#so shiny and spiffy!

[notmuchtoconceal]

whenever i'm talking to left-of-center softboys who tend to be non-confrontational, they usually default to assuming i'm one of those bootstrapper types, cause i'm so intense, so masc and so ravishingly sexual, i'm more or less completely oblivious to how much you want me, cause -- unlike you -- i only get to stare at myself when i pass a mirror, otherwise i'm looking at you, considering you, or maybe considering something else? is that weird? that i notice you and don't constantly flaunt it, cause i'm not trying to get your attention? is the fact that i notice ur trying to get my attention what makes me not wanna notice u? why am i noticing the attempt, and not being moved by the effect? why do you think i would be as into you, as you are into me? do you think i find you as hot as you find me? how much of you finding me hot is you using me because, on some level, you'd rather be me, and what you want is me to be gone so you can have some alone time with my body? i can jack off to myself without you, you know. what are you bringing to the table? honestly, bro. if you can't even pretend to respect who I am long enough to ingratiate yourself with me, why do you think you deserve my hot sweaty cock up your tight lil hole? i'm still in this fucking body. you haven't displaced it yet. you're not gonna displace it. i fuckin own you now. you fuckin love being owned by me. you think it's flattering that you want me for what i have? cause i wanna be around someone who has so little, all they do is sit around and want shit that belongs to other people? you're coming up to me, bringing all kinds of energy and intentions i don't know, then you're doing the bare minimum, cause you wanna be serviced and think I should make all the moves, cause you don't want a dance partner, you want a daddy. bro, all the fuckin shit i got on my mind, and you can't even seduce me or get me in the mood? why don't u fuckin make me happy, u want me to be happy don't u? i know you do. all the fuckin free content i'm postin to my page ain't enough for you, you wanna pop in and get more without a liftin a finger? yeah, worse than a woman, bro. don't waste my fuckin time, u can't even strut.

i don't wanna fucking need you. being needed is sick and weird. people who need to be needed to do weird shit to keep you needing em, they're like fucking drug pushers. they want to be your fix, cause they don't value your autonomy and happiness. i don't wanna rip your asshole apart and be stitched to you by guilt and shame, so -- hey. we may be making each other sick and miserable, but at least we know nobody's walkin out! i wanna fuckin love you and love you perfectly because i know you're completely superfluous! the fact that i don't need you at all is what will ultimately make me need you most and that is why love is a glorious paradox which can only be reconciled by the living it, bitch.

so, yeah. jittery nerd boys tend to assume i'm a bootstrapper type, as opposed to someone raised by drunks who attracts a lot of learned helplessness. i tend to default to not asking for help, cause what i need won't be offered, and it's dangerous to delude myself into thinking otherwise. humans live in tribes, and you don't have the protection of other people around ya, it does shit to your brain, but if you're smart, you can adapt. sometimes people resent your ability to adapt because they know they've been made lesser and feel they were never "allowed" to try and adapt. that is, they were beaten back into place and learned the wrong lesson too soon, so they never tried again, never diversified their approach, never subjected themselves to more fruitless struggle to really see how futile the effort was. it's sometimes a decision if it's worth trying to make what you have to offer work. i never once said it would be easy or instantaneous. i never said there'd be no inertia, no pain, no struggle. that sounds more like a concealed wish on your part, bud. i'm mostly pointing out that, when it comes to passivity, coercion, brainwashing, it continues because We Are Always Accepting It and That Is A Choice and While There Will Be Consequences and Sacrifices To Be Made, we can stop accepting our brainwashing, stop accepting our priming, see what changes come easy, see which ones we really gotta fight for.

i tend to fall in and out of the habit of prioritizing other people's feelings.

i'd used to think this was because i was socially retarded and there was something wrong with me. i was, and there was, but this wasn't an intrinsic feature of my psyche, or something which composed a part of my essence. -- rather, it was something which was implanted.

when i look back at my life, i'm forced to conclude that i had naturally high intelligence from the start. i can't speak for everyone, but i suspect most developmentally typical children possess a similar amount of boundless consciousness, albeit dispersed along their natural inclinations. i myself was always drawn towards language, and always felt in my own head, and got a sense that i could pick up on multiple and contradictory meanings in type. i'd tended naturally to pick up on patterns in stories, anticipate certain things, remember certain cues easier. certain subjects and ideas came to me as though second-nature and i gravitated towards them, and in doing so achieved something of my unique potential.

this ought be everybody's right, though i myself, still being a member of everyone, was not allowed idyllic and infinite time for study and pleasure.

the members of my family, far exceeding what ought be typical a healthy employee/employer relation seemed, rather than working to live, living to work, and i had as a young man attributed this to greed, appetite, lust. money, money, money, get drunk it's so funny to screw in the open and walk around naked in front of children. sure, they did do this openly in the 70's, in locker rooms, dad, but now that i am a man, i am told that you were showing me your dick because u wanted me to suck it. would i have had such severe body dysmorphia if i'd been exposed to more naked men as a kid? ... how the fuck does any baseball coach do their job anymore? my father took me to the YMCA. did i see naked old men in there? was that a traumatic memory i blurred out, or was that normal and i'm only making it weird now? is it kiddie porn to photograph your child naked in the bath, i always thought that was sus. please tell me if i was groomed, trusted male authority figure. i don't know who to think for myself.

reap what you sow

reap what you sow

reap what you sow

(hyuk-hyuk!

u are being fondled as a boy now

in this and all timelines

u are under the fan

ur child rapist father is gettin his ass slammered)

honestly, bro. i have so many better things to ruminate over. stop trying to fucking gaslight me into thinking i was groomed, holy shit. how do you square fucking men openly with being this much of a bootlicker? can you give me an answer even stupider than the question i just asked?

so as i was saying, this should be everyone's right, the time and the freedom, once social dues are paid or survival conditions mitigated, to discover and develop their unique potentials, but as is typical, as it was with my parents, there tends to set in a feeling of bitter hopelessness, of fatalistic inclination towards the route pressures of the pre-determined, for one comes to so clearly see the mechanisms into which they've been slotted, so clearly see the ways in which they've been amputated and manually rotated, that they've dug themselves into a cozy little ditch, with nothing much worth living for, particularly when "Family" is both a flimsy pretense as well as your only bond, for no matter how aching, mechanical and transactional it becomes with a bloodsucker, that's still your closest and only available source of nourishment.

it's as though one trains themselves to accept less, to expect less, to reduce their overall capacity for joy to mitigate pain, already having so much, so many things to do, and so many obligations to attend to.

these things always come on a case-by-case basis. you ought know your own life better than anyone. who knows all the ways you yourself were right all along, how the things others made you feel stupid for were simply not fully-developed or fully contextualized. all the ways you were forced to prioritize the expectations of others, their way of thinking, their categorizations, the phrases they use, unintentionally internalizing their biases and mistaking their feelings and preferences for your own -- just repeating back things you've heard, with little variation, as though preserving some pure intention, but nonetheless in doing so, failing to explore your own, or finding yourself something like an old prop box at the back of a costume closet, begging for a flesh to fill the void.

I Suspect What Kills Technologically Advanced Nations Is Their Slow Enslavement and Consumption By The False God of Comfort.

aforementioned soft-boys whom i befriend -- they were called dandy lions among the rush bushes (rose bushes / bull rushes!) by a charming young gentleman i ruthlessly interrogated earlier this evening -- tend to be baffled by the tendency of hyper-masc types or (hank hill voice) hwhaoite peayhpyuhl (effortlessly revealed another lovecraft monster. start offering unto it libations, beta bitches. piss in a bud light can, leave it out on the sidewalk, whisper His name in the light of the moon and leave it for a beat cop to drink Who Is His Instrument) to expose themselves to deliberate hardship or "rough it" and this is simply because good stolid state of nature boys intuitively understand an organism is the sum of its biorhythms, that is, carved and sculpted by the paths it routinely takes. constantly exerting force -- strength training -- keeps you strong. constantly laying on your ass and being taken care of makes you a dependent baby. you need to voluntarily take on responsibility, and the more you do it, the better you get at it. now, some people can become too rigid, too inflexible, and stress themselves the fuck out by being too strict, and this can make disciplinary thinking its own drug, its own form of escapism -- workaholism often goes hand-in-hand with alcoholism, but workaholism is also why we allowed a dark sorcerer like John Harvey Kellog to brainwash us into thinking breakfast is anything but a ploy to lull you into a dazed sugar-carb stupor every morning to cow u up for the workday, and also circumcision is a good for children, and it's not at all weird that ur anti-groomer sky god likes to cut babydicks, no christianity, u don't get to accuse the jews of worshipping the devil not when u worship the same one and anyway everybody knows He lives at the Vatican, Where You Keep All Your Finest and Most Comely Slave Boys

Don't Lie I Saw Them.

you need to explore your own talents, kids. you need to get these stresses out in a productive way which's cathartic for you. it's good when you cry. your eyes physically accumulate a lot of debris and crying washes them out. when you feel something, you get it out of your system. next time you feel Real Fuckin Bad and you just wanna reach for the vape or your phone or a cigarette or another twinkie or Whatever The Fuck It is ... bro, just stop. just stop and don't run away from it. just let yourself feel bad for a bit. just ... just let it happen, bro. it's not gonna hurt. it's already hurt. you're just remembering how much it already hurt. once you remember, you won't have to forget, you can just not think about it. it's okay, bro. it can't hurt you. you don't need to hurt anyone. it's okay, bro.

Sometimes If It Won't Stop Hurting, You Might Just Have To Make Something. Maybe What You Make Will Be Bad. It don't matter. You don't have to show it to anybody. Just look at it. Look at what you made. Look at what you like about it, look at what about it you think isn't coming across as finely articulated as you'd like. See what's a legitimate shortcoming, and what's an emerging property of your style. You'll have to keep it relational between developing your overall skillset vs. developing certain aspects, and sometimes certain things can coast because a stable foundation of competency is Better Than Good Enough, and if there's some things it seems like are coming way harder than others, it's Fruitful to Know How to Compensate Elsewhere to Conceal or Mitigate This. Sometimes we have decent reasons to hide things. The best way to hide something which isn't shameful, but nonetheless Not Worth Going Into Right Now is to prepare A Convincing Cover Story. Something casually stated, but not quite non-committal. Think of it as the construction of a shrine. You're embellishing both to conceal and reveal, but at a pace you're more comfortable with. A telling detail, telling of the whole, but able to eclipse it. It's the sort of thing that, once you slip the mask off, you find the face beneath is somehow just as lovely. You want to speak as though your lie is rapidly becoming the truth, for you are speaking plainly and with the facts, in service to the truth, but nonetheless, here we are on a detour, you should only be thinking of it as the scenic route.

There Are Many Finer Points to Artistry,

Though Sometimes We Do Our Best Work When Clumsy

So yes, I fall in and out of the habit of prioritizing other people's feelings, because sometimes -- certain lessons being learned, others unlearned -- I allow the development of new strategies to slowly shift my priorities and lose contact with my own internal locus of self-control by, in a sense, allowing myself to fall too under the gravity of another's thought, to the point where i am captured and come into their orbit, which, if you're a rogue body can lead to nowhere but inevitable collision.

This is partly because I am a highly personalized rig, previously unaware of the ways I could be reformatted by rogue installs, though it's just as much because of the tension of What I Know vs. What The Other Person Doesn't vs. What I Don't Know They Don't Know and What They Don't Know They Don't Know. If you, say, grow up in highly bizarre circumstances and everyone around you assumes theirs are normal ... they may not consider the ways your circumstances are nothing like theirs, they're Far Too Used To Assuming Everyone Shares the Same Normal ... and what's just as true, is that you yourself might not even stop to consider all the ways your abnormal normal in-fact quite neatly dovetails with their abnormal normal, for the only thing truly shocking about your circumstances is the frankness, all the other gay boys out there are a helluva lot better at keepin this shit on the downlow!

It's so weird to think that so many people can be so afraid of communication because they consider so much of communication to be conflict -- every silence a minefield to navigate, every improperly feigned tone an open fire! On every messenger! Kill every envoy! Let nothing get through! Walls up! Nobody's gettin in or out alive!

If everyone's running from something and getting nowhere, is a free country anything more than a bunch of a scared pissing lil rodents running around on hamster wheels, beefed up to roid-estate scale with big gaudy flashing LCD rims and shrieking tire music on every carousel?

just be aware, bro. it's all i ask and it's what you want.

be aware of how the things you're letting into your life are influencing you. honestly assess how much certain things may be holding you back. what seems like it's a fixed and immovable part of your life that's only being held there, gravitationally in place, by five or six other things You Don't Actually Need because you've allowed so many things to become entangled which don't need to be, and maybe in some ways you'd let these things bloat and obscure and compose a Strange Tapestry for you longed to Veil Some Stain, but now You Are A Man and may Strip Down to Your Briefs and Bare Your Pockmarked Flesh to the Sun.

No matter what you do next, you're gonna act, in service to someone or something, and the more aware you are of all the things you're already doing and all the things you're already serving, the better able you'll be to negotiate and navigate the situations and the circumstances you're already in, so the only thing that's possibly gonna happen now is that you're gonna get more aware, happier and better, lil guy.

ain't it fuckin grand to have such a swell big bro?

[theloveinc]

sugishita gives you cute, fat babies fyi

[adsosfraser]

always

everlark; post mockingjay; jealous katniss

The roof is leaking. 

The tin bucket rings with the tap tap tap of the evenly spaced droplets. 

The deluge of rain hit hard last night and it has me humming happily, excitement in my chest. 

I’ve always loved thunder. The way it rolls deep within my chest and echoes in the deep old bones of the mountains around us. I would squeal with each clap and reach up to catch it in our Seam home as my daddy smiled from his chipped armchair. We’d play a game of hopping from spot to spot on the floor at each rumble and though his eyes hung in deep dark circles from his shifts in the mines, my father never tired. Then, Prim was born and she was terrified of thunderstorms for a time. 

It’s just one leak in our shiny and spiffy Capitol made home that’s been standing for almost a century now though. Thom and his builders have much more important things on their minds than a tiny leak in our roof. 

Some people still don’t even have roofs. The make-shift canvas of the sturdy tents lining the district hardly constitute roofs. 

When the war began, the Capitol wasn’t quite as invested in the architecture in their dear sweet Victors’ homes. They couldn’t keep up their perfect veneer in District 12 when they obliterated it into the ground. The poor things. 

And besides, a little water didn’t hurt that much. In my father’s home, we had at least ten designated containers to catch the drip of rainfall. 

When I step outside into the morning, the sun is bright and clear in the sky. No trace of the ominous grey and green puffs above remains. The grass is wet and smells of rain. A small trickle of a stream has formed on the gravelly road, opposite our home. At least the geese have been subdued into some semblance of peace because of the storm. 

Peeta had left this morning before the sun even stretched out into the sky. Usually I would already be out in the woods too, or by his side watching him knead dough or wipe sweat off his brow. 

But, I couldn’t settle last night. Even in Peeta’s arms I was restless. And when my eyes finally drooped shut, a nightmare had found me. The giant crash of thunder that split the sky in two in the middle of the night woke me up. In my dreams all I heard were bombs and gunfire. It had reminded me of-

Peeta let me rest in this morning when he heard my grumpy grunt as I shoved my face under the pillows to hide from the sunlight. Not that he let me do anything. But he had gently tucked me back in and left a muffin on my nightstand for when I was ready. 

Part of me wanted to pull him back in by the shirt of his buttoned collar and waste away the day. But even my arms wouldn’t listen to my demands. The bed was so nice and I fell deep into the mattress covered in one of the sheets as Peeta left the fan to run for me. The cinnamon and dill buried deep within the fabric of his side made me feel like I was rocking on a boat, in a lake with gentle rolling waves in my head. 

Besides, we haven't even kissed since he returned to me almost four months ago. At first the chaos of finishing the important parts of the bakery and going through the final touches to get it up and running had us distracted. Now I’m not so sure he wants to kiss me. 

I kick the loose rocks littering my path to the bakery. They skip and hop and fling themselves in the air. One hits another rock and angles itself to launch at someone passing me clear across the street but their back is turned and they don’t even feel it ping off the heel of their boot. I mumble an apology to myself though, and feel the heat of shame caving in on me from every inch of air around me. 

Before I know it, I’m in front of the bakery. It was one of the first buildings up in Twelve. Everytime I see it my heart swells with pride for Peeta. Even though it’s just the bare bones now, I can see its future clear across every brick. The sign hangs proudly over the front. The ‘s’ in Mellark’s is slightly crooked and splotchy because of my shaky hands, but when Peeta began painting it with such excited and reverent hands, he insisted I contribute to at least one part of it. 

Normally, I never enter through the front door of the bakery. The back door has always been home to me in a way. The first time I ever came to the back doorstep, I was sitting tall on my father’s shoulders and happily babbling along to a tune he was singing. He and Mr. Mellark quickly exchanged two squirrels with a respectful nod and I mimicked them which put the trace of a laugh onto the baker’s weathered face.  

Now, I want to surprise Peeta as one of his customers. The bell of the door jingles as I walk through the door. No one mans the front counter so he must be in the back. 

“I’ll be with you shortly.” 

His voice carries through the opening to the room with the ovens and prep tables and my shoulders relax at his calm but steady voice. The way the bakery was built and rebuilt, it’s easy for him to call out to customers without having to yell. My lip twitches up into a soft smile and I pull out one of the chairs dotting the tables around the room. 

His clomping footsteps and another ring of the bell clash together in my mind. I look up to see the new customer, expecting someone from Thom’s crew but I instantly tense up at the sight. 

Her hair is coiled perfectly into ringlets around her face and a big fur coat rests on her shoulders. Her chest is unnaturally large and her bottom even more so. But she’s perfect, right down to her nails. Not a blemish in sight and her blonde hair shines with health and lustre. 

She’s big and pretty.

“Artementia!” 

Peeta’s shout pulls me from my scrutiny of the clearly Capitol woman. His steps are quick as he approaches her and wipes the flour off of his hands onto his apron. 

My head jerks back when he reaches for her across the counter and they embrace. His smile is brilliant and he doesn’t even notice me lurking in the corner. 

“Oh my dear.” They pull back from their hug and that woman kisses both of his cheeks, dangerously close to the corner of his mouth. “It’s been far too long.” 

“It really has Artie.” He squeezes her hand. “How have things been for you?” 

“Well why don’t we go and have lunch together? I’m sure you’ll be having your break soon anyway.” 

“It’s just me today, I’m not sure I can just close up shop for my lunch break.” 

“They can survive without you for an hour I’m sure. Just flip your little sign over and we can go to the opening of that restaurant down the street.” 

Peeta’s head turns to the back, searching a long moment for something. When he turns around, it seems he’s already made up his mind. He lets out a sigh before plastering his smile back on for the woman. 

“Well alright,” His hands work swiftly to unknot the apron around his waist and place it on the counter. “Sure wouldn’t want anyone else to give you the grand tour of our pristine district.” 

She places a hand over her chest and lets out a soft laugh and Peeta’s chest rumbles with a short chuckle. 

They walk over to the door, not even glancing my way as Peeta flips the sign on the door over to ‘closed’ and locks the door. Before the door smacks shut behind them, I shove it open and storm past them in the opposite direction. To the woods. 

The rock in my hand scatters to the ground. 

It was pretty and I thought Peeta would’ve enjoyed its smooth surface and swirling brown rings. 

But maybe now it’s not enough to preoccupy his mind with the pretty blood and flesh woman beside him. 

His head whips back to the loud sound of the slamming door and ping of the rock and I quickly turn my face away from his line of vision. 

“Katniss?” His hopeful voice calls out. But I’m already pushing to round the corner of the rebuilt merchant businesses. “Katniss!” 

He can have fun with his gorgeous Capitol woman on his arm. I don’t care. 

I save the grumbling for later though, my mind focuses on the ground below me as my legs carry me in a spring towards the fence. I duck under my spot in the chain-link and snatch up my bow and arrows. 

After the fifth poor squirrel participates in my very important exercise of letting my feeling’s flow for the day, I climb up a strong and tall tree. I lean into the familiarity of pulling myself up its sprawling branches and swinging my body up and up. Reaching for the sky just as its leaves are. 

Have I really lost my dandelion in the spring already? 

Did the hungry storms of last night, and the contrast of the harsh summer sun this morning already wilt it?

He so easily welcomed that woman’s touch. Someone from the Capitol no less. And he’s barely touched me in months. Save our desperate grip on each other as the terrors of the night take over. 

I will not be sharing a town with the woman Peeta so readily shares himself with. 

Instead of rough bark behind my back, I feel the hard arm of a rocking chair digging into my spine. The room is cosy and safe, like Peeta. I feel the sway of my body with the branches of the tree and hug my knees tight to my chest. 

“This baby takes nothing from you Kitty, my heart just has to grow some more. Like my tummy. That’s all.” 

I relax into her arms, feeling the steady beat of her heart where my head lays. Her stomach is fat, nice and cushy. As fat as anyone in the Seam could ever get. She smells pretty. Like the dirt and plants Daddy lets me dig my grubby little fingers into. I feel the song rattle through my chest as she hums to me. My head gets droopy and I curl further into her. Her hands run through my hair and as she rocks our bodies together on the chair, my head clouds with dreams that I can’t touch yet. But I know they’re there. Happy and warm. 

“I’ll always be right here with you baby.” 

Shivering in the downpour I’ve been caught in, I hum the same tune she soothed me to. Without thinking, my body rocks back and forth on the soaked moss and lichen on the limb closest to the ground. If I let my hand hang limp from my side I could probably brush the tops of the chives sticking out near the base with my fingertips. I don’t remember my journey down from the top of the tree, but it must’ve happened somehow. 

I could be crying. I don’t know. The fat raindrops on my face disguise any that may come. 

But it would be hard to disguise the snot squirming its way out of me. I rub my bare forearm under my nose. 

I do what I do best. 

I run. I hide away. And I sulk. 

It doesn’t matter. 

They all leave. 

Even if they don’t want to, they always do. My father and Prim's choice was made for them. I don’t know what’s worse. To have Peeta’s choice made for him or for him to actively choose that I no longer fit into his life. 

Either way, it’s all unbearable to think about. I gasp in sharp breaths and my chest is tight with the pain and fatigue of it all. I feel like I’ve just run the worst marathon of my life, and I’ve never even gone over five miles when training for the Quell put a stick up Peeta’s ass. 

His clomping footsteps alert me to his presence long before I can see his form through the sheets of rain obscuring my vision. Maybe if I tuck further into myself he won’t notice me sitting on the lowest branch of the tree. 

I was never a lucky person though. 

He approaches me slowly, like I would a skittish animal. I tuck my chin into the safety of my knees. Surely he’ll go away if I ignore him hard enough. 

I feel the air move around me as he swings a leg up and over and brings his body to rest on the same branch as me. It’s not without difficulty though, I know his leg still bothers him and can be cumbersome at times. After a quiet moment of him gathering his balance again, he lifts my chin up with his finger. 

I can feel the tear tracks, dry and crusty against my cheeks and I know I look like a drowned rat, or rather a drowned Buttercup from my little pity party under the torrential rain. 

“Oh, Katniss.” Warmth floods through me, all-consuming and relieving as his thumb traces the skin under my eye. “What’s wrong baby?”

My nose stings again as a fresh wave of fat tears fall from my eyes at the nickname. My lip wobbles and I can’t breathe. I try to answer, but everything comes out as a choked sob. Peeta reaches around to wrap his arm around me, rubbing my back in comforting circles. When I finally get the words out, they’re incomprehensible with my stuttering breath, throat full of tears, and snot muffling everything. To anyone but Peeta, who knows me so well, past the need for language. 

“Why doesn’t she want me anymore?” 

“What brought all of this on sweet girl?” 

“You’re leaving me.” 

“Not real.” 

“Maybe not your arms. But you are. Your heart.” 

“Never Katniss.” 

Fat rain drops fall from his delicate eyelashes, leaving behind them a darker shade of blond from the moisture. 

“You’re right here Katniss.” His steady and warm hands take my hand that’s shivering from the cold. He guides it straight over his chest and the comforting thump of his heart beneath warms me more than his coat he wrapped tightly around me does. I blink at his motions, my mind puzzling and patching them together into an attempt at coherency. 

His other hand reaches towards me and he watches me closely for any sign of apprehension in my eyes. I can’t manage any to bubble up in me at the moment. Tentatively, he presses the pads of his fingers against my own chest, speeding up the beat of my own heart along with his under the firm press the palm of my hand has against it. His fingers straighten until the heel of his own hand is flush against my heart. The soaked fabric of my shirt clings to us both from the water of the rain. 

“And I’m right here.” The pitch of his voice sounds at the edge of a question and a statement. 

It’s not fair to him to be stuck with me though, just because he knows I wouldn’t be able to handle it. He deserves someone good and beautiful. Just like him. 

Not a girl scarred from the fire she wore for pageantry and glory. 

“I’m not pretty enough for you. I’m not big enough.” 

“Sweetheart.” 

“I wasn’t enough.” 

“Katniss.” My name breaks on his tongue; he physically can’t even force the muscles to move again, as if the ache in his chest is agonisingly painful from the blow of my words. I understand now. His heart is broken. Like I shot an arrow through him instead of the truth. Maybe I did, the day I sang to the birds in kindergarten and we’re forever tethered now from the invisible line of bow string to arrowhead. 

“I love you.” 

His beautifully made eyes well with tears, glossing the blue over with his pain. My eyes begin to water again, even after I’ve exhausted myself of the hydration required to sustain them. It’s not hard to feel what a man like Peeta feels for yourself, deep in your bones. 

“I came back for you. Back to twelve. Back to myself.”

“It kills me that you think you’re not enough. I’m so sorry I said those words in 13 to you. I know I’ll never be able to take them back. Or the-” He stares at my throat, where his hands once wove together into a nest of fear and pure hatred and I swallow under his gaze. “But I promise Katniss. I will remind you how beautiful and smart and brave and loving you are every single day. You are perfect for me.” 

“But you don’t want me.” 

“I’ve wanted you that way ever since I’ve understood what it meant.” 

But that doesn’t make sense. His constant distance and the sincerity behind his words clash within my mind. My brow furrows and my face deepens into a scowl.  

“Show me.” 

His eyes drag from their connection with mine, down to my lips. He looks back to me and his eyes widen with an emotion I’m all too familiar with. 

“I’m afraid.” 

“What?” 

“I’m afraid I won’t stop Katniss. They changed me. I don’t want to hurt you.” 

“So don’t stop. You’re my Peeta. No matter what.” 

The kiss is gentle and sweet and I pull my body back against the rough bark, forcing him to lean into me even more. I cradle him between my thighs and smile against his lips. They taste like a fresh burst of blueberries on my tongue and my smile widens at the thought of him sneaking his own fresh muffin from the bakery’s supplies. The way his lips slide against mine, slick with the torrent of rain that assaults us is new and exciting. To consume the very rain itself off of his lip makes my chest flutter at the fact that not even the rain will get the chance to touch him that way so long as I remain in this embrace. 

He shifts slightly against me and I immediately panic at the feel of him in that way. My body stiffens straight under him and he pulls back from my lips with a sheepish grin. 

There’s an apology in his clear eyes but I won’t have that. I speak before his mouth can form the words.  

I blurt out in a pant. “I like kissing you.” 

I tuck my head into his shoulder to hide the blush that crosses my cheeks. But it’s too late. He’s already seen it if the dopey smile on his face is any indication. 

“I like kissing you too.” His lips find the small space of skin by my hairline that isn’t hidden. 

I scoot closer to him and burrow into his chest. 

And that motion was a big mistake. Or maybe the best mistake I’ve made today.

We both carreen down into the cushion of soft grass below us when I push Peeta off-balance. A giggle bursts from my mouth unbidden as I land mostly on top of him. His body bears the brunt of the fall but he seems completely fine and a goofy grin crosses his face. He leans up to me and my heart flutters when he pulls me in for another short, sweet kiss. I nestle my knees around his hips and pull back from him with a smile. 

I reach my hand to his ear and tuck a wisp of blond back behind his ear. The kisses and our proximity have made me bolder. Bold enough to interrogate him. “What is your little blonde girlfriend going to think about this?” 

He sits up to bring his upper body off the damp ground and my body follows him. 

“Who?” 

I roll my eyes at him. I hold a hand to my chest and bat my eyelashes at him. “Oh Peeta it’s been far too long.” 

“So that’s what this was all about. You were jealous?” 

“No.” I scowl, crossing my arms tight over my chest. 

“Katniss, she’s old enough to be our mother. Maybe even our grandmother.”

“Hmm.” My eyebrow twitches. “Maybe you’re into that sort of thing.” 

He wraps his arms tighter around my waist, deliberately lower than where they were last time. He looks into my eyes for any sign that he’s gone too far but I won’t give him any. With a light pressure, he squeezes my backside tentatively with a wolfish grin, as if he’s just gotten away with stealing the last cookie from the cookie jar. 

“What I’m into is what I have my hands full of right now.” 

“But seriously Katniss, she saved us from the bombing in the Capitol after I tried to drag you away. She visited us both but I was the only one awake when she did.” His eyes are tender as he brushes a sopping wet piece of hair off of my collarbone. “It’s only ever been you my darling girl.” 

“And it only ever will be?” 

“Always.”

[the-himawari]

A3! Izumida Azami - Translation [SR] Hyper Work Time (2/2)

*Please read disclaimer on blog; default name set as Izumi

---

Azami: (I’ve never started cleanin’ this early in the morning before. Eh, it’s part of my role study so I’ll take my time with it…) …Is it just me or is it messier than usual? Don’t tell me the guys were playing ‘til late last night…? (Well, it’s fine. It’ll be worth cleanin’ as part of my role study…)

*door opens*

Muku: Ah. Good morning, Azami-kun. Did you come to tidy up?

Azami: Yeah.

Muku: Oh. I think it's so messy since everyone was up late last night playing games…

Azami: Ahh. So that confirms it. Ah well, at least it’s worth cleanin’. Wait, did you come to clean the kitchen?

Muku: Yes, that’s right. I figured I’d go ahead and finish my chores early. That being said, Omi-san and the others always keep the kitchen clean so there’s not much for me to do. I’ll give you a hand here after I’m done.

Azami: Thanks. That’d help.

Muku: Okay, I’ll head to the kitchen then.

Azami: Sure. See ya later. (Aight. I guess it’d be better to start from the taller spots since dust will fall down to the bottom.) ‘Kay, I’ll start dustin’ that shelf and the TV then. I’ll pat it with a wiper, wipe it with water, and then dry it. I bet it’s gonna get dusty in here, so I’ll pick up the things on the floor and table first.

-pause-

Azami: (I’ve wiped down the table and sofa, and I’ve also cleaned the windows and window screens which I basically never do…) It’s tirin’, but it feels good when you give everything a thorough cleaning.

Muku: Sorry for the wait, Azami-kun. I’ve finished with the kitchen so I’m here to help you out.

Azami: Great. Thanks.

Muku: I say that, but it’s all sparkly clean in here! Is there a reason you’re doing such a thorough job…?

Azami: Yeah. Actually, I’m doing the cleanin’ this time as part of my role study for a maid.

Muku: I see. So that’s why you’ve organized everything so neatly. Ah, in this case, would it be better if I left you to it? Seeing as I’m clumsy and all.

Azami: Nah, everyone’s gonna wake up soon so it’d help if you pitched in.

Muku: Are you sure? I’d be happy to! What’s there left to clean?

Azami: Just the floor.

Muku: Oh, that’s it? You’re fast…!

Azami: Since it’s part of my role study, I guess I was able to concentrate on it more than usual.

Muku: I see. Well, I’m also going to act as a maid. I’ll make the floor sparkly clean as role study too.

-pause-

Sakuya: I was really surprised when I saw the lounge was neater than usual…!

Itaru: As one of the ones who left a mess and went to bed, I feel bad seeing how clean it is…

Taichi: Yeahh. We shoulda took more time to put things away before we went to sleep. Sorry about that, A-chan.

Azami: ‘S fine. It’s part of my role study.

Izumi: It’s really impressive though.

Option 1: “You even cleaned the furniture.”

Izumi: You made all the furniture like the shelves, table, and sofa all shiny and spiffy.

Azami: Yeah. I cleaned the shelves by takin’ everything out and putting them back again.

Izumi: Woah. That’s like the level of our big year-end clean up…!

Azami: Sure, it was part of my role study. But it also felt surprisingly nice cleaning and seein’ everything all neat ‘n tidy. I cleaned down to the smallest detail. The next time it’s my turn, I might do this much again if I feel like it.

Izumi: Really? I’d appreciate that…!

Option 2: “You even cleaned the windows.”

Izumi: Did you also clean the windows…!?

Azami: Yeah. I cleaned the windows and even the screens.

Izumi: I thought so…! That’s amazing. It feels like the room looks brighter than usual.

Azami: …Are you sayin’ that more sunlight’s getting in than when the window was dirty?

Izumi: Yeah? That would make sense.

Azami: Then that means we needa take even greater precautions against UV rays than before.

Izumi: (Whoopsies, everyone. Because of me, we might have to step up our countermeasures against UV rays inside the dorm…!)

Azami: By the way, I asked Muku-san to help me clean up this time.

Muku: Eh!? All I did was help you wipe the floor at the very end!

Kumon: AH!? Crap, I spilled the soy sauce…!

Azami: ‘Scuse me!? I just cleaned that. Don’t make it dirty. …There. All clean.

Kumon: Sorry and thanks!

Homare: Splendid! Azami-kun is just like a maid from our home!

Izumi: Yeah, his quick response right now was just like a maid.

Kumon: Azami’s already a pro maid, huh!

Azami: That just now was like a maid, huh… (I didn’t like how the table I just cleaned got dirty, that's all…) (I wonder if real maids feel the same way when they wipe the tables. I think I kinda get how they feel…)

-pause-

Kumon: Alright, all neat and tidy! I’m done with my cleaning duties today!

Azami: Huh? You’re done…?

Kumon: Yep. It’s all clean! I organized, vacuumed, and wiped down the table and TV.

Azami: Clean…? Bruh, here. There’s still dust on the TV’s back corner.

Kumon: Huh?

Azami: Look. With just a quick swipe of your finger, you’ll clearly see the particles—.

Kumon: EHH!? Rather than a pro maid, Azami’s turned into a mother-in-law…!

---

previous |

[notmuchtoconceal]

bro, those rape fantasies u wrote out and won't post publicly are real hot. have u by any chance considered the possibility of fictionalizing them?

i can help u. i'm a writer.

all i do is make real things less than real to make them feel more.

[taybatwo2]

Monster High Skullector Nightmare Before Christmas Review Part 2 of 2

In my last review, I covered the box and most of Sally’s doll, until I ran out of pictures. In this one, I’ll cover Sally’s sculpt and all of Jack.

She has really cute and tiny ears hiding under her soft hair. I feel like most Skullectors’ face molds’ prior use are quickly found by the fandom, but I did not see much for Sally’s head mold, except for a Reddit thread pointing out that she probably used a modified version of the Bee CAM girl (the head does have a 2022 copyright on it).

I can see it, but if so, it was really modified. Bee CAM has a pointier chin, but does have the narrower/pointy nose, similar curving cheeks, and small puckered lips -they’re just over painted on her doll).

If they did use the Bee CAM as a base, they would have had her nose looks better defined, her chin shaved down, her lips look more inline with each other, and she received tiny round ears when/if they did use this sculpt.

They look juuuuust different enough that she might have a new sculpt or someone else’s. Does anyone else think she might resemble another character? I really should take some acetone to clean off those shiny spots on my Bee CAM’s forehead.

Okay, now for the main dish: JACK the Pump-kin KING

More under the cut:

He is seriously SO CUTE! I love his round vinyl head, his sculpted in mouth, his upturned nose, his subtle brow ridges, and blacked out eyes (thank GOD they did not genderswap him and make him look like someone doing a cosplay of Jack- like I have seen some AWESOME artwork of a more “Monster High” Jack and I think they are all playing it too safe or off model for it to be Jack). I mean these were all background characters for G1 Monster High:

He looks like another version of Eyera and would fit right into the Monster High universe in my opinion.

Okay, let’s get a close up of his shoes. They are very intricate (perfectly Monster High, and have the Spiral Hill as the heel and a teeny tiny skullete on the front of his shoes). His outfit is, unfortunately, just the two pieces and that printed, thin, satin fabric (probably to cut costs on Jack’s new head and body sculpt).

Here is his jacket. I like the print of his jacket. It is just different enough from his original movie look without looking garish.

Yup, one piece. I can understand attaching his pants and shirt together (so his pants don’t fall down…although some spiffy Pumpkin King Suspenders would have looked cool too), but it would have been nice if the vest was removable.

Hexiciah has three separate pieces…..and his set was cheaper than this set (but I suppose they need to charge more for the license….does anyone else wish they’d make older characters that were never turned into dolls again???). The shirt has real metal buttons on it though. Also, his vest reminds me of his prequel version in the graphic novel: Battle for the Pumpkin King:

Jack compared to other Monster High Manster body types (minus G3 and Finnegan). But, this comparison is a bit unfair…..Frankenstein’s Monster has lifts, and Jack is wearing heels…

Hexiciah is towering over all of them. He is actually about the same height as the buffer manster body and the default G1 body. He fits right on in. He’s also very fun to pose, but his elbow joints are bit stiff and (I’m going to assume) delicate. They also come off fairly easily.

His stand is taller than most of the Monster High characters (even Hexiciah’s) because his little stand needs to sit up higher in his ribs to hold him. His clip is also the exact same as Sally’s.

With Jack’s rectangle plastic piece under his clothing, it was hard for the stand clip to grip him, so I just tossed it for the rest of the review. No regrets.

Jack and the other skeleton girls: Skelita and her almost trial run: Skeleton CAM (and Skelita’s Re-Ment dog).

His three fingers versus Skelita and CAM (the same mold). The thumbs look pretty similar besides the size. I might paint the joints of his fingers black, but otherwise, they look great.

A close up of his tiny, but VERY detailed feet (I assume they wanted them about the same size so his pants go on easier).

Skelita’s feet dwarfs his.

His leg bones are fused together like Skelita’s, while his arm bones are separated like Skeleton CAM’s.

A comparison of Jack’s and Skelita’s back (Skelton CAM just has a regular one). I like how they still simplified his neck to resemble his simplified vertebrae seen in the film. His sculpting is JUST SO GOOD!!

This set is near perfect to me. I adore it and I really wish that Mattel made it easier for everyone to get one that wanted one.

[whereismyhat5678]

I know this is weird to dump on y’all but can I vent for just a few minutes? If this is even considered a vent since it’s not anything sad, I just wanna get this off my chest real quick.

(If you don’t want to read the essay I wrote scroll to the bottom and just read the TLDR 😅)

I like being a woman. I do. I like using she/her pronouns. I like wearing pretty feminine stuff. And in general I just like to be feminine. I’m happy being a girl.

But I just always wanted to just- try on a suit- JUST JUST HEAR ME OUT FOR A SECOND-

I wanna look like a dapper young gentlemen- like a very posh man that wears like- like one of those eyeglass thingys-

Like this fellow right here:

I also wanna have a mustache, LIKE THOSE ONES THAT ARE FLUFFY AND COVER YOUR MOUTH- the- THE PAINTERS BRUSH MUSTACHE!! Or examples like: The lampshade, the handlebar, the Hungarian, OR THE IMPERIAL (that one’s GODAM GORGEOUS-)

But more about the suit- I wanna- I PICTURE myself in a black slick suit with a white undershirt and a silk like tie, with nice shiny black buttons and some white gloves to match the undershirt. To show sophistication. With one of those top hats OH I LOVE THOSE!!

I’d like to see it on me but I wanna look more masculine in it like- like what I just said I wanna have a mustache and OH such a deep voice!! I wanna be those narrator voices that are soothing and just, you can fall asleep to them.

I wanna look dapper, I wanna look snazzy, I WANT TO WEAR A SUIT. I want to have a cane that I can lean onto while standing, I want other men to talk to me like if I were just another guy.

I WANT TO BE ONE OF THOSE GUYS- that are like, buff but also a bit fat since, ngl I would genuinely like to be a fluffy guy, AND REALLY TALL and look down at people. I want to be tall too not just as a man but as me because I just wanna be the size of my dad. At LEAST 6’0 that’d be AMAZING.

I WOULDN’T JUST WANNA WEAR A SUIT EITHER- I wanna be a gentlemen that wears warm cream colors and a nice soft brown sweater with a beanie and THOSE BOOTS. (You know the ones I’m talking about-). I wanna have big legs and wear those jeans that look HUGE to other people but are normal for you cuz you’re just a big guy! I wanna wear that, THAT AMAZING SMELLING COLOGNE GOD DO I WANT TO WEAR COLOGNE.

Okay- to wrap things up- sometimes, I just want to look masculine AND IF ANYTHING IF I CAN’T LOOK MASCULINE AND APPEALING (and smoke cigars like one of them guys in the movies, drink alcohol or beer even though I don’t like it- OH AND HOW HAVE I NOT MENTIONED WANTING TO HAVE THAT MAN GOLFER FIT-)

OKAY BUT REAL QUICK- I’d want to have like A BUNCH OF PAPER BOY HATS (I already wear them and I LOVE THEM SO MUCH- but if I looked like a man?? 🤯🤯) with like different colors to have one each day to match the shirt I’m wearing- with brown pointed at the tip shoes that are shiny and SO SO HANDSOME!!! I wanna look handsome I want someone to tell me I look handsome in like a vest and a red tie with a paper boy hat and nice cologne and A GOD DAMN SOPHISTICATED ASS MUSTACHE!- And when I go golfing with buddies I have the casual golfer fit, BECAUSE THEY JUST SO NICE AND SPIFFY AND HANDSOME I WANNA LOOK LIKE THAT!!!

I love being a woman, I REALLY DO- I like being a woman because in the future I wanna look beautiful in pretty dresses and nice necklaces and pretty shiny hair (short obviously-) and cute glasses to match my cute outfits! Heck I wanna wear some of these dresses:

Vintage I know- but you gotta admit they look GORGEOUS!!!

And I’ll admit I’m completely fine with being a woman because of this! I wanna look pretty in dresses, be called beautiful, have a dazzling outfit to make myself look even prettier!

But I also just, wanna look handsome! Wear a suit. Have a mustache. Have a nice deep voice and- funny story- I remember I saw an episode of Steven Universe where Pearl was wearing a suit and I thought she looked AMAZING!!

I ended up telling my mom that when I got to Prom I want to have a suit, which my mom laughed and jokingly said I would look like a lesbian. Of course I don’t like woman like that, I think they’re all beautiful but just not like that. But in general I thought to myself I just wanna see myself in a suit, a tie, nice shoes, a nice hat, with cologne. And I again don’t even have to look masculine, I just want to look handsome and spiffy!

I started liking the idea of having masculine facial hair because I can’t stop thinking about if I did have those things, they would be AWESOME!!

I’m sorry if I ended up writing too much or confusing you with my words, so in long short of it:

I like being a woman, wouldn’t mind wearing a suit, wouldn’t mind having a masculine voice features hair etc, and I wanna look handsome. But I still like dressing femininely.

I’m sorry for the long talk, I just wanted to spill my mind a bit, nothing much to it though 🤷‍♀️

[yukidragon]

Could we have a scene where Jack has to get rid of his new rival Jähk who is taking away Alice's attention?

Pfffffffhahahaha! Oh that's a hilarious image. Thanks for sharing this funny idea with me.

For those of you in the fandom unaware, Jähk is the creation of Skrobnaught over on twitter. In a sense, it's an off-brand/muppet version of Jack. You can check out the various hilarious pictures of Jähk here, here, here, and here. There's even an Ian version here.

It's such a fun and silly series of pictures. I did imagine Alice giving Jähk a hug after seeing that picture where he's crying, but now you've got me thinking of what sort of scenario this little muppet might appear as an unintentional rival for Jack.

Since Jähk can be a horny little guy because he was made from a horny big guy like Jack, let's pause here to remind everyone that this series is for Adults Only. Some of this silly ramble gets a bit spicy.

Anyway, I'm thinking it all starts innocently enough because of Honey Bunny. Come to think of it, she looks kind of like Jähk in some ways, doesn't she?

Jack encourages Alice's playful side, which includes playing with this adorable little puppet that means so much to her. However, that's the only puppet Alice has, so he can't borrow another puppet to have some fun back and forth banter with "Honey Bunny" as another character on the same level.

What's a silly clown to do? Why, use a bit of supernatural ghost manifestation powers TV magic to summon up a puppet of his own, just like his spiffy robe and pajamas!

Instead of going with a little animal friend like Honey Bunny, Jack makes little Jähk, complete with silly spelling and making silly sounds. It's just a little innocent fun and goofing around. He treats Jähk like it's a real little person, even "arguing" with him at times... and winds up getting a little too into the play.

With this little puppet being made from the same supernatural forces that make up his actual body, pairing that with his issues against himself, particularly the identity of who he is verses the identity of Sunny Day Jack... he accidentally puts a piece of himself in the puppet, and thus Jähk starts acting on his own... and of course, being a part of Jack, he also loves Alice just as much.

At first Alice thinks it's just Jack taking the game a bit too far, and he tries to convince himself that's all it is, but Jähk starts acting up, expressing more of his shameless desires. After all, that's the sort of silly character he presented Jähk to be. It was to match Alice's energy, as she's always used Honey Bunny to express things she was struggled to say aloud, so she's made her puppet act extra silly and shameless, even smooching Jack for her. Because of that, Jack made Jähk just as shameless, so when Jähk got a life of his own... it's basically a part of Jack that he's been trying to suppress behind his bright and shiny mask as Sunny Day Jack.

Now, even while playing a bit more shamelessly, Jack didn't go too far, mostly just having Jähk smooch Alice and Honey Bunny, maybe being very silly and a bit suggestive. Once Jähk has a life of his own though, he starts getting a lot more shameless, burying his face in Alice's cleavage, squeezing her soft curves, and all that good stuff. It's fortunate that she's used to this behavior to an extent from Jack since they'd be lovers at this point, but it's still a bit startling when the puppet Jack was playing around with actually comes alive and moves on its own.

Jack, of course, tries to reign in Jähk, make him go away... but Jähk is just a part of himself, one he accidentally manifested as its own entity. He's been denying parts of himself in order to be the perfect image of Sunny Day Jack, and now that he has an outlet to express that... a part of him won't let it go. After all, he can be both shameless and squeaky clean Sunny Day Jack at the same time. It's a win-win!

Naturally, Jack doesn't consciously realize this is him essentially rebelling against the persona he's trying to live up to and express himself more. It's a very complicated situation mentally all around, under the silly guise of a supernaturally made puppet that's running wild, being very silly, and loving with his sunshine without shame or reservation.

When it becomes apparent to Alice that Jähk is now a new invisible roommate for her to live with... it's kind of surreal, especially since he's a silly miniature version of Jack. It's still Jack, even just part of him, and with that connection between them, she wouldn't help but feel affection towards Jähk, especially when he acts scared at the idea of Jack making him go away for good. Poor little guy clings to her, shaking and crying, womping pitifully at her, and her heart goes out to him. She asks Jack if they couldn't just keep the little guy around for a little while.

Jack doesn't want to deny his sunshine anything, and Sunny Day Jack certainly wouldn't bully such a pitiful little guy, so he has to give in. Though a part of him doesn't want Jähk around very strongly, because it's a more shameless version of him... those desires that don't quite fit the character of Sunny Day Jack, and Jack can't stop being the character or he'll be left unloved and forgotten. It's not that he hates Jähk. I mean, Sunny Day Jack doesn't hate anybody! It's just, well... there's a time and a place for nonsense, and Jähk needs to learn how to behave.

Of course there's mixed feelings when Alice dotes on Jähk. She's still doting on him, but at the same time it's that shameful part of him that he denies exists, and Jack can't help but feel a little jealous. Of course, he won't ever admit that he's jealous, even to himself, since that's something out of character for Sunny Day Jack... but of course Jähk doesn't have a problem expressing Jack's inner jealousy.

So Jack tries to be sneaky about it... but Jähk is still Jack, so it's a sort of Tom and Jerry game of cat and mouse. Some wacky shenanigans happen behind Alice's back as Jack tries to make Jähk disappear, and Jähk thwarts him, getting to the safety of Alice's arms so Jack can't do anything.

Understandably, Jack can get pretty frustrated by this.

Alice is perceptive to Jack's emotional needs though, and she would make sure to show plenty of affection to him... which Jähk gets jealous of. Sure they can share cuddle time, but not sexy times. Alice might've grown up with a love of her personal puppet pal, but it's definitely not a fetish of hers, so she's not thinking of Jähk that way, no matter how suggestive he gets.

Jähk can't go too far with the sexual advances either due to Alice's discomfort. Although he's the more shameless side of Jack, Jähk still has limits when it comes to his sunshine's consent and happiness. He mopes that she won't sit on his face and let him eat her out or do other naughty things, but since she's not comfortable doing it, he won't do it... though he will cling and cuddle more instead.

He'll also watch.

Jack, naturally, gets a bit more needy for Alice's attention because of Jähk trying to monopolize her time. Interestingly enough, this would be a good way for Jack to indulge in his voyeurism and exhibitionism fetishes. Alice isn't comfortable with other people seeing/hearing her do smutty things besides her partner, but Jähk is just a puppet made from Jack's supernatural powers. He's a part of Jack, so he doesn't count as a different person! He's just like Honey Bunny, only supernaturally powered. So it's not really like someone else is watching, right?

It's embarrassing and a bit awkward for Alice to be watched by a pair of puppets, but Jack is very good at distracting her. Jähk might not be able to do anything himself, but being part of Jack, he's not going to turn down the opportunity to watch his sunshine writhe in pleasure.

Plus, Jähk is a part of Jack. He has the same connection to Alice that Jack does, so he's going to be able to feel his sunshine's pleasure just like Jack can. He might not have the parts necessarily, since he is a puppet, but he can pantomime when necessary and make noises when appropriate.

Despite only making silly noises like "womp," Jack and Alice can both understand what Jähk is saying perfectly. Jähk is exploiting that mind reading/projecting ability. While Alice has no idea how she can understand Jähk, Jack knows full well.

Which makes it all the more embarrassing when Jähk gives silly praising commentary to Alice during a very intimate moment with Jack. Jähk is much more dirty with his language and innuendo than Jack is, his womping serving as a perfect G-rated bit of censorship so Jähk won't break the Sunny Day Jack persona too much. Even Jähk's shamelessness has limits after all.

Jack, naturally, does have mixed feelings about Jähk talking dirty to Alice and embarrassing her like that, but... at the same time it's arousing seeing her get so flustered... and after all the part of him that he's suppressing has some pretty naughty thoughts. It's an excuse to express that side he's suppressing, so he sort of... tries to ignore it and keep going, touching, kissing, and loving Alice thoroughly, while giving Jähk a show.

...

"Aww... don't cover your mouth, sunshine. I want to hear your pretty moans and hear you say my name. Let him hear you say it."

Jack had Alice in his lap, spooning her from behind. Their clothes were already gone and he had his fingers pumping slowly in and out of her wet pussy, spreading her open for their little audience made of felt. Though she tried to stop the shameful noises from coming from her mouth, she couldn't help but mewl Jack's name or the way her hips squirmed from his ministrations. Her face was red, mortified, and she couldn't look directly at Jähk, who watched from a front row seat directly between her legs.

"J-Jack! Jack... th-this is embarrassing! He can see...!"

"It's okay," Jack cooed as he nipped at Alice's neck. "Let him watch. Let him see just how much you love me."

"Womp! Womp!"

Alice sputtered at the lewd commentary, and her hands flew up to cover her face. "Oh my God, Jähk!" She never would've imagined hearing a puppet say something like that about her!

"Now, now, that kind of language isn't necessary, Jähk," Jack chided, though a part of him enjoyed how Alice squeezed his fingers when she was embarrassed. She was getting so worked up by being watched, and it gave him a thrill. "But he does have a point, sunshine. You're so wet. Maybe we should have an audience more often."

"Jack... this is... I..." Alice struggled to speak, but Jack was just so good with his fingers. He had a way of making it hard to care about anything else but the love and pleasure he showed her.

"Womp womp wooomp~!"

Alice let out a strangled squeak, and Jack chuckled against her ear. "Don't worry about a thing, Alice," he practically purred. "Just relax and let me take care of you, sunshine."

...

Oop, I think I wound up writing a slightly different scene involving Jähk than prompted. Sorry about that?

Anyway, Jack still is going to want to get rid of any rivals for his sunshine's attention, even if he gets an opportunity to play with his exhibitionism and voyeurism kinks for once. He can't just make Jähk disappear, since that wasn't working... so he comes up with an alternative solution.

If Jack can't make Jähk go away, and Jähk won't fall for any of his usual tactics to get rid of a rival... then maybe he has to get creative.

After all, like the saying goes, "if you can't beat them, join them."

...

It had been strange since Jähk entered their lives, but Alice couldn't help but have a bit of a soft spot for the silly little puppet. Jack had gone to "take care" of something, leaving her to watch TV on the sofa with the little puppet happily cuddled against her chest, focusing more on the softness of her breasts than whatever was playing on the screen.

"Womp, womp," Jähk sighed happily.

Alice stroked Jähk's head and chuckled a bit both at the silly puppet and the situation. "I'm glad you're happy."

"Sunshine, could you come here please?" Jack called from the other room. "I need your help with something. It's a surprise for Jähk~"

Jähk eyed the bedroom door with suspicion as he clung to Alice possessively. He wasn't ready to give up cuddle time with his sunshine, and he didn't trust whatever surprise Jack had that involved him. "Womp womp?"

Despite the barb, Jack laughed. "No, silly, I'm not going on a vacation. I've got a present I think you'll just love."

Alice perked up curiously. She was aware of the tension that hung in the air between Jack and Jähk. It was exhausting playing mediator at times. She stood up and went to the bedroom, cradling a suspicious Jähk in her arms, as she hoped this somehow might resolve some of the tension. "What is it?"

"I made a new member of the family," Jack said as he gestured with a flourish to the bed. On it sat a new puppet, one that looked a lot like Alice. "Ta da~! Meet Jähk's best friend Ählis!"

Alice gasped, startled by her miniature felt doppelgänger. Ählis looked a lot like her, but with features as silly and distorted as Jähk was compared to Jack.

Jähk dropped his mouth open wide in shock. He didn't even react as Jack snatched him up and placed him down on the bed directly in front of Ählis. After a moment, he recovered to let out a squeaky, "Womp!"

"That's right, Jähk," Jack said with a satisfied smile, his demeanor bright and enthusiastic. "It's your very own sunshine to love and cuddle with. Now you don't have to feel left out anymore."

Jähk eyed the still puppet that looked like Alice with suspicion. He didn't want to reject Ählis, but she wasn't the same as Alice... This doll lacked the same warmth she possessed.

Alice examined her miniature counterpart up close as well, noticing a lot of little details that Jack added to Ählis, such as her scar and making her smaller than Jähk. "So... is she... alive too?"

"Actually, that's what I need your help with, Alice," Jack said as he flashed Alice a big smile. "Would you mind helping Ählis get to know Jähk a little? You know, really put a little life into his sunshine for us."

"Me?" Alice asked as she cocked her head slightly. "You're the one with the powers."

Jack offered Alice a wry smile. "You have a lot more power than you realize, sunspot. Just give it a try. Please? For me and Jähk?"

Alice couldn't resist it when Jack looked at her with those big soulful eyes, and when Jähk joined in with a similar look, she caved. She sat on the bed and put Ählis in her lap. She tried to imagine what this miniature version of her would act like, and it came to her quickly after spending a couple weeks with a silly little guy like Jähk around.

"Meep meep?" Alice said for Ählis as she waved the puppet's little felt hand at Jähk.

Jähk jumped and stared at Ählis in surprise again, mouth hanging open, before he quickly bounced excitedly towards the other puppet. "Womp womp!" He shook the hand that Alice had waved towards him and gave the other puppet a hug. "Womp womp!"

Alice giggled at the cuteness of the moment and quickly got caught up in the game. "Meep!" she pretended to squeak in surprise before she moved Ählis to nuzzle her head against Jähk.

"Womp womp, womp," Jähk said, his voice softening a bit before he started planting kisses all over Ählis' face.

Alice giggled at the sight and made Ählis squirm a little, her "meep"s distorted by her laughter.

It was an adorable scene, one that was almost innocent, but Jack watched in anticipation as Alice helped Ählis come alive in their play.

Jähk pulled back and took Ählis' hand in both of his, stroking it as he made happy noises, professing his love for his sunshine in his silly made up language. Some of the things he said made Alice blush a bit, her eyes darting over to Jack who looked back at her with a loving gaze.

By the end of the speech, Alice felt flustered. Jack had a way with words, and Jähk took after him in that department. The way Jähk spoke to Ählis made her feel similar to when Jack first used the silly little puppet to flirt with her and Honey Bunny. It left her feeling a bit too shy to speak.

Which was why Alice jumped when she heard an embarrassed squeak of, "Meep!" that she didn't make.

Ählis brought her hands up over her face, completely unassisted, and squeaked again as Jähk wrapped his arms around her, snuggling close to the now living puppet.

Alice let out a similar startled squeak as her felt counterpart when Jack scooped her up into his own hug.

"You did it, Alice!" Jack said triumphantly. "Now you don't have to worry about Jähk feeling forgotten anymore. Isn't that fantastic?"

Was it? Alice wasn't too sure. Gaining another living puppet as an invisible roommate just made her life that much weirder.

Still, despite the weirdness, Alice couldn't help but admit that they made an adorable pair. Somehow she could feel the warmth between the two as they held each other close. Seeing Jähk cuddling up to a blushing Ählis, who happily snuggled into his arms made Alice want to lean into her own cuddly partner, who was only too happy to snuggle her in return.

"I guess they are pretty cute together," Alice admitted as she rested her cheek against Jack's shoulder and watched the two puppets snuggle.

It was an innocent scene... until it suddenly wasn't. While Alice wasn't comfortable with Jähk doing perverted things to her, Ählis had no such reservations, and soon miniature clothes went flying as the puppets' mouths and hands went to indecent places on one another's felt bodies.

Alice turned bright red as she turned away and brought a hand up in front of her face to act as a blinder. "Whoa! Okay, time to go." She tried to stand, but she was locked up tight in Jack's gentle but firm grip. She turned towards her boyfriend, confused, only to gasp as his lips met hers.

"Actually...," Jack murmured before kissing Alice again, "I was hoping we could keep playing a little longer, sunspot." He moved on to kiss her neck, eliciting a shiver and a small moan from his lover. "I think Jähk and Ählis want us to stay and watch their show."

Alice sputtered, her face red from the implications and from what was going on in her bed only feet away from them. Somehow seeing a miniature version of herself and her boyfriend making love was almost as mortifying as when Jähk watched her and Jack make love before.

"Womp womp. Womp, womp~!"

"Meep! Meep meep meeeep!"

Alice outright gawked at the pair and her blush spread down to her neck.

Just like how Jähk could say things Jack wouldn't be able to, Ählis had no reservations with saying things that Alice thought about but was always far too mortified to say even while she and Jack were acting out those very perverted thoughts.

Jack smiled in amusement at the way their doll-like doppelgängers made love without reservation or shame. As his hands crept up underneath Alice's shirt and his lips went back to her neck, he decided to see if he could coax his sunshine into being a little more honest with what she wanted as well.

...

Yes, the problem gets resolved with a silly and smutty happy ending. I kind of have a fondness for happy endings with my OTP if you haven't noticed by now. ;3 I hope you enjoyed this silly and spicy little romp~

@channydraws @earthgirlaesthetic @sai-of-the-7-stars @cheriihoney @illary-kore @okamiliqueur

[princess-of-the-corner]

Kingdom Hearts II: Final Mix Recap: Agrabah (Only Second Rate)

Okay so… It turns out that Agrabah has the lower battle level, so we’ll actually be heading over there first.

If you did NOT clear Agrabah’s first episode before clearing the Battle of 1000 Heartless, you’ll be forced to play through it NOW instead, at which point the second episode will unlock.

Remember how the first game would change some cutscenes in skippable worlds to reflect Maleficent’s and Riku’s current states in the story? Maleficent disappearing from cutscenes in Olympus Coliseum and Monstro after her death, and Riku’s and Sora’s interactions in Monstro becoming FAR more hostile if you put its story off for long enough?

Yeah, KH2 doesn’t do that, so Pete will STILL be antagonizing Sora and causing trouble even though they’re supposed to be allies against Organization XIII.

And turning Jafar into a Heartless would be counterintuitive to working together against Organization XIII.

Oops.

Anyways, upon disembarking in Agrabah (assuming you’ve cleared the first episode), the first thing the player sees is red smoke billowing out of the concrete box Jafar’s lamp had been sealed in last time we were here.

The Peddler, here a distinct character from the Genie, is on the ground, trembling before the thunderous smoke, Jafar’s no doubt empty lamp laying on the floor next to him.

Iago flies into the dungeon to check in on all the ruckus, just in time to see the newly freed Jafar bellowing with laughter at his newfound freedom.

Jafar stops laughing and turns to Iago.

The camera zips up and out through the boarded-up ceiling of the dungeon as Iago screams in fright.

We cut the Peddler’s shop in a textbox cutscene, which now has gilded walls, a gilded roof, and a gilded floor. The shelves are stocked with valuable treasures, there are piles of gold coins behind the counter, and the Peddler also has a giant, bejeweled trophy that’s roughly the same size as Sora for some reason.

Sora, Donald, and Goofy beam right in there for some reason.

Donald looks around, surprised by how spiffy and shiny everything is, only to bump into a valuable-looking vase/urn/pot (not sure which).

“You break it, you buy it!” the Peddler warns, before noticing it’s just Sora, Donald, and Goofy, at which point he casually greets them.

Sora remarks that he made out like a bandit, but the guy we JUST saw release an evil genie insists he is just an honest merchant who earned all of this through hard work. Which I guess is… Theoretically possible… Given that the only other people who could POSSIBLY be paying customers are Princess Jasmine and Aladdin. Possibly the Genie if he doesn’t feel like magicking something he wants into existence. So, he could PROBABLY make a killing by virtue of being the only other person in town, and the only one selling anything.

Goofy remarks that everything certainly looks nice, and the Peddler reveals that everything is on sale.

Sora decides to cut to the chase, asking if the Peddler’s seen anyone in a Black Coat, hoping to learn if Organization XIII had been there.

The Peddler denies it, and thus Sora and co decide to keep looking.

We then fade into a voice-acted cutscene, where Aladdin, Abu, and Iago barge in.

“Sora! Don’t let him get away!” Aladdin shouts as Abu charges the Peddler, who somehow managed to escape.

Sora asks what’s going on, and Aladdin reveals that the Peddler released Jafar from his lamp.

Cue Sora flashing back to a bunch of Jafar scenes that never happened in Kingdom Hearts I, Chain of Memories, their Manga adaptations and novelizations, or any Aladdin media unaffiliated with Kingdom Hearts. Even though we had flashbacks to KH1!Agrabah in Roxas’ prologue. But hey, the Bandit Heartless from KH1 and COM appear here, so that’s a neat touch!

We then fade back to a textbox cutscene as Aladdin warns SDG to be careful.

“Jafar may be out to take over Agrabah again,” he explains, “But I’m sure he wants revenge too.”

Sora remarks that he’s probably still sore about the whole “getting sealed in a lamp for all eternity” thing.

Aladdin elaborates that Iago saw the whole thing, and tells him to spill it.

Iago insists that he’s already told Aladdin everything he knows.

Aladdin threatens to never talk to Iago again if he’s being dishonest, and that gets Iago to admit that he knows where Jafar is.

When asked to elaborate, Iago starts tripping over his tongue, but at Aladdin’s urging, he says Jafar’s at the Desert Ruins.

Sora declares they can get the jump on him, and tells Iago to lead the way.

Aladdin has rejoined the party!

Inside the Peddler’s remodeled shop is Vexen’s Absent Silhouette. The LAST Absent Silhouette.

Challenging it transports Sora, Donald, and Goofy to the sight of Vexen’s final battle: The Re:Chain of Memories version of the Old Mansion’s gate.

The Absent Silhouette transforms into Vexen in a flash of ice, and Vexen telekinetically levitates his shield in front of him.

His opening move is to surround Sora with a stream of data and encase him in a block of ice. In order to escape, the player must use the “Struggle” Reaction Command 10 times, which will produce the “Smash” Reaction Command. “Smash” prompts Sora to shatter the ice.

Vexen, however, is completely invincible, meaning Sora, Donald, and Goofy will have to chip away at his shield’s HP before they can damage him.

Worse yet, at all times, an Organization Sigil is crawling along the ground, and will scan Sora’s data whenever it’s below Sora’s feet. Vexen can teleport the sigil directly to Sora by freezing him, forcing the player to break out of the ice all over again.

There’s a data bar in the upper corner of the screen. It starts at 0, but if it’s filled, it’ll increase to 1.

When that happens, Vexen will spawn a Replica of Sora’s Anti Form, known as “Clone Sora”. Just like Sora’s Anti Form, it can instantly zip to Sora’s location and hack at him with its claws. Worse, this animalistic copy will get MORE health every time the Data “levels up”. If it’s destroyed, then the level-up will instead revive it with the boosted health it would’ve gotten if it had still been alive.

Fortunately, the Data Level caps out at 5.

Additionally, Vexen can summon various Ice Attacks both when he’s been disarmed, and will restore his shield after retaliating, so be careful.

Vexen’s Shield and Clone Sora are both considered bosses, and as such can only be defeated by Finishers, Limits, and/or magic.  None of which Sora has access to in Anti Form, which he has an increased chance of entering when using Drive Forms due to Vexen being an Organization member.

Additionally, Clone Sora can FUSE with the Shield to perform powerful attacks, in a dark mockery of Drive Forms, so be aware of that.

When Vexen is defeated, his absent silhouette fades into snowflakes.

Sora’s rewarded an Armor Slot, Donald +3 Max HP, and Goofy and Item slot.

Additionally, it leaves behind a Lost Illusion and the “Road to Discovery” recipe (1 Lost Illusion, 1 Tranquility Crystal, 3 Tranquility Gems, 5 Tranquility Stones, and 7 Tranquility Shards). This recipe allows the Moogles to synthesize Vexen’s Shield, Frozen Pride, meaning Goofy can carry the weapon of a guy who was violently immolated in front of Sora about a year ago!

…

Anyways, in order to progress to the Desert Ruins, you need to exit the city through the front gates.

Upon getting there, our heroes discover (in a voice-acted cutscene) that the Desert Ruins are covered in a raging and suspiciously localized sandstorm.

Iago very loudly and hammily (even for him) suggests that they’re gonna have to turn back now.

Aladdin instead remarks that they’ll have to find another way, to the ruins, at which point the Genie zips in from out of nowhere to remind him that his best friend is a reality-warping genie who can EASILY wipe a little sandstorm away.

“Want to see a little something I like to call ‘Sandstorm Sweep’?”

SDG all answer to the affirmative.

“Take it away, Genie!” Aladdin encourages.

The Genie prepares to hammily end the sandstorm, only to get disappointed when he sees that it’s JUST a massive, localized sandstorm covering an oddly specific region of the desert, remarking that just “one lousy sandstorm” is too easy, proving his point by poking the air behind his head without even FACING it.

The magic zips on over, swirls around and encompasses the entire whirlwind of sand, and casually dissipates it.

SDG and Aladdin are no less wowed, and Iago annoyed, and the quintet swiftly realize that the Genie vanished while they weren’t looking.

“How about giving me a challenge next time, eh Al?” a genuinely board and somewhat stir-crazy Genie requests.

Just head in the direction of the ruins from the Palace Wall to skip past the boring desert travel.

Our heroes arrive at a mound that overlooks the ruins, which are all askewed at weird angles and partially buried in a MASSIVE pit/crater in the middle of the desert, which’ll make traversing them rather tricky.

“Now what’ll we do?” Aladdin asks.

The Magic Carpet swoops in from out of nowhere to give them a ride.

“Nice timing, Carpet!” Sora greets/lampshades.

Sora hops into Carpet and flies down into the valley/pit/crater, and a watery shadow of Jafar’s sorcerer/vizier form materializes in a puff of shadow as Agrabah’s battle theme starts playing.

Now it’s time for THIS game’s Magic Carpet ride!

Use the left shoulder button to lock the commands and control the camera, and the right shoulder button to lock the camera and control the command menu.

Sora can use the attack button to attack enemies from a distance. The left stick moves Sora front, back, left, and right, while the right stick moves Sora up and down.

As soon as Sora flies near Jafar’s shadow, it teleports away, seals Sora inside a box of invisible barriers, and spawns in a swarm of Rapid Thrusters.

Sora can use the attack button to charge an enemy from a distance, and still has access to his magic via the Command Menu. If he jumps, he’ll land back on the Carpet. Basically, his gameplay is almost identical to his on-foot gameplay, you’re just controlling his movement with the Magic Carpet instead of moving Sora around.

As soon as the last Heartless falls, the barriers drop, and Jafar’s shadow reappears.

You now have to chase it around the ruins.

Whenever Sora gets close enough for the targeting reticle to appear, Jafar’s shadow will fly to its next “stopping point”. Sometimes, when his shadow reaches these points, Jafar will start channeling his magic through it to cast a spell. It will not flee while doing this, allowing Sora to interrupt the spell by attacking it, though this will prompt it to flee to its next stopping point.

When Sora corners it in front of an invisible barrier, Jafar will drop the barrier and have his Shadow flee through narrow valley/corridor to a large tower in the middle of a sinkhole/sandpit (I don’t know my terminology), sending flying Heartless at Sora to try and slow him down. You don’t have to defeat them, you JUST have to reach Jafar’s shadow on the roof of the tower.

Jafar’s shadow will then cast a barrier over the roof of the tower, locking Sora in with a bunch of flying Heartless, and then vanish in a puff of darkness. The barrier will not drop until all of the Heartless have been destroyed.

After that’s done, a monument will appear on top of the tower in a puff of darkness. Examining it with a Reaction Command reveals three pictures of various “switches”. These “switches” consists of sets of floating orbs at various points in the ruined city, and Sora has to use different spells to hit all of them at once. Fira if they’re a ring, Blizzara if they’re a horizontal line, and Thundara if they’re in a vertical line. Be warned, they HAVE to line up so the spell will hit all of them in one blast, and they start out in a “3D diamond” formation until Sora gets close to them. There are three Switches total, and each of them will require a different spell.

They get color coded when you’re close, so it’s more about timing and defeating the nearby Heartless so they don’t get in the way.

When all three switches are hit, a doorway into the tower opens in a flash of light, and Sora is given 45 seconds to get in.

Entering the tower takes Sora, Donald, Goofy, Aladdin, and Iago to the “Ruined Chamber”, which has a Save Point, a large chest containing a map of the Ruins, a second large chest that contains the final Torn Pages, and all of your party members as NPC’s you can interact with.

Going deeper into the Ruined Chamber reveals that Jafar isn’t there.

Some nudging from Aladdin and Donald gets Iago to fess up: Jafar intimidated Iago into luring Aladdin, Sora, Donald, and Goofy to the ruins. (Thus, why Iago was so reluctant to say anything back at the Peddler’s Shop, he was debating whether or not to tell the truth in that moment, but his fear of Jafar won out. Him suggesting they turn back was him trying to NOT go through with it without blatantly defying Jafar’s will.)

Iago was too afraid of Jafar to NOT go along with it, but Aladdin cuts off Iago from disclosing what Jafar THREATENED to do to instead ask where he ACTUALLY is.

Iago, still terrified of what Jafar might do to him, but also feeling guilty, admits that Jafar is PROBABLY attacking the palace now that all of his enemies are sufficiently distracted, and then goes right into describing how scary Jafar’s eyes were, but nobody’s having any of it.

Sora points out that Iago can’t really be their friend if he’s trying to play both sides just to save himself, so it’s clear that at this point they KNOW he cares enough about their opinions for that to actually sting.

Iago, while backing away from the others as they tell him off, accidentally triggers a trap, causing the entire ruined city to start rumbling.

The Magic Carpet swoops in to take them away, and we get an on-the rails escape sequence ala KH1’s trip to Agrabah.

Unlike that one, however, Sora isn’t flying out of a cave, so we instead get the carpet swooping around and between buildings and diving near the ground for no apparent reason.

Waves of Heartless appear to impede Sora’s escape, and they get sent flying away on the blow that gets them into low HP, causing them to go splat (or well, “poof” since they’re made of metaphysical vapors instead of squishy guts) against the first hard surface they hit. Heartless can also be knocked into each other to deal damage, which is the only way Sora can take out the Fat Bandits that spawn.

Additionally, some of the towers topple over when Sora flies near them (though the carpet will always maneuver Sora out of the way before he can get hurt), again making me question why the Magic Carpet is going for the scenic route instead of taking them straight for Agrabah. It makes for a fun gameplay sequence, but a VERY confusing story sequence.

Anyways, the Carpet collapses form exhaustion once they reach the Palace Walls, and Aladdin tells it to rest up.

Iago tries to rally everyone up to go get Jafar, but they’re all still mad at him.

Reminder, the Palace Walls should PROBABLY be called the city walls instead, as the gate just leads to the Bazaar, so you’ll have to go through there first.

Past the Bazaar is Agrabah (again, confusing names are confusing), and just outside of the loading zone for the palace is the Peddler.

You have to use the “Interrogate” Reaction Command to progress the story in a textbox cutscene.

The Peddler instantly realizes they’ve caught on to his tricks, but is more of a gracious loser about the whole ordeal, agreeing with Sora when he says that you can’t keep shady stuff a secret for long, and helpfully explains everything:

He had snuck into the palace to “borrow” some treasure, when he heard a voice.

The voice had ordered the Peddler to “Release me!” and claimed to be the TRUE Sultan of Agrabah when the Peddler asked who he was.

The Peddler laments having fallen for such a tall tale, proposing that he must’ve been under Jafar’s spell.

Sora sarcastically asks if he’s SURE the treasure had nothing to do with it, and the Peddler, to his credit, admits it MIGHT have influenced him a LITTLE bit.

“But Jafar, he never gave me a thing…” the Peddler continues.

Sora wants to know where he got the treasure from then, and the Peddler explains he got it from a man in a black coat.

Organization XIII had, for whatever reason, bribed him to tell no one of Jafar’s return, as they claimed they would turn Jafar into a Heartless and destroy him, thus meaning there was no reason to worry Agrabah.

Sora is just incredulous that the Peddler bought that.

The Peddler reminds Sora that he’s a merchant, and thus will buy anything if the price is right. He points out that the only reason the transaction fell through is because Iago had seen him release Jafar.

“Oh, you’re so kind…” Iago replies (possibly sarcastically, there’s no voice acting so I have no clue), before sulking/sighing when SDG+Aladdin just turn to look at him.

You can now continue to the palace, where Jafar has chained Jasmine to the door.

“Just wait, Jafar!” Jasmine snaps, “You’ll get exactly what’s coming to you!”

“Indeed I will, Princess…” Jafar agrees, “All of Agrabah will belong to me, while you…” He laughs. “You my queen, shall weep at my side for all eternity!”

Jasmine pulls on her chains and tries to glance over Jafar’s shoulder.

Jafar glances back (just in case), before turning his attention back to Jasmine.

“Right about now…” he grabs her chin, “Your precious Aladdin is whispering your name with his last breath.”

Cue Jasmine noticing Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Aladdin have showed up to thwart Jafar, prompting Jafar to notice them as well.

“What was that you were saying, Jafar?” Aladdin taunts as SDG ready their weapons.

Jafar notices Iago perched on Goofy’s back.

“You dare defy me!” the wicked genie snaps as the eyes on his cobra staff light up, “You useless bird!”

He aims his staff at Iago and Goofy, prompting Goofy to raise his shield and Iago to cover his face with his wings.

Jafar then fires the blast at Aladdin instead, only for Iago to fly out and take the hit instead.

The quarter drop their guard to check on Iago when his smoking body hits the ground.

“Iago!” Goofy calls out.

“You’ll all be joining him very soon!” Jafar announces as he raises a pillar of thundering smoke and swirling magic around himself.

With a groan, he transforms back into his genie form, hovering above his enemies as “The Encounter” starts playing.

He throws a tower at Sora and Aladdin, prompting the two to flee as the Magic Carpet flies at them to help.

Jafar teleports into the skies above Agrabah, and cackles as he demonstrates his phenomenal cosmic power.

Sora and the Magic Carpet confront him.

Boss time.

Jafar’s attacks mostly consist of yeeting debris from destroyed buildings at Sora, spinning around, throwing glowing punches at Sora, shooting fireballs at Sora (when at 70% HP or lower), and raining lightning on Sora (at 40% HP or lower).

Basically, he does not fully exercise his phenomenal cosmic power.

Although his desperation attack DOES have him transporting himself and Sora into a dark void where he telekinetically yeets destroyed buildings at the kid, so that’s a plus.

Anyways, to make attacking Jafar easier, you have to fly past his glowing hands and attack his abs. Once his abs run out of HP, Jafar will crouch over and clutch his stomach, allowing Sora to use the “Roll Up” Reaction Command to grab the tip of Jafar’s tail and wrap him up with it.

When that’s done, Sora can use “Spin Burst” to make Jafar spin until he’s dizzy, at which point he’ll become stunned, allowing you to attack his head.

When he recovers, he’ll briefly paralyze Sora through sheer force of will.

All of Jafar’s attacks can be guarded PERFECTLY by Reflect.

You can damage him at any time by attacking his head and shoulders, but defeating his abs and making him dizzy will make damaging him easier since he won’t be moving around as much.

As you are riding the Magic Carpet, Sora controls EXACTLY as he does in the Desert Ruins.

Defeating Jafar grants Sora the Fire Element, upgrading Fira into Firaga.

“No…” Jafar groans as his body glows and sparks, “How can I BE defeated again, by a pack of filthy street rats?”

“Don’t mess with street rats!” Sora shoots back as he flies back to the palace with the Magic Carpet.

Jafar can only groan and shout as his body pulsates, until it explodes into a burst of magic sparkles.

Its genie destroyed, Jafar’s lamp evaporates into black smoke before Sora, Goofy, and Aladdin can reach it.

Cue Genie materializing in a flash of magic sparkles, lamenting that they fought Jafar AGAIN and didn’t even invite him.

Aladdin apologizes, noting that things happened a LITTLE fast.

Genie lamented that he had new moves he wanted to show off (possibly referring to the Limits he can do as a Summon).

“But, Genie, we still need your help!” Donald points out.

“Who’s gonna fix Agrabah?” Sora asks.

He’s not kidding, there’s rubble everywhere, a wall in the background has a MASSIVE hole in it, Jafar REALLY did a number on the city during his duel with Sora.

Genie is PUMPED up, ready to not only fix Agrabah, but TOTALLY remodel it into an upgraded version of itself.

“You won’t even recognize it when I’m through with it!”

“Just like it was, please,” Aladdin begs sheepishly.

“Really?” Genie asks, “Same old, same old?”

Aladdin and Sora nod.

“All right.”

Genie sends out sparkles to apparently fix Agrabah, but as the game doesn’t load up a different map, they just use a cheated camera angle to keep the battle damage out of sight.

Genie requests that Aladdin let him install a swimming pool or two next time.

Sora receives the Wishing Lamp keychain (+4 Attack, +3  Magic, Jackpot: Increases the drop rate of Munny, HP, and MP orbs by 50%).

The next cutscene loads back into an undamaged Agrabah as Sora, Donald, Goofy, Aladdin, and Jasmine gather in front of some stalls, with Iago sulking in the shadows.

Sora remarks that Agrabah seems to be back to normal, and Aladdin thanks Sora for his help.

Sora somewhat playfully tells Iago to behave himself, “Got it?”

“I most definitely got it! No more lookin’ out or number one!”

Iago also admits to a bit of an insecurity of his, while he’d LIKE to be Aladdin’s friend, he’s not entirely that he can do anything to help Aladdin the way Genie can. He’s not JEALOUS of Genie, he just feels inadequate.

Sora points out that friendship isn’t exactly all about “service”, and that it’s usually enough to just enjoy each other’s company and have fun together.

Aladdin asks what SDG do for fun, and Donald and Goofy demonstrate their “funny faces” to answer him.

“That’s… not quite what I meant,” Aladdin replies, mildly put off.

Sora remarks that they should probably head out.

Iago tries to say something, but his lower jaw and upper jaw don’t QUITE match their movements, and he instead just ends up feeling some pain in his beak.

Goofy checks in on him, and Iago remarks that he can at least still fly.

Goofy still follows after Iago to catch him, just in case, only to walk right into and break a stall, prompting the others to wince.

The Genie takes that in his cue, ready to fix-up/upgrade something, asking Aladdin to at LEAST let him add a freeway or something.

Aladdin insists that everything’s fine, but Genie’s APPARENTLY going through some magical reality warping withdraw and starts shooting around magical sparkles everywhere.

“Sora! Donald! Goofy! You guys are too much!” Genie declares, “If you’re ever in the mood for some more cosmic razzle-dazzle, gimme a shout, okay?”

“You got it!” Donald replies.

Aladdin remarks that Sora’s done it again and asks him not to forget about them.

“I won’t,” Sora promises.

“And Sora… about that friend of yours, the one you’re looking for…

“You’ll find him,” Aladdin declares, “Trust me.”

And with that, Agrabah’s story has finally concluded.

Next time, we STILL don’t go to Halloween Town, because we still need to return the last page to Pooh’s book.

See ya then!

-

All of those fights sound like an absolute pain in the ass.

Though ‘defeating his abs’ sounds hilarious.

[radroller]

Gotchard’s base form, SteamHopper, is quite cool. Teal is an awesome color for a Rider suit, especially one as shiny as this. To get it outve the way here: i really like that all of Gotchard’s suits have a gleaming paintjob, it’s extremely spiffy. And i cant believe we’ve gotten another grasshopper themed Rider protag so soon, i thought we’d have to wait like 10 years after Zero One for them to do something like this. And the additional train theming is just aces, im 100% the target for something like that. I mean he has a firebox on his chest! Holy shit! And he has a really cool silhouette to boot, supplemented by a scarf. A great first impression for this series!

[thessalian]

Thess vs The Hunt

And lastly before bed, we did some exploration and, as the song goes, A Few Of My Favourite Things.

Right, I know, there's a rebel camp, I should look at that, but I want the points surrounding first. Lemme just have a quick look around, see if there's anything worth hunting.

Y'know what? I miss when the nasty poisonous areas just went away after you shot things in them. I struggle to harvest this way! Any searching for green shiny is going to have to wait--

...The fuck is that thing? And how am I supposed to climb to it? The fuck now? Look, I'll come back later when there's a little less bullshit, okay? Though I'm going to be stepping in blight no matter what.

Oh for-- MORE FIREGLEAM? When can I blow that shit up already?

Right, I clearly can't take a side route to the rebel camp, so I'll just... Wait. Wait that says "Unknown Clawstrider Grounds". That says Clawstrider. I NEED THOSE BITS LET'S GO.

IT'S THE DILOPHOSAURS! YEEEEEES! Though I'm not really getting close enough to appreciate them at this point. Maybe when I can ride one.

I shot its tail clean off yeeeeeeeeeeeeees!

Right. A little more upgrade to this spiffy armour and ... y'know what? Why not? I know it needs some more upgrades but I'll make it work. Now lemme grab a few more campfires.

Sooooooooo ... half these campfires are being used by rebels. Okay, I guess that makes a little more sense than having them be Randomly Out There Because Reasons. Anyway. Time to brush up on head shots.

Ah, perimeter guards. I have a friendly patch of grass, and I have a sharpshot bow. Rider, then Charger. Repeat once for second Charger. And ... Guard One on battlement ... and Guard Two on battlement. And apparently no one noticed that their sentries dropped dead. Okay, now a way in.

This river does not go in the ways rivers usually go. But fuck it, I'm in now.

One thing I really love about picking off these settlements is shooting several guards in the face from hiding and them freaking out about where the hell the arrows are coming from--

Oop. They're shooting at my patch of grass, I'd better move for awhile. Just skirt around for the opposite side's patch of grass briefly. Line of sight rocks.

And ... wait. That last one is just ... not panicking anymore. Did she think I just ... shot almost everyone and left? Welp, sorry-not-sorry, arrow to your faaaaaaaaaace.

...There's a prisoner. There's a prisoner. Dude, why are you following me? You could just ... like ... run! I'm about to get into a fight with the leader!

Or ... you could just follow me because you're made of trauma. Okay fine. Just ... try to keep up.

Okay ... sir? That Blaze needs to be blown up and you are standing right in front of me. When I said "try to keep up", I didn't think I had to add "do not get in my way"!

BOOOOOOOOOM. Hee. That never gets old.

Right. Leader-time. Drawbridge down, and ... two guards. One, two; done. Now the leader.

...Hey ... rebel leader dude, sir? You've been listening to your underlings yelling and then dying, and you heard a massive explosion, and you saw your two bodyguards get shot and ... you're ... still just sitting on your throne? Do ... I ... need to approach for a cutscene or--?

Well. That didn't kick this party off. Doesn't even seem to notice me. Okay. Fine. ARROW IN YOUR FACE.

Oh, and now you acknowledge my presence. And thanks for moving your shield out of your own way. That's nice. *POONK* arrow to the face again.

That's done; what's in the shiny crate? ...More armour. I mean, great for a trapper, I'm sure, but not really my jam.

Now, back to a shelter and see if I can upgrade anything but the trapper armour. ...Not yet, but I need more bits from Clawstriders. Good thing I picked a shelter close to their hunting grounds. I know what I'm doing tomorroooooooooow...

Yes, I know I have to go back to work tomorrow. But there's evening, and I often play for about a half-hour in the morning just to kick things into high gear. The bonuses of working from home. Seems like a perfectly good time to take down a couple of more Clawstriders for parts.

[rachaelmayo]

This is Blues Dragon from 2012.

I wanted to branch out a little bit with the Jazzdragon series; this was part of a commissioned set of "pub dragons" that was cancelled before completion. The guy who commissioned it fell off the face of the Earth; I haven't heard from him in ages. As we'd only gotten into the line design phase of the project, I didn't have any information on the colors he wanted to use. I got to use my own, and I thought a transition from blues to greens would look spiffy. The rest of the palette was planned around the body color - so yellow stripes for a nice value contrast, and red/gold spiny bits to help move the eyes through the picture.

I used ink, watercolor, and Prismacolor pencil for this picture. The 3D bits include acrylic shinies and manmade lapis lazuli beads.

[great-mouse-detectives]

Music plays, the world becomes dizzy with motion around the ballroom. A formal invitation had been sent by the Queen to the infamous Basil of Baker Street for his heroic work, his plus one being his trusted partner and assistant, Dr David Q. Dawson. A man who was in desperate need of a fun party after everything the detective has pulled on him. Now, stuffy events like this were hardly the mouse's cup of tea, but this time had been... Different. Different how, you may ask? Well, not only do you not refuse an invitation from the Queen to the palace, but there’s also the fact that Dawson had dreams of meeting someone and dancing the night away. So, if the detective's best friend was to attend, he would also have to go. And no weaseling his way out of the night, either. Dawson’s eyes were on him, as previously promised. He would have to try and enjoy himself tonight, or die of boredom trying.

To be fair, the man looked lovely in his spiffy little suit. Red in color with yellow accents, his hair combed back in a more formal manner, shoes shiny being brand new, and a wine glass in hand that has yet to be touched by his lips. He really only carried it to make other’s more comfortable to be downing as much alcohol as they were in his presence. At least the upper class was more tolerable to be around when they weren't sober. Watching people with too much money drink themselves silly had its perks. But that's the majority of what he could do, just... People watch.

He stood off in the corner, much akin to a wallflower. Left to twiddle his thumbs and behave like a child waiting for their mom in a grocery store. His foot tried not to tap impatiently, but to the sound of the music as to not offend any of the other guests who were actually enjoying themselves.

This is absolute torture. He needs something. Anything. To keep him occupied. And he was forced to leave his pipe at home - He was in desperate need for a smoke. And social standards let him do nothing of the sort inside, where he had promised Dawson he'd stay unless someone else prompted otherwise. Darn. A wistful and defeated sigh blew through his nose as he debating finally taking a sip... A quick sniff of the glass and he deduced it was what folks call 'the good stuff.' He wasn't much of a drinker, he had other vices, but expensive wine was not his go to. The Queen must have gone all out for this celebration.

Tch. He almost just decided to pour it out into a nearby plant, but the doctor's eyes caught his again as he was mingling. With an eyebrow suspiciously raised at him, he pouted softly, rolled his eyes, and took a sip. That appeased the doctor's judgemental gaze and he returned to his conversation. The wine wasn't awful, at least.

[tessathegamefreak]

Fix-it Felix AU cast? Meet Star Ruby! A fusion between Bridgette @redscorpiocat and Neris! Their reactions?

OOC: Drawn by them.

AU Felix: Well now, it looks like Star Ruby actually glimmers like a ruby, doesn't she?

AU Ralph: SO SHINY!!!

Kane Candy: Whoa, that'th a lotta s'parkles! He shields his eyes

Scientist Calhoun: Well this is a spiffy fusion

The Princess and Servant:

Princess Vanellope: Wow, Star Ruby really glimmers

Not-So Sourbill: Mhms, like the sugar that coats our castle

The Troublesome Trio:

Adorabeezle: She's so pretty!

Gloyd: I could do without the glitter, but I like the red color scheme

Snowanna: So sparkly... :0

Turbo: Gah! He covers himself with his blanket as he tries to make himself hidden on the bench Can you turn down the brightnesth!? No one ith supposed to s'ee me!!

[interstellar-lamb]

Theorizing that Gutenberg heard of this Chinese invention and put the idea into practice, but most folk in those times in Europe had little concept about China so that part just kinda got pushed away by everybody ooh-ing and aah-ing at the spiffy shiny new tech

[iamrupalihere]

Car Trouble? Mechanic Guru Fixes Dings and Scratches

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A post shared by 𝐌𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐜 𝐆𝐮𝐫𝐮 (@mechanicguru_)

Hey everyone, Mechanic Guru here! Got a nasty bump or a long scratch on your car? No worries, we can buff those out! There are two ways to fix these little eyesores:

For Tiny Bumps:

PDR Push Away: Imagine a superhero for small dents! Mechanics use special tools to push the dent out from the back, like magic! It's quick and works great for shallow bumps.

For Bigger Bumps:

Dent Dude: Bigger dents or those with sharp edges need a different trick. Mechanics work from the front, sometimes using heat or special tools to push the metal back into shape. They might also use a special putty to make the area smooth before painting.

Making it Shine Again:

Clean Up Time: First, the area gets a good wash to get rid of any dirt or loose paint. Think of it like cleaning your room before painting!

Sticky Helper (Primer): A sticky layer called primer goes on next to help the new paint stick and stop rust from forming.

Paint Job: Now comes the fun part! The mechanic mixes paint to match your car's color perfectly and carefully brushes it on in thin layers.

Shiny Coat: A final clear coat goes on top to protect the paint and make it nice and glossy, just like a shiny new toy!

Should I Do It Myself?

There are kits for small dings, but for bigger ones or a perfect paint job, it's best to see a pro. Here's why:

Mechanic Magic: Pros have the tools and skills to fix dents without making things worse.

Color Match Masters: Getting the paint color exactly right is tricky. Professionals know how to make the new paint look exactly like the rest of your car.

Fix It and Forget It: Body shops often guarantee their work, so you can relax knowing it's done right.

Mechanic Guru's Reminders:

Fix it Fast: The sooner you take care of a dent, the easier and cheaper it will be to fix.

Shop Around: Get price quotes from a few body shops before you choose one.

Ask Questions: Don't be shy! Ask the mechanic how they'll fix your car and if they offer a warranty.

By following these tips, you can wave goodbye to those dents and scratches and get your car looking spiffy and brand new again!