#speedran these I’m not doing well about them

[kittynugg]

i wrote some more stangst. forgst, if you will

prev stangst

words: 1,737 (see what i did there.)

p.s: reblogs are appreciated, and do not tag as ship. all interactions are platonic. also this one is gonna be a lot worse than the last one i speedran it im so so sorry i'll probably revisit this later

Ford glanced down to the dimensional translator on his wrist. Gifted to him by a group of refugees before he escaped the nightmare realm, it was.. Something. He was still figuring out half of the features, but he’d deduced that it worked as a translator, watch (counting the days since it happened was fun. Thirty-two days), and a wallet holding a currency called “credits”. Luckily for him, all the places he’d been to seemed to take them.

The entire multiverse had a universal currency except for Home. He’d be damned.

In front of him stood a large, futuristic building with a holographic sign that read, “HUMAN HOTEL”. With smaller text saying, “The authentic Earth experience!” Ford doubted that. Regardless, it was the first hotel he’d seen that didn’t look.. bad. But with all good things came caveats. Because the hotel was not bad, he could not afford it.

Did he want food, or shelter?

He looked up at the sky, stars and distant dimensions twinkling above him in a display that was beautiful for the first few days he’d spent in this hellscape, and sighed. It wasn’t beautiful anymore. He missed when it was beautiful.

It’d been a while since he’d slept. Running on empty like this was a horrible idea.

Food for that day had been taken care of– he ate at a restaurant just down the street (well, he’d heard people call them “systems”, but he stuck to calling them streets for familiarity). But if he spent money on a hotel he wouldn’t eat later. But if he spent money on food he’d have to either stay awake even longer than he already had or find somewhere else to sleep. Somewhere he’d be much more vulnerable than a hotel room.

..Maybe he just wanted to sleep in a bed. Fine. Fine! He’d admit! It’d been a while!

Look at him. He had an education and he was trying to decide between sleeping or eating. It just felt like “bad or worse”! This was.. Frankly, this was bullshit. What did he do to deserve this!? 

…

He didn’t get it. 

A deep breath was taken, and he steeled himself. With every problem came a solution. And he was going to find it. 

Ideas already ran through his mind– what if he.. Tried to charm the receptionist?

He walked up to the receptionist with a completely blank expression. “I like your face hole!” chirped Ford in a too-loud voice, and the receptionist screamed and clocked him in the head with a tape dispenser.

Right, he was terrible with people. 

Perhaps he could break in.

Ford cackled maniacally as he pushed down the plunger of a comically-large detonator, and the wall blew up in a spray of debris. About five seconds later the police showed up and he had a different place to stay the night– wherever they took criminals in the multiverse.

No, and why was that fantasy so cartoonish?

As he denied several more plans, he decided that nothing would work. Then he’d just.. Go a little longer without sleep, that was fine. That was great, even! So great that he didn’t want to look at that sign anymore, or the building!

Two.. people? Walked past him, and a snippet of their conversation registered in his mind. “Yeah, so, I’m just gonna say it. I was totally lying.” “Ooh, you are just a bitch!”

Curiosity about whatever drama they were in aside, maybe lying wasn’t a bad idea.. Yes! That was it! But what lie to tell? His eyes darted around.

There was no sign of a real human in the area, he noted as he side-eyed an m-shaped person walking past. Hopefully he never found what dimension that was from. No humans in a place made to be human like. That was exploitable. 

Like second nature (he assumed it was all the liars in his family) he spun what he could only hope was a believable story, took a breath, put on his “social interaction” face, and walked up to the entrance. He fixed his coat and smoothed out his hair.

“You gotta look like you belong,” he remembered him saying in high school. The day he shoplifted beer from a gas station. “Nobody’ll give you shit if you ARE the shit, y’see?”

Maybe he could do something good for once instead of ruining Ford’s life. Again. 

Ford pushed the door open with that idle smile he trained himself to keep on around people, looking around the room. It looked.. Just like a hotel back on Earth, he noted in spite of the striking appearance it had outside, adjusting his translator until the person at the desk made sense.

“Khoor, zho- pbzr gb gur- human hotel! How can I help you?” They leaned against the counter, a nametag pinned to their shirt reading.. Symbols he didn’t care to translate at the moment. 

In spite of his exhaustion, he greeted them with a small wave. “Hello! I was sent from Earth to judge the validity of this establishment’s claims.” He did air-quotes with his fingers (nobody seemed to mind that he had six) as he recited, “‘The authentic Earth experience’-- we have laws against false advertising.”

The receptionist blinked all four eyes at him, then narrowed them with concern. “Oh.. I see.” They nodded, a three-fingered hand raising to scratch at their chin. 

“It seems to me like the lobby is very authentic, but I’ll need to perform a thorough examination.” He made a show of looking around, appraising the interior decoration. Then his eyes darted to the room keys hanging on the wall behind the desk. Which rooms weren’t booked.. A random one was picked and he said, “room 104 is already reserved for me,” and then prayed.

Ford kicked the door to room 104 open with a thud, spinning the key on his finger with a triumphant laugh. Then he cleared his throat and politely closed the door behind him because he wasn’t an animal and there were other people here and he should be considerate. 

The key was lazily abandoned on the bedside table, and Ford faceplanted into the pillow. He didn’t even take off his shoes. That was how tired he was. Now that he’d hoodwinked his way into shelter, he could afford to eat something tomorrow. Perfect! And all it took was..

He sighed.

His advice. He couldn’t believe he’d listen to him after everything. No, he couldn’t believe that it worked! He couldn’t believe he stooped to his level, and was rewarded for it with a warm hotel room! For doing nothing! 

..It was a damn comfortable bed, though. 

“So what if I’m no better than him?” He asked himself. “Maybe.. Maybe he was onto something. Just because he had a vision doesn’t mean he’s in the right.”

Rolling onto his back, he stared at the ceiling.

“What am I if not a conman just like him and Dad..?” He dragged a hand down his face. It couldn’t have been a coincidence that the restaurant he’d eaten at earlier was called “Tom’s Existential Bites”, why would he eat at– and the slogan, “Food so good you’ll wonder what the point is if we’re all gonna die in the end”!? 

Shaking his head, he continued his little soliloquy. “What would he say about it? ..He’d probably encourage it.” A chuckle escaped him despite himself. He mumbled in his impression of Stan, “stealing’s fun, too, you should try it. Can’t afford to BUY anything.”

Scoffing, he silently questioned what prompted Stan to say that. “You’re the one who did this, if I were Home I’d be doing perfectly fine.”

“You’re not, though,” he felt deranged for responding to himself like this. But.. Stan’s voice was irritatingly soothing in a way. The first human beside his mother who made him feel human and the last human voice he’d ever hear beside his own. “And you’d still have to deal with–”

“Him.” This was devolving fast, that interruption came too naturally. He was too used to acting out non-player characters in Dungeons, Dungeons and More Dungeons. Oh, fuck.

Ahem, ‘Stan’ replied, “yeah. Him. Never told me who ‘him’ is, by the way.” 

Familiarity was a thing humans clung to for dear life. That’s all this was. The desire for familiarity. This was his humanity shining through in a place where humans didn’t exist.

“I.. couldn’t tell you. But he’s hurt me.” A hand reflexively brushed underneath his right eye. “..Severely.”

“I’ll kill him. I swear, Ford. You know I’d do that for you, right?” 

He bit his lip, unsure if the statement was true. He wasn’t sure of anything. “Right. He’s much stronger than you think, though, he would just..” His chest tightened, and he hated it. This shouldn’t affect him. 

Alas, the thought of what Bill did to him– the thought of that happening to Stan– made his eyes sting with tears. “The shit he did to me.. I can only hope he’s not back Home right now, playing the same games with you.” He blinked, and a single tear rolled down his right eye.

“Don’t–” he took in a shaky breath. “Don’t cry. You’re better than this.” He pathetically cupped his own cheek to wipe away the tear, half-pretending it was Stan. “I’m not gonna fall for his shit, okay? Worry about yourself right now, get some rest.”

Ford’s brows furrowed, and he shook his head. “I wanted to,” he muttered, “but I don’t think I can.” He ran a hand down his face. “This must be how I made you feel. Trapped, afraid..”

“Hey, don’t be like that, you..” he trailed off, shaking his head. This was pointless. The quicker he rested up, the quicker he could get back to his mission, the quicker he could defeat Bill and live. The quicker he could fucking live.

He rolled over, not without a final plea under his breath. “..Please, Stanley.” A beat of silence passed. “Just please be okay.”

Stan was resourceful. That was how he survived after he got him kicked out. Stan would be fine.

He had to be.

“Love you, bro,” he said in Stan’s voice to himself. Why would Stan love him after everything?

He didn’t know, but he replied, “I love you too, Stanley.” The next words escaped him almost on instinct as he shut his eyes and already found himself drifting off. “..I’m sorry for everything.”

[zeb-z]

feliz vuelta al sol

[mondaymelon]

— pocky for the malipo ⭑.ᐟ

⟶ ( kinich x gn!reader )

— in which... hey, does this even count as a kiss...?

— speedran this filler post for pocky day + kinch's birthday.. its single day too LMAO the coincidences are simply uncanny ..

— starts out w mualani + kinich for context , fluff !! reader likes sweets,, ...tw... use of the word orbs..

“awwww, c’mon!! it’ll be fun, i promise…”

mualani jumps up and down vigorously, her expression slowly growing more and more dejected. “the traveler told me all about it- this otherworldly tradition, y’know, with those little sweet stick thingies, they even gave me a box! it’d be a reallll big shame to waste ‘em, and wouldn’t it be super cool to do?”

recently, mualani had grown very invested in the idea of some date called “pocky day.” these sorts of random hyperfixtations happened just about every other day, but this time the obsession lasted a linger longer than most, all because of some eavesdropping on the traveler, who offhandedly mentioned it in some conversation… anyway, now that the day itself had arrived, 11/11, she was more excited than ever.

“just onnncee..! pretty please, kinich… xilonen? sharky??” seeing that no one here was willing, except for sharky, who wagged his tail in approval, mualani let out a wail.

kinich stared at her with a tired gaze, sighing slowly. “well, i don’t see how-”

“oHHH my aRCHONS, kinich, how are you so BORING?? when i contracted with this stupid guy, YOU, i thought itd be a little more fun than rotting in a cave ALLL day long but APPARENTLY not!!? live a little uGHHGH, you emo little ‘oooohh look at me im so distant and mysterious’ shut UPPP…” ajaw popped out of nowhere, face red and pixelated hands waving back and forth angrily. “c’mooon, surely you aren’t stupid and blind enough to see that this is the literally PERFECt opportunity to smoochy smoochy kiss kiss that one person you've been OGLING with those  big ORBS of yours huh????”

kinich opened his mouth to say something, but then paused. mualani watched with bated breath, squeezing sharky in her hands in anticipation, eyes sparkling, gaze screaming “oh????”. 

“...well… i guess… hmph, even someone like ajaw makes a point sometimes, huh…?” kinich coughed into his fist sheepishly, a barely noticeable blush dusting his cheeks. “though, i’m not ‘ogling’ them at all, ajaw- it’s- well, i’m just observing them. for a commission.”

“suuuUUUReeee palllll, whatever you say- YOU REALLY DIDN’T THINK I’D SAY SOMETHING LIKE THAT, DID YOU??? BLABLABLA LALALA I’m RIGHT AHAHAHH THATS RIGHT IM RIGHT IM-”

kinich swatted ajaw out of the air, in the way one would with a buzzing fly. he flew through the air, disappearing into the horizon with a sparkle.

“...ahem. mualani, i’ll be heading out now.” kinich turned around calmly, as if he hadn’t just committed battery. "if i may, could i get one of those ‘pocky’ you were talking about? i’ll repay you.”

"hehe... no need for repayment, just tell me how it goes later!" mualani, smug and beaming, handed over one of the boxes.

..and so the time had come.

"kinich?" glancing up from your work, you flashed him a smile. "what's the matter?"

well, it wasn't as if the saurian hunter didn't see you out often- he did. this little nook you had in the scions of canopy was, as kinich put it, "on the convenient way back" for all of his missions, and so the male found most evenings swinging by (pun intended).

no, him coming wasn't the issue here. but kinich had been uncharacteristically.. avoidant of your gaze. for the past five minutes he had been there, arms crossed and leaning against the door frame like they do in those inazuman light novels, he'd been staring at a crack in the floorboards. and to make matters more concerning, he had something strange in his hands too: some sort of box that he kept flipping around with his fingers.

"hey. kini'. we're both not great at words, so just tell me and get.. well, whatever it is. you wanna say over with." at the mention of his nickname, kinich perked up, clearing his throat.

"ah, that..."

ohh, so there was the problem. the eerily quiet atmosphere was because ajaw wasn't present... pause, now you were even more worried. kinich had somehow gotten ajaw off his ass?? unthinkable????

"is it an emergency? fuck, are we all going to die? tell me this type of thing earlier, kini', i need to pack all my-"

"what? no- i, mualani.. she, no, there's this holiday, today. the traveler mentioned it, and i thought it'd be fun to try out.. you like sweets too, so. here." kinich unearthed some sort of... stick? was he really trying to feed you sticks? c'mon now, you weren't that stupid-

"i can read your gaze. it's not like that. here, it's chocolate, just- hah..." kinich sighed, eyebrows pinched together, wearing the expression of someone watching everything go wrong. "give it a taste?"

you eyed him skeptically, before taking the stick out of his hands and taking a bite.

"...sweet."

"yeah?"

"not a stick."

"...yes."

"...give me another."

"not so fast, we need to play the game first." kinich took one of the sticks and put it into his mouth, all of a sudden looking a lot more... guilty? you couldn't quite pinpoint the expression on his face, something you'd been doing with a 30% success rate (the highest any natlanian had ever achieved). "whoever gets the last bite wins."

"...i'm just supposed to. eat the other end?"

"what, you can't?" the slight teasing edge in his voice reminded you of ajaw (just the slightest) and you immediately became exponentially irritated.

"hah, who said that? bet."

"..."

oh, so now he chose not to break eye contact.

"...a-hey, we're getting a little close, aren't we.."

"...if you wanna break it off, lose."

"...fuck, you-"

you grabbed him by the cheek, pushing yourself forward and, admittedly, forcefully touching your lips against his. whether by the suddenness or whether by the fact that you two had, well, "kissed," the esteemed malipo kinich let out what sounded like a sputter and fell backward, hands barely catching him from falling to the ground. sitting himself down, he looked up at you with flushed cheeks, mouth slightly open, and the edge of his lips smudged with chocolate.

"bleh. i win." sticking out your tongue, you motioned with your hands. "the whole box, it's mine now. winner takes all, or whatever they say in mondstadt."

kinich's gaze was observant, and under it you felt your face slowly begin to warm, realizing what you had just done.

"not so fast." kinich stood back up, recomposing himself in a matter of seconds.

"one more round. you caught me off guard."

(a/n) and then reader and kinich smoochy smooch smooch kiss kissed and single day was no longer single and happy birthday kinich really did become happy for kinich fuck when am i going to find me a partner <- has unrealistic expectations

context notes!! :

ajaw purposefully left kinich alone so that he could do his.. idk if you can call it flirting. pocky game w you. best wingman ajaw we all cheer (in reality he was tired of seeing kinich act all lovey dovey whenever you were around and found the tension suffocating so he decided to take matters into his own hands)

taglist (comment to be added / send in an ask on my sb): @manager-of-the-pudding-bank, @iamdedinside, @ilyuu-archive, @falors, @swivy123, @scara-is-my-wife, @lupicalbestwolf, @justyoureader, @fiannee, @aether-darling, @aioniela, @avensuersa, @dainsleif-when-playable, @umiloa, @intpessimistic, @keiiqq, @intpessimistic, @eutopiastar, @matcha-mintea

[thewritingrowlet]

The Tireless Wife, ft. Red Velvet Irene

tags: creampie, deepthroat—you know what, just read the whole thing, hm?

length: 8k+

author's note: I speedran this fic so please forgive me if it's too messy; I just wanted to make use of this free time.

p.s. this fic takes place before and after The Determined Wife.

-

Irene walks in the bedroom as you’re gathering your consciousness after a very good, post-sex sleep. “Ah, good morning, my love.” She high steps towards the bed to join you, taking her rightful place in your arms. “Love, on a scale of 1 to 10, how awake are you?” “Seven, probably.” You rub your eyes to see if maybe you can improve that score. “Okay, maybe eight and a half,” you revise.

Irene thinks that it’s not good enough; she wants you to be 100% in the right mind this morning, which is odd. She sits on your lap and starts kissing you passionately, seemingly in high spirits; she’s likely very satisfied with the fact that you’ve granted her wish to be bred.

“Tell me again.” “Nine and a half,” you tease. Your wife rolls her eyes. “Ugh, please don’t play hard to get.” You chuckle. “Aww, come on, love; I just want more kisses.” She puts on the beautiful smile that’s unique to her and only her. “Ah, fine, you win.”

She comes in for one more deep kiss, going as far as invading the space of your mouth with her tongue—it’s unfortunate that she breaks it soon after, though. “If that didn’t make it 10, I’m going to suck you off,” she says. “Sounds tempting,” you tease, “well, maybe later—let’s get to your point first.”

With a smile, Irene fishes something out of her shorts pocket and hands it to you with a closed palm. It is only when she lets go that you can see what it is: a pregnancy test device with two lines on it. “I’m a mother, love,” Irene starts breaking into tears, “I’m a mother, and there’s no question that you’re the father.”

Tears, endless of them, start flowing freely out of your eyes and onto your cheeks. “Y-you’re pregnant, my love?” Your grip on the little test kit weakens as your hand starts trembling—oh, look: a tear lands on the device, right where the little screen is. “I am,” Irene joins you in crying, “thank you for granting my wish.”

You put the small device to the side because you want to use your hands to hug your wife. “No, no, no,” you say, “thank you for giving me such a huge blessing.” Irene starts crying more freely, and you can’t help but do the same. “We’re going to become parents, love—isn’t that crazy?” “It is,” you agree with her, “thank you for making it possible for us, love.”

Irene pulls away from the hug, placing her hands on your shoulders instead. “You need to get ready for work, don’t you, love—let me start your shower.” You shake your head. “Screw work,” you say, “I want to spend this wonderful day with you and only you.” Your words draw a wide smile on her face. “Sounds great, love.”

She turns around before leaning against your chest, placing your hand right on her stomach that’s now occupied by the little one—your little one (the fetus hasn’t formed yet, yes, but the point still stands). Irene giggles as you rub her belly gently. “You’ll need to come up with some names, love.” “You first,” you say, “do you have ideas?” She taps her chin as she thinks of a candidate. “Jihoon-ie if it’s a boy, and Hyewon-ie if it’s a girl.”

You’re a little startled; Jihoon was the name of your little brother who passed away just before he turned 9 years old (you were 13 at the time) due to cardiac arrest. Your parents, specifically your mom, took his passing heavily, falling into what you learned years later as depression, which explained why they weren’t at home a lot—they were busy seeking help from professionals, both at home and abroad.

Irene knows about this story, obviously; you’ve taken her to his resting place a few times. “His memories can live on with our child, love,” she explains the reason behind the idea. “I’m glad that you have that idea, but personally, I think I’d let him rest,” you say, and Irene dares not argue.

“What about your ideas, love?” You take a few deep breaths as you try to come up with some names. “I don’t have any boy names in my head, but Yeseo if it’s a girl,” you say. Irene likes your idea; she thinks that it’s such a pretty and cute name for a girl. “Well, we’ll need to wait until they can tell if we’re having a son or a daughter.”

-

Mr. Hwang, the cook, has made some fettuccine for breakfast, since Irene said that she’s been craving pasta—a pregnant woman shall have what she wants. So, here you are: sitting at the table in the dining room with Irene, ready to fill your stomach with this tasty-looking dish.

Seeing the tall glass of water reminds you of something important that you want to address with Irene. “My love,” you place a hand over hers, “now that we’re going to become parents, let’s stop drinking alcohol, hm?” She nods enthusiastically. “I was about to suggest that idea to you, hon.” You smile. “I’m glad that we’re on the same page.” “About that, though,” she backtracks, “what about our collection? We have some nice wine and champagne.”

You ring the kitchen bell, and Mr. Hwang appears after a few seconds. “Yes, sir?” “Do you drink, Mr. Hwang?” “I do, sir, occasionally,” he admits. “Nice,” you put on a thumbs-up, “would you like to keep our liquor collection? We want to stop drinking now that we’re expecting.” His eyes widen in surprise. “I would be honored, sir, but as far as I know, they’re expensive.” You smile kindly while placing a hand on the side of his arm. “The only thing I care about, Mr. Hwang, is my wife and my child’s health—I don’t care about those bottles.” “If you say so—oh, and congratulations on the pregnancy, sir.”

After convincing Mr. Hwang to keep your collection of liquor for himself, you return to your wife. “Mr. Hwang will take care of those bottles, love; we won’t have to throw them out,” you inform her. “Erm, actually,” says Irene, “can we give the Masseto to my parents, love?” You agree with her request, thus officially marking the start of the transition to a clear-headed life without alcohol.

-

You invite Irene to join you on the sofa because you think that you have some things to discuss with her. “What do you want to talk about, love?” “Which hospital do you want, and how do you want to deliver the baby?” After thinking about it for a while, Irene says she wants to try delivering without surgery but is open to it as the last option. As for the hospital, she chooses the Sacred Heart Hospital, which is a very good hospital that’s also not too far from your house.

“Next up, our stuff,” you say, making Irene confused. “What do you mean?” “Well, we’re going to need a new car; I don’t think transporting the 3 of us in that 911 or your Genesis is a good idea.” “Do you want to sell the 911?” No, you don’t want to; Irene bought that silver speedster as a birthday present for you. “I was thinking that we should just buy a new one—something that can accommodate us and our child comfortably.” She pulls out her phone to search for options, but you stop her. “That doesn’t have to happen today, love,” you say, “we can think about that later on; I was just trying to get it out there, you know.”

Irene moves to sit on your lap. “I have some things to ask from you, love,” she starts on a new subject, “tell me what you think about them, okay?” You nod to get her to continue. “First, whenever possible, please come home early and don’t spend too much time working.” You say yes without hesitation, which satisfies her. Work will always be there, but your child’s growth and other important moments only happen once—wouldn’t want to miss your child’s first word or first step, would you?

“Second,” she puts up two fingers in front of your eyes, “please have mercy on me when we have sex.” You ask her to elaborate further. “I know that we can get rough sometimes, so let’s turn it down a bit to make sure the child isn’t in danger or anything.” “What about the frequency?” You take your turn to ask. “Just the usual, please; I’ll tell you when I want it, and you can tell me when you want it.” Again, without hesitation, you agree to her terms, which apparently serves as a segue for her next point.

“Can I have you, love?” You grin as you feel your cock getting hard. “You certainly can, love—can I have you as well?” Irene giggles cutely. “That goes hand-in-hand, doesn’t it?” “Just wanted to make sure, baby.”

Because of the time and day, there are other people in the house (i.e. the cook and the cleaning staff), so the only place you can have sex in is the bedroom. On your way to the bedroom with Irene in your arms, she taps your chin to get your attention. “Love, Miss Jo wants to take a leave to visit her parents,” she says. “We’ll go out later and get her some stuff to take home.”

You set Irene gently onto the bed in compliance with her request to take things easier during sex. “Ah, my gentle giant,” she comments. She hasn’t used that nickname in quite some time, now that you think about it. That name was given to you by your fellow student council members (including Irene) back in university when you refused to beat up a toilet peeper and would rather have him formally punished by the university and charged by the victims. “I thought you’ve forgotten that name.” She lets out a giggle. “How can I forget, love?”

You come in for a kiss to indicate that you’ve had enough chatter, and Irene welcomes you warmly as usual. “Please, love,” she gulps, “please start already.�� You reach for her pajama top and undo the first button. “Patience, baby; I still need to undress you.” She cooperates by undoing her top starting from the bottom button and meeting you halfway. “There, I helped,” she says, making you laugh a little. She then proceeds to pull down her shorts just as you’re about to ask her.

Your gaze lands on her firm belly where your child is being safely kept. “I hope you won’t hate me when my stomach gets bigger.” You shake your head rapidly. “There’s no way I’d hate you for that—you’re my wife and that’s our child in your belly,” you say, and you see that Irene’s eyes are threatening to burst.

You join her in bed after undressing yourself and after she has taken off her underwear. You then pull her into a hug and peck her head everywhere, making her let out that lovely laugh that’s special to her. Once you stop, she places her hands on each side of your face. “I swear on everything I have that I’m so glad that I ended up with you and not with that Kim Junghwan guy.” “He never deserved you,” you say, demeaning. “That is true,” she agrees with you, “you and only you, love.”

You take the bottom position today, letting Irene have her way with you. “I have a feeling that I’d not be able to ride you as well with a big belly,” she comments as she moves to sit on your lap. You’re starting to get ticked off, but at the same time, she’s coming from a good place, so for now, you simply let out a sigh. “Love, please don’t worry about the sex; we’ll adapt as the pregnancy continues. Just focus on your health and stress levels, please.” Irene places her hands on her chest. “That’s touching, love—thank you.”

With your cock in hand, she aims it at her entrance. “Here I go,” she notifies you, as if you couldn’t see what she’s doing. Irene slowly goes down on your shaft, hugging it with her tight and warm walls. You breathe deeply as she starts moving up and down. “Fuck, that’s good,” you praise her to rile her up. “Yeah, daddy?” There it is: the kink that you love the most—Irene has always been quick to use it.

Irene bends backwards slightly and fixes her grip on your knees. After making sure that she’s steady, she starts moving faster on your cock, and you desperately want to hold those bouncing plump tits of hers. “Daddy, daddy,” she chants, “oh, you’re so deep in me, daddy.” “Keep it up, baby—fuck, you’re doing so well.”

Irene might not be the best at working out, but damn is she good at managing her stamina during sex; it feels like she has this extra battery pack that’s specifically used for sex, and as long as praises and words of affirmation keep flowing out of your lips, that battery will never die.

“Oh, no, daddy,” she slows down a little, “I think I’m about to cum.” “I don’t see the problem with that.” You slap her butt a few times to get her to speed up again. “Go on, baby; be good and cum for me.” Irene nods and picks up the pace again, trying to adhere to your command to “be good.”

Irene’s thighs shake violently when her first orgasm hits while her walls are gripping your shaft very tightly, making it very hard to you to not just bust right here. You pull her towards you and hug her. “Good job, love—very good job.” “You—oh, you always bring the best out of me, daddy,” she replies despite the heavy pants. “I can say the same about you, love,” you whisper back.

Without retreating from her pussy, you roll over until you’re the one on top. “You’re so sweaty, love,” you comment while wiping her forehead, “that must’ve been exhausting for you.” Irene shakes her head feebly. “A-anything to make you happy, daddy.” The way she always puts your pleasure as the top priority is touching. “Alright, let’s take a breather first, okay?”

“Take a breather,” you say, but you’re still slowly moving back and forth in her pussy, making her let out soft moans despite the exhaustion. “Ha-have mercy—please, daddy,” she utters faintly, almost too quiet to reach your ears. “Don’t worry, baby; I’m being gentle.”

As you keep fucking her like this, you can feel your orgasm inching closer, so you pause for now. “Okay, I’m going to stop here—I don’t want to cum without your full attention.” “B-but you have my attention, daddy.” You chuckle. “Your eyes are barely open, love.” When you see her opening her mouth to make an argument, you quickly lean in for a kiss to interrupt her. “Relax, love, we have all day.”

You’ve spent the last few minutes kissing (while still being inside her), and Irene is the first to break it. “When are you going to give me your cum, daddy?” You assess that she has recovered enough for you to finish this, so to answer her, “Right now.” You straighten your back and prepare to start. “Where do you want it, love?” Irene scoffs. “Where else?” “But what about your career?” The callback to the career vs. child argument makes her laugh. “I’m literally pregnant right now, in case you forgot—fill me however much you want, daddy.”

You place her legs together on one side of your shoulder and start fucking her. Irene promptly places her hands on her tits, doing whatever she can to add more stimulation on top of that you’re giving her. “Daddy, you’re close, aren’t you? I can feel it, you know.” You let out a hum to answer her. “Give it to me whenever, daddy.”

You fasten your grip on her legs as you turn up the pace to the maximum of your ability. Your wife has now been reduced to moans and screams; she no longer has the headspace to play with her tits and instead just puts her hands on each side of her head.

“Love, I—” Before you can finish your sentence, semen escapes your shaft and enters her body, making her let out a long, sensual moan because of the warmth. “Oh, daddy,” she gasps, “oh, God, you’ve filled me again.” You let go of her legs and fall limply onto her body. “I love you, baby,” you say right into her ear. “I love you more, daddy.”

-

As you roll closer towards your house, you see your wife patiently waiting for you in the front garden among the flowers. She turns her head and puts on a smile for you, and you swear to God that exhaustion and stress from work has been taken away, and along with it, your breath.

You quickly jump out of your car, stumbling on your own leg in the process. “Welcome home, love,” she greets you with open arms. You take your rightful spot in her arms, and you can feel her belly bump against yours. “Tired, love?” “I was but not anymore,” you say. “It’s like magic, isn’t it—the moment you see your significant other, everything else just disappears.” “Absolutely,” you agree with her.

Irene invites you to sit on the garden bench with her, but you opt to take a knee in front of her instead. You rub her belly gently to greet your little one, and Irene looks at you with a smile of approval. “I want to say that I’m tired, but it doesn’t feel right.” You furrow your eyebrows. “Why not?” “I mean, it’s you who went to work, not me.” “That’s absurd; you might be at home, but I imagine being pregnant is tiring.” You can tell that she wants to make another argument, but the way you’re looking at her right in the eyes makes her bury that intention.

“Have you eaten, by the way?” Irene nods. “I asked Mr. Hwang to make me lentil soup for lunch.” Lentil soup sounds nice and healthy, which is important for a pregnant woman. “It was so delicious, by the way.” You laugh. “He’d be in deep trouble if it wasn’t.”

You think that this is enough catching up for now and that it’s time to get into the house, so you carry her inside safely. Irene says she wants to watch TV because she’s “tired of being in the bedroom,” so you put her down on the sofa and hand her the remote. You then tell her that you’ll join her after taking a quick shower.

When you get back to the living room to join her, you see that Irene is watching this little documentary on Giethoorn, this beautiful hamlet in the Netherlands where rivers run everywhere. She keeps letting out wows as shots of the area are shown on screen, deeply immersed in the show. “Do you think we can move there one day, love?” “Oh, man, I hope so; that looks like a really nice place to live in.” Irene turns your head towards you. “Maybe if we can’t live in the Netherlands, we can live in some quieter place instead—Damyang or Jinhae, perhaps?” You smile at her. “We’ll see what we can do, alright?” Not satisfied with just words, she makes you make a pinky promise that you’ll seriously consider it.

-

You didn’t know that you fell asleep, only waking up because you feel soft pokes on your thigh.

“Hngh?”

“Love, you’re tired, aren’t you?”

“A little.”

“Please, that doesn’t look like a little.”

“A little lot, perhaps,” you change your answer.

“I was going to invite you to sleep, but you haven’t eaten yet.”

“That’s fine, love.”

“No, it’s not fine—do you want to have food delivered here?”

“Eh, sure,” you accept her offer, “order something light for me, please.”

Irene doesn’t say anything, presumably busy scrolling through the food delivery app to find something for you. “Light, light, light—what’s something that’s light?” “A lamp—haha, get it?” Irene slaps your thigh for your joke. “Daddy is really funny, isn’t he, Hyewon-ah?” Hearing your wife say that name startles you a tad. “Hyewon-ah? Really?” “I don’t know,” Irene shrugs, “I just like that name.” “Oh, I thought we’ve found out if we’re having a daughter.”

Irene focuses on ordering food again, and something finally catches her fancy. “What about some toast, love?” “What toast?” She shows you the available options, from peanut butter toast to kimchi and cheese toast. “Get me one peanut butter toast, please.” She says that it’s a better deal to order at least 3 toasts, so she adds some other toast to the order. “It’ll be here in around 45 minutes, love.” You thank her for the help and then invite her to rest her head on your lap.

“Love me, please,” she says in this aegyo-esque voice. You bend down and peck her on the forehead. “Anything specific, love?” Irene opens and closes her mouth a few times, seemingly trying to judge if she should speak her mind. “You’re so tired, though,” she utters, and you can already tell what she’s getting at. “You want me between your legs, don’t you?” Your wife covers her red face. “W-well, if you put it like that…” “We’ll wait until I have some food in my stomach and see how we can proceed—do we have a deal?” “Yes, deal!” The way her voice cracks makes you laugh. “My, my, aren’t you a cutie?”

-

The toasts are here: you’ve grabbed the bag from the delivery man and put it on the living room table.

You pick up the box with the text “PB” written on it. Irene says that she has bought some toast from this place before and hopes that you’ll like it like she does. You nod in satisfaction after taking the first bite. “I think I know what brand of peanut butter this is,” you comment. She scratches her head in cluelessness. “I don’t know, love; they all taste the same to me.”

You notice that Irene has two hands on top of each other on her stomach and keeps licking her lips while watching you eat. “Want to have a bite, lovely?” She nods timidly. “It looks so good,” she admits, “b-but I don’t know if I should eat.” You tilt your head in confusion. “Why not?” “Erm, I think that’s ultra-processed food—that’s one. Two, I don’t want to gain too much weight.” Weight can be quite a sensitive subject, especially considering that your wife has always been paying close attention to it.

You keep chewing as you think of a reasonable answer—well, here it goes: “I’m sure that you have good intentions, but I’m almost certain that one toast won’t hurt you or Hyewon-ie.” You can tell that she’s starting to get swayed, as proven by how she has a box with “CHOCO” written on it in her hands. “Forgive me, Hyewon-ah, but I really want this toast.”

You panic a little when Irene sheds a tear after taking a bite. “Oh my, are you okay, love?” She nods again. “T-this is so good, but I feel so guilty for eating this—oh, I’m so sorry, Hyewon-ah.” You put down your and her toast on the table so that you can hold her hands. “Love, love,” you try to get her to focus on you, “it’s okay, no one is yelling at you for eating one toast—not me, not Doctor Shin, and certainly not Hyewon-ie.” “A-are you sure?” “Yes,” you say in a resolute tone. “We’ll be just fine, trust me.”

Feeling decently comforted and assured by your words, Irene asks if she can have her toast again, so you give it back to her. You make sure you don’t forget to wipe that random tear off her cheek while you’re at it. “Thank you,” she utters softly. “You’re welcome, my love,” you say equally softly.

-

After finishing those tasty and quite filling toast, Irene asks if she can have you between her legs, so you stand up from your seat and stretch your body to warm up. “I apologize in advance if I finish too fast; I’m kind of tired.” Your wife shakes her head. “As long as your load is mine, I don’t really see the problem with finishing fast—I’ll probably finish before you, anyway.”

There’s only you and your wife in this house right now, but that doesn’t change the fact that sex should only happen in the bedroom for the next 6 to 7 months; it’s more comfortable for her and safer for your child.

After getting undressed, Irene asks to be helped sit on the stool that she prepared earlier today. “It seems like you have an idea,” you comment. “Yes,” she says, “I want you back there.” “What happened to turning it down?” “This isn’t our first time, is it—just remember to be gentle.”

You open the bedside drawer to find the lube and see that it’s not there. “We don’t have lube?” Irene looks away to hide her red cheeks. “Erm, I might or might not have used it earlier.” You furrow your eyebrows. “You used it? For what?” She shyly admits that she fucked herself in the rear with a dildo this afternoon. “I-I wanted to prepare for you, because I know you like it when I think ahead.”

It’s not strange or new to you that your wife is lustful; you’ve known that for years at this point. That said, you’d think that being pregnant would turn that lustfulness down, but it doesn’t seem like it so far—in fact, it feels like she’s more lustful than ever.

You stand in front of her and hold her chin. “Oh, love, what would you do without me—who could satisfy you if not me?” “I don’t know, daddy; it’s always been you since day one.” You reward her with a kiss for answering correctly. “May I, then?” Irene giggles slightly. “Certainly.”

You walk around and look for your target. “I’m pulling this plug out, alright?” After getting a nod of approval from your wife, you gently tug on the plug. “Ngh!” Irene clenches her fists when she feels her rear being stretched by the wide part of the plug. “Relax, love—it’s almost out.” With a pop, the plug is finally out of her tight ass, and you quickly put your mouth on it for the first time ever in this marriage, making your wife gasp in shock. “Daddy, no, I’m dirty there.”

You ignore her and keep running your tongue on her puckered hole; quite fun, you must admit. Occasionally, you try parting her cheeks apart so that you can put the tip of your tongue in her rear.

Feeling weak, Irene starts tumbling forwards, but you catch her just in time to save her from going face first onto the floor. “God, you’re so crazy, daddy.” “Your new task, baby, is to keep it clean all the time—is that clear?” Irene nods in obedience. “Y-yes, sir; I will try my best.” You squeeze her butt cheek lightly. “Good girl,” you praise her.

You get on your feet and hug the panting woman from behind. “Are you alright?” “Y-yes—fuck, you’re fucking crazy.” You pinch a nipple, more surprising than painful. “That’s not how you speak to me, woman.” “S-sorry, sir, b-but you are indeed crazy.” You kiss her on the back of the head. “I hope you didn’t mind, by the way.” Your wife shakes her head. “Not—oh, not at all.”

“Sir, daddy,” Irene can’t choose between the two, “would you fuck my ass, please?” “Thought you’d never ask, baby.” You stroke your shaft to make sure that it’s properly hard and ready while your wife spreads her butt cheeks to give you access. You place the tip right on the entrance of her forbidden hole. “Are you ready, baby?” “Yes—oh, God, fuck, yes.”

You waste little time and go deep right away into her warmed-up hole. “Fuck, you’re always so tight right here.” “Hngh! Ngh!” Irene can only let out grunts as she’s getting overwhelmed by the stimulation you’re giving her. “No one can touch you like I do, hm?” She shakes her head weakly as a response, still unable to say anything back.

You hook her arms backwards as you get ready to fuck her to make sure she doesn’t fall off the stool. “I’m yours, daddy—fuck me however you want,” she says, as if it was ever a question. “Bet.”

With this steady posture, you start fucking her ass roughly, forcing Irene to scream with each thrust delivered. “My husband is fucking amazing—Hyewon-ah, daddy is fucking amazing,” Irene thinks as the sounds of your hips crashing against her butt enter her ears.

As time goes on, everything starts to get blurry for Irene, and it doesn’t help that from this position, she has no control over how fast you’re fucking her. “P-please stop,” she says weakly, hoping that it’ll still reach your ears amongst the clapping sounds. It doesn’t seem like you heard her, though; you’re still fucking her ass recklessly, which leaves her no other choice but to just yell out loud. “DADDY, STOP—PLEASE!” Hearing her scream makes you stop abruptly with more than half your shaft still lodged in her ass. “Daddy, please, let me breathe,” Irene begs.

Still panting, you gently retreat from her gaped ass. “Oh my God, I’m so sorry,” you just realize how rough you’ve been. “Oh, God, I’m so sorry, love,” you repeat to show sincerity. You pull her into your arms and take a seat on the edge of the bed, and the sight of your wife crying (from getting fucked in the ass, nonetheless) twists your heart like nothing else. You keep repeating apologies while rubbing her stomach gently, hoping that doing so could also tell Hyewon that you’re regretful of your actions.

Irene feebly reaches for your face. “I-it’s okay; it was good until it became overwhelming, daddy.” You lie her down on her side and inspect the result of your recklessness—it seems like she didn’t get injured by your shaft. “I think you’re fine, baby.” “Great,” she replies, “so what are you waiting for?” You blink rapidly in confusion. “I thought you were in pain?” “I never said that,” she shrugs. Seeing that you’re silent, Irene piles on. “C’mon, look at yourself, daddy: you’re still hard and ready to fuck me—let me finish the job, please.” “Fine,” you give up, “I’m not getting in your ass again, though.”

Irene says that you have a deal and asks you to lie down so that she can take control, which is fine by you; you’ve had enough “fun” being dominant tonight. You keep an eye on your wife as she aims your shaft towards her entrance from the cowgirl position. You grit your teeth when Irene slowly sits down on your cock—you’re in her ass again. “Oh, fuck, welcome back, daddy.” “I thought we had a deal.” “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Irene deflects, “anyway, I hope you enjoy the ride, hihihi.”

Irene rests her subtly bulged belly on your body while her hips are busy bouncing up and down along your length. She keeps chanting “you’re in my ass” as if you can’t tell that you are indeed in her ass. You reach around and slap her butt. “Go faster.” Having planted her hands on your chest, Irene tries to bounce faster on your cock. “Oh, oh, yes—how’s this, daddy?” It’s you who can’t respond this time; just like earlier, the way her muscles are squeezing you prevents you from thinking straight and coming up with words to say.

You rest your head on the pillow while your wife is busy fucking herself on your cock (while moaning so freaking freely), and for some reason, your eyelids feel like they weighed 100 kilograms—what the hell are they so heavy for? “You must be close, daddy,” Irene makes a keen observation. “Uh-huh,” are all that escape your lips. Hearing that you’re close serves as fuel for Irene to keep up the tempo and make you bust with her ass; this tireless woman can be very crazy in bed, pregnant or not.

“Love, I’m about to—oh, fuck, I’m about to bust,” you warn her. “Yeah?” Her voice is barely heard thanks to the endless clapping noises. You grip the pillow your head is resting on as your cock starts twitching wildly in her rear. “Baby, please,” you let your desperation to cum be known to her.

Irene slams herself down onto your body, and you instantly erupt, surprising the both of you at the same time. She throws her head back as your warm semen floods her ass. “Oh, oh, yes, daddy.” It was her who did all the work, but it’s you who’s panting heavily.

“Love, thank you so much.” Irene removes you from her ass and lies down next to you. “Even when tired, you’re still so strong,” she praises while her hand runs along your length. “What’s your secret, daddy?” “You’re my secret; if it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t be like this.” You let out a low moan when your wife manages to squeeze the last bit of semen out of you. “You’re so cute, you know that?” You chuckle. “No, I don’t.”

-

It feels odd to not have Irene welcome you at the driveway, especially since she’s been doing that consistently for the past few weeks, too. Her Genesis is parked neatly in the usual spot, so she must be at home, but where is she?

“I’m home.” You close the door behind you and scan your surroundings—still no sign of your wife, making you wonder if perhaps she’s asleep. You make your way towards the bedroom, and your jaw drops immediately when you see her kneeling on the floor while being almost entirely naked. Irene buckles a little, presumably because she feels a fetus kick. “Even Hyewon-ie doesn’t approve,” you comment.

You rub the side of her face gently. “What on God’s green earth are you trying to do, love?” The ball gag in her mouth prevents her from answering, but she has this little spanker in her hands that she’s trying to hand over to you. “Love, please, what are you doing?” Irene just looks at your feet while her hands are on her thighs. “This isn’t how a woman in her second trimester is supposed to behave, is it?” You close your eyes and take a few deep breaths to get yourself together. “Fine, I’ll play your game.”

Your wife steals some glances as you undress in front of her, and when you’re finished, you take the time to take off her bra, exposing her tits that you swear have grown bigger recently. You then lift her onto her feet to remove her panties, and Irene instantly drops back down onto the floor after you’re done. “Oh, you’re that serious, aren’t you?”

You pick up the slim paddle from the floor and prepare to swing. “Wait, where do I hit her?” You look for places to hit her on, but the more you think about it, the more that you don’t want to do it. That said, you imagine that it’d disappoint her if you chicken out, so you decide to play along until she taps out.

You hit her on the right shoulder once. “Ngh!” Irene lets out a yelp of surprise when the paddle lands. “That’s one.” You move the paddle to your other hand and hit her on the left shoulder. “I’ll count until 29, okay?” Irene nods in response, and that’s when you look for other targets.

You ask her to show you her palms and hit them successively. “Any ideas?” Your wife taps her thighs, indicating that she wants to be hit there, so you hit those two spots, harder than you’d like to admit, making her grunt in pain. “Sorry.” That sounds less sincere than you’d like, but it’s okay, you’ll make it up to her later.

Before you continue, you join her on the floor and unlatch the gag. “This doesn’t look comfortable, so I’m taking it off,” you say. Irene relaxes her mouth now that she’s free. “Thank you, master.” You sigh. “Master? Really?” Irene nods enthusiastically. “Yes, master.”

You stand back up and swing at her tender breasts out of nowhere. “Fucking naughty, aren’t you?” As Irene opens her mouth to say something, you hit her breasts again. “You’re pregnant, and this is how you fucking act? Explain yourself.” You tell her to explain herself, but you don’t give her the chance to do so, interrupting her with a hit on the forearm. “M-master, please.” “Please what?” You subconsciously raise your tone. “Please punish me; I-I’ve been naughty.” You roll your eyes. “Fuck it, we’re going back to zero.”

You hit her on different places in rapid succession, and Irene screams after each one. “How many?” “S-six, master.” “Good,” you praise her emptily, “count to 18, slut.” You initially chose 29, which is the date she was born, but changed it to 18, which is the date you were born. As much as you’re putting on a cold charade for her, you don’t have the heart to hit her 29 fucking times.

You tell her to get on her hands and knees to expose other parts of her body. You smack her on the back a few times before moving on to her butt and hitting it a few more times. “How many?” Irene chokes up momentarily before she manages to get her answer out. “T-twelve, sir.”

To end the show, you give her some hard hits on the back of her thighs. “E-eighteen, master.” “On your knees,” you command, and Irene obeys right away. “Explain yourself, or else.” “I-I was just trying new stuff,” she says. “Is that it?” Irene just nods, and you can’t help but sigh, feeling somewhat frustrated by her simple answer.

“Love, be honest with me: why are you acting like this?” After taking a deep breath, Irene proceeds to explain the whole thing, from how she tore the left rear tire of her car against an elevated curb while trying to pull into a gas station this afternoon, to the fact that she touched herself thrice while thinking about you. “L-like I said, I’ve been very naughty.” You exhale deeply. “Those few things don’t require punishment—especially not of this sort.” Your wife shakes her head. “But I want to be punished,” she insists.

“Have you had enough, or what?” Irene slowly shifts her gaze to meet yours, and you know that she knows that you’re aroused, as shown by your erect cock. “Do whatever you please, master,” she says, hiding her excitement behind the façade of obedience.

Still kneeling in front of you, Irene eases you into her mouth. You place a hand on the back of her head and pull her towards you, forcing your cock deeper. She’s taken you deep plenty of times, so this is neither new nor difficult for her. “Hold it there and count to 10.” After finishing her count, Irene retreats until only your tip is in her mouth. “Very good—now do it 9 more times.”

Irene does as you command, doing each repetition passionately, much to your satisfaction. “That’s very good, love,” you make sure you don’t forget to praise her. You retreat from her wet mouth to let her breathe, and she promptly inhales sharply. “I-I hope I did well, sir.” You smile kindly. “Of course; you always do everything so well.”

You take a seat on the edge of the bed while you wait for Irene to get herself together. “Anything else, master?” A lit bulb appears over your head. “Is it just me, love, or have your breasts gotten bigger?” She takes a quick look at herself. “I-I think they have indeed grown, master.” “They look so soft, don’t you think?” She nods to your question. “Would you like to touch them, sir?” “I have a better idea,” you say, “put them around my cock.”

Irene crawls towards you and places your cock right between her extra plump tits. “Like this, sir?” You moan in a low voice as your shaft grinds against her tits. “You—oh, fuck, you’re so good at every-fucking-thing.” Your wife blushes. “I aim to please, master.” “Oh, trust me, I’m very pleased right now, love.”

Much to your pleasure, Irene presses her chin against her chest and catches your tip with her mouth every time it pokes through her tits. You pet her head gently. “Good fucking job, baby—fuck, I’m about to bust.” “Please, give me your cum, master.” Irene moves her tits faster, eager to have your first load of the day.

You throw your head back and close your eyes as semen spurts out of the tip of your cock, landing all over her face and chest. “Oh my, very thick,” she comments. “I love how you taste, master; your diet works well for me too, you know.” You chuckle. “Good to know, baby.”

You invite Irene to lie down in bed with you. “You haven’t cum yet.” “Yes, I have; I told you I touched myself a lot today.” You get your tie from the messy pile of clothes. “Hands above your head, please.” She puts her hands together above her head, and you tie them together. “Are we ready?” Irene looks at you nervously. “Please have mercy, master; I’ve had a lot of orgasm today.” “That wasn’t my doing, was it?”

Irene gasps in shock when she feels your hand on her little nub. “Sensitive much?” “Please, master.” “Please what, baby?” “I need to cum again, master—make me cum with your hands, please.” “Well, since you asked so nicely.” You use one hand to stimulate her nub and use the other to play with her tits, going fast and fervent right from the gate.

In the moment of high stimulation, Irene accidentally kicks you in the head—how did that even happen? “That’s not nice.” “I-I—fuck, I’m so sorry, master. I didn’t mean it.” “That’s strike one, Miss Bae,” you warn. To punish her behavior, you increase the intensity of stimulation on her pussy, making her jolt around more. It’s fine if she were to kick you again; you have some more ideas in your head to get her back.

Your wife keeps moaning loudly and freely as her fourth orgasm looms ahead. “Master, master,” Irene begs for your attention, “I won’t last too long, master.” “Oh, is that so?” You plunge two fingers into her pussy and finger-fuck her, and Irene can’t help but moan, possibly until her voice disappears.

Your hand starts getting tired, but as timing has it, she’s also very, very close to orgasm. With an ear-piercing scream, Irene explodes: her legs are shaking violently, and her juice is coming out torrentially. “Very, very good, my love—you’re such a big bomb, aren’t you?” You free her hands and move to barrage her sweaty head with pecks. “We’ll wait until you’re relaxed before doing anything else, alright?”

Amid all this, you notice that you’re getting rock hard again. You start stroking your cock with the sight of your naked wife in front of you. Irene, in her exhausted state, looks at you. “Don’t waste your cum,” she says vaguely. “What do you mean?” “Put it somewhere in me, master,” she clarifies. You stop for a moment. “You’re very exhausted, love. I don’t want to burden you with more sex.” Your wife shakes her head. “I can take it, don’t worry.”

You take a position in between her legs, aiming your cock at her pussy in the process. You announce that you’re going in, and Irene moans weakly at the first contact. She tells you that you need to do all the work this, citing her exhaustion. “Never thought I’d hear such words from you; you’ve been tireless recently,” you say, earning a little chuckle from her.

You kiss her while your shaft goes in and out of her, dropping whatever charade you’ve been using these past few hours. “I love you, baby—I love you so fucking much.” “I-I love you more, hon—you’re the best for me.” Her warm words make you smile. “I’ll stay by your side until death do us part, my love.” “You have a deal.” You hug her tightly when your second load of the day enters her body.

“We’ll rest a bit, if that’s okay with you.” “Sure,” Irene says, “I can’t even stand up right now.”

-

You feel rapid taps on your chest, making you wake up crassly in surprise. When your eyes are open enough to provide vision, you see that your wife is seated in bed with Yeseo in her arms. “Yes, love?” Irene doesn’t answer your question and instead, starts breaking down in tears. “C-can you take care of her a little? I-I want to rest.”

You slap yourself as hard as you can for leaving your wife to sleep and, in turn, forcing her to tend to your child alone. “My goodness, I’m so sorry, love.” You open your hands to receive your daughter who is wrapped snug with a little blanket, and Irene immediately falls flat onto the bed—she’s still crying, though. “Go to sleep if you can, love; I’ll keep her safe.” “I’m such a bad mom,” she insults herself unnecessarily, “I can’t even stay up for my daughter.” “No, you’re not a bad mom—trust me, you’re not.” To offer her some peace, you tell her that you’ll be in the living room with Yeseo until morning. “I’ll see you later, okay?” You give her a peck as a parting gift.

“Yeseo-yah,” you whisper softly, “while mommy catches her breath, we’ll hang out in the living room, okay?” Having been born just a few weeks ago, Yeseo can’t respond much aside from a small head movement, which you’ll gladly accept as an answer. “We’re going to get along very well, aren’t we, sweetie?”

You turn on the TV to watch something in an attempt make sure you don’t fall asleep, and that’s when you see the time: 02:09 a.m. “We’re staying up late, sweetie—I hope you won’t make this a habit when you’re grown up,” you comment.

You make sure that the TV is muted so that it doesn’t startle your daughter when this video starts. “Oh my, look at that place, Yeseo-yah.” A shot of beautiful countryside scenery in Jeju steals your attention, and it’s very hard to resist the temptation to move there with your family. “What do you say we move there, sweetie?” Yeseo lets out a small squeal, and you guess that she’s interested in living there. “Aha, great minds think alike, hey?”

You remember your wife asking if the family can move to somewhere quieter to raise Yeseo in, and now that she’s actually here, you’re really contemplating the opportunity. In your head, you try to think about what work would be like if you lived in a place like Jeju, which is even farther from the big capital. Your brain suggests stepping down from your post and earning from dividends, which sounds like a sound idea. Irene had stepped down from her position of director of risk management two months before Yeseo was born, so it’s not the craziest idea to follow suit.

“There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you and mommy, Yeseo-yah.” You want to say that you’re willing to die for them, but Irene’s words enter your mind: why die for family, if you can be healthy and stay by their side instead? You laugh a little as you recall that exchange. “Mommy is an amazing person, sweetie. Sometimes I can’t believe I ended up with her.”

-

Irene wakes up around 6 hours later, feeling somewhat refreshed after a decent night’s sleep. The first thing she does is obviously to check up on her husband and daughter.

“Look at you: sleeping with Yeseo in your hands.” Irene unlocks her phone and takes a picture of you sleeping with your mouth wide open while Yeseo is chilling in your arms. She gets teary eyes looking at this scene in the living room.

She never had the idea of being childfree and has taken a more neutral stance about it, but at the same time, having Yeseo is quite the surprise turn of her life.

Irene quietly joins you on the sofa to not disturb your peace. “Love, love,” she whispers, trying to get you to wake up, “wake up, please; it’s time for work.” “Screw work,” she hears you say, “I’m stepping down.” She knows that you’re referring to your job. “Are you sure?” “Yes,” you reply again, “we’re moving to Jeju.”

Before getting too excited, Irene makes sure you’re awake. “Love, seriously, wake up.” The way you’re suddenly looking at her with eyes wide open makes her jump. “Yes?” “Were you serious about moving to Jeju?” You nod. “I’ve talked with Yeseo about it, and she agreed.” Irene bursts out laughing, shaking her head in amusement. “Sure, she did.” “Just ask her yourself if you don’t believe me.”

She plays along with your joke and asks Yeseo about her opinion on moving out of the big city, to which she replies by crying out loud, taking the two of you by surprise. “What, what, what,” you panic, “is she hungry? She’s probably hungry, right?” Irene unbuttons her pajama to expose a nipple Yeseo can latch on, so you hand your daughter over to her to be breastfed.

“Sorry, love, but these tits aren’t solely yours anymore,” Irene quips. You start laughing out loud, finding it difficult to stop. “What—what are you talking about? Why did you say it like that?” Your wife joins you in laughing. “I don’t know—it just felt right to say it.” You shake your head, highly amused by your wife’s odd statement. “It’s fine; I’m totally content with sharing them with Yeseo,” you clarify.

-

You take one last look at your house that is now empty. “We spent a fortune on this house, didn’t we, love?” You nod in agreement. “It’s crazy how much we bought this place for,” you reply. “I hope you won’t regret moving out,” Irene expresses her concern. You look at her right in the eyes while your hands are on either side of her waist. “We’re doing this for Yeseo—this is bigger than just the two of us, love.”

You walk with her outside towards the driveway, where Yeseo’s stroller is parked. “Isn’t she so cute?” “She is,” you say, “I swear I will do and give everything for you and her.” Irene puts on a big smile.

“We’ll give her a good life and a bright future, love.”

“We absolutely will.”

[jamiethebee]

(In which I spiral down a rabbit hole with Midoriya that has little to do with @codenamesazanka 's original post that started this (x).  FYI I sorta separated Deku/Izuku to indicate Deku as the hero and Izuku as the person outside of heroics.)

I started thinking about this post again (see the link above) and how Deku doesn’t really understand that non-perfect or sanitized victims exist AND still need to be saved and not by destruction. (The "maybe killing someone does save them" thing is a great way to assuage guilt but it's a stupid copout.)  Deku (hero) and more importantly Izuku (person) doesn’t really understand that though because he WAS a “perfect” victim.  Midoriya stayed quiet and inconspicuous and didn’t make a fuss about the bullying or discrimination he faced, he just kept his head down and hoped that something would change without any real effort on his part.  And if he had died as a result from the bullying he would’ve been hailed as an unfortunate victim (of who? or what? Don’t worry - isn’t his death so tragic? oh well now on to our next news story -), so any critique of society and the individuals who reinforce the status quo don’t actually have to do anything.  I know there’s more nuance here and lot of cultural things happening with this all but I’m not gonna dig into that right now.

Moving on!  Quite frankly the boy didn’t live long enough to get out of his childish mindset and get some “righteous" anger at the wrongdoings and failings of society.  All Might came along when he was still starry eyed and hopeful to lift Midoriya out of the trajectory of his life and Izuku never had any time to get to the point where he comes to terms with the hurt caused society’s rejection of his self and get angry about it.  As such, he can’t understand the league.  It probably doesn’t even occur to him that he's missing that understanding because for him it worked out - he got the attention and support to be able to escape the circumstances of his birth/quirklessness and to leave the box (deku) that society shoved him in. Twice and Toga never had that support – they both lived how they needed to in order to survive in a world not meant for them until they broke down.  (Maybe that's why Vigilante Deku AUs were so popular back in the day - they speedran Midoriya past the hopeful kid stage and to a point where a lot of the fanbase was in their own lives - seeing the issues in the world and wanting to affect change.)

Izuku, for all that he claims to want to connect to the villains, hasn’t given enough thought or empathy to understand how continuing to live a life where you don’t fit in with society can be deeply hurtful as well as the emotional repercussions of having unchangeable parts about yourself be reviled.  This isn’t to say Izuku had it easy -  of course Izuku went through hardships but.... there’s a big difference between living through stuff as a kid and finding a way out of it vs living through that, growing up, maturing, and in turn looking critically at society.  But I can’t bring myself to fault Midoriya for those exact reasons because he's just a kid. He doesn’t have the perspective to see outside of himself – at least not for the villains.  Because that seems to be too far of a stretch for him?  But Todoroki was close enough to Izuku’s mindset for him to help back in the sports festival arc.  I also acknowledge that he's a teenager and IS capable of critical thinking, but from what we've seen, his schools have never actually made the students examine the world they live in - which is a different skill from quirk analysis or historical or literary analysis or the various writing exercises that students go through. 

(Believe me – you can have the brightest kid but, most of the time, unless you point out the shortcomings of their mindsets, it won’t occur to them to look further.  (Not necessarily assuming that they’re wrong, but rather that their consideration of life is not as expansive as it should be. Especially for a kid wanting to be the greatest hero and save everyone.)  For example: many abled bodied people don’t realize how inaccessible places can be until someone brings it up to them or they find themselves in that situation (like a temporary crutch or wheelchair).  It’s through no fault of the able bodied person that they weren’t aware enough to consider it in the first place, but what they do once they realize physical accessibility is an issue, is on them.)  Back to the point – hero society never calls attention to it’s own shortcomings despite the proof quite obviously existing and the people within society don’t seem to spare much thought either. The adults who have seen more of these instances are then of course more culpable in this than the kids who haven't.

So, Midoriya was also failed by society (cough all might cough) as well, but he chose the hero path - to save people. We see him starting to consider the deeper issues in his talk with Uraraka, and the few times he “tries” to talk to various villains shows that he is aware enough of underlying issues - which makes it his duty as a hero to do something about it.  In that way, he is at fault. He chose a profession to devote his life to that should require this of him.  And through his hero work, Midoriya has seen the problems in society and yet he’s chosen to turn away from them (and by problems/them I’m referring to the villains “too far gone to save” and the issues they represent). 

(Sorry Midoriya, but considering we’re nearing the end and you haven’t shown any growth in this area….. I am faulting you for metaphorically pushing your head in the sand.  I do want to be wrong though.  I really want the kid to prove me wrong.)

And he’s able to turn away from them guilt free, in part, because he’s gotten the proverbial thumbs up by his classmates that it’s ok and that they’ll just be better and be model minority heroes and that will fix the problem! Because they’re positive representation!  Or something?  If you can put your mind to it that will fix things! Just try harder! Again, very idealistic but they are kids, so it comes with the territory.  (Horikoshi didn’t have to make them unquestionably right in that approach though.  Toga and Uraraka coming together for the win! The Shoji and Spinner match up not so much.)

Overall, there’s something about how Deku still fit into society's boxes in an acceptable way and never truly faced what existing outside of "acceptability" was like.  Don’t get me wrong it’s tough to live in the mha world as a quirkless person and of course it has its problems and restrictions, but that’s still a box that society provides for, even if the society in question doesn’t like it. 

And I'm not saying that Izuku had to live through a terrible life to understand the villains!  Just that, he has the capacity to look outside himself and be empathetic, but the application of it is lacking, despite knowing there’s problems, despite having LIVED with some of those problems. Extrapolate, boy!!!! You don't need empathy to reach out to others but the whole compassionate/kind Midoriya thing has been touted since the beginning! So I want to see it!

(Not sure how much sense this will make to people, but there’s a maturity that comes about with either time or certain circumstances that can be hard to grasp unless you’ve lived through it.  And quite frankly, Midoriya hasn’t. He went from a perfect/acceptable victim to the top tier of society (heroes).)

(Basically: Midoriya never **matured in the restrictive environment he grew up in and can't emotionally connect with the league who did, because of that. Instead he seems to have internalized the "if they were better" or "if they were truly good" then there wouldn't be a problem because just look at his classmater!, so villains being villains is their own fault and no one else is culpable.)

**centers on the idea that someone starts off as hopeful in regards to their discriminated position in life and over time matures to understand how society supports that discrimination and come to terms with the hurt that it's caused them personally (and in this case to fight back against it)

also, if you made it this far, i'm just having a fun time reading codenamesazanka's posts about the latest chapters

[antimonyandthyme]

antimony do u have anything else from ur carcar tlou au?? just read it and i’m obsessed

anon thank you so much for inquiring about the tlou au... it brings me great joy to imagine carcar navigating a cordyceps infested world... put them into situations amirite?

drew comparisons with joel and ellie and carlos and oscar because both parties basically speedran the enemies to whatever-it-is-they-are-to-each-other-now course. joel would of course level the entire world for ellie. he has in fact, levelled the entire world for ellie, and i see carlos doing the same, because he has decided oscar is his to protect. except there's nothing special about the package. oscar isn't a cure. they're both just trying to survive.

in my head, just like joel, carlos picks oscar up by accident. not from any group, just by coincidence. magnets, right? oscar just has something carlos wants, and carlos is very good and dispatching infected. after max and charles, he thinks he's a little too good.

after max and charles, he also travels exclusively alone, but after bringing oscar back to his city, only to see the kid bury the one person he went back to the city for, carlos offers it up without thinking. hey, wanna come along with me? i'm not very good at taking care of people. in fact the last two people i travelled with, well. but i can't really leave you here, tear-tracks still wet on your face. charles would be very disappointed in me. so. wanna come along with me?

oscar of course says yes. anything to not be alone.

carlos doesn't talk much in the car rides, until oscar somehow manages to steal them more country music cds. then carlos talks, while oscar makes fun of his music tastes. but keeps stealing more country music cds.

of course, because the world hasn't changed and everyone is still fucked up, oscar gets taken. by whatever group, the fireflies, the seraphites. whatever it is, oscar gets taken. maybe over something as simple as jacking a car with a working cd player, after their old one breaks down.

there's a switch at the back of carlos's head. he didn't think it'd be so easy, but it is, to go from killing the infected to killing anyone who stands in between him and oscar. he pulls oscar out, unconscious but wondrously unharmed. carlos's body count of non-infected probably rivals that of the infected now. that's how many people he works his way through to reach oscar.

carlos doesn't say anything when oscar wakes up in the car. he'd forgotten to wipe the blood off his own face, before getting out of there in a hurry. oscar does it for him, wasting precious water so he can clean off carlos's brow.

this is what you get for liking country music so much, oscar says. carlos hears, i don't give a shit about what you've done, i'm staying with you.

and then they never speak of this incident again.

[thatgirlonstage]

Re:zéro asks!

What do you think would be the most interesting/hilarious crossover Subaru could stumble into. Either pre-canon or canon (or maybe even IF story), because he gets into situations, regardless of the timeline.

What ships do you like?

Do you ship rezero characters with characters of other series? If you do which ones?

And lastly, do you think Subaru deserves à vacation?

I don’t really do/think about crossovers so much unless I get particularly inspired for some reason—I’ve had some AU thoughts about Re:Zero but I’ve never really bothered considering crossovers for it. Subaru is a difficult character to transpose out of his setting & original plot without doing a LOT of work vis a vis how you manage his character arc. Though actually precisely bc of that maybe the most interesting crossover to me would be if canon Subaru got a glimpse of himself if he had been dropped in a more traditional isekai (I don’t know nearly enough about classic isekai to pick one though) and the kind of person he would’ve become if he was just handed a bunch of awesome powers and people who think he’s cool without ever being called on his shit (the absolute worst version of himself). Relatedly, to your third question, nah I p much never ship characters outside their franchise. Even if they don't directly interact I need them to at least exist in the same/similar enough context or interact with some of the same people in order to get the shipping tickle in my brain. Again unless something particularly inspires a crossover idea, but even then, I will at most do like, bullet point ideas that are mostly meant to be funny to me. I almost never read crossover fic and I’ve never written it.

On ships in general… okay look. I am a) multishipper galore and always one good piece of fanart from being interested in whatever ship idea you want to pitch to me, but b) not primarily into this show for ships and c) at most poking the Re:Zero fandom with a ten foot pole for pretty fanart and usually staying well away from it except to make posts for my own amusement and like six of my friends. I can’t go in the Ao3 tag for it. Every time I do I start wanting to stab things. My current strategy to make re:zero fandom for myself by slowly luring all my friends into watching re:zero is having a shockingly good success rate but yeah the fandom at large is…… holy lack of reading comprehension Batman.

For whatever it’s worth, just as, things I will yell the most about while watching, I am deeply invested in Rem and Subaru in whatever configuration of relationship you want to put them in, I like Rem/Ram because I’m me, and idk that I really know enough about Satella to have Thoughts but I am So Normal about Satella/Subaru Jesus fuck the love love love love love you bit. (NB: I’m anime only with this series so far, please no spoilers.) Emilia/Subaru do make me soft, Subaru and Otto should queerplatonically own a cottage and 37 pets together, and Crusch/Felis are a t4t couple and I shan’t be told otherwise. Actually the ship I’ve probably Thought the most about though is Julius/Subaru. Why did they put in a loop where they speedran an enemies to lovers tragic boyfriends arc. What was that about.

But all of that is secondary to my desire to watch Subaru get the shit beat out of him 😂 which, to your last question—does he DESERVE a vacation? I mean, sure, boy’s been through the biggest boatload of trauma one can imagine and he’s not a bad person even if he’s an asshole with a lot of baggage to unlearn. Do I want him to GET one? Absolutely not, that boy was made in a lab for me to squeeze him like a stress ball

[spinningbuster98]

Metroid Fusion Ending: The Big Dumb Ending

Fusion introduces a design element that will become a staple of every single game afterwards and that many fans dislike: the so called “final victory lap”

Essentially plenty of the game’s items are locked away by blocks and objects that require really late-game items to reach, in this case the Screw Attack, meaning that if you want that 100% item completion you’ll be forced to go through the ENTIRE game right before facing the final boss

Many fans detest this aspect of the games feeling that it’s unneccesary padding that only serves to make the game’s backtracking skyrocket for no real reason: after all Super Metroid didn’t have this

I used to agree with this assertion

Not anymore since a couple of years

Because I asked myself: why? Why do this? For what purpose from a level design standpoint?

Many fans just chalk this up to the games’ inferior level design and more linear structures when compared to Super Metroid

But...it doesn’t make sense when you really think about it

If this truly were a case of superior VS inferior level design then why do Metroid 1 and 2 also allow you to collect everything with minimum backtracking, like Super, despite those games having a lot of level design issues?

It also can’t just be a matter of linearity because Zero Mission, basically a game that can be even LESS linear than Super, also has a last minute item round up

Hell: even AM2R does this! Yeah sure it makes things more convenient by allowing limited fast travel upon reaching the third to last area, but you’ll still have to revisit each previous area to complete some “bouncing ball” puzzles that only become available upon restoring power to the systems in the third to last area. This is not how Metroid 2 worked.

So why? Why do this?

Well.... I think most people see this from the wrong perspective

My personal favorite way of playing Metroid games is by 100% them while ALSO speedrunning them (though not in a “professional” way since I’m not nearly that good)

Now I’m not trying to tell anyone here how they’re supposed to play or enjoy their games but I, personally, believe that this is the best way to experience 2D Metroid, to the point that I’d argue that they’re specifically designed for this

These are adventure games so exploration is indeed an important element, so 100% item completion is logical...but after replaying the games enough times you’ll know where everything is and so item collecting will become merely a matter of “go to X and shoot Y block to get Z”.

However these games have also undeniably always been built for speedrunning. Keyword being: built. It’s not like speedrunners have a fascination with this series just because Samus happens to run fast, the level design and movement kit of these games are all centered around giving the player a very satisfying experience if they plan on testing their own time. In general you don’t lock ending rewards behind clear times you don’t also want your game to be speedran. However JUST speedrunning a Metroid game can also be rather...unsatisfying because it will often lead you to skip over half of the content: many hidden items and puzzles will just be left there to waste

However....you can combine these two elements together

Now I don’t want to present this as some kind of revolutionary design quirk that only these games have as I’m sure others do as well, but every 2D Metroid game is designed specifically to allow you to both complete it and speedrun it at the same time

It’s something that’s difficult to explain, you kind of just have to “feel it”, but the way the areas are designed, the way the games are often paced, the way Samus moves, it’s all in service to both speedrunning and exploration done in such a way that it absolutely allows you to do both and reap the rewards of both approaches without either’s downsides

If you’re both speedrunning and collecting every item will need to be collected quickly and following a distinct route, so it’s no longer a matter of just checking something off a list

And if you’re exploring while speedrunning that means that you’re not skimming over half of the game’s content anymore

It’s essentially the “ultimate” way of experiencing these games I find, the best way of putting your skills and knowledge of the game to the test.

And this is why it sort of bugs me when people just dismiss this aspect of the games. You don’t HAVE to play them like this, it doesn’t make you any less of a fan if you don’t, but this isn’t just some weird niche way of experiencing these games that only big time speedrunners relish in. This is a big part of 2D Metroid’s core design: Fusion even locks a special ending images behind a sub 2 hours 100% requirement and so will Zero Mission, so it’s by no means some accidental or unimportant element: the developers made these games to be played in different ways and this is just as relevant as others

So what does any of this have to do with the “final victory lap”? Well if you just approach these games in a very casual way in terms of 100% item hunting, just looking for items slowly in a very lax way then this final lap will be very stupid and useless to you

But in the context of a 100% speedrun this final lap has a purpose: it’s one final challenge, one final test of your movement skills and especially of your knowledge of the map

You’re never getting everything during this section before you reach the 2 hour marks unless you map out a route that will allow you to get everything and then go to the final boss as quickly and smoothly as possible

In a game as linear as Fusion this is especially needed because otherwise it would be too easy: just follow the game’s forced path and get everything you find along the way

And I know this can be very daunting, trust me I’ve been there. But this doesn’t require you to be a literal master like some guys on YT, all it requires is for you to be good with movement and to memorise the map, which can actually be easier than it sounds because of how replayable the games are and Fusion’s linear nature alraedy giving you a clear path 90% of the time

Now despite this....I have issues with Fusion’s approach. Specifically with the way it hides items

Fusion is probably the most cryptic game in the series when it comes to item collection. It’s certainly customary for the series to hide items behind breakable blocks with no visible marks or behind fake walls or such. But Fusion does this A LOT more than the others. The main issue being that this game doesn’t have a good equivalent to the X Ray Scanner from Super. The closest that you get are Power Bombs which can at least reveal any block they can’t break...but they can’t reveal fake walls and even then what this all means is that, if you wanna 100% this game without resorting to a guide, you’ll have to plant Power Bombs every 5 fucking seconds in every single room in the game while keeping your eyes peeled for any tiny block that may get revealed as breakable in the process. Now nowadays I know where everything is so it’s no problem but during my first few playthroughs I DISTINCTLY remember just how slow, meandering, frustrating and just overall boring this process could get, it’s borderline pixel hunting! And yeah getting everything in such a cryptic game is certainly a big satisfaction but they should probably chilled a bit there

....oh you must be wondering by now why I titled this “The Big Dumb Ending” eh?

Well it’s got nothing to do with the gameplay side of things. No I’m talking about the story

Fusion is...a bit of a fandom dearie when it comes to its story I believe, with some even considering it the best story in the franchise

And while I wouldn’t consider it awful or even bad by any means I have come to believe that it’s...pretty overrated honestly.

The thing about Fusion is that it’s at its best when it affects gameplay and the game world in interesting ways, but when it comes to the actual plots you actually get various issues that can be pretty easy to miss given how often the game just throws new stuff at you

Funnily enough I’ve come to realise most of these issues upon seeing peope criticizing Dread’s story and comparing it unfavorably to Fusion’s. Don’t get me wrong: Dread has its issues too but one thing I noticed is that some of Dread’s narrative hiccups are actually also present in Fusion except they tend to be way worse there

Let’s make a few examples:

Dread shoves Kraid as a boss with little to no explanation as to how he got there on ZDR. It’s forced and kinda muddles things....but I’d argue it’s not that big of a deal since the game does give you some vague hints that can allow you to for your hypothesis regarding his presence: you can notice wall paintings in Ferenia depicting Space Pirates fighting Mawkins impying that the two races have battled in the past. In Dairon you can even spot the silouhette of what appears to be Draygon in a giant testube. Raven Beak at one point even mentions cloning Samus, implying he has access to cloning tech and with Dairon being a biological lab and the Mawkin having encountered the Pirates before AND the game’s official site at one point describing Kraid as “a creature that looks like Kraid” it’s not impossible nor improbable to imagine that that is not the Kraid we know but rather a clone. It’s not a full answer but Metroid as a series has often worked with implying things with its environmental storytelling rather than outright stating them so I can’t fully fault the approach. Plus: it’s just Kraid. He may be iconic but he’s not really important either to the plot nor to Samus

On the other Fusion shoves Ridley and a bunch of Zebesian Space Pirates on the BSL.

This is...horrendously stupid and forced on so many levels.

First off: how can they even be here? Zebes exploded, Ridley in particular was blown to pieces by Samus in Super and THEN Zebes blew up for good measure. They should be a bunch of atoms floating in space. The game makes absolutely ZERO effort to explain their presence here, neither through implications or direct narrative. I could at most excuse the Zebesians by imagining that maybe some of them could have been away from Zebes at the time, but Ridley is inexcusable. And don’t you Other M me, that game came out 8 years later and introduced a lot more issues than it fixed, plus it’s THIS game’s job to clear out its issues or at least reassure the player that they’re not issues but rather unanswered questioned that will be cleared by a later game

But the worst thing is that Samus doesn’t react nor comment at all on their prsence

She will take the time to ponder about Adam or the animals but NOT about the evil aliens she thought she had killed? About the guy who MURDERED HER FAMILY!?

Not only is this baffable it actually feels super forced from a narrative perspective: the game plays the revelation that the BSL had an illegal Metroid breeding program as the tipping point for Samus, the moment she realises that this section of the Federation is corrupt...but honestly she should’ve come to this conclusion at the beginning upon encountering Ridley and the Zebesians, which clearly indicated that the BSL was up to some shit because there should be no good reason for housing dangerous criminals on your innocent research lab. Yet the game ignores all of this, making this blatant attempt at a callback an actual fucking plot hole that makes Samus look blind at best

Raven Beak is sometimes criticized because his plan involved letting Samus live, which fucked him over in the long run. And yeah it’s partly your usual villain cliche but it has an actual in-story reason beyond simple arrogance, much like how Dark Samus in Prime 3 had an actual reason for letting Samus live at the start which in the end proved to be her demise

The evil Federation guys in Fusion on the other hand?

Samus’ mission here was originally to see if there were any survivors on the BSL.  Then it’s implied that the evil government guys got interested in the X and stopped sending her upgrades in order to prevent her from engaging the SA-X

Here’s the issue: this story should have logically ended by the time Samus frees the animals. Because by then every human on the station has been confirmed dead by Adam. So...mission accomplished. Let’s go home. There’s literally no more reason to stay here. Oh sure Samus wants to eradicate the X, but instead of limiting her power ups why not just straight up order her to leave so that the Federation can totally bomb the station from orbit thus absolutely destroying every X? It certainly sounds way more logical than trying to kill them one by one. It would have certainly prevented Samus from discovering their little Metroid pet project

(There’s also other minor stuff like the Omega Metroid for some reason only being vulnerable to cold and not missile which is literally the opposite of how it worked in Metroid 2 and is given no explanation but whatever that’s its own can of worms)

However by and large my biggest issue with Fusion...is its ending

First off: Metroid games usually have some form of sense of anticipation towards their endings, something that makes you feel like you’re gradually getting closer to the climax: Metroid 1 and Super had you fight a number of Pirate leaders before you could access Tourian. Metroid 2 had a literal countdown in the form of the Metroids you had to kill, Dread has a bit of an issue with having a rushed ending but the EMMIs served as a countdown as well

Fusion’s ending sneaks up on you: Samus just happens to stumble upon the secret evil lab which had only been foreshadowed one about an hour ago then, in quick succession, we get the big info dump about what the evil Federation guys want to do, then we get Adam coming to his senses I guess, then the final battle with the SA-X, then the escape sequence and finally the final monologue (that was translated wrongly and created a 20 plus year long misconception but whatever) where Samus quickly mentions that “Oh gollee jee! I didn’t know that the Federation frequently uploaded the minds of generals to computers! That’s why Adam is still alive!”

It feels...not just rushed but anti-climactic and flaccid. Like the game suddenly ran out of ideas and just said “ok it’s ending time”

But my absolute biggest issue with this ending, and the entire game for that matter, is the scene between Samus and Adam

Putting aside just how rushed and sappy it feels that the AI that reminded Samus of Adam GASP!! Was actually Adam all along!! Helping Samus out from beyond the grave! What a coincidence!

As I said in another video one of this game’s main themes is Samus going from a position of vulnerability to gradually becoming stronger thus allowing her to violate Adam’s orders repeatedly

And it all leads to this: a big confrontation between the two, with Adam locking Samus in a room

....and it’s solved by Samus accidentally triggering Adam’s repressed memories (I guess?) thus having him open the doors and giving her one last order on how to solve this mess

I hate this

very

very

much

After an entire game dedicated to Samus growing stronger and slipping away from Adam’s control in the end she doesn’t beat him through her wits or through her powers. She doesn’t even INTENTIONALLY trigger his real personality, as she only called him Adam by reflex. Samus here is basically resorted to begging with the AI and she’s only freed because he LETS her go. Samus, in this moment, is essentially stripped of her agency and Adam regains control over her and the game doesn’t treat it as a negative because it’s too focused on its sappy narrative about how special Adam was for Samus and how much of a surprise it is for him to have been essentially resurrected in such a way

I once saw an old forum dating back to 2007 where old time fans were criticizing Fusion and Zero Missions for being unneccesary sequels after Super had essentially ended the story and for feeling like fan fiction

And while I don’t agree with this opinion in the general sense I do believe that this scene gets pretty fanfictiony in a bad way. Samus is not only at the mercy of Adam, a new character that’s been introduced not only to the series but to her backstory, but she’s also being presented as not only weaker when compared to him but also dumber: Adam points out that if Samus went along with her original plan of blowing up the station to take out the X she wouldn’t actually be accomplishing much as there would still be X on SR388 and she would only be sacrificing her life for nothing. This is a mistake that is pretty weird for a hardened and professional bounty hunter like Samus to do, one that I could excuse as being due to her missing a crucial detail due to the stress of the situation but I’d say it’s pretty obvious that it only exists so that Adam can present a better plan and show just what a brilliant military mind he is! Even if it means making Samus look like a fool in the process!

And doesn’t all of what I’ve just said reawaken memories of a certain other game...?

[charles-among-us]

I’m gonna be honest

Spoilers for Pikmin 4’s Second Act End because I speedran 100% {as of post, 99% because of a single stupid treasure} it like nobody’s business.

Aka; My gripes and likes of Pikmin 4

I don’t know where to start, but remember how in Pikmin 2, how the Purple and White Pikmin didn’t have Onions like the others?

Well now they do and I’m very happy to see them, but I can’t seem to find them. {which is odd considering the mission to fuse 8 onions}

Second, SCREW THE WATERWRAITH AND ITS MULTIVERSE SELF.

Yeah I just have a problem with it like all of us do.

Third, I’m confused about Louie, like how tf did this man forget Olimar’s face? I mean, clearly the President told Louie to get Olimar, given if this is before Olimar sent the S.O.S. But Louie has been known to dabble in eating possibly otherworldly creatures (Waterwraith for example), and clearly this takes place after Pikmin 2 & 3, so Louie knows Olimar.

Sure you can probably say Louie’s hunger made him forget, and given the time space between 3 and 4, you could say he might’ve forgotten Olimar’s face. But it doesn’t make sense.

Fourth, and my final thing. Why did every ship so far, with the exception to a few (like the MC’s ship) crash?

I know there’s been theories as to why and how. But it wasn’t just the Dolphin (or Dolphins), the Drake, and the Shepherd. It was at least 10 civilian ships as well. And they all crashed coming into the atmosphere, maybe due to the asteroids outside, but that doesn’t make any sense if the ships had experienced pilots.

And we know Olimar, who in Pikmin 2, was able to land relatively safely (with the exception of Louie). We know he can land safely, but it doesn’t make any sense as to why this happened to basically every ship that comes in the atmosphere.

Anyways, if you have a theory, I’d love to hear it.

[pidgecv]

i have to get up on time tomorrow and i’m exhausted and can hardly think thoughts in properly. anyways i know it’s not my job to think about but i’m thinking abt how jo would have a particularly rough time with V going on his fucking journey of enlightenment.

aka unfinished bullshit where the second V leaves, everything is a lot less functional and Cleo immediately sustains a head injury.

i’ll be surpised if this makes any sense tomorrow morning and even more surprised if it’s any good.

knowing me i speedran mischaracterization

feeling cute might delete later idk teehee :p

Naturally, things were going to be a lot less efficient without V around. Cleo had admittedly always been a bit of a follower, and if it weren’t for the fact that she had plenty to do between the glorified chore list V left them to split and her own intensifying search for Ellie, she’d probably be a lot more lost than she was now.

Jo had been particularly despondent the last couple days. Ever since V had pitched the idea of him going out on his own for a while, Jo had become mopey and generally unpleasant. Cleo would be lying if she said she wasn’t worried about him herself, but this was ridiculous. The day V actually left, Jo spent 3 hours glaring at the door. At the same time, Cleo could hardly find a second alone now. Jo was acting very clingy, which when paired with the upset bitchiness was bound to end poorly. This ended up coming to a head when Cleo was about to go check out a lead on her sister’s location.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Jo spat with all the confidence of a righteous mother scolding her child. Cleo was not having it.

“Out. Just because V’s out there fucking soul-searching or whatever doesn’t mean I’ve gotta stop what I’ve been doing.” She met Jo’s glare with an annoyed look of her own.

“Like hell you’re going without me. We’ve gotta stick together now even more than before. Besides, we were just out scavenging, and we’ve got more than enough to do in the base right now.”

“I’ve done my packing for the day. I’m not grounded or anything and I’m an adult, I can leave the damn base.”

“This is different and you know it. There’s actual danger out there. I know you saw the infected as well, and with V gone we’ve lost our resident medic.”

“We haven’t ‘lost’ anyone. Besides, I’m not going to get hurt. I leave the base on my own all the time. Why’ve you got a problem with it now? What the hell has gotten into you?”

“What are you even talking about?!”

“You’ve been acting strangely ever since V decided to leave.”

“Did you forget about the BOMB THREAT?!”

“I know DAMN well that THIS isn’t about the bomb threat. You’re upset that V left and now you’re taking it out on ME.”

“Well, MAYBE you should’ve helped me convince him to stay.”

“I tried, jackass! He wouldn’t hear it and you know that.”

“It’s dangerous to be alone out there and we should be sticking together right now!”

“You think I don’t KNOW that?! I’m not LEAVING I’m going OUT for a little.”

“Like hell you are!”

“Oh my fucking god Jo, you’re not my mom.”

“I’m not letting you leave me too!”

“I’m not GOING ANYWHERE!”

“DAMN RIGHT!!”

“I’M GOING OUT WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT. MANIFEST YOUR DAMN ISSUES SOMEWHERE ELSE!!” Cleo shouted, shouldering Jo out of the way in an effort to leave the base. Jo grabbed her arm and in a desperate, frustrated panic yanked her backwards hard enough for Cleo to go crashing to the ground. The side of her head hit the wall behind them with a loud crack and Jo froze, unsure of what to do.

Jo had not meant to do that. Frankly, she wasn’t sure what she’d meant to do or why she was so worried about Cleo leaving in the first place. Maybe she didn’t want to deal with an injury since it would mean more work for her. Maybe she didn’t like the tone Cleo had taken on while talking to her. Maybe it was the thought of being alone again, sitting in a house that’s empty save for the silence filling every corner of every room. Maybe she had been scared.

Meanwhile, Cleo somehow remained conscious but deeply confused. Her glasses had been knocked off from the impact which only fueled her disorientation. She wasn’t sure if her vision had been messed up by the fall or if she just needed to find her glasses. A blurry figure loomed over her, before kneeling at her side (why was Cleo laying down?) and handing her her glasses. The lights were very bright and her head hurt (did she hit her head?). She put her glasses on but her vision remained blurry and strange (she would ask her mom to schedule an eye doctor appointment when she came home from work).

“Cleo?” Cas asked her, as she started propping herself up on her elbows. The slight motion made her head throb and the edges of her watery vision darken and blur.

“Cas, can you call for Hannah? I think I’m sick.”

“What? Cleo, you hit your head. I’m just going to go get some ice.” Cas declared, sounding uncharacteristically lost.

“We don’t have any ice kiddo, it’s the apocalypse. Remember?” Cleo laughed humorlessly, managing to sit up against a wall. Ellie said nothing in return as Cleo felt her eyes slip shut. But she couldn’t nod off, she was in a lecture. Something warm trickled down the side of her head and onto her shoulder. Cleo raised her hand.

“Put your hand down Cleo, and hold this to the side of your hea- oh fuck.”

“Professor, can I go to the nurse?”

“You know what? Sure. Cmon man, up you go.” thin arms looped around Cleo’s torso and pulled her up. The fuzzy world pitched around her and she could barely put one foot in front of the other. The ice pack fell from her loose grip almost immediately, hitting the floor with a clatter that pierced her brain like a hot knife.

“Whysm head ‘urt?” Cleo asked, words starting to slur as she navigated the fuzzy world.

“Uh, you hit your head.”

“Oh.” Cleo returned her focus to moving her legs. Her vision started to fade out at the edges.”

“Cas, i thinkm gonna fall—“ The last thing Cleo heard before her vision went dark was a panicked voice she couldn’t place saying something in response.

She’s fine btw

unused line: “Jo had no idea what to do. Not just with Cleo, but herself.”

they both agree to never tell V about this. whether he finds out regardless is up to interpretation.

i know nothing about head injuries and i don’t care to do research. i am well aware that this type of thing would take a long ass time to heal but i’m ignoring that bc i think it’s funnier if they do not tell V.

[cloudninetonine]

Linktober: Nostalgia

You remembered being introduced to the Legend of Zelda franchise at a young age, your mother was a very active gamer in her youth after all and you remembered all the stories she would share with you- she even remembered when the first game had been released! Hours spent on her console as a teen, she grew up on the game and eventually passed them on to you once you showed interest, sharing hours of fun to experience it with her.

So, it wasn’t a surprise when you had been going through old collections in closest, looking for something to do when you had stumbled across a familiar-looking DVD, looking over the case with confusion until your mama had come to answer your questions.

“Well, I was a little too old when it came out to really enjoy it.” She explained, turning over the Legend of Zelda animated series case “Your nanny got it for me, but I didn’t really bother to watch it so I just decided to keep it for when I had you- do you remember watching it? You don’t? But you used to love it when you were five!”

You tried to argue that children loved any sort of cartoon at such an age but she was adamant, urging you to rewatch it to prove it.

And well, while a lot of inaccuracies and overall cringe of the whole thing made you- well, cringe you couldn’t deny the wave of nostalgia that washed over you, chucking along to some of the scenes and overall enjoying it- it was a connection with your mother and you cherished things like that with your body and soul.

“Saved you again, Sunshine! Kiss me!”

Even now, with Courage ever so persistent and brash, the feeling still stayed true, blooming a warm fuzzy layer of happiness in your stomach. Meeting him was like meeting the physical manifestation of sentimentality, such a great feeling that left you high on life. You thought of better times, you thought about your mother, your friends- everyone in the past.

Completely ignoring the hero in front of you. “Hey, pay attention, I’m talking here!”

“Hm? Oh, sorry, Link, was thinking about stuff.”

His scowl was way more handsome in person compared to his animated self. “Well excuseeee me-”

There he went again, invoking the feeling that made you feel fuzzy, your smile a little sad as you wandered back to the people you most cared about, only being pulled back by his whine and face against your shoulder. 

“Come on, one kiss?”

Courage only relaxed when your hand came to gently run through his hair, massaging his head and making him sigh in relaxation. “Damn, you sure whine a lot, Link.”

“Hey!” He cried, head shooting right back up to glare. “I don’t whine-”

You held his face gently when you kissed him, not stronger than a peck but most certainly longer than one, the arms he had wrapped around your waist tightening as he indulged in the moment with excitement, pressing back a little harder when he realised what was happening and chasing after you when you pulled away, placing your hand over his mouth to stop him from reconnecting your lips.

“Later.” The reassurance made him perk up, his eyes shining in the light of the dungeon and you could feel how hard his heart beat in his chest, probably similar to your own. “We need to get out first.”

You had speedran dungeons but it would never compare to the haste Courage had made to escape and receive his prize.

[blue-jisungs]

hi could you maybe write a headcanon about the reader (s/o) being scared and starting to cry in an haunted house w bf!enha? rarely see any haunted house / amusement park themed headcanons so I’m looking forward to it >~<!

getting scared in a haunted house ♡

a/n. thank you for this request!! :D i’ve never been to a haunted house before so sorry if something is off lol!!

┆彡 HEESEUNG [ 희승 ]

okay, let me make one thing clear: the moment you entered the haunted house, his hand was interlocked with yours

he was a tiiiny bit scared but tired not to show it

and when you let out a scream and dug your hands onto his arm, clinging to him like a coala he asked you right on spot if you want to leave

now, hee is no fool. even if you kept reassuring im you're fine, he knows you too well.

but before he could drag you out, another actor scared you by appearing in front of you with a scream

as your grip on him tightened, hee finally dragged you out

and he giggled because you didn't even realise

so when you slowly opened your eyes, he just noticed how scared you were (since the lights inside were out)

he placed a milion of kisses on your face and didn't let go of your hand for the whole evening

┆彡 JAKE [ 제이�� ]

it was your idea to go inside because, well,,, you just wanted to scare jake a bit

how the turn tables

and jake was scared. but you two laughed it off, screaming together

you, on the other hand, the further you went the more uncomfortable you were getting

so when something brushed your arm and it wasn't jake, you let out a sob and sat down on the floor, refusing to go further

poor baby felt his heart break :(

he helped you stand up and covered your eyes, getting you ouf of there as fast as he could

and when you were out, he just comforted you by closing you in a bear hug, hands soothingly patting your back

he bought you snacks later!!

┆彡 JAY [ 제이 ]

you'd have to force him to go in since he knew from the very beginning how it would end and he was right

i'm sorry but he screams so loud, people waiting outside can probably hear him

but throughout the whole time he keeps his hand on your lower back

he's surprised how calm and steady you are but inside you're nearly crying

you made it through the whole thing but at the very end you broke down, very quietly

and jay noticed only when you left

his expression softens and he hugs you, whispering sweet nothings into youe ear

keeps his hand on the back of your head as he does brb melting on the ground

scolds you a bit after you calmed down >:(

and when you come back home, he forces you to sleep next to him... just in case you have a nightmare, duh!! but obviously he's just a big softie caring for you,, i love this man istg

┆彡 JUNGWON [ 정원 ]

he's a bit scared and so are you

but his leader instincts kick in THE SECOND you even begin to feel bad

honestly he focused on watching you and missed most of the jumpscares...

the moment your hand tightens around his, he's asking you if you want to leave

and when you don't answer and just nod with a muffled sob, jungwon feels his heart sinking :(

you two just glued to each other and speedran the whole thing

and after you're finally out, he wipes your tears and places soft kisses on your forehead

"we're not doing this again. never, ever" he mumbles and noticing how it made you smile, he feels relieved

┆彡 NIKI [ 니키 ]

we know this little rascal...

yes, it was his idea

yes, he scares you during it

yes, he also gets scared

but when you punched his arm a little bit tougher than usual right after he scared you, there's gears moving in his mind

right after that an actor scared you, you hit them too bc you thought it was niki... and he couldn't help but laugh

and you decided that two can play that game... so you search for the exit by yourself, leaving him behind

and you found it way before him

you calmed down and guilt started washing over you... you even wanted to go back and suddenly you heard the loudest niki ever

it turned out that he mistook you for one of the actors (and they played along)... and he walked with them until the end

you two laughed at each other after the incident

but niki apologised and took you to other, less scary attractions

┆彡 SUNGHOON [ 성훈 ]

plays it cool the whole time

even when he screams, he covers it with something like "oh, i got a fluff in my throat" and stuff...

but his hand is over your shoulder the whole time

and once when your hand flew to grab his, it stays like that

squeezes your hand when he feels you tense up

after one of the jumpscares you just broke down, sunghoon insisted you to jump on his back and just... piggyback you out of there

and he did

right away after you left this scary place, he sat you down on a bench and bought you water

while you slowly drank it, he placed his hand on your knee in a reassuring way whilst moving his thumb soothingly

┆彡 SUNOO [ 선우 ]

i feel like he wasn't scared - only the jumscares made him scream a bit but overall he was enjoying himself

kept his hand locked with yours all the time but felt anxious that he's not able to see your face because of the darkness :(

"sunoo... i don't feel too good" you mumbled suddenly and unfortunately before he could react, something popped out in front of you, causing you to scream and cling onto him

sunoo knew you were very close to the end so he grabbed your hand and stroked it gently with his thumb

"okay, let's run as fast as we can, okay? the exit is right behind the corner but there might be something. hold my hand and just run, okay?" he said and when he felt you nodding, he counted to three

he could swear it was the first (and last) time he witnessed you running so fast

the second you were out, he put his hoodie on you and hugged you tightly, helping you calm down

later on bought you water, snacks and even won a plushie on another attraction <3

[ masterlist <3 ]

taglist: @geniejunn ,, @luvhyun3 ,, @starlostseungmin ,, @elviransworld ,, @jnks6r

[megamindsupremacy]

Day 6: Freeze/Burn

Mom, you killed me and you didn't even notice Mom, you've spent the past few years trying to kill me. Well, you half succeeded Mom, I have something to tell you. I'm dead. Ish. Mom, you know that thought experiment about Schrödinger and his cat? In this scenario, I'm the cat.

Read on Ao3

Masterpost/Burn cross-stitch

Mom,

Danny stared at the paper in front of him for a long, long moment.

Mom, there’s something I need to tell you 

Mom, I have to tell you something

He didn’t have to do this. 

Mom, you know the accident I had as a freshman?

He really, really had to do this.

Dear Mom,

Why do people even start letters with “dear” anyways?

Mine dearest mother

Mother,

Hey mom, I have a fun little secret to share.

You know how there’s a portal to hell in our basement? Well, hell on earth doesn’t tend to positively affect those around it

Clockwork said that this decision to tell her would make or break the timeline. Danny wasn’t sure why Clockwork would tell him that. Danny didn’t know which decision would break the timeline. He was too scared to ask. 

Mom, I died when I was fourteen and you didn’t notice

Madeline Fenton, you are cordially invited to

hey lol remember that time the town got pulled into another dimension? totally unrelated to what im abt to say lolz

The pen ink was bright green. Most everything in his lair was. Frostbite said it would change and grow as Danny does. 

Mom , did you know that ghosts aren’t unchanging blobs of ectoplasm? Dont ask how I know

Jazz was worried. She’s always worried, though, so that’s not any different. 

Dad, I was going to tell mom this but you're less likely to kill me about it

Mom, remember how you keep saying you want to rip Phantom molecule to molecule?

Mom, when I died I

Mom, great news! I didnt actually die. Dont ask. 

The paper was starting to wear thin under all the writing and erasing Danny was doing.

And then I faced god and backflipped into hell. I think that's how the quote went. Well, I wasn’t backflipping, and I’ve fought more than one “god”. The hell part is accurate though.

He could feel the crown calling to him. He didn’t particularly want to answer the call. Pandora said if he doesn’t don the crown then it would wear him whether he liked it or not. 

Hello Mom,

 I hope this letter finds you well. I am writing to invite you to the coronation of

Danny looked up from the letter. Jupiter floated past him and crashed into Mercury. The Sun was in the corner and Pluto was missing. Again. 

As amazing as his lair’s solar system was, it was still bright green. An unfortunate quirk of being a (relatively) newly formed ghost.

Mom, I’m just going to rip the bandaid off. I’m a ghost. 

Mom, remember how you lost contact with your college friend because of a mysterious illness? Well, I speedran that illness. The illness is death, by the way. He’s not much of a friend. By the way.

This lair wouldn’t be his lair for much longer. The palace bends to the will of its king. Nobody needs their baby lair when they’re a king. He felt bad, abandoning it. 

Mom, I have a ectobiological discovery that’ll blow your mind. They call me a halfa. Half what? The important bit is I’m half alive. The other important bit is I’m half dead. 

Mom, fun fact. The ghost zone leadership operates by right of conquest. Remember what I was saying earlier about fighting gods?

Mom, fun fact. The ghost zone leadership operates by right of conquest. Another fun fact is that I've fought gods before, so really you don’t need to worry about this next bit

Hey, at least everything wouldn’t be neon green, then. 

Mom, God isn’t real. I think i’d’ve killed them by now. “Killed” in the loosest sense of the word. They probably would’ve killed me for real all the way, by now. 

The ceremony was a week from today. Today was the deadline to tell her. Clockwork didn’t look particularly surprised that Danny procrastinated until the last minute to start the letter. 

Mom, ghosts are way more intelligent than you give them

Mom, ghosts are way more intelligent than you give us credit for. They even have a governing system! Had. My bad. I’m working on fixing it. How? 

Mom, I failed my 10th grade Gov exam on the American Executive system. Sorry for not telling you before. You didn’t notice at the time. I’m telling you now because

Make or break the timeline, Danny. 

Mom, 

I’m writing this letter because I’ve been hiding something from you. I don’t know if you noticed. There's a lot of things you haven’t noticed. Remember the accident I had in the lab when I was fourteen? When I was hospitalized for a month? You and dad were so excited the portal finally turned on that you didn’t question how it happened. Or how I was doing. That’s fine, I didn’t really care, because Jazz was there for me. 

    I died, Mom. I died and I didn’t really die and I half-died. They call me a halfa. The other ghosts, that is. Half-dead, half-alive. I’m Phantom, mom. I fight the other ghosts to keep the town safe. They’re mostly cool now, though. Fighting each other for all eternity with no true winners or losers isn’t really appealing to them. Most of them. This isn’t the point.

    There’s one ghost I fought where winning or losing did matter. It mattered a lot, actually. His name was Phariah Dark, and he was the king of the Infinite Realms. Was, because I beat him. And now I’m the king of the Infinite Realms. I promise I didn’t do it on purpose. Become king, I mean. I did beat him on purpose. This also isn’t the point.

    My coronation is on Halloween. The ghosts think it's funny. And auspicious. And convenient. This is kind of short notice, but Clockwork didn’t really give me a ton of time to prepare to tell you. 

    I know we haven’t, you know, talked a lot recently. We’re not talking now. You’re in the lab back at home, and I’m in the Zone, writing a letter to you instead of talking to you face-to-face. But I still want to ask you to come. To the coronation. To my coronation. I’m being officially crowned the King of the Infinite Realms on Halloween, and I, Daniel Fenton, am inviting you, Madeline Fenton, to my coronation. There we go. I said it. 

I love,

Please dont kill,

Cordially,

Thanks,

Sincerely,

Danny Fenton

Make or break the timeline, Danny. 

Danny summoned the Crown of Fire into being. He held it in one hand, carefully, cautiously.

In the other hand he picked up the letter. 

It burned in a blaze of red-orange-yellow.

[bigskydreaming]

But seriously....ugh, Legion of X. Its so annoying because I genuinely like a lot of the Arakkii worldbuilding, the new characters, I’m intrigued by Mother Righteous and the implications of Tumult’s very existence, I LOVE the concept of the Altar and how weird and esoteric all of that is, and FINALLY a writer is moving David Haller’s character FORWARD and actually BUILDING something with his character and its like. Yes, THANK you.

But then we switch tracks to the law enforcement/justice system aspect of the series. 

And its like. Hahahaha. Getting slapped right in the face with the complete opposite of ‘hey this series might be good, actually.’

Like I’m sorry but I’m still mad how are you going to launch your new series about exploring all new approaches to law enforcement and the very concepts of justice and who its for and who it benefits and whether you want to be punitive or rehabilitative, designate some people as being unable/unwilling to fit into society or change society to accommodate outliers.....

And then have your self-appointed law enforcement/authority figures SECRETLY KILL OFF the villain of your VERY FIRST ARC, while going behind the back of their boss to do so on the basis of THEY KNOW HE WOULDN’T APPROVE AND WOULD ARGUE IT GOES AGAINST EVERYTHING THEY CLAIM TO BELIEVE IN....

All on the basis of THEM arguing....oh, it was just a necessary evil. Expedient. We didn’t know what else to do with the guy. Plus it let us smooth over a political tangle we had with the Arakkii. Everyone wins except the one guy who was just killed off without a trial, without public accountability, without a perusal of actual OPTIONS.....all for the sake of political power moves with ZERO regard for the actual VICTIMS of the guy’s actual CRIMES, who despite (the writer) making a POINT to show how SCARED these victims were of their victimizer coming back and doing this again.....will never actually even KNOW that they no longer have anything to fear because their tormentor is no longer even alive....because nobody but this small group of individuals actually know that. Because it was a secret that Switch was killed, for some mumble mumble societal greater good.

Like.

LITERALLY WTF I AM STILL SO MAD what are you even DOING trying to pretend like you’ve done ANYTHING new here whatsoever and this isn’t like, literally emblematic of everything that’s ever been wrong with every existing justice system since ever, looooool. 

I’d honestly be okay with it if the entire point was to emphasize the hypocrisy and be like ‘meet the new system/boss, same as the old one’ - don’t get me wrong, I still would have considered it a waste, like if you’re going to radically upheave the status quo with superhero comics and actually create room for explorations of entirely brand new societies and institutions on the kind of grand level we see in the X-books, I’m always gonna rather you actually DO some honest, engaging attempt at exploring something new there rather than just default to some cynical ‘oh people all suck there’s no improvement to actually be made here’ Take O’Awesomeness.

But like, if at least the arc had shown even a HINT of actual awareness that its resolution - which issue #5 speedran through as quickly as possible, as if expediency was the point of an arc that nominally began as ‘expediency should NEVER be the point of justice/law/accountability/reparations’ - like if there’d even been a HINT that the issue got that like....hmm. The Takeaway of this arc does not actually match up all that well with the Thesis with which this arc first embarked....

I coulda at least been like, well at least they see what they’re doing here.

But there was nothing like that. There’s absolutely nothing in the issues themselves that support the idea that Spurrier has even the SLIGHTEST awareness of how thoroughly his resolution shot his own premise in the foot, and its like.....seriously? Did you even read what you wrote? Gaaaaah.

[dysfunctionalcrab]

MCYT’s helping you through Ramadan

included: dream, george, sapnap, karl, quackity wilbur, nihachu, tommy, tubbo.

requested by anon: hi :) ive been sent here by @ttakinou and since your requests are open I wanted to request mcyts helping you through Ramadan and fasting? I'm sorry if I'm assuming your muslim its just a cute concept ^.^ dw if you cant!

pronouns: gender neutral

note: for my beautiful muslim readers. i hope the month is going well for you so far!

YES IK I DID THIS FAST i speedran this because i knew by the time i finished this the month would be over lmao

quick terms for anyone’s who’s interested:

iftar: the meal you break your fast with at sunset

suhoori: the morning meal before sunrise before fasting the whole day

eid: the celebration after ramadan

dream

- probably the most informed out of them all. he loves you and at first wants to understand it more. he asks you why you fast and just comes to you with questions about it. also he can be more considerate for his fans

- he just wants to make it easy for you.

- he loves taking you out for iftar, spoiling you with a fancy meal each time despite you telling him he doesn’t need to.

“so, chinese or indian today?”

“there’s leftovers in the fridge, i can just eat that, don’t worry,”

“absolutely not,”

- he still does his normal daily things, streaming editing, coding etc, after all, fasting doesn’t prevent you from doing normal day activities, but he’s always making sure he’s not screaming or making too much noise in-case you’ve got a headache or something.

- when you wake up for suhoori, he wakes up with you too, just making sure you’re eating enough so you don’t get dizzy or nauseous in during the day

“please eat something filling, i don’t want you to faint or something in the middle of the day.” he begs you

“i’m not going to faint,” you reassure him

“yeah, but you still could,”

he loves to spoil you on the day of eid, buying you gifts and different presents, especially after all your patience and determination.

george

- he’s heard of it, but isn’t really that educated on it. (i mean he literally said ‘i don’t think you’re allowed to work’ so i’m just assuming). you explain it all to him and he kind of gets the concept.

“can i talk about food in front of you?”

“wait don’t look, there’s a picture of a strawberry on the screen,”

- he doesn’t act differently at all, he just has to tell himself to be patient with you if you’re in a bad mood or whatever

- he tries to wake up at suhoori with you. but we all know this idiot absolutely adores his sleep, but in the morning he feels a little guilty, even though he knows you can handle it.

- he advises you to just sleep the entire day and wake up 5 minutes before iftar. i mean, it’s a reasonable idea, but you don’t want to delay all your work for a month and just sleep

“george, i’m not going to sleep the entire day,”

“why not?”

- he’s tried to be cute and maybe make you a meal, but he sucks at cooking so we all know that’s going to go awfully.

- so george just sticks to supporting you by letting so you do whatever you please. he’s more likely to help you out and drop his activities for you. but overall he would be a sweetie

sapnap

- he kind of understands it. but still has a couple of questions

- “so like, can you chew gum?”

- just like dream, he wants to make it it as easy for you as possible, but sometimes he forgets.

- “what should i order?” he asks you, phone in his hand. it was like 1pm

- you just stare at him. “uh- for iftar?

- his eyes widen slightly. “oh crap! you’re fasting! i’m so sorry i literally forgot,”

- he’s like a mixture between dream and george i guess. as much as he wants to go out and spoil you, he wonders if it’s just easier to sleep and cuddle until it’s time for you to eat

- he doesn’t like to eat or drink in front of you, he feels like he should hide it. if he’s like drinking soda or something he contemplates whether he should just put it away until you leave. but you constantly remind him that it’s fine.

karl

- literally the biggest sweetheart there is. you tell him there’s a few days until Ramadan and he’s there researching it all to make it as easy for you as possible.

- karl tries his hardest to fast with you. but mostly likely he gives up after lunch because he gets too hungry. he resorts to just fasting half a day each time so he can (kind of) feel what you’re going through.

- he definitely wakes up at suhoori with you, he can’t sleep when you’re not next to him anyways.

- “don’t eat foods with garlic. they can make you really thirsty, and google says to eat fruits with lots of water too, like cucumber or watermelon.”

- you absolutely adore his effort.

- sometimes he wakes up earlier than you just to make you a small meal.

- he gets very into it though, to the point where he’s kind of lost the whole idea. he acts as if you’re made of glass or something. good intentions though.

- “no, don’t pick that up, it’s heavy. i’ll do it, you’re fasting,”

- “love, i’m not pregnant, and i’m literally already holding it in my hand,”

- “well then give it to me,”

- he does the same thing at suhoori and iftar, trying to prepare you something so you don’t need to stress about what you’re going to eat.

- 10/10 biggest support system during this month

quackity

- mf doesn’t change much, he believes that you’re more than capable. which he isn’t wrong.

- he literally forgets that you’re fasting sometimes. he’ll get your favourite snack from the shop and while you’re doing work he’ll throw it at you. you just place it to the side and he gets all pissy.

- “i got your favourite!” he launches it you

-you give him an appreciative smile an put it to one side. you say “thank you :),” but he whines

- “wow, you’re not even gonna eat it?”

- “i can’t?”

- takes him a second. “oH sORRY i fORGOT’

- probably teasingly brags about how tasty food is in front of you and then goes ‘oh, wait, you can’t eat, hahaha,’

- when you show no signs of enjoying his joke he instantly feels guilty. ‘wait no, i’m sorry,’

- but if someone else apart from him makes those kind of jokes, he gets all worked up.

- ‘don’t be disrespectful man, they’re fasting.”

- but he would sit at the dinner table with you at iftar every single times. he’d be reminding you every 10 seconds ‘it’s 5 minutes to iftar!’ and wouldn’t start eating until you did. he probably would offer to clean all the dishes (to try atleast be somewhat helpful)

wilbur

- literally another giant sweetheart. constantly checking on you throughout the day, making sure you’re not feeling dizzy or sick

- he definitely wakes up at suhoori just to prepare you a meal and then the same thing at iftar. he loves to make you food and just try and make it easier upon you

- also loves to go out to restaurants with you

- the type to let you off things very easily because he feels bad.

“can you grab my keys? i think i left them upstairs,”

“can’t, i’m fasting,’

“oh yeah, never mind i’ll go get them’

“wait no it was a jOKE!”

he researches the whole month beforehand, just like karl. what can and can’t break your fast, best things to eat, how to pass the time..etc. you know, all that kind of stuff.

again, just another giant support system <3

nihachu

- would also try to fast with you. she’s trying her best to stay away and she’d probably be the best at doing that with you.

some days it’s easy and some days she’s just like ‘nope’

- constantly just checks up on you.

“how are you feeling?”

“are you feeling lightheaded?”

“do you want me open a window?”

-loves to just have indoor days with you the entire month, you break your fast on your bed with her beside you.

- again, doesn’t like eating in front you. so when you’re distracted she just goes and gets a snack for herself.

- on the day of eid she decorates the entire house, with banners, bunting and balloons. inviting a few of your friends over after you’ve spent the day with your family.

tommy

- kind of understands the gist of it, he doesn’t really know how he can help you.

- the most he does is try not to curse around you, which you highly appreciate.

- honestly he just doesn’t pay much attention to it, he goes on about his day but knowing that you aren’t going to be eating until sunset.

- buys you small snacks and just says ‘eat it at iftar- or whatever it’s called,”

tubbo

- he’d also be the biggest cutie i mean did you see what he did IN THE MIDDLE of his stream so he could educate himself on Ramadan (my heart-)

- super sympathetic, he gets a little worried during the day at the smallest things if you say something like ‘god- i’m feeling a little thirsty’

- tries to distract you with video games or something to get your mind off food

- you invite him over for iftar so he can get an idea of the evening meal because he’s kind of curious

- you also invite him over for eid. he really just wants to understand it all and become self aware of these things

‘so eid is like- muslim christmas right?’

‘well- yes but no,”

———

masterlist

[sir-adamus]

I’m constantly thinking about how my interest in Dragon Prince just died.

I liked season 1 fine, some pacing issues but every show has growing pains. Plus with nine episodes you gotta move a little quick in places.

Season 2, again, was fine. Some good moments. But my problems start getting obvious. Bad Dad is… not that well written. It feels like they’re trying to make him sympathetic while he’s treating his kids like shit and being a power hungry douche, and “no, the dragons were the real bad guys.” And… no? The writing for him is so muddled. And then my other biggest issue is the romance that came out of frickin nowhere. Like suddenly after a week Rayla ready to tell Callum she loves him like… what? And yeah they’re kids but still.

And then… season three. Oh season three. Undoubtedly the best part is what they do with Soren. I love this himbo. He’s the one thing I think is paced really well. Well, him and Claudia. But that’s about where it ends. I’m still so baffled why Aunt Amaya saved the Fire Elf when she’s been shown to have that same extreme prejudice. And while cute, their relationship is even more speedran than our main one which is impressive. Speaking of, I just can’t with Callum and Rayla. I can’t. And a lot of it comes down to the awful pacing. Again, limited episodes but I’ve seen other shows do a whole lot with just nine episodes. *cough* Arcane *cough*

And that’s not even getting into all the behind the scenes horror that just killed any enthusiasm I had left for the show. I know the people who worked on it didn’t want us to stop watching, they just wanted the world to know, but… I was already just barely hanging onto the show by a thread.

yeah honestly it's the pacing that killed it for me too (as well as, like you said, the behind the scenes stuff being extremely fucking horrible). the first two seasons go at a fairly even pace and then suddenly in the final episode throws in Rayla making an attempted love confession out of nowhere which then proceeds to dominate the entirety of the third season despite that the show's timeline means these two have only known each other for less than a month

it's the complete lack of buildup before acting like it was there all along - Arcane didn't have that issue despite the romantic aspects only being present for just over half the season's run-time because a) Vi and Cait's attraction to each other is made clear from the start and b) while they become close during the few days that back half of the show takes place over, they aren't making love confessions and kissing each other yet. mutual attraction and emotional connection has been established from the get-go and things build in a romantic direction from there. unlike with Ray/llum where it comes out of nowhere at the back-end of the second season after these teenagers have known each other for a month and then they're just in a serious relationship

like what

by comparison it doesn't feel half as rushed (though still rushed and definitely trying to play it with plausible deniability) with Amaya and Janai despite them having hardly any screentime because they didn't get that far, we just get established mutual attraction (if you can understand sign language because they didn't subtitle or have someone translate Amaya telling the boys that Janai thinks she's cute but won't admit it yet - can't think why!)

honestly the problem with the whole show is Ehasz trying to coast off his AtLA cred (which considering he wasn't invited back for Korra feels very much like how shit like Epic Movie were advertised as 'from the writers of Scary Movie' and it's the two writers who weren't invited back for any of the sequels) and so it's doing everything AtLA did but in a far more compressed timeframe and that really hurts the pacing

they spend two seasons building up the brewing war only to have it happen and resolve it in less than five episodes. i already did my rant about Ray/llum. Callum has basically no narrative struggle in season 3 because he's the magic Avatar and any magic he sees he can do (even super special magic that even most natural born magic users can't do), and the one conflict he has with Rayla, where she's intent to sacrifice herself to redeem her family for seemingly abandoning the Dragon Queen, he resolves by breaking a magic pendant she had given him to remember her (which itself was a gift to her so she could remember her adoptive dads, and was a symbol of their relationship) so he could use it as fuel for a spell (that, once again, he had only seen once, no magic struggle, boring as all fuck) behind her back, without consulting her, so he can win the argument and tell her she's wrong

all the interesting characters get sidelined in favour of turning Callum into a boring, overpowered time sink that Rayla suddenly perpetually revolves around. Soren is the one shining light in the season with him breaking out of the golden child/scapegoat conflict his shithole father has him and Claudia trapped in, while Claudia is just being fasttracked into being Azula but again (and i have a sneaking suspicion that there's no way she's going to be handled with any genuine nuance or care once that jump happens - Claudia was a great character in the first two seasons with a unique perspective on things and deserves way better from a writing standpoint. and a better writer who doesn't lie to fans in DMs about her romantic prospects just to encourage more engagement with the show because i know the person he did that too and holy fuck what a manipulative scumsuck he is)

it's frustrating because there was interesting stuff going on, cool ideas, fun characters - and it just got completely fucked over by Ehasz being a tool and a hack writer rushing half the story, rushed romances and whatever else into the third season because that was all the animators were contracted for (while also being a terrible shithead behind the scenes and lying to fans, about a number of things but in this specific case, trying to drum up engagement for the show so they could get a second and third season despite that those were already in the works) because he desperately wants this to be his Avatar but again and Better