#so i could do a streaming party over discord and Lose My Mind

[andoutofharm]

omg…..smfs anniversary tomorrow

[totemsp2blog]

Totem’s 2022 Backlog of shame Awards

Sometimes, I… wanna write about games. So here are some words about some games in an arbitrary fashion whose workings are known only to me.

I also play games, and then I don’t. These are their stories *dun dun*

“I paid my money” Award (also winner of the “Timesink stream jail” award)

Betrayal at Club Low

The Cosmo D experience.

Awarded for being purchased but I made the grave mistake of saving it as a stream game, because it was so much fun playing Tales from Off-Peak City blind, as well as other Cosmo D games on stream. The problem is… my streaming ‘hobby’ is dead in the water at the moment. As I’ve begun to refocus my social efforts away from the broad social internet at large (aka, social media in general), and into friend groups and regular hangout spots, it’s been making less and less sense for me to reach out to the internet void, and hope someone notices, which usually comes up empty. I don’t really have a presence or anything to sell, and honestly I think it’s way better this way. I mean, if you have friends, why wouldn’t you just chat to them instead of making short posts on to pop up on their timeline.

So, this award will be revoked once I reorganize my priorities and decided to just play it on my own or stream it directly to my discord friend group.

Besides, I never promised to stream it… that tweet doesn’t exist anymore never existed.

“I’m ancient now” Award

Cult of the Lamb

The government funded cult sim experience.

A game developed here in Melbourne, noteworthy for being funded by my state government, and thus has the ‘Dan Andrews seal of approval’.

It’s on the list because my taste in gaming has changed where action games don’t interest me as much as they used to. I wasn’t necessarily bad at the game, in fact I took to it quite well. I just stopped after a while because I’d simply had enough.

I even started my game over… for personal reasons… and that also might have something to do with it.

Who knew a certain action would permanently remove a follower from your Cult. I swear I would’ve torn that fucking rat’s heart back out and shoved his decap’d head in the composting box it I could’ve, for I am the god damn word!

*sigh* Did you know I once rolled back 30 minutes of progress in Subnautica because I ran my Seamoth into a Rabbit Ray?

“Master procrastinator” Award

Warframe: The New War (and subsequent updates)

The pre-Hydron experience.

Warframe had the potential of losing this award, but as you’ll soon find out, it was retained because I’m a fool… in fact, I was always a fool.

For the longest time, I thought the prerequisite for The New War quest was… well, how do I explain this to people who don’t play Warframe? It was a certain sword, and an equippable mech suit (no the Warframes don’t count as equippable mech suits… it’s complicated)

Anyway, I thought that for a long time, and even complained about it on the internet, only to get corrected and told “no, you don’t need the Paracesis, you get loaned one in the quest.”

“oh…”

So I didn’t have to do a dumb grind, and only had to do a much less dumb grind. With that in mind, my energy for the game came right back, fully intent on catching up a full year of content that I’d missed out on.

Only… for me to hop back in and start doing the exact same thing I’ve been doing in the game for the past collective year… grinding XP on Hydron… until I burnt out again. (oh, I also did a little resource collection to build a new pet, and then I took that pet to grind XP on Hydron.)

If you don’t know, Hydron is a location in the star chart that appears to be everyone’s favourite area to grind XP, or try out new gear while grinding XP for them. Reliably so, you can easily get a full party of pubs each mission. That’s all what I’ve been doing in Warframe for so long. Just hopping on a defense, testing weapons and frames, clicking on Grineer.

But what I should’ve been doing is tackling the requirements for this quest so I could enjoy new content and all I’ve been doing is playing a mission that has probably been in the game for almost a decade… because it’s a comfy place to meet up with 3 strangers and wreck house while playing with new toys, so that’s why it gets this award/excuse.

Runners up

Halo the Master Chief Collection

Pictured: Not MCC, also the Halo Infinite Beta Forge experience

Reminiscing about the old times. Haven’t finished it due to a bug with the music in The Maw. Very annoying. Would’ve gone on to play the rest of the master chief story afterwards… perhaps stopping at Halo 4.

Metroid Prime Trilogy (primehack mod)

The "Nintendo won't be happy about this" experience.

Speaking of Reminiscing about the old times, A way to play my favourite games of all time, with Keyboard and Mouse? And all the other features Dolphin provides? What am I waiting for? That’s a good question. I’m probably waiting for my current gaming obsessions to run dry before taking it on. It’s a good standby nevertheless!

Void Bastards

The Auspost experience.

This is a good game, featuring The Stanley Parable Narrator, which means I have a source of Kevan Brighting to tide me over while I wait 10 years to be able to play Ultra Deluxe again. This was a runner up for the “old bastard” award, because it deserves a mention, but I’ve put it down for similar reasons, though I haven’t suffered a severe loss to the extent that I did in Cult of the Lamb.

Deep Rock Galactic

The modded DRG experience.

This was a runner up for the “Procrastubator” award (ew). It too is a 4 player coop loota game with missions. But instead of weird space children telekinetically controlling people violently transformed into hunks of weird parasitic metal with the powers of the V O I D, it’s funny space dwarves digging a hole full of bugs. A great game, that’s fun with friends, that I’ve just burnt out on for the time being. I’ll be back for sure.

War for the Overworld

The 2010s unofficial-but-superior Dungeon Keeper experience.

I have but one more mission to beat in this game. Shamefully, this counts for more than one game in my collection, but this get’s a special mention because it’s a great Dungeon Keeper game that we should’ve gotten instead of that mobile shit pile EA put out. Well, now you can get this game and none of that money goes to EA, so it’s a win win!

Backlog of Shame Game of the Year Award

Death Stranding

The 'Bring your daughter to work' experience.

Content Warning: sad

When I finally got to see what the gameplay of this game was, I knew I’d get into it. And I did!

I got up to a point where I was using Excel to do my nerdy (autistic) thing of cost calculation, so I could quickly move the right amount of freight to build all the roads. And I was pretty thorough with areas before moving on. I may have put in roughly 50? or so hours before I moved on from the first area and as of now I have nearly 150 hours and I’ve only reached Heartman. And then I had enough for the time being.

Time passes…

Things change…

And now I have the Directors Cut.

And I want to play it… but I can’t.

It’s because the game makes me sad. Well, Sadder… I mean it was sad before, but now… it makes me really sad.

I should explain that it’s not the game that makes me sad (as much), but the use of licenced music. The tracks by Low Roar are hauntingly beautiful, and I had been enjoying them during my time playing and listening to them on my own… but I had been curious enough to read up on the songs, and the album they're from and find out what it's about. And right now, after things happening in my life, the subject matter is too sensitive for me to listen to them.

Some would say that embracing these feelings and exploring them through artistic mediums can be a good thing, but not when it starts being not so “being a downer”, more so “bad for my mental health” which may be a bit strong to say. I guess what I’m saying is it’s perfectly acceptable to give yourself some time away from subject matter you’re not prepared to deal with, especially when you should be taking extra care of yourself. Not just me, that counts for just about anyone I can think of. If you’re reading this, you count too!

I wanted to finish this game, to find out what in the goddamn is going on and what in the heck it’s all and going and why and… stuff. I was ready to hop back in when the DC dropped, but right now… it’s not the time.

Someday I will play it again, but that day is not in sight, and I don’t know when it’ll be.

Which is annoying since they just announced a sequel. Oh well, hopefully Kojima’s Xbox game isn’t so depressing.

Have a happy holidays, or at the very least, hang in there. It’s not the end.

Oh… and the...

“attention redirection” award

for game most responsible for putting a few games on this list is goes to my current obsession…

Space Engineers

The first space flight experience.

...thanks to the server I play on being back up and running. Plus runner ups for any games I’m playing with Server 9 in the interim.

LATE EDIT...

I have completely forgotten there was a game that absolutely should've made the list, a game so significant, that the endless praise I have heard from everyone in existence that knows of and has played it, was truly palpable. And it's a wonder how I completely forgot about it.

And so, I am giving the...

Backlog of Shame Lifetime achievement award

to...

Outer Wilds

The "Totem not played Outer Wilds because I just... I dunno..." experience.

I have no excuse for this one.

Maybe the explorative adventure game design is not my cup of tea... which doesn't make sense because I love Cosmo D games. But Cosmo D games typically give you a hand because they understand that you're ultimately here to look around. Perhaps I don't comprehend the difficulty of the game yet (not with just 2.9 hours).

Perhaps... I'm...

I'm...

still obsessed with Space Engineers. Hey, it's kinda like that. You take off in your space ship, lose control, and then you crash. I wish Space Engineers has a time rewind function... oh that's called backup saves.

I dunno... It's just not... taking me. It looks and seems really goddamn cool, but I don't know, it's just not drawing me in...

oh it is drawing me in...

oh god it's drawing me in too fast HELP M- ...

Totem’s 2022 Backlog of shame Awards

Sometimes, I… wanna write about games. So here are some words about...

[csmeaner]

Feedback for Scarfoxes, but specifically for Darci.

post related (bold isn’t me, im in the parenthesis this time. this is a user submitted post)

The Scarfox server imploded on itself tonight because, once again, Darci makes stupid fucking decisions and then can’t handle the backlash.  I no longer fear getting banned, in fact, I WANT to get banned so that my Scarfoxes get voided for free, so I’m going to submit this in a place where I know at least a few people will see it because I’ve been given a seven day timeout in the server.

Keep in mind that some of this is based on my own personal experiences, but is a few years old at this point, so I no longer have the correspondence.  Additionally, in the cases of livestreams, they were not recorded so take what I’m about to say with a grain of salt because I cannot prove things.

Darci, this is to you specifically.

I’m going to be frank, I’ve never liked you.  As an artist, you are horribly unprofessional.  I’ve had to cancel commissions I’ve ordered from you because you left me waiting almost six months without even starting my stuff, you changed the negotiated payment with one particular commission, and you shit talk your clientele despite taking their money.  Even before you became the owner of Scarfoxes, I didn’t trust you as a moderator.  You posted your Twitch channel in the Scarfox discord, and spent the stream shitting on people who bought and redesigned your Scarfoxes.  Any of those people could have been in that stream at any given time to hear you talking trash about them, and those of us who were present were very disappointed by your conduct.  Furthermore, you did the same thing on a commission stream.  I get that you had personal beef with the commissioner, but that didn’t stop you from taking their money, did it?  An artist should NEVER speak poorly of their clients in front of other potential clients.  It’s a good way to lose yourself business and damage your reputation, not that your reputation isn’t already being harmed by the fact that you simply take forever to work on owed art.

Moving on from your personal conduct as an artist, I want to address your status as the owner of Scarfoxes.  I said it multiple times in the Discord tonight, but I do not feel that you are fit to own or run the species.  I didn’t even feel you were fit as a moderator, though at the time I kept quiet and vented my frustrations to close private parties.  Kawiku was not a perfect owner either.  Anyone who was present from 2017 onwards knows that I was vocal when Kawiku did things that were shady too.  But, I will say that Kawiku never caused as much community outrage as you do.  Ever since you took over it’s been nothing but constant problems and community backlash, and it seems to several of us that you never learn from your mistakes.  And, just like tonight, when things don’t go your way you try to silence people.  Hide the backlash.  “There is no war in ba sing se.”

You announce changes that affect your entire community without asking for their input.  A community which YOU treat like your personal ATM machine.  I’ve known since you took over as owner that this is what it was going to come to, but tonight other people’s eyes were finally opened to that reality as well.  You drop a new adopt because you need medicine.  Or you have rent to pay.  Or you need to pay your site coder.  But here’s the thing about that.  It’s not our responsibility, as your community, to pay for your bills and expenses.  Closed species are a hobby, and should be treated as such.  You are NEVER going to make a living wage just on Scarfoxes alone, especially not when every decision you make is met with backlash and the admins and moderators under you having to back pedal and create polls AFTER the community cries out against your decisions.

On September 28th, you came out of a two month hiatus that you COULD have used to hire and train new moderators to take the burden off of your current staff.  Instead, what did you do?  Try to shill out adopts for USD, create a new potion and exclusive traits to sell for USD, and give us new banner art for two biomes that have already existed for a year or more.  Then, on September 29th, you drop the bomb that there’s now a $70 voiding fee PER SCARFOX, and you can’t even get the reasoning behind the void fee straight.

First, it was because the MYO mods are too few and have too much responsibility.  Well, who’s fault is that, I wonder?  There are many people who have been with Scarfoxes longer than you have who would be more than willing to help your mod team out, they might even not need extensive training given how long they’ve been with the species.  Then, you backpedaled and tried to claim it was so that people could use their Scarfoxes commercially.  But there’s an issue with that, too.  You don’t get the jurisdiction over that.  If you aren’t the artist of that particular Scarfox, you can’t say “pay me $70 to use that Scarfox commercially."  And, as was brought up in the Discord following that explanation, no legal contracts are signed when an adopt is purchased, so legally you cannot stop people from doing this already with the characters they buy.  There is no justified reason to impose a void fee to start with, let alone one that’s $70.  I thought the Edeia voiding fee was bad at $35, congratulations on being even worse.

Your reasoning for the void fee being a deterrent to try and make people sell or trade their designs was also uncomfortably close to what Auspice recently stated when they were questioned about the void fee too, so I have very little doubt that’s where you got the idea from.  And trust me, Auspice is the last person you want to be taking CS management advice from.  People should not be discouraged from taking their designs out of the species if it’s a character they love and connect with deeply.  You should let people walk out for free.

Time after time again, you pull stunts like this and when the backlash comes, you hide like a coward and let your mods take the community’s anger and clean up your mess.  You are the species owner, and if you plan to stay in that position, then you need to smarten up and start taking responsibility and acting like you’re running an ARPG instead of a glorified furry pixel shop.  However, I doubt that’s going to happen because this behavior keeps repeating itself.  Despite your claims to change going forward, you never do.  Your community has given you enough chances, and people are starting to realize the truth.

Do you realize that your mods are practically running your species for you at this point?  You never do jack shit for the community other than push out adopts, and those have been decreasing in quality for a while now yet you’re still charging just as high of a price for them as ever.  What are your mods getting in exchange for their time and efforts, I wonder?  Probably nothing, let’s be honest.  You can’t even afford to pay your own shit IRL without trying to milk us dry, I highly doubt you can pay your mods.  Pathetic.

There’s no more playing around, Darci.  You’ve angered too many people tonight and people are starting to wake up and realize how terrible of a person you really are.  You’re going to have to work hard to restore yourself and the species, if it’s even possible and I don’t think it is, at this point.  Take the advice of your members and either pull the plug on Scarfoxes entirely, turn them into an open species, or step down as owner and pass the mantle onto someone who’s actually capable of running a species.

Locking the channels, timing out or banning members, removing the ability to use external emojis to stop people from complaining, and deleting messages to hide your shit isn’t acceptable behavior.  If you can’t handle criticism and negativity resulting from YOUR own stupid actions, you have no right owning and running a closed species.

[corpsehusband-simp]

Imagine

Request: it was a corpse x reader where the reader is like a walking thirst trap and the definition of egirl, and she flirts with corpse alot and he thinks that its just her nature and one day they are playfully making fun of eachother on a stream using those “imagine” roasts and corpse says to her “imagine flirting with everyone you know” and she claps right tf back with “imagine not knowing im only flirting with you” and you can end however you want thank you thank you

A/N: Sorry its been taking me a while to get stuff out I’m kinda going out o my mind and keep hitting writers block. I just want to make sure I’m putting out stuff you guys actually want to read ya know?

Pairing: Corpse Husband x Fem!Reader.

warnings: None.

Masterlist

Stream days were your favorite days especially when you were streaming with Corpse. You had met him a few months back when you were streaming Among Us with Charlie and from there, your friendship has blossomed into something amazing, for you specifically a deep crush has developed for the dark curly-haired boy. You tried to make your flirting subtle but you were thinking it was time to be a little less subtle with the boy so today after your stream you were hoping to call Corpse and talk to him about it.

You gave yourself one last look in the Mirror, looking over your outfit. Your style definitely fit Corpses aesthetic, you by no means were a catgirl but you were an egirl which is why 99% of the guys that watched your stream, watched them. You sighed straightening your skirt and walked to your streaming room.

“Sup gamer guys gals and nonbinary pals told we will be playing Animal Party with da boys, Corpse was ever so kind enough to invite me to the game, But first the moment I know you guys are wanting, here’s my fit check!” You stand from your desk and do a little twirl showing off what you were wearing. “My favorite part of this outfit is the boots, I love how chonky the boots are and they are so fun to walk in.” You sit back down and look at the chat. “Yes I will be playing with Corpse today he is in fact part of da boys...speak of I think everyone’s in discord now.” You pull on your headphones and cleared your throat before unmuting. “Howdy boys.”

“There you are!” You hear jack say excitedly. 

“Here I am!” there were a chorus of hellos and you were introduced to PJ before corpse finaly joined the call. “Jeez finally Corpse, I was starting to worry you were never going to join.” You tease him, making sure to keep your voice light . He chuckles.

“Yeah yeah whose the one that was an hour late to stream last week?” You gasp

“It was an accident I overslept!”

The game started and was a complete shit show in the best way possible. It was clear none of you really knew what was going on but it was making for greak content that the streams were loving.

“No jack dont go near Felix hes pretending to be dead!” You were practcally in tears by this point trying to contain your laughter. With out warning Felix popped backup and round house kicked Jack but he some how dodges and hits Felix which killed him. That left you against Jack and Corpse. 

“Imagaine losing 2 to 1.” Corpse tease you as you ran around eachother, you gasped a litttle.

“Imagine thinking you could actually win.” Jack stood there looking between the two of you.

“In the left corner we have Corpse Husband with a voice like melted butter, and in the right coner we have Y/N coming with the Egirl secret attack. As the crowd may know Corpse has a soft spot for Egirls.” Jakc speaks in his best announcer voice and you desperately tried to hold in your laughter. “Egirl how do you respond to daddy Corpse?” You clear your throat and sit up.

“Imagine having simp accounts for your hands.”

“Imagine having simp accounts for your thighs.”

“I have simp accounts for my thighs?” You ask a little confused but shake it off. “Imagine simping for everyone.”

“Oo good one” Jack laughs.

“Imagine flirting with everyone you know.” You gasp and without thinking you say

“imagine not knowing im only flirting with you.”

“Wait what?” Everything goes silent for a moment and you try yo regain your composure. Theres no getting out of this one so you might as well own up to it.

“You heard me. I said imagine not knowing im only flirting with you.” You sit back in your chair and cross your arms over your chest.

“Imagine not knowing Ive also had a fat ass crush on you for the longest time.” You bite your lip but before you respond felix cuts in.

“I love this mushy gushy shit but we do have a game to play.” You clear you throat.

“Right sorry guys.”

“No no its fine you guys are really adorable.”

“Y/N call me after the game.”

✨Tag list✨

@fuji175 @corbins-kinda-smart @locallolli @namjoons-crabssss @sadness-babee @reddeserths @eccedxntesi @mayempress  @shinyyoonie @amirahhiddleston @gamerjisoo @trying-to-be-nice-here @jinexedanxrchist @rensaor @yoongis-cumsock @devilishducky97 @mintchip17 @redperson58 @kutiesammyboo @caswinchester2000 @hufflepuff-always-and-forever @thoughtfullydopedragon @neville-longbottomsimp @danny-devitowo @chocolatecloudwinnerhoagie @notmewrongb1tch @moneybagmara @alxcru158 @whatinthyworld @ihavecommitmentissues @mayempress @tanya-sonigra @themeaningofstupid @heavenly3308 @nicetomeetyouamamber  @chileansoul-englishheart

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[masons-cigarette-lighter]

Jamie Goes Rogue (pt 1)

Fandom: The Wayhaven Chronicles (AU)

Characters: Jamie Watson, Mason, Adam du Mortain, Nate Sewell, and Detective Isobel Greystone (Iso belongs to my girl @megan-the-canadian)

Pairings: Jamie x Mason

Rating: mature

Warnings: swearing, lots of angst

Word Count: 2190

Summary: Jamie decides it was a bad idea to re-join unit bravo and leaves--again. 

Context: In this AU, Jamie Watson was the fourth member of Unit Bravo before Felix. She went rogue due to...disagreements with Rebecca and Adam, and despite her amazing friendship with Nate, and her “thing” with Mason, they weren’t enough to keep her around. However, she recently rejoined the team (not without protest from certain parties) to help her dear friend Isobel with the trapper bounty placed on her head. 

Edit: So the text thread scene here is -technically- written backwards to simulate scrolling. For example, if you got a notification saying you got a match on tinder 5 minutes ago, and then got a discord notification 1 minute ago, the discord notification would be at the top of your screen. So in this story, Mason’s texts were sent the earliest (from what she read, there could have been more under his), and the 7+ missed calls from Nate are at the top because those calls are what she is getting as she’s scrolling. I had my roommate read this after I posted it and that concept went over her head, so I thought i would explain. Sorry for any confusion!

“You’re reckless, uncalculated, and immature! If I had any say regarding your “re-introduction” to Unit Bravo, I’d have you caged for going rogue in the first place! I’ve never seen anyone so ungrateful in my life!” Adam boomed at Jamie. Their sparring match had spun completely out of control and was now a full out brawl. She dodged a punch and came up, seething, “Why would I be grateful for another chance to be constantly disrespected, and threatened with my life when I even slightly disagreed with an order from my commanding agent,” she sneered. They really brought out the worst in each other. Jamie went to punch him with enough force to break a human’s jaw, but whiffed it instead, catching his elbow to her nose instead. 

“See? If you think before you swing, you might land some h-” 

Jamie’s knee made contact with his ribs, and she seized the moment of surprise to punch him square across his stupid face. He stumbled back, and Jamie started to take her hand wraps off. She was done. 

However, Adam, having just gotten the wind knocked out of him, was not. He growled in frustration and ran at Jamie, only to be stopped dead by both of her hands meeting his chest and pushing him away.

 “I am done!” Jamie shouted before turning to storm out of the training room. Adam scoffed at her and said, “You’re done? Of course you are. Anytime someone holds you accountable for anything you do, you run away like a coward. Running and dodging is all you’re good at,” 

Jamie stopped at the door and whipped her head around to meet his icy glare with her razor sharp, violet eyes. She smiled. Not a warm smile, a wicked, cunning, dangerous smile that showed off her small pointed incisors.

“You know nothing, of what I am capable of,” she spoke low, venom dripping off of every word. “If you did, you would be wise, and bite your fucking tongue,”

Jamie slammed the door behind her and started stomping down the hallway to her bedroom at the warehouse. Rejoining Unit Bravo was a a stupid idea and she knew it. She could have run when she was found out in Wayhaven, she should have. She should have shoved her feelings about Isobel and the bounty on her head away, and not have even gone back to her apartment that night. She was stupid to think anything would change, but she hoped anyway. 

Stupid, stupid, stupid. 

She heard a door open behind her, and knew Mason popped out to follow her down the hall. She could smell him. Cigarette smoke, rain, and a hint of Suave for Men. Damn was she going to miss-

No. She cut her own train of thought off. She had to stand her ground this time. She was leaving and she wasn’t coming back. Not ever. She couldn’t succumb to her feelings now. 

She flung open her bedroom door, turned, and slammed it behind her. She waited to hear the sound of her door against it’s frame, but only heard Mason catch it and let himself in.

Damn he’s fast.

Jamie rolled her eyes and began looking for her suitcase. “Get out,” she ordered without facing him. He ignored her, and instead sat on her bed facing her back, admiring how she looked in her athletic attire. 

“What happened?” 

Jamie yanked her suitcase out of her closet and slammed it down on her bed, purposely barely missing Mason’s hand. 

“Aren’t you supposed to have hyper sensitive hearing? I said get out,” said Jamie, this time with a little more force behind her words. Mason shrugged, and smirked, “Selective hearing,”

Jamie was ignoring him, and throwing her belongings into the suitcase, using supernatural speed to do so. Sure, this might be a waste of her limited daily supply of magic, but she was desperate to leave. 

“What happened?” he asked again. Jamie still ignored him, continuing her rapid and messy packing. Mason furrowed his brow at her. What could he possibly have done to make her mad this time? He stood up, and placed himself in front of her suitcase. She ran straight into his chest and stumbled back, now even more irritated than before. 

“What’s going on, Jamie? What are you doing?” he asks, crossing his arms and planting his feet.  Jamie huffs and pushes past him, “I’m leaving,” she says. There was a tinge of hurt in her voice that she didn’t want there, but he probably didn’t notice. She wasn’t going to invade his privacy by reading his mind to find out. 

He did catch it, he felt and heard his heart rate rise. 

She doesn’t mean it, she’s bluffing and throwing a tantrum to make a point. She’ll be here tonight with a cup of tea and a bag of blow pops like nothing ever happened. He thought in an attempt to calm himself down. “What happened?” he demanded for the third time. Jamie zipped her suitcase and slammed it down onto the floor, the loud noise made Mason cringe slightly. “I don’t know, why don’t you ask Adam?” she sneers before pushing her way past him towards the door. 

“That’s what this is about? You and Adam are at each other’s all the time, that doesn’t mean you have to leave,” Mason says, reaching out to catch her arm. He misses when she whips around to face him, her face scrunched with anger. Her hair, black as a starless sky, barely missed his face when she spun around, causing a gust of coconut, and campfire to flood his senses. He was momentarily intoxicated.  

If she wasn’t being fucking insane right now I’d-

 “That’s not why I’m leaving!” she yells, snapping Mason out of his trance. His eyebrows furrowed together in confusion. 

“I’m leaving because Adam is a mindless buffoon with head too far up his own ass to listen to anyone else, Nate treats me like I don’t know how to control myself, Rebecca treats me more like a child than her ACTUAL child, I’m the butt of all of Felix’s jokes, and you” she drives her finger into his chest. 

“I am done being your fucking cum dumpster, Mason,” 

Jamie didn’t need to read his mind to know that stung. 

She spun around before he could see the tears well up in her eyes, walked out the door, and started down the hall. She heard him take a few steps toward the door when she was about halfway to the exit of the warehouse. She knew she couldn't see him again, so she picked up her suitcase and bolted out the exit in a panicked sprint before he could stop her. 

She ran away. Again. She ran forever, until she couldn’t run anymore. This was the third time she had run away from any sort of family she had come across. Maybe Adam was right. Maybe this was all she really knew how to do. The fearless girl she masqueraded as was a sham. A bamboozle. A lie. 

She shook the thought off and blinked the tears back and looked up at the scene in front of her. She had sprinted all the way to the big city outside of Wayhaven. She nodded and tried to focus on finding someplace warm to rest for the night. She couldn’t risk running out of magic and losing the glamour that hid her terrifying appearance to the human world. 

Jamie checked in to the nearest hotel using the emergency cash she had left, and a stolen debit card. That night she would gather her thoughts, and make a plan. She didn’t need to be a member of Unit Bravo to protect Isobel. She could solve this whole bounty issue by herself, without the need to ask for permission from Rebecca, or Adam or anyone. Jamie was meant to work alone. No emotional liabilities. No sexual ties to anyone that would turn into emotional ones. Just her.

The buzzing of her phone brought her out of her thoughts as she got on to the elevator. 

Shit.

She mentally scolded herself for bringing her phone simply out of habit. She answered the call from Nate, then immediately hung up so he couldn’t leave a voicemail. 

The elevator opened up to her floor, and she walked out, her phone buzzed again with another call from Nate, she didn’t answer it this time, she simply pressed the red button and ignored it. In doing this, she saw the tons of missed calls and unread text messages from her now ex coworkers. Jamie put her phone in her pocket, and pulled out her room key to stick in the card reader on the door. 

Smells clean.

She tossed her suitcase on the bed and layed down next to it, pulling her phone out to ignore another call from Nate. She also couldn’t help but scroll down the stream of the text messages and missed calls littering her locked screen. 

-7 missed calls from: Nate-

Rebecca: Jamie, this is Agent Greystone. Please call me immediately, we need to talk. 

-Missed call from: Rebecca-

Nate: I know you know I’m calling. Please call me back and talk to me. Please. 

Nate: Iso just came back from your room. She says all of your things are gone. Please tell me this doesn’t mean what I think it means. 

Buzz.

Ignore. 

-3 missed calls from: Isobel-

Isobel: Why is all of your stuff gone? Is this what “she’s gone” means? Call me. 

Isobel: I just overheard Mason and Adam screaming at each other, and I heard Mason say you were gone. He sounded pretty mad about it. I hope you two aren’t fighting, because I’ll kick his ass 

Buzz.

Ignore.

Isobel: Never mind I’ll just go check myself, and I totally won’t use some of that super sexy perfume you had on the other night

Isobel: Is the tea kettle in your room? I can’t find it.

Mason: I saw you take your phone. I know you are getting these calls. Listen, you don’t need to come back, but can we at least talk about this? You know where I’ll be. 

-4 missed calls from: Mason-

Buzz.

Ignore.

Mason: I would say I couldn’t believe you were leaving again, but I guess I shouldn’t be surprised at this point. At least you said goodbye this time. 

Mason: I know you couldn’t have gone far. I’m standing out in front of the warehouse with your blow pops if you want them back. 

Mason: This is stupid. Quit throwing a fit and get your ass back here. You have work to do, and we need to have a conversation. 

Mason: You left your blow pops. 

Buzz.

Incoming call from: Isobel.

Tears spilled over from Jamie’s eyes and her scrolling was interrupted. Her finger hovered over the green button, wanting to assure her closest friend that she wasn’t abandoning her, just working from afar. She clenched her eyes shut, pressed the red button, and turned her phone off completely. Jamie knew Rebecca, and she knew that the second she answered the call, they would ping her location, and she would be captured. There was no way she could fend them all off in the state she was currently in, she needed to sleep. Jamie stood up from her bed, opened a window, and chucked her phone out onto the busy street below. The phone barely missed a windshield, but instead shattered to the ground, and was run over multiple times.

Jamie didn’t get ready for bed that night. She just crawled into bed, in the same clothes she had been training in that day, and drifted to sleep. 

When she was finished with her plan, all of them would kiss the ground she walked on for cleaning up their mess. Iso would be safe, and Jamie could finally disappear for good. 

Jamie shivered and snuggled down into the covers even more when she felt an aching absence at her back. Mason was never there when she woke up, but he had been there as she fell asleep almost everyday now. 

I’m alone. 

No one was there to see her silently admit her growing feelings for him. No one had to see the tears slowly streaming down her face. Part of her regretted what she had said to him.

“I am done being your fucking cum dumpster, Mason,”

It was true though, she was done. She wanted, no she deserved more from him, but admitting that would mean the high probability of him rejecting her completely. She would rather have part of him instead of none of him at all. None of that mattered now though, she was gone for good, and  she knew that whatever conversation he mentioned in the last text messages he sent would be him letting her down easy.

“You know there’s nothing more here, right? I don’t think I ever lead you to believe otherwise. If I did, I’m sorry,”

Jamie shuddered at the thought, and buried her face into the soft hotel pillow. 

How fucking pathetic. 

Jamie decided that she would allow herself a silent moment of weakness tonight. She was tired, and lonely, and pissed, and there was no one to witness it and hold it against her anyway, so who the fuck cared. 

Tomorrow she would pick herself up, and get back to work. It was these thoughts that pulled her into a dreamless sleep that night.

[jjba-arni-reblog]

Games and chill

[The last raffle work for @triggs-jpg. This one is streamer/youtuber AU with multiple small stories of you and your group trying different games. Implied Kakyoin/reader relationship. I wrote for a variety of  games I know and played myself.Thank you]

Pairing: Kakyoin/reader.

Time: wholesome AU(?), present times, ages not specified.

Words: ~ 3.1K

[Uno]

The idea to play Uno was going to be either a blessing or a curse. But it was an idea nonetheless and you and Noriaki asked Jotaro, Polnareff and even Dio if they want to participate in a video. Polnareff eagerly accepted the offer, asking if he needs anything to buy for the small ‘party’ you were to have. Jean even asked if he could bring Iggy to the party. Even if the dog wasn’t the friendliest one, he was sure eager to get free food from your group. He knew that you and Kakyoin would be the ones to spoil him. Jotaro was reluctant at first, not quiet used to being recorded but upon hearing that Dio himself accepted the offer, the man became interested in annoying Brando. Dio Brando himself accepted rather quickly, mostly to advertise himself as well as hopefully annoy Kujo.

And so your group placed different snacks on the big table, getting comfortable for the first round of Uno. The rules allowed to pretty much ‘spam’ anyone with cards, whether based on color or number. After eating all the cola flavoured gum since Polnareff forgot to hide it well enough, Iggy decided to sleep next to you, not quick eager to disturb the game today.

~

“Another 4” you said, choosing a card to place down, quickly starting to annoy Jotaro who was the one to receive it. You could only evilly chuckle as the man was so close to winning, only to lose his chance right away.

“And another” Kakyoin suddenly joined in, adding to the annoyance of Kujo.

“Okay, you can stop now” Jotaro said, hoping to not provoke any more actions from you two. At this point, he had 10 cards already. And before that he had 2 cards, hoping to win.

“And here is more” Pol put the nail in the coffin, laughing as more cards appeared in Jotaro’s ‘hand’

“What the fuck are you doing?” the latter spoke angrily as your group laughed.

“Winning, unlike you” Dio answered proudly while looking at his cards. He only had 2 left and the man was pretty confident.

As Dio was approaching victory rather quickly, he became more relaxed. Trying to get rid of the one of the two remaining cards, he was quickly shut down by Jotaro, whose hand represented a fan due to how many cards did he have. At least he would have fun this way.

“Un-“  Brando was about to say.

“I don’t think so, bitch” Jotaro cut him off as the blonde scoffed at him, getting two cards from the desk.

“We’ll see about that” Dio glanced at him, smirking a little at the clear contrast between them.

At the end, Polnareff won the match. Kujo was fine with that, as long as it wasn’t Dio it was alright.  

~

“Okay, new game, new rules. Whoever will win will decide on the dinner” Kakyoin announced, getting comfortable near you. Polnareff went to get a drink, urging you four to play without him. Iggy, hearing the footsteps towards the kitchen, quickly woke up in hopes to get a treat from Jean.

“Also, check if the camera is recording” You told Jean, hearing the man mumble the answer. Jotaro was quick to glance at you, as if an unspoken plan appeared in your minds. You quickly nodded, understanding what the man had meant, silently agreeing with it.

“It’s recording” Jean notified the group, now sitting on the couch with his drink, watching over you four.

“Skip” you said, placing the card to annoy Dio who sat next to you. You felt Kakyoin nudge your shoulder, praising your actions and smiling widely.

Next was Jotaro’s turn. The man placed the same type of card, only in a different color, his face without emotions.

“Same” he simply said, not commenting on the surprised gasp that Kakyoin let out. He wasn’t expecting such betrayal from his friend.

“Again” you put another ‘skip’ card, making Dio growl irritated at another lost chance for him.

“Another” Jotaro continue, placing one more ‘skip’ card. At this point, Dio and Kakyoin started to worry about their chances of winning.

“Since when you two work together to be a pain in the ass?” Dio asked, glancing at you two. Noriaki could only nod, not quite on the same aggressive level as Brando.

“Since you announced the that the winner will decide what to eat” you answered, looking over your cards, hoping to win at the end.

“I am tired of cherries and wine for dinner” Kujo rolled his eyes as you chuckled at his typical straight forwardness.

“Hey” Kakyoin objected, then turning his eyes towards you “can’t believe I have been betrayed by you of all people” he said dramatically clutching his chest.

“Well, no mercy” you winked, getting comfortable, hoping to eat something different for once. As long as you and Jotaro worked together. Polnareff was equally as interested in the game, watching as the tension got stronger around you four. He was having fun, watching as you tried to outsmart each other. Iggy joined him, getting ready for another nap.

Somehow, you and Jotaro managed to win, gaining yourself a healthy meal for once. Kakyoin, still ordered himself a cherry desert, teasing you about not sharing. Another evening well-spent.

~

[Minecraft]

Playing something as relaxing and nostalgic has been on your mind for a while. It is nice to have a gaming series where you can just all relax and have fun. Minecraft was a nice start for that. Kakyoin himself was quite eager to delve back into the known game, messaging your group, asking if they want to play with you two. And so the group reunited once again.

Surprisingly, Dio knew how to play it. He reluctantly admitted to playing the game with Jonathan when he was younger, even if the primal reason for it was to purely annoy Joestar kid.

You had to explain Pol and Jotaro how to play, while Kakyoin was getting the first resources. Dio was complaining as usual. It took you five a while to get situated, choosing a nice and cosy place in the woods. Dio insisted on building a big mansion. By ‘insisted’ he meant that ‘someone should build it and he, Dio Brando, will decorate it with his fine and precise sense of style’. Kakyoin then told him that dirt house would accompany Brando just as well, earning couple of swears from the blonde.

~

As time went on, the five of you established a nice and somewhat big place, each one of you having your own rooms. Jean got himself a dog, after hearing that you could turn some animals into pets. Jotaro was enjoying the soundtrack, mostly killing mobs and travelling whenever he wished. Brando was pretty much useless after getting the mansion built, instead now focusing on the décor of the house, pretty much making it a banana house using bright colors. Overall, it was a nice experience for your group

~

One evening, while everyone was off, Dio was playing on the server. Suddenly he had a random idea to push Jean’s dog a little bit closer to the open fire. Not really expecting it to actually burn, Dio ended up killing the dog by pushing it into the fire.

“Damn, this feels awfully familiar…” Dio mumbled to himself, not quite sure what was it that made is so particularly familiar. After realizing what he has done, the blonde was quick to place a sign on the wall next to the open fire.

Killed your dog, lol -   Dio xoxo

Later Jean destroyed his room, making Dio rage quit playing Minecraft for a week.

~

“Would you like to befriend a cat” You asked Dio next week, after he returned to the server. The man was facing the multiple cats scattered across the village.

“I am not a cat person” Brando answered, scoffing at your suggestion. Nothing unusual.

“You are nobody’s person to be fair” you rolled your eyes.

“Alright, go to hell” Dio replied, earning a snarky laugh from you. How typical of him.

“Okay, how do I make the cat my friend?” Polnareff suddenly asked, after hearing the delightful information from you. Hopefully, this pet will survive.

~

“There are also dolphins, turtles, coral reefs and tropical fishes by the way” Kakyoin mentioned to the group but most importantly to Jojo. He tried not to show any reaction.

“Whatever” Jotaro answered. However, you knew better.

After a couple of minutes, you heard Kujo speak again.

“So where are they?”

~

“Hey, Dio, I decorated your room a little, hope you will like it” Kakyoin casually mentioned, making you look at his screen. He winked, noticing the mischievous look you had. You were absolutely loving his idea.

“Don’t you dare pull off something or I will end you, Kakyoin” Dio said, not quite liking the tone he had. He decided to check it out later as he wasn’t playing for now.

Later when Dio arrived at his ‘mansion’, he opened the door, seeing a small flag on the wall together with a sign that said:

‘Don’t ever forget your origins’ - Kak

Seeing the flag, Dio found himself greatly annoyed. It was a flag of Scotland after all.

Brando was quick to open up Discord the type in ‘I am not from Scotland, you moron’, earning quite the reaction from the two of you. It was worth it.

~

Today, Brando seemed to be in a good mood, which made your group question what caused such effect on the usual annoyed Dio. But good Brando was the key to a good stream and communication. That is, until Jotaro noticed blonde being quite cocky.

“Hey, Dio” Jotaro’s tired voice called for the blonde as the group was in the voice chat. You and Kakyoin didn’t pay much attention to the conversation, instead checking if the recording program worked as well as the game.

“What?” the man answered, already feeling himself getting annoyed just from listening to Kujo’s voice

“You got mfat?” Jotaro asked emotionlessly as you and Kak suddenly stopped chatting. You knew where this was going, and you couldn’t get more excited.

“What?” Dio became more annoyed. Everyone else was suspiciously silent “What is mfat?” he asked, half-confused, half-tired of Jotaro’s shit.

“My fat dick in your mouth” the man answered, making the group burst into laughter.

“I can’t believe you felt for that, Brando” you said, laughing together with Noriaki.

“Fuck off, Kujo, go fuck yourself” Dio angrily answered, almost yelling.

~

[Hatoful boyfriend]

Today, you had something different planned. You were supposed to stream with Kakyoin for a while, however you decided to start a little bit earlier to try a new game. Today, you decided to stream a dating sim game. A bird dating game. Hatoful boyfriend. You checked if the equipment properly worked, then greeting the audience and introducing the plan for the next video. At first, you were amused and laughed everything off, joking about the dialogue lines and interactions as the chat noted the weird vibe the game was giving off. However, later, you felt yourself being immersed in the gameplay that Hatoful Boyfriend had to offer. The chat was as equally interested, commenting both ironically and unironically about the ‘hotness’ of each bird.

You were enjoying yourself, when you heard a door being open as the voice called for you.

“Did you see-” Kakyoin stopped in his tracks, noticing the equipment “Ah, shit, sorry” he was quick to apologize, then noticing your pc screen.

“What are you doing?” he approached you, looking at the screen with a puffy bird on it. He sat down next to you to fully absorb the image before him, baffled at the weird choice of a game.

“Well…” you chuckled, not even trying to explain yourself. You could the chat being as equally interested in Kakyoin’s reaction as you were.

“Am I not enough?” he suddenly dramatically asked, hiding his face behind a hand and striking the most bizarre and dramatic poses of them all while leaning back on the chair.

“Are you a bird?” you decided to tease Noriaki, raising an eyebrow at his question.

“No?” he was confused of what to say to this, chuckling confusedly.

“You just answered your own question” you simply answered, turning back to your lovely bird boyfriends, while Kakyoin stared at you for a couple of seconds.

“Wait a minute”

The chat was full of ‘F’s to show respect to the fallen soldier who lost against birds.

~

[Cuphead]

Your group was up for a challenge. You decided to try out Cuphead. Seeing the lovely artstyle and hoping that the game might spice up the recording/stream, you were eager to try it out. After multiple hours of practice, you felt yourself getting better at the game. Kakyoin was also catching up pretty quick, asking when weapons do you use for certain bosses.

“You can use parry to get it quicker” you explained to him.

“Ah, alright, got it” Noriaki smiled at you, hugging you closer as you two relaxed together. You still had couple of hours before the stream, so you decided to make the best out of it. While streaming was fun, occasional quiet hour was equally as important. You two simply lied down, talking about preparations and everything that came to mind. You felt him nuzzle your neck as he hugged you closer.

“Don’t fall asleep on me here, Nori” You brushed your hands through his soft locks.

“Then just wake me up before the stream” he half mumbled.

“Are you going to complain afterwards?”

“Yes, but I will wake up” Kakyoin answered back, chuckling a little.

After couple of minutes, you decided to speak. It seems like Kakyoin wasn’t going to sleep anyways.

“5 dollars on Dio rage quitting the game”

“10 if he will break something afterwards” Kakyoin answered back, excited by the idea of seeing someone get angry.

“Deal” you two shook hands while giggling. It was always fun to bet on stuff like that.

~

Dio wasn’t very good at the game, to say the least. The man didn’t have patience, always trying to rush forwards and eventually dying without reaching the end or killing the boss. Somehow he managed to beat the first world, proclaiming that he is getting ‘so much better’. The next boss he chose whoever, was getting on his nerves.

“Fuck this piece of shit clown” Dio growled, getting fed up with endless dying,

“That’s quite the self-love here” you answered back, hearing Polnareff and Kakyoin laugh.

“Shut up” Brando could only curse at you, replaying the level once again.

~

Jotaro being Jotaro, didn’t really get the excitement and panic over playing Cuphead, instead he was grumpy at the endless amounts of swears from dying.

“Why bother with the game if you lose so much anyway” he asked.

“That’s what games are for, Jotaro” You explained to him, not really wanting to waste your time to prove him wrong.

“Go try it yourself, Kujo” Kakyoin said “show us the results later” he teased the man, knowing that Kujo would eventually try the game.

“Will do” Jotaro answered, not bothering to continue watching

~

About two days later, you get a message in the group chat.

‘I broke my screen’ Kujo wrote. It was followed by multiple ‘lmao’s from you and Kakyoin, because of course he did.

‘You WHAT?’ came the message from Pol.

‘I broke it, alright, now stop asking’

After that, Kujo had to endure a week of teasing from your group, once again establishing himself as an ‘angsty’ man…together with Dio that is.

~

[Nekojishi]

“Hey, Nori, what are you doing there?” you asked, opening the door to see what he was up to.

“Ah, just playing a small novel game” Noriaki explained, hoping that you won’t be interested in further inspection of the said game. However, seeing the chat being exited you had your doubts.  Deciding against prying and finding out for now, you left the man alone.

That was the part of the plan. As you waited for Kakyoin to go grab himself water, you quickly entered the room once again, greeting the audience and reading the text that was on the screen, so far it seemed like a normal game. The aspects of the talks were mostly about sacred placed, which made you slightly confused. That is, until you found one of the characters, just as Kakyoin returned with his drink.

“Hey, oh…” he stopped, standing still as you eyed the screen.

“Kakyoin” your tone was serious.

“Yes?”

“Why is there a buffed tiger?” you turned towards him, chuckling at the confused look he had.  This wasn’t what you had expected.

“Well, first of all, guardian tiger” he corrected you out of nowhere, now approaching and sitting next to you “second, Lin Hu and third, I am trying to take his route and get the ending” Noriaki finished.

“So I guess you are a cat person, huh?” you asked, turning towards the tiger to take a good look once again.

“Well, certainly not a bird person” Kak commented back as you two laughed.

“Alright, you got me there. Go have fun with your tiger” you rolled your eyes a little, standing up to brush Kakyoin’s hair affectionately before taking your leave.

Seeing the chat enjoying the interaction you two had, Kakyoin couldn’t help but to note.

“Okay, I am not VERY into this game of course” he tried to find a small excuse for himself “but there is something about this guardian tiger…” He mumbled to himself, eyeing the buffed catman before him.

The chat quickly typed multiple Fs for your defeat against the buff tiger.

~

[Broforce]

Having the game named Broforce, you just had to engage in the whole ‘bro’ atmosphere to fully experience the game. So you and Kakyoin joined the voice channel, getting ready to play this indie game and checking the equipment. You decided to record this let’s play instead of streaming.  Jotaro and Jean had other plans today and Dio was nowhere to be seen. You two decided to join the group voice channel, not really expecting anyone to appear. Rushing through the game, you didn’t notice that Dio joined the voice channel. Not until he asked you about the next stream. You two decided to joke a little to slightly annoy Brando.

“Bro, I got you” you said with a deep voice, killing the enemy that almost shot Kakyoin.

“Thank you, Bro” he answered back, mimicking your low voice.

“Bro, no problem”

“Appreciate it, bro”

“Can you shut the fuck up with your bro shit?” Dio suddenly spoke up, annoyed at the whole ‘bro’ act you two pulled off.

“Damn, chill bro” you said back, earning a chuckle from Kakyoin.

Dio could only growl, exiting the voice channel in hopes of not hearing any more of that. Not today.

[daughterofelros]

Roswell Witcher AU

This one is in thanks to all the folks on discord who helped me figure out that I should do a Witcher AU for Day 2 of Alex Manes week. Here’s the first part!

“Witcher.”

The voice belongs to a woman. Low, insistent, and neither the tone of a woman seeking to refill his mug of ale nor one offering her bed for the night in exchange for his coin and a story she can tell for years to come. He glances up slowly.

She’s an uncommonly beautiful woman- wearing an uncommonly fine black gown laced with coppery-gold embroidery, dark hair that falls in loose curls around her face, and a black cloak with a hood that frames that face in shadow even as it spills to skim the worn pine floorboards of the inn. Sorceress, then. And one who recognizes what he is when he’s doing his best to go unnoticed.

He says nothing, waits for her to talk. Tries not to flash his eyes. His swords aren’t visible at the moment, tucked away as they are. His medallion lies beneath his shirt. He looks younger than many of his rare brethren, and he’d taken pains to conceal his identity before entering this village. They’re prone to both suspicion and superstition around these parts, and he’d wanted to avoid anything that got between himself, a hot meal, and a warm bed.

His last job had paid well enough to afford the room, but not entirely enough to feel like fair compensation for the wounds his body had yet to finish healing. A few nights of inns and comfort are going to go a long way toward being back in fighting form. As plans go, it’s a perfectly fine one that gets a good deal harder if the innkeeper or the other patrons here perceive him as anything more than a weary traveler on the road. When people get curious, they ask questions and don’t always like the answers.  And if she speaks any louder or stand here much longer, curiosity will be unavoidable.

“I’m Maria of Konik,” she introduces herself, “and I have a message of the utmost importance for you.”

He gestures for her to sit, and she does with grace and elegance of movement not often seen in roadside inns of this size or reputation.

“What is this message?” he asks tersely.

“Less a message in the strictest sense.” She hesitates.  “I…have visions, sometimes. See the future.”

“A useful skill.”

“Sometimes,” she allows. “Other times confounding or infuriating. But this time clearer than most, at least. Your friend is in danger.”

“What friend?” he guards his expression with long practice.

“I see enough of the future to know we will become good friends over our immortal lives, Alexander of Brud, and one of the few you have. But as this is our first meeting, I know you bear little confusion as to who I could mean. The bard is in peril.”

This time, it takes effort not to allow his eyes to widen or his lips to move. But his heart still hammers out a few extra beats.

“Where is he?”

“Far from here,” she says swiftly. “Weeks of travel, by conventional means. But the danger he faces is far more urgent than that. He has become the target of a spell that unleashes a Hodag upon its victim. It will not cease to attack until it has torn its intended prey limb from limb, and mortal men are no match for its teeth and claws and vicious hunger. I’ve protected him as well as I am able with a spell around the hunting lodge where he is sheltering. But the spell has limits, and loses its potency during a full moon. Moonrise tomorrow is when the Hodag will come for him. Unless it can be stopped. And only witchers have ever succeeded in killing them before.” Her words come out in a rush, and he has a sudden understanding of the terrible urgency of the situation.

“Why even tell me this, if we are weeks of riding away from where he is? What purpose does that serve?” He bites out the words, irritation rising to mask his concern.

“I can bring us there, with magic,” Maria of Konik replies, looking pleased with herself. Alexander is less than convinced.

“That’s complicated spellwork,” he observes. “Taxing. Not the sort of thing most magic-users are willing to perform. What is he to you that you are willing to bear on that cost?”

“Part of every best future I have glimpsed. So long as he survives past tomorrow. So long as you come to his aid.”

“And what of the other futures?” he inquires.

She meets his gaze, dark eyes open and expressive as she slowly shakes her head. Well then.

“I don’t suppose there’s compensation for this task?” he says, reaching for his pack. He imagines that’s indication enough he plans to go with her.

She stands, and he does as well. “We both know you don’t require it, in this case,” she says, brushing her fingertips against the worn tabletop and turning toward the door to the inn-yard.

He has no response to that, so he follows her.

The portal that she opens takes them to a hunting lodge tucked into the edge of an old forest. A small yard that had been cleared a hundred years or more ago has begun to cede itself back to the wood, and the boxy stone structure with its slate roof sits at the center of the yard. It’s taller than it is wide, though that says little. Sturdily built, despite its age, it’s the sort of structure that it seems ludicrous to imagine the nobility devoting their efforts and purses to creating as a fortification like this against bunnies and deer, until one realizes the level of fortification is actually built with the local folk who might want to hunt the bunnies and deer without the King’s permission in mind.

Still, stone walls should help to keep the Hodag from making an easy snack of the bard, so he doesn’t disapprove.

Looking about, he can sense the slight disturbance of the air close to the trees. He narrows his eyes, glad for his good vision in the darkness.

“That’s the boundary of the spell,” Maria supplies. “It will keep anything from physically crossing in as long as it hold, but if anyone steps across it from within its bounds, it will start to dissolve. That’s I opened the portal here, so close to the lodge itself.

“He’s in there already?” Alexander asks.

Maria nods, and leads him to the heavy-timbered door.

The common room is empty, the fire banked in the hearth. But the glow of candle light spills down the stairs, and it’s those he climbs on near-silent feet. And there, standing in the center of the room, drawn from his seat by the sounds from below, is the bard, curls and grin the same as he remembered.

“Guerin,” he breathes, and then his arms are full of bard, forcing him to plant his feet as he returns the embrace. He doesn’t allow himself to cling to the other man, though the bard clearly has no such reservations. But Guerin’s hair is soft under his fingertips, the solid reality of his body a warm reassurance. Alexander allows himself to breathe in his scent

“You’re here.” Guerin marvels, pulling back and regarding him at arms length with astonishment. “How did you know…”

“Your sorceress friend found me, explained that you’d landed yourself in hot water again. Which jealous husband did you enrage this time?”

Guerin grimaces for the briefest moment, but covers it skillfully with a grin.

“That’s not fair, Alex,” he rejoins lightly. “You know sometimes its the jealous wives who send the hounds after me. Or sometimes both parties together if I’ve overstayed my welcome.” He smiles as he says it, but the smile doesn’t quite ease the sense of sadness or exhaustion from his eyes.

He starts to launch into a tale of woe, where he himself will be portrayed as both the put-upon martyr and the daring hero all at once, but Maria interrupts.

“Having heard this bit before, I’ll leave you to it,” she says dryly. “I know a spell that can help to slow a creature, and I believe I can use it to your advantage against the Hodag tomorrow night. But it requires things I don’t have access to here. I need to fetch them, and it will take time. I’ll return by mid-morning. Perhaps by then, you’ll have had a chance to bathe, Witcher. You stink of monster blood.”

He likes her. Possibly because she irritates him even as she makes his lips twitch toward a smile, though his tone remains measured.

“In all fairness, I’m not sure the creature had any blood. It was more of a goo.”

“Were there tentacles? I hate the tentacles, but they’re very dramatic when they have tentacles,” Guerin observes. Maria ignores him, her eyes widening slightly in surprise, and then the barest expression of mirth.

“What do you know- a Witcher who has wit. Bathe, and you might actually be tolerable company.” She tosses her head and trails down the stairs. The door closes behind her with a loud scrape and a sudden air of silence.

“She means it, you know,” Guerin eventually says. “There’s a bath tub here- fit for a king. She’ll have filled it by magic just now. Hot as if it has just been heated on the hearth and lugged up here.

“I could use it,” Alexander admits. “I washed the worst of it away in a stream yesterday, after I had been paid, but it was no finely heated bath. And tonight, she dragged me from my inn after I had eaten, but before I had called for a wash basin or had a chance to rest.”

“Is Maria is right, there’s no real danger tonight. That will come on tomorrow’s moon. So…you have time. I can…help you with your armor, if you desire.

Alex nods, not trusting himself to speak.

True to Michael’s claim, there is indeed  a wash tub- deep and luxurious- set behind a screen, already draped with linen and filled with water hot enough that he can see the steam curling into the air.

He loosens the straps and laces of his armor, lets Guerin ease the pieces of it from his body. It’s a ritual they’ve performed many times before, when they used to travel together. Before… Just, before.

He keeps his breathing even, every time Guerin’s deft fingers brush his arm, or his torso, whisking away another piece of the armor he wears like a second skin. But it takes effort.

Guerin turns away when he goes to pull his shirt over his head, perusing the bath offerings on the table against the wall, and keeping up a stream of even chatter that belies the skill he has in caring for people behind the glib, attractive facade.

“Chamomile, I think, for soothing and relaxation. And you’re favoring your right arm a bit, which means it’s paining you, so I think we should add calendula as well. Not Lavender, I think, but perhaps the geranium oil, for the tension in the sore muscles?” he adds the selections to the bath water, the steam making the scents dance across the room. Alex takes the time to pour water in the wash basin and scrub the worst of the filth of the road from his arms and chest, not wanting to foul the bathwater that Guerin has so thoughtfully prepared with scent and soothing herbs.

The delay means that by the time he reaches for the buttons that fasten his trousers, Guerin is finished preparing the bath. They meet each other’s gaze for a moment before Guerin makes to turn away.

“I should give you your privacy,” he says.

“You can stay, Guerin,” he says without particular forethought. “It’s nothing you haven’t seen before.”

He regrets the words almost immediately. It doesn’t do to remind Guerin of what has transpired between them, the gulf that has yawned between them ever since. It doesn’t do to remind himself. Guerin’s jaw clenches.

“You have wounds that haven’t healed yet. I have some of my salve in my pack. I’ll go and get it.” He ducks around the screen.

Uncertain if he truly intends to come back, or if the thoughtless words have sent him running, Alexander strips off the rest of his clothing and steps into the bath, letting the heat soak into his weary muscles, the steam rise into his nostrils. He rests his head against the high edge of the bathing tub, lets himself enjoy the sensation of the deep water and the soothing scents, the last of the dirt dissolving from his skin.

Long minutes pass and then suddenly Guerin appears again, a small carved pot in his hand, and a wary expression in his eyes.

“I wasn’t convinced you were coming back,” Alex admits. “I…wouldn’t have faulted you.”

“Between the two of us,” Guerin observes, just a hint of a bite to his tone, “I’m not the one with the tendency toward leaving.”

[cxlvins]

...000. INTRODUCTION.

helloooo lovelies ! my name is evan (he/him), i’m twenty-two and from the gmt timezone ! i’m super excited for this to open because i’ve got so much muse right now. i’m down for any and all plots, seriously, i love plotting ! this is calvin, he’s an angry mess of a character, but he’s fun to play, so ! if you just wanna get to know the character, you can skip past the other sections and just focus on personality, i’ve also put some wanted connections in there too ! if you would like to plot, then either shoot me a message here or on discord (heterosexual? how vintage!#8600) or alternatively, like this post and i will message you !

caution: alcohol, drugs, mental health, death.

›› ✱ xavier serrano, cismale, he/him. you’ve met calvin marx, right? they’re around twenty-three and a twitch streamer. they’re all about thrift store clothing and the faint smell of cologne and cigarettes, hence why they’re known as the spitfire around town. everyone knows them to be pretty gregarious but i’ve heard they’re actually sort of volatile, too… don’t tell them i said that, okay?

...001. BRIEF HISTORY.

calvin grew up very underprivileged for the first 11 years of his life in brooklyn, ny.

his father died when he was 5 years old to a drug overdose, leading his mother became a single mother to him and his younger sister, essentially meaning that calvin had to grow up and be the ‘man of the house’ without having a choice.

because of her new single-mother status, calvins mother had to work 3 different jobs in order for the family to pay rent (a cleaner in mornings, a store assistant in the day and a bartender in the evenings), which meant she was rarely home and left calvin to raise both himself and younger sister.

from a very early age, it was apparent that calvin suffered from anger issues, dyslexia and adhd, constantly getting into fights at every opportunity, his complete inability to focus and never managing to make it through a week at school without a phone call home.

these issues remained untreated, due to his mother putting it down to the ‘boys will be boys’ ideology, and concluding that calvin was just an energetic one at that.

because of this, calvin fell into the wrong crowd pretty quickly and settled into his mindset that he was never going to achieve all that much anyway, because no matter how hard he tried, he could never score well on any test at school.

at the age of 9, calvins mother met, fell in love with and soon married a former client for whom she cleaned for.  calvins new step father was incredibly wealthy, due to being a successful franchisee and also being very largely into stock trading.

calvin, his sister and mother were all moved to his home in cherrybrooks, which calvin struggled to adjust to, as he missed his friends back north.

now having access to as much money as he want led him down an early path into experimenting with drugs and alcohol, which soon became a bad habit.

although he wanted to drop out of school, his new step-father would not allow it, which became a large source of conflict for the family over the course of the next few years.

failing to graduate high school at age eighteen, calvin couldn’t deal with living with his family any more and left the house to move into a small apartment, 30 minutes away, with a roommate (possibly a member of the clique).

calvins only real passions were for gaming and sport, and as he smoked and did way too many drugs to make it in any sporting profession, he turned his attention to twitch streaming. he began this pretty soon and built up a solid fanbase (which he wanted to call the marxists, but in calvins words, apparently some dead man already claimed that title).

...002. PERSONALITY.

calvin is a naturally angry person who can lose his cool and go from 0 to 100 in a matter of seconds, he rarely gives off signs that he is getting angry until he boils over, so people tend to watch what they say around him.

calvin is self-serving, his feelings will always come before those around him. although he is getting better at managing this, if something will result in calvin gaining something at the expense of somebody else, he will most likely go ahead with it.

calvin is not well educated, so he doesn’t tend to enjoy arguing with words, as he can never seem to find the ones to correctly express how he feels. instead, calvin is much more likely to act physically when something has irritated him (whether this be on a person or inanimate object).

calvin is an awful liar, he cannot lie to save his life as his face always tends to show when he doesn’t agree with an idea/opion/thought that somebody says. because of this, he is very outspoken, and will just say what he’s thinking regardless of if it’s going to hurt somebodies feelings. he’d rather upset them with the truth, than get caught out for lying.

calvin is an extrovert and gains energy from being around people - the more people the better, because of this, he has become a major party animal and loves attending any and all parties that is going on, despite if he’s fond of the hosts or not.

calvin is a heavy user of drugs, alcohol & cigarettes. this is primarily down to his naturally addictive personality and constant need to feel like he’s happy, so that he doesn’t get sad again. there will rarely be a day where he will not  be intoxicated in some way and he will have a cigarette at least once an hour – and that’s on a good day.

calvin is very much into sports. although not a natural athlete, nor somebody interested in playing sports competitively, calvin loves watching any and all sports, and he likes to play them when he can. due to his smoking habit, he can’t play sports for too long, but will always give it a good go.

similarly to this, calvin is very much into gaming. calvin loves fast-paced games, because they manage to keep his attention despite him not having a very long attention span. most games that he plays are first person shooters, and he’s usually the guy on the mic screaming when a teammate fucks up during online play. a big appeal to him was that games were the only thing he could focus his mind on as a child.

calvin is very much a boys boy, he genuinely abides by the bible of ‘ bros before hoes ‘ because he’s stupid.

calvin hates movies but loves tv, he finds that watching moves involves sitting still for too long, but tv allows him to take more breaks and keeps his interest for longer. although. he’d probably trade both of them for a chance to leave the house.

...003. TRAITS.

[ G R E G A R I O U S ] (+) — a person fond of company; sociable.

[ I N T U I T I V E ] (+) — using or based on what one feels to be true even without conscious reasoning; instinctive.

[ F O R T H R I G H T ] (+) — direct and outspoken.

[ V O L A T I L E ] (-) — liable to change rapidly and unpredictably, especially for the worse.

[ V E N G E F U L ] (-) — not willing to forgive or excuse people’s faults or wrongdoings.

[ H E D O N I S T I C ] (-) — engaged in the pursuit of pleasure; sensually self-indulgent.

...004. WANTED CONNECTIONS.

CURRENT BEST FRIENDS — Possibly a boy squad? I live for a good boy squad. This person will have similar interests to Calvin, or be able to tolerate his volatile mood.

CHILDHOOD BEST FRIENDS — Someone with a similar upbringing from Brooklyn, most likely they grew apart when Calvin moved to Wilmington.

RIDE OR DIES — Although he primarily looks out for himself, I’m down to have Calvin have one person who he’s loyal to and will refuse to betray, we can come up with a fun reason for why he cares so much if you’re interested in this one.

HIS ROOMMATE — Somebody that moved with Calvin into his current apartment when he moved out at 18.

A GOOD INFLUENCE ON CALVIN — One of my favorite connections for Calvin to have is somebody who knows all of his flaws and attempts to help fix them. They’ll have to be patient, though, as Calvin doesn’t see himself for having any issues.

SOMEBODY HE IS A BAD INFLUENCE OF — On the opposite, I love when Calvin has somebody that he can introduce to bad things, corrupt easily and get a kick out of watching the commotion.

EXES ON BAD TERMS — Cheating on each other is usually an easy one to go with, but if you want, we can think of something more unique as to how it all fucked up and why they now hate each other.

EXES ON GOOD TERMS — Maybe they still occasionally fuck? There could still be an attraction there, but just no romantic chemistry. Alternatively, they tried it and both just couldn’t see it going anywhere.

EXES WITH LINGERING FEELINGS — There’s a ton of different reasons for why there’s still lingering feelings. The feelings could be one-sided or both ways.

EX FLINGS — Started as friends with benefits, one of them wanted more, the other didn’t, they decided to stop before someone got hurt.

FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS — No romantic intention, just a good way to kill time at 2 AM, or maybe it’s easy to know you have someone to go home to if you don’t find someone at a party.

FRIENDS FOR NECESSITY — This friend may not have that much in common with Calvin, they may not really get on in day to day life, but they are always there to get high, attend a party or do something dumb. an easy person to talk to when they’re both bored and wanna get out.

HIS YOUNGER SISTER — If anybody fancies a second character, I’m always down to have Calvins sister in the roleplay. They can either get along or not, we’ll just figure out the details.

EX FRIENDS — Used to be close but now aren’t, plenty of reasons as to why.

ENEMIES — Despise each other, seeing this person literally makes Calvins blood boil. Possibly sexual tension too if that would work, if not, they can just fight a lot.

WILL THEY / WON’T THEY — Lots of leading on and teasing each other, maybe they both think they’re stringing the other along but it turns out neither of them are interested? Maybe they start out not interested and it backfires later, by that time the other could’ve lost interest.

ANY OTHER IDEAS YOU THINK WILL WORK !

...005. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION.

Calvin is bisexual but heteroromantic, so any sexual-based connections can be taken by any gender.

Calvins Pinterest can be located here. Please note that it contains triggers for alcohol, drugs, blood & violence.

[thenataliamarseille]

You’re Safe | Discord

                                                      DISCORD THREAD #002

Who?: Natalia Marseille, Traci Hendrix ( @traciisms ) When?: Monday 10th August 2020, 04:30am Where?: Outside Cherry Pop

Mentions: Nicola Sloane ( @nicolaeisms ), Avery Oliveira ( @amoliveiraofficial ) Triggers: abuse mentions, sex work mentions, violence

PLOT DEVELOPMENT?: YES. Traci is attacked outside Cherry Pop.

Traci

traci has had a long night at cherry pop with how crowded it has been. it's a saturday night, so that can explain why there's so many clients around to watch them perform. rich businessmen, bachelors, trust fund babies, you name a type of client, they're all there. after her performance on-stage and a couple of private show, the girl quickly got herself ready to come home. she's supposed to walk out with natalia as always, but she was a little bit hard to find, so she decided to wait for her outside, which was a very bad one for her. "hello venus, waiting for someone?" "why are you alone, kitten?" "do you want to join us instead?" traci's found herself being surrounded by a group of men, slowly taking steps away from them. not so long after, her back hit a wall, causing for her to whimper. she tried to shout for help, but there was nothing that was coming out of her mouth. flashbacks of that bachelors party long ago came to mind, making her stand there frozen. what is she going to do now?

Natalia

Natalia got off the phone with Nicola and finished up in the office where she was counting up the takings from the extremely busy Saturday they had just had. Busy was fucking good at the moment, the hot weather bringing more people out for drinks, the dancers keeping them there and keeping their cash in the tills. She walked around the back areas of club that were for staff only, finding all the right people that needed paying on the night. Then, she quickly swapped out her stripper heels for some boots and threw on her infamous faux fur coat and after a conversation with another dancer that said that Traci had gone outside, she too headed out the firedoors at the back. "I'll see you tomorrow babies," she called back into the strippers changing rooms on her way out. "Trac--" Nat's call for the woman was cut short when she saw her being backed into a corner by the group of businessmen that had been told twice inside to quit it with the touching attempts. "Hey!" Natalia called out. "Get the fuck away from her or I'll call the cops," she shouted, her thick french accent shining through.

Traci

tears started streaming down her cheeks, it felt like these....these walls are closing in on her, all she could hear are these men's muffled voices, the voice of that very man who cornered her in a secluded room and almost took advantage of her. but nat came out to the rescue for her that night. natalia. where's natalia? she tried to call out of her, but there wasn't much sound. until....finally she was there. but traci was still scared, she couldn't move. she kept on glancing between them and natalia, silently pleading for her help.

Natalia

The men turned to look at the other stripper, their eyes going over her body like they owned it and, if looks could kill, the expression that took hold of Nat's features. "Who the fuck do you think you're looking at like that," she spat, being the one to take the first move and step forward into the group of men. They laughed. They fucking laughed. They called out petnames and then one of them took another step closer to Traci and that was it. "Nique la police," she muttered under her breath as she reached into her fur and down her leg and pulled out a small handgun. "Step the fuck away from my dancer," she demanded, her eyebrow raising as she flicked the safety off the gun.

Traci

everything that's happened next was a blur to her. she just stood there watching as natalia dealt with these three men, definitely not in the calmest of way. she could feel it by the way she was staring at them, how her jaw clenched when it looked like they aren't taking her seriously. all of a sudden one of them moved closer again, making traci curl up in her corner. "nat...nat...please..." she finally cried. "please help me...." she sobbed quietly, looking up at the other pleadingly. she could feel her body growing weak, and just desperate for natalia, and the feeling of security she's always had with her.

Natalia

She heard Traci cry and call out and she just felt her entire body go into auto-pilot, the driver being sheer fucking rage. "Merde," she cursed as she shot the gun at the floor, using the sound of the shot to quickly close the gap between her and the man closest to Traci. She flipped the gun around and took it by the hot barrel which kind of burnt her hand but she didn't even notice. She pistol whipped the man, sending him down to the ground before spinning around in her five inch heels and grabbing the other one by his shirt, pulling him into her whilst cursing about how men were the fucking worst in French, and headbutted him with enough force that it sent him stumbling backwards into, and then back through the doors of the club. Nat turned again to where the third guy was as he tripped over his feet a little as he walked backwards, hands in the air. "Smart move, asshole," she spat out to out side and wiped the back of her hand across her lips before bending down and picking her gun back up off the floor then running over to Traci. "Hey, baby... It's okay-- I got you babygirl..." She muttered softly, pushing the her hair back and behind her ear. "Here--" Nat shrugged off her coat and wrapped it around Traci's shoulders. "Let's get you out of here..."

Traci

she could feel her head spinning as she watched what happened next when natalia shot her gun. she wasn't just afraid for her safety, but also for the older dancer's life. she stood there, trying to catch her breath while the woman took care of this group of bastards. nat definitely knew how to fight, how to fuck them up and send them running. she finds herself staring at the pavement, tears streaming down her face when natalia finally came up to her, tucking her hair behind her ear. "nat..." she almost leaped into her arms and sobbed, holding on to her for her dear life. once again, she was saved by natalia marseille. "okay....i... i'm tired....please...hold me in bed tonight...i... i'm scared, nat....still scared..."

Natalia

Natalia was shaking, but not because she was scared or because she was hurt but because she was just so fucking angry. This didn't happen a lot, on the most part, the people who came to the club were respectful of the dancers, but the few times a year it did happen... It took a little while for the dancers to shake it off. Especially Traci, especially after what had happened to her. "I'm here my darling... It's okay..." Natalia reassured her as she wrapped and arm around her and began to walk her forward. Natalia made no mistake when she stepped on the guy's hand with the stiletto of her heel causing him to cry out in pain. One of them called her a bitch and she stopped dead in her tracks, holding Traci in front of her and turning around with a cocked eyebrow as she stared him dead in the eye. "You want to call me that again, eh?" She spat with venom. The guy clearly knew what was best for him because he came out from between the back doors and shut them behind him. "That's what I thought-- you're all barred. From here, Blue, Peppermints-- and every other decent place in this fucking town." Of course, Natalia didn't have the automatic power to do that but she already knew Nic and Avery would put it in place the moment she told them about this. "Let's go..." Nat muttered, turning back around and leading Traci around to her 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO. Nat wasn't made of money, but she was materialistic and so the money she did have went towards her flashy pent and this stunning classic car. Oh, and clothes. Obviously. Nat helped Traci in, she even leant across and did her seatbelt up for her. Then she cupped her cheeks and dropped down so she could properly look her in her eyes. "You're staying with me for a while, okay? I'll take care of you, mon cheri..." She kissed her gently as her thumb rolled over her cheeks, wiping away her tears.

Traci

having natalia there once more to save her again.....traci felt lucky. she couldn't imagine what she would've went through if she didn't look for her at that bachelors party, if she didn't look for her now. she was a little bitch shaken up by both incidents, mostly now depending on the other on leading her away from the place and to her car. she just watched her stepped on the man's hand, which causes for traci to whimper and hide her face against her neck. natalia was still obviously fuming, she could feel it by how warm she is right now. nicola and avery....for sure they wouldn't let shit like this slide. she was then finally lead to her car after that, she cannot take a second longer to look at them anymore. she stares up at the older woman as she settled in her seat, nodding as the other looked at her in the eyes, wiping away her tears. she only replied with a tiny "okay." after that, the younger dancer just curled up in her seat while nat eventually drives off from the place.

Natalia

She had no idea how they could still be in this position, how their profession was still just seen as women who men could do whatever they wanted to. It was a profession, because Nat had never met any group of people who worked harder or with more passion that the people at Cherry Pop and Peppermints. So when this happened, when it kept happening... It made it impossible for Nat to not lose her cool. She was usually calm, collected... But not when it came to this. Not when it came to of the dancers, and especially Traci's, safety. Natalia could see how shaken up the younger woman was because of this, and it broke her head. She sighed gently, closing the car door and then going around and getting in the drivers side before turning the car on and driving away. The whole ride, she muttered to herself in French. About how she hated those kinds of men, how she was angry at herself for not getting there sooner. It's not long until they get to Nat's place, pulling into the private garage of the apartment block and parking up. Natalia came around to Traci and got her out of the car, taking her hand and leading her just quietly to the elevator that took them straight up to her penthosue. As soon as they were inside and the doors shut, she pulled Traci into a tight hug. "I got you, baby... You're safe..."

Traci

she shuts her eyes as, laying her head against the headrest as natalia drives off. traci's heart is still beating fast and she could still feel her body slightly shaking. being almost taken advantage of once more....it was already too much for her. she loved her work, she loved it with all her heart, but she despises this the most. once they've arrived and the older woman got her out of the car, she kept her eyes on the floor while she was led back up to the other dancer's penthouse. she stood close by her, holding on to her arm like her life depended on it. not a moment longer they were in her place and she was pulled into a hug right away, and then she started sobbing again. "nat...." she whimpers, burrowing her face against the taller woman's neck.

Natalia

By the time they've arrived at her apartment block, Natalia is a little more calm. The hushed ranting stopped and now she was just worried about Traci. She could remember how the other was following what happened a few years ago at the party they had escorted for... This was going to bring all of that back, and then add more too it. God, why were men so fucking entitled? She had to swallow those thoughts down though, she didn't want to be angry around Traci right now... She needed Nat's softer side, her caring and her love. She didn't need her temper, that would only make it worse. "Hey... Hey, I'm here baby..." She whispers into the top of Traci's head as she presses her lips to it, a hand coming up and stroking through her hair. "It's okay... It's over..." The doors of the elevator pinged and Nat led the younger dancer into her pent and through it straight to the bedroom. She cupped her cheek and wiped her tears away with her thumbs softly. "I'll never let anything happen to you, babygirl... You know that, right?" She muttered, words laced with her accent.

Traci

she grabs a handful of natalia's shirt and just held on it for her dear life, feeling like they were still there, and they were going to take her away. traci tries to calm her breathing down while the other kisses the top of her head. they're in a safe place now, no one could ever harm her. nat was right. but traci couldn't help but still be shaken up, struggling to be on her feet as she held on to the other for support. she couldn't help but think of what might've happened if she wasn't there, if she was all alone. though the older dancer was right. she just nods at her question, looking up at her pleadingly in the eyes. "t'ank you...." she whispers in reply. traci then tugs on her shirt. "m'still scared....tired and scared.... don't leave me alone....please...."

Natalia

She hated seeing Traci like this. She hated how helpless she felt when Traci was like this. The regret of not just shooting that fucking man shot through her mind, but she ultimately knew that that would have hurt her, Traci, the business and Nicola more than this was hurting her. When the younger dancer grabbed onto her shirt, Nat let her do so, pulling her in closer and rubbing her hand up and down her back gently shhing her. "You never need to thank me for looking after you, baby..." She said quietly. Nat furrowed her eyebrows a little when Traci asked her to not leave her alone. "I would never..." Nat uttered. "You can stay here as long as you like, as long as you need... In my arms, in my home, in my company... I need you to feel safe, my sweet... You are safe..." Nat kissed her softly before breaking them apart only to take her top off and then Nat's so that they could be closer, skin on skin. "You want to shower? Or you want to go straight to bed?"

Traci

she knew she didn't have to thank natalia, but traci couldn't help it, she has been there for her ever since she has started working at cherry pop, she has always been there to take care of her, to make sure she always gets what she needs, that she always feel safe and that she is indeed safe. she knew it would never be uttered, but they have this love for each other that's different above the rest, which is just.....something beyond the kind of love traci knew. they didn't have to say it, they both just knew it and they already understand without ever feeling the need to tell each other. she nods at her words once more, she's safe, she's always safe with natalia, and the woman would never dare to leave her. at the mention of the shower or bed, she immediately yawns, feeling the exhaustion finally take over her. "bed....m'tired....just want to sleep...." she gently shoves her face against her chest.

Natalia

Natalia had always been a protective kind of woman. When she was younger, it was over everyone threatened by the ruthless politics and policies her own Mother wanted to implement. It was in the protests in Paris that she first had to physically fight her own battles. Then, it was those she had grown close to, those back home who knew what she was doing and helped her in her fight. Then, after moving to America and taking up dancing and stripping and escorting, it was every other woman she acquainted herself with that couldn't fight their own battles on their own. Now, she had all of the dancers at Cherry and all of them at Peppermints too. But, Traci... The way she cared for Traci was far more than she had ever cared for any of the others. If monogamy was something she was into, she might even tell her how when she says ' i love you', she really does mean those three words... Something told her that Traci already knew that though. "Okay, my love... Come here," Nat pulled Traci in a little closer and then helped her out of the rest of her clothes before undressing herself and then led them both to her bed, getting in and pulling the covers right up to their shoulders as if it were a shield from the world. "I got you, babygirl..."

Traci

she lets the woman take off the rest of her clothes, kicking off her shoes before she was led to bed. traci immediately finds herself curled up in the arms of natalia, one of the few places where she felt the safest, like nothing can ever hurt her. she's one of the very few people she trusts with all her heart and her life. she clings on to natalia's body as if her life depends on it, burrowing her face against her neck. she yawned once more, looking at the other's face one more time before shutting her eyes close. "g'night, nat.....see you in the morning...."

Natalia

Nat pulls her in close, wrapping her arms around her and then gently playing with her hair as she sorts out a position to stay in. She can already feel Traci's body getting heavier in her arms, she can feel the adrenaline leave and the exhaustion come in. Nat's tired too, but those thoughts and that anger is still swirling around inside her. The older woman kisses her forehead gently as she closes her eyes, hand on the back of head burrowing her back into her neck softly. "Dors bien mon ange..." She whispers as she gently plays with her hair, holding her tightly until she finally feels Traci untense and fall into sleep.

[timmyteehill]

After Party || After Party

DISCORD THREAD FEATURING: Tee and @kamidesai

MENTIONS: @eeveecrmchl​

WHEN: September 19th

DESCRIPTION: The day after the party and date night a few days after 

TRIGGER WARNINGS: mentions of drugs, mentions of accidents, sad feels, arguing, making up

Tee

Tee threw his phone on the passenger seat and slammed his head against the steering wheel with a groan. His head was fucking killing him and he had no one to blame but himself. Things were still more or less under control while he was drinking with Sam and even while smoking a joint. The problems only started when he went to the bathroom and found some guy taking pills. By this point he wasn’t thinking straight anymore. The conversations with Sam and Willow really got to him and he was left feeling hopeless. His best friend didn’t remember him and where did that leave him? So when the guy offered him something Tee did what he never thought he would do and he took it. It felt amazing and for the first time since he found out about Eevee’s accident, he stopped feeling like it was the end of the world. At least until he started coming down from his high and the world somehow seemed more bleak than before. He felt guilty and ashamed for letting himself get to that level. How could he possibly face Kami after that? Tee didn’t remember much, probably an effect of mixing so many things together in one night, but he did remember feeling so ashamed that he didn’t want to go home. Apparently that meant he ended up sleeping in the car. Waking up with a raging headache to a text from a worried Kam only made him feel worse and now his boyfriend was coming to pick him up and Tee still had no idea what he was going to tell him.

Kami

Kam was mad. Tee didn’t come home all night, and he was worried as FUCK. he’d been thinking something happened to him at the party, it must have. That was the last he’d heard from him. So many scenarios were going through his head, mostly ending in him having to answer a lot of questions with the police about the last time he talked to his boyfriend. Fuck. When he finally got a text from Tee, he was just so set on getting to him, seeing that he was alive and okay, that he was more worried than angry at the moment. That would change. “Thank fucking god.” He muttered as he slid into the passenger’s seat of Tee’s car, a shaking hand running through his hair.

Tee

Tee winced as soon as Kami got in the car, still unsure about how he was even going to explain himself. He could see how worried his boyfriend had been as soon as he could see for himself that he was mostly okay and felt even more guilty than he already was. "Hey", he mumbled, both from embarrassment and because anything too loud made his head feel like it was about to burst. He wished he could just start the car and drive off so at least he would have something to do with his hands but Tee didn't feel that confident in his ability to drive right now and he didn't want to put both of them at risk. "I can explain."

Kami

Kam knew Tee would have an explanation, he always had the words, that was why he made such a good therapist. Kami didn’t want therapy right now though, or an excuse. Nothing could make up for how miserable he’d been all night. “Yeah, I hope so.” He replied, looking at his boyfriend with an unwavering serious expression. “You could’ve been fuckin’ dead. You know that?” Now the real anger was setting in. The relief was still there, but Kam could see that Tee was okay. He could allow himself to feel more at this point.

Tee

Tee knew that Kami was going to be angry but a part of him had been hoping that his boyfriend was too busy or drunk from the party to realise that he didn't spend the night at home. How stupid of him. As if he wouldn't have noticed and been just as worried if it was the other way round. "I know, I know and I'm sorry. I was a little...out of it last night." Tee knew that at some point he was going to have to tell Kam what he did, or what he took, but he wasn't sure how to bring it up in a way that wouldn't disappoint or anger his boyfriend. Actually, he doubted that was even possible, especially since he was already angry. "Eevee woke up yesterday", he said, figuring the beginning was a good place to start. "She doesn't remember me."

Kami

“Why?? Why were you out of it?” Kami asked, an edge to his usually very calm voice now angry beyond his control. He wasn’t used to getting upset like this, he was always so chill, but this wasn’t cool. He’d been worried sick about this man, and nothing he was hearing sounded like a good enough excuse. His shoulders dropped when he mentioned Eevee, throat bobbing as he tried to think of how to even respond to that. “Shit.” Well, that was something. “Tee. I’m sorry about Eevee. I hate it, she’s my friend too. But...you can’t just stay out all night and not tell me what’s going on now. We live together...if you don’t come home, something’s wrong.”

Tee

Tee really didn’t want to answer. How was he supposed to say that he took some pills when for so long he tried to get Kami off of something similar when they were together the first time? But he knew that he couldn’t keep avoiding the subject, it was only going to make Kami angrier than he already was. “I drank with Sam, smoked a joint right after. Then...I took some pills from a guy in one of the bathrooms.” His voice was getting lower as he spoke, feeling the shame coming right back although he tensed up at the mention of Eevee and Tee could feel himself getting a little defensive. “You weren’t there when she woke up, you don’t know what it feels like to have your best friend look at you and having no idea who you are. I know I should have texted you and I’m sorry for worrying you but I didn’t want to ruin your night. That’s all.”

Kami

Kam didn’t really come here to fight, he came here to make sure his boyfriend wasn’t fucking dead. Hearing what he’d done, he just felt...stupid. Lord knows Kam understood what it was like to fall off the wagon sometimes, but to hear that, on top of Tee getting defensive about his actions, it was bullshit. No, he didn’t know what it was like to have his best friend forget who he was, but his whole family actually TRIED to forget him, and Tee knew how much Kam struggled with just getting ghosted. He simply shook his head, and moved to open the passenger’s side door. “Do what you want. You don’t have to answer to me.” He said quickly, and hopped out of the car.

Tee

Tee was expecting anger, disappointment...he wasn’t expecting Kami to get out of the car. “What? Where are you going?” He messed up, he knew that much. Tee should have never let himself get to the point of taking pills from a random stranger in the bathroom, he should have left the party the second he realised that not even alcohol was helping him feel better. But he didn’t and now he regretted it but he was so angry at everything. At himself for getting so low, at Eevee for getting into the accident and not remembering him, at the world for fucking everything up. But he didn’t want Kami to leave. “Please stay.” It physically pained him to ask for help. He was used to being on the other side, offering others help while keeping a collected front but he couldn’t do that right now. Tee couldn’t do this on his own.

Kami

Kam stopped in his tracks when he heard Tee get out of the car and run up to him, begging him to stay, and now it’s like he didn’t know what to do. He turned to look at the other male, a look of hopelessness in his dark eyes, because he realized, right fucking now of all times, that Tee was always the person he turned to when he didn’t know what to do. He couldn’t do that now, and Tee was at the same crossroads. His boyfriend didn’t have anyone to turn to, and how was he supposed to know that Kam could be that person now? Kam barely knew it himself. “Don’t ever stay out like that again and not tell me where you are.” He felt like a parent snapping on his child, but he needed to not ever feel this way again. Thanks. “Don’t scare me like that again. I don’t care what you did, I just need to know you’re safe.”

Tee

If Tee was in a better state of mind and the situation was a little less serious, he would make a joke right now about how the tables have turned. But he wasn’t in a very joking mood right now and he knew that would only upset the both of them more so he bit his tongue. “I won’t, I promise.” He couldn’t really imagine ever doing this again, it was traumatising for him to wake up in his car all alone and slowly remember how much he messed up the night before. “I’m sorry, I just...I don’t know I-I don’t know what to do...” Tee could feel himself turn bright red when he realised that there were tears streaming down his face and he couldn’t stop them.

Kami

Kam broke the second he saw Tee cry. He never saw the man cry, and he just...how could he stay mad? He shook his head, and then moved over to wrap his arms around the other. He held his boyfriend close, and buried his nose against the side of his face. “I’m here.” Kam said simply, knowing that was all he needed to say, because it was the truth. No matter what happened, Kam was there, and he wasn’t going anywhere. “I love you. It’s gonna be okay.”

Tee

Having Kam hug him and tell him that he was there for him was all he needed to really break down and soon enough he was sobbing in his boyfriend’s neck. Since finding out about Eevee’s accident and later about her losing her memories, he had barely allowed himself any time to breakdown and cry. He knew first hand how beneficial it could be but telling someone else that crying was good and doing it himself were two very different things. He wasn’t sure if it was ever going to be okay but, for now, he was going to believe Kami and hope that things really would be okay. “I love you too”, he rasped as soon as he got himself a little more under control.

Kami

This was breaking Kam’s heart, his arms tightening around his boyfriend as he broke down like he’d never seen before. This was freaking him out, one because Kam just naturally was NOT good with emotional people, he didn’t know how to handle them without being awkward, and two, Tee was never EVER like this. How did he respond to a side of someone he’d never seen before? He’d known the man for several years, even lived with him twice, and this was a brand new experience. “C’mon baby, let’s go home. Okay?” He tried to reason.

Tee

Tee knew he was making Kami uncomfortable and he hated it but he just couldn’t get himself to stop. After holding everything in for so long, it was hard for him to bring it all back in after letting it go. A part of him felt that this wasn’t even just about Eevee but about so many things that he kept suppressing until he just couldn’t anymore. Seeing Jake again after so long, his parents’ accident, Eevee’s. It was too much for him to handle. It was about time he broke down. And for him Kami was a comforting presence even though he knew his boyfriend felt out of his depth when it came to emotional people. Tee pulled back and ran a quick hand over his eyes, wiping away his tears and trying to hide the fact that he was literally sobbing his eyes out just a few minutes before. “Sorry, Sorry. You’re right, let’s go home.”

Kami

“You don’t have to be sorry.” After all, Kam was the one who was sorry. He wanted to be here in the way he needed to be for his boyfriend, he wished he was skilled like the other in that area. He didn’t know how to listen, and word things correctly. He had no clue how to give advice, or say things in a new way. But, he did love Tee, and that had to count for something. He’d do whatever he had to to make this better. “We’ll go home, and I’ll cook for you.” He suggested, because cooking, he could do.

Tee

Tee knew that it was only natural to react like this after what happened but he still felt bad for breaking down all over Kami. He was usually so good at keeping calm and collected. It was good to know that all went out the window when the people he loved got hurt. Tee managed a smile at the mention of food. He didn’t feel very hungry but it’s not like he could ever say no to his boyfriend’s cooking. “That sounds great, thanks.”

Kami

Kam had finally managed to get a somewhat decent car, and by decent, I mean it got from point A, to point B. Good enough. He got them both inside, and then started on their trek back to the apartment. He hated awkwardness, but he didn’t know what to say either. He was still so fucking mad. Relieved, but mad. There wasn’t much the other male could say right now that would make him feel better.

Tee

Tee followed Kami to his car, not even thinking about how he was going to come back for it later. It was so awkward and he hated it but he wasn’t sure what he could say. It wasn’t even this awkward between them when they weren’t together and couldn’t see the other without arguing. It was obvious the other was mad at him and Tee couldn’t blame him but he didn’t know what he could do to make it better. “I really am sorry”, he finally broke the silence, knowing it probs wouldn’t do much but still wanting to try. “I know you were worried but I’m fine, I swear.”

Kami

Having tee reassure him at this point was like beating a dead horse. He was relieved, and glad that nothing had actually happened to his boyfriend, but all of that worry was now replaced with annoyance, and anger. He was so MAD that Tee had done this, but Kam also wasn’t great at dealing with those emotions. He didn’t want to fight, or argue anymore. What was done, was done, and regardless of how awkward things were for the next week, Kam still made the effort to pack up for a date. Maybe a date night would be what they needed, and star gazing with food was of course one of Kami’s favorite combinations. But he wasn’t a great actor, and it’s not like he could pretend the whole night that everything was absolutely normal, because it wasn’t, and he wasn’t sure when he’d be able to just move on.

Tee

The days after the party were awkward and weird. It was everything that they weren’t and Tee hated it. They were barely talking beyond some small talk that only managed to get on his nerves and the nights were the worse. Sleeping in the same bed without talking, backs to each other, no sex...it was horrible. In a desperate attempt to get things back to their normal, he planned a date night that he felt Kami would really enjoy. Tee helped him get the things he packed to his car and he drove them all the way to the Kingsboro outskirts, where he knew there was an area which was perfect for stargazing. They didn’t talk much during the ride there but he was hoping they could makeup for it once they got here. Putting down some blankets for them to lay on, he also got out some battery operated candles. It wasn’t something he would usually go for, never having been the most romantic of people, but he was desperate at this point and willing to try anything. He laid down on the blanket and hoped Kami would take his lead and join him.

Kami

Kami of course followed, and helped get their food set up so they could at least have some wine, and start eating. He was hungry, and actually NOT high for once. A glass of wine sounded amazing though, so he quickly got to work on that after he got them both some pasta on a plate. Maybe not the easiest thing to eat on a picnic, but Tee loved Kam’s shrimp scampi with spaghetti. “You look good.” He complimented, because it was a date after all, and he did have an attractive as fuck boyfriend.

Tee

Tee smiled when he saw the food Kami prepared for their date. Shrimp scampi with spaghetti was his absolute favourite and seeing it gave him hope. Maybe things weren't as bad as he thought. "So do you", he said, smiling at the compliment. Even though it was nothing too big and they were literally spending the night on a blanket, Tee still tried making an effort in looking his best. He sat up and took the plate from his boyfriend, taking a bite and humming in pleasure. "Tastes amazing as always, thanks for this."

Kami

“Thank you.” Kam responded to the compliment without even looking at the other. He didn’t even mean to come off rude, he just was having a hard time recovering from the other night. Tee had really scared him, and now he wondered if something like that was ever going to happen again. “I’m glad you like it.” Kam downed the rest of his wine, and then paid attention to his food, though he wasn’t eating nearly as fast as he normally would, wrinkling his nose as he chewed in reaction to a fly he was currently swatting at. Romantic.

Tee

The little hope he previously felt faded away when Kami didn't even look at him, more focused on his food and wine. Tee took a sip from his own glass of wine, trying to distract himself for the time being from the disappointment he was feeling. How was he supposed to make this better if Kami wouldn't even talk to him about it? "So...how was your day?" That was probably one of the stupidest things he ever said but maybe small talk was the solution.

Kami

Kam actually smirked a bit when Tee asked about his day, because that was funny. It wasn’t actually funny at all, but it’s just, yeah. Kam had no idea how to act in awkward situations, and this was definitely one of them. The dark haired male just sat down his food, and then flopped down on his back to look up at the stars, one arm moving behind his head. “Day was a day. How was yours?”

Tee

Tee couldn't hold back a sigh at that even if he tried. This was getting beyond ridiculous at this point and he didn't have a single clue of what he could do about it. "That's very riveting", he said, unable to keep the sarcasm out of his voice completely. "Day was a day for me as well, funnily enough."

Kami

Kam smiled, because of course he did, always playing things off like he wasn’t taking them seriously when of course he was. This was everything to him, literally. Tee should know that as well. Kam didn’t try and push people away on purpose, he just didn’t know how to deal with his emotions, thus making things difficult for everyone involved. “Any interesting clients?”

Tee

If that's really what Kami wanted to talk about, then he wasn't going to stop him. At least they were talking about something other than the nice weather or the food, which was a plus in his books. "Sort of. I had more paperwork to do than sessions though since I had to make up for a whole week away." Today was his first day back at the practice after his unplanned break and it went a lot better than he thought it would. As bad as he felt about cancelling sessions at the last minute, the break did him well. He doubted he would have done a great job if he showed up anyway. "Is there...anything you want to tell me maybe?" Tee kept reminding himself that Kami was his boyfriend, not his client and so he couldn't go about this the same way he did with a client. That seemed safe enough to ask though.

Kami

Kami sighed when tee asked if there was anything he wanted to tell him. He knew his boyfriend was fishing for a discussion about how distant they’d been after last week. In a way, of course Kam felt bad. He wanted to be able to talk about things, and work through it like a normal human being, but as usual, he had no idea how to do that. “What do you want me to say?” He asked the other while turning to look at him.

Tee

“I don’t know Kam”, he sighed, more than a little exasperated. “Maybe we can talk about how we’re on a date and this is pretty much the first time you’re even looking at me? I’m trying here, I really am. But we’re not getting anywhere unless you talk to me. I just...I don’t know what you want me to do here.”

Kami

Kam rubbed his hands over his face with a sigh when Tee got honest with him, wanting so badly to get defensive, but he knew it wasn’t the time. He just didn’t want to fight. “I’m sorry, it’s not anything I want you to DO, I just am trying to get over the other night I guess. You scared the shit out of me.”

Tee

Tee winced, even though he was expecting it. He knew that the aftermath of the party had taken its toll on Kami and that wasn’t something they could just move on from and forget all about it. But having it confirmed that the state of their relationship right now was his fault still sucked. “I’m sorry, you know that right? I know I worried you and I’m really sorry but I just...I miss you.” He missed everything about his boyfriend. Their meaningless talks, whispering to each other in low voices before going to sleep, sex. Tee would do anything to get that back. As if he would have gotten out the silly candles for anything else.

Kami

Kam glanced at his boyfriend again when he tried to apologize again. Yes, Kami knew that Tee was sorry. Of course he was sorry, he knew the man was sorry the second it happened. It wasn’t even about that, it was just that he couldn’t shake the way it had thrown him off. “I know you’re sorry. I don’t wanna feel this way. I miss you, too...I just - fuck. I thought something bad had happened to you, and I haven’t stopped thinking about it.”

Tee

Tee wanted to touch him, comfort him...anything, but he wasn’t sure if he was allowed right now. At least the knowledge that his boyfriend missed him too brought him a little bit of comfort. Not all was lost, he just needed to figure out what to do to make things a little better. “I know and I’m s - that won’t happen again.” He couldn’t keep apologising over and over again because that would t help with anything. It just risked annoying Kami. “I promise I’ll text you whenever I’m not coming home to let you know. But Kam...nothing bad happened to me. I’m here and I’m okay.” Sort of.

Kami

Kam was listening to Tee, taking what he was saying to heart, because he did really believe that he was sorry, and didn’t plan on every doing something like that again. He’d known that from the start, and yet he was still struggling. It was like having some sort of extended food poisoning. He couldn’t feel quite normal yet. “I know, and it’s okay. I forgive you. I’m just trying to deal with it I guess.” He informed the other, his head now back resting on his hands against the grass. Looking at the stars helped. They made his issues feel so small in comparison.

Tee

Tee wasn’t sure what else he could do. He apologised and even promised he wouldn’t do it again and, while Kami appreciated it, it didn’t seem like it made much of a difference. “So that’s it? We’re never going to talk again and we’ll move on? Just tell me what’s going on through your head Kam, please.”

Kami

“I don’t know how to break down what’s going on in my head.” He answered honestly, turning to look at his boyfriend as he pushed himself up into his side. He ran a hand through his hair, and then scratched at his skin while he let his mind run to a million different places once again. “You’re all I have. I’m just scared of losing you.” Kam finally said while looking down at the blanket under them.

Tee

Tee was grateful that Kam seemed to be slowly opening up to him. The same thought kept going through his head. You’re his boyfriend not his therapist. He looked at him in silence, trying to figure out the best thing to say before he settled on the truth. If it was the other way round, he would want Kami to be truthful with him. “I can’t promise you’ll never lose me. Sometimes things happen and we ave no control over them but...I can promise that I’ll do my best not to let that happen?” As far as promises go, it wasn’t the best. But Tee felt it was a start.

Kami

Kam just picked at some blades of grass popping up around their blanket, listening to his boyfriend’s words, and figuring they were good enough. He nodded, and then finally let his gaze lift up to the other male. “Okay. As long as you promise me you won’t do anything crazy like that again, I can try and move on.” He nodded, though it was clear he was still struggling. It was pass, but he just loved Tee so much, depended on him even. It made things a lot more dicey when it came to shit like this.

Tee

This was the best Tee could hope for at the moment. At least they were talking and this meant they could work on getting to what they used to be. “I promise, nothing that crazy from me ever again. I don’t even know what was going through my head. You know I’m not a fan of any drugs harder than weed.” He moved a hand to Kami’s hair, running his fingers through it. “I love you.”

Kami

How was Kam supposed to stay upset when Tee was talking like that, and running his fingers through his hair?? He practically rubbed his head against the embrace like a dog chasing his owner’s touch, having not realized just how MUCH he’d missed Tee being near him. “I love you, too.” He replied easily, eyes now back on his boyfriend’s face. “If anything ever happened to you, I dunno what I’d do.”

Tee

The fact that Kami was leaning into his touch and finally looking at him reassured Tee that at least he wouldn’t be pushed away. He took that as his go ahead to move closer to Kami, until they were pretty much cuddling. “I missed you so much.” This was always the part where he usually would start having difficulty with how to express himself but that wasn’t the case today.

Kami

How was Kam going to deny that Tee getting close to him like this was exactly what he wanted? He couldn’t, so the second the other male was cuddling, and saying that he missed him, Kam was nuzzling against his boyfriend like a puppy, and probably whining like one as well. It was sad. “I missed you, too. I’m sorry.” He finally apologized for his part, being so distant, and whatever else. He wrapped his arms around the other, and held him close, feeling his reservations slip away now that he was letting himself have what he really wanted. “I’m sorry for everything you’re going through.”

Tee

It was like a weight was lifted off of his shoulders when Kam nuzzled against him, knowing that he finally had his boyfriend back. “It’s okay, I’m sorry too. Although if you ever ignore me in our bed again I’m kicking you out and making you sleep on the sofa”, he joked, although his smile dropped considerable at the mention of what started it all. “It’s not your fault. I should know better than the use alcohol or drugs to get over things like that and maybe I need to get used to the idea that Eevee is never going to remember me.”

Kami

“Well, I wasn’t gonna say you should know better, Mr. therapist, but...” he joked, smiling to show he was only teasing his boyfriend, though the smirk faded at the mention of Eevee. If he could somehow change all of this, he would, though he couldn’t help but be the kind of person that believed all things happened for a reason. Kam believed in a lot of things, but he couldn’t help the natural feeling of all being at peace as it should. Destiny. “It’ll all work out the way it’s supposed to. One way, or another. We’ll learn to adjust, just like she is.” Sometimes he said some wise things.

Tee

“Yeah, yeah, laugh it up”, he snarked, rolling his eyes. Tee knew Kami was right but he couldn’t find it in himself to think about how any of this would ever work out. Eevee was there for the toughest moments in his life; from getting bullied and shamed in high school to losing his parents and now he was the only one left with the memories. “I know it’s just...I don’t like the way she’s adjusting.” It was the first time he was admitting it out loud and he hated himself for thinking this way but he had to talk to someone about it. “You know she didn’t get on well with her family and now it’s like they’re the picture perfect family. They don’t deserve her.”

Kami

“I know.” Kam replied after Tee let out his frustrations. He wished he knew everything to say. In the perfectly right way, but unfortunately he didn’t. No surprise there. “It’ll all be okay in the end one way or another. Just doesn’t feel like it right now. Why aren’t you kissing me?” He then asked, to bring up yet another important point.

Tee

That’s all he wanted to do for days now but he wasn’t sure it was what Kami wanted, even after their talk. Now that his boyfriend was literally asking him for a kiss nothing could stop him from leaning in and connecting their lips together, humming softly when he sucked on Kam’s bottom lip. This is what he missed the most. The intimacy between them, the little ways in which Kam provided him comfort. He tugged at the strands of hair he was still running his fingers through.5 October 2020

Kami

There was a huge level of relief that washed over him when Tee finally pulled him in for a kiss, letting out a soft sigh against the other male’s lips when his hair was tugged. Tee knew how he felt about that, and he was suddenly thankful that there was no one else around. “I missed you.” Kam mumbled before he was pushing Tee onto his back, forgetting about the food in exchange of making out under the stars. Much more romantic than alien hunting.

Tee

Thoughts of the pasta Kami made for their date went out the window the second he was being pushed on his back. He missed this so much and now that it was finally happening again nothing else was of  interest to him. “Missed you too. Let’s never do this again, yeah?” he mumbled against Kami’s lips before he was pulling him in again for more. Tee ran a hand down the other’s back, grabbing a hold of his shirt.

Kami

Kam didn't even give his boyfriend a verbal response, instead just nodding while he kissed Tee, tongue pushing out to ask for permission to enter, and explore the other's mouth. He loved Tee, so much, he always had. Kam could remember the first time he ever saw the other male, thinking he was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen, and if he hadn't known for sure he was into men, that would have been the moment that solidified it for him. They were so different, but seemed to balance eachother out so well, and the tattoo artist had no doubt that this was exactly where he was meant to be right now.

[myssamyss]

Sand, Swords, Scars, and Other Things I Won’t Tell My Cursed Wolf Therapist: Part 1

Summary: Legend is forced to confront his traumatic memories. Inspired by several headcanons from the LU discord.   Based on the Linked Universe

Part 1: Old Wounds

Evening fell in the forest where nine chosen heroes camped. A fire crackled merrily and the smell of stew wafted through the air. Legend pulled off his heavy red tunic and stretched. After a long day of trudging through the forest, he was grateful for a chance to rest. The others were deep in a conversation about magical items that was quickly evolving into a competition. He leaned against a nearby oak tree to enjoy their banter.

“Legend, what about you?” Wild asked, looking up from his cooking pot.  

“Yeah!” Wind chimed in. “You always have all the cool stuff!”

Legend thought of his trove of weapons, magical rings, and other sundries that Ravio was watching (or probably hawking) for him back in his own Hyrule. He also had half a dozen impressive items in his bag, but he preferred unpredictability.

“Well, as long as we’re showing off magical things,” Legend accepted. He dug in his bag, then straightened up dramatically. He held out a smelly, shattered bracelet with a sarcastic flourish. 

The others stared in expectation.  

“What does it do?” Warriors asked. “Give you strength?”  

“Does it make you fast like those boots?” Sky guessed.  

“Nope, better,” Legend deadpanned. “It gave me the power to become a painting.”

There was silence in the camp, then some easy laughter. 

“Legend, no offense, but how does that help you fight?” Wind asked. 

“It’s not really for fighting. It’s proof that the gods have a sense of humor,” Legend told them cryptically.  

“Annnd done!” Wild announced, breaking their conversation. “Rabbit stew’s ready!”

The others clamored to the cooking pot to fill their bowls. Time had been closest, but Wind still managed to dart his way to the front. Four helped Wild ladle out portions for each hero. Legend didn’t move.

“Wild, this is amazing!” Wind exclaimed with a mouthful of stew.

Time nodded behind his generous bowl. “I might have you give the recipe to Malon. What’s your secret?” he asked.  

Wild smiled. “It’s just braised rabbit, anybody can do it with some oil, and some patience.” He shrugged.

“Yeah, definitely not,” replied Warriors between eager spoonfuls. “You should have seen what we were eating before you joined up.”

Legend was quiet. He wordlessly pushed himself from the oak and turned away from camp. 

“Don’t you want some of this?” Hyrule called after him. 

“Nah,” he shot back over his shoulder. “I don’t care much for rabbit.” 

He felt the others’ eyes on him as he disappeared into the trees. He didn’t return until long after dinner.

***

Legend woke violently from his dreams later that night. He sucked in deep breaths and glanced around, relieved to find the others sleeping peacefully near him. He turned over in his bedroll and clutched for his hat. 

His hands ran across the familiar stitching on the blue cap. It was a gift from his uncle, to hide the scar on the back of his head that even his long hair couldn’t cover. 

Legend itched at the waxy skin of the old wound absentmindedly. It wasn’t the worst injury he’d ever received, but damn if he didn’t think about it often. Two faces from his nightmare swam in his mind: a sad woman framed with thin blonde hair and a mean-faced man with a ruddy complexion. He rolled his eyes and the faces dissolved. That trauma was old, overplayed, he told himself. 

He flipped himself over forcefully, but more memories came unbidden. This time, he saw his uncle with a sword shoved through his gut. Legend winced.

Alright, no more pity parties, he scolded himself. He had to get moving before Marin decided to show up in his mind too.

Legend stood up, forced his feet into his boots, shoved his cap onto his head, and marched into the darkness. Dirt from inside of the boots rubbed at his sore feet. He tried to kick the grit into the boots’ toes as he walked, but it was useless. The whole world was out to aggravate him tonight.

No. Find some friends. Make some mischief. You’ll be alright, he chanted silently. 

It must have been Twilight’s turn for watch, because Legend found a huge wolf pacing protectively near the outskirts of their camp. Speaking of mischief...

“Hey wolfie,” he said lowly. “You seen Twi? I heard the two of you are never in the same place at the same time.”

The dark wolf cocked his head at Legend, then padded off between the trees. A disgruntled Twilight returned from the darkness in his place.  

“How long have you known?” he asked with a quiet edge.

“C’mon,” Legend shot back. “You think you’re the only one with a cool animal power from a dark realm?”

Twilight opened his mouth, then shut it again. He sat down on a nearby fallen tree and crossed his arms over his chest.

“What happened to you?” Twilight finally asked. 

Legend took a seat beside him. His boots were feeling even more uncomfortable, as if the dirt had somehow multiplied inside of them.  

“Let’s just say that my spirit animal isn’t half as cool as yours,” Legend told him. “In fact, I bet you could eat my spirit animal for a snack.”

“Is this about dinner?” Twilight pressed. 

“Funny enough, no. Well, maybe? I’m actually not sure,” Legend said thoughtfully. “One point for the Hero of Twilight, master of deduction.”

Twilight rolled his eyes. “I’m not trying to pry,” he told Legend. “You seemed like you wanted to talk.”

Legend sighed. “No, you’re right, I do,” he said. 

Yet the two men sat in silence.

Legend’s toes were becoming numb. He kicked one foot in frustration. Without the distraction of conversation, memories of his nightmare were swirling back into his mind.  

“Twi, did you know your parents?” Legend asked abruptly.

“Seriously?” Twilight laughed. “Alright, I’ll play: no. How about you, Legend? Did you know your parents?”

Legend dodged his own question. “My uncle died right in front of me. But it’s alright because I wished him back with the Triforce. At least, I think I did.” 

“So, you got a happy ending?” Twilight asked. 

“Naw, that was just my first adventure. That wasn’t the end of the story,” he replied. 

Twilight doubled down. “And the beginning, with your parents? Do you remember them?” 

Legend tried to keep his voice light. “I remember my mom too well. It wasn’t a happy beginning.” 

He must have let the bitterness seep into his words, because Twilight gave him a look of damned pity.  

“I’m sorry,” Twilight offered with deep sincerity. 

Legend didn’t want anyone’s sympathy. He turned away and finally pulled off his right boot, dumping its contents onto the ground.  

A steady stream of golden sand began pouring from the overturned boot.  

What the hell?  

They hadn’t walked through any sand that day, only the musty undergrowth of the forest. As he tried to understand how half a beach ended up in his shoe, the sand vanished from the forest floor.

Legend jumped up and kicked at the ground with his sock. There was nothing there but moist dirt and moss.  

“Are you alright?” Twilight asked, looking over.  

Legend nodded violently and sat back down. If he was losing his mind, he didn’t need Twilight knowing.

“Yeah, I’m ok.”

[inkedmyths]

It's too perfect an opportunity to pass up

Weekly prompt for the LU Discord which is a disaster

Modern AU featuring @draconiswinters Darks!

-

---

-

Target spotted.

Warriors slowly walked up closer to his doppleganger, who was too busy on his phone to notice his approach. Hylia only knew what Conqueror was doing on there, and right now he didn't care. No. He had more important things on his mind right now. Like what an excellent reaction he wad about to get.

He pulled out his own phone, made sure the volume on his speaker was all the way up, and pressed 'play' on the song he had queued up on repeat.

"Hiya Barbie!"

"Hi Ken!"

Conqueror froze. He slowly turned around, already angry face turning livid at the sight of Warriors. Who was grinning and on the verge of bursting into laughter.

"You want a ride?"

He turned, fists clenched, and charged with out a second thought.

"Sure, Ken!"

Oh shit.

"Jump in!"

-

Legend leaned against a wall. He sighed, checking his phone again for texts. Warriors was usually here by now. While it was entirely uncommon for him to be late, it was incredibly boring to wait for the tall blond.

Hang on. What was that?

It sounded like Warriors laughing, and a song was blasting-

Oh no.

"I'm a Barbie girl in a Barbie World!"

Warriors ran by, cackling like a madman as he blasted Aqua's Barbie girl at the absolute loudest his portable speaker would go.

"Life in plastic, it's fantastic!"

He vaulted over a table and nearly tripped over a chair in an effort to go as fast as he possibly could to get away from his pursuer.

"You can brush my hair, undress me anywhere"

Legend wasn't surprised to see none other than Conqueror hot on his heels, face contorted into rage as he charged forward, leaping over the same table so as not to lose ground on his target.

"Imagination, life is your creation"

They vanished around a corner, the goddess-awful song fading as they ran off. Legend shook his head, snickering slightly. It was pretty funny, even if there was a good chance Warriors was going to have be his ass beat. In fact, that made it funnier.

-

Wind was bouncing a basketball in the park. He wasn't really a basketball player, but it was fun sometimes to try and shoot hoops. He bounced it again and prepared to shoot-

When his older brother charged in front of him, nearly knocking him over.

"Come on Barbie let's go party!" He sang along with his speaker, which was an impressive feat at a full sprint.

Conqueror, who was right behind him, screeched in response. He looked like he was going to explode from rage.

Wind started laughing. Barbie Girl, that was perfect. "Nice one!" He yelled after his brother, who flashed a grin at him before running out of the park with his angry double following.

-

Time was flipping through his shopping list outside the store. Malon had said they needed shampoo, and Twilight wanted root beer floats tonight... was there anything else he'd forgotten? Hopefully not, but he had to make sure. He pulled out his phone to make a call.

"Everything alright, hun?" His wife asked when she picked up.

"Yeah, I was just double checking to make sure there isn't anything I forgot to write down on the shopping list. I have-"

His train of thought was interrupted by cradhing in the distance. He saw several chairs get knocked over, a familiar blue scarf running through them. And what was that he was hearing?

Oh Hylia help him.

"I'm a blonde bimbo girl in a fantasy world"

He hated that song.

"Dress me up, make it tight, I'm your dolly"

It was awful on so many levels.

"You're my doll, rock'n'roll, feel the glamour in pink"

He wasn't the only one who thought this, apparently. Conqueror picked up one of the fallen chairs, looking as though he intended to smash it over Warriors's head.

"Kiss me here, touch me there, hanky panky"

He couldn't blame him.

"You can touch"

Conqueror chucked the chair.

"You can play"

It missed.

"If you say 'I'm always yours'"

Warriors waved at Time as he ran by, laughing madly. Conqueror screamed something unintelligible and resumed his chase of the blond, his orange scarf trailing behind him. They vanished around another corner, taking the horrid song with them.

"What on earth was all that noise?" Malon's voice drifted out of the receiver, bringing Time back to the present.

"Don't worry about it," he said tiredly. "Just some of the boys being stupid."

"Fair enough."

-

Hyrule whistled a tune from his perch on a tree branch. He wasn't sure what had driven him to climb up here, but it was kind of nice to watch people pass by below him. Scanning the area, he smiled when he saw Warriors round a corner towards him. Then frowned. He was running. Why was he running? And was that... music? Wait a second...

"I'm a Barbie Girl in a Barbie World"

What.

"Life in plastic, it's fantastic"

Oh my Hylia why was he blasting that- oh. Conqueror was chasing him. That explained it.

"You can brush my hair, undress me anywhere"

They ran underneath his tree, Warrior laughing and Conqueror swearing.

"Imagination, life is your creation"

They turned the corner, disappearing.

Hyrule shrugged. He'd seen weirder, although he was fairly sure this would be the weirdest thing he'd see all day. Would make for an interesting story.

-

Four spun a stick in his hand, pretending it was a sword. He may be a bit too old to be doing so, but he didn't care. It was fun. Besides, he could get away with it because he looked so young.

Shadow was sitting nearby, snickering at him. "You look ridiculous."

Four was about to quip back, but was interrupted by a song blaring behind him.

"C'mon Barbie let's go party"

He turned in time to see Warriors sprint by, along with his doppleganger looking murderous.

"I'm going to strangle you for this you petty bitch!" He could hear Conqueror yell as he ran by.

As they disappeared, Four shook his head. Same ridiculousness as always. He hoped Warrior would be in one piece by the time this was over.

"Wow," said Shadow. "Excellent song choice."

-

Sky was peacefully reading a book. Howl's Moving Castle was a great book in his opinion, and he loved the movie. After his lunch at the café, he decided he'd go home and watch it.

His peace however, was quickly shattered.

"Make me walk, make me talk, do whatever you please"

Sky looked up in horrified surprise as the song came blasting along with a tall blond in a blue scarf.

"I can act like a star, I can beg on my knees"

Warriors was laughing, which was followed by a yelp as he got hit with a rolled up napkin of silverware from one of the tables.

"Come jump in, bimbo friend, let us do it again"

The source of the projectile was Conqueror, who furiously threw a vase at him next.

"Hit the town, fool around, let's go party"

That projectile missed, smashing against the pavement. He cursed, then flung himself forward to charge again at Warriors.

Sky rubbed his forehead after the two had gone. Why oh why, he wondered, could he not have a moment's peace and normalcy anymore without something happening? Something that almost always involved another Link? He sighed, then tried to get back into his book and forget what he just saw.

-

Twilight groaned as Wild clambered up onto a wall. "Can you not try and do parkour right now?"

"Why not?"

"Maybe because we're not somewhere you should be doing parkour?"

"Parkour is for everywhere."

Twiliggt groaned at this, before stopping suddenly. "Do you hear that?" Wild went quiet, listening.

"You can touch"

"Wha-"

"You can play"

Twilight turned around just in time to be barreled over by Warriors, who was for some reason blasting that one song by Aqua.

"If you say 'I'm always yours'"

Twilight fell over to the side. Warriors quickly got up with a breathless "Sorry Twi" before resuming his mad dash.

"You can touch"

Conqueror pounded after Warriors, leaping over Twi's sprawled form so as not to lose ground in pursuing the object of his hatred.

"You can play"

Wild was laughing, nearly toppling off the wall as he stopped focusing on keeping his balance in favor of watching the scene below.

"If you say 'I'm always yours'"

The duo vanished behind the other end of the wall, leaving Twilight on the ground and Wild still chuckling on the wall.

"Maybe you should have parkoured up here to get out of the way."

"Shut up."

-

Savage grumbled at his phone. "He's stopped answering."

Acidic shrugged. "Moron probably got distracted by something stupid."

"He'd better hurry up. Eternal's going to be pissed if we're late."

Tempest groaned. "Do we have to do this?" he whined.

"Yes, now shut up!"

"COME ON BARBIE LET'S GO PARTY"

Startled, the three of them looked up at the shouted song lyric. Across the parking lot they were standing in, a familiar blue scarf flashed into view. Close behind him was Conqueror, screaming in absolute fury. And all along the way, that damnable song was blasting.

As the two went out of sight behind another building, Savage muttered "So that's why he wasn't answering his phone." His words went unregistered, however, because Tempest and Acidic were roaring with laughter.

"Barbie girl, holy shit," Acidic wheezed, tears streaming down his face.

"His face!" Tempest howled, falling onto his back.

Savage groaned. Eternal was going to kill them all when they arrived late. He only hoped that Conqueror being far more late would divert most of the anger onto him.

-

"I can't believe you're still alive, you moron."

"C'mon Legend, have a little more faith in me. Like I would let that idiot catch up to me."

"That was a great prank though! It's a shame I don't have a good nickname for Tempest..."

"Look what you're teaching your brother."

"Teaching him how to be awesome!"

"That's not the term I was looking for. Try 'stupid'."

"You wound me."

-

"I'm going to murder him."

"We know, you've said it a million times."

"I'm going to strangle him with his own scarf, then tear off his limbs."

"Aw, are you feeling a little upset, Barbie?"

"YOU WANNA FUCKING DIE YOU GODDAMN ORNAMENT?"

"Ow! Bring it you bitch!"

"Would somebody pull those two imbeciles off of each other?"

[chvrrybaby]

*itzy  vc*  hey  hey  hey   !   (  i  see  that  i’m  icy  )   what’s  up,  i’m  diana,  i’m  nineteen,  and  i’m  ur  resident  girl  group  stan.  i  reside  in  the  est  timezone  &  go  by  the  pronouns  she/her.  now,  finally  introducing  ...  loona    !!   jk,  her  name  is  blair  &  u  can  learn  abt  her  under  the  cut   !   my  discord  is  lana del rey is coming <3#5522   (  stream  her  new  album  august  30th  ),  so  feel  free  to  message  me  there  or  through  tumblr  im’s  if  u  prefer  that   !   otherwise,  i’ll  come  to  u <3

—  kim doyeon. she/her. cis female. | was that blair ryu i just saw in the hideaway lobby ? i hear the nineteen year old spends most of their time working as a sugar baby/studying classic literature and women’s studies, but i’ve always just seen them writing in her dream journal. they live in 5A and i often see them in the halls. they always give me a vibe of loosely curled hair, cherry lip gloss, the lingering scent of vanilla in the air.

(    𝑩𝑨𝑪𝑲𝑮𝑹𝑶𝑼𝑵𝑫.   )

born on october 5th, 1999  ( this is literally a day before my bday ooc but anyway ajkdhsjdh )  in rochester, new york, blair’s first impression of the world was a crisp autumn day

she was her parents first and only child. her mother was an elementary school teacher, while her father worked at a nearby power plant in ontario

the family never made too much money, but they were able to get by, at least at first

she had a fairly happy childhood, though it was a lonely one. her father was always working odd hours, and with her mother gone during the day, she spent most of her time with a babysitter and the family golden retriever

eventually, she herself started going to school. she immediately excelled in the english department and fell in love with reading. blair realized early on how much she enjoyed escaping reality with a novel, immersing herself in a story so exciting compared to her dull life

almost everything was fine until her high school years. aside from the fact that she never had a present father figure, she was closer to her mom and still loved by both of her parents. however, when her high school years came around, her father lost his job

her father was the families main provider, and her mothers salary alone would not be enough to take care of the entire family. while he searched for another job, they had to give away the family golden retriever to one of blair’s aunts because they couldn’t afford the extra cost :(

on top of losing her beloved pet, the loss of her father’s job prompting the family to pick up and move their entire life

already in the midst of high school, blair had to leave her life as she knew it behind. the family moved to statesboro, georgia, and her father found a job at the nearby power plant

the transition to life in georgia was not easy for blair. though she didn’t exactly have trouble making friends, she didn’t feel like she could truly connect with anyone

once again, blair turned to losing herself in a book to pass the time

shortly after the move to georgia, her parents experienced some difficulties within their marriage. they ended up separating, and blair spent the remainder of her high school years living with each of them for half of the time

she did not mind her parents separating, as she knew it was for the best. however, her father found a girlfriend fairly quickly, and blair would eventually find out her father had been having an affair

her father spent most of his free time with his new girlfriend and her family. blair was upset at how he prioritized his the new people in his life over her when he was barely ever around for her growing up

meanwhile, her mother was having trouble adjusting to being alone, so she moved back to new york to live with her sister

blair stayed behind in georgia to finish high school, but knew she wanted to go elsewhere for college. she wanted to get as far away from her father and his new life as possible

once blair turned eighteen, she began to sell pictures for money. she wanted to earn as much as possible so she could afford to go away for university. she created an alias and began to sell pictures and videos of her feet. eventually, she expanded her horizons once she realized how much money she could earn

she never went as far as sleeping with her clients, but she would go on dates with them and spend the days with them to earn more money ( kind of like ludovica/chiara in the italian show baby on netflix minus sleeping w them )

she dated a few people throughout her high school years, and began to more “seriously” date a guy during her senior year in high school, though she knew the relationship wouldn’t last. despite appearing as a more serious relationship, to her, it wasn’t really anything of the sort, and she mostly wanted a relationship for senior prom and other trivialities

after senior year ended and she had accepted admission into uni in seattle, she basically cut ties with everyone in georgia aksdjskdjh she said good bye forever ! rip poor unnamed boyfriend he didn’t see it coming ...

her father also did not see it coming because she didn’t even tell him where she applied. but at the same time, did he ask ? no :/

once she left for uni, her relationship with her father became very very estranged. she still speaks to her mom on a pretty regular basis, but even then, she has a whole secret life and doesn’t feel particular close to either of them sjkdfhskdjh

and that’s that for background !

(   𝑷𝑬𝑹𝑺𝑶𝑵𝑨𝑳𝑰𝑻𝒀.   )

blair is a libra sun leo moon ( rising sign & other placements tbd )

she is definitely a friendly/sociable person. she can be pretty outgoing and loves to be around people. idk her mbti yet but she is def an extrovert ! ( she does tend to keep her feelings to herself tho )

despite her friendly demeanor, she does have a fiery spirit. if u wrong her she will hold a grudge against u until it gets settled/sorted. she can be more on the mean side when she’s upset, but even then she does not have a bad heart at all

when it comes to relationships, blair is all over the place. she can be very flirty/charismatic and is constantly hopping from one relationship to the next. she hasn’t quite been able to settle down, but it is possible. she kind of thinks being in a real relationship means losing her freedom, because that’s kind of what she saw happen with her parents, so she doesn’t really want to be tied down to someone in fear of losing herself in a way. does this make sense ? maybe ? ok !

blair has a fairly strong sense of self, but she’s still very young so she’s still growing and changing. she is the type of person to know what she wants and go after it ( yes, even with ppl ! ). she will stop at nothinggg to get what she wants ( oop ). u could say she loves the chase, but kind of gets bored afterwards unless u have more to offer !

omg she literally loves 2 be the center of attention. i mean, who doesn’t love attention ? but blair takes it 2 another level. she gets all :( if she’s being ignored or isn’t receiving enough attention

kind of bouncing off the whole attention thing, blair loves a good party ! she’s young and here for a good time. she def loves to drink at parties and stuff even tho she isn’t legal here in the us, why should that stop her am i right ? when it comes to drugs, she’s a veryyy casual user and doesn’t do anything crazy. a social weed smoker n will do pills here and there

being a libra sun with a leo moon, i think it’s safe to say she can be a bit dramatic at times ( i mean, as a libra sun with a leo venus i am not one 2 judge xx ). she reads 2 much and watches 2 many movies like ajkdhsjkhd life rly isn’t that serious but she can b a lil overdramatic sometimes whew ! we told u this was melodrama ... lorde stans make some noise !

blair’s fav books are anything by jane austen and les liaisons dangereuses by pierre choderlos de laclos, aka the book cruel intentions was based on ( which happens 2 be one of her fav movies )

shows she loves: gossip girl ( she shares a name w blair so she probably used 2 call herself queen b in high school or something ), desperate housewives ( no wonder this binch is so dramatic ), big little lies, pretty little liars ( the early seasons only ), the netflix show baby, and buffy the vampire slayer

movies she loves: clueless, almost famous, thoroughbreds, moulin rouge, palo alto, marie antoinette, coyote ugly, american beauty, cruel intentions, and valley of the dolls ( to name a few )

her fav colors are pink, red, and white !

u can find her pinterest board here.

she is bisexual babey !!

(   𝑾𝑨𝑵𝑻𝑬𝑫 𝑪𝑶𝑵𝑵𝑬𝑪𝑻𝑰𝑶𝑵𝑺.   )

party buddies - this is pretty basic and self explanatory, but someone blair can go out and have fun with. their friendship might be more surface level, or started that way at least, but it’s possible they’re closer friends ( maybe she opened up under the influence and it brought them closer aksdhsdjh drunk blair def would )

ex-fling/gf/bf - blair relationship hops, so she could have quite a few of these. we can plot it however, there can b feelings there, they can hate each other, of they can be just friends now, u name it !

unrequited crush -  ur character could have feelings for blair, but maybe she doesn’t feel them back or is unaware that they like her. this could develop into her eventually having feelings for ur muse or not, whatever we want ! OR blair could def have a crush on someone who does not like her back. maybe that person is super non-committal, or they simply do not like her back. we could plot this out however <3

current fling/friends w benefits - someone she is currently seeing/sleeping with. could be no strings attached, or there could b some feelings there. maybe they don’t want to make it anything serious, or maybe they’re ready to take it to the next level. maybe one person is ready to go further, and the other isn’t.

enemies w benefits - imagine the tension!!! they started out hating each other, but ended up hooking up. maybe it was a one time thing, or maybe they can’t stop going back to each other. i think it would b cool if they kept it a secret, they don’t want anyone else to know. this could develop in soooo many ways !

ex-friends - someone she used to consider a close friend, but they had a falling out for whatever reason n maybe they hate each other now. maybe they want to re-kindle their friendship but don’t know how

sibling-like friendship - someone she sees like a sibling. they’re there for each other and look out for one another, always have each other’s backs. being an only child and not really close to her parents, blair would love a friend that she could basically call family !

dynamic duo - basically like her current best friend. this person is prob one of the closest people to her and knows her very well ! they could b a power duo, always looking out for each other 

take care - someone who kind of looks after her ?? maybe when she parties a lil too hard and drinks a lil too much, someone who kind of takes care of her n makes sure shes ok ! they would be someone she trusts a lottttt

confidant - someone who confides in her or someone she confides in, or they confide in each other. they don’t necessarily have to be the closest friends ever, but they get along, trust each other, and maybe they talk more in private

rivals - they hate each other for whatever reason. maybe it’s jealousy or their personalities just clash, but for whatever reason they do not get along. i love a good enemies plot. they can just b nasty to each other !!! maybe they bring out a really bad side to blair that most ppl dont see. someone who makes her act like blair waldorf ( i’m def kidding abt the blair waldorf part )

bad influence - blair isn’t a goody-two-shoes by any means, but doesn’t really do anything crazy, so i’d luvv for someone to kind of influence her to do shit she normally wouldn’t on her own

these are all the plot ideas i can think of for now, but i’ll prob make a plots page later on and add more stuff !

so this is everything !! this has taken me longer than it should have but i’m finally done whew,,, cheers 2 me <3 anyway i would absolutely luv to plot, so feel free to hit me up on discord or tumblr im’s, or i can also come to u ! i’m so excited to get started <333 i’m gonna b logging off now most likely, since it’s 3 am my time, but i’ll be back in the morning

[alannahaisling]

The day I slipped into a Panic and anxiety attack.

This, this is going to be long winded.

I'm just going to come out and say it. No, I don't want sympathy. This is just me using this particular blog for what it was meant for. A space for me to vent, to be my authentic self. To reflect, to just let things spill out from my mind through my fingers and onto the screen on which you may be reading this.

First things first. The Icons I'll be using here are not rp muns, they are simply my emotions on display. My IRL self as displayed by characters I adore from the Teen Titans fandom.

Ooookay lets get down it.

I help moderate a stream, have been doing it for a while. I became fast friends with the streamer and pull long hours. Roughly 4-5 hours per stream, unless I have class the next day.

To my knowledge, nobody ever had an issue with me. Save the odd person here or there, that may have disagreed with me, but at least they would tell me to my face, and I would shrug it off and move on. It was as simple as that.

My friend, who I love to death, has on more than one occasion had to reassure me that I was actually doing a good job. I lost count how many times I asked if I needed to improve, or if there were any rough areas that may need to change.

A good chunk of the time, they would just kinda raise their voice, and be like. "Damnit, you're good. You're fine." and then try to cheer me up with silly cat pictures. My ultimate kryptonite.

This friend of mine has worked with me for a few years now, talking about deep heavy personal stuff. They know I am medically diagnosed with ptsd, social anxiety, and have been dealing with depression for years. So they're not a stranger to my triggers and I love them for respecting when I need to just be alone, or only want some quality time one on one for a few hours. You hear that you knucklehead? Yeah you, I know you at least read this shit.

Moving on.

On friday, we had a.. bad night of it. Not even an hour in, after happily gathering folks who wanted to play the chosen game with us that night, someone. Who I will call 2P, dumped a huge paragraph, attacking my character and personality as a mod, in my friends private discord DMS.

2P for months, had been telling me to my face, that they saw me as a best friend, that anything I ever said and or did would be safe to do. You know the whole, you can trust me bit. I blindly trusted, and hind sight maybe I shouldn't have.

Meanwhile the entire time, I apparently had been talked about behind my back, negatively for a while? I don't know.

So we paused the stream, and go into another server that's locked down to a limited set of people and discuss it. Friend is, PISSED, but is trying to not yell, and asks me what we should do about it.

In my head I'm just reeling. I'm asking my friend, if I'm a bad mod, if I've fucked up somewhere, I'm totally confused. I can't concentrate, and there's this choking hurt in my chest. One I know all too well.

The feeling of dread. The feeling that I messed up, that I'm useless, and a fraud.

My friend is trying hard to make sure I'm okay, by this point they know, this has fucked with my head. In a huge way. 17- going on 18 years of therapy suddenly going down the drain, spiralling out of control.

They Cut the stream short.

I'm exhausted, tired, feeling beaten. I just say a few things to 2P and leave their discord server, kick them from my private one, and from the one I made for my streamer friend for the game we play with other people. In addition, also a possible person who may cause me issues, because 2P's probably been shit talking me for a few months now.

Friend is arguing on my behalf, another mutual and their friend, instantly demands to get in call. We'll call them... Uh.. Fuck, Tataru , and Estinien for sake of ease. Tataru is having none of it, they are witnessing my typed anxieties. They are hearing our mutual friend, trying very hard to not just *yell*.

2P is dropping the nasty paragraph in other dms now, belonging to other regulars. It's escalating pretty fast. I am now a villain, and a victim in one role, and 2P is also playing the role of victim because my dearest friend just told 2P Off.

"2P, isn't getting it!" My friend is saying with a calm anger. "2P is just constantly going on and on about how (my name) is bad for the stream." Or something to that effect. "They don't even fucking realize how fucking hurtful they are being."

"You need to stop responding." Tataru is saying. "Just, tell the mother fucker, NO and block 2P on everything."

I guess 2P is quickly realizing that they are losing the fight, so they come into my dms. Shit forgot to block them there. I think in my head, and I see them trying to bring the argument to me. They tell me, that I'm handling the situation all wrong.

I don't even respond. I'm tired. I'm just done. I'm mentally slipping back to the days I was mentally and emotionally abused, and gaslit.

GASLIT.

GASLIT!

I block 2P. For my mental health.

Estinien with their calming voice, is outlining streamer etiquette rules. 2P is definitely out of line, as a viewer. If we want, Estinien can pretty much hit up a wider streamer network, and have the name of 2P blacklisted from other communities.

By this point, another regular is talking to my friend asking what is going on. Then another. Slowly, I read through logs my friend has dumped into the 4 person private call.

Then I see it.

"I'll just lie through my teeth to her about why I'm leaving or something. Just don't tell (My name) I said any of this. " In regards to the in game guild My friend and I Co Run.

Silently mutter to myself. Not that the others can hear me, my headsets broken. "Ah, the other shoe has dropped. 2P's been lying to me the whole time. I've been gaslit all over again. No wonder I feel like I do."

Estinien and Tataru get sleepy and go to bed. My friend stays up as long as they can as I sort my head out, trying to timeline events. I'm given logs, screen shots. 2P's been blocked. I lock down my twitter for a day. I lose 20 hours sleep.

I spent those 20 hours of no sleep, asking and apologizing to regulars if 2P has ever talked to them about me. Most of them say NO, and reassure me I'm a good mod, that I make the stream warm, fun, welcoming and comfortable for all kinds of people.

A good friend of mine, who I will ironically call Angellica, because we call each other sis, and I view myself as Eliza from Hamilton. Once had told me to be careful with 2P from the start, because they had a bad vibe about them, is PISSED off, and yeets them out of an in game group chat. "Fuck em, 2P's a troll."

I realize, that Angellica literally stood by and chose my happiness. Cause yeah, I thought 2P was someone I could trust. After what happened though, I realized that I had been mistaken and apologized, To Angellica.

Now 2P is going around seeing who still will consider them friends, or are neutral parties. I was made aware of this because one of them, a mature friend actually asked me what 2P was going on about. So I gave them the run down. They were disgusted with 2P's behavior.

Now a days, 2P takes screen shots of anybody on twitter, that has blocked them and smears their names.

2P still doesn't get it.

But I'm moving on from it.

I have screenshots and logs. But I don't ever plan on releasing them publicly.

So yeah, 2P if you ever come across this, and figure out I'm talking about you, I severed ties with you, because friends don't lie to each other, Friends don't talk behind each others backs, they don't force other good close friends to sit on the *truth* of how you feel. Friends can disagree, and can have different opinions.

But You burned your bridges yourself.

I've always had a three strike ruleset.

One: You lied to my face multiple times.

Two: You pretended to be my friend.

Three: You actively gaslit me, and my friend.

Sooo THAT'S why I cut ties with you. Your behavior after that was just you playing the victim, and none of us 30 plus year olds were just going to sit by and let you have your 20 something year old tantrum.

I bare you no ill will, and I doubt any of us are going to even blast you in an open space like twitter releasing the logs or screen shots. I'm just noping out of this parasocial relationship because that's all it was. I refuse to be used, as a way for people to get close to and use my friend as they work on their passions and goals.

Adieu 2P , nothing was lost the day I walked away, except all the work my friend did to get me out of my isolated shell. But you know what? They'll just pull me back out, and support me 100% You'll never break us up.

[nyrator]

Random Ny updates on Ny things

lots of photos, cosplay progress, ffxiv stuffs, life feelings and rotten nyan bleh feelings of insecurity

bought myself a new friend on a whim while shopping with friends about two weeks ago

the costume so far

still need to add fur to the bottom, but apparently I still remember how to sew by hand- need to figure out the best way to attach it, though. The collar I put on like a dress shirt kind of collar, but I don’t think I can do that for the bottom part (other than just sewing the fur backside to the shirt frontside, which almost seems too easy to be right- the cuffs I put front-to-front and folded over afterwards, giving them that flat edge on top, but not sure if I want that flat edge for the bottom...)

the tights, I made a mold of my leg out of duct tape (what a silly idea), but only had enough for one go around, so it was very flimsy after being removed. I decided the smarter method would be to fold the mold in half and cut the shape out of cardboard, which I did.

I don’t think I’ll have enough turquoise paint for the stripes, so I ordered more about a week or more ago... except it was undeliverable, because they sent it to Florida, and now they’re reshipping it, and estimated date was anywhere between the 23rd to Nov 5th, so yeahhhh. Last I checked, it got to the right place (PA), but then ended up in Delaware? so we shall see what happens

Haven’t even worked on the skates at all, which worries me, but the party is planned for Friday roughly (getting my friends together is always a thing). I notice distancing tends to be pretty lax around here, they deal with people on cash registers all day though so they’re used to being exposed and I don’t need to protect my mother anymore so hm (should get a blue mask and put some graffiti on it, though)

Tomorrow sounds like it’ll be friend-crunch-day, helping another friend with their costume and such as I try to fix mine. Haven’t worked on mine in a few days because dealing with blehs, but should get back to work on it (only a few days left...)

ALSO MY BOY IS REPAIRED

they sent that shoulder piece fast, like super fast- It was here by the 21st, mann- this is the piece they sent, arm and everything

First I thought, okay, just remove the jacket and put it on the other one- but then I realize, oh, wait, no that won’t work, it won’t stick, and this new jacket is glued on. I thought to super glue it on, but trying to remove it started to tear the peg, so I decided, okay yeah no leave it alone and figure out how to remove his torso

so I removed his torso, which took a bit of force, but now he’s back together and much looser but looking good, godd

also I turned 29 on the 11th, a pretty uneventful day all things considered. Friends came over the other day to deliver gifts (though one forgot his, twice, somehow), the other was a purple DDLC girl plush and pin because she’s purple (I should probably play that game to completion), the photo I have would dox me though and too lazy to get another photo at the moment

Otherwise playing a looot of FFXIV recently, beat the main story (first one at least), got the DLC and doing the Red Mage things (as a former fencer I am down though critical of my lalafell’s footwork), slowly trying to make glamours for every class, and the latest mission thing I’ve done was fighting Moogles to knock-off This Is Halloween, what a great fight (somehow managed to get like 8 unique moggle weapons and it makes me happy they exist), mainly a BLM/WHM/RDM/Weaver though Ninja was also fun (white mage is scary but Kresna is very good at doing crazy pulls when he’s the tank and I somehow help people survive by the skin of our teeth)

the crew (myself, Kresna aka Kure, my friends Spired aka Yomi, and James aka Sebastian, who only plays FFXIV in order to play mahjong with us), we all really enjoy mahjong now if you couldn’t tell (also Kresna’s character is great and now he’s making a Rivers Cuomo lalafell and we’re all going to be bards in a Weezer cover band, also shout outs to how cute Yomi is and the magnificent pompadour and sideburns Sebastian has)

But now to the less nice things

So, hmm. Still dealing with depression, a lot of it caused by interpersonal relationships, I suppose- My flaws and anxiety-induced communication issues make it really hard for people to feel like I care or am interested in them, I think. Seeing how I hurt people, and being powerless to help people on the verge of collapse or even suicide, it eats away at me. I can’t just leave them to their depression, and I want to stay connected and I genuinely value them in my life, but it’s taken such a toll on my own mental health and I absolutely cannot leave them alone, either- the type who can and would genuinely go through with taking their own life if left with absolutely nothing. I’m not sure what to do to help them or myself, but it’s hard just watching and being the only one who can listen.

Finally drew a Rotten Nyan picture today, but not that happy with. My feelings keep swaying between good and bad, and I think I’ll add more bad in a follow up doodle as well.

I worry I speak my mind too much- to other people, with these tumblr rants, with my tweets, I feel like I talk an unnecessary amount, mostly about myself, but never about what’s important to other people. I feel I make other people feel less appreciated by how little I talk to them or about them in comparison.

I feel like what I want to make makes me a creep, and that the people I consider friends, or at least close followers, would slowly vanish on me if I keep making it. Or I risk getting labelled as something, or being mocked for my creations. It’s a weird paranoia.

I’ve had some good talks with some friends this week that helped me feel more productive, watched some artist stream and forced myself to join another discord for that artist to try to interact with other artists, as well as trying to force myself to communicate and compliment their art as much as I reasonably can. It’s hard, very hard for me, but I need to treat people better and gain more connections.

But these things have been lightening my mood a bit, and trying to inspire me to draw more. But the uncertainty still lingers- Middle Lave for example, all I think of anymore is being mean to them, or remembering the bad or the humiliating instead of making more cute things. Any time I think of any scene, it just gets twisted. I can’t think of any good scenarios, either. Thinking of all the situations that make MLave cut themselves, or cry, or how frequently MLave had restroom issues (I could write pages and pages on that nonsense alone at the risk of it becoming some fetish work or something, I already feel like I’ve written too much about it), nonsense like that. Which, is it fine to just write about that anyway? I don’t know. I’m told there’s an audience for anything, and if people want to read it, they will, and if they don’t they don’t have to, but I’m still scared of pushing away an already existing audience- Followers are one thing, I don’t expect people to keep following something they don’t enjoy, but I guess just people I’m closer to, followers who take the time to interact with me frequently, I worry what they think of me and losing them (though I don’t want to be clingy or guilt-trip anyone either).

I also think of some of the word choice I’d use- it’d be accurate and authentic, but I worry with how people will take it (for example: Lave’s nickname growing up was “retard” or “r-tard” by their sister, and “faggot” by their father, and I know that kind of language is frowned upon even more so these days, but it’d be a disservice not to include it I’d think)

I have a separate twitter for Rotten Nyan though, I just haven’t used it, so maybe when I finally update the comic I can just keep all the twisted stuff locked away on it and the tumblr accounts.

There are lots of weird things I worry about, since on the topic- I feel like I’m just very naive. I see a lot of people enjoy “bullying” my character Dolly, and at times I wonder if I should encourage it, or speak against it, or what. I don’t know if it’s right or wrong, and it makes me wonder if I’m a creep for enjoying tormenting Lave, enjoying portraying self-harmful or humiliating or self-deprecating scenes and wanting to talk about them or draw them, it feels wrong. I think of Suicide Boy, where I feel it takes it a bit too overboard, but I wonder if I’m any better.

Other things I see, say, pacifiers for example, I see them a lot in my pinterest feeds and some artists I follow. First I worry they’re some kind of kink I don’t know about, and if I had them to my character it’ll sully my art somehow unexpectedly, but then I see Animal Crossing add them, so there must be some fashion trend or something to it, maybe? I probably wouldn’t actually draw art of one honestly, but it’s a weird trend I don’t understand I guess, and I wonder if I’m weird for thinking it looks cute sometimes and weird at others.

I guess overall, in short, I’m just afraid of making something that drives people away from me, or being known for something I don’t want to be known for, or something. At the same time, I feel like worrying about it and talking about it so much also makes me a creep, somehow.

Anyway, if you couldn’t tell I’m just rambling at this point, but I should change subjects.

I did lose 10 lbs / 4.5 kg since I officially started my diet two months ago, which is nice. I still am too embarrassed to say what my weight actually is (gained a little bit of weight during quarantine), but I’ve basically lost what I gained this year and am almost halfway to a healthy BMI. Afterwards, I see no reason to change my diet (other than maybe how little energy I feel eating less than 1500 calories a day), so I’ll see how far the diet takes me before it plateaus. If I can be a bodyweight to cosplay Kuja by the time I’m 30, that’ll be ideal (of course, I’d still need to put in effort to get rid of a belly and eat healthier foods, but yeah). Still surviving mainly on 100% whole wheat bread, skippy peanut butter, and kraft mac and cheese / spaghetti with meatless sauce, but in measured portions at least with three meals a day.

Also, mann, between depression and FFXIV, I’ve really been neglecting ACNH- still try to play it every day, but usually only late at night when everything’s closed, so missing out on a lot of Halloween stuff I feel.

[danielphowley]

'South Park: The Fractured But Whole' review: Disgusting, ridiculous and plenty of fun

‘The Fractured But Whole’ is a fantastic follow-up to ‘The Stick of Truth.’ Just make sire your stomach is strong enough to handle it.

For the past 20 years, “South Park” has not so much been pushing the boundaries of good taste and storytelling, as much as obliterating them. And after 2014’s “The Stick of Truth,” the minds behind the show proved they could push just as many limits when it came to the world of video games. Now, three years later, the team at Ubisoft and South Park Studios are back with “South Park: The Fractured But Whole.”

Taking on everything from the superhero movie genre and identity culture to the Catholic Church and common video game tropes, “The Fractured But Whole,” hits all the right notes from the show’s best episodes. The writing is some of the best you’ll find in a game, and it improves on “The Stick of Truth’s” combat and mechanics enough to make it well worth picking up.

There are still some minor flaws that carried over from the first game, namely how easy it is, but “The Fractured But Whole” easily overcomes them, making it a must-play for fans of the series.

The ‘Franchise Prequel’

If you want to get the full story behind “The Fractured But Whole,” you’re going to have to watch “South Park’s” fourth episode of the season titled “Franchise Prequel.” The episode follows the boys Stan, Kyle, Cartman and Kenny as they play superheros as part of Cartman’s Coon and Friends team, from the show’s popular Coon and Friends story arc.

Eric Cartman’s Coon is back in action, and just as depraved and self-serving as ever.

The boys and their friend are working out their plans to launch a superhero movie franchise but end up splitting into two groups, Coon and Friends and the Freedom Pals, when they can’t agree over which kids get their own standalone movies. Butters has also reassumed his identity as Professor Chaos and is sowing discord throughout South Park with his chaos minions.

The game kicks off with you, the mute new kid, as you try to join up with Cartman’s team. Like any good role-playing game, you spend the first few missions shoring up your character selection. You can choose from three initial classes including Brutalist, a tank; Speedster, the movement-based class, and Blaster, a ranged character.

You’ll eventually be able to unlock additional classes and combine classes, letting you mix and match the character setup that best suits your play style. As you move through missions you’ll also gain new party members with their own unique abilities.

Leveling is handled via the game’s hero rank system, which sees you complete portions of the story, side quests, fight enemies and collect specific items, like the unsettling Yaoi-style pictures of Craig and Tweek, to gain experience points. Each new level allows you to equip a new type of artifact, which augments your party by improving members’ health, power and the effects of certain kinds of attacks. You acquire artifacts by collecting them in the world, crafting them or buying them from merchants.

The Human Kite and the alternate universe Human Kite.

Artifacts also impact your party’s might score, which you use to determine if enemies or missions are too advanced for your current ranking. I found the first few artifacts a bit lacking, especially when I purchased a far more powerful one at a nearby shop. That said, they do add another dimension to the gameplay that helps add a sense of depth that was missing from “The Stick of Truth.”

DNA upgrades provide you with additional boosts to your power, though you’ll have to balance the disadvantages they have to your character with their advantages.

Come on down to South Park

Like “The Stick of Truth,” “The Fractured But Whole” lets you explore the entire town of South Park. You’ll visit familiar locales like Tom’s Rhinoplasty and the Photo Dojo, as well as Unplanned Parenthood and, of course, South Park Elementary.

Simply traveling through the town, opening every door and finding every hidden item is a treat. It also helps that Ubisoft and South Park Studios add in more than enough fan service. From the songs playing on the radio to the ads on TV in your friends’ houses to the characters’ closets, the developers mined every bit of the show’s 20-year history to create a living, breathing version of South Park.

Professor Chaos and his minions are stirring up trouble in South Park.

Exploring the town provides you with plenty of opportunities to collect hidden items. Unfortunately, many of the puzzles that block your path are just too easy to solve. Most of the time, you’ll simply punch your way past an obstacle to access a special area.

Of course, your quest sees you come across all of your favorite towns folk including Stan’s dad Randy Marsh, the goth kids, Mr. Macky and Big Gay Al. You’ll need to find as many people in town as possible, take selfies with them using your smartphone, which doubles as your menu screen, and upload them to Coonstagram to ensure Coon and Friends have more followers than The Freedom Pals. Adding followers also adds to your experience, which helps you build your hero level.

Fighting evildoers

“The Fractured But Whole” plays like a classic turn-based RPG. Like games like “Earthbound,” you’ll want to initiate combat with enemies to ensure you attack first or your enemies will get the drop on you.

Ubisoft and South Park Studios largely reinvented the combat system from “The Stick of Truth,” adding a grid format that requires you to place your party members in the right positions to attack enemies. If, however, you’ve got a character that does close combat damage, and another party member is blocking his path, he won’t be able to attack.

Party members’ abilities can spread across multiple spaces on the battle grid, hitting enemies that are above or below your characters. If multiple enemies are lined up in a row, you’ll have the chance to knock them into each other, doing additional damage.

The Freedom Pals want their superhero franchise to be the best in the business.

The developers also added new battle animations for party members’ super attacks. Similar to the over-the-top super moves in NetherRealm Studios’ “Injustice” series, your super attacks will see your characters call in hamsters to charge enemies or fly into the clouds to launch a volley of laser blasts.

Then there are good old fashioned summonses, which let you call in special help from characters to take on enemies.

Who are the evil doers in “The Fractured But Whole”? Sixth graders, ninjas, chaos minions, pedophile priests, kids dresses as Hooters-style waitresses, strippers and a slew of others. Nothing is sacred in “South Park,” and that’s just the way fans like it.

Over time, you’ll gain special abilities that you can use in and outside of battle, helping you to access different areas of the game’s world and snag out of reach objects and upgrades. 

My one gripe with the game’s combat is that, like “The Stick of Truth,” it’s a bit too easy. Sure, there were some battles that had me sweating, but for the most part, I never felt like I was in danger of losing. Even when I bumped up the combat to the Mastermind setting, I was still able to largely blast through fights. That’s not to say they weren’t fun, but I’d appreciate something a bit more of a challenge.

Should you get it?

I loved “South Park: The Stick of Truth” and am a huge fan of the show, so I was fully prepared to at least enjoy “The Fractured But Whole.” But the developers managed to surpass my expectations by improving on the previous game’s flaws and creating a deeper experience.

And while combat and puzzles are still too easy compared to other RPGs, playing through “The Fractured But Whole” is well worth the time. If you’re a fan of the series, casual RPGs or just great games in general, you’ll want “The Fractured But Whole.”

Reviewed on the Xbox One

What’s hot: Like playing through a jumbo-sized episode of “South Park,” improved combat system, deeper character customizations

What’s not: Combat is still too easy for most seasoned gamers, puzzles could be more challenging

More from Dan:

What it takes to play video games for a living: Insane hours and tons of stress

Hands on with Google’s Home Mini and Max: Taking aim at Amazon and Apple

Hands on with Google’s Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL: Seriously impressive smartphones

Samsung and ADT are merging the worlds of home security and automation

Roku unveils new line of streaming devices following IPO

‘Cuphead’ review: Insane boss battles and cartoons. Yep, it’s nuts.

Email Daniel at dhowley@yahoo-inc.com; follow him on Twitter at @DanielHowley.