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lemongingerart · 2 years ago

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Chapter 1 - Departure (I)

Fic summary: The second arc of my Armitage Hux x OC fanfic, “chocolate cookies and tarine tea”, in which both need to deal with the mess they got into (and each other, eh eh eh). Involves cookies that won't be eaten and tea that will get spilled. Same goes for certain feelings... they are going to be hungry ant thirsty 😏

You can find the link to AO3 and other chapters on Tumblr in the pinned message on my dash, both for the first and second arc 😊

Rating: Explicit. This is going to be very NSFW. So, Minors, do NOT read or interact. 18+. Family, friends and colleagues, please don’t read this. :’-)

Tags & warnings: TRoS fix-it (kind of), Hux!lives, Hux doesn’t like Kylo, Not a Redemption Arc, maybe a little bit, shameless fem!OC insert (there are cliches but entertaining ones imo), slow emotional burn, medium sexual burn, Enemies to Enemies With Benefits to Lovers, Hux is still a villain don't forget, Virgin Characters, masturbation against the door, pinv, Unresolved Sexual Tension, Awkward Sexual Situations, Past Child Abuse, dubious first kiss, Dom/sub Undertones, Mental Breakdown, Unprotected Sex, wet Hux, that deserves a tag/warning on its own, Minor Character Death

I will add tags as we proceed in the story, please let me know if I forgot one!

Taglist: @mylifeisactuallyamess, @morby and anyone who’d like to join 🥰

A/N: Hello dear, it's been a while! I wasn’t actually planning on publishing yet (I still need to finish up the header and the last scene) but after attending star wars celebration I am so high on Hux again! As an extra, I'm also uncharacteristically impulsive. This is not going to end well, ah ah ah.

Arc 2 has been written, up till some very *interesting * scenes! The whole thing got out of hand a bit, I already have almost 23k words for part 1 of this arc (part 2 will follow with the same amount, but still working it through) I should be able to more or less update on a regular basis for the next 11 chapters now, since I only need to review them!

Because I know some of you have read arc 1 a good while ago, let me give you this short recap: Hux, Miko and PC just left Utapau Four and are heading to Taris, so they can obtain the coördinates to the Resistance base. Hux has been in a stressful and frustrated mood (at least, more than usual), while Miko is gloomy from trying to deal with her new reality: she might not be able to return to her home for good.

Get ready for a whole whirlwind of (mis)adventures.

Armitage was looking to the everlasting hyperspace clouds, as if he was paying attention to it for the first time in his life. If Miko wanted to start a conversation - which she certainly didn’t - his intense gaze would've stopped her from doing so. She wondered what he was thinking, looking so serious and focussed on the void ahead.

This time however, she mused, the silence didn’t feel loaded and somehow had turned into something comforting. They had an actual plan and could focus on the upcoming mission. Everything was more or less under control.

Miko felt like she finally had the time to study her companion. From the seat she was in, she noticed he was frowning deeply, and she could guess by that serious stern look on his face, he was thinking about the current bantha poodo he was in.

She sat back in the co-pilot 's chair while keeping an eye on his side profile. She knew by now he had done some horrible things - based on her father's reaction - although she didn't know the exact details.

Thinking back to the way he introduced himself to her with so much flair, his previous position within the military must’ve meant everything to him. The First Order was probably the only life he knew. And she doubted one could become a general by playing along nicely, so he probably has done and sacrificed a lot to get in that seat.

Still, he betrayed all that. For what?

Her mind wandered back to the time he miraculously woke up beneath her, onboard the Steadfast . She really was convinced he was dead at the time. She could remember the shock she felt, when she unceremoniously had fallen down on his limp body. But the memory was blurred by the storm of emotions and adrenaline she went through that moment.

Did I really somehow… revive him, like he said? How could that be even frigging possible?

The girl looked at her hands and slowly turned them around, trying to see if something happened if she tensed the muscles in her fingers.

Of course, it was to no avail, making her wonder if he was just making things up for some obscure reason. But why would he do that?

Nothing made sense these past days . The chaos, violence, the unexpected get-away, everything was wearing her down.

She slowly looked back to the ex-general and noticed how his jaw was slightly moving.

Was he grinding his teeth… again ?

At this moment, she was absolutely positive this man was full of frustrations and looking at the bags under his bloodshot eyes and his pale skin, the stress was eating him slowly but surely.

She closed her eyes. If she was not going to stop paying attention to him, she was going to start getting worked up as well, and that wouldn’t help them any further.

After a short pause, Miko felt relatively at ease again and decided to follow Hux’ gaze, so she started staring at the hyperspace clouds as well. They were somehow enchanting, the slight rotation of the ship making the clouds swirl and giving the space outside a dreamy aura.

Honestly, right now, this all felt like a bad dream. She had always wanted to leave Utapau Four behind, and she used to fantasise about steering her own ship, drifting through hyperspace, from system to system. Seeing the most beautiful parts of the galaxy. Looking for a place with more purpose to land.

She once wished for adventure, but now, the sting of hastily having to say goodbye to her father, maybe for good, was reminding her that she wasn't living her dream. This was all too real and absolutely not how she wanted to leave her home behind.

She felt the urge to cry slowly rising from her chest, but she refused to give in to those feelings, especially around that pompous manipulative asshole. She gulped and kept her head down, trying to find tranquillity once again.

Only a few seconds later, she noticed a small but very irritating noise originating from the left. She looked back at Hux, who was now grinding his teeth so loud she could hear it from her seat and it was not helping her current emotional state.

Kriff.

‘Could you please stop doing that?? It’s not good for both your teeth and my headache’, she said, grumbling, only then realising she was again talking before thinking things through.

This frigging bastard had almost choked me to death, if it wasn’t for PC , she hastily reminded herself, cold sweat appearing on her backside.

But the next thought that entered her worked up mind, were those glassy eyes again. Almost instantly she felt her cheeks go red, betrayed by her own thoughts, so she swiftly diverted her attention to the other side of the shuttle and gulped. She sincerely hoped he wouldn't turn around and see the blush under the dim light.

Unfortunately, Hux decided to redirect his energy from destroying his teeth to destroying any hope for a normal conversation, and he slowly faced her.

‘Just who do you think you’re talking to?’ he replied with a low voice, giving her a dangerous look, as if she had done something extremely rude. Her body already involuntarily responded to his words and made her turn her attention back to him, momentarily forgetting the blush and trying to process his rude comment.

Was this the tone he normally used when a subordinate had messed up pretty bad? she absently considered, trying to find a way to explain that this reply was somehow socially acceptable in Worst Order context.

But, despite trying to negate the brusqueness in what he just said, she could not get rid of the feeling that he was intimidating her, that was for sure. And, combined with the reason she had been blushing before, he was tearing her apart with these most confusing thoughts.

Right now, under his persistent, piercing gaze, she felt like she couldn’t breathe easily, feeling mixed emotions of anger, inadequacy from her part (and for what? He didn't have anything to expect from her), getting slightly terrified and some other burning feeling from her abdomen. One that matched well with her pink cheeks.

She abruptly closed her mouth and looked away with a defying glance. There was no good verbal response she could come up with, especially since she felt like he turned her into a mess so easily.

This was a conversation she wouldn’t take any further, because it was going to end in the both of them shouting again, and maybe worse.

The next few seconds, her discomfort only escalated further into distress. Miko felt like she was walking on thin ice, scared to accidentally provoke him. Not that she was convinced there were any actual triggers, but the thought of his hands around her throat tended to do that to her. So, she decided she didn’t want to stay in the same room with him any more and left the cockpit without a word.

Armitage watched Miko’s back when she retreated from the cockpit. He made notice of her posture, which wasn't reflecting her usual defiance. Unlike their other unfortunate encounters, she looked a bit resigned but mainly confused, most likely too emotionally disturbed to be thinking clearly. Her face looked a bit worked up, too.

Thinking back on what he just said to her, he may have been overreacting due to his train of thoughts. She didn't actually say something offensive, although it was much more straightforward than any other conversation he has had in the past years.

Taking into account that she already looked off, he hoped she wasn’t going to do anything stupid because of his response.

Given her mood though, he opted not to go after her, and wait in the cockpit a little longer. The atmosphere was already loaded enough and he wasn't looking forward to more energy consuming drama or useless fights.

He automatically turned his attention back to the hyperspace void in front of him and picked up where his thoughts were left, before her intermission.

The stress started eating at him again. He wasn’t used to having time for anything, and now he sat there, waiting, counting the hours before he was to be delivered to the enemy, at his own suggestion, no less.

Was he going to be able to break Ren? How much more did he need to give up so he could remove that idiot, who knocked him from his ambitious trajectory? Is it all going to be worth it and what's going to be left of the First Order in the end? Will there be a chance for him to start over and get in charge again?

There had to be, it was the only life he knew. He had been there, only a little five year old boy, when the Order rose from the ashes of the Empire. So many sacrifices, harsh decisions and risks were taken to become what they were. He personally had pushed himself to the limits, over the limits, sometimes to the brink of insanity, to achieve greatness for the First Order.

His mind wandered further, thinking back about the choices he made, the career path he chose and pushed himself forward for. The way he crawled up to the chain of command.

Yes, corruption was within their ranks. He wasn’t clean of those tactics either, but that’s part of the game. He learned those tricks from his father.

Armitage grimaced at the thought of the latter, and how he made sure the younger Hux understood his teachings.

There’s no way one could keep his hands clean in achieving leadership. But at least, he knew how the giant war machine worked, something Ren lacked. They all underestimated him, they didn't understand how far he was willing to go and up till now that had always worked in his advantage.

The empire had shown that a strong hand was imperative to attain peace, but it was too flawed. And with insane emotionally unstable idiots like Ren at the top, the First Order was risking the same end. Something had to be done.

But, after literally leaking the Emperor's message to the resistance and letting high ranked resistance members escape, will he ever be able to seize command? Maybe he did go too far, this time?

He didn’t have many allies left. Phasma perished as did Snoke. Lower officers like Mitaka could prove to be loyal to him, given Ren’s outbursts on the personnel. But in high command, he was losing popularity because of Starkiller and the Fulminatrix.

And then there was that huge factor he hadn’t taken into account properly.

Pryde.

He knew of the sick prick and his reserve forces, but none of the acting officers of the First Order out in the outer rim were aware of how Pryde had strengthened their numbers so fast. The so-called allegiant-general had become a powerful and influential player. Suddenly, the tables had turned and both Pryde and Ren almost succeeded in removing him from the board of command.

Then came Palpatine 's message, and it was as if it announced Hux's demise. Pryde convinced his loyal allegiant officers that going after the message would bring them significant strategic advantages, while Ren was not open for reason. Hux was automatically on the other end of the bargain, and thus enemy number one within the Order's upper ranks.

How convenient for both.

He felt his palms grow sticky beneath his leather gloves. He could try to come up with alternative tactics, go over the scenarios over and over again, but he already knew in the back of his mind that there was no better option than the way too risky plan he had picked now.

His jaw felt stiff and was starting to hurt from the constant pressure, the sting bringing him back to the present. He sighed deeply and rubbed his nasal bone.

On second thought, getting into some drama or a fight with Miko suddenly feels much more appealing than drowning in these thoughtlines , he scoffed.

A/N: I'm ignoring Sloane for a minute because we don't know what happened to her, same goes for Thrawn. They will have a cameo later on though! I love them too much not to include them 🥰

#star wars fanfic #oc x character #general hux x oc #star wars #generalginger #gingergeneral #armitage hux #lemonginger #CCATT

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hacked-by-jake · 4 years ago

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Take you home ²

𝐃𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐦𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐫'𝐬 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞...

>𝙿𝚊𝚛𝚝 𝟷

Summary: Jake can’t accept that this has been done to you, the thought torments him, and all he wants is revenge, and he gets it.

Words: 4,2k

Genre: Angst / Fluff

Warnings: Swearing, insulting

A/n: Well, hi.

So, this one has taken on some dimensions again, they weren’t planned, about 3k. Now, it is a bit more. Actually, the whole thing should not be quite so extensive, but well, once Jake starts, he doesn’t stop.

Thank you alls so much for the support in part one, I was really surprised. And thank you very much for wishing Part Two, which means a lot to me. ❤️

So, that’s a bit more related to alternative two of part one. Actually, it was supposed to get a little darker and generally the plan was different. The ending should be different and longer, but I think it’s good as it is now.

I hope you’ll like it.

And apologize for the mistakes.

(I think I wanted to say more but I forgot xD)

Anyway, have fun, stay healthy and take care of yourselves.❤️🌹🎭

There lies the hacker now, in the early morning hours, not even the sun has risen already, wide awake, full of emotions and agitated.

In his arms, you, fortunately asleep, deep and firm.

He also wanted to sleep, he has been trying for two hours but it doesn’t work. And how should he? After the past hours it is practically impossible to sleep.

The only reason you sleep is probably the effort you had to experience. Your body was finished after the shower. You were still shivering from the adrenaline, agitated and yet so terribly tired.

So now he lies here, doesn’t know what to do with himself, doesn’t know how to react, how to feel. TThe pure fear that lay in your voice when the call came suddenly, gives him goose bumps again, crawling all over his body.

This fearful tone of your voice won’t let it go.

What if he hadn’t been there in time? If he hadn’t been able to save you in time? If it took him a minute longer? If something had gone wrong?

He can’t even imagine what could have happened. At this horrible imagination in his head, he pinches his eyes tightly. Try to remove the images from his head that make him sick, he would like to vomit, so horrible is the thought of it. He shakes his head, tries to drive away the thoughts, but they don’t go away. His fingernails drill deep and firmly into the skin of his palms. It hurts, it’s uncomfortable, and if he still squeezes even harder, he’ll start bleeding, but he has no control over it. In his mind, the worst scenarios circle and he can only imagine, if even he feel so bad now, how bad did you feel in this moment?

He controls himself to be quiet, exhorts himself to loosen up again so as not to wake you. You need sleep. You deserve sleep. But these pictures, these fucking pictures, they're not going away. The imagination that someone would touch you- NO!

The hacker opens his eyes wide! He must not go in this direction, he must look straight out and make sure that you get your revenge, as you deserve! That he protects your honor, that he makes everyone see what happens when someone wants to do something bad to you.

He’s Jake, one of the best hackers in the world and now he’s gonna show what he’s capable of.

His breath is so heavy, so full of anger and hatred, so full of negativity that he would like to hit the next wall.

He bites his lower lip when he thinks about leaving you here alone. He needs to be in his study. He just has to find out who this guy was. That bastard.

Just really reluctant, actually he would just like to lie here with you, but he has to, he's winds cautiously out of your embrace.

He can’t lie here and wait, he has to do something. Now!

Even if he feels weird with it, he opens the laptop that is in his bedroom and directs it so that he can see your sleeping shape. He will simply connect the laptop to his PC to keep an eye on you. As soon as you get restless or wake up, he could be with you right away.

That’s how he’s gonna do it.

He gives you a final and gentle kiss on the forehead before going to his study.

After he has prepared his work setup and everything is ready, he wastes no time and immediately gets to work. Quickly scan the data of the man who was tracking you.

Everything that had ever happened in his life, the hacker would find out now. And of course, the most important information is quickly obtained.

Name

Age

Date of birth

Address

All bank accounts

His social security number

Where he grew up

As what he works

What friends he has

With whom he is friends

His pets

On what elementary school he went

On what high school he went

Who his parents are

The siblings

All information about each individual family member

And at the very end, the police certificate of conduct with all the information who are important for him. And that’s more interesting than he thought. The further he read the information from the police, the more his emotional state changes.

It starts with drug abuse

Bodily injury in two cases

Insult

Gun possession

Domestic violence against his ex girlfriend

....

The list is shockingly long: a two-year stay in a prison, probation and community service.

The further Jake read, the more worried he is that he couldn’t have been there in time with bad luck. But he’s all the happier he could save you.

At the same time, he’s thinking about telling you who the guy is, because he doesn’t know how you’re gonna take this information. But he would worry more about that later.

As he glances at the laptop’s camera, a smile creeps up on his lips. Meanwhile, you are lying on his side of the bed, your arms are tightly wrapped around his pillow and your head is pressing into the soft fabric, as if you were looking for his proximity in your sleep.

How perfect can a person be? How perfect is this beautiful being lying in his bed? Immediately the tingling starts in his stomach, as always when it comes to you.

He’s so terribly in love. So insanely strong.

Again, he begins to regret that it has not progressed further between you. Everyone knows that he loves you, and everyone knows that you love him. And yet you both have not yet managed to finally do what you both so much want. But the fear of destroying everything is so great. You two spend so much time with each other, become best friends, best friends who feel more for each other than just friendship.

In addition, his fear of putting you in danger is added. He is not a simple man, no one who prefers a regular daily life, no fixed working hours, no fixed income, even if he earns more than most others. As a hacker you have one or the other possibility. Nevertheless, he is still wanted by the government. Not as strong, and the danger is not as great as it was a few months ago, but it still exists.

But last night’s incident somehow inspired him to think, and he feels different when he thinks about it. He wants you, he wants you with everything you have, he wants you by his side. He always wants to protect you, he always wants to be there for you, he wants you by his side, he doesn’t want to live alone in this apartment anymore. He doesn’t want to be alone anymore, he needs you, he has always done it and he will always need you, he wants you so bad!

This incident clearly shows that life is always uncertain, and this incident shows him that he is lying to himself. He wants to be able to say that you’re a couple, he wants it so badly. So fucking urgent.

"I want to share my life with you," the hacker murmurs, driving through his face with his hands. Now his thoughts have drifted in another direction again, but you’re just sitting in every corner of his mind. You are the biggest and most important part of his life and that since the first time you met.

But now something else is more important. After that, he can think of you a lot, but now revenge counts.

He breathes in and out again before turning back to the screens and begins to gather more information.

About half an hour later, he releases himself from his cramped posture. The further he delves into the life of the man, the more aggressive he becomes.

This guy’s not a petty criminal, the way he thought he was, this guy’s got dirt on him through and through.

And the further he reads, the more he wonders why this guy is on the loose and not in a maximum security prison.

From organized crime to gang activities. Drug dealing, counterfeit money, prositution. All the shit every gang is involved in.

Disgusting chat histories, images, threats of other people, extort protection money. And the hacker just assumed the guy is just a disgusting bastard. But he thought wrong.

And yet, it’s actually only good for him, really very good, because Jake has now a lot more options than he thought.

He thinks hard about how to proceed. How best to tackle this whole situation, so that he has the best chance of success.

But what’s also positive for is the fact that this guy really doesn’t deserve anything other than what the hacker’s up to.

To destroy a person’s whole life is actually nothing that he would do; he simply cannot reconcile this with his morality. Even if it’s about you, but now he’s not just doing it for you, he’s doing it for everyone. This is a favor he does to the whole society.

Oh and he’ll do it with pleasure.

Meanwhile, he has gained access to the man’s laptop and can take a closer look at the living room. He also got lucky and found some camera shots taken by a bakery that is on the street where you were being followed.

Unfortunately, it has no sound and yet it is more than enough. He saved the recording and censored you on it.You don’t have to be broadcast in video format all over the world.

But it is still clear that he's persecutes you. It is more bad than quite recognizable on the videos that he is angry and that he shouts something, but when you see the video, everything is explained by itself.

That was number one on his list.

Let's continue with point two.

And point two is a summary of all the information he could find that could even remotely involve anything criminal.

And this is a really long list, he can prove everything, he can prove every single point. With all the information that will help.

Videos, chats, pictures, recording of conversations. Locations, meeting places, other names.

Because his plan has changed, and it’s not just about destroying this man anymore, it’s about destroying all the criminals around him.

Point two, finish! Now, point three, and that’s the confrontation with the man.

The most important information is in front of him as he puts on his headset and leans back relaxed.

The recording program runs as soon as he turns on his microphone. The recording is automatically converted into the computer voice and then sent as a video along with his sign, the eye, as a gift to his new friend.

He puts one leg over the other and folds his arms in front of his chest.

"Hello Ted, my identity doesn’t matter. All that matters is that you’ve made some serious mistakes, and about this, I will teach you now."

And send.

Soon the man’s cell phone will start ringing, and it will only stop when he gets up and then listens to the hacker’s nice message on his laptop, which will breaking his little world in which he lives.

But it’s his own fault.

A look at the camera of his own laptop tells him that you still sleep quietly and calmly, which makes him happy. -

The ringing of the mobile phone and the terrible ringtone of the persecutor annoy the hacker so slowly. He didn’t think it would be that long before Ted wake up. But when it finally happens and a door is opened, a slightly arrogant grin appears on Jake’s face.

It’s Showtime.

"What the hell?" grumbles the sleepy guy as Jake makes the video file pop up.

The eye flickers on the screen and Ted skeptically approaches it.

He pulls back his desk chair and sits down.

"What the fuck?" he hisses angrily and pushes a button on the keyboard.

"Hello Ted, my identity doesn’t matter. All that matters is that you’ve made some serious mistakes, and about this, I will teach you now."

Amused and eager, Jake follows the course of the situation.

Ted becomes more and more hectic, the more facts the computer voice enumerates. He probably didn’t expect this to ever come to light. He wildly presses all the buttons he can find, tries to turn off the laptop but he has absolutely no control over it.

At the very end, after all the crimes have been enumerated, the computer voice informs him that he has video footage of his nocturnal activity.

"That was a big mistake, Ted, and it’s time you understood that you understand how unimportant you are in this world"

After Jake has decided to leave Ted alone, with the knowing that he can now say goodbye to his life as he knows it, he move on to point 4.

And point 4 involves sending all the information to everyone who can do something with it. But don't worry, that’s not the finale.

The finale will be something special.

Everything collected is sent first to the police in Duskwood. He doesn’t think much will happen, but the police will certainly not be the agency that will take care of Ted, in the end.

After the police, Jake sends the information to his place of work. He won’t be needing the job in a few hours anyway even longer.

Then his sister gets an e-mail with everything there is about her brother. Because Jake found out that poor girl always had to take care of him. Had to pick him out of the cell at night, had to pick him up of the hospital one or the other time and things like that. Among other things, good Ted broke into her apartment once, but this was not reported to the police. Jake saw in a chat that Ted promised to stop doing criminal things. This didn’t work out that way. The hacker feel sorry for the sister, she certainly doesn’t deserve it and yet this is about more than just that.

And after all the important people have received the information, he finally go to the final, which the hacker is most looking forward to before he can finally return to you.

Back to you, to his bed where you lie, this day can’t be more beautiful, can it?

Well, the morning show on TV sounds good, doesn’t it? The channel is littered with scandals and really unscrupulous means of getting attention.

No one will be angry with him if the actual broadcast is interrupted for a few minutes to do something good. And to appease his vengeance. All he has to do is fade in everything, play the video and the rest would come by itself. The spread on the Internet. The information is forwarded to other authorities like the State Police Authorities as it is about more than just the pursuit after revenge for his love. Gang crime is not liked by the state.

So then, curtain up, the final begins.

About half an hour later, now it is shortly before 9 in the morning, the whole took longer than he had expected, he sinks back on the soft mattress. Satisfaction spreads and seeing you sleep so peacefully also makes him tired.

Carefully he pulls the blanket over himself and then grabs again around your body to bring you back into his arms. He hides his head in your neck bend and a few moments he falls asleep with a smile on his face.

He couldn’t stop himself from posting some things on Ted’s Instagram page for his personal feeling. Pictures that Ted prefers not to watch for the Internet, but Jake doesn’t care; in a few hours, Ted will never have access to the Internet again. Hopefully Ted makes friends in prison fast, or it won’t be so funny for him.

Well, don’t mess with the hacker’s love.

----------

When you open your eyes, Jake still lies peacefully asleep beside you.

His hair stands wildly off his head and he has put his arms protective around you. Immediately a feeling of home spreads within you and you smile.

His body nestles warm against yours and you wish you could always wake up like that.

Bu, if you didn’t have to use the bathroom.

Carefully peel out from under his arms without waking him.

With leaving Jake’s arms and getting out of bed, the first pictures of last night immediately come back into your head. A few moments you stare at the wall before you shake your head. You don’t want to think about it. Actually, you never want to have to think about it again, you just want to forget it, focus on everything that’s more important now. And this is you, your feeling that you don’t want to get involved in this situation, you don’t want to leave room for this man. You don’t want him to have room in your life, and you don’t want to investigate any further. Actually, you don’t want to know who this guy is. You just want to focus on how lucky you were, that everything went well, that Jake saved you, and that nothing happened to you.

Jake!

You want to focus on Jake! And most importantly, that you finally want to be with him! He was there to save you right away. He was ready to help you immediately, he protected you, especially the way he protected you. The way he sounded, as if he was doing everything he could to save you. And this irrational fear that this could not work with you two, it’s bullshit! You want him with everything he has and you don’t want to be just friends anymore. You long for his lips, for his kisses that don’t just go on your forehead or cheek. You want to finally be able to say that you are a couple, you want him so badly, so damn badly.

Like a miracle cure, the thought of Jake really distracts you. You didn’t even know where your thoughts went, it just happened. But it always is, it’s just in every corner of your mind.

After you left the bathroom, you turned on the coffee machine. You’d stay awake and pass the time until Jake wakes up and you could have some breakfast. While the coffee is cooking, you drop down on the small sofa in the hacker’s living room and decide to pass the time with a little bit TV.

You switch through the channels looking for something interesting but don’t really find something you like.

When the Coffee machine gives you confirmation that the hot drink is ready, you quickly jump up and leave the remote control there.

While you prepare your coffee, you listen to an advertisement about an electronic toothbrush and then one about the latest vacuum cleaner.

With your cup you go back and then put a thin blanket from the sofa around your legs.

The News Show that you sometimes see starts broadcasting.

And you really expected a lot, really a lot, but you never expected what was actually going on.

While the news announcer reports on a gang crime, a picture is displayed. There’s a man to be seen, and you’re a thousand percent sure that’s the man who chased you yesterday.

Silently and with your mouth open you are listening as a whole gang was arrested, warehouses and factories were stormed. Drugs and counterfeit money were confiscated and in the end, how a hacker uncovered all this.

During the narration about hacking another channel and the materials shown there such as images and video, your heart begins to beat faster and faster.

And when it is shown what was published there, you put your hand infront your mouth in shock.

"Oh my-" you watch the camera shots where you can clearly see the street, which is only a few streets away from your apartment.

And then you see a censored shadow running, a few moments later a man.

You and the man who was now identified as Ted.

Jake.

That was Jake, you know it!

You don’t know how to react. While the pictures and videos scare you, since this man met you yesterday, you feel moved to tears on the other side. When the hell did he do that?

Did he do it because of you?

Where does he get so much information? Sure, he’s a hacker but THAT?

When the news anchor finally ends her post with the words "This man will probably never see the light of day again" and "The whole Internet speaks about this man and the victim who was persecuted by him. When you see this, we wish you all well!"

You have the feeling that you are breathing again for the first time. Like you’ve been holding your breath all this time without noticing.

You stutter at things, try to explain, sort out and understand your feelings. But somehow, just like last night, it’s too unreal.

"You shouldn’t know that in this way"

Startled you turn around as Jake’s sleepy voice appears behind you.

He's leaning in the door frame and yawns once.

With an open mouth you stare at him, "Did you-?" but you break off immediately because you have no idea what to say.

"Is everything okay? Shouldn’t I have do that? I wanted to tell you myself but now it’s too late. I wanted to teach you gently," explains the hacker, and his gaze slowly turns into a worried one.

"Did you- I mean- you were -" you stutter, can’t bring out a normal sentence. Point you to the TV, to you and back to Jake.

"I’m sorry, MC, I didn’t mean to hurt you or anything," he explains straight away." It was just, I don’t know, I was so mad! I still am! This disgusting bastard was following you, he-"quickly breaks off. His hands are clenched into fists, his eyebrows pulled together and his breath accelerated. However, he doesn’t want to remind you unnecessarily, even if that didn’t work out so well through the news. He really has to hold back from screaming completely and somehow making sure that Ted gets more than what he already has.

"No Jake, I-I" you just can’t find the right words and before you know it, you threw yourself awkwardly over the sofa, rolled over it and stood two steps later directly in front of Jake. Without control, you reach into his neck with one hand and pull his head down towards you. Not quite gently your lips hit on his.

And just as quickly as the kiss came about, you finish it as quickly.

"Oh, um, I... so.. I-" you laugh nervously, still holding his head. "Um, sorry?"

Jake also laughs nervously.

"I shouldn’t have done that," a little embarrassed, you let go of his neck and kick a few steps away from him.

"No, no, everything was fine, I thought it was great, so I mean-" a slight redness adorns Jake’s cheeks.

"Sorry" you mumble with a much too high voice and try yourself on a grin that probably looks like you’re in pain. Jake makes an waving off hand move, then it’s quiet between you for a moment. You chew on the inside of your cheek and let your foot slide across the floor in a semicircle, "Did you..- Did you say you thought it was great?" You ask as unimpressed as possible, as if it were a question about the weather.

Jake’s eyes grow big, "Did you find it bad?"

"No, no, of course not!" you assure him quickly." It was great, I would do it again and again."

You sigh.

Smiling, you put one hand to your forehead and look back at the hacker. Jake smiles too, and then you start laughing out loud. Until you have to hold your stomach and the first tears run out of your eyes.

"We’re so ridiculous," you chuckle, shaking your head over you two.

"Do you think?" Jake asks, grinning, "I find us great together"

"Me too" you agree and look back at him.

"Jake I-"

"MC I-"

At the same time you start to speak and then both of you are immediately silent to let the other go first.

"Do you first" you offer and he returns it to you.

"No, I’m fine, say what you wanted to say," you confirm.

"I can wait, you start"

You’re twisting her eyes again.

However, Jake understands this wrong and at the same time the magic words leave your lips "I love you"

Masterlist

And thank you @a-d-alison your submission gave me a lot of motivation🤭❤️

#duskwood #duskwood jake #duskwood mc #duskwood jake x mc #duskwood fanfiction #duskwood hacker #everbyte #everbyte studios #everbyte duskwood #everbyte game #duskwood game #duskwood everbyte #iamjake

173 notes · View notes

felassan · 4 years ago

Text

Mass Effect development insights and highlights from Bioware: Stories and Secrets from 25 Years of Game Development

This is the Mass Effect version of this post.

[In case you can’t read it the subtitle in the bottom left logo above is “Guardians of the Citadel”]

Note: Drug use is mentioned.

Cut for length.

Mass Effect 1

ME began its life in a vision document in fall 2003

Codenamed “SFX”

Conceived of by Casey Hudson and a core team from KotOR. Its genesis was the intention to create an epic sci-fi RPG in an original setting that BioWare owned (so they could have full creative control), and in a setting that was conceived of first and foremost as a video game

Initially players could control any squadmate, but they wanted it to be about Shep and for players to be focused on Shep being a battlefield commander, rather than on switching bodies

By the start of 2004 its story was shaping up. Initially humans landed on Mars in 2250 and discovered evidence of an ancient alien race and a powerful substance, Black Sand, which rapidly advanced tech to the point that FTL travel was possible. (My note: obviously now the Prothean artifacts on Mars & associated mass effect force tech enabled this in the final canon, but I wonder if aspects of the ‘Black Sand’ naming-type & powerful substance stuff was rolled into red sand from final canon) Humans were suddenly capable of travel to multiple star systems and made contact with a multitude of other species. At the start of the first game, these species together with humans had a fragile peace, with focus placed on the political center of the galaxy, a hub known as Star City, later renamed the Citadel

Multiplayer was a vision for the series as far back as 2003. The plan was for ME1, an Xbox exclusive at launch, to take advantage of the platform’s online components. Early designs saw players meeting in one of the central hubs to interact and trade items in their otherwise SP adventures

By 2006 it had the name ME and the story was more specific, with the theme of conflict between organic and synthetic lifeforms. The story’s scope now stretched across 3 games and included scope for full co-op MP

They tried to do MP in every game, discussing it from the get-go, but it always just fell by the wayside. “When you’re trying to build something that is a new IP, on a new platform, with a new engine, you’ve got to really focus on the core elements of the game.”

The conversation system prototype was made in Jade Empire, and some of ME’s earliest writing was done in an old JE build. At first there was no conversation wheel. Paragon was “Friendly” and Renegade “Hostile”. In the prototype Shep was a silent unnamed Spectre. Many conversations in the prototype about the player’s choice in smuggling a weapon through Noveria made it into the game

In said prototype a merchant referred to themselves as “this one”, though the word hanar never appeared. The PC in it also had the option to end a conversation with “I should go”. In the prototype also, Harkin was voiced by Mark Meer

An early version of the Mako got used as the krogan truck in ME2

Early concepts of the Citadel were drawn in pencil by CH. A piece of concept art of its final design was painted based on a photo of a sculpture near Aswan, Egypt

As with any new IP naming it was a struggle. They put out a call to all staff for ideas, did polls, made a name generator that combined words that they liked in random ways and made pretend logos of ones they liked in Photoshop to see if they could make themselves love the name or find visual potential in it. (Some of these names are in the pic at the top of this post.) CH liked “Unearthed” as it was a reference to Prothean ruins dug up on Mars and humanity’s ascendance going away from Earth. They knew the game would have a central space station featuring prominently so some of the ideas were based on that - “The Citadel”, “The Optigon”, “The Oculon”. “Element” was another one they had in mind due to the rare substance in the game

CH: “I was a big fan of John Harris’ book Mass, which had epic-scaled sci-fi ideas, so that was a word that came up often. Many of the names came from the idea that the IP featured a fifth fundamental physical force (in addition to the known four of gravitational, electromagnetic, strong nuclear and weak nuclear) so the word ‘effect’ came up pretty often.” Ultimately none of the ideas really felt right. One Monday morning they were going over the names and Greg Zeschuk said he had an idea on the weekend: “Mass Effect!” CH: “I said, ‘I don’t hate it’, which in the naming process is a high compliment. And it stuck!”

CH on Shep’s Prothean vision from the beacon: “It was hard to imagine how we would do this. CG was - and is - really expensive. Instead I wanted to try doing it through photography and video editing. So I went to a local grocery store and bought a few packages of the weirdest looking meat that I could find. Then I set up a little photoshoot in my basement, complete with some electronics parts and some red wine for juicyness.” He used these props to create a video sequence where the photos were rapidly cycled and blurred, along with production paintings, to create the scary vision an organic/machine experiment on the Protheans. These mashups were also used as inspiration for concept artists and level designers who were working on these themes

Tali used to be called Talsi

On the licensing side they often joke that they’re licensing N7 not “Mass Effect” due to N7′s popularity

There was a confidential internal guide to the IP in 2007 to help devs along and summarize/synthesize the vision etc. Some excerpts from it are shown in the book and this is the first time the public have ever seen them

Early versions of Asari had hair

Asari were designed as a nod to classic TV sci-fi (with human actors wearing obvious makeup and prosthetics to play aliens)

The turian design guideline was “we want them to be birds of prey”. They also wanted a range of alien types, some close to human like Asari, while others were to be a lot further away, like turians

BioWare patented the conversation wheel, which was a first for them. CH had been frustrated with reviews of Jade Empire that said that the actioncentric game was too wordy [with its list dialogue]. “I’m like, story is words. [...] What is it about our games that is making people feel like they’re wordy?” Then he thought “In a game you kind of need to feel like you’re continuing to play it. Maybe you should continue feeling like you’re playing it actively into the dialogue.” “[The wheel] kind of gave a new experience with dialogue when you did start to react based on emotion, and that’s ultimately what we’re trying to bring out in our games”

The original krogan concept was based on a bat “with a really wide squidgy face. We just used its face on top of this weird body and it kinda worked”

Geth musculature was based on fiber-optic cables, with flexible plates of armor attached

The vision for the IP was 80s sci-fi inspired space opera

The concept art of Saren lifting Shep by the throat inspired a similar scene in-game. The staging wasn’t planned til designers saw that art

A squadmate with Shepard on the way to meet Ash in an old storyboard was called Carter. Early name of Kaidan or Jenkins?

Bono from U2 was kinda instrumental in bringing us ME lol

Finding the right cover art for ME1 was notably tricky

Matt Rhodes got his start drawing helmets for ME1, including one which would become Shep’s “second face”. He estimates he drew between 250-270 different ones

Some of the sounds in-game were people smashing watermelons with sledgehammers and sticking fists into various goos

The audio team had fun trying to slip the iconic main theme into unexpected places throughout the MET. “We were very aware of how powerful that track was for the fans and it was tempting to overuse it for any moment we wanted to make really emotional”.

The theme was creatively repurposed in ME3: slowed down and reworked as the ambient sound for the SR-2. “If you listen to it for a really long time, just stand in the Normandy and listen, you’ll actually hear the notes change slowly. It doesn’t sound like music, it sounds like a background ambiance, but it’s there.” (My note: Well no wonder the Normandy feels so much like home?? 😭 sneaky..)

Bug report: “Mako Tornado”. There wasn’t enough friction between the tires and the ground, causing testers to lose control of the vehicle and send it spinning into the air like a tornado. “As it turns, the front end comes up, and then it starts spinning and spinning and spinning and spinning faster and faster and faster until it just flies up in the sky” (My note: Sounds like a regular day in the Mako to me)

Cerberus originally had a bigger role in this game. It was cut but they had a whole explorable outpost. “I called it Misery,” says Mac Walters, “It was this planet with a little outpost that said ‘Welcome to Misery’”. Everything on the outpost was shit - dirty worn stuff, no windows, no kitchen, the vehicle bay was open to the elements etc

The Reaper sound is literal garbage. Some audio designers went on a recording trip to a national park. One of them got fixated on a garbage can, “a metal bear-proof receptacle with a heavy lid that creaked horribly when opened”. “It was like, ominous, spooky, tonal and almost musical. I decided to throw a mic into the garbage and record it moving. I didn’t know what it was going to be until later”

They were making lots of noises to record like throwing logs and rocks around. An old couple peered at them through the window of their camper van in the woods and must have called the cops because then the cops showed up, pulled them over and told them to stop. The cops towed their car (the driver’s plates were Cali plates and expired), drove them to Edmonton outskirts and then the audio producer Shauna got a call and had to go pick them up “like three little boys”. “We got a stern talking to”. Once back they were playing around with the garbage sound, editing it etc. Casey heard it and proclaimed “That’s the sound of the Reapers”

Preston Watamaniuk: “There are things I could have done to Mass 1 to make it an infinitely better game with better UIs” and some simple cuts and changes. “But when you’re living with it, it’s very hard to see those things”

BioWare Labs

As social media and smartphone games exploded, BioWare dedicated a small team dedicated to exploring opportunities here - BioWare Labs

Mass Effect: Galaxy used a unique graphic art style and static visual presentation common in visual novels. It has the distinction of being the only iOS game BW have made during their first 25 years

Scrapped ideas were a 3rd person space shooter called Mass Effect: Corsair and 2 DA titles - a strategy game and a top-down dungeon crawler starring young Wynne. (My note: Maybe the corsairs stuff was rolled into Jacob’s backstory in 2, the Alliance Corsairs)

Corsair was a very short-lived project that never got its feet under it. It was a spin-off on Nintendo DS featuring a behind-the-ship perspective and branching dialogue. At one point it had MP. The idea behind it was basically “ME: Freelancer” - fly your ship around, do missions, get credits. It had a limited branching story but was a gameplay-centered experience intended to fill the gap between ME1 and 2. That gap ended up being filled by Galaxy

Galaxy and Corsair’s smaller screen allowed concept artists to use bold colors and a simplistic character design style to help those games stand out from Shep’s story

Nick Thornborrow did some art for Corsair but was worried his art style didn’t fit ME. He moved to DA where he feels his art style fits better

Lots of BioWare VAs and even a lead writer and the VO director are drawn from Edmonton’s local community theater scene, which is vibrant. Think this is how Mark Meer got involved

Mass Effect 2

Player choices carrying over was a first for BW

Dirty Dozen-inspired plot

Its plot is a web of conditionals (see Suicide Mission)

Was more of a shooter than anything BW had made since Shattered Steel

There was 2 camps on the team, those who wanted to push combat and systems forward and redefine the ME experience and those who wanted to make a true sequel, with the same gameplay and systems but a new story. Karin Weekes: “I think it ended up being a good push-pull. It felt like a pretty healthy creative conflict”

“ME2 was a game you could hold up to someone who argues that games aren’t a serious medium and go ‘Oh yeah, then why is Martin Sheen in this?’” Sheen was their first pick for TIM

The idea for TIM came from a mash-up of concepts CH had collected over the years. The name “Illusive” originally came from his pitch for naming DAO’s Eclipse engine, a word inspired by Obi-Wan’s line “It’s not about the mission, Master. It’s something... elsewhere. Elusive”. “I thought, what if we called our next engine 'Elusive', but used an ‘I’, and then it’s like ‘Illusion’. [...] I still really like the word with an ‘I’ and what it conjures”

When ME1 DLC was in production, CH had been watching a lot of CNN, specifically Anderson Cooper. “How is one guy travelling to all these places and never looking tired and always being able to speak with clarity?” CH says it seemed almost superhuman. “What if there was someone who is the absolute maximum of the things you would aspire to be, but also the worst of humanity?” Cooper, though not evil, became an inspiration for TIM down to the gray hair and piercing blue eyes

Inspiration for TIM’s behind-the-scenes role pulling political strings came from Jack Bauer’s brother Graem in 24. Graem “can call up the president and tell him what to do and hang up, because he’s so connected and so influential”. Sheen had played a president and his performance brought gravitas and wisdom to the role. He had quit smoking, but the character smokes. He didn’t want to fake it, but he also didn’t want to smoke, “so he actually asked for a cigarette” to hold so he could stop his words to take drags with natural cadence

Writing was still pushing to write and revise lines hours before VO started. A series of problems like injury and some writers leaving for other opportunities left it so that Karin, Lukas Kristjanson and editor Cookie Everman hand to land the story safely, with PW helping where they could. Lukas: “We took over the writing bug and task list, and I can’t stress enough how much [Karin and Cookie] did to get ME2 out the door. There’s no part of that thing we didn’t touch”. Karin: “That was the most dramatic 2 weeks of my life”

Initial fan reaction when they started promo-ing ME2 was very negative because people didn’t want to know about new chars like Jack and Mordin. “[fans were like] ‘Get them out of here. We want our characters from the first game’. But then when they played them, those became some of the most popular chars [of the series]”

Concept art of Thane has an idea annotation saying “Face can shapeshift?”

At one point when designing Thane concept artists sent multiple variations of him to the team asking them to vote on which was the most attractive

Most of the Normandy crew was written by lead level designer Dusty Everman. Lukas gave him advice in the evenings between bugs

BioWare Montreal made ME2 and 3 cinematics

CC for Shep was based on tools used by char designers to create in-game chars. Under the hood similar tools existed to create aliens

Aliens were much easier to animate than humans. When something is human it’s very difficult to make it look realistic and you can see all the mistakes and everything

Over the holiday period in 2007 CH worked out a diagram on a single piece of paper that would define the entire scope and structure of the game. The diagram is included in the book

Bug report: “I shot a krogan so hard that his textures fell off”. At one point shotgun blast damage was applied to each of the pellets fired, and shot enemies ended up with just the default checkerboard Unreal texture on them after their textures got blown off

Blasto was meant to be 1 step above an Easter egg but his fan popularity prompted them to bring him back in ME3

They rewrote chunks of Jack 2 days before she went to VO. She was the only one they could change because all the other NPCs were recorded. They redesigned her mission by juggling locked NPC lines and changing Shep’s reactions by rewriting text paraphrases to change the context of the already-recorded VO

Lukas snuck obscure nods ito ME2′s distress calls. In the general distress call for the Hugo Gernsback, there’s BW’s initial’s and Edmonton’s phone number backwards. In a fault in a beacon protocol there’s the initials and backward phone number from Tommy Tutone’s “Jenny”. In 2 other general distress calls there’s initials and numbers from Glenn Miller Orchestra’s “Pennsylvania 6-5000″ and initials and numbers from Geddy Lee and Rush’s “2112″ respectively

Mass Effect 3

“The end of an era marks the beginning of another”

ME3 “marked the end of Shep’s story”

Saying bye to Shep was as difficult for devs as it was for players

JHale’s final VO session included Anderson’s death and romanced Garrus’ goodbye. “We were in the session and we both just started crying”, Caroline says. “I couldn’t come on the line to give her notes because I was crying, and she was crying. And so there was just this minute-long pause of like, nothing, nothing, nothing - just silence through the airwaves. And then I came on and just told her that I was crying and she said ‘I’m crying!’” They talked about these anecdotes also here on the N7 Day reunion panel

The Microsoft Kinect voice support required devs to teach Kinect hundreds of commands in a variety of accents across multiple languages. The result was useful but made for some awkward moments. Numerous players accidentally said “geth” or “quarian” while making a particular decision and accidentally killed Tali

MP chars were voiced by cops and military people

The helmet on one of the MP chars was originally designed for cancelled project Revolver

The payload device at the end needed to attach to the Citadel while essentially serving as a giant trigger. “It ended up becoming quite the engineering feet just to visualize how this thing would move and connect to the Citadel”

Concept artists explored creating an anti-team, where Kai Leng was almost an anti-Shepard essentially, with an elite squad to counteract your team. This idea never went beyond concept phase

ME3 Special Edition was released on Nintendo Wii U exclusively. This exclusive version of the game includes Genesis 2 (a sequel to the original Genesis comic) and unique gameplay features that took advantage of the touchscreen GamePad. For years Sonic Chronicles: Dark Brotherhood had had the honor of being BW’s only game made for a Nintendo console

FemShep regrettably didn’t feature in major ME marketing til ME3. Later releases like DAI, MEA and Anthem have taken increasing care not to gender their protagonists in cover art

To capture combat sounds they took a trip to CFB Wainwright, a military base southeast of Edmonton. They got a big tour of it and were allowed to record anything they could find. The tour ended with them getting to drive and shoot tanks (real shells). The force of doing that sent waves through Joel Green, he felt his whole chest compress when it went off; the perfect sound for the Black Widow! After the trip the soldiers let him keep the shell he fired and it’s been passed on like a torch to various devs since

Kakliosaurs began life as a joke in the writers’ room after John Dombrow placed a Grunt figure on a t-rex toy he had on his desk. Lore was brainstormed to justify the mash-up before someone asked, “Why don’t we put this in the game?” They loved it so much Karin had custom coffee mugs made

Bug report: For a while Tali’s final romance scene would fire when she was supposed to be dead

“Balancing combat: how designers in ME3 entered an ‘arms race’” - the solution to players feeling OP vs players feeling frustrated by really strong enemies is to find a good middle ground, but for designers Corey Gaspur and Brenon Holmes, it was war. Brenon designed enemies, Corey designed guns. Corey “was obsessed with bigger, heavier guns. We had this sort of informal competition where he’d make this crazy overturned gun that would just murder all the enemies, and then I tuned some stuff up to compensate”

Brenon had to invent new ways to “stop Corey” and this led to the Phantoms. Corey had in turn designed consumable rockets that could wipe out entire waves of enemies. He must’ve figured this would make short work of Brenon’s space ninjas, but Brenon had other plans: “I had just added the ability for her to cut rockets [when Corey was playing MP and he was watching]. She cut the rocket in half... Corey just turns and looks at me and is like: ‘Really dude? I just shot a rocket at this Phantom and she’s fine? Not even damaged? Zero damage?’”

This friendly rivalry helped elevate ME3′s gameplay. Corey had a knack for making a gun feel so good to fire it had his fellow designers scrambling to keep up. It was his version of balancing. Before Corey sadly passed away he mentored Boldwin Li in all things weapon design and the arms race continued

Corey designed the Arc Pistol. It was causing problems for enemies because it was too powerful. It seemed hell bent on staying that way, Boldwin would tune down all its stats and it was still doing 3x the damage it should have been doing. “I was like ‘What the hell?’, and then I looked closer. It secretly fired 3 bullets for every pull of the trigger! Corey, you sneaky jerk”

The day it launched there were midnight launch parties across North America including one near the BW building. Numerous devs sat at long tables greeting fans and signing autographs as the fans picked up preorders. When midnight struck the line was long enough that it took several hours for some fans to get their game. One particular fan is remembered: “It was 3am. Some guy drove up from Calgary with his friends. He was like one of the last people in line. I think he was sort of tired-drunk. He threw himself across the tables, pulled up his shirt and shouted ‘Guys, sign my abs!’ And like I did, because he waited so long. It felt impolite not to. So I hope he enjoyed his copy of ME3″

For designing Protheans concept artists had free reign to design something that read as ancient

Before the concept art team had the story of the game to work toward, they explored wild ideas of their own including an image of the crew stealing back the Normandy to go after the Reapers

Jen Cheverie was testing scenes and was initially excited to be testing Mordin scenes, til she saw she was testing the Renegade version of his death. “This is even before like all of the audio and everything was in, so you didn’t even have the sad music. I remember sitting at my desk and my hands just went to my face when I saw that the gun Shep pulls on Mordin is the gun he gives Shep in ME2. I burst into tears and was crying for the rest of the day. People are waving to me as they walk by and I’m like, ‘It’s ok, I’m just killing my best friend’”

There’s a segment called “Shepard’s story ends”. Casey on the ending: “There’s a whole bunch of things that come together to make it incredibly tense and emotional for players. I think the biggest one was the sense of finality, that whatever it was that happened in that very last moment... was it.”

Wrapping up the story was a massive feat. In a way all of ME3 is an ending. Its final moments were the players’ last with a char they’d been with all the way from Eden Prime

“And while the critical reception of the game was extremely positive, many fans were unsatisfied with the ending, which became one of the most controversial in the history of games.” CH: “We were, on one hand, at the end of a marathon trying to finish the game and the series. But as devs we also knew that there would be more. We knew that we would continue to tell the story. In retrospect, we didn’t fully appreciate the tremendous sense of finality that it would have for people”. He envisioned an ending that posed new questions, something in the tradition of high sci-fi that left players dreaming about what that particular galaxy’s future could hold. “Frankly, there’s a lot more that we could have and should have done to honor the work players put in, to give them a stronger sense of reward and closure”

AAA games are massive undertakings with a million moving parts. Somehow they come together but even the best-planned projects don’t turn out quite like devs hope. From start to end video game production is a series of compromises. It’s rare if not impossible for devs to ship a game they’re entirely happy with. “I think that people imagine that when you finish a game, it’s exactly the way you wanted it to be. But whether people end up loving or hating the final result, we work hard to finish it the best we can, knowing that there’s a lot we would have wanted to do better. I think that’s true of any creative work”

As the dust settled after the initial reaction to the ending and later its epilogue, meant to show the wide-reaching ripple effects of Shep’s final choice, “players emerged mostly asking for one thing”. CH: “Now, most of what we hear, after both ME3 and MEA, is ‘Hey, just go make more Mass Effect’. And that to me is the most important thing. Knowing that players want to return to the ME universe is what inspires us to press on and imagine what comes next”

Mass Effect: Andromeda

By creating a new ME in a new galaxy the team was challenged to put their own visual stamp on the game while keeping it true to the franchise

Being the first ME game on a new gen of consoles meant for more detail

“Massive transport ships called arks populated with salarians, turians, humans, asari and quarians” made the risky jump to the Cluster

MEA was the first time BW had truly codeveloped across 3 studios: Edmonton, Montreal and Austin. The bulk of the work especially early on was done in Montreal, which was composed of a handful of Edmonton expats and heaps of experienced devs who joined from elsewhere specifically to bring a new ME experience to life. Series vets in Edmonton then came on to contribute writing, cinematics, design and QA, along with leadership from creative director Mac Walters and the core Production team. Austin writers and level designers also joined the fray

“It took a new team to take ME beyond the Milky Way”

Mac: “A lot of people in Montreal joined BW as fans of the franchise, so they just had this passion, and it felt like it was more like the days of Jade Empire, where a smaller younger team gets to do something for the first time. Even though it wasn’t necessarily a new IP for me, it felt fresh and new because of that. The team was just super excited to be working on it”

Early plans had the player exploring hundreds of worlds, procedurally generated, allowing for a nearly infinite variety of experiences. But as development wore on, it became clear that the game narrative required more specific, hand-touched level design on each world to keep the story focused and the experience engaging. “The plan was to give players numerous uncharted worlds to explore. Designers worked hard to come up with procedural elements that would make such planets special. Eventually the team made the difficult decision to abandon procedural planets in favor of more memorable hand-touched alien worlds, each with a specific story to tell”

One challenge was defining what ME meant without Shep. Care was given to include many of the MET’s key species. “Ryder recruited turian, asari, krogan and salarian followers”. Like Shep Ryder represents humanity’s hope for a peaceful coexistence among aliens who had long operated without human contact

Beginning with MEA the team decided that with few exceptions vehicles in ME have 6 wheels. Early Nomad concepts were bulkier. Later ones focused on its ability to move over its ability to protect itself from hostile fire, underlining the themes of exploration

German concept designer and auto-motive futurist Daniel Simon was contracted to create the Nomad and Tempest. The Tempest’s final design took inspo from the Concorde

Concepts for angaran fighter ships have the following notes: “Two doors swing open, wings rotate down to function as landing struts, the landing struts split open. It has a spinning turbine engine

Despite being set a galaxy away and some 600 years after Mordin’s death, there was a time when he had a cameo. It wasn’t cut due to running out of time however, it was cut due to drug references. John Dombrow explains: “One day I had to write a small quest for Kadara. I thought it’d be amusing if these 2 guys living way out on the fringes in a shack were growing plants for uh, medicinal purposes, and needed Ryder’s help with it. It occurred to me, wouldn’t it be amusing if Ryder had the option of actually trying ‘the medicine’ to see what would happen? And I thought, what if it turned into some hallucination that somehow involved SAM - like maybe SAM would sing? But why? How could I motivate that? Then it hit me. Who else in the ME game sings unexpectedly? MORDIN. As a nod to him I wrote SAM singing Modern Major-General. It got even better when our cine designer John Ebenger wanted to take it even further. Bless him, he came in on a Saturday to do a special hallucination showing Mordin himself. It was great. Til the fateful day we were told MEA had already been submitted to the ratings board. That’s when you declare things like drug references in your game. Mordin fell under that category which meant it was a no-go. We were too late”

Ryder’s white AI armor contrasts Shep’s iconic dark armor (intentional design)

Concept art for Ryder involved experiments with cloth (cloaks, ponchos, capes - “Pull here to release cloak”) and asymmetrical design elements

For alien design, there’s a few exceptions but humanoid figures are the ME standard and this persisted into MEA

Kett and angara concepts explored striking lines and textures

– From Bioware: Stories and Secrets from 25 Years of Game Development

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makeste · 4 years ago

Text

BnHA Chapter 280: I Am Red Riot

Previously on BnHA: The pro heroes over at Gunga Mountain struggled against Gigantomachia and the League until finally Midnight was all, “fuck it, let’s just put the kids in charge.” Momo immediately got to work organizing a sophisticated counteroffensive involving an exploding swamp, a bunch of sedative cans, and a massive coordinated team attack. I gotta tell you guys, it’s really something to watch a large-scale group attack in which all of the team members are actually competent. I don’t know what Japan put in the water when all these sixteen-year-olds were growing up, but that shit has paid off big time, and basically the only reason Machia hasn’t gone down yet is because he cheated and was all “sneeze” and the kids all got blown away because they are little and because he is really, really big. Anyway so then Dabi set the forest on fire because he loves doing that, and the chapter ended with Mina using her Acid Man attack to make herself FUCKIN’ FIREPROOF so she could charge through the woods ready to save the day and stuff!

Today on BnHA: Mina launches herself straight at Machia like the beautiful corrosive wild child she is, but then everything goes to shit when she recognizes him from that one time she almost got murdered while giving a strange man directions. Just when it’s looking like she might get killed for real this time, KIRISHIMA SHOWS UP TO SAVE THE DAY AND SHOVES HER TO SAFETY AND IS ALL “BOTTOMS UP” AND HEAVES A LITERAL CAN OF WHOOPASS RIGHT IN MACHIA’S MOUTH. At this point the grown-ups are all “oh wow look at that, time for us to take over for you kids now, don’t worry we’ve got it all under control�� because Oh Those Wacky Pros and all that, but at least Majestic finally deigns to show his face so that’s a plus! The chapter ends with us cutting back to the Jakku battle, where Tomura is curled up in a little ball all “curse you heroes, how dare you [checks notes] save people all the time”, which is a real take and a half. Anyway so things are looking up, which can only mean everyone is about to die. That’s how it works, right. Shit.

HOLY SHIT LOL

THIS IS MINA. SHE’S REALLY COOL AND SHE CAN MELT PEOPLE. um, the hell kind of tagline is that?? holy fucking shit?? “melt and succumb”?? IS THE SUCCUMB PART REALLY NECESSARY. IS THAT NOT ALREADY IMPLIED. it’s like saying “die and then perish”, which actually sounds really badass and I’m about to make it my new go-to threat actually so you know what never mind. where the fuck were we anyway

“IS EVERYONE SAFE” some absurdly bad-at-gauging-situations kid from class B is yelling while the forest is on fire and all the kids are recovering from having been catapulted fifty miles by King Dodongo’s windy yeet breath. of course they are safe, sweet child. of course everyone is absolutely fine, why the fuck would they possibly not be safe after something like that

KAMINARI NOOO MY POOR SWEET BABY

AT LEAST HE’S STILL CONSCIOUS ENOUGH TO MAKE STUPID JOKES. holy shit this baby got concussed to hell and back and then Machia turned him and the others into precipitation and he wasn’t in any kind of state to even try to land safely, I hope to god someone caught him

Sero is all “is there anyone still in range!” and damn, I like that he’s taking charge and trying to regain their momentum. he is so criminally underrated. I feel like he’s in the top six or seven of class 1-A kids who I would most trust to take charge. which is very high praise because that class has a lot of charge-taking kids

SPEAKING OF

it “probably” can’t get through her acid, she says. my god. sometimes the spirit of Plus Ultra just takes ahold of these kids and it’s like, I want to ruffle their hair proudly and then grab them by the shoulders and shake them vigorously because WHERE EVEN IS YOUR SELF-PRESERVATION WHY DO NONE OF YOU HAVE IT GODDAMMIT AIZAWA REALLY SHOULD HAVE EXPELLED YOU GUYS AFTER ALL

man. and yet I really do love this “be the one who can do it” stuff. what a heroic fucking attitude dfjfklks. I’ll just go put on my humongous sandwich board that reads GIANT FUCKING HYPOCRITE and go stand in the corner

damn it this week’s scan is annoyingly dark, it’s really hard to tell what’s going on but it looks like the pros are attacking Machia and the League at long last. way to go guys it only took you seven years but you finally hopped to it

MINA WHY IS THE ACID COMING OFF OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD. PUT IT BACK!!!

I KNOW SHE’S NOT GONNA DIE DAMMIT BUT AHHHHH AHHHHHH AHHHHHHHH

okay what the hell is up with these weird zen proverbs though

“your fear stricken heart”, “the shortest path”, what the fuck even is this. whose thoughts are these. normally these translations are honestly decent enough but I gotta say this time around I’m totally being thrown for a loop lmao

(ETA: FYI I’m only just now realizing that he was saying the shortest path to Master, as in Tomura, not “master” as in to master something fjkldjskf lol some delayed reading comprehension there. so basically he’s just bitching about how annoying these little “flies” are proving to be.)

JESUS CHRIST

okay is it just me, or is Gigantomachia suddenly showing intelligence in his eyes instead of mindless animal instinct the single most pants-shitting thing you’ve ever seen?!! holy shit. the way he just LOOKS at her out of nowhere all of a sudden?? holy fucking shit DO NOT HURT MT. LADY OH MY GOD I’M FREAKING THE FUCK OUT. AND DON’T YOU DARE HURT MINA EITHER!! JUST FUCKING DIE AND PERISH

but also though, is that recognition in Mina’s eyes?? because even though this dude is 80 feet tall now, her encounter with him a couple years back had to have been one of the more memorable experiences of her young life. damn I was wondering when this would finally come into play

OKAY YES THE NEXT PAGE IS A FLASHBACK OH SHIT

this has nothing to do with anything but Mina just has the prettiest hair, btw, and this “just woke up covered in acid” look is a particularly good one on her. it looks so soft and fluffy, like damn. this is like Shouto-hair-billowing-in-the-wind levels of pretty here

NOOOOO

oh my god holy shit?! putting her back in the school uniform to show the slip in her mentality is a PUNK MOVE, HORIKOSHI, and I respect the shit out of you for it you manipulative bastard. goddammit. bracing myself for the incoming wave of Mina feels... here they come... they’re a lot... let’s see if I can latch on to anything I can actually figure out how to describe in words

okay well here’s one, my respect for Mina’s bravery just went up like a thousand percent in this instant, because now we know this was actually such a traumatizing event for her that hearing Machia’s voice again years later immediately sent her into a full-blown flashback. she was that scared and yet she still stood up to him and didn’t hesitate. and now I’m remembering how her knees just buckled right afterwards, and just...

and this visual, though!! what a brutally effective way to show that in her mind she went right back to being that scared middle schooler again for a moment. god fucking damn. holy shit you guys is Kirishima fireproof because if he comes waltzing out of the woods next I don’t even know what I’m gonna do. lolo kids getting traumatized left and right this arc is fucking merciless

um eXCUSE ME!?!?!

YOU MOTHERFUCKING PIECE OF SHIT LET GO OF HER RIGHT NOW OR I AM GONNA LOSE IT!!

THAT’S NOT WHAT I MEANT!!

holy shit he could have fucking snapped her neck like that??! I don’t like this at ALL WHAT THE FUCK

OKAY SERIOUSLY

I’M GONNA NEED ANOTHER KID TO STEP IN HERE WITH A LAST MINUTE SAVE LIKE RIGHT THE FUCK NOW, OR I AM GOING TO THROW MY COMPUTER OFF A FUCKING CLIFF AND MOVE TO THE DESERT AND BECOME A HERMIT AND NEVER READ MANGA ON THE INTERNET AGAIN

OH THANK GOD

TODAY WE SPELL “REDEMPTION” K-I-R-I... ETC. THERE’S A LOT OF LETTERS BUT YOU GET THE DRIFT!!!

holy fucking shit y’all. I mean, it’s not like it came out of nowhere, like the setup could not have been more obvious, but let me assure you that none of the predictability lessened the actual impact of this moment in the SLIGHTEST. Horikoshi really wrote a flashback scene one hundred and thirty five chapters ago and planted it, watered it once a day, and patiently waited for THREE LONG YEARS until he could finally harvest the badass fruits of his labor in the midst of his most epic arc to date. I’m so fucking hyped I’ll even forgive him for sacrificing Mina’s big moment and having her get rescued, because it’s such a good reversal. he didn’t freeze up this time. he promised himself he’d never freeze again and he didn’t and he saved her and god fucking damn. anyways so now Machia is going to treat him like a fucking action figure though but he’s a solid little dude he can take it hopefully

NO WHAT IS THIS!!! STOP KILLING MY MOOD!!!

she better not be dead!! SHE BETTER NOT FUCKING BE DEAD I WILL RUN MY PC THROUGH A PAPER SHREDDER AND GO AND LIVE ALONE WITH MY FEELS ON A MOUNTAIN IN TIBET

CHINTETSU!!

well we know he’s fireproof. another callback at the least expected of times lmao

so Tetsu’s all “yeah Kirishima’s not really all that fireproof but he totally ran over here anyway to save you. oh wait that probably wasn’t very comforting of me to say.” maybe that’s why it seems like he might not have actually said it out loud, now that I’m reading this over again. good call Tetsu

ARE YOU STANDING UP AND CASUALLY STRETCHING OUT YOUR BACK

I CAN’T EVEN BELIEVE HOW MUCH I HATE THIS GUY RIGHT NOW. WE’RE REACHING LEVELS OF HATRED RESERVED FOR NAZIS AND PEOPLE WHO WALK TOO SLOWLY IN FRONT OF ME IN A GROUP SHOULDER TO SHOULDER INSTEAD OF SINGLE FILE SO I CAN PASS IN FRONT OF THEM. YOU’RE A FUCKING TOURIST IN NYC YOU PIECE OF SHIT

lmao he’s just dropping this random hero person and letting him fall to his doom wheeeeee

remind me to leave all of the League of Villains’ texts on read for the foreseeable future. goddamn. I still love you guys but also, fuck you so damn hard

OHO A LIL RED SCALY BOI ISN’T DONE YET!!

real talk, just between you and me, I’ll lower my voice so that Kirishima can’t hear. so uh. we all agree that even if Kiri is fireproof and squishproof, that little can of tranquilizer juice technically shouldn’t have been, right? but we’re all going to hush and pretend like it was anyway for the sake of not spoiling his big moment. even though I am crossing my arms and tapping my chin with my finger while doubtfully glancing to the side

anyway here he goes!

YEAH KIRI GO GETTIM [stage whisper] there it is, in his pocket. should’ve burned. we won’t discuss it

OH FOR FUCK’S

TOGA YOU LITTLE WIENER BUT WHAT’S THIS ABOUT “MY HALF” NOW????

DID HE GRAB MINA’S MID-AIR?? IS HE REALLY REACHING INTO HIS BACK POCKET AND FUCKING UNZIPPING IT RIGHT NOW WHILE HOLDING ON TO NOTHING AND PRESUMABLY FALLING THROUGH THE AIR. DID A LITTLE BIT OF OCHAKO’S QUIRK RUB OFF ON YOU OR WHAT

OH SNAP SON HE REALLY DID THE THING HOLY SHIT???

AND TOKAGE FLEW OVER AND SAVED HIM AND NOW TANKS ARE SHOOTING AT MACHIA, LMAO WHAT IS THIS. MOMO HOW MANY GUNS DID YOU MAKE

Shouji standing there trying to be useful any way he can. are eyeballs really that much more effective if you make them the size of tennis balls and hold them up above your head. legit question, I don’t really know how eyes work

okay after 45 seconds of googling this my impression is that no, they are not. well good on you for giving it the old college try anyway though Shouji

oH MY GODLKDLK?!?!

DID SHE SAY WHAT I THOUGHT SHE SAID, DID SHE SAY MAJESTIC, ARE WE GONNA SEE MASJKESLTKCI DSFLKJL

oh my god he really is the Magic Man dude??? TIME TO DUST OFF MY INVENTORY OF ADVENTURE TIME QUOTES

(ETA: AHH FATGUM AND GANG ORCA ARE THERE TOO YESSSS!)

“that’s enough depending on some interns” oh, okay. now that they’ve done all your work for you. I see, I see

so now Gigantomachia is LITERALLY UNHINGING HIS JAW I can’t fucking believe this dude you guys. everything he does is just like, ARE YOU SERIOUS

please go to sleep already. thanks to you I have my keyboard set to capslock as the default for the duration of this chapter

ARE YOU SERIOUS YOU FUCKING WAITED UNTIL MAGIC FUCKING MAN SHOWED UP TO TEACH US MAGICAL LIFE LESSONS AND NOW YOU’RE CUTTING BACK TO THE TOMURA FIGHT?? WHY DO WE KEEP LETTING THIS MAN GET AWAY WITH THIS

oh my god you guys they really fucking did it

I guess that Howitzer slash fire punch combo really was that potent huh

anyway so now Endeavor is standing there making a big speech instead of reaching into Tomura’s pocket and taking the bullets that he doesn’t know about and shooting him with one asap. dammit Endeavor

aaaaand Tomura is firing back with the wisdom of Shimura Fucking Kotaro of all people

well you sure convinced me. damn I don’t know what I was thinking. heroes suck you guys. how dare they help other people all the time

so now he’s all “PERIOD, EXCLAMATION POINT!!”

take that Endeavor. you heard the man. it’s not destruction without conviction, as god as his witness he will have you know it is destruction WITH conviction. something something the great sage Shimura “I hurt my family for absolutely no reason at all, fuck this ‘helping others’ bullshit” Kotaro. I hope you packed your textbooks because you just got SCHOOLED. I hope the person who ordered you signed up for delivery notifications because you just got SENT. I HOPE YOU LIKE CAPITALISM BECAUSE YOU JUST GOT OWNED. I HOPE YOU CHOSE PAPER AND NOT SCISSORS BECAUSE YOU JUST GOT ROCKED

what an absolutely, unreservedly bizarre place to end the chapter lol. we’re really just done with this week, just like that. Majestic showed up and Gigantomachia opened his chin like a garage door and Tomura is all “you may have won the battle but you suck” while he buys time for Aizawa to suddenly sneeze or something so he can make his terrible comeback and continue Horikoshi’s Traumatize Every Kid in Class 1-A 2020 campaign. what an arc this is my friends. what an arc

#bnha 280 #ashido mina #kirishima eijirou #gigantomachia #shigaraki tomura #bnha #boku no hero academia #bnha spoilers #mha spoilers #bnha manga spoilers #makeste reads bnha #I didn't even notice the extra page on readheroaca until I was getting ready to click 'post' lol #something about ochako mistaking a real orca for their friendly teacher #resulting in a hilarious case of mistaken identity #I have no idea what this page is about or what it is doing there #but at this point 'because 2020' seems like a reasonable explanation for just about anything tbh

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myreaderacademia · 4 years ago

Text

Changes

Here’s a few of the boys reacting to an S/O who struggles with sudden change.

I’m so sorry I don’t k ow how to put a read more on the mobile app! I’ll edit one in when I’m on my PC!

These are my own experiences, only, I don’t have someone to validate me or make me feel better. I’m always left feeling humiliated when I have a meltdown over something so stupid. There is a mention of skin picking in Gang Orca’s part.

I wish I could just be normal.

Aizawa

Aizawa really didn’t think it would bother Y/N so much. It was just a few things that had been moved on the desk - a tissue box moved, miscellaneous items left on the chair from the cleaners moving it.

Once a month a deep clean happened in the office and things were moved, it had always been like that but Y/N had forgotten. They hadn’t been able to move their things out of the way and now they weren’t in the right places. Aizawa watches as they try to place everything back exactly as it was, tears in Y/N’s eyes and a tremble in their hands.

Everything is back to how he remembered but its not good enough apparently. Y/N is still adjusting things, “The faculty meeting is starting soon, I thought you wanted to print off the notes?”

“I can’t.” He’s taken aback by the crack in their voice and the tightness in their tone, “I can’t get it to look right. Why did they touch everything? They’ve messed it up and moved the screen and it’s not right, I can’t get it to look right again!”

There’s a long pause and Aizawa knows that Y/N knows that the others are starting to wonder at the their irrational, illogical, behaviour. “Come on,” the man takes their hand and gently coaxes them away from the desk and from the room to a secluded outside balcony. “You can put everything back again…”

Y/N shakes their head back and forth, squeezing his hand tightly, “I can’t! I forgot and they moved things and they’re not right and I know it’s stupid but I need to make the changes! Otherwise… Otherwise its just, I don’t know, it’s stupid!”

Aizawa doesn’t usually offer hugs outside of their privacy but he pulls them in and holds them, tight enough that Y/N feels a little more secure and a little more in control. “It’s not stupid. You’re not stupid.”

All Might

“I thought it would just be us?” Y/N’s eyes have widened and their expression is so akin to panic that Toshinori pauses in putting on his jacket. They were supposed to be going out for coffee and he had mentioned that a few friends were going to be there too.

“I thought you liked them?” He wasn’t aware of any tension between his friends and his lover - had he missed something?

Suddenly, Y/N feels as if their stomach is in knots and they’re feeling too hot: like being car sick without the car ride. “I do, I do like them, I just didn’t know and I need to change, I can’t wear this… And I need to do my hair and -”

Toshinori can see they’re getting worked up and their breathing is coming in little gasps. It’s not quite a panic attack but it’s enough to worry him. He quickly guides them to sit down and sits beside them, a firm, comforting hand on their back. “You look perfect, it’s just coffee and we’re not going anywhere really fancy. What is it? What’s got you like this?”

He waits for Y/N’s breathing to equal out a little and for them to relax under his pal. Before gently probing for an answer so that he can fix things. “Sorry… I get anxious around people, even people I know and I hadn’t prepared myself to cope with more than one person today. I’m sorry, its weird.”

“It’s not weird,” he was relieved it was something he could help with in the future, “Do you need more warning next time?” They nodded and he pulled them close, “I won’t spring people on you if I can help it, we don’t have to go today, if we do and you feel overwhelmed just squeeze my hand tight - I am here.”

Gang Orca

Something was different about Kugo’s office.

It wasn’t unusual for him to work a little late from time to time and he always offered to let them wait for him on the sofa in his office. As Y/N took a seat, their eyes swept around the room - something was off. It took a moment but they finally realised that the tall cabinet that held previously worked files was gone. The wall was blank and there was, what felt to Y/N, a void.

It shouldn’t bother them, it wouldn’t bother them… It wasn’t a problem. It was a piece of furniture and Kugo didn’t have to advise them everytime he wanted to move or remove something from his own office. Y/N’s foot started to tap lightly on the floor and they unconsciously reached beneath the sleeve of their top - seeking.

Gang Orca notices the shift in Y/N’s mood and notices their lack of usual interaction whilst he finished up paperwork. He places his pen down and approached them, noting the bouncing knee, their bottom lip sucked into their mouth and clamped between tongue and teeth. Kugo spots the unconscious picking behaviour that he knows happened when Y/N is upset. The large man carefully captures their hands, separating nails from raised skin in the process of healing, and holds them in one of his. “What’s happened?”

Y/N shakes their head, bottom lip still held prisoner; it’s rediculous. They know it’s a dumb, stupid, inexplicable thing to be upset by, to be getting so worked up over. It’s humiliating and Kugo won’t understand and he’ll judge them and…

A muffled sob spurs Kugo to stroke over Y/N’s head and press their foreheads together, his cool, smooth skin soothing the clammy one beneath it. “The cabinet…”

“The cabinet?” He looks at the space and doesn’t ask anything further. Y/N doesn’t deel well with change. They need a prewarning , they need time to get used to the idea and have a small breakdown if needed. This would pass and they would feel embarrassed over something they deem ‘silly’ but Kugo wouldn’t hold it against them for even a second. “I should have warned you, I’m sorry, Y/N.”

He would ask them later, when they felt better, if they wanted to help him pick out a new one.

#bnha #mha #reader #gang orca #aizawa #all might #excoriation #tw

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immortalcoelacanth · 5 years ago

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HLVRAI Oneshot: Degrade

Once again based on the Abscond AU by @godros and this one does require a small bit of context so I’d totally recommend checking it out if you haven’t already! Quick note that this one is Tommy centric but there is bits of shipping here and there so keep an eye out for it ;)

Word count: 1475

Summary: Gordon wasn’t the only one breaking down.

After interacting with Tommy, most assumed that he… was not the sharpest tool in the shed. He was often perceived as being very naïve, lacking awareness of what was going on in the world around him. Others felt that he wanted to act like a foolish child and insulted him behind his back.

These people usually did not last long in Black Mesa, not showing up for work the next day after muttering their insults. None of the staff questioned it or knew better than to question it.

Overall, few held Tommy’s intelligence in high regard, and as such it was also thought that his observations skills were just as bad if not worse.

Something which was far from the truth.

Tommy typically allowed his emotions to take center stage in controlling his reactions, instinctively responding to things rather than thinking it out first. It was why he was always so emotional, easily saddened by negative events or cheered up when a good thing happened.

Like getting a Beyblade or drinking soda!

Being able to talk to his friends also made him very happy, so when Benrey had approached the Science Team and told them all that Gordon was back, Tommy was ecstatic!

Mr. Freeman was back after having been gone for so long! It had been depressing waiting to see what their friend would do, when he would free them from this place. Tommy had noticed how much quieter Dr. Coomer was, and how Bubby’s angered shouting was a shadow of what it used to be, and then there was Benrey…

Sad, lonely Benrey who seemed to count every second Gordon was gone for. Tommy had noticed the tallies that Benrey kept on the wall, occasionally adding one more, and tried to ask what they were.

He had gotten no answer.

It had been heartbreaking to watch the hope slowly dwindle in the group, Tommy himself had been relying on Sunkist to keep him upbeat, but now everything was better! The Science Team was whole again! Everyone was happy! They could have fun and explore!

Except… after some time passed Tommy noticed that things were not okay.

It started with small things, tiny details that no one really paid attention to other than him. Noticing that Gordon grew frustrated with his hair, how the tie never seemed to work and hold it up properly. Benrey seemed to enjoy this development, taking the opportunity to occasionally mess with Gordon’s hair and annoy him, while Dr. Coomer suggested several tips to keep his hair neat and orderly.

Only Tommy wondered why the hair tie no longer worked despite appearing to be perfectly fine.

From there things only grew worse, watching Gordon stumble and bump into obstacles that he should have been able to easily avoid, seeing how often the man rubbed his eyes and blinked, like they were blurry. It was only after he tripped over some rubble, a fair-sized chunk of concrete and fell to the ground, that Tommy decided to voice his concerns.

“Uh, M-Mr. Freeman?” He began, watching as Dr. Coomer quickly looked Gordon over to make sure he was not hurt. “Are… are you okay?”

“I’m fine!” Was the oddly cheerful reply, Gordon messing with his glasses before smiling up at Tommy. Dr. Coomer helped him get to his feet while Bubby and Benrey watched from off to the side.

“You’re more of a deadweight than I remembered!” Bubby snarked as Benrey let out a sigh and lazily smiled.

“damn bro your middle name must be… uh, two-left-feet or somethin’.”

“Benrey, don’t you dare-”

“gaydon two-left feetman.”

“Benrey sometimes I want to strangle you.”

With Gordon back on his… feet, Dr. Coomer rejoined Bubby just in time to hear the other scientist sigh. “Damn, this ship is gonna hit more icebergs than the Titanic!”

Fortunately, Benrey and Gordon failed to hear that remark while Tommy silently wondered what such a thing was supposed to mean. After failing to answer his own questions, he decided to ask once more if their friend was alright.

“Mr. Freeman are… are you sure you’re okay? You looked kinda…” Tommy paused as he tried to figure out how to word the next part. “Distracted?”

“I was just thinking about things and didn’t notice that rubble, it’s okay Tommy.” Gordon said while offering him a reassuring smile.

“thinkin’ about finally sending me a friend request?”

“No Benrey! I don’t even have a Playstation!”

“laaaaaaame.”

While the typical banter was certainly reassuring and helped Tommy calm down, there was no shaking the quiet voice in the back of his mind that continued to insist that something was not right, that something bad was going to happen to Gordon. It put him on edge kept him that way as they explored the desolate map, chatting and joking about things.

If only Tommy had listened to that voice and voiced his concerns, perhaps things would have turned out differently.

Gordon’s condition grew worse, eyesight deteriorating to the point of where Dr. Coomer and even Bubby were trying to convince him to take a break, sit down and relax as they figured out how to help. Benrey seemed to be in denial, still joking and occasional talking about random topics. Tommy had practically glued himself to Gordon’s side at this point, hovering over the man and trying to see if he could help in any way.

“M-Mr. Freeman c-can I get you a… a soda?” His words were starting to fracture a bit due to the stress, but Tommy did his best to keep himself together for his friend. “There-there might be a m-machine somewhere. I could always, uh, g-go and-”

Gordon shook his head, cutting off Tommy’s rambling. “Nah, I’m okay. You don’t need to worry about me.”

He smiled, a small, pained smile, and Tommy worried all the more.

Both Benrey and Gordon insisted on moving forward despite there being no real reason to and the objections from the rest of the Science Team. Unfortunately, their concerns were paid no mind as the two continued to press forward, forcing the rest of the group to follow and make sure nothing else happened.

Not that any of them thought they could stop whatever was happening.

“You’re both a bunch of fucking morons if you think any of this is going to turn out okay!” Bubby had cursed while pointing at the duo in denial, fortunately without a gun in his hands. “I thought Gordon was supposed to be smart!”

“what? i’m not smart?”

“Of course not! You think Playstation is great when everyone knows that PC is the best for playing games!”

“but-but how am i supposed to… uh… how do i get playstation plus then, huh? i want my free games.”

“It’s called pirating-”

“That’s illegal!” Tommy wailed. “That-that’s stealing!”

“It’s only stealing if you get caught.”

This good mood was fleeting as soon enough the Science Team found themselves encountering another hurdle.

Gordon’s hand glitching and twitching as the skin it was made of faded away and was replaced by a blocky texture, becoming nothing more than a projection of what it had previously been.

The group all stared in shock and horror, and even Benrey seemed to be at a loss for words. And then pure, absolute, chaos broke out.

Dr. Coomer rushed to Gordon’s side as the man sank to the ground, clearly in shock as he tried to touch the phantom hand, resulting in his fingers passing through it. Bubby started cursing and yelling, not at anyone in particular, however Tommy had a feeling that some of his insults were addressed to two people in particular, and Benrey…

Benrey looked… guilty. Eyes looking at everything except Gordon while standing as far from the group as possible yet still being close enough to see what was going on.

“Mr. Freeman?” Tommy whimpered, causing Gordon’s glitchy eyes to fixate on him. “We-we should go b-back. You need to g-go back. You… you can’t-”

He smiled that empty smile, one that seemed so unconcerned with himself, and reached out to pat Tommy’s shoulder. His phantom hand phased through it, and Tommy flinched sharply. While no words were said, the unsettling interaction was more than enough to convey several worrying things to Tommy.

Why did Gordon seem so unconcerned with his own safety? It was… scary to see him acting like this! Maybe it was the shock? He hoped it was.

Naturally, this put their exploring to an end for now. No one disagreed with that decision thanks to a quick glare from Dr. Coomer, and how gloomy Benrey had become. As the group sat in silence and got some rest, Tommy curled up and pressed his face into his knees so no one could see his tears.

They had enough problems to deal with, they did not need another.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I had to contribute a bit of angst to this AU, it’s in my nature! Also to my followers Also I apologize once more for the change in the focus of the content I’m putting out!

I hope you all enjoyed reading!

- ImmortalCoelacanth

#my story #fanfiction #hlvrai #hlvrai tommy #hlvrai gordon #hlvrai dr. coomer #hlvrai bubby #hlvrai benrey #abscond au #gordon is a stubborn idiot #tommy is sad #benrey realizes he fucked up

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tttinytrash · 4 years ago

Text

((Ok so in my head Blue is a reluctant pred. He likes it, but it takes a lot to make him not just feel overwhelmingly guilty about enjoying this even if it’s safe. So have some Swap Sans vore! I wanted to play more with the pred’s pov since my last couple were more prey focused. Also sorry for making it a not romantic thing but my ace butt prefers it that way. Friends should be able to cuddle friends, dammit! But I guess if you wanna you can squint and just assume Blue has a budding crush and/or is in denial of a crush. Regardless, enjoy!))

Sans was so pleased with his and his brother’s house on the Surface. It was about the size of their home back in Snowdin and even better, it came with a new friend! The little borrower in their walls, a female named Lark, had lived there before the two moved in and had been quickly sussed out between the skelebrothers. (Benefits of magic.) After some tension in the beginning, she was now almost part of family! She was certainly the best roommate Sans could have asked for.

She loved hiding in Sans’ bandanna to go with him on his morning run, and was glad to help with cleaning the nooks and crannies Sans was unable to reach. But she also loved taking naps and staying up late with Papyrus, and finally gave the taller brother a run for his money in his video games (after Undyne made them a properly sized controller). Their interests were a harmonious blend between the brothers which meant she’d be equally likely to be found perched on the shoulder of either brother whenever she wasn’t taking time for herself in her holes in the walls.

As for right now, she was laid on Papyrus’ sternum. Sans was slouched in the corner of the couch, and Papyrus pillowed his skull on a cushion laid in Sans’ lap. They were all watching a movie, and apparently all three had underestimated how gory the horror film would be. Papyrus was the least affected, but Sans was a wreck and the borrower was only mildly better. When Lark cracked and ducked to hide in Papyrus’ hoodie pocket Sans used it as an excuse to quit before the end.

“THOSE HIGH RATINGS WERE SO MISLEADING, THAT WAS AWFUL!” Sans declared in disgust, relieved beyond words that the horrible movie was gone. (No. He was not suppressing the sounds of his bones rattling, thank you.)

“yeah, not my cup of tea either.” Papyrus then directed his attention to his pocket, patting it lightly and asking “you wanna stay in there, tiny tot?”

Sans didn’t hear it, but could tell the answer was an affirmative as Papyrus mounted the stairs.

Sans finished putting the room back in order and trotted up after his brother, going into his own room to get ready for bed. It was pretty late after all, and he had to wake up bright and early to get a head start on his training!

Once he could no longer distract himself with bedtime prep and cleaning, however, Sans quickly found he couldn’t get the film out of his mind. It felt like the worst scenes were imprinted in the back of his eyelids. Ugh, he didn’t want to be alone.

To Paps’ room he went, relieved to see the light of his computer shining dimly from under the door. He wasn’t asleep then, yet. He reluctantly opened the door and froze at the sight before him.

Papyrus was sat at his PC, still in his hoodie but he’d at least switched to PJ pants. This was normal, Papyrus did have a tendency to do most of his sleeping in the form of daytime naps rather than at night. No, what shocked Sans was seeing the borrower sized pair of legs hanging out of his brother’s mouth. He couldn’t help the horrified gasp when those legs disappeared with the quiet sound of a gulp.

The gasp obviously alerted Papyrus to Sans’ presence, and he greeted “hey bro. how long you been there?” He shoved his hands into his hoodie pocket, and Sans didn’t miss that he appeared to be swiping his thumb over his belly under the cover of the fabric.

“LONG ENOUGH! WHAT DID YOU DO THAT FOR?!” Sans fully entered, obviously confused and flustered.

Papyrus shrugged. “they asked.”

“WHAT?!”

“they asked me to take em in, bro. they wanted to hide. what’s with you? you know this is safe, i used to take you in too.”

“YES, YOU’RE RIGHT. BUT I WAS A BABYBONES!”

Papyrus just looked at Sans, shrugging again. He turned back to his computer.

Sans left, movie forgotten completely. He was eventually able to fall asleep, but spent far longer than he’d admit thinking about it and feeling guilty about blowing up like that. He KNEW it was safe, like Paps had said. So why did it bug him so much? Sleep came before an answer, unfortunately.

------

Breakfast the next morning was something Sans wasn’t particularly looking forward to. He made an extra effort to make a lavish assortment of waffles, cut fruit, and even made pancakes with M&Ms tossed in the batter like he knew Papyrus liked.

Papyrus eventually came downstairs, Lark carried in his cupped hand. The smell of cooking food usually woke him up, and if the borrower had followed his sleep schedule she was ordinarily dragged along. They both perked up at seeing the spread before them, before the lanky brother seemed to catch on to his sibling’s bribery.

“apology breakfast, bro?”

Sans sighed and faced his brother, gloved hand wringing the hem of his apron, “YES. I OVERREACTED LAST NIGHT AND I AM VERY SORRY. WHAT FRIENDS OR DATEMATES DO BEHIND CLOSED DOORS IS THEIR BUSINESS.”

Both Papyrus and Lark laughed at that. Before Sans had the chance to be insulted Papyrus explained.

“bro, nah. w-we’re just buds.”

“Nothing there, Sans. Promise. Don’t tell me you’re getting jealous, now.” she added.

“I AM NOT!” Sans squeaked, blush tinging his cheekbones.

She was still laughing, giggling a little extra in fact as she teased “You wanna give it a go, there Sans?” Snicker, “Need tummy cuddles too?”

Sans felt his eyelights go out and the blue glow of a blush burning his whole skull. Amid the uproar of laughter, he swiped the plate he’d set out for himself (waffles with strawberries on top) and skittered retreated up to his room.

He heard their laughter, and will admit he felt relief when he heard his brother called up “sorry, bro. but now we’re even, yeah?”

However, that relief that his breakfast gesture had worked was completely overshadowed by shame. Oh gosh please no, that feeling can’t be right can it? She hadn’t meant it, but she was right.

Sans did want to try it.

Delta help him.

------

The thought had been creeping into his mind no matter how much he tried to sweep it under the rug throughout his whole morning jog. He even ran an extra mile, but couldn’t outrun the problem. She hadn’t come with him this morning, so he found her instead on the coffee table when he came back. Papyrus was up taking a nap apparently, snd she was playing a game on her own.

“Hey Sans, wanna play? There’s a co-op mode!~” She called, having paused the game.

Ugh, he couldn’t stand to look at her now. His tongue had even manifested unbidden. “N-NO. SORRY. I’M SPARRING ALPHYS TODAY, AND I WOULDN’T WANT TO BE LATE!”

She bought the lie, and he got out of the house with no issue.

...But he had no plans with Alphys, no errands to run, but also couldn’t go home.

Well crap.

He’d ended up at the Librarby. He ended up there a lot the past couple of days. He knew Papyrus and Lark were getting concerned, but didn’t know what else he could do.

For now, he was home. When his brother was around he could forget the intrusive thoughts. Just being alone with her was the trouble. So he was happy to watch another movie, and this one was absolutely making up for the awful horror movie that had afflicted their last movie night.

Eventually, the singing humans finished the closing number, and the credits began to roll. So Sans cleaned up the room, and Papyrus trundled up the steps with the borrower cupped in his hands. Once he was done cleaning, Sans bounded up the steps himself and dipped into the bathroom to swap into his pajamas.

Lark was sitting on his pillow when he entered his room.

Sans would deny the startled squeak that slipped out when he caught sight of her til he dusted, but she didn’t even look amused. That didn’t bode well.

“Sans, is there anything wrong?” she asked.

“WHAT? N-NO! WHAT MAKES YOU ASK THAT? I HAVE BEEN ACTING EXTREMELY NORMAL!” Sans lied. Poorly, he knew.

“Sans. We both know thats not true. Did I do something wrong? Because you’ve been avoiding me. Paps noticed, too.”

“YOU’VE DONE NOTHING, EVERYTHING IS FINE!”

“...is it about Papyrus taking me in?”

Sans couldn’t actually muster words, just feeling his magic heat his cheekbones uselessly.

She sighed. “If it really bothers you that bad, we’ll stop. It’s not worth losing a friend, ok?”

“N-no... that’s not it...” Sans had even lost his usual volume, which made her take notice.

“Then what, Sans? I’ve been wracking my brain for days.”

Sans finally sat on the end of the bed. “...It was taking in stuff... But I’m not upset about you two doing it. It’s what you said that morning.” Sans felt so vulnerable, but as she’d put it, this wasn’t worth losing a friend.

“What? About you wanting to too? Oh, I went too far teasing you didn’t I? I’m sorry, I’ll lay off-”

“You were right.”

She faltered. “What?”

“I can’t stop wondering what it’s like. I’ve never taken anyone in before, and you two so clearly enjoy it. But I would never want to make you, So I’ve been trying to avoid the issue. But I think I just ended up avoiding you. I’m sorry.”

She looked confused for a solid few seconds, then slumped and gave a comically loud sigh of relief, even punctuated with a breathy giggle. “That’s all?”

Sans was now even more uncomfortable. “Yes?”

“Dude, then take me in! I’m fine! If that’s all the issue is, that’s such an easy fix.” She even took the extra initiative to bound over the span of the bed, straight for the skeleton before her. She only stopped a few inches short when she realized he was recoiling.

“Oh. It’s an easy fix for me, not so much for you. Huh, bud?” She asked quietly.

Sans made an unhappy noise, and that was answer enough.

“Ok. If the problem is me not wanting to, that’s clearly not an issue. Is it nerves because you don’t know what to do? I can walk you through it. Really, Sans, I actively want to do this, because maybe it’ll help close the gap we made between us. If you really don’t want to, then that’s fine too but just know the reluctance isn’t on my end, ok? I love and trust you just as much as Papyrus. Promise.”

Sans forced himself to relax, and cycled a breath. Thinking about it, he had no reason to refuse. And honestly, he would be happy to put his self-quarantine to an end. So he nodded. “Ok, but only if you’re sure.”

“Yep!” They beamed up at him, reaching upwards in a clear request to be picked up.

He gently cupped his hands around them and lifted them off the mattress, up to his face. “Ok, what do I do?”

“Why don’t you open up? I’ll get in myself, just bring your hand close ok?”

Sans had to take a moment to breathe, but did open up his mouth. His tongue had manifested itself by this point, so that wasn’t an issue. But that also meant he felt and tasted their hands when they were set down. He was going cross eyed to watch her progress as much as the angle allowed, but she seemed to have no issue and slid in easily. He was surprised by the lack of friction, honestly.

She scooted a bit father forward, making him lose sight of her feet, and called “Alright, go ahead and close your mouth. Makes the next part easier.”

He did so slowly, and felt butterflies knowing what the “next part” was.

“Good, you’re doing fine. Now tilt your head back, just til I start to slide back. Once I hit the back you can swallow.”

Sans tipped his skull back ever so slowly, until he felt her weight shift backwards. Once she hit the opening of his throat he instinctively gulped, which caused him to jolt a bit in surprise.

He felt the magical tubing thread along the front of his cervical vertebrae, felt the weight of her body tugging downwards, every little twitch of her tiny body. His fingers flew up to his neck, fingers ghosting over her form contained within himself, until he lost her progress under his clavicles.

It almost felt like his soul was gently bumped aside to allow her to pass through his chest, which left a calm fuzzy feeling. He felt a slight pressure at the top of his belly, then she spilled in fully.

His soul fluttered like a caged bird, could she hear that? Feel it? He pulled the hem of his shirt up, making his magic transparent so he could check on her.

“A-are you alright?” he asked, watching her reorient in the new space.

“Peachy! You did it, Sans.” She smiled up at him, utterly at ease.

Seeing that she hadn’t been harmed, his soul settled into a more typical rhythm. “I did, thank you for helping. Please let me know if you want out, alright?”

“Will do. Glad to see you’re calming down.”

“You could tell?”

“Can’t hide much from this perspective. I could hear how uneven your breathing was. Here, maybe this will help to wind down.”

What was she doing? Ooh, he loves the shocks he got when she moved. Her hands were on the floor now, she started to move her hands in circular patterns...? Oh.

Sans melted. That was such a nice feeling, who knew his belly was so sensitive? He dropped his shirt, letting his magic go opaque.

“That’s really nice, wowie. Is it ok if I move though?” He asked.

“Go for it. Lie down if you want.”

He did just that, getting under the covers. He felt her slide around, and once she seemed to resettle, she resumed her rubbing.

Sans purred, which she giggled at. He was feeling far too good to care, dignity be hanged. He laid a hand over where she rested, doing his best to run at where he thought her back was. He felt her lean into the indirect touch, which made him smile.

“Y’know, I can stay overnight if you want.” Lark piped up after a few minutes of silence (barring the happy skeleton sounds).

“I think I’d like that.” Sans replied, feeling pretty sleepy. “Are you sure you’ll be comfortable?”

“Oh yeah, no issue there. You guys are pretty cushy inside, despite the boney exterior.”

Sans chuckled at that. “Ah, good.”

She stopped rubbing (which he was a little sad about) and moved until he felt her weight go still by his spine.

She fell asleep quickly, her weight going limp and heartbeat (which he could feel if he concentrated) slowed.

A very content skeleton followed his tiny friend into the land of nod not long after.

#undertail vore #undertail underswap vore #soft vore #safe vore #extreme cuddling #willing vore #reluctant pred

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worryinglyinnocent · 5 years ago

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Fic: In Another Life

Summary: After Emma arrives in town, Mr Gold remembers just who his cleaning lady, Mrs Chevalier, was in the Enchanted Forest, leading him into a dangerous fight for their happy ending.

Written for the @a-monthly-rumbelling prompt: Belle is in town during the curse.

Rated: M

CW: blood, graphic injury, domestic abuse.

Note: I’ve had this idea sitting half-written on my PC for over seven years. Since it fits this prompt nicely, I decided to dust it off, so please excuse any weirdness – it germinated back during season 1.

In Another Life

It sufficed to say that prior to Emma Swan’s arrival in the town, Mr Gold had not really given all that much thought to the woman who cleaned his house.

Isabelle Chevalier was reputed as the best cleaner in Storybrooke – the fact that she was the only one never seemed to register – and Gold trusted her to keep his home spotless and not to break any of the valuable knick-knacks that he had on display there.

They said hello and goodbye if their paths crossed of a morning or evening, and the envelope he left on the kitchen table containing her wages was always picked up, but that was the extent of their interactions. Everyone knew that Mrs Chevalier was a meek, mild woman who wouldn’t say boo to a goose and who lived firmly under her husband’s thumb.

It was sad, they all thought, but there was nothing to be done about it. It had always been that way for as long as anyone could remember. High school sweethearts who turned out not to be so sweet in the end. Such a common occurrence, so sadly unavoidable.

Until Emma Swan came to town, and time started moving in a linear forwards direction again, and Mr Gold remembered who he really was.

More importantly, he remembered who Issy Chevalier really was too.

Belle. He had thought he had lost her for good. He had imagined her body – broken and crumpled at the foot of a tall tower – so many times that sometimes he had trouble reminding himself that he had not actually seen such a sight.

But here she was, alive and well and married to a vulgar thug who cared more about his hunting trips than about the remarkable, beautiful woman that the curse had given him the good fortune to be married to in this land.

He wanted to kill Regina, twice over. First for the deception and then for putting Belle in Gaston’s clutches when Rumpelstiltskin knew how little she cared for him, and everyone in the town knew and turned a blind eye to Issy Chevalier’s hopeless situation.

He couldn’t kill Regina, of course, no matter how much hatred was boiling and crystallising in his veins. He couldn’t risk her knowing that his memories had returned. For now, he was going to have to bide his time. Still, just because he couldn’t get down to vicious revenge on Regina yet, it didn’t mean that he couldn’t do something for Belle, to try and make her life under the curse a bit more bearable.

What would be best, of course, would be if he could wake her up too somehow. True love’s kiss wouldn’t work. She barely knew him in this life and just as Rumpelstiltskin’s reputation had preceded him in the Enchanted Forest, so Gold’s reputation preceded him in Storybrooke.

He sighed. Perhaps waking her wouldn’t be the best option after all. She’d need to keep her true memories hidden just as he would, and it would only cause more heartache for the both of them if she remembered her feelings for him but couldn’t act on them, having to go home to another man every night. No, it would be kinder to keep her under the curse for now.

He could not help Belle, but perhaps he could help Issy, and be a friend to her where no one else would.

Rumpelstiltskin put his plan into action the very next day. It was Issy’s usual day for cleaning his home, and as much as he was anxious to get to the shop and retake his inventory now that he would remember the true nature of all the items therein, he waited until Issy arrived.

“Good morning, Mrs Chevalier. Would you like some tea before you start?”

Issy looked at him as if he’d grown a second head.

“No, I, erm, I really should be getting on.” She hurried past him into the kitchen, snapping on her rubber gloves and starting to clean with twice her usual vigour (which was already significantly greater than the somewhat distracted performance she had put in whilst dusting his collection back in the Dark Castle). It made Rumpelstiltskin sad to see her so meek and cowed when he had only ever known her as stubborn and brave.

He watched her from the doorway for a moment.

“Are you sure I can’t get you some kind of refreshment? I’m putting the kettle on for myself, it won’t be any trouble.”

“No, no, it’s all right.” Issy was pointedly avoiding meeting his eyes, and Rumpelstiltskin had to wonder.

“I’m not going to dock your wages for having a tea break, Issy.”

She paused, and finally she looked at him properly.

“You’ve never called me Issy before.”

“I apologise. Mrs Chevalier.”

“No, no. I don’t mind. I prefer it. Sometimes it’s nice to be my own person.”

Rumpelstiltskin smiled. It was good to see that there was some of the old Belle buried inside there after all.

“So, about that cup of tea.”

Issy shook her head. “No, I don’t think that would be a good idea. I don’t think that Gerry would like it.”

Of course. Gaston the jealous husband, controlling his wife’s life with an iron fist. A fresh wave of hatred towards Regina coursed through him, with a little left over for Gaston.

“Well, I won’t tell him if you won’t.”

Issy gave the ghost of a smile. “All right then.”

Rumpelstiltskin set about making a pot of tea whilst Issy continued to clean, and they sat down at the table together to drink.

“I’m beginning to wonder what’s got into you, Mr Gold,” Issy said presently, before blushing and trying to hide her face in her teacup. “Sorry. I’m beginning to wonder what’s got into me, too, asking inappropriate questions.”

The rest of the tea break passed in companionable silence, and Rumpelstiltskin could almost imagine that they were back in the Dark Castle, with Belle needling him to tell her the origins of one of the items in his collection, and Rumpelstiltskin muttering about curiosity killing the cat but ultimately always relenting and regaling her with the tale.

Belle had always been fascinated by his vast array of magical artefacts, and Rumpelstiltskin had to wonder if that was something else that had bled through under the curse.

“You know, Issy, I don’t think that my shop has had a proper clean since… Well, I can’t remember the last time that it saw a duster. If you’ve got some time in your schedule, would you be interested in becoming its caretaker?”

“I…” Issy looked out into the garden; her expression was almost wistful. “I do love looking at all the things in the window. I wouldn’t want to be in the way, though.”

“You wouldn’t be, I assure you. In fact, I’d be glad of the company.”

“Well, in that case I have a free slot on Wednesday afternoons, after I do the Sheriff’s station in the morning. Would that suit you?”

“Perfectly.”

Issy smiled. “I’ll see you then, Mr Gold.”

It became a standing date after that, although neither of them would ever call it a date. Rumpelstiltskin would spend the rest of the week trying to work out the best course of action when it came to the curse and how Emma could most effectively break it, but Wednesday afternoons were his time with Issy, watching as she relaxed within herself, her confidence growing as Belle began to assert her personality again.

It was a month into Emma’s stay when everything came to a head that, whilst not entirely unforeseen on Rumpelstiltskin’s part, was certainly a shock to the town, and a shock to Rumpelstiltskin himself in the manner of escalation.

It had been a normal Wednesday afternoon until Issy had realised the time and shrieked, immediately flying into a completely uncharacteristic panic, throwing all of her cleaning materials back into her box and careening out into the main shop from the back room where they had been enjoying their regular tea and conversation.

“Issy? What’s the matter?”

“If I’m not back home on time then I really don’t know what Gerry might do.”

Rumpelstiltskin didn’t get the chance to respond before the pawnshop door crashed open and Gerard Chevalier strode in.

“There you are. I was getting worried you’d had an accident.” The crushing grip that he took Issy’s wrist in proved that worry was far from his mind. He squeezed until she whimpered in pain, dragging her towards the door.

“Mr Chevalier,” Rumpelstiltskin began, but Gerard cut him off.

“My wife will no longer be working for you, Gold, and if you so much as breathe in her direction, I will kill you.”

He practically threw Issy out of the door in front of him, and Rumpelstiltskin felt the boiling rage cool and solidify. Something had to be done, low profile be damned, but it had to be something that wouldn’t put Issy in danger. Striking out against Gerard would only cause Gerard to strike out against Issy in retaliation. Rumpelstiltskin was going to have to be clever.

He had to wait a week before he could enact his plan: he had no idea of Issy’s schedule, and he never saw her out and about in the town. Still, he knew that Wednesday morning would find her at the Sheriff’s station, and he felt an unfamiliar nervousness as he pushed open the door. The sheriff was out, but Emma was there, her feet up on her desk as she waded through paperwork with Issy hoovering in the background.

“Good to see that our tax dollars are being put to good use here, Deputy Swan.”

Emma rolled her eyes and took her feet off the desk. “What can I do for you, Gold?”

“Actually, I’m here to see Issy. I have a business proposition for her.”

Emma shrugged and waved him through to where Issy was cleaning. She startled when she saw him.

“Mr Gold!” She looked around furtively, as if expecting to see Gerard hiding in a corner somewhere. “You really shouldn’t be here. You heard what Gerry said.”

“I know. I’ll take my chances. I won’t be a minute, I promise. I just thought that we could help each other out.” He held up the key to the library building. “I know how much you love books, and the library’s been shut up for longer than anyone can remember. I think you’d be the perfect person to get it up and running again.”

“Oh, Mr Gold, that’s so kind of you, but I really can’t, I mean…”

“There’s a small caretaker’s apartment that comes with it. If you ever decide you need your own space.” He didn’t say what he knew they were both thinking. If you ever want to leave your husband and you need a safe haven.

“Mr Gold, I…”

“Please, just think about it.”

He left the key on the windowsill, leaving Issy gobsmacked in the middle of the station.

Emma had seen the interplay between Gold and Issy on Wednesday morning. She’d always suspected that there was some kind of attraction between them, ever since she’d come to town and had first started getting a grip on the relationships between everyone, but Graham had always laughed it off when she’d mentioned it to him, joking about Gerry Chevalier not letting anyone near his wife.

Come the next day, it was no longer a joke.

It would have been a perfectly ordinary Thursday if Issy Chevalier hadn’t run into the station, covered in blood.

“Gerard’s going to kill Mr Gold!” she screamed.

Emma and Graham had both jumped up in alarm at the sight of Issy, and now that alarm had turned into calm and yet very intense panic.

“Issy, you’re bleeding.”

“Gerard locked me in the bathroom, I had to break the window to get out and I caught my arm on the glass. It’s nothing, it’s not important, what’s important is that Gerard has a gun and he’s going to kill Mr Gold!”

Graham was already on his way out to the cruiser and Issy went to run after him. Emma stopped her.

“Issy, you need to go to hospital; you’ll need stitches.”

“I’m fine! I have to go! This is all my fault!”

“Issy, I can’t have you putting yourself in more danger! If Gerard is angry and he’s already hurt you,” she looked at Issy’s bruised face and split lip, “then I dread to think what he might do to you if he’s got a gun in his hands.”

Graham had set off in the cruiser, siren blaring, but even that couldn’t mask the gunshot that rang out through the town.

Everything seemed so eerily silent after that, a perfect moment of pure stillness in which time itself seemed to stand still.

Then Issy ran, and Emma groaned, grabbing her gun and the Kevlar vest she’d never seriously thought that she’d need in a town as quiet as Storybrooke. It wasn’t surprising that Graham had rushed off with no back-up, but he needed someone covering him if he was going up against a madman with a rifle. Preferably a full SWAT team, but that wasn’t likely to happen. She got in the bug, flooring it until she caught up to Issy. Considering how much pain she had to be in, she was sprinting at a hell of a lick.

“Get in!”

Issy needed no further invitation and a minute later, they were parked up outside the pink house.

“No, no, no!” Issy flung herself out of the car and raced up the steps towards the front door before Emma could stop her. Thankfully, Graham already had Gerard disarmed and on the ground.

“Help Gold!” he yelled to her. “I’ve got this, the ambulance is on its way.”

Gold had been shot in the side; from the horrible wet wheezing of his breath, Emma guessed that the bullet was in his lung. Issy was putting pressure on the wound, tears streaming down her face as her blood mixed with his on her hands.

“No, no, please stay with me. Please, you’re the only person who’s ever cared about me. Please don’t go. Please. I love you.”

Gold wasn’t responding, his face pale and clammy and his eyes closed. He whispered something, but Emma couldn’t make it out. It sounded like bell.

Issy sobbed, leaning in to press her lips against his, and Emma had to catch herself as a sudden gust of wind almost blew her off her feet.

Then the ambulance arrived, and everything was hustle and urgency until it was just Emma and Issy on the steps, crouching in a pool of blood.

“Issy, we need to get you to the hospital too.”

“Belle.” Issy seemed to be in a daze, letting Emma get her to her feet and guide her down the steps towards the bug. “My name is Belle.”

Emma didn’t enjoy hospital waiting rooms at the best of times, but this one was particularly bad. She didn’t want to leave Issy alone, and she’d used the time to take a statement about the day’s events from her, but now all they could do was wait. Issy’s wounds had been stitched up and she’d been discharged, and now she was staring into space, hugging her knees. Once they had arrived at the hospital, she’d snapped out of whatever trance she’d been in and had answered all Emma’s questions perfectly lucidly, but Emma couldn’t help thinking that there was something else going on.

My name is Belle.

She thought about Henry’s book, about the fairy tales. Disney’s Belle. La Belle et La Bête. She shook her head. Now wasn’t the time for that kind of speculation. Not when Gold – much as she might not like him personally – was undergoing emergency surgery, and Issy was sitting there waiting to hear if the man she loved was going to be ok.

Time ticked by. Graham called to say that Gerard had pleaded guilty to attempted murder at the charge, and he would be transferred to County the next day. Emma considered everyone else’s attempts to leave the town and wondered how successful that transfer would be. Still, that was a problem for tomorrow. She had other things to think about now.

Finally, a nurse came through to them.

“Mrs Chevalier? Mr Gold is out of surgery now. He’s pulled through well and the surgeon is hopeful that with time, he’ll make a good recovery.”

Issy let out a visible breath of relief. “Can I see him?”

“I’m sorry, it’s family only.”

“He doesn’t have any family,” Issy snapped. Her gaze was fierce and steady, and it surprised Emma. She’d never known Issy to act so assertive before. “The only person in the entire town who gives a crap about whether he lives or not is me.”

The nurse wavered for a moment before acquiescing, and Emma watched Issy leave after her.

There was definitely something going on, and she was certain it had to do with that unnatural gust of wind…

No one in Storybrooke minded when their buildings went uncleaned for the next few days. Although no one in town really liked Gold, most people agreed that shooting him was a bit extreme, and most people wanted Issy to be happy. If that was with Gold, then so be it.

Issy was certainly at her happiest when she was in the hospital at Gold’s bedside. Outside she was quiet and guarded, keeping herself to herself. Emma knew that she still hadn’t got to the bottom of everything, but for now, she’d let it lie. She glanced at the two of them through the door into Gold’s hospital room. She’d never seen two people so obviously besotted with each other and each so relieved to see the other in one piece.

Presently, Issy looked over and saw her through the glass. Emma waved guiltily and let herself in.

“Hi. Sorry to disturb. Issy, I need to talk to you about Gerard’s trial.”

“All right. I guess we’d best get this over with. I’ll see you tomorrow…” The final word was too quiet for Emma to hear, but she thought it was ‘Rumpel’.

Issy kissed Gold’s forehead and he smiled.

“Till tomorrow, Belle.”

Emma decided not to ask. If Mr Gold turned out to be the beast from Beauty and the Beast in Henry’s storybook, then she was going to have to seriously rethink her worldview.

#rumbelle fic #A Monthly Rumbelling #rumbelle #Belle French #Rumpelstiltskin #cursed Storybrooke #season 1 AU #domestic abuse cw #blood cw #graphic injury cw

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bltngames · 4 years ago

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SAGE 2020: Fan Games

I’d hoped to have this article out a little bit sooner, but I overestimated how long it would take to write about some of these games. Whoops! Like I said when I outlined the posting “schedule” on the first day, we’re playing it fast and loose, so this is just what you get.

Today is the day I talk about fan games! And even though SAGE has “Sonic” right there in the acronym, it’s always hosted fan games from all types, so today we’ve got Mega Man, Mario, Rayman, and even fan games of fan games, if you can believe it.

Sonic Pinball Panic!

Pinball is one of those things where I’ve always been obsessed with it, but never very good at it. And now, with access to digital pinball collections like Pinball Arcade and Pinball FX, I don’t actually find myself playing as much pinball as I thought I would when I was 14 years old. Still, I find myself fascinated by a good pinball table, and this honestly caught me off guard. This could very easily be an official DLC release for one of those aforementioned pinball collections and I wouldn’t even bat an eyelash (in fact, if you ask me, this is better than Pinball FX, which has always had weird ball physics). This looks, sounds, and functions exactly like a real pinball table should. My complaints are minor: for starters, the table feels kind of easy. I’ve never been a pinball wizard, but I was losing balls left and right here and it still took a good 15 minutes before I finally got a game over. Score accumulation is also pretty slow; most pinball tables will dump millions and millions of points on you, but here, it felt like a struggle just to reach the 379k I finished with. Both contribute to the fact that the table feels a little flat, like it’s missing a spark to really put it over the top. And, third, it would be nice if it had controller support. The keyboard works just fine, here (it’s just pinball, after all) but I find that the triggers on a controller feel really good with pinball flippers, and mapping the plunger to the right stick is great, too. This is a Unity game, so I wouldn’t think it’d be that hard to hook it up to the controller mapper. Still, I came away impressed.

Mega Man: Perfect Blue

There are two things out there that always give me pause: fan-made Doom level packs, and Mega Man fan games. Fan made gaming content generally has problems when it comes to difficulty balancing anyway, but these games have earned a certain reputation for their difficulty, which creates a problem when you have content made by fans, for fans. This insularity means these things are usually way too hard for what I would consider “normal” people (read: casual fans and outsiders). Add on to the fact that I’d even say that there are official Mega Man games with bad difficulty balancing, and you have a recipe for frustration. Sadly, this is how I’d characterize Perfect Blue: though this introductory level isn’t impossibly hard, it’s definitely pushing that edge where it’s not very accommodating to someone who hasn’t played and finished every Classic Mega Man game ever made. It almost immediately throws you into scenarios where you have jumps you can barely reach, insta-kill spikes, and enemies that not only actively dodge your shots, but invincible enemies that launch counter attack homing missiles. And then it starts making you juggle all of this stuff, together, at the same time. None of this is insurmountable as long as you’re paying attention, but as a very casual Mega Man fan, it’s an unfriendly first impression and makes me worried about what the rest of the game is going to be like as the challenge naturally ramps up. For those hardcore Mega Man fans among you, the rest of this is solid, at least. The presentation and controls are excellent, and the new sprites are beautiful. It’s a game I’d love to enjoy when it’s done… but I’m assuming I’ll be left out in the cold. A shame, really, because there’s so much promise here.

Sonic and the Mayhem Master

There’s a lot to like about this game, but there’s a part of me that really wonders if this should even be considered a Sonic fan game. Mayhem Master’s depictions of Sonic and Amy Rose are atypical to put it mildly. Here, Sonic seems to be a bookish nerd of sorts, a sidekick to Amy Rose, who has been turned into a burnt out, cigar-smoking detective. Most of the game plays out as half an adventure game, half an RPG, where you roam around the world talking to NPCs and gather clues while being assaulted by random battles. The battle system is super off-the-wall, too, perhaps taking inspirations from games like Mario & Luigi and Undertale. This means that battles aren’t passive -- you spend most of each fight dodging or nullifying incoming attacks with simplistic action-based commands. It’s weird, and different, and occasionally even a little bit overwhelming. That’s kind of the whole game, really. It’s the sort of thing that really doesn’t feel like a Sonic game at all, but it also doesn’t feel bad. The artwork is very charming, I’m interested in seeing the characters develop, and there’s plenty of worldbuilding and mystery. Would this still be as intriguing if you removed the Sonic connection, even if it’s so threadbare? That’s a hard question to answer. I know that some of my interest in this game is seeing how it spins more familiar Sonic elements into something that’s completely different. Worth checking out, for curiosity’s sake if nothing else.

Sonic and the Dreamcatcher

This is a fairly brilliant little game with two unfortunate quirks. If you didn’t know, the special stages in the original Sonic the Hedgehog were inspired by an arcade game of the era called Cameltry, published by Taito in 1989. Now, Sonic’s special stages were different enough from Cameltry that it wasn’t a case of Sega outright stealing the gameplay, but there’s a clear lineage there, and it only becomes clearer when you compare the special stages in Sonic 4 Episode 1 to Cameltry (spoilers: in that game, they’re nearly identical). Dreamcatcher is also from this lineage, but is infinitely more charming than either Sonic 4 and maybe even Cameltry itself. The idea is that you must collect a specific number of blue spheres in order to reveal the Chaos Emerald, after which you have a limited amount of time to find and collect it. It’s very simple, but the presentation really sells the game’s charm. It’s just a game that looks good and sounds good, with an interesting premise executed very well. Also, you get a dedicated “& Knuckles” button to spawn infinite Knuckles to help you collect blue spheres and bash enemies. Being able to have unlimited numbers of these guys sounds like it would break the game, but once that countdown clock begins, the last thing you need is 20+ echidnas clogging up the route back to the emerald. The first quirk this game suffers from is that there’s only two levels. Parts of this have a very “game jam made in a weekend” vibe to it despite the rock-solid music, sound, and gameplay, and only having two levels contributes to that. Hopefully more are coming in the future. The other quirk? You can’t actually download this game -- it’s embedded in a webpage. I’m sure this is to make it easy to play on any platform with a web browser (phones, PCs, etc.) but I find myself greatly desiring a hard copy of this game that can live on my computer forever.

Sonic Galactic

Now here’s just a good old fashioned Sonic fan game. Though it clearly takes inspiration from Sonic Mania’s aesthetics in some places, it’s clearly doing its own thing, featuring not just the core cast of Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles, but also Fang the Sniper, and even a brand new character named Tunnel the Mole. Unlike a lot of Sonic fan games at SAGE, this appears to be using something besides Clickteam Fusion, Game Maker, or Unity. Here, it’s the “Hatch Game Engine,” whatever that is. Whatever the case may be, the game runs very well and is basically indistinguishable from just playing Sonic Mania. Visuals are sharp, music’s good, the two included boss fights are surprisingly fun to fight -- everything seems to be in order. As a result, there’s not really a lot to say. This is just a good, fun game. Anything else I’d say would come off sounding like nitpicks. For example, there’s no way to set graphics options yet, so the game is stuck in 2x Windowed mode. Fang and Tunnel are cute additions, but I wonder how much utility they have as characters. Unless I missed something, Fang’s pop gun is mainly for a weak double-jump ability, and Tunnel’s ability to dig and ricochet off floors, walls and ceilings is cool, but it doesn’t have quite the universal utility of Tails’ flight or Knuckles climbing and gliding. It’ll be interesting to see how or maybe even if their abilities have a chance to grow into something special. Anyway, like I said, those are nitpicks, so try to give this a shot if you can.

Sonic Robo-Blast!

Remasters seem to be a bit of a theme this SAGE, between Sonic Triple Trouble 16-bit, Sonic 2 SMS, Sonic 1 Revisited, but this is perhaps the most surprising of them all: a loving remaster of the original Sonic Robo-Blast. SRB1 was perhaps one of the first true “landmark” fan games, given that it was basically a whole entire game that people could play. It's not a stretch to say that SRB1 probably helped kickstart the fan gaming community that still survives to this day -- I certainly owe my involvement in the community to seeing SRB1 for the first time. The problem is, as historically significant as the game might be, it’s nearly impossible to go back to nowadays -- it’s much, much too dated to be any fun. This remaster completely re-envisions SRB1 as a regular Sonic game, while also pulling in gameplay elements from Sonic Robo-Blast 2. It’s a bit of a time paradox mindwarp, but it helps give it a bit more personality than just making a bog-standard 2D Sonic. It works, aided by the fact the sprites, music and overall presentation are fantastic. The only downside is the Act 2 boss, which commits the cardinal sin of taking away player agency and making you wait around far too much. Here’s hoping this gets finished, because it’s definitely on my radar now.

Super Mario Flashback

This has been floating around for a few years now and I’m glad to see it’s finally starting to get some more substantial content as it moves towards becoming an actual game. That being said, this is also one of those games that’s kind of hard to talk about because it’s just… really polished. The art is incredible, it controls exactly like a Mario game, and there’s already a decent mixture of ideas at play in the demo. Anything else I’d say would sound like nitpicking -- like, for example, the backseat game designer in me wonders if maybe the game is prioritizing aesthetics a little too much. This is a wonderfully animated game, absolutely gorgeous, but some actions, like the butt-stomp and the wall kick, feel a bit sluggish, and I think it’s because they show off fancy animations. Even if it’s a split second, waiting for Mario to attach to a wall to kick off of it feels slow. Really, though, that’s an insignificant complaint. This demo is still well worth checking out.

Sonic Advance 4 Advanced

This game seems like a greatest-hits of Dimps best ideas, spanning the first Sonic Advance all the way to Sonic Rush. There’s just one problem: the game seems broken. Now, my desktop PC is starting to show its age. I built it four and a half years ago, and though it can handle game like Gears of War 5 on high settings at 60fps, slowly, newer games seem to be leaving it behind. That being said, I don’t think a game like Sonic Advance 4 here should be running at what appears to be half its intended speed. It also originally launched in a teeny-tiny window (we’re talking, like, smaller than a postage stamp) and even though the options menu has a toggle for full screen mode, it doesn’t want to work. Something about this game under the hood seems to be struggling very, very, VERY hard. It’s a shame, because if this actually played at the proper speed, it seems like it might actually be an alright game, if a bit complex and busy.

Sonic 2 SMS Remake

Here’s a game I was all buckled in expecting to enjoy. Like it says on the tin, this is a remake of Sonic 2 for the Master System (and Game Gear), but with wide screen visuals and huge expansions to the mechanics, roster of playable characters, and levels. On the outside it seems really impressive, and to a certain degree it is, but something about the controls feel a little off. Sonic’s heavier here than he is on the Master System, perhaps to simulate “real” Sonic physics a little more accurately, but you can also pretty much stop on a dime, and the combination of the two feels awkward. The camera also needs a lot of work, as it’s basic at best and does a poor job of letting you see what’s below (to the dev if you’re reading this: there’s actually video tutorials out there on how 2D scrolling cameras work, it might be worth looking a couple of them up). It also leans into some of the tech limitations of the Master System, like how you aren’t given any rings for boss fights (and even hiding the HUD, a move done to save on resources for the large enemy sprites). I could be picky on a bunch of other little stuff, too, like how the flight mechanics feel, but there are other games to play at SAGE and I’ve got at least two more articles to write. Needless to say, this is a solid (impressive, even) foundation but it’s missing a lot of late-stage polish to clean up the tiny little rough edges.

Rayman Redemption

I tell this story every so often, but it was about three quarters of the way through Rayman 2 on the Sega Dreamcast when it struck me, suddenly: I love this game. I was being chased by a pirate ship through some rickety bridges and even though I was dying over and over and over again, I realized I had been enjoying Rayman 2 enough that I might put it in my top ten Dreamcast games. But that was 2002, and the years haven’t been so kind to ol’ Rayman. From the strangely celebrity-infused Rayman 3, to the tragedy of Rayman 4 (eventually becoming Raving Rabbids) to the endless, careless ports of Rayman 2 to every platform under the sun, one gets the impression Ubisoft maybe didn’t know what to do with Rayman. Especially now, when most of Ubisoft’s games are some form of online live service or cookie cutter open world experience (or increasingly both). But the fans know what they want. Rayman Redemption takes the original 1995 Rayman game and lovingly gives it a fresh coat of paint. The results are akin to what Taxman and Stealth did for Sonic CD in 2011, with wide screen visuals, improved controls, touched up level design, but gameplay that still feels faithful and accurate to the original experience. Except that Sega charged money for that, and here, fans have released this for free. Ubisoft’s loss, I guess. I didn’t play Rayman 1 until well after I’d finished Rayman 2, and I’ll admit, I kind of bounced off of it back then. It felt slow, and awkward, and when the difficulty ramped up, it got very hard, very quickly. Now, admittedly, I’ve only put about 30 minutes into Redemption here, but just the addition of a run button is incredibly welcome, and the retooled level design and powerup mechanics helps the game feel way less obtuse overall. It’s just a cleaner, tighter, more accessible and more polished version of Rayman.

Stay tuned for the next article: Indie games.

#sage #sonic amateur games expo #writing #review slew #rayman redemption #sonic pinball panic #mega man #perfect blue #mayhem master #dreamcatcher #sonic galactic #sonic robo-blast #super mario flashback #sonic advance 4 #sms remake #sonic the hedgehog #sega #sonic team #review

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jaybug-jabbers · 4 years ago

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All-Glitch Pokemon Blue Run Pt10: Creating Hybrids

June,

To answer your first question, yes, the headaches are likely related to Superglitch, but you need not worry about them. It’s a side effect, but because you followed my steps closely, we’ve done our best to mitigate those effects. If you notice your name no longer shows up on your Glitchdex, er, don’t worry about it.

To answer your second question, you are almost ready to meet your new glitchmon. First, however, I suggest you pay a visit to the Daycare Center. A few of your party pokemon might be slightly mutated from the effects of Superglitch. Don’t worry, though-- the Daycare Center man is an old friend of mine and fellow glitchmon researcher. If you leave them in his care he can nurse them back to health, for a small fee.

Finally, I strongly recommend healing at the Pokecenter before doing anything else. This step is very important if you want to save data on your Glitchdex. Ah, it’s a long explanation as to why that is, but trust me, it helps reboot the system so things function normally again.

After all of that, you now will be ready to meet your new glitchmon friends!

---

Professor,

All right, I completed your directions and then Teleported back to Lavander Town. When I withdrew the new glitchmon, though, I uhhhh . . . ran into a bit of a problem. I immediately lost the pokeball.

I searched in a panic for like ten minutes before finding it. I’m not sure how I was so careless. Then I let the glitchmon out of the ball.

It . . . looks like it’s just a Charizard? I don’t get it. I mean, don’t get me wrong, Charizard is really cool, but I thought this was supposed to be a glitchmon. At any rate, I named it Charmed.

She seems awfully shy, actually. I turned around for just a second and looked back and she was just GONE. It took me several minutes to find her again. You’d think it would be pretty difficult to lose a giant fire-breathing dragon, but apparently I’m talented.

-June

---

June,

What you have in your possession is no ordinary Charizard. That is Charizard ‘M, or glitchmon FF.

This species needs careful handling when in your party. It has a ‘cloaking’ ability somewhat similar to a Kecleon’s camouflage, although more extreme. Indeed, this cloak is so powerful it can hide even the Pokeball it resides in, as well as other pokemon in its immediate vicinity!

You’re also correct in noting it can be quite shy. It takes a long time to establish trust with this species, and they rarely trust the nurses at the Pokecenter. You may need to potion them by hand if they see any sort of battle.

I must give a word of caution, though; Charizard ‘M has also been known to accidentally induce mutations in pokemon nearby. Merely exposing pokemon to its presence is enough. Try to keep its pokeball a bit further away from the others, at the bottom slot in your party. You don’t want an accidental hybrid on your hands, after all.

-Professor Gingko

---

Professor,

I kinda wish you’d said something about that a little bit sooner. I had stopped to capture a Paras I’d found . . . and when I went to deposit things in the PC, uh. It was kind of disturbing. The Paras and my HM slave Kadabra had melted together. I wasn’t sure what to do. I thought maybe if I’d evolved . . . it, then that would force them apart, so I tried a few Rare Candies.

Didn’t really work, though? Now I just have a Parasect with all these strange moves.

-June

---

June,

For goodness’ sake. Well, all you’ve done is ensured they remain fused together as a hybrid, now that it’s gone and evolved. You’ve lost your Kadabra HM slave for good, I’m afraid. It became the recipient for the hybridization process. You can still normalize what’s left of the Paras, however. If you return to the Daycare man and give him the Paras-- which should be currently hybridized with Charizard ‘M-- he should be able to get it back to normal.

You’ll have to keep the Parasect as is, though.

-Professor Gingko

---

Professor,

Honestly? I’m ok with that. My new Parasect is pretty neat, and now is an even better HM slave then I had before. This Charizard ‘M has some cool abilities. I wonder what other bug hybrids I could make?

For now though, I’m keeping her at the bottom of my party, away from the other pokeballs. I’m taking along Wobbles, Fractal, Dustdevil, Giago and the new Charizard ‘M, and leaving Azure and Dirge in the PC for the moment.

Oh, and I spent some time exploring Celadon City at last. It was nice to finally do that. There’s some casino there that all the locals are talking about, so I gave that a visit. The games are actually pretty lame, but I’ve never liked gambling. I came across something weird, though-- there’s a basement to the casino. I went down there and it looks like the casino is just a screen for some underground illegal pokemon trafficking by a shady group of thieves. That's pretty wild.

The badguys weren’t too happy to see me there, but fortunately I could defend myself just fine with my team. It helped that I’d recently taught Ice Beam to Dusty. I also came across the Double Edge TM in that basement, so I taught it to Fractal, who now hits like a freaking meteor.

After a little more exploring, I came across the HM for Fly, but I learned I didn’t have the air clearance to actually use it for travel unless I’d earned Lt. Surge’s badge. For some odd reason? So . . . I had to backtrack all the way to Vermilion and defeat the guy. After that, I could teach Fly to my Missingno. and get around MUCH easier.

This let me fly back to Lavander Town. I made the trip because I’d picked up something interesting in Celadon-- a Silph Scope. I figured I should use it and take a tour of that creepy tower.

The trip taught me a lot about my team. The climb up the tower was a slow and difficult one. Starting off, I ran into Oak’s damned grandson again.

His team wasn’t bad to face, although his starter had evolved to Wartortle by now. Still, I had picked up a TM from Lt. Surge, so Wobbles had Thunderbolt now. It was an easy kill.

In general, Wobbles had no problem with any of Pokemon Tower. His Special is just sky-high. My other pokemon had to work a bit harder, though.

Gia is a defensive sort of poke. She’s not huge on offense, especially Special offense. But all her physical attacks were Normal type moves, which are useless against the ghosts. She was stuck chipping away at ghosts with her Surf, while the ghosts para-fused her. Fortunately she at least has so much bulk she sometimes came out on top of those fights. Gia’s fight style is all about long-term survival.

Meanwhile, Dusty struggled a fair bit because her stats are just not great in general. Despite that fact, she was scrappy and determined and could scrape by. Her speed also meant she could get in hits at vital times.

When paired together, Dusty and Gia could manage to take out the ghosts with teamwork. This was great, since Wobbles and my new Charizard ‘M had plenty of levels and didn’t need the XP at the time. My last pokemon on the team, Fractal, is the very definition of a glass cannon. Fractal could take pokemon out with his raw power, but only if he didn’t fall first. He was knocking himself out cold in a single hit if he got confused-- but he also sometimes knocked his foes out cold in a single hit. This is why I gave him Double Edge; his fighting style was hyper-offensive to an extreme.

After touring to the top of the tower, we took care of the local rowdy ghosts and some trainers rambling about something called ‘Team Rocket.’ I dunno, but the way they were dressed looked awfully similar to the creeps at the casino. Maybe they’re the same crew. I wasn’t paying much attention, to be honest.

There was an old man up in the tower who talked to me after my battles, though, and invited me back to his house. Normally I’d nope the heck out of that sort of situation, but he seemed harmless enough. . . and he gave me a flute as a gift. He tells me it can wake up any sleeping pokemon. I have the perfect pokemon in mind to test it on.

-June

---

Glitchdex #: FF/255

Family: Charizard Hybrid

Type(s): Fire/Flying

Species Keyword: CLOAK

This shy POKEMON is so good at disguise it can even fool highly trained POKECENTER nurses. It only trusts its trainer to heal and care for it.

---

End Notes

Glitches used/mentioned in this post:

* Making Superglitch useful

* Creating pokemon hybrids

* Charizard ‘M

* This Charizard ‘M was created by placing a normal Charizard named ‘Charmed’ in my sixth party slot and then using the controlled superglitch corruption mentioned in my last blog post. The Charizard ‘M that appeared in my seventh expanded party slot then inherented the ‘Charmed’ nickname once I deposited the first pokemon in my party into the PC.

Click for the next part of the series!

This is a repost on a new blog. The original post was on Nov 30, 2019.

#pokemon #pokemon glitching #glitch pokemon #glitch run #mycontent #pokemon playthroughs

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mycupoffanfiction · 5 years ago

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His Second Chance Part 3

Bucky x Reader

His Second Chance Masterlist

Bucky comes back from Wakanda with Steve, ready to begin his recovery from his days as the Winter Soldier, but there’s one thing he doesn’t take into account - you.

Warnings: Smutty thoughts, language, angst, fluff.

Word count: Approx 2100

Masterlist

500 FOLLOWERS... WHAT?! I can’t believe 500 people want read my little stories, but thank you for the all of the lovely support! I’ve made a few friends on here since I started posting and seeing the regular readers on my blog kinda melts my heart because you like my writing enough to keep coming back and saying cute things and my heart is just aHHH.

Please don’t hesitate to leave suggestions or thoughts! TAG LISTS ARE OPEN! (Permanent and His Second Chance lists)

_____________________________

Knock, knock, knock.

What an odd time for someone to be visiting your room. It was ten o’clock at night. You got up from your computer, your videogame paused as you padded across the floor in nothing but a large woollen jumper, your underwear and a pair of frilly socks. You weren’t too concerned about people seeing you in so few clothes, you’d changed into your combat gear in front of nearly everyone at least once, so it wasn’t like none of them had seen you in your underwear. You opened the door. Except for him.

Bucky stood, surprised eyes trailing up and down your figure for a moment, his deep blue eyes were much less harsh and cold than they had been in the first couple of days and were much softer now. Perhaps you were just used to Bucky now, but he didn’t seem so intimidating anymore.

Holy shit. Is she wearing anything under that jumper? Bucky almost gawked at the sight of your soft, bare legs. He so desperately wanted to reach out and touch your smooth skin, squeeze your thighs a little, feel them in his hands. No, stop it, stop Barnes. Control. Yourself. “Is there something wrong? Did I forget to shave a spot?” You wondered out loud, looking down at your legs, tilting your whole body at the middle to look, your beautiful hair cascading down. Bucky almost smiled at how cute you were, but he contained the smile, maintaining an inside smile. “N-no, sorry.” Bucky managed to get out. Stop fucking staring, my god!

“Um, could you show me how to- I don’t know how to.” Bucky huffed at himself as he held up a DVD. “You want me to show you how to load that up?” You ask, pointing at the Star Wars DVD case he held in his hand. Bucky nodded, a bit more enthusiastically than intended. “Come on, I’ll show you.” You smiled, up at him, quickly bounding over to your PC to save your game just in case.

Oh. My. Good fucking lord. Bucky found himself completely frozen as you sat on the floor in front of him, butt in the air, pretty red panties caught slightly between your cheeks, your jumper lifting just enough that Bucky had a slight view of your butt as you fiddled with the cables in the TV stand. You had no idea he could see, thinking your jumper covered it well enough. You should stop looking. No, look, it’s beautiful, she’s beautiful- no, Christ Barnes, cool it. Deeeep breath, she wouldn’t want you looking, it’s not fair. “Here we go!” You grinned over your shoulder, Bucky’s eyes immediately flicking to yours, hoping that you didn’t just catch him staring at your behind.

“Did you want to try sitting on the sofa?” You asked, pointing at it as you got to your feet, bouncing a little. “Uh, yeah.” No, should’ve said no thank you. He nodded, stepping back so the backs of his knees were pressed against the sofa. “Okay, so this button pauses it, that one turns it off, oh and this changes the volume.” You pointed at the TV remote buttons. Bucky barely took in anything you said as he stared at you, the image of your pretty little butt in the air was well engrained in his mind and he wasn’t sure he’d be able to concentrate on the movie now. “Will you watch it with me?” He blurted out as you started to walk away. Bucky didn’t look you in the eyes as you spun on your heels to look at him, a huge grin making it’s way onto your lips. “You sure you want me to watch with you?” You asked, just to make sure. Bucky nodded, shifting awkwardly in his step. “Alright, let me get some cushions and blankets.” You beamed up at him before bounding off to find what you needed.

You were cuddly, there was no doubt about that, but you were especially cuddly during movies and you didn’t want to make Bucky uncomfortable, so you opted to bring a whole host of cushions from your room for you to snuggle up to instead. By the time you came back to the living room, Bucky was still standing completely still in front of the sofa and you paused. “Do you want to try sitting, Buck? Or should I get you a dining chair?” You asked, glancing over at the dining table through the open archway on the other side of the room. Bucky shook his head, you weren’t sure if that was a no to sitting or a no to the dining chair, so you stood and waited for a moment.

Come on, you did it with the dining chair, you can do it with the sofa. You saw how happy she was when you sat on the chair, if you sit on the sofa you might get to see that fucking adorable smile again. Bucky coaxed himself into it, finally, he dropped himself onto the sofa. He was as stiff as a board as he stared blankly ahead. Ooh this feels weird, so weird. Bucky looked over to see you absolutely brimming with excitement, a huge goofy, sweet grin on your lips as you bounced on the balls of your feet a little. How is she so happy for your small achievements? Is this even an achievement? She barely knows you and she’s all excited about you sitting on a goddamn sofa.

“Is this okay?” You asked, collapsing down close to him, but not so close that you were touching. “Mhm.” Bucky nodded. No, I wish you were closer. “Want a blanket?” You offered, holding up the corner of a bright purple soft blanket. “No, thanks.” He shook his head. Bucky watched as you draped the blanket over yourself and cuddled up to your cushions. He watched as you shuffled and struggled to get comfortable as the beginning of the film started. More of his attention was on you than the film as he watched you try to get comfy. His eyes widened when you held one of your cushions close to your chest and stuffed another one between your legs. Damn cushions why aren’t I between her-. Bucky cleared his throat, making you glance at him. Why am I not one of those cushions? Cool it with the dirty thoughts Barnes.

You got to about a third of the way into the movie, Bucky was fully engrossed at this point, but you were falling asleep. Bucky felt a little flutter on his arm and he froze up, stiffening and clenching all of his muscles. You’d accidentally touched his arm in your sleepy haze and Bucky immediately sat up in a bit of a panic, waking you up in the process. You quickly realised your hand was on his arm and you quickly retracted it. Shit, shit, shit. “I’m so sorry.” You breathed out. Bucky looked angry, his piercing glare fixed on you as if he was about to push you away or get angry at you. The way his eyes darkened and glared at you absolutely terrified you. He’s mad at you, shit he’s really mad, you fucked up. He’s gonna shout at you or shut you out or something. Panic bubbled in your chest and you felt your cheeks burn bright red, your breathing becoming uneven as you quickly sat up. “I’m so sorry.” You stressed, uttering apologies under your breath before bolting out of the room.

Bucky’s heart broke seeing you so panicked. What had he done? Was it the way he looked at you? He wasn’t sure, but he knew he didn’t want you to go away. His heart sank as he sat back on the sofa. He really didn’t want you to go. He promised himself he wouldn’t stiffen up like that when you next touched him, he couldn’t because it scared you. Because he scared you.

“Whoa!” Steve exclaimed as you practically threw yourself at him in the corridor, Steve letting his water bottle he was going to refill drop to the floor to embrace you. “I touched Bucky by accident and now he’s mad and- and.” You blurted out. Little did you know that Bucky could hear you from the living room. Oh… She thinks you were mad at her. He didn’t think he could ever be mad at you. Bucky listened to your panicked state. Well you really fucked that one up, the poor girl’s panicking to Steve because she thinks you were mad at her. Great job Barnes.

“It’s alright, it was an accident, you didn’t mean to.” Steve tried to calm you, his voice soothing you and Bucky could only imagine the way that Steve was holding you. Maybe swaying you gently from side to side. He wanted to do that. “I’m sure he wasn’t really mad at you.” Steve continued. Listen to Steve, (Y/n), he’s right. Before Bucky could even think about what he was doing, he abandoned the movie and began walking down the hallway towards you both.

Can’t back out now, Steve’s clocked you, (Y/n) can probably hear you too. Steve looked over at Bucky, he knew he hadn’t meant to seem angry; Bucky had shown on more than one occasion that he obviously liked you. He seemed to respond so well to your efforts, unlike Steve who he was still quite stubborn with, despite being closer to him. Steve just wasn’t sure if Bucky had taken to you because of your sweet personality or because you were undeniably beautiful, perhaps a bit of both.

Bucky couldn’t quite find the right words, his mouth stayed dropped open, little stutters making their way out of his throat as he stood behind you, his gaze softening as you stayed glued to Steve. “I’m sorry Bucky.” Your voice was muffled. “I didn’t mean to.” You said into Steve’s chest. Please don’t be upset, please. Bucky didn’t know what to say and before he could even stop himself, his hand reached out slowly and rested on your shoulder. Steve looked at him surprised, but Bucky didn’t see it, he only saw the way you froze for a moment, realising that Bucky was touching you.

You slowly turned, letting go of Steve, who took a few steps away from you both, still on the side if you needed him, but away enough that he wasn’t involved in your interaction. Bucky’s hand remained on your shoulder, your warmth under his palm soothed him. Touch was strange for him, at the same time as it feeling nice, he expected it to hurt and he had to force himself not to move away like you’d burned him. The fear and pain quickly subsided as you both locked eyes, staring at each other. “M’not mad.” Bucky mumbled, eyes soft and full of worry. Please believe me. Bucky’s heart was beating fast in his chest, he was sure Steve could hear it from where he was standing. “Can I touch you?” You squeaked out, Bucky nodded and took his hand off your shoulder.

You slowly reached out with your delicate fingers; eyes trained on his flesh hand. Bucky stayed still, but calm as you extended your arm, fingers curling slightly as your hand neared his. Your fingertips gently grazed the back of his hand and you paused, looking up at him to check if it was okay. He gave you a little nod of approval and you gently slipped your fingers around his hand, going slowly until you were holding his hand properly. Bucky slowly closed his fingers around yours, on the inside he was screaming, but the outside was as void and as plain as usual.

You hadn’t even noticed that Steve had left the two of you alone in the hallway while you shared your moment together. “Thank you for trusting me.” You whispered and you paused for a moment, seeing the edges of his lips twitch up into a smile that lasted only for a split second. Did Bucky just smile? Bucky just smiled. And it was because of you.

Bucky trusted you and it was the greatest feeling.

You’re not ready for this, you idiot. Bucky felt like his skin was on fire while you touched him. You were so soft, so gentle, he wanted to enjoy it, god, he really fucking did, but he just couldn’t. The way your face lit up was addictive to him, he just wanted to see you happy, even if it meant sacrificing his own comfort. Seeing him try made you happy, even if it wasn’t what he wanted, but he’d never tell you that.

He couldn’t.

______________________________

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His Second Chance Tag List:

@socialheartbreak @whatsupbucky @yesno18 @just-a-littlebit-of-everything @crystallstaircase @megantje123 @fantua @lady-x-red

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starside-selfships · 4 years ago

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Take a Break (short fic)

Author’s note: I have a more fluffier, vanilla (and semi-saucy) fic I really wanted to write and that I feel comfortable sharing, involving some sweet stuff with a hunter and his werewolf boyfriend. Hope you enjoy! (Also, I may or may not have kept the saucy bits secret, if you guys wanna see that part, just let me know!)

Setting my controller to the side with my soft smile growing into a wider one overtime, my boyfriend reappeared right in front of me, almost out of thin air as he dusted himself off and looked at me with disgust in his eyes. “I swear, that stupid housecat is always on my nerves, I don’t know how you’re friends with that beast,” He berated, obviously talking about one of my closest friends, the manticore that was dating the angel, earning a snicker from me. “C’mon, Kaz, she’s not that bad,” I joked as I pictured the usual quarrel between my boyfriend and my best friend. The ongoing rivalry and hatred between those two was just unpleasant at most and if I wasn’t friends with the manticore, Kaz would’ve probably let loose and would not hold back against her. “Not that bad, yeah right,” He hissed before letting out several huffs of air before slinking over to my side on the couch, my body shifting into it’s half human and half wolf state, in short, an anthropomorphic wolf. My werewolf state, well, that’s for another time. “It’s alright, princess,” I said sweetly, pressing my lips against the side of Kaz’s head, wrapping a fuzzy arm around him and bringing him closer to my form for him to relax. “We have the rest of today to relax, it’s okay.” I noticed the edge of his lips curling into a soft smile as he began to emit those lovely and soothing purrs, to me it was literally a drug. “Mmmmmhhh~” I released from my muzzle, closing my eyes and leaning my head back as the sound of Kaz’s purring, the crisp winds outside, and the minimal background noise, it was wonderful. It felt perfect.

“How’s my big, handsome puppy feeling? I meant to ask you earlier, but I got a little distracted,” Kaz questioned and this time, I was finally able to give him a simple answer, nothing complex, unless he asked for details of course. “I’m good, I’m really good, Kaz,” I answered honestly before looking back down at him and feeling my smile widen. “Like, I don’t want to go into details if you don’t want to hear them, heh,” Before I knew it, Kaz was on my lap in like seconds, his arms worming around my neck, causing my body to shiver from the touch, his emerald orbs locked onto my brown ones. “Tell me everything, Elijah.” And so I did. I told him about how I took the time to get my thoughts in order, how I kept focusing on the stupid and insignificant things happening around me and inside of my head. It was unhealthy and only filling me with intense amounts of despair. I explained the reasons behind it all, what caused it and among other things, how I dealt with it by listening to my favorite music, playing my favorite games, and turning off all my communications, taking a break from them to be able to spend time with him and him alone since being with him made me genuinely happy and relaxed. To have Kaz close to me or in my eyesight, it fills me with joy and makes my tail wag to no end. Nothing else in the world makes my tail wag faster. “So, that’s, heh, that’s my story.” I finished, realizing that I had been crying this whole time, feeling the tears from my eyes flowing down into my fur. Before I could even wipe my eyes, Kaz did it for me so I could easily see the tears in his eyes, the two of us becoming sappy messes after I explained how I was taking care of myself after the endless hours of sadness and negativity that surged through my mind. To be honest, seeing him teary-eyed was probably the reason why I was crying for Kaz wasn’t one who usually cries.

“I’m glad,” Kaz began as he was clearing choking on his words before he leaned closer and pressed his warm lips against my wet snout, closing his eyes in the process and pulling back so I could see the familiar look of love in his eyes. “I’m very glad. Hearing that, it...it makes me so happy to hear that, Elijah. I’m really happy you’re learning to take care of yourself more.” The look on Kaz’s face was precious, adorable, lovely, just perfect. It was a look I would cherish forever, that sweet smile, his eyes shining and gazing down into mine, his black and green hair that I loved running my hands through, along with his ears at the top of his head that he enjoyed me touching and playing with. Kaz was perfect to me. Yeah, a few people, including a friend or two, weren’t too fond of him and his personality, but to me, I loved that about him. How protective and defensive he would get, he would make me swoon majority of the time and whenever he walked by each other on our way to our different classes, my tail would go insane. “I love you Elijah.” The Hunter said to me, one of my wolf paws reaching up to massage his smooth, delicate face, being careful of my sharp claws, heck I’m pretty sure his were sharper than mine to be honest. Upon contact of my paw on his skin, the sound of his purring grew louder, filling my sensitive ears and putting me into a high, it was incredibly addicting, I couldn’t get enough of it. “I love you too, Kaz.” I replied, feeling myself getting excited at the sweet sound of his cat-like noises alone and it certainly didn’t help with how Kaz was beginning to glide his hands all over my form, probably sensing that I was starting to get lustful, all thanks to him. Thankfully, I managed to get control of my urges and returned back to my human form, my wolf ears and tail still at my head and backside, respectively. What came next was surprisingly, but expected.

“Hey Kaz, do you think we cou-mmmff!~” I couldn’t even ask him a simple question as he began to attack my lips with his own, my eyes fluttering and my body twitching in reaction. The contact of his tongue slipping into my mouth, searching for mine to gain dominance, his hands gripping and talons clawing my shirt so he could pull me closer to him as he kept himself planted on my lap as we continued to engage in our growing and rising heated makeout session. My hands found themselves gripping Kaz’s back, holding onto him as his bottom half began grinding against my lap, my arousal definitely beginning to show in the form of my tent that was poking at the hunter’s backside. The sound of our passionate smooching and moaning filled the room as Kaz’s warm tail wrapped around my leg, earning a shiver from me, which made Kaz softly giggle. Minutes had gone by and the two of us were, without a doubt, eager and horny messes. The craving of his lips increased once he had pulled away to breathe and speak, my hand secured on his legs that had been surprisingly wrapped around my body, I didn’t even notice when he did that. “Hey,” He said, trying to get my attention as I was lost in his eyes, of course, snapping out of my daze as best I could. “You think we should take this to the bed?” He questioned, earning a reaction from my heart pounding out of my chest loudly to the point where I was certain that he could hear it as well. Obviously, there was another part of my body that reacted in a similar, but very different way and I’m positive that he knew it too. “That sounds like a really good idea~”

#star's notebook #otp: cat got your tongue #ns//ft #it gets pretty saucy but not too saucy #im keeping the goods under wraps...for now

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amintyworld · 4 years ago

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Baby Mine - A DnD Inspired Origin Story

A/N: Another DnD Oneshot! I’ll probably do one for each PC and NPC to explain origins or what’s happening between scenes with PCs. Many of these are DnD gods, with the exception of Dawn which I’ve mad as the Sun and Light Goddess. This was based off one of the songs from my playlist for this campaign, “Baby Mine” from Dumbo. Hope you enjoy! - Minty

TW: Mention of Murder, Abandonment, Familial Separation. (Let me know if I missed anything!)

Summary: Scepter’s story.

-----------------------------------

Dawn yawned as she cradled her newborn baby closely. It had been a long night, but she was happy to finally meet her son. Her attendants smiled happily at the newborn as they quickly left to clean, having known the deity would need some rest. The baby cried as Dawn held it closely, soothing the newborn with a soft tune. The small creature slowly grasped his mother’s finger, and Dawn looked down at her son fondly.

It had been quite the task indeed trying to find a new heir to take her place in the sky once she was tricked by Talona to be poisoned, her life now a ticking clock like the mortals below. Dawn always enjoyed the mortals and loved watching and observing them from above. They were created by the gods long ago to inhabit this new world they’d created, and Dawn was impressed by what they’d made with what the gods had given them. Towns, roads, houses, mills, even castles! Dawn also loved to see what they do, or how they act - they can love so deeply and tenderly, yet feel such sadness and deep despair. She knew she wanted her heir, her child, to be a part of these amazing creatures.

The hard part was choosing the right mortal.

She’d had her favorites, but she knew they’d already committed to others. It was on a rainy day in that large town that she found him - Abaddon. A simple farmer working the fields by day, and searching scraps for food by night. He’d had a good heart, and was kind to others. He used what he had to help those who needed it, even when he needed it.

It was that rainy night, the moon’s glow reflecting the raindrops off the buildings, that she fell in love with him. Abaddon, giving half-moldy thrown out bread to the children shivering in the alley. Brown eyes and dark hair. She’d never admit it to the other gods, but after returning back pregnant, she’d missed him. She hadn’t seen him in so long, and she wondered if he’d missed her too.

“For you, my son, a name that shows compassion and care, a name that every mortal will soon come to know - Scepter,” Dawn said, looking down at the small baby as it looked up and gurgled in delight.

------------------------

Scepter was held close to Dawn’s chest, swaddled in a warm blanket. “You wanted to see me, Lathander?”

“Dawn, my old friend!” Lathander smiled. His body glowed white as Dawn’s was bright yellow. His hair swooped to the side as the god carefully hugged his friend. “How great it is to see you out of bed! Are you feeling better?”

Dawn smiled. “Quite.” She looked over at Lathender’s changed expression from joy to something of worry, even… guilt? “What’s wrong?”

“As the god of birth, I know my fair share of children, even celestial ones, as it may be. Something worried me about Scepter, so I decided to do a bit of research.”

“What would worry you about him? He’s just fine, he’s eating, sleeping, and playing wonderfully.” Dawn said, glancing down at the sleeping baby in motherly concern.

“While yes, developmentally he’s doing wonderfully, I’m worried more so about his celestially, immortality,” Lathender said. “He should be presenting his powers by now as they merge with his system, causing the glow. But, he hasn’t.” His eyes met his friend’s. “Dawn… he… he’s gotta be-”

“He’s not, Lath. Just a late bloomer, for sure.” Dawn clutched little Scepter close.

Lathender just looked at his friend. “Are you sure?”

The new mother was silent a moment, looking down at her son as he yawned awake, smiling up at her with those brown eyes that reminded her so much of Abaddon. If he really was mortal… he’d die, just like her. Just like what the others so desperately wanted to avoid.

He was her heir. He needed to be immortal, to look after the world when she eventually left. He needed to be able to access the sun, to control it - make it hotter some days, colder on others. Without the sun, the people, the mortals… they’d die.

Without Immortality, Scepter WASN’T an heir.

Dawn didn’t know what the others would do, what she would do, but she needed to figure out something. She just needed time.

Dawn looked back to her friend. “I… I don’t know.” Dawn grabbed Lathender’s hand before he walked off. “Lath, please… don’t say anything. I just need some time. I just need to come up with something, please…”

“Alright, alright. I promise.”

---------------------------------------------

Dawn didn’t get time. It went from a fantasy dream she’d always wanted to more of a nightmare she couldn’t wake up from. She was called into a meeting the next morning, and it was all over. Someone must’ve told them, someone knew. It was all over.

“Lathender? I hear you’ve been keeping critical information from us.” Cryic asked, his snake-like eyes faintly glowing yellow as he smirked on his throne, watching the god before him crumble. “You would blind-side your fellow celestials, would you?”

Lathender exchanged a glance with Dawn, who nervously looked back toward the ground, her wavy long hair slightly protecting little Scepter from view. Dawn held her son close, never wanting to be apart from him for as long as she had left in this life. Lathender sighed, looking toward the god of lies in distaste. “Of course I’d never lie, Cyric. I was merely getting all the facts before I presented it to you all.”

Tyr looked to the god with slight suspicion. “Then, please present it.”

“As you all know, the new heir has been born, and… uh… there’s been… I’ve had some-”

Suddenly, a knife was thrown, pinning the god and his robe to the wall. A god with armor and incredibly short hair sat up from his spot, looking at his work for a moment. Tyr looked annoyed. “Helm, what’s the meaning of this?!”

“Oghma knows, Tyr. Oghma knows and it’s not good. The boy… Scepter… he’s not one of us. He will never be.” Helm jumped and stood in front of Dawn, protecting her and the child. “I stand before you as a celestial to beg for this child’s life. Though it is true he does not possess divine powers, it’s not this child’s fault, nor any of ours.”

“Don’t protect him, Helm! He’s a weak and useless mortal. We should have killed him weeks ago.” Myrkul spat. “Would have saved me and him the trouble of all this.”

Loviatar smiled wickedly. “That struggling pain is SO delicious, though.”

“Helm, is it right of us to let this child live in a broken way of life in the mortal realm? If what you say is to be true, would it not be better to let this mortal return to whence he came from, to be at peace instead of in a world of constant questions?” Tyr asked.

“Isn’t it better to have lived, Tyr, than not at all? Doesn’t this child deserve that?”

“I suppose… Savras?” The room full of gods looked to the one god who seemed dazed, unfocused, almost in a trance. “Tell us what will become of this child.”

“Darkness… sadness… wings, freedom… this boy will face the devil himself and come unscathed, he will have lived a life of love and loss. He will rewrite what was written. He will be a pure force of good.”

Dawn smiled down proudly at her child, who looked incredibly peaceful swaddled in a small baby blanket, sleeping. She couldn’t believe her little Scepter was going to do all of that. She wished she could be there… instead of an observer.

Tyr nodded. “Then it is settled. This mortal will be set down to earth at sunrise to be with his people, and we will figure out another way to craft an heir.”

-------------------------------------

So, there it was. Dawn locked herself in her room for the entire day, crying. She was losing her child, and she’d never see him again. What was worse, is that he’d probably never remember her, never remember his real mother. The mother who loved him more than the sun, moon, or stars.

She’d made arrangements with the council to leave him with Abaddon. She knew him well and knew he’d love him and show him kindness and mercy, be a father to him. If she couldn’t help her son grow up, at least he could. She hoped he’d understand.

Suddenly, as the ink flowed through her quill, writing a small note to her beloved, Scepter let out a loud cry. The mother moved to sit up, wiping her tears before they landed on the parchment. She picked up the baby from the crib, wailing, into her arms as she rocked him, soothing him. Quietly, she began to sing her lullaby to him, one she’d sang every night since his birth.

Baby mine, don’t you cry

Baby mine, dry your eyes

Rest your head close to my heart

Never to part

Baby of mine

Scepter’s cries ceased, as he stared up at his mother, content and curious. Dawn moved toward the balcony, opening the doors as she stepped out, stars twinkling around them and Moon rising above the two.

Little one, when you play

Don’t you mind what they say

Let those eyes sparkle and shine

Never a tear

Baby of mine

The goddess’s heart swelled with tenderness and love as Scepter’s eyes sparkled, looking in pure wonder at the stars and space around them. He reached out, grabbing a small star in his tiny fist. It flew out quickly, landing on his nose as the baby giggled. Dawn looked out at the other god’s rooms, her heart beginning to break as she looked back down at her son.

He’d never remember her, or any of this.

If they knew sweet little you

They’d end up loving you too

All those people who scold you

What they’d give just for the right to hold you

Dawn turned, heading back inside, bringing up her child close, their noses touching as Scepter smiled, giggling happily before giving a small yawn. Dawn smiled warmly at her son, walking toward the cradle. “Someone’s tired, huh?”

From your head, down to your toes

You’re not much, goodness knows

But you’re so special to me

Sweet as can be

Baby of mine

She gently lowered him, half-asleep, back into the crib, pulling up his blanket and planting a small goodnight kiss on his forehead. “I love you, Scepter.” A few tears rolled down the goddess’s cheeks as her gaze fixed on her sleeping son, smiling fondly down at him through silent tears.

She loved him.

It would be a long time until he ever loved her back.

#dnd #dnd fic #dnd 5e #scepter the wizard #gem quest campaign #minty the dm #dawn the goddess of light #pc origin story

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maxismatchccworld · 6 years ago

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Patch Notes June 2019

UPDATE: 6/18/2019 – PC 1.52.100.1020 / Mac 1.52.100.1220

Hiya Simmers!

Is it hot outside, or is that just my gland problem? Anyway, let’s not worry about that - we’ve got some awesome new stuff to talk about! With all this Summer heat and with Sims 4 Island Living’s release just around the corner, we’ve got a few new free updates we are so excited to share with you! So let’s slap on some sunglasses, squeeze into that swimsuit, and dive on in...

What’s New?

Randomize Traits Button:

A Randomize Traits button has been added to CAS and in the Live Mode Age-Up Molecule. Oh yes, it’s now just right there, waiting to be clicked. Over and over and over and over. I can’t really believe it either, but here it is. The dark days without this small hero are now just a distant unpleasant memory. From here on out, if you just want to grab-and-go your Sim’s personality and get the heck outta CAS, or if you want to add a little challenge to who your Sims might be, it’s just one click away. Jeepers, this feels good. Seriously, I’ve been wanting this forever.

Lounge Chair:

Everyone (even you) gets a FREE LOUNGE CHAIR! That’s right, we’ve added a delightfully Portable Lounge Chair, so you can now lounge by the pool the way you’ve always wanted: Laid back. With your mind on your Simoleons and your Simoleons on your mind.

It’s Pride Month!

Show your pride with some fantastically colorful new clothing. The rainbow leggings are my personal favorite. Nah, maybe the body suit is my favorite. But now that you mention it, I can’t stop dressing my Sims in the new t-shirts -- created in partnership with the It Gets Better Project -- so I guess I just love it all! In addition, we’ve also included a selection of decorative Pride flags for hanging on your Sims’ walls. Finally, we’ve updated our bathroom door sets in-game so that every bathroom door also includes a gender-neutral version for builders, and includes a full suite of color swatches for mixing and matching to your heart’s content. Happy Pride Month, everyone!

Stilt Foundations:

Or as I like to call them, High Heels for your House. Or House Heels. These things don’t need to be limited to just the tropics. Stilts are a great partner in crime to manipulated and flat terrain alike in any biosphere. You can find them in Build Mode alongside all the other regular Foundation types. Now go get your stilt on.

Further Eaves Extension:

Now you can pull your Eaves… further.

More Door Colors:

Ok, we may have gone a bit overboard here… There are 350 new color swatches spread across all of the doors and arches in the base game catalog. If you’ve ever wanted matching doors in Light Brown, Reddish Brown, Brown, Dark Brown, Gray, White, or Black, then this is certainly the update for you!

A Couple New Lot Traits:

Clothing Optional: This new venue-only lot trait will inspire your Sims to -- you guessed it -- get nude.

Off-The-Grid: Now you can live out your nomadic fantasy on any lot. Applying this lot trait will remove your Sim’s use of power and running water, but on the upside it keeps your bills down. Keep a lookout for existing objects with the “Works Off-The-Grid” note in the Buy Catalog.

More Toddler Diaper Colors:

We added some L’il Swimmies Splashy Diapers! You don’t necessarily have to use them for splashing in the water, but that’s where our brains were at when we made them. We made these not only in anticipation for Island Living, but we also thought you’d appreciate more swimming options for your toddlers to use in the Seasons Kiddie Pool.

Back Float:

A new Back Float interaction is available for Sims swimming in the pool. Click on that water. Try it out. Take a load off.

Fishing Additions:

Brace yourself, we’re about to cast you into a deep dive…

We added several new interactions to allow players to fish in different ways and interact with other Sims around fishing activities.

Sims can perform a few new Fishing-based socials to gain useful info (via UI TNS/Notebook) and push NPCs to Fish.

Fishing is now joinable.

Improved fishing interaction tuning and autonomy to make the interaction more efficient and fun.

Upper skill levels now provide more meaningful rewards, with new Interactions added to Fishing skill levels

New high skill cast interaction “Angle for Big Catch” increases chance of getting rarer fish.

New high-skill VFX visuals on Rare fishing spots.

Ability to now “Mentor Sims in Fishing.”

Fishing UI has improved information, including Notebook info with Bait information.

Tuning for fish that can be caught is unique per world & more fishing spots added to some of our previously shipped worlds.

New bait preference system applied to most existing fish that modify catch chances.

Ceiling Fan Updates:

Ceiling Fans will now cool a room if you have Seasons and the fan is on. Oh yeah, speaking of which, we also added the ability to turn them On and Off. And while we were at it, we figured we’d make them dry off damp Sims too.

Ceiling Objects Build Sort:

We also added a new Ceiling Objects Build sort category to make things like Fans easier to find.

Swimming Things:

There is now a chance for interesting things to happen to your Sims while swimming, like getting a cramp or losing their suit (eek!). Swimming also now gives your Sims a boost in Fitness skill gain.

Part-Time Jobs Update:

And last but not least (you still with me?) all existing Part-Time Jobs are no longer just for Teens. That’s right, now elders could work as Fast Food Employees. Young Adults could be Babysitters if they want. Why not? The Part-Time world is your oyster. Oh oh oh -- and one last thing on that note: You can now have two Part-Time Jobs at once and pick between shifts. Wowee.

And now on to the unintended features…

General Issues.

Toddler’s Needs will now always be refilled while they’re at daycare.

Exterior trim now correctly applies to rounded flat blocks.

Adult Sims will now be able to successfully put Toddlers to bed. I wonder what their secret is. I may need to tap them for tips.

Sims on fire are now able to safely extinguish themselves in a pool. That’s refreshing.

The Dizzy Palms Ceiling Fan’s blades now tilt in the right direction.

Toddlers will no longer be put down from the high chair before they’ve finished eating. Patience mama, they’re still learning.

Gender Preference now affects flirt options.

Teen Sims will no longer spin into their Everyday outfit when going to school. If Randy wants to wear his swim trunks to school, well that’s Randy’s business.

Flirting with another Sim in a group conversation no longer increases the entire group’s Romance with you. That was awkward.

NPC Invites for Talent Showcase and Lounge will now take you to the appropriate venue.

We have fixed that bizarre issue where you’d have your Sims travel home, and then you load into your home lot, and your Sim’s skewer thumbnails are all greyed out like they’re not there, but when you hover over the skewer it tells you your Sims are at home. But like, they’re not at home. You’re staring at this empty lot, unable to play your Sims and you’re like.. “Is this even my home?”. And you start to question whether you selected the right lot on the map, but then you’re like “Wait, yeah - this is totally my home. But where are my Sims? It’s telling me they’re at home, but they’re not here.” Anyway, this should be fixed now.

Ghosts will no longer be obsessively calling you 5-ish times a day to see if you want to come over and hang out. They’ve been working on their self-control and are limited to at most one call per day now.

Terrain Paint now functions properly on Laptop Mode for AMD graphics cards.

NPC Sims will no longer get a sudden need to get nude after waking up if they have traveled off-lot and returned while you are visiting them. This one was weird. I wish I could show you the bug video.

Get Famous

We’ve toned down the amount of excitement that occurs when a celebrity makes an appearance outside of Del Sol Valley. They should be showing up outside of Del Sol Valley less often as well, so that should cut down on the ruckus.

It was a setup! I’ve been framed! It wasn’t me, I swear! You’ll pay for this! You got the wrong guy, it was Wilma! Wilma, I tell you! Celebrity Sims will no longer be falsely accused of stealing things. And for Wilma’s sake, I hope they get over what happened in the past.

Captain Sigma’s Gig costume no longer includes a chicken mask. That was a fowl fashion choice.

Performing “Tell a Group Story” Interaction Goals will now complete for the Fan Meet & Greet Event.

We fixed the issue with Del Sol Valley’s terrain disappearing when View Distance was set to High. Graphics cards (that we know of) that were affected by the issue:

Intel HD Graphics 3000

Intel HD Graphics 4000

AMD Radeon R6 Graphics

ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5145

NVIDIA GT 120

We fixed the Del Sol Valley skyline texture glitch after exiting CAS.

Elder Sims will no longer have the option to retire from the Acting Career, just to be met with a sad, sad reality. Before they were taunted with a TNS telling them they got this big great pension and now they can sit back and relax, but the pension amount was §0. That’s just so dark…

Seasons

Now, if you travel during a holiday, the holiday decorations on your neighbor’s homes will be removed after the holiday ends. They were admittedly being either a bit overly festive or just a tad lazy. Either way, it’s been dealt with.

Sims will no longer gluttonously guzzle/gulp/slurp/chug water/milk/orange juice during events. No need to be so shellfish.

Jogging Vampires will no longer hold an umbrella while jogging because that’s just silly.

Coffee and Tea is safe to drink again. Sims will no longer receive the “Lethal Heat” buff and die upon returning home after drinking three hot beverages.

Cats & Dogs

Strays can now eat and use litter boxes without having to make the lot a Cat Hangout. You poor poor babies. You’re safe now.

Existing Sims/Saves will once again be able to lecture their pets. Now you can let Biscuit know how you truly feel when she jumps up on the counter.

It’s been ongoing, but we are actively calming those overly excited pets. Your queue should no longer fill up with a stack of a zillion bubbles from your pets when you run certain interactions. We’ve been working on this issue for a while with a few other fixes, but it’s been rearing its head with new repro steps here and there. So hopefully this fish sticks.

Having a puppy or kitten nearby will no longer interrupt your Sim’s bath or shower. We swear they weren’t doing that on porpoise.

Sims are now able to walk through doors with Country Curtains.

City Living

Building pieces in apartments will no longer be invisible when viewing from the upper floor. That must have been very disconcerting to not know what happened to your stuff.

Cleared out some pesky extra plants floating around the Romance Festival.

Your Sims should now be able to buy art from the Street Gallery object during a Yard Sale.

Oh this one’s a doozy. Get this: Talking John and Potty Mouth 2.0 toilets no longer play their sound on an endless loop when a child Sim runs the Use & Massage interaction, even after the toilet is destroyed. Bonus points to SimGuruJill for keeping a straight face writing that one.

Foundations will no longer cut out the floor of a Penthouse.

Get Together

Empty Clubs will no longer linger in your Clubs Panel. They are now self-aware enough to know when the party’s over and it is time to go home.

Get To Work

Coworkers are now spawning for the Science career. Yes, they missed you too.

Breast Feed is no longer available for male Sim parents of non-alien babies. Only alien spawn possess the cosmic knowledge of the most nourishing MANaries.

Strangerville

We fixed some buggy dog-walking behavior in Strangerville.

We shortened up the time it takes to complete the Give Orders Daily Task in the Courageous Captain Rank of the Officer Branch of the Military Career. That was a mouthful.

Jungle Adventure

You will no longer receive countless notifications when you leave your kitten or puppy at home while vacationing in Selvadorada.

Vampires

Vampire Sims will now once again gain points after they reach the Grandmaster level on pre-April (2019) patch saves.

Your Vampires will no longer be unrightfully chastised by NPCs for drinking their blood after they specifically asked if it was ok. Like, I’m trying to be polite here and you said it was fine, and now you’re like all bent about it… what gives?

Perfect Sun Resistance Vampires will no longer use umbrellas when routing in the sun. Flaunt it, baby.

We fixed the weirdness with trying to add points while drinking the Draught of Reconfiguration. Now you should be able to add points just fine and your options won’t be greyed out.

Cured Vampires will now change body temperature. Why you gotta be so cold?

Laundry Day

Sims will now hold laundry bags the right way. What is the right way, you ask? Trust me, it’s better than how they were holding it before.

And now to wrap it all up, let’s get playing! I hope you enjoy your summer updates and have yourself one wonderful day today.

Stay Cheesy,

-SimGuruJill

#s4cc #s4mm #ts4cc #ts4mm #maxis match #thesims4 #s4 patch notes

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