysittin' Nort's broken dreams, and I decided I had better things to do.

"But what I didn't know, 'til Mister-Doctor-Vexen rolled around recently to drop the news, was that there was one of those doppelgängers that had survived the wreckage, somehow. Got all covered in my blood, and, after the dust settled, seemed to be absorbing it, just as it had done with ol’ Nort’s kids. And Vexen, intrigued, as per usual, dragged it back to his lab---cultivated the ongoing developments the doppelgänger began to exhibit, studied it---but eventually, it gained a powerful sentience, and managed to escape from his facility.”

Here it was:

“So essentially, dude…" inhale, exhale, "...you’re like. Y'know, genetically-speaking,” and his voice dropped to a mumble, “…my daughter.”

Damn, what he wouldn’t give for catering to some kind of comforting vice right now.

Getting information, facts, out of Xigbar was like pulling teeth. Sometimes Xion thought she'd have an easier time pinning him down and using a tweezers to remove his fingernails than getting Xigbar to admit to something. At least in that scenario she could figure-out an actionable plan. Otherwise, in all the months she'd know him, Xion had yet to come up with a strategy to make him be upfront with her. She had always had the sense, a deep feeling, that he was hiding something. And nothing Xion could do would make him give it up.

After all, Xigbar was sparse and picky with the stories he told of his past, often giving them such a grandiose embellishment that Xion doubted their premise from the jump. If she asked one question, he'd ramble and answer a different question, one that he liked better than hers. He was cagey, he was distant, and Xion, frankly, didn't trust him.

And yet, she did trust him. Enough that she still slept on his couch, ate his food, and told him off if he drank too much, or smoked in her presence. Xion had come to understand that in a world that very much wanted her dead, or worse, Xigbar at least wasn't going to kill her. That seemed like a very low bar, by all conventional standards, but for Xion it was actually fairly impressive. If she was honest with herself sometimes she longed for emotional candidness from Xigbar, not for her own goals, but to feel closer to him. Xion had, and she'd never admit this to him, come to want to trust him.

But she wasn't stupid enough to actually do it.

The silence crept along. Xion waited for Xigbar's response and then waited some more. It was almost as if her demand - for honesty - had frozen him. Some internal debate seemed to play out on his face and through his whole body. In the interluding seconds, cut by the wail of sirens on the street below and the whirl of the air conditioning, Xion's mind went wild. She speculated on the nature of Xigbar's secrets and lies, how deep his duplicity went. All the thoughts and ideas that kept her up at night wondering, deeply, anxiously, if she could actually trust this guy.

(No, of course not, don't be foolish).

Then, as if awakening from a revere, Xigbar reacted. Xion's hands worked into fists and she frowned. For a split second, the mask of mature confidence she so carefully maintained cracked. All that was left was the uncertain, anxious, fear of a little girl that was way, way out of her depth, and was desperately pretending she wasn't. Xion felt like she was drowning. Like she had swallowed rocks that had settled at the pit of her stomach, weighing her down, making her heavy as she followed Xigbar into the living room.

Xion composed herself in the brief walk from kitchen to couch. Still, she returned to end of the couch, curling her legs to her chest by the arm rest. She hooked her arm around her knee, and she waited, and watched for Xigbar to sit, to begin to speak.

To start being honest with her.

[harrywritingsbyme]

Puffy Little Peach

Based Off Of This Ask

And This One

A/N: I’m OBSESSED with this concept…like to say it’s hot would be a complete understatement!! There’s also no real plot to this one...just some hot shit with Harry and Y/n😋😌So I hope it doesn’t suck ass and you guys actually like it…enjoy🙃

5.2k wordss

“Oh my goodness.” Harry gawks, now completely stopped in his tracks, focusing in on the sight in front of him. His eyes were practically bulging out of his head, his mouth was on the verge of spilling over from how hard he was beginning to salivate, and his cock was rapidly swelling in his pants. Why was Harry like this?  Well, there were many layers and reasons as to why Harry was going into sensory overload right now. But the short and sweet answer to that question, the common ground for all of said reasons, would be you. 

But here’s the not so short and sweet answer...

For starters, you were just minding your own business and relaxing in bed. You’d taken care of everything that required your attention for the day and you were just taking some time to relax, and do absolutely nothing. You were all nice and comfy in the soft and plushy sweatshirt and sweatpants set you’d gotten a couple weeks ago and had fallen head over heels in love with, and you were cuddled up with one of Harry’s pillows. Since he was taking care of something’s himself, the pillow was the best thing you were going to get for the time being. Now while you were just lying in bed and embracing all comfy and cozy of it all, you were mindlessly scrolling and clicking through your phone, you watched a little tv at some point, and you even got a little nap in. You were very much so relaxed and not doing a single thing the way you intended. That is, until Harry finished up with everything he had to take care of before coming upstairs to find you. 

And once he did...your stint of doing absolutely nothing came to an end. Well, sort of. 

When he first stepped foot into the room, you didn’t even realize that he’d come in. Not only was your back turned away from bed door, but you also had the volume on your phone turned up a bit so you couldn’t exactly hear him either. But when you felt the end of the bed dip, you immediately turned your attention in that direction to spot Harry’s newfound presence in the room. You don’t hesitate to drop your phone and take your earbuds out, and Harry doesn’t hesitate to bypass crawling up the bed and lying next to you, and go straight to crawling up the bed and on top of you. Like he wastes absolutely no time at all. 

And at first it was all cute and sweet. Harry was on top of you, sponging little kisses on your lips and all over your face and neck while he lightly tickled at your sides. You couldn’t stop laughing and squirming below him, trying to wriggle out of his grip as he continued to kiss and tickle you. Harry loved giving you all the attention in the world and just making you laugh, so he didn’t intend on stopping for a good little while. Whenever he let up on the tickles and stuck to just kissing you, you thought that you were in the clear. But he’d pick right back up and start tickling you again, leaving you to fall right back into a fit of laughter beneath him. Eventually, after a series of “my stomach hurts” and little tears streaming down your face from laughing so hard, Harry finally let up.

The two of you then proceeded to talk about your days and all, ever once in a while stopping, mid sentence by the way, to kiss each other. These stops were often initiated by Harry and would last a couple minuets if he was able to successfully wrap you up in and just melt you into the kiss. And about 99.999% of the time, he was in fact successful. You just couldn’t help but melt into them. They were so soft, yet firm if that made any type of sense. Like while he gingerly moved his lips against yours, he still managed to reaffirm his control over the kiss. Not to mention the way he held you the entire time. Whether you two were talking or kissing, he always had his free hand cupped around the side of your waist underneath your sweatshirt. He’d either just hold you there, or he’d squeeze you a little, or smooth his hand across your soft stomach, occasionally dipping his fingertips just below the waistband of your sweats.

Now given the fact that Harry was in fact himself, the cute and fluffy little atmosphere surrounding you two was quickly (but not too quickly) scrapped and turned into a full on hot and heavy one. You were no longer pushing back the curls that fell in his face when he lifted his head back up from your neck or from kissing you. Instead, you were pushing your fingers up into the curls that were at the nape of his neck as he pushed his lower half against yours. You welcomed the feeling of Harry’s tongue gliding against yours and exploring your mouth. You two were swallowing each others moans as you kissed, barely parting from each others lips to catch your breaths.

“Y’just so pretty.” He’d softly moan against your lips every once in a while before continuing to kiss you. And as he did this, his hand that was once sitting at your waist, began to wander up your shirt. As he does this, he discovers that you’re not wearing a bra, meaning that your supple breasts were bare and able to be played with immediately.

And for Harry, immediately, meant immediately. Harry was quick to cup the soft flesh in his hand, causing you to let out a string of moans into his mouth. Feeling his large hands around you all of a sudden caused a shiver to run up your spine and goosebumps to spread across your body. Along with kneading at your ample breasts, Harry also brought his forefinger and thumb to your now pebbled nipples to pinch and roll them around a little. That sensation alone sent even more chills and goosebumps across your body, and it caused your panties to dampen even more. After giving all of his attention to only half of your chest, Harry adjusts himself on top of you in a way that would allow him to play with both of them at the same time. Unfortunately though, he wouldn’t be able to lick into your mouth the way he was before. Which prompted you to let out a little whimper at the loss of his lips against yours. But you weren’t too upset with that since Harry definitely made up for it in the way he played with you afterwards. 

After simply toying with your other breast in the same way he did the first, Harry brought his mouth into play. He got rid of your sweatshirt that was already pushed up as high as possible to expose your chest, leaving your upper portion entirely bare. He then proceeds to lay between your legs, and wrap one of his hands around one of your breasts before taking the other into his mouth. If you two weren’t in that much of a rush or a rush at all, Harry always took the time to mouth at your chest. He was absolutely obsessed with stuffing his mouth with your supple breasts and just sucking on them. He also loved sucking on your pert nipples. He loved to suck on them and even lightly bite down onto them if he wanted to make you moan even louder. Which speaking of moans, you and Harry’s moans never stopped. Harry’s were quite muffled due to the fact that his mouth was full at the moment and yours were the exact opposite. They were filling the room and beautifully ringing into Harry’s ears. Following the same pattern as before, once he’s done mouthing at one side, he moves to the other. Again, the two of you continuously moaning, you from the sensation, and Harry from the sheer enjoyment of it all. 

Once he’s all done with your chest and is ready to move on to the lower part of you, Harry begins to kiss down your body. Instead of starting at your chest, he comes back up to your lips to sponge a few kisses onto your lips and to lick into your mouth a little before leaving a trail of wet kisses down your throat, and to each of your nipples, taking a moment to suck on them a little. He then leaves a kiss on the area between your breasts before continuing on his journey down your body. He leaves a ton of kisses along your midsection, taking the time to appreciate your body. 

To say that Harry was obsessed with your body would be a bit of an understatement. Harry loved every single inch of your body. If it was on you, Harry loved it. He wished you just walked around the house naked so that he could see all of you all the time. Harry would literally die for you and your curves. He was absolutely in love with your rounded figure and if he was given the platform to express how much he loved your figure, he was going to make sure he did it. Whether it be by means of constantly touching or squeezing you, whispering into your ear about how amazing you looked and how bad he wanted you, bringing one of your hands to the front of his pants so that you could feel just how hard he was from just staring at your body, or just worshiping your body like he was kind of doing now. Along with his kisses, Harry sang your praises and just gushed all over you, he would even bite at the flesh of your stomach a little. Your body was just so soft and it was like he became a puddle whenever he touched you. And a bit of a horny teenage boy.

When he reaches the waistband of your sweats, Harry quickly sits himself on his calves between your legs so that he can “properly” pull your pants down. 

“Wanna unveil your lower half baby.” He explains, hooking his fingers into  both sides of the waistband of your sweats. 

“Whatever you say Harry.” You chuckle, playfully rolling your eyes at how serious he was when it came to getting you naked. In response, Harry quickly pops the elastic against your skin before hooking his fingers back in. He then beings to ever so slowly pull your sweats down. He makes it about halfway down your thighs before he’s stopped in his tracks all together. 

“Oh my goodness.” Harry gawks, completely taken aback by the sight in front of him. Not to say that he was upset with it or anything. In fact, Harry was mesmerized at the sight. Now along with your beautiful, perfectly rounded figure, you also had something just as beautiful and rounded going on between your legs. The area between your legs was absolutely amazing and perfect to Harry. 

He loved to cup your fleshy mound in his hand at any given time. If you two weren’t cockwarming at night, he’d always have a hand in your panties holding your plushy cunt in the palm of his hand. Even if he’s driving, Harry would either be holding your hand or cupping your pussy because of how plushy and soft and plump you were. That’s why he loved when you wore dresses or skirts. Even though he didn’t mind undoing your pants if it meant getting to your cunt, he definitely preferred having easy access to you and being able to just hold you in his hand. Harry also loved it when you wore leggings. Like not only were your delectable curves on display, your puffy peach as Harry liked to call it was also on display. It didn’t matter if you wore panties or not, there would always be a defined outline of your pussy through the material. Along with the overall rounded shape of your mound, he was also able to see where your fleshy folds met. And it was even more defined when you decided to tease him and not wear panties when you joined him for a workout. At one point, Harry had to take your out to buy more leggings because he’d be so turned on that he’d tear a hole in the crotch area and just fuck you right then and there. Harry was never, nor did he ever want to, kick his obsession. It was just never going to happen. 

“They were the only ones I had before doing laundry. Plus they’re not exactly uncomfortable.” You say, explaining why you had such a pretty and tiny thong on, breaking Harry right out of his perverted thoughts. 

“I just wanna take a bite outta you.” Harry groans, completely disregarding your explanation (which he thought was actually adorable…like you actually felt the need to explain, to him of all people, why your pussy was bursting out of an itty bitty thong) and feeling his cock twitch in his pants. The thong wasn’t doing its job of covering you in the front at least, if anything, it was being swallowed up by your fleshy cunt. “Such a pretty little pair of panties.” Harry sighs, staring at how your amazingly delicious and juicy cunt as he loved to describe it, was practically bursting out of and engulfing the thong you had on. “Can you um- lets just get these off of you first.” Harry says, changing his direction to you and quickly helping you out of your sweats before tossing them somewhere behind him. He also pushes your legs further apart, only making the panties even more useless when it came to covering your cunt, and in turn, giving him an even better view. “Now I want you t’pull them up from here baby.” Harry instructs, reaching out to pull one of your hands that was lying on your stomach down to the top of your panties to show you from where he wanted you to pull. After he does this, you follow his direction, tugging your panties up a bit, causing them to move further up between your folds.

By now your lips were fully exposed on either side of the sting of fabric that was practically inside of you at this point. Upon seeing this, Harry couldn’t help but to reach down between your legs and pinch the two fleshy lips between his fore finger and thumb. You were so soft, plushy, and sticky between his fingers. And Harry couldn’t help but to play with you a bit. As he continued to squeeze you between his fingers, your mind was racing. On one hand you had Harry obsessing over you and just worshiping you, which never failed to make you all blushy. And then on the other hand, Harry was touching you and was completely entranced with your body, which made you incredibly needy for him. You were fighting with wanting to snap your legs shut from how exposed you were for him, and with wanting him to touch you even more. And on top of all that, you were fiercely tugging your lower lip between your teeth, trying your hardest to hold back the little moans that were threatening to spill out from how much you enjoyed the way you were being touched. But you couldn’t help but to let out a little yelp and moan when Harry pushed one of his fingers in between your lips to pull the sizable portion of your panties that had been engulfed by your pussy back out and to the side.

After squeezing, poking, prodding, and obsessing over your pussy a bit more, Harry finally removes his hand from between your legs(and the other from his pants). He then glides his hands up your thighs, to which he gives a good squeeze because he just can’t help himself, and he brings his hands all the way up to your hips where the bands of your panties were resting. The sight of the elastic slightly digging into your soft and fleshy hips alone was enough to make Harry of wild. He hooks his fingers into the thin bands before pulling them down from your hips and off your body, leaving you completely bare and spread before him. He’s quick to toss the panties in the same direction as your pants from earlier, immediately bringing his focus back to you once the last piece of your clothing was completely out of the way. 

“Have I told you how stunning you are?!” Harry randomly asks, taking a moment to take all of your now fully naked body in. Before making another move, Harry just had to sit back and look at you. 

“I think you have at just about every moment you could possibly find.” You softly reply, fighting the intense urge to snatch up one of the pillows next to your head to cover your face.

“Well I’m just gonna say it again…” Harry begins, slowly lowering himself on top of you, bringing himself up a bit so that his face could hover over yours. As he momentarily lays himself on top of you, you could feel his very hard cock pressing right into where your lower stomach and the upper portion of your mound began. He was pressing right into where you were feeling the most pressure, and he was so close to where you needed him the most. “And again, and again, and until I can’t say it anymore.” He continues, bringing his face down to yours, and pushing himself into you a tad bit harder. “You are the most stunning creature I’ve ever laid eyes on.” He whispers, looking you right in the eyes as he uttered every word. Harry then brings his mouth to yours, locking your lips in a kiss that was filled with passion, adoration, and lust.

As Harry kissed you, his tongue explored your mouth and his hands explored your body as if they’d never done it a thousand times before. You could feel his hands moving across your entire body. They started at your chest, fondling your supple and ample breasts again and rolling your pert nipples between his fingers. His hands then traveled down your sides, using his grip on you as leverage a bit to rut himself against you, receiving some of the mounting pressure in his cock. Harry pushes his hands further down your body and right between your legs. When he hears  a muffled little whimper escape your mouth, Harry decides to tease you a bit and slowly glides his hand down your mound, wanting you to beg him a little. And that you did, whenever he’d stop his hand from going further, you’d immediately whine into his mouth and buck up into his hand, causing Harry to chuckle against your lips at how needy you were before continuing on. Eventually, after he’s had is fair share of teasing you, Harry brings his hand down to your folds and pushes two fingers in between. He drags them up and down, starting at the very top near your clit, and pushing them all they way down between your lips and to your entrance where he slightly nudges with his fingertips. As he does this, he focuses in on your entrance and your clit. Whenever he came back to your clit, he’d start circling your clit and the sensitive area right underneath it and would not let up. Like you’d be moaning up a storm and squirming underneath him and he’d still be working in your clit. Your sensitivity was already heightened after everything that went down before he even started toying with your clit, so to have him barely letting up on your incredibly sensitive button was a lot for you to handle.

But after a little while longer, Harry finally lets up on your pussy and brings his kisses down your body for the second time, only this time, he keeps his eyes trained on yours as he sponges wet open mouthed kisses along your body. When he makes it back down between your legs, there isn’t a second to spare before Harry begins mouthing at your cunt. He’d been dying to do this since he first pulled down your pants to discover your cunt bursting out of that thong of yours. Your cunt was already so plump and juicy against his fingers, it felt ten times as plump and juicy against his mouth. He was in heaven as he mouthed at your cunt. For the first couple of minuets, all he could do was suck on the fleshy lips of your pussy, loving how thick they were. He even went as far as to pinch them together between his fingers and just suck them into his mouth and lick in between them. Harry then pushes your legs up a bit before resting his forearms on your spread thighs (this also helps for when you try to snap them shut when it got to be too much) and brings his hands in to pull your fleshy cunt apart to really expose all of you to him. And in no time, his mouth is attached to your clit. One minute he was harshly sucking on your clit, and the next he was slowly sucking on you and lapping his tongue back and forth against your clit. As he sucks on your button, Harry couldn’t help but give in to his body; he starts to grind himself down into the bed, trying to relieve the intense throbbing in his cock. He was beyond turned on and he couldn’t help himself. He loved having your body on display and he loved being able to play around with and pleasure you. And then to see your delicious cunt bursting out of those so called panties?! He was definitely in need of a release. And so were you. 

With all of he built up need and pressure and sensitivity, on top of the fact that Harry was practically moaning into your clit, it was nearly impossible for you to hold yourself from letting go. And because Harry had become an expert on your releases, he could sense this in the way your moons had turned to whimpers, you were fighting to close your thighs even more, and you hands were wound even tighter in his hair. To make you go even crazier, Harry let go of one of your lips and brought his now free hand down to your entrance where he began to push one of his fingers in and out of you. He then began to slobber and suck even harder on your clit, making it pretty much impossible to hold back any longer. And with that, Harry had you squirting all over his face and the bed. As you let go, Harry doesn’t let up on your clit or your entrance. He keeps fingering you and flicking his tongue back and forth on your button, and he keeps moving his finger in and out of your tight little entrance. Once your release had come to an end, you began thrashing against Harry, needing to take a little break before going any further. He can hear you whimpering that you can’t take anymore but he doesn’t let up. He was so close to his release and he couldn’t stop just yet. To help you out a bit, he eased up on your clit a bit and began to lick all of you and sucking on your lips again until he came. Not too long after you reached your climax, Harry began to feel his rumbling even louder in the pit of his stomach. Eventually becoming so loud he couldn’t ignore it, nor hold back anymore. His hips and mouth came to a halt, and he let completely let go. 

“Fuck fuck fuck!” Harry loudly groans, feeling his warm cum involuntarily spurting from the head of his cock and into his pants. He just couldn’t hold it anymore, you felt, looked, and tasted too good for him to hold himself off anymore. The fact that he didn’t cum already was an accomplishment in itself. Just hearing him moaning and cumming between your legs sent shockwaves to your clit and through your body. 

Once he’s all done Harry stays between your legs and rests his head on one of your soft thighs, taking a moment to recover from his intense release, even though he was still very hard. After about ten or so minutes of just lying there and recovering from those earth shattering releases, Harry finally musters up enough energy to go again and take care of his cock once more. 

“Wanna go again sweets?” Harry asks, breaking the silence as he reaches over to softly squeeze at your equally as soft thigh.

“Don’t think I can...that one was a lot.” You mumble tiredly. “I just got feeling in my legs again.” You continue on. 

“I’ll do all the work baby.” Harry whines, trying to get you to cave. “Then I’ll let your pussy rest.” He offers. 

“Okay fine...you better be glad I want you inside anyways.” You agree, making sure to give him a little attitude. 

As soon as he hears you agree, Harry springs up from your thigh and immediately instructs you on how he wants you. He’s quick to help flip you onto your front, and help get a pillow up underneath your hips. And again, before going any further, Harry takes a moment to appreciate your body. This time, taking the time to gawk at your ass and your thighs. When it came to his favorite positions, Harry’s top position would be you lying on your front. Mainly because he can really pound into you from this angle, but also because he gets to watch your ass and thighs jiggle with every thrust. He loved watching the soft flesh move back and forth with his movements. Plus he loved being able to almost ride your from behind. And he also loved having to pull your ass apart to really see his cock disappearing in and out of your pussy. 

“Fuck Y/n, I can see your sweet and plump little peach from back here.” He groans. Harry would never get over the sight of your puffy little pussy between your fleshy thighs and ass. He couldn’t wait to fuck you and have all of his creamy and sticky cum pooling between your plump lips. The simple thought of that caused Harry’s cock to twitch, signaling to him that he needed to be inside of you immediately. Harry swiftly moves on top of your thighs, lifting himself up a bit to line himself up with your entrance, or at least what he could see from behind. He then nudges his cock past your outer lips to actually align himself with your entrance. When he does this, Harry could hear the sort of creamy sound of his cock pushing past all of your delicious flesh and juices to push inside of you. And then Harry finally begins to sink into your pussy, slowly filling you to the brim with his cock.

“So big!” You mewl, feeling the slight sting from his girthy shaft forcing your walls apart to fit. No matter how many times he’s pushed into you, this feeling would never change.

“Gotta have a big and thick cock for this thick, yet incredibly tiny pussy of yours.” Harry groans, pulling your ass apart to watch his cock disappear into you and feeling your narrow walls stretch to fit his cock. 

Once he’s all the way inside of you, Harry is quick to tighten his grip on the flesh of your ass and begins to piston his hips into you from behind. Thrust after thrust he fucks his cock into you, making sure you feel every last inch and every last stroke inside of you. Both you and Harry were moaning uncontrollably, the both of you still very sensitive from your first releases. You were letting out a perfect mix of cries, moans, and whimpers, every once in a while muffling them by biting into the sheets below you. Unless you asked or begged for it, Harry wasn’t going to go easy on you. So you weren’t surprised with his rough, and very pleasurable thrusts.  They felt so good that you were even becoming a bit lightheaded. This feeling only intensified when Harry laid down on top of you with his mouth right at your ear, whispering the filthiest things and growling into your ear. He was going on and on about how good your pussy was gripping his cock and how he couldn’t wait to make a mess of your insides with his second load cum. He also couldn’t help but to ramble on and on about how puffy your little peach was and how he absolutely loved playing with it. Harry felt like he was in cloud nine. He had his cock buried deep inside your pussy, you were falling apart on him, and he got to listen to your sweet moans, whimpers, and cries along with the sound of his hips slapping against your ass and thighs, and the wet sounds of his cock fucking your pussy. 

Because he was so turned on and desperate to cum again, it wasn’t longer before Harry could feel his second release bubbling up in the pit of his stomach. His hips became a bit staggered as he continued to fuck his cock down into you. He could feel you tightening up around him too and since he wanted the two of you to cum together, Harry pushes a hand down between your body and the bed to squeeze at your fleshy upper mound before pushing it further down towards your clit. 

“Y’cute little button is buried underneath all your meaty pussy baby.” Harry growls into your neck, quickly unearthing your clit and immediately circling it around the hypersensitive bundle of nerves. “Want you t’cum with me baby!” Harry grumbles into your ear as your whimpers intensify. “Can y’do that f’me sweets?” Harry coos, his tone completely juxtaposing the way he’s harshly rubbing at your clit and slamming his hips down into you.

“Mhm! Wanna cum with you!” You cry out to him, feeling the very familiar and overwhelming feeling that came along with your releases. 

“You can do it baby, let go with me!” Harry pants, not being able to hold off any longer. He delivers two final thrusts into you before exploding inside of your warm cunt. And you’re not too far behind, cumming seconds after Harry. You end up squirting for the second time, completely letting go and ending up completely worn out. Harry too was completely worn out with this release milking him for everything he had. It didn’t help that your walls were contracting and quite literally milking his cock. 

But Harry could care less, he’d end up doing just about anything when it came to your puffy little peach. 

Masterlist

[theheadlesscrow]

Cracker Barrel Ghost with Lantern: How I Finally Got It!

Here we are. A year of anticipation has led to this. A restaurant chain with an old time southern theme, more known for its country comfort food than its Halloween decor, has everybody clamoring over a ghost statue.

A little primer for anybody who somehow avoided this event: Cracker Barrel officially unveiled this piece last year to instant acclaim. Immediately, it was one of the most coveted items of the year. And each Cracker Barrel store got exactly … one. What was perhaps the most sought after piece during Halloween hunting season 2021 was nearly impossible to get your hands on.

By the time I even knew it existed, my store had sold their single ghost two days prior. An employee kindly offered to add me to a list they’d use to inform us ghost crazies when more came in, but more never arrived. One ghost was all that they were getting.

Despite my defeat, as any professional Halloween shopper can probably relate, the hunt lived on in my heart. Throughout the year, my mind would occasionally wander back to that ghost, and hope next year Cracker Barrel would come prepared.

In June, I started dropping in once a week to keep an eye out for signs of the ghost. To my surprise, when I first walked in to ask when they were getting Halloween in, I was greeted by the spooky sounds of a pumpkin’s audio track. “I came in to ask when you’d have Halloween, and you already do!”

Two helpful employees knew exactly what I was talking about when I asked if they were going to have “the ghost” again, and filled me in on what day of the week the truck arrives. A few weeks later, another told me the same thing, and to call in the morning the day after so they could hold it for me when it showed up.

I’ve heard stories about Cracker Barrel employees being rude to others trying to chase down the ghost. And though I thankfully did not experience that myself, I did notice that employees became increasingly difficult to find on the floor. One saw me checking out the Halloween section, and immediately disappeared into the back, never to return. One made eye contact with me and promptly vanished. Another saw me begin to walk toward her, turned on her heel … and ghosted me. I guess my Halloween t-shirt attire in June made me look like the kind of ghost-loving nut who should be avoided.

While the chance of nabbing a ghost in-store was still feeling tenuous, I kept an eye on Cracker Barrel’s online store. Last year, they released small batches of ghosts a few times throughout the season. I was hoping to luck out this year and check at the exact right time.

On July 6th, I noticed Halloween was beginning to pop up online. More items trickled in throughout the evening. And though I was especially tired this night, I stayed up. I just had a feeling (or a hope?) that this was my shot. Finally, at a little after 2 am, my hunch was proven correct. The “resin ghost with lantern” was online and in stock.

With adrenaline flowing, I nervously added it to cart and checked out as fast as I possibly could. And it worked! I wasn’t greeted with a “sorry, this item is sold out” message. I made it to the page confirming my order, then an email confirmation followed. The ghost was mine!

Supposedly. I still spent the following day checking my email more than usual, worried my order would be canceled.

But it wasn’t. A shipping confirmation arrived just a little over a day later. And though I was relieved to be one step closer, it still didn’t ease my mind. Now ahead of it was the journey to me. It had to make it to me in one piece.

My heart was hammering when a big box from Cracker Barrel arrived a few days later. And after carefully unboxing it, I could finally say the words I was too nervous to believe before: I had the ghost.

If you were also ghost hunting, I hope you were successful. If not, I hope next year is easier. I heard reports of stores getting 2, 6, 12 in. After last year’s debacle, I expected Cracker Barrel to be more prepared this time. I thought they’d load themselves up with so many ghosts, they’d still be trying to get rid of them in the spring. I never imagined that after so much demand, they’d increase supply so flimsily.

This ghost is an absolutely gorgeous piece, and clearly a beloved design within the spooky community. It deserves to get into the hands of the people who want it.

Follow me: Instagram / TikTok / Amazon

[gabrielkahane]

A Brief History of Magnificent Bird

In the aftermath of a year off the internet, I’ve become low-key obsessed with Lewis Hyde’s book The Gift, in which he argues that the movement of a gift—or a work of art—from one individual to another helps to define the community in which the gift or artwork circulates.

Today, my fifth album, Magnificent Bird, is released into the world, and it is, for me, most fundamentally, an expression of my community. There are no hired guns: only musicians whom I cherish as much for their humanity and friendship as I do for their artistry. So I thought it would be appropriate to mark the unveiling of this project with a little history & chronology of a dozen-and-a-half musical relationships that have made this record possible.

1989 - At our respective homes in Rochester, New York, Ted Poor and I play boogie-woogie duets: me on piano, Ted on drums. We’re also on the same Little League team; he often plays first-base, I’m over at shortstop for a quick 6-3 on a ground ball to the left side of the infield. Twenty-five years later, he plays drums in The Ambassador, my first piece for the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Ted was so incredibly generous on this project, recording 3,287 versions of “Hot Pink Raingear” before we arrived at the approach heard on the album. His sense of rhythm lights a room, and he is my oldest friend — not just on this LP, but in life.

2006 - The Nickel Creek bus drops Chris Thile (as well as Sean and Sara Watkins) at my parents’ house in Santa Rosa, California. We start playing music at around 1am. Fifteen years, hundreds of cups of coffee, and dozens of alcohol-fueled arguments about the “correct” approach to rhythm in the music of J.S. Bach later, Chris is one of my closest friends, and also a hero. We all know what a monster, once-in-a-generation talent he is. What is maybe less apparent is the insane work ethic that undergirds his seemingly effortless command of his instrument, an ethic I got to witness up close while opening some 60 shows for Punch Brothers. The only person whose approach to rhythm is as continually mind-boggling as Ted Poor’s is Chris’, hence the mando-drums on “To Be American.”

2007 - I meet Alex Sopp through her new music ensemble, yMusic. I will forever be spoiled by the fact that she’s the first flutist I work with: her tone singing, her sense of phrase totally intuitive and poetic. Over the course of fifteen years, we share with each other many, many, many photographs of our cats. Her collaborative spirit was evident in her work on this album: for “Hot Pink Raingear,” I asked if she could play a synth riff on some “messed up whistles and flutes,” and she sent back, thirty-six hours later, fourteen different tracks of various antique wind instruments. I wish I had kept all of it for you to hear, but sometimes less is more.

2008 (part one) - I hear Elizabeth Ziman sing at a tiny cafe in Park Slope, Brooklyn. I am instantly in love with her voice and songwriting. I would happily listen to her sing tax returns or technical manuals or the transcripts of municipal water supply hearings; she is magic. Somehow, after an almost fifteen year friendship, this is the first time we’ve worked together on record; her singing on “Sit Shiva” is, for me, what makes the song.

2008 (part two) - Outside a rural elementary school in Switzerland, I am approached by a young man, who, seeing my banjo case, announces that he “plays folk music, too.” It’s Paul Kowert, who that autumn would join Punch Brothers as its bassist. Years later, we travel around the country while I’m opening for his band, playing chess over coffee, getting lost on long walks in unfamiliar cities, talking endlessly about music. He is a one of the most supremely gifted bass players of our time.

2009 - Holcombe Waller and I are set up on a West Coast co-bill tour by a friend who warns me that Holcombe is extremely flamboyant. I write to Holcombe, and in a postscript, mention—sort of in jest, sort of not—that I’m 18% gay. He writes back, “I’ve worked with less.” A friendship is born. Need help understanding obscure financial instruments or fledgling cryptocurrencies? Ask Holcombe. Need a quick tutorial on the history of energy policy in the Northwest? Ask Holcombe. Need the most sublime falsetto (but also booming bass-baritone) you’ve ever heard? Ask Holcombe. Happily, we now live less than a mile from one another in Northeast Portland. Holcombe, can I borrow some sugar??

2010 (part one) - I’m playing a gig in upstate New York accompanied by a string quartet. At soundcheck, one of the violinists mentions that she “writes a little music, too.” Next thing I know, that kind and quiet musician—Caroline Shaw—has won the Pulitzer Prize. Over the years, we email with eccentric frequency about Lunchables (can’t remember how that one started), and have occasionally appeared together in concert. What I admire most about Caroline is the absolute honesty of her music. Many of us work for years building up artifice, then tearing it down. Not Caro: she knows, and seems always to have known, who she is. When I first heard her overdubs for the record, I cried.

2010 (part two) - Casey Foubert and I have known each other for a few years when he begins to mix my second album, Where are the Arms. Working on that record reveals to me the uncanny depth of Casey’s musical knowledge, spanning, as it does, obscure 60’s piano-driven folk-pop to free jazz. One of the most versatile and multivalent artists I’ve ever encountered, Casey is the only musician who has played on all of my records (with the exception of Book of Travelers, which is just me). He’s also a profoundly curious person, and a super generous spirit. He now lives with his family in rural Illinois, and I love that there’s a bit of that energy on this album.

2011 - It’s a dark and dreary evening in Peterborough, NH, when I find myself sitting at the piano in a little cabin, singing standards with a young woman named Amelia Meath. We keep in touch here and there, and then a few years later, I hear a band called Sylvan Esso and think, that voice sounds familiar! Over the last few years, Amelia and I have had long, deep phone calls about everything from literature to TikTok to systemic racism to the music biz. She encouraged me, while we were working on “Linda & Stuart,” to embrace the cognitive dissonance between the cheerful groove and the sense of grief that pervades the lyric.

2014 (part one) - Driving from the Denver Airport, Chris Morrissey tells me that he does a great BBC newscaster impression. I immediately try to one-up him. (Mine is better.) Every year on his birthday, to commemorate my small victory of superior British dialect, I leave Chris a three-minute voicemail in a preposterous BBC voice. Chris is a complete musician, and a complete human. One of the things that drew me to him when we first met was how emotionally available he was. So glad he’s on this joint.

2014 (part two) - A recording studio in New Jersey. yMusic has a new cellist on the session. We get through one take of my arrangement of Beck’s “Mutilation Rag,” for the Song Reader album, and Gabriel Cabezas, maybe 22 years old, says, without a trace of attitude or ostentation, “oh, this is a twelve-tone row, right?” What a punk! One memorable night years later ends drunkenly at my house, where we cook both carbonara and cacio e pepe after a long conversation about how the best pasta sauces are emulsified using the cooking water.

2014 (part three) - I’m not sure that the classroom at the fancy private school in Laguna Beach, California, was where I first met Joseph Lorge, but it sticks out in my memory for some reason. He’s there with a friend of his, a songwriter, who performs two beautiful songs as part of a master class that I was giving. By 2017, Joseph has become indispensable to my process as a studio artist. He records and mixes Book of Travelers, and acts as mix engineer and house psychologist during this project. He is tall and shy, quietly hilarious, with a heart of gold. His ears and imagination are astonishing; without him, this record would not exist.

2015 - In the lobby of the newly opened Ordway Theatre in St. Paul, Minnesota, I am accosted by a blonde man with a cheerful face and intense eyes. “I have a question to ask you,” he says, betraying the slightest hint of a Northern European accent. “On your song ‘Charming Disease,’ from your album Where are the Arms, is it three clarinets or one claviola that appear suddenly in the second verse?” This was Pekka Kuusisto, a true magician of the violin, and one of my dearest friends. I have fond memories from 2019 (“the before times”) of walking down to the water—his house in Finland sits against the Baltic Sea—in nothing but towels, freezing our asses off before retreating to the warmth of his wood sauna, which I guess is what Finns do in February? When his violin enters halfway through the tune, I feel the chill of that numinous, Scandinavian wind insinuate itself into the harmonic field.

2016 (part one) - St. Paul, again! Sam Amidon and I have known each other for a decade by this point, but it’s over burritos at Chipotle that we bond for real, talking about our shared love of Herman Melville and obscure jazz records. If I’m reading a great book, Sam is often the first person I want to tell. In a world brimming with highly individualized voices, Sam’s artistry—from his singing voice to his banjo and fiddle playing—stands out for its idiosyncrasies and emotional depth.

2016 (part two) - On a tour bus somewhere in Montana, Andrew Bird and I get to talking about how folk and orchestral music can coexist. A few years later, we work closely on Time Is A Crooked Bow, a cycle I orchestrated comprising six of his songs. Getting to hear him sing every night was a real master class. Andrew has magnetic rock star energy, but he is also a kind, gentle, quiet and deeply thoughtful soul. And no one plucks the violin quite the way he does. When I wrote the riff he plays on “To Be American,” I knew it had to be him.

2017 - From time to time, I head uptown to hear the NY Philharmonic. One evening, I’m hypnotized by a sound—serene, expressive, otherworldly— emanating from from the principal clarinet chair. Eventually I muster the nerve to write to Anthony McGill and tell him what I huge fan I am. It’s thrilling when he tells me that he knows my music and would love to do something together. And now, at last, we have.

2019 - Nathalie Joachim sends me mixes of her album Fanm D’ayiti. It is so damn gorgeous. We’ve been casual acquaintances for five years at this point, but now I am *a fan*. Over the course of the pandemic, we talk more frequently, counseling each other about the various challenges of being an artist in these confounding times. She joins the Creative Alliance with the Oregon Symphony, where I serve as Creative Chair. This June, the Oregon Symphony will present the world premiere of an orchestral song cycle drawn from Nathalie’s album that made such an impression. The combination of Nathalie & Alex on the title track, along with Holcombe’s vocal feature, has me feeling that my cup truly runneth over.

Appendix A:

Tony Berg is a joyous contrarian whom I’ve known for a dozen years, during which time he has shown me only generosity of spirit, resources, and wisdom. He co-produced Book of Travelers (which we recorded at his old home studio in LA), and was an indispensable early sounding board for the songs on this album. And now he’s got a dog named Bing-Bong. How about that?

Having said all that, may I remind you that tour begins on Monday?

The workings of the music business are murkier than ever, but the bottom line is that even an art-house oasis like Nonesuch can’t afford to keep putting out interesting music if no one is paying for it. I’m so grateful to all of you for your continued support, and hope you’ll consider picking up a copy of the record in one format or another if you’ve not yet done so.

All my best, and hope to see you at a gig in the next few months,

Gabriel

[jynxd]

Jinx was truly her father’s daughter, had been since the moment he took her in. That was the only pleasant memory she had of that night. The now Eye of Zaun had most likely heard her before he saw her, but when he had found her she was sobbing. Traumatized by seeing her parents gunned down. She remembered seeing his face and finding it instantly comforting where most wouldn’t.

When he had approached her with kind eyes she had jumped into his arms without a second thought. Even at the age of five she knew he would take care of her in the way most couldn’t, promising her that those responsible would pay as he carried her away. That day had been the start of her rebirth and the start of a bond that would be forged in steel now.

The likes of Ekko and the traitor believed that Silco had taken advantage of her and planted lies in her head. But they were wrong, that night Jinx’s eyes had been opened. Silco only help nurture the monster that was already there, gave her a purpose after she had lost everything. And yet the ones responsible for who she was now was them, piltover and the filth they called their finest. The traitor played her part, too.

The conflict with Piltover wasn’t just his, anymore. It was hers too and she would make sure they suffered. Starting with the gemstones. “Unfortunately wonder boy has one those gemstones in his hammer, so I can't take them all. But the rest of them are easy pickings." She said with a grin. Including the one from vi's gloves that was in her pocket. JInx would unveil that to Silco once they got back to the last drop.

Jinx was about to speak up to defend Sevika. For once she hadn't had the upper hand, the traitor had with her gauntlets. Gauntlets that were null and void now. However, she was side tracked she felt his knuckles brush against her chin. "I'll never fail you, daddy, not after everything. I owe you that much."

Jinx took a second to peer down at the dead chem tanks, tilting her head to look down at them curiously. She had watched it all before saw how the ChemTank guards didn't stand a chance. Chuckling, she reached down to scoop of the dripping shimmer with her fingers and licked it off. If her entire body wasn't pumping with shimmer, it would have added a kick, now it was just another taste of her now.

The loose cannon was quick to follow Silco inside, coming in just when he was shouting at Sevika. Both the ogre and the traitor had done a number on the place. She could see how angry Silco was, long before he said anything else. So, after he threw the bar stool, she reached out for wrist, gripping it just tightly enough to get his attention.

"As much as I love seeing you yell at her, remember we need her." She glanced up at him, a pleading look on her face. All she wanted was his attention, to center him like she did him. "Besides, the traitor had gauntlets that were powered by a gemstone. I watched the entire fight, the ogre handled herself the best she could."

"Nice to see that you're still alive, Sevika, thought you were a real goner there for a bit."

Her passion for the fight against Topside could never be denied. She was truly his daughter, ready to destroy Piltover if it stood in the path of their independence. Pride swelled in his chest for her, a perfectly forged weapon in a war he'd been relentlessly fighting since he was a boy. Every step was in the direction to this moment, he just knew it. Without her unique mind, often seen as a weakness by those like Sevika, they would have been left in the dust by Piltover after the invention of the Hexgates.

War. He hoped for it, too. His people would be ready, with shimmer in their bodies and the flames of rebellion in their hearts. He knew that in the fight against the rich and elite, the underground would always have the upper hand of resolve.

He remembered the look on Jayce Talis' face as he demanded for him to turn in his own daughter, thinking such a plan would work. He had to play his part back then. He had to wrestle with the idea of possibly betraying his daughter. Yet, when it came down to it, there was no doubt in his mind: He would never let them have her, not even for all the agreements and liberties they could promise. In the end, they would have found a way to screw them over, one way or another.

At the mention of stealing more gemstones, Silco's smile widened with sneaking consideration. "Good. We'll strip them of their power. It will take them some time to fortify new ones, and during that time, they'll be helpless. We could force them out of Zaun forever." It would be a perfect coup d'etat, if they could pull it off.

Then came the news about Sevika. Beaten again by that traitorous girl. A sneer of obvious disappointment played across his features, and he let out a hiss of a sigh. "She continues to fail me... I give her a new arm. I give her shimmer. I give her endless power and training. And yet, she still fails me." He shook his head, then reached over to brush his knuckles against Jinx's chin. "Not like you, daughter."

He would have to speak to Sevika about her performance. If she couldn't handle Vi on her own, he wondered what kind of a bodyguard she would be in the conflict to come. Perhaps it was time to increase her shimmer consumption. Regardless of his plans for her, she would still need to be at his side. Jinx was perfect, but she couldn't handle everything alone. There would need to be someone to take care of the undersides of the business while they focused on the war with Topside.

There was a hushed whisper spreading across the undercity already as they returned to the Last Drop. Chemtank guards still lay in heaps on the ground, shimmer-laced blood oozing from their bodies. Silco regarded them with little concern. It was when he entered the bar, itself, that he had to stop and take in the sight of the damage.

The bar counter had been caved inward, like something was thrown into it. There were gashes in almost every surface. The jukebox was utterly destroyed. Everything had been devastated. His bar was in ruins. He let the frustration boil up within him and sneak out onto the surface of his expression. He walked up to the bar, kicking some debris out of the way as he snapped out, "Where is she!?"

"Right here, sir." Sevika's voice came from the top of the stairs, where she limped down, covered in bruises and marred with blood from the fight. Her mechanical arm was now nothing more than a broken stump. Silco stared at her in a mixture of barely contained fury and disappointment. As she came down to the main floor, she explained, "Things got hairy while you were gone. Had to--"

"Destroy everything in sight!?" he interrupted, throwing over a broken bar stool into the wall behind her with one hand. Sevika ducked out of its way, shocked at the outburst and strength. "You've screwed up before, Sevika, but this is beyond anything I thought you were capable of!"

[mirohtron]

??? | prompt fill

—

With the hero chained up, the villain unveils their masterpiece: a weapon that tracks everyone who loves the hero before obliterating them. The map powers on. “Wait. There’s just one dot.” The Villain says. “…Someone loves me?” The hero replies with hope.

prompt from @writing-prompt-s

note: accidentally changed it from chains 2 ropes wHOOPS

—

The villain couldn't help but frown. One dot? How could there be just one dot? The hero was adored by the city, for Christ's sake. Everyone adored the hero, from a 5 year old cosplaying the city's savior to mentors shining with pride every time their protégé's name was mentioned.

The villain landed a hand down on the weapon, ignoring the shout hero voiced at their action, trying to get it to work like you'd slap a remote when it didn't switch to the right channels.

There seemed to be a new kind of fire in the hero's eyes now. More adrenaline fueling their struggling when before there was none, more desperation to stop the villain when before there was just pretend-desperation.

The villain inspected the machine's motherboard, then spent a few long minutes going through some of the main code, and then GPS system, and then they quickly skimmed its chemical combination. Nothing was off. There should be something off. The hero can't just not be loved by everybody.

There was probably still something wrong with the weapon, the villain concluded, ignoring the hero's questions and demands.

"Hey," the hero said, "hey, the thing's not in beta, is it?"

The villain side-eyed them, more focused on making sure the kill switch couldn't be set off by accident, moving the weapon so it faced the wall. They looked at the blindingly bright screen again, showing a 2D model of the city, and then they looked at the 3D hologram of the same thing floating off to the side of the control panel. They swished the little city around, looking between the bright red dot on it and the model on screen.

Same place. Exact same place, unmoving.

The villain never went wrong with their inventions—it was the curse of being a genius, they supposed. Nothing new made from them went awry, except for their plans that the hero, who somehow decided that the villain doing villain things ruined their whole day, stopped.

"Hey!" the hero yelled now, really trying to catch the villain's attention.

The villain groaned, catching their hair in a tight grip, feeling the strands pull tight. The hero hissed from the pain.

"Do be quiet, idiot," they said, harshly letting go of their head, "I'm trying to figure out what's wrong and, you know, give you no reason to live on."

The hero sneered at them. "Don't touch that person."

The villain scoffed, making a show by walking to the weapon and putting their hand behind it. They looked the hero right in the eye, fighting the urge to laugh at their pathetic attempts to free themselves of their restraints.

So ridiculously desperate.

They withdrew their hand. "I'm not going to kill your so-called beloved," they said, smiling, "not if you stay still like a good, obedient little hero."

Promptly, the struggling stopped. The fire in them still stayed; in the way their brows knitted, in the way their jaw was set, but no one said submission and defiance had to be two completely separate entities.

The villain's smile grew. Oh, how much fun it would be if the hero was like their own flame they conjured. Right in their palm, with nowhere to run and nowhere to hide.

"Let me go," the hero growled.

"Stop villainy. Really, hero, you should stop making egregious demands."

Like an animal, the hero bared their teeth. The villain folded their arms, cocking an eyebrow.

"Is that it, little hero?" they asked, "I was expecting something with more bravado."

It hit a nerve. The hero jerked against their restraints, sweat already on their forehead from the exertion.

The villain smiled. Then, something hit.

Ah, a hostage.

"You'd be devastated," the villain said, "if that one person were to be destroyed, wouldn't you?"

The hero tensed, breath hitching every so slightly. An arm tugged against the ropes binding them to place.

"You don't lay a hand on them," the hero threatened. A show of strength, of defiance.

The villain could do with defiance. It was satisfying. Pleasing, to take someone defiant and break them into little pieces in their palm, until what was broken couldn't be fixed anymore. It was fun. It made villainy that much more enjoyable.

The villain gazed at their weapon, then at their maps. Less was more.

They sighed dreamily. "The stakes are high, aren't they?" the villain murmured, crossing their arms, "either I let you go free and this poor person dies, or you work for me and you have a fulfilling life with that red dot."

The hero straightened, some fire in them dying. They strained against their bonds, glaring at the villain.

"You wouldn't dare—"

"I would dare, actually. It's your call, I'm just making it happen."

The hero growled. That fire didn't grow. Their movements weren't as big anymore. Their shoulders were folded in slightly, their lips no longer twisted into a sneer.

Fear worked wonders sometimes.

"It is your call."

"It's also your call to work for me or not." The villain tilted their head. "Really, how bad could it be?"

The column of the hero's throat bobbed.

They both knew how bad it could be.

"Do you wanna be loved, or do you wanna work against everything you protect? It's not like the rest of the city likes you anyway."

That hit a nerve once more. Tears sprang in the hero's eyes, and they almost slumped against their restraints pathetically.

"What would you choose?" they asked softly. Not defiant. But the villain knew it would act up soon enough. Enough to entertain, enough to break down into nothing but fear and helplessness.

It went quiet. The villain walked up to them, and crouched down, undoing the hero's restraints with terribly gentle fingers.

The hero glared. There it was, the defiance. There for the villain to chew up like popcorn, kept crushed between their teeth where it should be.

"I think," the villain said, letting a smile grow on their lips just for the hero, "I'd choose this." They let the ropes drop. "You know, if I were you. But I'm not, I'm just making this decision for you."

The hero inhaled sharply, jaw clenching. They were seething, practically, and the villain made sure not to let an inch of their expression go unseen from beneath their eyes.

"We'll start now. I suspect anything and the red dot goes kaboom, capische?"

"Yes."

The red dot stayed.

[spotofimagines]

No Longer A Secret ~ Isaiah Jesus

A/N: A year later, here’s part 3. I think I’ll make this the last part because it took a lot out of me tbh. I hope you enjoy it!

Requested by: a bunch of you a while ago (sorry for the wait!) [ tagging: @anyasthoughts​ ]

Warnings: pregnancy, family fighting

Summary: Isaiah held up his end of the bargain, now you’ve got to do your part and finally tell your family your secret.

Part 1(Keeping A Secret) - Part 2(Unveiling A Secret)

gif by @pvkyblinders​

More had changed for you in the past few weeks than you thought possible. Being a Shelby meant you were used to drastic change pretty often, but you, along with Finn, were usually the last of your siblings to know what was going on, being kept in the dark for as long as possible.

Being on the other side of the fence this time and having to tell your family this information was filling you with a lot of dread, especially when it came to Arthur. He was volatile with regular news at times, so how bad was he going to be when he heard that the little sister he protects with his life is not only pregnant and engaged but that you stole money so you could hide it from him?

Walking into the Shelby household had never felt so tense. The hallway so small. The dark walls so imposing. Isaiah's gentle touch on your waist made you jump a little bit as you were so trapped in your fear. "You alright, babe?" He uttered in your ear, truthfully knowing the answer would be no but needing some reassurance before you both faced your family. You didn’t answer him, struggling for once to cover how you felt with a lie, but luckily you didn’t need to; with Isaiah, you never really have.

Slowly moving through the house, you shouted out a hello and heard Tommy's voice reply from the kitchen. You were about to make your way to them when the hand you reached out behind you met thin air. Peering over your shoulder in search of the rock you need in Isaiah, he came just in time out of the living room, Finn two steps behind him and tucking an empty tube of tokyo in his inside pocket. You shared a silent greeting through a smile - weak on your side from nervousness and sheepish on his side from being caught - before grabbing Isaiah's hand and carrying on into the kitchen.

The first sight you were graced with was Tommy's frown as he lit a cigarette, nodding his head to you when you entered the room, his frown dissipating when he leant back against the counter and the smoke left his mouth. A stressful morning with business was the last thing you wanted. Everyone’s emotions would be heightened and their tethers near breaking point. The breath in your lungs almost got caught in your throat just at the thought.

But Arthur's voice filled the room before it could. "Y/N, Isaiah, y'alright?" He asked loudly, walking through the room to give an envelope to Tommy, and the cheerful tones told you maybe the stress was on Tommy's shoulders only. You hummed in response, not quite brave enough to open your mouth yet.

Finn nudging past your shoulder by mistake kept you alert to your surroundings as Isaiah went to give a quick greeting to Michael, who sat reading the newspaper with a cup of tea at the table, before pouring some tea for himself. "Watch out would ya," Arthur spoke, shoving Finn playfully to the side, Finn getting out of the way and sitting at the table with a grumble, wiping his nose a bit, "bloody boy." Arthur muttered to himself, his usual temper present but masterfully pushed down, before locking eyes with you still stood in the doorway.

"Y'alright love?" He asked, stopping in his tracks to make sure things were okay. You darted out of your thoughts to look at your brother properly. "Hm? Yeah. Can you stay here a minute though?" You responded, averting your eyes and turning toward everyone else.

Missing the way Arthur shrugged his hands and ventured back to the table, leaning his hands on the back of the last spare chair, you took a breath and steadied yourself.

A quiet rolled over the small room when you picked a slip of paper out of your purse, unfolded it and put it on the table, right under Arthur’s nose for him to read.

A cheque. The first cheque he’s ever seen signed off with your name. A cheque disclosing the exact amount that disappeared from the vault a month ago.

Arthur frowned up at you confused before moving to pick it up himself. “What’s this then?” He asked, looking around at the others for a bit of a clue but finding no help. Tommy rifled through the envelope he’d been given. Michael cast a glance at the cheque then went back to finishing his article. Finn sat scratching his head, keeping himself out of the conversation like he was used to, not that he’d be that much help to Arthur anyway.

When Arthur met your eyes again, you took a deep breath. “The money, from the vault. I’m giving it back.” Arthur’s eyes shot wide, surprised you had been the culprit of the incident (he’d had his eyes on a young blinder he was certain was responsible for a week now).

“You took it? How come?” He frowned again as he asked the question. This one was a little harder to answer. Not only were Arthur’s eyes on you, but Finn was watching you precariously and Michael had let the newspaper in his hand drop on his lap to focus on you too.

You didn’t dare look at Michael, knowing his gaze would stare straight through you and make you crumble under pressure. This money theft had been weighing heavily in the back of Michael’s mind so he wasn’t going to let the answer go without scathe.

“To go to the doctors. I didn’t have my own money to use.” You quickly added, wanting to justify your actions before they could blame you unfairly.

“The doctors?” Arthur repeated, looking over at Tommy again who was still reading through his letter. “What you going the doctor’s for? You’re alright, ain’t you? Nothing wrong?” He spoke, dismissing the reason and not believing you’d have a serious issue without him knowing first.

And that panicked you. Your heart speeding up already. There was something up, something that couldn’t be dismissed, something very well worth seeing the doctor for.

However, a second long glance at Isaiah calmed you down. He stood behind Arthur, porcelain cup of tea in one hand, the other tucked comfortably in his pant pocket. He wasn’t preparing for a fight at all, so why should you? One small subtle nod from him and you knew you’d be fine to speak, regardless of the outcome. He’d be there, Tommy would be there, you wouldn’t find a better chance to say it than now.

“Because I'm pregnant.” The words came out as feebly as you thought they would as you peered down at you feet. Arthur’s eyebrows raised in shock before clearing his throat with a cough that stopped the room from being silent.

“What?” His voice gravelled out of his chest. You looked up to meet his gaze, unnerving and unwavering, daring you to repeat the words he thought he heard the first time.

The movement of Isaiah putting his cup down on the counter had you squaring your shoulders a little. It was a change Tommy didn’t miss when he glanced up after the quiet lack of response, causing him to put the papers in his coat pocket for later.

You repeated yourself, louder this time, more assured despite the clear indifference Arthur's eyes held.

Smoke trailed out of Michael's mouth as he sat up straight in his chair, the cloud dissolving into nothing whilst he folded his newspaper up. Finn didn’t move, quickly inspecting the reactions of Tommy and Arthur before even thinking of speaking up.

Tommy stood still reclined against the counter, cigarette burning between his fingers as he kept his eyes on Arthur and on the door behind you in equal parts, making sure he was prepared for anything that might happen but refraining from acting on it yet.

Arthur’s hand tightened on the back of the wooden chair and his fixed look didn’t let up. He was angry, but he couldn’t quite place his finger on the reason why. Maybe it was because his sweet little sister wasn’t that anymore. Maybe it was because he’d let Isaiah recklessly get his hands on you. Maybe it was because you were young and silly and not ready for this in the slightest. Maybe it was because you hid it from him, and even went as far as stealing, right from the pocket of your family, to stop him from knowing. All of it was hitting him like a dagger in the chest.

His eyes hadn’t left yours before his gruff voice broke the silence again. “Y/N, you better tell me you’re joking now or I swear...” He spoke quietly and your chest shook as you breathed, your lungs tight from nervousness but your shoulders held strong. You weren’t backing down from him, no matter how much your hands trembled.

You shook your head at your brother. “I'm not playing. I'm having a baby, with Isaiah, and I'm keeping it.” Arthur’s eyebrows moved up and down quickly as he sighed out in order to keep his words down. He turned his head toward Tommy, whose face was stoic, not telling Arthur anything at all as he smoked. Arthur’s teeth clenched when he turned back to you, annoyed at the lack of backup from his brother and unsure where to start with his sister.

“You can’t be having a baby, Y/N,” Arthur's voice the only noise in the crowded room. “And why’s that?” You challenged him, his knuckles almost turning white against the chair. Finn's hands fidgeted with the cap on his lap, not wanting to be in the middle of this but not able to escape.

“Really? Well,” he huffed as he stood straight, fingers finally releasing the wooden seat, “you don’t have your own house, you have no cash, you can’t even look after yourself Y/N you’re too young for this!” He listed off the reasons on his hand, voice getting louder with each word that came out.

You put your hands on your hips, frustration mixing with the need to defend yourself as you matched Arthur’s level with your retort. “This is no different to John when he had Martha on her second kid at this age.”

Arthur waved his hand and shook his head. “That’s very different Y/N-"

“How is this different? Why is this any different at al-"

“It just is!” He shouted, slamming a hand on the table between you. You instantly jumped back at the sudden outburst, the boys both flinching too with Michael taking his elbow off the table and Finn scuffing his chair back a bit.

Isaiah stood firmly in his space now and toyed with the cuffs of his jacket to refrain himself from action. Another movement Tommy observed and he internally rolled his eyes at it. Isaiah knew well that this was your time and your situation to control, and that you needed to deal with your brothers in your own way for your own sake. A fight would help nothing right now.

“And before you’re married? Y/N, you aren’t even married for Christ’s sake!”

“You think I'm not married, do you?” You snapped, stopping Arthur from his inching closer and closer over the table top. Tommy’s head shot up in your direction and you could have sworn you found confusion on Arthur’s face before a second later, his and everyone else's attention was drawn away.

Polly opened the double doors from the shop to step through into the kitchen, shutting them behind her. "What in god’s name is going on in here? You're shouting the fucking street down." She chastises through her teeth with a scornful look sent Arthur's way. Neither you nor Arthur dropped your angry stares until Polly's demand of an answer had Arthur stepping away.

"Well," Arthur says, tension in every sound as he walked around the table to Polly's side, "it seems our darling angel girl has gone and got herself up the duff, hasn't she?" He said with bitterness in his words but a thankfully lowered voice as he shot his hand toward you. Polly met your gaze, concerned about the tears that lined your eyes but saying nothing about it yet.

"And that's just so terrible for you, is it?" You spite back, not giving Polly a chance to intervene. You guessed she'd be just as mad as Arthur for you being so silly and reckless, and you needed to fight for this on your own. To Arthur’s point, you had to look after yourself. If not now, when?

However, it isn't the news that's got her concerned, it's the venom in Arthur's words.

"You're not even married Y/N!” He continued his former point, “What are people gonna thin-"

"Well I am getting bloody married aren't I!" You interrupted, throwing your hands up in the anger that's finally caught up with you. Tommy raises his eyebrows questioningly as he keeps watching your movements, a quiet washing over the room again as the boys sat at the table wait for what's coming next.

"I'm engaged," You hold your hand up, your ring glinting in the light, "because Isaiah proposed to me, because he loves me," you drop your hand back to your side in defeat, "more than I can say for some..."

Tommy and Isaiah share a small glance before Isaiah turned to watch you again, leaving that conversation for later, or hopefully never.

After a moment of silent eye contact between you and Arthur, as his chest moved up and down with heavy breaths, he sighed and let his hands drop too.

“You think I don’t love you?” He uttered, “hm?” When he received only silence from you, faced with watching you stare at your feet to avoid him, he almost felt sick.

Everything he does is to protect you, to protect all the people he loves. Even now, as he’s in a blazing shouting match with you, it’s not because he’s angry - no, not truly - but because he’s scared you won’t be okay. Scared that you’re becoming something different to the little girl he practically helped raise. Scared you’ll be going into a world where he can’t protect you anymore.

He can deal with fighting and shouting, but he could never live with himself if you thought he felt anything but love for you.

His breath got caught in his throat and he could sense Polly's eyes burning a hole through his skull. Swallowing his pride, he tentatively asked, “Are you happy?”

“More than ever.” You immediately replied to his sincere-as-possible question.

He took a deep breath and ran a hand through his hair, subtly meeting Tommy's eye across the room - who doesn't move an inch - then walked around the table with his arms out wide, inviting you to him.

He hugged you tightly and you felt his shaky hands settle on your back. “Then how mad can I be?” He muttered and a small smile etched onto your face, eyes squeezing closed which made the tears you’d been holding finally roll down your cheeks. All the strength you feigned left you as you hugged him back, thankful for your brother’s arms to be holding you up like normal.

With Arthur’s acceptance and lack of Tommy’s protest, Finn stood to his feet and as Arthur held your face, wiping your tears with a loving but faintly nervous smile, Finn made his way to you to give his own congratulatory hug.

Arthur took a second, watching his younger siblings before scanning the room to get his bearings again. And he went straight to Isaiah, gripping him under his arm and pulling him close, sternly muttering the typical older brother threats in his ear for only him to hear. You missed the words said but by the slightly distant look behind Isaiah’s eyes you quickly got the gist.

Pulling away from your hug with Finn, you met Tommy’s eyes across the room as he still leant unmoved against the counter, extinguishing his cigarette in the ash tray beside him. He sent you a wink and a nod, the corners of his mouth poking up for only you to catch sight of.

“Don’t worry Arthur, of course I will.” The words from your fiancé caused you to turn just in time to see your brother patting Isaiah’s neck before walking away, mumbling about a much-needed drink as he dragged his feet through the shop doors and the usual bustling noise of the building returned.

When Isaiah’s gaze met yours, the sliver of fear in his eyes was completely overshadowed by the confident love he held for you. You sent him a silent apology with your eyes which he dismissed with a shake of his head. He took a few steps toward you and gave you a quick kiss before squeezing you into his familiar tight hug, whispering not to stress about it into your neck. It was enough to stop you falling to pieces right in the middle of the family kitchen.

Isaiah rubbed his hand over your back and pulled his head back up, an inch from giving you a quick peck on the lips when his shoulders shot up with a hiss. He quickly turned his head with an angry scowl that instantly vanished at the sight of Polly. She tilted her head to the side, getting Isaiah to take his hands off you without a word. Isaiah left the two of you to yourselves to avoid the wrath of your aunt and went to join Michael across the room, rubbing the back of his neck as he walked.

Polly smirked at your shocked face and it grew when your surprise turned into a slight shocked laugh, shaking your head bemused at her actions. She held a cup of tea out for you and you took a step closer to her. Part of you was still wary of what she'll have to say about your pregnancy, but part of you was also comforted by her presence, knowing she'll never let your brothers step too far out of line with you.

"Are you mad?" You asked cautiously, never wanting to assume with her. She was pouring another cup of tea as she answered. "I was a little when I first found out, I thought I'd told you more than enough times to be careful," she shot you a nettled look before turning to face you properly, "then I had about two weeks for the idea to grow on me." Once again she smirked at the shock on your face. Of course Polly knew, you hardly had to tell her anything without her figuring it out for herself first.

"You'll be fine dear, he's not the worst." Polly joked sincerely, clinking your cups and taking a gulp before putting it down on the side again. You’d yet to move, stunned into stillness by her revelation, when her hand lay firmly on your small belly. She stared down in thought for a few seconds, her touch a stark contrast to the sharp slap Isaiah felt a moment earlier.

A feeling of relief you'd only ever felt once before - when John shot a bullet that skimmed your leg at 12 years old – had managed to fill your chest, almost enough to overwhelm you were it not for the grounding touch of your Aunt Polly.

You let her process her mystic prediction as you finally moved, sipping your drink and sending a smirk over to Isaiah to match his own.

Polly looked up at you with a smile spreading over her face and joy filling her eyes. “A beautiful baby girl.”