#shoutout to the game i usually also want to make aus out of no matter the fandom i'm in

[breitzbachbea]

Could you answer ALL the questions for pady

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ASKING ABOUT PADDY, I'D LOVE FOR YOU TO GET TO KNOW MY FUCKED UP OLD MIDDLE AGED MAN.

Ask Game for someone's OCs

✨- How did you come up with the OC’s name?

Babyname website, ten most popular boys names in Ireland all time. I don’t know if I picked his surname from a similar/the same site, but I must assume so. Et voilà – Patrick “Paddy” O’Neill!

🌼 - How old are they? (Or approximate age range)

Born on the 2nd of May 1965 in canon. He’s 48 in Irish Problems, the first story in the mainseries, which is usually the age range he also appears in in most AUs.

🌺- Do they have any love interest(s)?

Ohhh, does he ever! My man used to be quite the charmer in his youth! Not really putting the love in love interest, but he had a ONS with Daisy Grey, the mother of Shane Grey, who’s part of Charlie’s gay social circle after he left school. He’s also had a few flings with Þóra, @swabianmapley’s lovely OC and one of the Icelandic subordinates. The list could go on - Ben didn't call him a louser for nothing!

But the woman he ends up dating (if I'll get this far in the main story and stick to it) is Donella Ramsay. She's a middle school physics and english teacher from Glasgow he met on a bender in Dublin, where she has relatives. It's ... an odd match, but it works out for both of them.

Shoutout to his childhood/teenhood friends Kilian MacLeod and Angus O'Malley though! I don't ship them in canon, but I love a good AU with Kilick, Padus or a Derry Trio OT3. Welcome to the worst Polycule this side of the Foyle, maybe in the entire North West.

🍕 - What is their favorite food?

Honestly, I think nothing would top a good full Irish breakfast roll for this man. Something as big as his entire hand, stuffed with eggs, bacon, sausages, mushrooms ... only acceptable way to start the day.

💼 - What do they do for a living?

Be a menace to society! No literally, he's in the mob. Right hand to Harry O'Connel, the biggest shark in the Irish tank. Aaron O'Connel, Harry's father, was who picked Paddy off the Dublin streets and offered him to work for him. Ain't much of a living with the guilt his job produces but well, someone's got to protect the kids now and make their life cushy.

🎹 - Do they have any hobbies?

He plays the guitar! His father taught him. He also branched into other string instruments and is pretty good at the Banjo. His fiddling is good enough for government work. Needless to say, not only does he play, he also sings.

🎯 -What do they do best?

Being a calm mediator, to be honest. Everyone else always looks to him, due to his experience and Paddy's here to get shit done. Doesn't mean he's always calm or hides his emotions particularly well, but he's determined like no other and very good at both executing orders and giving orders. He's so splendid at being a father to be honest, it's a shame he never had any kids on his own, but doesn't matter - he loves Harry, Soph and Charlie to bits. Adopts every lost kid in need of a dad he can find, giving as much love as his big body can store.

🥊 -What do they love to do? What do they hate to do?

Loves to be a bastard with his children, a carefree ne'er-do-well, hates that to live that life he routinely makes it worse for a hundred other families who're just struggling to get by. Paddy is filled to the brim with guilt, believes God no longer listens to him and that there's no redemption for a man like him.

❤️ - What is one of your OC’s best memories?

Night out in the pub with friends in Derry; Kilian, Angus, a few others - and the daughter of the Orangeman who's none the wiser that his daughter is hanging with at least one Catholic and Rotten Prods and getting shifted by the latter.

✂️ - What is one of your OC’s worst memories?

Hearing about Kilian's death after the funeral already happened. Kilian's older brother Keith didn't want him there.

🧊 - Is their current design the first one?

It is! I rarely change designs, mostly because the hugest chunk of my characters exist solely as personality and a vague idea of a physical appearance for months, if not years. Paddy had his design pretty quickly because I had to describe him, but I love it anyways. Especially the fact that he's 2 m tall and built like a brickwall.

🍀 - What originally inspired the OC?

I needed a right hand man for my mafia story and I knew vaguely that there's Protestants in Northern Ireland. That's it and as I learnt more and more about the actual situation and nuances of Irish history and identity, it just has made Paddy more and more interesting.

🌂 - What genre do they belong in?

Born to be in a romantic comedy or a GOOFY heist movie, forced to be in Angela's Ashes meets The Godfather.

💚 - What is your OC’s gender identity and sexuality?

Cishetero man as they come, though I make exceptions in AUs for Derry Trio OT3 shenanigans babyyyy. To be fair, too, he's moved in overwhelmingly queer circles due to the job and the kids in the past years that he's not at all fazed by the myriad of gender expressions and sexualities this world got to offer.

🙌 - How many sibling does your OC have?

None! However, he has/had a cousing called Caoimhe, who he loved so dearly, pretty much like an older sister. However, after his aunt/her mother died in a bombing, the family moved away and he never heard from her again.

🍎 - What is the OC’s relationship w/their parents like?

Very good! Both of his parents died in the 80s, sadly, but he loved them very much and they did him. They also were both rather old parents (William O'Neill was born 1917, Davian O'Neill in the early 1920s), so it's sad they died so young regardless, but not out of the clear blue sky. As I said, his father taught him how to play guitar and Davina also always looked out for her son. Paddy wouldn't have left Derry if one of his parents were still alive.

🧠 - What do you like most about the OC?

THE GHOOOOSTS, Paddy is so fucking haunted! He has lived three lives and to not lose the third one, he is willing to dig himself and everyone a grave without a bottom. Willing to do and encourage the worst things out of a deep, deep sense of love. He lost his cousin, his parents, Angus moved to London and then a bomb wrecked his and Kili's flat, so he walked out of town, left Kilian behind who died in the mid 2000s in a car crash. He got taken in by Aaron, traded his morals for a new family and helped raise Aaron's kids. Then Freya, Aaron's wife, dies in childbirth, Aaron's other right hand Ben gets shot in 2006 and Aaron accidentally poisoned in 2009. Once again, Paddy is the last man standing. So if anything happened to Harry, his sister Sophie or Harry's best friend Charlie, he'd kill everyone and then himself. No hyperbole. His actions in Irish Problems underscore that.

✏️ - How often do you draw/write about the OC?

Pretty much any time I work on the mainseries. He isn't in every AU and I also write a lot of one-shots/other fanfics about entirely different corners of the world that have nothing to do with him, but Paddy never strays far from my mind. Since I've been rewriting Irish Problems since 2022, rarely a month went by without writing about him.

💎 - Do you ever see yourself killing off the OC?

I've toyed with the idea of killing Paddy a lot, because he'd be potent drama. But at the end of the day, I could never go through with it because it breaks my own heart far too much.

💀 - Does your OC have any phobias?

Don't think he likes anything about bombs, but that's less of a phobia and more ... being traumatized by a civil war. He's got over his dislike of guns for the same reason, but still loathes most big guns and will not use anything automatic unless you held the man himself at gunpoint.

🍩 -Who is your OC’s arch-nemesis or rival?

Ben was always the man to pick fights and hold grudges, so Paddy doesn't really have any personal nemesis or rivals. Team England can be counted as such, simply because they're Team Ireland's biggest antagonists, but he has no particular bone to pick with Arthur (unlike Harry), Robert (unlike Charlie) or Tahir.

🎓 - How long have you had the OC?

Since 2013! "Like Father Like Son", how the entire story universe is called, was a Hetalia AU I created for an art trade. I needed human OCs for the story and that is how he came about.

🍥 - What age were you when you created the OC?

14. Insane shit.

Here's a drawing of him done by @pyromaniacqueen!

[ladykf-writes]

PROJECTS UPDATE

SO. As you guys know I was/am involved in several projects - notably I’ve advertised preorders for the Chaos Theory Zine I was invited to (again, if you haven’t checked it out and happen to have the funds to spend for it I would really check it out. This was a fantastic project to be involved in, crafted with great skill and love and centered around FFVII’s Vincent Valentine.)

I’ve also been involved with the FFXV Reverse Bang for the second year in a row, and while I can’t give too many details I do want to say that it’s a great story inspired by fantastic art and carries a lot of the canon divergent / happy ending themes you guys are used to from me. Lots of action, a lot of humor and a lot of high stakes for our favorite protags. Can’t wait to post it, sometime mid next month through early December. (I don’t have my date yet.)

Now, regarding projects that have been on the back burner that I know you guys have been looking forward to and thankfully waiting patiently on.

Forged in Fire has been written through CH47 thanks to last NaNo and is not in immediate need of writing since that’s another 34 weeks of weekly posting before I run out of buffer. Expect steady posting there unless I’m sick or otherwise unable to post on the given Saturday.

A Second Chance at Family still has a ways to go before we reach the ending, but it’s been on the back burner while I hurried to finish my Reverse Bang fic. Now that that’s done and with NaNoWriMo on the horizon, I have chosen to fixate on finishing ASCAF as my main project of the month. As such, I’m working out plot notes now so I will be able to kick off strong in a little over a week with the start of November. I will be resuming my weekly Thursday posting as I polish the pieces off enough to post.

A shoutout to @wandererriha, my fantastic beta for all this, and also @yuzukimist and @happy-orc for joining her in listening to me plot and helping bounce ideas until things mostly make sense.

To Save the Future, the FFXV/FFVII crossover I’m working on with Riha has largely suffered from brain fog, other projects demanding attention, and the fact that we realized we need to restructure things from our original plans for various reasons. This is not abandoned, but needs a little love and elbow grease before we start posting again. I’m hoping to tentatively get back to it during NaNo as a “still writing but relaxing my brain” exercise. We have a lot of great things in store here, it’s just a matter of polishing what we have and writing out the rest of what we’ve talked about. There will be a finished fic.

Dog Whistle remains on the back burner for a bit yet. I have wandered away from FF7 for so long that I’m going to have to reread, make a lore bible (note to self: quit waiting until the nth hour to make the damn lore bibles!) and only then will I be able to navigate the final who-knows-how-many chapters. That said, it is not forgotten, merely set aside while I chase other plunnies.

Honorable mentions and some future ideas under the cut:

I’m still looking at one day finishing my other fics. The first to come to mind are Party of FIve, the AGSZC MMO modern-day AU, and of course the FF7/MCU crossover It’s Not A Game also lingers in the back of my mind. Both fics were fun, but very much outside my usual and so have been left to gather dust. They are not, however, actually abandoned. I’ve actually got some unposted but finished chapters, just not enough to reconsider posting. The Welcome to FFVII series needs a complete rework because my headcanons have shifted, but I’d still like to do it.It’s way down the priority list, though. On a very different note, also wanting to work on my Threads of Fate (Dewprism) semi-novelization Journey to the [Relic] even though no one’s reading it just because I’ve fallen back in love with the game.

Future projects I’d like to embark in include a vastly canon divergent series that’s actually labelled in my folder as “A Softer FFXV” that places a huge emphasis on family bonds and you will pry the power of love trope from my cold dead hands. (Let’s be real here, if you’re here you eat up that trope.) There’s another that might be a polished up what-if basis one shot and not an actual story that has a very BAMF!Regis but we’ll see if that happens. I’d also like to explore writing in Legend of Zelda, probably Ocarina of Time or Twilight Princess and also Stardew Valley and maybe some of the Harvest Moon / Story of Seasons settings, but I know from experience that the latter two are have a very different vibe that doesn’t come as naturally to me.

On that note, debating a Friends of Mineral Town fangame / visual novel (in Ren’Py) but that’s a ways down the road with the rest of this on docket and also needing to code and have visual assets. Or is it?

Anyway! Thank you for your time and feel free to comment/reblog with thoughts!

[revasnaslan]

☕️ and Dishonored

one of my favorite games out all time. would recommend to anybody who wants a video game recommendation and hasn’t played it yet. 1000/10.

i don’t really know much about supplemental material for the games, and i’ve never actually played dishonored 2 (*shakes angry fist at my laptop which can’t run it*) but i do enjoy how even without that supplemental material, there’s a wealth of interpretations you can get from the game. and i think that’s helped by corvo not having a voice actor in the first game? so you have other characters kind of saying how they think corvo is feeling about something and him never really commenting on things. but because of that, it feels a lot more immersive and so it makes for an interesting roleplaying experience.

corvo is one of my favorite video game characters ever. the chaos level in the game is such an interesting concept to me that i really enjoy, especially if you look at it from a roleplaying perspective. my preferred type of run is a clean hands run, but i also tend to interpret that as corvo choosing the most torturous fates for the people who ruined his life (and those of his family), not because he is a pacifist but because it’s what they deserve. the elite of dunwall are corrupt and they deserve to suffer as they’re taken down. it becomes even more interesting when you consider a clean hands run also involves the sparing of the guy who murdered the empress. like the wealth of interpretations you can glean from that.

the daud dlcs are also fun as hell, he’s such a great character. i really like how the developers actually took the time to develop him and make him nuanced. the fact his dlcs are him essentially trying, in some fashion, to fix what he broke is absolutely amazing. i love it. iirc, if you do a clean hands run here, the outsider also comments on it, which is so interesting to me.

i want to play dishonored 2 so goddamn bad orz

[nikoruistyping]

hi again, this is the anon from before. If I can Id like to request RDJ's Sherlock Holmes x fem!reader where Watson invites y/n to dinner to meet Mary & Sherlock but suddenly plans change and then the only two left are you and Sherlock to have dinner alone and it's just a really fluffy and romantic date thanks in advance

And Then There Were Two...|| Sherlock Holmes (RDJ)

RDJ!Sherlock Holmes x Fem!reader

Summary: You were to meet John, Mary and Sherlock at dinner but when the two lovebirds aren’t able to make it that leaves only you and Sherlock left to get acquainted properly...

TW: Fluff, Victorian Era/AU/1800′s Time Period, Playful/Sassy/Smartass Banter, Very Proper Old English, Courtship, First Date, Kissing

Word Count: 3,153

A/N: Y/BS = Your birthstone & Y/BM = Your Birth Month

I’m coming at yall with a request that is pretty out of my field of what I normally write but I decided to take on the challenge so thank you so much Anon for requesting and I hope you enjoy this! I had such a fun and good challenge writing this especially since I did a lot of research to make this as perfect and accurate to the movie/character/time period as I could! This is my first time ever writing an era/decade type story so hopefully it sounds normal and not like “modernized”. I want to give a shoutout to the only 2 RDJ Sherlock fics I was able to scavenge to find, I read them both and it helped me so much by getting a better understanding on how to write this request. It was so cool reading them first before watching the movies and seeing how accurate both authors were able to write the scenes from the movie! It inspired me to do better and really get into the right mindset for this. Please go check out In the Game of Love by @just-dreaming-marvel  & A Rose in London by Dragon_Baron

Also I highly recommend listening to this playlist while reading! I’m not usually one to listen to classical instrumental music but for some reason it really put me in the mood to write this and honestly I wasn't expecting to get this involved or have this fic be so long but here it is!

Eight-thirty, The Royale. John had insisted earlier that day for you to join him and Mary for dinner with his dear friend Sherlock Holmes. In all the time you had known and been acquainted with John you had heard Sherlock's name thrown about here and there but you had yet to meet the mysterious detective. You even started to believe the man might have been a myth or even a ghost because of the lengths John had gone to make sure the two of you never were to meet. He must have been utterly desperate or rather so crying for help when he asked you to tag along, it was a serious matter since apparently Sherlock hadn't met Mary yet and you suspected John was on the brink of proposing to the woman. You seemed to be the only friend Watson had that helped keep him level-headed and sane when Holmes was at his wits.

You quickly mentioned to the host that you were one of the guests under the name of Dr. Watson. To your surprise, the host told you John had yet to arrive, but that his other guest was early and was waiting at your reserved table. You followed the host's lead through the restaurant, shuffling along in your black satin dress, black lace and ruffles going down your skirt, accents of gold thread and detailing running along your long sleeves and corset bodice. You had taken the liberty to slip off your black lace gloves, stuffing them into your purse, and taking a moment to adjust your choker necklace while you walked towards the table.

Once you had laid eyes on who you assumed to be none other than 'The Sherlock Holmes', he was sitting by himself, fiddling with his pocket watch, casually checking the time. The host bowed and presented you to the table but Sherlock had his eyes closed, the man seemed to be meditating, how peculiar you thought. You made it a point to clear your throat rather loudly and leaning against the table right in his field of view.

His head flicked up in an instant, his gaze meeting with yours and he was utterly surprised not only by your beauty but because of the way you seemed to carry yourself, you looked and moved as if you had complete and utter authority almost like you were royalty. He could have been fooled that maybe he was in the presence of a princess. He rather hastily stood up from his seat bowing and gently taking your hand, his lips kissing the back.

"You must be Miss Y/LN, what an honor to finally make your acquaintance." His hand seemed to linger just a bit longer, holding your petite hand in the palm of his, while his eyes never left yours.

"Likewise Mister Holmes, it's a pleasure to meet you. I've heard quite a lot about you actually." Your lips curved into a smile at how proper and polite the man was, you were starting to think was this really the same man John was always on about? It couldn't have been, he was acting normally, civilized not on the brink of insanity like you had heard.

"As have I of you." He flashed you a small smile as well, pulling out your chair and motioning for you to take a seat across from him.

"Thank you..." Your voice whispered under your breath, thanking him while you watched him adjust his coat, sitting down once again.

"For the life of me I'm not sure why it's taken John so long to introduce us properly." He commented rather quickly as his eyes seemed to burn holes into the back of your head. You could already imagine he was observing your every move and detail, trying to figure you out even though he just met you minutes ago.

"I can't imagine why, John must have his reasons I suppose." You voice trailed off, silence filling the space between you two.

"You look lovely tonight." He said quickly filling the silence with words, trying not to make things awkward between you both.

His eyes were squinting at your choker necklace, trying to make out what gem was hanging from the middle. You were caught off guard by his straight forward compliment. According to John it was very rare for Sherlock to compliment anyone, especially a lady like yourself. He wasn't the type to hang around many fair ladies and John might have briefly mentioned Sherlock had an old flame in the past but it was never very serious.

"Thank you. You look..." You voice paused for a moment trying to find the right words.

"...rather dashing, yourself." Your smile was soft and sweet, a small blush running across your cheeks at the compliment you had given him.

Just before Sherlock could open his mouth to say another word the host quickly approached the table and slipped a letter towards him, by the look of the dots and dashes that you could see through the thin sheet of paper, it was a telegraph. Your brow raised, studying his facial expression while it contorted into confusion and quickly into concern. You had a feeling maybe something had gone wrong with John and Mary.

"I assume by the look on your face the news isn't well?" You questioned while Sherlock slowly lowered the letter from his view and nervously smiled back at you.

"And then there were two..." He mumbled under his breath, you could barely understand his words but he shook off the thought and cleared his throat.

"Need not to worry my dear. It looks as if John and Mary, unfortunately, won't be able to make it to dinner. There was some sort of family emergency with Mary's mother, she has fallen quite ill." His facial expression was serious yet there was still some sort of excitement or rather interest in wanting to say seated at the table, he was in no rush to leave dinner so soon it seemed.

The one night that Sherlock had actually made an effort to not only dress formally but actually exiting the house alone was already his way of jumping through hoops for John's sake. Over his dead body that he was going to waste this opportunity to well, of course, have a meal but to also get to know you personally. He was having a hard time trying to figure you out at first, you were a puzzle he couldn't quite piece together but he knew with time and better combing of the details he would know just almost anything about you.

"Oh my, really?! What an unfortunate turn of events..." You let out a small gasp, your hands covering your lips for a brief moment.

"I will have to send my regards to Mary and her mother in the morning." You were now worried about the fact that you were alone with Sherlock, a man you had just met and knew very little about. The only information you had of him was merely through conversations between you and John and fare fetched assumptions.

You thought that maybe if John and Mary had attended you wouldn't be too alone and being able to strike up a conversation would come easier but now you were rather silent, your lips pursed shut. You had to sit through a whole dinner service with him and from what John had told you about Sherlock he was quite the intuitive individual, he could figure you out in minutes, know everything about you just by the minor details. Maybe if you turned the tables and you were the one digging deeper into Sherlock, you could learn more about him, deflecting any questions he might have had about you. Although you were a bit guilty of wanting to know what was fact and what was fiction about the charming man in front of you.

"Well now...it would be an awful shame to waste such a lovely dinner like this. Would you care to join me despite the circumstances?" His fingers now fiddling with the silverware on the table.

"I must agree with you there Mister Holmes. I am quite famished and I'm sure you don't want to send a lady home on an empty stomach, do you?" You questioned right back at him, a small chuckle coming from him.

"Absolutely not, that would be very brutish of me." Before you could give him another compliment on his remarkable skills of being polite, he waved the waiter over, quickly whispering into his ear the order for food and wine.

Once his gaze was back and focused on just you, he continued to ramble. For some reason you had quickly grown fond of how intelligent his tone of voice seemed to sound, words elegantly gliding off his tongue.

"Y/BS. I assume that you were born in Y/BM? The gem is exquisite." His eyes trailed to your neck, observing the beautiful stone that hung from the necklace.

"Correct, you certainly know your gemstones Mister Holmes-" You words interrupted by his.

"Sherlock. Please call me Sherlock." He corrected you.

"Well then Sherlock, you may call me Y/N," You smiled once more, tucking a piece of loose hair behind your ear as he nodded in agreement.

"So, Sherlock I've been wondering, is it true you can guess what someone does just by looking at them?" You were quite curious to know what exactly his skillset really was.

"In fact, the little details are by far the most important." His face was serious and the sparkle in his eye was now rather focused on you and only you.

"Then how about me, what little details have you been able to observe so far?" You asked eagerly to know exactly what he thought of you, it was exciting yet making butterflies go wild in your stomach.

"Oh Y/N I don't think we should be doing this over dinner-" Sherlock was stuttering at this point, he seemed nervous all of a sudden.

"I insist." You voice sharp like a knife, determined to see if he really could have you all figured out.

"If the lady insists." He darted right back at you, his body leaning closer into the table, elbows resting, his hands holding his head up whilst he stared at you.

You sat there quietly while Sherlock was observing you, his fingers stroking his chin in deep thought. You could have sworn for a moment you got lost in the deep seas of his brown eyes, the more you felt self conscious. You seemed to be questioning everything now. Was it the right choice wearing this necklace, should you have picked a different dress, had you powdered your nose enough?!

"You're a dressmaker. The callouses on your fingers suggesting you work closely with sewing and altering women's garments. Maybe you have even pricked yourself a few times by the tiny scar marks on the pads of your fingertips," The way he had guessed correctly with such ease was astonishing, you were speechless but Sherlock continued to ramble like he always did.

"Your dress alone tells me that you perhaps made it yourself, custom made, there was no way that you would show up to this special occasion wearing another markers dress. Your perfume, sweet smelling and hints of rose, maybe it's your favorite flower? Clearly you seem to be well off enough because your choker was crafted with finest black velvet and bought from the jewelry shop on Adams street. It's the only shop in town that serves only those willing to spend a good pound," He raised his eyebrows at you the more that your face seemed to flush at how could he have gotten everything right on the spot.

"If it weren't for those tiny details you could have had me fooled but I can tell by the way your face seems to be red as a tomato I must have hit the nail on the head so to speak. Regardless none the less you are quite an astonishing lady Y/N." He finally finished off with a smirk on his face knowing that he had hit the bullseye on everything about you.

"Right on all counts Sherlock. I'm thoroughly impressed, you're clearly sharper than what I had expected." You admit, dumbfounded at how easily he had figured you out.

"And what exactly were you expecting Y/N?" He leaned in closer eager to hear what you had to say. He also seemed to be growing fond of the way you spoke, your regal like tone, it's as if you owned the whole room.

"I was expecting a rather manic detective, an unorganized individual, and someone who has no regard for the feelings of others but you seem to be quite the opposite from the description John told me." You saw the way Sherlock's eyes quickly looked side to side, his fingers drumming against the empty plate in front of him as you made your statement.

You were a woman after all and nothing escaped a woman's eyes, let alone her intuition. Clearly you had assumed that at least one things you said was correct about Sherlock but you decided not to pester on, you did want to have a pleasant dinner.

"I hope to continue to impress as the evening carries on. The last thing I want is to leave with you a fowl impression." He says nonchalantly, leaning back in his chair.

"So far I think you're doing a rather fine job in being able to impress me." You hesitantly reached your hand over the table and laid your hand on top of his, the contact of your skin against his was warm, comforting, and you hoped that maybe just maybe he wouldn't pull away.

To your surprise he held your hand from across the table as the two of you began to chat up a storm the whole night. As food and wine began to be consumed the more comfortable you both had gotten with being in each other's presence. The two of you ended up staying at The Royale until the wee hours of the night until the restaurant basically had to kick the two of you out.

Your arm was looped together with Sherlocks while you both stumbled out of the restaurant in a fit of laughter, your body leaning into his side.

"Oh my Sherlock! We really have lost track of time, there isn't a carriage in sight at all." You looked around the empty streets of London, it must have been midnight maybe even later as you glanced up at the moonlight, it was a full moon.

"Oh look at that, we really did. If there are no carriages then we must use our feet, let us walk on my dear." He started to guide the both of you in the direction of his flat on Baker street, you shuffled close to him as the cold nights breeze was making you shiver, how silly of you not to even bring a coat of some kind.

While the two of you walked in unison Sherlock took notice of how your fingers curled up into his arm, you body snuggling into his side for warmth. He stopped in his tracks causing you to turn to him in confusion. He unbuttoned his coat and gently draped it over your shoulders, wrapping you in his coat to keep you warm.

"Thank you, you really are such a gentleman." You commented while your fingers gripped the coat to keep it tightly around you, his arm going back in place looping with yours.

"I can't let you freeze to death or else I'm sure John would be quite upset at me." He said with a light chuckle.

"You have a very unique bond with him like brothers almost, am I correct?"

"Almost but rather so I tolerate him and he puts up with my unusual antics from time to time." His hand goes up to hold yours, stroking the back of your hand softly.

"You know, not everything he says about you is negative. There are a lot of positive things I've heard as well. You're forever more a mystery Sherlock. Even after spending hours with you at dinner I still can't quite put my finger on you." You shyly admitted that truly in fact you were trying to figure him out all night and even between sips of wine and hilarious stories he told, you still had little to no information about who really was Sherlock Holmes.

"A mystery you say?" He questioned, you could hear the utter curiosity and interest peaking in his voice alone.

"Yes..." You halted your steps turning towards Sherlock to face him, you gripped his hand a bit tighter and using your other hand you cupped the side of his face that was being bathed in the blue hue of the moonlight.

"You're a mystery that I intend to keep solving." You declared, maybe it was the wine talking or maybe it was the butterflies that had been flying around in your stomach for the past few hours ever since you laid eyes on the man but you knew you felt some sort of attraction to him at this point.

"Oh really? I thought I was the detective in this scenario." He couldn't keep in his chuckle while looking deep into your eyes, his hand had also made its way to your cheek, his thumb stroking your smooth skin, you could feel him gravitating towards you and you towards him.

"And what exactly do you suppose this 'scenario' between us really is?" You answered his question with another one, leaving him a bit dumbfounded at how you could so easily disarm him that way, leaving him with no words.

"I do hope it's rather a good one to keep on continuing together, don't you think?"

"I would love that." Your voice almost a whisper as your lips were just inches away from his before you took the leap of faith and pressed closer, his lips meeting with yours.

His hands were clutching at your cheeks making sure your lips didn't run away from his in the moment. You were holding on tightly to his shirt pulling him in closer as the two of you were kissing under the moonlight, your bodies being lit in the bluish white colors of the night sky. The breeze was flowing through your up-do and Sherlock had slowly pulled away, both of your breathes heavy before looking into each other's eyes and smiling.

From that moment on the rest seemed to be history, your life had done a complete turn around from what you had even imagined after meeting him. Your life that seemed to be of a boring dressmaker was now turned into one full of adventure and action while you pushed forward to follow Sherlock and become his lover but also his sidekick. You were thankful for that special night you were able to have with him and dare you say you were actually thankful John and Mary couldn't attend dinner. Who knows maybe you would have never met Sherlock Holmes but you were glad that fate had other plans for you in the cards.

Complete Masterlist

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[friendofhayley]

I’m back after my hiatus from fanfiction, to give y’all the best multifandom recs of the fics I read this month. Shoutout to all content creators who helped us live to see the close of this year. This fic includes 15 fics for Sterek, Larry, Winteriron, and Geraskier. The starred ones put me through heaven and hell *chef’s kiss*.

Sterek (Teen Wolf)

1. Six Letter Word for Romance by @troubleiwant | domestic kink - omg there’s only one bed - soft Derek - oblivious idiots in love - 6k

Stiles definitely starts off thinking it’s fucking hilarious that Derek-sourwolf-Hale does crosswords and cares about scuffs on his furniture.

But at a certain point, and he can’t pinpoint exactly when, “fully functional adult couple” somehow becomes a massive fetish of his. Derek in sweats and bare feet, nudging his glasses up his nose while he does the Sunday crossword? Unff. Derek filling out forms to get some renovations on his property approved? Oh God, yes. Derek putting away groceries and bitching that the corner store was out of the right type of Greek yogurt? Take me now, Stiles thinks, worrying at his lower lip with his teeth.

This can’t be normal.

2. *Dirty Little Secret* by @isthatbloodonhisshirt | Cora & Stiles bffs - no one can resist the Stilinski charm - celebrity Derek - human au - 91k

“Holy shit, this is a date!” he blurted out, turning back to Derek wide-eyed. “This is a date! You intended for this to be a date, this was supposed to be a date!” He figured if he said it enough times, maybe he would believe it, but so far, no dice.

Derek was scowling again—seriously, did he want wrinkles?—but he just reached into one of the bags and pulled out a burger, checking what was written on the foil in sharpie before handing it over to Stiles.

“Of course it’s a date, what did you think this was?”

3. Can You Feel A Whole New Part of Your World? by @isthatbloodonhisshirt | i genuinely don’t look at authors names i just click i am sorry for spamming you but you write too good - neighbors Sterek - emotionally mature Stiles - the ideal fluffy world you’d want to live in - 53k

Can you hear me singing in the shower?” Stiles blurted out, because he had to know, now. If one of his neighbours had slid that note under his door, then it meant Parrish as another neighbour could hear him, too! He had to know if this was all a huge joke and one person had walked by and overheard him and decided to fuck with him.

Parrish gave him a weird look at the question, but answered anyway, making Stiles’ plans to leave the country speed up in his mind.

“Of course I can. You’re actually not bad. Though you have been singing a lot of Frozen lately, getting kind of tired of the soundtrack.”

4. Theory of Overprotective Canines by @petals42 | derek can turn into wolf - oblivious Stiles - future fic - mutual pining - 11k

Stiles is totally looking forward to living alone in his super cool apartment off-campus. He is. He is also very excited to bike to school every day, ready to set up an awesome game room, and definitely over his crush on Derek Hale. Completely over it.

Or at least he is until Derek decides he's moving in with him. And then turns out to be the perfect roommate. And then starts attending all his classes. As a wolf.

This is not going according to plan.

Larry (One Direction)

5. **The Changer and the Changed** by @homosociallyyours | literally the best fic of all time i want to live in there - girl direction - NYC ‘70s au - trans Zayn - the girls are so lovely - 59k

It’s the spring of 1977 and Harry Styles has just moved to New York City after graduating college. She knows she’s a lesbian. She just needs to figure out how to meet other lesbians.

Louis Tomlinson works at a popular women’s bookstore in the Lower East Side, Womon’s Direction, where she spends her days reading feminist literature, writing poetry, exchanging friendly barbs with her boss Niall, and dreaming of finding someone to love.

When Harry and Louis meet, their connection is instantaneous. Slowly but surely, Louis welcomes Harry into her community of women. Stonewall veteran and old school butch Niall; Liam, a land dyke who’s moved to the city for love; and Zayn, a lesbian musician who’s been ostracized by a vocal part of women’s community for being trans, welcome Harry with open arms, ready to help her find her place in New York City’s bustling lesbian scene.

6. others i’ve seen might never be mean (but they would never do) by @cherrylouvol6 | aaaaaaaa it’s lesbian When Harry Met Sally !!! - rom com - girl direction - coming out and first times - really great sex - 20k

Louis sighs.

“Do you remember what I said to you the first time we met?”

“That I’m naive and neurotic and would be hard pressed to ever find someone who could put up with me?” Harry snaps.

7. some things fade (some never do) by @so-why-let-your-voice-be-tamed | aaaaaa this story took me apart and back together again just like Louis and Harry - urban fantasy au - second chances - exes to friends to lovers - hurt/comfort - 25k

Matching tattoos. He’d never thought he’d be the type for tattoos to begin with, let alone matching or magical ones, but once Harry had put the idea in his mind it had never quite managed to disappear. And it had made sense. With their relationship a long distance one, this was simply another way of feeling close to one another. Of knowing where the other was, how they felt. It had made so much sense.

Back then.

8. we can take the long way home by @eleadore | i usually don’t rec my porn but there’s so much feels in this one - canon-divergent - kink discovery - friends to lovers - this was written in 2015 as a future fic but it felt like it was taking place now so good job - 27k

“Fertile,” Louis says, and then laughs because it sounds stupid to say out loud. He hasn’t ever really thought of himself in those terms. Baby-making terms. It’s just one of those things his body can do, like exercise, or go without tea. Doesn’t mean he will.

Winteriron (MCU)

9. **Dig No Graves** by @missaphelion | Tony finds out about his parents right after winter soldier au - Tony Stark has a heart - Bucky heals with bots and lots of sugar - slow burn - 142k

"I'm here to kill you, Terminator," Tony said slowly, "does that compute?"

The soldier looked up at him with wide blue eyes and no expression. "Okay."

Tony froze. "Okay," he echoed. "I tell you I came here to kill you and your response is 'okay'?"

10. A Rifling Matter by Penndragon27 | Winter Soldier has such a big crush on Tony’s weapons, he escapes Hydra au - identity porn - pining Bucky - fluff and angst - Winter Soldier is a fanboy and it’s cute - 37k

All the Asset knows is fighting, killing.

He also knows a good weapon when he sees one and Stark Industries... they make some great weapons.

11. *Winter is Coming (aka Fifty First Avengers Dates)* by @tisfan & @everyworldneedslove | enemies to friends to lovers to 50 first dates - pining Bucky - Tony gets amnesia - no Steve bashing but he’s a little bit of an ass - mental health issues - 109k

Bucky Barnes is still mostly The Asset, and he's pretty sure Hydra is going to come back for him soon, so in the meantime he's just going to keep an eye on the Avengers for them. But then Clint spotted him hiding in the shadows, so Tony came out and dragged Bucky back to the Tower, threw him in the shower, and fed him cheeseburgers.

Now The Asset is having anomalous feelings. In his pants.

Geraskier (The Witcher)

12. *no reason to run* by @yoursummerfrost | different meeting au - only one bed but camping - cursed Jaskier - soft Geralt!!!! - poly negotiations - 61k

"You'll change your mind one day," says the innkeep. "The road can't love you back."

What a strange way to flatten something so beautiful, Jaskier thinks. What a small way to love.

13. *He Fell into a Faerie Ring* by @geraltnoises | Jaskier gets bardnapped after the fight au - non-human Jaskier - soft Geralt - Jaskier encourages people to be kind and becomes a god - emotionally mature Geralt - 57k

Traders are a gossiping sort. If there was a scandal within the noble houses of Posada, you’d hear about it in Cretegor by the end of the week. So, the quick spread of a rumor about a little village in the Kestrel Mountain range was not at all surprising. What was surprising was the story that the traders wove. They said that Luibhtorrach, a sad, ghost of a farming town, had miraculously become a hub for trade, as if overnight. Their lands unbelievably fertile and brimming with crop. Even stranger, each and every one of Luibhtorrach’s people professed that their good fortune was the work of a mysterious beast they’d claimed as their personal deity. Most recent news foretold of their plans to throw a midsummer festival celebrating this newfound god. In preparation, silken blue banners were erected in every corner of the town, each bearing the symbol of their new patron: A delicate dandelion wrapping around a golden sun.

14. Barking Up the Wrong Tree by KHansen | 5+1 things - I’m worried about Geralt’s skills - non-human Jaskier - monsterfucker Geralt - crack treated seriously - 11k

Geralt is 100% certain that Jaskier is a vampire.

He's 100% proven wrong.

15. Bardic Idyll by Lisztful | fake relationship - Geralt is soft and oblivious - pining - fluff and angst - Jaskier you can’t show your emotions mainly through song! - 13k

Jaskier is certain he can win the Continent's annual bardic competition, but he needs to be accompanied by a dashing romantic companion in order to enter. Enter Geralt, who is definitely, for sure, only interested in the free food, and not at all in staring lovingly into Jaskier's eyes.

[ultadachi]

pentagon mafia au headcanon: how you met them

a/n: hi so this was requested buuuut the new tumblr fucked the formatting really bad when i tried to post it with the ask so i’m just gonna do it in a regular post lmao. but shoutout to the anon who requested this!!!!

Warnings: mafia stuff, and mentions of violence and murder

(these are based off of these mafia!ptg headcanons btw!!!)

-

Hui (The boss/leader)

You met him when your father wanted to make a deal with Hui’s group. In exchange for a treaty and some protection for his group, he’d give Hui your hand in marriage. You obviously weren’t happy about it but there wasn’t really anything you could do. But during your time before the wedding when you’d go off on dates with Hui to get to know him better, you found that he seemed to actually put in effort to get to know you, and he did seem to care -- even though he knew you clearly didn’t want to marry him. So to get you out of the deal, he ‘got rid’ of your father, knowing his mafia was too small and weak to do anything to himself or his own. In the end, you broke off the engagement, but you stayed with Hui because you had truly fallen for him. But this time, you’d go at a slower pace.

-

Jinho (The strategist)

You’d known Jinho for a while since you were apart of Hui’s mob. You were lower ranked than the main 9, but you tended to get called to the field a lot, which meant you had to work with Jinho quite a bit. Thankfully for him, you were a lot more competent than a lot of the field workers -- including some of the higher ranked guys like Hyojong. But you did tend to go against his orders just because of what you claimed was a “gut feeling” which really pushed his buttons. But your plans always worked out, which seemed to only annoy him further. But for some reason, you getting on his nerves while still being able to get your job done was what really intrigued him. You’ve had a ‘thing’ for a bit, keeping it a secret from Hui.

-

Hongseok (The medic)

Originally, you were the enemy. You worked for someone they were trying to catch, so they needed you back alive -- so maybe sending out Hyojong and Wooseok to do the job wasn’t the right move. You were immediately brought to the medical ward where you woke up to see Hongseok. At first, you didn’t tell anybody anything, and they couldn’t send you off to Changgu because you were still too badly injured. But after spending enough time in Hongseok’s care, you started to warm up to him. Somehow you managed to make a deal that if you could work for them instead, you’d tell them whatever they wanted to know. Now you go out in the field for Hui, and Hongseok can’t help but get especially worried whenever you leave or are brought to him after a mission.

-

Hyojong (The close combat/weapons specialist)

You’ve been his target for a while now, but the two of you seem to play this weird game of cat and mouse where he gets so close to catching you before you slip right through his fingers. Neither of you can tell if you’re letting him catch you for just a moment or if he’s letting you get away just to keep the chase going. But it’s definitely an unconventional way to flirt. But both of you know that at some point, he’ll have to either capture you or face serious consequences. But for now, you enjoy your childish little game.

-

Shinwon (The spy)

You had met him a year ago when he was undercover, and truthfully, he’s been partly undercover since he met you. He’s too afraid of telling you what he really does, so he’s been lying to you ever since you started dating. You simply think he just works awful work hours since he comes home late and leaves early. He knows he can’t lie to you forever, but he wants you to live in blissful ignorance for as long as possible.

-

Changgu (The torturer)

There really isn’t any cool story of how the two of you met. You worked as a bartender and he talked to you all night once when he came in with his rowdy friends. He asked you on a date and left you his number, and the rest is history. When you both wanted to get more serious, he was very upfront about being in the mafia, but he didn’t specify what he did -- which was good because his might’ve been one of the most fucked up jobs, but you wouldn’t be able to believe the soft and kind boy would be capable of capturing and torturing people -- and he promised to give you a better life than what you had. True to his word, you’ve been happy with Changgu for a while now.

-

Yanan (The sniper)

You quickly climbed the ranks in Hui’s group, and you’ve been avidly trying to take Yanan’s spot for months now. He’s the best sniper out there, and you’re about equal with him -- though Hui would never give up Yanan because it’s not just the fact he’s the best, but the fact he knows he can trust and rely on Yanan. But you’re out to not only outdo Yanan, but be the biggest pain in the ass you possibly can be. He might’ve even tried to take you out himself once, but if he’s the best sniper, you’re the best dodger.

-

Yuto (The hacker)

As a hacker, Yuto spends a lot of his time on his computer. And when he’s waiting around to do communications and recon from home while the rest of the group is out, he gets really bored. So he often plays video games, which is how he met you. You’ve had somewhat of a long distance relationship for about half a year, but you’ve been friends for over two. The only thing is that he has you convinced that he works as a video game programmer which is why he’s always so busy. But he figures since you’re so far away, his little white lie to protect you won’t be too bad.

-

Hyunggu (The versatile)

Kino’s always been a troubled kid in the sense that he got involved with the wrong people. That being said, he’s also always been sweet and kind, which was why you became friends in school and eventually high school sweethearts. You’ve been with him ever since, always well aware of the business he got himself into, but still staying by his side no matter what. Not really the most interesting story out of the bunch, but definitely one of the sweetest.

-

Wooseok (The hitman)

You were one of Changgu’s victims after your brother became one of Wooseok’s. Being the hitman, Wooseok doesn’t usually show much sympathy, but having heard you for days locked away with Changgu, he couldn’t help but start to feel sorry for you, and he genuinely believed that you didn’t have any more information on their target -- you weren’t even aware your brother was involved in the mafia. After that, Wooseok became like your personal bodyguard while they kept you at HQ because now you knew too much.

[illneverrecover]

growl | kth (m)

➛pairing: Kim Taehyung x reader  (per usual) ➛summary: Clearing his throat, he tries again, gaze intense. His eyes are about to fall out of his skull with the power of his attempt at a telepathic message to his friend. “Come on, Jimin. Ask me. You know what? I’ll help you. I pick dare.” A sly glint of amusement pulls at the edge of Jimin’s mouth, his tongue darting out to wet his lips. You look back and forth between the two of them, not sure what was happening but sure as hell knowing it was going to be nothing be trouble. “I dare you to sing a song that shows off your best growling for our girl here,”  ➛genre: non idol!AU, friends to lovers, slice of life, smut ➛word count: 4605 ➛rating: explicit/mature (y’all been knew) ➛warnings:  alcohol use, cursing, cliche use of ‘truth or dare’, Seokjin singing dope songs at karaoke, Jimin being chaotic, slight dirty talk, semi public sex, oral (male receiving), swallowing, Taehyung being a secret softie. ➛notes: Firstly, I would like to start off by saying that this fic idea came from @destiel1597 and the pure lethal sex that is 5th Muster Taehyung™, so this is truly their fault. The both of them. Secondly, y’all should’ve known that the minute I saw  5th Muster Taehyung™, I’d have to let the thirst out somehow. I don’t have self control. Lastly, shoutout to my bby @taetaesbaebaepsae for assisting me & @purpletigertaetae for spamming me with rude Tae inspo to fuel the thotting. You the best.  I promise my next fic will be about another member. If Tae would just RELAX I wouldn’t have to be like this!! ➛song: Toxic - Alex & Sierra (which is the version Tae sings in this. Listen to it and picture him singing it and tell me you wouldn’t do the same). Ma City - BTS 5th Muster version (which you should go watch immediately if you haven’t - this growling Tae was the muse for this entire sinful piece.) 

                             ᴄʀᴏss-ᴘᴏsᴛᴇᴅ ᴛᴏ AO3;; ʟɪɴᴋ ɪɴ ᴅᴇsᴄʀɪᴘᴛɪᴏɴ 

“How many times are you going to dare me to sing this song?”

Seokjin’s face had a thin sheen of sweat, the bright disco lights of the cozy karaoke booth bouncing off his skin, showing the exasperation evident on his face.

“Until it stops being funny. So…” you look around at the others, pausing to sip at your drink. “Never. Get to it, lover boy.” 

He sighs heavily but did as he was told, picking up the microphone and waiting for the flatscreen to start scrolling with the lyrics. The first few bars of the song blared through the speakers, and the guys gave supporting hoots to encourage him. 

Despite his earlier protest, he quickly gets into it, eyebrows furrowed as he dramatically swings the mic, belting out the first few notes. “I gotta take a little time, a little time to think things over...I better read between the lines, in case I need it when I'm older…” 

Next to you, Taehyung laughs deeply, throwing his head back as the elder continues, eyes glistening with unshed tears. No one else in the room was faring much better, every single person in some stage of cracking up at his theatrics. Forcing Seokjin to sing Foreigner songs is always hilarious, and one of your favorite parts of your friends bi-monthly karaoke meetups.

No one really knows when or how the tradition started (though rumor has it, it was at your drunken demand to ‘show off the golden pipes’), but these nights in the same small private room of your local karaoke bar had quickly become the favorite in your friend group. Twice a month, regardless of what was going on, everyone agreed to meet up for dinner, drinks, and the most ridiculous yet always entertaining game of truth or dare - karaoke style.

It was typical of your friends to never do anything the normal way, and this was no different. Instead of selecting songs of personal preference to sing for the room, they were always chosen as either a dare, or a failure to participate in a truth. It was asker's choice, and the victim wasn’t allowed to veto, less they wanted to foot the entire bill for the evening. And between seven men in their mid twenties and the pickled livers of you and your friend, Nari - that was a hefty price to pay. 

Seokjin reaches the chorus, the build up so intense that it’s no surprise when he drops to his knees, his tenor still in pitch and  beautiful despite the theatrics. “I want to know what love is! I want you to show me! I want to feel what love is, I know you can show me!” 

He’s clutching at his chest while staring into Yoongi’s eyes, the younger man expressionless as if this performance was something he saw on the regular. Which, to be fair - it was.

Slinging back the dregs, you lean to grab the bottle of vodka on the table before a large hand beats you to it, Taehyung smiling down at you as he scoots closer. “The usual, milady?” 

You slap his arm, eyes rolling. “Gross, no one says ‘milady’, Tae.” 

He giggles, filling it halfway with the liquor before topping it off with some seltzer - just the way you like it. You were only two drinks in, but the honeyed sound of his laugh always flustered you, a light burn flushing your cheeks. His long, dark hair was wavy and messy in that perfect way that made you want to sink your fingers into it, and between that and the peek of golden chest through the undone buttons of his dark dress shirt, you found yourself feeling thirsty. Well, thirstier than you normally were for Kim Taehyung.

It had become a running gag with the other guys - your little school girl crush on Taehyung, something that they used to tease you at any given opportunity. It seemed to personally offend them that you wouldn’t say anything to the brunette, and no matter how many times you explained you didn’t want to fuck with the group dynamics, they couldn’t seem to stop sticking their noses directly into your business. You’d be annoyed by their immature comments if it wasn’t for the fact that the handsome man seemed completely oblivious to them - and your feelings. 

Thank fuck for that. 

Handing you the freshened beverage, Taehyung moves to pour more into his glass before settling, large thigh pressing into your own. He has always been an affectionate guy, so when he threw an arm over your shoulder just as Seokjin hit the last notes of the song, you didn’t blink an eye. 

However, Jimin did.

He had been watching all night, seeing the way his best friend was buttering you up, going out of his way to try and make you laugh, to make you smile. The way you would scoff and roll your eyes to hide your heated cheeks or the way your thighs were pressing together any time he touched you. Taehyung’s feelings for you were practically neon red signs to Jimin, and yet you seemed obnoxiously unaware - something that was starting to make Jimin crazy. 

Getting involved probably wasn’t wise - neither party had asked for his help. But since when did he ever claim to be wise? Jimin prided himself on being a meddler - he couldn’t just not meddle. Especially when such an opportunity presents itself.

Bowing to the loud cheers, Seokjin moves to sit back down on another sofa, chugging the remnants of his glass. “Alright Joon, it’s your turn - Truth or Dare? And try not to be lame this time, please.”

Namjoon scoffs, faux offense on his face as he glares at his elder. “Hey! Picking truth isn’t lame! I’m telling you my deepest darkest secrets here!” 

“Pretty sure admitting that you want to touch Nari’s tits isn’t a secret, but nice try,” Yoongi deadpans, causing the room to break out in laughter.  You tried to focus on the game, on what ridiculous question Seokjin had prepared for Namjoon, but instead all you could feel was the warmth of Tae’s arm draped around you, all you could think about was how he smelled like a mixture teakwood and lavender, and how much you wanted him to ruin you.

“Y/n!”

Snapping your eyes towards the shout, you come face to face with a deviously smirking Jimin, leaning forward on his knees. He was twirling the straw in his glass like a super villain, and everything about the look he was giving you had your nerves on edge.

“Yes, Jimin? Is there something you need?”

“It’s your turn - truth or dare,” he coos, eyes dancing with mischief. God, he’s such a fucking Slytherin. You were in for it now - you could feel it in your bones.

“Last time I picked ‘dare’ you made me sing half of Evanescence’s discography-”

“Hey, to be fair, you knew it all  by heart and fucking nailed it,” Jungkook interjected, giving you a proud grin.

“Well - yeah, okay I did, thank you very much - but as I was saying, I’ve learned my lesson. I pick truth,” you reply smugly, glaring at the dark haired man. Jimin may look sweet, but luckily you know better than to ignore his cunning.

Which is why you shouldn’t have been surprised when he started cackling.

Eyes creasing into half moons, he threw his head back, running a hand through his hair as he faces you once more, eyebrows waggling. “What’s one thing about Taehyung that you find attractive?”

You choke, grappling for your drink to soothe the burning in your throat, though you were sure it was only making it worse. Face on fire, you looked at him with wide eyes as you cough in a feeble attempt to remember how to speak. 

A warm palm starts patting your back, the man in question leaning down to look into your eyes. “Are you okay?”

“Yes, Tae, I’m fine,” you glare at Jimin, his victorious smirk enraging you further. The last thing you want to do is answer this truthfully; anything obvious is going to weird Taehyung out, but you know if you try and give a lame answer, Jimin will have no issues calling your ass out for it.

“Well, I like his singing voice…” you murmur, eyes focused on the ice melting in your glass, which you immediately bring to your lips once more.

Jimin rolls his eyes, scoffing. “His singing voice? What does that even mean?” he kicks at your leg, pushing you further. “Like… the tone? Or just how it sounds?” he sputters incredulously, choking back a laugh.

“Fuck you! Yes, how it sounds. And also when he does that deep growling thing?” you shiver, shaking your head. “I don’t know, it just gets me. It’s really hot.” 

Whoops, seems the vodka had done some of the talking for you, but it was too late to take it back. You feel your skin heat, but you hold your head high, raising a brow at Jimin in defiance.

The room falls silent for a beat, all eyes on you until Jungkook wolf whistles, everyone breaking out in hoots and yells. You turn to the man next to you, expecting him to blush coyly or even brush you off with a gentle smile - he was nothing if not kind - but instead you find a shit eating grin peering down at you. Cocking your head, you look at him questioningly, but he just winks before slugging back the rest of his drink, his gaze drifting to Jimin’s over your head.

It was all he needed to hear.

Your words were the perfect fuel to the fire of alcohol in his veins to make Taehyung feel bold, yet he was still sober enough to know that this could finally be his chance to show you how he feels.

“Jimin, ask me a question.” Taehyung declares, leaning back into the sofa, dark eyes dancing with mischief. 

“Technically, it’s Y/N’s turn to ask-” Namjoon mumbles, but is quickly shut down by the shouts of displeasure from the group, Hoseok and Jungkook both nudging him while the latter murmurs something about being a ‘cock block’. 

Clearing his throat, he tries again, gaze intense. His eyes are about to fall out of his skull with the power of his attempt at a telepathic message to his friend. “Come on, Jimin. Ask me. You know what? I’ll help you. I pick dare.”

A sly glint of amusement pulls at the edge of Jimin’s mouth, his tongue darting out to wet his lips. You look back and forth between the two of them, not sure what was happening but sure as hell knowing it was going to be nothing be trouble. 

“I dare you to sing a song that shows off your best growling for our girl here,” 

The room erupts in cheers and howls once more, your eyes widening as you reach for your glass. Shit, you’re going to need more vodka to survive this, and you know it. 

Taehyung moves languidly to the front of the room, the side of your body he had been pressed to all evening now left cold. He scrolls through the screen with a sharp focus, honeyed gaze looking over at you every once in awhile to make sure you were still paying attention. And the smile he would give when you were- it practically had your heart in your throat. You looked over at Nari, trying to get her to join you on your couch of pain, but she just blew you a kiss before settling back into her spot next to Yoongi, throwing you a shrug.

That bitch.

All too soon he gives a cheer of victory, looking out over the group as he selects the song, moving to the microphone stand. He poses in front of the room, everyone in attendance on the edges of their seats with anticipation for the music to start.

And then the first notes ring out, and a switch flips.

Gone was the sweet and goofy man you’ve all come to know, and in his place is a demon in black, looking like pure sin. His eyes darken as they land on you,  his lips curving in a confident smirk as he grabs the mic to pull closer to his mouth. Sensual plucks of guitar fills the room in a familiar tune, though a version you hadn’t heard before - the upbeat pop turned into a song of seduction.

“Baby can’t you see, I’m calling. A girl like you should wear a warning. It’s dangerous, I’m fallin’...”

Taehyung is all lust powered flirtation, hips seductively sliding back and forth as he continues to croon the lyrics, casting his molten chocolate eyes to your own. He was dancing closer, his steps slow and purposeful, and you felt the rest of the room fade away as you focused on him - and only him.

The chorus hits, and he smoothly switches from his velvet baritone to growling along with the lyrics, body rolling before sliding on his knees directly in front of you, so close you could see the sweat trail down his neck to bury into the open V of his shirt.

“Taste of your lips I’m on a ride. You’re toxic, I’m slipping under. With a taste of a poison paradise I’m addicted to you - don’t you know that you’re toxic?” he purrs, leaning into you,  a singular finger coming to trace up the exposed skin of your calf.

Everything was suddenly too hot, the room too stifled - you couldn’t get any air to cooperate and flow into your lungs, all your blood pooling in your cheeks. Your heart is racing, sweat dotting your hairline as you stare at the dark haired male in front of you, unable to pull away.

“I think Y/N is about to orgasm in the middle of this bar.”

“Min Yoongi, I swear to FUCK, I will murder you,” you force between clenched teeth, turning to glare at the blonde in question. You can see the retort build on his lips before a palm cups your cheek, pulling your attention back forward.

Taehyung was a breath away from you now, pupils blown wide and voice dangerously low as he continued singing, each word dripping with desire. His hand curves around your jaw, a finger slipping down the long column of your neck until it graced the thin skin of your collarbone.

“Too high, can't come down. It's in the air, it's all around...Can you feel me now?”

Fuck, he was going to ruin you.

Mouth falling open, you squeeze your thighs together uncontrollably, your hands death gripping at the sofa beside you in an effort to keep yourself from moaning. It was embarrassing; how easily his performance was turning you on, how a few throaty murmurs of a song from this man had you falling apart. 

Taehyung was nothing but sinful temptation, and he knew it. 

A small part of you heard the cat calls and lewd shouts from your friends, but you couldn’t concentrate on them. Not when the tall sex god was leaning nearer, using your knees as leverage to pull himself up so he could push your thighs completely together, walking himself forward until he could perch into your lap. Oh my fucking God, he’s sitting in your lap.

The music swells into the ending crescendo, and he continues to rasp the lyrics in low, dulcet tones, eyes never leaving your own. “Intoxicate me now, with your lovin' now. I think I'm ready now, I think I'm ready now,”

You gasped, the intention of the words and the vehement look in his eyes making it seem like it was more than just a song - it was a statement, a confession. Breath seized in your rib cage, your bottom lip trapped between your teeth to stop you from asking more.

Shit, you were ready to risk it all for Kim Taehyung.

Before you could say anything further, he growls out the final lines of the song, the sultriness of his voice causing electricity to race down your spine as he holds out the final note. The music finishes, and his chest is heaving with the effort of his seduction, eyes sparkling with pride.

The entire booth erupts into boisterous claps and cheers, several of the guys standing in ovation causing Taehyung to chuckle nervously, the switch seemingly flipped once more.

He slides off your lap, panting as he moves to pour himself some water, leaving you to gape at him fully. His dark curled locks are dampened with sweat, and despite the easy grin on his face you could clearly still see the fire burning deep in his gaze.

“What the hell, Tae! Where did that come from?” you shout, though a smile was already on your face. “You gotta warn a bitch first, damn. I think I’m sweating,” 

Hoseok moves to stand beside him, slapping a hand onto the younger’s shoulder. “Yeah man, I mean she’s probably dripping everywhere by now.” 

You shriek in indignation, punctuating the sentiment with a lime wedge beamed directly at Hoseok’s over-sized skull.

“Hey, don’t attack me! What, do you need us to get you a pad?”

“Sincerely fuck you, Hobi.”

While the others continue to congratulate Taehyung for his one man show, you suck down the rest of your drink, moving to stand. Your knees wobble, and you’re unsure what affected you more - all the booze you drank, or him. Damn, you need a moment.  Slinking toward the exit, you search for the bathroom,  relief washing over you as you spot it down the hallway. 

You’re about to grab for the handle when lithe fingers wrap around your wrist, pulling you to turn around before your back is pressed to the cool wall of the club. You hiss at the contact, eyes blazing as they take in the culprit - Taehyung. 

“Tae?”

He smooths his hands up your arms until each palm is flat against the wall on either side of your head, effectively trapping you in place. His pupils are brimming with depth-less lust though the smile on his face is sweet, the clash making your head swim. 

“I’m sorry if I embarrassed you back there,” he murmurs, eyes searching your own. “But it was the perfect chance, and I had to act on it. I couldn’t just sit back and wait any longer, Y/N.” 

“Wait any longer for what? I’m not sure if I’m following-”

“Wait any longer to tell you how I feel about you. Wait any longer to do this.”

You weren’t expecting for his mouth to press against yours, but your lips moved automatically, parting and sighing to accommodate him. His body soon followed, relaxing against your form as his hands moved to cup your jaw. You groaned at the feeling of him, your fingers wrapping around the base of his neck to tangle into his hair. 

Feeling him like this only makes you want more, tongue moving to lick at the seams of his pout before he was sliding his own in kind. He groaned when they met in the middle, the sound causing arousal to pool rapidly low in your gut. Dragging his teeth against your lower lip, he gave you a nibble before pulling away, forehead pressed to yours.

“Does this mean you like me too?” he questions breathlessly, small smile on his face. 

“I’ve always liked you, Tae,” you whisper, turning his head so you could suck at the tender spot under his jaw, his answering whine encouraging your ministrations. “I liked you when we were friends, and I think I like you a bit more after that display.” 

He chuckles lowly, digits sinking into your hair only to pull you back to meet his gaze. “When we were friends? What, are we not friends anymore?”

“Well, not just friends, I hope….” you purr, leaning forward to press your mouth against his swollen bottom lip. “Friends don’t know the way you taste, do they?” 

A groan of your name is his only response before he’s back on you, licking into your mouth with such fervor your knees start to shake. His tongue is relentless, seeking to savor you fully before moving to taste the skin of your neck, your collarbone, the top of your breast. Falling into the lure of Taehyung was all too easy - almost enough to have you forgetting that you were in some stale bar’s dim hallway. 

Grabbing his shoulders, you spin until you have effectively switched places, Taehyung’s tall form now pressed against the wall as you nibble at the exposed skin of his chest. “I think you deserve a performance of your own, don’t you think?” you sigh, eyes inspecting his own, awaiting his approval. 

“I think I’m one lucky bastard who would be a fool to say no to someone as amazing as you,”

The blatant affection in his voice makes you freeze, your throat tightening with every hopeful squeeze of your heart. You were trying to convince him to let you suck him off in the karaoke bar bathroom, and he had to go and say sweet shit like that? 

Shaking your head, you giggle at the sentiment. “You’re too good to me, Tae,” you hum, hands gripping his biceps to drag him towards you, legs propelling you back until you feel the door give way, the light to the restroom automatically clicking on. 

A victorious grin quirks at your lips when you see the private bathroom empty, and a quick flick of your wrist has the door locked just as Taehyung envelopes you into his chest. 

His kisses only intensify, lips undressing you until you were soft and wet and pliant, grasping for anything you could to ground you to him. You make quick work of several more of his buttons until you could nip and bite at his chest unrestricted, your hand fumbling with his belt. 

A low, throaty moan echoed as you grasp his length, freeing him from his trousers enough that you were able to feel him completely in your palm. His cock was just as beautiful as he was, long and thick and dripping with precum, and the thought of having it in your mouth had a rush of arousal flood between your thighs. 

You wince when your knees hit the cool tile, though the promise of tasting him numbed any senses but the ones attuned to him. You thumb at his leaking head softly, his groans edging you near until you could smell his excitement, breath ghosting hot on his cock. Mouth falling open, you slide forward until his hardness was resting on the bed of your tongue, your lips closing to give the tip gentle sucks.

“Fuck, love.  You don’t have to do this, you know, we can-”

Swirling your tongue, you push further, hollowing your cheeks to take him deep into your mouth until he was kissing the back of your throat, your nose nestled into the coarse hairs against his pelvis. His size already had your jaw aching, but the way he groaned your name made it worth the discomfort, and you glide back until only the head remained.

Letting him fall out with a lewd pop, you lick a wide strip up the side of his cock, peering up at him through your lashes. 

“Do you want me to stop?”

“God, please don’t.” 

The words were barely out of his mouth before you moved yours back over his length, taking him as deep as you can each time, relishing the way he stretched your throat. You couldn’t stop imagining how he’d feel inside you, how intense and satisfying the initial burn would be when he was fully sheathed in your aching cunt - how much sweeter your orgasm would feel because it was caused by his cock, caused by him.

His dulcet whines and soft moans were the only sounds besides the wet slide of your mouth, and hearing him sound so desperate for you had you mewling against him, your fingers itching to press against your throbbing clit. 

“You’re taking me so good, love. Feel so fucking amazing  wrapped around my cock,” he hissed, a hand lowering to tangle into the tresses at your crown, guiding you gently. “Such a good girl for me. I’m going to make you come so fucking hard when we get home,”  

His hips started thrusting to meet your movements, the slides becoming sloppy as he got close to his peak. “With my fingers, my  mouth, my cock. I’m going to have you coming so much you’re going to have to beg me to stop.” 

The naughtiness of his words had you moaning around him, the vibrations causing him to let out a cry of your name. You’re sure your panties are ruined at this point, the tops of your thighs sticky with arousal, and as much as you want to touch yourself, you wanted to fall apart under Taehyung even more. 

Pulling off to let air return to your lungs, you glide over him with your fist, urging him to let go. “Come for me, Tae. Let me taste you,” you rasp, before sinking your mouth down him once more. 

“God, you’re so fucking perfect. You gonna swallow me, love?” he breathes, both hands coming to wrap deep in your hair as he continues his pumping, lust filled gaze boring into your own. You nod as you blink up at him, your lips swollen with abuse.

“Fuck, that’s it.. So good, love, I-I’m coming-” 

You still as he tugs at your locks, holding you in place as he thrusts his length deep in your mouth, the warmth of his release coating your raw throat. Swallowing, you allow him several stutters of his hips before he pulls away, hands smoothing to cup your face. 

“Holy hell, Y/N, that was…. Are you okay?” Worry etches his brow as he reaches out for you, taking in your messy appearance - saliva mixed with come dripping from the corners of your lips, black mascara trails smudging the edges of your cheeks. You’re gasping for air, but you couldn’t help the satisfied smile as you took his hands, allowing him to raise you to your feet. 

“Seeing you fall apart was one of the hottest things I’ve ever witnessed, Tae. I’m more than okay, trust me.” 

He blushes at your words, and the irony that the complement made him more shy than when he was ramming his dick down your throat not lost on you.  

He tucks himself back into his pants before adjusting your clothes as well,  delicate thumbs rising to wipe away the remnants of your shared tryst off your face before giving you a chaste kiss. 

“So, does that mean… you’ll go out with me?” he questions hopefully, giddy anticipation in his eyes. You weren’t sure if you would ever get used to the rapid switch of power Taehyung wields between sweet and sin, not that you were complaining. 

“Yes, Tae. I’ll go out with you,” you grin, the brightness of his smile infectious. “Plus, I seem to recall someone promising to make me come so much that I’ll be begging them to stop…” you trail off, mischief evident in your teasing glance.

Throwing back his head with a honeyed laugh, he pushes open the door, arm gesturing out to the empty hall before him. “Ah, yes - I believe you are correct. After you, milady,”

Groaning, you slap his chest as you walk past. “Say that again and I’ll go home with Seokjin.”

[thorinkingoferebor]

okay, so here's the long ass rant that was promised. It's very much centered around Jaime and Brienne/Jaime because apart from Tyrion they're like the only reason I'm still invested (and this blog will stan book!Jaime to the bitter end) though don't expect any sort of Cersei bashing. Jaime/Cersei is complicated and boils down to more than "OMG SHE'S A TOXIC BITCH!!!" but more on that later. Obviously, there will be spoilers behind the cut and speculations regarding the rest of the show + a reference to a potential leak for ep 5 that's basically been going around since even before the show started so I don't know how big of a surprise that is to anyone.

Starting off with a couple of plot points:

The Funeral Scene Dany and Jorah were heartbreaking :( I loved those two together so much :( Jon's speech was fantastic but you know it would have been more moving if literally ANYONE apart from the people in the North + Cersei's gang had been aware of the danger heading their way. Like I bet you could talk to any peasant in King's Landing and they wouldn't even have a clue what White Walker means.

Gendry Baratheon of Storm's End & The Feast A++ scene, would watch again. Loved that Dany gave a shoutout to Arya and drunken Tyrion leaning on drunken Jaime warms my heart. Love my dysfunctional Lannisters. Also as much as I dislike certain aspects of the drinking game (see below) I appreciate Tyrion's match-making. He's a good bro. And seeing Brienne so relaxed with her friends is just... good stuff. Tormund is a cutie as always and Tyrion pouring him a drink after he realizes he has no chance with Brienne was the best. So was the Hound acting as Tormunds relationship counsellor. Poetic cinema. The token and conveniently available Northern women throwing themselves all over any male single character wasn't on the other hand. Loved that Sansa and Sandor finally got a scene together. Didn't love the 'glad I was raped so I could become the woman I am now' bullshit. Gendry is the fucking cutest! Smitten to the core. I am tentatively confident that he and Arya will work it out if they survive.

Tormund's & Sam's Goodbye Glad they got a goodbye with Jon, glad Tormund got Ghost cause Jon sure as hell doesn't deserve him. Like not even a pat. How the direwolves were treated pisses me off so much. At this point, I hope we'll never see them again just so they can be alive and happy wandering around with the best boi.

Missandei & Rhaegal No comment tbh. What's even the point anymore.

Onwards to relationships & characters:

The Starks & Dany I AM SO SICK OF THIS. SO SICK OF IT. Arya did not cut Littlefinger's scheming throat last season so that they can now scheme and bicker amongst themselves. Yes, Sansa has a right to worry about the North. Yes, Dany fucked up more than once since she came to Westeros. But those characters faced a tsunami of undead together and them still being too stubborn to even entertain working together without a hidden agenda to bring down Cersei is stupid and PLAIN BAD WRITING!     Now Tyrion is being dragged into this shitshow as well and I just... ugh Varys why

Dany Listen, I'm not the biggest Dany fan, far from it. But they're treating her like shit! She lost so much during that battle and there she is at the table watching others bond while she's alone. Like jfc Jon I'm not saying I approve of this whole thing but go hug her or something, she's given her all in the battle. Again I don't approve of most of the things she's done since coming to Westeros but can you imagine how isolating this experience must be. Apart from a select few survivors, everyone close to her for the past years is now back in the company of people they've known for far longer. They belong, they have bonds, friendships, loves, family and she's not part of it, has no place in this. She must feel so lonely right now. And instead of highlighting that (or btw dealing with the PTSD that everyone surely suffers from after that battle) they make her go all MAD QUEEN! Because that's how you write female characters isn't it. As soon as they show strong emotions due to trauma you can label them as crazy! jfc Then she loses another dragon, large parts of her fleet and Missandei. I honestly can only feel bad for her. And all that by the hand of fucking Euron the most annoying and flat villain out there. Honestly, at this point, I support "MadQueen!Dany". Just burn everything to the ground, preferably the entire show with the exception of Brienne being knighted.

Jaime & Tyrion Not much to say here except: I love them. I just want to watch them sit around in front of a fire and drink and tease each other for the rest of my life. I just love their sibling dynamic.

Jaime & Tyrion & Bronn I don't know really... usually I love those together but that scene was just... off? I don't know. So Bronn just rode North for a 3-minute talk and then he just... fucks off? (I mean I assume he doesn't, he will be around in some form but it just irks me. Inconsistent writing and people teleporting in and out of the plot.)

Euron & Cersei Yeah, I love watching Euron creep on Cersei. Totally cool. Not like this is what she wanted to escape since the very start. Yeah, it's cool.

Jaime & Brienne Oh boy.... ok, let's start with the stuff I liked

the two of them just enjoying each other's company during the feast and just smiling at each other so free of their usual burdens. seriously Brienne has smiled so many times over the past episodes (and she melts my heart every time she does. Gwen is stunning!). In case it wasn't obvious until now: I really hate so much about season 8 but the absolute avalanche of good Brienne/Jaime content in ep 2 and 3 will be cherished forever.

Jaime's character arc is putting up a good fight at the beginning coming to Brienne's defence when Tyrion asks about her virginity

Jaime was so freaking nervous when he showed up at Brienne's door and I'm so here for that. I'm also here for Brienne doing most of the undressing. Get it, Brienne, you deserve this. No seriously though it matters to me that she pushed his hand away and then started to undress herself. It was her choice. She wasn't passively just taking what he was offering. I appreciate that in a show that has a less than stellar record with consent.

and listen I'm so bitter about so many things but I can't help but love it. I just love those two so much and I will cling to that one moment of happiness.

now the stuff I didn’t like...

right, so this is just a pet peeve of mine but I HATE the whole 'sex jumpstarted by a never-have-i-ever drinking game'-trope. I just hate it. I don't know what it is about that but I just don't like it and whenever I come across it in a fanfic it just throws me off. Now this scene itself was cute, not denying that but I just hate that THAT's the thing that sets it all off. especially since there was no need? and I should know I've read like every Brienne/Jaime fanfic published in the last two weeks. making two people hook up after a battle should be the easiest thing but no they go for this mediocre modern college AU plot? (and I'm not joking, I've read a fic like that a year or so ago...)

I really dislike the fact that they focused on Brienne's virginity because it's not in character for her to be worried about that. Apart from the fact that she is unmarried and highborn and therefore unlikely to have slept with anyone in the first place Brienne has never been ashamed of that. She is ashamed of her looks and her mannerisms and she thinks no one will ever love her or desire her. That's her insecurity. Not the fact that she's a virgin. If that were the case she could have fixed that with Tormund ages ago. Brienne yearns for acceptance (she got that now thanks to the knighting) and love (which can come with sex but is not exclusively tied to it) not some hookup. Now Tyrion doesn't know that so I can kind of understand his line of thought and her reaction I just don't like that this again is what triggers the development of Brienne's and Jaime's relationship. She's not flawed because she's a virgin and he doesn't need to "fix that". What they do need to do instead is face their feelings, share them and if that then leads to sex, all the better but it's not the point! Brienne being loved is the point and I'd have rather had an "I love you" than 10 sex scenes.

Speaking of circumstances... I would have prefered them not to be drunk but I guess I can kind of accept it. Both of them are damaged and insecure and would probably doubt the other's intentions in their sober state. Still... would have been nicer (and at least they weren't like REALLY drunk... to the point where consent would have been debatable)

I am still a bit upset that we didn't get a scene between them talking through what's going on in their heads (e.g. a discussion of what Jaime will do now and what he meant when he didn't finish "I came to Winterfell because....") but then again both Brienne and Jaime have always been more about actions than words so I'll accept it.

Did not get a scene with Brienne taking his hand off and showing him acceptance ��:/

Jaime

My first response to the episode was as you can guess very negative. Jaime's been my fave for a decade or so now and it's been beyond painful seeing his character development grind to a standstill for years on end. I was willing to forgive it though. I realize they needed someone to humanise Cersei and a screen partner for Lena that isn't a zombie or a creepy necromancer and when Jaime rode North at the end of S7 I thought: Ok here we go, we're finally back on track. Should have happened years ago during the siege of Riverun but at least it's happening at all. Then we get two episodes of Jaime distancing himself from Cersei and following Brienne around like a puppy. Quality material. Now though there are two options Either D&D decided to fuck him over and just obliterate 9 years of character growth for the sake of shock OR this is a very clumsy attempt at increasing the suspense and making people question whether Jaime is bad after all. Personally, I believe (and will always believe) option 2 BECAUSE THAT'S THE FUCKING BOOK CANON. Realistically though, I'm expecting option one.

Anyway, most of Jaime's scene can be interpreted one way or another and that's the only thing giving me hope here. For example

The sex scene with Brienne could just be him letting off steam, feeling alive after a battle etc and he doesn't truly desire and love her as much as he loves Cersei. BUT Jaime has never been about sex, Jaime has always been about love. Misguided and utterly toxic love from time to time but it's always been about love. He's had women throwing themselves at him left and right and yet he's always been faithful. Always true to Cersei. Why on Earth would he stop being faithful now? I believe sex and love are 100% intertwined for Jaime and he will not have sex with anyone he does not fully love. I always believed Jaime would have to put his relationship with Cersei behind him for anything to happen between him and Brienne (which is why I was so happy they didn't immediately kiss in ep 2). Whether that's the way the show sees it is another question...

When Jaime watched Brienne sleep afterwards that again can be read as regret or him thinking of Cersei and feeling guilty, wondering what he's done.  I'd like to think instead that he's really wrestling with his own demons here (and that btw is why I would have rather had a scene with them having a heart to heart and fucking sorting this shit out once and for all). First of all: Jaime hates himself and I'm 100% sure he doesn't think he deserves Brienne. I think he feels guilty for not being able to keep his distance. I think he's aware that he's still on thin ice both with the Starks and Dany but also with Cersei. A lot of people would rather see him dead. What would that mean for Brienne's reputation? And what would happen if Cersei found out about this? So I'd like to think he's realized that he's involving her in something very dangerous that could leave her dead or emotionally damaged. (And btw why would he be planning and discussing their future with Tyrion later when he's already considering Cersei straight after sex? He would have put a stop to it because again love > sex for Jaime).

I don't know how Jaime staying in Winterfell would make any sense if he was still madly in love with Cersei. And I'm not saying this through my Brienne/Jaime googles. This is completely independent of Brienne. He knows they will go to war against Cersei. He's not part of the war council because obviously they don't trust him and maybe he also doesn't want to be directly involved in the killing of his own blood. No matter what she will do, no matter how much he will fall out of love with her she is still family, still his blood and there will always be a part of Jaime that loves his family and his blood no matter what they do (see Tywin, see Tyrion). Him jumping at the chance to kill Cersei would be out of character regardless of whether he now loves Brienne or not. In any case, Jaime knows what's coming, has no illusions there so if he's truly still bound to Cersei why not leave then. It's been days? I really can't explain this one if the writers go with option 1.

now about the scene with Sansa and Brienne. Could be that he is worried about Cersei and it's only now sinking in that she will die. Could be that Sansa's snide comment triggered something in him. Buuuuuut he does not look happy when he learns about Cersei's success. He looks worried, he looks like he didn't expect that. I'm not saying he's not shook by Sansa's comment. As I said I believe he will never truly not care about Cersei, she has made him who he was, she has been the focus of his life for so many years, you can't just forget that. But there is a difference between him losing it and doing a 180 because he still wants Cersei and him feeling conflicted because he knows what Cersei is and what needs to be done but that doesn't erase their history.

and then finally the goodbye scene. Again this could be in line with option 1, in fact it seems very much in line with it. I'm not saying it's not. But there are signs that it might not be. Like "Have you ever run away from a fight?" for example. Cause that's what he's been doing! He stayed behind in Winterfell because leaving would have meant fighting on one side or the other. He was trying to avoid that I think. And I also think he's now realised he can't. I think he didn't expect Cersei to kill a dragon or capture someone close to Dany. I think he thought it would be easier to take her down but apparently, it's not and I think he's worried now. Worried that Cersei will win and what that will mean for everyone he loves (Tyrion, Brienne). He probably decided that he's got the best chance of finishing this or at least contributing to the end. He might have realized that they do not have the luxury of keeping him out of it. Then Brienne brings her hands to his face and starts to beg and you know what he does? HE NODS TO HIMSELF. You know when Jaime usually nods to himself??? When he realizes how good, and pure, and honourable and true Brienne is. When he realizes he will have to stop her from giving too much because of that (e.g. when she tries to give Oathkeeper back. He does this little nod that says "of course she would do this" and then he has to tell her to keep it!). I honestly think this is him going "right, of course, she would do this. Of course, it's not going to be that easy. Time to bring out the big guns." He then goes on to confess all of his bad deeds and yeah again this could be option 1. Him driving home how much he loves her and not Brienne. But honestly, does it seem like that? He's not gloating, he's not admitting to this easily (the way he used to when Cat had him). To me, it looks like he has to force himself to do this because he hopes that will convince her to a) let him go and b) not follow him. I think he's trying to cut ties because he doesn't want her with him for what he's about to do. I think he's trying to make her hate him because he doesn't expect to come back and he thinks this way will be easier on her. This is Jaime's version of throwing stones at Nymeria. And as much as I try and read this any other way I just can't.  Nevertheless, he made my girl cry and boy that's testing the limits of my love for him^^

What I think should (and could) now happen: I think it would make perfect sense for Jaime to go South on his own, infiltrate the capital, get to Cersei and play some part in her demise. I can even see them dying together as suggested by (unconfirmed) leaks but I doubt it will be in the spirit of  “We came into this world together, we'll leave it together”. If they die together, I think it's more likely that he will stay with her because of the love he still feels for her even though that love is nothing compared to what it used to be. Looking at the episode I feel like this would make so much sense and most importantly it would not butcher his arc.

What I suspect will happen instead: I'm bitter and sad and based on the crap D&D have done to Jaime and others in past seasons, based on this constant need for cruelty and shocking twists I fully expect them to go with option 1. They've had this hard-on for Cersei/Jaime since forever and even though that relationship is way past its expiration date they keep shoving it into our faces. I hate this for many reasons, especially for nullifying Jaime's arc, for turning Brienne into I don't even know what, his rebound I guess. I'm willing to forgive them much but not this. I'm okay with my faves being killed off but not if everything they have become through trauma and hardship is erased within 5 minutes. And the thought that this could very well be the last scene between Brienne and Jaime and that Brienne is either right to believe that Jaime has left her or might never know his true intentions if he does switch but dies beside Cersei is too much. I want to believe guys but I'm so bitter and I don't trust them with Jaime and I do not want to get my hopes up just to be utterly disappointed. So yeah, this is what I'm preparing myself for.

So to summarize: It was not as bad as it could have been and I do think the hate is a bit much but that always happens when you get incomplete spoilers and have HOURS to freak out and hate it even before it starts but jfc they still fucked up. Character assassinations left and right, bad writing and plot holes (Euron anyone???), unnecessary drama and the usual mix of racism and misogyny. In any case, I want to end on a positive note here, so let me just point out the ONLY things I will take away from this episode:

Brienne being beyond precious!

Jaime is GONE, my friends. GONE! (seriously though through the entire thing they kept stealing glances and it's so obvious Jaime talked to her about his family. We missed so much of their relationship in season 4  :( )

Probably not what I'm supposed to be focusing on but that entire scene just screams domestic old married couple. I'm a big fan of Jaime showing weakness in front of her and Brienne accepting and helping without a second thought.

I can't get over how much THEY TOUCH each other. It's been years with nothing but his hand on hers when she was going for the knife and now they're all over each other. And the best thing about it: It's so natural. It's so new but they act as if they've been doing this for years! No hesitation, no doubt and Brienne accepting that she’s allowed to do this now, that he wants it :) (also look at thiiiiiis)

[wordsturnintostories]

we're pack, moonchild.

Seokjin | Yoongi | Hoseok | Namjoon | Jimin | Taehyung | Jungkook

Masterlist

Summary: Park Jimin is an angel. Is he a werewolf though? [a drabble in which you go to the same school as the Bangtan gang. you are trying hard to figure out if that’s what they really are. a gang? or a pack?] Word Count: +1.2k Note: Ah, Jimin is something else. Also, the puma shoot had such a beautiful and simple concept. I love it so much. ✨ Special shoutout to the sweet anon who dropped by my askbox to tell me such kind words abot my writing. Don't think I will stop thinking about that. You are so precious and you really made a super emotional day end well for me. That was amazing. Thank you, anon! ✨ college!au, supernatural!au, wolf!bangtan/ pack!bangtan

Gif not mine, credits to the owner.

Park Jimin is an angel. Considering his presence in the Bangtan pack, you don’t understand how people think they could be dangerous. Sure, besides that cute smile, Jimin also has a toned body. Sure, that could be impressive. Scare people off? No. His fingers are laced with kindness and gentle touches. His level of affiliation with the other six boys speaks volumes about their characters. He’s a pretty person with a pretty heart.

He’s also the school nurse’s assistant. By his own choice and, weird as it sounds, succession. You heard that the last assistant had appointed him as her successor shortly before graduating. That was the beginning of middle school. And the first time a nurses’ assistant had been scouted in that sense. Since then, he’d been diligently carrying out this position.

Every day, he looks out for students that are injured in PE, offers affectionate words to the ones that hold their stomachs, even the girls, almost as if he knows how painful period cramps can be. In general, Jimin seems to have a pretty good judgment of who is sick. No one seems to be able to fool him - he can tell who suffers silently and who tries to get out of track by pretending to be sick. Maybe he is the one who picked up on Jungkook’s secret soul too. In your mind, there’s a theory about his senses extending towards people’s physical pain. Your diligent research brings up no results. There's no such thing in science but you could swear there's such a thing in your class.

But when Jimin is not in the nurse's office, he sits in class like everyone else, scribbling down every word out of the teacher’s mouths. When your eyes skim over his papers, it looks like a flood of letters and words. He literally writes down every word, but in that beautiful handwriting of his that becomes a little too messy for your eyes during the second third of the lesson. However, when he brings his review notes to class the next day, his penmanship on the paper is immaculate. You really don’t know how or when he does this, but the dedication and discipline shine through. It’s a tiny nudge at your own focus. It makes you want to do a little better.

Other than that, Jimin’s laugh is the most memorable feature about him, often announcing his presence for everyone to hear in advance of being graced with his gracious appearance. He squeaks, that’s your discovery of the month, and God must’ve put him inside a small body on purpose so that other people would have the fortune of catching Jimin whenever glee overtakes him. He literally sinks into whoever is available at his side, squeaking, shaking, and stumbling. Usually, that’s Seokjin, Namjoon or Hoseok. 

However, while Jimin may be a sociable boy, a kind nurse's assistant, but the one thing everybody notices and contemplates is his looks. For some strange reason, people start to get jealous whenever Jimin jumps onto Jungkook’s back for a piggyback ride, when he sits on Namjoon’s lap because there’s literally no space in this small-ass lunch hall, or when he cuddles into Yoongi’s side as if that was his home. Maybe it is. You only know people wish it wasn’t. And honestly, you’ve heard girls and boys talk about him like he’s the treasure at the end of the rainbow. He’s precious, small and delicate in his own way of scurrying around with giggles in his breath and a blush that is always ready to rush into his cheeks.

To top it off, you’ve heard rumors that he’s dating Min Yoongi, the very senior who lives not very far from you, but just yesterday you’ve watched Jungkook nibble on Jimin’s ear. Rumors are a funny thing at your school. They flare up like fireworks before exploding, and fading, and never coming back to people's minds like they never even existed in the first place. Some stay longer than others, but all of them disappear after a while. But rumors also say Bangtan’s leader has killed before. So. The only thing you’ve watched Bangtan kill is time. By making funny faces, giggling at each other’s jokes like schoolgirls and filling blank pages with homemade rap bars. Harmless. The worst thing they’ve done that you know of would probably be entering into the school’s gym at night (once), but even if that’s illegal, it had been for a school project and PE teacher Song Seungdeuk had been involved somehow. So, in the end, their crime count kind of equaled zero. In that sense, you find the thought of Bangtan as a gang strange - like it doesn't fit if you watch them long enough. That observation strengthens your theory of them being a pack more than anything else.

The only thing that bugs you about Jimin is how he doesn’t really fit your idea of a werewolf - he doesn’t seem as inwardly majestic as Namjoon, not as somber as Yoongi, not as connective as Taehyung or as physically present as Jungkook. He’s not even like Seokjin or Hoseok, he’s just... different. It’s hard to put in words, and you know you’ve been staring way too much when tiny little paper planes find your lap. Your cheeks burn when it’s Jimin’s handwriting, and a shy but cheeky note commenting on how obvious you are.

He doesn’t flirt with you, that’s not what this is, this is more like a cute, kind of funny back and forth of notes. It’s interesting because Jimin is sneaky. He finds a hundred ways to maneuver the notes to your desk, to your pockets, your hands without you noticing and without him ever appearing in front of you. Obviously, he’s putting a lot of time and effort into these notes. Also, every note either carries the scent or a doodle of some sort of flower. It’s really creative.

When your friends ask you about your secret admirer, you shake your head and feel your heart beat in shock at the blush creeping up your neck. It’s strange, but even if it looks like there’s something going on between Jimin and you, to you it just literally feels like a deep family connection to him no matter how hard you could pretend this was a crush. You can almost feel Jimin giggling somewhere in the distance.

At the end of the day, even Jimin doesn’t tell you much about the Bangtan gang. He’s a sweet appearance who just advertises the gang (pack. definitely pack.) to you by standing out. As you go over all your previous notes, you realize you still don’t know whether Jimin is a wolf himself, or simply a human who had bonded with a pack. It’s kind of the same as with Namjoon - only with Namjoon, it’s clear he’s a wolf whereas Jimin doesn’t seem like it.

That starry night that is more grey than black, your silent questions are answered. At first, you don’t realize it’s him, but seeing that there are seven wolves, it only makes sense to have one be the giggly boy. 

Jimin is a small wolf, one that’s sticking to the other’s sides as much as possible. He’s bright in terms of coat and body language and doesn’t mind letting Namjoon, Taehyung, and Yoongi approach you first. But after that, it’s all fair game. He yips and comes up to nudge your side playfully. 

While your hands move through the fluffy softness that is his creamy fur, different scents rise to your nose. Images of flowers rise to your inner eye and there’s a sense of fresh energy in your bones. You gasp. A healer. Which, you know from your studies, is super rare. In the past, speak the last century, certain wolves were born with a healing-calling on their lives and became healers. They were considered pure, innocent souls with delicate magic. Nowadays, it’s really rare to encounter a wolf like that. But with the twinkle in Jimin’s attentive eyes, you know that’s exactly who you’ve got before you. 

“It’s an honor,” you whisper. He nuzzles your hand and you feel his warm breath on your skin, like a kiss of the wind.

“My flower girl.”

Thanks for reading! :)

Masterlist | moodboard masterlist

taglist: @xmagicxshopx​, @jiminnies-baby, @inappropriatepirate

Seokjin | Yoongi | Hoseok | Namjoon | Jimin | Taehyung | Jungkook

[ohcaptaintarthister]

What's Mine and When Is It Yours?

I watched the first season of Game of Thrones along with everyone else. It wasn’t the kind of show you watched to chill back and turn off your brain. The intrigue, the violence, the insane plot twists and the general unpredictability kept me on the edge of my seat. Alas, with grad school giving me a final beatdown and plus a most unexpected job offer, I forgot about the show and spent more time at the desk than on any comfortable surface. It wasn’t until 2015 when there was finally time to catch up, from season two to four.

You know how it is. A binge lasts for only so long. In less than a week, I was done. Boobed out (hi, Season 2). Done with everything else an adult should be busy with–no deadlines because everything was turned in early, no more school for the moment. There was a sort-of beginning that surprisingly became a romance. I eagerly waited for the next season of Game of Thrones.

And found out it was gonna premiere later than usual.

I was a show watcher before reading the books. My introduction to Brienne of Tarth was by way of Gwendoline Christie trouncing Loras Tyrell. Her lines were few in that episode but the character had already made an impression. I looked up the character and ate more junk food than any human should eat in a year as Brienne sparred with Jaime Lannister, beating his ass and basically calling him scum right to his face. When his hand paid the price for defending her honor, my allegiance swung not only towards the Kingslayer but even more with Brienne. I would stop breathing every time they were together onscreen, wondering if this was when they would–you guessed it–kiss.

Having caught up and not having much to do (I was oddly productive in 2015), there was no choice but to wait.

And wait.

And wait.

I cruised online for anything about JB. That’s when I discovered fan fiction.

Aside from my day job, I also write. Newspapers, magazines, books–the only place where I haven’t been published was online. It never entered my mind to write fan fiction. No self-respecting PUBLISHED author would waste her time reading and writing fan fiction. No one. At least that’s what I thought until I read my first JB fan fiction, Beast and The Beast by SigilBroken.

It was fucking awesome!

It was Modern AU. Jaime an athlete with a hand injury. Brienne, a competitive swimmer. I loved every word of it. I was floored with how the author captured the relationship that at that time, I’ve only seen on TV. I was so gobsmacked that I read her other JB works, like In This Light and Honor Thy Regard. I discovered other JB fanfic writers like RoseHeart, Ellaria, Just A Girl and Lady In Red. To this day, they remain my favorite writers and wish so fervently they will write again.

Because of them, I had a new appreciation and respect for fan fiction. Yes, fan fiction is derivative, it builds on a canon world but also deviates from it too. It is also original even when the characters are not yours. The works of the authors I mentioned above told me that fan fiction was a different ball game but also the same with all writing: it’s hard work. Very hard work. Fan fiction is strangely freeing, in my experience but it is very hard work!

I lurked around AO3 reading whatever JB fanfic struck me. When I couldn’t find any more interesting stories, I plucked up the courage to write my first JB fan fiction, Loving Harder and More. I was anxious, excited, terrified. It my first time to publish online and not under my real name. How will my story fare against the others I’ve read and loved? Later, I realized I shouldn’t compare myself to SigilBroken and company.

Hand on heart, they really are the best writers in the fandom. Their stories taught me how to dive into the characters but also be able to extrapolate sensibly. I still look to their stories for inspiration, unbothered that no matter how much I write, I never be as good. What mattered was I was writing and challenging myself.

In my fan fics, Brienne has been a professor, a black ops agent, hairstylist, masseuse, bodyguard to royalty. She has is always loved and appreciated, but also went through the nightmare of a sexual assault and an emotionally abusive marriage. Jaime has been a scientist, a devoted husband and loving dad, a creative director, actor. He is loved and has a full life with Brienne despite having gone through several levels of hell too.

What strings my work together is the smut. I’m proud of that. And I’m glad when people comment on its quality because it’s hard to write! It really is.

Which finally (fucking finally!) brings me to the point of this long-ass (one of SeleneU’s favorite words) piece.

Imitation is the best form of flattery–to an extent. I see no harm when someone compliments me on my shoes and goes out to buy the same pair. It’s hilarious and make plans to wear the same pair with the person. But see, in this kind of imitation, at least the other person makes the effort to go to the store and buy the shoes. He or she also has the right to get those fucking shoes.

It’s not imitation at all when scenes and even plots from stories I worked hard on are copied word-for-word. It might be buried under all the other paragraphs of another’s work but I find it. And it is always distressing because someone is getting praise over something that’s blatantly and even proudly copied from mine. That’s not right. There’s no effort at all no, you SHOULDN’T FUCKING DO IT.

It’s not the kudos and hits that concern me. It’s the copying. Word-for-word. It’s not even done subtly. How hard is it to come up with your own plot? Writing is difficult but it’s never a justification to copy someone else’s work. It’s like taking a dagger in the back when someone comments on my work and then…takes the thing she precisely commented on and presents it as her own! Holy hell. That takes a huge pair of really entitled balls!

How do you get out of bed? Don’t they snag or graze across the ground when you walk? Don’t they fucking hurt?

I write for myself and am thankful when people love my stories enough to leave encouragement and kudos. I’m happy whenever I finish another one and still get excited after posting it, waiting for when it gets its first comment. And people who love them, in a way the stories are theirs too, isn’t? Theirs to read and read, to download and read again. But it never becomes theirs that they have the right to copy and post it as their own.

It’s fan fiction so there’s no way to nail these cheating asses by any legal means. But as someone who would rather believe that decency still triumphs in the era of Trump, if you are of right mind, you don’t have to be told it’s not nice to copy other people’s work. Right?

If you like an author’s work so much, gestures of appreciation that do not involve copying will go a long, long way–possibly as far as Sothoryos. Say your work was inspired by a favorite author. Or at least give a shoutout. If you want to build on a story by a different author, please ask for her permission. But never, never, absolutely never copy another’s work.

I realize how easy it is to copy but it is not going to help the current situation of the fanfic in the JB fandom. Personal opinion, but there’s only one way of peeling a fucking banana and what’s been done is the fruit and the skin have been diced and spliced to death but there’s no denying it’s still the same fucking banana. That’s the kind of stories crowding AO3 quite often (I’m being conservative).

Nowadays, there’s hardly an author who tries to do something different and writes so well, except for isavedlatin (A Star Within the Mere), SeleneU (Pieces of You and A Story Without End), LuxEvergreen (A Walk with Frost and Fire), ShirleyAnn66 (Jaime Lannister Investigations). Off the top of my head, they’re the writers I follow and whose work are original and a pleasure to read. I’m reading some new fan fics but it’s still too early to tell how they’ll turn out. They are promising, that I can say.

I suppose prompts can help with creativity. It depends on the writer. But from what I’ve been seeing, a strong dependence on them will be a hindrance to the good writer you can become. Yes, they’re fun but you’re writing a story that’s not really what you want to tell. I don’t know. Its not helping the writers I used to follow and are now stuck in prompt rut. Still, despite prompts, there’s copying…of my work. Nearly word-for-word.

Which really sucks.

When someone says, “Hey, this person writes like you!” I see come similarities but the story is still different from mine. That’s nice. But when I’m told, “I swear this was your story until I saw the name and it wasn’t,” I check and holy shit, it really reads like I wrote it because it’s practically a scene from one of my stories. Word-for-fucking-word!

Sad, isn’t it? Never thought I’d rather be slammed for writing a threesome story of Jaime, Brienne and Tormund. Being copied is a lot worse.

I’ve calmed down a bit since making the discovery but my resolve to limit access to my fan fics remains just as strong. It’s hard, you know. Aside from it being a slow process, this step means my work won’t appear in public unless one logs in on AO3. On the heels of this, I realized that people who like my work aren’t part of any group. That tells me I don’t need to be a part of anything to be read–and it’s stupendous knowing that people legitimately like what I write instead of being liked just because I’m part of a group.

With the audience most definitely fewer, I’m encouraged more than ever to write. It means less snark and hateful comments when I experiment. It may also lessen the possibility of being copied. My fan fics are my babies and I make the time to write them as well as I can. If restricting access makes me a better writer, I’m still taking it! I will never pass up any chance to improve just as long as I never run out of my OWN ideas and keep writing. Because I the end, that’s all that matters, right?

Also, if you claim to love the story of Jaime and Brienne, don’t you think they deserve original stories? I don’t believe they’ll end up together in the books but in fan fiction they have, over and over. And as fans, it’s our responsibility to explore the different ways we can bring them there–through our own imagination and creativity.

[jejublr]

Vocal Unit Hybrid AU

A/N: Ok so this one’s some short bursts of headcannons on how Seventeen’s vocal unit would be if they’re hybrid imo. Shoutout to the Anon who asked for the hybrid au! I’ve been thinking about this AU for a while, too. If you want a fic/buletpoint fic for this, please let me know! Also I didn’t do it for a specific member like the usual fic bc you didn’t give me any specification so ^^ I just want to hear what you guys think before writing a fic for this. Man, I love me some hybrid AUs. I hope you all enjoy!

Jeonghan

You know that bougie ass cat with the long white coat and whose food is probably more expensive than your week’s worth of groceries?

Yeah that’s Jeonghan

Is so picky with which shampoo he uses oml

Knows he’s pretty

Reeeeaaaaaallllyyyyy loves it when you brush his hair with that special cat brush (cat people, y’all know which brush I’m talking about)

99% just naps around tbh, especially on that spot near the window with the most sunlight

Likes to push your stuff off the table out of spite

“Don’t you dare, Jeonghan. Don’t you dare.”

You can see the ‘f*** you’ in his eyes before he pushed your things off the table

Will distract you from what you’re initially doing just to get a good rub

He’s that hybrid that looked really nice and angelic at first but you know that s*** is just an act lmao

But he loves your attention alright

Like, if you seem very too infested or intimate with other hybrids, he’d get pretty jealous

Proceeds to give you a haughty look and a silent treatment that could last for days

And it’s the cutest thing tbh, it’s so easy to rile him up

But ofc you do it in moderation bc man, can he hold a grudge

But despite all that, he’s pretty receptive and would immediately know when you’re feeling upset

The type who wouldn’t say anything but hold you close as you cry into his shirt

Is a really loving hybrid despite his attitude

Joshua

Joshua is a cat hybrid, just like Jeonghan

But unlike Jeonghan, he’s an actual angel

Joshua is a domestic cat hybrid, of a tortoisehell cat

Likes to watch you as he sits on the counter as you fret around the house

He also likes to steal you food (playfully, anyway) whenever you’re not looking

Loves waking you up by carding his fingers through your hair and saying good morning in this really soft tone

Omg imagine waking up to Joshua

You like to think the sweet way he always wakes you up is because he’s so restless during the night

The times you share air bed with him, he either steals all the cover or pushes you off the bed

Loves to take up space on the bed, too

But it’s all well bc he always apologize by making you breakfast the next morning

Loves to sidle up next to you as you read or do your work and just watch you do your thing

Loves to take you by surprise when he plant tiny pecks on your face when you least expect it

Refuses to let you wash the dishes after you cook for the both of you

Really loves quiet Sunday mornings when you don’t need to go to work and just lay in bed all day

The day you introduce him to anime was the day his life began oml

Couldn't stop watching One Piece lmao

A habit he inherited from his cat DNA was he loves to lay on the living room carpet and take a nap as the shine shone through it

Also goes bats*** crazy when you tried aa catnip room fragrance lmao

He couldn’t stop purring through out the day

Woozi

smol but spicy

WOOZI IS AN OTTER HYBRID

Has tiny brown ears that would sometimes be hidden underneath his hair

While his eyes are clear and beautiful, it always seem to judge and calculate your every move lmao

His nose twitches if he finds a smell particularly strong

He sneezed once and you swear it was the death of you

His tail is pretty long and super strong

Would wag upwards and downwards annoyedly if you tease him lol

Loves to sleep and play music with the guitar you bought him for his birthday

But his favorite activity with you is going out for a swim swim

Otter!Jihoon loves to swim

Especially if it’s a lake

You try to take him out to the nearest lake, which is hundreds of miles away, as often as you could

It has become a monthly routine for you now

Looks really grateful as he swims about near the water’s edges while he chases minnows around

You don’t mind the long drives back and forth between the city and the lake town because Woozi seems the happiest in his element

The calmest you’ve seen him is when he’s asleep or when he’s eating lmao

Speaking of food, however small he is compared to most hybrids, Woozi seemed to have an endless appetite

You went and bought him a burger set one day and now he’s totally hooked

But you couldn't help but submit to his wishes because overtime you buy him one, he would have the cutest smile on his face and his dimples would appear ugh

He totally knows you think he’s cute and he’s totally using it to his advantage

DK

Ok don’t be weirded out but I can’t help imagining Seokmin as a horse hybrid

I JUST GOT REMINDED OF THAT HORSE BOYFRIEND OTOME GAME OMG HAHAHAH

Ok but horse hybrids don’t have a tail so their only distinctive feature is their horse ears

And they neighs sometimes

Which in DK’s case is whenever he laughs hard

Which is often because he loves to laugh

So you can say he neighs often?? Is that weird???

I love confusing myself

Another distinct horse thing he got was that he loves going on a run

He runs every morning seven days a week

Used to beg and drags you to run with him but gave up after seeing that you wouldn’t even budge lmao

Can and will finish an entire week’s worth of food after his runs if you don’t control him

Definitely more independent than some types of hybrids but he still loves his hugs

Loves giving you piggyback (or can you call it horseback?) rides around the apartment

Your apartment is always full of laughter with DK around

It doesn’t matter if you’re on the more quite and introverted side of the spectrum, he will make you sing during the weekly karaoke nights in your apartment

Loves singing off-key, which leads to more laughter

Which means more neighs

Seungkwan

Seungkwan is a parrot hybrid

Oh gosh, sometimes you wonder how Seungkwan caught your eyes in the first place

But then he’d smile and it would in turn make you smile, too and then you remember

Parrot!Seungkwan sometimes doesn’t seem to shut up but it’s impossible for you to get mad at him bc you know he just wanna see you happy

Loves to dance funnily to the music you play on the speaker lol

One day you figured to bring him to a karaoke place to actually use his endless energy for a purpose

And oh my god??? You were blown away

You always ask him to sing everyday now

Which he doesn’t mind complying to

And now he can’t stop singing lmao

Bird hybrids are particularly unique bc they have wings

Seungkwan’s wings are really beautiful

They’re pristin(e) ayee white with yellow coloring its tips

It makes him look even more like the angel he is

Also, Seungkwan’s hair tips seems to be yellow like his wings, too

Loves to sing off-key to wake you up and although you always wake up annoyed, you wouldn’t have it other way

Loves validation and literally loves it when you shower him with praise

Despite being really rumbuctious and full of humor most of the times, he’s pretty sensitive to your mood changes

Likes to cover you with his wing as you lean on his side when you’re feeling upset and it would feel like a little save haven shared only between you and him

[ladykf-writes]

Challenge: list the WIPs you promised you’d update, and why you haven’t yet

Tagged by @yuzukimist - if you want to do this, please repost and tag me, don’t reblog, because this will be a bit long. I have, uh... a lot of WIPs to address.

A few suggested tags: @vorpalgirl , @wandererriha, @thegeeksqueaks , @lynati , @deadcatwithaflamethrower​ and @norcumii​ if you all would like to? And YOU, you person who’s reading this!

NOW! Being fair the only one I’ve “promised” updates on is Dog Whistle, and I just updated that Saturday, but there was such a hiatus in-between that I’ll address it.

The fact of the matter is, I got stuck on DW because I wanted to do Shelke justice but she’s a very different fighter than the other Tsviets/SOLDIER (and therefore out of my usual experiences as a writer). A traditional fight scene... isn’t going to be what she’s angling for. She is a Brain, the fact that she was out where someone could attack her head on... that was a miscalculation on their part. She would he have been so much better left to manage things behind the scenes. Alas.

But yeah, a lot of these are either “plot got stuck on a problem” or “character in the story was not cooperating” as you’ll see shortly. XD

Cause of delay on DW: 

- differently paced fight scene / figuring out how to get in Shelke’s head. (shoutout to @wandererriha for getting me unstuck with some great ideas!)

I’ve also had a couple people ask about It’s Not a Game (the FF7/Avengers crossover that I haven’t posted on since early ‘19 whups?) And actually, it’s... sort of tricky what happened.

See, I had finished the next chapter, but it’s short. It’s like, nearly 300 words short of my self-imposed minimum count (I aim for between 1500-2500 words on my chapters because in my experience most people can read that in one sitting and at the same time feel like they’ve read a good chunk / me actually advance the plot / character arcs / etc.)

And I got hung up on that. I couldn’t seem to make it organically longer, and it frustrated me, and it wasn’t like I had a plot for this - spoilers: this was meant to be a thought provoking one-shot what-if, not the multichaptered fix it that it’s turning into - so I didn’t want to jump ahead without really knowing where “ahead” was supposed to be.

I have since then accepted that the chapter’s going to just be short and I have some ideas on where I’m going from there. I do, in fact, have a few chapters written now (like, 2.5 I think? maybe 3? I don’t have it open right now) but I want to try and wind up DW before I start working hard core on something as plotty as INAG is threatening to become. To top it off, Age of Ultron (2015) had started my decline in enthusiasm for Marvel (I really only watched the Iron Man and Avengers movies; Guardians of the Galaxy and Ragnarok were exceptions) and in 2019 what happened? Endgame, and a severe blow to my love of the MCU.

Cause of delay on INAG:

- pacing issues + lack of plotting + falling a little out of love with the MCU canon and therefore losing my grip on Tony and Bruce, which makes it harder to write the story.

Some honorable mentions under the cut since this is too long already:

Another WIP is Party of Five, which no one has asked about in a long time but does get a mention because... basically I’ve got at least two chapters edited but I need to make some changes to fix things and... really? The big thing is I fell out of doing MMOs, so I lost enthusiasm for writing about MMOs. XD There’s an unposted, halfformed Sanders Sides MMO AU I’ve even got that never saw the light of day for the same reason.

That said, I’m planning on starting some serious gaming soon, if all goes according to plan, so you might just see me revisiting that!

Cause of delay on Po5:

- quit playing MMOs and lost enthusiasm for a MMO heavy fic

Then of course there’s the Welcome to FFVII series and that one’s been even longer stagnating... and the biggest thing getting in my way is saying “how much am I willing to stick to a canon that doesn’t make sense” + “how do I make it make sense / justify things” and I think anyone in the FFVII fandom can relate. We love it dearly, but it is a hot mess. It’s been a hot mess since day one, and just gets messier the deeper into the Compilation you go.

I’m not even touching the Remake, and doubt playing it would make me change my mind.

Cause of delay on WTFFVII:

- canon is a hot mess and it’s really hard to make it make sense. Brain-bendingly hard. It requires a lot of thinking and tbh I think I’m just going to overhaul the whole thing into something new.

My last two (posted) WIPs are not, in fact, FF7 fics so you guys may or may not have read them.

I have a ton written on Dewprism: Journey to the [Relic] - my seminovelization of the old PS1 game that approximately 5 people remember, because I did it for a NaNo. Frankly, I think it has some of the highest quality prose out of anything I’ve ever written.

It also has no comments. And very simply? I write for myself - I wrote over 50K on this baby for me, because I love it - but I post to share the love. It hasn’t gotten attention, so it’s on the back burner. Why spend time on something no one’s reading?

Cause of delay on JTTR:

- zero feedback on 12 chapters killed my enthusiasm for the project. I’ll come back to it someday, but it’s not a priority.

And finally, Times of Change, which does actually get periodic traffic - I would say probably only because it’s listed as “inspired by” a fic from the fantastic @deadcatwithaflamethrower but who knows.

This one suffered from the same problem Po5 did - it’s a crossover with SWTOR... which I quit playing. It also has the problem that INAG did, in that it’s not fully plotted. And additionally it’s been so long since I’ve read the fic it’s based off of I’d have to go back and do that too. So while it’s not abandoned... it’s way down the list. XD

Cause of delay on ToC:

- lost touch with Star Wars in general, honestly, and specifically the two (fan)canons it was born from to begin with. Lack of enthusiasm = lack of progress.

[wishfxljikan]

THE POSITIVE & NEGATIVE: MUN & MUSE

fill out & repost ♥ this meme definitely favors canons more, but i hope oc’s still can make it somehow work with their own lore, and lil’ fandom of friends & mutuals. multimuses pick the muse you are the most invested in atm.

tagged by stolen from: my best friend, @nuclearshxgun tagging: Absolutely everyone

MY MUSE IS.   canon / oc / au  / canon-divergent / fandomless 
 • is your character popular in the fandom?  YES / NO.  (IDK?) • is your character considered hot™ in the fandom?  WELL… / NO / IDK. • is your character considered strong in the fandom?  YES / NO / IDK. • are they underrated?  YES / NO.  [By literally every AMAZING OC I’ve seen (love ya all!) • were they relevant to the main story?  YES / NO. • were they relevant to the main character?  YES / NO [In my canon, no, but in general, yes.] • are they widely known in their world?  YES / NO • how’s their reputation?  GOOD / BAD / NEUTRAL HOW STRICTLY DO YOU FOLLOW CANON? Well, I mean, not strict at all, actually. Grovyle’s just this massive blank canvas, there’s a tiny bit of character building for him in the main games, but I’m mostly head canon driven and not canon, the PMD games are just a baseline for the character. SELL YOUR MUSE! (aka try to list everything, which makes your muse interesting in your opinion to make them spicy for your mutual.) 


As stated above, Grovyle’s pretty much a blank canvas, and since I’m that big slut for character and worldbuilding. I can go off and say maybe hundreds of headcanons ranging from small snippets of information to massive things he’s done and learned.  My version of Grovyle is, like all other previous portrayals of Grovyle, unique. We’ve all got our own takes on what our favorite gecko has been up to. So, even if you don’t like my version, there’s still many out there can can fit your needs (shoutout to literally every Grovyle I love y ou guys!) Honestly, I don’t give my portrayal enough credit where it’s due, but, you know what? I love him to death, the sheer fact that I’m legitimately vibrating with hundreds of little ideas all the way up to massive storylines, that a couple of friends have taken apart of, it’s something I want everyone to know. I. Am. A. Slut. For. World-building.

NOW THE OPPOSITE! (list everything why your muse could not be so interesting (even if you may not agree, what does the fandom perhaps think?)

To be honest, I put myself down, a lot, I kinda have issues with putting my Grovyle out there, I always think that he’s not interesting in the slightest, that he’s boring to write with (no matter the compliments) Also the PMD community has been really dead up until recently, which I’m really proud it’s coming back, I’ve been really lonely in this community, and I don’t think my muse would be good outside of PMD, other than the tiny slice of life things, mostly because I don’t think he belongs anywhere else.

WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO RP YOUR MUSE?


Just the pure love I have for the guy, I felt him on a personal level, and this entire time since the first time I encounter him, I’ve loved Grovyle to utter death.

WHAT KEEPS YOUR INSPIRATION GOING?


As stated above, honestly like..just the sheer amount of roleplays I have on discord with @nuclearshxgun and other people for Grovyle. There’s always a fresh idea hitting us, and even if there’s like 15 different unfinished roleplays, just goes to show that I’m stocked up on story-based roleplays, and I’m not running out anytime soon. SOME MORE PERSONAL QUESTIONS FOR THE MUN. • do you think you give your character justice?  YES / NO. • do you frequently write headcanons?  YES / NO. • do you sometimes write drabbles? YES / NO.   • do you think a lot about your muse during the day? YES / NO. • are you confident in your portrayal?   YES / NO. • are you confident in your writing?  YES / NO. • are you a sensitive person?  YES / NO. [Can I say both?] DO YOU ACCEPT CRITICISM WELL ABOUT YOUR PORTRAYAL? For the most part, yes, there’s somethings that I can’t handle which is deep criticisms about headcanons I’ve spent..years at this point making, but those ones, 99% of the time weren’t..constructive, just..shitting on it.

DO YOU LIKE QUESTIONS, WHICH HELP YOU EXPLORE YOUR CHARACTER?   
 Gimme ALL of the questions! It’s upsetting I don’t get any because haha pmd dead community, but, PLEASE, if you have worldbuilding questions or anything really I will literally go on for HOURS about it.

IF SOMEONE DISAGREES TO A HEADCANON OF YOURS, DO YOU WANT TO KNOW WHY?  
 For the most part, no.

IF SOMEONE DISAGREES WITH YOUR PORTRAYAL, HOW WOULD YOU TAKE IT? 
 I wouldn’t care because I’d usually point them towards another literally amazing tm Grovyle roleplayer but sadly most of them have disappeared and I fuckin’ miss em.

IF SOMEONE REALLY HATES YOUR CHARACTER, HOW DO YOU TAKE IT? 
 Honestly, I don’t need someone to tell me my character and how I play them is hot garbage because I always tell myself that every fucking day

ARE YOU OKAY WITH PEOPLE POINTING OUT YOUR GRAMMATICAL ERRORS?   


Do it, Cowards, it helps the both of us in the long run.

DO YOU THINK YOU ARE EASY GOING AS A MUN?  

If you get past the fact that I will literally gush about my muses to you all day, every day, without stopping, and share with you ideas, thoughts, plotting ideas, and more, without stopping, just like with how much I love my muses and your muses, then yes, I am easy going.

I’m kinda just, fucking vibrating with ideas with really only like at max 10 people to share them with? (In the tumblr side of things, at least) I usually don’t get to be this active in my hobbies because s o m e o n e in my life is the worst person ever.

[dlamp-dictator]

Finished Deltarune a few days ago. Had a fun time doing it too. It was a nice one-and-a-half hour experience for what seems to be Chapter 1 of a larger series of games, or at least that’s what I’m assuming. It might just be the first chapter of what I’m guessing will be a 5-7 chapter series, but this got me hook on it so far. I might do a Rambling on both this and Undertale late this month, but for now I just wanted to get my current thoughts out there.

There’s swearing in this game... that’s not a detraction, but it did throw me off a bit compared to the more kid-friendly tone of Undertale. The game overall feels more mature in a sense, like it’s going more for a teenage/adolescent audience than the younger/wider audience Undertale went for. It really feels like Kris is less a stand in for the player and more of a quiet kid that just goes along with what other people tell them.

Speaking of Kris... that intro... that intro man, I have never experienced heartbreak like that in quite some time. But I do like Kris, both in design and narrative. Like I said, they feel like a kid that’s being dragged along and just going along with the events around him and that the player themselves are the ones doing the dragging more than the characters within the game.

The combat is a nice evolution of Undertale’s, both in display and the overall feel of the game. You also have a party, a magic caster/healer and DPS class with Kris themselves as something of a commander/magic knight class that can put enemies in a state to be spared. You aren’t in complete control of what your party members do either, and I like that. It makes the work you have to do for a bloodless victory seem worth it.

Speaking of that lack of control, that too feels like a nice evolution of Undertale. Where Undertale gave you a lot of choice in how you reacted and acted around people, Deltarune gives you only a little bit of control in the beginning, only granting you a bit near the end of this chapter, and even then it’s not much, especially in certain parts of the narrative.

I love the characters. Susie and Rasiel are fun characters, and Susie goes through a lot of development throughout the chapter. Lancer was a surprisingly fun villain, thought the ending of this chapter has me curious about where he’s going to go as a character.

Yeah... this game is gonna’ be in chapters apparently. Or maybe Chapter 1 is just a demo? I’m not too sure. As much as I’d love to do research on this series I don’t want to be spoiled nor deal with 300 fan-theories on the matter.

Speaking of being spoiled, much like Undertale I recommend you play this game NOW while spoilers are still low. The game only takes about an hour to an hour and a half to finish, and it can be a wild ride of feelings in that hour, but I really recommend play it NOW while you aren’t spoiled and the mention of spoilers outside the tag is low. I usually don’t believe spoilers are a big part of a game’s enjoyment, but I think the twists and turns are best experienced blind. Even I’m trying to be a little vague with my description of the game because I think your raw reaction to some of the events that happen are better experienced blind.

Oh yeah, the soundtrack is great too. Gonna’ be buying that thing on bandcamp pretty soon.

In any case, the game was a fun time, at least for chapter 1. The website to download the game says its intended for people who’ve completed Undertale, but only thing you need is a good idea of Undertale’s main three endings to get some of the easter eggs in the series. Much like Fate/Zero, you can play this game with no knowledge of Undertale and only miss out on a few easter eggs and shoutouts, as (at least for now) the game really isn’t pulling much Lore from the Undertale outside of something that feels like an AU of it.

So yeah, Deltarune is free for download, so I recommend giving it a shot, you won’t be disappointed.

[bigboobshaunt]

Have you ever made a top 10 list of vidya you like? I enjoy reading your insight into games and I think it would be interesting to see that list and your reasons for liking them.

What is your favorite… sibling? Body part??

OK like, technically I did already make one, on this very site a long time ago (technically I reviewed the 10 that made the cut, separately), but I’m not super crazy about my analysis skills then and many that were on that list just ended up changing with time - both because I played more games and because I just ended up realizing I liked different games better.

Given that I absolutely love running my horrible mouth for probably way too long, your ask made me want to do one again, which was already an idea somewhere on the back of my mind.

A couple of disclaimers before we actually get into it: 

No game is perfect. Games are made by human beings, who carry personal biases and intrinsic flaws. I love a ton of games and they are All flawed in different ways and amounts. If anyone tells you a piece of media is straight up perfect, you should run. I am not claiming any of the games on this list are perfect, and I am well aware of their issues. I have eyes and can read.

This is my list, the barometer for it is Me. If anyone reading this takes issue with picks (which is something I keep seeing happen and it still makes no sense) just simply don’t interact or make your own list. Not looking for arguments here.

These are not, of course, gonna be in-depth for all of the games, just what exactly makes me like them so much, which was what I was asked. There are only so many spoons an enby can have, after all.

I tried keeping it to one game per franchise (barring one arguable exception) because otherwise this would get much, much harder than it already was.

Additionally, I failed to round out 10 of them, only managing 9. I beat around the bush a LOT about what the 10th one was gonna be, but no matter what choice, I always felt like I was gonna betray myself in the end, so I have reserved a section for honorable mentions at the end. These are also not numerically ranked, because while I have a long-standing Favorite game of all time, which is the last one I’ll get to, the other ones occupy uncertain, ever-changing spots.

I’m currently sitting atop a good pile of games I’ve been meaning to check out for ages, and since 2 games I’ve played recently made this list, I think it’s prudent to also make a spot for games I plan on playing to completion soon.

Here you go, anon! (And anyone else who might be interested)

Stardew Valley:

This game is both the most recent release to be on this list and also the newest entry, since it literally hasn’t been a month since I’ve finished it, and that’s part of why I placed it first here.

Though saying I “finished it” is kind of a lie, and that in itself reveals the magic, even after the “soft ending” I just keep going back to it every day, because it’s a world that just puts me in such a relaxed state… I want to spend time in my farm with my bisexual husband every day and I’m already planning two other playthroughs even if my first one is already creeping up on 100 hours!

See also: I’m… not particularly into farming sims? I’ve tried getting into them before but I just found them a little inane and unfocused, if that makes sense, so if my love for a game can transcend even a genre itself, I’d say that’s a pretty well-executed game, generally speaking.

I just also find it super endearing that the entire game was made by one person. From the artwork, the writing and the soundtrack… it’s crystal clear that a LOT of love and genuine effort went into it, and that’s very heartwarming and gives me hope.

Speaking of love, it’s also the entry in this list that has the most queer representation in it, and that’s a huuuuge plus for me, as a nonbinary bisexual. It’s a pretty cute game, and it also still manages to juggle a lot of complex themes which are very personally relatable to me with surprising tact.

Pokémon Black and White:

This is going to date this post pretty hard, but I’m actually replaying this one riiiight now. It’s actually right next to me on the table. How quaint!

These have been my favorite main Pokémon games since their release, and it’s largely a case of me being awed by its story and characters when I didn’t expect to be. I also really appreciate the risk these ones took by excluding Pokémon of previous regions to post-game content, since it forces you to get to know the new ones (which are both plentiful and incredibly creative imho!!) as you make your team.

I really appreciate the moral themes explored in this game, and how they even toyed with core concepts that had been with the series from the word go, questioning the morality we were just supposed to accept from the onset of this franchise, to the point that I’ve seen many people feel guilty about opposing this game’s main antagonistic force, N (who’s one of my favorite characters in fiction, at that).

If we’re talking strictly about casts as collective, this one has my favorite, without a doubt, in terms of rivals, antagonists, gym leaders, and even other minor npcs. I liked how they managed to effectively tie in the gym leaders with the plot, which really should be done more often, and I feel the games suffer when that doesn’t happen (hey X and Y! what’s up). The character development a lot of characters get in the sequel (which while still good, I’m not as fond of) is also very good!

Am I also still salty about folks passing this one up and then posting misinformed, under-researched opinions about it, or even deriding the Pokémon designs? Maybe! …Yeah, okay, I am. I have vivid memories of forum posts at the time, okay?

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time/Darkness/Sky:

So this was the exception I was hinting at before, in the disclaimers. It’s a spin-off that’s quite different than the main series in gameplay, so I’m counting it. I really couldn’t live with myself if I made a list of my fave games and didn’t put this one in it, seeing as it’s one of the most surefire ways to make me cry there ever were.

Much like the previous entry, this one is yet another case of the writing taking me entirely by surprise. It would have been very easy to make this spin-off a quick cash-in just using the Pokémon name, but hot damn does this one’s narrative deliver in good writing.

The previous Mystery Dungeon game was absolutely no slouch in touching very dark themes, but I do feel like those were executed both better and more uniquely in the “sequel.”

Every part of this game past the time travel is just lip-smacking, and although it starts slow, you can definitely see pleeeenty of foreshadowing nearly everywhere, which makes replaying this one very fun. It’s definitely also on my “Must replay at least once a year” list as well.

I think every game in this list has a great soundtrack, but this one takes the cake in utilizing it to heighten my emotions. I think everyone reading this who’s familiar with the game knows what I mean when I say that the farewell scene (and the track that plays in it) is completely heartwrenching and beautiful. Definitely one of my favorite scenes in gaming.

I’m also gonna give a shoutout to the relationship between the player and the partner here for being super endearing and genuinely touching, whether you see it as romantic or platonic.

Sidenote: I will have the liver of that one reviewer who stopped at Apple Woods and then said this game was nothing special.

The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask:

The prize for reused assets done well goes to…

I would follow that up with a joke, but I’m not gonna. This is legitimately a good thing imo. I think it’s incredible that this game was made in one year because they had to rush it, and there’s a lot you can learn about game design and creatively cutting corners by the way Termina was created, too.

The fact that this game came out as great as it did is almost a miracle, everything considered! I really like the setting here, it’s so delightfully weird, and it makes me care about the fate of even its incredibly minor characters, which makes their impending doom and that of Link’s even more harrowing.

I could see how the time-management aspect of it wouldn’t fly with a lot of people, and admittedly I’m most familiar with the 3DS remake, so I can’t comment too much on how it used to be originally, but I think it largely synergizes well with the story. This IS a world about to end, so it feels warranted in a way that could be tough to justify otherwise.

This game also does something very well with horror, both in-game and in backstory, which is that it doesn’t spell out every implication and event out for you, but it implies juuuust enough that your mind makes you even more anxious and paranoid, as nothing could ever be as scary as your mind actually makes it out to be, and toying with this is way better than outright throwing scary shit at you… even if this game does that as well, what with those mask transformations and whatnot! Jeez.

Undertale:

I don’t know how to start this entry without outright saying this in some shape or form, so it’ll have to do - I don’t care about the fandom. I just don’t. They’ll do whatever the fuck they want with those terrible AUs and character biases, and I’ll bemoan it as usual, but I actively refuse to stop loving Undertale as it is because of them.

This game is a brilliant commentary on video games as a whole and has a great metanarrative! Pretty brilliantly and excellently executed, to be honest. It’s also yet another game that makes me cry frequently, and also makes me introspect more than I already do.

The gameplay itself can be hit or miss for me, but I don’t feel like it hurts the strength of what is there in other areas like storytelling, worldbuilding, soundtrack and character writing. It’s a bit like pinching a very hearty, stout elephant!

The different endings offer very, very different experiences that ultimately contribute to this setting and its commentary as a whole, even if I’m too much of a goody-two-shoes to ever do the No Mercy Run, but I enjoy the fact that it exists AND that the game itself calls me out for not doing it myself but watching it on youtube. Boy, did I get read for filth with that one. 

It’s also a game that masterfully implements a very specific kind of humor that I can’t get enough of, and it does so while simultaneously developing its characters and giving each of them just enough time to shine. It’s a great cast, all in all. I just wish people would appreciate more than one of the characters.

Fire Emblem: Awakening:

Like the game that made me etch a symbol on my fucking flesh forever wouldn’t make the cut. Come on.

I feel like this is the game in the series that comes the closest to getting the balance of qualities I appreciate about gaming right. It could always be better in a multitude of areas, but there’s a reason why it’s one of my most replayed games in general. The more whimsical tone? Doesn’t actually come close to bothering me, at the end of the day.

A lot of people don’t really attempt to get to know the characters like, at all, and then go on to say really dumb shit about them on social media that I’ve been known to flip the fuck about, just a little. But there’s just so many little details and anecdotes about them that you can learn through supports that make them feel more familiar to me, personally, than other casts even within the same series.

This game is also the one responsible for getting me through a really hard time in real life, so of course I still hold it extremely dear while growing out my critical lenses about it simultaneously (Yes, this can in fact be done). It did something similar to the franchise, too, which is always incredible and noteworthy!

It’s also responsible for me being on this site, so you really can say that its impact on my life is the biggest on this list, and I’m… not at all ashamed of admitting that.

I’m pretty sure I’ve spent over 500 hours with this one, without even counting the hours spent re-reading supports and other convos for my writing. This is a lot of goddamn time, but I don’t necessarily want it back, and that’s a good thing.

Udobure owns my soul.

Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia:

If you were to suck out my brain into this fucked up jar thing and make it spit out my aesthetic biases in creative goop that creates games, two of them would come forth from this messy birth - Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia and Bloodborne.

Given that I’ve actually played OoE myself, it goes on the list! End overview.

…Now, that’s not exactly untrue, but I would be underselling the game if I left that as is, so I’ll clarify other aspects about it that I enjoy.

The main character, for one, she’s one of my favorite protagonists, and it makes me glad she seemed to be popular, but I’m not exactly thrilled with how what a lot of people (and the company) remember about her is fanservice. 

Her story really struck a chord with me. She’s been robbed of her own emotions and memories at the start of the game, and when she regains slivers of it throughout the game, they still feel foreign to her, but even when things look to be at their absolute lowest (REAL nice plot twist, by the by!) not even that will stop her from performing her duty.

Another thing I enjoyed about this one was the difficulty. Normally, I’m not one to prefer the higher settings just because, and even when I try them, I frequently find myself in the position of questioning the absolute bullshit some games pull to fake any actual difficulty, but it works here because it’s actually balanced really well with what you can do and what you have available to you, making you actually think strategically.

Another thing I liked about this title that makes it stand out from the rest of the series is the map variety, since Shanoa isn’t constrained to Castlevania for the entire run, the game has an actual opportunity to show different locales, which is nice, even if they sometimes get reused in a boring way with just a different paint job.

Bayonetta:

Thiiiiis one gets on here for the longest period of courtship, without a doubt. I’ve been wanting to play it ever since it came out, but only got around to it this very year, since it was finally released on a platform I owned.

Well, alright, that’s one of the reasons, the other reason it’s here? It’s fun as FUCK to play! Every movement you make, every action flows into another and the combos all feel very natural, easy, but not devoid of strategy or thinking behind them. Beyond the gameplay, the entire thing is so darn over-the-top in typical Platinum fashion. It’s a very enjoyable ride that never forgets video games are supposed to be fun, above all.

I absolutely adore Bayonetta herself as a character. She is so amazing and multi-faceted despite the fanservice packaging. She’s quipping like the best of them in one scene, like nothing ever affects her, and then also ripping your heart out later when she shows believable vulnerability. 

I would be remiss to not mention the soundtrack, since it’s one of my favorites in gaming (beaten only by the very next entry on here) and is also my go-to for writing; Between fun, catchy themes like Mysterious Destiny and Tomorrow Is Mine, reimaginings of older songs that imho are better than the originals, like Fly Me To The Moon and Moon RIver and utterly jaw-dropping boss themes like Blood and Darkness and The Greatest Jubilee, the OST conveys every beat of the action spectacularly and makes the experience even more memorable than it would have already been.

Bayojeanne forever.

Legend of Mana:

I swear I’m not trying to be hipster-y by having my favorite one also be the least popular one on the list (by a long shot) but it’s likely that the fact that content for it is so rare somewhat influenced how close this game is to my heart, in a way. I think it made me cherish it more.

You won’t find another game quite like this one, I don’t think. The setting is extremely unique in that… you build it. You have to decide where every area in the game goes and all. It’s actually implied you’re rebuilding this world after all the magic in it has gone to shit. It’s something I really like, for sure.

It definitely makes you work for its story, and though the gist of it is presented in a cumbersome way, being exposited in history tomes you can acquire and view in a specific location… even they don’t completely spell out the backstory of this world, but in a good way rather than the usual “we blatantly didn’t finish this” kind of way. It helps that there is a lot you can learn about it from environmental storytelling and interpretation, as well. I like that, being asked to think about symbolism and what it means.

Another good point about this game that’s difficult to articulate is that it manages to create an entire world with its own set of morals and philosophies that, if taken at face value, can sound completely alien to us, but the game immerses me so deep into its world, that I end up understanding what they mean by it anyways and sympathizing where I might have not. I think that helped shape my introspective nature a lot, in retrospect. 

 There’s also the fact that although the four biggest story arcs aren’t actually linked at all, they do still absolutely play into the same major theme… even if a lot of people end up missing what it is due to how obtuse this game can be (It’s love, my dudes. Love and its classical understandings are the theme that permeates this game’s setting).

It’s also absolutely impossible for me to talk about Legend of Mana without gushing about its art design. Even if the graphics themselves aren’t great, the way it implements backgrounds still completely floors me every time I play. It does really interesting things with perspective, which you don’t see often. Hell, even the aptly-named Junkyard is unreasonably gorgeous.

The soundtrack, then? It’s Yoko Shimomura at her absolute best. It goes all the way between upbeat melodies and soul-rending compositions and it’s just intensely distinctive. A special note goes to the song City of Flickering Destruction, which still makes my heart tighten even after so many years.

Whew uh, this got long… if you’ve read this far, congratulations! You certainly can put up with an untold amount of bullshit. I’m sorry this became so disorganized, but I also… really enjoy sharing these. Really, I do. I hope I at least piqued your interest with even one of these entries. That alone would make writing this worth it a thousand times over.

Honorable mentions: Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones, Fire Emblem: New Mystery of the Emblem, Earthbound, Bloodborne, Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate, Pokémon Emerald, Pokémon Sun, Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia,  The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, Digimon World Dusk, Super Mario Sunshine, Super Mario Galaxy, New Super Mario Bros., Super Smash Bros For 3DS, Silent Hill 3, Resident Evil, Resident Evil 4, Resident Evil: Revelations, Resident Evil: Revelations 2, Bravely Default, Night in the Woods, Shovel Knight, Zero Escape: 9 Hours 9 Persons 9 Doors, Okami, Sonic 3 & Knuckles.

To play list: Dragon Age: Origins, Transistor, Bastion, The Darkness II, Skyrim, Hollow Knight, Dark Souls, Dark Souls II,  Sonic Mania, Resident Evil 5, Resident Evil 6, Alan Wake, Sonic Mania, Kingdom Hearts.