#the visuals are also quite nice but the SOUNDS.........

[fairsweetlonging]

time travel au where liu qingge and shen qingqiu (yuan) end up accidentally traveling a decade back in time before luo binghe was amitted to qing jing peak and before shen qingqiu had his qi deviation, but after their generation has risen to peak lords.

which means, shen yuan realizes quickly, as they're accosted by said peak lords, that he will have to face shen jiu.

as they're being cleared for demonic energy and the likes, mu qingfang of course instantly detects the poison without a cure eating away at shen yuan's meridians. liu qingge pulls a copy of the treatment plan out of his sleeve (shen yuan blushes a bit, did liu qingge always keep that on hand?), and just like in the current timeline, they agree to keep it under wraps.

shen jiu tries various times to get a moment alone with shen yuan, but he never quite manages because liu qingge is there, who is also... nice?? to him?? for some reason?? shen jiu gets a bit flustered at the solemn politeness and skitters off.

it comes out pretty quickly that shen yuan has "memory loss", and thus can't remember anything that's currently taking place in this time. shen yuan expects scorn, hatred and disdain from shen jiu, expects to be grabbed and interrogated, to arouse suspicion.

but shen jiu looks....... sad???

being transported here threw shen yuan's qi off-balance (even liu qingge had to sit down, which means it's bad), and his cultivation is already so unstable, so when the peak lords are all squabbling and arguing and threatening and raising their voice, he can feel his body shut down. he sees yue qingyuan start to move towards him, which, knowing the future yue qingyuan, he really isn't up for right now—but before the sect leader can get to him someone else is at his back, transferring him qi, holding him up gently by his shoulders, then coaxing him up, leading him outside

shen yuan's been fed qi by every peak lord at least once. he doesn't recognize this one. that means it can only be one person.

he looks up. it's shen jiu.

and it's bizarre, getting fussed over by the scum villain, having gentle hands run along his back, his hair, that clear, soothing voice calming him down. and somehow shen jiu knows exactly what to do?? somehow it works perfectly on him?? it's almost as if shen jiu has known him his whole—

oh.

bodies, like homes, hold memories, even if the original occupants are no longer there. it's the milestone marks on the doorpost that chart a child's growth, blurry photographs faded by time, scuffed floors from well-walked paths, and tiny holes in the walls where pictures once hung.

shen jiu takes him to the bamboo house, pours him tea, and asks, calmly, what he remembers from their childhood.

it's not his childhood, so shen yuan doesn't actually remember anything, but the body he's in does. the memories it holds are emotional rather than visual; he remembers being alone, scared, and hungry. he remembers anger, pain. a dark room. loud voices. he remembers his heart skipping a beat when heavy boots stomp his way. the sound of a whip.

he doesn't have to lie. the memories aren't his own, and they're from long ago, which means shen jiu has them too. and, he supposes, this is his only chance to find out what really happened.

but shen jiu doesn't say anything about it. he just nods and stares, intensely. then he asks shen yuan if he remembers yue qingyuan. shen yuan says no, he doesn't. the conversation takes a very strange turn after that. shen yuan can't help but feel a little queasy when shen jiu asks him if yue qingyuan has taken advantage of his memory loss.

"has he come into your home? has he brought you gifts, sweets? does he invite you for tea? did you accept?"

he has. shen yuan doesn't know why that would be a problem, the sect leader has been nothing but kind and helpful and patient. and generous, too.

when he says yes shen jiu looks furious.

liu qingge (his one) comes to pick him up, and his time with shen jiu is cut short. somewhere he's glad, cuddling into liu qingge's back as he holds him while they fly. he feels a little bad for yue qingyuan, knowing he's probably caused a big fight, but it doesn't sit right with him. he wishes he knew what happened.

.

liu qingge, meanwhile, is having the time of his life fighting himself. it's good practice!

[crooked-hourglass]

Recap of my mangled thoughts after my first Ritual in Manchester!

Spoilers under the read more

Forgive me for spelling mistakes - its late and emotions are high! We were so close to the stage. We were in the first block and in the second row and we were level with the stage so we could see them so well. We were practically next to Swiss, and Cirrus was behind him on the keyboards. There was a raised track all the way around the stage and Phantom interacted with us so much and his little dances were adorable. Rain, Dew and Papa also came to interact with us so many times. Dew tried to throw a pick over the gap but it didnt quite make it. Most of the Ghouls were wearing platform Doc Martens and Phantom and Rain looked particularly good in them. Rain, Swiss, and rhe Ghoulettes were wearing habits, and at one point Rain headbanged too hard and the habit flipped over his face 🙃.

The setlist was immaculate, and the staging was so impressive. They started with the usual big black curtain that dropped to show the stage in the usual Ghost setup but with the additional raised section around the sides and back. Everytime Dew came to our side he'd take the lonf way back all the way round the back of the stage. And I got to witness a Dew Cirrus fist bump as he was doing his rounds around the stage. And phantom and Dew played together at the back but i couldnt tell if you could see that from the front. I couldnt see Aurora or the new Ghoulette, but the verdict is in, Cirrus is still hot. And Aurora had the wings from the music video! Also I can't believe I finally saw a mummy dust keytar solo live! There was another curtain covering the back wall of the stage, that dropped after a few songs to reveal the usual windows, but the projections on to them were amazing! Especially when they shattered to reveal a night sky that change to a sunrise when they played 'He Is'. Those windows then fell to reveal an entire wall of screens that had amazing visual effects. And let me say it was so refreshing to not see AI generated effects on screen at a concert. There was pyro, fireworks, the lighting was gorgeous and of course there is new Mummy Dust! Which I'm hoping to get on Sunday 🤞

There was a moment where it was just Phantom on the stage, interacting with the crowd and encouraging cheers etc, and it was so nice to watch him have his moment, and Dew had a bit of a moment too. Plus the top hat looked so good on Phantom - and on Dew! Oh! And the gave Swiss a cowbell! Cowbell ghoul lives on! What I will say about the costumes is that they were VERY tight and I think it was a bit of an issue with the boys if you catch my drift.

Now onto Papa V - he was the perfect balance of sweet and playful, and a bit darker than Copia. His outfits were incredible. For 'Majesty' he was on a pedestal behind Mountain and was wearing these long ornate robes with a huge collar. The pedestal rose up, alonf with the giant grucifix that was made of lights that hung above the stage. His robes for 'Ritual' I loved! They were black with a chrome spine and hip bones and what looked like a tail that went to the end of his robes. The back of the ghouls sleevless tail coats also had fabric that was rouched to look like ribs. The new costumes were all fantastic. And Papa still had his sparkly jackets still! A silver one during the main set and a purple/pink one during the encore. He also had a black jacket that had glitter diamonte detailed like spider webs across. The amount of sparkle on this tour is exquisite. Papa sounded so clear and so so good, and the ghoulette and Swiss backing vocals were incredible. The new songs sound great and I'm so excited for the new album.

On the no phones thing, I only slightly freaked out because I couldn't find one of the people I went with at one point. But overall, I loved the energy of an arena filled with people interacting and focused on the show. I just wish there was more communication beforehand to how the tickets worked and if you needed to print them. But now you can see half of Papa's face, you can tell he was so happy with the show.

Overall, I couldn't have asked for a better first ritual with better seats. Because standing at shows takes it out of me for days after so to get such a view and get so close and still be able to walk after is amazing.

[mmirx]

AFTERTHOUGHT ⋆⑅˚₊

Who were you if not unremarkable? You had finally come into terms that you are someone who was meant to stay in everyone’s shadow, but not until you met Caleb, or so you thought.

cw/tags: university au, non-mc reader, frat guy caleb (but not really important), angst, jealousy, self-loathing (please just lmk if i missed more cw, i just cant identify more as of now)

note: this will have several parts but im not sure how many lololol i hope you guys will like this! this is going to be based on my experience with a guy i recently met. also, i didnt add any visuals as i was too lazy to find one so sorryyy

word count: 824

“Here's one,” the guy who had been occupying your bed for hours suddenly blurted out, “it's a fifteen minute walk away from the university.”

He showed you a listing of the apartment he found. It has a bed that's probably smaller than what you wanted, and it looks like it has witnessed history more than you ever had. It's nowhere near a liveable state.

“Caleb," you sighed as you tried to  find your way into his eyes, “you serious?"

You shouldn't have asked—he looked dedicated, but come on, you were broke but you deserved to live in a somehow decent apartment. Saving a few bucks in rent but having to pay more for medical bills isn't something you'd want to do.

His smile immediately turned into an awkward one, almost a comical one. You would have probably laughed if you weren't currently swamped with deadlines and on the edge of being kicked out by your landlord. It was nice of him to help you find a new apartment, really, but at the same time you’d wish that he'd be more careful on what to recommend. He had found out a week ago that you haven't paid your rent since you ‘accidentally’ created a feud with your landlord and enthusiastically offered to help.

“I told you, you can crash on my place for a while," he tried to say as he munched on the chips that you gave him—it was the least you could offer. You had declined him a few days ago when he offered you to stay in his fully furnished apartment, and of course, you badly wanted to but you needed to save your dignity. 

In all honesty, you didn't want him to find out—you wanted to keep this from everyone as you were trying to avoid their pity. Pride is a funny thing because one could be in the deepest pit of hell and lose everything but your pride will hold on as if it has embedded itself onto you. Even MC, his and your best friend, didn't know about this because you had begged him to not tell her.

“Speaking of MC, is she doing an interview for the student paper, again?" you asked, not looking away from your laptop filled with whatnots of old and greedy colonizers from the past. Made you wonder why you chose history as your major.

“MC? Yes, you know she could be quite a celebrity," he responded enthusiastically as if he'd been waiting for someone to bring her up. “Last time we went to a cafe, she literally had to greet almost everyone we saw.”

You raised your eyebrow to show that you were intrigued as to why. It's always like this, you ask one question about her childhood friend and he'd talk more than what you wanted. You sounded bitter, but who could blame you?

Every time someone mentioned you, you were referred to as their ‘third-wheel’ which you find quite insulting. Sure, you're not the type to steal the spotlight, but you were your own person—you had your ups, too, or at least you thought. Unfortunately, you're surrounded by the exceptionals and compared to them, you're plain as a tofu.

It wasn't like you wanted to be popular too but someone appreciating you without bringing them up would be nice. For God's sake, you literally presented in an international paper conference—that’s something! Though, only two people congratulated you because the same day you received the news, MC’s latest film was released. The film was nice, produced by film majors who were known by the whole student body because of their quality production, however, you wished your win was celebrated too—

Caleb’s phone rang. You knew that ringtone—it’s customized solely for his ‘pipsqueak’. You signed him to take it outside since you were busy finishing a presentation for one of your courses. 

Your eyes landed on his laptop; he left it opened, so you could help to take a look. Oh, and you wish, you hadn't. His desktop wallpaper is a picture from his childhood and MC’s.

Self-loathing isn't something that one should make a hobby of theirs, but you can't help it. You hated how you unconsciously felt small compared to MC. What's wrong with you? 

She had always been nice and kind, for Christ’s sake, she nursed you every time you were sick. But it dawned you, why can't he see you the way he sees her?

Maybe, you should stop fooling around and move on, but do you have the strength? You pondered within yourself and you almost missed the fact that Caleb has come back from his phone call.

“I'll be going. MC needed help for dinner." 

“Oh, right," you tried to sound as neutral as you could. Dinner? That's what he's leaving you for? But who are you to demand, you're literally a charity case in this scenario.

“Say hi for me to her. Thanks for today, Caleb.”

PART 2

[yungistiny]

GAMEBOY ═ chapter six

[ J. Yunho ]

chapter six: does he know?

╚═════════

summary: yunho has no idea that his neighbor across the hall, the same one he’s had a crush on, was his arch nemesis behind a headset

warning: dom yunho, bratty/sub reader, slight orgothumophilia, masturbation, unprotected sex, spanking, choking, degradation, overstimulation, oral, sexting, more will be added

pairing: gamer yunho x gamer afab reader

genre: smut, romance, angst, drama

word count: 3k

chapter five

chapter seven

masterlist

═════════ ═════════ ═════════

Yunho stood frozen, the apartment door clicking shut behind Wooyoung and Y/N as they disappeared across the hall. The only sounds left in the room were his own shallow breaths and the unbearable silence radiating from the couch where his parents were seated. Fuck.

His mother gave him a once over, arms folded neatly in front of her, her expression unreadable but her raised brow said plenty. “Well,” she said, adjusting the strap of her purse. “That was quite the welcome.”

Yunho cleared his throat, cheeks still flushed. “I didn’t know you were coming.” His dad leaned back casually, legs crossed, looking entirely too relaxed for the situation. “That was obvious.”

“I… we weren’t expecting anyone,” Yunho mumbled, brushing a hand through his hair in a futile attempt to appear more put together. His shirt was rumpled, his belt askew, and he was pretty sure Y/N’s lip balm was still smeared across his lips, taste of cherry.

“We knocked,” his mom replied coolly. “Several times. Wooyoung let us in, said you were out and we could make ourselves at home. So we did. And then we got a front row seat to that.”

Yunho turned toward the wall, smacking his forehead lightly against it. “Oh my god.” His dad chuckled under his breath. “Well, at least now we know why you mysteriously lost signal earlier this morning when we tried to tell you we were coming by.”

“Dad,” Yunho hissed, mortified.

His mother stood slowly, brushing imaginary lint from her skirt. “That was your neighbor, wasn’t it? Y/N?” Yunho nodded, not trusting himself to speak.

“She’s cute,” his mom said. “Smart, too. That the same girl who helped carry in groceries when we visited last month?”

“Yeah,” Yunho said weakly.

“She’s got a nice energy about her,” his dad added, standing up as well. “Though we could’ve done without the… visual confirmation of how close you two have gotten.”

Yunho whirled around. “Can we not talk about this right now?”

“Alright, alright.” His dad threw his hands up in surrender. “But, hey, your mom was just saying how we were beginning to worry you’d never date again after the last one. And here you are, practically in the middle of a live demonstration.”

Yunho groaned. “I’m going to die. This is it. Death by parental embarrassment.” His mom smirked. “If it makes you feel better, we didn’t see anything explicit.”

“That doesn’t help!” Yunho exclaimed. Fuck his life. There was a long, awkward beat before his mom’s expression softened, her voice quieter. “She makes you happy?”

Yunho blinked, the question catching him off guard. “Yeah,” he admitted. “She does.” His mom nodded. “Then we’ll try to forget what we walked in on. For both our sakes.”

Yunho let out a shaky breath of relief. “Thanks.” His dad was already halfway to the door. “Come on, sweetheart. Let’s go. We’ve done enough damage.”

His mom paused at the threshold, turning back to her son with a meaningful look. “I brought you some homemade meals, you Wooyoung are going to give yourselves high cholesterol eating out all the time. Also, next time, just give us a heads up. Or at the very least, lock the door.”

The door clicked shut behind them, and Yunho stood there in the quiet for a long moment.

Then he muttered, “I’m never recovering from this.”

═════════ ═════════ ═════════

Yunho adjusted his headset and leaned back in his gaming chair, eyes flicking to the chat flooding in. Viewers already spiraling from the countdown screen, they would be playing a newer game tonight, most of the comments asking if Juniper would be joining?

It had been over a week since her last stream with him, since that night, and his chat had noticed. But tonight, she’d finally said yes. And Yunho? Yunho was ready to play.

The screen shifted as he switched over to gameplay, camera overlay catching the way he subtly rolled his shoulders and grinned “Alright,” he drawled smoothly into his headset. “We’re doing duos tonight. And someone is finally back after ghosting us.”

The second voice came through his headset with a teasing lilt. “You make it sound like I abandoned you.”Yunho’s pulse picked up at the sound. Even distorted slightly through the mic filter, he could hear her in it. That familiar sweetness, the sharp little bite of flirtation under every word. Y/N. Juniper. The same.

“You did abandon me,” he said, voice dripping mock offense. “I was left to carry our whole team while you were off… what? Working on your little solo streams? Too famous for me now?” He teased.

Juniper laughed, and god, it sounded like music in his ears. “Don’t be so dramatic. I’m here now, aren’t I?” She teased him right back.

“You are.” Yunho smirked, keeping his tone casual even though his thoughts were anything but. “And it’s a good thing too, because I’ve been itching to destroy you.” In more ways than one.

“Oh? Confident today, are we?”

Yunho leaned into the mic, voice low and smooth. “You bring it out in me.” He saw the way she froze on her end, watching her, what bit of her she allowed to be seen, on her stream, a blip of silence on her end, just for a second. Just long enough to let him know he hit the mark.

Juniper coughed, clearly trying to shake it off. “You always talk this much when you’re about to get your ass beat?”

Yunho laughed, letting his fingers fly over his keyboard. “Nah. Just when I’m excited.” Another pause. Another twitch of silence. He wondered if her cheeks were as red as they were at the restaurant earlier when he messaged her mid lunch?

They dropped into the game. Their dynamic was just like before, banter sharp, sniping clean, chemistry blinding. Yunho watched her player dodge an ambush and back him up with practiced ease.

“You still got it,” he said.

“Did you doubt me?” she replied, smug.

He smirked at the screen, dropping a med kit near her. “Never.”

A beat passed before her voice came back through, quieter this time. “Missed this.” She didn’t mean to say that out loud, because it wasn’t Juniper that missed streaming with Yunho, it was all y/n.

Yunho didn’t hesitate to answer her back though. “Me too.”

The tension shifted slightly, less teasing, more charged. The kind that made even the chat slow down, sensing something real threading beneath the surface.

Yunho knew it now. Knew exactly who she was. And she had no idea. But he wasn’t going to tell her yet. No, he was going to push. See how far she’d let this go without realizing just how close he already was.

Because Juniper wasn’t just some flirty voice behind a screen. She was Y/N. His friend. His neighbor. The girl he’s, like Wooyoung said, pathetically in love with.

And he’d already had her trembling in his hands.

San’s voice cracked through the stream as himself and Jongho joined. “Took you guys long enough to get the party going.”

“Glad you could join us, finally,” Juniper quipped sarcastically.

“I was busy baking,” San replied, smug. Wooyoung’s strawberry cheesecake was moan worthy. “Domestic king hours.”

Jongho’s voice chimed in next. “And I was busy soloing squads because no one waited for me. Again.”

“You make that sound like a complaint,” Yunho said, leaning back in his chair with a smirk.

“It is a complaint.”

Juniper snorted. “Aww. Poor baby.” She teased.

Jongho groaned. “I already regret logging on.”

“Hey,” Yunho cut in smoothly, tone casual, maybe a little too casual. “Juniper, ever get recognized in public?”

There was a pause. Yunho smirked.

San instantly stopped looting. “What?.”

“What?” Yunho repeated innocently, his grin audible.

“Uh…” Juniper hesitated, covering the split second panic with a laugh. “Not really. Why? Planning to stalk me?”

Yunho hummed thoughtfully, cocking his head as if he were deep in thought. “You’ve just got a… really familiar voice lately I’ve noticed.”

Another pause. San audibly inhaled.

Jongho completely oblivious. “She does, right? I said that the first time she streamed with us! She sounds kinda like…. what’s her name… that girl from the party stream?”

Juniper recovered quickly. “Don’t tell me I sound like every other streamer girl you simp for.”

Yunho smirked, voice low, teasing. “No. You don’t sound like anyone else.”

San coughed loudly. “Okay, alright, we’re doing this now?” Did Yunho know?

“Doing what?” Yunho asked, all wide eyed sarcasm and false innocence.

“Whatever… this weird… flirting thing is.” San deadpanned, though he was secretly sweating. Yunho knew. He had to. But San didn’t dare speak up, y/n would kill him if he blew it.

Jongho chuckled. “Wait, is this why the chat keeps saying ‘just kiss already’? I thought that was about San and Woo.”

“Excuse me?” San nearly choked.

Yunho bit back a laugh. “Anyway. Juniper, have we met before?” He kept pushing. There was a beat of silence.

“Not unless you’ve been sneaking into my dreams.” Juniper’s voice teased with a bit of nervousness laced in her voice.

San rubbed his temples, whispering under his breath, “Yunho, I swear to god…”

Jongho was still catching up. “What’s happening? Am I the only one not in on the joke?”

Y/N kept her voice steady, barely. “Sounds like you’ve got a lot of questions tonight, Yunho.” What was he doing? Why was he digging so much?

“Just curious,” Yunho replied, shooting down an enemy with ease. “You’re just full of surprises lately. Like now, you’re not being a pain in my ass.”

“Maybe I got laid,” she shot back.

Yunho choked on air, eyes widening.

San immediately muted his mic, dying.

Jongho blinked. “Did she just….”

“Yeah, she did,” Yunho muttered, trying not to let the laughter in his chest turn into something else. Like a moan. He was fully aware she had gotten laid. He cleared his throat. “Must’ve been a hell of a guy.”

Juniper replied back so smugly. “Wouldn’t you like to know.”

Oh, he did know. He knew exactly what kind of sounds she made. What she tasted like. What her thighs felt like clenched around him.

But she didn’t know that he knew.

Yet.

San unmuted with a brittle laugh. “Soooo… we winning or flirting our way to death?”

“Why not both?” Juniper replied easily.

Jongho, still confused, groaned. “Someone please tell me what the hell is happening.” Yunho smirked. “Just trying to get to know my teammates better.” He heard the slight stutter in Juniper’s, y/n, breath, that moment of hesitation.

It was working.

She was cracking.

And he was far from done.

As the game lobby emptied and the stream ended, banner flashing across the screen, Yunho leaned back in his chair, the tension in his shoulders easing.

“Alright, I’m out,” Jongho said through his headset already halfway gone. “Night,” San muttered, not bothering to hide his relief as he logged off next. He needed to go scream into a pillow before Y/N found out Yunho was definitely onto her.

Juniper’s mic crackled. “See you guys next time.” Her voice was steady, but Yunho caught the slight rasp, like her throat was dry, like she was nervous. He waited until everyone left before reaching for his phone.

Yunho: You sounded real good tonight

He watched the three dots blink.

Juniper: On stream? Or just in general?

Yunho smirked, thumbs moving quickly.

Yunho: both but I meant your voice there’s something familiar about it

A longer pause this time.

He pictured her sitting cross legged in that chair with her mic tilted just right, trying not to squirm, probably chewing the inside of her cheek like she always did when she was overthinking.

Juniper: You’re gonna make me think you have a voice kink

Yunho: would that be a bad thing? you’ve been in my ears all night can’t help it

He didn’t send the next message right away. He typed it. Deleted it. Typed it again.

Yunho: what if I said I’ve heard you before? outside the stream?

Her reply didn’t come right away. Yunho could practically feel her heart rate picking up through the silence.

Juniper: Have you?

He didn’t answer. Not yet. He wanted to see what she’d do with the uncertainty. Wanted her to sweat the same way she made him sweat on stream with every innuendo, every snarky little comeback.

Yunho: I guess the real question is… what would you do if I have?

He hit send and set his phone down, watching the screen go dark.

If she thought the game was over, she was wrong.

It was just getting started.

═════════ ═════════ ═════════

Y/N stared at her phone like it had personally threatened her. She was still in her gaming chair, headset hanging around her neck, the glow of her monitors casting a mix of moody purples and blues across her bedroom. Her heart was pounding so hard she could hear it in her ears.

what if I said I’ve heard you before?

outside the stream?

Yunho’s message haunted the screen like a curse. Her mind scrambled, flipping through every memory of their streams together, every private moment since that night a week ago when she and Yunho had ended up tangled in his sheets after one too many drinks, his mouth on her skin, his hands gripping her thighs, her name a low growl in the dark.

He couldn’t know. He couldn’t possibly know.

Her setup was locked down, camera angle safe, backdrop nothing more than her bed. He’d never seen her room.

He couldn’t know.

Which left only one thing.

Her voice.

“Oh god,” she whispered, frozen. “My voice!”

“San?” Her voice cracked with panic as she called out. Right on cue, San pushed her door open, already in pajama shorts and a hoodie, holding a plate with a slice of Wooyoung’s strawberry cheesecake.

She held up her phone, and San read the message. “Okay, well…..” he didn’t want her to freak out so San decided not to voice his own concerns about Yunho possibly knowing.

“And then he just stopped. He hasn’t messaged again. I think I’m gonna throw up.” Y/N felt like she was on the verge of a panic attack.

San leaned against her doorframe, tilting his head. “You don’t think he’s, like… actually figured it out?”

“I don’t know.” She stood and started pacing. “He was saying weird things on stream, kept trying to trip me up, like he was fishing. Then he drops that message and disappears?” She spun around. “He’s never seen my room, right? He hasn’t. I’ve made sure.”

San shrugged. “Unless you live streamed a house tour I missed, no. He’s never been in here.”

“So it has to be my voice.” She dropped onto the edge of her bed, hugging a pillow to her chest. “And now he’s ghosting. Just… leaving me here to spiral.”

San was quiet for a second before saying, “Okay, but hear me out, if Yunho really knows you’re Juniper and I mean knows, then he’s not just gonna tease you.”

Y/N lifted her head slowly. “Why not?”

San gave her a pointed look. “Because you didn’t tell him. And you’ve been flirting with him as Juniper and you literally slept with him. Then avoided him like he had the plague for a whole week.”

She winced. “I was freaked out.”

“I know,” he said. “But come on. You finally talked about it. It’s not nothing.” San sat down next to her, voice softened. “So if he figured it out and realized you’ve been hiding this whole other side of yourself, this huge thing, from him…”

Her stomach twisted again. “I didn’t mean to lie,” she said, voice barely above a whisper. “I know,” San replied. “But it doesn’t mean it won’t feel like one.”

Y/N’s phone buzzed again.

She snatched it up with a racing pulse. But it wasn’t Yunho, just a discord notification. She set it back down with a sigh and pressed the heels of her hands into her eyes.

The worst part wasn’t the waiting.

It was not knowing if Yunho was sitting across the hall right now, pissed off that she’d played him.

Or worse…

Heartbroken that she hadn’t trusted him.

Y/N waited until San left back to his own room before grabbing her phone again, chewing at her bottom lip as her fingers hovered over the keyboard after opening back up her DMs.

Juniper: what do you mean my voice sounds familiar

She stared at it for a second before hitting send, her heart already thudding like a drumroll. The reply didn’t come immediately. She refreshed twice, even checked her internet like it might’ve betrayed her, and finally….

Yunho: maybe I just heard you collab with someone before San brought you in

She blinked at the screen.

Oh, he was playing games.

Juniper: i’ve done a few, you really think you’ve heard me?

Yunho: maybe your voice just reminds of someone

She could see the smirk behind that message. She narrowed her eyes at her screen.

Juniper: who?

Yunho: wouldn’t you like to know

She rolled her eyes but a smile tugged at the corner of her lips despite the anxiety still curling in her stomach.

Juniper: damn guess you’ll have to keep guessing maybe i just have one of those voices

Yunho: maybe or maybe i’m just really good at figuring people out

Her heart stuttered at that. The double meaning was right there, just buried enough to be brushed off, just obvious enough to feel deliberate. Was he just flirting? Or was he digging?

Or worse, was he already sure and testing how far she’d go to keep pretending?

Her fingers hovered again.

Juniper: why do i seem familiar now?

Yunho: I guess you always have

Y/N swallowed hard, stomach twisting. There was no way he didn’t know. Not with how he was wording things. But he wasn’t confronting her either. No accusations. No direct questions.

Just a slow, steady unravel.

And the scariest part?

She wasn’t sure if she wanted to keep hiding or if she wanted him to catch her.

═════════ ═════════ ═════════

tag list: @straycat420 @autieofthevalley @dejatiny @hannahlilibet411 @xh01bri @jintastic-yuyu @maddycline @ultrapinkvoidbouquet @wooyoungsbrat @lucid-galaxys-world @ateezswonderland @therealcuppicake @aerangi @delulu4yuyu @hyuninslutbbgirl @fireseo @insanityz @kyeos4ng @fvxyxnh0 @jintastic-yuyu @beccaskz @roxhanah @heartsforyeoo @prchiquita8

[kittiegut]

Can you give us good murdersim games to check out?

YAYY SURE!!

!! games listed are nsfw and contain gore !!

okay so first of all we have btd,btd2 and tpof, i dont think i have to talk much about them cause everyone knows em

theres also Till death do us part by EP, but i played it and it was kinda ass ngl, but if you played all the btd games u can check it out too :p

theres also two other games by ep called code zero and mark of belial but i havent played them yet

Dont romance me

Okay this one is defo my fave, its very much like btd, exept you dont get kidnapped, you instead get taken to an alley, where u get (yk) and killed, theres one ending tho where u survive ;3

She was swallowed by the sun

Okay, this isnt really a murdersim, there is no mc and you only follow the story of two lesbians, not making any choices, but the ARTSTYLE , soundtracks and lore (that im honestly too stupid to comprehend, but it sounds interesting lmao) makes up for it. by definition its an ero guro yuri vn, but i think it fits.

wh4t 1 w0ulndt d0

Okay this one is very very extreme so uhhh

anyways,, some time ago you succesfully escaped from your delusional psychopath (a really hot one at that, with big fat ol titssSSSsss) kidnapper, butttttt hes back, and he kidnapps you again and keeps you in his shed, also the mc is actually pretty smart and the game overall is quite realistic, i think its really great and i really recommend it if youre into more extreme stuff!

Perfect love

Okay this one is not murdersim either, but i just havvve to recommend this,, the MC is cruel and manipulative, theyve been always searching for the 'right' one for them (aka a yandere) but since no one is insane enough, theyve decided to manipulate a soft vurneable boy, and shape him into the perfect one for them. The artstyle is really nice, you get to be mean and evil, and you can also shape him into anyone you want ; from someone who will protect you with his entire soul to someone who will cut your limbs off and keep you in his basement. lotsa endings and lotsa choices! super cool!!!

tbh thats it really, so heres a list of links to murdersims that i havent finished or played yet ;p

[cosmerelists]

Favorite Video Game Genres of Cosmere Characters

As requested by @thesternest :)

1. Silence

Silence: Don't know why, really, but I like casual games, games that are just like real life. Silence: Something about doing your daily life, but in game form--very relaxing. William Anne: Uh, mama? I think "Silent Hill" is a survival-horror game. Silence: It is? How so?

2. Marasi

Marasi: [Looks around nervously] Marasi: I...well, I like first-person shooters. Marasi: I-I just like to pretend I'm in the Roughs, like Wax! Marasi: I don't want to be Wax in real life or anything, but...it can be fun in a game!

3. Dalinar

Dalinar: In real life, war is a terrible necessity. Dalinar: In games, war is fun. Dalinar: ... Dalinar: I like tactical RPGs.

4. Vin

Vin: Huge fan of platform games. Vin: Jumping from ledge to ledge, controlling my speed and trajectory, occasionally swinging from hooks or managing double jumps... Vin: It's just like moving through the city as a Mistborn! Elend: Your high-score is RIDICULOUS, Vin! Vin: I'm also REALLY good at it.

5. Yumi

Yumi: I wasn't allowed video games for a long time, but now that I can play them... Yumi: [eyes sparking] I've become a HUGE fan of visual novels! Yumi: It's like Seasons of Regret, only *I* can be the one making the choices!

6. Leshwi

Leshwi: Like many Fused and Singers, I find myself quite taken with Rhythm games. Leshwi: Now that it is no longer appropriate for me to fight the Windrunners, I do like to challenge them to Dance Dance Revolution instead. Kaladin: OH COME ON I DEFINITELY HAD THAT Leshwi: I always win.

7. Steris

Steris: I used to think games were a waste of time, but then Wax introduced me to these construction simulators. Steris: My city is a paradise with excellent infrastructure, logical layout, and plenty of greenspace. Wayne: You should try to mod that makes a tsunami hit your city! Steris: Oh please, I beat that mod yesterday on my first try.

8. Navani

Navani: Recently, I've gotten into Tower Defense games. Sibling: I can defend myself, thank you very much.

9. Vivenna

Vivenna: Love a good roguelike. Vivenna: It's something about trying it over and over again until you're perfect. Vivenna: The victory is sooo sweet when you've worked hard to achieve it, dying many times. Siri: Oh me too!! I especially like Hades--the art is AMAZING. Vivenna: (scoffs) You mean a rogue-lite? Siri: I'm telling you--you should try one! Getting powerups in between runs is pretty sweet. Vivenna: Hedging out a difficult victory after hours of blood, sweat and tears is also fun! Siri: If you say so...

10. Lightsong

Lightsong: Soooo addicted to Candy Crush. Lighsong: Can't even tell you why. Llarimar: Perhaps your divine eye is drawn to the bright colors. Lightsong: Whatever makes you feel better, Scoot.

11. Adolin

Adolin: Lately I've become completely engrossed with life simulators. Adolin: I make my character get up, make breakfast, go to work, go on dates, learn the piano... Adolin: WHY IS IT SO ADDICTING?? Shallan: This may be a sign that your actual life is incredibly stressful and the allure of a simple, daily life is drawing you in? Adolin: No, that doesn't sound right... Shallan: You want to date a bisexual vampire? Adolin: ...That could be it.

12. Rlain

Rlain: I'm quite taken with these cozy farming games. Rlain: You just build a nice farm, meet the villagers, explore around. Renarin: Rlain, please, it's been six hours! Rlain: Just one more day...

13. Tress

Tress: I've been enjoying survival games! Tress: It's fun to gather and cook and build a base! Tress: A little bit unrealistic, because the rain doesn't make anything explode, but I guess they wanted to make it easier than real life, not harder.

14. Shallan

Shallan: It has to be MMOs for me. Shallan: I like a game where I can do pretty much anything I want. Shallan: Advance the story, collect every type of mushroom, fill in the whole map... Shallan: Plus, I like leveling every class and giving each one their own outfit and personality. Veil: You named the rogue after me, I see. Shallan: It's a compliment.

15. Kelsier

Kelsier: There's only one type of game for me: and that's a game where the name of the, uh, game is survival. Kelsier: And I especially like it when you have to survive as a team. Kelsier: Especially against great odds--like lots and lots of real-life players. Kelsier: Yup, yup. Kelsier: It's all about Fornite for me.

[absolutebl]

This Week in BL - Many Tiny Idiots, Some Irreverent Hotness & an Engagement

Organized, in each category, with ones I'm enjoying most at the top.

Oct 2024 Week 4

Ongoing Series - Thai

Fourever You (Thai Thurs YT) ep 4 of 16 - OK so Hill has really been trying to pick him up from the beginning? I don’t understand why there’s any doubt around girls at all. He Gay everyone. Why is Tatch (2 Moons Ambassador) the only seme in Thai BL history allowed to actually just say "I don’t date women.”

Why is that so hard?

This show is definitely frustrating me, but I must admit that it’s the one I look forward to the most each week.

Love Sick 2024 (Thai Sun iQIYI) ep 6 of 15 - I am now only watching the uncut version, and I gotta say it makes all the difference. Please don’t watch the cut version of this show if you can possibly help it. It’s like cliff's notes of cliff's notes. I love the tiny side couple of tough kid + the dork of the music club. Ah the beach sequence. Condenced WAY DOWN, I see. We lost one of the most iconic lines in all BL but i think everything is improved by how much tighter the plot is in the remake (6 episodes became 1!). So I’m enjoying it. Weirdly, I'm not sure I would be enjoying it, if I hadn’t seen the original.

Is anyone watching this on iQIYI who hasn't seen the original? Just out of curiosity. Tell me how it's going for you, would ya? 

I'm doing a face-off style watch along of this new version versus the original 2014-2015 version.

Kidnap (Fri YT) ep 8 of 12 - I don’t entirely get it. They were apart for approximately 11 minutes. I would’ve thought GMMTV would’ve drawn it out for longer and more angst. Smiley face kiss was cute, but the star of this ep was that gorgeous pale blue waffle sweater on Q. What a great color for Leng! 

Jack & Joker (Thai Mon IQIYI) ep 7 of 12 - I do like that we’re seeing an honest exploration of poverty and hopelessness. I’m not sure how I feel about it inside my BL, tho I’m willing to persavere for this pair.

Battle of the Writers (Sun YT) ep 12 end - Someone said recently "just imagine what TutorYim could do with an actual script." And you know what? I agree. Because they sure as shit haven’t gotten one yet. And it’s getting quite frustrating. I’m having JaFirst flashbacks. Frankly, 2024 has been a year of unmitigated BL nonsense narratives. And I’m tired of it. I know it’s bog standard for the genre, but it feels like there’s been more than normal faff this year.

Summary 

An incredibly convoluted, disjointed, and badly-paced drama that is about(?) some writers writing a thing and some boys who knew each other when they were kids, lots of pretty sexy times, and not much else. The visuals are gorgeous, the side couples are overly appealing (with little to no screen time), the dubbing and sound is absurdly bad, and the fantasy novel (play within a play) makes no sense whatsoever while also managing to be the show that we all actually wanted to see instead of what we were given. 6/10 

In conclusion, I have no interest in attempting to understand or revisit this show, and I certainly wouldn’t recommend it, but if you have nothing better to do…… the sex is good (frankly I have exes that satisfy all the same criteria). So there it is: this show is like a bad but still hot ex.  

Every You Every Me (Thai Mon Gaga) ep 3 of 10 - Nice to see Fiat in something again. Namping is very angel baby.  This episode made me think that this pair would do a great Thai remake of Love Tractor, and now that’s pretty much all I want in life. I enjoyed wardrobe in this episode. It looks like we get the same characters next week. Cool. 

Bad Guy My Boss (Thai Sun Gaga) ep 6 of 10 - I guess everyone is messy slutty bisexual in this show? Do I care? Not even slightly. BLabies, I don’t think I’m gonna make it. I might have to drop this one.

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

See Your Love (Taiwan Weds Gaga) ep 1-2 of 13 - I adore it, what a wonderful meet cute. I love a Taiwanese BL that starts with a gratuitous kidnapping, some chasing, and a bit of a fight sequence. We in OLD fashioned territory. 

Teenager Judge (Vietnam Sat YT) ep 5 of ? - I continue to enjoy it very much.

My Damn Business (Korea Sat YT) eps 4 of 7 - Oh! Is the sleazy boss gonna turn out to be actually a sleazy player? That would be an interesting twist.

Let Free the Curse of Taekwondo (Korea Thurs Gaga) eps 3 of 8 - I’m really not a big fan of my pain coming from Korea. I’m getting a whiff of To My Star 2 from this one. And that does not make me happy. I know: high quality high angst yada yada blah blah blah. But also unnecessary pain? No thank you. 

First Note Of Love (Taiwan Mon Gaga) ep 12 end - Of course, I love the part where Reese and Orca spoke each other’s languages.

Conclusion

Had this been produced a mere 3 or 4 years ago, I would’ve been quite enamored. But by comparison to what we’ve been getting, this is a lackluster offering. A has-been musician and a much younger composer meet, fall in love, and attempt to rectify his stalled musical career. Cute side couple of a Thai popstar + his Korean manager. Everyone is very fine and it was a fine show. I wasn’t disappointed, but I wasn’t impressed either. 8/10 

Love is Like a Poison AKA Doku Koi: Doku mo Sugireba Koi to Naru (Japan Tues Netflix?) 6 of 10 eps - It was a fun little confession and climax, there was crying, and a bridge kiss (been a while) all of this appeals to me even if they are tiny idiots (in the immortal words of @heretherebedork )

Eccentric Romance (Korea Weds Viki) eps 5-6 of 12 - More tiny idiot boyfriends who don’t realize they’re boyfriends. That’s it, that’s all that’s happening. Ostensibly there’s some kind of murder. But it seems to be acting more like set dressing than plot.

It's airing but...

The Hidden Moon (Sat WeTV) 10 eps - Supernatural romance (my ghost boyfriend trope) by Violet Rain (I Feel You Linger). A man is hired to write an article about an old mansion. He sees the ghosts of people who died at the mansion, falls in love with one of them. Was substantially recast. I loved IFYLITA except the ending so I think I'll let this one run it's course you can tell me if it's work tracking down... if they managed to land it. I have my doubts.

In case you missed it

Mew & Tul legit engaged.

Love in the Big City (Korea Viki) 8ep - Vicki dropped them all at once which means I did what I do under such circumstances and skipped to watch the final episode. (I am well aware that this makes me a monster. ) Anygay, that told me that I’m not gonna be bothering to watch the series. Now y'all can tell me how amazing it is and what I’ve missed and blah blah blah. But I’m comfortable with my choice. It’s ICRY 2.0 + HIV. And I’m not willing to play its literatti game. At some point I might watch it on fast-forward for the sex scenes, but I’m not at that point yet. 

Next Week Looks Like This:

Upcoming BLs for 2024 are listed here. This list is not kept updated, so please leave a comment if you know something new or RP with additions.

Still Coming:

10/27 Perfect 10 Liners (Thai Sun YouTube?) 24 eps! - New directing yet another university BL with engineers + their mentees. Based on a Jittirain novel. with a massive cast and massive run time. We will be watching this until APRIL of 2025!

ForceBook playing the same old characters = enemies to lovers tsunder/sunshine jock/nerd thing.

PerthChimonSanta are doing the cohabitation cool guy/dork trope.

JuniorMark are doing popular sunshine meets lonely sad boy (the only interesting pair IMHO).

I think Blue Canvas of Youthful Days has started on iQIYI but I only get it on Viki and that doesn't drop for a few days, plus...... CBL......? Not sure I'll report on this one unless it's really good.

THIS WEEK’S BEST MOMENTS

From Uncle Unknown which is truly terrible but this was so SO funny. I'm still chuckling when I think about it.

The first representation of shipping in a BL that I actually enjoyed. Also Dat's clear approval of being shipped didn't hurt. (Judge)

(lask week)

The tag BLigade: @doorajar @solitaryandwandering @my-rose-tinted-glasses @babymbbatinygirl @babymbbatinygirl @isisanna-blog @mmastertheone @pickletrip @aliceisathome @urikawa-miyuki @tokillamonger @sunflower-positiiivity @rocketturtle4 @blglplus @anythinggoesintheshire @everlightly @renafire @mestizashinrin @bl-bam-beyond @small-dark-and-delicious @saezurumurmurs

Sigh, Tumblr in its infinite wisdom doesn't like too many at-ings.

[eyrieofsynapses]

why Aurora's art is genius

It's break for me, and I've been meaning to sit down and read the Aurora webcomic (https://comicaurora.com/, @comicaurora on Tumblr) for quite a bit. So I did that over the last few days.

And… y'know. I can't actually say "I should've read this earlier," because otherwise I would've been up at 2:30-3am when I had responsibilities in the morning and I couldn't have properly enjoyed it, but. Holy shit guys THIS COMIC.

I intended to just do a generalized "hello this is all the things I love about this story," and I wrote a paragraph or two about art style. …and then another. And another. And I realized I needed to actually reference things so I would stop being too vague. I was reading the comic on my tablet or phone, because I wanted to stay curled up in my chair, but I type at a big monitor and so I saw more details… aaaaaand it turned into its own giant-ass post.

SO. Enjoy a few thousand words of me nerding out about this insanely cool art style and how fucking gorgeous this comic is? (There are screenshots, I promise it isn't just a wall of text.) In my defense, I just spent two semesters in graphic design classes focusing on the Adobe Suite, so… I get to be a nerd about pretty things…???

All positive feedback btw! No downers here. <3

---

I cannot emphasize enough how much I love the beautiful, simple stylistic method of drawing characters and figures. It is absolutely stunning and effortless and utterly graceful—it is so hard to capture the sheer beauty and fluidity of the human form in such a fashion. Even a simple outline of a character feels dynamic! It's gorgeous!

Though I do have a love-hate relationship with this, because my artistic side looks at that lovely simplicity, goes "I CAN DO THAT!" and then I sit down and go to the paper and realize that no, in fact, I cannot do that yet, because that simplicity is born of a hell of a lot of practice and understanding of bodies and actually is really hard to do. It's a very developed style that only looks simple because the artist knows what they're doing. The human body is hard to pull off, and this comic does so beautifully and makes it look effortless.

Also: line weight line weight line weight. It's especially important in simplified shapes and figures like this, and hoo boy is it used excellently. It's especially apparent the newer the pages get—I love watching that improvement over time—but with simpler figures and lines, you get nice light lines to emphasize both smaller details, like in the draping of clothing and the curls of hair—which, hello, yes—and thicker lines to emphasize bigger and more important details and silhouettes. It's the sort of thing that's essential to most illustrations, but I wanted to make a note of it because it's so vital to this art style.

THE USE OF LAYER BLENDING MODES OH MY GODS. (...uhhh, apologies to the people who don't know what that means, it's a digital art program thing? This article explains it for beginners.)

Bear with me, I just finished my second Photoshop course, I spent months and months working on projects with this shit so I see the genius use of Screen and/or its siblings (of which there are many—if I say "Screen" here, assume I mean the entire umbrella of Screen blending modes and possibly Overlay) and go nuts, but seriously it's so clever and also fucking gorgeous:

Firstly: the use of screened-on sound effect words over an action? A "CRACK" written over a branch and then put on Screen in glowy green so that it's subtle enough that it doesn't disrupt the visual flow, but still sticks out enough to make itself heard? Little "scritches" that are transparent where they're laid on without outlines to emphasize the sound without disrupting the underlying image? FUCK YES. I haven't seen this done literally anywhere else—granted, I haven't read a massive amount of comics, but I've read enough—and it is so clever and I adore it. Examples:

Secondly: The beautiful lighting effects. The curling leaves, all the magic, the various glowing eyes, the fog, the way it's all so vividly colored but doesn't burn your eyeballs out—a balance that's way harder to achieve than you'd think—and the soft glows around them, eeeee it's so pretty so pretty SO PRETTY. Not sure if some of these are Outer/Inner Glow/Shadow layer effects or if it's entirely hand-drawn, but major kudos either way; I can see the beautiful use of blending modes and I SALUTE YOUR GENIUS.

I keep looking at some of this stuff and go "is that a layer effect or is it done by hand?" Because you can make some similar things with the Satin layer effect in Photoshop (I don't know if other programs have this? I'm gonna have to find out since I won't have access to PS for much longer ;-;) that resembles some of the swirly inner bits on some of the lit effects, but I'm not sure if it is that or not. Or you could mask over textures? There's... many ways to do it.

If done by hand: oh my gods the patience, how. If done with layer effects: really clever work that knows how to stop said effects from looking wonky, because ugh those things get temperamental. If done with a layer of texture that's been masked over: very, very good masking work. No matter the method, pretty shimmers and swirly bits inside the bigger pretty swirls!

Next: The way color contrast is used! I will never be over the glowy green-on-black Primordial Life vibes when Alinua gets dropped into that… unconscious space?? with Life, for example, and the sharp contrast of vines and crack and branches and leaves against pitch black is just visually stunning. The way the roots sink into the ground and the three-dimensional sensation of it is particularly badass here:

Friggin. How does this imply depth like that. HOW. IT'S SO FREAKING COOL.

A huge point here is also color language and use! Everybody has their own particular shade, generally matching their eyes, magic, and personality, and I adore how this is used to make it clear who's talking or who's doing an action. That was especially apparent to me with Dainix and Falst in the caves—their colors are both fairly warm, but quite distinct, and I love how this clarifies who's doing what in panels with a lot of action from both of them. There is a particular bit that stuck out to me, so I dug up the panels (see this page and the following one https://comicaurora.com/aurora/1-20-30/):

(Gods it looks even prettier now that I put it against a plain background. Also, appreciation to Falst for managing a bridal-carry midair, damn.)

The way that their colors MERGE here! And the immense attention to detail in doing so—Dainix is higher up than Falst is in the first panel, so Dainix's orange fades into Falst's orange at the base. The next panel has gold up top and orange on bottom; we can't really tell in that panel where each of them are, but that's carried over to the next panel—

—where we now see that Falst's position is raised above Dainix's due to the way he's carrying him. (Points for continuity!) And, of course, we see the little "huffs" flowing from orange to yellow over their heads (where Dainix's head is higher than Falst's) to merge the sound of their breathing, which is absurdly clever because it emphasizes to the viewer how we hear two sets of huffing overlaying each other, not one. Absolutely brilliant.

(A few other notes of appreciation to that panel: beautiful glows around them, the sparks, the jagged silhouette of the spider legs, the lovely colors that have no right to make the area around a spider corpse that pretty, the excellent texturing on the cave walls plus perspective, the way Falst's movements imply Dainix's hefty weight, the natural posing of the characters, their on-point expressions that convey exactly how fuckin terrifying everything is right now, the slight glows to their eyes, and also they're just handsome boys <3)

Next up: Rain!!!! So well done! It's subtle enough that it never ever disrupts the impact of the focal point, but evident enough you can tell! And more importantly: THE MIST OFF THE CHARACTERS. Rain does this irl, it has that little vapor that comes off you and makes that little misty effect that plays with lighting, it's so cool-looking and here it's used to such pretty effect!

One of the panel captions says something about it blurring out all the injuries on the characters but like THAT AIN'T TOO BIG OF A PROBLEM when it gets across the environmental vibes, and also that'd be how it would look in real life too so like… outside viewer's angle is the same as the characters', mostly? my point is: that's the environment!!! that's the vibes, that's the feel! It gets it across and it does so in the most pretty way possible!

And another thing re: rain, the use of it to establish perspective, particularly in panels like this—

—where we can tell we're looking down at Tynan due to the perspective on the rain and where it's pointing. Excellent. (Also, kudos for looking down and emphasizing how Tynan's losing his advantage—lovely use of visual storytelling.)

Additionally, the misting here:

We see it most heavily in the leftmost panel, where it's quite foggy as you would expect in a rainstorm, especially in an environment with a lot of heat, but it's also lightly powdered on in the following two panels and tends to follow light sources, which makes complete sense given how light bounces off particles in the air.

A major point of strength in these too is a thorough understanding of lighting, like rim lighting, the various hues and shades, and an intricate understanding of how light bounces off surfaces even when they're in shadow (we'll see a faint glow in spots where characters are half in shadow, but that's how it would work in real life, because of how light bounces around).

Bringing some of these points together: the fluidity of the lines in magic, and the way simple glowing lines are used to emphasize motion and the magic itself, is deeply clever. I'm basically pulling at random from panels and there's definitely even better examples, but here's one (see this page https://comicaurora.com/aurora/1-16-33/):

First panel, listed in numbers because these build on each other:

The tension of the lines in Tess's magic here. This works on a couple levels: first, the way she's holding her fists, as if she's pulling a rope taut.

The way there's one primary line, emphasizing the rope feeling, accompanied by smaller ones.

The additional lines starbursting around her hands, to indicate the energy crackling in her hands and how she's doing a good bit more than just holding it. (That combined with the fists suggests some tension to the magic, too.) Also the variations in brightness, a feature you'll find in actual lightning. :D Additional kudos for how the lightning sparks and breaks off the metal of the sword.

A handful of miscellaneous notes on the second panel:

The reflection of the flames in Erin's typically dark blue eyes (which bears a remarkable resemblance to Dainix, incidentally—almost a thematic sort of parallel given Erin's using the same magic Dainix specializes in?)

The flowing of fabric in the wind and associated variation in the lineart

The way Erin's tattoos interact with the fire he's pulling to his hand

The way the rain overlays some of the fainter areas of fire (attention! to! detail! hell yeah!)

I could go on. I won't because this is a lot of writing already.

Third panel gets paragraphs, not bullets:

Erin's giant-ass "FWOOM" of fire there, and the way the outline of the word is puffy-edged and gradated to feel almost three-dimensional, plus once again using Screen or a variation on it so that the stars show up in the background. All this against that stunning plume of fire, which ripples and sparks so gorgeously, and the ending "om" of the onomatopoeia is emphasized incredibly brightly against that, adding to the punch of it and making the plume feel even brighter.

Also, once again, rain helping establish perspective, especially in how it's very angular in the left side of the panel and then slowly becomes more like a point to the right to indicate it's falling directly down on the viewer. Add in the bright, beautiful glow effects, fainter but no less important black lines beneath them to emphasize the sky and smoke and the like, and the stunningly beautiful lighting and gradated glows surrounding Erin plus the lightning jagging up at him from below, and you get one hell of an impactful panel right there. (And there is definitely more in there I could break down, this is just a lot already.)

And in general: The colors in this? Incredible. The blues and purples and oranges and golds compliment so well, and it's all so rich.

Like, seriously, just throughout the whole comic, the use of gradients, blending modes, color balance and hues, all the things, all the things, it makes for the most beautiful effects and glows and such a rich environment. There's a very distinct style to this comic in its simplified backgrounds (which I recognize are done partly because it's way easier and also backgrounds are so time-consuming dear gods but lemme say this) and vivid, smoothly drawn characters; the simplicity lets them come to the front and gives room for those beautiful, richly saturated focal points, letting the stylized designs of the magic and characters shine. The use of distinct silhouettes is insanely good. Honestly, complex backgrounds might run the risk of making everything too visually busy in this case. It's just, augh, so GORGEOUS.

Another bit, take a look at this page (https://comicaurora.com/aurora/1-15-28/):

It's not quite as evident here as it is in the next page, but this one does some other fun things so I'm grabbing it. Points:

Once again, using different colors to represent different character actions. The "WHAM" of Kendal hitting the ground is caused by Dainix's force, so it's orange (and kudos for doubling the word over to add a shake effect). But we see blue layered underneath, which could be an environmental choice, but might also be because it's Kendal, whose color is blue.

And speaking off, take a look at the right-most panel on top, where Kendal grabs the spear: his motion is, again, illustrated in bright blue, versus the atmospheric screened-on orange lines that point toward him around the whole panel (I'm sure these have a name, I think they might be more of a manga thing though and the only experience I have in manga is reading a bit of Fullmetal Alchemist). Those lines emphasize the weight of the spear being shoved at him, and their color tells us Dainix is responsible for it.

One of my all-time favorite effects in this comic is the way cracks manifest across Dainix's body to represent when he starts to lose control; it is utterly gorgeous and wonderfully thematic. These are more evident in the page before and after this one, but you get a decent idea here. I love the way they glow softly, the way the fire juuuust flickers through at the start and then becomes more evident over time, and the cracks feel so realistic, like his skin is made of pottery. Additional points for how fire begins to creep into his hair.

A small detail that's generally consistent across the comic, but which I want to make note of here because you can see it pretty well: Kendal's eyes glow about the same as the jewel in his sword, mirroring his connection to said sword and calling back to how the jewel became Vash's eye temporarily and thus was once Kendal's eye. You can always see this connection (though there might be some spots where this also changes in a symbolic manner; I went through it quickly on the first time around, so I'll pay more attention when I inevitably reread this), where Kendal's always got that little shine of blue in his eyes the same as the jewel. It's a beautiful visual parallel that encourages the reader to subconsciously link them together, especially since the lines used to illustrate character movements typically mirror their eye color. It's an extension of Kendal.

Did I mention how ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL the colors in this are?

Also, the mythological/legend-type scenes are illustrated in familiar style often used for that type of story, a simple and heavily symbolic two-dimensional cave-painting-like look. They are absolutely beautiful on many levels, employing simple, lovely gradients, slightly rougher and thicker lineart that is nonetheless smoothly beautiful, and working with clear silhouettes (a major strength of this art style, but also a strength in the comic overall). But in particular, I wanted to call attention to a particular thing (see this page https://comicaurora.com/aurora/1-12-4/):

The flowing symbolic lineart surrounding each character. This is actually quite consistent across characters—see also Life's typical lines and how they curl:

What's particularly interesting here is how these symbols are often similar, but not the same. Vash's lines are always smooth, clean curls, often playing off each other and echoing one another like ripples in a pond. You'd think they'd look too similar to Life's—but they don't. Life's curl like vines, and they remain connected; where one curve might echo another but exist entirely detached from each other in Vash's, Life's lines still remain wound together, because vines are continuous and don't float around. :P

Tahraim's are less continuous, often breaking up with significantly smaller bits and pieces floating around like—of course—sparks, and come to sharper points. These are also constants: we see the vines repeated over and over in Alinua's dreams of Life, and the echoing ripples of Vash are consistent wherever we encounter him. Kendal's dream of the ghost citizens of the city of Vash in the last few chapters is filled with these rippling, echoing patterns, to beautiful effect (https://comicaurora.com/aurora/1-20-14/):

They ripple and spiral, often in long, sinuous curves, with smooth elegance. It reminds me a great deal of images of space and sine waves and the like. This establishes a definite feel to these different characters and their magic. And the thing is, that's not something that had to be done—the colors are good at emphasizing who's who. But it was done, and it adds a whole other dimension to the story. Whenever you're in a deity's domain, you know whose it is no matter the color.

Regarding that shape language, I wanted to make another note, too—Vash is sometimes described as chaotic and doing what he likes, which is interesting to me, because smooth, elegant curves and the color blue aren't generally associated with chaos. So while Vash might behave like that on the surface, I'm guessing he's got a lot more going on underneath; he's probably much more intentional in his actions than you'd think at a glance, and he is certainly quite caring with his city. The other thing is that this suits Kendal perfectly. He's a paragon character; he is kind, virtuous, and self-sacrificing, and often we see him aiming to calm others and keep them safe. Blue is such a good color for him. There is… probably more to this, but I'm not deep enough in yet to say.

And here's the thing: I'm only scratching the surface. There is so much more here I'm not covering (color palettes! outfits! character design! environment! the deities! so much more!) and a lot more I can't cover, because I don't have the experience; this is me as a hobbyist artist who happened to take a couple design classes because I wanted to. The art style to this comic is so clever and creative and beautiful, though, I just had to go off about it. <3

...brownie points for getting all the way down here? Have a cookie.

[staying-elive]

Play by play thoughts while watching Thunderbolts. This is the only way i'm gonna get through it. 🫡

Spoilers below.

Not really blown away by any of this fight choreography, or the filming of it.

Antonia says literally one line before she's killed. Imagine dragging the actress out for the premiere for this. Extras have more lines

What was it that the senator called Val's plan? Sounded like 'Guardians of Vengence propaganda'. Google translate of the subtitle said Guardians of Revenge. But can't quite hear it clearly.

Bucky wasn't as creepy as I thought he would be with Mel. But still kinda creepy. Where's the tactfulness?

Also... he does sound rather stupid

Hmm, at least Ghost calls Walker out when he says "Actually I was the official captain america"

Ghost says "Before you publically murdered an innocent man on the streets" (he says 'define innocent' 😡)

Walker is completely insufferable

Bob says: "I thought you said you were Captain America"

Walker: "why are you laughing"

Bob: "because you're an asshole" I like Bob.

Okay, Bucky does seem a bit creepy with Mel

When they're climbing up the shaft it would've been so easy to add the line "Would be easier if one of us had wings... you know who has wings? REAL Captain America"

Wow, Walker is a really shitty dad and husband. Divorce that man, Olivia

I hate Red Guardian

"Ahh second coming of Captain America! I too was state sponsored super soldier" 🙄😡

Oh, Olivia did leave him. And took the kid. Good for her

Getting bored honestly

Sebastian seems bored too. His line readings are not giving

Is Sentry's suit CGI? This looks weird

Wow....this fight looks terrible!

Particularly the part where John attacks, then Bucky. Their movements are so slow and stilted, then has this CGI glaze look to it when they're thrown around. Bucky does not seem like a good fighter here

Wow knocking Bucky out with his own arm is just... mean. Plus carrying him out isn't very dignified

Yelena: "No, you know you're a piece of trash, Walker. So does your family." I like Yelena.

Okay, the first appearance of the Void was quite good. See? I can be nice.

The applause was a bit much though 🙄

We really don't get to know what was in Bucky's room...or Ava's... or well I don't care about Alexei

THAT is why Bucky punches the chicken suit guy?!

I'm not really feeling this 'defeat the mind rooms with the power of friendship' thing

I'm pretty sure Void says "Robert the hero", but the subtitles said "Robert De Niro" 🤣😂

This whole group hug moment might actually have meant something if we saw what the other's personal demons that they just overcame were

When did Valentina get all the press there? I saw her have the spark of the idea, but the whole city was enveloped in the void? Stupid

And the announcement is still ridiculous. I can't believe Bucky just stood there and said nothing. Should've taken a mic and done a Kanye "I'm gonna let you finish, but Sam Wilson ie Captain America, has the greatest Avengers team of ALL TIME"

And even if he didn't, in what world would Bucky not say "No, we're not the Avengers. Valentina is a crook and here's the evidence. She's trying to save her own ass. Arrest her."

Yelena saying "We own you now" How does that help? She's not going to cooperate. You can't ever trust her. She'll always have her own motives and will be trying to get rid of them.

Final thoughts

That's it? There really wasn't that much action and the fight scenes that were there were very...inert. They lacked visual interest, interesting choreography, seemed glazed in CGI despite all the promo saying how gritty and real this film was supposed to be

Overall it just seems like a very pointless movie. With pointless characters.

Yelena and Ava would maybe be nice additions to Sam's team. John and Alexei can gtfo

Bucky's sleeping on the couch until further notice.

If they were going to have Bucky damage, if not outright, destroy his best friendship with Sam over these misfits, then the film really needed to SHOW why Bucky felt invested in helping them redeem their past crimes. Currently he feels like he has no motivation or real connection to them. I literally just finished watching and I can't remember if he even exchanged dialogue with Yelena or Ava outside of group responses.

Anyway. That's it.

P.S. I stand by a prior post of mine, where I said this could've been a Captain America movie. Sam could've helped Bob just fine.

[pookietv]

delays | george clarke

the most voted for in my poll! also i love cute meeting fics so :)

the airport was always a liminal space. seeing people getting drunk on seven pound pints in the airport, people with suitcases and business wear waiting impatiently for their plane, and parents with kids waiting in hopes of the family holidays.

you, however, could not be as thrilled to be at the airport. your plane delayed at least three hours due to issues at the other end in greece, when all you were trying to do was join your friends on holiday, after you could only make half the holiday due to work.

your gate was relatively empty, people leaving to get food or have a drink in anticipation of having to wait even longer for the planes arrival. you, on the other hand, had no where to go or nothing to do, so sat mindlessly, music playing on your headphones and looking at the other planes in the taxiways and aprons, almost willing time to move quicker, when someone came and sat pretty close to you.

at first you found it a little strange, that he had sat only one seat apart from you when there was a practically empty gate, until he turned to you with a slight smile, and you saw him say something - which you couldn't quite hear with your headphones loud, so you quickly moved one from the side of your head.

"sorry?" you said softly, indirectly asking him to repeat.

looking at him properly, he was attractive. broad shoulders that were only more accentuated by the tight-ish sky blue top he was wearing, light brown hair and a beard that seemed to suit him almost too well.

"i was just saying i wasn't trying to be weird, just this it the only seat next to a charge port," he laughed slightly, and you nodded a little awkwardly, smiling back.

"yeah, we're probably gonna be stuck here a while," you said with a grimacing smile, and he rolled his eyes in agreement.

"so, are you going anywhere nice?" he asked whilst popping the charger into the socket next to his seat.

you quirked your head a little, "well, we're probably going to the same place, no? i mean, we're at the same gate?" you laughed a little quietly.

"oh, nah, i more meant like, are you going on holiday or something?" he grinned a little.

"oh! yeah, sorry, um, i'm going to meet my friends, they're already on holiday, i'm just joining them late cause i had work, go figure," you smiled back at him, "what about you?"

"oh, i'm pretty much the same - my friends are already on holiday, i'm joining them late." he returned back.

"well, small world... though, i suppose mykonos is kind of a popular place for holidays," you said, a hint of amusement in your voice

a comfortable silence came for a moment as he looked at his phone, now charging, and you couldn't help but watch him for a moment, noticing his eyes were blue now from the light on his phone. but as quickly as he picked it up, he put it back down, and looked at you.

"so, you work?" he said, breaking the silence, "what do you do?"

"well, kind of work, i'm doing a masters, but i have a work placement kind of thing, but i'm doing fashion design," you offered with a small grin, "what about you?"

"oh, well... it's always the most jarring thing to tell people, but i guess i'm a content creator?" he laughed a little, "not that i don't love it, cause obviously i do, but i always feel like it sounds self important or something."

"i don't think it sounds self important," you reassured, "it's quite nice when people love what they do and you can tell, i think at least."

a genuine expression lit up his face, and he nodded a little, "thanks. so, what kind of fashion do you do? not that i know a lot about fashion, but there's like... runway and high-end and streetwear and stuff, right?" he laughed a little awkwardly.

"uhm, i mainly work with avant-garde, which is like.. it's pretty much like very artistic runway, if i had to describe it? a lot of impractical outfits that look visually interesting, basically," i giggled a little as i explained, "but on a personal level, i quite like just making pretty outfits, god knows i have too many clothes."

"i can tell. even in a stuffy airport waiting for a delayed plane, you do make it look good," he complimented, and you could see his eyes lingering on what you were wearing.

you tried your best to sound nonchalant as you felt blush creep on your cheeks.

"i mean, you don't look awful yourself, considering the circumstances," you offered, trying to stay casual, as you watched his eyes flick to your lips for a moment, before a playful smirk tugged at his own.

"so you could make me look cool with this?" he grinned, gesturing down to himself, the plain blue shirt and black shorts. you had to admit, even if it wasn't the height of style in any way, he looked good - effortlessly, it was a 'i've just come back from the gym and i still look good' kind of outfit.

"i mean, don't knock it! in modelling they often say that if you give anyone a nice outfit, they can look good, but only someone who already looks good can look nice in a plain outfit," you quirked an eyebrow up.

"so, what you're saying is i'm drop dead gorgeous?" he teased, and you rolled your eyes.

"hey, you're in gym shorts, i wouldn't go that far," you returned, and he grinned. "but you're definitely above average. not that your ego needs boosting anymore,"

"is that a professional opinion?" he asked, leaning towards you slightly, his eyes almost twinkling with amusement.

you scoffed playfully, "it's an honest opinion."

the low hum of the airport was the only noise for a brief moment, and you could almost feel his eyes flickering over your face.

"so, you're pretty, and charming, and stuck alone in an airport waiting to go on holiday with your friends. your boyfriend also waiting for you there?"

you choked slightly on your laughter, his directness taking you aback slightly, "uhm, wow, okay, straight to the point, are we?" you managed to reply, your cheeks burning, "i don't have a boyfriend."

he grinned, "that's useful." he said, almost matter of factly.

"so, no girlfriend for you?" you giggled back, and he rolled his eyes and huffed mockingly.

"well, it's not my fault i'm the loneliest man ever," he laughed slightly, "i mean, clearly i've got good chat, you're sat here, aren't you?"

you guffawed playfully, "hey, who says i'm not just sat here because i have to be?"

"well, what kind of guy would i be to let that opportunity go to waste?" he asked, smirk playing on his lips.

there was something undeniably attractive about his confidence.

"is that so?" you replied in a mock tone.

"absolutely. but i think i may need a name to call you other than 'you'," he said, leaning a little closer.

you could feel the warmth creeping up your neck.

"it's y/n." you said with a slight giggle, "and you?"

"george," he grinned back. "so, any chance you maybe want to waste some of the three hour delay by going for an insanely overpriced airport drink?"

"can't suppose it could hurt, especially since my friends are almost definitely drinking already."

"likewise with my friends. i mean, we can't let them have all the fun and fall behind ourselves, can we?" he grinned.

[lulu2992]

Today is the fourth anniversary of HITMAN 3, the last game in the World of Assassination trilogy!

I’ve wanted to write something about it for a while because I love it, but as much as I enjoyed playing it, taking my time exploring the levels, finding useful objects, taking notes, completing challenges, listening to conversations, following my targets, and being as stealthy as I could to reach “perfection” in each mission, what I’d like to talk about today is the scenario. Indeed, this trilogy doesn’t just have good gameplay, a nice soundtrack, and pretty visuals, it also has a great story.

My favorite thing about Hitman, at least in the most recent games (the first I played was the divisive Hitman: Absolution), also happens to be one of the main focuses of this trilogy: the relationship between the protagonist, Agent 47, and his handler (I would even say the deuteragonist), Diana Burnwood.

To me, their bond is just so special, unique, and compelling, so nearly four years after finishing HITMAN 3, I decided to write this post as an attempt to finally organize my many thoughts about it, but also and mostly, about them.

My relationship with theirs: how it started vs. how it’s going.

When I want to summarize what’s going on between Diana and 47, I usually like to describe their connection as “platonic, but more in the French acceptation of the term”... which must sound rather confusing or boring to most of you, especially if you’re a native English speaker, but I’m not, so let me explain what it means to me.

I must digress for a moment here but, the first few times I saw people use the term “platonic” in English to talk about friends or even family, I was quite confused. In French, if we say a relationship is “platonique”, there’s only a small chance that what we mean is, “They’re just friends” and a much higher probability that what we’re actually saying is, “They’re having a soulmates-level of romance so deep and spiritual that carnality is completely unnecessary” instead. I’d find it weird to use that word to describe relationships that are inherently not sexual; it mostly refers to a “special” kind of romance in French.

And this is what Diana and 47’s relationship is to me: something powerful and unconventional that I don’t think can reasonably be described as definitely romantic but that simultaneously manages to be, somehow, the ultimate form of romance.

So, as a fan of this unusual and seemingly unbreakable bond, playing through the entire trilogy was a delight. There were a few scenes in the first two games that made me smile like an idiot (such as this one), but in HITMAN 3 in particular, there were even more moments to enjoy.

I was pleased to see 47 get a bit upset when he realized Lucas didn’t fully trust Diana and to hear him affirm she would make things right because “she always does”, felt vindicated when she told Edwards he was “delusional” if he thought she could betray 47, was touched when Olivia said she understood why he wanted to “protect her”, then both surprised by the bluntness and happy with the assertiveness of 47’s “You don’t know her” after she questioned Diana’s allegiance, and I even pretty much turned into that “excited Kermit” reaction GIF when Diana explained she was 47’s only weakness even though that was exactly what I expected her to say.

Finally, in Mendoza, the most exciting mission for me despite its worrying name (“The Farewell”), I loved their conversation at the beginning, was glad to hear that he was right about her true intentions and loyalty all along, and much like he clearly was, caught off guard when she touched his hand. In the rest of the level, I enjoyed following her around and found their banter and synergy quite delightful, especially at the end. Then, of course, there was also the tango.

But when the “Necessary Evil” cutscene happened, I was… upset. Well, the first time I saw it, at least, because there is so, so much more depth and beauty to this scene than I initially realized, as concerned as part of me was that yet another franchise I love had forgotten its own lore and was collapsing in on itself before my eyes, ripping away from me what I loved most about it. Thankfully, that was not what was happening.

Looking at what I know of their history, I was and still am very much confident that Diana and 47 would rather turn against the rest of the world (and do it together) than be disloyal to each other, so even though I kept telling myself that her betrayal was fake and she had a plan, I was disappointed to see that, contrary to what I thought, they weren’t past the point of pretending to deceive and/or kill each other as a way to fool and bring down powerful people and organizations. She “killed” him in Blood Money, he “killed” her in Absolution; they were even. She most likely thought things had to happen this way to truly work, but I hoped they were done keeping secrets from one another. I’m still sad she had to trick him, and even more so that, even for just a moment, he genuinely thought she was serious and that he had lost her too.

In the toxin-induced and introspective hallucination that follows, 47 faces his worst fears... and some happen to be Diana deriding, belittling, and abandoning him. This was painful to watch because those are distressing thoughts for him, but to be honest, I also liked seeing just how much she meant to him. When he watches her dancing with Edwards, I couldn’t help but think of that scene in Polarized, the fifth episode of Life is Strange, in which Max, also drugged, has a nightmare and sees her “special friend” Chloe criticizing and replacing her. Fortunately, 47 quickly reconsiders the situation, talking some sense into himself with the help of “Lucas”. The other voice in his mind, Diana’s, encourages him to trust his intuition, and so he finally understands what he has to do.

Although she partly left him in the dark about her strategy and there are certain things she didn’t say, rewatching “Necessary Evil” made me appreciate how much Diana did say and how significant all of that was. Indeed, despite the apparent disingenuity of her act, the context suggesting, at first glance, that she’s either backstabbing him or purely playing a character, and the rather contemptuous tone she made sure to use to fool her audience, it’s since become apparent to me that she meant every single word she said.

She makes it sound like she’s turning against him and doesn’t want to see him anymore, but what she’s actually saying is that he, like everyone else, should be free to forge his own path. Even though she meant no harm and believed it was what he needed when she recruited him, she felt she used him, that he was only a tool, a weapon she controlled, and it was not right. He didn’t object when she chose him as her agent 20 years earlier, but had he not lost his memory and been truly able to make an informed decision, what would he have chosen?

And when she says she knows it was 47 who killed her parents, which is something he (and the players) only recently discovered, although she doesn’t even blame him for it, he apologizes. He sincerely apologizes, with an unusual and palpable pain in his voice. He’s genuinely sorry for what happened (so much so that he thinks that’s reason enough for her to want him dead), and maybe also for not having had the courage to tell her the horrifying truth. She deserved to know, but maybe out of shame, because he didn’t want her to suffer or for their relationship to be affected, he chose not to say anything. Had she known the full story sooner, though, what would she have chosen?

Diana’s last words before she leaves and he loses consciousness are, “This is a kindness. Goodbye... agent”. “Goodbye”, not “farewell”. “Agent”, not “47”. This is the end of the partnership she realized she imposed on him, but whether or not it’s also the end of the friendship they nonetheless built along the way is up to him. She’s been the one making most of the choices this whole time, and now it’s his turn. Calling what she’s just done a “kindness” isn’t a lie or emotional manipulation; it’s a fact. In their “own special way”, they care about each other, deeply and earnestly, but both of them also made selfish decisions they convinced themselves were in the other’s best interest. In that scene, they’re finally facing their past(s) and accepting the truth, freeing themselves and each other in the process.

“Necessary Evil” was initially worrying to watch, but what it shows isn’t the brutal and grim end of a 20-year partnership; it’s a moment of pure honesty, maybe even the most heart-to-heart conversation Diana and 47 have ever had. After this “last tango”, she sets him free, allowing him to live the life he wants. At last.

Although, again, I would have preferred her to do things differently and spare him that suffering, I also absolutely love the fact she didn’t even need to reveal her full plan for him to figure out what it was and carry it out exactly the way she expected him to. I suppose it’s not that surprising since he’s already demonstrated many times in many ways that he knows her better than anyone else does (and vice versa, probably), but it’s still fascinating. They don’t need words to communicate anymore, yet the few they exchanged before leaving Mendoza were salutary. A necessary evil, indeed.

In the last scene of the game, one year later, 47 recontacts Diana and informs her of his decision to go back to doing his former job, but this time by choice and on his own terms. “It’s good to be back”, he says with a smile (yes, a smile) on his face. There was one on mine too as I realized this was a callback to the very first “Announcement Trailer” for the World of Assassination trilogy. In the video, however, it was Diana who said, “Good to have you back” while he remained silent the whole time. In more than one way, the trilogy ends the way it started, but the major difference is that 47 now truly has a voice.

“I choose him”, confidently said Diana in the prologue, thus starting their productive partnership. More than 20 years later, he’s back in business, not because he has to but because he wants to, believing his mission is not done and wishing to continue it… but not alone. Finally free to do whatever he pleases and having had time to decide what he wanted his life to be, 47 came to a conclusion, and what he tells Diana in the epilogue, implicitly but assuredly, is, “I choose you.”

Almost six years after it was first announced, the trilogy has come full circle, and it feels like IO Interactive had it all planned out from the start. Diana and 47 are back to being partners, and by embracing their past, they can build their future on better, stronger, and healthier foundations. Now, more than ever, it’s them together against the rest of the world. As a fan of their duo, as well as nicely wrapped-up and carefully written stories in general, I don’t know if I could have dreamt of a more satisfying ending.

Perfectly executed.

[heavenly-fae]

nsft alphabet - hwei

lukai hwei x reader

warnings | smut, afab!reader, switchy hwei

a/n | can i say how cute he looks in this gif omg i love him sm. but um hello again ykw back again with the most random shit ever. tryna get back to writing slowly but surely, the nsft alphabet is just to dip my toes back into writing since i’ve haven’t i so long. so i got into league of legends which i hate myself for but now im obsessed. i started playing lol for jhin but when hwei came out i was done for. as always enjoy my nonsense.

A - aftercare (what they’re like after sex)

- oh he’s so soft and gentle. doesn’t matter if he was on top or bottom he would just want to lay with you after, he’s absolutely mesmerized by the afterglow, especially how it looks on you. just wants to hold you close, taking every emotion in. 

B - body part (their favorite body part of theirs and also their partner’s)

- on you - he could never pick one thing he likes about you just because he simply loves all of you. might sound corny but he loves how you make him feel more than anything, he loves loving you. 

- on him - his hands i think. he’s not self absorbed, but his hands are what help him create his art so he keeps them nice and pretty without really realizing. also he can’t help but melt when you kiss his hands at any moment. and he enjoys the sounds he can pull out of you with just his hands.

C - cum (anything to do with cum, basically)

- loves to cum inside of you. i feel like it's not even in a possessive manner but he feels more intimate and closer to you. like he’s literally part of you now. likes to cockwarm you after. gets extremely embarrassed seeing it drip out after and offers to clean it up for you  <3

D - dirty secret (pretty self explanatory, a dirty secret of theirs)

- oh to be tied up and at your mercy. the desire of being roped and gagged, laid down on the bed and at your utter mercy as begging you with his gaze to straddle his hips and use his cock to your heart's content. he needs you to take your pleasure from him, to use his body to make yourself feel good, while he whines into his gag. 

E - experience (how experienced are they? do they know what they’re doing?)

- little to none i feel. he has had crushes before and small flings (jhin) with partners but it never went far enough especially after the incident. but once it does happen i think he’d take it real slow, to really get to know what he likes and what his partner does, super gentle but quickly learns. 

F - fave position (this goes without saying)

- visual link (nsfw!) = 1 2

- missionary or cowgirl, just any position where he can see your face. he just adores being able to look into your eyes. it just makes it all the more intimate. his arms are wrapped around your torso, your chest pressed up against his as he sloppily thrusts into you, wantonly moaning into the curve of your neck. gets so desperate that not even fucking you properly, just grinding himself into you. loves being able to kiss you and swallowing your sweet noises and vice versa. would live in your skin if he could,,

G - goofy (are they more serious in the moment? are they humorous?)

- i wouldn’t say he would make jokes but he’s able to laugh something off and he wouldn’t be bothered if something embarrassing happened. 

H - hair (how well groomed are they? does the carpet match the drapes?)

- not super hairy, the hair he does have is sparse and thin. hes quite bare actually, does do a little self grooming to keep himself neat.

I - intimacy (how are they during the moment? the romantic aspect)

- so so intimate!!! he doesn’t call it sex or fucking it’s ~lovemaking~ in his book. his main turn on is to show how much he loves you and loves sharing pleasure with you. spoils you from head to toe with adoring kisses, fingers painting the shape of your body as they worship each groove, curve, and imperfection—he whispers quiet praise. to hwei, you are the most precious thing in his life, and he needs you to understand that fact to the very depths of your soul.

J - jerk off (masturbation headcanon) 

- yes and no. my depraved mind is telling me yes, bc i’m just imagining him desperately humping a pillow while whining out your name. but also realistically, he might just be too caught up in his own mind to even think about it, especially if he already has you to take care of him. 

K - kinks (one or more of their kinks)

- praise - he lives to praise you. telling you that he loves you, nudging his face into your neck and moaning, “you’re so beautiful, my love”. and he also thrives off of attention from you, too. poor boy is not used to hearing praise, so when you first tell him, “good boy”, or “you’re perfect”, it sends a shiver down his spine and ensures to pleasure you harder so he can hear it often.

- submission - as well as living to praise you it goes hand in hand with living to serve you. wants to make you feel good at every second of the day, at your beck and call, damn near worships the ground you walk on. (could spend hours in between your legs but i’ll elaborate on that later). but when and if you take control and ~take care of him~ he’s such a good boy and he follows your every command without question. be sure to praise the poor boy to really break him~

L - location (favorite places to do the do)

- his preference is in his own bed or house, where he can be assured that it’s just the two of you and you have all the time in the world together. he’s not really picky about where in your shared home, just as long as he can take his time. however, one days he gets especially desperate for you and he can’t take his time he wouldn’t mind taking you to a secluded little area at koyehn, he’d feel so bad but he cannot deny the thrill of reveling in the desperation.

M - motivation (what turns them on, gets them going)

- he wants to make you happy all the time, and he’s learned there is no greater bliss than coming undone for one another. so just just knowing he’s got the power to make you writhe and sob with pleasure is enough to get him going.

N - nope (something they wouldn’t do, turn offs)

- would never never hurt you whether it be physically or emotionally, he’d never degrade you or hit you. he cannot bear the thought of hurting you. to hwei, your body is a temple for his reverence and worship—never to be hurt by a violent or cruel hand.

O - oral (preference in giving or receiving, skill)

- hwei prefers giving. not because he doesn’t like receiving it but rather that he just too sensitive (and he’d rather just give you pleasure).

- receiving - he gets rather shy, because of all the noise he makes and just how early and quickly he finishes, often without warning. but of course you don’t mind.

- giving - there’s just something so absolutely beautiful about being able to bring you so much pleasure and listening to your sweet voice rise an octave higher while lapping at your most sensitive parts. he gets so pussydrunk and loves to have you on his tongue for hours. when it comes to skill, he wasn't particularly skilled at going down on you at first. but with a little gentle instruction, hwei now makes your legs tremble and give out with only a few swipes of his talented tongue. sit on his face plz 

P - pace (are they fast and rough? slow and sensual?)

- it could really depend! usually it’s always slow paced and sensual, almost always containing foreplay to worship you. if you ask hwei he can go faster and treat you a little roughly, but he likes to take his time, enjoying the connection of your bodies completely and thoroughly, his every move laced with sensuality and passion. he likes to find that perfect little spot within you and land every hard, deep thrust right against it, making you shiver and curl your toes. however, if he’s feeling particularly desperate….

Q - quickies (their opinions on quickies, how often?)

- on days he’s desperate and especially needy he would actually initiate a quickie, just one look at the vivid pink swirling in his eyes and you know. both of you often have to cover the other’s mouth to muffle any sounds that try to come out. but you do find yourself braced against the wall with your legs around the painter's slim waist fairly often. he walks out with so much shame afterwards tho.

R - risky (are they game to experiment? do they take risks?)

- pretty open minded, likes to explore with you in the bedroom. he’s always interested in trying different positions or indulging you with different kinks and scenarios. when it comes to risks, hwei would not do anything to harm you physically or any heavy degradation to you. 

S - stamina (how many rounds can they go for? how long do they last?)

- he really strikes me as someone with low stamina. he's usually spent after one round, poor thing! but you are unbothered by it and hweis lack of stamina certainly doesn't stop him from letting you leave the bed unsatisfied. just because he’s too exhausted for one more round, doesn't mean he can't make you cum in other ways~

T - toys (do they own toys? do they use them? on a partner or themselves?)

- now let me think of this realistically in runeterra terms…most likely no, simply because the thought hasn’t crossed his mind before and i don't think vibes would exist. but if they did however! and you told him he’d be very interested to try them with you. and also strap ons particularly piqued his interest! 

U - unfair (how much they like to tease)

- once he gains the confidence he can be a little bit of a tease, but he gives in so easily. just one little pout on your pretty lips has him giving in to you. if he does tease you it’s when he worships you which can sometimes be so long and intense, you actually beg hwei to take you already. but if anything, he loves to be teased and wants you to keep teasing him until he’s sobbing for you. 

V - vocal (how loud are they, what noises do they make)

- whining, whimpering, sobbing the whole nine yards babe. poor boy is always in tears at the end. at first he was so shy about the sounds he makes. he went as far as trying to muffle them by kissing you, or burying his face into your neck, releasing only short whines and whimpers every now and again. as he opened up to you heard how he loses himself in pleasure, his volume rises and his moans and whimpers grow in number and intensity, as well as volume. as he nears his peak, his voice often breaks under the amount of raw bliss. and every single sound that leaves his pretty lips is like angelic music to your ears.

W - wild card (random headcanon for the character)

- CUCK ACTIVITIES!!!!!! this is just my depraved mind speaking but him watching you get absolutely ruined by jhin sends him spiraling, his two favorite things putting on such a pretty show. actually just a threesome with both of them is my personal dream, or let’s reverse it, jhin watching as he orders hwei on how to make you feel~ 

X - x-ray (let’s see what’s going on under those clothes)

- hwei genuinely thinks he’s not big, it's kinda adorable. he’s pretty long but not all slender, his cock has a curve upwards when it's stiff and the tip takes on that pretty, purplish hue when he's really needy, he's also got a few visible veins running up the length of it that are even more sensitive than he is. he can’t help the pang of confidence he gets when you lower down on him that first time and he sees the way you gasp and flinch as you try to adjust. 

Y - yearning (how high is their sex drive?)

- ranges from standard to low depending how he’s feeling. while hwei enjoys sex, to him it’s only one of the many ways in which he can show his affection towards you. cuddling with you under the covers, opening his heart up to you with hushed whispers in the dead of night—all of these are ways in which hwei reveals his yearning for you.

Z - zzz  (how quickly they fall asleep afterwards)

- it depends! sometimes poor boy is honestly out like a light afterwards, but on other nights he stays up watching you drift off taking the opportunity to trace your body with his hands. admiring the work of art that is you.

[kisakis-boyfriend]

As the Souya Simp of this blog I have the wonderful honor of being the one to obviously request Souya for the whole alphabet if that’d be Gucci for thou!

-Souya’s anon lover

Author's Note: Of course! Yours is also the first request for this event too. 🥳

For our 3000 follower celebration! (CLOSED NOW)

A = Aftercare (What they’re like after sex)

Very cuddly, and you love him for that 🩵 Souya will collapse, totally out of energy, and then he's immediately ready for cuddle time!

He's also great at letting you know how amazing you were, and how loved you are.

B = Body part (Their favourite body part of theirs and also their partner’s)

His favorite part of himself is probably his arms, or his ass since you compliment it so much 😅

When it comes to you, Souya's answer is simple: your gorgeous face is his most favorite thing about you 🩵

C = Cum (Anything to do with cum basically)

I feel like Souya's cumshots would be pretty sizable, but his cum is less thick than other guys. More translucent white and slightly more bitter than average. And, if you edge him for a long time, the tiny spurts of cum would make it look like Souya is squirting rather than cumming 😋

D = Dirty Secret (Pretty self explanatory, a dirty secret of theirs)

Souya has a folder on his phone full of secret photos. Ones he snapped of you fresh out of the shower, changing clothes, and similar situations. But there's also some innocent ones too. A few selfies, pictures of you two from social gatherings and whatnot. He admires these often 🩵

E = Experience (How experienced are they? Do they know what they’re doing?)

He's a little lost, but he's got the spirit. Not super inexperienced, but his knowledge of kinks and sexual health is a bit lacking.

F = Favourite Position (This goes without saying. May include a visual)

Anything face to face, methinks. Cowgirl, missionary, even a good ol' mating press! Just as long as Souya can watch your reactions, he's happy!

G = Goofy (Are they more serious in the moment, or are they humorous, etc)

I think he can be unintentionally goofy, just by saying something that makes you laugh in the middle of sex. Otherwise he's more on the serious side.

H = Hair (How well groomed are they, does the carpet match the drapes, etc.)

You know I love a good bush, but I think Souya would trim his hair somewhat. He's definitely not going to shave himself clean down there, but a little bit of shaping is his style 👍

I = Intimacy (How are they during the moment, romantic aspect…)

Souya can be quite intimate. He's the kind of person who will randomly blurt out an "I love you" while you're fucking him. (And if you do it back, you may see a few tears)

J = Jack Off (Masturbation headcanon)

Not his thing. Souya prefers to let you jerk him off, but only if you promise to put your dick inside too 👉👈

Only if you're unable to see each other for a long time, and if he's incredibly horny, will Souya touch himself and think about you. He'll probably sext you as well, or try to hop on a video call.

K = Kink (One or more of their kinks)

FOOD KINK! FOOD KINK! FOOD KINK! And hair pulling, honestly.

L = Location (Favourite places to do the do)

This is a little boring perhaps, but Souya prefers the bed or couch because those are comfortable for long sexy times. I mean, he'll do it just about anywhere, but it is nice to have a soft surface so that his back isn't sore 😵‍💫

M = Motivation (What turns them on, gets them going)

You. Just, anything about you really. A lingering smile, a flirty wink, a cheeky bite on his neck, a caress over his bulge, the sound of your voice.

N = NO (Something they wouldn’t do, turn offs)

Honestly, I don't think Souya would be into spitting. Especially spitting in his mouth… it's just a no from him 😔

O = Oral (Preference in giving or receiving, skill, etc)

Souya prefers receiving for sure, but he'll use his mouth on you if you coax him into it. He's not too bad at it either. A blowjob from Souya is so full of passion that it makes up for his average skill.

P = Pace (Are they fast and rough? Slow and sensual? etc.)

Souya prefers fast and rough, and he's normally the one who sets the pace. But he's not against the occasional soft sex~

Q = Quickie (Their opinions on quickies rather than proper sex, how often, etc.)

Quickies are a regular occurrence in your relationship. Sometimes one of you is too horny (usually Souya) and you have to settle for a quick round before you go about your day.

R = Risk (Are they game to experiment, do they take risks, etc.)

A little bit. He trusts you enough to explore new kinks, but Souya won't shy away from maintaining his boundaries.

S = Stamina (How many rounds can they go for, how long do they last…)

So. Much. Stamina. Good lord, Souya can go on forever it seems. Even when he's visibly tired, he's still bouncing on your cock or throwing his ass back!

On average, he can go for 3 rounds. Although he can definitely go for more if he's in the right mood.

T = Toy (Do they own toys? Do they use them? On a partner or themselves?)

Not the biggest fan of toys. He prefers your dick or your hand to anything else.

U = Unfair (how much they like to tease)

He's not one to tease you, and he'll definitely whine when you tease him, but Souya doesn't use your safe word either… 😏

V = Volume (How loud they are, what sounds they make)

Loud boi. Grunting and whining are the most common sounds during sex, but Souya moans a lot too. He talks a lot as well, your dick turns him into a bit of a blabbermouth 🤣

W = Wild Card (Get a random headcanon for the character of your choice)

His brother gave him a manscaped kit for his birthday once 💀 But Souya does actually use it, and his pubic hair looks and feels nice!

X = X-Ray (Let’s see what’s going on in those pants, picture or words)

Long dick style — like, 8 to 10 inches. Not super girthy, but not entirely slacking in that aspect either. His dick curves to the left just a tiny bit and there are a few moles around and right above his dick.

Y = Yearning (How high is their sex drive?)

Above average for sure. Souya is ready to go at almost any time. It's kind of scary how much this guy can fuck 💀

Z = ZZZ (How quickly they fall asleep afterwards)

While he's not always going to pass out immediately, that has happened a few times. More often than not though, Souya is just physically exhausted and would like to cuddle and chill while you both wind down.

[dredgen-dumbass]

(Disabled) player's guide to making D2 more accessible

because so far (correct me if I'm wrong) I haven't seen one on here, & maybe (hopefully) it'll help someone.

Alright, to get it out of the way, I'm disabled. I have neurological damage from a tbi, and more recently another concussion, and among many many other things it makes gaming a lot more complicated. It can (unfortunately) be difficult to find advice for disabled gamers online that isn't just "get good" or "then gaming isn't for you", so I figure this might be helpful, since it was for me.

I can't speak to other conditions, so this is more about adjustments for specific symptoms, but I can only really speak from experience. That said, I've had to learn quite a bit, so it's sharing time :)

(I play on Xbox. Some settings aren't the same between platforms, just a warning. For that reason, some of this post is going to be xbox-specific.)

This is divided up into menus & subjects of bullet points are bolded to be easier to skim.

Controller settings - (and explanations for some of them in case y'all don't know)

Test out different look sensitivity. The default is 3, I moved mine up to 5. I have issues with spacial awareness and saccades dysfunction, and this has made it easier for me to keep whatever I'm looking at on-screen.

ADS sensitivity- if you don't know, this is the speed when you aim down sights. The default is 1, I have mine reduced to .5, and I've found that the larger difference between the look & ADS sensitivity can really function as having two look settings available when using a weapon that doesn't have a very extreme scope.

The default sprint-turn scale is 0.4, I bump mine up to 0.8 for similar reasons to the look sensitivity increase. (Turning this up makes you turn faster, turning it down makes you turn slower.)

Alternatively, if you have more issues with overstimulation/visual clutter/quick movements/etc, you may want to turn everything down a bit to slow down your camera, but that may make combat harder to keep up with, especially pvp.

Axial & radial deadzone. This helps with stick drift. Stick drift is a pain for everyone but if you have fine motor issues, tremors, arthritis, etc, it's even worse. Finding what works best for your hardware will help make sure you're compensating less, which puts less strain on your hands.

I've seen people recommend turning off controller haptics for the same reason- the vibrations make you grip the controller harder and can cause worse strain. Personally, I leave them on because the sensory input helps balance out the awareness issues, but maybe it's for you! (this one's a system setting, not a d2 one.)

Video settings

Brightness can be important if you have issues with eye strain. I would recommend changing this relative to the lighting in the room, not just your monitor. Turning it up may help with visual issues with the tradeoff of risking overstimulation. Again, all of this is very dependent on the person.

Motion blur- Evil, evil, evil, turn this off. Visual problems or not, it's harder to follow things on-screen with it enabled. Combined with any garden variety problem with eye movements or cognitive strain it's even worse.

Chromatic aberration- I turn this off. It's a nice vfx, but it can wind up just being added visual stimulus and if that's a problem for it's worth losing. It can also make the radar harder to read. Not worth it (personally.)

Film grain- off for the same reason. It's a smaller change, but a clearer view is worth it if it helps you.

Sound settings

If you have problems with your hearing/auditory processing, I highly recommend turning the sfx & music drastically down compared to the dialogue, and then just turning up your system audio.

Personally, I often play with music entirely off, but I know that can be a very boring experience to a lot of people, so take that as you will.

(my current settings: sfx 8, dialogue 10, music 1)

if you're playing with an Xbox party or in a discord call, etc, I really recommend messing with the mixing settings there when you first get on to balance out peoples mics, regardless of processing problems.

Gameplay settings

HUD opacity- I turn mine down to high, the default being full. Just another thing that makes it easier to keep track of stuff.

Radar Background Opacity- Opposite here. If you have problems with spatial awareness you're probably relying pretty hard on the radar instinctively, so the clearer it is, the better. I play with mine on medium, you may want to play around.

Subtitles- Are on by default, so that's nice. Let's check out their settings menu for a moment.

Turning on show speaker name can be really good for hearing/auditory processing issues.

You can also change the color for the speaker name/caption text if the clearer contrast will help you.

The best background style for visibility is box, but it won't look as nice. Another trade.

Background opacity may be easier to lower if you switch to box, since the faded style isn't even. A lower background opacity may help you follow things on-screen at the cost of caption readability

If you don't need captions but do need to reduce visual clutter, try turning them off!

Colorblind mode is, obviously, helpful if you're colorblind, but I have also heard it recommended because the color changes can help improve contrast. Not one I've tried, but worth including.

Full auto firing/Full auto melee- Does what it says. Turning this on might help in the same way as turning off haptics/messing with deadzones, ie by changing how much you need to click. You can still fire normally with it on, so if anything it just gives you another option.

Reticle location is slightly below the center on d2. I prefer to center it, though it takes some getting used to. More helpful if you frequently switch between other games that center theirs.

Neutral/targeted reticle color- The defaults are white and red respectively. I prefer black for targeted because I feel like it makes it easier to see what I'm actually aiming at, but you may want to leave it for contrast. To each their own.

Other

Brief overview of Xbox accessibility settings

Xbox has a narration setting. I would assume anyone who needs it is aware of this, but just in case.

If you need more assisted play, there's controller assist where you can combine two people's input

Turning off haptic vibration (as mentioned) is in accessibility -> controller

You can make the on-screen keyboard larger!

There are party chat settings for both text to speech and speech to text

There's also game transcription!

Games that have the function can also do their own read-aloud. I don't know if/how this applies to destiny

Mono output for audio may make things easier to understand depending on your audio setup

There's also high-contrast mode for both dark or light

Colorblind filters are here, too

Night mode! You can change how much it dims/filters your device. If you have problems with blue light or eye strain, or have to limit screens for medical reasons like me, this setting is a lifesaver. The filter will affect how your games look, but personally it's worth the tint. Same is available on most PCs.

Hardware, etc.

The Xbox Adaptive Controller is highly customizable and great for anyone with physical impairments that make the standard Xbox controller difficult to use. Find it here.

I've seen thumbstick extenders recommended for arthritis, might also be helpful for similar conditions

If you have arthritis/fine motor issues/muscle weakness/tremors/etc/etc/etc controller grips might make holding a standard controller easier

If any of those are the case for you, then you might also benefit from a lightweight controller (or playing with a standard controller plugged in & removing the batteries for a lesser weight adjustment)

evilcontrollers also has one-handed controllers and a one-handed controller customizer much like the standard controller customizers

evilcontrollers for hardware accessibility in general

If you play on PC and have muscle or joint issues then you may want to look into different keyboard/mouse shapes. Lightweight, vertical, and ball mice are all options, though there's apparently some argument about using them for gaming. I've also seen good reviews of the Azeron keypad from people with muscular/joint problems. There's also split keyboards, wave keyboards, one-handed, etc etc etc.

If you have problems with auditory processing I would HIGHLY recommend gaming with noise-cancelling headphones. (Hell, do everything with noise cancelling headphones.) I would recommend these for everyday, but they also work pretty well for gaming. The mic is mid, but it works well enough, and there's multiple sound modes + active noise cancelling.

Other other (oh no I forgot these, editing now)

Compression gloves !!!!!

Pause and do hand exercises after a while

20/20/20 rule for eye strain

may come back and expand this as I think of more things

There is a lot that Bungie could do to improve the game's accessibility without causing an imbalance with abled players, but I'll save that for another post. Feel free to reblog this with any other advice/anecdotal stuff/whatever, I'm considering this as opening a discussion.

I don't know of any clans specifically for disabled players but I'm sure they exist? If anyone has recommendations for community stuff, please do throw that in.

As always, my dms are open. Being a disabled gamer can suck sometimes and if you need a space to vent w/ someone who gets it, I'm your guy. If you're just curious how it impacts gaming, I don't mind being asked, I just don't feel like posting about myself that much unprompted.

I think that's all for now. Happy gaming :)

[do-u-know-this-autisticcharacter]

Do You Know This (non-canon) Autistic Character?

Disclaimer - People are allowed to like fictional characters but not like the author. This does not mean we/they support JK Rowling.

Propaganda

This post which includes:

He doesn’t participate in any social meetings. He’s quite miserable during the Christmas in Harry’s third year. He patrols the corridors and the grounds instead of attending the Yule Ball. He doesn’t stay for dinner after the Order meetings. He only attends the DE meetings because he has to.

His peers at school think he’s weird. Lily’s friends from Gryffindor don’t understand why she’s friends with him. When Harry asks why the Marauders bullied him, Sirius says he was different, weird, he was an "oddball". Autistic children and teenagers are often bullied because they are perceived as not normal, awkward, weird.

He doesn’t make a normal eye contact, he stares a bit too much. It can be partly explained by Legillimency, but he stared too much even as a teenager.

There’s a difference between how he speaks as a teenager and as an adult. It doesn’t sound entirely natural, he definitely had to put effort into that. It’s partly because he doesn’t want to sound like a poor man with a northern (?) accent, but autistic struggle with fluent communication may also be a reason.

He’s quite rude. He might be just *evil*, but he may just not fully understand how cruel he actually sounds. From his point of view he’s just honest and doesn’t beat around the bush. OK, maybe he’s a little mean, but not cruel… right?

He uses sarcasm (a lot of autistics actually do), but he doesn’t really appreciate Harry’s and other people’s sass, he treats their words too seriously.

He seems a little oblivious to other people’s emotional state and seems to analyse their behavior more intellectually.

He has special interests: Dark Arts / DADA and Potions.

He has his own collection of Potions ingredients, including rare ones, collection of weird jars (I guess they may contain some Potions ingredients, but also he may like them because of visual stimming aspect) and vast collection of books at home.

His Potions ingredients must be very orderly, he knows immediately that something is missing and what it is.

He doesn’t wash his hair as often as he should. It could be partly because of his poor background (he was neglected, he wasn’t taught to take a proper care of his hair, he didn’t even have a real bathroom as a child), partly because he has no one to look nice for, partly because of the Potions fumes. Autism might make him care less about his appearance. (He does care about hygiene though. Apparently he shaves regularly and Harry would certainly notice if Snape was dirty or smelly. His sallow skin and teeth have nothing to do with hygiene, it’s a result of his poverty and malnutrition.)

He has some sensory issues. He wears the same, a little baggy robes (they flutter as he walks). He’s sensitive to light: his Potions classroom is dim (it’s in the dungeons, but he could brighten it up with magic); he makes his DADA classroom dim, even though it’s no longer in the dungeons; when Harry comes to his first Occlumency lesson, Snape waits for him in a dark room. (You know, people don’t do things like that because they’re evil, it doesn’t make sense).

[sinsofsummers]

Hey Girl,

I was wondering Dark! Joel x female reader where he fucks you while he's wearing his gas mask 𓆩♡𓆪 love your fics btw 𓆩♡𓆪

hiiii i'm hoping this little thing was kind of what you were looking for! i found this post that also gives an actual visual of game!joel with the mask on. i'm not sure if i'm great at writing dark!joel yet, but this was definitely good practice :) maybe i'll call this more...depraved!joel than entirely dark!joel for now .. ty for the request! he can do whatever he wants with me

vicious

1.1k | depraved!joel x f!reader

summary: joel fucks you in his gas mask. warnings: literally all smut, 18+, mdni. depraved!joel, gas mask-wearing joel so like...mask kink, free-use vibes (ALL VERY CONSENSUAL), joel gets mean when he's annoyed, semi-public sex, rough p in v, orgasm denial for a moment, fingering, some degradation, hair-pulling, creampie, slight cumplay (i think that's all of them). note: okay this is so filthy. jesus. this is quite literally just porn. no plot. don't even look for one.

There's something so addicting about Joel when he's wearing his mask. Maybe you're sick and perverted for feeling your stomach flip and your thighs squeeze together at the sight of him like that, but you don't care. With his face hidden, you don't have to look at the haunted memories in his eyes when he fucks you. You can just enjoy the way his body fits over yours, taking everything from you and giving you everything he has in return.

You're not saying you have a mask kink or anything, but...Joel looks really good with that thing on.

Sometimes it's not even you that initiates things; on particularly long days, Joel will come back to you, too exhausted even to take the mask off and reveal his tired face to you. On those days, he'll come in with his fists clenched and his pants already tight against his growing bulge.

"Day can't get any fuckin' worse," he might say to no one in particular when he comes home, tossing his pack to the floor. You might be surprised to see him return, or you might have been expecting it, your gut clenching at the sound of his rough voice. "Get over here," he'll growl, and you'll know better than to disobey.

You'll get within a few feet of him and he'll grab your wrists, wrenching you close to him until you can feel your pelvis fit roughly against his hips, his hardening cock eliciting a moan from your lips. "Joel—"

His voice is muffled with the mask on, and you can hardly see the darkness in his eyes when he interrupts you. "No," he snaps, a hand snaking up your side to latch onto the spot between your neck and your shoulder. He squeezes, just hard enough for you to swallow the lump of desire that rises. "None of your dumb whinin'," he retorts. "Don't wanna hear your fuckin' cries. I know you're already desperate for this cock, babydoll."

The pet names he'll use give the impression that he'll be nice, that maybe he'll let you come over his fingers or while he's stuffing you to the brim, but you've known him long enough to know that this isn't the case. Joel gets annoyed on these long days, and when he's annoyed...he can get mean. So you'll let every ounce of resistance ooze from your bones and prepare for being everything he needs.

He'll lift your hands to his gas mask and make you cup it in your palms like you might cup his face, and—the first time he did this was when you realized that he likes this, too. He gets off on seeing you so wide-eyed and needy for him, even with his mask covering his familiar features. It's almost romantic when he makes you hold him like this, but then he'll move his hand to your neck properly and put enough pressure on the sides to pull a squeak from your lips.

He can be as mean as he wants, he can slip his cock into your entrance whether you're overwhelmed with need for him or just beginning to drip with want. Joel Miller's had plenty of bad days. It's about time he uses you to make it a good one.

With bruising hands and punishing thrusts, he'll fuck you against any surface he can find, but he loves taking you like this against the nearest wall, making you notch your ankles around his waist and lock the two of you together as he drags his cock torturously in and out of you.

You'll slip up sometimes, drop a few moments of, "Fuck—Joel, please," into his ear, and he'll stop moving, shove his fingers into your mouth until you shut up. Only when you're reduced to soft whimpering will he continue his movements. But he won't let you come, not until you've apologized—in the form of letting him spill inside you.

"Such a dumb little slut, huh?" he'll grunt as he pulls out of you, reaching down to catch his release as it leaks out of you. He'll roughly push it back inside you with two of his thick fingers and chuckle darkly as he watches your legs nearly give out with sensitivity. A harsh swipe across your puffy clit is the last thing he does before he's done with you.

And that's just on the days that he'll even speak to you.

Some days he'll come in, drop everything, forget his mask is still on, and find you wherever you might be, whether that's on your makeshift bed, or even in an alley where someone might see you. He'll walk up behind you, press his hips against your ass and grind into you before hooking his thumbs in your waistband and practically tearing your pants from your body.

You'll gasp and feel your core pulse with the way that he knows he can do this to you, he knows you'll always let him use you. You'll moan and reach behind you, pawing for his wrist, his thick forearm, something to hold onto when he takes his cock out and rubs it against your slick heat.

He'll swat your hand away and press his own against your spine, pushing you to bed at the waist and present your ass to him in all its glory. If he's feeling particularly gracious, he'll deliver a few smacks that can be mistaken as affectionate when he rubs the sting away.

If he's feeling vicious, he'll forego any type of warning before he's dragging his tip from clit to opening, groaning as he feels you pulse against him. And then he'll push inside you with a cruel thrust, burying himself to the hilt in one go. Broken moans will fall from your throat and he'll reach up with one of two things in mind:

To cover your mouth with his hand and silence your whimpers, or to trap a hand in your hair, wrapping it around his fist and tugging you back towards him, forcing your back to arch and causing his tip to hit that delicious sweet spot inside you.

With nothing but his sharp thrusts, growing harder and faster with every second, Joel makes you fall apart underneath him. Each stroke more punishing than the last, he'll remain silent but for the muffled grunts under the mask that alert you to his pleasure. He'll come inside you with no warning except for the way his hips stutter before he topples over the edge, swiftly reaching down to rub your clit and bring you to ecstasy with him.

"Good girl," he'll murmur quietly, and you'll shiver at the sound of his mask coming off, his chapped lips brushing your ear. "Always such a good girl."

tysm for reading, i love you all!! hope this surprise was fun tonight :)